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JEDDAH: Governor of Makkah Prince Khalid Al Faisal talking to Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.

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WASHINGTON—The UnitedStates is shutting its embassiesand consulates throughout theMuslim world on Sunday afterreceiving an unspecified threat,officials said.

State Department officialssaid Thursday that they weretaking action out of an “abun-dance of caution.”

Spokeswoman Marie Harfcited information indicating athreat to U.S. facilities overseasand said some diplomatic facili-ties may stay closed for more

than a day. Other U.S. officialssaid the threat was in the Mus-lim world, where Sunday is aworkday. American diplomaticmissions in Europe, LatinAmerica and many other placesare closed on Sunday.

Those officials spoke on con-dition of anonymity because theyweren’t authorized to speak pub-licly about the matter.

The State Department issueda major warning last year inform-ing American diplomatic facili-ties across the Muslim world

about potential violence con-nected to the anniversary of theSept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Dozens of American instal-lations were besieged by pro-test over an anti-Islam videomade by an American resident.

In Benghazi, Libya, theU.S. ambassador and threeother Americans were killedwhen militants assaulted a dip-lomatic post. The administra-tion no longer says that attackwas related to the demonstra-tions.—AP

Testing hostile muscles

US shutting its Muslim world missions

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt of Pakistan on Friday ex-pressed disappointment over thewritten reply submitted by thecounsel of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman ImranKhan in the contempt of courtcase.

Hamid Khan‚ Imran Khan’slawyer, submitted a written re-ply but Chief Justice IftikharMohammad Chaudhry ruled thatImran Khan’s reply ‘is not ac-ceptable.’

The chief justice orderedthat a satisfactory reply shouldbe submitted before the court by28 August. Hamid Khan main-tained that Imran Khan had notcommitted the contempt of thecourt.

Earlier talking to the mediawhile going to the SC, ImranKhan refused to tender an apol-

Court contempt case

SC rejects ImranKhan’s responseOrders PTI chief to resubmit explanation

ISLAMABAD: Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ImranKhan talking to newsmen after appearing before the court incontempt case.

Continued on Page 6Continued on Page 6

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The visit of USSecretary of State John Kerrynot only allowed for the strate-gic dialogue between the twocountries to resume, but also al-lowed Pakistan to discuss thestalled Iran-Pakistan pipeline.The Foreign Office spokesper-son during the weekly briefingon Friday said that Pakistan had

presented a “non-paper” overthe Iran-Pakistan pipeline to theUS delegation.

Talking about US Secretaryof State John Kerry’s two-dayvisit to Pakistan, the spokesper-son said that Pakistan briefedhim about its projects related topipelines, particularly Iran-Pa-kistan pipeline. He said theprojects were being undertakento address the acute energy re-

quirements of Pakistan and thatthe standpoint of Pakistan wasconveyed to US in the form of anon-paper.

“Our energy requirementswarrant that we explore all pos-sible options, including the Iran-Pakistan pipeline project,” hesaid. Chaudhry said that the ra-tionale for giving the non-paperto the US was “to convey our

Kerry presented ‘non-paper’on Iran-Pakistan pipeline

Pakistan proposes dates to India for composite dialogue

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TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—The torrentialrains coupled with heavy floodsplayed havoc in Chitral and ad-joining areas leaving at leastfour people dead and destroyingsix bridges. Over 100 houseswere destroyed rendering thou-sands of people homeless.

The incessant rains, as the

reports reaching here fromChitral said, continued inundat-ing large area in valley of Chitraland its outskirts on Friday caus-ing huge damaged to the prop-erty besides leading to loss ofprecious lives. Besides, the an-gry waters also destroyed stand-ing crops in the region.

While heavy rains caused

Rains, flood playhavoc in Chitral

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Religious leadershot deadNAWABSHAH—A prominentlocal religious leader YaqoobQadri has been shot dead byunknown armed attackers inNawabshah.

Feared and tension grippedmany neighboring areas afterkilling of Qadri by unidentifiedmotorbike riding armedmiscreants in Nawabshah.

The police said that twomotorbike riding attackersopened fire at Yaqoob Qadri in

Indian Army kills 8militants near LoCSRINAGAR—The Indian armyhas claimed to kill a dozensuspected militants in five daysof fighting near the Line ofControl (LoC) dividingdisputed Kashmir betweenIndia and Pakistan.

Indian army spokesmanNaresh Vig said the fightingbegan on Monday after soldiersintercepted some militantscrossing into a northern part ofIndian-administered Kashmirfrom the Pakistani side.

Vig said Friday thatmilitants also made attempts tocross into the Indian side atthree other places in remote andmountainous northern Kashmirleading to fierce gun battles

OGRA scam

Tauqir Sadiqjudicial remandfurther extended

ISLAMABAD—The accountabilitycourt on Friday extended the judi-cial remand of former Oil and GasRegulatory Authority (OGRA)chairman Tauqir Sadiq for another14 days. The National Accountabil-ity Bureau (NAB) officials pre-

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ogy in the recent of court case.He said that he and his party al-

ways respected judiciary and

ISLAMABAD—Chief Justice(CJ) Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry has remarked that se-vere punishment be awarded tothe accused persons but the fam-ily members should not be sub-jected to injustice. He furtherremarked “ we had earlier de-cided that the undercover per-sons will not be brought to fore.But the patience has now run outand we will not care for any one.We have heard too much stories.

Missing persons issue willnot be resolved through taskforce. Government will have toenact effective legislation. Gov-ernment is leaving all the mat-ters with the court. If it is sothen government should give inwriting that it can do nothing.However we will see how themissing persons are not recov-ered. Government will have topay all the expenses to thosewho are wandering hither and

thither in distress in quest fortheir dear ones. Stern action betaken against the accused per-sons but their family membersbe not subjected to injustice”.CJ was presiding over a 3-mem-ber bench of Supreme Court(SC) during the course of hear-ing of missing persons case Fri-day.

Justice Jawad S Khawajaremarked “ missing persons

CJ for legislation onmissing persons issue

No timetable to enddrone attacks: USWASHINGTON—StateDepartment spokeswomanMarie Harf has said no timelinecould be provided to end droneattacks.

Briefing the newsmen inWashington, State Departmentspokeswoman Marie Harf saidthat US has made significantprogress against core al-Qaidaby using drones ascounterterrorism tools, but thatas we make that progress theneed to use these tools will, ofcourse, be reduced.

She said that Secretary ofState John Kerry has reinforced

PM performsUmra

MAKKAH—Prime MinisterMian Nawaz Sharif on Fridayperformed Umra in Makkah

PR to run fourspecial trains

on EidISLAMABAD—Pakistan Rail-ways would run four specialtrains on occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr to facilitate masses toreach their hometown to cel-ebrate Eid. According toschedule the first Eid trainwill operate between Karachiand Peshawar via Multan,Sahiwal and Raiwind and thistrain will leave Karachi at 11a.m on August 6 and will ar-rive at Peshawar Cantt at 9:30the next day.

Second train will leaveKarachi for Lahore viaMultan and Faisalabad at 11a.m on August 7 and it willreach its destination at 11:50a.m next day. Third Eid spe-cial has been scheduled fromQuetta for Rawalpindi viaMultan and Lahore and it willleave Quetta at 12 noon onAugust 6 and will reach itsdestination at 8 p.m on Au-gust 7.

The fourth Eid special trainwill be operated betweenPeshawar and Lahore on Au-gust 8 which will leavePeshawar at 12 noon and ar-rive at Lahore at 9:10 p.m onthe same day.—APP

112 drug peddlersarrested

FAISALABAD—Police ar-rested 112 accused and seizeda huge quantity of narcotics.Police seized 1,478 bottles ofliquor, over 2 kg charas and600 gram heroin, a policepress release said on Friday.

Lyallpur division policeregistered four cases andseized 121 bottles of liquorand 120 gram charas. Madinatown police division regis-tered 29 cases and seized 318bottles of liquor, 160 gramcharas and 209 gram heroin.Iqbal Town division regis-tered 52 cases and seized 667bottles of liquor, 1400 gramcharas and 510 grams heroin.Jarranwala division policeregistered 61 cases andseized 229 bottles of liquorand 150 gram charas. Saddarpolice division registered 11cases and seized 63 bottlesof liquor and 280 grams ofcharas.—APP

Inquiry teamstarts probe

into jailbreakDIKHAN—The inquiry teamconstituted by the KP Gov-ernment has started its workto probe into the incident thatled to the jailbreak incidentin DIKhan and subsequentrelease of around 250 prison-ers by the taliban militants ina bloody gun-battle.

The team headed by Se-nior Member Board of Rev-enue Waqar Ayub and con-sisted of Additional IG Spe-cial Branch Syed Akhtar AliShah and Special SecretaryHome Alamgir Shah heldmeetings with CommissionerDera and other high ups ofthe district administration.The team members apprisedthemselves of the incident.

The inquiry team latervisited the Dera Jail andchecked list of the prisonersand other records. The teammembers also met journalistsand updated themselves ofthe actual situation.—APP

Layyah eyesightinfection case: sevenpatients discharged

MULTAN—Seven of 13 pa-tients admitted to NistharMedical Institute (NMI) in-cluding four women andthree men, whose eyesightimproved, were dischargedduring the last three days.Head of Ophthalmology De-partment at NMI, Prof Dr IjazKanju told APP here on Fri-day that seven patients-3 onJuly 31, 3 on Aug 1 and oneon Friday (today) were dis-charged as they had im-proved a lot.

He added that among therest of the six patients, twowould be opearted upon onSaturday while four wouldcontinue medication. Askedabout the provision of medi-cines he said: “We have pro-vided top medicines to thepatients through local pur-chase.” “We have asked thedischarged patients to visitNMI as and when they feelany problem.—APP

PESHAWAR—The WorkingGroup on Local Governmentand Rural Development de-partment Khyber Pakhtunkhwahas approved the initial draftof recommendations which willsoon be presented to the ChiefMinister.

The meeting of the Work-ing Group was held inIslamabad at thePakhtunkhwa House, whichwas presided over by Minis-

ter Local Government,Inayatullah Khan and besidesothers provincial MinistersYousaf Ayub Khan, ShahramKhan Tarakai, MuhammadAtif, PTI leaders JahangirTarin, MNA ShafqatMahmud, MPAs Aneesa ZebTahirkhieli and Dr.Iqbal Khalil,Secretary Local Governmentand Rural DevelopmentHifzur Rahman, Commis-sioner Peshawar Sahibzada

Anees and chief economistShahab Khan participated.

The participants held de-tailed discussions over thestructure, finances, responsi-bilities, authority, working andmode of elections of differenttires of the proposed localgovernment system and de-cided to submit their initial re-port to the Chief Minister afterwhich these recommendationswill be finalized.—APP

Working group on LG finalizes draft

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor, En-gineer Shaukatullah has for-mally approved up-gradationof Mono Technical Institute,Bajaur to the status of a Poly-technic Institution whichfrom now onward will workas Government College ofTechnology, FATA and willlater be up-graded to a full-fledged Engineering Univer-sity to facilitate the studentsfrom entire FATA. The Gov-ernor also approved consti-tution of Board of Governors

of the College as well as cer-tain procedural matters re-quired to make the institutionfunctional.

The decision was takenduring a presentation madeby 45 Engineering Corps ofPak Army at a high level meet-ing held at Governor’sHouse, here which besideothers was also attended byGOC 45 Div and the Addi-tional Chief Secretary, FATA.The Governor was informedthat the college establishedin 1988 as Vocational Train-

ing Institute was re-desig-nated as Mono TechnologyInstitution in 2008 which af-terwards received seriousset-backs and damages inwake of militancy.

However, it was pointedout, the Engineering Corps ofPak Army rehabilitated it andits new campus was inaugu-rated in April, 2013 whereinthree year diploma courseswere also introduced. Pres-ently, it was added, 80 stu-dents are availing learningand training facilities.—APP

Governor upgrades MonoTechnical Institute in Bajaur

CHAKWAL—A father alleg-edly killed his son at villageWahola in Choa Sadan Shahpolice Station area on Friday.Sabir Ijaz lodged the com-plaint with police that his fa-ther Ijaz Feroze killed hisbrother Ehsan Ijaz due todomestic dispute.

The accused father

Father kills son over domestic disputestabbed his son with knife buthe died on the way to hospi-tal. After the autopsy, the bodywas handed over to familymembers. Police have regis-tered a case against the ac-cused. Swat: At least twopeople were killed and threeothers sustained injuries in apassenger van accident thatoccurred near Bahrain area,district Swat, private televisionchannels reported on Friday.

According to details, apassenger van was on itsway when suddenly the ill-fated van plunged into theriver Swat near Bahrain area.As a result, two people died

on the spot. The Rescue andpolice teams rushed to thesite of incident and shiftedthe dead and injured to anearby hospital.

Arifwala: A young mankilled his sister-in-law over adomestic issue in a nearbyvillage Marri Haebat earlymorning on Friday. Accord-ing to concerned police, ac-cused Babar Ali killed Khadijabibi, his brother’s wife with asharp edged weapon over afamily dispute and escapedfrom the scene. Police sent thebody for autopsy at RuralHealth Centre Qabula andstarted investigation.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Spokespersonof National Disaster Man-agement Authority (NDMA),Brig Kamran Zia Friday saidthat installation of early warn-ing system (EWS), wouldhelp provide informationabout water level, floods andreduce the risk of heavy dam-ages that may emerge afterheavy rain in low laying ar-eas. He said that NDMA isfully aware about the situa-tion emerged after the heavyrains and added that all-nec-essary arrangements havebeen finalized to meet anychallenges. He said that con-cerned authorities working indistricts are monitoring theheavy rains in their areas and

added they have full coordi-nation with the NDMA.

Talking to Pakistan Tele-vision channel, he said thatNDMA is fully alert to faceany challenges. He said thatMet Office and NDMA aresharing information aboutthe heavy rains and floodsin low laying areas, addingthat all necessary materialincluding shelter and blan-kets are available in the storesfor helping people.Dr.Muhammad Hanif, an ex-pert of Met Office said thatrain spell in some parts of thecountry includingBalochistan and Upper partswould continue for the next24 hours.

He said that people liv-ing in low laying areas or nearNullahs have been informedabout the situation. He saidthat early warning systemhave been installed to get up-to-date knowledge about thewater level. Meanwhile, theIndus River System Author-ity (IRSA) Friday released440,331 cusecs water for vari-ous rim stations with inflowof 498,069 cusecs. Accordingto the data released by IRSA,water level in the Indus Riverat Tarbela Dam was 1533.00feet, which was 155.00 feethigher than its dead level1378 feet. Water inflow in thedam was recorded as 284,300cusecs while outflow was re-

corded as 256,600 cusecs.The water level in

Jhelum River at Mangla Damwas 1210.65 feet, which was160.65 feet higher than itsdead level of 1040 feetwhereas the inflow and out-flow of water was recordedas 44,438 cusecs and 15,000cusecs respectively. The re-lease of water at Kalabagh,Taunsa and Sukkur was re-corded as 271,708, 225,933and 226,775 cusecs respec-tively. Similarly, from theKabul River, a total of 58,600cusecs of water was re-leased at Nowshera and110,731 cusecs releasedfrom the Chenab River atMarala.—APP

EWS to provide informationabout water level, floods: NDMA

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—On the appeal ofacting Chief Milli Yakjehti Coun-cil Allama Syed Sajid Ali NaqviAl-Quds day was observed allover the country where peaceloving people belonging to allfaith including Christian, Mus-lims and other communitiesjoined hands in this global andprestigious movement to ex-pose true face of Zionism andbarbarism.

Allama Sajid Naqvi saidin his Quds day messagesaid that the Al-Quds day isa day of solidarity with theoppressed innocent Pales-tinians in their struggleagainst the racist oppressiveZionist-Apartheid Regime(Israel). He said that he has

very serious concerns aboutthe financial aid being sentto Israel and the political anddiplomatic support providedby the US, Canadian and UKgovernment. He said unduesupport is used by the Israelto perpetrate oppression ofinnocent civilians, extend il-legal occupation, and in-crease horrific crimes againstinnocent civilians.

On the appeal of AllamaSajid Ali Naqvi protest andrallies were held across thecountry, demonstratorschanted “the people want thedestruction of Israel, stopbarbarism against innocentPalestinians”. Protestertorched Israeli flag and con-demned attack on holyshrines of niece of Prophet

Hazrat Muhammad (S.W.A)his companions (Ashab-o-Karam), D.I. Khan jailbreakincident and non- stoppableShia genocide.

Central Al-Quds ralliesstarted from Melody chowkto Aapara Chowk Hundredof people participated in thisprotest rallies, Allama ArifWahdi voice presidentMarkazi Al-Quds CommitteePakistan and Syed SikandarAbbas Gillani Advocate(Principal Secretary to AllamaNaqvi and a member ofMarkazi Al-Quds Commit-tee). Allama Ishfaq Waheediand Molna Qasim Jaffari leadthis central protest and saidthat today is day of peace andjustice loving individualsaround the country.

Al Quds Day observed

SALAHUDDIN HAIDER

DESPITE what hasbeen, or is being saidin some quarters,

M a m n o o nH u s a i n ’ selection asPresident isa happy au-gury for ac o u n t r y ,ruled for along time byfeudal land-

lords, army Generals, bu-reaucrats, because after thedeath of Quaid-e-Azam andhis closest aide Liaquat AliKhan, not many middleclass people were given achance to be at the top. In-stances are far and few and,if, middle class leadershipemerged for the covetedpost, it was mostly fromformer Eastern wing.

Khawaja Nazimuddin as gov-ernor general, HusseynShaheed Suhrawardy,Mohammad Ali Bogra asprime ministers.

The list is not that toolong to recount, but memoryoften betrays at this age.Ghulam Mohammad as gov-ernor general, ChaudhriMohammad Ali as prime min-ister, and Ghulam Ishaq Khanas elected President, were allfrom bureaucracy, and, lack-ing, therefore, the democraticcredentials. However creditgoes to Chaudhri MohammadAli for being honest, and forgenuinely working to estab-lish a democratic order, whichGhulam Mohammad by hisactions, had brought to a sick-ening state.

Chaudhri sahib, despitebeing a civil servant, recordedhis name in history for givingthe country its first democratic

Constitution in 1956 and prom-ising elections within two

years. Not many people wouldremember that he resigned hispost as prime minister merelybecause some people had helda black flag demonstrationagainst him in Thatta. He tookit so seriously that after driv-ing back to Karachi, he pre-

ferred to quit, rather than glu-ing to the seat. Prime Minis-ters kept changing after suchregular intervals that its pres-tige was rubbed in the dust.Thereafter began a series ofmartial laws in the countrythat eroded the very founda-tions of the State.

The least said the betterit would be for the period so-called Field Marshal AyubKhan, General Yahya, Gen-eral Ziaul Haq, or even Gen-eral Pervez Musharraf heldon to the post of the presi-dent purely on the force ofthe gun, but even Zulfikar AliBhutto can not be exoneratedfor his role in the govern-ment. A debate at this stagefor his role in the post-elec-tion Pakistan of the 70s, willbe futile, but it could be safelybe called “questionable”.

Mamnoon’s election is a happy augury

Mamnoon Husain

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PESHAWAR—The NationalAccountability Bureau KPhas recovered Rs 72.00 mil-lion through voluntary returnin the case of illegal purchaseof land executed by formerofficials of the Board of In-termediate and SecondaryEducation (BISE), D.I. Khanfrom the land owner, whileinquiry against the Board of-ficials, who are responsiblefor this illegal purchase, isunder process. The NAB hadreceived a complaint from theProvincial Governmentagainst, ex-officials of B.I.S.E,D.I.Khan and others regard-ing Corruption and Corruptpractices in acquisition and

purchase of land for B.I.S.E,D.I.Khan office.

Director General NAB(KP) took cognizance andconstituted an inquiry teamunder Ghazi Rahman, Addi-tional Director to conduct In-quiry into the matter. Duringinquiry it was established that,Ex-official of BISE, D.I.Khanin connivance with revenueofficials and a private landowner, purchased an unsuit-able land in sheer violation ofland acquisition Act 1984 atexorbitant rates of Rs.72.00million, causing huge loss tothe state exchequer.

The land even after pur-chase was never transferred or

mutated in the name of B.I.S.E,D.I. Khan for obvious malafideintentions. During inquiry,owner of the land availed theoption of voluntary return u/s25 A of National Accountabil-ity Ordinance, and depositedRs 72.00 million with NAB (KP)authorities. NAB (KP) InquiryTeam also held a meeting withCommissioner, D.I.Khan Divi-sion and Senior Member Boardof Revenue (SMBR) to facili-tate the land acquisition forD.I.Khan Board, preferably aGovernment land at nearbylocation to safeguard the pub-lic money and facilitate thegeneral public, visiting theBoard offices.—APP

NAB recovers Rs72m in DIKBISE land purchase scam

CHITRAL: A view of water flow in river near Ayun Valley after rains on Friday.

HYDERABAD: Workers of Tahreek Nifaz Fiqh-e-Jaffariya chanting anti US and Israel slo-gans during a rally to mark Youm Al Quds to express solidarity with the Palestinian Muslims.

Govt to end power crisisISLAMABAD—Member National Assem-bly of Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz(PML-N), Marvi Memon on Fridayvowed that government was workinground the clock to overcome energycrisis in Pakistan as it had direct bear-ing on economy. Talking to media shesaid that Prime Minister, Mian NawazSharif had introduced a competent teamto meet the challenge of loadshedding.Khawaj Asif was also devoted person,

she added. Marvi said that government was working toeradicate the gap between demand and supply of electric-ity. She said that government had taken all province onboard on energy policy. She urged the people to help gov-ernment for eliminating pilferage of electricity as it was anational responsibility. Joint efforts were needed to over-come power crisis, she said. She said that media shouldalso play its role to remove electricity theft. She said thatall provinces and federal government were on same pageto remove electricity stealing across the country. To a ques-tion, Memon said that her party had formulated a strategyfor five years, saying that people had given mandate toPML-N to overcome the challenges being faced by thecountry. The government was committed to ensure trans-parency in all affairs of ministry, she said, adding that in-creasing GDP was top priority of PML-N. She claimed thatloadshedding was being reduced gradually due to the se-rious steps being taken by the government. Meanwhile,energy expert Iftikhar Qaisrani has said that the new PML-N government is very serious towards generation of elec-tricity and the new Gaddani power plant is an example of it.Regarding the Gaddani power plant, he said while talkingto Radio Pakistan that it is an important initiative of thegovernment and it will play a positive role in meeting the3500 MW short fall which is being faced by the countrythis time.—APP

Minister inspects power projectPESHAWAR—Senior Minister KhyberPakhtunkhwa and provincial chairman,Qaumi Watan Party, Sikandar HayatSherpao Friday visited Katlang area ofMardan district and inspected MachaiHydro Power project, initiated under theaegis of Pakhtunkhwa Hydel Power Or-ganization (PHYDO). On the occasion,PHYDO’s Managing Director andProject Director briefed the Minister onthe significance of 2.6 megawatt power

project. The minister was told that Machai Hydro PowerProject would take 24 months to complete with an esti-mated cost of 683.50 million and it would generate 14 mil-lion units of energy annually. The minister on this occa-sion directed the officers concerned to complete this note-worthy project in stipulated time frame in the larger inter-est of the nation. He said the province was faced with anemergency situation with regard to electricity provisionand no negligence or undue delay would be tolerated insuch projects of national importance. Initiation of suchprojects, he said was a testimony to the fact that powergenerating projects could be carried out in these areas andit would definitely enhance the interest of foreign inves-tors to invest in this sector in our province. Meanwhile, itis reported that the Khyber Pakthunkhwa Minister for In-dustries and Labour and Qumi Watan Party leader, BakhtBaider Khan here Friday visited Lady Reading Hospitaland inquired after the health of injured blast victims ofParachinar blasts. Accompanied by Chief Executive LadyReading Hospital Peshawar Dr Arshad Javed, he remainedthere for sometimes and inquired after the health of injuredof Parachinar twin blasts in which more than 60 peoplewere killed and dozens injured.—APP

Testing facilities of NPSLISLAMABAD—Minister for Science andTechnology Zahid Hamid Friday saidthe government would support objec-tives of NPSL and up-grade its existingtesting facilities. He made these remarkswhile visiting National Physical andStandards Laboratory (NPSL) alongwith Federal Secretary, Ikhlaq Tarar,here.The minister emphasized upon the en-hancement of test calibration, measure-ment facilities for customers and final-

ization of National Physical and Standards Laboratory(NPSL) business plan. The Minister evinced keen interestin the activities carried out by NPSL and on-going project.He stressed the need for revision of the PC-1 of the BMRproject to address the emerging needs and requirements.He also desired to establish and maintain close liaisonwith the legal metrology department for effective enforce-ment of measurements standards. Director General NPSL,Shaheen Raja gave a comprehensive presentation aboutthe objectives and activities being carried out by NPSL.The secretary urged the management of NPSL to immedi-ately start visiting the industries and to increase the aware-ness. He stressed upon the need to raise the current vol-ume of self generated fund, by revising the prevailing ratesof services and to start moving towards becoming the self-sustained/financed organization. Federal Minister and Sec-retary visited the new upgraded Physical Metrology Labo-ratories, including state of the art metrology labs and ap-preciated the services of NPSL for the promotion of indus-try, trade and exports. The Chairman PCSIR Dr. ShoukatPervaiz and senior officers of the organization were alsopresent on the occasion.—APP

Restrictions on GilaniISLAMABAD—In Indian Held Kashmir,the forum patronised by the veteranHurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani hasurged the authorities to ease restrictionson their veteran leader, at least, on twoholy occasions of Jumat-ul-wida andEid-ul-Fitr to offer special obligatoryprayers. According to KMS, the authori-ties have imposed more stringent restric-tions on Syed Ali Gilani after his speechat Jamia Masjid Hyderpora in Srinagar

on July 28. The spokesman for the forum, Ayaz Akbarsaid:”Police have locked the gate of Gilani’s residence fromoutside to curtail the movement of visitors and those whoare allowed entry that too only after frisking and question-ing.” Chairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference, MirwaizUmar Farooq has demanded of the authorities to provideessential commodities to the people of Indian Held Kash-mir in the holy month of Ramadan. Addressing gatheringat Mahraj Bazaar in Srinagar he said “The black- marketingis going on unchecked and traffic snarls and shortages inwater supply have created tremendous problem for thepeople”, reported Kashmir Media service. Even keroseneand rice are not available in stores in the holy month, hesaid. The Mirwaiz said that the occupation authorities weredeliberately ignoring the development of historical Srinagarcity under political vendetta. “The roads and pavementsare not being repaired neither there is a good drainagesystem in the city,” he added. “Nobody is taking care ofthe under privileged people in Kashmir,” he deplored.Stressing immediate release of the youth, the veteranHurriyet leader said that the Chief Minister of the territory,Omar Abdullah was nothing more than a show boy andpowers were with India Army and police.—APP

HYDERABAD—The people ofHyderabad are making finalpreparations to celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr with traditional zeal,enthusiasm and festivity likeother parts of the country. Eidshopping has reached a peakwith great rush witnessed inalmost all shopping areas in-cluding Resham Bazaar,Shahi Bazaar, Cantonment,Qasimabad Shopping Cen-tre, Gul Centre and LatifabadUnit No-8 where the peoplewere seeing busy in shop-ping.

