RAHIMYAR KHAN: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif shaking hands with Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President of UAE before their meeting on Saturday. Continued on Page 7 Nawaz, Khalifa discuss ways to enhance ties OBSERVER REPORT RAHIMYAR KHAN—Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Saturday discussed bilat- eral and regional matters, be- sides ways to further expand Pakistan-UAE ties with Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President of UAE. The President of UAE was here on a private visit. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said Pa- kistan and United Arab Emir- ates have always maintained cordial relations and both sides value their bilateral cooperation. The Prime Minister, during his meeting with Shiekh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, President of UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, thanked the UAE Government for extending help to Pakistani diaspora, residing in the Emirate. The Prime Minister said the Continued on Page 7 NEW DELHI—Indian govern- ment said on Saturday that there was no standoff with the United States over the arrest and strip search of an Indian diplomat in New York, as both countries appear eager to de- fuse the month-long dispute. After meeting with the dip- lomat, Devyani Khobragade, following her return to New Delhi, External Affairs Minis- ter Salman Khurshid downplayed tensions with the US, saying the two countries would sort out their issues. “There is no reason now to feel any immediate concern about any outcome that might be adverse or particularly dis- turbing in nature,” Khurshid told reporters on Saturday. “In due course, we will take up all issues one by one and sort them out.” After the United States re- quested that Khobragade leave the country, India asked Wash- ington on Friday to withdraw a diplomat from the US Embassy in New Delhi. The State Depart- ment said it would comply, al- though with “deep regret.” “We expect and hope that this will now come to closure, and the Indians will now take significant steps with US to im- prove our relationship and return it to a more constructive place,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters in Washington. Much of India’s outrage stems from the circumstances of Khobragade’s arrest, which were seen as unnecessarily hu- miliating. Khobragade was picked up on December 13 and then strip-searched while in cus- tody, which the US Marshals say is common practice. Asked about restoring the privileges of US diplomats in New Delhi, Khurshid said they would be treated the same as diplomats from other countries. “I don’t think we should be seen as showing more favour to one and less favour to others,” he said on Saturday in an inter- view with CNN-IBN, an Indian television news channel, refut- ing criticism that US diplomats enjoyed greater privileges in New Delhi than their counter- parts from other countries. He also said a visit to India by US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz would be rescheduled soon. The visit was cancelled by Washington as the contro- versy over Khobragade’s treat- ment raged in New Delhi. Meanwhile, US diplomat in New Delhi was headed for home Saturday after being ex- pelled in a bitter row over an Indian envoy’s arrest that has seriously strained ties between the two countries. The US embassy official’s expulsion was splashed over newspaper front pages along with photos of the Indian dip- ‘No standoff’ with US in diplomat row: Salman Continued on Page 7 OBSERVER REPORT KARACHI—The case of the bombing which claimed the life of SP CID Chaudhry Aslam has been registered at the PIB Colony police station. The case has been registered against Tehreek-e-Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah and spokes- man Shahidullah Shahid. The case includes murder, terrorism and other charges against the accused. Earlier, police said Naeemullah the alleged attacker who rammed the explosive laden pick-up into the vehicle of Chaudhry Aslam went missing seven days ago. According to SSP Niaz Khoso, Naeemullah’s mo- bile phone had been shut for the last three days. Police have taken his brother Shafiqullah in custody and he is being interrogated. Police said that a brother of Naeemullah had traveled to Peshawar in 2011 to carry out a suicide attack and had returned after one of his accomplices was arrested. Upon further investi- gation police found that Naeemullah’s brother had been killed by the Taliban after his failure to carry out the suicide attack. Police on Friday identified Naeemullah as the alleged suicide bomber who attacked Chaudhry Aslam. He was a resident of Banaras Colony in Karachi and his father runs a mandrassah (seminary) in the area. Meanwhile, Inspector Gen- eral of Police Sindh, Shahid Nadeem Baloch, on Saturday vis- ited the site of the suicide bomb attack that killed SP CID Chaudhy Aslam and two policemen. Shahid Nadeem was ac- companied by Additional IG CID Iqbal Mehmood, Addi- tional IG Karachi Shahid Attack on SP CID Ch Aslam Case registered against TTP chief, spokesman IG orders stern action against those behind attack Continued on Page 7 CPPA demands Re 1 per unit increase ISLAMABAD—The Central Power Purchasing Agency on Saturday demanded raise in power tariff and filed an application in National Electric Power Regulatory Authority in this regard. The CPPA in an appeal stated that in December 2013 electricity was produced by using coal while power generation by using high-speed diesel cost was Rs 23.50. Therefore, there is dire need to increase Re 1 per unit in electricity price in terms of fuel adjustment for the month of December. NEPRA will hear the appeal on this matter on January 16.—Online Ex-EOBI chairman’s property confiscated LAHORE—The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has confiscated the property of former EOBI chairman Zafar Iqbal Gondal, who allegedly embezzled more than Rs20 billion. The FIA confiscated 583 kanal land, CNG station and factory of the former EOBI chairman in Mandi Bahauddin. The agency is investigating to Talal warns of civil war over deal with Musharraf ISLAMABAD—Chief Jamhuri Watan Party Talal Bugti has warned that civil war will start in the country if government sends Pervez Musharraf abroad under a deal. Talking to media persons here on Saturday, he alleged that former president is involved in sabotaging constitution, Lal Masjid case and Akbar Bugti murder case and clergymen have also declared him ‘ deserved to be killed’, he added. “Former president should be punished for violating constitu- tion and he should face court in high treason case,” said Talal Bugti. He reiterated he has fixed bounty on Musharraf’s head and he will give this amount to the person who brings Musharraf’s head. The JWP chief added that people of Balochistan had big Continued on Page 7 No chance of Musharraf’s discharge as yet I SLAMABAD—Ahmed Raza Kasuri, Counsel of former president Pervez Musharraf, rul- ing out discharge of Musharraf from the hospital anytime soon said that the former president is still undergoing treatment. Talking to reporters on Sat- urday he said that his client is still under treatment and he can- not be discharged from the hos- pital until the doctors allow. He said that Pervez Musharraf would appear before the court on Jan 16 if he is com- pletely well and is able to walk. PTI leader among five gunned down OBSERVER REPORT LAHORE—A local politician belonging to Pakistan Tehrik-i- Insaf, Maqsood Ahmed Bhatti along with his three personal guards and a passerby, was gunned down by unidentified miscreants near Kasur toll plaza on the boundary of Lahore and Kasur on Saturday evening. According to DPO Kasur, unknown gunmen opened fire on the PTI leader’s car, who was travelling with his three Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7 Pak take fight into final day ABU DHABI—Pakistan’s cap- tain Misbah batted with limitless patience and rookie Sarfraz punched his way to a maiden half-century to give their side a glim- mer of hope of saving a Test that once seemed lost. Pakistan painstakingly accumulated 198 runs on the fourth day but lost only four wickets, and with some rain forecast in Dubai on Sunday, Sri Lanka could get ner- vous if Sarfraz and the tail extend the lead much beyond 107.—AFP Detailed story on Sports Page Date for withdrawing nominations for LG polls extended STAFF REPORTER I SLAMABAD—The Election Commission of Pakistan ex- tended dates for candidates to withdraw their nomination pa- pers for Local Government elec- tions in Sindh and Punjab. Candidates now have till January 15 to withdraw their nomination papers, instead of the previously announced date of January 12. The final list will be now published on January 16 instead of January 13 as per the previous schedule. Earlier, the ECP had sug- Continued on Page 7 LONDON—Two leading philan- thropists and social activists of Pakistan Imran Khan and Abdul Sattar Edhi have been included in The Times’ most admired per- sons on this planet. An international poll con- ducted for The Times put crick- eter-turned politician Imran Khan at number 12 and Abdul Sattar Edhi at 29. Bill Gates, the world’s richest man, was de- clared the most admired person on the planet, highly regarded than Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and the Pope. The poll surveyed 13,895 people in Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, the US, Aus- tralia, Pakistan, Indonesia, In- dia, China, Egypt, Nigeria and Brazil. Imran Khan featured at number 12, ahead of The Dalai Lama at 14, Anna Hazare, Lionel Messi, Stephen Hawk- ing, Queen Elizabeth 11, Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey, George W. Bush, Angela Merkel, and Hillary Clinton. Abdul Sattar Edhi, one of the most universally admired per- sons, featured ahead of Indian business tycoon Ratan Tata. The list includes several In- dian personalities. Those who feature in the top 10 category are cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, ex- tremist Hindu politician Narendra Modi, filmstar Amitabh Bachchan, and former president Abdul Kalam. Edhi, Imran amongst 30 most admired persons Continued on Page 7 ISLAMABAD—Former Presi- dent Asif Ali Zardari reviewed organizational matters of Paki- stan People’s Party, discussed strategy about the forthcoming local bodies’ polls and outlined the party’s policies on issues confronting the nation in a meet- ing in Zardari House here on Saturday. Office bearers and leader of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter of PPP attended the meeting. Spokesperson to the former President Senator Farhatullah Babar said that the former Presi- dent emphasized upon vigorous campaigning for the local bod- ies’ polls to retrieve the ground that the party was made to lose in the last general elections through calculated maneuver- ing. The former President paid tributes to the party workers and other democratic workers who sacrificed so much in this fight against militancy adding. “Their sacrifices will not go in vain,” he said. Zardari paid special trib- utes to the Hangu school student Aitzaz Hasan. Describing him as ‘national hero’ in the fight against mili- tancy he said that young Aitizaz had willingly sacrificed his life to save the lives of hundreds of his school fellows. Aitizaz’s su- preme sacrifice will help correct the distortion introduced in the debate by some parties about the fight against militants and reli- gious fanatics, he said. Asif Ali Zardari said that the PPP was the party of martyrs and it will give a tough fight to the extremists and militants. Nowhere in the PPP to give tough fight to terrorists: Zardari Meeting discusses strategy for polls Continued on Page 7 LONDON—Britain’s planned referendum on membership of the European Union passed its first hurdle in parliament’s up- per house on Friday, but law- makers warned that the bill could be killed off by delays. The bill — which is backed by Prime Minister David Cameron’s Conservative party and guarantees a public vote on EU membership by 2017 — passed the “second reading” stage unopposed in the House of Lords after a marathon seven- hour debate. But there were warnings from members of the Conserva- tives’ coalition partners, the pro- EU Liberal Democrat party, as well as opposition Labour peers that the bill could face such heavy delays that it could be scuppered altogether. Lawmakers intend to table a series of amendments to the European Union (Referendum) Bill. The legislation must return to the lower House of Commons and successfully pass through it by February 28, meaning that lengthy amendment debates could result in the bill running out of parliamentary time. As a so-called “private member’s bill” introduced by an individual lawmaker, as opposed to the government, parliamentary UK closer to EU referendum Continued on Page 7 US warns of terrorism at Sochi WASHINGTON—The U.S. State Department warned Americans on Friday of the potential for ter- rorism at the Sochi Olympics but said it was not aware of any spe- cific threat to U.S. citizens. In a “travel warning,” the department urged Americans to be vigilant about personal secu- rity at the February 7 to March 14 Olympic Games, and flagged the possibility of petty crime, inadequate medical care and hotel shortages. It also highlighted a Russian law, much criticized by rights groups, that would make it a crime to publicly promote the equality of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people. “Large-scale public events such as the Olympics present an attractive target for terrorists,” the State Department wrote in the travel warning, saying that Russian authorities have said they are taking appropriate se- curity measures.—Reuters RAMALLAH—Palestinians on Saturday hailed the death of former Israeli premier Ariel Sharon, describing him as a “criminal” but regretting that he is now permanently beyond the reach of the law. Human Rights Watch (HRW) also lamented the fact Sharon was never prosecuted, particularly over his role in the 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinians by Israel’s Leba- nese Phalangist allies in Beirut’s Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. “It’s a shame that Sharon has gone to his grave without facing justice for his role in Sabra and Shatila and other abuses,” HRW’s Middle East director Sarah Leah Whitson said in a statement. “For the thousands of vic- tims of abuses, Sharon’s pass- ing without facing justice mag- nifies their tragedy.” Sharon, 85, had been in a coma for the past eight years since suffering a massive stroke No Palestinian tears for Sharon Ex-Israel premier dead at 85 Continued on Page 7 See also Page 6 JUBA: South Sudanese govern- ment troops were battling on Sat- urday to recapture the last remain- ing rebel stronghold of Bor, the army said, a day after wresting control of a key northern oil city. The fighting has forced around a quarter of a million to flee their homes and caused “very substantially in excess” of a thou- sand dead, according to the UN. The International Crisis Group, an independent think- tank, said it believed as many as 10,000 people have been killed in just four weeks of fighting in the world’s youngest nation, which only won independence from Khartoum in 2011. “There is still fighting near Bor,” South Sudan’s army spokes- man Philip Aguer said Saturday, amid government efforts to mobilise thousands of more troops and deal a final, crushing blow to Machar — a former vice-presi- dent and seasoned guerrilla fighter — and his allies.—AFP South Sudan troops fight to wrest final rebel stronghold House passes bill targeting health care law WASHINGTON—The House overwhelmingly passed a bill to impose new security require- ments on President Barack Obama’s health care law as Re- publicans maintained an elec- tion-year focus on the conten- tious program and its troubled rollout. The vote Friday was 291- 122 for the measure that Repub- licans said would address po- tential data breaches, though they offered no examples in which personal data had been compromised through the gov- ernment website. There were 67 Democrats who joined with Re- publicans to back the mea- sure.—AP
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RAHIMYAR KHAN: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif shaking hands with Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan,President of UAE before their meeting on Saturday.
Continued on Page 7
Nawaz,Khalifa discuss
ways toenhance tiesOBSERVER REPORT
RAHIMYAR KHAN—PrimeMinister Muhammad NawazSharif Saturday discussed bilat-eral and regional matters, be-sides ways to further expandPakistan-UAE ties with SheikhKhalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan,President of UAE.
The President of UAE washere on a private visit. PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif said Pa-kistan and United Arab Emir-ates have always maintainedcordial relations and both sidesvalue their bilateral cooperation.
The Prime Minister, duringhis meeting with Shiekh KhalifaBin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Presidentof UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi,thanked the UAE Governmentfor extending help to Pakistanidiaspora, residing in the Emirate.
The Prime Minister said theContinued on Page 7
NEW DELHI—Indian govern-ment said on Saturday thatthere was no standoff with theUnited States over the arrestand strip search of an Indiandiplomat in New York, as bothcountries appear eager to de-fuse the month-long dispute.
After meeting with the dip-lomat, Devyani Khobragade,following her return to NewDelhi, External Affairs Minis-ter Salman Khurshiddownplayed tensions with theUS, saying the two countrieswould sort out their issues.
“There is no reason now tofeel any immediate concernabout any outcome that mightbe adverse or particularly dis-turbing in nature,” Khurshid
told reporters on Saturday. “Indue course, we will take up allissues one by one and sort themout.”
After the United States re-quested that Khobragade leavethe country, India asked Wash-ington on Friday to withdraw adiplomat from the US Embassyin New Delhi. The State Depart-ment said it would comply, al-though with “deep regret.”
“We expect and hope thatthis will now come to closure,and the Indians will now takesignificant steps with US to im-prove our relationship and returnit to a more constructive place,”spokeswoman Jen Psaki toldreporters in Washington.
Much of India’s outrage
stems from the circumstances ofKhobragade’s arrest, whichwere seen as unnecessarily hu-miliating. Khobragade waspicked up on December 13 andthen strip-searched while in cus-tody, which the US Marshals sayis common practice.
Asked about restoring theprivileges of US diplomats inNew Delhi, Khurshid said theywould be treated the same asdiplomats from other countries.
“I don’t think we should beseen as showing more favour toone and less favour to others,”he said on Saturday in an inter-view with CNN-IBN, an Indiantelevision news channel, refut-ing criticism that US diplomatsenjoyed greater privileges in
New Delhi than their counter-parts from other countries.
He also said a visit to Indiaby US Energy Secretary ErnestMoniz would be rescheduledsoon. The visit was cancelledby Washington as the contro-versy over Khobragade’s treat-ment raged in New Delhi.
Meanwhile, US diplomatin New Delhi was headed forhome Saturday after being ex-pelled in a bitter row over anIndian envoy’s arrest that hasseriously strained ties betweenthe two countries.
The US embassy official’sexpulsion was splashed overnewspaper front pages alongwith photos of the Indian dip-
‘No standoff’ with US in diplomat row: Salman
Continued on Page 7
OBSERVER REPORT
KARACHI—The case of thebombing which claimed the lifeof SP CID Chaudhry Aslam hasbeen registered at the PIBColony police station.
The case has been registeredagainst Tehreek-e-Taliban chiefMaulana Fazlullah and spokes-man Shahidullah Shahid. Thecase includes murder, terrorismand other charges against theaccused.
Earlier, police saidNaeemullah the alleged attackerwho rammed the explosive ladenpick-up into the vehicle ofChaudhry Aslam went missingseven days ago. According to SSPNiaz Khoso, Naeemullah’s mo-bile phone had been shut for thelast three days. Police have takenhis brother Shafiqullah in custodyand he is being interrogated.
Police said that a brother ofNaeemullah had traveled to
Peshawar in 2011 to carry out asuicide attack and had returnedafter one of his accomplices wasarrested. Upon further investi-gation police found thatNaeemullah’s brother had beenkilled by the Taliban after hisfailure to carry out the suicideattack.
Police on Friday identifiedNaeemullah as the alleged suicidebomber who attacked ChaudhryAslam. He was a resident ofBanaras Colony in Karachi andhis father runs a mandrassah(seminary) in the area.
Meanwhile, Inspector Gen-eral of Police Sindh, ShahidNadeem Baloch, on Saturday vis-ited the site of the suicide bombattack that killed SP CID ChaudhyAslam and two policemen.
Shahid Nadeem was ac-companied by Additional IGCID Iqbal Mehmood, Addi-tional IG Karachi Shahid
Attack on SP CID Ch Aslam
Case registeredagainst TTP
chief, spokesmanIG orders stern action against
those behind attack
Continued on Page 7
CPPA demandsRe 1 per unitincreaseISLAMABAD—The CentralPower Purchasing Agency onSaturday demanded raise inpower tariff and filed anapplication in NationalElectric Power RegulatoryAuthority in this regard.
The CPPA in an appealstated that in December 2013electricity was produced byusing coal while powergeneration by using high-speeddiesel cost was Rs 23.50.
Therefore, there is direneed to increase Re 1 per unitin electricity price in terms offuel adjustment for the monthof December. NEPRA willhear the appeal on this matteron January 16.—Online
Ex-EOBIchairman’spropertyconfiscatedLAHORE—The FederalInvestigation Agency (FIA)has confiscated the property offormer EOBI chairman ZafarIqbal Gondal, who allegedlyembezzled more than Rs20billion.
The FIA confiscated 583kanal land, CNG station andfactory of the former EOBIchairman in Mandi Bahauddin.The agency is investigating to
Talal warns ofcivil war over
deal withMusharraf
ISLAMABAD—Chief JamhuriWatan Party Talal Bugti haswarned that civil war will startin the country if governmentsends Pervez Musharraf abroadunder a deal.
Talking to media personshere on Saturday, he alleged thatformer president is involved insabotaging constitution, LalMasjid case and Akbar Bugtimurder case and clergymen havealso declared him ‘ deserved tobe killed’, he added.
“Former president should bepunished for violating constitu-tion and he should face court inhigh treason case,” said TalalBugti. He reiterated he has fixedbounty on Musharraf’s head andhe will give this amount to theperson who brings Musharraf’shead.
The JWP chief added thatpeople of Balochistan had big
Continued on Page 7
No chance ofMusharraf’s
discharge as yetISLAMABAD—Ahmed RazaKasuri, Counsel of formerpresident Pervez Musharraf, rul-ing out discharge of Musharraffrom the hospital anytime soonsaid that the former president isstill undergoing treatment.
Talking to reporters on Sat-urday he said that his client isstill under treatment and he can-not be discharged from the hos-pital until the doctors allow.
He said that PervezMusharraf would appear beforethe court on Jan 16 if he is com-pletely well and is able to walk.
PTI leaderamong fivegunned downOBSERVER REPORT
LAHORE—A local politicianbelonging to Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf, Maqsood Ahmed Bhattialong with his three personalguards and a passerby, wasgunned down by unidentifiedmiscreants near Kasur tollplaza on the boundary ofLahore and Kasur on Saturdayevening.
According to DPO Kasur,unknown gunmen opened fireon the PTI leader’s car, whowas travelling with his three
Continued on Page 7
Continued on Page 7
Pak take fightinto final day
ABU DHABI—Pakistan’s cap-tain Misbah batted with limitless
patience and rookieSarfraz punched his wayto a maiden half-centuryto give their side a glim-mer of hope of saving aTest that once seemed lost.Pakistan painstakingly
accumulated 198 runs on the fourthday but lost only four wickets, andwith some rain forecast in Dubaion Sunday, Sri Lanka could get ner-vous if Sarfraz and the tail extendthe lead much beyond 107.—AFP
Detailed story on Sports Page
Date forwithdrawing
nominations forLG polls extended
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan ex-tended dates for candidates towithdraw their nomination pa-pers for Local Government elec-tions in Sindh and Punjab.
Candidates now have tillJanuary 15 to withdraw theirnomination papers, instead ofthe previously announced dateof January 12. The final list willbe now published on January 16instead of January 13 as per theprevious schedule.
Earlier, the ECP had sug-Continued on Page 7
LONDON—Two leading philan-thropists and social activists ofPakistan Imran Khan and AbdulSattar Edhi have been includedin The Times’ most admired per-sons on this planet.
An international poll con-ducted for The Times put crick-eter-turned politician ImranKhan at number 12 and AbdulSattar Edhi at 29. Bill Gates, theworld’s richest man, was de-clared the most admired personon the planet, highly regardedthan Barack Obama, VladimirPutin and the Pope.
The poll surveyed 13,895people in Great Britain, France,Germany, Russia, the US, Aus-tralia, Pakistan, Indonesia, In-dia, China, Egypt, Nigeria andBrazil.
Imran Khan featured atnumber 12, ahead of The DalaiLama at 14, Anna Hazare,
Lionel Messi, Stephen Hawk-ing, Queen Elizabeth 11,Angelina Jolie, Oprah Winfrey,George W. Bush, AngelaMerkel, and Hillary Clinton.Abdul Sattar Edhi, one of themost universally admired per-sons, featured ahead of Indianbusiness tycoon Ratan Tata.
The list includes several In-dian personalities. Those whofeature in the top 10 category arecricketer Sachin Tendulkar, ex-tremist Hindu politicianNarendra Modi, filmstarAmitabh Bachchan, and formerpresident Abdul Kalam.
Edhi, Imran amongst 30most admired persons
Continued on Page 7
ISLAMABAD—Former Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari reviewedorganizational matters of Paki-stan People’s Party, discussedstrategy about the forthcominglocal bodies’ polls and outlinedthe party’s policies on issuesconfronting the nation in a meet-ing in Zardari House here onSaturday.
Office bearers and leader ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa chapter ofPPP attended the meeting.Spokesperson to the formerPresident Senator FarhatullahBabar said that the former Presi-
dent emphasized upon vigorouscampaigning for the local bod-ies’ polls to retrieve the groundthat the party was made to losein the last general electionsthrough calculated maneuver-ing.
The former President paidtributes to the party workers andother democratic workers whosacrificed so much in this fightagainst militancy adding. “Theirsacrifices will not go in vain,”he said. Zardari paid special trib-utes to the Hangu school studentAitzaz Hasan.
Describing him as ‘nationalhero’ in the fight against mili-tancy he said that young Aitizazhad willingly sacrificed his lifeto save the lives of hundreds ofhis school fellows. Aitizaz’s su-preme sacrifice will help correctthe distortion introduced in thedebate by some parties about thefight against militants and reli-gious fanatics, he said. Asif AliZardari said that the PPP was theparty of martyrs and it will givea tough fight to the extremistsand militants. Nowhere in the
PPP to give tough fightto terrorists: Zardari
Meeting discusses strategy for polls
Continued on Page 7
LONDON—Britain’s plannedreferendum on membership ofthe European Union passed itsfirst hurdle in parliament’s up-per house on Friday, but law-makers warned that the billcould be killed off by delays.
The bill — which is backedby Prime Minister DavidCameron’s Conservative partyand guarantees a public vote onEU membership by 2017 —passed the “second reading”stage unopposed in the House ofLords after a marathon seven-hour debate.
But there were warningsfrom members of the Conserva-tives’ coalition partners, the pro-EU Liberal Democrat party, as
well as opposition Labour peersthat the bill could face suchheavy delays that it could bescuppered altogether.
Lawmakers intend to tablea series of amendments to theEuropean Union (Referendum)Bill.
The legislation must returnto the lower House of Commonsand successfully pass through itby February 28, meaning thatlengthy amendment debatescould result in the bill runningout of parliamentary time.
As a so-called “privatemember’s bill” introduced by anindividual lawmaker, as opposedto the government, parliamentary
UK closer to EUreferendum
Continued on Page 7
US warns ofterrorism at SochiWASHINGTON—The U.S. StateDepartment warned Americanson Friday of the potential for ter-rorism at the Sochi Olympics butsaid it was not aware of any spe-cific threat to U.S. citizens.
In a “travel warning,” thedepartment urged Americans tobe vigilant about personal secu-rity at the February 7 to March14 Olympic Games, and flaggedthe possibility of petty crime,inadequate medical care andhotel shortages.
It also highlighted a Russianlaw, much criticized by rightsgroups, that would make it acrime to publicly promote theequality of gay, lesbian, bisexualand transgender people.
“Large-scale public eventssuch as the Olympics present anattractive target for terrorists,”the State Department wrote inthe travel warning, saying thatRussian authorities have saidthey are taking appropriate se-curity measures.—Reuters
RAMALLAH—Palestinians onSaturday hailed the death offormer Israeli premier ArielSharon, describing him as a“criminal” but regretting that heis now permanently beyond thereach of the law.
Human Rights Watch(HRW) also lamented the factSharon was never prosecuted,particularly over his role in the1982 massacre of hundreds ofPalestinians by Israel’s Leba-nese Phalangist allies in Beirut’s
Sabra and Shatila refugeecamps.
“It’s a shame that Sharonhas gone to his grave withoutfacing justice for his role inSabra and Shatila and otherabuses,” HRW’s Middle Eastdirector Sarah Leah Whitsonsaid in a statement.
“For the thousands of vic-tims of abuses, Sharon’s pass-ing without facing justice mag-nifies their tragedy.”
Sharon, 85, had been in acoma for the past eight yearssince suffering a massive stroke
No Palestiniantears for Sharon
Ex-Israel premier dead at 85
Continued on Page 7
See also Page 6
JUBA: South Sudanese govern-ment troops were battling on Sat-urday to recapture the last remain-ing rebel stronghold of Bor, thearmy said, a day after wrestingcontrol of a key northern oil city.
The fighting has forcedaround a quarter of a million toflee their homes and caused “verysubstantially in excess” of a thou-sand dead, according to the UN.
The International CrisisGroup, an independent think-tank, said it believed as many as
10,000 people have been killedin just four weeks of fighting inthe world’s youngest nation,which only won independencefrom Khartoum in 2011.
“There is still fighting nearBor,” South Sudan’s army spokes-man Philip Aguer said Saturday,amid government efforts tomobilise thousands of more troopsand deal a final, crushing blow toMachar — a former vice-presi-dent and seasoned guerrilla fighter— and his allies.—AFP
South Sudan troops fight towrest final rebel stronghold
House passesbill targeting
health care lawWASHINGTON—The Houseoverwhelmingly passed a bill toimpose new security require-ments on President BarackObama’s health care law as Re-publicans maintained an elec-tion-year focus on the conten-tious program and its troubledrollout.
The vote Friday was 291-122 for the measure that Repub-licans said would address po-tential data breaches, thoughthey offered no examples inwhich personal data had beencompromised through the gov-ernment website. There were 67Democrats who joined with Re-publicans to back the mea-sure.—AP
LANDI KOTAL: Khasadar and Levies forces personnel vaccinate the children after the refusal of the health workersin Khyber Agency.
QUETTA: Vehicles of Arab hunters parked outside a local hotel
Anti-poliodrive in Swabi
from Jan 20MINGORA (Swat)—Three-daypolio anti-polio campaign indistrict Swat would start fromJanuary 20 (Monday) duringwhich 1209 teams would admin-ister polio drops to more than0.4 million children.
To review arrangementfor the polio vaccinationcampaign a meeting was heldhere with Deputy Commis-sioner (D.C) Swat, SyedImtiaz Hussain Shah in thechair. Besides, District PoliceOfficer (DPO), Sher AkbarKhan, District Health Officer(DHO), Swat, the representa-tives of WHO and other con-cerned organizations also at-tended the meeting.
Speaking in the meeting,Deputy Commissioner ruledout space for any kind ofnegligence in the campaign,saying every person have toperform his duties with fullhonesty.—APP
Doctors,paramedics’
leaves cancelledFAISALABAD—DCO NoorulAmin has cancelled leaves ofdoctors and paramedics forJanuary, 13 and 14 on EidMiladun Nabi (PBUH).
He directed officers of thehealth department here Satur-day to ensure medicine andstaff in all rural health centers,THQ hospitals, Allied Hospi-tal, DHQ hospital and otherpublic sector hospitals.****
Painting competitions on“Khushi” were organizedamong students of colleges anduniversities at the FaisalabadArts Council here Saturday.
A total number of 72 stu-dents, including 23 boys and49 girls, from AgricultureUniversity, GC University,National Textile University,Government Girls CollegeSargodha Road, GovernmentCollege for Women PeoplesColony No 2, Pakistan Artsand Design Institute partici-pated in the competitions.
Amina Husna, AssistantProf Fine Arts Lahore, was ajudge in the competitions. Theprize distribution ceremony willbe held soon, said Resident Di-rector FAC Tariq Javed.—APP
Bid to smuggle narcotics foiled
3082 kgs of charas worthmillions of dollars seized
QUETTA—In continuation tothe policy of Nationwidecrackdown and zero toleranceon notorious Narcotics smug-glers, Regional HeadquarterANF Quetta carried out anoperation against Drug Smug-glers in district Qilla Abdullah,Balochistan and successfullyrecovered Huge quantity ofCharas Garda.
According to the reports,Anti Narcotics Force re-ceived an information thatsome International DrugSmugglers / Traffickers haveSmuggled Drugs from Af-ghanistan to Balochistan andintend to further smuggle thesame via Hub to Karachi. Thedrugs are dumped in the area
of Killi Shadezai, TehsilGulistan, District QillaAbdullah. Basing on the spyinformation, ANF operationteam conducted the raid atthe location and recovered3082 kg of fine quality Cha-ras Garda concealed in plas-tic bags, however, Drug Traf-fickers managed to flee tak-ing advantage of darknessand mountainous terrain.
The drugs were broughtfrom Afghanistan and likelyto be smuggled to Karachi viaHub Balochistan. In-time ac-tion of Anti Narcotics Forcefailed the plan to smuggledrugs. Value of seized drugsin international market is inmillion of $ dollars.
Case has been registeredagainst the culprits at ANFPolice Station, efforts are inhand to arrest theabsconders. Further investi-gation is underway.
Director General ANF hasinstructed to crush the DrugSmugglers and to curb thedrug menace forcibly through-out the country. Although theendeavors of ANF are whole-hearted and wide-ranging, themeager strength/ resourcesremains to be a challenge.
Recent ongoing opera-tions speak of devotion ofAnti Narcotics Force in waragainst drugs and to makePakistan a Drug Free Soci-ety.—Online
KURRAM AGENCY—Asmany as six people were killedas a van collided with alandmine here on Saturdaymorning.
According to reports, thevan was carrying people fora wedding ceremony. Mean-while, it is reported fromPeshawar that two real broth-ers died in wall collapse inci-dent in suburbs of the pro-vincial capital on Saturday.Police said that dilapidatedwall of a house located inNothia area of Peshawar sud-denly collapsed.
Two real brothers wereburied under the debris andsustained critical wounds.The relatives and locals onself help basis dug out theinjured from the rubble andshifted them to hospital
Four killed in fog related accident
Six die as van hits landminewhere both succumbed totheir wounds during treat-ments. The bodies werehanded over to heirs aftermedico-legal formalities.
Gujranwala: At least fourpersons were killed and twoothers injured when two ve-hicles collided due to densefog here on Saturday morn-ing. Police said that the acci-dent took place at GT Roadnear Gujranwala city wherecar and a van collided head-on while taking sharp turndue to poor visibility causedby thick fog.
As a result of collisionfour persons were killed onthe spot while two otherssustained injuries. The bod-ies and injured were shiftedto the District Headquarters(DHQ) Hospital where ac-
cording to medics conditionof injured was also serious.
ASP Sariyab ImranQureshi said that members oftwo groups hailing from East-ern Bypass area of Quetta,who were in old rivalry overproperty dispute, traded fire.In cross firing one personwas killed on the spot whiletwo others sustained seriouswounds.
Heavy contingent of po-lice and other law enforce-ment agencies (LEAs)reached the scene andbrought the situation undercontrol. Tension gripped thearea and dwellers of the areawere restricted to homes dueto heavy firing. A case hasbeen registered againstarmed men of both groupsand raids were.—Agencies
ISLAMABAD—UNESCO hasassured support for approvalof the Karakoram Pamir Bio-sphere Reserve in GilgitBaltistan as the third BiosphereReserve in Pakistan. The projectwould be signed during thescheduled visit of the DirectorGeneral of United Nations Edu-cational, Scientific and CulturalOrganization UNESCO to Paki-stan in June 2014. Pakistan has only two Bio-sphere Reserves.One is LalSohanra National Park locatedin Cholistan Desert which wasapproved by UNESCO in 1977and also the Juniper forest of
Karakorum reserves to bedeclared 3rd biosphere reserves
Ziarat, is believed to be the sec-ond largest juniper Forest ofits kind in the world. “Pakistan had preparedrequisite documents, includ-ing a management plan, forapproval of the KarakoramPamir Biosphere Reserve inGilgit Baltistan which wouldbe the 3rd biosphere Reserveof the country”, officialsources at Ministry of Scienceand Technology told APP. “Government is also work-ing for the Khirthar in Sindhprovince which would be thefourth Biosphere Reserves inthe country, he added.
UN global developmentnetwork has launched differentprogrammes in Pakistan, espe-cially the ongoing Man andBiosphere (MAB) programmeled by Ministry of Science andTechnology (MoST) throughPakistan Science Foundation(PSF), he told. Official further said thegovernment is also focusingon issue of blind dolphin,endangered species living inIndus River, adding PSF ispreparing project (PCc1) forthe protection and preserva-tion of this flagship symbolof world heritage.—APP
Ibne Insharemembered
ISLAMABAD—Eminent Urdupoet, humorist, traveloguewriter and columnist SherMuhammad Khan (IbneInsha) was remembered onhis death anniversary on Sat-urday.
Along with his poetry, hewas regarded one of the besthumorists of Urdu.
His poetry has a distinc-tive diction, laced with lan-guage reminiscent of AmirKhusro in its use of wordsand construction that is usu-ally heard in the more earthydialects of the Hindi-Urducomplex of languages, andhis forms and poetic style isan influence on generationsof young poets.
His poetry was simplebut had depth. The realcause of his popularity washis humorous poetry andcolumn writing. Eminent col-umn writer and poet Jamil uddin Aali termed Ibne Inshaunique among the unique -saying his humorous proseeclipsed his poetry. His stylewas simple, and unique.
His most famous ghazalInsha Ji Utthoo (Get up InshaJi, Let’s leave from here) is amodern day classic. His otherworks include a number oftravelogues recorded with adistinguished touch ofhumour, Aali added.—APP
Two dacoitsarrested after
shootoutFAISALABAD—Dijkot policearrested two dacoits andseized a snatched trailer aftera shootout near Roshanwalaby-pass here on Saturday.
According to policespokesman, a trailer (JB-9875)loaded with cotton worthabout Rs 6 million was head-ing towards Faisalabad fromHaroonabad when it wassnatched by armed dacoitsnear Noor Shah in Sahiwal.
