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Meaningful visit of ChineseFM................................................Kashmiris still waiting forjustice................................................Huge trade potentials ofCARs

See Page 04

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—KSE-100 though still in high pro-file maintaining above 34500level lost 154 points whichseems a short corrective stancebefore resuming its upwardjourney as indicated by theimpressive market volume of382 million shares traded onWednesday. The market wasclosed at 34672.25 levels.

The index formed a higherhigh and a higher low; and ithas been three consecutive ses-sions that the index is givingsuch a formation, which is abullish sign. The trading however more fo-cused on oil & gas and cement sectors look-ing strong at current levels.

KSE-100 takes apause, sheds 154 points

Pak Electron was the top volume leaderof the day with 36 million shares while PakInternational Bulk Terminal( PIBT) and

Jahangir Siddiqi & Co were the second andthird volume leaders with 33 million and 27million shares traded to their credit.

28 Brigadierspromoted as

Major GeneralsRAWALPINDI—Pakistan Armypromotion board chaired byCOAS General Raheel Sharifpromoted 28 Brigadiers to therank of Major General. Thosewho promoted are NadeemZaki Manj, Shaheen MazherMehmood, Kamran Ali,Muhammad Aamer, ShahidPervaiz, Hafeez Ur Rahman,Amjad Ahmad Butt,Muhammad Adnan,Muhammad Waseem Ashraf,Muhammad Kaleem Asif,Sahir Shamshad Mirza, SardarTariq Aman, Tahir MasoodBhutta, Azher Abbas, NaumanMahmood, Faiz Hamid, NadirKhan, Muhammad ChiraghHaider, Manzoor Ahmed, BasitRaza, Anis Akbar. Brigadierspromoted to the rank of MajorGeneral from Army Medical

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China needs enabling environsfor Gwadar port

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STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The KashmirSolidarity Day will be observedin Pakistan and Azad Jammu

Kashmir SolidarityDay today

President, PM support Kashmiris self right

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SARWAR AWAN

ISLAMABAD—The National Assembly onWednesday passed a resolution calling upon theinternational community to play its role for theresolution of Kashmir dispute in accordance withthe resolutions of the United Nations SecurityCouncil and aspirations of the Kashmiri people.

The resolution moved by Maulana FazlurRehman paid rich tributes to the sacrifices ren-dered by the Kashmiri people for the cause ofself-determination. It noted that the brave and

NA urges world to helpresolve Kashmir disputeDialogue with India minus Kashmir

not acceptable: Sartajvaliant people of Kashmir are continuing theirjust struggle despite the presence of oppressive7,00,000 Indian troops in the Held Kashmir.

The resolution reiterated Pakistan’s continu-ous political, moral and diplomatic support forKashmiri people and said that the lingering dis-pute should be resolved through a fair and trans-parent plebiscite. It noted that the people of oc-cupied Kashmir boycotted the elections in theterritory. Therefore, the Indian governmentshould refrain from such activities.

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Today’s issue of PakistanObserver carries a One PageSpecial Report on 5th Febru-ary Kashmir Solidarity Dayon Page 10.

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Ties with Indianot at cost ofChina orPakistan: USWASHINGTON—Denyingsuggestions that the US-India partnership wasintended as a counterweightto China, a senior US officialsaid its sole intent was “tobuild India up” working oncommon core values. “Iwould fundamentally pointto the fact that this is a US-India effort and it’s notnecessarily to counterweightanyone,” Phil Reiner, WhiteHouse’s senior director forSouth Asian Affairs, toldforeign media at a roundtable Tuesday on Obama’sIndia trip.

In response to a questionabout Pakistan, Reiner saidObama and Modi “havemaintained a consistentdialogue on the region, and ofcourse, that includesPakistan, it includes Afghani-stan.” The two he said had “avery positive conversationabout the small steps” the twocountries had taken “that’llcreate that space so that thetwo can begin to re-engage.”

Rejecting Pakistanicriticism that US-Indianuclear deal might upset thestrategic stability in the

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A bad day forMumtaz Qadri’slawyersZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—It was not agood day for Mumtaz Qadri’slegal team, his fans—in blackcoats or while shalwarkameez—and sympathizerswho had come in largenumber to attend the hearingWednesday, as a judge of theIslamabad High Court askedQadri’s lawyers how anindividual could kill someonein the presence of law andcourts. It took the murderconvict’s chief legal counselKhwaja Muhammad Sharifwho himself is a retired chiefjustice of a high court of thecountry, a few moments toanswer. Justice Shaukat Aziz

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ALI SYED

ISLAMABAD—Beijing has askedIslamabad to ensure the enabling environ-ment for the Chinese companies, its ex-perts and labour for smooth developmentof Gwadar port making it operationalwithin a stipulated time, a senior officialdealing with Pak-China Corridor Projecttold Pakistan Observer.

“China is trying from pillar to postto make the Gwadar a viable port and tothis effect it has asked the government of

Pakistan to introduce separate laws forGwadar which are not applicable in theremaining parts of whole Pakistan.”

Chinese are geared up to first buildthe display centers at the port whereinChinese products will be at display alongwith Pakistani products too. Chinese aregoing to establish the fisheries industryat Gwadar at the very outset. One Chi-nese company is also geared up to set upa cement industry at Gwadar that will helpdevelop the special economic zones, freezone, industrial city, and oil city. On top

of that Gwadar will be made data con-nection corridor through project of crossborder fiber optic cable that will link portcity with China. Fiber cable will be laiddown on the distance of 11000 kilome-ters linking Kashgar reaching up to theWest part of China.

The official said that the number ofChinese people will be increased mani-fold by mid of this year at Gadawar toexecute the various projects at port cityowing to which Beijing wants Gwadar

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Nisar sees no short termsolution to terrorism

Security issues should not be politicizedISLAMABAD—Interior Minis-ter Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khansaid Wednesday that terrorismcannot be resolved immedi-ately and that tackling it maytake weeks, month or evenyears.

Addressing a session of theNational Assembly, the interiorminister said that inevitablythere is always a reaction to amilitary operation, adding thatsecurity issues should not bepoliticized. “Their targets aresoft and easy but we are tryingto strengthen our mechanism tofoil their nefarious designs,” hesaid. Nisar said terroristswanted to spread fear and panicto divide the nation. “Intelli-gence agencies share informa-tion with provinces and forceswhenever sought by provincialgovernments. No province isheld responsible over terrorismneither is any province criti-cized over the law and ordersituation,” he said.

“Fingers should have been

pointed at terrorists instead ofpointing them at each other,”adding that protests shouldhave been carried out againstterrorists instead of the provin-

cial government. “Deteriorat-ing law and order situationshould not be termed a failureof provinces,” he said addingthat the entire nation and the

political leadership shouldstand united to weed out themenace of terrorism from thecountry once and for all.

He said the entire nation andthe political leadership shouldstand united to weed out themenace of terrorism from thecountry once and for all. He saidno politics should be done onthe issue of national security asone of the objectives of the ter-rorists is to divide the nation be-sides creating an environment offear in the country. The Minis-ter said the military operation iscontinuing against the terroristsand they might resort to back-lash. Their targets are soft andeasy but we are trying tostrengthen our mechanism tofoil their nefarious designs.

The interior minister alsocited incidents from across theworld, including the lonegunman’s siege in the UnitedStates, the militant standoff inGermany, the recent Charlie

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OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—In a fresh diplomatic row be-tween Pakistan and Bangladesh, a PakistaniHigh Commission official based in Dhaka wasdeclared persona non grata by the Bangladeshigovernment and was asked to leave the country.

“Diplomatic official Mazhar Khan wascharged by Bangladesh’s foreign ministry ofrunning an illegal Indian currency business inDhaka beside alleged links with militants,” adiplomatic source told media.

Foreign Office Spokesperson TasneemAslam confirmed the incident and said the offi-cial has reached Islamabad.

“Allegations against him are baseless andthe incident is unfortunate,” she said.

The Pakistan High Commission in Dhakasent Mazhar Khan immediately home after get-ting orders from Bangladesh’s ministry of for-eign affairs. Sources also said the high commis-

Bangladesh expelsPakistan diplomatAllegations against Mazhar Khanbaseless, incident unfortunate: FO

sion in Dhaka has not only been under pressuredue to the incident but is also being closelywatched by Bangladeshi secret services.

Relations between the two countries haverecently been at a low point.

In January, Bangladeshi police arrested foursuspected members of Islamic State in Dhakaincluding a regional coordinator for the militantgroup who told police they had been trained inPakistan.

Tensions have also risen between the twocountries over executions carried out by the gov-ernment of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinaagainst alleged war criminals from the 1971 war,when the former East Pakistan becameBangladesh.

In December 2013, Pakistan’s envoy inDhaka had been summoned by the govt regard-ing a resolution adopted by the Pakistani parlia-ment condemning the execution of Jamaat leader

and Kashmir today, February 5,with zeal to give political andmoral support to the people ofIndian-held Kashmir in their

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Man kills3 women,commits suicideSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Four people diedas a gunman committedsuicide with the same gunafter shooting dead threewomen of a family here onWednesday evening.

“The shooter identified asBashir opened fire in a carkilling two sisters Maira andNaila while injuring theirmother Khadija near QaddafiStadium. After riddling theoccupants with bullets, Bahsirthen shot himself in the chest.He died on the spot,” policetold media.

The injured woman wasrushed to hospital, where shealso succumbed to herwounds.

As for motive of the triplemurder, the police suspect thefatal assault to be an upshotof a feud between twofamilies over a likely rejected

Usman Mobinis new

NADRA chiefISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif Wednesday ap-pointed Usman Mobin as newchairman National Database &Registration Authority(NADRA).

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—Coming hard onthe terrorists challenging writof the state the security forcesduring fresh strikes moweddown more than two dozen ter-rorists on Wednesday in thetroubled North Waziristan andKhyber agencies in the Opera-

25 terrorists killed in NWA, KASeven hideouts destroyed

tion Zarb-e-Azb.The military officials say

the PAF jets and the gunshiphelicopters Wednesday re-sumed strikes in Sanzila areaof North the Waziristan agencywhere Operation Zerb-e-Azb isin progress, and troubledTiraah valley of Khyber agencytargeting the positio s of alleged

terrorists destroying as many asseven of their hide outs. In to-tal 25 militants were killed inand many others sustainedwounds in the incessant bomb-ings.

“In precise aerial strikes,a total of 25 terrorists werekilled in Sanzila area North

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan during meeting with MQM delegation at Punjab House Islamabad.

Butcherarrested SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Phaliapolice arrested a butcher redhanded while slaughtering adonkey. Reportedly Qaiserresident of Saida village ac-companied by one unknownaccomplice brought two don-keys and was slaughteringthem near Phalia slaughterhouse. Some passers by sawthem the reported to police.

Police reached the spotand arrested Qaiser while hisaccomplice fled the scene.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for In-terior & Narcotics Control ChaudhryNisar Ali Khan, Wednesday, said thatmaintenance of peace in the metropo-lis was a shared responsibility of allstakeholders.

While talking to a delegation ofMQM, he said that political partiesneeded to develop greater coordina-tion among them for ensuring law andorder and peace in the financial hubof the country. The MQM delegationcomprised Dr. Farooq Sattar, BabarGhouri, Abdul Rasheed Godil and Dr.Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui.

The Minister said that the federalgovernment would continue to pro-vide every possible support to the pro-

Karachi peace responsibilityof all stakeholders: Nisar

vincial government for maintenance oflaw and order and eradicating the men-ace of terrorism.

This he said while talking MQMdelegation here at Punjab House today.The meeting discussed in detail the lawand order situation in Sindh, in gen-eral, and in Karachi, in particular, espe-cially the progress made so far after thevisit of the Prime Minister to Karachi.

The Interior Minister observedthat the visit of the Prime Minister haspaved the way for forging close col-laborative equation among the leader-ship of political parties to work in uni-son for the sake of ensuring peace inKarachi and in the province. The Min-ister said that the Government wascognizant of the security requirementsin the wake of on-going fight against

militancy and the requisite securitymeasures are being put in place stepby step. The MQM delegation ap-prised the Minister about Party’s con-cerns regarding law & order and thesecurity of its leadership. The Minis-ter assured the delegation that theirconcerns would be addressed.

Interior Minister said that MQM be-ing the major political stakeholder has im-portant role to play in politics and gover-nance of Sindh. At political level, he said,PML(N) and MQM need to work moreclosely and coordinate their efforts in theinterest of not only Sindh but the entirecountry. The development of Karachi, im-proved law & order situation and goodgovernance are shared objectives of thetwo major political parties, the InteriorMinister continued.

LAHORE—Provincial Minister forZakat & Usher Malik Nadeem Kamranhas said that more than Rs. 1.64 billionhas been released as second sixthmonthly installment in various headsof Zakat fund. He said that more thanRs. 74.64 crore has already been dis-tributed among deserving persons asfirst sixth monthly installment. In thisway, the first phase of release of threebillion, 33 crore and 20 lakh rupees al-located for the year 2014-15 for deserv-ing persons has been completed, headded. He said this while talking to me-dia-men in his office here wednesday.The Provincial Minister said that maxi-mum funds have been allocated forvocational training institutes and morethan Rs. 1.5 billion has been distrib-uted in this head. He said that monthlyscholarships of Rs. 2500 per studentare being given to more than 32 thou-sand male and female students study-ing in 166 vocational training centersin the province so that after training,they could earn livelihood for their fami-lies honorably. Malik Nadeem Kamran said thatone billion, two crore and 59 lakh ru-

Rs. 1.64b released as second 6th monthlyinstallment of Zakat fund in Punjab

pees have been allocated in the headof subsistence allowance and morethan 85 thousand deserving personsare being provided financial assis-tance from this fund in the province.He said that government has decidedthat the list of deserving persons willnot be changed for one year. However,in case of death of any deserving per-son, approval of change in the list willbe necessary from Provincial ZakatCouncil. He told that Rs. 24.88 croreare being distributed annually in 44hospitals at provincial level for pro-viding free treatment to more than onelakh deserving patients whereas Rs.6.89 lakh have been given to the hos-pitals at district and tehsil level for pro-viding free medicines to more than 40thousand deserving patients. The Provincial Zakat Minister saidthat instructions have been issued tochairmen of district zakat committeesfor ensuring timely and transparentdistribution of zakat to deserving per-sons. They have been directed to se-lect the deserving persons on merit ris-ing above personal liking and dislik-ing in this regard. Malik NadeemKamran further told that Punjab gov-

ernment is providing general scholar-ships of Rs. 10.34 crore to more than17 thousand deserving studentsstudying in colleges, universities,medical and engineering universities.He said that scholarships of Rs. 9.19crore are being given to more than 20thousand male and female studentsstudying in 382 religious seminariesin the province. Malik Nadeem Kamran told thatthe amount of marriage grant hasbeen doubled and Rs. 9.19 crore arebeing given as marriage grant to 4595deserving girls. He said that the dis-tribution of subsistence allowancehas been started among deservingpersons under a transparent methodthrough branchless (easy paisa). Hesaid that this process has beenstarted in Lahore, Sheikhupura andHafizabad as a pilot project so thatdeserving persons could get amounteasily nearest to their homes andthey have not to visit banks repeat-edly to open account for gettingzakat amount. He said that after suc-cess of this pilot project, the branch-less banking will be introducedthroughout province.

62 cases ofgastro reported

MULTAN—A total of 60 pa-tients of gastro were hospi-talized in the city onWednesday. As 52 patients were re-ported at Children Complexand five gastro cases werebrought to Nishtar MedicalInstitute, said an officialsource. Two patients ofgastro were admitted to theCivil Hospital and three toFatima Jinnah Hospital forWomen, he added. Mean-while, 14 patients were dis-charged and no Acute Wa-tery Diarrhoea (AWD) casewas reported today, thesource informed. —APP

SUKKUR—Federal Minis-ter for Planning and De-velopment, Ahsan Iqbalhas said that terroristshave no link with any reli-gion adding that Shikarpuris the city of saints andpeople of this city arepeaceful.

Talking to mediamen atthe airport on Wednesday,the Minister strongly con-demned the Shikarpur blastand said the whole nationis in deep grief over the lossof precious lives inShikarpur. He emphasisedthat the entire nation has tounite against terrorists.

The Minister said the

Ahsan calls for unityagainst terrorism

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Accountant General PunjabImran Iqbal, following the directions of Om-budsman Punjab Javed Mahmood, has setup “Facilitation Centre” at AG Office Lahoreand “Double Pension Counters” at all Dis-trict Accounts Offices to receive the arrearsclaims of pensioners of 75 and above.

Since “Facili tation Centre” and“Double Pension Counters” are madefunctional and processing of arrearclaims have been started so the old pen-sioners submit their claims to AG Punjaband District Accounts Office concernedas per schedule, advised the Ombuds-man Punjab. He had also asked the oldpensioners to feel free while contactingOmbudsman Offices at any district iftheir accrued right is denied.

Ombudsman Punjab Javed Mahmoodin a letter to Accountant General Punjabhas emphasized that aim of facilitationshould be kept in mind during the pay-ment procedure and old pensionersshould not faced troubles while gettingtheir constitutional and legitimate rightof double pension arrears.

He recalled that Punjab Governmenthad already notified a payment plan ac-cording to which pensioners who retiredprior to July o1, 1991 would get their ar-rears of double pension from February01 to February 28, 2015, pensioners whoretired on or after July 01, 1991 to June30, 1994 would be paid from March 01 toMarch 31, 2015, who retired on or after

Special counters establishedfor double pensioners

July 01, 1994 to November 30, 2001would get their dues from April 01 toMay 31, 2015 and pensioners who re-tired on or after December 01, 2001 todate would get their arrears of doublepension from June 01 to June 30, 2015.

Ombudsman Punjab has also askedGovernor State Bank of Pakistan to di-rect all the scheduled banks to do spe-cial arrangements for the payment of ar-rears of double pension to the old re-tired employees of Punjab government.

For the purpose, special countersshould be set up along with dedicatedand cordial staff as old pensioners needmore personalized attention and they aresenior citizens as well.

All the pensioners entitled for thearrears of double pension are over theage of 75 years and they are unable tobear the inconvenience of standing inlong queues so all the banks be directedfor facilitations including seating ar-rangements inside the bank with con-ducive environment, says the Ombuds-man Punjab. Ombudsman Punjab has di-rected all the advisors at district levelto personally visit the banks and Dis-trict Accounts Offices and monitor thefacilities rendered by the banks. “Om-budsman Office will protect the rightsof retired employees of the Punjab gov-ernment and I will personally monitorall the process of payments of doublepension and Incharge Mohtasib PunjabPension Cell Wazir Ahmad Qureshi willcoordinate,” Ombudsman Punjab said.

federal government wasfully supporting and pro-viding every assistance tothe provinces to fight ter-rorism in the country add-ing that federal governmentwas ready for providingmore assistance to theprovinces to maintain lawand order and to facechallenges of terrorism.

He further said thatthere is need of intelligencesharing and co-operationbetween the provincial andfederal governments. Advi-sor to PM Imtiaz Shaikhand other PML-N leaderswere also present on theoccasion—APP

QUETTA—A police officialguarding a polio team waskilled in a firing incident byunidentified armed motor-cyclists here on Sirki roadarea Wednesday. Accord-ing to police, the cop wasidentified as Zainudin whoalong with other colleagueshad been deployed for theprotection of polio workersadministering anti-polio

Cop guarding polioworkers shot dead

vaccine to the children.Hesuccumbed to his injurieswhile being shifted to thehospital. The assailantsmanaged to flee. Policereached the site and cor-doned off the area.While,Deputy CommissionerQuetta Daood Khilji hassaid that polio campaignhas not suspended inQuetta.—APP

DI KHAN—The three-day anti-poliocampaign concluded here Wednesdaywhile administering oral polio vaccineto around 200,000 children aged uptofive years, across the district. “Yes, the three days have concluded,but the campaign will continue till nextday as well which is called as catch upday to pursue follow up activities andvaccinate those children who are left inthe specified three days, anyhow we aresure the target would be achieved, con-veniently,” says an official source. The official said so far no inconve-nience had been witnessed over the threedays and each day’s progress or activi-ties were regularly shared and discussedin meetings with relevant officials. However, the source added, Tehsil

Anti-polio drive to vaccinatearound 200,000 children concludes

Kulachi was not in-cluded for campaigndue to security rea-sons, hoping thedrive would be ex-tended to this part af-ter law and order situ-ation improved. Hesaid elaborate ar-rangements had beenmade to prevent chil-dren from the crip-pling disease of poliothrough administra-tion of anti poliodrops and added amobile, fixed and tran-sit teams had beenconstituted to per-

form the job and visit houses or other places including busterminals, exit and entry points and markets. He said the district was divided in union councils vis-ited by trained teams to vaccinate the targeted popula-tion of children in those areas.As part of efforts to reachout to maximum children, the official said, the door-to-door campaign was widely publicized to create aware-ness among the parents regarding the polio vaccination. However, he was of the view it was not a job of a singleindividual but all of us should shoulder responsibility tomake the campaign successful by ensuring that no singlechild missed the vaccination,” the official observed.—APP

Punjab govtto deport 455

foreign studentsMUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE— The Punjab gov-ernment has decided to de-port at least 455 illegally re-siding foreign students inthe province.

According to the sources,the visas of these studentsbelonging to Holland, China,Malaysia, Indonesia, Afghani-stan and Uzbekistan have ex-pired whereas they are in-volved in facilitating the terror-ists to conduct terrorism activi-ties in the country.

Home Minister PunjabColonel Shuja Khanzada saidthat these foreign students,taking education from col-leges, universities andmadrassas, are allegedly in-volved in assisting terror ac-tivities. He further assured thatthe intelligence agencies andarmed forces are coordinatingwith each other to eliminate allthe militant elements from thecountry whereas the govern-ment has started getting the de-sired results.

LHC summonsDG Agriculture

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore HighCourt (LHC) summoned theDirector General Agricultureon Wednesday in a case ofpromoting Director on fakedocuments. As per details,Justice Khalid MahmoodKhan heard the case inwhich the petitioner’s law-yer Safdar Shaheen Pirzadaalleged DG Agriculture ofpromoting Director onforged documents andtermed it as an illegal step.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Marketing and Store Depart-ment of Railways Ministry has failed toachieve the required target despite the pas-sage of seven months as the departmentfaced a loss of Rs 927 million while meetingthe set target. As per details, Railways Min-istry earned a profit of Rs 16 billion 9 croreand 97 lac in the time span of July 1 to Janu-ary 20 from the working of passenger trains,freight trains and various other activities

whereas in the previous year, RailwaysMinistry struck the income of Rs 12 billion35 crore and 17 lac in the same regard.

According to the sources, RailwaysMinistry set the target of Rs 14 billion 83crore and 45 lac however, railways’ officialssucceeded to acquire Rs 1 billion 26 croreand 51 lac more than the government’s tar-get. The target, which was being set forMarketing Department, has followed a losswhereas the income to be gained from trainsescalated.

RASHID ZIA QURESHI

NAWABSHAH—Former President Asif AliZardari always believed in the politics ofreconciliation and it was under his this phi-losophy that no political personality wasarrested during his tenure. The presentGovernment, of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, to, is pursuing the same policy. “, saidJustice retired of Sindh High Court, andformer Chairman Human Rights Committeeof Sindh Bar Council, Barrister KhawajaNaveed while talking to media atNawabshah Press Club.

Founder member of the Press ClubAbdul Qadir Qureshi, Choudhry AbdulSattar and Aamir Qazi, who accompaniedKhawaja from Karachi, were also presenton the occasion. Replying to questions,Khawaja Naveed defended military courtsin a way pointing out that judiciary felt in-secure in the wake of continued circum-stances of terrorism with criminals and ter-rorists extending threats to honorablejudges hearing their cases. Observing thatunder such conditions army courts hadbecome inevitable, he was of the view thatalthough courts does give verdicts in suchcases but the fact was that real justice wouldbe from the court of Almighty Allah. Headmitted public opinions about irregulari-ties in the court system and noted thatsometimes advantages go against op-pressed. He told a questioner that recon-ciliation courts, established for the purposeof dispensing cheaper justice, failed as con-cerned people were unaware of complica-tions of judicial procedures. However t situ-ation can be made better if retired judgesare posted in Reconciliation Courts. He said

Nawaz govt followingreconciliation policy: Naveed

that menace of falsification has overcomepolitics due to which common man is notpleased with politicians.

To another question Khawaja Naveedsaid that there is no governance in Sindh,as it should have been, therefore what com-ment he can offer on its performance. Hesaid Syed Qaim Ali Shah just enjoys thetitle of Chief Minister.

He said that an Oath Commissioner ismore powerful than Chief Minister who canmake documents legal with a single strokeof his stamp on a payment of ten rupees.“How a government ascribe itself authori-tative when it cannot deliver rights of poorgrower in shape of due payment from sugarmills”, he said and added that in a countrywhere governor tenders resignation sayinghe is week before mafias and land grabbers,then what one can expect of constitutionand law.

He told a questioner that Supreme Judi-cial Council is the best forum for the ac-countability of judiciary but bad practiceappears when this forum is not used. Hesaid law making was necessary for caseswhereby a complainant gets court orderfor FIR registration under section 22A whenpolice refuses to entertain. It is necessaryto issue notice to other party as well priorto issuing order under section 22A to frus-trate the objective behind registering of fakeFIR, he suggested.

Khawaja Naveed recalled that as Judgeof Sindh High Court he issued orders in1400 cases and many of his orders were citedas reference in various cases.He described as deplorable non hearing ofcane growers case with regard to paymentof quality premium by sugar mills.

HYDERABAD: Activists of Jeay Sindh Quami Mahaz hold a protest in favour of their demands.

PESHAWAR—The Khyber PakhtunkhwaMinister for Finance, Muzaffar SaidWednesday said that unlike previouspractice, this time financial budget of theprovince will be prepared in consulta-tion with the public representatives, con-cerned bodies, economists and all otherstakeholders in order to make it up tothe expectations and needs of the gen-eral public.

He also urged upon the need of closecoordination between Accountant Gen-eral Office Peshawar and Finance Depart-ment.

He was addressing informal meetingduring his visit to Accountant GeneralOffice Peshawar on Wednesday. Ac-countant General Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Hashmat Iqbal and other high-ups of AGOffice were also present.

Muzaffar Said expressed the resolvethat rapid economic growth of the prov-ince would be ensured through close co-ordination between AG Office and Fi-nance Department and also announcedthe establishment of a four-member com-mittee for the purpose.

He assured his all out support andcooperation in the up-gradation andresolution all other issues of the offic-ers/officials of the AG Office. Accoun-tant General Hashmat Iqbal thanked the

KP budget to be prepared withstakeholders’ consultations

ZHOB: Assistant Commissioner, Munir Ahmed administering polio drops during anti-polio campaign.

PESHAWAR—Khyber PakhtunkhwaChief Minister Pervez Khattak hascalled upon the administrative sec-retaries to pull their sleeves for en-suring efficient and transparent uti-lization of resources on the devel-opment schemes.

All public sectors must get theirtargets otherwise action will be ini-tiated against all those falling shortof the target. He was presiding overa mid-year review meeting here to-day.

The Chief Minister directed foradditional resources for the publicwelfare schemes in different depart-ments which included rupees onebillion for agriculture, Rs. 3.5 billionfor road communication, Rs. 50

CM directs to ensure transparentutilization of uplift funds

crores for education, rupees onebillion for public health engineering,rupees five billion for energy &power, Rs.1.8 billion for irrigation,Rs.2 billion for Local Govt andreupees one billion for security.

Chief Minister was briefed aboutthe developmental plan and the re-sources allocated for different publicwelfare schemes.

He said that a system for trans-parent and efficient utilization of pub-lic money has been evolved whichwould start delivering.

The Chief Minister directed toidentify obstacles in the develop-mental strategy and removed themso that the developmental processis visible and inconsonance with the

people’s aspirations.Chief Minister directed the

provincial ministers and secretar-ies to hold a fortnight meetingsin their respective departments toensure in-time efficient and trans-parent util ization of resourcesand to achieve the targets withinthe time frame.

Chief Minister further di-rected to open “Bachet Bazaar”in four towns of Peshawar wherethe poor with hand driven cartswould be given places.

The Chief Minister further di-rected the Secretary C&W to visitall the under construction roadsin Peshawar including Chamkanito Peshawar, Kohat Road, Warsak

road and Charsadda toKheweshgi, Nowshera and expe-dite the pace of work.

He directed that in futureroads should be completed withinnine months, buildings should becompleted within one year andbridges should be completedwithin six months.

Chief Minister directed tocomplete the process of recruit-ing 400 doctors in the Health De-partment and it should be onzone-wise and should be com-pleted within two months. ChiefMinister agreed to provide Rs.2billion for nine hospitals to pro-vide efficient healthcare to thepoor.—APP

Drugs recovered,six arrested

KHANEWAL—Police claimedto have recovered drugs inraids and arrested two ac-cused here on Wednesday.DPO Jahanzeb Nazeer Khanwhile talking to journalistssaid police arrested Wahid,Ikram and Waris Ali besidesrecovering 3kg heroine. Sepa-rately, police arrested Sadiqand recovered 1kg hashishfrom his house. Meanwhile,Police arrested Sardar Khanand Allah Ditta ,and recov-ered a Klashanikove.—APP

Provincial Minister for visiting AG Of-fice and assured that coordination andworking relation between the AG Officeand provincial government would bestrengthened in the best public interest.

Meanwhile, the provincial Ministerchaired a meeting regarding the local pro-duction of chemical fertilizer and its pro-vision to farmers on cheaper rates andunderscored the need for provision ofnatural gas facility to fertilizers units toincrease per acre production.

The Minister during his recentvisit to Karachi, had held a number ofmeetings aimed at providing investmentin the province wherein President Na-tional Bank of Pakistan had made him anoffer of investment through the provi-sion of natural gas to fertilizers units.

He said this will not only ensure theprovision of chemical fertilizer to farm-ers on cheaper rate but will also giveboost to the financial resources of theProvince.

In today’s meeting a committee wasconstituted to give practical shape to thesame which will submit its recommenda-tions within a week time positively. Themeeting was attended by the high-upsof National Bank of Pakistan Karachi,Secretary Finance, Secretary Industriesand other concerned quarters.—APP

Marketing dept of RailwaysMinistry fails to meet target

Housecatches fire

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—Household ar-ticles wroth Rs. 2 lakh weregutted when fire broken outin a house in MohallahMadina Colony Tuesdaynight. The Rscue-112 squadrushed to the pot and savedthe nearby houses from anydamage. According toGhulam Shabbir fire brokenout in his house last nightdue to short circuiting ofelectric wires and the fire en-gulfed the whole house in notime as result of which thedowry of his two daughterswere burnt to ashes. How-ever, no one was injured.

Meanwhile Despite un-precedented decrease in thepetrol rates the local trans-porters were still chargingprevious fare for differentroutes. Local commutershave called upon the localadministration and RTA/Dis-trict Transport Authority toensure decrease in the fareand also fix new fare sched-uled to provide some sort ofrelief to the commuters.

