e-Paper April 29, 2013

MURREE: PML-N President Mian Nawaz Sharif addressing a public gathering duringelection campaign on Sunday.—Online photo

ALI SYED

ISLAMABAD—Get ready toexperience more difficultieswhile getting the gas from theCNG stations as the Ministryof Petroleum and Natural Re-sources has decided to increasethe gas load shedding to CNGstations by one day more in aweek.

“Yes, the Ministry of Pe-troleum and Natural Resources(MoPNR) has decided to ex-tend zero gas supply to EngroFertilizers plant and closeddown the supply to industrialand CNG sectors for one day

more,” Pakistan Observer haslearnt reliably.

The said decision has beentaken to divert 150 mmcft (mil-lion cubic feet) gas per day tothe efficient independent powerplants (IPPs) for electricity gen-eration more to cope with thepower crisis.

Under the plan, gas loadshedding for Industrial andCNG sectors in Punjab will nowbe increased from 4 to 5 days ina week. This means that the bothsector would now get the gasonly for two days in a week.

Under the decision taken byPrime Minister, the existing

Minister for Petroleum andNatural Resources wanted toclose down the gas supply toinefficient captive powerplants but because of thematchless influence of the tex-tile tycoons, he failed to dodespite the fact that NAB hadtold the ministry that captivepower plants are not efficient,and producing less electricityand they are also found in sell-ing the electricity to other busi-ness installations and govt’s,electric power distributioncompanies at higher rate butthey are getting the gas at

Gas cut to Punjab CNG stationsswells to 5 days a week

Continued on Page 6

Blasts rock Peshawar, Kohat, Swabi

9 killed in ANPpolls violenceSTAFF REPORTERS

PESHAWAR—Two bombs ex-ploded in Peshawar and Kohatareas on Sunday killing at leasteight persons and injuring 30others.

An election office of an in-dependent candidate contestingelections from NA-46, NasirKhan, was targeted onCharsadda road in Peshawar’sMaqsoodabad area killing atleast three persons and injuring15 others.

Nasir Khan told media thatthose behind the incident weretrying to sabotage the upcomingelections and derail the process.He added that a political gather-ing was scheduled at the partyoffice, which was targeted in theattack.

Nasir Khan had erected bill-boards and displayed bannerswith messages against militants

in the constituency he is contest-ing elections from, which couldbe a reason why he was targeted.

According to reports thebomb was planted on a motor-cycle. The victims were shifted

to Lady Reading Hospital inPeshawar.

Earlier, a bomb explodednear the election office of NA-39’s independent candidateSyed Noor Akbar Alam onHangu road in Kacha Pakka vil-lage of Kohat region killing atleast five people and injuring 15others.

The blast was heard acrossKohat city and it caused dam-age to nearby shops, buildingsand parked cars.

District Police OfficeDilawar Bangash told newsmenthat the bomb was a remotely-detonated device planted in ashop which was between theelection offices of an indepen-dent candidate Noor Akbar whois contesting elections from NA-39 and the election office ofAwami National Party candidateKhursheed Begum, contesting

Continued on Page 6

PML-N determined to restorePakistan’s dignity: Nawaz

ABBOTTABAD—Addressing anelection rally in AbbotabadPML-N chief Nawaz Sharif saidit was a pity that Pakistan hadno respect in the world despitebeing an atomic power.

Nawaz said in 1991 Paki-stan was progressing fast underhis government but a militarydictator overthrew the electedgovernment and reversed thewheel of progress. “Dictatorwasted eight years of Pakistanand spoiled the good work doneby us,” he said.

He said after Musharraf,President Zardari came to powerbut his government also didnothing for the country. “If ourgovernment had been allowed tocontinue Pakistan would have

been a different country bynow,” he said.

Nawaz said he was appeal-ing for votes because he wantedto bring Pakistan out of the cri-ses it is facing. He said he wouldnot sit in Islamabad after com-ing to power but would remainwith the people and solve theirproblems.

“We will rebuild Pakistanwith the help of youth and Paki-stan will against be on track ofprogress. Addressing a publicmeeting in Murree‚ the PML-Nleader said that after coming intopower‚ the PML-N will provideeasy term loans to the youth.

Nawaz Sharif has said thathis party has not only playedcricket but hav also made the

country a nuclear power. He saidthat educated people would begiven micro loans so that unem-ployed youth might be able toearn their living with respectablemeans.

Nawaz highlighted theachievements of his previoustwo tenures as prime ministerand said if the PML-N had beenallowed to complete its tenures,Pakistan would have been put onthe road to progress. NawazSharif said that in his previoustenure‚ he had launched megaprojects‚ like Motorway andGwadar Port.

Slamming the PPP-led gov-ernment, Nawaz Sharif blamedZardari for the current crisis.

Karachi backto normalcy as

MQM endsmourning

KARACHI—The city is return-ing back to its normal routineafter the businesses are re-opened and transport is broughtback on roads after Rabita Com-mittee of Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) announcedending mourning againstSaturday’s blast.

The MQM thanked tradersand transporters for cooperationin observing mouring.

Earlier this morning, busi-ness activities and transport invarious cities of Sindh, includ-ing Karachi, remained closed inresponse to the call given by PPPand MQM to observe a day ofmourning against spate of blastsin Karachi targeting the two par-ties, leaving six people dead lateon Saturday.

It was the fourth day ofmourning in a week today. Yes-terday, two blasts hit electionoffice of Muttahida QuamiMovement in Qasbah Colony ofOrangi Town.

The third blast targeted acorner meeting of Peoples Partyin Lyari town.—NNI

Altaf phonesZardari,AsfandyarLONDON—Chief, MuttahidaQuami Movement (MQM),Altaf Hussain on Sundaytelephoned the President ofAwami National Party (ANP)Asfandyar Wali Khan andPresident Asif Ali Zardari, anddiscussed the overall politicalsituation in the country.

In a statement, theyexchanged views on overallpolitical, and law and ordersituation in the country aheadof general elections.Theyexpressed their grave concernover terrorist attacks on ANPand MQM offices. Theyexpressed their resolve tolaunch a joint struggle againstterrorism.

TTP targetingpoliticians onShura decisionPESHAWAR—Tehrik-i-TalibanPakistan (TTP) spokespersonEhsanullah Ehsan on Sundayowned that selective targetingof the political parties andcandidates was the decisionand prerogative of the TalibanShura.

Ehsan said, “Taliban shurahad decided to target thosesecular political parties whichwere part of the previouscoalition government andinvolved in the operation inSwat, Fata and other areas ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwah”.

Replying to a query aboutsparing the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI), Jamiat-i-Ulema

Army to bedeployed during

polls acrossBalochistan

QUETTA—The Balochistangovernment has decided to de-ploy army in all districts of theprovince during upcoming gen-eral elections. In a media inter-view Sunday, Secretary InteriorBalochistan Akbar HussainDurrani said army would be de-ployed in all 30 districts and 92tehsils of the province to copeup with any untoward situation.

He said a total of 70 thou-sand security personnel wouldbe deployed, including 6000from Army, 17000 from FC,20,000 from Police, 17,000 fromLevies, and 10,000 fromBalochistan Constabulary.

He said Balochistan districtshave been divided into three cat-egories keeping in view their mag-nitude of sensitivity. He said Armywould secure the process of ship-ment of ballot papers to and frompolling stations, and would pro-vide security to election staff. Hesaid election candidates have beenallowed to keep private guardswhich would be paid by the pro-vincial government. AkbarHussain Durrani said election isnational duty and those who haverefused to perform this duty wouldbe dealt with according to law.—NNI

Pak denied consular accessto Sarabjit, India claims

Family members visit SarabjitLAHORE—Pakistan on Sundaydenied consular access to Indianspy Sarabjit Singh, Indian gov-ernment officials told AFP inNew Delhi.

“Officials from the IndianHigh Commission in Pakistanwere not allowed to visitSarabjit Singh on Sunday. Theauthorities have also refused toshare his medical updates withthe Indian officials,” said a se-nior Indian official, speakingunder the condition of anonym-

ity.The officer said the Indian

foreign ministry is making “ev-ery possible attempt” to get in-formation about Singh’s healthand using every “diplomaticmechanism to get an updateabout the situation”.

“It is crucial for us to knowabout Singh’s health and Paki-stan cannot deny information toIndia,” said another governmentofficial in New Delhi.

Continued on Page 6

Continued on Page 6

KABUL—A remote-controlledroadside bomb killed three po-lice officers in eastern Afghani-stan on Sunday, an attack theTaliban claimed as the openinground of their spring offensive.

The bomb exploded inGhazni province beneath a po-lice convoy that was travelingto the district of Zana Khan totake part in a military operationagainst insurgents, MohammadAli Ahmadi, the province’sdeputy governor, told The As-

Roadside bomb kills 3policemen in Afghanistan

sociated Press.He said the blast destroyed

the vehicle carrying ColMohammad Hussain, the deputyprovincial police chief, killinghim and two other officers.

Ahmadi said two officersalso were wounded in the insur-gent operation, adding that itclearly targeted Hussain.

Taliban spokesmanZabiullah Mujahid claimed re-sponsibility in an email sent tothe media.—APBilawal

condemnsterrorist attacksSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan People’sParty chairman Bilawal BhuttoZardari has strongly con-demned the series of terroristattacks in various parts of thecountry, which killed andinjured several innocentpeople.

He demanded thegovernment take concretesteps to stem growingincidents of terrorism in thecountry just ahead of thegeneral elections.

Bilawal said that the PPPhas no words strong enough tocondemn the heinous crimesagainst innocent people. Hesaid that the PPP is profoundly

Continued on Page 6

Blast in Quettakills child,

several injuredSTAFF REPORTER

QUETTA—A blast near anelection candidate’s cornermeeting near Haq Bahu houseon Sariab road in Quetta onSunday killed one child andinjured five persons.

Shams Mengal, an inde-pendent candidate from PB-6constituency was holding aContinued on Page 6

Continued on Page 6

Continued on Page 6

Women higher edu at doorstepsFAISALABAD—The Govt College forWomen Madina Town will remain intactwhile the Govt College Women Univer-sity (GCWU) will provide higher edu-cation at the doorsteps of local femalestudents in a most conducive environ-ment. In an interview with APP, Prof DrZakir Hussain, Vice Chancellor GCWUsaid that women university has beenestablished on the special demand offemale students and their parents. He

said the varsity has been created under the act of PunjabAssembly with sole objective to provide best quality edu-cation to the residents of this city. He expressed surpriseover the protest by the teachers of Women University andsaid that it was unjustified and tantamount to deprive girlsof higher education. He clarified that the teachers havebeen provided full protection under the University Actand there was no reason to protest against the establish-ment of Women University as the same institutions havebeen created in other cities of the province also. Respond-ing to a question, Dr Zakir Hussain said that 400 acres landhave been identified on Jaranwala Road and process forits transfer to the university has already been initiated. Hesaid that initially an estimate of Rs 2,200 million has beenworked out while Higher Education Commission (HEC) hasbeen requested to issue a grant of Rs 140 million to startwork of this mega project. He said that PC-1 for WomenUniversity has been prepared and steps are underway toappoint Registrar within next couple of weeks. He saidthat university syndicate and appointment of the mem-bers of the selection boards were also underway. He saidthat he has nominated female teachers for various seats ofAcademic Council. —APP

No one can defeat PPPMULTAN—Senior Vice Chairman PPPand former prime minister Syed YusufRaza Gilani said the party would givemarvellous results in the elections andno one could defeat the PPP in the elec-tions. Addressing a public meeting atDera Makhdoom Zahoor Shamsi hereon Sunday, he said the PPP leadershiphad always rendered great sacrifices forthe people and the country. He said thePPP was subjected to terrorism and

stopped it from running its election campaign and addedthat the PPP believed in elections. Gilani said the formerPPP government ended a sense of deprivation inBalochistan and also provided employments to peopleduring its five year tenure. He said the PPP believed indemocracy, rule of law and added that the former PPP gov-ernment had taken initiatives to end loadshedding and itsresults would come in the next years. Gilani said elimina-tion of unemployment and ignorance from the country wasthe PPP’s manifesto and added that it wanted a progres-sive and prosperous Pakistan. Earlier, talking to journal-ists after offering condolence with the family members ofPakistan Seraiki Party (PSP) chief Barrister Taaj MuhammadLangah over his death, he said that PSP chief fought about40 years for the right of people of South Punjab. He saidthat PSP Chief’s mission would be continued and hopedthat the depriviations of the people of this area would beend soon. On a question about seraiki province, Gilanisaid that PPP had passed resolutions for the establish-ment of seraiki province and it could be establisehd easilyif PML-N did not create hurdles. He said that PPP leader-ship was sincere and establishment of seraiki provincewould be at PPP’s top priority if the masses would giventhem the mandate again in elections. Gilani said that PPPwas an idiological party and added that Shaheed Z.ABhutto and Benazir Bhutto rendered sacrifices for the rightof common man.—Agencies

Terrorists targeting ANPPESHAWAR—Senior ANP leader andformer Information Minister MianIftikhar Hussain said that terroristswere targeting his party under a wellplanned conspiracy and deliberatelybeing pushed to wall but he made itclear that ANP would not run away fromelections at any cost. Addressing apress conference here at Bacha KhanMarkaz, the ANP spokesman said thathis party would take part in the elec-

tions come what may, adding elements trying to make usout from the elections should not forget that ANP wouldnever leave the field. In KPK only the ANP was being hitby the terrorists while now his party was also under at-tack of the terrorists in Karachi, he said adding that ANPcandidate and provincial general secretary of ANPKarachi Basher Jan narrowly escaped bomb blast Fridaynight. He said that when ANP came to power in 2008,Swat valley was virtually under the control of militants.Soon after coming into power we initiated talks with theinsurgents by taking all the stakeholders into confidence,he said, adding the operation was conducted after failureof talks with the banned outfits. “We fought the war forsurvival of the country”, he said and added that if we arebeing penalized for it than we accept it. He said we estab-lished rule of law and peace in Swat by ending their(Taliban) parallel government with the support of the Pa-kistan armed forces. ANP would not allow a minute delayin holding of elections, he added. The ANP is not beingprovided level playing field in the elections, he said andadded that the opponents of the ANP were free to holdelection meetings and rallies while the ANP candidatescould not even go to their constituencies. The presentgovernment has no security planning it only engaged inpostings and transfers, he alleged. —APP

Conference on extremismHYDERABAD—All arrangement havebeen finalized by the management ofUniversity of Sindh to organize a two-day international conference on ‘extrem-ism and terrorism in Pakistan’ here Mon-day. The conference is being organizedin collaboration with Hanns Seidel Foun-dation Germany. The inaugural sessionof the conference will be presided overby Vice Chancellor University of SindhProf. Dr Nazir Ahmed Mughal while

former permanent representative in the United NationsAbdullah Hussain Haroon will be the chief guest. Nationaland international scholars including Andreas Durr, Dr MarkDechesne, Shamshad Ahmed, Dr Daniel Pineu, Dr AhmedYousif Al Draiweesh, Rahimullah Yousufzai, Dr HekmatKarzai, Anand Gopal, Dr Rodney W. Jones, Dr RohanGunaratna, Dr Ijaz Khan, Dr Nazir Hussain and Dr MathieuAikins will address working sessions of the conference onthe topics defining the problems (terrorism and extremism inPakistan) and their solution. Former PTI Hyderabad leader,12 associates join MQM: Former president Pakistan Tehreek-e- Insaf (PTI) Hyderabad Asghar Rajput along with 12 otherformer and present office bearers of the party announcedtheir joining of Muttahida Qaumi Movement. Asghar Rajputmade the announcement while addressing a news confer-ence here at Hyderabad Press Club on Saturday along withManzoor Ahmed Khan newly elected district senior vicepresident and others.—APP

ATTOCK: A peasant busy in shifting wheat affected by rain at Sheen Bagh Khan.

ISLAMABAD—Mainly dryweather is expected in mostparts of the country during thenext 12 hours, MET fore-castedon Sunday. However, isolatedrain thunderstorm is expectedin Malakand, Hazara,Peshawar, Makran divisionsand Gilgit-Baltistan. Tempera-ture of some major cities re-corded on Sunday morning:Islamabad 15 degree centi-grade, Lahore 22, Karachi 27,Peshawar 17, Quetta 14, Gilgit11, Murree 9 andMuzaffarabad 16 degree cen-tigrade. The Multan Met Of-fice has forecast party cloudyweather with chances of dust,thunderstorm and light rain forMultan and its sub-urbs dur-ing the next 24 hours.

On Sunday, maximum andminimum temperature was re-corded at 32.2 and 20.3 degreecentigrade respec-tively. Hu-midity was recorded at 75 per-cent at 8 am and 42 percent at5 pm. According to the syn-optic situation, continental airwill prevail in most parts of thecountry. The weather will re-main dry in Punjab, Islamabad,

Dry weather expectedSindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand Balochistan during thenext 24 hours.

The temperatures will riseduring day time especially atsouthern parts of the countrywhich will turn the weather hot.The highest maximum tem-peratures recorded during the

last 24 hours were Lahore andShorkot 36C, Faisalabad,Bahawalnagar, Bhakkar andMithi 35C. The maximum tem-peratures recorded in other cit-ies during the last 24 hourswere Islamabad 31C, Lahore35C,Karachi 30C, Peshawar28C, Quetta 15C, Skardu 22C,Murree 19C, Muzaffarabad25C, Gilgit 26C, Faisalabad 35C,Multan 32C and Hyderabad33C. The pollen count re-corded in Islamabad was 663per cubic meter.—Agencies

M HALEEM ASAD

TIMERGARA—A bride alongwith three other women anda boy were killed while twominors injured when their carcame under attack at SamarBagh on Sunday morning,residents and police said.They said unknown attack-ers ambushed and openedindiscriminate firing on awedding party bound forSattar from Samar Bagh. Theincident occurred two kilome-ters away from the SamarBagh police station, resi-dents said.

Sources said four womenidentified as Kianat, wife ofMuhammad Anwar (bride),Hassan Pari, wife of SyedAfzal, Afia, daughter of QaziAzizur Rahman, Shabnum,wife of Muhammad Zeb anda 14-year-old boy Bilal sonof Nimatullah, were killed onthe spot while another

woman Razia Bibi, wife ofNimatullah and Rashid, sonof Qazi Azizur Rahman wereinjured. The attackers es-caped the scene after thecrime. The injured were takento the Samar Bagh hospitalwhere their condition isstated to be normal. Resi-dents said the bride’s familyhad no enmity with anyone.“Enemies, too avoid to attackwomen but it can be misun-derstanding,” one of the resi-dents told this reporter.

Those killed and injuredin the incident are said to beclose relatives. There werecrying when five dead bod-ies including one of the bridereturned to her father’s fam-ily, residents said, adding thatwhole of the area turned intomourning after the tragic in-cident. The Samar Bagh, DirLower, police have registereda case and started investiga-tion.

Bride, four othersdead in Samar

Bagh car ambush

OUR CORRESPONDENT

SAHIWAL—Punjab Govern-ment has completed all arrange-ments to hold general electionspeacefully and in transparentmanner so that people coulduse their right of franchise with-out any fear. Special securityarrangements will be maintainedat over 4,000 sensitive pollingstations and CCTV cameras arebeing installed to monitor thepolling process besides deput-ing extra force on these pollingstations. This was stated byHome Minister, Punjab, TariqParvez while addressing a pressconference at circuit house af-ter chairing a meeting to reviewthe arrangements for generalelections.

Home Secretary ShahidKhan, IG Punjab Aftab Sultan,Commissioner Sahiwal Divi-sion Muhammad AbdullahKhan Sumbal and RPOSahibzada MuhammadShehzad Sultan also attendedthe meeting besides DCOs andDPOs of the three districts. Hesaid that Government was com-

mitted to ensure the implemen-tation of code of conduct dur-ing election campaign andcomplete impartiality is beingobserved for its enforcement.

Earlier, CommissionerSahiwal told the meeting that2993 Polling Stations are be-ing established in the Divi-sion for 12 National and 21Provincial Assembly seats tofacilitate 3.3147 million voters.He told that 218 polling sta-tions have been declared sen-sitive and special security ar-rangements including instal-lation of video cameras arebeing made to ensure peace-ful atmosphere on ElectionDay. Answering a questionTariq Parvez told that due toprevailing law & order situa-tion in other provinces, PunjabGovernment is extra vigilantand has taken several deci-sions to ensure the law andorder. He also told media thatservices of Army will be uti-lized on need basis and forthis purpose one army unitwill be stationed for each pro-vincial constituency.

Arrangements for holdingpeaceful elections completed

MULTAN—Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) leaderRaza Haroon Sunday said hisparty would welcome if theMay 11 general electionswere postponed. Talking tomedia persons here inHussain Agahi area, Haroonsaid political activities are infull swing only in a singleprovince while the three fed-erating units appear to be farfrom ready to go into thepolls. “This scenario will onlypave way not for election butselection,” he warned.

He regretted that none ofthe parties, which have re-mained safe from terror at-tacks, publicly denouncedthe recent bombings. RazaHaroon said that the partyleaders should desist fromissuing derogatory state-ments against one another.

To a question, he said theterrorist organizations do notwant democracy in the coun-try. APP adds: The RabitaCommittee of Muttahida

Qaumi Movement (MQM)has announced, in no uncer-tain terms, that the MQMwould not give up its demo-cratic right and would takepart in the general electionsunder all conditions.

Talking to party chiefAltaf Hussain, members ofthe RabitaCommittee saidthat their spirits were high,and they were undaunted byterrorism, violence, killingsand threats, said a statementissued by MQM here on Sat-urday. The Rabita Committeetold Altaf Hussain that theywould face conspiraciesagainst the MQM but wouldnot surrender before terror-ism under any condition.

