Ep11december2013

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Era of suo motu comes to an endAfter heading judiciary for eight years, CJP calls it a dayZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryis not only celebrating his 65thbirthday tomorrow (Thursday),he is also doffing his robe thesame day.

Serving the country asChief Justice under three Presi-dents, Gen (Retd) PervezMusharraf, Asif Ali Zardari andMamnoon Hussain, CJPIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhrywill undoubtedly be remem-bered as the most influential topjudge in the country’s history.

Elevated as the 20th Chief Jus-tice of Pakistan in June 2005,

Chief Justice assumed an iconicfigure during the days when hewas deposed from office andlawyers as well as civil societylaunched a movement for hisrestoration.

The entire tenure of the chiefjustice remained a tumultuousone beginning with his removalfrom office twice in 2007. Hewas first deposed by the formerpresident Pervez Musharraf inMarch 2007 and a referenceagainst him was filed with theSupreme Judicial Council. Thechief justice had to leave his of-fice again the same year and was Continued on Page 7

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held incommunicado at his of-ficial residence when GenMusharraf declared emergencyin the country on November 3,2007. The CJP was eventuallyreinstated on March 22, 2009,following massive and coun-trywide public protests.

At that time, he was un-doubtedly considered a symbolof resistance against dictator-ship and corruption however,after his taking charge of theoffice in 2009, in the latteryears leaders of the same legalfraternity that had come on

Today’s issue of PakistanObserver carries a 2-PageSpecial Report on ‘Day of In-dependence of Kazakhstan’on Pages 14 and 15.

US President Barack Obama shakes hands with Cuban President Raul Castro during theofficial memorial service for former South African President Nelson Mandela at FNB Sta-dium on Tuesday in Johannesburg, South Africa.

India-Pak nuclear war to ‘endcivilization’ with famine

WASHINGTON—A nuclearwar between India and Pakistanwould set off a global faminethat could kill two billionpeople and effectively end hu-man civilization, a study saidon Tuesday.

Even if limited in scope, aconflict with nuclear weaponswould wreak havoc in the at-

mosphere and devastate cropyields, with the effects multi-plied as global food marketswent into turmoil, the reportsaid.

The Nobel Peace Prize-win-ning International Physicians forthe Prevention of Nuclear Warand Physicians for Social Re-sponsibility released an initial

peer-reviewed study in April2012 that predicted a nuclearfamine could kill more than abillion people.

In a second edition, thegroups said they widely under-estimated the impact in Chinaand calculated that the world’smost populous country wouldface severe food insecurity.

“A billion people dead inthe developing world is obvi-ously a catastrophe unparal-leled in human history. But thenif you add to that the possibil-ity of another 1.3 billion peoplein China being at risk, we areentering something that isclearly the end of civilization,”Continued on Page 7

Pakistan wants peace,stability in Asia: PMCalls for relations with India on mutual respectSHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif said on Tuesdaythat Pakistan’s government wasworking on war footing to tackleterrorism and the energy crisisin the country. Addressing theAsian Parliamentary Assemblyhere, Prime Minister Sharif saidPakistan’s parliament wasstrengthened by a peaceful tran-sition of power. He added thatAsian countries could learn fromeach other’s experiences.

The prime minister askedthe Asian Parliamentary Assem-

bly to play the role of a lynchpinto generate joint strategies toeffectively deal with the criticalissues of energy, growth andenvironment, which are com-mon to the most of the Asia.

He said on Pakistani sidethey have tried to turn a new

page with all our neighbours andprepared to look at the largerpicture and have reached out toAfghanistan and also India. Hesaid while Pakistan may succeedon its own and through its own

endeavors, the success will bequicker, greater, and more sus-tainable if it is underwritten bythe entire region moving to-gether.

Nawaz Sharif said if Asiancountries succeed to utilize theirresources in a proper way andmaintain their economic growth,they can overcome poverty by2050. He said Pakistan havinggeostrategic location is desirousto work with neighbouringcountries to give boost to tradeand economic activities in theregion. He said 3 billion people

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Govt ordered to produce 35‘missing persons’ in a week

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Tuesday ordered thefederal government to produceall the thirty five ‘missing per-sons’ before it in seven days.

The order, issued by a three-member bench headed by ChiefJustice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry, also directed the fed-

eral government to take actionagainst the persons involved inunlawful detention of citizens.

Hearing the case pertainingto the recovery of 35 ‘missingpersons’, the three-memberbench said that the court’s ear-lier orders had not been imple-mented, which was unaccept-able.

The apex court said that the

recovery of the missing personswas the responsibility of theprime minister and his govern-ment, and said that the govern-ment should stop unlawful de-tention of the citizens in the fu-ture.

The chief justice said that ithad now been established thatthe military unlawfully took

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STAFF REPORT

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Tuesday announced itsverdict in the load-shedding andpetroleum prices case and or-

No threat fromUS to hold up

funds: FOLIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—Contradictingany threat given by US Secre-tary of Defence Chuck Hagel tohold up US funds to Pakistan, ifland routes were blocked forNATO supplies, Foreign OfficeSpokesman Aizaz AhmadChaudhry said on Tuesday say-ing Hagel’s meetings inIslamabad with Pakistani lead-ership were held in a friendlyand cordially atmosphere.

In response to media re-ports, the Spokesperson said thetwo sides held in-depth ex-changes on the whole range ofissues of mutual interest. Thetwo sides agreed to work tostrengthen Pakistan-US rela-tions and reaffirmed the impor-tance of Pakistan-US strategicpartnership for peace and stabil-ity in the region.

Taking the opportunity ofSecretary Hagel’s visit, our sidehighlighted and conveyedPakistan’s deep concern overcontinuing US drone strikes,stressing that drone strikes werecounter-productive to our ef-

Army ChiefGen Raheelvisits LoCSTAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Pakistan’sChief of Army Staff (COAS)General Raheel Sharif visitedtroops in forward localitiesalong the Line of Control(LoC).

According to an ISPRpress release, General RaheelSharif appreciated the highstate or morale, operationalpreparedness and vigil beingmaintained by troops on thefront line. The army chief alsopaid rich tribute to thesacrifices of the officers andsoldiers of the Pakistan Armyalong the LoC.

The COAS was briefed bythe local formation com-mander on the prevailingsecurity situation at the LoC.

Picture on Back Page

Picture on Back Page

NA demands immediatehalt to drone strikesSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The NationalAssembly has unanimouslypassed a resolution demandingan immediate halt to drone at-tacks on Pakistani territory. Theresolution moved by NaeemaKishwar Khan and others in theHouse Tuesday, strongly con-demned the US drone attackssaying these constitute violationof the principles of the Charter

of United Nations‚ internationallaws and humanitarian norms.

Speaking on the resolutionMinister for States and FrontierRegions Lt General [retired]Abdul Qadir Baloch said the in-cumbent government hasstrongly opposed the dronestrikes from day one and main-tained that these amount to vio-lation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.He said the government is us-

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Dar, bankers discuss stepsto overcome forex crisisReserves to touch $ 20 b mark in 3 years

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — S e n a t o rMohammad Ishaq Dar Federalfinance Minister, says the gov-ernment has a clear road map tobuild foreign exchange reservesup to $ 20 billion in the next 3years.

Ishaq Dar said this in ameeting with the heads of Com-mercial Banks here on Tuesdayand exchanged views on the cur-rent economic, monetary andfiscal situation of Pakistan.

In his opening remarks theFinance Minister said that theGovernmenthas constituteda steering com-mittee whichwill submit itsrecommenda-tions for pro-motion of Is-lamic Bankingin the countryby 31st De-cember, 2014.This will providepolicy framework for Islamic

Banking in the country. The con-stitution of the Steering commit-tee and its terms of referencehave already been notified andreleased to the media, he added.

The Finance Minister saidthat we have to work togetherto keep the forex market stableand acknowledged the help andcooperation extended by Com-mercial Banks in discouragingthe speculators which is evidentfrom the fact that the inter-bankrate today closed at Rs.107.78

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Court orders cut in POL pricesDeclares 9 pc GST on CNG unlawful

dered the relevant authorities toreduce power outages and petro-leum tariff. The decision wasmade by a three-member benchin Islamabad.

While announcing the ver-

dict, the court stated that theNational Electronic PowerRegulatory Authority and Paki-stan Electric Power Companyshould install smart meters for

World unitesfor Mandela

memorialObama shakes

hands with Castro

SOWETO—President BarackObama on Tuesday shook handswith Raul Castro, leader ofAmerica’s Cold War foe Cuba,in a rare gesture at the memo-rial service in South Africa forNelson Mandela.

Obama offered the hand-shake before taking the stage toeulogise Mandela, but minuteslater, made a clear swipe at stateslike Cuba, saying those who pro-claim Mandela’s legacy musthonour its meaning by easingcurbs on freedom.

The handshake betweenObama and the brother who tookover the duties of longtime Cu-ban President Fidel Castro wasseen by millions around theworld on live television and wasconfirmed by a senior US offi-cial to AFP.

The Cuban government

Karzai lashesout at US‘threats’PARIS—AfghanistanPresident Hamid Karzai lashedout at the United States,accusing it of making threatsin the dispute over anagreement to keep U.S. troopsin the country beyond 2014.

In an interview publishedTuesday by the French dailyLe Monde, Karzai says theU.S. is “absolutely” acting likea colonial power in itsattempts to force him to signthe bilateral security agree-ment by the end of this year.The paper quoted him assaying: “The threats they aremaking, ‘We won’t paysalaries, we’ll drive you into acivil war.’ These are threats.”

Washington and NATOofficials say the pact is critical BD court stays

JI leader’sexecution

DHAKA—Bangladesh’s highestcourt on Tuesday halted the ex-ecution of a top Islamist just 90minutes before he was to be-come the first person executedfor war crimes committed dur-ing the country’s bloody inde-pendence fight.

Supreme Court chamberjudge Syed Mahmud Hossain

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Karachiviolence claimsten livesKARACHI—The metropoliswitnessed yet anothersanguinary day with tenkillings in different areasduring last 24 hours.

Some unknown killerssprayed bullets on a vehicle inNew Karachi area of Godhra,killing owner of a food center,Abdus Samad, on the spot.Beheaded body of a 20-yeargirl was found from NorthernBypass. The deceases couldnot be identified as yet.

A 60-year man Aftab wasgunned down in Arambagharea of the city. Another manwas injured in a firing incidentin Preedy. Meantime, two

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SIALKOT: People collecting forms of Prime Minister’s Business Loan Scheme.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Federal RailwaysMinister Khwaja SaadRafique said on Tuesday thatIslamabad was ready to offerits road and rail routes to allregional countries includingChina, India, Iran, Afghani-stan, Turkey, Bangladesh andup to Central Asia.

He was talking to the me-dia after addressing the “Re-gional Conference onStrengthening Transport Con-nectivity and Trade Facilita-tion in South and South-WestAsia” jointly organized byUnited Nations Economic andSocial Commission for Asiaand Pacific (UNESCAP) andMinistery of Commerce, Gov-ernment of Pakistan, at a lo-cal hotel.

Opening up of the trade

Islamabad ready to offer its road,rail routes to all regional countries

corridor, Khawaja observed,was in the best interest of Paki-stan, citing, if these states usedour roads and railway tracks, itwould generate huge revenues,which was the lifeline of theeconomy of a country. He sai,d“We have to watch our inter-ests, as we have to eradicatepoverty, terrorism and extrem-ism for which an improved andvibrant economy is of vital im-portance.”

Saad Rafique added thatPakistan needed to exploit twomain and significant resourcesi.e. its unique geographical po-sition and human resource of180 million.

He said that opening up ofthe trade route for India was alsoin favour of Pakistan, assertingthat nations, which had buriedtheir centuries-old feud and dif-ferences, had met a definite suc-

cess and developed a lot. “Butwe are still lagging 200 yearsbehind the developed world,therefore, we have to shun or-thodox thinking to move for-ward on all fronts,” he main-tained.

In his address at the confer-ence, the Federal Minister saidthat South, South-West Asia(SSWA) consisted of about halfof the world population and richwith huge mineral deposits be-sides, having importance as abridge between the North andSouth but its intra-regional tradewas negligible. During fiscalyear 2008-9, the intra-regionaltrade in South Asia was mere 5percent of the global trade,which was far below its poten-tial, he cited.

Though China, India, Tur-key and Pakistan are nowemerging economies and there

existed several trade agree-ments among them, their intra-trade (import and export) wasvery low, he mentioned.

Khawaja Saad Rafiquestressed the need for exploringand taking optimal benefits ofthe regional trade potential andSAAR, ECO and UNESCAPwould have to play a more ef-fective role in this regard.

He said the PML-N gov-ernment was playing an emi-nent role in establishment of asub-regional transnationaltrade corridor and economiczone.

The Pakistan government,Khawaja added, was focusingand working on national andregional connectivity to con-nect China, India, Central Asia,Middle East and Europe whilework on Gwadar Port was inprogress expeditiously.

KP mineralresources to be

displayed inCanada: ZiaullahPESHAWAR—Special Advisorto Chief Minister KhyberPakhtunkhwa Ziaulllah Afridihas said that efforts will be madeto acquire a stall or booth forshowcasing KP mineral poten-tial at the Prospectors & Devel-opers Association of Canada(PDAC), a four-day annual Con-vention (March 2-5) held inToronto, Canada.

Talking to a Canadian del-egation at the PakhtunkhwaHouse Monday evening, he saidthat after the passage of 18thConstitutional Amendment,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has anopportunity to explore its min-eral potential and Canada canprovide a lot of help to thisProvince in transfer of skill,technology, legislation and re-sources.—APP

Umeed SpecialSchool a ray of

hope for disabledSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Prominent Physi-cian and Minister for SocialWelfare and Women Develop-ment Khyber Pukhtunkhwa DrMehar Taj Roghani has stressedthe need for equipping SpecialChildren with equation so thatthey could positively contributein the uplift of Society and Na-tional Development.

She expressed these viewsas a chief guest in a ceremonyorganized by Umeed SpecialEducation School under the aus-pices of Peshawar GarrisonTroops Welfare CommunityComplex (PGTWCC) in con-nection with international day ofpeople with disability.

Speaking on the occasionBegum Corps CommanderLieutenant General KhalidRabbani also said that UmeedSpecial School was the ray ofhope for those children who areneglected in our society due tocertain deficiencies. To promotehealthy activities and to providecongenial environment to thesespecial children this school hasbeen established.

The Pak army, it may bementioned, has been striving tobring the special children back inthe main stream. Special childrenalso presented different tabloswhich were greatly applauded bythe audiences.

STAFF REPORTERS

LAHORE—Small and MediumEnterprises Development Au-thority (SMEDA) Website(www.smeda.org.pk) estab-lished new records of popular-ity among the masses and espe-cially the youth, as the PrimeMinister announced the YouthBusiness Loan scheme on De-cember 07, 2013. In just twodays, after the announcement ofthe scheme, more than one (1)million Pre-feasibility studieswere downloaded from SMEDAwebsite taking the total numberof downloads to over a phenom-enal 2.1 million! In fact the glo-bal ranking of SMEDA website,with content in both English andUrdu, has improved from505,489 to 79,488 and it nowranks in the top 450 websites inPakistan, moving from 15,764to 449 in a short span of 3

2.1m pre-feasibilities downloaded from websiteWomen show overwhelming responseto business loan programme: SMEDA

months. These downloads havebeen recorded in over 200 citiesand towns all over Pakistan.

SMEDA has been given thelead advisory role in implemen-tation of the Prime Minister’sYouth Business Loan scheme.The 56 Pre-feasibility Studies,related FAQs, Financial calcu-lators pertaining to loan repay-ment, balance sheet, incomestatement, and cash flow state-ment, Business Plan Guidelines/ Template and Training VideoDocumentary on ‘How to de-velop a Business Plan’, alongwith other related informationmaterial, has been specificallydesigned to cater to the needs ofloan applicants, and to assistthem in benefitting from thescheme, from the comfort oftheir homes through accessingSMEDA Website. Loan appli-cants are also being facilitatedthrough the 25 helpdesks estab-

lished by SMEDA in 16 citiesacross Pakistan.

PESHAWAR: The womenof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa andFederally Administered TribalAreas (FATA) are showing out-standing response in PrimeMinister ’s Youth BusinessLoans programme with a mis-sion to take full advantage of thisopportunity and play positiverole in the national development.

Ali Gohar, Incharge PMYouth Business Loan Programme,SMEDA Desk Peshawar told APPon Tuesday that response ofwomen from across KhyberPakhtunkhwa and FATA is tre-mendous and very positive. Hesaid women from Chitral to DIKhan and Kohistan to Peshawarare contacting SMEDA officesand regional centres about differ-ent aspects of this beneficial pro-gram including business schemes,operational and financial plans.

Govt offersinternship to

20,000educated youthDERA GHAZI KHAN—Divi-sional CommissionerMuhammad Ameen Chaudhryhas said the government willoffer internship to 20,000 edu-cated youth, their age rangingfrom 16 years to 30 years.

Addressing a meeting onPunjab Youth InternshipProgramme 2013-14, he saidthat youngsters would be pro-vided with Rs 12,000 permonth. The internees wouldget the honoraria through easypay card from the bank ofPunjab.

He said that 16,000 young-sters would be imparted train-ing in private institutions and4000 in government institu-tions. The educated youth ofdifferent disciplines includingin technicians, livestock, agri-culture, pharmacy, computerscience and others would beoffered internship for a periodof six months.

The internship programmewould commence from January1st to June 30, 2014.

Additional secretary sportsJaved Akhtar Mehmood, DCOAsif Qureshi, ADC RajanpurMuhammad Ameen Owaisiand others were alsopresent.—APP

Political, fiscal and administrative autonomy must for effective LGsOBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Provincial lawson Local Government system donot provide for adequate politi-cal, fiscal and administrativeautonomy, without which localgovernance will remain weakand therefore LG laws should bereviewed. This was the consen-sus view of speakers at thePILDAT Inter-ProvincialRoundtable on Local Govern-ment Laws yesterday.

Speaking on the occasion,Shahid Hamid, Senior AdvocateSupreme Court, said that effec-tive local government was notpossible without fiscal au-tonomy. Provincial Govern-ments’ role in LG system shouldbe reduced to the level of pro-viding policy guidelines only,adding that the current Provin-cial Local Government Laws

provide excessive role and arbi-trary powers to Provincial Gov-ernments.

He also advised against theexcessive role provided for bu-reaucracy in the LG systems.Hamid said that minimum devo-lution of powers has been pro-vided in the Punjab Local Gov-ernment Act 2013 as key sub-jects such as health and educa-tion have been left under thepower of the Provincial Govern-ment. He recommended that aminimum level of fiscal guaran-tee should be given to provinces,such as provinces should say acertain percentage of their re-spective budgets would be ear-marked every year for the use ifLG systems. Delimitations, herecommended, should be dealtwith by an independent Provin-cial Local Government Delimi-tation Authority, with a direct

right of appeal to High Courts.The term of office for LGs,

different in each province, alsorequires a re-think. Ahmed BilalMehboob, President PILDAT,said that while provinces havebrought respective Local Gov-ernment laws but the FederalGovernment has not yet intro-duced LG laws for FATA, whilethe LG laws for ICT and Can-tonments have only just beenintroduced in the Parliament.

Abdul Qadir, of FES-Paki-stan, said that unlike the pastwhen local governments weredevised to centralize and legiti-mize political powers in thecentre at the expense of theelected provincial and federaltiers; there should exist no suchapprehension now. Instead thelocal government system of thepolitical governments needs tonow open up participatory

spaces for the citizens, and toincrease their access to socialand political rights and enablethem to hold the state directlyaccountable.

Sharing PILDAT’s perspec-tive at the Forum, Ms. AasiyaRiaz, Joint Director PILDAT,said that establishment of an ef-fective Local Government sys-tem suffered inordinate delay atthe hands of outgoing Govern-ments and Assemblies between2008-2013. The LG laws nowpassed by 4 provinces, largelyas a result of pressure by theSupreme Court, provide a mile-stone just by providing forelected political ownership at thelocal level.

However, broadly, the 4laws are limited in scope andexcessively deferential to Pro-vincial Governments. All 4 lawslargely do not provide any mean-

ingful devolution of financial,political and administrativepowers.

Sharing recommendationsfor reform, she said that directelections to all offices of Lo-cal Governments with neces-sary political process should beprovided in the Local Govern-ment system. Delimitation forLG should be undertaken by anindependent body and munici-pal functions should be de-volved to lowest tiers of LGsystem. Local Councils shouldbe fiscally empowered andcomposition of Local Govern-ment Commissions should bebalanced. Dr. Arif Alvi, MNA,Chief Whip PTI in the Na-tional Assembly; Dr. ShehlaRaza, MPA, Deputy SpeakerProvincial Assembly of Sindhand Senator Jehangir Badaralso spoke on the occasion.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The World Bankteam comprising of Bill Young,Program Leader (SAWI), Chris-tina Leb, Senior Water ResourcesSpecialist and Mr.Javaid Afzal,Senior Environmental specialistmet with the Chairman, PARChere at PARC (HQs) Islamabadin connection with South AsiaWater Initiative (SAWI). SAWIis a multi-donor partnership be-tween the World Bank and theGovernments of Australia, Nor-way and the United Kingdom.

SAWI’s goal is to increaseregional cooperation in the man-agement of the Himalayan Riversystems and support sustainable,

SAWI’s goal is to increaseregional cooperation

fair and inclusive development,and climate resilience. SAWIseeks to promote the goals ofpoverty reduction, economic de-velopment, mitigation and adap-tation to climate change and wa-ter security through significantand measurable improvements inwater resources management anddevelopment at the regional, in-ternational basin and national lev-els in South Asia.

The Purpose of the team visitwas to explore the water re-sources development and man-agement issues in Indus basinsystem’s and identify partners forcollaborative work.

Dr. Nadeem Amjad, Mem-ber (NRD) and Acting Chairman

PARC briefed about PARC’snetwork for carrying out re-search work in different regionand ecologies. Mr.MuhammadYasin, Director CAEWRI andMr. Zakir Hussain Dahri, PSO,CAEWRI presented the waterresources management chal-lenges in the Indus basin,PARC’s endeavors to addressthese issues and future plan ofaction. The world bank teamappreciated the comprehensivework being carried out byCAEWRI, PARC and expresseda hope for joining hand in fu-ture to work for the issues re-lated to water resources devel-opment and management inIndus Basin system’s.

ISLAMABAD: Dr Nadeem Amjad, Member NRD and Acting Chairman PARC presidingover a meeting with World Bank delegation, headed by Bill Young (New Delhi) and Chris-tina Leb (USA) at PARC.

QUETTA—Pakistan (UNHCR)– Niamatullah, at the age of 11is not only struggling to main-tain good grades at school but isalso helping his father finan-cially to support the family ex-penses. On weekends he goes tothe nearby onion crops and getspaid in onions and Rs. 20 a day(less than $20).

Niamatullah and his familylive in abject poverty inMuhammad Kheil Refugee Vil-lage, in Pakistan’s southwesternprovince of Balochistan. Therefugee village is situated 70kmnorth of the provincial capitalQuetta in the middle of a semi-desert. Home to some 5,000people, the majorities of resi-dents are daily-wage labourersand barely make ends meet. Insuch a low-income state, educa-tion is often deemed as a “richman’s luxury.”

There was a time whenNiamat’s family thought hiswork picking onions from thefields of local farmers wasmore beneficial for the fam-ily than his education. Hisfamily simply could not coverthe costs of the uniform andsupplies even though therewas a school not far away.

Young refugee passionateabout getting education

amid economic challengesUnder the Educate a ChildInitiative sponsored by herHighness, Princess SheikhaMoza Bint Nasser of Qatar,UNHCR distributed schoolsupplies, schools bags, uni-form, sports kits and solarstudy-lumps and school enrol-ments increased.

UNHCR across Pakistanprovides free primary educa-tion to refugee children. In theprovince of Balochistan, over17,000 refugee students(11,500 boys and 5,500 girls)in 37 schools and 13 HomeBased Girls’ Centres were as-sisted under the EAC initia-tive. In addition to this, teach-ers’ training was also includedin the education support EACproject . Niamat is happyabout his new uniform, solarlamp and new school bag.

He shows off his uniformand said that it felt like he wasgoing to a “real” school. He is agrade three student at PrimarySchool Number 37, in the refu-gee village. “I did not like dig-ging up onions; I would workfrom morning till noon and getRs. 20 only and some onions,maybe a kilo or two, and bringthem home.

OGDCL developing 6projects in Sindh,Balochistan, KPK

ISLAMABAD—Oil and Gas Devel-opment Company Limited(OGDCL) has accelerated explo-ration activities and speedy devel-opment of new discoveries andcurrently the company is workingon six projects to meet the grow-ing domestic demand, a documentsaid.

According to a OGDCL docu-ment, in these developmentprojects include Unar PasakhiDeep and Tando Allah Yar FieldDevelopment Project (KPD-TAY),Sinjhoro, Uch-11, Jhal Magasi,Nashpa Mela and Sara West.

Out of these six projects, threeare located in Sindh, two inBalochistan and one in KhyberPakhtoonkhwa, the documentadded.

Talking to APP, an official ofOGDCL said the company’s finan-cial results for the year 2012-13reflect landmark achievements.This can be witnessed by the factthat company’s sales and profit af-ter tax stood to Rs223.37 billionand Rs90.78 billion respectively re-sulting in earnings per share of Rs21.11. The official further said thatOGDCL contributed Rs129.12 bil-lion to the national exchequer inthe terms of royalty, dividends, cor-porate tax, general sales tax, exciseduty and development sur-charge.—APP

Govt reformsagenda aims tosolve people’sproblems: CS

PESHAWAR—Chief SecretaryKhyber Pakhtunkhwa MuhammadShehzad Arbab has said that thePTI government according to itscomprehensive reforms agenda totransform government into a trueservice entity for the citizens hasconstituted working groups in pro-vincial departments to achieve theobjectives.

The Reforms Implementa-tion Cell (RIC) had also beencreated to coordinate the effortsof working groups to accom-plish the mission of the govern-ment. This he said while ad-dressing the workshop regarding“Retreat on Reforms” atPeshawar on Tuesday.—APP

Loan scheme to bring change in lifeISLAMABAD—Minister of State for Na-tional Health Services, Regulations andCoordination, Saira Afzal Tarar on Tues-day said that the Youth Business LoanScheme will bring a positive change inthe life of country’s youths. Talking toAPP, the minister said that efforts arebeing made to make youth self-sufficientand the present government of PakistanMuslim League (N) is pursuing thepolicy to bring prosperity in their life.

She said that Prime Minister’s Youth Loan Programmewould help overcome unemployment in the country. Sheadded the programme would focus on specially rural areasas a major part of population was facing economic andunemployment problems. She said Rs 100 billion has beenallocated for this programme during the current financialyear and in the first phase one hundred thousand unem-ployed youth would be given loans through ballot. Theminister said that there would be complete transparency inthe award of loans and an effective monitoring mechanismwill be developed to keep a check on loan award processso that merit was ensured. She said the concerned au-thorities of the National Bank of Pakistan and the FirstWomen Bank Limited would decide the eligibility of theapplicants in a transparent manner. She said contrary tobank interests on loans which stood around 25 percent,they would have to pay only 8 per cent per annum withone year as grace period while 7 per cent would be borneby the government. Expressing her optimism for brightfuture of the youths, the minister said under the Loansprogramme, the beneficiaries would be able to employ atleast five other persons in their business.—APP

Malik dissatisfied with NHA performanceQUETTA—Expressing dissatisfactionover the performance of National High-way Authority (NHA), Balochistan ChiefMinister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch the lawand order situation in the province wasnot that much grave which had forcedthe NHA to stop releasing funds for in-complete projects. According to a pressrelease, the Chief Minister said, “NHAwould have to change its attitude as ithas always subjected Balochistan to in-

justice.” He expressed these views while talking to a del-egation of Frontier Works Organizations (FWO) led by itsDirector General, Major General Engineer Muhammad Afzal.NHA officials were also present in the meeting. The delega-tion informed Chief Minister Balochistan about the pace ofconstruction work of national highways in the province.The Chief Minister said the projects of highways that wereto be completed six years back were still incomplete due tolukewarm response of NHA. Dr Abdul Malik Baloch said,“If four important highway projects are completed, a hugechange can be witnessed in the infrastructure of the prov-ince.” He said that he had met Prime Minister MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif and Finance Minister Ishaq Darwho had assured early provision of funds. He said thatdelay in completion of work on national highways was caus-ing negative impacts on economy of the province as timelycompletion of Quetta-Chaman, Hoshab-Nag, Loralai-Rakhniand Zhob-Danasar projects were inevitable for strengthen-ing of provincial economy. The Chief Minister directed forearly completion of Quetta-Chaman Highway as funds forthis highway were allocated.—APP

PTI fails to bring changeISLAMABAD—Central Spokesman ofAwami National Party’s (ANP) ZahidKhan on Tuesday criticized the role ofPakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) saying thatthe PTI government had totally failed tobring change in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.Talking to reporters outside the ParliamentHouse here, the ANP Senator said thatdespite promises of bringing change theprovincial government had failed badlyto materialize its promises made with the

masses in its election campaign. He blamed that the sit-instaged by the PTI and its allies in the KPK had affected around500,000 transporters, adding that Imran Khan’s party waspushing the country towards a state of anarchy and that thepolicies of his provincial government were anti-Pakhtun. Hesaid that despite being in power for six months, the PTI hadfailed to take the necessary steps for holding local govern-ment elections in KPK adding that the nationalists inBalochistan were more democratic and had ensured the hold-ing of a local government elections in that province. Senatoralso alleged that the KPK government had failed to establishpeace and eliminate corruption from the province. AwamiNational Party Balochistan office bearers Monday demandedthe government to ensure safe release of the party’s formerBalochistan president Arbab Abdul Zahir Kasi. Talking toAPP here, ANP Balochistan senior leaders Malik UsmanAchakzai and Abdul Rashid Nasir said non-recovery of AbdulZahir Kasi was causing restlessness among the party work-ers and citizens. They urged the government for ensuringsafe release of Nawab Abdul Zahir Kasi, besides launching acrack down against the gangs involved in kidnapping forransom and other incidents of crime. Unidentified armed menhad kidnapped on gunpoint the former ANP Balochistanpresident Arbab Abdul Zahir Kasi on October 23 last while hewas passing through Patel Road in the provincial in his pri-vate car.—APP

YLS to help increase GDPPESHAWAR—Pakistan Muslim League(N) President of Women Wing KhyberPakhtunkhwa and Member NationalAssembly (MNA) Tahira Bukhari Tues-day said Prime Minister’s Youth LoanScheme (YLS) is a gift for females ofbackward areas of the country. Duringher visit to various branches of Na-tional Bank of Pakistan in Swat alongwith MPA KP Assembly Zille Huma, shesaid females of the areas should have

to take this opportunity to earn a respectable livelihoodfor themselves and families. She remarked the schemewould help eradicate unemployment from the country be-sides enabling the youth to start their own business in-stead of seeking jobs in public, private sectors. She gavespecial directions to bank managers to make the form dis-tribution system simple and trouble free so that poor de-serving people may grab this opportunity without anyhurdle. Women of various segment of society have deeplyappreciated the bold move of government for allocating50% loan to women and said the move will help womengain financial empowerment in a male dominated society.Financial experts are unanimous that the current loanscheme will address the joblessness issue, especially forthe youth. It will also help increase GDP, besides holdingback the increase in inflation and rising price of US $. “Botheducated and uneducated women are showing deep inter-est in the scheme and many of them have already obtainedforms, from the designated branches of the banks and manyof them have downloaded from website. Shahbana, whohas just completed her masters, said “It is first kind of aprogramme for the youth, in which 50% quota is for womenwhich manifests how much government is sincere in em-powering them”.—APP

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Governor En-gineer Shaukatullah has saidthat the visible change espe-cially in maintenance of lawand order in FATA and therespective settled districts ofthe province is a big achieve-ment of the government in-stitutions and now seriousefforts are afoot to ensurerapid rehabilitation and accel-erated development.

