Ep07feb2015

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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif in a meeting with Chief of the Army Staff, General RaheelSharif at PM Office.

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Nation comes on one page forKashmir also................................................Ministers’ total apathy towardsParliament................................................NATO-Russia cold warbecomes hot

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AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—KSE-100 Index again slashed 15points to close in red on the sec-ond consecutive trading sessionFriday yet it continued to showresistance by remaining up beatat 34,000 levels on the back ofpositive macroeconomic indi-cators.

The International MonetaryFund has raised GDP growthoutlook for Pakistan to 4.7 percent in financial year 2015-16and has projected that the coun-try is expected to achieve 4.3per cent year-on-year growth incurrent fiscal year ending on June 30. This cer-tainly carries a good message for the investor’s

confidence that is bound to reflected in thecoming week.

In Friday’s session the index closed at 34,

656 level which mains that bullish trend con-

KSE-100 maintains positiveindicators, GDP growth rate 4.7pc

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ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—The Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP) Friday announced schedule forlocal body (LB) elections in Sindh, Punjab andKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP).

The ECP meeting chaired by Chief Elec-tion Commissioner Justice (R) Sardar Raza,decided that the local government elections inSindh would take place in March 2016 whereaspolling in KP and Punjab would take place inMay 2015 and November 2015 respectively.

The ECP will submit a response to the Su-preme Court on February 12 with specific datesfor local government elections.

This may be noted that last year, the ECPhad cited the delay in local government elec-tions was due to absence of political will on partof the provincial governments.

The ECP had earlier submitted that the pro-cess of delimitation of wards for holding thelocal government elections would be initiated

once the commission received complete datafrom Punjab and Sindh.

“The ECP is committed to initiating the pro-cess of delimitation for local government pollsas early as possible after the receipt of completeinformation relating to notification of demarca-tion of local areas, determination of number ofunion councils/wards and authenticated mapsfrom the Punjab and Sindh governments as wellas amendments in the respective acts by the twoprovinces,” the commission had said in a reportpresented to the SC.

Imran Khan Chairman of the PakistanTehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) has repeatedly blamed theECP and the provincial governments of Sindhand Punjab for delaying local body elections.

It may be mentioned that Balochistan wasthe first province to complete the LB electoralexercise. The first phase of the local govern-ment elections in Balochistan took place on Dec7, 2013, followed by two other phases on May29 and Dec 31, 2014.

EC announces LBelections scheduleKP polls in May, Punjab in November,

Sindh in March 2016

SARWAR AWAN

ISLAMABAD— Chief of the Army Staff Gen-eral Raheel Sharif called on Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif at the PM Office hereon Friday and both agreed agreed to speed upthe implementation of National Action Planagainst terrorists.

The Army Chief took the prime minister intoconfidence over his recent visit to Beijing wherehe had held meetings with the top Chinese po-litical and military leadership.

Gen Raheel also informed Nawaz Sharifabout the last Corps Commanders conferenceand told him about the armed forces’ decisionto organise a joint services parade on PakistanDay. The joint military parade of armed forceswill take place on March 23 and will beorganised by the Joint Staff Headquarters.

Chief of the Army Staff General RaheelSharif also apprised the premier about successesin the ongoing operation Zarb-i-Azb in NorthWaziristan and surrounding areas. The armychief told the premier that a number of militantshad been eliminated in the operation.

Speaking to the army chief, the Premier appre-ciated the resolve of the armed forces in the fightagainst terrorists and said that the government andthe nation fully supported the armed forces.

Meanwhile, the Prime Minister, talking toPakistan’s designated Permanent Representativeto the UN Dr. Maliha Lodhi who called on him,Nawaz Sharif stressed the need for all out ef-forts by diplomats to remove misperceptionsabout Pakistan on a range of issues.

The Prime Minister wished her good luckon her new assignment and expressed the con-fidence that she would project Pakistan’s imagewell at the world body. He said this being the70th anniversary year of the founding of theUnited Nations, makes it important thatPakistan’s voice is heard in the many events tak-ing place during the year.

Dr. Lodhi thanked the government for re-posing confidence in her for this important as-signment and assured the Prime Minister thatshe would try her best to live up to the chal-lenge of protecting Pakistan’s interest and pro-jecting country’s principled stand on importantmatters prioritized by the government.

PM, COAS agree on fastimplementation of NAP

Nawaz lauds resolve of armed forces

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The National Assembly was in-formed Friday that Pakistan Army is maintain-ing vigilance, exercising restraint in order touphold ceasefire and tranquility along LoC andWorking Boundary. Minister for DefenceKhawaja Muhammad Asif informed the Housethat firing violations by Indian troops betweenSeptember and October last year not only re-sulted into military and civilian casualties butalso raised tensions between India and Pakistanparticularly along the Working Boundary. Hesaid Pakistan Army is maintaining high level ofvigilance and exercising restraint in order touphold ceasefire and tranquility along LoC andWorking Boundary.

Briefing NA on probe into recent Shikarpurblast Interior minister claimed headway in theenquiry, saying that both bomber and master-mind of the attack have been identified. Hehoped that the culprits involved in the incident

will be brought to justice. aHe said proactivework on intelligence sharing between intelli-gence agencies and Federal and Provincial gov-ernments are being carried out to combat themenace of terrorism. About Dec 16 militant at-tack in Peshawar, the minister said that Paki-stan and Afghanistan have carried out severaljoint operations at border areas in a ‘historic co-operation’ between the two neighboring coun-tries.

He claimed that all of the attackers ofPeshawar school were killed by security forcesin retaliation and that none could flee, as claimedby some media outlets. He said there are somesensitive information which cannot be publicallyshared as terrorists can take benefit of this. Hesaid there is complete coordination between Pa-kistan and Afghanistan in this regard. He assuredthe heirs of the victims of Peshawar tragedy thatthe government and the people will not forgetthe incident.

Pak army exercising restraintto uphold ceasefire, NA told

Mastermind of Shikarpur blast identified;Steps on to improve HRs situation

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NEW DELHI—India and Pakistan must“cash in” on the moment to restart dia-logue, says Pakistan’s former NationalSecurity Adviser Major-General (Retd.)Mahmud Durrani, who met with IndianNational Security Advisor (NSA) AjitDoval and Foreign Secretary S.Jaishankar this week. In what seems tobe the first possible signal that the In-dian government may be open to anothereffort at talks six months after they werecancelled, Durrani, who wouldn’t con-firm the meetings, told The Hindu thathis impression is that Prime MinisterNarendra Modi would “like to move for-ward” on the dialogue, but would rathernot pick up the old format of the com-posite dialogue process. “Mr. Modi is adifferent man with a different mind anda different thinking from the previousPrime Minister,” said Mr. Durrani, “Ithink he will probably engage with Pa-kistan, but he would like to do that in hisown way.” Ministry of External Affairsspokesperson Syed Akbaruddin, how-ever, dismissed reports that Mr. Durrani’svisit had any official significance. How-

ever both India and Pakistan were quickto dismiss the meetings as official.

A Pakistani government source toldThe Hindu that the speculations that Mr.Durrani was a government ‘emissary’were “misleading,” and Mr. Durrani him-self said he was here in a “personal ca-pacity” at the invitation of a think-tank,Centre of Dialogue and Reconciliation.However, Mr. Durrani, who has alwaysremained close to the military leadership,is understood to have held several “high-level” meetings before his visit here andsaid the army would support any moveby Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on talks.“They feel that talks must be fair, theymust be dignified,” he said, referring toIndia’s conditions to stop cross borderterrorism and the LoC ceasefire viola-tions. “I mean, don’t rub our noses inthe ground and expect us to cooperate.But other than that, I think the Pakistaniarmy is supportive of talks.” “Post-Peshawar is a different ballgame in Pa-kistan,” Mr. Durrani told The Hindu.“What I gather is that the government istrying hard to muzzle him.”

While Mr. Durrani’s meetings wouldrepresent the first contact of its kind,however indirect and unofficial, betweenNew Delhi and Islamabad in the past fewmonths, diplomats have been in regulartouch. A visible thaw in relations wasseen in December after the Peshawar at-tack in which 140 students were killed.Mr. Doval had visited the Pakistan HighCommission, writing in the condolencebook that “India is solidly behind thepeople and government of Pakistan, willdo everything possible to help themcounter the menace of terrorism.” Laterin the month, Pakistan High Commis-sioner Abdul Basit had also met with Mr.Doval where it is learnt that discussionson the possibility of restarting the For-eign Secretary-level dialogue were held.However, the efforts received a setbackafter a series of ceasefire violations atthe LoC in January. It remains to be seenif the latest attempts at re-establishingcontact will prove more successful. Atthe end of his visit, General Durrani saidhe was more optimistic now than he waswhen he arrived.—INP

Modi may engage with Pakistan: DurraniIslamabad for fair, dignified dialogue

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Rangers personnel on Friday pre-sented a report in the Sindh High Court whichrevealed that a faction of a political party wasbehind the deadly 2012 Baldia Town fire thatconsumed at least 258 factory workers.

The Joint Investigation Division report alsosaid that a suspect from the party has been ar-rested. The suspect had made several confes-sions of which the court was apprised today, al-though his/her identity and affiliation has report-edly not been disclosed in the report.

According to sources, Rangers have re-quested the Sindh High Court to forgo reveal-ing other details of the report before the publicon account of what they called its sensitive na-ture.

The court again ordered the Sindh govern-ment to compensate 128 legal heirs of the deadlyfire’s victims still awaiting relief, and present areport before the court in this regard within aweek’s time. The hearing of the case has been

adjourned for a week.The fire at the Ali Enterprises factory in

Karachi’s Baldia Town, considered to be thecountry’s worst industrial incident, killed morethan 250 people and injured many others on Sept11, 2012.

After the Baldia fire, the European Parlia-ment told big brands to re-examine their supplychains in Pakistan and demanded the creationof a new effective and independent system tomonitor factories.

This has not been done.A judicial probe into the blaze was damn-

ing, pointing to a lack of emergency exits, poorsafety training for workers, the packing in ofmachinery and the failure of government inspec-tors to spot any of these faults.

Nearly two years after the fire, the victims’families received a total of $1.67 million in im-mediate compensation paid by the factory own-ers and the German company KIK, whichbought much of the production. Negotiations arestill going on for long-term benefits.

Rangers inform SHC

Political party factionbehind Baldia factory fire

Man accusedof murdering22 people in

Karachi killedKARACHI—Police on Fridayclaimed to have killed a suspectallegedly involved in the kill-ing of at least 22 people.

The police said thatUbaidur Rehman was killed inAltaf Nagar area of OrangiTown when he tried to escapefrom custody after snatching agun from a constable. The po-lice said that the suspect waskilled in an exchange of fire,which also left a constable in-jured. They said that UbaidurRehman was involved in thekilling of 22 people includingfour doctors and eight police-men. It may be mentioned herethat DIG West Tahir Naveedhad presented the targetedkiller before media on Thurs-

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Blasphemy againstHoly Prophet

(PBUH) cannot betolerated: IHC

ISLAMABAD—Justice ShaukatAziz Siddiqui of IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) has inquiredfrom counsel for MumtazQadri in Salman Taseer mur-der case “ where has gone theoath taken by police employeeunder article 9 of the constitu-tion that he will uphold consti-tution and will prove him Pa-kistani. Justice (Retd) MianNazir Akhtar, counsel forMumtaz Qadri said” Taseermurder case is not ordinarycase. The entire world is set-ting its eyes on Islamabad withreference to this case. What-ever message will go fromIslamabad to inside and outsidethe country will be historical.Heavy responsibility rests withthe court with reference to thiscase. A 2-member bench ofIHC comprising Justice Noor

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Pope okays tospank kids, butwith dignityVATICAN CITY—PopeFrancis says it’s OK to spankyour children to disciplinethem - as long as their dignityis maintained.

Francis made the remarksthis week during his weeklygeneral audience, which wasdevoted to the role of fathersin the family.

Francis outlined the traitsof a good father: one whoforgives but is able to“correct with firmness” whilenot discouraging the child.

“One time, I heard afather in a meeting withmarried couples say ‘Isometimes have to smack mychildren a bit, but never in theface so as to not humiliate

Punjab ministerdisqualified fordual NICMULTAN—An electiontribunal on Friday disquali-fied Punjab Minister forPrisons Chaudhry AbdulWaheed Arain for possessionof two National IdentityCards (NIC).

The application againstthe minister was filed byPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) member Rana AbdulJabbar who had said that theminister possessed more thanone NIC.

Arain was elected asmember of ProvincialAssembly from P-196 inMultan on the ticket ofPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) during theGeneral Elections 2013.

On February 3, theElection Commission ofPakistan (ECP) in a letternotified all election tribunalsto speed up the process ofhearings related to theelections with immediateeffect.—Online

SANAA—Yemen’s powerful Shiite rebels an-nounced on Friday that they have taken over thecountry and dissolved parliament, a dramaticmove that finalizes their months-long powergrab.

The development also plunges the impov-erished country deeper into turmoil and threat-ens to turn the crisis into a full-blown sectarianconflict, pitting the Iran-backed Houthi Shiitesagainst Sunni tribesmen and secessionists in thesouth.

It could also play into the hands of Yemen’sal-Qaida branch and jeopardize the US counter-terrorism operations in the country.

In a televised announcement from the Re-publican Palace in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa,the Houthi rebels said they are forming a five-member presidential council that will replacePresident Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi for an in-terim two-year period.

The Houthis also said that “RevolutionaryCommittee” would be in charge of forming anew parliament with 551 members. The com-mittee is the security and intelligence arm ofthe rebel group, led by Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, relative to the Houthis’ leader, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi.

The statement in Sanaa, read by an uniden-tified announcer, claimed that it marked “a newera that will take Yemen to safe shores.”

It comes after political parties failed to meeta Houthi-imposed deadline on Wednesday toagree on an acceptable way forward.

Houthis’ rising dominance — which in-cluded a raid of the presidential palace and asiege of Hadi’s residence — forced the presi-dent and all Cabinet members to submit theirresignations in January. The announcement didnot give a timetable for elections and gave noindication on the fate of Hadi.—AP

Yemen rebels dissolveparliament, assume power

Six PTCLofficialsabducted inBalochistanOBSERVER REPORT

QUETTA—Armed militantson Friday evening abductedsix officials of PakistanTelecommunication CompanyLimited from Balochistan’sKilla Saifullah district.

A security official, whorequested anonymity, toldmedia that the militantskidnapped the officials fromthe Gawal area of KillaSaifullah district.

They were identified asEngineer Haji Asad, Sub-Divisional OfficerMuhammad Ashraf,Muhammad Nabi, Sajjad Beg

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Rope used tohang SaddamHussein to fetchat least $7mBAGHDAD—A bidding warstarting at $7 million (£4.5million) has been sparked forthe rope used to hang Iraqileader Saddam Hussein. Therope, which is kept by aformer home minister whowas tortured three times bySaddam’s regime, isreportedly wanted by twoKuwaiti businessmen, awealthy Israeli family, a bankand an Iranian religious

PESHAWAR: Advisor to the Prime Minister Dr Musaddiq Malik handing over a cheque of Rs 30.06 million andpassports to the father of injured students of APS Peshawar for medical treatment abroad.

SALAHUDDIN HAIDER

PEOPLES Party, ruling Sindh for mostpart of its existence, faces the toughest time in the Senate election next

month. It was sitting com-fortably so far, expectingall eight seats to win onMarch 3, but a new andperhaps a very formidableopposition platform lookslike emerging now to blockits way. “it wont be a verysmooth sailing for the PPPthis time” said a key func-

tionary of the combined opposition, hec-tically busy now to oppose its candidatesnext month.

Under the constitution, half of the ex-isting senators complete their 6-year termevery three years. Those elected to the

PPP faces tough opposition in Senate pollsupper house in 2009, will be retiring byMarch 2. Of the total number of 54 goingout, 11 belong to Sindh. Eight of them willbe from PPP and the rest 3 from MQM. Theyare former federal minister Babar Ghori,Shirala Malik and Haseeb Khan.

Who will succeed now, will be decidedby the party leader, Altaf Hussain. “ youcan not say anything about MQM” said aparty insider, when asked whether BabarGhori, will get a fresh nomination.

Eminent businessman Haseeb Khan,has already apologized from a second term.Even Shirala Malik looks unsure. Thatmeans that two new faces will representMQM for another six year term, till 2021.

Peoples Party which reviewed over 100candidates for the 8 seats which their sena-tors will be vacating, may end up with amaximum of 5 or 6, as a formidable opposi-tion of MQM, Functional League of Pir

Pagara, Tehtriki-i- Insaf and smaller factionshave all joined hands to oppose PPP. Ofthe total 168 members vote this time, theration per seat will be 20.38, but if the resig-nations of four PTI members—Hafeezuddin,Khurram Sher Zaman, Samar Ali Khan,andSaleem Zia, are accepted, the ration will risefractionally to 20.58. But while MQM is sureto fill all its three vacancies, FunctionalLeague and smaller groups may deny PPPone or two seats, and restrict it to mere 6.

Altaf and Pagara parties, have alreadyheld series of consultations and have evenhad parleys with former president General® Pervez Musharraf to seek support of theQ league, whose leader Chaudhri Shujaatstill has soft corner for Musharraf and iseven ready to nominate him for Senate fromthe Punjab. The coming elections, there-fore will be interesting because of reporteddissentions within the ruling party in Sindh.

PPP trouble shooter, Rehan Malik, and AsifZardari himself have been issuing state-ments of likely support from MQM, butthe latter denies that as “mere gossip” “Wehave nothing to do with PPP> RehmanMailk is just trying to mislead public opin-ion” said the MQM insider.

MQM is in fact out to oppose PPPtooth and nail. The reason is simple, PPPhas betrayed its former coalition on localgovernment elections, and even now isnot willing to hold these until next year inMarch. MQM on the other hand is keento have local bodies elections without anyloss of time.Since this does not look likehappening, MQM will remain at a distancefrom PPP. From the PPP side RehmanMalik, former senate chairman FarooqNaik, are the most likely choice to repeatanother term because of their closenessto Asif Zardari.

MANSEHRA: Chairman PTI Imran Khan along with KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattakoffering dua after planting a sapling.

PESHAWAR—The Spokesper-son to Prime Minister, DrMusaddiq Malik here Fridayvisited the residence ofMuhammad Nawaz andhanded over UK visa andother travelling documents forthe treatment of Ahmed Nawazat Queens Hospital Londoncritically injured in APS car-nage. The Spokesman handedover four passports includingpassport of the injured AhmedNawaz, his father MuhammadNawaz, his mother and UmarNawaz (younger son) dullystamped with UK visa andother travelling documents tothe parents.

Speaking on the occasion,the Spokesman to PM saidgovernment was well-aware ofthe pain and suffering throughwhich the victim family waspassing through and assuredall out support of the FederalGovernment for treatment ofthe student. Inspite of bureau-cratic hurdles, he said, thePrime Minister have taken upthe case of Ahmed Nawaz pri-ority basis and approved Rs.30.604 million on humanitariangrounds for his treatment inUK. He said all the hurdles inthe abroad treatment ofAhmed Nawaz have been re-moved and arrangements’ forabroad treatment of survivorwould be completed within fewdays and the victim familywould leave for UK in coupleof days. He said “I came hereon behalf of the Prime Minis-ter Muhammad Nawaz Sharifto hand over the passports tothe victims family members fortheir immediate treatment at UK

Dr Musaddiq hands over UK visa,travelling documents to APS victims

hospital,” he said that the Federal Govern-ment equally shared their grief and sorrowwith victim family, adding that the APS car-nage was the biggest tragedy of the coun-try that changed the entire scenario againstterrorism and militancy and united the na-tion on one page to wipe out terrorism.The Government, he said, was firmed toeradicate terrorism from the country onsound footing and Inshahallah the Gov-ernment would succeed in it endeavours

to defeat the nefarious designs of enemyof peace. He declared investigation ofAPS carnage was progressing in right di-rection and due to certain complicationswe cannot share everything with the pressas it would affect investigation.

The Prime Minister was personallymonitoring the progress on the NationalAction Plan and chaired Apex Commit-tees meeting frequently, therefore it iswrong to assume the Govt was ignoring

the investigation of the terrorism re-lated matters. Dr Malik paid glowingtributes to the parents of the victimsfamilies who bore the brunt of the trag-edy with patience and fortitude. Healso lamented that under the garb ofsectarianism, terrorism was being com-mitted and prayed Allah Almighty togive us courage and strength to facethis grave challenge with power andpatience.—APP

RAZA NAQVI

ATTOCK— Minister for In-terior and Narcotics ControlChaudhry Nisar Ali KhanFriday inaugurated ‘UrbanWater Supply Scheme forFateh Jang to facilitate thelocal residents witha hygienic commodity. Hesaid that this govt iscommitted to overcomeenergy crisis and otherchallenges faced by thecountry and is also givingpriority to give maximumrelief to the people. He saidthis while addressingnotables of the area atShahpur dam near FatehJang. He said that energycrisis is the gift of theprevious govt howeverefforts are being made toovercome this issue. Hesaid ‘when we took over, theeconomic condition of thecountry was not stable’. Hesaid, govt is facing Rs 40billion deficits afterreducing petroleum prices.Ch Nisar said that theleadership of PML-N willaddress energy crisis andfor the purpose all availableresources are being utilised.He said that to providebasic facilities to the underdeveloped areas is alsopriority of this govt. He saidthat different projects ofelectricity generation wereunder completion, whichwill certainly help controlele3ctricity load shedding.He criticised those talking of

Nisar opens hygienic water scheme

Govt facing Rs 40bdeficits slashingpetroleum prices

revolution and said that theyshould first bring revolutionin KP and to talk ofrevolution in other parts ofthe country. While talking

about the development ofFateh Jang he said that thiscity was like a home for himas he had spent hischildhood in this area andpromised that all thedemands of the area will bemet and for the purposefunds will be allocated outof the way. Earlier theFederal Ministerinaugurated a water supplyscheme, which will becompleted in a period of oneyear at the cost of Rs 470mill and will benefit morethan 50 thousandpopulation of Fateh Jang.Provincial MinisterChaudhry Sher Ali, MPAShahvez Khan andAdvocate Malik Asif Alialso addressed thegathering.

ANF arrests 17drug smugglers,with 192.87 kg

narcoticsISLAMABAD—Anti NarcoticsForce (ANF) has recovered 3kg ice, 32.90 kg heroin and156.88 kg charas, arresting 17drug smugglers including twoproclaimed offenders. ANFconducted 13 countrywideoperations in various cities in-cluding Haripur, Peshawar,Lahore, Karachi, Turbat, Gilgitand Rawalpindi, said a pressrelease. Most of the recovereddrugs were being smuggled forlocal consumption.

The value of recovereddrugs approximately amountsto Rs 381.5 million in interna-tional market.

According to details, ANFPeshawar on a tip-off, inter-cepted a Corolla GLI car regis-tered No. NW-656 near KotNajibullah, Haripur. Detailedsearch of the vehicle resultedin recovery 24 kg charas. Thenarcotics were tactfully con-cealed in the cavities speciallycreated in the doors of the ve-hicle. The drugs were packedin 20 packets each of whichweighing about 1.05 kg each.Driver of the vehicle namelyMuhammad Sajjad, resident ofAttock has been arrested at thespot. As per initial investiga-tions, the narcotics were be-ing transported to Punjab forlocal usage. ANF Peshawarraided at Mall SaddarPeshawar and seized a con-signment of stationary itemscontaining 600 markers and re-covered 1.15 kg heroin and ar-rested three persons namelyAsghar Arjumand, Noor Khanand Hukam Khan residents ofPeshawar. The consignmentwas destined to Canada. OneSuzuki Mehran Car No. W-208has also been seized. The nar-cotics were filled inside of mark-ers.—APP

IK announces war against timber mafiaABDUL KHALIQ QURESHI

A B B O T T A B A D — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa (KP) ChiefMinister Pervez Khattak hassaid that the people foundguilty of illicit cutting of for-ests would be sued with ironhands, adding that we hadstarted our supreme effortsagainst timber mafia. He saidthat assassination of a per-son and to cut one tree fromexisting forests is equivalentto murder of a person.

And further illicit cuttingwould also be considered a

heinous crime, so in this regard heavy finesagainst illegal cutting of forests, and the illicitcutting of forest informers would be awardedwith the handsome prizes such as 25 percent outof entire recovered amount in the light of envi-ronment whistle blow act.

He said that forest cutting would be initiatedfollowing the scientific methodology.

On the name of Windfall cutting of forestswould not be allowed at any cost, but followingthe newly enforced policy the safeguard of for-ests would be made positive this he said whileaddressing a ceremony held in regard to forestsbriefing held at Hazara University, DhodialMansehra, Friday.

Beside, PTI Chief Imran Khan was the chiefguest on this occasion. The central secretary,Jahangir Tareen, PTI’s Provincial President,Muhammad Azam Khan Swati, Provincial Min-ister of Forests Ishtiaq Khan, former environ-ment expert federal minister , Amin Aslam, ChiefSecretary, Amjad Ali Khan, Environment Secre-tary, Syed Nazar Hussain Shah other PTI work-ers and office bearers were also present in the

instant ceremony.CM, Pervez Khattak has said that

twenty trees had been cutted by tak-ing plea of windfall within the jurisdic-tional territory of Siran Division for-ests; such unlawful step was equiva-lent to ruin the forests callously, that’swhy now we had imposed restrictionson the concept of windfall also.

He said that the provincial govern-ment is being introduced carbon pluspolicy in the light which a complete safe-guard would also be provisioned to for-ests. However, the enhancement offorests on multiplicity of land couldprovide excessive benefits to the own-ers of land.

He said that in the light of an agree-ment settled between Europe Union theestimated income resources extensionof forests would not be less than fourto five billion rupees in the future, thussuch a source income was more thandouble then the cutting of forests.

PESHAWAR—The Pakistan Red CrescentSociety (PRCS) KP chapter Friday handedover ten government Basic Health Units(BHUs) to the Health Department, after run-ning them for a period of six years.

The handing taking ceremony tookplace at the provincial headquarters ofPRCS KP and was presided over by Chair-man of PRCS KP, Lt Gen (Rtd) MohammedHamid Khan, while Senior Minister for healthand IT, Shahram Khan Tarakai was the chiefguest.

In his presentation, Program Coordina-tor PRCS, Dr Mohammad Abid said theseBHUs were taken over by PRCS in 2009,with damaged and washed away buildingsdue to natural disasters. He said these build-

PRCS hands over 10 BHUs backto govt after running for 6 years

ing were reconstructed and renovated andapart from services like OPDs, immuniza-tion courses, delivery facility, the BHUs alsocontained health education for the popula-tion of the catchment area.

Four BHUs in Shangla, three each inKohistan and Chitral were run by PRCS inorder to help the masses of these far flungareas, he added.

Chairman PRCS KP, Lt Gen (Rtd)Mohammed Hamid Khan, said the servicesprovided by the Society in these remoteareas were worth appreciating adding thatthere was no case of polio reported in thecatchment area, which speak of the suc-cess.

Shahram Khan Tarakai appreciated the

QUETTA—Terming the budget allocationof Balchistan Provincial Government for re-structuring of different organizations sat-isfactory, World Bank (WB) assuredBalochistan government of its completesupport in Irrigation, Agriculture, Livestockand Girls Education Sectors.

According to a handout issued here onFriday, a delegation of World Bank led by itsCountry Director Rasheed-bin-Massud called

WB to extend financialsupport to Balochistan

on Chief Minister Balochistan, Dr. Abdul MalikBaloch at Chief Minister Secretariat. ChiefSecretary Balochistan, Mr. Saifullah Chatthatold the WB delegation that steps were beingtaken for the reforms in provincial depart-ments, including Education, Health, Agricul-ture, Livestock and to preserve rainwater. Hesaid that by investing in above mentionedsectors, people would get benefits and theirliving standard would be improved.—APP

Work on E-35project by Feb 15ISLAMABAD—Minister forStates and Frontier Regions(SAFRON), Lt Gen (Retd)Abdul Qadir Baloch on Fri-day said contracts forH a s s a n a b d a l - H a r i p u r -Havelian Expressway (E-35)have been awarded andworks on project wouldcommence by February 15.In addition, Rs 1.994 billionfunds required for land ac-quisition have been re-leased while Rs 1.694 billionwere disbursed so far toaffectees of the project inphases.—APP

AMSHORO: Corps Commander Karachi Naveed Mukhtar conferring medals upon the position holders on theconclusion of Anti Terrorism Force Police training at Pakistan Army Kotri Firing Range.

