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Pakistan in fact needs ‘March of progress’ ................................................. Blood continues to spill in Gaza ................................................. Rough side of the football becomes more visible See Page 04 Continued on Page 7 NPC RTC on Israel Gaza attack on 19th ASHRAF ANSARI ISLAMABAD—The Nazriya Pakistan Council, Islamabad, has convened a Round Table Conference on “World’s deafening silence over Gaza” on July 19 (Saturday) at the Aiwan-i-Quaid. The Palestinian Ambassador, H E Mr Walid A.M. Abu Ali, will be the Chief Guest on the occasion. The RTC, an initiative to express solidarity with the hapless Palestinians, will be addressed by some distin- guished personalities representing various walks of life. Ambassadors of some Muslim countries and Palestinians living in Islamabad will also join the event. Differences over Afghan ‘National Unity Govt’ KABUL—Differences over the meaning of the proposed government of national unity emerged after Dr Abdullah Abdullah and his rival Dr Ashraf Ghani agreed on audit of all eight million votes and the government of national unity. US Secretary of State John Kerry’s trip to Kabul to mediate talks between the two presidential candidates ended the election deadlock. After all, one of the agreements made between the two presidential hopefuls is that a national unity government would be formed between them no matter who wins the election. However, just a day removed from the talks, there appeared to be some disagree- ment over what exactly a “national unity government” means. Abdullah Abdullah’s campaign team has said that a national unity government means a shared government where both candidates will have a prominent role.—NNI Kerry, Zarif meet for second day as nuclear deadline looms VIENNA—US Secretary of State John Kerry met his Iranian counterpart on Monday for a second day to push for “critical choices” on Tehran’s nuclear programme with both sides complaining that scant progress has been made ahead of a July 20 deadline. Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif met for two hours on Sunday on the sidelines of talks between Iran and six major negotiat- ing powers - the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - with the deadline for a deal just a week away. In his bilateral meetings with Zarif, Kerry wants to “gauge Iran’s willingness to make the critical choices it needs to make”, a senior State Department official said. “The Secretary will take the time necessary to have that discussion, and that’s why they will be meeting again today, to see if progress can be made,” the official said. A State Department official said Kerry and Zarif were in talks in the Palais Coburg in the centre of Vienna and it was unclear how long their meeting would last. Kerry said on Sunday there were still substantial gaps with Iran on how to re- duce its nuclear fuel-making capacity, a view that Iranian and other Western offi- cials echoed. Earlier, a senior U.S. official said Iran was sticking to “unworkable and inadequate” positions. The six powers want Iran to reduce its nuclear fuel-making ca- pacity to deny it any means of quickly pro- ducing atom bombs. —Agencies Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif distributing cheques among the IDPs in Bannu. Nation supports operation, IDPs for peace: Shahbaz Announces Rs60,000 per IDPs family Provision of cash aid to family heads started To set up hospital, tech institute, girls’ college OUR CORRESPONDENT BANNU—Chief Minister of Punjab Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif on Monday pre- sented a total grant of Rs.500 million and an- nounced an additional relief of Rs.60,000 per family of Internally Displaced Persons in Bannu. He along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Gov- ernor, Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan was ad- dressing the IDPs from North Waziristan. On this occasion they distributed relief goods amongst the affected people as a token of the ongoing arrangements in this respect. Shahbaz Sharif further announced to do- nate one day salary on behalf of the govern- ment employees of the Punjab government as well as the members of the provincial govt for IDPs relief. Mahtab Ahmad Khan and Shahbaz Sharif also gave away ration bags and the cash assis- tance to IDPs present on the occasion. They also had an aerial over view of the IDPs camp at Bannu. Addressing the displaced persons the Chief Minister said that government and people of Punjab are standing by their dis- placed brethren and sisters of North Waziristan in this moment of trial and will provide all out help and assistance for their rehabilitation. The Chief Minister said that Punjab gov- ernment has set up Chief Minister’s Relief Fund with a sum of 50 crore rupees and phi- lanthropists and people of Punjab are donat- ing generously towards this fund. He said that billions of rupees will be provided for the help and assistance of the distressed people through this fund. He said that a hospital, technical institute and girls’ college will also be set up in North Waziristan on behalf of Punjab. He said that Punjab government has started the process of provision of cash assis- tance to the displaced persons under which rupees seven thousand are being given to the head of each displaced family. He also an- nounced provision of fodder for the cattle of displaced persons. Shahbaz Sharif said that the whole nation is with their displaced brethren who have left their homes for the survival and solidarity of Procurement of equipment Major shuffling in Sindh police on cards IRFAN ALIGI KARACHI—Police officers in Sindh Police Department with high ranks and powers to have their say on matters concerning Sindh Police were being short listed for immediate transfer at the advent of procurement of equipment for Police worth Rs 5 billion. Political parties in opposition especially Pakistan Muslim League Functional have already spoken much on alleged cor- ruption and embezzlement of fund for the purchase of such equip- ment and linked the sacking of former Inspector General of Po- lice Iqbal Mehmood with the underhand matter. Earlier, in the same context, Additional IG Logistics Naeem Shaikh and now IG (Police legal affairs) Ali Sher Jakhrani was Continued on Page 7 STAFF REPORTER I SLAMABAD /L AHORE / DHABEJI—Federal Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Asif has apologized to the na- tion for the unscheduled and prolonged hours of loadshedding throughout the country. Addressing a joint press conference with State Minister for Water and Power, Kh Asif said that the demand of elec- tricity stood at 19,000MW against the production of 12,000MW. He said the gov- ernment will have to take im- mediate measures to stop power theft and line losses to overcome the crisis. He feared that the nation may have to face the same situ- ation if the weather remains hot and dry for which the govern- ment was apologetic. Federal minister said the PML-N-led government was trying to add 6-7,000MW of electricity within two to three years in the system. Khawaja Muhammad Asif admitted and apologised to the public over the increase in an- nounced and unannounced load shedding of electricity in the Holy month of Ramazan. He further explained that nine power plants were shut Khwaja Asif apologises to nation for load-shedding Only power thieves to face load-shedding ‘punishment’; Power outage intensifies down, due to trips and faults caused by the hot weather, as a result of which 1,300 MW could not be supplied to the grid sta- tions. Asif warned that the nation may have to face the same situ- ation if the weather remains hot and dry for which the govern- ment was apologetic. The Minister said that ef- forts are being made to over- come power theft and reduce line losses besides setting up new power generation houses to improve the situation. “The PML-N-led govern- ment is trying to add 6,000- 7,000MW of electricity within next two to three years in the Continued on Page 7 JERUSALEM—Israel kept up its punishing raids on Gaza on Monday but held off from a threat- ened ground incursion as the world intensified efforts to broker a truce. With Israel’s campaign to halt cross-bor- der rocket fire entering its seventh day, the Arab League was to hold an emergency meeting to discuss moves to end “the shedding of Pales- tinian civilians’ blood” and formulate a com- mon Arab stance on the crisis. And UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Is- rael to scrap plans for a ground offensive, say- ing “too many” Palestinian civilians had been killed as the death toll from its punishing air campaign hit 172, with another 1,230 wounded. The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre for Human Rights has said more than three-quar- ters of the victims were civilians. But, despite preparations for a possible ground attack, Israel appeared to be holding off with media reports saying that ministers attend- ing a Sunday evening meeting of the security cabinet had decided against putting boots on the ground — for the time being. During the night, Israeli warplanes struck more than 40 Continued on Page 7 Israeli warplanes continue to pound Gaza as world urges calm 5 cops sent on 5-day physical remand STAFF REPORTER LAHORE—The authorities on Monday submitted the mobile phone record of Punjab chief minister and other officials con- cerned before the judicial com- mission in connection with Model Town tragedy. The in-camera session of the judicial commission was held here, which examined all the evidences furnished before it. Justice Ali Baqar Najfi pre- sided over the session. Sessions judge Lahore fur- nished the report before the ju- Continued on Page 7 Picture on Page 13 STAFF REPORTER LAHORE—Leader of Oppo- sition in National Assembly, Syed Khursheed Shah on Monday said that he and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif would hold consultation in connection with the appoint- ment of Chief Election Com- missioner. Talking to media, Shah said the opposition would put forth its names for the posi- tion of ECP chief after the government presents its nominations. He said he had advised the government and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf not to tread Khursheed Shah urges PM, Imran to avoid conflict Continued on Page 7 PR: Imran should raise funds for IDPs, not ‘tsunami’ STAFF REPORTER I SLAMABAD—Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid has said that Imran Khan should raise funds for Internally Dis- placed Persons instead of rallies and sit-ins. He remarked that instead of bringing ‘tsunamis’, ‘storms’ and other forms of ca- lamities, he needs to focus on stability of Pakistan. He displayed concern over Imran’s timing and said that he could very well be playing in the hands of Pakistan’s enemies, unknowingly. He said that there are several entities in the world that are ready to fund any move- ment that destabilizes Pakistan. He also criticized PTI’s misplaced priorities. He said that at a time when Pakistan was going through one of biggest crises, Imran is raising funds for rallies. He advised the PTI lead- ership to do something for IDPs and other welfare organizations at this critical juncture. Hafiz Saeed, Indian newsmen causes uproar KARACHI—A meeting between an Indian journalist and Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) chief Hafiz Saeed caused uproar in the Indian Parliament on Monday. Although the Indian government distanced itself from the meeting, the Congress party sought an explanation from the treasury benches over the reported meeting, leading to two adjournments during question hour. According to reports, Ved Pratap Vaidik, a freelance journalist who is also a close aide of Yoga guru Ramdev, met Saeed in Lahore on July 2 during a Continued on Page 7
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Transcript
Page 1: Ep15july2014

Pakistan in fact needs ‘Marchof progress’.................................................Blood continues to spill inGaza.................................................Rough side of the footballbecomes more visible

See Page 04

Continued on Page 7

NPC RTCon Israel Gazaattack on 19thASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—The NazriyaPakistan Council, Islamabad,has convened a Round TableConference on “World’sdeafening silence over Gaza”on July 19 (Saturday) at theAiwan-i-Quaid. ThePalestinian Ambassador, H EMr Walid A.M. Abu Ali, willbe the Chief Guest on theoccasion.

The RTC, an initiative toexpress solidarity with thehapless Palestinians, will beaddressed by some distin-guished personalitiesrepresenting various walks oflife. Ambassadors of someMuslim countries andPalestinians living inIslamabad will also join theevent.

Differences overAfghan ‘NationalUnity Govt’KABUL—Differences over themeaning of the proposedgovernment of national unityemerged after Dr AbdullahAbdullah and his rival DrAshraf Ghani agreed on auditof all eight million votes andthe government of nationalunity.

US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry’s trip to Kabul tomediate talks between the twopresidential candidates endedthe election deadlock. Afterall, one of the agreementsmade between the twopresidential hopefuls is that anational unity governmentwould be formed betweenthem no matter who wins theelection.

However, just a dayremoved from the talks, thereappeared to be some disagree-ment over what exactly a“national unity government”means. Abdullah Abdullah’scampaign team has said that anational unity governmentmeans a shared governmentwhere both candidates willhave a prominent role.—NNI

Kerry, Zarif meet for second dayas nuclear deadline looms

VIENNA—US Secretary of State John Kerrymet his Iranian counterpart on Monday fora second day to push for “critical choices”on Tehran’s nuclear programme with bothsides complaining that scant progress hasbeen made ahead of a July 20 deadline.

Kerry and Mohammad Javad Zarif metfor two hours on Sunday on the sidelines oftalks between Iran and six major negotiat-ing powers - the United States, Britain,France, Germany, Russia and China - withthe deadline for a deal just a week away.

In his bilateral meetings with Zarif,Kerry wants to “gauge Iran’s willingness tomake the critical choices it needs to make”,a senior State Department official said. “TheSecretary will take the time necessary to

have that discussion, and that’s why they willbe meeting again today, to see if progresscan be made,” the official said.

A State Department official said Kerryand Zarif were in talks in the Palais Coburgin the centre of Vienna and it was unclearhow long their meeting would last.

Kerry said on Sunday there were stillsubstantial gaps with Iran on how to re-duce its nuclear fuel-making capacity, aview that Iranian and other Western offi-cials echoed. Earlier, a senior U.S. officialsaid Iran was sticking to “unworkable andinadequate” positions. The six powers wantIran to reduce its nuclear fuel-making ca-pacity to deny it any means of quickly pro-ducing atom bombs. —Agencies

Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif distributing cheques among the IDPsin Bannu.

Nation supports operation,IDPs for peace: ShahbazAnnounces Rs60,000 per IDPs family

Provision of cash aid to family heads startedTo set up hospital, tech institute, girls’ college

OUR CORRESPONDENT

BANNU—Chief Minister of PunjabMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif on Monday pre-sented a total grant of Rs.500 million and an-nounced an additional relief of Rs.60,000 perfamily of Internally Displaced Persons inBannu.

He along with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Gov-ernor, Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan was ad-dressing the IDPs from North Waziristan. Onthis occasion they distributed relief goodsamongst the affected people as a token of theongoing arrangements in this respect.

Shahbaz Sharif further announced to do-nate one day salary on behalf of the govern-ment employees of the Punjab government aswell as the members of the provincial govt forIDPs relief.

Mahtab Ahmad Khan and Shahbaz Sharifalso gave away ration bags and the cash assis-tance to IDPs present on the occasion. Theyalso had an aerial over view of the IDPs campat Bannu.

Addressing the displaced persons theChief Minister said that government and

people of Punjab are standing by their dis-placed brethren and sisters of North Waziristanin this moment of trial and will provide allout help and assistance for their rehabilitation.

The Chief Minister said that Punjab gov-ernment has set up Chief Minister’s ReliefFund with a sum of 50 crore rupees and phi-lanthropists and people of Punjab are donat-ing generously towards this fund. He said thatbillions of rupees will be provided for the helpand assistance of the distressed people throughthis fund. He said that a hospital, technicalinstitute and girls’ college will also be set upin North Waziristan on behalf of Punjab.

He said that Punjab government hasstarted the process of provision of cash assis-tance to the displaced persons under whichrupees seven thousand are being given to thehead of each displaced family. He also an-nounced provision of fodder for the cattle ofdisplaced persons.

Shahbaz Sharif said that the whole nationis with their displaced brethren who have lefttheir homes for the survival and solidarity of

Procurement of equipment

Major shuffling inSindh police on cards

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Police officers in Sindh Police Department withhigh ranks and powers to have their say on matters concerningSindh Police were being short listed for immediate transfer atthe advent of procurement of equipment for Police worth Rs 5billion.

Political parties in opposition especially Pakistan MuslimLeague Functional have already spoken much on alleged cor-ruption and embezzlement of fund for the purchase of such equip-ment and linked the sacking of former Inspector General of Po-lice Iqbal Mehmood with the underhand matter.

Earlier, in the same context, Additional IG Logistics NaeemShaikh and now IG (Police legal affairs) Ali Sher Jakhrani was

Continued on Page 7

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D /LA H O R E /DHABEJI—Federal Ministerfor Water and Power KhawajaAsif has apologized to the na-tion for the unscheduled andprolonged hours ofloadshedding throughout thecountry.

Addressing a joint pressconference with State Ministerfor Water and Power, Kh Asifsaid that the demand of elec-tricity stood at 19,000MWagainst the production of12,000MW. He said the gov-ernment will have to take im-mediate measures to stoppower theft and line losses toovercome the crisis.

He feared that the nationmay have to face the same situ-ation if the weather remains hotand dry for which the govern-ment was apologetic. Federalminister said the PML-N-ledgovernment was trying to add6-7,000MW of electricity

within two to three years in thesystem.

Khawaja Muhammad Asifadmitted and apologised to thepublic over the increase in an-nounced and unannouncedload shedding of electricity inthe Holy month of Ramazan.

He further explained thatnine power plants were shut

Khwaja Asif apologises tonation for load-sheddingOnly power thieves to face load-shedding

‘punishment’; Power outage intensifiesdown, due to trips and faultscaused by the hot weather, as aresult of which 1,300 MW couldnot be supplied to the grid sta-tions.

Asif warned that the nationmay have to face the same situ-ation if the weather remains hotand dry for which the govern-ment was apologetic.

The Minister said that ef-forts are being made to over-come power theft and reduceline losses besides setting upnew power generation houses toimprove the situation.

“The PML-N-led govern-ment is trying to add 6,000-7,000MW of electricity withinnext two to three years in the

Continued on Page 7

JERUSALEM—Israel kept up its punishing raidson Gaza on Monday but held off from a threat-ened ground incursion as the world intensifiedefforts to broker a truce.

With Israel’s campaign to halt cross-bor-der rocket fire entering its seventh day, the ArabLeague was to hold an emergency meeting todiscuss moves to end “the shedding of Pales-tinian civilians’ blood” and formulate a com-mon Arab stance on the crisis.

And UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Is-rael to scrap plans for a ground offensive, say-ing “too many” Palestinian civilians had been

killed as the death toll from its punishing aircampaign hit 172, with another 1,230 wounded.

The Gaza-based Palestinian Centre forHuman Rights has said more than three-quar-ters of the victims were civilians.

But, despite preparations for a possibleground attack, Israel appeared to be holding offwith media reports saying that ministers attend-ing a Sunday evening meeting of the securitycabinet had decided against putting boots onthe ground — for the time being. During thenight, Israeli warplanes struck more than 40

Continued on Page 7

Israeli warplanes continue topound Gaza as world urges calm

5 cops sent on5-day physical

remandSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The authorities onMonday submitted the mobilephone record of Punjab chiefminister and other officials con-cerned before the judicial com-mission in connection withModel Town tragedy.

The in-camera session ofthe judicial commission washeld here, which examined allthe evidences furnished beforeit. Justice Ali Baqar Najfi pre-sided over the session.

Sessions judge Lahore fur-nished the report before the ju-

Continued on Page 7

Picture on Page 13

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Leader of Oppo-sition in National Assembly,Syed Khursheed Shah onMonday said that he andPrime Minister Nawaz Sharifwould hold consultation inconnection with the appoint-

ment of Chief Election Com-missioner.

Talking to media, Shahsaid the opposition would putforth its names for the posi-tion of ECP chief after thegovernment presents itsnominations.

He said he had advisedthe government and PakistanTehreek-i-Insaf not to tread

Khursheed Shah urges PM,Imran to avoid conflict

Continued on Page 7

PR: Imran shouldraise funds for

IDPs, not ‘tsunami’STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—InformationMinister Pervaiz Rashid hassaid that Imran Khan shouldraise funds for Internally Dis-placed Persons instead of ralliesand sit-ins. He remarked thatinstead of bringing ‘tsunamis’,‘storms’ and other forms of ca-lamities, he needs to focus onstability of Pakistan.

He displayed concern overImran’s timing and said that hecould very well be playing in thehands of Pakistan’s enemies,unknowingly. He said that thereare several entities in the worldthat are ready to fund any move-ment that destabilizes Pakistan.

He also criticized PTI’smisplaced priorities. He saidthat at a time when Pakistan wasgoing through one of biggestcrises, Imran is raising funds forrallies. He advised the PTI lead-ership to do something for IDPsand other welfare organizationsat this critical juncture.

Hafiz Saeed,Indian newsmencauses uproarKARACHI—A meetingbetween an Indian journalistand Jamaatud Dawa (JuD)chief Hafiz Saeed causeduproar in the IndianParliament on Monday.

Although the Indiangovernment distanced itselffrom the meeting, theCongress party sought anexplanation from the treasurybenches over the reportedmeeting, leading to twoadjournments duringquestion hour.

According to reports,Ved Pratap Vaidik, afreelance journalist who isalso a close aide of Yogaguru Ramdev, met Saeed inLahore on July 2 during a

Continued on Page 7

Page 2: Ep15july2014

SIALKOT: PML-N MPA Chaudhry Tariq Subhani distributing Ramazan Gifts amongthe deserving people in his constituency.

Azadi Interchange — Another Milestone Towards Progress

LAHORE: A view of Azadi Chowk flyover.

MUHAMMAD SOHAIL JANJUA

IN HIS efforts for transforming Lahore into a modern Mega-polis through construction ofPakistan’s first ever Lahore Metro Bus Project

as well as a number of underpasses and Flyoversin the city, Punjab Chief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has led the people of Lahore toanother mile stone on the road to progress by gift-ing them the state-of-the art signal free interchangeat Azadi Chowk Lahore.The ideal location of the project is a link betweenthe past and the future.

The monuments standing nearby this venueremind us the magnificent Muslim rule in the sub-continent and historic resolve of the Muslims ofIndia, leading to the struggle for an independenthomeland for them in this part of the world. Themarvelous structures of Lahore Fort and BadshahiMosque were constructed by great Mughal em-perors.

The architectural beauty of historic BadshahiMosque, Lahore Fort and Minar-e-Pakistan has nowbeen augmented by the modern day infrastructureleading to progress and prosperity of the people onthe directives of Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, theChief Minister of the Punjab.On the directions ofChief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif and un-der the dynamic supervision of its Director GeneralAhad Khan Cheema, Lahore Development Author-ity completed construction of clubbed projects ofAzadi Chowk Signal Free Junction and new CircularRoad Projects in a record time of 165 days at a totalcost of Rs. 5.35 billion. Ahad Khan Cheema Cheema,

already well known for his efficient execution of hugepublic service projects and acclaimed for his publicservice endavours, accepted this challenge as welland led his team to work day and night for timelycompletion of this project.

Work on the Azadi Chowk Signal Free Junctionwas started by Traffic Engineering and Transpor-tation Planning Agency (TEPA) LDA on January15 this year which has been completed at a cost ofRs. 4.5 billion on 29 June. A flyover and an elevatedroundabout have been constructed under thisproject at Ravi Road.

The roundabout has three up-ramps and threedown-ramps; two up-ramps and two down-rampson Ravi Road, starting from Texali Chowk and end-ing at Timber Market and vice versa. One up-rampand a down-ramp have also been constructed onAhmad Ali Road. The overall length of the inter-change is 2.53 kilometer. Traffic leading to CircularRoad from Data Darbar, Shahdara and Timber Mar-ket will use this flyover for going to MaulanaAhmed Ali Road, Lorry Adda and other points atCircular Road. On average, over two hundred thou-sand vehicles will daily pass through this junc-tion, saving fuel of Rs 9 million per annum.

New Circlular Road was also part of this project,which has been completed at a cost of Rs 1.35 bil-lion. Total length of this road is 1.6 kilometer. Thisdual carriage way is 14.7 meters wide on each side.Each side comprises of four lanes and every lane is3.3 meter wide.

A roundabout and two U-turns were also madeon this road. This new road was started fromMaulana Ahmed Ali Road and then connects

Minar-e-Pakistan, Lorry Adda, Badami Bagh, MastiGate and Circular Road.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated thes i g n a l - f r e eAzadi Chowkflyover and al-t e r n a t i v eroute of newCircular Roadon SundayJuly 13, 2014.A d d r e s s i n gthe inauguralc e r e m o n y ,S h a h b a zSharif saidAzadi ChowkProject wascompleted in ashort periodof less than sixmonths.

He saidnot only besttravelling fa-cilities will beavailable fromit but precioustime will besaved. Metro bus will also pass through it withoutwasting any time.

He expressed the confidence that this projectwill play an important role in the economic devel-opment of the people as well as enhancing beauty

of Lahore.Great national monuments includingBadshahi Mosque, Lahore Fort and Minar-e-Paki-stan will also be saved from environmental pollu-

tion.Earlier, the Chief Minister inaugurated alterna-

tive route of Circular Road. He also took round ofCircular Road and flyover and appreciated the stan-dard of the project.

TAXILA: Residents of the area set on fire tyres during protest against load-shedding at main GT road.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Minister (CM)Syed Qaim Ali Shah has expressed his dis-satisfaction over non-implementation ofSindh government village gasification planby executing authority Sui-Southern GasCompany (SSGC), despite of providing Rs6.5 billion in advance since last two years.

He directed the authority concerned tocomplete all 1108 village gasificationschemes by this year without fail.

This he directed while presiding overmeeting of village gasification at CM HouseKarachi today.

Advisor to CM for Finance Syed MuradAli Shah, Principal Secretary to CMAlamddin Bullo, Secretary to FinanceSohail Rajput, Secretary Energy Agha WasifAbbas, Senior General Manager SSGC DrIlyas and other officers from Sindh Gov-ernment and SSGC attended the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, the Chief Min-ister Sindh said that as many as 1108schemes of village gasification were as-signed to the management of Sui-SouthernGas Company in 2011 with advance manyof Rs 6.5 but till yet after two years the SSGCManagement enable to complete only 648and remaining 460 schemes are still in pend-ing with Rs 2.5 billion in their hand, whichis injustice to the people of Sindh Govern-ment who are even knocking the doors ofthe judiciary to get relief.

Non-implementationof village gasification

plan irks QaimHe said that when money was with them

(SSGC), approved schemes were with them,then there was no justification to keep theschemes pending since the years.

He asked the officers to complete the allschemes of village gasification providedthem in 2011 with amount of Rs. 6.5 billionby the end of this financial year.

He also directed them to keep the bal-ance amount of Sindh Government in thebank of Sindh Bank as decided earlier.

The advisor to CM Sindh Syed MuradAli Shah said that in previous meeting inthe month of March 2014, it was decidedthat the balance amount of Sindh Govern-ment Rs 2.5 billion would be transferred andtransacted through Sindh Bank but themanagement of SSGC did not respondedtill yet.

He said that delay in execution, simulta-neously keeping billion of rupees in handwas causing financial losses to Sindh Gov-ernment and difficulties to common men.

He asked the management of SSGC totransfer the resources from other side andcomplete these schemes by the end of thisfinancial year.The Senior General ManagerDr Ilyas while briefing the meeting said thatsince 2008 till date they have received theschemes of village gasification up to 1502out of which 648 so far have been com-pleted. He said that the delay in implemen-tation on schemes was because of limita-tion of OGRA.

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for Rail-ways Khawaja Saad Rafique has said thegovernment was fully supporting the Pa-kistan Army operat ion in NorthWaziristan Agency (NWA).

Talking to media, Saad Rafique paidtribute to Pakistan Army for renderingsacrifices for maintenance of peace in thecountry.

He said the government was provid-ing assistance to internally displacedpersons (IDPs) with food, shelter andhealth facilities.

The minister said Pakistan Army had

Govt supporting armyoperation in NWA: Saad

set up relief camps at various parts ofthe country. He urged all the politicalparties and civil society to come forwardand support the IDPs in this difficultsituation.

To a question, Saad Rafique said thegovernment was taking every step tobring improvement in the system, in thisregard, i t had launched a number ofprojects in various sectors includingpower, road network and infrastructure.

To another question, he said Paki-stan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) should avoidto create unrest through rallies.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The provincial government ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa has decided to launchthe special food package for poor from 22 ofthis month while all the arrangements havebeen finalized for this purpose. This programis being initiated in all the districts of theprovince simultaneously on the special di-rectives of Chief Minister Pervez Khattak thatwill continue till end of this fiscal year. About9 lakh families comprising 5.5 million poorpeople will be directly benefiting of this pro-gram who will get Rs 600 per month subsidyon 40 kg wheat flour and 5 kg ghee to beavailable at any nearest utility store for them.An agreement has been struck up with Util-ity Stores Corporation (USC) by the KP govtfor the purpose while agreement with a cellphone company is in final stage wherein aregistered poor will get the subsidized flourand ghee at any US after its official confirmit from Cell Company through SMS. It is ex-pected that PTI chairman Imran Khan will bechief guest at inaugural ceremony of thiswelfare program

It was revealed in a meeting chaired byKP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak at CMSecretariat Peshawar regarding giving finalshape to arrangements of the package an-nounced in the budget for provision ofcheap flour and ghee to the poor. Thosewho attended included Provincial Ministerfor Food Qalandar Khan Lodhi, Ministerfor PHE Shah Farman Khan, Chief Secre-tary Amjad Ali Khan, Additional Chief Sec-retary Khalid Pervez, program coordinator

KP to launch food packagefor poor across province

Over 5.5m poor people will be directly benefitingTashfeen Haider and administrative secre-taries and authorities of the departments ofFinance, P&D, Food and Information Tech-nology besides PTI provincial chief AzamKhan Swati and General Secretary KhalidMasood wherein the salient features of theprogramme were threadbare discussed anddecisions taken. It was decided that foodstamps/vouchers will be issued to the poorduring Ramazan as quick relief while InsafSamrt cards will be provided to the deserv-ing people after Eid as long term arrange-ments to be confirmed at USs through CellCompany.

The Chief Minister said launching theprogramme at an early time and unified man-ner in all districts of the province duringthe current holy month of RamazanulMubarak is a good omen. He directed forthe successful continuation of theprogramme during the whole financial year.So that, he added, the poorest families couldtake direct benefit from this welfare scheme.The meeting was told that for guaranteeingthe speedy implementation of the packagethe already prepared list under survey ofpoor families conducted for Benazir IncomeSupport Programme (BISP) has been ob-tained. Under the scheme destitute familieswill be given a subsidy of Rs.10/- per kilo-gram on flour and Rs.40/- per kilogram onghee. The programme will be benefitted bymore than 0.97 million poor families andabout 55 lakh poor people all over the prov-ince. The provincial government had allo-cated a fund of Rs.8 billion for theprogramme.

NAVTTC deviseplan to producequalified skilled

work forcePESHAWAR—The NationalVocational and Technical Train-ing Commission (NAVTTC)devised a comprehensive planto introduce for the very first-time a competency based train-ing in selected technical edu-cation and vocational training(TVET) institutes across thecountry.

