Continued on Page 6

KARACHI: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif meeting with representatives of different political parties at Gover-nor House on Tuesday.

NAKYAL (AJK): Chief of Army Staff, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani during his visit to forward areas on Line of Control.Continued on Page 6

US steps up Pak surveillanceWASHINGTON—The $52.6billion U.S. intelligence arsenalis aimed mainly at unambigu-ous adversaries, including al-Qaeda, North Korea and Iran.But top-secret budget docu-ments reveal an equally intensefocus on one purported ally:Pakistan.

No other nation draws asmuch scrutiny across so manycategories of national securityconcern, Washington Post in a

lengthy front page story said onTuesday.

A 178-page summary of theU.S. intelligence community’s“black budget” shows that theUnited States has ramped up itssurveillance of Pakistan’s nucleararms, cites previously undis-closed concerns about biologicaland chemical sites there, and de-tails efforts to assess the loyal-ties of counterterrorism sourcesrecruited by the CIA. Pakistan

appears at the top of charts list-ing critical U.S. intelligencegaps. It is named as a target ofnewly formed analytic cells.

And fears about the secu-rity of its nuclear program areso pervasive that a budget sec-tion on containing the spread ofillicit weapons divides the worldinto two categories: Pakistanand everybody else. The disclo-sures, based on documents pro-Continued on Page 6

Peace in Karachiat all costs: NawazPolitical forces for action against criminalsAMANULLAH KHAN/

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI–In his statesmanshiplike vision Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif vowed here to re-store peace in this largest city ofthe country at all costs for whichall political parties especially PPPand MQM have been taken onboard because the issue of dis-turbed Karachi is a national is-sue which needs to be tackledcollectively.

Prime Minister NawazSharif was addressing a largegathering of business communityin which he dilated upon Karachi

law and order situation with ref-erence to All Parties Conference(APC) he earlier chaired. TheAPC of PPP, MQM, JamatIslami, PML-F, JUI, ANP andevery party was of the collectiveview that the action was neededfor tangible results.

Prime Minister NawazSharif declared that while goingfor restoration of peace therewould be no room for politics inhandling Karachi issues inKarachi and other parts of thecountry.. He also indicated foramendments in the law of theland for effectively handle thecriminals who are taking advan-

tage of the loopholes in the law,He said we are all Pakistanis

and committed to stability of Pa-kistan, whatever we said abouteach other election campaigns isnow the story of past we all haveto build Pakistan at all costs. Hesaid in a firm tone that we haveto come together to address theissues faced by Karachi or otherparts of the country.

He said that people remark “I do not smile these days” howcan I smile when the people areconfronted with complex issues,we will certainly smile but let usresolve the issues first for the

Continued on Page 6

ISLAMABAD—Government iscommitted to increase tax to GDPratio through reforms in the taxa-tion system as well as in FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) to im-prove infrastructure and launchprojects of national importancefor the economic progress of thecountry as well as a better futurefor coming generation.

This was stated by FederalMinister for Finance, SenatorIshaq Dar while addressing se-nior officers of Federal Board ofRevenue of South Region includ-ing Chief Commissioners, Com-missioners of Inland Resource

Govt for increasingtax to GDP ratio: Dar

Service and Chief Collectors andCollectors at Customs HouseKarachi on Tuesday.

The minister said that gov-ernment is committed to trans-parency and accountability ofeach rupee collected as taxes and

its utilization for the welfare,progress and prosperity of thenation, said a statement issued bythe Ministry of Finance here onTuesday.

Senator Ishaq Dar said thatthe importance and role of tax ad-

ministration for nationaleconomy cannot be over-empha-sized. He said that governmenthad imposed with-holding tax onretailers and distributors, mini-mum tax on builders and devel-opers and was focusing on sec-tors that are out of the tax net,besides giving access to bankinginformation for bringing in thetax net non-assesses for increas-ing the number of tax payers inthe country.

The minister said that rev-enue officials will have to im-prove their performance, work

COAS visitsLoC in Azad

KashmirKOTLI—Chief of Army StaffGeneral Ashraf Parvez Kayani onTuesday visited the Lion of Con-trol in Azad Kashmir and re-viewed the situation there in thewake of Indian violation of LoC.

Security sources said thearmy chief met with armyjawans posted at AzadKashmir’s Nakyal sector andappreciated their courage andbravery.—NNI

Several MoUs to be signedduring PM’S visit to Turkey

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—Several MoUsrelating to trade, investment,joint ventures, culture, educa-tion and people to people con-tacts will be signed betweenIslamabad and Ankara duringthree-day visit of Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif to Turkey be-ginning on Sept 16.

A large delegation of busi-nessmen will also accompanythe Prime Minister, who is vis-iting the brotherly country onthe invitation of Turkish PrimeMinister Recep TayyipErdogan.

The outgoing Turkish am-bassador to Pakistan BaburHizlan told Pakistan Observer,

a road-show on energy will alsobe held in Istanbul and recom-mendations of the show will bepresented to Nawaz Sharif.Turkish participation in energyprojects in Pakistan is expecteddue to this show.

Two cultural centres of Tur-key will be established in Paki-stan including one in Lahore tostrengthen cultural links be-tween both the countries, theambassador said.

The members of businessdelegation will interact withTurkish businessmen to exploreavenues for launching joint ven-tures. More investment fromTurkey is expected during thehigh profile visit of the PrimeMinister.

PM: Geo-strategic location ofcountry to be fully exploited

PNS Aslat to boost maritime securityKARACHI—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif has expressed theresolve to develop maritime sec-tor to fully exploit the geo-strate-gic location of the country.

Addressing the induction cer-emony of the first ever locallydeveloped PNS Aslat frigate inPakistan Navy in Karachi Tues-day‚ the Prime Minister said Pa-kistan is contributing effectivelyto fight the forces that are out todestabilize and destroy interna-tional borders.

Acknowledging the assis-tance of China in the developmentof PNS Aslat frigate‚ NawazSharif said Pakistan and Chinashare time tested relations thatstretches back to 1950. He saidPakistan views relations withChina as enduring multi dimen-sional and deep rooted which al-ways stood the test of time. Paki-stan relations with China form a

pillar of the country’s foreignpolicy. Pakistan deeply valuesChinese support and cooperationin all domains.

He was confident that defensecooperation between the twocountries will grow in the yearsto come and serve as a source ofimproving peace‚ stability and

security in the region.The Prime Minister also ac-

knowledged Chinese support inthe development of Gwadar deepsea port saying this port will helpopen new vistas of growth andprosperity in the country. He saidthis port will become gamechanger in respect of trade andeconomy of the region after thedevelopment of necessary rail androad infrastructure. “Pakistan andChina share a close and time tested

relationship that stretches back tothe 1950s. Pakistan views its re-lationship with China as enduring,multidimensional and deeprooted, which has always stoodthe test of times.

The extent of strength, coop-eration, mutual trust and respectof this all weather friendship hasbeen best described by the Ex-Chinese Premier Hu Jintao as“higher than the highest moun-tains and deeper than the deepestoceans”. It therefore goes withoutsaying that Pakistan’s foreign re-lations with China form a pillarof Pakistan’s foreign Policy,” headded.

“Pakistan deeply values theresolute Chinese support and co-operation in all domains. Con-struction of F-22P Frigate atKarachi Shipyard under transferof technology arrangement is a

Continued on Page 6

Telephonicaddress of Mirwaiz

Umar Farooq,Chairman, APHC

HAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—The Chairman,All Parties Hurriat Conference,Mirwaiz Mohammad UmarFarooq, willtelephonicallyaddress directfrom Srinagar agathering inIslamabad aswell as thepeople of Paki-stan on the De-fence Day. ARound Table Conference on Sep-tember 6, 2013 has been organizedby the Nzriya Pakistan Council(NPC), Islamabad, on “Defenceof Pakistan: 1965-2013” to whichthe Mirwaiz will address and also

Continued on Page 6

Sartaj‚ IndianHC discuss

bilateralrelations

ISLAMABAD—Indian High Com-missioner to Pakistan T.CRaghavan called on Advisor to thePrime Minister on Foreign Affairsand National Security Sartaj Azizin Islamabad Tuesday and dis-cussed recent tension on Line ofControl (LoC) and latest develop-ments in bilateral relations.

Both discussed recent ten-sion on Line of Control (LoC)and latest developments in bi-lateral relations.

The tensions on both sidesof the de-facto border, whichhave been going on since Au-gust, have restricted residents totheir homes, making it difficultfor them to step out without fear-ing casualties.

They two side also dis-cussed the proposed meetingbetween the prime ministers ofthe two countries in New Yorkon the sidelines of the UN Gen-eral Assembly this month.

Sartaj Aziz stressed that Pa-kistan was looking to foster cor-dial ties with India, adding thatthe September meeting betweenthe two premiers would go a longway to addressing misunder-standings from the past.—NNI

BB murder case

PPP plea to becomeparty rejected

RAWALPINDI—An anti-terror-ism court (ATC) on Tuesday re-jected Pakistan Peoples Party’s(PPP) request to become partyin Benazir Bhutto murder case.

During case proceeding,PPP Secretary General Advo-cate Latif Khosa argued thatBenazir Bhutto was chairpersonof the party and Bilawal BhuttoZardari took the charge after herassassination. Therefore, PPPshould be allowed to becomeparty in the case.

ATC judge ChaudhryHabib-ur-Rehman stated that

law does not allow any politicalparty to become party in a mur-der case and rejected the pleasubmitted by Pakistan PeoplesParty.

Former prime minister ofPakistan and PPP chairpersonBenazir Bhutto was assassinatedin Rawalpindi in December2007 when terrorists opened fireat her vehicle followed by abomb blast.

The government at the timehad stated that banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan was involvedin the murder of Benazir.—INP

MQM reactsto cancelling of

Sattar’s invitationIRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The representationof Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) through its Parliamen-tary leader in national assembly,Dr Farooq Sattar at a highestlevel all party conference was allof a sudden smashed through aletter from a section officer of theprovincial government.

The letter thus despatched tothe MQM secretariat just hoursbefore the APC was convened in-formed that the presence of DrSattar was regretted. However,the MQM in broader perspective

Continued on Page 6

Continued on Page 6

President case

DAG allowedtime to filecommentsISLAMABAD—Supreme Court(SC) has given time to DeputyAttorney General (DAG) to filepara wise comments tillSeptember, 10 on petitionseeking court’s order forrestraining President Asif AliZardari from going abroad.

A two-member bench ofSC led by Justice Khilji ArifHussain took up the petitionfiled by Shahid Orakzai for

Syria rebels armed,trained by CIALONDON—The first cell ofSyrian rebels trained and armedby the CIA is making its way tothe battlefield, President BarackObama has reportedly toldsenators.

The US announced in Junethat it would send light arms tothe rebels but refused toprovide anti-aircraft missilesand other heavy weapons.

The US announced in Junethat it would send light arms tothe rebels but refused toprovide anti-aircraft missilesand other heavy weapons.

Islamabad eyes$6.6b loan from IMFWASHINGTON—InternationalMonitory Fund (IMF)Executive Board meeting willbe held in Washington today(Wednesday), where matter ofgranting 6.6 billion dollars loanto Pakistan will come underconsideration.

Authorities of Ministry ofFinance has expressed hopethat, IMF Executive Board(EB) will approve the loan,because as per negotiationswith IMF mission, governmenthas taken many of significantsteps to fulfill the terms of IMF.

IMF Board will grant 6.6

OUR CORRESPONDENTS

LAHORE/ISLAMABAD—Fouropposition parties in Punjab an-nounced on Tuesday that theywill be contesting the local bodyelections together.

Pakistan People’s Party, Pa-kistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Pakistan

Local body elections

Punjab opp parties to contest jointlyMuslim League–Q and Jamat-e-Islami have joined hands againstPakistan Muslim League-N forthe local body elections.

The decision came after ajoint meeting among the leadersof the parties.

Meanwhile, the oppositionparties in the Punjab Assembly

have decided to move courtagainst new Local Governmentsystem in the province.

Talking to media, PakistanPeople’s Party leader ManzoorWattoo claimed that his party, thePakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf andJamaat-e-Islami will move court

Continued on Page 6

Continued on Page 6

Picture on Back Page

Picture on Back Page

Continued on Page 6

Pak wants toexpand seabedresources areaSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistani hastaken up its case with the UNCommission on the Limits ofContinental Shelf seekingrights of exploration andexploitation of seabedresources in an additional areaof 50,000 Square Kms.

A presentation in thisregard was made before theCommission by a Pakistanidelegation led by SecretaryScience & Technology, AkhlaqAhmad Tarar which alsoincluded representatives fromthe Ministry of Defence,Pakistan Navy, DirectorGeneral, National Institute ofOceanography and Project

ISLAMABAD—The Hydro-carbon Development Insti-tute of Pakistan’s (HDIP)campaign to verify fitnessof CNG vehicles is movingat a very slow pace, verify-ing only 15,000 vehicles sofar, across the country.“People frequently verifiedtheir vehicle’s fitness anddue to strict measuresadopted by the authoritiesafter cylinder blast inci-dents, the number of veri-fied vehicles grew; but nowthings are moving at a snail’space,” an official of theHDIP told APP on Tuesday.

The official said thatpeople in Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistanand Sindh were showinglaxity in getting their ve-hicles verified, due to thelenient approach of the traf-fic police. HDIP Officer In-charge Rao Abdul Rehmansaid that the vehicles wereput to verification processat specific workshops;while those which did notqualify were given a graceperiod.

Answering a question,he said that 112 workshopsare working throughout thecountry to check the fitnessof 3.5 million public and pri-vate CNG vehicles, whichare then issued a fitness

sticker that is valid for oneyear.

Regarding the verifica-tion process in the federalcapital, he said the first veri-fication sticker was issued onJune 5 and around 30-40 CNGvehicles visit on a daily ba-sis, but only 10 to 15 vehiclesqualify for the fitness token.He said the residents ofIslamabad can get their ve-hicles checked at the HDIPCNG Station at F7/4. Afterchecking a vehicle, a stickeris issued, which is valid forone year.

He said the details of thevehicles could be verified bysending the code on the

sticker through SMS to 8028.The checking fee was Rs1,000 per vehicle, which wasvalid for one year. All the rel-evant departments, includingthe traffic police, were alsoactively participating to en-sure verification of the CNGvehicles, he added.

He also appealed to themedia to play a proactiverole in creating awarenessamong masses to test fit-ness of their vehicles fortheir own safety. Accordingto details, the IslamabadCapital Territory (ICT) ad-ministration has been or-dered to strictly ensure rulesand regulations regarding

use of CNG kits in vehicles,particularly those carryingchildren, and theIslamabad traffic police areissuing tickets to vehiclesfor using poor quality CNGkits.

The decision was madein a meeting of the Islamabaddeputy commissioner withthe representatives of Hy-dro Carbon DevelopmentInstitute, CNG associationsand Islamabad Traffic Police(ITP). It was also decidedthat vehicles will also bechecked at the CNG stationsapart from checks conductedby ITP and Islamabad po-lice.—APP

CNG fitness checking campaign too slow!

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The PakistanAir Force contingent com-prising Mirage and F-7 PG air-craft, combat Pilots andground technical crew left forChina to participate in thejoint Air Exercise “Shaheen-II”. The exercise will be con-ducted between PAF andPLAAF (People’s LiberationArmy Air Force) from 03 to 22September, 2013. It is a his-toric event as it is the first timethat the Air Force of any coun-try would be participating ina joint Air Exercise in Chineseair space. It is pertinent tomention that the first exerciseof this series “Shaheen-I”

took place in March 2011 inPakistan at an operational AirBase of Pakistan Air Force.

The prime objective ofthe exercise is to excel in theair combat capability withfocus on Air Power employ-ment in any future conflict.Pakistan Air Force conductssuch exercises on regular in-tervals both inland andabroad. Air Exercise“Shaheen-II” will provide anopportunity to combat crewof both the Air Forces to ac-quaint themselves with ap-plied tactics of air power innear real scenario. PakistanAir Force emphasizes thecombat training of its air andground crew.

PAF contingentleaves for China

Air exercise ‘Shaheen-II’

NA-25 by-pollson September 18

ISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan hasannounced voting on Sep-tember 18 for by-elections inthe National Assembly Con-stituency NA-25 Dera IsmailKhan-Cum-Tank. The ECPannounced the date afterChief Secretary KPK in hisreport informed the commis-sion about peaceful atmo-sphere for elections, PTV re-ported.

The decision has beentaken on the request ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa gov-ernment. The son of Chief ofJamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl(JUI-F) Maulana FazlurRehman, Asad Mehmoodand Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) candidate Dadu Khankundi would contest from theconstituency. By-elections inNA-25 was postponed onAugust 20 in view of the lawand order situation in theconstituency.—APP

Irrigation Deptfails to curbwater theft

SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Irri-gation department is notfunctioning properly to curbcontinuous water theft.Muhammad Inayat Gondaladvocate said that on 19-7-2013 on his request ACMandi Bahauddin he wentto check water theft onMoga Number 38401/LRajbah Mangat and foundwater being stolen with thehelp of pipe in the presenceof SDO and lower staff of ir-rigation department. SDOtook the pipe that was trans-mitting three times more wa-ter that the capacity of oneMoga.

AC reported the matter toDCO who further forwardedton Executive EngineerGujrat for proper action in thelight of detailed report of AC.Despite this no action hasbeen taken against the irriga-tion officials and beneficia-ries of stolen water. He saidthe water shareholders at talehave been deprived of theirdue share of water. He urgedCM Punjab to take notice ofwater theft that is takingplace with the connivance ofirrigation officials and directaction against all those in-volved in this heinous crime.

ISLAMABAD—State Minis-ter for Education, Trainingsand Standards in HigherEducation Engineer Balighur Rehman on Tuesday saidthe government would es-tablish Federal CurriculumCommission for bringing re-forms in the curriculum de-velopment at federal andprovincial levels. He wasaddressing the launchingceremony of National Planof Action and progress to-wards Article 25-A orga-nized by Ministry of Educa-tion, Trainings and Stan-dards in Higher Education,UNICEF and UNESCO.

The minister said he wasin consultation with the ChiefMinisters of all the prov-inces and representativesfrom education department in

all the provinces would betaken onboard while estab-lishing this commission. TheFederal Curriculum Commis-sion would lessen the dispari-ties among the curriculum be-ing implemented in all theprovinces, bringing unifor-mity, he added. The ministersaid the government is striv-ing hard to initiate reforms forincreasing spending on edu-cation upto 4 percent of GDPby the year 2018. “We haveto initiate key reforms in termsof improving service deliveryand enrolling more childreninto schools to transform thecountry”, he added.

The minister thanked allthe political parties for giv-ing prime importance to theeducation sector in theirmanifestos during elections.

Secretary Ministry of Educa-tion, Trainings and Stan-dards in Higher Education,Ahmed Bakhsh Lehri on the

occasion said education isimportant to address the is-sues of food security, climatechange, poverty, terrorism.

He appreciated the efforts ofthe provincial authorities informulation of the Plan ofAction. Director UNESCO DrKouze Kay Nagata saidUnited Nations institutionsin Pakistan are aimed to re-duce poverty and equip thecitizens with the power ofknowledge with focus onmarginalized communities.

She said education is akey to achieve progressivesocial transformation andpoverty reduction can onlypave the way toward sustain-able national economicgrowth. She said UN Secre-tary General Ban Ki Moonhas launched global initiativefor education to enrol everychild into school. Dr Nagatasaid this year, the upcomingInternational Literacy Day

would be celebrated every-where with the same pledgeto provide every child righthis or her due right to edu-cation. She said UNESCOhas provided technical as-sistance for preparing theNPA and it would ensure en-rollment of 25 million out ofschool children of primaryand secondary age group.

She congratulated theIslamabad Capital Territoryand Sindh province foradopting Article 25-A andworking for its implementa-tion. She also hoped that theother provinces would alsotake steps for implementa-tion of this article. She em-phasized on increasingspending on education uptofour or five percent of GDPin the coming years.—NNI

Federal Curriculum Commission to end soon disparity‘Polio free Pakistan’

in running yearSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The annual cer-emony of Rotary ClubRawalpindi was held underthe Chairmanship of DistrictGovernor Haji Iftikhar andPresident Mr RashidMashkoor. Members of theClub and other honourableguests were participated in theevent. During the event, thePresident told about polio. Hesaid our target during year isto finish the polio from thecountry and the year 2013 willbe “Polio Free Pakistan.”

Moreover, many steps toenhance the education wereframed. District Governor hasdenoted one kanal land for es-tablishing the school andpromised more cooperation inthis regard. The President hasalso announced Rs 100,000/ -for the school.

Trainingworkshop on

Zoonotic diseasesRAFIULLAH MANDOKHAIL

ZHOB—A 5-day trainingworkshop on Zoonotic dis-eases for health workers(male and female) and veteri-nary staff, organized by Re-lief International concludedhere on Tuesday. Dr. AkhterMandokhail was the chiefguest on the occasion. Vet-erinary Officer Dr. SyedRamazan Shah, Dr. YousafHassan and Dr. Naseebullahdelivered lectures onZoonotic diseases - Rabies,Anthrax, Leshmeniasis, Tu-berculosis, Tetanus, Brucel-losis, Dengue , Congo ,Swine flue and Bird Flue.

They said that direct con-tact with infected animalsthrough breathing, eatingraw meat and milk and bitingof certain infected animalslike dogs and cats causestransmission of Zoonotic dis-eases. They emphasized foradopting preventive mea-sures by using masks,gloves, bed nets and mos-quito spray, hand wash be-fore and after contacting in-fected animals.

ISLAMABAD—The WorldFood Programme (WFP) re-quires U$ 28 million on urgentbasis to continue its relief andrecovery food assistance op-eration till the end of currentyear. Likewise, for the firsthalf of 2014, additional fundsof U$ 122 million are needed,an official of the WFP-Paki-stan told APP here on Tues-day. He said considering theincidence of renewed mon-soon flooding in 2013, theWFP Pakistan deemed it nec-essary to enhance its readi-ness capacity for which fund-ing was also required.

Meanwhile, health expertson Tuesday said that moremalaria prevention and con-trol measures are essential toreducing the malaria in theflood-affected areas of thecountry. According to the ex-perts, malaria is a life threat-ening disease caused by para-sites that are transmitted topeople through the bites of

Measures to curb malaria in flood-hit areas

WFP requires $ 28m tocontinue relief operation

infected mosquitoes particu-larly in this high-risk season.They said parasites arespread to people through thebites of infected anophelesmosquitoes, called malariavectors, which bite mainlybetween dusk and dawn.

They added non immunetravellers from malaria free ar-eas are very vulnerable to thedisease when they get in-fected. Dr Wasim Khawajafrom Pakistan Institute ofMedical Sciences (PIMS) saidthat parents and caretakers ofchildren needed to realize thatit was their moral, ethical andreligious obligation to ensuretheir children were protectedagainst diseases and disabil-ity through completion of theimmunization course. He saidmedia persons should playtheir vital role in motivatingfamilies and communities toavail the free vaccination ser-vice against the diseases avail-able in the hospital.

He said that malaria is anacute febrile illness, adding, ina non immune individual, symp-toms appear seven days or moreusually 10 to 15 days after theinfective mosquito bite. DrKhawaja said the first symp-toms like fever, headache, chillsand vomiting may be mild anddifficult to recognize as malaria.If not treated within 24 hours,malaria can progress to severeillness often leading to death,he added. He said children withsevere malaria frequently de-velop one or more of the symp-toms like severe anaemia, res-piratory distress in relation tometabolic acidosis, or cerebralmalaria.

He said in adults, multiorgan involvement is also fre-quent while in malaria en-demic areas, persons maydevelop partial immunity, al-lowing asymptomatic infec-tions to occur. He said ma-laria epidemics can occurwhen climate and other con-ditions suddenly favourtransmission in areas wherepeople have little or no im-munity to malaria.—APP

ISLAMABAD: PAF’s F-7 PG aircraft taking off from and Operational PAF Air Base to participate in joint air exercise‘Shaheen-II with Chinese Air Force being conducted in China from Sept 03 to 22.

CHAMAN: Levies jawan stand alert in the squad vehicles for the security of the NATOand US vehicles supply, crossing into Pakistani side of the Pak-Afghan border fromKandahar towards Karachi port.

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Minister Shaukat Yousafzai checking reg-ister during his inspection visit of Molvi Amir Shah Hospital.

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Minister forTourism, Sports and MuseumMehmood Khan Tuesday saidthat the government will initiatedifferent uplift projects to ame-liorate the lot of poor segmentof the society. He said that thegovernment after the assum-ing the power was workingaround the clock to improvesocio economic condition ofdown trodden, maintain su-premacy of law and good gov-ernance. He was talking to agroup of people of Swat hereat his office.

Minister for welfare projects across KPThe Minister said PTI led

government was against cor-ruption and favouritism andthe change has now startedvisible. Mehmood Khan saidthat different projects relatedto agriculture, roads, commu-nication and energy besideseducation and health are be-ing launched in Swat.