Talking to a visitinggroup of participants of 14thSenior Management course,currently in progress atKarachi based National Insti-tute of Management whocalled on him at Governor’sHouse here on Tuesday, theGovernor further pointed outthat indeed rehabilitation ofdamaged infrastructure facili-

Law, order improvement is biggovt achievement: Governor

ties in FATA is quite a hugetask and the government isdoing its best to overcomeit.

Additional Chief Secre-tary FATA, ArbabMohammad Arif briefed thedelegates about salient fea-tures of the prevailing situa-tion and the pace of progresson development programmesin FATA.

Principal Secretary toGovernor Dr. MohammadFakhr-e-Alam was alsopresent while the participantsof the course comprising se-nior officials of the autono-mous bodies of both the fed-eral and provincial govern-ments were accompanied byDirector General of the Insti-tute, Capt: ® Syed WaqarHussain.

Responding to variouspoints, the Governor said,they are actively engaged tobring socio-economicchange in life pattern of thepeople of FATA and solidsteps are afoot to make thispossible.

In this connection, heparticularly mentionedlaunching of MomandMarble City Project situatedat a short distance fromPeshawar and said, “it willprove a huge enterprise toexploit mineral wealth ofFATA, the marble reserves inparticular in the best interestof the respective people”.“We have the plan to estab-lish similar industries basedeconomic zones in rest ofFATA and the second one isexpected to be taken in hand

at Darra Adamkhel in nearfuture, the Governor said.

Referring to anotherpoint, he further pointed outthat keeping in view the avail-able resource in hand, it in-deed, seems to be big chal-lenge to materialize the desiredgoals and to make it possible,adding they are trying theirbest to manage the task in abest possible way.

Meanwhile, the Addi-tional Chief Secretary, FATAArab Mohammad Arif whilebriefing the delegates aboutsalient features of the devel-opment plans pointed outthat out of more than Rs. 18billions allocated for FATAduring the current financialyear, almost Rs.14 billion aremeant for Annual Develop-ment Programme.—APP

Petrol pumpowners

observe strikeSARGODHA—Petrol pumpowners on Tuesday ob-served a strike across the dis-trict and held a demonstra-tion for increase in commis-sion on sales.

During the demonstra-tion, office-bearers of thePetrol Pumps Associationand their salesmen raisedslogans for their demand.Meanwhile, motorists facedtrouble after suspension ofthe petrol supply while mosttaxis and rickshaws remainedoff the road as the CNG sta-tions were also closed.

Few rickshaws plying theroads demanded high faresand overcharged passen-gers. Even roadside shopsselling petrol illegally over-charged buyers and soldpetrol at Rs 150-200 a litre.

71 shopkeepers fined onprofiteering: Price controllingmagistrates during checkingthe prices of edible itemshave imposed fine of Rs56,400 on 71 profiteers.

The magistrates imposedfine of Rs 9,500 on 13 profi-teers in tehsil city, Rs 12,500on 12 shopkeepers in tehsilSaddar, Rs 18,800 on 24 shop-keepers in Tandlianwala, Rs5,500 on 11 shopkeepers inJaranwala, Rs 7,600 on nineprofiteers in Sammundri and Rs2,500 fine was imposed on twoshopkeepers in Chak Jhumra.

Meanwhile, a petrol pumpin tehsil city was fined of Rs5,000 on overcharging andless measurement.

PESHAWAR—Child RightsMovement KhyberPakhtunkhwa Tuesdaystressed upon the authoritiesconcern to remove illiteracyand provide free and com-pulsory education to all chil-dren out of schools with aminimum possible period.

Addressing a press con-ference here at press clubAizazudding coordinationChild Rights Movement(CRM), Imran Takkar fromSPARK and Ishtiaq fromKhushal Welfare said thatunfortunately 55 million Pa-kistanis of age 10 and overcannot read and write.

They said that in 25 mil-lion out of school children over

7.3m KP childrenout of schools

7.3 million children are not inprimary school in Pakistan.

The speakers on the occa-sion said that the article 25 (A)of 18th amendment in the con-stitution of Pakistan reinforcesthe government responsibilityto ensure the provision ofeducation as basic right of all.

They suggested enforce-ment of article 25 (A) in letterand spirit, increase in educa-tion budget, study of na-tional and international di-mensions, enrolment motiva-tional drive, expanding ac-cess to education to all, allo-cation of special free educa-tion funds and making a moni-toring mechanism to ensurequality education.—APP

SARGODHA: A heavily loaded passenger vehicle is parkedto attract some more passengers on Salanwali Road.

QUETTA: A view of damage caused by a blast in a house due to gas leakage in Ghousabad area.

ISLAMABAD—The NationalAssembly on Tuesdayunanimously adopted tworesolutions urging the gov-ernment to set up universi-ties in Hyderabad andSahiwal to facilitate the stu-dents of the adjacent areas.

The resolutions weremoved by Syed WaseemHussain and Rai HassanNawaz Khan, the govern-ment did not oppose.

Speaking on the occa-sion Minister of State forMinistry of Education, Train-ing and Standards in HigherEducation Eng. MuhammadBaligh-ur-Rehman said thegovernment wants to in-crease the ratio of studying

NA for varsities inHyderabad, Sahiwal

in universities matching tothe ratio of at least Turkeyand Maldives.

More and more universi-ties must be established inthe country to improve lit-eracy ratio.

Meanwhile the Houserejected the resolutionmoved by Chaudhry HamidHameed.

Deputy Speaker MurtazaJaved Abbasi referred the Billtitled to amend the Code ofCriminal Procedure 1898 (TheCode of Criminal Procedure(Amendment) Bill 2013 to NAstanding committee for lawand justice. The bill wasmoved by Muhammad AyazSoomro.—APP

Pak-China relationship hasglorious past, bright future

I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a n -China friendship has a glori-ous past as well as a brightfuture and would continue toact as a stabilizing force forthe entire region, said Am-bassador Masood Khalidhere earlier Tuesday.

In his his keynote speechat the prestigious Fudan Uni-versity in Shanghai on‘Pakistan’s Foreign Policywith Special Reference toChina’, Ambassador Khalidsaid Pakistan’s relationshipwith China commanded aunique place in Pakistan’sforeign policy and strategiccalculus, says a message re-ceived here from Shanghai.

Tracing the historic evolu-tion of Pakistan’s foreign policy,the Ambassador said Pakistanhad faced enormous chal-lenges since its birth in 1947.

“It was a brand newcountry that had to developits economy, industry andgovernment structures fromscratch,” AmbassadorKhalid noted.

At the same time, Paki-stan was a small country in avolatile region and faced witha hostile neighbour manytimes bigger in its size in eco-nomic and military muscle.

This forced Pakistan toconcentrate its energies and fi-nancial resources into safe-guarding its independenceand territorial integrity. As aresult, the quest for securitybecame an important driver ofPakistan’s foreign policy andhas continued to shape thecountry’s response to key for-eign policy challengesthroughout its history. Ambas-sador Khalid said another fo-cus of Pakistan’s foreignpolicy is on complementingthe country’s economic anddevelopment agenda, addingthat Pakistan is a developingcountry strategically situatedon the intersection of South,West and Central Asia.

Pakistan, he said wasblessed with a large numberof young population and richnatural resources.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The Chief Min-ister Khyber PakhtunkhwaPervez Khattak okayedRs.300 million for the recon-structions and rehabilitationof communication network inChitral district. Off thisRs.150M will go to roads andbridges and 150 million ru-pees will be released to re-store irrigation channels andconstruction of spurs andprotection walls.

He revealed that his gov-ernment was going to an-nounce a new lease policysoon with a regulatory mecha-

Rs300m for rehabilitation of Chitralcommunication network okayed

nism and putting some safetywalls so that the billion of min-erals should not be exploitedby unauthorized and the wast-age of precious wealth isblocked for good. He also un-derlined the need of scientificexploration of mineral wealthChitral and utilizing its incomefor welfare of the locals.

He was chairing reviewmeeting on rehabilitation offlood affected infrastructurein Chitral at CM SecretariatPeshawar. The meeting be-sides administrative Secre-taries of all the concerneddepartments and district ad-ministration authorities was

attended by MNA fromChitral Iftikharuddin, MPAsGhulam Muhammad, FoziaBibi, Economic Advisor toCM Rafaqatullah Baber, lo-cal elite Rehmat Ghazi, SajjadAhmad Khan, Abdul Latifand others.The Chief Minis-ter said that the developmen-tal and public welfare initia-tives would be in the presentfiscal space of the province.

However he said that ratio-nality would prevail and therewould be no exaggeration inany sector. He said financialdiscipline would be maintainedand every penny would bespent on public welfare.

ISLAMABAD—Mainly coldand dry weather is expectedin most parts of the country,however, isolated rain andthunderstorm is likely inRawalpindi and Islamabad onWednesday.

Partly cloudy weatherwith chances of light rain (withlight snowfall over the hills)is expected at isolated placesof Malakand, Hazara divi-sions and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Foggy conditions wouldprevail at scattered placesover upper Punjab includingLahore, Gujranwala and

Rain, thunderstormexpected in twin cities

Faisalabad divisions, duringmorning hours.

According to Met office,a

shallow westerly wave is stillprevailing over northern partsof the country and likely topersist during next 24 to 36hours.—APP

Hagel fuelsanti-drone sentimentsIN a complicated relationship and during times of crisis, high level

visits, usually, lead to improvement in the situation and that is whythere were expectations that irritants between Pakistan and the United

States would lessen, if not removed, as a result of day-long visit of De-fence Secretary Chuck Hagel. However, at the end of the day, accordingto all estimations, the visit has estranged the relationship further mainlybecause of unfriendly attitude of the guest, who went to the extent ofhurling threats of choking financial aid to Pakistan at a time when thecountry is facing the crunch.

American Embassy in Pakistan has, for the last several years, launchedan aggressive PR exercise to improve image of the United States in Paki-stan through a well coordinated programme encompassing initiatives topromote people-to-people contacts, exchange programmes and a mediacampaign but the progress so made is unfortunately undermined by un-canny moves by Washington and that too at highly inopportune time.Sentiments in Pakistan in general and frontline KP Province in particularare running high due to drone strikes that have recently been extended tothe settled areas and have spoiled the prospects of peace talks with Talibanthat both PML-N and PTI had committed during their election campaigns.As the United States was unwilling to listen to the verbal protests or feelsorry for the injured sentiments of people of Pakistan, the PTI has taken theprotest to the next stage by blocking NATO supply lines through the Prov-ince. An official handout issued after meeting of Hagel with Pakistani lead-ership did claim that the Pakistan side raised the issue of drone attacks butironically not only the other side did not budge an inch from the statedarrogant position but instead warned that the country could lose billions outof Coalition Support Fund if the issue of suspension of supplies was notresolved instantly. The ultimatum has not gone well with the people ofPakistan as it has added fuel to the fire and its implications would not begood for both sides. This sheer arms-twisting is counter-productive for thecause of peace in the region so proudly espoused by Obama administration.As for threats to stop payments from CSF, we would point out that this is nocharity and Pakistan Government may seriously consider the policy of ‘noexpenditure, no reimbursement’ vis-a-vis war on terror.

Another formerPresident in the dock

WHILE the government is all set to frame charges against formerPresident Pervez Musharraf, it has emerged that the Accountability

Court in Islamabad has summoned another former President Asif AliZardari in a reference filed by National Accountability Bureau. Thus thetwo former Heads of State are now in dock, will be running from pillar topost to defend themselves and their cases will get media attention.

The emerging scenario has two aspects: As a matter of principle who-soever commits wrong should be tried as that would have a deterrenteffect and secondly it is necessary that it should not give the impressionof political victimisation. These aspects cannot be ignored because in thepast former rulers were tried for a long period of time on different chargesbut ultimately either the charges could not be proved or the cases wereput under the carpet, for lack of evidence. Also due to these trials withexcessive media attention, the image of the country suffers abroad. Weneed to learn from the countries that have moved fast in economic develop-ment as they left behind the retrogressive practices and paid attention toachieve a bright future for their people. Cases against former President AsifAli Zardari could not be proved in the past, they lingered on, created politi-cal animosity and the same can be expected now as according to indicationsthere would be no witnesses. These cases were closed after his election asPresident and NAB should have been extra careful in reopening them aftercollecting necessary proofs, as there would be obvious apprehensions ofraising political temperature and heart burning. At a time when the countryis in the midst of dealing with crisis after crisis, there is dire need forpolitical stability which plays an important role in keeping society inte-grated and in maintaining legitimacy within the state. Therefore, we wouldemphasise that the country needs stability in the political system at thiscritical juncture and anything that could hurt the system should be avoided.

Gas starvedPunjab industries

INDUSTRIES in Punjab faced worst kind of discrimination during thelast five years as far as supply of gas and electricity is concerned and it

was legitimately expected that their plight would improve but alas! Theseexpectations proved untrue. Throughout summer, industries in Faisalabadhad been protesting against non-provision of electricity and with the ad-vent of winter they would not get even gas for at least three months.

What is being done in Pakistan in the name of gas management isworst example of non-serious policy formulation and haphazard growth.For almost two decades, the successive governments had been extendinglucrative incentives to encourage transport to shift on CNG but now it hassuddenly transpired to the policy-makers that the country cannot afford towaste the precious resource of gas on transport. How could you manageoil supplies when the demand would be at the peak and your foreignexchange reserves are depleting fast? True, the agreement provides non-supply of gas to the industry for three months of winter when there ispressure on demand but you are unable to ensure uninterrupted powersupply as well. Under these circumstances, what will happen to the plansof the Government to revive the economy, go for job generation, increaseproduction and export more. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif represents as-pirations of the people by telling his foreign interlocutors that Pakistanneeds trade and not aid but the question arises how we would produce thesurplus for exports without supply of gas and electricity to the industry.The case of Punjab is particularly worrisome as it still faces discrimina-tion if seen in the backdrop of energy situation elsewhere in the countryespecially in Sindh and KP. This sense of deprivation and discriminationdoes not augur well for harmony and would serve as disincentive for the‘big brother’ to make sacrifices for small ones in other areas.

Kashmir needs comprehensive solution

Never do things byhalves.

What to doabout Syria

A STATEMENT by a UnitedNations official that warcrimes in Syria can be at-

tributed to “the highest level of gov-ernment, including the head ofstate,” has renewed the debate overwhether, when and how the UnitedStates should intervene in crisesabroad. Some critics of the Obamaadministration’s cautious Syriapolicy argue for dramatically in-creasing aid to rebels seeking theoverthrow of President BasharAssad. Others would go further,creating a no-fly zone similar to theone established in Libya before theoverthrow of Moammar Kadafi thatwould be enforced by an aggressiveair campaign. Still others — includ-ing some who oppose military in-tervention — fault the administra-tion for “legitimising” Assad by ne-gotiating with him on dismantlinghis chemical weapons program andpursuing a peace conference atwhich his government would berepresented.

But as grievous as the humani-tarian situation in Syria is, a unilat-eral military campaign by the US— even if it were supported by Con-gress, which is unlikely — couldprolong the war, exacerbate the suf-fering of the Syrian people andmake it even harder to achieve thepolitical solution that remains thebest hope for ending the violence.That the Assad regime is willing tokill innocents and violate interna-tional norms is hardly a surprise atthis point, not after the deaths ofhundreds of civilians in a chemicalweapons attack outside Damascuslast summer. Although UN investi-gators didn’t explicitly accuse theregime of carrying out the attacks,its findings strongly supported thatexplanation. This month, NaviPillay, the UN high commissionerfor human rights, suggested thatinvestigators had established a linkbetween the regime and othercrimes against humanity. Foreignfighters who support Assad, in-cluding members of the Lebanesemilitia Hezbollah, also have beenaccused of atrocities. But not allof the atrocities are being commit-ted by the regime. Some of thefighters seeking to overthrowAssad have also been accused ofatrocities. In fact, as in many a civilwar, combatants on all sides arewilling to harm innocents to achievetheir objectives.

The Syrian civil war wouldseem an obvious candidate for hu-manitarian military interventionunder the “responsibility to protect”doctrine proclaimed at a UN sum-mit in 2005 and later ratified by theSecurity Council. That policy callson individual nations to prevent warcrimes within their borders, but italso says the Security Council canauthorize collective action “shouldpeaceful means be inadequate andnational authorities are manifestlyfailing to protect their populationsfrom genocide, war crimes, ethniccleansing and crimes against hu-manity.” Those who advocate amore assertive US policy argue thatthe most humane option is to ratchetup the pressure on Assad. Thesooner he falls, the argument goes,the sooner the violence will end andrefugees will be able to returnhome. But that calculation is naive.An attempt by the US and its alliesto overthrow Assad by force wouldbe bloody and protracted and couldhave disastrous side effects, includ-ing the empowerment of Islamistextremists and a rupture in nego-tiations with Iran, an Assad ally, onits nuclear program. The US policyof providing limited aid to the rebelswhile pressing for negotiations isstill the least bad of all of the avail-able options. The US should notrule out humanitarian interventionto protect people around the worldfacing genocide and crimes againsthumanity. But it should act onlywith the broadest possible interna-tional support and participation, andonly after other means are ex-hausted. Planners should set nar-rowly tailored, achievable aims.They should have an exit strategy.The situation in Syria is heartbreak-ing. A civil war that began with therepression of peaceful demonstra-tors inspired by the Arab Spring hasresulted in more than 100,000deaths, including tens of thousandsof civilians, and has created 2 mil-lion refugees. That the UN has beenunable to contain the carnage makesa mockery of the notion of “respon-sibility to protect.” As Pillay ob-served: “The lack of consensus onSyria and the resulting inaction hasbeen disastrous, and civilians on allsides have paid the price.” But inthe absence of such a consensus,this country can do only so much.— Los Angeles Times

MEDIA WATCH

ELECTIONS in India are taking their toll on Pak-India relations. Remarks about Kash-

mir attributed to Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif during his recent visitto AJK capital triggered a diatribefrom Indian side. Though the re-marks were promptly disowned bythe PMO, the reaction continues.This indeed indicates the sensitivityof the Kashmir dispute. In India elec-tions are contested on the basis ofIndia’s Pakistan policy; this gener-ally degenerates into a competitionin jingoism between the politicalparties and individuals. Even PrimeMinister of India did not wait for theauthentic copy of remakes by hisPakistani counterpart and fired tosalvo within hours; by doing so hestooped to the level of Indian fanat-ics who lose no opportunity of Pa-kistan-bashing and keep makingmountains out of the mole-hills.

The latest remarks of Shiv SenaPresident Uddhav Thackeray to teachlesson to Pakistan through a 4th warand that such an eventuality wouldwipe out Pakistan from the worldmap and help capture Azad Kashmirare reflective of the typical Indianelectoral mindset. Venomous remarksof young Thackeray are understand-able as he has inherited anti-Pakistansentiments from his father; but kneejerk reactions from Manmohan Singhshould serve as an eye-opener forthose who never get tired of advo-cating the cause of friendship withIndia, irrespective the cost. Empha-sizing the need for Pakistan and In-dia to work together towards resolv-ing outstanding issues, the UnitedStates has said the two South Asian

nations should discuss Kashmir dis-pute directly. The State Departmentalso urged Islamabad and New Delhito keep working for improvement intheir bilateral relations. “We’ve beenvery clear that this is an issue we thinkneeds to be discussed directly betweenPakistan and India,” Deputy Spokes-person at the State Department MarieHarf said during a recent daily brief-ing, when asked about recent state-ments on the disputed Jammu andKashmir region. When asked aboutPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s sup-posed remarks that the Kashmir dis-pute could trigger a fourth war be-tween India and Pakistan, the Spokes-person replied: “I didn’t actually seethose comments, so I don’t want torespond to comments I haven’t seen.”

Advisor to the Prime Minister onNational Security and Foreign AffairsSartaj Aziz has pointed out that pres-ence of Indian forces on Siachen Gla-cier is harmful to the environment.Pakistan is facing a water shortage andIndian forces are damaging the virginsnow of Siachen on daily basis‚ whichis one of the largest sources of Paki-stani waters. Items of daily use dis-posed off by thousands of Indian sol-diers are threatening the very existenceof the glacier. Presence of Indian forceson Siachen is, indeed, a big issue andshould be resolved as soon as possible.According to environmentalists‚ gla-cial retreat on Himalayas andKarakorum ranges has acceleratedduring the recent years because of hu-man presence on the glaciers.

Indian and Pakistani troops areface-to-face at Siachen for years infreezing temperature, since Indiantroops occupied the major portion ofSiachen in 1984. Before this act ofIndian aggression, the glacier was ademilitarized zone, scarcely visitedby human beings. Pakistan had tomove its troops to the glacier as a

necessity to halt further advancementof Indian troops. Ever since Pakistanhas pursued restoration of status quoante. Demilitarization of Siachenwould mitigate the water scarcity ofboth the countries. United NationsClimate Change Conference held inPoland from November 11-22 hasconcluded that: “We’re being im-pacted by climate change right now.We have to fight sea level rise, weare looking at increases in the fre-quency and severity of storm events,so it’s about survival...this is the mostimportant decade facing mankind...What we do in the next seven yearswill affect generations to come.”

Germanwatch presented its ninthannual Global Climate Risk Index atthe onset of the Climate Summit inWarsaw. “Haiti led the list of the threecountries most affected by weatherrelated catastrophes in 2012. The oth-ers were the Philippines and Pakistan.This Risk Index ranks countries ac-cording to relative and absolute num-ber of human victims, and relative andabsolute economic damage. The reportalso published a Climate Risk Indexfor 1993-2010, with Pakistan rankedas the 12th most affected country byclimate-related events over the last twodecades. The report also noted thatPakistan has been among the threemost affected countries for three con-secutive years. Pakistan, which hadalready suffered severe flooding in2010 and 2011, was struck again by arough monsoon season, in 2012 kill-ing over 650 people. According to thereport’s assessment, extreme weathercalamities caused Pakistan lossesworth 0.7% of country’s Gross Do-mestic Product (GDP) over 20 years.

United Nations’ Secretary General(UNSG) Mr Ban Ki-moon, addressedthe “Intergovernmental Panel on Cli-mate Change”(IPCC) on September27, 2013, as world’s top climate sci-

Complement regional prosperity

DURING the Reza ShahPahlavi era in Iran from1953 to March 1979, Iran-

Pakistan relations were extraordi-narily warm. Iran supported Kash-mir cause, extended military supportduring 1965 Indo-Pak war and fulldiplomatic support in the 1971 warwith India. Iran helped in quashing1973 insurgency in Balochistan.After Shah’s departure, certainevents like Islamic revolution inIran, Jihad against Soviets in Af-ghanistan, Pakistan’s friendly tieswith the US, Saudi Arabia, and Af-ghan Taliban created hiccups in Iran-Pakistan bilateral relations owing todiffering perceptions. After a longperiod of unease, bilateral relationshave returned to normalcy. PresidentHassan Rouhani soon after takingover stated that he will strive to en-hance relations with neighbouringStates, particularly Pakistan. Issueof gas pipeline project, which is alsotermed as harbinger of peace needsto be delved upon.

When Pakistan expressed its in-ability to complete its portion of theproject due to acute financial crunch,Iran offered to extend loan for thepurpose. But by that time PML-Ngovernment took over the reins ofthe country and in Iran HassanRouhani replaced Ahmadinejad.Scared by US sanctions about whichHillary Clinton had given a clearhint, Pakistan started dilly dallyingand giving contradictory statements.While Minister Asif Khawaja statedon 11 November 2013 that comple-tion of the gas pipeline project wasa contractual obligation, Finance

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entists formally embraced an upperlimit on greenhouse gases for the firsttime; thus establishing, at least, aglass ceiling beyond which human-ity must stop injecting these gasesinto the atmosphere or face irrevers-ible climatic changes. Ban Ki-moon,spoke to delegates at the meeting, viavideo link; he declared his intent tocall a meeting of heads of state to pushforward a climate change treaty.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’srecent visit to Muzaffarabad servedas an opportunity not only to high-light what should be the fundamen-tal position of Pakistan on the coreissue of Jammu and Kashmir but hismeetings and utterances were also re-assuring for Kashmiris who havebeen waging a relentless struggle torealize their right of self-determina-tion. There have been wavering ap-proaches by the successive Pakistanigovernments— varying from apolo-getic to jingoistic. There were timeswhen Pakistan insisted that thereshould be progress in tandem on allissues forming various sectors ofcomposite dialogue, including Kash-mir; but then there was talk of grant-ing MFN status to India and enteringinto more trade without any progresson the issue of Kashmir. These con-tradictory approaches have causedharm to Kashmir cause.

Hopefully the new governmentwould continue to pursue for settle-ment of Kashmir dispute at all fo-rums. Kashmir needs a comprehen-sive solution. Such solution wouldlay to reset all smaller conflictswhich are actually subsets of theoverall Kashmir dispute—like wa-ter and Siachen. However, a begin-ning could be made by pursing abilateral agreement on demilitariza-tion of Siachen Glacier.—The writer is Consultant Policyand Strategic Response at IPRI.

Minister Ishaq Dar said on13th that Tehran was back-ing out of the project by notproviding required funds. Is-sue of pricing was raised,while some said it was tech-nically and financially not

feasible. Asking for funds was in facta stalling tactic. Finding that Paki-stan was hemming and hawing be-cause of the US and Saudi pressure,Iran too lost interest and expressedits inability to extend promised loanon account of its weak financial po-sition. Iran would not have regrettedhad Pakistan’s keenness on IP projectnot waned. The project was thus con-signed to the back burner.

On the advice of USA, Pakistanstarted to actively pursue long-termTAPI project, the commissioning ofwhich was entirely dependent uponreturn of peaceful conditions in Af-ghanistan. The ‘New Silk Route’ isdesigned to facilitate India to consoli-date its presence in Afghanistan andto further extend its influence in Cen-tral Asia by using transit routes ofPakistan. Making a rational assess-ment about the obtaining volatile se-curity situation in Afghanistan, pos-sibility of peace returning in the war-torn country even after the departureof ISAF in December 2014 is slim.Peace can return only if a politicalsettlement is arrived at with coopera-tion of Taliban and not otherwise.

Pakistan faces huge deficit ofover 2.5 billion cubic feet per day asits production stands at 4.2 billion cu-bic feet. Energy starvation has led toinnumerable problems for Pakistan.Since 2008, the people are sufferingthe pains of power and gas outagesand industries are closing down andbusinessmen are shifting to othercountries. Provision of Rs 500 bil-lion to pay off circular debt by theincoming government helped in pro-viding temporary relief to the people

but the one-time measure was a dropin the ocean and it didn’t cure the dis-ease. Pakistan needs a quick- time andnot a long-term remedy to overcomeits energy crisis. Pakistan needs un-interrupted oil and gas supplies tomeet domestic needs and to keep theeconomic engines running.

Rather than opting for diceyTAPI project, Pakistan should haveavailed the golden opportunity pre-sented by next door Iran with bothhands since it was secure andquicker to meet the immediate re-quirements of energy shortfalls.Once the envisioned IP project iscommissioned, the pipeline will in-ject 750 mm cfd gas into Pakistansystem. Pakistan could have consid-ered abandoning this project had theUS offered civil nuclear deal simi-lar to the one granted to India, or of-fered viable energy alternatives.Commissioning of IP project at atime when Iran was isolated andunder duress and urgently needed anoutlet to sell its gas would havehelped in further cementingPakistan’s brotherly ties with Iran.Forging special ties with Iran, whichis the vital backyard of Pakistan, isotherwise of high significance forPakistan when seen in backdrop ofsoured relations with India and Af-ghanistan and dangerous designs ofduo to encircle and isolate Pakistan.

Our leaders couldn’t foresee thefast changing scenario in aftermathof regime change in Iran andWashington’s efforts to woo newleadership which was more ame-nable to friendly gestures made bywest. In wake of Iran’s interimnuclear agreement with P5+1 inGeneva on Nov 24, 2013, Pakistanand Iran have begun to fast tracktheir discussions on ignored project.Pakistan is likely to renegotiate gasprices and completion date and Iranseems amenable to both. Iran-Paki-

stan connectivity is a geo-strategiccompulsion for both and hencetheir destinies are intertwined. IPproject has the potential to furthercement Iran-Pakistan relations.Pakistan should make efforts to ex-tend the project to India as well asto China to accrue maximum finan-cial benefits from it through tran-sit fee. Grant of land access to In-dia, enabling it to transport goodsto Afghanistan and Central Asiashould be linked with Iran-Paki-stan-India gas pipeline project.These inter-dependent linkages to-gether with envisaged Kashgar-Gawadar road/rail corridor willkeep Pakistan within the regionalloop and will restrain India fromapplying Chankyan tactics to harmPakistan’s interests.