Implementation of thisnew training approachwould start in Septemberthis year. This was sharedhere Monday at a workshoporganized by the NAVTTCin collaboration with theTVET Reform Support Pro-gram, which is co-funded bythe European Union, Em-bassy of the Kingdom ofNetherlands and FederalRepublic of Germany andimplemented by the GIZ.

Apart from a large numberof TVET experts, governmentofficials, chairman KhyberPakhtunkhwa Technical Edu-cation and Vocational TrainingAgency (TEVTA) NaumanWazir, Secretary TechnicalEducation FATA AbidMajeed, Director GeneralNAVTTC (S&C) MuhammadYayha, National Deputy Coor-dinator TVET Reform SupportProgram Raja Saad Khan at-tended the session.Speakingon the occasion, experts un-derlined the importance ofcompetency based training,saying currently the curriculabeing implemented in theTVET institutes have limitedlinkage with the industry andthe businesses.—APP

Six newtubewells for

Lahore next weekLAHORE—Water and Sani-tation Agency (WASA) willmake 6 new tubewells opera-tional next week in differentareas of the provincial capi-tal with the aim to overcomewater shortage in the holymonth of Ramzan.

This was stated by Man-aging Director WASA NaseerAhmad Chaudhry while chair-ing a meeting to review thewater supply situation in cityareas here at his office onMonday.He added thatLahore Electrict Supply Com-pany Chief Executive assuredhim to provide electricity con-nections to these newtubewells in the current weekafter which water supply wouldbe started from these sources.

He directed the DeputyManaging Director Opera-tions and the staff of theoperations wing to ensureuninterrupted water supplyto consumers before Sehriand Iftar timings. He also di-rected to utilize water tank-ers of WASA and PHA fordoor to door supply in popu-lated areas.—APP

Punjab releasesRs20 crore as

Ramazan, Eid grantSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Zakat &Ushr Department has re-leased 20 crore 42 lakh and28 thousand rupees to alldistricts of the province inconnection with Ramazanand Eid grant and theseamounts have received tothe chairmen Zakat Commit-tees of concerned districtsand they are bound to dis-tribute among the deservingwithin a week as many astwo lakh four thousand twohundred and twenty eightdeserving people will ben-efit from it.

Provincial Minister forZakat & Ushr Malik NadeemKamran told this in a meet-ing held to review Ramazanand Eid grant, here today.Secretary Zakat & UshrHabib-ur-Rehman Gillani,Administrator ZakatMuhammad Yousaf Butt andconcerned officers werepresent in the meeting.

Secretary Zakat Habib-ur-Rehman while giving a reportto the Minister regarding theamounts released to differentdivision informed that Lahoredivision has been given Rs.33,331,826, Gujranwala divi-sion Rs. 31,710,149, Faisalabaddivision Rs. 27,423,231,Rawalpindi division Rs.18,473.761, Sargodha divisionRs. 15,755,867, Sahiwal divi-sion Rs. 14,876,776, Multan di-vision Rs. 23,433,815,Bahawalpur division Rs.21,181,392 and D.G.Khan di-vision Rs. 18,041,183.

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ISLAMABAD—Director Gen-eral FATA Disaster Man-agement Authority (FDMA)Arshad Khan on Mondaysaid that the Authority hasbeen actively supportingthe Internally DisplacedPersons from the very out-set.

Talking to a privatenews channel, he said thatfree transport was providedto those who were unableto foot.

He said that they dis-tributed about forty crorerupees among some 30,000displaced families. Mr.Arshad Khan said thatmedicines have been pro-vided to hospitals in Bannuwith the support of provin-cial government.

29,548 IDP animals treated, 67,186 vaccinated

Rs400m distributed among 30,000 IDP familiesHeat wave to declinein current week, rainlikely at upper parts

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD)predicted scattered monsoon rains in the country in upperparts of the country during the current week from Tues-day to Friday.

Spokesman of PMD informed that week monsoon cur-rents are penetrating in upper parts of the country whichare likely to intensify during next couple of days.

The monsoon currents would produce scattered rain-thundershowers in Islamabad, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Lower Sindh and Kashmir during Tuesdayto Friday.

Heavy rain is also expected at a few places of UpperPunjab including Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwala andLahore divisions and Hazara division and Kashmir onThursday and Friday.

The day temperatures in upper parts are expected tofall 3-5 degrees and 2-4 degrees in lower parts of the coun-try providing relief from the prevailing hot and humidweather conditions. Meanwhile, the Lahore Met office onMonday predicted scatteredmonsoon rains in the countryduring the current week.

Heavy rain, very heavy attimes, is also expected at a fewplaces of Upper Punjab(Rawalpindi, Sargodha,Gujranwala and Lahore divi-sions) on Thursday and Friday.

Day temperatures in upper parts of the country areexpected to fall 3-5 degrees in upper parts and 2-4 degreesin lower parts of the country providing relief from the pre-vailing hot and humid weather conditions in the coun-try.—APP

Beggarsswarm Multanahead of Eid

MULTAN—Keeping in viewgenerosity of people duringRamzan, a large number ofbeggars along with theirfamilies have thronged ev-ery part of the city thesedays.

A survey by this newsagency on Monday showedthat one can see beggarsasking for alms at every in-tersection of the city roads,bazaars, markets, outsideshopping malls and in frontof mosques especially beforeand after Friday prayers. “My young son has died. Ihave made it to Multanthrough a long distance. I’mvery poor and needy. Pleasegive me alms,” requested afemale beggar to a citizen atNawan Shehr Chowk.

“We come from outsideMultan every year duringRamzan with my family.Weearn sufficient money duringthis month as we return homeafter collecting ‘fitrana’ frompeople,” disclosed anotherbeggar who was begging inMultan Cantt. Zahid Khan,a retired producer of RadioPakistan, said that some of beggars were rolling inwealth and added thatpeople should discourageprofessional beggars asbeggary was a curse.—APP

WBDC toorganize 10-daylong Eid BazaarPESHAWAR—Women Busi-ness Development Centre(WBDC) Peshawar is goingto organize a 10-day long EidBazaar, the bazaar has beengiven the name of ‘Eid Fair-Khushioyoun kai Rang’.

The Eid Fair will start fromthe evening of July 19 and willcontinue till July 28. The in-terested have been asked tocontact the management ofthe centre for booking stalls.

Women Business Devel-opment Centre (WBDC) is aproject of Small & MediumEnterprises DevelopmentAuthority (SMEDA) of theMinistry of Industries andProduction.

The project was launchedthree years back for the pro-motion of women entrepre-neurship to create employ-ment opportunities and alle-viate poverty in the country.

The centre providingstalls and racks to the entre-preneurs for the display oftheir products and incubatesto new entrepreneurs to im-prove the standard of theirproducts.

The centre is consecu-tively arranging such womenspecific bazaars on every re-ligious festival and alsoholds solo exhibitions of theyoung entrepreneurs.

Bazaars and exhibitionsorganized under the auspicesof WBDC Peshawar providefamily like environment towomen shoppers. The exhi-bition, Eid Fair will be held inWBDC display hall for thepromotion of the products ofboth its existing rack holders/incubates and encourage-ment of potential women en-trepreneurs.—APP

HYDERABAD: Pak Army officials offering Dua before dispatching relief goods for IDPS of NWA by Hyderabad Garrison.

CHINIOT: Muhammad Shahid Lali, Director Auqaf Punjab visiting Ramazan Bazaar tocheck quality of food items.

Subsidized atta, sugar salerecord being maintained

MUZAFFARGARH—DCO Shoukat Ali said on Monday thata 10kg atta bag was selling at Rs 310 and sugar at Rs 45 perkilogram at all Ramadan bazaars and their sale record wasbeing maintained properly.

He said this during visits to Kot Addu Ramazan Bazaaraccompanying MPA Ahmad Yar Hanjra and SinawanRamadan Bazaar along with MPA Zeeshan Gurmani onMonday.

MPAs Ahmed Yar Hanjra and Muhammad ZeeshanGurmani hailed the provincial government for providingsubsidy on atta and sugar to the people at RamazanBazaars.They said that rush of the people at Ramazan Ba-zaar was a testimony to the fact that quality items werebeing sold there at affordable prices.

They added that fruit, vegetables, pulses, gram flour,meat were also being sold at low prices while chicken wasselling at a price that is Rs 20 below the price in the openmarket. Quetta: Balochistan government has set up a pro-vincial price control committee to check profiteering andhoarding in the provincial capital during the holy monthof Ramadan. Provincial Home Department sources toldAPP here Sunday that the committee headed by the pro-vincial Home secretary ensures sale of essential commodi-ties including edible items on approved rates.—APP

BFC foilsIranian dieselsmuggling bid

Q U E T T A — B a l o c h i s t a nFrontier Corps foiled an oilsmuggling bid by seizingsome 12, 000 liters of IranianDiesel here fromDharakhshan checkpoint onMonday.

A spokesman for BFCtold APP here that seizeddiesel was loaded on truckwhich was being smuggledto interior parts of the coun-try.—APP

LHC reserves verdicton Haj policy 2014

LAHORE—The Lahore High Court Monday reserved ver-dict on petitions against Haj policy-2014.

Justice Muhammad Khalid Mehmood Khan was hear-ing petitions filed by Muhammad Arif Idrees and tour op-erators.

Earlier, a law officer submitted a report on behalf ofsecretary religious affairs regairding objections on hajpolicy. The report stated that haj quota was allocated onmerit and 19 haj organisors were alloteed quota on merit.

The petitioner’s counsel Muhammad Azhar Siddiquesubmitted that the Haj policy-2014 was not framed as perSupreme Court directions.

He said the Religious Affairs Ministry did not allot hajquota to new Haj group organisers (HGOs) and it was rea-son for costly haj.Azhar said that 19 old HGOs were allot-ted quota against merit and the ministry did not make anyextensive exercise for allotment of quota on merit.

He said that the ministry allotted a quota of 15,000 Hujjaj toHGOs after withdrawing it from government Haj Scheme de-spite the fact the government haj scheme was far cheaper thanthe HGOs. He pleaded to the court to set aside the haj policy.

However, a law officer contended that the policy wasframed on merit and under directions of the Apex court.

He said that the ministry withdraw a 20 percent quotaof HGOs in 2013 and signed an agreement with HGOs thatit would allot additional quota in 2014. He said that 15000additional quota was being given to HGOs under the agree-ment. He pleaded the court to dismiss the petition.

The court after hearing arguments of all parties re-served the verdict on petitions.—APP

Workshop on‘development

of postgraduatecourses’

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The Faculty ofBio-Sciences, University ofVeterinary and Animal Sci-ences, organized a one-dayworkshop on “Developmentof Postgraduate Courses -An Integrated Approach”here on Monday.

Vice-Chancellor Prof DrTalat Naseer Pasha chairedthe inaugural session of theworkshop, which was at-tended by the faculty mem-bers from the departments ofphysiology, anatomy andhistology, pathology andfood sciences and humannutrition. Speaking on theoccasion, the Vice-Chancel-lor said that it is a good ini-tiative and such trainingworkshops are necessaryfor curriculum developmentof multidisciplinary subjects.

Speaking about the ob-jectives of the workshop,Dean Faculty of Bio-Sci-ences Prof Dr HabiburRehman said that it is an ef-fort to introduce and inte-grate the concepts of team-teaching and development ofpostgraduate courses thatmight have a sharing possi-bility through team-teaching.

The procedure of cashdisbursement among thedisplaced people has beenmade easy and they can col-lect the amount from anyZone outlet by showingtheir national identity cards,said Arshad Khan. Helauded the role of NADRAin this whole process.

To a question, he saidthat today (Monday) is thelast day for registration ofIDPs from North WaziristanAgency at registrationpoints established inPeshawar.

The registration pointfor IDPs living in Peshawarand other northern districtsof Khyber Pakhtunkhwahas been set up at GovtCollege for Commerce and

Management Sciences inHayatabad, he added.

DG FDMA said theseIDPs are being providedMobile SIMs to get cash as-sistance in a transparentand orderly manner.

The authority has so farregistered 29,516 IDPs ofNorth Waziristan Agencyliving in Peshawar andother northern districts theprovince.

He said World FoodProgramme has so far dis-tributed a total of three thou-sand seven hundredtwenty-six metric ton foodassistance among the IDPs.Meanwhile, it is reportedthat the vaccination andtreatment of livestock of theInternally Displaced Per-

sons (IDPs) of NorthWaziristan Agency contin-ued in five districts ofKhyber Pakthunkhwawherein 29,548 animals weretreated besides vaccinationof 67,186 to protect themfrom different seasonal andviral infections.

Dr Zafar, SpokesmanLivestock Department toldAPP on Monday that vac-cination and treatment oflivestock brought by theIDPs from North WaziristanAgency to Bannu was un-derway at livestock campsunder the supervision ofspecialist doctors, veteri-nary assistants and para-medical staff.

Director LivestockHeadquarters, Dr Alamzaib

and Director LivestockKPK, Ehsanullah Khanalso visited the camps andinspected facilities pro-vided there.

He said free medicinesare being provided forvaccination and treatmentof animals, adding fourlivestock camps weresetup including two inBannu and one each inLakki Marwat and D.IKhan.

A large number of IDPshave brought their domes-tic animals including cows,buffaloes, goats, sheepand poultry along withthem while fleeing NorthWaziristan after launch ofmassive operation againstmilitants and terroriststhere.

More than 130,000 do-mestic animals have beenshifted to Bannu by thedisplaced persons whereasnumber of poultry wasabout 200,000. Leader ofPakistan Muslim LeagueNawaz (PML-N)Muhammad Siddiq ulFarooq has said that nationshould unite and help theinternally displaced per-sons (IDPS) with openheart.

Talking to Pakistan Tele-vision (PTV), he said thatunity was the need of thetime but some elements donot want to see a united na-tion but they would not suc-ceed in their objective.—APP

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Pakistan in fact needs‘March of progress’

PUNJAB Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif added yet another featherto his cap by inaugurating grand project of signal-free Azadi Chowkflyover and alternative route of new Circular Road in Lahore, com-

pleted in a record period of 165 days at a cost of Rs. 5.35 billion. Speakingon the occasion, he emphasized that Pakistan needs March of progress andnot Marches of destruction.

As the Chief Minister has just returned after a one week stay in thefriendly country of China, he was perhaps inspired by the historic March ofMao in China that heralded monumental progress and development in thatcountry. It was quite natural for a leader like Shahbaz Sharif, who himself isa doer and achiever, to get motivated by the noble precedent set by a greatleader. The Chief Minister was necessarily speaking in the backdrop ofplans announced by PTI to launch Tsunami March, which has now beenrenamed as Azadi March, but the fact remains that the change of nomencla-ture makes no difference as both the call and the objectives are highly po-litical. No doubt, Imran Khan is hammering the point of electoral rigging,demanding election reforms but his party-men do not hide the fact that themovement is intended to force premature elections. There is hardly anyjustification or cause to rock the system on any self-centered reasons. Wehave been emphasizing in these columns that the real problems of Pakistanare economy oriented and the Government should be allowed to concen-trate on policies and programmes to revamp the economy. Already, PML(N)Government has launched an ambitious programmes of progress and de-velopment and if allowed to be implemented it has the potential to changethe destiny of the nation. It is, perhaps, because of this focussed approach ofthe government, towards a better future of the people, that some of the rivalpolitical forces are resorting to leg-pulling to deny it the opportunity ofdelivering as per expectations of the masses. Long and short marches arethings of the past and people of Pakistan are weary of such negative trendsin the national politics. We are sure they would reject such calls that canraise the political temperature and confusion. It is also duty of the Govern-ment to demonstrate a more mature and responsible way of governance byavoiding the course of confrontation and adopting a persuasive approach.

Blood continuesto spill in Gaza

HUMAN rights’ has become a buzz word in the 21st century but theterm becomes irrelevant and unimportant when it comes to the hu-

man rights of oppressed Palestinians as the so-called civilized worldwatches their killing and maiming as silent spectator. In the continuingIsraeli aggression in Gaza, 166 Palestinians have been killed and another1120 wounded and the victims are mostly women and children with 18members of just one family.

The nature of killings exposes Israeli claims that its aerial strikes aretargeted at ‘Hamas militants’ as the victims are mainly civilians. It is in-triguing rather condemnable that there is a mysterious silence all over theworld with the exception of voices raised by Pakistan and Turkey againstbloodletting in Gaza. What Israel is doing is nothing but war crimes andcrimes against humanity but champions of human rights and democracy areunconcerned as it is blood of Muslims and Palestinians that is being shed.What a shame that instead of asking the aggressor to stop aggression andholding it accountable for killing of civilians, the world’s only super poweris conveying its assurance to Tel Aviv that it was in contact with regionalcountries on how to prevent rocket attacks against Israel. This is despite thefact that the ruthless military action being perpetrated by Israel has alreadyled to killing of 166 innocent lives. The silence of the US-led West andWestern dominated UN is understandable but one fails to understand whyArab League and the OIC are indifferent and getting irrelevant in the situa-tion. Why they have failed to protest the issue and take it up at differentlevels including the UN Security Council with the urgency it deserved?Western media is also playing a dirty role in covering up Israeli action as itgives legitimacy to the Zionist crimes by portraying them as action againstHamas ‘militants’. It is duty of the media in the Muslim world to wake upand expose the nefarious designs of Israel and its patrons.

Rough side of the footballbecomes more visible

GERMANY deservedly lifted the Football World Cup because of a hostof factors including a moment of brilliance from Mario Götze – Mario

de Janeiro, because of the team’s resilience and intelligence and because ofthe tackling of the outstanding Jérôme Boateng. Mario Goetze scored asuperb extra-time winner thus Germany beating Argentina 1-0 to becomethe first European team to win a World Cup held in South America onSunday. The decisive moment of the match came with penalties looming infront of 74,738 fans at Rio de Janeiro’s famous Maracana Stadium.

Germany will always remember Rio de Janeiro with the same fond-ness as Bern in 1954, Munich in 1974 and Rome in 1990. They are wor-thy champions, even if they could not play with the distinction that madetheir semi-final such a harrowing ordeal for Brazil, and it was a won-derful goal that ensured their name was engraved into the trophy for afourth time. Of course Argentina too played a superb game but the ladyluck was on the side of the Germans. Anyhow, the world cup which hadcaptivated the soccer lovers around the world since 12th June has cometo an end. The commentators will continue to analyse the game andperformance of various teams in the coming days, but one thing wasnoticeable that the rough side of the football was more visible. Alreadythe football is considered a tough game but this time there were glaringinstances and players scuttling the moves of the opponents deliberatelyplayed rough. Injuries in some cases caused irreparable damages likeBrazil’s superstar Neymar, who had scored four times to lead his countryto the quarter finals, was carried off on a stretcher in their win over Co-lombia and taken to hospital. He thus missed the remainder of the WorldCup and the host country, which was hoping for the cup, could settle forthe 4th position. In our view FIFA should prepare rigid rules and enforcethem through strict disciplinary action otherwise one fears it may turninto a bloody event and cause bad blood among the nations.

Two-state solution can ensure ME peace

Surveillanceof MuslimAmericans

A report that the US government conducted electronicsurveillance on five promi-

nent Muslim Americans is trou-bling. It deserves a fuller responsefrom the government than aboilerplate assurance that it doesn’tchoose targets of surveillance basedon their political or religious views.Relying on a spreadsheet suppliedby former National SecurityAgency contract worker EdwardSnowden, the online news site In-tercept reported that, between 2006and 2008, the government trackedthe email accounts of Faisal Gill,who had served in the US Depart-ment of Homeland Security, andfour other men, including NihadAwad, executive director of theCouncil on American-Islamic Re-lations, this country’s largest Mus-lim civil rights organization.

The article suggested that themen might have been targeted forsurveillance because of their reli-gion or peaceful advocacy, althoughno evidence of that was given. Itnoted that all of the men deny in-volvement in terrorism. None hasbeen charged with a crime arisingfrom the surveillance. The articlealso quotes a former FBI counter-terrorism official as spinning out-landish theories about MuslimBrotherhood infiltration of theUnited States, and it refers to a di-rective for intelligence personnel thatused “Mohammed Raghead” as thename of a hypothetical surveillancetarget. It isn’t clear whether any orall of the men were subjected to sur-veillance under the provisions of theForeign Intelligence SurveillanceAct. That 1978 law requires the gov-ernment to demonstrate to a specialcourt that there is probable cause thatan American citizen or permanentresident is an agent of a foreignpower or terrorist organization. (It’spossible that there can be probablecause to subject someone to surveil-lance for foreign intelligence pur-poses without there being probablecause to charge him with a crime.)

The notion that the FBI wouldtarget innocent individuals becauseof their views isn’t fantastic in lightof the agency’s past activities, andprofiling of Muslims was an unfor-tunate aspect of the official reactionto 9/11. That doesn’t mean that thepast is prologue in this case and thatthese five men were the victims ofreligious bias, but the suspicion isunderstandable. The AmericanCivil Liberties Union and severalother organizations have called onPresident Obama to make a “fullpublic accounting” of thegovernment’s surveillance prac-tices. It’s unrealistic to expect theadministration to publicize classi-fied information in specific cases,but the FBI’s inspector generalshould inquire into the circum-stances of these investigations andany broader role that religious ste-reotyping might be playing in theselection of targets for surveillance.— Los Angeles Times

*****

Sri Lankamust promote

religioustolerance

AUTHORITIES in Sri Lankaneed to sit up and take notice of a warning from the

leading Muslim politician on the is-land. In recent months, both Mus-lim and Christian communities inSri Lanka appear to be coming un-der a coordinated attack that hastacit government backing. In Junealone, three Muslims were killedand 75 injured in the latest outbreakof anti-Muslim violence in twosouthern coastal towns.

The situation has deteriorated somuch that the country’s Justice Min-ister, Rauf Hakeem — who alsoleads the island’s main Muslim party— has warned that the minority com-munity could become radicalised bythe violence perpetrated by Buddhisthardliners. Hakeem has warned thatelements may turn to foreign Islam-ist groups for support in fighting theBuddhist aggressors. Let us hope itdoes not come to that. It has beenfive years since the island endedthree decades of bloody ethnic civilwar. What is needed in Sri Lanka istolerance and acceptance of culturaland religious differences. Offeringtacit backing to Buddhist hardlinersonly breeds hatred and fosters fes-tering intolerance. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

THE killing of three Israeliteenagers is tragic and heart-breaking for all people with

a heart, and more so for their par-ents and relatives just as much asthat of the Palestinian teenager isto his people. The young people didnot have to die and deserved to liveto enjoy their lives and be a perma-nent source of joy for their parents.Isn’t it a shame that despite ad-vancement in nearly all fields ofhuman endeavour- with Israelisbeing far more advanced than thePalestinians - they have collectivelybeen unable to solve this problemwhich keeps cropping up in vari-ous forms and with different inten-sity every now and then. With Is-raelis being more advanced, pow-erful and resourceful, it is onlynatural that greater part of the blamefor this situation will rest on theirshoulders. Unfortunately, the onlysolution the Israeli leaders can thinkof is the use of excessive force inan effort to make Palestinians real-ize that they will have to pay a highprice for such incidents.

Israeli leaders may feel proudand satisfied, with their kill-ratio,killing a hundred Palestinians forthe loss of one Israeli but what goodis it to the family which lost a lovedone? As a matter of fact, an Israeliparent condemned the retaliatorykilling of the Palestinian teenager.

So, why don’t the Israeli mem-bers of public, mostly settler-classwho are the ones facing majorityof such tragedies, other conscien-tious people among Israelis andtheir well-wishers persuade Israeli

Patriots & separatists in Balochistan

A great majority of people ofBalochistan are as patrioticas people of other provinces;

only a handful of separatists led bydissident sardars are in liaison withhostile neighbor and so-calledfriendly countries to destabilize Pa-kistan. An anti-Pakistan organiza-tion namely American Friends ofBalochistan (AFB) based in Wash-ington, USA has been influencingAmerican opinion makers and statefunctionaries such as Laurie Deamerof Philadelphia to seek support inachieving independence forBalochistan. The US-based organi-zation is run by a professional jour-nalist namely Ahmer Masti Khanwho is an estranged Baloch andwent into self exile to enjoy a luxu-rious life rather than serving peopleof Balochistan. Befooling Americanopinion makers and state function-aries by a low grade journalist hav-ing objectionable and dubious pastis a matter of disgrace for civilizedUS public. Americans in general andstate in particular need to discour-age such efforts of vilification of Pa-kistan from American soil.

Baloch separatist elements whohave taken shelter or asylum in theWest have close association withIndian government and its spy agen-cies. Interestingly, separatists do nothide their bonhomie and affiliationwith India while expressing hatredfor Pakistan. American Friends ofBalochistan were overjoyed on thesuccess of BJP in Indian elections.

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The business ofAmerica isbusiness.

Ahmer Masti Khan onbehalf of AFB has writ-ten an open letter toNarendra Modi andsought his government’ssupport for NATO forces’physical intervention inBalochistan. Such callsexpose Indian conspiracyand direct involvement in

choreographing violence inBalochistan. Pakistan would be jus-tified in holding responsible govern-ments and secret agencies of Americaand India for fueling violence inBalochistan, if such elements are notcontained from demonizing Pakistanand its Armed Forces. However,American and Indian intelligenceagencies enjoying close partnershipagainst Pakistan have failed to con-vince significant Baloch personalitiesliving in USA.

The Baloch Society of NorthAmerica (BSO-NA) once patronizedby the two strategic partners hasbeen dissolved by Dr. Wahid Baloch,and created Baloch Council of NorthAmerica (BC-NA). He appealed tothe Baloch youths to shun the socalled war of independence, as it isnot a war of Independence but a warof death and destruction imposedupon the ordinary Balochs by greedycorrupt Baloch Nawabs and Sardarsand their sons. Their modus oper-andi is to get some activists killedso that they can cash their blood inthe international market. “We ask allthe middle class ordinary Balochsnot be misguided and brainwashedby the fancy slogans of these Khans,Nawabs and Sardars, as they are notthere for the ordinary Baloch butonly want them to be used for themand get killed”, said Dr. Baloch. Dr.Wahid Baloch and his associates de-serve appreciation for timely real-ization of Indian conspiracies to de-fame Baloch. Government must ac-

knowledge Dr. Wahid Baloch’s actof patriotism and loyalty to federa-tion of Pakistan.

Anti-Pakistan and anti- ISI pro-paganda by foreign nationals of Af-ghan origin (based in Canada) arecontinuously on the rise. In this re-gard efforts are made to garnish Af-ghan support to activities of BalochSub-Nationals (BSNs) and other subnationalists to show Pakistan and ISIin bad light with a view to promotingthe cause of Baloch dissidents.Canada is gradually becoming a hubof such activities due to liberal im-migration and freedom of expressionpolicies. Unfortunately, our counternarrative against anti-Pakistan andanti-ISI propaganda is either totallymissing or weak due to lack of re-sources and initiative by thePakistan’s Diplomatic Missionsabroad. Recently an Afghan originCanadian national Mrs. Nigah Jan haslaunched a propaganda campaign toget signature for a web-based peti-tion seeking sanctions against ISI.The petition is titled “Sanctionsneeded against Pakistan’s SpyAgency”. Reportedly, the petition hasso far got 1000 signatures, and wouldbe delivered to United Nations Sec-retary General Ban Ki-moon aftergetting 1500 signatures.

But such propaganda would notinfluence the people of Balochistan,as thousands of Baloch youth havejoined army as recruits and cadets,which will enable them to play theirpart in the defence of the motherland.Schools and vocational centres havebeen established to help Baloch youthto be productive citizens. These stepswill increase income of the Balochyouth to lessen their dependence onsardars and centrifugal forces. Butdetractors of Pakistan in the heat ofthe debate gloss over the basic factswittingly or unwittingly, if not out ofoutright ignorance. Balochistan is not

leaders to seek a real solution toproblem, which happens to be a two-state solution, but which they keeprejecting because of their insatiablegreed for land? The settlers shouldalso realize that if they take over landbelonging to Palestinians fromwhich they are/were uprooted byforce, and without even the paymentof any compensation, they would notbe treated with utmost cordiality andgoodwill by the suffering Palestin-ians. An obvious solution is for theIsraeli settlers is to demand to be ac-commodated in Israel proper?

The problem is that the Israelileaders have become victims of theirown success. They think that beingpowerful enough, they can handleany eventuality and this has madethem arrogant and unreasonable tothe extreme. Unfortunately, due tostrangle-hold of pro-Israeli lobbieson US politics and economy, andevangelical Christians’ support forIsrael for dubious reasons, theAmerican leaders have been playinga partisan role, backing Israel andgiving it ever-increasing military andeconomic aid even when Israel wasobviously in the wrong.

There has also been over-whelming support for Israel and Is-raelis nearly all over the westernworld, due to the suffering of Jewsin holocaust. However, with thefading away of the older generation,this reservoir of sympathy is dis-appearing fast. Moreover, evenamong Israelis and Jews, the oldergeneration that had faced the hard-ships is on the decline, and for com-ing generations, Israel is not such aspecial thing as it has been for theolder ones. It is for this reason thatthe number of Jews leaving Israelhas occasionally exceeded that offresh arrivals, and this trend could

become more common.So this gradual decline in the un-

qualified level of sympathy for Is-rael and Israelis, is creating a situa-tion where the international commu-nity is beginning to question Israeliconduct, and to hold them account-able for their deeds. Even a fewyears ago, it would have been un-thinkable that a ‘Boycott, divestmentand sanctions’ movement will comeinto existence and will gain momen-tum and the Palestinians, who usedto be unjustly treated as nothing butterrorists, will gain recognitionamong the international community.These are clearly warning signals forIsraeli leaders, but because of theirarrogance and short-sightedness,they fail to heed these and refuse toadjust their conduct accordingly. Un-fortunately, they seem to rely toomuch on their might and their‘smartness’ using which they thinkthey can continue to fool the inter-national community for ever.

