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LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—With 10 daysleft for polling only, Sharifbrothers and Imran Khan haveaccelerated tempo of their cam-paign with aggressive tonewhile Javed Hashmi, Presidentof PTI kicked off drive in thecapital after landing back fromMultan.

So far, Punjab is in the fore-front in the electioneeringwhere two main contenders —PML-N and PTI are pitched

against each other while otherparties including the former rul-ing party PPP are still sluggishin its push. On Tuesday ImranKhan addressed six public meet-ings with big one in Mianwaliwhile Sharif bothers targetedCentral Punjab, particularly inSheikhupura and Alipur Chattha.

As the day of polling is ap-proaching fast, the tone of Sharifbrothers and Imran Khan havebecome sharp and bitter. NawazSharif and Imran Khan have re-ceived notices from the Election

Commission in this connection.Unfortunately, terror strikes

in other three provinces duringthe last one week have put threepolitical parties—PPP, ANP andMQM in the back foot. How-ever, in Interior Sindh, the cam-paign got some life this week.PPP and Muslim League (Func-tional) with nationalists are ac-tive in the field.

The tempo of the campaignsuggested that the coming dayswill witnesses tough and raucoustone in the public meetings of

PML-N and PTI. Meanwhile,Javed Hashmi has landed backin Islamabad from Multan andpicked up its drive in the streetsof NA-48 on Tuesday where hismain contenders, Mian Aslam(JI) Anjam Aqeel (PML) andFaisal Sakhi Butt are in the field.He addressed corner meetings indifferent sectors and interactedwith elites of the city in E-11.

He will continue his cam-paign two days more before heleaves for South Punjab wherehe is contesting elections also.

Aggressive electioneering by Sharifs, Imran

Imran firm to endgraft from country

MIANWALI—”Unless and un-til corruption is eliminated fromthe society, the dream of pros-perous Pakistan could not bematerialized”. This was statedby Chairman Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, Imran Khan while ad-dressing a gathering in Paplantown of Mianwali district, hereon Tuesday.

Imran said that he would endpolitics of cast and creed and freethe homeland from the clutchesof United States. He also pledgedto make Pakistan Islamic welfarestate, where everyone wouldhave their due rights.

The PTI chief questionedwills the political parties that‘couldn’t do anything in the last

five years’, would be able to turnfate of the country now. Imranreiterated that a Tsunami will beswept on May 11the date sched-uled for general elections in Pa-kistan.

I am afraid those who cor-rupt a system cannot un-corruptit. Only PTI can fix the damagethey have done to this country”,he said. He said a new Pakistanwas essentially inevitable, add-ing it was bound to come intobeing.

“When justice prevails acountry prospers. There are noopinions about it”, he said.Mocking at his main rival inPunjab, Khan said PML-Nleader, Mian Nawaz Sharif wasdreaming to come into power thesixth time. He said during tenure

Shahbaz: Arrow, Bat, Bicyclewill evaporate on May 11STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Shahbaz Sharif,former Chief Minister ofPunjab, on Tuesday said thatArrow (electoral symbol ofPPP), Bat (PTI) and Bicycle(PML-Q) which had joinedhands would disperse on May11.

Talking to media men here,Shahbaz Sharif said that it’s theduty of caretaker government toprovide protection to the politi-cians facing security threats.

Pakistan Tehreek-i-InsafChairman Imran Khan hasbacked out from his word twiceand yet he blames us of beingscared of him, the Pakistan Mus-lim League Nawaz (PML-N)leader Shahbaz Sharif said.

“He [Khan] had earlier an-

nounced that he will contestelections from the same con-stituency as Nawaz Sharif but heretreated,” Sharif said.

“On another occasion, Khansahib raised corruption chargesagainst us regarding Metro busbut when Transparency Interna-tional investigated the issue;Khan did not respond.”

“He has participated in eightelections in total and lost in alleight of those,” Shahbaz re-marked.

“How could he not criticisefederal government and Zardariwho resorted to corruption, loadshedding and has been involvedin rental power cases?” he ques-tioned Khan who has repeatedlyblamed Sharifs of corruptionduring their rule. Shahbaz fur-

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Musharraf barredfrom politics for life

Ex-president imposed illegalemergency, targeted judiciary: PHC CJ

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—Former Presidentand Chief of All Pakistan Mus-lim league (APML) General(Retd) Pervez Musharraf, whohad sought relief from thePeshawar High Court (PHC)against the rejection of his nomi-nation papers for NA-32 Chitralby election tribunal of the highcourt, on Tuesday received an-other blow when the four-mem-ber larger bench of PHC imposedlifelong ban on him for contest-ing elections.

The election tribunal, it maybe recalled, had on April 16 dis-qualified Pervez Musharraf ,playing with the fate of the na-tion in uniform for long nine

years, from contesting generalelections from NA-32 Chitral,the only constituency from where

the returning officer had acceptedhis nomination papers. Theformer president had then chal-lenged his disqualificationthrough his lawyer MuhammadSaad Shibli in the PHC.

A four-member larger bench,headed by PHC Chief JusticeDost Mohammad Khan and com-prising Justice Malik Manzoor,Justice Syed Afsar Shah and Jus-tice Ikramullah ruled that sincePervez Musharraf had abrogatedthe Constitution twice, he couldnot be allowed to contest elec-tions for either the National As-sembly or the Senate.

Petitioner Counsel, AhmedRaza Qasuri argued that GenMusharraf was a very popular

Political, religious parties promise to honour code of conduct

PPP, MQM, ANP oppose deploymentof Army at polling stations

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Seventeen politicalparties which participated in theAPC called by Sindh interimgovernment have demanded thedeployment of military duringpolls but five political parties in-cluding MQM and PPP opposedthe opinion regarding deploy-ment of troops.

These parties said it shouldbe deployed only at sensitivepolling stations in Karachi. Dur-ing the meeting, MQM repre-sentatives questioned how pollscould be transparent when theydidn’t get enough room for elec-toral campaign.

Following the meeting,Chief Secretary Sindh said thearmy could be deployed at anypolling station on the request ofthe presiding officer.

An electoral code of conductwith regards security during theupcoming elections was pre-sented during the meeting whichwas signed by the attending par-ties, according to which politi-cal parties are barred from hoist-ing their party flags at any pub-lic property.

The approved code of con-duct also limited the use of loud-speakers to election meetingsonly whereas election candi-dates and their supporters were

restrained from making pro-vocative speeches against theirrivals at public gatherings, ral-lies and polling.

The political parties wouldalso require approval for con-ducting rallies which would onlybe allowed to proceed throughdesignated routes.

Election candidates are alsobarred from erecting canvaseswithin 400 metres of polling sta-tions.

The signed document statesthat it was the responsibility ofthe local administration to en-sure that no rally is allowed in alocality where another rally was

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Finance Directorof sugar mills,family murderedKARACHI—In a tragicincident finance director of asugar mill along with wife andthree children were murderedin posh area of Karachi,officials said on Tuesday.

The bodies of JawwadDurrani, CFO of Sangar SugarMills, his wife and threechildren were found fromDefense phase IV, here onTuesday, police said.

Police rushed to the sceneand kicked off investigation.The initial report said that

Electoralcandidate killed,polls postponedOUR CORRESPONDENT

NASIRABAD—An independentelection candidate and two ofhis relatives from Balochistan’sJhal Magsi area were killed byunknown assailants onTuesday night prompting theElection Commission ofPakistan to postpone theelections in PB-32.

According to the police andrelatives of the deceased, AbdulFateh Magsi was kidnapped on

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Chief of ArmyStaff General Ashfaq ParvezKayani Tuesday said it is notmerely retribution, but aware-ness and participation of themasses that can truly end thisgame of hide and seek betweendemocracy and dictatorship.

“General Elections wouldbe held in the country on 11thof May. We must not harbourany suspicions or misgivingsabout it,” the Army Chief saidwhile addressing an august gath-ering on the occasion of Yaum-e-Shuhda here.

General Kayani said in hisopinion, ‘it is not merely retri-bution, but awareness and par-ticipation of the masses that cantruly end this game of hide and

seek between democracy anddictatorship’. “If we succeed inrising above all ethnic, linguis-

tic and sectarian biases to votesolely on the basis of honesty,sincerity, merit and competence,there would be no reason to fear

dictatorship or to grudge the in-adequacies of our present demo-cratic system,” he said.

He said, ‘our salvation re-sides in transforming the gov-ernment into a true platform ofpublic representation,’ adding,this would come to pass once theconstruct of public representa-tion in Pakistan is oriented to-wards affording primacy andprecedence to larger public in-terest over personal interests.

Dubbing the upcoming gen-eral elections as ‘golden oppor-tunity’, General Kayani said itcan usher in an era of true demo-cratic values in the country.

“I assure you, that we standcommitted to wholeheartedlyassist and support in the conductof free, fair and peaceful elec-tions; to the best of our capabili-

ties and remaining within theconfines of the Constitution.”

He further said that like ev-ery Pakistani, Pakistan Army, inits humble capacity, has endeav-oured to strengthen democracyin the last five years, with thehope that the next electionswould steer the country towardsbetterment.

“The success of democracyis intimately linked with thewellbeing and prosperity of theNation,” General Kayanistressed.

On war against terrorism,the Army Chief said: “I wouldlike to ask all those who raisesuch questions that if a smallfaction wants to enforce its dis-torted ideology over the entireNation by taking up arms and for

Kayani assures fullsupport for fair pollsAwareness, participation of masses can truly end game of

hide and seek between democracy, dictatorship

Pakistan wide

LPG pricecut by Rs6/kg

ISLAMABAD—The price of liq-uefied petroleum gas (LPG) hasbeen cut by Rs6 per kilogramacross the country. With this de-cision, price of domestic cylin-der has come down by Rs72 andcommercial cylinder by Rs272.

According to Irfan Khokhar,Chairman of LPG DistributorAssociation, LPG price has been

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Picture on Back Page

BB murder case

Musharraf senton 14-day

judicial remandRAWALPINDI—RawalpindiAnti-Terrorist Court (ATC)Tuesday ordered former presi-dent Pervez Musharraf to be sentto jail on 14 days judicial re-mand in the Benazir Bhuttomurder case.