Chahbahar Port should notcause Pakistan undue anxiety.Gawadar Port should be comple-menting rather than vying to substi-tute Chahbahar. Likewise,Pakistan’s influence in eastern andsouthern Afghanistan shouldcomplement Iran’s influence inwestern Afghanistan and overNorthern Alliance and Hazara com-munity. Both should conjointlywork to clear up the logjam in Af-ghanistan and play a constructiverole in establishing a broad basedgovernment in Kabul before thedeparture of ISAF. In fact emer-gence of triangular relationship be-tween Afghanistan-Pakistan-Iranbacked by USA, China and Russiawill bring lasting stability in the re-gion. Collectivization, rather thanopting for solo flight as in the caseof India, will help in eradicating ter-rorism; overcoming poverty, bring-ing prosperity and promoting re-gional harmony.—The writer, a retired Brig, isdefence analyst and author ofseveral books.

Asif Haroon RajaEmail: [email protected]

Iqbal KhanEmail:[email protected]

Voice of the People

Road accidentsBUSHRA DILAWAR KHAN

Accidents are quite common inKarachi. The drivers are so ignorantof traffic laws and so careless aboutit that they never like to look roundwhile driving even on the main roadsor while taking sudden turns. Manya time I have noticed them stoppingin the middle of the road withoutlooking back or sideways and with-out giving any signal.

One day I was going to collegewith my friend, Zobia; we were nearthe college. We heard a collisionbetween a bus and a truck. The en-gine and the body of the bus werecompletely damaged. The two driv-ers and six passenger on the buswere killed instantly. Several of thepassengers including a large num-ber of women and children were se-riously injured.

The medical aid was rushedfrom Abdul Sattar Edhi WelfareCenter. The superintendent of thePolice and other officials of the po-lice department also visited thescene of the accident. The seriouslyinjured were taken to the Civil Hos-pital Karachi. As traffic is increas-ing on our city roads day by day, itis high time for the authorities tomake necessary arrangements tostop such accidents.—Karachi

Irresponsiblecellular operators

NAIMA AZHAR

A man divorced his wife and thenafter some months, killed her. As permy findings, the cellular companyis responsible of all this. The hus-band had some misunderstanding sohe divorced her but it was not theend. Five to six month after the di-vorce, he still had an eye on her, hegot duplicate SIM of her use, whichwas registered on name of thatwoman, from an ordinary shop andgot calls and sms details from cel-lular network’s website. He was stillsuspicious in his mind so he killedher. Everyone of our area is aston-ished that how easy is to get the cel-lular privacy disclosed.

Every layman can get the du-plicate SIM of anyone from irre-sponsible shopkeepers. I strived forgetting all information of this mali-cious policy of cellular companiesin Pakistan. Cellular operators haveprovided duplicate SIM issuancefacility to ordinary shopkeepers(even sanitary stores, general stores,easy load retailers). Cellular opera-tors just need to enhance their rev-enue, having no any concern of cus-tomers’ privacy. One of the resourceof a cellular company disclosed thathundreds of complaints are receivedagainst shopkeepers’ illegal dupli-cate SIM issuance. Every customerthinks PTA as a sleeping guard.

Cellular operators claim thatshopkeepers can issue duplicateSIMs to only original customershaving original CNIC and If someshopkeeper is found culprit, he isfined; but as per my authenticatedinformation, the cellular operatorsare not fined more than Rs. 300.Extraction and retrieving of the SIMcalls and sms history from the re-spective websites give away to suchmalpractices which end up in fam-ily issues and criminal violence infamilies. Top managements of cel-lular industry are earning thousandsfrom these shopkeepers for givingthis fraud facility.—Via email

Technicaleducation

BUSHRA DILAWAR KHAN

I want to draw attention to the Tech-nical Education Department ofSindh. Science has made rapidprogress. Each country looks afterand develops its industries to theutmost. Technical education aims attraining an individual in some par-ticular branch of knowledge or trade.Technical education is the need ofthe present time because we live inthe computer age. Political freedom

Wasteful Pakistani Missions abroadALI MUHAMMAD

According to a news report, the Pakistani embassies around the world are overstaffed by at least50%. Scions of influential people get themselves appointed abroad just for the sake of fun and frolic

of it. This puts a huge burden not only on our already depleted foreign exchange reserves but also thenational exchequer built with poor people’s tax money. This foreign staff is not only incompetent butalso creates great hurdles in the way of the suffering Pakistani expatriates they are supposed to serve. Acousin of mine living in the United States in a remote city visited the Pakistani Consulate in Los Angeles,a week ago to get his passport renewed. Upon his arrival there he was told that the issuance of theMachine Readable Passports had been suspended till further notice. He could get a temporary manualpassport but that was useless for extension of his visa. This is how the Pakistanis are being in the foreigncountries so that they may not be able to continue their stay there and remit foreign exchange home. Inthis whole affair Pakistan’s Missions seem to be playing the role of a villain by working against theinterests of its own people working abroad. And foreign exchange reserves have always been Mr. NawazSharif government’s Achilles heel as is clear from the record of his previous tenures. It will be in his bestinterest to take urgent steps to purge the Pakistani Missions abroad of the black sheep, cut down thesuperfluous manpower there and improve their efficiency immediately.—Muzaffargarh

India’s Bali debacle

AFTER four days of intenseround-the-clock negotiations,the 159 members of the WTO

(World Trade Organisation) struck adeal last week that is expected to givethe global economy a $1 trillionboost. But progress toward freer tradecame at a price. Indian CommerceMinister Anand Sharma held up thedeal to extract permission for Delhito break current WTO rules that limitagricultural cash subsidies and foodstockpiling. The real surprise washow India’s backsliding provoked anangry reaction even among its fellowdeveloping countries. By overplay-ing its hand, Delhi damaged its repu-tation as champion of world’s poor.That may have important conse-quences for future WTO negotiations.

First the unalloyed good news.The core of the deal, the Trade Fa-cilitation Package in WTO parlance,aims at moving goods more effi-ciently across international borders,especially in the less-developed partsof Asia, Latin America and Africa. Itshould help streamline inefficientcustoms procedures, improve someof the world’s worst roads and other-wise foster efficiencies in cloggedports of entry. Mr. Sharma was will-ing to throw all of these benefits awayto score political points at home.Sonia Gandhi’s Congress Party,

weakened by corruption scandals, islagging in the polls ahead of nextApril’s general election. Mr.Sharma’s mission in Bali was to se-cure agricultural protectionism, acentrepiece of Congress’s appeal. Thelargesse is meant to be doled out tohundreds of millions of India’s poorvoters –from subsistence farmers tourban slum residents.

At a contentious Dec. 5 pressconference, Mr. Sharma told report-ers that he had come to Bali not “tomake a deal,” but “to secure the in-terests of the poor, as well as foodsecurity.” India was no longer a “beg-gar nation,” he insisted, and called allcriticisms of his position wrong ormisinformed. That infuriated a jour-nalist from Burkina Faso, one of theworld’s poorest countries, who at theconference shouted to Mr. Sharma,“You don’t speak for us.” WTO mem-bers like Burkina Faso recognize theycannot afford to lavish subsidies ontheir poor farmers, Indian style. Theydid not want Bali to fail.

India also lost the support of im-portant players like China, Brazil, andeven Russia. An upset IndonesianPresident Susilo BambangYudhoyono leaked to the Jakarta Postthat he planned to call Indian PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh, hoping topersuade India to be more reasonable.Indeed, the leading Indonesian news-paper hammered India all week,rightly reporting that Delhi had been“widely blamed” for the hardball tac-

Views From Abroad

tics leading to the negotiating im-passe. Mr. Sharma offended manypeers and undermined his claims tobe negotiating in good faith by as-serting that his demands were “non-negotiable.” Diplomats privatelycalled the Indian position “arrogant,”“condescending,” and “insulting.”

Said one Latin American trade ne-gotiator, “The WTO is supposed to beabout freeing trade, not negotiatingincreased protectionism.” Another se-nior Asian diplomat reminded me thatIndia’s unfortunate record of stockpil-ing grains contributed in 2008 to sky-rocketing rice prices that caused foodriots from Haiti to the Ivory Coast andIndonesia. “You can’t trust thesepeople,” he said of Indian delegation.

At the end of the day, Mr.Sharma’s insistence that India neededa permanent exemption from exist-ing WTO rules limiting agriculturalsubsidies was supported only by theusual suspects when it comes to back-ward-looking economics: Zimbabwe,Venezuela, Cuba, South Africa, andBolivia. Not that Mr. Sharma had rea-son to care. He was really speakingto Congress Party constituencies backhome. Still, the threat to torpedo theentire negotiating package was con-sidered credible enough that Mr.Sharma ended up getting most ofwhat he had wanted. The “peaceclause” in this deal allows India tocontinue its subsidies for four years,at which point the fight could startall over again. The politics of trade

Greg Rushford

DISCLAIMER

Email:[email protected]

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

—Editor

KP’s Right to Information Act

REMARKABLE approval ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Right toInformation Act, 2013 on No-

vember 1, 2013 by Provincial Assem-bly of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) isa vital step to guarantee citizen’s rightto information and ensure transpar-ency in the light of Article 19-A ofthe Constitution of Islamic Republicof Pakistan. RTI Act 2013 will pro-vide an opportunity to people of KPto strengthen democratic process byfacilitating their participation in pub-lic affairs and making the governmentmore accountable.

RTI is regarded as oxygen for de-mocracy. It is imperative for the trans-parency and smooth running of ademocratic system, good governance;reduction in corruption and to en-hance accountability in any countryof the world. Nine guiding principleson freedom of information legislationpresented by Article-19, a UK-basedhuman rights organization, are widelyrecognized as world’s best practices.It includes maximum disclosure of in-formation, obligation to publish keyinformation by public bodies, promo-tion of open government, short listof exceptions, rapid and fair pro-

cesses to facilitate access requests,cost effective procedure, open meet-ings of public bodies, laws which areinconsistent with the principle ofmaximum disclosure should beamended or repealed and individualswho release information on wrong-doing (whistleblowers) must be pro-tected under the law.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to In-formation Act, 2013 is comparativelywell composed, based on above men-tioned nine best practices and can becompared with universally recognizedstrong RTI laws. It is hoped that properimplementation of RTI laws in KPwould help ordinary citizens to accessrelevant public information in order tomake informed choices in their deal-ings with public bodies. Since all op-erations and spending of public bod-ies will be exposed to public scrutiny,there will be lesser chances of corrup-tion and professional lethargy. The lawentails proper record management,which will surely enhance the effi-ciency of public bodies, besides im-proving the state of accountability.

Among the key features of theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Right to Infor-mation Act, 2013, one significant as-pect is establishment of an indepen-dent Information Commission withina period of 120 days after the enact-ment of this Act. In other words, KPgovernment has to establish Informa-

tion Commission by February 28,2014. Information Commission willenjoy operational and administrativeautonomy. As a first step, on Decem-ber 6, 2013, the government ap-pointed Sahibzada MuhammadKhalid, a grade 22 official as theChief Information Commissioner forthree years. The government alsoannounced a search committee,which will decide two other Commis-sioners. One of them will be an ad-vocate of High Court who is quali-fied to be a Judge of High Court andthe other one will be a person fromcivil society having experience of notless than 15 years in the field of masscommunication, academic or right toinformation.

Establishment of InformationCommission on RTI is a popular trendin the world. As an independent andexclusive body on RTI, InformationCommission can bring an open andfair RTI regime in KP. EvenPakistan’s neighbouring countrieslike India, Bangladesh and Nepalhave successfully been utilizing theinstitution of Information Commis-sion for transparency and account-ability. It is hoped that KP govern-ment will not wait any more and takenecessary steps towards the comple-tion of the Information Commission,recruitment of its staff and prepara-tion of rules and regulations. The

inclusion of Secretariats of ChiefMinister, Governor, Provincial As-sembly of KP and subordinate judi-ciary in the definition of public bod-ies is a positive characteristic and isa welcome step. However, non-in-clusion of Peshawar High Court inthis list is disappointing.

Manmade laws cannot be finaland there is always a room for im-provement. So is the case of KhyberPakhtunkhwa Right to InformationAct, 2013. However, despite someweaknesses, this Act can be regardedas a sunshine law in Pakistan whichhas set an example for others to fol-low. The next step for the KP gov-ernment is to complete InformationCommission within given timeframeand to launch awareness campaign forcitizens to generate requisite demandfor accessing public information. Inaddition, there is a need to work outthe ways to discourage the ‘cultureof secrecy’ and promote the ‘cultureof openness’ in order to get real fruitsof RTI laws. KP government alongwith CSOs should seriously focus oncapacity building and education of theordinary people, political activists/workers, media persons and academiaabout how to use the right to infor-mation for public benefits.—The writer works at ConsumerRights Commission of Pakistan,Islamabad.

A FRIEND of mine calledme desperately about amonth ago, “You’ve got to

help me Bob!” he pleaded, “Mywife has started becoming verycold to me.

I suspect she is having an af-fair with her boss. He’s a verymoneyed man, and I am sure hehas won the affection of my part-ner!” With a heavy heart I spoketo the wife, “Bob,” she said look-

ing at me with tears in her eyes. “Idon’t understand why he’s blamingme. For last few years of our mar-ried life, he comes home from hisjob, ignores my greeting, shakes offmy hug, stretches himself on cot andgets up just before dinner, eats hisfood and goes to sleep. So I decidedI would stop trying to hug or greethim when he comes home!”

I laughed and thought of anotherstory: A man feared his wife wasn’thearing as well as she used to andhe thought she might need a hearingaid. Not quite sure how to approachher, he called the family doctor todiscuss the problem. The Doctor toldhim there is a simple informal testthe husband could perform to give

the doctor a better idea about herhearing loss.

Here’s what you do,” said theDoctor, “stand about 40 feet awayfrom her, and in a normal conversa-tional speaking tone see if she hearsyou. If not, go to 30 feet, then 20feet, and so on until you get a re-sponse.”

That evening, the wife is in thekitchen cooking dinner, and he wasin the hall. He says to himself, “I’mabout 40 feet away, let’s see whathappens.” Then in a normal tone heasks, ‘Laila, what’s for dinner?”

No response. So the husbandmoves to closer to the kitchen, about30 feet from his wife and repeats,“Laila, what’s for dinner?” Still no

It needn’t be her..!response Next he moves into thedining room where he is twentyfeet away from his wife, and says,“Laila, what’s for dinner?”

Again he gets no response sohe walks up to the kitchen doorjust ten feet short from where hiswife is standing and asks, “Lailawhat’s for dinner?”

Again there is no response. Sohe walks right up behind her andasks, “Laila what’s for dinner?”Laila shouts back at him, “Sameerfor the fifth time I am telling you,we are having fish for dinner!”How easy it is, isn’t it to feel theother has a problem when it couldbe you..!—Email: [email protected]

are distorted in India by the country’sfailure to take advantage of pastopenings. China and others have de-veloped their manufacturing indus-tries by exporting finished goods toNorth America and Europe. In theprocess they have created unskilledjobs for people moving off the landand into the cities. In India, by con-trast, excessive regulation, taxationand corruption prevent companiesfrom building factories. So the ruralpoor continue to demand handoutsand protection from agricultural im-ports. Most other developing coun-tries face a different political calcu-lus. As their labour force moves intothe cities, they are less concernedwith protecting grain markets andmore interested in using the WTOto open markets wider to their manu-factured exports.

That created what some are nowcalling a “South-South split.” Whileit’s not clear how this will affect thepolitical landscape in future WTOnegotiations, it was clearly evidentin Bali. The backlash against themain obstructionist power in globaltrade talks could mean that the tideis finally turning away from a “richvs. poor” mentality that has stymiedthe WTO’s Doha Round for the last12 years. The writer publishes theRushford Report, an online journalbased in Washington, DC thatspecialises in the politics of inter-national trade and development. —Courtesy: The Wall Street Journal

can not preserve without economicstability. Technical education has agreat importance in itself, because itsimportance is not only in the life ofan individual but also in the life of anation. Computer and mechanicshave entered into the soul of our so-cial life and every nation is on its wayto technology, computer age and in-dustrialization.

If our students are given techni-cal and professional education, theywould get employment in any indus-try. Some may be employed in mills,some in firms and some in otherplaces. Therefore, the governmentshould keenly realize that there arevery few technical institutions andmore technical institutions should beopened.—Karachi

F9: Is it afamily park?

M WAQAS & AQIB JAVED

Fatima Jinnah Park was constructedin the F-9 sector of Islamabad about15 years ago and was particularlynamed as a Family Park. But it is nota family park anymore. We have beenobserving unethical and highly im-moral activities going on there. Lastweekend I, with my family, visitedF-9 Park and was feeling very uncom-fortable due to some of the shamefulactivities by young couples; so wereturned in a very short period oftime. What is even worse, is that therewas no one to stop them.

As far as the management of thepark is concerned, it is not playingits role in maintaining an environ-ment where parents feel safe bring-ing their children without a fear ofthem being exposed to any inappro-priate activity. So my point is; thisentire regretful situation in F.9 Parkis disturbing its healthy environ-ment. I would therefore, call uponthe CDA to maintain some check torestore the family environment of F-9 Park and revive its formal gloryby eliminating the morally corruptpractices, so rampant there.—Islamabad

Of GovernmentHASHIM ABRO

Indeed, one of the essential functionsof a government is to save human lifeand protect human rights. But do thepresent Federal and Provincial gov-ernments abide by this obligation? Iknow human rights are beingtrampled upon without the least hesi-tation in my home Province. Peopleare deprived of education, healthcareand safe drinking water. Is there any-one to take notice of it and ask ourrulers to do something for the poorpeople in this country?—Islamabad

Think globally,act locally

M ASADULLAH KHAN

The Senate of Pakistan has taken theinitiative to host the 6th Plenary meet-ing of Asian Parliamentary Assem-bly from December 8 to 10, 2013 onthe theme of “Asian Century: Coop-eration in Economy, Energy and En-vironment”. The 3 Es’ cooperation isvery crucial for all the APA membercountries to boost their economies.The theme of the APA is very relevantto Pakistan as the energy demands aregrowing with each passing day. Al-most all other Asian countries arefaced with similar problems.

Keeping in view the challengesand opportunities, a well thought outapproach is required to be adopted forsocio-economic emancipation of thepeople living in the Asian region. Themember states need to think globallyand act locally so that concrete poli-cies could be formulated. Credit goesto both the Chairman Senate SyedNayyer Hussain Bokhari and Sena-tor Mushahid Hussian Sayed, who isthe Chairman of the organizing Com-mittee, to make this dream come true.

It is very important movement inthe history of Asia when the balanceof power is shifting from the west tothe east and it is now generally rec-ognized that the 21st century would

be the “Asian Century”. The electedrepresentatives of the people mustshape the destiny and future of Asiaso that the problems of world’s big-gest continent can be resolved by theAsians themselves. The Conferencewould not only enhance the image ofthe country since Pakistan is playinga pivotal role in the most strategicregion of Asia, but also on the press-ing issues such as economy, energyand environment, the APA wouldseek to present a way-forward.—Islamabad

Abid Sher Alion load-sheddingRAJA GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN

The other day, the Minister of Statefor Water & Power Malik Abid AliSher has told to the press reportersthat the Electricity Load Sheddingwill be ended by the end of year 2017i.e. just two months before the hold-ing of new election 2018.

In this regard, I think that MalikAbid Ali Sher is not at fault by issu-ing such baseless and fake statementsfor the purpose of re-fooling thepeople of this Islamic country of Pa-kistan. Everybody knows that this as-surance is nothing but a superfluousattempt to get some political mileage.Abid Sher Ali should understand thathe enjoyed a good reputation as apeople friendly politician in the pastand hence instead of issuing suchbaseless statements he should main-tain his previous record, help reduceload-shedding and be honest in mak-ing statement. because it will tarnishhis own reputation. He is advised inhis own interest to always serve thepeople of this Islamic country of Pa-kistan sincerely and honestly and onlythrough the road of principles, he canwin a better future for himself .—Rawalpindi

Child labourAQSA MUZAFFAR

Child Labour means to employ theyoung children below the age demar-cated by the government. “The childis the father of man.” This famousline quoted by William Wordsworthrefers to the importance of the childfor the development of society as wellas for the all-round development ofthe human race. We should never ig-nore the fact that child is the purestform of God. His innocence bringsus closer to the Almighty.

Child laborers are exploited, ex-posed to hazardous work conditionsand paid a pittance for their longhours of work. They belong to theunorganized labour force. Presently,there are more than 250 million childlabourers in our country. However,our government has laid down vari-ous guidelines to eradicate childlabour from the grass root level. Nochild below the age of 14 years shallbe employed to work in any hazard-ous employment. Childhood andyouth are to be protected against ex-ploitation and against moral and ma-terial abandonment. The State shallendeavor to provide within a periodof 10 years from the commencementof the Constitution free and compul-sory education for all children untilthey have completed age of 14 years.

However, the main cause of childlabour is poverty; poor parents puttheir children to work in order tosupplement the family’s income. Thiscompulsion forces the parents to for-get that every child has his right toenjoy his childhood. In the end, Iwould just only hope that our gov-ernment would take necessary stepsand free the children from the wor-ries of labour and hard work.— Karachi

M Shafiq AnjumEmail: [email protected]

Media role in disaster management

IN the wake of sufferings causedby natural and man-made disasters in the last couple of decades,

a new realization is taking place inthe contemporary world. There pre-vails a general comprehension tominimize the losses both to life andproperty to maximum possible levelthrough effective communication uti-lizing technology based systems.

Social scientists and experts areof the view that through a system ofdevoted international cooperation, thehuman sufferings caused by cata-strophic impacts of disasters can bereduced significantly. This coopera-tion revolves around public informa-tion & education, improved warningsystems, disaster preparedness andmitigation. These measures are aimedat ensuring improved public safety

and lower economic losses. If weobserve closely, communication is themost important means for achievingall of the above stated objectives.

Understanding the importance ofmedia communications, various hu-manitarian organizations have alsoestablished communication depart-ments responsible for strong internaland external communications andmedia relationing. As per the newcommunication techniques for disas-ter management, it is now believedthat the success of humanitarian ef-forts depends largely on theorganization’s understanding of andrelations with the media. There arecertain activities in hazard mitigationand post disaster activities which aredirectly dependent on the mass me-dia. These activities are focused oncreating public awareness about therisk and responses. Various advancedcommunication means can be usedto give early warnings, evacuation

plans and help post disaster activities.Media can play a leadership role

in changing the mindset of the soci-ety for making it more pro-activerather than reactive. It also has theresponsibility to make the messagemore valuable and credible for thegeneral public. Sensational and hypednews can give birth to another crisisin the form of chaos and fear causingmore losses.

In the last decade or so, there is aflux of electronic media channels inPakistan along with other countriesof the region. The electronic mediahas an outreach to the masses beingpresent in every nook and corner ofthe country and it is playing compre-hensive role in opinion making. Onemajor contribution that the electronicmedia can make is establishment ofearly warning systems in far flungand disaster prone areas. Radio Chan-nels can play a primary role as theyhave an outreach to most remote ar-

eas. The media contribution can leadtowards the development of a morerobust community which is moreaware and educated about the disas-ter preparedness and mitigation. Wecan see the example of Japan wherethe nation has stood united againstthe destruction of earthquakes com-ing on regular basis.

There are continuous aware-ness programmes, trainings anddrills going on which are producedand telecasted by media through-out the country. The role of me-dia is vital in the overall promo-tion of a better disaster manage-ment regime within a state. Therole of print media cannot be ne-glected as it has been observed thatreceivers of the information havemore trust on the written messagethan word of mouth. The infor-mation given in newspapers is per-ceived as reliable advice andpeople take it more seriously.

Salman KhalidEmail:[email protected]

M. FAHAD AL-HARTHI

THE Arab world is nowopen to all options and theaccelerating develop-

ments entail myriad dangers.Today, the Gulf states have anopportunity, coupled with risks.And as they say, “during timesof crises there are chances fornew beginnings.” The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) statesare facing major challenges thatcall upon their leaders to real-ize their responsibilities whiletaking decisive decision.

In politics, taking decisionsproactively is preferable to mak-ing them under the exigenciesof circumstances and necessity.

Gulf citizens live in enor-mous wealth, their countrieshaving a huge gross domesticproduct (GDP) and political sta-bility that makes them, in lightof the anarchy that has swept

across the region, an oasis of se-curity and stability.

These are positive facts but,at the same time, theirsustainability is not guaranteedespecially as the acceleratingchanges make prediction impos-sible. These changes are not lim-ited to the so-called Arab Springor the new reality it has created,or the successive crises such as theSyrian crisis and the Egyptian de-velopments. Rather, they could bethe beginning of a new chapter ofpolitical and strategic changes inthe region.

The way the US has beendealing with the political problemsin the region, for instance, has senta clear message that its strategiccommitment toward the region’sstability is taking a turning point,and its interaction with the newplayers in the Arab political arenasignaled new political directions.

On the other hand, changes in

the global energy market and theemergence of shale oil and thedeclining US dependence on Gulfoil means that foreign interestswill change according to thesevariables.

The US policy is an interest-based policy rather than a prin-cipled one. As such, Americanpolicy will change according totheir evolving interests. Also,changes in the global balance ofpower and the emergence of newpowers will impose different po-litical agendas.

Yet, the Gulf states remain theonly states that have historicallysucceeded in establishing a homo-geneous alliance (GCC), whichhas been able thus far to play animportant role in the economic,social and political harmonyamong its member states despitewhat is being said about its short-comings, project delays and mod-est achievements.

People of the Gulf, unite!

Central African Republicprepares for deployment

JACEY FORTIN

THE African Union is preparing to deploy thousands of troopsin the Central African Republic as a deadly conflict therespirals further out of control.

Residents of Bossangoa, in Central African Republic,shelter from gunfire as Multinational Force of Central Africa(FOMAC) peacekeeping troops move to try to protect thepopulation from anti-balaka attacks in the town. Dec. 5, 2013.African Union (AU) Deputy Chairperson Erastus Mwenchamet with diplomats at its headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethio-pia, to work out the details of AU troops’ deployments, lo-gistics and funding. After the meeting, he told IPS thatBurundi is the only confirmed troop supplier so far, but sev-eral other countries including Rwanda and the Republic ofthe Congo are discussing sending forces as well.

French troops have already begun deployments in thecapital city of Bangui, which was taken over by a rebelcoalition called Seleka in March. Since beginning their ad-vance across the country in December 2012, Seleka fight-ers have caused turmoil across the countryside, furtherdestabilising areas already plagued by rampant povertyand food insecurity.

In Bangui the situation has been especially dire sinceThursday, Dec. 5, Amy Martin, head of the Bangui branchof the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Hu-manitarian Affairs, told IPS. “Heavy arms were being fired,light weapons were being fired, and tensions remain veryhigh in some neighbourhoods,” she said, adding that theproblems are just as serious outside of the capital.3

“In the interior, Seleka units have taken control of terri-tories, and whoever was the commander became the law ineach town. Those people, having no support from the cen-tral government, are basically living off the population, partlythrough illegal taxation. So you end up with a bunch ofwarlords and criminal gangs.”

A U.N. resolution last week approved the deploymentof up to 1,200 French and 3,500 African troops to helpstabilise the country of 4.6 million. But following the recentsurge in violence, which has already killed at least 400people in Bangui since Thursday according to the RedCross, African and European leaders agreed at a weekendsummit in Paris to increase the number of French troops to1,600, and the number of African troops to as much as 6,000.

Regarding funding, Mwencha noted that “we have beengrateful that the U.S. and the European Union have alreadymade some indication to support these operations, and sowe are also trying to coordinate to see how their supportcan be channelled to support this mission.”

The International Support Mission to the Central Afri-can Republic, or MISCA, will be fully deployed as soon aspossible. They will join the African forces that were alreadyin CAR as part of the Mission for the consolidation ofpeace in Central African Republic (MICOPAX), a peace-keeping group first stationed there on the initiative of theEconomic Community of Central African States.

“MISCA is going to be an African mission, so all troopsbe under the command of the African forces, but there willof course be a transition,” Mwencha said. “There wasMICOPAX and there are the French, but all those will con-verge with the African forces once we’re on the ground.”

Local Seleka forces exit the Multinational Force of Cen-tral Africa (FOMAC) compound after their commander,Colonel Saleh, met with Captain Wilson of the FOMACpeacekeepers at the FOMAC compound during a lull in thefighting between anti-balaka and Seleka forces. Dec. 7, 2013.Courtesy: Marcus Bleasdale/VII for Human Rights Watch

But the CAR crisis has raised some doubts of Africantroops’ abilities to quell violence on the continent, accord-ing to Thierry Vircoulon, the International Crisis Groups’project director for Central Africa. “Unfortunately, theFrench are the only ones willing and able to do the job atthis stage. The African peacekeeping force demonstratedits ineffectiveness to secure Bangui,” he said to IPS, not-ing that the French troop deployment was welcomed byCAR and its neighbours during the U.N. summit.

At the Paris summit, leaders discussed the prospects ofsetting up a permanent African force capable of interven-ing independently in times of crisis, rather than wadingthrough the logistics of each individual deployment when-ever crises occur.“The African countries must now fulfilthe 6,000 troops ceiling for MISCA, and everybody won-ders whether they can do this, and how fast,” said Vircoulon.“The CAR crisis has reinforced the scepticism about thepeace and security architecture to say the least.”

As African soldiers gear up for deployment, the hu-manitarian situation in CAR is worsening by the day. Hun-dreds of thousands of people – about 10 percent of thepopulation – have been displaced and about 25 percent arein need of food aid, according to the U.N. Seleka rebelshave been accused of committing severe human rightsabuses against men, women and children over the pastyear.Seleka first coalesced for political reasons its leaderssought the ouster of former president Francois Bozize.Former Seleka commander Michel Djotodia has taken overas president of CAR and has promised to hold electionswithin 18 months. He formally dissolved his already-disin-tegrating rebel coalition in September but has failed to en-force law and order.

Many one-time Seleka members have turned to lootingand banditry, spurring the rise of self-defence groups called“anti-balaka”. The worsening tensions between the mostly-Muslim rebels and the majority-Christian civilian popula-tion now threaten to turn the crisis into a religious conflict.

“The population is fatigued they have no food left fortheir families, and they’ve been looted so many times,”said Martin. “And out of this evolved more organised armedgroups, and that’s what we’ve seen since August: anti-balaka groups have been gaining strength and becomingmore organised. But there’s no government; there’s no vi-sion of leadership to put this country back on track. It’sanarchy.”

—Courtesy Inter Press Service

However, the Gulf region hasserious future concerns. Thegrowing power and expandingactivities of Iran require a politi-cal response in dealing with thisreality, taking into considerationthe West-Iranian nuclear deal,which sends out a clear messagefor new trends and changes in thepolitical map of the region.