HYDERABAD—Corps Com-mander Karachi Lt GenNaveed Mukhtar Friday saidarmy, rangers, police and otherlaw enforcement agencies(LEA) are working with com-plete cooperation to success-fully cope with the internal andexternal threats to country. Heexpressed these views at KotriArmy Firing Range inJamshoro district while ad-dressing the certificate distri-bution ceremony held after thecompletion of 4-week counterterrorism training to 60 person-nel of Anti Terrorism Force ofHyderabad district police.

“It is our duty to be everready to cope with thesethreats,” he said adding thathe was confident that the jointefforts of the army, rangersand police would eliminateterrorists.

The Corps Commandersaid the military operation‘Zarb-e-Azb’ was success-fully progressing in NorthWaziristan. “The terrorist at-tacks on school children inPeshawar and innocentpeople offering prayer in amosque in Shikarpur showtheir frustration and defeat,”he observed.

Lt Gen Mukhtar said thepolice training in counter ter-rorism skills was also part ofthe larger anti terrorism opera-tion. According to him, the po-licemen learned counter terror-ism, search, raid, use of vari-ous weapons, sniper shootingand other skills during thetraining.

He assured that completecoordination with the police

All LEAs working together tocounter terrorism: Lt Gen Naveed

regarding training of the personnelwould continue. Speaking on the occa-sion, the Inspector General of SindhPolice Ghulam Hyder Jamali expressedhis gratitude to the army for training thepolicemen. “The skills of our policemenare traditional because during their train-ing they learn to combat only conven-tional crime with traditional ways. How-ever, the menace of terrorism requiresspecial training in counter terrorism tech-

niques and the army can impart theseskills in the policemen,” he said.

He informed that he had requestedthe Corps Commander to arrange train-ing for more policemen in Karachi,Hyderabad and Pano Aqil, Ghotki dis-trict. The police would send the police-men below the age of 30 years for thecounter terrorism training, he added.

“We are going through extra ordi-nary times being faced with terrorism,

extremism, militancy, target killings inKarachi, extortion and other crimes,” heobserved. Later, the Corps Com-mander distributed certificates amongthe best trainees.The best PhysicalEfficiency Certificate was awarded toconstable Faisal Mehmood Shah, theBest Team Craft to Constable AzmatHussain, the Best Firer to AbdulQadeer and the overall Best Traineeto Zainul Imam.—APP

GUL HAMAAD FAROOQI

CHITRAL—Consumers ofKalkatak, Sweer villages aredeprived from telephoneand internet facility due todamaging of main cable ly-ing openly on road bank.The main cable has beencarried from Drosh PTCLExchange to Kalkatak andSweer village under opensky as a result it damagedby rolling stones from moun-tain and climate changes.Prominent figure of the areaProfessor Syed Tofiq Jantold this scribe that we timeand again complained andsubmitted applications tohigh ups of Pakistan Tele-communication company(PTCL) for replacing and re-pairing this cable which hasbeen damaged and having90 joints. As a result it notworking properly and due tonoise in the line we cannotlisten of our relatives talk-

Rain expectedat isolated places

Massive operationagainst dacoits,

drug dealersSTAFF REPORTER

N AWA B S H A H — M a s s i v eoperation has beenlaunched against dacoits,drug dealers and elimina-tion of gambling dens in thedistrict; this was disclosedby SSP Abdul Salam Shaikhwhile talking to news menat Nawabshah Press Club.SSP said that 66 dacoitsand criminals wanted inpolice encounters, kidnap-ping for ransom anddacoities were arrestedand large quantity of weap-ons were recovered fromtheir custody. He said thatcriminals so arrested in-clude Saifal Machhi, MithoChandio, Rbdul RazzaqChandio, Dino Talani andothers. He said that thou-sands of local made winewas seized and wine pro-ducing units were demol-ished.

ISLAMABAD—The met officeFriday forecast mainly coldand dry weather in mostparts of the country duringnext 24 hours.

However, rain withsnow over the hills is ex-pected at isolated places inQuetta, Kalat, Zhob,Makran, Malakand, Hazara,Peshawar, Gujranwala,Sargodha, Rawalpindi divi-sions, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir.

According to synopticsituation, a western distur-bance is affecting northwestBalochistan and upper partsof the country. In the last 24hours, weather remainedcold and dry in most partsof the country.

However, rain occurredat isolated places in Quettaand Kalat divisions. Thelowest minimum temperaturerecorded at Parachinar,

Astore -9øC, Kalam -8øC,Skardu, Hunza -7øC, Gupis -5øC, Dir, Gilgit, Rawalakot -4øC, Drosh -3øC, kalat -2øC,Murree -1øC. The LahoreMet office reported that

mainly cold & dry weatheris expected in most parts ofthe country, including thecity. However, rain is ex-pected at isolated places ofLahore, Gujranwala and DIKhan divisions during next24 hours.

According to local metoffice, weather remainedcold and dry in most partsof the country during last 24hours.—APP

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa GovernorSardar Mahtab Ahmad Khansaid that the main objectiveof each and every projectshould be the improvementof quality of the land of FATA,so that militancy and povertystricken agencies should bebenefited.

The Governor also an-nounced 1.8 billion rupees forstarting Area developmentprojects in Bajaur andMohmand Agencies.

The Governor empha-sized that multi sector masterplanning should be devel-oped, which should be basedon needs of the people ofFATA in multi sectors ongo-ing schemes and projects.The Governor also directedthat all relevant authoritiesshould play their effective roleand field visits should bedone to know about theachievements and weak-nesses in ongoing projects.The Governor has instructedthe concerned authority tocomplete the project before30th June 2015.

He expressed these views

Rs1.8b for Bajaur,Mohmand Agencies’ uplift

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Spokesman ofPunjab Information Tech-nology University has saidthat Dr. Umer Saif did nottender resignation fromthe post of Vice Chancel-lor Punjab InformationTechnology University

Consumers deprived oftelephone, internet facilities

ing on phone. As well asDSL Brand Band internetalso not working here dueto 90 joints and damaging ofmain cable.

Shahzada Sareeruddinsaid that some 50 consum-ers had got telephone con-nections in past but now 22people disconnected theirconnections due to regularfault in the line and nointernet facility.

Some students of thearea while talking to thisscribe said that thepresent era is of informa-tion technology period butwe st i l l deprived frominternet facility.

They said that s tu-dents of other areas ben-efiting from internet andwatching different infor-mative si tes which playvital role in their careerbuilding but cannot useinternet due to fault inmain line and non avail-ability of DSL.

while chairing a high levelmeeting to review the perfor-mance of Directorate ofProjects, Planning and Devel-opment Department, FATASecretariat held at GovernorHouse on Friday.

A detailed briefing wasalso given to the Governorfrom the officials of FATASecretariat. Besides Addi-tional Chief Secretary FATAAzam Khan, Principal Secre-tary to Governor Dr.Muhammad Fakhar e Alam,other officials also attendedthe meeting.

Talking on various points,the Governor was of the viewthat there is a need to evalu-ate each and every projectthrough active involvementof the respective political au-thorities in each tribal agency.

The Governor was alsobriefed on overview of DonorAssistance, Projects in pipe-lines and monitoring mecha-nism. It has mentioned thatcoordination and program-ming for external economicand technical assistance withdonor agencies is possiblethrough Federal Govern-ment.—APP

News about resignation ofDr. Umer Saif denied

and the news being tele-cast in this regard is base-less and contrary to thefacts.

The spokesman saidthat Dr.Umer Said is stilldischarging the responsi-bilities of Vice Chancellorof Punjab InformationTechnology University.

Nation comes on onepage for Kashmir alsoIT was heartening to note that the entire Pakistani nation expressed

complete support for Kashmiris on the occasion of Kashmir Solidarity Day. Apart from observance of the day on official level, there

was fuller and enthusiastic participation of people from different walksof life as was reflected in functions, rallies and processions held acrossthe country.

Kashmiri Solidarity Day is being observed since February 1990 butthe spirit and resolve of the people this year to support the right of self-determination of Kashmiri people in all circumstances was quite im-pressive and meaningful. This conveyed a clear message that the nationis on one page for Kashmir which was re-run of the national consensuson war against terror and extremism. The sentiments and commitmentof people of Pakistan for the just cause of their Kashmiri brethren wasmanifested in Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s address to the joint ses-sion of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly and KashmirCouncil where he declared that Kashmir cannot be separated from Pa-kistan and that the country stands by Kashiris in their struggle to throwaway the yoke of Indian slavery. It is also heartwarming to observe thatPakistan has once again reverted back to its original stand on the Kash-mir dispute i.e. the issue can only be resolved through a plebiscite un-der the auspices of the United Nations, as envisaged in the resolutionsof the world body. There was also time when Pakistan declined to talkto India sans Kashmir issue but then rounds after rounds were held agree-ing to a number of so-called CBMs but without an iota of progresstowards resolution of the Kashmir conflict as New Delhi was not will-ing to demonstrate sincerity for the purpose and instead harped on thesame old tune of “Atoot Ang” (inseparable part). Kashmir is an unfin-ished agenda of the partition and an item on the agenda of the UN andtherefore, our focus must remain on sensitizing the world communityabout the real issue, state-sponsored terrorism in Occupied Kashmirwhere about hundred thousand Kashmiris have been martyred by In-dian forces and other gross human rights violations there. We are surethat if the Government and the nation stand united and show the kind ofresolve they demonstrated on February 5, the day is not far off whenKashmiris would realize their cherished goal of self-determination.

Ministers’ total apathytowards Parliament

THE opposition in the Senate has strongly been protesting againstnon-attendance of proceedings of the House by cabinet members

but their protest has been falling on deaf ears. This is forcing the mem-bers of the upper house to stage frequent walk outs and similar sceneswere witnessed in the on-going session of the Senate.

The indifferent attitude of the Ministers towards Parliament has be-come a perennial problem and it is not mitigating despite itsacknowledgement by some Ministers themselves. In the upper house,the opposition is in majority and therefore, the protest against apathy ofthe cabinet members is louder but the problem exists in the lower houseas well. Though many other members of the ruling party also do notcare to attend sessions of the two houses but absence of Minister be-comes conspicuous because of questions and queries raised by opposi-tion members. The Ministers remain absent from the two houses fordays and weeks and regrettably they do not care to come even on (rota)days when questions relating to their ministries are taken up by eitherhouse and they are duty bound to respond to them. The situation hasrepeatedly been brought to the notice of the Prime Minister as well butit seems there is lack of discipline among cadres of the cabinet. Theyare not even listening to their leader and are, therefore, inflicting greatharms on the government and the party. It is because of this kind ofattitude of the members of the ruling party and especially the cabinetmembers that highly deplorable message is transmitted about the kindof democracy in the country. Democracy doesn’t mean enjoying perks bysome ministers but trickling down of the benefits to the common man. Itis high time that the Prime Minister send a categorical message to hiscolleagues to mend their ways as it has now become question of overallcredibility of the Government, impinging upon the system itself.

NATO-Russia coldwar becomes hot

NATO is set to agree a major boost to its defences including sixbases in eastern Europe and a spearhead force of five thousand

troops in response to what it called Russian aggression in Ukrain. ItsSecretary-General insists that the increase was purely defensive butanalysts believe it is likely to annoy Moscow as the decision comes at atime when East-West tensions were at their worst since the Cold War.

Ukraine crisis has dominated headlines and thinking about Westernrelations with Russia. There is no doubt that the United States and itsEuropean allies and partners need a response to the Russian annexationof Crimea, to the destabilization of eastern Ukraine, to the separatists’downing of a civilian airliner—and to the threat to global order that allof these actions represent. But experts says there is a need to find abalance between sanctioning Russia for its recent transgressions ofinternational norms and keeping the door open for better relations inthe future. However, NATO moves in eastern Europe clear indicatethat things are moving in the wrong directions and the world will haveto brace up for another period of cold war. There are also clear indica-tions that President Putin too has not swallowed anti-Russia movesby the West and is preparing to counter them in every sphere. He ispaying visits to several important countries in a bid to improve andstrengthen relations with them and counter Western plans to force itinto submission. Russia is, no doubt, rightly asserting its power andinfluence as it is a country with huge potential. However, it is also afact that uni-polar world is detrimental to the interests of the smallcountries, who feel extremely threatened on different counts. Hope-fully, the bi-polar world would bring some relief to them.

The militant society

Mission forhigher stakes

A great deal is riding on theoutcome of Friday’s meeting in Moscow between

Vladimir Putin, the Russian presi-dent, and the leaders of France andGermany, who arrive in the Russiancapital hoping to broker a new peacedeal that will end the deepening cri-sis in Ukraine. The fact that AngelaMerkel, the German chancellor, andFrançois Hollande, the French presi-dent, are travelling to Russia mightsmack of desperation to some, par-ticularly as Mr Putin is generallyseen to be the principal aggressor,having illegally annexed Crimea anddispatched an estimated 9,000 Rus-sian troops to eastern Ukraine to sup-port pro-Russian rebels.

Given the grave deterioration inthe crisis that has taken place sincethe turn of the year, the two leadersbelieve they must act if they are toprevent the conflict developing intoa full-scale European war. Tensionsare certainly running high after theObama administration earlier thisweek indicated that it was givingserious consideration to arming thepro-Western government of PetroPoroshenko, the Ukrainian president.John Kerry, the US Secretary ofState, told a press conference in Kievyesterday that “we cannot close oureyes to tanks that are crossing theborder from Russia”. The prospectof deepening US military involve-ment, though, will be interpreted asa hostile act by the Kremlin, whichis already paranoid about Westernintentions in the region. Many Eu-ropeans, too, are wary, with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the German for-eign minister, warning against“throwing more weapons on the bon-fire”. But with the risk of full-scaleconfrontation between Russia andthe West deepening by the day, pre-venting further bloodshed in a con-flict that has already claimed an es-timated 5,000 lives is by no meansan easy proposition. Rather than scal-ing it down, the last serious initia-tive to end the fighting – when thewarring factions signed the MinskProtocol last September – quicklycollapsed amid mutual recrimina-tions, and ultimately led to Russiaincreasing its military support for therebels. Indeed, with AlexanderZakharchenko, the pro-Russian rebelleader, calling for a generalmobilisation in the hope of creatinga 100,000-strong rebel army, theprospects of negotiating a newceasefire are remote, to say the least.With the EU agreeing new sanctionsagainst Russia, and Nato bolsteringits defences in eastern Europe tothwart further Russian aggression,time is clearly of the essence. TheGerman and French leaders say theyhave a new peace initiative to put toMr Putin. Let us hope they are suffi-cient to break deadlock, for alterna-tive is frightening to contemplate.— The Telegraph

*****

Testing timesfor schools in

Pakistan

IN the wake of the horrificTaliban attack on the Army Public school in Peshawar on De-

cember 16, 2014 provincial govern-ments in Pakistan have taken a slewof measures to beef up security ineducational institutions. Perhaps themost significant of all such measuresis the Khyber Pakhtunkhwagovernment’s recent decision to per-mit teachers to carry concealed fire-arms. Some teachers licensed andtrained to carry guns have alreadybegun bringing them into their class-rooms. What’s more, the provincialgovernment is holding firearmstraining workshops for teachers.

The government says that itsCabinet supports the arming ofteachers because the region’s 65,000policemen are inadequate to providesecurity to nearly 50,000 schools.However, so far, other provinceshave not followed Peshawar’s planto permit teachers to carry a con-cealed gun. Besides teachers, othersections of the Pakistani society suchas lawyers and human rights activ-ists have also reacted with revulsionat the move, which they say will onlyserve to heighten the sense of fearamong the students. Although it isnot uncommon to see armed guardsoutside banks, government offices,courts and some military schools inPakistan, academic institutions ingeneral, and teachers in particular,have never been told to play the roleof gun-toting security personnel.Perhaps desperate times call for des-perate measures. But will such amove make schools more secure?Only time will tell. — Gulf Times

MEDIA WATCH

WHILE the Pakistani government is trying hard tofight militancy by consti-

tuting military courts the case of themurderer of former governor PunjabSalman Taseer, Mumtaz Qadri is avivid illustration about where andhow militancy is rooted in our coun-try and society and that it is surelyimpossible to fight it with militarycourts or even with army operations.In a TV interview Salman Taseer hadcommented on his view about thecountry’s blasphemy law that ac-cording to him was faulty and givesopportunity for misuse. Blasphemylaw is not an invention of the IslamicRepublic of Pakistan. Even in Brit-ish India there was a Blasphemy lawthat was meant to punish anyone ex-pressing derogatory words againstChrist. In Venice as early as in 1530sa special judicial tribunal was cre-ated for the sole and dedicated pur-pose of hearing cases of blasphemy,officially for the purpose of ward-ing off divine wrath. In the 1760s,when a young man was condemnedto death in France for assorted blas-phemies, his body was burned to-gether with Voltaire’s PhilosophicalDictionary, a gesture which certainlyfailed to halt the intellectual progressof the Enlightenment. The critiqueis thus not against a blasphemy lawas such but against the misuse orabuse of it for vilification.

On January 04, 2011 one ofTaseer’s bodyguards, Malik MumtazQadri, shot him 27 times with anMP5 sub-machine gun at KohsarMarket because he thought that

China can’t be contained

THE cold war had largely divided the world into threegroups - America, former So-

viet Russia and Non-aligned nations.India’s official position was Non-Aligned; it was one of the foundersof NAM along with Yugoslavia,Egypt, Ghana and Cyprus. But rightfrom the day one, India’s hypocrisyin foreign policy stood exposed, asIndia was in Soviet Union’s camp forall practical purposes. Soviet Unionhad helped India in international fo-rums including the UN SecurityCouncil. During war between Indiaand Pakistan in 1971, former USSRhad vetoed three draft resolutions forceasefire, withdrawal of troops to theoriginal positions and support for re-turn of the refugees. However, afterdisintegration of the Soviet Union,India wanted to strengthen it bilat-eral relations – economic and diplo-matic ties - with the US; and it co-vertly offered to support US policyof contain China.

The US and the West may propup India, it will not even think ofgoing to war with China, as it hadonce flexed muscles with China in1962, and tasted the worst defeat.Provoked by a territorial dispute andtensions over Tibet, the war betweenIndia and China was brief, andChina emerged victorious. The warwas started by the Indians who firedat Chinese soldiers, marched intoChinese territory and began to buildmilitary watch houses. Before that,

A watched potnever boils.

India had offered shelterto Dalai Lama who wasconsidered by China as atraitor and criminal.China viewed India’s se-ries of actions as inter-ventions into China’s do-mestic affairs. AfterObama’s recent visit, In-dian leadership launched

intense diplomatic activity to assureChina and Russia that its relationswith the US would not be at the costof bilateral relations with them.

Foreign Mistier Sushma Swarajhad left for China on a 4-day visit,arguably to make preparations in re-gard to Narendra Modi’s visit toChina in May. But in fact, it wasmeant to assure China that it does notharbor ill-intentions against China.Although President Obama has morethan once said that the US does nothave any desire to contain China, yetthe statements about South China Seabelie those claims. Of course, thewarming up of Indo-US relationsespecially in the nuclear domainposes a direct threat to Chinese na-tional interests. Both China and Rus-sia feel uneasy over Indian overturestowards the US. Chinese and Rus-sian leaderships indeed want to havenormal relations with India becauseof its plus-billion population and sizeof the market. However, they can-not close their eyes what is goingon in the region.

On 20th January, PresidentObama in his State of Union Addresssaid: “We are demonstrating thepower of American strength and di-plomacy. We’re upholding the prin-ciple that bigger nations can’t bullythe small - by opposing Russian ag-gression, and supporting Ukraine’sdemocracy, and reassuring our NATOallies”. The US through controversialdeals is enticing India to assume anti-

China role and would have footprintsin India to eavesdrop Chinese activi-ties. China is apprehensive about theemerging threat, as he intent of Presi-dent Barack Obama and Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi was quite clearfrom the talk of ‘free sea lanes andair passages in South China Sea. Itgoes without saying that the US ap-proach would cause imbalance in theregion with serious implications forglobal security.

It is true that right from the be-ginning the US had wanted India tojoin it in its crusade against commu-nism, but India had always declined,as it felt comfortable with the Sovietcamp. After the end of Cold war, therewas a change in India’s policy, as itwanted to be close to the sole superpower. In fact, the foundation for thischange was laid during President BillClinton’s visit to India in 2000, whenhe was successful in, what was said,removing the distrust between theUS and India. After the Clinton’svisit, the Indians basked in the glowof their ‘spectacular’ success, be-cause they had been able to convinceClinton about their view and percep-tion of the Kashmir issue.

But there was nothing to rejoiceabout, as the US President’s utter dis-regard for the delicate balance inSouth Asia made this region a moredangerous place to live in than it wasbefore his visit. With Pakistan,Clinton had promised aid and politi-cal partnership, if Islamabad listenedto him. He warned that if his adviceis not heeded, Pakistan would not getaid from the US. The recent defencepact between India and the US is infact culmination of the dialogue ini-tiated by the then President BillClinton, which would exacerbate theexisting imbalance in South Asia.During Bush era, 10-year defencepact signed by then US defence sec-

Salman Taseer, by calling thelaw a ‘Black Law and express-ing sympathy for the con-victed Christian woman, vio-lated the standards of Islamand had to be punished. Afterthe shooting, Qadri threw his

weapon down and put his hands upwhen one of his colleagues aimed athim. He reportedly pleaded to be ar-rested. The murder of Taseer was metwith strong solidarity from not onlyQadri’s colleagues from the Dawat-eIslami and other clerics but fromlarge parts of society. Nevertheless,an anti-terrorism court sentencedhim to death on Oct 1st 2011 for themurder. The judge who pronouncedthe judgment had to leave the coun-try because of security threats to himand his family.

Last week the Islamabad HighCourt adjourned the hearing of an ap-peal filed by Mumtaz Qadri againsthis death sentence for the murder ofSalman Taseer because a governmentlawyer has not been appointed to ar-gue case. The court hearing itself wasallowed by the government to becomea showcase of support for the murder.At least 90 lawyers came to court todefend Mumtaz Qadri, while over 300of his supporters gathered outsidecourt premises to egg him on. The menwere carrying placards and shoutingslogans in favour of slain governor’sassassin. Among the lawyers defend-ing Qadri are Khawaja MohammadSharif, former chief justice of LahoreHigh Court (LHC) and former LHCjudge, Mian Nazeer Akhtar togetherwith other prominent Lawyers.

The case of Mumtaz Qadri isshowing where the real problem withmilitancy in Pakistan lies. While therecan be – and always have been- dif-ferent interpretations of Islam andshariah militancy means that I don’thave the right to discuss the difference

in opinion. By doing so Mumtazshowed disrespect for the law of theland, for the oath under which he wasoperating as security guard and for thejustice system of Pakistan. He wasaware that he was acting against thelaw but he didn’t care. He offered him-self for arrest sure that he had donethe right thing. The wave of solidaritythat was visible after the murder andis still visible whenever the case is dis-cussed shows that a large section ofPakistani society seems to be at oddswith the Pakistani state, its governmentand its laws. This section of societycomprises of a good amount of law-yers and even judges if retired; thatmeans of retired representatives of thePakistani state. From this it can beguessed that those judges who are re-tired today had the same opinions dur-ing their active service but couldn’tvoice this opinion openly at thattime. Equally, we can guess that apart of the today active governmentservants are feeling that Mumtaz haddone the right thing but they wouldnot openly voice this opinion beforeretirement. The number of Paki-stanis supporting the murder ofTaseer cannot be ascertained but itmight well be a substantial part ofour society if not a majority.

The state and the government onthe other side have weakened by nowto such an extent that already in 2011the judge bringing the judgment hadto leave the country because he couldnot be given security by the state.Today the government failed to ap-point a lawyer to argue the caseagainst Mumtaz either because nolawyer in government service woulddo this in good conscience or becausethose who could do it are afraid fortheir lives if they agree to do it. Thisis the complete break-down of statepower and state authority in Pakistan.There is another aspect to be consid-

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retary Donald Rumsfeld and his In-dian counterpart Pranab Mukherjee,transformed the relationship.

For India, it paved the way forjoint weapons production, coopera-tion on missile defence, coopera-tion in nuclear technology and lift-ing of US export controls for mili-tary technologies. During the recentPresident Obama’s visit, Indiaamong other things got US stateguarantee for making up the lossesin case of nuclear accident. Franceand Japan have already given suchguarantees on behalf of the nuclearsuppliers. Anyhow, India is notlikely to catch up with China in thenext 25 years. Thus China is un-stoppable and it is not possible tocontain it. Besides, the US govern-ment and its people are not inclinedto see America’s involvement indangerous ventures.

That point besides; China hasinvested an estimated sum of $1.27trillion in US Treasury Bonds, andis the number-one investor amongforeign governments, according tothe June 2014 figures released by theUS Treasury. This amounts to over21% of the U.S. debt held overseasand about 7.2% of the United States’total debt figure. US has been hav-ing deficit in trade with China, andthe latter finds it beneficial to in-vest in treasury bonds, which is asafe investment as compared withinvestment elsewhere. At the sametime Americans benefit from thecompetitive prices of Chinese prod-ucts – bonanza for American con-sumers. The advantages of tradebesides, China will not compro-mise on its claim on Taiwan, on itsright of control over South ChinaSea Waters and on its claim on theArunachal Pradesh.—The writer is Lahore-based se-nior journalist.

—Proverb

ered as well. At least among theEnglish speaking part of Pakistanisociety democracy is as popular asa political system. But democracyin true sense of the word does notmean majority rule in Pakistan,where less than 50% voters exercisetheir right to vote and under the first-pass-the post a system practiced inPakistan in which a party securingunder 20% of the total vote cast isdeclared winner. So far the elite ofour society has managed to manipu-late the elections in a way so thatthey are returned to power no mat-ter what. But the elite are a mi-nority and they don’t really repre-sent the interests of the masseswho are poor, uneducated, reli-gious and supporting Mumtaz.

If one day ‘real democracy’would come to Pakistan and thevoice of the majority would beheard – the Pakistan that we haveknown so far would come to anend. Are we really sure that wewant ‘real democracy’? Obviouslynot. The elite doesn’t want it be-cause they would lose politicalpower and the world doesn’t wantit because then we have anotherAfghanistan. That is why militarycourts – surely not a mark of de-mocracy- are brought to us as aremedy, but a remedy that wouldn’tsuffice. Real militancy is rooted insociety and has to be fought byfighting poverty, by better educa-tion, by an effective Justice systemand that is a long process. But ithas to be started and furtheredagainst the resistance from manyquarters. For that we need ‘unityof command’ rather than the de-mocracy available to us throughmassively rigged elections. Godbless Pakistan and humanity.—The writer is Karachi-basedsenior columnist.

Mohammad JamilEmail: [email protected]

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Ali Ashraf KhanEmail:[email protected]

Voice of the People

Camel milkbusinessARIBA ANSARI

Since few years camel milk has beengaining its popularity in our popu-lation because of its immense heal-ing properties but regrettably gov-ernment has shown no interest forthis product. There are many com-mercial travellers seen atchowrangis of busy areas along withtheir camels selling the fresh milk,milked at the same time. Health sec-tor has prescribed no stipulationsand policies in this regard. Theselocal merchants are free to sell theproduct without any certificationfrom government authority andhence no quality control has beenseen regarding the subject’s healthand diet parameters.—Karachi

Saner elementmoves on for peace

SHEHARYAR ALI

Finally the days are here when wecan proudly say that nation is on thetrack against terrorism and religiousradicalism. Our security forces werefighting this tumor since a decadebut the only barrier for reaching thevictory was national unity and sup-port among the people of the coun-try, irrespective of whether the po-litical parties stay united or not butthe civil society is proving unity attheir end.

Initially the protest organized bycivil society in the leadership of so-cial activist Jibran Nasir againstMaulvi Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid inIslamabad was a brilliant move ashe gathered a large number of com-moners in the capital and showedhow brave and committed are thepeople against extremist elementsand their supporters even thoughthere were direct threats to the or-ganizer by TTP spokesperson.

Members of the civil society,Jibran Nasir and some other intel-lectuals of Karachi also organizeda sit-in outside CM house Sindhafter the Shikarpur blast and a largenumber of youth and adults of thecity once again joined hands againstterrorism. All I want to project bysharing here is that after a long timeour nation has started to join peacerallies keeping aside their ethnic,political and sectarian back-grounds. Now it’s the solemn dutyof the government to assure secu-rity to the civilians and fight ex-tremism with all the force.