The Eid shopping willcontinue till the early hoursof the Eid day. The high pricesof rice, onion, chilli, veg-etables and other essentialcommodities this year hasbadly hit the common manand many are in a fix how tomanage the extra expendi-

tures for Eid shopping withintheir budget. In Hyderabad,clothes, footwear, cosmetics,spices and many other goodshave bedecked the shelvesof many shops and swampedmarkets in the city.

Some shopkeepers saidon Saturday that the saleswere picking up since the20th of Ramazan and the buy-ers said they were disheart-ened by the price hike of allgoods this year. The make-shift footpath markets inbusy Resham Bazaar, ClothMarket, Resham Gali, Al-Noor Shopping Centre, TilakIncline and other busy spotsof the of the city are yet togain a shopping momentum.

The people of low-in-come brackets normallycrowd the footpath marketsmuch ahead of the Eid festi-

val. But they looked dull tillFriday. Earlier sale of variousitems was very low in differ-ent markets in the districtsince the beginning ofRamazan. With the approach-ing of Eid-ul-Fitr a buyingfrenzy is noticed at all theshops in different parts of thecity.

Eid is the most enjoyableoccasion to the Muslims. Ev-eryone tries to buy new cloth-ing within his or her budgeton Eid- ul- Fitr. Targeting thesecustomers shopkeepers deco-rate their shops with newdresses before Eid-ul-fitr. Afew years ago, importedclothing used to fill up themarkets during Eid time butnow the trend is changed anddomestic products are gettingmore preference than foreignproducts.—APP

Six FESCOemployeessuspended

FAISALABAD—Chief Execu-tive Faisalabad Electric Sup-ply Company (FESCO) DrRana Abdul Jabbar Khan hassuspended six employees,including a sub-divisionalofficer (SDO) on charges ofdelinquency, negligence andpatronizing power pilferers. AFESCO spokesman told hereon Friday that the FESCOchief conducted raid at LalianSub Division and found anice factory was using elec-tricity as its connection wasdetached.

The FESCO chief heldSDO (Operation) LalianaImtiaz Ahmad Ghumman re-sponsible for power pilferagein the ice factory.—APP

PESHAWAR—The detectionteams have been constitutedfor removing illegal electricityconnections under the in-structions of Chief ExecutivePESCO Tariq Saddozai to takeaction throughout the prov-ince. In this connection a teamheaded by SDO Town-2 SubDivision Peshawar ZamanKhan Afridi raided differentareas of Tehkal and GharibAbad and caught red handeda private hostel “Marjan Hos-tel” Dohbi Ghaat using directhook.

Similarly four othershops and houses were alsonotified while stealing elec-

tricity through direct hooks.Concerned Police Stationshave been asked to lodgeFIRs against electricity steal-ers. Chief Executive PESCOinstructed the detectionteams to gear up the driveagainst illegal use of electric-ity and root out the powerpilferage and kunda culture& recovery from defaultersso that the company’s linelosses could be controlled.

Multan: Multan ElectricPower Company (MEPCO)recovered Rs 47 million finefrom 937 power pilferers dur-ing July. According tosources, MEPCO teams re-

covered over Rs 20 millionfine from 70 domestic, com-mercial, industrial and tube-well consumers in MEPCOCantt areas from July 1 to 31and 27 cases were registered.

A fine over Rs five mil-lion was received from 155power pilferers atMumtazabad division and 69FIRs were lodged, Rs 4 mil-lion from 122 power pilferersat City division and 24 casesregistered, Rs 8 million recov-ered from Musa Pak divisionand 45 cases registered, fineover one million rupees from132 power pilferers atShujabad division.—APP

Drive against illegal use of electricity in full swing

MEPCO recovers Rs 47m finefrom 937 power pilferers

PESHAWAR—Commissioner,Hazara Division, Abid AliKhan has directed districtand revenue authorities ofMansehra for immediatepreparation of strategy forthe allotment of 1600 plotsin the earthquake affectedpeople in Balakot city atBakrial. He issued these di-rectives during a briefing onthe occasion of his visit toNew Balakot City at Bakrial,Mansehra Friday.

The divisional commis-sioner also directed for con-sultations with the represen-tatives of earthquake af-fected people in finalizingprocedure for allotment ofthe plots and prevent any

kind of injustice. He directedthe allotment with immediateeffect. The commissioneralso directed the authoritiesof Earthquake Reconstruc-tion and Rehabilitation Au-thority (ERRA) for accelera-tion the pace of provision ofnecessary facilities in the al-ready completed sectors. Hesaid that every sector shouldhave separate system forwater, sewerage, electricityand other civic facilities.

Getting information re-garding difficulties and prob-lems regarding completion ofthe project, CommissionerHazara said there should beno further delay in the allot-ment of plots to the affectees

and provision of basic facili-ties in the already completedsectors. The commissionerexpressed sorrow and con-cern over the not handingover the land by the ownersdespite acceptance of de-mands and receiving a hugeamount of Rs.1.5 billion. Hesaid that such kind of atti-tude is not only acceptableto government, but the plotdeserving people are alsousurped.

He directed the projectmanagement and district ad-ministration for presenting aformal detailed report in thisregard and took measures forpreventing such kind of mea-sures.—APP

Authorities directed for strategyon plots allotment in New Balakot

Shopping at peak as citizensmake final Eid preparations

ISLAMABAD—The Meteoro-logical Department Fridayforecast scattered rain withthundershowers in KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Kashmir andUpper Punjab during next 24hours that would hopefullybring the temperature down.According to Spokesman ofMet Office here, rain withthunderstorm is expected inKashmir, Islamabad, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Sindh, Kalatand Makran divisions due toseasonal low lies over North-west Balochistan and adjoin-ing areas whereas monsooncurrents are penetrating intoupper and central parts of thecountry.

He said rain at isolatedplaces of Nasirabad, Sibbiand Gilgit-Baltistan whileheavy rain fall in Kashmir,Northeast Punjab and Kalatdivisions is also predicted innext 24 hours. The weatherof Abbottabad, DI Khan,Mardan, Parachinar,Peshawar and Nowshera willremain partly cloudy withchances of rain with thunder-showers during the said pe-riod.

In next 48 hours, he saidrain-thundershower is ex-pected at Isolated places of

Kashmir, Islamabad, UpperPunjab( Rawalpindi,Gujranwala, Lahore divi-sions) KP, NortheastBalochistan, Sindh andSouth Punjab. Scattered rain-thundershower occurred inPunjab, KP, Kashmir and

Northeast Balochistan.Maximum 73 milimeter

rain was received by Kotlifollowed by Murree 71,Sialkot (Cantt), Gujranwala,Garhi Dupatta 70, Rawalakot55, Dir 47, Saidu Sharif 43,Malamjabba 38, Sialkot (A/P)33, Kakul 31, Joharabad 26,Islamabad (Saidpur) 23,Khuzdar, Sibbi 19, Gujrat 16,Mandibahaudin 15,Islamabad (Golra) 14,Lasbella 12, Lower Dir 09,Islamabad (Z/P), NoorpurThal 8, Lahore (A/P), Astore,Islamabad (Bokra) 7,Parachinar 05, Bannu,Jhelum, Kalam, Mirkhani,Sargodha 4, Balakot.—APP

Scattered rain to continue

ISLAMABAD—The NationalDatabase and RegistrationAuthoity (NADRA) is set tostart issuing chip-basedSmart National IdentityCards for children of undereighteen. According to apress release, the smart cardsfor children, having morevalue added services, arebeing issued after the suc-cessful launch of Chip-Based Smart National Iden-tity Cards (SNIC) for the adultpopulation of the country.

The Child RegistrationCertificate (CRC) would re-main valid and NADRA

would continue issuing thesame as per current regis-tration policy. The launch ofstate of the art Smart Iden-tity Card is to extend an ex-perience of Hi-Tech secu-rity solution for the protec-tion of juveniles’ identity.Chairman NADRA TariqMalik said the chip-basedSmart Identity Card for thechildren will offer multi-di-mensional usage and ser-vices, health, educational,social and financial inclu-sion programs.

The new card for chil-dren would be capable of

holding applications anddata from the health, edu-cation and social sectorsuch as vaccinationrecords, academic recordsand polio registrations, headded. Malik said the intro-duction of a Smart IdentityCard will be beneficial forboth the citizens and theGovernment of Pakistan notonly as an identity docu-ment but also as a mediumof storing data from thehealth, education and socialsector on the chip.

He said, “The card will beclearly marked as valid for

“Under 18” till the child’s dateof 18th birthday and incor-porate all features of a SmartNIC for citizens includingphotograph, name, father’sname, date of birth and ad-dress. Biometrics shall becaptured for children over theage of 15 as per the specifiedaccepted age of juvenile bio-metrics for the AutomatedFingerprint IdentificationSystem (AFIS).

Such Child Smart Cardcarrying biometrics datashall be valid beyond theage of 18 as Smart NICsalso. Malik said that like

smart identity card this cardwill also be the safest andmost secure because it can-not be replicated or forged.He said a chip will be fittedinto the card which helpsthe government to provideall out facilities like healthand education record, lifeinsurance and financial as-sistance in case of calamityto this specific segment ofsociety.

NADRA currently issuesChild Registration Certificate(CRC) for registration of chil-dren under the age of 18. CRCis printed on A4 sized secure

paper holding the child’sname, gender and date ofbirth. There is no picture ofthe child on the CRC. How-ever, the new Smart Card willcarry child’s picture with bio-metrics record. This card isnot mandatory. CRC (B-Form) shall remain valid andNADRA shall continue to is-sue the same as per registra-tion policy in vogue.

“NADRA is empoweringgovernment with a medium totransform into a welfare stateby launching multi-facedSmart Card platform”, saidTariq Malik.—APP

NADRA launches smart identity cards for children

MULTAN—The district gov-ernment has decided to de-molish 116 old buildings outof 585 of the wall city toavoid life and property lossesdue to their possible col-lapse. Addressing the Dis-trict Emergency Board meet-ing here on Friday, DistrictCoordination Officer (DCO),Syed Gulzar Hussain Shahdirected Musa Pak Town ad-ministration to forward de-molish notices to the ownersof 116 old buildings, other-wise, the district govt woulddemolish them.

He expressed sorrow that

District govt to demolish116 old buildings

no one took notice of the is-sue in past and precious liveshad been lost every year dueto collapse of old buildings.He said if the building own-ers did not demolish thebuildings voluntarily, thedistrict govt would seek ten-ders from contractorsthrough advertisement andmoney would be paid to con-tractors by selling debris ofbuildings. DO Civil Defence,Rana Tariq Waheed, briefedthe DCO that 585 buildingsof the wall city were declareddangerous while 116 werekept in A category.—APP

KARACHI: Patients being registered for treatment on board Chinese Navy Hospital Ship ‘Peace Ark’.

MULTAN: Students keenly listening to the address of Bishop Dr Andrew Frances dur-ing first annual Children Peace Festival week at Catholic Church.

QUETTA: Activists of Jamat-e-Islami hold a demonstration against killing of Muslimsin Egypt.

Kerry’s illogical stanceon drones & Morsi

US Secretary of State John Kerry held extensive discussions withthe President, the Prime Minister, the Army Chief and head of theISI on bilateral as well as regional security situation and it will

take some time to assess its outcome and the impact in real terms but onething is quite sure that some of the public pronouncements of the USofficial have not gone well with the overwhelming public opinion inPakistan as these are being viewed as an affront and reflected the sameold arrogance that is generally associated with the word ‘superpower’.A case in point is the justification he has offered for continuation of theillegal and immoral drone strikes that are rightly perceived as nakedaggression against the country and barefaced support to murder of de-mocracy in Egypt.

It is ironical that the visit of the US Secretary of State was resched-uled time and again and when it did take place the much-awaited visitapparently widened the gaps than bridging them on critical issues espe-cially from Pakistani point of view. For years, Americans have been leak-ing out information to their media to rebut public criticism of the droneattacks in Pakistan by claiming that there was tacit understanding withPakistani authorities concerned. But now it is well known to every Paki-stani that the parties in power both at the Centre and in the KP are deadlyagainst these violations of the country’s sovereignty and have categori-cally conveyed to the United States that these are unacceptable. Thisclearly means that the element of connivance is no more there and Wash-ington must respect will of the people of Pakistan but it still insists ontarget killing of people as terrorists do in Karachi, Quetta and elsewherein the country. Kerry has a strange logic to offer: Washington is tram-pling sovereignty of Pakistan as Al-Qaeda and other militants violate thesovereignty of the country on daily basis. It means there is no differencebetween a terrorist outfit and a state and that too the superpower which issupposed to serve as a role model. How can you carry out attacks againsta sovereign and independent country without sanction from the UN Se-curity Council? Similarly, you claim to be champion of democracy butsupport military intervention in Egypt on the plea that a few thousandpeople came out on streets against a popularly elected Government andthe President. Why don’t you apply the same standard to massive pro-tests in Egypt against dismissal of Morsi Government in which hundredsof people have brazenly been fired upon and killed? What a shallow andself-centred approach to these issues!

While brainstorming isbeing done on LG systemTHE Punjab Assembly has completed general discussion on the draft

bill for new local government system in the province with MinisterRana Sanaullah making a commitment to incorporate all workable sug-gestions offered both by treasury and the opposition members during thedebate. Only final draft would reveal to what extent the Governmentfulfils its pledge.

The provinces have surely been dragging their feet on holding ofthe local body elections as they failed to devise a new system to re-place the one introduced by former President Musharraf in 2001. Freshelections were due in 2009, which were not held and in early 2010 allthe four provinces suspended the elected local bodies and tasked ad-ministrators to manage their affairs till elections were held but theydid not move towards that end until the Supreme Court took noticeand gave clear instructions to the provinces to hold LB polls and theyare now in the process of framing the law for the purpose. However,the models presented by Punjab, Sindh and KP are somewhat differ-ent and might create problems in future. All the models have somegood and bad elements and efforts must be made to incorporate theirgood things in one unified model that should be adopted by all theprovinces for the sake of homogeneity and strengthening of the fed-eration. Local bodies are necessarily a part and parcel of democracy.It would be in the fitness of things if local governments are devolvedadministrative, financial and even judicial powers to sort out thingsat the local level so that the higher tiers of governance and judiciaryare not burdened with unnecessary issues and petty litigation.

Inflation about tocross red lines!

A media report reveals that the very first month of the new Government and the new fiscal year shocked the architects of fiscal and

monetary policy as inflation crossed the redline set for the entire finan-cial year 2013-14. Experts say the situation would assume alarming di-mensions in the months to come because of cumulative effect of a com-bination of measures taken by the new Government.

There can be no two opinions that the steps taken by the Governmentat the cost of its popularity are designed to put the economy back on trackand prevent nose-dive. However, it is also a fact that instead of evolu-tionary approach, the Government has taken a series of measures in onego without realizing their impact on the common man. As if increase inthe rate of GST, import duty and income tax was not enough, the Gov-ernment also decided to massively jack up electricity and gas tariff for allcategories of consumers and allowed phenomenal increase in the price ofPOL products and as a consequence there is sharp rise in prices. At thesame time, subsidies have either been withdrawn or slashed and the bud-get offered only peanut to fixed income groups as salaries were increasedby a negligible margin of ten percent. We hope that the economic team ofthe Government, led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, would look into thesituation and take remedial measures to provide relief to the people.

Sinister designs against Pakistan

A drowning man willclutch at a straw.

Pakistan’spower crisis

RAMPANT bomb attacks,drive-by shootings,kidnappings, mobile snatch-

ing — on the face of it, nothing canbe worse. But for most ordinary Pa-kistanis, the biggest complaint isnot the deteriorating law and ordersituation in the country, but thechronic power outages that haveaffected virtually every householdand have eaten up a sizeable chunkof the economy. Perhaps the big-gest challenge for the newly electedgovernment of Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif is to overcome powercrisis that, according to govt’s Eco-nomic Survey, wiped out two percent of the country’s GDP in thefiscal year 2012-13.

The hours of power cuts youface depend on where you live,with many cities going withoutelectricity for up to 16 hours. Evenindustries have been hard hit. Thesepower cuts, analysts say, havedoubled over the last five years,resulting in regular, angry protestswhich often turn violent. But forthe government, the issue has beena reality check. When in opposition,the Pakistan Muslim League–Nwas a vocal critic of the previousgovernment, but since assumingpower it has repeatedly said that thepower crisis cannot be resolvedanytime soon.

The issues in Pakistan’s powersector are not simple. Firstly, thecountry does not produce enoughelectricity to meet its demand. Thenthere are leakages through linelosses as well as rampant electric-ity theft. And then there is the cir-cular debt — where the governmentdid not pay power generation com-panies for the electricity it doesconsume, who in turn were unableto pay their overheads. The govern-ment has admitted that it will needat least three to four years to over-come the crisis completely.

The government will need totake some unpopular steps, risk-ing political backlash, but analystssay there’s no other choice. It hasalready agreed with the IMF to endpower sector subsidies graduallyover next three years, whichmeans it will need to raise powertariff significantly. However, nomatter what intentions are, the taskis uphill and will require a con-certed and focused effort on partof government.—Khaleej Times

*****

Kerry mustrebuild trustin Pakistan

It would be a mistake for thetalks between US Secretary ofState John Kerry and Pakistan’s

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to belimited to the delicate issue of theUS using drones to assassinate ter-rorist leaders. The ties between theUS and Pakistan were taken closeto breaking point when Al-Qaedachief Osama Bin Laden was killedin a US raid in northwest Pakistan.The operation was carried out bythe Americans without the knowl-edge or approval of the Pakistanis.An important part of Kerry’s visitwill be to reassure the Pakistanisthat they can trust the Americansand that they can work together.

Kerry will not be able to makemuch headway on the issue ofdrones even if it is a major irritantand has done more to mobilise anti-American feeling than almost any-thing else. Unfortunately, PresidentBarack Obama has backed thedrone attacks, and the Americanmilitary establishment sees them asa valuable addition to their arsenal.Obama has said the strikes werepart of a legitimate campaignagainst terrorism, although hepledged more transparency andstricter targeting rules.

Therefore, Kerry is expectedto refuse Sharif’s demands to endsuch attacks. He has said that theattacks violate Pakistan’scountry’s sovereignty, but sadly itis hard to know if Sharif is beinggenuine when he makes his pub-lic statements against drones. Itmay very well be that he will agreein private with the Americans tocontinue the attacks, maybe morecarefully, since the Americans andhe do not want the terrorists toprosper. So Kerry will have tomake joint plans with Sharif onhow to manage the effects on re-gional security of the American-led NATO withdrawal from Af-ghanistan next year. —Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

—Proverb

For some time, the US, western countries and Indiajoined hands to keep Paki-

stan under the throes of violenceand turmoil through their intelli-gence agencies. However, thereseems to be a change in the atti-tude of the US and the West for awhile, as they need Pakistan for asmooth exit of their troops fromAfghanistan without the stigma ofa defeat like the one in Vietnam.India, however, continues its pro-paganda against Pakistan.Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh(RSS) and other extremist Hindugroups in their fresh propagandacampaign insinuated against ISIfor its alleged efforts to reactivateterrorists’ network in India tolaunch attacks on Hindu leaders.Intelligence Bureau’s media advi-sory has suggested that since RSSchief Mohan Bhagwat is facedwith a high degree of threat fromISI, therefore the respective stateshe visits must provide adequate se-curity by arranging fool-proof se-curity ring for him when he is trav-eling in their jurisdictions.

So-called friends as well as en-emies of Pakistan wish to weakenPakistan, and to achieve their ne-farious design they have startedtheir sinister campaign againstmilitary and intelligence agencies.IB and Indian domestic mediahave also suggested to Indian gov-ernment that in view of current se-curity situation and looming threatof ISI-backed terror outfits, fullprecautions must be taken. Indianmedia and politicos successfully

Relax, Pakistan is not a fragile State

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Sunday Magazine

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

Michael Foucault arguesthat the constitutive metaphor of modern gover-

nance is the ship; from the seven-teenth century onwards, politicshad been guiding the ship of thestate to a safe a harbour.(Governmentality). Under thecurrent security environment, thepolitics of error has made that safeharbour disappeared from the ho-rizon. The recent visit of the USSecretary of State, John Kerry re-flects that even the representativeof the most powerful governmentin the world narrates a story be-fore plan a serious engagement.For all the upheavals and changesthat constitute the contemporaryPak-US relations, the basic policypattern is about giving upheavalsmeanings and changes a sense ofdirection in future strategic dia-logue. From negotiating with theTaliban to assigning military roleto India in Afghanistan and, fromhelping in counter terrorism strat-egy to end drone strikes “verysoon”, all narratives hint at “hap-pening now” scheme. The sub-stance to a sustainable strategicpartnership is omitted.

The defining narrative ap-pears to be related to constructpeace around a lead role of Indiain South Asia. This concept isrisky because planning to elimi-nate risks requires a functional

built misperceptionsabout Pakistan/ISI afterParliament attacks(2001) and Mumbai at-tacks (2008). Recent de-velopments, however,have exposed Indian gov-ernment for having stage-managed/orchestratedthese attacks and shifted

the blame to Pakistan.Since 26/11 Mumbai blasts, In-

dia continued its propaganda blitzagainst Pakistan alleging its in-volvement in terrorists’ attacks inIndia. Of course, Pakistan has beenincessantly demanding of Indiathat it should formally inform Pa-kistan regarding the Samjhota Ex-press probe and to ask the court toexpedite verdict on the caseagainst Hindutva terrorists andbring them to early justice. Allalong, India has been officiallydenying any link of Hindu extrem-ists with the mayhem, death andcarnage resulting from the blastsand instead tried to shift the blamefor the heinous crime to the Stu-dents Islamic Movement of India(SIMI). In August 2011, key fig-ure in Hindutva network and leaderof Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sanghhad confessed before a magistratethat he along with other Hindu ac-tivists was involved in theMalegon, Samjhota Express,Ajmer and Mecca Masjid bomb-ings. Indian weekly Tehelka maga-zine had stated that his confessionunraveled the inner workings ofthe Hindutva terror network.

He was arrested by the CentralBureau of Investigation (CBI) fromHaridwar in November, has admit-ted to having planned terror attackson Ajmer Sharif, Mecca Masjid,Malegaon and the Samjhota Ex-press. In his confession, recordedunder Section 164 of the CriminalProcedure Code before Metropoli-tan Magistrate Deepak Dabas at TisHazari courts on 18th December

2010, the arrested RashtriyaSwayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leaderconfessed that he and other Hinduactivists were involved in bomb-ings at Muslim religious placesbecause they wanted to answerevery Islamist terror act with “abomb for bomb” policy. Anyhow,after four years of dilly-dallying,India officially admitted in April2010 that the Hindutva brigade ofthe extremist group AbhinavBharat, of which Indian Army’sserving officer, Lieutenant Colo-nel Shrikant Prasad Purohit, anactive member, was responsible forthe bombings on board the Paki-stan-bound Samjhota Express.