In politics, the principle ofpower is paramount, and powercomes from a strong alliance thatimposes itself on others as op-posed to the way they deal with itin any future settlements or politi-cal agreements.

The Gulf states, as societieswhere political awareness is de-veloping, have started to see agrowing political voice from thestreet and a diversity of views,which is normal in the develop-ment of any society and requiresan open mind to accommodate thediversity as it is a source of

strength and important to a healthystate. The freedom of the press andthe development of the socialmedia promoted dialogue, in ad-dition to raising the hopes and as-pirations of the peoples of the re-gion.

The demographic problem islike a time bomb threatening thefuture of the countries in the re-gion. There are a lot of changeshappening in the region and theyneed to be handled in a differentway because what was success-ful in the past might not work now.

The importance of Gulf unityis an obvious fact. However, thequestion that still persists is aboutthe form of this new entity andhow to protect the sovereignty ofits member states. There has beena conviction among Arabs sincethe collapse of the Egyptian-Syr-ian unity in 1958 that any attemptat unity in the Arab world isdoomed to failure.

The series of unity projectsthat were announced from time totime during a visit by a country’sleader to another were followedby wars between these countries.The long accounts of politicalimmaturity, which was a featureof Arab regimes, made the word“unity” suspicious to people.

Successful unity initiativesare the ones that are built gradu-ally, with a clear goal, committedto transparency, and are convinc-ing to the various sections of so-ciety. The European unity projecthad a rational motive that each ofits states will benefit from its unityeconomically.

The character, which seemsbest suited to the union of the Gulfstates, is the confederation for-mula that unites the core tasks butgives, at the same time, the re-quired independence for the sov-ereignty of states.

Some Gulf states fear the

unity of the Gulf because coun-tries are not the same in terms ofsize and potentials. These coun-tries fear that the larger ones willdominate the system. In its gen-eral and superficial form, this ex-cuse is justified. However, expe-rience has shown us that coun-tries such as Belgium and theNetherlands were able to consoli-date their status in the EU in thepresence of larger countries, suchas Germany, France and Britain.

Enacting statutory formulasfor these blocs are the guaranteefor such a project. Also thepeople’s participation guaranteescontinuity and development as itmakes the unity related to thepeople and not only to govern-ments.

Some believe that the unful-filled independence of some statesputs an obstacle to unity, consid-ering that the Union will be amongindependent countries.

This makes independenceand sovereignty-seeking coun-tries deal with any unity initia-tive in a more sensitive manner.In the literature of national loy-alty, sentiments mix with logicparticularly that the Arab peopleare emotional and vulnerablewhile issues of sovereignty re-quire tough decisions.

It is incorrect to take crucialdecisions and then portray themas reactions to events. The Unionproject is a strategic step. WhenKing Abdullah bin Abdulazizproposed the initiative to theGCC members in December2011, he based his proposition onthe fourth article for the Statutesof the GCC, which stipulates thatamong its objectives is “the ap-plication of coordination and in-tegration between membersstates in all aspects reachingunity.”

—Courtesy Arab news

Hollande to visitCentral African

RepublicPARIS—French PresidentFrancois Hollande will visitthe Central African Republic,according to a statement is-sued by his office, afterboosting French troops inorder restore stability in thecountry.

Hollande will visit thecountry on his way back fromSouth Africa, where he wasdue to attend a ceremony tohonor Nelson Mandela.

Paris raised its militarypresence in the Central Afri-can Republic to 1,600 troopsduring the weekend as wavesof religious violence sweptover its former colony.—Reuters

GENEVA—Organizers areconsidering moving theopening of January’s Syriapeace conference to theother end of Lake Genevabecause of a luxury watchfair.

U.N. spokeswomanCorinne Momal-Vanian saidTuesday the Jan. 22 start ofthe meeting on Syria mayneed to be moved to theSwiss town of Montreux be-cause of insufficient hotelrooms in Geneva.

UN eyes Montreux forSyria peace conference

“It is certainly a possi-bility that is being consid-ered very seriously,”Momal-Vanian told report-ers.

The timing for the“Geneva 2” conferenceaimed at ending Syria’s civilwar was set by U.N. Secre-tary-General Ban Ki-moonafter high-level discussionsinvolving the United Statesand Russia, Syria’s key ally.

U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry, Russian Foreign

Minister Sergey Lavrov andmore than two dozen otherforeign ministers are ex-pected to deliver speechesduring the first day of theconference. The actual ne-gotiations between Presi-dent Bashar Assad’s gov-ernment and armed Syrianopposition groups wouldbegin the second day.

But the first three daysof the planned conferenceoverlap with the 24th edi-tion of the Salon Interna-

Abu QatadachallengesJordanian

court authorityAMMAN—Radical Muslimcleric Abu Qatada told a Jor-danian court, he was notguilty of terrorism chargesand challenged its authorityto try him under the terms ofhis extradition from Britainfive months ago.

Appearing in court inbrown prison fatigues, AbuQatada said the presence ofa military judge in the panelof three judges violated theagreement under which hewas flown back to Jordan inJuly after many years of le-gal battles in Britain.

While in Britain he wasconvicted and sentenced inabsentia by a Jordaniancourt to life imprisonment forconspiring to carry out ter-rorist attacks against U.S.and other targets inside Jor-dan.He is now being retried onthose charges. “I havebeen prevented from defend-ing myself for a long period,and God knows that I am inno-cent,” said Abu Qatada, say-ing that the charges against himwere fabricated.

“There has been a betrayalof the agreement under which Ihave come. There is now a mili-tary judge - this is the first be-trayal by you. I have come tobe tried by civilian judges,” saidthe Islamist cleric, whose realname is Mahmoud Othman.“This court is a betrayal of theagreement and I don’t recog-nize it,” he said.—Reuters

KIEV—Top Western diplo-mats headed to Kiev Tues-day to try to defuse a stand-off between President ViktorYanukovych’s governmentand thousands of demon-strators, following a night inwhich police in riot gear dis-mantled protesters’ encamp-ments outside governmentbuildings.

But a compromise ap-peared elusive, as dozens ofpro-government activistsblocked the entrance to theEuropean Commission officein Kiev just hours before thearrival of EU foreign policychief Catherine Ashton.

Riot police maintained astrong presence in down-town Kiev, which demonstra-

tors have occupied for weeksto protest againstYanukovych’s decision toback away from an agreementwith the European Union andtilt toward Russia instead.

But the atmosphere in theopposition tent camp, in acentral square known as theMaidan, appeared calm. Mu-sic blasted from a giant stage,activists lined up to receivefood from field kitchens andblack-robed Orthodox prieststalked to activists to boostmorale, careful not to slip ona thick crust of ice and snowthat blanketed the Ukrainiancapital. “We are standing onthe Maidan so thatYanukovych will be afraidand know that there is an-

other Ukraine, a Europeanone, which doesn’t want togo to Russia,” said protesterAnton Ostriysko, 35, whowas warming himself at a fireafter a night shift at the camp.

U.S. Assistant Secretary ofState Victoria Nuland met withtop opposition leaders andwas also slated to meet withYanukovych. Ashton was dueto arrive later in the day.

Riot police try to displacepro-European Union activ-ists from their barricades atthe Ukrainian pres …Yanukovych also sat downwith his three predecessorsas part of so-called “nation-wide roundtable” discus-sions aimed at defusing thecrisis.—AP

Western envoys go to Kievhoping to defuse crisis

North Korea’s ‘reignof terror’ worries

South’s leaderSEOUL—North Korea is en-gaged in a purge amountingto a “reign of terror” that hasclaimed the scalp of thecountry’s second most pow-erful man and risks furtherdamaging relations with theSouth, President Park Geun-hye said.Park took office inSeoul earlier this year asNorth Korea conducted itsthird nuclear test, enragingworld public opinion, andthreatened to engulf its south-ern neighbour and its ally, theUnited States, in a war. Theisolated state shelled a SouthKorean island in 2010 and iswidely believed to have sunka South Korean naval vesselin the same year.

“North Korea is currentlycarrying out a reign of terror,undertaking a large-scalepurge in order to strengthenKim Jong Un’s power,” Parktold a cabinet meeting, partof which was broadcast ontelevision.“From now on,South-North Korea relationsmay become more unstable.”

In her usual carefullyscripted manner, the presi-dent called for vigilance tosafeguard the wealthySouth’s achievements.

“In times like these, Ithink it is a nation’s duty andpoliticians’ job to keeppeople safe and free democ-racy strong,” she told themeeting.—Reuters

Putin vows tobeef up Arctic

military presenceM O S C O W — E x p a n d i n gRussia’s military presence inthe Arctic region is among thetop priorities for the nation’sarmed forces, PresidentVladimir Putin.Speaking at ameeting with the top militarybrass, Putin said that Russia is“intensifying the developmentof that promising region” andneeds to have “every lever forthe protection of its securityand national interests there.”

He emphasized the impor-tance of the Soviet-era baseat the New Siberian Islands,which the military started tooverhaul this year. Russianofficials have described thefacility as key for protectingshipping routes that link Eu-rope with the Pacific regionacross the Arctic Ocean.

Putin also said that Rus-sia will restore a number ofArctic military air bases thatfell into neglect after the 1991collapse of the Soviet Union.

Russia, the United States,Canada, Denmark and Nor-way have all been trying toassert jurisdiction over partsof the Arctic, which is be-lieved to hold up to a quarterof the planet’s undiscoveredoil and gas.

In 2007, Russia staked asymbolic claim to the Arcticseabed by dropping a canis-ter containing the Russianflag on the ocean floor from asmall submarine at the NorthPole.

Defense Minister SergeiShoigu said Tuesday that themilitary next year will form adedicated group of forces inthe Arctic to protect Russia’snational interests in the re-gion.—AP

Bosnian musician tohelp poor Roma

study musicSARAJEVO—Bosnia’s mostpopular musician is search-ing for talented Roma chil-dren to help them get an edu-cation in music.

Furthermore, a 63-year-old former rock star GoranBregovic visited Sarajevo’sbiggest Roma settlement ofGorica. That’s the same namehe has given his new foun-dation, which will providescholarships to Roma kidswho wish to study music butcan’t afford to.

Bregovic has built an inter-national career on film musicinspired by traditional Balkanand Gypsy tunes. He says it’stime to give something back tothis underprivileged group thathas inspired so many Europeancomposers.

Nearly half of the Roma inBosnia are illiterate. Most livein makeshift settlements in ex-treme poverty and operate onthe margins of society.—AP

Justin Bieber, left, exchanges high-fives with children survivors of typhoon Haiyan during his visit to Tacloban city.

t ional de la HauteHorlogerie, a luxury watchfair that draws more than12,000 people to Geneva, aglobal center of watchmak-ing. Geneva’s hotel roomsare booked. Momal-Vaniannoted that the Syrian nego-tiations for which there isno fixed end date would stillbe conducted at the historicPalais des Nations inGeneva that serves as theU.N.’s European headquar-ters.—AP

BAGHDAD—A suicidebomber killed 11 people andwounded 20 at a Shi’iteMuslim funeral in a citynortheast of Baghdad, po-lice said, as Iraqi insurgentspursue a campaign of deadlyattacks.

The bombing took placein Baquba, 65 km (40 miles)from of the capital at a fu-neral for a group of Shi’iteshepherds who had beenkilled by unidentified gun-men outside the city.

Suicide bomber kills 11 atShi’ite funeral in Iraq

No one immediatelyclaimed responsibility, butsuicide bombings have beena favored tactic of Sunni in-surgents linked to al Qaedaand who are widely blamedfor this year’s surge in vio-lence that has mostly tar-geted civilians.

Baquba has been hit bysome of the deadliest at-tacks, and earlier this montha suicide bomber blew him-self up at a funeral in anearby town.

Iraq’s Shi’ite-led govern-ment says the violence isbeing fuelled by the war inneighboring Syria, which hasstirred sectarian tensionsacross the Middle East.

According to the UnitedNations, more than 8,000people have been killed inIraq in the first 11 months of2013, meaning that this yearmay end up being thebloodiest since Sunni-Shi’ite bloodshed peaked in2006-07.—Reuters

Israel, others urgedto join chemical

arms treatyOSLO—Israel, Egypt andNorth Korea should re-nounce chemical weapons,especially after Syria joinedthe convention banningthem and three other nationsplan to do so, the chief of aninternational watchdog said.

Ahmet Uzumcu, head ofthe Nobel Peace Prize-winningOrganisation for the Prohibi-tion of Chemical Weapons(OPCW), said Angola,Myanmar and South Sudanwere preparing to join the pact.

“Now since Syria has be-come a member country, Ithink (Israel) can reconsider,”Uzumcu told Reuters in Oslo,where he accepted the 2013Nobel award for the OPCW.

Israel, which has observerstatus at the OPCW, signedthe convention in 1993, buthas never ratified it.

As with its presumednuclear arsenal, Israel hasnever publicly admitted hav-ing chemical weapons.—Reuters

Justin Biebervisits Philippinetyphoon victimsMANILA—Teen heartthrobJustin Bieber visited youngvictims of Typhoon Haiyan ,traveling to the Philippinesafter launching a worldwidecampaign to help those af-fected by the deadly storm.

Bieber arrived from Aus-tralia and flew to Tacloban,the devastated capital ofcentral Leyte province,where he distributed shirts,toys and basketballs to chil-dren.

The 19-year-old pop starvisited a Tacloban elemen-tary school that is being usedas an evacuation center de-spite being heavily damagedby last month’s typhoon,which left nearly 6,000 peopledead and more than 1,700 oth-ers missing, and flattenedentire towns and villages inthe central Philippines.—AP

KARACHI: PPP Patron-in-Chief Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is signing the People’s Human Rights Pledge on Tuesday.

of the region can benefit fromthe strategic location of Paki-stan.

Nawaz Sharif said Pakistanwants good relations with itsneighbours including India andAfghanistan and desires peace,security and stability in the re-gion for ensuring speedy eco-nomic growth and welfare of thepeople.

He said Pakistan is alsoworking on various projects toovercome energy crisis in theregion including Pak-Iran gaspipeline, Turkmenistan-Paki-stan-India-Afghanistan GasPipe Gas and Casa 1000 powerprojects.

Speaking at a lunch hostedby the European Union ambas-sadors, Muhammad NawazSharif said the government isfully engaged in sensitizing in-ternational community about theimpact of drone strikes in Paki-stan and persuading it to findways and means to curb terror-ism are not counter-productiveadding we want friendly rela-tions with India, based on mu-tual respect and esteem.

He said Pakistan is lookingforward to deepening further itscooperation with its Europeanpartners in key areas includingtrade, investment, energy, infra-structure development, educa-tion and human resource devel-opment.

He said European countries,

Pakistan wants peaceFrom Page 1

as our largest trade and invest-ment partners, enjoy a uniqueposition in our priorities. ThePrime Minister said that we arevery satisfied and deeply en-couraged to see the progress to-wards grant of GSP+ status toPakistan, which is going to bevoted on by the European Par-liament.

The Prime Minister saidPakistan is a country full of po-tential, but not yet really ex-ploited and we are looking toworking closely with EuropeanUnion both in exploring, ex-ploiting and developing this po-tential and realizing the oppor-tunities. Nawaz Sharif said thegovernment is determined to ridPakistan of terrorism and ex-tremism.

He said this menace is com-plex in nature and is rooted inthe events of the past three de-cades, having global, regionaland local dimensions. He saidwe believe the best way to dealwith these challenges is throughnational consensus, which weare generating through variousforums including the All PartiesConference and the Parliamen-tary resolutions.

The Prime Minister said thatone of the foremost foreignpolicy priorities of Pakistan isto have good neighborly,friendly and cooperative rela-tions with all our neighbors in-

cluding India, based on mutualrespect and esteem. Prime Min-ister Muhammad Nawaz Sharifhas said that Pakistan is lookingforward to deepening further itscooperation with its Europeanpartners in key areas includingtrade, investment, energy, infra-structure development, educa-tion and human resource devel-opment. European countries, asour largest trade and investmentpartners, enjoy a unique positionin our priorities, he added.

The prime minister said thiswhile addressing the ambassa-dors of European countries toPakistan at a luncheon hosted intheir honour at the Prime Min-ister House on Tuesday. He saidthat we are very satisfied anddeeply encouraged to see theprogress towards grant of GSP+status to Pakistan, which is go-ing to be voted on by the Euro-pean Parliament. The primeminister Pakistan is a countryfull of potential, but not yet re-ally exploited and we are look-ing to working closely with EU,both in exploring, exploiting anddeveloping this potential andrealizing the opportunities.

The High Commissioner ofUK and Ambassadors of France,Italy, Germany, Czech, Spain,Hungary, Greece Romania, Bel-gium, Denmark, Netherlands,Sweden, Portugal, Poland andAmbassador of European Unionto Pakistan attended the lunch.

roads for him criticized him forwhat they called “judicial dicta-torship”. They term his post res-toration tenure a period of me-dia exercise marked by “soundand fury signifying nothing.”

However even today, manylawyers, human rights activists,relatives of missing persons andmembers of civil society are ofthe opinion that the CJP is a hopefor the hopeless, a voice for thevoiceless and a source ofstrength for the powerless. Al-though the CJP could not re-cover all the missing persons,yet he kept building up pressureagainst the agencies and institu-tions that were keeping them intheir custody, said Ghaffar rela-tive of a missing person fromBalochistan.

A senior lawyer of the Su-preme Court wishing not to bequoted however, Tuesday said,no doubt Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry infused anew spirit in judiciary and un-der him, lawyers launched his-toric movement for indepen-dence of judiciary, the hon’blechief justice failed to clear thebacklog of 1.5 million casesboth in the superior and thelower judiciary.

The last three years wereeven worse when judiciary facedallegations of having colluded

Era of suo motu comes to an endFrom Page 1

with the military in the memoscandal, he further said. The ju-diciary had not recovered fromthat shock when allegationswere hurled at Dr ArsalanIftikhar, son of the chief justice,by property tycoon Malik Riaz,he said. A number of seniorcounsels approached by Paki-stan Observer praised the initia-tives of a series of public inter-est litigations (PIL) aimed atprotecting social, economic andreligious rights of the people, butat the same time they stressedthe need for drastic enhance-ment in lower ranks of the judi-ciary.

“I hope the judicial systemwill see a marked change sincethe public at large has been af-fected,” said Tariq Mehmood,former president of the SupremeCourt Bar Association (SCBA).Talking to media outside theSupreme Court building, he wasof the view that much improve-ment was needed on the casemanagement system at the levelof the subordinate judiciarysince the handling of familymatters and cases on criminal aswell as civil sides left much tobe desired, adding that the suf-ferings of poor litigants had notbeen ameliorated.

“The excessive use of PIL,

especially by invoking the suomotu jurisdiction, overshadowsthe normal litigation,” MrMehmood said and remindedthat although PIL was meant tobenefit ordinary citizens, earlyresolution of normal caseswould also serve the same cause.

“Courts cannot bring revo-lutions,” said Dr MuhammadAbdul Basit, author of a bookon law of contempt of the court,adding that a cautious exerciseof the authority would be muchappreciated. The entire era wasfull of both positives andnegativities, Dr Basit said. Al-though he appreciated the strongprotective wall against corrup-tion, he was against too muchuse of suo motu powers.

Senior Advocate SupremeCourt and former president ofIslamabad High Court Bar,Nayab Hassan Gardezi pinninghopes on the new Chief JusiticeTasaddaq Hussain Jilani calledfor focusing more on litigants’problems and saying, “Judiciaryshould weed out corruption fromits ranks and files at all levels.”He said people had pinned hopeson the judiciary after its resto-ration, but it had failed to comeup to their expectations as theperformance at the lower tier ofthe judiciary remained a ques-tion mark.

said Ira Helfand, the report’sauthor.

Helfand said that the studylooked at India and Pakistan dueto the longstanding tensions be-tween the nuclear-armed states,which have fought three full-fledged wars since indepen-dence and partition in 1947.

But Helfand said that theplanet would expect a similarapocalyptic impact from anylimited nuclear war. Modernnuclear weapons are far morepowerful than the US bombsthat killed more than 200,000people in Hiroshima andNagasaki in 1945.

“With a large war betweenthe United States and Russia, weare talking about the possible -not certain, but possible - extinc-tion of the human race. “In thiskind of war, biologically thereare going to be people surviv-ing somewhere on the planet butthe chaos that would result fromthis will dwarf anything we’veever seen,” Helfand said.

The study said that the blackcarbon aerosol particles kickedinto the atmosphere by a SouthAsian nuclear war would reduceUS corn and soybean productionby around 10 percent over a de-cade.

The particles would also re-duce China’s rice production byan average of 21 percent overfour years and by another 10percent over the following sixyears. The updated study alsofound severe effects on China’swheat, which is vital to the coun-try despite its association withrice.

China’s wheat productionwould plunge by 50 percent thefirst year after the nuclear warand would still be 31 percentbelow baseline a decade later, itsaid.

The study said it was impos-sible to estimate the exact im-pact of nuclear war. He calledfor further research, voicingalarm that policymakers innuclear powers were not look-ing more thoroughly at the ideaof a nuclear famine.

But he said, ultimately, theonly answer was the abolition ofnuclear weapons. “This is a di-saster so massive in scale thatreally no preparation is possible.We must prevent this,” hesaid.—INP

forts to combat terrorism andextremism on an enduring ba-sis.

Secretary Hagel assured thePrime Minister that the Admin-istration was engaged with Con-gress to ensure that the coopera-tion with Pakistan was not im-pacted negatively.

Spokesperson drew the at-tention of the journalists to thestatement of the US Departmentof Defence, which inter alia states“Secretary Hagel raised the im-portance of keeping the groundsupply routes out of Afghanistanopen and thanked the Prime Min-ister for his Government’s con-tinued support”.

India-Paknuclear war

From Page 1

No threatFrom Page 1

away 35 persons from theMalakand detention centre, butonly seven of the 35 were pre-sented.

The intelligence agencies orthe police have no powers tocarry out enforced disappear-ances or unlawful custody, theorder stated.

The chief justice ordered theprime minister, the chief minis-ter and governor of KhyberPakhtunkhwa to ensure themissing persons are recovered inone week.

The Supreme Court also de-clared the secret detention of 35people by army personnel illegal.The bench said that statements bythe relatives of the missing per-sons and jail superintendentproved that army was involvedin the illegal transfer of thesepeople from a jail Malakand andsubsequent detention at an uni-dentified location.

Expressing anger over howthe government responded tothis issue, the apex court said thedefence ministry initially deniedthat the military was involved inthe case but admitted to it later.The judges also called for properlegislation in this regard.

Govt orderedFrom Page 1

hailed it as a hopeful sign, writ-ing on its website: “May this...be the beginning of the end ofthe US aggressions?”

But it remained unclearwhether it would presage ameaningful thaw in relationsacross the shark-infested watersoff Cuba.

Tens of thousands of SouthAfricans converged in sorrow,celebration and pride Tuesdayon Soweto’s World Cup sta-dium, to sit side-by-side withpresidents, priests and queens ata memorial service for unifyingglobal icon Nelson Mandela.

Close to 100 world leaderswere among 80,000 people ex-pected to cram into the venue inSoweto — the crucible ofMandela’s anti-apartheidstruggle — to bid farewell to aman whose life story earneduncommon universal respect.

Despite the profound sense

World unites for Mandela memorialFrom Page 1

of national sorrow triggered byMandela’s death last Thursday,the mood was upbeat, withpeople determined to celebratethe memory of one of the 20thcentury’s towering political fig-ures.

“He’s God given, he’s Godtaken. We will never stop tocherish him,” said ShahimIsmail, who took a day off fromthe sports academy he runs inJohannesburg to attend theevent.

With access offered on afirst-comer basis, crowds begangathering before daybreak and,as the gates opened, theyswarmed into the stadium, look-ing for the best vantage point onthe sloped terracing.

Wrapped in the South Afri-can flag or yellow-greencoloured shawls printed with the

slogan “Mandela Forever,” theydanced and sang — oblivious toa persistent morning drizzle.

“This is once in your life.This is history,” said NomaKova, 36. “I didn’t want towatch this on TV.”

Many of the songs flowingfrom the terraces harked back tothe apartheid-era struggle, butthe atmosphere was one of in-clusion.

News of Mandela’s death athis home in Johannesburg reso-nated around the world, trigger-ing a wave of loving admirationfrom political and religious lead-ers, some of whom agree onlittle else.

The presidents of the UnitedStates and Cuba were amongthose sharing the memorialstage, pausing rivalries that dateback to the Cold War to pay trib-ute as millions around the worldlooked on.—Agencies

ing diplomatic channels for thehalting of drone attacks as theseare counter-productive for peaceand security in the region.

The Minister regretted thatsome political parties resorted tosit-ins and other political gim-micks on the matter. He saidtheir tactics have provedcounter-productive during thelast ten and fifteen days. He saidwe need to adopt appropriatediplomatic channels.

Leader of Pakistan TehrikInsaf Arif Alvi clarified that hisparty blocked NATO’s suppliesto express resentment on droneattacks and this move has nopolitical motives. Speaking onthe motion of Shaikh RohaleAsghar regarding the perfor-mance of Pakistan InternationalAirlines‚ Minister of State forParliamentary Affairs ShaikhAftab Ahmad said the govern-ment has released 16 billion ru-pees to improve the performanceof the national flag carrier. Hesaid this amount is also beingused to repair the non-opera-tional ten aircraft of the PIA.

The Minister of State regret-ted that the previous governmentdid not take practical steps tosteer the airline out of crisis andthe steps taken by the presentgovernment has helped reduceits losses. He said we have takenfour aircraft from Turkey on wetlease and four more will be taken

NA demands immediate halt to drone strikesFrom Page 1

stopped the execution of AbdulQuader Molla, a senior leader ofthe Jamaat-e-Islami party de-scribed by prosecutors as “theButcher of Mirpur”, until 10:30am Wednesday (0430 GMT),the court registrar said.

“The execution has beenhalted pending a hearing onWednesday,” the registrar toldAFP, without elaborating.

Defence lawyer ShishirMunir said they were seeking alast-minute review of Molla’sexecution order as the country’sconstitution enshrines rights fora death-row convict to have hisappeal heard in the SupremeCourt.

Earlier in the day,Bangladesh’s secular govern-ment had said it would go aheadwith the execution of Molla atone minute past midnight – de-spite a global outcry over thelack of a right to appeal.

In anticipation of the hang-ing, security has been tightenedacross the country and outsidethe jail in Old Dhaka where itwas set to take place.—AFP

to the plan to keep thousandsof forces in Afghanistan after2014 for a training andcounterterrorism mission.

Karzai says he backs thelong-delayed security agreementbut balks at signing it himself.Although a national assembly of2,500 delegates known as theLoya Jirga endorsed the deal lastmonth and backed a U.S. requestthat it be signed by the end ofthe year, Karzai is deferring thatto his successor.

Much is at stake if the dealfalls apart. Afghanistan couldlose up to $15 billion a year inaid, effectively collapsing itsfragile economy and making itunable to pay its army and po-lice.

In the interview, Karzai saidhe could “green light” the agree-ment before presidential elec-tions due next April under twoconditions: an end to airstrikesand foreign raids on Afghanhomes; and greater U.S. effortsto help broker peace with theTaliban.—AP

BD court staysFrom Page 1

Karzai lashesout at US‘threats’From Page 1

on dry lease which will ply ondomestic routes and the gulfcountries. The induction of theseaircraft will help improve theperformance of the PIA and pro-vide best possible traveling fa-cilities to the passengers.

Shaikh Aftab said the gov-ernment plans to privatize 26percent shares of the nationalflag carrier but no employee ofthe airline will be laid off. Hesaid we are here not snatch breadfrom the people but to give thememployment. The Minister ofState said that PIA and PakistanSteel Mills will be revived to itsold glory and made profitableentities.

Members belonging to Pa-kistan Peoples Party staged atoken walkout from Houseover the privatization policy ofthe government. Leader of theOpposition Syed KhurshidAhmad Shah strongly opposedthe privatization of state insti-tutions including Pakistan In-ternational Airlines and Paki-stan Steel Mills terming it asan anti-labour and anti-workerstep.

Minister of State for Parlia-mentary Affairs Shaikh AftabAhmad said the government willtake all the decisions in the na-tional interests. He assured thatfull protection will be given to

the employees of the institutionsto be privatized in future.Twelve percent shares of PIAare with the employees of theairline and they will not be with-drawn.

The House passed anotherresolution urging the govern-ment to take steps to alleviatepoverty from the country.Speaking on the resolution‚ Par-liamentary Secretary for Fi-nance Rana Muhammad AfzalKhan said the government isgiving priority to the industrialsector for generation of employ-ment opportunities and promo-tion of exports.

Those who spoke on theresolution included ImranKhattak‚ Sher Akbar Khan‚Shafqat Mahmood‚ YusufTalpur‚ Sajid Ahmad‚ ShaikhRashid Ahmad and GhulamAhmad Bilour. The Housepassed two resolutions urgingthe government to establish auniversity in Hyderabad and anagriculture university inSahiwal.

Speaking on the resolutions‚Minister of State for EducationMuhammad Balighur Rehmansaid Pakistan is lagging behindin higher education and there isa dire need for establishment ofuniversities in public and privatesectors to enhance percentage ofhigher education from eight tofifteen percent.

to a dollar.The Finance Minister said

that the Government has re-doubled its efforts to increaseits foreign exchange reserves.In this connection, he said thatthe Government expects a pay-ment from Etisalat of $ 800million, $800 million againstoutstanding payments due onaccount of Coalition SupportFund, over $ 1.2 billion againstauction of spectrum license be-sides $137 million are ex-pected from Islamic Develop-ment Bank tomorrow.

The Governor State BankMr. Yaseen Anwar informedthe meeting that in the last 2days exporters have liquidatedexport proceeds totaling $70million, the government is re-ceiving $ 30 million per dayon account of remittanceswhich has improved the for-eign exchange position.

Dar, bankers discuss stepsFrom Page 1

The Finance Minister saidthat he is confident that thesituation of inflows will fur-ther improve and those whospeculate on Pakistani cur-rency would only end asloosers.

The Government encour-aged by positive outlook pro-jected by “Standard and Poor”‘Moodys’, planned to float aGlobal Rupee bond with theassistance of IFC who are alsointerested in floating of sov-ereign bonds of Pakistanwhich has received a verypositive response from themarket.

The Finance Ministerthanked the Executives ofCommercial Banks for coop-

erating with the Governmentas it moves towards buildingreserves and stabilizing themarket.

On this occasion Mr. AtifBajwa, President AlfalahBank, Mr. Imran Maqbool,President MCB, Mr. TariqMehmood, President ABL,pledged their support and co-operation to the Government inits efforts to stabilize theeconomy and the markets.