Due to sheer apathy ofthe Traffic Police and some‘mafia’ behind it, more than22 passengers were beinghuddled like sardine in a vanwhich was meant for only 14passengers.

ISLAMABAD—The Met office Wednesdayforecast mainly cold and dryweather is expected in mostparts of the country duringnext 24 hours.

The spokesman of Paki-stan Meteorological Depart-ment (PMD) said according tosynoptic situation, continen-tal air would persist over most parts of thecountry for next two to three days.

MULTAN—Sadar police ar-rested five gangsand recovered items worthover Rs 3.4 million during thelast month. According to of-ficial sources, police recov-ered four Klashanikoves, sixpistols, 12 guns, 50 rounds,gold ornaments worth Rs100,000, ten mobile phones,18 motorcycles and 40 cattlefrom the accused. Police arrested 333 pro-

Cold, dry weather inmost parts of country

However, rain occurred at isolatedplaces of Hazara, Lahore,Gujranwala divisions, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir.

The lowest minimumtemperature recorded atParachinar -9øC, Astore -7øC,Skardu -6øC, Malam Jabba,Gupis -5øC, Rawalakot,

Hunza, Dir, Quetta -4øC, Gilgit -3øC andMurree 0øC. —APP

Five gangs busted,arms seized

claimed offendersand 20 court absconders.Police also recovered 877 li-tre liqour, 10kg hashish, 385gramme heroin, 26 moundopium, 48 pistols, five re-volvers, two carbines, six re-peaters, 14 klashanikoves,one gun and 281 roundsfrom drug peddlers and sentthem to jail. Police also un-earthed six distilleries.—APP

DCO orders to sealschools refusing

vaccinationMULTAN—District Coor-dinat ion Officer (DCO)and Administrator CityDistr ict GovernmentZahid Saleem Gondal or-dered to seal those privateschools whose principalrefused polio and measlesvaccinat ion to their s tu-den t s .—APP

Meaningful visitof Chinese FM

CHINESE Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who recently described Pakistan as ‘irreplaceable friend’ will be arriving in Islamabad on 9th

February on a two-day official visit to finalise the details of theupcoming visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The two countries aregiving final touches to the agreements to be signed during the crucial visitof the Chinese President.

The visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister takes place at a time whensome important developments are taking place in the region. The United Statesand India signed agreements and discussed issues having bearing on Chinaand Pakistan and therefore, the entire region. Indo-US nexus is assumingthreatening posture and both China and Pakistan will have to take stock of theemerging situation so as to safeguard their national interests. Similarly, mostof the foreign occupation forces have left Afghanistan and China has offeredto host dialogue between Afghan Government and Taliban. Pakistan has im-portant role to play in the resolution of the Afghan conflict and therefore, theChinese FM would understandably discuss this issue with Pakistani leader-ship. Above all, the Chinese President could not visit Pakistan last year due topolitics of confrontation by some political parties, delaying agreements andprojects that were proposed to be discussed and finalized during the visit. Nodoubt, during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to China, Beijing agreedto invest about $45 billion on projects related to China-Pakistan EconomicCorridor but still there are many related issues and projects that need to begiven final shape for their speedy implementation. As Pakistan has to gain alot from the visit of the Chinese President, we are confident that every aspectof the visit would be minutely discussed and taken care of not only by theMinistry of Foreign Affairs but other concerned Ministries as well. It wouldbe worthwhile if the Prime Minister convenes preparatory meetings follow-ing visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister to ensure concrete progress towardsfinalization of agreements and projects during visit of the Chinese President.We also expect that the agitating opposition parties would also demonstratepolitical maturity to let the Government concentrate on the pre-visit home-work and preparations to make the visit really meaningful in wake of theinternal and external challenges confronting Pakistan.

Kashmiris stillwaiting for justice

THE nation is observing today (Thursday) Kashmir Solidarity Day withthe pledge to continue support for Kashmiris’ just struggle against illegal

Indian occupation of the state since October 27, 1947. The day is also ob-served with the objective of seeking a peaceful solution to the Kashmir prob-lem, besides delivering a pragmatic message to the international community.

The complete solidarity by all segments of the Pakistani society for thecause of their Kashmiri brethren is a clear message to India and the worldcommunity that Kashmir has been and would continue to be corner stone ofthe country’s foreign policy and that Pakistan would steadfastly continue toextend moral, political and diplomatic support to their cause till realizationof the goal of self-determination. The day is a regular annual event beingmarked to support the indigenous freedom struggle of the people of Occu-pied Kashmir and their right to plebiscite and to condemn Indian aggres-sion and its illegal occupation of the held valley. It is, however, regrettablethat India is not listening to the voice of the Kashmiri people and instead istrying to dub their just freedom struggle as terrorism. Pakistan has beentrying since long to engage India into dialogue for durable solution of theproblem but New Delhi not only backtracked from commitments made atthe UN but also misused the dialogue process in a bid to perpetuate itsillegal hold on Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmiris are, however, determinedto pursue their struggle and they are rendering huge sacrifices for the pur-pose. Pakistan too has realized that India is not sincere in resolving theconflict that endangers peace of the region and that is why Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif forcefully raised the issue during his address at the UN Gen-eral Assembly. We would urge the Government to launch an aggressivediplomatic campaign to project Pakistan’s point of view, the just nature ofstruggle of Kashmiri people and to expose real face of India.

Huge tradepotentials of CARs

FEDERAL Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan during meeting with Turkmenistan Ambassador Aladjan Movlamov Tuesday proposed

the signing of Transit Trade Agreement (TTA) between the two countries toestablish strong trade linkages, which may be extended further to other CentralAsian Republics and Russia. Discussions on TTA between Pakistan andTurkmenistan have been going on for sometime and now Pakistan will forwardthe draft of the proposed agreement to Turkmen officials soon for finalization.

Pakistan and Turkmenistan have enjoyed excellent economic, social, cul-tural and political relations since 1991, when Pakistan recognised the inde-pendence of Turkmenistan. For the last two and a half decades, Pakistan andTurkmenistan have been developing good diplomatic relations and leaders ofthe two countries have paid bilateral visits that boosted their ties. Both thecountries can benefit a lot if cooperation between them is boosted in differentfields particularly trade and economic relations. The signing of the TTA willincrease trade not only between the two friendly countries but also with otherCentral Asian Republics(CARs). Pakistani pharmaceuticals and textile prod-ucts are very popular in CARs while these countries can offer their productsto Pakistan if direct links are encouraged which will be a win win situation forevery one. The TTA will establish a corridor between Pakistan and CARswhere goods will be traded with greater ease and in larger quantity. The TAPIgas pipeline agreement is an example of cooperation, which needs to be imple-mented on fast track basis. The project would enable Pakistan to meet itscritical energy needs while Turkmenistan will benefit in a big way by earningforeign exchange through export of gas. We also believe that Pakistan,Turkmenistan and other CARs can also work together in matters of security,stability and development of the region. In addition to trade they can collabo-rate in numerous areas, such as scientific and technical fields, banking, insur-ance, information technology, pharmaceutical industry, tourism and media.While we fully endorse the Commerce Minister’s views for the signing of theTTA, we would also suggest that a mechanism be laid down that such initia-tives are pursued with vigour and zeal for mutual advantage.

Legality of Indian claim on Kashmir

Stay offUkraine

GEOPOLITICAL undercurrents are in a flux inUkraine. The change of

heart on the part of Washington toarm the government in Kiev isfraught with serious consequences.It will inevitably lead to renewedconfrontation between the UnitedStates and Russia, and could markthe beginning of a new Cold War inthe region. Though reports sayPresident Barack Obama is still in-decisive and had tried to avoid med-dling in the crisis, at least from themilitary perspective, the wheelers-and-dealers in his administrationand on the restless Capitol Hill thinkotherwise. They argue that Americaunder Obama has resigned to itsfate, and lack of proactive foreignpolicy is hindering its might andstatus in world affairs. The policy-makers in Pentagon and to a greatextent in the State Department,coupled with media houses thatpropagate a radical approach, be-lieve that it is time to confront Rus-sia and limit its influence wellwithin its borders — and resist anyeffort on the part of Kremlin to pur-sue extra-territorial designs. Theycite Moscow’s annexation ofCrimea and intervention in easternUkraine as the case in point,wherein the transatlantic militaryalliance, Nato, led by the US prow-ess, and the 28-member EuropeanUnion had not been able to do anything substantial on the ground.

But any decision to armUkraine to fight pro-Russian rebelsin the east is not going to be madein isolation by Washington. Brus-sels and the Western allies need tobe on board because it tantamountto an open-ended war against Rus-sian interests in the region. That iswhy US National Security spokes-person Bernadette Meehan said theUS is constantly assessing its poli-cies in Ukraine, amid reports of anupsurge in fighting in the east of thecountry. This statement has comejust a day after a prominent rebelleader, Alexander Zakharchenko, ineastern Ukraine hinted at recruitinga force of 100,000 volunteers,which would be supported andarmed by Moscow. If the cards fallin order, it would be beginning of aproxy war that is unlikely to stop atthe borders of Ukraine. GermanChancellor Angela Merkel, who hadchoreographed a passive approachtowards the conflict in Ukraine sinceformer Ukrainian president ViktorYanukovych threw his mantle be-hind Kremlin, has categorically ruledout any policy of arming Kiev. Thereis immense rationale behindMerkel’s words who apparentlyknows the nerves of Europe morethan anybody else. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry will have to address thisquandary when he travels to Ukrainethis week, and adopt a holistic ap-proach rather than banking onbrinkmanship. Any Western inter-vention in Ukraine will have directfissure in the Middle East, whereradical elements will try to cash inon the distraction. It’s too big a priceto be paid in terms of dealing withRussia. — Khaleej Times

*****

Obama vsRepublicans

THE federal budget proposedby US President BarackObama on Tuesday is a clear

declaration of what he wants to ac-complish in his final two years.Highlights of the $4 trillion budgetinclude increased spending on edu-cation, policies that support amiddle-class economy and a signifi-cantly increased funding to fightperceived threats around the world,specifically IS.

US Republicans clearly want toset their own agenda for the nexttwo years ahead of the next presi-dential election, so Obama’s bud-get never had a chance. Obamacould have offered a Republican-tailored budget — complete with in-creased military spending and a re-vocation of the inheritance tax —and it would have still been shotdown, simply as a show of force.Welcome to US politics for the nexttwo years. This budget it the start-ing point for another round of point-less brinkmanship. The world willbe forced to watch, yet again, whileRepublicans threaten to shut downthe government. The possibility ofthe US defaulting on its debt willalso likely resurface. This petty in-fighting — not the global problemsof diseases, wars, extremism andpoverty — will be what dominatesthe leading politicians of the world’sonly super power for the next twoyears. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

THE great poet and philosopher, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal,while describing the helpless-

ness of Kashmiris once said; “eachhill, each garden, field, each farmertoo they sold. A nation for a price thatmakes my blood ice cold”. This greatMuslim philosopher was indeedpointing towards the infamous Kash-mir Sale Deed of 1846, which keptKashmiris as slaves well over a cen-tury. Establishment of the ReadingRoom Party-1919, brought aware-ness among the Kashmiris and theyhad to face the Dogra massacre of1931. Dreaming to be part of firstideological Muslim state (Pakistan),there came Indian invasion overKashmir on October 27, 1947.

The Kashmiris however re-volted against the Dogra Rule andIndian invasion and also establishedtheir own Government; Azad (Free)Kashmir Government on October24, 1947. Through the help of theirTribal brethrens, they forced theDogra Mahraja and his Army to re-treat. Later, after the Indian invasionin the state, there broke out fullfledge war between India and Paki-stan, until the UN brokered ceasefireof January 1, 1949. Subsequently,United Nations passed over twodozen resolutions, which also in-clude two UNCIP resolutions of 13August 1948 and 5 January 1949.Through these resolutions,Kashmiris were promised their rightof self-determination, which couldnot be fulfilled owing to rigid Indianattitude. In mid 1950s, India ma-

Hybrid warfare

TRAINED for guerrilla warfare by Brig (later Maj Gen)Orde Wingate at Jhansi in

1942, British India’s 77th Brigade(The Chindits) was a “Long RangePenetration Group” with mixed suc-cess operating deep behind Japaneselines in Burma. The father of our ownSpecial Services Group (SSG), thelegendary Maj Gen AboobakarOsman Mitha learnt his trade oper-ating behind Japanese lines during theBurma campaign. Somewhat simi-lar to the deep penetration of theChindits, Operation Gibraltar was ve-hemently opposed in 1965 by anotherlegendary Commander SSG (and amilitary strategist far ahead of histime). Col SG Mehdi (aged 90 thistough soldier lies in a coma todayin Islamabad) labelled it a brilliantplan conceptually but being rushedinto execution without detailed plan-ning, adequate manpower, logisticsor training. Another of our outstand-ing soldiers, Lt Gen Lehrasab Khan,participated as a young “volunteer”subaltern in “Operation Gibraltar”,he is a living witness to it becomingan unmitigated disaster as predictedby Col Mehdi.

Reviving the 77th Brigade as anew generation of “Facebook” war-riors to wage complex and covert in-formation and subversive campaigns,the British Army will use the irregu-lar World War 2 concept in a varia-tion adapted to fit modern warfare.These modern day Chindits accord-ing to The Financial Times (FT) willaim to achieve their objectives with-out violence, using a range of activi-ties to make their adversaries do whatthey want them to do, a techniqueknown as a “reflexive control”. Their

Everythingcomes to himwho waits.

weapons of choice will be so-cial media campaigns on “Twit-ter” and “Facebook”, spreadingdisinformation and exposingtruths, “false flag” incidents de-signed to fool people into be-lieving they were carried out by

someone else and intelligence gather-ing. Kremlin’s extensive use of cyberand information warfare blending con-ventional and irregular warfare is seenin Russia’s “little green men” are us-ing this new approach to warfare inCrimea and Ukraine.

FT comments that “the actions ofothers in a modern battlefield can beeffected in ways that are not necessar-ily violent. Important lessons fromoperations in Afghanistan and Iraq willdraw together a host of existing anddeveloping capabilities essential tomeet the challenges of modern con-flict and warfare” unquote. UK’s Chiefof Defence Staff, Sir NicholasHoughton says that re-forming 77thBrigade initiates the process of takingsteps to escape the binary mindset ofpeace or war, operations or training.Hopefully our military planners do notremain bogged down in their existingWorld War 2 mind-set.

Called “Hybrid Warfare”Wikipedia Encyclopaedia says thisnew military strategy envisages attacksby nuclear, biological and chemicalweapons, improvised explosive de-vices and information warfare. Bycombining kinetic operations withsubversive effort, the aggressor intendsto avoid attribution or retribution. Theflexible and complex dynamics of thebattlespace requires a highly adaptableand resilient response. US MarineCorps Lt Col Bill Nemeth says hybridwarfare is a contemporary form ofguerrilla warfare employing both mod-ern technology and modernmobilisation methods, involving fourthreats according to CSIS’ NathanFrieir viz (1) traditional (2) irregular(3) catastrophic terrorism and (4) dis-ruptive, exploiting modern technology

to counteract military superiority to befought on three decisive battlegrounds,to quote US Army Col Jack McCuenviz (1) within the conflict zone popu-lation (2) homefront population and(3) international community by the en-emy employing, according to FrankHoffman, “complex combination ofconventional weapons, irregular war-fare, terrorism and criminal behaviourin the battlespace to achieve objec-tives,” unquote. Blending the full spec-trum of modern conflict, Hybridwarfare’s no-holds barred approach iscommon with terrorism.

Carrying out extensive nucleartests (Operation Shakti) at Pokhran inthe Rajasthan Desert in 1998, the BJPGovt went to town advising Pakistanthat it was in our own interest to rec-ognize the nuclear writing on the walland accept India’s hegemony in SouthAsia. A very different PM NawazSharif from the one ruling Pakistantoday went ahead with our ownnuclear tests at Chagai, this “MutuallyAssured Destruction (MAD)” has keptthe peace in South Asia by restoringcredible nuclear deterrence.

India insisted on wrongly blam-ing the 2008 Mumbai attacks onPakistan’s official agencies, putting adead stop to “Confidence BuildingMeasures” (CBMs) between the twocountries. War was only averted be-cause the nuclear deterrence came intoplay. The Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) (as opposed to the AfghanTaliban and being anti-Pakistan cer-tainly not Pakistani), began being con-trolled by RAW through Afghan in-telligence arm, the NDSI. The “Inter-national New York Times” quotes theAfghan Intelligence Chief Nabil, in-cidentally educated in Pakistan as arefugee during the Soviet occupation,candidly justifying using TTP againstPakistan in line with Chanakhya’s te-net, “an enemy of an enemy is afriend”. Nabil was referring specifi-cally to TTP Chief HakimullahAfridi’s No 2 Latifullah Afridi accom-

nipulated the elections of IHK andstarted claiming Kashmir as its inte-gral part in order to further cementits occupation. The illegality of In-dian claim on Kashmir can be tracedfrom under mentioned arguments andhistorical context. British Govern-ment announced partition of the Sub-continent on June 3, 1947, whereas,British Parliament passed “The In-dian Independence Act” on July 17,1947. As per Article-I of the Indepen-dence Act, India was to be partitionedinto two Dominions namely “India”and “Pakistan” from 15th day of Au-gust 1947. However, Article 7 of theIndian Independence Act very clearlystates that from 15th August 1947,“the suzerainty of His Majesty overthe Indian states lapse and with itlapses all treaties and agreements inforce at the date of the passing of thisAct between His Majesty and rulersof Indian states”.

Consequent upon this, all powersand functions, which were exercisableby the British Government in relationto the Princely States, also ceased. Allagreements of British governmentswith either rulers or states also lapsedon 15th of August 1947. Since the stateof Jammu and Kashmir was a PrincelyState with a special autonomous sta-tus, therefore, it can be very conve-niently said, that on 15th day of Au-gust 1947, the Maharaja Sir Hari Singhwas not the permissible ruler of thestate of Jammu and Kashmir as all histreaties with British India lapsed onthat day. Once he was not a ruler ofthe state, he had no right to sign theinstrument of accession (which Indiaclaimed was signed prior to Indianinvasion on Oct 27, 1947). Besides,on July 25, 1947 in his address to spe-cial full meetings of the Chamber of

Princes held in New Delhi, LordMountbatten categorically told allprinces of Princely States that theywere practically free to join any oneof dominions; India or Pakistan. Hehowever clarified that, while acced-ing to any dominion they could takeinto account geographical contiguityand wishes of the people. In case ofthe State of Jammu and Kashmir, ei-ther of above factors was favouringstate’s accession to Pakistan, but Ma-haraja Hari Singh did not allow Kash-mir to join Pakistan, as wished bypeople of state.

Though India presents the hoaxclaims that, Maharaja Harisinghsigned the instrument of accession,but, historical evidence proves that, he(Maharaja) wanted to keep Kashmiras an independent state, for which herequested Standstill Agreement withIndia and Pakistan prior to their inde-pendence. He even sent his deputyPrime Minister Mr. R.L. Batra to NewDelhi for negotiations with IndianGovernment. It was indeed the will ofIndian Prime Minister Nehru to force-fully accede the State with IndianUnion, for which he deputed VPMenon and even conspired to changethe Kashmir Prime Minister PanditKak, who was replace at the heat ofbattle with Mahajan, a former mem-ber of Radcliffe Award.

However, whatever be the case thefactual position is that; Maharaja HariSingh was not in favour of State’s ac-cession to Indian Union therefore, heonly requested the Indian governmentfor military assistance without any pre-condition of accession. Indeed, the ac-cession documents and letters to LordMountbatten were initiated throughthe Joint efforts of V.P Menon and proIndia Kashmiri Premier Mahajan, as

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panied by NDSI agents when he wascaptured by US Special Forces whileon his way to Kabul to meet Karzai.

The FT says “the war of the fu-ture will not necessarily be declaredbut will oversee as a sliding scale ofaggression and violence”. “SmartPower” being a judicious mix of Hardand Soft Power, India is using force-multiplying “smart power” in con-ducting “hybrid warfare” against us.With Modi’s National Security Ad-visor (NSA) Ajit Doval (very mucha “state actor”) in the driving seat,“false-flag terrorism” has gone intooverdrive and “Cold Start” has nowbecome a distinct possibility. Beingin self-denial we Pakistanis cannotsee that we are already under siegebeing subjected to this new warfareby Modi’s Cardinal Richelieu notonly using terrorism as a weapon ofchoice but subverting a section ofour media (with inadvertent supportof the corporate sector giving thesesubverted media entities advertise-ment in billions).

Defying the world in 1998 topreserve our integrity and our self-respect, why does this differentSharif circa 2015 now give the per-ception of his business interests su-perceding the national interest?Given that if our conventional fail-safe line is crossed we will have nochoice but resort to tactical nuclearweapons, Zardari came out with hisridiculous “no first use of nuclearweapons” proposal.

While no one in his right mindwants war with India but we do needto respond effectively to this unde-clared “hybrid warfare” beingwaged against us. The Armed Forcesaside the media must exercisegreater responsibility, above all ourpolitical leadership must match theirglibly uttered public rhetoric withdeeds of substance.— The writer, retired army officer,is a leading defence and securityanalyst.

—Proverb

wished by Indian Government andHarisingh was forced to sign it onthe evening of 27 October 1947 orthereafter. Another significant factis that, had there been any accessiontreaty between the state of Jammuand Kashmir and the Indian govern-ment, why it could not be publishedin the Indian White Paper of 1948?This has left a great disbelief regard-ing the conclusion of any such agree-ment. Yet another very serious res-ervation arises, had Kashmir beenpart of the Indian Union, why it wasgiven a special status under the pro-vision of internal autonomy throughArticle 370 of the Indian constitu-tion? It is momentous to mentionthat the Indian government did notaccord a similar status to any otherstate under this provision. Indeed,out of 560 Princely states, over fivehundred joined India, but none wasaccorded this special status.

The scrupulous and level-headed analysis of the Indian ma-nipulations, UN mandate, the In-dian Independence Act and groundrealities clearly indicate that theIndian claim over the state ofJammu and Kashmir is completelyillegitimate and unsubstantiated.India is negating its own commit-ment with Kashmiris, Pakistanand world community. It is hightime that Indian leadership shouldrealize its global and regional ob-ligations and adopt a realistic ap-proach for the solution of this out-standing issue to give Kashmiristheir right. Today, the global com-munity does have a role to per-suade India for the implementationof UN resolutions on Kashmir.— The writer is Islamabad-basedanalyst of International Relations.

Ikram SehgalEmail:ikram.sehgal@smswppl.com

Dr Muhammad Khan Email: drmk_edu@yahoo.com

Voice of the People

Shikarpurbarbaric incident

JAVAID BASHIR

A suicide bomber blasted himself inthe Imambargh Kerbla Mualla com-pound. In this barbaric incident 40persons were martyred and scoresof others wounded. The victim weresoaked in their own blood. No onewas present to facilitate thewounded. The hospital had onlythree ambulances to transport thevictims. The doctors and staff werenot present on duty. Three woundedpersons died due to the negligenceof health department: the height ofgovernment apathy.

Despite the nature of the sensi-tive place adequate security was notprovided. No security officials orany significant political leader ar-rived at the scene even after fourhours of the brutal attack. The vic-tims were performing Juma prayeras it was Friday afternoon. Presi-dent, Prime Minister and other po-litical leaders strongly condemnedthe barbaric incident as usual. Butthey have failed to implement thenational action plan to combat ter-rorists and militants.

The ink of my pen has dried upin condemning such atrocious acts.When I heard about this dastardlyattack, I could not control my tears.When would this end? There is norespite in sight. The sick mindedmilitants are on the rampage target-ing worshipers and innocent people.These death squads must be obliter-ated from our land.

The Chief Minister and his rul-ing elite should act promptly, andsave the lives of the wounded vic-tims. He should also take actionagainst the negligent medical offi-cials. We can not afford such negli-gent behaviour. Allama abbasKumaili has asked to expand Zarb eAzb to entire Sindh. I fully endorsehis suggestion. We must move for-ward rapidly to thwart the atrocitiesof terrorists. Different organizationshave announced countrywide strikeand mourning. The mourners havebeen asked to express sympathy andsolidarity with the victims and theirrelatives. May Allah rest the departedsouls in peace, and eternal tranquil-lity. Our prayers and sympathies arewith the relations of the victims.—Via email

Obama’sroad to 2016S MUBASHIR NOOR

Pakistan should start praying for aRepublican win in the next USPresidential Elections. In his lastyear or so in charge, PresidentObama’s priorities are legacy build-ing, and the 2016 Democratic de-fence of the White House. His snub-bing Pakistan on this latest South-east Asia trip is ominous. From nowtill election day, whatever Obamasays or does is less about him, andmore about how his party wants torun the race. Hillary Clinton is thelikely Democratic nominee, andObama owes her husband Bill hissecond term in office.

Former President Clinton’shumdinger of a speech, at the 2012Democratic National Convention,tore the Romney-Ryan ticket toshreds. Afterwards, Republicanstrategist Alex Castellanos said onCNN, “This convention is done.This will be the moment that prob-ably re-elected Barack Obama.” Inan interview with India Today be-fore his visit to India, Obama gushedabout how “the stars are aligned forboth India and the US to become“true global partners”. His tone be-came solemn, however, when add-ing “safe havens within Pakistan are

Kashmir Day symbolises UN inefficiencyMUKHTAR AHMED

February 05 is observed as Kashmir Day across the globe to express solidarity with the people ofKashmir struggling for independence and rendering great sacrifices to pressurise India to hold

plebiscite as per UN Resolutions pending since 1948, to get their guaranteed right of self-determina-tion. Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah declared Kashmir as jugular vein of Pakistan. People ofPakistan have special attachment with Kashmir due to strong common cultural, religious and geo-graphical bonds, separated through a conspiracy hatched by Indians in collusion with the last viceroyof India Lord Mountbatten who deceived Pakistan by handing over district Gurdaspur to India whichwas earlier declared part of Pakistan. We need to understand the significance of this great day; it is notmerely a holiday to celebrate but it is the underlying spirit that matters. According to the Partition Planof June 3, 1947, the subcontinent was to be divided into two sovereign states. The Hindu-majority areaswere to form India and the Muslim-majority areas were to be included in the state of Pakistan. Theprincely states had to accede either to Pakistan or to India Kashmir being a Muslim-majority state,with an 85% Muslim population had to accede to Pakistan, but India occupied the state by sendingtroops on October 27, 1947, in total disregard to the spirit of the partition plan and against the will ofthe people of Kashmir. The Kashmiris did not accept illegal Indian occupation from day one and startedarmed liberation struggle. As they were close to victory on January 1, 1948, India approached theUnited Nations Security Council that resulted in ceasefire and India agreed to a free and impartialplebiscite under the supervision of the UN but ever since continues to defy. The world body is silent onthe issue but Pakistan is trying its best to help and support Kashmiris in their just demand and to showthe world that Pakistan is with kashmiris. Every year 5th February is observed as Kashmir Day through-out the world in which rallies are held to impress upon the world and the world body to honour itscommitments. The Day is observed with the main objective of seeking a peaceful solution to the Kash-mir problem that has resulted in three bloody wars in the past. This is also a message to internationalcommunity to come forward and play its role in resolvinf the outstanding dispute, if they want theregion to be peaceful. PM of India should come forward and resolve the issue as per commitmentsmade in the UN and allow Kashmiris to exercise their right of self determination. It is up to India to livein peace or remain in state of confrontation. But message is very clear that Pakistan shall continue toextend its moral support to Kashmiris till they get their genuine guaranteed right of self determination.—Via email

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View From Abroad

Embrace a clean-energy vision

THE Obama administration’srecent announcements on oiland gas drilling are an illogi-

cal mix of good news and bad. Thiscontradiction is the inevitable resultof an “all of the above” energy policythat aims for compromise but fails thebasic test of right vs. wrong.

President Obama clearly under-stands at least one reason why drill-ing in the Arctic National WildlifeRefuge and the Arctic Ocean iswrong, and he deserves kudos forstanding up to those who would sac-

rifice America’s greatest wildernessfor oil profits. These unique envi-ronments are impossible to developsafely. It is not a question of whethera disaster would happen, but when.This much we know: The conse-quences would be catastrophic andlong lasting. More than a quarter-century after the Exxon Valdez di-saster, Prince William Sound hasstill not recovered.

The president’s energy policiesalso fail to acknowledge anotherinescapable reality. As a study pub-lished last month in the journal Na-ture shows, we cannot avoid cata-strophic climate change unless weleave untouched at least a third of

oil reserves, half of gas reservesand more than 80% of current coalreserves. In light of that fact, risk-ing the destruction of our publiclands and coastlines to find andextract more fossil fuel reservesbecomes even more foolish and ir-responsible.

The good news is that we havea better path. Clean energy is al-ready beginning to replace fossilfuels, revitalize American industryand save Americans money. But wewill not truly be on the path to ad-dressing climate change until wehave a policy of developing cleanenergy sources while reducing —not escalating — fossil fuels. By

‘Solidarity Day’ keeps Kashmir issue alive

SINCE 1990, the 5th of February is being celebrated by Pakistanis and Kashmiris as

‘Kashmir Solidarity Day’ to pay hom-age to Kahsmiri martyrs and to showsolidarity with the freedom fighterswho are demanding their legitimateright of self-determination as recog-nized by the UN resolutions. Onpartition of India in 1947, the rulerof Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh,in connivance with Indian PrimeMinister Jawaharlal Nehru and Gov-ernor-General Lord Mountbatten,had decided to join India, quite con-trary to the wishes of the majorityof Kashmiris.

When a contention arose betweenIndia and Pakistan on the Kashmirdispute in1948, India took the issue tothe United Nations Security Counciland offered to hold a plebiscite in theheld Kashmir under UN supervision.On February 5, 1964, India backed outof its promise. Instead, in March 1965,the Indian Parliament passed a bill, de-claring Kashmir a province of India.While passing through various phases,the struggle of Kashmiris which hasbecome an interaction between theIndian state terrorism led by the In-dian security forces and war of libera-tion by the freedom fighters, keeps ongoing unabated. Despite the employ-ment of various forms of state terror-ism by the Indian security forces, warof liberation intensified since 1989. Arecent report on human rights viola-tions by Indian Army and its paramili-tary forces in Indian Occupied Kash-mir disclosed that since 1989, there

have been deaths of 93,274 in-nocent Kashmiris, 6,969 custo-dial killings, 117,345 arrests and105,861 destructions of houses.Indian brutal security forceshave orphaned over 107, 351children, widowed 22,728

women and gang raped 9,920 women.Besides Human Rights Watch, in

its various reports, Amnesty Interna-tional has also pointed out grave hu-man rights violations in the Indiancontrolled Kashmir, indicating, “TheMuslim majority population in Kash-mir Valley suffers from repressive tac-tics of the security forces. Under theJammu and Kashmir Disturbed AreasAct, and the Armed Forces (Jammuand Kashmir) Special Powers Act andPublic Safety Act, security forces per-sonnel have extraordinary powers toshoot suspected persons.”