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2 MQMworkers killed

HYDERABAD—Unidentified as-sailants shot dead two activistsof Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) and injured another hereon Tuesday. According to police,unknown armed men opened fireat workers of MQM nearMehboob Ground in Latifabadarea of Hyderabad.

As a result of firing two per-sons identified as ManzoorAhmed and Nadeem Ajmairiwere killed on the spot and an-other sustained wounds. The at-tackers fled the scene after com-mitting dual murder.

The bodies and injured per-son were shifted to local hospi-tal for medico-legal-require-ments. Meanwhile MQM chiefAltaf Hussain has condemned the

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STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—In the wake ofcontinuous criticism hurled atthe Election Commission of Pa-kistan (ECP) regarding it’s re-sponsibility to maintain law andorder in the run up to the May11 polls, the commission Tues-day strongly defended itself say-ing it does not directly deal withthe security issue.

The ECP, through a state-ment, clarified that it is respon-sible for holding elections and allexecutive authorities are boundto assist the commission to fulfilits constitutional duty.

The statement said the ECPwants “to put the issue in its cor-rect perspective to avoid anydisinformation as well as to iden-tify the quarters that have to dis-charge this constitutional respon-

sibility.” Stating the worseningsecurity across the country a de-cade long issue, the commissionhold previous governments andlaw enforcement agencies re-sponsible for the problem that hasbeen has been wreaking havoc.

At least 56 people have beenkilled in attacks targeting politi-cians and political parties acrossPakistan since April 11.

The commission also men-tioned two meetings held to re-view the security arrangementsfor the coming elections on Jan2 and April 25. However, unfor-tunately, tragic events are takingplace on daily basis and, there-fore, all security and law enforce-ment agencies need to sit to-gether, identify the root causes,propose action plans and thenimplement them in a well coor-dinated manner within given

timelines, said the statement. TheECP also mentioned failure of theconcerned quarters in implement-ing recommendations of the Par-liamentary Committee on Na-tional Security (PCNS), pre-sented in 2009 regarding counter-terrorism strategies.

Addressing those responsiblefor maintaining law and order andcurbing militancy in the country,the ECP said” “instead of deceiv-ing the people and themselves byblaming the ECP for security situ-ation in the country, first all thosewho are dealing with securityshould morally first accept theirfailure and then they better dosomething about it to provide stateprotection to life, property andhonour of people of Pakistan be-fore it is too late.” The commis-sion informed that although it does

ECP wards off law, order criticism

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QUETTA: Commander Southern Command Lt Gen Muhammad Aslam Khan Khattak talking too relatives of Shuhadaon the occasion of Youm-e-Shahada to pay homage to sacrifices of martyrs of armed forces.

SALAHUDDIN HAIDER

THE May 11 parliamentary polls will probablybe the strangest of its

kind because of very cogentand powerfulreasons, firstbeing theblunders ofthe electioncommissionto come uptothe expecta-tions, fol-lowed by lim-

iting the campaigning to justone of the three provinces ofthe country, and thirdly theunceasing blood letting byTaliban terror in KhyberPukhtunkhwa, Balochistanand Sindh. Each of these fac-tors are uncontes table, andyet the peoples will to opt for

democracy, and a commitmentfrom politicians to fight backthe heaviest of odds, doesbeam the beacon light, and ahope for the future.

Indisputably, credit for thisunwavering commitment forcivilian ownership of the coun-try goes to those in electoralarena, and also to people, setto protect their aspirationsfrom any kind of disruptions.Pakistan’s political map remainstainted of repeated military in-terventions, which thoughpromising at the start, have in-variably been a bigger mess inthe end. Army is not trainedfor civilian dispensation,which is to complex and de-manding to be handled by rawor crude hands. As is nowrightly being acknowledgedby critics, historian and ana-lysts that the corner stone for

civilian to civilian transitionhave, for the first time in thechequered history of the coun-try, was laid by the PPP gov-ernment or President Zardari.

It drew strength from ma-turity shown by the politicians.Government’s weaknesses orincompetence during the fiveyears in power, remains unde-niable, but those in oppositionpreferred patience, paying aheavy cost to their reputation,but refused to waiver in theirdesire to achieve a goal whichlooked impossible in the be-ginning. Now that terrorismhas struck the country in itsworst form, 26 blasts in KhyberPukhtunkhaw (KPK), over 40dead, candidates and theirelection offices targeted inQuetta, Karachi andHyderabad, cast a gloom overthe country, and doubts be-

gan to be expressed aboutelections.

Rumour factories, work-ing round the clock, began tochurn out conspiracy theo-ries, including that of an at-tempt on some powerful per-sonalities, or a high profilemurder to block these elec-tions, but these were quicklycountered by examples thateven the assassination of oneof the most powerful figurein Pakistan politics likeBenazir in December 2007,and the wars between Iranand Iraq in the 80s, or theterror attacks in Afghanistan,could not deter people fromcontinuing their march for abrighter future. True, citieslike Quetta, Karachi andthose in the northern KPK,have almost halted the elec-tioneering.

Strangest elections, goals clear

MULTAN: PML-N leader Mian Hamza Shahbaz talking tomedia persons at Rajwana House.

ISLAMABAD—The Govern-ment of Japan, Tuesday,agreed to extend two Non-project Grant Aids (NPGAs)for providing Japanese Medi-cal Equipment, worth 800 mil-lion Japanese Yen ($ 8 million)in total to Pakistan. Japanesemedical equipment and otherproducts made by JapaneseSmall and Medium Enter-prises (SMEs) will be pro-vided to Pakistan. Agreementin this regard was signed herfor the following two projectsby Hiroshi Oe, Ambassadorof Japan to Pakistan andMuhammad Shehzad Arbab,Secretary of Economic AffairsDivision (EAD).

NPGA is a scheme to sup-port the promotion of socio-economic development effortof Pakistan by providing for-eign currency for the import ofnecessary goods and com-modities. The first NPGA willbe utilized to import Japanesemedical equipment to be usedin public hospitals in Pakistan.The cutting-edge Japanese

medical equipment is expectedto contribute to meeting the in-creased demand for better pub-lic medical services in Pakistan.

The second NPGA will beutilized to import the JapaneseSMEs’ products. JapaneseSMEs have unique and effi-cient technologies on whichlarge firms often rely. The grantaims to make use of these tech-nologies to meet the develop-ment needs of Pakistan. At thesigning ceremony, Hiroshi Oe,Ambassador of Japan to Paki-stan said “I believe that thesetwo NPGAs provide valuableopportunities to create syn-ergy between Japan’s techno-logical advantages andPakistan’s developmentneeds. I would like to see Paki-stani market realize the advan-tage and high-quality of Japa-nese medical equipment andproducts made by SMEs.”

He expressed his hope thatthese NPGAs will contributeto strengthening the bond offriendship between Japan andPakistan. “Today, we agreed

on providing two Non-projectGrant Aids which are designedto make good use of advancedtechnologies embodied inJapanese products: the first, toprovide Japanese medicalequipment, and the second, toprovide products made byJapan’s small and medium en-terprises” he added.

He added that the first Non-Project Grant Aid is designedto procure Japanese medicalequipment worth approxi-mately 6 million US dollars, tobe used in public hospitals inPakistan. Japanese medical in-dustry has maintained world-class quality. In Pakistan, de-mand for more accessible andeffective medical services is in-creasing because of populationgrowth and changing needs insociety. In this regard, I believethat Japan’s cutting-edge medi-cal equipment procured by thisNon-project Grant Aid willsurely contribute to meeting theincreased demand for betterpublic medical services in Paki-stan.— Online

Japan to extend 800myen for uplift projects

Heroinsmugglingbid foiledSTAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Anti NarcoticsForce in continuation of its waragainst Narcotics/ Drugs re-covered huge quantity ofHeroin. Anti Narcotics Force,on receipt of information thatsome international drug traf-fickers have brought hugequantity of Heroin from Af-ghanistan and dumped in thearea of Junejo Town, Karachiand will try to smuggle abroadat some appropriate time.

On confirmation of theinformation, a raid was con-ducted at House No. 92/93,Sector-2/J-6, Jonejo Town,Karachi. In result of success-ful operation Anti NarcoticsForce recovered 278 Kgs ofHeroin from the house. Re-covered heroin was con-cealed in plastic cans & plas-tic bags. One accused per-son namely Kaleem Akhtar s/o Babul al r/o Karachi hasbeen arrested on the spot,case under CNS Act-1997have been registered againstthe accused persons.

M. HALEEM ASAD

TIMERGARA—The deputychief of the Jamaat-i-Islamiand party candidate for PK-95 Sirajul Haq has said thatpeople of the province wouldbe provided with free educa-tion and health facilities if theJI was voted to power inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa. Ad-dressing a party meeting atKhall Haq blamed that fundsand resources of Nato werebeing utilized in his constitu-ency in order to defeat him.The JI leader said that May11 elections were a fight be-tween slaves of the HolyProphet (Peace Be Upon Him)and US president Obama.

He said provision of freeeducation and health facili-ties, safe and clean drinkingwater, uninterrupted powersupply, job opportunitiesand ending corruption werethe promises the JI was mak-

ing with people in its mani-festo. He said the JI wantedto establish ‘khilafat’ rule inPakistan through peacefuldemocratic means. He saidthat special cards would beprovided to citizens over 60years of age for concessionaltravelling in railway trainsand air planes while the statewould be made responsibleto return loans of the peoplehaving no capacity if the JIwas voted to power.

“We have already plansfor establishment of hydropower stations on rivers ofMalakand division and we aresincere to complete theseprojects in order to overcomethe energy crisis,” Mr Haqsaid and asked the people tovote to his party. The JI nomi-nated candidate for NA-33Sahibzada Tariqullah, for PK-93 Malik Behram Khan, JIdeputy chief of Azad Kash-mir Abdul Rashid Turrabi.

IS L A M A B A D —Pres identAsif Ali Zardari has ex-pressed hope that the prov-inces, keeping in view theirresponsibilities after the18th amendment, will put inplace appropriate legislativeand administrative mecha-nism to ensure protection ofrights of the workers. In amessage on the Labour Day,the President said “May 1should serve to remind usof our commitment to theworkers’ right to dignity,decent wages and protec-tion from arbitrary termina-tion.”

