Continued on Page 7 BIRMINGHAM: President Asif Ali Zardari and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari talking to Malala Yousafzai on Saturday. Continued on Page 7 WAJID SHAMSUL HASAN P RESIDENT Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan is in Paris spearheading the high profile UNESCO- co-sponsored global event ‘Stand Up for Malala: Girls’ right to educa- tion’, on December 10. Just be- fore the event Presi- dent Zardari and his daugh- ter Aseefa Bhutto Zadari had visited Malala in the hospi- tal to enquire about her re- covery, to convey prayers and best wishes of the Zardari’s mission to Paris: ‘Stand up for Malala’ people of Pakistan in person and to convey to her how proud entire nation was over her bravery and commitment to strive, to seek and not to yield under threats to kill from the blood thirsty terrorists. Malala has become a symbol of nation’s pledge to root out terrorism, sectarianism, ex- tremism and its determination to return the country to the liberal and tolerant vision of Quaid-e-Azam and martyred Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. Dark forces of obscu- rantism had struck what they thought a debilitating blow that would run panic among the peace-loving people of Pakistan. The Taliban killers believed had they succeeded in assassinating brave 15- year old Malala Yusufzai of Swat (Oct 9) half of their battle against education of girls and empowerment of Pakistani women would have been won. Allah, the Most Compassionate, willed other- wise. Malala is safe and steadily recovering thanks to expert medicare by Pakistani doctors followed by pains- taking efforts by the doctors at Birminigham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital. Horren- dous attempt on Malala’s life—a teenager whose only fault—along with other hun- dreds and thousand of girls in Pakistan—was pursuit of Continued on Page 7 LONDON—London’s Metro- politan Police has confirmed it raided the Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s office located in Edgeware in con- nection with MQM leader Imran Farooq’s murder, the BBC reported on Saturday. According to the report published on the BBC Urdu website, the Metropolitan Police’s press office told the BBC late on Friday that MQM chief Altaf Hussain’s business address was searched for a period of two days. An officer of the Metro- Dr Imran murder case: MQM’s London office raided Continued on Page 7 politan Police, named only as Jonathan, told the BBC over the telephone that the office was raided on Thursday and a comprehensive search was completed by Friday evening, says the report. The MQM is a member of Pakistan’s ruling coalition government and is the larg- est political party in the com- mercial hub of Karachi. Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released late Friday that it would be premature and wrong to draw any conclusion about the Continued on Page 7 UK probe to help clear MQM: FO I SLAMABAD—The Foreign Office on Saturday said Brit- ish police Scotland Yard raided Business Office lo- cated in London in connec- tion with the assassination of Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 STAFF REPORTER KARACHI —Following the Supreme Court’s directives Army seeks details of delimitations ECP meeting with army on 13th regarding delimitation of constituencies and door-to- door verification of voters’ lists in Karachi, the Pakistan Army on Saturday contacted the Election Commission of Pakistan seeking details for FAISALABAD—Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Satur- day said that the days of ma- nipulating the elections are now over.Addressing a gath- ering of Pakistan People’s Party workers here, the Prime Minister said that the verdict in the Asghar Khan case by the Supreme Court was an eye- opener and showed how the election results were manipu- lated in the past. Ashraf added that the Days of manipulating elections are over: PM case had unveiled many things and that party work- ers need to study it to be aware of those who try to manipulate the results. Moreover, he claimed that the PPP always succeeds with an overwhelming major- ity whenever there are free, fair and transparent elections. The PM said that there was a time when everyone believed it was impossible to get rid of the dictatorial re- gime of former President Pervez Musharraf. However, it was the political acumen of President Asif Ali Zardari that led to the ouster of the dictator, he claimed. He said it also goes to the credit of President Zardari that all the powers of the President of Pakistan were handed over to the parliament.—Agencies Pak ready to help Attack on spy chief planned in Quetta: Karzai KABUL—Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Saturday a suicide bombing that wounded his intelli- gence chief was planned in the Pakistani city of Quetta and that he would raise the issue with Islamabad. Karzai stopped short of blaming the Pakistani government directly. But he told a news conference he would raise the issue with Pakistan. On Thursday, a suicide bomber posing as a peace messenger wounded Afghanistan’s intelligence chief, Asadullah Khalid, in another sign that the government is struggling to Zardari visits Malala in hospital KARACHI—President Asif Ali Zardari accompanied by one of his daughters, Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, on Saturday visited Malala Yousufzai at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital where the teenage activist is undergoing treatment. The president said the people of Pakistan were proud of Malala and her bravery for not succumbing to terrorist threats. He further said that Malala had emerged as a symbol of committment for the elimination of terrorism, Salman Faruqui appointed acting Federal Ombudsman STAFF REPORTER ISLAMABAD—Salman Faru- qui, Secretary General to the President, has been temporarily appointed as the acting Federal Ombuds- man (Mohtasib), a position that has been vacant for over two years since former Ombudsman Javed Malik completed his four-year tenure.Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf assigned additional responsibilities to Faruqui, whose tempo- rary assignment will last till the appointment of an Picture on Back Page
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Continued on Page 7
BIRMINGHAM: President Asif Ali Zardari and Aseefa Bhutto Zardari talking to Malala Yousafzai on Saturday.
Continued on Page 7
WAJID SHAMSUL HASAN
PRESIDENT Asif AliZardari of Pakistan isin Paris spearheading
the high profile UNESCO-co-sponsored global event
‘Stand Upfor Malala:Girls’ rightto educa-tion’, onD e c e m b e r10. Just be-fore theevent Presi-
dent Zardari and his daugh-ter Aseefa Bhutto Zadari hadvisited Malala in the hospi-tal to enquire about her re-covery, to convey prayersand best wishes of the
Zardari’s mission to Paris:‘Stand up for Malala’
people of Pakistan in personand to convey to her howproud entire nation was overher bravery and commitmentto strive, to seek and not toyield under threats to kill fromthe blood thirsty terrorists.Malala has become a symbolof nation’s pledge to root outterrorism, sectarianism, ex-tremism and its determinationto return the country to theliberal and tolerant vision ofQuaid-e-Azam and martyredMohtarma Benazir Bhutto.
Dark forces of obscu-rantism had struck what theythought a debilitating blowthat would run panic amongthe peace-loving people ofPakistan. The Taliban killersbelieved had they succeeded
in assassinating brave 15-year old Malala Yusufzai ofSwat (Oct 9) half of theirbattle against education ofgirls and empowerment ofPakistani women would havebeen won. Allah, the MostCompassionate, willed other-wise.
Malala is safe andsteadily recovering thanks toexpert medicare by Pakistanidoctors followed by pains-taking efforts by the doctorsat Birminigham’s QueenElizabeth Hospital. Horren-dous attempt on Malala’slife—a teenager whose onlyfault—along with other hun-dreds and thousand of girlsin Pakistan—was pursuit of
Continued on Page 7
LONDON—London’s Metro-politan Police has confirmedit raided the MuttahidaQaumi Movement’s officelocated in Edgeware in con-nection with MQM leaderImran Farooq’s murder, theBBC reported on Saturday.
According to the reportpublished on the BBC Urduwebsite, the MetropolitanPolice’s press office told theBBC late on Friday that MQMchief Altaf Hussain’s businessaddress was searched for aperiod of two days.
An officer of the Metro-
Dr Imran murder case: MQM’sLondon office raided
Continued on Page 7
politan Police, named only asJonathan, told the BBC over
the telephone that the officewas raided on Thursday anda comprehensive search wascompleted by Fridayevening, says the report.
The MQM is a member ofPakistan’s ruling coalitiongovernment and is the larg-est political party in the com-mercial hub of Karachi.
Meanwhile, Pakistan’sMinistry of Foreign Affairssaid in a statement releasedlate Friday that it would bepremature and wrong to drawany conclusion about the
Continued on Page 7
UK probe tohelp clearMQM: FO
ISLAMABAD—The ForeignOffice on Saturday said Brit-ish police Scotland Yardraided Business Office lo-cated in London in connec-tion with the assassination of
Continued on Page 7
Continued on Page 7
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Following theSupreme Court’s directives
Army seeks detailsof delimitationsECP meeting with army on 13th
regarding delimitation ofconstituencies and door-to-door verification of voters’lists in Karachi, the Pakistan
Army on Saturday contactedthe Election Commission ofPakistan seeking details for
FAISALABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf on Satur-day said that the days of ma-nipulating the elections arenow over.Addressing a gath-ering of Pakistan People’sParty workers here, the PrimeMinister said that the verdictin the Asghar Khan case bythe Supreme Court was an eye-opener and showed how theelection results were manipu-lated in the past.
Ashraf added that the
Days of manipulatingelections are over: PM
case had unveiled manythings and that party work-ers need to study it to beaware of those who try to
manipulate the results.Moreover, he claimed
that the PPP always succeedswith an overwhelming major-ity whenever there are free,fair and transparent elections.
The PM said that there
was a time when everyonebelieved it was impossible toget rid of the dictatorial re-gime of former PresidentPervez Musharraf. However,it was the political acumen ofPresident Asif Ali Zardarithat led to the ouster of thedictator, he claimed. He saidit also goes to the credit ofPresident Zardari that all thepowers of the President ofPakistan were handed over tothe parliament.—Agencies
Pak ready to help
Attack on spychief planned inQuetta: KarzaiKABUL—Afghan PresidentHamid Karzai said onSaturday a suicide bombingthat wounded his intelli-gence chief was planned inthe Pakistani city of Quettaand that he would raise theissue with Islamabad.
Karzai stopped short ofblaming the Pakistanigovernment directly. But hetold a news conference hewould raise the issue withPakistan.
On Thursday, a suicidebomber posing as a peacemessenger woundedAfghanistan’s intelligencechief, Asadullah Khalid, inanother sign that thegovernment is struggling to
Zardari visitsMalala inhospitalKARACHI—President AsifAli Zardari accompanied byone of his daughters,Aseefa Bhutto Zardari, onSaturday visited MalalaYousufzai at Birmingham’sQueen Elizabeth Hospitalwhere the teenage activistis undergoing treatment.
The president said thepeople of Pakistan wereproud of Malala and herbravery for not succumbingto terrorist threats.
He further said thatMalala had emerged as asymbol of committment forthe elimination of terrorism,
Salman Faruquiappointed actingFederalOmbudsmanSTAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Salman Faru-qui, Secretary General tothe President, has beentemporarily appointed asthe acting Federal Ombuds-man (Mohtasib), a positionthat has been vacant forover two years since formerOmbudsman Javed Malikcompleted his four-yeartenure.Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf assignedadditional responsibilitiesto Faruqui, whose tempo-rary assignment will last tillthe appointment of an
Picture on Back Page
COURT NOTICE
In the Court of Hamid AliTulla Family Judge
MalakwalRukhsana Bibi Vs AhsanMahmood.Suit for Dissolution ofMarriage based on KhulaMemo
Ahsan Mohmood S/oSher Mohammad CasteGondal R/o ChhimonTehsil &Dist MandiBahauddin.
Whereas the servicesof above mentioned re-spondents is not possiblethrough ordinary means,therefore, he is directed toattend this court person-ally or through his councilon 14-12-12. Otherwise theex party proceedings shallbe taken against him.
Given under my handand seal of the Court.
Sd/-Family Judge Malakwal
UK probe tohelp clearMQM: FO
From Page 1Imran Farooq, a MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM)leader.
Issuing a statement re-garding UK police raid atBusiness Office, the ForeignOffice said it would be wrongto prematurely infer anythingfrom the police raid.
The FO statement voicedhope that the British probewill help dispel all misgivingsabout the Muttahida, addingthe MQM is not only an al-lied party of the governmentbut also it represents all secu-lar forces of the country.
Dr Farooq was an out-standing MQM leader. Hewas murdered outside hishome in Edgware, London ashe was on way back fromwork on 16th September,2010.
He disappeared from Pa-kistan in 1992 and was livingin London since 1999, whenhe claimed asylum in the UK.Farooq’s party MQM saidthat it will offer the police anyhelp to find the killers. —INP
Dr Imranmurder case:
MQM’s Londonoffice raided
From Page 1
raid. “We are confident that
the investigation wouldeventually help clear all mis-givings about MQM whichis not only a coalition part-ner but also representssecular forces in the coun-try,” said the statement bythe Foreign Office spokes-man.
It was reported on Fridaythat the police had raided abusiness office in Londonwith the MQM leader’s mur-der, and that some importantdocuments had been takeninto custody.
However, the BBC re-ported on Saturday that theMetropolitan Police officerdid not give any detailsabout any evidence recov-ered from the office.
An investigation regard-ing Imran Farooq’s murderis currently underway, theBBC reported the officer assaying.
It was also reported thatseveral people were interro-gated but no one was takeninto custody.—Agencies
Zardari’s mission to Paris:‘Stand up for Malala’
From Page 1modern education and en-lightenment.
An injured Malala hasblunted lethal terrorist attackon her by showing rare resil-ience for a girl of her age bydeclaring that she being afollower of martyredMohtarma Benazir Bhutto—who has been a role modelfor her—she would continueher sublime mission in accor-dance with the teachings ofHoly Prophet Mohammadwho had commanded his fol-lowers—irrespective of gen-der—to pursue educationand knowledge even if theyhave to travel as far as China.Despite the murderous attackMalala is determined to pur-sue enlightened education tobe a model and an examplefor others to emulate.
December 10 Paris “Standup for Malala” conferenceorganized jointly byUNESCO and the govern-ment of Pakistan is coincid-ing with International HumanRights Day. This high profileevent for the cause of mak-ing enlightened educationavailable to all girls—irre-spective of caste, creed,colour or country— hasbrought together representa-tives of governments, UNpartners, international andbilateral organizations, foun-dations, donors, private sec-tor, civil society, academics,religious leaders, eminentpersonalities, the media andother stakeholders in an ef-fort to renew commitment andseek support for education ofgirls globally.
President Asif AliZardari, along with Ministersfor Foreign Affairs and Edu-cation and ChairpersonBenazir Income SupportProgramme, is personally at-tending “Stand up byMalala” to ensure his ownand his government’s reso-lute commitment to the causeof promoting anduniversalising education forgirls.
Besides the UNESCOconference, the President willbe having a briefing meetingwith Director GeneralUNESCO Iriva Bokova whois the host of the event. AMemorandum of Under-standing to establish Malala
Fund to promote educationfor girls is expected to besigned between Pakistan andUNESCO during this Presi-dential visit. Pakistan willprovide seed money for theestablishment of this fund.
President Zardari will alsomeet French PresidentHollande to discuss bilateralissues during his three-dayvisit on December 9-11.Among other high-level Inter-national figures to participatein this conference includeJeam-Marc Aryalt, the PrimeMinister of France, former Brit-ish Prime Minister GordonBrown, UN Special Envoy forGlobal Education, TarjaHelnon former President ofFinland, Michelle BacheletExecutive Director UN womeneducation and Former Presi-dent of Chile, Sheikh AbdullahForeign Minister of UAE,Liela Zerrougui Under Secre-tary General and Special Rep-resentative of UN SecretaryGeneral for Children andArmed Conflict, Dr AbdulazizOthoman Altwaiijri DirectorGeneral ISESCO, MariaArnholm State Secretary toMinister for Gender Equalityand Deputy Minister for Edu-cation. British government isbeing represented by Baron-ess Sayeeda Warsi— its firsthigh profile Muslim Ministerin the FCO holding as well theportfolio of Interfaith Rela-tions and Human Rights.
While the broader frame-work of Education for All(EFA) seeksuniversalisation of educa-tion for the less and under-privileged in line with theEFA goals and the prioritiesof the ‘Education First’ ini-tiative, the overall objectiveof this event is to advocatefor and promote right of girlsto education, encompassingon all facets and all aspectsof education, so that educa-tion becomes available andaccessible to all girls. EFAframework will so mouldedthat it will be readily accept-able and adaptable to everycountry’s specific needsand circumstances.
Since Malala has come tobe a global icon of hope andinspiration, defrosting theworld-wide inertia, awaken-
ing and igniting a revolution-ary reaction and mobilisingsupport for education forgirls globally, Pakistan’s re-sponse has been quick, posi-tive and a way forward tograpple the bull of illiteracyby the horns.
President Zardari in-spired by martyred leaderMohtarma Benazir Bhuto’sdesire to seek education forall girls and less privilegedchildren, has been overly ex-pressive of his determinationto renew her and Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad AliJinnah’s commitment to pro-vide meaningful impetus toencourage, to protect, and topromote education for girlsin line with the objective ofachieving EFA’s goals.
Being held beyond thefrontiers of Pakistan encom-passing all those who considereducation for girls as a mustfor fostering equality of gen-ders, the historic Paris confer-ence “Stand up For Malala” isa landmark manifestation andcommitment of Government ofPakistan to take this opportu-nity to wake up and mobilizethe global support for inalien-able right of education for girlsall over the world.
This unparalleled initia-tive of Government of Paki-stan and UNESCO shall blos-som into a trail blazer for 61million children across theworld, most of which are girls,who want to be educated butcan not go to schools for rea-sons beyond their circum-stances and resources.
The sublime objective ofthe Paris “Stand up forMalala” conference is to sen-sitize the global communityabout the importance of edu-cation for girls and enormouschallenges and obstaclesencountered by those mil-lions of them seeking educa-tion. It will also pave waybeyond basic schooling foradvance education for girlsas an imminent policy. “Standup for Malala” would go along way in motivating, mo-bilizing support and commit-ment from various partici-pants for giving an acceler-ated boost to the globalagenda for education of girls.—Author is Pakistan’s HighCommissioner to UK
ISLAMABAD: Tariq Malik, Chairman NADRA, calling on Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf at the PM House.
Attack on spy chiefplanned in Quetta: Karzai
From Page 1improve security ahead ofthe withdrawal of Natocombat troops by the endof 2014.Afghan Talibanclaimed responsibility forthe attack. Karzai said themilitant group was notbehind the attack in theheart of Kabul.
Apparently the Talibanclaimed responsibility likemany other attacks but sucha complicated attack and abomb hidden inside his body,
this is not Taliban work,”Karzai said.“It’s a completelyprofessional (job)…Talibancannot do that and there arebigger and professionalhands involved in it.”Karzaisaid he would discuss theissue with Pakistani officialsduring a meeting in Turkey.“This is a very important is-sue for us and we hope thatthe Pakistan government inthis regard gives us accurate
information and cooperatesseriously, so the doubts wehave end,” he said.
Ties between Kabul andIslamabad have beenstrained by cross-borderraids by militants groups andaccusations that Pakistan onsome level backs Afghan in-surgent groups.
Pakistan denies the accu-sations and says it is com-mitted to helping bring peaceto Afghanistan.—AP
Salman FaruquiappointedFrom Page 1
ombudsman on a regularbasis.
Faruqui said 75,000 pend-ing complaints were piled upin the federal ombudsman’soffice of people aggrieved ofactions or in-actions of fed-eral institutions.
He said that his objec-tive would be to clear thebacklog of complaints dur-ing his period at the office,which he said he wouldserve without pay in anhonorary capacity.
Faruqui has previouslyserved as Secretary toformer Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto, and as Ad-ditional Secretary to formerPrime Minister MuhammadKhan Junejo
Faruqui has alsoserved as Deputy Chair-man Planning Commissionof Pakistan and Ambassa-dor-at-Large in the Minis-try of Foreign Affairs, andhas worked for several min-istries in the past.
Zardari visitsMalala inhospitalFrom Page 1
extremism and sectarianismfrom Pakistan.
On Oct 9, Yousufzai, 15,was shot in the head bygunmen for raising hervoice against the PakistaniTaliban and for allegedlyadvocating “Western,secular” values.
After receiving treat-ment at hospitals inPeshawar and Rawalpindi,she was flown to the QueenElizabeth Hospital in Bir-mingham where she is cur-rently undergoing medicaltreatment. Yousufzai beganstanding up to the PakistaniTaliban when she was 11.—Agencies
Army seeksFrom Page 1
carrying out the task. Mean-while, the commission, in thisregard, has also called ameeting with the army onDecember 13.
The apex court had askedthe ECP to carry out a freshdoor-to-door verification ofvoters in Karachi with theassistance of the army andthe Frontier Corps after re-leasing an interim order deal-ing with delimitation of con-stituencies in the city.
The court had observedlast month that constituen-cies in the metropolis shouldbe delimited in a manner thatthey comprise “mixed popu-lation” to avoid politicalpolarisation.
Sources said that the is-sue was also discussed in arecent high level meeting ofthe military leadership. Themeeting decided to formulatea line of action after gettingrequired details from the ECP,added the sources.
WASHINGTON—The U.S. mili-tary has detained more than200 Afghan teenagers whowere captured in the war forabout a year at a time at a mili-tary prison next to BagramAirfield in Afghanistan, USmedia reported on Saturday.
According to ‘abcNEWS’ report, the U.S. StateDepartment characterized thedetainees held since 2008 as“enemy combatants” in a re-port sent every four years tothe United Nations in Genevaupdating U.S. compliancewith the U.N. Convention onthe Rights of the Child.
The U.S. military had heldthem “to prevent a combat-ant from returning to thebattlefield,” the report said.
A few are still confined atthe Detention Facility inParwan, which will be turnedover to the Afghan govern-ment, it said. “Many of themhave been released or trans-ferred to the Afghan govern-ment,” said the report, dis-tributed this week.
Most of the juvenile Af-ghan detainees were about 16
years old, but their age was notusually determined until aftercapture, the U.S. report said.
If the average age is 16,“This means it is highly likelythat some children were asyoung as 14 or 13 years oldwhen they were detained byU.S. forces,” Jamil Dakwar,director of the American CivilLiberties Union’s humanrights program, said.
“I’ve represented chil-dren as young as 11 or 12who have been at Bagram,”said Tina M. Foster, execu-tive director of the Interna-tional Justice Network,which represents adult andjuvenile Bagram detainees.
“I question the number of200, because there are thou-sands of detainees atParwan,” Foster said Friday.“There are other childrenwhose parents have saidthese children are under 18at the time of their capture,and the U.S. doesn’t allowthe detainees or their familiesto contest their age.”
Dakwar also criticized thelength of detention, a year on
average, according to theU.S. report.
“This is an extraordinar-ily unacceptably long periodof time that exposes childrenin detention to greater risk ofphysical and mental abuse,especially if they are deniedaccess to the protectionsguaranteed to them underinternational law,” Dakwarsaid. The U.S. State De-partment was called for com-ment on the criticism, and arepresentative said they wereseeking an officer to reply.
The previous Americanreport four years ago pro-vided a snapshot of the fo-cus of the U.S. military’s ef-fort in the endgame of theBush presidency after yearsof warfare and anti-terrorismcampaigns. In 2008, the U.S.said it held about 500 juve-niles in Iraqi detention cen-ters and then had only about10 at the Bagram Airfield inAfghanistan. A total of some2,500 youths had been de-tained, almost all in Iraq, from2002 through 2008 under theBush administration.—Online
US: 200 teens detained inAfghan war
ANKARA—Secretary Gen-eral of the United Nations(UN) Ban Ki-moon saidthat they were fed up withviolence in Syria and the in-ability of the internationalcommunity to bring peaceto the Syrian people.
Speaking at a jointpress conference with theTurkish Foreign MinisterAhmet Davutoglu in theTurkish capital of Ankaraon Friday, Ban Ki-moonstressed that the interna-t ional community had tounite on the matter of Syria.
“Assad and the Syriangovernment would have tosolve the (Syrian) problemin the shortest time due tothe presence of the inter-national unity,” Ban Ki-moon underlined.
“I have thanked theTurkish President AbdullahGul and Turkish PrimeMinister Recep TayyipErdogan today for Turkey’shospitality to the Syriansand Turkey’s generosity,”Ban Ki-moon stated.
“The number of Syriansstaying in 14 differentcamps is now over 135,000.More than 70,000 Syrianslive out of the camps. Sucha large number of Syrianshave caused great securityproblems for Turkey as wellas financial burden,” BanKi-moon noted.
“By meeting Syrianfamilies today, I wanted togive them hope with thestrong support of the Turk-ish people and the UN,”Ban Ki-moon indicated.
“I want to express myappreciation for the gener-ous helping hand of theTurkish government,” BanKi-moon stated.
“I do appreciateTurkey’s open door policyfor the Syrians. The UNwill work for assistance tothe Syrians.
I cal l on the interna-t ional community to ur-gently provide humanitar-ian assistance to the Syr-ians,” Ban Ki-moon said.
“Turkey is a s trongpartner of the UN in manyissues. We are proud to
UN fed up with ceaselessviolence: Ban
have such a partner. Dur-ing a tete-a-tete meetingwith Minister Davutoglutoday, we discussed So-malia, Cyprus and Pales-tine and many othermatters ,” Ban Ki-moonstated.
Asked if he was st i l lhopeful on the issue ofSyria, Ban Ki-moonstressed that they were fedup with the violence inSyria and the internationalcommunity’s inabil i ty tobring peace to the Syrianpeople.
“It has been 21 monthssince the incidents in Syriabegan and more than40,000 people have died. Itis high time for the interna-tional community, and es-pecially the members of theUN Security Council, to actin unity on Syria and makemore efforts,” Ban Ki-moonnoted.
“I continue to work bybeing optimistic. We needthe unity of the interna-tional community to solvethe Syrian issue,” Ban Ki-moon said.
An international unitywould force Assad and theSyrian government to solvethe problem in the shortesttime possible, Ban Ki-moonst ressed.
“All Syrians l iving inrefugee camps in Turkeyand Jordan want the UNand the international com-munity to continue to workon Syria and to solve theproblem.
The Syrians want to re-turn home,” Ban Ki-moonalso said.
Turkish Foreign Minis-ter Ahmet Davutoglu saidthat their aim was to end thebloodshed in Syria and to
create a political change tobe shaped by the will of theSyrian people.
Speaking at a jointpress conference with theSecretary General of theUnited Nations (UN) BanKi-moon in the Turkishcapital of Ankara on Friday,Ahmet Davutoglu under-lined that it was impossibleto prevent the deepening ofthe crisis in Syria as theUN, and most specificallythe Security Council, couldnot display the necessaryattitude.
Thanking Ban Ki-moonfor his sensitivity on Syria,Davutoglu said that BanKi-moon on Friday visiteda camp that shelters Syrianrefugees in Islahiye townof the south-eastern prov-ince of Gaziantep.
What began as a politi-cal problem in Syria turnedinto a great humanitariancrisis and a civi l war,Davutoglu noted.
Secretary General BanKi-moon and we discussedthe issue of Syria in greatdetai ls on Friday,Davutoglu said.
“Our aim is to end thebloodshed in Syria and fa-cilitate a political change tobe shaped by the will of theSyrian people. SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon hasmade great efforts in thisregard.
He has done all he canin all phases of the Syriancrisis.
As the UN could notdisplay the necessary de-termined posture on Syria,the UN Securi ty Councilcould not prevent thedeepening of the Syriancrisis ,” Davutoglu indi-cated.—TN
Obama asks for$60b Sandy
recovery packageWASHINGTON—PresidentBarack Obama on Fridayasked Congress for $60.4 bil-lion in emergency funds torepair devastation fromSuperstorm Sandy, whichparalysed the US east coastwhen it hit in October.
“In total, the administra-tion requests $60.4 billion infederal resources for re-sponse, recovery and mitiga-tion related to HurricaneSandy damage in all affectedstates,” said Jeffrey Zients,White House deputy direc-tor for management.
“While much of this dam-age is covered by insurance,current estimates suggestthat a significant amount ofdamage is not covered,”Zients said in a letter to Re-publican House speakerJohn Boehner.
New Jersey GovernorChris Christie and New YorkGovernor Andrew Cuomosaid the package would en-able their states to “recover,repair, and rebuild better andstronger than before.”
Sandy, whipping up hur-ricane force winds and astorm surge, roared ashoreon October 29, killing morethan 110 people, flooding theNew York subway systemand knocking out electricityfor hundreds of thousandsof people.
The floods and wind alsodestroyed or damaged hun-dreds of thousands ofhomes, schools and hospi-tals, and created chaos in fuelsupplies after refineries andgas stations were damaged.
Obama’s request, whichwill likely trigger fierce in-fighting in Congress, is lowerthan the more than $80 bil-lion cost of the damage as-sessed in the three worst-hitstates, New York, New Jerseyand Connecticut.
Christie, a Republican,and Cuomo, a Democrat,were both at the WhiteHouse in recent days as ne-gotiations climaxed on therequest for funding outsidealready lodged budget re-quests that Obama will maketo lawmakers.
They said that in additionto repairing the damage, thepackage would fund “essen-tial mitigation and preventionefforts that will better protectour region against the dev-astating impacts of futuresuperstorms.”
“We thank PresidentObama for his steadfast com-mitment of support and lookforward to continuing ourpartnership in the recoveryeffort,” they said in a jointstatement.—Agencies
OUR CORRESPONDENT
TIMERGARA—The office forResearch, Innovation, andCommercialization (ORIC), atUniversity of Malakand or-ganized an orientation ses-sion on TiE Islamabad Busi-ness Plan Competition forstudents and faculty mem-bers. Chief Guest of the oc-casion was the Vice Chancel-lor University of Malakand,Prof. Dr. Johar Ali. The re-source person for the sessionFazli Subhan, Department ofManagement Studies, ex-plained different levels of thecompetition and entry re-quirements. The competitionwill take place at three levels,starting with a national levelbusiness plan competition atIslamabad, followed by TiEAll-Asia Business Plan com-petition, with regional final-ists going to participate inRice Business Plan Competi-tion, US, the world’s largestbusiness plan competition.
Fazli Subhan motivated
the students to ensure theirparticipation, and urged fac-ulty members to utilize thiscompetition for commercializ-ing their research which is oneof the main goals of the com-petition. He also gave a shortpresentation on preparing theperfect business plan and el-evator pitch. Dr. Rashid, Di-rector ORIC, also encouragedand motivated students forparticipating in the event. Hefurther stressed the impor-tance of ORIC and its role incommercializing scientific re-search at Malakand Univer-sity, and in promoting andfostering innovation throughhigher education institutionsfor the uplift of the country.
Dr. Waqar Ahmad, Man-ager Industry linkages (ORIC)concluded the session withpersonal thanks to the re-source person and organizersDr Arshad Ali and ShahKhalid, Chairman Departmentof Economics. Dr Arshad Alialso showed his determina-tion to keep pursuing the
competition and to make surethat the University ofMalakand gets national rec-ognition through solid par-ticipation in the competition.
****The department of Sociol-
ogy, Social Work and Psychol-ogy of the University ofMalakand, in collaborationwith the National Commissionfor Human Development, cel-ebrated the National Volun-teers Day yesterday, said apress release issued. The gath-ering primarily aimed at bring-ing awareness among the stu-dents regarding the spirit ofvolunteerism in national devel-opment and uplifting the sus-ceptible community.
Liaqat ul Mulk (DistrictVolunteer) of the NCHD ad-dressed the audience withhis practical experience of 30years as a volunteer andshared the skills he had got.Prof Dr. Johar Ali (Vice Chan-cellor) was chief guest on theoccasion. Liaqat ul Mulk saidvolunteerism was a key to
national development. “It isa philanthropic and blessedjob that predominantly aimsat serving the vulnerable andsusceptible community interms of social monsters andevils,” said Liaqat.
While talking about expe-riences as a volunteer, hisremarks were motivating andinspiring. Saifullah Zafar,General Manager of NCHDDir (Lower) thanked the de-partment of Sociology, SocialWork and Psychology, for itscooperation, and further en-sured its collaboration withthe University of Malakandwith a renewed zeal and zest.
The last speaker andchief guest of the seminar,was the vice chancellor, Uni-versity of Malakand, Prof. Dr.Johar Ali. He claimed himselfto be the first volunteer innational development expe-ditions. Prof. Johar, also high-lighted the key role ofvolunteerism and its lastingimpacts on national develop-ment and harmony.
Joint efforts mustto end corruption
M ZAFAR ANSARI
TOBA TEK SINGH—The De-partment of Anti-Corruptionin order to create awarenesabout the eradication of cor-ruption organised a publicrally here which was partici-pated by a large number ofpeople and employees of de-partment. The anti-corruptionrally was led by Director,Anti-Corruption, FaisalabadRegion and Amir Ijaz Akbarand DCO Syed Javed IqbalBukhari, Toba Tek Singh. Theparticipants of the rallymarched from the DCO officeto Shahbaz Chowk.
In their speeches Direc-tor Anti-Corruption,Faisalabad Region, AamirEjaz Akbar and DCO TobaTek Singh Syed Javed IqbalBukhari said that all seg-ments of society have towork jointly for the eradica-tion of the menace. “For theelimination of corruption, wemust work day and night sothat corruption can be elimi-nated completely.” Circle Of-ficer Anti-Corruption, TobaTek Singh, Ali Zeb also par-ticipated in the rally. The par-ticipants of the rally werecarrying placards and ban-ners.
Raja condolesSenator
Dogar’s demiseSTAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf on Satur-day expressed his profoundgrief and sorrow over thedeath of Pakistan PeoplesParty’s Senator MalikSalahuddin Dogar.
In a message to the fam-ily of Senator Dogar whopassed away in Lahore, thePrime Minister lauded hisservices. He prayed to Al-lah Almighty to rest the de-parted soul in peace andgrant courage to the be-reaved family to bear this ir-reparable loss with forti-tude.
BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI
HAFIZABAD—MPA Ch AsadUllah Arain on Saturday saidthat the Punjab Governmenthad taken various revolution-ary steps for safeguardingfundamental rights and em-powerment of women. He wasaddressing a largely attendedgathering at District Complexon International WorkingWomen Day observed inHafizabad and Pindi Bhattian.He said that workingwomenshould continue to play theirvital role for the progress anddevelopment of the countryside by side performing theirdomestic obligations.
He further said thatPunjab Government has de-cided to increase recruitmentquota for women so as toenable them to lead their liveswith respect and dignity and
also to supplement familyexpenses.
*****Green Tractor Scheme
would usher in green revolu-tion in the Punjab, declaredActing DCO Sohail AhmadKhan and MPA Asad UllahArain while giving keys ofGreen Tractors to the luckyballot winners. They said that93 growers were declared win-ners in the computerised bal-lot and so far 66 have beengiven the keys of green trac-tors. They said that the grow-ers should utilise this facilityto maximise their food outputand to better their socio-eco-nomic conditions. EDO Agri-culture Manzoor Hussain Nazand other Officers of the Agri-culture Department told thegathering that besides subsi-dized green tractors, improvedseeds, fertilizers and other ag-
ricultural implements were alsobeing provided to the smallgrowers and advised them toavail this facility.
*****A cheque of Rs. 25,000
was given to a poet, AzamTouqeer of Jalalpur Bhattianby Deputy Director PublicRelations Iftikhar Ali Shah onbehalf of Secretary Informa-tion in recognition of Azam’sPoetry. Azam Touqeerthanked the Information Sec-retary for his noble gesture.
*****Farah Masood, Deputy
Secretary Education hasbeen posted as District Co-ordination Hafizabad viceCapt. (R) Muhammad Asifwho had proceeded ontraining about a monthback. For the first time in thehistory of the district awoman officer has been
posted as Head of the dis-trict.
*****Clerks and other staff of
the DCO Office on Saturdaywent on strike to protestagainst Shoaib Hanjra advo-cate, his clerk MuhammadNaeem and others on thecharge of allegedly torturingone Abid Nazir. They de-manded registration of a caseagainst the advocate and hisaccomplices for theirhighhandedness.
*****Muhammad Nawaz, a
vegetable vendor of MangatNeecha was deprived of hiscash of Rs. 8,000 and cellphone by two armed banditsnear Head Sagar. Accordingto Nawaz the armed banditsalso snatched away cash andcell phones from three othervillagers at the same spot.
National Volunteerism Day observed
Steps to safeguard women rights
MULTAN: Ms Sultan Shaheen giving away an award to a special person during a function organized by Al-QalamOrganization and Civil Society Network.
Girl throws acidon ex-fiancé
OUR CORRESPONDENT
MULTAN—A girl allegedlythrew acid on her formerfiancé for breaking off theirengagement in Multan, af-fecting the eyes of the vic-tim. Muhammad Zubair, resi-dent of Shah Rukn-e-Alamarea, said that he engagedwith a girl named Beenish twoyears ago.
He said that he broke offthe engagement with herand reengaged with an-other girl. He said thatWaleed, a brother ofBeenish, stopped him atgunpoint after which herformer fiancé threw acid onhim. Police have recordedthe statement of the allegedassaulter and started inter-rogation.
Six gamblersarrestedSHER GONDAL
MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Policein a raid arrested six gamblersin Mohallah Tariqabad onSaturday. The SHO CivilLines Police Station, TariqWarraich, along with policeteam raided a den inTariqabad Mohallah andcaught six gamblers and re-covered betmoney amount-ing to Rs 39,000. A case wasregistered against the ac-cused.