***Khyber Medical Univer-

sity (KMU) Peshawar beingthe largest and sole public sec-tor medical university of theprovince has been actively in-volved with the Associations

of Physicians of Pakistani De-scent of North America(APPNA) for the hepatitis con-trol and awareness particularlyin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In this connection KMU isorganizing a symposium in jointcollaboration with Health De-partment of KP and APPNAhere at a local hotel on Wednes-day. Shaukat Ali Yousafzai Min-ister of Health KP will be thechief guest while acting ViceChancellor KMU Prof. Dr ShadMohammad will be the guestof honor in the opening ses-sion of the symposium.—APP

SIALKOT—The district ad-ministration has detectedgas and electricity theft of Rs43 million during a specialcampaign. District Coordina-tion Officer (DCO) Iftikhar AliSahu expressed these viewsin a district taskforce meet-ing on Tuesday.

The DCO said the cam-paign against gas and elec-tricity theft would be inten-sified on the orders of ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif. Hesaid theft of gas and electric-ity could not be controlledwithout support of peopleand citizens could provideinformation about gas and

Drive against gas, power thieves continues

Theft detected in 3 factorieselectricity theft on 052-9250456.He said action wouldbe taken immediately and thename of the informer wouldremain confidential. He saidpolice had arrested 58 ac-cused for stealing electricityand gas registered 72 casesagainst them.

Faisalabad: The anti-theft squad under the super-vision of District Coordina-tion Officer (DCO) NajamAhmad Shah detected threegas theft cases in differentfactories here. A spokesmanof the local district govern-ment told here that the anti-theft squad along with

SNGPL engineers and eliteforce conducted raid at anice factory on Faisalabad-Jaranwala Road and un-earthed heavy gas pilferagein the factory.

He said that factory own-ers Khawaja Maqsood andKhawaja Aman Ullah werestealing gas worth Rs 5-6 mil-lion annually by putting adirect connection on maingas pipelines to run twoheavy duty generators, bigelectric motors and othermachinery in the factory. Theraiding team also took intocustody the apparatus beingused for gas theft.—APP

Peace in KarachiISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for Wa-ter and Power Khwaja Muhammad Asifsaid that government would take all po-litical parties on board for maintainingpeace in Karachi. He said that the gov-ernment will evolve consensus amongall the political parties for maintaining lawand order situation in the country. Theminister said that the federal governmentwas providing all kind of cooperation tothe province for curbing criminal activi-

ties in the commercial hub city. Talking to media he said thatthe government would demonstrate political will in attend-ing the Cabinet meetings to maintain law and order situationin Karachi. He said that continuous democratic process wasneeded to resolve all the issues including terrorism. Reply-ing to another question, he said that Cabinet meeting wouldtake final decision regarding steps for peace in Karachi.Khwaja Asif said that all political parties wanted strict ac-tion against the criminals without any discrimination to en-sure government’s writ. Earlier, talking to reporters at party’sKrishan Nagar office on Tuesday, PML-N central leadersMohammed Mehddi and Tariq Mehmood Gill said thattrouble in Karachi has taken a serious turn and if promptsolution was not sought, the situation would aggravate.They said, it is a welcoming sign that the Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif was presiding over a cabinet meeting onKarachi situation. Since, they said, he (Nawaz) is a true pa-triot and popular leader, he would be able to evolve a strat-egy to bring peace in Karachi. “Early peace in Karachi ismust to frustrate elements lurking to damage Pakistan,” theyadded.—APP

CM visits police stationStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Chief Minister KhyberPakhtunkhwa Pervaiz Khattak paid a sur-prise visit to police station UniversityTown Peshawar and checked all therecords of the police station. He met thedetainees and got information about theirdetention. Members Provincial AssemblyIshtiaq, Urmar, Khaliq-uz-Zaman, YousafArif, Media Advisor to Chief MinisterSheraz Paracha and Chief Minister Secu-rity Officer, Zaibullah Khan also accom-

panied the chief minister. SSP operation Hussain Khan, SPCantt Faisal Kamran and ASP Town Rana Umar Farooq alsoarrived at the police station. Talking on this occasion, theChief Minister stressed upon the police personnels to bringabout a positive change in their attitude towards the generalpublic so that the trust of the public in police could be re-stored and people could feel a sense of security. Police shouldgreet the people coming to police station to register theircomplaints and seeking help of police with a smile and dealwith them in an honourable manner; the Chief Minister fur-ther stressed. While expressing his satisfaction on the overallperformance of the town police station Mr. Khattak directedthe police officers to surprise visit the police stations undertheir control on regular basis and report to the high ups ac-cordingly. On this occasion SHO, Town Police Station, SardarHussain briefed the Chief Minister about the performance ofthe police station.

Corruption free societyOur Correspondent

HAFIZABAD—State Minister for Na-tional Health Services, Regulation andCoordination, Saira Afzal Tarar said thatcorruption would be rooted out from thesociety and stern action would be takenagainst the corrupt elements. Address-ing the meeting of newly-constitutedDistrict Coordination Committee, shestressed the need for concrete stepsimproving service delivery promptly.She warned that those found negligent

or taking little interest in the implementations of welfareagenda of the present government would be shown zerotolerance. She directed the officers to be punctual in of-fices and education institutions for their better function-ing. She also stressed the need for surprise visits of hospi-tals for improving their functions to ensure better treat-ment to the ailing humanity. Newly-appointed DCOMansoor Qadir assured the minister that he and his teamwould leave no stone unturned to improve the performanceof different departments and utilize development fundswith the consultations of public representatives. Later, theminister visited the village Jurian of Shaheed Capt. SarfrazKhan and expressed her sympathies with his father (Retd)Subedar Maj Mansib Ali Khan and other family members.She said that she and the nation was proud of the youngShaheed Capt. for making supreme sacrifice while defend-ing the homeland. MNA Mian Shahid Hussain Bhati, MPAsMalik Fayyaz Ahmad Awan, Ch.

A H RAO

MIRPUR—A national helpline on the issue has beenlaunched by the forced mar-riage unit at Home OfficeLondon in order to discour-age the menace of the issueof forced marriages throughcivil legislature and with thecoordination of the civil so-ciety. This was disclosedhere yesterday by Ms.Victoria White, the visitingCaseworker of the BritishForeign & Common Wealthoffice in London while ad-dressing a news conferencehere on Tuesday during herday-long official trip to thiscity of over a million Britain-based Kashmiri expatriates.

The British diplomat wasaccompanied by Albert

David, Consular Operationsin the British High Commis-sion and Mrs. NeelamFarooq, head of ConsularOperations, British HighCommission Islamabad andother two-member officialteam of the experts from theBHC. She pointed out least47 percent of the total of 1500cases of forced marriagesfrom various countries, reg-istered with the Forced Mar-riage Unit of the British Homeoffice in London, belong toPakistan, mostly AzadJammu & Kashmir

She pointed out that asa result of a successfulcampaign of raising aware-ness among the people es-pecially the stake holders,a considerable decline inthe cases of forced mar-

riages in UK has been ex-perienced and people useto avoid to suffer the men-ace – which, she pointedout, is also discouraged inthe rel igion of Islam.Victoria pointed out thatBangladesh is at the 2ndnumber with 11 percent ofcases and India is at No. 3with 8 percent of the casesof forced marriages regis-tered with Forced MarriageUnit of the British Foreign& commonwealth Office sofar.

Other countries includeIraq Afghanistan, Somaliaand some African coun-tries from where the casesof the forced marriagesfaced by the British nation-als, landed in the ForcedMarriage Unit, she added.

National helpline to discourageforced marriages in UK

PESHAWAR: Activists of different unions of studentschanting slogans during a protest demonstration in frontof Cantt Railway Station.

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Secretary In-formation and Public Rela-tions Azmat Hanif Orakzai hassaid that access to informa-tion was the due right of ev-ery human being and the KPRight to Information Ordi-nance (RTIO) will play a keyrole in the provision of reliefto the people, developinggood governance and curb-ing corruption. It will makethe public bodies transparent,besides making the account-ability drive a success andabove all making access ofthe people to the basic infor-mation.

This he said while ad-dressing a seminar on Rightto Information Ordinance ar-ranged by the Centre forGovernance and Public Ac-countability (CGPA) at a lo-cal hotel in Peshawar onTuesday. The purpose of theseminar was to practicallyimplement the RTIO and toinitiate drive to apprise thepublic of its advantages.Azmat Hanif Orakzai saidtheir religion Islam and theConstitution of Pakistan hasgiven them the right to ac-cess to information and ac-cording to aims objectives ofthe law everybody could get

access to information.He said with this law ev-

ery citizen could get informa-tion from those public bodieswhich were being run on thepublic funds or working for thewelfare of the people. He saidunder this ordinance none ofthe applicant could be refusedto have access to informationand record he wanted. He saidany type of information couldbe given to the applicants ex-cept those where there werecertain legal acceptations.

Azmat Hanif Orakzai saidthat the applicant would sub-mit his written application onplain paper to the Public Infor-

mation Officer where none ofthe applicants would be askedabout the reason for gettingthe required information. Hesaid the officer concernedwould be bound to providereceipt to the applicant andwould provide the demandedinformation within ten days ofthe receipt of the application.He said if the applicant requiredinformation regarding securityto life and liberty, then thesame information would be ar-ranged within two days. Thesecretary information said ifthe applicant was not satisfiedwith the info so far providedto him in response to his ap-

plication, he could contact theinformation commission. Hesaid this commission wouldconsist of three persons.

He said the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Right to Infor-mation Ordinance was betterthan those implemented inother countries. He said theordinance would not onlybring transparency in thepublic bodies but would alsoplay a vital role in the disposalof matters of national inter-ests. He said the good im-pacts of the RTIO would befelt on the lives of the com-mon man as well. He said theRight to Information Ordi-

nance was the first agendaitem of the provincial govern-ment and the InformationDepartment wanted itscompletion in letter and spirit.He said on the implementa-tion of the Right to Informa-tion Ordinance poverty, frus-tration, lawlessness etcwould vanish from the soci-ety. However, he under-scored the need for initiatinga strong public awarenesscampaign in this regard. Hesaid through workshops,seminars, meetings and me-dia in all the districts a cam-paign would be made for thepurpose.—APP

RTIO to play key role in curbing corruption

PESHAWAR—Director HealthServices FATA, Dr PervaizKamal Khan has said that medi-cal professional of the Direc-torate has been stationed inSwat and two fumigation ma-chines have also been dis-patched to control the out-break of dengue virus.

He said that all the neces-sary fumigation equipmenthave been handed over to Dis-trict Administration tostrengthened dengue preven-tive measure in the area. Hesaid that the medical profes-sional of FATA Secretariathave been directed to ensuretheir presence till the eradica-tion of the virus from the area.Earlier, a seminar on the ‘Roleof Dengue Fever and its Pre-vention’ was organised at theSaidu Medical College audito-rium hall here.

Dengue virus control

Fumigation equipmentdispatched to Swat

Dr Irfan, expert on ‘Den-gue’ presented different tech-nical aspects of the denguefever and briefed the audienceon the anti-dengue campaignwhich had been launched byPunjab government duringyear 2011 and 2012. He high-lighted the experiences ofPunjab government that howto control dengue virus. Hefurther informed the partici-pants about the directions ofWorld health Organization tostart anti- dengue activities.Army Doctor, Colonel Aijazshared his experience with par-ticipants on the occassion andsaid that it will take time to elimi-nate Dengue from the area.

Beside the seminar, anawareness walk was also car-ried out for Dengue sefety mea-sures by district administra-tion.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Senior APHCleader and Chairman ofDemocratic Freedom Party(DFP), Shabbir Ahmad Shahhas said that the people ofKashmir are “politically ma-ture to distinguish betweenthe election politics and free-dom struggle.” According toKashmir Media Service,Shabbir Shah in a statementissued in Srinagar said, “In-dia is forcibly occupyingKashmir since 1947.”

“The of Kashmiris knowhow many lives they havesacrificed against the forced

Kashmiris know who is behind communal clashesoccupation of India and howmuch brutalities they had tol-erated,” Shah said adding“They also understand thatthe authorities by arrestingpro-freedom leaders are try-ing to suppress the freedommovement.”

“Kashmiris also under-stand that those parties in-volved in election politics arestrengthening the imperialis-tic propagandas of India un-der the garb of democracy,”he said. “Kashmiris alsoknow who were behind thecommunal clashes that

erupted in Gool, Ramban andKishtwar and who targetedMuslims by adopting partialapproach,” he added.

The DFP chief while ap-plauding the political intel-lect of Kashmiris said “when-ever situation turned worsefor movement, they sacri-ficed everything for its sake.”Shah, while warning pro-In-dian politicians, said Kashmiripeople would never let thesacrifices go waste and “theywill never prefer roads, parksand music concerts overfreedom.—APP

BAHAWALPUR: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif visiting the medical relief camp for flood affectees.

HYDERABAD: Markets were closed in the city during strike called by JSQM rejectingthe medical report about the cause of death of party leader Bashir Qureshi.

ISLAMABAD—The Meteoro-logical Department on Tues-day forecast rain-thunder-shower at isolated places ofmost parts of the country;however, rain-thundershoweris likely to lash isolated placesin Islamabad, Rawalpindi,Gujranwala, Lahore, Sargodha,Malakand, Hazara, Bannu,Kohat divisions and Kashmir.Khyber Pakthunkhwa includ-ing Malakanad and Hazara di-visions during next 24 hours.According to Met Office here,Bannu and Kohat divisionsare also likely to receive rain-thundershowers during thesaid period due to season lowlied over North Balochistanand adjoining areas.

Moreover, weak monsooncurrents from the Arabian sea

are continuously penetratinginto upper parts of the coun-try whereas a shallow westerlywave is also prevailing overupper parts of the country.Mainly hot and humid weather

is expected in most parts of thecountry; however, rain-thun-dershower is also expected atisolated places in Islamabad,Rawalpindi, Gujranwala,Lahore and Sargodha divi-sions and Kashmir. Theweather of Abbottabad.—APP

Rain at isolated places likely

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The NationalDatabase and RegistrationAuthority (NADRA) has is-sued around 1000 smartcards free of cost to the or-phans residing in registeredorphanages houses. Afterthe successful launch ofChip based Smart NationalIdentity Card (SNIC) foradults, the Authority hasstarted the issuance of

NADRA issues 1000 smart cards to orphansSmart Cards for Childrenalso, an official told APP hereon Tuesday.

Empowering socially des-titute children with identitywas a long-standing initia-tive of NADRA, which nowhas eventually seen a pros-pect of success of the project,he added. Now children with-out known parentage willhave the fundamental right tobe the citizen of the countryand get an identity under

section 9 of NADRA Ordi-nance 2000. With thecompletion of registrationprocess of orphanages, noindividual (orphan) can bedeprived of his fundamentalright as ensured in the con-stitution of the country.

Orphanage must be reg-istered under Federal Pro-vincial orphanage Act, andorphanage wil l have toprovide CNIC of the guard-ian. In case of unknown

parentage orphanage willprovide an affidavit statingthe supposed names ofparents. Mobile teams arebusy to register orphan-ages all across country tofinalize the process of is-suance of Smart Card tosuch children.

All the registered or-phanages have been elec-tronically linked withNADRA system. NADRA isalso working to put vaccina-tion record, orphanage/guardian information, educa-tion record and other vitalinformation on Smart CardChip.

Polio eradicationreview meeting

tomorrowP E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Minister forHealth Shaukat Yousafzaiwould chair the first monthlyreview meeting on polioeradication on September5th, at Health Secretariat. Themeeting would be held onmonthly basis with a view togive an update on implemen-tation of National EmergencyAction Plan (NEAP) for Po-lio Eradication in KhyberPakhtunkhwa besides re-viewing the current statusand issues confronted to ex-panded programme on immu-nization (EPI) in the province.

****The provincial minister for

Industries, Commerce andLabour Bakht Baidar KhanTuesday called on the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor, Engi-neer Shaullah at Governor’sHouse here. He remained withthe Governor for sometimeand discussed matters pertain-ing to the role and serviceswhich the department hasbeen rendering for well beingof the people of the province.

The minister also high-lighted salient features of theongoing developmentprojects as well as the futureplanning upon which the pro-vincial government is contem-plating to streamline.—APP

Musharraf beingbooked again and againYET another case has been registered against former President

Pervez Musharraf in connection with the Lal Masjid operationand the killings there. The FIR was registered on the orders of

Islamabad High Court.It is the latest in a series of charges dating back to Musharraf’s 1999-

2008 rule, which the retired General has been facing since March this yearwhen he opted to return to Pakistan from self-imposed exile. The formerPresident is already booked on charges of involvement in the murder of formerPrime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Nawab Akbar Bugti, high treason forsubverting the Constitution and Judges detention cases and who knows theremay be others in the pipeline against him. These cases against the formerPresident and Retired Army Chief, we believe, are bound to open a Pandora’sbox because he was Head of State and one cannot imagine that he wouldhave ordered the murder of people for which he has been charged. Suchactions are taken by officials dealing with law and order and it looks ratherodd that at a time when Pakistan is facing a number of crucial issues includingmilitancy, internal instability, tattering economy and border security, perhapsa distracting phenomenon is being created. It is a dilemma that no body isquestioned when he is at the helm of affairs but when he is ousted all sorts ofcharges are levelled against him. People start filing petitions about one act orthe other of the former ruler, either to get justice or to gain publicity in a highprofile case. Isn’t it the duty of a Government in office to protect the sovereigntyof the state, provide security to the people, enforce writ of the government,maintain law and order and counter any mischievous attempt to create a statewithin state. Now as the economic hub of the country, Karachi is burning andthere is an alarming situation of failing law and order in the city where pocketsof states within state have been created, is it advisable for the Governmentstay idle and do nothing? And if the Government decides to launch anoperation, to establish the writ of law, and some people are killed in the cross-fire, will there be any justification to file cases against the governmentfunctionaries and commanders managing operation to put the things in order?

Is SC stepping inexecutive’s arena?

THE Supreme Court, on Monday, gave landmark directions to theFederal Government giving deadline of 10 days for appointment of

Chairman Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) and 30 days forauctioning of the much-delayed auction of 3-G spectrum. A three-memberBench of the apex court, headed by Chief Justice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhary, observed that the country has suffered hugely due to uncalled fordelay in the auction of the spectrum and that the PTA’s composition shouldbe completed to kick-start the process.

It is a fact that it was only after taking cognisance of many importantissues by the Supreme Court that the Governments of the day abandonedtheir inaction and moved to implement measures in the interest of the countryand the nation. There are numerous such instances and 3G auction is onesuch issue that remains pending for about five years just because of lack ofcommitment, sincerity and transparency on the part of the PPP Government.The present Government has vowed to expedite the process and in fact, thebudgetary proposals envisage prospective income from the auction butunfortunately there is no move in sight towards achievement of the objective.Hopefully, the intervention of the court would sensitise the relevant authoritiesand they would make transparent moves for auctioning of the spectrum thatwould generate income for the Government and help introduce latesttechnology for users of telecom services. But the court decision has alsoprompted a debate whether or not the Judiciary is stepping in the domain ofthe Executive. Some analysts believe that appointment of Chairman PTA andauction of the 3-G spectrum are purely the realm of the Executive and theJudiciary should not intervene in such executive matters. We believe thatPakistan is passing though a sort of transition and that the new Governmentis making headways to clear the back-log of the past, it should be given achance to take such actions without any outside pressures.

US to leave back aburning Afghanistan

WHAT happened in Afghanistan on Monday is a clear indication ofthe environs in which the United States is going to leave back the

unfortunate country — burning, bloodshed and chaos. Taliban suicide bombersand gunmen dressed as Afghan police attacked a US base and set 41 of parkedsupply vehicles ablaze.

The United States has already announced timetable for withdrawal of theoccupation troops and in the first phase unnecessary equipment, arms andvehicles are being sent back. Americans claim that they have completed theirmission in Afghanistan but the continued violence and bloodshed speakotherwise. The only super power of the world might have accomplished thetask of destroying the entire infrastructure of the country and killing of hundredsof thousands of people but as for as the stated goal of stability and peace isconcerned, there is no indication that Afghanistan would see any such thingin the near future. Like Iraq, where sectarian war triggered by the US strategyis taking heavy toll. There are apprehensions that different ethnic groups ofAfghanistan would continue to fight for gaining control of different parts ofthe country once foreign forces leave Afghanistan. Americans have alsosidelined the majority ethnic population — Pushtoons — dubbing them asTaliban and handing over almost the entire governance and administration tominority groups, sowing seeds of tension in the country. Similarly, the UnitedStates is also bent upon assigning undue role to India in Afghanistan and as aconsequence, there are fears, the country would again become a battlegroundof regional powers. Taliban still have significant presence in Afghanistan andthe use of force has proved to be ineffective and therefore, it is important thatthe United States should initiate genuine dialogue aimed at creating consensuson the shape of the system that suits the country best.

Indian administrative service

A truly great mannever puts away thesimplicity of a child.

Syria’sAl-Qaedaargument

SYRIA has come out with arejoinder to the United States.In a swift and carefully

worded statement, Syria’s DeputyForeign Minister Faisal Mekdad,who is considered to be veryinfluential in the regime, said thatWashington’s possible militaryaction against Damascus wouldfuel terrorism worldwide, andcome as a shot in arm for Al-Qaeda.

Mekdad wasn’t playing to thegallery when he said this as he wenton to correlate the rebels’association with the United States,and blamed them squarely for theAugust 21 chemical attack in thesuburbs of the capital. Mekdad hasa strong point when he says thatdreaded terrorist groups like AlQaeda, who want to polarise theregion and plunge it deep intowarfare, will make use of thisopportunity to further theirnefarious designs. They are alreadystated to be regrouping in Yemen,Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan andelsewhere — and in Syria wheremany of their affiliates areoperative will bless them with anew lease of life to stage upfrontattacks. This perspective will havean impact as US Congressmendebate the war proposition.

This ensuing war of wordsbetween stakeholders in theconflict, namely the US andSyria, is making the war casemore and more interesting. Thepoint is if President BarackObama’s intention is to securethe region from a dictatorialregime and its barbaric acts, thenhow safe will the world be if AlQaeda starts operating in theshadows? Secondly, if thereigning Baath Party is so sureof rebels and its accomplices’involvement in the August 21toxic attack, this is the time tobring to fore evidences againstthe outfits and make a befittingcase before the world. Come-what may, Syrian PresidentBashar Al Assad has to honestlylook into the proposition ofstanding down and making roomfor a peaceful transition ofpower. In both the cases, whetherit is an attack from the West orcontinuation of the ongoingcivil-strife, Syria is dyingslowly.—Khaleej Times

*****

G-20 mustfind waysto ride outthe storm

THE cure is proving to be asdangerous as the disease foremerging economies,

including Brazil, Russia, India,China and South Africa. This week,the Group of 20 significant globaleconomies will be meeting inRussia. No matter the formalagenda — which includes betterregulation of the internationalfinancial system — the summit willmainly be concerned about thevolatility of emerging markets andthe slowing growth of theireconomies. This is perhaps bestreflected in the recent weakness oftheir currencies, with the Indianrupee and South African rand,among others, hitting record lowsagainst the dollar.

Federal Reserve, which hasbeen stimulating the US and globaleconomy by making easy moneyavailable to financial markets, hasindicated that it will begin easingthe programme as US economyshows clearer signs of recovery. Asa result, investors are pulling theirfunds out of emerging markets andmoving their money back to theperceived safety of the USeconomy and the strengtheningdollar. Governments in someemerging markets are desperatelycasting around for ways to thetackle the perceived crisis.

But, this is not to say thatemerging economies do not haveproblems of their own making.They are running large trade andbudget deficits and are oftendragging their feet on tacklingred tape, corruption andnecessary economic and labourreforms. Dealing with thesematters will help boost investorconfidence in their economiesand currencies. —Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

—Chinese Proverb

THE Indian AdministrativeService (IAS) is at the apexto run the country’s

administration. It replaced the IndianCivil Service (ICS) which was aninstrument in the hands of the Britishto rule over India. Afterindependence, there was seriousthinking whether there should be anall-India service at all. The stateswanted persons from their own areato administer.

But, then Home Minister SardarPatel was particular to have an all-India service to articulate the feelingof unity and to maintain thediversities prevailing in the country.The service would also, Patelasserted, ensure that the Indianconstitution remained supreme in themedley of pulls by different states.Two all-India services, IndianAdministrative Service and IndianPolice Service (IPS), wereconstituted. They came to occupytop positions in the states. Thisarrangement worked fairly well tillthe early seventies when the rotstarted due to the Centre’s maniaceffort to concentrate power and thestates’ ambition to play politicsthrough civil servants. This haspracticably nullified goodadministration. The IAS has becomea glorified state service.