The President whilepaying homage to the Chi-cago Martyrs for their fightagainst oppression a cen-

tury ago said; “we also re-new our pledges made to the

workers, peasants and wage-earners that we will not aban-don them in their struggle fora rightful place in society.”

The President said a con-tended and satisfied labourforce was central to the pro-duction cycle and nationaldevelopment and was thedriving force behind any in-dustrial and agriculturalprogress.

“All claims of develop-ment will remain meaninglessuntil the vulnerable workingclass is emancipated, empow-ered and rehabilitated,” thePresident said. PresidentZardari said emancipation andwelfare of labour has beencentral to the struggle of lead-ers like Shaheed MohtarmaBenazir Bhutto and ShaheedZulfikar Ali Bhutto.

He pointed that duringthe past few years a number

of practical steps have beentaken for improving the con-dition of the workers. Theseincluded reinstatement ofsacked employees, regulariza-tion of contract and dailywage earners, empoweringthe workers to seek legal rem-edies against any unlawfuldismissals, restoration oftrade union activities, pro-mulgation of Industrial Rela-tions Act 2012 and makingworkers and employeesshare-holders in the state-run entities.

However, the Presidentpointed that the struggle forworkers’ rights was far fromover. “We still have to go along way in addressing is-sues relating to exploitation

of the workers, child andforced labour and no repre-sentation in legislative as-semblies etc.” He said fol-lowing the 18th Constitu-tional Amendment the sub-ject of labour has been de-volved to the provinces.

“I am confident that theprovinces are aware of theirresponsibilities for puttingin place appropriate legisla-tive and administrativemechanisms to ensure pro-tection of workers’ rights.”The President while greet-ing the labour and workersalso called upon them tocontinue working hard forthe progress, prosperity andsocio-economic develop-ment of Pakistan.—APP

Rehabilitation of workers’ self-respect core policy

JI wants to establishCaliphate rule: Siraj

I S L A M A B A D — J a m i a tUlema-e-Islam Fazl (JUI-F)on Tuesday rejected thenotion of leadership ofthree political parties thatthey are being targeted be-cause certain wanted themno to win the elections. In astatement, Jan Achakzai,Spokesman JUI-F chiefMaulana Fazlur Rahman,said that the three partiesshould admit their failurethat they could not containterrorism in Pakistan whenin power.

He said that these bombblasts and attacks were go-ing on for the last five yearsand the coalition govern-ment was getting hugefunds from the US to fight

Govt misused foreign moneyfor fighting terror: Fazl

terrorism. “They even gotmoney to repair roads dam-aged by blasts but they didnothing. They could not se-cure cities like Peshawar,Karachi and Quetta usingthese funds by strengthen-ing law enforcement agen-cies,” he alleged.

The spokesman allegedthat they recruited” blued-eyed boys in law enforce-ment agencies includingpolice” which made them ineffective in performing theirtask.

He claimed that nowthey do not have officialprotocols so they seem tohave gone into hiding. Hesaid that late Benazir Bhuttowas a brave lady as she

launched party’s electionscampaign despite threats.Maulana Fazlur Rahmanand even Imran Khan havebeen alerted of securitythreats but they were stillcampaigning, Achakzaimaintained.

The spokesman said thatthe previous governmentparties had no prudent anti-terrorism policy. “JUI-F con-vened APC, formed jirga tohold talks with Taliban forceasefire during electioneer-ing but could not get back-ing of the government”, hecomplained. Achakzai saidthat these parties were footdragging on elections butJUI-F will not allow any de-lay in elections.— APP

JI eyes upsets in pollsStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) candi-date from PK-2, Peshawar SirajuddinQureshi has said that their candidateswill make upsets in the upcoming gen-eral elections. Addressing a corner meet-ing in Mohallah Saeedabad, ShaheenMuslim Town, he claimed that only JI iscapable of addressing the problems ofthe people. On this occasion, ImranKhan, Khan Zada, Jameel Khan,Abdurehman Khan, Shahid Khan, Ilyas

Khan, Wahid Gul, Javed Khan, Noor Rehman, Zubair Khan,Qaiser Khan and Muzamil khan quit ANP and joined JI.LAHORE, Apr 29 (APP): Secretary General of the Jamaat-e-Islami Liaqat Baloch said that the parties shouting forrevolution by gathering around the so-called ‘electablesor turncoats’, were actually ensuring status quo. Address-ing corner meetings in NA-126 here, Baloch said that themasses wanted solution to their problems and wiping outcorruption and exploitation from the country. He said thatthe political and parliamentary past of the JI was known toall. The candidates put up by other parties even do notbelong to NA-126, who will disappear soon after the elec-tions, he added. Baloch said that the JI had made sincereefforts for seat adjustment with the Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz and the Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf, but somehidden hand prevented the move from bearing fruit. Hesaid that the people would not be misled by the slogansand huge advertisements being put up by the other par-ties and would keep in mind the past performance of theseparties while exercising their vote. KARACHI: Chief ofJamaat-e-Islami (JI) Karachi Muhammad Hussain Mehantihas said that some parties are misleading the masses fortheir vested interest by confusing them about rightist orleftist labels given to various parties.

No compromise on govt writISLAMABAD—President, Awami Na-tional Party (ANP) Asfandyar WaliKhan has said that current situation ofviolence, extremism draw the demarca-tion between pro and anti extremismpolitical parties, now people would de-cides, who are combating terrorist tosave the country. He said that currentconflict has been fighting between twodifferent mind-sets, the extreme right,fanatics and on the other hand liberal

democratic force in political arena, now the people wouldjudge to set their preference in coming elections. ANP Presi-dent said that people remembers the extremist forces, whoattacked our strategic installation and killed innocentpeople on public places. Talking to a private televisionchannel, Asfandyar said that across the board politicalownership need between all political parities to maintainpeace and stability in the country, especially in unsettledareas. ANP chief said that free, fair and transparent elec-tions are necessary for the survival of the country. He saidthat all the political stakeholder have consensus to con-duct dialogue with any individual or group under the con-stitution of the country. Replying to another question,Asfandyar said that no political entity would compromiseon government writ and constitutional rule of law in thecountry to protect the basic rights of common masses.Asfandyar said that National Finance Commission (NFC)awards has given equal opportunities to Balochistan andKPK at the level of Punjab. Replying to another question,he claimed that no one can prove corruption against theANP leadership and his government in KPK. AsfandyarWali said that ANP government has remarkably worked oneducation and established new universities and educa-tion institutions in the province.—APP

ANP wants security of partiesISLAMABAD—Leader of Awami NationalParty (ANP) Ghulam Ahmad Bilour saidthat elections should be held on time forsmooth running of democracy and suffi-cient security should be provided topolitical parties for electoral campaign.Talking to a private news channel, he saidthat terrorists were creating hurdles forANP election campaign and using cow-ard tactics for delaying elections, butANP was in favour of holding elections

in a transparent manner to strengthen democracy. Biloursaid that strict action should be taken against those culpritswho took responsibility of these terrorist activities, addingthat a targeted operation should be started before electionsagainst terrorists who attacked political personalities. Biloursaid that ANP was not in a position to convince publicbecause candidates of the party could not go out freely forcampaign and it does not have sufficient resources to runmedia campaign. 42 women candidates contesting on gen-eral seats in KPK:A total of 42 women candidates are partici-pating on 15 National and 27 Provincial assembly seats ofKhyber Pakhtunkhaw and Federally Administered TribalAreas (FATA) in the upcoming general elections. A largenumber of women are participating on general seats firsttime in country’s history. KPK and FATA have 47 Nationaland 99 Provincial assembly seats. As many as 80 percentwomen are contesting election as independent while, 20percent having party tickets. Pakistan People’s Party Parlia-mentarian (PPPP),Awami National Party (ANP), Qami WatanParty, Pakistan Muslim League (N), Tahreek Muswat, Paki-stan Tahreek-Insaf, and PML-Q. All the main political par-ties have reposed confidence on women candidates andawarded them tickets.—APP

Qureshi for level playing fieldMULTAN—PTI Vice Chairman ShahMahmood Qureshi on Tuesday con-demned terrorist attacks and called for alevel playing field to all political parties tofreely contest the upcoming election.Addressing a press conference at thepress club, the PTI leader reiterated theparty was strictly against militancy andbelieved in democratic norms. He wel-comed an army meeting at GHQ whichdecided to back the Election Commission

of Pakistan (ECP) by appointing army officials at sensitivepolling stations. He said the turnout must be increased in theelection for breaking the status quo in the country. He saidthe PPP had actually left the election race and the competitionwas between the PML-N and the PTI. He claimed a big party,like the PPP, was buried in Garhi Khuda Bukhsh. He alsoalleged for pre-poll rigging in his constituency. “Despite clearinstructions of ECP, gas and electricity meters and poles werebeing installed in constituency NA-149. The PPP leadershiphas given Rs 65 million to my riavl candidate Noor Shah inNA-230 constituency of Sindh,” he further alleged. Replyingto a question, he said PPP, MQM and ANP had not stoppedtheir campaigns but changed their strategy and were holdingsmall gatherings. APML candidates withdraw in favour ofPTI:All Pakistan Muslim League candidates for NA-150 andPP-195 Sultan Mahmood Malik and Maj (Retd) MuzamilRehman announced withdrawing nomination papers in favourof PTI candidates Shah Mahmood Qureshi and Javed AkhtarAnsari respectively here Tuesday. Addressing a press con-ference, Sultan Mahmood Malik and Muzamil Rehman saidthey had taken the decision after the disqualification of theirleader Pervez Muaharraf.—APP

WAQAS ASHRAF

KASUR—Former foreignminister Sardar AsseffAhmed Ali has said that hehad the spirit to serve thepeople and for this purposehe was contesting electionas an independent candi-date. He expressed theseviews while addressing acorner meeting at Khudian.He said fair and free elec-tions were necessary for thestrong democracy in Paki-stan.

Sardar Assef said thespirit of people showed thathe would win in the electionbut his responsibilitieswould increase to serve thepeople of his constituency.It is worth mentioning herethat Sardar Assef Ahmed Aliis contesting election as anindependent candidate from

NA-140 Kasur beacuse PTIdid not give him ticket butawarded to fromer foreignminister KhursheedMehmood Kasuri who wasdetermined to contest elec-tion from NA-140 instead ofNA-139 Kasur.