*****Five persons, including a
woman, were injured in a roadaccident when a passengerwagon going to Sargodhawhen reached near RozaBridge on Sargodha Road,collided with a tractor trolleycoming from opposite direc-tion.
As a result five passen-gers namely Khyzer, SakinaBibi, Asif, Bashir and GhulamMurtaza were seriously in-jured. The wagon was par-tially damaged. Rescue 1122moved the injured to DHQHospital where they are un-der treatment.
OUR CORRESPONDENT
FAISALABAD—PPP CentralPunjab President and FederalMinister Manzoor AhmadWattoo said the massive par-ticipation of people in thepublic meeting in Faisalabadhad proved that it was astronghold of the PPP and itwould sweep the next gen-eral elections. Speaking at thePM public meeting on Satur-day, Manzoor Wattoo saidthat there was a no compari-son between leadership ofthe PPP or the so-called cham-pion of democracy, NawazSharif, and his allies. He saidthe PPP leadership had scari-
Faisalabad public participationproves PPP strength: Wattoo
fies their lives for democracyand rights of people whilePML-N leader Nawaz Sharifhad fled the country afterentering into a deal with dic-tator Musharraf and couldnot stay for some time in jail.He said the PPP believed inthe welfare of the masses andformulated policies for upliftand prosperity of the people.
He said the new manifestoof the PPP would focus onchanging the life of people,strengthening the nationaleconomy and saving themfrom terrorism. Wattoo saidthe PML-N leadership shouldnot forget that by-elections inPunjab were not being a yard-
stick for results of the forth-coming general elections andthe PML-N would have toface a crushing defeat.
He said PPP with the sup-port of people would aslo formgovernment in Punjab. Hepaid rich tribute to PresidentAsif Ali Zardari and said thathe had introduced politics ofreconciliation for strengthen-ing democratic institutionsand also voluntarily trans-ferred his powers to parlia-ment. Rana raps Wattoo as‘hypocrite’s ringleader’:Punjab Law Minster RanaSanaullah has said the by-elections were lesson for thelooters of national wealth.
ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Me-teorological Department onSaturday forecast mainly coldand dry weather in most partsof the country during next 24hours. According to met of-fice, Synoptic Situation/Out-look: Continental air is prevail-ing overmost parts of thecountry. Whereas, a shallowtrough of westerly wave isalso prevailing over northernareas of the country.
Cold and dry weather isexpected in Punjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Sindh andBalochistan during next 24hours. Mainly cold and dry,partly cloudy weather is ex-pected in most parts of Kash-mir during next 24 hours. InGilgit-Baltistan, mostlycloudy weather is expectedin most parts of GB. How-ever, light rain with lightsnowfall over the hills at isexpected at isolated places ofGB during next 24 hours.Multan Met office has fore-cast dry weather withchances of mist in the morn-ing for the city and its sub-urbs during the next 24 hours.
On Saturday, the maxi-mum and minimum tempera-tures were recorded as 26.4C
Met office forecastscold, dry weather
and 10.0C, respectively. Hu-midity was recorded as 87 percent at 8.00 am and 35 per cent5.00 pm. However, light rainwith light snowfall over thehills is likely at a few placesof Malakand, Hazara divi-sions, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan during next 24 hrs.
According to Met OfficeSynoptic Situation/Outlook: A
shallow trough of westerlywave is affecting upper partsof the country. Mainly Cold &Dry weather is expected in mostparts of the Punjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Sindh andBalochistan. However, rain withsnowfall over the hills is likelyat isolates places of Malakandand Hazara divisions duringnext 24 hours. In Kashmir, GilgitBaltistan, mostly cloudyweather expected with chancesof rain snowfall over the hills atisolated places of Kashmir dur-ing next 24 hours.—APP
ISLAMABAD—Secretary Elec-tion Commission of Pakistan(ECP), Ishtiaq Ahmad Khanhas said that code of conductswould be strictly implementedin the next general elections.He said that all the partieswould follow the code of eth-ics in the constitutional man-ner. Talking to Pakistan Televi-sion, he said that no body isabove the law in the country.
He said that ECP hadshared election code of eth-ics with all the political par-ties. He said that the electioncommission had given Mag-istrate powers to all Presidingand Returning Officers (PO)who will be appointed to per-form duties in the polling sta-tion. He said that ECP will alsoconduct training and work-shops for the staff members.
Secretary ECP said that strictaction would be taken againstthe people for violating lawsand code of ethics duringgeneral elections. Replying toa question, he said that ECPhad noticed the activities inthe recent by elections.
To another question,Ishtiaq Ahmed Khan said thata meeting would be held un-der Chief Election Commis-
sioner to review the electioncode of conducts. He said thatECP would ensure the nextelections in a free, fair andtransparent manner. He saidthat election commission isworking independently. Re-plying to another question, hesaid the matter of voter listsin Karachi would be taken upin the next meeting.
Meanwhile, Chief Elec-
tion Commissioner (CEC)Justice (retd) FakharuddinG.Ibrahim has said that theorder of Supreme Court (SC)in connection with the verifi-cation of voters lists inKarachi will be implementedin letter and spirit.
This he stated in sepa-rate meetings with the rep-resentatives of different po-litical parties, including Pa-kistan Peoples Party (PPP),National Peoples Party(NPP) and Pakistan MuslimLeague (PML-F) at the Elec-tion Commission of Pakistancamp office here on Friday.
Army to assist for free, fair elections
Conduct code to remain binding in national polls: ECPHe said the Election Com-mission had started prepar-ing a strategy in the light ofthe SC decisions regardingverification of voters’ listsand delimitation of differentconstituencies. The CEChoped that the work in thisregard would be started nextweek.
He said that the ElectionCommission, political partiesand civil society should haveto work jointly to ensure freeand fair elections in the coun-try. He also assured the repre-sentatives of political partiesthat each and every step would
be taken for holding free, fairand impartial general electionsin the country and no onewould be allowed to violate thecode of conduct. The repre-sentatives of political partiesalso put forward various sug-gestions for making transpar-ent and error free voters’ lists.
Earlier, former SecretaryElection Commission of Pa-kistan Kunwar MuhammadDilshad has said that ser-vices of the army should besought to control law andorder situation during forth-coming elections in the coun-try. —APP
BB’s death anniversaryOur Correspondent
LARKANA—Chief Minister Sindh SyedQaim Ali Shah has said that 5th DeathAnniversary of Slain Chairperson ofPPP and former prime minister ShaheedMohtarma Benazir Bhutto will be ob-served in most respectable manner.Lacs of people from all over the coun-try will come to pay homage to theirgreat leader at Garhi Khuda Bux Bhuttoon December 27, 2012. Talking tomediamen, after paying visit of the
mausoleum of martyrs of Bhutto’s Family at Garhi KhudaBux Bhutto, on Friday evening, he said that the ChairmanPPP Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Co-Chairman and Presidentof Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari, and other central leaders ofPPP from all over the country will address the huge pub-lic meeting on the occasion. Syed Qaim Ali Shah said thatthe PPP chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is expected toaddress the public meeting in Garhi Khuda Bux Bhuttoon the occasion of 5th Death Anniversary of ShaheedBenazir Bhutto. This will be the first event in which thechairman of PPP will directly address the public on theeve. He said that the program of death anniversary willstart from 8:00 am with reciting Holy Quran and visit tothe shrine of Shaheed Mohtrma Benazir Bhutto thenLanger will be served among the participants and needypeople. A public meeting will start at 2:00 pm to be con-cluded at 5:20 pm, so that at that 2 minutes silence will beobserved. A documentary film about her services for de-mocracy and addresses will be screened. The Chief Min-ister said that the purpose of his visit was to review thearrangement of the anniversary programme.
Social servicesStaff Reporter
PESHAWAR—Khyber PakhtunkhwaMinister for Information, Mian IftikharHussain has said that being a followerof Bacha Khan and social worker, hedevoted his whole life for the welfareand selfless services of the ailing hu-manity and establishment of MianRashid Hussain Shaheed Foundationwas a step towards this direction. This, he stated while receiving IT equipmentsfrom Provincial Minister for IT,
Muhammad Ayub Khan donated by Micro InnovationTechnologies, in IT Company for Mian Rashid HussainShaheed Foundation at Peshawar. The equipments in-cluded two lap-tops, one scanner, one printer and one fax-machine. The minister while referring to the martyrdom ofhis only son Mian Rashid Hussain Shaheed said this soilis our mother and we all were its sons. He added that wewould offer every sacrifice for its protection. He said thatMian Rashid Hussain Shaheed was his only son which hesacrifices for this land but if he has ten sons, would nothesitate to offer their sacrifices also. Mian Iftikhar contin-ued that side-by-side Mian Rashid Hussain Shaheed Foun-dation, he was also intending to set up a model orphanagelike Turkey as joint venture with provincial minister forsocial welfare, Sitara Ayaz where the orphans and helplesspeople would be given treatment on modern lines so asthey could enter into their practice life with dignity andhonour. He while thanking the Micro-Innovation Tech-nologies for donation to Mian Rashid Hussain ShaheedFoundation, also appealed the philanthropists as well asgovernmental and non-government organizations to helphim in this noble mission as it was the success in this andafter world. The minister maintained that Mian RashidHussain Shaheed Foundation was a welfare organizationwhich would be run with support of the people and whichprovide social services in different fields.
Billions spent on welfare: SairaOur Correspondent
HAFIZABAD—The Punjab governmentis committed to provide all basic needsof life to the masses at their doorstepsand is spending billions of rupees toexecute various development schemesin the province for upgrading livingstandard of the masses. Theses viewswere expressed by MNA Saira AfzalTarar while talking to this scribe. Shesaid that an amount of Rs.2 billion wasbeing spent on the completion of differ-
ent development schemes including construction of roads,establishing Trauma Centre, upgrading of schools and set-ting up new schools, etc. in the Hafizabad district. Reply-ing to a question, she said that Hafizabad-Pindi Bhattianroad has been completed at a cost of Rs.560 million whileconstruction work on the schemes of improving and wid-ening of Pindi Bhattian-Sukheki road was underway at acost of Rs.520 million. Responding to a query, she saidthat sports gymnasium, Hafizabad, and Special EducationCentre had been completed at a cost of Rs.11 million. Re-plying to another question, she said that provision ofownership rights to the people of ‘Kachai Abadis’ in thePunjab including Hafizabad was a poor-friendly step ofthe present provincial government. The Provincial gov-ernment had also taken grower-friendly measures for en-hancing per acre yield and improving socio-economic con-dition of the farmers in the Punjab including provision ofsubsidy on tractors and agriculture tools. Constructionwork on the project of rehabilitation Hafizabad-Gujranwalaroad has been started with the estimated cost of RS.1.70billion and would be completed by the end of this financialyear. She said hoped that people would vote to power thePakistan Muslim League (N) in upcoming general electionfor the progress.
Rana demands passport officesOur Correspondent
FAISALABAD—Federal Minister for En-vironmental Changes Rana FarooqSaeed Khan demanded passport officesat Tandlianwala, Sammundri and TobaTek Singh for the convenience ofpeople. In his welcome address, RanaFarooq Saeed also demanded allocationof funds for Khurarianwala drain whichpasses through various parts ofFaisalabad to save people from brack-ish water. He also demanded uninter-
rupted gas and electricity to the textile sector of Faisalabadto strengthen the national economy. Earlier, Interior Min-ister Rehman Malik on Friday approved 23 passport of-fices in various countries to facilitate Pakistani. Passportoffices have been approved in Italy (Milan), South Africa(Pretoria), Afghanistan (Kabul), Denmark (Copenhagen),China (Beijing), Hong Kong (Hong Kong), Belgium, Lux-emburg (Brussels), Japan (Tokyo), South Korea (Seoul),Jordan (Amman), Iran (Tehran), Singapore (Singapore),Thailand (Bangkok), Austria (Vienna), Philippines (Manila),Egypt (Cairo), bangladesh (Dhaka), Sri Lanka (Colombo),Nigeria (Abuja), Turkey (Istanbul), Brazil (Brasilia), Libya(Tripoli) and Darussalam. Interior Minister directed Direc-tor General Immigration and Passports to ensure the func-tioning of these 23 passport offices by mid January, 2013.The Minister issued directive during chairing a high levelmeeting to review problems of people related to issuanceof machine Readable Passports (MRP) in Islamabad.
QUETTA: FC personnel seen standing guard for on duty doctors outside Provincial Sandeman Hospital during thestrike called by PMA.
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Federal FinanceMinister Dr. Abdul HafeezSheikh has said education isvery important for develop-ment of the country andprosperity of people. Ad-dressing the 7th convoca-tion of Beaconhouse Na-tional University (BNU) onSaturday, he said it was atime to commit for buildinghuman capital. He said someelements wants to disfigurethe Constitution but thePPP-led government re-stored it in its real form.
The Minister said parlia-ment had strengthened theprovinces and now it was aresponsibility of the prov-inces to provide basic facili-ties of life to people like edu-cation, health. Maximum pow-ers were given to provincesso that they could play betterrole for the development of the
country, he added. Hafeez saidthere were 80 channels work-ing freely and courts were ac-tive in the country, adding thatthe rule of law was existing.
“Facing some challengeslike security and others but allof us should work together forbringing prosperity,” he added.He said in the last four yearswomen had been empoweredadding that we should avoidcynicism. He said “We havebig names in country fromwhom we can get inspiration.”He said each individual whorejected bribe and work effec-tively for progress of the coun-try was a hero of our country.The world was nervous aboutfood security and large debts.Damaging effects of climaticchanges were also causingproblems, The Minister said.About 315 graduates of differ-ent disciplines received de-grees while 23 students gotgold medals.
STAFF REPORTER
P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Governor Bar-rister Masood Kausar whileappreciating the perfor-mance of Captain KernalSher Khan Shaheed CadetCollege in a short span ofone year, has described it amarvelous addition in the
system of education of theprovince saying that indeedit is proving a befitting trib-ute to the great nationalhero, the Nishan-e-Haiderwinner.
Addressing as the chiefguest at the 1st parents dayfunction of the college at itspremises at Ismaila in Dis-
trict Swabi on Saturday, theGovernor further stated thatkeeping in view the appre-ciable pace, with which it isprogressing, we are rightlyjustified to expect that it willbecome a leading institutionof the country shortly. Theceremony, besides the par-ents of the cadets was alsoattended by the senior gov-
ernment officials includingCommissioner of Mardan Di-vision and a large number ofthe elite of the area. TheGovernor also witnessed anattractive exhibition of re-search projects by cadets.
Paying tribute to themartyrs of the armed forces,the Governor said, whether
those who had sacrificedfor defense of frontier or forsecurity and stability of thenation with the country;each one of them will al-ways be remembered asgreat hero of the nation.This institution, he re-marked, is a right attributionto Captain Kernal Sher KhanShaheed whose brave rolewill always be held at high-est esteem with great pridenot only by the people ofthis district and provincebut the entire nation too.
This, he added, is also thebest way, with which the de-veloped nations remembertheir heroes too. Highlightingthe importance of education,the Governor said, we oughtto realize that education is afoundation for nation build-ing process and achieving
prosperous future for a coun-try. In fact, he added, a goaloriented education is the onlybarometer to gauge thenation’s progress, because,he remarked, educated andwell-motivated youth alwaysplay a pivotal role towardsachievement of national goalsand objectives.
Referring to the certainpoints raised by Brig. FaqirRiaz Hussain in his welcomeaddress, the Governor de-clared to shortly hold a meet-ing of the Apex Committee,wherein necessary steps willbe ensured to resolve finan-cial constraints of this insti-tution.
Earlier the Principal of theCollege, Brig. Faqir RiazHussain presenting the An-nual Report of the Collegesaid that out of a total of 84
cadets, appeared in the re-cently held Secondary andHigher Secondary Examina-tion, 26 secured A-I followedby 57 with A grade while onlyone with 69 marks was ad-judged in B grade and thusthe overall result remained100 percent. Despite being anew institution, he added, itscadets are being offered allthe curricular as well as co-curricular facilities which areavailable in any of its sisterinstitutions in the province.However, he pointed out, thecollege also faces certain fi-nancial constraints whichdemand immediate attention.
A team of Pak Army com-mandos also presented athrilling Para gliding demon-stration from the nearby peaksof mountain and landed infront of the audience.
Kernal Sher College, a monumentaladdition to education system: Kausar
PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor, BarristerMasood Kausar giving away medal to a cadet at first Par-ents Day function at Captain Kernal Sher Khan SheheedCadet College at Swabi.
Education vital forprosperity: Hafeez
BANNU—Unknown assailantsgunned down husband, wifeand their three children atMiran Shah Road, police saidon Saturday. According to de-tails, unknown attackers en-tered into the house of UmarAli in Laka Khei area andstarted indiscriminate firing.Umar Ali, his wife and threechildren fell prey to the firingand died at the spot. The rea-son behind the gruesome kill-ing was not confirmed yet. Theculprits of the incident man-aged to escape from the crimescene. Police have registered
5 of a family gunned down byrivals; girl killed for honour
case and started probe into theincident.
Sargodha: A 17-year-oldgirl was killed for “honour” inCantonment police limits onSaturday. Police said thatNadia of Cheema Colony hadeloped with a man few daysago. Her parents persuadedher to come back, promisingto arrange their marriage. OnSaturday morning when Nadiawas making breakfast for thefamily, her brother Shafaat al-legedly shot her dead and fled.The body was handed over tothe family after post-mortem
and police have registered acase against the accused.
Meanwhile, in Sargodha,a youth died while anotherwas injured in a collision be-tween motorcycles inJhaverian police limits onSaturday. Police said thatMuhammad Bilal of KotImam was riding a motorbikewhen another motorcyclistMazar Hayat of Kalra Statecollided with him on theJhaverian-Sargodha road.Resultantly, Bilal died on thespot while Mazhar was in-jured. The injured was
shifted to DHQ hospital in aserious condition.
Multan: An unidentifiedman was killed after being hitby a train at General BusStand on late Friday. Accord-ing to police, a man wascrossing railway tracks whena train hit him.
Wah Cantt: One personwas killed and two otherswere injured when a speed-ing car hit them on GT Roadnear Saadat Colony here.According to police, IjazHussain, MohammadShakir.—APP
BalochistanPMA strike
enters 53rd dayOUR CORRESPONDENT
QUETTA—The strike of thePakistan Medical Association(PMA) has entered 53rd dayin Balochistan despite the re-covery of an eye specialist theDr Saeed Ahmed Khan. Doc-tors in Balochistan went onstrike on Oct 16 in protestagainst the kidnapping of theircolleague Dr Saeed Khan.
Later, the abducted doc-tor Saeed Ahmed Khan wasset free by the captives butthe PMA announced to con-tinue their strike demandingwithdrawal of cases lodgedagainst the doctors for enter-ing in the red zone and ensur-ing security to doctors.
Hundreds of patients re-turned without being treatedon daily basis causing greatincontinence to the lower in-come class who cannot affordhigh fees of the doctors.
Turkey supportcause of KashmirisTURKEY has once again won hearts of the people of Pakistan by
expressing its full support to the just cause of the Kashmiri people.Talking to a Pakistan parliamentary delegation in Ankara, Turkish
President Abdullah Gul said there was a great deal of awareness about theKashmir issue in Turkey, which was product of an unjust internationalsystem, hoping that dialogue between Pakistan and India would lead to anamicable solution.
This is not for the first time that the Turkish leadership has unequivocallyextended their country’s support to Pakistan on this issue as Ankara has beensteadfast in its policy on Kashmir since long. Turkey has been contributingits sincere efforts towards resolution of the longstanding problem and seek-ing an end to human rights violations of Kashmiri people. It has been raisingits voice and supporting Pakistan’s principled stand on the dispute at all inter-national forums in a steadfast manner. The most important aspect of its con-tribution is as member of the OIC Contact Group on Kashmir that has alwaysadopted strong resolutions on the issue, supporting right of self-determina-tion for Kashmiris and resolution of the problem as per aspirations ofKashmiri people. Turkey is so forthright in its advocacy for the rights ofKashmiri people that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the is-sue in his UN General Assembly speech last year, demanding early resolu-tion of the dispute for achieving peace and stability in the region. This issignificant in view of the fact that even some Pakistani leaders felt shy ofraising the issue at UN for sometime in their bid not to displease Indians.We appreciate statement of Mr. Abdullah Gul that there was great aware-ness of Kashmir issue in Turkey as this is confirmed by seminars and dis-cussions organized by civil society organizations in the brotherly countryas well as favourable media reports appearing quite frequently on the issue.We are sure that the categorical position of the Turkish leadership and peoplewould further deepen love and affection between the two countries. Wealso urge other OIC member States to join Turkey and Saudi Arabia inadding their voice for the sake of rights of Kashmiri people.
DPR to gowith rocket launch
TENSION is again brewing in the Korean peninsula over plans ofDemocratic Republic of Korea to make a second attempt of rocket
launch this year, which Pyongyang says is aimed at putting a satellite intospace but the United States and some other countries believe was a test ofa long-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile that would violate UN reso-lution and further destabilize the area. As a matter of principle, everystate has a right to take steps to bolster its defence keeping in view itsthreat perception.
North Korea, therefore, is within its right to develop defence system togive sense of security to its people but it must not threaten its peacefulneighbours. We have no reasons not to believe Pyongyang that the test isaimed at putting a satellite into orbit but the move has created panic as it isbeing interpreted differently by Washington that has also announced tosend its warships close to the region to, what it says, monitor the launchand its consequences, raising tension further higher in an already sensitivearea. Therefore, we will urge North Korea to take its neigbours especiallySouth Korea and Japan into confidence over its military or defence movesto ensure that these create no concerns in these countries. This is also nec-essary because as per opinion of military experts despite the fact that it isdifficult to know North Korea’s precise intentions or aspirations, its forcesare deployed along the de-militarized zone in such a manner that theycould support an invasion of South Korea. The US too has formidablemilitary presence in the region and any conflict would have catastrophicconsequences for the entire region. We would, therefore, also urge theUnited States and other influential members of the international commu-nity not to antagonize the North and instead engage into a dialogue pro-cess. We have also seen in the past that the attempts to isolate NorthKorea have created serious economic problems for the country and as aconsequence it has hardened its position. There is, therefore, no alterna-tive to dialogue based on sovereign equality and mutual respect.
Let Senior CitizensWelfare Bill be debated
WE have been hearing sloganeering and witnessing lip-service toresolution of problems confronting senior citizens but practical mea-
sures are non-existent. In this backdrop, the plans of the Ministry ofCapital Administration and Development to present Senior Citizens Wel-fare Bill in the parliament are surely laudable. Participants of a consulta-tive session were informed in Islamabad that a draft has been preparedfor presentation before the Parliament but no details were given as towhat it contained.
As it is for the first time that legislation on this important issue isbeing contemplated, it is all the more important that it is comprehensiveenough to take care of all aspects of problems and welfare of senior citi-zens. It is understood that after devolution of the ministries to provinces,the proposed bill would be applicable just in Islamabad Capital Territory,leaving majority of senior citizens out of ambit, who are living in prov-ince. Therefore, provinces should be taken on board in finalization of thedraft bill so that similar legislation is done in the provinces as well. Simi-larly, drafting of the law while sitting in drawing rooms is unlikely toproduce the desire results and with this in view we would propose pub-lishing it for soliciting public opinion. Public debate on issues and prob-lems being faced by senior citizens and how to safeguard their rightswould help make the legislative really potent and effective.
The effect of rote learning
Never too late tolearn.
This land is crazy. It is crazyas the kind of education thatwe are getting from time im-
memorial. Go to Macaulay who wasDPI during the British Raaj and wasalso appointed the Chairman of theQueen’s Commission. The Viceroyinterfered in his work and wantedhim not to give education to the In-dians commensurate with the Brit-ish. Macaulay stated to the Vice-roy that if he did not stop his inter-ference with the Commission ap-pointed by the Queen he wouldhave no other alternative but toresign the Commission. This putthe viceroy on the back foot.Macaulay was responsible for thesetting up of the Universities andthe various colleges-Allahabad,Punjab, Maharashtra and the col-leges like Government College,Forman Christian and Gordon Col-lege. His method indicates that hewas for innovative institutions. Thatis what the foreigners did for thissub-continent.
The connection between rotelearning and impact on society mayseem remote but the fact is that withrote learning there are certain ad-vantages but the disadvantages faroutweigh when we look at the cur-rent state of the so called enlight-ened institutions of this world. Theautonomy of these institutions isquestionable. Whether it is the Pa-kistan Steel mills or PIA or HEC orPakistan Agriculture research coun-
Classroomwar
Fresh figures published by theHoward League for Penal Reform give the impression that
the nation’s schools are hotbeds ofcriminality. Last year in England andWales, more than 200,000 childrenwere arrested by the police – 2,117of them aged just 10. Yet only a quar-ter were charged with a criminal of-fence; the rest were arrested for littlemore than pranks or mischief. InSussex, four youngsters were ar-rested for throwing sticks at a chest-nut tree, presumably to knock downconkers. An 11-year-old was ar-rested on suspicion of committing a“hate crime” after calling a class-mate “gay”.
Much of this sounds more likeJust William than serious delin-quency, and the police response canseem heavy-handed – many of thosearrested are required to have theirfingerprints taken and to provideDNA samples. Yet it is easy to seewhy it happens. Too often, the po-lice are being asked to intercede inincidents inside our schools that inthe past would have been sorted outby members of staff. However,teachers have become understand-ably wary of intervening physicallyin playground fights in case they facelegal action or even physical vio-lence, whether from the child or anaggressive parent.
The Coalition issued useful newguidance a year ago making it clearthat teachers can use physical re-straint – accompanied by sevenpages of detail that includes the less-than-comforting advice that if teach-ers follow the rules, “this will pro-vide a defence to any criminal pros-ecution or other civil or public lawaction”. Teachers deserve more ro-bust support than this. When they arerequired to keep order in the class-room or playground, they have theright to expect the law to be unam-biguously on their side. Until thathappens, it is hardly surprising thatthey will be more likely to call inthe police. — The Telegraph
*****
Transparencyreport
Economic growth anddevelopment need socialstability and the rule of law,
so that people and entrepreneurs feelthat it is safe to invest and seizeopportunities to improve their livingstandards and that of their families.Corruption — in any form — takesaway time and money from the mostvulnerable and diverts them to thepockets of thieves and bullies whoaccumulate disproportionate wealth,widening the income gaps whichcause social instability. This is whythe latest Transparency Internationalannual report, which shows that twothirds of the 176 countries surveyedcan be classified as “very corrupt”,should sound warning bells for thosegovernment officials andcommunity leaders working towardsa better life for all. While surveysshould always be interrogated, thetransparency report is based on datafrom independent institutionsspecialising in governance andbusiness climate analysis, such asthe World Bank.
At the bottom of the table areAfghanistan, North Korea andSomalia, clearly showing the linkbetween social instability, weakpolitical governance as well as a lackof transparency and corruption.Corruption thrives where there is nopublic accountability, no effectivelegal system or strong institutions ofcivil society. This also helps explainwhy Denmark, Finland and NewZealand are ranked as the leastcorrupt countries on the list. Thesurvey recorded high levels ofcorruption in countries that havebeen affected by the Arab Spring andthe Eurozone debt crisis. Hard timesoften force people into desperatemeasures, including crime.However, that cannot be an excuse.Much can be done to combatcorruption. Those who are thevictims of corruption can refuse topay bribes or when they arecompelled to do so — bycircumstances or intimidation —must report the crime. Companiesmust refuse to pay bribes and exposethose in their ranks who are willingto do so to secure tainted business.And the strongest possible actionmust be taken against governmentofficial and bureaucrats who try tosecure bribes. They often haveundue power that can be used toexploit the vulnerable, who theyhave a responsibility to assist andprotect. — Gulf News
MEDIA WATCH
—Proverb
cil they lack the abil-ity to govern them-selves. The threemuch abused wordsare governance,transparency and ac-countability. All theseinstitutions are un-likely and unable towork the system in afair and equitable
manner. When the HEC was not inoperation[Musharaf was the illegalPresident] Comsat was holding aseminar on Biotechnology I thenwrote to the Secretary Science andTechnology indicating that seminarswere normally conducted for tworeasons-information disseminationor ego dissemination [the third maynow be added-to be a lave to thepowers that be].
The seminar that Comsat wasconducting for the benefit of theMuslim countries was on biotechnol-ogy but the speaker was a person whohad no idea of biotechnology on theground. Musharaf latched on to himthinking that he would develop theeducation system. If today an auditis done the financial waste would in-dicate how the organization haswasted resources and howMusharaf’s relative in Cambridge hasbeen provided funds for no reasonwhat so ever. HEC developed a phan-tom reputation based on the amountthat he could give to the various uni-versities. So it became a funding or-ganization and a quid pro quo wasestablished. Any one who comeswithin their claws then ends up sup-porting them for the monetary gainsthat they can have.
It is unfortunate that in a countrywhere primary education is in tatterswe could think of higher educationwithout a base. Do you think that thecostly PhD’s that they were selectedon merit or were they relatives or
based on ethnicity or some form ofcronyism? Why not allow a perfor-mance audit to clear the apprehen-sions of the people. The first Chair-man held sway as if he was a Moguland under no compulsion to adhereto rules and regulations. A lot of ru-mors were and are going on and therewas a gang of four that did as itpleased. Those who have it usuallydecide what is to give to the poor andthe unfortunate. Imagine the ways ofthe HEC. They have been given muchmore and they gave it to those thatalready were head a lot more than therest of the society. What good arethese individuals or the institution thatthey are fighting for? It gave whereit was not required and where it wasrequired they were found wanting.
The trouble with my line of ar-gument is simply this that where asI understand my rights I do not un-derstand my obligations. Thelonger one is in one static positionthe worst it will get and the leastamount of obligatory actions willbe taken. We see this on the megaworld stage where all the regimesthat were in power for more than adecade [even three decades] finallywilted under their own weight.They were passing charity to theirpopulations and despite the fact thatthey were living under gilded situ-ations they were at a loss to lookafter their own country people.
When one is in a rote learning as-pect in education then the tables thatwe learn by a repetitive manner indi-cates a mechanical aspect that is be-ing reinforced in the mind. That tosay the least is not how creative mindswork. There are very few teachers/academics that stretch the mind thatour teachers used to do. The vernacu-lar education is riddled with rotelearning and the examination is noth-ing but a function of vomiting whatis taught. The teachers are happy with
Since ancient civilizations, water as the most essential component that breeds life, has
triggered clashes and full blownwars between its users and share-holders, a phenomenon that is be-ing replicated in the sub-continentfor decades now. The Pakistani ad-ministration had been aware of aperceived threat from India on thewater issue, and despite knowingIndia’s aggressive policy and un-reliable dealings in the past, havekept their eyes tightly shut on thethreatening menace that is on theverge of engulfing the nation if nothandled immediately and adeptlyby our leaders.
The first display of such ag-gression was seen and suffered byPakistan in its first year on 1stApril 1948 when India stopped thewater flowing from the canals onits side, denying water to a hugearea of sown and cultivated land.This water supply was restoredafter the Inter-Dominion agree-ment with India according towhich water could be used by Pa-kistan for irrigation purposes tillalternate resources were developedby Pakistan.
The seizure of water supply hadbeen dangling on Pakistan since,which forced both countries to seekhelp from Washington. After a se-ries of talks in Washington bothcountries managed to sign the IndusWater Treaty that gave India fullrights to use water from the east-ern rivers by building dams and bar-rages, it allowed limited irrigationuse of water from the western riverreserved for Pakistan. The Treaty
Water: A security concernbarred India from interfering withthe water of these rivers except fordomestic use and non-consumptiveuse, limited agriculture use and lim-ited utilization for generation of hy-dro-electric power. The treaty alsobarred India from storing any wateror constructing any storage works onthe western rivers that would resultin a reduced flow of water to Paki-stan. The Indus Water treaty, thoughvery effective, was taken as the lastword by the Pakistani’s who then,practicing their evasion-policy-on–all-important-matters became en-grossed in affairs of a much differ-ent brand that enabled them to sinktheir claws into the state’s resourcesand building barriers not for the ac-cumulation of precious water but theaccumulation of personal wealth.
Whereas, at that time, the Indiangovernment was busy in devisingstrategies for crushing the enemywithout even firing a single bullet.The earth swung on its axis for thePakistani’s for the second time in1984, when India announced its planto build the Wullar barrage on theJhelum River at the mouth of WullarLake, the largest fresh water lake,near the town of Sopore in the dis-puted Kashmir Valley, which Indiacalled the Tulbul Navigation Project.Work on this project was stopped af-ter protests from Pakistan.
Again, in 1992, Pakistan learnedof plans for another controversialwater reservoir, the Baglihar Damon the Chenab River, which was alsoallotted to Pakistani by the 1960treaty. Pakistan demands that Indiashould agree to stop all work on theproject till both the countries suc-ceed in arriving at a resolution. Ac-cording to the Indians there is noprovision in the treaty for stoppageof work and past experience in thiscontext has also not been productive
as the Indians felt that the technicaldiscussion on the matter indicatedthat convergence of views on someissues was possible, and again pro-posed that experts from both sidesshould continue their technical dis-cussions, which is indicative of themost notorious Indian time gainingtactics. What little remained of thedebilitated economy has been ex-hausted by the ongoing war on ter-ror that has for around a decade nowbeen slowly bleeding the nationwhile engaging its precious re-sources and manpower so that noattention is extended to the mattersof utmost importance.
Furthermore domestic incompe-tence and irresponsible behavior onthe part of IRSA in terms of waterusage and distribution also leads tosignificance loss of valuable wateras our rivers are losing a hugeamount of water to the seas due tothe lack of dams, storage areas andreservoirs that shows our own myo-pic vision. Moreover, the internaldispute between the two provincesof Punjab and Sindh over the un-equal supply of water had been acause of grave misery as IRSA wasunable to resolve a straight forwardinternal issue, then how do we planto make India see and accept ourviewpoint if we ourselves fail tostand on one platform?
The water dispute had been onthe Pakistani agenda for the compos-ite dialogue between both the coun-tries, but no progress was ever seenin the area as the Indian side failedto take seriously the concerns thatPakistan had raised regarding thebuilding of dams and reservoirs onthe Pakistani rivers, a move thatsurely violated the Indus WaterTreaty. The Indian side did not be-lieve in talking about anything thatwasn’t in their interest, therefore,
yielding no results whatsoever. Pa-kistan has been accusing India ofattempting to use water as ageostrategic tool for a long time, afact which is being denied by In-dian officials.
It has been perceived as an In-dian strategy to ‘strangle Pakistan’by completely hegemonizing itswater supply which if not stoppedmay lead to the worst famine andeconomic disaster. The armedforces of Pakistan too have showngreat concern as senior officialshave described it as a “defense se-curity concern” and that a numberof canals, drains and distributionsare essential in times of war.
India’s policy in the secretarylevel talks while being bilaterallyengaged was to stay focused on theunilateral Talibanized terrorism.This uncovers its evasive strategyto dodge the ‘Indian launched wa-ter terrorism’ with the backing ofthe Jewish lobby which can beclearly seen as both India and Is-rael have joined hands togetheragainst Pakistan as a common en-emy and have planned to turn thefertile lands of Pakistan into bar-ren wastelands.
Pakistan needs to wake up tothe real threats that encounter itand that is the governments in-competence in dealing with keyissues, to make its concerns beheard by the international commu-nity, to prepare a strong case andto make sure the outcome is in thenational interest. This is Pakistan’smost significant and pressing con-cern which the international com-munity should realize and supportfor a better global peace as Paki-stan too is a nuclear power. Indianeeds to realize that there cannever be peace in the region ifPakistan’s peace is threatened.
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this state of affairs. At the LondonBusiness school we were examine dina different way. The questions givento us were open ended with no rightor wrong answers and what were re-quired of us were the logic and thereasoning that was to get us themarks. We were allowed to take thepapers home and give a reply after asmany days as we thought that wecould take. The assumption being thatthe longer one takes to answer thequestion paper the longer and themore studies that will have to be done.
The philosophy of life is such thatthere are no absolute answers. Thosedays of correct answers are gone. Hasour education system kept pace withwhat is required? The failure is com-plete. Yet we have psychos abound-ing who think that no work is pos-sible without their being in position.The stand taken is equally silly. Sincethe tax payers money is involved andsince these guys are taking a lot ofbenefits is there no shame regardingtheir obligations to the people of Pa-kistan. More of the same is moreshame. If the President of the USAcannot have more than two terms bywhat standards dopes the HEC keepon giving its employees extensionafter extension. Is that all they cando? The trouble is that all of us areinvolved in conveniences.
Keep on the rote learning exer-cise and see what will happen toyou. Einstein’s theory of relativityand Newton’s physics are both out-obsolete. We continue with our re-gressive polices. HEC has to taketime out to understand that no oneis permanent in life. The graveyardis full of such people that thoughtthey were important and not re-placeable. We all go horizontal withtime and have space set out for usthat is 6x4 feet. HEC is part of thatsystem that is not immortal. Rotelearning. More rote learning.