On receiving information, apolice team led by SHO DijkotInspector Muhammad Akhtarthrough tracker monitoringtraced the trailer escaping afterunloading the cotton and en-circled it near Chak No 279-RB,Denga crossing Roshanwala.
The dacoits on traileropened indiscriminate firingon police which led to crossfiring, resulting injuries toone robber. However, policearrested an injured robberidentified as Amanat s/oShehr Din Jutt resident MianChannu and his accompliceNadeem s/o Younus of ChakNo 61-RB Maharan.—APP
S U K K U R/LA H O R E —Twocoaches of Karachi boundBusiness Express train de-railed near Rohri station onSaturday morning, no lose oflife was reported. Accordingto Railway sources, BusinessExpress train was going toKarachi from Lahore when itstwo bogies derailed nearRohri station due to whichfour trains including TezgamExpress and Farid Express onthe way to Karachi from dif-ferent cities were stopped.After three hours efforts the
2 coaches derailed; trainsdelayed for fuel shortage
Railway authorities pushedthe affected coaches back ontrack and restored the downtrack.
Meanwhile, some trainsreached with delay of manyhours to their destinationdue to shortage of dieseland engines. According toRailway authorities, due toshortage of diesel and en-gines, Zikria Expressreached Multan railway sta-tion from Karachi after de-lay of six hours whileRawalpindi-bound Pakistan
Express from Karachireached after delay of fivehours and Karachi Expressreached Lahore from Karachiafter four hours delay.
The authorities said thatTezgam Express train wasdelayed by four hours andKhyber Mail reached withdelay of three hours to itsdestination owing to short-age of diesel. The passen-gers faced various difficultiesin intense cold weather at rail-way stations due to delay ofthe trains.—INP
Deprived of carBASHIR AHMAD REHMANI
HAFIZABAD—A citizen ofHassan Abdal was deprivedof his car by two armed ban-dits on Motorway near PindiBhattian last night.
According to policesource Kaleem Ullah ofHassan Abdal was proceed-ing to Faisalabad on his carNo.Is-117 and when hereached near Pindi Bhattian,2 armed dacoits interceptedhim and snatched away hisvehicle and some articles. TheSaddar Police Pindi Bhattianhave registered a case againstthe unknown accused andare investigating.
A young girl of DeraOdwan (Mangat Nicha) wasallegedly abducted and gangraped by four youngmen ofthe same village. The SaddarPolice have registered a caseagainst Jamshed, Javed andtwo others and are investi-gating.
According to FIR,Jamshed and three others al-legedly abducted RamzanaBibi (18) Daughter ofMuhammad Hanif from thevillage street and took her toa deserted place where all thefour accused gang raped herand when she fell uncon-scious, the accused thrownher on the bank of the nearbycanal. Muhammad Hanif fa-ther of the victim has appealedto the DPO to arrest the ab-sconding accused to providethem deterrent punishment.
DBA electionsRAZA NAQVI
ATTOCK—Annual electionsof District Bar Association(DBA) Attock for year-2014held here on Saturday at thedistrict bar under the super-vision of a three member elec-tion committee headed bysenior lawyer Khalil AkhtarAdv, Safdar Ali Malik Advand Ch Nayar Iqbal Adv.
As per election’s results,Irfan ullah malik advocate,was elected DBA Attock’sPresident by scoring 151votes against his two rivals106 votes of Sohail Siddiqueadvocate and 10 votes ofNosiqa mumtaz.
While Kamran Shahzadadvocate was elected VicePresident with 146 votes bydefeating his opponentMuhammad Ameen advo-cate of 122 votes. Moreover,While Zehra un Nisa wereelected unopposed on thepost of Joint sectary andSyed Bilal Haider were electedunopposed on the post of fi-nance secretary.
However Sardar HamidAli Khan advocate has al-ready been elected secretaryLibrary unopposed as noother aspirant filed nomina-tion for the said post. Besidesit, 10 lawyers were alsoelected as executive membersof DBA Attock includingMalik Rifhat Hayat Sdv,Malik Sajad Ahmed Adv,Waqar Ahmed Adv, MianAtta ur Rehman Adv,Shafaqat Rehman Adv, AsifMehmood Adv, ShahnawazAdv, Muhammad BakhtiyarAdv, Malik Rub Nawaz Advand Syed Ahmed Shah Adv.
A B B O T T A B A D — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Chief MinisterPervez Khattak approved Rs430 million for District HeadQuarter (DHQ) hospitalAbbottabad for upgrading itto ‘A grade hospital’.
Addressing the partyworkers at PTI divisionalpresident, Ali Asghar’shouse, the Chief Ministersaid that Rs 230 million willbe spent purchasing neces-sary equipments. While Rs200 million has been ap-proved for the constructionof new block.
He said that the up gra-dation project will be com-pleted within next twomonths.
The CM said that all re-sources are being utilized forthe provision of modern andquality health facilities to thepeople and special attentionis being paid to improve medi-cal facilities in the hospitals.
He said that all out medi-cal facilities are being madeavailable in these hospitalsso that people of these areasshould not have to go to far-
CM approves Rs 430mfor DHQ hospital uplift
flung hospitals and redressalof their difficulties could beensured in these hospitals.
CM said that their gov-ernment was striving hard forthe improvement of otherhospitals in the province.Earlier, talking to a delegationof Khidmatgar Qaumi Jirgawhich called on him underthe leadership of PTI MPAfrom PK-7 Mehmood Jan atCM Secretariat Peshawar;Chief Minister PervezKhattak has said that thereis huge gap in supply anddemand of electricity inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andgiving of control over it willalso prove a milestone in thedevelopment of the provinceand promotion of nationalsolidarity.
. The delegation briefedhim over some problems of thearea in which the outstandingelectricity bills of the affecteesof Warsak Dam was on the top.The delegation was also com-prised of former provincialminister Hafiz Hashmat Khan,Arbab Shehryar Khan andArbab Shumaz.—APP
ABBOTTABAD: Chief Minister KP Pervez Khattak and other members of KP Assembglyjoining hands during public gathering on the joining of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf byformer federal minister Aman Ullah Khan Jadoon.
No Sindh 1, Sindh 2: JatoiMULTAN—Federal Minister for In-dustries & Production Ghulam MurtazaJatoi Saturday said that there was noSindh 1 and 2 and all people living inthe province were Sindhis. He ex-pressed these views while talking tojournalists after laying the foundationstone of two new engineering blocksin NFC Institute of Engineering &Technology here. To a question, thefederal minister said that MFN status
to India would be beneficial for both countries. To an-other question, Jatoi said that it was incorrect to suggestthat work on the Pak-Iran gas pipeline had been stopped.He added that Pakistan needed gas and both sides wereworking for the gas project. He said that industrial pro-duction had increased by 12 percent during the last threemonths. “Big coal projects have been initiated to exploitcountry’s vast coal reserves for electricity generation,”he added. Murtaza said the government was planning toprivatise 31 institutions to control losses and improveeconomic condition of the country. He said the KalabaghDam was a technical issue and could be considered onlyafter a consensus. Ghulam Murtaza said that law andorder in Karachi had improved by 40 percent. Vice Chan-cellor NFC Institute of Engineering & Technology, ProfDr Akhtar Karloo, told the federal minister that NFC-IETwas a self-earning institution and was generating its ownresources. He said that they had sent PC-1 worth Rs 3.4billion to the government for development of the insti-tute.—APP
Farming community need awarenessFAISALABAD—Soil analysis and fertil-izer prediction model through Informa-tion and Communication Technology isbeing strengthened in the 36 districtsof the Punjab by the University of Agri-culture Faisalabad (UAF) in collabora-tion with Punjab Agriculture Depart-ment. This was informed by the ViceChancellor UAF Professor Dr. IqrarAhmad Khan while chairing a meetinghere on Saturday. Agri extension dept
Director General Dr Anjum Ali Bhuttar, Agri InformationPunjab Director Rafiq Akhtar, Registrar MuhammadHussain, Treasure Umar Saeed, Dr Rasheed Ahmad, Di-rector Soil Sciences Institute Dr Javaid Akhtar, Ayub AgriResearch Institute Director General Dr Abid Mah-mood,Community College Principal Dr Khalil-ur-Rehman and DrAhsan attended the meeting. Dr. Iqrar Ahmad said that thesoil analysis and fertilizer prediction programme providedthe infor-mation about inputs requirements and latest prac-tices to the farming community through SMS, call centreand web in order to increase the productivity and solvetheir problems. He said that the farming community neededawareness regarding the latest practices. He was of theview that the project would prove the milestone as theinformation will be provided to farmers for solving theirproblems through discus-sion with experts on phone andinternet also. He also said that farmers’ facilitation centrewould be set up at the UAF. Dr Anjum Bhuttar said that hisdepartment was making all out efforts to sensitizing thefarming community about balance use and modern prac-tices in order to ensure the food security. He said the projectwas a complete package for the farmers providing expertsopinion.—APP
Efforts to make PRs profitableHYDERABAD—Minister of State for Rail-ways Abdul Hakeem Baloch Saturdaysaid that government is making effortsto make railways a profitable organiza-tion. The minister said this while talkingto media persons after attending a semi-nar as chief guest on “Elimination offorced labour”, organized by NGOBhandar Sangat here. The minister saidthat as compared to previous regime, therailway system has been improved as a
result of effective measures being adopted by the presentgovernment. He said that the government is not consider-ing any move to make the railway privatized. Replying to aquestion, he said that Choudhry Aslam has set an examplefor others by sacrificing his life. The government is sincereto combat terrorism, he said adding that it is the responsibil-ity of the provincial government to ensure adequate secu-rity to dedicated and devoted officers in this respect. Theminister emphasized the need of changing of “Thana” cul-ture instead of appointing officers at upper level. Majorityof the Station House Officers in Karachi are holding theposts since long and involved in patronizing the criminals,he alleged. Abdul Hakeem Baloch said that the governmenthas started reforms in its departments and all out efforts arebeing made to eliminate forced labour. Meanwhile it is re-ported that a man was shot and seriously injured with mul-tiple gunshots in Latifabad Unit 9 here on Saturday. Ac-cording to the B-Section police, the incident happened when38 years old Syed Nazim Ali Shah, a resident of Tando MirFazal, was going to his children’s school. The police in-formed that unknown armed men fired shots at Shah leav-ing him seriously injured with gunshots to his chest, abdo-men and legs.—APP
Tolerance and peace urgedQUETTA—Chief Secretary BalochistanBabar Yaqoob Fateh Mohammad stress-ing the need for religious harmony urgedthe ulema to promote tolerance, peaceand religious harmony through their ser-mons. He said Islam preaches its follow-ers love affection and brotherhood andthere is a need to promote these idealsfor love and harmony in the society.Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Balochrealizing the need for religious harmony
would soon hold meeting with the scholars to make surethat elements opposed to peace are not getting their de-signed fulfilled for their own interests, Babar added. Earlier,Ulema assured their cooperation and said they were dis-seminating messages of peace at every forum. They alsounderlined the need for honouring the religious believesand gatherings. Home Secretary Balochistan Asad Gilani,IG police Mushtaq Ahmed Sukhaira and CCPO Quetta AbdulRazaq Cheema were also present. Meanwhile, in anotherreport from Faisalabad it is reported that the religious lead-ers should unite in the wake of recent incidents of terrorismin the country,” Commissioner Sardar Akram Javed said. Hewas presiding over a meeting of Divisional Peace Commit-tee in connection with Hazrat Imam Hussain’s (RA) chehlumand Christmas celebrations at the Circuit House, Faisalabad.He said the religious leaders should spread the message ofpeace, tolerance and brotherhood during Friday sermons.He said foolproof security arrangements had been made forchehlum processions and mourning sessions by the divi-sional and district administrations. “The religious leadersshould play their role to maintain religious harmony… theyhave always rendered valuable services to help the admin-istration,” he said. The commissioner said a ban had beenproclaimed on display of arms. He said district mosque com-mittees would be reactivated. MPA Rao Khashif Rahim saidthe country faced many problems related to law and order.“All segments of the society should shoulder their respon-sibilities to maintain peace and tranquility.—Agencies
PESHAWAR: President Mamnoon Hussain chairing a high level presentation on polio situation in FATA during hisvisit to Governor House.
FAISALABAD: Lawyers casting their votes during the election of District Bar Association.
QUETTA: A Jamiat delegation of FATA Reforms Committee called on JUI-F’s MaulanaWasay, Opposition Leader in Balochistan Assembly.
Robbers lootRs1.6 mln from
petrol pumpNANKANA SAHIB—Armedrobbers looted more than oneand a half million rupees fromcashier of a petrol pump andescaped the scene here onSaturday.
Police said that armedrobbers stopped the vehicleof cashier of a petrol pumplocated in main NankanaSahib city while he were leav-ing with the cash along withthe driver. The dacoits lootedRs 1.6 million from them atgunned point and fled away.
The looted petrol pumpis owned by PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) leaderMian Ijaz Ahmed Bhatti. Thepolice cordoned of the areaafter the incident andlaunched search operationbut the dacoits managed toescape.—INP
HYDERABAD—Sindh Infor-mation Minister Shar-jeelMemon said Saturday thatthe federal govern-mentshould ensure there is aceasefire from the Talibanside if the government is toengage them in peace talks.
He was speaking to jour-nalists after condoling thedeath of the mother of Sena-tor Maula Bux Chandio at hisresidence. Party leadersFayyaz Shah, Shahid Ansariand others were also present.
“The APC had givenmandate to the governmentto talk to the Tehrik-i-TalibanPakistan (TTP) for the estab-lishment of peace and all po-litical parties will support the
Govt should ensure Talibanceasefire before talks: Sharjeel
initiative,” he said. But, hecontinued, it does not meanthat attacks on assets, pro-cessions and governmentfunctionaries should alsocontinue. “The federal gov-ernment must try that thereis a ceasefire by the Talibanand there should be no moreattacks on our assets, peopleand government functionar-ies,” he said.
An all party conferenceheld on Nov 28, 2012 hadcalled for holding peace talkswith the banned TTP imme-diately to restore peace in themilitary-infested tribal regionof the country. A declarationwas is-sued at the APCwhich was attended by the
entire political leadership ofthe country.
Sharjeel said that Sindhpolice is being strengthenedand backing active police of-ficers. “The force is beingequipped. We are procuringmore bullet proof jackets andvehicles given the fact thatattackers and enemies al-ways plan their attack withnew vigor,” said the informa-tion minister.
He said that federal gov-ernment should take a clearposition and ensure aceasefire in this regard. Headded that the Sindh govern-ment was committed to eradi-cating terrorism. “The moraleof our police officers is very
high,” he remarked.He said the government
has to focus on how terror-ists are infiltrating Karachiand arranging logistics.“How are they getting explo-sives and who is pro-vidingthem logistical support? Wecan use organi-sations likeNadra if it comes to checkingrecords. If (this) suicidebomber belonged to SouthWaziristan, it doesn’t meanthat entire South Waziristanis a terrorist belt. People infact reach Karachi for labourwork and they don’t bringtanks with them so police canspot them. We need to seewho their local mas-termindis,” he said.—Agencies
BAJAUR AGENCY—The localadministration has expressedconcerns over the perfor-mance of non-governmentalorganizations working inBajaur agency and warned ofstrict action against thoseNGO’s who failed to improvetheir performance.
The concerns wereshowed by Bajaur AgencyAdditional Political AgentTariq Khan in a meeting withthe representatives of differ-ent non-governmental orga-nization here in his office.
Senior officials of the ad-ministration, FDMA and rep-resentatives of non govern-mental organization werepresent on the occasion.
Issues related to rehabilita-tion and relief activities andworks of development projects
Bajaur admin warns of actionagainst NGOs with poor feat
in several militancy-hit areascame under discussion.Agency Coordinator, Fata Di-saster Management authoritybriefed the participants aboutthe ongoing activities by thenon-governmental organiza-tion in the region
The Additional politicalagent urged the representa-tives of organization to en-hance co-ordination withcommunity and should workfor the welfare of deservingpeople.
Khan called upon theNGOs to improve their effi-ciency and should keep closewatch over the activities oftheir workers as the commu-nity was not satisfied fromthe performance of the orga-nization working in rehabili-tation activities.
He urged the representa-tives of NGOs and officialsof FDMA to adopt a propermonitoring system of the ac-tivities of organization andcheck and balance of theirworkers adding that monitor-ing system is essential forachieving of goal.
He directed the all non-governmental organizationto submit reports of their ac-tivities to his office onmonthly base.
He said that strict actionwould be taken against thoseNGOs who failed to submitreports and not improve theirperformance. “The adminis-tration would terminate theno objection certificates(NOC) of the NGOs whocould fail to show perform-ing well”, he added.—APP
PESHAWAR—Fire causeddue to an electric short cir-cuit gutted 120 shops of gar-ments, carpets and othersbut no causality was re-ported here on Saturday.
Sources said that the fire,initiated due to an electricshort circuit, erupted at ahouse in Notia Meena LandaBazaar area of PeshawarSaddar. The fire spread rapidlyand engulfed the surroundingshops of the markets. Theshop owners, fire tenders andrescue personnel reached the
Fire guts 120 garments,carpets shops
scene and started efforts tobring the fire under control.
The fire was extinguishedafter hectic efforts of severalhours but meantime, 120shops of carpets, clothes,shoes and others wereblazed. The affected shop-keepers held Wapda respon-sible for the incident and de-manded of the governmentfor compensation of theirlosses besides stern actionagainst Wapda officials ofthe concerned area overslackness.—INP
PESHAWAR—Federal Minis-ter for SAFRON Abdul QadarBaluch exhorted on Saturdaytribal people to stand upagainst terrorists to restorepeace in their region.
He paid tribute to the val-iant tribesmen for their sacri-fices during the movementfor independence of theirmotherland in 1947.
Baluch was addressing agrand tribal Jirga here at Gov-ernor House. The Jirga wasalso addressed by KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor En-gineer Shaukatulllah Khan,Advisor to Prime MinisterAmir Muqam and tribalMaliks from all the six tribalagencies.
The minister said thetribals would have to standup against terrorists for therestoration of durable peacein the region. “Peace is inyour hand. Nobody from out-side will give you peace. Wehave to become AitezazHussain to stop the scourgeof terrorism”.
The tribal people had lib-erated the country and safe-
Qadar exhortstribals to stand upagainst terrorists
guarded the country’s fron-tiers in 1965 and 1971 wars,he added.
Referring to thegovernment’s policy of talkswith militants, he said PrimeMinister Muhammad NawazSharif and his governmentdid not want shedding ofblood of more tribal peopleand wanted to settle the prob-lem through negotiations.
He, however, added thatthe peace talks offer shouldnot be construed as a weak-ness of the government.“The government is verystrong and could tackle thisproblem but it wants to givepeace a chance.”
He said those fightingagainst the governmentshould lay down arms andstop further bloodshed ofinnocent people and come tothe table.
If need arisen and peaceefforts did not work, the gov-ernment could opt for any op-tion to restore peace in the coun-try, he warned. “We do not wantto use force against our broth-ers,” he added.—APP
ISLAMABAD— Dry weatherwith cold night and hazymorning is expected in thecity during next 24 hours.
According to local MetOffice here on Satur-day,other divisions of Sindh willalso experience dry weatherwith cold night and hazymorning. However, light rainwith snowfall is expectedover the hills of Malakand,Hazara, Quetta divisions,Gilgit-Baltistan and Kashmir.Temperature of some majorcities, recorded on Fridaymorning is: Islama-bad 1 de-gree centigrade, Lahore andPeshawar 3c, Karachi 10c,Quetta -3c, Gilgit -1, Murree0c and Muzaffarabad 4 de-gree centigrade.
Cold, dry weatherpredicted
The Quetta Met officereported that a dry to partlycloudy and cold weather hasbeen forecast for the provin-cial capital for Sunday.
According to Met Officesources, the highest maxi-mum temperature is likely at
8 Centigrade and the lowestminimum at minus 8 Centi-grade. A dry and coldweather has been forecastfor rest of the region.—APP
4 held with 1kg heroin, weaponsSARGODHA—Police on Satur-day claimed to have arrestedfour persons and recoverednarcotics and illegal weaponsfrom their possession.
Police said the accusedwere identified as UsmanJaved, Muhammad Irfan,Amir Umar and MuhammadIqbal and 1076 gram heroin,three pistols and bullets wererecovered from them. Entryof irrelevant persons banned:District Coordination OfficerFaisalabad Noorul AminMengal under Section 144 ofCriminal Procedure Code(CrPC) has banned the entryof irrelevant persons aroundthe 100 meters radius of ex-amination centers estab-
lished in district Faisalabadunder the aegis of SargodhaUniversity for B.Ed. (II) An-nual Examinations.
Under this order carryingbooks, guide books, solvedpapers, digital diaries, otherrelevant material, mobilephones and weapons etc. willalso be banned. 26 criminalsnabbed: Multan Policeclaimed on Saturday to havearrested 26 criminals includ-ing 14 proclaimed offenders.
According to police, the
proclaimed offenders in-cluded Arshad, Shahnaz Bibi,Muhammad Mohsin, ArshadAli, Muhammad Imran, Iqbal,Haq Nawaz, Anwar, Makhan,Nazam, Safdar, Yasin, Yasirand Mujahid.
Four drug peddlers, six il-legal weapon carriers and twogamblers were also appre-hended by police while 15 litreliquor, 80 gram hashish, fivepistols, a revolver, 13 bulletsand Rs 1790 were recoveredfrom their possession.—APP
Woman killedby brother,husbandSHER GONDAL
MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Hus-band and brother shot deada woman, mother of threekids. Reportedly, IrmShahzadi resident of Chak 22in limits of Malkwal PoliceStation was married to hercousin Yaser. She had threechildren. About two yearsago she eloped with some herco-villager but notables ofthe area brought her back.
Her brother Faisal andhusband Yaser nurturedgrudge against Irm over herelopement. The other daybrother took her along onmotorcycle on the excuse oftaking her to Kilyan Pur tomeet relatives.
Shahbaz launchesanother mega project
PUNJAB Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif, on Friday, signed aMemorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China’s Shandong RuyiGroup for investment worth $2 billion in the textile sector and es-
tablishment of a textile industrial zone near Motorway. Speaking on theoccasion, the Chief Minister rightly pointed out that the fabulousprogramme would not only bring new job opportunities in the textile sec-tor but exports of the country would also considerably increase.
The MoU assumes more significance as Pakistan has been laggingmuch behind as compared to other textile exporting countries in valueaddition in the sector and the Chinese company has committed to makerobust investment in garments. Credit goes to the Punjab Governmentfor taking the giant step to establish a garment industrial zone, whichwould be completed not in years but just in fifteen months, which is inline with general reputation of Mian Shahbaz Sharif, who has been givinggifts of fly-overs and under-passes to people of different cities of theprovince in minimum possible timeframe. His commitment to the wel-fare of the people of Punjab is also manifest in a number of other sectorslike education, health, water supply, communication and agriculture. Hecompleted Metro Bus project in Lahore, which has contributed a lot inaddressing problems of daily commuters affording them an opportunity tobenefit from a decent but affordable means of travel and now he is deter-mined to introduce similar projects in other cities of the province includingRawalpindi-Islamabad. As for the MoU signed with the Chinese com-pany, we hope that the Chief Minister would see to it that the understand-ing is transformed into an agreement and practical work. His plan to es-tablish garments industrial zone has also evoked enthusiastic response asover 90% applications have been received against industrial plots in thezone and hopefully all of them would be genuine and serious entrepre-neurs. Here, we would also urge the Federal Government to encourageChief Ministers of other provinces as well to follow the good example setby Mian Shahbaz Sharif. They too need to launch similar initiatives,programmes and projects to ensure that their provinces do not lag behindin socio-economic development. After devolution of powers and latestNFC award, the provinces have no dearth of money, what they need isinnovative thinking, will to do and weed out corruption and lethargy.
Pakistan not underdeveloped but
under managedTHE observations and analysis of Ahsan Iqbal, Minister for Planning
and Development that Pakistan is not under-developed but under-man-aged country are reflective of the ground realities. Inaugurating 2nd SouthAsian Cities Conference in Karachi, he also highlighted the major issuesof lack of understanding and capacity of managing urban centers, lack ofa regulatory framework, poor public health system, haphazard develop-ment patterns, no facilities for the youth and climate change.
No one would differ from what the Minister for Planning and Devel-opment has highlighted as the country is rich both in human and materialresources but unfortunately these have not yet been exploited to the opti-mum level. Pakistan has fertile land and all ingredients to take agricul-tural development to new heights but large tracts of land remain unculti-vated, per acre yield is lowest and we are affording the luxury of wastingprecious irrigation water. The country has potential to generate about onehundred thousand megawatts of electricity through hydel sources, hun-dred and thirty thousand megawatts from wind and unlimited amountsfrom solar and coal resources but still we are facing worst kind of load-shedding. Similarly, achievements of the country in the complicated nucleartechnology are clear indications that our human resource is as capable asthat of any country of the world but again we have not been able to de-velop this resource. We have been talking about education and health butpractically squeezed their budgets, abandoned visionary projects in thesectors and wasted resources on publicity gimmicks like adult education.Lack of long term planning and inconsistencies in policies have playedhavoc with the country. Now that Ahsan Iqbal is in the process of prepar-ing five year plan as well as Vision 2025, we hope that efforts would bemade to achieve consensus on the road map to development so that themarch of the country towards progress and prosperity continues irrespec-tive of change of the government or who is in power.
Aitzaz show casesPakistan’s real face
PRIME Minister Nawaz Sharif, on Friday, recommended to the President award of Sitara-e-Shujaat to teenage student Aitzaz Hassan who
embraced martyrdom while stopping a suicide bomber from attacking hisschool in Hangu area of KP. Aitzaz tackled the bomber head on when hetried to enter the school building and as a result the bomb exploded andboth Aitzaz and the bomber were blown up.
The entire nation salutes bravery and spirit of the 17-year-old boywho sacrificed his own life for the sake of his fellow students and teach-ers. He deserved acknowledgement at the highest level and we are gladthat the Government did that by announcing award of Sitara-e-Shujaatfor his gallantry. Such an appreciable spirit develops only because of familybackground, nursing, training and schooling, which is hallmark of oursocietal values and traditions. A number of security guards and police-men also laid down their lives while trying to protect others from terroristattacks as we witnessed in Bhara Kahu in Islamabad a few months back.In fact, people like Aitzaz are the real face of Pakistan, as overwhelmingmajority of Pakistanis are selfless, patriotic, hospitable and full of pas-sions to do something good for others, the society and the country. Unfor-tunately, the face of the country has been disfigured by a handful of peoplebecause of their narrow-minded approach and thinking. These elementsbring bad name to the country and the religion but hats off to Aitzaz andlikes who are show-casing the real face of the country.
Exploding myths & the way forward
Gates hitsCongress
MUCH of the press aboutformer Defence secretaryRobert Gates’ revealing
new book centres on his disagree-ments with President Obama andwhy not? Kiss-and-tell narratives arealways spicy. And Obama, whoseWhite House is legendary for itsmicromanaging of Cabinet depart-ments, probably deserves everythingthat Gates has dished out. But by hisown reckoning, Gates’ differenceswith Obama pale in comparison withhis utter scorn for Congress.
A partial list of his descriptivewords includes: uncivil, incompe-tent, parochial and hypocritical.And for someone who spent mostof his life in public service, he de-livers the ultimate rebuke. Membersof Congress, he says, routinely sub-ordinate the national interest to theirown. Perhaps a man saying harshthings about an institution whoseapproval rating hovers near singledigits is not enough of an aberra-tion to be considered news. Oneneed not stop the presses for some-one calling Kim Jong Un a tyrant.But it brings up the question of whatkind of world we live in when oneof the most respected public ser-vants in a generation can positivelyream the legislative branch andhardly anyone notices. Gates is thetype of person increasingly in shortsupply in Washington. He started asan Air Force officer, moved over tothe CIA, worked his way up to thedirectorship and ultimately becameDefence secretary under presidentsof both parties. He is motivated notby ambition but by dedication toservice, love of country, and deepconcern for the men and womenwho put themselves in harm’s way.
What he has to say is important.It matters, unlike a lot of the opin-ions that echo through Washington.His book might best be seen as a pri-mal scream from a famously level-headed man sickened by the petti-ness and dysfunction in the capitalof the greatest nation on earth.Obama gets his due. Gates describesWhite House aides who would un-dercut him by calling field generalsdirectly, and of the frustrations ofhaving to get policy decisionsthrough White House political op-eratives. His biggest disappointmentwas how Obama adopted the rightpolicy in Afghanistan, by buildingup troop levels, but quickly lost faithin his own plan. As Gates notes, thisis not the first White House given tocounter-productive micromanaging.Nor will his scathing indictment ofCongress surprise anyone who hasseen the institution in action. But itneeded saying. He describes mem-bers of Congress who’d sanctimo-niously criticize Pentagon bloat onlyto insist on continuing inefficient orobsolete programs in their own statesor districts. He tells of hearings thatwere turned into kangaroo courts orplatforms for members’ self-aggran-dizement. Such behaviour is so per-vasive that Washington is numb toit. Gates is not. By exposing the prob-lem with such conviction and moraloutrage, he gives voice to millionswho detest Congress’ ways as muchas he does. Too bad it doesn’t hap-pen more often. Only shame canchange the situation, and membersof Congress who engage in the petty,destructive behaviour Gates de-scribes aren’t shamed often enough.— USA Today
*****
A desperatemove
IT is the last-ditch attempt byIndia’s Congress party to slamthe brakes on its unstoppable
slide into the maw of defeat. Spend-ing Rs5 billion on resuscitatingRahul Gandhi’s guttering image andappeal is by far the biggest gamblethe party has taken, especially sincethis investment seems to promiseno returns.
Roping in two of the biggestimage-makeover firms in the worldat a time when the party’s image isbattered beyond repair is a move de-fined by desperation. For an heir-apparent privy to every aspect of hisparty’s policies over the past half adecade, the need for an image over-haul is a travesty. What can foreignfirms teach him about generatingmass appeal that his own experienceas an Indian — and as the son ofRajiv and Sonia Gandhi — cannot?The irony of being Rahul Gandhiis that he has ended up, due to hisown follies, more as a victim of hisancestry rather than its poster boy.A fact the Congress is acutely awareof but is in no position to admit. Itseems it would rather spend a for-tune to shore up its own fortunes.— Gulf News
MEDIA WATCH
INTELLECTUAL confusion hasbeen pervasive in our societyever since the conception of Pa-
kistan. Liberal leaders like Jinnah,had to use the religious card to getthe over whelming support of theMuslims that was required for thecreation of the new State.This washowever, to be a temporary phase,in view of Jinnah and his associates,a Muslim Welfare State, and not anIslamic theocratic state consideringit self-responsible of the woes of thewhole Islamic Ummah was clearlythe idea. It was only after the deathof Jinnah when the narrative of theIslamic State gained ascendancythrough an alliance of the Military,Mullah, right wing politicians andpro-establishment bureaucrats.
In my opinion, we need to goback to the narrative of a modernMuslim nation state. It will not beeasy as the theocratic forces are sowell entrenched. The combination ofjihadi culture and weak state insti-tution has led to resistance towardsmodernization in education and outlook so essential for survival andprogress of a complex society likeours. According to senior journalistBaber Ayaz’s recently publishedbook “What is wrong with Paki-stan”. Mr. Ayaz mentions the role ofreligion in our politics as the mainproblem of our country. Accordingto the author building of a secularsociety with secular and rationalstate institutions is the only way outof our quagmire. Great challenges,however, require heroic efforts andwith increase in literacy rate, im-proved economy and above all con-trol of the state over militancy canbe the slow and tentative first stepstowards achieving this goal.
The most deluding myth of all inmy opinion is the belief, that religiousextremists are basically good Muslimsbut misguided. They have to be un-derstood in a realistic paradigm. Mostof these militants are hardened extrem-ists who do not hesitate for a secondto kill and maim innocent people, toachieve their perceived Islamic vision.
Before our country can progressin any meaningful way, the problemof religious extremism has to besolved, one way or the other. Talksor use of force or both have to be em-ployed to overcome this existentialthreat to our country. No more dith-ering on part of our government andarmy should now take place and aneffective anti-terrorism policy shouldbe immediately formulated and ruth-lessly enforced. We simply do nothave the luxury of procrastination.
Second important trait of flawedthinking in my opinion is the overreliance of our leader and leadingeconomists on foreign aid and loans.No matter how much our leaders talkabout breaking the begging bowl,one of their first priorities is to cre-ate conduits with lending institutionslike IMF and the World Bank. Thedependence mentality of our, is per-haps, in common with many formercolonies. There is a kind of an en-titlement mentality amongst manyformer colonies, where governmentsthink that having colonized them,and perhaps, stripped them of theirresources; the western nations andinstitutions are obliged to keep theformer colonies solvent.
The strategic locale of Pakistanis also some time flaunted as a com-pulsion of the Western Powers to helpPakistan. This line of thinking isclearly flawed. No Nation has everrisen and became a respectable mem-ber of the comity of Nations by de-pending on foreign help and loans.Foreign help can only act as a cata-lyst; the main effort and hard workhas to be done by the developing na-
tion itself. Thirdly tendency to expecteverything from the state and govern-ment is also quite common in Paki-stan. A great majority of our citizensdo not feel much obliged to pay taxesand I may say for a good reason, be-cause what does the state do in re-turn, to warrant taxes from thepeople? What to talk of usual ameni-ties, which citizens in the tax payingcountries take for granted. Even lifeand property of individuals is not safeand at disposal of the militants. Buteven under these circumstances, wewill have to pay taxes and develop atax culture because without revenuepaid in the form of taxes no modernstate can be run.
The fourth myth very popularwith most Pakistanis is concept ofconspiracy theories. When eversomething extraordinarily bloody oratrocious happens, one hears a lotof Mullahs saying on televisionchannels, “This could not be the jobof a Muslim, no Muslim can kill an-other Muslim”, similarly attacks onmosques are also attributed to Jewsand Christians or their agents.People with closed minds are notwilling to accept truth that Muslimshave massacred fellow Muslims andsuch massacres have happened atplaces of worship also. This ten-dency of blaming other people andcountries, perhaps, somewhat less-ens the guilt and responsibilities ofPakistanis. This, however, is not todeny that foreign powers may beinvolved in any mischief, but it isinternal fissures and weaknesseswhich invite foreign intervention.We need to get our act straightenedout and counter foreign involvementwith better intelligence on theground.
Fifthly, this business friendlygovernment of Nawaz Sharif, besidesconcentrating on economic growthand tax collection also needs to pro-vide an economic safety net to thepoor and the middle class – the safaid
Finding solutions to complex issues
THE nation’s moral compassis again violently moving.The reason is the number of
adjunct actions that have been asso-ciated with and by the past as wellas the present government. I havelearnt over the years that it is notwise to fight an underling and in anycase one’s breeding will show if thesubordinates do not perform. Lead-ership is determined by the abilityto get the best out of the subordi-nates or from ones colleagues. Noth-ing comes out if tempers are lost.
We have our political leaderslose their tempers so frequently thattheir loss of temper over time be-comes inconsequential. At one par-ticularly horrifying moment in thecabinet meeting I was pretty de-jected when a senior came to me andsaid ‘Please do not be upset a fif-teen minute ranting and raving is ofno consequence because you canhave 15 days of leisure and powerusage. It placated matters in the shortterm but now I hear that mattershave taken a far worse turn. Abuseand dirty language is the order ofthe day. The tougher the CM themore detrimental is he to his subor-dinates. Why?
I must admit that when I lookedat the reasons for this kind of be-havior I came with surprising resultsand conclusions. For one it seemedas if the character of the boss waslacking in important matters. Theflip side of all this regulatory hog-wash is that the boss is in a hurry to
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poosh. The middle class of any na-tion is its backbone and needs to beprotected. The nation cannot be lefttotally on the mercy of ruthless eco-nomic forces. A leaf from the wel-fare states of Europe needs to beborrowed where the dignity of thecitizens, in terms of their economicrequirements and social amenitiesare looked after. The military, as ithas correctly behaved in the last fewyears, should stay clear from politi-cal involvement. The intelligenceagencies of the army should alsolimit its role to its professional re-sponsibilities only.