And caring more for their posi-tions, they feel that accepting genu-ine demands of Palestinians willmean ‘weakness’ on their part,which may result in a decrease intheir popularity leading eventuallyto a break-up of their coalition gov-ernment. So, rather than risk theirown political future, they choose toendanger the future of Israelis. Ithink it is time for Israelis to fendfor themselves instead of relying ontheir imprudent leaders who aremost likely to make things worsefor them in future..

Karachi has a population ofabout twenty million people. I won-der just how much land Israel wouldrequire for its total population ofunder eight million of which onlythree-fourths are Jewish. Instead ofillegally grabbing more and more of

the Palestinian land, the conscien-tious people among Israelis shouldask their government to accommo-date them in Israel proper and de-mand of their government to va-cate illegal settlements to leaveenough, contiguous territory for aviable Palestinian state, with EastJerusalem as its capital, living inpeace with Israel.

If the Israelis do not heed thewriting on the wall, they could faceanother great tragedy sometime,and the international communityhaving tried for a peaceful solution,and rebuffed by Israeli leaders, maynot be all that sympathetic towardsthem then. This is the time for Is-raeli public, and others sympathetictowards it, to persuade, even pres-sure Israeli leaders to make peacewith Palestinians on reasonableterms which is the only thing thatcould ensure a peaceful future forthe coming generations of Israelisand Palestinians After all, the peacepacts with Egypt and Jordan areholding. So, if the Palestinians getreal peace with dignity, through aviable Palestine state, with EastJerusalem as capital, there is no rea-son why they would want to returnto the old pattern which onlybrought suffering. Such an outcomewould also remove the only hurdlethat has prevented vast majority ofMuslim states from developing nor-mal relations with Israel.

I think it is about time for therich Muslim states, who have givenmulti-billion dollar package to theEgyptian leader and carry influencewith him, to ask him to be moreforthcoming towards Palestiniansinstead of acting as an obedient andloyal security guard for Israel.—The writer is Karachi-basedpolitical analyst.

just Balochs. It is very muchPakhtuns as well. They indeed makeup more than half of the province’spopulace. They have been as muchthe sufferers of the centre’s injusticesas have been the Balochs. The pub-lic discontent in their areas runs ashigh as it does in the Baloch belt.Yet none over there has taken to in-surgency nor harbored any separat-ist sentiment. Balochistan is alsovery much Hazara too. Their ances-tors may have migrated from Af-ghanistan as had the Balochs fromSyria. But in every way they are thesons of soil as are the Balochs.

Hazaras have lived there forages, generations after generations.Lately, they have been particular tar-get of grisly sectarian bloodshed anddo have a legitimate grouse that theystate has absolutely failed to protectthem. Yet they have not given in toseparatist tendency. ThenBalochistan is very much Punjabisettlers too. Indeed calling them set-tlers is an atrocious misnomer. Theyare as native of Balochistan as arethe Balochs. It is since centuries thatthey have been there. Since genera-tions, it has been their abode. Withtheir toils and sweat in the field andon the farms, they have catered toits needs for menial jobs like carpen-try, washing laundry and haircutting.Urdu-speaking migrants are also inBalochistan since the independence,and they have made the backboneof the province’s educational systemthat they raised from a scratch. Yet,both particularly the Punjabis havebeen the bleeding target of ethniccleansing at the hands of the Balochinsurgents and extremists, as indeedare the Pakhtuns, who too are beingsystematically hounded out of theBaloch belt from their ages-old resi-dences and businesses.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

—Calvin CoolidgeUS president (1872-1933)

Mohammad JamilEmail: [email protected]

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

S R H HashmiEmail:[email protected]

Page 5: Ep15july2014

Voice of the People

OGRA debacleSALAR LATEEF

This is with reference to my letter“A Plea to OGRA” published inDaily Pakistan Observer (July 5th).I tried to draw the kind attention ofOGRA authorities on an importantissue regarding CNG closure andblack marketing at some particularCNG filling stations in Sindh in myprevious letter. I also sent an emailto the Chairman & Registrar OGRAbut the email was sent back to meon the grounds of delivery failure.

I would request concerned of-ficers to please check and fix theproblems with their email. More-over, I would also plea CJP to takesuo motu action against suchirresponsive attitude of authoritiesas the officers are deputed to servethe nation instead of only enjoyingthe privileges, provided by the gov-ernment.—Via email

Silence iscriminal

NAUSHABA ABID

This is the time for humanity loversto wake up against the violence ofIsrael against innocent Muslim chil-dren, women and men in the holymonth of Ramadan. It is a challengefor all those who believe in human-ity. At this moment their silence isan act of criminal indifference.

The silence of Muslim worldcountries on issues is not new butthere are so many organizations inthe world which use the slogan forpeace, love and harmony; where arethey? The silence is ironic. Theirvoiceless stance is understandable.The heart wrenching attacks onchildren. The pictures, particularlythose of children, that social me-dia is demonstrating are pathetic tosee. The world humanity and peacelovers must raise voice against suchdeadly attacks.—Via email

Trade tieswith India

JAVAID BASHIR

The eagerness of Nawaz Sharif fam-ily towards trade ties with India, isquite apparent from his policy state-ments on the issue. He must bemindful of the security concerns ofthe Armed forces. We cannot com-promise on such vital issues. Hewants to become hero in the eyes ofthe world by promoting relationswith India. India must reciprocatewith the same zeal. The bilateral re-lations are a two way interaction thatcalls for reciprocity and fair deal-ings. But his statements are eyeopener for the patriotic citizens.

We must watch his moves withcritical eye. We must remember thatwithout the solution of Kashmir Is-sue, there can be no permanentpeace in this region. Trade ties shallbe counterproductive to any movetowards the solution of existingproblems The big question would bethe grant of MFN status to India. Wecannot assess the outcome of our ef-forts to appease India. The foreignPolicy of Pakistan needs a direc-tional change and invigorating en-vironment, and lesser interferenceby the hawkish establishment guard-ing the foreign policy. Nawaz Sharifcannot set the agenda unilaterally onsuch vital issues. He must take thenation into confidence.—Via email

Musharraf in courtNOOR UL AMIN DANISH

Democracy is the name of lootingand protecting own interests incountries like Pakistan. No one inthe world can call it democracy. Wecan’t neglect the role of Army in our

Concentrate on real issuesMUKHTAR AHMED

This refers to your editorial “Even if there was no deal with Mush”(July 14), which raises manyquestions about the timings of making such disclosures, one by ex DG ISPR that Gen Kayani was

not in favour of operation in North Waziristan and the other by former Prime Minister Yousaf RazaGilani that Gen Musharraf resigned after brokering deal and PML(N) was party to it. It was however,denied by Pervez Rashid who stated that the resignation by Musharraf was his own decision. Whyshould he broker deal when he was elected President, having his own Chief Justice in saddle and himselfequipped with Article 58(2)(b). In fact, the election results were great disappointment for him becausethe party he nurtured was washed out and in all the four Assemblies he was not welcome as they passedresolution against him. There were two major factors that helped him taking right decision to resign:firstly he had no backing from any of the four Assemblies and secondly impeachment sword was hang-ing all the time and Gen Kayani’s attitude made him to resign. PPP was not in hurry and behavedmaturely and was not interested to remove Musharraf unceremoniously as suggested in the editorial,which has reared a sane advise that government should forget past and should not create un necessaryproblems which can otherwise be avoided. It is true that Army shall never tolerate humiliation of itsformer Army Chief and the way things are moving should be very loud and clear to government thatMusharraf’s trial is not going to end soon. Our immature debates on TV channels and partial characterassassination in print media can not change the ground realities. The Pakistan Observer needs to becongratulated for taking bold stance to advise government to avoid un necessary controversies thatcould be harmful. I would just add that Army is not going to disown its former chief and he is wellprotected and any effort from any direction to single out Musharraf shall not succeed. Present disclo-sures at wrong time is nothing except politicking and creating sensationalism that is not in the interestof the country and our media should rather concentrate on real issues.—Via email

DISCLAIMER

Email:[email protected]

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

—Editor

Pak-India ties face new realities

NARINDRA Modi is the newprime minister of the world’sbiggest democracy. He is fol-

lowing a well chalked out regimen, aproverbial road to progress, prosper-ity and social tranquillity. Known forhis hard line views about Muslimsand particularly Pakistan, Modi stilltakes Pakistan as the perennial en-emy. Proof? Just follow the develop-ments a little more carefully. The In-dian budget is now the documentbased on six pillars: one, take calcu-lated financial risks; two, bring backcash to India; three, skill people inyoung age thereby benefiting fromthe demographic bulge for times tocome; fourth, no fiscal fudge; fifth,infuse federalism; and finally, avoidfinancial and economic gimmicks.

India is all set to amend the Bank-ing Regulations Act of 1949; this willfurther open up the economy and fa-cilitate the reserve bank of India tolaunch new bonds. The finance min-ister of Modi has already asserted thatthe climate will be changed from thatof subsidy laden, bureaucratic cultureto business friendly investment cli-mate. The Modinomics are at work.This does not imply that bureaucratswill be ridiculed on technical

grounds; rather one of the key areasof focus is to build confidence in thebureaucracy. Other areas of generalfocus are, welcoming innovativeideas in any field, improving the re-sources of water, energy and educa-tion, jump starting economy andmaintaining growth rate of 5% andabove, and finally infrastructure andinvestment reforms.

Modinomics is being built as adevelopmental science. Hundred newcities will be built; (a further strainon western rivers of Indus water sys-tem) diamond quadrilateral networkof hi-speed connecting all the exist-ing major cities and growth centreswill be built at priority as railways isthe backbone of internal economy ofthe country. The Ganga river whichis not only a Hindu religious iconicelement but is also biggest symbol ofIndian federalism, will be cleaned anduplifted in its façade and staturethrough Ganga rejuvenation plan.

On the defence side, India isopening up its defence industry forjoint ventures with many foreignmanufacturers. Indian army chief hasalready removed the shroud by de-claring Pakistani border as mainthreat and area of concern to India.The test firing of Brahmos is a stepforward towards the assured secondstrike capability and a clear messageto Pakistan. Modi is going to Japanin August and will probably sign the

civil nuclear deal or will at least breakthe ice. The journey for nuclear fuelwill then take him to Washington inSeptember this year where more con-cessions will be accrued besides ad-dressing the UN general assembly.

Pakistan is requesting for a sum-mit level meeting between the twoprime ministers but still waiting a nodfrom India. On foreign policy side,Modi is again at the world centrestage, USA, Russia and China are alleager to receive him and discuss any-thing under the azure sky. China isespecially ready for courting Modi.

The economic interests and theIndian Ocean are the probable rea-sons of this new found love as inSouth China sea, ships of many coun-tries are ramming into each other dueto decreasing oceanic space andChina’s dash-o-nine policy. India canfacilitate China to have this breather.

India under Modi is eager tohave a direct excess to Central Asiathat is why they are again raisingthe issue of 38,000 sq-kms of Kash-mir area which according to themChina is occupying, China on theother hand is persistent on the ter-ritorial claims of 90,000 sq-kms ofArunchalpardesh.

Despite these claims and counterclaims the relations between thesetwo countries are improving the way,like it never happened before.With allthe neighboring countries, Indian for-

eign policy of coming years will bebased on one point agenda, the Wa-ter. Before this India is concentrat-ing on internal water disputes be-tween its states. Cauvery river wa-ter management board to solve wa-ter issue between Tamil Nadu andKarnataka is the example. China asupper riparian of Satluj,Brahmaputra and Yaluzangbu canoffer much to India. WithBangladesh, India shares 54 smalland big rivers, Pakistan’s water vowsand the coming water stress willagain put the lever and the leveragein Indian hands.

Even the appointment of AjitDoval is part of the greater waterpolicy of future. He being a na-tional security advisor is more con-versant with Tibetan plateau thanplaying spook games with Pakistandespite being having a hands onexperience on Kashmir , Punjaband Pakistan as the ex IB chief.Tibetan plateau and water are syn-onymous, the rivers of all most allthe countries of the region origi-nates from this plateau, it includesChina, Thailand, India,Bangladesh, Vietnam and manymore. One really appreciates thefocus of Mr Modi and it definitelyindicates that this time they are toostrategic in intent and outlook.—The writer is PhD scholar atNDU, Islamabad.

Views From Abroad

Cost of ‘making’ democracy

BARRING the increasingly influential isolationist/tea partywing of the American elector-

ate, opinion is and always has beenthat the United States is the messen-ger of democracy to a world that usu-ally hasn’t earned it and probablydoesn’t deserve it. The Obama admin-istration today includes two campsofficially committed to the promul-gation of democracy, one of them lo-cated in the State Department, CIAand Pentagon, willing to employ sub-version, invasion, and fire and brim-stone to accomplish regime changein politically backward nations in or-der to bestow upon them a better life,such as the US knows.

Associated chiefly but not at allexclusively with the Republican Partyand Republican presidencies, it hasbeen responsible since the PersianGulf War for American-led mayhemin the Middle East and West AsianAfghanistan and Pakistan. In addi-tion, its enduring commitment inEurope from the Atlantic to the Uralshas been to establish the primacy ofNATO and indirect reign of the USup to, or beyond, the frontiers of aweakened Russia. The second centre

of foreign policy activism in theObama administration has been theWhite House and the office of theAmerican ambassador to the UnitedNations. It consists of those who areof humanitarian intervention persua-sion, recently concerned mainly withcivil struggle and nation-building inSudan, “leading from behind” inLibya, and advocating interventionin the Syrian Revolution — and, onewould hope, today preoccupied withthe possibility if not probability thatsectarian murders in Israel’s occu-pation and annexation of Palestin-ian territories may lead to uprisingand another sanguinary military re-pression of the Palestinians, andagainst seething Gaza.

The US, as the world knows,under every American government ofthe past 64 years, has borne a tremen-dous responsibility for this situationin Israel and what has led up to it,due to American complicity and im-plicit encouragement of Israel’s ap-propriation of the Palestinians’ landsand oppression of the Palestinianpeople, a policy that amounted topunishing the Palestinians for theHolocaust, and will leave a perma-nent stain upon the reputation of theIsraeli nation and its people. Few inthe American democracy-buildingcommunity — military version or

peaceful persuaders — seem to havemade or promoted serious publicappraisals of whether any of thisdemocracy-propagation works. Howdo you “make” democracy? If oneconsiders the roster of serious,stable, reliably working democraciesin the world today, I see none thatdid not “make” itself. Some inher-ited parliamentary institutions andcivil liberty precedents from the co-lonial experience of their popula-tions, contributing to the construc-tion of independent nations. Newstates of British inheritance wereluckiest in this.

Neoconservative Americans,preceding, and again after, the inva-sions of Afghanistan and Iraq, usedto argue that after World War II theAllies “made” democracies of Ger-many and Japan. It followed, theyclaimed, that it would be the samein the Middle East and Asia.

Military occupation of both de-feated states (which in the guise ofperpetual alliance continues today!)certainly guaranteed that the Japa-nese and Germans would not plungeagain into militarism. They wereboth sophisticated and exceptionallywell-educated nations. Both had rep-resentative institutions and constitu-tional monarchies before the twoworld wars, and Weimar Germany

Rape and the moral Police..!

WITH every rape themoral police wag theirfingers at legs that should

be hidden, bosoms that shouldmatch the flatness of tummys, andfaces that should be as bare as theSahara. “What is more fascinatingthan the slim legs of a beautifulwoman, her alluring curves and asmile that matches her dimpled chinand lovely eyes!” I cried. “Youshould be careful!” warned a mem-

William Pfaff

ber of the moral police. “Do not talklike that!” “Like what?” I asked.“You can land up in jail!” “For ap-preciating a woman?” “For rape!”“I have no intention of raping awoman if I admire her,” I said. “Youare a fool!” “Why?” I asked.

“How can you not think of rapewhen you see her legs, her neck, herbulging bustline?” “Do you think ofrape when you see a woman dressedlike that?” I asked. “I am a man!”“You are?” I asked. “Yes, a womanturns me on! I am not some pansywho pretends not to notice a semi-naked woman!” “You notice her?”

“Of course I do!” “Or do you lust

for her?” “I am a man! And a manneeds a woman!” “Even if she is notyours?” “I am the moral police. Ishould be asking the questions!”“Legs turn you on?” I asked, “also alow neck line! What about an exposedwaist? A nice flat shapely stomach?”

“Ah! Do not provoke me! I am aman!” “And a member of the moralpolice!” “Yes!” “Aren’t your moralsa little loose?” “How dare you!”“Your mother? Your sister? What dothey wear?” “They are decentwomen, they wear a sari!” “Ah a sari!Which shows the whole world anexposed waist an inviting stomach!And oh so seductive belly buttons!

Which also on a shapely woman isone of the most alluring, seductiveattires in the world!”

“What are you saying?” “ThatMr Moral Policeman, rape is in yourmind and not in the mini skirt orhugging jeans, salwar kameez oreven the sari that your mother andsister wear!”

“I will have you arrested!” “Forwhat?” “For instigating me to com-mit rape!” “Maybe,” I said, “it isyou moral police who need to bepoliced by us. You make all thesefoolish utterances because you fearyourselves..!”—Email: [email protected]

was a liberal state between thewars. In 1945 both these defeatedpeoples were acquainted with rep-resentative government; and fur-thermore were integrated intodemocratic national communitiesin the years following World WarII, and were threatened by totali-tarian neighbouring states.

Consider the results of theAmerican effort under George W.Bush and Obama to bring democ-racy to the Middle East and to Af-ghanistan today — or indeed toUkraine and Georgia. Iraq is awrecked nation and soon may be apartitioned state. Afghanistan haspaid an enormous price for its lib-eration from a Taliban governmentin 2001. Syria is in civil war, SaudiArabia deeply unstable, and Islamitself has been thrown to the brinkof a sectarian war that could per-manently wound a great civiliza-tion. Ukraine experiences regionaland sectarian conflict, and Rus-sia has been deflected from the pa-cific course of international coop-eration on which MikhailGorbachev set it. To finish, considerwhat this proud effort has done tothe US, its civil liberties, and to itsown democracy. The writer is a vet-eran US journalist. — Courtesy: The Japan Times

Kashmir once a paradise

I remember in the first week ofMarch 2003, a delegation comprising of six-members belong-

ing to a US legislators group fromNew Hampshire, visited India in ahope that they would be given anopportunity of visiting the Indianpart of Kashmir. On his return, thegroup leader Mr. J. Guide com-plained about the silence fromEmbassy of India and said: “I havepersonally written two letters to theambassador of India in Washingtonto grant my delegation visas so thatwe can visit the Indian side ofKashmir but unfortunately I havereceived no letter.”

Senator Frank V. Sapareto, amember of that group was morepungent in his comments. He said,“Whatever is happening there inthe Indian Occupied Kashmir is a

pure genocide, nothing less thana holocaust.”And now in 2014, the situationthere is still the same. Indiadoes not allow international ob-servers and foreign reporters inKashmir just to keep the atroci-

ties of the Indian Army hidden fromthe eyes of the world around. Mus-lims are the 90 percent ofKashmir’s population but in spiteof being in such a majority, theDamocles’ sword of rape and mur-der is always hanging upon them.These Kashmiris are neither the ter-rorists nor the criminals; they arejust protesting against the violationof their basic human rights but un-fortunately more than 700000 In-dian troops are treating these inno-cent Kashmiris as if they are ter-rorists. These so-called ‘Security-Troops’ are the major source ofspreading fear, horror and insecu-rity among the Kashmiri people.

By default or by temperament,the Indian nation is one of the bestnations. In the field of poetry, mu-sic, painting, film making, medicine,

science and technology, this nationhas ever served the humanity withits extra-ordinary skill and talent.But the actual problem lies with theHindu extremists who are in abun-dance everywhere from politics topolicy making.

The Hindutva philosophy hasgrasped the whole of Indian socialfiber in its cruel clutches. Be it theMuslims or the Christians or theSikhs and even the Hindus belong-ing to the low-castes; all are facingthe same fate at the hands of theHindu extremists. The issue of theIndian Occupied Kashmir is neitherracial nor geographical, neither po-litical nor territorial; it is simply areligious issue. The Hindu extrem-ists desire to kick-out the Muslimsfrom Kashmir and make it simply aHindu majority state and this is thereason they are making the lives ofthe Kashmiri Muslims hell throughtheir atrocities.

The story of human rights vio-lation in the Indian Occupied Kash-mir is not a ‘new-born’ story. What-ever is the situation today in July

2014, same was in July 1931. Itwas 13th of July 1931 when thou-sands of people gathered outsidethe Central jail Sri Nager to wit-ness the court proceedings againsta young man Abdul Qadeer whowas charged for instigatingKashmiris to defy Dogra rule. AtZuhar prayer time, a young manstood up for the call of prayer butthe Dogra soldiers silenced himwith their guns. Another youngman rose to continue the call butwas also shot dead. Ultimately 21persons were killed in their attemptto complete the call for prayer.

This brutally sad incident madethe 13th July immortal in the his-tory of human rights violation.Throughout the world, whereverthere are Kashmiris and whereverthere are people who care for thehuman rights, this day is observedas Kashmir Martyr’s Day. But inmy opinion, in the valley of the In-dian Occupied Kashmir, everydayis a Martyr’s Day.—The writer is Multan-basedfreelance columnist.

Abid Latif Sindhu Email: [email protected]

Ali Sukhanver Email:[email protected]

politics which is entirely differentfrom the definition of democracy. Aswritten in the Constitution, every-body will be treated equally and no-body is above the law. Law has thesupreme powers but unfortunatelylaw is only for lower class. This lawhas been divided into different cat-egories and one of the example isPervaiz Musharraf case.

This case is getting importancebecause here in Pakistan it’s really bignews that ex Chief of Army Staff isin the court. we admit that it is a goodmove in the history of Pakistani judi-ciary but why only Musharraf. Ifcourts opens the cases against politi-cians they become ‘Politicalshaheed’. They have the street powerso when courts decides against theirdesires then their party workers getcharged and come on roads and giv-ing this name of political victimiza-tion. Now here rises a big question?

Musharraf case is gettingprogress just because he has not anypolitical support or he cannot mobi-lize public on the streets. No doubtthis case should be proceeded but theslogan should be justice for all. Bigcredit goes to the judiciary of Paki-stan for taking such a bold step butbig question rises in the mind thatwhen these courts will open thecases of money laundering, AsgharKhan case, Steel Mill corruption andmany more cases like these. Justiceshould be done no matter who is vic-tim because without justice no na-tion can progress.—Via email

Ouster ofNajam Sethi

M FAZAL ELAHI

Pakistan’s cricket has been in a ter-rible mess for several years now.Honestly speaking, the game ofcricket in our part of the world, hasalways been a victim of long-drawncontroversies and adhocism. It is aknown fact that politics has creptin everywhere and ruined all our in-stitutions to a point of utter destruc-tion. Undeniably, cricket is onegame that Pakistan has excelled infor an appreciable period of time.This game has made Pakistan standout conspicuously among the sport-ing nations of world, and Pakistan’scricket team has earned laurels forthe country, time and again, throughits brilliant wins in this outstand-ing sports.

Ouster of Najam Sethi, a num-ber of times before and yet again, hasmade Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB)and Pakistan a laughing stock in thecricketing world. In the larger inter-est of cricket in Pakistan, urgent mea-sures would be needed to be takenby people at the helm in the govern-ment to put things straight once andfor all. Adhocism and politicizationvis-à-vis cricket must end forthwith.If this is not done, I am afraid likeother sports the game of cricket inPakistan is also destined to witheraway soon.—Via email

Attack on GazaSOHA JAFRI

Einstein had once very aptly re-marked that “mankind is in real hatewar and violence”. Ever since, manis in a search of peaceful world. Butunfortunately today’s circumstancescontradict his idea. The example ofattacks in Palestine in one of them.

I was completely shattered by thenews of attack in Gaza resulting in adeath of five children and fourwomen. This is the worst example ofgenocide by Israelis and no countrycan afford to criticise or challengeIsrael’s brutal politics. No one is therewho could put a brave face and standtall for Palestinians. The death toll hasraised to 78 since Israel has launchedan operation Protective Egde.

Furthermore, by banning Israelproducts shall make us feel good, butin-real without making a strong re-

sponse and effort against Israel wecannot make Palestinians safe andsecure. Every country should makean effort to save Palestinians beforethis fire comes to their countries.—Karachi

Afghan pollsand Pakistan

INAYAT WAZIR

Historic elections in Afghanistanwhose first round was held in Apriland second in June, were a milestonein the long history of the war torncountry. As was expected the maincontenders turned out to be AshrafGhani Ahmadzai, an ethnic Pashtoonfrom the south-east of the country andAbdullah Abdullah who claims thesupport among the northerners espe-cially Tajiks. But the whole projectof electioneering became sour whenin the second round Ashraf Ghaniwho was the runner up in the firstround became winner in the second.Abdullah Abdullah instantly rejectedthe outcome and questioned the highturnout of the voters. He even calledit a coup against the will of the peopleof Afghanistan.

The situation became very alarm-ing after Abdullah supporters cameout on the streets and tore down theportrait of the current PresidentHamid Karzai in the Loya Jirga Hallin Kabul. It was in this backgroundthat on Friday US Secretary of StateJohn Kerry visited Kabul and met allthe parties of the current crisis. Manypeople hope that as US is the biggestdonor of Afghanistan and will remainso in the years to come, it will not beeasy for any of the two sides and alsoPresident Hamid Karzai, whoAbdullah alleged was helping Ghani,to follow a neutral and Constitutionalpath to solve the problem and calmdown the tensions.

The exacerbating of tensions inthe neighbouring country can have avery adverse effect for Pakistan, butit should not prompt the country totry to meddle in the internal affairsof a country, which already has griev-ances against us, many of them notwithout justifications. Pakistan needsto focus on its own problems withinits border including the raising of thepolitical temperature with the upcom-ing “million man march” of ImranKhan and diatribes by Tahir ul Qadri.It would be better if Pakistan let theAfghan themselves solve their issuesrather than interfering, which issometimes done in good faith butonly brings more mistrust and ani-mosity between the two neighbouringMuslim countries.—Lahore

Quality lawgraduates!

HASHIM ABRO

Being a humble student of law andpolitical science, I have noticed whatour Law Colleges, and now the LawVarsities, are producing and they willalso go on producing more lawyersthan our society needs.

It is reported that there are nearlythrice as many new law graduatesthan estimated job openings acrossthe country. All concerned must ap-ply their mind and devise such a strat-egy to produce the desired numberof lawyers, instead of a huge numberof quality-less law graduates.—Islamabad

Page 6: Ep15july2014

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators holding banners and chanting anti Israeli slogans walk in Paris on Sunday toprotest against the Israeli army’s bombings in the Gaza strip.

CESAR CHELALA

One of my most persistent memoriesof my friend Dr. Albert Sabin, whodeveloped an oral vaccine against po-

liomyelitis (polio), was when we’d meet af-ter one of my health-related missions over-seas his questions about the polio situationin the country I had visited. I am sure hewould be dismayed at the return of polio inmany countries, and even more so when helearned that this phenomenon is due to thespurious use of public health programs.

In July 2011, an investigation carried outby The Guardian revealed that the CIA had or-ganized a false vaccination program whereOsama bin Laden was reportedly hiding, as away to obtain DNA samples from the al-Qaidaleader’s family. The CIA had been monitoringthe compound were bin Laden was believed tobe living, but the agency wanted confirmationbefore mounting a risky operation in anothercountry. If it could be obtained, DNA from anyof bin Laden’s children could then be compared

Polio’s comeback laid to immunization ruseswith a DNA sample from a bin Laden sister whohad died in Boston in 2010, to establish that thefamily was then at the compound.

A Pakistani doctor, Shakil Afridi, organizeda hepatitis B vaccination campaign to be car-ried out at Abbottabad, the town where binLaden was believed to be hiding. Health work-ers were among the few people who had visitedthe compound before to administer polio dropsto some of the children. After the British news-paper revealed the deception, however, the rusehad an unexpected outcome. Angry villagers inseveral tribal areas on the Afghan border chasedaway legitimate health workers. They accusedthose workers of being spies who wanted togather information on the people living in thatregion. The unfortunate result is that many chil-dren were not vaccinated against polio. The dis-ease made a comeback in areas where it hadbeen practically eliminated.

Paradoxically the cover used by Afridi wasn’tthe polio vaccine but the hepatitis B vaccine.“There could hardly have been a more stupidventure, and there was bound to be a backlash,

especially for polio,” stated Dr. Zulfiqar A.Bhutta, an immunization expert at Aga KhanUniversity in Karachi, Pakistan. According tomany experts’ opinion, this provoked one moresetback in the war against polio that, by manyassessments, could have ended in 2000. For manyyears, polio immunization campaigns have beena source of controversy among Muslims in manycountries. Rumours associated with the vaccinethat it carries HIV, that it is unclean under Is-lamic law or that it is a Western plot to sterilizeMuslim girls have led to many people in Muslimcountries to reject the vaccine. This has resultedin the resurgence of polio in those countries.