Dr Zafar AltafEmail: [email protected]
Lubna UmarEmail: [email protected]
Voice of the People
West must prepare for Syria’s endgame
Over the past century, civil warshave been getting longer. Between 1900 and 1944, they
tended to last just one and a half years.By 1999, they stretched to an aver-age of 15. Will Syria, like Libya’seight-month revolution, defy thistrend and wrap things up within twoyears? Or, like Lebanon next door, isit fated to be a catastrophic slow-motion implosion that will plague theregion long into the future?
The answer remains unclear,principally because the end of theregime’s grip on Damascus is not theend of the story. We might see amessy retreat of loyalist forces out ofthe capital and towards the Levantinehighlands and coastal plains. Or thecivil war might mutate into a fratri-cidal battle pitting the anti-Assadjihadist factions against moderaterebels, or Kurds against Sunnis, ormilitia against militia. Now, the goodnews: these disturbing possibilitiesnotwithstanding, we are witnessingthe beginning of the end for the Assaddynasty, the last republican monar-chy of the Middle East. And events,
as they often do, are moving quickerthan our policies.
At the end of November, the CIAis reported to have estimated thatPresident Bashar al-Assad had justeight to 10 weeks left. With our at-tention on Gaza two weeks ago, wemissed the turning of the tide. Syrianrebels of all stripes began over-run-ning military bases on a daily basis.They seized heavy weaponry like ar-tillery and tanks, and acquired sophis-ticated anti-aircraft weapons, whichthey immediately put to use by shoot-ing down jets and helicopters.
Then, after months of indecisivefighting around Damascus, the capi-tal came under intense attack. Theairport was rendered unusable, EUand UN diplomats left the country,and the regime compounded its iso-lation by shutting down the Internet.According to the New York Times,Russian envoys to Assad “describeda man who has lost all hope of vic-tory or escape”. And he is not the onlyone: this week the regime’s most se-nior Christian figure, foreign minis-try spokesman Jihad Makdissi de-fected. Meanwhile, the deputy for-eign minister visited Cuba, Venezu-ela and Ecuador – presumably tosearch out opportunities for conviv-
Pakistan’s ranking on the Corruption Perception Index (CPI)has gone up. Against 42nd po-
sition in 2011, it was perceived to bethe 33rd most corrupt countryamongst 176 states in 2012, disclosedTransparency International Pakistan(TIP)’s Chairman, Advocate SohailMuzaffar in a media briefing on De-cember 5, 2012.
TIP has expressed concern overthe growing corruption in the coun-try, saying that the corruption of Rs.12600 billion was reported in differ-ent sectors of Pakistan during the lastfive years. TIP quoted NAB as hav-ing disclosed that the country lostseven billion rupees every day as aresult of misappropriation. The rea-son for the rise in corruption is lack
Corruption on the riseof accountability in thecountry. Earlier, Paki-stan had been declaredas the 7th most corruptcountry out of 97 in therule of law index of2012. Allah has blessedPakistan with plentifulof resources so that thecountry could grow,prosper and emerge as
a dignified State amongst the comityof nations. But, due to corruption,once a rising middle-income state, itnow figures amongst politically un-stable poor nations of the world.
How much the corrupt havestashed in foreign banks is anybody’s guess? However, one canform a fair idea from the amountkept by these persons in the banksof just one country – Switzerland.The amount is so huge that itprompted a Swiss banker, recentlyretired, to say: “Pakistan is a poorcountry but Pakistanis are not” be-cause they have “28 trillion(28,000,000,000,000) of Pakistanrupees deposited in Swiss Banks.”If our rulers bring back this moneyand invest it in Pakistan, we can have
US Army dupedSALMAN KHAN
“Wikileaks”, is not an actual leak,rather it is a set of Internal docu-ments of the US Government, wheredifferent Internal communicationsor HR files are discussed. They con-tain a wealth of information aboutthe US government’s thinking styleand their opinion on various Inter-national issues. Unfortunately, thefiles contain too much informationand requires years of reading to un-derstand everything.
One interesting point I cameacross while studying theGuantanamo Bay Prisoner files ofPakistani inmates, is how the USArmy was duped by the AfghanNorthern Alliance Forces. All of thePakistani inmates in GuantanamoBay prison handed over to the US bythe Afghan forces were below the ageof 25, with 40% even below the ageof 18. All of them categorically statedthat they worked as drivers, cooksand cleaners with the Taliban forces.None of them had any valuable in-formation to offer and most weretransported out of Afghanistan afterthey were interrogated by the US in-telligence service on the ground. ThePakistani ISI had also checked andconfirmed that these prisoners werenot dangerous and agreed to acceptthem to return back to Pakistan. Butthese prisoners were not ready to de-nounce their hatred for America tothe US Army, and thus were not re-leased from the prison.
This whole information shows,how the US Army was duped by theAfghan Northern Alliance forcesand were not given any actualTaliban prisoners, who could havegiven them any real intel on Talibannetwork, resulting into the US Armyheading blindly into occupying Af-ghanistan. The US Army is famousfor having real time information, butI guess with too many avenues ofinformation collection, most of thetime you will get misinformation.—Via email
Zero plus zeroDR GHAYUR AYUB
Recent results of bye-elections inPunjab in which PML-N had land-slide victory over combined candi-dates of PPP and PML-Q confirmsthat zero plus zero equals to zero.—London
Asif’s winapplaudedIQBAL HADI ZAIDI
Asif victory defeating Gary Wilsonof UK in Amateur Snooker Cham-pionship in Sofia, Bulgaria on Sun2nd Dec earning a gold medal is notthat simple thing as one may thinkof rather on the contra it is very bigand remarkable achievement not forhis own self but for Pakistan as wellparticularly at this point of timewhen we are dried up for quite sometime in many different sports be itcricket or hockey or athletics etc toname a few. It is very heartening toread that Asif on his return toFaisalabad, the place he belongs to,has been very warmly welcomedboth by the officials and the generalpublic. Heroic vehicular processionfrom Airport to down town tookpretty long time spanning over hourstogether though otherwise it takesmuch less than an hour to cover thesame distance. All those whowatched him passing through theirlocalities simply could not helppraising and praying for him. He hasbeen given 100,000 by the local ad-ministration while Punjab ChiefMinister Mian Shanbaz Sharif hasalready announced 1 million rupeesfor him and many more awards bothin cash and kind will be given to himin days to come from various com-panies, organizations etc. I am verysure that in addition to above, someindividuals too in their pure personalcapacity will honor Asif for earningsuch a prestigious award for our be-loved country.
It will be very much pertinentto just look at a glance as to howhard it must had been for Asif toreach to this level where he couldcompete with none but those whoare scaled up to international level.It must also be remembered that in
CNG turmoilCOL RIAZ JAFRI (R)
The SC has once again ordered not to change the CNG prices till December 17th. At the same timeOGRA has been assigned the responsibility of fixing the final prices for the CNG for the various
zones in the country. This tug of war between the apex court, the OGRA and the CNG dealers of fixingthe prices, revising them on protestations and then again partly accepting/rejecting them is causing greatinconvenience to the motorists and loss to the public transporters and Rikshaw drivers. The CNG deal-ers were not only happily selling CNG at Rs. 61.00 per Killo in July this year but most were also offering10 to 20 percent discount as well on this price. One wonders as to why are they now agitating againstreverting back to the July 2012 rates? Did the govt. raise the price of gas supplied to CNG dealers duringthis post July period? And if it did then in all fairness it must come clean and revert to the gas rates ofJuly and pre July period. One hopes it is not a deliberately engineered ruse of murking the water toexploit the ignorant consumers, or still worse, someone trying to disparage the present rulers in the eyesof the general public by creating such an uncertain situation ?—Rawalpindi
Views From Abroad
READERS
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are requested to typetheir letters legibly withdouble spacing and only onone side of the paper.
—Editor
tax free budgets for almost 30 years.In addition, according to analysts,we can generate 60 million jobs; wecan build four lane roads from anyvillage to Islamabad; we can ensureforever free supply to more than 500social projects; we can provide Rs.20,000 per month as financial assis-tance to deserving citizens for 60years; we can end our dependenceon the World Bank and IMF loans.
If the entire money kept by Paki-stanis abroad could be invested in thiscountry, imagine the state of devel-opment and the antecedent rise in thesocio-economic status of the citizens!The situation is ripe for a selflesshonest soul, like Jinnah, to motivatePakistanis to bring back their moneyto their motherland so that this na-tion could march towards progress,prosperity and glory. In literate na-tions, the role of awakening is usu-ally played by men of letters. As faras Pakistan is concerned, let us seewho wakes-up this nation from itsdeep slumber? However, the eliteconsider the present situation oppor-tune for continuing to skim nationalresources and amass wealth.
Consequently, the governmenthas its hands full of scandals of graft
Pakistan our players do not have samefacilities and opportunities what oth-ers have in Europe and other such likeadvanced countries so in our case itis mostly the player himself or her-self to exert more and put in extraefforts to shine out.—Kuwait
Protection ofwomen’s rightsMUHAMMAD UZAIR NIAZI
Societies through out the world haveevolved with the passage of time.Every society has different practices,which are influenced either by theculture or the religion. In Pakistanreligion has always been a drivingforce for whole of the society, withits proper implantation in differentwalks of life. On the other hand thereare circumstances when the culturalpractices are dominated with in a so-ciety, with a strong presence. It is veryimportant to dissect the society in todifferent segments according to thenature of different practices. Still weare in the phase where many uncivi-lized practices like violence againstwomen, acid throwing, child mar-riage, marriage to the Holy Qur’an,etc are in a vogue.
These practices have disturbedthe overall fragment of the society,and it is very important to cope withsuch uncivilized practices lawfully. Itis very important to develop certainlaws which must protect the peoplewith in the society from differentpractices, which they face in theireveryday life. Islam has laid a greatemphasis on delivering the rights ofthe women properly. The holy scrip-tures of Islam are full of different pre-cious examples, which are beacon oflight for all great emphasis on deliv-erance of women rights. Women inthis case are at the receiving end,where there life is totally ruined.Women in Pakistan comprise 51% ofthe whole population, and if thepresent wave of such uncivilizedpractices will continue then howcome they will participate in the de-velopment of the country.
The women in such conditionsare not in a position to nourish theirchildren’s in a proper way, and as re-sult their whole family system col-lapse. It has been studied that thefamilies where violence againstwomen is prominent, then it affectsthe children of that family very se-verely. Most of the time many psy-chological disorders are seen inchildren’s and their life becomes to-tally disturbed. So by keeping allthese facts under consideration it isvery important to improve the over-all safety net with in the society. Thedepartment of police with in a soci-ety has the ability to initiate differentsteps, which can help in eliminatingthe practices of violence against ofwomen. It is commonly seen that thepatriarchal mindset is commonly re-flected in our police departmentwhich leads to oppression of womenaffected from different types of vio-lence. In order to control the drive ofviolence against women in our soci-ety it is very important to introducedifferent reforms in the police struc-ture of Pakistan. The induction of dif-ferent standard operating proceduresin police department will help ineliminating the on going trend of vio-lence against women.
The adaptation of certain stan-dard operating procedures will helpin ensuring respect and protection towomen, which are in a need to seekhelp and assistance from police. TheSOP’s are meant to be a guide to stan-dardize the activity and help in giv-ing healthy results. The proper imple-mentation of SOP’s will also pave thepath to guarantee easy and immedi-ate availability of policing servicesto women victims of violence.—Islamabad
Turning overa new leaf
SHIREEN GUL
When two Pakistanis meet, gover-nance is a major topic of discussionbetween them, regardless of theirclass, education, or social standing.
Pakistan has suffered, in thecourse of time, from various issuesregarding governance. It has beenunder military rule for four times,during which, suppression of public
Strategy to combat unemployment
It is now a established fact that human resource constitutes a majorpillar of development of any coun-
try. Those who have invested in thehuman capital have reaped the ben-efits of rapid development, affluence,reduction in poverty which is consid-ered to be the biggest challenge asdeclared by United Nations. Coun-tries which have provided training totheir working class have succeededin reducing poverty to a great extentand thus improved the living standardof their nationals. The globalizationhas created a huge opportunity forqualified, trained and technical work-ers as they are in great demand in al-most every continent. Doctors, en-gineers, pharmacists, nurses, con-struction workers, urban planners andenvironmentalists are needed by ev-ery country, notwithstanding the glo-
bal financial crisis. Inaddition, there is persis-tent dearth of Businessand Banking profes-sionals in financialcapitals of the worldlike USA, UK,Singapore and Dubai.In the coming days, thisdearth is going to in-crease further rather
than decrease for two simple reasons:globalization of trade and commerceand doing away with trade barriersand need for qualified and trainedwork force to develop infrastructurefor massive projects which some ofthe countries with extra cash have em-barked upon.
They have and will need in fu-ture hundreds of thousands of quali-fied and trained workers to cater totheir needs. Thus the scope of exportof Manpower is far from over. Therole the expatriate workers play in thedevelopment of a country is set toincrease significantly as the remit-tance they send to their home coun-tries, now recognized to be the singlemajor source of contribution in itsGDP is constantly increasing. Theworld Bank, the IMF, the UNCTADand OECD have realized and ac-
cepted the fact that remittances haveplayed a major role in the develop-ment of manpower exporting coun-tries and improved the living standardof its people thereby reducing pov-erty. The table below will give an ideaof flow of remittances worldwide andits contribution towards GDP growth.It is note worthy that countries whichhave embarked upon providing worldclass training facilities to their workforce have succeeded in capturing amajor chunk of the available oppor-tunities where as country like Paki-stan has suffered because of negli-gence or will on the part of concerneddepartments/ministries, in the past.The fact becomes evident from thenumber of workers sent abroad bymanpower exporting countries dur-ing the last 10 years.
While Manpower Export occu-pies central and important place in theover all planning of a country (egPhilippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka)it has yet to get importance it deservesin our country as it has not yet beeneven given a status of a Ministry. Thesubject of training has been relegatedto a secondary importance and thereis no proper strategy or policy to in-crease manpower export and remit-tances which are the life line of the
country and reachedUS.$11Billion in 2011.TheLabour Attaches posted abroadwhose job is to procure maxi-mum jobs for our nationals aremostly un-trained and with ab-solutely no back ground in thelabour migration area, mostlybeing relatives of the people whomatter. Their performance ismore than evident from the man-power export figures of Pakistanwhich have shown dismalgrowth over the past three yearsas compared to other Manpowerexporting countries.
Another important fact whichconfirms increased Labour Migra-tion in the days to come is the lowbirth rate in the western countriesand massive shortages of skilledManpower which is almost certainto hit them. Countries which dotheir home work in advance andprepare for this opportunity willcertainly reap the benefits of thesituation. Thus the governmentneeds to acts fast in controlling thedamage done so far and devisewell-thought out strategy to en-hance flow of manpower exportand do proper planning for enhanc-ing flow of remittances.
ial asylum. The unprecedented rebelmilitary advances mean that we muststart thinking about the endgame it-self. We should avoid the illusion ofcontrol. We have only limited influ-ence over the direction in which Syriagoes, but there are constructive stepswe can take. Although Assad wouldgain little from using chemical weap-ons, desperate regimes make strangechoices. Last year, Colonel Gaddafipointlessly fired ballistic missiles to-ward rebel-held territory a week be-fore his regime collapsed. In 1991,Saddam Hussein lobbed 42 missilesat Israel. Nato’s deployment of thePatriot missile defence system to Tur-key is therefore prudent.
However, the greater danger isthat chemical weapons are seized byextremist groups, whetherHizbollah, which has been trainingclose to some storage sites, or Jabhatal-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate.Unless we can be sure that Syrianarmy units guarding chemical weap-ons will retain absolute control, itmay become necessary to secure, re-move or destroy at least some of thestockpiles. This would require a US-led Jordanian force, assisted bytrusted Syrian rebels, with Britainand other states likely playing a role.
and kickbacks, but we have notseen even a single resignation orhead rolling as yet. No nation candevelop to its full capacity orprogress or realize its full poten-tial if its social system is plaguedby corruption and inefficiency.Corruption not only causes a severedrain on the national economy, italso acts as a major disincentive toserious foreign investment. Imag-ine, if the corrupt continue to leadand the country’s Police and para-military units keep getting sub-standard equipment then the livesof the personnel of these formationsare being put at risk by those whohave no scruples when it comes tomaking money.
If authorities are serious aboutrectifying the situation, they need tomake a beginning by eliminating theculture of favouritism, nepotism, un-derhand deals, and lack of transpar-ency. Until that is done, Pakistan’sdevelopment and progress will con-tinue to remain tardy and the big fishcaught with their fingers in the piecontinue to walk away with theirmisdeeds.—The writer is a based-Islamabadfreelance columnist.
If rapid destruction or removal isimpossible, then the sites should beprotected by Arab forces. A large-scale Western footprint would beunacceptably dangerous, andshould be ruled out entirely.
In the interim, we should be re-asserting the offer of safe passagefor Assad. However improbable, itwould be far preferable to a laststand which leaves Damascus inruins. We should also be thinkingof ways to protect Syria’s minori-ties, particularly Assad’s Alawitesect, from what could be horrificretribution. Regrettably, this canprobably only be done by keepingthe Syrian armed forces from dis-solving or being disbanded, as oc-curred in Iraq in 2003. We shouldalso be unafraid of talking to Rus-sia and Iran about these contingen-cies. There is little to be gained byignoring potential spoilers. Over thecoming months, there is everychance that Bashar al-Assad willreceive a bullet in his back – verypossibly from his own side. Whenthat occurs, let no one say we wereunprepared.—The writer is a research fellowof the Royal United Services Insti-tute. Courtesy: The Telegraph
Shashank Joshi
opinion and opposition was carriedout, which resulted in the develop-ment of hatred and disillusionment inall strata of the society. During therule of democracy, the nation haswitnessed lawlessness, target killings,terrorism, inflation, unemployment,depravity and many other plagues attheir pinnacle. Due to consistently in-competent governance, the people incertain cases , have resorted to vio-lence to get their issues solved, forexample, the agitation in Faisalabadagainst the heavy load-shedding inthe industrial hub resulted in the re-duction of load-shedding hours in thecity. However, these problems havemade us aware of the fact that goodgovernance will not be attained with-out collective effort as a nation.Pakistanis, especially the youth, havechanged their approach towards poli-tics by increasing their participationin public gatherings organized byemerging political figures. This mightbe an omen of improving political in-sight among the public.
However, there are still shortcomings in our attitude towardsachieving good governance. The na-tion does not show a huge turnoverin the elections, and a large numberof voters vote on the basis of wronginfluences, such as race, social pres-sure, personal gain and personal en-mity, which naturally produces dis-appointing outcomes. Moreover, theuse of violence to solve issues is acondemnable approach, which onlycomplicates the problems in the longrun. Therefore, each and every per-son should vote to a candidate whois a dynamic, educated and dedicatedpolitician, and should refrain fromagitation while making his or hervoice reach the ears of the leadership.
Pakistan’s youth, indeed, havethe potential to pull the country outof the stagnant darkness it has beenengulfed in for the past sixty-fiveyears, into the bright sunshine of hopeand change. As the nation seems tolearn from its past experiences, theyouth will, hopefully in the near fu-ture, put Pakistan on the track to goodgovernance.—Islamabad
Championstrophy
IFTIKHAR MIRZA
Pakistan lost semi final on Saturdayagainst Netherlands 5-2. With this thedream of winning Champions trophycame to an end. Although hockey lov-ers had pinned hopes with team butsemi-final proved a hard nut to crackfor Pakistan.
From beginning to end of matchDutch team kept on pressure and wefailed to capitalize moves,i,e. con-verting passes into goals. Anyways,over all performance of hockey teamremained good and must earn acco-lades from all quarters. Well donePakistan Hockey Team. Try to lift tro-phy next time.—Islamabad
Whyby-polls now?
SYED MUZAMMIL HUSSAIN
Recently by elections for some va-cant seats of national and provincialassemblies were held in Pakistan.People wonder why these by elec-tions when the tenure of existing as-semblies is going to end in the midof March, 2013.
Although it is provided in theconstitution to hold by elections asand when a seat is vacated due to anyreason, however just before the com-mencement of general elections, it isjust wastage of national wealth. TheChief Election Commissioner shouldhave cancelled by elections on thispoint of time.The Chief Justice ofPakistan always takes care of the na-tional interests , but in this case heremained silent. Why?—Islamabad
We need to learn to be whowe actually are! Thoughwhat we see more than
before are clones. We are all cre-ated to look different, think differ-ent and speak different, we findsafety in being similar, and thereinlies the problem.
In similarity comes lack of con-viction and courage. We don’t wantto stand out and be different. We feelwe’re asking for trouble if we doso, and in a strange way cloning isthus taking place using a differentprocess than Dolly the sheep thatwas cloned method.
But do we want to be clones?This article sent to me by e-mailmakes interesting reading: TallulahBankhead quipped, “Nobody can beexactly like me. Sometimes even Ihave trouble doing it.”
But the truth is...we DO havetrouble being ourselves, don’t we?Especially in a world that wants usto conform. “To be nobody butyourself in a world that is doing itsbest day and night into making youlike everybody else,” said poet E.E. Cummings, “is to fight the hard-est battle there is and never stopfighting.”
One of the deepest cravings ofyoung people, especially teens, is tobe liked by their peers. They want tobe accepted. Like all of us, they wantto be valued. It’s during those criti-cal teen-age years, according to EarlNightingale, that they begin to play a
game called “Follow the Follower.“The game is not the same as “Fol-low the Leader.” Following the fol-lower is about conforming...talking,dressing, acting and thinking like oneanother. Everyone follows everyoneelse. In adulthood, we discover whowe really are and do our best to growinto that person. We find our value,not in acceptance by others, but be-cause we believe in our worth. It’s awonderful day when we can say inhonesty, “I know who I am and I’mglad I am me.”
The lovable children’s author Dr.Seuss got it right when he wrote, “Bewho you are and say what you feel,because those who mind don’t mat-ter and those who matter don’t mind.“It takes strength to swim against thetide.” “It takes courage to speak yourconvictions.” “It takes trust to act onyour own intuitions.” In the end, your
Being who you are..!success will always be a result ofyour being true to yourself ratherthan an imitation of somebody else.
You’ll never have to give an ac-count for not being more like yourfavorite celebrity, that shining starin your chosen field or anybodyelse. However, at the end of my life,the question I never want to beasked is, “How come you weren’tmore like you?
You had such great potential.You were a wholly unique person—an unrepeatable creation. Whyweren’t you more like you?” What-ever your ambitions, your greatestsuccess will be derived from yourbeing the best You possible. In aworld that wants you to conform— be yourself. It’s a challengingand rewarding job...and nobody cando it as well as you..!—Email:[email protected]
Rashid A Mughal Email:[email protected]
Alauddin Masood Email:[email protected]
NORINE MACDONALD QC & JORRIT
KAMMINGA
WITH all combat troops scheduledto be withdrawn from Afghanistan by the end of 2014, the negotiations taking place in Kabul
on the presence and role of U.S. troops inAfghanistan beyond that point must includea plan for a Contingency Force as part of thetroop drawdown. And the United Statesshould take the lead in establishing this Con-tingency Force, either under the flag ofNATO, or as a new coalition concerned withsecurity and stability in Afghanistan in com-ing years. The only alternative under discus-sion within the Obama administration at themoment is the possibility that some SpecialForces stay behind in Afghanistan to workin an advisory or training capacity. Similarly,any U.S. residual force that will stay behindfollowing negotiations will likely have a lim-ited role, with additional U.S. military usedprimarily as force protection: protecting U.S.and international trainers instead of directlyassisting ANSF if needed. The residual forceoptions that are currently being discussedare mainly related to support for training ef-forts and counter-terrorism operationsagainst transnational terrorist groups. Thiswould not be considered a ContingencyForce.
In fact, a counter-terrorism residual force,consisting of Special Forces and other troops,can be much smaller if a proper ContingencyForce is in place for Afghanistan. Establish-ing this contingency capacity means thecounter-terrorism officers would not have todeal with the emergency situations describedin this article. A too rapid drawdown?: Onemight argue that the curent NATO troopdrawdown calendar (2011-2014) was basedmore on domestic political agendas than on-the-ground security. The result has been anextremely tight and relatively inflexible tran-sition calendar, which leaves few options torespond to potentially changing securitydynamics or attacks by the various ‘Taliban’
insurgent groups.omestic political pressure for a rapid draw-
down inside the United States, other NATOcountries, and Afghanistan has been rein-forced by four key factors. In the U.S. andNATO countries there are calls for ‘an end tothe war and return of the troops,’ combinedwith a repositioning toward concerns in theMiddle East (particularly Iran and Syria, butalso Yemen). Simultaneously, officials in theUnited States and other NATO countrieshave become increasingly disillusioned with
After such a period, other countries will take their place, sharing the burden and making sure a nation’s contingency troops are only committedin small numbers and for a limited amount of time. Location: The foreign Contingency Force could be stationed in or close to Afghanistan. For thelatter option, contingency troops stationed in, for example, one of the Central Asian Republics, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait or the UAE, could be logisti-cally more challenging but politically easier to ‘sell’ than troops stationed in Afghanistan. Another option is to choose several locations, increasingflexibility and linking the Contingency Force to Afghanistan’s main geographical areas and the ANSF units operating in these areas.
MICHAEL PECK
AND other benefits of an extraterrestrial invasion. Howdo you know that a videogame is science fiction?
When it portrays Saudi Arabian andEgyptian soldiers fighting side-by-sidewith Israeli troops. Such camaraderieseems as fanciful as warp drive andtime travel. But if you can accept thatIsraelis and Arabs would rather killaliens than each other, then you willdiscover that XCOM: Enemy Un-known is one of the best strategygames ever made. Alien invasion is anold mainstay of science fiction, and sois XCOM, which first debuted in 1994,and went on to become a cult classic.While the 2012 remake features bettergraphics and smoother gameplay, it stillretains that same innovative mixtureof nasty aliens, high technology, andimpending doom.
The game’s premise is that extra-terrestrials have arrived with high-techweapons in their tentacles and murderin their hearts (or equivalent organs).At first they come in raiding parties toabduct or terrorize humans, but itgradually becomes evident that theyhave a more terrifying goal in mind.The nations of Earth respond by form-ing XCOM (with you the player asXCOM commander). The organizationis governed by the shadowy andvaguely sinister XCOM Council, con-sisting of 16 nations, including theUnited States, Canada, Brazil, Germany,Nigeria, and China. Each nation con-tributes a certain level of funding eachmonth that enables the military arm ofthe organization to battle the extrater-restrial invaders. If XCOM fails to stopalien raids against a Council member,that nation will withdraw itself and itsfunds from the alliance.
XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a text-book of classic SF and horror creatures.There are the frail Sectoids, who look
like your classic 1950s Roswell aliens;the spider-like Chrysalids, whose biteturns humans into zombies;Cyberdiscs that resemble floatingmarshmallow pies (if snack cakes werearmed with directed energy weapons);and Muton, warriors who suggest thealiens successfully bred psychotic go-rillas with NFL linebackers. It turns outthat an advanced alien race geneticallyengineered these creatures for variousfunctions and even embedded me-
Alien War Brings Mideast Peacechanical devices in their bodies (per-haps they intercepted old broadcastsof The Six Million Dollar Man?). Myown gruesome favorites are the Float-ers, who have rocket motors in theirtorsos instead of legs. Who needs theV-22 Osprey? Now this is tactical mo-bility! It is a rule that all alien defense
organizations must have an under-ground base, and XCOM is no excep-tion. The XCOM commander’s firstdecision is to choose a location, withdifferent continents offering variousbonuses. North America has cheaperaircraft maintenance costs, Europecheaper infrastructure, and in a maca-bre twist South America offers fasterinterrogation of captured aliens. By thetime those old Argentinean and Chil-ean generals are done, even ET willconfess to being a communist.
Once a site is chosen, the playercan build various facilities there suchas labs, workshops and containmentfacilities for captured aliens. The baseis also a barracks, with soldiers recruited
from a smorgasbord of countries, in-cluding South Africa, Japan, andMiddle Eastern nations such as Egyptand Israel. The most important aspectof the strategic game is research. Hu-manity begins the game outgunned;strangely for an advanced militaryforce, XCOM troopers go into battlearmed with 1990s-style light infantrygear (rifles, machine guns, grenades,rocket launchers, and body armor).
They must confront aliens armed withplasma beam weapons, biogeneticallyarmored skin, and exotic capabilitiessuch as psionic attacks. The moral ofthe story is that you don’t bring anassault rifle to a death-ray fight, butXCOM must soldier on until betterweapons are developed. As always in
science fiction, science does come tothe rescue, in the form of a German-speaking female scientist with a talentfor interrogating captured aliens (per-haps she was recruited in SouthAmerica?). Assuming she doesn’t endup on trial in The Hague, her lab willdevelop a series of high-tech weap-ons and devices, mostly based oncaptured alien technology, that can befabricated by XCOM’s workshops.However, only one research projectcan be pursued at a time, so the XCOMcommander must prioritize betweenlines of research such as better weap-ons, armor, and interceptors. Yet thereal obstacle in the interplanetary armsrace is that most advanced gear re-quires unearthly raw materials that canonly be obtained from wrecked alienspacecraft and fallen alien warriors.Thus XCOM must make the war payfor itself: the more aliens it destroys,the more resources it captures to fuelits own capabilities.
The tactical portion of the gameensues when troops are dispatchedto the site of an alien raid, or during aspecial mission such as retrieving atop scientist caught in an alien attack,or when a team is dispatched to thecrash site of a downed alien space-craft. No such luck in XCOM, though.The aliens will raid three cities simulta-neously, and the sole XCOMSkyranger transport with its six-troopercombat team can only respond to oneattack at a time. Once on the ground,the aliens are formidable fighters.
—Courtesy: FP
H A HELLYER
WITH the violence thatbroke out in front of thepresidential palace inEgypt yesterday, one
can no longer describe the constitu-tional draft produced under theMohamed Morsi government, as just“flawed.” In process, the draft isabysmal. In context, it revises his-tory. In content, it is silent, vague,and problematic. In consequence, itis bloody. It isn’t just that Egypt cando better. Ratifying this constitutionwould reward, and deepen, polariza-tion — and the goals of the January25 revolution would be that muchfurther away from being achieved.The most obvious problems with theconstitutional draft are procedural.The process was supposed to de-liver a representative constituentassembly, which would produce aconsensus-based document that theoverwhelming majority of Egyptianswould sign up to, and feel investedin. The first assembly was dismissedin April, after the supreme adminis-trative court pointed out members ofparliament could not elect them-selves onto the assembly, and thatthe assembly involved too fewwomen, young people, and represen-tatives of minority groups.
Most hoped that the next assem-bly would be more representative. Itwas, initially, but it was still over-whelming Islamist, and still includedmembers of parliament. With the dis-missal of parliament shortly thereaf-ter, President Morsi had the legisla-tive ability to reappoint a new assem-bly altogether, which he could havedone in conjunction with other po-litical forces, ensuring a popular con-sensus. Instead, the president pro-tected the Islamist-dominated assem-bly for months despite widespreadcriticism and the resignations of themajority of non-Islamist politicalforces. In his recent decree allocat-ing himself freedom from judicialoversight, Morsi declared the assem-bly had three more months to com-plete its work. A few days later, heignored his own decree. Instead ofthree months, the assembly was di-rected to complete its work in a mat-ter of hours, in a process even moredominated by Islamists after theoverwhelming majority of non-Islam-ists withdrew in protest. If the firstassembly was unrepresentative, thisone was even more so.
That procedural disaster extendsto the referendum, which is sched-uled at the end of next week. It’s likelya majority of Egyptians will not evenunderstand the draft, considering thetime frame: and rather than being aforce for consensus building, the
A Better Egyptian Constitutiondraft, by virtue of the process thatproduced it, is a force for deepeningpolarization in Egypt. Beyond theprocess, the context of the draftmakes things more bizarre. It is clearin the past two years the transitionhas been, to put it politely, less thansmooth owing to the decisions of theEgyptian military leadership. Yet, thedraft implies that they protected andupheld the revolution. That will benews to the protest movement thatdirected its ire against the military forthe past two years. Then again, theconstitution also protects the right of
the military to try civilians in militarycourts — so perhaps there is morethan enough strange news to goaround.
The content of the constitutiondoes not make for absolutely awfulreading, it should be said. It is not to-
talitarian, although it provides an in-credible amount of power to the ex-ecutive, without according a sufficientcheck from the legislative. Nor does itcreate a conservative Islamist theoc-racy, even though it does vest the statewith powers to enforce and preserve“morality.” But the people of Egypt didnot engage in a popular revolution fora constitution that was not “awful.”No constitution was ever going to beperfect: but this constitutional draft ismediocre at best. At worst, it is opento incredible abuse a problem in a so-
ciety increasingly riven by mistrustand damaging splits. It privileges thestate above and beyond civil societyin so many ways, giving the statepowers to intervene in areas where itshould have no competency. More-over, it provides the executive withsuch power that autocracy is incred-ibly tempting, if not mandatory. Con-sidering that the revolution owes itsvery existence to civil society, andEgyptians revolted largely against thedictatorship of former President HosniMubarak, that is hardly an encourag-ing affirmation of the revolt. Protec-
tion and encouragement of civil soci-ety should have been at the core ofthis constitution — it almost seemsbarely tolerated, instead.
And finally, in consequence: it isbloody. This draft, as far as the sup-porters of Morsi are concerned, must
go through. It must be put to a refer-endum. Opposition to him, his decree,and his draft, is no longer simply apolitical disagreement that can be ra-tionally disputed. Rather, it is a sign ofa more existential battle against theMuslim Brotherhood (MB). It is thatworldview that unfortunately led tosome of Morsi’s supporters descend-ing upon a peaceful protest in front ofthe presidential palace yesterday, re-sulting in a predictable conflict that ledto 6 people dying.
—Courtesy : MIdeast Channel
Yet despite the specter of alien conquest, the scarycreatures and burning cities, XCOM is a fundamentallyoptimistic game of the future. It offers an almost Star Trek-ianworld where humanity puts aside its differences and workstogether toward a common goal. Yes, national self-interestdoes rear its ugly head.
“We don’t even get documents in advance. That makes itvery difficult for us to participate,” Kanti said at a COP 18 sideevent. “Many board members are unaware of indigenous is-sues.” Strong safeguards will also need to be combined with
monitoring and verification and a “grievance” mechanism acces-sible to local people should a Green Climate Fund-financed
project be having a negative impact, said Nira Amerasinghe ofthe Centre for International Environmental Law.
Preparing for the worst: A call for an Afghanistan Contingency Forcethe Karzai government, and concerned aboutthe deeply troubling ‘insider attacks’ on
NATO troops. These political dynamics havecreated real pressures for a fast-paced troopwithdrawal - confirmed by the U.S. Senate
recently voting in favour of an acceleratedwithdrawal - and a neglect of a larger consid-eration of the security risks related to theupcoming fighting seasons.
The deliberations that existed around con-tingency planning during the drawdown ofU.S. forces in Iraq are almost completely miss-ing in the case of Afghanistan - and those
that do surface are mainly related to safe-guarding security during the upcoming presi-dential elections in 2014 or counter-terrorismin the region. This ignores both the possiblethreats of the 2013 fighting season, or othersecurity issues that might arise in the yearsfollowing. Why do we need a ContingencyForce? Firstly, a Contingency Force wouldprovide an additional guarantee for the safetyof foreign interests, infrastructure and staff,such as the diplomats at consulates and em-bassies, should these come under attack. The
recent attack on the U.S. Consulate inBenghazi, Libya, the coordinated attack on
the U.S. Embassy in Kabul in September 2011and the Indian Embassy bombings in Kabulin 2008 and 2009 are sufficient cases in point.
Secondly, the Contingency Force wouldoffer a safety valve while Afghan NationalSecurity Forces (ANSF) grow in numbers,strength and confidence in an environmentthat will remain uncertain and unstable forthe foreseeable future. Will ANSF be able andwilling to respond to serious insurgent at-tacks before and after the transition end date
of 2014? Despite progress in some areas, par-ticularly in terms of handing over responsi-bilities to ANSF as planned, there is a riskthat increased insurgent activity in the southor elsewhere in Afghanistan could lead tounmanageable situations. The actualstrengths and weaknesses of ANSF are notthe essential point. What should be the fo-cus is proper planning to respond to the pos-sibility that ANSF could be confronted by amanner or level of insurgent attack in theSouth that means they cannot hold the coun-
try together. Since the build up of ANSF issuch a key element of the transition plan (and
exit-strategy) ‘narrative,’ we see a dynamicthat any public discussion of possible futurefailure of ANSF, and planning for that con-tingency, is considered ‘off-message.’ Thiscould ultimately lead to a failure of the entiretransition project.