They also welcomed theFinance Minister’s frank andcandid assessment of theeconomy and said that theyshare his optimistic outlook ofPakistan’s economy and itssound fundamentals whichwould send a very positivemessage to the markets.

Track II roleFrom Back Page

t ions, General (r) TalatMasood observed that suchprocesses often took time, andthat it was immature to expectimmediate outcomes. Hemaintained that while creativ-ity and innovation were vitalcomponents of any effectiveTrack II discussion, the suc-cess or failure of such inter-ventions hinged largely on thegenuine commitment of the at-tending delegates towardsachieving meaningful conflictresolution and reconciliation.

Pakistan former Ambassadorto India, Aziz Ahmad Khan sug-gested that backchannel conver-sations were specifically designedfor the purpose of conducting con-versations that could not takeplace publicly. He was of the opin-ion that each Track II had its owncharacter and personality – in thiscontext, Israel-Palestinian diplo-macy was markedly differentfrom Indo-Pak diplomacy.

He stressed to include formergovernment officials in Track IIcontingents, “since these officialscould often express independentand feasible solutions once re-leased from the constraints ofgovernment protocol.”

factions of gang-war enteredan armed feud in Pak Colony’sMagsi Locality, where a 32-yearAbdun Naeem, 30-year Iqbaland one-year Shah Nawaz werekilled.

Orangi’s Gulshan-e-Ziaturned into flashpoint todaywhen 25-year Bahram was shotto death. Gunfire incident tookplace near Mewa Shah Cem-etery in Lyari, where 28-yearShakoor was critically injured;however, he could not surviveat hospital.—Online

Karachi violenceFrom Page 1

their customers. It also said thatNepra was not playing its rolein ensuring low prices for con-sumers.

The bench further said thatloadshedding should be reducedin residential, commercial andagricultural sectors. The courtalso ordered that subsidies onpetroleum products should notbe removed and that their pricesshould be determined based onthe rates in world market.

The Supreme Court also de-clared the extra nine per centGeneral Sales Tax on Com-pressed Natural Gas as unlawfuland ordered the Oil and GasRegulatory Authority to submita revised notification in this re-gards within a week.

In a hearing on Dec 3, onCNG prices, Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryremarked that the governmenthad no right to collect 25 per centGST.

The chief justice said thegovernment was already charg-ing 17 per cent GST and extranine per cent seemed unjustifi-able. The three-member panelfurther questioned the mecha-nism according to which priceswere increased and remarked thatthe issue was being complicated.

Court ordersFrom Page 1

Published by: Zahid Malik from Ali Akbar House Markaz G-8, Islamabad and printed by Gauhar Zahid Malik at Al Umar Printers

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—In the stron-gest signal in months, Paki-stan announced on Tuesdayit had agreed with Iran tospeed up implementation ofthe much-delayed gas pipe-line project designed to linkIran’s giant South Pars gasfield with consumers inSouth Asia.

The United States op-poses the $7.5-billion projectbecause it could violate sanc-tions imposed on Iran overnuclear activities Washing-ton suspects are aimed atdeveloping an atom bomb,although Tehran denies this.

The announcementcomes after the Federal Min-

ister for Petroleum and Natu-ral Resources ShahidKhaqan Abbasi traveled toTehran with a high powereddelegation to kick start workon the pipeline.

Facing a massive energycrisis, gas for consumers wascurbed for two days inPunjab on Tuesday, high-lighting just how severe thecrisis is and how badly Paki-stan needs the gas injectionfrom Iran.

But little progress hasbeen made on the pipeline inPakistan for lack of funds andwarnings it could be in viola-tion of US sanctions, threat-ening string of aid that Paki-stan gets.

The Ministry of Foreign

Affairs release said bothsides had agreed to speed upwork to finish constructionof the pipeline.

“It was also agreed that ameeting will be held shortlybetween the experts of bothsides to review parametersfor accelerating work on I-PGas pipeline,” the foreignministry said in a statement.

It did not say when thepipeline would be completed.Abbasi was accompanied bySecretary Petroleum AbidSaeed and MD of thePakistan’s Interstate StateGas System Mobin Saulat.

Under the contract, Iranwould export 21.5 million cu-bic meters of gas per day toPakistan from next year.

Pakistan, Iran to speed upwork on gas pipeline project

Fazl elected KashmirCommittee chairmanI S L A M A B A D — M a u l a n aFazlur Rehman has beenelected unanimously Chair-man of Kashmir Committee ofthe National Assembly. Simi-larly, Sheikh Rohail Asgharhas been elected as Chair-man Standing Committee onDefence, Khalid Magsi asChairman Standing Commit-tee of National Health andServices.—Online

Rs 25b allocated toPM loan schemeISLAMABAD—The Spokesmanof the Ministry of Finance hasclarified reports appearing in asection of media that the gov-ernment had allocated onlyRs.5 billion for the PrimeMinister’s Youth BusinessLoan. The Spokesman saidthat the correct position is thatan amount of Rs.25 billion hasbeen budgeted on account ofYouth Schemes under PrimeMinister’s Youth Programme.The Spokesman said the PrimeMinister’s Youth Loan envis-ages facilitation of businessloans to youth ranging fromRs.100,000 to R.2 million atconcessional mark up. He fur-ther said that Banks wouldsanction loans totalingRs.100 billion to nearly100,000 applicants throughcomputer balloting to ensuretransparency.—INP

15 illegaloccupants heldObserver ReportLA H O R E—Fifteen il legaloccupants were arrestedby the Lahore police dur-ing an operat ion con-ducted in Punjab Univer-sity with help of the uni-versi ty administrat ion inthe wee hours of Tuesdaymorning. According to aPunjab University spokes-person, the Lahore police,along with the universityadministration, raided Hos-tels No 15 and 18 and ar-rested 15 illegal occupants. Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif meeting troops deployed in forward localities along the Line of

Control.

ISLAMABAD: Acting President Syed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, SardarAyaz Sadiq, Speaker National Assembly and Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed standing for national anthem beforethe proceedings closing session of Asian Parliamentary Assembly at a local hotel. Bizenjo

meets PMISLAMABAD—Acting Presi-dent National Party (NP) HasilBizenjo has threatened toquit his party’s alliance withruling Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) ifmissing persons were not re-covered.

Bizenjo briefly met PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif at thesidelines of 6th annual meet-ing of the Asian Parliamen-tary Assembly (APA) onTuesday and discussed withhim the pressing issue ofmissing persons recentlytaken by the Supreme Court.

The NP leader expressedhis helplessness in the re-covery of missing persons,saying that his party hasgained the government inBalochistan but not powers.

He was of the view thatit would be hard for his partyto continue being part of theruling coalition despite non-recovery of missing personsas ordered by the apexcourt.—INP

AKHTAR JAMAL

ISLAMABAD—Experts at aninformal discussion agreedthat Track II processes oc-cupied a critical role in fa-cilitating dialogue and rec-onciliation in the context ofregional geopolitics.

Speaking at a discus-sion hosted by think-tank“Jinnah Institute” ProfessorPeter Jones, convener of theOttawa Dialogue noted thatTrack II dialogues and in-formal problem-solvingworkshops were crucial inhelping informed policydialogue.

Professor Jones de-scribed how certain big-ticket issues tended to

dominate discussions, leav-ing little room for addressing‘softer’ issues.

Peter Jones is well knownstrategic expert promotingTrack II dialogue and hasserved as a senior analyst forthe Security and IntelligenceSecretariat of the Privy Coun-cil of Canada.

Several other experts andjournalists attended theroundtable discussion “DoesTrack II work in the India-Pakistan Dialogue Process?”held in Islamabad on Tues-day.

Speakers advocated thatsofter components of TrackII conversations in the Indo-Pak context needed to bemore imaginative, and that

organisers of such initia-tives had the added respon-sibility to plug opinions andsolutions within their gov-ernments and peace con-stituencies.

Experts agreed thatTrack II conversations inSouth Asia were oftenforced to take place in a mi-lieu of stasis and tension.However, there was alsoconsensus that the Indo-Pak relationship neededgreater predictability, andthat the imperative for thiswas amplified in the light ofincreased destabilising fac-tors.

Commenting on the out-comes of Track II negotia

Track II role in Pakistan-Indiadialogue seen as ‘critical’

SC directs IHCto settle Nadra

chief caseISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt has directed theIslamabad High Court (IHC)to settle the case of NationalDatabase and RegistrationAuthority (NADRA) chair-person Tariq Malik in amonth.In a surprise move,the government had re-moved Malik on the night ofDecember 3 and appointed anew chairman within hours.

However, the IHC had re-instated him the next morn-ing and suspended his ter-mination orders. Forward-ing the government’s re-quest challenging the rein-statement, the apex court alsoordered the IHC to make adecision regarding its stayorder in 15 days.—Online

Bilawal opposesprivatization of institutions

IRFAN ALIGI

K A R A C H I — P a k i s t a nPeople’s Party Parliamentar-ian (PPPP) Patron-in-chiefBilawal Bhutto Zardari saidthat the PPPP would continueit struggle for the eliminationof black laws.

The privatization of pre-cious national institutionswould not be acceptable.

He was addressing a largegathering at the Sindh ChiefMinister House Tuesday onthe occasion of a ceremonyheld in commemoration ofhuman rights on the occa-sion of World Human RightsDay, the theme was“Dastawez-e Azam – Ensur-

ing human Rights”.He also signed the 18

point human rights docu-ment.

He said that the PPPPwould continue its strugglefor the elimination of terror-ism, lawlessness, sectarianviolence, intolerance andviolence in all forms.

While paying great trib-ute to his maternal grandfa-ther, he said that the PPPPwas the party of labourersfounded by slain leaderZulfikuar Ali Bhutto, whowanted to transform thecountry into a welfare statewhere people would enjoyequal rights irrespective totheir cast, colour or creed.

‘Situation worst inPunjab jails’LAHORE—A report has beenpresented in Punjab Assem-bly during questions sessionon Tuesday which revealedserious irregularities in PunjabJails. The report said that therewas a space of around 21527prisoners but at present timemore than 48000 prisoners areliving in same area of the jail.According to the report, theprisoners get only rupees 60by the government of Punjabfor the whole day. The reportrevealed that serious diseasesare found in prisoners whenthe administration took bloodtest of 3500 prisoners. 103 werediagnosed with TB, 14 withHepatitis B and C found while50 prisoners declared as AIDSpatient. The experts declaredit as an alarming situation andsaid this list could becomelonger when the administra-tion took blood test of all theprisoners.—Online

Pakistani doctorwins $1m to fight

child deathsISLAMABAD—A Pakistanidoctor won a $1 million granton Tuesday to fight earlychild mortality in a small fish-ing village in southern Paki-stan in a contest financed byan American entrepreneur tofind innovative ways to savelives, The Caplow Children’sPrize said.

A proposal by AnitaZaidi, who heads the pediat-rics department at the AgaKhan University in Karachi,beat out more than 550 otherapplications from more than70 countries.

The prize was foundedand funded by entrepreneurTed Caplow to find impactfuland cost-effective ways tosave children’s lives, accord-ing to a press release an-nouncing the results.—AP

Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—Minister forInformation, Broadcastingand National Heritage Sena-tor Pervaiz Rashid said onTuesday that some partieswere jeopardizing nationalinterests for the sake of somepolitical gains.

Talking to media personsafter addressing a seminarorganized by Ministry ofLaw, Justice and HumanRights here he said that sit-ins being staged by PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf to blockNATO supplies were part ofthe plan to win some seats in

Some parties jeopardizingnational interests: PR

the coming Local Govern-ment elections.

“All this being done towin a few seats in LG elec-tions. Politics being done onthis issue otherwise one din-ner changes a drone into adarling”, said the minister.

NATO supplies, he said,were being done through in-ternational agreements andthose who were blocking thesame would be responsiblefor the consequences.

TO a question he saidthat the masses should thinkwho were working for the

KABUL—The two-day thirdround of China- Afghani-stan- Pakistan trilateral dia-logue concluded in Kabul onTuesday with agreement forfurther boosting cooperationamong the three neighboringcountries.

Chaired by AmbassadorSultan Ahmad Bahin, direc-tor general of 3rd PoliticalDepartment of the Ministryof Foreign Affairs of Afghani-stan, Ambassador Luo

China, Afghanistan, Pakistan call for more coopZhaohui, director general ofAsian Affairs Department ofthe Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs of the People’s Repub-lic of China, and MuhammadIftikhar Anjum, director gen-eral of Afghanistan Divisionin the Ministry of ForeignAffairs of Pakistan, the threesides agreed to cooperateand to maintain the securityin Afghanistan and in the re-gion.

The three countries

agreed that under the currentsituation it is of great signifi-cance for three Foreign Min-istries to hold the trilateraldialogue and exchange viewson regional situation and co-operation between the threecountries, stressing that dia-logue will play a positive rolein enhancing friendly coop-eration between the threecountries and maintainingpeace and stability in the re-gion.—INP

national interests and whodoing politics on nation in-terests. Answering a ques-tion he said that the presentgovernment has come topower through popular voteand was striving for recov-ery of missing persons. Hesaid that the person who vio-lated the Constitution andtoppled the elected govern-ment was given guard ofhonour. He said no one willbe allowed to violate the con-stitution which has guaran-teed rights of women, childrenand minorities.—APP

ANKARA—Turkish prosecu-tors said on Tuesday theyhave charged 255 protesters,including seven foreigners,over mass demonstrationsthat swept the country in June.

Those indicted face arange of charges includingviolating laws on demonstra-tions, damaging a place ofworship and protecting crimi-nals, as well as injuring civilservants and hijacking publictransportation vehicles, astatement said.

At least six people diedand 8,000 people were injuredin the three weeks of anti-gov-ernment unrest that posed thebiggest challenge to PrimeMinister Recep TayyipErdogan’s rule.

The demonstrations weresparked by a police crack-down on a peaceful sit-in tosave Istanbul’s Gezi park from

being razed to make way for adevelopment project.

The environmental pro-tests spiralled into a massoutpouring of anger againstErdogan, who critics say is anincreasingly authoritarian andpolarising leader after 11 yearsin office. Some of the protest-ers in Istanbul had taken ref-uge in the Dolmabahcemosque on the banks of theBosphorus near the Ottomanpalace Erdogan uses as hisoffice in the city.

Several trials related to theprotests are ongoing in sev-eral cities across the country.

Last week, an Ankaracourt withdrew from thehighly-charged trial of a riotpoliceman accused of killinga 26-year-old protester duringdemonstrations in the capitalbecause of concerns over itsimpartiality.—AFP

Turkey charges 255over mass protests

5.4 magnitudejolts felt in KP,Gilgit-Baltistan

PESHAWAR—Moderate trem-ors were felt in different ar-eas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand Gilgit-Baltistan lateMonday.

The earthquake was mea-sured 5.4 at Richter scale.

The jolts were also feltin Swat and Shangla. Theepicenter was located inHindukush MountainRange at a depth of 132 kilo-meters.—Online

IT’S no secret that we tend to eat a littlemore around the holidays. And with allthe hustle and bustle of the season, many

of us have trouble finding time to makehealthy choices.

That may be why it’snearly impossible to securea treadmill at the gym inJanuary our resolutions area reflection of our guilt. Weknow why we tend to eatpoorly. But could our foodchoices be leading tosomething other than anexpanding waistline?

If our poor choices be-come a habit, certainly. Ac-cording to recent studies,it’s possible that eating cer-tain foods is associatedwith depression.

Here are three foodsyou may want to avoid inexcess this holiday season,and beyond. [7 HolidayStress Busters]

Refined Grains: Pasta is a quick meal,great for those busy nights when you haveto spend most of your time shopping, bak-ing or wrapping. But, it may not be a goodmeal to have every night.

Pasta, white rice and bagels are all foodsthat have been identified as inflammatoryand have been linked to depression inwomen ages 50 to 77, according to an Oc-tober 2013 study in the journal Brain, Be-havior and Immunity.

In the study, researchers looked at theeating habits of more than 40,000 women,who didn’t have depression at the study’sstart. They found that those who consumed

inflammatory foods regularly were morelikely to suffer from depression by the endof the study.

Soft Drinks: As you’re buzzing aroundfrom store to store, how will you replen-

ish lost fluids? It’s all tooeasy to grab a cola on-the-go, but the same study inBrain, Behavior and Immu-nity study indicated that softdrinks as part of a regulardiet may also contribute todepression. So, if soda isyour go-to drink whenyou’re thirsty, it may be timeto rethink that strategy.

Fast Food: People whoeat fast food are 51 percentmore likely to develop de-pression than those whodon’t, according to a 2012study in the journal PublicHealth Nutrition. This in-cludes commercial bakedgoods, hamburgers, hot dogsand pizza, the researchers

said.Keep in mind that eating a small portion

of any one food is unlikely to raise depres-sion risk, so don’t worry if you’ve just eatenyour first heaping bowl of pasta in ages, orhad the very occasional fast food burger. Onthe other hand, if this list describes three ofyour basic food groups, you may benefitfrom a drastic dietary adjustment.

Healthy Bites appears weekly onLiveScience. Deborah Herlax Enos is acertified nutritionist and a health coach andweight loss expert in the Seattle area withmore than 20 years of experience. Readmore tips on her blog, Health in a Hurry!

3 Foods Linkedwith Depression

ISLAMABAD—Photo competi-tion and arts and crafts exhibi-tion to mark InternationalMountain Day (IMD)mesmerised the people withcreative and objective streamsat Lok Virsa here Tuesday.

The two-day celebrations tocelebrate IMD are organized byCapital Development Authority(CDA),Lok Virsa,UNESCOand Alpine Club. Whileaddressing,the chiefguest,Minister of State forEducation,Trainings and stan-

dards in Higher Education,Muhammad Bligh-Ur-Rehmansaid mountains have a key role toplay in providing renewableenergy,especially through hydro-power. The Minister said toachieve sustainable mountain de-velopment, it is essential thestakeholders are involved andawareness is raised about fragil-ity and problems, and ways toaddress.

“Government is increasingattention to disaster risk manage-ment in mountain areas through

the development of measures,approaches and policies for pre-vention, mitigation and rehabili-tation of natural disasters and ofpublic service”. Speaking onthe occasion,Secretary General,Pakistan National Commissionfor UNESCO Amna Imran said“Our focus will be on celebrat-ing how mountains are crucialin moving the world towardssustainable economic growthand on drawing attention to theirgenerally sustainable and lowemission production models”.

Member CDA Amir Ali saidit is necessary to strengthen ex-isting policies and establish newand innovative national, re-gional and international institu-tions and mechanisms basedspecifically mountain-relatedissues.

All this must be backed upby a supportive and enablingenvironment for the promotionof high-quality products and ser-vices from mountain areas as ameans of improving livelihoodsand protecting mountain envi-

Arts and crafts exhibitionhighlights GB culture

RAWALPINDI: A schoolboy waiting for his van after school time at roadside.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Information & Broadcasting and National Heritage senator Pervaiz Rashid signing on the board during a function tomark Universal Human Rights Day organized by Ministry of Law, Justice and Human Rights at National Library.

Corruption ispoison for

development,economic stabilityRAWALPINDI—Corruption ispoison for development and eco-nomic stability of any countryas it not only increases crimerate but also damages theeconomy.

Keeping in view these facts,the Punjab Government haslaunched various steps to con-trol corruption especially in gov-ernment departments. Theseviews were expressed by speak-ers at a seminar held here atPotohar town Hall in connectionwith International Anti-Corrup-tion Day.

Additional District Collec-tor Rawalpindi Tallat MehmoodGondal, Director Anti-Corrup-tion Establishment RawalpindiCh. Zulfiqar Ahmed, SeniorSuperintendent Police (SSP)Traffic Rawalpindi Syed HaseebShah and Prof. MuhammadAslam Javaid addressed theseminar which was attended byteachers, students and peoplefrom different walks of life.Addressing the seminar, Addi-tional District CollectorRawalpindi Tallat MehmoodGondal said Punjab governmenthas taken various steps to elimi-nate corruption from the prov-ince.

Computerization of landrecord will end corruption par-ticularly in matters relating toland registration and other mat-ters. He said without participa-tion of the public, corruptioncannot be controlled. DirectorAnti-corruption EstablishmentCh. Zulfiqar Ahmed said lowliteracy rate and political insta-bility are the basic causes of cor-ruption in the country.

He said all the governmentdepartments should have doneconcerted efforts for the elimina-tion of corruption and specialawareness campaign against cor-ruption should be launched. SSPTraffic Syed Haseeb Shah saidthe citizens should come forwardand play a role for elimination ofcorruption.—APP

ACP to organizehike at

Margalla HillsISLAMABAD—Alpine Club ofPakistan (ACP) in collabora-tion with CDA, Lok Virsa,PNCU and IPPAC is organiz-ing a Hike at Trail 5, MargallaHills on Wednesday to ob-serve ‘International MountainDay’.

According to a press re-lease issued here, the openingsession would start at 9:30 atOutdoor Education Center,Trai l 5, Margalla Hil ls ,Islamabad.

A large number of peoplefrom all walks of life includ-ing students from variousschools, colleges and univer-sities are likely to participatein the event.

Director General Environ-ment, CDA would brief onMargalla Hills and environ-ment, whereas President, Al-pine Club of Pakistan wouldgive briefing on InternationalMountaineering and role ofAlpine Club of Pakistan in thepromotion of mountaineeringand healthy adventurous ac-tivities at National and Inter-national level.

The closing ceremonywould be held at 12:30 pm atOutdoor Education Center.—APP

Twin cities ingrip of infectious

diseasesISLAMABAD—With the dropof mercury at new levels, thetwin cities of Rawalpindi andIslamabad are in grip of infec-tious diseases including sorethroat,cough, influenza andtemperature.

Local hospitals and clin-ics are seeing an increase innumber of patients sufferingwith diseases related to dryweather.

Most patients, especiallychildren, have contracted vi-ral diseases like influenza,bronchitis, typhoid, nasal al-lergy, asthma, soar throat,chest infection, phenomena,dry cough and scabies.—APP

ronments, and facilitatemountain areas access to na-tional and international mar-kets. On the occasion,peoplefrom Gilgit-Baltistan wel-comed guests and presentedtraditional song.

An arts and crafts exhi-bition was also organized onthe occasion,showcasing cul-ture of GB and hilly areas.

CDA has also organizedhiking on Margalla trail onWednesday to mark the cel-ebrations of IMD.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Speakers at thelaunching ceremony of WorldDisasters Report 2013 high-lighted the use of technology inincreasing resilience of disasterprone communities.

The World Disasters Reportwas jointly launched by PakistanRedCrescent Society (PRCS)and International Federation ofthe RedCross and Red CrescentSocieties (IFRC).

Speaking on the occasion,PRCS Managing Body MemberMianMuhammad Javed whowas the chief guest at the cer-emony said technology plays vi-tal role in so many aspects ofhumanitarian work.

He touched on various parts

Launch of World Disasters Report 2013

Need for resilience ofdisaster prone

communities stressed

PRCS Managing Committee member Mian Muhammad Javed hands over a copy of Worlddisaster Report 2013 to NDMA Director Operations Kamran Zia while PRCS SecretaryGeneral Dr Mahboob Sardar and IFRC HoD Karen looks on at the launching ceremony.

of the report.PRCS supports the notion

that the Government and otherhumanitarian agencies mustfully commit to invest in devel-oping the tools, policies andstrategies to improve dialoguewith disaster-affected commu-nities.

PRCS Secretary GeneralDr Mahboob Sardar in hiswelcome address also high-lighted potential of technologyto improve humanitarian op-erations.

PRCS being the leading hu-manitarian organization of thecountry has already equipped it-self with Mobile SMS Service,Radio Wireless CommunicationSystem, Email Service, SAPsystem and a user friendly

website.The other projects in pipe-

line are Video Conferencing andDisaster Data Bank..

IFRC Head of Pakistan Del-egation Karen Bjornestad saidthis year’s report tells us thattechnology is proving to be atool of empowerment and resil-ience for disaster prone commu-nities. The report raises aware-ness of the importance of ethi-cal application and use of tech-nology in the humanitarian sec-tor.

Others who spoke on theoccasion included Brig KamranZia, Member (Operations), Na-tional Disaster ManagementAuthority, and Timo Pakkala,UN Resident and HumanitarianCoordinator.

ISLAMABAD—Chairman, Paki-stan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), ImranKhan again demanded verificationof thumb prints of four constitu-encies of Punjab.

Talking to journalists duringa news conference here on Tues-day, Khan said that seven monthshad passed and the process ofthumbprint verification for votesin four constituencies had not beencompleted.

“Independent judiciary andmedia should play role for democ-racy and correction of electoralsystem,” he stressed.

He urged federal governmentto fulfil demand of verification intwo constituencies of Lahore and

Polls: Imran demandsverification of thumb prints

one from each Lodhran andSialkot.

“If rigging had not been doneby ruling party then why govern-ment feared?” He asked.

PTI chief disclosed thatKhyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) gov-ernment will install biometric sys-tem in order to make electionstransparent, adding he demandedinstallation of biometric system inall other provinces of Pakistan.

“Masses would have to fightmore war for democracy,” ImranKhan said.

He urged government to sayno to American aid, adding heasked government to tell why un-employment and price hike is on

the verge despite US aid.Chairman PTI said that dem-

onstrations would continue fortransparent elections in the coun-try. “Government was creatinghurdles for the election tribunal,”Chairman PTI alleged.

In response to US DefenceSecretary Chuck Hagel warningto Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifabout blockade of aid, Khan saidthere was a lesson which shouldbe learned from this statement.

Party PresidentMakhdoom Javed Hashmi,Jahangir Tareen, Dr ShereeinMazari, Naeem-ul-Haq, ZahidKazmi and others were presenton the occasion.—Online

US embassy, IIUI workshopon gender based violence

ISLAMABAD—US Embassyin collaboration of Interna-t ional Islamic Universi tyIslamabad (IIUI) Tuesdayheld workship to help combatgender based violence atworkplace during which lead-ing corporations discussedtheir efforts to enforce lawsprotecting women from work-place sexual harassment.

More than 200 academics,social activists, US alumni,IIUI students, and workingwomen attended the work-shop.

Counselor for Public Af-fairs at US EmbassyIslamabad, Angela Aggelerdelivered opening remarks atthe event, saying, “This anti-

sexual harassment law passedbecause civil society groupsworked together with mem-bers of Parliament who sharedtheir vision of justice in theworkplace.

This type of collaborationis already benefiting womenacross Pakistan, as hundredsof women have taken legal ac-tion against sexual harass-ment in their workplace.”Aggeler concluded, “We needto work together the interna-tional community, the govern-ment, the private sector, civilsociety, and grassroots advo-cates to let Pakistanis knowthat gender-based violence isa serious human rightsabuse.”—INP

ISLAMABAD: Christian children carrying placards during a rally to commemorate Nelson Mendela.—PO Photo by Sultan Bashir

06:10

01:30

03:45

07:00

Zohr

Brothers in Islam establishregular prayers and charity

December 12

Closing Plenary Session ofSDPI’s 16th sustainable devel-opment conference will beheld on Thursday at 3 p.m. Thevenue of the conference is BestWestern Hotel Islamabad.

Mountain Day observed at Lok Virsa

ISLAMABAD: Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq presenting the photo albumto Chairman Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Ibrahim Al-Shiekh, of his visit at Parliament House.

ISLAMABAD—A number ofcolourful programmes markingMountain Day were organizedhere at Pakistan National Mu-seum of Ethnology, popularlyknown as Heritage Museum atLok Virsa complex,Shakarparian.

The event was organized byLok Virsa, Directorate of Sports& Culture of the Capital Devel-opment Authority (CDA), Al-pine Club and Pakistan Na-tional Commission for

UNESCO.The opening ceremony was

graced by Engr. MuhammadBaligh-ur-Rehman, Minister ofState for Education, Trainingsand Standards in Higher Educa-tion as chief guest. Mrs. ShaheraShahid, Executive Director ofLok Virsa, Mr. Aamir AliAhmed, Member of CDA, AsifJaved Shahjahan, Director Gen-eral of Culture & Sports of CDAand Ms. Amna Imran, SecretaryGeneral of Pakistan National

Commission for UNESCO werealso present on the occasion.

In his inaugural address, theMinister of State highlightedimportance of the day for Paki-stan and appreciated the effortsand contribution of Lok Virsa,CDA and other partner organi-zations for celebrating the dayin such a professional and effec-tive way.

According to theprogramme schedule, the eventwould continue till 11 Decem-

ber 2013. Activities held on thefirst day included a seminar on“Mountains - Key to a Sustain-able Future”, a special exhibi-tion featuring master artisansfrom mountainous parts in thefield of weaving, embroidery,papier mache, wax printing andstone carving as well as folkloricperformances where a group offolk singers and musicians fromGilgit-Baltistan performed livebefore the audience.

Speakers who read papers

during the seminar were SajjadAli, Munir Ahmed, JahanzebMurad, Arif Hussain and AnsarAhmed.

Documentaries depicting onculture and mountains were alsoscreened at the occasion.

A large number of people,specially students and youth at-tended the event and enjoyed theprogrammes presented on theoccasion.

The United Nations (UN)International Mountain Day is

an occasion to help raise aware-ness of the people who live inmountainous regions and therole that these regions play inproviding food, water and rec-reation. It is observed on De-cember 11 each year. Mountainsare crucial to life.

Whether we live at sea levelor the highest elevations, we areconnected to mountains and af-fected by them in more waysthan we can imagine. Moun-tains provide most of the

world’s freshwater, harbor arich variety of plants and ani-mals, and are home to one inten people.

Yet, each day, environmen-tal degradation, the conse-quences of climate change, ex-ploitative mining, armed con-flict, poverty and hungerthreaten the extraordinary webof life that the mountains sup-port.

This year, the theme forIMD is “Mountains - Key to a

Sustainable Future”, the focusis on celebrating how moun-tains are crucial in moving theworld towards sustainable eco-nomic growth in the context ofpoverty eradication and ondrawing attention to their gen-erally sustainable.

The second day (11 De-cember) activities include hik-ing at trail-05, artisans-at-workexhibition and cultural perfor-mances by folk artists and mu-sicians.—Online

ISLAMABAD—Mr. TakashiKatae, Deputy Chief of Japa-nese Mission, Monday inau-gurated two water supplyschemes providing safe andclean water to Village PepalPorian in Tehsil Murree, Dis-trict Rawalpindi and VillageBissan Phatian Pona in Dis-tr ict Abbottabad, KhyberPakhtunkhwa.