Besides every worker ofthe MQM, each member ofthe Rabita Committee wasalso steadfast and resolute.Altaf Hussain paid tribute tomembers of the Rabita Com-mittee on exhibiting courageand firmness in a testingtime.—Agencies

MQM to hail pollspostponement: Raza

Several bookedfor election

code violationsHAFIZABAD—Foremr MPAAsad Ullah Arain, a candidateof the PML-N for PP-106, andhis four supporters werebooked by police on thecharge of violating the codeof conduct. The police havearrested his four supporters.According to the police, thecandidate and his supportersfired into the air and set offfireworks in a public meetingin Mattam village. Mean-while, city police arrested twoPTI workers on the charge ofusing a loudspeaker on theirvehicle.

Besides, Ahmad NawazRind, an AML candidate forPP-106, and his three sup-porters were arrested on thecharge of displaying fire-arms. SI booked for firing onpolice van: Kassoki policeSunday registered a caseagainst a sub-inspector andhis four accomplices for fir-ing on a police van and re-lease of his nephew involvedin a dacoity case.—APP

Heroin smugglingbid foiled

HYDERABAD—The Policenabbed four drug traffickersand recovered huge quantityof fine heroin powder after asuccessful raid here at a localhotel near railway station earlyhours of Sunday. The SeniorSuperintendent of Police, SaqibAslam Memon while talking tomedia persons here at his of-fice on Sunday morning in-formed that the raid was con-ducted after receiving informa-tion that four drug traffickerswho came here from Mardanlate Saturday night, got stay ina local hotel near railway sta-tion. A police party led by SPCity cordoned off the hotel ataround 4.30 a.m. and appre-hended Ali Rehman, Akhtar Gul,Alam Zaib and Jehangir andseized eight kilograms fineheroin powder from their pos-session.

During preliminary investi-gation, the SSP informed thatthe arrested drug traffickersconfessed that they were car-rying heroin powder to Karachifrom Mardan.—APP

MULTAN—Thirty candidateswon National Assembly seatsunopposed in history of ninegeneral elections in the coun-try while there is not even asingle unopposed winner inthe general election of 2013.According to election resultsdata, 20 uncontested winnersbelonged to the PakistanPeoples Party while 10 wereindependent candidates.Nineteen candidates won un-opposed inthe general elec-tion of 1977. PPP leaderMukhdoom Amin Fahim(Sindh) is the last candidatewho secured unopposed vic-tory in elections of 1993. Twocandidates who registeredunopposed victory alsoserved as prime minister of Pa-kistan, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto andMohammad Khan Junaijo.

In general elections of 1970,Nimatullah (NW-21) won unop-posed. In 1977, 19 politicianswon including Haji Noor Khan(NA-154), Mehr Mehra KhanBajarani (NA-155), Abdul Fateh

No unopposed winnerin general election

Khan (NA-157), GhulamMajtuba Jatoe NA-158, SyedBashir Ahmed Shah (159),Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto (NA-163),Sardar Ahmed Khan (NA-164),Mumtaz Bhutto (NA-165),Mukhdoom MohammadZaman Talibul Mola (NA-166),Haji Najamuddin Khan (NA-171), Malik Sikandar Khan (NA-176), Raees Ali Khan (NA-177),Liaqat Ali Khan (NA-178),Raees Ata Mohammad KhanMurree (NA-180), TaajMohammad Jamali (NA-197),Mir Abdul Nabi Jamali (NA-198), Prince Mohiyuddin (NA-199), Mir Amanullah (NA-200).

Similarly, in general elec-tions in 1985, seven candidatesremained successful unop-posed including Malik SyedKhan (NA-131), Elahi BukhashSoomro (NA-154), Syed BashirAhmed Shah (NA-161), AhmedSultan Chandio (NA-165),Mohammad Khan Junaiju (NA-180), Zafarullah Khan Jamali(NA-203), and Mir Arif JaanHasni (NA- 205).—APP

Teachers to keep awayfrom election duty

WHILE law and order situation is deteriorating as general election date approaches, thousands of teachers in Balochistan haverefused to perform election duty in eleven districts because of

threats from outlawed militant groups. The provincial government hasalready declared Nushki, Chagai, Mastung, Kalat, Khuzdar, Awaran,Kharan, Washuk, Panjgur, Kech and Gwadar as sensitive districts andthe authorities are taking effective steps to ensure orderly conduct ofpolls there.

However the refusal by the teachers indicates that uncertainty andfear has increased and rightly so because of the blasts, target killing andfiring incidents being order of the day in Balochistan. The militant groupshave been trying their level best to disrupt the electoral process and theyhad targeted political workers. The militants fear that if the electionswere held in an orderly manner and a strong government was formed,they would loose ground and that would be against the designs of theirmasters. However it is encouraging that all the political forces in theProvince including the Nationalist Parties who had boycotted the 2008elections, are fully participating in the electoral exercise. People like SardarAkhtar Mengal, Talal Bugti, Hasal Bizenjo and Mahmood Khan Achakzai,had also expressed their concern about the law and order situation butare carrying on their election campaign in the right earnest. We believethat those hurling threats to the political workers and teachers are backedby inimical forces but their number is not as high to be able to disruptthe elections. There is certain improvement in the security situation inBalochistan as compared to Karachi and the need is for better coordi-nation between the intelligence agencies and security forces to arrestanti national elements. We would also suggest that instead of waitingfor the election day, the Provincial Government should immediatelydeploy the police, FC and Levies in full forces in the sensitive districtsto give a sense of security to the people and the polling staff. Though theElection Commission has warned for taking action against the govern-ment employees refusing to perform duty but at the same time, theirconcern should also be addressed. We would therefore urge the ECP andthe Provincial government to involve the office bearers of Teachers As-sociation, provide security according to their demand and facilitate themin all respect including keeping their names secret otherwise their refusalwould also affect the turnout of voters.

Industrial activitiescome to halt in KarachiSHUTTER down strikes have become a daily occurrence in the indus

trial hub of the country as incidents of blasts by terrorists are going onunchecked in Karachi. All Industrial units in the seven industrial estatesof the mega city remained closed on Friday owing to MQM’s call forobserving mourning day over the death of its workers in a bomb attackon Thursday.

While the incidents of terrorism are condemned by all and sundry,there is no rationale to call for complete strike to bring the life and indus-trial activity to a standstill. In this way we will be playing in the hands ofthe enemies of the country by causing losses of billions of rupees to thenational economy on the one hand and no earning to the daily wagers onthe other. According to one estimate more than four billion rupees lossesare caused by one day strike in Karachi. We are of the considered opinionthat protests can be registered through peaceful rallies and over the me-dia instead of calling for closure of industries, businesses and damagingpublic and private property. One fully sympathizes with the people ofKarachi as the terrorists have made the city the prime target of their ac-tivities but the situation is not satisfactory in other parts of the countryparticularly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan. No body is givingcalls for strike there and that is the way to stand firm against terrorists.While it is the foremost duty of the government of the day to ensuresecurity for every citizen, political parties should also adopt a unifiedstance and in no way allow the wheel of economy to come to a halt at atime when the economy it is already on the down slide.

British colonystatus of FATA

CHIEF Justice of Peshawar High Court on Saturday said that tribalareas were being treated like that of British colonies and stressed the

need for changing the entire system.It may be rather a harsh remark because FATA is not a colony of any

imperial power and lot of water has passed under the bridge since thecolonial days. There is freedom of formation of political parties and po-litical activities are going on despite threats from militants. There is ahuge change in FATA as ordinary people have come out of the clutches oftribal Sardars, there are more education and health facilities and in thepolitical field, a lady Badam Zari is also a candidate for the nationalassembly elections. Contesting elections by common man, what to talkof a lady was unimaginable a few decades back. This change is becauseof education and freedom to the people that they enjoy now a days. How-ever we agree with the spirit of the statement of the honourable ChiefJustice PHC as he has rightly drawn the attention of the authorities thatthere is need for more reforms and further integration of the area with therest of the country. There are already demands by the people that FATAbe declared a province and one hope, that with democracy gaining roots,this demand would be accepted and the Provincial Assembly thus formedwould be free to legislate for betterment of the people of the region.

The Brussels rendezvous

Politics and the fateof mankind areshaped by menwithout ideas andwithout greatness.Men who havegreatness withinthem don’t go in forpolitics

Syria:Judgementon chemical

armsDespite the fact that an esti

mated 70,000 people havelost their lives in the Syrian

war so far, the overwhelming ma-jority to conventional weapons, thealleged limited use of chemicalagents, including the nerve agentsarin, has come to be seen as a de-fining moment for the internationalcommunity. Few would argue thatthe widespread use of chemical andbiological agents against civiliansin Syria by the regime, or, indeed,by the opposition forces, would notchange attitudes towards interven-tion in the conflict. The crucialquestion is: have we reached thatpoint? The reality is that the con-siderations are complex. The barfor proof should be set very high.What is known at this juncture isthat samples that appear to havetested positive for sarin have beenprovided to at least three westernintelligence agencies. Although itwas at first suggested that thesesamples were gathered by nationalintelligence agencies, French offi-cials have said that they have “nonational evidence”, while sourcesin the US have told media outletsthat blood samples seen there wereprovided by opposition sources.The UK has not made clear thesource of its samples.

Evidence of exposure is onething, but proving that it was re-gime forces that fired chemicalweapons requires a far more com-plex casework, requiring not sim-ply identifying traces of toxins, butestablishing by whom, when andwhere the weapons were deployed.That would involve ruling out boththe possibility that the agents werereleased accidentally – for ex-ample in a fire – or inadvertentlyby forces unaware a shell waschemical. There are precedents forboth. Another crucial issue is in-tention. While much reporting ofthe intelligence claims has focusedon the samples as proof that the“Assad regime” used chemicalweapons as opposed to regimeforces – a crucial distinction – thatis far from clear. Even if it can beestablished that a certain unit fireda chemical munition on a certainday at a specified target, the verylimited use of chemical weaponsmeans that does not amount toproof of a policy of use.

The problem of determininghow the exposure took place isovershadowed by an issue that hasnever gone away during the courseof the conflict in Syria: what op-tions are open to the internationalcommunity if it determined that athreshold has been reached? Thefailure of the interventions in Iraq,Afghanistan and Libya, the firstlaunched on concocted intelligence,has left an understandable reluc-tance, not least in Washington, tobe dragged into foreign adventureslacking clear outcomes. All optionsare fraught with difficulties, notleast arming an opposition in whichal-Qaida-allied jihadists are promi-nently represented. While it wouldbe possible to enforce a no-fly zone– as happened in Libya – the expe-rience in that conflict, which hasleft behind a deeply fragile statelacking central authority, has raisedfears over what a post-Assad Syriamight look like if the regime weresuddenly to collapse.

If there is one glimmer of hopeon the horizon, it is in the evidencethat on the issue of chemical weap-ons at least, the US and Russia arein agreement, with Moscow hav-ing warned Damascus in private interms similar to President BarackObama’s public warnings. Al-though in the past Russia has hardlybeen an honest broker in the con-flict, in this case its concerns seemgenuine, opening an avenue ofpressure on the regime to allow UNinspectors to visit sites of suspecteduse. What is most important nowis the integrity and transparency ofany investigation that requires gov-ernments that claim they have evi-dence of use to explain preciselywhat they know as a fact and thelimits of their knowledge. At thiscritical juncture, anything less thana frank and honest assessmentwould be as shameful as trying tosweep the claims under the carpet.— The Observer

MEDIA WATCH

—Albert CamusFrench writer

Pak-Afghan relations have aninteresting dynamics; justwhen there is a feeler of im-

provement, they nosedive into an-other crisis. Nonetheless, it is en-couraging that soon after each cri-sis, both Islamabad and Kabul re-sume taking measured steps tobring the ties back on track. Latestrupture came last month whenAfghanistan’s presidential spokes-person Aimal Faizi said that Paki-stan had abandoned the peace pro-cess and imposed “impossible” pre-conditions on any further discus-sions. A day prior to Brussels talks,Faizi further said: “Our message toPakistan is enough is enough...Thistime we will tell Pakistan that ourpeople’s patience is running out andwe can’t wait for Pakistan to de-liver on Afghan peace promises.”On the same day Pakistan’s foreignministry said: “Pakistan remainscommitted to continue its positiveand constructive role towards adurable peace in Afghanistan”.

Afghanistan has grown increas-ingly frustrated with Pakistan overits efforts to pursue a peace processinvolving the Taliban, suggestingthat Islamabad intends to keep Af-ghanistan unstable until after for-eign combat forces have left at theend of 2014. However, Pakistan isconvinced that a peaceful, stable,prosperous and united Afghanistanis in the interest of Afghanistan, Pa-kistan and the region. The UShosted talks in Brussels betweenAfghan President Karzai and Paki-stani officials with the aim to re-rail the stalled Afghan peace pro-cess. The participants included

Spillover of Afghan conflict

HURMAT GROUP OF PUBLICATIONSZahid Malik

President & Editor-in-ChiefPh: 051-2256006

Faisal Zahid MalikEditor

Ph: 021-32631102

Gauhar Zahid MalikExecutive Editor

Ph: 051-2853818

IslamabadPh Exchange: 051-2852027

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

Email: [email protected] Website: www.pakobserver.net

KarachiFaisal Zahid Malik

EditorPh: 021-32211777, 32635403

Fax: 021-32626902Email: [email protected]

LahoreKhalid ButtResident Editor

Ph: 042-37593341, 37566702Marketing Ph: 37597364

Fax: 042-36300043Email: [email protected]

QuettaGhulam TahirResident Editor

Mobile: 0333-7944760E-mail:[email protected]

PeshawarTariq SaeedResident Editor

Mobile: 0321-9001476E-mail:[email protected]

MuzaffarabadAbdul Hameed Shaheen

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

Email: [email protected] / [email protected]

Sunday Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

Ph: 2852027-8, Ext: 116Email: [email protected]

Despite tremendous potentialand opportunities in the new“Asia-Pacific Age” South

Asia with 1/5th of the global popu-lation, is threatened by a number oftraditional and nontraditional secu-rity challenges. There is a regionalhistory of conflicts, wars and for-eign invasions in South Asia. Fromthe nontraditional security perspec-tive, the region faces challengesfrom water security, energy secu-rity and more importantly climatechange security. While the tradi-tional security issues and distrustsare still intact, South Asia has toprepare itself for the post NATOwithdrawal from Afghanistan andits spillover in the region. Sincethere are challenges for the SouthAsians after US pull out from Af-ghanistan, there are opportunitiestoo, provided the regional countriesand all Afghan neighbours decideto respect the sovereignty of eachother and adopt the policy of mu-tual co-existence. Such an approachwould enable all Afghan neighborsand South Asians to garner the fruitsof growing economies and naturalresources of the region and its sur-roundings.

Currently, there are two typesof the challenges, posed by the USwithdrawal: domestic and regionalChallenges. Among the DomesticChallenges, instability within Af-ghanistan is the foremost challengethreatening the region following theUS pull out or US opting for itselfa role behind the scene. The domes-tic instability may leads to dissolu-tion of central authority in Afghani-

Afghanistan’s defence minister,Bismillah Khan Mohammadi,Pakistan’s army chief, GeneralAshfaq Kayani, and Pakistan’s for-eign secretary, Jalil Jilani. The mara-thon session spread over three hourswas chaired by the US Secretary ofState John Kerry. Diplomats hadhoped that Kerry, who enjoys a goodrapport with Karzai, could bring theparties back to the negotiating table.Things did not move beyond photosession and a stroll in the lawn.

After the talks, US Secretary ofState John Kerry said: “We had avery extensive and, ... productiveand constructive dialogue... but wehave all agreed that results are whatwill tell the story, not statements atpress conferences...We have a lot ofhomework to do...it was better tounder-promise but deliver.” Thethree parties would “continue a veryspecific dialogue on both the politi-cal track as well as the securitytrack,” said Kerry. “We have a com-mitment to do that in the interests ofAfghanistan, Pakistan and peace inthe region,” he added. There wereno statements by President Karzaiand General Kayani.

Since the last quarter of 2012,Western diplomats have acknowl-edged a tangible effort by Pakistanto promote the peace process in Af-ghanistan. This impression was re-inforced by Ambassador RichardOlson during his Senate confirma-tion hearing in August 2012, whenhe stated that “the Pakistani militaryand the Pakistani government havemoved away” from the strategicdepth doctrine. Pakistan has releasedat least 26 Afghan Taliban prisonersduring recent months in the hope thatit could help persuade Taliban to en-ter into peace talks. But there is littleevidence of any forward movement.Although there have been several

meetings in the Western capitalsover the past few months in whichrepresentatives of the Taliban havemet Afghan peace negotiators, therehave been no signs of a break-through.

In a run-up to Brussels meet, theUS acting Special Representative onAfghanistan and Pakistan, DavidPearce, had visited Pakistan for dis-cussions with General Kayani; bothdiscussed the issue threadbare. Thebrief announcement of the ISPRsaid, “The two sides discussed mat-ters of mutual interest with particu-lar focus on Afghanistan reconcilia-tion process.” Both sides felt thattheir approach, with its main focuson bringing the Taliban on board inthe negotiation process, was simi-lar. The US administration sees Pa-kistan as a key player in brokeringpeace with Taliban insurgents.

Even though the erratic Afghanpresident is known to engage in pub-lic tirades against friends and foes,his close associates, too, pick up thecues and go ballistic. Recent out-burst by Deputy Foreign MinisterJawed Ludin took observers by sur-prise. Accusing Pakistan of “shift-ing” its position on the peace talksand of “changing the goal posts”, hethreatened to go it alone on the peaceprocess without Pakistan’s assis-tance. President Karzai by his peri-odic critical views of US and Paki-stan policies in the context of Af-ghan peace has been spoiling theshow.

The Afghan President is, per-haps under compulsion to indulge inthis kind of mud-slinging in an at-tempt to regain the Pashtun’s sym-pathies whom he had alienated dur-ing his two terms in office. No lessimportant are Karzai’s growing fearsabout his own future when his termends in 2014. Pakistan has all along

extended cooperation to Afghani-stan for peace and stability, but therepeated rhetoric of Karzai and as-sociates accusing Islamabad of fa-cilitating the extremist elementshave been muddying the atmo-sphere. The Afghan President doesnot realize that relationship be-tween the two neighbours has to betension free, and for this purpose,each side must address the concernsof the other. Karzai has refused tohand-over terrorists from Swat andBaluchistan who are being hostedby Afghanistan as special guests.These terrorists are encouraged andfacilitated to launch cross borderattacks into Chitral, Malakand andBaluchistan.

Despite all the goodwill ges-tures by Pakistan, the Afghan leaderis not reciprocating in kind. Just ahandshake in Brussels by PresidentKarzai and General Kayani wouldnot be enough and the AfghanPresident would have to change hismindset of blaming Pakistan.

Afghanistan is currently in acritical transformational period.Question of Afghan reconciliationto make for peace in the country isacquiring an enhanced focus. With-out internal harmony in Afghani-stan, Pakistan will also not be ableto get rid of ongoing menace ofmilitancy. Moreover, in case Af-ghanistan slides down into a civilwar after 2014, the US would loseits claim about an honourable exit.The effectiveness of future nego-tiations in the region hinges uponforging better relations betweenPakistan and Afghanistan. Pakistanis convinced that a peaceful, stable,prosperous and united Afghanistanis in the interest of Afghanistan,Pakistan and the region.—The writer is Consultant, Policy& Strategic Response, IPRI.

stan. Unfortunately, there is neithera political nor a religious personal-ity in Afghanistan who can unite andis acceptable to all factions andgroups there. Neither Karazai norMullah Omar has the charismaticpotentials to unite the Afghan at oneplatform. In the absence of any ne-gotiated settlement, there are all thechances that central Government atKabul may quickly evaporate, giv-ing way to return of civil war, whereeach group would try to secure foritself the lion’s share.

According to a report by Inter-national Crisis Group (ICG), “Thereis a real risk that the regime in Kabulcould collapse upon NATO’s with-drawal. The window for remedialaction is closing fast. The Afghanarmy and police are overwhelmedand underprepared for the transi-tion.” The Carnegie Endowment forInternational Peace, anticipate that,“After 2014, the level of US sup-port for the Afghan regime will belimited and, after a new phase in thecivil war, a Taliban victory willlikely to follow.” Then there is a ri-valry within Afghan security insti-tutions, primarily motivated by fac-tional and ethnic factors. What is ofgreater concern is increasingpoliticization of security institu-tions, and attempts to use them fordomestic political agendas of stay-ing in the power? Then the Talibanthreat, the most dominant and ani-mated remains the real one. Underthe combat power of Taliban, thereis all the likelihood that the non-rep-resentative ANSF can face a quickfragmentation.

Alongside security transition toANSF sequel to NATO pullout, po-litical transition in 2014 is most im-portant. Despite pledges of PresidentKarzai, for a legitimate transfer ofpower, opposition groups have seri-

ous reservations. With a frustratedKarazai, United States, internationalcommunity and Afghan neighbourswould be in doldrums under such ascenario. Domestically, over theyears, NATO has established a par-allel force mechanism in the form ofnew militias, local armed groups like;Afghan Local Police (ALP) and othermushroom organizations to controlTaliban insurgency. In the post NATOpullout, these organizations may be-come a nuisance for their opponentsin a future scenario.