The myth, that whenever thingsin the country became ungovern-able, the army can solve everythingby stepping in, is quite popular witha large segment of our population.Many military men nurture the samebelief privately, even if they cannotsay it publicly. Reality is quite to thecontrary. All military takeovers inPakistan have been unmitigated di-sasters as ruling a country is notcompatible with the basic orienta-tion and training of army. Pakistanwould have been a much stablecountry with out repeated militaryadventures where democracy wouldhave taken firm roots. Stabilitybrought by army intervention can atbest be illusory and is bound to leadto further and greater instability.
There should be zero toleranceon corruption and procrastination inpublic sector. Procrastination or de-laying of genuine work is usually thefirst subtle sign given by officialstowards demand for illicit gratifica-tion. Corruption and lack of account-ability is rampant in almost all gov-ernment sector organizations, whichreally stymies the progress of thenation. This twin menace of corrup-tion and endless delay in doing le-gitimate work has to be curbed withan iron hand.— The writer is Peshawar-basedpolitical analyst.
do what he wants and yet is un-able to do so because nothingcan be wished in to action.Looked at from another angleit is ironic that the chief execu-tive should be using public re-sources for private ends. None
of the political parties is aware of thelatest in management science andthey do not care because the self in-volvement could mean seeking to dothings in a manner that is consistentwith decency and well being. Theyhave no idea of distributed leadershipand the concept of subsidiarity [notdecentralization or devolvement].
Subsidiriaty lays down the rulesthat there will be no interference withthe person held responsible for jobto be done as long as the time andthe wherewithal is provided. Themoral responsibility for delivery isthen with the implementer. Do youthink that any one in power will un-derstand that his knowledge may beless than the lowest in a society? Herethey do not want to listen to any onewith any kind of exponential experi-ence. Experience is counted on cu-mulative basis. What is difference?Exponential experienced personshave a wide diversity of knowledgewhile a cumulative knowledge is theexperience that is repeated year afteryear. The cumulative knowledge per-son is good for routine functions andnot for versatile development.
As I scan the daily newspapersit is clear to me that the performanceis below par and that is why the Fi-nance Minister exploded the otherday in the ECC meeting. He will ex-plode some more for corrective ac-tions have not been taken. The trag-edy of servility is that it does not ap-ply its mind and leans on the unwor-thy shoulders of the political boss.
Well you can have your own pinchof loyalty but an independent indi-vidual lives by his mental strengthand not by bisakhis provided by thepolitical system. Just imagine whatis going on in the minds of the fam-ily of the top cop killed by the terror-ists in Karachi. He has paid a hugeprice for being efficient. I have seenformer East Pakistan and I know thatthe solution does not lie in hard ac-tions. Have you done everything tocurb and stopped the killings that areongoing in Karachi?
The top police brass is under anillusion that they can curb this. Thedanger is that if this gets too efficientand innocents are killed or arrestedthen the entire organization will gounder ground or move to rural areas.The mathematical game is whatMcNamara [US secretary of Defenseduring that time] played in Vietnamand the Americans are very good atit. Did every drone kill only Alqaedaor did they kill innocent children.BBC ran a hard talk program with agentlemen Amson [9.1.2014] whocriticized his own government and thefact that no one is accountable forwhat has happened to the poor civil-ians in this as well as in other coun-tries where the US has waged war.So do not give me what the police orphysical power can do. It can’t do adamn except satisfy the ego of policymakers. Matters will only get worsebecause they will get hold of thewrong people and then start to blamethe judiciary for not convicting them.
The credibility of such mass ac-tions has never led to desirable re-sults. Take my word for it for I haveseen that happen in former East Pa-kistan and if you think that the workof the power structure is always ex-cellent think again. I have been con-
A tale never losesin the telling.
stantly against power use that is‘behooda’ and that does not take into consideration the honest citizenwho is likely to suffer. So how doesone establish the authority of thegovernment? The authority of thegovernment is not by issuing a cir-cular saying henceforth the law ofthe land shall prevail. That is naivetyat its best. What is required is a deepunderstanding and a deep effort tosolve the underlying currents thatare creating fissures in society.These are not universal but basedon site specific requirements.
The question is who will tell thepolicy makers whose cup is alreadyoverflowing with ego and is unableto communicate with any one. If thatis so then the purpose of democracyis defeated? For is democracy notlinked to localized representation?Yet where is the effort to solve lo-cal problems. Instead new formatsfor legalizing money obtained bydubious means have been created.Let the representatives give wherethey received all that money andhow much have they paid to theFBR in terms of taxes.
BJP in India have made a policystatement that they will abolish in-come tax. Kajeriwal CM of Delhihas announced reduction of 50% inelectricity for the consumers that useless than 400 units. Water will besupplied to every HH at rate of 700liters per family free. OurKhawajgan have announced thatany one who uses more than 200units is not poor anymore. Watch outUN for we have a new candidate forthe World Bank. Political system iscapable of redefining self support-ing policy indicators. Understand.—The writer is a retired FederalSecretary.
Dr Zafar AltafEmail: [email protected]
Akbar Jan MarwatEmail:[email protected]
Voice of the People
A ray of hopein dismays
F Z KHAN
As the year 2013 has ended with afeeling of shortfalls and failures, thehope remains to be of a brighter fu-ture, provided the new leadership inthe government, military, judiciary– along with the nation – go hand inhand to face the challenges head-on.The challenges continue to remainon four major fronts: combating ter-rorism, strengthening political sta-bility, overcoming energy shortagesand dealing with unpredictable situ-ations on our borders.
Our fight against terrorism hasentered a crucial phase – most of thecredit for clearing tribal areas of ter-rorist outfits goes to the Army – butthe ulema, politicians, media and theintelligentsia need to do a lot to-wards fighting sectarianism and ex-tremism both ideologically and in-tellectually. The major question isif the Army is fighting Taliban, thenwho is fighting Talibanism orTalibanization? That means the na-tion has to straighten its outlook byshedding sectarian prejudices andpreferences. Besides, trial of Gen(retd) Musharraf is to be seen in itstrue perspective, without putting theblame on Army and without drag-ging it into it.
On the political front, a well-or-ganized general election was held,which helped strike deeper roots ofdemocracy. On the foreign policyfront, more serious challenge is go-ing to emerge as observers see op-portunities as well as dangers alikeif and when the US-led forces leaveAfghanistan by the end of 2014.How Kabul reacts in the post-with-drawal period is to be of critical im-portance to Pakistan, opines a news-paper editorial. However, the UNGeneral Assembly’s resolution ondrone strikes is considered to be anachievement on part of the govern-ment “as it has the potential of trig-gering a worldwide debate againstPresident Obama’s “weapon ofchoice”. On the economy front,years of campaigning in Brusselshave finally paid off with an EUParliament’s vote confirming wide-ranging trade concessions forPakistan’s exports under the EU’sGSP-Plus scheme.
Besides interacting with world’sfinancial institutions and pleadingfor inflow of foreign assistance,Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s pri-ority list also seems to be focusingon improvement in bilateralism withIndia. “The two countries need towork towards setting aside baggageof history, prevailing mistrust, andlack of flexibility. We have no op-tion but to normalize relations forthe sake of peace and betterment ofour peoples”, was message of PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif to India.
He met Manmohan Singh inNew York and agreed upon estab-lishing direct and indirect contactsbetween two countries. His adviseron national security and interna-tional affairs Sartaj Aziz visited NewDelhi and discussed mechanisms.The Punjab Chief Minister, ShahbazSharif, paid an informal visit of theIndian Punjab, where he also visitedJati Umra, and watched Pakistan-In-dia Kabaddi match. He and ParkashSingh Badal, his counterpart, show-cased their readiness “to forget thepast and meet to explore avenueswhich should be of interest and bet-terment of their people.”
But the most significant of allwas the meeting of the DGMOs ofthe Armies of both Pakistan and In-dia – a rare event at the Wagha bor-der that was enthusiastically high-lighted by the world media. The Di-rectors General of Military Opera-tions, in their meeting, pledged touphold the 2003 - Line of Control(LoC) ceasefire accord which hadbeen left in tatters by repeated vio-lations by the Indian side last year.The two countries agreed to a num-ber of steps to keep the ceasefire ac-cord intact. As E M Khan, the au-thor of “Human Security in Paki-
Pakistan and chronic unemploymentSYEDA SARAH HAKEEM
Pakistani nation has been facing many problems throughout it’s more than 6 decades of existence,but one problem that has plagued it persistently is that of unemployment. It has an unemploy-
ment rate of 15.4% and ranks on 152/199 on the world employment table. Having one of the world’slargest populations also means that this 15.4% is a very large number in its own right. One of themajor reasons why Pakistan continues to have such low employment and is still a developing nation isbecause of its low literacy rate. This lack of skill and education means, that most of the population isleft doing menial jobs such as driving, farming and manual labor because they are not able to find anyjobs. With the 6th largest population in the world, and such a high unemployment rate, it is a pity thatPakistan has still not been able to build a proper education system so that more people can changefrom unskilled to skilled jobs. The other very important reason is worst law and order situation. Thevolatile law and order situation is discouraging international and even domestic investment in thecountry. So due to lack of investment, there is a small number of businesses which leads to largenumber of unemployed people. The government policies have failed to help the economy and improvethe security situation and as a result of that, the unemployment rate in the country remains one of thehighest in the world. The other reason is also job saturation in the job market. This is mostly con-cerned with a large number of people going for the same profession and there not being enough jobsfor all of those people, hence causing most of them to remain unemployed. In conclusion Pakistanneeds to over come these causes mentioned above that are creating unemployment as soon as possible.Because they can cause grave losses & crimes in the country, both people who are educated and stillare unemployed facing a great depression as well as for uneducated who are unable to think how tosurvive and attempting crimes for their survivability.—Karachi
Terrorism’s fertile ground
TERRORISM is a global reality, and for me as a Kenyan,this struck close to home in
September with the siege of theWestgate mall. Yet in many ways,growing up in Nairobi I was alwaysin the midst of terror. As a boy livingin extreme poverty in Kibera, one ofAfrica’s largest slums, I learned earlyon that I was disposable, that humanlife is not equally valued. Life expect-ancy in Kibera is estimated at 30 years,compared with 64 in the rest of Kenyaand 70 worldwide. In Kibera, peopleare desensitised to death. Living is un-derstood to be the exception.
I am 29 years old — on thethreshold of a new decade of life. Allmy close friends from childhood,save for two, were robbed of this ex-perience. Some took risks to feedtheir families; for stealing bread orcharcoal, they were shot by the po-lice. Others, who worked for as littleas $1 per day, fell from constructionsites or burned in factory fires. Stillothers perished in the violence afterthe 2007 election. Violence and lossbecame part of day-to-day life.
These are more than singular trag-edies; they contribute to the psyche ofbeing poor. This psyche inculcateshopelessness, dispels a belief in thepossibility of tomorrow’s being betterthan today, compels a resignation tothe fact that you may suffer the sametragic fate as your peers, and fuels an-
ger because there is no escape and youdid not choose this — you simply drewlife’s short straw.
This, perhaps, is terrorism’s fer-tile ground. Because if you grew upas I did, self-protection requires com-ing to terms with violence and terror.Violence becomes a vehicle of sur-vival. My friend Boi was 16 when hejoined a gang with the goal of support-ing his mother and sister. If stealing orfighting was the only way, he wasready. In end, he was shot dead.
An environment in which youcannot get a job despite ability, am-bition and persistence fosters anger.My friend James and I used to leavethe slum together each morning tolook for work as day labourers. Wealways hoped we’d be lucky, only tobe told “not today” — day after dayafter day. Then one day, James and Igot construction jobs. While carryingheavy stones, two of James’s fingerswere crushed. He was not compen-sated and was out of work for morethan two years. Later, James caughtanother break and got a job as a se-curity guard at an upper-class estate.The estate was robbed, and Jameswas fired and never paid.
Something broke in James. In theconstant degradation he saw that forpeople like us there was no justice. Hejoined a local group infamous for ter-rorizing the community, robbing andstealing. James was ready to die, will-ing to do anything to provide what hecould for his family. Today, this worldof violence and uncertainty remains hisreality. News reports inform us that
Views From Abroad
Kenya’s slums are ripe for terrorist re-cruitment. No one is born a terrorist.But being paid a reported $1,000 toundergo militant training in Somaliais more than enough financial incen-tive; the young people in Nairobi’sslums are accustomed to taking risksthat pay far less.
A 2011 study in the Journal ofPeace Research found that the perpetu-ation of Islamist extremism was moresignificantly associated with urbanpoverty than with variables like reli-giosity, lack of education and incomedissatisfaction. The urban poor are soclose to the city’s opportunities — butthey always remain out of reach. Giventhe link between urban poverty and ter-rorism, the best strategy to limit thepower of militant groups to seducerecruits is to fight poverty, not terror-ism. Instead of investing billions ofdollars on drones, let’s focus on aug-menting economic opportunities andproviding basic and essential serviceslike health care and education.
Every day, more and more peoplearrive in Nairobi, drawn by the hopeof a better life, only to settle in slums.More than half of those living inAfrica’s urban slums are between theages of 15 and 24. Without access toeducation, this generation has littlehope of escaping its straitened con-ditions. We must capture the poten-tial of urban youth before they are ledto believe that the path of violence istheir only option.
Over the past few years, theShabab, the Somali militant group thattook credit for the Westgate massacre,
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Privatisation plan surfaces again
THE plans of privatisation of asmany as 32 enterprises of thenation has again surfaced
which clearly manifests that the Gov-ernment is incapable of streamliningits governance style and therefore in-stead of mending its own ways isdetermined to throw away the na-tional silver to dogs, by selling theentities, once pride of the nation, tothe blue eyed or the ones who won’tcare what is the interest of Pakistan,at throw away prices because the gov-ernment has already projected themas hopeless white elephants.
One can just recount the list ofthe ‘on-sale’ state enterprises which,among others, include the nationalflag-carrier - the PIA, the life-line andthe spinal cord of the national cohe-sion - the Pakistan Railways, strengthof the nation - the Pakistan SteelMills, the safe repository of thepeople of Pakistan - the NationalBank of Pakistan and poor man’shope to survive - the Utility StoresCorporation. These great names of1960s, 70s and even 80s started di-
luting in mid-90s and now they havelost all their esteem, grace, pride,grandeur and chance of survival andhence the government of PML-N hasopted to put them all on sale and gofor their privatisation. It is not be-cause of some global trend, broodingsof some forward looking economicwizards, some intrigue of the inter-national financial organizations or akeen desire to bring them back onefficiency track, but it is because wehave failed to manage and disciplinethem by virtue of unprecedented cor-ruption and corrupt practices of thesuccessive governments during thepast two decades.
We have brought these ‘symbols’of national honour and pride to thebrink of total disaster. It is in fact theacknowledgement of the PML-Ngovernment’s incapacity to bring thedrowning ship ashore. This is the timeto muster up courage, take bold ini-tiatives, salvage the national pride,shake off the yoke of subordinationto others and rise anew to own andre-build these enterprises by discard-ing the corrupt and corrupt practices.Thus you will be carving a chapterof accomplishments in the history.
If Pak Railways can be restoredto operation, why not PIA or Paki-
stan Steel or Utility Stores Corpora-tion – the situation of National Bankis not so bad except over-staffing andnon-professional inductions. A cor-rupt ruler gives a license of corrup-tion to the state machinery whereasan efficient, honest and upright leaderalways brings forth efficiency andprosperity. It is the time to prove whattype of the lot of rulers we have to-day. There is also a need to dig outthe factors- which are quite evident-that led to the collapse of these pridesof Pakistan. Many a time bail-outpackages were given to these organi-zations but they failed to revert to aturn-around position. Can the Audi-tor General or the Supreme Judiciarytake note of it as to what happened tothe bail-out packages, who were thebeneficiaries and whose personal ac-counts were further fattened with thismoney of the tax-papers.
Having said all, the Prime Minis-ter is requested in the name of theheavy mandate which the nation hasgiven to him and his party, to estab-lish the sincerity of his team and in-stead of selling out these national as-sets, bring them back on track of effi-ciency. Mr. Prime Minister! If yourRailway Minister can reduce the faresfor Railway passengers, operate addi-
tional trains on special occasions andrepair and re-induct a visible numberof Locomotives in the system, thenwhy your Ministers holding the port-folios like PIA, Pak Steel and othersare unable to revive these organiza-tions and why your Ministers hold-ing the charge of Finance & Eco-nomic Affairs, Water & Power andPetroleum & Natural Resources arebent upon raising the prices of fooditems, electricity, gas and petroleumproducts instead of providing reliefto the people who have a firm faith inyou, Mr. Prime Minister and yourMinisters, for steering the nation outof the quagmire imposed upon themby your predecessors? Rise above theblame games, take courageous initia-tives, beware the weathercocks andblack sheep in your kitty and proveyour mettle as you did in May 1998by ushering Pakistan clear among theworld nuclear powers. People of Pa-kistan have expressed confidence andfirm faith in you and your party byrejecting the others; so don’t sell theseprides of the nation, just weed outcorruption therefrom and inject newlife in them through their restructur-ing and reforms.— The writer is Islamabad-basedcolumnist.
AND as fireworks lit the skylast New Year night, churchand temple bells rang and
calls for prayer went out frommasjids, there was a feeling of hopein the country: Not so because abearded communal chief ministerspoke about progress; one suspectsthe kind of progress he talks about,more like a Hitlerian kind! Not be-cause a young Rahul Gandhi went
round with shredding machine, tear-ing up all the corruption policies ofhis government, albeit a little late. Noteven because a Kejriwal has come topower in Delhi.
But because the same Delhi spokeand it’s voice was heard. For years wehave been good armchair critics, criti-cizing government, authority, and poli-cies. For years we have had hungerstrikes and fasts. For years we havevoted, then stopped voting as electionswere decided by caste, creed, maybecolor. But, finally even as 2013 tot-tered to a hopeless end, a rocket ofhope shot into the sky, blazing a trail.The people spoke with ink on finger,the finger wagged and their voice was
heard. There’s hope for India. Even ifModi comes to power, it will be a dif-ferent Modi from the venom spittingdesigner clothes, clad man we’ve beenhearing. Every now and again he willfrom his platform, look into the dis-tance: “What are you looking for sir?”“Can you see them?” “Who sir?” “Thepeople!” “Yes we can sir!” “What dotheir fingers say?” “Does it mattersir?” And Modi will nod, because forthe first time in the history of the sec-ond largest democracy in the world,the people are thinking. For the firsttime in the history of India, the peoplelook at their vote casting finger; seeand feel muscle. “Mr Modi you haveto talk to the people, not to their fin-
Broken vault walls..!gers!” “Their fingers have becomepowerful!” whispers the man whomight be the next prime ministerand suddenly communal forceswho have split the country withtheir so called religious divisionsare scared.
“What do we do, nobody is in-terested in a temple or mosque atthe disputed site!” “Why?” “Be-cause the people of the country, thevoter has started thinking! Disputesdon’t feed stomachs!” “This isfrightening!” It is Mr Politician, sochange quickly or be left behind,because vote bank has broken itsvault walls. There’s hope for India..!—Email:[email protected]
has inflicted terror on the citizens ofKenya, throwing grenades into localbars, bus stations and villages nearthe border — places frequented bythe poor and lower middle class. OnlyWestgate, however, garnered enor-mous international media attention.This was of course because of thescale of the tragedy, but also becauseof the affluent demographic it prima-rily affected.
Westgate was a place marked byeconomic prosperity, wholly inacces-sible to so many, including those whomight be recruited from Nairobi’sslums to undertake similar acts. Aswe condemn those who have carriedout these heinous acts, so too mustwe condemn the systems that perpetu-ate extremism. We must install newsystems of urban promise.
If we pursue an antiterrorismstrategy based on tactical strikes, itwill only further a cycle of violence.The perpetual sense of anger experi-enced in urban poverty will ensurethat there are always new terroristleaders to replace those who arekilled. The war on terror can be wononly through education, promise andreal opportunities. It is time to giveyoung men like my friends, and likethose today living in urban slums,hope. That is the only way to end theviolence that preys on our cities’ mostvulnerable. The writer is the founderand chief executive of Shining Hopefor Communities, a social services or-ganization, and a 2013 New Voicesfellow at the Aspen Institute. — Courtesy: The New York Times
stan” puts it, “the meeting has workedtowards reducing tensions not onlyalong the LoC but also in the othersectors between two countries. Theresponse from the political and mili-tary leadership of Pakistan has here-tofore remained matured, measured,considered and effective both in caseof ceasefire violations and after in-tense statements from India’s polity,military or bureaucracy.” This wasfollowed by a marathon flag meetingbetween the two militaries. It is ex-pected that such meetings at the levelof military commanders would leadto further contacts, believing themutual trust and confidence once re-stored, would result in taking up thebigger issues like the ones – SirCreek, Siachen, etc – as indicated inthe agenda of the composite dialogue.—Islamabad
Climate change!HASHIM ABRO
Environmentalist and ecologists be-lieve that Pakistan has been exposedto weather-induced challenges aswell. And indeed, climate change isa key emerging factor, with adverseeffects on ecological, social and eco-nomic fabric of society. Therefore,addressing climate change has im-portant implications for poverty re-duction, equality and human rights.The various impacts of climatechange may well have a dampeningeffect on Pakistan’s economicgrowth rates, adversely affectingprospects for achieving its nationaldevelopment and Millennium De-velopment Goal targets.
Pitiably, nothing is being done inthis country at any level, be it theFederal or the Provincial level, totackle the climate change. So muchso even science, engineering, technol-ogy and agriculture related varsitiesin the public sector are not doing any-thing in the climate science as beingdone in other developed and devel-oping countries of the world. Is thereanyone to wake up our rulers, bureau-crats and technocrats to devise a strat-egy to fight for climate in the coun-try, a country with rich resources butno planning at all?—Islamabad
Pakistan’sworld war
SYED NAYYARUDDIN AHMAD
Pakistan is not in an ordinary warrather, for us it is our world war,which is being fought for the life anddeath of Pakistan. This type of warhas not been witnessed by any othernation, in the history of the world.Moreover, it seems that this fight maynot end very soon, in the near future.As such, our civil, military and all nonmilitary people, will have to standunited in front of the terrorists, whoare hell bent to fight this war, not inour back yard, but right in the middleof our house. In view of the serious-ness of the situation and to keep themotivation of the general public alive,it is imperative to immediately an-nounce the following initiatives:
Shaheed Chaudhry Aslam SSPand Shaheed Aitzaz Hussain (the 9th
class student of Hangu, who grabbedthe suicide bomber) may be awardedthe highest national bravery awards,for offering ultimate sacrifice, beyondthe call of their duties. In any crimeinvestigations, the first logical stepis to find the beneficiary of that crimi-nal act. Here, in Pakistan we haveobserved a pattern, which reveals thateither, the terrorists have been target-ing the GHQ, Naval and Air Forcebases or indulging in specific targetedattacks on Sri Lankan cricketers,Chinese, foreigners and Pakistaniminorities. All these operations arecarried out (at specifically chosenvital timings) not only to inflict maxi-mum men and material losses, butalso to undermine Pakistan’s militarypower; and create isolation in foreignpolicy, sports and tourism etc. Weshould not be so naive to indefinitelyclose our eyes and ignore the role ofhuge number of Indian consulates,
Deterrence capability of low-yield nukes
INDIA has chosen to fight at subconventional level but evidencein this regard is not taken into ac-
count. In a recent article, an authorconsidered Pakistan’s developmentof so-called tactical nuclearweapons“Nuclear Insanity” that iswastage of money and increase inrisk of nuclear escalation betweenPakistan and India. In making suchexaggerated claims, the authorstend to focus only on Pakistan’sreaction and not the triggers. Theonly lesson to draw here is to checksources and not believe everythingwritten on a webpage. It is easiersaid than done.
Pakistan reluctantly entered thenuclear fray due to repeated Indianprovocations. Likewise, its decision
to develop short-range-low yield(SRLY) nuclear weapons is not aninitiative rather a measured reactionto Indian adoption of dangerousnuclear doctrine to fight a limitedwar under Pakistan’s nuclear thresh-old. Islamabad looks at these SRLYweapons as deterrence stabilizers. Itis up to the Indians take this capa-bility into account and resist initiat-ing a war with a ‘hope’ that Paki-stan would not respond to.
Lt Gen Khalid Ahmed Kidwai,the outgoing Director General ofStrategic Plans Division, oncetermed Hatf-IX (Nasr) SRLY as a“weapon of peace.” Nasr missile haspoured cold water on Indian ColdStart Doctrine and is a source ofgreat Indian frustration. Indian largeconventional force advantage and afast growing nuclear arsenal cometo a naught because Pakistan hasbeen able to plug the gap Indians per-ceived to exploit at the tactical levelof operations.
The analogy creates amisperception that American relianceon battlefield nuclear weapons inEuropean theater ended with ColdWar. Both America and Russia stillhave battlefield nuclear weapons onEuropean soil and thousands in theirinventories. Deterrence is still at playin Europe! The facts and figures canbe picked from monograph onSRBMs published by IRS.
Frustrated, the Indians threatenedlast April with a massive retaliationshould Pakistan chose to employSRLY weapons in response to CSD.Likewise, Indian forward disposi-tions and coming up of new canton-ments close to border. Likewise, theirconventional force developments in-dicate that they are creating sufficientmeans to operationalize CSD. Theyrestyled it as Proactive Operations/Proactive Defense Strategy and havepublicly disowned CSD because theyhave developed Cold Feet from Pa-kistani response. It is amazing that
India considers Pakistan’s right todefend itself against so-called ‘lim-ited’ incursion unfair. India‘s offen-sive military doctrine and rapidarming to the teeth affectsPakistan’s calculus.
The assumption of initiating awar and punish Pakistan without in-voking an appropriate response isfoolhardy. Interestingly India tries toconvince that there is a decreasingsalience of nuclear weapons in itspolicies – yet, with all conventionaland nuclear force edge over Paki-stan, it does not give up resorting tosub-conventional aggression. It isamazing to see that this has beenoverlooked. Pakistan’s policy has al-ways been of credible minimum andproportionate response to Indianprovocations. It was India thatdragged Pakistan into nuclearizationand now feels frustrated by latter’seffective responses.— The writer is Islamabad-basedDefence & Strategic researchers.
specially based near Pakistan’s west-ern borders with Afghanistan. In fact,the terrorism in Karachi and the in-surgencies of Swat and Balouchistanare a clear testimony of the Indian evildesigns, being perpetrated throughthese consulates in Afghanistan.
However, Pakistan must rest as-sured that this Indian game plan, spe-cifically designed to keep Pakistanburning for an indefinite period, willnever cease, till such time we repaythe Indians in the same coins, by de-vising a strategy, to fight fire with fire.As such, it is high time that Pakistanofficially warn India to immediatelypack up all its consulates in Afghani-stan, failing which Pakistan shouldalso immediately take steps to estab-lish its own consulates, in the borderareas of all those countries, whichshare a common border with Indiae.g., China, Nepal, Bangladesh,Myanmar and Sri Lanka etc. The sud-den increase of acts of terrorism,highlights the importance of preven-tive measures to curb the menace ofterrorism, which is causing severelosses to men, material and reputa-tion of the country.
Under the circumstances, there isa dire need for motivating generalpublic, which must remain extra-vigi-lant, in playing their role of defend-ing the motherland, by involvementof entire population of the country,to look out for the stay and suspiciousactivities of the terrorist, in their nearvicinity. As such, In order to makethe stay of terrorists at any place al-most impossible, it is proposed toactively involve the entire populationto look out and hunt them. This ob-jective can be easily achieved, by theannouncement of a sumptuous re-ward for any person, who informs thePolice, about the terrorists staying ina house, hostel, hotel, rest house orany such place. If the war against ter-ror is to be won quickly, the entirepopulation of the country has to begeared up and involved in the task ofwatch and vigilance.—Lahore
Organisationalstress
RANA TASSAWAR ALI
Stress is a state of psychological andphysical arousal that comes as a re-sult of anticipation of harm, challengeor change in one’s environment. Or-ganizational stress is not anindividual’s mental health disorder,but a personnel management problemprevalent throughout many multina-tional companies or different organi-zations. It is characterized by an in-ability of companies or organizationsto play a positive role in the lives oftheir staff suffering from the effectsof work-related mental illness. Indi-viduals wrestling with the ongoingeffects of psychological trauma of-ten feel desperate and lonely.
In these circumstances, the slight-est indication of organizational sup-port and sympathy can profoundlyimpact not only individuals’ recov-ery processes, but also their outlookon life. In country like Pakistan whereemployers are unwilling to invest inmental health, and where there is nohealthy trained mechanism to providepsychological services for the staff.It’s the duty of the companies or or-ganizations to invest in mental healthand hence spending money for men-tal peace of the employees will maxi-mize the capacity of staff as healthystaff will bring healthy outcomes.—Via email
Kennedy Odedejan
Sakhi SarwarEmail:[email protected]
Usman Ali KhanEmail: [email protected]
A defining momentfor the court
GEORGE F WILL
CONSTITUTIONAL arguments that seem as dry asdust can have momentous consequences. On Monday, the Supreme Court’s nine fine minds will hear
oral arguments about the meaning of “the” and “happen.”What they decide could advance the urgent project ofreining in rampant executive power.
“The president,” says the Constitution, “shall have thepower to fill up all vacancies that may happen during therecess of the Senate” (emphasis added). Monday’s caseconcerns whether Barack Obama made recess appoint-ments when the Senate was not in recess, and made themto fill vacancies that did not happen during a recess. In2012, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) rendereda decision adverse to a soft-drink bottler in Yakima, Wash.
The bottler asked the court to declare the NLRB’s inter-vention unlawful because the board did not have a legiti-mate quorum, three members having been installed byObama when the Senate was not in recess as the Framersunderstood this term. Republicans, wanting to block someObama nominations, used a practice Democrats used in2007 when they controlled the Senate and wanted to blocksome George W. Bush appointments.
Operating under a unanimous-consent agreement —no Democrat objected — pro forma sessions occurred Jan.3 and Jan. 6 of 2012. Obama declared the Senate in recessJan. 4 and made his NLRB appointments, thereby disre-garding the Senate’s determination of the rules of its pro-ceedings and the settled practice both parties have usedto remain not in recess even when most senators are away.
The Obama administration argues that the word “hap-pen” is a synonym for “exist.” And it rejects the argumentthat an intra-session Senate break is a synonym for “ad-journment,” not “recess.” This, however, ignores the rea-sonable reading of the definite article: Recess appointmentsfill vacancies that “happen,” meaning come about, during“the” recess of the Senate — the one break that occursbetween sessions, which, until the Civil War, usually lastedonly three to six months.
The first president made the first recess appointment inthe first year of his first term, in 1789, when travel was slowand arduous, and Congress was usually not in session.The recess appointments clause was written when condi-tions made such a power crucial. Obama, however, con-tends that in today’s world of instant communication andeasy travel, he deserves a much larger — almost unlimited— recess appointment power.
The Constitution’s text, and perhaps its original mean-ing, may be at odds with historical practice. Because theability to defeat by filibuster some presi-dential nomineeshas recently been restricted, perhaps not for the last time,presidents will have less need to resort to recess appoint-ments. Nevertheless, were the court to uphold Obama’saction, two of the Senate’s constitutional powers would besubstantially reduced — the power (which the House alsohas) to “determine the rules of its proceedings,” and thepower to reject presidential nominees.
Monday’s argument will be another manifestation ofAmer-ica’s intermittent efforts to tame executive power, ef-forts that predate nationhood: The Declaration of Indepen-dence is a menu of complaints against “a long train of abusesand usurpations” by “the present King of Great Britain.”
The present president’s cavalier approach to statutes(as with his unilateral rewriting of the Affordable Care Act)and the Constitution (see four paragraphs above) makeMonday’s argument important.
—Courtesy Washington post
FAROUK LUQMAN
THE flight from Aden,now part of YemenRepublic, to Djibouti
used to take just overtwenty minutes by the an-cient DC3 of Boeing air-craft because it was thatshort.
There is an idea beingmooted at present to builda causeway between aYemeni island andDjibouti. But the idea saidto belong to a Saudi groupis still far from even thediscussion stage becauseit would cost much morethan can be raised in themarkets of the two coun-tries. And unless France,the former colonial rulerand main economic andmilitary power in the coun-try, agrees with its Euro-pean allies and the UnitedStates as well as the WorldBank to consider the ideaseriously it will remain justthat, a tantalizing idea formany years to come.
France was the rulingEuropean state for manyyears and now remains itsmain ally and bulwark. The
Djibouti: A Red Sea stateUS and Britain are using itsterritory to operate militarymissions in Yemen and ad-joining African countries.Drone flights without pilotsare regularly bombing Al-Qaeda bases and operativesin Yemen and elsewhere be-cause Djibouti is conve-niently located in the RedSea close to many targets inArabia and Africa. Britainalso has modest forces thereand the three countries aresaid to be helping Djiboutiin various small ways.
Djibouti was colonizedby France which seized itfrom two tribes, the Affarsand the Issas from themiddle of the l9th century tol977 when it attained inde-pendence and joined theUnited Nations. Earlier on itwas formed into a Frenchprotectorate named theFrench Territory of the Affarand Issas, which have beencoexisting peacefully underthe French umbrella that hasmade it into a strong navalbase to protect its interestsin the Red Sea region.
It is a small piece of landfacing the erstwhile Britishcolony of Aden with about
800,000 people of Africanstock occupying 23,000square kms of mainly desertland. It has a free port. Butits strategic value lies in itslocation on the Red Seawhich gave the French aplace for a military base fac-ing the British colony, at thesouthern tip of the Red seaen route to south-east Asiawhere France had a vast em-pire until the end of theWorld War II.
At the same time Britaincontrolled India and someparts of Asia up to HongKong. The two powers werecontent with what they haduntil France lost everythingto the Japanese during 1940until the end of the war.Then the US prevailed on itto quit as it did on Britain toleave India alone and termi-nate the anomaly of a smallwestern country controllingone of the largest countriesin the world.
While staying in the cityI found very little to do ex-cept writing a book in En-glish at the suggestion ofPrime Minister Ali Aref, whois now living in France likemany Djiboutians who have
the right to claim French na-tionality as for a long timeFrance considered the terri-tory part of it. The book wassustained by commercial ad-vertisements since the gov-ernment was unwilling to fi-nance it. It was printed inIndia and shipped to Adenon its way to Djibouti.
As qat was legal the Ar-abs and Somalis engaged inchewing it all afternoons. Itis a mild narcotic planted inEthiopia and exported dailyin fresh leaves to Somalia,South Yemen and Djiboutilegally. Although it cost asubstantial portion of thepersonal income the peopleconsumed it daily without aletup.
In the past both Ethio-pia, Eritrea and Somalia uti-lized the position and freeport status of Djibouti bytrading with it and throughit because it was a free portas they had done with thefree port of Aden, which wasone of the largest of its kindin the world until the Marx-ist regime which took overfrom Britain, put an end toall that and the country suf-fered immensely. Its catas-
trophe was compounded bythe closure of the Suez Ca-nal in 1967. It was savedsomewhat by the union ofSouth and North Yemen in1990. But the days of gloryare yet to return to Adenwhen nearly 600 ships in-cluding passenger ocean lin-ers visited it to buy bunkeroil and disembark thousandsof passengers to shop in it’sduty free zones.
Djibouti at present de-pends heavily on the Frenchbase and Americans, in addi-tion to Arab funds since it is amember of the Arab League.Tourism is limited as there islittle to see and do and I donot see why tourists wouldcome from far away to spenda few days in it.
Only a few westernerswould bother to go there ex-cept to spend a tour of dutybefore returning home pos-sibly via Ethiopia, which hasmuch to offer to the tourists.
With the near collapse ofthe state in Somalia and thedenial of Eritrean ports toEthiopia, Djibouti hasgained some importance forEthiopia although the in-come from this relationship
is not enough to help itbuild a viable state.
Historical recordsshow that Djibouti, partsof Somalia and Eritrea,were most probably part ofthe legendary Land ofPunt, which had been ruledor controlled by Egypt un-der the Pharaohs, althoughthere is not much evidenceto prove that. The regionbeing close to Arabia main-tained close relations withthe Arabs who migrated toand traded with it and wasonce one of the earliest toembrace Islam.