This project was fundedby a grant of US $ 115,957from the Government of Japanto the Society for Upgradationof Knowledge, Health and In-frastructure (SUKHI), anNGO actively working for ru-ral development in Pakistan.

The inauguration ceremonywas attended by Mr. MurtazaJaved Abbasi , DeputySpeaker, National Assemblyof Pakistan, the staff of theNGO, members of the localcommunity and other notablesfrom the area.

Before this intervention,the area which is situated onthe boundary of Punjab andKhyber Pakhtunkhwa prov-inces was facing an acuteshortage of water, particularlyin the summer season. Thiscaused an adverse effect onthe community, especiallywomen who had to fetch wa-ter from a long distance.

Water supply scheme forvillages inaugurated

This project has providedmore than 200 householdswith safe and clean water attheir doorsteps which wouldbe available all year round.

At the inauguration cer-emony, Mr. Katae stressed theimportance of clean drinkingwater and basic sanitation ser-vices. He expressed his hopethat this project would alsocontribute to other dimensionsof development in the local-ity, such as education, healthand economic growth, and indoing so would certainlystrengthen the friendly rela-tions between the people ofJapan and Pakistan.—INP

EU monitoringPak int’l

commitments:Wigemark

ISLAMABAD—Ambassador Eu-ropean Union Lars-GunnarWigemark has expressed highhopes for Pakistan and said cir-cumstances on GSP Plus Pack-age are conducive in EuropeanParliament.

Talking to Radio Pakistan inIslamabad he said voting on GSPPlus package will take place inEuropean Parliament on Thurs-day, and EU is closely monitor-ing Pakistan’s international com-mitments, especially pertainingto human rights conventions. Theambassador said although someEU parliamentarians have reser-vations about Pakistan, however,if Pakistan has been granted withthis status. Quality textile prod-ucts will be available to Europe-ans on competitive rates.

He said Pakistan will takeenormous benefit on economicgrounds once the package is ap-proved by EU Parliament.

To a question, Lars-GunnarWigemark ruled out notion thatstoppage of NATO suppliesmight harm Pakistan’s positionregarding GSP Plus in EuropeanParliament.—Online

I S L A M A B A D — D e p u t ySpeaker of Sri Lanka Parlia-ment Chandima Weerakkodycalled on Speaker, NationalAssembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiqin Parliament House, on Tues-day. Various issues of mutualinterest and strengthening ofbilateral parliamentary rela-tions came under discussion.

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq praisedthe active participation of SriLankan Parliamentary delega-tion in Asian ParliamentaryAssembly meeting.

He said that Sri Lankacould play an important rolein bringing Asian Nations to-gether for devising commonstrategy for problems com-monly by Asian countries.

Sri Lankan DeputySpeaker said that his countryalso greatly values its friend-ship with Pakistan and desiresto consolidate and deepen its

deep-rooted, al l-weatherfriendship.

He said that holding ofAsian Parliamentary Assem-bly in Islamabad was a stepforward in forging unityamongst Asian nations totackle issues confronting sta-bility and prosperity in theregion.

Later, Deputy Speaker ofKuwaiti National AssemblyMr. Mubarak Al-Khurainejmet Sardar Ayaz Sadiq onsidelines of the Asian Parlia-mentary Assembly.

The Speaker said that Paki-stan and Kuwait were inter-twined in bonds of religion, his-tory and culture and these bondscould be further strengthened byparliamentary cooperation.

He called for greater inter-action between business com-munities of both the countriesto tap the immense economic

potential especially in thetrade and manufacturing sec-tors.

Reciprocating good ges-ture of Speaker, the KuwaitiDeputy Speaker said that Ku-wait also considers Pakistanits closest friend who has al-ways been a friend in needand stood by Kuwait in turbu-lent times.

He agreed with Speakerand said that Kuwaiti Parlia-ment would be delighted toenhance its relations with Pa-kistani Parliament so that un-derstanding and cooperationbetween both the countriescould be further pursued.

He said that Kuwaitstrongly desires to see a pros-perous, stable and economi-cally vibrant Pakistan. He alsoextended invitation to theSpeaker to visit Kuwait whichhe accepted.—INP

Dy Speakers of Sri Lanka,Kuwait meet Ayaz Sadiq

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Tuesday ruled that pris-oners undergoing trial under theFrontier Crime Regulation(FCR) should be provided withadequate medical care and thatthey should be permitted to meetwith their family members.

The ruling read out by Jus-tice Gulzar Ahmed was issuedon a miscellaneous petition filedby Advocate Tariq Asad regard-ing the 11 Adiyala prisoners whohad gone missing in 2010. Asadwas representing the detainees.

The Supreme Court had beenhearing the case relating to theseprisoners since 2010 and had re-served its ruling on Dec 3.

The case had begun overthe disappearance of 11 pris-oners who had mysteriouslygone missing from outsideRawalpindi’s Adiyala jail onMay 29, 2010 - the day theywere acquitted of terrorismcharges for their alleged in-volvement in the audaciousOct 2009 attacks on the GHQand ISI’s Hamza CampRawalpindi.

Four of them later died inunexplained circumstances.Abdus Saboor, 29, died on Jan20, 2012, Mohammad Amir onAug 15, 2011 and Tehseenullahand Said Arab respectively onDec 17 and Dec 18, 2011.

The seven surviving prison-ers were then detained in an in-ternment centre set up under theAction in Aid of Civil PowerRegulations 2011. They werelater handed over to the politi-cal administration in the Feder-ally Administered Tribal Areas(Fata) for trial under the Fron-tier Crime Regulation 1901.

The seven prisoners had alsobeen sentenced to jail terms ofbetween five and 14 years - SyedAbdul Basit and Syed AbdulMajid for five years and Dr NiazAhmed, Mohammad MazharulHaq, Mohammad Shafeeq,Shafeequr Rehman and Gulroze14 years.—Online

FCR prisoners be givenmedical care, allowed

family visits: SC

Anusha visits ITCentre at NA

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—Minister of Statefor IT Ms.Anusha Rahman vis-ited the high tech IT center es-tablished at National Assembly,the senior management of Min-istry of IT was also accompany-ing her. While talking to the me-dia she expressed that its one ofthe priorities of the governmentto implement E-office system inorder to improve the efficiencyand to ensure efficacy in the gov-ernment institutions.

The Minister further statedthat E-office system wouldplay a pivotal role in bringingtransparency and will put acheck on corrupt practiceswhich are badly affecting theperformance of governmentmachinery.

The Minister for IT also in-spected the performance of theE-office installed at NationalAssembly and also viewed dif-ferent E-files which were beingmaintained there.

The Minister of State saidthat it is dire need of the time tomove towards less paper envi-ronment, so that we could en-hance the pace of working to getefficiency and remove impedi-ments in the way of Smoothfunctioning of the institutions.

ISLAMABAD—Acting Presi-dent and President of theAsian Parliamentary Assem-bly Syed Nayyer HussainBokhari while addressing theparticipants of the APA hassaid that the agenda of AsianParliamentary Assembly isbased on cooperation andfriendship which would fur-ther help in strengtheningdemocratic values and tradi-tions to promote regional andglobal peace.

He said that the 6th APAplenary is monumental both interms of quantitative andqualitative improvements inits history as it brought to-gether an unprecedented dis-play of Asian unity and wis-dom under one roof besidestouching upon important is-sues and areas crit ical toachieving Asian Century vi-sion.

“As the new elected Presi-dent of APA and Chairman ofthe host parliament, I take thisopportunity to extend, on be-half of APA Members and ob-servers, our deep appreciationto His Excellency the PrimeMinister of Pakistan for grac-ing this historic event with hispresence”, the Acting Presi-dent observed.

He said that the presenceof Prime Minister of Pakistansignifies Pakistan’sunfaltering commitment tofulf i l l ing this agenda ofchange towards realizing thedream of the welfare andwellbeing of our peoples byjoining hands across the bor-ders.

He said that the APA

would evolve into a commonparliamentary platform ofAsia, much like the EuropeanParliament. He stated thatthis APA plenary also tookinto account the need forbroadening APA’s scope andoutreach beyond the Asiancontinent.

As the new President ofAPA, Nayyer Bokhari saidthat he would try to translatethe understanding and com-mitments at parliamentarylevel into actions and policies. Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif while address-ing the APA conferencestressed greater connectivityamong the Asian countries fortheir mutual development andprosperity. Addressing thesixth plenary of Asian Parlia-mentary Assembly(APA),thePrime Minister said the Asiancountries had to shed the bur-den of the past and learn tolook to the future.

The APA hosted by Sen-ate of Pakistan, was ended bynearly 300 delegates from 30countries. Prime MinisterSharif said Pakistan had triedto turn a new page with allits neighbours and was pre-pared to look at the larger pic-ture. He said the country hadreached out to both Afghani-stan and India.

He said in an Asian cen-tury, an opportunity would bewitnessed for South Asia tojoin the other Asian enginessuch as China and theASEAN. He said Pakistanwas proud to host the AsianParliamentary Assembly, oneof the most important parlia-

mentary events in the world.He mentioned that the Assem-bly was established inIslamabad in 2004 when theAssociation of Asian Parlia-ments for Peace decided totransform itself into the AsianParliamentary Assembly. Heexpressed satisfaction overthe commonalities in APA andPakistan’s ideals concerningstrengthening democracy,peace, development, regionalcooperation, security andwell-being of the peopleacross the Asian continent.The Prime Minister said thetheme for this Assembly wasparticularly relevant - AsianCentury: Cooperat ion inEconomy, Energy and the En-vironment. He said the themehad a particular resonancefor Pakistan.

He said Pakistan under-went a historic political tran-sition earlier this year and onepopularly elected governmentsucceeded another popularlyelected government in free,fair and transparent elections.He said the country’s parlia-ment had emerged ever stron-ger on account of this transi-tion and added that “We re-joice that this Parliament is to-day playing host to represen-tatives of its sister parliamentsfrom across Asia.” NawazSharif said the parliament wasnow working to address thechallenges confronting thecountry and had forged a na-tional consensus on how bestto address the threat of terror-ism and to rejuvenate theeconomy. “I firmly believein the Asian century. I also be-

Nayyer stresses unity of APAlieve that this will happen ear-lier and last longer, if SouthAsia also makes its propercontribution to this develop-ment.”

The Prime Minister appre-ciated the efforts of Senate ofPakistan, for managing theevent in such a proficientmanner.

Chairman of the organiz-ing Committee of Asian Par-liamentary Assembly SenatorMushahid Hussain Sayed ob-served that the APA wouldpromote regional and linksamong the Asian States andparticipation of 230 delegatesfrom 31 countries reflects thatPakistan is a vibrant and dy-namic democracy and desiresto progress by enhancing itsregional and economic coop-eration.

He said that Pakistan is animportant player in the regionand APA would help in en-hancing regional linkages.Senator Mushahid furtherstated that the current govern-ment has the vision to enhanceregional cooperation with allthe Asian countries and the re-cent visit of the Prime Minis-ter to various Asian nations isreflective of the fact and theAPA is also based on theagenda of enhancing regionalcooperation and mutual un-derstanding on issues con-cerning the Asian region inthe field of economy, energyand environment. He thankedthe Prime Minister for grac-ing the occasion and also ex-tended felicitations to SyedNayyer Hussuin Bokharicharge of APA Presidency.

Air CommodoreNudrat Kazmipromoted as

Air Vice MarshalISLAMABAD—The Govern-ment of Pakistan has pro-moted Air Commodore SyedNudrat Kazmi to the rank ofAir Vice Marshal.

Air Vice Marshal SyedNudrat Kazmi was commis-sioned in the EngineeringBranch of Pakistan Air Forcein 1983.

Currently, he is serving asChief Project Director JF-17Co-production project at Air-craft Manufacturing Factory,Kamra.

He did Master’s in Aero-space Engineering from USA.

He is also a graduate ofNational Defence University,Islamabad.. He is a recipientof Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military).

Pak cannot allowwar crimes on its

soil for dollars: PTIISLAMABAD—Central Informa-tion Secretary Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Shireen Mazarihas said that Pakistan cannot al-low war crimes and killings bya foreign power on its soil fordollars.

As per issued press statement,Shireen Mazari said “US Secre-tary of Defence Hagel’s threats,given to Pakistan on Pakistani soil,about aid stoppage in case ofNATO supply route throughTorkham remains blocked, re-flected the command that US con-tinues to issue to Pakistan.” Shesaid Hagel totally ignored themain issue of drones which is thecause of the NATO supply routeblockage in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa(KPK) by PTI and its allies.

As for the threat of stoppingUS military assistance, she said“Hagel seemed unaware of thefact that Pakistan’s strategicweapons, barring the F16s, arenot US made or US-depen-dent.”—Online

Sh Rashid forms‘real oppositionparliamentary

group’ISLAMABAD—Awami MuslimLeague leader Sheikh Rashidhas formed, what he called, ‘realopposition parliamentary group’to raise voice for the rights ofmasses.

Announcing this, SheikhRashid said he will head thegroup, while Jamshed Dasti willserve as Secretary General, add-ing that four more MNAs wouldsoon join their group.

“This group has been con-stituted because opposition isnot playing its real role in theparliament, while ‘HaqqeeqiGroup’ will be the voice poorpeople in parliament,” he toldreporters

Sheikh Rashid stated thatthis group has been formed inparliament because such manhas been made the chairman ofPublic Accounts Committee(PAC) who was even not themember of committee before.

AML chief further said,“Present opposition in the parlia-ment is friendly opposition. Hefurther said that his alliance withPakistan Tehreek Insaf (PTI)would remain intact.—Online

AIOU reschedulesexams

ISLAMABAD—Allama IqbalOpen University(AIOU) hasrescheduled the exams of thepapers which were postponedon November 22 inRawalpindi City due to secu-rity ground.

According to ControllerAIOU, exams of the postponedpapers will now be held on Sat-urday December 14.

Controller of Exams, AIOUDr. Hamid Khan Niazi furthersaid that the centers and timingof these exams will remain un-changed, however revised rollnumber slips have been sent bypost to all the concerned stu-dents.—Online

Indian Kashmir policyproved disastrous: Geelani

ISLAMABAD—In occupiedKashmir, the veteran Hurriyet,leader Syed Ali Geelani has saidIndia’s policy of coercion andsuppression has proved disas-trous in the past and so it will bein future as well.

Responding to re-imposi-tion of restrictions on him, theveteran leader in a statement saidthat successful public rallies hadcautioned India and it placedrestrictions on him, which hadput a question mark on the cred-ibility of the upcoming elec-tions, KMS reported.

Syed Ali Geelani said,“Their decision for my re-deten-tion has created doubts about thecredibility for up-coming elec-tions,” and added that it had con-firmed his stand that these elec-

tions were no more a democraticprocess instead manipulated anddesigned by forces wherein can-didates were not elected but itwas a selection processes.

While commenting over thedenial of political space, SyedAli Geelani termed it as unfor-tunate and asked Indian authori-ties to shun their stubborn andobstinate policy and fulfil theircommitment with people ofKashmir. Syed Ali Geelaniwhile lashing out at the authori-ties warned that their attitudewould prove detrimental for au-thorities and their stooges. Hesaid that India since 1947 has ex-perienced in vain different waysand means to suppress the peace-ful movement through statepower and coercion. “Till 1987

the people through their peace-ful efforts strived for right to selfdetermination, however after thenegative response, the youthopted for armed struggle,” headded.

Syed Ali Geelani said thateven after offering unprec-edented sacrifices the peopletook to streets in 2008, 2009 and2010 and again expressed theirsentiments for freedom. The vet-eran leader reiterated to followthe mission with same spiritpeacefully. He, however, saidthat India’s policymakers hadnot learned any lessons fromtheir mistakes and while dealingwith Kashmir they were follow-ing the same policy. “It willprove counterproductive,” headded.—APP

Protests in Indian occupied Kashmir against the continued human rights violations by Indian troops.

ISLAMABAD—Chairman of AllParties Hurriyet Conference,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has saidthat militarization, special pow-ers to Indian armed forces andimposition of black laws are themain cause of bloodshed andviolations of human rights in theterritory.

The APHC chairman inau-gurating a photo- exhibition at alocal hotel in Srinagar organisedby the Human Right Cell ex-pressed his regret over the si-lence of international commu-nity on human rights’ violationsin Indian Held Kashmir. Thephoto exhibition highlighted thepain and agony of Kashmiripeople living their life underoccupation. Mirwaiz UmarFarooq said the Kashmiris arethe victim of the worst kind ofstate terrorism under which in-nocent people have been killed,their houses set ablaze, familiestorn apart due to enforced dis-appearances, and thousands bru-tally left as orphans and widows.

APHC chairman said unlessdemilitarization and scrappingof black laws, these violations

Mirwaiz countsreasons for bloodshed

will continue to happen in Kash-mir.

On this occasion, a featurefilm made by the APHC HumanRight Cell depicting freedomstruggle and human rights’ vio-lations was shown to hundredsof participants, which includedkins of martyrs and disappearedpersons.

The Mirwaiz said this filmis an eye opener depicting thesufferings of Kashmiri peopleand violations that are takingplace in this region. APHCchairman regretted that so manyinquiry commissions have beenset up by the authorities to in-vestigate human rights viola-tions but not a single perpetra-tor has been punished. Thusproving these enquires to be afarce and mere eyewash.

Prominent Hurriyet leadersincluding Agha Syed Hassan Al-Moosvi, Advocate Abdul MajidBanday, Syed Saleem Gilani,Advocate Shahidul Islam, Engi-neer Hilal Ahmad War, JavaidAhmad Mir, Zafar Akbar Buttand others also participated inthe exhibition.—APP

Indian troopskilled 93,978

KashmirisISLAMABAD—Indian troops intheir unabated acts of state ter-rorism martyred 93,978 inno-cent Kashmiris, including 7,014in custody since January 1989till date.

A report released by theResearch Section of KashmirMedia Service on the occasionof the World Human RightsDay, revealed that these killingsrendered 22,776 women wid-owed and 107,466 children or-phaned.

The report said that thetroops molested or disgraced10,084 women and damaged105,992 structures. It main-tained that the Indian troopsand police subjected over8,000 people to custodial dis-appearance during the last 24years.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Federal Ministerfor Kashmir Affairs & Gilgit-Baltistan ChaudharyMuhammad Barjees Tahir hassaid that federal governmentdoes not want to conspireagainst AJK Government but‘no confidence motion’ is con-stitutional right of opposition.

He said that Prime Minis-ter of Pakistan MianMuhammad Nawaz Shrif is se-riously concerned about un-bridled corruption in AzadJammu & Kashmir.

He said this while talkingto Raja Farooq Haider, PresidentPML (N) Azad Jammu & Kash-mir. A delegation of PML (N)led by Raja Farooq Haider calledon Federal Minister for KashmirAffairs & Gilgit-Baltistan in hisoffice on Tuesday.

Raja Farooq Haider said

that with the coming of PML (N)Government there was a sub-stantial decline in corruption allover the country and that corrup-tion index improved consider-ably on international level butpeople of Azad Jammu & Kash-mir were still deprived of fruitsof good governance.

There is no merit in Stateof Azad Jammu & Kashmir. Hesaid that zero tolerance for cor-ruption is the hall mark of PML(N) Government.

Ch Muhammad BarjeesTahir said that Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif hasshown deep concern over rise ofcorruption in Azad Jammu &Kashmir during recent his visit.

Scores of warnings havebeen issued to AJK Governmentin this regard, Barjees added.—APP

Centre not to conspireagainst AJK govt

HAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—Sardar AttiqueAhmed Khan, ex-Premier ofAzad Jammu and Kashmir/President Muslim Conferencehas pointed out to the 57-StateOIC forum that the long-stand-ing unsolved Kashmir and Pal-estine disputes are the two ma-jor causes of Asian instability.Both issues are nuclear flash-point, needing collective persua-sion for early settlement.

He was addressing Tuesdaythe 40th session of OIC ForeignMinisters Contact Group on Kash-mir in Conakry, Guinea. SardarAttique Khan, Mirwaiz UmarFarooq, Syed Ali Gilani and AsiyaAnderabi were invited as true rep-resentatives of Kashmir to presentthe latest situation on the issue.But India denied travel documentsto IHK Kashmiri leaders ofAPHC, an act denounced by theOIC Kashmir Contact Group asviolation of relevant UN resolu-tions. Mr Ghulam MohammadSaffi another Kashmiri leader alsospoke on the occasion.

Paying tributes to the OICforum for its Kashmir and Pal-estine solution efforts, SardarAttique Ahmed Khan said: Thecollective wisdom of the OICleaders has been effective in re-

Unsolved Kashmir, Palestinecause Asian instability: Attique

Wants dispute solution summitsponding to the emergencies andexpediencies attached to thesedisputes on Asian continent. Butit is also a fact that their contin-ued unsolved status constitutesa potential threat to Asian peaceand security. Kashmir disputesis hanging nuclear fire amongthree immediate nukes states -Pakistan, China and India. It isimperative that an Asian Sum-mit should be held by the OICto thrash out initiatives for thesettlement of such serious dis-pute.

At the outset he condoledthe death of Nelson Mandellasaying the late leader has leftbeing lasting imprints of his per-sonality and principles.

He cautioned that OIC needsto be more watchful that in therunning process of globalizationthe issues old Kashmir and Pal-estine are not eroded. Present-ing the statistics of IHK widows,orphans, thousands of missingKashmiris, he sought the assis-tance of OIC for their rehabili-tation/welfare. He condemnedthe denial of travel documentsto Mirwaiz, Ali Gilani andAsiya.”India could have earnedgoodwill of OIC had she al-lowed these leaders to partici-pate in OIC Conakry session, hecommented.

He welcomed the call ofPrime Minister MohammadNawaz Sharif to India to havetable talks with Pakistan andKashmiris. Unless Kashmirtangle is solved, how canKashmiris stay in caged condi-tion forever, he questioned NewDelhi.

He regretted that wheneverPakistan tries to initiate a bilat-eral dialogue India rushes tothrow spanner in sincere efforts.The latest hurdle is their plan-ning to build a divisive wallfrom Jammu to Kathua viaSamba that would uproot humanpopulation of 122 villages af-fecting their homes and farmingfields.

He strongly advocatedKashmir solution search via dia-logue. Kashmiris would like tobecome peace bridge betweenPakistan and India. Only thatsolution would be workable thatserves the aspirations ofKashmiris. He said there can beno other best way out than theUN roadmap on Kashmir.

He paid glorious tributes tothe Secretary General of OICMe Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu forhis successful efforts in estab-lishing institutional liaison ofOIC with other world bodiesincluding UNO.

Anti-snipingdevices installed

on Indo-Pak borderSRINAGAR—Paramilitary BSFhas installed anti-sniping de-vices on Indo-Pak border to pre-vent sniper bullet injuries.

A top BSF official said themove came up in the wake ofalleged increased infiltration at-tempts along the border and Lineof Control (LoC) in JK in recentmonths. “The border area al-ready has in place a strong sur-veillance mechanism, includingthree-tier fencing, flood-light-ing, sensors, thermal imagersand manual patrolling,” headded.

The official said the instal-lation of anti-sniper devices wasunder consideration since Octo-ber this year. “One of our sol-diers was injured when Pakistanitroops fired upon us in Sambadistrict with sniper rifles. Theincident took place at KatavBorder Out Post (BoP) along theInternational Border (IB) inSamba,” he claimed.

The 41-metre wide and 10-metre high embankment is be-ing raised from Akhnoor Sectorto Kathua to secure troops, liv-ing along the IB, from sniper fir-ing from the Pakistani side andthey can freely move behind it,he claimed.

“This is one of the measureswe have undertaken to preventBSF personnel to become tar-gets of any firing by snipersacross the border,” the officialsaid adding that the measureshave been taken in view of theseveral incidents of sniping fromthe Pakistani side in which aBSF personnel was killed andthree others injured in the pastfew months.

Earlier, BSF installed high-resolution cameras to monitorthe border.—NNI

Talking to India,Pakistan is no

sin: GhaniSRINAGAR—Senior leader ofMirwaiz-led Hurriyat Confer-ence Prof Abdul Gani Bhat hassaid the amalgam will not shyaway from holding talks withIndia or Pakistan over Kashmiras there was no harm in doingso.

“Our intentions are cleanand so is our image. When wewent to Pakistan earlier thisyear, we talked to leaders there.We went to Pakistan after thor-ough consultations with thecross section of Kashmir soci-ety,” he said, addressing a semi-nar at the Hurriyat headquartershere. “I fail to understand whysome people misunderstand usand draw their own conclusionswhen Hurriyat talks to India orPakistan. We will talk with ourheads high as talking is no sin.“Many efforts were made tobreak the Hurriyat. But theyfailed and will continue to failbecause Hurriyat is a pious plat-form which believes in keepingthe flock together.”

He said the Hurriyat willcontinue to change its policiesand strategies as and when timedemands.

Prof Bhat said the Hurriyatis “based on faith, discipline andunity.” “We want to convey toNew Delhi that more they beatus the more our resolve toachieve the goal would bestrengthened,” he said.

Prof Bhat said people havechosen their leader in the formof Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.“There is no need to choose an-other one. If we will indulge inselecting leaders, we will landnowhere,” he said. “The onlything is the he needs to lead usin the right direction. For that,consultations are a must. InHurriyat, there is no hegemonyas all are equal.”—NNI

Cold wave furthergrips occupied

KashmirSRINAGAR—There was no re-spite from dry weather condi-tions as cold wave further tight-ened its grip in occupied Kash-mir with the night temperaturesin the valley remaining severaldegrees below the freezingpoint, local media reported onTuesday.

Srinagar, the summer capi-tal of Indian held Jammu andKashmir, recorded a drop ofover one degree in the night tem-perature with the mercury set-tling at a low of minus 2.1 de-grees Celsius as compared to theprevious night’s minus 0.8 de-grees Celsius, a MeT Depart-ment official said.

He said the minimum inSrinagar was over a degree be-low the normal for this part ofthe season.

The official said the nighttemperature in the tourist resortof Pahalgam also decreased byover a degree to settle at a lowof minus 4.0 degrees Celsiusfrom the previous night’s low of2.8 degree Celsius.

The mercury in the famousski-resort of Gulmarg settled ata low of minus 3.4 degree Cel-sius, a drop of a degree fromminus 2.4 degrees Celsius theprevious night, the official said.

He said Qazigund, the gate-way town to Kashmir, recordeda minimum of minus 2.4 degreesCelsius as compared to the pre-vious night’s minus 1.4 degreesCelsius. Kupwara town in northKashmir recorded a minimum ofminus two degrees Celsius asagainst minus 1.9 degrees Celsiusthe previous night, whileKokernag in south recorded a lowof 0.3 degree Celsius as againstthe previous night’s 1.1 degreesCelsius, he said.—Online

Sheep farming catchingyoung entrepreneurs

SRINAGAR—Breaking awayfrom traditional set of doingbusiness, young entrepreneursare choosing new line of activi-ties. Sheep farming is one suchactivity that is fast catching at-tention.

With government providingincentives besides logistic sup-port and financial assistance,large number of youth have setup sheep farms here which ac-cording them will bridge gapbetween demand and supply ofmutton in the Valley.

Faisal Wani is one exampleamong many youth who haveestablished sheep farm and is asuccess story. Wani left his lu-crative job in Dubai and backhome worked on an innovativeidea.

In 2011 he established asheep farm in Budgam districtwith a concept which at thattime everyone doubted to besuccessful.

“I started initially with 25ewes and 1 ram. As an ownerof the farm I had to work hardas the sheep can catch diseasesvery quickly and one has to bevery cautious in handling them.After two years of being in thebusiness I have around 500

sheep and so far I am doinggood as there is huge demandof mutton in the Valley,” Wanisaid.

But Wani cautions buddingentrepreneurs who plan to set-up sheep farms that before start-ing, they should take advicefrom experts. “It is not an easyline to choose as there are manydrawbacks like winter condi-tions are very difficult forsheep. So one has to be patient,hardworking and must haveproper heating facilities inplace,” he adds.

Wani who has done his ini-tial schooling from the valleyand later his Master in BusinessAdministration from Dubaisays that this line of activity –sheep farming has a huge po-tential and can provide liveli-hood to large number of unem-ployed youth.

Similarly, Tabish Salim - anundergraduate student has alsostarted sheep farm in Islamabadarea. He says that though it ishis first year in business. “ButI am hopeful that it will be asuccessful venture as there ishuge potential in this line be-cause of the demand of muttonin market.”—NNI

BRUSSELS—Pakistan must takedue cognizance of Indian deci-sion to build a wall along theLine of Control (LoC) and raisethis issue at diplomatic fronts,including the United NationsSecurity Council as any suchmove clearly tantamounts to vir-tual vivisection of the erstwhilestate of Jammu and Kashmir.

This was stated by the Ex-ecutive Director of KashmiriScandinavian Council (KSC)Sardar Ali Shahnawaz Khanwhile talking from Oslo, the

Indian decision to build a wall alongLoC violation of UN resolutions, KSC

capital of Norway.He reminded that the 10

meters high wall has no parallelin history and is obviously de-signed to divide the people andstate of Jammu and Kashmir onpermanent basis. Starting fromthe Working boundary inJammu-Sialkot sector, India willconstruct 197 Km long wall inphase-I before extending it allover the LoC, he reminded.

He further said that LoC isnot an international border butjust a cease fire lined drawn by

the UN under provisional ar-rangements and hence Inidashould not be allowed to changethe status of it unilaterally. Dueto the lenient policy ofMusharraf-government in past,India was able to fence the LoC.

Ali Shahnawaz observed thatIndia has deliberately shown acold shoulder to Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif who, for goodneighbourly relations, has goneto the extent of proposing freetrade and removal of visa restric-tions between two sides.—NNI

ISLAMABAD: AJK President Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan meeting with Prime Min-ister Chaudhry Abdul Majeed.

MUZAFFARABAD: Member AJK Legislative Assembly and Coordinator Prime MinisterYouth Loan Scheme Barrister Iftikhar Gillani listening to people’s problems during visit toNational Bank Main Branch.

Indian policearrest Farida

BehanjiSRINAGAR—The authorities ar-rested Jammu and KashmirMass Movement, ChairpersonFarida Behanji along with adozen of activists at PressColony when she was leading aprotest demonstration on the eveof the International HumanRights Day, today.The MassMovement Chairperson andother detainees have beenlodged at kothi Bagh Police Sta-tion in Srinagar.

On the other hand, the au-thorities did not allow the vet-eran Hurriyet leader, Syed AliGilani to address a press confer-ence at his residence in Srinagar,today. Police laid siege aroundthe house of the veteran leaderand did not allow anyone to en-ter the residence. A statementissued by the forum patronisedby Syed Ali Gilani denouncedthe police action.