In this respect, European Unionpassed a resolution on May 11, 2011about human rights abuses committedby Indian forces in the Indian heldKashmir. Particularly in 2008, a rightsgroup reported unmarked graves in 55villages across the Indian occupiedKashmir. In this context, in August,2011, Indian Jammu and KashmirState Human Rights Commission(SHRC) officially acknowledged in itsreport that innocent civilians killed inthe two-decade conflict have beenburied in unmarked graves. Notably,foreign sources and human rights or-ganizations including Association ofParents of Disappeared Persons(APDP) have pointed out that un-named graves include thousands ofinnocent persons, killed by the Indianmilitary and paramilitary troops in thefake encounters including those whowere tortured to death. On the otherside, by showing a sense of great opti-mism for peace of the region, Paki-stan agreed with Indian old demand

to strengthen the Confidence Build-ing Measures (CBMs) in order to re-solve the outstanding issues, especiallymain dispute of Kashmir. In this re-spect, during the visit of India’s Ex-ternal Affairs Minister S M Krishnato Pakistan on September 9, 2012,Islamabad and New Delhi also signedagreements of liberalized visa regimeand a memorandum of understandingon cultural exchanges in addition toagreeing on new cross-Line of Con-trol (LoC) Confidence Building Mea-sures related to trade and travel.

But, as part of delaying tacticsfor the settlement of the Kashmirdispute, Indian rulers availed vari-ous crises to suspend the process ofPak-India talks. For example, in2002, under the pretension of terror-ist attack on the Indian parliament,New Delhi postponed the process ofdialogue. Again, in 2008, India sus-pended the ‘composite dialogue’under the pretext of Mumbai terrorattacks. And, as part of anti-Mus-lim and anti-Pakistan approach,leader of the BJP and Prime Minis-ter of India Narendra Modi who isgiving impetus to Hindu chauvinismnot only accelerated unprovoked fir-ing at the LoC in Kashmir includ-ing Working Boundary in Sialkot,but also cancelled the Secretary leveltalks with Islamabad. Now, he israising baseless issue like Mumbaimayhem and terrorism as pre-con-ditions to advance the Pak-Indiandialogue. But, he ignored the factthat on July 19, 2013, Indian ex-in-vestigating officer Satish Verma dis-closed that terror-attacks in Mumbaiin November 26, 2008 and assaulton Indian Parliament in January 12,2001 were carried out by the Indiangovernment to strengthen anti-ter-rorism laws. Besides, Modi regimehurriedly decided to forcibly annex

Michael Brune

disputed territory of the State ofJammu and Kashmir (J&K), un-covering its intentions to wrap upthe article 370 of the Indian con-stitution which ensures a specialstatus to J&K.

In fact, India is determined tokeep its hold on Kashmir. It alsowants to blackmail Pakistan by stop-ping the flow of rivers’ water to-wards Pakistan as major rivers of ourcountry take origin from the occu-pied Kashmir. Now, by playingdouble game, Indian rulers are onlyfulfilling the formality by showingto the US-led western countries thatthey are willing to settle Kashmirdispute. Nevertheless, Indian au-thorities are not willing to talk withKashmiri people on politicalgrounds, as they have decided thatonly bullet is the right way of deal-ing with them. But, despite the em-ployment of various patterns of mili-tary terrorism, the war of liberationby the Kashmiri people will continueuntill they get their legitimate rightof self-determination. If New Delhicould not suppress the movement inthe past, it could also not do so inpresent and future.

Nonetheless, Pakistan will con-tinue moral, diplomatic and politi-cal support of Kashmiri brethren.Hence, 5th of February is being cel-ebrated as the ‘Kashmir SolidarityDay’ by Kashmiris, living both sidesof the LoC. Besides, Pakistanis andKashmiris across the world expresssolidarity with the freedom fightersof Kashmiris as a protest against In-dian illegal occupation of Kashmir.It is due to their joint efforts that now,the Kashmir issue has been interna-tionalized, and remains alive in wakeof Indian delaying tactics.—The writer is Lahore-basedfreelance columnist.

2030, we could cut oil for trans-portation by 50%. We could alsoget virtually all of our electricitywithout burning coal or gas.

The benefits would go beyondsaving our climate. We’d save thou-sands of American lives cut short bypollution, while protecting ouroceans and our precious wild places.It is time to put “drill today andworry about tomorrow later” behindus for good. By embracing a 100%clean-energy vision, we can create aprosperous society that gets all of itspower from sources that are safe,secure and sustainable. Why shouldwe settle for less?— Courtesy: USA Today

Mother earth’s tenants..!

IT was the the first day of theyear and someone was knocking at my door. It was late in

the morning and I pretended notto hear. The knocking persistedand I walked to the main door andopened it to find a pleasant roly-poly lady standing with a noticein her hand, “It’s an eviction no-tice!” she said and suddenly herface was sad.

“Whoa! Whoa!” I shouted,“And who are you?” “MotherEarth!” “Mother Earth, like inearth, earth we live in, stand on?”

“Yep,” said the round lady turningto go. “Wait!” I shouted looking atthe notice, “you can’t just thrust thison my face!” “Have you ever gonethrough your tenancy rights?” “Sortof!” I said.

“What happens when a tenantbreaks the agreement?” “He’s thrownout!” I said lamely. I stared at her asshe picked up an old computer I’dplaced outside for the garbage manto pick up, “So you don’t want this?”

“No,” I said. “And it’ll be tossedinto a garbage dump, where it won’trot, or decay but just remain as it is!Not biodegradable, you know!Couldn’t you have made it with ma-terial, which would have dissolved,disappeared once its use was over?Does your tenancy give you the right

of making me your dumpingground?” I continued pleading withher as she walked out, “Please!” I saidand then watched as my driver see-ing me, started the car and pressedthe accelerator; its petrol fumes mademe curse the stupid man.

“Don’t curse him, its you whoinvented this machine which poi-sons my air and waters! You aren’tsatisfied with letting them spitfumes on the ground, but have filledmy skies with smoke vomiting fly-ing creatures!”

“I’m sorry!” I pleaded. “Howlong is your lease?” “My lifetime!”“D’you know how many tenants I hadbefore you? The same ground youstand on this moment was given tohundreds and thousands before you!

I didn’t mind too much though Icried a little, when they startedchopping my forests, but they saidit was in the name of progress, andI kept quiet. Then you started withmy rivers and seas and skies, fill-ing them with chemicals and gasesworse than Hitler’s holocaust!”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered. “Toolate!” said Mother Earth. “Wherewill I go?” I asked looking at theeviction notice. “To the gas cham-bers!” said Landlady Earth withtears in her eyes, “we’ll die together,the tenant and his home. You knowwhat you’ve been Bob?” “A badtenant..!” I sobbed as I looked at thecalendar and wondered where I’dlive the rest of the year.—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

not acceptable and that those behindthe Mumbai terrorist attack must facejustice”.

Clearly the US now views Indiaas a mature global player, while Pa-kistan remains the problem child.Obama even compared 9/11 NewYork to 26/11 Mumbai, citing thecommitment of both countries topreserve their way of life. No hatswere tipped to acknowledge thethousands of civilian and militarycasualties in Pakistan, for a war es-sentially concocted in the Pentagon.Responding to a White House pressconference question about Obamaignoring Pakistan, Deputy NationalSecurity Adviser Ben Rhodes stated“frankly, that’s in the interest of allthe three countries”.

Obama has been on a roll since2014. After five indifferent years astop dog, he finally got his acts to-gether. Oil prices dropped to $2 agallon for the first time since the2008 financial crises. Similarly un-employment figures fell below 6%,the stock markets also rebounded topost all-time highs, boosting theworking American’s nest-egg. Withkey economic indicators peaking atthe right time, the Democrats lookgood for re-election. On the foreignpolicy front, Obama worked twomagic acts to help Hillary out. First,he ‘magically’ made Pakistan andAfghanistan start working togetherto route the Taliban. Two neighbourslocked in an endless game of‘chicken’ somehow saw the biggerpicture. Teddy Roosevelt’s ‘bigstick’ no doubt proved persuasive.

A Hillary Clinton seriouslyscarred by the Ben Ghazi blowback,can ill-afford another national secu-rity gaffe on her watch. To becomePresident, she needs focus on theClinton brand, not her failings asSecretary of State. Furthermore,Obama ‘magically’ undercut the2016 Republican dream-ticket, bynormalizing relations with Cuba.This firmly puts the Cuban-Ameri-can voting bloc in the blue column.Coincidentally, 70% of these voterslive in Florida, home to both Gov.Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio.Neither of them will have it easycarrying their home state, a litmustest for winning nationwide.

Goodwill from this act is alsolikely to solidify the national Latinovote. Hillary needs them to win orcompete in three major races; Cali-fornia, Texas and Florida. Obamawon Florida by a razor thin marginin 2012, he’s set Hillary up to do bet-ter. If elected, Hillary Clinton, forcedto resign as Secretary of State afterBen Ghazi, will be out for blood.Pakistan, accused of serial two-facedness, is the convenient whip-ping boy. Obama has set her narra-tive in motion, and a lot more ad-monishment is in store should shebecome President.—Islamabad

Awfulroads of BadinSHAHID AHMED QURESHI

Badin district was coined in 1975 andit has lot of natural resource but wehave observed that the condition of theroads is extremely horrific, includingSeerani, Bhurgra Memon, Khadharo,Ahmed Rajo as well as city’s roads.When someone special/VIP visits thedistrict, he/she comes to luxurious spe-cial vehicles in which they cannot feelthe condition of roads, but when theyvisit cited mentioned area’s road withlocal transport or by feet then theymust have realised the actual condi-tion of these roads.

Due to the bad condition of roads,vehicles take more time to reach thedestination and due to worst condi-tion of roads, many pregnant womenor babies which they were going todeliver lose their lives on their way

Kashmir: From cartography to demography

THE people of Kashmir alwayslonged for independence andtheir right of self-determination.

Self-determination is not only a po-litical tool for ascertaining the way ofgovernance, rather it is more of anideological expression which steers anation towards its destination. Nationsare territorial but it is the nationalism,ideology, heritage and a particular cul-ture which is calcify with the bound-aries, so basing on these, Kashmir isdifferent from rest of the India. Thesouthern states of India, the north east-ern or even the western can assimilatewith mainland, but for Kashmir thiscan’t happen as being different due toMuslim majority and its ethos.

These vectors are pinching themost, now Indians want to changethem, the demographic offensive is onthe leash. The Kashmir problem forthem lies in its demography of Mus-lim majority, therefore the solutionsalso lies in demography by altering themajority into a parity or best a minor-

ity if possible. They are already dis-turbed for the acronym usage of IOK(Indian Occupied Kashmir), and sug-gest that Kashmir should best be calledas Indian held or in subtlety the In-dian Kashmir.

Before thread bearing the Kash-mir issue it is pertinent to look at thedemographic offensive. Indian occu-pied Kashmir is divided into three dis-tinct areas, this distinctiveness is beau-tifully played by present Indian Gov-ernment like a Victorian lady movingaround with her gigolo and the gismo,uttering glossy speeches at every crass.The three regions are, one, the Kash-mir valley with 95% Muslim major-ity, second, the Jammu with its six dis-trict with east of Chenab i.e Doda,Rajouri and Ponch being Muslim ma-jority and rest the Hindu majority.Third is Ladhakh with Kargil and Leh,Kargil is Muslim majority area andLeh is a Buddhist dominated area.

Ladhakh region is sparsely popu-lated. Indians are trying to change de-mography in all these regions, offen-sive is very overwhelming in Ladhakh,it is steaming high in Jammu regionand is very calculative in valley. Re-cently a new town, almost a mini city

based on purely Hindu population iscrafted in Jammu region, this new cityis known for its extravaganza watersupply and canals, courtesy Chanabriver. Hindus from all over India aresettling down in Jammu region withan assurance of safety and securitybeing proved by Indian military.

The wealthy hindus are also buy-ing lot of property in and aroundSrinagar valley as poor Muslims areselling out their heredity endowmentsto meet the mundane chores of life.Every new buyer is almost, always ahindu. Hindus have a fascinations withHimalayas due to two reasons, one, itis the birth place of their deities andalso the place form where all the riv-ers specially the Ganga is originated.For this reason Ladhakh is strategicallyvery important, in geological lexiconit is called as the mini Tibet. Leh be-ing the buddhist area is under severnegative population crunch as therepolyandry is practiced, while the Mus-lim population of Kargil is increasing.This is an area of concern for Modigovernment which is adopting quite ameasures to address this issue. Modi’sdemographic offensive is also localwith two other things, the democratic

offensive and the developmentalspree. Recent elections in Kashmiris testimony to this, BJP got 25 seatsand People Democratic Party (PDP)got 28 seats. BJP’s influence inLadhakh and Jammu has increasedmanifold in last ten years.

BJP before elections was sure toget the majic number of 44 to form amajority government in Kashmir.They are a bit disappointed on get-ting 25 seats which is otherwise agreat achievement for a rightest hinduparty in Muslim majority area. Thedemocratic offensive was based ontwo prong strategy, first was to gov-ern the Kashmir from righteous over-tures of BJP and other and more im-portant was to repeal article 370 ofIndian constitution, thereby eliminat-ing the aura of special status to theKashmir. This could have a windfalleffect, the state will become part ofIndia, hindus could freely bay prop-erty and businesses, the Ladakhwhich is 70% of Indian held Kash-mir will be the new center stage de-fining the realignment of China cen-tric foreign policy which will likelybe tuned through strategic Himaliyasand Indian states adjoining China.

Sajjad ShaukatEmail: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

Abid Latif SindhuEmail:massgroup22@yahoo.com

to the hospital. On the other handgovernment gets these roads built orrepaired by contractors who use sub-standard matrial and the roads areagain reduced to dilapidated ruins.Government is requested to ensurethat material used in construction ofroads should be of good quality. Moreover, these roads should be bannedfor irresponsible tractor drivers whovery carelessly use these roads. Canwe have good roads in Badin and savethe lives of human beings?—Badin

Time to cleanrusty bicycles

FAIZA LATIF

There was a time when people useto walk for hours and it contributednot only to their physical fitness butalso strengthened their nerves bymaking them resistance to stress andstrident environment. Then an era ofbicycles was started which eased thepeople and made them lazy but inthe beginning only people of eliteclass were able to meet the expenseof buying a bicycle.

The trend escalated and bicyclesbecome common, followed by an eraof motor cycles, cars and variety ofother vehicles. Fuel was required torun these motor based vehicles thatleft people flabbergasted as they hadnever seen any such thing before.The trend actually emerged fromhighly developed western nationsbut soon propelled throughout theworld. Citizens of that naïve nationalso started imitating and strivingto get indulged among trendy na-tions. They ignored the future im-pressions and followed the currentsblindly that lead to dark. Even theirteenagers started exploiting thesevehicles without meeting the legalrequirements.

On the other hand the mature andrealistic nations didn’t compromiseon their resources blindly just to be-come leading part of the race. Theyformulate their plans after consider-ing the effects on their forth cominggenerations. Former nation is noneother than Pakistan while in the lat-ter situation few highly developedcountries like Japan and China areincluded which might become thesuper powers in near future but peopleof these countries do not feel ashamedof riding bicycle and still use theminstead of using motor vehicles.Whereas for Pakistani people ridingbicycle as a mean of transport is sameas a scar on their forehead.

Government is not solely re-sponsible for the recent turmoil, ourspoiled nation contributes equally.Instead of dealing with the problemswisely the behavior of people is verydisappointing. They are acting as ifpetrol is medium of their survival;they breathe on petrol and use it as asubstitute for food and water. As amatter of fact, we can tackle thisproblem just for our own facilitationby using the bicycles again for trav-elling which apart from acting as analternative source of travelling, eco-nomical as well as non hazardous foratmosphere. Use of curricle withhorse is also not a bad idea as a largenumber of countries are still usingit for travelling including Japan.—Via email

MICHAEL SINGH

THE interim nuclear accord — formallythe Joint Plan of Action (JPOA) — between Iran and the United States and its

five negotiating partners (known as the P5+1)offers moderate benefits to both sides: It limitsIran’s nuclear activities in certain respects,while giving Iran time and space for economicrecovery. Given these benefits, both sides ap-pear to view the JPOA as essentially their sec-ond-best option — not as good as a final ac-cord on terms they prefer but better than theescalating crisis it replaced.

Perversely, however, this makes a final ac-cord less likely. Achieving one will requirepainful compromises, particularly for Iranianhard-liners who view any accommodation withthe United States as contrary to the IslamicRepublic’s core ideology. One might makethose compromises if the alternative was dire.But the prospect of further extensions of thetalks means that it is not.

This is the crux of the debate between theWhite House and Congress over sanctions leg-islation under consideration on Capitol Hill.Congress appears to believe that the threat ofrenewed sanctions is necessary to motivate theIranian regime to agree to a final accord, justas sanctions played a role in persuading Iran tosign the JPOA, as even President Obama

Iran deal: No new nuclear concessions

Supporters and family members of the Jordanian pilot Moaz al-Kasasbeh gathered in Amman after reports of his death.

acknowl-edges.The White House, on the other hand,

seems to think new sanctions would have theopposite effect, reinforcing Iran’s view thatthe United States cannot be trusted, under-cutting Iranian negotiators and promptingTehran and perhaps even our negotiating part-ners to walk away from the talks. It is out ofthis conviction that Obama threatened to vetothe legislation and has strenuously lobbiedagainst it.

When Iran has made significant foreignpolicy shifts — such as ending the Iran-Iraqwar in 1988 and suspending elements of itsnuclear program and engaging in diplomacy in2003 — it has been because the cost of notdoing so outweighed the benefits. If Iran con-sents to a nuclear accord, it will be because thecost of withholding that consent is unaccept-ably high, especially compared with the pros-pect of sanctions relief and removal of Iran’spariah status.

A veto of sanctions legislation would indi-cate to Iran that no further pressure is forth-coming, reducing the incentive to compromise.Additionally, it would vitiate the JPOA’s ne-gotiating deadline by signaling that an exten-sion of the interim accord is the most likelyalternative if no deal is inked. But it would also,by further souring relations between the WhiteHouse and Congress, make it harder for the

president to eventually gain Congress’s supportand deliver whatever sanctions relief he prom-ises Iran, thus undermining the negotiatingcredibility that the administration purports tobe protecting.

Yet Obama’s veto threat also creates a co-nundrum for Congress, because it risks under-cutting the very pressure that lawmakers aretrying to increase. Even if Congress had thevotes to override a veto, the effectiveness ofthe sanctions threat depends on the executivebranch’s cooperation. If the White House indi-cates its refusal to implement sanctions, orrushes to make what Congress would consideran unacceptable deal to avert them, legislativeaction could have the opposite effect from whatis intended.

Despite their disagreement over sanctions,however, there is enough commonality betweenthe White House and Congress on Iran that theObama administration should try negotiationswith the Hill rather than scorched-earth tactics.Indeed, doing so could even make a good out-come more likely.

Given that Congress’s primary concernappears to be that the administration will makea bad deal, a good first step would be to stopoffering Iran nuclear concessions — whichhave heightened congressional alarm withoutbringing Tehran around — and instead seekagreement with congressional leaders on what

would constitute an acceptable deal.This may, in fact, require toughening the

U.S. negotiating stance on key issues such asIran’s past weaponization research, monitoringand verification, Iran’s missile arsenal and theduration of an agreement. But it could also se-cure the congressional support required to em-power the president to credibly offer sanctionsrelief, which Iran needs far more than it needsadditional centrifuges.

At the same time, Iran must be convincedthat the alternative is even greater pressure thanit is experiencing now. To accomplish this, theUnited States and its negotiating partners shouldcommit to no further extensions of the JPOA,warn that concessions will be rescinded andsanctions re-imposed if no deal is reached by adate certain, and counter rather than accommo-date destabilizing Iranian activities in theMiddle East.

The president is right that if we are goingto negotiate, we should negotiate in good faith— but not forever. If Iranian leaders believethat the alternative to making a strategic choiceto give up nuclear weapons is just more talks— and with them, more Western concessions— we should not be surprised if those talksstretch on inconclusively.

—Courtesy: Washington Post[Michael Singh is managing director of the

Washington Institute for Near East Policy]

OSAMA AL SHARIF

EGYPTIAN President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi is the first toadmit that the war on terror will be long and painful. In thewake of last week’s deadly attacks against his troops in

Arish, in northern Sinai, Egyptians are accepting the fact thatwinning the war against Islamist radicals will not be easy. Monthsafter the military launched the most stringent campaignagainst terrorists belonging to Ansar Bait Al Maqdis, thegroup remains strong and capable of hitting back. This se-curity crisis has become the biggest challenge to the Egyp-tian president since he took office last year.

Egypt is still reeling from the tumultuous events thathit it, starting with the January 25 uprising, four years ago,which brought down the regime of former president HosniMubarak. The rise to and fall from power of the MuslimBrotherhood later on triggered a series of upsets andpolarised Egyptian society. The military intervention thatdeposed president Mohamed Morsi and the subsequent ban-ning of the Muslim Brotherhood may have enjoyed popularbacking, but its effect on the political stability of Egypt hasbeen deep. While lacking public support, the Islamist move-ment continues to dare the regime. Regrettably it has re-sorted to violence and terror, giving the new rule the man-date it needs to hit it hard.

Today Sisi is fighting on a number of fronts: political,economic and social.The rebuilding of Egypt’s state insti-tutions is not complete and the challenge the Islamists poseto his rule, although minimal, is testing the country’s readi-ness to complete the roadmap and achieve some sort of rec-onciliation. But the military’s failure to quash the armedrebellion in northern Sinai threatens to disrupt Sisi’s efforts.He accused foreign powers of backing the terrorists.

The military has resorted to controversial measures inSinai in an attempt to weaken the terrorists. Most of thesemeasures proved to be unpopular with the residents of thepeninsula. Many Egyptians are aware that in the long run,pacifying Sinai will require much more than military inter-vention. Northern Sinai was left undeveloped by the old re-gime for decades, resulting in high rates of unemploymentand poverty. Its remoteness from Cairo and proximity to Gazamay have alienated its residents and helped fuel suspicionsin its military governors. Now the militant group, whichdeclared its allegiance to the so-called Islamic State group,is posing a threat to the entire country. It is likely that mili-tants are getting outside help as well. The instability in Libya,which shares long borders with Egypt, facilitated the smug-gling of men and weapons into Sinai.

It is also possible that the same is happening on theRafah-Gaza border through an intricate network of tunnels.But Sisi must tread carefully as well. Punishing the peopleof northern Sinai through severe measures will add to analready tense relationship between them and the government.The long-term solution to Sinai’s problem rests on execut-ing ambitious development plans that will change the eco-nomic and social realities of its residents. But for now, Sisimust win the war against the militants without alienatingthe people of Sinai. At the same time, he must find ways torestore confidence in the political process, and distance hisrule from the old regime. It is ironic that while many indi-viduals associated with the old regime have been freed, anumber of young men and women associated with the Janu-ary 25 uprising is still in jail.

—Courtesy: JT[The writer is a journalist and political commentator based

in Amman]

Sisi’s challenge

Iran rejectsUS call foranti-terror

coop: officialTEHRAN—The Islamic repub-lic of Iran has rejected a UnitedStates call for anti-terror coop-eration, a senior Iranian For-eign Ministry official wasquoted as saying by Press TVon Wednesday.

“The United States (re-cently) asked Iran for help inthe fight against terrorism.However, we believe the USlacks sincerity (in its anti-ter-ror bid) as some of these ter-rorist groups are simulta-neously supported by the US,”Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minis-ter for Arab and African Af-fairs, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, said on Tuesday.

The presence of foreignmilitary troops in the regionover the recent years has shownthat the military approach to-ward regional issues not onlyfails to solve the problem ofterrorism and instability, butmay even exacerbate the prob-lems, he said..—Xinhua

Chinesecultural

show opensin Bucharest

BUCHAREST—An exhibitionon Chinese culture openedhere on Wednesday.

The exhibition, whichwill last until Feb. 27, dis-plays about 100 items includ-ing Chinese calligraphy andpaintings, according to theConfucius Institute inBucharest, the organizer ofthe event.

Some 30 photos, whichwere taken by Xinhua pho-tographers and showed Chi-nese landscapes, customs andfolk life, are also part of theexhibition.

At the opening ceremonyof the exhibition, the Chineseambassador to Romania XuFeihong called on people inRomania to learn more aboutChinese culture, so that theycan better understand China.

Xu also praised the de-cades-long relations betweenChina and Romania.

“We are up to date withChina’s economic and indus-trial side - perhaps less sowith its cultural side,” saidBogdan Stanoevici,Romania’s State Secretary forthe Ministry of Culture.

“We will do our best toprevent our children from for-getting anything of the Chi-nese spirituality and Culture,”he said.—Xinhua

Beijingairport capacityupped for 10m

passengersBEIJING—Beijing CapitalAirport is expected to trans-port 9.84 million passengersduring Spring Festival, whichstarted on Wednesday andruns until March 15.

The 40-day travel frenzyis known as “Chunyun”, thehectic period surroundingChinese New Year, whichfalls this year on Feb. 19.Atotal of 65,500 arrival anddeparture flights, 1,638 dailyon average, are scheduled forChunyun, up 4.62 percent onlast year.

The period of ChineseNew Year celebrations isChina’s most important fam-ily holiday, with hundreds ofmillions of people heading fortheir hometowns to reunitewith relatives and old friends,putting huge stress on thetransportation system.

Beijing Capital Airportwill handle a daily average of245,900 people during thisyear’s Chunyun, up 4.12 per-cent from the same period in2014.

A total of 65,500 arrivaland departure flights, 1,638daily on average, are sched-uled for Chunyun, up 4.62percent on last year.The pe-riod of Chinese New Year cel-ebrations is China’s most im-portant family holiday, withhundreds of millions ofpeople heading for theirhometowns to reunite withrelatives and old friends, put-ting huge stress on the trans-portation system.

On Wednesday, there are1,638 planned flights, with ar-rival and departure passen-gers expected to hit 235,700.

Three travel peaks willappear during this year’s 40-day Chunyun: from Feb. 9 to17, from Feb. 24 to 28, andfrom March 7 to 10.—Xinhua

AMMAN—Jordan hanged two Iraqijihadists on Wednesday including a fe-male militant in response to an IslamicState video showing a captured Jorda-nian pilot being burnt alive by thehardline group.

Islamic State had demanded the re-lease of the woman, Sajida al-Rishawi,in exchange for a Japanese hostage whoit later beheaded. Sentenced to death in2005 for her a role in a suicide bombattack in Amman, Rishawi was ex-ecuted at dawn, a security source andstate television said.

Jordan, which is part of the U.S.-led alliance against Islamic State, haspromised an “earth-shaking response”to the killing of its pilot, Muath al-Kasaesbeh, who was captured in De-cember when his F-16 crashed overnortheastern Syria. Jordan also executeda senior al Qaeda prisoner, ZiyadKarboli, an Iraqi man who was sen-tenced to death in 2008.

The fate of Kasaesbeh, a member

Jordan hangs two Iraqi militantsresponding to pilot’s death

of a large tribe that forms the backboneof support for the country’s Hashemitemonarchy, has gripped Jordan for weeksand some Jordanians have criticizedKing Abdullah for embroiling them inthe U.S.-led war that they say will pro-voke a militant backlash.

King Abdullah cut short an officialvisit to the United States on Tuesday. Ina televised statement to the nation, heurged national unity and said the killingwas a cowardly act of terror by a crimi-nal group that has no relation to Islam.

The Jordanian army has vowed toavenge his death, and some analystsbelieve it could escalate its involvementin the campaign against Islamic State,which has seized large areas of Iraq andSyria, Jordan’s neighbors to the northand east.

Kasaesbeh’s father said the twoexecutions were not enough and urgedthe government to do more to avengehis death. “I want the state to get re-venge for my son’s blood through more

executions of those people who followthis criminal group that shares nothingwith Islam,” Safi al-Kasaesbeh said.

“Jordanians are demanding that thestate and coalition take revenge witheven more painful blows to destroythese criminals,” he said, speaking toReuters by telephone.

The prisoners were executed inSwaqa prison, a large facility 70 km (45miles) south of the capital, Amman, justbefore dawn, a security source who wasfamiliar with the case said. “They wereboth calm and showed no emotions andjust prayed,” the source added withoutelaborating.

Rishawi, in her mid-forties, waspart of an al Qaeda network that tar-geted three Amman hotels in suicidebombings in 2005. She was meant todie in one of the attacks - the worst inJordan’s history - but her suicide bombbelt did not go off.

Scores of Jordanians, infuriated byKasaesbeh’s killing, gathered at mid-

night in a main square in Amman call-ing for revenge and her quick execu-tion.

Holding placards showing imagesof the pilot, several youths chanted“Death, Death to Daesh,” using a pejo-rative Arabic acronym for Islamic State.

Jordan said on Tuesday the pilot hadbeen killed a month ago. The govern-ment had been picking up intelligencefor weeks that the pilot was killed sometime ago, a source close to the govern-ment said.

Disclosing that information ap-peared to be an attempt to counter do-mestic criticism that the governmentcould have done more to strike a dealwith Islamic State to save him.

In Karak, Kasaesbeh’s hometownin southern Jordan, a small anti-govern-ment protest erupted late on Tuesdaywhen his death was announced. Theprotesters, who attacked a governmentbuilding, blamed the authorities for fail-ing to do enough to save him.—Reuters

Obama poised to review Afghan withdrawalWASHINGTON—President BarackObama’s pick for defense secretary is poisedto tell Republicans in Congress on Wednes-day he might eventually consider review-ing the schedule for withdrawing U.S.troops from Afghanistan, and would pushto trim wasteful spending. Ashton Carter, aformer Pentagon No. 2, heads to the Senatefor a 9:30 a.m. confirmation hearing that isexpected to be far smoother than the onethat badly damaged outgoing Defense Sec-retary Chuck Hagel’s political stature twoyears ago.

But Carter is hardly going to get aneasy ride, with key Republicans in theSenate Armed Services Committeesharply critical of Obama’s drawdownschedule in Afghanistan as well his lim-its on U.S. military actions in Iraq, Syriaand Ukraine.

“I think he’s well qualified. He’s go-ing to have to do well. He’s going to haveto defend the president, but not to afault,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a keycommittee member, told Reuters.

Carter was nominated to becomeObama’s fourth defense secretary afterHagel resigned under pressure last year,raising questions over whether the 60-year-old technocrat would be able breakinto Obama’s tight-knit inner circle.Hagel remains in the job until his suc-

cessor is confirmed.In an opening statement Carter is due

to read on Wednesday morning, obtainedby Reuters, he promised to give Obamahis “most candid strategic advice” aboutthe dangers ahead.

Carter also said in written answersto questions due to be publicly releasedon Wednesday that he’s willing to con-sider recommending changes to Obama’sdrawdown plans in Afghanistan nextyear, should conditions deteriorate.

That could appeal to some Republi-cans who criticize Obama for settingdrawdown targets based on what theysay is a political calendar instead of se-curity after 13 years of war.