The region then brokeup into sultanates, likethose of southern Yemen,which made it easier for theFrench in Djibouti and theBritish in Yemen to defeatthe inhabitants and colo-nize the lands.
In 1958, Somalia be-came independent withMogadishu as its capitaland both Italian-rulednorth and British con-trolled south decided tounite into Somalia in oneof the fastest acts of unionin the world.
—Courtesy Arab News
BA N G K O K—Anti-govern-ment protesters are planningto shut down Thailand’scapital on Monday by block-ing traffic at key intersec-tions, providing a fittingmetaphor for the country’spolitics: no way forward, nobacking out.
That was Feb. 28, 2006,when then-Prime MinisterThaksin Shinawatra wasseeking to defuse protestsagainst his rule by callingearly elections, and the op-position Democrat Party re-fused to take part. In Sep-tember that year, the armydeposed Thaksin in a coup.Eight years later, Prime Min-ister Yingluck Shinawatra —billionaire Thaksin’s sister— has called early electionsto defuse anti-governmentprotests, and the oppositionDemocrat Party is again boy-cotting the polls.
The protesters planningto tie up traffic in Bangkokon Monday are demandingthat Yingluck and her care-taker government step downand freeze elections for upto two years, during whichtime an interim “People’sCouncil” — which they ap-parently would appoint —would implement reforms tofight corruption and put an
Thai road protest could lead to political dead end
BANGKOK—Anti-government protesters are continning in Thailand.
end to money politics.Tensions are high, with
eight people killed over thepast two months in connec-tion with the protests. Thedemonstrators have en-gaged in running streetbattles with police, cut offwater and electricity to na-tional police headquarters,and forcibly occupied thecompounds of several othergovernment agencies. Sev-eral drive-by shootingshave taken place near theirmain encampment, the latestone leaving seven protest-ers injured Saturday morn-ing.
The demonstrators’ slo-gan is “Reform before elec-tion,” but their agenda reallyis “Stop Thaksin, again.” Itreflects the reality thatYingluck is acting as astand-in for her brother,who is calling the shots fromexile, where he fled in 2008to avoid a jail term for a cor-ruption conviction.
One scenario is a militarycoup. The protesters —headed by the so-calledPeople’s Democratic ReformCommittee — clearly hope totrigger enough chaos toforce the army to take overto restore order.
The military is noted for
having staged about adozen successful coupssince Thailand became aconstitutional monarchy in
1932. As recently as Tues-day, army commander Gen.Prayuth Chan-ocha refusedto rule out the possibility ofanother.
The 2006 coup againstThaksin was a bloodlessone, but it was followed upby an inept interim govern-
ment and triggered the vio-lent polarization that hasdogged Thai politics eversince.
Another possibility for
GENEVA—Iran and the Euro-pean Union appeared to makeprogress in resolving out-standing differences on howto implement a landmarknuclear deal in talks inGeneva on Friday but theUnited States said discus-sions were not yet finalized.
Deputy Foreign MinisterAbbas Araqchi met a seniorEU official in Geneva to ironout remaining practical de-tails of the November 24 ac-cord under which Iran agreedto curb its most sensitivenuclear work in return forsome sanctions relief.
After the meeting, he toldReuters that the sides hadfound “solutions for everydifference” but more consul-tations were needed before anagreement could be an-nounced. “Now we are takingthe solutions ... home, all ofus. Hopefully tomorrow wecan either confirm or not, buthopefully confirm,” he said.
Iran, EU make progress innuclear implementation talks
The European Unionliaises with Iran on behalf ofsix world powers - the UnitedStates, Russia, China, France,Britain and Germany - in dip-lomatic efforts related toTehran’s nuclear work. Aspokesman for the EU,Michael Mann, said “verygood” progress was made“on all the pertinent issues”,but added that results of thetalks still had to be validatedby more senior officials.
In Washington, StateDepartment spokeswomanJen Psaki told a news brief-ing that the technical talkswere making good progressbut reports that a deal hadbeen finalized were inaccu-rate. “There have been a fewoutstanding issues, but atthis point, the reports thateverything has been finalizedare incorrect,” she said.
The seven countriesneed to agree when thenuclear accord goes into ef-
fect, meaning when the Eu-ropean Union and the UnitedStates ease economic sanc-tions in return for Iraniannuclear concessions, andhow they will verify that Iranis meeting its end of the bar-gain. During years of on-and-off diplomacy, Iran hasrejected western allegationsits work has military goals,saying it needs nuclearpower for energy generationand medical purposes.
In a series of implementa-tion talks between nuclear ex-perts and sanctions specialistsfrom the seven countries andthe EU, held since November24, several issues linked to theaccord have surfaced. Thereappear to be disagreementsover the sequence of how thesides implement the deal, andhow much prior notice of Iranfulfilling its obligations shouldbe given to western govern-ments before they ease sanc-tions.—AP
JERUSALEM—Ariel Sharon,the hard-charging Israeligeneral and prime ministerwho was admired and hatedfor his battlefield exploits andambitions to reshape theMiddle East, died Saturday,eight years after a stroke lefthim in a coma from which henever awoke. He was 85.
As one of Israel’s mostfamous soldiers, Sharon wasknown for bold tactics andan occasional refusal to obeyorders. As a politician he be-came known as “the bull-dozer,” a man contemptuousof his critics while also ca-pable of getting things done.
He led his country into adivisive war in Lebanon in1982 and was branded as in-directly responsible for themassacre of hundreds of Pal-estinians at the Sabra andChatilla refugee camps out-side Beirut when his troopsallowed allied Lebanese mili-tias into the camps. Yet ulti-mately he transformed him-self into a prime minister andstatesman.
Sharon’s son Gilad an-nounced the death on Satur-day afternoon. Sharon’shealth had taken a downturnover the past week and a halfas a number of bodily organs,including his kidneys,stopped functioning.
“He has gone. He wentwhen he decided to go,”Gilad Sharon said outsidethe hospital where his fatherhad been treated in recentyears.
The life and career of theman widely known by hisnickname “Arik” will be re-membered for its three dis-tinct stages: his eventful andcontroversial time in uniform,his years as a vociferous po-litical operator who helpedcreate Israel’s settlementmovement and mastermind
Israel reports former PMAriel Sharon has died
of the Lebanon invasion,then his successful term as apragmatist prime minister,capped by a dramatic with-drawal from the Gaza Stripand curtailed at the height ofhis popularity by his suddenstroke.
Characteristically, themove was unilateral; Sharonwas dubious that much goodcould come of talks with thePalestinians.
Sharon painted his “dis-engagement” plan as a stepto reduce friction between Is-raelis and Palestinians. It wasaccompanied by construc-tion of a massive separationbarrier in the West Bank.While presented as securitymeasures, they also repre-sented an admission of sortsthat continued control of thefast-growing Palestinianpopulation could threatenIsrael’s Jewish and demo-cratic character.
A few months later he leftthe hawkish Likud party,which he helped found, andcreated the centrist Kadimaas a vehicle for himself, plan-ning to lead it to a third elec-tion victory. But a few monthslater — 77 years old, and con-siderably overweight — hesuffered two strokes. Thesecond one, in 2006, left himcomatose in a Jerusalem hos-pital. His deputy, EhudOlmert, became prime minis-ter and led Kadima to victoryin the election.
Olmert eulogized him in astatement. “His entire life,Arik stood at the front line offire in the place where the fateof the state of Israel was de-termined,” Olmert said. Hesaid Sharon’s life was“soaked in courage, humanwarmth, vision and leader-ship at the critical momentswhen the state of Israelneeded all these.”—AP
the current crisis is a so-calledjudicial coup. Several casesare pending in the courts andthe country’s independent
oversight agencies — all tilt-ing heavily against theShinawatras’ political ma-chine — that could seeYingluck’s party thrown out
of office and its membersbarred from politics. The keybodies are stacked with fig-ures who were opposed toThaksin and appointed by theunelected government afterthe 2006 coup. In a situationwhere the government has anoverwhelming electoral man-date, the court is “the last for-tress of the establishment andthe authoritarians,” saidThamrongsak Lertpetchanan,a political scientist at RangsitUniversity.
In another scenario, theFeb. 2 elections would takeplace as scheduled. But ifcandidates who wereblocked from registering byprotesters are unable to run,seats in their constituencieswill be empty, making it im-possible to meet a quorumin Parliament.
If Parliament is not con-vened, a caretaker govern-ment would remain in place,unable to initiate laws ortreaties, pass a budget, orcarry out most functions ofgovernment.
Such a crisis would in-crease pressure for it to bereplaced, by force or evenroyal intervention undervague clauses of the consti-tution that have never beeninvoked.—Reuters
So much for globalwarming
MICK O’REILLY
IT WAS so cold in Chicago last week, the polar bears atthe city zoo weren’t allowed outside; lawyers kept theirhands in their own pockets; instead of shouting “freeze”
at fleeing thugs, cops shouted “thaw” — and those flee-ing thugs kept their pants pulled up to their waist. EvenMiley Cyrus kept her assets covered. It was the week inwhich Canadians, instead of asking “Is it cold enough forya, eh?”, simply chattered their teeth as the rest of theworld was introduced to the phrase “polar vortex” — somuch for global warming. According to weathermen, everyUS state — even tropical Hawaii — had subfreezing tem-peratures.
In Florida, seniors turned off the air conditioning intheir peach-coloured Cadillacs as they cruised the Naplesstrip looking for early bird specials, featuring warm buffets,and looked for the thermostat on their golf buggies aftercovering up their chilly nine irons with snugly hoods. It’sthe coldest winter in 20 years, the last time a polar vortexsnuck down south of Hudson Bay and made Atlanta, Geor-gia colder than Red Square, Moscow.
The gremlins in the Kremlin were positively basking inminus 10 degrees Celsius sunshine while the bravest inAtlanta risked frostbite as their Big Gulps turned to Slushies.In Toronto, where you’d imagine the hardy folks there knowa brass monkey needs a welder, it was so cold that thesofties running Pearson International Airport shut downtarmac operations because the mercury hit minus 40 de-grees Celsius.
Last Sunday, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, 50,000turned up to watch their Packers lose an NFL playoff game.It was a brisk minus 25 degrees Celsius at field level andthere were icicles on the icicles as hot dogs were washeddown with cold ones. What made the weather all the moredepressing and stressful was the fact that the cold warbroke out on the day that most North Americans weregetting back to work after the prolonged Christmas andNew Year’s vacation stretch.
There’s nothing quite like getting up when it’s pitchblack out and the fresh snow underfoot squeaks in protestas you put your boots on it. You rustle through you pock-ets looking for a little bottle of lock de-icer and squirt adrop into the lock, work the car key in and turn. Then yousit in your frozen car, turn the key and hope that it turnsover — usually coughing a few times from the cold air thathas reached into every mechanical orifice.
With the car running, you brush the snow off the car,its hood and trunk, lights and fenders, give the driveway aquick shovel — and hope that the snowplough doesn’tcome by when you’re in the shower to leave a three-footwall of snow across the end of the driveway.
Winter wonderland? Whoever came up with that ex-pression needs to spend a night in a frozen Amtrak train,like 300 cold-hearted souls. In Leamington, Ontario, asenior’s car broke down. He was lucky enough to be res-cued the next day when a smart police officer thought thesnowbank at the side of the road was bigger than all theother ones. His car was buried under a metre of fresh snow.This is winter that grandparents will tell their children: “Backin the winter of ‘14, it was so cold, the cows gave ice creaminstead of fresh milk and Donald Trump’s hair stayed inplace.” This polar vortex has retreated back to where everpolar vortexes retreat for two decades.
Wherever it is, all 400 million North Americans will wishthat it’s a cold day in Hell — it’s a small town in Michigan— before they ever have to endure one again.
—Courtesy Gulf News
South Sudansoldiers headto frontline tofight rebels
JUBA—Crackles of gunfiresend hundreds of peoplefleeing in a stampede —South Sudanese civilians,traumatised after escapingbrutal fighting in which theirrelatives died, are still terri-fied of fresh attacks.
But this time it iscelebratory gunfire, as doz-ens of soldiers board a bargeto cross the same White Nileriver that tens of thousandsof fleeing civilians crossed inthe opposite direction.
The troops are returningto the battle to retake the keytown of Bor, the last majortown in rebel hands after al-most a month of heavy con-flict.
“Even here across theriver, people are still soscared the rebels will comeand attack,” said SimonDeng, a student who, likeover 80,000 other civiliansfled Bor west across theriver’s vast swamplands, ac-cording to the United Na-tions.
“They have suffered somuch, seen so much killing.”
Day after day bargesloaded with civilians arriveon the far river bank havingescaped the fighting in Bor.
Some of those includedsoldiers separated from theirunits when comrades re-belled, who are now regroup-ing to return back across tothe fight.
South Sudan has beengripped by violence sinceDecember 15, when clashesbroke out between armyunits loyal to SouthSudanese President SalvaKiir and those supporting ex-vice president RiekMachar.—AFP
BEIRUT—Jihadists fightingSyrian rebels killed at leastfive opposition fighters in abomb attack in Idlib provinceon Saturday as clashes be-tween the two sides raged inthe country’s north, activistssaid.
“Five Islamist rebels werekilled in a bomb attack target-ing their vehicle... inSaraqeb,” the Syrian Obser-vatory for Human Rightsmonitoring group said.
Activist Manhal Barishsaid an explosive device hadbeen planted under a pick-uptruck used by Ahrar al-Sham,
Syria jihadists kill five rebelsin bombing: activists
an Islamist brigade that hasled a week-long battleagainst the jihadist IslamicState of Iraq and the Levant.
The attack came as rebelfighters prepared for an as-sault on Saraqeb, ISIL’s lastbastion in the northwesternprovince of Idlib.
Syrian rebels fightingPresident Bashar al-Assad’sregime initially welcomed thejihadists, but ISIL’s abusesand their quest for hege-mony turned the oppositionagainst the group, which isrooted in Al Qaeda in Iraq.
In the eastern city of
Raqa, battles betweenjihadists and rebels raged asISIL seized a border townnear Tal Abyad, a key fron-tier post leading into Turkey,said the Britain-based Ob-servatory, which uses a net-work of activists for its re-ports.
While ISIL has been onthe defensive in Idlib andAleppo provinces, where itwas operational but not incontrol, its troops in Raqa areadvancing against rebels.
Raqa is the only provin-cial capital to have fallen outof regime control.—AFP
Talal warnsFrom Page 1
large Pakistani community inUAE, was serving as a humanbridge between the two broth-erly countries.
The Prime Minister also ex-tended good wishes on his be-half and on behalf of the peopleof Pakistan for Sheikh KhalifaBin Zayed Al-Nahyan and thepeople of UAE.
Shaikh Khalifa extendedthanks and appreciation to theleadership, government andpeople of Pakistan for the warmreception that he has received,wishing continuous progressand welfare for Pakistan’s gov-ernment and people.
Shaikh Khalifa describedthe relations between the UAEand Pakistan as “distinguishedand developing”, and stressedthe importance for the two sidesto continue their role for mutualbenefit as well as for bolsteringunderstanding and cooperation.
President Khalifa
Nawaz, Khalifa discussFrom Page 1
Hayat, DIG CID Zafar AbbasBukhari, SP CID Raja UmarKhattab, SP Investigation NiazKhoso and other CID officialsduring his visit.
IG Sindh directed the in-vestigative teams of police totake stern action against thosebehind the attack.
He said a strict crackdownshould be launched against ter-rorist elements in order to letthem know that police moralewould not come down withsuch cowardly attacks.
Shahid Nadeem directedofficials to keep an eye on sus-pects travelling in or out of thecity in order to arrest perpetra-tors and planners of the attack.
Case registeredFrom Page 1
hopes with new army chief,General Raheel Sharif andPrime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif.
Talal Bugti demanded of thegovernment to call back armyfrom Balochistan as army opera-tion is no solution of any prob-lem. “No Baloch or tribe is anti-Pakistan in Balochistan and situ-ation can be made better there bygiving rights to people accordingto constitution,” he mentioned.
The JWP leader said thatAltaf Hussain issues statementslike jugglers while sittingabroad, adding he asked govern-ment to take urgent notice of hisstatement regarding demand ofseparate country.—Online
Kasuri said that Musharraf hasrespect for the courts
Meanwhile a meeting of themedical board of the ArmedForces Institute of Cardiology(AFIC) was held to decidewhether to discharge formermilitary ruler General (retd)Pervaz Musharraf .
Security was beefed up dur-ing the meeting of the AFIC’smedical board. A huge contin-gent of police and Rangers per-sonnel reached the hospital.
It is speculated thatMusharraf will be dischargedwithin 24 hours.
Meanwhile, security hasalso been tightened atMusharraf ’s Chak Shehzadfarmhouse. Moreover, policepatrolling has been increased inthe neighbourhood.
Doctors said Musharraf’scondition has improved and thathe had undergone physio-therapy. His knee and back painhas also subsided.
Musharraf was rushed tothe AFIC on Jan 2 after he com-plained of heart problems onway to the special court for trea-son charges.—Online
No chanceFrom Page 1
world had two successive chair-persons of a party laid downtheir lives for the cause as hadbeen done by the PPP. About thelocal bodies’ polls the formerPresident advised that whateverarrangements were made it mustbe based on broad based consul-tations within the Party andkeeping in view the principlesfor which the Party had sacri-ficed so much.
The 50-member delegationof senior Party leaders led byprovincial president KhanzadaKhan included former PresidentAnwar Saifullah Khan, formerministers and MPs ArbabAlamgir Khan, Humayun Khan,Liaquat Shabab, NajmuddinKhan, Lal Khan and TariqKhattak, former Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf and SenatorRaza Rabbani also attended themeeting. The former President
asked the Party leaders to keepan eye on the privatization poli-cies of government and raisevoice against crony capitalism,lack of transparency and throw-ing out of workers from jobs.
The party must not permitany policy that threw out of jobsthe labor and the workingclasses, he said. Asif Ali Zardarialso advised the Party cadres togive attention to the membership drive as well as complet-ing the Party’s organizations atvarious tiers. Asif Ali Zardarialso directed Raja PervezAshraf Secretary General andRaza Rabbani Additional Sec-retary General of the Party tovisit Khyber Pakhtunkhwa foron ground meetings with partyworkers to ascertain theirviews on the one hand and toaddress their grievances on theother. —INP
The UK politician most ad-mired by the British was NigelFarage, the right-wing UnitedKingdom Independence Party(UKIP) leader who has won anappeal amongst the right-wingelectorate in rural Britain at thecost of the ruling Conservativeparty.
David Cameron was theperson “most admired” by onlytwo British people out of athousand. On the contrary, TheTimes said that PresidentPutin’s support among Rus-sians helped him to securethird place in the world over-all.
The Times said that noBriton featured in the world’s
top ten most-admired peoplewhich showed that trust in thenation’s politicians is well andtruly on the wane.
Sachin Tendulkar, the In-dian cricketer known as theLittle Master, is the fifth mostadmired person in the worldowing to his huge popularityin his home country.
Stephan Shakespeare, thechief executive of YouGov,commented. “We really have avery low opinion of politiciansin Britain. In America, theyhate the guys [in parties] theydon’t support, but they reallylike their own guys. Here, wereally don’t like our own guys,either.”—Agencies
Edhi, Imran amongst 30most admired persons
From Page 1
gested the Supreme Court post-pone local government electionsin Sindh and Punjab and holdthem on February 23 and March13, instead of January 18 and 30respectively.
A three-judge bench, headedby Chief Justice TassaduqHussain Jillani, had heard thecase against the delimitation ofconstituencies in Sindh andPunjab.
The apex court had also ac-cepted the Sindh government’sappeal against the Sindh HighCourt’s verdict declaring thefresh delimitation ‘illegal’right ahead of the polls. Thebench sought details of theamendments made in the leg-islation by the Sindh govern-ment.
Date forwithdrawing
From Page 1
rules dictate that there is only avery small number of days onwhich it can be dealt with.
Cameron, under pressurefrom the eurosceptic wing of hisparty, has promised to renegoti-ate Britain’s relationship withthe 28-member bloc beforeholding an “in/out” referendumif his Conservatives win the nextgeneral election in 2015.
Former finance ministerNigel Lawson was among theConservatives arguing staunchlyin favour of a referendum, say-ing Britain’s economic futurelay in trade links outside Europe.
“Quite apart from the factthat the people of this countrywant a referendum, the peopleare right,” he told parliament.
“They are right because ofthe huge change that has comeabout following the creation ofthe European monetary unionand the political consequencesof that decision.”
But Peter Mandelson, theex-Labour minister and formerEuropean commissioner, saidCameron had been “taken hos-tage” by “militant” euroscepticswithin his party.—AFP
UK closerFrom Page 1 find out any other illegal ac-
quired property as well.The FIA is holding investi-
gations on the directives of theSupreme Court.—INP
Ex-EOBIFrom Page 1
personal guards, near KasurLiliani toll plaza. All four werekilled on the spot, he added.
A passerby, who was injuredby the sporadic firing, later suc-cumbed to his wounds as well.Dead bodies were moved toJinnah Hospital Lahore for post-mortem. The police officer sug-gested that the killing was a re-sult of personal enmity.
In a separate incident,Noman, son of PTI’s womenwing president of its Lahorechapter Neelam Ashraf, wasfound dead in his car earlier inthe day.
Citing mysterious circum-stance in which his body wasfound, police suggested it was asuicide. However, Noman’sfamily alleged that he was mur-dered.
SP Model Town Tariq Azizsaid that three suspects havebeen taken into police custodyon family’s suspicion.
PTI leaderFrom Page 1
on January 4, 2006, just monthsafter pulling all troops and set-tlers out of the Gaza Strip. Hiscondition worsened last weekand he died at a hospital near TelAviv on Saturday.
The news prompted an out-burst of celebration in KhanYunis in the southern Gaza Strip,where around a hundred IslamicJihad members burned picturesof him and handed out sweets, aspokesman said, reports ArabNews.
For the ruling IslamistHamas movement, which seizedpower in Gaza in 2007, just twoyears after the Israeli pullout,Sharon’s death “is a lesson forall tyrants.”
“Our people are living at ahistoric moment with the disap-pearance of this criminal whosehands were covered with theblood of Palestinians and theirleaders,” said Hamas spokes-man Sami Abu Zuhri.
Among those killed by Is-rael during Sharon’s term in of-
fice was Hamas’s wheelchair-bound spiritual leader, SheikhAhmed Yassin, who was killedin an air strike on Gaza City in2004.
Similar sentiments were ex-pressed in the West Bank, wherea senior official also blasted himas a “criminal” and accusedSharon of being responsible forthe mysterious death in the sameyear of veteran Palestinianleader Yasser Arafat.
“Sharon was a criminal, re-sponsible for the assassinationof Arafat, and we would havehoped to see him appear beforethe International Criminal Courtas a war criminal,” said JibrilRajub, a senior official of theruling Fatah party.
Arafat was Sharon’s nem-esis and the burly Israeli leaderoften expressed regret at not kill-ing him during the 1982 inva-sion of Beirut. After the Pales-tinian leader fell mysteriously illwhile under a tight Israeli siege
in 2004, dying in France severalweeks later, rumors swirled thatIsrael had poisoned him.
Israel has repeatedly deniedthe allegations. “We had hopedhe would be brought before theInternational Criminal Court(ICC) as a war criminal,” saidRajub, who was head of the Pal-estinian security services whenSharon sent troops to the WestBank in a mass operation towipe out militant groups in2002.
“Sharon’s history is black-ened by his crimes and writtenin the blood of the Palestinians,”said Jamal Huweil, a formermilitant from the Al-Aqsa Mar-tyrs’ Brigades, an armed off-shoot of Fatah.
“The curse of our blood willfollow him to his grave,” saidHuweil who is now a memberof the Palestinian parliament, thePLC. Human Rights Watch saidthat the failure to bring Sharonto justice had in no way helpedthe search for peace.
No Palestinian tears for SharonFrom Page 1
emphasised UAE’s keenness forcontinuous support to Pakistanipeople, which would enablethem to achieve development,stability and welfare in variousdomains.
They also exchanged viewson a number of issues of mutualinterest on the regional and in-ternational arenas.
On his part, Nawaz Sharifexpressed his thanks and appre-ciation for overall UAE supportin a number of projects in vari-ous provinces and the humani-tarian assistance for Pakistan.
He also lauded ShaikhKhalifa’s wisdom and leader-ship which enabled the UAE andits people to achieve their goalsdrawing attention of the wholeworld, thanks to the unprec-edented cultural development inthe country, citing that the Paki-stani people carries love, appre-ciation and pride for the Emirati
lomat, Devyani Khobragade,arriving in New Delhi late Fri-day, her palms pressed togetherin a traditional Indian greeting.
“I am really thankful for allyour support. My governmentwill speak for me, my lawyerswill speak for me,” Khobragade,39, who has left her husband andtwo children behind in the UnitedStates, told reporters Saturday.
The United States said lateFriday it “deeply regrets” India’sexpulsion of the US embassyofficial and wanted to mend apartnership that Washingtonhopes could be a bulwarkagainst China’s growingmight.—AP
‘No standoff’From Page 1
leadership, government andpeople.
Among those who attendedthe meeting were ShaikhTahnoun bin Mohammed AlNahyan, Abu Dhabi Ruler‘sRepresentative in the EasternRegion; Dr Shaikh Sultan binKhalifa Al Nahyan, Advisor tothe UAE President; ShaikhMohammed bin Khalifa AlNahyan, Executive CouncilMember, Mohammed HabroushAl Suweidi, Advisor to thePresident; Ahmed Juma AlZa’abi, Deputy Minister forPresidential Affairs; UAE Am-bassador to Pakistan IsaAbdullah Al Basha Al Nuaimi;other Shaikhs and key officialswho were accompanying thePresident.
From the Pakistani side,Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif anda number of senior officials inthe province were present.
PPP to give toughfight to terrorists
From Page 1
ISLAMABAD: President Central Union of Journalists Asif Raza Mir and Aurangzeb Jaralpresenting bouquet to newly elected National Press Club President Shehryar Khan.
KA B U L—Afghan forceswill provide security for thevast majority of pollingstations in the upcomingpresidential elections, anofficial said on Saturday, akey test for the country asNato troops withdraw.
A plan for security ar-rangements at the poll hasbeen sent to the Afghanelection commission for re-view, interior ministryspokesman Sediq Sediqqitold reporters in Kabul.
“Based on our assess-ments, security can be pro-vided to 6,431 polling cen-tres out of 6,845 centres.The plan will cover 93.96per cent of the country,”
Sediqqi said.“Around 414 centres
will remain inactive, whichis a small percentage andwill not affect the electionprocess,” he said withoutelaborating on their exactlocations.
The bulk of Nato’s re-maining troops in Afghani-stan are due to pull out bythe end of 2014 and a cred-ible presidential election isseen as crucial to stability.
More than a thousandpolling centres remainedclosed in the 2009 election,mostly in the southern andeastern provinces, and thepolling was marred by alle-gations of fraud.
Afghanistan’s electionon April 5 will be thecountry’s first ever demo-cratic transfer of power, andthe election is viewed as atest for 12 years of interna-tional intervention since thefall of the Taleban in 2001.
It also remains a key testfor around 350,000 Afghansecurity forces who haverecently taken over full se-curity responsibility fromNato, as the force com-pletes its withdrawal.
“The biggest changethis time is that security forthe elections will be pro-vided by Afghan securityforces,” Sediqqi said.
President Hamid Karzai
cannot stand for a thirdterm, and 11 candidates arevying to succeed him.
Among the leading con-tenders are former foreignminister Abdullah Abdullah,who ran against Karzai in2009, the president’s low-profile elder brother QayumKarzai and former financeminister Ashraf Ghani.
Overshadowing theelections is Karzai’s delayon signing a security dealto allow some US troops toremain in the country after2014.
If the agreement en-dorsed by an assembly ofelders is passed, up to16,000 US troops will stay
in Afghanistan to helpfight Al Qaeda insurgentsand train the nationalarmy.
There are fears that ifa deal is not reached —and the legal status ofUS forces has been a ma-jor sticking point — allAmerican troops will pullout and local forces willstruggle to contain theTaleban.
In this so-called “zerooption” scenario, who-ever emerges victoriousafter April 5 will face amuch tougher task inm a i n t a i n i n gAfghanistan’s fragilestability.—AFP
Afghan officials say own forces to provide election security
Gadani Power ParkProject to completein 5 yearsObserver ReportGADANI—The Head of Pa-kistan Power Park Manage-ment Company Nargis Sethihas said the Gadani PowerPark Project will be com-pleted in four to five yearsand will produce 6600 MWcheap electricity. Duringvisit to Gadani on Saturday,she said the project is in-cluded in the preferences ofPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif.She said a new era of devel-opment will begin withGadani Power Park Project.She said it will be a bigpower project after Manglaand Tarbela. —Online
Cop killed inQuetta firingQUETTA—Unknown armedmen gunned down a police-man here on Saturday andfled the scene. Police sourcessaid that unidentified miscre-ants sprayed bullets at a copnear Kuchlak area of Quettaleaving him critically injured.The injured policeman wasrushed to nearby hospitalwhere he succumbed to hiswounds during treatment.Police feared the shootingincident could be outcome ofpersonal enmity. However, acase has been registered intothe incident and investiga-tion was in progress. —INP
Floral wreathslaid at AitzazHasan’s grave
OBSERVER REPORT
HANGU—Pakistan Armysoldiers laid a floral wreathon behalf of Chief of ArmyStaff Gen Raheel Sharif andIG FC on the grave of teen-age hero Aitzaz Hasan.
Brigadier Zaki of PakistanArmy laid a floral wreath onbehalf of Army Chief GenRaheel Sharif and IG FC. Aguard of honour was alsopresented to honor theyoung hero’s courage andvalor.
A large number of localsand school children besidesDC Hangu were also present.
Brigadier Zaki said thatAitzaz Hasan by saving theschool children did a great ser-vice to the nation and his ac-tion will always be remem-bered in good words.—Online
Gas pipelineblown up
in BalochistanSTAFF REPORT
QUETTA—An 18-inch Suigas pipeline was blown upon Saturday by unknownmiscreants in the DeraMurad Jamali area ofBalochistan.
Police personnel statedthat due to the pipeline ex-plosion, gas supply was dis-rupted to Quetta and sev-eral other districts ofBalochistan. According topolice sources, unidentifiedmen planted explosive mate-rial under the pipeline whichblew up and caughtfire.Rescue workers reachedthe spot and managed to con-trol the fire after four hours.
IRFAN ALIGI
K A R A C H I — O p p o s i t i o nLeader in National AssemblySyed Khursheed AhmedShah said on Saturday thatthe federal governmentshould now take up a deci-sive action plan to save thecountry from the terrorists.The government should en-gage the terrorists in dia-logue if possible or else thegovernment should movetoward the deterrent and ei-ther way the governmentmust choose one single side,not the both at a time.
He expressed these viewswhile speaking to the partici-pants of a seminar at theKarachi Press Club orga-nized by the People’sYouth Organisat ion,Karachi Division, Saturday.
Shah said that i t wasvery unfortunate that therulers were begging to theterrorists for peace, whichwas a manifest of the factthat the government hadbowed down to the terror-is ts . He said he won-
dered what would becomeof the generations to comeif the state proved so weak.
He said that the politi-cal and religious parties ofthe country had given fullsupport and freedom to thegovernment and the Paki-stan Army during the allparty conference to goahead for the dialogue withthe terrorists and hence thegovernment should eitherproceed for the dialogue ordislodge it now and take ac-tion against the terrorists.
He said that the PakistanPeople’s party Parliamentar-ian would not only movecourt against theprivatization of national in-stitutions and would alsotake to street against it.
He said that it was notknown as what became ofthe revenue that the gov-ernment had gatheredthrough selling the nationalinstitutions to private opera-tors. The privatizationwould only render thepeople jobless and it wouldbe simply an economic
genocide of the people.He asked as why despite
the long struggle for the de-mocracy, the killings of thepeople were not checkedand that when that situationwould be controlled. Thefate of the people would notbe changed with 100,000laptops but the leadersshould have to instill thechip of democracy into thelives of the people.
He said that BilawalBhutto Zardari was a youngman and he had to spend histime in more education andsports and recreation but hehad chosen to lift the bur-den of the huge politicalparty, which was his com-pulsion as many senior lead-ers in the PPPP could haveparted ways on the pretextof lack of leadership in theparty.
He said that he had ad-vised Bilawal Bhutto Zardarito unite the youth of thecountry and he had con-sented to organize a youthfestival in March or April thisyear in Lahore.
Govt should either engageterrorists in dialogue or take
decisive action: Khurshid
MQM demandsJC to probe ChAslam’s killing
KARACHI—The MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM)Rabita Committee on Satur-day demanded the Sindhgovernment to form a judicialcommission of retired judgesto probe the Karachi blast thatmartyred three police officialsand SP CID Chaudhry Aslam.
The Rabita Committeealso said that all those policeofficers who were earlier de-moted should immediately berestored to their posts.
It said that sons of allpolice officials martyred in theattack should be offered jobsin police department, addingthat the wish of ChaudhryAslam’s widow should berespected.—Online
IS L A M A B A D —Patron- in-Chief, Pakistan Peoples PartyBilawal Bhutto Zardari saidTaliban killed many politi-cians including my mother(Shaheed Benazir Bhutto)adding that he would unitethe country against the TTP.
While commenting onShaheed Aitzaz Hassan, onsocial media website Twitter,Bilawal urged, “We need toget united against the terror-ist mind set”.
“Tehrik Taliban Pakistan(TTP) assassinated mymother. According (Acc) to(2) their own rules I can killtheir mothers eye for an eye(#eye4aneye). I’m going to(2) do better. I’ll unite thiscountry vs TTP,” Bilawal
said.The PPP leader said,
“Lone voices like Ch. Aslam,Taseer, Shahbaz Bhatti,Bashir Bilour and SMBB(Shaheed Mohtarma BenazirBhutto) can be picked offone (1) by one (1). If we allspeak with one (1) voice theycan’t kill us all.” “My se-curity risk would not be sohigh, my life would not be inas much danger, if other poli-ticians found the courage toname & (and) shame TTP,”he added. On ShaheedAitzaz Hassan, Bilawal said“Shaheed Aitzaz proved Pa-kistanis are not scared ofTTP. We will sacrifice ourlives but won’t surrender ourcountry.” —Online
Bilawal to unitecountry against TTP
P E S H AW A R — P r e s i d e n tMamnoon Hussain on Satur-day announced to set up acell at Aiwan-e-SadrIslamabad to coordinate withgovernment departments toresolve problems of TribalAreas.
He stated this while ad-dressing a grand tribal jirgain Peshawar. The Presidentlauded the sacrifices ren-dered by security forces andthe people of Fata in the waragainst terrorism.
He issued directives tothe Finance Division to re-lease one hundred millionrupees each for Shuhadapackage and for rehabilita-tion of Fata IDPs at the earli-est. He assured the tribal el-
ders that allocated budget fordevelopment of FATA willnot be curtailed.
Responding to demandspresented by KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor En-gineer Shaukatullah‚ thePresident announced givingnatural gas facility to the Fataand all Frontier Regions anddirected the SNGPL authori-ties to evolve a comprehen-sive strategy in this regard.
The President also di-rected the OPF authorities toestablish quality educationalinstitutions in all the tribalagencies and said that in firstphase these institutions willbe established in Bajaur‚Kurram and Khyber agencies.
He also ordered for
launching of housing projectfor the people of Fatathrough
OPF and release of re-quired funds for the estab-lishment of already approvedgrid stations at Khar andJamrud. Similarly‚ the Presi-dent announced a main gen-eral hospital in Fata‚ provi-sion of skilled training to 300youths‚ awarding scholar-ship to 10 students in fourfederal universities.
Earlier‚ in his welcomeaddress‚ KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor En-gineer Shaukatullah said that18.5 billion rupees have beenallocated in current Fata ADPfor socio-economic uplift ofthe area. —NNI
Mamnoon: Fata cell tobe set up at Aiwan-i-Sadr
ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Sat-urday said that fugitive un-derworld don DawoodIbrahim is not present in thecountry, a day after India as-serted that its most wantedterrorist was living in theneighbouring country.
“We have repeatedly in-formed Indian authoritiesthat Dawood Ibrahim is notin Pakistan,” Pakistan For-eign Office spokespersonTasnim Aslam told PTI.