The report had confirmed thecomplicity of the Hindu extremistgroup Abhinav Bharat, IndianArmy officers of the ilk of Lieu-tenant Colonel Purohit, who actu-ally supplied the explosive material,military-grade explosive RDX, andother Hindu radicals, who had plot-ted and executed the heinous crimesagainst humanity as part of theircampaign of ethnic cleansing ofMuslims. Purohit and retired armyMajor Samir Kulkarni had alsohelped train the alleged bombers.In November 2008, when the AntiTerrorist Squad (ATS) of Mumbaihad arrested Lieutenant ColonelPurohit for his involvment in thebombings, the BJP had denouncedthe ATS as traitors. Bal Thackeray,the supremo of the Shiv Sena, alongtime ally of the BJP, had forth-rightly accused the ATS of framingthe Malegaon bombing accused.“What Pakistan was not able to doin the last 20 years,” declared Modi,“the Manmohan Singh governmenthas achieved in just 20 days. Theyhave succeeded in branding our sol-diers as terrorists.”

It has to be mentioned thatHaimant Karkare, the head of theMumbai ATS was assassinated byIndian commandos in the garb offighting terrorists during the No-

vember 26, 2008 Mumbai attacks.There have been voices in Indiademanding proper investigationto unearth the culprits behindMalegaon blasts and the linkagebetween the army officers andHindu extremist organizations.Putting an end to all speculations,the anti-terror branch of MumbaiPolice had said that Army RDXwas used and not supplied fromacross the border, which vindi-cated Pakistan’s position. Thereis now substantial evidence thatPurohit procured 60 kg of RDXfrom Jammu and Kashmir in theyear 2006, a part of which is sus-pected to have been used inSamjhota Express train explosionand Malegaon blasts.Maharashtra police had told thecourt that Purohit gave a part ofthe RDX to one Bhagwan whowas suspected to have used it inSamjhota Express blast.

Whereas, America and theWest have been pressurizing Pa-kistan to cooperate with India andbring the masterminds behindMumbai attacks to justice, theydo not consider it worthwhile totell India to bring those involvedin Samjhota Express and otherbombings to justice. Those whowere behind the attack on BabariMasjid and also killings of Mus-lims in Gujarat have gone scot-free. Christian groups also accusethe RSS alongside its close affili-ates, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP), the Bajrang Dal (BD) andthe Hindu Jagaran Sammukhya(HJS) of participation in the 2008Religious violence in Orissa, andnothing has been done to ensurefundamental rights to Christiansand other minorities. Of course,Muslims in Kashmir are theworst sufferers at the hands ofHindu extremists and the state inequal measure.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

plan. From the regionaland Pakistani perspective,placing hostile forces, inorder to grant protectionand peace to Afghanistanwill be a failed policy. Per-haps, under the surface of

risk calculations, the US andNATO may have plans to withdrawfrom new kinds of threats and war-fare OR establishing a wider sup-port system to manage the vital air/sea routes of the region. MichaelKugelman, an analyst at theWoodrow Wilson InternationalCenter think tank, said “he believedWashington had no intention ofending drone strikes in Pakistanbefore the end of 2014, when itpulls troops out of neighboring Af-ghanistan”. “Behind the bonhomie,trouble lurks,”…“Instead of de-picting Kerry’s Pakistan visit as aprelude to an extended period ofgoodwill, we should simply regardit as a respite from the tensions...”,although Mr. Kerry announced there-launching of the US-PakistanStrategic Dialogue, broad basedtalks focused on security, economicand development issues.

For Pakistan, forming a coher-ent national security narrativeabout what would happen in thepost-2014must be framed on thebasis of both internal and externalthreats. In the next six months,Pakistan’s vulnerabilities in thefields of energy and counter terror-ism could take the battle of policymaking at all domestic and inter-national platforms. How politicalparties and other institutions re-sponse to this difficult situationwill ultimately decide the fate of

Pakistan’s next generations. Com-paratively, the link between mak-ing a comprehensive national secu-rity policy and relations with the USis a direct one, which is often re-ferred to describe Afghan-Indianexus against a peaceful pull out ofthe US troops in 2014.

Whereas, the revolution in con-ducting military affairs by the USgives President Obama authority touse precision weapon and drones;the US faces great risks in manag-ing such a doctrine in the long-term.This leads to a timely questionwhether the US is making “Chinaincreases its defence spending, andthis may lead the US to a pre-emp-tion-trap. For Pakistan, there aremany reasons to frame its indepen-dent foreign and security policiesbecause concept of anticipatory de-fence and shifting balance of powercould become a source of perma-nent instability in Afghanistan. Ad-ditionally, the US and Europeanbacking for military and informationoperations throughout the MiddleEast have a damaging influence onthe political and diplomatic capac-ity of countries such as Pakistan. The“pulling out” mission” from Af-ghanistan in 2014 and the subse-quent “support role” of the US mili-tary to Afghan National SecurityForce (AFNS)is tearing the confi-dence of policy makers apart, be-cause once again the US is busy inexpanding its post-2014 mandate,rather than reenergizing the nego-tiation process with the Taliban.

Domestically, while the war onterror and national security policymaking have opened up a new dis-course over the capacity of civilian

and military intelligence services,the notion of Pakistan becominga fragile state is being propagatedby our friends and foes. The in-creasing risk and moral hazard toundermine such type of informa-tion operation relates to the slimrole of ordinary citizens, civil so-ciety and media. Media’s exagger-ated enthusiasm to capitalize oninternal security weaknesses willonly harm the civil-military rela-tions. Realistically, it is just be-coming fashionable for the majormedia outlets to deliberatelyspread despair and response to theongoing conflict in a manner inwhich “doing nothing at all”, butdebating every aspect of policythat may destabilize and legitimizethe views of non-state actors. Tobe concluded, despite all the de-lays and failures, Pakistan’s demo-cratic and military institutions areseriously debating the formulationof a viable security policy.

The economic-based securityapproach could be a useful modelfor future policy planning. Therecent Pak-Chinese trade andeconomic agreements, Pak-Irangas pipeline and efforts to estab-lish serious intelligence and re-source sharing system betweencivil and military agencies shouldsend a positive signal to the out-side world that, “relax Pakistanis not becoming a fragile state”.The end of hope and less coop-eration therefore should not bethe options for the democratic andmilitary institutions.—The author is a Denmark-based national security expertand defence analyst.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

Rana Athar Javed Email: ma_javed@hotmail.com

Voice of the People

Loyal to anindividual!FAREED A SIDDIQUI

The board members of PIA resignafter their mentor Aviation advisorto Prime Minister did so. When Iread this news I just asked myself ifall the media mentioned regardinghaving all loyals to Shujat Azeem(cronies) was correct to the core.Those who resigned confirmed thatthey were not loyal to their country,PM or even PIA but to ShujatAzeem.

Better late than never, the Govtnow has a chance to appoint trueprofessionals and some people at lastwho should be loyal to the countryand not individuals.—Via email

Status ofI-15 Sector

A CITIZEN

A news published in a local UrduDaily of Rawalpindi stated that“National Accountability Bureau(NAB) has ordered report on theMoU of Rs 60 billion project of I-15 Sector. It was also reported thatthe sector will consist of 6,000 flats.Since then, no good news has beenheard from CDA or NAB. We, theallottees of I-15 Sector are waitingfor commencement of developmentwork as the allotments were issuedby the CDA to the allottees on19.10.2006. Even after passage ofabout seven years no developmentwork has started.

The CDA Chairman requestedto apprise us of the present statusof the project or NAB authoritiesgive a statement on the implemen-tation status of its earlier directives.—Islamabad

Sindhprovince’s plight

HASHIM ABRO

Sindh province is confronting aplethora of chronic problems butrapid population growth, extremepoverty and poor governance hasdevastated the peaceful and progres-sive Sindhi society.

It is a painful reality that ourrulers and bureaucrats are unable tounderstand the axiomatic truth ofhuman resources management andgood governance that without im-proving good governance it will notbe possible to stabilize the alarmingpopulation growth rate and eradicateextreme poverty from the resources-rich province.

Indeed, Sindh is not poor , it isan enviably resources-rich provincein Pakistan but it has been a politicsof successive past rulers and eventhe present one to keep its peoplepoor because the poor and illiteratepeople can easily be exploited to per-petuate the feudal framework or ar-istocracy , plutocracy orwaderacracy in Sindh province.—Islamabad

Jail break —sheer negligence

MUKHTAR AGHMED

Your editorial “Rising incidents ofjail storming” has brought onething in to focus that governmenthas miserably failed to safeguardhigh profile militants and criminalswho are apprehended with greatdifficulty and with loss of humanlives. This is not a case in isolationit has become regular featurethroughout the country to attackjails and free the prisoners.

Might not always rightALI ASHRAF KHAN

Bradley Manning, a 25 years young man and soldier of the US army blew the whistle by forwardingtop secret documents to Wikileaks among them most famously a video called ‘collateral murder’.

The video showed an American helicopter firing on a group of men in Baghdad. One of the men was ajournalist, and two other men were Reuter employees carrying cameras that the pilots mistook for ananti-tank grenade launcher (RPG-7). The helicopter also fired on a van that stopped to help the injuredmembers of the first group; two children in the van were wounded and their father killed. According toManning’s written memo to the court, he also provided Wikileaks with a classified video of the Granaiairstrike. The airstrike occurred on May 4, 2009, in the village of Granai in Afghanistan, killing 86–147Afghan civilians. Other leaked documents included top secret diplomatic cables and Guantanamo files.Bradley Manning was arrested some 3 years back when he was just 22. A short height but courageoussmart guy became the first whistle blower to awaken the sleeping conscience of world where might hasbecome right under the influence of glittering dollar. Thus disclosing the war crimes of the US army andgovernment he became a persona non grata persecuted by the US state apparatus; he had to be pun-ished so as to prevent others to do the same. The country that claims to be a horst of freedom and humanrights and is taking the right to challenge others on that account turns out to be one of the worst humanright abusers itself and if anybody dares to say this and prove this openly, he will be criminalized andprosecuted and sent to jail for the rest of his life. That is what happened to Manning who prior to his trialwas held for 11 months in solitary confinement - often kept naked and sleepless - in a 6 x 12 foot window-less cell at Quantico, Virginia; a treatment that in any real court of law would in itself be rated as torture.Yesterday Manning was found guilty in almost all of the 22 counts of the prosecution that include espio-nage, only the charge of aiding the enemy was dropped. Whatever the verdict is going to be, the youngman will have to spend the rest of his life in jail. There are several observations to be made in thisconnection: first, the outcry about such mutilated understanding of justice in the US and worldwide islimited. We as Pakistanis should keep this incident in mind when we will be criticized next time forhuman right abuse or for not doing enough of whatsoever. Secondly, the outcome of this trial will bewatched closely by Edward Snowden who will be next in row if he decides to go back to US or gets caughtby their hunters. And finally after this — what about truth, what about human rights? When we discussit any time next the name of Bradley Manning and his sacrifice should not be forgotten.—Karachi

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

Korea and the power of politics

Americans like to pretend thatpolitics does not matter andto bemoan the slight differ-

ences between their political parties.These are luxuries they can affordas the world’s richest and most stablecountry. But for much of the world,politics is a matter of life and death.That is particularly evident in SouthKorea, which recently celebratedthe 60th anniversary of the armi-stice that ended the Korean War. Itis hard to exaggerate how devas-tated the Korean Peninsula was in1953; Gen Douglas MacArthur saidhe vomited after he looked “at thatwreckage”. Three years of conflictkilled about three million people,most of them civilians. One-thirdof all homes and two-fifths of allfactories were destroyed. Seoul,Pyongyang and all other cities werelittle more than rubble. Food wasscarce, orphans plentiful.

Both North and South Korea re-ceived extensive assistance to re-build — the former from the SovietUnion and its allies, the latter fromthe US and its allies. North Korea,using Stalinist central planning, ac-tually had more success initially. Itseconomy grew faster than SouthKorea’s until the 1970s, helped bythe fact that the northern part of the

peninsula had more manufacturingfacilities to start with. South Koreain the 1950s and 1960s was one ofthe poorest countries in the world,with per capita income of less than$100 (Dh367) a head — comparableto the poorest countries of sub-Sa-haran Africa today.

Kongdan Oh, a scholar at theBrookings Institution who grew upin South Korea in the 1950s, remem-bers that “food was sometimesscarce”. “In the springtime, after theautumn harvest had been eaten andbefore new crops could be gathered,poor people would scour the hills foredible herbs and plants, just as theydo in North Korea today,” she wrotein 2010. “Schoolrooms lacked desksand chairs and had little heat in thewinter. Many school children de-pended on foreign food donations likepowdered milk for their lunch.”

It is almost impossible to believe,travelling across South Korea today,that this is the same land. Just 60 yearslater, according to CIA statistics,South Korea has the 12th-largesteconomy in the world, with GDP ofmore than $1 trillion annually andper-capita income of more than$32,000. It produces bestselling prod-ucts such as Hyundai automobiles,LG appliances and Samsung phones.Its exports are worth more than thoseof the Britain, Saudi Arabia or Swit-zerland. Its shipyards produce eighttimes more vessels than their US

counterparts. It has even created a popculture sensation — the singer Psy’sGangnam Style. More to the point,but harder to quantify, there is a dy-namism and vitality to Korean cul-ture that is evident to anyone whocomes here. Seoul, with a populationof more than 10 million, is one of thegreat cities of the world. It has end-less miles of high-rise apartmentbuildings, restaurants, bars, art galler-ies, stores and, especially, cafes, whichseem more ubiquitous than in Seattle.(My favourite chain, purely becauseof its name, is Angel-in-us.) Commer-cial districts are lit up in a blaze ofgarish neon that signals the pleasuresto be had within, from fine dining andchic goods comparable to the best LAhas to offer to karaoke and drinking— lots and lots of drinking.

And the prosperity does not endat the city limits. Busan is a port cityin the south that was the last redoubtof US troops (‘the Pusan perimeter’)in the dark days of 1950 after theNorth Korean invasion. It is now aflourishing metropolis with glass-and-steel skyscrapers and Korean-style-sashimi restaurants abutting itscrowded beaches. How different isNorth Korea, which over the last 60years has performed the unprec-edented feat of de-industrialising: Ithas gone from being the most devel-oped part of the Korean peninsula toa place where millions have died ofhunger and hundreds of thousands

Views From Abroad

Max Bootmore are imprisoned in Soviet-stylegulags. Its per-capita income isamong the lowest in the world; itsmisery among the greatest.

What has made the differencebetween North and South? Politics,pure and simple. The cultural heri-tage of the two countries is identi-cal. The difference is that NorthKorea has been a victim of the Kimdynasty — grandfather Kim Il-sung,son Kim Jong-il, now grandson KimJong-un — who are the world’s lastpractitioners of Stalinist collectivismand totalitarianism. South Korea, bycontrast, began to take off economi-cally in the 1960s and 1970s underthe authoritarian modernizer ParkChung-hee, father of the currentpresident, Park Geun-hye.

Park was a general turned dic-tator who could give his ham-handedEgyptian counterparts lessons ingoverning. Like his fellowstrongmen Lee Kuan Yew, inSingapore, and the much less benignAugusto Pinochet, in Chile, he putin place policies for economicgrowth. After Park’s assassination in1979, South Korea entered a periodof turmoil that resulted in the emer-gence of a vibrant democracy tomatch its flourishing economy.There is no more inspiring story inthe world over the past half-century— or a more compelling exampleof how political decisions can shapepeople’s lives.—Los Angeles Times

Wrong National Power Policy

Government’s National PowerPolicy (NPP) is wrong. In itscurrent form, NPP is headed

to increase per unit electricity pricesby 10-15% annually, fail to endloadshedding for next 3-4 years, getrid of circular debt, end subsidy, linelosses and thefts. High prices willgive incentive for corruption, theftand line losses. Without taking fol-lowing steps, NPP cannot serve pub-lic, revive economy, protect waterand food security, and allow Pakistanto uphold national, regional and stra-tegic interests.

Government policy can help addmore than 5GW to national grid.4,70,000 homes are using solar pan-els in UK to generate 2.7GW electric-ity in addition to wind energy. In Ger-many, 1.3 million homes are usingsolar panels and generating 40% ofcountry’s daytime electricity demand.Solar energy in Germany will reachgrid parity in 2017. By shifting9,40,000 homes on solar energy, Pa-kistan can free 5.4GW of electricityon national grid. One lac homes inBritain were equipped with rooftopsolar panels in 2012 alone (Hot sum-mer bestow solar power bounty onGB, July 23, the Guardian). China ex-ported solar panels worth $12-14 bnto Europe in 2012. Governmentshould give low interest loans (3-5%)to help public make use of duty freeimport of alternate equipment. Only

rooftops electricity can help Pa-kistan end loadshedding between3 months to one year instead ofwaiting for 3-4 years.Solar energy is cheaper than gas,nuclear and coal. Brazil has de-creased power prices by 20%. Re-

portedly, Brazilian government has setRs. 5.50 per unit rate for alternate en-ergy and Rs. 5.23 with fossil fuel forenergy sector investors in 2nd nationalbidding on August 23 and 29, 2013respectively. The first such biddingwas held successfully in 2011 in whichprices were around Rs. 6.00. The openbidding has allowed Brazil to reduceper unit electricity prices, keep trans-parency and end corruption in the en-ergy sector. Pakistan can use the ex-ample to generate cheap electricitywhich will end need for subsidy, dif-ferent tariffs and resurgence of circu-lar debt (projected Rs 700bn annually),line losses and thefts.

Accordingly, Pakistan can gener-ate a unit of electricity with solar panelat around Rs. 3.05. Similarly the priceof wind energy has fallen to 4-6 cents/kwh (world wind output 285GW).Government needs to review 7GWcoal based power generation becauseit is twice the price of solar power andwill need many years to produce elec-tricity. By announcing per unit priceof alternate and fossil fuel electricity,Islamabad can attract investment inenergy sector, provide cheap electric-ity to the country with 10-15% annualdecrease, control line losses, theft andcorruption in energy sector.

Pakistan must define its energymix to protect its water security. Ac-cording to International EnergyAgency, 50% of world’s energy will

come from alternate energy by 2030.Many countries will shift 30% of totalenergy output to alternate energy by2015. Pakistan needs to generate 80%electricity from alternate energy, 15%from coal and 5% from other sourcesto protect its water security. Report-edly, 123MAF rainwater flows to seaannually. India is also building damson Pakistani rivers, which will furtherexacerbate the problem. In line withother countries, Pakistan needs to buildexclusive storages for water security.Without clear energy mix andtimeline, federal and provincial gov-ernments cannot meet country’s fu-ture water needs for agriculture,drinking water and individual use.Alternate energy can help free waterfor national food security. Pakistanis using water to generate energywhich results in water shortage incrop seasons. Alternate energy basedpower policy can allow policy mak-ers to spend $20bn for developingmega water storages for agriculturesector exclusively. It will allow gov-ernments at federal and provinciallevels to relocate 40 to 50 millionpeople in Baluchistan, KPK, South-ern Punjab and interior Sindh to ex-pand agriculture sector as part of landreforms on lines of US HomesteadLaw, and China’s relocation of 250million people to alleviate poverty.

Pakistan needs electricityMarshall Plan for rural areas on lineof America. It will help cut inflation,fuel poverty at grassroots, improveexports, expand SMEs, empowerwomen and children working in cot-tage industry and remote areas. Morewater and cheap alternate energy cancreate millions of jobs, make Pakistan

Post-2014: Challenges for Pakistan

Three important questions arelinked with the departure ofUS troops from Afghanistan in

2014: the future shape of Afghani-stan; the spillover of the Kabul’s in-ternal dynamics to regional politics,peace and stability with specific ref-erence to Pakistan; and, the responseof international community. Politicalanalysts of variant schools of thoughthave divergent views on all three keyissues. The followers of FrancesFukuyama’s neo-liberal philosophyadopt ‘inside-out’ approach in exam-ining future Afghan behavior — do-mestically, regionally and interna-tionally — in relations to its endog-enous arrangements.

As Fukuyama claimed in early1990s that the collapse of Soviet Unionwas triumph of liberal ideological phi-losophy, his cliques too believe todaythat the withdrawal of the US forcesfrom Afghanistan would result in Af-ghan internal stability promoting re-gional stability and international se-curity. The same hypothesis is evenpronounced among most Pakistanianalysts. The chief exponents of thisnormative optimistic proposition ofPakistan’s post-2014 scenario are notmainly the religious-political elementsbut a blend of political parties / indi-vidual leaders, defence and securityanalysts, non-state actors, andacademia who — considering the US2001 intervention and its ever sincepresence in Afghanistan as root-cause

of Pakistan’s startling security and eco-nomic situation — have been raisingtheir voices in social media and lead-ing anti-U.S. campaign throughout thecountry.The realist faction in contrastmaintains just opposite perspective.As per the contemporary neoclassi-cal realism, a state’s behavior in in-ternational system is a product of sys-tematic variable — like distributionof power capabilities among states –as well cognitive variables — likethreat perception — and domesticvariables — like state institutions,elites, and societal actors. The accu-mulative effect of all such variablesinfluences the freedom of action ofdecision-makers and results in eitherstrengthening or disturbing a state’scentre of gravity (CoG).

Unfolding the pot-2014 scenario,the realist pundits make certain cir-cumstantial assumptions. The U.S.withdrawal plan includes leaving asizeable force in Afghanistan andhanding over the Afghan security re-sponsibility to Afghan National Se-curity Force (ANSF). Three elementsare crucially associated with the suc-cess of the strategy: the capacity andtransparency of Afghan government;capabilities of ANSF; and, theTaliban factor. Unfortunately, all thethree factors raise serious concernsabout future of Afghan domestic en-vironment as well its spill over to Pa-kistan. After the fall of Taliban re-gime in 2001, the US failed to forma broad-based Afghan governmentwhich had been a long-stalled UNdesire. The Karzai government, de-spite full support from international

community, has remained weak andrampant with corruption. Several fac-tion leaders — representing Afghanethnic and regional power structure— have already begun to plan for the2014. And generally Afghan massesrely on such informal powerbrokers— rather than the government — toprotect them from the possible con-flicts with Taliban after 2014. Hence,in the absence of international secu-rity mission, there is likely to be avacuum in Afghanistan power struc-ture inviting Taliban to fill the gaps.Of course, ANSF is there to checkTaliban adventure!

The ANSF is a blend of threeprinciple components: Afghan Na-tional Army, Afghan National AirForce and Afghan National Police.The effectiveness, professionalismand state of its readiness to assumethe ensuing security responsibilitiesare questionable as it suffers fromboth quality and quantity imbalances.Above all, Taliban are a reality inAfghanistan. Ever since their ousterfrom power in 2001, Taliban haveproved resilient, enjoyed political andpsychological support in the southand been running parallel governmentstructure – undermining U.S. sup-ported Karzai government. Since2010, both the U.S. and Afghan offi-cials have been pursuing talks withTaliban for a negotiated settlement tothe Afghanistan conflict. But pros-pects for such a settlement have al-ways remained uncertain. Above allone cannot ignore Indian factor inAfghanistan as mother of all chal-lenges from Pakistan’s perspective.

Indian involvement in Afghanistanis a true reflection of Kautiliyanphilosophy that regards neighboursas enemies and an enemy’s imme-diate neighbour as a friend. Due toits geo-strategic proximity and apotential threat to Pakistan on itsWestern border, Afghanistan is avital component in the Indian re-gional policy. Pakistan, conversely,visualizes Indian influence in Af-ghanistan as part of its double en-velopment movement, and a sourceof fueling unrest in FATA, KPKand Baluchistan. Pakistan’s deci-sion-makers and its think tankneed to respond to the emergingmulti-directional and multi dimen-sional intrigues / threats to its se-curity. It’s better to complete thehomework today than resorting tofirefighting tomorrow.

The holding of All Parties Con-ference (APC) is a step in the rightdirection so as to bring all stakehold-ers on one page. A further delaywould only reinforce the chaotictheory and help our foes. However,the decisions taken should not proveto be paperwork only – as was thefate of previous APCs – rather, thepractical manifestation as its hall-mark. Instituting a National Secu-rity Command Authority may beevaluated as it would help in accom-plishing concentration of resourcesand economy of efforts – both keyprinciples of war. Nations do facechallenges – it’s part of nation mak-ing recipe – but only those nationssurvive and excel whose leadershiptakes timely and right decisions.

a food basket of the region and al-low value addition to agri-produceand products including cattle, dairy,fish, fruit and meat. Educationshould be made part of NPP. HigherEducation Commission, universitiesand technical institutions should helpovercome power crises. They shouldhelp agriculture, manufacturing andservices sectors, communities, andgovernment build/adopt alternateenergy including solar panels, windturbines, recycling equipment andbiofuels. Electricity is 150-year oldtechnology but Pakistan is still rely-ing on foreign expertise. It speaksvolumes about our planning, policiesand education. More scholarshipsshould be given in the fields of en-ergy, recycling, water and food se-curity. Print and electronic mediashould educate public on line ofGreen China (China Daily), Envi-ronment (the Guardian) and Futur-ist (France 24).NPP should control profits in powersector. Reportedly, power produc-ers are charging 30% profit againstrecommendations of 11-13%charges by international consumerprotection organizations. Allegedly,fertilizer companies are making600% by using cheap gas but fail-ing to provide cheap products tofarmers. Utility courts should pro-tect consumers, recoup damage totheir equipment and bring industrialprofiteering under single digit. Gov-ernment should be held accountablefor failing to implement licensingagreements of power generators andindustries requiring generating elec-tricity indigenously, which has re-sulted in power shortages.