This is the case of Nigeria, where in 2003,the governors of three states in northern Nige-ria Kano, Kaduna and Zamfara decided to sus-pend polio immunization until the vaccines wereinvestigated and proven safe. Although testsconducted at the National Hospital Abuja andat a lab in South Africa showed that the vac-cines were uncontaminated, the Kano govern-ment declared that its tests showed the vaccinecontained estrogen in quantities that could lower

fertility in women.As a result, polio, which had been eradi-

cated from almost all of Nigeria, made a come-back not only in Kano but also in other partsof Nigeria, including Lagos, the nation’s com-mercial capital. Afterward, Nigerian strainsof the poliovirus appeared in several West andcentral African countries such as Benin, Togo,Ghana, Burkina Faso, Cameroon and CentralAfrican Republic. We thus have a situationwhere both founded and unfounded beliefshave led to people in several countries to re-ject immunization against a disease that bymany criteria should now be a fact of history.The World Health Organization has calledpolio’s resurgence a “global emergency”.

According to WHO, the first few monthsof 2014 have seen a significant rise in polioinfections across the globe. As things standnow, a coordinated international response isimperative, as is the commitment of politicalleaders not to use public health campaigns forspurious political means.

—Courtesy: The Japan Times

Philippine President Benigno Aquino III, third left, attends ceremonies on the 67th Philip-pine Air Force Anniversary at Clark Air Base in Pampanga province, northern Philippines,in this July 1, 2014, file photo. Aquino’s popularity rating has plummeted in surveys amida controversy over the use of development fund.

MANILA—Philippine President BenignoAquino’s performance ratings have plunged totheir lowest ever, two independent pollsters saidon Monday, as a perception grew that he is notserious enough in efforts to fight corruption.Aquino, the son of an assassinated opponent ofdictatorship and his wife, a democracy hero andformer president, won the presidency in 2010on a promise of good governance and fightinggraft but has struggled to rid the country of itsimage as the most corrupt in Asia.

A survey by independent pollster Pulse Asia,taken last month, showed Aquino’s approvalrating dropped from 70 percent in March to 56percent. His trust rating also fell from 69 per-cent to 53 percent in the same period. Anothersurvey, by Social Weather Stations, also donelast month, showed Aquino’s net satisfaction rat-ings dropped to 25 percent from 45 percent inMarch, the lowest in four years. His highest was67 percent in August 2012.

Aquino is ineligible for re-election under theconstitution but the prospects for his Liberal Party’s

Philippine leader’s approval downon doubt over corruption effort

candidate are likely to be damaged if his popular-ity is undermined in the run-up to a 2016 presiden-tial election. “This is the largest decline in bothapproval and trust and it’s also his lowest perfor-mance thus far,” Ana Maria Tabunda, Pulse Asiaresearch director, said in a television interview.

People were disillusioned by widespreadcorruption in government, she said, adding thather poll was taken at the same time that the gov-ernment arrested three senators on plundercharges for misuse of congressional funds andrising cost of rice and other food. Tabunda saidthe survey was largely complete by the time theSupreme Court rejected an Aquino creation ofdiscretionary funds, called a Disbursement Ac-celeration Program, which has become theadministration’s worst crisis in four years.

Edwin Lacierda, the president’s spokesman,acknowledged a “dip in enthusiasm” but said hewas not alarmed. “These numbers can be consid-ered par for the course or average for this pe-riod,” he said. “A healthy majority has expressedtrust and confidence in the president.”—Reuters

Hamas deniesfiring rocketsfrom LebanonBEIRUT—The Palestiniangroup Hamas had no role in arocket attack on Israel fromLebanon and had nothing to dowith a statement in the nameof its armed wing that claimedresponsibility for the attack lateon Saturday, Hamas officials inLebanon said. Three rocketsfired from Lebanon hit open ar-eas near Nahariya in northernIsrael on Saturday evening. Is-rael responded with artilleryfire. There were no casualties.The attack followed a similarrocket salvo from Lebanon onFriday.

Two Hamas officials inLebanon said the group wasnot behind the rockets firedfrom Lebanon. Asked about aclaim of responsibility issuedin the name of the Izz El-DeenAl-Qassam Brigades — theHamas armed wing — Hamasofficial Osama Hamdan said:“We denied it and said Hamashad nothing to do with thisstatement.”

The claim of responsibil-ity had been circulated in a textmessage received by journal-ists in Gaza, the way the IzzEl-Deen Al-Qassam Brigadesoften makes such announce-ments. A Lebanese security of-ficial said investigators had yetto determine who fired therockets. The main Palestinianfactions in Lebanon had toldthe investigators they were notinvolved in the attack, the of-ficial said.

The powerful Lebanesegroup Hezbollah praisedHamas and Islamic Jihad andsaid it backed the Palestin-ian “resistance in its goalsand steps.” Hezbollah saidthe Palestinians had realized“a balance of fear” thatwould pave the way to a“new era” in the strugglewith Israel.—Reuters

Douri surfacesto ‘liberate’ IraqDUBAI—A purported audiomessage from a close aide tolate Iraqi dictator SaddamHussein called on all Iraqis tojoin efforts to “liberate” thecountry and praised militantswho led last month’s dramaticoffensive through northernIraq.

The voice recording re-leased on a website loyal toSaddam’s ousted Baath Partywas said to have been madeby Ezzat Ibrahim Al-Douri,the most senior member ofhis entourage still at largefollowing Saddam’s 2003overthrow by a US-led inva-sion force.

Although elderly and re-ported to have been in poorhealth, Douri is believed to leadthe Baathist militant group theNaqshbandi Army, one of sev-eral groups which supportedthe Islamic State in its lightningassault.—AP

Magnitude 6.4earthquake strikes

off southernPhilippines

PHILIPPINES—There were noimmediate reports of casualtiesor damage. A magnitude 6.4earthquake struck off the coastof the southern Philippines onMonday, the US GeologicalSurvey (USGS) said.

There were no immediatereports of casualties or damage.The epicentre was 91 miles (146km) off the town of GeneralSantos, the USGS said. TheUSGS initially said the quakewas magnitude 6.—Reuters

PARIS—Clashes erupted in Paris on Sun-day as thousands of people protested againstIsrael and in support of residents in the GazaStrip, where a six-day conflict has left 166Palestinians dead. Several thousand demon-strators walked calmly through the streets ofParis behind a large banner that read “TotalSupport for the Struggle of the PalestinianPeople.” But clashes erupted at the end ofthe march on Bastille Square, with peoplethrowing projectiles onto a cordon of policewho responded with tear gas. The unrest wascontinuing early Sunday evening.

In the northern city of Lille, between2,300 and 6,000 people protested peace-fully, according to differing figures pro-vided by the police and organizers. Thedescent into violence in the Gaza Stripbegan on June 12 when three Israeli teen-

Clashes in Paris, Moroccorabbi beaten up over Gaza

agers were kidnapped and later murdered,triggering a major military crackdown onHamas in the West Bank and an escala-tion of rocket fire from Gaza. The brutalrevenge killing of a Palestinian teenagerby Jewish extremists on July 2 added fur-ther fuel to the fire, turning into an all-outconflict on July 8 when Israel launched anair campaign against Gaza militants.

The Palestinian death toll from Israel’spunishing air campaign has hit 166. So far, noIsraelis have been killed, although militantsin Gaza have pounded the country with nearly700 rockets since the fighting began and afurther 150 have been intercepted by the Jew-ish state’s Iron Dome defense system. “I cameto say no to this massacre,” Amid Hamadouch,30, told AFP at the Paris protest while it wasstill peaceful, with a sticker reading “Boycott

Israel, Racist State” on his jacket.“They are bombing innocent people.

There are missiles being launched byHamas, but the Israeli response is dispro-portionate. They are attacking the civilianpopulation and not Hamas officials.” Thecrowd, very young, shouted slogans suchas : “We Are All Palestinians!” and “OnlyOne Solution, End the Occupation!.”Many protesters carried banners on whichthey had stuck photos taken from theInternet, reportedly showing Palestinianchildren killed or injured, houses razed tothe ground or clouds of smoke emergingfrom bombed districts in Gaza. In Mo-rocco, a young man beat up a rabbi in theeconomic capital of Casablanca overIsrael’s deadly air war on Gaza, a news-paper reported on Sunday.—AFP

VIENNA—US Secretary ofState John Kerry and fellow for-eign ministers are adding theirdiplomatic muscle to nucleartalks with Iran, with a target dateonly a week away for a pactmeant to curb programs Tehrancould turn to making atomicarms. Deep differences separatethe two sides and six world pow-ers and Iran appear set to extendtheir talks past July 20. Thatwould give more time to negoti-ate a deal that would limit thescope of such programs in ex-change for a full lifting ofnuclear-related sanctions im-posed on Tehran.

“Obviously we have somevery significant gaps still, so weneed to see if we can make someprogress,” Kerry told reportersbefore a meeting with EuropeanUnion foreign policy chiefCatherine Ashton, who is con-vening the talks. “It is vital tomake certain that Iran is not go-ing to develop nuclear weapons,that their program is peaceful.That’s what we are here tryingto achieve.” Kerry arrived Sun-day. Britain, France and Ger-many also sent their foreign min-isters to Austria’s capital for talksover the next few days, as hasIran. But the top diplomats fromChina and Russia are sendinglower-ranking officials instead.That may reflect their view thatan extension is unavoidable. Still,the most important disputes overhow deeply Iran must cut itsnuclear program are betweenWashington and Tehran, soKerry’s presence is crucial. Hewill be able to talk directly to Ira-

John Kerry in Vienna;extension of nucleartalks with Iran likely

Australian jihadistsupporter ‘a

fraud’, says FMSYDNEY—An Australian con-vert to Islam arrested in the Phil-ippines for using the Internet tourge people to join “jihad” inIraq and Syria was branded “afraud” Monday by Foreign Min-ister Julie Bishop. Robert Ed-ward Cerantonio, 29, who alsogoes by the name MusaCerantonio, was detained in thecentral city of Cebu on Fridayand will be deported to Austra-lia, Philippine police said.

A report in The Australiannewspaper last month de-scribed Cerantonio as apreacher and “one of (the Is-lamic State’s) most influentialpropagandists,” but Bishop be-littled the Melbourne native. “Itseems that he is just a fraud,because he was saying that hewas fighting in Syria and Iraqwhen all the time he was holedup in a flat in the Philippines,”she told Sky News.

“So presumably he’s a fraudwho has tried to dupe people intothis dangerous activity. Whathappens to him will be a matterfor the authorities.” Cerantoniowas arrested at the request of theAustralian government and willbe deported because Canberrahas canceled his passport, mak-ing him an illegal alien, Philip-pine officials said.

The Philippines has a largeMuslim minority in the southernregion of Mindanao, where Is-lamic militants linked to Al-Qaedaalso operate. But Cebu’s policecommander, Chief Superinten-dent Prudencio Banas, said therewas “no evidence linking him toany terror act.” Police said theyhad been monitoring his activitiessince February when he arrivedin Cebu, the country’s largest me-tropolis outside Manila. He livedwith a Philippine woman andmoved around Cebu until his ar-rest at a one-room apartment nearthe airport.—AFP

HASSAN BARARI

Casting aside all arguments advanced by either the Palestinians or the Israelis, the fact remains that Israel’s currentwar in Gaza is not the first and will most likely not be the

last. Both sides are hostage to events caused by the impasse inthe peace process rather than being driven by a strategy to put anend to the conflict. Seen in this way, the latest round of fightingis hardly surprising. The persistence of the Israeli occupation ofPalestinian land has been the root cause for the repetition of suchmilitary clashes. The abduction and killing of three Israelis stu-dents caused a stir in Israel. The Israeli government accusedHamas of being behind the abduction of the three Israeli teenag-ers and Hamas denied having any role in that. To add fire to thefuel, some extremists in Israel brutally murdered a Palestinianboy in Jerusalem thus setting off huge demonstrations in the WestBank.

Israel held Hamas accountable for the current round of fight-ing although Hamas had nothing to do with either the killing ofthe Israeli boys or the firing of rockets from Gaza by IslamicJihad. But Israel is taking a huge risk by targeting Hamas inGaza. A defeat for Hamas in Gaza means that Gaza may becomeungovernable and this will hardly benefit Israel. Now Hamas isfacing a dilemma. On one hand, Hamas could not afford to beseen as a player who enforces order in Gaza for Israel but on theother hand, Islamic Jihad’s behavior is also a challenge to Hamasauthority in Gaza. The ebb and flow of confrontation betweenHamas and Israel led to the same outcome: A mediated truce andweakening of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Like theprevious rounds of fighting between Hamas and Israel, this cur-rent one puts a further political strain on Abbas. Not a while ago,Abbas had signed a unity agreement with Hamas and that agree-ment favored Fatah. It was an agreement that exhibited the weak-ness of Hamas in the first place. Now, with the continuation offighting, Abbas is widely seen as someone who collaborates withthe Israelis rather than defending his own people. Hence, the endof the current war may lead to a new balance of powers betweenHamas and Fatah and the former may emerge stronger than be-fore. The bottom line is that neither Israel nor Hamas has a list ofattainable objectives. For instance, Israel launched air strikesagainst Hamas hoping that this will restore calm. But as we cansee these days, Israel is far from achieving this goal. Indeed,many Israelis are contemplating the idea of sending troops toGaza. If this is to take place, then Israel will risk internationalcondemnation. Also, it is in the best interest of Israel to maintaina deterred weak yet effective Hamas than to topple Hamas. Onthe other hand, it seems that Hamas did not want this confronta-tion in the first place; other forces in Gaza have dragged it intothe conflict.

In war and in peace, a player should have measureable anddeliverable objectives. The sad reality is that neither side hassuch objective. I disagree with many analysts who say that Israelis attacking Gaza as a part of a grand strategy. In fact, Netanyahuhad to respond in such a way due to internal political dynamicsthat led to a sort of outbidding by different political players. Theirony is that no one seems to be able to learn from previous les-sons. Everyone is talking about the symptoms of the conflict.But they rarely address the root cause of the every now and theneruption of military clashes. The Egyptians may mediate a wayout of the current crisis, but who would guarantee that this con-flict would not come to the surface again! The only guarantee isto bring an end to the Israeli occupation and help the Palestin-ians build a democratic state. Short of doing this, chances arehigh that Palestinians will get radicalised thus creating a differ-ent and more lethal challenge.

—Courtesy: Arab News

War with noclear objective

nian Foreign MinisterMohammad Javad Zarif, who isat the Vienna negotiations.

Iranian Deputy ForeignMinister Abbas Araghchi spokeSaturday of “huge and deep” dif-ferences. But he told Iranian TVthat “if no breakthrough isachieved, it doesn’t mean that(the) talks have failed.” Kerryarrived in Vienna after diplo-matic success in Afghanistan,where he persuaded rival presi-dential candidates to agree to afull audit of their recent runoffelection. They also agreed to apower-sharing arrangement.

In Austria’s capital, the topAmerican diplomat has perhapsa harder task. Discussions cen-ter on imposing long-term re-strictions on Iran’s uranium en-richment and against plutoniumproduction — materials usablein nuclear warheads. In ex-change, the US and other pow-ers would scrap a series of tradeand oil sanctions against Tehran.In Iran, hardliners oppose almostany concession by moderatePresident Hassan Rouhani’s gov-ernment.

And in the US, Republicansand Democrats have threatenedto scuttle any emerging agree-ment because it would allow Iranto maintain some enrichmentcapacity. Outside the negotiation,regional rivals of Iran includingIsrael and Saudi Arabia are ex-tremely skeptical of any arrange-ment that would, in their view,allow the Islamic republic to es-cape international pressure whilemoving closer to the nuclearclub.—AP

OMAIRA GILL

By now, all that needed to be said about Brazil’s performance at the World Cup semi against Germany has already been said. Heck, by the time you’re reading this,

the final has already taken place. So what went so catastrophi-cally wrong? We can sit around all day analysing the match,Brazil’s behaviour, accusations of over-lenient home referees andthe mistake of building a team around one or two players, but allof this can be very simply explained using one key take on theissue, a thoroughly Greek perspective belonging to a very spe-cific niche.

Today I am going to explain why Brazil lost so badly asinterpreted by my beloved Greek grandma. First some back-ground. Yiayia, that’s Greek for grandma, is sadly no longer withus. She was my husband’s grandmother, an incredible, formi-dable woman who was four feet tall and as tough as nails. Shemade it to almost 100 years old. She was the classic twinklyeyed, rosy cheeked, adoring grandmother of fairytales. Everysummer she would reside in her own house in Larissa, and everywinter we would drag her to Athens, kicking and screaming, tospend winter with the family, which she despised as it cost her,her independence.

Keep in mind, she was not my actual grandmother, but shewas my number one fan and would repeatedly tell me never togive up, that I could achieve anything I wanted to. She gave mea lot to believe in and some precious life lessons in the brief fewyears I had the privilege to know her. Whenever anyone elseasked for her recipes, she claimed to have forgotten them, butshe always gave them to me. As I watched the goals rain downon Brazil, a thought flashed through my mind and suddenly itwas as if yiayia was sat on the sofa with me, smacking her gumsand slapping her knees and saying “Those poor kids. It’s themati. All that talk about success ate them up in the end.”

Two Greek Granny theories would have combined to pro-duce the results that we saw. The first is that of the mati, the evileye. The cult of the evil eye is found in many countries, includ-ing Greece, where rituals on how to remove it vary from villageto village, even from family to family. Several things generatethe evil eye. This could be envy, jealousy, an overly enthusiasticcompliment or genuinely wishing bad luck to befall someone.Brazil would have attracted copious amounts of evil-eye pro-ducing bad energy in the build-up to the world cup. Brazil is anemerging market, a strong presence in the international financemarkets, but not exactly dripping with money.

The extortionate price tag of hosting the world cup, com-bined with a lack of addressing issues such as poverty and cor-ruption, has generated a lot of bad feeling at home. Winningthe world cup at home would have gone some way in compen-sating this. The price tags on a lot of the match tickets werewell out of the reach of ordinary Brazilians. My husband whohas travelled extensively in the country, found it strange howthe crowds at the football matches seemed to be almost univer-sally Caucasian. Live in a favela? They’ll be knocking thatdown to build a stadium, but if you think you can afford aticket, keep on dreaming.

So there we have the first element of Brazil’s superbly badperformance — they had banked some serious evil mati points.The second element is that, Brazil being Brazil and everyoneexpecting them to win and so their own good luck ate them. MyGreek yiayia would have said this: all the big talk ate them up. Asimple phrase exists in Greek for this, but not in English. Sothere we have two very Greek, very granny elements, the matiand being eaten up by all the talk about you, which combinedinto a supernova of bad energy and resulted in a game that wassensational for all the wrong reasons. And that’s the results asinterpreted by a Greek granny. If any sporting pundits out thereare looking to hire me, I’m here every week. Omaira Gill is afreelance journalist based in Athens.

—Courtesy: Khaleej Times

Who gave Brazilthe evil eye?

Page 7: Ep15july2014

Khwaja Asif apologises tonation for load-shedding

From Page 1system,” he said. Khwaja Asif said the ‘pun-ishment’ of load-shedding would only be bravedby power thieves. He said Sindh governmenthad to pay Rs 57 billion under default charges.He said a court had been approached to containwidespread electricity theft He appealed to themasses to be economical with the electricity sothat all areas could be adjusted.

The Minister said despite huge shortfall,the government has ensured smooth power sup-ply to the industry during the last seven monthsfor ensuring industrial development and increas-ing production. With the mercury upsurgingtowards 40 degrees Celsius, the ghost of unan-nounced and unremitting loadshedding is haunt-ing Ramazan observers. The urban areas con-tinue to face loadshedding for 12 to 14 hourswhereas in rural areas it ranges from 18 to 20hours. Meanwhile, electricity shortfall rose asheat intensified, resulting in increase inloadshedding countrywide specially in Lahorecity. The shortfall of electricity has increasedmanifold since the arrival of Ramazan and noth-ing has been visibly done to rectify the issue.

The power supply needed by the LahoreElectric Supply Company at the moment is 4thousand seven hundred Megawatts whereasthey have been receiving meager 2 thousandsix hundred Megawatts which has burdened thesystem causing the transmission system to dis-rupt. The problem occurred in the grid stationof Band Road has not been resolved yet. The

burden therefore has been transferred to anothergrid station which has increased the frequencyof the systems to trip intermittently making itdifficult to provide the consumers with unin-terrupted supply of electricity.

The prolonged power cuts in Lahore havecaused an acute crisis of water shortage in someparts of Lahore. The citizens of the provincialcapital are facing water woes because of thelooming power problem.

The affected areas include parts of thewalled city, Shad Bagh, Tajpura, Sabzazar, RaviRoad, Infantry Road and the adjoining regions.Several complaints have been lodged for longterm water shortages making day to day activi-ties difficult.

Unavailability of water is causing severeinconveniences. People are furious at the rou-tine shutdowns causing water scarcity and aredemanding an immediate end to the ongoingloadshedding which has crippled the routine life.

The citizens of Lahore are facing a glar-ing situation as power outages have increaseddue to an increase in temperature, making lifeand business miserable. According to mediareports, Lahore Electricity Supply Companyhas been unable to procure transformers sinceJune last year for various reasons. Moreover,the company has virtually run out of trans-formers and has been unable or unwilling toget repaired the burnt-out transformers, turn-ing the situation critical.

sites, killing two people, and ar-tillery pounded the north whereIsrael warned residents to fleefor their lives ahead of a majoroperation. Palestinian presidentsays Israel is carrying out agenocide in Gaza.

Over the past 24 hours,more than 17,000 Palestinians,most of them from northernGaza, have packed into a hand-ful of schools run by the UNagency for Palestinian refugeesin a bid to seek some respitefrom the bombing. Inside theNew Gaza Boys School in GazaCity, every classroom waspacked full of people, with blan-kets strung across doorways toprovide some privacy. “We feelsafer here, but the situation istough, there’s very little foodand water and nothing for thechildren to do,” said 27-year-oldRehab, from Beit Lahiya.“We’re sleeping on the tiles ofthe classroom floor.”—AFP

IsraeliFrom Page 1

Nation supportsFrom Page 1

the country and he has brought a message oflove and goodwill for them from the peopleof Punjab. He said that the souls of the mar-tyrs of Pakistan Movement would be dis-tressed at the situation prevailing in the coun-try and would be asking was this countrywhich was envisioned by Quaid-e-Azam andAllama Iqbal and for which the Muslims ren-dered sacrifices. However, terrorism is notthe destiny of Pakistan and it will soon beovercome as Sri Lanka and other countrieshave done in the recent history.

He said that the brave forces of Pakistanare engaged in a war to root out terroristswho had deprived the country of peace andtranquility. The Chief Minister said that tribalpeople have rendered sacrifices for the cre-ation and stability of the country and thefounder of Pakistan Quaid-i-Azam had alsoacknowledged this fact.

He said that the nation is paying tributesto the courageous officers and Jawans of thearmed forces for their sacrifices. He said thatPak Army is not only fighting terrorists butalso playing a laudable role for the rehabili-tation of the affectees. Shahbaz Sharif saidthat the whole nation is grieved at the inci-

on top of the shuffle list.Sources privy to such ad-

ministrative developments hadclaimed that a relevant summaryhad already been despatched toSindh Chief Minister SyedQaim Ali Shah for his approval.Conversely, Captain (Retd)Tahir Naveed would be a suit-able Police officer for Sindhgovernment to replace AIG Lo-gistics Naeem Shaikh.

Sources in this regard addedthat Naveed was already facingan internal enquiry for allegedcorruption in smuggled ve-hicles. On orders of the apexcourt, deputation in Police De-partment was stopped.

Two other Police officers,who were brother of the sittingPakistan People’s Party mem-ber national assembly AyazSoomro, were shuffled formtheir position. Soomro’s broth-ers, Rizwan Soomro and RiazSoomro were given out of turnpromotions from the rank ofDeputy Superintendent of Po-lice to Superintendent of Policewhile another officer in thesame category was ZameerAhmed Abbasi.

Sources said that the CMhad asked the Service sand Gen-eral Administration to sparethose officers but Sindh ChiefSecretary Sajjad SaleemHotyana had opposed to bringthem back on deputation as hehad stated that their deputationswere cancelled on orders of theapex court and restoring theirposition would lead to contemptto court.

Despite that the CS had sub-mitted that summary to the CM,the later had returned the samewith orders for restoration alongwith remarks that the CS shouldnow consult the Sindh law de-partment to make the ordersworking.

Majorshuffling inSindh police

From Page 1

dicial commission regardingstatements of injured persons ofModel Town tragedy. Inter-Ser-vices Intelligence and Intelli-gence Bureau also submittedtheir reports. However, the spe-cial branch sought more time forproducing footage of the inci-dent.

Joint investigation teamproduced the telephonic conver-sation record of Punjab chiefminister, Rana Sanaullah, Dr.Tauqeer Shah, IG Punjab, chiefsecretary Punjab and other offi-cials concerned. The teamsought more time for productionof complete telephonic record.

The tribunal accepted therequest and adjourned the pro-ceedings till July 16.

Meanwhile, an anti-terror-ism court on Monday sent fivepolice officials on a five-dayphysical remand for their al-leged involvement in the trag-edy.

The bloodshed, which tookplace on June 17 at the CentralSecretariat of Minhajul Qur’anInternational in the ModelTown neighbourhood ofLahore, resulted in the death ofat least 14 Pakistan AwamiTehreek workers.

5 cops senton 5-day

From Page 1

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—A report pertaining to allegedextra-judicial murders of 12 workers ofMuttahidda Qaumi Movement (MQM)was submitted in Sindh High Court Mon-day. The counsel of those 12 assassinatedworkers raised objection on that report byPolice authorities. The report was submit-ted on orders of the higher court with nec-essary corrections as the same was sub-mitted earlier and was rejected by thelearned bench of the higher court.

A 2-member bench comprising JusticeMuhammad Ali Mazhar and JusticeShahnawaz Tariq heard the petition.

The Assistant Advocate General of

Sindh Mustafa Maheesar had in supportof the report and in negation of the objec-tions raised by the counsel of those 12workers allegedly killed beyond the lawstated before the bench that MQM whenwas not in coalition to the Sindh govern-ment opposed the ongoing targeted opera-tion while the party was propagatingagainst the operation.

He claimed that the reasons of mur-ders of workers of MQM were personalenmity and did not link to the ongoing tar-geted operation.

Maheesar further stated that all thestakeholders were being consulted regard-ing the targeted operation under the aegisof Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali

Shah and a judicial commission wouldshortly be constituted to oversee the on-going targeted operation in Karachi.

On the occasion the counsel for thepetitioners advocate Hasnain Bukhari saidthat MQM was not against the targeted op-eration but the law enforcement agencieswere murdering the innocent citizens ex-tra-judicially in the disguise of targetedoperation.

On that point of hearing the case, Jus-tice Muhammad Ali Mazhar in his remarkssaid whatever the reasons behind killingsof the workers were; the higher should incompliance to its orders be apprised of themechanism of the ongoing targeted opera-tion in Karachi.

‘Extra-judicial murder of MQM workers’

SHC asks Sindh Govt to submitmechanism of targeted operation

Nigerian leaderpromises

Malala missinggirls will behome ‘soon’

ABUJA—Nigeria’s PresidentGoodluck Jonathan promised onMonday that more than 200 Ni-gerian schoolgirls kidnapped byIslamist militants would “soon”return home, teenage Pakistaniactivist Malala Yousafzai saidafter meeting him.

Malala, who became a glo-bal celebrity after surviving be-ing shot in the head by theTaliban for campaigning forgirls’ education, was visitingNigeria to support an interna-tional campaign for the releaseof the teenage students abductedin mid-April by the Islamist in-surgent group Boko Haram.

The Pakistani teenager, whoturned 17 on Saturday, at theweekend met parents of theschoolgirls snatched from thenortheastern village of Chibokby Boko Haram fighters.

The Nigerian girls’ plighttriggered an international#BringBackOurGirls Twittercampaign supported by MichelleObama and Angelina Jolie. Thisdrew global attention to the warin Nigeria’s northeast and thegrowing security risk that BokoHaram poses to Nigeria, Africa’sleading energy producer.“The president promised me ...that the abducted girls will re-turn to their homes soon,”Malala, who has called the 219missing students her “sisters”,told a news conference after a45-minute meeting withJonathan at the presidentialvilla.—Reuters

the path that leads to a clash.“A conflict will only causedamage to the democracy,” headded. Khursheed Shah said hewould soon hold meetings withthe PM and Imran Khan and tryto persuade them to take theroad to reconciliation.

He said Imran Khanshould decide against goingahead with his planned longmarch on Independence Day.But, in case it is not possiblefor him to cancel his plans, thenthe government should adoptsuch a course with which a situ-ation of clash could be avoided.

He warned that in case ofviolence both the governmentand Imran Khan will have toface a huge loss.

KhursheedShah urges

PM, Imran toavoid conflict

From Page 1

dents of terrorists anywhere in Pakistan. Shahbaz Sharif said that he gives moreimportance to the war against terrorism thanthat of 1965 as today Pakistani forces arefighting for the survival of the country andare engaged in a war against such terroristswho want to impose their specific ideologyon the people at gunpoint. He said that en-emies of Pakistan had paralyzed the life ofthe people of Pakistan.

He said that the whole nation is prayingfor the success of the operation launchedagainst terrorists. He expressed his belief thatthe sacrifices of martyrs will not go wasteand Pakistan will again become a haven ofpeace.