Not only this but special secu-rity must be provided for childrenand everything should be done toimpart education to the people. Weare not far away in making thiscountry a better place to live in. Allwe need is unity, consensus andpositive approach and once weachieve that we will be the stron-gest nation of all.—Karachi

Where are weheading for?

M. OSAMA AFNAN HANAFI

Now a days, a lot of people are pass-ing through a state of frustration dueto distancing them from faith; thusthe human beings are rushing to-wards the valley of darkness. Peopledemand peace of mind and satisfac-tion of heart. In Quran, the Creatorhas categorically proclaimed that hisfriends are a satisfied lot who nei-ther do have remorse for their pastacts, nor are afraid of their future.Hence absence of grief and fear iscalled satisfaction but human beingsnow believe in money and makemoney for unethical activities andto look superior or above.

Man has gone oblivious of thepurpose of his creation and life onthis planet. Being a Muslim, the real

Pak DTH and visionless PEMRAKHALIL AHMAD

Direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV services, which are a sine qua non in today’s modern world forpublic information and entertainment and which should have been started almost a decade ago in

our country, have been deliberately neglected reportedly due to the influence of cable TV operators onPEMRA. As a result, 70% of our population which cannot avail of the cable service are forced to buyIndian DTH packages through black market which transfers millions of our dollars per month to Indiathrough smuggling. Indian DTH agents and our cable TV operators are the main opponents workingthrough underhanded means to influence PEMRA to thwart commencement of Pakistani DTH ser-vices. Even small countries like Nepal and Sri Lanka have their own DTH. This is a matter of graveconcern for the public who face great hardship and wastage of their money and precious foreign ex-change due to the absence of DTH service in our country. I do recall that PEMRA initiated the processto award DTH licences to the Pakistani interested parties in 2004, pre-empting the cultural onslaughtfrom across the border, but the then myopic Information Minister, in a stupid bid to have a PTV DTH,sabotaged the whole process; thus resulting in coming of the Indian DTH in our Pakistani households.However, in later years, PEMRA became an employment exchange to give jobs, on lucrative pay-pack-ages, to the blue eyed favourites of the political masters or corrupt high-ups in the organization; andnobody was there to have a vision or priority to safeguard the national culture or to help counter anti-statemedia campaigns. Will the honourable Prime Minister, the Information Minister, any conscientious seniorfunctionary of the Information Ministry or the incumbent Chairman / Incharge of PEMRA, bother toreopen / restart the process of having a Pakistani DTH by some patriotic Pakistani, to help block the anti-Pakistan Indian propaganda beaming down on us through Indian DTH. A lot of damage has already beendone, but it is never too late to recover, provided there is a will and re-awakened conscience and commit-ment. Moreover, PEMRA’s murky affairs also need to be corrected without further ado.—Muzaffargarh.

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THE articles, columns andletters are published on thesepages in good faith. However,the contents of these writingsmay not necessarily match theviews of the newspaper.

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View From Abroad

Why is America at war with IS?

THERE isn’t any congressionalauthorization, much less a declaration of war. Is there even a

good reason for the United States tobe involved? There is no better timeto ask this question than now, as muchof the world (me included) is dis-gusted by the Islamic State’sbeheadings of two kidnapped Japa-nese nationals, the second one an ac-claimed journalist and humanist wholost his life trying to rescue the first.It is easy to forget that for Americans,going to war was until recently an actundertaken only after every other al-ternative had been thoroughly ex-plored and completely exhausted, thatthe bar for casus belli was high, andthat war wasn’t the standard responseto outrage or international crisis, butquite unusual, a deviation from thenormal order of business.

It’s hard to imagine now, but theUnited States did not declare waragainst Germany after its U-boat tor-pedoed and sank the RMS Lusitania

in 1915, killing 1,198 passengers,including 128 Americans. Instead,President Woodrow Wilson de-manded compensation and a prom-ise from Germany not to do it again.War has since become much tooeasy. We go to war fast, without na-tional discussion — much less de-bate. We go to war indiscriminately.We war against several nations (Af-ghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria), at thesame time we’re warring against atactic (terrorism), as well as vari-ous so-called “non-state actors”(discrete branches of al-Qaida,Khorasan, Abu Sayyaf).

War, war, war, all the time. Somuch war we think it’s normal that,especially when someone/some-thing/some group does somethingwe deem wrong, like slitting thethroats of reporters as camerasrecord the bloodshed in glorioushigh resolution, war is the knee-jerkresponse. Yet, as the Lusitania ex-ample reminds us, this was not al-ways the case, and so this is nothow it necessarily must be. In justone single day over the past week-end, the US-led coalition carried

out 27 air strikes against IslamicState-held territory in Syria and Iraq.We have no way to know how manyIslamic State soldiers, and civilians,were killed or wounded in thosebombardments.

US-led forces are responsible forat least 16,000 air strikes against theIslamic State in the last six months,killing an unknown number of people— but guesstimates logically beginin the tens of thousands, includingcivilians. Despite all that carnage, theair campaign has not had the desiredeffect: the Islamic State group isstronger than ever, continuing toconquer new territory and consoli-date control over old ground, and theauthoritarian government of SyrianPresident Bashar Assad — an adver-sary of the US and its ally Israel —is benefiting as well. But why aren’twe asking why we are at war againstIslamic State?

“When it comes to human rightsabuses, they (Islamic State militants)are in a class of their own,” Sen. Bar-bara Boxer, a California Democrat,said last summer in support of a con-gressional resolution supporting

Root-cause of terrorism

FOR the last many decades we,the Pakistanis, as a nation,have been trying our best to

introduce us as a peace-loving. cor-dial and friendly nation but unfor-tunately our struggles seem gonewaste; some of the countries towhom we have been trying to getcloser, never seem willing to re-spond positively to our desire forpeace; India is also one of such coun-tries. This next door neighbourwastes no opportunity of defamingPakistan slip out of her hands. A fewdays back when President Obamawas there in India to attend the Re-publican Day ceremonies, the Indianauthorities did their best to malignthe image of Pakistan by portrayingPakistan as the root-cause of all ter-rorist activities in India but the factsand realities are altogether other-wise. It is India which is promotingterrorism and supporting terrorists

not only in Pakistan but through-out the region.Since US has been playing aleading role in the war againstterror for the last many years, thegovernment of Pakistan decidedto take US into confidence re-

garding Indian’s involvement in ter-ror activities in Pakistan. For thispurpose General Raheel Shareef, theChief of the Army Staff, paid a visitto US and had meetings with au-thorities. In these meetings, GeneralRaheel Shareef presented evidencesto the US authorities which con-tained proofs of India’s involvementin various terrorist incidents thathave occurred in Pakistan. The USauthorities strongly assured that ev-ery possible support would be pro-vided to Pakistan for capture ofMullah Fazlullah. It was also de-cided that US shall pave way forregular meetings of security hi-upsof Afghanistan, Pakistan and US,moreover the system for intelligenceinformation sharing between Paki-stan, Afghanistan and the US willbe further improved.

It is a daylight fact that India isusing all possible tools for defam-

ing Pakistan as a terrorist country.We have so many examples of inci-dents like Mumbai blasts, theSamjhota Express burning, the se-rial blasts in 1993 and the recent boatincident in which the Indian authori-ties tried their best to hold Pakistanresponsible. The credit goes nodoubt to the Indian judiciary and tothe Indian civil society that all theseevents and incidents were later ex-posed as the artistic-work of the In-dian Intelligence Agencies. Thesame practice is being adopted therein the Indian Held Kashmir also.Indian army and the Indian paramili-tary troops are changing the para-dise-like valley of Kashmir into ahell of cruelties.

For the last so many decades, theIndian occupation forces have beeninvolved in horrible crimes againsthelpless civilians in Kashmir. Thesebrutalities include kidnapping, loot-ing, burning the houses and shopsand above all rape of Kashmiriwomen. Every year thousands ofwomen are molested by the Indiansoldiers disguised as militants. Tokeep these brutal atrocities secretfrom the world eyes, India simply

Ted Rall

refuses to allow the internationalhuman rights organizations or themedia to visit the state saying thatthe valley is under threat from theMuslim militants. And who arethese so-called militants; it is an-other interesting question. Somany times, human rights organi-zations have reported their findingsthat Indian soldiers dress up them-selves like Muslim ‘mujahideens’and raid the houses of theKashmiris at night They ransackthe houses, loot whatever theycould and rape the women with-out discrimination of age and ap-pearance. During all this activitythey intentionally use typical Mus-lim vocabulary while talking toone another. Their only objectiveis to give the impression that theyare the Muslim mujahideens fromPakistan. Most of the Indian peoplelove peace and are in favour offriendly relations with Pakistan butwhat to do of the extremist ele-ments in the Indian society towhom a shattering Pakistan is themost precious dream.—The writer is Multan-basedfreelance columnist.

America’s newest war. But that’s nottrue. The Islamic State group is noworse than any number of other re-gimes we choose to leave alone (oractively support).The New York Times’ editorial boardsays Islamic State “poses a dire threatto the United States and its allies.”How so? They can’t attack the US.Yes, they’re in Iraq, which we viewas an ally after invading it, but thatwar was lost in 2003. Islamic Statecan’t invade Israel either. So why arewe attacking them? And why aren’twe asking why? War is serious busi-ness. It takes lives, costs money, de-stroys infrastructure and the envi-ronment, and creates new problems,including laying the ground for fu-ture wars. The least — the very least— we can do is think about it, andtalk about it, before starting one,and then letting inertia carry it on.The writer is a syndicated writerand cartoonist and author of thenew critically acclaimed book “Af-ter We Kill You, We Will WelcomeYou Back As Honoured Guests:Unembedded in Afghanistan. — Courtesy: The Japan Times

No need for new ideas..!

INDIA first discovered thePythagoras theorem, saysUnion Minister” Hindustan

Times, 4th Jan. Most scientists andresearchers in India have decidedto take a well earned five year va-cation after hearing Dr HarishVardhan, Union Minister for Sci-ence and Technology, mentioningagain and again in different forumsthat India, discovered flying, math-ematics, algebra, and most of thetheorems, whose discovery havetill now been attributed to others.

A scientist who’s name I will

not expose, sat with me on the whitesands of Goa, “There’s nothing ex-isting in the world that India hasn’tdiscovered first,” he said proudly,watching the waves come in and goback. “What are you thinking aboutnow?” I asked.

“There’s nothing I can thinkabout that hasn’t been thought aboutthousands of years back by our fore-fathers,” he said. I watched as a poorman hid behind a boat and did hismorning ablutions, “Didn’t we dis-cover toilets?” I asked. “Of course wedid!” said the research scientist, “Ifwe were to read the ancient bookscarefully like our dear ministers aredoing nowadays, we are sure to dis-cover that we were the first to dis-cover and create the loo!” “But look

at that poor man, nowhere to go butthe sea!” “Blame the USA!” said thescientist. “Why?” “They must havestolen our toilet idea thousands ofyears ago. I wondered whether to tellhim the US didn’t exist then, but wasinterrupted by his shout, “I’ve got anidea!” he yelled. “No!” “What no?”he asked confused at my vehemence.

“You can’t be having an idea!” Iexplained gently, “Remember in thiscountry every idea has already beenthought of thousands of years ago.So what you are thinking is alreadycopyrighted and belongs to our an-cients!” “In that case I’ll need tochange my profession!” said the sci-entist slowly, “I wonder what I cando, now that thinkers are not neededin the country?” “Maybe you could

be an engineer?” I suggested hap-pily. “All designs have already beenthought of years ago, I’m sure ourminister will find we had two hun-dred story skyscrapers previously.

“A doctor?” “Nah, what’s thegood of following known proce-dures,” said the scientist sadly. “Igot it!” “What?” I asked, happy tosee him smile. “You know what?I’ll become! I’ll become a politi-cian!” “Politician! Why?” I askedincredulously. “All I need to do isto come up with new and brilliantstatements like our beloved minis-ters are doing today..!” said the sci-entist and we both joyously contin-ued watching the waves roll andtouch the white sands of Goa.—Email:[email protected]

National aviation policy

KEEPING in view the importance of aviation industry, anew aviation policy has been

drafted by the present governmentunder the caption” National AviationPolicy.” The salient features havebeen highlighted as under:(1) Over-view of Aviation Industry (2)Strengthening of CAA (3) Promot-ing professionalism. (4)Incentivizing aviation business. (5)International openness. (6) Promo-tion of general aviation.

These key features seems veryprogressive and a road to destination.In the first point of aviation industrypolicy the draft presented states thatthe taxation part of New AviationPolicy will be implemented from 1stJuly 2015 after the Finance Bill 2015.It states that the government will col-lect Taxes RS 27.5 billion @Rs5000(FED)from 5.5million Int’l de-parting passengers and Rs 10.5 bil-lion @Rs 3000(FED+AdvTax) from3.5 million domestic departing pas-sengers in 2015. 38 billion from FED.Estimated growth based on new avia-tion policy is 5% which will bringRs19 billion for government. Theestimated increase in revenue is only

possible by acting on the policy withcogency and dedication.

It seems that the people at thehelm of the affairs are serious to up-lift the Airline and save it fromdrowning. The innovative sense andsensibility are required to achieve thetarget. Where there is a will, there isa way. This agenda of betterment isdestined to succeed provided there isagile, active and honest leadership.In Aviation Sector Air transport driveseconomic and social progress. It pro-vides access to global markets andconnects remote areas. The air trans-port industry supports 58.1 millionjobs globally. The Aviation globaleconomic impact is $2.4 trillion. Aresearch conducted in the US sug-gests that every $ invested in aero-space yields an extra $1.50 to $3.00in economic activity.

So far as the fare of the PIA is con-cerned, presently Pakistan has thehighest tax rate on Air tickets. It ishigher rate when compared to India,Bangla Desh, Malaysia, Srilanka andIran. Particularly economy ticks havevery high rates in domestic and inter-national flights because of high taxes.It is suggested that the travel fareshould be reconsidered and lessenedso that all and sundry can afford totravel in PIA. The average governmenttax on average domestic ticket priceis about 50% of average domestic base

fare. Presently so many Pakistanisprefer to internationally fly in other Aircompanies for better services and lesscharges. It is a very serious issue andPIA authorities should find out feasiblesolution of this trend.

No plan or policy can succeedwithout incentives. The New Avia-tion Policy has aptly recommendedincentive measures in this regard. Itannounces No Tax or Duties on im-port on Wet/ Dry lease air crafts andspare parts. The rationale is that theasset is not sold/ purchased by local.Therefore, the duty/sales tax may notbe applicable. It will facilitate growthof aviation industry. The improvedquality of spare parts will enhancesafety and on time performance. NoFED/ taxes on 13 socio-politicalroutes. The rationale is that the pri-vate airlines are reluctant to operateon these routes. CAA has waivedlanding, housing and air navigationcharges. This will effect on the im-provement of political and regionalconnectivity and integration. It is alsoexpected to reduce PIA losses.

It is further recommended thatthere will be no duties/taxes on im-port of training air craft on purchase/lease basis and also no taxes/ dutieson 100LL for training air craft. Therationale is cost reduction for trainingpilots. Its impact on aviation industryis the expectation to train about 1000

pilots, both local and foreign, overthe next 5 years and enhance rev-enues. Long term benefit in the shapeof foreign exchange is sure. It willenhance growth of general aviationand availability of pilots for indus-try. It will also impact on FBR rev-enues. 5o aircrafts worth Rs.500 mil-lion with out tax and duty may incura loss of Rs.100 million to FBR overa period of 13 years.

The recommendations and thesalient features of National AviationPolicy are the haul marks that needto be implemented for the uplift ofour aviation system. It is not onlythe requirement of the institution butis the need of the Pakistanis as well.We have to restore and regain ourlost gem of trust. It goes withoutsaying that once we proudly de-clared:” Fly with PIA. “The hospi-tality of its crew and hostesses wasthe talk of the town. Besides, thesefinancial measures and commercialbeneficiary schemes, it is suggestedthat the staff of PIA should also betrained to restore the lost gem ofcordiality and courtesy. There is nodearth of good staff in PIA and suchpersons with nice behaviour oughtto be lauded but still we need im-provement. In improvement lie nov-elty, progress and perfection.— The writer is an author andscholar based in Islamabad.

Ali Sukhanver Email:[email protected]

purpose of life is to carry forward theMessage of Allah and to establish thatthe followers of the holy ProphetMuhammad are a peace lovingummah among the followers of dif-ferent faiths. Why are we dividedamong ourselves? Why are we con-fused and hesitant to express that Is-lam is a complete code of life, a sureway to success and religion of peaceand peaceful co-existence. It is hightime we must unite against terrorismand adopt Islamic tenets in their realperspective. But unfortunately, every-body wants to eat fruit but no onewants to change one’s own self. Thinkabout where are we going and whatshould be real destination?—Via email

ShikarpurmassacreNAUSHABA ABID

It is heart rending that we are onceagain faced with horrific act of ter-rorism in Shikarpur Sindh like theincident that happened inRawalpindi, last year. After killingflower like Children in Peshawar,another act of cowardice shook usand it has taken more than fifty livesof innocents. This time they at-tacked innocent people duringprayers, while portraying them-selves as Muslims, so it’s not likethat. No religion in this world in-cluding Islam allows you to harmothers in any way particularly in thename of religion Islam. To tacklethese dark forces of violence ourgovernment and security forcesneed to have a focused strategy andsafety measure in order to over-come terror element from our soci-ety and save precious human lives.—Via email

Well-doneSSP Hyderabad

SALAR LATEEF

This is with reference to the letter“Well-done SSP Hyderabad” byAsfand Bhutto, published in dailyPakistan Observer on Tuesday. Inhis letter, Mr. Bhutto has applaudedthe services of SSP Hyderabad IrfanBaloch for restoration of peace incity after prolonged wave of unrestand chaos. I would like to add thatpolice has been deputed at everypublic place and hectic avenues ofthe city but particularly, Qasimabadis the area, where dacoits and crimi-nals used to wander on roads. Thepeople of Hyderabad were seenscared to move freely in the city af-ter dusk due to the incidents of rob-bery, snatching and street crime.

After posting of Irfan Baloch asSSP Hyderabad, the clear differ-ence can be noticed. The policeseems active all the time. Policechief has ensured the security ofpeople in clear terms and definitemanner. On the contrary, I wouldrequest officials of Police depart-ment, SHO Qasimabad and theirtop brass to direct their patrollingcrew to avoid the un-necessary useof sirens by police mobiles inQasimabad. This loud noise createsharassment and sound pollutionwhenever it is heard without anyreason. The citizens of Hyderabadshould also cooperate with Policein order to remain safe from blacksheep, who deteriorate the peace-ful society to gain their dirty goals.—Via email

How to describetoday’s Pakistan?

JAVAID BASHIR

Pakistan faces existential threat. Itis being considered a failed Stateby the International Community.Apart from these considerations,we have to rephrase the identity ofthe country. We must give our hon-est opinion in this regard. We must

make an honest assessment of thepresent situation. According to theConstitution Pakistan is an IslamicRepublic. Rightist and religiousparties claim it to be ReligiousState, whereas the liberal Left de-scribes it as a Secular State, whereall the citizens have the right toexercise their own religion withimpunity We must take into con-sideration the vision of the found-ing Father and his associates. Theywanted a land where the peoplewould have freedom from all kindsof exploitation, whether religious,political or economic. But we havefailed to live upto their expecta-tions.

We have not contributed tobuild Pakistan as a welfare State.We are plagued with rampant cor-ruption, incompetence, violence,extremism, sectarian divide, andimmorality. Al these vices and illsexist in our society. The depravedintellectuals, politicians, dema-gogues and pedagogues have de-filed its purity and converted it intoden of criminals. The writ of thegovernment is absent. The govern-ments have set records of corrup-tion and bad governance.

Irony of fate is that we kill ourworshippers in the mosques,churches, and temples. The terror-ists blow these places with greaterease and impunity. Everybody hasa price and can be bought or soldfor little doe. I think the crux of thematter is that there is no befittingdescription of our society. It can bedescribed as intolerant, bankruptand immoral society. We have be-come a morally and physicallybankrupt culture. We are ashamedof ourselves for distorting the iden-tity of the State. We are controlledby different Mafias. The strongermafia is land mafia, and extortionmafia. So it will be safe to call itMafia controlled State.—Karachi

Cooperation withthe government

MUVEED AHMED

At this current moment when thePakistani security forces are hittinghard the terrorist organisationsaround the country and these perpe-trators of terrorism are on the run,and when the state has taken a bigstep to execute the death sentencesawarded to the terrorists by thecourts, they are conducting revengeattacks against the state. The currentsituation is boiling from either side.

The terrorists are openly threat-ening Pakistani government for an-other attack like Peshawar’s schoolmassacre. It is imperative that oursecurity apparatus, especially thepolice should stay vigilant. Thepolice has the main responsibilityto maintain law and order within thecountry and negligence of any kind,at this point of time, may result indeath of innocents.

Through this newspaper I wantto say to all Pakistani citizens toplease stay calm and cooperate withgovernment and its organizations.It is the responsibility of every citi-zen to extend full cooperation to thepolice and other security forces, inthis time of crisis, so they can per-form their duties effectively. If thepublic and police combine their ef-forts, only then the menace of ter-rorism will be defeated.—Lahore

Dr Maqsood JafriEmail:[email protected]

JOSH COHEN

As fighting in the Donbass once againexplodes, Western governments andmilitary analysts from Berlin to Brus-

sels are asking the same question they havebeen pondering for the last year: What is Presi-dent Vladimir Putin’s end game in Ukraine?There is little doubt that Russia has escalatedits support for its separatists in the Donbass.After a period of quiet, observers are report-ing masses of Russian battle tanks, armoredvehicles and artillery in the region, whileNATO intelligence states it has detected “thesignatures of air defense systems and elec-tronic warfare systems that have accompaniedpast Russian troop movements into Ukraine.”

But while intelligence regarding Russianmilitary movements in Ukraine is fairly clear— even if the exact number of Russian troopsis unknown — none of this sheds any furtherlight on what is going on in Putin’s mind.According to a number of media outlets, manyWestern intelligence analysts are coming tothe conclusion that Putin is no longer inter-ested in a negotiated settlement that preservesa united Ukraine, but rather now seeks to cre-

Putin Wants Ukraine Intact, But On His Termsate some version of “Novorossia” in the Donbassthat could stretch as far as Odessa and perhapseven be incorporated into Russia proper.

The problem with this analysis is that itmisreads what has been motivating Moscow’spolicies since the protests on Kiev’s MaidanSquare first broke out. As Carnegie MoscowCenter director Dmitri Trenin has noted, Putinis not interested in the “dismemberment ofUkraine for the sake of annexing bits and piecesof Ukraine to the Russian Federation. It is notinstability for the sake of instability.”

Rather, Moscow’s primary goal has beenabout ensuring that Ukraine does not becomepart of the Western alliance system, and in par-ticular that NATO membership for Kiev —something that Russians across the politicalspectrum would consider an existential threat— be firmly ruled out. To achieve his goal ofpreserving Russian influence in Ukraine andensuring that Kiev cannot join NATO, Putinwould accept a settlement that would keepUkraine intact — albeit intact on his terms.

Indeed, a recent online article in the Ukrai-nian outlet ZN.UA notes that Putin has actuallytransmitted his vision of a settlement to Kievthrough aides such as Vladislav Surkov and

Viktor Medvedchuk that is based on the follow-ing: • Federalization of Ukraine. • Special statusfor the Donetsk and Luhansk Peoples’ Repub-lics, involving the formation of local politicalauthorities over which Kiev would have no au-thority. • Autonomous local budgets. • Full lin-guistic and cultural authority for the DPR andLPR. • The DPR and LPR have the right to choose“the vector of economic integration,” meaningessentially that they could join Russia’s EurasianEconomic Union project.

From a tactical perspective, this “Putin Plan”explains why the latest separatist offensive is fo-cused on Debaltseve rather than on Mariupol andthe creation of a southern “land corridor to Crimea”that would create a new Novorossia. Although itmay seem counterintuitive, Russia’s escalation isactually about forcing Kiev to reach an agreementwith Moscow on Putin’s terms, under which theDonbass remains as a Trojan horse within a nomi-nally united Ukraine in order to ensure Russia’sinfluence over Kiev’s future orientation.

To understand why Putin prefers a settle-ment that keeps the Donbass within Ukraine,consider how events might develop should theDonbass be separated from Ukraine. In this sce-nario, the rump Ukraine — a country of more

than 35 million people — becomes much moreunitary. The population becomes overwhelm-ingly Ukrainian-speaking and views Russia asan implacable enemy.

Politically, there would no longer be a natu-ral constituency within Ukraine for balancingthe country’s Western ties with any ongoingeconomic or political relationship with Russia.Without any need to take the desires of its Rus-sian-speaking eastern regions into account, Kievwould be free to pursue full membership in theEU and even NATO, which Putin would couldnot prevent absent a full-scale invasion of therest of Ukraine. On top of that, consider the eco-nomics. Having separated the Donbass fromUkraine, Russia would almost certainly be sub-ject to additional Western sanctions, likely evenexcluded from the Society for Worldwide In-terbank Financial Telecommunication (betterknown as SWIFT), something British PrimeMinister David Cameron has advocated.

—Courtesy: MT[Josh Cohen is a former U.S. State De-

partment project officer. He currently worksfor a satellite technology company and con-tributes to a number of foreign policy-focusedmedia outlets]

Satellite dishes are seen at GCHQ’s outpost at Bude, close to where trans-Atlantic fibre-optic cables come ashore in Cornwall,southwest England.

Military medical workers gather in Beijing for a rally before leaving for West Africa on tofight the Ebola virus there.

ALON BEN-MEIR

THERE is no doubt that Prime Minister Netanyahu’s acceptance of House Speaker John Boehner’s invitation toaddress a joint session of Congress on Iran is extraordi-

narily damaging to Israel-US relations. The damage, however,transcends the bilateral relations as it reverberates and impactsadversely on Israel’s relations with scores of other countries.Netanyahu and his messenger boy, Ron Dermer (Israel’s Am-bassador to Washington), thought they had cleverly outmaneu-vered the White House by concocting such a cynical ploy, butthey will soon realize - if they haven’t already - that they havesunk into such disrepute that it will haunt them for the rest oftheir political careers.

Many Congressional Democrats are incensed by Netanyahu’sdiplomatic transgression. They have decided to drop new legis-lation to impose additional sanctions on Iran until after the March24 deadline, when an agreement will have to be achieved in prin-ciple between Iran and the P5+1. By his own shortsightedness,Netanyahu risked the bipartisan Congressional support of Israeland ended up with precisely the opposite of what he wished toachieve. Irrespective of who the president is and which politicalparty he is from, Americans have high esteem for the ExecutiveOffice of the President. Netanyahu has not only snubbed Obama,but dishonored the office that holds such awesome constitutionalpowers, which is apparently beyond the grasp of an arrogantcaretaker prime minister.

No leader with any self-respect would have dared to do whatNetanyahu has brazenly done. Even if Netanyahu ends up can-celing the visit, the damage to Israel has already been done, whileinflicting extreme harm to the US’ strategic interests. The reper-cussions of Netanyahu’s ill-conceived and poorly-executedscheme are numerous, which only a reckless person could fail toconsider. The erosion in the bilateral relationship between Israeland the US will only harden the position of Israel’s staunch en-emies, including Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran, who will seek toexploit it. Indeed, the greater the tension between Israel and itssole defender, the greater the resistance will be from Israel’senemies, as they see no reason to relent or be flexible.

America’s European allies, including the UK, France, and manyof the Scandinavian countries, who have serious disagreementswith Israel’s policies on the settlements and the continuing occu-pation, have not taken serious punitive actions against Israel, onlybecause of American urging not to do so. They will now feel moreemboldened to go after Israel in the international arena - givingsupport to BDS and seeking other punitive measures as they seefit. For the Arab states who believe that the US is in Israel’s pocket,Netanyahu’s defiance of the White House only confirms their be-lief, especially as they will likely witness several standing ova-tions (albeit undeserving and contrived) from the floor of the Houseof Representatives during Netanyahu’s speech.

As Senator John McCain of Arizona, speaking on CNN’s “Stateof the Union,” said about the state of US-Israeli relations, “It’s theworst that I’ve ever seen in my lifetime, and that in itself is atragedy.” There are those typically arrogant Israelis who have noclue how critical the US’ political, military, and economic supportis to Israel’s very survival, and who take America’s support forgranted. Even if Israel could manage without American financialaid and somehow survive without military support, it cannot en-dure without America’s crucial political backing, which is no longera given because of Netanyahu’s six years of defiance and deceit.