The actual current strengths and weak-nesses of the insurgency are also not par-ticularly relevant to the calculations that aContingency Force is needed. Contingencyplanning does not depend on a complex de-bate on the current strength of the Talibanand ANSF; one need only acknowledge apossibility that the Taliban could produce anew security dynamic, which we argue wouldmost likely be focused in southern Afghani-stan. Possible scenarios of concern couldinclude, for example, blockading theKandahar-Kabul road or the road betweenKandahar and Lashkar Gah, a move into thesuburbs of Kandahar City, taking overLashkar Gah and blocking the bridges overthe Helmand River, or gaining control of theSpin Boldak border crossing.
For an example of a new dynamic in theinsurgency, look to the complex attack onCamp Bastion in September 2012 that resultedin the destruction of six AV-8B Harriers, thedeath of two United States Marine Corpsservice staff and the wounding nine others.This single assault - using 15 insurgents, ex-plosions to enter the base, dividing attack-ers in three different waves, and making useof U.S. army uniforms - resulted in a four anda half hour fire fight, and caused damages ofup to $200-240 million. Clearly this type ofcomplex, coordinated attack was not antici-pated by U.S./NATO-ISAF forces at Bastion,and it illustrates unmistakably that the evo-
lution of the insurgency must be consideredin proper planning for future security threats.The more recent coordinated attack with ex-plosives laden vehicles on Forward Operat-ing Base Fenty in Jalalabad in December 2012confirms that the Bastion attack is not an in-cident.
Geo-political consequences of losing thesouth Any serious defeat of ANSF forces ora considerable loss of terrain to the insur-gency - before or following the 2014 transi-tion - would not only be a symbolic triumph
for the Taliban, it could also completelyreconfigure the power structure in Afghani-
stan and the region.The geo-political consequences of ‘los-
ing the south’ or a similar such scenario wouldbe significant, not the least of which wouldbe the destabilising effect on the wider re-gion, particularly Pakistan, where it could pro-vide a boost for the insurgency. DrawdownContingency Plan: Size, location, mandate Itis important to note that having a Contin-gency Force on standby is not the same ascontinuing an international military operationin Afghanistan. It would provide Western po-litical leaders with options if a security crisisbreaks out in the country.
Size: Given the current levels of ANSFand the continuation of ANP and ANA train-ing and capacity building efforts after 2014, astandby Contingency Force of around 5,000foreign troops would be sufficient. The Con-tingency Force would be a standard brigade-size combat team of around 3,500-4,000 sol-diers, plus mobility (transport helicopters, butalso some attack helicopters) and other sup-port capabilities (intelligence, logistics, medi-cal teams, etc.). The Contingency Force of5,000 should be on standby from January 2013onwards. Given the short time frame beforethe next fighting season, this means the Con-tingency Force should initially be includedin the calculations of the NATO troop draw-down. Until General John Allen has officiallypresented his recommendations to the WhiteHouse, it is not clear how many U.S. forceswill be withdrawn in coming months. But atthe start of 2013, the United States could startcontingency planning by delaying the troopwithdrawal of around 2,000 forces until theend of the fighting season of 2013 to comple-ment the transitioning NATO-ISAF forces.These troops would not continue fightingbut would convert to contingency troops.Thus, they would still be withdrawn fromcombat, but would move to a different baseto prepare for emergency support operations.During the six months following the 2013fighting season, the United States could in-crease its share of contingency forces to3,000, and request that its NATO and non-NATO allies contribute a total of 2,000 forcesto that group before the end of 2013. Thiswould ensure a total Contingency Force of5,000 under the flag of NATO before the startof the 2014 fighting season.—Courtesy: Af-Pak [Norine MacDonaldQC is the President and Founder of the In-ternational Council on Security and Devel-opment (ICOS). Jorrit Kamminga is Direc-tor of Research at ICOS and Fellow at theNetherlands Institute of International Re-lations Clingendael].
The Contingency Force would safeguard the results of past and present efforts to ensure stability and security in Afghanistan, while guaranteeingthe security transition process can be completed in a sustainable and responsible way. The Contingency Force would, in essence, have the same mandateas NATO-ISAF - particularly its current ANSF support role - but it would be subject to a very specific, predefined set of conditions with regards to whenand how it could be deployed. The Rules of Engagement need to be specified as soon as possible in full coordination with the Afghan government.
COURT NOTICE
In the Court of Hamid AliTulla Family Judge
MalakwalRukhsana Bibi Vs AhsanMahmood.Suit for Dissolution ofMarriage based on KhulaMemo
Ahsan Mohmood S/oSher Mohammad CasteGondal R/o ChhimonTehsil &Dist MandiBahauddin.
Whereas the servicesof above mentioned re-spondents is not possiblethrough ordinary means,therefore, he is directed toattend this court person-ally or through his councilon 14-12-12. Otherwise theex party proceedings shallbe taken against him.
Given under my handand seal of the Court.
Sd/-Family Judge Malakwal
UK probe tohelp clearMQM: FO
From Page 1Imran Farooq, a MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM)leader.
Issuing a statement re-garding UK police raid atBusiness Office, the ForeignOffice said it would be wrongto prematurely infer anythingfrom the police raid.
The FO statement voicedhope that the British probewill help dispel all misgivingsabout the Muttahida, addingthe MQM is not only an al-lied party of the governmentbut also it represents all secu-lar forces of the country.
Dr Farooq was an out-standing MQM leader. Hewas murdered outside hishome in Edgware, London ashe was on way back fromwork on 16th September,2010.
He disappeared from Pa-kistan in 1992 and was livingin London since 1999, whenhe claimed asylum in the UK.Farooq’s party MQM saidthat it will offer the police anyhelp to find the killers. —INP
Dr Imranmurder case:
MQM’s Londonoffice raided
From Page 1
raid. “We are confident that
the investigation wouldeventually help clear all mis-givings about MQM whichis not only a coalition part-ner but also representssecular forces in the coun-try,” said the statement bythe Foreign Office spokes-man.
It was reported on Fridaythat the police had raided abusiness office in Londonwith the MQM leader’s mur-der, and that some importantdocuments had been takeninto custody.
However, the BBC re-ported on Saturday that theMetropolitan Police officerdid not give any detailsabout any evidence recov-ered from the office.
An investigation regard-ing Imran Farooq’s murderis currently underway, theBBC reported the officer assaying.
It was also reported thatseveral people were interro-gated but no one was takeninto custody.—Agencies
Zardari’s mission to Paris:‘Stand up for Malala’
From Page 1modern education and en-lightenment.
An injured Malala hasblunted lethal terrorist attackon her by showing rare resil-ience for a girl of her age bydeclaring that she being afollower of martyredMohtarma Benazir Bhutto—who has been a role modelfor her—she would continueher sublime mission in accor-dance with the teachings ofHoly Prophet Mohammadwho had commanded his fol-lowers—irrespective of gen-der—to pursue educationand knowledge even if theyhave to travel as far as China.Despite the murderous attackMalala is determined to pur-sue enlightened education tobe a model and an examplefor others to emulate.
December 10 Paris “Standup for Malala” conferenceorganized jointly byUNESCO and the govern-ment of Pakistan is coincid-ing with International HumanRights Day. This high profileevent for the cause of mak-ing enlightened educationavailable to all girls—irre-spective of caste, creed,colour or country— hasbrought together representa-tives of governments, UNpartners, international andbilateral organizations, foun-dations, donors, private sec-tor, civil society, academics,religious leaders, eminentpersonalities, the media andother stakeholders in an ef-fort to renew commitment andseek support for education ofgirls globally.
President Asif AliZardari, along with Ministersfor Foreign Affairs and Edu-cation and ChairpersonBenazir Income SupportProgramme, is personally at-tending “Stand up byMalala” to ensure his ownand his government’s reso-lute commitment to the causeof promoting anduniversalising education forgirls.
Besides the UNESCOconference, the President willbe having a briefing meetingwith Director GeneralUNESCO Iriva Bokova whois the host of the event. AMemorandum of Under-standing to establish Malala
Fund to promote educationfor girls is expected to besigned between Pakistan andUNESCO during this Presi-dential visit. Pakistan willprovide seed money for theestablishment of this fund.
President Zardari will alsomeet French PresidentHollande to discuss bilateralissues during his three-dayvisit on December 9-11.Among other high-level Inter-national figures to participatein this conference includeJeam-Marc Aryalt, the PrimeMinister of France, former Brit-ish Prime Minister GordonBrown, UN Special Envoy forGlobal Education, TarjaHelnon former President ofFinland, Michelle BacheletExecutive Director UN womeneducation and Former Presi-dent of Chile, Sheikh AbdullahForeign Minister of UAE,Liela Zerrougui Under Secre-tary General and Special Rep-resentative of UN SecretaryGeneral for Children andArmed Conflict, Dr AbdulazizOthoman Altwaiijri DirectorGeneral ISESCO, MariaArnholm State Secretary toMinister for Gender Equalityand Deputy Minister for Edu-cation. British government isbeing represented by Baron-ess Sayeeda Warsi— its firsthigh profile Muslim Ministerin the FCO holding as well theportfolio of Interfaith Rela-tions and Human Rights.
While the broader frame-work of Education for All(EFA) seeksuniversalisation of educa-tion for the less and under-privileged in line with theEFA goals and the prioritiesof the ‘Education First’ ini-tiative, the overall objectiveof this event is to advocatefor and promote right of girlsto education, encompassingon all facets and all aspectsof education, so that educa-tion becomes available andaccessible to all girls. EFAframework will so mouldedthat it will be readily accept-able and adaptable to everycountry’s specific needsand circumstances.
Since Malala has come tobe a global icon of hope andinspiration, defrosting theworld-wide inertia, awaken-
ing and igniting a revolution-ary reaction and mobilisingsupport for education forgirls globally, Pakistan’s re-sponse has been quick, posi-tive and a way forward tograpple the bull of illiteracyby the horns.
President Zardari in-spired by martyred leaderMohtarma Benazir Bhuto’sdesire to seek education forall girls and less privilegedchildren, has been overly ex-pressive of his determinationto renew her and Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad AliJinnah’s commitment to pro-vide meaningful impetus toencourage, to protect, and topromote education for girlsin line with the objective ofachieving EFA’s goals.
Being held beyond thefrontiers of Pakistan encom-passing all those who considereducation for girls as a mustfor fostering equality of gen-ders, the historic Paris confer-ence “Stand up For Malala” isa landmark manifestation andcommitment of Government ofPakistan to take this opportu-nity to wake up and mobilizethe global support for inalien-able right of education for girlsall over the world.
This unparalleled initia-tive of Government of Paki-stan and UNESCO shall blos-som into a trail blazer for 61million children across theworld, most of which are girls,who want to be educated butcan not go to schools for rea-sons beyond their circum-stances and resources.
The sublime objective ofthe Paris “Stand up forMalala” conference is to sen-sitize the global communityabout the importance of edu-cation for girls and enormouschallenges and obstaclesencountered by those mil-lions of them seeking educa-tion. It will also pave waybeyond basic schooling foradvance education for girlsas an imminent policy. “Standup for Malala” would go along way in motivating, mo-bilizing support and commit-ment from various partici-pants for giving an acceler-ated boost to the globalagenda for education of girls.—Author is Pakistan’s HighCommissioner to UK
ISLAMABAD: Tariq Malik, Chairman NADRA, calling on Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf at the PM House.
Attack on spy chiefplanned in Quetta: Karzai
From Page 1improve security ahead ofthe withdrawal of Natocombat troops by the endof 2014.Afghan Talibanclaimed responsibility forthe attack. Karzai said themilitant group was notbehind the attack in theheart of Kabul.
Apparently the Talibanclaimed responsibility likemany other attacks but sucha complicated attack and abomb hidden inside his body,
this is not Taliban work,”Karzai said.“It’s a completelyprofessional (job)…Talibancannot do that and there arebigger and professionalhands involved in it.”Karzaisaid he would discuss theissue with Pakistani officialsduring a meeting in Turkey.“This is a very important is-sue for us and we hope thatthe Pakistan government inthis regard gives us accurate
information and cooperatesseriously, so the doubts wehave end,” he said.
Ties between Kabul andIslamabad have beenstrained by cross-borderraids by militants groups andaccusations that Pakistan onsome level backs Afghan in-surgent groups.
Pakistan denies the accu-sations and says it is com-mitted to helping bring peaceto Afghanistan.—AP
Salman FaruquiappointedFrom Page 1
ombudsman on a regularbasis.
Faruqui said 75,000 pend-ing complaints were piled upin the federal ombudsman’soffice of people aggrieved ofactions or in-actions of fed-eral institutions.
He said that his objec-tive would be to clear thebacklog of complaints dur-ing his period at the office,which he said he wouldserve without pay in anhonorary capacity.
Faruqui has previouslyserved as Secretary toformer Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto, and as Ad-ditional Secretary to formerPrime Minister MuhammadKhan Junejo
Faruqui has alsoserved as Deputy Chair-man Planning Commissionof Pakistan and Ambassa-dor-at-Large in the Minis-try of Foreign Affairs, andhas worked for several min-istries in the past.
Zardari visitsMalala inhospitalFrom Page 1
extremism and sectarianismfrom Pakistan.
On Oct 9, Yousufzai, 15,was shot in the head bygunmen for raising hervoice against the PakistaniTaliban and for allegedlyadvocating “Western,secular” values.
After receiving treat-ment at hospitals inPeshawar and Rawalpindi,she was flown to the QueenElizabeth Hospital in Bir-mingham where she is cur-rently undergoing medicaltreatment. Yousufzai beganstanding up to the PakistaniTaliban when she was 11.—Agencies
Army seeksFrom Page 1
carrying out the task. Mean-while, the commission, in thisregard, has also called ameeting with the army onDecember 13.
The apex court had askedthe ECP to carry out a freshdoor-to-door verification ofvoters in Karachi with theassistance of the army andthe Frontier Corps after re-leasing an interim order deal-ing with delimitation of con-stituencies in the city.
The court had observedlast month that constituen-cies in the metropolis shouldbe delimited in a manner thatthey comprise “mixed popu-lation” to avoid politicalpolarisation.
Sources said that the is-sue was also discussed in arecent high level meeting ofthe military leadership. Themeeting decided to formulatea line of action after gettingrequired details from the ECP,added the sources.
WASHINGTON—The U.S. mili-tary has detained more than200 Afghan teenagers whowere captured in the war forabout a year at a time at a mili-tary prison next to BagramAirfield in Afghanistan, USmedia reported on Saturday.
According to ‘abcNEWS’ report, the U.S. StateDepartment characterized thedetainees held since 2008 as“enemy combatants” in a re-port sent every four years tothe United Nations in Genevaupdating U.S. compliancewith the U.N. Convention onthe Rights of the Child.
The U.S. military had heldthem “to prevent a combat-ant from returning to thebattlefield,” the report said.
A few are still confined atthe Detention Facility inParwan, which will be turnedover to the Afghan govern-ment, it said. “Many of themhave been released or trans-ferred to the Afghan govern-ment,” said the report, dis-tributed this week.
Most of the juvenile Af-ghan detainees were about 16
years old, but their age was notusually determined until aftercapture, the U.S. report said.
If the average age is 16,“This means it is highly likelythat some children were asyoung as 14 or 13 years oldwhen they were detained byU.S. forces,” Jamil Dakwar,director of the American CivilLiberties Union’s humanrights program, said.
“I’ve represented chil-dren as young as 11 or 12who have been at Bagram,”said Tina M. Foster, execu-tive director of the Interna-tional Justice Network,which represents adult andjuvenile Bagram detainees.
“I question the number of200, because there are thou-sands of detainees atParwan,” Foster said Friday.“There are other childrenwhose parents have saidthese children are under 18at the time of their capture,and the U.S. doesn’t allowthe detainees or their familiesto contest their age.”
Dakwar also criticized thelength of detention, a year on
average, according to theU.S. report.
“This is an extraordinar-ily unacceptably long periodof time that exposes childrenin detention to greater risk ofphysical and mental abuse,especially if they are deniedaccess to the protectionsguaranteed to them underinternational law,” Dakwarsaid. The U.S. State De-partment was called for com-ment on the criticism, and arepresentative said they wereseeking an officer to reply.
The previous Americanreport four years ago pro-vided a snapshot of the fo-cus of the U.S. military’s ef-fort in the endgame of theBush presidency after yearsof warfare and anti-terrorismcampaigns. In 2008, the U.S.said it held about 500 juve-niles in Iraqi detention cen-ters and then had only about10 at the Bagram Airfield inAfghanistan. A total of some2,500 youths had been de-tained, almost all in Iraq, from2002 through 2008 under theBush administration.—Online
US: 200 teens detained inAfghan war
ANKARA—Secretary Gen-eral of the United Nations(UN) Ban Ki-moon saidthat they were fed up withviolence in Syria and the in-ability of the internationalcommunity to bring peaceto the Syrian people.
Speaking at a jointpress conference with theTurkish Foreign MinisterAhmet Davutoglu in theTurkish capital of Ankaraon Friday, Ban Ki-moonstressed that the interna-t ional community had tounite on the matter of Syria.
“Assad and the Syriangovernment would have tosolve the (Syrian) problemin the shortest time due tothe presence of the inter-national unity,” Ban Ki-moon underlined.
“I have thanked theTurkish President AbdullahGul and Turkish PrimeMinister Recep TayyipErdogan today for Turkey’shospitality to the Syriansand Turkey’s generosity,”Ban Ki-moon stated.
“The number of Syriansstaying in 14 differentcamps is now over 135,000.More than 70,000 Syrianslive out of the camps. Sucha large number of Syrianshave caused great securityproblems for Turkey as wellas financial burden,” BanKi-moon noted.
“By meeting Syrianfamilies today, I wanted togive them hope with thestrong support of the Turk-ish people and the UN,”Ban Ki-moon indicated.
“I want to express myappreciation for the gener-ous helping hand of theTurkish government,” BanKi-moon stated.
“I do appreciateTurkey’s open door policyfor the Syrians. The UNwill work for assistance tothe Syrians.
I cal l on the interna-t ional community to ur-gently provide humanitar-ian assistance to the Syr-ians,” Ban Ki-moon said.
“Turkey is a s trongpartner of the UN in manyissues. We are proud to
UN fed up with ceaselessviolence: Ban
have such a partner. Dur-ing a tete-a-tete meetingwith Minister Davutoglutoday, we discussed So-malia, Cyprus and Pales-tine and many othermatters ,” Ban Ki-moonstated.
Asked if he was st i l lhopeful on the issue ofSyria, Ban Ki-moonstressed that they were fedup with the violence inSyria and the internationalcommunity’s inabil i ty tobring peace to the Syrianpeople.
“It has been 21 monthssince the incidents in Syriabegan and more than40,000 people have died. Itis high time for the interna-tional community, and es-pecially the members of theUN Security Council, to actin unity on Syria and makemore efforts,” Ban Ki-moonnoted.
“I continue to work bybeing optimistic. We needthe unity of the interna-tional community to solvethe Syrian issue,” Ban Ki-moon said.
An international unitywould force Assad and theSyrian government to solvethe problem in the shortesttime possible, Ban Ki-moonst ressed.
“All Syrians l iving inrefugee camps in Turkeyand Jordan want the UNand the international com-munity to continue to workon Syria and to solve theproblem.
The Syrians want to re-turn home,” Ban Ki-moonalso said.
Turkish Foreign Minis-ter Ahmet Davutoglu saidthat their aim was to end thebloodshed in Syria and to
create a political change tobe shaped by the will of theSyrian people.
Speaking at a jointpress conference with theSecretary General of theUnited Nations (UN) BanKi-moon in the Turkishcapital of Ankara on Friday,Ahmet Davutoglu under-lined that it was impossibleto prevent the deepening ofthe crisis in Syria as theUN, and most specificallythe Security Council, couldnot display the necessaryattitude.
Thanking Ban Ki-moonfor his sensitivity on Syria,Davutoglu said that BanKi-moon on Friday visiteda camp that shelters Syrianrefugees in Islahiye townof the south-eastern prov-ince of Gaziantep.
What began as a politi-cal problem in Syria turnedinto a great humanitariancrisis and a civi l war,Davutoglu noted.
Secretary General BanKi-moon and we discussedthe issue of Syria in greatdetai ls on Friday,Davutoglu said.
“Our aim is to end thebloodshed in Syria and fa-cilitate a political change tobe shaped by the will of theSyrian people. SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon hasmade great efforts in thisregard.
He has done all he canin all phases of the Syriancrisis.
As the UN could notdisplay the necessary de-termined posture on Syria,the UN Securi ty Councilcould not prevent thedeepening of the Syriancrisis ,” Davutoglu indi-cated.—TN
Obama asks for$60b Sandy
recovery packageWASHINGTON—PresidentBarack Obama on Fridayasked Congress for $60.4 bil-lion in emergency funds torepair devastation fromSuperstorm Sandy, whichparalysed the US east coastwhen it hit in October.
“In total, the administra-tion requests $60.4 billion infederal resources for re-sponse, recovery and mitiga-tion related to HurricaneSandy damage in all affectedstates,” said Jeffrey Zients,White House deputy direc-tor for management.
“While much of this dam-age is covered by insurance,current estimates suggestthat a significant amount ofdamage is not covered,”Zients said in a letter to Re-publican House speakerJohn Boehner.
New Jersey GovernorChris Christie and New YorkGovernor Andrew Cuomosaid the package would en-able their states to “recover,repair, and rebuild better andstronger than before.”
Sandy, whipping up hur-ricane force winds and astorm surge, roared ashoreon October 29, killing morethan 110 people, flooding theNew York subway systemand knocking out electricityfor hundreds of thousandsof people.
The floods and wind alsodestroyed or damaged hun-dreds of thousands ofhomes, schools and hospi-tals, and created chaos in fuelsupplies after refineries andgas stations were damaged.
Obama’s request, whichwill likely trigger fierce in-fighting in Congress, is lowerthan the more than $80 bil-lion cost of the damage as-sessed in the three worst-hitstates, New York, New Jerseyand Connecticut.
Christie, a Republican,and Cuomo, a Democrat,were both at the WhiteHouse in recent days as ne-gotiations climaxed on therequest for funding outsidealready lodged budget re-quests that Obama will maketo lawmakers.
They said that in additionto repairing the damage, thepackage would fund “essen-tial mitigation and preventionefforts that will better protectour region against the dev-astating impacts of futuresuperstorms.”
“We thank PresidentObama for his steadfast com-mitment of support and lookforward to continuing ourpartnership in the recoveryeffort,” they said in a jointstatement.—Agencies
LONDON—Two Australian ra-dio presenters who made a hoaxcall to the hospital treating PrinceWilliam’s pregnant wifeCatherine have been taken off theair after the nurse who took thecall apparently killed herself,British media reported on Satur-day. Jacintha Saldanha, said tobe of Indian-origin, answered thephone when presenters fromSydney’s 2Day FM called pre-tending to be Queen Elizabeth IIand William’s father PrinceCharles, before passing it onto acolleague who divulged detailsof Kate’s condition. Saldanhawas found dead on Friday, withpolice saying her death was notbeing treated as suspicious. Heremployers, London’s privateKing Edward VII hospital, re-
Royal hoax DJs taken off airfused to comment on media re-ports that she had taken her ownlife.
The radio station said on Sat-urday the presenters, Mel Greigand Michael Christian, “are bothdeeply shocked” over news of thedeath.
The station and the hosts“have decided that they will notreturn to their radio show untilfurther notice out of respect forwhat can only be described as atragedy”, 2Day FM and its own-ers Southern Cross Austereo saidin a statement. “We extend ourdeepest sympathies to her familyand all that have been affected bythis situation around the world,”it said in the statement.
Soon after news of the deathbroke, the radio station’s
Facebook page was bombardedwith thousands of comments,many attacking the presenters andcalling for them to be sacked.
“Not so darn funny now is it?A British nurse is DEAD for thesake of a couple of cheap laughs.Shame on you!” wrote Kim Wil-son. More than 11,400 commentshad hit the 2Day FM page bynoon Saturday, some saying Greigand Christian had blood on theirhands and calling angrily for themto be dismissed.
“Hope you get your comeup-pance and are looking long andhard at your actions and their con-sequences. Hope you’re bothsacked and spend a very long longtime looking for work,” wroteAlastair Drake Hardwick.
For some the incident had
TARIQ SAEED
PESHAWAR—Hinting thatAwami National Party (ANP)would go for a solo flight in theforthcoming general elections,the party’s chief Asfandyar WaliKhan has said ANP did not needto enter into electoral alliancewith any political force.
“We will contest the electionon the basis of our performanceduring the last five years andpeople will vote us into power inthe upcoming polls. said the ANPpresident while addressing anti-Kalabagh rally here Saturday af-ternoon claiming the servicesrendered by the ruling ANP dur-ing its five year period in KhyberPukhtunkhwa were unprec-edented. The Awami National
Party, it may be recalled, is thePakistan People’s Party coalitionpartner both in center and prov-inces where as its heading theANP-PPP ruling alliance inKhyber Pukhtunkhwa.
Asfandyar Wali declared incategorical tone that his partywould not accept the constructionof Kalabagh dam come whatmay. “Pakistan and Kalabaghdam cannot go side by side, youwill have to choose between Pa-kistan and the Kalabagh dam”.ANP chief told the Anti-Kalabagh rally. He said no onecould dare to build Kalabagh damsaying his par had been oppos-ing the Kalabagh dam projectsince beginning hence our stancewould not change even after theLahore High Court orders about
construction of Kalabagh dam.The ANP president also ruled outdeveloping consensus to build thecontroversial dam saying afterthe opposition by the three prov-inces of the country there is noneed to go for any consensus norcan the construction of the damcan be allowed.
Asfandyar Wali Khan hasalso requested Mian NawazSharif to join hands with the otherthree provinces of the country inopposing the construction ofKalabagh dam. Punjab shouldextend its support to us only inthis issue and we will alwayshold her in high esteem as anelder brother. He however,warned that Punjab must not actlike a commander but shouldbehave like an elder brother.
Asfandyar: ANP not toaccept Kalabagh Dam
echoes of Prince William’smother Diana, Princess of Wales,who died in a car crash in Parisin 1997 while being pursued bypaparazzi.
“One would think... thedeath of Princess Diana wouldhave taught the media a lessonabout invasion of privacy of theroyal family, but I guess not,”said one commenter posting asLora LB. The news promptedwide coverage in Australia,where the prank initially dividedthe public, with some seeing itas “a bit of harmless fun” andothers saying a line had beencrossed and everyone had a rightto privacy.
Australia’s Prime MinisterJulia Gillard said the death wasa terrible tragedy.—Online
DCO seekssupportSTAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—District Coordina-tion Officer (DCO) Lahore Noor-ul-Amin Mengal has urged uponthe traders of Mall Road to co-operate with the City DistrictGovernment to make Mall Roadbeautiful and the Dilkash Projectsuccessful. He directed the AC(City) Saira Umer to remove allthe unnecessary advertisementboard of shops and will makeensure only one advertisementboard for one shop. He expressedthese views while chairing ameeting with the traders of MallRoad at Town Hall on Saturday.
Man dies in Afghanmortar shellingPESHAWAR—A man waskilled and five others were in-jured in mortars shelling fromAfghanistan on Saturday. Ac-cording to the media reports,five mortars were fired fromAfghan side of the border andone landed on a house in NorthWaziristan tribal region, borderingAfghanistan. Reports said that Pa-kistani troops also returned fire andhit the direction from where theshells were fired into Pakistan. Itis the second incident of mortarshelling into Pakistan’s NorthWaziristan across the border ina week. Five mortar shells firedfrom Afghanistan’s Khost prov-ince landed in Bangedar bor-der area of Ghulam Khan inNorth Waziristan on last Sun-day. —NNI
NA sessiontomorrowISLAMABAD—President AsifAli Zardari has summoned theNational Assembly session to-morrow (Monday) at 5pm. Itwill be the 48th session of the5th parliamentary year of thepresent National Assembly,media reports said. The presi-dent has also summoned thesenate session on Wednesdayat 4pm. It will be the 88th ses-sion of the upper house of theparliament.—Online
MMA meetingin January: FazlLAHORE—Jamiat Ulema-i-Is-lam chief of his own faction,Maulana Fazal-ur-Rehman onSaturday said that the meetingof Muttahida Mujlis-e-Aml(MMA) will be held in the firstweek of January 2013. In a pressbriefing, the JUI-F chief saidthat five political parties wouldparticipate in the first meeting ofMMA and the decision of includ-ing or excluding Jamat-i-Islami(JI) would be taken in the meet-ing. Responding to the issue ofKalabagh dam, Fazl said that theLahore High Court decision overthe dam could not be implementedas no province had changed itsstance over the issue. “It is a tech-nical issue but the political par-ties have made it a political issue,”he added. —NNI
Basra’s adviceto SharifsLAHORE—PPP deputy parlia-mentary party leader in PunjabAssembly, Shoukat MehmudBasra, has urged the PML-Nleadership to abandon campaignagainst the PPP leadership say-ing it will serve no purpose butto weaken democracy in thecountry. Talking to this newsagency at the chamber ofoppostion leader on Saturday, hesaid, since an elected governmentwas going to complete its termand hold elections, there was nojustification for irresponsiblestatements to malign the demo-cratic government and encourageanti-state elements to weaken thedemocratic agenda.—APP
PPP SenatorSalahuddin Dogar
passes awayLAHORE—Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) Senator Salahuddin
Dogar passed away in SheikhZayid Hospital here on saturday.
He was 70.President Asif Ali Zardari
has expressed grief and shockover the sad demise of SenatorMalik Salahuddin Dogar.
In his condolence message‚the President said that servicesof Malik Salahuddin Dogar fordemocracy and the nation willalways be remembered. —NNI
ISLAMABAD—Chief Justice ofPakistan Iftikhar MohammedChaudhry Saturday said that theindependent judiciary of Pakistanduly supported by the media andthe civil society has rendered land-mark judgments.
“All and sundry to followrule of law and there is no immu-nity for anyone come what may”was the one and only one baselineof these landmark decisions, saidthe Chief Justice addressing theroll signing ceremony of SupremeCourt lawyers here.
He said it was high time thatthis sea change in our constitu-tional and political history is ac-cepted by all without any ifs andbuts.
Welcoming the lawyers en-rolling in the Supreme Court, hesaid it was a significantacknowledgement of their life-long commitment to the profes-sion of law. He said the profes-sion of law is undoubtedly a nobleone because as a practitioner oflaw, lawyers have to behave likean epitome of rule of law and in-carnation of supremacy of Con-stitution in the country.
“On the one hand, you haveto assist the highest Court of theland in ensuring complete justiceis meted out to the litigants in allmanners of cases and on the otherhand, you have to build and en-force the public opinion aboutensuring rule of law in the coun-try”.
The Chief Justice said thecountry witnessed unprecedentedchanges in the wake of lawyers’movement resulting into a healthydebate about the need to changeour old habits where many expe-diencies held sway over rule oflaw and supremacy of the Consti-tution.
He remarked that this was anew Pakistan where old structures
are crumbling and past demons ofextra constitutional deviations arebeing exterminated one by one.
“We have learned from his-tory that no country can realize thedream of progress and prosperityfor its people without followingthe route of rule of law and su-premacy of Constitution,” he com-mented.
The Chief Justice urged law-yers to join the league of those whoby virtue of their profession arebound to follow the dictates of lawand constitution throughout theirlife, and help their countrymen inrealizing the dream of rule of lawand supremacy of Constitution.
He said it was lawyers’ addedresponsibility to fully make them-selves well versed with the chal-lenges being faced by both theBench and the Bar in view ofraised expectations of people.
“Unless and until the law-yers are committed to their job,the output of the institution can-not sustain improvement over aperiod of time. You mustexercise extreme care in pick-ing up your briefs.—APP
Judiciary deliveredhistoric verdicts : CJ
BANGLORE—The captain ofPakistan’s blind cricket team,Zeeshan Abbasi, was rushed to alocal hospital in the Indian city ofBangalore after consuming acidat the team’s breakfast table onSaturday.
According to reports,Zeeshan Abbasi, who is leadingthe team in the Blind WorldTwenty20 underway in the Indiancity, was now stable and had beendischarged from the hospital.
Pakistan’s manager was leftdisgusted by the act and ques-tioned the tournament’s securityarrangements. He also rubbishedsome reports in the Indian mediathat termed the incident “an acci-dent.”
“Mineral water bottles weregiven to us everyday; the acid wasin one of those bottles. How canthis be a mistake? How was iton the breakfast table?” hequestioned.Chairman BlindCricket Council Sultan Shah,too, expressed his shock at theincident which came a day af-ter Pakistan beat India by eightwickets.
“We are blind, how can wesee bottle distilled/mineral wa-ter? How can a 5-star hotel dothis? It’s deliberate,” SultanShah told the media. Sultan
Shah said a thorough investiga-tion into the incident was un-derway and the hotel’s manage-ment was being questioned.
According to Sultan Shah,there was a thorough investiga-
tion underway while PakistanCricket Board spokesmanNadeem Sarwar expressed hisconcern over the incident andsaid the PCB was in constantcontact with Indian officials onthe matter.
According to the Hindu,G.K. Mahantesh General, Sec-retary of the Cricket Associa-tion for the Blind in India(CABI) and founder of theSamarthanam Trust for the Dis-
abled, who are organizing the10-day tournament, termed theincident as “shocking and em-barrassing”.
He said: “All players are im-portant to us. The MovenpickHotel has promised an internalinquiry and we await the results.”Mr Mahantesh added the “strict-est of actions” will be takenagainst those responsible for theincident. The report also quotedNeha Gairola, Senior Food andBeverage Manager of the hotel,as saying that Zishan Abassi con-sumed ‘diluted soap solution’which had ‘inadvertently’ beenleft on the table by the cleaningstaff. Gairola added that the ser-vices of the person responsible hadbeen terminated. Meanwhile, Pa-kistan Blind Cricket Associationhas accepted Indian apology overphenyl drinking issue of nationalblind cricket captain ZeeshanAbbasi and cleared that the unfor-tunate incident would not affect Pa-kistan cricket series with India willbegin later this month.
Zishan Abbasi’s condition gotdeteriorated as he drank the mate-rial. The national blind cricket teamskipper was kept in ICU where hisendoscopy and other medical testswere taken. The news spread rap-idly among media.—SANA
Pakistan accepts Indian apology
Blind cricket team captainstable after consuming acid
US drone killedal-Qaeda
commanderPESHAWAR—Tribal sourcesfrom Pakistan’s northwest saidon Saturday a U.S. drone attack
had killed a senior al Qaedacommander in the latest blow tothe militant Islamist group thathas been targeted in many simi-lar attacks.
Abu Zaid was killed in thedrone strike on a hideout in NorthWaziristan, one of the tribal re-gions near the border with Af-ghanistan, early on Thursday, thesources said. Zaid had just movedto the hideout a few days ago, theysaid.—Reuters
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Pakistan and Iranenjoy very close ties owing to theircommon history, culture and reli-gion. This was stated by thespokesman of the Ministry of For-eign Affairs, Islamic Republic ofIran, Ramin Mehmanparast. Talk-ing to media persons at a localhotel on Saturday, he said thatthere was a huge capacity and
Pakistan, Iran enjoy very closeties: Iranian spokesman
potential for fostering cooperationin diverse areas between the twocountries.
Ramin, who is also the Vice-Minister for Public Diplomacy,stated that the political relationsbetween Pakistan and Iran areexcellent and referred to the vis-its of high ranking delegations ofthe two countries. He was of theview that the bilateral trade of onebillion dollars between Pakistan
and Iran was not enough and thatthis should be enhanced in accor-dance with the capacity and po-tential that exists. Bankingsector’s cooperation between thetwo countries was also importantto augment trade and businessactivities, he added.
Ramin said that Iran can as-sist Pakistan in the energy sector-with the provision of crude oil, gasand electricity.
FAISALABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf addressing a public gathering on Saturday.
Punjab by-polls]
Sattar questionsduplicity over show
of weaponsSTAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Muttahida QaumiMovement deputy convenerFarooq Sattar on Saturday raisedquestions on the display of weap-ons and alleged use of force dur-ing the recent by-polls in Punjab.
Speaking at a public gather-ing in Karachi, Sattar said that re-ligious and political leaders havebeen crying hoarse over the preva-lence of weapons in Karachi, call-ing for door-to-door searches andan army operation.
“I want to ask that what aboutall the display of weapons in thePunjab by-polls just before thegeneral elections.”
“In Punjab, there are prepa-rations underfoot to make Punjaba battlefield to save themselves byputting Pakistan on the line.”
The senator said that therewas a duality by these very reli-gious and political leaders whenit came to the show of weaponsduring the by-elections in Punjab.