Among the regional challenges,the Afghan neighbours, somehowhave been backing their favourites,are likely to push forward their prox-ies - in case the Kabul governmentshows signs of weakness. Indeed, allAfghan neighbours would like to se-cure their interests, thus paving wayfor an infringement. Russia sup-ported U.S and NATO in Afghani-stan to fight out militancy in itsMuslim majority republics;Chechnya and Dagestan. Russiafears that, Taliban return wouldradicalize Central Asia, NorthCaucasus and its Muslim republics.China would like to secure guaran-tees from the future Afghan setup fornot supporting East Turkistan Is-lamic Movement (ETIM) in its au-tonomous region, Xinjiang. Then,this rising power has heavily in-vested in the mining and mineralsectors of Afghanistan.

Besides having a geographicalcontiguity with Afghan, China hasboth geo-economic and geopoliticalinterests in Afghanistan. All CentralAsian neighbours of Afghanistanwould like to secure their interests.Nevertheless, all would be interestedfor a peace in Afghanistan, but noneis interested for the return of Taliban.Without having, a geographical con-tiguity, India created for itself suffi-

cient space in Afghanistan in thegarb of reconstruction. Indeed, it isvery cleverly pursuing its policy,giving peanuts to Afghans in returnfor strong foothold in that country.India has been able to secure rightsto mine Afghanistan’s prime iron orereserves of biggest iron deposit;Hajigak, besides many other areas.It has a strategic pact with Afghani-stan, with the key role of training ofANSF and intelligence services.Pakistan has its reservations of Af-ghan troops being trained by the In-dian military. Training of militarymeans, they would adopt their ide-ology, mindset and thinking. Indianpresence in Afghanistan has alwaysbeen a source of concern for Paki-stan. In the guise of reconstruction,India is using Afghan soil againstPakistan. India is providing trainingand funding to anti-Pakistan ele-ments from Balochistan and allalong western border. Indian consu-lates are working as a base to createsubversion inside Pakistan.

Pakistan sees the region in tran-sition as both an opportunity and arisk in both; short and long-term per-spective. The outcome of this tran-sition will largely depend upon thestrategic decisions taken today infavour of peace and stability. Paki-stan finds itself at the centre of de-bate and desires to carve a regionwhere regional interests convergeand stability thrives thereby creat-ing a space for economic growth andprosperity long desired by the peopleof the region, especially Afghani-stan. In this context, Pakistan seesits relationship with U.S and Af-ghanistan as critical for redrawingthe contours of regional securityenvironment that is conducive forending the longest conflict in recenthistory. — The writer is Islamabad-based IR analyst.

Iqbal KhanEmail:tweets@wonderous101

Dr RajaMuhammad Khan

Email: [email protected]

Voice of the People

Awarenessto voteFAIZA AZAM

Casting a vote is as necessary asacquiring education or renderingother services for betterment of thecountry. Since, there is a hue and crycirculating in social and electronicmedia that many people may not casttheir vote owing to different reasonsthat has created an alarming situa-tion throughout the country. How-ever, the Election Commission hasinvited Shahid Khan Afridi to playhis part as Election Campaigner.

He has been assigned the dutyof mobilizing people for castingtheir precious vote in order to bringchange in the country. No doubt,Shahid Khan Afridi always rendershis yeoman’s services whenever thecountry demands. His recent Poliocampaign is worth citing examplein this regard. This country has givenus many things but temptation ofmaterialist and worldly desires al-ways compel us to forget the basicduties as a citizen.

We need to realize in the impor-tance of a vote. A single vote canprevent a corrupt or dishonest con-testant from entering into the par-liament. I welcome the clarificationgiven by Shahid Afridi that he wouldnot help a certain political party.Rather, he will launch his campaignfor bringing about a meaningfulchange in the existing voting sys-tem. This is the approach needed tobe adopted by all and sundry. Wemust also take the upcoming elec-tions as a historic or turning periodand play our role in spreading thevoting awareness individually.—Karachi

Let therebe hopeWAQAT ABRO

As the day of general elections ap-proaches, heat of elections engulfswith every passing moment. Fewpolitical parties have started engag-ing in their political activities whilea few have called for shutting downtheir camps owing to security rea-sons. The ongoing political situationclearly implies that 11 May wouldbe a historic day of Pakistan. Theheat of elections has gone to suchextent that political leaders of dif-ferent parties , have started breath-ing fire against each other. Imransays that on 11th May 2013 Paki-stan will be independent from loot-ers while Nawaz says after 11 Maywinds of prosperity will blow in thecountry. On the contrary, there is ahue and cry on electronic media thathow elections will be successfullyheld if the ongoing security situa-tion continues. This style of propa-gating news will not only cause fearsin the masses but also demoralizeour law and order enforcers.

It is time to spread political andvoting awareness rather than creat-ing even if havoc across the coun-try. We need to tell our people thatno matter heaven falls, elections willbe on time and every Pakistanistands shoulder to shoulder with ourlaw enforcememt agencies. Somonehas rightly said every dark night isfollowed by a colourful morning.—Via email

“Plain ofJars Lao”

SAADUDDIN KHAN

Through the column of your es-teemed newspaper, I would like toinject information about the Plain ofJars Lao. The Plain of Jars is a largearea extending around Phonsavanfrom the southwest to the northeast,where huge jars of unknown originare scattered about in over a dozengroupings. Despite local myth, thejars have been fashioned from solidstone. From above, it is an abruptlyconspicuous feature, occupying anarea of one thousand square kilome-ters, sitting more than three thousandfeet above sea level. The Plain, con-trary to its name, is not monoto-nously flat, but undulating - a roll-ing meadowlands with softlycurved, breast-like hills, changingcolors with the seasons, remaininga vivid green after the monsoonrains, until the sun sears it pale yel-

Side effects of fast foodRAO BASIT ALI

I would like to draw your attention toward the side effects of fast food. There are many side effects offast food including potential heart, liver or weight issues that can permanently damage your health.

Doctors will often recommend that their patients avoid fast food to maintain an ideal weight and energylevel. Being aware of these effects is essential to determining whether fast food is safe to include in yourdiet, particularly if you suffer from digestive issues already. Junk food that is high in sugar may be akey contributor to acne formation. The U.S. National Library of Medicine says that a study byDanbyFW at the Dartmouth Medical School in Manchester, New Hampshire, found that foods that are high insugar content promote excess production of serum and insulin, which may irritate your hormones,leading to a hormonal balance and possibly contributing to acne development. Fast foods have directeffect on obesity, and as such it is pertinent to oppose the growth of unhealthy and traditional foodchains.People should buy food from the outlets selling healthy substitutes. Moreover, a grave need per-sists that the dilemma should be taken up by the congress persons to ban every type of advertisementspromoting foods that are high in sugar and fat, especially to the children. So please be aware.—Karachi

READERS

Email:[email protected]

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

—Editor

low during the hot, dry, tropical sum-mer. The Plain of Jars is one of theoldest archeological mysteries inSoutheast Asia. Located on the pla-teau of Xieng Khouang, in the moun-tains of Indochina, there are about 90different jars sites. Each site containsfrom 1 to 400 jars. It has been esti-mated that they were created 3,000years ago, and are made of sandstone,limestone, granite, breccias and con-glomerate, with the majority beingmade of sandstone.

The tallest jar is about 9 ft. talland all are made from their own in-dividual slab of stone. At first glancethey appear to be haphazardly placed,with some standing upright and oth-ers on their sides, pointing in differ-ent directions. There has been lots ofspeculation about the purpose of thejars – drinking glasses for a giant race,being used to collect rainwater, or asburial urns. Most of the jars areempty, but a few have been foundwith bodies or tools inside, or filledwith miniature Buddha statues. Ex-ploration is hard as the area is litteredwith unexploded bombs from theSecret War.—Karachi

May day& workersRIMSHA AHMAD

Every year on May 1, people acrossthe world, including Pakistan cel-ebrate Labor Day as a public holiday.A few arrange get-togethers to enjoythe much needed holiday while oth-ers spend it either watching TV, play-ing games or sleeping in their bedsall day. The idea is to gain as muchfrom this day as one can – for one-self. But, what no one does is thinkabout what this day truly stands for. Iask now: have any of us done some-thing to value the problems of labor-ers on Labor Day? There are count-less problems which are being facedby our labors such as poverty, illit-eracy, food and water crises and somany. A vast majority of laborers anddaily-wage workers remain outsidethe field of labor laws, which meansthat workers have no paid holidays,no job security, no medical coverage,no pension or provident fund, no limiton the work hours and are paid noovertime.

In Pakistan with all this, there isalso an issue of child labor which isgrowing at a disturbing rate. Hun-dreds and thousands of childrenstruggle to achieve basic necessitiesof life. Children are the future of anycountry; help them become better citi-zens rather than make their experi-ences of life bitter from very firststage. Child labor is a very complexproblem with its root in the socio-economic environment of the coun-try. It stems from poverty, lack ofeducation and health facilities. It isimportant to note that Pakistan be-came a member of the InternationalLabor Organization (ILO) right afterits independence in 1947.However,there is not much change in the situ-ation. I know many people who workas a physical laborer just for a smallamount and they aren’t having anyweekly off days. So it is my requestto all citizens please do think aboutour true workers who work day andnight.—Karachi

Harassingwomen in public

SAQIB KHAN NIAZI

While travelling with my parents, Isaw a lady standing beside a whitecar where a man was sitting in front.The lady was seen continuously hit-ting the car door with her hand andcursing the man. Everyone was look-ing at them. After a few minutes, thewhite car crossed our car and droveaway in a rush. The lady was stillangry and started walking across thezebra crossing. My mother stoppedher and offered help.

She replied that the man in thewhite car had been teasing her andhad asked for her phone number. Onbeing refused, he had threatened her.All I could conclude was that, everyday in our country, women are sub-jected to humiliation and their dig-nity disrespected. People commit-ting such malicious acts should bepunished.—Karachi

The calm in Israel

It’s a measure of the relatively quiettime for Israel these days that thesharpest argument at a big national

security conference here was betweenan ultra-Orthodox rabbi who wanted“autonomy” for his fellow believersand secular Israelis in the audiencewho shouted out denunciations ofwhat one called his “apartheid” plan.To be sure, the Iranian threat loomson the horizon. And Amos Yadlin, aretired major general who heads theInstitute for National Security Stud-ies, warns of an approaching choicebetween “bombing or the bomb” —that is, attacking Iran or accepting itas a nuclear-weapons state. But interms of imminent dangers, this is asurprisingly tranquil period for theJewish state.

What accounts for this upbeatand introspective mood at a timewhen the region is in turmoil? Is-raelis are realizing that, howevermuch the upheaval threatens the es-tablished Arab order, it doesn’t nec-essarily hurt them. Israelis have been

predicting for decades that the arbi-trary borders set by the 1916 Sykes-Picot accord would ultimately dis-solve and the Ottoman ethnic“vilayets” (or provinces) would re-turn. Now, to some Israeli analysts,this Arab crack-up seems to be hap-pening, and what’s not to like?

The paradox of the Arab revolu-tions is that, though they have cre-ated instability on Israel’s borders,they have also reduced the conven-tional military threat. Israel’s enemiesare tearing each other apart: Egyp-tians are squabbling internally as theeconomy sinks; Syrians are battlingeach other in a bloody civil war;Sunni and Shiite extremists are wag-ing a war of attrition across the re-gion. Even as Israeli leaders warilywatch Iran’s continuing push toward-nuclear-weapons capability, they talkabout a peace dividend. The Israelidefence budget has been declining,and Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz, the IsraelDefence Forces’ chief of staff, talkedhere of seizing the “window of op-portunity when there is a small chanceof all-out war.”

This theme of reduced externalthreats was explained by Brig. Gen.

Itai Brun,head of research and analy-sis for Israeli military intelligence. Hetold the conference that the balancehad shifted toward Israel in severalways: a “decreased conventionalthreat” because the Syrian army ispreoccupied by civil war; a “weak-ening of the radical axis” as Hamasloses its base in Syria and Sunnis andShiites fight each other; and the sta-bility of Israel’s peace treaties withEgypt and Jordan.

The Muslim Brotherhood take-over in Egypt worries Israelis some-what, but as Brun observed, “the re-gime [in Egypt] has decided to bepragmatic.” Syrian chemical weap-ons are a concern, too, but Israel hasplans to contain them if the regime istoppled. Tensions in the US-Israeli re-lationship have eased, too, afterBarack Obama’s very successful visithere last month. Israelis wantedObama to show the love, and whenhe finally did, it dispelled much oftheir anxiety. Indeed, in many ways,Israel’s current passivity in the regionis arguably a local version of “lead-ing from behind.”

In this period of relative externalpeace, Israel has an unusual opportu-

David Ignatius

Views From Abroad

nity to secure its foundations as aJewish, democratic state. Thatmeans dealing with three existentialproblems. The first is the role of theultra-Orthodox, who usually don’tserve in the military and often aren’tpart of the workforce. Rabbi ShmuelJakobovits’s call for formal au-tonomy for his community drewcatcalls here, but somehow a bargainmust be struck that allows a unitedJewish identity for the state.

The second challenge flowsfrom the first: If Israel is to be a Jew-ish state, it must separate from thePalestinians it now rules in the oc-cupied West Bank. As Yadlin and hisinstitute argued in a bold proposal,Israel should create a Palestinianstate either through negotiation orunilateral separation — not as a giftto the Arabs but as a way of servingIsrael’s national interests. Iran is thethird threat, and it shadowed thesediscussions. Obama has pledged toprevent Iran from obtaining anuclear weapon. But in this periodof external calm, Israeli leaders maydecide they have an opening to takeaction if necessary.— Courtesy: TheWashington Post

Foreign policy and economics

A lot of talk is going on aboutthe direction of Pakistan’s foreign policy ahead of general

election. Except PTI, the main politi-cal parties are mostly avoiding clearstand on future direction of our for-eign policy. Politically correct state-ments are being issued by these po-litical parties on Pak-US relations,India and Afghanistan, but as before,they are not likely to walk the talkafter coming into power. A hung par-liament could make it difficult to havea nationalist foreign policy to servenational interests above others. Un-der the circumstances, our policymakers should make policies that al-low the foreign policy to strengthenthe national economy and bring peaceand stability to the country.

Economy is guiding national for-eign policies. The Australian PM’s re-cent visit to China consolidated thenational economy after $120 bn tradeagreements were finalized. Thepremier’s visit was aimed at devel-oping relations with Australia’s larg-est trade partner. Similarly, Chineseand French leaders promised to de-

mocratize international relationsto protect national interests.“China and France are both greatcountries with a strong sense ofindependence”, Xi said at a newsconference with Hollande. Hesaid that the two countries would

“actively promote a multi-polarworld and the democratization of in-ternational relations”. The leaderspledged to push for a world free ofdomination by any superpower asthe French leader visited Beijing inhope of boosting France’s trade withChina amid his country’s worseningeconomic woes. Islamabad shouldmove on from Afghanistan.Hollande has upheld his electionpromise to end French military pres-ence in Afghanistan. Most Europeannations including NATO memberstates are going to end Afghan oc-cupation next year.

The decision shows that likeIraq’s WMD, the support for so-called war against terror, which waslaunched to expand capitalism, gainstrategic energy and economic foot-hold in region (west Asia), has runits course. After the US Asia-Pacificpolicy, European nations and mostNATO member states have opted outof the Afghan war for national inter-ests. Islamabad needs to minimizethe role of Afghan policy in our for-eign policy by adopting a three-

pronged approach to protect its na-tional interests.

On the military front, troopsshould be withdrawn from cities andredeployed to secure borders withhelp from paramilitary forces. Intel-ligence setups should be improved toend anti-state activities and help ef-fective policing. Militant wings of thepolitical parties should be abolished.Foreign meddling in local politicsshould be stopped using existinglaws to bring culprits to book. Thesensitive crossing points on the east-ern and western borders should besecured through modern and tradi-tional steps including fencing, min-ing, radar and satellite technology.Anti-state activities can be controlledby establishing an effective check onillegal border crossings and endingfinancial support and access to mod-ern technology.

On economic front, Islamabadneeds to make Gwadar-China linkoperational. It will generate economicactivity on both sides of the Pak-China border in the north down toGwadar. The trade and commercewill create jobs and new centers forindustry, import/export. The annualtrade and tourism revenue on theChina-Russia border is in millions.Similarly, the industrial villages onChina-North Korea border are em-ploying millions and sustaining

DPRK’s economy. There is a needto crush foreign funded and backedanti-state activities in GilgitBaltistan and Baluchistan. Beijingis headed to develop South Chinaas part of its five-year plan. Chinatrade with Gulf States is worth$300bn annually. Pakistan shouldalso have $100bn annual trade withChina. Islamabad can benefit fromChina’s expertise in manufacturing,renewable energy, nuclear technol-ogy for non-military use, and othercritical areas of nation development.

Islamabad needs to adopt an in-dependent foreign policy. The lead-ers of Australia, France, China andmost European NATO memberstates have adopted policies to pro-tect national and public interest. Byupholding their election promises,they have strengthened political ac-countability of the governments ofthe day to their citizens. There is aneed to adopt policies thatstrengthen the economy, protect na-tional interest and strengthen de-mocracy. Independent foreignpolicy is the first step in this direc-tion. As members of the UN, mod-ern states and developed nations,our neighbors and friends shouldsupport Pakistan to have an inde-pendent foreign policy to build astrong economy, democracy andwelfare state.

Role of OICKAMRAN AHMAD

OIC is the second largest multilat-eral organization after the UnitedNations having 57 members stateswith 21% of the world’s population.The primary goal of the OIC is tostrengthen the bond of unity and soli-darity among the Muslim people andmember states Beside the other ob-jectives of the OIC the charter ofOIC stressed on to safeguard theMuslim communities and Muslimminorities in non- members state.

The recent reports in media ex-posed violence against RohingyaMuslims in Myanmar is leading todeaths of hundred’s, countless inju-ries and destruction of property ofinnocent members of the Rohingya.The present outbreak in Myanmarbetween Buddhist and Muslim hasled to fresh killings and destruction,many of them trying to flee toBangladesh and other neighbouringcountries which is grave violation ofhuman rights and humanitarian law.The persistent persecution ofRohingya Muslim in Myanmar istotally unacceptable, against prin-ciples of humanity and justice.

We believe that The OICbeing”the collective voice of Mus-lim world” should play it’s role andtake firm steps for improvingRohingya Muslims status inMyanmar and send clear diplomaticmessage to Muslim world for unitedand collective action to safeguard therights of Rohingya Muslims.—Via email

Draining outrain waterFURQAN BELAL

I would like to draw the attention ofthe authorities concerned to the prob-lems people faced after heavy rainsin Karachi on April 22. The authori-ties had made tall claims that the rain-water drainage system had improvedin the city. However, the reality of thematter is different.

We saw huge traffic jams due tothe water that was stuck on the mainstreets of the city. No proper arrange-ments were made by the traffic po-lice for such an eventuality. The sani-tation staff was also absent from theroads. This situation created a lot ofproblems for the citizens. The cityadministration should have immedi-ately drained out all the water withheavy machinery and pumps to avoidthis state of affairs.—Karachi

Futility ofsheesha smoking

ARSHMAN NASEER

Lounging around in small, posh ca-fes while puffing on the widely popu-lar ‘sheesha’ has regrettably becomea common practice among the youthof our society. It is a most unhealthyand unrefined thing to do. Althoughthe youngsters making their way tosuch places may think the contraryand feel immense pleasure in doingso, one wonders which forces drivethem to such places and activities? Isit peer pressure? Is it the wont to fol-low the so-called standards societyhas set for us? Is there more to allthis than what catches the eye?

The recent raids by the authori-ties at cafes that sell sheesha have re-sulted in the ban on this futile thing.The scepticism regarding the ban isthere because in the past also it wasimplemented, but to no avail. One canonly hope that this time around theauthorities take this matter seriouslyso that our youngsters can spend moreof their time in academic as well asrecreational activities to develop andwork on skills other than puffingcircles in the air with smoke.—Via email

When you give everyone avoice and give peoplepower, the system usually

ends up in a really good place” saysMark Zuckerberg, the CEO andFounder of a Social Networkingwebsite “Facebook”. Facebook cur-rently has plus 800 million activeusers worldwide.

Now the question that arises is“by giving everyone a voice andpower, has facebook really end upmaking the world a good place”? Ido not think so. Face book gives achance to interact with your familyand friends and share your pictures,music list, thoughts, and activities.With all these advantages, face bookcomes up with a long demerits list aswell which has been destroying selfesteem and happiness of others.

Every facebook user is busy intelling the world how happy he is orhow much partying and socializing

him have been these days. You willnever click a picture of having “Daal-roti” at home and put it on facebookbut you will definitely snap the lastslice of your pizza you ordered andpost it on facebook to let your friendsknow that what an amazing dinneryou are having unlike them. You willnot take a picture of you being in PJsat home cleaning your room mess butyou will surely click a picture dressup in a designer suit before going out.

Now the problem comes whenwe start comparing ourselves with notour friend but with the person he istrying to be on facebook. The personwho watches every new film Pre-miere show, who has all the moneyin the world to spend on the differentcuisines, who does not wear anythingless than a designer suit worth fivethousand to six thousand, who is acomplete party animal and Impor-tantly who has no worries and prob-lems in his life. And then you com-pare your life with him and consideryourself as a loser who is not invitedby anyone or you feel yourself assomeone who has been facing so

many problems in his life unlike oth-ers. Now there you feel disgraced,dejected and the unlucky one. That isthe point when your self esteem dropsand you start feeling like a loser andthe funniest point is that all this ishappening because of the friend ac-tivities you see on facebook. Whileusing facebook we never realize howit is working on our unconscious. Wenever realize how dangerous it canbe. By seeing others happy momentswe start over estimating them andunder estimating ourselves. We don’trealize that one picture they posted isjust a second of their day and may bethey have been in to bad time too thatthey did not share. But we do not usebrains to figure it out as we are toobusy getting jealous and feel left out.