Within a few days, more than one hundred countries wouldrecognize it. Israel would become an occupier of another state,subject to massive international sanctions. Many countries wouldwithdraw their ambassadors, further isolating Israel and makingit a pariah state. Scores of its officials would be threatened withfacing the International Criminal Court for human rights viola-tions. There are those Israeli fools who suggest that Netanyahuis absolutely correct that Obama is a paper tiger and will not doanything against Iran.

Notwithstanding the continuing American public support ofIsrael, other than refusing to meet Netanyahu, the president shouldtake punitive action to convey to the Israelis that their leaderscannot commit such political lapses with impunity. At a mini-mum, the White House should declare Ambassador Dermer, whoshould have known better as a former political consultant for theRepublicans, persona non grata for his conniving and deliberatebreach of diplomatic protocol to prevent such sad episodes fromever happening again for Israel’s own sake.

—Coutesy: WA[Dr Alon Ben-Meir is a professor of international relations

at the Center for Global Affairs at NYU].

The tragic tear inUS-Israel relations

AMANDO DORONILA

THE massacre of 44 elite policemen in Mamasapano,Maguindanao, on January 25 marked the countdown ofthe slide of President Aquino’s administration into a lame-

duck one that has lost control of the disintegration of the repub-lic against the rebellion of separatist Moro movements inMindanao. The attack on and annihilation of the Philippine Na-tional Police-Special Action Force commandos who enteredMamasapano to arrest two terrorists—one Malaysian, the otherFilipino—who had been given sanctuary by the Moro IslamicLiberation Front constituted a blatant assault on the authority ofthe national government to enforce the law of the land within thenational territory.

The attack came in the midst of the peace process to imple-ment the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro creatingan autonomous substate within the republic’s territory, signed bythe Philippine government and the MILF. The massacre of theSAF commandos showed the government’s failure to protect itsown law enforcers. It has given rise to unrest in the police andmilitary over what they perceive as a vacuum of authority or lead-ership on the part of the national government. It has triggered astorm of criticism fueled by the perception that the government isengaged in a peace process in which the MILF is calling the shotsand defining the agenda of a peace settlement on its own terms.

It is a gross understatement to say that the massacre has plungedthe state’s armed security services—the police and the military—into crisis. The crisis is a serious one and is rapidly deterioratinginto a rebellion of the security apparatus. Civil society is now call-ing for the resignation of President Aquino for his perceived fail-ure to govern effectively. And there are now reports of brewingcoup plots in the PNP and the military, whose loyalty to their Com-mander in Chief has been badly shaken by the government’s fail-ure to protect the lives of the defenders of the republic against thebiggest assault mounted in 40 years by those seeking the establish-ment of an autonomous substate in Mindanao.

This fracture was underlined by the admission by PNP DeputyDirector General Leonardo Espina of the demoralisation of thepolice force over the heavy casualties suffered by the SAF in thehours-long firefight with MILF forces in Mamasapano. Espinamade the admission at a hearing on the proposed BangsamoroBasic Law in the House of Representatives yesterday. He testi-fied that neither he nor Interior Secretary Mar Roxas, who hassupervision over the PNP, was informed about a secret operationto arrest the Malaysian Marwan and Filipino Basit Usman.

Asked about talk of “two chains of command in the PNP,”Espina said: “I’m not aware of that. As far as I am concerned, asyou know, with only limited powers…” He also said that al-though he didn’t think the leadership issue contributed to thelack of coordination, he felt that it would have helped if he had atleast been told about the operation quietly. “If somebody whis-pered something to me, then I could have had the opportunity toreview [the plan],” he said.

—Courtesy: Daily Inquirer

Killing fields reduceAquino to lame duck

US concernedover ongoingBangladesh

violenceWASHINGTON—The UnitedStates has expressed its graveconcern over the ongoing ‘un-rest and violence’ inBangladesh, says a web pressrelease of State Departmenton Friday.

Spokesperson Marie Harfin the press statement says:“We deplore the unconscio-nable attacks including busburnings, throwing incendi-ary devices, and train derail-ments that have killed andwounded innocent victims.

“We condemn in thestrongest terms the use of vio-lence for political objectives.There is simply no justifica-tion for such actions in ademocratic Bangladesh. Thenew regulation, the paper said,quoting a source from the PLAGeneral Staff Department, de-fines service dogs as specialcombatants, an essential part offighting capabilities and an ir-replaceable military resource.

It adds: “All Bangladeshismust have the right and the abil-ity to express their views peace-fully. There is simply no justifi-cation for such actions in a demo-cratic Bangladesh. We call on thegovernment to provide the nec-essary space for peaceful politi-cal activity, and for all parties toinstruct their members to refrainfrom violence”.—WebPR

BEIJING—Chinese medical experts dispatchedto West Africa have trained 10,202 local staff totreat Ebola patients, the Health News, a news-paper affiliated with the National Health andFamily Planning Commission (NHFPC), re-ported Friday.

China has sent 64 Ebola specialists toWest Africa since Nov. 9, 2014. They havetrained 5,093 doctors, nurses and communityhealth workers for Sierra Leone; 1,823 forLiberia; 1,481 for the Republic of Guinea; and

China trains 10,000 Ebolamedics for W. Africa

1,805 for six other countries in the region in-cluding Senegal. The mission was China’sfirst overseas health training program, allow-ing China to passed on knowledge and expe-rience gained from dealing with Severe AcuteRespiratory Syndrome (SARS), according tothe Health News.

Since the Ebola outbreak in West Africa,China has delivered medical aid, and dispatchedhealth personnel to help with treatment, case ob-servation, lab tests and training.—Xinhua

Comments

M K BHADRAKUMAR

THE Pakistani reportquoting informedsources that US presi-

dent Barack Obama “privatelyencouraged and pushed” PrimeMinister Narendra Modi to re-view his Pakistan policiesseems plausible. The reportmentions that India-Pakistantalks might resume in March.

Of course, the Americansnever lose an opportunity totake credit when India and Pa-kistan engage each other – asif left to themselves the twoSouth Asian countries are in-capable of showing a sense ofresponsibility. But even with-out Obama’s push (or, state sec-retary John Kerry’s visit toAhmadabad in early January),Modi’s mind has been workingfuriously.

Simply put, the formationof a coalition government inJammu Kashmir between thePeople’s Democratic Party[PDP] and the Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP), which is a cer-tainty now, can be expected tohave positive fallout on the cur-rent India-Pakistan standoff.What is unfolding is a bold ex-periment not only in terms ofJ&K politics but also in regardof the Kashmir problem assuch. (See my blog A leap offaith in Jammu & Kashmir.)

Indeed, good governanceby the new government in J&Kneeds to go hand in hand withIndia-Pakistan dialogue. Com-mon sense would dictate thatand both PDP and BJP haveshown pragmatism in decidingto work together. The CommonMinimum Program of the in-coming coalition governmentin J&K makes it imperative that

India-Pakistan stand-offmay end soon

India engages Pakistan con-structively.

But, beyond that, there is aparadigm shift as well. Thepoint is, Modi is an ambitiousleader and he is radically reset-ting the compass of Indian di-plomacy from the traditionalway of managing the country’sproblems with its neighbors toone of resolving the problems— as evident in his approachto the India-China relationship— which would enable thecountry to focus optimally onits national priorities of devel-opment (for which a conduciveexternal enviornment is indeednecessary).

However, the bottom linefor the Modi government hasbeen that there should beprogress in addressing India’sconcerns over terrorism ema-nating from Pakistan. It struckme as timely that Major-Gen-eral Mahmud Ali Durrani(former Pakistani ambassadorto the US and national securityadvisor) made a nuanced callwhile reading out from a pre-pared text at a leading thinktank in Delhi today, that Indiaand Pakistan should work to-ward a moratorium on hurtingeach other.

He put it nicely: Indiashould not make Pakistan’s lifemore miserable than it is – orsomething to that effect. (Therest of the exchanges were un-der Chatham House rules, andI can’t say more). Interestingly,Maj. Gen. Durrani met India’snational security advisor AjitDoval yesterday[Feb 2, 2015].All things taken into consider-ation, therefore, one can hearthe crunching sound of thecrust of the India-Pakistanstandoff breaking, finally.

—Courtesy: Asia Times

CANBERRA—Embattled Aus-tralian Prime Minister TonyAbbott said he will fight a chal-lenge to his leadership at aparty-room meeting next weekafter disgruntled governmentlawmakers on Friday sought tooust him following weeks ofdivisive speculation. A memberof Abbott’s ruling conservativeLiberal Party, Western Austra-lian MP Luke Simpkins, sentan email to colleagues to an-nounce he will seek a vote onthe party’s top two positions ata scheduled party meeting inCanberra on Tuesday.

Abbott has faced a torrentof criticism in recent weeksover policy decisions rangingfrom his handling of theeconomy to awarding an Aus-tralian knighthood to QueenElizabeth’s husband, PrincePhilip. No member of the gov-ernment has so far indicated adirect challenge to Abbott, al-though most media attentionhas focused on Communica-tions Minister MalcolmTurnbull, a former party leadertoppled by Abbott.

Foreign Minister JulieBishop, deputy leader ofAbbott’s party, has also beentouted as a potential successorbut Abbott said she would standwith him. “I have spoken toDeputy Leader Julie Bishopand we will stand together inurging the party room to defeatthis particular motion and in sodoing ... to vote in favor of thestability and the team that thepeople voted for at the elec-tion,” Abbott said in a brief

Australian PM to faceleadership vote after

party-room revolttelevised statement.

Bishop issued a statementurging support for the incumbentleadership team. Opinion pollshave consistently shown votersprefer Turnbull to lead the party,but his support for environmen-tal steps against carbon has alien-ated some on the party’s right.“It’s really for Turnbull to put hishand up and whether he has thenumbers,” said University ofSydney political science profes-sor Peter Chen.

If Turnbull didn’t stand,Chen said Abbott’s governmentwould likely “trundle towardsannihilation at the next elec-tion”, which is due in about 18months. Financial marketswere little moved by the lead-ership upheaval. “Progress onthe budget is going be toughwhoever is leading, given theSenate is so fragmented,” saidKieran Davies, an economist atBarclays. “In any case, govern-ment borrowing costs are be-ing kept at record lows by theglobal search for yields, andthat’s not going to change.”

Bookmakers, however, of-fered short odds on Turnbullclaiming the leadership, withSportingbet having him atA$1.50 versus A$2.75 forAbbott and A$3.75 for Bishop.“There has been overwhelmingsupport for Mr Turnbull and hehas attracted more than 80 per-cent of bets placed in this mar-ket since Monday,” saidSportingbet’s Andrew Brown.“Mr Abbott has been friendlessand we’ve barely seen a centfor him,” he said.—Reuters

LONDON—A British tribunal ruled onFriday that some aspects of intelligence-sharing between security agencies in Brit-ain and the United States were unlawfuluntil December 2014, in a ground-break-ing case brought by civil liberties groups.

The Investigatory Powers Tribunalruled that Britain’s GCHQ had acted un-lawfully in accessing data on millions ofpeople in Britain that had been collectedby the U.S. National Security Agency(NSA), because the arrangements weresecret.

Campaign groups Liberty, Privacy In-ternational, Amnesty International and oth-ers brought the case following revelationsabout mass surveillance made by formerNSA contractor Edward Snowden.

It was the first time in its 15-year his-tory that the tribunal, which deals with le-gal challenges to Britain’s GCHQ, MI5and MI6, had issued a ruling that wentagainst one of those security agencies.

UK tribunal holds intelligencesharing with US unlawful

The legal challenge forced the Britishgovernment to reveal some details aboutthe previously secret rules governing howGCHQ accessed data collected as part ofthe NSA’s Prism and Upstream programs,first revealed by Snowden in June 2013.

The tribunal ruled that “the regimegoverning the soliciting, receiving, stor-ing and transmitting by UK authorities ofprivate communications of individuals lo-cated in the UK, which have been obtainedby U.S. authorities pursuant to Prism and... Upstream” contravened human rightslaws until the government’s disclosuresabout how the arrangements worked.

A spokeswoman for Prime MinisterDavid Cameron said the rules on intelli-gence-sharing were now fully lawful, add-ing: “The judgment will not require GCHQto change what it does.

Material revealed by Snowden andcited by the civil liberties groups showedPrism allows the NSA to access data

handled by the world’s largest Internetcompanies, including Google(GOOGL.O), Yahoo (YHOO.O),Facebook (FB.O) and others.

The groups hailed Friday’s ruling as amajor victory. “We now know that, bykeeping the public in the dark about theirsecret dealings with the National SecurityAgency, GCHQ acted unlawfully and vio-lated our rights,” Liberty’s legal directorJames Welch said in a statement.

Friday’s ruling followed on from ajudgment by the same tribunal in Decem-ber that Britain’s legal regime governingmass surveillance of the Internet by intelli-gence agencies did not violate human rights.

The tribunal’s concern, addressed inthe new ruling, was that until details ofhow GCHQ and the NSA shared datawere made public in the course of thecourt proceedings, the legal safeguardsprovided by British law were being side-stepped.—Reuters

them,’” Francis said.“How beautiful!” Francis remarked.

“He knows the sense of dignity! He hasto punish them but does it justly andmoves on.”

The Rev. Thomas Rosica, whocollaborates with theVatican press office, said the pope wasobviously not speaking about committingviolence or cruelty against a child butrather about “helping someone to grow andmature.”

“Who has not disciplined their childor been disciplined by parents when weare growing up?” Rosica said in an email.“Simply watch Pope Francis when he iswith children and let the images and ges-tures speak for themselves! To infer or dis-tort anything else ... reveals a greater prob-lem for those who don’t seem to under-stand a pope who has ushered in a revolu-tion of normalcy of simple speech andplain gesture.”

The Catholic Church’s position oncorporal punishment came under sharpcriticism last year during a grilling bymembers of a U.N. human rights commit-tee monitoring implementation of the U.N.treaty on the rights of the child.

In its final report, the committee mem-bers reminded the Holy See that the treaty

explicitly requires signatories to take allmeasures, including legislative and edu-cational, to protect children from all formsof physical or mental violence - includingwhile in the care of parents.

It recommended that the Holy Seeamend its own laws to specifically pro-hibit corporal punishment of children,including within the family, and to cre-ate ways to enforce that ban in Catholicschools and institutions around theglobe.

The recommendations were promptedby reports to the committee of widespreadphysical abuse and use of corporal pun-ishment in Catholic-run schools and insti-tutions, particularly in Ireland, that com-mittee members said had reached “en-demic levels.”

The Vatican had argued that it in noway promoted corporal punishment, butthat it also had no way to enforce any kindof ban on its use in Catholic schools, overwhich it has no jurisdiction. It noted thatit was only responsible for implementingthe child rights treaty inside the VaticanCity State.

That said, it stressed that the term“punishment” isn’t even used in the sec-tion of church teaching that refers to par-ents’ duties to “educate, guide, correct,

instruct and discipline” their children.In its written response to the commit-

tee, the Vatican said that according tochurch teaching, parents “should be ableto rectify their child’s inappropriate actionby imposing certain reasonable conse-quences for such behavior, taking into con-sideration the child’s ability to understandthe same as corrective.”

The head of the Vatican delegationtold the committee that he would take theU.N. proposal to ban corporal punishmentin all settings back to Rome for consider-ation.

The Holy See isn’t the only signa-tory to the convention that has beensingled out on the issue. Britain receiveda similar recommendation to repeal itslaw allowing parents to spank their kidswhen it came before the U.N. commit-tee in 2002.

Some 39 countries prohibit corporalpunishment in all settings, including athome, where most abuse occurs. Those na-tions range from Sweden and Germany toSouth Sudan and Turkmenistan.

In the United States, parents can le-gally hit their child as long as the force is“reasonable.” In 19 U.S. states, it’s stilllegal for personnel in schools to practice“paddling.”—AP

Pope okays to spank kidsFrom Page 1

Meanwhile, Complete shutter-downwas observed in Shikarpur district of SindhFriday against last week’s suicide attackon Karbala-e-Moalla Imambargah. Atleast 63 people were killed and morethan 80 sustained injuries when a sui-cide bomber struck imambargah lastFriday.

Federal minister Pervaiz Rashidtold the NA that the government waspreparing an action plan to improvehuman rights situation in the countryin consultation with the relevant stake-holders including provincial govern-ments.

The minister for law, justice and hu-man rights told the House in a writtenreply that the legal aid supportprogramme on prohibition of torturethrough the Bar Councils is also beingincluded in the plan. He said his min-istry is launching a project ‘Help Linefor Legal Advice on Human Rights vio-lations’ in the country.

The Minister for States and Fron-tier Regions Abdul Qadir Baloch toldthe House that funds amounting to overRs 1.9 billion required for land acqui-sition of Hasanabdal-Haripur-HavelianExpressway [E-35] have been releasedand over 1.6 billion rupees have so farbeen disbursed to the affectees of E-35.

He said the contracts have beenawarded and the works will commenceby 15th of this month on the project andwill be completed in two year-time.

Minister of State for Petroleum andNatural Resources Jam Kamal told theHouse that 62 oil and gas discoverieswere made during last five years in thecountry.

He said coal reservoirs areas werealso discovered in the country duringthis period. He said steps have beentaken to discover new hydrocarbon re-serves.

For this purpose, he said 45 new

exploration licenses have been grantedto various companies since June2013.

The government is also making allout efforts to pave way for explorationof unconventional reserves includingTight Gas, Shale Gas, marginal fieldsand Low BTU Gas.

Jam Kamal told the House that theprice of import of LNG has not beenfixed so far since the negotiations withthe Qatar Gas have not been concludedas yet.

He said the government is commit-ted to procure LNG for the country andreviewing different aspects. He pointedout that 95 percent work of LNG ter-minal has been completed and hopedthat Pakistan will start importing LNGby 31st of next month.

To a question, Jam Kamal told theHouse that full impact of decrease inpetroleum prices is being passed on tothe people.

Pak army exercisingFrom Page 1

tinued to persist. The marketvolume for the day recorded at257 million shares while FaujiCement was top volume leaderwith 20 million shares tradingto their credit, Pakistan Inter-national Bulk Terminal andMaple Leaf were the secondand third volume leaders with17 and 16 million shares tradedin these stocks.

KSE-100From Page 1

day.The suspect had confessed to killing 22

people including 4 doctors and eight constables.Police are also conducting raids in different ar-eas to nab accomplices of Ubaid-ur-Rehman. Inanother incident, an alleged terrorist was killedduring a raid jointly conducted by the Rangersand police on Friday.

A spokesman for the paramilitary forcesaid that the terrorist identified as AzizAfghani was killed during the raid in SohrabGoth area of the metropolis. He said thatAfghani was involved in various crimes in-cluding kidnapping for ransom. Rangers and

police in a combined search operation arrestedat least 10 suspects from various areas ofKarachi, involved in threatening the Admin-istration of Government Girls SecondarySchool.

Earlier, school administration received athreatening letter from Tehreek-e-Taliban Paki-stan (TTP) stating to blast the school and alsowarned that the administration would be respon-sible for the consequences in case of informingpolice or government. Rangers officials hadensured to provide security to the school how-ever investigation is underway from the nabbedsuspects.—INP

Man accusedFrom Page 1

ul Haq N Qureshi and JusticeShaukat Aziz Siddiqui took upthe case for hearing Friday. Jus-tice (Retd) Mian Nazir Akhtarappeared on behalf of peti-tioner and Advocate General(AG) Islamabad Mian AbdulRauf represented federation inthe court.

Justice (Retd) Mian NazirAkhtar told the court that pros-ecution did not present dutyroster in Suleman Taseer mur-der case from where it could beascertained that the police per-sonnel who were performingduty in governor squad werepresent at what places. Nodocumentary material andother evidence has been pre-sented by the police. The state-ments given by witnesses arealso contradictory. The counselfor petitioner told the court thatone witness says some conver-sation had taken place beenMumtaz Qadri and SulemanTaseer and the second witnesssays no conversation had takenplace. He argued not any per-son or business man or cus-tomer from Kohsar market hasbeen made witness by prosecu-tion in this case. Justice Noorul Haq N Qureshi inquiredfrom counsel of petitioner wereany steps take by his side forrecording statement of Waqas,friend of Suleman Taseer whowas present on the occasion.He told no steps were taken inthis regard. Justice ShaukatAziz Siddiqui remarked “ it isclear from the statement re-corded by Mumtaz Qadri topolice what can be his motives

in Suleman Taseer murder caseand on what basis he killedSuleman Taseer. Counsel forthe petitioner told the courtstrange situation has been de-picted in post mortem reportgiven by doctors in the caseSome where in the report it hasbeen said that bullet had hitTaseer from front side andsome where it is written thatbullet had hit the back side ofbody.

He said doctors know bet-ter about post mortem report.Mumtaz Qadri was not a madman due to which he killedSuleman Taseer. MumtazQadri had performed duty inVIP movement several times.Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiquiinquired “ where the article 9of the constitution stands un-der which he had taken oath.Counsel for petitioner said “any blasphemous act againstholy prophet (PBUH) can notbe tolerated. Youth like OmarCheema sacrificed his life inlove for Shan-e- Risalat. Hetold the court “ a largely at-tended meeting was held inLahore after the incident ofmurder of Suleman Taseer

took place and about 25 lead-ing Ulema supported MumtazQadri and asked for backingMumtaz Qadri. It was in-quired from Justice (Retd)Mian Nazir Akhtar “ can courtgive decision keeping in viewemotions and feelings or itshould keep in view legal for-malities. Justice (Retd) MianNazir Akhtar said courtshould give decision in con-formity with law and consti-tution but it should keep inview Islamic teachings. Jus-tice Noor ul Haq N Qureshisaid a judge is entitled to is-sue death warrants of any oneas per constitution but he cannot issue any order on his ownbecause he can be gripped bylaw.—Online

Blasphemy against HolyProphet (PBUH)

From Page 1

with the airline over the 300 Pakistanipilgrims who have been trapped inBaghdad”, she said. She claimed thatthe process of sending Afghan refugeesback to their country would be com-pleted by December 2015.

She called upon India to honor thecommitment made by its first primeminister for the resolution of Kashmirdispute in accordance with the aspira-tions of Kashmiri people and regrettedthat India, in its efforts to rewrite his-tory, has forgotten theacknowledgement and commitmentmade Jawaharlal Nehru in the contextof Kashmir dispute.

She said the sacrifices rendered byKashmiri youth for their just strugglehave made it clear that they do not ac-cept the forced union with India. Shesaid the reality is that India is obsessedwith illusions of grandeur. The elec-tions that are conducted by India undergun in the held valley are not substi-tute to the right of self-determination

of Kashmiri people. This has also beenmade clear by the United Nations aswell. The spokesperson said right ofKashmiri people to self-determinationis also enshrined in numerous UnitedNations Security Council resolutions.India, she lamented, continues to usurpthis right with impunity in violation ofthe UN Security Council resolutionsand UN charter.

She said unlike India, Pakistan’sstance on Jammu and Kashmir is basedon the UN resolutions, international lawand underpinned by political and moralprinciples. Tasnim Aslam said Pakistancommemorates Kashmir solidarity dayevery year to express its unwaveringpolitical, moral and diplomatic sup-port.

When asked about the visit of Chi-nese foreign minister to Pakistan, thespokesperson confirmed the visit. Shesaid the dates of the visit are beingworked out. During the visit, the twosides will discuss the entire gamut of

bilateral relations as well as the re-gional situation. She said the ChinesePresident will also visit Pakistan thisyear.

To a question about Afghan refu-gees, the spokesperson said Pakistan ishosting 1.6 million Afghan refugees.We have signed a trilateral agreementwith the Afghan government and theUNHCR for their return to their home-land by the end of this year. She ex-pressed the confidence that the Afghangovernment and the UN agency willprepare the ground for the return ofAfghan refugees. She said we have dis-cussed the issue of refugees with theAfghan government and there is no fric-tion between the two sides on the is-sue.

She rejected reports that Pakistanisecurity forces are harassing the Afghanrefugees saying they are our brothersand sisters and we want theirhonourable and voluntary repatriationto their homeland.

Pakistan supports UNSC reformsFrom Back Page

as Sumbal a fourth year student of Govern-ment College Charsadda. The attackers, reportssaid, fled from the scene after committing thecrime.

The law enforcers immediately rushed to thesite of the attack and shifted the injured girl tothe hospital where her condition was describedout of danger. While the fresh incident sent away of harassment among the students and theirparents, the local administration said the attack-ers actually wanted to settle personal score withthe driver Ali Khan who was the target of thefiring, yet the fire hit the girl student instead.“The injured student has been shifted to Dis-trict Headquarters Hospital Charsadda and theLaw enforcement personals are further investi-gating the incident”. The local Police high upssaid.

The Police is reported to have filed FIRagainst accused Zawar and Azhar sons of oneSareer, residents of Mani Khel Charsadda.The KP information minister Mushtaq Ghanialso claimed the incident appeared to be theresult of personal enmity of the van driverwho escaped unhurt. The security forces arealso reported to have kicked off search op-eration in the area to nab the culprits whoremained at large. It may be recalled that theparents of thousands of school and collegegoing children are indeed terrified and highlyconcerned about the safety of their childrenin the back drop of deadly terrorist’s attackon the Army Public School Peshawar onDecember 16 that had led to the massacre ofover 150m people including 135 innocentschool Children.

Miscreant’s firing at collegeFrom Back Page

Military courtsFrom Back Page

The minister also claimedthat the credit of holding localgovernment elections inBalochistan goes to the Paki-stan Muslim League-N’s gov-ernment. He said that devolv-ing power to the grass-rootlevel was the greatest desire ofhis party’s government.

Rashid said that the previ-ous two governments of theparty had also held local bod-ies polls in the country.

Criticising PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf chairmanImran Khan over his riggingallegations in the 2013 generalelection, he said that the truthhas been revealed after the re-cently concluded poll audit inthe NA-122 constituency.

“Imran Khan changesstatements more frequentlythan he changes his suit,” saidthe information minister.

Uruguayexpels IrandiplomatFrom Back Page

The convincing-lookingfake — complete with fuse,detonator and other elementsfound in a real bomb — wasdetected some 70 metres (230feet) from the building bybomb-sniffing dogs. After de-stroying the device, bomb bri-gade Lieutenant ColonelAlfredo Larramendi told report-ers that it “never posed any dan-ger” but might have been partof a dress rehearsal for the realthing.“It might have been putthere to see the response time”of responders, or to size up thequality of the security of Israel’sembassy,” Larramendi said.

Israel has long accusedIran of sponsoring attacksagainst it around the world,using Lebanon’s ShiiteHezbollah and Palestinian Is-lamist group Hamas as prox-ies.

“Iran and Hezbollah havea well-established terrorist in-frastructure in SouthAmerica, based on ShiiteLebanese migrants,” Haaretzwrote. AFP In 2013, Argen-tine prosecutor AlbertoNisman accused Iran of open-ing secret intelligence sta-tions in several South Ameri-can countries to plan and con-duct terror attacks.

Nisman was found dead inhis apartment with a gunshotwound to the head last monthon the eve of a congressionalhearing at which he was ex-pected to accuse PresidentCristina Kirchner of coveringup Iranian involvement in a1994 bombing at a BuenosAires Jewish centre.—AFP

Six PTCLofficials

From Page 1

and two others.The security official said

that the men were on routinework when they were abducted.A search operation has beenlaunched for the recovery of theemployees. There has been noimmediate claim of responsibil-ity for the kidnappings.

Armed militants had alsokidnapped 10 people from thesame area earlier in January thisyear. Thus far, militants havefreed seven people, while threeare still being held hostage.

Rope used to hang Saddam HusseinFrom Page 1

organization.Dr Mowaffak al-Rubaie,

who led the former presidentto his death in 2006, keeps itwrapped around the neck of astatue of Saddam in his livingroom in northern Baghdad,according to Arabic news siteAl Araby.

Dr al-Rubaie - who hasnot yet confirmed or deniedthe impending sale — is saidto want more than thereported $7 million for thelength of rope and is expectedto engage in negotiations with

the potential buyers, reportsIndependent.

He claims that heordered his men to bring himback some of the rope afterthe toppled dictator washung by the state. Dr al-Rubaie had told TheIndependent that he “thoughtit appropriate” to drape itaround the bronze bust thatAmericans removed fromSaddam’s palace.