The rulers use it in the mannerthey like. In real, the emergency isthe watershed. Then Prime MinisterIndira Gandhi suspended theconstitution and used the IAS

HURMAT GROUP OF PUBLICATIONSZahid Malik

President & Editor-in-ChiefPh: 051-2256006

Faisal Zahid MalikEditor

Ph: 021-32631102

Gauhar Zahid MalikExecutive Editor

Ph: 051-2853818

IslamabadPh Exchange: 051-2852027

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

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

KarachiFaisal Zahid Malik

EditorPh: 021-32211777, 32635403

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

LahoreKhalid ButtResident Editor

Ph: 042-37593341, 37566702Marketing Ph: 37597364

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

QuettaGhulam TahirResident Editor

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

PeshawarTariq SaeedResident Editor

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

MuzaffarabadAbdul Hameed Shaheen

Resident EditorPh: 051-2852028, Mobile: 0315-5010791

Email: obsmzd@pakobserver.net / abdulhameedshaheen@yahoo.com

Sunday Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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

officers to enforce illegalacts and suppress thecritics. This was the timewhen the thin line betweenright and wrong, moraland immoral was erased.Only a couple of officers

stood up against what was sheerdictatorship. Fear of punishmentfor disobedience made theservice servile. It was once a steelframe but it has now turned into aseal frame. The Shah Commission,appointed to look into theexcesses during the emergency,has deplored how thebureaucracy caved in. TheCommission has said:

“The ethical considerationsinherent in public behavior becamegenerally dim and in many casesbeyond the mental grasp of many ofthe public functionaries. Desire forself-preservation as admitted by anumber of public servants at variouslevels became the sole motivation fortheir official actions and behavior…”The service has not recovered fromthe carrots dangled before it duringthe emergency. In fact, it is going outof the way to placate the rulers. Thelatter, in turn, have rewarded thosewho did what the rulers wanted. Themalaise is largely because of tworeasons: one, the rulers do not respectthe regulations and violate them toreap benefits for themselves and theirparties; two, the IAS officers who areallotted to the states, have surrenderedbecause of threat of transfer or postingto an unimportant position.

Therefore, it is heartening to see,when IAS officers like Durga ShaktiNagpal from UP and Ashok Khemkafrom Haryana, standing up againstthe wrongs the rulers wished themto do. She has been suspended

because of stopping the illegalmining by sand mafia. TheSamajwadi Party, ruling UP andplacating the Muslim electorate,has justified her suspension,saying that she had endangeredthe communal harmony byordering the demolition of anoutside wall of a mosque. One,this is not true. Two, she waswithin her right to demolish anyunauthorized structure on thegovernment land. In a judgment,the Supreme Court has said thata place of worship should bepulled down immediately if thegovernment land had beenencroached upon. It is a pity thatthe Supreme Court rejected apublic interest litigation (PIL)petition challenging hersuspension. The court istechnically correct that it cannotinterfere in matters between thegovernment and the employees.The Court had the opportunityto set right the rot.

It should have realized the angerwhich swept through the countryfollowing action against the twoofficials. The support of IASassociations from some states and thetrainees at Mussorie to Durga evokeshope that the service which hasingratiated itself with politicians maybegin to assert itself as was the casebefore the emergency. The manner inwhich the three-member IAS officers’committee endorsed the Haryanagovernment casts shadow on thebehavior of the service. The nationstill hopes that the bureaucracy willmake up for the deficiencies whichthe politicians, particularly belongingto the ruling party in a state or at theCentre, have created in the system.

In many foreign countries, there

is a committee for civil servicesupervising the suspensions,transfers and promotions ofofficials. A similar committee canbe constituted in India as well.The task can also be entrustedto the Union Public ServiceCommission (UPSC), which is alsothe recruiting authority. The serviceitself will have to do introspectionif officers were to act only on thebasis of self-promotion. Today whenthe common man does not get evenwhat is rightfully due to him, he isdisillusioned with the entire system.True, politicians will continue tokeep an eye on the electorate, butthe IAS cannot afford to fall prey totheir designs. A public functionarymust display a degree of vigilanceand willingness to sacrifice.

The Gandhi dynasty shoulddraw a lesson from the example ofFeroze Gandhi, son-in-law ofJawaharlal Nehru. Feroz Gandhiwould take up cases of corruptionin parliament, even to theembarrassment of Nehru. He wasso upright that he did not even liveat the Prime Minister’s house buthad a separate bungalow to whichhe was entitled as a member ofparliament. It is another matter thatFeroze Gandhi’s son, Rajiv Gandhi,got the atmosphere contaminatedwhen, as the Prime Minister hebought the Bofors guns. Corruptionof the dynasty has not lessenedeither in tone or tenor. Robert Vadra,son-in-law of Congress presidentSonia Gandhi, has created a stench.

Coming back to the IAS, itsname is in the mud. It must retrieveitself not only for the sake of theDurgas and Khemkas, but also forthe public which is still hopingagainst hope that the service will

Prime Minister’s national agenda

IN an all encompassing, firstspeech since the generalelections, Prime Minister Nawaz

Sharif admitted that the country’sinstitutions have failed on almost allfronts, including the war on terror.He thanked the people for expressingtheir confidence in him. But he said,“We should face reality that thecountry faces severe challenges”.This frank articulation is indeed ahealthy sign. Real progress can onlybe made when the leadership isaware of and is willing to admit theexistence of problems.

This was the officialacknowledgment of an otherwiseopen secret. Prime Minister’sassessment is also a mirror reflectionof the grim situation portrayed by the‘Annual Survey of Failed States’covering 2012. This survey hasrecently appeared in ‘Foreign Policy’magazine. Basing its calculations ondata derived from elements likedemographic pressure, refugees,public services, economic decline,factionalised elites, securityapparatus etc, it places Pakistan inthe 13th position with a total scoreof 102.9. Bangladesh stands at 24thwith a score of 96.1, Sri Lanka at25th with a score of 95.7 and Indiaat 79th with 77.5. Any figure above80 puts country in ‘critical’ category.

While addressing the nation, thePM touched on issues ranging frompower crisis and corruption toPakistan’s relations with India, droneattacks and national security. He hasrekindled the hope that hisgovernment, with the help of thepeople, will resolve all these issues.He said Pakistan is passing througha challenging phase and “we willhave to take difficult and important

decisions”. He said that soon aftertaking over the government he hadinvited all political forces to joinhands to steer the country out of itscurrent problems and put it back onthe track of development, and “nowgoing one step ahead, offer dialogueto those elements whichunfortunately have taken the courseof extremism”.

For over two months, NawazSharif had put off the traditionalinaugural address to the nation. Theunofficial explanation was that hewas taking a tour of the wonderlandof the problems confronting thecountry and would come up withconcrete action plan for handling allof them especially terrorism andenergy crisis. His diagnosis wascorrect, but some of the offeredsolutions were hollow. Many analystshad opined that though the newgovernment was aware of theexistence of most of these problems,they had little idea of the breadth anddepth of many of them.Unfortunately, this was true asconfessed by the prime minister. Hesaid that he only discovered the scaleof the problems after assuming hisoffice in June. Existence of thisinformation black hole came as adisappointment to all well wishers ofthe country; the prime minster inwaiting for the last five years shouldhave been better informed. There isa need to institute measures to ensuredissemination of information to thegovernment in waiting so it remainsready to step in shoes and startfunctioning without fumbling. Weneed to look into system of shadowministers to overcome this difficulty.

The prime minister was clear-headed about the problem ofterrorism. He pointed out that fear hadpervaded everyone, from law-enforcement agencies to the courtsand to witnesses. He called fordialogue with the militants. He made

unconditional offer of coming to thetable. However, he asserted in case areasonable way out was not possible,his government would not hesitate touse force. This is indeed the correctapproach. Most of countries haveovercome the problem of terrorismthrough this two track approach. Afair chance should be given to thosewho wish to give up terrorism but findall exit doors shut. Moreover, thiswould help in building nationalconsensus if option of hard powerapplication becomes inevitable.

Though Nawaz Sharif touchedon every challenge country is facing,it was issue of energy about whichhe did a plain talk and told nationthat a sudden and immediate solutionwas simply not possible. This wasindeed a realistic assessment ofsituation. He was bold enough tostate that addressing the curse of loadshedding, would take five years asnew projects will require severalyears before they start generation. “Iam confident power crisis will beovercome in five years,” he said. Inrealm of foreign policy, he spoke ofmaking significant departures fromexisting settings. On India, PM wasfar clearer and stronger, emphasisinghe sought improved ties for sake ofpeople of region, despite theproblems and perils exist.

However, PM needs to realize notmuch of space is available toaccommodate his wish list. India isnot ready to cede space for suchadjustments. He should launch adiplomatic campaign for evolving aregional approach for meetingchallenges of post 2014 Afghanistan.In context of drone attacks, thoughhe has conveyed his point of view toUS side, concessions given by earliergovts may stand in his way. However,overall change in drone policy asunveiled in President Obama’s“Crossroads” speech provides a rayof hope such attacks could come to

an end within one year. PM’sassertion that he intends to take onproblems of Baluchistan and usedevelopment as a tool to help tackleproblems is quite encouraging.However, he needs to addressgovernance vacuum; otherwise alldevelopment effort would go downdrain. The outgoing govt hadpumped in phenomenal funds, butnothing changed on ground.Likewise, he was concerned aboutfrequent breakdown of law & orderin Karachi. Karachi needs awholesome treatment, starting fromdepoliticising law enforcementagencies & controlling gun running.

Nawaz Sharif was also candidabout the state of economy.Pakistan’s foreign debt, he said, hadincreased from Rs3,000 billion toRs14,000 billion in 14 years. Thegovernment had to opt for moreloans to pay the heavy instalments.He pointed out that the losses fromstate corporations amounted toRs2.5 trillion in the last five years.Nevertheless, he will have to findout remedies for these poorperforming strategic entities short ofprivatization. There is need toappoint hard core professionals forrunning these corporations and doaway with the political appointees.

Through his speech, PM Sharifhas laid down his leadership style.The new government is sufferingfrom slow syndrome. It certainlydoes not have unlimited time at itsdisposal. It will have to ensure thatsigns of improvement begin to showfor themselves. It must reach out tothe underlying causes leading topresent impasse and avoid anapproach of window dressing. Thereal test starts now, even if he coulddeliver partially on what he haspledged, the country would set outin the right direction.—The writer is Consultant Policy& Strategic Response, IPRI.

Iqbal KhanEmail:tweets@wonderous101

Kuldip NayarEmail:kuldipnayar09@gmail.com

Voice of the People

The merits ofdemocracyALI ASHRAF KHAN

The US seems unable or unwillingto learn the lesson from its so manyunsuccessful wars in Vietnam, Iraq,Afghanistan and Libya. Syria is thenext on their agenda despite a dismaleconomy and growing poverty inAmerica. Surprisingly, it was Britishpeople who historically and morerecently have their own experienceswith lost wars. This time they haveunderstood the writing on wall muchbetter and have therefore, decidednot to be a part of another debacleno matter what.

The decision of the people hasbeen accepted by the BritishGovernment; it was DavidCameron’s black day when he whohad been one of the most ardent warmongers had to declare that he hadbeen wrong and the British peoplewanted something else than he did.And he had the stomach to acceptdefeat and bowed to the will of thevoters. This has weakened thechance of a military interventionconsiderably with Germany alsorefusing now to take part in amilitary operation in Syria. Russiais also sticking by her guns andvowing to block a UNSC resolution,is sending war ships into theMediterranean and has alreadywarned these war mongers to beprepared to face the consequence.Hopefully Obama will understandthis, and also refrain from makinganother mistake. In such case voiceof people – if and when listened to -will prevent a disaster. This is whatdemocracy could do if it functionsproperly. Lessons from this could belearned by all who pay attention toHuman dignity.—Karachi

Place of womenin our society

ATIYA TARIQ

Women are the most respectable inall the ways. If she is a sister, she isa source of strength for her brothers,if she is daughter she is source offorgiveness for his parents, if she iswife she is a good companion forher husband, so in all the relationsIslam has given an honorable statusto the women.

Women in society are importantas men. In fact both men and womenmake it possible for society to existand progress. The position ofwomen in out society, On the whole,is not very satisfactory. Most of ourwomen living in the villages areuneducated they do not have therights which the men enjoys in therural society. Very few women enjoyindependent position as owner ofland and property. They dependupon their husbands of the personlooking after their families. Womenin villages can not often marry asthey like.

Women in cities are insomewhat in better position some ofthem can, of course, get educatedand can marry after their choice. Butwomen in poor families like thoseof laborers or wages earners live likevillage women. Most of them workshard in their small and dirty housesserver their husband and take caretheir children and live in quitehelpless conditions. We should giveenough opportunities to our womento work in different fields of lifewithin the Islamic limits. We shouldgive the right place to our womanin society. Only then we can makeproper progress as a nation.—Via email

Alarming globalwarming

QURAT-UL-AIN SHAHZAD

Global warming is becoming one ofthe major problems of the world.Global warming is the increase inaverage temperature of the Earth’satmosphere. Many scientists nowbelieve that global warming iscaused by human activities. Humanscut down trees, produce more wastethrough their many activities andactions. Therefore, people pollutethe environment. Human beingsburn fossil fuels such as oils, natural

Exclusion of national heroes from textbooksYASIR FEROZ

To join Armed Forces of Pakistan is a dream of about every growing kid of a patriotic family. Many ofthem prefer to join “ARMY”, because from the very first day of independence, army played a vital

role in protecting country’s integrity and sovereignty. Those blessed soldiers who successfully achievetheir first aim, soon think about their next target ie “Martyrdom.” The number of the Commissionedofficers who embraced martyrdom is higher than other countries of the world, because our officersknows the rule of “ Leading From The Front.” For the last few days, I am consistently thinking about thedecision of Punjab Text Book Board, for excluding our highest military award recipients from thetextbooks. Today I am feeling guilty, I don’t know why or textbook boards are determine to keep ouryounger generations ignorant about our heroes. Such steps taken by different Boards were also seen inpast when there were Quranic Verses, accounts of the companions of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and ourgreat names in history were removed from different courses. This trend should be stopped in future forthe sake of our next generations.—Karachi

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

Don’t break law to swipe at Assad

BOMBING Syria for usingchemical weapons against itsown citizens would violate

international law as it currently exists— let’s get that straight. But thatdoesn’t answer the question of whetherthe US should do it anyway. Someevils are so great that righting themrequires violating laws that areinadequate to the situation, such aswhen the US broke the sameinternational law by bombing Serbiain 1999 to stop what looked a lot likegenocide in Kosovo. The real questionis: Should we break international lawto send the symbolic message use ofchemical weapons violates, well,international law?

The legal analysis is surprisinglysimple. If the United Nations SecurityCouncil authorizes force,international law allows it.Otherwise, unless acting in self-defence, a country or a group such asthe North Atlantic TreatyOrganization has no right to attackanother. The UK government issueda statement to the effect thatinternational law recognizes a right

to intervene proportionately whenmany lives are being lost — a versionof what is sometimes called theinternational responsibility to protect,or R2P. The biggest trouble with thisargument — the United Kingdomalso used it when NATO bombedKosovo — is that it doesn’t appearin any treaty or any definitivestatement of international law.

The British lawyers might saythat customary international lawrecognizes this right after the Kosovobombings. But custom is supposed tobecome law when all or almost allstates agree with it. And as we canplainly see from the Russian andChinese opposition to bombing Syria,not everyone agrees. Even afterKosovo, the US and UK went to theSecurity Council to seekauthorization for bombing and theninvading Iraq. The same was true ofbombing Libya. Illegality underinternational law shouldn’t end thediscussion, however. Laws are madeto be broken — especiallyinternational laws that create thepossibility of horribly immoral resultsunder some conditions. It would bemonstrous to stand by and lethundreds of thousands or millions ofpeople die preventable deaths

Views From Abroad

Democracy blessing or curse?

PAKISTAN is a beautifulcountry- at least I think it is. Isay “I think” because while I

perceive it to be beautiful, Isometimes wonder if I mistake safety,security and normalcy for ‘beauty’.The Founders of the country intendedto establish and maintain freedom,liberty and sovereign independencein this country. Most of them wantedit an Islamic Democratic country.They wanted average people to haveequal opportunity, and they wantedthe people to be free and able tochoose leadership that they deemedwise, virtuous, and educated. As it is,we the people do not have free choiceand equal opportunity to choose whorepresents us. We are presented withchoices, and the basic choices wehave are limited to candidates fromorganized partisan political partiesthat divide us. Our forefathers didestablish a balance of powersbetween the executive, judicial andlegislative branches of government,and what is known as checks andbalances of power which we removedgradually. The people of Pakistanhave indeed come a long way toachieve democracy and freedom butfailed. Real democracy comes withreal responsibility, and only by takingpersonal responsibility can we everrealistically expect real change --that’s what democracy is all about.

We have a history of a divided,unequal society based on hatred,discrimination, sectarianism,inhuman treatment, religiousextremism, exploitation and total lack

of basic freedoms, lack ofdemocracy, institutionalizedracism, and an economy thatremained almost bankruptdue to irresponsible behaviorof our leaders. Our so calledleaders did not allow us to

become a nation. Democracy andgood governance are two sides of thesame coin. Legitimacy,accountability, transparency andinclusiveness are the cornerstones ofgood governance that are non existentin Pakistan. The strengthening of thestate and its institutions is theguarantee of political stability, peaceand democratic freedoms but thesame had never been a priority of theso called political regimes. Ourleaders did nothing inmacroeconomic stability, essentiallyin respect of controlling liquiditypressure, price control, foreignexchange management, monitoringcompetitiveness indexes andcontrolling the budget deficit.

Pakistan belongs to all who livein it, but they always remainedhostage in few hands. In the recentpast for instance, five years since theso called democratic governmentcame in. Since then lives of tens ofmillions of Pakistanis changeddownwards forever. It’s difficult tobelieve. It feels like only yesterdaywe were sharing day to day activitieswith the world. “Things willimprove immediately after oustingthe dictator” was slogan we heardfrom PPP. We saw the things didn’timprove for at least five years ratherworsened forever. Apparently ourconstitution lays the foundation fora democratic and open society inwhich government is based on thewill of the people and every citizenis equally protected by the law andcommits to human dignity, the

advancement of human rights to theimprovement of the quality of lifeof all citizens and to free thepotential of each person and to builda united, non-racial, and democraticand prosperous country able to takeits rightful place as a sovereign statein the comity of nations, butphysically it is still a dream for thepeople of Pakistan.

We have seen corrupt andincompetent system. If we get acorrupt leader every now and then weare dealing with a flawed individual.But if we constantly, again and again,get corrupt leaders we are dealingwith a flawed system. Our politicalsystem is now deeply flawed. Theproblem is that I cannot easily seehow to improve or fix it. The mostimportant thing to realize is thatdemocracy is a tool, a means we useto achieve an end. Too many peoplenow confuse it with the end itself.“Real Democracy” has come to meansomething that is good, somethingeverybody wants. But there is norational reason to assume thatdemocracy of universal suffrage isuniformly good and can be appliedwith equal success in allcircumstances. The fulfillment of theReal Pakistani Dream would behaving a government that is truly ofthe people, by the people and for thepeople — government that promotesthe general welfare by using thecommon wealth for the commongood, and ensures domestictranquility, liberty, freedom, andjustice for all the people.

I am a strong supporter ofdemocracy. But democraticgovernment alone does notguarantee effective government.Today what is happening in ourcountry has raised many questionsabout democratic form of

Noah Feldmanbecause, say, Russia vetoes action inthe Security Council.

The bombing of Kosovo wasjustifiable in moral terms — thesaving of innocent lives — even if itwas (cough, cough) illegal. Ifgenocide in Rwanda or Bosnia orCambodia or German-occupiedEurope could have been prevented byunlawful intervention, it would havebeen the right thing to do. What ismore, doing the right thing enoughtimes might eventually changeinternational custom so that the lawdoes in fact change to allow or evenrequire protecting the vulnerable. Butviolent disobedience of the lawshouldn’t be undertaken lightly.International law exists because itsserves the interests of states andpeople. Almost all the time, itdeserves to be followed. Breaking itweakens respect for the rule of lawitself. It makes our treaties lessmeaningful and our commitmentsless firm. Breaking it makes us all alittle less secure and safe.

It would be worth violatinginternational law to save hundredsof thousands of lives in Syria — ifwe were confident we could actuallydo so. But that isn’t the Obamaadministration proposal. Instead, the

US and UK are talking aboutbombing in limited ways, with thegoal of deterring further use ofchemical weapons by Assad orother bad actors in the world. It’sunclear whether the deterrent wouldwork, of course.

US President Barack Obama’swarning about “red lines” obviouslyfailed. But even assuming Assadand others might be deterred, is itworth the violation of internationallaw to create this limiteddeterrence? Would enough lives besaved to justify the cost? Numberscan’t fully answer this moralproblem. Logic, however, can help.What’s wrong with weapons ofmass destruction isn’t just that theykill lots of people. Assad has killedmany thousands more of hiscitizens by conventional means.No, such weapons are particularlyhateful because they violateinternational law. For more than acentury we have realized thatchemical or biological attacks arebad for everybody in war — whichis why almost all nations on Earthsigned treaties banning them.The writer is a law professor atHarvard University. — Courtesy:The Japan Times

gas, coal, wood products, and solidwaste which produce carbon dioxideand excess of carbon dioxide in theatmosphere causes or results in globalwarming. Therefore, environmentscientists believe that one of the maincauses of global warming is theoverdose of carbon dioxide in theatmosphere.

Forest destruction and populationgrowth are related causes of globalwarming. Trees which are the largestknown natural mechanism forremoving carbon dioxide from the airare being mercilessly cut by peoplewhich result in the deforestation andsubsequently lead to global warming.Trees possess a large storage spacefor carbon dioxide in their structureand when they are cut down as aconsequence more and more carbondioxide is not absorbed or stored bythe trees. Thus, forest destruction onlycreates more heat and lead to globalwarming.

There are simple things that anindividual can do to decrease thecauses and effects of global warming.By recycling things we can helpreduce global warming. We canrecycle and reuse paper, glass, plastic,and clothing items. By doing this wewill be saving tree and wildlife whichare used to make things for our everyday needs. We can give more trees tothe world which will give us moreoxygen and neutralize the carbondioxide. By planting a tree we canprovide ourselves with oxygen whileat the same time removing carbondioxide from the atmosphere.—Lahore

Indian dramaHASAN EHTISHAM

India has produced another awardwinning drama last month. Dramawas titled as “LoC killings: Pakistanisoldiers joined with militants to attackIndia”. According to the script castwere as follow: hero role was playedby Indian Military, villain characterwas carried out by Pakistan Army asusual, supporting role was performedby Indian Media (Oscar winning) andheroin was the famous RAW. Dramawas so interesting that extras,Afghanistan and USA also had thecentral characters. However, dramawas a good art work with obvious useof propaganda but was not best sellingmanuscript. Nevertheless Indiaproduced it and launched it toaccomplish various objectives.

In reality it was India whoinitiated the attacks. Soon after an airspace violation by India, which PAFpushed back forcefully, the Indianmedia had come up with such a storyof an attack on its military post onthe LoC in Jammu sector. Indianmedia anchors literally shouted in liveprogrammes on Pakistani analysts tostamp their arguments. I was stunnedwith such accusation by Indiananchors those who never accustomedwith a journalist’s norms.

Currently Pakistan has its owninternal issues to deal with and hasno room in its plate to confrontabroad. Therefore, such an attack byPakistan Army is out of question; asit can only offer a chance for theinternational media and diplomaticcircles to wage maliciouspropaganda against Pakistan.

There is a prospect of Indianviolation of ceasefire that Congressleaders want to use anti Pakistansentiment as a slogan for theupcoming election campaign toattract voters. This Indian intensionis obvious through the reaction givenby BJP on LoC violations. Oppositionleader Yashwant Sihna moved aprivilege motion against the IndianDefence Minister condemning him ofmisleading the nation over theconflicting statements issued on thekilling of Indian soldiers at LoC. Pollpanel chief of India’s BJP whileaddressing a mega rally in Hyderabadhad accused the Congress of beingonly interested in vote-bank politicson LoC violations.

This LoC violation done byIndian troops may also be aimed atserving India’s interests related toAfghanistan situation. Pakistan andUSA are already cooperating inarranging peace talks to seek a peaceagreement in Afghanistan. In thisscenario, India sees its role inAfghanistan to be diminishing.

The purpose of Indian incursionwas also to divert the world’sattention from the human rightsatrocities that are taking place within

governance also. When I look atsituation in Pakistan today, I can’tsee democracy always ensures ourliberty or prosperity, and here inPakistan it functions so poorly thatit threatens our very survival.People of Pak are lamenting thedemise of democracy. Things whichshould be done by Parliament arebeing done by courts...this isreflection of weakening ofdemocracy. Perhaps in order toensure our continued existence, weneed to supplement democracy withother tools in our toolkit.

To some extent, the presentgovernment is doing well in mostof the areas but it should generatenew sources of income out of richtax evaders instead of escalatingenergy prices every next week andalso take steps to reduce the pricesof essential commodities. Thegovernment should not be run likea business. Also, now is the timefor all good, conscientious peopleto come together, to stand up anddemonstrate their will to strengthenthe hands of the government in itsgood deeds and strongly oppose thethings detrimental to the interest ofthe people at large, to bring about apeaceful, nonviolent revolution andreformation and force thegovernment to be truly of, for andby the people. For the averagepeople who are the humble andmeek of this world shall indeedinherit the earth. But it will nothappen unless and until we make ithappen. Another thing is that wewill not have true democracy untilwe struggle to stop and prevent thepower of money to influencepolitical campaigns, or to influenceour politicians, law-makers andpolicy makers, and fool people.—The writer is retired banker.