THE number of calories people shouldeat each day depends on several factors, including their age, size, height,
sex, lifestyle, and overall general health. Aphysically active 6ft 2in male, aged 22years, requires considerably more caloriesthan a 5ft 2ins sedentarywoman in her 70s. Recom-mended daily calorie in-takes also vary across theworld. According to theNational Health Service(NHS), UK, the averagemale adult needs approxi-mately 2,500 calories perday to keep his weightconstant, while the aver-age adult female needs2,000. US authorities rec-ommend 2,700 calories perday for men and 2,200 forwomen. It is interestingthat in the UK, wherepeople on average are tallerthan Americans, the recom-mended daily intake ofcalories is lower. Rates ofoverweight and obesity among both adultsand children in the USA are considerablyhigher than in the United Kingdom.
The NHS stresses that rather than pre-cisely counting numbers (calories), peopleshould focus more on eating a healthy andwell balanced diet, being physically active,and roughly balancing how many caloriesare consumed with the numbers burnt offeach day. According to the United Nation’sFood and Agriculture Organization (FAO),the average person’s minimum calorie re-quirement per day globally is approxi-mately 1,800 kilocalories.
Scientifically speaking, one kilocalorie
Severe morning sickness ‘maybe marker of preterm births‘
is 1,000 calories. However, the term calo-rie in lay English has become so looselyused with the same meaning as kilocalo-rie, that the two terms have virtuallymerged. In other words, in most cases, acalorie and kilocalorie have the same
meaning. A kilocalorie is theamount of energy requiredto raise the temperature of 1kilogram of water from 15°to 16° Celsius (centigrade)at one atmosphere.
A “small calorie” refersto the traditional scientificterm of calorie, meaning one-thousandth of a kilocalorie.
Internationally, mostnations talk about food en-ergy in kJ (kilojoules). 1 kcal(kilocalorie) = 4.184 kJ. Inindustrialized nations and agrowing number of emerg-ing economies, people areconsuming many more calo-ries than they used to. Por-tion sizes in restaurants,both fast food ones as well
as elegant places, are far greater today.The average cheeseburger in the USA 20years ago had 333 calories, compared tothe ones today with over 600 calories
For the human body to remain alive, itrequires energy. Approximately 20% of theenergy we use is for brain metabolism. Themajority of the rest of the body’s energyrequirements are taken up for the basalmetabolic requirements - the energy weneed when in a resting state, for functionssuch as the circulation of the blood andbreathing. If our environment is cold, ourmetabolism increases to produce more heatto maintain a constant body temperature.
ISLAMABAD: Students performing a tableau on stage during the annual awards’ distribution ceremony of Bloomfield Hall School.
LIAQAT TOOR
ISLAMABAD—The newly in-dependent state,Kazakhstan with its fast grow-ing economy is assuming anew role in the world.Though it is a new country,but its linkages with thepresent land of Pakistan andits people are ancient. A land-locked country, Kazakhstanand Pakistan have all poten-tial to further cement their tiesin all spheres of human ac-tivities as Kazakhstan whichemerged on the map of theworld after collapse of theSoviet Union in early 90s canrightly look towards Pakistanfor its openings on sea lanesin the Arabian and IndianOceans. The shortest routefrom Astana to Balochistanwill be another Silk Route inthe region which can givetremendous boost to tradenot only between Islamabadand Astana but betweenAstana and the world also.
The high level visits be-tween both the states havedeveloped mutual trust andclose proximity. The frequent
visits of President NursultanNazarbayev to Pakistan andPakistani top brass to Astanahave developed good will and
mutual respect between thepeople of both the states. Thisgoodwill was reflected in agrand show thrown up by
Bakhytbek Shabarbayev, am-bassador of Kazakhstan toPakistan to celebrate 21st In-dependence Day in a local
hotel on Friday evening wherepoliticians, members of diplo-matic corps, parliamentarians,businessmen, former militaryand diplomats and friends ofKazakhstan shared greetingsand joys with the Kazakh am-bassador and his team.
The ambassador is a sea-soned diplomat who is quietlyworking to cement ties be-tween both the countries. Heis successful in his effort andmust be happy as a large num-ber of Pakistani elites hailingfrom cross sec-tion of the soci-ety were presentin the hall wheretwo screens onthe corners wereshowing socio-economic de-velopment of Kazakhstan.Malik Amad Khan, Minister ofState for Foreign Affairs wasthe Chief Guest who joined theambassador in cake cuttingceremony after the national an-thems of both the countrieswere played amidst applauseby the guests.
There was an atmosphereof joy and friendship as theguests including the ambas-
Kazakh Independence Day
New country but ancient linkages with Pakistan
All potential to develop new Silk Route between Astana to BalochistanBoth countries drawing closer to each other: Bakhytbek Shabarbayev; Day of joy turned into grand show of friendship
ISLAMABAD: Chief Guest Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Malik Amad AhmadKhan, Ambassador of Kazakhstan Bakhytbek Shabarbayev, Former Speaker NationalAssembly Gohar Ayyub, Former Foreign Secretary Akram Zaki and others cuttingcake on the occasion of the 21st Anniversary of the Independence of the Republic ofKazakhstan, at a local hotel.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir
sadors and High Commis-sioners, particularly en-voys from Central AsianRepublics and Arab landKazakh greeted the ambas-sador on the occasion.Warm hospitality greetedthe guests as there was agood fusion of cultures ofPakistan and Kazakhstan.
The traditional foods ofboth the countries were agood treat to the participantswho enjoyed the show witha great respect and feelingsof goodwill and friendship.
Both the coun-tries havesigned a num-ber of agree-ments and
MOUs during the last overtwenty years in differentfields to boost ties whichhave proved very positiveas Islamabad and Astanaare enjoying growing eco-nomic, commercial, cultural,educational relations be-sides people to people con-tacts. Both countries arenatural friends and thisfriendship will further ce-ment in coming years.
STAFF REPORTER
R AWA L P I N D I — P a k i s t a nBaitul Maal (PBM) held a“Sports Mela” for the Pa-kistan Sweet Home childrenhere at Naseerabad on Sat-urday. Managing DirectorPakistan Bait-ul-Mal,Zamurd Khan highlightedthe activities and achieve-ments of Pakistan Bait-ul-Mal, particularly the SweetHome project.
He said 3000 orphanedchildren are being taken careof, with free education, foodand residence, under the Pa-kistan Sweet Home project.“Pakistan’s Sweet Homesproject is a huge successand will be more prosperousin the coming future,”Zammurd Khan said.
The PBM has estab-l ished orphanages named“Sweet Homes” in differentcities where these children
are kept and provided withall facilities of life.
The children have beenadmitted to the best educa-tional institutions through-out the country, he added.He reiterated government’sresolve to alleviate povertyand continue financial as-sistance to the poor and
needy in the country.Khan said that PBM
has distributed Rs 15 bil-l ion among the povertystricken people. He urgedthe affluent to donate maxi-mum to PBM so that it canbe surely and transpar-ently transmitted to deserv-ing people.
PBM holds ‘Sports Mela’ forPak Sweet Home children
RAWALPINDI: A group photo of the position holders of one-day Sports Gala with Chairman Bait-ul-Mall, Zamurad Khan.
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Speakers in-cluding parliamentarians, le-gal experts, media personsand policy makers at a semi-nar called for creating aware-ness on women protectionlaws to empower them andgive their due rights.
The seminar entitled,‘Harassment AgainstWomen and Impact of recentLegislation for Women Pro-
tection’ was organized bySouth Asian Women in Me-dia (SAWM) to highlight is-sues faced by women at vari-ous levels including harass-ment at workplace.
Participants of seminarincluded large number ofwomen in media while thespeakers discussed variousissues faced by women atworkplace, forcedmarriages,image of womenshown on entertainment me-
dia. Speaking on the occa-sion as chief guest, parlia-mentary secretary for humanrights, Rubina Saadat QaimKhani said male dominatedsociety should be educatedon respecting women tocounter harassment issues atworkplace.
The panel of speakers in-cluded Tasneem Siddiqui,Legal Expert HumairaMasroor and women rightsactivist Sammar Minallah.
Call for creating awarenesson women protection laws
Regionalconference on Drug
Regulatory ActSTAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Minister forNational Regulations andServices Dr. Firdous AshiqAwan has announced that aconference of regional coun-tries would be held inIslamabad soon for imple-mentation of Drug Regula-tory Act more effectively.
She was talking to a Ger-man drug investors’ delega-tion headed by ChairmanMerck Group ExecutiveBoard, Dr. Karl Ludwig Kleyin Islamabad.
She assured them of fullcooperation and security ofinvestment in different citiesincluding Quetta. Dr.Firdous Ashiq Awan saidobjective of the conferenceis to share experiences andobservations of other coun-tries’ regulators for estab-lishing a concrete strategyto implement the Drug Regu-latory Act and prepare aroadmap for facilitatingmasses at their doorstep.The Minister said that thegovernment will not only en-courage foreign investmentbut also provide completesupport in this regard.
Free puppetshow tomorrow
ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Na-tional Council of the Arts, Min-istry of National Heritage & In-tegration has scheduled freepuppet show tomorrow, De-cember at 4:00 pm at PNCAAuditorium, F-5/1.
National Puppet Theatrewill present Folk Tales, Skitsto provide entertainment andeducation about social prob-lems like Health, Educationand Environment etc. Chil-dren along with parents areinvited to see the show. Pup-pet show will be presentedevery Monday at the samevenue and time.—Online
RAWALPINDI—With the ad-vent of winter season, thecitizens have started facingdifficulties due to low gaspressure as the reports oflow gas pressure were re-ceived from many areas ofthe city. Low gas pressurein different areas ofRawalpindi HAS caused in-convenience and problemsfor the residents.
There were reports of lowgas pressure last year too inparts of Rawalpindi city par-ticularly congested areas in-
cluding Dhari Hassanabad,Dhoke Khabba, Qasimabad,Muslim Town, Sadiqabad,Rehmanabad, New Katrian,Satellite Town, KhurramColony, Chungi Number 8,Tench Bhatta, PeoplesColony, Dhoke Syedian andmany other areas.
Nowadays, low gas pres-sure is forcing the citizens tobring cooked food from“Tandoors”, :Bakeries” andhotels. The citizens com-plained that if the gas sup-ply situation is worsening
with the advent of winter sea-son, then during the peakwinter season, what will bethe situation of gas supply.
Last year too, consistentlow gas pressures and frequentgas outages had posed seriousproblems for the people, whowere unable to cook food andproperly heat their homes dur-ing cold weather condition.The citizens urged the govern-ment and authorities concernedto take solid steps and find animmediate solution to the prob-lem. —APP
Low gas pressure irks citizens
ISLAMABAD: Christian children enjoy swings installed in connection with Christmascelebrations at a slum in sector F-7/4.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir
ISLAMABAD: Journalist submitting their nomination papers for the election of Na-tional Press Club 2012.
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD —Students inRawalpindi and Islamabadare facing severe transportproblems, as hundreds ofeducational institutionshave no proper transport fa-cilities. A large number ofstudents come from the dif-ferent localities of twin cit-ies to their institutions andhave to face inconveniencein packed public transportvehicles, besides maltreat-ment by drivers and conduc-tors.
“The school and collegebuses ply only on specificroutes and I always use lo-cal transport to reach my col-lege,” said Salman Khan, astudent. He said this is oneof the major problems for allthose who come from far-offareas.
Students complained
that majority of the localtransporters did not applybrakes when they saw stu-dents waiting at the stops.Sanam Ali, a student, saiddue to financial problems,she couldn’t pay full fare ofthe van, while the transport-ers did not allow studentconcession. She said girlstudents particularly had towait for a long time to find aseat due to which they of-ten reach their college late.She demanded of the au-thorities concerned to ar-range sufficient buses forcolleges, especially womeninstitutions.
Parents also complainedabout the rashly drivenschool and college vans andbuses, saying very few insti-tutions cared for the schoolkids by closely monitoringthe mode of transport usedby their students.
Twin cities’ students facetransport problems
STAFF REPORTER
I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a nComposite Show - a sym-posium, policy dialogueand industrial exhibition toevolve a strategy for turn-ing around the compositesindustry of Pakistan- washeld here on Saturday. Fed-eral Minister for Scienceand Technology Mir
Changez Khan Jamali wasthe Chief Guest at the occa-sion.
The event was organizedby the Composites Engineer-ing Research Group of De-partment of Mechanical En-gineering (DME), NUST Col-lege of EME.
A policy dialogue ses-sion, around 150 very senioracademics, industrialists and
government functionariesexchanged views. An indus-trial exhibition was also heldwhich featured over 20 com-panies and attracted over 500visitors.
Dr. Rizwan SaeedChoudhry presented a pro-posal for a joint technologycentre to be established withthe combined efforts of pri-vate and government sec-
tors. According to the sur-vey conducted by theirgroup if this centre is estab-lished then the export vol-ume of Pakistan can be in-creased by up to 10 times innext five to seven years,headded.
Chief Guest during hisaddress said that today’seconomic paradigm, wheredefence deployments are
being outsourced, we mustopen our public institutes forPublic-Private partnershipfor nation . In his remarksCommandant College ofEME Major General Obaidbin Zakria appreciated theefforts of the whole organiz-ing team of Pakistan Com-posite Show.” I am particu-larly glad that despite thefact that this was the first
ever Composites Show inPakistan; the accompanyingexhibition has attracted morethan 80% of the medium andhigh-tech industry in thissector”.
Besides the FederalMinister the event was alsoattended by senior officialsincluding secretary defenceproduction Lt. Gen (R)Shahid Iqbal , Former Fed-
eral Minister and ProfessorEmeritus NUST Dr.Muhammad Akram Sheikh,British Council DirectorEducation for Wider SouthAsia, Dr. Nils Tomes, ChiefScientist AQ Khan Re-search Laboratories Dr.Muhammad KhawarFarooq and over a dozenother senior officials andsenior industrialists.
Pakistan Composite Show
Symposium, industrial exhibition at NUST
CITY REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The NationalDatabase and RegistrationAuthority (NADRA) hasasked Ministry of InteriorMOI to rescind directivespertaining to appointmentsof Deputy Chairmen in au-thority. “Under NADRA or-dinance 2000 Ministry of In-terior has no authority toappoint any employee in-cluding Deputy Chairman inorganization” a letter sent toMOI from NADRA said..
NADRA Act permits onlyone post of the DeputyChairman in the Authoritybut, under the directives ofMOI, on August 3, 2012 Au-thority notified appointmentof second Deputy Chairman.Currently, Dr. Tahir Akramand Naveed Jan are holdingoffices of Deputy Chairmenin the authority.
The Public AccountsCommittee (PAC) of the Na-tional Assembly took strongnotice of irregular appoint-ment of second DeputyChairman in NADRA andsought explanation in itsmeeting held on November22.
Well placed sources told‘ONLINE’ that NADRA inthis regard had submitteddetailed reply to PAC, whichsaid that authority being anattached department underthe Ministry of Interior (MOI)was bound to comply withdirectives of the Ministry ofInterior.
The reply said that onJuly 11, 2012, MOI directedNADRA to appoint Dr. TahirAkram as Deputy Chairmanand issued another order onJuly 22, 2012 to appointNaveed Jan as second erDeputy Chairman.
The sources added thatMOI approved appointmentof second Deputy Chairmanin NADRA in view of extraordinary work of NADRA re-garding preparations of elec-toral rolls and issuance ofrefugee cards to Afghan na-tionals
Another letter issued byMinistry on August 1, 2012and signed by Secretary Inte-rior Siddiq Akbar said that twochairmen appointed wouldstart functioning immediatelyin order to enhance efficiencyand bring improvement in theworking of authority.
MoI has no authority forappointments in NADRA
Property seizure
ATC gives Sehba’slawyer last
chance to appearISLAMABAD—The Anti-Ter-rorism Court in Rawalpindion Saturday gave IlyasSiddiqui, Sehba Musharraf’scounsel, one last chance toappear in the court during thehearing of a petition againstthe freezing of former Presi-dent Pervez Musharraf ’sbank accounts and other as-sets.
ATC Special JudgeChaudhry Habibur Rahmanheard Sehba’s petition chal-lenging the freezing of herhusband’s assets.
Although, AdvocateSiddiqui was due to presentthe details of his client’ssource of income in court, hefailed to appear for the hear-ing.
Upon his absence, theATC gave Advocate Siddiquione last chance to appear inthe court and adjourned thehearing till Dec 15.—INP
Protest againstgarbage dump
RAWALPINDI—Residents ofChakra and surrounding ar-eas in Cantonment BoardRawalpindi staged a protestdemonstration against dump-ing of garbage, saying thedumps were spreading dis-eases in the area.
Pir Abdul ShakoorNaqshbandi led the protestdemonstration. The demon-strators were carrying plac-ards and banners having slo-gans against the Cantt Boardadministration. The trafficwas also blocked due to thedemonstration.
Speaking to the protest-ors, the speakers said that thedumping of the garbage ofthe whole city in the area wasspreading diseases of eyes,nose, ears, abdomen andothers including Hepatitis,TB and other fatal diseasesin the locality. Moreover, theunderground water was alsogetting polluted due to theheaps of the all kind ofwastes and the newborn kidswere even more vulnerable tothe diseases.
The protestors de-manded of the high-ups ofthe Cantt Board and DCO toshift the garbage dump fromthe area and threatened tostage the protest demonstra-tions on daily basis if theproblem was not resolvedsoon.—INP
Aitzaz Shah praysATC to hear hiscase as juvenile
CITY REPORTER
RAWALPINDI—Aitzaz Shah,accused in Benazir Bhutto as-sassination case has filed ap-plication in the court seekinghearing of his case as juvenile.Judge Chaudhry Habib urRehman of Anti Terrorism Court(ATC) has issued notice to FIAfor arguments.
Nasir Khan Tanoli, counselfor the accused took the plea inthe application that hearing ofcase in respect of his clientAitzaz Shah be conducted asjuvenile as he was only 15 yearsand 10 months old when he wasarrested in January 2008.“Aitzaz Shah case was isolatedas juvenile from main case onJune 21, 2008 on our requestand it’s hearing continued aswell, he pleaded. However thiscase has been clubbed with themain case since some time back,he added. The hearing of thiscase is adjourned if any one ofthe lawyers of other accusedpersons does not come. There-fore, our case is pending hear-ing and no headway is beingmade on this count. No one canbe kept imprisoned without as-signing any reason this way,therefore, we pray the court tocomplete the hearing soon asfar as Aitzaz Shah case is con-cerned”, he submitted.
CM takes noticeof overcharging
STAFF REPORTER
RAWALPINDI—Chief Min-ister Punjab Mian ShahbazSharif , taking notice ofcharging inflated fee by thecontractor of the parkingplaza at Fawara Chowk, hascalled a detailed report inthis regard. President ofAnjuman-e-Tajran BaraMarket, Sheikh Ishaq, vicePresident Sajid Butt andSecretary Akbar Khanfi l led a complaint to thechief minister that the con-tractor was charging in-flated fee for parking in theparking plaza.
They said that the con-tractor was charging Rs240per day and Rs3,500monthly parking instead ofapproved Rs. 50 per dayand Rs1,200 per month re-spectively.
The trader communityhad said that they have nooption to park their ve-hicles on roads instead ofin the parking plaza andpay unlawful inflated fee.They demanded strict ac-t ion should be takenagainst the contractor forover-charging.
RAWALPINDI—Civic ameni-ties on Adiala Road are go-ing down the drain as bothChaklala Cantonment Board(CCB) and Potohar TownAdministration have turneda blind eye to the ever in-creasing encroachmentsand non-cleanliness in thearea. It is ironic that the ex-panded road on which mil-lions have been spent hasbeen taken over by the en-croachment mafia in con-nivance of the CCB andtown administration offi-cials, the residents told re-porter.
Where in the world arekitchens set up on the foot-paths, complained Col (R)Ramzan, a resident of Askri-VII. Similarly, Sabzi stalls andgoods have been set up onthe footpath leaving no
space for the pedestriansfrom Khawaja CorporationChowk upto Gulshanabad.
Adding to the woes ofthe residents is the BakraMandi set up at DefenseRoad turning.
We are compelled to walkon the road as there is nospace left on the footpath,said Major (R) Taj, who usu-ally walks down to the bazar.He said he narrowly escapedbeing hit by a motorist whilegoing to the bazar.
Due to non-cleanlinessby the two bodies heaps ofgarbage are littered on theroad. It is ironic that a gar-bage mountain has come upalong the road nearWahdat Colony and wherewild plants have come updue to non-clearance forthe last many years.Heaps
of mud along both sides ofthe road give a look that asif a brown carpet has beenlaid. When officials of theconcerned departmentswere asked about the pre-vailing situation they hadthe typical official versionthat “Action would betaken soon.”
The residents of Askari-7, 13, 14 and numerousother colonies demanded ofthe Station Commander andDCO to visit the area to seethe prevailing situation.Meanwhile, the area resi-dents called upon PunjabHighway Department tocarry out the necessary re-pair of the road betweenKutchery Chowk toKhawaja CorporationChowk to save it from fur-ther damage.—APP
RAWA L P I N D I —Teachers ,students and parents haveexpressed their grave con-cerns over the derelict con-dition of Government Mus-lim Higher Secondary SchoolSaidpur, calling the atten-tion of the higher authoritiesof the Education Departmentto look into matter immedi-ately.
The residents said thatlack of sewerage system, po-table water supply and sani-tation facilities in the schoolswere speaking volumes aboutthe so called ‘educationfriendly’ policy of the gov-ernment of Punjab.
Moreover, inadequatefurniture, washrooms andsanitation staff in theschool was creatingtroubles for teachers andstudents equally, they said,adding there was only onewashroom for more than 60teachers and four wash-rooms for more than 600
students .Moreover, a part of the
school has turned into gar-bage dumping point as theresidents of the surround-ing areas throw away thegarbage and wastes in theground of the school.
Similarly, a major por-tion of school playgroundhas turned into swamp assewerage and drainage wa-ter of the school and thesurrounding residencesaccumulated their andstinking smell emitt ingfrom it making unbearablefor the staff as well as ofthe students.
The teachers, studentsand parents appealed toChief Minister Punjab MianShahbaz Shnarif to take no-tice of the condition of theschool and direct the con-cerned authorities in the Edu-cation Department to providerequired facilities to theschool.—INP
Adiala Road going downthe drain
Saidpur schoollacks basic facilities
06:2001:3003:45
07:00
Zohr
December 10
LAUNCHING ceremonyof One Billion RisingCampaign Islamabad willbe held, 2:00 p.m at Quaid-e-Azam University.
December 13
SPECIAL Plenary andClosing Plenary of SDPI’sFifteenth Sustainable De-velopment Conferencewill be held at Best West-ern Hotel, 6, IslamabadClub Road, 12 noon-5 pm.
Seniority list ofschool teachers
RAWA L P I N D I—EducationDepartment Punjab has pre-pared seniority list of teach-ers of all the primary schoolsof Rawalpindi district.
An official of the educationdepartment told INP that total1,180 teachers are included inthe seniority list and the teach-ers would be promoted accord-ing to the prime minister’s three-stage formula in the last weekof the current month. Theteachers of Scale-9 would bepromoted to scales 12 and 14.
Deputy Director Educa-tion, Rawalpindi, Raja Zulfiqarcalled any objections on theseniority list till December 21.The notification of the pro-motions would be issued af-ter December 21.—INP
46 shopkeepers finedfor encroachments
in Rawal TownRAWALPINDI—The officials ofRawal Town administration, re-starting the operation againstencroachments, has fined 46shopkeepers and confiscatedfour truckloads of goods fromdifferent major bazaars of thecity. The officials removedhandcarts from the road ofmajor markets. While, the au-thority earned Rs46,000 by fin-ing the shopkeepers involvedin encroachments. The opera-tion was conducted on LiaquatRoad, Iqbal Road, Sadiqabad,Muslim Town, Rawal Road,Service Road, Bara Bazaar andJamia Masjid Road.
Administrator RawalTown Saif Anwar Jappa,speaking in this regard, saidthat the operations againstthe encroachments through-out the city would be con-ducted on daily basis.—INP
Sixth Road Flyoverto be inaugurated
on Dec 25RAWALPINDI—Chief Minis-ter Punjab Mian ShahbazSharif will inaugurate theSixth Road Flyover and In-stitute of CardiologyRawalpindi on December 25.
According to Member ofthe National Assembly HanifAbbasi, the Sixth RoadFlyover is on its final stagesand it would be opened fortraffic before December 25. Hefurther said that Institute ofCardiology would be openedfor the patients on the day ofits inauguration.—INP
Senate Bodydirects CDA to
resolve land issueISLAMABAD—Senate Stand-ing Committee on CabinetSecretariat on Friday di-rected recently appointedChairman Capital Develop-ment Authority (CDA), SyedTahir Shehbaz and Manag-ing Director National PoliceFoundation (NPF) to consultwith each other and resolvethe land issue as soon aspossible.
It is pertinent to mentionthat NPF purchased a totalof 1079 kanal land from mem-ber National Assembly(MNA) Anjum Aqeel Khanin 2004. NPF planned to De-velop Housing Society butCDA had cancelled theirNOC in 2008 for not meetingthe terms and conditionsagreed at the time of issu-ance.
The committee met hereunder the chair of KalsoomParveen. The Senate bodydirected CDA to submit re-sult oriented report untilJanuary 28 on issues pertain-ing to Kurri and Reharra vil-lage, Islamabad. The Com-mittee also asked the author-ity to speed up developmentprocess.—APP
PROF ALI SUKHANVER
DO we really needguns and cannons,drones and bombsparticularly when
we don’t have sufficient milkand food for our innocent chil-dren, medicines for our ailingpatients and books for our de-serving students? Certainlynot; we will have to decidewhat we need and what wenot. The wrong choice ofneeds and necessities is alwaysthe basic flaw that leads a so-ciety to a catastrophic destruc-tion. Peace could never be pos-sible in presence of weapons.No war can last longer if theconfronting armies run shortof arms and ammunitions. Fora safer and a prosperous futureof the world, all we need is toput a check on the manufac-
turing, production, trade andsupply of weapons. Issues, par-ticularly the conflicting issuesare an integral part of life butthese issues must be settledthrough talks and negotiations,not by use of force. Peace andharmony must be the top-mostpriority for everyone, at indi-vidual as well as at regionallevel. ‘World needs peace’ mustbe the most important slogan forall of us.
Pakistan and India are nodoubt two democraticneighbouring countries whosebilateral relationship alwaysplays an inevitable role in pro-motion of the regional peace andprosperity. If these two coun-tries had been on friendly termsand relations, the present sce-nario along and across their bor-ders would not have been filledwith hostility and enmity. Un-
fortunately other than the innatenatural disliking for each other,there are so many issues whichhad always added distress to thealready growing distances be-tween these countries. It is truethat the natural feeling of dis-liking could never be rooted outbut we can do a lot to uprootthe issues adding to this dislik-ing. These issues include thewater conflict, the Kashmir dis-pute, the problem of Sir Creekand certainly the scourge of ter-rorism veiled behind extrem-ism. All these issues can besettled through negotiations andtable-talks but the basic thingthe two countries need is thewill to solve the issues andshorten the distances.
Keeping in view the same‘World needs peace’ philoso-phy, the government of Pakistanhas always been very honest andeager in doing whatever that ispossible in this regard. Recentlyan invitation has been extendedto the members of the Execu-tive Council of the All PartiesHurriyat Conference to visitPakistan. It is being hoped thatthese members would visit Pa-kistan from 15th to 22nd De-cember 2012. On one hand, thiseight-day visit would provePakistan’s strong support to theKashmir cause and on the otherhand it would pave way for theprocess of peace and harmonybetween Pakistan and India be-cause the All Parties Hurriyat
Conference is ranked as ‘facili-tator in deciding things’ accord-ing to desires and aspirations ofKashmiris. Most of the liberalsfrom the Indian society have avery positive opinion regardingthe visit of the members of theExecutive Council of the AllParties Hurriyat Conference toPakistan but at the same timethere are a few hardliners whoare not happy at this develop-ment. Such hardliners are verywell aware of the fact that suchconsultative process betweenthe representatives of theKashmiri people and the politi-cal government of Pakistanwould surely ensure a journeyto the peaceful resolution ofKashmir issue. Since they are
in a habit of rejecting and re-fusing the individual identity ofthe people of Kashmir as a na-tion, they are never ready towelcome anything positive donefor them.
It is a very encouraging factthat the large majority of gen-eral Indian population wantspeace in the region and usuallythe Indian hearts are free of ha-tred for Pakistan. Even the In-dian Prime Minister ManmohanSingh has so many times saidthat India wants to resolve allissues, including Jammu andKashmir issue with Pakistanthrough dialogue. The Indiansas a nation are peace loving andamiable. They know that peaceleads to prosperity and in the
larger interest of their owncountry and for the regionalpeace they never become a partof the anti-Pakistan propagandamachinery. But the hardliners inIndian media and in the militarybureaucracy are never in favourof a cordial relationship be-tween these neighbouring coun-tries. These hardliners havestarted a negative campaignagainst the visit of APHC lead-ers by defaming the members ofthe visiting group as Separatists.They are planning to createhurdles in facilitating traveldocuments to the members ofthe APHC leaders. The crust ofthe matter is that such hardlinersare living in a world of theirown imagination where unfairhue and cry can mar the peaceprocess. Their aggressive atti-tude towards the upcoming tripof Hurriyat leaders to Pakistan
is nothing but a futile attemptto disrupt and distort the peaceprocess which is no doubt themost urgent need not only ofthe two countries but of thewhole of region. Pakistan sin-cerely wants Kashmir Issue tobe resolved as per the wishesof Kashmiri people accordingto the UN Charter and samewould be the desire of peaceloving stratum of the Indiansociety.
It is the high time that thepeople of India must join handstogether with the people of Pa-kistan and seek out a gentle wayto resolve the ever-pendingKashmir issue. Our cominggenerations would be thankfulto us if we succeed in providingthem such a fertile land wheregrows nothing but the fragrantflowers of peace and prosper-ity.—Kashmir Watch
Just for a peaceful tomorrow
ISLAMABAD: Dr Amjad, leader of APML in a meeting with Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf at the PM House. FederalMinister and PPP Punjab President, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo and Haji Nawaz Khokar, former MNA were alsopresent on the occasion.
MUZAFFARABAD: Administrator Municipal Corporation Sardar Mubarik Haider ad-dressing teachers in HEED arranged workshop.
SRINAGAR—The veteranKashmiri Hurriyet leader, SyedAli Gilani, has appealed to theinternational community to takecognisance of gross humanrights violations being perpe-trated by Indian troops and po-lice in occupied Kashmir.
Syed Ali Gilani addressinga seminar in Srinagar, today, saidthat New Delhi had beenvictimising the Kashmiris fordemanding their right to self-de-termination promised to them bythe world community and India.He deplored that occupationtroops had been given a free handunder the draconian laws to com-mit atrocities against the inno-
World appealed to takecognisance of IHK HRs abuses
Kashmiris’ sacrifices will not be allowed to go wastecent Kashmiris.The seminar wasalso addressed among other byHurriyet leaders, AasiyaAndrabi, Ghulam Nabi Sumjhi,advocate Mian Abdul Qayoom,and columnist, Abdul MajeedZargar. They maintained that theunparalleled sacrifices renderedby the Kashmiri people for theKashmir cause during the pastover six decades would not beallowed to go waste.
Meanwhile, the Chairman ofAll Parties Hurriyet Conference,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, at ameeting in Srinagar with repre-sentatives of Pandit and Sikhcommunities said that the Kash-mir dispute was an issue pertain-
ing to all the inhabitants of theoccupied territory. APHC lead-ers including Professor AbdulGhani Butt, Bilal Ghani Lone,Syed Bashir Ahmed Andrabi andMusaddiq Aadil were alsopresent in the meeting.
APHC leader, NayeemAhmed Khan, in a statement inSrinagar called upon the UN toplay an effective role in settlingthe Kashmir dispute in accor-dance with the Kashmiris’ as-pirations for ensuring perma-nent peace in South Asia.
Addressing a function inSrinagar noted writers and in-tellectuals said that truth hadalways been a casualty in the
occupied territory where allmeans of information includingmedia were gagged every nowand then. The function was or-ganized by Greater KashmirFoundation and the speakersincluded Professor HameedaNayeem, Professor NoorAhmad Baba, Dr Altaf Hussain,Munshi Ghulam Hassan, DrJavid Iqbal, Arjumand HussainTalib and Ajaz-ul-Haque. Twobooks ‘Kashmir: Triumphs andTragedies’ authored by DrAbdul Ahad and ‘KashmirStory: Hope and Despair’ bycolumnist, Z G Muhammad,were released on the occa-sion.—KMS
Indian forcesoccupying 140 hotels,
guesthouses in SrinagarSRINAGAR—The TravelAgents Association has said that140 hotels and guest houses areunder the occupation of Indianforces and the leaders and ac-tivists of various political par-ties in Srinagar.President ofTravel Agents Association,Rauf Tramboo, in a media in-terview in Srinagar said, if thesehotels and guest houses arefreed it may solve the accom-modation problem to the tour-ists to a great extent.
He said that the tourism de-partment was defaming tourismindustry in the territory by erect-ing hoardings across Srinagarwarning the tourism traders notto cheat and harass the tourists.“Erecting hoardings and askingthe tourism traders not to cheatthe tourists means the peopleassociated with the tourism arecheaters. There may be someelements involved in cheatingbut displaying hoardings projectevery tourist trader as cheater,”he maintained.—KMS
Kashmir in gripof biting cold
SRINAGAR–Kashmir valleyreeled under biting cold withmetrological department fore-casting snowfall in upperreaches and rains in plains.
The sky remained cloudyfor the whole day and tempera-ture dropped drastically. Morn-ing fog reeled the whole regionof Kashmir and temperaturesalso remained few degrees be-low normal in most parts of thevalley. “Kashmir valley re-mained gripped in cold waveconditions for the whole daytoday bringing down the daytemperature,” said Sonam Lo-tus, head of the local Meteoro-logical office.
Lotus said the prevailingcold wave conditions will con-tinue for few more days, withpossibility of light snowfall inhigher reaches and rains inplains. “The cold wave overmost parts of Kashmir is likelyto continue and temperatureswill be on lower side. Higherreaches are likely to receivelight snowfall and plains to re-ceive moderate rainfall fromtonight,” he said and added thatfoggy conditions during morn-ings and evenings will continuereducing visibility.
Srinagar recorded mini-mum temperature of minus 1.8and maximum of 7.4 degreeCelsius. The gateway town ofQazigund recorded minimum ofminus 2.0 and maximum of 9.2degree Celsius.
The ski resort of Gulmargrecorded minimum temperatureof minus 3.8 degree Celsius.South Kashmir’s tourist resortof Pahalgam recorded minimumof minus 4.5 and maximum of10.0 degree Celsius.—NNI
SRINAGAR—Asking whyKashmiris were being sentencedto life imprisonment when noforces personnel were beingprosecuted for custodial deathsand fake encounters, the chair-man of the Hurriyat (G), SyedAli Shah Geelani has assertedthat Indo-Pak talks could not putthe Kashmir issue into cold stor-age, and said that the time wasnot appropriate to undertake avisit to Pakistan.
At a press conference inHyderpora, Geelani, whoseHurriyat (G) had said that hewould also expose the hands be-hind sectarian violence in Kash-mir. “This is not the appropri-ate time for visiting Pakistan,”Geelani told the media. “Apartfrom the fact that I don’t have apassport, I feel that the under-
Indo-Pak ties will notdump Kashmir: Geelani
taking a visit to Pakistan in thepresent situation would not beappropriate.”
“The Hurriyat led by theMirwaiz has visited Pakistanearlier. But what did its lead-ers bring from there?” he said.“Growing ties and engagementbetween India and Pakistanwill under no circumstancesput the Kashmir issue into coldstorage,” he said. “We will notsurrender, nor relinquish ourdemand for the right of self-de-termination,” he said.
This was obviously an at-tempt to answer the contentionof Mirwaiz Umer Farooq that theKashmir issue could not be kepthostage to the issue of unity(among separatists) in view ofthe swiftly changing geo-politi-cal scenario and growing Indo-
Pak ties. “We want a peacefuland lasting resolution to theKashmir issue, and this can befound out in light of UN resolu-tions by negotiations,” he said.
“We don’t accept any for-mula or outline other than theright of self-determination,” hesaid. Terming the recent life sen-tences to two Kashmiris as “crueland oppressive”, Geelani saidthat five lakh Muslims had beenkilled here but no one had beenpunished for the crime.