Shahbaz Sharif further said that just asbullet is necessary for elimination of terror-ism and extremism, similarly provision ofeducation, health and other facilities are es-sential to the poor and backward people tosave them from being misled. He said thatafter successful operation in Swat, a numberof positive measures were taken for socio-economic uplift of the people. He said that amodern hospital was constructed in Swatwith a sum of Rs.86 crore.

visit to Pakistan along otherjournalists and politicians in-vited by a peace research insti-tute, reports Hindustan Times.

Though the governmentclarified that it had nothing todo with the meeting, Congressmembers sought a detailedstatement on the purpose andmotive behind the meetingwith Saeed, accused by Indiaas the mastermind of the No-vember 2006 Mumbai attacks.

Members of the opposi-tion called for the journalist tobe arrested and said it was amatter of national interest.

During Monday’s sessionat the Lok Sabha, General Sec-retary of Congress DigvijayaSingh asked leader of thehouse and finance ministerArun Jaitley if the meeting hadthe government’s sanction.

Jaitley responded sayingthat for India, Hafiz is a ter-

rorist and that the governmenthad nothing to do with “di-rectly, indirectly or even re-motely” with any journalistmeeting Saeed.

Meanwhile, the journalist,Vaidik, said he met Saeed as ajournalist for an hour on July2 in Lahore, during which theJuD chief told him thatNarendra was “dangerous andnow he has become the primeminister.”—Agencies

Hafiz Saeed, Indiannewsmen causes uproar

From Page 1

Page 8: Ep15july2014

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

Frenchleader urgesIsrael toshowrestraintPARIS — French PresidentFrancois Hollande isurging partners to talk toHamas and is pressingIsrael for calm in hopes ofreaching a cease-fire inGaza. Hollande said in atelevised interviewMonday that “Israel candefend itself if it isattacked, but at the sametime Israel should showrestraint.” Hollande ispushing for a cease-fireand says he is looking forall possible ways tomediate one. He said inrecent days he has beentrying “to convince thosewho could have aninfluence on Hamas, onthe Gaza Strip, and at thesame time putting pressureon Israel.”—AP

Cameron toreshufflecabinetLONDON—During a trip toIndia inFebruary 2013, BritishPrime Minister DavidCameron admitted he hadnot appointed enoughwomen to his Cabinet.Now, over a year later,Cameron who said that hiswife urges him to promotefemale talent is all set torectify the mistake. ThePM is preparing to carryout a major reshuffle of hisgovernment - the finalbefore the next big generalelection in 2015. Sources inWhitehall say that the newteam that he will lead in tothe election will include amajor number of women.The big three, foreignsecretary William Hague,finance secretary GeorgeOsborne and homesecretary Theresa May willremain.—AP

Aquino todefenddecisionamidprotestsMANILA—Police officersguarded Malacanang, thePhilippine presidentialpalace, as various groupsheld protests rallies atseveral points in Manila,while a survey showedthat the popularity ratingof President BenignoAquino has declined. Thedemonstrations were heldhours before the belea-guered leader appeared onnationwide TV on Mondayto defend his non-discretionary developmentfund.—Agencies

ISLAMABAD: Former Prime Ministers Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani and Raja PervaizAshraf offering Dua on the occasion of dispatching trucks loaded with relief goods toIDPs of NWA.

MULTAN—Chief of his ownfaction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Is-lam-F, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman on Monday saidthat the government shouldnot be scared of any ‘longmarch’.

Talking to newsmen inWifaq ul Madaris, here, Fazlur Rehman said that publicdemonstrations and protestswere fundamental rights ofthe people and the govern-ment should not be afraid ofthem. He however added thatthere should have been an-other date for the protest ral-lies of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan AwamiTehreek instead of August 14— the independence day ofPakistan.

He called for giving suchsuggestions the governmentthat can help strengthen thedemocracy.

The JUI-F Chief furthersaid that calling a long marchagainst the government onIndependence Day was anattempt to cast slur on Inde-pendence.

Maulana Fazlur Rehmansaid that his party has alsobeen a part of several ‘mil-lion marches,’ adding thatsuch protests do not bearfruit.

He said that anti-US

YORK—The Church of En-gland overcame bitter divi-sions Monday to vote infavour of allowing femalebishops for the first time inits nearly 500-year history.

The decision reverses aprevious shock rejection in2012 and comes after inten-sive diplomacy by Arch-

Church of England approves women bishopsbishop of Canterbury, Jus-tin Welby.

Cheers erupted in thehall at the Church of En-gland General Synod inYork, northern England, asthe measure passed.

The first women bish-ops could now be ap-pointed before the end of

the year.The Church of England

is the mother church of theglobal Anglican Commun-ion, followed by some 80million people in over 165countries.

The results came in aseries of three votes acrossdifferent houses of the

Church.The House of Bishops

voted 37 for, two againstwith one abstention, theHouse of Clergy voted 162for, 25 against with four ab-stentions, and the House ofLaity voted 152 for, 45against with five absten-tions.—AFP

DAVYDO MYKILSKE/MOSCOW—Ukrainesaid a military plane downed over rebel terri-tory on Monday was “likely” shot from Rus-sia after establishing contact with theaircraft’s crew, ratcheting up tensions withMoscow along their volatile border.

“Crew members from an AN-26 plane...that was shot down have established con-tact with the general staff,” said a statementon Ukrainian presidency website, withoutgiving details of any casualties.

It said the transport aircraft had been fly-ing too high to be hit by portable missilesystems used by the rebels meaning theshots had come “likely from the territory ofthe Russian Federation”.

An AFP crew found the wreckage of thedowned plane strewn around a field in theeastern Lugansk region close to the borderwith Russia and local residents said it hadcome down shortly after midday with someparachutes spotted in the sky.

Earlier reports said that Moscow wasconsidering targeted strikes against Ukraineafter a shell reportedly crossed the borderand killed a Russian civilian, the Kommersantdaily reported Monday, citing a source closeto the Kremlin. The daily quoted a source assaying that Moscow was considering the

Ukraine: Military plane ‘likely’ shot down from Russia

Moscow says ‘consideringtargeted strikes’

possibility of “targeted retaliatory strikes”against Ukraine, where escalating clashesbetween pro-Moscow rebels and govern-ment troops threatened to spiral into an all-out civil war over the weekend.“Our patience is not limitless,” the sourcewas quoted as saying, adding that Russia“knows exactly where [Ukrainians] are firingfrom“. The source said that Russia was notconsidering any large-scale action, but onlytargeted one-off strikes on positions fromwhich fire is directed at Russian territory.

Meanwhile, Ukraine said on Mondayits forces had ended a rebel blockade of astrategic airport in the east as it tradedcharges and threats with Russia over viola-tions of their joint border during a weekendof fierce military combat.

Ukraine’s military said its warplanes hadinflicted heavy losses on the pro-Russianseparatists during air strikes on their posi-tions, including an armoured convoy whichKiev said had crossed the border from Rus-sia.Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s of-fice said Kiev would present documentaryproof of incursions from Russia to the inter-national community via diplomats on Mon-day.—AFP/Reuters

Fazl asks govt not beafraid of any ‘long march’

mindset in the country wouldnot be satisfied as long as“we are called an ally ofAmerica.”

Getting the coalition sup-port fund alongside claimingnot to be part of the global coa-lition in the war on terror is anopen contradiction, said theJUI-F chief, adding that Paki-stan cannot call it an “internalaffair” until its stops taking for-eign money. “We need to getout of these contradictions,”said Fazl.

FDMA DGremoved

OBSERVER REPORT

BANNU—Fata DisasterManagement Authority(FDMA) Director GeneralArshad Khan has been re-moved from his position forfailing to provide adequatefacilities to internally dis-placed persons on Monday.

The DG has been re-moved from his post in lightof numerous complaintsfrom IDPs regarding inad-equate facilities and poorliving conditions in thecamps set up for them.

Page 9: Ep15july2014

THERE is no cure or treatment for alopecia universalis, an uncommon autoimmune disease that causes loss of hair over

the entire scalp and body. Now doctors at YaleUniversity in New Haven, CT, report how theysuccessfully restored hair onthe head and other parts ofthe body in a 25-year- oldman with the disease thathad left him nearly com-pletely hairless all over.

They write about thetreatment and the results inthe Journal of InvestigativeDermatology and say it isthe first reported case of asuccessfully targeted treat-ment for this rare form ofalopecia areata, which oc-curs when the immune sys-tem mistakenly attacks thehair follicles.

After the treatment,which uses an FDA-ap-proved drug for rheumatoidarthritis called tofacitinibcitrate, the patient regaineda full head of hair, eyebrows and eyelashes,plus facial, armpit, groin and other hair, noneof which he had when he first sought medicalhelp.

Senior author Brett A. King, assistant pro-fessor of dermatology at Yale UniversitySchool of Medicine, says the results were ex-actly what they hoped for, and represent a “hugestep forward” in treating patients with the con-dition. He adds:

“While it’s one case, we anticipated thesuccessful treatment of this man based on ourcurrent understanding of the disease and thedrug. We believe the same results will be du-plicated in other patients, and we plan to try.”

As well as alopecia universalis, the pa-tient had also been diagnosed with anothercondition called plaque psoriasis, whichcauses scaly red areas to develop on the skin.The only hair he had on his body was in the

psoriasis plaques on his head.His doctor referred him

to Yale’s dermatology unit fortreatment of the psoriasis - hehad never received treatmentfor alopecia universalis.

Tofacitinib had alreadybeen used successfully in hu-mans to treat psoriasis - and inlab mice, it has been shown toreverse a less extreme form ofalopecia called alopecia areata.So it made sense, the research-ers thought, to see if the drugcould tackle the alopeciauniversalis as well as the pso-riasis.

“There are no good op-tions for long-term treatment ofalopecia universalis,” Prof.King explains, “The best avail-able science suggested this

might work, and it has.”Hair growth visible after 2 months of

treatmentbegin with, the team put the patient on a

5 mg twice daily dose of tofacitinib. After 2months, his psoriasis began to improve, andhe had hair on his scalp and face - for thefirst time in 7 years.

From then on, the researchers increasedthe dose to 15 mg a day. After another 3months, the patient had a full head of hair,and had also grown eyebrows and eyelashes,and hair on his face, in his armpits, and otherareas patient baldness before and after treat-ment.

Arthritis drug helps baldman grow full head of hair

Chairman CDA Maroof Afzal posing for a group photo with the participants of a trainingcourse at CDA Training Academy.

People waiting for the call of Maghrib prayer to break their fast during Iftar Dinner hosted by PML (N) Leader Malik Naeed Sultan at UC Gangal.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Capital DevelopmentAuthority (CDA) Maroof Afzal said the objec-tive behind the decision of revival of CDA train-ing academy is to provide the employees withnecessary training in line with modern standardsto tackle day-to-day challenges.

Chairman CDA expressed these views dur-ing the certificate distribution ceremony of thethird training course at Jinnah Convention Cen-tre here on Monday. Executive Director Gen-

eral CDA Training Academy, Sanaullah Aman,Directors and Deputy Directors, participating inthe course, were also present on this occasion.

Chairman CDA Maroof Afzal while ad-dressing to the participants said that thesecourses will surely bring positive changes intheir attitudes and these changes should be re-flected in their official work and in resolvingthe issues of general public. Chairman CDA saidthat general public coming to their offices shouldbe welcomed whole heartedly and must betreated in respectable manner.

CDA awards training course certificates ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) official website was hacked late Sun-day night. However, the IT team of the PTIrestored the website within hours remov-ing a message placed by the hackers. Thehackers left a message for the “Freedomof Palestine” which according to sourcesremained posted on the website for a fewhours. The sources told Pakistan Observeron Monday that in the message the hack-ers criticized the PTI chief’s politics and

condemned him for “remaining indiffer-ent” to the cause of Palestine. “Your poli-tics and policies are causing panic in thesociety. Instead of raising voice for thepoor people of Palestine who are beingkilled, tortured and manhandled by the Is-raelis you are indulging in petty politicswhich is not good for the country. Makeyour country so strong that it can fight fortheir cause,” said the message. It endedthus: “Long Live Pakistan; Long Live Pal-estine.”

A senior office-bearer of the PTI

when asked confirmed that the websitewas hacked but he added it was only fora few minutes. “We have not only restoredour official website but also raised itssecurity level and made it flawless,” headded.

Regarding the message he said every-one knows Imran Khan took a clear vocalstand for the cause of Palestine. ImranKhan doesn’t need anyone’s endorsementfor his support to Palestinians and he wasone of the first leaders who condemnedIsraelis’ use of force on Gaza Strip.

Hackers leave pro-Palestinemessage on PTI website

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—UAE will extend all outassistance to Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) of North Waziristan to bring theirsmile back.

Talking to Pakistan Observer, EssaAbdulla Al Basha Al Noaimi, Ambassa-dor of the United Arab Emirates said IDPSare close to our hearts and initially urgenthumanitarian aid and food supplies worth$ 2.25 million to fifty thousand familiesof IDPs in Bannu have been provided.

He said the initiative is the first of itskind to mitigate sufferings of those wholeft their homes due to military operationsin North Waziristan. The first UAE hu-manitarian aid convoy left Islamabad be-fore the start of the Holy month ofRamadan.

The Ambassadorsaid the assistance is partof the generous initiativesof His Highness SheikhKhalifa bin Zayed AlNahyan to help the poorand needy all over theworld and to providethem with a respectableand decent life.

He said 3,550 tonnesof food rations were dis-tributed in the form of 71kilo food baskets eachcontaining various foodproducts such as flour,rice, dates, sugar, salt,lentils, oil and tea, suf-ficient for one family.So far, the UAE Pakistan Assistance

Programme has dis-tributed 103,000 foodbaskets, valued at$5.520 million, since2012 to displaced fami-lies in various districts,he said.

The Ambassadorsaid Pakistan is veryclose to our hearts andminds.

The UAE PakistanAssistance Program, hasbegun implementing di-rectives of His HighnessSheikh Khalifa binZayed Al Nahyan, Presi-dent of the United ArabEmirates, His Highness

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al

Maktoum, Vice President, and PrimeMinister of UAE and Ruler of Dubai,His Highness General SheikhMohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, CrownPrince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Su-preme Commander of UAE ArmedForces, to provide urgent humanitarian aidto IDPs in Bannu district.

In addition he said, the UAE hasbuilt 53 educational institutions in TribalAreas and KPK province whereas 76projects of water supply were also ex-ecuted in the region for the benefit ofpoor families. In the health sector, theUAE has built several hospitals includ-ing Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak hos-pital in Waziristan while the UAE hasexecuted a highway of 55 km in the samearea. The Ambassador also stated thatthere are two bridges built by UAE inSwat valley.

UAE extending assistance to IDPs tobring their smile back: Ambassador

Essa Abdulla Al BashaAl Noaimi

Page 10: Ep15july2014

03:45 01:3005:30

09:15

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

Convener World Minorities Alliance J Salik pouring dust on his head during a press conference against Israeli aggressionon Palestinians.

Workers installing solar power system at Airport Chowk to run road signals and streetlights.

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Police have asked all the prop-erty dealers running their business within the city to giveprior information to their respective police station be-fore giving houses or rooms in hostels at rent.

A formal meeting in this regard was held here atPolice Line Headquarters which was presided by SP(City) Mustansar Feeroz and also attended among oth-ers by SHOs of Tarnol, Bhara Kahu and Sihala policestations and property dealers working in their jurisdic-tions.

Prior information to policemandatory for subletting property

The SP (City) asked the property dealers not to rentproperty in Islamabad to any tenant or give room in ho-tels without providing information to police. He saidSection 144 has been imposed in this regard followingwhich it had been prohibited to rent out any kind of prop-erty to any person whether by a property dealer/broker/owner without informing police station concerned inwhich property is situated regarding the particulars oftenants.

Provision of phone numbers and CNICs number of

tenants to police stations would be mandatory and allparticulars would be provided in detail too, he added.

Similarly, he said that owners/managers of hotels/motels/guest houses/sarais had been also prohibited togive a rooms or place to a person as a guest withoutproviding information to the police station concerned inwhich the establishment is situated. The particulars ofany guest, including his CNIC and phone numbers,would have to be provided to the police station.

The SP (City) also asked the house owners to fol-

low the same criteria before giving their houses on rent.He said the owners would be considered equally respon-sible in case they had not informed police and their ten-ants were found indulged in any kind of criminal activ-ity.

Feeroz said that internally displaced persons wereshifting in various areas of the city and all these mea-sures were being taken so that miscreants or terroristsmight not get advantage of the situation and their nefari-ous designs to be foiled in time.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The National AccountabilityBureau (NAB) Rawalpindi Region has given afinal deadline of 15 days to the affectees of theModaraba/Musharika scam to submit theirclaims.

The other Regions of the NAB would alsofollow the same set of instruction so as theaffectees, who have not been able to submit theirclaims, can now avail the opportunity and alsothe Bureau could ascertain the total volume ofthe fraud by the companies under investigationof NAB.

In this connection the Rawalpindi NABthrough an advertisement in the national mediahas asked the affectees to submit their applica-tions along with the copies of their Modaraba/Musharika agreements and CNIC within 15days, said spokesman of NAB.

NAB Rawalpindi has sought the complaints/claims against seven companies under investi-gation of the Regional Bureau including BilalKhan Banghesh, Masseha Forex,Mateeh urRehman S/o Haji Surat Rehman of M/s GlobalConcern,Muhammad Ehsan S/o Abdul Rehman,Hafiz Salah-ud-Din S/o Moulvi Ghulam Sadiqand others,Noman Qureshi, Abdullah & othersN.E Associates, Abdullah Khan Muhammad &others, Al-Shamim Enterprises, Malik HaroonTabreez & others and Ghulam Haider (MalikNaseer & Sons).

Currently, NAB (R) is pursuing 81 cases ofcheating public at large by way of illegal

modaraba / musharika business of which thereare 7 cases at investigation stage, 19 at inquirystage, 5 at complaint verification stage and 50are at initial stage of complaint. There are total36462 individual affectees in these cases, headded.

Total loss amounts to Rs. 22.01 billion ofwhich so far only 1.209 billion have been re-covered, spokesman said.

So far 10 accused have been arrested incases which are now at investigation stage. Vari-ous moveable and immoveable properties of ac-cused persons have also been cautioned / frozento account for losses caused to general public,he added.

According to spokesman, Chairman NABQamar Zaman Chaudhry has directed the Re-gional Bureaus to gear up their efforts to pur-sue the cases of cheating public at large andrecover the looted money from the swindlers.He also called upon the general public to bevigilant of such schemes and do not fall preyto such frauds in greed of unrealistic return ontheir amount.

Qamar Zaman Chaudhry has also directedthe Awareness and Prevention Wing of the Bu-reau and Regional NABs to carryout Awarenessactivities using different channels of communi-cation to make the public aware of such fraudu-lent schemes and persuade them to invest in thegovernment approved investment channelsonly.—APP

NAB gives 15-day deadlineto affectees of Modaraba

ISLAMABAD—The Islamabad Capital Territory(ICT) administration during its ongoing anti-profiteering drive has imposed fines amountingto Rs 1.73 million on 1194 shopkeepers to curbthe profiteering tendency during the holy monthof Ramazan.

Assistant Commissioner (Secretariat)Waqas Rashid said on Monday that Rs 90,000fine was imposed on account of overchargingand profiteering.

Action was also taken against those sell-ing sub-standard food items in the markets,he added. The administration directed all thefood outlets to ensure quality of food itemsin the wake of rainy season failing whichstrict action would be taken against the de-faulters.

Waqas Rashid said that crack down againstthe profiteering was underway successfully dur-ing Ramazan and profiteers involved in over-

charging and not displaying the rate list of fooditems had been imposed heavy fines.

According to details, as many as 22 pricecontrol committees headed by the magistratesintensified daily price checking in the city andrural areas.

Quality of food items was being ensured inthe markets and Sasta Bazaars. Samples of fooditems taken from markets sent the laboratory foranalysis and those selling sub-standard fooditems have been proceeded against under thePure Food Ordinance.

Rates of food items have been fixed for themonth of Ramadan and rate list is being issuedto the shopkeepers for strict compliance.

ICT Administration would ensure provisionof food items at the control rates duringRamadan and no one would be allowed to in-dulge in over charging and profiteering in anycase.

Rs1.73m fine imposedon 1,194 profiteers

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Allama Iqbal Open Uni-versity (AIOU) will launch a two-year face-to-face master degree programme in TV pro-duction from Spring Semester to meet the re-quirements of working journalists and helpstrengthen the professional skill of electronicmedia.

The decision for launching the programmewas taken at a meeting held here under the chair-manship of Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Ali AsgharChishti, said an AIOU press release on Mon-day.

The university has made necessary arrange-ments for launching the programme, which willprovide blended-mode of teaching, both in prac-tical and theory in the field of TV production.

It was decided that eminent resource per-sons would be involved in making the degreeprogramme worthwhile to train the workingjournalists and other students, interested in TVproduction.

The AIOU’s faculty team will be headedby Chairman Mass Communication Prof DrSyed Abdul Siraj. Theory will be taught by thefaculty members of national or international re-pute.

It will be for the first time that a public sec-tor institution is launching a programme in aspecialized media field.

The enrollment for the admission will startfrom Spring Semester 2015 and initially 40 stu-dents will be enrolled after passing the entry testto be conducted in line with the HEC prescribedcriteria.

AIOU to launch master-degreeprogramme in TV production

ISLAMABAD—Most of the water filtration plantsin Federal Capital are in poor condition due tothe negligence of the authorities concerned.

“Millions of rupees have been spent on thesewater filtration plants to provide clean drinkingwater to the residents in different sectors, butdue to apathy of the authorities concerned theseplants are out of order,” said Sanaullah, a resi-dent of G-7.

A number of residents in F-6, G-7 and I-10sectors said that they have registered complaintsto the relevant officials of Capital Development

Authority but nothing was done to repair faultywater plants.

Another resident, Mir Ali complained thatauthorities concerned have failed to ensurecleanliness and replacement of the water filtersand other necessary gadgets on time, as the au-thorities would never compromise on the healthof the citizens.

“These water plants have become problem-atic for the residents as they come to get waterbut go empty-handed,” said Aayan Khan, a resi-dent of G-7.—APP

Faulty water filtration plantsannoy residents

Secretary General Milli Yakjehti Council Liaqat Baloch addressing a press conference.

Minorities alliancecondemns Israel’sbrutalities in Gaza

IS L A M A B A D —ConvenerWorld Minority Alliance J.Salik Monday appealed Imam-e-Khana Kabah, Bishop ofCanterbury, Papa-e-Azam andUnited Nations to play theirrole in impeding Israel fromcommitting atrocities againstthe innocent people of Pales-tine.

Addressing a press confer-ence, he said the killing of morethan 186 innocent and defense-less people of Palestine is re-ally condemnable.

He said that a number ofwomen and children werekilled, adding that Israel mustnot be allowed for such cruel-ties. J. Salik said that Israelshould stop brutalities in Pal-estine and all over the world.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Extraordinary circumstances al-ways warrant for extraordinary measures andthis new brand law called “Pakistan ProtectionAct” which has recently come into force is onesuch remedial measure to effectively cope withthe menace of terrorism, militancy and growinginsurgency in the country.

Dr. Faqir Hussain, Director General, Cen-ter of Excellence for Law and Judicial Educa-tion ( CELJE)/ Federal Judicial Academy ex-pressed these views in his research presentationon the topic “ Testing vires of Protection of Pa-kistan Act on the touchstone of Constitution”on the first day of a one-week training coursefor the Persecutors hailing from all over Paki-stan, here at Academy on Monday.

Shedding light on various aspects of the Actin his insightful and thoughtful presentation suchas introduction of the Act, Civil society andpeoples’ perception of the Act, object of the Act,scheduled offences, constitutional safeguards,controversial provisions among others, he said,

“Since country is now confronted with such

an extraordinary situation, however, the govern-ment of the day feels morally and constitution-ally compelled to take certain steps and mea-sures which can better the situation, improve thelaw and order situation, protect life and prop-erty and at any rate at least arrest the spate ofsubversive and anti -state activities whichthreaten the very existence of the country.”

Answering a volley of questions asked bythe course participants he said, “It is indeed aharsh piece of legislation but we are confrontedwith such a situation in the country. Even themost civilized and democratic countries in theirtesting times have passed such like laws. Thereare certain offensive provisions in this new Actalso. Seemingly, offensive provisions may bereviewed with a view to bring those in confor-mity with the constitutional safeguards. Theanomalies can be remedied quickly by appro-priate means without having any effect on thelegislative efficacy of the Act of 2014.”

Seventeen prosecutors are undergoing thisone weeklong training course on “Role of Pros-ecutors in quick disposal of cases” here in theAcademy/ CELJE.

Extraordinary situations callfor extraordinary measures

Major portion ofKashmir

Highway openedfor transportSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Capital Devel-opment Authority (CDA) hadentered into the final phase ofmega project of wideningKashmir Highway as the maxi-mum portion of highway hasbeen opened for transport.

The construction of fivelanes of both sides of highwayfrom Golra Mor to PeshawarMor has been completed.

An official of CDA toldmedia, that road lights of Kash-mir Highway had been madefunctional and land markingwas being carried out.

He said that authority haddirected to plant saplings alongroadside after ensuring clean-ing of 24 feet wide strip, say-ing that Rs. 9 million would becost for it. He said that now theconstruction work of a bridgewas underway and would becompleted as soon as possible.

He said that Member Ad-ministration of CDA hadplayed key role to expedite theconstruction work of KashmirHighway. The project wasstalled for many years duringprevious regime, he added.

Lawyers expresssolidarity with

PalestiniansSTAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Lawyers onMonday boycotted court pro-ceedings across the Rawalpindidivision to express solidaritywith the people of Palestinefacing Israeli aggression.

Lawyers, wearing blackarmbands, observed a full-daystrike on the call given by thePunjab Bar Council and stayedaway from court proceedings atall levels to express solidaritywith Palestinians.

Lahore High Court (LHC)Rawalpindi Bench, Anti-Ter-rorism Courts, special courts,Judicial Complex Rawalpindi,local courts in Murree, Taxila,Kotli Sattian, Gujjar Khan,Kallar Syedan and bankingcourts gave a deserted look asno hearing took place.

Police roundup 21 outlaws

RAWALPINDI—Police underits ongoing drive against anti-social elements have arrested21 outlaws besides recoveringover 2200 grams charras, 67bottles of liquor, five pistols 30bore with 19 rounds, one rifle303 bore with four rounds anda stolen motorcycle from thepossession of the arrested ac-cused. According toRawalpindi police spokesman,Airport police held KhurramArshad Khan for having onekilogram charras while Sajidwas rounded up with 1200grams charras. Kahuta policenetted Shah Zaib and recovered30 bottles of liquor. Airportpolice nabbed Zafran for car-rying 12 liquor bottles. NawazMasih was sent behind the barson recovery of 15 bottles of li-quor. 10 liquor bottles were re-covered from the possession ofBabar Masih.

Race Course police nabbedGhulam Murtaza and recov-ered a stolen motorcycle,Honda CD-70 from him.Rattaamral police conducted araid at an illegal petrol agencyand arrested Muhammad Aliand Tanveer while DostMuhammad and Allah Dittawere rounded up as they wereinvolved in illegal refilling ofLPG cylinders. Saddar Baroonipolice also held Syed Qasid andRizwan from an illegal petrolagency. Meanwhile, other ac-cused were held for having il-legal weapons.—APP

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MIRPUR: Leader of PPP AJK Raja Parvez Ashraf in a meeting with AJK Prime Minister Ch Abdul Majeed.

ISLAMABAD—A seminar was jointly organised by Bedari-e-Fikr Forum, Islamabad, andInternational Chamber for Peace and Conciliation (UK), in Islamabad. Mohammed FarooqRehmani, Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl, Javed Ali Bhatti, Professor Khakwani, ShamimShawl and others addressed the seminar.Mohammed Farooq Rehmani described 13thJuly as an important milestone in Kashmir freedom struggle. He feared that a demo-graphic change is planned by Indian administration in Kashmir and even the latestcensus has been manipulated.

Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl paid glowing tributes to all the martyrs who laid downtheir lives for a noble cause. He hailed the statement of General Raheel Sharif whichreflects the collective conscience of the people of Pakistan and strengthens our resolveto complete the mission of our martyrs. He also said that Kashmiris’ right of self-determi-nation is non negotiable. Javed Ali Bhatti assured the people of Kashmir that the peopleof Pakistan would never leave them alone in the struggle for freedom

Ms Shamim Shawl reaffirmed the resolve to continue the freedom struggle till itslogical conclusion. She pleaded for a single flag and single platform. This she said is theadvice of Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinah when he was on a visit to Kashmir.—KMS

ISLAMABAD: A seminar was jointly organised by Bedari-e-Fikr Forum, Islamabad,and International Chamber for Peace and Conciliation (UK). Mohammed FarooqRehmani, Professor Nazir Ahmed Shawl, Javed Ali Bhatti, Professor Khakwani, ShamimShawl and others addressed the seminar.

Tributes paid to July 13martyrs in Islamabad seminar

SRINAGAR—The APHC Chairman, MirwaizUmar Farooq and Hurriyet leaders Syed AliGilani, Shabbir Ahmad Shah andMuhammad Yasin Malik have condemnedthe restrictions imposed by the authoritieson the occasion of Kashmir Martyrs Day,yesterday. The leaders in their separatestatements said that such restrictions wouldnot deter the people of Kashmir to continuethe mission of their martyrs. They de-nounced the arrest of Hurriyet leaders andactivists.