*****A bridegroom died while

bride fell unconscious ontheir wedding night due tothe leakage of gas in theirroom. Reportedly,Muhammad Aslam had con-tracted marriage with NusratBibi at village Bhedian Kalanand on the first night of theirmarriage, they swicthed on agas generator due to theloadsheddig. They forgot toswitch off generator andrusultantly gas spread in theroom. The bridegroom suffo-cated to death while the bridewas found unconscious.

SYED ADNAN NOOR

JHANG—Javed Iqbal Bosal,Senior Civil Judge/Environ-mental Magistrate Jhang, tak-ing notice of the environmen-tal pollution and public nui-sance ensuing from improperdefective system of collec-tion and disposal of munici-pal wastes in Jhang, has ini-tiated proceedings againstthe TMO and Chief Officerof TMA Jhang. The Environ-mental Magistrate passed theconditional order while di-recting TMO and Chief Of-ficer to comply with the di-rections of the District Envi-ronment Department and toclear/remove the nuisanceemanating from impropercollection and disposal ofmunicipal solid and liquidwastes from the public ways/

places, that too, on regularbasis.

The Environmental Magis-trate further directed that thesolid wastes i.e garbage, rub-bish and trash, etc. be removeddaily and disposed of properly.Similarly liquid wastes bechannelized and disposed ofproperly. It has been furtherobserved by the Environmen-tal Magistrate that a properplan be made and necessarysteps be taken for provision ofclean water in the area of theCity where underground waterhas become contaminated andunfit for human consumption.

A complaint had beenfiled by a citizen regardingunclean, unhygienic condi-tions as well as environmen-tal pollution in a specific areaof the City i.e “MohallahYousof Abad”Jhang.

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—Tehsil Presi-dent, PPP, Shahzad QamarChattha has resigned fromthe primary membership ofPPP and announced to sup-port candidates of indepen-dent group of Ch. MehdiHassan Bhatti in the district.Muhammad Khan Bhoon,former Member DistrictCouncil who is elder brotherof Ahsan Bhoon, ex-presi-dent LHC Bar and old asso-ciate of Ch. Mehdi HassanBhatti has announced hisdecision to sever relationswith Mehdi Bhatti and de-cided to support Ch. Afzal

Hussain Tarar group in thedistrict. The lady workers ofPML-N Youth Wing havestarted distribution of pam-phlets at the doors of elec-torates to muster support forPML-N candidates in thecity.

Meanwhile, Senior NaibNazim-e-Aala, PunjabMarkazi Jamiat Ahle-Hadith, while addressing acorner meeting of PML-Nwhich was attended amongothers by Saira Afzal Tarar,Candidate for NA-102, andMalik Fayyaz Ahmad Awan,candidate for PP-105 hascalled upon the people tovote to PML-N candidates

to eliminate poverty and un-employment in the country.PTI candidate for PP-107Sobia Bhatti, addressing acorner meeting said that shewould play vital role for theempowerment of women ifvoted to power. She saidthat due to hegemony offeudals in the area, the tehsilPindi Bhattian remained ne-glected.

******Differences between the

workers and office-bearers ofPTI over the award of partytickets came to surface whenVice Chairperson, Punjab PTIAasia Usman, and Ch. AmanUllah Sandhu, Advocate,District President PTI,Hafizabad, not only partici-pated in the public meetingbut also delivered speechescalling upon the people tosupport of Rai Qamar-uz-Zaman Kharal, an old anddie-hard worker of PTI, whowas ignored by the PTI highcommand while awardingticket to him to contest elec-tion from PP-106 and whowas now contesting electionas an independent candidate.Rai Qamar Kharal soon afterthe public meeting of ImranKhan at Hafizabad has con-vened a meeting of his sup-ports at Kaleke Mandi anddeclared that he would givetough time to his rivals includ-ing his father-in-law RaiRiasat Ali Kharal, an indepen-dent candidate of Ch. Mehdigroup and outgoing MPACh. Asad Ullah Arain.

He told his audience thathe was fighting for theirrights and to rid them of theshackles of feudals.

IRFAN ALIGI

JAMSHORO—The two-dayinternational conference on“extremism & terrorism inPakistan: Challenges andsustainable solution” orga-nized by the University ofSindh Jamshoro in collabo-ration with Hans SeidalFoundation Germany wasbrought to an end on Tues-day with the joint declara-tion consisting of nine sig-nificant points, it recom-mended that public resil-ience for eliminating terror-ism, extremism was mustwhereas women in the coun-try ought to be empoweredto curb extremist ideologies

through which the brains ofyoungsters are washed bythe terrorists.

The joint declarationalso proposed Sindh Univer-sity (SU) to take the leadagainst extremism & terror-ism by establishing an insti-tute/centre of moderation onthe campus so that the stu-dents should get to knowthe real definition of funda-mentalism, extremism andterrorism and prove to bemoderate and liberal in na-ture with a lot of forbearanceand patience. The declara-tion added that Governmentneeded to build the capabili-ties and mental approach ofPakistani nation by making

education as well as healthquite free and common in thecountry while being the soilof Sufis; Sindh should takethe lead in preaching ofpeace.

It also recommended thatrule of law must be promotedso that law abiding societycould be formed adding thatzero tolerance should beshown for religious schools/Madaaris involving in anykind of violence includingsuicidal attacks. The decla-ration said that for haltingcorruption, good gover-nance ought to be ensuredand diplomatic efforts mustbe intensified to present thebest and peaceful image of

ISLAMABAD: Participants of a one-day workshop arranged by Institute of Health Man-agement in collaboration with Hazara University.

CHITRAL: A person directing a vehicle driver to cross the damaged main road of BirirKalash Valley.

Proceedings against TMO,TMA chief officer initiated

Hafizabad PPP tehsil presidentShahzad resigns party

Sardar Assef sure of victory

Sindh Varsity international conference ends with nine significant points

CNIC mandatory forcasting vote: ECP

ISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan(ECP) has declared Comput-erized National Identity Card(CNICs) mandatory for cast-ing vote in the upcomingelection scheduled on May11. Spokesman of ECP whiletalking to APP said: “No per-son would be allowed to castvote in the polling stationwithout having original com-puterised national identitycard and no other documentincluding the copy of theCNIC, passport, driving li-cence would be acceptablefor casting vote.”

To a question, he said asper election laws - any onehaving expired ComputerizedNational Identity Cards(CNICs) can cast his vote inthe upcoming general elec-tions.—APP

Eczema notfully curable but

manageableHYDERABAD—Dermatolo-gist and Cosmetologist, DrZahida Ameer has said thatabnormal response of bodyimmune system may causeeczema, which though notcontagious, still cannot becured in a proper manner.However, the condition ofmajority of the patients canbe managed with the treat-ment and avoidance of trig-gers, she said.

Talking to this scribe onMonday Dr Zahida, who isalso a known consultantphysician of cosmetic trans-mitted diseases informed thateczema appears after encir-cling various inflamed skinconditions.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

M U Z A F F A R A B A D — T h ePrime Minister of AzadJammu and Kashmir,Chaudhry Abdul Majeedhas announced of Rs. 10million for the welfare forthe families of army person-nel who laid down theirlives to guard the ideologi-cal and geographical fron-tiers of the country.

He made this announce-ment while addressing a cer-emony held in honour of themartyrs of Gyari sector andothers, as a chief guest hereon Tuesday. Paying tributeto the martyrs of Pakistanarmy, the premier that it

never let Kashmiris undergothe sense of seclusion intheir struggle against Indianoppression adding thepeople of state alwaysstood by the brave soldiersof Pakistan.

The Prime Minister de-manded superpowers ofthe world to play their roleto give Kashmiris their in-ternationally recognizedright to self-determinationwithout which, he added,no durable peace in the re-gion could be ensured.“The sacrifices of the mar-tyrs would bear fruit: Indiacan never succeed con-tinuing its occupation andsuppress the voice of the

people of the state by us-ing worst force with thepresence of right hundredthousand troops”, headded.

While condemning thejudicial assassination ofMuhammad Afzal Guru thepremier observed that In-dia hanged Guru to pleaseits people but Kashmir ’sfreedom movement gaineda very significant momen-tum after that act. “Indiadidn’t only hang Guru buthanged i ts consti tut ion,law, so-called secularism,humanity and the peace ofthe region: such an actmay result in any nucleardisaster in the region and I

request the peace lovingnations to ensure the se-curi ty of the region”, heobserved.

The GOC Murree MajorGeneral Najam-ul-Hasan alsoaddressed the ceremony andthanked the prime minister forshowing solidarity with thefamilies of martyrs as well asfor the financial assistance.He maintained that nation’sfreedom was due to soldiers’sacrifices. The Prime Minis-ter and GOC Murree later laidwreaths on the monument ofshuhada and paid rich hom-age to their sacrifices. ThePrime Minister also met withthe family members of mar-tyrs.

Soldiers sacrifices ensure national freedom: GOC

AJK PM announces Rs 10m for Gayari martyrs families

M. HALEEM ASAD

TIMERGARA—After failure oftalk between the district lead-ers of PPP and JUI-F to makeseat adjustment against theJamaat-i-Islami in Dir Lower,efforts have been underwayon gross root workers’ levelto support each others’ can-didate on different constitu-encies of the district, insid-ers told here on Tuesday.

They said that diehardkey workers of both the par-ties had been engaged toreach on consensus for sup-porting each others. Accord-ing to insiders workers of thePPP had agreed to vote tothe JUI-F candidate for NA-34 Qazi Fazlullah. In re-sponse workers of the JUI-Fwere being persuaded tovote to the PPP candidate for

PK-94 and PK-96. Sources inthe JUI-F said that apart fromthat party workers would sup-port the ANP candidate inPK-95 Haji Hidayatullahagainst the strong man of theJI Sirajul Haq.

They said the JUI-F work-ers wanted to defeat the JIcandidates in Dir Lower. Onthe other side the PPP activ-ists while confirming the re-ports told that majority of thePPP workers had not beensatisfied with their candidatefor NA-34 and former minis-ter of state Malik AzmatKhan. They said the PPP can-didate in the shape of MalikAzmat Khan was weak.“Therefore we will vote to theJUI-F’s Qazi Fazlullah if vot-ers of the later support us inprovincial assembly seats.