“We have around 600 newgraveyards, our womenfolk hasbeen criminally targeted, youthhave been done to death in cus-tody and fake encounters, and nopolice, paramilitary and armypersonnel involved in these hu-man rights violations has beenpunished,” he said.—NNI
JKLF membersto stage protest
in LondonSRINAGAR—Members ofJammu and Kashmir LiberationFront (JKLF) would hold a pro-test demonstration at the IndianHigh Commission in Londonagainst human rights violationsin Jammu and Kashmir on theoccasion of World HumanRights Day on December 10.
It coincides with a shutter-down call by JKLF chairman,Yasin Malik, in Kashmir to pro-test against the recent cases ofawarding life sentences toKashmiris. “On 3rd December,2012, a court in Jammu awardedlife sentences to two KashmirisSheikh Nazir Ahmed andShowkat Ahmed, who had bothspent nearly 15 years in jailswithout trial after being arrestedin 1990s. They were released onbail over 7 years ago but rear-rested recently and awarded lifeimprisonment. Two weeks ago,another Kashmiri, Dr QasimFaktoo was sentenced to lifeimprisonment under similar cir-cumstance,” London basedJKLF spokesman said in a state-ment e-mailed to Greater Kash-mir.
“These are serious andworrying cases and point toNew Delhi’s intention to hood-wink the world opinion aboutwhat it has been doing in JK forlast 3 decades. It makes a mock-ery of empty gestures of peaceprocess and ‘political dialogue,”he said.
“We have taken serious no-tice of the latest developmentsand have approached the Am-nesty International, All PartyParliamentary Group on Kash-mir and other international hu-man rights organizations to takeup the issue with the Indian gov-ernment,” he added.–NNI
Govt examiningreport on rights
violations: OmarJAMMU—Chief MinisterOmar Abdullah said his govern-ment is looking into the reportof two local rights groups whichwas critical of the role playedby security forces in the state.“Report has reached us. LetHome Department see it,” hetold reporters here. “Then we will see what wehave to say. At the moment, wehave nothing to say,” Omar said.He was here to open the 61st AllIndia Police Hockey Champion-ship 2012 this afternoon.
The report, released by In-ternational Peoples Tribunal,has alleged human rights viola-tion by police and security per-sonnel in the state during the last20 years. Replying to anotherquestion about assembly elec-tions, Omar said, “there are still2 years to go —let us wait forthat”.—NNI
SRINAGAR–J&K Ski andMountaineering Association(JKSMA) will celebrate Inter-national Mountain Day on Dec11 in Kashmir to send a mes-sage to the public to conservethe ecology and environment ofthe state.
Since 2003 the day is ob-served annually over the world.This year the theme is “Green-ing the Blue.” A JKSMAspokesman said the associationshall celebrate this day to senda “message to masses as how toconserve the ecology and envi-ronment of the state.” Celebrat-ing this day will also help keepthe tourism of the state alive asJammu and Kashmir offers thenatural beauty,” he said.
“Till recent years this daywas not observed in J&K by anygovernmental or non-govern-mental organizations but sincelast year the J&K Ski & Moun-
Int’l mountain day on December 11taineering Association, a regis-tered society, has come forwardto celebrate this day in a bigway,” the spokesman said in astatement. The JKSMA con-ducted various activities lastyear in this behalf at differentplaces in the city,” it said.
The association shall holdvarious activities on this day. Itwill hold a seminar at NigeenClub on the day at 11 am. Envi-ronmentalists, academics, jour-nalists, wildlife biologists, or-nithologists, explorers and ad-venturers shall participate in theevent and present papers on var-ied subjects. On the next day theJKSMA shall organize a sym-bolic daylong trekking programfrom Faqeer Gujri toAsthanmarg in Harwan area inwhich scores of school boys andgirls and the volunteers are tak-ing part.
The participants in the trek
shall make awareness about thepreservation of forests in theoutskirts of the Srinagar City.The celebrations will be held incollaboration with Tourism De-partment (Kashmir) and in part-nership with J&K Mountaineer-ing & Hiking Club. The pro-gram is supported by some otherorganizations like Srinagar De-velopment Authority, TravelAgents Association of Kashmir(TAAK), JK Bank, Hotel GrandMumtaz, Khyber Cements,Raheem Green, TCI Cements,Damna Merchants.
Meanwhile, General Secre-tary, JKSMA, Rauf Trambooappreciated the Tourism Depart-ment and other organisationswho have come forward. Healso hailed Talat Parvaiz, Direc-tor Tourism (Kashmir) for pro-viding the support, logistics tomake the endeavour a suc-cess.—NNI
SR I N A G A R—Maintainingthat Kashmiris have alwaysfound novel ways of expres-sion despite curbs on freedomof expression throughout theirhistory, intellectuals and writ-ers of Kashmir said that truthhas always been a casualty inKashmir. They were speakingat the seminar-cum- book re-lease function organized byGreater Kashmir Foundationhere. On the occasion, twobooks– ‘Kashmir: Triumphsand Tragedies’ authored by DrAbdul Ahad and ‘KashmirStory: Hope and Despair’ byGK Columnist Z GMuhammad – were releasedby eminent personality of theValley, Munshi GhulamHassan.
Speaking at the seminar
Truth has been a casualtyin Kashmir: Speakers
titled “Freedom of expressionwith special reference to so-cial media,” J&K’s Chief In-formation Commissioner GRSufi said that freedom of ex-pression is linked with right toinformation. “While there arereasonable restrictions onfreedom of speech, there aresimilar restrictions under sec-tion (8) of JK RTI Act on get-ting information,” Sufi said.The CIC asked the Kashmircivil society to utilize thetransparency law for the ben-efit of society.
“Don’t let this law fallinto the hands of vested inter-ests. You can stop these ele-ments by seeking informationon wider range of subjects,”he said. The CIC said the re-strictions on freedom of
speech and expression havebeen upheld by High Courtsand Apex Court citing thatthey fall in reasonable cat-egory.
Noted pediatrician andcivil society activist Dr AltafHussain said alternate and newchannels of mass communica-tion are always blocked inKashmir when it comes to tell-ing the truth. “Kashmir is theonly place where media isgagged and curtailments oninternet have lately been wit-nessed here. He said newspa-pers in Kashmir valley are nottotally free. Sometimes wehave to depend upon Jammunewspapers that compara-tively enjoy more freedomthan newspapers publishedfrom Srinagar.—NNI
MIRPUR: President AJK Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan enquiring about the health ofCh Noor Hussain, father of former PM Sultan Mehmood Chaudhry.
SRINAGAR—Hurriyat Confer-ence (M) member and Chair-man Islamic Political Party(Jammu and KashmirK) MrMohammad Yousuf Naqash ina statement has condemned thehouse arrest of prominent profreedom leader and ChairmanHurriyat Conference (G) Mr.Syed Ali Shah Gilani by occu-pation forces.
He said that 6th Decemberwill always be remembered asthe black day and grave tragedyby Muslims in particular andhuman hearts in general as onthis tragic day in 1992 the com-munal extremist Hindus of In-dia demolished centuries oldBabri Masjid to pave the wayfor construction of Ram Mandiron the demolition site.
These communal mindedextremist Hindus also brutally
Naqash condemned thehouse arrest of Geelani
killed 2000 innocent Muslims.The properties of Muslims werelooted and burnt. Muslimwomen were stripped, nakedand raped in Surat and otherparts of India and these intoler-able, cruel shameful acts werevideo graphed. This tragedydeeply injured the religious sen-timents of Muslims. The insultwas too deep to be healed.
As per media reports thattime Prime Minister of so calledlargest democratic and secularIndia was covertly supportive ofthese inhuman, anti Muslim andanti Islam actions of Hinducommunal extremists, aimed atraising Ram Mandir on demo-lition site. The injuries of thisgrave tragedy were fresh thatAllabad High Court instead ofordering reconstruction of BabriMasjid passed an unjust and
partial order of dividing BabriMasjid site and its adjacent ar-eas between Hindus and Mus-lims to rub salt to their injuriesand bruised religious senti-ments. Naqash urged Muslimsto fight jointly for the recon-struction of Babri Masjid.
Naqash strongly con-demned the house arrest ofhighly respectable prominentpro freedom leader and Chair-man Hurriyat Conference (G)Mr. Syed Ali Shah Gilani byoccupation forces and said thatthat he was not going to battleground but for peace march topacify the already charged andtense situation due to sectariandivide and clashes. His intentionwhich he had before revealed tomedia was to appeal Muslimsfor maintaining peace and har-mony. —NNI
A friendship foundedon business is better
than a businessfounded on friendship.
— John D Rockefeller
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The Asian De-velopment Bank on Fridaytrimmed the region’s growthforecasts for 2012 and 2013amid “uncertainty” in Europeand the United States, and a poorIndian economy.
The region of DevelopingAsia, which excludes Japan, wasset for growth of 6.0 per cent in2012, and 6.6 per cent in 2013,the bank’s latest Asian Develop-ment Outlook Supplement said,0.1 percentage point lower foreach year than it predicted inOctober.
The group of countries wasdragged down by India’s perfor-mance stressing the country’ssliding industrial production anddeclining exports.
Poor Indian economy trimsAsia’s growth forecasts
In the second quarter, Indianindustrial production fell 0.4 percent and overall growth in grossdomestic product (GDP) slid to5.3 per cent from 6.7 per cent ayear earlier, the report said.Moreover, growth in consumerspending was one of the lowestin recent years, it said.
“With weak agricultural in-come keeping rural consump-tion low and fragile investmentsentiment in the coming quar-ters, GDP growth is now pro-jected at 5.4 for fiscal 2012,”less than the 5.6 per cent thatwas forecast in ADB’s 2012October update, the report said.
South-East Asian consum-ers and “a mild economic recov-ery” in China provided somebuoyancy to offset India’s weak-ness, it said. However, “endur-
ing debt problems and economicweakness in Europe and thelooming fiscal cliff in the UnitedStates remain very real threatsto developing Asia next year,”the bank’s chief economistChangyong Rhee said.
In China, October’s data re-inforced September’s indicationof recovery, the report said, with“industrial production growthrebounding to a five-month highof 9.6 per cent and fixed invest-ment expanding 20.7 per cent,backed by a 25.5 per cent in-crease in infrastructure invest-ment.”
The country’s retail sectoralso showed strength, growing14.5 per cent, spurred by in-creased car and appliance sales,it said.
Continued on Page 14
Dr Asim Hussain, Advisor to Prime Minister on Petroleum and Natural Resources, meetingwith Carlos Pascual, US Special Envoy for International Energy Affairs.
AMANULLAH KHAN
KARACHI—According toHigh Commissioner of IndiaSharat Sabharwal the PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh hasaccepted the invitation to visitPakistan with a vision to trans-form South Asia with the co-operation of all neighbouringcountries of India, includingPakistan, the region movesfrom poverty to prosperity andfrom ignorance to a knowl-edgeable society.
During a meeting withleaders of Karachi Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(KCCI) here today, he said thatIndo-Pak bilateral trade liber-alization, the Indian diplomat
Liberalized visa regime soon: Sabharwalsaid that “both sides have towalk the last mile”.
He conversed that Indo Pakdialogues were productive andsubsequent development will bebeneficial for two countries. Hesaid that Indian side asked forMFN, Pakistani side urged forremoval of NTBs. Subsequently,three agreements viz. CustomsCooperation, Agreement onMutual Recognition andRedressal of Grievances weresigned which will be imple-mented after completion of alllegal formalities to streamlinebilateral trade.
One deadline for removal ofrestriction on though land routeis passed, another deadline todismantle negative list is com-
ing. Developments are based onreciprocal basis with consider-ation and implementation fromboth ends. He said that Indianside was adhering to commit-ments and looking forward toPakistani side for same. Mov-ing further is subject to fulfill-ment of commitments (men-tioned in the joint statement of7th round of talks of Indo-PakCommerce Secretaries on com-mercial and economic coopera-tion). New liberalized visa re-gime will be applied soon.
As per joint statement of 7thround of talks of Indo-Pak Com-merce Secretaries on commer-cial and economic cooperation,India has reduced its SAFTAsensitive list by 30 percent from
878 tariff lines to 614 tariff lines.Out of 264 tariff lines being re-moved 155 tariff lines are per-taining to agriculture and 106relate to textile items. It wasagreed by Indo-Pak CommerceSecretaries that after Pakistanhas notified its removal of allrestrictions on trade by Wagah-Attari land route, the Indian sidewould bring down its SAFTAsensitive list by 30% beforeDecember, 2012 keeping inview Pakistan’s export interests.Pakistan would transition fullyto MFN (non discriminatory)status for India by December2012 as agreed earlier.
India would thereafter bringdown its SAFTA Sensitive Listto 100 tariff lines at 6 digit level
by April, 2013. As India noti-fies the reduced Sensitive List,Pakistan, after seeking approvalof the Cabinet, will also simul-taneously notify its dates of tran-sition to bring down its SAFTAsensitive list to a maximum of100 tariff lines at 6 digit levelwithin next 5 years. The reduc-tions shall be notified by Paki-stan in equal measure for eachyear so as to complete reductionto 100 lines before end of 2017.
Speaking on the occasionMuhammad Haroon AgarPresident KCCI emphasised toexpedite execution to openIndo-Pak cross-border tradefrom Khokrapar-MonabaoBorder on the pattern ofWagah-Attari.
SALIM AHMED
LAHORE—Rice Exporters As-sociation of Pakistan (REAP)Chairman Jawed Ali Ghori ex-pressing his serious concernover ongoing strike by thetransporters has said efforts ofthe Association to increase riceexports are at risk due to thisstrike.
Jawed said over all tradesituation is not favorable inour country due to so manyhurdles including energy andpower crisis, load sheddingproblems, taxation issues, law& order etc. However, riceexporters are making their fullefforts for the improvement inexport sector for the benefitof economy, but due to theprevailing strike of transport-
Rice exporters concernedover transporters strike
ers, they are also facing seri-ous problems.
‘Rice shipments are ready toexport, but due to this problemthey cannot transfer their goodsto the Ports and their shipmentsare getting delayed, which iscausing huge financial losses tothe rice exporters and image ofPakistan is also damaging fornot fulfilling the commitments,’Ghori added.
Moreover fresh crop arrivalfrom Interior Sindh has alreadybeen commenced but its move-ment is not possible because ofthe existing situation. Growersare also very disturbed with thesituation, as there are no properarrangements for storage ofPaddy due to which the qualityof rice will also be affected, heclaimed.
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The approval ofthe Investment Tax Scheme,2012 and Tax Registration En-forcement Initiative, 2012 fromthe National Assembly sessionstarting Monday (December 10)would be instrumental in sur-passing the revenue collectiontarget of Rs 2,381 billion for2012-13.
The schemes would be pre-sented in the upcoming sessionof National Assembly startingDecember 10. The FBR wouldbe able to surpass the revenuecollection target of Rs 2,381 bil-lion for 2012-13 in case the Par-liament approves the InvestmentTax Scheme, 2012 and Tax Reg-
FBR set to surpassFY13 revenue target
istration Enforcement Initiative,2012 (TREI 2012) to generatean additional amount of Rs 86-100 billion.
The FBR is confident thatthe approval of the schemeswould play a key role in amass-ing the target of Rs 2,381 bil-lion for 2012-13 without mak-ing any downward adjustment.
The FBR has no plan todownward revise the revenuecollection target of Rs 2,381 bil-lion for 2012-13. Ministry ofFinance is the authority to makeany adjustment in the revenueprojections.
Sources added that thegrowth of large-scale manufac-turing sector was low during thefirst quarter of 2012-13 and
other economic indicators havealso shown downward trend.The targets of growth and infla-tion fixed in budget 2012-13have changed. Similarly, growthpattern has also changed duringcurrent fiscal. This resulted inlow revenue collection duringJuly-September 2012-13.
If the current economic situ-ation continues, the FBR wouldbe able to collect about Rs 2,194billion during 2012-13. TheFBR has worked out that therevenue to the tune of Rs 100billion would be generated fromtwo investment and registrationschemes. This would be instru-mental in amassing the revenuecollection target of Rs 2381 bil-lion by the end of current fiscal.
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Aptma ChairmanShahzad Ali Khan has said thattextile industry in Punjab is un-der serious threat of closuredue to gas supply suspensionon the one hand and six to eighthours announced/unannouncedelectricity load shedding on theother.
He said reduction in gassupply from five days to twodays a week has already playedhavoc with the industry. Nowthe phenomenon of unan-nounced load shedding is go-ing to intensify the situationfurther and the textile millers
Punjab textile industry in duressare not clear whether to continueoperations for five days a weekin the absence of gas supply anduncertain availability of electric-ity to mills or lay off the work-ers in Punjab, he added.
According to him, the pre-vailing uncertainty is fast erod-ing the viability of the Punjab-based industry. The textile in-dustry is mainstay of the Paki-stan economy and 75 percent ofthe production units are Punjab-based. But severe energy short-age in Punjab is hitting the tex-tile industry worst despite thefact that the textile units are onindependent feeders and paying100 percent electricity bills.
But still, he said, it is ironi-cal that no uninterrupted sup-ply is being ensured to textileindustry in Punjab yet.
Shahzad urged the govern-ment for an urgent need of pri-oritizing the considerations tonot only save the industry butenable it to avail the trade op-portunities arising out fresh en-gagements with the Europe,China and India. Also, an un-interrupted energy supply totextile industry would bring $3billion foreign exchange to thecountry that would sufficient tosettle the balance of paymentissue of the country without ap-proaching to the IMF.
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Non PerformingLoans (NPLs) of the bankingindustry have witnessed down-ward trend falling by some Rs18 billion during the first quar-ter of the current fiscal year.
The NPLs of the bankingindustry were on higher side forlast few years because of sloweconomic activities followed byenergy crisis and poor law andorder situation in the country,banker said.
However, the current de-cline in the NPLs is a good newsas it reflects that industry has
NPLs down by Rs18btaken some serious steps to cur-tail the rising NPLs. Now banksare required to further focus onthe recovery to reduce the NPLs,they added.
According to the State Bankof Pakistan (SBP), the NPLs ofthe banking industry have de-clined to Rs 635.831 billion as onSeptember 30, 2012 comparedwith Rs 653.982 billion as on June30, 2012, depicting a decrease of2 percent or Rs 18.15 billion.
The complete decline hasbeen registered in banks’ NPLs,while that of Development Fi-nancial Institutions (DFIs) con-tinue to surge. The NPLs of all
the banks posted a decline of 3percent or Rs 18.82 billion infirst quarter of FY13. With cur-rent decline, the NPLs of banksstood at Rs 617.144 billion inSept 2012 from Rs 635.972 bil-lion in June 2012.
During the period under re-view, the NPLs of DFIs movedup by 4 percent or Rs 677 mil-lion to Rs 18.687 billion fromRs 18.010 billion.
The detailed analysis re-vealed that the NPLs of PublicSector Banks (PSBs) are on de-cline while that of Local PrivateBanks (LPBs) continue to postincrease.
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Wapda Chair-man Syed Raghib Abbas hassaid that the Neelum-Jhelumhydropower project would becompleted by 2016 if loan worth$1 billion loan is arranged. Hesaid this in a meeting of the Sen-ate Committee chaired by Sena-tor Zahid Khan.
Abbas said that the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project is ofparamount importance and itscompletion is a must by 2016. Incase of failure, India would havean edge of completing theKishanganga project, which is
$1b more needed to completeNeelum-Jhelum project
being completed on the said riverin held Kashmir. “There is also apossibility that Pakistan mightlose the water priority rights ofthe Neelum river to India if thecompletion of the Neelum-Jhelum hydropower project getsdelayed,” he said. “Therefore, theproject’s completion on time isnecessary.”
He added that Pakistan hasto arrange a huge amount of $1billion to complete the project by2016. If the said amount is ar-ranged, then only would thecountry be able to attain the wa-ter priority rights of Neelum riverby completing the project first.
An official dealing with theNeelum-Jhelum hydropowerproject said that China had sofar failed to deliver $ 448 mil-lion loan for the project due towhich the construction work onthe project site was suffering.Abbas said that on one unit ofelectricity, 45 percent loss wasbeing incurred. “Line losses andwidespread electricity stealing isinflicting huge losses to the sys-tem,” he added.
Special Secretary of the Min-istry of Water and Power,Hamyiatullah Khan, said that therewere some feeders where 85 per-cent electricity was being stolen.
Less infrastructurefacilities
impede tradeSTAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Pakistan’s infra-structure and customs clearingfacilities are not fully geared tohandle trade between India andPakistan, which would be un-leashed when both the countriesreduce their trade barriers by theend of this month.
Lahore Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (LCCI)President Farooq Iftikhar saidthat a policy declaration for theestablishment of a business cen-tre at Wagah at the first stage andthereafter at the other land bor-ders was direly needed to facili-tate manufacturers, traders, im-porters and exporters. “Wagahand other land borders of thecountry are not ready to copewith trade with India, which isgoing to register a quantumjump after December 31,” hesaid. “Handling border trade inthe current situation is a chal-lenge for Pakistan.”
He added that the need ofthe hour is for the governmentto clarify the role of various bor-der agencies.
“We have not yet esti-mated future trade by valueand volume,” he regretted. Headded that keeping the possi-bility of another similar bor-der opening in the future, itwas significant to define afreight business model for theborder.
“Dry ports in Pakistan playa very important role in trade fa-cilitation,” he said. “It is impera-tive to involve all the dry portsas a greater part of border tradeand develop more customsfreight stations (CFS) in thecountry, which would provideinvestment opportunities for theprivate sector and reduce theburden on public sector organi-zations.”
Rs98.9b releasedfor development
projectsSTAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The PlanningCommission has so far releasedRs98.9 billion under its PublicSector Development Programme(PSDP) against total allocationsof Rs233 billion for the fiscalyear 2012-13, according to thelatest data of the commission.
Of total, Rs55.1 billion havebeen released for 344 infrastruc-ture development projects, whileRs40.7 billion was released for673 social sector projects, it said.Similarly, Rs1.1 billion have beenreleased for 68 other projects andRs2 billion for the EarthquakeReconstruction and RehabilitationAuthority (ERRA).
According to the data, thesereleases have been made againstRs233 billion PSDP allocations.
The total size of the PublicSector DevelopmentProgramme for the year 2012-13 is Rs360 billion, includingRs100 billion foreign aid, whichis managed by the EconomicAffairs Division and Rs27 bil-lion for special programmes,release of which are made by thecabinet or the finance divisions.
According to the break-up, to-tal cost of 344 infrastructureprojects has been estimated atRs2,346.4 billion, of whichRs210.9 billion have been ear-marked in the 2012-13 budget thatinclude Rs85.6 billion as foreignaid.
KTBA worried overmanual selection of
audit casesSTAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Karachi Tax BarAssociation (KTBA) has ex-pressed strong resentment overmanual selection of audit casesfor tax years 2010, 2011 and2012.
In a letter sent to chairmanFederal Board of Revenue(FBR), the association said thecommissioners from the Re-gional Tax Offices (RTOs) areeither selecting cases for taxyears 2010, 2011 and 2012 orasking to make compliances ofthe pending cases that manu-ally selected for audit undersection 177 of the Income TaxOrdinance, 2001, albeit theFBR is the only authority toselect cases through computerballot.
Teledensity 72pcStaff ReporterKARACHI—Teledensity inPakistan stand at 72 percent inSeptember, according to thelatest telecom indicatorsreleased by Pakistan Telecom-munication Authority (PTA).Telecom analysts attributed thetrend towards rising need ofcommunication in addition toconstant growing middle classincome level. “The planned3G auction is a further triggerto upscale teledensity in thecountry to the global averagebut we flag low probability ofthis at least in the short-run.”Competing in a five mobileoperator environment, mobilesubscribers cross 120 million-mark in September, up by 9.2percent on year-on-year basisand 0.6 percent on month-on-month basis. Mobilinkcontinues to be the marketleader with stable 30 percentmarket share.
Outages woefulStaff ReporterLAHORE—The federalgovernment has shifted theburden of power outages onindustry from domesticconsumers under a newdirective of the FederalMinistry of Water and Power.As per the revised loadmanagement plan, effectivefrom the first week ofDecember, 2012, steel furnacesare subjected to outages 12hours a day against totalexemption in the past frompower outages. The indepen-dently-fed textile industry facesfour hour cuts in power supply,which will shortly be raised tosix hours and then eight hours aday from the third week ofDecember till February. Therewill be a two-hour suspensionof power supply to industrialdominated tube-well, flourmills and commercial markets.Only the continuous processindustry has been givenexemption from outages.
Investor educationprogrammesStaff ReporterKARACHI—Lack of adequatefinancial literacy andcapability coupled withinadequate level of under-standing and due diligencemakes investors vulnerable tofraudulent activities andunwise investment decisionsas they ignore basic prudentmeasures before entering intoa contractual agreement witha financial service provider.Comparative regionalstatistics reflect that Pakistanhas the lowest indicators forsaving and investmentincluding insurance penetra-tion and participation inpension and mutual funds.The country also has a lowinvestor base in the capitalmarkets which results in lowvolumes and lack of liquidity.On July 13, the KSE andSecurities and ExchangeCommission of Pakistan(SECP) along with key non-banking financial marketstakeholders.
OBSERVER REPORT
FAISALABAD—Great businessprospects and joint ventures op-portunities in various sectorsneed to be tapped in Nigeria byPakistan’s business community.
This was stated by Lt Gen(retd) Ashraf Saleem, Pakistan’sHigh Commissioner to Nigeria,during his visit to the FaisalabadChamber of Commerce and In-dustry (FCCI) here on Friday.
Addressing the ExecutiveCommittee and members ofFCCI, he said that Pakistan pos-sessed great potential to increaseexport of textiles, agricultureand other products to Nigeria, acountry rich in resources and amajor economy in the AfricanContinent to cater to the rest ofAfrican markets.
He said that Pakistan hadgreat export potential in wheatproduction, sugar, rice, fabricsand textiles with a hard-work-
‘Business opportunitiesin Nigeria booming’
ing manpower. Pakistan can en-hance trade volume with theNigeria to manifolds, he added.
He maintained that to enterinto the Nigerian market wouldmean access to other countriesin Western and Central Africa.
He said that Nigeria was amember of OPEC and D-8, andhuge gas reserves of 119 trillioncubic foot were still remainedunutilized and Pakistan shouldtake advantage of Nigeria’s richgas reserves.
He pointed out main areaswhere great opportunities ex-isted for Pakistani businessmen:as joint ventures in fertilizerprojects, LNG projects and set-ting up oil refineries.
Similarly, there are tremen-dous opportunities for coopera-tion in the area of agriculture andagri-implements and even retailchains for textiles and other Pa-kistani manufactures can beopened there.
He said that the Nigerianmarket was in need of middleand low-tech products, andtherefore carried immense po-tential for Pakistan’s exports.
On the suggestion of FCCIPresident he said that a singlecountry exhibition can be arrangedin Logos or Abuja and he wouldtry to get organized the Exhibitionin either of the these cities in Ni-geria. Welcoming LieutenantGeneral (Retire) Ashraf Saleem,the President Faisalabad Chamberof Commerce & Industry (FCCI)Mian Zahid Aslam said that witha population of 170 million, Ni-geria was an important country forPakistan having annual GDPgrowth of 6.9 percent emergingan Economic power in the Afri-can Continent.
Pakistan and Nigeria havebigger size of economies buttrade volume between both thecountries was limited only toUSD 40 million in 2011.
STAFF REPORTER
I S L A M A B A D — S e n a t o rMushahid Hussain Syed on Sat-urday said the 21st-century is the‘Asian Century’ in which wewill witness the dominance ofAsian politics, business and cul-ture which calls for governmentsand private sector to play theirdue role.
Asia is reverting back toglobal supremacy in business,knowledge, culture, politicsand innovation after 250 years,he said, adding that in theemerging scenario Saarc na-tions should brace for thechange.
Mushahid Hussain said thatwe should have a South AsianParliament like European Parlia-ment to ensure rapid develop-ment.
He was speaking at a semi-
Unleashing South Asian econo-potentialthru shared vision underscored
nar titled, “Trade and Invest-ment – New Dawn in SouthAsian Integration,” on the 27thAnniversary of Saarc organisedby Saarc Chamber in partnershipwith Friedrich-Nauman Foun-dation.
VP FPCCI Mirza AbdulRehman, Deputy High Commis-sioner (HC) Bangladesh Md.Jashimuddin, Deputy HC IndiaGopal Baglay, HC Nepal BharatRaj Paudyal, First Secretary SriLankan High CommissionE.A.S Wijayanthi Edirisinghe,Secretary General Saacr IqbalTabish, Malik Sohail and othersleaders of the business commu-nity were also present on theoccasion.
Speaking at the occasion,Senator Haji Adeel said thatonly way to provide relief tomajority of the world’s popula-tion living in this region is
through increased trade and re-duced friction.
He said that a study by theADB found that an additionalthree billion Asians could enjoyliving standards similar to thosein Europe today.
VP, Saarc CCI Iftikhar AliMalik said that the region couldaccount for over half of globaloutput by the middle of this cen-tury but we are not prepared forit.
He said that Saarc was cre-ated for welfare of the people butpolitical tensions have kept usfrom destination. Curtailingmovement of businessmen hasbeen identified as one of the big-gest hurdle in progress of regionwhich is home to 22 per cent ofworld’s population with 45 percent of young people, saidIftikhar Ali Malik.
Saarc countries, the world’s
largest regional entity, has itsunique characteristics but yet theintraregional trade is lowest inthe world, he added.
Iqbal Tabish said that thatdespite enormous potentialthe contribution of Saarc inglobal GDP is below two percent and share in exports isonly 1.5 per cent despite 35million SMEs.
Ambassadors, diplomatsfrom Saarc family and busi-ness leaders underlined theneed for political commitment,review of protectionists poli-cies, and resolution of issuesto ensure dawn of a new era inhistory of South Asia. Presi-dent and office bearers of vari-ous business chambers includ-ing HCCI, ICCI, IWCCI andthat of various associationswere also present on the occa-sion.
ISLAMABAD: VP Saarc Chamber Iftikhar Ali Malik presenting crest to Senator Mushahid Hussain at the Saarc CharterDay celebrations. VP FPCCI Mirza Abdul Rehman and Malik Sohail also seen in the picture.
BHP lookingfor CEOsuccessor
SYDNEY—BHP Billiton said itis looking inside and outside thecompany as well as using exter-nal advisers to help with succes-sion plans for its chief executive,following reports the world’sbiggest miner was preparing forchanges at the top.
Chairman Jac Nasser toldBHP’s Australian annual generalmeeting that planning for a suc-cessor to CEO Marius Kloppershad started the day he was ap-pointed and was ongoing.
Kloppers oversaw phenom-enal growth during the finalboom years of the last decadeand, despite failing to completeat least three major deals, wonplaudits from investors for rein-ing in costs and maintainingshareholder payouts.
But BHP now faces a sharpdrop in profits as it battles atougher environment after aslowdown in top customerChina has knocked commoditiesprices.—Newswire
LAHORE: Chairperson TEVTA Arif Saeed is addressing NAVTTC delegation. ChairmanNAVTTC Mumtaz Akhtar Kahloon, Regional Director Hussain Nasir Jamy, Chief Operat-ing Officer TEVTA Khalid Mahmood and other officers are also seen in the picture
AMANULLAH KHAN
KARACHI—Only 29% girlsand 41% boys have access tocorrect information about pu-berty and hygiene in Pakistan.The lack of reliable informa-tion is shaping behavior andpractices of majority of theyouth who do not have skillsand confidence to turn knowl-edge into decision making. Inorder to raise awareness onthese issues, address thephysical and emotional chal-lenges of adolescents and sug-gest ways to handle them, amass awareness and advocacycampaign on reproductivehealth rights of Pakistaniyouth named ‘HAYAT’ waslaunched here on Tuesday ata local hotel by LifeLine.
Addressing a press con-ference, Chief Executive of
Lifeline demands reproductive health rights scanLifeLine Omer Aftab said thatthe multimedia campaign willdisseminate messages throughTV, Radio, Community Theatre,Outdoor and Musical Events andthat will focus on -relevant mes-sages for youth.
Aftab said that it is worth-while to mention here that ourreligion discusses adulthoodthrough Quran and Sunnah toteach right practices. We haveconsulted a large number of re-ligious scholars from three sectsin this regard who have furthereducated us on the religious as-pect of these matters. He addedthat Maulana Raghib HusainNaeemi, Head of JamiaNaeemiya while stressing theimportance of right guidance foradolescents states “Lack ofproper guidance can lead thechildren to choose wrong com-pany and fall for bad habits”.
Lamenting the fact that there isno serious effort to sensitize 100million youth on these issues,Omer Aftab acknowledged thattaking care of the emotional,psychological and health aspectsof growing up children are easiersaid than done in Pakistan wheredespite media emancipation, theissue remains a taboo for widersection of society.
Highlighting the attitude ofparents, Mr. Aftab held that thereare parents who for various rea-sons, do not want to answer toquestions relating to psychologi-cal and physiological issues andhence the project also targets thecaretakers (parents and teachers)and motivate them to discussthese issues with their children/students without any inhibitionso that the youth may not in-dulge in self exploration of in-formation out of their natural
urge. “The emotional and physi-cal changes taking place duringadolescence” he added, ”play animportant role in forming thepersonality traits of the youth asthe remaining years of lifemerely become reflection ofthose traits.”
Underlining the importanceof acquiring proper informationand guidance on the subject, hefeared absence of proper infor-mation and guidance or reluc-tance to share any such informa-tion may lead to self-deducedand half-baked facts that maydevelop certain fallacies, far re-moved from reality and may insome cases, lead to exploitation.
Omer Aftab also dispelledfalse impressions that have noth-ing to do with religion but cen-turies old rites and customs ofthis region. “Our religion doesnot forbid us from discussing or
imparting proper guidance to thechildren on these sensitive is-sues,” said he and further added,“the issue should not be labeledas socially proscribed topic andparents especially in middle andlower middle classes should dis-cuss these issues with their chil-dren.” It may be recalled herethat growing age introduces hy-peractivity of hormones that re-sults into emotional ups anddowns for youth and as a resultthey may face multi faceted ad-justment problems in society.
Throwing light on one of themost sensitive issues confront-ing the country Mr. Omer Aftabsaid that it is very unfortunatethat most couples are either ig-norant of the importance ofbirth-spacing or they have acareless attitude towards it.While sharing the statistics oncontraception, he told that only
4% of married girls of 15 to 19years of age use contraceptivesand only 11% of the women inthe age group of 20 to 24 years.“Islam encourages at least 2years of birth spacing by assign-ing mother, the duty of breast-feeding, he said and went on toinclude, “International organiza-tions are now advocating aneven longer than two years birthinterval to protect the health ofmothers and babies.”
He also referred one of thestatements made by AftabHusain Al Jawadi, Dean of Fac-ulty of Sharia at Al Kausar Is-lamic University, regarding theproblems that one may face bynot planning a small family that“with a large number of chil-dren, parents have to worryabout their health, education,economic opportunities and pro-vision of other facilities. So it is
logical that number of childrenshould be lesser so that chal-lenges of their upbringing canbe fully met.”
Omer Aftab deplored thegeneral attitude of society to-wards womenfolk and heldthat we must remain aware thatconstitution of Pakistan hasboth laws for women protec-tion & empowerment as wellas against sexual harassment atworkplaces. Women are moth-ers, wives, sisters & daughtersand it is our collective respon-sibility to stop violence,against women by raisingvoice. He quoted MuftiMuhammad Naeem of JamaiaBinoria Al-Aalamia, who hadsaid that Quran commandshusbands to treat their wiveswell and men to perform theirduties towards women and for-bids bad treatment.
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Pakistan EdibleOil Refiners Association(PEROA) in collaboration withFederation of Oils, Seeds andFats Association Limited(FOSFA) is organizing a TwoDay Seminar on PEORA –FOSFA TRADE in Karachi onDec11 and Dec 12.
The Federation of Oils,Seeds and Fats Associations(FOSFA) is a professional inter-national contract issuing and ar-bitral body concerned exclu-sively with the world trade inoilseeds, oils and fats with 975members in 79 countries. Thesemembers include producers andprocessors, shippers and dealers,traders, brokers and agents, su-perintendents, analysts, ship-owners, and others providing
PEORA tradeseminar from Dec 11
services to traders.FOSFA has an extensive
range of standard forms of con-tracts covering goods shippedeither CIF, C&F or FOB, forsoybeans, sunflower seeds,rapeseed, and others, vegetableand marine oils and fats, refinedoils and fats, from all originsworldwide, for different meth-ods of transportation and differ-ent terms of trade. Internation-ally, 85% of the global trade inoils and fats is traded underFOSFA contracts.
The Federation’s contractsincorporate a dispute procedureinvolving arbitration by experi-enced individuals from withinthe trade.
The Chief Executive Officerof FOSFA, the immediate PastPresident and Speakers are ar-riving to address the Seminar.