Other Hurriyet leaders including AasiyaAndrabi, Muhammad Yousuf Naqash,Shabbir Ahmad Dar and Farida Behanji intheir statements termed the award of sen-tences to the Kashmiri youth by Indiancourts as political vendetta. A resolutionpassed at a session of Jammu and KashmirAwami Action Committee maintained that theKashmir dispute should be resolved by

Restrictions imposed on KashmirMartyrs’ Day denounced

Thousands protest in Srinagar against Israeli actionsimplementing the relevant UN resolutions.Mirwaiz Umar Farooq chaired the session.The Kashmir Centre for Social and Develop-ment Studies during a roundtable conferencein Srinagar opposed the authorities’ plan tosettle the Kashmiri Pandits in separate colo-nies terming it an attempt to divide theKashmiri society on communal lines.

Political leaders and religious scholarsincluding Mirwaiz Umar Farooq,Muhammad Abdullah Wani and MuftiBashir-ud-Din in their statements con-demned the Israeli attacks on Palestiniansin Gaza and appealed to the people to boy-cott the Israeli products in protest. Mean-while, thousands of people including stu-dents took to the streets in different areasof Srinagar and protested against the Is-raeli bombing on Gaza. The protesters raisedslogans against Israel and in favour of thePalestinians.—KMS

MUZAFFARABAD: Malik Khuda Bakhash Awan IGP AJK chairing a meeting regard-ing security situation during Holy Month of Ramazan.

Srinagarreverberate with“save Gaza saveGaza” slogans

SRINAGAR—thousands ofstudents flooded Lal Chowkto protest against Israeli ag-gression on Gaza. The protest-ers belonging to various edu-cational institutions of theKashmir valley, assembled atSrinagar’s Press Enclave andlater marched towards the his-toric Ganta Ghar despite thepolice restrictions. They raisedslogans in favour of Gaza. Stu-dents shouted slogans like“Down Down Israel” and“Save Gaza… Save Gaza”.

Students also marchedtowards Amira Kadal,Jehangir Chowk and viaBudshah Chowk reachedRegal Chowk. They latertook to the UN office.—KMS

Kashmirconverted intopolice state:

BehanjiSRINAGAR—The Patron ofJammu and Kashmir MassMovement (JKMM), FaridaBehanji has strongly con-demned the authorities forimposing curfew and restric-tions to prevent a march to-wards Martyrs Graveyard atNaqashband Sahib inSrinagar. Farida Behanji in astatement in Srinagar, paidrich tributes to the martyrsof July 13, 1931, who weremartyred for raising theirvoice against the autocraticrule. She said that Kashmirhad been converted into apolice state and the peoplewere being stopped fromtheir political activities.

She deplored that the In-dian troops and police per-sonnel first kill innocentpeople in the territory andthen enforce curfew and otherrestrictions to prevent thepeople from participating intheir funeral. She said thatthrough such tactics Indiacould not weaken the free-dom sentiment of theKashmiri people and theywould continue their struggletill complete success.—KMS

Summer breakannounced for

Kashmir schoolsSRINAGAR—Amid escalatingprotests by school studentsover Gaza killings, the stateauthorities Monday an-nounced summer vacations inKashmir Valley from July 15.“The summer vacation will lastfrom July 15 to July 31,” TaraChand, Minister for Educationtold Greater Kashmir.—GK

Violence-hit BariBrahmana returns

to normalcyJAMMU—Normalcy has re-turned to violence-hit indus-trial town of Bari Brahmanain Samba district of Jammuand Kashmir, police said heretoday. “The situation is un-der control. Normalcy hasreturned to the town andvehicular traffic is going onnormally on the Jammu-Pathankote highway”, a po-lice officer said.

Amid tight security, shopsand business establishmentswere reopened today and traf-fic was plying on the roads,he said. Last night, curfew wasimposed in the town after 10people, including seven cops,were injured in stone peltingduring a group clash.—GK

Anti-Israelprotest march

in IHKSRINAGAR—Working jour-nalists of Islamabad towntook out a peaceful proces-sion against aggression byIsrael on Gaza strip Killinginnocent children and dam-aging the property of naïvePalestinians. The proces-sion started from Wazirbagh,Islamabad, and marchingthrough Lal Chowk culmi-nated in front of the DC of-fice. Journalists were hold-ing placards inscribed withanti-Israel, and anti-America slogans whichwere reverberated during theprocession.

The participants of theprocession said that it wasmatter of concern that de-spite 1993 ‘Oslo Accord’ rec-ommended for “two statesolution” for Palestine-Is-rael conflict and grant sov-ereign ‘Palestinian NationalAuthority’ in west bank andGaza strip was ratified in2007 but Israel didn’t standeven by this agreement.

The demonstratorsstrongly condemned thebrutal killing of children andwomen in Gaza strip beingpunished for their inno-cence, the irony of the factis that out of arrogance andcomplacency Israel is hell-bent on breaching the agree-ments again and again.—KMS

KCSDS resentssettlement of

pundits inseparate coloniesSRINAGAR—The KashmirCentre for Social and Devel-opment Studies (KCSDS)has decried the authorities’plan to settle Kashmiri Pun-dits in separate coloniesterming it an attempt to di-vide the Kashmiri society oncommunal lines. The KCSDSduring a day-long roundtableconference on the ‘Return ofKashmiri Pandits’ passedresolution seeking return ofthe Pandit community totheir respective towns andvillages in the Valley.

The conference chairedby Professor HameedahNayeem, ChairpersonKCSDS, was attended bycross section of the societyincluding various civil soci-ety formations. “The pro-posed colonies for resettle-ment of Pundits are a recipefor disaster as it aims atbalkanizing the Kashmir so-ciety along communal linesand therefore must be re-sisted by all the communi-ties very strongly.

It seems to be a politicalconspiracy to serve the inter-ests of the state rather thanimbued with a humanitarianconcern for the dignified re-turn and rehabilitation ofKashmiri Pundits,” read theresolution passed at the endof the conference. The KCSDSdemanded constitution of aninternational Truth Commis-sion to probe the causes ofmigration of Pundits.—KMS

Youth tortured atIndian army camp

in IHK: TeHSRINAGAR—The Tehreek-e-Hurriyet Jammu and Kash-mir has denounced the ac-tion of Indian army camp inRafiabad and said that theongoing liberation move-ment cannot be suppressedby such cheap means. TheTehreek-e-Hurriyet spokes-man in a statement issuedin Srinagar said that the per-sonnel of the said campsummoned the local youthto the camp and subjectthem to physical and men-tal torture. He said that afterbeing tortured the youthwere threatened of dire con-sequences if they sharedtheir ordeal with anyone.

He said that a youth,Showkat Ahmad Dar, son ofShaheed Mushtaq AhmadDar was tortured in the saidIndian army camp and pres-ently he was being treatedat Sadar Hospital in Srinagar.Showkat Ahmad Dar toldMuhammad Ashraf Laya,medical in charge of theTehreek-e-Hurriyet, that hewas going on his way tohome that army menstopped him and severelybeaten him without any rea-son. The doctors of SadarHospital have recom-mended his shifting to SouraInstitute of Medical Sci-ences.—Agencies

SRINAGAR—Denouncing the Israeli attackson Palestinian people in Gaza, Kashmiri reli-gious scholars have appealed people to boy-cott Israeli made products in the valley. Thehead of Muttahida Majlis-e-Mushawarat andChairman of All Parties Hurriyet Conference,Mirwaiz Umar Farooq in a statement said,“As a mark of a protest over the continuedmassacre of Palestinians in Gaza by Israel,there should be a complete boycott of Is-raeli products in Kashmir.”

He said traders of Kashmir should stopbuying Israeli manufactured products fromIndian states. Ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami ofoccupied Kashmir, Muhammad AbdullahWani stressed the need for a sustained cam-paign against the use of Israel products inKashmir. “I think we need to identify theIsrael products and start a campaign against

Religious scholars call forboycott of Israeli products

its usage in the Valley.Grand Mufti of Kashmir, Mufti Bashir-

ud-Din said, “Not only Kashmiri people butMuslims across the world should boycottthe Israeli products. It is a sin to do busi-ness with people whose hands are soakedwith innocent blood.” “It is a battle betweenIsrael and the Muslims. We should all standunited to defend our Muslim brethren inPalestine,” he stressed.

Senior Hurriyet leader, Shabbir AhmadShah said that Muslim countries shouldraise their voice in support of the oppressedPalestinians. Meanwhile, the Patron ofJammu and Kashmir Mahaz-e-Aazadi in astatement criticized the world powers fortheir criminal silence over bloodshed of in-nocent Palestinians at the hands of IsraeliZionists.—KMS

SRINAGAR—Hurriyet leaders includingSyed Ali Gilani, Muhammad Yasin Malikand Shabbir Ahmad Shah condemning therestrictions and house arrest of freedomleaders and activists have reiterated tocontinue the just struggle for Kashmiris’inalienable birthright. The veteranHurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani in a state-ment issued in Srinagar said, “Had thepro-India politicians been conscientiouspeople, they would have definitely feltashamed on visiting the Martyrs Grave-yard at Naqshband Sahib.” “The martyrsof 1931 sacrificed their lives for the dig-nity of the Holy Quran and presentedtheir blood for the freedom of their moth-erland,” he added.

The Chairman of Jammu and Kashmir Lib-eration Front, Muhammad Yasin Malik said,“India and its puppets in Kashmir are hell bentupon oppressing Kashmiris with militarymight. New Delhi has not honoured our peace-ful struggle and is pushing Kashmiris to thewall.” The Hurriyet Conference Jammu and

Gilani, Malik, Shabbirand others slam curbs

Kashmir chief, Shabbir Ahmad Shah said,“The martyrs of 1931 by protesting againstthe autocratic, dictatorial and anti-MuslimDogra rule marked the beginning of resistancemovement in Jammu and Kashmir. They sac-rificed their lives for the honor and dignity ofthe people of Kashmir.”

Jammu and Kashmir National FrontChairman, Nayeem Khan said, “Down-town Srinagar was put under siege on theMartyrs Day only to facilitate the visit ofpro-India politicians to the MartyrsGraveyard. These politicians visit the siteonly to deceive people.” Other Hurriyetleaders including, Mohammad YousufNaqash, Qazi Yasir and Shabbir AhmadDar slammed the authorities over impos-ing curbs on peoples’ movement. Hewhile paying rich tributes to 1931 mar-tyrs and other martyrs of freedom strugglesaid the Indian puppets visited the Mar-tyrs Graveyard under security cover justto exploit the sacred blood of these mar-tyrs.—KMS

SRINAGAR—The Chairperson ofDukhtaran-e-Millat, Aasiya Andrabi hascondemned subjecting Kashmiri youth byNew Delhi and its puppet administrationand described it political vengeance. AasiyaAndrabi in a statement issued in Srinagarsaid that a youth, Maqsood Ahmad Butt ofPattan was recently sentenced to life im-prisonment. “He was framed in a frivolouscase and persecuted for raising his voiceagainst occupation of the territory by In-dia. Recently, several youth in Aripal Tralwere arrested and subjected to severe tor-ture which was deplorable.

She expressed concern over the plightof Kashmiris detainees lodged in jails in and

Aasiya Andrabi concernedabout detainees’ plight

outside the territory. “They are facing im-prisonment despite being innocent. Detain-ees like Engineer Farooq Ahmad, LateefAhmad Waza, Ali Muhmamad Bhat, MirzaNasir and Ghulam Qadir Goni are lodged injails for past nearly 18 years declared inno-cent by courts. Ironically, they have beenshifted to infamous Rajasthan jail wherethey will face imprisonment without anyhearing,” she deplored.

She said, “From Gulzar Ahmad Butt,who is facing imprisonment at Barabankijail for past 15 years to Farooq Ahmad Butt,lodged in Gujarat jail, India, has subjectingKashmiri detainees to political ven-geance.”—Agencies

NEW DELHI—Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) Monday staged a walkout from theLok Sabha protest ing Government ofIndia’s s i lence over the continuingbloodbath in Gaza. As the Lok Sabhaconvened this morning, PDP membersMehbooba Mufti and Tariq HameedKarra got up from their seats urging thechair that the House should condemn theIsraeli aggression in Gaza continuingsince July 8.

The PDP MPs said that as the largestdemocracy of the world India can’t re-main a mute spectator to this naked ag-gression by Israel that has already con-sumed around 170 innocent Palestinianlives, with hundreds of others injured andthousands fleeing their homes.

PDP protests GoI silenceover Gaza carnage

Party MPs stage walkout from Lok SabhaMehbooba told the House: “A massivehumanitarian crisis has erupted in Gazaand as a regional power India has to useits influence to safeguard the lives andproperty of the innocent Palestinians.

“India has a history of standing by thePalestinians and in the prevailing crisisalso the country’s leadership should raisetheir voice against the atrocities beingcommitted by the Israelis in Gaza. “Wedon’t expect the country of Gandhi towatch this naked aggression silently. Weshould not get influenced by the US orIsraeli hegemony, but should rise andspeak for the suffering Gazan’s.” The PDPhas also decided to move a Call AttentionMotion in the Lok Sabha on the situationin Gaza.—GK

SRINAGAR—Jammu and Kashmir governmentis in for severe financial crisis owing to theinordinate delay by the government of Indiain the finalization of the state’s annual planfor 2014-15. According to local media reportsthe unwarranted delay in plan finalization andits subsequent devolution by the governmentof India has hit JK “badly” on the develop-ment front as its coffers are running dry.

“If the fiscal situation continues to be samefor the coming few weeks, J&K, having a lim-ited working season in Kashmir and some partsof Jammu, would witness a total financialcrunch and subsequent development freezefor the current year,” sources said. The StateGovernment had in its budget for 2014-15 pro-jected the plan size of Rs 11,900 crore includ-ing Rs 7300 crore main plan, Rs 4000 crore as-sistance under Centrally Sponsored Schemes(CSS) and Rs 600 crore assistance under PrimeMinister’s Reconstruction Plan (PMRP).

But, sources said, J&K is clueless whenNew Delhi would approve the plan, andwith the budget session of Parliament end-ing on August 8, there is no hope of a deci-sion on the matter in near future. “The Gov-

Puppet Kashmir govt headingtowards financial crisis

ernment is trying to manage the situationwith the state’s own resources but it is atemporary arrangement which won’t lastlong,” said a senior official. “We apprehendthe panic buttons will be pressed soon, ifthe plan approval gets delayed further.”

Sensing the precarious situation, thegovernment had authorized 50 percent ex-penditure of plan till the District Develop-ment Boards would take a call on the planallocation for respective districts. “But thisshort-term arrangement can’t sustain longerdue to non-release of the plan funds,” theofficial said. Another worry for the Govern-ment is that in case of enforcement of theModel Code of Conduct for the State As-sembly elections scheduled in November-December this year, there would be almostcomplete development freeze in the state.

The Election Commission of India hasalready set the election process into mo-tion with the revision of the electoral rolls.“Daily wagers aside, even the permanentemployees form Social Welfare, EducationDepartment, Urban Local Bodies, and ISMstaff are without salaries,” he said.—NNI

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Texas has noincome tax, whichis a big draw for

corporate execu-tives who do

business there.But it’s hardly tax-free. The property

taxes are high for aSouthern state.

The sales taxes arehigh. One studyfound that the

bottom 20 percentof the Texas popu-

lation pays 12percent of its

income in stateand local taxes.

—Gail Collins

ISE-10 index staysbullishISLAMABAD—TheIslamabad Stock Ex-change (ISE) Mondaywitnessed bullish trend asthe ISE-10 index was upby 53.69 points to close at4542.32 points. A total of111,600 shares weretraded, which showed apositive growth of 102,000shares, when comparedwith previous day’strading of 9,600 shares.Out of 131 companies,share prices of 100companies recordedincrease while those of 31companies decreased intoday’s trading. The shareprice of Murree Breweryincreased by Rs 30.92while that of PakistanTobacco decreased by Rs50 per share.—APP

Conversion ratesKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Deposits,Dollar Bearer Certificates,Foreign Currency BearerCertificates, Special U.S.Dollar Bonds and profitsthereon by all banks andfor providing ForwardCover on Foreign CurrencyDeposits (excluding F.E- 25deposits) by the StateBank on July 15, 2014. Therates are US Dollar Rs.98.7854, Japanese Yen Rs0.9734, Pound Sterling Rs169.1008 and Euro Rs.134.5753.—APP

WBDC to organize 10-day long Eid BazaarPESHAWAR—WomenBusiness DevelopmentCentre (WBDC)Peshawar is going toorganize a 10-day longEid Bazaar, the bazaar hasbeen given the name of‘Eid Fair-Khushioyounkai Rang’. The Eid Fairwill start from theevening of July 19 andwill continue till July28.—APP

MULTAN—Federal Government is taking necessary stepsto introduce small hot water treatment plants at farm levelas well as encouraging private sector to establish com-mercial facility centres for hot water treatment in mangoproducing areas of the country. Government is also launch-ing a project to control mango fruit fly and introduction ofhot water treatment units in the mango areas. This wasstated by Mr. Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, Federal Minis-ter for National Food Security and Research (NFSR) whilespeaking on the occasion of Demonstration of Small-scaleMango Hot Water Treatment Unit at Multan. Mr. SikandarBosan said that Fruit fly attack on mango is a seriousissue.

Due to fruit fly infestation our mango export has a bigchallenge to operate in European Union and threat of bandue to fruit fly always hovers around us. We are still prac-ticing traditional mango harvesting and processing meth-ods except few modern mango processing facilities. Dueto lack of proper mango processing plants including hotwater treatment plants, quality of mango exported by bulkexporters is not up to the required standards. Mr. SikandarBosan said to enter into the export domain of USA andJapan, exporters require a high level of entrepreneurship,market demands, wareness of processing, packaging tech-

Govt to introduce small hot watermango treatment plants: Bosan

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water and Power, Khawaja Muhammad Asif andMinister of State for Water and Power, Ch Abid Sher Ali addressing a press conference.

niques and plant technologies, adaptation to modern re-frigeration methodologies, and conforming to quality stan-dard set out by different importing countries for import ofmangoes.

He said Government of Pakistan will prefer to shrinkmango export rather than allow uncertified fruit to Euro-pean Union and induce ban. He said UNIDO is doing itsjob to enhance mango export and at the same time makingefforts to reduce fruit fly infestation in partnership withMinistry of National Food Security and Research for in-troducing small scale mango hot water treatment plants.He said we are planning to distribute 10 more such plantsto different clusters of mango growers. Small growersshould benefit from small hot water treatment plant andget rid of fruit fly infestation and other diseases. Farmersshould farm clusters of 4 growers and use this plant. Hesaid mango is the second major fruit crop in Pakistan interms of areas, production and export volume. Mango iscultivated on 172400 hectares, last year we exported 6% oftotal production and earned $48 million.

The major mangoes export destinations for Pakistanare Middle East, Far East and EU markets. He further saidthat characterizing of the Pakistan mango market on thesupply side is the high level of fragmentation.—NNI

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (ICCI) and Higher Edu-cation Commission of Pakistan (HEC) onMonday signed a Memorandum of Under-standing to work jointly for a knowledgebased economy. President, IslamabadChamber of Commerce and Industry,Shaban Khalid and Prof. Dr. Mansoor AkbarKundi, Executive Director, HEC signed theMoU, said a press rlease issued here.

ICCI is the foremost Chamber with aprogressive and innovative approach tosign such MoU with HEC recognizing theimportance of strengthening the connec-tion of academia, schools and universi-ties with the industry to move towards aknowledge economy. ICCI and HECagreed to conduct joint research to un-derstand the current trends of studentsand to use the information to inculcatean entrepreneurial mindset among gradu-ates, thus nurturing a conducive entre-preneurial ecosystem in the country.

HEC and ICCI shall work jointly for set-

ICCI, HEC sign MoU to worktowards knowledge economy

ting up Incubation and Skills DevelopmentCenter to produce knowledgeable andskilled workforce for industry includingmodern management skills. ICCI shall con-tribute its input to HEC for development ofa demand-driven entrepreneurship curricu-lum for schools and universities.

HEC will also consult with ICCI toget private sector’s input for curriculumdevelopment in conformity with the hu-man resource needs of trade and indus-try. ICCI shall cooperate with HEC in pro-viding internship placements to univer-sity students in the local industry as wellas in corporate sector. Addressing theMoU signing ceremony, Prof. Dr.Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairperson, HigherEducation Commission termed it a posi-tive initiative for the benefit of studentsand industry. He said both organizationsshould take practical steps to implementthe MoU of cooperation in order toachieve its desired results for the better-ment of our country.—APP

ISLAMABAD: President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Shaban Khalidand Executive Director HEC Prof Dr Mansoor Akbar Kundi exchanging documentsafter signing MoU of Cooperation. HEC Chairman Dr Mukhtar Ahmad is also seen inthe picture.

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for FinanceSenator Ishaq Dar here on Monday appre-ciated and welcomed revision of Pakistan’sforeign currency government bonds ratingfrom negative to stable by Moody’s Inves-tors Service. He said, “As a result of hardwork, commitment and financial disciplineintroduced by the government that theworld has changed its outlook towards Pa-kistan”. He said that with the over subscrip-

ISLAMABAD—A delegation of All PakistanTextile Manufacturing Association(APTMA) called on Textile Minister AbbasKhan Afridi here Monday and discussedwith him issues relating to textile sector. Onthe occasion Abbas Khan Afridi said thatthe textile industry is in fact the bread win-ner for the country and the government istrying its level best to facilitate the textilesector.

The government values revival ofeconomy, therefore textile industry holdsforemost importance, he said adding ourcommitment is clearly reflected in thebudget incentives announced for thetextile industry.

The delegation comprising of S.MTanveer (chairman APTMA Punjab),Seth Akbar (vice chairman APTMA andAli Ahsan (senior member APTMA) ap-

Dar lauds revision of Pakistan’sforeign currency bonds

tion of Euro Bond, successful auction of3G/4G Spectrum, divestment of GOP shares,tax and energy sector reforms and improvedeconomic indicators, the international con-fidence in Pakistan has increased to a levelwhere we can build stronger economicbase. He said that in line with the vision ofthe PML (N) leadership we have an agendato make Pakistan a vibrant and developedcountry.—APP

APTMA delegation calls onTextile Minister

prised the minister of the current pre-vailing situation.

They urged the minister to devisesome way out for the ruining businessat the hands of power outages. The del-egation highlighted that in order to reapmaximum benefits from GSP plus status,uninterrupted power supply is impera-tive. The Minister assured the delega-tion that in the month of Ramadan theloadshedding hours would be reducedto 8 hrs.

The Minister stated that he understandsthe problems faced by the textile units andthat he would take up the issue with PrimeMinister and Minister for water and powersoon. The Minister admitted that no doubtthe conditions are tough but he envisagesa prosperous future for the country in gen-eral and textile industry in particular.—APP

MAHWISH Z CH

THE public financial management (PFM) reforms areexecuted with the intention of harmonizing the fiscal stability and bringing financial discipline so as to

avoid uncertainties. In uncertain times, nothing grows. Bud-getary reforms are an integralpart of the PFM reforms. Paki-stan aims to bring budgetary re-forms by implementing the Me-dium Term Budgetary Frame-work. Factually, the budget it-self is another form of planningthat is built upon goal, targets,outputs and outcomes within acertain time frame which is im-perative for economic growthand national stability.The forecasting is essential

since it acts as a tool to reduceuncertainty persisting in an

economy which is the central spirit of the Medium term bud-getary framework. The budgetary reform inclines to modern-ize the existent budget practices by improvising latest mod-els and methods. The critical significance of the budget re-form is that it brings the planning into a system which as-sists line ministries/principle account offices to prepare theirbudget for three years. By mapping out the goals, targets,outputs of each ministry to closely examine the activities forthe coming year in order to gain a significant amount ofunderstanding which helps them to revisit their financialneeds to meet a certain target at given time period.

Mainly, tangibility and measurability ought to be a corestandard of realizing their activities which must address ser-

Essence of budgetary reformsvice delivery. Here, the outcome is judged that a certain min-istry is able to achieve this amount of work by inflictingindicators/outputs which care the national interests. Inten-tions are judged by the planning and hold a significantrecord in this expedient. The government’s policies and pri-oritized areas are one deep example, which reflects nationalinterests which ought to be at public’s sake. Unfortunately,budgetary reform does not enjoy legal binding despite thecabinet’s approval; it is still considered out to be a wastedexercise. The constitution of Pakistan recognizes one yearbudgeting that reflected upon Pink book yearly made by atraditional mode of the budget making process. It goes byinput-wise demands, contain details i.e. physical assets, payand allowances, pensions and grants, loans, repairs and main-tenance, which in reality is hard to be classified whetherfiscal resources are fully met to fulfill ministries demand.

By looking at traditional budget making practices, it’s dif-ficult to fathom any predictability of resources. Our long stag-gering financial undisciplined, crippled and disease-affectedeconomy is due to this very reason of bottom-to-up approachby our conventional modes of budgeting. It’s a common senseto think that no head of the state would like to hand outmoney without knowing line ministries/divisions/departmentsprior performance. The traditional budget making offers nosuch utility where the policy-maker may derive performanceby looking at demands and grants given in the Pink Book.Another drawback is that it offers no accountability check inthe input-wise budgeting. Evil doing and modes of corruptionare somewhat very easy to practice knowing there’s no checkin terms of performance measures. The current budget makingpractice permits in the provision of supplementary demandsthat is carried out in 3-4 countries only. Pakistan is amidstthose- essential cause of financial and fiscal disarray.

A medium term budgetary framework has been func-

tional since 2003; so far it is still lingering behind in achiev-ing its real essence due to the lack of ownership shown bythe finance division. Countries like Uganda were fairly moresuccessful and productive in reforming their budgetary pro-cess. Likewise Bangladesh, South Africa, and Nigeria toohave shown remarkable growth in each of their budgetaryreform process. If they can attain success; why not Paki-stan? Extensive knowledge import trainings both at the topand bottom level in line ministries to create more awarenessas well as finance division is many of the reasons of theirsuccess story. Another banked upon their technology us-age, which is a hollow aspect in Pakistan. Officers here arestill somewhat unwilling in operating computers.

Intent of budget reforms is to prepare the budget that ismore realistic, consistent, transparent and accessible. It syn-chronizes the national priorities with line ministry’s goals, out-put and outcomes with the help of key performance indicatorsin three years reflected in the green book to achieve strongerfinancial control within government’s sector spending con-nected with strategic priorities. The government’s manifestoshould be to destabilize the current issues prevailing in thestate by giving its due importance by prioritizing the sectors.Ideally, the focus should be on education, internal security,energy and other such matters that are yelling for our forgot-ten care. Capacity issues and lack of awareness at line minis-tries as well as the ministry of finance are also one of theforemost reasons why the dire essence of the reforms has notbeen availed. Budgetary cuts and austerity exercises by thefinance division reflect our inconsistent and indiscipline prac-tices. The delayed result in performance is also due to the lackof ownership. Officials sitting in line ministries do not realizeits potential gains that can be extracted from this exercise.Technological ineptness in line ministries is also havoc. Fur-ther to this, willingness of officials sitting in ministries is seri-

ously questionable, both at the top and bottom level- a matterof serious concern.

Due to government inconsistent methods of policy imple-mentation creates severe problems in attaining results. Dur-ing last year, 30% cuts were imposed on an entire budgetwhich is translated into surrenders and budget austerity mea-sures. Imagine a scenario in which line ministries/departmentsdevise a certain plan according to a required format to meetthe targets at given expenditures. With imposition of a 30 %cut, it means less money. Federal Public Service Commissionis an example in the current fiscal year. How it is possible toattain a certain goal/target under such circumstances? Wheredid all the forecasting go? How a reform can possibly achieve?Where did the financial and fiscal discipline go? Eventually,suggesting less planning and target setting for the comingyears by the ministries which feel mistrusted and rightly so.Political, financial and social stability is an essential staircaseto bring in the financial and fiscal discipline. Half of our prob-lems are created by our own lack of foresightedness as well asinaccuracy from which we do not derive lesson.

Constant policy shifts of the government need to becurbed if financial and fiscal stability is desired. In Pakistan,everything functions with donors’ funding. Same is the casein public financial management reforms. No resolute shownby government in launching the programmes that bring dis-cipline within public finance sectors. The government stayswary in launching programmes that bring the discipline withinpublic finance sectors. It is time we stop putting blame oninternational donors for our own inconsistent, inaccuratevisionary hollowness and start deriving benefits from re-form measures that are executed to break the traditional modesand methods being practiced in Pakistan.

—The writer is afreelance columnist and an economist by profession.

ISLAMABAD—The Federal Minister forCommerce, Engr. Khurram Dastgir, hassaid that dialogue has been almost suc-cessful regarding removal of taxation andother hurdles in the way of trade withIndia and agreement can be reached inthis regard this year.

Talking to a private news channel,Khurram Dastgir said that this month themeeting of South Asian Free Trade Area(SAFTA) is going to be held in Bhutanand it is possible that I would meet withmy Indian counterpart.

Dastgir hopes agreement toimprove trade ties with India

In this meeting he would stress forliberalization of visa regime for Pakistanibusinessmen and on the establishmentof banking system between India and Pa-kistan, he said.