Being a website only facebookhas been damaging our esteem andemotions. The pretty faces we see inour friends list make us feel complex.The long friend list of others makesus feel out group. The good job add-ing statuses make us feel less quali-fied. All these things that seem mi-nor have actually been miserable to a

person. Even if you do not admitthis but still deep in your heart your,you feel bad seeing others good ad-venturous trips pictures.

Now talking about the solu-tions, seeing facebook’s growth andpopularity it seems near to impos-sible to quit it but I believe it can becontrolled if people realize the eth-ics of using Social Media. Peopleshould control adding every mo-ment picture and making othersNews feed full of their pictures al-bum. And I would recommend thepeople being dissatisfied to usefacebook rationally. There is noneon the earth who is problem free;everyone faces thousands of issuesevery day. You just need to learnhow to cope up with things. Theselittle things like social networksshould not be strong enough to slowdown your esteem. Make yourselfstrong and think positive about youractivities. Last but not the least triesto use face book as less as you canbecause it can subconsciously harmyou in anyway. —Student at Insti-tute of Business Management .

Facebook: Killing us slowly!

The other day I had to visit abusiness office. Though I hadfixed an appointment with the

managing director, he was busy andasked me to start proceeding withhis junior who first made me wait awhile at the reception, then calledme into his cabin. I realized that hewas sitting on a swivel chair thatwas much taller than my visitor’schair, and the reason was obvious,he wanted to dwarf whoever camein. There was another person sittingin the room with him, and I assumedhe would ask him to leave beforehe spoke with me, but he beckoned

that man to stay on, and I knew im-mediately he intended to give a per-formance.

He wanted to show the other per-son, how he dealt with a journalist. Iwatched him as he went about his act,playing to the galleries, and trying tointimidate me. I am not one to geteasily intimidated and having beingin business before, I also enjoy a gooddual of wits. But as I heard him, Ithought of Abraham Lincoln:

A famous writer had once writ-ten about Lincoln, that, “Not often inthe story of mankind does a man ar-rive on earth who is both steel andvelvet, who is as hard as rock and softas drifting fog, who holds in his heartand mind the paradox of terriblestorm and peace unspeakable andperfect.” Lincoln demonstratedthen and now how a person can pos-sess both a will of iron and a heart of

tenderness. Nothing deterred thepresident during the American CivilWar from his “noble” cause, and fewpersons have ever endured more criti-cism and detractors than Lincoln. Yethe was no more a man of steel thanone of velvet. When General RobertE. Lee surrendered his army, contraryto the advice of some of his generals,Lincoln sent an unexpected messageto the enemy commander. “Tell yourmen they may keep their horses;they’ll need them for plowing,” saidthe president. Then this: “Tell yourmen they may keep their rifles; they’llneed them for hunting.” When Leeread those words he wept.

For each of us there is a time fortoughness and a time for tenderness,a time for resolve and a time for com-passion. An iron will is not the sameas an iron spirit. Another courageousAmerican, Martin Luther King, Jr.

Firm, yet compassionate..!some hundred years later encour-aged us to exhibit tough minds andsoft hearts... not the other wayaround. I know that mental tough-ness, particularly an iron resolveand determination, will often beneeded if I am to get where I wantto go. But I also know that a softheart – compassion and love – willmake the journey worth it.

A little later the MD of thecompany, walked into the room,came over and embraced me, tell-ing the other man that I was a goodfriend of his, and asked me to comeover to his office with him, and getthe work I had come for, finished. Isaw the face of the bully, it waswhite as snow: He must have beenwishing he had been kinder to me.Learn to be both steel and velvet,firm yet compassionate..!—Email:[email protected]

Sana MalikEmail:[email protected]

Rizwan Ghani Email:[email protected]

PP-105 to see tough fightbetween Muzaffar, Fayyaz

Multan: NA-148 maygo against PPP

ISLAMABAD: A view of gutted INP new agency office on Sunday.

SHER KHAN

MULTAN—NA-148 is the onlyconstituency of the Multan dis-trict where the PPP had made ahat-trick of winning elections.However, the atmosphere ap-pears to have changed now con-siderably this time, as the PPPlags far behind than its opponentparties especially the PML-Nand PTI. It is also one of themost interesting constituenciesof the country.

Once arch rivals —Makhdoom Shah MehmoodQureshi and Makhdoom JavaidHashmi— stand united at thePTI platform. Like most parts ofthe country, the PML-Q factorhas disappeared here as theparty’s candidates haveswitched over to other parties.

The constituency consists ofmostly rural areas like QadirpurRan, Makhdoom Rashid,Luthal, Islampur, Dograna,Jalalabad, Biliwala, Gulzarpur,Chak 2 MR, Chak 8 MR, Chak10 MR and Chak 18 MR with344,896 total voters. About 11candidates including PTI’s ShahMehmood Qureshi, PPP’s SyedAli Moosa Gilani, PML-N’sMalik Abdul Ghaffar Dogar,Jamaat-e-Islami’s Mian Ibrahimand MQM’s Muhammad TariqPachar are in the run.

Syed Ali Moosa Gilani haddefeated Abdul Ghaffar Dogarwith a huge margin of 50,287votes in 2012 by-election. Gilanigot 93,106 votes against Dogar’s42,819. The seat was vacateddue to defection of ShahMehmood Qureshi from PPP toPTI. Earlier, the PPP had alsowon in 2002 and 2008 elections.

Political analysts are of theview that the sword of ephedrinecase hangs on PPP candidate AliMoosa Gilani, a prime accusedin the case. Similarly, the poorperformance of the last govern-ment also haunts election cam-paign of the PPP candidates.

Resultantly, the PPP sup-porters and workers have beenleft with no other option but toremain off the ground. The PPPcircles are of the opinion if anydecision comes against AliMoosa, his brother and cover-ing candidate Ali Qasim Gilaniwill be considered party’s can-didate.

On the other hand, PML-Ncandidate Dogar received anunprecedented advantage re-cently, boosting his positionconsiderably after the PML-Q’sprovincial vice presidentMakhdoom Rajan BakhshGilani and his cousinMakhdoom Tanvirul HassanGilani announced to support thePML-N candidate. A large num-ber of the followers and support-ers of both the Makhdooms liv-ing in the constituency wouldprovide an edge to Dogar.

As far as the PTI is con-cerned, the party has won bothheavyweights—Shah MehmoodQureshi and Makhdoom JavaidHashmi. The joint force ofQureshi and Hashmi can do any-thing. Thus Qureshi is beingconsidered the strongest candi-date in this constituency. Theprovincial constituency —PP-201— comes under NA-148 andthe PPP had won last electionfrom the constituency. PPP’sMalik M Abbas Raan had de-feated PML-Q’s Mazhar Abbas

Raan and PML-N’s Ch AbdulGhafoor. The turnout had re-mained 44.3 per cent.

The total number of regis-tered voters in the constituencystands at 159,928 and nine can-didates including PML-N’sMazhar Abbas Raan, PTI’sMuhammad Abbas Raan, PPP’sMureed Hussain Qureshi andJI’s Abdul Raheem Gujjar are inthe run.

A few but major defectionsalso took place in the constitu-ency as former PPP MPA MalikMuhammad Abbas Raan joinedthe PTI while Q League’s can-didate Mazhar Abbas Raanswitched over to the PML-N. Atough contest is likely to takeplace in the constituency.

PP-202, this constituencyalso comes under NA-148 andwas won by the PPP candidateDr Akhtar Malik. He is again thePPP candidate. However, candi-dates of other parties have beenchanged. A former provincialminister in Q League’s govern-ment Rai Mansab Ali has joinedthe PML-N and managed to getthe party ticket. Similarly, thePTI has given ticket to JavaidHashmi’s daughter and formerMNA Maimoona Hashmi.Former PML-N ticket holderKhizar Hayyat is contestingelection from Pakistan KissanIttehad.

The statistics show that 14candidates are in the run fromthis constituency and total num-ber of registered voters standsat 156,493 in the constituency.The mix reaction of the votersshows there will be a tough con-test among the PML-N, PPP andPTI candidates.

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—Election fever ismounting day-by-day inHafizabad city in particular andrural areas in general but therewill be interesting battle amongthe candidates in constituencyPP-105 which consists ofHafizabad city and suburban areaconsisting of 1,98,211 including85,500 lady voters. There are still16 candidates including those ofPML-N, PTI, PPPP, JI and inde-pendents.

Among the potential candi-dates are Malik Fayyaz AhmadAwan (PML-N), Dr. MuzaffarAli Sheikh (Independent belong-ing to Ch. Mehdi Hassan Bhattigroup), Malik Shoukat HayatAwan (PPPP), Habib UllahCheema (JI), Malik Ali AbbasAwan (PTI) and Iftikhar AliAnsari (Independent). During2002 election Dr. Muzaffar AliSheikh had defeated MalikFayyaz Ali Awan of PPP with themargin of 2,200 votes.

Dr. Muzaffar Ali Sheikhwas then supported by Ch. Mehdigroup while Malik Fayyaz Awancontested the election on PPPticket. During 2008 election Dr.Muzaffar Ali Sheikh could notfile nomination paper and hisgroup had fielded Rai Riasat AliKharal, elder brother of RaiJahangir Ali Kharal the thenTehsil Nazim but he was defeatedby Malik Fayyaz as Afzal Tarargroup of PML-N and MalikFayyaz had compromised to sup-port each other in NA-102 andPP-105, resultantly Rai Riasatwas defeated by Malik Fayyaz by

9,627 votes. As a matter of factlate Syed Shabbir Hussain ShahHafizabadi was then awardedPML-N ticket but the local PML-N leadership betrayed him and hewas also defeated. However, hehad got 10,844 votes.

But the situation in 2013election changed suddenly whenMalik Fayyaz Ahmad Awan out-going MPA and President DistrictPPP abandoned his parent party(his father late Malik FazalHussain joined the PPP in late1970) few days before the disso-lution of assemblies this year andjoined PML-N to secure his as-sembly seat. Owing to which thedie-hard and old associates ofPPP expressed their resentmentand felt insulted and have fieldedMalik Shoukat Hayat Awan notto win but to inflict defeat toMalik Fayyaz Awan who injuredthe sentiments of ‘jiyalas’.

There is also an independentcandidate Iftikhar Ali Ansari whois relying on the vote bank of hisbiradari which has a big votebank in the city and suburbanarea. During last election Ansarihad supported Afzal Tarar group.Another candidate Dr. HabibUllah Cheema of JI is also rely-ing on the vote bank of JI whichis quite limited. During 2008election there was no JI candi-date in this constituency. BesidesMalik Ali Abbas Awan of PTIthough novice in the politicalarena claimed that he would de-feat all the candidates as graphof PTI is going high day-by-day.

Nothing could be predictedin this particular constituency butDr. Muzaffar has an edge over all

the other 15 candidates becauseof his people-friendly attitudeand his service to humanity par-ticularly in the city area viz: heupgraded the DistrictHeadQuarter Hospital,Hafizabad, installed ACs in thehospital, established Anti-Hepa-titis Centre (which is first fullfledged anti-hepatitis centre inthe Punjab) and setting up of Pa-tients Welfare Society which pro-vided free medicines to the poorin the emergency ward.

Being a physician he was ap-pointed Chairman PA HealthSteering Committee and he wasalso instrumental to upgradeKing Edward Medical College toUniversity and arranged numer-ous eye camps and even broughtthe team of specialists particu-larly physicians and surgeons ofPunjab Institute of Cardiology atHafizabad and assisted the poorpatients free treatment in PICLahore whereas his no rival can-didate has done so much servicesduring their past life.

According to political pun-dits, there would be tough fightbetween Dr. Muzaffar Ali Sheikhand Malik Fayyaz Ahmad Awan.

The Pakistan foreign minis-try was not immediately avail-able for comment.

The family of the Indian spyvisited him in the ICU of JinnahHospital soon after reachingPakistan from India on Sundayafternoon.

Four family members ofSingh including his wifeSukhbir Kaur, his sister DalbirKaur and his two daughters ar-rived in Lahore through Waghaborder.

The family was received bySingh’s lawyer Awais Sheikh,who accompanied them to thehospital where Medical Super-intendent Sheikh Ijaz briefedthem about Singh’s health con-dition.

Singh’s relatives stayed atthe hospital for half an hour.

According to Advocate

Pak denied consular accessto Sarabjit, India claims

From Page 1

Sheikh the India High Commis-sion has arranged for the stay ofSingh’s family at the Avari Ho-tel. He further said that the fam-ily was given 15-day visa forstay in Pakistan.

He added that Pakistan, onhumanitarian grounds, issuedvisas to the family members.

Singh’s sister Dalbir Kaurthanked the people of Pakistanfor their prayers for herbrother’s recovery and hopedthat he would get well soonand be allowed to return to In-dia.

Singh’s lawyer earlier toldmedia that his client had re-ceived threats following the ex-ecution of Afzal Guru. Guru washanged in New Delhi on Febru-ary 9 for his part in a deadly at-tack on the Indian parliament in2001.—AFP

cheaper rates to generate theelectricity.

Mr Ghiyas Paracha Chair-man of the All Pakistan CNGAssociation (APCNGA) mean-while in a statement asked thegovernment to review gas loadshedding schedule and ensureuninterrupted supply of naturalgas to CNG sector for five daysa week.

He said that the decision ofthe ministry to increase one daymore gas load shedding to CNGsector will ruin the CNG indus-

Gas cut to Punjab CNG stationsFrom Page 1

try and the million of the fami-lies associated with this indus-try would be exposed to unend-ing hunger.

He said that APCNGA hasrepeatedly given practical rec-ommendation to the caretakergovernment to resolve the en-ergy issue but unfortunatelynot a single proposal was ac-cepted.

The proposals, he said,would have added 1500 mwpower to the system and made

gas available for additional 24hours a week to the CNG andfertiliser sectors and the generalindustry, he said.

He said that CNG, fertiliser,general industry and country isbeing destroyed to promote in-fluential owners of captivepower plants which will not betolerated. The leaders of theCNG sector said that other sec-tors have alternative fuels avail-able and they can store their pro-duce while CNG sector enjoysno such facility.

Islam isfountainhead

of Iqbal’sintellect

From Back Page

other forms of democracy in-cluding capi-talist democ-racy. Caution-ing Muslimsabout “glit-ter” of theWest, Iqbalsaid Islam hasall potential toguide Mus-

lims to their goals.Dr. Naeem Ghani, Chair-

man SultanaFoundat ionsaid Iqbal hasgiven identityto Muslims.There isstrong need tobuild institu-tions in Paki-stan, he said.

Kanwar Dilshad, Execu-tive Secretary of NPC said

Iqbal was in-spired fromIslam andgave ‘Con-cept of Paki-stan.’ He saidthe forthcom-ing electionswill provide aunique oppor-

tunity to the people to cast votefor those who have will and ca-pability to implement NazriyaIslam which is foundation ofPakistan.

Auria Mabbool Jan, in-tellectual, columnist and ex-

pert ofIqbaliat, whowas the ChiefGuest on theoccasion, saidIslam is foun-tainhead ofIqbal’s intel-lect.

“ I q b a lwas totally engrossed in Ishq-e-Habib which is reflected inhis poetry and prose”, he said.Referring to his poetic expres-sions on battle of Tripoli, hisdialogue with Allah and re-nowned poems ‘Shikwa andJawab-e-Shikwa,’ he saidIqbal expressively showed tothe Muslims about his limit-less love for Messenger of Al-lah. He guided Muslims fromchildhood to last stage of life.He wrote beautiful poems forchildren inspiring them to leadlife according to injunctions ofIslam. Auria Maqbool Jan saidIqbal enjoys distinguishedplace among the intellectuals,poets and philosophers of theworld. He generated a distinctthinking among the Muslims.He gave a concept of a sepa-rate home-land for Muslims ofSouth Asia. Iqbal negatedWstern concept of national-ism, but he expressed his lovefor India before partition be-cause the Holy Prophet (peacebe upon him) had said ‘coldbreeze is coming from India.’

Aurya Maqbool Jan said ”Pakistan was created withgreat blessings of AlmightyAllah. This country has a dis-tinguished character amongthe comity of nations. We oweutmost thanks to Allah for thisgreat gift and it is our religiousduty to make it safe and pros-perous”.

SecretariatBlocks be

named afterfoundingfathers

From Back Page

at the Aiwan-i-Quaid, he saidemphatically that Pakistan washeading towards better days andtherefore the NPC would be tak-ing a number of initiatives todeepen the faith of the people ofPakistan in the transformation ofPakistan into a welfare-orienteddemocratic State as visualizedby the Quaid-i-AzamMohammad Ali Jinnah. He saidthat it was not the policy of theCouncil to enter into frivolouscontroversies which aimed atdiluting the ideology of Pakistanbecause 99.9% of population ofPakistan firmly believed in theideology of Pakistan. Therefore,there was no need of enteringinto foreign-funded controver-sies. “Without ideology, theState of Pakistan will be like arudderless ship,” he said.

Mr. Malik emphasized thatthe Constitution of Pakistanmakes it obligatory on all thesenior functionaries of the Gov-ernment of Pakistan to strive topreserve the Islamic Ideologywhich was the basis for the cre-ation of Pakistan. He said thatthe Supreme Court of Pakistanrightly took suo motu notices onissues of public interest and ap-pealed to the Apex Court to alsotake notice against those whoseactivities were detrimental to theideology of Pakistan. The Chair-man informed the audience thatthe Council was about to pub-lish a book on “Ideology of Pa-kistan and Constitution of Paki-stan”.

Mr. Malik further in-formed the gathering that someof the relics of the Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnahwould be shifted to the Aiwan-i-Quaid for display in order tobring the people of Pakistanstill closer to the Quaid and inthis regard he particularlythanked the new Secretary,Ministry of National Heritage& Integration, Mr. GulMuhammad Rind for his deeppersonal interest in the project.

At the end, the audienceunanimously passed a Resolutionmooted by Mr. Zahid Malik urg-ing the Government of Pakistanto name various Blocks of thePak Secretariat after the found-ing fathers of Pakistan. He ques-tioned that if some hospitals andairports could be named aftersome politicians, why variousblocks of the Secretariat couldn’tbe named after Quaid-i-Azam,Allama Iqbal, Fatima Jinnah andother national leaders.

KESC’s callfor urgentFrom Back Page

going forward as the companyhas already extended its allow-able short term borrowing limit.To avoid this looming powercrisis and associated socio-po-litical repercussions, KESC hasrequested the Federal Govern-ment to immediately release atleast Rs. 25 billion of KESC’sreceivables directly to PSO toease the state-owned fuelsupplier’s liquidity position andhelp ensure regular supply offurnace oil to KESC.

In addition, KESC has alsorequested the Government ofSindh to urgently release the firstinstallment of its Rs. 22 billionKWSB receivable, directly toSSGC. KESC further resolvedthat as soon as SSGC increasesthe gas supply to last year’s levelof 200 MMCFD, it would im-mediately exempt all 7 industrialzones of Karachi from leadshedding in line with its morethan three year old policy. KESCexpressed the hope that the gov-ernment would play its role toend the 10 day long industrialload shedding of 8 hours that iscaused by inadequate gas sup-ply to the power utility.

STAFF REPORTER

WAH CANTT—POF is one ofthe institutions of the countrywhere enormous schemes arein progress for welfare of theemployees. The prominentamong them is the scholarshipscheme for students whoshowed excellent performancein their academic career. Themain object is to encourage theintelligent students so that theymay carry their educationaljourney.

These views were expressedby Lt Gen Muhammad AhsanMahmood, Chairman POFBoard while addressing thescholarship distribution cer-emony held at POF Hotel.

He further said that theamount being spent on thisscholarship scheme has beenobtained by the earning receivedthrough the hardwork of POFemployees. POF Chairmanhoped that the parents of thesestudents would further improvetheir performance and performtheir duties with dedication sothat this organization could fur-ther make progress and amountof scholarship could be en-hanced.

He said that a loan schemewill be launched very soon inwhich students getting profes-sional education would be giveninterest free loan. This schemewill take start from Universityof Wah and Wah EngineeringCollege and it will be furtherextended to other educational

POF scholarship distributionceremony held

WAH CANTT: Chairman POF Board Lt Gen MuhammadAhsan Mehmood, HI(M) giving away scholarship to a stu-dent on the eve of scholarship ceremony held at POF Hotel.

institutions in future.Brig. Javed Iqbal, Director

Admin in his welcoming re-marks on this occasion said that

POF administration is distribut-ing Rs. 3 million among 580sons/daughters of POF employ-ees, retired POF employees’sons/daughters, kids of POFemployees studying in medical& engineering, the sons/daugh-ters of employees studying inreligious educational institutionsand the students studying inDAE classes under 10 different

schemes who have got promi-nent position in their respectivedisciplines.

Director Admin said that the

students of Nasheman Schoolfor Special Children and the stu-dents who performed excellentperformance in extra curricularactivities have been includedfirst time in the scheme.

Later, Chairman POF Boardmingled among students andparents and encouraged theirproposals for improvement invarious fields of life.

18 agreements ready for signingFrom Back Page

Ukraine. Ukraine was also upfor joint ventures in the field ofvalue addition for instance fruitstorage capacity building andreadymade garment manufactur-

ing in the textile sector. The Am-bassador observed that the Pa-kistani exports to Ukraine weregrowing at a pace faster than thatof the Ukrainian exports to Pa-kistan.