This is not an intelligence failurebut gross negligence on the part ofgovernment to take security measuresin spite of early intelligence warning.As reported in the media the intelli-gence information covered and con-veyed to provincial government theentire plan of the attack and its modusoperandi. Why this intelligence warn-ing was not taken seriously? What isthe justification of not beefing up se-curity in view of threat? Why addi-tional force was not deployed? Whythe ELITE force disappeared the mo-ment attack was launched? Was it partof the strategy to disappear in case ofattack? If the provincial governmentwas not in a position to take extrasecurity measures they could have atleast quietly shifted prisoners to asecret place. There could be manymore questions that need to be an-swered by the provincial government.These very police officers behave dif-ferently when dealing with ordinarycitizens and don’t hesitate even toshoot them. Like other provinces therecruitment to police force was on therecommendations of law makers thatare a contributing factor of poor per-formance of police in Pakistan irre-spective of the province.

It is no more a secret that Mili-tants have excellent elaborate intel-ligence network to chose target oftheir own choice and attack it withprecision results. No operation canever succeed until it has local sup-port. The freed militants now willcarry out further strikes to avengetheir arrest by law enforcementagencies. There can be no two opin-ions that these people be tried in spe-cial trial courts and the cases decidedin few days. There is urgent need toestablish special jails for militantsaway from the city to un knownplaces making it difficult for mili-tants to plan such operations. US es-tablished special jail for the prison-ers captured in Afghanistan; theywere kept in Guantanamo Bay jailwhere the access is allowed only tojail controllers.

Attack on D I Khan jail is a crimi-nal negligence that cost 10 preciouslives at a time when prior informa-tion was made available. To concludeit is not a case of intelligence failurebut deliberately showing back to theattackers instead of facing them. Cre-ation of another force is not the solu-tion it would be waste of publicmoney. Any force that abandons atthe time of combat should be a mat-ter of concern. During APC a properpolicy on captured terrorists mustemerge that should include theirspeedy trials and special prisons forhard criminals.—Via email

Climate change& agriculture

SHAH FAHD

Pakistan is home to some of theworlds most beautiful and variedlandscapes and wildlife. However,like many countries, Pakistan is ex-periencing the effects of climatechange. The world is becomingwarmer. Over the past 200 years av-erage temperature of the earth’s sur-face has risen by 0.74 degrees C. It isexpected to increase by another 1.8°C to 4°C by the year 2100.

The primary explanation for therise in temperature is human activi-ties. The growing rate of industrial-ization, burning of greater quantitiesof fossil fuels (e.g.: coal, gas and oil)and the unchecked destruction of for-est cover has resulted in increased lev-els of Carbon-dioxide (CO2) beingemitted into the atmosphere. Thiscarbon covers the earth, trapping itsheat, causing global warming. In Pa-kistan a number of indigenous spe-cies of plants and animals are facingextinction as a result of climatechange. Rising sea levels, and accel-

Rizwan Ghani Email:sadcat44@hotmail.com

Arshad Mahmood

erated melting of glaciers in theHimalayas are threatening the naturalhabitat of rare animals such as theMarkhor and Ibex. Pakistan dependsheavily on Kashmir’s water for agri-cultural irrigation. As global warm-ing hastens glacial melting, it changesthe flow patterns of the glacier-fedrivers that flow into Pakistan. Apartfrom the change in volume, the wa-ter is reaching the country’s fields atthe wrong time. Climate change isalso causing dramatic changes inweather patterns such as increaseddroughts and flooding, and changesin fresh water supply.

The global warming is causingdamage to Pakistan’s environment, aswell. Among the impacts felt and seenare biodiversity loss, rise in the sealevel, increased draught, shifts in theweather patterns, increased flooding,changes in freshwater supply and anincrease in extreme weather events.These could also lead to alterationsin forests and crop yields. Not onlythat, climatic changes could also af-fect human health, animals and manytypes of eco-systems. By disruptingthe entire ecosystem, climate changeultimately affects the way millions ofPakistanis live. However, there is stillhope, if we take urgent action to con-trol climate change now. Youth, arethe future and have the most at stake.They can play an important role inbringing about this change. The risksof climate change for Pakistan:•Changing weather patterns, such asincreased flooding, droughts, changesin freshwater supply and an increasein extreme weather events

•Reduced Agricultural output•Himalayan Glaciers melting rapidly•Increased air pollution in Pakistanicities such as Karachi and Lahore•Biodiversity loss: hundreds of rareplants and animals in danger of ex-tinction •Increased health risks •Ex-tinction of rare plant and animal life•Increased exposure to extremeweather events •Heightened waterinsecurity •Reduced agriculturalproductivity—Rawalpindi

Electronic mediaMAHRUKH IBRAHIM

Regardless of anything else, Our T.VPrograms are being globalized nowa days, but the notable thing is thatriots broke out in the social mediaagainst most popular T.V Channelsof Pakistan by their own people andthis action of people is somewhat jus-tified. The disturbance elevates whenBritish channel exclusively took in-terviews of anchor and then portraysill image of Pakistan in the lightthrough media. It is most alarmingsituation for all channels to cope upthe situation as many of programsmay detriment the whole image.

One of them was in which der-elict baby has been given to childlesscouple, It is most appreciating act onthe part of virtue, but it should not bepublically announced. This good deedmay also, he done quality. Anotherwas in which anchor called VJ whowas openly discussing her populationcontrol Indian vulgar advertisment onRamazan transmission, The Point isthat everything is so much politicalizenow a days and owner of news chan-nels must pay due attention issuesregarding these kind of acts. This isnot the matter of their business onlybut the image of whole country.—Abbottabad

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of RajaEhtasham Muqarab Civil

Judge Malakwal.

Bashir Khan Vs RasheedKhan etcSuit for Declaration & Parti-tion.Memo.Faheem Khan S/o NaseerKhan Caste Pathan R/o streetNazeer Khan Malakwal DistMandi bahaudin.Whereas the services of abovementioned respondents is notpossible through ordinarymeans, therefore, he is di-rected to attend this court per-sonally or through his councilon 17-9-13. Otherwise the exparty proceedings shall betaken against him.Given under my hand and sealof the Court.

Sd/-Civil Judge Malakwal

COURT NOTICE

In the Court ofMohammad Amin

Shahzad Civil JudgeMalakwal.

Ansar Mahmood etc Vs ZafarAli etcSuit for Possession.Memo.Zafar Ali S/o Mohammad ArifCaste Khokhar R/o mohalaRajgan street Imam bargahMalakwal Dist Mandibahaudin.Whereas the services of abovementioned respondents is notpossible through ordinarymeans, therefore, he is di-rected to attend this court per-sonally or through his councilon 9-9-13. Otherwise the exparty proceedings shall betaken against him.Given under my hand and sealof the Court.

Sd/-Civil Judge Malakwal

with the army.There was no independent

confirmation of the fighting.More than 68,000 people

have been killed in the conflictsince 1989.

Militant groups have largelybeen suppressed by Indian troopsin recent years, and resistance isnow principally expressedthrough street protests.—AP

Indian Army kills 8militants near LoC

From Page 1

ISLAMABAD: Senior PPP Leader Senator Raza Rabbani speaks at a dialogue with political parties on the “Future ofFederalism and Democratic Devolution in Pakistan” organized by Center for Civic Education Pakistan (CCEP) and UnitedNations Development Program (UNDP). Senator Taj Haider, Haji Adeel, Bushra Gohar, Dr Ishaq Baloch and ShaukatYousafzai are also seen in the picture.—PO Photo by Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD—Any attempt toreverse any provision of the 18th

Constitutional Amendmentwould be resisted by all politi-cal parties representing the in-terests of smaller provinces,minorities and marginalizedcommunities. A parliamentarycommittee or commission withrepresentation from all politicalparties should be establishedpreferably under the chairman-

ship of Raza Rabbani to haveoversight and watchdog role forthe compliance of the 18thAmendment in letter and spirit.

This was the crux of the ideasshared by various speakers at theDialogue with Political Parties onthe “Future of Federalism andDemocratic Devolution in Paki-stan” by Centre for Civic Educa-tion Pakistan (CCEP) and UnitedNations Development

Programme (UNDP). The dia-logue was held in order to under-stand the standpoints of politicalparties explore the areas of policyconvergence on federalism anddevolved governance.

Senator Raza Rabbani,leader of Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP) said that Pakistan is multi-cultural society and 18th amend-ment has acknowledged its richdiversity.—INP

Attempt to reverse 18thamendment to be resisted

He was not a truly elected repre-sentative of the country. Themajority leader after the 1970elections, was Awami League’sSheikh Mujeebur Rehman. MrBhutto as second largest party inthe then 300-strong Assembly,chosen through direct franchiseon December 5, allowed himselfto be played in the hands of themilitary, siding with it to deny themajority leader his right to formthe government. Bengalis refusedto bow before the whims of thearmy, in which former West Ben-gal rightly considered as theirright to rule the country. The In-dian aggression, and then cre-ation of Bangla Desh, could eas-ily have been avoided, had we inthe then West Pakistan, heededto the call of the time, and ac-cepted the Awami League as thelegitimate ruler of the country.Even after the separation of thecountry—the defeat of the Paki-stan army on 16th December1971, being the second biggestin 1400 years of Muslim history,the first being the fall of Jerusa-lem in 1967 to Israelis —MrBhutto was installed as the Presi-dent and chief martial law admin-istrator of the country.

That was unprecedented in thedemocratic history of the world.That was not all, the truncated na-tional assembly coming into beingafter the swearing in of the founderPPP leader on 20th December1970, passed a resolution for con-tinuing the martial law rather thanasking for restoring democracywithout loss of tiem. Such was thedisfigured history of Pakistan. Nev-ertheless Mr Bhutto’s contributionto help the nation recover fromtrauma of loss of lands and layingdown of arms by General Niazi thatsaw 93,000 or our soldiers in en-emy hands, could never be denied.He single handedly rebuilt a acountry, which stood destroyed, de-moralized, and clueless about itsdestiny.

That role of Mr Bhutto andgiving Pakistan a place of prestigeand prominence in the comity ofnations, can never be denied. Look-ing in the context of this historicalbackground, Mamnoon Hussain’schoice for the Presidency is both,a matter of relief and pride for theordinary Pakiistanis. Nawaz Sharifin his second stint as Prime Minis-ter in late 90s, had made a surprisechoice of Rafiq Tarrar for a similarassignment. He too was a middleclass man, a judge of the superiorcourt, which earned him extracredit, but he was too meek a per-son for such a high office. He knewnothing about governance, anddaily in the morning, consulted“Abba Jee” (Nawaz Sharif’s latefather) for directions for the day.

This was something totally un-becoming of a person installed insuch high office. Fears expressedin certain quarters about the abilityof the President-elect to conducthim properly, therefore, are not to-tally unfounded. It remains to beseen however, whether Mamnoon,holding a Master’s degree in busi-ness administration from a presti-gious institute such as IBA, andcoming from a middle class fam-ily of Agra, and also having been agovernor of Sindh, would submitto the whims of his mentors , or

whether he would try and raise theoffice to its pristine glory. Timealone would furnish answer to thisvery vital question. Mamnoon isalso a businessman, was presidentof the Karachi Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, and thus com-mands respect from business com-munity.

He has strong credentials torise to the occasion in time of cri-sis. Criticism that he would be aparty loyalist, and a “yes” man tothe prime minister, contains certainamount of definite bias. He has al-ready given up the party post, andhad promised to keep the Presi-dency clear of party politics. Healready showed that he wont be toosubmissive, and perhaps may re-mind the government from time totime of its weaknesses, and guideit on correct lines. As President ofthe country, he can do that in hisannual address to the joint sessionof the Parliament. He can also writeto the government of public aspi-rations and by so doing, he wouldcontribute his mite to the serviceof the country. Mamnoon, as such,has enormous responsibilities onhis shoulders and the nation wouldrightly be looking to him for main-taining the highest traditions of theprestigious office he has been in-stalled in.

Mamnoon’s election is a happy auguryFrom Page 2

perspective, with particular ref-erence to whether or not thisproject would attract US sanc-tions.”

Asked about reports that acivil nuclear deal may be onthe cards, the spokespersondenied that the subject was dis-cussed during Kerry’s visit.“This was not discussed but asI indicated to you earlier, oneof the working groups dealswith the strategic stability is-sues. That is where this sub-ject will be discussed.” Af-ghanistan The spokespersonthough said that the visit hadafforded an opportunity to dis-cuss the regional situation witha view to exploring ways ofbringing peace and stability inAfghanistan.

“As the US prepares to drawdown from Afghanistan, there isa need to intensify cooperationamong all stakeholders to ensurepeace and stability in Afghani-stan.” The spokesperson, whileresponding to a question about

the resumption of dialogue withthe Taliban, said that Pakistanwill remain engaged with con-cerned groups to achieve peacein Afghanistan.

“Pakistan has expressed itssupport for the reconciliationprocess in Afghanistan, whichwe believe is an effective wayto achieve peace and stability.”He added that Pakistan will con-tinue to facilitate the peace andreconciliation process in Af-ghanistan.” “To this end, Paki-stan side will remain engagedwith the US, Afghanistan, andothers concerned and contributeto bringing lasting peace in Af-ghanistan.”

Responding to a question onal Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri, who Kerry claimedwas violating the sovereignty ofPakistan, Chaudhry replied thatPakistan has always been on theforefront of the fight on terrorand would take swift actionagainst terrorists, whenever theycome across them. Ties with In-

diaSpokesperson of the minis-

try, Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry saidthat dates were proposed for twoof the eight segments for com-posite dialogue. “One of the seg-ment relates to the Wullar Bar-rage while the other to the mat-ter of Sir Creek,” he said, add-ing that US expressed its sup-port for the initiative ofPakistan’s leadership to improveties with India.

Chaudhry added that a re-sponse is yet to be received fromIndia on whether the dates aresuitable for them. He added thatPakistan was pushing for closerties with India, including TrackII diplomacy.

“Ambassador ShahryarAhmed Khan has been nomi-nated by the Prime Ministerto pursue this track from ourside. We do hope that thistrack will contribute to theefforts to seek improvementin bilateral relations betweenPakistan and India.”

Kerry presented ‘non-paper’From Page 1

participated in the struggle forindependent judiciary.

“Democracy is impossiblewithout independent judiciary,”he said. The PTI chief said thathe had not said anything wronghence there is no point for anyapology. He said that white pa-per will be issued against theworst rigging in the elections.

Imran Khan reiterated hisdemand for detailed investiga-tion and voters’ verification inthe four constituencies in theMay 11 elections. Speaking tothe media outside the SupremeCourt building after the hearingof the case uttered. Imran Khansaid he stood by each and everyword he . He clarified that by“shameful” he meant that thereturning officers did not fulfilltheir responsibility to ensurefair elections. He said that it wasthe first time he came to knowthat using the word “shameful”was abusive.

Imran Khan said that PTIsacrificed the most for the res-toration of sacked judges andthat he can never imagine usingdisrespectful words against thehigher judiciary. The PTI chiefsaid democracy was stolen in thegeneral elections which is thebiggest corruption. He said thosereturning officers who werehand in glow with some Elec-tion Commission officials forrigging will be exposed in thewhite paper. According to hisrevised response submitted in thecourt Friday, Imran Khan said hisJuly 26 statement was not againstthe chief justice or the SupremeCourt but he meant to criticise therole of the returning officers anddistrict returning officers during2013 elections.The court rejectedthe second response..—INP

SC rejectsFrom Page 1

Mukarramah. He prayed for se-curity and prosperity of thecountry and well being of theUmmah.

The Prime Minister will alsovisit Madinah Munawwarah topay homage at Roza-e-Rasool[SWA].

Earlier Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif, who is on a pri-vate visit to Saudi Arabia forperforming Umrah, got extraor-dinary protocol from the Saudiofficials. Nawaz Sharif was re-ceived by Governor of MakkahRegion Prince Khalid al-Faisal,son of Shah Faisal bin AbdulAziz, who has got a special sta-tus in the Saudi royal family.

The prime minister, who hasreached Saudi Arabia almosttwo months after taking oath, abit late than expected, got ex-traordinary protocol from theSaudi government and royalfamily, which shows his impor-tance and influence in the king-dom.

Nawaz Sharif is getting fullmedia attention in Saudi Arabiadespite his visit being a private.Prominent Saudi newspapers pub-lished the photo of arrival ofNawaz Sharif on front pages.Nawaz also got very good cover-age in the Saudi electronic media.

PM performsFrom Page 1

cases have taken away our peace. How much more injustice willbe done to the people who arespending sleepless nights sincelong. This has now reached itspeak. For God’s this should bestopped now”.

The court while giving dead-line of August, 6 to IG KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KP) ordered him toproduce Khair ur Rehman who hasgone missing from KP on this cutoff date come what may. The courtin the case of missing person SajjadAhmad directed IG Punjab to ini-tiate proceedings against the policeofficers who have not cooperatedwith law officers and submit reportin the court. The court also soughtdetails of proceedings of first meet-ing of task force and policy. Ad-ditional Attorney General (AAG)Tariq Khokhar told the court gov-ernment has constituted task forceunder interior secretary for recov-ery of missing persons. Task forcehas started its work initially in con-nection with recovery of 90 miss-ing persons. He presented the re-port before the bench.

CJ remarked “ if there is anyimportant case today it is case ofKhair ur Rehman. CJ inquiredfrom IG what he has done in thiscase. IG told the court FIR hasbeen suspended and investigationsare underway. CJ observed “ wehave reservations in respect of sis-ter of Khair ur Rehman. What hasbeen done it is wrong. IG said FIRhas been cancelled and accused hasbeen arrested.

CJ remarked “ Afghan wasfacilitated to escape in return forRs 1.2 million while Khair urRehman is still missing and he isnot in police custody. KP is fac-ing several problems. Prisonershave escaped. IG Punjab has pro-duced the man within 24 hoursand it is a different matter if he isreleased or not. CJ observed “ weare giving another chance to IGto take action against the accusedpersons, recover Khair ur Rehmanand present him before the courton August, 6. The court also heardcase of missing person SajjadAhmad. AAG Tariq Khokhar toldthe court the missing person

Qasim is not in Multan cantt. CJremarked “ we have already heardseveral stories of yours. Go to jointinvestigation team and tell it thatthis matter be resolved and giveus the man. Call him whom youhave contacted and get recordhis statement. It does not seemto me you have to make anyprogress. —Online

CJ for legislationFrom Page 1

the changes that US expect totake place in the programmeover time, but there is no exacttimeline to provide. Obviously,a lot of this is driven by the situ-ation on the ground, she said.

“The goal here is, of course,that as we have success againstal-Qaida - which we’ve talkedabout a lot the success we’ve hadin this region of the worldagainst core al-Qaida - that thetool will obviously - we need touse this tactic less going for-ward, and that’s what the Sec-retary was referencing” she said.

“I have no exact timelineto provide. Again, the Secre-tary was making the point thatwe have made, as we’vetalked about, s ignif icantprogress.—AP

No timetableFrom Page 1

Religious leaderFrom Page 1

Mohni Bazaar area of the cityand fled away, leaving religiousleader injured seriously. YaqoobQadri was rushed to People’sMedical Center immediately but hesuccumbed injuries during treat-ment there, added the police.Armed persons opened aerial fir-ing in different parts of the city andforcefully closed shops and mar-kets, after Yaqoob Qadri’s demise.Deceased religious leader’s funeralprayer will be performed at PoliceGround in Nawabshah, afterFriday’s prayer.—Online

Captain HumayumappointedDMD PIA

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Captain HumayunJamil has been appointed asDeputy Managing Director Op-erations in PIA. CaptainHumayun Jamil joined PIA inthe year 1978 as a cadet and eversince has been associated withthe national flag carrier . He hasheld senior management posi-tion of Director Administrationand is a senior captain of Boeing777.

Captain Humayun Jamilwill oversee operations func-tions of the airline . it is hopedthat would his acumen and ex-perience the operational perfor-mance of the airline will im-prove.

floods in many low lying areas,the gushing waters washedaway mosques, roads and shopsin Chitral district and Kalashvalley as the valley of Chitral isreported to have been cut offfrom the district headquarters.

“At least four persons werekilled as torrential rains continuedlashing parts of Chitral on Fridayfor the second consecutive day,causing flood in Reshan nullah anddestroying as many as 120 housesbesides washing away 6 bridgesand many roads”. Officials saidadding emergency has been de-clared in the district.

Reports said that flash floodsdue to heavy rains destroyed scoresof houses in Chitral city while abridge between Chitral and Booniwas washed away, disrupting theflow of traffic in the area. Accord-ing to police, flood water destroyedmany mosques and completelydestroyed 80 houses as rain con-tinued for the second consecutiveday.

The police said that local

people climbed mountains to savetheir lives while power supply tomany areas was suspended as theflood water uprooted electricitypoles. Upper Chitral area also lostits contact with the district head-quarters, the police added.

An officer of the districtadministration said the heavy rainstriggered flash floods in differentparts of n Chitral valley, blockingroads and flooding streams, wash-ing away houses and even agricul-tural fields. Road between Chitraland Kalash Valley has beenblocked due to torrential rain andland sliding. He said eighty houseshave been completely destroyedand standing crops worth millionsof Rupees were also affected.

The Khyber PukhtunkhwaGovernor, Engineer Shaukatullahhas expressed his deep shock andsorrow over the severe lossescaused because of torrential rainsand flood havocs in District Chitral.

While expressing his deepsympathies with the affectedpeople on Friday, the Governor

said the presence of vast numberof flood victims under open skydemands immediate attention andthe Provincial Disaster Manage-ment Authority should help theaffected people without any loss oftime. The only irrigation channelin the area was also damaged byflash flood at Ayun valley as a re-sult thousands of Acre land de-prived from irrigation water.People of the area demanding ofimmediate repair of irrigation chan-nel to save their standing cropsfrom drying. Kalash valley alsobadly hit by flood and standingcrops worth million of rupees dam-aged by flood. A 14 years Kalashgirl Jamrana daughter of JagoshKalash also found dead suspi-ciously I her house. Affected peoplecomplained of not provision of re-lief goods and they were still notcompensated by government. Twoyoung girls Sufia and Balqees werefell down in Jughor goal river deadbody of Balqees 10 year’s daugh-ter of Naziruddin recovered fromriver while Sufia is still missing.

Rains, flood play havoc in ChitralFrom Page 1

sented Tauqir Sadiq in the account-ability court after his extended re-mand of 10 days expired.

Adjourning the hearing, thecourt directed authorities to presentSadiq again on August 16. Earlier,the judge of the AccountabilityCourt No 1 (AC-1), Islamabad,Muhammad Bashir extended by 10days the physical custody of TauqirSadiq and handed him to the NABafter the bureau produced him be-fore the court after physical remandof 14 days.

Tauqir Sadiq told the courtthat the police had tortured himand officials kicked him afterthrowing him down on the floor.He alleged that the investigatorswere trying to record his state-ment according to their ownwishes and they were pressuringhim to involve a few officials ofthe former Pakistan People’sParty government. Tauqir Sadiqfurther alleged that the

NAB officials got him medi-cally checked up from a privatedoctor instead of a governmentdoctor as the court had di-rected.—Agencies

Tauqir SadiqFrom Page 1

DUBLIN: Nain Abidi lofts the ball fine, Pakistan Women v Sri Lanka Women, ICC Women’s World Twenty20Qualifier, final.

SCOTLAND: Japan’s Miki Saiki chips on to the 17thgreen during the second round of the Women’s BritishOpen golf championship.

ST ANDREWS (United King-dom)—Japan’s Miki Saikihad a bundle of new experi-ences as she surged into thehalfway lead on nine underpar at the women’s BritishOpen at St Andrews on Fri-day. An early starter, Saikiovertook American MorganPressel to set the early tar-get. Pressel, joint first roundleader on 66, added a 70 foreight under par.

It was the first time shehad led in a major, the firsttime that she had twice holedout for eagle twos in the sameround and she judged hersecond round six under par66 as the best of her career.

“Because it is a major andwe are here at the Old Courseand surrounded by so muchhistory then it must rate asmy best ever round,” she as-sessed.

Not that the 28-year-oldis a stranger to low scoresover the famous links. Backin the 2007 Women’s BritishOpen she carded a 67 in thefinal round and finished tiedseventh.

On a day that had rain,wind and then a drying sun,Saiki’s highlights were easyto pick out.

At the 371-yard fourth,she holed her eight iron sec-ond shot from 127 yards. Atthe 353-yard seventh, sherepeated the trick with awedge from 108 yards.