Asked if Dawood wasever present in Pakistan, shesaid: “This issue has beenraised in the past too. Wehave checked and have saidhe is not present here.’’
Addressing a press con-
ference in New Delhi, HomeMinister Sushil KumarShinde had said: “As per ourinformation, Dawood is inPakistan.”
“When I went to Americalast year to discuss inlandsecurity, I met the AttorneyGeneral who looks after theFBI. I talked to him and wedecided that we will passwhatever information wehave on Dawood among eachother. We decided we willmake joint efforts,” Shindehad said when asked aboutthe whereabouts of Dawood,who is wanted in a numberof cases by Indian securityagencies, including the 1993Mumbai blasts.—Online
Dawood Ibrahimnot in Pakistan
RA M A D I—Gunmen heldcrucial territory onBaghdad´s doorstep Satur-day despite tribesmen andpolice retaking militant-held areas west of the capi-tal, as the UN SecurityCouncil backed Iraq´s ef-forts against Al-Qaeda-linked extremists.
Battles in Anbar pro-vincial capital Ramadi sawAl-Qaeda-linked fighterscede control of twoneighbourhoods, but theformer insurgent bastion ofFallujah, where US forcesfought some of theirbloodiest battles since theVietnam War, remained inmilitant hands.
The United Nationsand NGOs have said civil-ians lack access to essen-tial supplies such as foodand fuel because of the cri-sis, while Washington haspiled pressure on Baghdadto focus on political recon-ciliation, in addition to on-going military operations.
Gunmen seized all ofFallujah, just 60 kilometresfrom Baghdad, and parts ofRamadi last week, the firsttime militants have exer-cised such open control inmajor cities since the insur-gency that followed the
2003 US-led invasion.Both cities lie in Anbar
province, a sprawlingdesert region in west Iraqbordering Syria where USand Iraqi officials havewarned for months thatjihadists have been able toestablish training campsand rear bases.
On Friday, tribesmenand local police retook theMalaab and Fursan areasof Ramadi from Al-Qaeda-linked militants, tribal mili-tary commanderMohammed Khamis AbuRisha told.
“We fought ISIL along-side our sons from the lo-cal police forces and re-turned them to their sta-tions,” Abu Risha said, re-ferring to the Al-Qaeda-linked Islamic State of Iraqand the Levant group.
“They only control 10percent of Ramadi terri-tory,” he said of ISIL.ISILhas been act ive in theAnbar f ighting, but sohave anti-governmenttribes.
At the same time, se-curi ty forces have re-cruited their own tribal al-lies in the fighting that hasraged in Anbar for morethan 10 days.—Agencies
Police, tribes retaketerritory as UN backs IraqISIL controls only 10 pc of Ramadi
Pumps reopen asCNG Association
ends strikeOBSERVER REPORT
KARACHI—All PakistanCNG Association(APCNGA) on Saturdayended its strike against loadshedding after Federal Min-ister for Petroleum and Natu-ral Resources ShahidKhaqan Abbasi assuredthem that their demands willbe addressed.
The minister said the oldschedule for CNG load shed-ding will be restored and in-vited representatives of theassociation to come toLahore on Monday to dis-cuss the issue further.
APCNGA chairpersonShabbir Suleman confirmedthat the strike was over andall pumps had been opened.The opening of pumps re-sulted in queues of vehicleswaiting to get CNG and alsocaused traffic jams in severalareas.
Leaders of APCNGA andKarachi Transport Ittehadhad announced the strike onFriday evening at a jointpress conference at theKarachi Press Club.
On Saturday morning,citizens faced immense diffi-culties when they could notfind transport to commute towork as the transporters wereobserving strike against theprolonged closure of gas.
TMQ holds rallyLAHORE—Tehrik MinhajulQuran (TMQ) on Saturdayorganized Milad-e-Mustafa(PBUH) rally from RailwayStation to Bhatti Chowk. Hun-dreds of motorcycles, carsand pedestrians participatedin the rally led by TMQ CityAmir Muhammad ArshadTahir. The participantswere carrying banners, plac-ards and colourful flags andthey were raising slogans“Syedi Murshidi Ya Nabi YaNabi (PBUH)” and “GhulamHain Ghulam Hain Rasool(PBUH) Kay Ghulam Hain.”The route of the rally wasalso decorated with beauti-ful hoardings and bannersregarding Miladun Nabi(PBUH). TMQ City AmirArshad, Nazim Hafiz GhulamFareed and other stressedpeople to follow the teach-ings of Holy Prophet HazratMuhammad (PBUH). —APP
HANGU: Pakistan army Jawans laying floral wreath at the grave of Aitzaz Hasan on behalf of Army Chief Gen RaheelSharif.
2 dacoits arrestedafter shootoutFAISALABAD—Dijkot policearrested two dacoits andseized a snatched trailer aftera shootout near Roshanwalaby-pass here on Saturday.According to police spokes-man, a trailer (JB-9875) loadedwith cotton worth about Rs 6million was heading towardsFaisalabad from Haroonabadwhen it was snatched byarmed dacoits near Noor Shahin Sahiwal. On receiving in-formation, a police team led bySHO Dijkot InspectorMuhammad Akhtar throughtracker monitoring traced thetrailer.—APP
IN a study of adults who experienced psychosis for the first time, having smoked marijuana daily was linked to an earlier age of
onset of the disorder, according to UK research-ers. “This is not a study about the associationbetween cannabis and psycho-sis, but about the associationbetween specific patterns ofcannabis use . . . and an earlieronset of psychotic disorders,”Dr. Marta Di Forti, who led theresearch at the Institute of Psy-chiatry at Kings College, saidin an email.
Among more than 400people in South London admit-ted to hospitals with a diag-nosed psychotic episode, thestudy team found the heaviestsmokers of high-potency can-nabis averaged about six yearsyounger than patients who hadnot been smoking pot. Psycho-sis is a general term for a lossof reality, and is associatedwith several psychiatric dis-eases, including schizophreniaand bipolar disorder.
Some previous research has suggested thatusing cannabis might trigger psychosis in somepeople, especially those who may be vulnerablebecause of a family history of related mental ill-nesses or specific gene mutations. But the evi-dence has been unclear. For example, one re-cent study from the Netherlands found it’sequally possible that people prone to psychosismay be more likely to smoke pot, possibly as away of “self-medicating” (see Reuters Healtharticle of December 25, 2012, here: reut.rs/1d7aIvU) In the new study, published in theSchizophrenia Bulletin, the researchers focusedon patterns of cannabis use, gender and the rela-
tionship of those factors to the timing of afirst psychotic episode. Age is significant, DiForti’s team notes in their report, because theteenage years and early twenties are a criticaltime for professional and educational devel-
opment, so experiencing anacute psychotic episode for thefirst time early on may nega-tively affect the “likelihood ofachieving optimum level offunction.”
The researchers sur-veyed 410 patients between theages of 18 and 65, two thirdsof them male, all of whom hada psychotic episode and wereadmitted to in-patient psychi-atric units. The surveys askedabout history of using tobacco,alcohol, cannabis and other il-licit drugs. They also recordedthe potency of cannabis used,characterizing low potency as“hash-type” and high potencyas “skunk-type.”
In a previous studybased on police seizures of
marijuana in South East London, skunk-typecannabis was found to contain 16 percentTHC, the active compound in cannabis, com-pared to 4 percent in the hash-type. The re-searchers found that males were more likelyoverall to use cannabis and also had a youngerage of onset of psychosis. The mean age atthe time of the first psychotic episode for maleusers of cannabis was 26, and for female us-ers was nearly 29. That compared with nearly30 years old for male non-users and 32 forfemale non-users. “Even if marijuana islegal for adults, and if cannabinoids have somelegitimate medical purpose, that doesn’t meanthat they are safe for all individuals,” he said.
Daily pot tied to age offirst psychotic episode
RAWALPINDI: A beautiful view of mosque illuminated with colourful lights in connectionwith celebrations of 12th Rabiul Awwal.
RAWALPINDI—The intellectu-als, writers, poets and academi-cians, underlined the need torevive the book reading cultureto face the challenges of 21stcentury by reviving the libraryculture.
Deputy Cultural AttachéUnited States EmbassyIslamabad, Judith Ravin was thechief guest here on Saturday.
The Social DevelopmentFoundation (SDF) organizedthe session in collaboration withRawalpindi Art Council lastevening to identify the reasonsbehind the almost diminishedreading culture and evolvingsome strategy to revive the read-ing habit in people in generaland in young generation in par-ticular.
Authors, poets, academi-cians and intellectuals and rep-resentatives of youth forums ex-pressed their opinion and helpedanalyze the situation.
They urged the governmentto provide books reading facili-ties at school, college and com-munity level besides providingsome infrastructural, economicconcessions or tax discounts tothe businessmen to encouragesetting up of “Mohalla” librariesas used to exist and were knownas “ Anna “ Libraries at commu-nity level.
Judith Ravin said that USbelieves in the power of informa-tion and book reading habit playsa pivotal role in shaping yourpersonality by deepening yourknowledge base, improving in-
telligence and strengtheningknowledge base.
She added that the bookreading culture should be encour-aged from home, school, collegeand at all levels.
To promote the book read-ing the US embassy had formedLincoln’s Corner-digital andbooks library in several cities ofPakistan focusing on the undis-puted values that both the coun-tries share that is education anddemocracy,” Ravin commented.
“Citizens are welcome toaccess information of all kindsfree-of-charge and I hope that thepeople will make good use of thisspace.”
Chairperson SDF, SohailChaudhary on this occasion saidthis effort was to highlight and
Book-reading pivotal to meet 21stcentury challenges: Speakers
discuss the impediments due towhich the book reading culturewas diminishing in the society.
He said, SDF was dedicatedto reviving the culture of read-ing books and fostering a love forreading in Pakistan.
He said the book reading islike day dreaming; “If you opena book you can dream in the daylight”. A good books alwaysgives you a good dream, hopeand colours the perspectivewhich is so important to makeprogress, and move on to the nextlevel, he remarked.
He said “with the guidanceand support of the eminent schol-ars, writers, intellectuals andmembers from the civil societywe are hoping to create aware-ness and wider community par-
ticipation in revitalizing thereading culture.”
Prominent writer and authorof several books, Dr Ehsan saida short term, medium term andlong term strategy should be for-mulated to promote book read-ing culture in the society. Schoolteachers should be given train-ing in this regard, he added.
There should be subsidy onbooks and efforts should bemade for availability of lowprice books aimed at promotingthe book reading culture, said ajournalist-cum-psychologist.
Farida Hafeez, journalist andauthor of children books said thatspecial incentives should be of-fered to the students aimed at re-viving book reading cultureamong students.—Online
Students of Beaconhouse School F-7/1 presenting a stage play during Annual Day ceremony of the school in Islamabad.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir
ZUBAIR QURESHI
ISLAMABAD—An emergencywireless message on Saturdaycautioning against terrorists en-tering the federal capital fromG-11 side created panic amongthe security agencies includingthe Special Branch, IB, FIA andothers.
However, the call turned outto be a mock exercise aimed atreviewing the department’s pre-paredness in the wake of recentattack on the daring police officerin Karachi, Chaudhry Alsam.
Islamabad police on Saturdaylaunched a full-scale rehearsalagainst any possible terrorist at-tack and assessed all its depart-ments’ preparedness.
The exercise, however, keptthe officials of the SpecialBranch running from one placeto the other in order to know thegravity of the situation and won-dering “why the federal policewere not doing anything to stopterrorists who were successfullycrossing every checkpost.”
The exercise kept the detec-tives of sister law enforcingagencies in complete darknessand they also remained alert allday, said an official of the Spe-cial Branch on anonymity.
He said after receiving themessage he along with other of-ficials made a desperate attemptto know the source of informa-tion and the group to which theseterrorists might belong. “But
there was no clear indication. Themessage kept repeating after ev-ery hour and at one point weheard in total disbelief the num-ber, make and colour of the ve-hicle in which ‘terrorists’ hadsuccessfully entered the city.None of us could ever imagine itwas a mock exercise, nor had weany information,” said the re-lieved official.
The official of the SpecialBranch said he was wonderinghow the officials of theIslamabad Police could be so in-efficient that the terrorists werepassing before their eyes and theywere doing nothing.
“At one point I turned mymotorbike in the directiongiven on the wireless and de-
cided to counter the terroristswho had a day earlier deprivedpolice of its bravest officer inKarachi but then I checkedmyself as I had no such orderfrom my bosses.”
A senior officer (of DIGrank) confirmed to Pakistan Ob-server, “There was mock exercisetoday by all the units and depart-ments of the Islamabad Police tocheck preparation and alertnesslevel of police.”
In the wake of recent attackon Chaudhry Aslam, the top po-lice officer of anti-terrorist wingin Karachi and an aborted suicideattempt on a school in Hangu,police in the federal capitalalerted all its staff and depart-ments against any possible threat.
‘Terrorists entering Islamabad from G-11’
Police review preparednessin mock exercise
CITY REPORTER
RAWALPINDI—As Eid-e-Miladun Nabi (PBUH) drawscloser, preparations are gainingpace with buildings and shrinesin the city being decorated withcolourful buntings, banners andfancy lights to celebrate the oc-casion with great reverence anddevotion.
The stalls carrying buntings,banners, badges, stickers andflags inscribed with the slogansof paying respect and reverenceto the Holy Prophet HazratMuhammad (PBUH) are beingset up at every corner of the cit-ies. Large banners and big bill
boards are being displayed at dif-ferent entrance points of streetsand main roads across the citieswhile mosques, homes and pla-zas are being decorated withcolourful lights and buntings.
Special programmes are be-ing prepared for paying tributeand to highlight different aspectsof the life of Holy ProphetMuhammad (PBUH).
On Rabiul Awwal 12, EidMiladun Nabi (PBUH) proces-sions would also be taken outfrom different areas ofRawalpindi.
Elaborate security arrange-ments are being made to ensurepeace on 12 Rabiul Awwal and
all the routes of the Milad pro-cessions will be thoroughlychecked and the security will betightened at the prescribedroutes.
Cops with Elite Force, Spe-cial Branch officials, MuhafizForce, motorcycle squads, Bombdisposal squads, lady police andpersonnel of other departmentsconcerned would guard the Miladprocessions.
Special duties would also beperformed by the members of thepeace committee, members ofAnjuman-e-Tajran and volun-teers of the procession commit-tee to ensure the security of theprocession.
Preparations for Rabiul Awwalcelebrations pick up pace
Womangunned down
in cityCITY REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Unknown gun-men on motorbikes shot andkilled a woman in Islamabad onSaturday, police say.
According to the police, thedeceased woman was attacked asshe was returning home after tak-ing her children to a tuition cen-ter. She died instantly.
Her dead body remained onthe street for an hour before po-lice finally came and shifted thebody to Poly Clinic Hospital.
According to the police, themurder appears to be the resultof some family feud.
Minister laudsservices ofHEC’s DG
ISLAMABAD—Minister for Statefor Education and TrainingsEngr. Muhammad Baligh-Ur-Rehman congratulated Ms. ZiaBatool Director General QualityAssurance Higher EducationCommission (HEC) for hernomination for “Global Awardfor outstanding contributions andleadership in Quality Assurance”.
In his appreciation letter, heremarked “the said award is cer-tainly recognition of your contri-butions and great work done inthe critical field of Quality As-surance as an expert both at na-tional and international level.
The letter mentions that herselection for the Global QAAward by the jury of the WorldQuality Congress is indeed apride for the nation and theHigher Education Sector of Pa-kistan that one of the PakistaniWomen is selected for this awardto be conferred upon in June2014, in India. Her efforts andcontributions in policy makingfor reformed higher educationsector in Pakistan are commend-able during last decade whileserving Higher Education Com-mission as DG QA.—Online
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Brothers in Islam establishregular prayers and charity
Continuing
EXHIBITION of paintings byMasood A. Khan, at the NomadGallery, House No. 72, Street32, Sector F-6/1, Islamabad,continuing up to January 16, 10a.m.-7 p.m. daily (except forFridays).
RAWALPINDI: Students taking part in thesis displayed during Annual Degree Show atNational College of Arts.—PO photo
RAWALPINDI: Students and staff of Govt Girls College with Senator Najma Hameed onthe occasion of Mehfil-e-Milad.
ISLAMABAD: Defence attaches of various countries and others on the occasion of a reception hosted by the Defence attache of Egypt.—PO photo Sultan Bashir
CITY REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Minister for Na-tional Health Services SairaAfzal Tarar took serious noticeof illegal price hike of medi-cines and ordered across theboard strict action againstmanufacturers and retailers uni-laterally and illegally raisingprices of drugs.
The minister asked theChief Commissioner,Islamabad, Federal Drug In-spector, and Drug Inspector ICTto initiative action immediatelyand register cases against suchelements.
The Minister for NationalHealth Services said some com-panies had resorted to illegalpractices like unilateral price
hike. These companies after ille-gally raising the prices seek re-straining orders from the court toavoid action by Drug RegulatoryAuthority of Pakistan (DRAP).
She said 14 drugs compa-nies had enhanced the prices il-legally in the year 2012 andDRAP took legal action againstthem. The companies sought stayorder which was granted by theSindh High Court and DRAP ismaking efforts vigorously in theSupreme Court to get the stayorder vacated, said a press releaseissued here.
The minister was informedthat at present, 30 cases againstthe drug companies were beingcontested in the courts by DRAP.
The meeting was informedthat Pakistan Pharmaceutical
Manufacturers Association(PPMA) had managed to get op-eration of notification withdraw-ing 15% increase on drug pricessuspended by the Sindh HighCourt, Karachi.
Furthermore, some compa-nies are misusing the orders ofthe court to enhance the prices ofdrugs that were not included inthe raise notified and then with-drawn on November 29, 2013.
DRAP has issued notices toall such companies. Ministry ofNHSR&C and DRAP has ap-proached the Attorney General ofPakistan and Law Division tocontest the case in Sindh HighCourt on next date of hearingfixed on January 22, 2014.
The meeting was told thatmajor reforms were being intro-
duced in DRAP. Policy Board ofDRAP held its fourth meeting inOctober last and took major de-cisions for development of theindustry and promoting export,including the rules of the contractmanufacturing and import policy.
Another meeting wasscheduled on January 16, 2014where Drug Pricing Policywould be deliberated and recom-mendation made. The governingbody of the authority held fourmeeting and made major deci-sions including the amendmentof various rules frames under theDrugs Act 1976.
The Drugs Licensing Board,Registration Board, AppellateBoard, Advertising Committee,Drug Pricing Committee havebeen revitalized. As on Decem-
ber 31, 2013 all applications fordrug manufacturing licensing hadbeen disposed off including grantof 16 new drug manufacturinglicenses and 42 expansionprojects in the existing invest-ments.
Similarly the RegistrationBoard held its four meeting andgranted 938 new registrations,1034 contract manufacturing ap-proval. A landmark developmentis the establishment of a dossierevaluation cell, institutionalizingthe mechanism of evaluation ofthe registration application as totheir quality.
For Various operations in theDRAP including the licensingand the registration standard op-erating procedure and guidelineshad been placed on the website
of the authority. Rules for the ad-ministration of new areas of re-sponsibility of the DRAP, namelymedical devices and alternativemedicines had been drafted afterthorough consultation with pro-vincial government and the stake-holders.
The minister was informedthat a number of meeting hadbeen held in coordination withthe Narcotics Control Divisionfor the allocation of the quota ofthe Controlled Drugs to ensuretheir availability in the market.
Similarly, the appellate heldtwo meetings disposing off 60appeals filed by various pharma-ceutical companies.
Appreciating the recent po-lio campaigns in Islamabad, thatcovered 99 % of target children,
Saira Afzal Tarar stressed tocontinue the hard work and mo-mentum to keep up the perfor-mance.
Bill on ‘IslamabadHealthcare Regulatory Author-ity 2014’ was also presented tothe meeting. In line with the vi-sion of Islamabad Model HealthInitiative, the draft bill featuredmany steps to strengthen andimprove healthcare facilities andprofessionals, to stop quackeryand improve basic service de-livery of healthcare facilitiesthrough comprehensive regula-tory regime. Broad contours ofthe draft bill was shared withstakeholders concerned. Abriefing on Islamabad BloodTransfusion was also givenduring the meeting.
Crackdown against price hike of drugs ordered
RAWALPINDI—Police duringan ongoing campaign againstanti-social elements, have ar-rested 35 outlaws, includingdrug peddlers, illegal armsholders, bootleggers, drunk-ards, proclaimed offenders anda court absconder from differ-ent areas of the Rawalpindi dis-trict.
Some 1360 grams Charras,335 grams heroin, 51 bottles ofliquor, four 30-bore pistols with14 bullets, two 32-bore pistolwith eight rounds, one stolenmotorcycle and a mobile fromthe detained accused, said a po-
lice spokesman in a statement onSaturday. Naseerabad policeheld Khawar on recovery of1130 grams Charras whileRattaamral police arrestedZubair with 335 grams charras.Jawad Butt was nabbed witheight bottles of liquor, whileSamar Abbas was arrested forpossessing seven bottles of li-quor. Nadeem was apprehendedwith 10 liquor bottles.
Imran, Javed, Amir Ibrar,Tanveer Akhtar were sent be-hind the bars for possessing li-quor bottles. Meanwhile, Canttpolice held Owais and
Nizamuddin who were allegedlyunder the influence of alcohol.
Nadeem, Usman, Aslam,Ahsan Ullah, Etsham and AbuBakar Siddique were held forhaving illegal weapons whileNew Town Police rounded upJunaid and Israr and recovereda stolen motorcycle. Civil Linepolice held Babar on recoveryof a stolen mobile.
Sadiqabad, Westridge,Civil Line, Wah Cantt, Chontra,Saddar Baroni, Jatli and GujarKhan police conducted raids andarrested 12 proclaimed offend-ers and a court absconder.—APP
35 outlaws arrested,weapons recovered
ISLAMABAD—The National Ac-countability Bureau has launchedprobe into illegal operations oftwo pharmaceutical firms, oper-ating without proper licensing forlast 10 years. In the first hear-ing, Joint Secretary Drug Regu-latory Authority of Pakistan(DRAP) Mustafa Haider and Di-rector Licensing of the Author-ity appeared before the seniorNAB officials for questioning.
In the hearing, the NAB au-thorities have asked DRAP offi-cials to produce on January 14 thenecessary record regarding licens-ing, registration and GMP inspec-
tion record including name of in-spection team. The NAB authori-ties have showed their resentmentfor taking no action by DRAP au-thorities and registration of drugsallowed for contract manufactur-ing has not been cancelled byDrug Registration Board.
According to a letter No. 5-3(46)/Proj/A&P/NABHQ/2013/22, the NAB had expressed dis-pleasure over the malpracticesand negligence in registration andquality assurance of drug beingmanufactured by two firms in-cluding M/s Scotmann and M/sWerrick. Both the companies
have been found operating with-out license since December 31,2004 but the Drug RegistrationAuthority could not take any ac-tion against them.
Both the companies werefound manufacturing Alpha 2b,Interferon B and Interferon Cwithout fulfilling the prior officialprocedures. This drug is approvedaround the world for the treatmentof chronic hepatitis C, chronichepatitis B, hairy cell leukemia,chronic myelogenous leukemia,multiple myeloma, follicular lym-phoma, carcinoid tumor, and ma-lignant melanoma.—APP
Illegal operations
NAB summons licencing recordof pharma firms on Jan 14
Crowdedmarket lacks bath
room facilityISLAMABAD—Traders and cus-tomers have protested againstnon provision of bath room fa-cility in Allah Wali market at sec-tor F-8/1.
This market is located in themost crowded sector of federalcapital but thing like bath roomis not found any where in themarket.
One bath room was built byCDA after repeated requestsmade by the traders and custom-ers but it remained workable onlyfor two months due to utilizationof sub standard material and nowit stands completely damaged.
All the requests made to theconcerned authorities fell flat asneither old bath room has beenrenovated nor any new bath roomhas been built, said group of trad-ers. People demanded of CDAto arrange repair work of thelonely bath room in the marketas lack of this facility has keptthe customers away from thismarket.—Online
Motorway policeemphasize roadsafety principles
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Motorway po-lice Friday emphasized the roadsafety principles to save life andproperty of the people in a meet-ing with representatives of busservice companies.
Deputy Inspector General(DIG) Motorway MuhammadWisal Fakhar Sultan urged thecompanies to hold workshops orcourses for their drivers so thatthey could follow the trafficrules and regulations in letterand spirit.
He was of the opinion thatduring the drive of more thanfive hours, there should be twoexpert drivers in a bus becauseon long drive the single drivergets tired and it becomes thecause of accident.
The meeting was attendedby Senior Superintendent Police(SSP) Tahir Khan, SSP NasirMehmood Satti, SuperintendentPolice (SP) Athar Waheed, SPMaria Mehmood etc, said thepress release issued here.
Eating tree nutsto lower
obesity riskISLAMABAD—A new U.S. studyadds to growing evidence thatnuts- once considered too fatten-ing to be healthy- may in fact helpkeep weight down, in addition tooffering other health benefits.
Researchers found thatstudy participants who ate themost tree nuts- such as almonds,Brazil nuts, pistachios and wal-nuts- were between 37 and 46percent less likely to be obesethan those who ate the fewest treenuts, Fox News reported.
People who ate the mostnuts were also less likely to havea suite of risk factors known asmetabolic syndrome, which istied to increased risk of heart dis-ease and diabetes.
“This is another study thatshows there is an association be-tween eating nuts and not beingobese and having less tendencyto have metabolic syndrome,” Dr.Joan Sabate, study’s senior au-thor from Loma Linda Univer-sity, said. In another recent study,funded by INC NREF, research-ers found that people who re-ported eating the most nuts wereless likely to die over a 24-yearperiod than those who ate thefewest nuts.—APP
ISLAMABAD—Minister for Pe-troleum and Natural ResourcesShahid Khaqan Abbasi here saidgas supply to domestic sectorwould improve this March inPunjab.
Flanked by Minister of StateJam Kamal Khan and SecretaryAbid Saeed, the minister told apress conference that domesticconsumers were facing shortageas gas had been restored to CNGstations thrice a week on thecourt’s order.
However, in March, the gassupply would start improving andevery coming winter situationwould improve gradually, hesaid. At one stage, the commod-ity would become surplus duringthe five year tenure of thePML(N) government, he added.
He said top priority was be-ing accorded to the domestic sec-tor whose demand in Punjab hadrisen by 30 %, from 1200 mmcfd
to 1400 mmcfd, while the indus-trial sector was getting 100mmcfd, the minister added.
He said the government wastaking solid measures to over-come the gas shortage and LNG,which would start flowing byNovember 2014, would go a longway in meeting the country’s en-ergy needs. He said negotiationswith regard to the import of theLNG was under way and produc-ers were being contacted, in thisregard. He also rejected the newsitem published in a section ofpress that Yemen would provideLNG to Pakistan, saying theformer had already told that it hadnot sufficient stock of gas to beexported.
Replying to a question, theminister said contracts with cap-tive power plants would not berenewed and no supply was be-ing given to the fertilizer sectorthrough pipelines except the
dedicated supply. The ministersaid issues of the LPG sectorwere being resolved, ensuring itsprice comparatively affordablefor the masses than the last win-ter seasons.
He said after the 18thAmendment, provinces’ inputwas necessary to be taken beforeawarding exploration licensesand now the four provinces hadfurnished their summaries andthe 58 blocks would be awarded,soon.
He said the past governmentdid not take pain to implementpetroleum policy and now thePetroleum Policy 2012 was be-ing implemented, offering incen-tives for investors to effectivelyexplore oil and gas sector forachieving national prosperity. Hesaid the prices for the domesticsector consumers would not beenhanced and all its problemswould be resolved.—APP
Gas situation to improvein March: Minister
AIOU Masterlevel admissions
from Jan 20ISLAMABAD—Allama IqbalOpen University (AIOU) willopen its SSC to Master level ad-missions in various disciplinesfor the Semester Spring-2014from January 20.
Prospectus and admissionforms for Spring, Semester canbe obtained from the sale pointsof University’s main campus inSector H-8 and country-wideRegional Campuses, said Direc-tor Admissions, Syed Zia-ul-Hasnain. The admission formsalong-with prescribed fee can besubmitted in countrywidebranches of Bank Al-Falah,Habib Bank Ltd, First WomenBank and Allied Bank and in thenominated branches of NationalBank f Pakistan and MuslimCommercial Bank, he added.
The Director Admissionssaid that the admission forms andprospectus of Matric,FA and BAlevel programmes for Pakistanisin the Middle-East can be ob-tained/download from websitedel.aiou.edu.pk of the University.
Computerized admissionforms have been sent to all thecontinuing students as well as theycan also download the continuingadmission form from websitewww.aiou.edu.pk of the Univer-sity, he maintained.—APP
COAS visitsStrategic Planning
DivisionSTAFF REPORTER
RAWALPINDI—Chief of ArmyStaff, General Raheel Sharif Fri-day visited the Strategic PlanningDivision. Director General Stra-tegic Planning Division Lieuten-ant General (r) Khalid AhmedKidwai briefed him about thestrategic programme of country.
According to Inter ServicesPublic Relations (ISPR), theChief of Army Staff said thatPakistan’s nuclear programmeoccupies central place for thedefence of the country. He ex-pressed his satisfaction over therobust nuclear command andcontrol structure and all the se-curity controls related to stra-tegic assets of the country.
Plan for searchoperation in
Afghan, slumareas devised
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Po-lice have devised a comprehen-sive plan for search and comb-ing operation in Afghan andslum areas of the city to arrestsuspects and those illegally stay-ing in the city.
This plan had been chalkedout following the directionsfrom Inspector General of Po-lice (IGP) Islamabad SikandarHayat. The main purpose of thisoperation is to arrest suspectsand criminal elements staying inthese areas.
Police teams headed by SPSaddar Zone Jameel AhmedHashmi, SP Industrial AreaHassan Iqbal, SDPOs Saddar ,Margalla and Ramna along withSHOs of Saddar Zone police sta-tions, police Commandoes andpolicemen on Saturday con-ducted search operation in Ittfaqcolony , Dhok Kashmirn andMara Abadi in the jurisdictionof Ramna police station.
These police teams arrested64 suspects and recovered 4motorbikes,30 bore pistol withammunition, from them.
SSP Islamabad MuhammadRizwan also directed all headsof police stations to continue thisoperation and ensure protectionto the lives and property of thecitizens besides ensuring arrestof mischievous elements.
Gas connection cutoff to more than 100
students’ hostelsRAWALPINDI—Sui Gas depart-ment has cut off gas connectionof more than 100 student hostelsof the twin cities by declaringthem as domestic.
As per reports, Sui gas de-partment has cut off gas connec-tions to boys and girls hostelsoperating in the residential areason commercial basis withoutprior notices. Due to this situa-tion the students are facing manyhardships in the cold weather.
According to hostels admin-istration they had written to SUIgas department to change theirtariff to commercial instead ofdomestic upon which the depart-ment has cleared that the govern-ment has banned commercial gasconnections.
The hostel owners have pro-tested against this injustice andsaid that cutting off gas connec-tion for students without priornotice is an injustice and havethreatened to come out on streetsif the connections are not re-stored. The officials of the Suigas department have assured thehostel owners that they wouldconsider restoring the connec-tion of gas to female hostels tosave them from any inconve-nience.—Online
ISLAMABAD—The Capital De-velopment Authority (CDA) willannounce tender to purchase 33buses for new Islamabad bus ser-vice on January 27.
According to the CDA offi-cials, the bus service will belaunched in April this year. Theysaid initially a private company
will launch the bus service and thepublic transport vehicles will bestarted on three routes includingfrom Rawat to Pak Secretariat,from Bhara Kahu to Pak Secre-tariat and from IJP Road/I-10 Sec-tor to Pak Secretariat.
The CDA officials said thatthe project will purely be of the
civic authority and it is not linkedto any other public transportproject. The CDA will also con-struct 90 bus stops on the threeroutes and fare of the vehicles willalso be less than fare of other trans-port services. Though the Re-gional Transport Authority will fixthe fare later, they added. —INP
CDA to purchase33 buses for city service
Vice President Youth Wing District Kotli, Asad Ali Qureshi meeting with Vice ChairpersonPrime Minister Youth Loan Programme Marvi Memon.
KOTLI: Shaheed Chowk has been decorated in connection with Eid Milad celebrations.
KOTLI: AJK Prime Minister Ch Abdul Majeed, Senior Minister Ch Muhammad Yasin offering due at DargahGulbahar Sharif.
SRINAGAR—Hurriyat Confer-ence (G) chairman Syed AliGeelani, who continues to beunder house arrest, was againbarred from offering Fridayprayers.
“It was 43rd Friday todayin a row when Geelani was notallowed to offer Fridayprayers,” said a spokesman ofHurriyat (G) in a statement,terming it a brazen interferencein religious affairs.
Flaying the administration,the spokesman said, Geelani’scontinued house detention hadbadly affected his heath.
The spokesman accused the
43rd Friday: No congregationalprayers for Geelani
human rights organizations offailing to deliver their respon-sibilities with regard toGeelani’s ‘illegal’ and contin-ued house detention. “Even to-day in the month of Rabi-ul-Awwal, Geelani was barredfrom offering Friday prayers.
Since 2010, Geelani contin-ues to be virtually in jail. Hewas released for a brief periodbut again placed under housearrest without any justifica-tion,” the statement said.
“Hurriyat challenged the il-legal house detention of SyedAli Geelani in the court of lawand court reserved its verdict in
June 2013,” the spokesmansaid.
Meanwhile, Geelani hasstrongly condemned the arrestsof Shakeel Ahmad Bhat,Muhammad Ayoob Lone,Tanveer Ahmad Sofi, NisarAhmad and Javed Ahmad ofLelhar Kakpora allegedly bythe SoG personnel.
He has also condemned thenocturnal raids at the residenceof Parvaiz Ahmad Dar ofTarzoo Sopore.
He expressed concern aboutRoman Amin, whose where-abouts are not known for thelast 50 days.—NNI
SRINAGAR—The HurriyatConference (M) ChairmanMirwaiz Umar Farooq said In-dia needed a visionary leader-ship with political courage todeal the Kashmir dispute.
“India needs a visionaryleadership who would show po-litical courage while dealingwith the Kashmir dispute. Indianapproach of delaying policy tillone gets tired would not workin Kashmir as the Kashmirishave become politically ma-ture,” said Mirwaiz while ad-dressing a special Seerat Majlisorganized by Anjuman AuqafJamia Masjid in connection with
Umar: India needs visionaryleadership to settle Kashmir dispute
the holy month of Rabiul Awalat the historic Jamia Masjid here.
Reacting to the recent state-ment of the Indian External Af-fairs Minister that the countrywas ready to solve all issues withPakistan except Kashmir andthat Kashmir was an integralpart of India, Mirwaiz said, “Itis contrary to political realitiesand everybody knows Kashmiris the core issue between the twonuclear armed neigbours.
The statement also contradictsthe recent statement of IndianPrime Minister Manmohan Singhwhere he said that India and Paki-stan were close to finding a solu-
tion to the Kashmir dispute.” “Kashmir is a political is-
sue and it can be only solvedpolitically and not by intimida-tion or policies of suppressionor by coercion and militaryforce. The world is aware aboutthe sufferings of Kashmiris, es-pecially from past 25 years. Theglobal bodies like UN, NAM,and European Parliament knowthat despite right to self deter-mination granted by the UN, theIndian troops vested with spe-cial powers and draconian laws,have been given a legal licenseto freely oppress the masses byuse of brutal force,” Mirwaiz
said.Describing Prophet
Muhammad (SAW) as a com-plete human being, Mirwaizasked the Muslims to emulatehis teachings and sayings to be-come a good human being.
Meanwhile, senior Hurriyatleaders addressed various gath-erings in Kashmir. Zaffar AkbarBhat addressed a gathering atPattan, Syed Salim Geelani atBadamwari here, BashirAndrabi at Chewa Pulwama,and Qutb Alam at Khaqah dur-ing which leaders termed theresolution of Kashmir as inevi-table.—NNI
SRINAGAR—Cold wave contin-ued to grip Indian OccupiedKashmir (IOK) after freshsnowfall was received in theplains and upper reaches of theValley.