The money collectedfrom the rope sale “coveredin hatred and ignorance”

should go towards thetreasury to be used for thepublic’s benefit as the lawprohibits the sale for privategain, human rights activistAhmed Saeed had said.

The Shia Muslim, whopracticed as a neurologist andsurgeon in Britain for 24years while in exile before heled Saddam to the gallows,was persecuted and evensentenced to death in absentiafor his beliefs - although hesaid that he believes theleader “was not a religious

man”.The now-member of the

Iraqi parliament had said ofthe day Saddam wasexecuted: “I was hoping tosee him show some remorsefor the terrible crimes, thehundreds of thousands of hisown citizens that he and hishenchmen killed.

“But there was nothing. Icould see he was not areligious man. We had toremind him to say ‘AllahuAkbar’ [‘God is greatest’] ashe was about to die.”—AP

LHC seeksnotification of

speaker’sappointment asacting governor

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt on Friday adjourninghearing of a petition againstappointment of Punjab As-sembly Speaker Rana Iqbal asan acting governor sought no-tification for his appointment.

Justice Syed Mansoor AliShah passed the orders on apetition filed by AdvocateMunir Ahmad.

Earlier, the petitioner’scounsel arguing before thecourt submitted that appoint-ment of Punjab Assemblyspeaker Rana MuhammadIqbal as acting governor was inviolation of the Constitution.

Shujaatdenies aboutmeeting inSaudi ArabiaISLAMABAD—Pakistan Muslim league(Quaid-e-Azam) memberChaudhry Shujaat saidthat during his visit toSaudi Arabia he met nopolitical leader. Talking tomedia outside theParliament House onFriday he said numeroussteps are being taken tounite all the factions ofMuslim league. PML (Q)member said when amilitary dictator isgoverning; he is namedas “Amer-ur-momineen”.But once he steps down,he is labeled as fascistand cruel. While com-menting on Chinesepresident tour to Paki-stan, he said it will help indeveloping good relation-ship between bothnations.—Online

No moreordersfromEuropeATHENS—Greek Prime MinisterAlexis Tsipras tore into hisEuropean Union allies onThursday, pledging to“put an end once and forall” to the EU’s austeritypolicies. In a defiant firstspeech to his left-wingparliamentary group afterreturning empty-handedfrom a European tour,Tsipras said Athens wasno longer open to beingtold what to do. “Greecewon’t take orders anymore, especially ordersthrough emails,” he said.“Greece is no longer themiserable partner wholistens to lectures to doits homework. Greece hasits own voice”. —AP

Jihadipreacherlashes outagainst ISAMMAN—A prominentjihadi preacher lashed outFriday against IslamicState militants for burningto death a Jordanian pilot,saying the action was,“not acceptable in anyreligion.” Abu Mohammedal-Maqdesi, considered aspiritual mentor for manyal-Qaida militants, spoke aday after being releasedfrom more than threemonths in detention inJordan. His release andharsh criticism of theIslamic State group comeat a time when theJordanian government istrying to win broadpopular backing forintensified airstrikesagainst the militants inresponse to the killing ofthe pilot.—AP

Indian rescued child labourers stand in a queue to board a train to be reunited with their parents in Bihar, one ofIndia’s poorest states, at a railway station in Hyderabad. Police rescued hundreds of children working in hazardousindustries in a southern Indian city despite laws that ban child labour.

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—Foreign Office spokeswomanTasneem Aslam on Friday said thatPakistan’s reservations over the permanentmembership of India in United Nations Se-curity Council were based on principles.

Addressing a weekly media briefing,Tasneem Aslam said UNSC should be re-formed instead of inducting new permanentmembers, adding the inclusion of new mem-bers in UNSC would create new power cen-tres.

She said India was organizing electionson the gun point in Kashmir, adding thatsuch elections can’t replace the right of selfdetermination. Tasneem said more than

100K young Kashmiris have rendered sac-rifices in last few decades and it has beenproved that the people of Kashmir don’tsupport enforced affiliation with India.

“The Chinese Foreign Minister WangYi would visit Pakistan this month, whilePremiere Xi Jiping would also arrive Paki-stan on an official visit this year”, Tasneemtold the newsmen.

She said the date and agenda of Chi-nese FM’s visit was under discussion, how-ever Tasneem added bilateral relationship,matters of mutual interest and the situationof the region would be discussed on hisarrival. “Embassy personnel are in contact

Pakistan supportsUNSC reforms, opposes

new power centresIndia must honour Nehru’s commitment on Kashmir

ISLAMABAD—The Senate Foreign AffairsCommittee Friday was briefed by ChairmanNHA on the issue of alignment of the pro-posed China Pakistan Economic corridor.Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the Chair-man NHA has candidly stated that the align-ment of the China Pakistan Economic Corri-dor (CPEC) from Khunjerab to Gawadur viaMianwali, D. I Khan , DG Khan, Khuzdarand Turbat is only long term. In the shortterm, according to NHA, the new alignmentfrom Khunjerab to Gawaduar was being un-dertaken so as to utilize the existing commu-nication network and to operationalize theGawadur port, he said. He said that once thenew alignment becomes operational it will,overtime, create its own vested interests andit will be impossible to revert to the initiallyplanned alignment via D.I Khan and D.GKhan. Thus for all practical purposes thenew alignment will become final and irrevo-cable.

Farhatullah Babar said that the decisionabout the Economic corridor’s alignmentfundamentally is a political decision and has

Questions raised aboutEconomic Corridor alignment

to be addressed at a political level; it cannotbe addressed by bureaucrats. The basic is-sue in deciding the alignment is whether anyweightage is given to national harmony andintegrity by connecting the less developedareas of all provinces including KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Baluchistan and tribal areasto the economic corridor, he said. This wasa political and not technical issue, he said.Farhatullah Babar asked three specific ques-tions so that the Parliament could take it upat a higher political level.

1. What additional uplift projects will re-quire to be completed and at what additionaltotal cost if the initially planned route namelyMianwali, D.I. Khan, D.G Khan , Khuzdarand Turbat is followed? A list of the roadsinfrastructure projects already availablealong the initially planned route should bemade available. 2.

How much of the additionally requiredinfrastructure has already been included inthe PSDP so as to get a clear picture of theactual cost of the new works to be under-taken? 3.—INP

Continued on Page 7

Miscreant’s firing at college vaninjures girl student in Charsadda

Incident adds to the worries of students, parents

CHARSADDA: Injured girl being student treated atlocal hospital.

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—Adding to theapprehensions of the ha-rassment and panic riddenstudents and parents, un-known miscreant’s firing ona college van in CharsaddaFriday morning resulted ininjuries to a girl student.

The provincial govern-ment spokesman said theincident might be the resultof personal enmity of thevan driver.

Reports reaching heresaid some unknown miscre-ants opened indiscriminatefiring on a college van inMani Khel area of theCharsadda district leaving agirl student seriously in-jured. She was recognized as

Continued on Page 7

Military courts tostart functioning

soon: PRSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minis-ter for Infor-mation andBroadcast-ing, SenatorP e r v a i zRashid onFriday saidthat the pro-cess of es-t a b l i s h i n g

military courts, in connectionwith the newly approved Na-tional Action Plan to eradicateterrorism, is almost completedand they would start func-tioning soon. Speaking tomedia representatives, he saidthat the scrutiny of the terror-ism cases to be referred to themilitary courts was ongoing,adding that even the numberof these special courts hasbeen decided.

Continued on Page 7

Uruguay expelsIran diplomat

over bomb scareJERUSALEM—Uruguay hasexpelled a senior Iranian dip-lomat over last month’splanting of a dummy bombnear Israel’s embassy inMontevideo, Israeli dailyHaaretz reported on Friday.

Citing an unidentified“senior official in Jerusa-lem”, it said the diplomat wasexpelled two weeks ago andalthough Uruguayan offi-cials briefed Israel on themove they made no publicannouncement.

“Investigations carriedout by Uruguay’s intelli-gence services after the dis-covery of the device yieldedinformation pointing to apossible involvement ofsomeone at the Iranian em-bassy,” Haaretz’s diplomaticcorrespondent wrote.

“The Uruguayan gov-ernment turned to Iran’sgovernment for informationand after consultations be-tween the two, it was de-cided to expel one of thesenior diplomats at Iran’sembassy.”

Israel’s foreign ministrydeclined to confirm or denythe report. “I am aware of itbut I have nothing to add,”a spokesman told AFP.

On January 8,Montevideo bomb squad of-ficers detonated what turnedout to be a fake bomb nearthe Israeli embassy, locatedin the World Trade Centreoffice complex in the city.

Continued on Page 7

ENDOMETRIAL cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductiveorgans in the US, affecting around 1 in

37 women in their lifetime. But in a new study,researchers found that drinking three to fourcups of coffee a day could reduce the risk ofendometrial cancer by al-most a fifth.

Women who drink threeor four cups of coffee a daymay reduce their risk of en-dometrial cancer “by almosta fifth.” Endometrial canceris a cancer that begins in thelining of the uterus, calledthe endometrium. The dis-ease is rare in women underthe age of 45, with around 3in 4 cases in the US diag-nosed in women aged 55 andover.

According to the Ameri-can Cancer Society (ACS),around 54,870 women willbe diagnosed with endome-trial cancer or uterine sarco-mas this year, and 10,170will die from the conditions.

Though it is unclear exactly what causesendometrial cancer, past studies claim hor-monal imbalances, diabetes, obesity and anunhealthy diet are some important risk factors.

In this latest study - published in the jour-nal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Pre-vention - Melissa A. Merritt, PhD, of ImperialCollege London in the UK, and colleagues setout to investigate how dietary factors affect therisk of endometrial cancer.

The team analyzed 1,303 women with en-dometrial cancer who were a part of the Euro-pean Prospective Investigation Into Cancer andNutrition (EPIC) Study. The women completeddietary questionnaires, and the researchers as-

sessed the link between 84 foods and nutri-ents consumed and the risk of endometrialcancer.

Endometrial cancer is slightly morecommon in white women, but black womenare more likely to die from the condition.

Women who are overweight orobese are 3.5 times more likelyto develop endometrial cancerthan those of a normal weight

More than 600,000 womenin the US are survivors of en-dometrial cancer. Learn moreabout endometrial cancer Fromthis, the team identified ninefoods and nutrients that couldbe associated with risk of en-dometrial cancer: total fat,monounsaturated fat, phospho-rus, carbohydrates, yogurt, but-ter, potatoes, cheese and coffee.

Next, the researchers ana-lyzed 1,531 women with en-dometrial cancer who were apart of the Nurses’ HealthStudy (NHS) or Nurses’ HealthStudy II (NHSII). Thesewomen also completed dietary

questionnaires.To validate their findings from the EPIC

cohort, the team assessed the associationbetween consumption of the nine foods andnutrients and risk of endometrial cancer inthe NHS/NHSII cohorts.

The researchers found that drinking threecups of coffee a day reduced endometrialcancer risk by 19% among women in theEPIC study, compared with women whodrank less than one cup of coffee a day.Among women in the NHS/NHSII cohorts,drinking four cups of coffee a day reducedthe risk of endometrial cancer by 18%, com-pared with those who never drank coffee.

Study links coffee intake withreduced risk of endometrial cancer

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—It was a dayfilled with jubilations, honorand excitement as the stu-dents of the Roots Ivy Inter-national/ DHA1CampusIslamabad, celebrated the out-standing success in the Cam-bridge International Exami-nations. CEO Roots Ivy In-ternational, Khadija Mushtaqcongratulated all the highachievers in a special honor-ary ceremony to commendthe hard work and efforts ofthese outstanding studentsand the teachers. More than25 students from Roots IvyInternational from all overPakistan including the newlybuilt Faisalabad campus wereable to secure distinctions invarious subjects in CIE.

Muhammad Armughan

and Ammara Aqeel got bestacross five Cambridge Interna-tional AS Levels in Pakistan,while Waleed Khan got bestacross four Cambridge Interna-tional A-Levels in Pakistan top-ping in Pakistan in Chemistry,Biology, Physics and Maths.Minahil Sara Wasim topped inBiology in Pakistan in theCambridge IGCSE level.Shaiza Haider topped in Busi-ness Studies in Pakistan in theCambridge IGCSE level, whileAiman Khurram topped inBusiness Studies in CambridgeInternational A Level. GhadiaBatool topped in Urdu Lan-guage in AS Levels in Pakistan.Eeman Abbasi topped in Envi-ronmental Management in ASLevels in Pakistan.

Muhammad Salar topped inGeneral Paper in AS Levels inPakistan. In Roots Ivy Interna-

tional Faisalabad campusAmmara Aqeel got in bestacross five Cambridge Interna-tional AS Levels, Talha BinEjaz got Top in Economics inLahore Region, Khadija HaiderRoy got Top in Islamiyat inLahore Region, Amna Naeemgot Top in Pakistan Studies inLahore Region, SyedaShahzeen Fatima Shah got Topin Urdu Language in LahoreRegion. Uzma Yusuf, countrydirector CIE Pakistan, also con-gratulated the students acrossPakistan on their outstanding re-sults in Cambridge examina-tions.

CEO Roots Ivy Interna-tional, Khadija Mushtaqalong with the staff members,parents and students cel-ebrated the CIE achievementaward ceremony to appreci-ate and motivate the students.

Roots Ivy sweeps top positions in Cambridge Int’l examinations

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—The Islamabad HighCourt (IHC) on Friday made it clear thateven a judge who awards death sentenceto a criminal cannot even touch him.He who takes law in his hands is caughtby law itself. Justice Noorul Haq NQureshi of the division bench that ishearing Mumtaz Qadri’s appeal againstdeath sentence awarded by an Anti-Ter-rorism Court (ATC) in October 2011 re-marked thus when a defence counsel ofthe murder convict in Salman Taseer’smurder Mian Nazir Akhtar argued onecould kill someone in ‘extraordinary’circumstances.

Justice Qureshi said even a judge

after he was convinced of an accused’sguilt could not touch him. No one isabove law and every citizen has toabide by the law of the land. MianNazir Akhtar who himself is a formerjudge of the Lahore High Court gavearguments for his client and calledMumtaz Qadri “a true, honest and du-tiful man.”

Qadri has been deputed with VIPsand has always performed his dutieswith diligence, said Mian NazirAkhtar. Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiquithe other member of the division benchremarked he might be right but whathe would say about the oath that a po-liceman takes at the time of joining po-lice force. Mian Nazir argued coun-

sel argued that over the past 14 years,as many as 115 people were awardedsentences across the world for commit-ting blasphemy against religions otherthan Islam.

He said that even during the timeof Holy Prophet (PBUH) a person whocommitted blasphemy was immediatelypunished. Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiquiquestioned whether the former Punjabgovernor had indirectly slammed blas-phemy laws or not. Justice Siddiqui in-quired what as a former judge he ex-pected from the court whether to makea decision on the basis of sheer emo-tions and feelings or conjectures or ac-cording to the law and code. MianNazir’s arguments continued when the

court adjourned the case until Feb 10,2015.

Earlier on Feb 4 (Wednesday)former Chief Justice of the LHCKhwaja Sharif chief legal counsel ofMumtaz Qadri during the course of ar-guments had gone a step forward andhailed the assailants who on January17, 2015 had killed more than a dozenpeople in attack on a French magazineCharlie Hebdo. “They are the heroesnot criminals,” Qadri’s chief counselhad said. The court, however, hadsnubbed him to focus on the case. Hehad also alleged Salman Taseer atepork and drank. The court respondedthere were laws regarding eating porkor drinking publicly.

Mumtaz Qadri’s appeal

Even a judge cannot kill a criminallet alone a constable: IHC

Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting & National Heritage Parvez Rashid and Dean of Diplomatic Corps RodolfoMartin Saravia taking interest in paintings displayed at an exhibition of recent works by Zulfiqar Ali Zulfi at TanzaraGallery.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

Ambassador of Iran Alireza Hagigian, Federal Secretary Information & Cultural HeritageMuhammad Azam and Director General PNCA Naeem Khan cutting the ribbon to inaugu-rate Iranian Culture Exhibition in connection with 36th Anniversary of the Islamic Revo-lution in Iran, at PNCA.—PO photo

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—Atadjan Movlamov, Ambassador ofTurkmenistan to Pakistan called on Rector Interna-tional Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI) Prof. Dr.Masoom Yasinzai and President IIUI Dr. AhmedYousif Al-Draiweesh here.

In the meeting a number of matters pertainingto the educational cooperation and mutual interestwere discussed particularly the tie-up between In-ternational Islamic University Islamabad and Inter-national University for Development ofTurkmenistan. The Ambassador highlighted that anInternational conference is being organized by theEmbassy of Turkmenistan and Society of Civiliza-tions Pakistan to mark the 20th anniversary of

Turkmenistan’s Ambassador, IIUIrector discuss cooperation in education

Teachers tovisit US for

higher trainingSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The TeachingExcellence and Achievement(TEA) Program sends outstand-ing secondary school teachersfrom around the globe to theUnited States to further developexpertise in their subject areas,enhance their teaching skills, andincrease their knowledge aboutthe United States.

The United States Educa-tional Foundation in Pakistan(USEFP) hosted the pre-departureorientation for 40 teachers partici-pating in the Teaching Excellenceand Achievement (TEA) PakistanProgram in Islamabad on Febru-ary 5, 2015. Sponsored by theU.S. Department of State, theTEA Program for Pakistani teach-ers has been implemented since2012, providing an opportunityfor outstanding Government sec-ondary school teachers of Englishto participate in a six-week pro-fessional development trainingprogram in the United States.

The program is designedto enhance teachers’ expertisein their teaching discipline andequip them with a deeper un-derstanding of best practicesin teaching methodologies,lesson planning, and the use oftechnology in teaching, creat-ing among educators a morenuanced understanding of theUnited States and to developproductive and lasting rela-tionships and mutual under-standing between Americanand Pakistani teachers andtheir students.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed,Chairman, Higher Education Commission,has said that HEC has been endeavouringto promote and intensify research in SocialSciences. “We have setup a dedicated so-cial sciences section at HEC to identify re-alities of diverse social and human issueswhich Pakistan is facing. Thematic Re-search Grants Programme, whose thirdphase has been launched, specifically de-signed to address contemporary issues ofthe country.”

Further, the Chairman said that the schol-ars and researchers of Social Sciences and Hu-manities, who have theoretical, conceptual,methodological and policy orientation back-ground, have been invited for grants. “Theirresearch projects may belong to any SocialSciences and Humanities discipline or maybe interdisciplinary as well asmultidisciplinary in nature.

Groups or individual researchers/schol-ars from public as well as private sector uni-versities and degree awarding institutions can

submit their proposals,” he said. Researchthemes, on which proposals will be submit-ted, include Security Challenges in Pakistan;Pakistani Society: Tradition and Change; Bal-ancing Global and Local Needs: Geo-politi-cal Economy; Education Policy, Leadershipand Management for the 21st Century; andGovernance and Development. The Chairmanfurther said that the Committee for Develop-ment of Social Sciences and Humanities inPakistan (CDSSHP), established by HEC, hasbeen tasked to deliberate upon and identifythe problems, and recommend immediate,short-term as well as long-term measures tomake Social Sciences education vibrant, dy-namic and attuned to the present and futureneeds of Pakistan.

“The primary objective of this Commit-tee is to develop existing level of faculty andto create an environment conducive to researchand development activities in Social Sciencesand Humanities. Besides, the Committee alsofocuses on institutional and infrastructure de-velopment, and reviewing quality assurancestandards. There are 14 Subcommittees indifferent disciplines falling under Social Sci-

ences, Arts, Humanities and Business Educa-tion, and each is chaired by individual mem-ber of CDSSHP, ” he said.

The Chairman revealed that Pakistan hadgained membership of the Asian Social Sci-ences Association (ASSA) and Pakistan willhost the Association’s first meeting in Octo-ber this year. Moreover, he said that HEC, incollaboration with the University of Peshawar,is holding the 3rd Social Sciences Conferencein May 2015. He also highlighted HEC’s planto establish Social Sciences Research Coun-cil, Pakistan.

“The aim of all these initiatives is to iden-tify indigenous needs and priorities to addressissues of national importance, enhance inter-disciplinary and multidisciplinary research andlink Social Sciences for providing solutionsto issues that face us. The ultimate aim wouldbe to advice the Government on National So-cial Policy for more concerted work in thefield.” Dr. Mukhtar said that HEC is also pro-moting societal research through publicationsof research journals falling under the disci-plines of Social Sciences, Arts, Humanitiesand Business Education.

Thematic research grants programme

Promotion of social sciences researchamong top priorities: Chairman HEC

NA Speaker to launch DegreeProgramme in Parliamentary studies

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—All is set for the launch of the first-of-its kind“Parliamentary Studies Programme” in leading national and pri-vate universities of the country, which will be unveiled by SardarAyaz Sadiq, Speaker National Assembly of Pakistan here at thePakistan Institute of Parliamentary Services on February 9, 2015.

The brainchild of the Speaker, the programme is aimed atinculcating the importance of democracy, its role in national de-velopment and the scope and working of the parliamentary insti-tutions among the youth through classroom instruction. Theprogramme, thus, is aimed to effectively address the continuedneglect in promoting a democratic culture in Pakistan.

What is more, the course is also designed to ensure theprovision of qualified human resources, appropriatelyequipped with relevant knowledge and expertise to serve theparliamentary institutions and the legislators effectively. Therehas long remained a dearth of such human resources, whichis cited as a key handicap in the smooth functioning of theparliamentary institutions. The seven decades of Pakistan’sexistence have witnessed the nation’s bumpy ride on the demo-cratic course, which was often marred by prolonged dictator-ships, thus impeding the harmonious growth of a pluralistic,all-inclusive and mutually respecting democratic culture.

“Turkmen Policy of Permanent Neutrality” on 15thMarch, 2015.

He further appraised that the Policy was an-nounced by President of Turkmenistan in 1995 onthe occasion of Economic Cooperation Organiza-tion Summit in Islamabad and it was endorsed bythe Pakistan. ”Pakistan was the co-sponsor of theresolution at the United Nations when this policywas endorsed by the world body unanimously “.Am-bassador maintained. H.E ambassador urged IIUIsupport in organizing this conference in which In-ternational University of Humanity and Develop-ment is also participating. He was the view that, theconference would also give a vital opportunity toboth the International Universities to come closerand have cooperation with each other in future.

06:25 01:3004:00

07:15

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

Federal Minister of Defence and Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, Secretary Information Broadcasting andNational Heritage Mr. Muhammad Azam and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Mr. Rodolfo Martin Saravia at the 6thAnniversary of Diplomatic Magazine.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

Famous singer Hadiqa Kiani performing during a musical evening at Pak China Friendship Centre. Residents of Bhabra Bazaar burning tyres on the road during a demonstration against gas load-shedding in their area.

Police gettechnology to trace

mobile phonecalls’ location

ISLAMABAD—In a bid totackle the anti-social ele-ments in a more efficient way,Police of twin cities ofIslamabad and Rawalpindihave been equipped with thelatest technology to trace lo-cation of mobile phone calls.

All required gadgets havebeen handed over to the Po-lice after imparting them nec-essary training of tracking ex-act location of criminals’phone calls, a PTV report saidon Friday. Earlier, the Policehad the facility to just recordthe calls but now they wouldbe able to know whereaboutsof the outlaws, it said.

The call tracking tech-nology would also be pro-vided to other cities’ policein phases and it would helpbring down the increasingcrime rate and maintainingpeace in the country, the re-port added.—APP

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The metro bus project forRawalpindi and Islamabad is likely to becompleted by February 28 as 49 out of 83escalators have been installed at variousstations.

Chief Engineer (CE) Rawalpindi Devel-opment Authority (RDA) Saeed Akhtar talk-ing to media here Friday said that the gov-ernment was determined to launch the busservice in shortest possible time to providemodern travel facilities to the residents ofthe twin cities. The 23.2-kilometre long busservice will be signal free and is in finalstages of completion, he added.

“A bus depot on 17 acres of land nearPeshawar Morr is under construction”, hesaid.

Saeed said RDA has paid Rs 130 millionto the Capital Development Authority

(CDA) for the renovation/re-plantation ofgreenbelts destroyed during constructionwork of the Metro Bus Project,”.

He said that Rawalpindi DevelopmentAuthority (RDA) has directed the contrac-tors of Metro Bus Project to increase thelabour force in the day to complete work asthe contractors stop work during night dueto cold. Saeed said that the project was ear-lier expected to be completed by the end of2014 but due to sit ins in the capital it wasdelayed and would now be completed byFebruary. He said as many as 64 buses willply on the metro bus route.

The Bus Service would start fromFlashman Chowk on Benazir Bhutto Roadand end at Pakistan Secretariat. The buseswould cover a distance of 23.2 kilometresthrough Benazir Bhutto Road, Faizabad, IJPrincipal Road, 9th Avenue and Jinnah Av-enue of Islamabad, Saeed concluded.

Installation of 49escalators for MBP completed

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Over 1,113,828 children, be-tween 6 months to 10 years of age, wereadministered anti-measles injection undera two-week long drive launched in the en-tire district on Jan 26.

The anti-measles campaign, which be-gan in all tehsils and towns of Rawalpindidistrict entered into its twelfth day on Fri-day. Executive District Officer (EDO-Health)Dr Khalid Randhawa said that the campaignwas in full swing.

Under the ongoing drive, he said1,113,828 children have so far been admin-istered the measles vaccine in Tehsil Gujarkhan, Kahuta, Kalar Syeda, Kotli Syetian,Murree, Taxila, rural areas of the city ,can-tonment and in Rawalpindi city while

1,386,934 the set target of the campaignwould be achieved till Feb 9.

Randhawa informed that 540 mobilehealth teams and 192 health centres wereoperating in the district to complete the taskof immunization. District Programme Coor-dinator Dr Javaid Iqbal urged the citizens,particularly the parents, to come forwardand play their role for elimination of the crip-pling disease from the society.

“The parents should cooperate with thespecial teams so that the set target couldbe achieved,” he added. He said a healthychild was essential for a healthy society andthis message should be conveyed to everynook and corner of the district.

Executive District Officer EDO moni-tored the campaign and visited various ar-eas to inspect the working of measles teams.

Over one million childrenvaccinated in anti-measles drive

February 7Signing ceremony

PAKISTAN Red CrescentSociety, Hilal-e-Ahmer andIthad Tanzimat-e-MadarisPakistan will sign a Charterof Humanity to jointly startadvocacy for polio, blooddonation, voluntarism andother preventivehealthcare.. The ceremonywill be followed by a pressbriefing on Saturday 7th Feb-ruary, 2015 at 11:30 am atPRCS HQ Sector H-8.

February 9Education workshop

ISLAMABAD RegionalCampus, Allama Iqbal OpenUniversity (AIOU) will holdits MA Education(DNFCE))workshop for the coursecode 6550 and 6551 fromFebruary 9. For further infor-mation, the students canalso contact the InchargePostgraduate Section onphone Nos.9057144 and9250024.

February 23Literary conference

TO observe 33rd Death An-niversary of great revolution-ary Poet Hazrat JoshMalihabadi,Josh Adabi Foun-dation will organize incollibration with Sukhanwarand Rawalpindi Arts Council,Josh National Literary Confer-ence on 23rd February ,Mon-day at 3.00 pm at RawalpindiArts Council, Cultural Com-plex, Shamsabad ,MurreeRoad ,Rawalpindi. FederalMinister for Informationand Broadcasting, SenatorPervaiz Rashid will presidethe occasion .

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—IESCO has reduced theduration of loadshedding for industryfrom 5 hours to just 2 hours in a day i.e.from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm in order to facili-tate the growth of production activities.

These views were expressed byMalik Yousaf Awan, Chief Executive Of-ficer, Islamabad Electric Supply CompanyA delegation of Islamabad Chamber ofCommerce and Industry led by its Presi-dent Muzzamil Hussain Sabri called onMalik Yousaf Awan, Chief Executive Of-

ficer, Islamabad Electric Supply Companyand apprised him of the electricity relatedissues of the business community.

Addressing the delegation, MalikYousaf Awan said that IESCO has re-duced the duration of loadshedding forindustry from 5 hours to just 2 hours ina day i.e. from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm in or-der to facilitate the growth of produc-tion activities. He said IESCO was con-sidering to introduce an SMS servicefor the consumers to enable them tolodge complaints through messagingservice.

He said IESCO was also planning tointroduce AMI meters that would auto-matically record the meter reading andwould end the role of meter readers. Thiswould enable IESCO to rationalize itsstaff strength and perform more effi-ciently. He said due to better perfor-mance, IESCO was incurring lowest linelosses in the country and was not pass-ing on the burden of line losses to theconsumers. He assured that IESCOwould take all possible steps to facili-tate the growth of business and indus-trial activities so that businessmen could

contribute more effectively in improv-ing the local economy.