Political analysts are of the

view that such a situation couldput the JI in trouble as accord-ing to them the JI would haveto compete with the PPP, ANPand JUI-F like a single party.“The party will neither withdrawits candidate nor announcepublicly but workers will beasked to vote to the PPP candi-dates in PK 94, PK 96 while theANP in PK 95,” a JUI-F activisttold this reporter., He said hisparty could go to any extent todefeat Sirjul Haq of the JI.

Similarly the PPP activistsalso wanted to defeat the JIwhich was possible only tojoin hands with the JUI-F, saidImtiaz Khan, a PPP activist.He said the PPP could notwin the NA 34 seat while therewere chances of winning theprovincial assembly seats inDir Lower in case the JUI-Fsincerely supported the PPP.

Political workers dead set handsto defeat JI in Dir Lower

Public resilience must for eradicating extremism

ISLAMABAD—The PakistanMeteorological Department(PMD) on Tuesday forecastmainly hot and dry weatherfor most parts of the countryduring next 24 hours. Thereare chances of rain and thun-dershower in Malakand,Hazara, Peshawar, Kashmirand Gilgit Baltistan. Accord-ing to the synoptic situation,continental air is prevailingin the country while a weakwesterly trough is affectingits northern parts.

Mainly hot and dryweather will continue to pre-vail in the plain areas acrossthe country during next fewdays. The hottest places dur-ing last 24 hours wereLasbella, Mitthi and Chhor

Mainly hot, dry weather toprevail in next few days

with 40 C, and Larkana andMoenjodaro with 39 C tem-perature. The maximum tem-peratures recorded during thelast 24 hours were: Islamabad32 C, Lahore 37 C, Karachi 37

C, Peshawar 32 C, Quetta 21C, Skardu 21 C, Murree 30 C,Muzaffarabad 32 C, GB 27 C,Faisalabad 36 C, Multan 36 Cand Hyderabad 37 C. Therainfall recorded during thelast 24 hours was.—APP

the country and its peopleglobally.

Before the joint decla-rat ion in his speech, DrGuna Ratna of Sri lankatermed Islam as not to be adrive of terrorism andTalibanization but he saidpeople l ike Osama BinLaden and Al-Zawahri tookthe parts of Ayat of HolyQuran and Hadith just tofulfill their political objec-t ives. “Osam Bin Ladenwas businessman and Al-Zawaheri a doctor by pro-fession, then how can weassume them to be Ulma?They used Islam for theirpoli t ical purposes; theymesmerized innocent

people with the tactics oftelling them certain Ayat ofHoly Quran proving thatthe USA and Europe werethe bitter opponents of Is-lam and Muslims,” he said.

He proposed Sindh Uni-versity of setting up an insti-tute or a centre of modera-tion at SU in a bid to promotetolerance, brotherhood andlove among the students andthe masses. “I suggest gov-ernment to make educationand health free for the peoplelike Srilanka did and this prac-tice can keep the masses notto pay attention to that Jihadwhich is forcibly imposed bythe Taliban and Al-Qaeda,”Dr Guna Ratna stated.

Pharmaceutical industryshows its potential

ACCORDING to Chairman Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association Jawed Akhai the cumulative annual growth rateof pharmaceutical industry has been 12% during the last three years

and local companies launched 2,956 products from 2008 to 2012 as com-pared to just 193 products by multinational companies.

There are no two opinions that the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistanis vibrant and it is growing rapidly not only to meet domestic needs butalso producing surplus for export to a number of countries. It is pertinentto note that at the time of independence in 1947, there was hardly anypharma industry in the country but today Pakistan has about 400 pharma-ceutical manufacturing units including those operated by 25 multination-als present in the country. The Pakistan Pharmaceutical Industry meetsaround 70% of the country’s demand of finished medicine. The encour-aging growth and expansion of the pharma industry is a clear manifesta-tion that if provided enabling atmosphere the sector has the potential tofetch substantial foreign exchange through exports to markets like Cen-tral Asia and Africa. But for that to happen, we will have to resolve theissues and challenges facing the industry like regulation, non-enforce-ment of intellectual property rights and the absence of a simple and swiftdispute resolution mechanism. Experts say these discrepancies have ledto proliferation of poor quality drugs and unhealthy practices, which con-sequently have caused harm to legal businesses and people’s health. Inextreme scenarios, hundreds of people lost their lives over the last twoyears besides lost of foreign markets as several countries imposed ban onimport of medicines from Pakistan over reports of fake, spurious or sub-standard drugs. Though PPMA maintains that prices of some medicinesare low and as a result many manufacturing units had to close in the pastbut there are also genuine complaints that in some cases the prices arealarmingly high as compared to neighbouring India. We hope that boththe Government and the industry would take steps to ensure rapid growthof pharmaceutical sector without compromising quality and pricing andthat could happen if there is focus on research and development.

Islamabad LiteratureFestival, a bloom in fire

IN the backdrop of gloom and doom caused by deteriorating securityenvironment, the decision of the Oxford University Press and its part-

ners to organize first-ever Islamabad Literature Festival is a welcome movethat will surely have a soothing impact on the overall environment. Thefestival is being participated by a number of literary celebrities to acknowl-edge the role of writers’ community and literary works towards develop-ment of the society.

Literature is not only repository of knowledge but also a gateway tothe world of enlightenment. Books document history, arts & culture, sci-entific and technological achievements and bequeath them to future gen-erations. They also play critical role in intellectual, psychological andmoral development of human beings and that is why it is said that theculture of book reading is closely linked to moral, social and intellectualuplift of a nation. No doubt, in this modern age, visual media has deeppenetrating reach but still books have an edge over other mediums ofcommunication and entertainment. However, it has been observed thatwith the arrival of computer and video games like play station and XBox, the culture of reading books is on the decline. The lack of facilitiesto read books and rising prices of books are also inhibiting reading habit.The decline in book reading culture is a bad omen for the development ofa civilized, educated, tolerant and plural society. In this backdrop, thefestival is step in the right direction and we hope that similar initiativeswould be taken in other cities and with increased frequency.

Left-Right divideresurfaces

IT is common in Pakistani politics that political parties are described asrightists and leftists and this phenomenon was at its peak during the 50s

and 60s. This trend started to dilute later but it appears that after the stringof attacks by Taliban at the corner meetings and election offices of ANP,MQM and PPP in Karachi and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, the Left- Right di-vide is resurfacing.

At an unprecedented joint press conference at Karachi Press Club onMonday, leaders of the three parties alleged that the terrorists that had beencarrying out their sabotage activities against them were in reality wings of theso-called right-wingers. Before the elections, the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban(TTP) had stated that it was willing to enter into dialogue with the govern-ment provided the PML-N, Jamaat-e-Islami and JUI-F agree as guarantors.That showed that the Taliban have some soft corner for these parties where asduring the tenure of the PPP government, ANP and MQM were coalitionpartner and the militants developed animosity against them because theywere squarely defeated in Malakand, Swat and parts of FATA in clean upoperation. So the continued attacks against the PPP, ANP and MQM are notonly aimed at disrupting the elections but also forcing them to boycott theelections. It was satisfying that the three parties made it abundantly clearonce again that that they won’t be forced to quit under any threat and contestthe elections come what may. We may point out that vast majority of Paki-stanis are religious minded and conservative and they don’t like to be seenassociated with the left or liberals. There is also a consensus among the peopleat large that elections must be held on schedule because any delay wouldamount to surrender to the extremists. Therefore in our view, the division ofright and left should not be allowed to re-emerge on the national scene andthe political parties instead of levelling allegations must face the situationcollectively and come out with a strong message to the adversary that thenation is united and can’t be divided under any pretext.

India’s slum dwellers

Things are notalways what theyseem.

Recycling ofuseful metals

A law to promote the recycling of small electronicand electric home appli-

ances such as mobile phones, per-sonal computers and small gamemachines took effect April 1. Thecentral government is to certifycompanies to recycle these items.Municipal governments that havefinished preparations are scheduledto kick-off the recycling projects inJune. Municipalities that are lag-ging behind in their preparationsshould speed up their efforts so theycan participate as soon as possible.

Up to this point a separate lawhas required makers to recycle onlyfour large electric home appliances— air conditioners, TV sets, refrig-erators and laundry machines. Con-sumers must pay recycling feeswhen they dispose of these items.The new law, which covers about100 items, does not require con-sumers to pay such fees becausecertified companies that recyclethe appliances are expected tomake profits from the gold, silver,copper and rare metals recoveredfrom the recycled items. The En-vironment Ministry says that thenew law covers almost all smallhome electronic and electric ap-pliances except fluorescent lightsand electric bulbs. The ministryestimates that households throwout about 650,000 tons of smallelectronic and electric applianceseach year.

Under the new law, municipali-ties will choose the types of usedsmall electronic and electric appli-ances it will collect for recyclingas well as the ways to collect suchitems — setting up collection boxesin public facilities, separating theitems in question from non-flam-mable refuse or having consumersseparate these items from the restof their garbage. Municipalitiesshould talk with local residents todetermine which collection methodis the best and how to reduce recy-cling costs. The ministry has thegoal of recycling about 13,000 tonsof discarded small electronic andelectric items in fiscal 2013. It willraise the amount to about 140,000tons in fiscal 2015. It may be diffi-cult for municipalities to know thecost of the new recycling systemuntil they start it. The ministry plansto use subsidies to cover the costsof setting up collection boxes andcarrying out public relations activi-ties. It is hoped that it will faith-fully implement the plan. So far,only about one-third of the nation’smunicipalities are ready to take partin the new recycling program. Theministry should carry out publicrelations activities aimed at spur-ring participation in this beneficialprogramme. — The Japan Times

*****

Pakdemocracymust thrive

When it comes to the finalcountdown between thewill of the extremists and

the will of Pakistani people, the lat-ter must prevail at all costs, as thegeneral elections draw near. Elec-tioneering in Pakistan has re-ceived a series of setbacks, fol-lowing a concerted attempt toviolently reshape the democraticlandscape through targeted kill-ings of candidates and suicidebombings that have claimedscores of innocent lives.