At the same time he under-lined the potential of Ukrainianexports as well as joint venturewith Pakistan for which he listeddown the sectors namely Steel,fertilizers, chemicals, heavyequipment and military equip-ment. He emphasized that agreater diversification was re-quired as the energy sector co-operation had a vast potential ofwin-win situation for both thecountries.

The Ambassador was of theview the countries could explorenew angles of archaeologicalhistory. A draft agreement onarchaeology, preservation ofheritage, and cultural exchangeswas also ready and currently

going through the process ofapprovals.

If we go further in preser-vation of the national heritage,we may be turning together anew page in the history a newangle of light that was not dis-covered so far,” the Ambassa-dor vowed.

He also mentioned ofUkraine’s supply of coolingpumps for the nuclear powergeneration projects at Chashma.Ukraine’s nuclear regulatoryauthority was also actively par-ticipating in a peer review un-der the International AtomicEnergy Association (IAEA) inPakistan planned in the near fu-ture.

According to the Ambassa-dor the planned agreements oncesigned would facilitate ex-changes of media persons, edu-cationists, scientists, engineers,and above all politicians.

Meanwhile, addressing amammoth public meeting inHavelian on Sunday, he said thedictator wasted eight years ofPakistan and spoiled the goodwork done by us,” he said.

The PML-N leader said thatyouth are asset of the countryand for PML-N. He said thatbest communication infrastruc-ture would be built in the coun-try if voted to power.

He said the motorwayproject that was started duringhis regime will be extended upto Khunjerab Pass near Pak-China border.

Nawaz Sharif said best sys-tem of Railway will be intro-duced up to upper parts of thecountry including Havelian. Hesaid highways will also be im-proved and extended.

He said he will focus on thedevelopment of the far-flungareas of the country. He said hewill not sit in Islamabad ratherwill visit remote areas of thecountry to ascertain the real is-sues of the people. Nawaz Sharifsaid it was a pity that Pakistanhad no respect in the world de-spite being an atomic power.—Agencies

PML-Ndetermined to

restore Pakistan’sdignity

From Page 1

public meeting with regards toelectioneering for the upcomingpolls when the blast occurednearby. Bomb Disposal Squad(BDS) reached the area and wasconducting a sweep operation inthe area.

No one claimed responsibil-ity for the attack as yet but po-lice sources suspected that insur-gent militants were behind theincident. The blast caused dam-age to nearby shops. Initial re-ports suggested that the bombwas a remotely-detonated-planted device.

Emergency and rescueteams reach to the site of theblast and the victims wereshifted to Civil Hospital Quettafor treatment.

Islam- Fazal (JUI-F) , Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) and PakistanMuslim league–Nawaz (PML-N) who were also contestingelections within the same secu-lar system, to which Taliban areopposed to, he said: “Talibanshura had decided to targetthose secular political partieswhich were part of the previ-ous coalition government andinvolved in the operation inSwat, Fata and other areas of

TTP targeting politicians on Shura decisionFrom Page 1

from NA-14.He added that at least 10 ki-

lograms of explosive materialwas used in its making and thatthe election offices of both thecandidates were destroyed in theattack.

Bomb Disposal Squad offi-cials who reached the spot werealso of the view that the bombwas planted. Some sources sug-gested that the attack was a sui-cide bombing.

The wounded persons wereshifted to nearby hospitals fortreatment. Later, security forcescordoned off the area.According to Tehrik-i-TalibanPakistan spokespersonEhsanullah Ehsan the militantorganisation was behindSunday’s twin attacks and theattacks on Pakistan People’sParty and Muttahida QaumiMovement election offices inKarachi a day earlier.

A political gathering of ANPcandidate Amir Rehman forPK32 was targeted on late Sun-day evening in Swabi, one childhas been killed while sevenpeople have been injured.

9 killedFrom Page 1

Blast in Quettakills child,

several injuredFrom Page 1

Khyber Pakhtunkhwah,”addingthat “the organisation followedthe instructions of the Talibanshura and that it was the shurathat decided which politicalparties to target, where andwhen.”

To another query that theTaliban were making groundand paving way for some par-ties to win the elections anddenying space to others, he

said: “neither we are againstnor in favour of the PTI,PML- N, JI and JUI-F,” add-ing that “We are against thesecular and democratic sys-tem which is against the ide-ology of Islam but we are notexpecting any good from theother parties either, who arethe supporters of the samesystem, but why they are nottargeted is our own preroga-tive to decide.”.—NNI

Only liberal political partiesare being targeted, they added.The ANP, MQM leaders andPresident Zardari said that theacts of terrorism were rising dis-proportionately in the threeprovinces of Pakistan spreadingfear and panic as compared toPunjab.

“Whether only Punjab isPakistan as it is the only prov-ince where electioneering wasbeing carried out freely whilethe worst kind of terrorism wascontinuing in the remainingthree provinces of the country,”they added.

They strongly condemnedact of terrorism on the ANP, PPPand MQM and asked all the lib-eral parties to join hands againstthe terrorists.—Online

Altaf phonesZardariFrom Page 1

grieved and shocked over thekilling of innocent people inthe attacks.

He asked the people to re-ject anti-democratic forces, whoare trying to sabotage liberal anddemocratic forces of their con-stitutional and legal rights.Bilawal also prayed for thosekilled and a speedy recovery tothose injured in the attacks.

BilawalFrom Page 1

SHEFFIELD (England): Amir Khan catches Julio Diaz with a left-hander.

KARACHI: World snooker champion Muhammad Asif focuses during 29th Asian Snooker Championship.

Bangladesh 1st innings:391Zimbabwe 1st innings:282Bangladesh 2nd innings:Tamim b SW Masakadza 7Jahurul c Mutumbamib Masakadza .................... 2Ashraful lbw b Jarvis ..... 4Mominul b Masakadza . 29Shakib c Mutumbami b HMasakadza ..................... 59Mushfiqur c Sibandab H Masakadza .............. 93Nasir not out .................. 67Ziaur b Cremer ................. 0Sohag Gazi ....... c Sibandab H Masakadza .............. 11Sajidul c Mutumbami bMasakadza ....................... 4Robiul Islam not out ....... 4Extras: (lb 5, w 2, nb 4) .. 11Total: (9 wickets dec) .. 291Fall of wickets 1-7, 2-12, 3-18, 4-65, 5-149, 6-233, 7-234,8-255, 9-279

Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WJarvis .................... 22-3-801Masakadza ......... 24-5-58-4AG Cremer .......... 17-1-70-1Chigumbura ....... 14-0-54-0Masakadza ......... 11-1-24-3Zimbabwe 2nd innings:Sibanda c Sohag Gazib Shakib .......................... 32Chakabva b Shakib ....... 22Masakadza not out ....... 40Taylor lbw b Ziaur ......... 10Waller b Ziaur Rahman . 15Masakadza not out ......... 5Extras: (lb 5, nb 1) ............ 6Total: (4 wickets) ......... 130Fall of wickets: 1-36, 2-66, 3-96, 4-118Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WRobiul Islam ......... 8-2-24-0Sajidul Islam ........... 2-1-5-0Shakib ................... 9-0-45-2Sohag Gazi ........... 9-4-21-0Ziaur .................... 10-3-30-2

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister’s wife Jugnoo Mohsin giving away winning trophy ofWomen Baseball Championship to captain of Higher Education Commission team

HARARE—Zimbabwe suf-fered a setback in their chaseof 401 when they lost RegisChakabva shortly before teaon the fourth day in Harare.Vusi Sibanda was unbeatenon 21, and HamiltonMasakadza had just come in,with a long and challengingtask ahead after Bangladesh’sefficient batting performanceearlier in the day.

Robiul Islam bowled hisheart out in the period beforetea, and it looked increasinglylikely that he was the key to afavourable result for

Bangladesh declare with leadof 400 against Zimbabwe

HARARE: Nasir Hossain brought up his half-century witha six during Zimbabwe vs Bangladesh 2nd Test on Sunday.

Bangladesh. The difficultywas to find another bowlerwho can show the same spiritas Robiul did.

Bangladesh had declaredon 291 for 9 shortly afterlunch, once the lead hadreached 400. There were fif-ties from Shakib Al Hasan,Mushfiqur and NasirHossain, for the second timein the Test.

Nasir managed to stretchthe lead with the tail, makingan unbeaten 67 and scoringmost of the 40 runs after thelunch break. Apart from

Nasir’s innings, Bangladesh’sstrong position was also dueto captain Mushfiqur Rahim’sdiligence. He made 93 beforebeing brilliantly caught atgully by Sibanda off HamiltonMasakadza, but his persis-tence was crucial to his side’sstaying power in this game.

Starting the day on 50,Mushfiqur, along with Nasir,had to see off the first halfhour, which has often pro-duced wickets in Harare.Though they hardly foundboundaries because the homeside had deep fielders at bothends, they played carefully.Zimbabwe bowled wide too,and the batsmen cut out anyrash shots.

Zimbabwe missed seamerKeegan Meth, who was outwith a right knee injury. He wasseen sitting on the sidelineswith his feet up and kneestrapped. It meant captainBrendan Taylor was without

his workhorse, someone whooffered enough accuracy tokeep the Bangladesh batsmanin check. HamiltonMasakadza, bowling medium-pace, took three wickets butwas never going to be a threatto the visitors. Kyle Jarvis didnot bowl with the venom of thefirst Test, but ShingiMasakadza remained steadyand he picked up four wickets.

Mushfiqur and Nasir werehappy picking up singles un-til the captain began to openup with a mistimed scoop,then a slog-sweep - both offElton Chigumbura. He hadearlier hit a square drive thatsped to the boundary but thewicket had slowed down, andbounce was also on the lowside. He and Nasir added 88for the sixth wicket, back-to-back 80-plus partnerships forMushfiqur, after his fifth-wicket stand with Shakib onthe third evening.—AFP

SHEFFIELD (England)—AmirKhan came back from aknockdown to unanimouslyoutpoint fast-finishing JulioDiaz on Saturday night in awelterweight fight atMotorpoint Arena.

Khan, trying to reboundafter consecutive losses toLamont Peterson and DannyGarcia in the last 16 months,was cruising early againstDiaz, the aging former two-time world lightweightchamp.

Then Diaz exposedKhan’s weakness by dump-ing him with a left hook in the

Khan beats Diaz on pointsto stay in title picture

fourth round, and staggeredthe former world light-welterchamp with hooks in theeighth, 10th and 11th rounds.

Khan (28-3, 19 KO) re-ceived winning scores of 115-113, 115-112, 114-113.

Diaz’s dropped to 40-8-1.On the undercard, unde-

feated American heavy-weight Deontay Wilderstopped former Olympicchampion Audley Harrison inthe first round.

Harrison fell in a neutralcorner from the first meaning-ful punch of the bout, andWilder kept flailing at him

before referee TerryO’Connor stepped in andcalled it off after 1 minute, 10seconds.

Wilder, the 2008 Olympicbronze medalist, improved to28-0, all by knockout.

Harrison, who brieflyheld a minor world title nineyears ago, fell to 31-7. TheBritish fighter admitted itwas likely the end of his ca-reer.

‘’I’ve got to be realistic,I’m 41. It’s going to be hardto get opportunities like thison the big stage again,’’Harrison said.—AP

STUTTGART—World numbertwo Maria Sharapova savedher best performance of theweek for last when she suc-cessfully defended herStuttgart Grand Prix title witha 6-4 6-3 victory over secondseed Li Na of China to kickoff her clay-court season instyle on Sunday.

Sharapova, who hadneeded three sets in all herprevious rounds in Stuttgart,found it easier against Li, tak-ing revenge for her Austra-lian Open straight-sets semi-final defeat to the Chinese.

“I thought I would playthree sets today. Li is a greatopponent. I knew it would beone of the toughest matchesbecause she had a greatweek,” said a beamingSharapova before steppinginto a luxury sports car, a giftfrom the tournament spon-sors. “I was very fortunateto be in this position today,”said the 26-year-old, who hasalso won the title in IndianWells this year, in a courtsideinterview.

“Our head-to-head ispretty tight. She beat me inAustralia and she beat mepretty well so I wanted re-venge.”

The top seed, her loudgrunts echoing around thestadium, snatched a break atthe start, with a sizzling back-hand down the line that leftLi stranded. World number

Sharapova makes easywork of Stuttgart defence

STUTTGART: Russia’s Maria Sharapova reacts after de-feating China’s Li Na in the final match of the WTA GrandPrix on Sunday.

five Li, who has won one titlethis year, sent a crosscourtbackhand into the net to givethe Russian another breakand allow her to go 4-1 up.

The Australian Open fi-nalist bounced back in thenext game and grabbed herown first break whenSharapova sent a forehand

long after a long rally.Sharapova was in no

mood for adventures, how-ever, and quickly establisheda double break cushion, thenserved out the first set on herfirst opportunity when Lisank a return into the net af-ter another well-placedserve.—AP

K A R A C H I — C o n s i s t e n tMuhammad Nazir ofIslamabad Golf Club (IGC)surprised top golfers to an-nex Rs.Five MillionArkadians 42nd PakistanOpen Golf Championship af-ter smart and much needed2-under-par fourth and finalround of 70 at Defence Au-thority Country and GolfClub (DACGC) on Sunday.

Veteran Nazir remainedbehind in the first tworounds. But two sterling fi-nal rounds of 69 and 70 en-abled to clinch this most lu-crative event in the historyof Pakistan golf.

Nazir ended in a blaze ofglory with four day aggregateof 281 to beat his closest ri-val and first day leader

Nazir annexes PakistanOpen Golf crown

Matloob Ahmed by twostrokes. Though Matloobplayed a par par-72 round inthe fourth round. But poorround of 74 cost him dearlywhich make his slip to run-ner-up spot. Matloob fin-ished an aggregate of 285.

Relatively unknownImran Ali Khan of DACGCgrabbed third position de-spite not too impressiveround of two-over-par 74. Hefinished with a total of 287.

Defending ChampionMuhammad Shabbir Iqbalwas also going throughpatch and was tied for the11th spot after rounds of 73,74 and 72 to end with 219.

V ice President PakistanGolf Federation (PGF) Taimurpresented the glittering tro-

phy and biggest winningcash purse of Rs.575, 320 toMohammad Nazir. MatloobAhmed received the runner-up trophy and cash prize ofRs.387, 600 and Imran AliKhan got Rs.239, 400 for se-curing third position.

Chairman AKD Securitiesand Arkadians Head AqeelKarim Dhedhi, SecretaryKarachi Golf Club, Brig (Rtd)Abdul Qayyum and otherofficials were also present onthe occasion. Hasan Akbarof KGC won the Senior Pro-fessional contest with totalof 147 after rounds of 73 and76. Mohammad Ilyas ofLahore Gymkhana was run-ner-up with total of 148 andstroke behind Mehmod Kianiof IGC was third.—APP

Kiprop romps torecord Madridmarathon win

MADRID—Kenyan FrancisKiprop won the Madrid mara-thon in a record time on Sun-day as he crossed the line intwo hours 10 mins and 57 secs.

The 30-year-old was fol-lowed home by compatriotNickson Kurgat 20 secondsadrift with Ethiopian HerpasaKitesa finishing in third.

There was something forthe home crowd to shoutabout in the women’s race asSpaniard Vanessa Veiga wonin a time of 2:36.42. It was thefirst time since 1998 that aSpanish female had won theevent as the 33-year-old pro-duced a wonderful final kick50 metres from the line to edgeout last year’s winner Ethio-pian Desta Girma Tadesse withRussia’s Nina Podnevesnovafinishing third.—AFP

Shoaib, Afridi,Imran shouldbe dropped:

SarfrazISLAMABAD—Former cricketerSarfraz Nawaz has said thatShoaib Malik, Shahid Afridiand Imran Farhat should bedropped from the squad for theChampions Trophy to be heldin England next month.

Sarfraz Nawaz, talking toAPP, said that the three play-ers were out of form and thetalented players, who wereperforming, should be in-cluded in the team instead ofthem.

He said that the Champi-ons Trophy was around thecorner, but the final team hadnot yet been announced. Heasked the Pakistan CricketBoard bosses to name thesquad without any delay as theselected players could gothrough a tough training.

Pakistan is placed in GroupB of the tournament, where itwill have to play against India,South Africa and West Indies.

He urged the PakistanCricket Board (PCB) chairmanto appoint former chief selec-tor Mohsin Hassan Khan asthe batting coach in order toput the team on right track.

Sarfraz Nawaz said that asthe team had performed wellunder Mohsin, therefore, heshould again be given the job.“Though he (Mohsin) hasn’tapplied for the coaching job,but some things need to bedone for the betterment ofcricket. I believe if the PCBappoints him as the coach, theteam will again be on the righttrack,” he added.—APP

Miandad to beappointed

Pakistan battingcoach: Rashid

KARACHI—Former skipperRashid Latif has suggestedto Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) for appointing legend-ary batsman and CaptainJaved Miandad as the bat-ting coach of the Pakistanteam.

PCB has been in-searchof a batting coach for thenational team for some timeand, in the process, ap-pointed former skipperInzamam-ul-Haq as consult-ant for a brief period as well.The PCB’s committee for theappointment of the battingcoach has been reviewingapplications from local andforeign candidates.

However Rashid Latif hasno doubt in his mind aboutthe credentials of Miandad,who, Latif feels, is the fittingindividual to guide the flimsyPakistan’s batting line-up.

“Javed Miandad who isfamous for his batting, pos-sesses unmatched knowledgeand skills. I don’t think his ser-vices are being properlyutilised”, Rashid Latif said instatement issued on Sunday.

“He (Miandad) is beingpaid around a million rupeesand in his presence, hiringanother individual would onlybe a waste of money. I wouldadvise the PCB to appoint him(Miandad) as the batting con-sultant without further de-lay”, he said.—APP

TurkishSovereignty DayKARACHI—The National Sov-ereignty Day of Turkey was cel-ebrated here for the first time. Anannouncement on Sunday saidthat Ms.Yasmin Hyder, ChiefExecutive of the New WorldConcepts (NWC) welcomed theguests and stated that NWCendeavours to build bridgesacross borders and facilitategreater people to people contactthrough exchange of businessand culture, contributing towardsbuilding peace, friendship andunderstanding among nations ofthe world. Murat M. Onart, Con-sul General of the Republic ofTurkey in Karachi, spoke of thedeep friendly relations betweenPakistan and Turkey. He statedthat while frequent cultural ex-changes were encouraging therewas a need to enhance trade re-lations further between Pakistanand Turkey.—APP

PPP leader joinsPML-NRAWALPINDI—Former UnionCouncil (UC)-46 Nazim andformer General Secretary PPPRawalpindi City Raja MushtaqAhmed with his supporters hasjoined Pakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N) on Sunday.He made the announcementduring a press conference heldhere at Rawalpindi Press Club.President PML-N Rawalpindicity and the candidate from PP-12, Sardar Naseem Khan, Gen-eral Secretary PML-N,Rawalpindi Haji Pervaiz Khanand other local PML-N lead-ers were present on this occa-sion. —APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—MQM leaderAltaf Hussain has asked thecaretaker government, the Elec-tion Commission and securityagencies why they were not tak-ing any notice of terrorismagainst the MQM, the ANP andthe PPP.

He said this while talking tothe office-bearers and workersof the MQM in Multan.

He said, “People of thecountry were seeing that themoderate and enlightened po-litical parties were being threat-ened by Taliban and their office-bearers and workers were beingmade victim of bomb attacks.Other political parties were free

Only ‘mini Taliban’parties free to conductpolls campaign: Altaf

to conduct their elections cam-paign clearly indicating thatthey were in fact mini Taliban.

He said that half of thecountry was cut away from thecountry and these ‘mini Taliban’wanted to take the remainingPakistan on the path of destruc-tion. The nation must discrimi-nate between patriotic forcesand enemies of the country.

He said that the MQMfirmly believed in the injunctionthat there was no compulsion inthe religion. The MQM wasagainst sectarianism and reli-gious extremism and it had beenactively pursuing the goal ofpromoting sectarian and reli-gious harmony.

STAFF REPORTERIS L A M A B A D —MohammadNawaz Sharif, the President ofthe Pakistan Muslim League-N(PML-N) has called for furtherstrengthening of the existinggood ties between Pakistan andthe Arab countries.

The former Prime Ministermade this remark during hismeeting with Arab Ambassa-dors based in Islamabad at afunction arranged by the Am-bassador of Bahrain MohamedEbrahim Mohamed Abdulqaderas Dean of the Arab Ambassa-dors held in the residence of theAmbassador of Kingdom ofSaudi Arabia Abdul Aziz Al-

Nawaz urges further reinforcing Pakties with Arab countries

Ghadeer the other day.During the course of their

warm and cordial meeting,Mohammad Nawaz Sharif high-lighted the salient features of theParty’s Manifesto for the forth-coming general elections.

He pointed out that thiswould be the first peacefulchange of government in thecountry, in accordance with theprovisions of the Constitutionand was therefore, a most im-portant event in the continuingefforts to strengthen the demo-cratic institutions.

The former Prime Ministerspoke of the enormous chal-lenges confronting the country,

which ranged from gallopinginflation, rising unemployment,depleting energy resources andan alarming deterioration in thelaw and order situation.

These enormous problemscalled for a strong and stablegovernment, committed to goodgovernance and the rule of law,with the a team of experiencedand competent people, to ensurethe implementation of well-thought out plans andprogrammes, tailored to thenation’s requirement.