This season, the TokyoUniversity graduate has won

Miki Saiki surges intowomen’s British Open lead

twice on her home JapaneseTour. “I’ve been very consis-tent all year and it’s alwaysgreat to get a chance to playin the majors,” she said.

“At the moment, I’mhappy playing in Japan but,in the future, I would like togo to America and competeon the LPGA Tour.”—AFP

KARACHI—Pakistan and SriLanka emerged as the jointwinners in the final of theICC Women’s WorldTwenty20 Qualifier afterheavy showers in Dublinforced their match to beabandoned.

Both teams have by vir-tue of reaching the final havehad already qualified for nextyear’s ICC World T20 Cup.

In the only inningsplayed, Nida Dar’s Pakistanteam scored 112 for theloss of f ive wickets withNain Abidi top-scored 45off 50 balls with twoboundaries.

Sri Lanka requiring 113runs to win when the sidesreturn to the YMCA Groundon Thursday. But because ofshowers match was aban-doned and both team’s weredeclared joint winners.

Pakistan team made a dis-mal start by losing two wick-

Pakistan, SL to share ICCWomen’s World T20 qualifiers

ets for 27 runson the board.But recovered through 82-run third wicket stand be-tween Nain Abidi and BismahMaroof which revived theirinnings. Bismah hit a solitaryfour in her 35 unbeaten offas many balls.

Chandima Gunaratnecontinued her fine form withthe ball as she took two wick-ets for seven runs in her fourovers to restrict Pakistan to112 for 5 despite a solid part-nership between Nain andBismah.

Earlier Sri Lanka’s captainShashikala Siriwardene optedto bowl first in overcast con-ditions when she won thetoss and her decision wasquickly justified as thebowlers extracted movementboth through the air and offthe pitch.

After breaking the shack-les with a couple of bound-aries, Javeria Khan departed

for 11, giving Gunaratne hereighth wicket of the tourna-ment.

The wicket of NahidaKhan in the sixth over foreight only brought Maroof atthe crease and she gavesome needed impetus to theinnings. But a brief, ten-minute interruption in the17th over halted some of theirmomentum as three wicketswere lost in the final over.

Abidi showed grit anddetermination to battlethrough difficult conditionsearly in her innings and re-vealed some deft strokeplaybefore she fell to ChamaniSeneviratna as Sri Lankacompleted the innings on ahigh.

Summarized scores: Paki-stan 112-5 (Nain Abidi 45,Bismah Maroof 35 not out,Javaria Khan 11, ChandimaGunaratne 2-7, CRSeneviratna 2-25).—APP

ISLAMABAD—Match fixingor spot fixing is not a newphenomena in cricket butunfortunatley when it is as-sociated with Pakistan theinternational media and In-ternational Cricket Council’s(ICC) role raises many ques-tions in the minds of cricketlovers across the globe.

The ICC and interna-tional media’s reaction onmere news of allegations isa questiion mark to initiateprobe against the nationalplayers without even ascer-taining the authenticity ofthe source or solid evi-dence.

The recent claim and al-legation of one of the UK’snewspapers,” Daily Mail”,that third and fifth ODI ofPakistan and West Indies inthe recent series were fixedand an immediate initiationof probe by ICC is an ampleproof of the fact.

Though the fixing alle-gations surfaced in the pasttoo against some of the na-tional players, but the 2010spot fixing case, in whichMuhammad Asif and

Muhammad Amir on the in-structions of Sulman Buttdelivered deliberate no-ballsin a test match against En-gland, dealt a severe blow tothe credibility of the nationalcricket.

It is after that day that fix-ing allegations are followingthe national side like ashadow and foreign media isusing them as a source ofcheap publicity.

Another reason of thevulnerability of Pakistancricket is rather defensiveapproach of its cricket board.If Pakistan cricket Board(PCB) had handled the spotfixing issue properly, the situ-ation would have been dif-ferent today.

The board should takesome inspiration from the In-dian cricket board which hasso far smartly handled the re-cent spot fixing case in In-dian Premier League (IPL)without letting anyone toharm its cricket.

The IPL is no strangerto controversy, but on May16, 2013, it met arguably itsbiggest crisis when Delhi

ICC, Int’l media’s biased roleagainst Pakistan on fixing

Police arrested three RajistanRoyals players - Sreesanth,Ajit Chandila and AnkeetChavan - for alleged spot-fix-ing.

The alleged involvementof Meiyappan Gurunath, atop official of Chennai SuperKings and son-in-law ofBCCI president N Srinivasan,was a set back to the Indiancricket but the way its boardhandled the situation is ap-preciable.

When the concernedbodies stop taking responsi-bility of the problems, theyfell into the hands of othersand the matter is spoiled.

The weaker you are themore futile you become. ThePCB should prompt activelyto the recent allegations anditself investigate the matter.If the allegations are provedbaseless, then it should takelegal action against “DailyMail”.

The interim chairman PCBNajam Sethi has denied all theallegations. In a statement is-sued by the spokesman ofPCB, it was mentioned thatthe board had severe con-

cern about the allegationsand it had contacted theICC in this regard.

The spokesman furthersaid in the statement thatthe board was following ananti-tolerance policyagainst corruption andhelping ICC to probe thematter as it was in the juris-diction of the Anti-corrup-tion and Security unit of thebody.

“The board is also con-sidering the legal aspects ofthe issue,” the statementadded.

However, the cricketpundits consider that merestatements would not servethe purpose. They arguethat the PCB should takepractical steps to defend itsplayers at every forum, ifthey are innocent, besidestaking legal action againstthe newspapers doingbaseless reporting in thisregard.

The move will not onlyhelp reviving the lost pres-tige of the national cricketbut will also add confidenceto the players.—APP

BARCELONA (Catalonia)—Missy Franklin faces a toughfight for a fifth worlds goldin Friday’s 100m freestyle fi-nal with Australia’s CateCampbell and Swedish teen-ager Sarah Sjostrom leadingthe charge.

Campbell dubbed USteen star Franklin swimming’s“Wonder Woman” on Thurs-day after the 18-year-oldpicked up her fourth of apossible seven gold medals

Pakistan tohost Sri Lankafor full series

in UAEISLAMABAD—Pakistan willplay three Tests, five one-dayers and two Twenty20sagainst Sri Lanka in UnitedArab Emirates later this year,the Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) announced on Friday.

The PCB has been forcedto organize its home seriesmainly in the UAE becauseof security concerns amongforeign teams about travel-ling to Pakistan. Sri Lanka wasthe last Test-playing countryto tour Pakistan in 2009 whenits bus transport to a groundwas attacked by gunmen,leaving six police officialsand a van driver dead.

Two years ago in theUAE, Pakistan defeated SriLanka 1-0 in the Tests andalso won the ODI series 4-1.

This year the tour beginswith Dubai hosting back toback Twenty20s on Dec. 11and Dec. 13.Pakistan vs Sri Lankaschedule:Dec. 11: First Twenty20 atDubaiDec. 13: Second Twenty20 atDubaiDec. 18: First one-day inter-national at Sharjah Dec. 20:Second one-day interna-tional at DubaiDec. 22: Third one-day inter-national at Sharjah Dec. 25:Fourth one-day internationalat Abu DhabiDec. 27: Fifth one-day inter-national at Abu DhabiDec. 31-Jan. 4: First Test atDubai Jan. 8-12: Second Testat Abu Dhabi Jan. 16-20: ThirdTest at Sharjah.—APP

OLD TRAFFORD—Australia’s captain MichaelClarke soared to 187 beforeBrad Haddin and MitchellStarc stretched England’s re-sources with an impudentstand as the tourists declaredafter tea on day two on 527for 7.

Though their earlierprogress had been pock-marked by wasteful momentsfrom Steve Smith and DavidWarner in the morning,Clarke, Haddin and a free-striking Starc made AlastairCook’s men sweat while anincreasingly frequent cara-van of sub-fielders emergedfrom the England dressingroom.

They were eventuallycalled upon to bat by Clarke15 minutes into the final ses-sion, and for the first time inthe series will start their in-nings under considerablescoreboard pressure. Thiswas largely down to Clarke,who compiled both his mostsubstantial innings againstEngland and his highest Testtally overseas. His exit hadgranted Stuart Broad a long-

3rd Investec Test: Australiadeclare after Clarke’s 187

delayed 200th Test wicketbut Haddin and Starc fol-lowed up with near impunityon another sun-drenched af-ternoon to push Australiatowards a total that shouldat very least ensure they can-not lose this match.

Early morning showershad given way to blue skiesby the time the teams walkedto the middle in Manchester,Clarke and Smith seeming toset themselves for a longstay as they negotiated thesecond new ball. Milestonescame and went, the highestfourth wicket stand in an OldTrafford Test then the 200partnership, leaving AlastairCook looking somewhat be-reft of ideas.

He resorted to GraemeSwann’s offspin soon aftermid-morning drinks, and thetemptation of the slower,spinning ball proved toomuch for Smith, who aimed aheave towards midwicket butmanaged only to send a skierinto the hands of JonnyBairstow. This was profligateby Smith, who had shown somuch patience to this point,

but England will argue that itwas in fact the fourth time inthe innings they had dis-missed him.

Warner thus walked tothe wicket with Australia indecent fettle, accompaniedby the inevitable boos fol-lowing his attack on Joe Rootin Birmingham during theChampions Trophy. Clarkewas by this time in flowingform, treating Tim Bresnan inparticular with rare disdain ashe raised 150. But Warner’swas a brief and skittish stay,one firm push to the coverboundary undone when hesnicked Swann’s offbreak toslip via Matt Prior’s pad.

Unable to tell he had hitthe ball having simulta-neously thudded bat againstpad, Warner sought advicefrom Clarke, who surprisinglyassented to the review. Re-plays revealed the thicknessof the edge, sending Warneroff to even louder departingboos than those to havegreeted him. On the OldTrafford balcony, the rest ofAustralia’s players andcoaches were less than en-

chanted with events.Haddin watched all this

then marched to the middle,quickly reasserting his side’sstrong position with a trio oflofted boundaries that con-veyed both the true natureof the pitch and Australiandesire to mount their tally ina timely fashion. Like Clarketo Swann at short cover ear-lier in the session, Haddin didoffer one exceptionally diffi-cult chance with an insideedge through to Prior, but thecatch went down as Englandpondered the deficit theymight be facing.

The early passages ofthe afternoon were relativelyuneventful, as Clarke andHaddin batted time withoutundue haste. UltimatelyClarke fell into a pattern ofrunning singles down tothird man, and in attemptingto do this to a Broad deliverythat cut back he succeededonly in nudging the ball ontothe stumps. Siddle had alusty swing at Swann andmissed but Starc had rathermore success as Haddin ac-cumulated ably.

Swimming: Franklin’s toughtest for fifth worlds gold

at Barcelona’s world champi-onships in the 4x200mfreestyle relay.

Franklin, fifth fastest intothe final, battles a strong fieldin the Palau Sant Jordi poolwith Sjostrom, who won goldon Monday in the 100m but-terfly, fastest into thefreestyle final in 52.87secswith Campbell just behindher.

Olympic championRanomi Kromowidjojo and

Germany’s Britta Steffen, theworld-record holder, are alsovying for medals.

“I’m not expecting any-thing, it is a really tough field.I’d just love to get anotherbest time,” said Franklin.

The teenager has a pun-ishing evening schedulewith the 200m backstrokesemi-finals, for which shequalified fastest, coming aquarter of an hour after thefreestyle final.—AFP

Boxing: I canfight up to three

more years:Pacquiao

SINGAPORE—Philippine box-ing icon Manny Pacquiaosaid Friday that he can fightfor another three years de-spite two successive losses,brushing aside calls for himto retire and focus on hispolitical career.

He told journalists at apromotional event inSingapore, for his Novem-ber 24 bout in Macau withAmerican Brandon Rios,that his Mexican arch rivalJuan Manuel Marquez justgot lucky when theyfought in December lastyear.

“It’s part of boxing, some-times you lose, sometimesyou win, and I think he justgot the lucky chance, thelucky shot in that fight,” saidPacquiao, who crumpled tothe canvas after a crushingright from Marquez in thesixth round.

Asked how much longerhe sees himself in the ring,the 34-year-old, now servinga second term as a Philippinecongressman, vowed that“as long as I can still fight, Iam going to fight”.

“In my mind, I can stillfight two to three years fromnow,” said Pacquiao, the onlyfighter in history to win worldtitles in eight different weightdivisions.—AFP

BARCELONA: US swimmer Missy Franklin celebrates after winning the final of thewomen’s 100-metre backstroke swimming event in the FINA World Championships.

Australia complainsto ICC about

Khawaja decisionMANCHESTER—Australiaasked for an explanation fromthe International CricketCouncil about how umpiresarrived at a controversial de-cision to give UsmanKhawaja caught behind onthe opening day of the thirdAshes.

Third umpire KumarDharmasena upheld an on-field call test at Old Trafford,despite replay technologyfailing to provide any evi-dence that Khawaja touchedthe ball with his bat.

“Cricket Australia hassought an explanation from theICC on the dismissal of UsmanKhawaja,” CA chief executiveJames Sutherland said in astatement. “In our view, the on-field decision and referred de-cision using DRS were bothincorrect.—Online

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—An Energy Confer-ence was organized here byPunjab Investment Board forproviding conducive atmo-sphere to investors who wouldgenerate energy through alter-native sources.

Federal Minister for Rail-ways Kh. Saad Rafique, Minis-ter of State Abid Sher Ali, Mem-bers National and ProvincialAssembly as well as local andforeign investors participated inthe conference.

Foreign investors, while ex-pressing their views on PunjabCM efforts for resolution of en-ergy crisis said, they will cer-tainly yield positive results.Foreign investors of Turkey andChina, renowned industrialists

of the country also attended theconference.

Vice President of ChineseCompany Norinco ZhangShiping, while addressing thePunjab Energy Investment Con-ference, paid rich tributes toPunjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif.

He said that only a leaderlike Mr. Shahbaz Sharif cancomplete such a gigantic projectin a very short period. ZhangShiping vice president said thathe travelled by metro bus andfelt that this project of publicservice is unprecedented and itcan be easily compared with theprojects of developed countries.

Chief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif took notes whilesitting in his seat and expresseddeep interest in various propos-

als presented during the confer-ence.

An agreement was signedbetween Punjab government andChinese Company TBEA forcooperation in energy sector.

Under the agreement, theChinese company will set up a1000 megawatt solar plant inCholistan. Speaking on the oc-casion, Chief Minister Mr.Muhammad Shahbaz Shariflauded the cooperation of Chinain energy sector and said thatenergy problem will be over-come through setting up ofpower generation projects basedon alternative sources with thehelp of friendly countries. Hewelcomed the agreement signedduring energy conference andsaid that these projects will becompleted expeditiously.

PIB Energy Investment Conference

Punjab govt, Chinesecompany sign agreement

Muslim Brotherhoodcriticises Kerry’sendorsement of

Morsi overthrowCAIRO—Muslim Brotherhoodon Friday criticised US Secre-tary of State John Kerry for say-ing the Egyptian military hadbeen “restoring democracy”when it toppled presidentMohamed Morsi.

“We totally reject thesestatements and we are very dis-appointed in them,” saidMohamed Ali Bishr, a seniorbrotherhood leader and a min-ister in Morsi’s former govern-ment.

“The United States is acountry that speaks of democ-racy and human rights and theysay something like that. I hopethat they rethink their positionand correct it,” he told Reuters.

Morsi, a Brotherhood offi-cial who became Egypt’s firstfreely elected leader in June2012, was ousted on July 3 andreplaced by an army-backedgovernment.—AP

US briefs Karzai onKerry’s Pakistan tourKABUL—U.S. special envoy onAfghanistan and Pakistan JamesDobbins called on Afghan Presi-dent Hamid Karzai here Fridayand briefed him on the outcomeof U.S. Secretary of State JohnKerry’s visit to Islamabad and hismeetings with Pakistani leaders,the Presidential Palace said in astatement. President Karzai andambassador Dobbins who accom-panied Kerry during his tour toPakistan discussed Afghan-U.S.relations and the situation inAfghanistan, the statement added.

President Karzai said hehoped his “coming visit to Paki-stan would lead to enhancing bi-lateral relations between the twoneighboring countries. —NNI

PARIS—France will cut nearly34,000 military personnel undera proposed six-year defence bud-get to be unveiled on Friday, asgovernment belt-tightening and adesire for more nimble forces al-ters the makeup of Europe’s sec-ond-largest army.

Defence Minister Jean-YvesLe Drian will present the 190 bil-lion euro ($251 billion) budget ina cabinet meeting.

The defence ministry warnedin April that its budget would re-main largely static in coming yearswhen it outlined its 2014-19 pri-orities in a strategic blueprint thatanticipated the 12 percent cut instaff.

The government wants to cutstate spending by 60 billion eurosover its five-year term to meet

deficit targets but steered clear ofdrastic cuts to military spendingafter armed forces officials andlawmakers said that would ham-per France’s ability to react to glo-bal security threats.

Still, the military job cuts willbite at a time of rising unemploy-ment and dissatisfaction over So-cialist President FrancoisHollande’s inability to revive thesputtering economy.

Under the draft budget, themilitary will also slow the pace atwhich it takes delivery of Rafalejets ordered from Dassault Avia-tion, only taking 26 of the planesover the six years, down from anormal pace of some 11 planes ayear.

The move will delay prom-ised payments of the planes, worth

roughly $120 million a piece, eas-ing pressure on state coffers.

The government hopes for-eign orders from India and else-where will snap up some of theplanes being rolled out by partlystate-owned Dassault, which hasyet to sell a single of its flagshipRafales abroad but says it has toproduce at least 11 a year to oper-ate efficiently.

The proposed budget isslightly above the 179 billion eurofigure the April blueprint had in-dicated, after being boosted byreal estate sales and other one-offbenefits. It will be debated in themonths ahead in parliament,where the ruling Socialists have aslim majority, and is largely ex-pected to be voted into law byyear-end. —Reuters

France to slash 34,000military personnel

HAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—The Pakistan/AJK chapter of APHC (AllParties Huyrriet Conference)has circulated a unanimousresolution during Fridayprayers that urges the Ummahto help defeat those ill-inten-tioned forces who are out todisorientate Islamic tenets inHindustan-held Kashmir.

The seven-paragraph reso-lution highlighting the back-grounds of twin disputes ofAsia- Kashmir and Palestine -made an impassioned appeal tothe world powers and thinktanks to seek out goals-ori-

ented solutions to these prob-lems. Asia will not see even aninch of peace-patch, if thesetwo oldest disputes are notsolved as per sentiments of therespective people.

The Zionists violate thesanctity of Al-Quds Sharif andAl-Aqsa mosque in the MiddleEast, while in South AsiaHindustan is busy erasing herown promises made to theworld, to the Kashmiris forsettlement of Kashmir disputeon the basis of open plebiscite.

It warns the Hindustan-bloated political groups inKashmir to desist from hood-winking the brave, bold

Kashmiris by chanting ‘butterplastered’ promises; the peoplehave many times in the pastsaw their ‘games’, therefore nohonor-bound Kashmiri wouldlisten to their claims.

The resolution draws theattention of the world that un-settled Kashmir is danglingamong three nuclear powers –Pakistan, China andHindustan. It makes the Kash-mir scenario dangers, closer to apush-button click.

Kashmiris don’t want de-struction; they want constructionand that is the prime logic thatthey urge immediate peaceful ne-gotiated solution to this dispute.

APHC launches massiveKashmir sensitizing drive

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The lawlessness incountry’s economic hub,Karachi claimed 1695 lives inincidents of target killings aswell as ethnic and political vio-lence and terrorism. Amongthose killed during a period fromJanuary to July, 2013, includedlawmaker belonging to theMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM), chief security office toPresident Asif Ali Zardari andlaw enforcement agencies’ per-sonnel. In July, 2013, law en-forcement agencies personnelespecially cops were amongthose who lost their lives. TheSupreme Court of Pakistan hadtaken a Suo Motto notice on thelawlessness in Karachi and de-spite concerns showed by the

apex court and directives givento the law enforcement agenciesand the Sindh provincial govern-ment, the hardened criminals,kidnappers and extortionists andtarget killers continued to wreakhavoc on city’s peace and tran-quility and on citizens.

In July, 2013, the Lyari gangwar continued to pick up theyouth of the Katchi Communityand continued to kill them. Con-versely, the majority of KatchiCommunity migrated to differ-ent areas of Karachi includingBaldia Town and Malir-Khokhrapar and to other dis-tricts if the Sindh province in-cluding Thatta and Badin. TheSindh provincial governmenthad so far taken no concretesteps for bringing the Katchifamilies back to their homes.

1965 gunned down inKarachi during Jan-July

TOKYO—Japanese Prime Minis-ter Shinzo Abe will likely skipvisiting a shrine for war dead on atraditional remembrance day thismonth, a move he hopes will openthe door to a summit with Chi-nese President Xi Jinping andmend badly frayed ties.

Whether Xi, faced with hugedomestic challenges, is willing orable to risk responding to the over-ture remains in doubt. But rela-tions between the world’s second-and third-largest economies havenow been hostile for months, witha row over disputed islands add-ing to wartime bitterness and a re-

gional rivalry.China and South Korea, oc-

cupied or colonized by Japan inthe 20th century, are especiallytouchy about visits to YasukuniShrine by Japanese leaders be-cause it also honors people con-victed as war criminals by an Al-lied tribunal. Conservatives likeAbe say it is only natural to payrespects there to those who diedfor their country, especially onAug 15, the anniversary of Japan’sdefeat in World War Two. Tokyohopes that if Abe stays away onthe day, it would score points inBeijing.Now is the most delicate

time,” said a government sourcewith knowledge of discussionsbetween Japan and China, whodid not want to be identified be-cause of the sensitivity of the sub-ject. “It may be that when a lead-ers’ summit takes place, we lookback and say ‘that was the start’.”

Abe, 58, is keen to replicateone of the few successes of histroubled 2006-2007 term, whenhe thawed Sino-Japanese ties af-ter a five-year chill during the ten-ure of his predecessor, JunichiroKoizumi, diplomatic experts say.

“Despite the hawkish personathat he puts forward, in 2006 he

was the guy who began the post-Koizumi reconciliation process,”said Sheila Smith, a senior fellowat the U.S.-based Council on For-eign Relations. “He sees himselfas a statesman in the sense of be-ing effective on the diplomaticscene.” Sino-Japanese ties wentinto a deep-freeze duringKoizumi’s term partly because ofhis annual visits to Yasukuni.

The deeply conservative Abewas able to warm up relationsthereafter by never saying whetherhe would or would not visitYasukuni, but in fact, stayingaway while in office.—Reuters

New Far Eastern big rapprochement appearing

Japan PM placates China by skipping shrine visit

FIA submitsassessment report

of purchasedproperties to SC

ISLAMABAD—The FIA has sub-mitted an assessment report of allover-rated purchased properties ofthe EOBI to the Supreme Courtin fraud case.

The federal probe agency pre-sented EOBI properties’ assess-ment report, prepared by theNespak, before a three-memberbench of the Supreme Court onThursday.

According to the submittedreport, those two properties’ cur-rent price has exceeded over 24billion rupees, which had beenpurchased from the DHA in 22billion rupees.

Properties had been pur-chased on over-rated prices inChakwal and Kalar Kahar areaswhile a plaza of just 370 millionrupees was purchased for hefty 1.02billion rupees in Islamabad. —NNI

LAHORE: Secretary Energy Usman Bajwa and Vice President, Norinco, Zhang Shiping, signing an MoU on solar energycooperation on Friday. Punjab Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif was also present on the occasion.

Five dead in bankdacoityMANSEHRA—Five people in-cluding police men werekilled and several others sus-tained injuries in a bankdacoity incident that occurrednear Shinkiari road, districtMansehra, on Friday evening.According to details, a groupof outlaws stormed into a lo-cal bank situated at Shinkiariroad and looted millions ofrupees before fleeing from thescene. On a tip off, local po-lice tried to nab the culpritswith looted money but on see-ing the police, the outlawsstarted firing.—APP

SHO, driver killedin Peshawar attackPESHAWAR—Station HouseOfficer Amir Sultan and hisdriver were killed and a con-stable sustained injuries on Fri-day when some unidentifiedarmed men attacked police mo-bile van in Daudzai area ofPeshawar. According to policesources, police mobile van wason routine patrolling the areawhen some armed men openedfire at the van on Aryana road,killing SHO of Daudzai policestation and his driver on the spotand injuring another police per-sonnel. The gunmen managed toflee from the scene after inci-dent. Police constable Imransustained injuries. The deadbodies and injured were shiftedto Lady Reading Hospital. Thepolice cordoned off the entirearea and started search operationfor hunting the culprits. Talkingto media persons CCPOPeshawar Liaquat Ali said thatsearch operation was underwayin various areas of the city forlast few days. He said that dur-ing search operation, police ar-rested many key suspects andsuch incident could be result ofthis operation.— INP

Shia leader, sonshot deadRAHIMYAR KHAN—Presidentof Shia Ulema CouncilBahawalpur division, ShiekhManzoor Hussain and his son,Haider Hussain, were killed inan attack outside their house hereon Friday. According to policesources, Sheikh and his son wereoutside their residence in AbbasiaTown area here, when unknownpersons attacked and severely in-jured them. Later, both suc-cumbed to the injuries. —INP

ANP leader’shujra attackedLANDIKOTAL—Unknown mis-creants threw a hand grenade intothe Hujra (guest house) of thepresident of ANP Khyber AgencyShah Hussain Shinwari onThursday-Friday night. The handgrenade caused slight damageonly to two parked cars inside thehujra of ANP leader. “People re-mained safe in the attack,” ANPleader said. “So far no FIR hasbeen lodged with administrationagainst any one,” Shinwariadded. Khasadar Force informedthat the grenade’s voice was sobig that it was clearly heard inLandikotal bazaar. —INP

PEOPLE who quit smoking after a balloon angioplasty to improve blood flowto the heart live an average of two years

longer than those who keep smoking, a newstudy suggests.