According to report, Lehwas the coldest place in theState recording a low of minus11.0 degree Celsius comparedto yesterday’s minus 12.4 de-gree Celsius while maximumday temperature of the placesettled at minus 1.3 degree Cel-sius.
Kargil was the second cold-est place that recorded a mini-mum of minus 9.2 degree Cel-sius against minus 12.1 degreeCelsius the previous night whilemaximum day temperature ofthe place settled at minus 6.8degree Celsius.
Srinagar recorded a low ofminus 1.9 degree Celsius asagainst yesterday’s low of mi-nus 1.7 degree Celsius whilemaximum day temperature of
the place settled at 4.2 degreeCelsius.
Gulmarg was one of thecoldest recorded places in theValley with a low of minus 7.0degree Celsius. The hill resorthas recorded a minimum of mi-nus 9.4 degree Celsius yesterdaywhile maximum day tempera-ture of place settled at minus 0.5degree Celsius.
Pahalgam recorded a low ofminus 5.8 degree Celsius againstyesterday’s low of minus 6.2degree Celsius while maximumday temperature settled at 4 de-gree Celsius.
Kupwara in North Kashmirwas freezing at minus 2.0 degreeCelsius compared to yesterday’sminus 1.3 degree Celsius whilemaximum day temperature ofthe place settled at 8.2 degreeCelsius.
Kokernag in South Kashmirsettled at minus 4.5 degree Cel-sius while maximum day tem-perature settled at 0.1 degreeCelsius.—NNI
Cold wave grips IOK
SRINAGAR—Stressing on per-manent friendship betweenNew Delhi and Islamabad,PDP patron Mufti MuhammadSayed has said nobody canchange the course of Kashmirissue to avoid its resolution.
“People in Kashmir wantpeace with dignity, not surren-der. We can’t change thecourse and avoid the resolutionof Kashmir issue,” Mufti saidafter welcoming noted broad-caster Nayeema AhmadMehjoor into his party here.
He was responding to aquestion on whether talks be-
Mufti Sayeed says nobody canchange course of Kashmir issue
tween New Delhi andIslamabad on Kashmir andother issues could take a backseat till next government for-mation in India.
Mufti said Kashmir issuewas the fight of ideologies.“We want a respectable solu-tion to Kashmir. This atmo-sphere of uncertainty and in-security should come to anend,” Mufti said. “We have ourown vision for Kashmir reso-lution and we have in the pastproved commitment towardsour ideology through ourdeeds.”
To a question, Mufti saidthe continuance of ArmedForces Special Powers Act(AFSPA) in Jammu and Kash-mir was bringing a bad nameto India in the world.
“It is unfortunate that 60years after independence weare still discussing AFSPA.Why is it so? Don’t we trustour own people,” Mufti asked.“It is not good for the imageof our country outside thatthere is still AFSPA. The merename AFSPA doesn’t givegood name to the country.”—NNI
Avalanche killsIndian trooper
in KupwaraISLAMABAD—An Indiantrooper was killed and anotherwent missing when an avalanchehit an army post in Kupwara dis-trict, held Kashmir.
Indian Army officials inSrinagar said the avalanche hitthe army post at Sonapendi Galiin Machil area of the districtburying two troopers under it,Kashmir Media Service reported. They said one trooper, SanatamSingh, was rescued initially butlater succumbed to his injuries inthe hospital while the other onewas still missing.—APP
India urged to takesteps for Kashmir
settlementISLAMABAD—The All PartiesHurriyet Conference leader,Javed Ahmad Mir, has urgedIndia to acknowledge the groundrealties and take steps for reso-lution of the Kashmir issue with-out any further delay.
Javed Ahmed Mir address-ing a condolence meeting atBota Kadal in Lalbazar area ofSrinagar at the residence of lateMuhammad Shafi Beig, thebrother of noted social activist,Ghulam Qadir Beig, said, “Timehas come for the Indian govern-ment to accept the burning is-sue of Kashmir in its right per-spective without any furtherdelay,”KMS reported.
Javed Mir was accompa-nied by other APHC leaders in-cluding Hakeem AbdulRasheed, Mushtaq Ahmad Sufiand Imtiyaz Ahmad Reshi.—APP
SRINAGAR—Senior leader of theAll Parties Hurriyet Conference,Professor Abdul Ghani Butt, hascalled upon Pakistan and India toinclude the genuine Kashmirileadership in the talks process tosettle the Kashmir dispute.
Professor Abdul Ghani Buttaddressing a public gathering inSrinagar said that the interna-tional community shouldprioritise settlement of all dis-putes including the conflict overKashmir for ensuring economicprosperity and security in the en-tire world.APHC leaders includ-ing Shabbir Ahmed Shah,Nayeem Ahmed Khan andMuhammad Yousuf Naqash, vis-ited Dogripora area ofAwantipora and expressed soli-darity with the family of a youth,Wasim Ahmad, who was recently
Kashmiris’ inclusion inPak, India talks stressed
martyred by Indian troops. Ad-dressing a big gathering on theoccasion, Shabbir Ahmed Shahand other leaders said thatKashmiris’ unparalleled sacri-fices, which had centre-staged theKashmir dispute at the globallevel, would not be allowed to gowaste. People on the occasionraised high-pitched anti-India andpro-liberation slogans.
Another APHC delegationthat included Zafar Akbar Butt,Syed Bashir Ahmad Andrabiand other leaders also visited thearea and condoled with the be-reaved family. Addressingpeople on the occasion, they saidthat the Kashmiri people wouldcontinue their liberation struggletill complete success.
APHC leader, MukhtarAhmed Waza, also visited
Dogripora. Addressing a gather-ing at Brazloo in Kulgam, heurged the Kashmiri people to re-main aloof from pro-India poli-ticians, who were responsible forall their miseries since the illegaloccupation of Jammu and Kash-mir by India. On the other hand,an Indian trooper was killed af-ter an avalanche hit an army postat Sonapendi Gali in Machil areaof Kupwara district.
Meanwhile, a Mumbai-based daily has reported thataround 75,000 families in occu-pied Kashmir have been put inblacklist for passports. It said thatindexing by Indian agencies hadaffected 400,000 people mostlyyouth who could not get govern-ment jobs, travel documents orany facility that required policeverification.—KMS
75,000 familiesfigure in
blacklist in IOKSRINAGAR—Around 75,000families have been put in black-list for passports.
A Mumbai-based daily,DNA) has reported that thefamilies have been indexed insecurity risk list and are deniedclearance from police depart-ment, which blocks their accessto peaceful life, employment andtravel plans.
It said that indexing by In-dian agencies had affected400,000 people mostly youthwho could not get governmentjobs, travel documents or anyfacility that required policeverification.The newspaper saidthat these families had beenblacklisted for their links withthe Hurriyet leaders and the on-going liberation movement inthe occupied territory.—KMS
SRINAGAR—In occupied Kash-mir, Abdul Majeed Wani, fatherof prominent martyred liberationleader, Ashfaq Majeed Wani, hassaid that he has been receivingthreats from unknown people.
Abdul Majeed Wani in amedia interview in Srinagar saidunknown persons even tried torun over him with a car, after hisrecent disclosure in which heclaimed that the noted liberationleader, Sheikh Abdul Hameed,did not die of drowning but waspoisoned by the Indian troops.He said that after his interview,he was experiencing unusualthings happening around him.“Some unknown people eithercome to my shop as customersor follow me up to my home togive me threats,” he added.
Sheikh Abdul Hameed, asper official version, was killedalong with half a dozen associ-ates after their boat capsizedwhen an Indian army patrol
Unknown persons want to killme, says Ashfaq Wani’s father
party fired towards them whilethey were crossing the Jhelumat Aali Kadal, Srinagar, in No-vember 1992.
On Hameed’s 22nd death an-niversary on November 19, 2013,Abdul Majeed Wani in a mediainterview had said that the former,who was a close friend of his son,hadn’t died of drowning. He alsoclaimed that troops had pulledHameed alive out of the boat andtook him to interrogation centrewhere he was tortured and askedto work for Indian agencies. “Hewas given a lethal injection afterhe refused to be part of a sinisterplan hatched by the Indian mili-tary intelligence,” Wani had saidin the interview.
He had said that he still re-membered Hameed’s body hadnot swollen; his hands, forehead,nose and lips were white. “Ap-parently after being poisoned,his body had been kept in afreezer to make us believe that
he had drowned. On Hameed’sright leg, below the knee, therewas a needle mark,” he had said.
Soon after the interview,Abdul Majeed Wani said that henoticed two persons movingaround his house at Nowgambypass in a white Ambassadorcar. “I became conscious of theirpresence and monitored theiractivities closely. They wouldcome out of the car, park it at aparticular spot and pretend as ifthey were fixing it,” he said.
Wani said that some dayslater when he reached near thespot, the same car came rushingfrom a wrong direction towardshim and tried to hit him. “I felldown and had a narrow escape.I received injuries on my arm.The driver of the car came outand told me that this is a lastwarning to me,” said Wani,whose son, Ashfaq Majeed, waskilled by Indian troops inSrinagar in March 1990.—KMS
Omar Abdullahquestions youngman’s claims on
internshipJAMMU—Jammu and KashmirChief Minister Omar AbdullahSaturday questioned the claimsof a young man who said he lostthe opportunity to be an internwith the Guardian newspaper ofLondon because of a delay ingetting his passport.
Sheikh Ruhail Afzal, a resi-dent of Trehgam village in northKashmir’s Kupwara district,told the media earlier this weekthat the local Criminal Investi-gation Department (CID) hadturned down his passport appli-cation on the grounds that oneof his relatives had been a mili-tant.
Afzal said he needed thepassport to join as an intern atthe Guardian newspaper of Lon-don.
Immediately after the storywas published, Omar Abdullahposted on Twitter that the stategovernment had issued clear or-ders to the local CID not to de-cline any passport application onthe basis of a relative’s involve-ment in militancy.
The CID later clearedAfzal’s passport application af-ter he applied for a review of theearlier decision.
Sources in the CID said areview of the application wasundertaken and it was cleared inlight of the state government’sorders issued in 2012 underwhich no application could berejected because the applicant’skin was involved in militancy.
After the CID clearedAfzal’s passport application hetold a local newspaper, RisingKashmir, that he had lost theprestigious internship because ofthe delay.
Omar Abdullah Saturdaychallenged the newspaper thatpublished the news to produce acopy of the offer Afzal claimedto have received from the Lon-don daily.
“So I’ve heard the boyclaiming to have lost his in-ternship with the GuardianNewspaper because of hispassport never had such an of-fer”, Omar posted on TwitterSaturday.
The chief minister, however,did not dispute the boy’s rightto get the passport. He hoped,however, that he wasn’t fibbing.“While he has every right to ex-pect a passport, I hope he hasn’tlied to gain sympathy. This willonly damage legitimate casesgoing ahead.
“I hope I’m wrong and thereis an actual offer and not thatwe’ve been lied to. If not whatdoes that tell us about quality ofour journalism?” the chief min-ister said.—Agencies
Army defuses IEDbombs in
Baramulla, KashmirBARAMULLA—The IndianArmy on Saturday defused lowintensity bombs, recovered onthe roadside of Baramulla dis-trict of Jammu and Kashmir.
Around 10 Kg of Impro-vised Explosive Device (IED)were found by a road openingparty of Army of 46, RashtriyaRifles (RR) in a village in theBaramulla.
The Bomb Disposal Squadand Army were rushed to thespot and the IED were defused.The road is being mostly usedby the civilians and the Armyconvoy.
The Kashmir region has wit-nessed numerous militant at-tacks, insurgency and infiltrationattempts from across the borderin the last two decades.—Agen-cies
Hafiz Saeedagainst ‘secret
deal’ on KashmirLAHORE—Jamaat-ud-Dawahchief Hafiz Mohammad Saeedtoday warned the Pakistan gov-ernment against striking a “se-cret deal” with India on theKashmir issue.
“We cannot leave theKashmiri people at the mercy ofIndia. Kashmiris have not sac-rificed lives to divide Kashmir,”he said during a meeting withsupporters here.
“We will not allow the gov-ernment to have a secret dealwith India on the Kashmir issue.Kashmir belongs to Kashmirisand any decision without takingthem on board will not be ac-ceptable to them or to the peopleof Pakistan.”
The founder of the bannedLashkar-e-Taiba further claimedIndia can “no longer rule Kash-mir by force”.—Agencies
MUZAFFARABAD: Opposition Leader Raja Farooq Haider Khan talking with journalistsat Central Press Club.Preparations
underway tocelebrate Eid MiladMIRPUR—Preparations are un-derway in Azad Jammu andKashmir (AJK) to celebrate EidMilad-un-Nabi (PBUH) onJanuary 14 (12th Rabi ul Awwal)with zeal and fervour.
The sacred day will dawnwith special prayers at Fajr, in themosques throughout Azad JammuKashmir as well as in the Indianoccupied Kashmir for the uphold-ing and flourishing of Islam.
In AJK the Eid Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH) processions willbe taken out and ‘Mahaafil-e-Milad’ will be held in all smalland major towns and citiesacross Azad Jammu Kashmir.
Major ceremonies to cel-ebrate the day with religious de-votion and respect will be held atthe capital city of Muzaffarabadas well as in Mirpur, Kotli, Bagh,Rawalakot, Palandri, Bhimberand Neelam valley districts be-sides at all tehsil headquarters,towns and villages throughout theliberated territory.—APP
To be successful, youhave to have yourheart in your busi-
ness, and your busi-ness in your heart.
—Thomas Watson, Sr.
APO to enhanceproductivity ofeconomyStaff ReporterISLAMABAD—Mari Amano,Secretary General, AsianProductivity Organisation(APO) of Japan along withKhawaja MuhammadYousaf, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, National Productiv-ity Organisation of Pakistanvisited Islamabad Chamberof Commerce & Industryand briefed the businesscommunity about thevarious activities andprojects of his organisationto enhance the productivityin various sectors ofPakistan’s economy. Hesaid APO through NationalProductivity Organizations(NPOs) of member coun-tries is focused on contrib-uting effectively to thesustainable socioeconomicdevelopment of Asia andthe Pacific by enhancingproductivity of businessesand industries. He saidSMEs play a crucial role inthe national economies andAPO is working to furtherstrengthen the NPOs ofmember countries topromote the developmentof SMEs.
Proposed sale ofFesco resentedStaff ReporterLAHORE—The proposedprivatization of FaisalabadElectric Supply Company(FESCO) would give rise tointer-provincial dispute onPower Tariff like waterdistribution. The experienceof privatization of electricityin Rawalpindi, Multan andKarachi Electric SupplyCorporation (KESC) even inthose major cities hadfailed. The privatization ofprofitable FaisalabadElectric Supply Company(FESCO) will cause raisingexorbitant Power Tariff ofagriculture consumers inrural areas and lessdeveloped areas of theprovinces in particularBalochistan, KPK, Sind &Punjab which will beagainst the public interest.Since the electricity is abasic need of the peopleand it is the constitutionalobligation of the State toprovide this need within thereach of common man. Itcould not be performed bythe Private Sector which isrun merely on the basisprofit making. These viewswere expressed by veteranleader Khurshid Ahmed,General Secretary ofPakistan Workers Confed-eration alongwith RanaAbdul Shakoor, SajidKazmi, Rana MuhammadAkram, Ch. Maqsood
DR. HUMAYUN BAKHT
PAKISTAN like manyunder developmentcountries has a long
history of a weak Inland Rev-enue or income tax system.This has resulted in one ofmany situations affectingordinary citizens especiallythose who are at low wages.What is not cleared in themind of a normal person thatnot paying tax blocks coun-try progress as a nation be-sides individual’s pros-pects? The same applies todaily needs of families wherea government find notenough room of giving sub-sidies due to lack of fundsavailable otherwise. Thus, agovernment has no choiceother then requesting loans
from different bodies like In-ternational MonitoringFunds (IMF).
These bodies operateunder several terms and con-ditions which are full-filledbefore any loan request isapproved or granted. Withless doubt, in most of thecases such terms are ac-cepted and are reflected ei-ther as a part of budget or amini budget of a country.This also answers as whypeople of the Pakistan do notget benefit with the pricedecrement of several itemssuch as Petrol at an Interna-tional level. In any case agovernment has to meet nor-mal operational expanseswhich due to not havingenough tax collections areacquired through unwanted
additional taxes.These taxes or part of
them could be avoidedthrough imposing a betterand effective tax system. Ihave thought on this verysame issue and have con-cluded different measureswhich if taken on board cancertainly assist in improvingtax system in Pakistan. I be-ing an academic first elabo-rate on enhancing tax collec-tion through a link formationbetween the academic insti-tutions and local industries.It is some thing important tomention that I intend to ex-pand my thoughts for a bet-ter taxation system througha fine implementation in in-dustrial sectors in follow uparticles in the near future.
It is some thing under-
standable that thousands ofstudents graduate every yearfrom universities and othereducational institutions.Most of them do not getenough chances to have ahand on experience duringtheir education in a commer-cial sector. Therefore, inmany cases we have edu-cated people who are re-quired to be trained beforecan be placed in a practicalwork environment. In addi-tion, not every graduate issuccessful in getting a posi-tion. I personally feel a wellexperienced graduate can bevery beneficial in meetingexisting demand of the skillwork force. The idea is to turnthis dream into practical formthrough establishing a busi-ness bridge between the
commercial sectors and theeducation bodies. There areseveral attractions that couldbe drawn in order for indus-tries to consider such an ap-proach. An example could bea significant tax amount re-duction on annual earningsof a company on employinga set number of students at areasonable wage during theirplacement year. This place-ment year can be introducedin an undergraduate degreeprogram where students af-ter completing first two orthree years of their first de-gree can apply for a place-ment in a company. Pleasekeep this in mind that a con-siderable amount of tax re-duction offer for commercialcompanies can be recoveredthrough tax obtained from
students working duringtheir placement year in differ-ent industrial sectors. Itcould be observed that suchsystem implementation ben-efit in one of many ways suchas to motivate more studentscoming towards higher edu-cation and getting them usedto of tax culture right from thestart of their professional life.Some other feature could bea better job prospects andreducing unemployment ratein the country. Not limited toa particular country such ex-perienced graduates mayfind it easy to find suitableposition in different part ofthe globe.
The above discussedplacement year is not appli-cable to undergraduate de-gree program only but can
also be extended at a post-graduate level. A postgradu-ate student can offer a place-ment for up-to six months af-ter a successful completionof a master program. It is ob-served that through suchscheme in many cases thesestudents are employedwithin the same company af-ter completing their place-ment time. One other aspectwhat is seen missing is a bet-ter organization of graduateor post graduate students ata national or a local level. Itis crucial to develop a sys-tem where every one is reg-istered with respect to whatthey have been trained for.Off-course, policy makers ofthe country should be wellaware of what is available interms of skills or expertises
within a country and as tohow many among them arethrough an established pro-gram or via direct experi-ences.
This approach is usefulin identifying skills shortagein various areas. In duecourse, academic institu-tions can equally get ben-efit by designing both shortand long term courses tomeet such demands.
—Writer is Director ofStudies at London Schoolof Commerce. He is a regu-lar contributor of academicand non-academic articlesand author of Mobile Ad-hoc Networking and aboutto publish his second book“A Road Map to PhD”. Hecan be reached [email protected].
Tax reformation and educational system in Pakistan
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Chief Coordi-nator of PM Youth BusinessLoan Scheme, MarviMemon has said that thegovernment eased up cer-tain conditions to attractmaximum applications. In aninterview she said theyouth has shown tremen-dous interest in the loanscheme. Though the rate ofreturn of applications is lowand therefore on the direc-tions of the Prime Minister,certain conditions havebeen relaxed.
Now the blood relativehas been allowed to be-come guarantor, she added.Marvi Memon said she hasvisited several backwardareas of the country in or-der to also involve them inthis scheme. She said
people of these areas wantto open up schools or doother some other busi-
nesses. She said our teamsare working day and nightto properly guide the peopleof backward areas. Re-sponding to a question,Marvi Memon clarified thatfive percent quota has beenfixed for the disabled per-sons in the Prime Minister’sYouth Business LoanScheme.
STAFF REPORTER
MULTAN—Federal Ministerfor Industries and Produc-tion Ghulam Murtaza KhanJatoi has said the govern-ment is in the process of for-mulating new industrial andauto policies. Addressing aceremony at Multan Cham-ber of Commerce and Indus-try (MCCI) on late Fridaynight, Jatoi said that andfeedback from stakeholderswould be given due impor-tance before finalizing thepolicies.
He said the governmentwas in contact with all thestakeholders to finalize anew industrial policy. Thegovernment is also going to
introduce a new auto policythat would benefit all stake-holders, he added. He saidthe government was pursu-ing short term and long termstrategies to overpower en-ergy crisis while exploitingcountry’s vast coal reserveswas a top priority to achievethe objective. Solar and windenergy resources were alsobeing utilized and a big windpower project was inprogress at Badin, he added.
To a question regardinghigher exchange rate of dol-lar against rupee, he said thegovernment was adopting aprudent policy to strengthenrupee for national economicdevelopment. “Rate of dollarwent down a bit in recent past
and we wish that it shouldreach Rs 100,” the ministeradded. He said the govern-ment inherited energy crisisfrom the previous regime,however, the governmenttook it as a challenge and at-taches top priority to over-powering the trouble.
The government wasstriving hard to import LPGand LNG from Qatar andcomplete Pak-Iran gaslineproject, he said. The ministersaid that the proposedGwadar-China motorway, af-ter completion, would haveeconomic zones after every200 kilometre distance. Hesaid that an economic zonewas being set up at BinQasim over an area of 1000
acre while another economiczone would be built atSargodha. Government willalso make efforts to set upan economic zone in Multan,he added.
To a question regardingunemployment, he said thatpromotion of cottage indus-try in rural areas would helpin creating new jobs for theunemployed youth while thegovernment was alsointroduing investmentfriendly policies to addressthe problem.
Jatoi, when asked abouttrade with India, said, PML-N government wanted tohave good relations and topromote trade with theneighbouring countries,
however, added that inter-ests of the Pakistani trad-ers and industrialists wouldalso be protected. About aquery on sales tax on trac-tors, he said that the matterwas related to the financeministry but he will discussit in the ECC meeting. Jatoisaid that no permission wasrequired from the federalgovernment for establish-ment of new industry, how-ever, added that permissionfrom provincial governmentwas required in case of set-ting up some industries. Hesaid that the governmentwas making all out effortsto solve problems of busi-ness community and indus-trialists.
New industrial, auto policiesto be introduced: Jatoi
Youths show tremendousinterest in loan scheme
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) hastransferred six Pakistan Cus-toms Services (PCS)/InlandRevenue Services (IRS) of-ficers of BS-20&21 with im-mediate effects. Accordingto a circular issued on Friday,Ahmad Dildar (PCS/BS-21)has been transferred fromFederal Shariat Court,Islamabad to FBR Headquar-ters Islamabad as Member (le-gal), Ch. Safdar Hussain(IRS/BS-21) from Member
Legal, FBR HeadquartersIslamabad to Chief Commis-sioner Inland Revenue, Re-gional Tax Office-II Lahoreand Tauqeer Akbar (IRS/BS-21) from Chief CommissionerInland Revenue, RegionalTax Office Faisalabad toMember FBR HeadquartersIslamabad.
Similarly, RehmatullahKhan Wazir (IRS/BS-20) hasbeen transferred to fromChief Commissioner InlandRevenue, (OPS) RegionalTax Office, Karachi to ChiefCommissioner Inland Rev-
enue, (OPS) Large Taxpay-ers Unit, Karachi, DrMuhammad Irshad (IRS/BS-20) Chief Commissioner In-land Revenue, (OPS) Re-gional Tax Office-II, Lahoreto Chief Commissioner In-land Revenue, (OPS) Re-gional Tax Office Karachiand Shaukat Mehmood(IRS/BS-20) from Chief Com-missioner Inland Revenue,Regional Tax Office,Sargodha to Chief Commis-sioner Inland Revenue,(OPS) Regional Tax Office,Faisalabad.
FBR’s six BS-20 and21 officers reshuffled
Work on Dasuhydropower
project to startthis year
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The construc-tion work on 4320 mw DasuHydro project will start fromthis year as detailed engi-neering design and tenderdocuments are near tocompletion. World Bank hasalso agreed to extend finan-cial assistance for the Hydro-power Project, said an offi-cial of Water and Power De-velopment Authority.
He said Dasu Hydroproject will have positive im-pact on existing hydropowerstations including Tarbela,Ghazi Barotha and Chashma.The first phase of the projectwould be completed in 2017.The project will be con-structed on the Indus River,seven km upstream of Dasuvillage and 74 km downstreamof Diamer-Bhasha Dam.
The project is situated onthe Karakoram Highway,about 350 km from Islamabad,he added. He said the Dasuproject is part of the least-cost energy production planof Wapda aimed at harness-ing the country’s hydro-power resources to improvethe share of hydroelectricity.
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The Securitiesand Exchange Commissionof Pakistan (SECP) has ap-proved the issuance of thefirst-ever Sukuk for anamount of six billion rupeesby the Karachi Electric Sup-ply Company Limited(KESC), which will be listedon the Karachi Stock Ex-change (KSE).
A press release said theretail issuance of Sukuk isone of the major steps to-wards the development ofIslamic capital market in Pa-kistan. This listing will cre-ate value and liquidity for theSukuk holders and provideinvestment opportunities tothe investors, it said.
The listing of Sukuk willpave the way for develop-ment of Islamic and conven-tional bond market in Paki-stan. Moreover, this issuewill also promote the primaryand secondary debt marketas this is the first Sukuk is-sue being offered to the re-tail investors and public atlarge.
There will be no pre-IPO
Issuance of Rs6bfirst-ever
Sukuk allowed(initial public offering) place-ment and the entire amountof Sukuk issue will be offeredto the retail investors, saidthe release. The Sukuk will beoffered in three types i.e.Sukuk-1 of up to Rs750 mil-lion for a tenor of 13 months,Sukuk-2 of up to Rs3,750 mil-lion for three years andSukuk-3 of Rs1,500 million fora tenor of five years. The sub-scription period will be forthree months.
The rate of return onSukuk-1 will be 1M KIBOR+ 100 bps, Sukuk-2 3MKIBOR + 225 bps and Sukuk-3 will be 3M KIBOR + 275bps, according to the re-lease. Sukuk is an efficientway of fund raising and it isexpected that more and morecompanies will come for-ward and raise fundsthrough listed Sukuk issuesand will contribute towardsthe economic developmentof the country. So far, 78Sukuk have been issued foran amount of Rs637.43 bil-lion out of which 32 Sukukissues for an amount ofRs100.10 billion have beenfully redeemed, it said.
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—The governmentis endeavouring to expandthe economic pie instead ofenhancing the tax rates forincreasing the revenue col-lection, Ahsan Iqbal, federalminister for planning, devel-opment and reform. “At thelast meeting on tax collectionreforms, it was discussed toincrease the economic pie toraise the revenue collection,”he said at a meeting hostedby the Federation of PakistanChambers of Commerce andIndustry (FPCCI).
Iqbal said that the govern-ment sticks to the develop-ment plan that was seized in1999 and in the Vision 2025,the growth rate is estimatedat eight percent to 10 percentper annum. “Without achiev-ing this rate, Pakistan will notable to get a place in the listof world economies in termsof growth pattern,” he added.
Achieving this rate is a
Govt expanding economyfor improved tax collection
must because all the relatedindicators, especially the tax-to-GDP ratio, were related tothis, he said. “At this growthrate, the tax-to-GDP ratio willbe achieved at 13 percent to15 percent,” he added.
The minister advised thebusiness community to fo-cus on value addition in-stead of selling raw materialsat cheaper rates. The presentworld is for knowledge / in-formation and only thoseeconomies could achievegrowth trajectory that had thecapabilities to sell their prod-ucts, he said.
Iqbal also shared theseven-point agenda onwhich the government isworking to achieve Vision2025. The government hasprioritised energy productionand, in this connection, someharsh and unpopular deci-sions had been taken re-cently. Iqbal said that achiev-ing robust growth is anotherobjective and the govern-
ment is facilitating the indus-try to get around $100 billionexports per annum.
He said that public, pri-vate and academia have beentaken on board for consulta-tion on the objectives. Thegovernment is also giving im-portance to social and humancapital, he said, adding thatin the past dictatorship re-gimes the budgets of educa-tion and health were divertedto defence. Highlighting an-other point, he said the infra-structure required immediateupgradation. The country canproduce 20,000MW but thetransmission lines were notable to supply the electricity.
Dr Ayub Mehar, directorgeneral, Research Depart-ment, FPCCI, presented de-tailed strategy of the apextrade body for Vision 2025.Zakria Usman, president-elect of the FPCCI, offeredunconditional support to thegovernment for achievingdesired economic growth.
ISLAMABAD—Federal Minis-ter for Finance Ishaq Dar onFriday said that PakistanMuslim League Nawaz(PML-N), government ismaking measures to reviveeconomy and generate em-ployment for the joblesspeople. He said that all-outefforts are being made tostrengthen currency. He saidthat steps have been takento bring down the dollar ratein the market.
Talking to media he saidthat those elements spread-ing rumours to detract theeconomy will not be suc-cessful in their design. Hesaid that Prime Minister LoanScheme for Youth would helpgenerate business activity.
Finance Minister said thatPML-N government had paidcurricular debt to reduceloadshedding.
He said that some ele-ments wanted to increase thedollar rate for their personalinterest. Replying to a ques-tion he said that 26 percentof PIA shares will be placedin the open market.
Minister said that presentgovernment under the dy-namic leadership of PrimMinister Muhammad NawazSharif will make progress inevery field of life. To anotherquestion he said that print-ing currency is not an issue,adding that every country isdoing so according toneeds.—APP
All measures beingmade to strengthen
economy: Dar
Oil market strikeseight-month low
LONDON—Global oil pricessank this week to an eight-month low in New York on highUS crude and product stock-piles that indicated suppliescontinue to outpace demand.Commodity markets also re-acted to weaker-than-expectedkey economic data in the UnitedStates, which is a major con-sumer of raw materials. The USadded a paltry 74,000 jobs inDecember, in a slowdown inemployment creation that damp-ened hopes that the world’s big-gest economy has moved intohigher gear.
The Labor Departmentdata was far below the197,000 jobs economists hadexpected, and less than halfthe monthly average of thepast 12 months. OIL: NewYork’s main oil contract WestTexas Intermediate plungedon Thursday to $91.66 perbarrel, a level last seen onMay 1. The US Energy Infor-mation Administration re-ported Wednesday thatcrude stockpiles fell lastweek by a smaller amountthan analysts had expected.
“The (price) weaknesswas partly due to concernsabout the excess supply of oilin the US, which came to theforefront once again aftercrude inventories showed asmaller reduction than hadbeen priced in,” saidForex.com analyst FawadRazaqzada. “What’s more, theopening of a major oilfield inLibya meant concerns aboutdisruption of supply in thatregion had eased a tad.”
Oil prices are likely to facefurther downward pressure,with Libyan output up to546,000 barrels a day from250,000 barrels a day previously.Despite the increase in output,analysts do not expect Libyato return to its previous outputof 1.4 million barrels soon. ByFriday on London’s Intercon-tinental Exchange, Brent NorthSea crude for delivery in Feb-ruary dropped to $106.33 a bar-rel from $108.25 a week earlier.On the New York Mercantile Ex-change, West Texas Intermedi-ate or light sweet crude for Feb-ruary fell to $92.27 a barrel from$95.45.—AFP
Delegationbriefed on tradepromotion steps
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Punjab Board ofInvestment and Trade (PBIT)arranged a briefing for a del-egation of National Manage-ment College (NMC) on stepstaken by the government forpromotion of trade and invest-ment in Punjab here on Satur-day. The delegation consistedof 15 members of the seniormanagement wing and facultymembers of the college.
Senior officials of PBITinformed the visiting delega-tion about initiatives taken bythe board and highlightedvarious achievements and in-centives given by the provin-cial authorities to encourageinvestment opportunities inthe province. They informedthe visitors that Punjab of-fered rich opportunities of in-vestment in energy sector.
Chicken pricefixed at Rs240
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—The govern-ment has fixed chickenprice at Rs240 per kilogramin the retail market, and livechicken at Rs150 per kilo-gram, an official said.“Commissioner (price con-trol) Karachi has fixedchicken price for a periodtill January 15,” he said.However, retailers are sell-ing chicken at a price up toRs320 per kilogram. “Wecannot sell chicken at thegovernment’s fixed rate asit is lower than the whole-sale price,” a retailer said.
He said that the rate ofchicken is determined bythe changes in demand andsupply of the poultry.“Chicken is in high demandthis winter and the price atwhich the poultry is beingsold is determined by theexisting demand and sup-ply of it.” The governmentshould factor-in the in-crease in price of poultryfeed, vaccination and otherutilities in the use of farm-ers at the time of fixing thecommodity price, he said.
China collaborateswith Pakistan to
boost yieldBEIJING—Beijing Engi-neering Research Centerfor Hybrid Wheat(BERCHW), has providedselected varieties of hy-brid wheat to Pakistan,suitable for plantation indifferent parts of thecountry with the objectiveto boost crop production.For last few yearsBERCHW, China’s lead-ing scientific research in-stitute, was in close col-laboration with Pakistan’sboth public and privatesector to enhance staplecrop production. Some ofthe varieties were suitablefor local environmentsand have shown positiveresults.
BERCHW, besides ex-tending technical & sci-entific assistance to Pa-kistan, has so far alsoprovided free of cost12000 KGs of hybridwheat seeds. For on thespot expert advice, sev-eral Chinese agriculturescientists also visited Pa-kistan.
Besides, transfer oftechnology, Chinese ex-perts have trained Paki-stani counterparts so thatthey could disseminatetheir knowledge to theircolleagues to make thecountry achieve foodautarky. It is expectedthat within couple ofyears, hybrid wheat willbe cultivated in vast ar-eas on commercial basisin Pakistan. Pakistani stu-dents, numbering in hun-dred, were also studyingin various areas of agri-culture and livestock indifferent higher learningeducational institutionsin Beijing and other prov-inces of China.—AFP
KARACHI—Follow-ing were the bullionrates in major citiesyesterday.
KARACHI:
MULTAN:
Currency Selling Buying
Bullion Rates
RS PER 10 GRAMS
AMANULLAH KHAN
KARACHI—Samsung Elec-tronics Co., Ltd., the leader inTV technology for 8 years, to-day announced it will bring itsnewly introduced 105” U9500Curved Ultra High Definition(UHD) TV and 85” U9BBendable UHD TV to consum-ers in the second half of 2014.Following the unveiling ofthese two new breakthroughmodels at CES 2014 this week,the company will add them toits stunning line up of Curvedand UHD TVs this year.
“Given the tremendousmedia and industry receptionfor these new products, weare excited to bring our 105”Curved UHD TV and 85”Bendable UHD TV to con-sumers around the world,”said HS Kim, executive vicepresident of the visual dis-play business at SamsungElectronics. “People who are
passionate about entertain-ment will have a whole newway to experience the con-tent they love with these ex-citing new models that show-case exceptional design andUHD picture quality.”
Samsung’s 105” U9500Curved UHD TV is theworld’s first and largestCurved UHD TV. The set fea-tures an expansive display,curved design and is the larg-est TV ever with a movie-the-ater aspect ratio of 21 x 9 tocreate a truly cinematic view-ing experience in the livingroom. From 4K content, toFull HD and HD sources, ev-erything will look better onthis TV which boasts un-matched resolution. Thecombination of the screensize and Samsung’s AutoDepth Enhancer technologybrings amazing depth to thepicture and produces a life-like viewing experience.
Pre-budgetseminar
AMANULLAH KHAN
KARACHI—The KarachiChamber of Commerce andIndustry (KCCI) will be orga-nizing a pre-budget seminaron Saturday, January 18, 2014in which Chairmen of tradeassociations and industrialzones of Karachi will be in-vited to give their inputs onFederal Budget 2014-15. In astatement issued, PresidentKCCI, Abdullah Zaki saidthat KCCI’s seminar will befocusing on highlighting anumber of issues pertainingto Sales Tax Refunds alongwith problems being faceddue to the Afghan TransitTrade. It will provide an op-portunity to identify cus-toms anomalies, besides ex-ploring ways and means onhow to improve Pakistan’sexports, he added.