Shaukat M ZafarEmail: smzafar101@gmail.com

SEVERAL developments aretaking place at regional andglobal levels that have posed

serious concerns and apprehensionsfor Pakistan to think about themseriously. In this regard, one of thecredential steps was the channelizingof strategic relationship among India(who is aspirant to become an Asiansuper power) and the US (globalsuper power). This was the move thatdiverted the US interest in the region,sarcastically not less than 1800 e.g.,from a heartily ally Pakistan to India.

For this reason, several questionsare being raised or asked by Pakistanon the respected forums to theinternational community and the socalled law enforcing communities.That adds in it how the deal impactedto the regional security structure?Does it shattered or in any waydisturbed the regional nuclearsymmetry in the region? Howadversely it impacted on Pakistan?And last but not the least does theso-called Indo-US civil nuclearcooperation was a benefit to theinternational nuclear non-proliferation regime as per the US?

Addressing to a national seminarat Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) on‘Indo-US Nuclear Deal and Pakistan:The Years Ahead’ on 28 June 2013,Raja Zafarul Haq, the leader of thehouse in the Senate said that“Pakistan would build upon its own

strengths to improve its nuclearcapabilities for civil use and maintaina formidable defence and would alsoexplore other avenues for thepurpose. In addition he was of theview that Pakistan had been able toride the tide and counter challengesposed to it since its inception.” In thiscontext Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline(IP) and Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline (TAPI)are no doubt efforts append the cause.

Khalid Rehman, DG IPSreckoned the significant ‘economicimpact Indo-US nuclear deal wouldhave on Pakistan with cheap powergeneration through nuclear powerplants coming online by 2016 thatwill bring down the per unitelectricity cost to approximately fiveto six rupees in India, providing hugecompetitive advantage to the industrythere; whereas cost of electricity unitin Pakistan will be more than twentyrupees per unit.’

However, analyzing the US gainsfour years post-deal, are not much asthe US could not be able to made upfrom India, the conditions that the USput before the deal finally inked inup — Sept 2009. Since for thispurpose, it was not only internationallaws that were waivered or violatedbut the US had also amend itsdomestic laws as well. It’s the US‘grand strategy’ to invest in India forhelping it to become South Asiangiant (both economically andmilitarily) as a part of an ‘anti-Chinacoalition.’ Recounting the double-standards in the Indo-US nucleardeal, India fulfils none of the US

obligations except of an additionalprotocol by the IAEA. Morealarmingly eight out of 24 Indianpower reactors had been kept outsidethe IAEA’s safeguards that arebreeder reactors which are capable ofproducing weapon grade plutonium.It is adversely effecting the securitysituation of South Asia since themilitary asymmetry disturbs amongboth nuclear rivals of the region.

Paradoxically Pakistan is notindulged /involved in any arms racenor even it wants too, it’s just thatPakistan is maintaining its MinimumCredible Deterrence (MCD) requiredby the given situation or scenarios thatforce Pakistan to do so no matter bywhat means. Pakistan — TNWs playsa very prominent and stabilizing rolein this regard. Well, currentlyPakistan is actively projecting andpromoting its efforts in the nuclearnon proliferation, nuclear securityand energy sectors. For whichPakistan’s current two power plantsare operational—Chashma I and IIthat are fully under IAEA safeguardsand the upcoming Chashma III andIV are too, be intended under thecomplete IAEA inspections. This isthe focal point where the suppliergroups should see the differencebetween the two. Concluding insteadof raising apprehensions on the legalPak-China cooperation, other NSGcould also initiate civil cooperationwith Pakistan on the bases ofoperating under the IAEA umbrella.Apart from the IAEA debatenevertheless Pakistan is too a non-NPT state like India, it does not also

qualify for civil cooperation amongNSG, but if the criteria-basedapproach is adopted by the NSGPakistan fits in legally.

Tariq Osman Hyder alleged thatPakistan wants a relationship basedon reciprocal respect with India andhad been advocating a strategicrestraint regime aiming at nuclearrestraint, conventional balance anddispute resolution but Indianresponse has been disappointing.Conversely, India is hardening itsposition and is further developing itscombat capabilities withcooperation of other countries.”

Although Pakistan had beenproposing against Missile DefenseProgram in the region nonethelessit was left with no alternative otherthan to further improve itsdeterrence. Hyder termed ‘the newIndian military doctrine asdangerous and observed that itcircumvented the agreementsbetween Pakistan and India and wasclearly offence-oriented. Hithertoit is quite evident that non-proliferation means nothing to theNuclear Suppliers Group. Thereforeif the NSG wants to save its verystanding and its credibility it shouldadopt a ‘non-discriminatory, criteria-based approach’ while extending itsnuclear cooperation with othercountries otherwise the ongoingefforts to bring India into its tradehub would truly ruin its objectiveand focus of establishment.—The writer is Research Associate,associated with the Strategic VisionInstitute (SVI).

Indo-US accord and PakistanBeenish Altaf

Email: beenishaltaf7@gmail.com

Indian occupied Kashmir. Whateverthe objectives behind this self createdIndian drama, they are not getting thedesire results.

I hope once again a man withconscience will emerge and exposethese fake accusations of Indianmedia about Pakistan Army. Thereare many personalities in India whoare against Indian false flagoperations against Pakistan, forinstance Satish Verma who disclosedthat Indian Government orchestratedterror attack on the Indian Parliamentand the 26/11 carnage in Mumbai.—Islamabad

Media mashANJUM SHAHEEN

Media in any country has a significantrole to play in the country’s success.Media has a strong influence onpeople’s attitude and behavior. Andif I am talking about Pakistan thenthe role of Pakistani media has beenin question for a long time. It’s a longdebate that either our media areplaying a positive role and educatingthe masses or destroying their mind-set. Our film industry was already incritical dilemma and only producingsub-standard films which havelimited viewership.

Once in a blue moon a goodmovie is produced and obviouslythat is not enough for the wholeindustry. Pakistan viewers have torely on foreign films. These moviesimpose their culture and traditionson us. Their norms are penetratedinto the minds of our youngergeneration like slow poison.Pakistani film industry needs to raiseits standards and should producequality movies to attract educatedpeople to the cinema and to counterthis psychological warfare.

The Pakistani drama has beenvery popular in South Asia butunfortunately it deteriorated andIndian drama serials followed by theimported Turkish drama arecapturing the viewership of the TVsets. Private channels motivated bytheir commercial interests only areplaying havocs with our culture andtraditions which we were requiredto protect against the onslaught fromacross the border.

Our TV channels were supposedto promote our Islamic traditions andPakistani culture but unfortunatelythey started following foreign mediacontent. Collective efforts arerequired to stop the cultural invasion.PEMRA should take action toregularize the stream of foreign anddubbed content on national privateTV channels. The Governmentrightly emphasized on self-regulationbut this is nowhere to be seen and noweven common people areacknowledging that the media mustoperate within a reasonableframework.

All I have to say is that if it isnecessary to on air their contentthan it should be passed throughsome filters. As it is directlyaffecting our culture and not onlyour culture but local TV productionindustry. Nowhere in the worldmedia is allowed to be used for onlysensationalism and glamour that wewitness on some of our channels.Pakistan is rich in culture as wellas talent. There is just a need toutilize it in the best possible waysto support our industry and sustainit at the best level.—Lahore

Declarationof assets

TABASSUM MAIRAJ

“Police officers, SHO’s directed todeclare assets.” A good decision byKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Government.It should be extended to otherdepartments in KPK and should befollowed by other Federal as well asProvincial Governments.—Islamabad

good of the people. We would notallow our motherland to be de-stroyed at the hand of outlaws,we will use every possible strat-egy to bring stability to the coun-try. He expressed his confidencethat the day is not far away whenthe glorious past of Karachi be-ing a city of lights would be re-stored very soon, inshallah hesaid with a firm tone.

Regarding issue of terrorism,extremism and even issues withIndia he said “ we would like toresolve the issues with dialogue.”

On the issue of load sheddingand energy crisis, Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif said that thegovernment is committed notonly to bridging the gap of5000mw shortfall at the earliestbut also to go for a grand targetof 50,000 mw to meet the grow-ing need of energy which is vitalfor growth and stability of thenational economy.

Addressing political partiesconference, Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif said, he wouldnot do politics over the burringlaw and order situation ofKarachi and would also not al-low to do politics on it.

The representatives of politi-cal and religious parties pre-sented suggestions and recom-mendations on Karachi’s situa-tion and assured the governmentof their full cooperation.The PM said that the peace andstability in the port city was im-perative and unavoidable for theprogress and stability in the coun-try. Thee peaceful atmosphere inthe city would trigger further in-vestment and in this regard theprivate sector had to play a ma-jor role.Nawaz Sharif asked representa-tives of political parties to pro-vide guidance and valuable inputto improve law and order situa-tion in the port city. He said thefederal government was ready toassist all the provincial govern-ments in tackling any situation,including law and order, as it re-spected the public mandate en-joyed by them. The Prime Minister said Paki-stan was confronted with a hostof issues like terrorism andloadshedding and stressed thattogether political parties of all

against the new LG system, add-ing that the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Q was also supportingthem. Wattoo further said thatall the three parties would alsocontest LG polls with seat adjust-ment and cooperation.

Earlier, the same day inIslamabad, Election Commissionof Pakistan prepared a design tohold the local body elections inthe country. According to the sta-tistics, there are a total of 184,900voters in 43 cantonment areas allover the country and 1,298 poll-ing stations will be set up for theelections.

throw light on the way-out of theKashmir issue. Mohsin-i-Paki-stan, Dr A. Q. Khan, former LawMinister, Mr S. M. Zafar, theEditor-in-Chief, Pakistan Ob-server & Chairman, NPC, MrZahid Malik, former ForeignMinister, Mr Gohar Ayub Khan,former Naval Chief Admiral(Retd) Abdul Aziz Mirza, Lt-Gen(R) Hamid Gul, Chairman Paki-stan Ulema Council, MaulanaTahir Ashrafi and former Chair-man, PTCL & Senior Vice Chair-man NPC, Mian MohammadJaved ill also address RTC.

A large number of Kashmiriswill attend the RTC to listen tothe address of Mirwaiz which willbe at Aiwan-i-Quaid at 4.00 p.m.

testament of the everlasting bondof friendship that exists betweenChina and Pakistan. I am confi-dent that the defence cooperationbetween the two countries willgrow from strength to strength inyears to come and will be a sourceof improving peace, security andstability in region. Here I wouldalso like to acknowledge Chinesecooperation in development ofGwadar Deep Water Port whichhas strengthened maritime infra-structure in Pakistan and openednew vistas of economic growthand prosperity in Baluchistan.

I am sure that the port will be-come a major game changer vis-à-vis the trade and the economyof the region when rail and roadroutes from Makran coast to theWestern region of China throughKhunjrab are developed,” thePrime Minister said. Addressingthe ceremony Naval Chief Admi-ral Mohammad Asif Sandila saidstrong naval force is required todeal with the challenges beingfaced by the country.—NNI

billion dollar loan to Pakistanfor three years under the programof Extended Fund Facility (EFF),for which Pakistan has alreadygiven the Letter of Intent (LoI)while Minister for Finance IshaqDar has also informed about it.

IMF has agreed to extend thequota of Pakistan from 348 billiondollars to 415 billion dollars, bywhich Pakistan will get 6.6 billiondollars, which was limited up to5.3 billion dollars before earlier.

Under the agreement, Paki-stan was bound to take severalmeasures, and as per sourcesterms of IMF including consen-sus between provinces and fed-eral, fixing surplus budget of prov-inces up to 6 percent, less moni-tory deficit, search for minimum10,000 new tax defaulters andelimination of subsidy on electric-ity have been fulfilled.—Online

Punjab oppFrom Page 1

TelephonicFrom Page 1

PM: Geo-strategicFrom Page 1

Islamabad eyesFrom Page 1

Peace in Karachi at all costsFrom Page 1

hearing Tuesday.At the inception of hearing

DAG appeared in the court. Herequested the court that he has tofile para wise comments there-fore, he be allowed some time.

Justice Ejaz Chaudhry re-marked “ it is very simple mat-ter. As to why you don’t give ar-guments. DAG said he has toobtain directives from federationand after it he will be able to dosome thing.

The court observed “whatyou have to ask in the directivesyou want to seek from the fed-eration. Shahid Orakzai said “ Ihave requested to isolate thismatter from the original case forthe reason that President Zardariis completing his tenure on Sep-tember, 8. I fear the matter doesnot take the form what remainsin my mind. —Online

DAG allowedFrom Page 1

hues should stand firm to face thechallenges.

He underlined the need foruse of maximum power to over-come challenges like terrorismand loadshedding.

“An investor cannot investwhen there is an issue of law andorder situation and under suchconditions how can we tread thepath of progress and prosperityand expects growth,” he added.

Prime Minister Sharif em-phasized that peace and eco-nomic growth were interlinked.

About the situation inKarachi, the Prime Minister ob-served that someone was de-manding for bringing in the mili-tary to control the situation, oth-ers were pressing forth for tar-geted operation while somebodywas asking for deployment ofRangers.

Addressing the representa-tives of political parties, he re-minded them that some amongthem had powerful public man-date and it was the policy of thefederal government to respecttheir due mandate.

“I’m not a Prime Minister ofPakistan Muslim League but be-long to the whole country. So faras the development of the coun-try and issues of loadshedding,bringing an end to lawlessnessand law and order are concerned,I will not do politics,” he empha-sized and asked the political par-ties to extend their cooperationin the greater national interest.

He said he had already madeit clear during his televised ad-dress to the nation and at themausoleum of Quaid-i-Azamthat they fully respected the man-date enjoyed by parties in theprovinces.

The federal government wasready and would be ready to as-sist the provincial governmentsand their stance was alreadywidely shown by the media, hesaid, adding, ”We strongly be-lieve that change in governmentsshould be made through ballotand now Pakistan has started itsjourney on such a path.”

The Prime Minister said thatthey were ready to assist the par-ties and expected similar recip-rocation on their sides.

He said there was no dislikefor anyone and asked the politi-cal representatives to frankly dis-cuss the issue of law and order inKarachi without any reservation.

He maintained when Karachiwas peaceful, it would benefit thecoming generations and themothers would have no fear fortheir school going children.

Highlighting the importanceof developing a political consen-sus, the Prime Minister said itwould benefit all as nobodywanted to settle abroad as it wastheir home and together theycould lead it to path of prosper-ity and development.

He said he had also discussedwith the Sindh Governor and theChief Minister the situation pre-vailing in Karachi, which was an

important city of Pakistan and acommercial hub.

Sindh Governor IshratulIbad, Chief Minister Qaim AliShah, Minister for InteriorChaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, Fi-nance Minister Ishaq Dar, Infor-mation Minister Pervaiz Rashidand leaders from MuttahidaQuami Movement, PakistanPeoples Party, Awami NationalParty, Jammat-i-Islami and oth-ers were also present during themeeting.

While sharing their indi-vidual suggestions and com-plaints, the PPPP leader AbdulQadir Patel said that in order oreach a point of correct decisionof eliminating the lawlessnessfrom the city, the governmentshould take the Mohajir QaumiMovement-Haqiqi on board.

He said that police and Rang-ers were sufficient to conduct tar-geted operation against the crimi-nals in the city and there was noneed for the deployment of thePak Army troops in the city.Karachi should be de-weaponized, he demanded.

PPPP leader Taj Haider saidthat the federal governmentshould give a free hand to theSindh Chief Minister Syed QaimAli Shah and the courts shouldnot grant bail to the criminalsunless they obtain complete as-surances that the accused to begranted bail were innocent.

MQM leader Babar Ghaurisaid that there was a need of tar-geted operation in Karachi but theinnocent people should be pro-tected from any unwanted action.

Awami National Party leaderShahi Sayed said that the institu-tions of the country had beenruined due to personal interestsand the situation had reached astage that no police office waswilling to indulge in operationagainst the criminals.

He said that the law enforce-ment agencies had arrested thecriminals and handed them topolice but it was police that re-leased them. It was imperativethat efforts should be made toraise the morale of police andpolice department should becleansed from black sheep.

JI leader MuhammadHussain Mahenti said that the Jihad been barred from any dia-logue at the government level inlast 5 years but it was good tosee that the federal governmenthad taken them on board.

He said that police and Rang-ers did not have the will to pro-tect the poor of the city and it wasup to the federal government tohelp the people and save the city.

PMLF leader Imtiaz AhmedShaikh said that the governmentshould avoid advertising its ef-forts but should initiate operationagainst the criminals.

Sindh government and thepeople of the province shouldfeel the benefits of the presenceof the PM in Karachi and freehand should be given to police,Rangers and intelligence agen-cies. Induction in police depart-ment on political bases shouldbe eliminated.

Govt for increasingFrom Page 1

hard and demonstrate their ad-ministrative and professionalabilities to ensure that the rev-enue target of Rs.2475 billion setby the government was achievedthrough better governance andplugging of leakages.

He further said that the ob-jective of taxation reforms intro-duced by the government includeencouraging corporatization ofeconomy for which several in-centives like low rates for the cor-porate sector were included in thebudget, increasing dependenceon direct taxes, reducing tax-eva-sion by facilitating tax-payers’compliance through simplifica-tion of tax procedures, simplify-ing the administration of taxesand compliance particularly forsmall businesses.

These reforms are also in-cluded broadening the tax base,elimination of money launderingand whitening of black money,improving the process of self-as-sessment and audit complianceand helping the Provincial Gov-ernments to increase their tax rev-enues by accepting agriculturalincome only if provincial agricul-tural income tax was paid, headded.—APP

Pak wantsFrom Page 1

Director as well as the PakistanMission to the United Nations.

Pakistan’s Presentation waswell received by the members ofthe Commission. Accordingly aSub-Commission has been for-mulated to review Pakistan’s sub-mission for final recommenda-tion on the establishment ofPakistan’s outer limits of its Con-tinental Shelf. Pakistan, it maybe recalled had also made a sub-mission on its claim for the ex-tension of continental shelf onApril 30, 2009.

During a meeting at theWhite House, the president as-sured Senator John McCain thatafter months of delay the US wasmeeting its commitment to backmoderate elements of the oppo-sition.—Telegraph

Syria rebels armedFrom Page 1

had sent Babar Ghauri andHaider Abbas Rizvi to the APCto support move on resolution ofmuch decomposed peace andtranquility in the port city.

While speaking to the news-men after attending the APC,Babar Ghauri said that the MQMrepresentatives had briefed thePrime Minister of the reserva-tions of the MQM.

On the other hand, immedi-ately after the MQM was in-formed of cancellation of the in-vitation for Dr Sattar to attend theAPC as the representative to theMQM, the MQM CoordinationCommittee held a press confer-ence at the Karachi Press ClubTuesday and Dr Khalid MaqboolSiddiqui made the key address atthe press conference.

Dr Siddiqui said that theMQM had decided to reject theone-on-one meeting of Dr Sattarwith the PM because the offer forthe one-on-one meeting was theresult of strong reaction by theMQM over the cancellation ofinvitation for Dr Sattar. The can-cellation of Dr Sattar’s presence

MQM reactsFrom Page 1

in the APC led to severe disap-pointment among the people of thecity and the people had widelycriticised the government for thatunwanted for action and said thatthe government had itself createda stampede to the way of seekingconcrete way-out to the problemsof lawlessness. The situation wasa manifest that the governmentwanted to impose decision in thecity while pushing the key stake-holder into the isolation and thatwas too a non-democraticmaneouvour that would cause themeasures to fail.

Dr Siddiqui had also in his pressconference stated that the APC wascalled by the provincial leadershipof the ruling party in the centre, thePakistan Muslim League-Nawazand the cancellation of Dr Sattar’spresence in that APC was a non-serious attitude toward seeking so-lution to the problems. He said thatthe MQM wanted that the PMshould not take any pressure onKarachi’s matter as the countryneeded strong leadership thatshould be capable for workingwithout taking pressure.

vided to The Washington Post byformer intelligence contractorEdward Snowden, expose broadnew levels of U.S. distrust in analready unsteady security part-nership with Pakistan, a politi-cally unstable country that facesrising Islamist militancy.

They also reveal a more ex-pansive effort to gather intelli-gence on Pakistan than U.S. of-ficials have disclosed.

The United States has deliv-ered nearly $26 billion in aid toPakistan over the past 12 years,aimed at stabilizing the country

US steps upFrom Page 1

and ensuring its cooperation incounterterrorism efforts.

But with Osama bin Ladendead and al-Qaeda degraded, U.S.spy agencies appear to be shiftingtheir attention to dangers that haveemerged beyond the patch of Pa-kistani territory patrolled by CIAdrones. “If the Americans are ex-panding their surveillance capa-bilities, it can only mean onething,” said Husain Haqqani, whountil 2011 served as Pakistan’sambassador to the United States.“The mistrust now exceeds thetrust.”—INP

HARARE: Adnan Akmal has his stump relocated by Tendai Chatara during Zimbabwe vs Pakistan, 1st Test, 1st day.

HARARE—Pakistan werefloundering at 182 for eightbefore tail-enders Saeed Ajmaland Junaid Khan added anaggressive 67 for the ninthwicket to enable the touriststo finish the day on 249 fornine against Zimbabwe inHarare on Tuesday.

Pakistan were flounderingat 182 for eight beforetailenders Saeed Ajmal andJunaid Khan added an aggres-sive 67 for the ninth wicket toenable the tourists to finishthe day on 249 for nine.

Opening bowlers Tendai

Pakistan vs Zimbabwe, 1st Test

Ajmal sparesPakistan’s blushes

Chatara and TinashePanyangara, who went intothe match with only five Testcaps between them, startedthe Pakistan slide with somedisciplined bowling at thestart of the day. They werewell backed up by off-spin-ner Prosper Utseya and me-dium-pacer ShingiMasakadza.

But Chatara andPanyangara were guilty ofsome loose bowling with thesecond new ball as Ajmal (49not out) and Junaid (17) gavethe Pakistan innings some re-spectability. Junaid was out tothe fifth ball of the final overof the day when he flashed atPanyangara and was caughtbehind.

Azhar Ali, who made apatient 78 off 185 balls, andcaptain Misbah-ul-Haq (53)were the only Pakistan top-order batsmen to shine. Theyput on 93 for the fourth wicket.

Hamilton Masakadza,standing in for regular captainBrendan Taylor, was justifiedin his decision to send Paki-stan in as the tourists lost theirfirst three wickets for 27 runsinside the first hour, with bothChatara and Panyangara tak-ing advantage of early life inthe pitch.

Chatara struck first whenMohammad Hafeez wascaught at second slip off aball which lifted sharply.Panyangara followed up withthe wickets of KhurramManzoor, who went back onhis stumps and was leg be-fore wicket to a ball which cut

back, and Younis Khan, whowas bowled when he playedforward tentatively and theball trickled back onto hisstumps.

Utseya dismissedMisbah and Asad Shafiq inquick succession during theafternoon, with both batsmenfalling to ambitious shots, andShingi Masakadza was re-warded for some accuratebowling when he took twowickets after tea, includingthat of Azhar, who was drawninto a drive and caught at firstslip.

Taylor withdrew on themorning of the match after hiswife gave birth to the couple’sfirst child. Pakistan-bornSikandar Raza replaced him,earning his first Test cap.The withdrawal of Taylor,Zimbabwe’s leading batsmen,was the latest setback for thehost nation following a paydispute which threatened toprevent the match from tak-ing place.

The players only agreedon Monday to play followinga commitment by their boardto pay outstanding salariesbefore next week’s secondand final Test in Bulawayo.

Zimbabwe fielded an in-experienced bowling line-up,following the retirement ofKyle Jarvis in order to pur-sue a county cricket careerin England and GraemeCremer’s unavailability be-cause of the pay issue. Bats-man Sean Williams also with-draw because of the pay dis-pute.—Agencies

Pakistan 1st innings:Khurram lbwb Panyangara ................. 11Hafeez b Chatara ............. 5Azhar Ali b Masakadza 78Younis b Panyangara ..... 3Misbah b Utseya .......... 53Asad b Utseya ................ 4Adnan Akmal b Chatara 18A Rehman lbw b SWMasakadza ....................... 7Saeed Ajmal not out ..... 49Junaid b Panyangara .... 17Extras: (lb 3, w 1) ............. 4Total: (9 wickets) ......... 249To bat: Rahat AliFall of wickets: 1-13, 2-21,11.5 ov), 3-27, 4-120, 5-132,6-157, 7-173, 8-182, 9-249Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WTL Chatara ......... 22-6-64-2T Panyangara . 19.5-2-71-3SW Masakadza . 22-8-40-2E Chigumbura ...... 2-0-15-0P Utseya ............. 23-1-55-2H Masakadza ......... 1-0-1-0

SCOREBOARD

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Darren Sammyand company may be want-ing to “spoil” Sachin’s200th landmark Test in In-dia, but at least one WestIndian believes that manyformer greats want Master-blaster to score 100 runs inthis Test.