Speaking at the occasion, MuzzamilHussain Sabri, President, IslamabadChamber of Commerce and Industry ap-preciated the move of IESCO for reduc-ing loadshedding duration for industryas it would help industries to operate upto full capacity and improve productiv-ity. He said IESCO should changeloadshedding timing from existing 500-7:00 pm to 6:00-8:00 pm so that industrycould enhance its manufacturing activi-ties. He also lauded the IESCO decision

to provide further relief to consumers infuel price adjustment as it will reducegreat burden on the common man byreducing electricity bills.He said the role of IESCO was very im-portant in smooth promotion of tradeand industry and hoped that it will playpositive role in reducing the electricityrelated problems of businessmen.Muhammad Shakeel Munir Senior VicePresident ICCI, Tariq Sadiq, MianShaukat Masud, Khalid Iqbal Malik,Khalid Chaudhry and Ejaz Ibrahim werealso included in the delegation.

IESCO reduces load sheddingto 2 hours for industry

ISLAMABAD—Non initiation of devel-opment work in sector G-14 by Fed-eral Government Employees HousingFoundation (FGEHF) since 10 yearshas caused embarrassment among theallottees.

Allottees said that they were re-tired federal government employeesand they had purchased the plotswith their hard earned money hop-ing that they would be able to getdeveloped plots before retirementand would complete the constructionof houses over their plots so thatthey could live therein after their re-tirement to avoid rented homes. Butthey are forced to live in rented

houses due to non starting of devel-opment work by FGEHF in the sector.

“Our pension is highly meagerthat we run our daily expenses of fami-lies hardly in terms of kitchen itemsand other expenses and on the otherhand we are forced to pay house rentranging between Rs 20000 to 25000per month due to lack of interest andslackness on the part of FGEHF incarrying out development work in thesector”, said scores of retired employ-ees.

We are now under burden of debtdue to payment of house rent we haveto make every month. How unluckywe are that despite having our own

plots we are forced to live in rentedhouses, they added. They said occu-pation of Sector G-14-1-11-111 has notbeen secured due to which develop-ment work could not be started. LandAcquisition Collector Islamabad hadannounced award for payment of com-pensation of 406 houses of sector G-14/3 two months before but no pay-ment has been made to the affectees.

Even structures have not been de-molished. The allottees have ap-pealed to government to ensure im-mediate payment of compensation toaffectees and take over possessionof land from them besides launchingdevelopment work therein—Online

Non initiation of developmentwork in sector G-14 since 10 years

ISLAMABAD—Justice Jawwad SKhawaja has remarked “ if police direc-tion is set right then every thing will beset right. He further remarked “ there aresuch absconders in the country whoare seen daily on TV.

Police is protector of all. Policeshould provide protection topeople. Redressing the grievancesof people is job of police as per lawand constitution. If police house is

put in order then every thing will beput in order.

He gave these remarks while pre-siding over 2-member bench of Su-preme Court (SC) during the courseof hearing of petition filed by MSShamim alleged wife of Azam Hotihere Friday. SHO Police station sec-retariat appeared in the court.The court inquired what has been donein respect of the person who has given

threats to Shamim Bibi.SHO told the court that case

has been registered against theperson who has hurled threats. Theaccused is absconding and effortsare underway to locate him. Thecourt ordered the police to inves-tigate the matter and present in-quiry report thereof before it. . Thehearing of the case was adjournedindefinitely.—Online

If police direction is set right thenevery thing will be set right: SC

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Capital DevelopmentAuthori ty (CDA) has decided tocarry out development work in sec-tor I-12 and it has awarded contractfor construction of 7 major roads inthe sector.

The contract has been awarded toZafar and Co in open tender for mak-ing the offer less by 27 percent thanthe estimated cost of construction.These roads are 9 kilometers long andwill be constructed at cost of Rs 248million within 9 months. These roadswill provide access to sector I-12

Markaz and CDA will be able to sellout plots located in Markaz.

The allottees have welcomed thedecision for construction of majorroads of the sector and have de-manded that service roads be also con-structed and the entire infrastructurebe developed fully.

Development work in sector I-12 launched

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court (SC) has ac-cepted review petition for hearing in respect ofrecovery of missing persons case which wasearlier dismissed by apex court besides order-ing for fixing it with other missing persons case.A 2-member bench of SC presided over by Jus-tice Jawwad S Khawaja took up the case forhearing Friday.

The court directed the petitioner “ youshould make part such proposal of your peti-tion wherein it should be said legislation beenacted for initiation of action against the per-

Review petition in recoveryof missing persons case

sons allegedly involved in missing personscases. Asma Jahangir replied that “ legislationis domain of parliament.

Statement of several missing persons ison record that they have been picked up forc-ibly. I will give my arguments to the extent ofmy case. The petitioner said she had filed thepetition in 2007 that 240 missing persons werenot being recovered. But SC had rejected thepetition and Human Rights Commission ofPakistan had filed petition seeking review. Thecourt admitted review petition for hearing andordered for fixing it with other missing personscases on February, 10.

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court (SC) has ad-journed hearing of case in respect of illegalappointments in Capital Development Au-thority (CDA) made during the previoustenure indefinitely due to non presence ofthe counsel.

A 2-member bench of SC presided overby the Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Nasir ulMulk took up suo motu notice case for hear-ing Friday. The counsel for the petitioner hadprayed the court to adjourn the hearing. Thecourt put off the haring indefinitely.—Online

Illegal recruitments case:Hearing adjourned indefinitely

China has manysuccessful entre-

preneurs andbusiness people. I

hope that morepeople of insightwill put their tal-ents to work to

improve the livesof poor people inChina and around

the world, andseek solutions for

them.

—Bill Gates

DRAP newchief assumes

chargeSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Dr. MohammedAslam has assumed thecharge of Chief Executive Of-ficer of the Drug RegulatoryAuthority of Pakistan(DRAP).

He is the first CEO ap-pointed in line with the DRAPAct 2012 after fulfilling all re-quirements and formalities.Prior to this appointment Mr.Arshad Khan Director LegalAffairs of DRAP was lookingafter the day-to-day work ofCEOI DRAP. The position wasalso held in the past by a Se-nior Joint Secretary and an Ex-Director General Health ontemporary and additionalcharge basis.

Appointment of a regu-lar full time incumbent tohead this key organizationwas a long standing legalrequirement and demand ofstakeholders including theindustry being critical tothe optimal functioning ofan organization regulatingone of the country’s larg-est industry.

The appointment wasmade through open adver-tisement. The applicationsreceived were forwardedto the Commission for ap-pointment of heads ofFederal Government bod-ies. The short listing wascarried out in a highlytransparent manner by M/s Ferguson.

Dr. Muhammed Aslamwas placed at the top po-sition in the short-listingby M/s Ferguson and wassubsequently endorsed bythe Policy board of DRAPcomprising representa-tives of all provinces.

The recommendationwas then forwarded forformal approval of thePrime Minister.

Dr. Muhammed Aslamis seen as an accomplishedprofessional in the field ofPharmaceuticals and hasbeen associated in thepast with the industry. Hehad resigned from hiswork in the Pharma indus-try, which was also a pre-requisite for appointmentas CEO DRAP.

I t is hoped that themerit based and transpar-ent appointment throughopen advertisement wouldstrengthen DRAP and im-prove its functioning.

OBSERVER REPORT

CHAKDARA—The Bank of Khyber (BOK)is playing a vital role in encouraging eco-nomic developmental activities across thecountry through its network which will helpin bringing balance economic growth, thiswas stated by Mr. Muzaffar Said Ministerfor Finance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa whileaddressing a public gathering here inChakdara after formally inaugurating BOKRaast Islamic Banking Branch at main bazarChakdara.

The ceremony was attended bypresent & former elected representativesof the area apart from BOK Managing Di-rector Mr. Shams-ul-Qayumm, GroupHeads Operations Mr. Shabeer Sheikh,Islamic Banking Muhammad Asad, Heads

CHAKDARA: Minister for Finance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Muzaffar Said in a group photoafter inaugurating the Bank of Khyber Raast Islamic Banking Branch at Main Bazaar.

BOK extends network, launchesnew Raast Islamic Branch

of Business Development Mr.Rehmanullah Khattak, MuhammadNaveed Qureshi, Head Establishment Mr.Suleman Akhtar, Maintance Arbab FazalRauf and Head Marketing Syed Ali NawazGilani.

The Finance Minister Mr. Muzaffar Saidmentioned that due to confidence of publicBOK is growing in all operational areas andproviding financial assistance for the pro-motion of trading activities and due to ser-vices rendered to the business communitygetting a good number of business asreaching to the door steps of the custom-ers. Mr. Muzaffar Said added that Chakdarais a gateway to Dir area, and this branchwill serve not only locals but also play im-portant role in business & trading activi-ties of the whole Dir area.

Pak forex figure$ 15.15902bKARACHI—Total liquidforeign reserves of thecountry figure dollars15.15902 billion, said StateBank of Pakistan (SBP).SBP’s weekly statementhere on Friday said, theforeign reserves held byState Bank on January 30,amounted to $ 10.35809billion and the net foreignreserves held by otherbanks were $ 4.80003billion. During the weekending January 30, SBP’sliquid foreign reservesincreased by $ 110 millionto $ 10.359 billion com-pared to $ 10.249 billion ofthe previous week.—APP

Port Qasim shippingactivityKARACHI—Five shipscarrying containers, livestock cow iron ore berthedat Qasim InternationalContainers Terminal, multiPurpose Terminal andIOCB Terminal respec-tively. Meanwhile sevenmore ships carryingcontainers, reti, LPG,general cargo, edible oiland furnace oil also arrivedat outer anchorage of PortQasim during lat 24 hours.Berth occupancy was only65% at the prot on Fridaywhere seven ships namelyHugo Schulte, RHLFiducia, Dubai Express,Abou Karim, Epic St.George, MB. Neer andPolaris are currentlyoccupying berths to load/offload containers, livestock cow, chemical, ironore and edible oil respec-tively during last 24 hours.A cargo volume of 38610tonnes comprising 22356tonnes imports and 16254tonnes exports inclusive ofcontainerized cargo carriedin 1360 containers (TEUs)were handled at the portduring last 24 hours.—APP

Suzuki Motor logsflat Q3 profitTOKYO—Suzuki MotorCorp posted a 0.6 percentrise in third-quarteroperating profit, missinganalyst estimates, as pricecompetition at home inJapan offset a jump inincome from India. Suzukihas been battling DaihatsuMotor Co for the top spotin Japan’s minicar seg-ment, where it retook thecrown in 2014 for the firsttime in eight years. Thecars, with an engine size of660cc, are unique to thecountry where they madeup 40 percent of thevehicle market last year. InOctober-December, Suzukiposted operating profit of44.69 billion yen ($381.41million), short of the 49.04billion yen averageestimate of 11 analystspolled by ThomsonReuters I/B/E/S. Theautomaker said toughmarket conditions inThailand and Indonesiaalso hurt earnings, erasingthe impact of increasedprofit at Indian subsidiaryMaruti Suzuki India Ltd.Maruti, which sells nearlyevery other car in India,last week reported an 18percent rise in net profit.For the business yearthrough March, Suzukikept its operating profitforecast at 188 billion yen,compared with the 202.4billion yen estimate of 22analysts.—Reuters

ISLAMABAD—Minister of State for Infor-mation Technology Ms Anusha RehmanFriday informed the Senate that PakistanTelecommunication Authority (PTA) doesnot have the technology to block all objec-tionable contents available on the YouTube.Replying questions in Senate, the ministersaid that no mechanism exits even in theworld to block all objectionable contents.Anusha Rehman said that on September17, 2012, the Supreme Court ordered PTAto block offending material on YouTubewebsite or any other website.

She said as there was no technical so-lution available, which could block 100 per-cent objectionable material on the YouTube,in compliance with the Supreme Court‘sorders, YouTube was blocked by PTA andcompliance report was submitted to thecourt. The minister said the matter was re-viewed several times but the situation ef-

ISLAMABAD—The weekly inflation for theweek ended on February 4 for the lowestincome group up to Rs 8,000 registered anincrease of 0.17 percent as compared to theprevious week. The Sensitive Price Indica-tor (SPI) for the week under review in theabove mentioned group was recorded at201.05 points against 200.71 points regis-tered in the previous week, according todata of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS).The weekly SPI has been computed withbase 2007-2008=100, covering 17 urban cen-ters and 53 essential items for all incomegroups and combined.

However, the SPI for the combined in-come group was decreased by 0.13 percentas it went down from 208.49 points in theprevious week to 208.22 points in the weekunder review. As compared to the corre-sponding week of last year, the SPI for thecombined group in the week under review

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Senate was informed Friday that therehas been huge deficit to Pakistan in trade with India. Min-ister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan told the Houseduring question hour that during 2014 imports from Indiawere to the tune of two billion dollars as against exportsof only 400 million dollars.

He said Pakistan has great potential of exports inagriculture and food sectors but there are a need tomeet the international standard of processing. Minis-ter of Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan told theHouse during question hour that the government isworking for the fresh legislation on the National Tar-

ISLAMABAD—The Ministry of Water andPower issued a statement on Friday sayingthat the contract to supply 650MW of elec-tricity to K-Electric (KE) cannot be renewed.The ministry went on to say that K-Electricshould ensure its own production at fullcapacity to meet the demands. It furthersaid that in case of an emergency shortage,at most 200 to 300MW could be provided.

A summary of the decision has beensent to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Ac-cording to a K-Electric spokesperson, hewarned that if the supply is stopped thenthere could be a possible blackout in thecity as the company has no backup plan.He also said that the matter of the ministry

Pakistan facing huge tradedeficit with India: Khurram

iff Commission.He said presently Pakistan is in trade deficit with 97

countries while trade surplus with 98 countries. The Min-ister said Pakistan has signed four Free Trade Agree-ments during the last ten years. He said the agreementswere signed with China, Malaysia and Sri Lanka besidesSouth Asian Free Trade Agreement. To a question, Min-ister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmadtold the House that Capital Development Authority haspaid 32 billion rupees to Rawalpindi Development Au-thority for Metro Bus Service from Rawalpindi toIslamabad. He said that the project meant for the welfareof the common man that will make travel easy for thembetween the twin cities.

KE 650MW supply contractcannot be renewed: Ministry

not supplying the requirement is sub ju-dice and could lead to contempt of court.Meanwhile, Karachi Chamber of Commerce& Industry President Iftikhar Ahmed Vohrasaid that if the national grid fails to providethe required demand, industrial productionmay be heavily affected.

He demanded from the governmentthat it should reconsider the supply of650MW and include it in the contract. OnJanuary 26, the ministry had directed theNational Power Control Centre (NPCC) notto suspend electricity supply to K-Elec-tric following the expiry of the powerdistributor’s 5-year agreement for 650 MWsupply on January 25.—INP

PTA unable to block all objectionablecontents on YouTube: Anusha

fectively remains the same. Technical ex-perts are of the view that there is no techni-cal solution available, which can guarantee100 percent blocking of the objectionablecontent from YouTube.

She said that as an alternative measure,the government is in process of providingIntermediary Liability Protection for internetcontent providers through Prevention ofElectronic Crime Bill 2014 which will then bea consideration for localization of YouTubein Pakistan subject to it being a businesscase for Google; Thus, this in itself will notguarantee access to YouTube in Pakistan.Anusha Rehman said that impediments arepresent in blasphemous movie, ‘Innocenceof Muslims’ on YouTube, non- availabilityof technical solution to block the securedobjectionable content with 100 percent ef-fectiveness and orders of the Supreme Courtare still effective.—APP

KARACHI—Director General ProjectsPolicy and Research, Punjab Board of In-vestment and Trade (PBIT), Ms. LubnaPathan visited Sindh Board of Investment(SBI) and called on Chairman SBI, Dr. AsifA. Brohi here on Friday. In the meeting, theDG PBIT deliberated upon the activities,vision, different sectors of investment andpolicies of PBIT, said a statement.

She unleashed that besides differentsectors of investment, PBIT is focusing onthe development and investment in theAgriculture and Livestock sectors. Invest-ment from Qatar, Afghanistan and CentralAsian countries is the main focus of PBITand currently PBIT is also focusing on Ca-nadian market, she added.

In addition, she proposed that SBI andPBIT may engage positively in different ar-eas of mutual interest and sharing of informa-

Weekly inflation increases by 0.17pcincreased by 0.44 percent. As compared tothe last week, the SPI for the income groupsfrom Rs 8001-12,000, Rs 12,001-18,000 wasincreased by 0.12 percent and 0.07 percentrespectively.

Meanwhile, SPI for income group fromRs 18001-35,000 and above Rs 35,000 de-creased by 0.06 percent, 0.37 percent re-spectively. During the week under reviewaverage prices of 15 items registered de-crease, while that of 8 items increase withthe remaining 30 items’ prices unchanged.The items which registered decrease in theirprices during the week under review in-cluded petrol (super), kerosene oil, LPGcylinder, Hi-speed diesel, potatoes, garlic,eggs hen (farm), pulse masoor (washed),pulse gram (washed), vegetable ghee(loose), red chilly powder, gur, cooking oil(tin), mustard oil and pulse mash(washed).—APP

PBIT, SBI can find mutualavenues of investment

tion. She was of the view that in future boththe Boards may chalk out mutual promotionalactivities for the promotion of investment inPakistan. Business conferences, road showsand seminars at the local and foreign levelscould be organised in this regard, she said.

Dr. Asif A. Brohi appreciated the visionand efforts of PBIT for the promotion ofinvestment related activities in the Punjab.He supported the proposal of Ms.LubnaPathan for the mutual activities related tomarketing and promotion of investment invarious sectors locally, as well as, abroad.

He reiterated the joint efforts in the Agri-culture sector for its value addition and valuechain to attract the higher buying markets.Moreover, DG SBI and Ms.Naheed Memonpresented the details of current activities ofSBI in the different sectors of economy ofprovince and its future vision.—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan is acountry that has great eco-nomic potential even thoughthe country is facing energycrises, and law and order prob-lems. This was stated by Con-sul General of Switzerlandhere, Emil Wyss in a meetingwith the Country Head of DS-Concept Factoring, QaseemJaffri at the Swiss Consulate.The two discussed about theavenues to encourage Paki-stani exporters and strengthen

business ties between Switzer-land and Pakistan. Jaffri briefedthe Swiss envoy about the ef-forts of DS-Concept in Paki-stan. He said that DS-Concepthad introduced the concept offactoring in Pakistan and isproviding high-class cus-tomer satisfaction.

He said that DS-Conceptwas yet another example of aforeign company in the fi-nance sector that had grownfrom its inception to a lead-

ing position in Pakistan byfollowing the principles ofbusiness ethics and main-taining international stan-dards. He further said thatthe operation of DS-Conceptreflects the interest of foreigninvestors to contribute in thedevelopment of Pakistan’seconomy. He said thatPakistan’s economy was ex-pected to grow at a fast paceonce the law and order situ-ation improved.—APP

Swiss envoy sees greateconomic potential in Pak

LAHORE—The country’s export of value-addedtextile will plunge from existing $11.49 billion ifthe government slapped additional duty onimport of cotton yarn from India, exporters said.Talking media, Chairman Pakistan Apparel Fo-rum, Muhammad Jawed Bilwani expressed con-cerns over the proposal to place further dutyon import of cotton yarn.

He alleged that the government was sup-porting the spinning textile sector to create morefinancial miseries for value-added textile manu-facturers and exporters. “There is already a 5percent import duty on the import of cottonyarn which the industry wants the governmentshould withdraw to facilitate the apparel textileexport to the world markets,” he added.

“Again this proposal for imposing addi-tional duty at the behest of some large spin-ners having integrated units will greatly ham-per the cost of doing business of the vital

Additional 5pc duty on cotton importfrom India to hit exports hard

value-added textile sector whose exports earn-ings are $11.49 billion more than spinners,” hemaintained.

Showing reservations, he said that thegovernment continued to ignore the ‘vital’textile stakeholders while taking decisions onimposition of duties. “Why the vital stake-holders are not being taken on board beforedeciding such crucial matters,” he ques-tioned. “The government is always mis-guided to impose additional duty on cottonyarn import from India, which inflict harmvalue-added textile sector, he said, addingthat the move will hit hard the efforts to im-prove country’s exports.

“Since the value-added textile sector will beunable to import cotton yarn from India owingto the current 5 percent import duty and theproposal of additional import duty, as it willgreatly increase their cost of doing business

and make it tough for them to face global com-petition while in turn will enable the spinners toincrease their sales locally at prices they de-mand,” Bilwani said.

He said that textile exports of Bangladeshstood at $24 to $25 billion despite dependingon cotton yarn import, while Pakistan was strug-gling to compete with it on the global marketsbeing a cotton-growing nation. “All over theworld export of raw material is greatly discour-aged and restricted while import of raw of mate-rial is always allowed just because of value-addition and earning of more foreign exchange.In comparison to this, in our country most un-fortunately it is the opposite and essential rawmaterial for value-additions is allowed to beexported,” he added. He said that the value-added textile sector should be allowed withduty-free import of raw material without anyhurdle.—Agencies

LONDON—Gold edged loweras uncertainty in Greece afterthe European Central Banksaid it would no longer acceptGreek bonds in return for fund-ing left investors on the side-lines. The ECB’s announce-ment dealt a blow to Athenswhich is seeking debt relieffrom euro zone lenders, knock-ing the euro down against thedollar in early trade. Spot goldfell 0.5 percent to $1,263.51 anounce by 1055 GMT, while USgold futures for April deliverywere unchanged at $1,264.00an ounce.

Bullion failed to capital-ise on a fall in European eq-uities and was trading in a$10 an ounce range aheadof Friday’s US employmentdata. The metal dipped de-

spite the euro staging amodest rebound against thedollar after positive Germandata, which however kept itwell below a two-week peakhit on Tuesday. “It is un-usual to see gold and thedollar move in the same di-rection but for the market toreally care about what ishappening in the euro zonewe need to be closer to anexit of Greece than we havebeen in the past,” Julius Baeranalyst Carsten Menke said.“You need to have a prettydire assessment of the fu-ture and see the situation inthe euro zone deteriorate toattract back those long-terminvestors who have exitedgold in the past twoyears.”— Reuters

Gold falls on Greekuncertainty

Tetra Pakdemonstrates

skills atGulffood 2015

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Tetra Pak, theworld leader in food pro-cessing and packaging so-lutions, returns to Gulfood2015 to demonstrate its in-dustry expertise and com-mitment to its customers.Under the theme “Innova-tion for Growth” Tetra Pakwill host its customers in anexclusive ‘Tetra Pak Cus-tomer Oasis’ designed todemonstrate innovativeways to help customersgrow their businesses. Withincrease revenues, managecosts, reduce risk across thevalue chain, and build brandequity as the four key areasfor most food processingand packaging companiesin the region.

“Our regular presenceand participation at Gulfoodhighlights the importance ofthis region and our commit-ment to our customers. Thisyear we are providing ourcustomers the opportunityto explore innovation-drivenbusiness solutions” saysAmar Zahid, President,Greater Middle East & Af-rica (GME&A), Tetra Pak.“We are continuously work-ing with our customers tounderstand their challengesand to provide real solu-tions as well as insights todrive growth for their busi-nesses.”

As part of Gulfood 2015,Tetra Pak will also introduceits first series of exclusiveseminars designed to pro-vide the latest insights anddevelopments in the foodprocessing and packagingindustry. The ‘Tetra PakKnowledge Series’ willcover a variety of topics in-cluding packaging and de-sign trends, reaching con-sumers in new high-growthsectors and the Dairy Index,Tetra Pak’s annual reportdesigned to help dairy pro-ducers identify new oppor-tunities for growth, whilstoffering industry watchersinformation on the latestfacts, figures and trends re-lated to the global dairy in-dustry. The sessions will beopen to all Tetra Pak custom-ers but require advance reg-istration.

“Gulfood presents agreat opportunity for us toshare our extensive marketintelligence and analysis ofmarkets around the world.The ‘Tetra Pak KnowledgeSeries “will address key top-ics and issues to provideour customers with somevaluable insights into theindustry,” says Zahid. Inaddition to the extensiveprogram of Gulfood activi-ties, Tetra Pak will be invit-ing its customers to a cus-tomer event with a specialguest presentation byNenad Pacek, a bestsellingauthor, senior advisor, andhighly regarded global ex-pert on macro-economictrends in emerging markets.Pacek will deliver an exclu-sive presentation on the lat-est economic and businessoutlooks and insights forcountries in GME&A thatcan potentially help to in-form business strategy forcompanies in the region.

Operating in 49 coun-tries in The Greater MiddleEast and Africa, this re-gion remains one of TetraPak’s fastest growing mar-kets with long-standingpartnerships with many ofthe region’s leading foodcompanies.

Currency Selling Buying

USA 101.00 100.80

UK 154.82 154.52

Euro 115.81 115.58

Canada 81.21 81.05

Switzerland 109.41 109.19

Australia 79.03 78.88

Sweden 12.25 12.23

Japan 0.8609 0.8592

Norway 13.43 13.40

Singapore 75.08 74.93

Denmark 15.55 15.52

Saudi Arabia 26.91 26.86

Hong Kong 13.03 13.00

Kuwait 342.91 342.23

Malaysia 28.43 28.37

Newzealand 74.96 74.81

Qatar 27.73 27.68

UAE 27.50 27.44

Kr Won 0.0929 0.0927

Thailand 3.100 3.094

KARACHI: Ishtiaq Baig Honorary Consul General of Morocco inaugurating Moroc-can food festival. Dr. Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, Honorary Consul General of Yemen and RehanFaiz Pirzada also seen in the picture.—PO photo

ISLAMABAD: Vice Chancellor of Shah Abdul Latif University Khairpur Prof. Dr.Parveen Shah and Secretary PARC Dr. Munir Ahmad signing MoU for Scientific,Technical and Academic Collaboration. Chairman PARC, Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad, mem-bers of the council and other senior officers witnessed the ceremony at PARC HQs.

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—e2e Supply Chain Management Ltd., thefastest growing supply chain and logistics company withoffices in Dubai, Singapore, Pakistan, Bangladesh andAfghanistan is expanding its process of recruiting qual-ity human resource through their unique selection pro-cess to groom them into future leaders and assets for thecompany. The Management Trainee Program is an inten-sive 12-month rotational program that focuses on ac-quainting the candidate with the processes involved inall departments operating within the company. Accord-ing to e2e’s policy, each candidate serves in every de-partment for four months after which he/she is placed ina specific department considering the level of performanceand company requirements. During this period these train-ees undergo a variety of classroom trainings from indus-try experts who share their valuable insights and experi-ences in order to enhance their skills.

The MT program has been designed structurally keep-ing a keen observation of key business concepts, a scopefor career progression and a consideration for ambitiouscandidates that have the determination to excel in theirfields. Apart from possessing exceptional analytical andcommunication skills, the candidates are gauged basedon interpersonal skills and their ability to assimilate wellin the organization so that they are ready to face chal-lenges while maintaining a leadership capability. The Cam-pus drive that commenced on February 2, 2015 will con-tinue till the beginning of March, thus selecting a set ofthe most suitable candidates from top tier universities of

e2e expands ‘management trainee’ programPakistan. These include LUMS, IBA, KSBL, SZABIST,FC College Lahore, and IoBM. The progress being rigor-ous is evident of the fact that last year alone 2,800 appli-cations were received out of which 30 candidates wereshortlisted who were further scrutinized to make a finalselection comprising of 3 candidates, who were then takenonboard as the first MTO batch.

The selection process comprises of collecting jobapplications and conducting interviews followed by apsychometric test; potential candidates are judged basedon the Professional Learning Indicators (PLI) and Predic-tive Index (PI). The former analyses a candidate’s cogni-tive abilities and comprehension skills that will deducehis capacity to learn on the job, while the latter measurespersonality traits based on different attributes. The panelinterviews followed by a final interview with the CEOdetermine the selection of the candidate. Post selection,MTO’s are subjected to a sequence of trainings and ex-clusive workshops meant to broaden their experience,therefore, not just ensuring industry specific knowledgebut also skills required to thrive in the corporate world.