Carter also expressed interest in ex-panding counter-terrorism cooperationwith Pakistan and advancing efforts toarm and integrate Sunni tribal forces intoIraq’s battle against Islamic State mili-tants.

Still, it remains to be seen whetherCarter will depart from longstandingObama administration positions. Carteris an administration insider who hastoiled away in high-ranking positionswithin the Pentagon in recent years.

His roles include deputy defense sec-retary — the Pentagon’s No. 2 job —from 2011 to 2013 and the Pentagon’s

chief weapons buyer from 2009-11 whenhe led a major restructuring of the F-35fighter jet program.

“I would think we will see more ofcontinuity than we will see divergence,”said William Perry, a former U.S. de-fense secretary and mentor to Carter.

Carter’s hearing will be closelywatched by Lockheed Martin Corp,Boeing Co and other big weapons mak-ers, which are waiting for clues aboutCarter’s priorities and his commitmentto new procurement programs, includ-ing a new long-range bomber and the AirForce One replacement.

Like Hagel, Carter criticized across-the-board spending cuts imposed byCongress but also singled out the needfor greater reform of defense spending,already underway. But Carter is hardlygoing to get an easy ride, with key Re-publicans in the Senate Armed ServicesCommittee sharply critical of Obama’sdrawdown schedule in Afghanistan aswell his limits on U.S. military actionsin Iraq, Syria and Ukraine.

“I cannot suggest support and sta-bility for the defense budget without atthe same time frankly noting that notevery defense dollar is spent as well asit should be,” he says in prepared open-ing remarks.—Reuters

ROBERT LAWRENCE KUHN

AN “INFLECTION point” in mathematics occurs whenthere is a change of curvature, say from concave to convex, at a particular point on a curve. There is now, at this

particular point of time, an inflection point occurring in China’sdiplomacy, as the country changes from reactive to pro-active inits international relations. Future historians may characterize thistransformation as one of the defining geopolitical trends of thefirst half of the 21st century. I am pleased to see China’s emer-gence but too many outside the country are not—they worry,openly or privately, about what a strong China may do.

The so-called “China threat” is real in that many believe it tobe real. But do these people know the real China? Late Chineseleader Deng Xiaoping (1904-1997) once said that China should“keep a low profile and bide our time.” His directive is oftenmisinterpreted as advising that China, like a growing lion, shouldlie low while strengthening itself so that eventually it can pounce.In fact, Deng wanted China to focus on building its own economyso that, in addition to enhancing the standard of living of theChinese people, China could never again be bullied by foreignpowers and would finally take its rightful place among the greatnations of the world.

Has China’s “time” now come? Chinese President Xi Jinpinghas given his clearest directive for China’s foreign policy and itis certainly more engaged with the world. Speaking to seniorofficials at the 2014 Central Conference on Work Relating toForeign Affairs, Xi described China’s new diplomacy.

Articulating the “strategic objectives and principal tasks offoreign affairs work,” Xi stressed safeguarding China’s core in-terests, crafting a conducive international environment and has-tening the nation’s emergence as a great power. China, he said,should “make friends and form partnership networks throughoutthe world” and “strive to gain more understanding and supportfrom countries all over the world” for the Chinese dream [of therenewal of the Chinese nation]. Moreover, China should “de-velop a distinctive diplomatic approach befitting its role of amajor country” in an increasingly multipolar world.

Xi recognizes that China cannot compete for global leader-ship by power alone. Economic and military strength, while nec-essary, are not sufficient. There must also be a moral or ethicalcomponent to China’s development: China must ride the highroad, offering an alternative geopolitical vision that is in somesense superior to that of the West. China, Xi asserted, should“see to it that equal importance is attached to justice and ben-efits, stress faithfulness, value friendship, carry forward righ-teousness, and foster ethics.”

A few days after the conference, at a study session of thePolitical Bureau of the Central Committee of the CommunistParty of China on regional free trade, Xi called for China to“participate and lead, make China’s voice heard, and injectmore Chinese elements into international rules.” To effect suchhistoric change to the world order, Xi is reshaping the diplo-matic landscape with new global thinking of “active engage-ment.”

The One Belt and One Road initiatives [the Silk RoadEconomic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road]are Xi’s new plan for multinational development and exem-plify his strategic thinking. Actualizing the initiatives byappealing broadly to the roughly 50 countries that havesigned on, Xi created the $40-billion Silk Road Fund tocomplement the more general $100-billion Asian Infrastruc-ture Investment Bank.

Speaking to the Sixth Ministerial Conference of the China-Arab States Cooperation Forum in Beijing in June 2014, Presi-dent Xi enumerated principles of working together that applybroadly to the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (from Xi’s bookThe Governance of China). “Looking back on the history of ex-changes between the Chinese and Arab peoples, we immediatelythink of the land Silk Road and the maritime spice route.

—Courtesy: Beijing Review [The author is an international corporate strategist and

political/economics commentator in the United States]

China’s NewDiplomatic Horizon

China needs enablingFrom Page 1 struggle for liberation.

The Kashmiri people livingin the Indian Occupied Kashmir,Pakistan and other parts of theworld will also observe the Soli-darity Day with the renewedpledge to continue their freedommovement till they achieve theirright to self-determination.It willbe a public holiday today in Paki-stan and AJK. All offices andshopping centres will remainclosed. On this occasion, ralliesand processions will be taken outin different parts of the worldagainst illegal occupation ofKashmir by the Indian troops.Seminars will also be arranged tocreate awareness among the pub-lic about importance of the day.

Prime Minister NawazSharif and President MamnoonHussain have reaffirmed thesteadfast support of the peopleand government of Pakistan tothe Kashmiri brothers and sis-ters in their struggle to achievetheir inherent right to decidetheir future through self deter-mination. In separate messageson the occasion of “KashmirSolidarity Day” being observedbeing observed across Paki-stan, AJK and the world, theyassured the Kashmiri peoplethat the people of Pakistan willnever abandon their unflinch-ing support for them.

In his message, the PrimeMinister paid glowing tributeto the valiant spirit of thepeople of Kashmir that has re-fused to be buckled under in-tense repressive measures theyhave faced in the course ofmore than six decades. The in-tensity of human right abusesperpetrated against theKashmiris has elicited interna-tional condemnation. It iswidely known that the innocentpeople of Jammu and Kashmirare undergoing worst form ofhuman rights violations at thehands of more than 700,000 In-dian security forces.

Tens of thousands ofKashmiris have lost their lives,

Kashmir Solidarity Day todayFrom Page 1

several thousands have gonemissing over the years, womenhave been and continue to beraped and molested by Indian Se-curity Forces. The atrocities havegiven rise to the painful reper-cussions where women, whosehusbands were forcibly pickedup by occupying forces decadesago, are condemned to live theexistence of untenable half wid-ows. He said the committedpeople of Kashmir have consis-tently been denied their funda-mental right despite the pledgegiven by the United Nations andincessant efforts of the interna-tional community. The PrimeMinister said he and the entirePakistani nation join in sharingthe grief experienced by thou-sands of Kashmiris widowed andorphaned in the Indian OccupiedKashmir.

He said he was shocked tolearn about the 6,000 unmarkedmass graves discovered in the In-dian occupied Kashmir andpointed out that it was a matter ofgrave concern for the world. Hesaluted the Kashmiris for not let-ting these atrocities deter themfrom aspiring for their legitimateright to self determination en-shrined in the UN Charter. Heurged the United Nations Secre-tary General, Members of the UNSecurity Council, and the inter-national community to play theirdue role in redressing the plightof the hapless Kashmiri people.

Nawaz Sharif reiteratedthat Pakistan is committed to ajust and peaceful resolution ofthe Jammu and Kashmir dis-pute on the basis of the UnitedNations Security CouncilResolutions. He said he firmlybelieve that only a just resolu-tion of the Kashmir issue canbring lasting peace in SouthAsia. He said that no shamelections conducted under theoccupation of 700,000 Indiansecurity forces can replace afree and impartial plebiscite.

He assured the Kashmiri

Corps include, Rahat AbbasGDMO, Zahid Hamid GDMO,Arshad Mahmood Urology,Shamrez Khan Radiologist,Naeem Naqi Classified Medi-cal and Oncology, TahirMukhtar Sayed, ClassifiedMedical, Zafar Iqbal Sheikh,Classified Dermotolgist,Venerolgy.—INP

28 BrigadiersFrom Page 1

The resolution also strongly con-demned the Indian human rights violationsin Occupied Kashmir. It called upon theinternational community to investigate theincidents of human rights violations suchas the kidnapping of Kashmiri youth in thevalley. It also called upon the Indian gov-ernment to allow the human rights organi-zations to visit the occupied valley.

The resolution said that Kashmir dis-pute is a centerpiece in Indo-Pak dialogueand it’s a resolution is imperative for du-rable peace and stability in the region. Italso called upon the United Nations tostrengthen the role of UN military observergroup. The resolution strongly denouncedthe unprovoked Indian firing on the Lineof Control and the Working Boundarywhich martyred innocent people and dam-aged properties.

Earlier, Advisor to the Prime Ministeron National Security and Foreign AffairsSartaj Aziz on Wednesday informed theNational Assembly that Pakistan desired ameaningful and resulted oriented dialogue

NA urges world to helpFrom Page 1

with India, however, the dialogue processminus the Kashmir dispute would not beacceptable.

The Advisor said that as per reports, USPresident Barack Obama during his recentvisit to India stressed the need to resumethe stalled dialogue process with Pakistan,however, he said that Pakistan had not yetreceived any positive indication in this re-gard. He went on to say that Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif during a meeting with In-dian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May27, 2014 decided that the two Foreign Sec-retaries would meet at the earliest to dis-cuss resumption of the stalled dialogue pro-cess. Following the decision the ForeignSecretaries of Pakistan and India werescheduled to meet on August 25, 2014.However, India announced cancellation ofthe scheduled meeting on August 18.

He further said that the Pakistan gov-ernment has made its position very clearand that it remains committed to a sustained,meaningful and result oriented dialoguewith India. He also said that since India

abruptly cancelled the Foreign Secretaries’meeting, the initiative for resumption of thedialogue process lies with India.

Aziz told the National Assembly dur-ing question hour that the onus of resum-ing dialogue lies with India. He said theneighboring country had unnecessarily sus-pended dialogue because of the HighCommissioner’s meeting with Kashmirleaders in New Delhi.

“However, we have not yet receivedany indication from the other side in thisregard,” Aziz added.

He said the negative propaganda aboutthe Line of Control is indicative of Indianintransigence and reluctance to the resumedialogue.Aziz added that Pakistan is work-ing with other countries to press India fortalks, as uninterrupted dialogue is necessaryfor regional peace, stability and develop-ment. Speaking about the country’s rela-tions with Afghanistan, Aziz said they wereon an “upward trajectory” and this is a newphase in relations between the two coun-tries.

Siddiqui, a member of the IHCdivision bench hearing Qadri’sappeal against death sentenceawarded by an Anti-TerrorismCourt (ATC) in October 2011,asked if a police constable wasqualified enough to decide on hisown that an individual had com-mitted blasphemy and deservedto be killed.

Justice Noor-ul-Haq NQureshi another member of thedivision bench asked Qadri’slawyers who had given MumtazQadri licence to kill the gover-nor of Punjab whom he was sup-posed to provide security. If hisexample is followed anyone cankill anybody in the country say-ing he had actually punished ablasphemer, Justice Qureshi re-marked. The court cannot allowanyone to take law in hand, hesaid.

Justice Siddiqui in his re-marks said religious mills of thecountry are producing diehardfollowers of one faith or the otherand if Qadri’s precedence is setfollowers of one faith or factionwill be free to kill the followersof the other faction. Sanctity ofhuman life has been termed su-perior even to the sanctity of theHouse of God, Justice Siddiquisaid while giving reference fromIslamic teachings. JusticeQureshi also quoted the sayingof Holy Prophet (Peace Be UponHim) that he who kills a humanbeing actually kills humanity.

In his arguments, KhwajaSharif said Mumtaz Qadri had nopersonal grudge against Gover-nor Slaman Taseer. He was un-der pressure to submit a confes-sional statement.

He alleged that the late gov-ernor indulged himself in un-Is-lamic way of living and ate porkand drank freely. Mumtaz Qadri,

A bad day for MumtazFrom Page 1

OIC canFrom Back Page

Kashmir, consisting ofAzerbaijan, Niger, Pakistan,Saudi Arabia and Turkey, meetsregularly and adopts resolutionsaffirming OIC’s continued sup-port to the Kashmiris. He notedwith appreciation the SecretaryGeneral’s emphasis on earlypeaceful resolution of the Kash-mir dispute. The Ambassadorswere told that Kashmiris hadwelcomed the recent mandategiven to OIC Independent Per-manent Human Rights Com-mission (IPHRC) to monitorhuman rights violations in IOK.

The OIC Ambassadorswhile noting the points made bythe Foreign Secretary, partici-pated in the discussion focusingon the Kashmir issue, Pakistan-India relations and other devel-opments in the region.

region, Reiner pointed out thatit was an agreement that wasactually reached a number ofyears ago. “This is simply thepolicy breakthrough that wasnecessary in order to actuallyimplement what was already anexisting agreement,” he said.“So in terms of strategic sta-bility, it’s really a continuationof something that already ex-isted and has not had a nega-tive impact.” Reiner said overthe course of the years, the UShad “made it very clear that wecan maintain robust relation-ships with both countries andthat it’s not zero-sum.”—INP

Ties with IndiaFrom Page 1

should be provided enabling environmentfor which the required law making mustbe done along with the required infrastruc-ture enabling every inhabitant at theGwadar to play his role for the unhindereddevelopment of new port city of the coun-try.

Some weeks back a Chinese delega-tion held a series of meetings with topfunctionaries of the Nawaz governmentand placed their assertion before them tothis effect.

China, that desires to invest mammothamount of $45.649 in various sectors ofeconomy, will invest $27.362 billion inthree years time in energy, transport infra-structure and rail sectors, has stepped upits efforts to complete 9 projects atGwadar to help develop the port commer-cially.

The official said that $ 622 millionprojects at Gwadar include Eastbay Ex-pressway, Gwadar International Airport,Construction of Breakwaters, Dredgingof Birthing areas and channels, infrastruc-ture of Free Zones and Export Process-ing Zones port related industries, Neces-sary Facilities of Fresh Water Treatmentand Supply, Hospital at Gwadar and Tech-nical and Vocational Institute at Gwadar.

The official said that the said projectswill be completed in three years time thatwill help Gwadar emerge as port city.“The Eastbay Expressway will be com-

pleted at the cost of $123 million that willimprove the road connectivity of Gwadaras Eastbay Expressway will connectGadawar with coastal highway. Likewise,Gwadar International Airport is beingbuilt at the cost of 77 million dollars toensure the air connectivity.”

The official said that next five yearsare very challenging to develop Gwadaras commercial port. Chinese are also go-ing to establish hospital at Gwadar at thecost of $10 million where in locals willbe provided free of cost medical treat-ments. In addition, China is also going toset up vocational training centers wherelocals will be given training for varioussectors and then they will be used as hu-man resources in various sectors ofeconomy in the port city.

The water supply will be arrangedfrom two dams close to Pasni one fromShadi dam and other from Swadi dam.

The official said that under early har-vest program in energy sector, in nextthree years time till 2017, 14 projects withcapacity to generate 10400 MW of elec-tricity at the cost of $ 15.506 billion willbe executed and operational. He said thatin road sector, KKH-II from Raikot toIslamabad and Karachi Lahore motorwaywill be constructed will be constructed atthe cost of $5.6 billion.

However, survey for route of KKH-Ifrom RaiKot to Khujrab that will ulti-

mately link up to the Kashgar is under-way. And in rail sector under early har-vest program in next three years time, theexpansion and reconstruction of existingline ML-1 and Havelian Dry Port will becompleted at the cost of $3.690 billion.Apart from the said projects, Orange Lineproject for Lahore will be completed innext three years time under early harvestprogram at the cost of $1.6 billion. Harb-e-Ruba Economic Zone will be con-structed under early harvest program.

China is helping in installation ofLNG project at Gwadar to provide LNGpipeline of 800 kilometers from Gwadarto Nawabshah at the cost of $ 3 billionunder g-to-g arrangement and when thesanctions on Iran imposed by US and EUfor its nuclear ambitions are over, thenthe same pipeline will be extended to theborder of Iran from Gwadar and thatpipeline will also be called IP (Iran-Pa-kistan) gas line.

China’s cooperation in nuclearpower generation is also unique and sofar it has helped set up Chashma nuclearpower plant (C-1) and (C-2) and is inprocess of completing C-3 and C-4 witheach having capacity of 325 MW of elec-tricity. Likewise, the China has also un-dertaken the initiative to install KarachiNuclear Power Plant (K-2) and (K-3)with each having capacity to generate1000 MW electricity.

people that the people of Paki-stan will never abandon their un-flinching support for them astheir hearts beat with ourKashmiri brethren. “I am surethat in not too distant a futurethe Kashmiris will achieve theircherished goal” he concluded.

President MamnoonHussain in his message said theright to self-determination is arevered principle of internationallaw but even after more than 67years, this fundamental right isbeing denied to the people ofJammu and Kashmir despite thefact that this right was promisedto them by United Nations in itsnumerous Resolutions. ThePresident said the Kashmirishave shown exemplary steadfast-ness in their struggle to achievetheir right to self-determination.In the course, they have gonethrough unimaginable sufferingsand have rendered countless sac-rifices.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Cancer is becoming a oneof the major public health concern inPakistan. Independent sources have high-lighted an alarming rise in the new can-cer patients across the country. The can-cers of lung, gastrointestinal tract, pros-tate and breast are commonly encoun-tered in the clinical practice.” This washighlighted in a symposium organized atthe Department of Animal Sciences,Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad.

A day-long activity was organizedby the Human Genetics Lab, Depart-ment of Animal Sciences, QAU tomark the ‘World Cancer Day’ whichcomprised a symposium, and aware-ness campaign on the campus. In theinaugural session of the symposium,Prof. Dr. Bushra Mirza, ChairpersonDepartment of Bio Chemistry, QAU

addressed the audience and highlightedthe key importance of the topic and therelevance with the academics.

Scholars and resource persons ofthe symposium including, Ms. MadihaKanwal research fellow, Chinese Acad-emy of Sciences, China, Dr. RashidaAbbasi, KRL Hospital, Dr. AmmadKhan, Department of Animal Sciences,QAU, and Dr. Ghulam Nabi Kazi,WHO, delivered thoughtful talks onvarious cutting edge discoveries in thefield of cancer treatment.

Dr. Kazi mentioned that Pakistan iscurrently experiencing a proportionalincrease in non-communicable diseases(NCDs) including cancers. He said thatin 2012, a total of 148,041 new cancercases of all types occurred in Pakistan,a significant proportion (30%) of whichwas of breast cancer cases.

“A high proportion of cancer cases

and deaths can be prevented throughappropriate planning and strengtheninghealth services for timely response andcontrol of cancer. Pakistan has cur-rently no national or provincial cancercontrol plan or program, and it is im-perative to act with speed to preventconsiderable morbidity and mortality”said Dr. Ghulam Nabi Kazi.

Dr. Ghulam Nabi Kazi also gavefollowing recommendations to controlthe cancer in Pakistan. Notifying abroad-based National Cancer ControlSteering Committee comprising ofstakeholders from all thematic areasand provinces; Developing a compre-hensive National Cancer Control Planthat clearly delineates activities, mile-stones, timeline, budget, indicators andmonitoring mechanism. Strengtheningof the tobacco control programme

Consolidation of cancer control by

increasing awareness among the generalpopulation and PHC providers; Strength-ening of radiation medicine facilitiesacross Pakistan in association with fed-eral and provincial governments & Pa-kistan Atomic Energy Commission

Tapping social security nets likeZakat, BISP and Baitul Maal in the pro-vision of diagnostic and treatment facili-ties for deserving patients.

A large number of faculty membersand students attended the symposium andtook great interest in the seminars. At thelast session of the symposium Dr. SajidMalik, symposium organizer, thanked allthe resource persons and participants.During the refreshments, the resourcepersons interacted with the audience toanswer their queries. An informationdesk was also established in front of theCentral Library and leaf-lets and broach-ers were distributed.

World Cancer Day

Symposium on recent advances in the genetics and therapeutics of cancer

Students with scholars and resource persons of the symposium including Ms.Madiha Kanwal research fellow, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, Dr.Rashida Abbasi, KRL Hospital, Dr. Ammad Khan, department of Animal Sci-ences, QAU, and Dr. Ghulam Nabi Kazi, WHO and Dr. Sajid Malik, depart-ment of Animals Sciences QAU.

he said had acted out of his loveand devotion for Islam and HolyProphet. When he came to knowabout Taseer’s blasphemousstatements, he came into action.

Khwaja Sharif during thecourse of arguments went a stepforward and hailed the assailantswho on January 17, 2015 hadkilled more than a dozen peoplein France, in the magazineCharlie Hebdo office of Paris andother French towns. They are theheroes not criminals, said Qadri’schief counsel.

The court, however, told himthere were laws regarding eatingpork or drinking publicly.Whether Qadri had approachedany court of law to file petitionagainst Salman Taseer for com-mitting blasphemy the courtasked him. Khwaja Sharif said apetition was filed in the LahoreHigh Court but it was dismissedand it was not Qadri who filedthat petition. Sharif said his cli-ent had no personal enmity withSalman Taseer.

Another retired judge ofLahore High Court Mian NazirAkhtar argued against inclusionof Section 6 of the Anti-Terror-ism Act (ATA) against his client.He said the incident had notstirred any terror and there wereno witnesses to testify the same.He further said that Section 6 ofthe ATA had been included addi-tionally. After hearing their argu-ments the court adjourned thehearing until Feb 6 (tomorrow).

Additional Advocate Gen-eral Mian Abdul Rauf repre-sented the federal governmentduring the hearing as the govern-ment could not nominate anyprosecutor in the case. He willgive arguments to defend deathsentence awarded to Qadri onFriday.

Man killsFrom Page 1

marriage proposal or a loveaffair that turned violent.

“The fathers of the shooterand the deceased girls arefriends. Also the mobile phonedata has revealed that the de-ceased Khadija (the mother)had sent a text message to hisson before or by the time of theshooting,” Umer Virk, SeniorSuperintendent of Central In-vestigation Agency said.

Virk further said that foren-sics experts would be engagedto reach to the bottom of thecase.Shocking details have itthat the shooter was not lyingin wait to ambush them at thecrime scene, but he had ratherhimself driven the women tothe market, where they hadeven shopped before they weregunned down upon their return.It implies that the killer was nota stranger to the victims.

Police have launched inves-tigation.According to eyewit-nesses, the man appeared to havea disagreement with the womenwhen he opened fire on thembefore shooting himself as well.

Bashir first shot the driverNaila beore turning to fire atKhadija and Maira, who were sit-ting at the back. He later shot him-self. Police and forensic teamssoon reached the site to collectevidences.According to initial re-ports, all four were residents ofBaghbanpura area of Lahore.

Nisar sees noshort termsolutionFrom Page 1

Hebdo ‘attack in the heart ofFrance’ to make his point. Hesaid that hundreds of terroristshave been arrested in about fivehundred intelligence-based op-erations across the country andadded that improved coordina-tion between security agenciesand the federal and provincialgovernments have helpedthwart many terrorist attacks.Taking the House into confi-dence on the investigations intoShikarpur tragedy Ch. NisarAli Khan said one terrorist usedfive to nine kg of explosivematerial in the suicide attackwhich resulted into the loss of62 precious lives and injured 53others.

He said only one criticallydamaged finger of the terroristhas been found which is lyingwith NADRA for verification.He regretted there is a sectarianrife in Shikarpur but this area hasalso emerged a hub for transpor-tation of terrorists to other areas.

The security forces arekeeping an eye on the area andenhanced its monitoring in thewake Shikarpur tragedy. Leaderof the Opposition, SyedKhurshid Ahmad Shah said thatthe opposition will continue toextend all possible support to thegovernment on the issue of na-tional security.—Online

Bangladeshexpels

From Page 1

Abdul Quader Molla for hisinvolvement in alleged warcrimes of 1971. Pakistan’s highcommissioner in Dhaka, MianAfrasiab Mehdi HashmiQureshi had been summoned toexplain the matter.

25 terrorists killed in NWA, KAFrom Page 1

Waziristan agency and Tiraah valley in Khyberagency. Seven terrorist’s hide outs were also de-stroyed in the fresh strikes”, release of the InterServices Public Relations (ISPR) said.

The security forces have been conductingoperations titled Zerb-e-Azb in North Waziristanagency for the last more than seven months andOperation Khyber in the restive Khyber agencysince October 2014. The forces in ground andaerial offensives have by now mowed downmore than 250 alleged terrorists in Khyberagency and over 1300 North Waziristan agen-cies till date. The Pak Army lead security forceshave seized scores of bomb and other explosivesmanufacturing factories of the terrorists in vari-

ous parts of the agencies during this period asthey successfully continued their advancementsagainst the trouble makers.

The military sources said a majority of thetroubled areas have been purged of the militants.Besides the security forces apprehended scoresof suspects and large number of other surren-dered before the forces pledging to honor thestate writ. The ongoing military operations Zerb-e-Azb in NWA and Khyber 1 in Khyber 1, itmay be recalled, were paced up following themilitant’s deadly attack on the Army PublicSchool Peshawar on December 16 last, wherein more than 150 people including 135 innocentschool children were brutally massacred.

Usman Mobinis new

NADRA chiefFrom Page 1

Before his promotion tothe top office, Mobin wasserving as Chief TechnologyOfficer (CTO) at NADRA.

The recipient of Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, which was con-ferred on him on August 142008, assumed the vital roleof CTO in 2002.

Educated at the presti-gious Massachusetts Instituteof Technology (MIT) USA,Mobin holds a Masters De-gree in Electrical Engineer-ing & Computer Science.—INP

US envoy for Af-Pakcalls on Afghan FM

KABUL—The deputy to US Special Envoy on Afghanistan andPakistan, Laura Myler called on Afghan Foreign MinisterSalahuddin Rabbani at his residence here and exchanged viewson matters pertaining mutual interests, Afghan media reportedon Wednesday.

According to Afghan Foreign Ministry Press Office to BNA,besides congratulating Rabbani over assuming office as ForeignMinister, the US diplomat also assured her country’s support toAfghanistan especially in the fields of security, economy andpeace process.

Expressing gratitude to the US diplomat and her companionover US contribution towards peace and reconstruction of Af-ghanistan, Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani pledged to spareno efforts in further enhancing relations between Afghanistanand the United States of America.

According to another report, the ambassador of Saudi Arabiato Afghanistan Mosafar Abdul Rahman Al-Ghasib called on theforeign minister Salahuddin Rabbani here yesterday and ex-changed views on matters relating mutual interests.—Online

Abbasordersprobe intocartoonreportRAMALLAH—Palestinianpresident Mahmud Abbas hasordered an investigation intoa drawing of ProphetMohammed (PBUH) whichappeared in a West Banknewspaper, local mediareported Wednesday. Thecartoon, which appearedSunday in Al-Hayat al-Jadida,depicted what appeared to bea giant Mohammed (PBUH)standing on top of the world,sprinkling grains of love andacceptance from a heart-shaped satchel. Palestiniannews agency Wafa quotedAbbas as deeming it“necessary to take deterrentmeasures against thoseresponsible for this terriblemistake.” —AFP

Sri LankaPresidentto visitIndiaNEW DELHI—Sri Lanka’s new PresidentMaithripala Sirisena is to visitNew Delhi later this monthon what is expected to be hisfirst foreign trip sincewinning power, India’s PrimeMinister Narendra Modiannounced on Wednesday. “Ilook forward to welcomingPresident Sirisena later thismonth,” Modi said on hisTwitter account in a goodwillmessage to Sri Lanka as theformer British colonycelebrated Independence Day.“The bonds of history, culture& shared values that weshare are unbreakable,”Modi added. There was noimmediate confirmation ofthe dates from Indianofficials but Sri Lankansources said Sirisena wasset to travel to New Delhion February 16 for a two-day visit which would alsoinclude a pilgrimage to areligious site.—AP

CEC callson PMISLAMABAD—Chief ElectionCommissioner,Justice (Retd.) SardarMuhammad Raza paid acourtesy call on Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif atthe PM Office here Wednesdayand briefed him about theworking of the Commission.The Prime Minister congratu-lated Sardar Muhammad Razafor his appointment as ChiefElection Commissioner andhoped that he would fulfil theresponsibilities as mandated bythe constitution of Pakistan.Nawaz Sharif hoped that theCEC would ensure foolproofarrangements for the conductof general elections in 2018.He assured government’swhole hearted support to theElection Commission incarrying out its duties.—INP

Rescue teams work to free people from a TransAsia Airways ATR 72-600 turboprop airplane that crashed into the KeelungRiver shortly after takeoff from Taipei Songshan airport on Wednesday.

WASHINGTON—The United Statesand Russia are once more locked inwhat could be a generation-definingconflict, and Europe is yet again thecore battleground. But this Cold Warreprise isn’t about military supremacy.

It’s about heat and electricity fortens of millions of Europeans. Thepoints on the map aren’t troop deploy-ments, tank battalions and missile si-los but pipelines, ports and powerplants.

As the Obama administration es-calates economic sanctions on Rus-sia and weighs military support toUkraine, it also has revved up a lessnoticed but far broader campaign towean Central and Eastern Europe offa deep reliance on Russian energy.Success, U.S. officials say, would

New Cold War: US, Russia fight over Europe’s energy futuremean finally “liberating” former So-viet states and satellites from decadesof economic bullying by Moscow.

To that end, Washington is help-ing set up new natural gas pipelinesand terminals in a region that dependson Russia for more than 70 percent ofits energy needs. It is pushing Ameri-can companies’ bids for nuclear plantsand fracking exploration in Europe.

Yet as the U.S. makes headway,the Kremlin is fighting back, warningneighboring governments about theconsequences of looking westward forfuel. Russia is trying to outmaneuverthe U.S. on nuclear bids, buy up pipe-line infrastructure across Europe andcontrol not only how its vast energyreserves move westward, but whatEuropean governments can do with

those supplies afterward.“It’s a chessmatch,” said Amos Hochstein, the StateDepartment’s special envoy for inter-national energy affairs, as he pored overa map of Europe dotted with existingand proposed pipeline routes. Althoughthe U.S. has pressed its European part-ners for decades to find new oil, gas,coal and nuclear sources, the crisis inUkraine has upped the ante. Russia’stakeover of Crimea last year and con-tinued support for rebels in a brutal civilwar in Ukraine has changed Europe’smindset about relying so heavily onRussian energy.

Last month, Secretary of StateJohn Kerry visited Bulgaria to push fora new gas spur and to promote anAmerican company’s bid to build anew nuclear plant. Bulgaria relies on

Russia for 85 percent of its gas and allof its nuclear power. The prices, amongthe highest for NATO countries, are aconcern within the alliance, whichprides itself on winning the Cold War.

“The battle was won,” Kerry toldstaffers at the U.S. Embassy in Sofia.“And here we are today in 2015, andRussia is still trying to impose onpeople its will.”