Rudi Webster, the Bar-bados-born all-rounder,who has worked with theWindies team (and with In-dian boys too for a shortstint) as a psychologist iskeen to see SachinTendulkar scoring 100 runsagainst West Indies.

Speaking exclusivelyover his mobile from hisGreneda residence, the 75-year-old Webster says,“how wonderful is it thatSachin Tendulkar will nowplay his 200th and possi-bly his last Test match in

Former greats want hundredfrom Sachin in his landmark

Test against West IndiesIndia instead of South Africa? I hope that he marks his de-parture from the game with acentury against the WestIndies in Mumbai and giveshis loyal and longtime sup-porters in India and aroundthe world a final glimpse ofhis brilliance and genius”.

“Sachin will be under alot of pressure to do well andWest Indies bowlers will tryto get him out early but heshould use that pressure tolift his game and be a herofor his team and country onelast time”, Webster added.

Many superb tributeshave already been paid toSachin but none greater thanthe praise from M.S.Dhoni,the captain of India. Dhoni,in Rudi Webster ’s bookThink Like A Champion) hassaid: “Playing with Sachin islike having a God coming intothis world and blessing you.The kind of character he isand the way he has con-ducted himself on and off thefield over a period of twenty

years is really amazing. Inhis first year he became asuperstar and in the nexttwenty years his life waslike that of a demigod.Sachin is a true profes-sional and his passion andlove for the game have re-mained unchanged duringthose years. He has been arole model and an inspira-tion to me and to everyonein the Indian team.”

“I believe that SirGarfield Sobers, Sir VivianRichards, Brian Lara andother great players from theCaribbean would like him tobat well in his 200th Testeven though he will be play-ing against the WestIndies”, Webster added.

“T20 cricket has cap-tured the minds of theyoung players in India butbatsmen who want to playwell in Test cricket shouldcommit themselves towatching, studying andcopying the great master|,he signed off.

BAHAWALPUR: Players of Bahawalpur Corps and Mangla Corps playing a match during Army Hockey Championship.

LAHORE: Pakistan cricket officials agreedTuesday to review evidence provided byformer captain Rashid Latif in his bid to helpbanned spinner Danish Kaneria.

The 32-year-old Kaneria, Pakistan’s mostsuccessful spinner with 261 Test wickets,was last year banned for life by the Englandand Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for spot fix-ing. Kaneria was named as the middle manin a fixing deal between his Essex team-mateMarvyn Westfiled and alleged Indianbookie Anu Bhatt during a 2009 countymatch.

Latif, a well-known campaigner againstcorruption in cricket, is backing Kaneria’sfight to overturn the ban and has handedinformation to the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB). Latif had irked officials by saying thatBhatt had been a PCB guest on some toursand during 2005 and 2006 home series. ThePCB rubbished the claim and sought an apol-ogy from Latif.

The Board said Tuesday that its offi-cials had met Latif and would review theevidence provided by him.

“During the meeting Latif submitted cer-tain material pertaining to Kaneria’s case,which shall be reviewed in detail by the PCBand in case the need arises another meetingwill be scheduled in the near future,” it saidin a statement.

Kaneria has had two appeals against the

PCB to review evidencein Kaneria case

ban and a third looking to reduce the banrejected earlier this year.

Last month he filed another appeal in aLondon commercial court and vowed to carryon his fight.

Latif has accused the ECB of makingKaneria a scapegoat to save county cricket.

Pakistan is the country worst hit by alle-gations of match fixing. It was forced to banformer captain Salim Malik and paceman Ata-ur Rehman after a judicial inquiry in 2000.

Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif andMohammad Amir are also serving five-yearbans in connection with a 2010 spot-fixingcase.— AFP

PESHAWAR: Former World Champion Qamar Zaman with squash players at the open-ing ceremony of 3rd Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Open Squash Championship.

Pakistan to participate in WVCqualifying round on its own

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan teamwill be participating in thequalifying round of theWorld Volleyball Champion-ship (WVC) to be held in Iranthis month on its own ex-penses, as the PakistanSports Board (PSB) has notyet granted funds to the fed-eration.

Pakistan team will departto Iran on September 9 as theevent will continue from Sep-tember 11 to 13.

Talking to APP, Presidentof the Pakistan VolleyballFederation (PVF), ChaudryMuhammad Yaqoob said aprivate sponsor has helpedPakistan to participate in thequalifying round of the megaevent.

He said besides this theteam had also to participate

in the four nation volleyballtournament to be held inQatar from September 20 to25 but because of the un-availability of funds from thePSB it seems impossible.“Teams of Pakistan, Japan,Australia and Qatar had toparticipate in the said event,”he said. Chaudry Yaqoob

further said the four nationtournament was very impor-tant and useful for the teamexposure at internationallevel.

Being disappointed fromthe PSB for not giving thefunds on time, the presidentfurther said that the team willalso participate in the Asian

Volleyball Championship tobe held in Dubai from Sep-tember 28 to October 6. “Wewill go in the event on ourown if the PSB doesn’t pro-vide us the funds,” he said.

Yaqoob said if playerswon’t get any internationalexposure than their skillswon’t be enhanced.—APP

Federer stunnedwhile Nadal rolls

on at US Open.W A S H I N G T O N — R o g e rFederer crashed out of theUS Open in the fourth roundwhile Rafael Nadal capturedhis 19th hardcourt win in arow to reach the quarter-fi-nals without having alloweda service break.

Federer on Monday suf-fered a stunning upset at thehands of Spanish 19th seedTommy Robredo, whose 7-6(7/3), 6-3, 6-4 shocker was hisfirst victory in 11 matchesagainst the 17-time GrandSlam champion and five-timeUS Open winner.

“I’m going to feel like Ibeat myself,” Federer said. “Itwas up to me to make the dif-ference and I just couldn’t.

“I self-destructed, whichis really disappointing.When things came to thecrunch I just couldn’t do it.It’s frustrating.”

Federer’s failure, whichcame on the heels of a shocksecond-round Wimbledonexit, thwarted a potentialquarter-final match with 12-time Grand Slam winner Nadalin what would have beentheir first meeting on the NewYork hardcourts.

This was the first yearsince 2002 that Federer hasnot made a Grand Slam final.

Instead, it will beRobredo in his first US Openquarter-final against second-seeded countryman Nadal,who dispatched Germany’s22nd-seeded PhilippKohlschreiber 6-7 (4/7), 6-4,6-3, 6-1.—AFP

Fozia, Laiba,Gul Pari & Lailaadvance in KPWomen Squash

PESHAWAR—Fozia, Laiba,Gul Pari and Laila advancedto next round after securingvictories against their re-spective rivals on the open-ing day of the 3rd KhyberPakhtunkhwa Women OpenSquash Championship whichgot under way here at QamarZaman Squash Complex,Qayyum Stadium on Tues-day.

Former World ChampionQamar Zaman, who is alsoPresident of the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Squash Asso-ciation, was the chief gueston this occasion and for-mally inaugurated the Cham-pionship in which top 16 play-ers from Abbottabad,Mardan, Swat, Bannu andPeshawar are taking part.

Secretary Pakistan Cy-cling Federation Syed AzharAli Shah, Secretary KhyberPakhtunkhwa Squash Asso-ciation women officials, play-ers and large number of spec-tators were also present onthis occasion.

Former World ChampionQamar Zaman played a shortfor the inauguration of theChampionship.

Addressing the players,he said, four top playerswould be selected to repre-sent Khyber Pakhtunkhwasquash team in the forthcom-ing National Women SquashChampionship to be playedhere in the end of Sept thisyear.

He said soon after theChampionship a camp wouldbe setup for the top four play-ers.—APP

LONDON—Afghanistan’s policeand army are losing too many menin battle, and may need up to fivemore years of western supportbefore they can fight indepen-dently, the top US and Nato com-mander in the country has told theGuardian.

General Joseph Dunford alsosaid in an interview that it was tooearly to judge whether Nato hadbeen right to end combat opera-tions in Afghanistan this spring.Western forces have officially of-fered only training and support tothe Afghan army and police dur-ing the brutal fighting season ofthe summer months.

Dunford admitted that Natoand Afghan commanders are con-cerned about Afghan casualtyrates, which have regularly toppedmore than 100 dead a week. “Iview it as serious, and so do allthe commanders,” Dunford said.“I’m not assuming that those ca-sualties are sustainable.”

The rapidly expanded secu-rity forces, now 350,000 strong,did not need help in basic battle

skills, Dunford told the Guardian.But they still struggle to supportthemselves in areas varying fromlogistics and planning to intelli-gence-gathering and back-up fromplanes and helicopters in difficultbattles.

Dunford’s comments high-lighted an apparent rift betweenwestern politicians keen to wrapup a messy war that has cost thou-sands of lives and billions of dol-lars, and military commanders onthe ground who are seeing a newlyformed police force and armystruggling against a hardened in-surgency.

There is no firm end-date forthe assistance however, andDunford said western troops mayneed to stay in the country untilas late as 2018 to tackle problemsfrom the air force to intelligence.

“I look at Afghan securityforces development as really kindof three to five years,” Dunfordsaid. “That doesn’t mean theycan’t do things today; I’m justtalking about before they get tothe standard where they may not

need assistance and support anymore.” Dunford also did not ruleout a combat role for Nato troopsafter 2014, particularly in the formof close air support, the planesand helicopters that aid troopscaught in fierce fighting, which isa capacity that Afghanistan is onlystarting to develop. “There arethree words in the mission: train,advise and assist. In a Nato con-text ‘assist’ would include thingslike providing combat support,which is specifically the aviationpiece, and a policy decision wouldhave to be made about that,” hesaid.” Despite the shortfalls in po-lice and army abilities, heavy se-curity force casualties and a leapof about a quarter in civiliandeaths and injuries in the first halfof 2013, Dunford said the troopshad defied the Taliban, who hadstarted the summer aiming tocrush the government’s spirit andwill.

“The Afghans actually havebeen resilient,” he said. “Theyhave prevented the Taliban fromaccomplishing their goals.—INP

US Gen: Afghan forces sufferingunsustainable casualties

JUI-F opposesarmy in KarachiISLAMABAD—JUI-F ChiefMaulana Fazlur Rahman hasopposed calling Army inKarachi. In a statement issuedhere on Tuesday, the JUI-FChief however added that if LawEnforcement Agencies fail tocontrol the situation there, Armycould be called in for help un-der article 149 of the constitu-tion. Maulana Fazlur Rahmanstressed the need for consensusamong political parties beforelaunching any operation inKarachi. He expressed the hopethat federal cabinet would comeup with some solution toKarachi problem.—Online

River Indus inmedium floodObserver ReportKARACHI—In Sindh, RiverIndus is in medium flood atKotri Barrage while it is in lowflood at Guddu and SukkurBarrages. According to a datareleased by Sindh IrrigationDepartment, the water levelwas receding at Guddu andSukkur barrages.

PTI to support govtover peace talksISLAMABAD—Chairman Paki-stan Tehreek-e-Insaf ImranKhan has said that his party willsupport the government overpeace talks with Taliban. In aninterview, he said the govern-ment and establishment willhave to be on one page to effec-tively handle this issue to restorepeace in the country. Imran saidthe entire nation should also betaken on board and the peacetalks must be held through triballeaders. The PTI chairman said“we will have to pull out of theUS war to end suicide attacksin the country.”—Online

Three moredengue casesLAHORE—Spread of dengue indifferent areas of Punjab has in-creased the worries of citizens asmore dengue cases surfacedacross the province on Tuesday.Dengue virus has been detectedin three more patients hailing fromPakpattan, Lahore andSheikhupura who were admitted atMayo Hospital. Now total num-ber of dengue patients across theprovince has reached to 65.—INP

KARACHI: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif with a group of PNS ASLAT ship’s company in Karachi.

Man killed, wifeinjured inaccidentFAISALABAD—A man waskilled while his wife sustainedinjuries in a road accident in thelimits of police station Sadar onTuesday. According to police,Muhammad Sajid of Shahdra,Lahore along with his wife wasgoing on a motorcycle to see hisrelatives when a rashly driventractor trolley hit them nearSammundri By-pass. As a result,Sajid died on the spot while hiswife suffered injuries and wasshifted to Civil Hospital in pre-carious condition. —APP

GAZA—Egyptian securityforces have destroyed some 20houses along the border withGaza, local residents said onTuesday, in what the Palestinianenclave’s Islamist Hamas rulersfear is an effort to build a bufferzone to isolate them.

Egypt’s military stepped upa campaign against Islamistmilitants in the Sinai Peninsula,bordering Gaza, after deposingIslamist president MohamedMursi following mass unrest,and has accused Gaza Palestin-

Egypt military buildingbuffer zone with Gaza

ians of supporting the militants.The crackdown, before and

after Mursi’s ouster, has includedclosures of tunnels from Gaza themilitary believes have been usedto move weapons, gunmen andgoods across the border.

Now, residents on the Egyp-tian side of the border say, thearmed forces have also begun totear down homes, apparentlysuspecting they are being usedto hide tunnel entrances or pro-vide cover for other militant ac-tivity. The Egyptian crack-

down is reminiscent of thedemolitions that Israel, citingsecurity concerns, used to carryout on the Palestinian side ofthe Egyptian border before itpulled troops and settlers out ofthe Gaza Strip in 2005.

“We reject any concept ofbuilding a buffer zone. Bufferzones should not be built be-tween brothers and betweenfriendly countries,” saidEhab al-Ghsain, spokesmanfor the Hamas government inGaza.—Reuters

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan is fullycommitted to objectives of dis-armament and non-proliferation.As a nuclear weapons state,Pakistan’s policy is character-ized by restraint and responsi-bility.

These views were expressedby Foreign Office Spokespersonwhile responding to a query re-garding a Washington Post storyon leaked information on USintelligence surveillance activi-ties.

The Spokesman said thatPakistan has established exten-

sive physical protection mea-sures, robust command and con-trol institutions under the chair-manship of the Prime Minister,comprehensive and effectiveexport controls regulatory re-gimes to ensure safety and se-curity of nuclear installationsand materials. We follow best in-ternational practices and stan-dards set by the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency (IAEA),he said. He said Pakistan is alsofully engaged with the interna-tional community on nuclearsafety and security issues. The ef-

ficacy of our strategic export con-trols has been acknowledged byexperts from the international ex-port control regimes during in-teractions on various occasions.

The spokesman said Paki-stan is a state party to bothChemical Weapons Conventionand Biological Weapons Con-vention and is fully implement-ing the two regimes.

The Spokesman furtheradded that Pakistan’s nuclear de-terrence capability is aimed atmaintaining regional stabilityin South Asia.—Online

Pakistan committed to objectives ofdisarmament, non-proliferation: FO

TOKYO—The Japanese govern-ment announced Tuesday that itwill spend $470 million on a sub-terranean ice wall and other stepsin a desperate bid to stop leaks ofradioactive water from thecrippled Fukushima nuclear sta-tion after repeated failures by theplant’s operator.

The decision is widely seenas an attempt to show that thenuclear accident won’t be a safetyconcern just days before the In-ternational Olympic Committeechooses between Tokyo, Istanbuland Madrid as the host of the 2020Olympics.

The Fukushima Dai-ichi planthas been leaking hundreds of tonsof contaminated undergroundwater into the sea since shortlyafter the 2011 earthquake and tsu-nami damaged the complex. Sev-eral leaks from tanks storing

tainted water in recent weeks haveheightened the sense of crisis thatthe plant’s owner, Tokyo ElectricPower Co., isn’t able to containthe problem.

“Instead of leaving this up toTEPCO, the government will stepforward and take charge,” saidPrime Minister Shinzo Abe saidafter adopting the outline. “Theworld is watching if we can prop-erly handle the contaminated wa-ter but also the entire decommis-sioning of the plant.”

The government plans tospend an estimated 47 billion yen($470 million) through the end ofMarch 2015 on two projects - 32billion yen ($320 million) on theice wall and 15 billion yen ($150million) on upgraded water treat-ment units that is supposed to re-move all radioactive elements butwater-soluble tritium - according

to energy agency official TatsuyaShinkawa.

The government, however, isnot paying for urgently neededwater tanks and other equipmentthat TEPCO is using to stop leaks.Shinkawa said the funding is lim-ited to “technologically challeng-ing projects” but the governmentwill open to additional help whenneeded. The ice wall would freezethe ground to a depth of up to 30meters (100 feet) through an elec-trical system of thin pipes carry-ing a coolant as cold as minus 40degrees Celsius (minus 40 Fahr-enheit). That would block con-taminated water from escaping thefacility’s immediate surroundings,as well as keep underground wa-ter from entering the reactor andturbine buildings, where much ofthe radioactive water has col-lected. gentina.—AP

Japan to cork radioactive leaks with ice wall

NEW DELHI—A ground situa-tion report, submitted by NationalSecurity Advisory Board (NSAB)chairperson Shyam Saran toPrime Minister Manmohan Singhon August 10, 2013, has allegedthat the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) troops are not allowingtheir Indian counterparts to patrolthe Indian perception of the Lineof Actual Control (LAC) in east-ern Ladakh.

The spot report, commis-sioned by the Prime Minister’sOffice (PMO) on the India-China border issue, has con-firmed the government’s worst

fears, a report in HindustanTimes said on Tuesday.

Singh had told Saran to visitthe eastern Ladakh and Siachensectors from August 2 to 9 forreviewing the border infrastruc-ture development and LAC situ-ation.

Saran, who had conducteda similar exercise in May 2007,has reported a grim scenario ofChinese transgressions in theDaulet Beg Oldi (DBO) sector,Depsang Bulge and Chumar.

The report has been sharedwith the Cabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS).—INP

India accuses Chinese army fornot letting troops patrol LAC

ET disposes offappeal againstFazlur Rehman

DERA ISMAIL KHAN—Elec-tion Tribunal Tuesday disposedoff an appeal against JamiatUlema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F)Ameer Maulana Fazlur Rehmanfiled by his rival PakistanPeoples’ Party (PPP) candidateSenator Waqar Ahmed Khan forwant of evidence.

Senator Waqar Ahmed Khanhad challenged his defeat in NA-24 Dera Ismail Khan, levelingdifferent sort of charges on theJUI-F chief, in the Election Tri-bunal set up by the ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP).In the elections, the PPP candi-date had around 67,000 votes,while Maulana Fazlur Rehmanbagged 92,000 votes. —INP

Ali Geelani re-elected

TeH chairmanSRINAGAR—Senior pro-free-dom leader Syed Ali Geelaniwas re-elected chairman ofTehreek-e-Hurriyat for fourthconsecutive three-year-termthrough a secret ballot.

Geelani, who was after along time allowed to move outof his house, got 590 votes whilehis nearest rival MohammadAshraf Sehrai got 66 votes.TeH’s Majlis-e-Shoura (advi-sory council) for various dis-tricts was also elected.

Geelani continues to remainTeH’s chairman since it cameinto existence on August 7,2004. The 83-year-old leader isalso the chairman of Hurriyat(G), which came into existenceafter a vertical split in Hurriyatover participation of PeoplesConference , one of the constitu-ents, in 2002 Assembly elec-tions.—NNI

Pak participates inColombo Defence

Seminar 2013COLOMBO—Pakistan is par-ticipating in a three-day DefenceSeminar 2013 which began inColombo Tuesday.

The Sri Lankan Army hasorganized the seminar. Pakistanwill also display locally devel-oped communication equipmentat the Seminar.

According to a press release,a high level delegation will berepresenting Pakistan at the De-fence Seminar 2013 organizedby the Sri Lankan Army underthe theme of “Post Conflict SriLanka: Challenges and RegionalStability” from 3-5 September2013. The Pakistani delegationincludes Ambassador (Retired)Sohail Amin, PresidentIslamabad Policy Research In-stitute (IPRI) Lieutenant Gen-eral (Retired) MuhammadMasood Aslam and BrigadierImran Munawar representingPak Army. —NNI

Israel holds jointmissile test with US

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM—Is-rael says it has carried out a jointmissile test with the U.S. in theMediterranean Sea amidheightened tensions as Wash-ington weighs sea-launchedstrikes against Syria.

The Defense Ministry saidTuesday that it, together withthe U.S. Defense Department,had carried out a “successfultest” in the Mediterranean andon an air force base in centralIsrael.

Russ ian s ta te-ownednews agencies earlier saidRussian radar systems haddetected two “ballistic ob-jects” fired from the centralMediterranean toward theeastern part of the sea.—AP

ISLAMABAD—An Audit Reportinto Ministry of Production’sAccounts for 2012-13 has un-veiled corruption of millions ofrupees during Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) led federal govern-ment five years tenure.

According to the audit re-port of ministry of production,buses and rickshaws worth Rs189.6 million were distributedamong the choiced people andinstitutions without any criteriaand legal procedure.

The report revealed that dur-ing former government rule,

Vehicles distribution by Production Ministry

Audit report unveilsmassive corruption

vehicles worth millions of ru-pees were purchased and distrib-uted by the politicians amongvarious institutes and privateorganizations without followingrules. The report said thatFormer federal minister for in-formation and broadcasting,Firdous Aashiq Awan distrib-uted buses worth Rs 2.5 millionamong the private colleges, in-stitutions and other organiza-tions. About 200 auto rickshawsworth Rs 33.1 million were dis-tributed by ex-federal ministerNabeel Gabol..—INP

KARACHI: Chairman FBR Customs House presenting a shield to Finance Minister IshaqDar.

Resolution ofKashmir issue

Pugwash moot tobegin on 15th

HAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—The 59th PugwashConference for three days will be-gin here, September 15-17, Paki-stan Observer learnt here Tuesday.

The subject of the conferencebeing participated by Kashmirifigures from both parts of Jammuand Kashmir as well as from Pa-kistan and India and internationalcommunity will focus on Kash-mir.

This time the Pugwash Kash-mir agenda carries eleven pointswith stress on the status of Lineof Control.

Prominent Kashmiri leaderand Chairman APHC, MirwaizMohammad Umar Farooq talkingto Pakistan Observer fromSrinagar on Tuesday afternoonconfirmed his participation in theIslamabad Pugwash conference.

Later in first week of Novem-ber the 60th Pugwash Conferenceon Science and World Affairs,“Dialogue, Disarmament, andRegional and Global Security”will take place in Istanbul, Tur-key, 1-5 November.

The conference will bring to-gether from around the world ap-proximately 200 leading currentand former policy makers, sci-entists, and other internationalopinion shapers to explore cre-ative solutions to some of theworld’s most challenging prob-lems, it adds.

ISLAMABAD—Senate StandingCommittee on Foreign Affairson Tuesday through a unani-mous resolution strongly de-nounced the US planned attackon Syria and demanded of theUnited Nations to probe useof chemical weapons in thatcountry.

Prime Minister advisor onForeign Affairs Sartaj Azizgave detailed briefing to thestanding committee about thesituation in the region.The in-camera session of com-mittee was chaired by it Chair-man Senator Haji Adeel which

Senate body denounces USplanned attack on Syria

lasted for four hours here to-day.

Later, Haji Adeel andSenator Mushahid Hussainbriefed the newsmen about theproceedings of the standingcommittee and said the com-mittee strongly adopted a reso-lution, in accordance with theaspiration of people of Paki-stan, condemning the USplanned attack on the Islamiccountry.

They said the committeeconsiders the US action as anattack on sovereignty ofSyria.— INP

HELPING people who were recently released from a hospital understand howto care for themselves and informing

their primary care doctors about their stay mayreduce their risk of being admitted back intothe hospital, says a new study.

Researchers found thatimplementing a statewidetransitional care program forNorth Carolinians on Med-icaid - the state and federalinsurance for the poor - waslinked to a 20 percent reduc-tion in patients’ risk of go-ing back to the hospital dur-ing the next year.

“That finding is fairlyconsistent with what hadbeen shown in other stud-ies… We were hoping toachieve that big of a differ-ence. The novelty was beingable to achieve it on thisscale,” Dr. Annette DuBard,the study’s lead author fromCommunity Care of NorthCarolina in Raleigh, toldReuters Health.

Researchers have known that the timeimmediately following patients’ release froma hospital is critical to their chance of beingreadmitted later on.

“The time of discharge from the hospitalwas a very vulnerable time for patients withcomplex care needs and we need to get re-sources in place to make sure they go moresmoothly,” DuBard said.

Much emphasis has been put on programsto reduce readmissions and ultimately savemoney, but there have been some questionsabout how to address issues at home that mayincrease a patient’s risk for another hospital-

ization.In 2012, a study found issues such as

not being able to take medication or get todoctors’ offices were linked to an increasedrisk of being readmitted.

Studies conducted at individual hospi-tals have found promising re-sults with programs that coor-dinated patients’ care whenthey left the hospital, taughtpatients and their families howto manage their medical con-ditions at home and then fol-lowed up with the patients af-ter they were back home.