Formed in 2006 e2e is one of the Pakistan’s leadingproviders of end to end logistics services, specializing ininternational and local Air / Ocean freight and associatedsupply chain management solutions that include ware-housing. Known for its sound financial capability, exten-sive air & sea cargo experience, dense nationwide roadtransportation network, best in class management / teamand state - of the art IT systems which has earned e2e thehonor of becoming the fastest growing company in Paki-stan in 2011.

KARACHI: Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and In-dustry presenting KCCI crest to Susan Chandler, Adjunct Ledture, Medill NorthwestUniversity, United States on her visit to KCCI. S.M.H. Rizvi, Secretary General KCCIand Aamir Hssan, Director Media & PR are also seen in the picture.

ISLAMABAD: President ICCI Muzammil Hussain Sabri along with a delegation pos-ing for a group photo with Chief Executive Officer IESCO, Malik Yousaf Awan.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Organized by the High Com-mission, a nine member delegation fromPakistan Cutlery and Stainless Steel Uten-sils Manufacturers and Exporters Associa-tion, Wazirabad is currently visiting SouthAfrica. During their first ever visit to SouthAfrica, the Association’s delegates willstudy the market, hold B2B meetings andprepare a strategy for launching their prod-ucts in the region.

The delegation, consisting of manufac-turers of cutlery products, utensils andhunting knives, will visit Johannesburg,Pretoria and Durban to meet importers oftheir products and to discuss businessprospects with Chambers of Commerce andother related Government Departments.Possibility of future participation in tradeshows, organized in South Africa, will alsobe explored.

The delegation called on the HighCommissioner of Pakistan, H.E. Mr. Najmus Saqib today. Briefing them on thebusiness spectrum of South Africa, the

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Assembly with SpeakerAsad Qaisar in the chair Friday unani-mously adopted a resolution againstproposed changes in the trade route ofKashgar to Gwadar project and urgedthe federal government to maintain thesame route as agreed upon betweengovernment of Pakistan and China.

The resolution was moved jointlyby Parliamentary leader of QaumiWatan Party, Sikandar Hayat KhanSherpao, Parliamentary leader ofAwami National Party Sardar HussainBabak, Parliamentary leader of Paki-stan Muslim League Nawaz, SardarAurengzeb Nalota, Parliamentaryleader of Pakistan People PartyMuhammad Ali Shah Bacha, Provin-cial Ministers Mushtaq Ahmad Ghaniand Shah Farman, Mufti Fazal Ghaforof JUIF and Malik Behram Khan of

Pak delegation explorestrade marts in South Africa

High Commissioner advised the del-egates to enhance their marketing in-gress in the region while emphasizing theneed to participate in various fares andexhibitions being held here. Catering forover 90 per cent of Pakistan’s produc-tion in cutlery and hunting equipment,Wazirabad is the hub of related busi-ness. The sector comprises over 400SMEs, of which 250 are cutlery manu-facturers and the remainder 150 beinginvolved in the manufacturing of hunt-ing equipment and swords. South Africarelies heavily on the imports of theseproducts. The manufacturing base of theSouth Africa is still growing and there issufficient room available for the Paki-stani manufactures and exporters.

Pakistani exports to South Africa haveincreased from US$ 275 million to US$ 294million during 2013-14. The visit by Paki-stan Cutlery and Stainless Steel UtensilsManufacturers and Exporters Associationwill go a long way in contributing in fur-thering our overall objective of increasingexports from Pakistan.

KP assembly passes resolution againstKashgar-Gwadar trade route change

Jamat Islami.The resolution read out by the

movers stated that the Federal gov-ernment should avoid making alter-ations in the trade route of this megaproject. It said that the governmentsof Pakistan and China have agreed tothe trade route to be constructed start-ing from Kashgar (China) to Gwadarvia Silk route to Abbotabad, Mianwali,Dera Ismail Khan, Zhob and Gawadar.The project would prove helpful inameliorating lot of the backward areasof KP, Punjab and FATA, which areterrorism stricken and affected bymassive population. The federal gov-ernment is, therefore, requested tomaintain the same alignment for theroute as agreed upon by both thecountries. If any changes were made,it would be very injustice with the KPand FATA, the resolution concluded.

Taking the floor, Sikandar Sherpaosaid, it’s an important project, which

would have lasting impact on the socioeconomic lives of the people of KPand Fata. The project would benefitthree billion population of the regionbesides adding 100 million dollars tothe national kitty and generating20000-megawatt electricity. Theproject would also reduce the distanceby 1200 kilometers. Sardar HussainBabak of ANP in his address on theoccasion said that their party wouldsupport the PTI, if Imran Khan stageda dharna against changes in the traderoute in Peshawar.

Minister for PHED Shah Farmansaid that it would be great injusticewith the people of KP if any changewas incorporated in the proposedtrade route. He maintained that it istime for maintaining harmony and na-tional cohesion in our ranks and filesinstead of opening new Pandora box.He urged the federal government toreview its decision to this effect.

Oil extends gains in Asian tradeSINGAPORE—Oil prices ex-tended gains in Asia Fridayas volatile trading continuedunabated with dealers di-vided on whether thebeaten-down commodityhas bottomed out, analystssaid. US benchmark WestTexas Intermediate for Marchdelivery rose 69 cents to$51.17 while Brent crude forMarch gained 54 cents to$57.11 in late-morning trade.WTI on Thursday jumped$2.73 in New York and Brentadvanced $2.41, erasinglosses earlier in Asia.

“Oil’s continuing whip-saw has largely been moti-

vated by news surroundinginventory and supply sidenumbers,” said NicholasTeo, market analyst at CMCMarkets in Singapore. “Thebattle between oil bulls andbears will likely continuetonight when the US weeklydrilling rig count numbersare released,” Teo added.

Last week’s datashowed a record drop of 94oil rigs to 1,223 for the weekended January 30.That com-pared with 2,393 a year ago.The drop, coupled with an-nouncements of deep cutsin capital spending by ma-jor oil companies including

BP and BG Group, has sug-gested there will be tightersupplies in the future.

Teo said “there are indi-cations that the rig countwill be lower” for the weekto Friday. Some analystshowever remain doubtfulabout the impact of immedi-ate-term dips in productionlevels as supplies continueto outweigh global demand.Prices plunged around 60percent from their Junepeaks to a six-year low lastweek, largely owing to asurge in global reservesboosted by robust US shaleproduction.—AFP

PARC, SALU to extendscientific, technical cooperation

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D—The Paki-stan Agricultural ResearchCouncil (PARC) and ShahAbdul Latif Universi ty(SALU) Friday inked aMemorandum of Under-standing (MoU), aimed atstrengthening scientif icand technical cooperationbetween the two organiza-t ions. The MoU wouldhelp strengthen the scien-t if ic infrastructure andtechnology to promoteculture of advanced sci-ence and technology. TheMoU was signed by Sec-retary PARC, Dr. MunirAhmad and Vice Chancel-lor SALU, Professor Dr.Parveen Shah on behalf oftheir respective organiza-tion.

The signing ceremonywas witnessed by Chair-man PARC, Dr. IftikharAhmad and members andsenior officials of the coun-cil. According to the MoU,both the organizationswould pursue a programmeof scientific, technical andacademic collaboration for

the exchange of ideas,skills and techniques onproblems of national inter-est as mutually agreed fromtime to time. According tothe agreement both the or-ganizations would ex-change material and traintechnical personnel with nocost for research besideslaunching a joint coordi-nated scientific researchtechnological developmentprogramme.

Development of market-able collaborative researchproducts and patents, hold-ing of joint conferences andseminars, access to eachothers’ knowledge, data andlibrary, mutual sharing ofscientific information andstrengthening of staff indesign of research studies,survey techniques, dataanalysis techniques andstatistics are the other fea-tures of the MoU. The MoUwould remain operative forfive years which could beextended by mutual under-standing while both the par-ties would appoint focal per-sons who will be holdingperiodic meetings to work

out the details of theprogramme.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Chairman PARC, Dr.Iftikhar Ahmad expressedthe hope that the MoUwould help promote re-search activities for thebenefit of both the organi-zations. He said that PARChas been working to pro-mote advanced technolo-gies to help promote agri-culture sector of the coun-try to ensure nutritiousfood security in the coun-try.

In her remarks, VCSALU, Dr. Perveen Shahsaid that the MoU wouldgo long way to promote re-search and help the univer-sity in imparting better edu-cation and training to thescholars. On the occasion,council members, Dr.Shahid Masood, Dr.Nadeem Amjad, Dr.Muhammad Munir Goria,Dr. Shahid Rafique, Dr.Umer Farooq and DirectorsSardar Ghulam Mustafaand Dr. Syed GhazanfarAbbas were also presenton the occasion.

Pakistan entersinto 3D game

animationSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan hasalso entered itno 3D anima-tion as the local softwarecompany, IntercativeCells’subventure Fyre Gamez hasdeveloped a new actionplus adventure space gamethat was launched recentlyon Android Play Store. Thegame called ‘Galaxy Rush ‘developed by Fyre Gamez(A Sub-venture ofInteractiveCells), comes upwith a creative story andsome really cool graphicsand game play. The 3Dgame’s story revolvesaround a boy who gets toknow about the plans ofsome other Galaxy aliens,who are planning to attackearth. Before the boy can dosomething about it, he wasabducted by the aliens.

While the aliens are cel-ebrating the boy’s abduc-tion, the boy manages toescape and find a space jetwhich is his only hope toreach the earth. It is nowupto the boy to rushthrough this galaxy usingthe jet and find its way backto Earth. On his way hefinds many obstacles in-cluding walls, illusionaltracks, fire balls and meteorshowers and ofcourse thealiens that are chasing him.He has to avoid all the ob-stacles and collect thepower crystals and rush hisway home. These powercrystals can only save earthfrom these creatures.

According to theInteracticeCells’ this fantasybased space game is devel-oped by a Gold Medalistfrom NED University, SaadSiddiqui and Rashid Nazeer.It furher said that it’s a realchallenger with a hard diffi-culty level and some smartlogic. The graphics are ex-cellent plus the game playis fast. As per the company,more new levels will soon beadded to the game and it willbe launching in comingmonth on the iTunes store.The game is available todownload on PlayStore. Thegame developers are prepar-ing to set a whole sequel tothis game which means wewill be seeing many editionsof this app in the future. It ishighly recommended to all,the spokesman said.

LAHORE: A view of match of Clarks Polo Cup 2015 tournament played between Hataff and Polo D Sooferman teamsat Polo Club.

KUALA LUMPUR: Lee Westwood of England tees off on the fifth hole during the secondround of the Malaysian Open.

KARACHI: Chief guest Lubna Salahuddin giving away trophy to the Govt Degree College for Women Korangi Town6 hockey team on winning of tournament organized by Directorate of Colleges Education.

U-14 footballchampionship

from 17thKHANEWAL—Under-14 na-tional football champion-ship 2015 would begin herefrom Feb-17.

The football champion-ship would be held at sportsstadium Khanewal and 13teams from across the coun-try would participate. Thechampionship would con-clude on Feb-28.

Secretary District Foot-ball Association MianAbdul Bari will supervisethe tournament.

The trials to select DFAKhanewal team would beheld at sports stadium onFeb 7, 8.—APP

Rehana NazarNational

Junior Squashfrom today

KARACHI—The fourth edi-tion of NBP Rehana NazarRashid Abad National Jun-ior Squash Championshipwill be held at Rehana NazarSquash ComplexRashidabad, District TandoAllayar from Saturday underthe auspices of SindhSquash Association (SSA).

SSA President TahirKhanzada said on Fridaythat Rs.200,000 prize moneyis being staged in collabo-ration with Rashid MemorialWelfare Organization andTando Allayar DistrictSquash Association.

The championship willbe played in Under-19, 17,15 and 13 in boys and Un-der-17 and 17 categories forgirls and will conclude onFebruary 10.

All the top junior play-ers from across the countrywill be seen in action in 4-day championship.

Organizing Committee in-cluded Air Commodore (Retd)Shabbir Ahmed (Chairman),Iqbal Samad (Iqbal Samad),Tahir Khanzada (Tourna-ment Director) and AijazShaikh (Tournament Secre-tary).—APP

PESHAWAR—Ahsan Ayaz, Laiba Ijaz andAsad clinched the trophies after defeat-ing their respective rivals in Syed TajMeer Shah Memorial National Under-19,Girls Under-13 and Under-11 Boys Jun-ior Squash Championship, which con-cluded here at PAF Squash Complex onFriday.

Base Commander Peshawar Air Com-modore Naveed was the chief guest onthis occasion. Son of Late Syed Taj MeerShah, owner of Daily Mashriq and En-glish Daily The Statesman, former WorldChampion Qamar Zaman, chief refereeMunawar Zaman, officials of the PAFHashim Khan Squash Complex, playersand large number of spectators were alsopresent .

In the Under-19 category final topseeded Ahsan Ayaz defeated Arbab Aizazin the thrilling final lasted for 32 minutes.The score was 11-8, 11-2 and 11-6. AhsanAyaz did not give much time to his rivalArbab Aizad to strike back and marchedinto straight sets victory.

Ahsan defeated Haroon Shah in thefirst semi-final by 3-1 and Arbab Aizazbeat Salman Jillani by 3-1 in the secondsemi-final.

In the Girls Junior category Laiba Ijazbeat Naima Khalid by in another one-sided affairs, the score was 11-5, 11-4and 11-7. Laiba Ijaz fully dominated theproceedings and marched into victorywithout any hardship. Naima did someresistance in the third set where she got

Ahsan, Laiba Ijaz, Asad shine inSyed Taj Meer Shah Memorial

National Junior Squasha lead of 3-7 but Laiba first tied the tally7-7 and then won the set by 11-7 andgave no point to Naima. Thus Laiba wonthe final by 3-0.

It was the Boys Under-11 categorywhen Asad Ullah beat Noor Zaman in athrilling five sets battle, lasted for 49mintues. Asad Ullah got first two setsby 14-12 and 12-10 but he failed to clickin the second and third sets won by NoorZaman, fielded as second seed. Despitelosing the first two sets, Noor Zamanstaged a comeback and won two con-secutive sets by 8-11 and 10-12. It wasthe fifth and decisive sets in which bothAsad Ullah and Noor Zaman providedtough resistance against each other butAsad got the set by 11-9 and thusmarched into victory at 3-2.

At the end, the chief guest Air Com-modore Naveed, Base CommanderPeshawar Base, gave away trophies andcash prizes to the winners and other po-sition holders. In his brief chat, he alsoappreciated the organizing committee forsmooth conduct of the event in whichmore than 70 players took part.

Speaking on this occasion QamarZaman thanked all who were present dur-ing the prize distribution ceremony. Healso paid rich tribute to Late Taj MeerShah who rendered great services for thePeshawarites. Qamar Zaman on this oc-casion announced that the tournamentwould be organized on regular basis an-nually.—APP

Cycling:Australian totackle world

one-hour recordGRANGES (Switzerland)—Australian cyclist RohanDennis will make an assaulton the world one hourrecord at the Grangesvelodrome on Sunday.

Dennis, 24 and winner ofthe recent Tour Down Un-der, will be aiming to over-haul the 51.852 kilometrescovered in 60 minutes lastOctober by MatthiasBrdndle of Austria, also inSwitzerland, at Aigle.

Brandle beat the previ-ous best of 51.115km set theprevious month in Granges,by Jens Voigt of Germany.

Dennis, world pursuitchampion in 2011 and Olym-pic silver medallist in Lon-don with the Australian pur-suit team, is the first man thisyear to attack the record.

Britain’s Olympic timetrial champion and formerTour de France winner Bra-dley Wiggins has alreadyannounced he plans arecord attempt later in theyear.—AFP

PESHAWAR—Khyber Agency Greenclinched the trophy after defeatingDistrict Tank in the final of the Gover-nor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Twenty20Cricket Cup played here at Arbab NiazCricket Stadium on Saturday.

Adviser to the Chief Minister onSports Khyber Pakhtunkhwa AmjadKhan Afridi was the chief guest on thisoccasion. MNA Hamid Ul Haq, na-tional selector Wajahat Ullah Wasti,Test cricketer Fazal-e-Akhbar Shah,former Test umpire Mian Said Shah,Chairman and President RegionalCricket Association FATA ShahidKhan and Noor Ul Haq Baloch, repre-sentatives from ABL, HBL, officials,players and large number of specta-tors were also present and witnessedthe thrilling final.

Khyber Agency Green skipperTaimur Afridi won the toss and invitedDistrict Tank to bat first.

Batting first District Tank setup 151runs target with an elegant knock of

Khyber Agency Green clinchGovernor KP FATA T20 Cricket title

3rd inter-boardsports competitions

from Feb 15I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a nSports Board (PSB) is or-ganizing 3rd Inter-BoardSports Competitions fromFebruary 15 to 22 here atPakistan Sports Complex,Islamabad.

The competitions arebeing held in collaborationwith Inter-Board Commit-tee of Chairmen, a PSBspokesman said on Friday.

He said that 25 boardsout of 30 would vie for thetop honours in differentdisciplines including ath-letics (boys & girls), bad-minton (boys & girls),hockey (boys & girls), vol-leyball (boys & girls),taekwondo (boys) andtable tennis (girls). Around1060 boys and 700 girl play-ers and team officials willtake part in the games, headded.

He said cash prizes tothe first three positionholders would be awardedby PSB.

The boys competitionswill be held from February1-18, while girls competi-tions will take place Feb-ruary 20-22.

The spokesman saidthat the boarding, lodgingand playing facilities to theplayers would be providedin the Pakistan SportsComplex.—APP

National SoccerFutsal C’ship to

commencetoday

ISLAMABAD—First NationalSoccer Futsal Champion-ship will begin on Saturdayhere at Chakshazad,Islamabad.

President, Pakistan Soc-cer Futsal Federation, HajiTariq Mehmood said that allarrangements of the cham-pionship have beenfinalised.

Eight teams includingPunjab (green), Islamabad(green), Sindh, KPK,Hyderabad, Punjab (White),Islamabad (White) andBalochistan will take part inthe event.

The teams have beendivided into two groups.Hesaid that one top team fromeach group would qualify forthe final, which would beheld on Sunday.—APP

Liaqat Khan who hammered a crack-ing 79 runs including five boundariesand two sixes, Naseeb Ullah made 16runs while 19 runs were the extras.

For Khyber Agency Green NisarAfridi, who also represented Pakistanin the Under-19, grabbed two wickets,Asad Ullah got two wickets and TaimurAfridi and Sami Ullah got one wicketeach.

In reply, to 151 runs target, KhyberAgency Green chased the target forthe loss of five wickets with NisarAfridi smashed s superb knock of 42runs including five boundaries and re-mained not out while Sajid Afridi hitanother classic 37 runs not out withfour towering sixes including a win-ning six when there was five runs re-mained in the 18th over. Asad Ullahscored 33 runs with five boundarieswas the other key runs contributor.

For Tank District Asif Ali got twowickets while Asfandiyar and Kifayattook one wicket each. Thus Khyber

Agency Green won the trophy for theloss of five wickets with a stunningperformance by Asif Afridi and NisarAfridi.

Nisar Afridi was declared Man ofthe Match and Asif Afridi was de-clared as Man of the Tournament. WaliKhan Shinwari and Zafar Khattakawarded a bat each to two performers.

At the end, the chief guest gaveaway trophies and cash prizes. Thewinner was awarded Rs. 30,000 as cashprize while the runners-up got Rs.20,000 cash prize. In his brief chat,Amjad Afridi and MNA Hamid Ul Haqlauded the efforts of the organizingcommittee for holding the event inwhich a total of 11 teams four districtscomprising Dera Ismail Khan, Tank,Bannu, Kohat and seven agencies in-cluding South Waziristan Agency,North Waziristan Agency, KhurramAgency, Bajaur Agency, OrakzaiAgency, Khyber Agency andMohmand Agency took part.—APP

ISLAMABAD—With just nine days to go forICC World Cup 2015 in Australia and NewZealand, over 750,000 tickets have beensold so far, the organisers said.

International Cricket Council (ICC) saidthat the tickets are continuing to be sold inrecord numbers and are expected to breachthe 1-million mark.

“Tickets for the ICC Cricket World Cup2015 continue to sell in record numbers, withjust 9 days to go to the tournament. Allfans are being advised to buy their ticketsnow for this once in a generation event,”ICC said on its website icc-cricket.com.

“More than 750,000 tickets have beensold to date, well on the way to a predicted

More than 750,000 WorldCup tickets sold out

total attendance of more than a million,” itadded.

The tournament gets under way onFebruary 14. The match between India andPakistan on February 15 has already bro-ken records with the tickets sold out in just20 minutes long time ago.

“While there are plenty of good seatsleft to great matches, organisers are urgingfans to get their tickets now to avoid disap-pointment,” ICC said.

ICC Chief Executive David Richardsonsaid,”The ICC Cricket World Cup is on trackto be the most open and competitive tour-nament ever. I’d urge everyone who can toget out and support their team.”—APP

MALABO (Equatorial Guinea)—Missile-throwing home spectators caused a near 40-minute second-half delay as Ghana set upan Africa Cup of Nations final with IvoryCoast by outplaying hosts Equatorial Guinea3-0 Thursday.

Play was halted eight minutes from timeas disgruntled home fans flung various ob-jects on the pitch and a lengthy break en-sued before order was restored and play re-sumed.A police helicopter flew low over theground while Ghanaian supporters, feelingthreatened by the home crowd, spilled intothe area surrounding the pitch at the 15,000-seat Estadio de Malabo.

A Ghana Football Association tweetread: “Police helicopter hovers above thepitch with the Ghana fans in real danger. It’snow like a war zone.”

Players, coaches and the match officialsstood on the pitch during the drama whilesecurity officials ushered Ghanaian support-ers into one section of the ground.

Football: Crowd trouble asGhana cruise into final

Jordan Ayew converted a 42nd-minutepenalty, Mubarak Wakaso struck a minuteinto first-half stoppage time and Andre Ayewtapped in on 75 minutes of the semi-final.

The final in port city Bata Sunday will bea repeat of the 1992 final won 11-10 on pen-alties by Ivory Coast after 120 goalless min-utes in Dakar.

That was the Ivorians’ lone Cup of Na-tions title while Ghana have won the Africanfootball showpiece four times, although thelast triumph came in Tripoli 33 years ago.

Equatorial Guinea, who exceeded expec-tations by reaching the semi-finals, face theDemocratic Republic of Congo in MalaboSaturday for third place.

However, after Thursday’s shambolicscenes, it remains to be seen whether or notthat match will be played at the venue. Ghanabegan the match without captain and starstriker Asamoah Gyan, who was namedamong the substitutes having not fully re-covered from an abdominal injury.—AFP

KUALA LUMPUR—Lee Westwood stayedon track to defend his Malaysian Open titleon Friday, topping the leaderboard for a sec-ond straight day with a five-under-par 67 inKuala Lumpur.

The Englishman was in a tie for the half-way lead with Spain’s Alejandro Canizares,who shot Friday’s lowest round in the field,a bogey-free 65.

Westwood’s first-round co-leader,former Major winner Graeme McDowell,tumbled down the board, however, shoot-ing a one-over 73 including three bogeysand a double at the Kuala Lumpur Golf andCountry Club.

That left the Northern Irishman sixstrokes off the pace.

But Westwood, who won last year byseven strokes and carded a 66 on day one,posted yet another steady round on acourse that seems a perfect match for hisgame.

“I played nicely again and probablyonly hit one poor shot all day, from themiddle of the fairway on the fifth hole,” said

Golf: Westwood stays indriver’s seat in Malaysia

Westwood, who suffered his sole bogeyon that hole.

He made amends with six birdiessprinkled across the rest of his card.

“But other than that it was very goodand I felt very comfortable. It was great tobirdie two of the last three and go from onein front to the three in front,” he said.

Canizares, meanwhile, said he had “fun”posting the day’s best score.

“I made some great-up-and-downswhen I missed a shot, and I’m happy over-all. It’s a great position to be in and Icouldn’t ask for any better,” he said.

Austria’s Bernd Wiesberger was in solethird after shooting a 66, with England’sPaul Waring and Ireland’s Peter Lawrie ashot further back.

Thailand’s Kiradech Aphibarnrat, whowon in 2013, was among those who failedto make the cut, as his second-round 69was not enough to make up for an 80-strokedebacle the previous day.

The $3 million event is co-sanctionedby the Asian and European Tours.—AFP

LAHORE: Athletes taking part in National Powerlifting Championship at PU ground.

L A H O R E—The Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) has requested the In-ternational Cricket Council (ICC) toextend the date for the bio-mechan-ics test of Mohammad Hafeez’sbowling action.

The Pakistan Cricket Boardsaidthat the right-arm spinner had suf-fered an injury and could not ap-pear for the test to assess the legal-ity of his action.

Hafeez’s test was scheduled tobe conducted on February 6 (yes-terday) in Brisbane, Australia.

With the delay in the test, Hafeezwould now not be able to bowl forPakistan during its World Cupmatches against India (Feb 15) andWest Indies (Feb 21).

Earlier, Hafeez had failed to cleartwo unofficial bio-mechanics tests.Hafeez’s arm both around and overthe wicket exceeded the limit of 15degrees.

Over the wicket, Hafeez turnedhis arm at angles measuring from 16to 18 degrees while around thewicket it ranged between 12 and 19degrees.

Previously, Hafeez’s action hadbeen cleared after being reported ina one-day match against WestIndies in Brisbane in 2005.

Hafeez suffers injury, may notget clearance before India match

Bipin DaniOBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Muhammad Zaman Khan isthe second most popular face of cricketafter his countrymen Sufi Abdul Jalil - fa-mous as Chacha (Uncle) Cricket.

The invitation by the Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) to witness the forthcomingWorld Cup matches has “not” broughtsmile on this cheerleader’s face. On thecontrary he has lost his good money.

“Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) ispleased to invite you to witness thematches of ICC World Cup 2015 to beplayed in Australia and New Zealand from14th February 2015 to 29th March 2015 atyour own expense and with your own ar-rangements”.

“Pakistan Cricket Board will not ar-range tickets, accommodation or anyother expense”, Zakir Khan, the PCB’sDirector International Cricket Operationsletter, (a copy of the same is available withus) addressed to him, reads.

“What is the use of this invitation ?How would my visa be granted with thisinvitation, the cheerleader, in an exclu-sive chat with this paper, asked over tele-phone from his Gujranwala home.

“With this letter, I can’t apply for my

World Cup invitation brings nosmile on Pakistani cheerleaders

visa”.The 55-year-old known as Chacha

Twenty20 was a chauffeur in Dubai andnow lives in Pakistan, had not missed asingle match ever since Pakistan wasforced to play in UAE due to security fearsback home.

During matches, Zaman drives thefans crazy, chanting slogans for his team.His big mustache he grows every time amatch approaches makes him recogniz-able in every stand he sits.

“I had booked my air tickets to travelto Australia and also hotel bookings weremade and tickets for the matches werepurchased but with no sponsorship now,I am likely to miss the World Cup”, hefurther added.

The story of another Pakistani cheer-leader, Chacha Uncle, is not bright either.

However, India’s famous cheerleader,Sudhir Gautam managed to get sponsor-ship and will be at the stands in Australiaand New Zealand.

And yes, the World’s first and oldestSri Lankan cheerleader, PercyAbeysekera, 79, will cheer for his team inAustralia and New Zealand as his trip isbeing sponsored by his company. Notonly that, his biography will also be re-leased in Australia.

ICC anti-corruptiondefends Amir’s early returnISLAMABAD—Chairman of the ICC’s anti-corruption unit,Sir Ronnie Flanagan, has defended his decision to allow

Mohammad Amir to re-turn to domestic cricketbefore the end of his ban.

He expressedhope that the player’s ex-ample will discourageothers who might havebeen tempted into fixing,ESPN reported.

Flanagan insistedhis decision did not set aprecedent that might beexploited by others at-tempting to reduce bansrelating to corruption.

Amir’s five-yearban, imposed upon himfor his part in a corrup-tion scandal, is due to ex-pire on September 2. But,Flanagan, taking into ac-count Amir’s guilty plea

in the criminal case and his cooperation with anti-corrup-tion agents in the years since, gave his permission toallow the player to return to domestic cricket under theauspices of the PCB eight months ahead of schedule.

Flanagan is convinced the bowler’s remorse is genu-ine and that his assistance in educational programmesprovides a valuable tool in the fight against corruption.

“I am very comfortable with what has happened inthe Amir case,” Flanagan said in Sydney as he expressedhis hopes for a corruption free World Cup.—APP

Hafeez is the second Pakistaniafter Saeed Ajmal — also an off-spin-ner — to be re-ported in a ma-jor crackdownon bowlerswith suspectactions the ICClaunched inJune last year.