In November, Vice President JoeBiden visited Romania, another vul-nerable country, and Turkey, Europe’sbridge to resource-rich Central Asia,to press the case. Victoria Nuland,America’s top diplomat for Europe,and energy envoy Hochstein havespent much of the past few monthsworking with Europe on a coordinatedenergy strategy. Their message: Fail-

ure now will only invite more Russianpressure. While episodes of Russiashutting off the energy spigots to itsneighbors have raised alarms, persis-tent infighting among European gov-ernments and energy companies hashampered diversification efforts acrossthe continent.

Big countries, especially, havefound it easier to make private dealswith President Vladimir Putin’s gov-ernment. And that has done little forEurope’s most vulnerable economies,whose infrastructure is designed onlyto take in supplies from Siberia.

But, increasingly, there now is ac-tion in addition to diversity talk.

With U.S. support, Lithuania andsoon Poland will be importing lique-fied natural gas from Norway, Qatar

and potentially the United States. Newpipelines will enable Central and East-ern European countries to send fuelfrom west to east and north to south.

And in a couple of years, a south-ern corridor should be taking fuel fromthe Caspian Sea through Azerbaijan,Georgia and Turkey, and into Europe,bypassing Russia.

Those advances combined withother moving parts — a liquefied gasplant off the Croatian coast, a Bul-garia-Romania network connection,links into Serbia and Hungary, andgreater energy integration as farafield as Spain and France — willmean Europeans can increasinglytrade energy among themselves,pooling their fuel sources and weak-ening Russia’s grip.—AP

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—The OIC as abody of 57 countries with theworld’s one-fifth populationand many trillion dollars GDP,could influence India to fulfillits obligations under UN reso-lutions, de-militarize IOK andrefrain from blatant humanrights violations.

This was stated by ForeignSecretary Aizaz AhmedChaudhry while briefing Am-bassadors and High Commis-sioners from OIC countries sta-tioned in Islamabad on Kash-mir Solidarity Day being ob-served today.

Referring to the plight ofKashmiri Muslims in occupiedKashmir, he mentioned that theKashmir Solidarity Day iscommemorated by the Govern-ment and People of Pakistan,at home and abroad, to expresssolidarity with and to reiteratePakistan’s political, moral anddiplomatic support to theKashmiris in the struggle fortheir right to self-determina-tion.

The Foreign Secretary paidtribute to the huge sacrificesmade by Kashmiri Muslims inIndian Occupied Kashmir intheir struggle in the face of In-dian atrocities. He highlightedthe brutalities committed by theIndian security forces in theOccupied Kashmir to suppressthe indigenous Kashmiri move-

ment against Indian rule andquoted the staggering figures ofKashmiris killed, women wid-owed and dishonored, and chil-dren orphaned in gross humanrights violations in IOK.

Stating that no elections inIOK could be a substitute to thePlebiscite under the auspices ofthe UN, he expressed deep con-cern over the policies of thepresent Hindu nationalist BJPGovernment aimed at changingthe demographic makeup ofJammu and Kashmir by settlingnon-State subjects in IOK andturning Muslim majority thereinto a minority and dividing thepopulation on ethnic, religiousand communal lines. He

stressed that the peace inthe region would remainelusive without the resolu-tion of the Kashmir disputein accordance with the UNResolutions that call for afree and fair plebiscite todetermine the wishes of thepeople of Jammu and Kash-mir.

Briefing on the recent visitof the OIC Secretary Generalto Pakistan, the Foreign Secre-tary deeply appreciated theconsistent support of the OIC,and the Secretary General tothe Kashmir cause. Highlight-ing the efforts of OIC, he noted

FS briefs OIC envoys

OIC can influence India tofulfill obligations on Kashmir

Continued on Page 7

TAIPEI—A Taiwanese flight carrying 58 peoplebanked sharply onto its side, clipped a highwaybridge and careened into a shallow river Wednes-day shortly after taking off from Taipei, killingat least 26 people and leaving 20 missing, offi-cials said.

More than half of the passengers aboardTransAsia Airways Flight GE235 were fromChina and the death toll was expected to rise asrescue crews cleared the mostly submerged fu-selage in the Keelung River. Teams in rubberrafts clustered around the wreckage, severaldozen meters (yards) from the shore.

Dramatic video clips apparently taken fromcars were posted online and aired by broadcast-ers, showing the ATR 72 propjet as it pivotedonto its side while zooming toward a trafficbridge over the river. In one of them, the planerapidly fills the frame as its now-vertical wingscrapes over the road, hitting a vehicle beforeheading into the river.

Speculation cited in local media said thepilot may have turned sharply to follow the lineof the river to avoid crashing into a high-riseresidential area nearby, but Taiwan’s aviationauthority said it had no evidence of that.

Taiwanese broadcasters repeatedly playeda recording of the plane’s final contact with thecontrol tower in which the pilot called out “May-day” three times. The recording offered no di-

rect clues as to why the plane was in distress.It was the airline’s second French-Italian-

built ATR 72 to crash in the past year.Wednesday’s flight had taken off at 11:53 a.m.from Taipei’s downtown Sungshan Airport enroute to the outlying Taiwanese-controlledKinmen islands. The pilot issued the maydaycall shortly after takeoff, Taiwanese civil avia-tion authorities said.

TransAsia director Peter Chen said contactwith the plane was lost four minutes after take-off. He said weather conditions were suitablefor flying and the cause of the accident was un-known.

“Actually this aircraft in the accident wasthe newest model. It hadn’t been used for evena year,” he told a news conference.

Thirty-one passengers were from China,Taiwan’s tourism bureau said. Kinmen’s airportis a common link between Taipei and China’sFujian province. Taiwan’s Civil AeronauticsAdministration said 26 people were confirmeddead, 15 were rescued with injuries and 20 werestill missing.

Wu Jun-hong, a Taipei Fire Department of-ficial who was coordinating the rescue, said themissing people were either still in the fuselageor had been pulled down the river. “At the mo-ment, things don’t look too optimistic,” Wu toldreporters at the scene. —AP

Taiwanese plane with 53 passengers crashes in river, 26 dead

DHAKA—Bangladesh police Wednesday chargedopposition leader Khaleda Zia with “instigating”a firebombing of a bus that killed seven people inspiralling political unrest aimed at toppling theprime minister.

Police laid initial charges against the formertwo-time premier over Tuesday’s attack, the dead-liest incidence of violence since the month-longprotests started. “She has been named as an insti-gator of the attack. At least 56 other people werealso charged in the case,” district police chief TutulChakrabarty told AFP.

Police also arrested around a dozen protest-ers, accusing them of carrying out the attack aspart of an opposition-led nationwide transportblockade. The charges are the latest for 69-year-old Zia, whom police said last week was also un-der investigation for “abetting” and “instigating”

Khaleda charged overfirebomb deaths

other recent firebombings. There is no immediatecomment from Zia or her Bangladesh NationalistParty which has condemned Tuesday s attack anddenied its supporters were responsible.

Authorities have stepped up pressure on Zia,who has been holed up in her office since Janu-ary 3, in a bid to halt the violence. At least 54people have been killed — most victims offirebombings of buses, cars and lorries — as ac-tivists try to enforce the blockade of roads, rail-ways and waterways. Zia called the protests earlylast month to force Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinato call a fresh election. The BNP and its alliesboycotted the January 2014 poll on the groundsthey believed the result would be rigged. Secu-rity forces have launched a nationwide crack-down, arresting more than 10,000 opposition ac-tivists since the blockade began.—AFP

Bugti murder case

ATC accepts Musharraf’sexemption plea

QUETTA—An anti-terrorismcourt in Quetta on Wednesdayaccepted the application offormer military ruler Gen (retd)Pervez Musharraf with regardsto exemption from appearance incourt in a case pertaining to themurder of former Baloch nation-alist leader Nawab Akbar KhanBugti. ATC Judge Aftab AhmedLone heard the haring of thecase. During the hearing formerinterior minister Aftab Sherpaoand former provincial home min-ister Mir Shoaib Nusherwaniappeared before the court. How-ever former president PervezMusharraf once again did notappear

During the hearing the pros-ecution counsel said that everytime Pervez Musharraf files anexemption plea to pass the time.Pervez Musharraf has filed ap-plication to go to Saudi Arabia.If he can travel to Saudi Arabiawhy cant he come to Quetta. Thecourt expressed anger over theperformance of Director GeneralBalochistan Naseer Baloch withregards to his slow progress onsubmitting Musharraf’s medicalreport. On which DG HealthBalochistan said that a request

has been sent for forming a medi-cal board for the medical examof the accused. The court repri-manded that the court received aletter from Sindh got that onemember has refused to becomepart of the board., The truth isyou people have no contact witheach other. Do not put the blameon one another and settle thematter by contacting each other.

On which the country re-marked that 6 weeks time wasgiven for formation of the boardwhich is ample time. The DGHealth sought 4 weeks moirétime which was rejected by thecourt. However it approved theone day exemption plea ofPervez Musharraf It subse-quently adjourned the hearing ofthe case to Feb 25.

Advocate Sohail Rajput,counsel of Nawabzada JamilAkbar Bugti, confrontedMusharraf’s lawyer Akhtar Shahoutside the court and said that thelatter was ready to fly to SaudiArabia which required travellingfor four hours, but he was reluc-tant to travel for one hour to ar-rive in Quetta. “Musharraf isdeliberately not appearing in thecourt,” Rajput said. —Online

PR asks Imran toaccept his defeat

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minis-ter for Information and Broad-casting Senator PervaizRasheed on Wednesday saidthat Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) chairman Imran Khanshould now ‘stop crying’ and‘play role his in war againstterror in KhyberPakhatunkhwa.

In his statement in re-sponse to Imran Khan’s asser-tions, Pervaiz Rashid advisedthe PTI Chairman to accept hisdefeat as the people of thecountry had not elected him inthe general elections, added heshould accept his defeat in-stead of misleading themasses.

The information ministersaid he takes pity on Khan’s‘mental condition’, addingthat the findings of the inquirycommission are not matchingKhan’s words.

“Khan sahib does not ac-cepts the courts decisions andstages his own courtroom likehis Taliban brothers”, he re-marked.

Pervaiz Rasheed said thatPTI chief starts ‘crying rigging’wherever he faces defeat. Hesaid it turned out to be embar-rassment for Khan whicheverconstituency was probed uponhis insistence.—INP

APS tragedy

Silence observed inUNICEF meeting

NEW YORK—A moment ofsilence was observed on thefirst day of the UNICEF Ex-ecutive Board meeting at theUnited Nations in memory ofand solidarity with the victimsof December 16, 2014 terror-ists attack on a Peshawarschool.

The silence was observedon the request of AmbassadorMasood Khan, Pakistan’s Per-manent Representative to UNand President of UNICEF Ex-ecutive Board.

Presiding over the meeting,Ambassador Masood Khansaid that the dastardly attackkilled 134 children in a schoolin Peshawar traumatized ournation and the entire world andgalvanized us to take actions tosave children from savageryand brutality.

Ha said that these pre-cious children came into theworld full of potential that hasnow been taken away and thatthroughout this comingyear.—Online

GM PTDCTehsina Jahantransferred toMinistry ofEducation

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—General Man-ager Pakistan Tourism Devel-opment Corporation (PTDC),Tehsina Jahan, (BS-20) hasbeen transferred to Ministry ofEducation, Training and Stan-dards in Higher Education.

According to a notificationissued by the EstablishmentDivision services of TehsinaJahan have been placed at thedisposal of Ministry of Educa-tion on deputation.

A NEW study is the latest to link blue-light emitting devices, like laptops,phones and game consoles, to shorter

sleep in adolescents. “There are probably manypossible pathways between screen time andsleep, some of which are di-rect,” said lead author MariHysing of Uni ResearchHealth in Bergen, Norway.“The light from the screensmay directly affect our cir-cadian rhythms, and teenag-ers may be especially sensi-tive.”

As reported in the jour-nal BMJ Open, she and herco-authors analysed surveyresponses from almost10,000 teens, ages 16 to 19,in Western Norway. Morethan 90 percent of girls and80 percent of boys reportedusing a cell phone in thehour before bed, and laptopswere almost as common.Throughout the day, girlsreported an average of 5.5hours of screen time with any device - a per-sonal computer, cell phone, MP3 player, tab-let, game console or TV - and boys averagedalmost seven hours per day. A large proportionof those hours were spent chatting online. Boysand girls spent an average of half an hour eachday on emails.

Boys averaged almost an hour on consolevideo games and more than an hour on PCgames. Using any device in the hour beforebed was associated with a 13 to 52 percent in-crease in the likelihood of needing more than60 minutes to fall asleep, the researchers found.More than four daytime hours of screen timewas associated with a similar increase in risk

of “sleep latency,” or taking a long time tofall asleep.

Screen time was also linked to an in-creased risk of a sleep deficit of at least twohours, meaning the kids said they needed two

more hours of sleep than theywere actually getting. The teenstended to use many devices atonce, so it was hard to comparethem and see if certain deviceswere more strongly linked tosleep quality, Hysing said. Sev-eral studies recently haveshowed that the more fre-quently young people use thesemedia devices, the greater thechance their sleep will be dis-turbed, said Michael Gradisar,a clinical psychologist andsleep researcher at FlindersUniversity in Adelaide, SouthAustralia.

“This study by Hysing andcolleagues was eye-openingbecause they showed thatscreen use above the recom-mended two hours per day was

associated with sleep durations well belowthe norm, and in the range we see linked withpoor school performance, emotional distur-bances, and in some cases suicidal ideation,”Gradisar, who was not part of the new study,told Reuters Health by email. “There is nowmuch evidence, including this study, to sug-gest that screen time has a direct effect onsleep,” Hysing told Reuters Health by email.But, Hysing said, it could also be that “somefamilies who do not have fixed bedtimes fortheir teenagers are the same who do not limitscreen time.” Also, she said. “We know thatdepressed teenagers often sleep less, and thismight also be related to screen time use.”

Screen time maydamage teens’ sleep

Member of Punjab Assembly Lubna Rehan Pirzada, Naheed Manzoor and Waqar Ahmadlooking at the paintings displayed during an exhibition in connection with Kashmir Soli-darity Day at RAC.

Ambassador of European Union Lars Gunnar Wigemark speaks during a seminar on “Deepening of Pakistan-EU Rela-tions-Post Afghan withdrawal” organized by SDPI in Islamabad. Mome Saleem, Former Ambassador to Balgium MunawarSaeed Bhatti, Shakeel Ramay and Malik Sohail Hussain are also seen sitting on the stage.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—There has been huge progress and re-search in the treatment of cancer disease. The modernresearch and treatment options have helped in controland management of cancer said Dr Ansar Pervaiz Chair-man Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission while ad-dressing a seminar on the occasion of World CancerDay organized by NORI hospital.

He noted that there was a big increase in cancerpatients of various types in our country which is alarm-ing. Mr Aizaz Ahmed Choudhary Foreign Secretarysaid there are very few cancer treating hospitals andcenters in Pakistan. This number should be increasedfor urgent and better treatment of cancer patients.

Dr. JavedIrfan Director NORI Hospital said onthis occasion that awareness campaign should be heldon national level to create awareness among the masses,about cancer and its effects on public health. Dr.Muhammad Faheem said on this occasion that thepurpose of this seminar is to remove the myths aboutcancer and its treatment and demonstrate the impor-tance of timely diagnosis and management. Dr. JamalNasir, Barrister Abid Waheed Sheikh MD PakistanBait-ul-Mal, Mr. Zumard Khan Ex-MD Pakistan Bait-ul-mal, Dr. Humaira Mehmood, Dr. Fayyaz AhmedDirector Medical services, Dr. Riaz Ahmed Sheikh,Brig. Shahid Rasool, Dr. Ahsan Mehmood, Expert On-cologist Medical Students and cancer survivors attendedthe seminar.

Dr. Ansar Pervaiz Chairman Pakistan Atomic En-ergy Commission and Mr Aizaz Ahmed ChoudharyFederal foreign secretary distributed shields among theparticipants. Dr. Humaira Mehmood Chief Organizerof the function thanked all the participants.

In the second phase of the programme, a aware-ness walk was held at NORI Hospital Dr. Ansar Pervaiz,MrAizaz Ahmed Choudhary, Dr. Jamal Nasir, Barris-ter AbidWaheed Sheikh, Mr. Zumard Khan, Dr. Javed

Irfan, Dr. Muhammad Faheem, Dr. HumairaMehmood,Dr. Fayyaz Ahmed and other dignitariesparticipated in this walk.

Meanwhile, the Programme of Action for CancerTherapy (imPACT) mission of the International AtomicEnergy Agency (IAEA) has proposed to Pakistan, aroadmap for cancer care and control. The Agency hasurged Pakistan to adopt multi-disciplinary approach

and set up National Cancer Control Committee; to de-velop a National Cancer Control Plan (NCCP). Therecommendations of the IAEA are currently restingwith CA&DD, which received advice regarding areasof cooperation by the IAEA in December 2014, a yearafter the first review mission of imPACT team visited

Pakistan.The Medical Directorate of the Pakistan Atomic

Energy Commission (PAEC), which is running 18purpose-built cancer hospitals in the country, was thecatalytic factor to earn IAEA support,” Dr. Minhaj-us-Siraj, the focal person for cancer control at CA&DDsaid. Dr. Minhaj said the foremost requirement of apopulation-based cancer registry for data collection has

been addressed, and the Pakistan Medical ResearchCouncil (PMRC) has embarked on the project at localhospitals in Islamabad under CA&DD and with sup-port from the Norwegian government, through theIAEA initiative. “Work has been started on conductinga feasibility study for cancer registration system in

Islamabad.” With reference to cancer control plan-ning, the IAEA has called for the establishment of amulti-disciplinary National Cancer Control Steering/Advisory Committee with representatives from all ar-eas of cancer.

The IAEA has recommended that all cancer regis-tries should aim to produce and provide quality inci-dence and mortality data on a regular basis with theintention that the same will be published by the Inter-national Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The IAEA has called for effective implementationof the existing tobacco control ordinance; strengthen-ing of the ‘Tobacco Smoke-free Capital’ and its repli-cation in the provinces; and implementation of sus-tained health education programmes on the harmfuleffects of tobacco use in schools and among the gen-eral public. The agency proposed that “tobacco taxa-tion should be substantially increased so that the ex-cise taxation on finished tobacco products reaches above80% of the retail price. A proportion of the increasedtobacco tax revenue should be allocated to support can-cer prevention, early detection and treatment services,”the recommendations add. Alcohol control, healthydietary habits, and regular physical activity are alsorecommended.

The IAEA also called for measures to raise publicawareness on breast, cervical and oral cancer; and tostrengthen education on cancer signs and symptomsamong first-line healthcare providers in Primary CareUnits (PCUs). It proposed increasing the number ofbreast clinics in tertiary hospitals and PCUs.

The world organization advised Pakistan to con-sider restructuring processes for the delivery of com-prehensive cancer diagnosis and treatment by integrat-ing and consolidating cancer care services at the popu-lation level. This process should also involve the pri-vate sector to optimise the cancer care services.

The IAEA noted that Pakistan needed to installneeded diagnostic and therapeutic (radiology and

nuclear medicine) equipment at major comprehensivecancer care centres; and to enhance training of nuclearmedicine physicians, pathologists, medical physicists,nuclear medicine technologists, intervention radiolo-gists and radiation oncologists for diagnosis and treat-ment of cancer. There was also need for developinghome-based care, the training of health professionalsand access to adequate levels of morphine and/or anal-gesic drugs free of charge. All cancer hospitals shouldestablish a palliative care unit and provide palliativecare services to cancer patients,” the IAEA recom-mends. Pakistan roughly has only one qualified can-cer treatment specialist doctor for a population of 0.5million. One assistant professor (oncology), two medi-cal officers, and 12 hospital beds at the Pakistan Insti-tute of Medical Sciences (PIMS) constitute the totaldedicated capacity of federal government hospitals tofight cancer. The key cancer control stakeholders atthe federal and provincial levels are firmly convincedof the urgent need for state-level planning, coordina-tion and implementation mechanisms for cancer con-trol, the reality on ground shows reverse scenario.

Pakistan needs to develop organized population-based screening programme for either breast, cervicalor oral cancers, while only limited opportunistic cervi-cal cancer screening and tests, mainly Pap smear, areavailable. Visual inspection with acetic acid (VIA) andHPV testing is scarcely performed. Public awarenesscampaigns in schools and through televisionprogrammes have been initiated by physicians, NGOsand some private organisations on a voluntary basis.Furthermore, there is limited cancer awareness amonghealthcare workers as well.

PAEC is aware of all what is needed to fightcancer and is committed to taking steps in the rghtdirection. Chairman PAEC Dr. Ansar Pervaiz hasbeen taking personal interest to ensure provision oflatest gadgets and trained staff at the nuclear medi-cal hospitals in the country.

NORI observes World Cancer Day

PAEC keeps pace with latest cancer researchChairman highlights anti-cancer measures

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—An alliance of privateschools ‘Pakistan Alliance of Indepen-dent Schools’ (PAIS) has been set up toresolve issues of private schools includ-ing security concerns. This was an-nounced at the launch of the PAIS, aninitiative of Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahihere the other day. The launch witnessedparticipation from various members ofprivate school associations.

PAIS will provide opportunity to the

stakeholders to interact and engage in dis-cussions to identify optimal solutions ofthe challenges being faced. The initiativeis a result of collaboration among Idara-e-Taleem-o-Aagahi and School Assess-ment for School Improvement (SASI),Institute of Professional Learning (IPL).

A country-wide Alliance of Privateschool Associations was proposed tobridge gap among the association oper-ating at different levels. According to apress release, PAIS aims to enable inde-pendent associations operating at the na-

tional, provincial and local level to tackletheir problems faced by private schools.

PAIS is also a national level plat-form for private, trust and communityschools to discuss views and prioritizeon educational challenges so that col-lective efforts with government can beput forward for achieving the nation’sover-arching objective of Education forAll. Rafique Tahir, Joint EducationalAdvisor Ministry of Federal and Pro-fessional Training, termed the initiativea game changer and expressed his hope

that platform would do good for im-proving the quality of education in thecountry. “It would resolve the problemsof private schools,” he said.

The PAIS website link(www.pais.sasi.org.pk) will be put onthe ministry’s website as well, he said.Beela Raza Jamil, founder ITA said ITAand partners were committed to provid-ing quality education to every citizenof Pakistan and efforts would be madeto improve the standard of education inthe private schools.

Alliance for independent schoolsto tackle security, other issues

Dr. Ansar Pervaiz, Chairman, Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, Aizaz Ahmed ChoudharyForeign Secretary, Dr. Jamal Nasir, Barrister Abid Waheed Sheikh and others are leading awalk in connection with World Cancer Day organized by NORI hospital.

PM lauds roleof PAF in

Zarb-e-AzbSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif says the govern-ment will continue providingfunds for the capacity building ofPakistan Air Force (PAF).

He was talking to Chief ofAir Staff Air Chief MarshalTahir Rafiq Butt who called onPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif inIslamabad on Wednesday.Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif ina meeting with Chief of Air StaffAir Chief Marshal Tahir RafiqButt on Wednesday said that thegovernment will continue pro-viding funds for the capacitybuilding of the Pakistan AirForce (PAF). While discussingthe professional matters of thePAF, the PM said that the airforce needed to assess and meetthe current demands and chal-lenges of the situation in thecountry.

The PM also lauded the meri-torious role and contribution of thePAF during Operation Zarb-e-Azab and implementation of theNational Action Plan (NAP)against terrorism.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—International Islamic Universityhas launched a portal on the university website withthe title “IIUI Hostel” to facilitate the students ofthe varsity. IIU hostels management launched thislink on university website where informatory ma-terial has also been uploaded.

According to a press release, a seat renewalform has been uploaded on the varsity websitewhich can be downloaded for the spring se-mester 2015. The link also contains informa-tory and introductory material and requisiteprescribed Performa to facilitate the studentsand boarders instead of collecting informationby visiting offices.

IIU web portal to guide hostel seekers

EU ready to help Pakistan counter terror, boost trade

Ambassador gives sound recipe forregion’s economic uplift

ZUBAIR QURESHI

Islamabad—Lars Gunner Wigemark, Am-bassador of European Union, Wednesday saidPakistan should move forward after Peshawarschool tragedy and eye bigger goals likeregion’s economic uplift and normalization ofrelations with neighbours. He was addressinga seminar on “Deepening of Pakistan-EU re-lations: post Afghan withdrawal” organisedby Sustainable Development Policy Institutehere Wednesday. He said the European Unionwe would like to do more in terms of counter-terrorism and sharing intelligence. Pakistanshould be champion of regional integrationjust like six European states that had done alot in case of EU.

The ambassador said that India should notpress panic button at this stage as everyoneacknowledge India’s role being played intrade. He welcomed Pak-China economiccorridor as long it involves others also. Hehoped relations with Iran will also improve

one day. The ambassador said that EU was aunion of 21 democracies which arose fromashes of World War-II.

“We support democracies in the world ineducation and health sectors in particular,” hesaid. “Although it was not flawless modelyet still Europeans are trying to pool resourcesfor an integrated region which seeks the coun-tries to secede some of their sovereign rights.”He said actions undertaken in promoting sov-ereignty have impact on neighbors. He saidthat EU welcomes improvement in Pak-Af-ghan ties as it was important for the both coun-tries. He highlighted importance of transittrade agreement for SAARC countries. Hesaid that we not only promote trade with re-gions but also within region and referred tohis country Sweden’s trade with Norway andItaly asking Pakistan to explore trade vistaswith its neighboring India.

He said that EU will work in poor areasin the smaller provinces and south Punjab tocombat militancy in Pakistan. He supported

local elections as the MPs should not indulgein local issues. EU is the largest donor as wellas trade partner of Pakistan. He said that acountry considering to trade with EU shouldimplement the conditionality’s of EU espe-cially those related to human rights. He saidthat death penalty does not help in ameliorat-ing the ties between EU and Pakistan. FormerAmbassador to Balgium, Munawar SaeedBhatti said that EU countries had been centreof economic and cultural activities like a modelfor us. He said that Pak-EU relationship islong term, friendly and closer than that withmany other countries. Malick Sohail HussainChairman Coordination, FPCCI, said thatGSP Plus status shows the confidence of theworld community in Pak exports. MomeSaleem said scholarship scheme was very pro-ductive which made students knowledge pro-ducers and not knowledge managers. Ambas-sador Shafqat Kakakhel, Chair BoG, SDPIsaid the EU was a spectator example of su-pranational integration.

MUZAFFARABAD: AJK Assembly Speaker Sardar Ghulam Sadiq Khan reviewing arrangement for joint session of AJK Assembly and Kashmir Council.

KARACHI: Students holding Kashmir Solidarity rally outside Press Club on Wednesday. APP Photo

RAJNI SHALEEN CHOPRA

NARENDRA Modi is the man whom everybody in India either loves or hates. In Kashmir, those who hate him are in absolute ma-

jority. Those who love him can metaphorically becounted on one hand. Yet, Kashmir’s fate is goingto be inexorably linked with man of the moment incoming years. Jammu’s landslide verdict in favourof Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) gave the saffronparty a clear chance to be part of the power struc-ture in the state. News reports emerging from Kash-mir and from Delhi confirm that BJP will occupythe power corridors of the state.

Given that a PDP-BJP government seems in-evitable now, the fate-lines of Kashmir and Modiare going to run together for the next few years.Modi will have to be extremely cautious that thesedo not turn into fault-lines. Kashmir will be thePrime Minister’s litmus test. Modi’s battle cry forthe Delhi polls is exactly what Jammu and Kash-mir needs. In New Delhi, Modi’s promise is: BJPgovernment in Delhi will fear Modi and perform.

This is what Kashmir needs too, that the BJPgovernment in the state fears Modi, and performs.Now that PDP and BJP are going to share the trea-sury benches in J&K, Modi must take 100 per cent

Kashmir will be Modi’s litmus test

Comments

Hameed Shaheen

ISLAMABAD—Barrister Sultan MahmoodChaudhry, an ex-premier of AJK, has finallydecided to switch over his poliical loyalties tohave now the flag of Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf(PTI-AJK) flutter at the frontal bonnet of hiscar. Certainly, spurnning his longtime associa-tion with PPP-AJK, he must have felt a pinch,butthe situation in which he had fallen rightly forcedhim to embrace PTI and its boss Mr Imran Khan.His joining announcement expected today.

Barrister Sahib has not been at ease with theincumbent PPP governance in the liberated terri-tory; of and on he rained raps on the performanceof the AJK govt; He has had additional laurel tohis cap; from among the ex-premiers he is thefirst one who visited Occupied Kashmir; he ad-dressed the Srinagar Bar Association there, a rareoccasion for any political figure from AJK.

What forced the former premier to cross theparty portal to jump into the bandwagon of PTIis the reportedly non-chalant attitude of the sit-

Sultan joining PTIis big jolt to govt

ting government; despite a senior part of PPP,he was not in; always felt himself out of thepolitical fate-making ring; workers loyal to himwere also critical about his being ineffective.

These reasons finally forced the Barrister tohold the rein of AJK PTI whose boss, Mr ImramKhan, has proved a master-builder of youth forte.Almost every political group in the country isimpressed by this aspect of Mr Khan’s.PoliticsSome express openly, others in their drawingrooms; It is not an early estimate that at least sixsitting members of the AJK assembly may bejoing the Barrister in crossing the bar. In that casethe sitting Muzaffarabad government shall haveto bear the brunt and dents too.

In-between all these activities there is an-other likely development to emerge along thepolitical race line. Seeing the situation balloon-ing to new sites, Sardar Attique Ahmed Khan,ex-premier and now president of All Jammu andnKashmir Muslim Conference may strike afriendship cord with the Barrister. Already thereexists a futuristic understanding between them,although none of the duo has expressed it openly.

RAO ATIQ UL AMIN KHAN/SYED ALI RAZA NAQVI

MIRPUR/MUZAFFARABAD—Peopleand the Government of Azad Jammu &Kashmir as well as all social, politicaland human rights organizations acrossthe liberated territory are all set to markKashmir Solidarity Day today.

“Kashmir Solidarity Day is one ofthe occasions of significance in Kash-mir which is abserved every year to re-iterate complete solidarity with thepeople of Jammu & Kashmir in theirjust and principled struggle for freedomand to achieve their globally acknowl-edged right to self determination”, saidRaja Azhar Iqbal, the AJK governmentspokesperson and Director Public Re-lations (DPR) AJK here Wednesday.

Special prayers will be offered inall the mosques across the state for thosewho were martyred during this freedomstruggle as well as for the early successof the Kashmir cause. To pay homageto the martyrs one minute silence will

AK observes Kashmirsolidarity day

be observed at 10 am with the sound ofsirens and all traffic would be stopped.AJ&K television, all three radio stationsand FM would broadcast special trans-mission and special messages of thePresident and Prime Minister of AJ&K.

The spokesperson continued thatthe Kashmir Solidarity is the day ofexceptional significance in the life ofKashmir which is known as the land ofbeauty. He said that the day is beingcelebrated by the Pakistani nation andthe government with full enthused.