For the new study,DuBard and her colleaguescalculated the rate of readmis-sions among more than 13,000patients on Medicaid withmultiple chronic health condi-tions who enrolled in the state-wide transitional care programbetween 2010 and 2011. Theycompared that to the rate ofreadmissions among about8,000 patients who received

standard care with no extra help at discharge.Overall, the researchers found those who

went through the transitional care programwere less likely to be readmitted to the hos-pital during the next 12 months.

The biggest difference was for patientswho were the sickest and thus at the greatestrisk for having to go back to the hospital.Among those people, the researchers found20 percent in the transitional care programwere readmission-free after a year, comparedto 12 percent of the usual care group.

The researchers write in Health Affairsthat one readmission was averted for everysix patients who went through the program.

Hospital to home focusmay reduce readmissions

Making Islamabad the beautiful, more beautiful. Saplings are being planted at Zero Point to enhance greenery in the capital.

Babur Hizlan, Ambassador of Turkey paying a farewell call on Air Chief Marshal TahirRafique Butt, Chief of the Air Staff, Pakistan Air Force at Air Headquarters in Islamabadon Tuesday.

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—Essa Abdulla AlBasha Al Noaimi, ambassadorof United Arab Emirates hassaid his country has played aleading role in investing in Pa-kistan and Afghanistan.

He was speaking at a recep-tion hosted in honour of East-West Institute delegation andthe participants of “Abu DhabiProcess” about “Afghanistan:Reconnected, ” in a local ho-tel.

The ambassador said UAEis committed to boosting peaceand stability in Afghanistan. Itis also committed to giving firminternational cooperation for itsdevelopment and to guaranteea future for this friendly coun-try free from violence and ex-tremism.

In 2010, he said two con-ferences were held in Dubai forinvestment in Pakistan and Af-ghanistan. It has development

projects serving the human be-ing and economics in the twocountries.

The United Arab Emiratesis viewed as an important tradepartner in Pakistan and Af-ghanistan. The special relation-ship bond of the United ArabEmirates with Pakistan and Af-ghanistan led to a chance of par-ticipation in most regional andinternational meetings relatedto long term development inthese two countries.

Essa Abdulla Al Basha AlNoaimi said this vision isbased on the bright stances ofHis Highness Sheikh KhalifaBin Zayed Al Nahyan, Presi-dent of the United Arab Emir-ates, His Highness the DeputyPresident, their Highnessesthe Rulers of UAE and H.H.General Sheikh MuhammadBin Zayed Al Nahyan, DeputyCrown Prince of Abu Dhabiand Deputy Supreme Com-mander of UAE Armed

Forces. It also shows the gov-ernment of UAE commitmenttowards the principle of joint

security and work with the in-ternational community for in-ternational peace and securityand preserving the stability sothat to reach the stage of pre-vailing stability and peace inthis region.

He said everyone knows theposition held by the UAE in freetrade area since it has rich ex-perience in this regard in thepast years. In 2011, the WorldBank has ranked the UAE as thetop third country in the worldregarding easy procedures re-lated to trade movementsthrough boundaries.

This is parallel to solid vi-sion of the UAE foreignpolicy on regional and inter-national level as it has builtwide network of mutual inter-est with countries to serve thecause of development, ex-change of expertise and tradeand transfer of technology inaddition to policy of provid-ing generous humanitarianaid in the economics or devel-opment fields directly or in-directly for many countries.It has contributed in peace-keeping missions and protec-tion of civilians and recon-struction work after the end

of conflicts.This represents itssincerity in achieving noblegoals related to internationalpeace and stability, he said.

The UAE ambassador saidbased on the interest shown bythe government of United ArabEmirates in strengthening theinternational community’s ef-forts to make economics secu-rity in Afghanistan better andlinking it to active and posi-tive relations with the sur-rounding regime, a chain ofseminars under the title of:“Abu Dhabi Process Meeting,Afghanistan Reconnected”have commenced. “We salutethe government and hostingnation of Pakistan on holdingthese meetings during thecoming two days.

We also appreciate thegenerous efforts of East WestInst i tute Ambassador Dr.Beate Meader Matcalf, VicePresident and Regional Secu-rity Director at the institute in

UAE play leading role in investing inPakistan and Afghanistan: UAE Ambassador

It is committed to boosting peace, stability in Afghanistanthis regard,” he said.

“We also appreciate theirExcellencies, the representa-tives of countries, scientificpersonalities, academics andmedia people for participatingin these meetings and in thishumble welcoming cer-emony,” he said.

He said United ArabEmirates is regarded as the5th largest country in theworld in producing oil and ithas 7th largest gas reserves inthe world. It also endeavorsto continue working as a reli-able and firm source of petro-leum to the rest of the world.

Regarding cooperationand discussing issues relatedto energy and especially thepetroleum energy, the UAEis hosting headquarter of In-ternational Renewable En-ergy Agency IRENA.

It also hosts the worldsummit for future energy inJanuary every year, he said.

Strategy fordevelopment

of MurreeRAWALPINDI—Punjab Minis-ter for Labour and ManpowerRaja Ashfaq Sarwar Tuesdaysaid the provincial governmenthas devised an effective strategyfor development of urban andrural areas of Murree on equal-ity basis.

Addressing a meeting heldin Murree to review perfor-mance of government depart-ments, he said all departmentshave been directed to immedi-ately redress grievances ofmasses.

He expressed the confi-dence that government depart-ments would come up to ex-pectations of public as a dras-tic agenda of reforms is beingimplemented to improve theirefficiencies.

The minister directed thequarters concerned to expeditethe work on developmentprojects being carried out in thearea so that they could be com-pleted before the advent of sum-mer season, especially repair ofroads.

He said Murree is an at-tractive place for touristswhere people from across thecountry as well as abroad visitto see scenic beauty of the hillyareas.

He said the Punjab govern-ment is committed to resolveproblems being faced by thelocal to improve their livingstandard and provide them fa-cilities at par with developedcities.—APP

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Minister for Re-ligious Affairs SardarMuhammad Yusuf said on Tues-day that Ministry has introducedElectronic Hajj Monitoring Sys-tem (EHMS) to facilitate intend-ing Hajj pilgrims during currentHajj season.

Addressing a press confer-ence here he said, “the systemwould help intending Hajj pil-grims to register their complaintsonline regarding any difficultiesand the staff deputed in the holyland and as well in Pakistanwould try to address grievanceswithin no time.”

He said intending pilgrimscan make free calls round theclock on number 08007700 inPakistan while on 088116622 inSaudi Arabia to register theircomplaints.

EHMS to facilitateHajj pilgrims

The staff deputed in theElectronic Monitoring Systemwill have the capability to un-derstand all the regional lan-guages. “The government willprovide all possible facilities tothe intending Hajj pilgrims thisyear and all efforts have beenmade to make the 2013 Hajj anexemplary Hajj,” he added.

All information such asmissing of luggage, death andillness of any intending pilgrimscan be registered in the system,he added. The system wouldalso check the performance ofHujjaj, medical mission and pri-vate tour operators.

The Minister said the min-istry has also introduced SMSservice to inform intending pil-grims about the day to day ac-tivity, he added. Sardar Yusufsaid around 143,000 peoplewould perform Haj under gov-

ernment scheme while around86,000 would perform underprivate tour scheme.

The Minister said the gov-ernment has hired around 122buildings for intending Hajj pil-grims. He said the ministry hasalso arranged comprehensivetraining for intending pilgrims.

He said Hajj flight would starton September 9 from Islamabad,Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar andQuetta simultaneously and con-tinue till October 9. Pilgrims cansee his flight schedule by just sub-mitting application number or hisComputerised National IdentityCard (CNIC).

He said PIA will operate atotal of 214 Haj flights toJeddah and Makkah. The PIAwill operate Haj flights fromKarachi, Lahore, Islamabad,Peshawar, Quetta, Multan andSialkot.

Qauid’sspeeches

ISLAMABAD—On the requestof Radio Pakistan‚ All IndiaRadio has provided speeches ofQuaid-e-Azam Muhammad AliJinnah to Pakistan.

Director General All IndiaRadio Mr. Leela Mandoi toldthat the speeches are providedon the request of Government ofPakistan which was forwardedby Pakistan High Commissionin New Delhi to AIR.

He said his organization willcooperate with Radio Pakistanand provide any other materialwhich it requests.

All India Radio has pro-vided two speeches of Quaid.One delivered at All India Ra-dio in New Delhi on 3rd of June‚1947 giving his reaction on planto hold a referendum in theNWFP about its joining withPakistan or India.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Ambassador ofTurkey, Babur Hizlan paid afarewell visit to Air Headquar-ters, here on Tuesday and calledon Chief of the Air Staff, Paki-stan Air Force (PAF), Air ChiefMarshal Tahir Rafique Butt inhis office.

Turkish Ambassadorcalls on Air Chief

The Air Chief thanked theoutgoing Ambassador of Turkeyfor playing a vital role in open-ing the various areas of co-op-eration between the two coun-tries in general and the AirForces in particular, said a pressrelease issued here.

The outgoing Ambassadorkeenly facilitated the conduct of

joint air exercises between PAFand TuAF i.e Indus Viper-II inPakistan and Anatolian Eagle inTurkey.The Air Chief also pre-sented souvenirs to the visitingdignitary at the occasion.

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Traf-fic Police (ITP) has launched acampaign to remove encroach-ments from the various busypoints of the city with a purposeof ensuring smooth traffic flowand avoid inconvenience to roadusers.

In this regard, ITP con-ducted a special survey undersupervision of SP (Traffic)Asmat Ullah Junejo to identifyvarious points in the city wheretraffic flow is not smooth due tothe encroachments on roads.

After identifying suchpoints, ITP removed encroach-ments from Bhara Kahu area inthe first phase through coordi-nation of traders and otherstakeholders. A special policeteam headed by InspectorEhsan Elahi conducted this op-eration in Bhara Kahu areawhich has been appreciated bytrader’s community and localpeople. They said said this ef-fort of ITP would greatly helpto avoid traffic jams in variousvicinities of Bhara Kau in fu-ture.

SP (Traffic) Asmat Ullah

Encroachments removedwith public support

Junejo said that vendors en-croach on roads or motoristspark their vehicles at unspeci-fied area which result in trafficjams causing inconvenience topeople. He said efforts are be-ing made to overcome such is-sues after consultation withtraders, shopkeepers and otherstakeholders.

He said this drive would beextended to other parts of thecity as such problematic pointshave been identified. He saidtrades and shopkeepers have as-sured their full cooperation inthis regard because such en-croachments resulting in traf-fic jam also affect their busi-nesses.

SSP (Traffic) Dr. MoeenMasood has said that ITP is en-deavoring to overcome trafficrelated problems and desiredresults can be achieved onlythrough cooperation of citizens.He hoped that mutual coopera-tion between traffic police andcitizens will further enhance incoming days to ensure exem-plary traffic system in thecity.—NNI

RAWALPINDI—Medicines sup-plied to Benazir Bhutto Hospi-tal (BBH) by health departmentof Punjab have gone out of stockwhile patients are forced pur-chase medicines from open mar-ket.

As per details, negligenceand mismanagement of hospital

Medicines out of stock in BBHadministration has deprived ofpatients from purchasing lowprice medicines prescribed bydoctors from the dispensary ofhospital.

On the other side poorcleanliness arrangements ofhospital have also startedspreading diseases amongst pa-

tients instead of health and cure.Patients and their family

members have demanded fromChief Minister (CM) PunjabMian Shahbaz Sharif to takenotice of this situation and toresolve these issues of hospi-tal as soon as possible.—Online

Briefs

“What is moral is whatyou feel good after andwhat is immoral is what

you feel bad after.”

— Ernest Hemingway

STAFF REPORTER

KA R A C H I—ICI Pakistanlaunched its new corporateidentity across the country to-day. Speaking at the occasion,Chief Executive Asif Joomastated “Our new brand reflectsour growth aspirations whilstreinforcing the Company’sstrong heritage and values.Following the acquisition ofmajority shareholding byYBG, one of Pakistan’s mostprogressive groups, the Com-pany is set to expand its localand international footprint

ICI launches newcorporate identity

through sustainable growth.The brand promise ‘Cultivat-

ing Growth’ coupled with thevisual identity of the new log– the ‘Blue Pearl’, builds onthe Company’s focus of culti-vating its existing businesseswhilst also looking for new

avenues for growth and diver-sification.”

ICI Pakistan’s history pre-dates the formation of the coun-try with the ground breaking ofits Soda Ash manufacturing fa-cility in 1939 and presence as atrading concern marketingproducts manufactured by ICIPlc globally. Over the years, theCompany transformed itselfinto one of Pakistan’s largest in-dustrial concerns introducinginnovative products and tech-nologies, having businessesthat are major players withintheir respective industries.

HBL and Bank Al Jazira hosted a signing ceremony inking an agreement to promote remit-tances from Saudi Arabia to Pakistan. The ceremony was attended by Sami Al Rajhi, VPhead of Banking Service Retail Banking Group Bank Al Jazira, Habib Yousuf, Head Finan-cial Institution Division, HBL and others.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—In its 11th Year ofsuccession, Plasti & Pack Pa-kistan has emerged as region’smost important trading gate-way to get in touch with buy-ing audience of Pakistan’splastic processing & packag-ing industry.

This year has witnessed amarked increase in local par-ticipation. Plasti & Pack alsoattracted an enthused participa-tion of some of the leadingcompanies from China, Ger-many, Italy, Spain, Turkey;

International foodprocessing exhibition

UAE and Saudi Arabia dealingin petrochemicals, extrusion,injection and blow molding andprinting machinery and mate-rial.

In concurrence to this, 10thEdition of International FoodProcessing Packaging Exhibi-tion IFTECH Pakistan is alsotaking place. IFTECH Paki-stan is now amongst the mostpreferred B2B exhibition ofSouth East Asia also consid-ered as the biggest annualgathering of local and interna-tional food technology leadersin Pakistan.

The organizers; PegasusConsultancy are proud of thefact that IFTECH haschannelized the introduction ofmany new technologies in thefood industry of Pakistan espe-cially in dairy, fruit, vegetable,confectionery and meat process-ing and packaging.

An interactive demonstra-tion of culinary arts and hospi-tality management skills willalso take place during the show.So far, over 6,000 trade visitorshave already registered online toattend Plasti & Pack andIFTECH 2013.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The rising in-flation may pave way to thecentral bank to raise interestrate, one of the prior condi-tions of IMF for $6.6 billionloan package for Pakistan.

Inflation based on Con-sumer Price Indicator (CPI)has recorded at 8.55 percentin August 2013 as compare tosame month of last year. Theconstant increase in inflationmay pave way for State Bankof Pakistan (SBP) to increasethe discount rate in the upcom-ing monetary policy.

Sources said the IMF hadasked the government to in-

Interest rate hike seems imminentcrease the discount rate - theminimum rate at which the cen-tral bank lends money to thecommercial banks - by 100 ba-sis points to 10pc. In its lastmeeting, the SBP had slashedthe discount rate by 50 basispoints to 9pc while arguing thatinflation had been falling. How-ever, sudden rebound in inflationin July (8.3pc) and August(8.5pc) can be used as a basis toincrease the interest rates, mak-ing IMF’s case stronger to askfor the uptick.

The central bank, which wassupposed to announce the mon-etary policy on 27th August, hasdelayed the announcement ofthe policy decision till current

month (September 13) to see theinflationary figures of Augustbefore making decision. Sourceswere of the view that SBP mightraise the interest rate by 50 to100 basic points from current 9percent after increase in infla-tion rate.

It is worth mentioning herethat Pakistan and IMF reachedon consensus for $5.3 billionbailout package, which now in-creased to $6.6 billion, in firstweek of July 2013, which wouldneed approval from IMF’s ex-ecutive board on September 4,2013. However, according to theagreement, Pakistan would needto take prior actions includingtax notices to 25,000 potential

tax dodgers and hike discountrates by 1 to 1.5 percent, in-crease in power tariff and Coun-cil of Common Interests (CCI)will ensure economic disciplineby provincial governments togenerate the surplus of Rs23 bil-lion.

Meanwhile, the economicexperts are of the view that in-flation would further fuel in themonths to come as governmenthas decided to increase thepower tariff and also increasethe petroleum product prices forthe ongoing month of Septem-ber.

According to the data re-leased by PBS, CPI based infla-tion has enhanced by 8.41 per-

cent during first two months(July and August) of the ongo-ing financial year 2013-14. Sen-sitive Price Index (SPI) basedinflation surged by 9.93 percentand Wholesale Price Indicator(WPI) based inflation increasedby 7.41 percent during themonths of July and Augustagainst the same month of thelast year.

Meanwhile, according to thePBS figures, CPI based inflationincreased by 1.2 percent in Au-gust 2013 against July.

The break-up of CPI-basedgeneral inflation (8.55 percent inAugust 2013 over August 2012)showed that food and non-alco-holic beverages prices went up

by 10.02 percent, alcoholic bev-erages and tobacco prices in-creased by 14.53 percent, cloth-ing and footwear prices soaredby 15.04 percent, housing wa-ter, electricity and gas fuels 6.52percent, health care chargeswent up by 6.52 percent, trans-portation charges increased 2.52percent, communication charges4.93 percent, recreation and cul-ture charges went up by 9.74percent, education charges 8.09percent and restaurants and ho-tel charges by 10.05 percent andmiscellaneous 6.04 percent inAugust 2013 against the samemonth of the preceding year2012.

Meanwhile, according to the

PBS figures, price of onions in-creased by 34.51 percent in themonth of August against July,prices of chicken enhanced by12.15 percent, prices of potatoeswent up by 7.36 percent, priceof eggs surged by 6.23, price ofwheat increased by 4.94 percent,price of wheat four surged by4.49 percent, price of fresh veg-etables went up by 4.15 percent,price of gur enhanced by 3.74percent, price of wheat productsincreased by 2.36 percent, priceof cereals soared by 1.92 per-cent, price of milk products en-hanced by 2.84 percent, price ofbeans raised by 1.7 percent,price of bakery andconfectionary items increased

by 1.66 percent, prices of bev-erages surged by 1.24 percentand readymade food by 1.15percent during the month ofAugust against the month ofJuly.

According to figures, costof Personal Equipments in-creased by 3.09 percent, textbooks prices enhanced by 2.63percent, readymade garmentscost surged by 2.3 percent,kerosene oil price soared by2.08 percent, tailoring chargesincreased by 1.9 percent, mo-tor fuel price soared by 1.72percent and doctor (MBBS)clinic fee went up by 1.27 per-cent during month of Augustagainst July 2013.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The KSE-100 in-dex bench mark increased by83.80 points to close at 21808.48on Tuesday after experiencing asubdued trend during the lastseveral days.

The brokers said that theFederal Government’s specialattention towards improvementof law and order in the metropo-lis made positive impact on theshare market.

Stock market rises on hopesof improvement in law, order

The investors showed inter-est in Banking, Cement, Com-munication, and Industries sec-tors as significant trading waswitnessed in those sectors.

KSE-30 index increased by80.33 points to close at 17009.34as compared to previous 16929points. Active trading was wit-nessed in the stocks of 347 com-panies, of which shares of 188companies closed up, 138 downwhile 21 remained unchanged.

Highest increase of Rs 10.85

was recorded in the stocks ofGlamour Textile to close at Rs 228while Khyber Tobacco increasedby Rs 10.13 to close at Rs 247.81.Nestle Pak decreased by Rs310.52 to close at Rs 5985 whileWyeth Pak Ltd was down by Rs147.50 to close at Rs 2802.50.

Highest turnover of16601000 shares was recordedin the stocks of Bank of Punjab.Total market turn over remainedat 169475110 as compared to theprevious 180153570 shares.

LSE MDseeks freezing

markup fortwo quarters

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Flood and heavyrain has badly affected the fac-tories and residential areas ofKala Shah Kaku and Muridkedistrict Sheikhupura, Punjab.Lahore Stock Exchange and itsmembers have serious concernabout the rehabilitation of Indus-tries and the nearby ResidentialAreas.

Managing Director/ChiefExecutive Officer of the LahoreStock Exchange Mr. AftabAhmed Chaudhry strongly ap-peals to the Government of Pa-kistan, especially the GovernorState Bank of Pakistan to freezethe markup for two (2) quartersto financially facilitate the floodaffected factories.

This kindness by The StateBank of Pakistan can help theaffected industries to bring theirfactors of production back intoto their original shape.

COLOMBO: Prof Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms shaking hand with President ofSri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—On the back ofpoor law and order and businessconditions the multinationalcompany Johnson & Johnson isreportedly wrapping up its drugproduction unit not internation-ally but in Pakistan only indi-cating level of crisis persistingin pharmaceutical industry.

The multinational companyhas been expanding its drugbusiness all over the world in-cluding in emerging countrieslike India however the situationis outright opposite in Pakistan,where the American drug pro-ducing giant has decided to shutdown its medicines productionplant, Janssen having incurredstringent operational losses andlack of government’s commit-ments and interest towards for-eign investors.

Johnson & Johnson is notalone to leave Pakistan, whichis considered mainly a lucrativeand big market for pharmaceu-tical companies with densepopulation having high vulner-ability of epidemics outbreak,

Law & order

Poor conditions forcingMNCs to quit Pakistan

but a few big names in interna-tional healthcare arena havedone the same earlier in recentyears including Bristol-MyersSquibb, Merck Sharp & DohmeLimited (MSD), Searle Pharma-ceuticals, and Organon.

The crisis in pharmaceuticalindustry is getting worst as themanufacturing of differentmedicines were suspended first,and now multinational compa-nies in particular has all set todisinvest and planning their clo-sure gradually in Pakistan.

The prolong unsettled issuesand pathetic attitude of the gov-ernment towards sensitive in-dustry has forced global phar-maceutical giant to wrap up itsbusiness in Pakistan paving theway for different multinationaldrug manufacturing companiesto follow the suite though it willalso hurt the sentiments of for-eign investors working in thecountry or willing to invest inthe future in pharmaceutical anddifferent industries.

Sources said that local andmultinational companies are re-luctant to buy out plants of

Johnson and Johnson LimitedPakistan despite of the fact thecompany has established widerange of medicine products port-folio and sales share in localmarket because a prospectacquirer of the company willhave to face similar harsh chal-lenges which caused the depar-ture of Johnson & Johnson.

In Pakistan, previous gov-ernments have capped the pricesof medicines since 2001 whichcost heavily to drug manufactur-ers having no further capacity toabsorb the impact of high pro-duction cost including expensiveimports of raw material, pack-age content, and utility ex-penses.

Furthermore, the new gov-ernment is seemingly firm tocontinue its rigid pricing policyin the future which may ceaseproductions of many medicineswhich is beyond the financialfeasibility of manufacturingcompanies as scores of the medi-cines have already been stoppedproducing by multinational andlocal pharmaceutical companiesdue to constant losses.

SMEDA signsMoU with GRFC

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Small and Me-dium Enterprises DevelopmentAuthority (SMEDA) signed amemorandum of understanding(MoU) with Global Research &Facilitation Council (GRFC) toaccelerate SME developmentprocess in the country. PresidentGRFC Touqir Khan LodhiandGM Business DevelopmentSMEDA, Sultan Tiwana signedthe MoU on the behalf of theirrespective organizations atSMEDA Head Office.

Under the MoU, both sideswould support each other in car-rying out joint research projectsand facilitation in areas of Lo-gistics, Supply Chain Manage-ment and Entrepreneurship

This MoU is yet anotherearmark showing SMEDA’scommitment towards its effortsfor working with private sectorfor creating better opportunitiesfor small and medium enter-prises in the country. GeneralSecretary, GRFC Imran AhmedAdvocate gave vote of thanksto SMEDA officials on this oc-casion.

Bullish trendat ISE

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad StockExchange witnessed bullishtrend here on Tuesday as theISE-10 index increased by 31.19points and closed at 4,193.55points.

A total of 68,000 shareswere traded, which were up by27,500 points when it comparedwith previous day’s trading of40,500 shares.

Out of 140 companies, shareprices of 80 companies recordedincrease where as share pricesof 60 companies registered de-crease meanwhile no companyremained stable in today’s trad-ing.

The share price of Glam-our Textile increased by Rs.10.85 per share while that ofSiemens Pakistan Engineeringdecreased by Rs. 48.29 pershare.

Sui Southern Gas, Bank ofPunjab and Netsol Technologiesremained the top trading com-panies in Tuesday’s trading with40,000, 13,000 and 8,000 sharesrespectively.