Nawaz assured the ArabAmbassadors that he and hisParty accorded the highest pri-ority to reinforcing further the

Justice Munir to takeoath as CEC AJKMIRPUR —Justice MunirAhmed Chaudhry, the seniormost judge of AJK High Court,has been appointed as the ChiefElection Commissioner (CEC) ofAJK. The newly appointed CECJustice Chaudhry will take theoath of his new office as the ChiefElection Commissioner AJK ina ceremony to be held at SupremeCourt Building on April 29, thesources told APP here on Sun-day. The Chief Justice of theSupreme Court of AJK JusticeMuhammad Azam Khan will ad-minister oath. —APP

ECP asksteachers toperform dutiesISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP)has asked the Balochistan teach-ers to perform election dutieswithout any fear. According toan official, the caretaker provin-cial administration has been di-rected to provide foolproof se-curity to the teachers and otherpolling staff. He said beside po-lice and other security agencies,Pakistan Army will also be de-ployed if necessary to maintainpeace on the polling day on May11. It is relevant to mention herethat the Government TeachersAssociation Balochistan hadhesitated in performing elec-tion duty. —APP

Islam is fountainhead of Iqbal’s intellectNational Poet was totally engrossed in Ishq-e-Habib

ISLAMABAD: Chief guest, famous analyst Aurya Maqbool Jan speaks at a discussion onthe “Thoughts of Iqbal and Today’s Pakistan” presided by Chairman Nazriya PakistanCouncil and Editor-in-Chief Pakistan Observer Zahid Malik at Aiwan-e-Quaid. ExecutiveSecretary NPC Kanwar Muhammad Dilshad, Chairman Sultana Foundation Dr NaeemGhani and Member Majlis-e-Aamla NPC Prof Dr Ayyub Sabir are also seen sitting on thestage.—PO photo by Sultan BashirContinued on Page 6

KARACHI: Federal Minister for Industries and Production Shahzada Ahsan Ashraf Shaikhcalled on Editor of Pakistan Observer Faisal Zahid Malik at his residence and exchanged viewson the prevailing political situation in the country and other issues. — Photo by Sultan Chaki

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—Mr. Zahid Malik,Editor-in-Chief, Pakistan Ob-server, who is also Chairmanof Nazriya Pakistan Council(NPC), has said that with aview to giving a push forwardto the urge of the people ofPakistan for a change, the NPCwill be hosting InternationalIqbal Conference on Novem-ber 9 as Allama MohammadIqbal was a poet of change.

In his presidential addressat an Iqbal Day function held

Secretariat Blocks be namedafter founding fathers

NPC to host Int’l Iqbal moot inNov; Sans ideology, Pakistan

would be rudderless: Zahid Malik

Continued on Page 6

ISLAMABAD: PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in a group photo with the ambassadors of Arab countries on the occasion of reception hostedby the Ambassador of Bahrain Mohamed Ebrahim Mohamed Abdulqader as Dean of the Arab Ambassadors held at the residence of the Ambassador ofKingdom of Saudi Arabia Abdul Aziz Al-Ghadeer

existing excellent relations withour Arab brothers, while urgingthem to enhance their participa-tion in Pakistan’s economicgrowth and development.

This would not onlystrengthen the existing bonds offriendship but also create betterunderstanding amongst thepeoples. The Ambassador ofBahrain said that the Arab coun-tries attached great importanceto relations with Pakistan, whichthey viewed as a sincere, testedfriend. Nawaz Sharif was ac-companied by Senator IshaqueDar, the Leader of the Opposi-tion in the Senate and Ambas-sador Tariq Fatemi (Retd).

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI —KESC has sentSOS call to the Federal and pro-vincial Governments for pay-ment of held up dues of Rs. 71Billion, otherwise the uilitywould have no option but to re-sort to 14-hour long load shed-ding in the city.

In a distress message sentto the government, KESC saidthat the power utility was fac-ing a severe liquidity issue due

KESC’s call for urgentpayment of Rs71b dues

Warns of 14 hours loadsheddingto huge outstanding receivablesfrom various federal and provin-cial entities. “ KESC is in des-perate need of these funds to payPSO and IPPs for furnace oilsupply to maintain the currentload shedding regime in thecity.”

It is feared that the loadshedding duration will go ashigh as 14 hours a day acrossKarachi and parts of InteriorSindh and Baluchistan if imme-diate steps are not taken by the

government. Considering thelaw and order situation in thecity and the forthcoming generalelections, it is critical that KESCis able to run its generatingplants and maintain the currentload shedding regime.

KESC has informed thegovernment that the utility hasso far been funding its fuel pur-chases through short term bankborrowings at its own expense,however, this won’t be possible

Imran asks terroristsnot to sabotageelectioneering

LAHORE—Chairman PakistanTerhrik-e-Insaf (PTI), ImranKhan has appealed to the terror-ists not to sabotage the election-eering process. During his ad-dress, Imran Khan alleged thatMaulana Fazlur Rahman was ahypocrite. “If Fazl proves Jewlobby is bankrolling me, I willquit politics all together”, saidKhan rebutting JUI-F leader’sallegations.

He once again ruled out analliance with Pakistan PeoplesParty (PPP) or Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz before or afterthe elections. —NNI

Continued on Page 6

LIAQAT TOOR

I S L A M A B A D — A l l a m aMohammad Iqbal derivedstrength and intellect from theHoly Quran and he was fullyengrossed in Ishq-e-Habibwhich was reflected in his phi-losophy and poetry.

This was the bottom-line ofspeakers in a function organisedby Nazriya Pakistan Council(NPC) in connection with aweek-long programme onAllama Iqbal held at Aiwan-i-Quaid. The topic was “Fikr-e-Iqbal and Aaj Ka Pakistan”.

Zahid Malik. ChairmanNPC presided over the functionwhich was attended by a largeof people belonging to differentsegments of society includingintellectuals, students, retiredcivil servants, educationists andbusinessmen. Auria MaqboolJan was the chief Guest.

Dr. Ayub Sabir, an experton Iqbaliat said Iqbal believedin real democracy and negated

18 agreementsready for

signing: LakomovAFZAL BAJWA

ISLAMABAD—As many aseighteen draft Agreements ofbilateral cooperation in variousfields between Pakistan andUkraine are ready for signingand are currently undergoingthrough respective approvals onboth sides.

Volodymyr Lakomov, Am-bassador of Ukraine to Pakistandisclosed this during an exclu-sive interview with PakistanObserver who was quite upbeatabout the growth in bilateral re-lations that fast grew in recentyears.

Lakomov was working inPakistan with his highly dedi-cated and competent staff witha target of doubling bilateraltrade of around $250 million tohalf a billion dollars by 2015.According to the ambassadorthere was huge potential ofgrowth in the bilateral trade.

He underlined that the Pa-kistani exports namely textiles,fruits, especially kinnus andmangos have great demand in

Algeria presidentsent to Paris

after mini-strokeALGIERS—Algeria’s presidentwas transferred to Paris formedical treatment following amini-stroke and tests show heisn’t seriously ill, the statenews agency reported Sunday.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika hada brief blockage of a bloodvessel known as a transient is-chemic attack and was sent tothe French capital for furthertests under the recommenda-tion of his doctors.

The 76-year-old presidenthad been checked into Val deGrace hospital, where he wastreated in 2005 for a bleedingulcer. —AP

Continued on Page 6

RESEARCHERS in the US have developed a high-tech camera youcan swallow that takes detailed im-

ages of the insides of the gullet (esopha-gus) and stomach. Promising results of asmall study in 13 people suggest the de-vice may offer a quicker,cheaper, safer, more com-fortable way to detect theearly signs of cancer ofthe esophagus than en-doscopy, where a cameraand light on the end of athin tube is pushed downthe gullet, often under se-dation.

The researchers, fromthe Wellman Center forPhotomedicine, at Massa-chusetts General Hospi-tal (MGH) and HarvardMedical School, reportthe study in the 13 Janu-ary online issue of NatureMedicine.

For their study, theresearchers tested thedevice as a potentialscreening tool for Barrett’s esophagus, aprecancerous condition usually causedby repeated exposure to stomach acid.

Barrett’s esophagus is uncommon inwomen, and current recommendationscall for endoscopic screening of men withchronic, frequent heartburn and othersymptoms of gastroesophageal refluxdisease (GERD).

The hope is that the capsule camerawill offer a much quicker, easier, and morecomfortable way of screening for the con-dition. A way that does not require anendoscope specialist and equipment,

thereby making it more affordable as amass screening tool.

Co-author Norman Nishioka, a Gas-troenterology, Internal Medicine doctorat MGH, says in a statement:

“An inexpensive, low-risk devicecould be used to screenlarger groups of patients,with the hope that closesurveillance of patientsfound to have Barrett’scould allow us to preventesophageal cancer or todiscover it at an earlier,potentially curable stage.”

“But we need morestudies to see if that hopewould be fulfilled,” headds.

The camera, which isabout the size of a large vi-tamin pill, uses optical la-sers to take detailed, micro-scopic images of theesophageal wall.

It “doesn’t require pa-tient sedation, a specializedsetting and equipment, or

a physician who has been trained inendoscopy,” says corresponding authorGary Tearney, a professor of Pathologyat Harvard Medical School and a Re-search Scholar at MGH.

“By showing the three-dimensional,microscopic structure of the esophageallining, it reveals much more detail thancan be seen with even high-resolutionendoscopy,” he adds.

The camera contains OFDI (opticalfrequency domain imaging) technologycomprising a rapidly rotating tip thatemits a laser beam of near-infrared light.

Pill-camera promising alternativeto endoscopy for cancer diagnosis

ISLAMABAD: A bird’s eye view of IJ Principal Road which shows encroachments by vendors on both sides of the road near Pir Wadhai Bus Terminals.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi along withDr Shahzad Waseem cutting the ribbon to inaugurate PTI election office on Sunday.

Tere Ishq nachaya thaya, thaya

April 29

PAKISTAN Academy ofLetters is arranging anevening with poet and in-tellectual Prof Aftab IqbalShamim, at 3 pm in theconference hall of PAL.Ali Muhammad Farshiand Dr Waheed Ahmedwill present their papers.

April 30

ON BIRTH day of HazratSyeda Fatima Zahra aceremony will be held at10:30 am, at Jamay ulKausar University H-8,Islamabad. ProminentUlmas from all over thecountry will participate.

May 2

ALLAMA Iqbal OpenUniversity’s final examsof matric, intermediateand bachelor for the se-mester Autumn, 2012 willstart from Thursday.

‘Problems ofQuran’s Translations

in Subcontinent’ISLAMABAD—InternationalIslamic University Islamabad(IIUI) is going to hold a two-day international conferencetitled “Problems of Quran’sTranslations in the Subcon-tinent” which will start onApril 29 (Monday) 9:00 am atQauid Azam Auditorium ,Faisal Mosque campus ofthe university.

Dr. Hasrul Sani binMujtabar, High Commissionerof Malaysia to Pakistan shallbe the chief guest of the inau-gural ceremony of the confer-ence. The conference is beingjointly organized by IslamicResearch Institute (IRI), De-partment of Tafseer andQuranic Sciences and Depart-ment of Translation and Inter-pretation (T&I) of IIUI. Dr. Inamul Haq Ghazi, Head Dept ofTranslation & Interpretation,IIU is the conference secretary.

The conference aims atidentifying the problems, is-sues and difficulties associ-ated with Quran’s translationpurely on academic groundswithout indulging or pointingto or highlighting any specifictranslation produced by anyscholar of any Islamic sect.

Participant will discuss Ap-proaches in Qurans translationand problems on Second Dayof the conference. Sessions ofsecond Day will be chaired byDr Muhammad Al-Ghazali andAlkhamsa Aloui. Dr Inam ulHaq Ghazi is coordinator of theconference.—NNI

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Superbly or-ganized by the Asian StudyGroup, Islamabad, NahidSiddiqui ,an internationallyrespected, award winning,leading traditional and con-temporary exponent andchoreographer of the SouthAsian “Kathak” danceform, performed at thePNCA in a programme de-voted to Bulleh ShahsKaafis

Expressing herselfNahid said “Although I amrooted in the classical tra-dition of Kathak, I expressemotions, themes and vo-cabulary according to myown aesthetics. I don’t justdance, I feel dance and treatit as an act ofdevotion…When I dance Ibecome one with the cos-mos; it is like eternity ismaking me move…’

As the lights dimmed agroup of dancers capturedthe audience with their per-formance of stylized pos-tures, movements and theinimitable tapping of feet

Mall road toremain closed onTuesday evening

RAWALPINDI—The citizenshave been urged to use al-ternate routes instead of MallRoad Rawalpindi as the Roadfrom Shalimar Chowk to T &T Chowk will remain closedfor all vehicular traffic onApril 30 (Tuesday), after-noon to 11 PM on the occa-sion of Youm-e-Shuhada.

The day will be ob-served in recognition tothose soldiers who laid theirlives for the cause of themotherland.

Chief Traffic Officer(CTO) Rawalpindi, SyedIshtiaq Hussain Shah saidthat several other roads ofRawalpindi cantonment areaincluding T & T chowk toChungi No 22, Chungi No 22to Tameez-ud-din road (Of-ficers Family Ward, IndusRoad, Lal Kurti, NUSTChowk and Convent SchoolChowk will also remainclosed of all kind of traffic.

CTO informed that a traf-fic plan for “Youm-e-Shuhada” has been issuedunder which enhancednumber of traffic wardenswould be deployed to regu-late the traffic on otherroads, to be used by thepublic.

He said, special instruc-tions have been issued forchecking of suspicious per-sons, tinted glass vehiclesand others with impropernumber plates or withoutnumber plates.—APP

movements to ‘ Maati kudamkarendi yaar.’ The earth is inferment, o friend. A Kaafiabout the complexity of earth.

Baba Bulleh Shah’s ‘Tere Ishqnachaya thaya, thaya… Lovefor you makes me dance inabandon followed. Nahid,swirling in shades of passion

red and gold abandonedherself to the language ofdivine love. The Kaafis wererendered dramatically in the

background by Nahid andsung by Imran Jaffrey.

In the last Kaafi ‘Panibhar bhar gaiyan sabhe : Wespend our time preparing

only to wait for our turn todepart.. Nahid revived thedance form symbolic of lyri-cal storytelling, sophisti-

cated rhythmic patterns anddelicate body movementsthat have evolved over cen-turies. The soulful renderingby Chand & Suraj Khan of

the Patiala Gharana, accom-panied by Bakhshi Sahibsharmonium ZohaibHassans sarangi andHassan Mohyuddinsunique rendering of thetabla created a moment ofmagic in time!

But this was just the ic-ing on the cake… whatfollowed was a breathtak-ing performance of puredance. To a complicatedseries of abstractions ofrhythmic patterns and bril-liant improvisations withflawless timing, character-ized by fast rhythmic foot-work set to complex timecycles, Nahid, the dancerand Hassan, the percus-sionist, indulged in a vir-tuoso display of rhythmicbreathtaking proficiencythat kept the audience riv-eted!

To the comment “Thisis the real Pakistan!”...amember from the diverseaudience expressing her ap-preciation said “Theprogramme has created amagical oasis in the culturaldesert of Islamabad’…

CITY REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a nTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Presi-dent and candidate for NA-48 Makhdoom Javed Hashmion Sunday vowed that hisparty would defeat the cor-rupt and plunderers of na-tional wealth with massivepublic support and the pas-sion of the youth while get-ting rid of the land mafia andprovision of clean drinkingwater for the people of thetwin cities would be his toppriority.

Addressing the partici-pants of ‘Tabdeeli RazakarConvention’ here on Sunday,the PTI stalwart warned thatthe days of the status-quoforces were numbered andthe PTI with the support ofstrong-willed youth wouldsecure a thumping victory inthe coming elections.

Earlier, Hashmi accompa-nied by PTI central leadersDr. Shahzad Wasim, AliAwan, Raja Khurram Nawazand Malik Sajid also visitedvarious trade markets of thefederal capital includingKarachi Company, PeshawarMorr, G/10, G/11, F/10, F/11and E/11, where he was ac-corded rosy welcome by trad-ers and citizens.

Addressing the partici-pants of Tabdeeli RazakarConvention, Hashmi reiter-ated his resolve that the PTIwould bring about a realchange in the country bydefeating both PPP andPML-N in the forthcominggeneral elections and theprime minister’s secretariatand presidency would beturned into universities for

PTI to defeat corrupt,plunderers on May 11

the youth.He said that youth were

the real force of the party andthey had come forward tospread the PTI and its Chair-man Imran Khan’s messageof change to each nock andcorner of the country.

Javed Hashmi urged theTabdeeli Razakars that it wasright time to stand against theanti-people parties who hadbeen ruling the country fordecades turn by turn but theygave nothing to the massesexcept for soaring inflation,lawlessness, terrorism andjoblessness. He asked youthto visit door to door to keepthe people cognizant of thePTI’s message for a realchange in the country.

“The spirit and enthusi-asm of the youth is stunningand marvelous, which isclear indication that changehas taken place, as no forcecould stand in the way ofyouth tsunami,” the PTIPresident vowed, addingthat he himself was feelingyounger and energetic whenhe saw the passion of theyouth for a change.

During his visit to vari-ous sectors of the capitalcity, Hashmi addressed thetraders and citizens andgave them assurance thatthe PTI after coming intopower would fight for theirrights and would resolvetheir issues on war-foot-ings.

On the occasion, the trad-ers and citizens assured themtheir full support and vowedthe PTI under the leadershipof Imran Khan would suc-ceed in establishing a ‘NayaPakistan’.

Clean, Green Islamabad campaignISLAMABAD—The Clean andGreen Campaign of the Capi-tal Development Authority(CDA) will reach Sector G-11on Monday (today) after ac-complishing the tasks per-taining to different formationsof authority in sector I -10 &G-10.

Chairman CDA, SyedTahir Shahbaz along-with therepresentatives of the civilsociety, citizens, traders andschool children will inspectsector G-11 and will also col-

lect the litter as a matter ofsymbolic.

Chairman CDA, SyedTahir Shahbaz has directedofficers of Sanitation Di-rectorate, Water SupplyDirectorate, City SewerageDivision, Directorate ofMunicipal Administration,Enforcement Directorate,and Environment Wingand of all concerned forma-tions to remain stationedin the camp office of sec-tor G-11 to resolve the

common problems of gen-eral public.

Chairman CDA has di-rected to ensure the maxi-mum participation of generalpublic in the “Clean & GreenIslamabad” Campaign tomake it a real success and toachieve multiple targets fromthis campaign.

Chairman CDA asked theresidents to join hands withCDA so that Islamabad couldbe turned to the most beauti-ful city of Pakistan.—Online

ISLAMABAD—Like otherparts of the country, there ishustle and bustle of election-eering in the Federal Capitalthese days and this exercisefor a change through demo-cratic process coincides withthe fading colours of spring.

There is a guessing gameamong the Capital residentsthat who will win elections forthe two National Assemblyseats of NA-48 and NA-49 asheavyweights of majorpoltical parties have enteredthe last leg of election cam-paign.

The candidates of Paki-stan Muslim League-Nawaz,Pakistan People’s Party, Pa-kistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, Jamaat-e-Islami and others have al-ready unfolded their priorities

Change through pollscoincides with fading spring

to gain attention of the vot-ers, who will vote on May 11to elect the representativeson the basis of their perfor-mance and future promises.

Nowadays, the candi-dates are busy in holdingcorner meetings, while theirsupporters are seen decorat-ing available places of thecity and suburbs with flags,banners and posters.

Political parties’ symbolsand flags fly atop of theirspecific election officeswhere the supporters areseen wooing the visitors togarner maximum backing fortheir leaders.

“We have geared up ourefforts and gird up our loinsto get our candidates suc-ceeded. It is a sort of creation

of public awareness amongthe masses,” MunawarHabib, an organizer of a po-litical party, sitting in hiscamp office, commented.

Naseema Masih, amother of five and residentof a Katchi Abadi of SectorG-7, said that they wouldvote for the candidate, whohad an incentive package forthe poor and the needy, in-cluding jobs, financial sup-port and protection of theirrights.

Young Akbar Jan, withthe fluttering flag of a politi-cal party mounted on hisbike, said that it was time forthe nation to choose sincereand honest representativesfor steering the country outof all odds.—APP

ppage09

Being good in busi-ness is the most

fascinating kind of art.Making money is art

and working is art andgood business is the

best art.

— Andy Warhol

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—An importantmeeting of finance ministers of8 members countries of mem-bers of South Asian Associationfor Regional Cooperation(SAARC) is scheduled to beheld at New Delhi India on May3, 2013.

The caretaker financeminster of Pakistan will rep-resent the country in the meet-ing.

Beside finance ministers,Presdent SAARC Chamber,Vikram Singh, Vice PresidentIftakhar Malik , SecretaryGeneral Iqbal Tabish andother members of SAARCwill also participate in themeeting.

Finance Sri Lanka, Bhutan,India, Maldive, Nepal, Pakistan,Bangladesh and Afghanistanwill reach New Delhi on May2.

Sources said that the financeministers may examine possibil-ity of having banking channel

Saarc Finance MinistersNew Delhi meeting on May 3

between members countries toboost trade among them

Former President SAARCchamber, Tariq saeed said thatthis is a good platform to resolveissues.

he expressed hope that thefinance minsters have got an

excellent chance to discussedestablishment of bankingchannel between memberscountries

Vice President SAARC,Iftikhar Malik expressed hopethat they will increase in southAsia in near future.

Vikramjit Singh Sahney, President, SAARC CCI, IftikharAli Malik, Vice President, SAARC CCI and others during57th Executive Committee meeting of SAARC CCI.