“If composite dialogue between thetwo countries starts this year then dia-logue on commerce could be completedvery easily”, he hoped. He said that In-dia would be allowed to easily access Pa-kistani markets without any discrimina-tion. He added since 2012, 80% commodi-ties are being imported from India.—APP

Shipping activityat Port Qasim

KARACHI—Four ships C.VMaerk Harttord, C.V Pona,M.T Stolt Markland andM.T Quetta carrying con-tainers, chemicals and fur-nace oil were arrangedberthing at Qasim Interna-tional Containers Terminal,Engro Vopak Terminal andFOTCO Oil Terminals re-spectively Port Qasim onSunday 13th July. Mean-while Two more ships withcontainers and chemicalsalso arrived at outer anchor-age of Port Qasim during last24 hours.

Berth occupancy wasmaintained at the Port at 64%on Sunday where nine shipsnamely C.V Maersk Harlfold,C.V Pona, C.V Msc Antigua,M.V Ocean Royal, M.VMoon Ray, M.C Mega Lahori,M.T Stolt Markland, M.TTheresa Leo and M.T Quettawere occupied at PQA berthsto load/offlaod containers,cement, coal, chemicals, palmoil and furnace oil respec-tively during last 24 hours.

Cargo throughput dur-ing last 24 hours stood at86,298 tonnes comprises70,205 tonnes imports and16,093 tonnes exports inclu-sive containerized cargo car-ried in 1,870 containers(TEUs) (1,023 imports and847 exports TEUs) werehandled at the Port. Depar-tures: Container ship ‘MSC’Antigua’ sailed out to seaon Monday morning whiletwo more ships M.T StoltMarkland and C.V Pona areexpected to sail on same dayafternoon. Arrival Schedule:Four ships C.V Msc Atlanta,C.V Safmarine Ngami, M.TMercur and M.T AnnaMaria carrying containers,chemicals and fertilizer areexpected to take berths atQICT, EVTL and FAP re-spectively on Monday, 14thJuly, 2014.—APP

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Sheharyar Ali Malikappointed ChairmanBrand and Marketing

FPCCIISLAMABAD—Federationof Pakistan Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(FPCCI) has appointedyoung entrepreneurSheharyar Ali Malik asChairman “Brand andMarketing” Committee ofthe body. Sheharyar AliMalik brings with him richexperience in automobileindustry and currentlyheading the GuardAutozone, a nationwideproject providing servicesto auto users under oneumbrella.

When contactedShaharyar said that he willlive upto the aspiration ofthe business communityand work on scientificlines to encourage youthand women entrepreneursfor the promotion ofindustrail sector.—APP

KEPZremarkable 43%export increase

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Chairman‘EPZA Rabiya Javeri Aghahas expressed satisfac-tion over consistentgrowth trends in EPZ ex-ports recorded during lastseven months. KarachiExport Processing Zone(KEPZ) has achieved sig-nificant export success byincrease of 43% in themonth of June 2014. Themonths of April’14 andJune ‘14 set records ofhighest exports in any in-dividual months over allthe previous years. An-nual exports for 2013-14were US$ 363.13 millioncompared to $ 299.16 mil-lion in 2012-13, an overallincrease of 26 %. Gradu-ally, signs of healthy re-surgence of KEPZ exportactivities are being notedand are duly reflected inexport growth which ispulling KEPZ out of itsdormancy.

This achievement be-comes all the more impor-tant if analyzed in contextof 5 % export drop in 2011-12 and 2 % decline in 2012-13. European Union (EU)is single largest exportdestination of Zone prod-ucts with 38% marketshare, which itself dis-plays existence of value-added manufacturing /quality compliances in theZone.

The other notabledestinations includeMiddle East, Africa andAsia. Reinvigoration ofKEPZ industrial activitiesmay be rightly attributedto exclusive efforts beingmade to improve its in-vestment and businessenvironment. These in-clude consultations withZone investors to resolvetheir immediate opera-tional issues, facilitatingsick units towards revivalof operations, besides,exercising regulatory con-trols on import/export op-erations.

The Chairman ‘EPZAalso assigned EPZA Teamcomprising Umer Kazi,Secretary and MsShahida Qaiser , GeneralManager (North and Spe-cial initiatives) to finalizeRoadmap for futureprojects aimed at imagebuilding of EPZs, and at-tracting FDI in value-added industries .

Currency Selling Buying

USA 98.50 98.30

UK 168.57 168.23

Euro 133.99 133.72

Canada 91.76 91.57

Switzerland 110.35 110.12

Australia 92.59 92.40

Sweden 14.50 14.47

Japan 0.9718 0.9698

Norway 15.94 15.91

Singapore 79.36 79.20

Denmark 17.97 17.93

Saudi Arabia 26.26 26.21

Hong Kong 12.71 12.68

Kuwait 349.23 348.52

Malaysia 31.00 30.94

Newzealand 86.88 86.70

Qatar 27.06 27.00

UAE 26.82 26.76

Kr. Won 0.0967 0.0965

Thailand 3.063 3.057

Daily opening& closing ratesPMEX Index 3,064Total Volume (Lots): 15,491Traded Value (Rs): 3,225,052,87

Commodity .......................... Price Quotation ................... Open CloseCRUDE OIL ......................... $ Per Barrel ............................ 102.52 100.46SILVER ................................. $ Per Ounce ........................... 21.472 21.195GOLD ................................... $ Per Ounce ........................... 1,337.8 1,322.4GOLD ................................... Rs Per 10 gms ........................ 42,610 2,142MTOLAGOLD .................... Rs Per Tola ............................ 50,968 50,394GOLD ................................... Rs Per Tola ............................ 50,968 50,394RICEIRRI6 ........................... Rs Per 100 kg......................... 3,554 3,626PALMOLEIN ...................... Rs Per Maund ....................... 4,295 4,291SUGAR ................................ Rs Per kg ................................ 48.21 48.17ICOTTON ............................ US Cents per pound ............ 68.79 68.94WHEAT ............................... Rs Per 100 kg......................... 3,280 3,427

On Monday at Pakistan Mercantile Exchange (PMEX) value traded was recorded atPKR 3.225 billion as compared to PKR 1.974 billion registered on Friday, up 63.4percent. Number of lots traded was 15,491 and PMEX Commodity Index closed at3,064. Major business was contributed by crude oil amounting to PKR 1.778 billion,up 75 percent from PKR 1.014 billion. It was followed by gold amounting to PKR1.364 billion from PKR 851 million, up 60 percent and silver at PKR 83 million.

Power suspension: PSRMAfears massive layoffs, unrest

SALIM AHMED

LA H O R E—Pakistan Steel Re-RollingMills Association (PSRMA) has showngrave concern over suspension of powerto the industry and feared massive lay-offs and unrest if power is not restoredimmediately. PSRMA Chairman AsmatPervaiz and Patron Chairman HafizMuhammad Akbar said that Steel Re-Roll-ing industry in Punjab is passing througha crisis-like situation due to unavailabil-ity of electricity and gas that is a primeraw material for the steel sector.

They said that because of heavy taxa-tion in budget 2014-15, the steel industry isalready in deep crisis and struggling for sur-vival. They said that the government wouldhave to announce a special package to savethe dying steel sector besides ensuring pro-vision of regular supply of electricity. Theysaid that it was very unfortunate that steelindustry in Punjab has no electricity whilegas is being provided for round about oneday a week while situation in other parts ofthe country is quite different.

PSRMA has pointed out every yearthat element of discrimination in electric-ity and gas supply to the Punjab mustbe stopped and distribution of gas sup-ply must be in accordance with the sizeof industry and not according to the area

of province.“When the industry in Punjab is pay-

ing a considerable amount of revenue tothe exchequer, its protection is also theresponsibility of Federal government.”

It is submitted that closure of powersupply to the around 500 steel units inPunjab has also resulted in total closureof 28 dependent industries of Steel Sec-tor to whom raw material is being pro-vided by the Re-Rolling industry. Theseindustries include agricultural imple-ments, sewing machines, surgical instru-ments, tractor spares, power looms, elec-tric fan & appliances, light engineering,housing & construction etc.

The closure of industry due to sus-pension of electricity would deprive mil-lions of workers attached with Steel sec-tor which would cause unrest in the coun-try. It is very surprising that at one sidethe government is trying to create oppor-tunities of employment and on the otherhand adopting the policies which renderunemployment for those who are on job.

This is treated as anti industry policyand even is not in favour of the govern-ment itself. Pakistan Steel Re-Rolling MillsAssociation urged the concerned high upsto save the industry of Punjab from totaldisaster and also save millions of workersand their families from starvation.

KARACHI—Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd,a global leader in digital media and TV tech-nology today, announced lucky winners ofthe Consumer Electronics (CE) Smart Homeconsumer promotion campaign. A ceremonywas held at the Marriot Hotel to presentprizes to the winners of the campaign thatbecame very popular among consumers. Topromote the innovative, sleek and top-notched featured products by Samsung, aspecial consumer engagement initiativewas launched, where 18 lucky consumerspurchasing the new products were re-warded with prizes through two lucky drawquests.

The overjoyed winners were Ejaz Imran,Zahid Hussain, Syed M Raza, M ShoiabSheikh, Kazi Muhammad Javaid,Muhammad Arslan, M Younas, Seemirehan, Dr Kamran, M Kamran, Sheikh nisarahmad, M Iqbal Ahmad, Masood, SajanMai, Rashid Ikraam Saddiqui, Babar andJavaid Ansari. Samsung’s Pakistan MD Mr.John Park said, “Samsung has once again

Samsung announces 18 lucky winners ofconsumer electronics promotion campaign

created a delight for its customers by an-nouncing the lucky winners of CE SmartHome Consumer promotion campaign.Samsung has received a tremendous inter-est from people; consumers have registeredthere products in massive numbers to winamazing prizes. Samsung will continue toadd excitement and create value for its cus-tomer”.

One of the lucky winners excitedly said,“I am very happy and lucky to be the winnerof Samsung CE promotion campaign.” An-other winner commented with joy, “It is aperfect retreat for me to enjoy my SamsungTV and win amazing prizes, and it’s like adream come true”. The event involvedSamsung Dealers to witness other new andexciting features produced by the company.Samsung always privileges its customers byproviding incentives and premium productexperience. About Samsung Electronics Co.,Ltd. Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a glo-bal leader in technology, opening new pos-sibilities for people everywhere.—PR

Bank Alfalah sings agreementwith FAW Motors Ltd

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—President Pak-China Joint Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry (PCJCCI) Mr.Shah Faisal Afridi has appreciated presentgovernment for undertaking initiatives thathave boosted the Gross Domestic Products(GDP) growth up to 4.1 percent, which isthe highest in the past five years, as statedby State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in its thirdQuarterly Report for FY14 on the State ofEconomy. While commenting on the SBPquarterly report, Mr. Afridi said that thepresent government had encouraged theprivate sector through loans and other busi-ness friendly policies, which proved to besuccessful in increasing private consump-tion by 5.9% that was the real driving forcebehind the economic growth. It was morethan double what was realized in FY13, headded.

Shah Faisal Afridi suggested that in or-der to avoid obstruction in economicgrowth, further planning should be done insuch a way that industrial sector remainsleast affected by energy crisis. He also em-phasized to develop alternate energysources for maintaining regular energy flowto the industrial sector. Faisal Afridi said

PCJCCI Chief praises performanceof PML-N -led govt

that improvements in the economy are theresult of the government’s resolve to ad-dress the energy shortage, a growing per-ception of business friendly policies, andexternal inflows that have recently beenrealized. More specifically, auction of 3G/4G licenses etc have sharply improved theoutlook of the country’s external sector, andto some extent, its fiscal position, he added.

He suggested that policymakers shouldformulate an Industrial Policy leading to theproduction efficiency and job creation inthe country. The new initiatives should fo-cus on promoting competitiveness and cre-ating a skilled labor force to meet the cur-rent needs of manufacturing sector. FaisalAfridi observed that Pakistan’s investmentrate can be increased only by addressingthe law and order situation and ending theenergy crisis in the country. He said thattax exemptions, corruption and leakages inthe tax-collecting machinery should beeliminated and measures should be taken.He was of the view that after cleaning ofthe tax collection system, governmentwould be able to build the lost confidenceof taxable class of the society that will helpexpand the tax base by including all pro-ductive sectors of the economy.

RCCI urged tohelp mitigate

IDPs sufferingsR A W A L P I N D I — T h eRawalpindi Chamber ofCommerce and Industry onMonday was urged to playits active role to help miti-gate sufferings of the inter-nally displaced persons(IDPs) of North Waziristanand adjoining areas.

At a meeting with theRCCI elected representa-tives, the delegation of theFederal Government lead byMinister of State for CapitalAdministration and Devel-opment Barrister UsmanIbrahim, the matter of ex-tending maximum help tofacilitate the IDPs was dis-cussed in length andbreadth.

The business commu-nity of Rawalpindi wasasked to help establish a“drug bank” in Bannu withthe aim to overcome theshortage of medicine andhospital supplies to helpprovide maximum healthcover to the IDPs. Duringthe meeting AdministratorPakistan Institute of Medi-cal Sciences (PIMS) Dr.Altaf gave a detailed brief-ing about the medical facili-ties being provided by thefield camp of the PIMS andindicated about shortage ofmedicines and essentialdrugs for the IDPs.—APP

MCB, MTL toprovide credit

to farmersSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—MCB Bank Lim-ited (MCB) collaborateswith Millat Tractor Limited(MTL) in order to provideagri-credit to farmers. AMemorandum of Under-standing (MoU) has beensigned between the two or-ganizations by ZarghamKhan Durrani, Head RetailBanking, MCB and SyedMuhammad Irfan Aqeel,Chief Executive Officer,MTL at a ceremony held inLahore. Other senior execu-tives of the Bank and MTLwere also present on theoccasion.

The MoU is signed to in-crease cooperation betweenthe Bank and MTL for farmmechanization and to supportthe farming community atlarge. Dealers at MTL and of-ficials at the Bank will be work-ing in close coordination toextend credit facilities to thefarmers in need of tractors andimplements. Zargham KhanDurrani and Syed MuhammadIrfan Aqeel expressed theirpleasure at the signing cer-emony; they hoped that MCBand MTL?s collaboration willbe helpful for the farmers andwill be a source of upsurge forthe overall agribusiness of Pa-kistan.

FCCI delegationproceeds toShanghai

FAISALABAD—A 10-Mem-ber delegation of FaisalabadChamber of Commerce andIndustry (FCCI) left forShanghai for a 10-day busi-ness exploration trip toChina. The members of thedelegation gathered in FCCIand discussed their itiner-ary and tour programme be-fore their departure. Ad-dressing the members of thedelegation, Riaz-ul-Haq Se-nior vice President andChaudhary MuhammadAsghar vice President FCCIsaid that China is ourtrusted friend.

China has made tremen-dous progress due to its in-ternal cohesion and eco-nomic policies; they saidand added that China hasagreed in principle to in-vest 2 billion dollars inFaisalabad. This invest-ment will open new av-enues of economic coop-eration and collaboration. Itis, now the duty of thebusiness communities of 2countries to fully exploitthe untapped economic po-tential by visiting eachother countries and foster-ing their B2B relations.Riaz-ul-Haq said that FCCIis fully aware of the impor-tance of foreign tours andwas fully encouraging andfacilitating its members tovisit other countries andexplore new markets fortheir exportable surplus. Hesaid that it is the third del-egation of FCCI that wasgoing abroad during thisyear.—APP

LAHORE: Shahzad Ishaq, Head of Consumer Finance, Bank Alfalah signing agree-ment with Mr. Hilal Khan Afridi, CEO, Al-Haj Faw Motors Private Limited.

RAWALPINDI: Minister of State for Capital Administration and Development Barris-ter Usman Ibrahim and President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce Dr Shimail Daudalong with other after a meeting on extending maximum help to facilitate the IDPs.

LAHORE—Bank Alfalah recently signed anagreement with Al-Haj Faw Motors PrivateLimited, the sole distributor, manufacturerand assembler of FAW vehicles in Pakistan.Under this strategic partnership, BankAlfalah will offer easy, auto financing solu-tions for FAW vehicles to its customers.

Syed Muhammad Asif, Product Head CarFinance, Bank Alfalah said on the occasion,“We have successfully been able to main-

tain our dominant market leadership posi-tion in car financing and the partnershipswe have formed over the years with carmanufacturers have been pivotal for thissuccess. New auto manufacturing compa-nies entering the market will surely bolsterthe growth of the industry and increasechoices for the customers. This partnershipis a testament of our support to the industryand Al-Haj Faw Motors in particular.—PR

LAHORE: Zargham Khan Durrani, Head Retail Banking, MCB Bank Limited SyedMuhammad Irfan Aqeel, Chief Executive officer, Millat Tractor Limited

ISLAMABAD—Etihad Airways, the nationalairline of the United Arab Emirates, willlaunch six new routes in the first half of2015, offering even more choice and im-proved connections to travellers worldwide,stated in a press release issued here onMonday. Daily flights will commence to theEuropean capitals of Madrid (Spain) andEdinburgh (Scotland) next year, togetherwith the historic state capital of Kolkata (In-dia) and one of the most important busi-ness and government centres in East Af-rica, Entebbe (Uganda).

The airline will also operate four flightsa week to the world-class tourism and eco-nomic hub, Hong Kong, and three flights aweek to Algeria’s vibrant capital and larg-est city, Algiers. In addition, Etihad Air-ways’ existing daily flights to Brisbane(Australia), currently operated viaSingapore, will become a direct service fromJune 2015, offering the first non-stop con-nection between the city and Abu Dhabi.The route will be operated using a three-class Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner with the

Etihad Airways to expand global reachwith six new destinations in 2015

airline’s brand new First Suite, BusinessStudio and Economy Smart Seat.

Further service upgrades in June 2015include the introduction of a three-classAirbus A330-300 aircraft on daily flights toSingapore, and a three-class Boeing 787-9Dreamliner on daytime flights to Moscow,marking the debut of First Class cabins onboth of the existing routes. James Hogan,President and Chief Executive Officer ofEtihad Airways, said: “Our global networkdevelopment in the first half of 2015 sup-ports a long-term vision to provide travel-lers with an extensive range of destinationsand connections over Etihad Airways’ AbuDhabi hub. These new destinations havebeen selected toexpand our coverage andstrengthen our customer proposition in thestrategically important markets of Europe,Asia and Africa. “The expansion will alsocreate new opportunities to enhance ourcodeshare agreements and align operationswith key airline partners, such as VirginAustralia, Jet Airways, Air Seychelles, AirEuropa and Kenya Airways.—NNI

Page 15: Ep15july2014

BANNU: Former captain Pakistan cricket team Younas Khan giving away autograph to IDP children.

ISLAMABAD—Joe Root has becomeEngland’s highest-ranked batsman in theReliance ICC Player Rankings for Test Bats-men after hitting his fourth century of hiscareer in the Trent Bridge Test against In-dia, which ended in a draw on Sunday.

The 23-year-old fromYorkshire scored a fine 154not out and featured in arecord 198-run last wicketstand with James Anderson(81). For this achievement,Root, who represented En-gland in the ICC U19 CricketWorld Cup 2010 in NewZealand, has been rewardedwith a jump of 10 placeswhich has put him in a ca-reer-high 16th position, saida press release issued here.

Ian Bell is England’s sec-ond highest-ranked batsmanin 20th position, while Cap-tain Alastair Cook is in 25thposition.

Root had started the sea-son in 38th position and af-ter three Tests, he hasmoved into 16th position,thus, gaining 22 places onthe batting table. Given he isstill in the qualification pe-riod for batsmen, it is likelythat he will move even fur-ther up the ladder if he per-forms strongly in the remain-ing four Tests of the series.Also making good progressin the latest rankings areEngland’s other young guns- Gary Ballance and SamRobson.

Ballance, who scored 71,has gained 13 places and isnow in 70th position whileRobson’s 59 has helped himrise 16 places to 78th.

For India, opener MuraliVijay has shown upward movement. The30-year-old from Chennai scored 146 and52 and has jumped 12 places to 30th posi-tion. He is now India’s fourth highest-ranked batsman after Cheteshwar Pujara(eighth), Virat Kohli (13th) and Mahenda

COLOMBO—Mahela Jayawardenewill retire from Test cricket at the con-clusion of the series against Pakistanin August, Sri Lanka Cricket has an-nounced. He will continue to be avail-able for ODI cricket only, having alsoretired from T20 internationals in Aprilthis year.

Jayawardene, 37, has been a cor-nerstone of the Sri Lanka batting or-der since his debut against India in1997, and has amassed 11493 Test runsin his career, which is currently joint-highest for a Sri Lanka bats-man alongside KumarSangakkara. He has played145 Tests, and if fit and se-lected, will finish on 149, atthe P Sara Oval match whichbegins on August 14.Jayawardene has hit 33 hun-dreds and 48 fifties in 244innings.

“It was not an easy deci-sion to make given that it hasbeen a great privilege andhonour representing mycountry during the past 18years,” Jayawardene said.“But I believe this is the righttime.”

Jayawardene has been ingood Test-match form in2014, averaging 75.77 in hissix most recent matches. Butwith no home Tests sched-uled for almost a year, andonly two Tests in NewZealand remaining before the2015 World Cup, he hadalerted chief selector SanathJayasuriya of his wish towalk away from the longestformat.

“He called me and saidthat he wants to play four morematches and retire from Test cricket,concentrating on ODI cricket until theWorld Cup,” Jayasuriya said. “I thinkhe is the best person to judge that. Hehas given outstanding service to SriLankan cricket, and is now giving ayoungster a chance to come in andplay Test cricket.”

Jayawardene to retire from TestsJayawardene also led the Sri Lanka

team from 2006 to 2009, and again for12 months from early 2012 to 2013. Hisfirst captaincy stint was among SriLanka’s most successful stretches ofTest cricket, as the team won 15 of 28matches and lost only seven. Re-nowned for his aggressive, innovativestrategy, Jayawardene is regarded asone of Sri Lanka’s best leaders, andperhaps the team’s best tactician. Hehas played in 56 Test victories in all.

Among the most remarkable sta-

tistics of his career is his home aver-age of 61.12, and his exploits in SriLanka have been key to his team’ssuccess at home since the turn of thecentury. Many of his best inningshave come on bone-dry surfaces,where other batsmen have been un-successful. An excellent technique

against spin bowling and a sharpcricket mind have been major themesin his cricket, and have seen him playmatch-defining innings, particularly inlow-scoring games.

Jayawardene has hundreds againstevery Test side, and in every Test-playing country apart from South Af-rica, where he has struggled most. Hisaway average of 41.50, and his mod-est returns on faster, bouncier sur-faces have been the major criticismsleveled at his cricket. He has, however,

had some success in En-gland, where he has twohundreds at Lord’s.Jayawardene hit 174 runs at43.50 in his most recent se-ries in England.

He has also excelled asa slip fielder throughout hiscareer, sitting third on theall-time catches list, with 197takes. He has been particu-larly sharp while fielding tospin bowling, with theMuttiah Muralitharan-Jayawardene partnershipthe most prolific bowler-fielder combination in Testhistory. He has completedcatches more regularly thanthe other four fielders in theTest top five, with an aver-age 0.75 catches per in-nings.

Apart from holding theSri Lankan record for mostruns, most catches and mostTests, Jayawardene has alsomade the highest score by aSri Lankan - his 374 againstSouth Africa in 2006. A stillpresence at the crease, andblessed with strong, supplewrists, Jayawardene is also

known as one of the game’s foremoststylists, with strokes all around thewicket, both classical and modern.

He had also been perhaps the mostpopular schoolboy cricketer of the 90s,for Nalanda College. He leaves thegame in 2014 as a Sri Lankan great.—AFP

Joe rises in ICC RankingsSingh Dhoni (27th).

In the Reliance ICC Player Rankings forTest Bowlers, England’s Stuart Broad andIndia’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar are the big-gest movers. Broad returned match figuresof four for 103, which has helped him rise

four places to 10th position.Kumar picked up five for 82 in England’s

only innings which has allowed him to breakinto the top 50 for the first time in his career.He now sits in 46th spot after jumping 27places.—APP

NOTINGHAM: Joe Root acknowledges his century dur-ing England vs India, 1st Investec Test at Trent Bridge.

AO Clinic,DIB in last-8of Dr Shah

Night TrophyKARACHI—A.O.Clinic andDubai Islamic Bank (DIB)advanced in the quarter-fi-nals of 19th Dr.M.A.ShahNight Trophy Cricket Tour-nament after winning theirmatches at Asghar Ali ShahStadium here on Sundaynight.

In group “B” A.O.Clinicfirst beat Khalil Motors by74 runs and then defeatedBank Islami by 30 runs andbecome group champion.

In other match Dubai Is-lamic Bank beat Shaboo Starby four wickets.

With the end of leaguerounds, quarter-final line-upwas completed and OmarAssociates, Karbala He-roes, A.O.Clinic, Dubai Is-lamic Bank, AdvanceTelecom, Kaaf Engineering,Soni Associates andTouchme CC have enteredthe knock-out rounds.

Abdul Rauf starred inAO Clinic’s win over KhalilMotors with a brilliantknock of 61 in 39 balls whichcontained five fours andfour sixes.—APP

MULHOUSE (France)—Alberto Contadorvowed to go on the attack on Monday asFrenchman Tony Gallopin looks to defendthe Tour de France yellow jersey on BastilleDay.

Two-time winner Contador has 2min34sec to make up on Vincenzo Nibali aftersuffering badly on Wednesday’s cobbledstage.

Nibali was in yellow until Sunday whenhis Astana team allowed a breakaway groupenough of a gap to let the race lead pass toGallopin.

But the 26-year-old Frenchman willhave his work cut out keeping the jerseyon the first tough mountain stage of therace.

Someone who will be relishing the161.5km run from Mulhouse to La Planchedes Belles Filles is Contador and, legs per-

LONDON—Indian star Anirban Lahiri be-lieves he will be better prepared for top levelgolf when he tees of in the British Open atHoylake on Thursday compared to his ma-jor golf debut two years ago.

The current Asian Tour number oneearned a starting place at Royal LiverpoolGolf Club as one of 10 non-exempt playersfrom the Official World Golf Ranking lastweek. News of his late entry into the year’sthird major tournament caught Lahiri bycomplete surprise as he was still on his hon-eymoon in Madagascar.

After making hurried plans to get homewhich took some 36 hours of travel door todoor, the 27-year-old told the Asian Tourhe has kept himself busy by trying to gethis game back into groove with his coachVijay Divecha. “I’ve been practising hard.... just trying to get back into the groove,”said Lahiri, who finished tied 31st at RoyalLytham and St Annes in 2012.

“It was a great surprise that I’ve gotinto my second Open next week. I thoughtthe qualifying cut off was sometime in Mayand when I checked the Open website, theyonly had the regular categories availableand I assumed I had missed the chance asI wasn’t in the field for any of the qualify-ing events. “That was why I had sched-uled to get some time off. My wife has takenit well although her honeymoon is trun-

Golf: Lahiri ready forOpen challenge

cated.“But she understands the situation,

being the wife of a professional golfer. She’sbeen very supportive and I promised to takeher back to Madagascar.” Under the watch-ful eyes of coach Divecha, Lahiri has beenworking hard on pulling off the shots re-quired for links golf, but knows he mustpossess a strong state of mind ahead ofhis major quest. “I’m looking forward to anew course and a new challenge. In thetwo years since my first Open appearance,I believe I have progressed as a player andI feel I am going back to the Open as a morerounded player than the last time.

“We’ve been working on reducing thespin rate on the ball and hitting low shots.I’m trying to get the rhythm and tempogoing again and also working on the men-tal aspect. A return to the British Open isjust reward for Lahiri, who is enjoying agreat run in 2014. He has shot to the top ofthe Asian Tour’s Order of Merit with onevictory and three other top-10s and alsoplayed a big role in Asia’s draw with Eu-rope in the inaugural EurAsia Cup in Ma-laysia where he contributed two points.

At 85th in the world rankings, Lahiri isdetermined to break into the top-50 whichwill give him access into the World GolfChampionships and the majors.—AFP

LAHORE—Muhammad Saadi, Pakistan’sGuinness World Record holder, has reachedItaly on Monday. He will exhibit his rare tal-ent in the Guinness World Record show inMilan, said the message made available here.

Saadi, with long and heavy moustaches,will demonstrate his world record of pulling a1700 kg mini truck with his moustache in theMilan show. He is accompanied by his man-ager Fahad.

Before his departure, Saadi was quite con-fident to offer good performance in Italy. Di-rector General Sports Board Punjab (SBP)

Vahidy-Ayubwin Pairs

Bridge contestKARACHI—A chance part-nership of Saleem Vahidyand Chino Ayub surprisedmany experienced pair bytheir perfect understand-ing of SYAC Bidding Sys-tem and expert defense asthey won the KarachiBridge Association (KBA)Pairs Bridge Tournamenthere on Sunday evening.

Vahidy and Ayubaccumlated 63.43 percentto win the title, followed byAnwer Kizilbash-ZafarZaki 58.17% and TariqZafar-Zia Hai 57.14 per-cent.

In the next encounter atAslam Bridge Hall, samepair of Saleem Vahidy -Chino Ayub fought a hardbattle, but fell short tocontain second positionwith 60.94 behind onformpair of Zafar Zaki - AnwerKizilbash 63,23. Ghufranand Anis finished third.

Third pair contest wasalso held at Aslam BridgeHall, competed by 17 pairs.Ghufran Ashraf - AnisurRehman put up their bestfoot forward and finishedat the top of the ladder witha score of 65.08% followedby Ziaullah Baig - HamedMohiuddin 59.14 andmother son pair of Zia Haiand Rubina Saeed Haifinishdd third 56.14 per-cent.