The speakers on the occa-sion urged the world commu-nity to play its role for an endto the rights abuses by the In-dian forces in the territory.—KMS

Several JKPFLactivists arrested

during protestSRINAGAR—Police arrestedseveral activists of Jammu andKashmir Peoples FreedomLeague during their protest dem-onstration in Srinagar on theWorld Human Rights Day, to-day.

The police used brute forceand fired tear-gas on the peace-ful protesters, who were raisinganti-India and pro-civil rightsslogans.

The protesters led by JKPFLChief Organiser MuhammadAltaf Khan on the occasioncalled upon the United Nationsto send a delegation of HumanRights Council to take a stockof the human rights situation inthe occupied territory.

They said that India flout-ing all covenants and conven-tions on human rights was en-gaged in suppressing theKashmiris’ freedom strugglethrough military might.

The detainees includedImtiaz Ahmad Shah, ArshadAziz, Gulzar Ahmad Khanday,Shoukat Ahmad, Pir Irfan,Khursheed Ahmad, RiazAhmad, Muhammad Zaheer,Muhammad Jahangir andMuhammad Shahid.—KMS

Tramboodenounces India’s

anti-people policiesSRINAGAR—The Chairman ofInternational Council for HumanRights, Barrister Abdul MajeedTramboo has said that time hascome when India should shun itspolicy of obduracy and demon-strate courage to resolve theKashmir dispute through talksbetween Pakistan, India and thepeople of Kashmir.

Barrister Abdul MajeedTramboo addressing a meetingorganised by the Jammu andKashmir Liberation Front-R inSrinagar over telephone said thatNew Delhi was playing havocwith the lives of innocent peopleof Kashmir to perpetuate its oc-cupation over Jammu and Kash-mir.

He deplored that effortswere being made to suppress theKashmiris’ peaceful struggle forright to self-determination by thedint of gun, said a press releaseissued by the JKLF-R.

However, he maintainedthat the Kashmiris’ sentimentsfor freedom could not be sup-pressed through use of bruteforce and suggested the Kash-mir dispute could be resolvedthrough dialogue and consulta-tions.

The meeting was also ad-dressed by JKLF-R Chairman,Farooq Ahmad Dar and oth-ers.—KMS

Valley reelsunder darkness,power Minsterblames people

SRINAGAR—Stating thatpeople are responsible for thepower mess in Kashmir, Min-ister for Power and Informationhas said that until and unlesspeople desist from powerthefts, the electricity scenario ofthe valley will not get better. Healso said that the departmentwill soon start a massive driveagainst the power thefts.

“The total capacity of thereceiving stations within theKashmir division is about 900to 1000 MW and the departmentprovides the same but unfortu-nately people do not desist fromtheft and hooking which is themain hurdle in smooth supply ofelectricity,” Minister for Powerand Information, Vikar Rasoolsaid in an interview with theKNS.

“We have decided to startmassive drive against thosewho are involved in hookingand power theft as govern-ment is committed to makeevery endeavor to improvepower scenario in the valley,”he added.

Further explaining thepower crises he said, “It iseasy to blame the Departmentfor everything but peopleshould realize that they usemore electricity than requiredand waste the power unneces-sarily.—KNS

“We generate fearswhile we sit. We

overcome them byaction. Fear isnature’s way of

warning us to getbusy.”

—Dr. Henry Link

HC interested indirect PIA link withAustraliaAmanullah KhanKARACHI—Peter Heyward,High CommissionerAustralia has showed keeninterest in expansion of PIAand particularly havingdirect air link with Australia.The Australian HighCommissioner offered hiscooperation and supportfor PIA. It may be notedthat Australian delegationled by High CommissionerMr. Peter Heyward calledon Managing Director PIAMr Muhammad JunaidYunus in Head Office.Australian High Commis-sion First SecretaryMs.Melissa Kelly andBusiness DevelopmentManager for South PakistanMr Tahir Mahmood were inthe delegation. DeputyManaging Director Engi-neering PIA Air ViceMarshall Qasim MasoodKhan was also presentduring the meeting. Theparticipants of meetingdiscussed matters of mutualinterest and of bilateralcooperation.

IFC-LCCI discusspolicy barriersSalim AhmedLAHORE—InternationalFinance Corporation (IFC)and the Lahore Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(LCCI) on Tuesday dis-cussed threadbare regula-tory and policy barriers tocaptive power generationand private-to-privatemodels of electricity toreduce the current powerdeficit. LCCI former Presi-dent Mian Anjum Nisar,LCCI Executive CommitteeMember ChaudhryMuhammad Aslam andAkber Sheikh held talks withthe International FinanceCorporation (IFC) teamcomprising Saima Zuberi,Ricardo Arias, Aijaz Ahmad,Affifa Raihana, Dalia Sakr,Etienne Rafi.

Delays in kinnowconsignments assailedStaff ReporterKARACHI—While acknowl-edging commendableefforts by the Governmentin withdrawal of ban onKinnow imposed byRussian, anticipated tofetch huge foreign ex-change for the crippledeconomy, issuance ofPhyto-sanitary certificatesonly from Bhalwal coupledwith acute shortage ofexperienced inspecting staffcausing in-ordinate delaysin inspection of Kinnowcontainers has been viewedwith serious concern,stated by Mr. Abdul Wahid,former chairman andspokesman of All PakistanFruit & Vegetable Exporters, Importers & MerchantAssociation (PFVA) duringa meeting of leadingexporters of the Associa-tion.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Minister forPlaning and Development,Professor Ahsan Iqbal saidon Tuesday that due totransparent fiscal policiesand zero tolerance for mal-

practices no corruptioncase was reported during thesix months of the presentgovernment. He was ad-dressing the 16th Sustain-able Development Policy In-stitute (SDPI) Conferencehere at a local hotel today.

The minister said thatgovernment was also deter-mined to eradicate the men-ace of corruption from thecountry for sustainable de-velopment and socio- eco-nomic uplift of the country.He said that government,

under its next five-year de-velopment plan and vision-2025 introduced sevenpoint’s agenda to turnaround the nationaleconomy and put it on fasttrack growth by harnessingthe available resources. Thegovernment, he said wasfocusing on energy secu-rity, human social capital,creating indigenous re-sources besides moderniz-ing infrastructure for eco-nomic development of thecountry.

Ahsan Iqbal said thatspecial attention was paidto small and medium enter-prises as it works as engineof growth adding thattransaction from low qual-i ty to high quali ty prod-ucts and further improvingthe governance was themain thrust. He further saidthat to strengthen the in-dustrial sector of the coun-try and to enhance qualityas well as productivity ofthe sector, government hasdecided to celebrate 2014as a year of “Quality andProductivity”.

No corruption case registered during 6 months

Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal speaks during SDPI’sSixteenth Sustainable Development Conference.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

Newly elected President FPCCI Zakria Usman, VP MunawarMughal and others with Tariq Sayeed and SM Muneer.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Askari BankLimited has launched its newcall center having state of theart technology to better serve

its customers. ThroughAskaricall center, customerscan now perform host of fi-nancial transactions includ-ing utility bill payments, creditcard payments, mobile top-up,transfer funds (within Askaribank / interbank) and much

Askari Bank launchesnew call centre

Chairman Board of Directors Askari Bank Limited, Lt. General(Retd) Muhammad Mustafa Khan, inaugurating call centre.

more making it convenient forthe customers to perform theirbanking transactions.

The call center was inau-gurated by Chairman Board ofDirectors, Askari Bank Limited,

Lt. General (Retd) MuhammadMustafa Khan, HI (M). Speak-ing on the occasion, he said,“In this competitive environ-ment, customer convenienceand technology driven prod-ucts& services are the bench-mark for success.”

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Zong haslaunched its state-of-the-artContact Centre in ChakShehzad Islamabad.Pakistan’s largest cloud com-puting based contact centerwas inaugurated by Minis-ter for Information Technol-ogy Ms. Anusha Rehman.Chariman PTA, Dr. IsmailShah, Secretary IT, AkhlaqTarar and other dignitariesalso graced the occasion.With the launch of this newContact Centre, Zong hastaken another giant leap toprovide best in class sup-port services to its custom-ers and facilitate them withtheir queries round theclock.

The Contact Centre willallow Zong to get closer tothe consumer pulse and ad-dress their needs morepromptly. Additionally, theContact Centre will also cre-ate more job opportunities inPakistan hence making apositive contribution to theeconomy.

Commenting on Zong’scontribution to the IT indus-

Zong Contact Centre inauguratedtry, Ms. Rehman said, “Weappreciate any endeavor thatadds value to the IT &Telecom industry of Paki-

stan. As the fastest growingcellular network of the coun-try, Zong is playing a key rolein providing better telecom

services to Pakistanisthrough its innovative initia-tives and driving the indus-try wide growth. With such

focused initiatives, Zong hasundoubtedly become abenchmark for other Paki-stani telecom operators.”

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Mobile bankingcreates a heightened level ofpotential operations risk.Ashraf Mehmood Wathra,Deputy Governor State Bankof Pakistan while speakingat the 8th International In-formation Security Confer-ence here today said “Solu-tions that work in wired net-works may not be sufficientto address risks for applica-

tion in a wireless environ-ment and the transfer of in-formation from a wired to awireless environment cancreate additional risks to theintegrity and confidentialityof the information exchanges.

He said that security wasone of the biggest customerconcerns when consideringe-banking adoption. Theconference was organized byTotal Communications in col-laboration with Pakistan In-

formation Security Associa-tion (PISA) There are five keyprinciples guiding technol-ogy risk management in Mo-bile Financial Services: con-fidentiality, integrity, avail-ability, authentication, andnon-repudiation. “Thesehave been embedded in ourregulatory framework forbranchless banking” thedeputy governor of the StateBank of Pakistan said.

In Pakistan, the banking

system despite its majortransformation remains re-stricted in its outreach. “In apopulation of 185 million,there are only 32 million de-posit accounts and 6 millionborrowers. On the contrary,the number of mobile phonesubscribers has cross 130million across all economicand geographic segments.”

Ammar Jaffri, Presidentof PISA, said that expertshave drafted Cyber Security

Law (CSL) to protect people,businesses and the govern-ment of Pakistan from secu-rity risks while using Internet.“The drafted regulations willbe first send to Senate byend of January-2014 andthen to National Assemblyfor approval,” he told mediaon sidelines of the confer-ence.

Addressing the audienceearlier, he said that everyonewas competing in cyber

space where criminals wereso active. “To counter andcompete with criminals, weneed to create warriors inPakistan as well, as the de-veloped and developingworld is doing.”

“Criminals would alwaysgo where the money is com-ing from...and the money incoming from the financialsector,” he said. Asher FaisalKhan, CEO, Commtel Sys-tems, said that information

security was not a myth, buta reality that organizationsneed to accept at first stage.

Absence of the securitymeasures at their-end hascaused losses of billions ofdollars to multinational com-panies and banks at worldacross, including Sony, oil gi-ant Saudi Aramco, Bank ofMuscat, and a national bankof an emirate in UAE. Dr.Athar Mehboob, Dean, SuffaUniversity, said that cyber

crime has grown to the levelof industry at world across.“Criminals are developingmalicious software for finan-cial benefits these days.There was a time in 70’s whenthey used to do it for earningfame.” The one-day confer-ence also held a panel dis-cussion “Current Securitythreats and Solutions”. An-nual premier event was larglyattended by Information Se-curity experts of the country.

Mobile banking creates operational risks: SBP Governor

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Making the cus-tomer experience delightfulthrough simplicity, this revampallows users to get control ofadvanced self-service optionsincluding detailed informationon all the offers, tariffs, prod-ucts and services with activa-tion and deactivations throughself-service IVR. Transformingbrand promises into opera-tional reality, the companytook number of incredible ini-tiatives to further enhance theCustomer Experience. WaridContact Center achieved andmaintained the highest servicelevel in the last two years whilein 12 of the nationwide WaridExperience Centers (Walk-InBusiness Centers) it maintainsthe average wait time of only

Warid Telecom announces revampof its customer services helpline

39 seconds and serving timeof 4:52 minutes which is evenlesser than 5 minutes.

Launched back in 2005,Warid gave the entire com-munity slogans like ‘BeHeard’ and ‘We Care’. Overthe years, it earned the per-ception of being the mostcaring service provider, hav-ing finest network quality,crystal clear voice and trans-parency. The brand has beenalso declared the most de-voted social/FacebookBrand for last three consecu-tive months with average re-sponse time improved from564 minutes to 194 minutes.The company has set thehighest standards of serviceexcellence and is enjoyingincredible brand reputationand exceptionally positive

customer loyalty trends.The helpline, IVR revamp

is a great initiative as thereare some additional servicesWarid has introduced whichare offered for the first timein Pakistan by any operator.Now its postpaid customerscan get complete personalaccount information fromHelp Line including billingdetails, free minutes Informa-tion, payment history, billpayment, voice offer freeminutes Information andGPRS/SMS usage details.Not only these customerscan also avail unique ser-vices from help line & pro-motional IVR, such as info onValued Added Services acti-vations/deactivations, F&Flist retrieval and PUK codeconfirmation.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Overseas Paki-stani workers remitted anamount of $6406.73 million inthe first five months (July –November) of the current fis-cal year 2013-14 (FY14),showing a growth of 7.10percent when compared with$5982.04 million receivedduring the same period of lastfiscal year (July- NovemberFY13).

The inflow of remit-tances in July- NovemberFY14 from Saudi Arabia,UAE, USA, UK, other GCCcountries (includingBahrain, Kuwait, Qatar andOman), and EU countriesamounted to $1793.73 mil-

$6.4b remitted in first 5 monthslion, $1297.22 million,$1025.87 million, $962.76 mil-lion, $732.64 million and$179.14 million respectivelyas compared with the inflowof $1609.45 million, $1240.62million, $993.57 million,$845.86 million, $676.69 mil-lion and $161.16 million re-spectively in July- Novem-ber FY13.

Remittances receivedfrom Norway, Switzerland,Australia, Canada, Japanand other countries duringthe first five months of cur-rent fiscal year amounted to$415.37 million as against$454.69 million received inthe first five months of lastfiscal year.

In November 2013, the

inflow of remittances fromSaudi Arabia, UAE, USA,UK, other GCC countries (in-cluding Bahrain, Kuwait,Qatar and Oman), and EUcountries amounted to$334.10 million, $236.29 mil-lion, $175.82 million, $155.13million, $128.18 million and$29.84 million respectively ascompared with the inflow of$300.84 million, $193.79 mil-lion, $152.29 million, $148.53million, $117.18 million and$26.63 million respectively inNovember, 2012.

Remittances receivedfrom Norway, Switzerland,Australia, Canada, Japan andother countries during No-vember 2013 amounted to$71.76 million

Samsung introducessolid state drive

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Samsung Elec-tronics has announced that itlaunches 840 EVO mSATA(mini-Serial ATA) Solid StateDrive (SSD) line-up, includingthe industry’s first 1 terabyte(TB) mSATA SSD this month.The Samsung 840 EVOmSATA SSD is an extensionof the 840 EVO line-up whichwas introduced in July atSamsung SSD Global Summit.The new SSD features thecompact mSATA form factorwhich is approximately a quar-ter size of a 2.5-inch SSD, andoffers the same level of highdensity and high performance.

“With the new mSATASSD line-up offering up to1TB of memory and an opti-mized software tool, we ex-pect that consumers can en-joy high storage volume andperformance on ultra-slimnotebooks besides desktopPCs,” said Unsoo Kim, seniorvice president, memory brandproduct marketing, SamsungElectronics. “We will con-tinue to bring leading-edgeSSD products and softwaresolutions with improvedquality and reliability, whileworking on offering higherconsumer satisfaction.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—United Mobilehas announced the winnerof a brand new Suzuki HeavyBike ‘Inazuma’. The winnerMr. Zohaib from Karachi wasamong the thousands ofVOICE mobile customers thatparticipated in the launchceremony of the Voice Series– Xtra and Xtreme.

United Mobile launchedthe latest series of Xtremesmart phones and Xtra fea-ture phones in major citiesof Pakistan includingKarachi, Islamabad andLahore. These events were

held at various shoppingmalls, cinemas, universitiesand other recreational areasallowing customers to expe-rience the latest offerings ofthe VOICE series and theopportunity to win variousgifts and prizes includingthe bumper prize which wasthe Suzuki Heavy Bike‘Inazuma’.

The winner of thebumper prize was caught inthe moment, expressinggreat joy upon receiving thekeys of the brand newheavy bike from the seniormanagement of United Mo-bile. After the successful

launch of the Xtra andXtreme mobile phones se-ries, the spokesperson forVOICE shared future plansfor introducing innovativemobile phones for the Paki-stani consumers, with thecontinued promise to pro-vide customer service of thehighest quality.

“We are in process ofgetting some exciting and in-novative products in the mar-ket and the success of theXtra and Xtreme series issurely just the beginning,”said Mr. Ejaz Hassan, Mar-keting Director at UnitedMobile.

United Mobile announces winners APCNGAmeeting overdisconnection

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The All Paki-stan CNG Association(APCNGA) on Tuesdaysummoned emergency meet-ing of office bearers of theassociations, CNG operatorsand transporters from allacross the Pakistan to chalkout a strategy to get supplyof natural gas to CNG out-lets restored. The step hasbeen taken in the back dropof the sudden decision bythe SNGPL to discontinuesupply to CNG sector for in-definite period, said a state-ment issued here today.

Ghiyas AbdullahParacha, Chairman SupremeCouncil APCNGA said thatclosure of the CNG sector inthe name of gas load man-agement is sheer violation ofthe constitution. He said thatCNG sector is being targetedintentionally which will trig-ger inflation, unemployment,and chaos. The decision ofthe Supreme Court hasproved injustice meted out tothe CNG sector, he said, add-ing that the unilateral deci-sion is based on mala fideintentions of the gas distri-bution company.

Bureaucracy is painting awrong picture of the situa-tion as gas is not as scarce inthe country as claimed, saidParacha. He said that domes-tic consumers continue toget low pressure despite clo-sure of the CNG which indi-cates that gas in being di-verted to an influential sec-tor in a secret manner. We willnever allow gas officials topush millions to unemploy-ment, deprive majority ofcountry’s population of af-fordable transportation andsink Rs 450 billion invest-ments in the CNG sector overtheir lame excuses, he said.

The leader of the CNGsector said that closure ofCNG will trigger demand forimported fuel which will draindwindling forex reserves asno country is willing to pro-vide oil to Pakistan on credit.The Planning Commission inits latest report has opposedtotal closure of the CNG sec-tor terming it against the na-tional interests, he informed.

Korean inventorskeen to invest

in PakistanISLAMABAD—Ambassador ofSouth Korea to Pakistan SongJong-hawan said Korean com-panies are showing great in-terest for investment in energysector to help Pakistan. SongJong-hawan expressed theseviews during his meeting withMinister of State for Water andPower Ch. Abid Sher Ali hereon Tuesday. The Ministercommended the deep ties be-tween Pakistan and Korea invarious fields. He said that it isthe vision of present govern-ment to strengthen relationwith Korea.—Online

Mr Fan Yunjun CEO Zong with Ms Anusha Rehman Min-ister for IT Pakistan at the ribbon cutting ceremony ofPakistan’s largest cloud based contact center.

DUBAI: Mohammad Nabi dives to take a catch during Afghanistan vs Ireland, Intercontinental Cup final, 1st day.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Rahul Mankadis a good listener. The sonof former all-rounder lateVinoo Mankad and thebrother of Ashok Mankad,Rahul believes that the cur-rent commentators in SouthAfrica are totally bias.

Speaking exclusively,the 59-year-old RahulMankad, who played 47First Class matches, says,“the SA commentators(Kepler Wessels, MikeHaysman and RobinJackman, in particular) kepton suggesting that the In-dian batsmen ‘succumbedto pace’. Fair enough. oneor two did show some weak-ness. The fact is...ALLbatsmen struggle againstgenuine pace and India areno exception”.

Backing his claims, hesays further, “India werechasing daunting targets.300 plus in the first game

Are South African commentatorsbias? Yes, and it smacks of

arrogance, says Rahul Mankadand 280 plus in the second.Indian batsmen had to takerisks and hoped that the per-centages would work in theirfavour as it did in case to DeKok and Amla (who had lotsof inner edges, french cutsand lucky shots in the earlystages). Unfortunately forIndia, their shots..good aswell as injudicious ones wentto the fielders and they wereout caught”.

“Raina was unfairly criti-cized, particularly in the sec-ond match. He just seems toget into awkward positions(mainly due to indecisionabout whether to hook orduck/leave.

NOT due to fear, In myopinion as the SA commen-tators were alluding). He hadto play adventurous shots atthat stage of the game. Howelse does one chase 8+ runsrequired in an over ? Ithought Raina acquitted him-self well in the secondmatch”.

“ALL teams generally per-form better in ‘home’ condi-

tions, including India ANDSA. Commentators love topoint out the fact that it isONLY India that does notperform well away fromhome. Is batting againstpace the ONLY criterion forgood batsmanship ?”,Mankad asks.

“It would be fair andjust to suggest that just asa batsman is generallyjudged on how s/he batsagainst pace, pace bowlersought to be judged on howthey bowl on batsman-friendly wickets. Bothcases are strong to confirmwho are ‘backyardbullies’....be it batsmen fromSouth Asia or pace bowlersfrom SA/Australia”. he ar-gued.

“Finally, I just feel thatthe tone and languageused to describe the Indianperformance smacks of apatronising and conde-scending attitude by the SAcommentators and itsmacks of arrogance”, hesigned off.

Kabbadi WorldCup, Pakistan toface US in first

semi-finalISLAMABAD—In the WorldKabbadi Cup, Pakistan willtake on the United Stateson Wednesday ( today) inthe first semi-final in theIndian city of Bathinda to-morrow.

Pakistan remained un-defeated in their pool andended at the top with tenpoints after f ive outings.Pakistan wil l face theUnited States in the semi-finals on Wednesday, a pri-vate TV channel reported.

Pakistan’s skipperBabar Gujjar was elated bythe splendid run of histeam.”I am very happy thatwe earned our fifth straightwin.

Babar was confidentthat Pakistan would beatthe US with a high margin.

Pakistan kabaddi teamhad thrashed England 69-28 in their last Group Bgame of the Men’s KabaddiWorld Cup at the War He-roes Stadium Sangrur, In-dia, on Monday.

The second semi-finalwill be played at the samevenue tomorrow betweenhost India and the winnerof today’s contest betweenEngland and Canada.—APP

Pakistan womenkabaddi team

secures place inWC semifinal

K A R A C H I — P a k i s t a n ’ swomen kabaddi team onTuesday created history bymarching into the semi finalof the Women KabaddiWorld Cup, beating Mexico49-24 in their last group-Bmatch in India.

With this victory, Paki-stan accumulated four pointsfrom the three matches theyplayed and set up a date witharch rival India in the semi fi-nal match.

Team Green needed thiswin to proceed into the semifinals as England and Paki-stan both had two pointseach before this match.

Pakistan was narrowlybeaten by Denmark 45-39 inthe opening match while theteam bounced back againstEngland in their secondmatch winning 41-30.

The team is placed inGroup B in the competitionalong with England, Mexicoand Denmark as eight teamsfight for the title and have achance to win a handsomeprize of INR10 million.—APP

KARACHI—Former Testpaceman Sarfraz Nawaz hassaid that Muhammad Talahis fastest bowler in the coun-try and hot for selection inPakistan team for Test andwell one-day series againstSri Lanka.

“At the moment Talah isthe best bowler in the coun-try and in absence ofMuhammad Irfan, he is thebest choice for the selectionin the team,” he said in aninterview on Tuesday.

Lanky Muhammad Talah,who made his Test debut in-famous second Test inGaddafi Stadium Lahorewhen Sri Lanka team cameunder attack on third March2009, has taken 31 wickets inPresident’s Trophy for Port

Qasim Authority.“Talha is in the prime

form and fitness and takingwickets consistently on do-mestic circuit,” he said.

“Talha is hot and “Hit theiron when its hot,” he saidon the 25-year-old fastbowler from Faisalabad.

Lean and lanky but quickTalah finished with haul 11wickets in the match againstZTBL at Sialkot in President’sTrophy last week.

“I think Talah in a goodrhythm and great future pros-pect if given chance at thisjuncture,” Sarfraz Nawaz,himself a great swing andseam bowler of yesteryears,said.

He believed thatMuhammad Talah can admi-

rably fill the gap created withinjury to Muhammad Irfan.

He blamed tour manage-ment for not caring forMuhammad Irfan and overburdening him in Test, ODIsand T20I despite fully know-ing his breaking down.

In the meantime, formerPakistan captain and PQACoach Rashid Latif has saidthat Muhammad Talha isprime form to go into the Pa-kistan team.

“He (Talha) is bowlingmagnificently and is greatmaterial for Pakistan team,”he said.

Pakistan is facing someproblems after injury toMuhammad Irfan and longrecovering of Umar Gul afterknee surgery.—APP

D H A K A — B a n g l a d e s h ’scricket chief has said that nextyear’s Twenty20 World Cupis threatened by thecountry’s deadly politicalviolence, warning there mayonly be weeks to save thetournament.

The 16-team competition,due to take place betweenMarch 16 and April 6, shouldbe the biggest sportingevent ever staged byBangladesh.

But the country has beengripped by violent protests

in recent weeks, with oppo-sition supporters insistingthat Prime Minister SheikhHasina stand aside ahead ofelections due next year. Morethan 74 people have beenkilled since late October.

“If this situation prevails,then any big tournament orparticipation of any big coun-try will be under threat,”Bangladesh Cricket Board(BCB) president NazmulHassan told reporters lateMonday.“This must end inJanuary and preferably in De-

cember.” A team of Interna-tional Cricket Council (ICC)inspectors declared last weekthat they were “happy” withsecurity arrangements butsaid they would continue tomonitor the situation.

However, the dangersposed to teams was under-lined at the weekend when asmall bomb exploded out-side the West Indies’ Under-19 team’s hotel in the portcity of Chittagong, prompt-ing them to cut short theirtour.—AFP

DUBAI—Pakistan haveadded the uncapped left-armseamer Usman Khan to theT20 squad for the two-matchseries against Sri Lanka in theUAE, beginning on Wednes-day. In his maiden season, the19-year-old took 5 for 9 tohelp Zarai Taraqiati Bank Lim-ited (ZTBL) beat Sui North-ern Gas Pipelines Limited inthe final of the Faysal BankT20 Cup for departments inDecember. He was also thetournament’s leading wicket-taker with 11 wickets in sixgames.

“I wasn’t really expectingsuch a quick call but I am ter-ribly lucky to have a chanceafter my best spell against thebest players in domesticcricket,” Usman toldESPNcricinfo. “I am thankfulto the selectors and the PCBfor picking me up.

“I don’t know if this is tooearly for me (to play the in-ternational cricket) but whatI can say is that I am bowlingat my best and ready to hitthe international arena. I amlooking forward to the oppor-tunity and would like to bePakistan’s surprise packageagainst Sri Lanka.”

Born in Landi Kotal, atown 1,072m above sea levelin the mountain ranges ofFATA, Usman was identifiedby Khan Research Laborato-ries for their inter-department

Usman added to T20 squadOpportunity for Pakistan to top T20 rankings

Under-19 team in 2011. Helater joined ZTBL, for whichhe made his first-class debut.

In four first-classmatches, Usman has pickedup 12 wickets with a best of 4for 27. He has also taken 16

wickets in 11 T20 games.Usman is the fifth seamer

in the T20 squad and thirdleft-armer, including SohailTanvir and Junaid Khan. Heis expected to join the teamon the morning of the firstT20 in Dubai today.

Meanwhile, Pakistan willjump to the number-one po-sition on the Reliance ICCTwenty-20 Team Rankings ifit wins the two-match seriesagainst Sri Lanka when start-ing on Wednesday at DubaiInternational Cricket Sta-

dium.Sri Lanka who will defend

its number-one ranking onthe T20 Team Rankings hasremained in the number-oneposition since October 8,2012 following the ICC WorldT20 2012, where it reachedthe final. It leads fourth-ranked Pakistan by eight rat-ings points, says a press re-lease issued here.

However, this will changeif Pakistan manages to winboth T20s. If Pakistan winsthe series 2-0, then Pakistanside will earn four ratingspoints while the Sri Lankanside will drop six ratingspoints. This swing will meanPakistan will jump to thenumber-one position on 125ratings points and Sri Lankawill join India and South Af-rica on 123 ratings points, butwill be ranked above thosesides when the ratings arecalculated beyond the deci-mal point.

If the series result is re-versed, then Sri Lanka willretain the number-one spot,and move to 133 ratingspoints while Pakistan willdrop behind the West Indiesinto fifth position on 118 rat-ings points.

If the series ends in aone-all draw, Sri Lanka willfinish in the number-one spoton 128 ratings points andPakistan will stay in fourth

position on 121 ratingspoints.

Meanwhile, only twobatsmen from either side fea-ture in the top 20 of the Reli-ance ICC Player Rankings forT20 Batsmen. These areTillakaratne Dilshan (12th),Kumar Sangakkara (16th)(both Sri Lanka), MohammadHafeez (19th) and UmarAkmal (20th) (both Pakistan).

Pakistan and Sri Lankabowlers dominate the Reli-ance ICC Player Rankings forT20 Bowlers with SaeedAjmal second, AjanthaMendis third and Hafeezfourth.

Outside the top 10 areNuwan Kulasekara (11th),Shahid Afridi (12th), AngeloMathews (18th) and LasithMalinga (19th). Sohail Tanviris in 26th position and will beaiming to break into the top20.

Muhammad Hafeez insecond position is the high-est-ranked player on the Re-liance ICC Player Rankingsfor T20I All-rounders whileAfridi is in fifth position.Hafeez trails Australia’sShane Watson by 10 ratingspoints and can potentiallytop the rankings if he per-forms well with both bat andball. Pakistan will its first T20match on December 11 whilethe second on December13.—APP

DUBAI—Pakistan captainMisbah-ul-Haq has said that

his team having to con-stantly play away from homehas taken a psychological

toll on the players. Since the2009 terrorist attack on the SriLankan cricket team inLahore, no team has touredPakistan, citing security con-cerns.

Pakistan have sinceplayed the majority of theirhome games in the UAE, aswell as matches in NewZealand and England.

“It is not an easy thing notbeing able to play at home forso long,” Misbah told Ex-press News. “There are play-ers in this side who have nothad a chance to play interna-tional matches in Pakistan.”