Researchers foundpeople who were undergo-ing balloon angioplasty intheir 50s, on average, andquit smoking within oneyear after the procedurelived another 18.5 years. Incontrast, those who contin-ued to smoke lived about16.4 years, on average, af-ter angioplasty.

“Most (smokers) startsmoking in their youth andhave a smoking history of40-50 years,” said Ron vanDomburg, the senior authorof the paper and a clinicalepidemiologist at ErasmusMedical Center inRotterdam, The Nether-lands.

“Most patients think it is too late to quitsmoking, but the major message of our studyis that it is never too late to stop smoking,” hetold Reuters Health in an email.

“Even if you’re not willing to stop smok-ing (for) yourself, do it for your grandchil-dren. They can enjoy their grandparents foran additional two years.”

Previous studies have shown that smok-ing contributes to an increased risk of heart-related illness and death.

But others reflect just how tough it canbe to quit smoking. Relapse rates are high,even with medications and behavioral thera-pies developed to help people kick the habit.

According to a U.S. Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention analysis of 2010 sur-vey data, about 69 percent of smokers wantto stop smoking, and about half of thesemake quit attempts each year. But of those,

only about six percent suc-cessfully stay off cigarettes.

To determine whether ornot quitting smoking is tied toincreased life expectancy af-ter heart surgery, vanDomburg and his colleaguescollected data on 806 patientswho underwent balloonangioplasty at Erasmus Medi-cal Center between 1980 and1985.

During coronary balloonangioplasty, also known aspercutaneous coronary inter-vention (PCI), a balloon-tipped catheter is threadedthrough blood vessels and theballoon is inflated to clear oneor more narrowed vessels.

The researchers asked pa-tients about their smoking habits before andone year after surgery and followed them forup to 30 years. Of the patients, 309 werenon-smokers, 210 quit smoking after theirsurgery and 287 smoked before and after.

Non-smokers and people who hadsmoked but quit after surgery were equallylikely to die during the follow-up period, butdeath rates were significantly higher amongthose who continued smoking.

At 30 years post-surgery, 29 percent ofquitters were still alive, compared to 14 per-cent of those who kept smoking, accordingto findings published in The American Jour-nal of Cardiology.

Quitting smoking post-angioplasty tied to longer life

US Secretary of State, John Kerry, breaking Ramadan fast at an Iftar with a group of students of Fatima Jinnah Women University.

Federal Minister for SAFRON Lt. Gen ® Abdul Qadir Baloch, Minister for PrivatizationEngr. Khurram Dastgir, President of Azad Kashmir Sardar Yaqoob Khan, Hossain RavishCharge d Affaires of Embassy of Iran, Zafar Bakhtawari President ICCI and others on theoccasion of Quds Day arranged by Embassy of Iran in Islamabad.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The HigherEducation Commission(HEC) would confer BestUniversity Teacher Awards2011 upon 63 universityfaculty members. These 63university teachers havebeen selected by BestTeacher Award Committeeafter comprehensive evalu-ation and scrutiny amongthe 153 nominations re-ceived from higher educa-tion institutions from allover the country.

The awards will be con-ferred in a special ceremony

HEC to confer 63 bestuniversity teacher awards

to be held at HEC Islamabadon 21st August 2013. MianMuhammad Baligh ur RehmanMinister of State for Educa-tion, Training & Standards inHigher Education will be chiefguest on the occasion.

Best University TeachersAward Program was initiatedby HEC in 2004 to improvethe quality of education alongwith enhancing external andinternal efficiency of Univer-sity education. The programprovides monetary as well asself-esteemed incentives toteachers from universities anddegree awarding institutionsthrough awards and certifi-

cates.Each year nominations

for the awards are invitedfrom the Public Sector and Wcategory private universitiesand degree awarding institu-tions of Pakistan focusing ontheir contributions towardsteaching, research and effortsfor professional development.

So far 349 awards havebeen conferred over a periodof eight years under this pro-gram. Commenting over theprogram, Chairperson HECDr. Javaid R. Laghari saidthat the program aims to im-prove the quality of educationalong with enhancing exter-

nal and internal efficiency ofuniversity education.

It also envisages to up-grade quality of researchthrough staff developmentand provision of better facili-ties. This national recognitionof the contributions made byuniversity faculty will act ascatalyst for others to enhancetheir efforts in the fields ofteaching and research.

I t is expected that achanged atmosphere rising asa result of this scheme willhelp in lifting the standards ofeducation and research in Pa-kistani institutions of highereducation, he remarked.

AUGUST 14

Pakistan National Councilof the Arts has chalked outprograms titled *”Colors ofPakistan”* to celebrate In-dependence Day. Theprogrammes include cul-tural show in which artistsfrom all provinces will per-form on at 7:30 p.m. atPNCA auditorium,Islamabad.

NPC independenceday celebrations

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The two-weeklong programme chalked out bythe Nazriya-i-Pakistan Council(NPC) is at full swing with ef-fect from 1st August 2013 at theAiwan-i-Quiad F-9 Park,Islamabad with screening ofdocumentary films from 10 a.mto 12 noon daily on the Indepen-dence struggle and the life ofQuaid-i-Azam. The activitieswould run till 16th August, end-ing with a national poetry reci-tation session.

National conference on“The Role of Mashaikh Uzzamin the Solidarity of Pakistan”,will be held on 6th August, co-inciding with the 27th Ramadan,when Pakistan came into beingaccording to the Islamic Calen-dar. The conference will be at-tended by over 300 religiousscholars from all over Pakistan.

The Flag hosting ceremonyto be addressed by Zahid MalikChairman NPC, will take placeon 14th August at 10:00 am fol-lowed by a special band displayof National songs by theIslamabad Police Band.

Many scholars of the coun-try as well as students of schoolsand colleges of the twin citiesare being invited to participatein these programmes. All the ac-tivities will be carried out at theAiwan-i-Quaid, Fatima JinnahPark, Islamabad.

No challan tillEid-ul-Fitr

RAWALPINDI—Ban has beenimposed on serving challans tothe citizens from last Ashra ofRamadan till Eid ul Fitar in dis-trict Rawalpindi to ensuresmooth flow of traffic. The citi-zens will not be challaned onnominal traffic violations andchallans will only be issued ongrave violations of traffic. Dur-ing the last Ashra of holy monthof Ramadan traffic flow hasgrown immense and all theroads remain flooded with thevehicular traffic.—Online

Brazilianportuguese

course classesCITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Embassy ofBrazil in Islamabad is reopen-ing the admissions for its freePortuguese language course,from August 1st to 6th.

The classes will take placeat the Embassy and are freeof cost, starting on August19th. People above 16 yearsold are eligible to attend thecourse, which will have con-secutive three months mod-ules.

This initiative is in the scopeof the increase on educationalcooperation between Brazil andPakistan, which includes the of-fer of placements in Brazilianuniversities for Pakistani stu-dents, announced by the Em-bassy in 2012.

CITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—United States(US) Secretary of State JohnKerry during an Iftar with stu-dents of Fatima Jinnah WomenUniversity (FJWU), discussededucation and the importance ofexchange programmes with thestudents and faculty.

Secretary Kerry heard fromstudents and alumni about theirexperiences with U.S-sponsoredexchange and developmentprogrammes to advance theirprofessional goals.

He underscored the value ofthe bilateral exchangeprogrammes and the importanceof investing in education in Pa-kistan to prepare young peopleto contribute to efforts to buildand grow Pakistan’s economy.

Collaboration between US,Pak to promote edu: Kerry

John Kerry highlighted theimportant, longstanding col-laboration between the US andPakistan to promote education,particularly the education ofwomen and girls. “One of thethings the US tries to do, andPresident Obama is passionateabout, is increasing educationalopportunity.

He has a special initiativeto try to do that in LatinAmerica, South Asia, andSoutheast Asia. It’s so impor-tant, because ultimately, youwill make the difference interms of making smart decisionsabout governing, leaders, aboutchoices, all these things. Andyou are the next generation,” headded.

He said, the U.S. exchangeprogramme in Pakistan is the

largest in the world, with over1,000 Pakistani students andprofessionals traveling to the USeach year through the flagshipfulbright programme, under-graduate semester programmes,and other exchange opportuni-ties.

In 2012, the U.S. Mission toPakistan launched eight univer-sity partnerships that linkAmerican and Pakistani univer-sities and plans to launch an ad-ditional eleven by the end of2013.

These three-year partner-ship programmes includefaculty exchange and curricu-lum developmentprogrammes in various disci-plines, including gender stud-ies, distance learning, andcommunications.

ISLAMABAD—Rain on Fridaybroke the severity of muggyweather providing much neededrelief to people of twin cities ofRawalpindi and Islamabad.

The rain continued inter-mittently during the night but theheavy downpour came in themorning as people were on theirway to attend offices and openbusinesses.

The temperature droppedfrom high 30s to 32 C. 23 milli-meter of rain was recorded inIslamabad.

Rain as part of the monsoonweather pattern was pleasant forpeople bearing humid condi-tions while observing fast.

The Met office has pre-dicted more rains leading up toEid holidays, when most peoplewill be in their native towns and

Muggy weather subsides as rainrefreshes people in twin cities

villages to celebrate the reli-gious festival with their rela-tives.

As usual it was a difficulttime for the residents living inlow lying areas of Rawalpindias water gathered in streets androads.

The local administrationhas taken its routine precaution-ary measures in case the rainfalls more than usual and waterrises in Nullah Lai which me-anders through the city.

People who visitedmosques in large numbers forJuma tul Wida, had an upbeatmood. Loadshedding hourswere also lower as people cutdown use of airconditionerswhich during humid high tem-perature weather use one thirdof electricity.—APP

Dacoits gang bustedISLAMABAD—Crime Investiga-tion Agency (CIA) of IslamabadPolice on Friday busted a gangof dacoits and also arrested fiveproclaimed offenders wanted topolice in crime cases of heinousnature, a police spokesman said.

According to details, SSPIslamabad Muhammad Rizwanhas directed all police officials tolaunch effective crackdownagainst absconders and ensure ar-rest of all such criminals.—APP

Al Quds Dayfunction

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—The Iranian em-bassy here hosted dinner to markthe Al Quds day Friday.

Al Quds day is observed onlast Friday of Holy Ramadan tohighlight struggle for liberationof Al-Quds, Qibla-e-Awal of theMuslims.

A large member of promi-nent people attended the din-ner. Besides the host, DeputAmbassador, Iran, Mr,Hussain Ravish, the functionwas attended by federal min-isters, Khurram Dastgir andLt. Gen (Retd) Abdul QudirBaloch, President Azud Kash-mir Sardar Muhammad YaqubKhan and several politicalfigures also attended the din-ner.

Briefs

You are more likely toovercome challenges if

you have learned inadvance, what to

expect and how torespond. That is why

training, at all levels, iscritical to the successof any organization.

— Allen Sheppard

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D —IslamabadChamber of Commerce & In-dustry has welcomed the an-nouncement of United States toresume stalled strategic dialoguewith Pakistan.

They termed it a positivedevelopment as it would bringboth countries further closer inall areas, especially in trade andeconomic fields. President,ICCI Zafar Bakhtawari in astatement here Friday said thatthriving relations between Paki-stan and USA are in the best in-terest of both countries.

It is good that now bothcountries have agreed to addressproblems and revive warm re-lations, which will create newopportunities for promotingcommercial and economic ties.

He also lauded the statementof US Secretary of State JohnKerry for long-term and strongrelations with Pakistan at all lev-els. He said energy crisis is the

Business community welcomesresumption of Pak-US dialogue

main factor that has sloweddown the economic growth inPakistan and urged that USshould enhance cooperationwith Pakistan in its efforts aimedat coping with energy problemwith special focus on harness-ing the cheap energy sources.

He said US has agreed to re-sume strategic dialogue for faster,deeper, boarder and more compre-hensive partnership with Pakistanand if it is really sincere to see astrong Pakistan, US should fullysupport Pak-Iran gas pipelineproject instead of discouraging itas its completion would signifi-cantly help in resolving Pakistan’schronic energy problem.

Zafar Bakhtawari said theconstruction of $14 billion stra-tegically important DiamerBhasha Dam is stuck up due toreluctance of international fin-anciers and US should come for-ward to contribute positively forits construction as well as useits influence with World Bankto support this vital project.

He said Pakistan offers lu-crative investment opportunitiesin different sectors of economyand US should also encourageits investors to explore Pakistanfor enhanced investment.

He said US has finalized acivil nuclear deal with India andit should also seriously considercooperating with Pakistan incivil nuclear technology to meetits rising energy needs.

US has the latest technologyto produce hydro electricitywhile Pakistan has huge poten-tial to generate hydel power andUS should share its technologywith Pakistan to fully harnessthis very cheap and untappedsource of energy. ICCI Presidentappreciated US GSP plusscheme for Pakistan allowingduty-free exports of 3500 Paki-stani products to US market.

However, he demanded thatthis scheme should also allowduty free access to Pakistani maintextiles products to achieve realbenefits from this concession.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Overseas Paki-stanis Foundation (OPF) Man-aging Director Iftikhar HussainBabar Friday said that the for-eign remittances were increasedby 50 percent during the firstmonth of the new Fiscal Year2013-14.

Talking to media, he said theremittances increased due to theincentives offered by OPF toexpatriates. Overseas Pakistanisare offered with various incen-tive cards categorized on thebasis of amount of foreign ex-change they bring home.

He said remarkable remit-tances from overseas Pakistaniworkers reached $13.92 billionby the fall of last fiscal year2012-13, the highest ever.

He further said that towardsthis end, a special package ofForeign Exchange RemittanceCard (FERC) has been imple-mented by the government to

Foreign remittancesup by 50pc

facilitate the Overseas PakistanCommunity. OPF has been as-signed the task to issue FERCards, he added.

Overseas Pakistanis remit-ting Foreign currency equivalent

to US$ 2500 to US$ 50,000 perannum are entitled to five cat-egories of Remittance Cards(Silver card) on $ US 2,500 ormore, with a credit duty conces-sion of Rs 10,000.

Similarly, he said thatGolden card is issued for bring-ing home $US 5,000 or more,with a credit duty concession ofRs 20,000, Golden plus card isissued for $US 25,000 or more,with a credit duty concession of

Rs 50,000, Platinum card for$US 50,000 or more with acredit duty concession of Rs100,000.

He further said remarkableremittances from overseas Paki-stani workers reached $13.92billion by the fall of last fiscalyear 2012-13, the highest ever,due to the incentives offered byOPF.

He said that OPF schoolsand colleges across the countryhad shown outstanding results.“We have appointed talentedand highly qualified teachers atOPF educational institutions toprovide standard and qualityeducation at all levels.”

OPF is created for everyPakistani national. Anybodyhaving an employment visa, au-tomatically becomes a memberof the OPF.

“Others can become OPFmembers by submitting a copyof their passport at the OPF cen-tre,” Babar added.

Rates for conversionStaff ReporterKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Deposits,Dollar Bearer Certificates,Foreign Currency BearerCertificates, Special U.S.Dollar Bonds and profitsthereon by all banks and forproviding Forward Cover onForeign Currency Deposits(excluding F.E. 25 deposits) bythe State Bank on August 05,2013. The rates are U.S.Dollar Rs 102.0135, JapaneseYen Rs 1.0238, Pound SterlingRs 154.5811 and Euro Rs134.8211.—APP

PASSCO earnsRs 421.312m

net profitSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan Agricul-ture Storage and Services Cor-poration (PASSCO) has earnedRs 421.312 million net profit inthe current season. PASSCOhas also paid Rs 814.994 mil-lion tax to the national exche-quer, a spokesman of PASSCOsaid here Friday.

This season’s performanceof the corporation is bestamong last five years. Thespokesman said that earningprofit by the corporation is“good news” for the nation.He said that PASSCO in itsrecently held general bodymeeting has also decided tosupply certified wheat seed tothe growers. The step wouldnot only help redressing theproblem of shortage of certi-fied seed for the growers butalso increase per acre yield ofthe crop.

Enhanced wheat yieldwould have a positive impact onthe national economy, he added.The spokesman said thatPASSCO is also going to con-struct new storage facility inKhanewal and Hafizabad withits own resources.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The SensitivePrice Indicator (SPI) for theweek ended on August 1 for thelowest income group up toRs.8,000 registered decrease of0.11 per cent as compared to theprevious week.

The Sensitive Price Indica-tor (SPI) for the week under re-view in the above mentionedgroup was recorded at 195.78points against 195.99 points reg-istered in the previous week,according to data of PakistanBureau of Statistics (PBS).

The weekly SPI has beencomputed with base 2007-2008=100, covering 17 urbancenters and 53 essential itemsfor all income groups and com-bined. The Sensitive Price Indi-cator (SPI) for the combinedgroup decreased by 0.05 per centas it went down from 200.92points in the previous week to200.82 points in the week underreview.

As compared to the corre-sponding week of last year, the

Weekly inflation goes downSensitive Price Indicator (SPI)for the combined group in theweek under review witnessedincrease of 8.67 percent.

As compared to the lastweek, the SPI for the incomegroups from Rs.8001-12,000,12,001-18,000 and 18001-35,000 decreased by 0.11 per-

cent, 0.11 percent and 0.07percent respectively whereasthe SPI for the income groupabove Rs.35,000 witnessednominal increase of 0.01 per-cent. During the week underreview average prices of 10items registered decrease,while that of 13 items increase

with the remaining 30 items’prices unchanged.

The items which registereddecrease in their prices duringthe week under review includedtomatoes, bananas, egg hen(farm), gram pulse (washed),LPG(11 kg cylinder), vegetableghee (loose), chicken live(farm), red chillies (powder),mustard oil and sugar.

The items which recordedincrease in their average pricesincluded sandal (gents), kero-sene oil, diesel, petrol, onions,moong pulse (washed), wheat,potatoes, wheat flour (bag),mash pulse (washed), gur, longcloth and garlic.

The items with no change intheir average prices during theweek under review included ricebasmati (broken), rice (irri-6),bread (plain), beef, mutton, milk(fresh), curd milk (powdered),cooking oil, vegetable ghee (tin),masoor pulse washed, salt (pow-dered), tea (packet), cooked beef,cooked dal, tea (prepared), ciga-rettes, shirting, lawn, Georgette,chappal (gents), sandal (ladies).

PQ shipping activityKARACHI—Three shipscarrying containers and furnaceoil were berthed at QasimInternational ContainersTerminal and FOTCO Terminalrespectively on Thursday.Meanwhile one more shipcarrying containers also arrivedat outer anchorage of PortQasim during last 24 hours.Berth occupancy was 75% atthe Port on Friday where a totaleight ships namely APLAtlantic, Kerstin, OrientSingapore, Beacom-SW, EliniD, Bunga Aster, Donga Peneusand Euro Progress are currentlyoccupying berths to load/offload containers, cement,wheat, urea, edible oil andfurnace lkoil respectivelyduring last 24 hours. A cargovolume of 85242 tonnescomprising 69784 tonnesimports and 15458 tonnesexports unclusive of container-ized cargo carried in 2397containers (TEUs) was handledat the Port during last 24hours.—APP

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif in a meeting with a delegation of RussianEngineering Company JSC Technopromexport.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Ministry ofScience and Technology(MoST) will soon initiatelarge scale production andmarketing of Renewable En-ergy and electronic productsin the country and will ensureoptimal utilization of all avail-able resources and promotecost effective indigenousproducts.

In this regard, STEDECTechnology Commercializa-tion Corporation of Pakistan,MoST, Pakistan Council for

Government to initiate large scale production of renewable energy productsRenewable Energy Technolo-gies (PCRET), National Insti-tute of Electronic (NIE) ,Telecom Industry of Pakistan(TIP), Ministry of InformationTechnology (MoIT) have signeda Memorandum of Understand-ing (MoU) to design, develop,large scale production and mar-keting of Renewable Energy andElectronic Products.

Under the MoU, NIE andPCRET will design, develop andproduce prototype of demanddriven products and pass on thecomplete technical know- howto TIP, while STEDEC will

Undertake all financial and com-mercial aspects on behalf ofPCRET and NIE.

TIP will be responsible formass scale production and mar-keting of products designed anddeveloped by NIE and PCRET.

A joint Working Group,having representation of all thefour parties as well as of MoSTand MoIT will select the prod-ucts (already designed or to bedesigned) and prepare workableoperational model and SOPs fortaking the products from initialstage to marketing level.

Speaking on the occasion of

signing ceremony, SectereyMoST, Akhlaq Ahmad Tararsaid MoST and its R&D orga-nizations have mandate to servethe national industry throughdeveloping products, technolo-gies and processes, import sub-stitutes, value-addition espe-cially for export and by provid-ing technical assistance toSMEs.

The Secretary said these R& D Organizations have goodnumber of highly qualified,trained and experienced re-searchers as well as state-of-the-art, well equipped laboratories

for undertaking world class re-search, however, their contribu-tion to national industrial growththrough indigenization of localtechnologies has not been veryimpressive.

He said the reason for thisunimposing performance hasbeen weak industrial linkages,trust deficit of industry on pub-lic sector organizations, devel-opment of non-demand drivenproducts, lack of entrepreneur-ship development facilities / ex-pertise and so on.

The MoST, while realiz-ing these gaps, has established

the Commercialization Cell todevelop linkages betweenR&D Organizations,Academia and Industry forsharing of resources to carryout demand driven R&D, of-fering solutions to various in-dustrial problems, entrepre-neurship development andcommercialization of IP ofthese organizations, he added.

“I am confident that thisMoU will herald a new era oflong term relationship betweenthe two ministries, which willbe cornerstone of our initia-tives aimed at self reliance

through indigenization, hemaintained.

The Secretary appreci-ated the efforts of MoSTCommercialization Cell formaterializing the MoU to startlarge scale production andmarketing of indigenous tech-nologies.

MoIT Additional Secre-tary Muhammad Ejaz Mianalso spoke on the occasion andhoped that the MoU will go along way in large scale produc-tion of renewable energy andelectronic products in thecountry.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Cotton tradinggained some momentum inSindh and Punjab stations amidfirm spot rate with fine lint infocus, said traders.

Most of the leading buyersmade deals for all grade of lintwhile steady influx of cotton-seed into the ginneries of Sindhand Punjab put the trading onfirm footings, floor brokers said.

Trading in all grades inSindh and Punjab stationschanged hands on competitiveprices at around Rs 5,675 permaund to Rs 6,850 per maundwith firm spot rate, which stoodat Rs 6,450 per maund, tradersat the Karachi Cotton Associa-tion (KCA) said.

Trading gains momentumat cotton market

In Punjab and Sindh stationsmills purchased all qualities onback of growing demand ofcloth besides spinners madedeals on competitive prices ataround Rs 6,250 per maund toRs 6,625 per maund, they added.

The secondary buyers madedeals for all grades including finegrades for blending purposes ataround Rs 6,350 per maund to Rs6,875 per maund while the secondgrade stuff was available at aroundRs 5,875 per maund to Rs 6,150per maund, floor brokers said.

Sellers and buyers were en-tangled in price war on rawgrade lots as these changedhands at around Rs 5,650 permaund to Rs 5,950 per maund,they added.

More than 5,500 bales

changed hands with around 60percent of Punjab’s share in trad-ing. “Production at the ginneriesin Sindh and Punjab stations re-mained below the production ca-pacity and stood at around 65percent of their installed outputon daily basis to around 130,000bales of different grades on backof long hours of load shedding,”said a fibre analyst. “The gin-ning units in Sindh and Punjabstations are also bringing out oldcotton with some good gradeslint for blending purposes.”

New York market October2013 Futures stood at around 84cents per pound and December2013 Futures around 84.60 centsper pound. Cotlook A index washovering around 92 cents perpound.

Govt toimprove deptts

efficiencySTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The ProvincialMinister for Industr ies,Chaudhry MuhammadShafique has said that the govtto introduce a new monitoringsystem to improve the effi-ciency of all departments. Hesaid that a new system ofchecks and balances was be-ing introduced with an objec-tive to give boost to economicactivities in the country thathad gone slow due to variousinternal and external chal-lenges.