It is the people who are suffer-ing, not just through loss of life andlivelihood, but also by the fact thatthe right to exercise their franchiseis being jeopardised via an attemptto spread fear by fringe elements. Itis important for democracy to thrivein Pakistan. Candidates must cam-paign without threats to their lives.Those who have a blueprint for thefuture must share it with their con-stituents. The people must determinetheir leaders and the governmentmust survive through its allottedtime frame of five years. There issimply too much at stake and ex-tremist elements cannot be allowedto hold the state hostage in order tofurther their nefarious designs.Food, drinking water, employment,security, access to medical facilitiesand power supply must be the top-ics of debate. They will go into theremodelling of a prosperous Paki-stan. These elections were nevergoing to be easy. The voters will behard-pressed to choose the admin-istration of their choice. But thischallenge should not be determinedat gunpoint. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

—Proverb

Until recently, one refrain ofa song in praise of slumdwellers was on most Indian

lips. The refrain, Jai Ho-Jai Ho, hadattracted so much attention that itfetched an Oscar Award. What thesong conveyed was how those whowere on the margin were doing theirbest to come up, without challeng-ing the society. There was no demo-lition of houses or buildings whichhad come up illegally. The worstcame only a few days ago.

True, natural calamities are hardto avert. But what happened atMumbra, in the Thane district ofMaharashtra, could well have beenavoided but for the administrativeinadequacies. It was more of a man-made crisis. Greedy real estate own-ers, contractors, politicians and bu-reaucrats, who maintain their regu-lar liaisons, will have to share theblame for the tragedy which took thetoll of 74 people and injuring 61 oth-ers. When an eight-storey tower forslum dwellers comes up in a recordthree-four months, it is understand-able how the building may have beenraised. It is not easy obtaining ap-provals from civic authorities or get-ting a plan passed, let alone goingahead with the construction of amulti-storey building. It takes sev-eral rounds of trips to the municipaloffices, spread over months, and thattoo only after greasing the palms ofofficials can one think of obtainingapprovals from variousofficialdoms. This brings us to thebasic problem that most metros in

Good people, evil politics

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Sunday Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

Ph: 2852027-8, Ext: 116Email: magazinesocialdiary@hotmail.com

All progressive nations viewcritically their present andpast and set plans and pri-

orities for future-building. In Paki-stan everything that can go wronghas surpassed the limits of reasonand logic. The blunt logic tells thatmasses are simple and honestpeople being driven to unusualtrends and ends of political manipu-lation by the few societal feudallords traditionally occupying posi-tions of affluence and gangesterismto determine political change andfuture of the nation. Over the de-cades, violence is both a means andrecipe for change and dictatorial di-sasters. No political change has hap-pened without violence, eitherthrough political conspiracies or viadirect military coups. Combinedthese historical factors have shapedthe institutionalized corruption.

Political actors with the excep-tion of PTI and Jamaat-e-Islami,would not dare to talk on corrup-tion or against it because they arethe most hated leaders of politicalcorruption that nation has ever ex-perienced who have crippled itssocial fabric namely the Bhuttofamily, Zardari, Sharifs, Musharafand so many others. They stolemillions from the nation to buyvaluable real estates in London,Paris, Spain and Dubai. They en-joy upper-hands in all mafia typeactivities including bombing, kill-ings of civilians, social-economicdisruption and selling the interestsof the nation to foreign masters.Because of political corruption,Pakistan is at crossroads for itshope to have life-sustaining newsystem of change and governanceand the institutionalized corrup-

the country face today: acuteshortage of housing. Obvi-ously, the cake is small andthe number of people wantinga slice has been on the in-crease. Had the size of thecake grown larger there would

have been something for everybodyto take home. But those in Mumbaiknow that the tragedy was due to theacute need for housing in Thane andits suburbs and the flourishing land-grab business patronized by the pow-erful politico-builder-police-civic of-ficial nexus. The nexus makes iteasier for the builders to “manage”things the way they want.

Apparently, in the Mumbra casethe builders have made all arrange-ments, including providing electric-ity and water to the residents, with-out any legal paperwork so that theflats can be occupied by the unsus-pecting owners. But such a thing be-came possible only when the build-ers have had on their side the ThaneMunicipal Corporation (TMC) offi-cials, who preferred to remain silenteven after the locals had complainedabout an illegal building coming upin their vicinity.

This goes on to establish how therealtors and municipal officials in thestate or, for that matter in any otherpart of the country where spacecomes at a premium, connive at eachother. In the Mumbra case, the TMCofficials just ignored the complaintsthat the tower had come up on tribalor forest land. One thing that hascome out clear is that the building hascome up on a reclaimed land underwhich ran a nullah, which carrieddrainage water, after the TMC offi-cials and a local corporator, who havenow been arrested along with a se-nior police official, had helped. Thetwo builders, who were slapped with

culpable homicide charges, too havebeen taken into custody.

Understandably, chief ministerPrthviraj Chavan has ordered an in-quiry into the collapse. But what istragic is that the chief minister be-came wiser after the event to admitin the state assembly that the build-ing was completely illegal and mayhave come up on tribal or forest land.He further informed the house thatThane had 57 “very dangerous” and1,159 “dangerous” buildings thatwere illegal and in which nearly88,000 people lived. But if one wereto take the entire figure of illegalstructures in Thane district alone, assubmitted by the state government tothe Bombay High Court three yearsago, it had touched the five-lakhmark. It must have multiplied intoseveral more lakhs in and aroundMumbai by now.

No doubt, the Indian real estatemarket is vibrant in nature. Sincemajority of people prefer to investin real estate sector, more for long-term investment than for accommo-dation, those in real estate businessare out to make quick bucks. Theonly solution to this escalating prob-lem is a stringent law that will makebuilders wary of certain standards.In fact, the Union Housing Ministryhas proposed a specific clause to beincluded in the revised Real Estate(Regulation and Development) Billit is likely to introduce.

If the proposed bill gets the cabi-net and parliament nod, the builderswill have to utilize 70 percent of themoney collected for a particularproject to spend it in that project andit would to avoid delays. The billseeks to establish a regulatory bodyfor the real estate sector to ensuretransparency in property or real es-tate transactions, besides other ben-

efits which are aimed at protectingthe consumers. But, as would oneexpect, there is a widespread oppo-sition from the builder lobby.

What happened in Mumbra isnot unique. There have been sev-eral such cases of official apathyin the past. One such instance thatcomes to my mind is anotherseven-storey structure that thatcame down like a pack of cardsin the Lalita Park area of the na-tional capital a few years ago. Inthis unauthorized East Delhicolony, the building had come upusing substandard material.Thirty-four people had died andmore than 60 people were injuredin that accident. An inquiry wasordered by chief minister ShielaDikshit then, but nobody knowswhat happened after that.

However, I do hope the probeordered by Prithviraj Chavan doesnot meet the same fate. In most casesonly a cursory inquiry is made andnotices serviced on illegal construc-tors or, at worst, penalties levied.The builders after paying up penal-ties go scot-free. The builder lobbyis so strong and powerful that poli-ticians cannot survive without itspatronage as they look up it to fundthem during elections. Corruptionand greed is such a deep-rooted dis-ease in our body politics that it can’tbe pumped out of our system over-night. It needs the biggest politicalwill. But which party has the cour-age to bell the cat? Still the remark-able thing about the efforts of livingat the grassroots is the salutation tothese people who have no resources.Jai Ho has become a salutation to alarge extent. If the worst could beavoided, the slum dwellers wouldcome out of the bondage of povertyas the days go by.

tion maintained system of politicalgovernance.

Corruption could be synony-mous to human activities and is es-sentially outcome of ignorance,greed and mismanagement. How-ever, under the influence of globalnews media communications, thereis an emerging impulse of awarenessof the changing realities of the land-scape – masses are coming out of theslumber and questioning the incom-petent and corrupt politicians. Butpoliticians are part of the problemsand cannot be part of any rational so-lutions. Over half of a century of con-tinued military rule has incapacitatedthe body politics of the nation by dis-mantling all of its public institutions.The only institution that works is thecorruption and corruption across theboard. One wonders, who is not cor-rupt in Pakistani politics?

Could the institutions of corrup-tion be terminated by the judgmentsof the Supreme Court alone? Thepeople of Pakistan need to under-stand the problems as they are with-out political illusions. Pakistan facesmanifold problems within and out-side for its survival. The immediateone is to disconnect its affiliationwith the US led bogus “war on ter-rorism” and to restore a sense of nor-malcy by facilitating a new non-par-tisan government under new lead-ership. Pakistan’s political-gover-nance problems have originatedfrom the self-centered militarycoups and dictatorial policies dehu-manizing the politics and essentiallyincapacitating the nation of its cre-ative thinking positive energies forfuture-making.

In global context, Pakistan’s re-lations with America assume the topmost importance. Most Pakistani po-litical-military minds have ingrainedAmerican orientation one way oranother. Some openly have sold tofollow the US dictum as did

Musharaf and Zardari and others in-directly for personal survival. Cur-rently there appears to be a mutualtrust deficit as America keeps onsending daily killer drones on Paki-stani civilians and interference indomestic politics. Bruce Riedel, Oneof Obama’s advisors on Pakistan andthe War on Terrorism (“Battle for theSoul of Pakistan” 1/4/2013,Brookings Institute and Centre forMiddle East Policy) calls it “2013could be a transformative year for thecountry, indeed it will be the battlefor the soul of Pakistan.”

Bruce Riedel thinks that ‘Paki-stan will be a failed state by 2030.’He dose not spell out the truth thatselfish and incompetent PakistaniGenerals have degenerated the think-ing culture of the nation where ac-cording to Riedel “One measure ofPakistan’s instability is that the coun-try now has between 300 and 500private security firms, employing3,00,000 armed guards, most run byex-generals.” What makes the ex-Generals to create a culture of fearand insecurity? Is it the ex-Generalsor the bogus War on Terror they haveperpetuated? Is it that they draw theirafter service gratuities from suchcrime-riddled adventures? He addsthat “So, it is no wonder that the gen-erals prefer to have the civilians re-sponsible for managing the unman-ageable, while they guard their pre-rogatives and decide national secu-rity issues. As important as the com-ing elections will be, the far moreimportant issue is who will be thenext Chief of Army Staff.”