Raja Azher Iqbal said Pakistan al-ways considers Kashmir as the coreissue, between India and Pakistan. Thisremains a flash point between the twoneighbors and has also led to three warsbetween them. The world leaders havealready stressed the need to peacefullyresolve the Kashmir dispute betweenIndia and Pakistan to avert any eventu-ality that may cause a catastrophe in theregion, he underlined.

Meanwhile, with the coordinationof Cultural Academy of AJ&K and

AJ&K Council, a Kashmir culturalshow featuring, Artisan at Work, an ex-hibition of Kashmiris handicrafts, na-tional songs, tableaux, display of pub-licity material and puppet show arelikely to be held at Lok Virsa to depictthe stories on issues related to Kash-mir. Indian brutality would also be high-lighted through photographs andKashmiri songs.

Human chain would be made on allsix bridges linking Pakistan to AzadJammu & Kashmir including at Kohala,Azad Pattan, Gari Habib Ullah, Holar,Bhimbher and and Mangla in whichPeople of Pakistan and AJK would joinhands to express solidarity with thepeople of Jammu & Kashmir.MWM to hold Kashmir seminar:Majlis e Wahdat ul Muslimeen (MWM)Azad Kashmir chapter will observeKashmir Solidarity day all over thecountry with traditional zeal and withthe resolve to continue political andmoral support to the Kashmiris freedommovement till they achieve their goal.

According to a statement issued bythe spokesman of the MWM, variousseminars, protest walks and Kashmirconferences would be organized by theorganization. The central seminar incapital city Muzaffarabad would be heldon Thursday (today) on “Kashmir Is-sue and our Responsibilities” in theWahdat Secretariat.

The refugees of Indian occupiedKashmir have been specially invitedin the seminar which would be ad-dressed by the representatives of vari-ous political, social and religious par-ties. Secretary Political Affairs ofMWM Azad Kashmir, Tassawar AbbasMosvi, has said that MWM would ob-serve the day to express full solidaritywith the oppressed Kashmiri people.He said that MWM always stood upfor the oppressed segments of the so-ciety at national and international level.“We saluted the leadership of Kash-mir and its people on their courage tofight for their legal right of self deter-mination”, Mosvi added.

SRINAGAR—The World Bank (WB)Wednesday started its detailed assessmentof losses caused to infrastructure in Jammuand Kashmir during the last year’s devas-tating flood, ahead of taking a final callon extending financial support to the State.

“We will be assessing the damages inall sectors including housing, public infra-structure, industry and others,” senior Di-saster Management Specialist, WorldBank, SaurabhDhani, told Greater Kash-mir.

A 20-member team of the WB led byDhani, which arrived in J&K on Monday,would be visiting different flood affecteddistricts to survey the damage and makeneed assessment for post disaster recov-ery during their five day stay.

While four WB teams would takestock of the devastation in different dis-tricts of Kashmir, three other teams wouldbe visiting the affected districts of Jammu.Dhani said a team each in Kashmir todayvisited north and south of Valley while an-other team took stock of damage to healthand education sectors in Srinagar. The WBteams also visited affected districts ofJammu today.

The summer capital Srinagar wasworst hit by the flood that hit Kashmirduring the first week of September 2014,causing colossal loss to lives and propertyincluding residential houses. The health

WB begins IHK flood damage surveyand education sectors suffered massivedamage in the Valley.

“We will be preparing a joint reportabout the damage in consultation with stategovernment authorities,” said Dhani.

To a question whether the report wouldform basis for the WB to extend its finan-cial support to J&K, Dhani said: “It is upto J&K government and Government ofIndia to take the report forward.”

A senior official said once the teamcompletes the loss assessment, it wouldgive them an overview on how the StateGovernment could be provided the finan-cial support. “The draft report would besubmitted to Government of India afterwhich deliberations would be held betweenthe Centre and the World Bank authoritiesto finalize the financial assistance to stateGovernment,” the official said.

The World Bank got a go-ahead fromGovernment of India for their interven-tion to help rebuild the State’s infrastruc-ture which was massively damaged in theflood—described by the State govern-ment as a “disaster of international mag-nitude”.On October 21, 2014, the Union Ministryof Finance had led a team of the WB andAsian Development Bank to J&K for un-dertaking preliminary assessment of thepost food situation. The team comprisingWorld Bank’s India Head, OnnoRuhl, and

ADB’s India Director, M Teresa Kho, tookstock of the situation in flood hit areas ofSrinagar.

At least 2.40 lakh structures includingresidential houses were damaged in floodin Kashmir. As per the government esti-mates, the deluge caused a damage of Rsone lakh crore in housing, industry andpublic sectors.

After the deluge the state governmentsought Rs 44000 crores financial assis-tance from Government of India to extendmonetary assistance to people to rebuildtheir houses and reconstructing the dam-aged infrastructure in public sector. How-ever New Delhi has so far been non-com-mittal on the proposal.

On Monday, soon after its arrival inthe State, the WB team held sectoral dis-cussions with different administrative sec-retaries.

An official spokesman said the teamassured J&K government of its “full sup-port and assistance” in rehabilitation offlood victims and restoration of infrastruc-ture.

The World Bank provides financialassistance to any state through Govern-ment of India in the form of loans.In 2013, the World Bank and Asian De-velopment Bank agreed to provide $400million loan to Uttarakhand for reconstruc-tion and rehabilitation purposes.—GK

SRINAGAR—The rightwing BJP has said for-mal talks with Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)will be held after Rajya Sabha polls in the Stateon February 7. “BJP leadership is busy with RSpolls strategy. It is not possible to have any for-mal talks with PDP at this stage,” BJP’s newly-elected MLA and national executive member,Dr Nirmal Singh told Rising Kashmir.

BJP and PDP are involved in informal talkson government formation in the State after dec-laration of Assembly election results on Decem-ber 23. The election results have thrown hungAssembly with PDP emerging with single larg-est party with 28 seats and BJP close secondwith 25 seats.“At this point of time, there is no possibility ofhaving talks with PDP on government forma-tion as we are busy in RS polls,” Singh said.

PDP, BJP formal talks after Feb 7He said the party will definitely begin for-

mal talks with PDP after elections to four RSseats in the State on February 7. BJP and PDPhave entered into seat sharing agreement for RSpolls in the State with each party contesting twoseats. On contentious issues – AFSPA and Ar-ticle 370, the BJP leader said the saffron partyand PDP have not yet found a common groundon these two key issues.

“Both BJP and PDP are trying to sort outthe contentious issues on which both parties havedifferent stand,” he said adding “Governmentwould have been formed in December had therebeen no continuous issues between the two par-ties”. Sources said Article 370 and AFSPA areturning out to be biggest challenge for the par-ties and both are waiting to see who shows flex-ibility first on its stand.—RK

FAISAL KHAWER BUTT

SIALKOT—The Ameer Jamat Islami AzadJammu Kshmir Abdul Rasheed Turabi has urgedupon the rulers to raise strong voice at the inter-national level against the Indian atrocitiesagainst Kashmiri muslims in Occupied Jammuand Kashmir.

He said this while addressing an All PartiesConference on Monday night here. Former MPAArshad Mehmud Baggu Advocate, the DeputyGeneral Secretary Pakistan Tehrik e Insaf , ex-MLA Azad Kashmir Sahibzada Hamid Raza,District Ameer Jamat Islami Sh Atique ur

Govt should raise Kashmirissue forcefully: AJK-JI

Rehman, District President JUI Mufti Arif, DrNajeeb Ahmed Hashmi, Mian Usman Javed,Qazafi Butt and others were also present on theoccasion.

Abdul Rasheed Turabi further said that theUS intentions to support India in becomingpermanent member of the Security Councilof UN, was like rubbing salt on the woundsof the Kashmiri muslims of Occupied Kash-mir. He said that Pakistani rulers should adoptsome solid policy over Kashmir Issue with fullconsultation of the leadership of theKashmiris, and sincerely try to break thenexus of India and US.

responsibility that his party walks the right coursein the state, keeping the faith of the electorate.

Equally, Modi must take total responsibility thatthe regressive right-wing groups do not unleash theircommunal poison neither in Jammu nor in Kashmir– and not elsewhere in India. All across India, thereis immediate need for Modi to rein in these right-wing organizations before they further tarnish India’simage. In the politically volatile Jammu and Kash-mir, any mischief by them will spell doom for thestate, and by extension for the country.

Why must Modi take 100 percent responsibil-ity that his party walks the right course in Jammuand Kashmir, and the right-wing hyper Hindugroups are kept at bay? Because Modi’s promisesalways begin with ‘Mein’. Modi has consciouslyand deliberately embodied the Government of In-dia in his own person. He seeks votes in his name,he promises development and corruption-free gov-ernance in his name. The vote in Jammu swung forModi, not for the individual candidate fighting withthe lotus symbol on his lapel.

The saffron party is a source of major concernin Jammu and Kashmir today. For the Kashmiris,and for all Muslims residing in other regions of thestate, ‘BJP is Modi and Modi is BJP’. It is a clear,unambiguous equation. All the fears that Kashmir

has vis-à-vis BJP today are not directed at a face-less entity. They are directed at Modi.

In all his dialogue with Kashmir till date, Modihas been remarkably astute. He did not play to anyethnic or emotional considerations. He focused onlyon the development constituency, seeking to enlargeit, and bringing it at par with the benefits availableto aspirational India. Modi may come for the swear-ing in of the government in Jammu and Kashmir.That will further seal his unique relationship withthis troubled state. It is Modi’s sole responsibilityto ensure that there is no slight to the pride anddignity of Jammu and Kashmir. He must person-ally monitor that the fruits of peace and democracyflow to the state.

US President Barack Obama’s parting shot toIndia has become indelibly etched on the minds ofall Indians who care for the country: India will suc-ceed so long as it is not splintered along lines ofreligious faith.

The RSS, the Bajrang Dal, the Vishwa HinduParishad and all other hyper-nationalist Hindugroups claim to speak on behalf of the majority.The truth is – they do not. The large majority ofHindus feel disconnected from the hard posturingof these bigoted groups.

The nationalism of these fanatic Hindus is ac-

tually a heft for power. They feel emboldened nowthat the BJP is ruling at the centre. These fanaticsare looking at cornering positions of glory in newIndia. They do not care for the development agendaof the government. From Obama’s potent reminderto India to be true to its foundational values, thesaffron groups learnt nothing. RSS ideologueRakesh Sinha told news channels that Obama hadarticulated the concern of Christian evangelists en-gaged in conversions in India.

While the extreme posturing of the Hindugroups is alarming, one has to concede that distrustof the ‘other’ has maligned the roots of our socialfabric. Apoorvanand, a prolific writer who teachesHindi at Delhi University, recently noted: There isa widespread feeling that India would have achieveda much neater and cleaner self-identity as a nation,save for Gandhi’s insistence on equal status forMuslims and Christians living in a nation of Hindumajority. Gandhi is blamed for the confused Indianidentity, or for making it ‘unclean’.

How far will India go, if it moves with suchdiseased concepts of ‘neat’ and clean’? The notionof ethnic supremacy has always poisoned man’smind. Obama admitted that his country is no utopiaeither. No society, he said, is immune to the darkestimpulses of man. But these outdated notions of eth-

nic dominance have no place in a modern, pluralistworld. These dead beliefs will push India furthertowards the bottom rung of nations.

It is for Modi to tell all rabid hate-mongers thatnew India has no place for them. The modern worlddoes not have a single theocratic nation that can belabeled as a successful state. Modi has consistentlyprojected India as a modern, progressive nation.Indeed it is so. And to keep it on this path, Modimust ensure that India does not become an akharafor the show-jumping of the Sangh Parivar and allthe self-styled supporters of BJP.

Among Hindus, faith in Modi remains high.Former diplomat Shankar Bajpai gives a voice towhat millions of Indians today believe – that how-soever you might feel about Modi’s government, ithas given us the hope that it can revive the country.It is Narendra Modi’s duty to his motherland thatMuslims and all minorities feel the same way abouthis government. Bigotry, intolerance and goondaismhave no place in this idea of India. A feeling of alien-ation among the diverse minorities living on thisland will not serve India well.

—Courtesy: Rising Kashmir[Author is a senior journalist and Director at

Lehar—a NGO. She can be mailed atrajnishaleen@gmail.com]

“The businessmanis only tolerable so

long as his gainscan be held to bear

some relation towhat, roughly andin some sense, his

activities havecontributed to

society.”

¯John Maynard Keynes

LPG price reduced byRs10 per KgLAHORE—The market-ing companies onWednesday furtherreduced price of lique-fied petroleum gas (LPG)by 10 rupees perkilogram. According toLPG dealers, prices ofdomestic cylinder havebeen decreased byRs110 and commercialcylinder by Rs480. Theprice has been decreasedin the local market afterreduction in the interna-tional market. So far, LPGprice has been cut byRs100 during last sixweeks. The new prices ofLPG will be effectivefrom today Wednesdaythroughout country.—INP

Shipping activityat Port QasimKARACHI—Four shipscarrying containers,diesel oil and edible oilberthed at QasimInternational ContainerTerminal, project cargoand furnace oil alsoarrived at the outeranchorage of Port Qasimduring the last 24 hours,port sources saidWednesday. Berthoccupancy was only45% at the port onWednesday where fiveships namely MSMandraki, RDO Con-cord, Fowairet, Al SalamII and Polaris arecurrently occupyingberths to load/ offloadcontainers, diesel oil andedible oil respectively. Acargo volume of 73541tonnes comprising 42482tonnes imports and31059 tonnes exportsinclusive ofcontainerised cargocarried in 2621 contain-ers (TEUs) were handledat the port during thelast 24 hours.—APP

LSE gain 2.41pointsLAHORE—Lahore StockExchange here Wednes-day witnessed bullishtrend by gaining 2.41points as the LSE Index-25 opened with 6231.82points and closed at6234.23 points. Themarket’s overall situa-tion, however, did notcorrespond to an upwardtrend as it remained at2.314 million shares toclose against previousturnover of 2.390 millionshares, showing adownward slide of 76,300shares. While, out of thetotal 99 active scrips 27moved up, 16 shedvalues and 56 remainedequal. The top threeMajor Gainers of the daywere Honda Atlas Cars(Pak) Limited, PakistanState Oil CompanyLimited and PakistanPetroleum Limited byrecording increase intheir per share value byRs 8.75, Rs 8.05 and Rs3.50 respectively. MuslimCommercial BankLimited, Hascol Petro-leum Limited and EngroCorporation Limited wereamong top three, whichlost their per share valueby Rs 8.50, Rs 1.60 andRs 1.15 respectively. Topthree Volume Leaders ofthe day included NIBBank Limited with836,500 shares, The Bankof Punjab Limited with316,000 shares and FaujiFertilizer Bin QasimLimited with 221,000shares.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Securities and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan (SECP) in exerciseof powers conferred under Section 40B,read with Section 20(6)(b) and 20(6)(g) ofthe SECP Act 1997, directed Karachi StockExchange (KSE) to allow KASB SecuritiesLimited (KSL) trading facilities in the readymarket here on Wednesday. This decisionhas been taken on the recommendation ofKarachi Stock Exchange (KSE), accordingto statement issued by SECP. The SECP hadstopped the trading facilities of KASB Se-curities Limited (KSL) at the KSE and Paki-stan Mercantile Exchange Ltd (PMEX) inNovember 18, 2014.

However, the SECP has instructed KSEto ensure following restriction as preemp-tive measures while opening KSL trading

KARACHI—Cement sector has shown moreresilience than other sectors of economyas it posted healthy growth in despatchesof over six percent during the first sevenmonths of current fiscal year that ended on31st January. Cement despatches from July2014 to January 2015 increased by 6.18 per-cent to 20.022 million tons compared withdespatches of 18.857 million tons duringthe corresponding period of last fiscal year.

“The most pleasant aspect of thisgrowth is that it is led by domestic con-sumption which increased by 9.45 percentduring this period” a spokesman of All Pa-kistan Cement Manufacturers Association(APCMA) said here on Wednesday. Fur-ther analyzing the despatches, factorieslocated in north showed robust growth indomestic consumption as they despatched12.948 million tons of cement in local mar-

ISLAMABAD: Special Assistant to Prime Minister and Chairman Board of InvestmentDr. Miftah Ismail meeting with Ms. Martine Dorance, Ambassador of France.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif addressing Stockholders Consulta-tive Conference on Coal/R-LNG based power generation project.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—All roads to lead towards ExpoPakistan 2015 when the mega event beingparticipating all major economies of theworld including US, China, Germany, Rus-sia and India besides other major countriesopen at Karachi Expo Center on Feb 26. Itmay be noted that Trade Development Au-thority of Pakistan-TDAP has organized the9th edition of Expo Pakistan 2015 going tobe held from February 26th- March 1st, 2015at Expo Center- Karachi.

In Expo Pakistan 2015, Numbers of re-nowned brands have confirmed their loca-tion. Almost 92% space has been reservedin all six halls & some key brands which areparticipating include Pakistan Software Ex-port Board- Services., Pakistan NationalShipping Corporation- PNSC, Export Pro-cessing Zone Authority, Matco Rice, Sea-son Food, Garibsons Pvt Ltd, Bake Parlor,Fashion Pakistan Council, Al-karam, ShabirTextile, Bonanza Garments, Al-Hamra fab-rics, SM Denim, Pak Denim, Siddiqsons,Ahsan Exports etc

Most of the Associations have re-served the bare space in bulk in differenthalls of Expo like Pakistan Software exportBoard, Sindh Board of Investment, Paki-stan Carpet manufacturer exporter Asso-ciation, All Pakistan Fruits & VegetableAssociation, Engineering Development

All set for grand openingof Expo Pakistan 2015

Board, Japan External Trade Organization-JETRO, Surgical Instruments Manufac-turer Association of Pakistan, FashionPakistan Council, All Pakistan gems Mer-chant & Jewelers association, PakistanSports Goods Association, PakistanGloves manufacturer Association, Towelmanufacturer Association All PakistanBed-sheets & Upholstery

The 432 Exhibitors have reserved thespace in the said fair from Textile, Agro food,Engineering, Home décor, Handicrafts,Chemicals, Leather, Surgical, Sports Goods,Services, Minerals & metals, gems & Jew-elry, footwear, Pharmaceuticals, ReadymadeGarments/Hosiery etc. This year many re-nowned brands like Anway Germany (US$12billion), Metro AG- Germany (US$ 2bil-lion), ZottGMBH- Germany (US$ 1.2billion),Hungary Co- China (US$ 1billion), Kobebussan- Japan (US$ 1.8billion), RohtoPharma- Japan (US$ 1.5billion), Naris Cos-metics- Japan (US$ 230million), Circul Co:S/A- Brazil (US$ 8billion), Mr. Tie- Brazil(US$ 4billion) etc are coming to visit ExpoPakistan 2015.

All the committees are working on dif-ferent assignments related to Expo Pakistan2015 & this year TDAP has made some in-novations in it like “PM innovation Exporttrophy, Student Competition, participationof service sector, delegation from Vietnamfor the 1st time etc”.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan TelecommunicationCompany Limited (PTCL), country’s lead-ing ICT services provider, has launched anew range of devices and data packagesfor its high-speed CharJi EVO wirelessbroadband customers. The new CharJi EVOdevices offers superior userexperience with high speedinternet and flexibility to cus-tomers through economicalmonthly packages and re-duced upfront device cost.

Adnan Shahid, Chief Com-mercial Officer PTCL said,“PTCL firmly believes that high quality wire-less broadband is a catalyst for socio-eco-nomic growth of the country and that it shouldbe accessible to everyone at affordable prices.This high speed, broad reach wireless con-nectivity by PTCL opens up a serious set offuture possibilities for both business and en-tertainment markets, transforming the waypeople access internet.”

The offer includes introduction ofCharJi Wingle device as well as new CharJiCloud device. All the devices are availableat affordable monthly packages rangingfrom as low as Rs. 1800 per month for 20GBto Rs 6000 for unlimited volumes. The de-

PTCL unveils new range ofCharJi EVO devices

vices are now available in both pre and postpaid packages and come with additionaldata buckets available at Rs. 500 per 5GB.

Omer Khalid, Executive Vice President(EVP), Wireless Business PTCL said,“CharJi EVO is the largest and most ad-vanced wireless broadband network inthe country and with the new devices,

we aim to provide high-speed connectivity, createvalue and empower our cus-tomers to achieve more.PTCL was the first companyin Pakistan to offer Mifi de-vices (Wingle & Cloud) toits customers, as early as

2011. The company has more than onemillion wireless broadband subscriberson these devices across the country.”

CharJi Cloud is now available for Rs.3,500 only, while the upfront cost of newCharJi Wingle is Rs 2500. Both the devicesconnect 10 WiFi enabled devices simulta-neously and also provide MicroSD Cardsharing over the web. Customers can sim-ply access the SD card by typing in an IPaddress in their web browser to remotelyaccess storage on their devices. PTCLCharJi EVO provides wireless internetspeeds of up to 36 Mbps, enabling cus-tomers’ to access high-bandwidth content.

SECP allows KSL restrictedtrading at KSE

facilities. In the ready market, the KSL canexecute buy order against at least 50% cashdeposit and sell orders against at least 50%pre-existing holding in CDS sub-accountsmaintained with KSL. In order to complywith these restrictions, KSL would be re-quired to deposit 50% cash, if net-payableand deliver 50% securities on Trade Date.

Moreover, trades executed on behalf ofthe non-broker clearing member (NBCM)clients’ shall be affirmed not later than onehour before closure of market. KSL may alsobe allowed to trade in the Deliverable Fu-tures Market only on behalf of its clientsand no proprietary exposure will be allowedin this segment. KSL shall submit to KSEweekly reconciliation of clients’ cash bal-ances as per back office record with thedesignated clients’ accounts available intheir banks.

Collection ofadditional

revenues tohelp govt: FBR

ISLAMABAD—Spokesmanof FBR Shahid Hussain hassaid that collection of addi-tional 12 percent of rev-enues was being utilized toprovide better infrastructurefacilities to the masses. Talk-ing media, Shahid Hussainsaid that economic indepen-dence was linked with poli-tics; therefore revenue gen-eration was a significant fac-tor for independent policiesof the government.

He said the governmentwas endeavouring to expandtax net as data of 2.4 millionpeople who have assets orfrequently travelling abroadwas collected and noticeshave been issued to 240000people. He said that more andmore revenue generationhelps the government inworking out people-friendlypolicies. He said an aware-ness campaign was also inprogress to expand the taxnet hoping that revenues willbe boosted up within theyears to come.—APP

Profiteers finedKARACHI—Karachi divi-sional and district adminis-tration challaned 56 shop-keepers and fine ofRs.109,500 were imposed forovercharging and violatingofficially approved price listof essential commoditieswhile two were sent to jailfor continuous profiteering,said Commissioner KarachiShoaib Ahmed Siddiqui.

According to a statementissued, the on-going crack-down against profiteeringand adulteration was carriedout in Liaquatabad, Gulberg,Nazimabad, NorthNazimabad, New Karachi,Murad Memon, ModelColony, Shah Faisal, Saddar,Aram Bagh, Civil Line, Gar-den, Harbor, JamshaidQwarter, Gulzar Hijri, OrangiTown, Baldia Town, Landhi,South, Central, East, West,Malir and Korangi. The Com-missioner added that duringthe crackdown 22 milk sellers,two fruit vendors, 16 veg-etable merchants, 15 essen-tial items sellers and a chickenseller were challaned.—APP

Cement sector showsnotable domestic growth

kets from July 2014 to January 2015 against11.703 million tons during same period oflast fiscal year depicting growth of 10.63percent. The South based factories regis-tered growth of 3.76 percent in domesticdespatches from July 2014 to January 2015as their local sales recorded in this periodwere 2.537 million tons against 2.444 mil-lion tons during same period last year.

In exports however, the North basedmills registered decline of 11.49 percent asexports were restricted to 2.782 million tonsin first seven months of this fiscal against3.143 million tons during July 2013 to Janu-ary 2014. South based factories were ableto increase cement exports during firstseven months of current fiscal year by12.18 percent to 1.756 million tons from1.565 Million Tons in corresponding pe-riod of last fiscal year.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The shareholders of JahangirSiddiqui & Co. Ltd. (JSCL) the flagship com-pany of JS Group, in their ExtraordinaryGeneral Meeting held in head office haveunanimously approved to invest up-to Rs.1.669 billion in BankIslami Pakistan Limited(BIPL).

The Board of Directors of BankIslamiPakistan Limited have approved to issueordinary shares of Rs. 10/- each by way ofrights to its members to raise the paid upcapital of Bank by Rs. 4.320 billion. JahangirSiddiqui & Co. Ltd. being one of the spon-

JSCL to invest Rs. 1.669b in BIPLsors of the Bank with an existingshareholding of 21.26 percent will investup-to Rs. 1.669 billion in the aforesaid rightissue of the Bank.

Jahangir Siddiqui & Co. Ltd. is prima-rily an investment company in financial ser-vices and also makes long-term investmentsin growing companies in Pakistan. As ofSeptember 30, 2014, the shareholders eq-uity stood at Rs. 18.809 billion with an in-vestment portfolio size of Rs. 19.661 billion.The Company also enjoys long term creditrating of AA (Double A) and short-termcredit rating of A1+ (A one Plus) assignedto it by Pakistan Credit Rating Agency.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Minister for Labor and Human Resource Raja AshfaqSarwar has said while appreciating the role of German Institute, GIZin implementation of social standards support program in the textileand garment industry in Punjab, that the way GIZ is involving all thestakeholders in various interventions under the project, like consul-tation workshops, would go a long way for capacity building ofstakeholders.

He said that while addressing a workshop arranged by GIZ toenhance capacity building by strengthening social standardsamong stakeholders at IRI Centre Township, Lahore. Project Di-rector GIZ Ms Rominia, ILS experts Ms Maria, representative ofFES Abdul Qadir, Secretary Labour Punjab Ishrat Ali, Joint Sec-retary Overseas Pakistan Sheikh Asif, DG Labour WelfareMuhammad Saleem Hussain, Dr. Javed Gill, representative ofEmployers and Employees federations also attended the work-shop. Highlighting the initiatives of the Government of Punjab,he said that government has ensured to make it compliant toInternational Labour Standards (ILS) especially under the GSPPlus regime.

While giving details of the initiatives, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar

Minister lauds GIZ role in implementation of social standardssaid that government has ensured constitution of Islamic Re-public of Pakistan guarantees rights of workers, all 8 core labourrights conventions of the ILO have been ratified by the Gov-ernment of Pakistan, respective legislations and enforcementmechanism are in place, a Cabinet Committee on GSP plus hasbeen constituted by the Punjab Government to overseas imple-mentation of social standards in the industry, Legislative Re-forms are in process to make the laws of bonded labour andchild labour more compliant to the ILO Convention, ProvincialCommittee on child labour and bonded labour has been consti-tuted to address these issues effectively, a Provincial Plan ofAction to Combat Bonded Labour has been submitted to theGovernment for approval, District Vigilance Committees to moni-tor the implementation of Bonded Labour System (Abolition)Act, 1992 are addressing the complaints of the bonded labour,a development Project at a cost of Rs. 5 billion has been launchedto make the Province free from bonded and child labour as wellas imparting of skill training to the child and adolescent work-ers, online submission of inspection reports of factories underthe project of “Computerization of Labour Inspection System”,a number of initiatives, like, provision of day-care centers inthe industrial and commercial establishments, inclusion of lady

workers in the Governing Bodies of PESSI and WWB and in-clusion of lady workers in the unions have been initiated tobring women workers in the mainstream, a new law named as“Punjab Restriction of Employment of Children Act” is beingframed to replace the existing laws to make it more compliant tointernational commitments showing that we firmly believe inour well known motto “a child employed is a future destroyed”in the true sense.

He ensured the participants that the Government of Punjabis committed to resolve labour issues confronted to the work-ers at the workplace and believes in industrial peace and har-mony. The project partners of this programme are Labour &Human Resource Department, Government of Punjab, Ministryof Textile, Government of Pakistan, Trade Development Au-thority, Government of Pakistan Small & Medium EnterprisesDevelopment Authority, Government of Pakistan, Ministry ofOverseas Pakistanis & Human Resource Development Depart-ment, Government of Pakistan, International Labour Organiza-tion (ILO), Employers’ Federation of Pakistan (EFP), PakistanWorkers’ Federation (PWF), Pakistan Readymade GarmentsManufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) and AllPakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA).

Lucky Cementconducts

cleaning ofcoral reefsSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Lucky Cementconducted its second an-nual campaign – a globalmovement by ProjectAware of Australia. LuckyCement sponsored scubadivers associated with theProfessional Associationof Diving Instructors(PADI) to clean the oceanbed at Charna Island, asoft coral reef offKarachiCoast. Further-more, the scuba divers andLucky Cement team iden-tified and documented de-tails about the underwatercontamination in a largereffort to reduce marine de-bris, and side by side raiseawareness among themasses to preserve themarine eco-system.

Marine debris is a ma-jor contamination problemaffecting all waterways andis amongst the most wide-spread but preventableproblems plaguing oceansand damaging the marinelife. In a recent study, con-ducted by University ofPlymouth- UK, more than250,000 tons of plastic litterthe ocean’s surface.

Ufone launchesvideo messaging

serviceSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Ufone forthe first time in Pakistanhas launched its videomessaging service thatwill allow users with 3Gand video call enabledsmartphones to send andreceive Video SMS. Ac-cording to this latest in-novative service, userswill be able to send a videomessage via making avideo call. This servicefunctions through asimple mechanism; oncethe user dials 44 before thedesired number, he/she isrouted to a video portalwhere menu is presentedto user to record the videomessage which is thensent to the desired num-ber. User will be chargedRe.1+Tax/min to send theVideo Message. The de-sired number to whom thevideo message is to besent can be both Ufone aswell as any other TelecomOperator in Pakistan.

The other party wouldthen receive the messageready to be played. How-ever, in case he/she doesnot receive the call ordoes not have a video callenabled smartphone, anSMS containing a URLwill be sent that can laterbe used to view the videomessage. Ufone users canalso access the video mes-sage by making a videocall by dialling 44 beforetheir own mobile number.It can also be dialled torecord a video that can besent in the form of a mes-sage after the submissionof user at the receivingend.

“In an era of techno-logical advance, Ufonemaintains a competitiveedge by introducing newproduct and service offer-ings to its valuable cus-tomer base. With the fa-cility of video messagingwe will be able to furtherpenetrate into the market.