Chaudhry Shafique saidthat both Federal and Provin-cial governments were puttingin their best efforts to over-come gas and electricity short-age but the fact remains thatall the energy generationprojects are time taking.

Talking about import ofLNG from Qatar, the Ministersaid that talks with a Turkishcompany are in advance stage asthe company has agreed to laypipeline from Karachi to Lahorein 15 months.

The Provincial Minister alsorevealed that a new industrialestate near Pind Dadan Khanwas being established to over-come the challenge of unem-ployment.

HBL ATM goes liveat Caltex stationStaff ReporterKARACHI—HBL successfullydeployed its ATM at a CaltexStation, located on Khayaban eShujaat, Karachi. Nauman KDar, President & CEO of HBLalong with Mr. NadeemJafarey, Country Representa-tive, Chevron PakistanLimited, inaugurated this site.Also present on the occasionwere Mr. Faiq Sadiq, Head -Payment Services, HBL, Mr.Shahzad Rizvi, Sales ManagerRetail C&I – South, alongwith the respective Chevronand HBL teams. Speaking onthe occasion Mr. Nauman KDar said “HBL will continueto strengthen its ATM networkand position as the industryleader being the largest ATMprovider in Pakistan. Thedeployment of our ATM at thissite is part of our commitmentto providing convenient,efficient and alternate deliverychannels to our customers.

ACCA, IMA announcenew initiativeStaff ReporterKARACHI—The Association ofChartered Certified Accountants(ACCA) and IMA Institute ofManagement Accountants(IMA) announce a new strategicinitiative for the global financeprofession, financial leadershipand performance. Launchedofficially on 23 June 2013during IMA’s annual meeting ofmembers at the start of IMA’sAnnual Conference & Exposi-tion in New Orleans, ACCA andIMA also signed a MutualRecognition Agreement (MRA),approved by IMA’s Board ofRegents and ACCA’s Council.The MRA, signed on the one-year anniversary of ACCA andIMA’s strategic partnership,enables members of bothorganisations, subject to certainconditions, a clear pathway toone another’s credentials basedon a rigorous content.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Board of Di-rectors of MCB-Arif Habib Sav-ings and Investments Limited(formerly: Arif Habib Invest-ments Limited) (MCB-AH) hasauthorized the Chief ExecutiveOfficer (CEO) to consider andapprove on their behalf the in-terim distribution out of profitearned by MCB Cash Manage-ment Optimizer (MCB-CMOP),Pakistan Cash ManagementFund (PCF) and Pakistan In-come Enhancement Fund(PIEF).

In this regard, the CEO ofMCBAH, on behalf of the Boardof Directors, had approved thefollowing interim distribution:

For MCB Cash Manage-ment Optimizer, a bonus distri-bution of Re. 0.5240 per unit hasbeen approved. An investorholding 100 units as of July 26,2013 will get 0.5240 units on theex-bonus price of Rs. 100 perunit, the proportionate will ap-ply to actual holdings. This en-titlement was paid to only thoseunit holders whose names ap-peared in the register of unit

Distribution of MCB-AHFunds announced

holders at the close of July 26,2013.

For Pakistan Cash Manage-ment Fund, a bonus distributionof Re. 0.2743 per unit has beenapproved. An investor holding100 units as of July 25, 2013 willget 0.5486 units on the ex-bo-nus price of Rs 50 per unit, theproportionate will apply to ac-tual holdings. This entitlementwas paid to only those unit hold-ers whose names appeared in theregister of unit holders at theclose of July 25, 2013.

For Pakistan Income En-hancement Fund, a bonus distri-bution of Re 0.2900 per unit hasbeen approved. An investorholding 100 units as of July 25,2013 will get 0.5697 units on theex-bonus price of Rs 50.90 perunit, the proportionate will ap-ply to actual holdings. This en-titlement was paid to only thoseunit holders whose names ap-peared in the register of unitholders at the close of July 25,2013.

Unit holders who opted forcash dividends will receive cashdividend accordingly as per theiroperating instructions.

STAFF REPORTER

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Revenue Author-ity (KPRA) has been establishedunder the Excise and TaxationDepartment with the mandate tocollect sale tax on services.

A ceremony to formally in-augurate the authority andlaunch its web portal was heldat Chief Minister SecretariatPeshawar. The establishment ofthe authority was necessitatedunder the 18th ConstitutionalAmendment as earlier FederalBoard of Revenue used to col-lect the said tax. The amendment

KP Revenue Authority establishedhas empowered the provincialgovernments to collect the taxin their respective provinces.

Provincial Minister for Lawand Parliamentary Affairs,Israrullah Gandapore, on behalfof the chief minister KhyberPakhtunkhwa, was chief gueston the occasion.

Besides Senior ProvincialMinister Siraj-ul-Haq, Advisorto Chief Minister on Excise andTaxation, Jamshed-ud-DinKakakhel, Chief Secretary,Arbab Mohammad Shehzad,and administrative heads of pro-vincial departments and othersattended the function.

Addressing the function, thechief guest said that the KPRAshould have been established atleast two years ago but unfortu-nately the last provincial govern-ment did not pay any heed to thematter, adding that the presentgovernment had made the estab-lishment of KPRA possible withina short period of only two monthsfor which it deserved appreciation.

He said that tax was a basicand important thing for the eco-nomic stability of any govern-ment or state while the trust ofthe public and the tax payerswere important for the collec-tions of maximum tax.

TCP procuressugar from

34 millsSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Following the di-rectives of the federal govern-ment, the Trading Corporationof Pakistan (TCP) has procuredsome 50,000 tons of sugar from34 local mills.

TCP has finalised deals forthe procurement of 50,000 tonsof sugar at Rs 48,150 per tonfrom local sugar mills, which arefacing some financial crisis dueto bumper sugarcane crop andslow sales.

Last month, the EconomicCoordination Committee (ECC)of the Cabinet asked the state-run grain trader for procurementof 100,000 tons of sugar fromdomestic sugar mills. Followingthe ECC directives, TCP de-cided to procure sugar throughtwo tenders. First sugar tenderwas issued on July 3, 2013 forpurchase of 50,000 tons sugarfrom local mills.

Accordingly, the tender wasopened on July 18, 2013 and asmany as 58 parties expressedinterest in sale of sugar stocksto TCP.

Gold Tezab 44314.00Silver Tezabi 668.57

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 44580.00Gold 22 Ct 40750.00SilverTezabi 690.00Silver Thobi 630.00

USA 101.70 101.50

UK 153.76 153.46

EURO 134.36 134.09

Canada 98.26 96.06

Switzerland 108.54 108.33

Australia 90.50 90.32

Sweden 15.41 15.38

Japan 1.0223 1.0203

Norway 17.10 17.06

Singapore 79.75 79.59

Denmark 18.02 17.99

Omani Riyal 256.00 253.00

Saudi Arabia 27.12 27.06

Hong Kong 13.11 13.09

Kuwait 357.66 356.95

Malaysia 31.26 31.20

Newzeland 80.33 80.17

Qatar 27.93 27.87

UAE 27.69 27.63

KR WON 0.0904 0.0902

Thailand 3.240 3.234`

Rising businesssentiments

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Business senti-ment soared sharply fromminus 34 percent in August2012 to positive 2 percent inJuly 2013, following smoothtransition of government,according to the 7th WaveBusiness Confidence Index(BCI) survey sponsored byOverseas Investors Chamberof Commerce and Industry(OICCI).

A bi-annual exercise car-ried out at regular intervals,BCI is the only survey thatgauges attitudinal outlook,reflecting feedback from acountry-wide cross section ofbusiness representing some80 percent of the Gross Do-mestic Product or GDP. Assuch, it provides invaluablecues for all stakeholders, in-cluding policy makers, toimprove business environ-ment.

“The latest BCI surveyresults are largely in line withthe feelings of OICCI mem-bers. The turnaround in sen-timent appears to be influ-enced by the perception ofPML-N as a ‘businessfriendly’ political party …expected to exercise goodgovernance and astute senseto manage the economy,”opined President KimihideAndo. This, coupled with theconsistent downward infla-tionary trend – from 10.8percent in July 2012 to 7.4percent in June 2013 – andexpectations it will remainwithin the single digit-markhas contributed positively, headded.

The manufacturing sec-tor recorded the biggest turn-around from minus 37 per-cent to positive 4 percent,followed by the retail sectorthat improved from minus 48percent to minus 6 percent,trailed by the services sectorwitnessing an uptick fromminus -17 percent to positive5 percent.

The positive sentiment isfueled mainly by the percep-tion that the new governmentwill improve governance,take appropriate measures toreduce loadshedding andcontrol plummeting security,daunting challenges imped-ing economic growth.

Reasons of improve-ment in Business Situation:Next 6 Months Notably, 60percent expressed confi-dence in the government’sability to improve securityin the Punjab, Balochistan,Khyber Pukhtunkhwa andGilgit-Baltistan as opposedto Karachi-based respon-dents who remained pessi-mistic.

Over 40 percent of re-spondents remained bullishon Foreign Direct Invest-ment (FDI), estimatinghigher inflows of US$ 3 bil-lion during the current year.Similarly, 48 percent respon-dents plan on increasingcapital investment over thenext six months, expectingincrease in sales and returns.A majority of the respon-dents also believe that Fed-eral Budget 2013-14 willproduce little or no impact onbusiness.

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

Currency Selling Buying

Bullion Rates

RS PER 10 GRAMS

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Once WaridTelecom has 1.7 million sub-scribers but now things are notrosy for the mobile operator, apotential target for a buy out dealfrom two leading mobile com-panies.

Sources in Pakistanitelecom sector are not denyingthat there is truth in reports aboutefforts to buy Warid Telecom,which had 1.7 million subscrib-ers in 2008-09 but then the slidestarted and this year its subscrib-ers are only above 1.2 million.

Media reports are repeatedlysuggesting that Abu DhabiGroup which owns Warid, is insome level of discreet talks withVimpelcom which ownsOrascom and UAE-basedEtisalat.

Telecom GroupVimpelcom, which bought a 51per cent stake in Egypt-basedOrascom Telecom, which ownsMobilink is in the run to buy

Talks continue for Waridbuy out deal

mobile operator Warid Telecom.Vimpelcom is getting assistancefrom Citigroup for advise on thepotential acquisition of WaridTelecom, which has been inbusiness in Pakistan for the lasteight years.

The Abu Dhabi Groupwhich owns Warid could earn$1bn from the sale. In 2007,Singapore Telecommunicationsbought a 30-percent stake inWarid for about $758 million.That stake purchase gave WaridTelecom an enterprise value ofabout $2.5 billion.

SingTel sold back that stakein January for $150 million anda right to receive 7.5 percent ofthe net proceeds from any futuresale, public offering or mergerof Warid.

Warid Telecom has beensteadily losing its subscriberbase and is at last place amongthe five mobile companies inPakistan in terms of number ofsubscribers. Etisalat which has26 percent stake in state-owned

PTCL, has officially expressedinterest in mobile operatorWarid Telecom.

Any ongoing acquisition talksare out of the media purview asEtisalat’s spokesman in a state-ment declined to comment on thespeculation about Warid Telecom.

Warid is 100 per cent ownedby the Abu Dhabi Group, a hold-ing company owned by ShaikhNahyan Bin Mubarak AlNahyan. The group, which holdsassets in a number of sectorsincluding banks, property andinsurance, is clear in its inten-tions that it does not want to in-vest more in Warid Telecom,effectively putting the asset upfor sale. Pakistan has a solidmarket as five mobile compa-nies are operating in the coun-try, with number of subscriberstouching 125 million this year.

After years of growth intelecom sector and high levelsof market penetration, thetelecom sector is looking to con-solidate its gains.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab govern-ment plans to develop a new in-dustrial city at a cost of Rs 3 bil-lion along motorway during cur-rent fiscal year 2013-14. How-ever, a site is yet to be identified,

Official sources told mediaon Friday that the governmentwas attaching high priority tostrengthening the industrial baseand installation of new industrialunits was imperative. Though itis an uphill task as the govern-ment can not alone set up indus-tries in good numbers, therefore,it has decided to establish an

Govt to developRs3b industrial city

industrial city under public-pri-vate partnership. It also intendsto offer lucrative incentives toprivate entrepreneurs.

Revealing details of the pro-posed industrial city, ProvincialMinister for IndustriesChoudhry Mohammed Shafiqsaid the industrial city was theneed of the hour to spur indus-trial activities in the province.

He said special steps are alsobeing taken to establish a busi-ness friendly environment. Hesaid, owing to bomb attacks,confidence of local investors hasbeen shaken and they are reluc-tant to invest here.

Therefore, he said, to restoretheir confidence special focus isbeing paid on improving law andorder in the province. He main-tained that the country’s prosper-ity was directly linked to hugeindustries. “No considerablenumber of industries were set upduring the past couple of yearsbut with the new government’scomprehensive industries plan,maximum industries are beingestablished both in public andprivate sectors,” he added. Hesaid new industries would cre-ate job opportunities and accom-modate hundreds of thousandsof unemployed people.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique chairing a high level meeting at Railways Headquar-ters.

BMW netprofit more

than doublesFRANKFURT—The world’sleading luxury car maker, BMW,said Tuesday that its secondquarter net profit more thandoubled from the same period ayear earlier to 1.81 billion euros($2.58 billion).

Sales gained 16.5 percent toalmost 17.9 billion euros, and aBMW statement said that “weexpect the business environmentto remain favourable during thesecond half of 2011.—Newswire

PR administrationasked to ensure

reserve fuelSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Railways MinisterKhawaja Saad Rafique Fridayasked the administration to en-sure reserve fuel in depots forseven days.

Chairing a meeting at the PRheadquarters here on Friday, hedirected extension in the reservefuel limit from four to sevendays and Pakistan Railways(PR) General Manager AnjumPervaiz would ensure paymentof fuel immediately.

The financial impact of in-crease in oil prices and expectedraise in electricity prices on therailways were reviewed in themeeting. The railways had tobear an additional burden of Rs50.5 million due to the increasein prices of the fuel during thelast two months.

Khawaja Saad said the PRwas unable to keep reserve die-sel for more than 48 hours whenthe minister had taken chargeof the department. He ex-pressed his satisfaction on thePR mechanical department foradding a number of repaired lo-comotives to the system. Healso expressed pleasure on in-sertion of three power vans(generators) which would behelpful to ensure supply of elec-tricity for fans and lights intrains.

PR General Manager AnjumPervaiz and other senior offic-ers attended the meeting.

Rates ofcommodities

LAHORE—Agriculture Market-ing Information Service Punjab(AMISP) issued rates of agricul-ture products in local market onFriday.

The following are 100 kgrates of different agricultureproducts in Lahore market:

Maize minimum Rs 2000and maximum 2400, Rice SuperBasmati (New) minimum Rs11000 and maximum Rs 11000,Rice Basmati (old) minimum Rs12500 and maximum Rs 13000,white sugar minimum Rs 5190and maximum Rs 5190, whitegram (local) minimum Rs 6500and maximum Rs 6500, RedChili Whole (Dry) minimum Rs14000 maximum Rs 14000,Cauliflower minimum Rs 4000and maximum Rs 4500, Onionminimum Rs 3400 and maxi-mum Rs 3600, Tomato mini-mum Rs 7000 and maximum Rs7500, Ginger (china) minimumRs 12500 and maximum Rs13000, Peas minimum Rs 9000and maximum Rs 10000, Brinjalminimum Rs 2000.—APP

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

LAHORE—Under the new fi-nance bill of the budget 2013-14, the Third Schedule of SalesTax Act requires that local autoparts manufacturers shall printmaximum retail prices and paysales tax thereon. This taxwould not be applicable on theimporters, who are neitherdocumented nor pay their fullshare of taxes.

Industry circles said that thisis discrimination against a fully-documented local industry,which will render manufactur-ers uncompetitive against im-porters and drive us out of themarket.

“The rate of sales tax hasbeen increased by 1% and thishas already made our productscostlier and shrunk our marketshare. Besides, shifting of re-

Auto parts makers asked toprint retail price on products

sponsibility on manufacturersfor collection of retailer’s taxesand working as withholdingagents for income tax, sales tax& FED also means incurrenceof extra cost, because all theseactivities required dedicatedstaff and other resources.”

They said that it is thegovernment’s responsibility tosupport the local industry and,therefore, the Third Scheduleshould be made applicable tosale of both local and importedauto parts, or, alternatively, lo-cally manufactured auto partsshould immediately be excludedfrom the Third Schedule of theSales tax Act 1990.

Seeking reversal of adversebudgetary measures, the Paki-stan Association of Auto Parts& Accessories Manufacturershas rejected the inclusion of autoparts, accessories and Tyres in

the Third Schedule of the SalesTax Act, 1990. PAAPAM Chair-man, Munir Bana, regrettedgovernment’s decision to makeit mandatory for local manufac-turers to charge sales tax on re-tail prices at the time of supplyof auto parts.

Vice Chairman, UsmanMalik, stated that “We are of theview that auto parts and acces-sories should not be classifiedin the Third Schedule becauselocal manufacturers have tocompete with imported parts,which are under-invoiced, mis-declared and cleared on weightbasis, and thus we have to givediscounts and vary prices in dif-ferent markets.”

Malik added that only 10 percent of the Rs40 billion marketis available to PAAPAM and ifSales Tax is charged on dis-counts, incentives, transport etc.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lesco has started asurvey to get latest and updateddata of its consumers especiallyindustrial, commercial and largedomestic consumers.

Under this survey, the teamswill update the data of consum-ers such as sanctioned andpresent load, status of meter andetc. By law every consumer isbound to notify Lesco about in-crease in its load but unfortu-nately the law is not followed.This is one of the biggest rea-sons for inaccurate load man-agement plans because sanc-tioned load of consumers is dif-ferent from what they are origi-nally using.

All superintending engi-neers (SE) and Executive Engi-neers (XEN) are involved in thisactivity to carrying out this sur-vey in their respective jurisdic-tions, a senior LESCO officialsaid adding the practice oncecompleted would give the com-pany true picture of its consum-ers.

On the other hand, Lescocontinued its anti-power theft

Lesco recoversRs110m from pilferers

campaign and recovered aroundRs110 million from over 284power pilferers.

Available data of anti-power theft campaign revealedthat so far most power pilfer-age was detected in northerncircle (Badami Bagh, RaviRoad and etc localities) whereLesco officials detected 135cases, registered 10 FIRs and23170 units were billed topower thieves. Second was theCentral Circle (Iqbal Town andetc) where officials detected 21cases, registered 8 FIRs and27281 units were billed topower thieves. Third was East-ern Circle (Shadman and etc)where 11 cases were detected,5 FIRs were lodged and 2240units were billed. Though theSouthern Circle (Defence) re-mained lowest in numbers ofpower theft incidents but itstood first in recovery of sto-len units. Here only 6 caseswere detected but the unitsbilled to those thieves were141,378. Lesco officials re-vealed that 9 to 10 MW elec-tricity has been so far savedfrom the anti-theft campaign.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Traders have ex-pressed the apprehension thatthe government’s power policywill unleash a storm of inflationin the country as it will pushprices of petroleum products andelectricity to new highs.

They said the continuingincrease in power and petroleumproducts’ prices has alreadythreaten the existing fragilebusinesses forcing the traders todownsize further their setups tosustain the big inflation strike.

“The government’s move tomake petroleum and electricitycostlier for commercial and do-mestic consumers will land thenation in deep financial chaos asthe energy policy begins to un-fold with dire implications,”said Chairman All Karachi TajirIttehad (AKTI), Atiq Mir.

He strongly reacted to thePML-N government’s energypolicy which indicates a majorprice hike in power and petro-leum products’ prices with lesssigns of electricity supplies tothe nation.

The government has failedto provide relief to the public aselectricity is unenviable, fuel oilis expensive and CNG is sup-plied just three days a week, hesaid, asking “what kind of pros-perity the government envisions

New power policy tounleash inflation

for its nation.”Since the budget passage,

the government’s every step isreducing the trade prospects togrow, he said, adding that “eachstep of the government is ruin-ing the economy of the country”.

He said that power and fueloil prices hike will immediatelyspur between 5 and 10 percentinflation to trigger big jolt to thepoor of the society, besides re-sulting in wrapping up of smallbusinesses.

The move is largely fearedto trigger unemployment andmake essential items costlier,Atiq Mir said, adding that ex-pensive electricity will furtherincrease its theft across thecountry.

He suggested the govern-ment to step up for economy’sreformation instead of killing it.“The anti-trade and businesspolicies broadens gap betweenthe businessmen community andthe government,” he warned,saying that fresh move will in-crease trust deficit in the coun-try to deal with the economictroubles.

He alleged the governmentfor supporting and carrying outthe IMF economic agenda inPakistan, saying “the govern-ment has pushed back the nation100 years back during its first100 days of rule.”

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan Pharma-ceutical Manufacturers Associa-tion (PPMA), appreciated on is-suance of 47 licenses for newdrugs to various Pharma com-panies welcomed the steps takenby Ministry of National HealthRegulation Services. in a state-ment of Khawaja Javed Execu-tive director of PPMA said thatPPMA had been demanding forthe formation of a drug licens-ing board but their demands fellon deaf ears as the previous gov-ernment never heeded their

PPMA lauds Health Ministryfor 47 licences for new drugs

pleas, leading to investors fac-ing disappointment.

Javed while expressinggratitude to the government onissuance of new licenses on be-half of Pharma industry said thatthis was a positive step whichwould lead to investments andemployment opportunities.

He also called for an end toconspiracies which were creat-ing hurdles in the path of gov-ernment agencies. He furtheradded that while there were25,000 pharmaceutical manu-facturing companies in India,there were only 500 such insti-

tutions in Pakistan, 22 of whichhad foreign origin. Volume ofpharmaceutical export potentialis worth 300 billion at present,with a growth rate of 17 per-cent. Pakistan’s Pharma indus-try currently ranks sixth in theworld. He said that despite theimportance of the Pharma in-dustry, the previous govern-ments did not pay it much at-tention. He appealed to SairaAfzal Tarar, Minister of Na-tional Health Services to takepriority measures to improvethe other long pending issues ofPharma industry.

SINGAPORE—Pakistan is set tobecome a net wheat importerthis year with purchases climb-ing to the highest in five yearsafter delayed planting and re-duced fertiliser use hit domes-tic output and drove up localprices.

The South Asian nation,which has been exporting wheatfor the last three years, joins agrowing list of countries thathave seen production curbed,squeezing global supplies andbuoying prices.

Pakistan is likely to ship in800,000 tonnes to 1 milliontonnes of wheat in the year toMarch 2014, traders said, themost since 2008/09 and way upfrom the 200,000 tonnes boughtlast year. Supply will mainlycome from the Black Sea region

Wheat imports mayreach 1 million tonnes

due to competitive prices offeredthere.

“We are have just finishedthe harvest and one would imag-ine that everything is alright butprices are moving higher,” saida Karachi-based grains trader.

“There is shortfall in themarket as our production waswell below the government’starget and there has been draw-down in stocks.” Wheat produc-tion in Pakistan slid to 23.3 mil-lion tonnes in 2012/13, the low-est in four years and down from25 million tonnes a year ago,according to the US Departmentof Agriculture. Output in 2013/14 is estimated at 24 milliontonnes.

Traders said tighter domes-tic supplies would furtherjeopardise plans to export wheat

to Iran under a 1 million tonnebarter deal agreed last year thathas been stymied by wranglingover details.

“Shipments haven’t takenplace since last year and it iseven more unlikely now,” saidanother trader in Karachi.“They keep on talking about itbut we don’t believe it will hap-pen.”

A Pakistani food ministryofficial said the deal was “stillbeing decided”. Food importsare not affected by Westernsanctions on Iran.

As part of the broad scheme,Iran last month agreed to takewheat worth $9 million fromIslamabad in exchange for set-tling part of payment owed byPakistan for electricity sup-ply.—Agencies

TheNetworkSensi-tized Traders in

Tax Payer ForumatSTAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — B u i l d i n gcapacitieson how to file In-come Tax Return - of traders,members Chakwal Chamberof Commerce and Industries.The Forum was organized byThe Network for ConsumerProtection and funded byUSAID.

The forum was initiated bydebate on Taxation for Develop-ment. Indeed, Project Mobiliza-tion Officer, HamzaNasir re-marked that the campaign“Taxation for Development”certainly will be a milestone forsustainable economic growth forthe country. The project is notonly advocate the responsibleconsumerism but also identify-ing challenges faced duringonline income tax returns sub-mission system.

Mr. JavedShahni Consult-ant in The Network for Con-sumer Protection conducted theTax Forum and share the impor-tance and urgent need of thecitizen participating in thecountry’s economichealth.MrJaved gave presenta-tion, how a businessman fileIncome Tax return at the end offiscal year and how to get backsubstantial amount of taxeswhich are already paid duringthe year from FBR.

TheNetwork for ConsumerProtection is non government,non-profit organization strivingfor consumer rights in Pakistanfor last two decades.

Samsung receivesresponse

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Samsung Electron-ics, a market leader and award-winning innovator in the elec-tronics industry, has announcedthe first week winners of itssmashing summer camping forvalued customers.