ICC’s crack-down onbowlers, espe-cially spinners,was not re-ceived well bymany experts ofthe game.

F o r m e rWest Indiescaptain andbatting iconViv Richardsbelieved theICC’s crack-down onbowlers withsuspect ac-tions has comeat the wrongtime and it should have been donea while ago.

“In my opinion such action

Afridi top pick at CaribbeanPremier League draft

ISLAMABAD—Allrounder Shahid Afridi was among thehighest-profile overseas players picked at the CaribbeanPremier League 2015’s players draft, in Jamaica.

Other playersincludes JacquesKallis, batsmenM a h e l aJayawardene, RossTaylor, and fastbowler LasithMalinga.

Afridi, in the topgrade of the 11 pay-ment brackets atthe draft, wasclaimed by theleague’s new fran-chise from St Kittsand Nevis, ESPNStar reported.

M a r l o nSamuels wasamong the biggestlocal names in thedraft - several others were retained by their franchisesbefore the draft - and he was claimed by St Kitts andNevis.

The St Kitts and Nevis franchise, which replacesAntigua Hawksbills in the competition and were allowedto retain four of the Antigua squad, have also announcedthat they will be coached by South African Eric Simons,who has worked with Delhi Daredevils and the Indianteam in coaching roles.

The teams have 24 hours after the end of the draft toexchange a player with another franchise, but they canindulge in only one such switch.—APP

KARACHI—Senior member of Gov-erning Board and former Chairman

CricketB o a r d( P C B )N a j a mS e t h ic a t -e g o r i -c a l l yd e n i e dany rifta m o n gplayersand theb o a r don Cen-t r a lC o n -tract is-sue.

“There is no rift among the play-ers and the PCB on central contracts.The issue is being blown out of pro-portions in the media,” he said dur-ing his interaction with reporters hereat the National Stadium on Friday.

Sethi denies rift between PCB,players on central contract

This was Najam Sethi’s second in-teraction with the Karachi media af-ter having a press conference here inthe city over an year and half ago asa PCB head.

He negated the impressions thatdecline of Pakistan team performancein New Zeland was related to CentralContracts.

“Its not a big issue and will besettled soon. It was delayed due tothe World Cup,” Sethi said.

Najam Sethi informed that centralcontract issue is not new because itwas delayed in the past too.

“Criticism raised on central con-tract issue is unjust and not relatedto players performance,” he main-tained.

Najam Sethi, who will takeover thePresident of International CricketCouncil (ICC) in June this year, saidthat his position in ICC will be cer-emonious but he will try to work forthe interest of Pakistan cricket at theinternational.

Commenting on the selection pro-

cess and selections of players fromoutside 30 probables for the WorldCup, he said selection committeeheaded by Moin Khan was indepen-dent and PCB did not interfere in it.

However PCB Chairman can for-ward his suggestions to selectioncommittee.

Najam Sethi however did notelaborate why pacemen like SohailKhan and Rahat Ali were picked out-side the 30 probables named for theWorld Cup which created stir in themedia.

Responding to a question aboutthe 50% share in the series againstBangladesh, he said because it wasPakistan’s home series in 2012, PCBwas making revenue sharing claimswith Bangladesh Cricket Board(BCB).

He said Bangladesh team did nottour Pakistan in 2012 as per FutureTour Programme due to security fearsdespite written commitments.

At the same time, he said PCB main-tains cricketing ties with BCB.—APP

LAHORE—Pakistan bagged an injury-timewin over neighbours Afghanistan in theirfootball friendly on Friday, earning a mea-sure of revenge for their trouncing twoyears ago in Kabul.

Substitute Saadullah scored the win-ner for the home side just 10 minutes af-ter coming off the bench in front of asmall but lively crowd in Lahore.

Pakistan and Afghanistan teams lastmet in the Afghan capital in 2013, thefirst football international between the

LAHORE: Players of Afghanistan and Pakistan struggling for the ball during a friendlyfootball match at Punjab Stadium.

Pak bag injury-time win overAfghanistan in football friendly

sides in 30 years.Afghanistan won that day 3-0, at a

canter but there was no repeat on Fridayas Pakistan edged a scrappy encounterplayed on a rather patchy pitch.

Muhammad Riaz opened for Pakistanbefore Afghan striker Amiruddin Anwarlevelled on 57 minutes.

The win for Pakistan came withoutstar players Mohammad Adil andKaleemullah, who were on club duty forFC Dordoi in Kyrgyzstan.—AFP

PAKISTAN have sweet memoriesof the World Cup when Australiaand New Zealand last

co-hosted it in 1992 but theiroptimism will be temperedthis time by their turbulentbuild-up to the quadrennialevent.

Very few would havetipped Pakistan to win theshowpiece event 23 yearsago but Imran Khan’s youngteam fought back from immi-nent elimination in the open-ing round to defeat Englandin the final at the MelbourneCricket Ground.

The talented but unpre-dictable side are notfavourites this time eitherand their preparations havebeen hamstrung by injuries to their fastbowlers and the unavailability of lead-

LONDON: Ekow Essuman of British Lionhearts during his Welterweight 64-69 Kgfight against Sofiane Tabi of Algeria Desert Hawks during the World Series of Boxingat York Hall.

ICC extendswarm-up

matches with bigcrowd expected

ISLAMABAD—The enormouspublic interest in the ICCCricket World Cup 2015 hasextended to the warm-upmatches with big crowds ex-pected at some of these fix-tures from this weekend.

Organisers are remindingfans that although the warm-up matches are free to attend,everyone must have a ticketto gain entry, ICC-Cricket.com reported Friday.

Tickets for some warmup matches are still availablefor download from the tour-nament websitewww.cricketworldcup.com

There are no tickets leftfor Australia v India atAdelaide Oval on Sunday orfor Pakistan v Bangladesh atBlacktown InternationalSportspark in Sydney. Fanswho turn up without ticketswill not be admitted.

At Adelaide Oval only,South Australian Cricket As-sociation (SACA) memberscan gain entry to the mem-bers’ areas for warm upmatches with their SACAmembership ID up to thepoint where seats in this areaare filled.

A total of 14 warm-upmatches will be played from8 to 13 February in Adelaide,Christchurch, Melbourneand Sydney. Venues includeAdelaide Oval, Hagley Ovalin Christchurch, the SydneyCricket Ground and theMelbourne Cricket Ground,all of which are host inmatches in the tournamentproper.

Match and spot-fixingscandals have doggedcricket over the last fewyears but Flanagan said theauthorities in host countriesAustralia and New Zealandhad done everything in theirpower to ensure the tourna-ment was free of corrup-tion.—APP

Pakistan hope to overcome turbulentcricket World Cup build-up

ing spinner Saeed Ajmal due to an ille-gal bowling action.

“I am happythat we are notfavourites,” Paki-stan coach WaqarYounis told re-porters in Lahore.“To be very hon-est it’s big pres-sure of beingfavourites.

“We were notfavourites lasttime (in 2011) toobut we played ex-cellent cricket.

“Similarly thistime, there areteams which playon those bouncy

wickets like Australia and South Af-rica, and are prob-

ably bigger favourites than us. But wehope that with the type of resourceswe have we can do well.”

The former fast bowler was refer-ring to Pakistan reaching the semi-fi-nals in 2011 when they lost to even-tual champions India.

But that time they had the advan-tage of playing in familiar conditionsof the subcontinent, where their slowbowlers made a big impact.

Part-time off-spinner MohammadHafeez is also under the cloud of asuspect action and will need to getcleared before the tournament kicksoff on Feb. 14 and his bowling will becrucial for Pakistan in the absence ofoff-spinner Ajmal. Flamboyant ShahidAfridi, who was the joint highestwicket-taker in 2011, is expected to leadPakistan’s slow bowlers with his fastleg-spinners.

ICC approves Rahat’sinduction for World Cup

KARACHI—Cricket’s governing body Friday approvedpaceman Rahat Ali as a replacement player for injuredJunaid Khan in Pakistan’s squad for the World Cup, whichstarts next week.

The 26-year-old Ali played his only one-day interna-tional against Sri Lanka in June 2012, and was a surprisereplacement for Junaid, announced by the Pakistan CricketBoard on Thursday.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) said its techni-cal committee for the World Cup approved Pakistan’s re-quest to replace Junaid with Ali.

“Any injury or illness-based replacement requires awritten submission to the Event Technical Committee alongwith a diagnosis from a medical practitioner as to the ex-tent of the injury or illness,” said the ICC.

Once replaced, a player may not return to the squadsave as an approved subsequent replacement for anotherinjured or ill player, the ICC said.

Junaid failed to recover from a leg injury sustained lastmonth.

Pakistan will play their opening match against India atthe Adelaide Oval on February 15.—AFP

should have been taken some timeago and on a wider basis because

these guys have been there for quitesome time,” Richards had said.—AFP

ENDOMETRIAL cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductiveorgans in the US, affecting around 1 in

37 women in their lifetime. But in a new study,researchers found that drinking three to fourcups of coffee a day could reduce the risk ofendometrial cancer by almosta fifth.

Women who drink three orfour cups of coffee a day mayreduce their risk of endome-trial cancer “by almost a fifth.”Endometrial cancer is a can-cer that begins in the lining ofthe uterus, called the en-dometrium. The disease is rarein women under the age of 45,with around 3 in 4 cases in theUS diagnosed in women aged55 and over.

According to the Ameri-can Cancer Society (ACS),around 54,870 women will bediagnosed with endometrialcancer or uterine sarcomas thisyear, and 10,170 will die fromthe conditions. Though it isunclear exactly what causes endometrial can-cer, past studies claim hormonal imbalances,diabetes, obesity and an unhealthy diet aresome important risk factors.

In this latest study - published in the jour-nal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Pre-vention - Melissa A. Merritt, PhD, of ImperialCollege London in the UK, and colleagues setout to investigate how dietary factors affectthe risk of endometrial cancer.

The team analyzed 1,303 women with en-dometrial cancer who were a part of the Euro-pean Prospective Investigation Into Cancer andNutrition (EPIC) Study. The women completeddietary questionnaires, and the researchers as-

Study links coffee intake withreduced risk of endometrial cancer

sessed the link between 84 foods and nutrientsconsumed and the risk of endometrial cancer.

Endometrial cancer is slightly more com-mon in white women, but black women aremore likely to die from the condition. Womenwho are overweight or obese are 3.5 times

more likely to develop en-dometrial cancer than those ofa normal weight

More than 600,000women in the US are survivorsof endometrial cancer. Learnmore about endometrial can-cer From this, the team identi-fied nine foods and nutrientsthat could be associated withrisk of endometrial cancer: to-tal fat, monounsaturated fat,phosphorus, carbohydrates,yogurt, butter, potatoes, cheeseand coffee. Next, the research-ers analyzed 1,531 womenwith endometrial cancer whowere a part of the Nurses’Health Study (NHS) or Nurses’Health Study II (NHSII). Thesewomen also completed dietary

questionnaires.To validate their findings from the EPIC

cohort, the team assessed the association be-tween consumption of the nine foods and nu-trients and risk of endometrial cancer in theNHS/NHSII cohorts.

The researchers found that drinking threecups of coffee a day reduced endometrial can-cer risk by 19% among women in the EPICstudy, compared with women who drank lessthan one cup of coffee a day. Among womenin the NHS/NHSII cohorts, drinking four cupsof coffee a day reduced the risk of endome-trial cancer by 18%, compared with those whonever drank coffee.

Leader of the Opposition in National Assembly Syed Khurshid Ahmed Shah addressing to inauguration ceremony of “First One Day National Conferenceon Folklore of Pakistan” organized by Federal Urdu University Sindhi Department.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Martine Harlem Hamidi,French Embassy’s Counselor for Coop-eration Development and Cultural Af-fairs has said that one-year languageteaching course, offered first time inPakistan, was aimed at enhancingteaching skills as well as the under-standing and tolerance.

She was speaking at the graduationceremony held here at All ianceFrancaise (AF).

Commenting on the Embassy-funded distance learning program withAF’s collaboration, she told that elevenlanguage teachers of French and Paki-stani origin have successfully completedthe course.

The degree is equivalent to a Bach-elor of French as a Foreign Language

French language teachers’graduation ceremony

French Embassy’s Counselor for Cooperation Development and Cultural Affairs Martine Harlem Hamidi giving awaydiplomas to French language teachers at Alliance Francaise. Picture shows (L-R) Saifullah Shaikh, Feroze Sayeeduddin,Martine Harlem Hamidi, Eric Touze, Marion Rolland, Jean-Francois Chenin, Sajida Fawwad, Leroy Johns, and ShaheenSheikh.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

(FFL)/Diplome d’Etude en LangueFrancaise (DUFLE) granted by theFrench University of Maine. She fur-ther informed that acquisition of this di-ploma qualified the teachers to furtherpursue their Masters degree in Frenchlanguage teaching.

Harlem Hamidi appreciated that thecandidates continued teaching while at-tending the course. She observed thatknowing French Language was the keyto open doors of prospects in theFrancophone world. She told that FrenchEmbassy has commenced this programback in 2014 in partnership with FrenchCultural Centres in order to augmentFrench language teaching standards inPakistan. She said that was an opportu-nity available to all the teachers ofFrench Language here who possess theminimum qualification of DELF.

Akira Ouchi, Consul General of Japan and Lt. General (Retd) Mohammad Ishaq, ChiefExecutive Officer of Jam-e-Shafa Organization after signing Grant Contract at the JapanInformation and Culture Center. Parvez Ghias, Chief Executive Officer of Indus MotorsCompany Limited and other members are also present at the Ceremony.—PO photo

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) Senator Saeed Ghaniwhile expressing his grave con-cern over reports on change ofPak-China Economic Corridorroute and the commencement ofprotest in KhyberPakhtoonkhawa andBalouchistan said the emergingscenario would tarnish thenation’s unity and integrity.

It was very unfortunate onbehalf of the PMLN federal gov-ernment to ignore the key stake-holders in the decisions beingtaken on the said Corridor as theAwami National Party chief had

Pak-China Economic Corridor

Changes in route might becomeanother KBD issue: Saeed Ghani

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh Minister for informa-tion, archives and local governmentSharjeel Innam Memon said the anti-Pa-kistan People’s Party (PPP) elementswould remain defeated in elections of theSenate. The PPP was being engaged intalks with different political parties withrespect to the elections of the Senate asthe PPP always believed there was nopersonal enmity in politics while mutualdialogue was the jewel of democracy.

He said every political party had thedemocratic right for forming political al-liances; however, those dreaming of de-feating the PPP in elections of the Senatewould for sure stay unsuccessful in theirdesigns.

Those depending on Musharrafwould get nothing: Sharjeel

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The leader of opposition inSindh Assembly Shaheryar Maher said theSingh government had not provided him asecurity cover amid escalating threats andin case anything would happen to him, theSindh CM should be held responsible.

He said this while talking to the news-men at the Sindh assembly prior to thecommencement of the session of the as-sembly.

Lack of Security: Shaheryar saysCM be responsible for any hurt

Maher alleged the Sindh governmentwas minting money on recruitments inSindh Police and the merit was made anobsolete character.

Even those with criminal record andwere now being appointed for higher ranks.

He said the PPP Sindh government hadcrossed all limits of corruption. PPP law-makers were enjoying full security whilehe was lacking any security and even thedue protocol despite he was the leader ofopposition in the House.

On the question of recruitment inSindh Police as was alleged by ShaheryarMaher, the opposition leader in Sindhassembly for minting money on sale ofjobs in Sindh Police, Memon said all re-cruitments were transparent and if anyhad many proof on corruption, he shouldeither provide list to the Sindh govern-ment or he might move the court. Sindhgovernment was presently working onerecting the Special Services Unit, RapidResponse Force and others for maintain-ing law and order in the province.

On a question, the Minister said theformer President General (Retd) PervezMusharraf was more interested in goingabroad rather than playing any active rolein politics and he would leave for abroadimmediately after the federal interior

ministry would allow him. Those depend-ing on him in politics would get nothingthen.

The Minister said that the port citywas lacking required facility of fire fight-ing equipments as compared to the popu-lation of the city. The Sindh governmenthad released necessary funds for the pro-curement of fire extinguishers but theprocess was being halted due to the stayorder from High Court.

The Minister was responding to aquestion from Muttahida QaumiMovement’s (MQM) lawmaker KamranAkhtar’s attention call in Sindh assem-bly on Friday. The MQM lawmaker hadasked the Sindh government to procuremodern fire fighting equipments and es-tablish modern rescue centres.

Folk culture isour identity:

Khursheed ShahK A R A C H I — O p p o s i t i o nLeader in the National As-sembly, Syed KhursheedShah has said that the folkculture of different provincesand linguistic entities of thecountry is very beautiful andour identity.

He said that “we got greatpower in shape of `Sufism’,which should be promoted.

He expressed these viewswhile addressing the openingsession of the first NationalFolk Literature Conferencehosted by Federal Urdu Uni-versity of Arts, Science andTechnology (FUUSAT), hereon Friday.

The Opposition Leaderalso appreciated the hostingof the conference and termedit as an excellent step.

Khursheed Shah said thatthe media should give two-hour air time to the programsof folk culture and literatureto promote our folk culture,especially, among our youths.

He also called for role ofthe Ministers and Secretariesin promotion of our folk cul-ture and literature.

Vice ChancellorFUUSAT Dr. Zafar Iqbal saidthat various new programswere introduced by the var-sity during last two years,which are need of the hour,but adequate funding is re-quired for their success.

He said that the FUUSAThas improved its ranking an-nounced by the Higher Edu-cation Commission from 26to 6, due to efforts andhardwork of academic andnon-academic staffers.

Among others notables,Head of Arts Faculty, Dr.Naheed Ibrar and Head of de-partment of Sindhi, Dr. KamalJamro also spoke.—APP

a day earlier vehemently pro-tested and warned the federalgovernment to raise the matterat the United Nations. On theother hand, Jamiat Ulema-e Is-lam Ideological had also pro-tested in Balouchistan. The over-all scenario seemed to emerge asnew crisis.

The country was badly af-fected with terrorism and the ter-rorist were expanding their de-signs for converting the Sindhprovince second most hurt cor-ner of the country after the car-nage they recently carried inArmy Public School inPeshawar.

The nation had for the first

time showed unprecedentedunity against war on terror andthe PPP that always stood at theforefront of struggle against ter-rorism had fearlessly condemnedterrorist and supported the fed-eral government and PakistanArmy for the decisive actionagainst Taliban terrorist.

However, on the PMLNgovernment’s part, the practiceof ignoring the key stakeholderson certain issues of pivotal im-portance was being continued.The Ministers in PMLN govern-ment had given birth to varietyof crises such as the Petrol crisisand levy of 27 percent GST onpetroleum products by the

PMLN government were candidmanifest of one-sided tyrannicaldecisions imposed on the masses.The PPP rejected those decisionsand warned the PMLN govern-ment of severe public reactionbut the PMLN government didnot pay any heed to those warn-ings.

In this regard, the NationalHighway Authority (NHA)Chairman NHA had briefed theSenate Foreign Affairs Commit-tee yesterday on the issue ofalignment of the proposed ChinaPakistan Economic corridor. TheNHA Chairman had told theCommittee that the alignment ofthe China Pakistan EconomicCorridor from Khunjerab toGawadur via Mianwali, DeraIsmail Khan, Dera Ghazi Khan,Khuzdar and Turbat were theonly long term while in the shortterm, the new alignment fromKhunjerab to Gawadur was be-ing undertaken so as to utilise theexisting communication networkand to operationalise theGawadur port.

ENDOMETRIAL cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductiveorgans in the US, affecting around 1 in

37 women in their lifetime. But in a new study,researchers found that drinking three to fourcups of coffee a day could reduce the risk ofendometrial cancer by almosta fifth.

Women who drink three orfour cups of coffee a day mayreduce their risk of endome-trial cancer “by almost a fifth.”Endometrial cancer is a can-cer that begins in the lining ofthe uterus, called the en-dometrium. The disease is rarein women under the age of 45,with around 3 in 4 cases in theUS diagnosed in women aged55 and over.

According to the Ameri-can Cancer Society (ACS),around 54,870 women will bediagnosed with endometrialcancer or uterine sarcomas thisyear, and 10,170 will die fromthe conditions. Though it isunclear exactly what causes endometrial can-cer, past studies claim hormonal imbalances,diabetes, obesity and an unhealthy diet aresome important risk factors.

In this latest study - published in the jour-nal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Pre-vention - Melissa A. Merritt, PhD, of ImperialCollege London in the UK, and colleagues setout to investigate how dietary factors affectthe risk of endometrial cancer.

The team analyzed 1,303 women with en-dometrial cancer who were a part of the Euro-pean Prospective Investigation Into Cancer andNutrition (EPIC) Study. The women completeddietary questionnaires, and the researchers as-

Study links coffee intake withreduced risk of endometrial cancer

sessed the link between 84 foods and nutrientsconsumed and the risk of endometrial cancer.

Endometrial cancer is slightly more com-mon in white women, but black women aremore likely to die from the condition. Womenwho are overweight or obese are 3.5 times

more likely to develop en-dometrial cancer than those ofa normal weight

More than 600,000women in the US are survivorsof endometrial cancer. Learnmore about endometrial can-cer From this, the team identi-fied nine foods and nutrientsthat could be associated withrisk of endometrial cancer: to-tal fat, monounsaturated fat,phosphorus, carbohydrates,yogurt, butter, potatoes, cheeseand coffee. Next, the research-ers analyzed 1,531 womenwith endometrial cancer whowere a part of the Nurses’Health Study (NHS) or Nurses’Health Study II (NHSII). Thesewomen also completed dietary

questionnaires.To validate their findings from the EPIC

cohort, the team assessed the association be-tween consumption of the nine foods and nu-trients and risk of endometrial cancer in theNHS/NHSII cohorts.

The researchers found that drinking threecups of coffee a day reduced endometrial can-cer risk by 19% among women in the EPICstudy, compared with women who drank lessthan one cup of coffee a day. Among womenin the NHS/NHSII cohorts, drinking four cupsof coffee a day reduced the risk of endome-trial cancer by 18%, compared with those whonever drank coffee.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif presided over a meeting here todaywhich reviewed infrastructure developmentprojects especially Southern Ring Road project andconversion of streetlights to solar energy under aphased programme. The meeting gave approval inprinciple to converting streetlights to solar powerin phases.

Addressing the meeting, the Chief Minister saidthat modern and quality infrastructure is essentialfor speedy development, therefore, Punjab govern-ment is spending billions of rupees on the projectsfor development of infrastructure in the province.He said that speedy and transparent completion of

Shahbaz reviews infrastructuredevelopment projects

development projects is the policy of Punjab gov-ernment. He said that means of communication arebeing improved throughout the province under asolid strategy as it is necessary for accelerating eco-nomic, trade and social activities. He said that in-frastructure development projects have been ex-ecuted throughout the province speedily and dueto timely and quality completion of mega projectsof infrastructure development a new era of progresshas started in the province.

The Chief Minister said that Lahore Ring RoadSouthern Loop project is of vital importance andthere is a need for execution of this project speed-ily. He said that construction of Northern Loop ofLahore Ring Road has resulted in better transportfacilities to the citizens. He said that maintenance

of a high standard, transparency and speedy execu-tion of development projects is the hallmark ofPunjab government and no compromise will bemade on the construction of Southern Loop ofLahore Ring Road as well. He said that horticul-ture has been promoted in development projects fortheir beautification.

Director General LDA Ahad Cheema while giv-ing a briefing on streetlights programme in the pro-vincial metropolis informed that a project has beenevolved for setting up a separate solar park nearManga Mandi for the streetlights in Lahore. He saidthat the project will generate 20 megawatts energy.Chairman Panning & Development, Secretary Fi-nance, Commissioner Lahore Division and con-cerned officers attended in the meeting.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Pakistan Army has provided aprofessional training to the security guardsof Government College University, Lahorefor arms-handling and firing. Vice Chancel-lor Prof Dr Muhammad Khaleeq-ur-Rahmanalso participated in the training program toencourage his security guards and later helda formal meeting with 106 Brigade Com-mander Brigadier Akif Iqbal at GCU to ex-press gratitude to the Pakistan Army for theirsupport and assistance to the university.

GCU Director Facilities Yousaf Bashirwas also present. Speaking on the occasion,

Pak army trainsGCU security guards

Vice Chancellor said that it was great pridefor the Government College, Lahore that itwas the alma mater of army men of like Ma-jor Shabbir Sharif Shaheed who is the onlysolider ever who received both the Sitara-e-Jurat and Nishan-e-Haider for his bravery.

He proudly told the delegation bothPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif and ArmyChief Raheel Sharif were also Old Raviansand great respect and love for their almamater.

Talking to Vice Chancellor, BrigadierAkif Iqbal assured the Vice Chancellor thatPakistan Army would provide every possiblesupport to Government College University.

Pakistan Army providing professional training to the security guards of Government Col-lege University, on Friday.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif addressing a meeting of provincial price control committee through video conference at civil secretariat.

Railway employees taking rest at Mughalpura on railway track.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Department of MeatScience and Technology of the Uni-versity of Veterinary and Animal Sci-ence (UVAS) Lahore in collaborationwith the Agribusiness Support Fundand the USAID organised a week-long“Training of Trainers in Animal Pro-duction and Feedlot Cattle Farming.”

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr TalatNaseer Pasha chaired the concludingceremony of the training workshopand distributed certificates among theparticipants.

Over 30 practitioners from publicand private organisations from across

Ensuring availability ofquality meat a challenge

the four provinces of Pakistan partici-pated in the workshop.

Dr Michael Bradfield, Director ofthe Agricultural Business, South Af-rica, and Dr Muhammad Hayat Jaspal,Officer In-Charge of the Departmentof Meat Science and Technology,UVAS, were the resource persons ofthe workshop.

Speaking on the occasion, theVice-Chancellor said that ensuringavailability quality meat to consum-ers is a challenge and the governmenthas taken many initiatives to meet thischallenge so that consumers couldhave access to quality and hygienicmeat.

He said that the university on itspart has also taken various initiativesthrough its Department of Meat Sci-ence and is conducting trainingprogrammes for the people involvedin meat business.

He said that with the increasingdemand for export of meat/beef, thedemand for quality meat is also in-creasing in the local market, thereforethe meat industry people have realizedits importance and are improving theirknowledge and skills through thesetrainings to meet the challenges. Hesaid that the UVAS will continue toplay its role in training of trainers aswell as practitioners.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Provincial Develop-ment Working Party (PDWP) Punjabapproved two development schemesof roads sector with an estimatedcost of Rs. 1679.554 million.

These schemes were approved

PDWP approves two developmentschemes in roads sector

in the 35th meeting of ProvincialDevelopment Working Party(PDWP) of current fiscal year2014-15 presided over by thePunjab Chairman P&D BoardMuhammad Irfan Elahi.

Provincial Secretary P&DWaseem Ajmal Chaudhary, mem-

bers of the Planning & Develop-ment Board, Provincial Secretaryconcerned and other senior repre-sentatives of the relevant ProvincialDepartments also attended themeeting.

According to Spokesman forP&DD, the approved development

schemes included: Completion ofCity Roads, Gujrat (PP-111) at thecost of Rs. 932.365 million andWidening / Improvement of roadfrom Madina to Awan Sharif totallength=33.50 kms (in three phases),District Gujrat at the cost of Rs.747.189 million.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Lahore High

LHC seeks notification of speaker’sappointment as acting governor

Court on Friday adjourning hearing ofa petition against appointment ofPunjab Assembly Speaker Rana Iqbalas an acting governor sought notifica-tion for his appointment.

Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shahpassed the orders on a petition filed byAdvocate Munir Ahmad.

Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel ar-guing before the court submitted thatappointment of Punjab Assemblyspeaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal as act-ing governor was in violation of the

Constitution.The counsel submitted that there

was no provision in the Constitution fora caretaker governor in a situationwhere the sitting governor has resignedfrom office.

He said that under Articles 101-104of the Constitution the situation man-dated the appointment of a new gover-nor rather than an acting appointment.

The counsel stated that under thesaid articles of the constitution a care-taker appointment was only possible in

a situation where the office of the gov-ernor was temporarily vacant.

He requested the court to orderRana Iqbal’s removal from Governoroffice besides directions to the govern-ment for appointment of a new gover-nor.

The court after recording initial ar-guments sought notification of theSpeaker’s appointment as an actinggovernor. The court also directed fed-eral government to file reply in the caseby February 9.