Rates for conversionKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Deposits,Dollar Bearer Certificates,Foreign Currency BearerCertificates, Special U.S.Dollar Bonds and profitsthereon by all banks and forproviding Forward Cover onForeign Currency Deposits(excluding F.E- 25 deposits)by the State Bank on Septem-ber 04, 2013. The rates areU.S. Dollar Rs 104.9104,Japanese Yen Rs 1.0549,Pound Sterling Rs 163.4084and Euro Rs 138.2089.—APP

Shipping activity at PQKARACHI—Two shipscarrying containers andvehicles were berthed atQasim international Contain-ers Terminal and MultiPurpose Terminals onMonday. Meanwhile, fourmore ships carrying contain-ers, cement and wheat alsoarrived at outer anchorage ofPort Qasim during last 24hours. Berth occupancy was55% at the port on Tuesdaywhere a total six ships namelyNysted Maersk, Inlaco Brave,Jia Rum Resolve, Malakandand Iron Layd are currentlyoccupying berths to load/offload containers, cement,general cargo, vehicles, rapeseed and furnace oil respec-tively during last 24 hours. Acargo volume of 88951 tonnescomprising 78166 tonnesimports and 10785 tonnesexports inclusive of container-ized cargo carried in 1026containers (TEUs) washandled at the port during last24 hours.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Oil and GasDevelopment Company Limited(OGDCL) would be capable ofproviding 13,000 barrels ofcrude oil, 360 million cubic feetgas and 750 metric tonnes liq-uefied petroleum gas per day oncompletion of its six ongoingdevelopment projects.

This initiative would con-tribute $2.5 billion to the na-tional exchequer annuallythrough export of petroleumproducts, and government ofPakistan would receive Rs 37billion in terms of general salestax and royalty. These figureswere shared with media byOGDCL during a dinner.

While addressing the me-dia, OGDCL Managing Di-rector and CEO MuhammadRiaz Khan said that in the re-cent past OGDCL failed tohighlight its achievement andtargets; and OGDCL is a re-search and developmentorganisation, where experts

OGDCL initiativesto save $2.5b yearly

cannot easily share everythingwith media due to nature oftheir work like other produc-tion and marketing companiesdo to highlight their productsand services.

He further said thatOGDCL has shown great per-formance during the last fiveyears thereby resulting ingrowth of revenue and marketshare of the company; andshareholders have gained hugeprofits. He also introducedOGDCL media team with themedia and expressed hope ofbetter relations between theOGDCL and the media in thefuture. Being the largest explo-ration and production companyat national level, OGDLCthrough dedication would helpthe country come out of energycrisis in the years to come. Healso said that OGDCL pos-sesses the best technical facili-ties, experienced and qualifiedhuman resource to expedite theexploration and production ofoil and gas.

Rupee-dollar parityStaff ReporterKARACHI—It is highlyanticipated that the rupee-dollar parity will tilt infavour of the dollar by endof September 2013, due tomore than one reasons,currency experts said. Therupee fell to an all-time lowlevel of Rs 104.87 forbuying against the dollar inthe interbank market while italso broke the open marketrecord when it closed at Rs104.75 for buying againstthe greenback. Due to non-interest of State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) in theforeign exchange market, theexchange rate mechanismnow depends on supply anddemand position, theyadded. In September 2013,the dollar demand willincrease by 3.0 percent to4.0 percent as compared toother months. On the pre-condition of the Interna-tional Monetary Fund (IMF),the SBP will not intervene inthe forex market and leavethe exchange rate free.Besides under this conditionIMF will provide firstinstalment of $6.6 billionunder the new arrangementloan package in September2013 to Pakistan, said FazalAhmad a currency expert inHouston.

Gold Tezab 46971.00Silver Tezabi 780.00

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 46030.00Gold 22 Ct 42090.00SilverTezabi 830.00Silver Thobi 800.00

USA 104.50 104.30

UK 162.58 162.27

EURO 137.85 137.58

Canada 99.02 98.83

Switzerland 111.81 111.59

Australia 93.91 93.73

Sweden 15.83 15.80

Japan 1.0505 1.0485

Norway 17.18 17.15

Singapore 82.11 81.95

Denmark 18.48 18.44

Omani Riyal 257.00 256.00

Saudi Arabia 27.86 27.81

Hong Kong 13.48 13.45

Kuwait 365.60 364.90

Malaysia 32.04 31.98

Newzeland 81.65 81.49

Qatar 28.70 28.64

UAE 28.45 28.40

KR WON 0.0954 0.0952

Thailand 3.264 3.258

Etihad Cargo,Abu Dhabi hubhandle recordJuly tonnageSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Etihad Cargo,part of UAE flag carrierEtihad Airways, has postedrecord monthly uplift figuresfor July of 45,000 tonnes, a37 per cent increase on thesame month in 2012 (32,876tonnes).

Etihad Airways’ ChiefStrategy and Planning Of-ficer, Kevin Knight, said:“Over the past 12 monthswe’ve strengthened our glo-bal cargo business, expandedoperations across new andexisting trade lanes, seen de-mand continue to grow, andin response, we’ve been ableto add greater capacity viaour growing passenger andfreighter fleet.”

The impressive tonnagefigures for July were drivenlargely by increases in keyexport markets such as India,Hong Kong and China anddemand into the Middle Eastfor foodstuffs ahead of theHoly Month of Ramadan,predominately from TheNetherlands.

The carrier’s Abu Dhabihub also posted record ton-nage for July with 70,500tonnes handled into, out ofand through the cargo facili-ties, which are now part ofEtihad’s subsidiaryorganisation, Etihad AirportServices – Cargo.

Mr Knight added: “An-nounced in May this year, theacquisition of the Abu DhabiCargo Company, is an invest-ment turning point in termsof how we plan to grow cargohandling at our hub, anddrive better synergies and ef-ficiencies for the benefit ofour local and internationalcustomer base. “ T omeet the future demand forcargo at our Abu Dhabi hub,planning is also underway todevelop the East Midfieldsite for a new state-of-the-artintegrated Cargo Terminal.”

Emirates offersspecial offers upto

20pc discountSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Emirates, one ofthe world’s fastest growingairlines, has launched specialoffers with up to 20 per centoff for travellers from Paki-stan for Business Class andEconomy Class fares to selectdestinations on its global net-work. The offer is valid forpurchase of tickets until 10thSeptember 2013 for travelbetween 15th September -15th January 2014.

These special offers meancustomers in Pakistan canenjoy Emirates’ renownedhospitality on some of themost popular destinationssuch as London, Birming-ham, Paris and New York.Return fares to London andNew York, as an example startfrom PKR 83,890 and PKR108,770 respectively, inclu-sive of all applicable taxes.

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

Currency Selling Buying

Bullion Rates

RS PER 10 GRAMS

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab Assem-bly during open debate on wheatand its support price urged thegovernment to provide enoughsubsidy to farmers whose cropswere washed away during recentfloods.

Members also stressed forbuilding of Kalabagh Dam tostore floodwater and generateample electricity to meet na-tional requirement. They calledfor a comprehensive policy toattain wheat autarky in years tocome.

Comparing to India, mem-bers were of the demand that thegovernment must offer subsidyon water and electricity to poorfarmers.

Replying to queries by

PA seeks subsidy forflood affected crops

members, Food Minister PunjabBilal Yasin said, the governmentwas attaching high priority toenhance wheat production in theprovince. In this regard, he said,a comprehensive policy had al-ready been evolved. He said,training courses were being ar-ranged to learn farmers aboutlatest techniques in the field ofwheat growing.

The minister on a question,said the government was awareof media reports regarding sell-ing of dead animal’s meat in themarket. Necessary action, hesaid, was being being takenagainst elements involved in thisugly business.

Taking floor on a point oforder, Ilyas Chinoti, a membersaid, to obtain good wheat yieldample water was required. He

emphasised the need to developsmall water reservoirs for stor-ing floodwater going waste tosea.

Another member AhmadKhan pointed out that owing tohigh cost of inputs, farmers hadhalted wheat growing and pre-ferring to other crops.

In his wind up speech, Ag-riculture Minister Punjab DrFarrukh Javed said, the govern-ment was fully taking care offarmers interests. He said, anumber of incentives were be-ing given to wheat growers.

A member drewgovernment’s attention towardsselling of seeds at exorbitantrates. As the minister finishedhis speech, the Speaker RanaMuhammad Iqbal prorogued thesession till sine die.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The mobilephone imports into the countrydecreased by 15.16 percent and34.87 percent during the monthof July, when compared to theimports of July 2012 and Junelast year respectively.

The imports of mobilephones into the country duringJuly, 2013 were recorded at$44.678 million against the im-ports of $52.66 million duringJuly 2012 and $68.594 millionin June 2013, according to thedata of Pakistan Bureau of Sta-tistics (PBS).

Meanwhile, the overall im-ports of telecom group also de-creased by 9.53 percent and

Mobile phone importsdown by 15.16pc in July

19.21 percent during the monthof July 2013 when compared tothe imports of July 2012 andJune 2013 respectively.

The telecom group importsduring July 2013 stood at$102.045 million against theimports of $112.792 million inJuly 2012 and $$126.304 mil-lion in June this year, the datarevealed. Similarly other appa-ratus of telecom group duringthe period under review also de-creased by 4.6 percent and 0.59percent as compared to the im-ports of July 2012 and June 2013respectively.

The imports of other appa-ratus during July 2013 stood at$ 57.367 million whereas theimports during July 2012 and

June 2013 were recorded at$60.133 million and $57.71 mil-lion respectively.

Exports from the countryincreased by 2.65 percent dur-ing the first months of the cur-rent fiscal year (2013-14) asagainst the exports of the samemonths of the last fiscal year.

It may be mentioned here thatthe trade deficit during the firstmonth of the current fiscal yearwas recorded at 1.719 billion,showing an increase of 6.07 overthe deficit of $1.621 billion re-corded during the same month ofthe last year. Similarly, the tradedeficit during July stood at $1.719billion against the deficit of $1.743billion in June 2013, showingnegative growth of 1.35 percent.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Commercial dairyfarmers from the Punjab todayparticipated in a consultativeworkshop with dairy sectorstakeholders and farm managersto assess the needs for modernfarm management services. TheUnited States Agency for Inter-national Development(USAID), and Dairy and RuralDevelopment Foundation(DRDF) supported the work-shop through their DairyProject.

“The demand for farmmanagement is increasing inPakistan’s dairy industry, asinvestors are looking into de-veloping commercial farm set-

USAID supports consultative workshopfor improved dairy farming management

ups, especially in the Punjab,”stated Vice Chairman DRDFAbdul Sattar Dogar. “TheDairy Project-trained farmmanagers will join a powerfulsector of Pakistan’s economy,and we have to prepare themfor the market. This workshopwill assist the Dairy Project inenhancing the scope of the up-coming farm managers’ train-ing, and further align the of-fered training with marketneeds.”

The Dairy Project’s four-week farm managers’ trainingsprepare dairy farmers and unem-ployed, educated youth to be-come excellent resources forfarm management in their re-spective regions, increasing

farm productivity, and creatingemployment opportunities foryoung educated Pakistanis.Through this project, Pakistan’srural economy will acquire amuch-needed boost, leading toincreased employment opportu-nities.

“We have to improve pro-duction and yield per animal in-stead of increasing the numberof animals at farms; the newly-trained farm managers will learnhow to assure this happens in thefuture,” said Dairy Project Di-rector Jakob Moser. “Today, wehave taken a great first step todevelop an enhanced farm man-agers’ training program, whichwill be based on the needs ofcommercial dairy farmers. This

consultation will lead to betterfarm management trainings andcreate jobs at large, commercialfarms,” he added.

USAID’s three-year, $14million Dairy Project, imple-mented by Dairy and Rural De-velopment Foundation (DRDF),will impact the lives of 9,000small dairy farmers by enhanc-ing their productivity by at least10 percent, resulting in at least10 percent increase in their in-comes. The project is also pro-viding training on the best dairyfarm management techniques totrain and establish 2000 self-employed Artificial Insemina-tion Technicians and 5000Women Livestock ExtensionWorkers.

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The PresidentRawalpindi Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (RCCI)Manzar Khurshid Sheikh onTuesday rejected the increase inprices of petroleum productswhich he said will destroy eco-nomic and industrial uplift in thecountry. He demanded of thegovernment to withdraw the de-cision on earliest to promote thebusiness activities. He said thatuninterrupted electricity must beprovided on cheaper rates andgovernment must devised planto overcome circular debt as inrecent circumstances circulardebt cannot be fixed forever.

He said that that businesscommunity of Rawalpindi city

RCCI rejects petro price hikeis receiving threats and ‘Parchi’from extortionists who are de-manding from 5 million to 20million as bhatta.

He was addressing the pressconference over the sharp in-crease in the prices of petroleumproducts. Senior Vice PresidentPervez Ahmed Warrich, VicePresident Nadeem Rauf, formerpresidents Sheikh Shabbir,Sohail Altaf, Dr. Hassan SaroshAkram, leaders of trade associa-tions Sheikh Hafeez, SheikhSadiq, Shahid Ghafoor Paracha,member Executive Committeeand other members of Chamberwere also present on the occa-sion.

Manzar Khursheed Sheikhsaid that despite of facilitating thebusiness community government

is creating more problems for it.Along with energy crisis nowbusiness community ofRawalpindi city is facing threats,which is creating instability. Hesaid many members of RCCIhave received threats from extor-tionists but because of fear theyare not ready to come forwardand register their complaints.“Government should providesafety to business community ifthey really want to attract inves-tors and want to business activi-ties in the country,” he added.

President RCCI urges thatgovernment should cancel thesharp increase in the prices ofpetroleum products, as thiswould increase the inflation rateand ultimately common manwill suffer. He said, its batter that

government take action on ourrequest and reduce the prices ofpetroleum products otherwisewe have other option to go shut-ter down strike and to go incourts against this decision.

Manzar Khursheed said thatbusiness community was hope-ful before general elections butnow the steps taken by the gov-ernment has disappointed every-one. Increase in the prices ofpetroleum products and instabil-ity is discouraging new busi-nesses in the country. He sug-gested Finance minister to havean economist in his team andadvised to make maximum ef-forts for avoiding taking suchanti-trade, anti-industry andanti-people measures in thelarger interest of the country.

LAHORE: Participants at the USAID DRDF Dairy Project’s Consultative Workshop forCommercial Dairy Farmers.

RAWALPINDI: President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry ManzarKhurshid Sheikh addressing a Press conference.

Oracle Pakistanmakes generalavailability ofits database

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Oracle Pakistantoday announced the generalavailability of Oracle Database12c, the first Database designedfor the Cloud.

Speaking on the occasion,Ahsen Javed, Regional Manag-ing Director, Oracle Pakistanand SAGE-W said, “The OracleDatabase 12c brings to custom-ers a new multitenant architec-ture that simplifies the processof consolidating databases ontothe cloud; enabling customers tomanage many databases as one- without having to change theirapplications.” He further added“The innovations in Oracle Da-tabase 12c were developedkeeping in mind the require-ments of our customers who arelooking to move to the cloud, thenew multitenant architecturewill make it so much easier forthem to consolidate their data-bases onto the cloud securely,”

Oracle Database 12c alsooffers customers other capabili-ties for cloud computing such assimplified provisioning, cloningand resource prioritization with-out resorting to major applica-tion changes.

“As organizations embracethe cloud, they seek technolo-gies that will transform busi-ness and improve their overalloperational agility and effec-tiveness,” Joshua B Chua, Di-rector, Sales Consulting andEnterprise Architecture, OracleASEAN. “Oracle Database 12cis a next-generation databasedesigned to meet these needs,providing a new multitenantarchitecture on top of a fast,scalable, reliable, and securedatabase platform.

Import of goldfor export of

Jewellery restoredSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Import of Goldfor export of Jewellery has beenrestored by Ministry of Com-merce, a statement of TradeDevelopment Authority of Pa-kistan issued on Tuesday(TDAP) said.

The new procedure has beenissued vide SRO - 760 (I) /2013dated September 2, 2013, thesame has been posted on thewebsite of Ministry of Com-merce / Trade DevelopmentAuthority of Pakistan (TDAP).

It may be recalled that theimport of Gold under the defunctSRO 266 was temporarily sus-pended for a month with effectfrom August 1, 2013 as per thedirectives of the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC).The Chairman of ECC/FinanceMinister had assured the tradersthat he would reopen the importin a month after revamping SRO-266 in order to minimize misuse.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Speakers at a

consultation moot called for de-vising result-oriented policies toboost agriculture sector and en-sure food security in the coun-try.

Addressing National Con-sultation organized by Societyfor Conservation and Protec-tion of Environment (SCOPE)

Result-oriented policiesneeded to ensure food security

in collaboration with AllianceAgainst Hunger and Malnutri-tion (AAHM) National Chap-

ter Pakistan, Oxfam NovibPakistan and Oxfam-GROWat a local hotel here on Tues-day, Tanveer Arif, Chief Ex-ecutive, SCOPE elaboratedthat AAHM, which is a glo-bal network of intergovern-mental organizations and civilsociety, formed as a follow up

of World Food Summit in2005. AAHM Pakistan chap-ter is consisting on civil soci-

ety, government organizationsand experts.

He said that AAHM Paki-stan has developed advocacystrategy which aims at support-ing government initiatives ofNational Food Security andNutrition Policy and Zero Hun-ger Programme.

ISLAMABAD: Participants at the National Consultation on Policy Perspec-tive of Hunger and Malnutrition situation in Pakistan exchanging views.

Wateenreceives

re-certificationSTAFF CORRESPONDENT

LAHORE—Wateen Solutions, asubsidiary of Wateen TelecomLtd has once again achieved theCisco Gold Partner certificationmeeting all the rigorous stan-dards set forth by Cisco in net-working competency, service,support and customer satisfac-tion.

As a Cisco Gold CertifiedPartner, Wateen continues tosucceed in attaining the broad-est range of expertise acrossmultiple technologies byachieving Cisco advancedspecialisations in borderlessnetworking, collaboration anddata centre.

Naeem Zamindar CEOWateen Telecom said, “Ac-complishing the broadestrange of expertise across mul-tiple technologies is a testi-mony to our deep commitmentand quality deliverance.Wateen also provides a host ofCloud and Managed Servicesto give customers the flexibil-ity they need and the outcomethey desire.”

Edison Peres senior VicePresident of worldwide chan-nels at Cisco said, “Withspecialisations in borderlessnetworking, collaboration anddata centre, Wateen Solutionshas made an investment in de-veloping the capability to de-liver the integrated andcustomised technology solu-tions that today’s customer’sdemand.”

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Price of toma-toes increased by 84 percent inJuly 2013 as compared to June2013. Heavy rainfall and floodin various parts of the countryare said to be the factors behindlow tomato yield leading to itsimport and thus a higher price.

FAFEN governance moni-tors visited 188 retail outlets in105 districts and reported in-crease in the prices of other veg-etables as well. Price of potatoesincreased by 21 percent and on-ions 10 percent. A high increasewas also registered in the priceof fruits-dark red apples 38 per-cent, golden apples 35 percentand bananas 12 percent.

Prices of condiments went

Tomato prices up by 84pcup with that of ginger increas-ing 12 percent, garlic 8 percentand turmeric 4 percent. Amongpoultry products, 7 percent in-crease was observed for eggswhile broiler chicken live wentup 1 percent. The average priceof broiler chicken meat howeverremained unchanged. Othermeat items including beef andmutton also registered increaseof 3 percent and 2 percent.

Similarly prices of all thesweeteners (gur, desi shaker (3%each) and sugar (1%)), dairyproducts (fresh milk and yogurt(1% each)) and wheat (flour (3%)and grain (1%)) registered rise.

An increase was also ob-served in the price of kitchenfuels, LPG (3%), firewood (2%)and kerosene oil (1%).

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

KARACHI—The leading buyersremained eager for fine gradesduring the trading session amidfirm spot rate, which stood at Rs6,700 per maund, traders atKarachi Cotton Association(KCA) said.

The buyers bought finegrades on competitive prices inSindh and Punjab stations ataround Rs 6,975 per maund whilelint production in the ginneriesof Sindh and Punjab remained onthe lower side due to slow paceof drying up rain-affected cotton-seed, brokers said.

Higher demand for finegrades in Punjab and Sindh sta-tions would continue to favoursellers as they were asking

Fine lint remains in focusslightly higher prices even at Rs7,050 per maund, besides gin-ning activities remained firmwith overall production ofaround 70 percent to 100,000bales per week.

The general prices remainedslightly up as deals changedhands at around Rs 6,925 permaund to Rs 6,975 per maund,floor brokers said.

In Punjab and Sindh stationsmills bought lint of all grades in-cluding fine ones at around Rs6,650 per maund to Rs 7,000 permaund on back of growing demandfor textile products, they added.

The secondary buyers madedeals for all grades of lint includ-ing second grades for blendingpurposes at around Rs 6,150 permaund to Rs 6,625 per maund.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—WAPDA is mak-ing all possible efforts to com-plete the Neelum-Jhelum projectin time. Officials sources saythat the project, besides gener-ating much-needed hydel elec-tricity in the country, is also ofimmense importance for Paki-stan to establish priority waterrights. Expressing satisfactionover the pace of work, they saidthat the project is an excellentopportunity for socio-economicuplift of the local populace byproviding them job opportuni-ties and boosting other eco-

Wapda to completeNeelum-Jhelum project in time

nomic activities in the area.The sources said that two

tunnel-boring machines (TBMs)were also imported from Ger-many to complete the project intime, saying that these machineshave already been made func-tional on the project. Out of to-tal 67-kilometre tunnels, over 33kilometres long tunnels havebeen excavated, while excava-tion of under-ground powerhouse stands at over 70pc andtransformers hall at 95pc. De-sander of the project is over 88pcand the Nauseri bridge is 100pccomplete, they added. ThePower House of the project is

located in the Chattar Kalass.Installed capacity of the projectis 969 MW comprising fourunits of 240 MW each.

The original cost of theproject was Rs130 billion but therevised PC-1 cost of the projectwas put at Rs274.882 billion asit has escalated due to change indesign and machinery require-ment owing to the earthquake of2005.

Neelum Jehlum Hydroelec-tric Project envisages the diver-sion of Neelum river waterthrough a tunnel and after pro-ducing power, out-falling intoJehlum river.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) hasprovisionally accumulated Rs279 billion during first twomonths (July and August) of theongoing financial year 2013-14.

“Federal Board of Revenuehas provisionally collected Rs279 billion during July-Augustperiod of the current fiscal yearthat may increase in next fewdays when figures compiled”,said Riffat Shaheen Qazi, offi-cial spokesperson of FBR. How-ever, she did not share the tar-get of two months (July andAugust), as she said, “FBR setquarterly revenue collection tar-get not monthly targets”.

Rs279b tax collected in July, AugMeanwhile, sources said

that FBR has set Rs 286 billionrevenue collection target for thefirst two months (July-August)of the ongoing fiscal year, whichmight be achieved when finalfigures of revenue collectioncompiled. Sources further saidthat final figures of revenue col-lection are likely to be finalisedin next three to four days. Thecollection would go beyond Rs279 billion after obtaining rev-enue data from far-flung areasand reconciliation of revenuereceipts, he added. The FBR hasprovisionally collected Rs 279billion during the first twomonths of 2013-14 against Rs177 billion in the correspondingperiod of last fiscal year show-

ing an increase of around 57percent in one year. Meanwhile,FBR has collected Rs 145 bil-lion during the month of August.

The healthy growth in firsttwo months of current financialyear 2013-14 is mainly due toheavy taxation measures worth ofRs 200 billion taken in budget.The FBR has to collect an uphillrevenue collection target of Rs2474 billion during the currentfinancial year 2013-14, which is28 percent higher than the col-lection of previous fiscal year2012-13 that was Rs 1936 billion.

However, chairman FBRTariq Bajwa other day showedhis commitment to achieve thisrevenue collection target, whathe termed a ‘challenging target’.

HELPING people who were recently released from a hospital understand howto care for themselves and informing

their primary care doctors about their stay mayreduce their risk of being admitted back intothe hospital, says a newstudy.

Researchers found thatimplementing a statewidetransitional care program forNorth Carolinians on Med-icaid - the state and federalinsurance for the poor - waslinked to a 20 percent reduc-tion in patients’ risk of go-ing back to the hospital dur-ing the next year.

“That finding is fairlyconsistent with what hadbeen shown in other stud-ies… We were hoping toachieve that big of a differ-ence. The novelty was beingable to achieve it on thisscale,” Dr. Annette DuBard,the study’s lead author fromCommunity Care of North Carolina in Ra-leigh, told Reuters Health.

Researchers have known that the timeimmediately following patients’ release froma hospital is critical to their chance of beingreadmitted later on.

“The time of discharge from the hospitalwas a very vulnerable time for patients withcomplex care needs and we need to get re-sources in place to make sure they go moresmoothly,” DuBard said.

Much emphasis has been put on programsto reduce readmissions and ultimately savemoney, but there have been some questionsabout how to address issues at home that may

increase a patient’s risk for another hospi-talization.

In 2012, a study found issues such asnot being able to take medication or get todoctors’ offices were linked to an increased

risk of being readmitted.Studies conducted at indi-

vidual hospitals have foundpromising results with pro-grams that coordinated pa-tients’ care when they left thehospital, taught patients andtheir families how to managetheir medical conditions athome and then followed upwith the patients after theywere back home.

For the new study,DuBard and her colleaguescalculated the rate of read-missions among more than13,000 patients on Medicaidwith multiple chronic healthconditions who enrolled inthe statewide transitionalcare program between 2010

and 2011. They compared that to the rateof readmissions among about 8,000 pa-tients who received standard care with noextra help at discharge.