Misbah also pointed toJonathan Trott’s recent with-drawal from the Englandsquad for the ongoing Asheswith a stress-related illness,as an example of just how big

an issue homesickness canbe. In fact, because of therecent series against SouthAfrica in UAE, the Pakistanplayers were forced to cel-ebrate Eid away from home.

“Jonathan Trott’s ex-ample should be an eye-opener for the world. Imag-ine what the players havegone through in all theseyears,” Misbah said. “I thinkit’s time that the ICC andother cricket nations supportPakistan because interna-tional cricket away from homehas tough demands on theplayers.

“There is non-stop inter-national cricket these daysand it is extremely hard onthe players to be away fromtheir families for such longperiods.”—AFP

Misbah fears homesicknessfor his players

Talah is hot for selection inPakistan team: Sarfraz

Unrest threatens T20World Cup, hosts admit

Belgium topgroup in Junior

World CupNEW DELHI—Belgium con-tinued their great run in theJunior World Cup when theycame back from two goalsdown to draw 2-2 with Paki-stan and top Group A at theMajor Dhyan Chand NationalStadium here.

The Belgians will nowplay France while defendingchampions Germany, whothrashed Egypt 6-0 on Tues-day, finished as runners-upin the group to set up a lasteight clash against formerchampions Australia.

Pakistan needed a six-goal win to make the lasteight and went on to attackright from the start. But theirfirst goal came only in the41st minute throughMohamed Dilber.

Dilber was on target againin the 54th minute and gavePakistan a glimmer of hopeof making the last eight.

But the Belgians dugdeep and dragged them-selves back into the game,narrowing the deficit in the60th minute when MaximePlennevaux stole a passfrom a defender, turned onthe spot and blasted abackhand shot high intothe net.

The momentum was nowwith the Belgians andPlennevaux scored anotherfield goal to make it 2-2.

In the other Group Amatch, Germany went 1-0 upwith a little help from anEgyptian defender, who de-flected the ball into his ownnet after just four minutes.

Germany doubled theirtally in the 19th minutethrough Niklas Bruns.

Christopher Ruhr made it3-0 in the 42nd minute.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Former Olym-pian Shehnaz Sheikh, speak-ing after Pakistan’s humiliatingelimination from the Jr. WorldCup on Tuesday, remarkedthat the only consistency thenational sides showed thesedays was their condemnation

to playing for the last posi-tions.

In comments to APP afterBelgium held Pakistan to a 2-2draw in their last pool match inNew Delhi, Shehnaz reiteratedhis call for change at the helmof Pakistan Hockey Federation

as a first step on the long roadtowards revival of the nationalgame.

“It was the time to offer‘Fateha’ for the national gamewhich I earlier believed was inIntensive Care Unit”, he saidin sarcastic observation onPakistan juniors’ pathetic dis-play in New Delhi where theyscrapped through 3-2 againstlowly Egypt and then werewhipped 6-1 by tile contend-ers Germany.

“I would rather say Paki-stan showed consistency butonly in being condemned toplaying for the last positions”,he said.

Pakistan failed to reachquarter-finals after 2-2 drawagainst Belgium and wouldnow play for positions outsidethe first eight.

“I believe that lack ofphysical fitness and teamwork resulted in sorry state ofaffairs for the team,” he said,adding, there was no aggres-sion and spark in the playerswhich was mandatory inmodern hockey.

Shehnaz said he would notcall it a junior team as 10 seniorplayers were playing in it.

“If a team having 10 seniorplayers cannot beat junior op-ponents, how can you expectthem to play against senior in-ternational teams,” heemphasised.

The former olympian saidthe recent change of hockeymanagement had also causedconfusion among the playerswhich was another reason ofthe debacle.—APP

MELBOURNE: Jelena Dokic of Australia serves in her first round match against JarmilaGajdosova of Australia in the Australian Open 2014 Qualifying at Melbourne Park.

It’s time to offer ‘Fateha’for hockey: Shehnaz

IT’S no secret that we tend to eat a littlemore around the holidays. And with all thehustle and bustle of the season, many of us

have trouble finding time to make healthychoices. That may be why it’s nearly impos-sible to secure a treadmill atthe gym in January — ourresolutions are a reflection ofour guilt. We know why wetend to eat poorly. But couldour food choices be leadingto something other than anexpanding waistline?

If our poor choices be-come a habit, certainly. Ac-cording to recent studies, it’spossible that eating certainfoods is associated with de-pression.

Here are three foods youmay want to avoid in excessthis holiday season, and be-yond. [7 Holiday StressBusters]

Refined Grains: Pasta isa quick meal, great for those busy nights whenyou have to spend most of your time shop-ping, baking or wrapping.

But, it may not be a good meal to haveevery night. Pasta, white rice and bagels areall foods that have been identified as inflam-matory and have been linked to depressionin women ages 50 to 77, according to an Oc-tober 2013 study in the journal Brain, Behav-ior and Immunity.

In the study, researchers looked at the eat-ing habits of more than 40,000 women, whodidn’t have depression at the study’s start.They found that those who consumed inflam-

matory foods regularly were more likely tosuffer from depression by the end of thestudy. Soft Drinks: As you’re buzzingaround from store to store, how will youreplenish lost fluids? It’s all too easy to grab

a cola on-the-go, but the samestudy in Brain, Behavior andImmunity study indicated thatsoft drinks as part of a regu-lar diet may also contribute todepression. So, if soda is yourgo-to drink when you’rethirsty, it may be time to re-think that strategy.

Fast Food: People whoeat fast food are 51 percentmore likely to develop depres-sion than those who don’t, ac-cording to a 2012 study in thejournal Public Health Nutri-tion. This includes commer-cial baked goods, hamburg-ers, hot dogs and pizza, the re-searchers said.

Keep in mind that eat-ing a small portion of any one food is un-likely to raise depression risk, so don’tworry if you’ve just eaten your first heap-ing bowl of pasta in ages, or had the veryoccasional fast food burger. On the otherhand, if this list describes three of your ba-sic food groups, you may benefit from adrastic dietary adjustment.

Healthy Bites appears weekly onLiveScience. Deborah Herlax Enos is a cer-tified nutritionist and a health coach andweight loss expert in the Seattle area withmore than 20 years of experience. Readmore tips on her blog, Health in a Hurry!

3 foods linked withdepression

KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah addressing Human Rights pledge signingceremony to observe International Human Rights Day organized by PPPP Human Right Cellat CM House. Bilawal Bhutto and others are also seen in the picture.—PO photo

KARACHI: The Consul General of Thailand Wichai Sirisujin, hosted a reception on the occasion of the 86th birthday anniversary of King BhumibolAdulyadej, at a local hotel. Picture shows chief guest Senior Minister of Sindh Nisar Ahmed Khuhru, Thai Govt Trade Adviser, Arif Suleman, anddiplomats from Saudi Arabia, Indonesia and Malaysia, with host cutting a cake.—PO photo Sultan Chaki

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—As many as 5000students had been inflicted withmental agony with regard totheir compulsion for change ofthe institution (change ofschools) for various reasons. Themajor impediments had beencause dby the Board of Second-ary Education Karachi (BSEK),which lacked any preparation forstreamlining the process ofchange of institutions.

There were as many as 5000students that had appeared intheir annual examinations-2013for class IX, conducted by theBSEK in March this year. Thestudents had awaited their re-sults and Marks Sheets so thatthey could apply for the changeof institutions for various rea-sons that included worst law and

order situation in certain areas,poor facilities at their schools,change of residences and so on.

As per rules and regulations,any student was eligible to reachthe BSEK through a prescribedform for change of institutionafter the receipts of Marks Sheetsafter results were announced. Theresults were announced in firstweek of this month of Decemberwhile Marks Sheets were yet tobe issued to the students.

However, the BSEK secre-tary had fixed a date for the sub-mission of applications forchange of residence, which wasthis past month of October. TheBSEK Secretary had also held itmandatory for the applicants toattach Marks Sheets, SchoolLeaving Certificates, 2 passportsize snaps. Thus the applicantsfailed to submit their applications

as the deadline fixed by theBSEK was already past whileMarks Sheets were still pend-ing with the BSEK.

On the other hand, theBSEK had charged Rs 800 aslate fee while the form was soldfor Rs 40 each and Rs 250 forchange of institutions. It wasbeyonf senses as why the BSEKSecretary had imposed the sumof Rs 800 as late fee while it wasnot pertaining to late submissionof examination forms.

The BSEK was acting inviolation to government’s deci-sions for making the educationfree up to the level of Matricula-tion (Class X) and selling formsat the rate of Rs 40, charging feefor change of institution for Rs250 and Rs 800 as late fee wouldaccumulate to a sum of Rs200,000+1250000+4000000 (a

BSEK imposes Rs 800 as late fee for change of institutiontotal of 54, 5000). In this regard,the private schools managementassociation chairman Sharaf UzZaman had approached theBSEK through his letter express-ing serious concerns on the prac-tices being conducted by theBSEK.

He wrote that the studentswho wish to change their educa-tional institution after appearingin the examination of IX classmostly change their institutionafter the declaration of result ofIX commonly on the basis ofdissatisfaction from their insti-tution or due to change of theirresidence for any reasons. It wasa matter of understanding that insuch cases permissions were be-ing asked when it was needed sothe BSEK must take only thenormal permission fee. Why acertain date was fixed for that

matter? It caused hurdles in theway of education and it createdfinancial problems and difficul-ties for the students.

The permission departmenthad already kept a copy of thatpermission letter so why theydid not use it for the correctionof record so that students shouldnot face such agony, he ques-tioned. He said that it was ob-viously the responsibility ofBSEK to correct the record af-ter granting permission sincethe permission was granted bythem and they had charged a feefrom student for this purpose.

Moreover the time given i.e.30 days was too much since thedate of admission announced byCAP would expire earlier andthe students would further suf-fer for not being admitted nor-mally in any of the colleges.KARACHI: Motorists are stuck in a massive traffic jam on MA Jinnah Road due to vehicles

parked at ‘No Parking Area’.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Minis-ter (CM) Syed Qaim Ali Shah haddirected the executing depart-ments to take 335 prioritized newdevelopment schemes, conceivedat the estimated cost of Rs 41940million included in annual devel-opment programme (ADP)-2013-14 with annual allocation of Rs10575 million.

The officers must complete313 ongoing developmentschemes by Dec 31, 2013 with-out fail as they committed earlierand added that no excuse wouldbe maintained in this regard.

This he directed while presid-ing over the meeting regardingimplementation on new approvedADP schemes 2013-14 held atCM House Tuesday.

Sindh Chief Secretary SajjadSaleem Hotiyana, AdditionalChief Secretary (P&D) ArifKhan, Additional Chief Secretary(Home) Syed Mumtaz Shah, Sec-

retary Finance Shoail Rajput,Secretary to CM Rai Sikandarand provincial and other admin-istrative department attended.

He directed the officers togive priority to the schemes,which can be completed by thisfinancial year and the financialdepartment to facilitate in releas-ing fund for such developmentschemes. Expressing his reser-vations over the schemes pre-pared with scheduled of comple-tion in long period and same in-cluded in ADP with little annualallocation.

The CM directed all admin-istrative secretaries to preparedevelopment schemes with sub-stitution amount and annual al-location with these completionschedules within 3 years.

He said that though 55 on-going development schemes arereported to be completed by theend of current financial year butstill there is room of importantand intensifying the pace of de-

velopment work to completemaximum numbers of develop-ment schemes to facilitate thecommon men.

He said that PPP Govern-ment has earmarked Rs 165 bil-lion for development schemes ofprovincial government out ofwhich Rs 95 billion would beutilized on ongoing schemes andRs 70 billion on new develop-ment schemes, besides Rs 8.6billion are being spent on theschemes recommended by theMPA’s.

The CM while taking the no-tice of substandard works at somedevelopment schemes directedthe related executing authoritiesto get such schemes rectified bythe contractor’s concerned beforehanding over to the concerneddepartments failing which strictaction would be taken againstthem. He directed the adminis-trative secretaries also to moni-tor their schemes in addition tothe other monitoring agencies.

Qaim for speedy completionof public schemes

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The National Ac-countability Bureau (NAB) Di-rector General Wajid Ali Durranisaid that the NAB was dealingwith 250 corruption cases whilethe Bureau had so far ensuredrecovery of Rs 1.5 billion. Everyefforts was being made to takethe country up to a level of acountry without corruption at theinternational level for which theNAB was applying all availableresources, which would bearfruits one day.

He shared this informationwith the newsmen on the occa-sion of a walk that was organizedin negation to corruption Tues-day. The NAB Additional Direc-tor Abdul Hafeez Siddiqui, Di-rector Basheer Ahmed, NisarMemon and other officials and

students from different collegesand universities had attended thewalk. Durrani said that a weekagainst the corruption was beingcommemorated under the aegisof United nations and the walkwas also a part of that theme.

He said that the Sindh provin-cial government was striving forthe eradication of corruption andthe NAB was flanking the gov-ernment in its struggle for mak-ing the country free from corrup-tion. However, it should not onlybe the government or NAB alonebut the whole of the society shouldincorporate its share with the twoinstitutions so that the corruptionshould be fully eliminated fromthe society. Later, a ceremony wasfollowed by the walk wherein theNAB DG Durrani had distributedshields to the representatives ofvarious institutions.

NAB striving forend of corruption

KMC to startmarketing of

Shahabuddin MarketSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—A 5-member com-mittee has been formed to makethe reconstructed ShahabuddinMarket Saddar operational,which would submit its reportwithin 3 days so that immediatemarketing of this project couldbe initiated.

This was decided in a meet-ing chaired by Karachi Metro-politan Corporation (KMC) Ad-ministrator Rauf AkhtarFarooqui.

The Administrator said thatbesides giving shops to allottees,remaining shops of ShahabuddinMarket would be allotted throughauction or draw commercially.

Phase-I of the projectwould incur Rs 800 million,which include construction ofmarket and 5-story car parkingplaza where parking facility fora good number of vehicleswould be available.

After completion of initialphase of the project, shops wouldbe shifted on lower ground floorgradually whereas 131 shopswere constructed on ground floor.

He said that 157 shops havebeen constructed on mezzaninefloor and 157 shops on first floor.

Commissionerannounces ACPpolls schedule

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Karachi Commis-sioner Shoaib Ahmed Siddiquihad Tuesday announced electionsschedule of the Arts Council ofPakistan (ACP), Karachi duringa press conference he had ad-dressed at the ACP on the sub-ject of annual elections of theACP for the year 2014.

According to details, theelections of the ACP-2014 for theposts of President, Vice Presi-dent, Secretary, Joint Secretary,Treasurers and Governing Bodymembers would be held on Dec29. The voters list would be dis-played for public view on Dec 11and could be obtained in compactdisc (CD) form after making apayment of Rs 150.

Objections on voters listscould be filed on Dec 13, 2013while the final list of voterswould be displayed on Dec 14.Nomination papers for the postsof President, Vice President, Sec-retary, Joint Secretary, Treasur-ers and Governing Body mem-bers could be submitted on Dec17 at the office of Chief ElectionCommissioner at ACP. Nomina-tion forms could be obtainedfrom ACP on Dec 14 duringworking hours & should be sub-mitted along with a fee of Rs 200.

The scrutiny of the nomina-tion papers would be done onDec 19 at 3 PM at the office ofthe Chief Election Commissionerat the ACP and the nominee orhis/her representatives along withauthority letter should ensure hispresence at the time of scrutiny.

Nomination papers could bewithdrawn on Dec 20 till 5 PMand then the final list of the con-testants would be displayed at theACP’s notice board on Dec 21.The polling would according toclause 1 of the agenda start 30minutes after conclusion of theGoverning Body meeting for 8hours without any pause. Presen-tation of computerised nationalidentity card would be a must forcasting vote.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Minis-ter (CM) Syed Qaim Ali Shah hassaid that overall 35 per cent crimehas declined in the result of on-going targeted operation againstthe terrorists kidnappers and ex-tortionists in the Karachi and hereaffirmed his pledge that theoperation would be continue withfull determination till eliminationof the last criminal.

This he said while talkingwith the British High Commis-sioner Adam Thomson whocalled on him at CM HouseKarachi Tuesday.

The CM said the most impor-tant thing was that we have cre-ated confidence and courage

among the people of Karachi. Hesaid that the Sindh governmentwas not only strengthen the Sindhpolice by providing weapons,vehicles and induction of 10,000cops shortly but also providingincentive to them by giving onejob, one plot and Rs 2 million tothe family of each martyr policeofficials. Beside law has beenstricter empowering the LEA’s tocurb the criminals with full force.

He said as per strategy ofgovernment we continuouslyholding meetings with other po-litical parties and taking theSindh Governor in confidencebefore taking any step ahead. Hesaid that though we have imple-mented the strategy of shiftingthe most dangerous criminal’s

case outside Karachi and prov-ince by shifting one case in inte-rior Sindh and other outside theprovince. But we are also work-ing on idea floated by PML-Nleadership for exchanging mostdangerous criminals betweenSindh and Punjab provinces byboth provincial governments.

He said hopefully very nearfuture we to gain more achieve-ment in law & order situationKarachi. While talking aboutholding of local body election.

The British High Commis-sioner Adam Thomson while ex-pressing his satisfaction over thegovernment efforts for bringssubstantial improvement in thelaw & order said Karachi wasvery important city of Pakistan.

71 flourmillowners misleading

20m consumersSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Seventy-one own-ers of flour mills were mislead-ing the 20 million people for theirvested interest by making a cryand hue on the issue of decayedwheat that they had procured oncheaper rates for crushing it intoflour and selling to the consum-ers for higher rates of profit.

This was stated by SindhMinister for food Jam MehtabHusain Dahr in a press confer-ence he had addressed at his of-fice Tuesday.

The flour mills owners hadpurchased decayed wheatwhich was roughly eaten byinsects and was for feeding theanimals only. Sindh Food de-partment had a stock of unfit forhuman consumption wheat atits warehouses.

CM tells British HC crimerate declines up to 35 pc

IT’S no secret that we tend to eat a littlemore around the holidays. And with all thehustle and bustle of the season, many of us

have trouble finding time to make healthychoices. That may be why it’s nearly impos-sible to secure a treadmill atthe gym in January — ourresolutions are a reflection ofour guilt. We know why wetend to eat poorly. But couldour food choices be leadingto something other than anexpanding waistline?

If our poor choices be-come a habit, certainly. Ac-cording to recent studies, it’spossible that eating certainfoods is associated with de-pression. Here are threefoods you may want to avoidin excess this holiday sea-son, and beyond. [7 HolidayStress Busters]

Refined Grains: Pasta isa quick meal, great for thosebusy nights when you have to spend most ofyour time shopping, baking or wrapping.

But, it may not be a good meal to haveevery night. Pasta, white rice and bagels areall foods that have been identified as inflam-matory and have been linked to depressionin women ages 50 to 77, according to an Oc-tober 2013 study in the journal Brain, Behav-ior and Immunity.

In the study, researchers looked at the eat-ing habits of more than 40,000 women, whodidn’t have depression at the study’s start.They found that those who consumed inflam-matory foods regularly were more likely to

suffer from depression by the end of thestudy. Soft Drinks: As you’re buzzingaround from store to store, how will youreplenish lost fluids? It’s all too easy to graba cola on-the-go, but the same study in

Brain, Behavior and Immu-nity study indicated that softdrinks as part of a regular dietmay also contribute to depres-sion. So, if soda is your go-todrink when you’re thirsty, itmay be time to rethink thatstrategy.

Fast Food: People whoeat fast food are 51 percentmore likely to develop de-pression than those whodon’t, according to a 2012study in the journal PublicHealth Nutrition. This in-cludes commercial bakedgoods, hamburgers, hot dogsand pizza, the researcherssaid.

Keep in mind that eat-ing a small portion of any one food is un-likely to raise depression risk, so don’tworry if you’ve just eaten your first heap-ing bowl of pasta in ages, or had the veryoccasional fast food burger. On the otherhand, if this list describes three of your ba-sic food groups, you may benefit from adrastic dietary adjustment.

Healthy Bites appears weekly onLiveScience. Deborah Herlax Enos is a cer-tified nutritionist and a health coach andweight loss expert in the Seattle area withmore than 20 years of experience. Readmore tips on her blog, Health in a Hurry!

3 foods linked withdepression

LAHORE: Drivers of motorcycle rickshaw protesting against heavy amount challans byTraffic Police at New Campus University Road.

LAHORE: Federal Minister for Railways Khwaja Saad Rafique addressing the regional conference on Strengthening Transport Connectivity and TradeFacilitation in South and South-West Asia.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab RevenueAuthority (PRA) has drafted theRestaurant Invoices MonitoringSystem (RIMS) aimed at mak-ing food sector compliant toPunjab Sales Tax and enhancingthe revenue to the provincialexchequer.

PRA sources said here onTuesday that there is a generalbelief, which is not untrue, thatthere is a widespread tendencyof tax mis-declarations in restau-rants operating in Punjab espe-cially those which are not incor-porated or not part of interna-tional restaurant chains. Eventax amounts received from thecustomers are misappropriated.

In order to overcome suchtraditionally entrenched un-healthy tendency, PRA has withthe help of PRAL prepared a res-

taurant invoice monitoring sys-tem software. Preliminary brief-ing on this software was earliergiven to the provincial cabinet inits meeting on 12-04-2013. Thescheme was in principle con-curred.

The four major cornerstonesof the proposed scheme were In-stallation of a well protectedmodem in the invoice generatingcomputer system of the restau-rant. Real time transmission ofinvoice data to PRA’s centralcomputer system. Automatedverification of monthly tax dec-larations through the system.Reward scheme for customersthrough system based randomdraw in case of tax-exclusive in-voices over Rs.1000/-.

Now the Authority, afterdiscussions with the PRAL, haddrafted the Punjab RIMS rulesand sent a summary to the ChiefMinister Punjab MuhammadShahbaz Sharif for final ap-proval. According to the sum-mary appropriate definitions ofthe words like restaurants,RIMS and video vigilance havebeen given for the purposes ofreal time monitoring and distri-bution of prizes (inam). Appli-cation of RIMS have been sub-jected to advance notification tothe restaurant.

A method for examinationand verification of the existinginvoice generated system of therestaurant have been provided.Obligation has been created to

PRA drafts Restaurant InvoicesMonitoring System

install invoice generating systemby restaurants issuing manual,irregular or traditional invoices.A provision has been made toinclude identification particularsof the customers in the invoices.

Bar has been imposed onnon-RIMS invoices in restau-rants subject to RIMS coverage.Responsibility has been createdfor restaurants for the protectionand safety of RIMS-covered in-voice generated system with amechanism of fault reporting anderror correction. Automatedinami scheme has been incorpo-rated in the rules (necessary tele-communication services includ-ing centralized computer-basedSMS services will be employed).The Authority will also provide

training and initial operationalhelp to restaurants. The inten-tional damage/intervention orviolations of RIMS-coveredsystem have been subjected topenal actions including pros-ecution already covered in thestatute book, summary added.

It is believed that RIMS isgoing to be a major break-through in the history of busi-ness documentation of thecountry. It is hoped that with theimplementation of RIMS,Punjab sales tax revenue fromrestaurants will sharply increaseand a deterrence shall prevail inthe overall Punjab sales tax onservices system that if bad busi-ness gays in non-food sectorregimes do not improve theirtax behaviour, they too can becontrolled through such ultraadvance information technol-ogy applications.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Ambassador of Tur-key Sadik Babur Girgin metPunjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif,here on Tuesday. Matters of mu-tual interest and promotion of bi-lateral relations were discussedin the meeting.

Talking to Turkish Ambassa-dor the Chief Minister said thatPakistan and Turkey are boundtogether in strong historical andfriendly relations and the friend-ship between the two countries isbased on mutual love and broth-erhood. He said that several Turk-ish companies have made invest-ment in various sectors in Punjaband the volume of investment isgradually increasing. He said that

metro bus project is a gloriousexample of Pak-Turk friendshipand more than one and a halflakhs people travel by metrobuses daily.

He said that governmentwants to further extend the scopeof metro bus project so thatmaximum people could availcomfortable, economic andspeedy transport facilities. Hesaid that friendship between Pa-kistan and Turkey is changinginto useful economic relations.

He said that Turkey hashelped Pakistan in every hour oftrial. He said that the visit of TurkPrime Minister Rajib TayyipErdogan to Pakistan will furtherstrengthen the ties between thetwo countries. Turkish Ambas-sador Sadik Babur Girgin said

that Turkey attaches great impor-tance to its relations with Paki-stan and is working on variousprojects in Pakistan for promot-ing mutual cooperation in differ-ent sectors.

He said that Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif hasset an example by speedycompletion of various projectsfor the welfare of the masses. Hesaid that Chief Minister ShahbazSharif is serving the people withcommitment and determination.

He said that the ties betweenPakistan and Turkey are strength-ening with the passage of timeand the visit of Turk Prime Min-ister to Pakistan will play an im-portant role in cementing bilat-eral relations between the twocountries.

Turkey working on variousprojects in Pakistan

LAHORE: Children walk down the ramp during a ceremony at Al-Hamra Hall.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Advisor to ChiefMinister Punjab on Health,Khawaja Salman Rafique hassaid that Health Department isbeing reorganized on modernlines while Directorate GeneralHealth Services would be furtherempowered whereas the policyof devolving powers to districtlevel officers is being finalized,which will be introduced after itsapproval of Chief MinisterPunjab Muhammad ShahbazSahrif.

He was speaking as a chiefguest at the inaugural sessionof a four day training workshopon Vaccine Logistics Manage-ment Information System

(VLMIS) for master trainersorganized by USAID, at AvariHotel here today.

Doctors from Punjab, KPK,Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan are attending thisTraining Workshop.

The technical advisor ofUSAID Dr. Nisar Cheema in-formed that the purpose of thetraining workshop is to trainhealth managers in the subjectsof demand forecasting, capac-ity planning, analysis andmodelling based on consump-tion, accurate, timely and rou-tine consumption and stockstatus data.

He said that real time sup-ply chain management capabili-ties, covering point of origin, to

point of consumption, throughthe logistic cycle, is very essen-tial to get true results of routineimmunization coverage. He saidthat web-based vaccine LMISup to union council level is be-ing introduced under thisprogramme.

Khawaja Salman Rafiquesaid that administrative reforms,according to the vision of ChiefMinister, will be introduced inHealth Department, during 2014.He said that targets of routineimmunization, under EPI, andreduction of mortality rate ofmother and child under MNCHprogramme would be focused toachieve MDGs in 2014, forwhich additional staff in EPI willalso be inducted.

Reforms to be introducedin health dept very soon

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Minister for En-vironment Protection and Chair-man Police Reforms CommitteeCol. (R) Shuja Khanzada has saidthat Punjab government is utiliz-ing all resources to maintain lawand order in the province and forwelfare of the masses.

He said that transparency isthe hallmark of Punjab govern-ment and all projects are beingcompleted according to thispolicy. The Minister said that as-sistance has been sought fromTurkey to equip Punjab policewith modern technology. He saidthat government is going to in-troduce an accountability systemto make police department cor-ruption free and to improve theperformance of police officials.

He informed for better investi-gation of cases a forensic lab hasbeen installed according to inter-national standards.

Col (R) Shuja Khanzadastated this while addressing PAFWar College 56 members del-egation led by Air Vice MarshalFarooq Habib, here today.

The Minister said that stepsare being taken by the govern-ment on urgent basis to cope withenergy crisis. He said that the du-ration of load-shedding has beendecreased due to effective mea-sures taken by the government.

Col (R) Shuja Khanzadasaid that meeting the needs ofenergy was the basic purpose offoreign visits of Prime Ministerand Chief Minister. He said thatPunjab government has faith-fully followed the policy of

transparency and merit. Hepointed out that completion ofmetro bus in record time and dis-tribution of laptops among stu-dents on merit are the clear evi-dence of it.

He said that Transparency In-ternational has also declaredPunjab government projects cor-ruption free. The Minister saidthat computerization of landrecord is an important step ofPunjab government which willhelp in elimination of PatwariMafia and this system will befunctional by the end of next year.

Col (R) Shuja Khanzada saidthat forensic lab has been estab-lished to improve the criminalinvestigation procedure. He saidthat amendments have been madein the laws according to thepresent environment.

Govt utilizing all resources tomaintain law, order

GCU markshuman rights day

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The GovernmentCollege University, LahoreRavians Law Society Tuesdayheld a one-day seminar in con-nection with the InternationalHuman Rights Day.

Punjab Secretary Law SyedAbdul Hassan Najmee and GCUPolitical Science DepartmentChairman Dr Khalid ManzoorButt addressed the seminar whichwas attended by a large numberof students and faculty members.

Speaking on the occasion,Secretary Law Mr Najmee men-tioned that Islam introduced theconcept the rights to the humanbeings on equal grounds. TheConstitution of Pakistan enlistshuman rights on the lines of Uni-versal Declaration of HumanRights, which according to thespeaker, are in line with rightsgiven by Islam. Mr Najmee saidthat the human rights were en-sured by govts; but there werevarious areas where governmentscould reach without infringingright to privacy of citizens.“Therefore, it is duty of civil so-ciety and individuals to ensureeach other’s rights,” he added.

PIAF resentsSNGPL’s

decision aboutgas supply cut

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan Industrialand Traders Associations Front(PIAF) on Tuesday severely criti-cized the Sui Northern Gas Pipe-line Limited for lengthy gas sup-ply cut and urged the governmentto shelve the gas closure planbecause it would be a deadlyblow to the entire industrial sec-tor in general and export orientedindustry in particular.

The PIAF Chairman MalikTahir Javed said on Tuesday thatthe gas cut on the advent of theholiday season, which usuallysees a spike in export orders, withhit hard the manufacturing sec-tor. “Gas closure is bound toplunge the exports to new lowsas it is likely to impact entire in-dustry and job loss to millions ofworkers that would result in in-dustrial unrest” he said.

He said that the governmentwould have to ensure adequategas supply to the industry be-cause the manufacturing sectorcan only function viably if it re-mains operational round theclock that too throughout theyear. “We fear a massive cut inforeign exchange earnings andmassive layoffs due to three-month gas closure plan” headded. Malik Tahir Javed said thatvarious studies had alreadyproved that the gas load sheddingis a result of mismanagement andlack of appropriate planning. Andif the mismanagement is con-trolled, the SNGPL would be ina better position to cater to theindustry needs. The PIAF Chairman urgedthe government to immediatelyshelve the proposed load man-agement plan to avert industrialclosures and resultant layoffs.