Attari-Wagahexport to soar
to Rs10bSTAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Export from theAttari-Wagah border may riseto Rs 10 billion in three yearsby focusing on trade diplo-macy with India. This wasstated by eminent business ex-perts and CEO HarvestTradings, Ahmad Jawad. Hesaid, “We believe in trade di-plomacy and peace is vital forlong-term relations and weneed to identify areas of eco-nomic cooperation.”
Joint ventures, out-sourc-ing and sharing of technologywill further expand trade, hesaid. He said that informationon agriculture processing in-dustries and floriculture etccould give farmers diversitythat they needed in making in-telligent decisions. He saidthat export from the Attari-Wagah border was Rs 2 billionwhich can jump to 10 billionin 3 years. “Amritsar andLahore immediately requireconsulate offices. The check-post is around 30 km fromAmritsar in India and 20 kmfrom Lahore in Pakistan. Bothcities are major trading centresand with enhanced trade thecost of imported items fromeach other is likely to fall con-siderably,” he added.
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
MULTAN—Pakistan CottonGinners Association (PCGA)Chairman Mahesh Kumar hasstrongly opposed the import ofcotton and urged upon the gov-ernment to impose ban on theimport of raw-cotton from dif-ferent countries by spendingprecious foreign exchange be-cause local produce was suffi-cient to meet the requirement oftextile industry.
He said that Pakistan can’tafford to rely on imported rawmaterial. He said that at least1,772,447 bales are lying unsoldin the cotton ginning factoriesof the country. Textile millershave developed a cartel to keepthe cotton prices at the lowestebb. Chairman of ginners groupHaji Muhammad Akram, ExChairman Pakistan Cotton Gin-ners Association (PCGA)
Ban demanded onimport of raw cotton
Amanullah Qureshi and Vice-Chairman Chaudhry WaheedArshad endorsed his demandand said that textile millersshould give priority to local cot-ton and they should desist fromimporting raw-cotton from othercountries. They should save theprecious foreign exchange be-sides safeguarding the interest oflocal growers. The PCGA fort-nightly report shows that around9.58 million cotton bales weresourced to the country’s ginnersby December 1, 2012 whichshows a decrease of 0.70 percentthan last year.
PCGA Chairman MaheshKumar briefed journalists aboutseed-cotton (phutti) arrivals,sales and unsold stock of cotton.He said that 76,50,373 cottonbales were sold to the textileunits and exporters bought1,59,740 bales. Thus, overall7,810,113 bales were traded
without TCP participating in thetrading activity so far. He saidthat PCGA was expectingbumper crop which may crossedthe figures of 14 million bales.Kumar said that total 985 out of1200 ginning factories are op-erational in Sindh and Punjab.The chairman of PCGA said thatPunjab contributed 66,05,379bales which 12.40 percent lessthan last year when Punjab con-tributed 75,40,309 bales, Sindhcontributed 29,77,181 baleswhich 41.11 percent more thanlast year when it contributed21,09,793 bales and Balochistan46,087 bales.
The textile industry pur-chased 76,50,373 bales and17,72,447 bales were availablewith ginners as unsold stock.He said that cotton trading re-mained firm amid strong physi-cal price and higher cottonseedprices.
The bank expects thatfourth-quarter growth of around7.7 per cent year-on-year will befollowed by a likely 8 per centannual growth in 2013’s firstquarter.
Better-than-expected per-formances from Malaysia andthe Philippines in the third quar-ter boosted the 2012 growthforecast for the ASEAN-5group, which also includes Viet-nam, Indonesia and Thailand,from a collective 5.6 per cent to5.9 per cent.
The ADB said it also ex-pected the Thai economy’sfourth quarter to show a strongrebound due to the “low baseeffect from the impact of lastyear’s floods.” Philippinegrowth for the quarter was 7.1per cent year-on-year, more thandouble the rate recorded in thesame period a year earlier.
Singapore was lagging be-hind other countries in the re-gion, with 0.3 per cent year-on-year growth in the third quarter.
The report covered 44 de-veloping ADB member coun-tries and Brunei Darussalam, anunclassified regional member.
Poor IndianFrom Page 13
STAFF CORRESPONDENT
MULTAN—Gas crisis is wors-ening day-by-day as domesticconsumers of various localitiesin the city and cantonment havebeen facing lots of problems dueto low or zero gas pressure inMultan. Domestic consumersparticularly in Hassan ParwanaColony, Bismillah Colony,Usmanabad, Wilayatabad,Saddar, Garden town,Mumtazabad, Samijabad,Gulgasht, Shamsabad, JusticeHameed Colony, NaqshbandColony, and Jan MuhammadColony have been facing greatdifficulties due to low or zero
Consumers facing difficultieson low gas pressure
gas pressure in their houses.Sui Northern Gas Pipelines
Limited (SNGPL) Chief Engi-neer, when contacted by thisscribe, admitted that consumers insome localities have been facinglow gas pressure for a couple ofdays. He said that the gas pres-sure depends on weather, ifweather remains cold people willfurther face low gas pressure inthe coming days. He also said thatcompressed natural gas (CNG)stations are the main reason forlow gas pressure in houses. Thecitizens have expressed grave con-cerns over gas load shedding andlow gas pressure in winter season,which is affecting routine life of
the citizens. The Consumers re-jected the plea of SNGPL authori-ties and said that they are facinglow gas pressure during three daysof shutdown (from Monday toWednesday) People demanded ofSui Northern Gas Pipelines Com-pany Limited (SNGPL) and otherauthorities concerned to take stepsfor regularising the gas supply inwinter season as per instructionsof Prime Minister Raja PervaizAshraf.
The low or zero gas pressureproblem is also adversely affect-ing the commercial activitiesparticularly of ‘tandoorwalas’and ‘hotels’, depriving hundredsof people of their livelihood.
Yarn marketfacing uncertainty
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Polyester Cotton(PC) Yarn dealers have expresseddisappointment at the uncertaintyplaguing the yarn market. This,they said, was due to the appre-hension of imposition of anti-dumping duty on import of Poly-ester Staple Fiber (PSF).
It may be mentioned thatimports of Polyester Fiber havedeclined drastically as a resultof what is known as “the chill-ing effect” in international tradeterminology. In the wake ofdried-up Polyester Staple Fiber(PSF) imports and the impend-ing anti-dumping duty imposi-tion, Polyester manufacturershave jacked up their alreadyhigh PSF prices by another Rs10to Rs12 per-kg to the detrimentof PC yarn manufacturers.
A renowned PC Yarn manu-facturer and leading textile exporterexpressed exasperation at the dis-torted operating environment forthe PC Yarn industry. He explainedthat subjection of the basic rawmaterial of the industry to 6½ percent non-refundable import dutyand a further significant quantumof anti-dumping duty makes mat-ters worse for them.
He revealed that PC Yarn infinished form is facilitated to beimported free of all duties whereasthe basic raw material for itsmanufacture in Pakistan is heavilytaxed. Thus, value-addition withinthe country is thoughtlessly dis-couraged in significant measure.
LPGconsumer price
OBSERVER REPORT
ISLAMABAD—This is with ref-erence to intermittent increasein the sale prices of LPG,OGRA in exercises of the pow-ers conferred under Section6(2)(q) of the OGRA Ordi-nance, Rule18(2) of the LPG(Production & Distribution )Rules, 2001 and in pursuanceof Pare 3.4.2 of LPG Policy2006, the Oil and Gas Regula-tory Authority has determinedthe following reasonable maxi-mum consumer price of 11.8 kgcylinder including distributormargin of Rs.70/11.8 kgcylinder for all the urban andrural areas of the country. Dueto higher transportation cost inAJK, FATA and Northern Ar-eas, Rs. 30/11.8 kg cylinderwill be admissible to thesementioned maximum LPGconsumer Prices,Reasonablemaximum consumer price for100% locally produced LPG isRs.1,477 / 11.8 kg cylinder i.e.Rs. 125.16/kg. Reasonablemaximum consumer price for100% imported LPG isRs.1,644 / 11.8 kg cylinder i.e.Rs.139.32/kg.
PQ shippingactivity
KARACHI—Three ships arrivedat the Port to load/offload con-tainers at QICT diesel oil atFOTCO on Saturday.
Berth occupancy was main-tained at 50% at the Port on Fri-day where a total of seven shipsnamely M.V KPS-I Alican Bey-Powership, M.V BeautyfullRina, M.V Lantau Arrow, M.VMSC Clementina, M.T ALSalam- II, M.T Bunga Angelica,M.V Sai Enternity, are currentlyoccupying berths to load/offloadwheat,containers, iron ore, die-sel oil, palm oil, Cargo handlingoperations were carried outsmoothly at the Port where acargo volume 119324 tonnescomprising 72456 tonnes import,46868 export and (3597) TUESwas handled at the Port duringlast 24 hours. M.V Lantau Arrowsailed on Saturday morning. NOarrive on Saturday as per arrivalschedule.—APP
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—The fertiliser facto-ries operating in the Sui North-ern Gas Pipelines Ltd (SNGPL)system have been facing severegas outages and received lessthen 50 percent gas supplies inthe eleven months of 2012(January – November) againstlast year.
Last year, of the four plantsoperating on the SNGPL net-work, Pakarab Fertilisers Ltd.received 8,278mmcf, DawoodHercules 6,513mmcf, Agritech3,142mmcf and Engro 12,643mmcf. However in 2012, thetotal gas received so far (Janu-ary-November) has beenEngro 6,490mmcf, Pakarab4,941mmcf, Dawood Hercules
Fertiliser plants braving gas outages2,788mmcf and Agritech2,655mmcf. During the secondhalf of 2012, gas supply toplants was as follows: Agritech30 days, Pakarab 30 days andDawood Hercules 15 days.This is almost 50 percentlower than 2011. All the fourfertiliser plants operating onthe SNGPL network are sub-ject to frequent and unan-nounced shutdowns.
A fertiliser industry officialsaid that owing to gas shortages,in 2012 the SNGPL andfertiliser plants had signed anagreement, according to which,the fertiliser plants operating onthe national grid were to receivegas on a fifteen-day rotation.The four fertiliser plants,namely Pakarab Fertilisers,
Engro Fertiliser, Dawood Her-cules and Agritech were to op-erate on rotation. However, asthe situation worsened, even thisagreement could not be fol-lowed, he added.
The data further shows thatPakarab, Agritech and DawoodHercules have suffered hugelosses owing to gas curtailmentsduring the current year. Beingsolely dependent on the SNGPLnetwork for gas, Pakarab alonehas not produced for over 250days out of a total of 325 daysof 2012. Engro Fertilisers Ltd.,a subsidiary of Engro Corpora-tion, has an advantage of twoindependent sources for gas.Therefore, it was able to post areasonable profit of Rs4.5 bil-lion in 2011.
CAIRO—Egypt’s military onSaturday urged rival politicalforces to solve their disputesvia dialogue and said the op-posite would drag the coun-try into a “dark tunnel”, whichit would not allow. A state-ment by the military spokes-man read on state media madeno mention of PresidentMohamed Mursi, but said asolution to the political crisisroiling the most populousArab nation should not con-tradict “legitimacy and therules of democracy”.
Egypt has plunged everdeeper into crisis since Mursi,who was freely elected inJune, decreed himself widepowers on November 22 andpushed ahead with plans fora referendum next Saturdayon a constitution drafted byan Islamist-dominated assem-bly. The army’s duty was toprotect national interests andsecure vital state institutions,the military said. Egyptianscould express their views “farfrom all displays of violence”.The statement, the army’smost direct remarks so far onthe political confrontation be-tween the Islamist presidentand his liberal opponents,was issued while protesterswere still camped out by thegates of the presidential pal-ace.
But it did not appear toindicate that the army, whichran Egypt for months afterHosni Mubarak’s overthrowlast year, was planning to re-take control of the country orits turbulent streets. A militarysource said the statement didnot signal any plan for a in-tervention in politics or a
Egypt military calls for dialogue to avoid ‘dark tunnel’broad role on the streets. A se-nior Muslim Brotherhood of-ficial welcomed the army’s re-marks as “balanced” and neu-tral. Former Foreign Minister
Amr Moussa, now an oppo-sition leader, said the armywas simply responding to an“enormously dangerous situ-ation”. The military was thepower behind all previouspresidents and an army coun-cil temporarily took over afterMubarak’s fall. However,Mursi pushed the generals
aside in August and they hadshown little appetite to inter-vene in Egypt’s latest crisis.“The armed forces affirm thatdialogue is the best and only
way to reach consensus,” thestatement said. “The oppositeof that will bring us to a darktunnel that will result in catas-trophe and that is somethingwe will not allow.” The state-run daily al-Ahram earlier re-ported that Mursi would soonauthorize the military to helppolice keep order and give it
powers of arrest under a de-cree approved by the cabinet.It did not say when the decreewould be issued.
The instability in Egypt
worries the West, especiallythe United States, which hasgiven Cairo billions of dollarsin military and other aid sinceit made peace with Israel in1979. The tens of thousandsof Mursi foes who surged pasttanks and barbed wire to reachthe palace gates on Fridaynight had dispersed, but a
hard core stayed overnight ina score of tents.
Some had spray-painted“Down with Mursi” on tanksof the elite Republican Guard
posted there after clashes be-tween rival groups killed atleast seven people andwounded 350 this week. Oth-ers draped the tanks with post-ers of Mursi and the word“Leave” scored across hisface in red letters.
“We are no longer callingfor scrapping the decree and
delaying the referendum,”Samir Fayez, a Christian pro-tester at the palace, said. “Wehave one demand in five let-ters: leave.” Nearby, a Mursisupporter named MohamedHassan was quietly observingthe scene. He suggested thatthe Muslim Brotherhood andits ultra-orthodox Salafi Islam-ist allies could easily over-whelm their foes if they choseto do mobilize their base.
“The Brotherhood andSalafis by themselves are fewbut they have millions of sup-porters who are at home andhaven’t taken it to the streetsyet,” murmured the 40-year-old engineer. The MuslimBrotherhood’s supremeguide, Mohamed Badie, de-nounced opposition proteststhat have swirled around thewalls of the Mursi’s palace,saying they “ruin legitimacy”.Badie said eight people, all ofthem Brotherhood members,had been killed this week andurged the interior minister toexplain why police had failedto prevent assailants fromtorching the organization’sheadquarters and 28 other of-fices.
“Get angry with the Broth-erhood and hate us as muchas you like, but be reasonableand preserve Egypt’s unity,”he told a news conference.“We hope everyone gets backto dialogue.” The turmoil hasexposed deep divisions overthe destiny of a country of83 million where the removalof Mubarak 22 months agoled to a messy army-led tran-sition, with the Brotherhoodand its allies winning twoelections.—Reuters
A sign, which reads: “Leave”, is pictured on a barbed wire barricade guarding the presidential palace in Cairo, asRepublican Guard soldiers stand in line behind the barricade.
PORT SUDAN—A secondvisit by Iranian warships toSudan in little over a monthrisks widening divisions in-side the African country’sgovernment and upsetting itsGulf Arab donors. Two Ira-nian navy ships also visitedin October, days after Sudanaccused Israel of bombing aweapons factory in the capi-tal Khartoum. Israel declinedto comment on the allegedattack but has accusedSudan of smuggling weap-ons to the Gaza Strip, whichis ruled by the Iranian-alliedPalestinian movementHamas.
Sudanese officials de-scribed the docking of Iran’s23th fleet - destroyer Jamaranand logistics ship Bushehr -for three days in Port Sudan
Iranian warships’ visit risksstraining Sudan-Gulf ties
on Saturday as a routine re-fuelling stop. “The port hasseen similar visits from shipsfrom America, Europe and therest of the world,” armyspokesman al-SawarmiKhalid told reporters late onFriday.
Iran’s Press TV said fleetcommanders met withSudanese government andnavy officials. It quotedAbdulla al-Matri, head of theSudanese navy in PortSudan, as saying he “ex-pressed happiness over thearrival...and called for the fur-ther expansion of the militaryties between Iran and Sudan,”according to a report on thestation’s website. Analystssay the docking of ships,which will be open to the pub-lic, according to the army,
could hinder Sudan’s effortsto win badly needed aid fromGulf Arab oil producers suchas Saudi Arabia, which areworried about Iran’s influ-ence in the region.
Sudan’s President OmarHassan al-Bashir has held onto power for 23 years, buteconomic crisis has fed dis-sent and squeezed the patron-age system that secures loy-alty of key army and rulingparty figures. Last month, au-thorities arrested a former spychief and 12 others accusedof a coup attempt. Faced withthe loss of three quarters ofoil production when SouthSudan broke away to becomeindependent last year,Sudan’s foreign ministry hassought to bolster links withGulf states.—Reuters
EU sees faithbias problem
BRUSSELS—Europe’s grow-ing religious diversity is cre-ating social and legal tensionsthat cry out for reform, buteven a European Union seek-ing solutions may not have thepolitical will to implementthem. That was the impressiongiven this week when re-searchers for a three-year EU-funded study of discrimina-tion and other problems facedby minority faiths in membercountries presented some oftheir proposals to EuropeanCommission officials.
The findings of the sur-vey were clear: minority reli-gions, especially Islam, facegrowing job discriminationand many restrictions in thepublic sphere. This hindersintegration and could eventu-ally put a drag on the EUeconomy, it said. “If you don’trespect these people’s desireto combine their citizenshipand work with their religiousidentity, you exclude them andlose their potential,” saidMarie-Claire Foblets, theCatholic University of Leuvenanthropologist who heads theReligare research project.
The study, which will beofficially completed in thecoming months, suggests theEU expand its directiveagainst discrimination in theworkplace to include a rightto reasonable accommoda-tions for citizens’ religiousneeds. But the economic andpolitical climate has changedsince that law was passed in2000 and the EU called for anextensive academic survey offaith-based problems as partof its current researchprogramme running from 2007to 2013.—Reuters
Sri Lankaparliamentary
panel finds chiefjustice guilty
COLOMBO—Sri Lanka’schief justice has been foundguilty of three impeachmentcharges by a parliamentarypanel, a government officialsaid on Saturday, in a casethat has sparked oppositionprotests and raised interna-tional concerns. Parliamentis expected to vote on thefinding when it sits in Janu-ary. President MahindaRajapaksa needs 113 votesin the 225-member legislatureto remove the chief justicefrom her post. Rajapaksa’sparty has a more than two-thirds majority.
“We have found herguilty of three charges outof the first five we have in-vestigated,” Nimal Siripalade Silva, minister of irrigationand a member of the im-peachment panel, told re-porters. He said the chargesinclude financial irregulari-ties, conflict of interest, andfailure to declare her as-sets.—Reuters
Burkino ruling party wins voteOUAGADOUGOU—Burkina Faso’s rulingparty secured a strong majority in thismonth’s parliamentary election, final re-sults showed, but the main oppositioncalled for some results to be annulled,claiming fraud and irregularities. Criticsand allies have suggested an overwhelm-ing majority in parliament could allowPresident Blaise Compaore, in powersince 1987, to push through changes tothe constitution that would allow him to
stay on. Burkina Faso’s President Blaise Compaore leavesafter the closing ceremony of the 14th annual Francophoniesummit in Kinshasa. In 2000, Burkina Faso restricted presi-dents to two five-year terms but the constitutional court saidthe rule only applied to Compaore from the end of his 2000-2005 term. Compaore’s Congress for Democracy and Progress(CDP) secured 70 of 127 seats in the December 2 vote, whileallies in the broader coalition secured a further 28 seats ac-cording to complete results announced late on Saturday. “Forthe CDP, this is a renewal of the people’s confidence. It is acrushing victory...that confirms our position as leader inBurkina,” Salam Derme, the party’s youth leader, said. Theopposition Union for Progress and Change (UPC) taking partin its first elections, took 19 seats, a record for the oppositionin the poor, land-locked nation. However it claimed rigginghad occurred in Kadiogo, the most densely populated prov-ince and home to the capital Ouagadougou.—Reuters
Extra troops to tackle Mafia warsROME—Italy’s interior minister said onSaturday she was considering beefing upthe presence of troops in Naples to tacklea spree of mob violence after a man wasshot dead in a city nursery school earlierthis week. During a visit to the nursery,Anna Maria Cancellieri said army back-up of the police had already been rein-forced in recent months due to escalatinggang warfare in the Scampia district ofthe city, a heartland of the Camorra, or
Naples Mafia. Italian Interior Minister Anna Maria Cancellierilooks on during a news conference with Libyan interim Inte-rior Minister Fawzi Abdelal (not pictured) in Tripoli. “Thequantity of troops is extraordinary. We are thinking of inten-sifying the military presence even further,” she told report-ers. Naples, the largest city in southern Italy, has long beensynonymous with chronic crime, and the Camorra are knownfor thriving on drug trafficking and extortion. But the recentspree of public shootings has shocked authorities. OnWednesday a 50-year-old man was chased into the court-yard of the nursery and shot dead by two men on a scooterwhile children were practising Christmas carols inside thenursery. The man had started dealing drugs for one criminalgang and drawn the wrath of a rival group, newspapers re-ported.—Reuters
Zimbabwe election before new constitutionZIMBABWE—Zimbabwe’s President Rob-ert Mugabe threatened on Friday to callan election before the completion of con-stitutional reforms if his rivals in a power-sharing government dragged their feetover the charter-drafting process. Ad-dressing an annual conference of hisZANU-PF party, Mugabe also said hewould also press ahead with a drive toforce foreign-owned firms including minesand banks to sell majority shares to local
black people. Mugabe, 88, one of Africa’s longest servingrulers and accused of hanging on to power through vote-rigging, has called for an election in March in the southernAfrican country. But coalition partners including Prime Min-ister Morgan Tsvangirai, Mugabe’s old rival, first want a newconstitution and electoral and media reforms after a violentand disputed poll in 2008 that was condemned by much ofthe world. Mugabe told party members he would not waitforever to call elections, putting pressure on Tsvangirai’sMovement for Democratic Change (MDC). “If they do not(agree), I am going to declare sooner or later the day of anelection,” he said, to applause. “Enough is enough. We can-not continue to drag our feet on this.” However FinanceMinister Tendai Biti, secretary general of the MDC, toldReuters that Zimbabwe would not be ready for a presidentialelection until at least June because it needed the reforms toensure a fair and undisputed poll. “It’s impossible to have anelection in March,” he said during a visit to Manchester,England, on Thursday. —Reuters
Clinton to testify on BenghaziWASHINGTON—U.S. Secretary of StateHillary Clinton listens to a question dur-ing a joint news conference with IrishPrime Minister Enda Kenny at the gov-ernment building in Dublin. “I have justreceived confirmation from SecretaryClinton’s office that the secretary of statewill appear before the House Committeeon Foreign Affairs to discuss, in an openhearing, the findings and the recommen-dations in the report,” Representative
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement. Ros-Lehtinen is chairof the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Commit-tee, which has already held several hearings and classifiedbriefings on the attack. The attack killed U.S. AmbassadorChristopher Stevens and three other Americans, and raisedquestions about the adequacy of security in far-flung posts.Republicans have criticized the Obama administration for itsflawed early public explanations of the attack, and then forshifting explanations of why talking points given to U.S.Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice were changedto delete a reference to al Qaeda. Ros-Lehtinen said she ex-pected an accountability review board convened by the StateDepartment to release a report on the attack sometime nextweek. The review board, led by veteran diplomatic heavy-weight Thomas Pickering, is expected to consider whetherenough attention was given to potential threats and howWashington responded to security requests from U.S. diplo-mats in Libya.—Reuters
Bahrain calls for talksMANAMA—Bahrain’s Crown Princecalled for dialogue with the country’sopposition to break a deadlock in the res-tive Gulf Arab state, an appeal met withskepticism by rights activists. The rulingAl-Khalifa family, who are Sunni Muslims,used martial law and help from Gulf neigh-bors to put down a revolt in March lastyear against alleged discrimination ofBahrain’s majority Shi’ite Muslim popu-lation, but violence has resumed. Protest-
ers and police clash almost daily and the island has seenbombings this year. Demonstrations are banned. PrinceSalman bin Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifah, who was seen aslosing influence to hardliners in the ruling family during massprotests last year, said Bahrain must continue political andjudicial reforms. ‘I call for a meeting between all sides, as Ibelieve that only through face-to-face dialogue will any realprogress be made,” he said late on Friday in an address to aconference on Middle East security organized by the Inter-national Institute for Security Studies. No opposition fig-ures were invited to the conference. ‘We know dialoguewould help solve the problems in Bahrain, but we don’tsee any positive messages from the authorities.’—AP
MOSCOW—Meat imports toRussia from producers usingractopamine must be testedand certified free of the feedadditive, the country’s veteri-nary regulator said, withMoscow’s health watchdogdenying the requirement is apolitical retaliation. Themove, announced a day afterthe U.S. Senate approved abill to expand trade betweenWashington and Moscowthat also sought to punishRussian human rights viola-tors, could jeopardize NorthAmerican meat beef and porksuppliers.
It would potentially makethe United States, which ex-ports more than $500 milliona year worth of beef and porkto Russia, significantly lesscompetitive, giving advan-tage to Chinese and EuropeanUnion meat producers, whereractopamine is banned. TheU.S. Meat Export Federation
Moscow restrictsUS meat imports
said the U.S. Department ofAgriculture had no testingand certification program inplace for ractopamine.
Russia’s plant and healthregulator, Rosselkhoznadzor,said that as of Saturday itwould allow for an unidenti-fied transition period duringwhich in the absence of aneeded certification, Russiawill test each shipment itself.“During this period the vet-erinary service of the suppli-ers have to create a systemof laboratory testing of prod-ucts certifying the absence ofractopamine,” the regulatorsaid in a statement posted lateFriday on its website.
Analysts said the Rus-sian move was linked to theU.S. Senate’s passage of the“Magnitsky Act” as part ofa broad trade bill, which drewan angry response from Rus-sia where officials called it“absurd.”—Reuters
MABILA—Philippine Presi-dent Benigno Aquino de-clared a state of national ca-lamity on Saturday, four daysafter this year’s strongesttyphoon left nearly 1,000people dead or missingmostly in the country’s re-source-rich south. A pricefreeze on basic commoditieswas put into effect, and localgovernments were autho-rized to utilize their calamityfunds for search, relief andrescue operations.
The national disasteragency put the death toll at459 and a further 532 weremissing, mostly in theMindanao provinces ofCompostela Valley and
Calamitous emergencydeclared in Philippines
Davao Oriental. Thousandshave been left homeless bytyphoon Bopha which hitland on Tuesday with windsstronger than HurricaneSandy that devastated theU.S. West Coast in October.
The government sentsniffer dogs to the worst-hitprovinces to help with thesearch for victims. Rescueworkers have also requestedheavy equipment to helpclear debris. “I don’t knowwhat to do, I really don’t knowwhere to look for them,” AnnaJoy Adlawan, a 14-year-oldstudent told Reuters at anabandoned public market inNew Bataan as she and twosiblings searched for their
mother and other relatives.“The last time we heard
from them was when mymother called us up asking forhelp because floodwaterswere rising. When he got hereon Wednesday, our housewas gone and they were alsogone. “Last Friday, we foundthe body of our 7-year-oldnephew, but we’re still look-ing for eight more, and we willnot stop until we find and givethem proper burial.”
Bopha has weakened andis moving slowly north-north-west off the main Luzon island.An average of 20 typhoonshit the Philippines every year,some causing death and de-struction.—Reuters
BEIJING—New communistleader Xi Jinping is on a mis-sion to soften the image ofChinese officialdom, winningkudos for his breezy personalstyle and ordering leaders totake a knife to the pomp, for-mality and waste that havealienated many among thepublic.
With his silky baritone,glamorous wife and daughterat Harvard, Xi cuts a very dif-ferent figure from the staid,hyper-private leaders of thepast. Even his posture, morelike that of a slouchy collegeprofessor than a stiff partycadre, has won him plaudits.
Xi took the new informal-ity a step further at a Tues-day meeting of the 25-mem-ber Politburo, ordering thatarrangements for leaders’ vis-its and the trappings of powerbe drastically pared back.Elaborate welcoming ceremo-nies will be eliminated, trafficdisruptions avoided, andstaid, often worthless report-
Xi leads luxury cut campaigning on the doings of the lead-ership dispensed with. Evenred carpets are to go. And ac-cording to Hong Kong mediathat is what happened on Xi’sfirst trip outside Beijing sincehe took over as party leader.When Xi arrived in the south-ern Chinese city of Shenzhenon Friday there were no wel-come banners, and the redcarpet was gone when he laida wreath to the statute of theformer Chinese leader DengXiaoping on Saturday, accord-ing to footage by Hong Kong-based Phoenix Television.
It’s still unclear whether thetonal change will boost trans-parency and bring meaning-ful administrative reforms thatmany say are needed to sus-tain China’s economic andsocial development. The sonof a communist elder, Xi hasalso gained a reputation as anationalist hardliner with ear-lier comments blasting for-eigners for criticizing China’shuman rights record. Yet his
direct approach seems to bewinning Xi fans among a pub-lic with whom he remainslargely unfamiliar, despite hislong career in public serviceand five years serving as thecountry’s vice president.
As vice president, Xi hadbeen careful to adhere to partyprotocol that required him toremain low-key and deferen-tial to President Hu Jintao.Now, as party leader and presi-dent-in-waiting, he seems ea-ger to seize on the opportu-nity to establish his personal-ity and bona fides with theChinese public while the fo-cus is still on the new leader-ship.
Reaching out to the inter-national community, Xi metWednesday with foreigntechnical specialists andbusinesspeople based inChina, remarking that amitybetween nations depends on“whether this deep friendshipexists at the people-to-peoplelevel.”—Reuters
CAIRO—President Mohamed Mursi was expected topress ahead on Saturday withtalks on ways to end Egypt’sworst crisis since he took of-fice even though thecountry’s main oppositionleaders have vowed to stayaway.
Cairo and other citieshave been rocked by violentprotests since November 22,when Mursi promulgated adecree awarding himselfsweeping powers that put himabove the law. The upheavalin the most populous Arabnation, following the fall ofHosni Mubarak last year,worries the West, in particu-lar the United States, whichhas given it billions of dol-lars in military and other aidsince Egypt made peace withIsrael in 1979.
Egyptian opposition to shunMursi’s national dialogue
Mursi’s deputy raised thepossibility that a referendumset for December 15 on a newconstitution opposed by lib-erals might be delayed. Butthe concession only goespart-way towards meeting thedemands of the opposition,who also want Mursi to scrapthe decree awarding himselfwide powers. On Saturday,large crowds of protesterssurged around he presiden-tial palace, breaking throughbarbed wire barricades andclimbing on tanks guardingthe seat of Egypt’s first freelyelected president, who tookoffice in June.
As the night wore on,tens of thousands of opposi-tion supporters were still atthe palace, waving flags andurging Mursi to “Leave,leave”.—Reuters
PARIS—Three French sol-diers were found guilty onFriday of murdering a high-way gang leader in IvoryCoast in 2005 in a high-pro-file case that strained rela-tions between France and itsformer colony. The sentenceswere suspended, meaningthe soldiers will not face jail.
A Paris criminal courthanded down the suspendedsentences ranging from oneto five years for the three sol-diers accused of killing FirminMahe, an Ivory Coast manwanted for murder and rape,in May 2005. The incident -in which Mahe was suffo-cated with a plastic bag in anarmoured vehicle after his ar-rest - erupted into a diplomatic
French soldiers guilty inmurder of Ivory Coast man
scandal after it was found thesoldiers tried to cover up thecrime. The court gave Colo-nel Eric Burgaud, who hadgiven the order to kill, a sus-pended sentence of fiveyears, while his adjunct whohad admitted to carrying outthe murder, Guy Raugel, re-ceived a suspended four-yearsentence.
Brigadier Chief JohannesSchnier, who helped in the kill-ing, was handed a suspendedsentence of one year. Anothersoldier who drove the vehicleduring the killing was acquit-ted. During the trial, the pre-siding magistrate cited the dif-ficulty of judging such a case,for which there was little or noprecedent.—Reuters
BIPIN DANI
OBSERVER
CORRESPONDENT
MUMBAI—”Can we have thecopy of Indian Court’s order,which has directed the BCCIto lift life-ban on MohammadAzharuddin ? We tried to traceit, but in vain”, Shan Gul, andhis father, Aftab Gul, the ad-vocates of former Pakistaniskipper, Salim Malik have re-quested to this scribe. Theirrequest has been forwarded toRamakanth Reddy, the lawyerhired by India’s former captain.
“Our client (Salim Malik)applied for the batting coach ofthe national team on October24, but has not been acknowl-edged. We filed the petition inLahore High Court (LHC) onThursday and in next 24-hour,the court has directed the Paki-
Azharuddin’s verdict on his life-ban
Salim Malik’s lawyersseek Indian court order
stan Cricket Board (PCB) to takea final call on his applicationwithin 30-days”, the advocates,in exclusvie chats, said.
Interestingly, Aftab Gul wasinitially hired by Salman Butt,when the spot-fixing allegationswere first surfaced against formercaptain. The lawyer by profes-sion now, Aftab Gul played forPakistan in 1970s. He was thefirst player to appear in first-classcricket while on bail for his po-litical activities.
“I have no problem if myappication is rejected, but thePCB should come forward withthe answer”, Salim Malik, latersaid from Lahore. “No, I don’tthink my writ-petition against thePCB will go against my desire,but even if goes, the court orderwill benefit me in future”, SalimMalik added further. In 2000,Salim Malik became the first
player to be banned - from allcricket - for match-fixing, whenJustice Qayyum, the one-mancommission, appointed by thePCB, found him guilty.
“I didn’t ban him but hadonly recommended”, Qayyaumsaid from Pakistan. “Manyyears have passed since thenand I see no problem if he isassigned the position (by thePCB)”, he said, again exclu-sively.
However, according to thePCB insiders, Malik is unlikelyto be awarded any post in nearfuture. “We have appointed thethree-member committee tofind our batting coach and sta-tus-quo will be maintained asfar as Malik’s application isconcerned”, the source said.“Perhaps, our Pakistan teamwill have no batting coach onIndia tour”, he further added.
MELBOURNE: Ass of The Netherlands (L) leaps through defenders Ahmed Waseem (R) and Muhammad Ateeq of Paki-stan (C) during their semi-final match at the Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy.
KOLKATA—For a major part ofSaturday, the Barmy Army’sband played loud and cheerfullyat Eden Gardens as England allbut consigned India to their firstset of consecutive home Test de-feats since 1999-2000.
It was fitting that the “band”
drowned out the despondent In-dian contingent in the stands,putting in place the jingoistic ad-vertisements put together by thehost broadcasters, which ridi-culed English people.
The England supporters,though, were silenced a little inthe morning session by a minicomeback from India. It wasruthlessly stomped over byGraeme Swann, so far a greatsupport act to Monty Panesar inthe series. Just when it seemedIndia might be slipping awayfrom them for the first time in theTest, Swann assumed the leadrole just after lunch.
India had taken England’slast four wickets cheaply, thengone to lunch without damagebut Swann came back to burst
through Virender Sehwag’s gate.Cats among pigeons cause lesspanic. Under relentless pressure,India batted and ran like head-less chickens, and went from 86for 0 to 239 for 9.
When England went intolunch having lost four wickets in
4.3 overs and then conceded 86runs in 21 wicketless overs, theremight have been thoughts ofChennai 2008-09 at the back oftheir heads. Swann had himselfdropped Sehwag on 7 and seenhim race to 49 by the break. In-dia were only 121 behind. Outcomes Swann and tosses oneoutside off, putting all his mightin trying to turn the ball, creatinga gap between Sehwag’s pad andhis open face, and then hitting thetop of off. India were now like ahouse of cards in a bicycle stand.Gautam Gambhir, who was as-sured in Sehwag’s company, andCheteshwar Pujara looked likethey would get out any ball.Steven Finn, bowling reverseswing at high pace, and Swannwere relentless. The pitch that
had looked docile thus far beganexploding all of a sudden. It wasmerely the amount of action putinto the ball.
After just 12 runs in close toeight runs in that partnership,Gambhir called Pujara throughfor a risky single and Ian Bell hit
the stumps direct from shortmidwicket. You could imagineEngland bowlers fighting to geta bowl now; there were easywickets on offer.
Gambhir was nearly gonewhen a replay to check the va-lidity of a low catch off Swannrevealed he hadn’t edged it at all.In the next over, Gambhir wentdriving at a wide and full ballfrom Finn, edging him throughto Matt Prior. Just to prolong hisagony, the umpires asked him towait at the edge of the boundaryas they checked for a foot faultthat wasn’t.
With Gambhir finally gone,focus turned to Sachin Tendulkar,playing surely his last Test in-nings at Eden Gardens. He hadgot four with a trademark lap
sweep but, two balls later, stayedback to an offbreak pitched on alength. The ball from Swanndidn’t turn as much as he ex-pected it to, and took the outsideedge to Jonathan Trott at slip: 107for 4. Before India could drawbreath, Finn was replaced by aneven more threatening JamesAnderson. Reverse swing at highpace again. Virat Kohli andYuvraj Singh somehow added 15before Anderson bowled oneshort of a length, and it shot lowto take the bottom edge and crashinto Yuvraj’s stumps. MS Dhonicame in. MS Dhoni got one shortoutside off. MS Dhoni followedit tamely. MS Dhoni went back:122 for 6.