He informed that theseminar will also suggest in-centives for business com-munity and discuss variousissues pertaining to FBR.Karachi Chamber has alsoadvised trade associations tocome up with suggestions onhow to improve the ongoingenergy crisis, poor law andorder situation, developmentof industry, trade, real estate& construction sectors sothat these suggestions couldbe forwarded to the govern-ment authorities. AbdullahZaki said that it will providean opportunity to all associa-tions to come forward andgive recommendations onhow to pull the economy outof ongoing crisis.
PPCBL recoversRs751.36mSTAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Punjab ProvincialCooperative Bank Limited(PPCBL) has recovered Rs751.36 million of NPLs fromJuly 1 to December 31, 2013.Out of which the NPLs cashrecovery is Rs 694.65 millionand in shape of transfer ofproperties in name of PPCBLis Rs 56.71 million, accordingto a press release.
This was disclosed bySyed Tallat Hussain, Presi-dent /CEO of the bank, dur-ing reporting of half yearperformance of the bank.He also said the bank hadlaunched attractive depositscheme due to which thebank’s deposit base hadbeen increased from Rs2704.27 million (as on June30, 2013) to Rs 4017.33 mil-lion (December 31, 2013).The bank has earned hand-some profi ts due to in-crease in its efficiency. Thebank has earned a profit, i.e.EBT, an amount of Rs 315million during the first halfof the FY 2013-14, which ismore than 20 percentagainst the previous quar-ter.
Syed Tallat Hussain haspleasingly conveyed thatthe bank has made a recordrecovery under Crop Kharif2013 till December 31, 2013,i.e. Rs 1.775 billion, whichis 92.58 percent. The bankhas advanced credit of Rs1.791 billion under CropRabi 2013-14 to 62,714 mem-bers of the 9,935 coopera-tive societies for meetingfarmers’ agri-based needs.It is pertinent to mentionhere that the recovery ofCrop Kharif 2013 and thefacility of credit for CropRabbi 2013-14 will be con-tinued till January 15.
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—The FederalBoard of Revenue has reducedsales tax on import and supplyof fabrics to 3 percent. In a writ-ten reply to the Senate, FinanceMinister Ishaq Dar said that therate of sales tax on “fabric” hasbeen rationalized @ 3 percent.SRO. 898(I)/2013 had been is-sued to remove confusion onsales tax chargeable on sup-plies and import of ‘Fabric’. Incase of the textile sector, the rateof sales tax on raw materials is 2percent while the rate of salestax for finished goods is 5 per-cent.
There was confusion withrespect to ‘Fabric’, as towhether it is a finished goodor a raw material. The FBR wasof the opinion that ‘Fabric’ is
ST on fabrics reducedready for use and sales tax @5 percent should be charged,while the taxpayers were of theopinion that ‘Fabric’ has to stillundergo process of manufac-turing, therefore, it is a raw ma-terial chargeable to sales tax @2 percent. In order to resolvethis dispute and rather thanleaving the determination ofrate of sales tax on ‘Fabric’ tothe field offices, the federalgovernment as a consciouspolicy rationalised the rate ofsales tax on ‘Fabric’ @ 3 per-cent.
To another query, IshaqDar said that no, it is not a factthat sales tax for unregisteredretailers has been reducedfrom 17 percent to 1 percent.Retailers are covered underChapter II of the Sales Tax Spe-cial Procedure Rules, 2007
Minister forramping up farmmechanisation
STAFF REPORTER
MULTAN—Federal Ministerfor National Food Securityand Research (MNFSR)Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosanhas said, “We have toachieve the goal of food ex-port after attaining the self-sufficiency and by rampingup farm mechanisation, whichwill accelerate growth rate inagriculture sector.” Talking tonewsmen, the minister saidthe government would notallow the fleecing by the fer-tilizers as well as seed dealersand interests of the growerswould be protected.
He said that some ele-ments were selling fertilizersat exorbitant rate and theywere extorting Rs 150 per bagexcess than fixed price andsuch practice would never betolerated. The ministerclaimed the incumbent gov-ernment is committed to wel-fare of farming community. Inthis regard various measuresare being taken to uplift andmodernise agriculture sector,he added.
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—The govern-ment has not yet evolvedany concerted plan to capi-talize on GSP plus facility,which perturbed the apparelexporters who are now los-ing hopes to grab Europeanmarkets after facing toughimport policies and persis-tent gas and electricity short-age to manufacturing units.Apparel exporters ruled outthe country’s ambitious andimaginary export targets,saying that Pakistani export-ers have only 10 productslines at hand to offer theEuropean buyers for saleswhereas competitive coun-tries offer over 40 items atthe same markets.
The government has nopreparations to increase thecountry’s textile products’exports to the EU markets,they said, adding that the tex-tile ministry has not evenformed a taskforce to initiatethe job to utilize the GSP plusfacility. Chief CoordinatorPakistan Readymade Gar-ments Manufacturers andExporters Association(Prgmea), Ijaz A. Khokharshowed frustration over the
Inaction to capitaliseon GSP plus slated
inaction of the governmentto scale up the country’s tex-tile exports to the EU underthe GSP plus regime.
“I am not hopeful thatthe country will ever achieve
the textile export growth un-der GSP plus facility sincethere is no official plan inplace to provide directions tothe exporters,” he said, add-ing that manufacturing unitsare facing severe input short-age. He said that the indus-trial units were functioning at40 percent scale for the lackof gas and electricity.
“The industry is hardlyproviding required stuff tothe world markets at present.It is impossible for exporters
to increase output in suchcircumstances,” he said.
“The buyers are more in-terested in getting timelyshipments than the productsunder GSP plus facility, as a
number of factors continueto hinder the shipments ofwhich law and order inKarachi topped the predica-ments,” he said. He was ofthe view that the country’sindustries are required to runat full-scale to improve exportto the EU markets. “The gov-ernment is not keen to intro-duce Pakistani products atthe European markets sincetextile ministry has no suchplans at hand,” he main-tained.
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Deposits ofscheduled banks rose toRs7.5 trillion at the end ofcalendar year 2013 (CY13),mainly due to the StateBank’s minimum depositrates (MDR) condition MDRcondition gave a better re-turn to depositors, besidesattracting new deposits forthe banking industry. Duringlast year, the SBP linked MDRwith reverse Repo rate withthe result the MDR increasedto 7 percent from 6 percent.
SBP imposed conditionon banks a few years ago,when banks were earning ahealthy profit, therefore, toencourage deposits, the SBPdecided to fix a minimum profitrate for depositors. Accordingto State Bank, year-on-yearbasis, deposits of scheduledbanks surged by 13 percentor Rs 846 billion to new his-toric high of Rs 7.53 trillion inCY13 as compared to Rs6.68trillion in CY12.
Investment of the sched-uled banks shows a growth of
Bank deposits rise to Rs7.5 trl5 percent or Rs 181 billion to Rs4.07 trillion at the end of CY13up from Rs 3.889 trillion in CY12.Banker said a massive increasein the investment of scheduledbanks was witnessed after anincrease of 100bps in policy rateby the SBP. However, most ofthe investment was made ingovernment papers as a result,the cash-strapped governmentalso benefited by raising hand-some amounts from banksthrough auction of TreasuryBills.
Similarly, advances ofscheduled banks were al-most flat during most of theperiod of CY13 and in factdepicted a decline of 0.7 per-cent in first nine months ofCY13. However, advancesposted a surprise growth ofsome 6 percent in last quar-ter and reached Rs4.07 tril-lion at the end of CY13 com-pared to Rs 3.587 trillion inCY12. The growth in ad-vances also picked up afterincrease in discount rate.“Following the higher infla-tion figures, we expect someincrease in policy rate in
CY14 and as a result depos-its of scheduled banks willfurther grow,” said UmeshKumar, an analyst. However,Kumar said growth in ad-vances will not outpacegrowth in deposits in ab-sence of uncertain invest-ment climate coupled withunresolved energy issues. Inlong run, it is being expectedthat advances will increase asthe new government contin-ues to address energy prob-lem and introduce business-friendly policies, he said.
“Monetary tighteningwas eyed as an emergingtheme for banks in secondhalf of CY13 but the linkingof MDR on savings depos-its to the discount rate hasproved to be a game changerfor the sector,” said BilalQamar, an analyst at JS. Al-though further tightening islikely to bode well for thebanking sector, we now en-visage relatively curtailedgrowth in banking spreadsgoing forward as comparedto previous monetary tight-ening cycles, Qamar added.
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—The sales of lo-cal cars, including light com-mercial vehicles (LCVs), vansand jeeps were recorded at61,252 units during the firsthalf of fiscal 2013-14(1HFY14), showing a rise of6.5 percent compared to57,540 units in the corre-sponding period of the lastfiscal year (1HFY13), re-ported Pakistan AutomotiveManufacturers Association(Pama). However, in Dec2013, car sales fell 7.5 percentmonth on month (MoM) to8,868 units.
An analyst attributed thedecrease to the year-end phe-nomenon as buyers preferredto buy New Year model car.On Year on year (YoY) basis,the sales depicted a five per-cent surge compared to 8,448units in December 2012.Amongst individual compa-nies, Pak Suzuki recorded 3.4percent increase in sales to35,492 units in 1HFY14 asagainst 34,324 units in the1HFY13, according to thePama’s data. Alone in Dec
2013, sales remained fairlystable at 5,981 units asagainst 5,989 units in Novem-ber 2013.
Indus Motor sales im-proved by 3.3 percent to15,179 units in the periodunder review compared to14,699 units earlier. The com-pany, however, registered 9.2percent MoM decrease to1,982 units in December 2013,yet 26 percent YoY increase.Sale of Honda Cars climbed20.5 percent YoY to 9,989units. In December 2013, itssales dipped to 655 unitscompared to 1,310 units inNovember 2013 and 864 unitsin December 2012, showedthe Pama’s data.
Saeed said the recentnumbers are in line with ourestimates as mentioned inour last report dated January1, 2014. Topline’s salesgrowth forecast for the fullfiscal year stands at five toeight percent. “As the sec-ond half of a fiscal year usu-ally remains good forautomakers, we expect fur-ther improvement in car salesgoing forward,” he said.
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Federal Ministerfor Petroleum and Natural Re-sources Shahid KhaqanAbbasi made it loud and clearthat the government has de-cided to review all the agree-ments earlier made to supplynatural gas to the CaptivePower Plants (CPP). He saidthat the government is leavingno stone unturned to resolvethe on-going gas crisis but im-port of additional gas is the onlyviable solution of gas shortage.
“To some extent gasloadshedding in the countrywould be controlled duringthe upcoming winter whilemasses would witness a ma-jor relief in gas loadsheddingafter passing two years andthere would be surplus gasat the end of constitutionaltenure of the incumbent gov-
ernment,” Shahihd said.“Presence of 60 to 70pc CNGfilling stations in the residen-tial areas has caused de-crease in the gas supply todomestic consumers and gapbetween demand and supplyis of 30pc,” he also said.
He further deplored thatduring last twelve years, nogas was imported to and themasses are bearing heavybrunt of this failure of the gov-ernment. However, now thegovernment is seriously striv-ing to bring imported gas. Thegovernment is busy in nego-tiations with various countriesincluding Qatar for the importof LNG immediately to thecountry to get rid from the on-going gas crisis. LNG wouldbe expansive in comparisonwith the cost of locally pro-duced gas and domestic con-sumers would be affected due
to its impact. Besides, govern-ment is trying its level best toget additional gas from old gasfields and from tight gas fields.“17 to 18pc Pakistani utilizenatural gas “.
He said gas situationwould be improved duringnext March as gas demand wasincreased with the start ofwinter season and increase indemand has caused reductionin the supply of gas to do-mestic consumers. Similarly,situation is worsened inRawalpindi, Islamabad andthose areas of Punjab wherefertilzer and industry wasscheduled to close.
Federal Minister has alsomade it clear that gas crisiswould persist in Punjab prov-ince for next two months andthere would be no gas tariffhike for domestic consumersof natural gas.
Govt to reviewagreements with CPPs
61,252 cars thousandcars sold in H1
whereunder they are requiredto pay sales tax on the basis oftheir quarterly turnover. Thisscheme has not been changedfor the retailers.
The rate of withholdingsales tax on supply of goods,made to Sales Tax withhold-ing agents by unregisteredsuppliers, has been reducedfrom 17 percent to 1 percentof the value of suppliesthrough SRO 897(I)/2013,dated 04-10-2013 by amend-ing the Sales Tax Special Pro-cedure (Withholding) Rules,2007. The rate of withholdingtax of 17 percent had beenagitated as highly exorbitant.Keeping in view hardshipsfaced by the registered tax-payers, particularly with re-gard to withholding of tax onpurchases from unregistered.
STAFF REPORTER
LA H O R E—Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharifhas given approval to re-name Garments IndustrialZone as ‘Punjab ApparelPark’ whereas a Board ofManagement has also beenconstituted for running thePAP affairs. This was de-cided at a high level meet-ing presided over by theChief Minister and at-tended by Provincial Min-isters Tanvir Aslam,Muhammad Shafique, Ad-visor Dr. Ijaz Nabi, MPA Dr.Ayesha Ghaus Pasha, Se-nior Member Board of Rev-enue, P&D Chairman, sec-retaries concerned, thePIEDMC senior officialsand industr ial is ts associ-ated with garments indus-try, according to a handoutissued here Saturday. I twas also decided that re-nowned industr ial is tMuhammad Ahsan wouldbe Chairman of the PAPBoard of Management.
On this occasion,Shahbaz Sharif said that all
Garments Industrial Zonerenamed as Punjab Apparel Park
persons in the Board hadbeen taken from private sec-tor. Punjab Apparel Parkwould be set up at 1,500acres of land with 1,170plots of different sizes,while an amount of Rs 2.5billion had been releasedfor acquiring the land, headded.
The Chief Minister saidthat a hospital, vocationaltraining institute, play-grounds and other neces-sary facilities would be en-sured in the park, besidesinstallation of a moderntreatment plant and 12 acresof land had been allocatedfor skill development cen-tre. He said that specialoutsourced transport sys-tem would be provided forpick and drop of labourersand a labour colony wouldalso be established in thePark.
A modern hall wouldalso be constructed in thePark for exhibition of indus-trial products and a powerplant of 25 megawatt wouldinitially be set up for pro-viding uninterrupted elec-
tricity to the industries, hesaid and assured that qual-ity construction of sewer-age, water supply, drainageand roads in the park wouldbe maintained.
The Chief Minister saidthat with GSP-Plus status,the PAP project wouldflourish garments sectorand help accelerate indus-trialization in Punjab bybringing billions of rupeesinvestment, besides creat-ing new jobs and increas-ing the export volume sub-stantially.
Investors from China,Turkey, Middle East and Eu-rope would be invited to setup garments projects,whereas investment oppor-tunities would also be avail-able to the local industrial-ists in Punjab Apparel Park,he maintained. The ChiefMinister directed the quar-ters concerned that legalframework regarding imple-mentation of the projectshould be finalized at theearliest and the project’smaster plan be evolved im-mediately.
Samsung to introducecurved UHD TV in 2014
STAFF REPORTER
ISLAMABAD—Due to lowgas pressure the helplessconsumers have been leftwith no option but to useLPG. The prices of the com-modity have gone up de-spite abundant supply. Inthe absence of gas, peoplewere using LPG as an alter-nate source of fuel, but theLPG traders have inflatedthe commodity price to Rs170 per kg in the twin citiesof Islamabad/Rawalpindiwhereas in hilly areas, LPGis available at Rs 220 per kg.Gas consumers were con-fronted with serious energycrisis, as all the sectors ofnational economy depen-dent on natural gas were fac-ing gas suspension or load-shedding. To provide unin-terrupted gas to domesticconsumers, the governmenthas suspended gas supplyto CNG and industrial sec-tors in Punjab, while in Sindh
there is four-day a week gasload-shedding for CNG sta-tions and other sectors.
Natural gas plays a domi-nant role in the country’senergy mix as from powerhouses to household eachsector largely depends ongas. Oil and gas productionhas registered a steady in-crease over the last few yearson the back of successfulexploratory efforts. The pro-duction of oil during 2011-12was 67,140 barrels per day,while gas productionreached a record level of4.259 billion cubic feet perday. Pakistan’s total gas pro-duction at present stands at4.3 BCF against total man-aged demand of 6 BCF. Ac-cording to the official, theconsumers on the system ofSui Northern Gas Pipelines(SNGPL) are facing 1.7 BCFshortage of gas as a resultthe management is forced tocompletely cut gas supply tothe industrial sector, CNG
stations and fertiliser indus-try.
At present the country isfacing a total gas shortfall of4 Billion Cubic Feet per Day(BCFD) as total supply isstagnant at 4.3 BCFD againsttotal demand of 8 BCFD,while out of 4.3 BCFD gas 3BCFD is distributed betweentwo gas distribution compa-nies, ie, SNGPL and SSGCL.About 1.3 BCFD gas is dedi-cated to fertiliser, power andcement plants which is of lowBTU type. SNGPL is beingsupplied with 1.9 BCFD ofgas against its overall de-mand of 4 BCFD to facilitatesome 4.5 million consumersin Punjab and KhyberPakhtunkhwa, while SSGC isgetting 1.1 BCFD of gas tofacilitate around 2 millionconsumers in Sindh andBalochistan. The govern-ment has resorted to gas load-management plan since 2007-08, according to which gassupply at present, excluding
domestic and textile indus-try is suspended to all theother sectors on the net-work of SNGPL, while onthe system of SSGC gassupply to CNG stations andindustry remains sus-pended for 4 days a week.
Total managed gas de-mand is over 2 BCFD on boththe systems. SNGPL is facinga gas shortfall of over 1.7BCFD and SSGC around 7Million Cubic Feet per Day(MMCFD). The gas shortagehas compromised foreign ex-change earning export-ori-ented industries includingcement, leather, sports good,value added textile industryand many other sectors. Ac-cording to Ghiyas AbdullahParacha of all Pakistan CNGAssociation, during the on-going months around 0.4 mil-lion people associated directlyor indirectly with CNG busi-ness have become joblessdue to suspension of gas sup-ply to CNG outlets.
Traders accused of milking masses
CNG holidayfor 24 hours
from MondaySTAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—CNG stations inSindh will remain closed for24 hours from 8.00 am onMonday to 8.00 am on Tues-day. Due to higher off-take,availability of the gas hasdecreased resulting indepletion of line pack andlow pressure in the system.In compliance with sectoralpriority order for gas loadmanagement, there will be 24hours holiday of CNG holi-day during the next week.
This was informed to AllPakistan CNG Association-Sindh Zone by Sui SouthernGas Company Limited(SSGCL) through a circularhere on Saturday. The CNGstations found operativeduring this period will havetheir gas supply discon-nected. CNG stations havebeen advised to fill CNG.
USA 105.30 104.88
UK 172.67 172.34
Euro 143.44 143.17
Canada 97.55 97.36
Switzerland 115.89 115.67
Australia 93.95 93.77
Sweden 16.17 16.14
Japan 1.0038 1.0019
Norway 17.08 17.05
Singapore 82.84 82.69
Denmark 19.23 19.19
Saudi Arabia 28.08 28.02
Hong Kong 13.55 13.52
Kuwait 372.92 372.23
Malaysia 32.07 31.01
Newzealand 87.28 87.11
Qatar 28.92 28.86
UAE 28.67 28.61
KR. WON 0.0988 0.0987
Thailand 3.283 3.177
Gold Tezabi 44,485.00Silver Tezabi 702.85
Gold Tezabi (24-Ct)44580.00Gold 22 Ct 40750.00SilverTezabi s695.00Silver Thobi 635.00
SIALKOT: Students participating in Tug of War competition during Punjab Youth Sports Festival at Murray College.
LARKANA: Chief Secretary Sindh Sajjad Saleem Hotiana visiting newly built AstroturfHockey Stadium at Khuhru Sports Complex.
FAISALABAD: Players struggling to get hold on ball during final game of Chief Minister Punjab Inter-Region WomenHockey Cup played at Hockey Stadium.
KARACHI—Seamer SohailKhan’s five-wicket haul, fol-lowed by an unbeaten centuryfrom the opener Shahzaib Hasanhelped Port Qasim Authority toa comprehensive nine-wicketwin over State Bank of Pakistanin Karachi.
State Bank, put in to bat,were never really in the game,and lost wickets right from theoff. A couple of batsmen madestarts, but apart from GulraizSadaf’s 40, there was no othermeaningful contribution fromanyone else as Sohail ran throughthe line-up to bundle the team outfor 147 and finish with 5 for 20.
Port Qasim were alwayscomfortable chasing a paltry to-tal as the openers Shahzaid andKhalid Latif raced to 48 in 4.4overs. Latif fell for 14, butShahzaid carried on, scoringpredominantly in boundaries.Only 8 of his 112 runs camefrom running between the wick-ets, as he blasted 11 fours and10 sixes to take Port Qasimhome in 12.2 overs.
Fifties from Fawad Alam andUmar Waheed paved the way for
National Bank of Pakistan’s 88-run win against Zarai TaraqiatiBank Limited in Islamabad.
National Bank, put in to bat,were buoyed by starts from alltheir top-order batsmen, but itwas Alam and Waheed’s 110-runassociation for the fifth wicketthat helped them put up 283 for8 from 45 overs. Waheed struckfour fours and a six during his 51,while Alam’s 94 included 11fours and one six.
ZTBL were never convinc-ing in their chase, and lost wick-ets at regular intervals to slumpto 69 for 5 in the 14th over. AbdulRazzaq briefly stopped the slideby hitting 57, but received littleby way of support at the otherend, as Ahmed Jamal and WahabRiaz notched three scalps apieceto dismiss ZTBL for 195.
Fast bowler Zohaib Ahmedand legspinner Samiullah sharedsix wickets between them to runthrough Habib Bank Limited andset up a seven-wicket win forPakistan Television in Lahore.
Habib Bank, put in to bat,could only muster 165 from 40overs, with the major source of
runs coming from Hasan Razawho top-scored with 43. How-ever, none of the other batsmenmade more than 27. Zohaib fin-ished with 3 for 42 andSamiullah, 3 for 27.
Pakistan TV’s openersMohammad Naeem andMohammad Adnan began thechase brightly by putting up astand of 77 in 22.2 overs. Theylost three quick wickets in thenext 10 overs, but Fahad-ul-Haqscored 40 off 33 deliveries to sealthe win in 41 overs.
United Bank Limited cruisedto a seven-wicket win againstPakistan International Airlines inKarachi. PIA, put in to bat, wereprecariously placed at 30 for 5before Sheharyar Ghani led a re-covery by scoring 59. However,only three batsmen reacheddouble digits, as MohammadRameez, Adil Raza and AtifMaqbool picked up seven wick-ets between them dismiss PIA for124. United Bank lost AmmarHasan early in the chase, but re-built through a second-wicketstand of 76 between Ahsan Aliand Saad Sukhail, before Saeed
Bin Nasir struck 44 off 47 tocomplete the win.
Saeed Anwar’s century wentin vain, as Khan Research Labo-ratories succumbed to a three-rundefeat to Sui Northern Gas Pipe-lines Limited in Faisalabad.
Umar Akmal, SaleemMughal and Mohammad Rizwanall made 40s for SNGPL, butnone of their other batsmenscored more than 10, as Yasir Aliand Nauman Ali notched threescalps apiece to restrict the teamto 199 for 9.
KRL however began the pal-try chase disastrously, losingwickets at regular intervals toslump to 21 for 5. Anwar and AliKhan however counterattackedby adding 105 for the sixthwicket. Ali Khan struck threefours and two sixes during hisknock, but was caught behind bythe keeper for 54. Anwar carriedon, hitting eight fours and foursixes, but with partners runningout at the other end, he was leftstranded at 103 and KRL fell justthree runs short. Asad Ali andImran Ali both took three wick-ets for SNGPL.
President’s Cup One-Day Tournament 2013-14
Shahzaib hits 104 as PortQasim rout State Bank
AU C K L A N D—Big-servingAmerican John Isner beatTaiwan’s Lu Yen-hsun in twotight sets in the Auckland Openfinal on Saturday to complete hispreparations for next week’s Aus-tralian Open in style.
The world number 14 edgedLu 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (9/7) to win theeighth title of his career—and hissecond in Auckland—in a matchwith no service breaks.
“This is the only title I’vewon outside the US. This is anamazing feeling. I will cherishthis one for sure,” Isner said.
“I’m going to go into theAustralian Open with a lot ofconfidence, which players willtell you is sometimes hard tocome by.
“I’m one of the few playersgoing there on a winning streak,
so I have that on my side.”The towering American, who
also won the title in 2010, reliedheavily on his rocket serve, send-ing down 23 aces, and after be-ing taken to break point in his firstservice game was never seriouslythreatened on serve again.
Meanwhile, Spanish quali-fier Garbine Muguruza won herfirst WTA title with a 6-4, 6-0victory over Czech seventh seedKlara Zakopalova in the final ofthe Hobart International Satur-day.
Muguruza, ranked 58, hadtoo much power for Zakopalova,with her groundstrokes taking herto victory in 70 minutes.
The Venezuelan-born 20-year-old joined Germany’s MonaBarthel, who won in 2012, as theonly qualifiers to win the Hobart
tournament.It ended a big week for
Muguruza, who knocked out sec-ond seed and Wimbledon semi-finalist Kirsten Flipkens of Bel-gium on the way to her first WTAfinal.
Muguruza did not drop a setfrom the qualifiers to the final asshe tuned up for a first-roundmeeting with Estonian 24th seedKaia Kanepi at next week’s Aus-tralian Open in Melbourne.
She swept aside compatriotEstrella Cabeza Candela 6-0, 6-1 in the semi-finals to set up herfinal with Zakopalova.
The 37th-ranked Czech hadbeaten top seed Sam Stosur 6-3,6-2 in the semis and will meetthe Australian again in the open-ing round of the Open.—AFP
Isner edges Taiwan’s Luto win Auckland Open
FOA distributekits among
players of KAcricket clubs
PESHAWAR—On behalf of Gov-ernor, Khyber PakhtunkhwaEngr. Shaukat Ullah, PresidentFATA Olympic Association, Sec-retary General of the associationShahid Khan Shinwari distrib-uted playing cricket kits amongthe players of various clubs of theKhyber Agency here at QayyumSports Complex on Saturday.
Former hockey OlympianRahim Khan, PCB coach HajiBadshah, former first class crick-eter Janis Khan Afridi, Haji MerjUddin, Tahir Afridi, players andclubs officials were also presenton this occasion.
Speaking on this occasion,Shahid Khan Shinwari said thaton the directives of GovernorKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Engr.Shaukat Ullah, who is also Presi-dent of FATA Olympic Associa-tion, the kits were distributedamong the players. He said clubsare the basic nurseries of anysports and full concentration hasbeen given to promote clubcricket.
He said efforts are underwayto involve different schools ofFATA so that the tribal youthcould come and show their skillsat national and international lev-els. He lauded Governor KhyberPakhtunkhwa for taking keen in-terest in supporting FOA andtribal youth.
He also appealed to the of-fice-bearers of various clubs toelect honest, committed and dedi-cated people in the forthcomingRegional election to be held un-der the aegis of Pakistan CricketBoard.—APP
Sojhanpurteam wins
football matchMULTAN—The Sojhanpur teamof Union Council (UC) 66 wona football match by defeating ateam of Basti Bohar of the sameUC in Punjab Youth Festival(PYF) competitions at unioncouncil level.
The Punjab Youth Festivalcontinues at union council leveland a football match was playedbetween Mouza Sojhanpur andBasti Bohar of UC 66 at footballground. The Sojhanpur team wonthe match by one goal.—APP
DHAKA—Nazmul Hassan,BCB president, hasn’t yet madea big statement without back-ing it with facts. His assertionon the significance of the nextthree months for Bangladesh, asa result, holds a lot of meaning.
He claims to have crossedthe first of many hurdles by con-vincing Sri Lanka and Pakistanof taking a positive view of theirvisits to Bangladesh. But mostpoignantly, he believes that de-spite their efforts of persuasion,one small incident stands to de-stroy Bangladesh cricket.
There are obviously twoways to view this statement.The easy route would be to callhim unconvinced ofBangladesh’s security situation- him of all people giving anegative view of what mighthappen. There won’t be manyto blame him. While the politi-cal violence has been broughtunder some control over thepast few days, there are no vis-ible guarantees of calm.
A major security assess-ment will take place later thismonth when the participatingteams of the World Twenty20will send their security repre-sentatives to Dhaka, Chittagongand Sylhet. They arrive onJanuary 20, a week after a two-member security committee ofSri Lanka Cricket will conductan assessment of their own anddeduce whether the Sri Lankatour will be played in the threevenues or not.
There is some trepidation ofthe political situation inBangladesh when the securityteam visits, but, as Hassan saidon Friday, it is not entirely up tothe BCB to keep Bangladeshsafe.
He has called on the entirecountry to be involved in keep-ing players and the general envi-ronment safe. The BCB mayhave the strongest security forceat their disposal but it will be upto the political parties to ensure aviolence-free Bangladesh till at
least April 6, when the WorldTwenty20 final is scheduled to beheld in Mirpur.
“We know why the WestIndies Under-19 team left in themiddle of their tour,” Hassansaid. “It is because a cocktail ex-ploded near their hotel. If such athing happens again, it will be allover for Bangladesh. The impactof such an incident in the com-ing months would be even worse.The BCB cannot control everyroad and hotel in Bangladesh. Itis quite a big country. We cannotstop someone from exploding acocktail.
“For now, we have done ourpart but now it is up to the politi-cal parties, the government, me-dia and the general public whohave to take up the responsibil-ity. We have discussed yesterdayhow this is the biggest World Cupever, with 26 teams participating.There are so many tournamentslined up, which in itself is a first-time occurrence. This is a veryimportant time for Bangladesh.
If a small incident occurs caus-ing teams to avoid playing here,we will be set back by 15-20years and destroy our cricket.”
At one point during the lastfew months, Hassan believed thatthe cricket events would all beshelved: “I basically think that wehave done what we needed to dotill now. We needed to make themunderstand that they should comehere to play. This was our majorchallenge.
“To be honest, the situationwas so bad here that there was apossibility of them not coming.We will contact the political par-ties regularly, so that we can workwith everyone’s cooperation,”
The link between the threeevents is crucial for the BCB.They had to confirm Sri Lankato ensure a sense of safety forthe Asia Cup, and they expectto host the World Twenty20 ifthey can host the preceding twoevents incident-free. But con-vincing Pakistan seems to beanother matter, which Hassan
claims has been completed. “Ifthe Asia Cup isn’t held here,the World Twenty20 wouldn’ttake place,” Hassan said. “If SriLanka didn’t come here, therewas a big chance for the AsiaCup to be moved. All of thesetournaments are connected.The biggest challenge was AsiaCup because Pakistan had anobjection.
“They asked me if we cangive them additional security. Itold them that we will give allthe teams the topmost security.If your security personnel askus to increase the security, wewill provide that. Until yester-day their appearance inBangladesh was uncertain. Af-ter talking to them in Dubai, itseems they will try to come.”
PCB chief Najam Sethi’sstatement also suggests a moveforward rather than stalling andnot a complete refusal to visit,which was expected in somequarters in Bangladesh.—Agencies
‘One incident could destroy our cricket’
PESHAWAR—Mardan andPeshawar will clash in the finalafter recording victories againsttheir respective rivals in theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Inter-Re-gional Women Hockey Champi-onship played at Post GraduateGirls College Mardan ground onSaturday.
Director Sports and PhysicalEducation of Post Graduate Col-lege Mardan Miss Gul Nar wasthe chief guest on this occasionand before the start of the semi-final matches the players ofMardan, Peshawar, Bannu andHazara were introduced to her.
Director Sports (WomenGames) Miss Rashida Ghaznaviwas also present on the occasion.In the first semi-final match, host
Mardan, Peshawar to clash in KPInter-Region Women Hockey final
Mardan fully dominated the pro-ceedings and did not allow Bannuteam to play with free hands.Bannu in the 10th minute got apenalty stroke but it was nicelysaved by Sidra with her excellentgoal-keeping.
Despite taking five penaltycorners, Bannu failed to scoreany goal. It was in the 17thminute when Sundas took thelead through field attempt whileHinda doubled the lead in the28th minute in similar fashion.At half-time Mardan was lead-ing by 2-0. It was the second ses-sion in which Mardan playersfully dominated and scored twomore goals in the 48th and 63rdminute through Warda Khan andSanum, the left and right wingers.
After conceding 4-0, Bannu play-ers tried their hard to make acomeback but they were failed toreduce the margin. Mardan wonthe match by 4-0.
In the second semi-final de-fending champion Peshawar beatHazara by 3-1 in a thrillingmatch. Hazara took the leadthrough Sadia Jadoon on the fieldattempt in the 4th minute butsoon Peshawar tied the tally 1-1when Shaista slammed in a beau-tiful goal through field attempt.
Shaista scored another goalin the 19th minute to make it 2-1. Peshawar got position of theball and did not give much roomto Hazara to strike back.Peshawar was leading by 2-1 athalf-time.—APP
Qatar Women’s tri-series
Pak bowlers seal110-run opening winDOHA—A disciplined effortfrom the Pakistan Womenseamers ensured their team gotoff to a winning start against Ire-land Women in Doha, securing a110-run victory in the process.
Pakistan batted first, but con-tinually lost wickets throughoutthe innings. Nahida Khan wasone of only two batsmen to scoremore than 20 runs, as Irelanddelivered 51 extras to bolster theirscore to 183 for 9 after 50 overs.Jennifer Gray was the pick of thebowlers with 3 for 40. The Paki-stan seamers made light work ofthe Ireland top and middle order,as only three batsmen crossedinto double figures. Opener ClareShillington top-scored with 29 asIreland were routed for just 73 in31 overs. —Agencies
MELBOURNE—For Australiathere is a World Cup to build forand the chance to add more pain.For England there is a World Cupto build for and a chance to startrepairing some of the damagefrom the Ashes humiliation.
In the previous four Ashesseries the side watching the vic-tors celebrate with the urn haveachieved some modicum of ret-ribution, albeit small, with suc-cess in the one-day contests thatfollow.
However, given thetraumatising effect of the last sixweeks, it would be a brave per-son who would back AlastairCook’s side to continue that
trend. In 2006-07, AndrewFlintoff’s brittle and disen-chanted team somehow managedto snatch the CB Series fromAustralia’s grasp with suchnames as Liam Plunkett, EdJoyce and Paul Nixon to the fore.That fleeting moment of reliefwas followed by a shockingWorld Cup campaign while Aus-tralia went unbeaten to a hat-trickof titles.
This time there is still a yearuntil the global 50-over trophy isup for grabs, but that time willpass quickly and important mark-ers can be laid over the comingweeks. England need to work outthe balance of their top six and
which bowlers will supportStuart Broad and James Ander-son, although the latter is perhapsnot certain to be there. Who ofSteven Finn, Boyd Rankin, TimBresnan, Chris Jordan and ChrisWoakes are the men to star withthe white ball?
Australia, although under-standably carrying the swaggerof 5-0 winners, have some pace-bowling slots of their own to naildown and need to decide whetherXavier Doherty is the man to betheir spinner in 2015. There isalso a battle at top of the orderwith Aaron Finch aiming to firmup an opening slot alongside therecalled David Warner. —Online
Australia take on Englandin first ODI today
VIENNA—Olympic ski jumpingchampion Thomas Morgensternof Austria was hospitalised Sat-urday after suffering another se-rious crash during training atTauplitz.
The spectacular fall, his sec-ond in a month, saw Morgensternlose balance in mid-air and landheavily on his back and head be-fore sliding lifelessly to the bot-tom of the slope.
The 27-year-old, one ofAustria’s leading gold medalhopes for the Sochi Winter Olym-
pics which get underway on Feb-ruary 7, briefly lost conscious-ness and was taken to hospitalwhere he was diagnosed with“serious skull injuries and a lungcontusion,” the Austrian ski fed-eration (OeSV) said in a state-ment. “Thomas Morgenstern isconscious and is speaking. Hewill remain under observation foranother 72 hours in intensivecare,” it said. “The next update... will be made at Salzburg Gen-eral Hospital on Monday at 9.00am (0800 GMT).” —AFP
Morgenstern in hospitalafter second horror crash
DUBAI: Sarfraz Ahmed hits over the top during Pakistan vs Sri Lanka 2nd Test on Saturday.