Overall, the researchers found those whowent through the transitional care programwere less likely to be readmitted to the hos-pital during the next 12 months.

The biggest difference was for patientswho were the sickest and thus at the greatestrisk for having to go back to the hospital.Among those people, the researchers found20 percent in the transitional care programwere readmission-free after a year, comparedto 12 percent of the usual care group.

Hospital to home focusmay reduce readmissions

KARACHI: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif being received by Governor Sindh Dr Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan and Chief Minister Syed Qaim AliShah at Karachi Air Port on Tuesday.

KARACHI: MQM Deputy Convener Dr. Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui addressing a press con-ference. Babar Ghouri and Nasrin Jalil are also seen in the picture.—PO photo

Independence Day of Indonesia celebratedKARACHI—To mark the 68thAnniversary of the Independenceof the Republic of Indonesiawhich was celebrated, IndonesianConsul General in Karachi andMrs. Rossalis R. Adenan hosteda reception at the Karachi’s DHACountry and Golf Club Conven-tion Hall on the evening of 2ndSeptember 2013.

The reception was attendedby Federal and Sindh Govern-ment officials, including theGovernor of the State Bank ofPakistan (Mr. Yaseen Anwar)and the Senior Minister forEducation of Sindh (Mr. NisarAhmed Khuhro), senators,members of Sindh Parliament,diplomats, honorary consulgenerals, businessmen, politi-cians and representatives fromcivil society in Karachi. It wasstarted by playing the nationalanthems of Indonesia and Pa-kistan and followed by remarksof the Consul General and theChief Minister of Sindh, Mr.Syed Qaim Ali Shah who wasthe Chief Guest at the recep-tion.

On his remarks, the Con-

KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah along with Consul General of Indonesia andother guests cutting the cake on the occasion of 68th Independence Day of Indonesia. NisarKhuhro, Nasrin Jalil and others are also seen in the picture.—PO Photo by Sultan Chaki

sul General welcomed all theguests and extended the warm-est regards of the IndonesianAmbassador to Pakistan andMrs. Burhan Muhammad tothose who are attending the re-ception. He also extendedwarmest and sincerest felicita-tion to the Government andpeople of Pakistan, particularlyin Sindh Province, on the aus-picious occasion of the 66th In-dependence Day of the IslamicRepublic of Pakistan which wascelebrated on 14th August 2013.

The Consul General shortlyelaborated the Indonesian cur-rent economic development un-der the dynamic leadership ofPresident Susilo BambangYudhoyono which was charac-terized, among others by sig-nificant achievement in eco-nomic growth amid the currentglobal economy slowdown. Heunderlined the newly imple-mented Preferential TradeAgreement (PTA) between In-donesia and Pakistan whichstarted entering into force on1st September 2013 and willfurther increase the bilateral

trade volume as well as pave theway to the signing of a FreeTrade Agreement (FTA) be-tween the two brotherly coun-tries.

The Consul General expressedhis confidence that the future of bi-

lateral economic relations betweenthe two brotherly countries will bemore strengthened in years ahead,bearing in mind the Pakistan’seconomy as the second largest inthe Region, and is one of theemerging markets in the World,

while Indonesia is the largesteconomy in ASEAN and memberof the G-20. In line with the increas-ing bilateral trade volume of thetwo brotherly countries, he be-lieved that the role of Karachi asthe hub of commercial activities

and the entry point of the foreigncommodities export, includingfrom Indonesian to this Regionwill be more important in the yearsahead.

The Chief Minister ofSindh who in his speech con-gratulated the Indonesian Con-sul General on the auspiciousoccasion. He reiterated thelongstanding relations betweenthe two brotherly countrieswhich has been establishedsince a long time, and under-lined the huge potentials thetwo countries have that shouldbe further explored for the mu-tual benefit of the two coun-tries, particularly in economicsector, among others throughbusiness to-business contact.With the huge potentials andsimilarities the two countrieshave, he believed that the bi-lateral relations between thetwo brotherly countries will befurther strengthened. Duringthe function, some Indonesiantraditional cuisine were servedand Balinese dances were per-formed which were much ap-preciated by the guests.—NNI

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Additional In-spector General of Police, Sindhfor Karachi, Ghulam QadirThebo said that Karachi was abig city which population hadcrossed 20 million and in such abig and densely populated megacity, killings totaling to 10-20persons was not a big issue.

He expressed these views ina press conference he had ad-dressed the police head officeTuesday.

It was not know as why theAIGP had chosen the day for thepress conference at a time whenthe Premier of the country, MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif wasbusy in obtaining fed back from

Few killings in Karachi with 20mpopulation not a big issue: AIGP

the leaders of political and reli-gious parties, traders and busi-nessmen, and chiefs of the in-telligence and law enforcementagencies so that he could carveout a consolidated plan forbringing normalcy in the portcity.

The AIGP had also sleetedthe time to engage the newsmenin a press conference when thecity’s largest mandate holdingpolitical party, the MuttahidaQaumi Movement had an-nounced its schedule of an ur-gent press conference at theKarachi Press Club.

The AIGP said that it was afact that the city and the citizenswere badly stricken by the un-checked incidents of target kill-

ings, street crime, extortion butit was also a fact that there washuge spread of illegal weaponsthat were used in assortedcrimes mentioned earlier andabove all, the AIGP said thatkillings of a few persons in a citythat had crossed the populationabove 20 million was not a men-tionable matter.He admitted thatthere were No Go Areas in thecity but after repeated actions,such No Go Areas had been par-tially eliminated and police andother law enforcement agencieshad been in a position to enterthose areas freely.He said that ascompared to the population ofthe city, there were only 25, 000cops and officers in police de-partment and there were black

sheep in the police department,too.So far, around 119 cops werekilled in the city during currentyear (2013) in incidents of tar-get killings but the moral of po-lices was still high, he claimedadding that police had a targetto chase the criminals and bringthem to task no matter how pow-erful or influential they were.

He said that cops were be-ing killed in incidents of tar-get killings. Police had busteda gang leader of extortionists,which had been operated oninformation provided by alady employee of an institu-tion.

The AIGP claimed thatpeople had been protecting thetarget killers belong to them.

Minister ordersremoval of

encroachments fromFood Dept land

KARACHI–Provincial Ministerfor Food, Jam Mehtab HussainDahar has directed that encroach-ments on the land of Food Depart-ment be removed immediately.

Presiding a meeting of dis-trict officers of his department,he said that strict action shouldbe taken against the people in-volved in land grabbing, a hand-out issued here on Tuesday said.

He said that legal action betaken against the officers in-volved in theft of wheat bagsfrom the Food Department’swarehouses.He directed thatsuch cases be referred to Anti-Corruption Police. The Ministerdirected the officers concernedto ensure sale of ‘atta’ (wheatflour) at the fixed rates and takestrict action against those shop-keepers who are involved inovercharging.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI–Karachi Water andSewerage Board (KW&SB) hadTuesday in a crack-down opera-tion against the residential de-faulters disconnected water con-nections in vast areas ofGulshan-e Iqbal, Jamshed,Saddar, Baldia and Shah FaisalColony. The KW&SB discon-nection team on the directives ofKW&SB Managing DirectorQutbuddin Shaikh conducteddisconnection campaign and was

KW&SB disconnects water supplyof various residential areas

led by the deputy managing di-rector revenue Aslam.

The water connections weredisconnected in Zehra Apart-ments, Rizvia Society, JauharComplex, Al-Muslim Corner,Lay Arcade, Ghazi Arcade,Shakeel Garden, CommissionerSociety, Arafat Corner, VIPCorner, Al-Haseeb, Yasir View,Islamic Arcade, Gulshan View,Soni View, Al-Nasira Heaven,Asma Garden in Gulshan-eIqbal.

In Jamshed, water connec-

tions of Maryam Heights, FaranSociety, KMCH Society,PESCH Block 2, in Shah FaisalColony, water connections weredisconnected in Block 19, Wel-come Centre, Simon View, Wel-come Terrace, Pak Avenue,Haramain Towers and in Block18, Jauhar Square, ClassicApartments.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI–Karachi was on highalert on Tuesday because thePrime Minister Mian MuhammadNawaz Sharif was in Karachi onhis mission to take his plans aheadfor the elimination of target kill-ings, extortion, kidnappings forransom and street crimes.

Leaders of political and reli-gious parties had been in the allparty conference and there weretalks about award of free hand tothe provincial government to dealwith the killers. However, the per-petrators felt they already had afree hand to gun down 13 citizens

13 gunned down amidPM’s presence in city

of which 4 were killed in just halfand hour, which was a bold ques-tion mark on the performanceand efficiency of police andRangers.

The incidents of killingswere occurred in many areas ofthe city including Orangi Town,Pir Elahi Bux Colony, SoldierBazar, Garden East, Clifton, MA Jinnah Road.

In Orangi Town, sector 12-L, a worker of Pakistan People’sParty Parliamentarian was killedand was identified as Naeem 30.His body was shifted to AbbasiShaheed Hospital for medico-le-gal procedures. One was killed

in Pir Elahi Bux Colony aftersome unidentified assailants hadattacked with automatic assaultweapons on a car while anotherwas killed in Garden East DhobiGhat area. One was killed nearZiauddin Hospital in Clifton.

Police sub-inspectorShamshad 30 posted at PakistanBazar police station as intelli-gence officer was killed inOrangi Town No 5. Syed EjazHussain Shah son of Syed FaizElahi 50 was killed in LeemoGoth area of Gulshan-e Iqbal.Zaheer son of Pir Bux 45 waskilled on Abul Hassan EsphahaniRoad in Gulistan-e Jauhar.

Two alleged carsnatchers arrested

KARACHI–The Anti-Car Lift-ing Cell (ACLC), arrested twoaccused of car snatching fromGulistan-e-Johar here on Tues-day.

The accused identified asMuhammad Ayub andMuhammad Shahid alias Kana,were arrested while they weretravelling on an allegedlysnatched car no AMM-649, saida police statement.

The police has also recov-ered two pistols along withseven rounds from the accused.

Mominabad police hasalso arrested two accused ofstreet crimes, after exchangeof firing from the Metrovillearea.—APP

KARACHI–The InternationalCentre for Chemical and Bio-logical Sciences (ICCBS),Karachi University, has inked aMemorandum of Understanding(MoU) with the National Cen-tre for Research (NCR),Khartoum, Sudan, to initiateacademic, research and scien-tific cooperation between thetwo institutions.

According to ICCBSspokesman here on Tuesday, theDirector of ICCBS Prof. DrMuhammad Iqbal Choudharyon behalf of the InternationalCentre and Director NCR Prof.Dr M. Galal M. Ahmed signedthe MoU in a special signingceremony held at Khartoum,Sudan.

On the occasion, DrChoudhary said that ICCBS isamong the leading centres ofexcellence in chemical, biologi-cal and biochemical sciences,serving as the centre for research

ICCBS inks MoU withSudanese Centre of Research

and training of scholars fromvarious countries of the world.

The facilities at ICCBS areat par with any good researchestablishment in the west.

ICCBS, he added, is an in-tegral part of Karachi Univer-sity, which is recognised as thepremier establishment of higherlearning and research in the sub-continent and in the developingworld, graded as 233 in worldranking of Universities in natu-ral sciences, while the ICCBSis one of the best higher learn-ing institutions of the varsity.

The Director NCR praisedthe research facilities and stan-dard of the ICCBS, and saidthat NCR is a premier researchinstitute of the Ministry of Sci-ence and Communications inSudan. He said that the collabo-ration with ICCBS will defi-nitely build the human capacityof various institutions inSudan.—APP

Hospital to home focus mayreduce readmissions

LAHORE: Artists performing during a stage show ‘Main Teri Deewani’ organized by Press Club.

HELPING people who were recentlyreleased from a hospital understand how to care for themselves

and informing their primary care doctorsabout their stay may reduce their risk ofbeing admitted back into the hospital,says a new study.

Researchers foundthat implementing a state-wide transitional care pro-gram for North Carolin-ians on Medicaid - thestate and federal insur-ance for the poor - waslinked to a 20 percent re-duction in patients’ risk ofgoing back to the hospi-tal during the next year.

“That finding is fairlyconsistent with what hadbeen shown in other stud-ies… We were hoping toachieve that big of a dif-ference. The novelty wasbeing able to achieve it onthis scale,” Dr. AnnetteDuBard, the study’s leadauthor from Community Care of NorthCarolina in Raleigh, told Reuters Health.

Researchers have known that the timeimmediately following patients’ releasefrom a hospital is critical to their chanceof being readmitted later on.

“The time of discharge from the hos-pital was a very vulnerable time for pa-tients with complex care needs and weneed to get resources in place to makesure they go more smoothly,” DuBardsaid.

Much emphasis has been put on pro-grams to reduce readmissions and ulti-mately save money, but there have been

some questions about how to addressissues at home that may increase apatient’s risk for another hospitalization.

In 2012, a study found issues suchas not being able to take medication orget to doctors’ offices were linked to an

increased risk of being re-admitted.

Studies conducted atindividual hospitals havefound promising resultswith programs that coordi-nated patients’ care whenthey left the hospital,taught patients and theirfamilies how to managetheir medical conditions athome and then followed upwith the patients after theywere back home.

For the new study,DuBard and her colleaguescalculated the rate of read-missions among more than13,000 patients on Medic-aid with multiple chronichealth conditions who en-

rolled in the statewide transitional careprogram between 2010 and 2011. Theycompared that to the rate of readmis-sions among about 8,000 patients whoreceived standard care with no extra helpat discharge.

Overall, the researchers found thosewho went through the transitional careprogram were less likely to be readmit-ted to the hospital during the next 12months.

The biggest difference was for pa-tients who were the sickest and thus atthe greatest risk for having to go backto the hospital.

LAHORE: President of PPP, Punjab, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo talking to mediapersons after a meeting of joint opposition in Punjab.

LAHORE: Residents of Nowshehra Virkan holding a demonstration against non-arrestof murderers of their seven family members.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Youngsters inthe city seem to be in a raceto impress others throughthe writings on the rearscreens of their cars, as mostcars in the city trend to dis-play some message on themfor others.

The witty, and some-times smutty, statements onthe rear screens of cars areoften written to catchpeople’s attention. Someyoungsters also displayquotations, and even namesof their beloved ones.Sohail Malik, a resident ofGulberg, had splashed onhis car screen that read,“Mom says no more girls.”He said that he had writtenit just for the sake of fun,and that his views on the‘issue’ were totally different.

“Girls often dislike this state-ment, but some become myfriend just because of it,” hesaid, adding that he did notbelieve that there was any-thing ‘immoral’ in it, and thathe was just using his ‘free-dom of expression’.

Amir, a resident of ModelTown, had “If you are mad, Iam your dad” written on theback screen of his car.

He said that it was a‘warning to others’ attempt-ing to overtake him on thecity roads. He however saidthat it was not an attempt tohurt anybody’s feelings. An-other piece of writing on therear screen of car tells oth-ers, “Do not follow me, amalways wrong”.

The young drivers oftenwrite such statements on theircars to make readers laugh.A youngster had a message

on the back of her car thatread, “Fasla rakhain warnapiyar ho jaye ga” (Keep dis-tance or you might fall inlove).

Another car in the De-fence Housing Authority(DHA) had “Waldain kaadab karo, Santro kia BMWbhi milay ge” (Respect yourparents and you’ll get aBMW instead of a Santro)written on it. Aqif Sheikh,another resident of the DHAhad written “Looking goodis a curse” on his car. An-other car in the locality had“Save the drama for yourmama” written on it.

As youngsters writestatements on the backscreens of their cars to seekattention, others use thespace to spread theiragenda.

This practice was evident

Passionate writings on screens of carsoften inspire tourists, travelors

during the general electionswhen political workers wroteslogans on their cars infavour of their leaders.

Safdar Hussain, a lawyer,said that the stickers hadplayed an important role increating awareness on theissues among people. Hesaid that there was no harmin using ‘modern methods’for sharing one’s ideology.

Some people had alsoused their cars’ back screenfor preaching purposes orfor sharing their beliefs, andothers had written Quranicverses on their cars for pro-tection.

A car owned by DilawarHussain, a resident of ModelTown, had “Ali Maula (AS)”written on its back screen. Hesaid that the name had savedhim from many curses.“What is bad in showing

your beliefs? I think if onewants to preach his ideaslike this, there is no harm init,” he added.

Punjab University (PU)Centre for Clinical Psychol-ogy Director Dr NosheenK Rehman said that mostyoungsters wrote suchstatements to seek others’attention. “Those who donot get attention at theirhomes or in society adoptsuch methods to get atten-tion of others,” she said,adding that it was not ahealthy practice. She saidthat such people couldearn fame and others’ at-tention through hard work.

However, she said thatnew ways were beingadopted for advertisementpurposes, and writing oncars was one of them.

LDA officialspromoted

L A H O R E —Depar tmen ta lpromotion committee ofLahore Development Au-thority (LDA) has promoted11 officials.

The officials who havebeen promoted include ac-counts clerks and junior ac-count assistants (BS-11) tothe post of junior accoun-tants / account assistants(BS-14).

LDA also issued finalnotice for personal appear-ance to Sheraz QamarBukhari, junior clerk, LDA onaccount of his unauthorizedabsence from duty.—APP

PES providesemergency serviceto 128,468 people

LAHORE—Punjab Emer-gency Service (PES) pro-vided rescue service to128,468 people by carryingout 46,895 rescue operationsin the province during themonth of August last.

This was told in a meet-ing to Director GeneralPunjab Emergency Service(Rescue 1122) Dr RizwanNaseer here at Rescue 1122Headquarters.

The meeting was toldthat Rescue 1122 respondedto emergency calls includes16,886 road accidents, 21,018medical emergencies, 606 fireincidents, 227 building col-lapse incidents, 2,310 crime,223 drowning incidents, 3explosions and 5,622 otheremergency operations.

Speaking on theoccaison, Dr Rizwan Naseersaid the ratio of road acci-dents was increasing withevery passing day in Punjab.

He said that citizensshould abide by traffic rulesand regulations for thesafety of human lives.—APP

LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt Tuesday again issuednotices to Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chairman Imran Khan ona writ petition challenging theElection Commission ofPakistan’s (ECP) order allow-ing him to move an applicationwith Returning Officer NA-122to inspect election record.

The LHC chief justice is-sued notice on a petition filedby National Assembly SpeakerSardar Ayaz Sadiq who wasdeclared returned candidatefrom the constituency in theMay 11 general elections onthe PML-N ticket.

As proceedings startedtoday, the ECP’s counsel ap-peared before the court andsubmitted a reply.

However, after reviewingthe reply, the chief justice di-rected the counsel to seek fur-ther explanation and apprise iton the next date of hearing.

The chief justice was in-formed that no body appearedon behalf of Imran Khan. The

Notices issued to Imranon election plea

chief justice directed to re-is-sue notice and adjourned thematter till September 18.

The petitioner through hispetition submitted that ImranKhan had filed an applicationbefore the ECP for public in-spection of election record ofNA-122 and the commissionhad on June 18, 2013, allowedthe application and also di-rected the applicant (Khan) tomake another application forexamination of documents be-fore the returning officer con-cerned.

He submitted that the pe-titioner had no objection tothe inspection of electionrecord, except ballot papers,in terms of Section 45 of theRepresentation of the PeopleAct, 1976.

The petitioner said that hehad objection only to the ex-tent that ECP expected the re-turning officer of NA- 122,Lahore to allow and supervisepublic inspection of permis-sible election record.—APP

PM efforts forpeace in Karachi

to bear fruit:PML-N

LAHORE—The efforts ofPrime Minister Nawaz Sharifwill bear fruit and bring peacein the strife torn Karachi.

Talking to reporters atparty’s Krishan Nagar officeon Tuesday, PML-N centralleaders Mohammed Mehddiand Tariq Mehmood Gill saidthat trouble in Karachi hastaken a serious turn and ifprompt solution was notsought, the situation wouldaggravate.

They said, it is a welcom-ing sign that the Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif was pre-siding over a cabinet meet-ing on Karachi situation.Since, they said, he (Nawaz)is a true patriot and popularleader, he would be able toevolve a strategy to bringpeace in Karachi.

“Early peace in Karachi ismust to frustrate elementslurking to damage Pakistan,”they added. They urged allpolitical parties to contributeto resolve one of the majorissues facing the country.

The PML-N leaders said,only a ruthless operation isthe need of hour to purge theport city of mercenaries, ex-tortionists and kidnap-pers.—APP

Forest Dept toretrieve govtland: minister

LAHORE—Provincial Ministerfor Forest, Fisheries and Wild-life Malik Asif Awan has saidlakhs of acres of governmentland was illegally occupied andaction would be taken soon.

He was presiding over ameeting in his office Tuesday,which was attended by Addi-tional Secretary Forests NaeemTiwana and others.

The minister directed theofficers to protect governmentland like their personal prop-erty otherwise strict actionwould be taken against themwithout any discrimination.

He stressed upon the of-ficers to prepare an action planfor eradication of theft of treesand corruption and send it tohim.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Ministerfor Energy, Malik Sher AliKhan has stated that the Paki-stan Muslim League-N lead-ership is resolutely determinedto overcome the chronic men-ace of load-shedding and forthis purpose in addition to in-creasing power generation, ithas launched an aggressivecampaign against massiveelectricity and gas theft whichis costing up to Rs.250 billionannually to the country.

He expressed these viewswhile addressing opening cer-emony of the world reputedChinese North West ElectricPower Institute office in Paki-stan at a local hotel, here Tues-day.

The Minister said that as aresult of expeditious measurestaken by the incumbent gov-ernment the existing electric-ity generation had been en-hanced by over 1700 MW. He

Aggressive campaign onagainst electricity, gas theft

said that newly-establishedChinese design institute wouldopen up new vistas of mutualcooperation between busi-ness entities of China and Pa-kistan in the energy sector.

Earlier, Zaho Wen Xue,President overseas projectcompany of NWEPDI, in hiswelcome address, stated thatit was an established principleof the Chinese leadership todevelop a sound relationshipwith Pakistan and push for-ward the ties among powergeneration firms of the twonations.

Now the Chinese engi-neers would work hard, along-side Pakistani friends, to fur-ther strengthen existing bondsof cooperation in all fields ofenergy sector to achieve a bet-ter and easier life for thepeople of both the countries.

He said that NWEPDI hasalready taken part in a seriesof work in designing, procur-ing, constructing and testing

projects of MG-I in Pakistan.The opening of the Institute’soffice, the Chinese electricityexperts would be a part ofstrength of electricity grid inPakistan, he added.

Later Mr. Li Xiu An, Presi-dent of NWEPDI observedthat eversince its inception inOctober 1956, the NWEPDIhas attained the status of oneof the top companies in Chinapower sector and had de-signed 261 major powerprojects both at home andaboard with a total capacity of126.063MW, which was 14percent of the total power gen-eration of China.

Vice President NWEPDI,Zheng Shu Gui, while giving apresentation on achievementsof the Institute, remarked thatsetting up of the NWEPDI Pa-kistan office was a milestonefor the international businesswhich showed that Pakistanpower market was very impor-tant to China.

‘Kidnapped’Pak originUS citizen

returns homeLAHORE—An allegedly kid-napped Pakistani origin UScitizen Hasnain Bukharireached back to his home onTuesday.

According to details,Hasnain Bukhari was alleg-edly kidnapped soon after hisarrival here from USA but thedrop scene of drama came toan end when he safely re-turned back to his home lo-cated in Lahore city.

Police said that the dramaof kidnapping was outcomeof domestic dispute.

Hasnain Bukhari re-corded the statement that hedid not want to go back toAmerica while his parentswere enforcing their decisionto return to USA.

It should be mentionedthat Bukhari’s parents hadlodged an FIR at local po-lice station against his kid-napping by unknown per-sons, however, the dropscene revealed after his re-turn.—NNI

LAHORE—Spread of dengue indifferent areas of Punjab hasincreased the worries of citizensas more dengue cases weresurfaced across the provinceon Tuesday.

According to health au-thorities, dengue virus has beendetected in three more patientshailing from Pakpattan, Lahoreand Sheikhupura who were ad-mitted at Mayo Hospital. Withthree new cases total numberof dengue patients across theprovince has reached to 65.

Provincial health authoritieswere of the view that anti-den-gue campaign is in full swing

and all available resources werebeing utilized to control the fur-ther spread of the disease.

The health department of-ficials said that besides fuming,vaccination, precautionarymeasures, awareness cam-paign in the countryside areasis also in progress. They saidthat without cooperation ofmasses, provincial governmentcan’t succeed in anti-denguedrive.

The health officials alsourged the citizens to playtheir role to save preciouslives and ensure the spreadof disease.—INP

Three more dengue cases96 trafficwardens deputed

LA H O R E—City Trafficbvcxh fbPo\\\=lice on Tues-day deployed another 96traffic wardens at variousroads of the city to ensuresmooth flow of traffic.

CTO Sohail Chaudhrysaid that 101 traffic wardenswho were deputed at city traf-fic police lines, had alreadybeen deployed at the busytraffic sectors in the city toregulate traffic, city trafficpolice sources said here onTuesday.—APP