Currency Selling Buying

USA 101.00 100.80

UK 151.92 152.22

Euro 114.59 114.37

Canada 80.28 80.12

Switzerland 109.01 108.80

Australia 77.42 77.27

Sweden 12.18 12.15

Japan 0.8605 0.8588

Norway 13.24 13.22

Singapore 74.74 74.59

Denmark 15.39 15.36

Saudi Arabia 26.91 26.86

Hong Kong 13.02 13.00

Kuwait 342.69 342.01

Malaysia 27.82 27.66

Newzealand 72.81 72.66

Qatar 27.74 27.68

UAE 27.50 27.44

Kr Won 0.0918 0.0916

Thailand 3.095 3.089

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The State Bank of Pakistanhas decided to amend its instructions re-lating to renewal of licence of ExchangeCompanies (ECs) and henceforth licensesof exchange companies shall be renewedfor five years from the date of expiry ofthe license. According to a statement is-sued by the Central Bank on Wednesday,in this Circular attention of ExchangeCompanies is invited to instructions con-tained in FE Circular No. 02 dated April20, 2012 in terms of which duration of li-cense of exchange companies was linkedwith the inspection rating of the respec-

SBP revises exchange companiescriteria for licence renewal

tive exchange company.SBP decided that henceforth licenses

of exchange companies shall be renewedfor five years from the date of expiry of thelicense. However, license shall be renewedafter giving due consideration, inter alia, toSBP inspection report, compliance status,corporate governance and financial healthof the exchange company.

The request for renewal of the licensemust reach SBP at least 60 days before ex-piry of the license. All other terms and con-ditions on the subject shall remain un-changed, said FE Circular No. 01 of 2015issued to the Chief Executives of all Ex-change Companies.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The President Lasbela Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)Yakoob H Karim has welcomed the cut inthe export refinance rate to 6 per cent from7.5% by th State Bank of Pakistan. He saidthat LCCI appreciates the kind gesture ofGovernor SBP as he quickly responded tothe demand of LCCI in this regard andhoped that this move would accelerate ex-ports to some level. Yakoob said that it wasa step in the right direction and the entireexport sector has hailed this decision. LCCIChief said that the decrease in cost of bankborrowing would reflect positively oncountry’s exports in term of competitive-ness. Above all, the business communitywould now settle their bank liabilities andget the relief.

The decision has come at a time when

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Senior agricultural scientistshere on Wednesday stressed the need forpromoting vermicompost production in thecountry to enhance organic agriculture pro-duce, reduce health hazards besides earn-ing foreign exchange by exporting the com-modity. They were speaking at a functionorganized in the honour of senior scien-tists of Association of Former PARC Scien-tists (AFPS) here. The Function was chairedby founder Chairman PARC, Dr. AmirMuhammed whereas Pakistan AgriculturalResearch Council (PARC) Chairman, Dr.Iftikhar Ahmad and other scientists of theorganization were also present on the oc-casion.

In his detailed presentation, Senior Sci-entist, Abdul Aziz Khan said that theneighbouring countries including India,Bangladesh and Sri Lanka were exportingvermicompost and have been earning for-eign exchange. “We in Pakistan have greatpotential to produce vermicompsot not onlyto cater to the local needs but also for ex-port purposes,” he remarked. He stressed

TEVTA, JICAsign agreement

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—TEVTA with thecollaboration of JICA (Ja-pan) will upgrade its Me-chanical Technology De-partments for 3 years Di-ploma of Associate Engi-neer (DAE) at 12 Govt. Col-leges of Technology acrossthe province of the Punjab.This up-gradation will pro-vide skilled training to themanpower according to theinternational level. In thisregard, TEVTA has signedan MoU with JICA here onWednesday at TEVTA Sec-retariat.

Chairperson TEVTAIrfan Qaiser Shaikh andJICA Team Leader TakafumiUeda signed the MoU.Chief Operating OfficerTEVTA Jawad AhmedQureshi, Team members ofJICA Hidekazu Tanemura,Ms. Ayako Ishiwata, AkiraTakagi and other officerswere also present on theoccasion. According toMoU, JICA will providetechnical assistance for thestate of the art MechanicalTechnology in Govt. Col-leges of Technology atFaisalabad, Gujranwala,Jhelum, Gujrat, Layyah,Multan, Sangla Hill,Sahiwal, Sargodha, Sialkot,Bahawalpur and Govt. StaffTraining CollegeFaisalabad.

On this occasion, Chair-person TEVTA Irfan QaiserShaikh while addressing theparticipants said that thisMoU is a forward step afterestablishing center of excel-lence at Govt. College ofTechnology Railway RoadLahore by JICA. Thisproject is in line with theChief Minister Punjab’s vi-sion to impart demand driventechnical and vocationaltraining to the youth of theprovince of the Punjab.

Scientists stress promotingvermicompost production

the need for encouraging vermicompostproduction at commercial level which couldprove to be a viable and profitable busi-ness with very low inputs.

Mr. Aziz Khan was of the view that lackof earthworm have created many healthhazards besides causing damage to the soilfertility, so the promotion of this culturewould benefit the country in many ways.He said that the worms have been provedto be helpful in curing many diseases in-cluding bladder stones, jaundice, rheuma-tism, toothaches, measles, fever, impotencyand even heart problems. He, however de-plored that very little research has beendone in this area, so there is need to pro-mote research activities in this regard topromote healthy food and reduce healthrisks. He said that Karachi was the idealplace to start the vermicompost productionadding that dung of cows and buffalo aswell as droppings of sheep could be uti-lized for this purpose. Appreciating theidea, Dr. Amir Muhammed said that the sci-entists should work on the pilot project toexplore the potential and conduct furtherresearch in this line.

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for TextileIndustry Abbas Khan Afridi on Wednes-day, said that economic cooperation shouldbe promoted as economic ties and tradedefined international relations. In a meet-ing with Ambassador of Belarus, Ministersaid that it was the need of the hour to havestrong diplomatic ties with Belarus. Accom-panied by economic counsellor KonstantinB.Rzheussky, the Belarusian envoy con-veyed warm greetings and wishes of theleadership to the Textile Minister.

Afridi said that Pakistan’s textile indus-try was quite vibrant, endowed with a com-plete cotton value chain and inherent po-

Trade defines internationalrelations, says Afridi

tential for value addition. The envoy ex-pressed keen interest in cotton and acrylicfibers and informed the minister thatBelarusian head of state would soon visitPakistan.

In the meeting, both sides expressedtheir strong desire to enhance cordial rela-tionships, expand bilateral trade, encour-age people to people contact andstrengthen mutual partnership. The envoyexpressed his immense interest in textilesof Pakistan. Minister assured the Belarusianambassador that ministry would extend allout support to reach out to the quality tex-tile produce of Pakistan. To furtherstrengthen the relationship, it was agreedto hold regular meetings.

OBSERVER REPORT

LA H O R E—Chairman APTMA S MTanveer has condemned the Sales TaxDepartment of the FBR for launchingmalicious campaign against the textileindustry, saying that all such tacticswould damage the business environ-ment in the long run. Referring to a ma-licious campaign of releasing frivolousinformation along with specific namesof textile mills in leading newspapersby the Directorate of Investigation, hesaid Minister Finance Ishaq Dar shouldtake stock of the situation and take theresponsible ones to the task immedi-ately.

He said the fraud committed by atrader cannot be attributed to the wholeindustry, especially when the spinningmills have thrice satisfied the Sales TaxDepartment on strict observance of therequirements of SRO 1125 and SRO 283(I) 2011.

The department cannot hold the in-dustry responsible for the wrongdoingof a trader who has sold the duly pur-chased material to an unregisteredbuyer, he added.

APTMA condemns maliciousdrive of ST department

According to him, the Sales Tax De-partment has always found it easy tomalign the organised corporate sectorwhile deliberately ignoring the fact thatthe spinning mills have always ensuredthat the buyers’ name is present on theactive taxpayer list, all payments aremade through banking channel and ap-plicable tax has been paid duly.

He apprehended that the Sales TaxDepartment was hiding its inefficienciesand inabilities to check the unregisteredbuyers by printing the names of soundcorporate entities for merely a fraud ofRs 7.6 million against the transactionof Rs 762 million.

He said the industry circles are ofthe firm view that the Sales Tax Depart-ment has initiated the malicious cam-paign against the corporate sector onlyafter the industry demanded early re-lease of stuck up Rs 42 billion refunds.

Chairman APTMA has urged the Chair-man FBR to stop the Directorate of SalesTax Department to pass on frivolous in-formation to media and make sure that onlythe FBR spokesman be allowed to releaseinformation regarding taxpayers throughofficial media.

Biz community hails cutin export refinance rate

exports to Europe were facing difficultyowing to declining exchange rate of the euroagainst Pakistani rupee. However, reduc-tion of up to 1.5pc in mark-up rate wouldhelp exporters of leather goods to properlynegotiate with European buyers for theupcoming summer and autumn season, par-ticularly when they were already demand-ing reduction in prices. He however saidthat he had demanded o the SBP to reducerefinance rate to at least 5.5 per cent and afurther reduction would be needed to drawreal benefit of the scheme for enhancingexports.

In support of his demand. He said thereshould be further cut in export refinancerate, which is presently 29pc less than thediscount rate. He further hoped that exportfinance rate to the minimum level would alsohelp exporter to utilize GSP Plus schemeoffered by European Union.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The UnitedStates Agency for Interna-tional Development(USAID) and the Universityof Veterinary and AnimalScience (UVAS) Lahore at ameeting Wednesday dis-cussed enhancing theirpartnership in various areasof common interest andagreed to sign two MoUs toestablish a Center for Ap-plied Policy Research inLivestock (CAPRIL) andinitiate more training pro-grams in dairy sector for therural youth.

The meeting was at-tended by USAID ProvincialDirector Miles F Toder, Direc-tor East Asia ChemonicsShuan O’Niel, Chief of PartyUSAID Dairy Project Jack

USAID, UVAS agree to set uppolicy research centre

Moser, USAID AgricultureEconomist Asad Ullah Khan,Chief of Party USAID- PEEPMuhammad Junaid, AsadZahoor, Sajjad Mughal whileVice-Chancellor Prof Dr TalatNaseer Pasha, Deans Prof DrSarwar Khan and Prof DrNasim Ahmad, Prof DrMansoor-ud-Din Ahmed, ProfDr Aneela Durrani, Dr AyubRana and Dr Amanullah rep-resented the UVAS.

The meeting discussedthe modalities of their partner-ship and collaboration. Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Talat NaseerPasha told the meeting that theCenter for Applied Policy Re-search in Livestock (CAPRIL)aims to conduct evidence-based research for supportingpolicy and legislative reformsto spur private sector-ledgrowth and investment in live-

stock and dairy sectors ofPunjab. He said the center en-visions embedding policy re-search discipline in the on-going academic programs ofthe university, culminatinginto an exclusive postgradu-ate degree program on live-stock policy and business re-search.

The Vice-Chancellor alsobriefed the delegation on theacademic, research, exten-sion, training activities andVision 2025 Program of theUVAS. He said that UVAS isalready in collaboration withUSAID in training and certi-fication of manpower underits dairy project. He said theUVAS has developed link-ages with many Americanuniversities and runningjoint research and extensionprojects.

PCGA seeksRG increase

on cotton yarnimport

LAHORE—Pakistan CottonGinners Association(PCGA) has demanded ofthe government to increasethe regulatory duty (RG) onthe import of cotton yarn orcotton lint by 15 percent onemergency basis to savethe ginning industry of Pa-kistan from ruination and toprotect the interests of thegrowers. PCGA urged uponthe government to take ef-fective measures to protectthe cotton economy whichprovides jobs to million ofpeople.

This step would help insaving the precious foreignexchange and would alsostrengthen the growers, gin-ners and textile millers. Ad-dressing a joint press con-ference Haji Hafeez Anwar,Chairman of PCGA, HajiMuhammad MuhammadAkram chairman of GinnersGroup, Shehzad Ali Khan,Suhail Mehmood Haral,Sheikh Aasim Saeed andHaji Riaz Hussain Siddiquidemanded that SRO regard-ing the elimination of salestax on the oil-cake (Khal) beissued forthwith.

They said that protec-tion of interests of stake-holders was the responsibil-ity of the state and the gov-ernment should emphasison strengthening the agri-cultural economy because itwas the need of the hour.They said that cotton stake-holders in India had sug-gested to their governmentto increase the regulatoryduty on the import of cot-ton lint or cotton yarn fromfive to 15 percent. IndianGovernment would surelyaccept their proposal. Theywarned that India wouldsucceed in introducing itsproducts in European Unionif government does not takeeffective measures. Theysaid that Pakistani textilemillers could not get benefitfrom the status of GSP plus.They said that farmers couldnot get even their investedmoney this year due to thelowest price of raw-cotton.

Furthermore, Indianyarns, both coarse and fine,are finding their way into ourmarket because the domes-tic downstream or value-added textile sector finds itmore remunerative to usecheaper imported yarns.Moreover, Pakistani yarnexports to China, a very largemarket, have dwindled be-cause Indian yarn exports toChina have risen sizeable.

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Belarus, Andrei G. Ermolovich called on Federal Minis-ter for Textile Industry, Abass Khan Afridi.

LAHORE: Chairperson TEVTA, Irfan Qaiser Shaikh and JICA team leader, TakafumiUeda signing the MoU to provide technical assistance to TEVTA Institutes. Jawad AhmedQureshi and other officials of both organizations are also seen in present.

ISLAMABAD: Dr. Amir Muhammed, founding Chairman PARC presiding over a meet-ing of association of former PARC Scientists. Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad, Chairman PARC,Zafar Hasan Raza, Member Finance, Dr. Shahid Masood, Members Dr. Ahmad BakhshMaer, DG (P&DD), Dr. Waqar Malik, Ex-Member (SS), Abdul Aziz Khan, Ex-pso andother senior officers of PARC/AFPS are present in the meeting at PARC HQs.

LAHORE: Mazhar-ud-Deen, General Manager Retail Shell Pakistan Limited with histeam at the inauguration ceremony of Ameer Super Filling Station in Johar Town.

CAMBRIDGE: Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney fights for the ball against Cambridge’s Greg Taylor during theirEnglish FA Cup fourth-round replay soccer match at Old Trafford Stadium.

FAISALABAD: A view of match of 2nd Lyallpur National Tchoukball Championship forWomen 2015 played between Faisalabad and DG Khan teams at Sports Complex of UAF.

LAHORE: Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Khaleeq ur Rehman with winning team of Govt College University Inter-Depart-mental Cricket Tournament.

KARACHI—Babar Masih and Tmbail Gulassured their place in the last 16 stage of inthe Jubilee Insurance 40th NationalSnooker Championship after they won theirfourth match in a row on Wednesday.

Babar Masih from Rawalpindi droppedthe second frames before beating Punjabprovince-mate Muhammad Faheem 4-1.

However Rambail Gul from KhyberPakhunkhwa (KPK) recovered after drop-ping the first two frames to beat formernational champion Shahid Aftab 4-3.

Day 4 results: Muhammad NoumanIqbal (Isb) walkover Mehmood Khan (Bal),Amir Tariq (Pjb) bt Aamir Shehzad (KPK)4-3 (32-48, 44-70, 77-31, 24-62, 51-41, 59-08,64-39), Yasir Nadeem (Isb) bt AbdulRaheem (Pjb) 4-3 (52-73, 70-13, 50-62, 46-50, 74-48, 75-50, 96-06), Babar Masih (Pjb)bt Muhammad Faheem (Pjb) 4-1 (72-0, 38-70, 62-37, 62-11, 59-48), Zulfiqar A.Qadir(Sindh) bt Shahid Aftab (Pjb) 4-0 (104-31,72-14, 94-31, 67-20), Muhammad Ishtaiq(Sindh) bt Ahsan Javaid (Pjb) 4-0 (86-40,76-52, 66-16, 60-28), Muhammad Uzair Aziz(Sindh) bt Saqib Butt (Pjb) 4-2 (70-58, 07-82, 54-15, 20-66, 55-38, 66-24) Shah Khan(KPK) bt Saeed Ahmed (Bal) 4-1 (62-07, 21-57, 67-52, 53-16, 50-20), Sarbuland Khan(KPK) bt Nauman Awan (Kpk) 4-2 (35-58,60-03, 66-47, 105-20, 14-65, 63-34),Muhammad Bilal (Kpk) bt Bahadur Khan4-0 (69-28, 76-23, 77-09, 72-28) ShahramChangezi (Isb) bt Gul Afzal (Isb) 4-1 (67-40,101-14, 67-22, 23-75, 67-35), SultanMuhammad (Sindh) bt Sharjeel Mehmood(Kpk) 4-0 (73-45, 121-14, 91-05, 75-08),Muhammad Faizan (Sindh) bt SohailShehzad (Sindh) 4-2 (84-12, 97-02, 44-51,72-23, 20-72, 66-22), Rambail Gul (Kpk) btShahid Aftab (Pjb) 4-3 (28-72, 43-80, 87-52,08-61, 57-23, 61-47, 67-0), Hamza Akbar (Pjb)bt Muhammad Ijaz (Pjb) 4-1 (90-11, 51-86,

LAHORE—Manager of Pakistan cyclingteam, Moazzam Ali Khan has said that par-ticipation in the Asian Cycling champion-ship being held in Thailand will add to theconfidence and experience of the riders.

“We are far behind at international levelcompare to the other Asian countries butour team’s participation is a step forward toenhance the experience and technique ofthe cyclists who are eager to learn finerpoints of the game”, he told APP here onWednesday.

The team comprises four male riders in-cluding Namat Ali, Zeeshan Ali, Habib Ullahfrom (SSGC), Sajid Muhammad (PAK Army)and two female cyclists Rahila Bano(WAPDA) and Rajia Shabbir (SSGC). AkhtarNawaz Gunjira, Director General, PakistanSports Board will be the chef de missionand Muhammad Ishtiaq Mubeen is the As-sistant manager and Mehmood Aslam willact as mechanic of the team. The Asian pre-mier cycling activity will take place atNakhon Ratchasima , 200 kilometres fromBangkok from February 10-14.

Moazzam , a former international cyclistand a winner of number of internationalmedals, was of the view that there is direneed to ensure the participation of nationalcyclists in high profile international cyclingevents on regular basis.

KARACHI—Former Test opener SadiqMuhammad and left arm spinner IqbalQasim were deeply disappointed withPakistan’s dismal display during theshort trip to New Zealand ahead ofthe Cricket World Cup (CWC).

“It was disappointing performancein all areas of the game like batting,bowling, fielding and keeping,” SadiqMuhammad told APP while recordinghis reaction after Pakistan’s massive119-run loss in the second One-DayInternational on Tuesday.

“We have lost all the four gamesin New Zealand which has raised a lotof questions about Pakistan’s pros-pects in World Cup,” he commented.

After losing both games againstNew Zealand Board President’s XIin Lincoln, Pakistan suffered sevenwickets defeat in Wellington andwent down in the second ODI inNapier.

Sadiq Muhammad, who repre-sented Pakistan in the 1975, 1979World Cups in England, said four de-feats in a row in New Zealand has cre-ated a lots of problems.

He called upon Pakistan to quicklysolve team’s problems and regroup for

Sadiq, Iqbal disappointed withPak bleak show ahead of CWC

the mega event.However at the same time Sadiq

Muhammad expressed his optimismthat the team will progress in thequarterfinals despite its present prob-lems.

“We got such history as at timeswe saw dismal performances. But ourteam is capable of coming back,” styl-ish left handed opener of his era SadiqMuhammad said.

He said like always we may seesome upsets in the World Cup but thereal test of teams will start from lasteight knock-out rounds.

Former Chief selector Iqbal Qasimsaid Pakistan team management in-cluding chief coach Waqar Younis,bowling coach Mushtaq Ahmed andbatting coach Grant Flower quicklysolve Pakistan team’s bowling prob-lems.

He said Pakistan’s below par bowl-ing was fully exposed and pace duoof Bilawal Bhatti and Ehsan Adil putthe team under pressure by conced-ing too many runs.

“Our bowling was exposed andmassive total by the Black Caps puttoo much pressure on our batting line-

up,” Bangalore hero said.“What our batsmen can do when

chasing massive scores like 370. Ourbowlers badly let us down and thereshould be quick action to resolveteam’s bowling problems,” hestressed.

He hoped that Pakistan’s coach-ing staff will sit together and discussit and specially resolve team’s bowl-ing problems.

Iqbal Qasim was also surprised fornot fielding young legspinner YasirShah in any match in New Zealand.

“Pakistan must use Yasir Shah inwarm-up matches to see his perfor-mances in a different environmentsand pitches,” he said.

He said Yasir Shah produced somegood performances in United ArabEmirates and deserved to be in thePakistan’s final XI.

Iqbal Qasim was of the view that ifquick remedial steps are not taken, Pa-kistan will be facing a lots of problemsin the World Cup starting on Febru-ary 14.

Pakistan will be clashing old ad-versary India in their crunch match atAdelaide Oval on February 15.—APP

Babar, Rambail sail in last 16round of National Snooker

73-49, 68-01, 68-35), Muhammad Asif Toba(Pjb) Farhan Khan (Kpk) 4-1 (78-34, 30-67,73-34, 58-15, 81-10), Muhammad Asif (Pjb)walkover Jahangir Bangulzai (Bal),Muhammad Imran (Pjb) bt MuhammadMajid Ali (Pjb) 4-2 (83-19, 64-13, 50-71, 64-41, 33-60, 67-20) Zulfiqar A.Qadir (Sindh)bt Asjad Iqbal (Pjb) 4-1 (69-23, 63-51, 60-66, 60-56, 65-21).—APP

Six matchesplayed on 2ndday of Women

TchoukballChampionship

FAISALABAD—Six matcheswere played on the 2nd dayof te second Lyallpur Na-tional Tchoukball Champi-onship for Women at Uni-versity of AgricultureFaisalabad (UAF) here.

In first match,Faisalabad White defeatedBahawalpur with 30-20points while Hyderabadbeat Bannu with 22-20points in second match.

In third match, DeraGhazi Khan knocked outLahore with 23-19 pointswhereas Faisalabad Colordefeated Faisalabad Whitein fourth match with 27-25points.Similarly, Hyderabadbeat DG Khan in fifth matchwith 21-20 points whileLahore knocked down MirPur Khas with 28-24 pointsin sixth match.—APP

Sports competitionson Kashmir

Solidarity DayISLAMABAD—Sports com-petitions in connection withKashmir Solidarity Day willbe played on Thursday atPakistan Sports Complex(PSB), Islamabad. DirectorGeneral PSB Dr. AkhtarNawaz Ganjera will be thechief guest on the occasionand give away the prizes.

Deputy Director General(Facilities) PSB AghaAmjadullah said that ahockey match would beplayed between KashmirEleven and PSB Eleven at12.00 (noon) at Hockey Sta-dium, while football match willbe played between KashmirEleven and PSB Eleven at 2.00p.m at Jinnah Stadium. He fur-ther said that all arrangementshave been finalized.—APP

CAMBRIDGE (Juan Mata)—MarcosRojo and James Wilson´s goals gaveManchester United a comfortable 3-0home win over fourth-tier minnowsCambridge United in their FA Cupfourth-round replay on Tuesday.

United, fielding a side that cost£231 million ($350.4 million, 305.2 mil-lion euros) to assemble, survived anearly scare against a Cambridge line-up that had not cost a single poundwhen Tom Elliott shot against the postin the first minute.

But first-half goals from Mata andRojo put Louis van Gaal´s side in con-trol before Wilson added a third torubber-stamp a win that sets up a fifth-round trip to Preston North End, whobeat Sheffield United 3-1.

Elliott found himself clean throughon goal with just 45 seconds on theclock after an error by Daley Blind,who played the ball directly throughto the former Leeds United trainee.

Elliott showed poise to steady him-self and advance, but could only steerthe ball against the right-hand post asdiving United goalkeeper David de Gealooked on aghast.

It was hard not to imagine thatwould be Cambridge´s best chanceand although the hosts had startedslowly, they took a 25th-minute leadthrough Mata.

ManU crush Cambridge inthe FA Cup replay

Angel di Maria´s left-wing crosswas headed down at the back post byMarouane Fellaini and Mata was onhand to flick the ball into the roof ofthe net from close range.

Seven minutes later, Rojo doubledthe lead after Fellaini´s shot wasblocked and the rebound spun kindlyfor Robin van Persie.

The Dutch international chippedin a cross for Rojo, who made no mis-take with a strong header from sixyards out to claim his first goal for theclub since joining from SportingLisbon last year.

Either side of that second goal,Paddy McNair´s ferocious drive hadbeen deflected wide and a 20-yardstrike from Di Maria had sailed justover.

But their League Two opponentsrefused to be over-awed by the occa-sion and their 6,500 supporters, manyof whom had been stranded in amotorway traffic jam, forcing the kick-off to be delayed by 20 minutes, re-mained in defiant voice.

The replay generated an estimated£1 million for Cambridge, which chair-man Dave Doggett mischievouslysuggested would be invested in newlavatories at their Abbey Stadiumhome, scene of the 0-0 draw in theteams´ first encounter.

But they had Old Trafford experi-ence in their ranks in the shape offormer United winger Luke Chadwickand showed their desire to make agame of it when Ryan Donaldson shotwide before the interval.

The second half quickly settledinto a pattern of relentless United at-tacks as the Premier League´s third-place side coasted towards the fifthround.

Van Persie spurned four decentchances, while Cambridge goalkeeperChris Dunn saved from Wayne Rooneyand Di Maria, before substitute Wil-son found the bottom-right corner inthe 73rd minute to seal victory.

Sheffield United, who recently lostto Tottenham Hotspur in the LeagueCup semi-finals, took a 38th-minutelead at home to Preston through JamieMurphy´s low shot.

But Preston scored three times in10 second-half minutes, with PaulGallagher claiming a brace and PaulHuntington also finding the net, toearn themselves a glamour tie with VanGaal´s side.

In the night´s other game,Sunderland came from behind to win3-1 at second-tier Fulham, setting upa fifth-round trip to third-divisionBradford City, conquerors of Chelseain round four.—AFP

Participation in Asian championshipto boost team experience: Moazzam

“Our team is the best available cyclingtalent and we have chosen the final line upafter monitoring their performance at a camphere keeping an eye on future cyclingevents”,he asserted.

He said the Pak team will take part onlyin road events as they lack in track eventsto be held at cycling velodrome. “PCF islaying special emphasis on the groomingof the young cyclists and we firmly believethe participation in the Asian championshipwill boost the confidence of our riders be-sides helping them to overcome their grayareas and to improve their technique”, saidMoazzam who is also the President ofPunjab Cycling Association.

He said comparing Pakistan riders withthe top Asian countries is not a fair judg-ment as there is lesser cycling infrastruc-ture in Pakistan and cyclists do not havethe most modern bikes to compete withcyclists from advanced nations. “Despitethese adverse factors PCF is determined totrain its cyclists by ensuring their partici-pation in top cycling events despite the factof financial issues”,he said.

Moazzam said secretary, Pakistan Cy-cling Federation, Syed Azhar Ali Shah willattend the congress meeting of Asian Cy-cling Confederation to be held on February9.—APP

Arsalan, Usmar in KAATU-17 squash final

KARACHI—Unseeded Usmar Hassan ofPunjab shocked top seed Mehran Javedof PAF to set Thursday’s title clash withArsalan Ramzan in the final of Kazim AnwarADHD Trust (KAAT) “Champion Hunt Ini-tiative Program for Squash” here at Paki-stan Navy Roshan Khan Jahangir khanSquash Complex on Wednesday.

Usmar dropped the third game beforebeating Mehran Javed 11-9, 12-10, 9-11, 11-8. In the other semifinals, third seedArsalan Ramzan also from Punjab beatIqtedar Khan (PAF) 3-2 after an excitingencounter.

Arsalan took the first two games.However in a remarkable comeback

Iqtedar took the next two games and lev-elled the scores 2- all. However after intensebattle, Arsalan took the decider to register11-6, 11-6, 6-11, 10-12, 13-11 victory.

Top seed Abbas Zeb will meet OanAbbas in boys Under-15 final after they wontheir respective pre-finals in straight games.

Abbas Zeb (PAF) beat qualifier OanAbbas (Punjab) 11-7, 11-7, 11-5 and sec-ond seed Zeeshan Gul (PAF) beat ZeeshanZeb (KPK) 11-5, 11-5, 11-3.—APP

Pak-Afghandisable cricket

series from Feb 22KARACHI—Afghanistan’simpaired cricket team willtour Pakistan from February21 to 28, Pakistan DisableCricket Association (PDCA)announced on Tuesday.

“This will be the firstever international series be-tween Afghanistan and Pa-kistan disabled cricketers,”Secretary PDCAAmeeruddin said.

He said Pakistan teamwill play two 40 overs ODIsand three Twenty20Internationals at NationalStadium.—APP

SPORTS REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Sports Board willcontact various security agencies ofIslamabad to discuss various modalities forengagement of security guards for the se-curity of the sports complex.

It was decided at a meeting in held herein connection with contingency securityplan for Pakistan Sports Complex. The meet-ing was chair by Muhammad Ejaz Chudary,Federal Secretary IPC which decided to en-gage 10 security guards, ex army man hav-ing experience in security for the securityof the complex as urgent arrangements.

The meeting also decided training planfor civil defence and fool proof security and

PSB to discuss security modalitieswith security agencies

all security staff, officers of the board andconcerned staff would be asked to attendthe training sessions.

A long term security plan which in-cludes arrangements of security staff, se-curity cameras, security checking, weaponsfor security guards and licence etc. will beformulated by Pakistan Sports Board andafter completion of all codal formalities thearrangement will be made.

The meeting was also attended by Dr.Akhtar Nawaz Ganjera, Director General Pa-kistan Sports Board, Joint Secretary IPC,Deputy Secretary IPC, DDGs and Officer ofthe Boards and the detail contingency se-curity plan of Pakistan Sports ComplexIslamabad was discussed in detail.

Faisal Gymkhana,Malir Cantt inquarter finals

K A R A C H I — F a i s a lGymkhana and Malir CanttGymkhana advanced in thequarterfinal rounds of OmarAssociates Trophy KCCAZone-IV Color Kit CricketTournament after contrastingvictories against their respec-tive opponents said a newsrelease issued on Wednes-day. Faisal Gymkhana ham-mered Millat Cricket Club by195 runs at Punjab CCGround. Muhammad Hafeezwas named man of the matchfor his fine knock of 78.

Replying to FaisalGymkhana’s 254, Millat CCcrashed at mere 60 in 20.1overs. Naeem Mashwani andNoman Khan captured sixwickets between them.

Farkhad Khan produceda brilliant all-round show asMalir Cantt Gymkhana de-feated United Gymkhana by38 runs at CAA Ground.

Farkhad scored 60 andtook three wickets for 47 runsand was named man of thematch for his effort.

Summarized scores: FaisalGym bt Millat CC by 195 runs.Fasial Gymkhana 254 all out in35 overs (Hafeez Ahmed 78,Fayyaz Hussain 43, NoorShah 38, Nadeem Shad 31,Naeem Ahmed 3/49, ShahidHussain 2/28, Adeel Hashmat2/44) Millat CC 60 all out in 20.1overs (Naeem Mashwani 3/6,Noman Khan 3/11, 3/6,Muhammad Bilal 2/11,Touheed Khan 2/12).—APP

Coutinhosigns new

Liverpool dealLONDON—Brazil playmakerPhilippe Coutinho hassigned a new contract withLiverpool, the English Pre-mier League club said Tues-day.