DUBAI—Sarfraz Ahmed frus-trated Sri Lanka’s bid to win thesecond Test inside four days byhitting his maiden Test half cen-tury and steering Pakistan to 330-7 on Saturday, a lead of 107.
The wicketkeeper made anunbeaten 70 off 123 balls withseven fours after he was flownin as a replacement for the injuredAdnan Akmal. Ahmed was sup-ported by No. 8 Bilawal Bhatti,
who made 32, before rain endedthe fourth day 15 overs early.
Pakistan, trailing by 223, wasjust 22 runs ahead when RanganaHerath got through the defencesof captain Misbah-ul-Haq for 97,putting Pakistan on 245-6.
‘’When Misbah got out Itried to take the responsibilitybecause I have batted throughthese types of situations in firstclass cricket back home,’’ Ahmedsaid.
Ahmed and Bhatti confi-dently batted in overcast condi-tions in the last session and added67 runs to push the Test into thelast day.
‘’The first hour (Sunday) isvery important for us, if we sur-vive then definitely we will scoretoo,’’ Ahmed said. ‘’They willalso be under pressure ... If wescore another 100 runs in twosessions, it will give us a goodchance to come back into thematch.’’
Bhatti was unlucky to getbowled when Shaminda Eranga’sfull pitched delivery rolled backonto his stumps, but Saeed Ajmalsurvived the last half hour to beunbeaten on 7.
Ahmed tackled the swing ofseamers by standing at least afoot outside his crease and con-fidently used his feet while ne-gotiating the spin of Herath. Hecompleted his half century off 73
balls with six fours. Misbahmissed his second successivecentury but batted almost sevenhours and faced 248 balls beforeHerath opened up the Pakistantail just before tea. ‘’We neededthat wicket because he’s the onewho batted really well withYounis,’’ Herath said.
‘’I think I bowled a gooddelivery, but apart from that Icouldn’t get much spin from thispitch.’’
Resuming at the overnight132-3, Pakistan lost Younis Khanfor 77 off a reckless shot whenhe edged Suranga Lakmal in the11th over of the day.
Sri Lanka allowed Pakistanto add only 57 runs in the morn-ing session under overcast con-ditions with Misbah scoring hisfirst runs of the day after an hourand facing 37 balls.
Misbah, who was 53 over-night, slowly stretched thefourth wicket stand to 129 withKhan as Sri Lanka seamersEranga and Nuwan Pradeep keptthe pressure on.
Khan succumbed to theprobing line and length by giv-ing wicketkeeper PrasannaJayawardene his fourth catch ofthe innings. Misbah successfullyoverturned an lbw decision on 78,but Shaminda Eranga found theedge of Asad Shafiq for 23 im-mediately after the second new
ball was taken after lunch.Jayawardene, who also took fourcatches in the first innings, needsone more to equal Amal Silva’sSri Lanka Test record of ninecatches. Silva took nine catchestwice during the series againstIndia in 1985.
Misbah scored his first runsof the day when he flickedLakmal to backward square legfor two runs before edging aboundary in the same overthrough the slips.
Indian umpire SundaramRavi ruled Misbah out lbw offEranga when Pakistan stillneeded 28 runs to erase the firstinnings deficit, but TV replayssuggested the ball would havemissed the leg stump.
Eranga broke through in hisfirst over with the second newball when Shafiq edged to thesecond slip before Herath drewMisbah forward and got enoughturn to beat the bat and hit thestump. Misbah, who also scoreda century in the first Test, hiteight fours and a six before hewas undone by Herath’s superbdelivery.
Pradeep, who did the earlydamage on Friday, has taken 2-50 and Eranga got 2-70. Herath,who also bowled with the sec-ond new ball, has 2-124. The firstof the three-Test series wasdrawn.—AP
Pakistan 1st innings 165Sri Lanka 1st innings 388Pakistan 2nd inningsKhurram b Pradeep ............. 6Shehzad b Herath ............... 9Hafeez b Pradeep ................ 1Younis b Lakmal .............. 77Misbah b Herath ............... 97Shafiq b Eranga ................ 23Sarfraz not out .................. 70Bilawal b Eranga .............. 32Ajmal not out ..................... 7Extras (b 1, lb 7) 8Total (7 wickets) 330Fall of wickets 1-11, 2-12, 3-19, 4-148, 5-200, 6-245, 7-312Bowling ............. O-M-R-WLakmal ................. 22-3-62-1Pradeep ................ 19-3-50-2Herath ............. 43.3-8-124-2Eranga .................. 33-9-70-2Mathews ................... 5-1-9-0Sangakkara ............... 1-0-7-0
Pak vs Lanka 2nd Test
Resilient Sarfraz leadsPakistan to 330-7
BIPIN DANI
OBSERVER
CORRESPONDENT
JAIPUR—Exactly on this dayfive decades ago (Sunday, the12th January, 1964), India’sBapu Nadkarni registered hisname in the history book ofcricket records. In a nearly twohour long spell he consecu-tively bowled 21 oversmaiden. The world recordmade against England team inMadras (now Chennai) Test isstill intact.
“At the age of 80, I don’trecall much about the matchbut I still remember the factthat during net practice ses-sions I used to keep the coinon the pitch and trying to hit
Bapu Nadkarni didn’t get duerecognition from Wisden for his
maiden over world recordthe coi9n with each of my deliv-ery”. “Perhaps, the record is notbroken because of the arrival ofOne dayers and Twenty20s, butthe records are meant to be bro-ken and only time will tell whenthis record too is broken bysomebody”, he said over tele-phone from Mumbai.
There were no Man of theMatch awards then but had therebeen so, Bapu Nadkarni mighthave got it in that Test. “Yes,perhaps I would have won thatin this Test”.
Apparently, Nadkarni didnot get enough recognition forhis record-bowling in this Testby the Wisden. “Nadkarnibowled 131 balls without con-ceding a run, but his economydid no service to his side, for
whom wickets, not runs, werethe main consideration. Thebetter bowling was done by legspinner Borde, the majorwicket taker, who allowed only132 runs in 89.4 overs”,Wisden Almanack, the Bible ofCricket had noted in its edition.
Most of the other Indianplayers of the Eleven are notalive with the exception ofChandu Borde and SalimDurani. “It was not a negativebowling by Nadkarni. Thespinner can hardly bowl nega-tives”, says Durani exclusively.“His performance was phe-nomenal. Even the Englandplayers were astonished withhis bowling”, he recalled. “Wewere paid Rs. 250 per Test inthose days”.
KINGSTON—Usain Bolt, theworld’s fastest man, and sprintqueen Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce,were named Jamaica’s Sports-man and Sportswoman of theYear here.
The 27-year-old Bolt, whowon his second IAAF WorldChampionships sprint doubletitle in Moscow in 2013, endedthe Championships by anchor-ing a Jamaican quartet to thegold in the men’s 4x100m relay.
Bolt, who won ten 100mraces and was unbeaten in hisfive races over 200m, was over-joyed with taking his thirdstraight and fifth overall JamaicaSportsman of the Year title.“This year was a wonderfulyear,” said Bolt. “It was hard,lots of ups and downs, but over-all it was a great season.
“The energy I got last yearis continuing to grow and ithelped me to grow in so manyways,” said Bolt, who wonahead of training partner andWorld Championships 200m sil-ver medalist Warren Weir.
Meanwhile, Fraser-Pryce,who had the best season of hercareer, won the sprint double inMoscow. She won the 100m in aworld-leading 10.71 and threedays later topped the 200m fieldin 22.17. Fraser-Pryce, whorounded off her fantastic seasonby securing the historic DiamondLeague sprint double, also said2013 was a difficult year. “It wasa hard year, but a year that met all
my expectations because I workedhard and I was fully committed tothe task ahead,” she said. Both Bolt
and Fraser-Pryce were last Novem-ber named IAAF Male and FemaleAthletes of 2013.—AFP
Jamaican sprint duo Usain Bolt and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Prycewin the IAAF male and female World Athletes of Year for 2013.
Bolt, Pryce named sportsman,sportswoman of year
AUCKLAND—Luke Ronchi andBrendon MCCullum turned aflagging New Zealand inningsaround with an unbeaten 85-runpartnership in the last 7.1 overs,which gave them a comfortabletotal to defend given West Indies’weakened batting.
On a slowish pitch and shortstraight boundaries where mis-hits sail for comfortable sixes,Tino Best pulled New Zealandback twice, but Ronchi andBrendon McCullum smashedseven sixes and five fours in thelast six overs to take the gameaway from West Indies. BrendonMcCullum scored 32 off the last15 balls he played, and Ronchi,the man who provided NewZealand the first turn of momen-tum, took 48 off 25.
It could have been muchworse for West Indies had it notbeen for the intervention fromBest when he stopped the ram-paging Martin Guptill at the topof the innings and Colin Munroin the middle. Guptill just pushedand smacked down the groundeverything pitched in his arc.
The last three balls of thesecond over went for six, fourand four. Best got another overat the top, and showed he hadrealised you couldn’t pitch up atEden park. Guptill still managedto hit a short delivery throughmid-off for four, but Best finallygot the better of him when hecramped him up.
A slow period followed dur-ing which New Zealand lostJesse Ryder and Ross Taylor.Brendon McCullum put his headdown to make sure they didn’tlose too many wickets, in the pro-cess going at under a run a ball.
At 70 for 3 after 10 overs,they needed a push, which Munroprovided with an 18-run overfrom Nikita Miller. Best, though, came back and removed him and Corey Anderson with aggressive
short-of-a-length bowling.After 14 overs, Brendon
McCullum was still only 28 off30, and a low total loomed.Ronchi, though, began the turn-around with an onslaught onAndre Russell, whose first overwas the 15th of the innings.
To balls pitched up, all youneeded was a decent swing of thebat, and they were flying into thestands. Sunil Narine got a quiet16th over in, but he wasn’t ac-corded such respect in the 18thwhen Ronchi slog-swept him fora six, and then read a carrom ballto late-cut it for four.
With the score at 175 after19 overs, it was down to Bestagain. Best began well, bowlingquick and short of a length, con-ceding just one run off the firstthree balls. This is when Brendon
McCullum took the calculatedrisk, charging him, making surethe short ball was now in hisswinging arc, and sending it overlong-on. With the next ball heguessed right, got under a lowfull toss, and ramped it way overfine leg for six. The two shots justpushed a gettable total into therealm of improbable for a weak-ened batting line-up.
Lendl Simmons fell to thepace of Adam Milne, who wouldlater go on to touch 153.1 kmph.Johnson Charles swung a few,but he is a low-percentage bats-man, and soon inside-edgedJames Neesham. With the open-ers gone, it was always going tobe down to Dwayne Bravo andAndre Russell, but by the timethey came together, the requiredrate had crossed 13, and therewere 10 overs to go.—Agencies
New Zealand beat WestIndies by 81 runs in 1st T20
New Zealand inningsGuptill c Charles b Best .... 25Ryder c Charles b Miller ... 22McCullum not out ............ 60Taylor c Bravo b Miller ...... 5Munro c Fletcher b Best ... 22Anderson c Powell b Best ... 0Ronchi not out .................. 48Extras: (b5, w1, nb1) 7Total: (5 wickets; 20 overs) 189Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-56, 3-66, 4-103, 5-104Bowling ............. O-M-R-WBadree .................... 4-0-25-0Best ........................ 4-0-40-3Narine .................... 4-0-46-0Miller ..................... 3-0-26-2Bravo...................... 4-0-24-0Russell .................... 1-0-23-0West Indies innings
Charles b Neesham ........... 16Simmons b Milne ............... 0Fletcher b McCullum........ 23Powell b McCullum ......... 12Bravo b McCullum ........... 10Russell b McCullum ........... 0Walton b Neesham.............. 9Miller not out ................... 15Narine b Neesham .............. 0Badree not out .................. 14Extras (lb2, w7) .................. 9Total (8 wickets; 20 overs) 108Fall of wickets: 1-11, 2-31, 3-53, 4-59, 5-64, 6-75, 7-77, 8-77Bowling ............. O-M-R-WSouthee .................. 4-0-36-0Milne ...................... 4-0-15-1Neesham................. 4-0-16-3McCullum .............. 4-0-24-4Anderson ................ 4-0-15-0
AUCKLAND: Martin Guptill is mobbed after taking a catch at the boundary during NewZealand vs West Indies 1st T20 on Saturday.
Del Potrooverpowers Tomic
in Sydney finalSYDNEY—Juan Martin del Potrobludgeoned Bernard Tomic withhis powerful forehand to win alopsided Sydney International fi-nal on Saturday.
The Argentine world numberfive took just 53 minutes to mas-ter the Australian defendingchampion 6-3, 6-1.
It was del Potro’s 18th careertitle and he became the first Ar-gentine to win in Sydney sinceDavid Nalbandian in 2009.
It was the ideal lead in toMonday’s Australian Open for delPotro, who plays a qualifier in thefirst round and is seeded to faceworld number one Rafael Nadalin the quarter-finals.
“Finals are never easy, but Iwas surprised at my level of playtonight. I think I played great,”del Potro said.
“My forehand was perfect. Imade a lot of winners, many aces,good slices.”
The big Argentine servedeight aces and broke Tomic’sserve four times for a comprehen-sive win.
“To start the year in this wayit’s very positive looking forwardfor the rest of the season. I needto keep working in the same con-ditions and the same way.
“Now it’s the hardest tourna-ment for us, and I will see if I cango further than last year (thirdround) in Melbourne.
“After two or three matchesI started to play much better. Mymovement was faster than in thefirst rounds here.”
It was del Potro’s second winover the 52nd-ranked Tomic, whowas defending his title after beat-ing South African Kevin Ander-son in last year’s final.—AFP
Ski jumping:Takanashi wins
record 14thWC event
TOKYO—Japanese teenage sen-sation Sara Takanashi won arecord 14th World Cup event onSaturday as she gears up for a tiltat the gold medal in next month’sSochi Olympics.
It was the fifth victory of theseason for the 17-year-old, whosoared in Sapporo to collect a to-tal of 254.5 points after jumps of99.0m and 94.5m.
She was followed by CarinaVogt of Germany, with 240.7points, and Irina Avvakumova ofRussia, with 224.1 points.
Takanashi’s latest victory putsher ahead of injured American ri-val Sarah Hendrickson, 19, whohas 13 wins.—AFP
IN a study of adults who experienced psychosis for the first time, having smokedmarijuana daily was linked to an earlier
age of onset of the disorder, according to UKresearchers. “This is not a study about the as-sociation between cannabisand psychosis, but about theassociation between specificpatterns of cannabis use . . .and an earlier onset of psy-chotic disorders,” Dr. MartaDi Forti, who led the re-search at the Institute of Psy-chiatry at Kings College,said in an email.
Among more than 400people in South London ad-mitted to hospitals with adiagnosed psychotic epi-sode, the study team foundthe heaviest smokers ofhigh-potency cannabis aver-aged about six yearsyounger than patients whohad not been smoking pot.Psychosis is a general termfor a loss of reality, and isassociated with several psychiatric diseases,including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.
Some previous research has suggestedthat using cannabis might trigger psychosisin some people, especially those who may bevulnerable because of a family history of re-lated mental illnesses or specific gene muta-tions. But the evidence has been unclear. Forexample, one recent study from the Nether-lands found it’s equally possible that peopleprone to psychosis may be more likely tosmoke pot, possibly as a way of “self-medi-cating” (see Reuters Health article of Decem-ber 25, 2012, here: reut.rs/1d7aIvU)
In the new study, published in theSchizophrenia Bulletin, the researchers fo-cused on patterns of cannabis use, genderand the relationship of those factors to thetiming of a first psychotic episode. Age is
significant, Di Forti’s teamnotes in their report, becausethe teenage years and earlytwenties are a critical time forprofessional and educationaldevelopment, so experiencingan acute psychotic episode forthe first time early on maynegatively affect the “likeli-hood of achieving optimumlevel of function.”
The researchers sur-veyed 410 patients betweenthe ages of 18 and 65, twothirds of them male, all ofwhom had a psychotic episodeand were admitted to in-pa-tient psychiatric units. Thesurveys asked about history ofusing tobacco, alcohol, can-nabis and other illicit drugs.They also recorded the po-
tency of cannabis used, characterizing lowpotency as “hash-type” and high potency as“skunk-type.”
In a previous study based on police sei-zures of marijuana in South East London,skunk-type cannabis was found to contain16 percent THC, the active compound incannabis, compared to 4 percent in the hash-type. The researchers found that males weremore likely overall to use cannabis and alsohad a younger age of onset of psychosis. Themean age at the time of the first psychoticepisode for male users of cannabis was 26,and for female users was nearly 29.
Daily pot tied to age offirst psychotic episode
KARACHI: Opposition leader in National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah speaking during National Dialogue on the political struggle of Benazir Bhutto,organized by People’s Youth at Karachi Press Club. President Karachi Division Abdul Qadir Patel, Mahmood Shah, Mujahid Dehlvi and Imtiaz Faranare also seen sitting on the stage.
KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah administrating the oath to newly electedoffice-bearers of Art Council, Karachi.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Speakers at themeeting of Shura HamdardKarachi chapter, while payingrich tribute to Shaheed HakimMohammed Said on the occa-sion of his birth anniversary 9thJanuary, said that other peoplealso had done grate work forPakistan, but Hakim Said’swork and achievements for thecountry are exemplary.
The meeting was held onThursday January 09, 2014 onthe theme: “Shaheed HakimMohammed Said – a symbol oflove and Service”, presidedover by Justice (Rtd) HaziqulKhairi at a local hotel.Speakingon the occasion, Zafar Iqbal,President, Small And MediumEnterprises Association(SAMEA) said that HakimSaid was a role model and hisgreatest service to the nation
Hakim Said’s work and achievements are exemplarywas to introduce Hamdard FreeMobile Dispensaries that wereproviding free health facilities atthe doorsteps of the poor andneedy patients in the rural areasof towns, villages and superb ofthe cities in the country. Justice(Rtd) Haziqul Khairi said thatHakim Said, apart from his ownsector of Unani Medicine, hadalso done great and outstandingwork in other sectors of educa-tion and health.
Dr. Maham Munir Ahmed,the granddaughter of HakimSaid, said if dreams were on saleand what you would buy, shewould buy a dream: ‘may hergrandfather come back’, be-cause she is still missing himvery much.Prof. Dr. HakimAbdul Hannan, Vice Chancellor,Hamdard University, Karachisaid that Hakim Said was like asun and his light could be
achieved from a distance. Hehad boosted the standard ofTibbi education and training; asa result practice of Unani Medi-cine became scientific and popu-lar.
He also created an atmo-sphere of inclination towards theestablishment of universities inprivate sector by setting upHamdard University; otherwisea large numbers of studentsmight be deprived of gettinghigher education in the country.
Anwarul Haq Siddiqui saidthat Hakim Said was an icon ofour nation whose white lightemitted from his pious person-ality and dress was still illumi-nating our paths.
Azhar Abbas Hashmi said :‘People come and go in theworld after living their normallife, but some persons are thosewho live thousands of years be-
ing remained in the memory ofthe people, because of theirwork and service to the human-ity, Hakim Said was amongthose immortal persons’.Dr.Syed Irtefaque Ali, former ViceChancellor of Karachi Univer-sity, said that Hakim Said hadlighted up many lamps and tak-ing light from them the nationcould march on the road ofprogress.
Haq Nawaz Akhtar, ex-chairman, Pakistan Steel Millssaid that whatever Hakim Saidhad done for the nation, it wasnot possible to be done by anyother individual single handed,because such work could onlybe done by governmentsonly.Khalid Ikmarul Khan saidthat in a dinner, hosted byHakim Said in honour of Mufti-i-Azam Palestine Al-HajAmeenul Hussaini at Hamdard
House, Hakim Sahib told toMufti-i-Azam Palestine that“My vision is Iqra in action”.
Hakim Said’s vision andmission was really the educa-tion, education and education,he added.Nusrat Nasrullah em-phasized on the need of takingHakim Said’s vision and mes-sage to the outside world.
There was also a need of acomprehensive biography ofHakim Said like his elderbrother’s biography, which hasbeen written in India titled “ARole Model for leaders ofchange in India : HakeemAbdul Hameed”, he added.Dr.Mirza Arshad Ali Beg, formerDirector General, Pakistan In-stitute of Scientific and Indus-trial Research said Hakim Saidwas a Mard-i-Haq who neverhesitated to say the truth with-out any fear.
KARACHI—Sindh Governor DrIshrat-ul-Ebad Khan and SindhChief Minister Syed Qaim AliShah have pledged to make theprovince free from terrorists andother criminals at all costs toensure peace and security to lifeand property of every citizen andcreate an environment support-ive to trade and industry.
They expressed the resolveduring a call-on by the ChiefMinister here at the Governor
Sindh Governor, CM pledgeto ensure peace, security
House to discuss the law andorder situation of the province,especially in the city and thesecurity measures taken for Eid-i-Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH) to becelebrated on 12th Rabi-ul-Awal, besides the ongoing de-velopment projects.
An official statement issuedhere on Saturday said that theypraised the services of SP-CIDPolice Chaudhry MuhammadAslam and paid him tribute. He
was killed in a bomb blast alongwith three other colleagues hereon Thursday afternoon.
Both the leaders pledgedthat Sindh Government wouldbe making all possible efforts forbringing peace and security inthe province.
They issued directives to theauthorities concerned to makefoolproof security arrangementson the eve of Eid-i-Milad-un-Nabi (PBUH).—APP
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—True and lasting de-velopment starts with education.So, support for education in Pa-kistan was one of the UnitedStates government’s top priori-ties. Education was the key tofuture prosperity and economicgrowth, and the United States andthe Government of Pakistan wereworking together towards abrighter future for the people ofPakistan. We were carrying outcomprehensive education pro-grams that help millions of
Education key to lastingdevelopment: Dodman
Pakistan’s children and youngpeople rise as far as their hardwork and initiative will takethem.
U.S Consul General (CG)Michael Dodman said thiswhile addressing SANA (SindhiAssociation of North America)Conference on Education, heldSaturday in Karachi.
He said that the partnershipfocused on a number of key ar-eas such as higher education,teacher training, buildingschools, increasing English skillsand expanding understanding
through exchange programs.There were many education ini-tiatives underway, and many ofthe participants were passionateabout improving education. Theykey was sustainability.
U.S. funded programswould make a difference, theeffort to create sustainable im-provements in the quality ofeducation for all Pakistani youthneeded to be a Pakistani-led pro-cess. It was great to see the com-mitment of the diaspora from theUnited States and other coun-tries, added the U.S CG.
Military operationneed of the hour
to eliminateterrorism: Shahi
STAFF REPORTER
KARACHI—Awami NationalParty (ANP) Sindh chapter Presi-dent and Senator Shahi Sayd saidthat lawlessness in Karachi haddeteriorated beyond the controland the required results of thetargeted operation against thecriminals in the city being con-ducted by Pakistan RangersSindh and Karachi Police werenot as per expectations.
The incidents of crimes wituse of grenades and other sophis-ticated weapons had increasedwhile extortion rate had also beenincreased. Peace and tranquilityin the city would never be en-sured through just verbal gesturesbut concrete steps should betaken in this regard.
He said that the increase inincidents of terrorism was owingto faulty policies of the govern-ment, which also claimed livesof SP Chaudhry Aslam andAitezaz Hassan Bangash. Bothhad drawn a line between thepeace and the terrorism.
AMANULLAH KHAN
KARACHI—“S2 PR Multi-De-signer Exhibition”, an event thatpromises to make this winter a lotcolder! The city of Light will glit-ter more when more than 25 de-signers showcasing their hearttouching creations and all thatunder one roof. The mega eventwill also see people associatedwith the fashion industry andcelebs from the silver screen.
The exhibition will highlightthe following brands like AeishaVarsey, Hina Amir, Coral Stich,Sumera Baghdadi, The pink Tree,Coco by Zara Shahjahan,Hummis by Humeraaptel, JV’S,Moods & Shades, F & A,L’ARTE by ArtiLal, Parre byArooba, Zunaira Lounge,KosainKazmi, Rida’s Collection,Rehan&Muzzamil, Shaista Barry,SanoberSiddiq, SyedaZeba,Voice by Farah Salaman, Zenia,SK by Shazia Khan, Madiha’sCollection, AliyaDedhi, MariamBukhari, Asiya by Life time,Kaliyaan. U & I by AneesaUnus,
Fashion extravaganzaBeenishGadit, Afsheen Ahmed,Naina’s Collection, The Black
Lace, Sibmas by Saba, Hinash byHina, MHM by Muzna, Dinners.
Karachi violenceunabated despitestringent security
KARACHI—As many as fourpeople were killed in differentviolence and firing incidentsduring the last 24 hours inKarachi despite stringent secu-rity across the metropolis.
As many as two crackerbombs were lobbed at a woodfactory located at Qasba Morrin Orangi Town resulted in pow-erful explosions. But, the blastscaused no loss of life. However,fierce blasts sparked panic in thearea.
In another incident,Muhammed Rauf was killed infiring incident in Lyari’s KhaddaMarket. Lyari’s Bihar Colonyalso witnessed a firing incidentwhere an unknown man also losthis life.
Meantime, two bodies withtorture marks were recoveredfrom City Station and PakColony. —NNI
IN a study of adults who experienced psychosis for the first time, having smokedmarijuana daily was linked to an earlier
age of onset of the disorder, according to UKresearchers. “This is not a study about the as-sociation between cannabisand psychosis, but about theassociation between specificpatterns of cannabis use . . .and an earlier onset of psy-chotic disorders,” Dr. MartaDi Forti, who led the re-search at the Institute of Psy-chiatry at Kings College,said in an email.
Among more than 400people in South London ad-mitted to hospitals with adiagnosed psychotic epi-sode, the study team foundthe heaviest smokers ofhigh-potency cannabis aver-aged about six yearsyounger than patients whohad not been smoking pot.Psychosis is a general termfor a loss of reality, and is associated withseveral psychiatric diseases, including schizo-phrenia and bipolar disorder.
Some previous research has suggestedthat using cannabis might trigger psychosisin some people, especially those who may bevulnerable because of a family history of re-lated mental illnesses or specific gene muta-tions. But the evidence has been unclear. Forexample, one recent study from the Nether-lands found it’s equally possible that peopleprone to psychosis may be more likely tosmoke pot, possibly as a way of “self-medi-cating” (see Reuters Health article of Decem-ber 25, 2012, here: reut.rs/1d7aIvU)
In the new study, published in theSchizophrenia Bulletin, the researchers fo-cused on patterns of cannabis use, genderand the relationship of those factors to thetiming of a first psychotic episode. Age is
significant, Di Forti’s teamnotes in their report, becausethe teenage years and earlytwenties are a critical time forprofessional and educationaldevelopment, so experiencingan acute psychotic episode forthe first time early on maynegatively affect the “likeli-hood of achieving optimumlevel of function.”
The researchers sur-veyed 410 patients betweenthe ages of 18 and 65, twothirds of them male, all ofwhom had a psychotic episodeand were admitted to in-pa-tient psychiatric units. Thesurveys asked about history ofusing tobacco, alcohol, can-nabis and other illicit drugs.
They also recorded the potency of cannabisused, characterizing low potency as “hash-type” and high potency as “skunk-type.”
In a previous study based on police sei-zures of marijuana in South East London,skunk-type cannabis was found to contain16 percent THC, the active compound incannabis, compared to 4 percent in the hash-type.
The researchers found that males weremore likely overall to use cannabis and alsohad a younger age of onset of psychosis. Themean age at the time of the first psychoticepisode for male users of cannabis was 26,and for female users was nearly 29.
Daily pot tied to age offirst psychotic episode
PMA Centrepolls on Jan, 12
LAHORE—The Pakistan Medi-cal Association Center electionwill be held on January, 12.
A spokesman for the Paki-stan Medical Association(PMA) Center on Saturday saidthat polling for different seats ofPMA Center will be held onJanuary 12 from 11:00 a.m. to05:00 p.m. at PMA House, 66-Ferozepur Road, Lahore. Cen-tral councillors and delegates ofPMA district branches in Punjabare eligible voters and a voter listhas been pasted at the noticeboard of PMA House.—APP
CM condolesdeath of
Ehsanullah KhanLAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif Saturday expressed deepsorrow and grief over the deathof Ehsanullah Khan, father ofRizwanullah Khan, GeneralManager Beverage Company,Coca-Cola. In a condolence mes-sage, the chief minister prayedAllah Almighty to rest the de-parted soul in eternal peace andgrant courage to the bereavedfamily to bear the irreparable losswith fortitude.—APP
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Provincial Ministerfor Law & Local Bodies, RanaSanaullah Khan has said thatfoolproof security would be pro-vided to the processions andMahafil-e-Milad on Eid Miladun Nabi (PBUH).
He said that a comprehen-sive security plan would beevolved keeping in view theRawalpindi incident. He saidthat 1637 processions and 1924Mahafil-e-Milad would be heldon Eid Milad un Nabi (PBUH)throughout the province. He saidthat besides Lahore 163 placesare sensitive in nine regions.
He expressed these viewswhile presiding over a high levelmeeting with regard to review-ing the arrangements for fool-proof security on the occasion of
Foolproof security forprocessions, Milad Mahafil
Eid Milad un Nabi (PBUH) atCivil Secretariat. ProvincialMinister for Environment, Col.Retd. Shuja Khanzada, ChiefSecretary Punjab NaveedAkram Cheema, SecretaryHome, Special SecretaryHealth, Secretary Auqaf, IGPunjab, Additional IG SpecialBranch, Additional IG CTD andCCPO Lahore were present onthe occasion.
Rana Sanaullah Khan saidthat no one would be allowed todeliver provocative speeches onthe occasion of Eid Milad(PBUH). He directed SecretaryHome and IG Punjab to person-ally visit sensitive places for re-viewing security arrangements.He said that 75397 police offic-ers and officials would be de-ployed for the protection of pro-cessions while checking and
monitoring will also be con-ducted through walk throughgates, metal detectors and CCTVcameras. The Provincial Minis-ter said that 10053 male and fe-male volunteers will performmonitoring duties of processionsand Mahafil-e-Milad. The meet-ing decided that rangers will bekept standby at Rawalpindi.
Rana Sanaullah said that thedecision of suspension of mo-bile service on Eid Milad unNabi (PBUH) will be taken af-ter consultation with core com-mittee and on the order of ChiefMinister Punjab. Special Sec-retary Health Babar Hayat Tararinformed the meeting that emer-gencies of all hospitals havebeen made alert on the occasionof Eid Milad un Nabi (PBUH)and emergency duty roster hasbeen issued.
LAHORE—Provincial Secre-tary Auqaf and Religious Af-fairs Muhammad Saqib Azizhas said that a comprehensiveprogr amme has been evolvedwith regard to holding func-tion on Eid Milad un Nabi(PBUH). He said that accord-ing to schedule, the Eid Miladun Nabi (PBUH) functionswill be held with religious fer-vor throughout Punjab.
He expressed these viewswhile presiding over a meet-ing at Aiwan-e-Auqaf here to-
Auqaf Depart programme for Eid Miladday.
Director General Auqaf andReligious Affairs MuhammadHassan Rizvi, Coordinator Re-ligious Affairs Al-Haj HaiderAli Mirza, Dr. Abdul GhafoorRashid, Sahibzada ZahidMehmood Qasmi, Dr. SufiZaheer Ahmad, Mufti IntikhabAhmad, Habibullah Bhatti andAsad Abbas Naqvi attended themeeting.
Addressing the meeting,Secretary Auqaf Saqib Azizsaid that celebrating the birth-
day of Holy Prophet (PBUH)is a blessing.
The Secretary said that theAuqaf Department will holdvarious functions with regard tocommemorating Eid Milad unNabi (PBUH) on 12th RabiulAwwal (Tuesday) which will beparticipated by masses in largenumbers.
Various rallies will betaken out on this occasion andulema will deliver specialspeeches on the Holy life ofProphet (PBUH).
He said that seerat confer-ences will also be held in vari-ous districts under the aegis ofAuqaf Department.
Secretary Auqaf said thatreligious leaders, people andthe students will demonstrateIttehad Bainul Muslimeen byparticipating in these functionsenthusiastically.
Secretary Auqaf said thatfoolproof security arrange-ments will be made with the co-operation of police and admin-istration at the functions of Eid
Milad un Nabi (PBUH).He said that volunteers
will also perform security du-ties. Saqib Aziz said that EidMilad un Nabi (PBUH) givesus lesson of unity and brother-hood, therefore, we shouldmaintain unity among ourranks.
He urged upon ulema topreach the people for main-taining peace and unity andconvey the message to othernations that Muslims are apeace loving nation.
LAHORE: An awareness walk was organised on the occasion of orphns’ Day.
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—leader of PakistanMuslim League-N, HamzaShahbaz Sharif MNA has saidthat the efforts of teachers, par-ents and institutions making thespecial children useful part ofthe society by providing educa-tion and training are appreciable.He said that a policy would beevolved for ensuring jobs to thespecial youth of higher qualifi-cation.
He said that like other chil-dren, special children are alsoprecious asset of the society.Special children would be madepart of the Punjab sports festi-val for which special arrange-ments are being made, he added.
He expressed these viewswhile addressing a function heldon the occasion of his visit to
Hamza lauds efforts to make specialchildren useful society party
Aziz Jehan Begum Trust Insti-tute for the blinds here today.Earlier, Director of the institu-tion Arsla Jedi, CEO Salah udDin Jedi besides other organiz-ers showed various sections ofthe institution to HamzaShahbaz.
Hamza Shahbaz mingledwith the blind children and re-viewed different phases ofteaching in their class rooms.Hamza Shahbaz said that unfor-tunately our society is racing formaterialism. He stressed uponthe need of spirit of competitionin the society with regard to be-coming good human beings andwork for others.
He said that all the activesegments of the society espe-cially media, civil society andulema should take an active partin the welfare work of special
persons. He said that to makespecial children self reliantthrough education and trainingis such a great service the rewardof which can only be given byAllah Almighty.
Hamza Shahbaz said thatthe entire nation has high expec-tations of Prime Minister NawazSharif that he will make Paki-stan a stable country of the re-gion by ridding them of energycrisis, terrorism, poor economy,price-hike and unemploymentduring his five years tenure.
He said that solar energypark in Bahawalpur will start itsproduction during the currentyear. He said that eliminationof load-shedding is utmost nec-essary to benefit from GSP Plusstatus granted by EuropeanUnion for the export of textileproducts in the real sense.
Punjab coal powerPolicy soon
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif willannounce provincial coal powerpolicy for installing coal basedpower projects in Punjab withinnext few days. Under coal powerpolicy, special facilities and in-centives will be announced forthe investors to set up coal basedpower projects in the province.
On the direction of ChiefMinister Punjab, governmenthas identified various places inthe province for setting up coalbased power plants which havebeen declared very suitable forcoal based power plants. Surveyhas been completed with regardto transmission line, railwayline, water and other facilitiesnear these places.
LAHORE: Krishen Lal Bhell group performing during 1st day of the International SufiSoul Mystic Music Festival at Al-Hamra.
YDA demo forimplementation
of servicestructure
STAFF REPORTER
LAHORE—Young Doctors As-sociation (YDA) Punjab on Sat-urday staged a demostration infront of the Lahore General Hos-pital (LGH) to press the HealthDdepartment for the implemen-tation of their service structure.
The YDA office-bearers,including its president Dr JavedAheer and Dr Ajmal, on the oc-casion vowed that the YDAwould continue its protest till theimplementation of agreementregarding their service structure.
They said only 20 per centof the agreement had beenimplemented so far.
Scores of patients had tosuffer problems due to absenceof doctors at different wardsbecause of rally.
CM takes notice ofmurder of 5 personsLAHORE—Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif whiletaking notice of killing of five per-sons including a leader of PTI inthe jurisdiction of police stationMustafabad, Kasur, has sought re-port from IG Punjab. The ChiefMinister directed police officials toimmediately arrest the culprits in-volved in this incident—APP