Kohli was next, beautifullyset up by Finn. Immediately af-ter reversing one ball in to Kohli’sbat handle, Finn inverted theshine of the ball and got it tomove away. Kohli didn’t have thediscipline, followed it, and wastaken at the wicket. He followedit with a symbolic wicket ofZaheer Khan with a reversinginswinger. Here was a formermaster of reverse swing who hasbecome an innocuous trundlerbeing shown how to do it.
A bit of comedy followed.Panesar, who had been sawn offfor a golden duck in the morn-ing, had both Ashwin and IshantSharma missed off his bowling.If looks could kill, Englandwould be looking for newwicketkeeper.
R Ashwin, arguably India’smost consistent Test batsman thisyear, continued to show he is abetter batsman than he is a spin-ner. In the company of the obdu-rate Ishant Sharma and PragyanOjha, he added 80 in 29.3 overs.All it did was help find the spir-ited Indian crowd some voice,avoid an innings defeat, and takethe match into the final day.
It also brought up a statisticthat sums up India’s series. Hisbatting average for the series nowcrossed 50, behind only Pujara’s,but it was still lower than his ownbowling average.—Agencies
India v England, 3rd Test
England on brink ofback-to-back Test win
KOLKATA: Graeme Swann had Sachin Tendulkar caught at slip on Saturday.
India first innings 316England first innings 523India 2nd inningsGambhir c Prior b Finn .... 40Sehwag b Swann .............. 49Pujara run out (Bell) .......... 8Tendulkar c Trott b Swann . 5Kohli c Prior b Finn ......... 20Yuvraj b Anderson ........... 11Dhoni c Cook b Anderson . 0Ashwin not out ................ 83Khan lbw b Finn ................ 0Sharma b Panesar ........... 10Ojha not out ....................... 3Extras (b 8, lb 2) 10Total (9 wickets 239Fall of wickets 1-86, 2-98, 3-103, 4-107, 5-122, 6-122, 7-155, 8-159, 9-197.Bowling ............. O-M-R-WAnderson .............. 15-4-38-2Finn ...................... 17-6-37-3Panesar ................. 22-1-75-1Swann .................. 28-9-70-2Patel ......................... 1-0-9-0
MELBOURNE—Netherlandsscored a 5-2 win over Pakistanin the first semi-final of the men’sChampions Trophy field hockeytournament Saturday.
The third-ranked Dutch wereon top throughout and led 3-1 athalftime before scoring twicemore in the second half for anemphatic win.
The Netherlands will nowface the winner of Saturday’sother semi-final between Austra-lia and India in Sunday’s final.
Striker Billy Bakker said theDutch were pleased with theirprogress throughout the tourna-ment. “We have a good team andbefore we came to Melbourne wehad a goal to play in the final,minimum, and hopefully to takethe gold back to the Nether-lands,” Bakker said. Bakker saidhe expected to meet Australia inthe final and described them asthe tougher side. “There will beno more open spaces like we hadtoday in the second half. It will
be two teams who will be play-ing at high speed, and we will see.
“Our main goal is the WorldCup (in 2014) in our own coun-try and if we want to win therewe have to win the ChampionsTrophy or the European Cup soit will be a good experience forus, and it’s a good feeling.”
The result was a disappoint-ment for Pakistan but they mustrespond quickly for the playofffor the bronze medal against ei-ther Australia or India on Sun-day. Pakistan’s Shakeel Abbasisaid his team was disappointed,however they still had plenty toplay for in the bronze medalmatch. “We are still in the medalrace so we will try our best. To-day Holland played well but inthe start we had a few chances,”Abbasi said.
“We will try our best be-cause it is a medal match and amedal match is always a goodmatch.” The Dutch began in ter-rific form, with Pakistan looking
shell-shocked. It was not longuntil the Dutch confirmed theirdominance with Bakker scoringthe first of his two goals only twominutes into the match.
Having been given far toomuch space into their circle, theNetherlands continued to attackwith Severiano van Ass makingit 2-0 at the 20 minute mark.
Pakistan were given a giftminutes later when an own goalwas scored off the stick of Neth-erlands defender Bob de Voogd.
However a second Bakkergoal gave them the momentumbefore half time with a com-manding 3-1 lead.
The Dutch powered on in thesecond half with two more goalsbefore Abbasi scored a late con-solation goal. In the earlier quali-fication matches, Belgium domi-nated England 4-0 for their firstever Champions Trophy win,while Germany held off a deter-mined New Zealand to win 6-4.—AFP
Pakistan lose 5-2to the Netherlands
Australia beatIndia 3-0
MELBOURNE—An injury-hitIndia proved no match to defend-ing champions Australia as it lost0-3 in a lop-sided semifinal clashtoday and will now have to fightit out for a bronze in the Cham-pions Trophy hockey tournamenthere. Australia scored throughcaptain Jamie Dwyer (fifth and18th minutes) and Kieran Govers(42nd) after enjoying territorialdomination against the Indians,who were often forced to fallback and defend against the ram-pant rival strikers.
Australia stayed on coursefor their fifth successive title, set-ting up a final against Olympicsilver medallists Netherlands,who outplayed Pakistan 5-2 inthe other semifinal.
India’s Cinderella run cameto an end, but they stay in con-tention for their first ChampionsTrophy medal in three decades.India will take on Pakistan, in asub-continental clash tomorrowfor the bronze medal.
India’s only Champions Tro-phy medal, a bronze, came in1982. Pakistan edged past Indiato claim bronze medals for threesuccessive years from 2002-04.
Playing a fast dominantgame, Australia today pressed theaccelerator from the beginningand forced their first penalty cor-ner in the second minute, butChristopher Ciriello’s rising shotwas ruled as a foul for going intoonrushing defender’s body.
Dwyer opened the scoring inthe fifth minute, capitalising ona rebound during Australia’s sec-ond penalty, after Ciriello’s drag-flick was blocked by a defender.
The Aussies increased thelead in the 18th minute by con-verting a penalty stroke, whichwas awarded when a foul wascommitted on Dwyer in a scor-ing position. Dwyer had alreadytaken two shies. The first one wasblocked by goalkeeper TRPotunuri and the second shot re-bounded back into play offpost.—Online
CHITRAL: Shahzada Amanur Rehman giving away trophy to captain of Jang Bazar foot-ball team on Saturday.
GUL HAMAAD FAROOQI
CHITRAL—Jang Bazar-A foot-ball team clinched final of Dis-trict Football tournament 2012on Saturday. Some 42-footballteams participated in the tour-nament. The final match wasplayed between Danin Lashtand Jang Bazar-A footballteams.
Jang Bazar team defeatedhis rival team with 4 goals than1 goal. In first half Jang Bazarscored 3 goals while DaninLasht could not score any goal.In second half Jan Bazar scoredanother goal and success toscore 4 goals but Danin Lashtteam score only one goal afterhalf time.
Shahzada Amanur Rehmanof Royal Family grand son offormer Mehtari Chitral (Rulerof Chitral state) was chief gueston the occasion. The tourna-ment was sponsored by ReliefInternational who work oneradicating of zonosis diseasesin Chitral including other partsof the country. Members ofChitral Paragliding Associationunder Supervision ofMirajuddin also demonstrated
Jang Bazar-A football team win District Football Tournamentof their skill.
Local paraglide exhibitedof paragliding with a very bestway during the final match andthey landed successfully in theplay ground by enthrallingthousands of spectators and
were warmly appreciated byparticipants.
Addressing to the specta-tors and participants HussainAhmad said that Chitral youthhave talent and fond of Foot-ball but unfortunately there is
no play ground for them.He demanded for establish-
ment of a public stadium forgiving an opportunity to localplayers for improving matchand their skill. He also offerShahzada Amanur Rehman as
a chief patron of football asso-ciation. Chief guest distributedtrophy, cups and awards amongthe players.
Addressing on the occasionhe announced of arrangingShahzada Shujaur Rehman me-morial football tournament an-nually which will be celebratedwith the name of his late father.He also given special award toAbdul Waheed Captain of JangBazar team by declaring himPlayer of the tournament.Rafiullah of Danin Lasht teamwas declared as man of thematch. chief guest announced20000 for winner and 10000 forrunner up team.
Dr Riaz district programManager of Relief Internationalalso announced for launchingfootball tournament every yearto encourage local players.
He also stressed upon theparticipants to support theirhealth teams in eradicating ofZonotic diseases from Chitralwhich is communicable fromanimal to human and fromhumanbeing to animal. Thou-sands of spectators werepresent on the occasion whoparticipated in final match.
PESHAWAR—The super-fit Af-ghanistan wrestlers stunned Paki-stan and India on the opening dayof the Bacha Khan InternationalPeace Wrestling Championship,which got under way in front ofhundreds and thousands specta-tors at indoor hall of the PSBCoaching Center on Saturday.
President Pakistan OlympicAssociation Lt. Gen (Retd) ArifHasan was the chief guest on thisoccasion who announced theChampionship opened.
Counsel General of Afghani-stan Consulate in Peshawar SyedMuhammad Ebrahim Khil, Presi-dent Pakistan Wrestling Federa-
tion and Provincial Minister forSports Syed Aqil Shah, SecretaryPakistan Wrestling Federation Ch.Muhammad Asghar, Federationof International Luts (Wrestling)Association Bahman Talibi fromIrfan, referees from differentcountries, players of Afghanistan,Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka,Pakistan (Green) and PakistanWhite and large number of vocif-erous crowd with their cheeringhands were also present.
A total of 44 contests of thefive different rounds in sevenweight categories including 55kg,60kg, 66kg, 74kg, 84kg, 96kg and120kg were held in which Af-
ghanistan participated in 20 con-tests, won 14 and lost 4, PakistanGreen played 16 contests, won 11and lost five, Pakistan Whiteplayed 12, won six and lost six,India played 11 contests, won 8contests and lost three only, SriLanka played 17 contests, 16 lostand one win and Bangladeshplayed 12 contests, two won and10 lost.
Afghanistan have ensuredgold medal in 74kg and now Pa-kistan and India will fight for thesilver and bronze medal whilethere will be a battle between Af-ghanistan and India in the 66kgand 84kg.—APP
Afghanistan stuns Pak, India inBacha Khan Int’l Peace Wrestling
THE number of calories people shouldeat each day depends on several factors, including their age, size, height,
sex, lifestyle, and overall general health. Aphysically active 6ft 2in male, aged 22years, requires considerably more caloriesthan a 5ft 2ins sedentarywoman in her 70s. Recom-mended daily calorie in-takes also vary across theworld. According to theNational Health Service(NHS), UK, the averagemale adult needs approxi-mately 2,500 calories perday to keep his weightconstant, while the aver-age adult female needs2,000. US authorities rec-ommend 2,700 calories perday for men and 2,200 forwomen. It is interestingthat in the UK, wherepeople on average aretaller than Americans, therecommended daily intakeof calories is lower. Ratesof overweight and obesity among bothadults and children in the USA are con-siderably higher than in the United King-dom. The NHS stresses that rather thanprecisely counting numbers (calories),people should focus more on eating ahealthy and well balanced diet, beingphysically active, and roughly balancinghow many calories are consumed with thenumbers burnt off each day. According tothe United Nation’s Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO), the average person’sminimum calorie requirement per day glo-bally is approximately 1,800 kilocalories.
Scientifically speaking, one kilocalorie is
1,000 calories. However, the term calorie inlay English has become so loosely usedwith the same meaning as kilocalorie, thatthe two terms have virtually merged. Inother words, in most cases, a calorie andkilocalorie have the same meaning. A kilo-
calorie is the amount of en-ergy required to raise thetemperature of 1 kilogram ofwater from 15° to 16° Celsius(centigrade) at one atmo-sphere. A “small calorie” re-fers to the traditional scien-tific term of calorie, meaningone-thousandth of a kilo-calorie.
Internationally, mostnations talk about food en-ergy in kJ (kilojoules). 1 kcal(kilocalorie) = 4.184 kJ. In in-dustrialized nations and agrowing number of emerg-ing economies, people areconsuming many more calo-ries than they used to. Por-tion sizes in restaurants,both fast food ones as well
as elegant places, are far greater today.The average cheeseburger in the USA 20years ago had 333 calories, compared tothe ones today with over 600 calories
For the human body to remain alive, itrequires energy. Approximately 20% of theenergy we use is for brain metabolism. Themajority of the rest of the body’s energyrequirements are taken up for the basal meta-bolic requirements - the energy we needwhen in a resting state, for functions suchas the circulation of the blood and breath-ing. If our environment is cold, our metabo-lism increases to produce more heat to main-tain a constant body temperature.
Severe morning sickness ‘maybe marker of preterm births‘
KARACHI: A delegation of Iran headed by Consul General Mehdi Subhani called on Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon athis residence.
KARACHI: Students throw their caps in the air as they celebrate getting their gradua-tion degrees at the 19th convocation of Indus Valley School of Arts and Architecture.
KARACHI—Human rightssituation in Pakistan is de-teriorating, with violenceshowing an increasingtrend. Violence is not beenonly one gender’s issue, itis a human issue, a funda-mental issue of human dig-nity and human rights.There is still a long way togo and fight for humanrights violations.Madadgaar Nationalhelpline reported 16198cases of violence not onlyagainst children andwomen, moreover male werealso included in it, whereas2946 cases of murdered andprofessional killing, 1368 ofsuicide and 2053 cases oftortured during last 11months in 2012. This data
shows the dismal picture ofhuman rights situation in Pa-kistan. Protection of humanrights is the prime responsi-bility of Government, said ZiaAhmed Awan founder ofMadadgaar NationalHelpline.
Madadgaar NationalHelpline Pakistan’s firsthelpline for children, womenand youth working for com-bating violence and abusewith the partnership of PlanInternational and ChildHelpline International (CHI).Madadgaar NationalHelpline provides appropri-ate services to children andwomen survivors of violencethrough more than 1000 re-ferral partners in Pakistan. InPakistan, there is not only
gender discrimination, butalso there are right’s viola-tions of labor, minorities,males, children, and old agedpeople. Human Rights Day isobserved every year on 10thof December across theworld including Pakistan.This day presents an oppor-tunity to celebrate humanrights, highlight the humanrights violations and advo-cate for the full enjoyment ofall human rights.
But still there are a lot ofcases of violence and abusesare being reported on daily ba-sis in Pakistan. MadadgaarNational Helpline shared thedata of violence against chil-dren, women and male on theoccasion of International Hu-man Rights day and this data
was compiled from the moni-toring of different national andlocal newspapers.
According toMadadgaar NationalHelpline’s Database, as manyas 16198 total cases of vio-lence against children,women and male were re-corded in Pakistan from Janu-ary to November 2012. Outof them, 6139 cases of vio-lence against children, 5725against women and 4334against male were recordedin Pakistan. From January2000 to November 2012,88416 cases of violenceagainst women, 60974 of chil-dren, and 56190 of male werereported in Pakistan.
During last 11 months,out of 6139 cases of violence
against children, 1060 chil-dren were murdered,1323 in-jured, 217 trafficked, 291went missing, 556 kidnapped,174 fell prey to honor killing,436 suffered sexual assault,338 committed suicides, 320raped, 235 sodomized, 447became victim of forced mar-riages and 561 of torture wererecorded in Pakistan. Out of5725 cases of violenceagainst women, 1284 womenwere tortured, 990 murdered,401 raped, 153 were mur-dered after rape, 163 weregang raped, 431 committedsuicide, 270 fell prey to honorkilling, 533 tortured by po-lice, 158 trafficked, 261 mar-ried forcibly.
Out of 4334 cases of vio-lence against male, 959 fell vic-
Protection of HRs is the prime responsibility of Govt: Zia
Altaf paystributes to HaqParast martyrs
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Paying rich trib-utes to the Haq parast mar-tyrs, Mr Altaf Hussain, theFounder and Leader of theMQM, said that the braveworkers of the MQM gavetheir lives but remainedsteadfast and did not bowbefore the oppressive forces.The successes achieved bythe MQM are the outcomesof the immortal sacrifices ren-dered by the martyrs.
In a message on the oc-casion of the “Martyrs Day”Mr Hussain said that the na-tions that forget their martyrsare cast into oblivion by theswift course of time. “TheMQM observes the martyrsday on 9th December in or-der to commemorate the sac-rifices of the martyrs andpays them homage by offer-ing fateha” and otherprogrammes.
Hussain said, “There havebeen difficult phases in thestruggle for truth andjustice,but the workers facedevery trouble with unswervingdetermination. Hussain said,“The Martyrs Day is the oc-casion to renew our pledge toabolish the archaic feudal sys-tem and the hereditary politics.The MQM will continue itsstruggle in spite of the con-spiracies and hurdles createdin its way.”
Hussain said, “It is our firmbelief that the blood of themartyrs would not go in vain,and the movement for truthand justice will one day reachits destination.
District Eastpolio drive
from Dec 17KARACHI—The driveagainst polio in Karachi’sDistrict East would be con-ducted from December 17 to20. This was announced bythe Deputy CommissionerKarachi East, SamiuddinSiddiqui,here on Saturday.He said that at the inauguralceremony the Squash leg-end, Jahangir Khan, would bethe chief guest.—APP
Police Focalperson
appointedKARACHI—Inspector Gen-eral of Police Sindh FarooqAhmed Leghari has ap-pointed SSP Anti Car Lift-ing Cell Imran Shaukat asthe ocal person for the de-partment says a policepress release issued here onSaturday.
The IGP who was chair-ing a police officials meetingat the Police Headquartersthis morning and directed toprepare a list of all trainedpolice officials of anti-terror-ism squad so that their assis-tance could be sought as andwhen required in maintaininglaw and order in the city.
He also directed to layspecial emphasis during po-lice training courses on rightsand treatment of women,children and other humanrights.—APP
SID officers urgedto inform people
about welfareworks completed
KARACHI—Sindh SecretaryInformation, Noor MuhammadLeghari, has exhorted the of-ficers of the Sindh InformationDepartment (SID) to convey tothe masses through the media,the welfare works carried outby the government for thewelfare of the people.
Addressing the Directorsof the Department, he said thatthe officers of the SID wouldbe provided latest facilities sothat they could ably performtheir duties.
Leghari also asked them toplay their role for maintainingliaison between the govern-ment and the people and ap-prise them of the steps takenby the government for provi-sion of basic facilities to themasses.—APP
KARACHI—Obesity is a ma-jor health problem worldwideand has reached an epidemicproportion. Pakistan is one ofthose countries where obe-sity and diabetes are increas-ing at alarming rate. Everyone out of four Pakistanis iseither obese or overweight.Overweight and obesity arethe fifth leading risk for glo-bal deaths. Evidence contin-ues to accumulate that obe-sity is a major risk factor formany diseases and is asso-ciated with significant mor-bidity and mortality. Bariatricsurgery is currently the onlymodality that provides a sig-nificant, sustained weight
DUHS introduces Bariatric surgeryloss for the patient who ismorbidly obese, with result-ant improvement in obesity-related comorbidities. DowUniversity of Health Sci-ences first time in public sec-tor decided to offer weightreduction program includingsurgical option Baristric Sur-gery. This program is compre-hensive withmultidisciplinary team ap-proach including experi-enced Endocrinologist, Nu-tritionist and Bariatric Sur-geon that helps lose excessbody weight. These viewswere expressed by Prof. Dr.Masood Hameed Khan, ViceChancellor, DUHS and Prof.
Muhammad Jawed, BaristricSurgeon, DUHS at a PressBriefing held today at OjhaCampus of Dow University.
They informed that inPakistan 22 percent male and27 percent women are obese.1.5 bn people are obeseworldwide.
Obesity is a health is-sue that has attracted con-cern only in the past fewyears. Urbanisation and anunhealthy, energy-dense diet(the high presence of oil andfats in Pakistani cooking), aswell as changing lifestyles,are among the root causescontributing to obesity in thecountry.—NNI
Iranian delegation meetsSindh Information Minister
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—An Iranian del-egation consisting of Vice-Minister for Public Diplo-macy, Ramin Mehmanparast,and included the ConsulGeneral of Iran in Karachi,Mehdi Subhani, met with theSindh Minister for Informa-tion, Sharjeel Inam Memon,here on Saturday.
An official statement is-
sued here said that theydiscussed matters of mu-tual interests. It said thatSharjeel apprised the del-egation of the history, natu-ral resources and invest-ment opportunities in theprovince.
He said that the twocountries enjoy closefriendly relations and thatthese should be cementedfurther. Sharjeel invited a
media delegation from Iranfor a visit to the province.
The Iranian ConsulGeneral also invited a me-dia delegation from Paki-stan for a visit to Iran.Sharjeel presented themembers of the delegationthe traditional gifts ofSindhi cap and Ajrak. TheConsul General of Iran alsopresented souvenir to theSindh information Minister.
KARACHI—Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC) Justice(retd) Fakharuddin G.Ibrahimhas said that the ElectionCommission (EC), politicalparties and civil societyshould have to work jointlyto ensure free and fair elec-tions in the country.
He said that the order of Su-preme Court (SC) in connectionwith the verification of voters’
EC strategy for door-to-doorverification of voters’ lists
lists in Karachi will be imple-mented in letter and spirit.
This he stated in separatemeetings with representativesof different political parties in-cluding Pakistan Peoples Party(PPP), Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM), PakistanMuslim League (PML-N), Pa-kistan Muslim League (PML-F), Awami National Party(ANP), National People Party
(NPP), Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) andJamiat Ulema Islam (JUI-F) atthe Election Commission of Pa-kistan camp office during lasttwo days. He said the ElectionCommission has started prepar-ing strategy in the light of theSupreme Court’s decisions re-garding door-to-door verifica-tion of voters’ lists and delimi-tation of different constituen-cies.—APP
KARACHI: Women activists of Wahdat-e-Muslimeen hold a protest rally in support oftheir demands.
tim of police torture, 515 com-mitted suicides, 402 trafficked,896 fell prey to professionalkilling and 185 cases of honorkilling were reported in Paki-stan.
Zia Ahmed Awan ex-pressed grave concern overthe violence against women,children and male in Pakistan.He said, this data shows bleakpicture of human rights in Pa-kistan and there is need to de-crease the human rights vio-lation drastically. Despite a lotof legislation, there seems tobe no respite in violence casesacross the Pakistan.
There are many govern-mental and non governmen-tal organizations working forelimination of violation of hu-man rights, but still there is
need to strengthen the insti-tution on state level.
Zia Awan said the gov-ernment keeps on signinginternational conventionsand also signing new legis-lation on national level butthey are not paying any at-tention to their implemen-tation. There is need to re-move the flaws in existinglaws related to overall hu-man right.
He stressed to pass thepending and under processlaws before the completion ofcurrent assembly’s term.Awan said there is need tospeak about the human rightsin Pakistan because there isneed to take a lot of measurestowards eliminating human-rights violations.—INP
BRAND name drug makers and their generic counterparts rarely find themselveson the same side of an issue, but now
they are making an exception. They haveteamed up to fight a local law in California, thefirst in the nation, that makes them responsiblefor running — and paying for— a program that would al-low consumers to turn in un-used medicines for proper dis-posal.
United Pharmacy in Ber-keley, Calif., already has a binon site to dispose of expireddrugs. Such so-called drugtake-back programs are gain-ing in popularity because of agrowing realization that thoseleftover pills in your medicinecabinet are a potential threatto public health and the envi-ronment.
Small children might ac-cidentally swallow them andteenagers will experimentwith them, advocates of thelaws say. Prescription drugabusers can, and are, breaking into homes insearch of them.
Unused pills are sometimes flushed downthe toilet, so pharmaceuticals are now pollut-ing waterways and even drinking water. Onestudy found the antidepressant Prozac in thebrains of fish.
Most such take-back programs are run bylocal or other government agencies. But increas-ingly there are calls to make the pharmaceuti-cal industry pay. “We feel the industry thatprofits from the sales of these products shouldhave the financial responsibility for proper man-agement and disposal,” said Miriam Gordon,California director of Clean Water Action, an
Unused pills raise issueof disposal and risks
advocacy group. In July, Alameda County,Calif., which includes Oakland and Berke-ley, became the first locality to enact such arequirement. Drug companies have to sub-mit plans for accomplishing it by July 1, 2013.
But the industry plans to file a lawsuit inUnited States District Court inOakland on Friday, hoping tohave the law struck down. Thesuit is being filed by the Phar-maceutical Research andManufacturers of America, orPhRMA, which representsbrand-name drug companies,the Generic PharmaceuticalAssociation and the Biotech-nology Industry Organization.
James M. Spears, generalcounsel of PhRMA, said theAlameda ordinance violatedthe Constitution in that a localgovernment was interferingwith interstate commerce, aright reserved for Congress.
“They are telling a com-pany in New Jersey that youhave to come in and design and
implement and pay for a municipal service inCalifornia,” he said in an interview.
“This program is one where the cost isshifted to companies and individuals who arenot located in Alameda County and who won’tbe served by it.”
Mr. Spears, who is known as Mit, saidthat the program would cost millions of dol-lars a year to run and that pharmaceuticalcompanies were “not in the waste disposalbusiness.”
He said it would be best left to sanitationdepartments and law enforcement agencies,which must be involved if narcotics, like painpills, were to be transported.
LAHORE: PML-N central leader Maryam Nawaz with office-bearers of PML-N WomenWing, Bahawalpur Division.
LAHORE: Teachers of Vocational Training Association stage a sit-in protest in support of their demands.
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif has said that provision ofbest facilities and services to themasses is top priority of thePunjab government.
He said that all out re-sources are being provided forthis purpose so that citizenscould benefit from the modernfacilities. He said that the aimof setting up of Lahore ParkingCompany is to provide best andmodern facilities of parking tothe citizens.
He expressed these viewswhile presiding over a highlevel meeting with regard toproviding modern and best
parking facilities. ChairmanLahore Transport CompanyKhawaja Ahmad Hasaan, Chair-man Lahore Parking CompanyHafiz Mian Nauman MPA,Chairman Planning & Develop-ment, Secretary Finance, Com-missioner Lahore Division, Dis-trict Coordination Officer andother officers concerned attendedthe meeting.
Addressing the meeting,Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif saidthat Turk company Ozpak hasexpertise in providing parkingfacilities and traffic management.He directed that a coordinatedplan should be evolved for pro-vision of modern parking facili-ties jointly with Turk company.
He said that experiences of
Turk model should be fully ben-efited so that latest parking fa-cilities could be available to thecitizens.
The Chief Minister said thatLahore Parking Company shouldprovide best parking facilities tothe citizens through its capacity-building and Punjab governmentfully cooperate it.
He directed that provision ofbest services should be top pri-ority of Lahore Parking Com-pany. He asked Lahore ParkingCompany to evolve a businessplan and Turkish model shouldbe replicated for achieving thisgoal.
The Chief Minister while di-recting to handover all sites se-lected for provision of parking
facilities to Lahore ParkingCompany said that the companyshould provide best parking fa-cilities at these places.
Chief Executive OfficerLahore Parking Company MianShakeel while giving briefingon the occasion informed thatprovincial metropolis has beendivided in 28 parking zones andparking facilities are being im-proved under a phasedprogramme.
He said that survey of eachroad of Lahore is being carriedout and if there is need any-where, parking plazas would beconstructed there. He said thatin case of unavoidable situation,parking facility will also be pro-vided alongside the road.
Lahore parking companyto provide modern facilities
LAHORE: Girls taking keen interest in artwork by students of Lahore College for WomenUniversity during an exhibition in provincial capital.
SALIM AHMED
LAHORE—Vice Chancellors ofthe universities of the provincecalled on the Punjab Chief Min-ister, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifat Model Town on Saturday.Amendment in Universities’ Act,powers regarding recruitment oncontract by Vice Chancellors inspecial circumstances, appoint-ment of Vice Chancellors, theirsalaries and other matters relat-ing to universities were discussedin detail during the meeting.
Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Pro-vincial Law Minister, RanaSanaullah Khan, Special Assis-tant Zaeem Hussain Qadri, ChiefSecretary, Chairman Planning &Development, Secretaries ofLaw, Higher Education andHealth Departments, education-ist Sartaj Aziz and intellectual Ataul Haq Qasmi were present on
the occasion. Talking on the oc-casion, Muhammad ShahbazSharif said that universities areplaying an important role for pro-motion of science and technol-ogy and equipping the younggeneration with higher education.He said that Vice Chancellors,Professors, Assistant Professorsand teachers are very respectablefor us who are providing knowl-edge to young generation.
He said that universitiesshould play an important role forpromoting research and provid-ing modern knowledge. TheChief Minister said that Punjabgovernment has promoted meritin the province and merit policyis being implemented strictly. Hesaid that autonomous status ofuniversities is essential for thepromotion of education and in theinterest of students, however,there should be an effective check
and balance system for checkingmisuse of powers.
Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifwhile constituting a committeeheaded by Senator Ishaq Dar saidthat this committee shouldpresent comprehensive recom-mendations relating to matter ofuniversities within next twoweeks.
This committee will com-prise Senator Pervaiz Rashid,Sartaj Aziz, Special AssistantZaeem Hussain Qadri, educa-tionist Dr. Zafar Qureshi, secre-taries law, health, higher educa-tion, Advocate General Punjab,Vice Chancellors EngineeringUniversity, Punjab University,Agriculture UniversityFaisalabad, Lahore College forWomen University and FatimaJinnah University. He said thatmeeting with the Vice Chancel-lors of the university is aimed at
knowing the problems of the uni-versities and getting guidancefrom them for taking steps fortheir resolution.
Vice Chancellors of the uni-versities paid tributes to the ChiefMinister for the steps taken forthe promotion of education. ViceChancellor Lahore College forWomen University said that thesteps taken by Shahbaz Sharif forimprovement of education sectorand development of women areunprecedented. Vice Chancellorof Punjab University Dr. MujahidKamran said that the Chief Min-ister Punjab has always respectedthe Vice Chancellors and teach-ers for which they are thankfulto him. He said that the perfor-mance of the universities is im-proving day by day. Vice Chan-cellors also congratulated theChief Minister on the success ofPML-N in the bye-elections.
Punjab merit policy receivessupreme importance: Shahbaz
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Lahore Business-men Association for Rehabilita-tion of Dislabed (LABARD), inits governing body meeting, hasexpressed resolve for the reha-bilitation of disabled peoplethrough a comprehensive strat-egy wherein all segments of thesociety would be involved.
The LABARD PresidentMNA Pervez Malik presidedover the meeting whileLABARD Senior Vice PresidentMian Nusrat-ud-Din, Joint Sec-retary Saeed Khan, InformationSecretary Ahmer Malik,
Naghmana Javed, other Govern-ing Body members and LCCISenior Vice President Irfan IqbalSheikh were present on the oc-casion.
Muhammad Pervez Maliksaid that in the developed world,the disabled persons enjoy a spe-cial status, they are providedwith every possible facility sothat they could use their abili-ties for the well-being of thecountry but in Pakistan situationis not that encouraging.
He said that disabled per-sons have no access to the gov-ernment jobs depite have a spe-cial quota. He said that it is
prime duty of every individualto take care of these unprivi-leged people.
He said that according tothe national census, disabledpeople constitute 2.49 percentof the total population of thecountry but according to aUnited Nations census, theyare 10 percent of the totalpopulation.
Pervez Malik said that fed-eral government was hiding theactual count of disabled peopleas they would have to allocate acomparatively large amount offunds for the disable if they re-veal their actual number.
LABARD set torehab disabled people
MUZAFFAR ALI
LAHORE—Pakistan MuslimLeague (Q) chief ChaudharyShujat Hussain on Saturday saidthe people were fed up with thePunjab rulers’ turncoat and cha-meleon s politicians and PML-Q alliance with the PakistanPeoples Party (PPP) would gainmore strength in the next gen-eral elections.
A newly-elected Member of
Provincial Assembly (MPA)Omar Sharif called on PML-Qchief Chaudhary Shujat Hussainand senior central leader andDeputy Prime MinisterChaudhary Pervez Elahi at theirresidence here.
Talking to a delegation led byOmar Sharif, Chaudhary ShujatHussain said PML-Q was gettingpopularity in Punjab and theirvote bank had further increasedas compared to the previous gen-
eral elections 2008. He furthermade it clear that there was nopolitical figure in Pakistan pres-ently who could say that he waspopular among the people fromKhyber to Karachi and those whoconsidered themselves popularlived in fool’s paradise.
On this eve, Deputy PrimeMinister Chaudhary Pervez Elahisaid PML-Q was the party of themasses in which everyone hadthe right express himself.
People reject ‘lota’politics of rulers: Shujaat
LAHORE—PPP deputy parlia-mentary party leader in PunjabAssembly, Shoukat MehmudBasra, has urged the PML-Nleadership to abandon campaignagainst the PPP leadership say-ing it will serve no purpose butto weaken democracy in thecountry.
Talking to this news agencyat the chamber of oppostionleader on Saturday, he said, sincean elected government was go-
ing to complete its term and holdelections, there was no justifica-tion for irresponsible statementsto malign the democratic gov-ernment and encourage anti-state elements to weaken thedemocratic agenda. The govern-ment, he said, will not allow anyindividual to disturb peace in thecountry.
“The current national situa-tion demands national unity es-pecially among leaders of all po-
litical parties,” Basra said addingon one hand PML-N leaders werecriticising the federal govern-ment while on the other theywere minting money in develop-ment projects in Punjab.
He cited the metro bus projectand said the Sharif brothers hadmade billions from the multi-bil-lion project. He alleged that theprovince was on the verge of bank-ruptcy owing to ill-conceived poli-cies of the chief minister.—APP
Basra urges Sharifsto shun anti-PPP bias
Anti-CorruptionDay function
LAHORE—NAB Punjab is orga-nizing a declamation contestamong students of schools/col-leges and universities atAlhamrah Hall on Sunday.
An awareness walk will beheld here from Alhamrah ArtsCouncil to Punjab Assembly onInternational Anti-CorruptionDay. Khurshid Anwar Bhinder,Director General NAB Punjab,will preside over both events.
Officers of NAB and othergovernment departments and stu-dents from various educationalinstitutions will participate in theactivities.—APP
No OSD in PunjabSTAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—A spokesman ofPunjab government has said that67 officers on special duties(OSDs) have been posted onvarious posts within last oneweek and at present there is not asingle officer as OSD in Punjabgovernment.
He said that there is no OSDexcept those officers againstwhom disciplinary action is be-ing taken and they have been sus-pended by the departments orthey are on training anywhere.
Action orderedagainst spurious
medicsLAHORE—Additional SecretaryTechnical Health, Dr. AnwarJanjua presided over a meetingof Provincial Quality ControlBoard and approved legal actionin over one dozen cases of spuri-ous medicines.
The meeting took up arond36 cases of substandard and spu-rious medicines and approvedlegal action in around 15 casesand registration of FIRs in fourothers. The meeting decided tofurther investigate 16 cases. Thechief drug inspector and offic-ers concerned were alsopresent.—APP
34 gamblersarrested
LAHORE—New Anarkali policehave arrested 34 gamblers andrecovered stake money, mobilephones and other valuables fromtheir possession.
Police said on information,they raided a den of accusedHumayun Khan at Paan Mandiand arrested the gamblers and re-covered cash, 40 mobile phonesand other valuables. —APP
CM condoles ProfMuzaffar’s demise
LAHORE—Chief MinisterPunjab Shahbaz Sharif has ex-pressed deep sense of grief andsorrow over the sad demise ofprominent intellectual and experton Iqbal Studies (Iqbaliyat) ProfMuhammad Muzaffar Mirza.
In a condolence message, heprayed that may Allah Almightyrest the departed soul in peace andgrant strength and courage to thebereaved family to bear irrepa-rable loss with fortitude.—APP
DCO seekssupport from
traders to makeLahore beautiful
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—District Coordina-tion Officer (DCO) LahoreNoor-ul-Amin Mengal hasurged upon the traders of MallRoad to cooperate with the CityDistrict Government to makemall road beautiful and theDilkash Project successful.
He directed the AC (City)Saira Umer to remove all theunnecessary advertisementboard of shops and will makeensure only one advertisementboard for one shop.
He expressed these viewswhile chairing a meeting withthe traders of Mall Road at TownHall on Saturday.
DCO Lahore has also nomi-nated a committee under the su-pervision of AC (City) SairaUmer while TMO Data GunjBakhsh Town, TO (R) DataGunj Bakhsh Town and presi-dent of Mall Road would be itsmembers. The committee willensure the removal of advertise-ment Boards more than one.
The traders also appreciatedDCO Lahore and ensured thatthey would cooperate with theCity District Government andwould make this project suc-cessful.
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