It has been reported thatCoutinho, who joined theMerseysiders from Italiangiants Inter Milan for #8.5

million ($12.8 million, 11.2million euros), in January2013 will now be staying atAnfield until 2020, with hisoriginal agreement due tohave expired in 2018.

“I’m really happy. It’s adream come true playing forthis great club and being partof this squad,” Countinho,22, told liverpoolfc.com.

“This club is great andthe fans have always sup-ported me, so I’ve been ea-ger to sign this new dealsince conversationsstarted. Today is a veryhappy day.”—AFP

MADRID—Portuguese footballerCristiano Ronaldo’s agent Jorge MendesTuesday revealed that the Real Madridprolific striker would sell for at least 300

million pounds if Spanish giants RealMadrid wish to set him free anytime soon.Asked how much Ronaldo was worth,Mendes said: ‘Cristano Ronaldo? One bil-lion.

His buyout clause one billion, so it isone billion. It is impossible to buy some-one like him. ‘If for any reason the clubdecides to sell him tomorrow for 300 mil-lion, someone will pay,’ Mendes was

Cristiano Ronaldo worthone billion pounds

quoted as saying by bbc.com.Mendes went to the extent of saying

that the 29-year-old was the ‘best sports-man ever’ and was incomparable to anyother player. ‘He is the best player ever inthe world. You can’t compare him withanybody else,’ added Mendes. Ques-tioned if Ronaldo will finish his career atMadrid, Mendes said ‘for sure’. ‘He willnot leave Real Madrid.’

Meanwhile, The Dalian Wanda con-glomerate of Chinese billionaire WangJianlin has bid around $1.0 billion for in-fluential sports marketing giant InfrontSports & Media, according to a reportWednesday.

The tycoon, who recently hit the head-lines when he bought a 20 percent stakein Spanish football champions AtleticoMadrid, has confirmed his interest insports business by bidding some 1.0 bil-lion Swiss francs ($1.09 billion) for Infront,public Swiss broadcaster RTS reported,quoting “sources close to the deal”.

Infront, a sports marketing companybased in Zug, Switzerland, and directedby Philippe Blatter—the nephew of FIFAchief Sepp Blatter—handles the media andmarketing rights for many internationalsports events.

Contacted by AFP on Monday, theSwiss company refused to comment on“market rumours”.

If the deal is real and goes through,Dalian Wanda would enter the sport busi-ness big league.—AFP

KARACHI—Pakistan one-day skip-per Misbah-ul Haq and predeces-sor Shahid Afridi play for the sameteam, but come from differentworlds.

If the unpredictable Paki-stanis are to secure a secondWorld Cup in Australia and NewZealand, they need the twoheavyweight talents to forge aunited front.

Misbah is conservative, care-ful; Afridi is brash, belligerent.

Misbah takes time to settle andplays with a straight bat, character-istics which are alien to most fansof the game in Pakistan who havestill not forgiven him for failing toguide the country to victory overarch-rivals India in the WorldTwenty20 final in Johannesburg in2007.

His ill-advised paddle-sweepwith just five runs needed for vic-tory still rankles.

Then at Mohali in the 2011World Cup semi-finals, Misbah bat-ted out crucial deliveries beforescoring 56 off 76 balls as Pakistanagain lost to India.

“If he ever sits in my cab I willask him why he bats so slowly,”

Misbah and Afridi: Poles apart,united for last mission

said bemused Abu Dhabi taxidriver Kamal Khan during a re-cent series in the Gulf, Pakistan’shome-from-home in recent years.

“Misbah is disliked for his slow

batting while Afridi rules hearts be-cause of his aggressive fours andsixes.

“Afridi tends to throw his batfrom the get-go, seemingly car-ing li t t le for the nature of the

pitch, the strength of the bowleror the situation of the match.”

“Once I went to bat and askedAfridi about the pitch and he re-plied: ‘I don’t know, but I am enjoy-

ing it as the ball is coming onto thebat’,” recalled former captain RamizRaja.

Afridi’s strength is his lusty hit-ting — he hit two last-over sixes tohelp Pakistan pull off an incredible

win over India in last year’s AsiaCup in Dhaka.

When it comes to captaining theside, Misbah and Afridi are polesapart.

Despite becoming Pakistan’smost successful Test captain lastyear, Misbah is criticized for beingdefensive.

“Misbah is overly defensive ascaptain while Afridi attacks and isvery aggressive,” former captainMohammad Yousuf said.

Misbah took over from Afridi asone-day skipper in 2011.

But when Misbah withdrewfrom the third and final one-dayeragainst Australia in Abu Dhabi lastyear over poor batting form, Afridigrabbed his new opportunity withboth hands.

But Misbah returned with abang, equalling the fastest Test cen-tury off just 56 balls thus endingspeculation that Afridi might re-place him as captain for the WorldCup.

Both men will quit one-daycricket after the World Cup butMisbah will continue to play Testswhile Afridi will continue to enjoythe brasher Twenty20.—AFP

ISLAMABAD—The ICC Cricket WorldCup 2015 will be a competitive andintriguing tournament, showcasingthe world’s best cricketing talent inAustralia and New Zealand. The fans

will get to enjoy a wide range of bat-ting and bowling styles.

Talking to ICC-Cricket.Com, SirVivian Richards said, these are myplayers, eight batsmen and twobowlers to watch out for in this com-ing tournament.

I have to begin with AB deVilliers, who has just re-written therecord books with the fastest ODIcentury. He looks very comfortableat the crease.

Like his style and he is oneplayer who is very hard to leave outof any ODI team.

The other batsman I am lookingforward to seeing in the comingweeks is Virat Kohli. At such a youngage he has twice the number of ODIcenturies than in Tests and he issuch a confident player in limited-

My top 10 players to watch-out forICC-WC: Sir Vivian Richards

overs. He is only going to get betterand better, and add to his list ofachievements.

Any talk of aggressive batsmenis incomplete without mentioningChris Gayle. On his day, he can bevery destructive, a bowlers’ night-mare. He can be a match-winner inany environment and in any matchconditions.

Among one of the top batsmenin the world today is Steve Smith.He is not the most orthodox player,yet in the last coupleyears he has im-proved by leaps andbounds, unlike any-one else recently. Hewill be playing athome and will onlymake that advantagework in his favour inthe World Cup.

Staying with theAustralian team, italso boasts of GlennMaxwell in its ranks.He is an enormouslytalented player, buthe hasn’t doneenough justice to hisability. This is be-cause we don’t knowwhat he will bring to the field on aparticular day.

Another such dynamic batsmanis New Zealand skipper BrendonMcCullum. He has been quite con-sistent off late, certainly more thanMaxwell. He is a dynamic batsmanand as such I am also curious aboutwhat he can do while he is also lead-ing the side. In home conditions hewill have to rely on his local knowl-edge as well as garner immense sup-port from the crowds. This might behis last chance at getting the world

champions’ crown.Kumar Sangakkara will also be

playing in his last ICC Cricket WorldCup. Over the last few years, noother batsman has lit up the interna-tional cricketing scene the way hehas. He has scored heavily in bothTests as well as limited-overs. I havebeen an avid follower of Sri Lankacricket and I believe the experienceSangakkara has, he can inspire histeam to deliver a good showing atthe World Cup.

Looking at thebowlers now, the firstname is that of DaleSteyn obviously. Inmy opinion, he is thebest fast bowler in theworld and has beenso for a few yearsnow. Steyn’s bowlingis based on pace andaggression, and hewill get wickets foryou irrespective ofthe format and thatputs South Africa in aformidable position.In this coming WorldCup, he has an oppor-tunity to do some-thing special for his

team and make it a memorable show-ing for the Proteas after a long time.The Pakistan,s seven-foot tallMohammad Irfan should be anotherfast bowler to watch-out for. Becauseof his height, the bounce of hardAustralia wickets will be very usefulfor him and he will trouble the bats-men with it.

Moreover, he is a left-arm bowlerand that angle can create problemsas well. If he stays fit throughout thetournament, Pakistan will have a won-derful bowler at its disposal.—APP

SYDNEY—Australia coach Darren Lehmannon Wednesday offered his full support forMichael Clarke to return as captain for theWorld Cup after weeks of speculation overthe 33-year-old´s career.

Asked if Clarke would be skipper again iffit in time for the competition which beginslater this month, Lehmann said: “Definitely.”“He´s ahead of schedule,” to return from ham-string surgery and chronic back pain,Lehmann added. Cricket Australia have givenClarke until Australia´s second pool matchagainst Bangladesh on February 21 to provehis fitness for the World Cup.

But Lehmann suggested that he couldresume playing earlier, saying “fingerscrossed he might be”. “Michael wants to leadhis side really well throughthe World Cup and win theWorld Cup,” Lehmann said.

“Now when he gets backwe’ve got to make sure he’sright to go. We can’t afford itto keep going on us in impor-tant stages. He knows that,he’s diligent, he’s good to goand really confident he’ll beright to lead us hopefully be-fore Bangladesh, but defi-nitely by Bangladesh.”

Lehmann denied somemembers of the team had beenirked by Clarke’s commentaryfor Nine during the IndiaTests. “Not that I heard of andI speak to those guys all thetime,” he said. “Channel Ninewanted to get an inside viewand that’s no dramas. Wedidn’t really hear what wassaid to be honest because wewere watching and playingthe game - that’s what Chan-nel Nine do and I had no dra-mas with it.”

Clarke is set to play for a

Lehmann supports Clarke tolead Aussies in WC

Cricket Australia XI against Bangladesh in aone-day practice match on Thursday inBrisbane but he will be restricted to battingand light fielding.

He appeared to move freely in fieldingdrills and in the nets on Wednesday morningas he met his Australia XI teammates, whoare mostly youngsters and fringe SheffieldShield players, the Associated AustralianPress reported.

Clarke was moved Monday to admit hewas ready to play under the captaincy ofyoung gun Steve Smith.

Amid reports that the team prefer thestand-in skipper who has had a sensationalsummer, Clarke insisted his relationship withhis team-mates was exceptional.—AFP

Michael Clarke with coach Darren Lehmann during apractice session.

A NEW study is the latest to link blue-light emitting devices, like laptops,phones and game consoles, to shorter

sleep in adolescents. “There are probably manypossible pathways between screen time andsleep, some of which are di-rect,” said lead author MariHysing of Uni ResearchHealth in Bergen, Norway.“The light from the screensmay directly affect our circa-dian rhythms, and teenagersmay be especially sensitive.”

As reported in the journalBMJ Open, she and her co-authors analysed survey re-sponses from almost 10,000teens, ages 16 to 19, in West-ern Norway. More than 90percent of girls and 80 percentof boys reported using a cellphone in the hour before bed,and laptops were almost ascommon. Throughout the day,girls reported an average of 5.5hours of screen time with anydevice - a personal computer, cell phone, MP3player, tablet, game console or TV - and boysaveraged almost seven hours per day. A largeproportion of those hours were spent chattingonline. Boys and girls spent an average of halfan hour each day on emails.

Boys averaged almost an hour on consolevideo games and more than an hour on PCgames. Using any device in the hour beforebed was associated with a 13 to 52 percent in-crease in the likelihood of needing more than60 minutes to fall asleep, the researchers found.More than four daytime hours of screen timewas associated with a similar increase in riskof “sleep latency,” or taking a long time to fall

Screen time maydamage teens’ sleep

President Mamnoon Hussain giving a cheque to CEO Indus Hospital Prof Dr Abdul Bari Khan at State Guest House.

asleep.Screen time was also linked to an increased

risk of a sleep deficit of at least two hours,meaning the kids said they needed two morehours of sleep than they were actually getting.

The teens tended to use manydevices at once, so it was hardto compare them and see ifcertain devices were morestrongly linked to sleep qual-ity, Hysing said. Several stud-ies recently have showed thatthe more frequently youngpeople use these media de-vices, the greater the chancetheir sleep will be disturbed,said Michael Gradisar, a clini-cal psychologist and sleep re-searcher at Flinders Univer-sity in Adelaide, South Aus-tralia.

“This study by Hysingand colleagues was eye-open-ing because they showed thatscreen use above the recom-mended two hours per day was

associated with sleep durations well below thenorm, and in the range we see linked with poorschool performance, emotional disturbances,and in some cases suicidal ideation,” Gradisar,who was not part of the new study, told ReutersHealth by email. “There is now much evidence,including this study, to suggest that screen timehas a direct effect on sleep,” Hysing toldReuters Health by email.

But, Hysing said, it could also be that “somefamilies who do not have fixed bedtimes fortheir teenagers are the same who do not limitscreen time.” Also, she said. “We know thatdepressed teenagers often sleep less, and thismight also be related to screen time use.”

Baloch girls making sign of victory during a demonstration against human rights violation in front of KPC.—PO photoby Sultan Chaki

Education Minister Nisar Khuhro awards PhD degree to Mr Abdul Jabbar Khan, seniorjournalist and neuro economist at Karachi.—PO photo

AAMIR MAJEED

KARACHI—Despite, the warnings ofPeshawar’s Army Public School (APS)-like deadly attack by the terrorists, theschool-going children has shown a resolveagainst terrorism by attending the sched-ule classes on Wednesday. However, theadministration of schools, particularlyprivate educational institutes, accompa-nied by local police and paramilitary forcehas adopted strict security plan to cope-up with any emergency situation.

Not only the school administration,but the parents of school-going childrentoo imparted the students with trainingin order to respond any emergency situ-ation. The paramilitary troops and thecommandos of the Special Police Group

Undeterred by terror, studentsattend Karachi schools

(SPG) patrolled in various parts of themetropolis during school-timings to keepan eye over any suspicious movement.

It may be important to mention herethat the pillion riders hurled a hand gre-nade outside a private school branchlocated in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block-VIIon Tuesday and escaped away by leav-ing warning letters of Peshawar’s APS-like attacks ahead. As per details, fearof terrorists’ attacks on educational in-stitutes rife in Karachi on Wednesday,but the students, undeterred by the ter-ror, attended the scheduled classes,showing a complete resolve against theterrorism. The attendance at the schoolsremained normal, but the managementhas tightened the security, and no onewas allowed to enter into the school pre-

mises without prior permission.A visit of the city’s over educational

institutions has revealed that the warn-ings of terrorists of APS-like attackscould not shake the confidence of theschool going children. The parentsdropped their siblings to their schoolsand picked them up amid stringent se-curity ensured by the management ofschools, local police and the PakistanRangers.

The private security guards wereseen on the rooftop of the schools andsome of the private schools installedwalk-through gates. The visitors wereallowed to enter into the school pre-mises after passing through the gates.Some police mobiles were also seenstationed outside the schools and in east-

zone, the SPG commandos were seenalert outside the educational institutes.

However, panicked parents visitedBeacon Light Academy and BeaconHouse School System, the two schoolswhich were targeted in Tuesday grenadeattack, to review the security situation.The parents met with the school man-agements and appreciate their efforts forprotecting lives of their children.

“Yesterday’s attack disheartens me,but I have no choice,” said a mother ofclass-X student, who came to pick hisson. “I am coming to attend my son sincelast many years, but the gatekeeper neverstopped me before,” she added. Appre-ciating the management efforts of fool-proof security, she said that the manage-ment should also deploy the private

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) Karachi DivisionDeputy Information SecretaryManzoor Abbas has said Zardari

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The MNAs of PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) Shagufta Jumani,Dr Nafeesa Shah and Shazia Atta Marriwhile condemning the propaganda cam-paign against Pakistan termed it as partof conspiracy against the tranquillity inthe region.

They said the Indian Media had de-liberately ignored the poor human rightssituation, atrocities on the minorities byextremist groups under the aegis of In-dian government and failure of the In-dian government to address the povertyand hunger related issues.

They said the Indian Media had re-cently claimed that India, China andRussia would jointly table a resolutionon terrorism against Pakistan at theUnited Nations, which was the biggest

Indian media playing jokeswith 500m starving people

joke of the century.They said the world had closely moni-

tored the visit of the US President to Indiaand believed the US was striving at ex-ploring new markets for which India wasthe best choice to help US economy getstable while India was in haste to offer itas the sheer scapegoat.

The US President’s visit to India hadalso aimed at bringing India into a loop touse her for checking the fast track expan-sion of China as emerging economy in theworld.

Henceforth, the Indian governmenthad immediately sent her Minister for for-eign affairs to China to dissipate doubts.

They said Pakistan was passingthrough difficult times as the country wasbadly hit with terrorism and there shouldbe no doubt that India was involved in ter-rorism on Pakistani soil, which was well

know to the world.They said it looked as if the Indian

Media while setting aside the demandsof the Indian people for better means ofliving and sources for the bread and but-ter would now advise the starving 50omillion poor Indians to eat arms and mis-siles instead of bread and vegetables.

They said the Indian Media wasmaking the starving people of India tosuffer from the internal turmoil but sup-port the Indian government for acquir-ing the role of regional watchdog, whichcould only be a dream that would nevercome true.

They said the Indian Media couldnot give a cover to numerous separationmovements in today’s era of informa-tion technology and hence it should fo-cus on representation of the Indianmasses.

Conspiracies against Zardariwould fail: Manzoor Abbas

was the only leader in Pakistan,who had saved the country fromanarchy and disintegration withhis historic slogan, PakistanKhappay.

There was a long queue ofthe conspirators that alwaysdreamt of eliminating the PPPand wanted to keep Zardari awayfrom the PPP but the time hadproven the conspirators faced

humiliation while the PPP con-tinued to grow stronger. Martyr-dom of Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto andBenazir Bhutto were due to theconspiracies of anti-PPP forces.

The PPP Karachi DivisionDeputy Information SecretaryManzoor Abbas said the candleof the reconciliation that Zardarihad lit and the courage he shouldagainst the terrorist organisation

was being acknowledged at thenational and international levelsand led to unity of the entire na-tion against terrorist.

He said it was nothing newthat the conspirators’ clan had inpast implicate the former Presi-dent in fake cases and kept himjailed for 12 years but finallythose, who fabricated fake casesagainst him had tendered their

apologies to him. The formerPresident did not take revengebut pardoned them with openheart.

He said the anti-PPP forceswere dreaming of eliminating thePPP but the fact was that they alsobelonged to the clan of terroristand with the rapid elimination ofterrorist, the clan of conspiratorswould also be eliminated.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—University of Karachi has awardedPhD degree to senior journalist and neuro econo-mist Abdul Jabbar Khan on Alleviation of Pov-erty through Communication, Poverty Gap In-dex and Poverty Triggers with special referenceto a Welfare State. The thesis for research wassupervised by Professor Dr. Shafiq ur Rehman,former chairman of Economics Department and

Jabbar Khan awardedPhD on poverty alleviation

Chairman Mass Communication, University ofKarachi.

It has been a unique topic in the backgroundof Pakistan being a poverty-ridden country.Abdul Jabbar Khan has been the author of TheGlobal Poverty, published in Germany besidesmany other national and international publica-tions. The award of PhD took place at convoca-tion held here by Karachi University and edu-cation minister Nisar Khoro awarded the degree.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—US Consul General Brian Heath hosted Universityof Iowa’s International Writing Program (IWP) Director Christo-pher Merrill at his Residence. Merrill is in Karachi to participatein the 6th Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) February 6-8. In ad-dition, KLF founders Ameena Saiyid and Asif Farrukhi and col-leagues from the Oxford University Press attended as did IWPalumni H.M. Naqvi and Shandana (Pakistan) and Sridala Swamiand Kavery Nambisan (India).

US consulate fetes IWPU.S. Embassy Islamabad’s Country Cultural Affairs Officer

Judith Ravin read “Entire Ocean in a Drop,” a short essay aboutexperiencing Sufi music that was in the Embassy’s January 2015issue of Khabr o Nazar. Merrill also read excerpts from hispublished works as did the two Pakistani and two Indian IWPalumni. “I am delighted to celebrate the power of the written andspoken word tonight,” said Heath. “I would also like to take thisopportunity to recognize the Karachi Literature Festival, whichhas grown rapidly since its establishment in March 2010 from5,000 attendees in 2010 to more than 70,000 in 2014.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The process of computerisation ofarms licenses in Sindh had been halted whilethe people were in doldrums finding no way outfor the alleviation of their anguish. The staffers

Arms computerisation in doldrumsof the Deputy Commissioners of all five dis-tricts of the metropolis failing to complete theprocess shifted the responsibility on the NationalDatabase and registration Authority (NADRA)for delaying the transfer of required data of theapplicants.

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A NEW study is the latest to link blue-light emitting devices, like laptops,phones and game consoles, to shorter

sleep in adolescents. “There are probably manypossible pathways between screen time andsleep, some of which are di-rect,” said lead author MariHysing of Uni ResearchHealth in Bergen, Norway.“The light from the screensmay directly affect our circa-dian rhythms, and teenagersmay be especially sensitive.”

As reported in the journalBMJ Open, she and her co-authors analysed survey re-sponses from almost 10,000teens, ages 16 to 19, in West-ern Norway. More than 90percent of girls and 80 percentof boys reported using a cellphone in the hour before bed,and laptops were almost ascommon. Throughout the day,girls reported an average of 5.5hours of screen time with anydevice - a personal computer, cell phone, MP3player, tablet, game console or TV - and boysaveraged almost seven hours per day. A largeproportion of those hours were spent chattingonline. Boys and girls spent an average of halfan hour each day on emails.

Boys averaged almost an hour on consolevideo games and more than an hour on PCgames. Using any device in the hour beforebed was associated with a 13 to 52 percent in-crease in the likelihood of needing more than60 minutes to fall asleep, the researchers found.More than four daytime hours of screen timewas associated with a similar increase in riskof “sleep latency,” or taking a long time to fall

Screen time maydamage teens’ sleep

Commissioner Abdullah Khan Sumbal chairing a meeting to discuss measures to fight dengue.

asleep.Screen time was also linked to an increased

risk of a sleep deficit of at least two hours,meaning the kids said they needed two morehours of sleep than they were actually getting.

The teens tended to use manydevices at once, so it was hardto compare them and see ifcertain devices were morestrongly linked to sleep qual-ity, Hysing said. Several stud-ies recently have showed thatthe more frequently youngpeople use these media de-vices, the greater the chancetheir sleep will be disturbed,said Michael Gradisar, a clini-cal psychologist and sleep re-searcher at Flinders Univer-sity in Adelaide, South Aus-tralia.

“This study by Hysingand colleagues was eye-open-ing because they showed thatscreen use above the recom-mended two hours per day was

associated with sleep durations well below thenorm, and in the range we see linked with poorschool performance, emotional disturbances,and in some cases suicidal ideation,” Gradisar,who was not part of the new study, told ReutersHealth by email. “There is now much evidence,including this study, to suggest that screen timehas a direct effect on sleep,” Hysing toldReuters Health by email.

But, Hysing said, it could also be that “somefamilies who do not have fixed bedtimes fortheir teenagers are the same who do not limitscreen time.” Also, she said. “We know thatdepressed teenagers often sleep less, and thismight also be related to screen time use.”

Activists of Al-Muhammadia Roza Society shouting slogans during protest to express solidarity with Kashmiris on the eveof Kashmir Solidarity Day.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Punjab University ViceChancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamranhas said that Pakistan must realizethat Kashmir is vital for existence ofour country as Kashmir is our jugu-lar vein in true sense.

He was addressing a seminar or-ganized by PU Pakistan Study Cen-tre in connection with Kashmir Soli-darity Day here on Wednesday.

Azad Jammu and Kashmir’s re-nowned leader Sardar KhalidIbrahim, Chairman Department ofPolitical Science Prof Dr RashidAhmed Khan, Dean Faculty of Artsand Humanities Prof Dr MassaratAbid, faculty members and a largenumber of students were present onthe occasion.

Addressing the ceremony, DrMujahid Kamran said that Pakistan’smajor rivers flew from Kashmir andeverybody could understand how wa-ter was important for life.

Kashmir vital for Pakistan’sexistence: PU VC

He said that India was constructingdams on our rivers and would stopPakistan’s river water.

Dr Mujahid Kamran said that thelast time change regarding appointmentof Lord Mountbatten was the basis ofKashmir issue as Mountbatten gavepassage to India to enter Kashmir.

He said that India had fraudulentlyand immorally occupied Kashmir andhad not presented any accession docu-ment so far.

He said that Kashmir was part ofPakistan culturally and geographically.He said that unfortunately Pakistan hadnot supported Kashmiris to the level itshould and Kashmiri people were fight-ing their war of independence on theirown.

He said that Kashmir issue wouldbe resolved when Pakistan would be-come stable and strong.

Sardar Khalid Ibrahim said that theidentity of Kashmir issue as an inter-national issue must remain intact. Hesaid that Kashmiri people were the core

party in the dispute and would notabandon their right to self-determi-nation.

He said that the solution to Kash-mir issue was there but there wasneed to develop methodology. Hesaid that there was mistrust betweenHindus and Muslims however Paki-stan had never changed its stance onKashmir while India had taken sev-eral positions to avoid plebiscite.

Dr Rashid Ahmed Khan said thatPakistan should pressurize India tostart serious dialogue and peace pro-cess. He said that both the partiesmust continue to take confidence-building measures.

Dr Massarrat Abid expresseddeep concerns on the violations ofhuman rights in occupied Kashmirand stressed the need of finding anamicable and peaceful solution of theissue through impartial mediation bythird party in the light of UnitedNation’s resolution. Later, questionanswer session was held.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—New political coordinators havebeen appointed by Advisor to chief ministerPunjab Khawaja Ahmad Hassan in the constitu-ency NA-126 in order to facilitate public on theirconcerns about the quality services of districtdepartments.

Appointment has been made during a meet-ing held at 90 Shahra-e-Quaid-e-Azam on townlevels particularly for Allama Iqbal Town,Gulberg Town & Samanabad Town.

Advisor to CM Punjab Khawaja AhmadHassan presided over the meeting whereas Ad-visor to CM for Health Khawaja Salman Rafique

Coordinators assume dutiesto redress public issues

and Additional General Secretary Lahore Divi-sion Syed Touseef Shah were also present onthe occasion.

Moreover, an advisory committee compris-ing of 8 members for WASA was also consti-tuted particularly to look after issues related toWASA in the constituency NA-126. TouseefQureshi has been assigned the responsibility forcoordination between coordinators and districtadministration for smooth working and swiftresults.

On the occasion, Mr. Hassan has said thathis party leadership is committed to serve peopleand every party worker has been prepared toperform for the welfare of a common man.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—An agreement was signedbetween Punjab government and Swe-den here Wednesday regarding inspec-tion and certification system of vehicles.Punjab Chief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif was the chief guest atthe ceremony held at Model Town. Sec-retary Transport and President OPUSGroup of Sweden Carl Magnus Grekosigned the document.

Under the agreement, the Swedishgroup will set up 39 fitness stations inPunjab for the checking of commercialvehicles. In the first phase, three fitness

Agreement signed between Punjab govt,Sweden for inspection, fitness of vehicles

stations will be established in Lahoredivision which will start functioningfrom June 2015 while in the secondphase fitness stations will be set up inother cities of the province. Seven testsof different kinds will be conducted onthe vehicles at the fitness stations to beestablished by the Swedish Group. TheSwedish group will also extend coop-eration with regard to licencing andtraining of drivers and a separate driv-ing school of international standard willbe established in Punjab.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharifwhile speaking on the occasion said thatit is the first agreement signed in Paki-

stan under public-private partnership inservices sector. He said that under theagreement fitness certificates of inter-national standard will be issued to com-mercial vehicles and no unfit vehiclewill be allowed on the road. He said thatroute permits will be issued only to thevehicles which will meet the standardof fitness.

The Swedish group will also providelicensing and training to the drivers. Hesaid that the project of establishing fit-ness stations for vehicles is of vital im-portance as fitness station for inspectionof vehicles and certification system fordrivers will be helpful in controlling ac-

cidents as well as environmental pollu-tion. He said that a driving school willalso be set up for the training of driverson modern lines. The Chief Ministerappreciated the agreement with theSwedish group and said that it will notonly create job opportunities but will alsoincrease foreign investment.

Ambassador of Sweden TomasRosander, Chairman Lahore TransportCompany Kh. Ahmed Hassan, ChairmanPlanning & Development, ChairmanPunjab Information Technology Boardand Chief Executive Officer of OPUSInspection International Lothar Geilenwere also present on the occasion.

Advisor to Chief Minister Punjab on Health Khawaja Salman Rafique addressing a cer-emony to mark World Cancer Day and first anniversary of Punjab CML Project.

LAHORE—Pakistan Muslim League- Nawaz (PML-N) leader Hamza Shahbaz on Wednesday criticisedPakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) for wanting to con-test the upcoming Senate elections despite consid-ering parliament a “no-go zone”. Speaking to re-porters after a visit to a children’s hospital in Lahore,the MNA said he fails to understand PTI Chairman

Hamza Shahbaz hits outat PTI over Senate polls

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Kashmiris are the core partyfor the solution of Kashmir dispute, SardarKhalid Ibrahim Khan veteran Kashmirileader said in a seminar held by PunjabUniversity Pakistan Study Centre.

The seminar was held in connectionwith Kashmir Solidarity Day. SardarKhalid Ibrahim, a veteran political leaderof Azad Jammu & Kashmir was the ChiefGuest. Punjab University’s Pakistan StudyCentre organized a seminar in connectionwith the Kashmir Solidarity and Prof. Dr.Mujahid Kamran, Vice Chancellor, Uni-versity of the Punjab presided over the

Kashmiris are core party toKashmir dispute: Khalid Ibrahim

seminar. Prof. Dr. Rashid Ahmed Khan,Chairman, Department of Political Sci-ence, University of Sargodha was alsoamong the speakers.

In his presidential address honorableVice-Chancellor of Punjab UniversityProf. Dr. Mujahid Kamran elaborated theneed of education to eradicate the essenceof terrorism from Kashmir. He also en-lightened the foreign factor, beyond Paki-stan, which is in support of terrorism inthe region. In his concluding remarks theVice-Chancellor emphasized on the needto study history and learn from it and col-laborate in existing research and knowl-edge.

Prof. Dr. Massarrat Abid, Dean, Fac-ulty of Arts and the Director, PakistanStudy Centre, while highlighting signifi-cance of Kashmir issue expressed deepconcerns on the violations of human rightsin Kashmir and stressed the need of find-ing an amicable and peaceful solution ofthe issue through impartial mediation bythird party in the light of United Nation’sresolution.

Prof. Dr. Rashid Ahmad Khan, in hiskeynote address, being a Kashmiri refugeehimself, personally feel the significance ofresolving Kashmir dispute. According to Dr.Rashid Kashmir is an issue of global con-cern due to a number of reasons.

Imran Khan’s temperament.Hamza said Imran tends to change his statement

regarding Senate elections in spite of boycotting as-semblies and is gearing up for Upper House elec-tions. The PTI leadership on Saturday announced thatit will contest elections for the Senate. It has also thatthe party will contest only from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

(KP) and will boycott from the rest of the three pro-vincial and national assemblies. Following the offi-cial announcement, the PTI is finally going to be-come part of the same parliament that Mr Khan pro-tested against and derided for the 126 days of his sit-in outside Parliament House. The PTI hopes to winfive to six Senate seats from the KP.—Online