KARACHI: President FPCCI Muhammad Zubair Malik addressing a meeting regarding law and order here. S M Munir,Muhammad Ilyas Sarwana, and Senator Haseen Habib are also seen in the picture.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

Govt to facilitateUK-based

tycoons: ZaidiSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh CaretakerMinister for Excise and TaxationSyed Shuber Zaidi has said thatthe caretaker government willmake all efforts to removehurdles for the England-basedbusinessmen to encourage themto operate their business activi-ties in Sindh.

This he said while talking toPresident United KingdomChamber of Commerce and In-dustries Razi Khan at his office,said a statement issued on Sun-day.

He assured him full coop-eration to encourage foreign in-vestors to launch business ac-tivities in Sindh especially inKarachi.

He added foreign invest-ment is an essential for theprogress of the province and for-eign investors will be providedall facilities. The Caretaker Pro-vincial Minister and PresidentUK Chamber of Commerce andIndustries discussed also manyissues of mutual interests.PQ active

KARACHI—Four ships arrivedat Port on Saturday carryingcontainers, at Qict, Vcm atcement (Export) at MW-II,Rice and wheat (Export) Fap.Berth occupancy was main-tained at 50% at Port onSaturday where a total of eightships namely M.V KPS-1,Alicvan Bey, M.V Sofia, M.VPresident Jackson, M.V MSCDidem, M.T Norgas Chal-lenger, M.V Diamond Sea,M.V Inlaco Accord, arecurrently occupying berths toload/offload cement, Vcm,container, rice, wheat duringlast 24 hours. Cargo handlingoperations were carried outsmoothly at the Port where acargo volume 24794 tonnescomprising 3495 tonnes importand 21297 tonnes export 902(TUES) was handled at the Portduring last 24 hours. M.VPresident Jackson on Saturdayafternoon, M.V MSC Didemsailed on Saturday Night. M.TKarachi at Fotco, M.V MaerskGeorgia at Qict expected totake berth on Sunday.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Chairman FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) AnsarJaved Sunday committed that Fed-eration of Pakistan Chamber ofCommerce and Industry, an apexbody in the country, will be fullytaken into confidence on budgetand other taxation proposals.

Talking to 20 members highlevel delegation of traders drawnfrom all over the country led byVP SAARC Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, Iftikhar AliMalik here he categorically an-nounced that FBR and FederalMinistry of Finance will givedue weight to all concrete andviable proposals of the FPCCIand other chambers and he willhold meetings with FPCCI inthis regard.

He pointed out that FBR isfacing nearly 30 per cent short-fall in revenue collection target

FBR to take FPCCI intotrust on budget proposals

set for the current fiscal yearwhich he hoped will be achievedtill the end of June through goodgovernance by appointing topofficers of highest degrees ofintegrity coupled with profes-sional competence.

He said that all officers ofFBR posted in field formationshave also been directed to ex-pedite pending adjudicationcases of tax payers without fur-ther loss of time within the ambitof law so that tax payers couldpay their financial liabilitiestimely.

Ansar Javed said that sincehis induction in income taxgroup in 1979 he always at-tached great importance to taxpayers, the main sources ofstrength of the nationaleconomy. He said he had alsodirected all members, chiefcommissioners, chief collectorsand commissioners and collec-

tors to redress genuine problemsbeing confronted by traders,importers and exporters.

Ansar Javed said on the otherhand, business community mustpay their due taxes timely andcontribute their shares towardsnation building. He said that busi-ness community always contrib-uted major chunk towards na-tional exchequer and their solidand concrete proposals will betaken care of so that more revenuecould be collected besides im-proving the national economy.

The Chairman said direct in-teraction of private sector at high-est level would yield positive re-sults besides restoration of confi-dence of foreign and local inves-tors. Iftikhar Ali Malik stressed theneed for evolving “Pakistanfriendly and business friendly”fiscal policies so that economicgrowth could be accelerated onpriority in real terms.

KCCI pre-budgetseminar todayStaff ReporterKARACHI—The KarachiChamber of Commerce andIndustry (KCCI) is organisinga “Pre-Budget Seminar 2013-2014” in collaboration withAssociation of Chartered andCertified Accountants,Pakistan, on April 29 at a hotelhere. An announcement onSaturday said that Dean andDirector of the Institute ofBusiness Administration (IBA)and former Governor of StateBank of Pakistan (SBP) Dr.Ishrat Husain, will be the chiefguest on the occasion.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Various researchefforts and market surveysshow that people in Pakistanare becoming more health con-scious.

Pakistanis are shiftingtheir dietary habits from ani-mal saturated fats (butter) tohealthier products such as veg-etable saturated fats (ghee) andfinally to even healthier prod-

Olympia Oils markets 100pc pure PURILE Canola cooking oil in Pakistanucts such as vegetable unsatur-ated fats (canola, sunflower oil).

Pakistan Consists of 17 Mil-lion People of which about 35%Lives in Urban areas. It is esti-mated that 50% are urban popu-lation are teenagers and grownups, and about 55% Male and45% Females approx, and withdifferent age bands. This is thesegment which is health con-scious and will be the futuredrivers of our economy.

Olympia Oils LaunchesPURILE PREMIUM CANOLAOIL at a local hotel in Lahore,where high officials from thecompany, government and tradewere present. At the occasion,Mian Naseer Monnoo, Manag-ing Director Olympia Oils(Pvt.)Limited unveiled the PURILEPREMIUM CANOLA OILbottle. Mian Naseer also said inhis speech that company missionis to “spread health & happiness

by improving the quality of lifewith healthy and pure canolaoil”. He further added, that thecompany has launched thisbrand for the middle class whovalue health and like to feedtheir loved ones a healthycooked meal.

Olympia Oils (Pvt.) Ltd hasbeen processing raw seeds intopure canola oil since manyyears at their state of the artplant at the outskirts of Lahore.

Olympia Oils has a full servicerefinery as well as a process-ing facility at the same location.Purile premium Canola oil is100% pure premium Canola oilextracted from the best seedsprocessed at OlympiaOilsrefinery and then packedunder strict quality control stan-dards.

PURILE premium canolaoil has high smoke point i.e.450 °F; The property which can

be employed in setting oil tem-perature while deep frying fooditems. PURILE Canola oil hasvery good lipid profile. It hassaturated, monounsaturated andpolyunsaturated (SFA: MUFA:PUFA= 8: 61: 31) fats inhealthy proportions. Coldpressed oil is one of the stablecooking oil that has very longshelf life.

PURILE Canola oil is highin energy as well, 100 gm oil

provides 899 calories. However,its high ratio of more mono-un-saturated fatty acids to saturatedfatty acids makes it healthy oilfor consumption.

PURILE Canola oil is highin calories. However, its highcalorie content comes from bet-ter fats. It is especially rich inmono-unsaturated fatty acids(MUFA) like oleic acid (18:1)which constitutes about 61% oftotal fats that help to lower LDL

or “bad cholesterol” and in-crease HDL or “good choles-terol” in the blood.

Canola oil has distincthealth benefits than many othervegetable edible oils. Accord-ing to an international survey,Canola Oil is considered asWorld’s Healthiest Oil amongthe edible oil range.

PURILE Premium Canolaoil is 100% pure and extractedfrom natural canola seeds.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—UC Davis is tak-ing the lead on the graduate edu-cation component of an innova-tive project to modernize agri-culture in Pakistan.

The four-year, $30 millionAgricultural Innovation Projectwill work to improve manage-ment practices and productivityof the livestock, horticulture andgrains grown in Pakistan, in turnimproving the economy and cre-ating a brighter future for itspeople.

“It’s a fantastic project,”said Jim Hill, associate deanfor international programswith the UCD College of Ag-ricultural and EnvironmentalSciences. “I’m thrilled that UCDavis will head the human ca-pacity development, educatingthe agricultural leaders Paki-

UC Davis to patronize agri educationto modernize farming in Pakistan

stan needs to advance its agri-culture sector.”

The project was launchedrecently by the U.S. Agency forInternational Development, theInternational Maize and WheatImprovement Center and thePakistan Agricultural ResearchCouncil.

UCD will receive $5.2 mil-lion, $4.5 million of which willfund placing some 14 Pakistanimaster of science and and doc-torate students in U.S. land-grant universities where theyare best suited. With its exper-tise in agriculture, UCD willlikely land many of those stu-dents.

UCD will also work to im-prove horticulture productionin Pakistan by helping farm-ers grow more high-qualityperennial crops and by creat-ing better postharvest technol-

ogy. UCD will also help Co-operative Extension special-ists in Pakistan develop elec-tronic systems for deliveringagricultural information tofarmers.

Agriculture is vital toPakistan’s economic develop-ment. With more 187 millionpeople, Pakistan is the sixth-most populated country in theworld.

“Higher education in agri-culture is dismally low in Paki-stan and the recent turmoilhasn’t helped,” Hill said.“Pakistan’s agricultural issuesare very similar to those in thewestern United States, such asthe impact of climate change onirrigation and other water issues,which is another reason UCDavis is so well suited to pro-vide the agricultural educationthey need.”

DUBAI—The Dubai Electric-ity and Water Authority(DEWA) received today a del-egation of 13 women repre-senting the energy distributionsector in Pakistan, at the newDEWA Sustainable Buildingin Al Quoz, the largest govern-ment building in the worldwith a Platinum rating forgreen buildings from Leader-ship in Energy and Environ-mental Design (LEED).

The visit followed an ear-lier tour of the representativesfrom Pakistan’s energy distri-bution companies, organisedin collaboration with theUnited States Agency for In-ternational Development(USAID) in November 2012.

The two-day visit includeda presentation from DEWA of-ficials on the adoption of bestinternational standards in cus-tomer service, and a tour of theCounters Test and Mainte-nance building in Al Awir, theCustomer Service Center in AlQuoz, as well as the new Sus-tainable Building and its facili-ties. The delegation wasbriefed on the latest eco-friendly technologies in thebuilding to preserve naturalresources.

“This visit is aligned withDEWA’s strategy to dissemi-

Pakistan women energydelegation visits DEWA

nate its experiences and bestpractices to other institutionsand private companies in theenergy industry around theworld. DEWA has achieved sig-nificant results in on a globallevel, and set an example insustainability and environmentprotection. The Authority is nowregarded as one of the best in-stitutions in the world for itstrack-record in efficiency, reli-ability, sustainability, energyconservation, and demand man-agement, in addition to a con-tinued focus on water and elec-tricity rationalisation, and pre-serving natural resources, whichis clearly reflected in the newSustainable Building, the firstsustainable government build-ing in the UAE,” said KhawlaAl Mehairi, Vice President ofMarketing and Corporate Com-munications at DEWA.

The visiting delegation ex-pressed admiration of DEWA’sachievements in the field ofsustainability, and conservationof natural resources. They pre-sented a memento to thank theDEWA team for support.Abdullah Obaidullah, EVP,Water and Civil EngineeringDivision, received the mementoon behalf of the MD and CEOof DEWA, and thanked the del-egation for their visit.—Online

Denmark, Pakistantrade ties

stable: EnvoySTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Ambassadorof Denmark to Pakistan, Ole E.Moesby, has termed the tradeties between the two countriesis very stable and improved.

“We can do more than whatwe are doing now”, he remarkedand added that the trade relationsbetween Denmark and Pakistancan be improved further. He saidthat Denmark is in the forefrontinternationally in the whole sectorof energy and energy consumption.

The envoy pointed out thatin the aftermath of the energycrisis in the 70s, they made moreenergy efficient society in Den-mark. He was of the view thatPakistan can also learn a bit fromthe Danish experience in thisregard.

Ole Moesby believed thatPakistan has the ability to over-come the energy problems andmove forward. He also conferredthe Danish award-the Order ofthe Night of Dannebrog, on Ms.Naheed Irshaduddin, ConsulGeneral of Denmark in Karachi,for her excellent contribution fordeveloping the relationship be-tween Denmark and Pakistan.

A ceremony to this effectwas held at a local hotel on Sat-urday evening. Naheed has beenserving as the Honorary ConsulGeneral of Denmark in Karachifor the past 19 years.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—All Pakistan TextileMills Association (APTMA)said that a conspiracy was be-ing hatched against Punjab-based textile industry to sell ex-pensive electricity (Rs 12 perunit) by depriving it of electric-ity generated by its own CaptivePower Plants (CPPs).

The Association’s spokes-man said here that APTMA hadissued policy statement with re-spect to Captive Power to gen-erate in-house electricity, addingthat textile industry had investedbillions of dollars on the instal-lation of the CPPs to meet en-ergy requirements to safeguardit from electricity shortages.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Pre–BudgetSeminar 2013-2014 was orga-nized by Southern RegionalCommittee (SRC) of the Insti-tute of Chartered Accountants ofPakistan (ICAP) recently to fi-nalize the Institute’s recommen-dations to be submitted to theGovernment of Pakistan for theFederal budget 2013-2014.

Speaking on the EconomicOutlook of Pakistan, eminentscholar Dr. Shahid Hasan Siddiqidepicted glomming picture of

ICAP prepares proposalsfor upcoming budget

economic indicators which wasthought provoking for all partici-pants. He highlighted that suchan adverse economic scenariorequires revolutionary correctivemeasures to bring the ailingeconomy back on track.

Shaikh Saqib Masood,Chairman ICAP Taxation Com-mittee presented the proposalsgiven by ICAP for the upcomingFederal Budget 2013-2014 withdetails and shared ways how ef-fectively FBR can create deter-rence and improve tax collection.

The session chairman Mr.

Rehmatullah Wazir, Chief Com-missioner Larger Tax PayersUnit, Karachi, emphasized onthe effective role that Parliamen-tary Committee on budget canplay by collecting proposals andfeedback from all stakeholdersand then translating them intolegislation via Finance Act.

He agreed with most of theproposals for the Federal Bud-get presented by ICAP. Mr.Wazir also emphasized on rev-enue collection by Provinceswhich can be significantly in-creased from its current level.

APTMA sees conspiracyagainst CPPs, gas priority

He said the industry had in-stalled a total capacity of3000MW CPPs on both theSSGC (Sui Southern Gas Com-pany) and the SNGPL (SuiNorthern Gas Pipeline Limited)networks, resulting into achiev-ing record $14 billion exports.However, the industry couldhave been ruined terribly in theabsence of CPPs as the electric-ity shortage had already playedhavoc with industry in Punjab.

The APTMA spokesman saidthe campaigners should stop ma-ligning the Captive Power Plantsinstalled by the industry of Paki-stan for personal gains. Accord-ing to him, for the first time anefficiency-based tariff was pro-posed in the history of Ministry

of Petroleum & Natural Resourcesduring the previous regime. TheCaptive Power Plants generate in-house electricity and presentlyrunning on an average efficiencyof 45 percent in the textile indus-try including spinning, weavingand processing.

He added that gas-basedIPPs could produce up to750MW of electricity by con-suming 150MMCFD gas if op-erated at designed efficiency,however, net consumptionwould be 585MW after adjust-ing average Transmission &Distribution losses currently at22 percent of PEPCO networkwhich was less than the CPPsgeneration-cum-consumptionby consuming the same volume.

Jordan’s ArabBank shows smallrise in Q1 profits

AMMAN—Jordan-based ArabBank Group made a net profit of$205.1 million in the first quarterof the year, up from $204.4 mil-lion in the same period last year,it said.

The bank, one of the MiddleEast’s major financial institu-tions, which has a $45.6 billionbalance sheet spread across 30countries and five continents,said in a statement it was ableto maintain healthy growth inrevenues, with operating profitsup 7 percent for the quarter.

Bank officials said this wasa result of a rise in net interestincome and reduced costs.Chairman Sabih al-Masri said ina statement that the resultsshowed the bank’s performancewas healthy, “despite the diffi-cult conditions in the region”.

Arab Bank’s chief executiveofficer Nemeh al-Sabbagh alsosaid the bank would focus onkeeping a high level of liquidityin keeping with its “traditionalconservative policy” and had acapital solvency ratio of 15.05percent at the end of March. Thefirm is one of the Arab world’slargest privately owned bankswith over 20 percent owned by thefamily of Lebanon’s former primeminister, Rafik al-Hariri, who wasassassinated in 2005.—Agencies

DTCM to openBrazil officeABU DHABI—Dubai’sDepartment of Tourism andCommerce Marketing, orDTCM, has announced theopening of a representative officein Brazil as part of its strategy toattract visitors from theburgeoning South Americantourism market. The announce-ment was made at World TravelMarket Latin America in SaoPaulo. Speaking to an audienceof travel media, Hamad binMejren, the DTCM’s executivedirector for Business Tourism,said: “The opening of our firstSouth American office demon-strates the importance we areplacing in increasing relation-ships with the tourism industry ofthis market. The office will focuson promoting Dubai as a leisureand Mice [meetings, incentives,conferencing, exhibitions]destination to the whole Latinand South American market, butspecifically to Brazil andArgentina. The initiatives that werun through this office will drivevisitor numbers from a marketthat we believe has hugepotential.” “Brazil is Dubai’sprimary business partner in LatinAmerica so in delivering ourstrategy to increase visitornumbers from the region it wasthe natural location of choice forour first South Americanrepresentative office,” said HelalSaeed Almarri.—Agencies

RESEARCHERS in the US have developed a high-tech camera youcan swallow that takes detailed im-

ages of the insides of the gullet (esopha-gus) and stomach. Promising results of asmall study in 13 people suggest the de-vice may offer a quicker,cheaper, safer, more com-fortable way to detect theearly signs of cancer of theesophagus than endos-copy, where a camera andlight on the end of a thintube is pushed down thegullet, often under seda-tion.

The researchers, fromthe Wellman Center forPhotomedicine, at Massa-chusetts General Hospital(MGH) and Harvard Medi-cal School, report thestudy in the 13 Januaryonline issue of NatureMedicine.

For their study, the re-searchers tested the de-vice as a potential screen-ing tool for Barrett’s esophagus, a pre-cancerous condition usually caused byrepeated exposure to stomach acid.

Barrett’s esophagus is uncommon inwomen, and current recommendations callfor endoscopic screening of men withchronic, frequent heartburn and othersymptoms of gastroesophageal reflux dis-ease (GERD).

The hope is that the capsule camerawill offer a much quicker, easier, and morecomfortable way of screening for the con-dition. A way that does not require an en-doscope specialist and equipment,

Pill-camera promising alternativeto endoscopy for cancer diagnosis

thereby making it more affordable as amass screening tool.

Co-author Norman Nishioka, a Gas-troenterology, Internal Medicine doctorat MGH, says in a statement:

“An inexpensive, low-risk devicecould be used to screenlarger groups of patients,with the hope that close sur-veillance of patients foundto have Barrett’s could al-low us to prevent esoph-ageal cancer or to discoverit at an earlier, potentiallycurable stage.”

“But we need morestudies to see if that hopewould be fulfilled,” headds.

The camera, which isabout the size of a large vi-tamin pill, uses optical la-sers to take detailed, micro-scopic images of theesophageal wall.

It “doesn’t require pa-tient sedation, a specializedsetting and equipment, or a

physician who has been trained in en-doscopy,” says corresponding authorGary Tearney, a professor of Pathologyat Harvard Medical School and a Re-search Scholar at MGH.

“By showing the three-dimensional,microscopic structure of the esophageallining, it reveals much more detail thancan be seen with even high-resolutionendoscopy,” he adds.

The camera contains OFDI (opticalfrequency domain imaging) technologycomprising a rapidly rotating tip thatemits a laser beam of near-infrared light.

KARACHI: Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Zahid Kurban Alvi presiding over a meeting regarding law and order situation in the province.

KARACHI: Men and women seen in mourning during funeral prayer of a young manwho was killed in bomb blast at Qasba colony.

KARACHI: Head of Marketing, PR and Entrepreneurship Development at First WomenBank Shaheen Zameer receiving the best consumer award from Mian Zahid Husain,Advisor to Chief Minister, Sindh, at local hotel.

KARACHI: A road giving deserted look during observance of mourning by PPP andMQM after killing of people in blasts in the port city.

K A R A C H I — M u t t a h i d aQaumi Movement (MQM)Sunday cancelled women’spublic meeting.

The women’s publicmeeting was scheduled to beheld at Jinnah Ground Sun-day.

A statement issued byRabta Committee says thepublic meeting was canceleddue to ‘inevitable circum-stances’.

STAFF REPORTER

K A R A C H I — P r e s i d e n tZardari’s brother and Paki-stan People’s Party (PPP)candidate from PS-88, GhoraBari, District Thatta, OwaisMuzaffar said that the forth-coming general electionswere a blessing for themasses to bring change inthe country and reject thosethat wanted to derail the pro-cess of democracy in thecountry and wanted to im-

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh caretakerChief Minister (CM) Justice(Retd) Zahid Kurban Alavi saidthat terrorists and anti-stateelements wanted to delay thegeneral elections by creatinglaw and order situation. Thecaretaker government wasfully committed to foil the con-spiracies and crushing their ill-designs.

The caretaker CM said thiswhile addressing a high levelmeeting on law and order heldSunday at the CM House.

Caretaker information min-ister Noor Ul Huda Shah, Prin-cipal Secretary to CM Naveed

Alvi: All conspiracies fordeferment of polls be to foiled

Kamran Baloch, heads of lawenforcement and Intelligenceagencies attended.

He said that electionswould be held on time accord-ing to the schedule. The gov-ernment taking measures toprevent untoward incidentsthat took place near the officesand elections camps of differ-ent parties and to ensure se-curity and safety across theSindh especially in Karachi.

He directed the law en-forcement agencies to beef upsecurity surrounding the of-fices, elections camp officesand candidates of all the po-litical parties.