Bruce Riedel warns; “Thechanges in Pakistan are unlikely tocome peacefully and will have majorimplications for India and America.The stakes are huge in the most dan-gerous country in the world.” Comewhat may, Pakistanis are a morallyand intellectually conscientiouspeople. At public conscience level,

evil is known evil and good is good.If most politicians are indifferent tothe prevalent public culture and be-lieve in exploitation of the amasses,the political Change must be viewedas a vital aim and priority for theelection process. To envisageANEW Future out of the plannedideas and ideals, it is important thatGeneral Musharraf, Zardari, Sharifs,Chaudaris and so many other col-laborative monsters must be heldaccountable in a public court of law.If this does not happen, it will beunthinkable to foresee a new begin-ning or a promising future.

The Election Commission ap-pears too weak or perhaps politi-cally indoctrinated by the affluentclasses not to take proper actionsagainst the corrupt politicians.There were 248 previous MNA’sand other provincial parliamentar-ians with bogus educational de-grees, why they were not chargedwith willful deceptions and consid-ered misfit to stand for anotherelection? Does the Election Com-mission needs democratic educa-tion and orientations? Lookingat the current events, the deadpoliticians are again raising slo-gans to serve the interests of thepeople of Pakistan. There aremultiple political stunts beingstaged by the politicians. Couldthe dead Bhuttos-Zardaris —Sharifs and the Generals be a ref-erence point or a changing forcefor the making of the future?

Is this not what the Pakistanipeople should organize themselvesto strive as a worthy aim and achieveit? The people of Pakistan mustthink and be prepared to struggle tochose politicians who are educated,honest and do not have criminalrecords, otherwise, the election willbe an exercise in futility and it willbe politics as usual of Evil, not Goodfor the common folks.

Kuldip NayarEmail:kuldipnayar09@gmail.com

Mahboob A Khwaja Email: kmaboob@yahoo.com

Voice of the People

Pakistan as awelfare State

M OSAMA AFNAN HANAFI

A welfare state is determined by thetype of government, if the govern-ment provides services for the wel-fare or well-being of its citizens en-tirely then it is known as a welfarestate. Such a government is a partof the lives of its people at everyextent. It caters to the physical, ma-terial and social needs rather thanthe officials catering to their ownneeds. The main objective of awelfare state is to essentially cre-ate social and economic equalityand to ensure fair standards of liv-ing, fair access to justice, freedomof faith and speech and completetransparency in decision making ofofficials and executives.

The services that the welfarestate provides includes education,housing, sustenance, health services,unemployment insurance, days offfor sickness or injuries, additionalincome in special circumstances andequivalent wages through price andwage controls. Other services that awelfare state provides include pub-lic transportation, child care, socialpublic goods like public parks andlibraries, and other such goods andservices. Some of the services pro-vided could be funded by govern-ment insurance programs or taxescollected by the government. ImranKhan (Candidate in the Presidentialelections of Pakistan) has promisedto make Pakistan into a welfare stateaccording to newspaper headlinesand the current Benazir Income sup-port Program is supposed to aid Pa-kistan in becoming a welfare state.

To make this so called dreamcome true the leaders have tried toimplement a few methods to achievethis, like the democracy of the1960s, the nationalization of indus-tries in the 1970s and the Zakat andother Islamization practices in the1980s. In the 1990s under the ruleof Nawaz Sharif there were someconcrete steps taken like the creationof Pakistan’s Bait ul Maal - in otherwords a detailed social welfare pro-gram. However these efforts weresuccessful for a temporary periodand then their results seem to fadeaway. More efforts are required bythe government to improve the stan-dards of living of its citizens; mea-sures should be implemented perma-nently and should not be a tempo-rary phenomenon.—Karachi

Boston lock downM AHSAN KHALID

As some have pointed out, there isbarely anything to be said about theBoston Marathon blasts, as no evi-dence as to who did them has beenprovided. Two Chechen brotherswere identified as the suspects butneither has the motive for the attacknor a group behind the attack hasbeen identified. With one of thebrothers dead after a gun battle onFriday and the other arrested – al-beit covered with blood – on Satur-day, perhaps no further details shallcome out of the matter. The themesof media and public analysis remainthe same: recurring Islamophobia,sympathy for the victims, and theUS being under a perpetual terrorthreat from within and without. Theexpected response would also be thesame: another spate of hate crimesagainst ethnic browns in the US,another spate of wars abroad innewer territories and more pressureon foreign governments to reign interrorists.

According to the details thathave emerged the two suspects wereUS citizens, who had been living inthe US for over a decade. If proventhey were involved, it would requirea detailed investigation as to whatthe apparent target of the Marathonattack was. Perhaps, more than theattack, the lockdown of the Bostonarea for the manhunt, which left apolice officer stationed at the MITcampus dead has left a bitter after-taste. That thousands of police of-ficers were scavenging across Bos-ton, with the entire public transportsystem shut, businesses asked not toopen, also reflects an overreaction

Chou En Lai’s verdictBURHANUDDIN HASAN

It may be recalled that in the last days of the East Pakistan war, when all supply routes were cut off andthe Pakistan armed forces were on the verge of laying down their arms, Yahya Khan desperately sent

Mr Bhutto to Beijing to seek Chinese military intervention to save the Eastern Wing. I heard from a veryreliable source the amazing account which Mr Bhutto gave at a meeting of his encounter with Chou En-Lai, who was very fond of Bhutto and naturally very sympathetic to Pakistan in its hour of great na-tional crisis. As the conversation opened, Chou En-Lai asked Bhutto whether the overwhelming major-ity of Bengalis wanted to remain with Pakistan or separate from it. Mr. Bhutto answered in the negative.Chou En-Lai further asked whether the 90,000 Pakistani troops now engaged in hostilities were deter-mined to die to the last man to defend East Pakistan. Bhutto’s answer was again in the negative. The lastquestion the wise Chinese Premier asked was: Would West Pakistan be willing to bear the full brunt ofwar if Chinese troops were sent into East Pakistan and India attacked West Pakistan, as it surely must?Mr Bhutto’s answer was again in the negative. This probably was the best analysis of the East Pakistansituation which only a great statesman like Chou En-Lai could articulate. Since there was nothing muchleft to be said, Mr Bhutto ended his meeting thanking Chou En-Lai for China’s great moral and mate-rial support during the East Pakistan war. He understood that wars could not be won without greatsacrifices and the full support of the people.—Karachi

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

are requested to typetheir letters legibly withdouble spacing and only onone side of the paper.

—Editor

to the incident. Their father, based inMakhachakala in Russia, describedthe two boys as “angels,” with oneof them a second-year medical stu-dent. That the police chase began af-ter the two suspects “robbed a con-venience store” should also open upsome questions.

That said, President BarackObama’s promise to “find out whatturned two young US residents ac-cused of the Boston bombings to vio-lence” is merely rhetorical. It is im-possible that he does not know theanswer, only that his rhetoric beforehis 2008 election was not followedup in concrete policy. While, on theone side, the attack is a reminder ofthe threat the West faces, on the otherside, it is a reminder of the futility ofthe current aggressive foreign policy.The use of force produces more re-sistance. Increasingly airport vigi-lance or increasing the scrutiny ofthose visiting the US shall not help.The point rather is for the US to con-centrate on identifying the grievancesof the East – and in particular theMuslim world. SpreadingIslamophobia, as is being done byhawks inside the US establishment,shall produce more – not less – con-flict within the US and in the world.—Karachi

Tigers in crisisAQSA HYDER KHAN

Tigers are a fascinating, and endan-gered, animal. Tigers are the biggestmember of the cat family. Tiger cubs,at birth, are blind and cannot do any-thing for themselves. They onlyweigh about three or four pounds, andare cared after until they mature.Since 1900, the endangered tiger’shabitat and numbers have declined byup to 95 per cent. Poachers continueto poison waterholes or set steel wiresnares to kill tigers and tiger prey,selling their skins and body parts foruse in traditional Chinese medicine.

Despite 20 years of internationalconservation efforts, we are losingground to save the tiger as, on the en-dangered species list, all sub-speciesof tigers are considered critically en-dangered species. Of the eight origi-nal subspecies of tigers, three havebecome extinct in the last 60 years, anaverage of one every 20 years. TheBali tiger became extinct in the 1930’s.The Caspian tiger was forced into ex-tinction in the 1970’s. And the Javantiger followed in the 1980’s.

The number of tigers in the1900’s —over 100,000 — droppedto 4,000 in the 1970’s. Today, theyare a critically endangered specieswith the total of all the wild popula-tions of the five remaining subspe-cies (Bengal tigers, Indo-Chinese ti-gers, Siberian tigers, South China ti-gers, and Sumatran tigers) is an esti-mated 3,000 - 3,600 tigers. It isknown that all remaining tigers livein small, isolated populations inwidely scattered reserves.—Karachi

Obesity andits damagesAQSA HYDER KHAN

Accumulation of excessive body fatis known as obesity. Obesity is mea-sured and defined in terms of bodymass index (BMI). Obesity is alifestyle disease which is spreadingrapidly worldwide. Individuals of allage, gender and ethnicity are affectedby this disease. Still, a general trendhas been observed that women areaffected more than the men. The ten-dency to gain weight also increaseswith the growing age. However, analarming trend of childhood obesityis being noticed in the recent years.Obesity renders an individual suscep-tible to various other diseases likehypertension, coronary artery disease,type 2 diabetes, sleep apnoea etc.

Obesity is mainly caused whenthe intake of the calories exceed thedissipated calories. In simple words,when one tends to eat more than hisbody requirement . The extra fat startdepositing in the body tissues givingrise to obesity. Junk food is the mainculprit. Children are fonder of suchunhealthy food items and hence aregetting more affected by the risingincidences of obesity. The other com-mon cause is the lack of physical ac-

Stay out of Syria

President Obama is right to resist the mounting pressure formilitary intervention in Syria.