The offer named“Samsung Smart Summer2013” gives an unprecedentedchance of winning loads ofprizes on the purchase ofSamsung Galaxy device.Amazingly, its mega prize in-clude cruise for entire family.Following three simple stepscan make customers; the luckywinners. Buy any SamsungSmartphone, register with pur-chased phone’s IMEI and en-ter the lucky draw which willrun for four consecutiveweeks.

Samsung’s Head of MobileDivision Farid Ullah Jan said,“Samsung has once again cre-ated a delightful offer for its cus-tomers. In just one week of theSamsung Smart 2013 campaign,we have received a tremendousinterest from people nationwide,who just can’t wait to be a partof it. Samsung will continue toadd excitement and create valuefor its customer”.

It was a perfect retreat notonly for the winners, but allthose who participated in thecampaign, which kept the ex-citement alive till the last minuteof the lucky draw results.

With next three weeks tofollow, it is expected that morepeople will participate in thecampaign. The last date for reg-istering in the campaign is Au-gust 6, 2013.

BEIJING—Pakistan will begreatly benefited in terms of se-curity and revenue from the stateof the art optic fiber project be-tween Pakistan and China forwhich a prominent Chinesetelecom firm “Huawei” has beenassigned the task.

The agreement to lay opticfiber between the two sides wassigned during Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif official visit toChina early July.

A source at Huawei, a lead-ing global information andcommunications technology(ICT) solutions provider toldAPP that based on the require-ment and plan in contract, itprepares a plan to implement itsection wise. The optic fiberwill be laid betweenRawalpindi to Khunjarab, a dis-tance of 820 KM, the sourcesaid. The project will cost $ 44million and will be completedwithin a span of two years.

Pak to get multiple benefitsfrom China’s optic fiber project

From this project, Pakistan willget enormous benefits, thesource said adding that atpresent, Pakistan internationalconnectivity with the world isthrough undersea cables SEA-ME-WE 3&4 and IMEWE, andPakistan is connected throughspurs only. This dependency isnot only a risk but also entailssecurity concerns. The voice/data and internet traffic can bemonitored and disturbed easily.

To offset such a threat,through this project, a link willbe created between Pakistan andTrans-Asia Europe (TAE) cablein China, which would enableboth Pakistan and China to havealternative routes for their inter-national telecom traffic.

Successful implementationof the project would providePakistan with a direct telecomaccess to China and the Cen-tral Asian States. On comple-tion, the project will also facili-

tate trade, tourism and ITawareness in the region andgenerate economic opportuni-ties particularly in Gilgit-Baltistan.Apart from securityassurance, the project is ex-pected to generaterevenue,approximately Rs 1.5billion in the first three yearsand, in the fourth year, the fi-nancial dividends are likely togrow. At present, Pakistan’s in-ternational connectivity withthe world is through underseacables SEA-ME-WE 3&4 andIMEWE, and Pakistan is con-nected through spurs only.

The climatic conditionswarrants initiation of projectfrom Sust to Khunjrab sectionon top priority due to a very lim-ited time-period left available insummer the year.

However, other than this sec-tion, the project will be executedsimultaneously in differentsections(cities/towns).—APP

Quitting smoking post-angioplasty tied to longer lifePEOPLE who quit smoking after a bal

loon angioplasty to improve blood flowto the heart live an average of two years

longer than those who keep smoking, a newstudy suggests.

Researchers found people who were un-dergoing balloon angioplastyin their 50s, on average, andquit smoking within one yearafter the procedure lived an-other 18.5 years. In contrast,those who continued to smokelived about 16.4 years, on av-erage, after angioplasty.

“Most (smokers) startsmoking in their youth andhave a smoking history of 40-50 years,” said Ron vanDomburg, the senior author ofthe paper and a clinical epide-miologist at Erasmus MedicalCenter in Rotterdam, TheNetherlands.

“Most patients think it istoo late to quit smoking, butthe major message of our studyis that it is never too late to stopsmoking,” he told Reuters Health in an email.

“Even if you’re not willing to stop smok-ing (for) yourself, do it for your grandchildren.They can enjoy their grandparents for an addi-tional two years.”

Previous studies have shown that smok-ing contributes to an increased risk of heart-related illness and death. But others reflect justhow tough it can be to quit smoking. Relapserates are high, even with medications and be-havioral therapies developed to help peoplekick the habit. According to a U.S. Centers forDisease Control and Prevention analysis of2010 survey data, about 69 percent of smok-ers want to stop smoking, and about half of

these make quit attempts each year. But of those,only about six percent successfully stay off ciga-rettes. To determine whether or not quittingsmoking is tied to increased life expectancy af-ter heart surgery, van Domburg and his col-leagues collected data on 806 patients who un-

derwent balloon angioplasty atErasmus Medical Center be-tween 1980 and 1985. Duringcoronary balloon angioplasty,also known as percutaneouscoronary intervention (PCI), aballoon-tipped catheter isthreaded through blood vesselsand the balloon is inflated toclear one or more narrowed ves-sels.

The researchers asked pa-tients about their smoking hab-its before and one year after sur-gery and followed them for upto 30 years. Of the patients, 309were non-smokers, 210 quitsmoking after their surgery and287 smoked before and after.Non-smokers and people whohad smoked but quit after sur-

gery were equally likely to die during the fol-low-up period, but death rates were significantlyhigher among those who continued smoking.

At 30 years post-surgery, 29 percent of quit-ters were still alive, compared to 14 percent ofthose who kept smoking, according to findingspublished in The American Journal of Cardiol-ogy. The pattern held after the researchers ac-counted for health differences between patientsat the time of their surgery.

Since the 1980s, new techniques have beendeveloped to treat blocked blood vessels, such asminimally invasive coronary artery bypass graft-ing (CABG) and using bare metal or drug elutingstents to permanently prop open blocked vessels.

KARACHI: The faithfuls at Jumma-tul-Wida congregation.

KARACHI: Women holding toy-guns as they participate in Al-Quds Rally from NomaishChorangi to Tibet Center, organized by ISO Pakistan on Youm al Quds observed to expresssolidarity with the Muslims of Palestine.

KARACHI: Consul General of Russian Federation Oleg N. Avdeev called on Chief MinisterSyed Qaim Ali Shah on Friday.

KARACHI—KMC Administra-tor Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi hassaid that a three-lane flyoverwould be constructed at MalirHalt on Sharea Faisal, at a costof Rs 386 million in the currentfiscal year so that citizens visit-ing Sharea Faisal could be facili-tated.

This flyover would not onlycross Malir Halt signal but alsothe railway line ahead whichwould resolve problems beingfaced by the citizens in crossingthe railway line.

He said this while address-ing a meeting held on review ofstrategy, financial resources andother matters of ongoing projects,new projects started during newfinancial year including roads,flyovers and other developmentprojects under Works and Ser-vices Department, said a state-ment here on Friday.

Malir Flyover to beconstructed at cost of Rs 386m

On this occasion DirectorGeneral Technical Services NiazAhmed Soomro, Project Direc-tor and other officers concernedwere present.

The Administrator Karachiwas informed in a briefing thatthe flyover being constructed onMalir Halt will have 411 metreslength, three lanes of three metreseach and 14 spans.

The ramps on both sides ofthe flyover will be constructed on472 metres, safety wall style.

Syed Hashim Raza Zaidisaid that construction of flyoveron Malir Halt will further im-prove traffic flow on ShareaFaisal and save precious time andfuel of citizens visiting ShareaFaisal whereas travelling dis-tance would also reduce amongvarious parts of the city.

He said that construction ofMalir Halt Flyover was essential

after the construction of AirportFlyover and construction of thisflyover will facilitate citizens go-ing to National Highway, Airport,Port Qasim, Export ProcessingZone, Pakistan Steel, Landhi,Malir and Saudabad.

The Administrator Karachisaid that efforts were being madeto complete the ongoing devel-opment projects speedily so thatpublic welfare projects could becompleted on preferential basis.

He said Sharea Faisal was animportant and busy road of thecity having traffic pressure dueto presence of International Air-port therefore this flyover is be-ing constructed along with otherflyovers. He said that all theseprojects were started for provid-ing citizens with facilities and allpossible efforts are being madeto complete them on preferentialbasis.—APP

KARACHI—No less than fivedifferent housing projects in theposh Civil Lines of metropoliswere denied of water and sew-erage connections they had ille-gally acquired at the expense ofthousands other in their vicin-ity.

A team of Karachi Waterand Sewerage Board (KWSB)engaged in campaign against il-legal water supply and sewerageowners of these plazas to be itsdefaulter of millions of rupeesas they had neither acquired thelegally required approval forwater and sewerage connectionsnor paid their bills.

It was per directives ofKWSB Managing Director,Misbahuddin Farid that opera-tion is being conducted againstbuilders and plazas’ ownerscausing loss of revenue to theboard.

Water denied to projectsdefaulting against KWSB

It may be mentioned that thebuilders have made it a practicenot to obtain approval for waterand sewerage lines before con-structing multi-storeyed plazasand buildings.

Whereas, KWSB has beencontacting builders and plazaowners for a long time in orderto motivate them to pay theirbills and acquire approval ofconnections but to no avail.

During the operationKWSB Default Revenue Gen-eration Cell disconnected waterand sewerage lines of MetroResidency CL-2B Civil Line,Saffron CL-82B-1 Civil Line,Metro Sweet Apartments CI-4BCivil Line, Paradise Avenue,Saffron Heights FT -07/2 CivilLines and also confiscated theirmotors.

Owners and builders ofthese plazas had been given a

chance to get their connectionsregularised and pay their out-standing dues in order to gettheir connections restored.

KWSB Managing Directorhas requested the citizens thatprior to booking flats, housesand bungalows in new projectsthey must ensure that the builderhas acquired necessary approv-als from it.

This, he said would helpthem avoid any unnecessarytrouble as KWSB would be tak-ing action against all unscrupu-lous builders and developers.

He said the board is a publicservice institution and citizensmust understand their duty to-wards the betterment of the city.He said that KWSB provides citi-zens with facilities, which is onlypossible if citizens also cooper-ate with the agency and pay theirbills on time.—APP

Qaim visitsCentral JailSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Min-ister Qaim Ali Shah paid a sur-prise visit to Central Jail Karachion late Thursday night.

Information ministerSharjeel Memon was accompa-nying the chief minister. Sourcessaid Shah reviewed security ar-rangements in the detention fa-cility.

It is to mention here thathundreds of prisoners includinghardcore militants were freed ina brazen militant attack on DeraIsmael Khan Central Prison acouple of days ago.

Power theft ofRs15m unearthed

KARACHI—Federal Investiga-tion Agency (FIA) unearthedpower theft of Rs 15 millionmonthly in a residential plazahere on Friday and an accusedwas arrested.

On directives of AdditionalDirector Javed Akbar Riaz, ateam of FIA headed by Assis-tant Director Khalid Jamil,raided a residential plaza locatedin Gulshan-e-Iqbal area Block17 of Karachi.

Khalid Jamil said that inZainab Plaza electricity worthRs 15 million was being stolenmonthly through undergroundcables.

The theft power was usedfor operating lifts, water pumpsand other purposes.—APP

Spray onEid-ul-Fitr

KARACHI—Municipal Ser-vices Department has arrangeda spray programme at all dis-tricts with the collaboration ofdistrict municipal corporationand district council Karachi onthe direction of KMC Adminis-trator Syed Hashim Raza Zaidion the occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr.

Spray will be carried out by18 vehicles in the jurisdiction offive districts and district coun-cil Karachi a day before Eid.

Three vehicles for each dis-trict and district council havebeen allocated which will carryout spray in and around allEidgahs, mosques andImambargahs whereas twospray vehicles will remain avail-able in Civic Centre to attendcomplaints.

The Administrators andMunicipal Commission-ers ofall districts have been asked todeploy an officer for monitoringthe spray work. Besides, on thedirectives of KMC Administra-tor Syed Hashim Raza Zaidi, theninth round of fumigation underMalaria/ Dengue Fever ControlProgramme of Municipal Ser-vices Department is being startedwith the collaboration of districtadministration in the jurisdictionof five districts of KMC fromAugust 12 which will con-tinuetill September 2.—APP

KU BEd suppl examsKARACHI—The University ofKarachi on Friday announcedthe date for submission of formsfor the B.Ed. Morning/ EveningSupplementary Examinationsfor 2012.

An official of the institutionasked the candidates to submittheir forms up to August 16 attheir respective colleges.—APP

Humantrafficking

KARACHI—Human traffickingis most likely to occur in areaswhere there is a concentration ofillegal migrants or internally andexternally displaced individualsowing to natural disasters or po-litical and social conflicts.

This was established in a re-search study on internal traffick-ing of women and girls, con-ducted by Maliha Hussein andShazreh Hussain, as part of AuratFoundation’s Gender EquityProgramme (GEP).

According to the researchersthe factors that assist internal traf-ficking to thrive in Pakistan in-clude criminal intent, financialgain, poverty, illiteracy, patriar-chal views and injustices imbed-ded in deeply held beliefs andcustoms in context to women.

GEP is a five-year USAID-supported grant-makingprogramme which aims to closethe gender gap in Pakistan.—APP

5 killed, 3 injuredin city violence

KARACHI—Violence and firingincidents in Karachi claimed fivelives including two women andleft three wounded on Friday.

According to Police awomen was gunned down byunknown miscreants in Gulshan-e-Hadeed.

A tortured dead body of alady was recovered from the Af-ghan Basti near Super Highway.

In another incident, a 35years old, identified as AyazAhmed was killed when un-known gunmen opened fire inNaseer colony, Korangi. Laterthe dead body was shifted toJinnah hospital.

Furthermore, a rickshawdriver was injured in Gulistan-e-Johar near Rabia City in a firingincident.—NNI

Quitting smoking post-angioplasty tied to longer life

LAHORE: A boy pushing the wheelchair of a disabled man through rainy water.

PEOPLE who quit smoking after a balloon angioplasty to improve bloodflow to the heart live an average of

two years longer than those who keepsmoking, a new study suggests.

Researchers found people who wereundergoing balloonangioplasty in their 50s,on average, and quitsmoking within one yearafter the procedure livedanother 18.5 years. Incontrast, those who con-tinued to smoke livedabout 16.4 years, on av-erage, after angioplasty.

“Most (smokers) startsmoking in their youthand have a smoking his-tory of 40-50 years,” saidRon van Domburg, thesenior author of the pa-per and a clinical epide-miologist at ErasmusMedical Center inRotterdam, The Nether-lands.

“Most patients think it is too late toquit smoking, but the major message ofour study is that it is never too late tostop smoking,” he told Reuters Health inan email. “Even if you’re not willing tostop smoking (for) yourself, do it for yourgrandchildren. They can enjoy theirgrandparents for an additional twoyears.”

Previous studies have shown thatsmoking contributes to an increased riskof heart-related illness and death.

But others reflect just how tough itcan be to quit smoking. Relapse rates arehigh, even with medications and behav-

ioral therapies developed to help peoplekick the habit.

According to a U.S. Centers for Dis-ease Control and Prevention analysis of2010 survey data, about 69 percent ofsmokers want to stop smoking, and

about half of these makequit attempts each year. Butof those, only about sixpercent successfully stayoff cigarettes.

To determine whetheror not quitting smoking istied to increased life expect-ancy after heart surgery,van Domburg and his col-leagues collected data on806 patients who under-went balloon angioplastyat Erasmus Medical Centerbetween 1980 and 1985.

During coronary bal-loon angioplasty, alsoknown as percutaneouscoronary intervention(PCI), a balloon-tippedcatheter is threaded

through blood vessels and the balloonis inflated to clear one or more narrowedvessels.

The researchers asked patientsabout their smoking habits before andone year after surgery and followedthem for up to 30 years. Of the patients,309 were non-smokers, 210 quit smok-ing after their surgery and 287 smokedbefore and after. Non-smokers andpeople who had smoked but quit aftersurgery were equally likely to die dur-ing the follow-up period, but death rateswere significantly higher among thosewho continued smoking.

LAHORE: VC of PU Dr Mujahid Kamran planting a sapling at Agriculture Department.

Al-QudsDay rally

LAHORE—Majlis-e-WahdatMuslimeen and Imamia Stu-dents Organization orga-nized an Al-Quds Day rallyto express solidarity with thepeople of Palestine.

Ulema of differentschools of thought besidesa large number of people in-cluding women and childrenparticipated in the rally whichstarted from Islampura andreached Faisal Chowk on Fri-day.

The participants werecarrying banners and plac-ards inscribed with differentslogans against America andIsrael.

Addressing on the occa-sion, MWM Secretary Gen-eral Allama Abdul KhaliqAsadi said it was the day ofunity among Muslims. Heurged all Muslims to uniteand raise their voice for theliberation of “QiblaAwwal”.—APP

Drugstoresfined

LAHORE—Drug CourtLahore imposed Rs 32,000fine in several cases on theallegation of selling medi-cines without licence, war-ranty and record, selling oftranquilisers, expired medi-cines and veterinary medi-cines for human treatment.

In hearing of drug casesunder Drug Act 1976 here onFriday, Drug Court ChairmanSardar Ashiq Hussain Balochordered six-month imprison-ment to an accused.

The court also fined Rs 3million quacks, medical storeowners and MBBS doctorsfor violation of the DrugAct.—APP Five injured in

roof collapseLAHORE—Five persons of afamily were injured as a roofcaved in Larex Colony, GhariShahue, on Friday.

According to rescuers,Ejaz along with his spouseand three children wasasleep in a dilapidated housewhen its roof collapsed.

Consequently, the in-mates were buried under thedebris.—APP

DCO: No fareoverchargingon Eid days

LAHORE—The district ad-ministration has decided toinitiate stern action on com-plaints of overchargingagainst transport fares frompassengers during Eid days.

The district transport de-partment and regional transportauthority have been directedby the DCO to inspect busstands to check the fares beingcharged from passengers.

A meeting was also heldat the DCO office on Fridaywith DCO Nasim Sadiq inchair while District OfficerTransport Ayesha Mumtaz,transporters of various busstands of the city includingBadami Bagh Lorry Adda,Sikandria Colony City Termi-nal, Thokar Niaz Baig busstand and Niazi Chowk standattended it.

The DCO said that anycomplaint of overchargingwould not be tolerated andaction would be taken. Heasked the transporters toensure implementation ofofficial schedule of fares tosave the public fromtrouble.—APP

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Like a huge privatearmy, security guards are justabout everywhere these days-restaurants, shopping malls,executive suites, industrialsites, banks, schools every-where and it seems they out-number police. It is becausethey do.

According to one esti-mate, there are some 32,000men employed by differentsecurity companies in Lahorewhile compared to these se-curity guards, the number ofpolice in the city is around16,000.

There are no exact figures,but estimates from the privatesecurity industry and peoplewho monitor it says guardsnow outnumber law enforce-ment officers by as much as 2to 1 nationwide.

This army, equipped withguns, has been growing rap-idly during the past decadesand the trend is expected tocontinue, probably becausecrime has risen.

But the industry is hauntedby a poor image: securityguards-many of them elderly-who have been criticized asbeing poorly screened, poorlytrained and poorly paid.

Many private security com-panies are operating in Punjabdespite revocation of their li-censes by the provincial homedepartment while majority oftheir guards are executing theirduties without adequate secu-rity training.

The data available with Pa-kistan Observer reveals thatabout 9457 security guards, re-cruited by as many as 344 se-curity companies in Punjabare without proper training, be-

sides this, about 3418 securityguards have no firearm licensewhile 4153 posses unservice-able arms.

The provincial home de-partment has made securitytraining compulsory for all se-curity guards for a week in ayear while the survey report ofthe police department revealsthat security guards deployedin banks, money changers, pri-vate schools, colleges, multi-national and other institutionshave no kind of security train-ing and majority of them haveno firearms license. The reportfurther reveals that five to tensecurity guards are using onlyone firearm license that is se-vere violation of securitycodes.

The provincial home de-partment has constituted ahigh level committee compris-ing of law enforcement agen-

Burgeoning ranks of private securitywarrants serious question marks

cies to check the securityguards. The committee willalso examine the efficiencylevel of security guards andscrutinize their firearm licensesand if any guard found ex-ecuting duty without sansfirearm license will be arrestedon the spot besides cancel-ling the security license of theconcerned security companyand imposing heavy fine.

According to securityagencies, guards with gunsare in great demand, but al-ways in short supply.

Men with pistols andrevolvers are assigned im-portant jobs like personalprotection of individuals,while guards with rifles areposted at banks and of-fices. The weapons ofchoice are a .32 or a .22 pis-tol, or a single or double-barrel 12-bore gun.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Special Eid dutiesof AMS, DMSs, doctors,nurses and other staff ofLahore General Hospitalhave been fixed in order toensure smooth working ofthe institution and unabatedprovision of medical facilitiesto patients during Eid holi-days. The OPD will remainclosed and its staff will per-form duties at emergency andother wards during thesedays.

This was informed byProf. Anjam Habib Vohra, Prin-

Special Eid duties ensured at LGHcipal PGMI and LGH inconection with preparationof Eid holidays in the hospi-tal. He told that the off daysof sanitary workers and se-curity guards of all the threeshifts will remained cancelledduring Eid days while AMSAdministration and NursingSuperintendent will not beauthorized to allow leave totheir subordinates duringthese days. The principal di-rected the administrativedoctors to be vigilant aboutthe security of the hospitaland keep eye on the dutiesof the guards. They will also

be responsible for the provi-sion of medical facilities topatients in all wards in addi-tion to monitor the staff care-fully, he said.

Prof. Anjam Habib Vohrastressed upon the MedicalSocial Officer to specially ca-ter the needs of poor andneedy patients during theseholidays and initiate promptaction in case of any com-plaint. He also emphasized thestaff to take very serious carein connection with the pre-cautionary measures againstdengue and high standard ofcleanliness may be adopted.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has saidpeople have given a historicmandate to the MuslimLeague-N in the recent gen-eral elections.

He said nothing was im-portant for the governmentthan welfare of the massesand all out resources werebeing utilized for this pur-pose.

He said work had beenstarted expeditiously with thecooperation of China on theprojects of low-cost powergeneration through alterna-tive resources.

He expressed these viewswhile talking to assemblymembers belonging to vari-ous districts here.

The chief minister saidbesides gap in demand and

Govt utilising resources tofacilitate people: Shahbaz

supply of electricity, theft ofgas and power was also aserious issue.

He said on the instruc-tions of Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif,elements involved in the theftof electricity and gas werebeing dealt with sternly anda crackdown had beenlaunched on gas and electric-ity thieves in Punjab.

He said no leniencywould be shown to suchblack sheep. He said clearinstructions had been issuedto administrative machineryto disregard every pressurein the action against gas andpower thieves.

The chief minister saidthose who were causing aloss of billions of rupees tothe country in the existingenergy crisis deserved nosympathy.

He said assembly mem-bers should play leading rolein the drive against electric-ity and gas thieves.

Essential items as well asfruits and vegetables are be-

ing provided to the massesat low rates at 350 Ramazanbazaars set up in the prov-ince under Ramazan packageand instructions had beenissued to district and divi-sional administrative officersto ensure supply of qualityfood items.

Shahbaz Sharif also di-rected assembly members tovisit Ramazan bazaars in theirrespective areas to supervisethe steps taken for the provi-sion of essential commoditiesto the masses at cheaper rate.

He said missing facilitieswould be provided in allschools of South Punjab dur-ing the current year. He saidpriorities announced in thebudget of the new fiscal yearreflect the manifesto of PML-N and the vision of Punjabgovernment.

He said Allah Almightyhad given an opportunity ofpublic service to present lead-ership and elected represen-tatives should try their bestto resolve problems ofpeople.

LHC CJ callsreport in 3 days

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Chief Justice ofLahore High Court has di-rected District and SessionsJudge, Toba Tek Singh tosend report about the sub-mission of challan by policebefore the relevant courtwithin three days so that theinvestigation could be con-cluded fairly and honestly.

LHC Complaint Cell hadtaken notice of a news pub-lished in a section of pressthat a man attacked his rela-tive woman with acid inNawaz Town. The D&SJ hassubmitted in his report thatthe case was registeredagainst accused MujahidHussain and his accompliceson the order of the court.

Mujahid Hussain is anadvocate who is practicingmember at District Bar Asso-ciation, Sahiwal. He movedhis pre-arrest bail applicationwhich is pending before theconcerned court. Police re-port revealed that victimAsma nazeen and accusedMujahid Hussain are resi-dent of Sahiwal and there aremany cases pending adjudi-cation in a court of Sahiwalbetween both the partieswhich shows there exist liti-gation on civil side.

Police report further ex-posed that on the day of al-leged occurrence, both theparties appeared before thecourt at Sahiwal and they werenot present within the area ofNawaz Town, Toba Tek Singh.Possibility is not ruled out thatthe complainant got the saidcase registered on account ofprevious enmity and litigationbetween the parties. However,police has been directed toconclude the investigation assoon as possible.

Complaint Cells has di-rected D&SJ Multan to ensurecompliance of the orders ofHon’ble Chief Justice regard-ing submission of challan inletter spirit within three days.