He expressed his firm re-

solve to provide peaceful andconducive environment to thevoters so that they should casttheir votes without any fear.

He said that terrorist andmiscreant elements wanted tocreate panic among the peoplebut present government withthe help of political parties andpeople would crush their ne-farious designs.

He praised the spirit of pa-tience and harmony shown byheads of various political par-ties during current situation.

He added that political par-ties continued their support inspite of precarious situationand all the political parties areunited to hold elections on

time. “Such resolve and firmcommitment of parties will de-feat the ill-designs of the ter-rorists and anti state ele-ments”, he added.

Earlier, he was briefed indetail about the present lawand order situation by lawenforcement agencies. Theysaid that in spite of limitedresources and Shortage ofpersonnel all possible mea-sures have been adopted torestore the peace and curbthe terrorist activities in themetropolis adding that therewould be positive resultsvery soon and law and or-der situation would improvein few days.

Owais Muzaffar lambasts elementsworking against the country

pose self-defined rule of lawin the country.

Muzaffar said this whiletalking to newsmen at thePPP Central Media Cell inKarachi Sunday. PPP leadersAltaf Waja, Sadiq Memon,Rameez Memon and otherswere present. Muzaffar saidthat the slain Chairperson ofthe PPP, Benazir Bhutto hadduring her tenure as the Pre-mier of the country initiatedthe installation of country’slargest power plant at Keti

Bandar in Thatta but hergovernment was toppled andthose that took the powersrevoked the contract.

He said that the countrywas deprived of access toelectricity at cheaper rates.However, the PPP wouldonce again revive the revokedpower plants contracts andwould take steps for the in-stallation of the same at theKeti Bandar in Thatta imme-diately after formation ofgovernment after elections.

MQM cancels women public meetingdue to security concerns

The new date forwomen’s public meetingwould be announced later,said the party sources.

Earlier, MQM leader RazaHaroon said on Sunday thatfrequent attacks against po-litical parties aim to keep ‘lib-eral forces’ out of electionprocess, saying that law-en-forcement agencies havefailed to restore peace andsecurity.

“Terrorist does not rec-ognize democracy, and unfor-tunately there is no one tostop them either,” Haroonsaid while speaking to mediahere.

He said restoring peaceand security and holding ofelections were prime respon-sibilities of the election com-mission, and it should exer-cise its powers to achievethese goals.—NNI

Ebad attendslaunch of book

‘Adhori Manzil’KARACHI—Sindh GovernorDr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad on Sundaylauding the work of promi-nent poet Syed Farooq Abidisaid that the poet gavestrength and courage to thepeople through his poetry.

He said this at launching ofSyed Farooq Abidi’s poetrybook “Adhori Manzir” at Gov-ernor House here. He said thatSyed Farooq Abidi, RaufAhmed Siddiqi and Ms. NighatHina had organised poetryshows and created awarenessabout poetry among thepeople.

The Sindh Governor alsoannounced to purchase 100books of Farooq Abidi andgive him Rs 0.5 million cashreward. Addressing the cer-emony, Rauf Siddiqi said it is adistinction of Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan that he organisespoetry and literary programsin the Governor House. Later,the poet Farooq Abidi pre-sented a copy of his book“Adhori Manzil” to the SindhGovernor.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Prof AbdulSamad, Founder ExecutiveMember of Pakistan Choles-terol Awareness Society(PCAS) said that 17.3 millionsuffer from heart disease glo-bally. Cardiovascular diseaseis rated at the top in the listof most lethal diseases, caus-ing loss of precious lives.

Dr. Syed Imran Ahmed,Secretary PCAS, Dr. AbuBakr Sheikh, Umair-ud-Dinof PharmEvo, and ZubairAhmed Siddiqui were alsopresent. Dr. Abdul Samadstressed the need for a posi-tive change in lifestyle, ifheart disease and strokewere to be prevented. Healso called for preventivemeasures and awareness,along with exercise on adaily basis.

Cholesterol awareness drive launchedHe further added that

PCAS would work in collabo-ration with PharmEvo for aNational Cholesterol Aware-ness Program (NCAP). Dur-ing the course of this cam-paign, seminars would beheld in Karachi, Lahore andIslamabad. 7 Decemberwould be celebrated as Na-tional Cholesterol Day whichwill have the subject of ‘Haveyou ever checked your Cho-lesterol?’ campaign through-out the country in more than500 clinics, hospitals, infor-mational posters, and ban-ners.

Besides, free cholesterolcamps would be establishedacross the country. Informa-tion would be provided toCardiology Institutes, doc-tors, paramedical staff, andpatients. Awareness wouldbe further enhanced using

public and social channels ofmedia, and tapping all appro-priate mediums of communi-cation.

Dr. Imran quoting WorldHealth Organization statis-tics said that the mortalityrate in Pakistan was 25% dueto cardiovascular diseases.He cited unhealthy eating,smoking, high blood-pres-sure, obesity, and lack of ex-ercise as causes of cardio-related diseases. Dr. Abu BakrSheikh stressed the need forhealthy eating, abstinencefrom tobacco, regular choles-terol check-ups, and dailyexercise.

He further added thatchicken foods, ghee, oil, Up-per cheese, sweets andchocolates should beavoided. Obesity be con-trolled, and more vegetables,fruits, fish should be used.

CM cuts half ofsecurity, Hudasends back all

securitySTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh ChiefMinister Justice (Retd)Zahid Kurban Alavi decidedto return half security squadof Chief Minster House whilecaretaker minister for Infor-mation Noor Ul Huda had re-turned his full security so thatpolice personnel could beused for the protection of lifeand properties of the com-mon people.

Minster for Informationsaid that for the restorationof law and order all possiblesteps were being taken byprovincial government andhoped that the Karachi wouldbe made City of Lights verysoon.

Diabetes to affect366m people

worldwide by 2030OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—Currently diabe-tes affects 366 million peopleworldwide, and this numberis projected to increase sub-stantially to 566 million by2030 with 80% burden in lowand middle income countries.Warned experts at a publicawareness programme ondiabetes held recently at alocal hotel organized byBaqai Institute ofDiabetology& Endocrinol-ogy (BIDE) in-cooperationwith Novo Nordisk PharmaPrivate Limited.

Experts including seniordiabetologists Prof. AbdulBasit, Director of BIDE andMr. Ole E. Moesby, the Am-bassador of Denmark in Pa-kistan said Pakistan belongsto high prevalence diabetesarea having 7.1 million af-fected people in 2010 withprojected estimates todouble by 2030 and affect13.8 million people.

Diabetes epidemic in Pa-kistan is a major challenge forhealth care providers and thiscause for collaborative ef-forts between diabetic pa-tients, health care profession-als and health care policymakers. Education programsfocusing on health issuespromoting a healthy lifestyledietary habits and exerciseare urgently needed.

Novo Nordisk is a globalhealthcare company with 90years of innovation and lead-ership in diabetes care. Theyare the manufacturer of stateof the art Modern and Hu-man Insulin for people withdiabetes. They are also work-ing for the awareness of Dia-betes in collaboration withdifferent health care bodiesto raise the standard of healthrelated quality of life ofpeople with diabetes.

Prof Abdul Basit in histalk shared that Pakistan isone of the countries havinga very high prevalence of dia-betes. According to a surveyin Pakistan, prevalence ofnewly diagnosed diabetes is5% in men and 4.8% inwomen in rural areas and5.1% in men and 6.8% inwomen in urban areas, andabout equal number ofpeople are at risk of havingdiabetes.

A STUDY of the evolution of our teethover the last 7,500 years shows thathumans today have less diverse oral

bacteria than historic populations, whichscientists believe have contributed tochronic oral diseases in post-industriallifestyles. The researchers, from the Uni-versity of Adelaide’s Australian Centre forAncient DNA (ACAD), the University ofAberdeen (Dept of Arche-ology), Scotland, and theWellcome Trust Sanger In-stitute, Cambridge, En-gland, published theirstudy in Nature Genetics.

The authors say thatanalyzing the DNA of cal-cified bacteria on the teethof humans throughoutmodern and ancient history“has shed light on thehealth consequences of theevolving diet and behaviorfrom the Stone Age to mod-ern day”.

The scientists ex-plained that there werenegative changes in oralbacteria as our diets alteredwhen we moved from be-ing hunter-gatherers tofarmers. Further changes were observedwhen humans started manufacturing foodduring the Industrial Revolution.

Study leader Professor Alan Cooper,ACAD Director, said, “This is the firstrecord of how our evolution over the last7500 years has impacted the bacteria wecarry with us, and the important healthconsequences.”The introduction of pro-cessed sugar may have completely changedthe composition of oral bacteria in humans.“Oral bacteria in modern man are markedlyless diverse than historic populations andthis is thought to contribute to chronic oral

Modern diet is rotting our teethand other disease in post-industriallifestyles.” The scientists extracted DNAfrom calcified dental plaque (tartar) from34 prehistoric human skeletons from north-ern Europe. They examined the changes inthe nature of oral bacteria that were firstpresent in prehistoric hunter-gatherers,through to the Bronze Age when farmingbecame established, then to Medieval times

and finally to the IndustrialRevolution and later.

Dr Christina Adler, leadauthor, who was a PhD stu-dent at the University ofAdelaide during the study,said “Genetic analysis ofplaque can create a powerfulnew record of dietary im-pacts, health changes andoral pathogen genomic evo-lution, deep into the past.”Dr. Adler now works at theUniversity of Sydney. Themodern mouth exists in a per-manent disease state Profes-sor Cooper said: “The com-position of oral bacteriachanged markedly with theintroduction of farming, andagain around 150 years ago.With the introduction of pro-

cessed sugar and flour in the IndustrialRevolution, we can see a dramatically de-creased diversity in our oral bacteria, allow-ing domination by caries-causing strains.The modern mouth basically exists in a per-manent disease state.”

Professor Cooper has been workingwith Professor Keith Dobney from theUniversity of Aberdeen on this for the last17 years. Professor Dobney said “I hadshown tartar deposits commonly foundon ancient teeth were dense masses ofsolid calcified bacteria and food, butcouldn’t identify the species of bacteria.

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Religious Affairs, Shahzada Jamal Nazir offering duaafter laying floral wreath at Mazar-e-Iqbal.

LAHORE: Chief Minister Najam Sethi with Nepalese delegation of print and electronic media after their meeting.

LAHORE: Models walking on the ramp during the second day of Sunsilk Fashion Weekin Expo Centre.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Principal PostGraduate Medical Instituteand Ameer ud Din MedicalCollege Prof. Anjum HabibVohra has said that doctorsbeing medical professionalsnever retire as even after leav-ing official duties at attain-ing the age of 60, they cannot be disassociated withtheir patients. He said thathard working, dedicated andhonest doctors are preciousasset of their organizations,who always feel proud oftheir human serving career.

Prof. Anjum Habib Vohraexpressed these views whilespeaking at a function heldin connection with the retire-ment of MS LGH Dr.

Medics as medical professionalsnever retire: H Vohra

Muhammad Hassan, hereSunday.

The event, organized byAllied Health ParamedicalStaff Association, LGH, wasattended by AMS, DMS,Principal Nursing School,Nursing Superintendent,nursing staff and other em-ployees.

Dr. Muhammad Hassan,who served for 36 years ingovernment institutions, waspaid rich homage by RanaBasharat, Khalid MahmoodGondal, Rana Afzal and MalikAmin, the office bearers ofparamedics. Prof. AnjumHabib Vohra said that Dr.Muhammad was a great ad-ministrator who rendered ex-cellent services for patientwelfare as well as LGH’s up

gradation.Dr. Muhammad Hassan

thanked all the speakers andsaid that he was grateful toall juniors and seniors for ex-tending full cooperation dur-ing his posting at LGH. Later, talking with me-dia, Prof. Anjum Habib Vohrasaid that comprehensive ar-rangements have been madeat LGH for anti-measles cam-paign starting from today. Hestressed the need to sensi-tize general public aboutmeasles through a vigorousawareness drive.

He also emphasized thedoctors, nurses and para-medics to work for this noblecause even after reaching intheir areas after their dutytimings.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—A 13-member del-egation of print and electronicmedia from Nepal led by Bu-reau Chief of “The HimalayanTimes Daily” Arjun Bhandaricalled on Punjab Chief Minis-ter Najam Sethi at ChiefMinister’s Secretariat. Mattersrelating to general electionsand media development werediscussed during the meeting.Secretary Information PunjabAmjad Hussain was alsopresent on the occasion.

Talking to Nepalian delega-tion, the Chief Minister saidthat media plays an importantrole in molding the public opin-ion. He stressed that mediashould play more active rolefor highlighting the socio-eco-nomic problems. He said thatthe electronic media in Paki-stan is passing through evo-lutionary process and it hasmade tremendous progress ina very short time.

Media urged tohighlight socio-

economic problemsThe Chief Minister said

that due to rapid developmentof media, world has become aglobal village. He said that therole of media with regard togeneral elections has furtherincreased. He vowed that care-taker government is commit-ted to ensure holding of elec-tions in a free, fair and impar-tial manner. He said that forthe first time in the history ofPakistan, caretaker govern-ments were constituted in cen-ter and provinces. He said thatholding of peaceful and trans-parent general elections is a na-tional responsibility.

Najam Sethi said that im-partial administration and po-lice officers have been postedin the province so that no onecould raise finger. The ChiefMinister said that observanceof code of conduct of ElectionCommission is being ensuredthroughout the province andstrict action is being takenagainst those involved in aerial

firing and display of arms with-out any discrimination.

He said that Punjab gov-ernment has evolved a mod-ern election monitoring sys-tem. He expressed the hopethat modern election monitor-ing system will play an effec-tive role in the monitoring ofelectoral process. Najam Sethisaid that Lahore is a historicand cultural city of Pakistanand it is famous all over theworld due to its historicalplaces. Head of Nepalian me-dia delegation, Arjun Bhandarithanked the Chief MinisterPunjab for excellent hospital-ity in Lahore.

He said that they got anopportunity of visiting histori-cal places of Lahore and themembers of the delegationhave greatly impressed by thehistoric and cultural impor-tance of Lahore. Nepalian del-egation presented a gift of spe-cial Nepalian cap to the ChiefMinister.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The National Coa-lition Against Bonded Labour(NCABL), an alliance of morethen a score of organizationsworking for the end of bondedlabour, at its general bodymeeting here today, calledupon all political parties tomake clear commitments forthe eradication of all slavery-like practices in the country.The coalition general bodysaid in its resolution on thesubject:

This general body meet-ing of the National CoalitionAgainst Bonded Labour ex-presses its shock and dismayat the poor attention the po-litical parties seeking powerthrough the forthcomingelection are paying to the or-deal of the country’s

Political parties askedto end bonded labour

labouring masses, especiallyof the bonded workers. Itseems they have no time totake notice of Article 3 of theconstitution that obliges thestate to strive for an end toexploitation and the accep-tance of the principle of tak-ing from each according toone’s capacity and guaran-teeing each according toone’s needs.

These political partiescannot be unaware of the ex-ploitation of workers,trapped in various forms ofbondage, in agriculture, in thebrick-kiln industry, in carpetweaving factories and inmines, nor can they deny theplight of factory workers,landless tenants and farmlabour.

The NCABL calls upon allpolitical parties to make clear

and firm pledge that :i. They will give priority tomeasures needed to eradicatebonded labour in whateverform and wherever it existsii. They will carry out land re-forms and provide land tobona fide tenantsiii. They will ratify and imple-ment ILO convention 141 onunionization of agriculturalworkers: andiv. They will fully implementall the ILO conventions thatgovernment of Pakistan hasratified, especially the con-ventions 87,98,100, 111,29,105, 138 and 182.The NCABL reiterates it viewthat any dispensation thatignores the rights and inter-ests of the majority of thepeople will be nothing morethan organized exploitation ofthe poor and the weak.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—A 7-day specialmass vaccination cam-paign against measles willbe started in Lahore fromApril 29 during which 30lakh children from sixmonths to ten years of agewill be inoculated. Thecampaign will continue tillMay 5. Moreover, s tu-dents of al l governmentand private primaryschools of Lahore districtwill also be inoculated andthe educational inst i tu-tions refusing to get theirstudents vaccinated will beclosed.

A spokesman of PunjabHealth Department said

Over 3m kids to be vaccinated against measlesthat children will also beprovided facility of vacci-nation against measles atall government hospitals,basic health centre and ru-ral health centers from 8.00am to 5.00 pm. He said thatanti-measles vaccinationcampaign will continue forone week and the holidaysof the vaccination staff onSunday and May 1 havebeen cancelled.

The Spokesman saidthat mobile vaccinationteams will pay visit to allunion councils and loud-speakers of the mosqueswill be used for informingthe people about theirvisit.

Moreover, health work-

ers will pay door-to-doorvisit at Mohalla level to ap-prise the people of the ar-r ival of the teams. Thespokesman further said avigorous awareness andpublicity campaign is alsobeing launched for the suc-cess of the 7-anti measlesdrive and besides provid-ing information throughprint and electronic media,banners and flexes will alsobe displayed on the roadsfor this purpose. He saidthat special instructionshave been issued to dis-play banners for the infor-mation of people at thebuildings and sites wherevaccination teams will stay.

The spokesman further

said that Health Departmenthas constituted 660 mobileteams, 165 teams to visitschools and 265 fixed teamsfor vaccination againstmeasles. He said in order tofacilitate the people, admin-istrations of governmenthospitals have been di-rected to set up at least fourdesks for vaccination of chil-dren besides making suit-able seating arrangementsfor the parents and supplyof cool drinking water. Thespokesman appealed to thepeople to fully benefit fromthe facility of vaccination ofchildren against measles be-ing provided by the HealthDepartment for rooting outthis disease.

PU scholarselected as‘Biovision’

fellow for 2013LAHORE—Punjab Univer-sity Centre of Excellence inMolecular Biology’s PhDscholar Muhammad Ilyashas been selected as‘BIOVISION’ next fellow forthe year 2013. Earlier, Ilyaswas invited to participate in‘BIOVISION’ forum in Lyon,France that was attended bymore than 3,000 participantsfrom all over the world.

Ilyas had also won twofellowships, awarded by Ko-rean Research Institute ofBiosciences and Biotechnol-ogy in 2009-10 and PersonalGenomic Institute South Ko-rea in 2012-13 respectively.

Since 2001, BIOVISION,the World Life Sciences Fo-rum, invites about 100 prom-ising PhD students and post-doctorates, from all over theworld. The forum provides anopportunity to discuss andtalk about the major globalchallenges and how to meetthem in better way and alsohow to fight with them in fu-ture.—Online

361 held insearch operationLAHORE—Lahore police ar-rested 361 accused and reg-istered 134 cases againstthem during a search opera-tion against proclaimed of-fenders, drug peddlers, andgamblers in the last five days.

Police raided 458 hide-outs of criminals and arrested282 drug pushers and 79gamblers and recovered 16kg hashish, 577 litre liquorand stake money. D u r i n gthe search operation, the po-lice also checked 3155 suspi-cious persons and 13,654 stu-dents of 211 seminaries.

DIG Operations LahoreJawad Ahmad Dogar said po-lice would utilise all availableresources to ensure law andorder during election.—APP

Polls must onMay 11: JI

LAHORE—Jamaat e IslamiPakistan Ameer SyedMunawar Hasan hasstressed that the electionsmust be held on the 11th ofMay in all circumstances.

In a statement issued hereon Sunday, he said delay ofthe elections even for a singleday was not acceptable assuch a step would cause se-rious threats to the country’sexistence.

He said although the situ-ation in different parts of thecountry, especially Karachiand Balochistan was alarm-ing, yet elections were a soleway to put things in order asonly an elected governmentcould resolve the issues con-fronting the nation and thecountry.

Munawar Hasan said antistate forces working on theagenda of their foreign mas-ters were causing bombblasts and suicide bombingsin order to create anarchy andcivil war situation in thecountry.

The bloody events dur-ing the last week had cre-ated a situation of uncer-tainty in the country due towhich apprehensions ofpostponement of electionshad risen in minds of thepeople.

In such a situation, thecaretaker government andthe Election Commissionshould adopt such solidmeasures to restore law andorder as were visible andthe masses also believedthat.—APP

Liver transplantunit awaits fundsLAHORE—Despite approvalof funds for the liver trans-plant unit at Shaikh ZayedHospital (SZH) some 14months back, not a singlerupee could not be releasedto run the unit smoothly, hos-pital sources said.

They said when formerChief Minister Shahbaz Sharifhad inaugurated the trans-plant unit in February 25 lastyear, it was announced thePunjab government wouldbear all expenses of liver trans-plantation. But despite thepassage of over one year, thesole unit in public sector hos-pitals in Pakistan, has beenworking on a self-help basis,by receiving all expenses frompatients, sources said.

Seven liver transplantswere performed in the unit onan experimental basis and sixof them are living a healthylife, it was learnt. Almost 80to 90 percent liver diseasepatients suffer from viral dis-eases like hepatitis, while theremaining patients haveother problems, said a pro-fessor at the unit.—APP

Police starts generalhold-up in Punjab

LAHORE—To counter crimi-nal and terrorist activities, ageneral hold-up has beenstarted across Punjab on theinstructions of InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP) AftabSultan which will continue tillgeneral elections.

In this regard the first andvery successful generalhold-up was held Saturdaynight which continued forfour hours in all regions, dis-tricts and divisions.

During the hold-up, po-lice arrested 444 POs and 104absconders. 163 cases wereregistered against violatorsand 10 kg charas and 2270gram heroin were recoveredfrom them. Under Arms Ordi-nance 220 cases were regis-tered against various per-sons and 213 illegal weaponswere recovered.—APP