In the meamtimeKarachi Gymkhana willhold their monthly bridgetournament at their pre-mises on Tuesday.—APP

IDPs Reliefcricket T20match now

after SL tour:Afridi

K A R A C H I — R e l i e fTwenty20 cricket match toraise funds for IDPs affectedby Zarab-e-Azb will be heldafter the Sri Lanka tour, chieforganizer and former Paki-stan captain Shahid Afridisaid on Sunday evening.

“We wanted to hold thematch just after Eid-ul-Fitr.But due to lack of prepara-tion of pitches it will now beheld after the Sri Lankantour,” Afridi told APP.

He said he recently ap-proached Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) for staging thematch but was informed bythe board officials that sincethe pitches are being pre-pared for the new domesticseason, grounds are not im-mediately available. He saidPrime Minister Nawaz Sharifand former Pakistan captainImran Khan have alreadyagreed to support thiscause.—APP

Cycling: Contador readyto go on offensive

mitting, he’s planning fireworks.“I need to see how things turn out and

whether or not I need to adopt a strategy ofconservation or one of attack,” said theSpanish Tinkoff-Saxo team leader.

“If my legs feel good, I’ll go on the at-tack. It depends how well I recover and howI feel. “Once it’s clear how strong every-one is, that’s when you see what happens.

“It feels like we’ve already covered alot of ground but we cannot switch off andlet opportunities go. “Nibali and the othersin front of me in the standings are greatriders and day by day I need to climb backup.”

Contador slipped to ninth in the stand-ings after three of Sunday’s breakawaygroup jumped into the top 10 thanks to thefive minutes they gained on those abovethem.—AFP

Peace Cup cricketHyderi Traders

defeats SoniAssociates

K A R A C H I — O f f - b r e a kbowler Nazir Khan grabbedfour wickets but failed tosave Soni Associates from17 runs defeat from HyderiTraders in the second PeaceCup Ramazan FloodlightCricket Tournament here atthe Lawai Stadium NayaNazimabad on Sundaynight.

Batting first, HyderiTraders scored 146 for theloss of six wickets in 20overs. Babar Ali made 26.Nazir Khan bowled well tofinish with four wickets for28 runs.

Soni Associates in replycould muster 129-9 in 20overs. Ashraf Hussain andAhmed Hussain bothscored 35. Arbab Shakirclaimed three wickets for 28runs.—APP

Pak Guinness record holderSaadi reaches Italy

Usman Anwar wished him good luck sayingthat he has exceptional talent and definitelyhe will give some good news to nation in theholy month of Ramazan.

It is pertinent to mention that another Pa-kistani Guinness world record holder RashidNaseem had already established a new recordof ‘Most Bottle Caps Removed by Head inOne Minute’ in the Guinness World Recordshow in Milan, Italy last week. Rashid re-moved caps of 61 bottles by head in 60 sec-onds in Italy to surpass his own feat of 40bottles in one minute.—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan Cricket Club endedtheir outing in RLCA Ramazan Twenty20Cricket Tournament with resounding tenwickets victory over Faisal Gymkhana atKorangi Stadium on Sunday night.

Lowest-ever match aggregate of 50 runswas record in the event which is a newrecord as it lasted mere 16.4 overs.

Spinners trio of Misbah Khan, FawadKhan and Adnan Kaleem shared nine wick-ets between them as Faisal Gymkhana bat-ting crumbled for mere 24 runs - lowest to-tal may be in history Karachi T20 cricket.

Off-break bowler Misbah captured fourwickets for three runs and was named manof the match. Left arm spinner Fawad Khanclaimed 3-3 and Adnan Kaleem 2-5.

Pakistan CC shoot out Faisal Gymkhanafor 24 in RLCA Ramazan cricket

LAHORE: Children trimming the grass of National Tennis court in Bagh-e-Jinnah.

Pakistan CC in reply scored 25 withoutloss in 26 balls. Javed Mansoor scored 12not out and Muhammad Waqas scored anundefeated nine.

The winners ended as the Group “A”Champions by winning all their four suc-cessive league matches.

In the other match of the day at RLCAGulburg Ground, Lines Area Gymkhanawhipped OK Sports by 55 runs.

Majid Khan, who scored 39 in 26 ballswith three fours and one six was named manof the match. Lines Area scored 148 for theloss of six wickets in 20 overs. Ali Jawadmade 40 with three hits to the boundaryand one over it. Abdul Muneeb took threewickets for 25 runs.—APP

Page 16: Ep15july2014

World Cup champion Germany expects tokeep machine rolling into Euro 2016

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL: German players celebrate with the trophy on winning football World Cup against Argentina in the final at theMaracana Stadium.

BERLIN: German team soccer fans celebrate after Germany won the Germany versus Argentina FIFA World Cupfinal match on the Berlin Fan Mile open-air broadcast area.

BELO HORIZONTE: Supporters of Argentina react after Argentina’s defeat in World Cup final match againstGermany.

RIO DE JANEIRO—There are different lev-els of satisfaction in winning the World Cup.It is the peak of rapture for every victor, thegreatest feeling in soccer, the pinnacle of acareer, in many cases the end of a long andexhausting journey.

But for others it is merely the begin-ning, the fuel for more success, more nightslike these, more chances to show they arethe best. In the heady moments followingSunday’s World Cup final, this was how itseemed for Germany, a team that was de-lighted with collecting the trophy but byno means surprised by it. It’s a team thatfully believes it can form a dynasty, muchin the same way Spain reigned over soccerright up until its first game of this tourna-ment.

Substitute Mario Goetze was the herowith the only goal against Argentina at theMaracana Stadium and Joachim Loewserved as the wily architect of triumph, yeteveryone in the Germany set-up has hisplace and knows it; and, most important ofall, executes it with diligence and commit-ment.

Loew talks about his program as a con-sistent action in progress, not a peakingroller coaster defined by the rigid nature ofmajor tournament scheduling. Now thatGermany is at the top, he wants it to staythere.

“This was a result of 10 years of prepa-ration and tough work,” Loew said. “And ateam spirit which is unbelievable. This teamhas a marvelous technical capacity andthey have the willpower to carry this out.For that reason we made it today and areproud.”

Loew has been with Germany since hisdays as an assistant to Jurgen Klinsmannin the run-up to the 2006 World Cup andtook sole command following that tourna-

RIO DE JANEIRO—As asymbolic gesture ahead ofthe FIFA World Cup Finalin Rio de Janeiro, BrazilianPresident Dilma Rousseff,President of the RussianFederation Vladimir Putinand FIFA President Blattercame together to take partin a 2014/2018 FIFA WorldCup hand-over ceremony.

Today the eyes of theworld are still on Brazil butwith the curtains closing onwhat has been a truly memo-rable tournament, the focuswill soon shift to 2018 whenthe biggest country in theworld gets set to hostfootball’s flagship event forthe first time.

The ceremony tookplace inside the iconicMaracana Stadium withFIFA President Blatter pre-senting a signed certificateto mark the hand-over fromBrazil to Russia while Bra-zilian President DilmaRousseff and President ofthe Russian Federation Vladimir Putintogether received signed officialMatch Balls.

“FIFA’s World Cup in Brazil had avery special message to give – a mes-sage of togetherness and of connect-ing people, a message of peace and ofanti-discrimination. We have enjoyeda successful World Cup and we will

From Brazil to Russia: symbolichand-over ceremony takes place

ment. It is an extraordinarily long run for anational team leader but you can’t think thathe will step down now, there might be anationwide revolt if he tried to.

Next up is the European Championshipsin France in 2016 and on the basis of thispast month, Germany will be an immediateand automatic favourite for it. And whynot?

So many things point to an embarrass-ment of riches when it comes to talent, noexpression of that greater than Loew’s “boywonder” Goetze being implemented as asubstitute when he would likely start forany other team in the tournament.

It is not an old team by any means ei-ther; Goetze, Toni Kroos, Manuel Neuer andMats Hummels might be hitting their peakwhen the World Cup rolls its merry way toRussia four years from now.

Most important of all, it is a team thathas found a system that no one has an an-swer for. It borrows heavily from the Spainteam that began its glut of success at Euro2008 and passed its way to perfection atthree straight major tournaments. But evenif Germany was not the sole inventor of thestyle that it used to pummel Portugal,France, Brazil and Argentina by a collec-tive margin of 13 goals to one, then it de-serves credit for being the only team ableto effectively copy it, or a version of it.

Passing efficiency isn’t the sexiest thingin soccer, neither is seamless teamwork, butin the modern game they are the most im-portant factors. That is why CristianoRonaldo has been idle these past threeweeks while Germany has the party of par-ties awaiting it in Berlin on Tuesday.

It hasn’t always been easy. Germanywas good, seriously good, at all the threetournaments Spain won, but fell short inone final and two semis.—AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Vladimir Putin, Dilma Rousseff and Fifa president Sepp Blattertake part in the official hand over ceremony for the 2018 World Cup scheduled to takeplace in Russia.

have a legacy in this country. At thesame time there is a responsibility forthe next host country and I’m confi-dent that Russia will take on this re-sponsibility and also give us a won-derful World Cup to remember in2018,” said FIFA President Blatter af-ter the hand-over.

President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff

added: “Brazil is very proud for onceagain having staged the biggest foot-ball celebration in the world. In the last30 days the world has been connectedto Brazil, celebrating goals with a lotof emotion in the 12 host cities andmaking this the World Cup of WorldCups. I am sure that everyone whocame to Brazil, like tourists and del-

RIO DE JANEIRO—LionelMessi’s final act in the 2014World Cup was lifting a freekick high over the bar, wast-ing Argentina’s last chance toequalize in the final againstGermany. Jose Mourinho’sexclusive World Cup analy-sis. It was far from a fittingfinish for the four-time worldplayer of the year.

This was supposed to beMessi’s World Cup, just likethe 1986 tournament be-longed to another Argentinegreat, Diego Maradona.

But after carrying histeam through the group stagein Brazil with four goals,Messi seemed to run out ofsteam. He created chances inthe final Sunday but, like therest of the team, lacked thefinishing touch to turn thegame for Argentina.

‘’I’m hurt for losing theway we did. We were close topenalties,’’ Messi said. ‘’Ithink we deserved a little bet-ter, we had chances.’’

He was a picture of dis-appointment as he collectedthe trophy for thetournament’s best player, andthen stood in silence at theentrance to the player’s tun-nel, watching the Germansreceive the trophy. ‘’At thismoment, I don’t care at allabout that prize, only lifting

Messi’s World Cup endson a bitter note

Argentina’s Lionel Messi received the Golden Ball asMVP of the World Cup, scoring four goals, but he failedto produce a championship.

the trophy matters,’’ Messisaid. Argentina coachAlejandro Sabella said hethought Messi deserved thebest player award, ‘’becausehe played an extraordinaryrole. He was the fundamental

factor in the team.’’ Messi haswon everything there is towin with club team Barcelona,but many critics say heneeds a World Cup title to beconsidered among football’sall-time greats.—AFP

Scolari fired asBrazil manager

SAO PAULO—Brazil havesacked manager Luiz FelipeScolari just hours after theend of a home World Cup inwhich they suffered two oftheir worst defeats in thetournament’s history, one ofBrazil’s leading newspapersreported on Monday.

Scolari’s Brazil werefavourites to win the tour-nament but were demolished7-1 in a semi-final defeat byeventual champions Ger-many. To compound theirmisery, they then lost thethird-place playoff 3-0against the Netherlands.

Scolari, who led Brazilto the last of their record fiveWorld Cups in 2002, saidafter the game he wouldmake a report to his bossesat the Brazilian FootballConfederation (CBF) andonly then would his fate bedecided. But O Globo re-ported Scolari was fired lateSunday night. The papersaid an official announce-ment would be made onMonday. There was noconfirmation from the CBF.

Scolari took over thepost in November 2012 andlost just five of his 29 gamesin charge. If his departureis confirmed, early front run-ners to replace him would beTite, the man who ledCorinthians to theLibertadores Cup and ClubWorld Cup in 2012.—APP

Page 17: Ep15july2014

THERE is no cure or treatment foralopecia universalis, an uncommonautoimmune disease that causes

loss of hair over the entire scalp and body.Now doctors at Yale University in NewHaven, CT, report how they successfullyrestored hair on thehead and other parts ofthe body in a 25-year-old man with the diseasethat had left him nearlycompletely hairless allover.

They write about thetreatment and the resultsin the Journal of Inves-tigative Dermatologyand say it is the first re-ported case of a suc-cessfully targeted treat-ment for this rare form ofalopecia areata, whichoccurs when the im-mune system mistakenlyattacks the hair follicles.

After the treatment,which uses an FDA-ap-proved drug for rheumatoid arthritiscalled tofacitinib citrate, the patient re-gained a full head of hair, eyebrows andeyelashes, plus facial, armpit, groin andother hair, none of which he had whenhe first sought medical help.

Senior author Brett A. King, assistantprofessor of dermatology at Yale Univer-sity School of Medicine, says the resultswere exactly what they hoped for, andrepresent a “huge step forward” in treat-ing patients with the condition. He adds:

“While it’s one case, we anticipatedthe successful treatment of this manbased on our current understanding of

the disease and the drug. We believethe same results will be duplicated inother patients, and we plan to try.”

As well as alopecia universalis, thepatient had also been diagnosed withanother condition called plaque psoria-

sis, which causes scaly redareas to develop on theskin. The only hair he hadon his body was in the pso-riasis plaques on his head.

His doctor referredhim to Yale’s dermatologyunit for treatment of the pso-riasis - he had never re-ceived treatment for alope-cia universalis.

Tofacitinib had al-ready been used success-fully in humans to treat pso-riasis - and in lab mice, it hasbeen shown to reverse a lessextreme form of alopeciacalled alopecia areata. So itmade sense, the researchersthought, to see if the drugcould tackle the alopecia

universalis as well as the psoriasis.“There are no good options for long-

term treatment of alopecia universalis,”Prof. King explains, “The best availablescience suggested this might work, andit has.”

Hair growth visible after 2 monthsof treatment

begin with, the team put the patienton a 5 mg twice daily dose of tofacitinib.After 2 months, his psoriasis began toimprove, and he had hair on his scalpand face - for the first time in 7 years.

From then on, the researchers in-creased the dose to 15 mg a day.

Arthritis drug helps bald man grow full head of hair

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Govern-ment, identifying 55,000 acresof land at Taluka Shah Bandarto start the works, has de-cided to expediteimplimentation on mega resi-dential city project ZulfiqarAbad and to remove allbottlenecks in this regard.

This was decided at ameeting that reviewedprogress on the mega cityproject on Monday. ChiefMinister Sindh Syed Qaim AliShah chaired the meeting.Advisor to CM for financeSyed Murad Ali Shah, Seniormember Board of RevenueMalik Israr, Principal Secre-tary to CM Alamdin Bullo,Secretary Finance SohailRajput, MD Zulfiqar Abad Lt.Gen. (R) Iftikhar HussainShah, consultant RevenueNazar Muhammad Leghariand other officers fromBoard of Revenue (BOR)and Zulfiqar Abad projectattended the meeting.

The Chief Minister saidit was a very importantproject and it would opennew avenues of progressand prosperity for the peopleof Sindh. He directed the of-ficers to undertake surveyand at least one lac acres ofland should be brought un-der the city plan at its initialstage.

The CM directed Rev-enue Officers to complete

Sindh govt identifies land to start work on Zulfikarabad

demarcation of proposedsatate land and purchase pri-vate land within the premisesof the project and transfer to

the project management atthe earliest. The CM, refer-ring to the problem of litiga-tion by a contractor for the

construction of 44 km ex-press way of the project,asked the Advocate Generalto approach the court and

get the stay order vacated.He emphasized on en-

gaging reputed urban archi-tecture firms for this project

and Sindh government tohelp them in all respects. TheMD Zulfiqar Abad Lt. Gen.(R) Iftikhar Hussain Shah,

briefed the meeting that ac-tually this project was con-ceived covering 1.3 millionacres of land, but 0.9 million

acres were under the sea.Besides, the remaining landis in fragmented condition.

However, initially they

had planned to start fromShah Bandar where at least55,000 acres of land is avail-able.

KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah presiding over a meeting about development of Zulfikarabad city atCM House.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Karachi Electric (KE) in its lat-est press statement, expressed dismay atstories circulating in the media containingbaseless allegations being hurled at it fromKarachi Water and Sewerage Board(KW&SB).

KE’s spokesperson stated that contraryto reports, KWSB’s water pumping stationswere exempted from load shedding and that

KE rejects KW&SB allegations ofshedding load on pumping stations

they receive uninterrupted electric supply.The statement explained that when at

times KE’s electric supply was disruptedbecause of technical faults, the matter wasaddressed on an urgent basis to ensuresupply was restored as soon as possible.

KE’s statement said that it was unfortu-nate that KW&SB had a tendency to stirup controversy and immediately blame KEeven if a power outage lasts for a short du-ration.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—In consultation with Sindh FoodDepartment, flour mills of Karachi are holding125 stalls of cheap flour where 10 kg flour bankis available for Rs 360.

It was decided in a meeting between FoodMinister Sindh Jam Mehtab Hussain Dahar

and office bearers of Sindh Flour Mills Asso-ciation before start of Ramadan that the flourwould be sold at Rs 36 in Bachat Bazaar allover Sindh in order to provide relief to thepeople.

Dahar told that these cheap flour stalls werebeing held at 125 places in five districts ofKarachi. He added a bag of 10 kg flour is also

available at main gates of flour mills and dueto measures of Food Department Sindh theprice of flour are stable in open market.

He said that strict action was being takenagainst the profiteers and he also requestedto the consumer to inform the authorities con-cerned about illegal profiteering so that timelyaction could be taken against profiteers.

125 cheap flour stalls working in city : DaharSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Coordinator to Sindh ChiefMinister for Chief Minister’s InspectionTeam Haji Muzaffar Ali Shujra has soughtdetails of the off-road vehicles form all theGovernment departments.

In a statement issued here on Monday,he said that instructions in this regard havebeen issued to all the heads of departments.

He further said that the action was be-ing taken on the complaints received fromvarious corners alleging that the officersare using government vehicles privately byshowing the vehicles out of order deliber-ately.

Action would be taken against the of-ficers who found involved in such irregu-larities by the Chief Minister’s Inspectionteam, the Coordinator concluded.

CM inspection team seeks detailsof govt vehicles off the road

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Jamaat-e Islami KarachiChief Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman saidthat we should have to expedite ourstruggle to make Pakistan, a true Is-lamic welfare state according to theQuran and Shariat. This he statedwhile addressing the gathering at anIftar dinner, organized at the residenceof JI Karachi General Secretary AbdulWahab.

He said that the sacred month ofRamadan was the month of revelationof Holy Quran and Pakistan was alsocome into being in the holy month ofRamadan.

“We should have to make strongour relation with Holy Quran in orderto make the country, a true Islamicstate”, he added. He further said thatthe country was passing through acritical juncture and facing external andinternal threats, however; unity of the

hour was needed to pull out the coun-try from hot waters.

Hafiz Naeem said that the creationof Pakistan was a precious gift by Al-mighty Allah and all should play theirdue role in the progress of the coun-try.

On the occasion, JI Karachi Chiefalso urged the people to recite HolyQuran in the entire sacred month ofRamadan and also following the teach-ing of it through out the year.

Struggle to be expedited in makingPakistan, a true Islamic state: Naeem

Page 18: Ep15july2014

THERE is no cure or treatment foralopecia universalis, an uncommonautoimmune disease that causes

loss of hair over the entire scalp and body.Now doctors at Yale University in NewHaven, CT, report how they successfullyrestored hair on thehead and other parts ofthe body in a 25-year-old man with the diseasethat had left him nearlycompletely hairless allover.

They write about thetreatment and the resultsin the Journal of Inves-tigative Dermatologyand say it is the first re-ported case of a suc-cessfully targeted treat-ment for this rare form ofalopecia areata, whichoccurs when the im-mune system mistakenlyattacks the hair follicles.

After the treatment,which uses an FDA-ap-proved drug for rheumatoid arthritiscalled tofacitinib citrate, the patient re-gained a full head of hair, eyebrows andeyelashes, plus facial, armpit, groin andother hair, none of which he had whenhe first sought medical help.

Senior author Brett A. King, assistantprofessor of dermatology at Yale Univer-sity School of Medicine, says the resultswere exactly what they hoped for, andrepresent a “huge step forward” in treat-ing patients with the condition. He adds:

“While it’s one case, we anticipatedthe successful treatment of this manbased on our current understanding of

the disease and the drug. We believethe same results will be duplicated inother patients, and we plan to try.”

As well as alopecia universalis, thepatient had also been diagnosed withanother condition called plaque psoria-

sis, which causes scaly redareas to develop on theskin. The only hair he hadon his body was in the pso-riasis plaques on his head.

His doctor referredhim to Yale’s dermatologyunit for treatment of the pso-riasis - he had never re-ceived treatment for alope-cia universalis.

Tofacitinib had al-ready been used success-fully in humans to treat pso-riasis - and in lab mice, it hasbeen shown to reverse a lessextreme form of alopeciacalled alopecia areata. So itmade sense, the researchersthought, to see if the drugcould tackle the alopecia

universalis as well as the psoriasis.“There are no good options for long-

term treatment of alopecia universalis,”Prof. King explains, “The best availablescience suggested this might work, andit has.”

Hair growth visible after 2 monthsof treatment

begin with, the team put the patienton a 5 mg twice daily dose of tofacitinib.After 2 months, his psoriasis began toimprove, and he had hair on his scalpand face - for the first time in 7 years.

From then on, the researchers in-creased the dose to 15 mg a day.

Arthritis drug helps baldman grow full head of hair

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Advisor to ChiefMinister Punjab on HealthKhawaja Salman Rafiq hasdirected that anti polio cam-paign should be carried outon the pattern of dengue onemergent basis. He directedthat micro plan for anti-poliocampaign should be revisedfor getting environmentalpolio samples negative. Hesaid that Punjab is still po-lio-free and all resources arebeing utilized for maintainingthe existing status.

He said this while presid-ing over a high level emer-gency meeting to review thesituation after detection ofpolio virus in environmentsample of Lahore from Out-fall Road, here on Monday.Secretary Health Dr. IjazMunir, DG Health Dr. ZahidPervaiz, DCO Lahore Cap.(R)Muhammad Usman, Provin-cial Officer of WHO Dr.Ubaid-ul-Islam, Representa-tive of Melindagates Foun-dation Dr. Aslam Chaudhary,Director Health(EPI) Dr.Munir Ahmad, EDO(H)Lahore Dr. Zulfiqar Ali andDeputy District Officers(Health) of all the towns at-tended the meeting.

Kh. Salman Rafiq ex-pressed his concern overpolio positive environmentsample of Lahore and dis-

Punjab is polio-free

Government to protect environmentcussed the causes and re-medial measures. Dr. Ubaid-ul-Islam presented his re-port regarding polio situa-tion and suggested that mi-cro planning should be re-viewed before next anti po-lio campaign and a vigorousawareness campaignshould also be launched in-

cluding announcementsfrom the laud speakers of themosques in the particulararea.

Kh. Salman Rafiq reiter-ated that environmental

sample of Lahore would bemade negative at all cost. Hedirected the DDOs(Health)to conduct a survey of theirtowns and include new lo-calities, factories and otherneglected spots in their mi-cro plan for administeringpolio drops to the children.It was decided that a special

one-day anti polio campaignwould be launched on July17 and July 24 in 23 high riskunion councils of Ravi Town,Data Ganj Baksh Town andSamanabad Town. Kh.

Salman Rafiq asked WHORepresentative to collect en-vironment sample from thedownward nullahs of OutfallRoad so that the specific ar-eas could be identifiedwhere polio virus is existing.

Secretary Health Dr. IjazMunir while addressing themeeting directed that before

launching anti polio cam-paign proper awarenesscampaign should belaunched for the informationof general public. He also di-rected that Pashto speaking

workers should be includedin polio vaccination teams toremove the communicationhurdles between people andpolio teams. He also directedthat IDPs children andguests living with local rela-tives should also be focusedduring polio campaign andin this connection, the assis-

tance of Special Branch alsobe sought. He made it clearthat strict action would betaken against the officers/of-ficials who will show slack-ness in their duties.

LAHORE: Advisor to Chief Minister on Health Khwaja Salman Rafiq presiding over a meeting on polio situation.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Lahore High Court (LHC) Com-plaint Cell on Monday took notice of a pressreport on administrative side that familymembers of a girl, who was shot dead inMiyal village of Chauntra, staged a protestagainst police for not arresting the killersby putting the body in the middle of KatcheriChowk.

The Cell has directed the District & Ses-sions Judge, Rawalpindi to look into thematter and submit detailed report regardingsteps taken by police along with his owncomments within a week.

According to details, a 17-years-old girlnamed Aqeela Bibi daughter of FazalHussain was shot and killed in her home inMiyal village in the jurisdiction of Chontra

LHC takes notice ofyoung girl killing

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—“The Lahore General Hos-pital (LGH) administration spent asmany as Rs88.4 million, donated by thephilanthropists during two years, onthe medical treatment of the poor aswell as the deserving patients,” this wasrevealed by Prof. Anjum Habib Vohra,Principal Post Graduate Medical Insti-tute (PGMI) and Lahore General Hos-pital (LGH) while presiding a meetinghere on Monday held at LGH.

The meeting was attended by MSLGH Dr. Pervez Imtiaz, Haji MuhammadYousaf, Muhammad Aslam Malik,Sheikh Habib Ullah, Aleem Malik, Mrs.

Rahat Shoukat, Social Welfare OfficerMrs. Sayra Rehman, Yasir Ejaz, JavedIqbal and others.

Prof. Anjum Habib Vohra said do-nation forms issued by Lahore GeneralHospital to poor and destitute patientshave been proved very beneficial anddeserving people are availing free treat-ment and medicine by virtue of thefunds provided by philanthropists andwell off citizens through these dona-tion forms.

“These welfare projects also in-clude up gradation of dialysis centre,provision of drinking water, installationof CC cameras for security and purchaseof modern medical equipment for vari-

ous departments,” he added.Prof. Anjum Habib Vohra said that

those who donate as well as the dona-tion collectors are both blessed peoplewho will surely be successful in thisworld and the next.

He said that to recognize the ser-vices of office bearers of Patients Wel-fare Society LGH, commendatory cer-tificates would be awarded to them onAugust, 14, the Independence Day ofPakistan.

He also said that rich and wealthypeople should come forward to assistthe Government for ensuring free pro-vision of medicine and medical treat-ment to poor people.

LGH spends Rs88.4m donation money on welfare of poor patients

Police Station. According to police, the rea-son behind the murder was old enmity be-tween two rival groups — Javed group andImtiaz group.

Police said they had registered a murdercase against seven accused belonged toImtiaz group including the group leaderImtiaz and several raiding teams have beenconstituted to arrests the murderers.

However, relatives of the deceased girlstaged a protest demonstration and blockedKatcheri Chowk alleging that police werereluctant to arrest the killers who alreadyhave killed many of the girl’s relatives.

They demanded immediate arrest of kill-ers. The city witnessed worst traffic jam atKatcheri Chowk. Later, the protestors dis-persed to offer funeral for the deceased inMiyal village.

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif offering dua after inau-gurating Azadi Interchange.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Faculty of Bio-Sciences,University of Veterinary and AnimalSciences, organised a one-day work-shop on “Development of Postgradu-ate Courses - An Integrated Approach”here on Monday.

Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Talat NaseerPasha chaired the inaugural session ofthe workshop, which was attended bythe faculty members from the depart-ments of physiology, anatomy and his-tology, patholoy and food sciences and

human nutrition. Speaking on the oc-casion, the Vice-Chancellor said that itis a good initiative and such trainingworkshops are necessary for curricu-lum development of multidisciplinarysubjects. He stressed on focussing onpractical aspects in teaching by seniorteahcers.

Speaking about the objectives ofthe workshop, Dean Faculty of Bio-Sciences Prof Dr Habibur Rehmansaid that it is an effort to introduceand integrate the concepts of team-teaching and development of post-

UVAS holds workshop

Chinese delegationvisits PU

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—A Chinese del-egation headed by ManagerChina National Petrol Coop-eration Pakistan Branch MrWu Jinsong called on PUVice Chancellor Prof DrMujahid Kamran at his officehere on Monday. PU Regis-trar Prof Dr Muhammad AminAther, Prof Dr Taqi ZahidButt, Prof Dr Amir Ejaz, DrShahid Ghazi and DirectorExternal Linkages AssistantProfessor Dr MariaMaldonado were alsopresent on the occasion.

The meeting discussedvarious issues of mutual in-terest and the Chinese del-egation offered teachersand students exchangedprogram at Sichuanprovince’s Southwest Pe-troleum University as itstressed the need to en-hance people to peoplecontact.

graduate courses that might have asharing possibility through team-teaching. He said that the faculty willbe trained to identify areas andcourses where they can team up withother departments for effective learn-ing of postgraduate students and en-abling the faculty members in inter-disciplinary and collaborative curricu-lum planning and development. Theworkshop team members includedProf Dr Habibur Rehman, Dr HafsaZaneb, Dr Muhammad Quaid Zamanand Amina Chughtai.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Compressed Natural Gas(CNG) stations reopened on Mondaymorning for the next nine hours in differ-

ent areas of Punjab.According to Sui Northern Gas Pipe-

lines Limited (SNGPL), gas to CNG sta-tions is being supplied between 6:00amand 3:00pm under the fresh schedule is-

sued for Ramzan.Amid scorching heat, CNG con-

sumers had already been queuing upfor hours outside CNG stations to fillgas in their vehicles.

CNG supply in Punjab resumes for 9 hours

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