Action by US forces may or may notmake the situation better — but cer-tainly could make things worse. Thisassessment could change, of course.It would be reasonable to consider in-tervention if such action were neces-sary to protect US national securityinterests or prevent the kind of geno-cide we saw in Rwanda. At present,neither condition is met. This viewmay seem cold and uncaring. Accord-ing to the United Nations, more than70,000 people have been killed in twoyears of brutal conflict between rebelgroups and the heavily armed regimeof Bashar al-Assad. More than a mil-lion Syrians have fled the country, 3.5million more are internally displacedand major cities have been turned intorubble-strewn battle zones.

On Monday, Assad’s prime min-ister, Wael al-Halki, narrowly es-caped assassination in Damascuswhen rebels targeted his convoy witha car bomb. The attack demonstrated

that even in heavily guarded parts ofthe capital, the regime is vulnerableand under attack. And US officialsnow believe — but say they cannotbe certain — that the Assad regimemay have used chemical weapons inseveral instances against rebel forces.Obama once said this was a “red line”that Assad must not cross. Last week,he called reports of the use of sarinnerve gas a “game changer” thatcould provoke international action.

“We cannot stand by and permitthe systematic use of weapons likechemical weapons on civilian popu-lations,” Obama said. Note, however,the qualifiers “systematic” and “ci-vilian,” which appear to set a stan-dard of depravity that even the Assadregime has not reached. Obviously,the president is not eager to wade intoanother Middle East war. Critics whoare braying at him to do something— anything — to relieve the agonyof the Syrian people should have tospell out just what they think Obamaought to do. The hills, valleys andancient cities of Syria have little incommon with the empty deserts ofLibya, where the limited use of USair power in support of allied forceswas enough to tip the scales against

Moammar Gaddafi. Syria lies at theheart of the Arab world. Its heavilyarmed and deeply entrenched govern-ment has long had the support of suchpowers as Russia and Iran — and isstill backed by a substantial minorityof the population. The Assad regimeis weakened but far from defeated.

Official US policy is that Assadmust go. But if the Arab Spring hastaught the world anything, it is thatwhen despots are toppled, it matterswho takes their place. In the case ofSyria, which lies at a strategic cross-roads in an exceedingly dangerouspart of the world, it matters a greatdeal. The rebel “army,” such as it is,has been increasingly dominated byIslamist fighters who are provingthemselves well-organized, disci-plined and effective on the battle-field. Officials in neighbouring Jor-dan are concerned that Islamistsaligned with al-Qaeda could takepower in at least parts of Syria.Jordan’s King Abdullah, visitingWashington last week, warned of a“fragmentation of Syrian society”involving the rise of “militant ter-rorist organizations.”

It would be wrong to seek the sur-vival of a dictator as brutal and op-

Eugene Robinson

Views From Abroad

Trans-Asia trade corridor

Pakistan and Afghanistan havesince long been endeavoring tocobble a viable political and

diplomatic relationship but their lackof willingness to back up these ef-forts by steps in commerce andeconomy is hampering their efforts.

After the 1965 Afghan TransitTrade Agreement ran into snags in thelast several decades on account of in-crease in smuggling and adverse ef-fects on the Pakistani industry andbusiness, both Afghanistan and Pa-kistan felt need for renewing termsand conditions for bilateral and tran-sit trade. Being a landlocked countryand having passed through decadesof war with the former Soviet Unionon its northern frontiers, Afghanistandirely needed to promote its tradethrough Pakistan. Although Iran hadbeen trying to provide a cost effec-tive infrastructure for Afghanistan’strade with the outside world, the lat-ter, on account of multiple economicand political considerations, had anatural tilt towards Pakistan.

With the help of India, withwhich Iran had, at that time, cordialrelations in the wake of chill in itsrelations with Pakistani over policyregarding the post-Soviet Afghani-stan, Tehran not only set up andoperationalized its Chabahar Port butalso arranged a road and railway line

from its port city of Chabahar toAfghanistan’s Islam Qala borderpoint to provide an efficient passageway to the Afghan traders. However,most of the Afghan businessmen pre-ferred trade through Torkham andKandahar points along the borderwith Pakistan because, besides otherconsiderations, Peshawar and Quettaprovided a lucrative and the closestmarkets for the Afghan fresh and dryfruits. That is whythe Afghan gov-ernment had been trying hard to con-vince Pakistan on renewal of the tradeagreement.

At the second trilateral talks in2009 in Washington, Pakistani Presi-dent Asf Ali Zardari and his Afghancounterpart, Hamid Karzai, in thepresence of Hillary Clinton, the thenUS secretary of state, announced tobegin talks on signing a memoran-dum of understanding on promotionof transit trade, ‘which would ulti-mately allow India to use the Wagah-Torkham route for promotion of itstrade with Afghanistan.’ In October2010, the Pakistani cabinet approvedthe Afghanistan Pakistan TransitTrade Agreement.

Later, the Pakistani FinanceMinister Amin Fahim and his Af-ghan counterpart, Anwarul HaqAhadi held talks under the media-tory efforts of Richard Hollbrook,the US special envoy for Afghani-stan and Pakistan, at which theyagreed to allow Afghan trucks toreach goods to Wagah border andKarachi and Gwadar Ports. Both

sides also set up a joint chamber ofcommerce in November 2010 to ex-pand bilateral trade.

However, under the pressure ofits media and the political parties, par-ticularly the religious parties, Paki-stan did not agree to allow India topass its exports to Afghanistanthrough the Pakistani territory ‘be-cause of security reasons,’ albeit itallowed for India-Afghan tradethrough sea, as per the previous tran-sit arrangements. Pakistani officialsalso said that their transit agreementwas with Afghanistan, not India. Thisdecision annoyed the Afghan govern-ment and Kabul accused Islamabadof denying cargo access of Afghani-stan to Wagah border. Later, Pakistaniofficials favoured Afghanistan’s tradewith India but said that Indian truckswould not cross the Pakistani terri-tory. That they would unload thegoods at Wagah border from wherethe commodities would be carried toTorkham border in Pakistani trucks.Pakistan also raised the issue of bankguarantees for Afghan transit tradewith India. For its part, Pakistan isinterested in promoting trade and eco-nomic relations with the CentralAsian republics.

In July 2012, Kabul andIslamabad agreed to expand Af-ghanistan Pakistan Transit TradeAgreement to Tajikistan. Under theagreement, Tajikistan would usePakistan’s Karachi and Gwadarports for its trade with the outsideworlds. Similarly, Pakistan would be

able to have trade with Tajikistanunder same terms as with Afghani-stan. At that time, both Pakistan andAfghanistan described it as firststep toward establishing a north-south trade corridor between Cen-tral Asia and South Asia. However,due to mutual mistrust and crossinterests, the two sides have, in re-cent times, been giving a lukewarmshoulder to the mutual transit tradetransactions. While Pakistan is notwilling to include India in its bilat-eral arrangement with Afghanistan,the latter is reluctant to acceptPakistan’s demand to expand themechanism to Tajikistan.

The transit trade might prove astep that would not only boost tradelinkages and economic growth ofthe regional countries but also helpin ensuring political stability in theregion. If both countries set asidetheir mutual political different – andtheir false egos indeed – such atrans-regional trade corridor can bedeveloped to the benefits of all theconcerned countries and their pov-erty stricken people, which mightnot only include Pakistan, Afghani-stan, India and Tajikistan, but alsothe other countries of South Asia andCentral Asia, including Bangladesh,Maldives, Sri Lanka, Uzbekistan,and Turkmenistan. The history ofSilk Route will definitely take itscourse. The sooner the better for allthe regional states.—The author is a freelancejournalist based in Islamabad.

tivity. To properly digest the con-sumed food. Physical exercise iscompulsory. But the modern day sed-entary life style leaves less for it.Genetic predisposition also plays amajor role as a causative factor.

WHO has declared obesity as aglobal epidemic. Earlier, obesity wasseen as a disease of high-incomecountries only. But now, the globaltrend has been observed. There is anacute need to make the public awareabout the morbid effects of obesity.Outdoor sports and activities shouldbe encouraged by both the schoolauthorities and parents to tackle ris-ing cases of childhood obesity. Andhealthy eating habits and an active lifestyle should be adopted by the indi-viduals of all age groups and gender,to prevent obesity.—Karachi

Education &development

FAHIM HUSSAIN

This topic is very prominent and toocommon among us. Day and night weare discussing on this topic givingseveral answers with long conversa-tions. When I ask this question to myfriends and near one’s their answersare load shedding, poverty, inflation,terrorism and most common reply ourcorrupt leaders. Somehow it seemslike the responses are the daily head-lines of news. Although these thingsare happening in this present situa-tion and damaging our country.

I was expecting a one basic andmain problem which is ‘’Educa-tion’’. So now the initial step is con-sidering Education as a serious is-sue. If we seriously, present ad-vancement in the world is all becauseof quality education and priorknowledge with the need of time. Atpresent we are lacking in educationalinstitutions, where we are havingless effective teaching method andto a great extent our curriculum isnot maintained. Just because of thisthe fate of learner and the upcomingfuture of Pakistan is a big concern.Lastly it’s a request to people tofirstly consider Education as a bigasset and a dire need for everyone.—Karachi

Muhajirsfacing biasness

ALTAMASH BIN SYED

The situation of our country is badnowadays; Muhajirs are being killedin a large amount, from last few days,it has been reported Muhajirs are be-ing killed in vast quantity. Muhajirsare in minority as compare to others.Is this the reason behind this cause?On daily basis Muhajirs are beingtargeted and they are being murdered,they are being killed by explosion ofBombs on their offices and placeswhere they gather collectively.Muhajirs are not at all safe in ourcountry; day-by-day killing ratio isincreasing with a high rate. Which isa very serious issue and it shouldbring to an end.

Muhajirs are also a part of Pa-kistan than why are they beingtreated like a crap? Families areworried due to this situation and is-sue, families are afraid of sendingtheir children away from home, it’sbecause of the target killing andbomb blasts all around the countryparticularly in Karachi. Governmentshould take rapid stroke against thispractice. These differences will endup Muhajirs rapidly, instead of end-ing up Muhajirs from our countrywe should try to end up this issuerapidly, so that it can be easy forevery individual to live a happy livewithout making differences. Gov-ernment should take a rapid actionagainst this burning issue.—Karachi

For the sake of satisfaction, Universal Declaration of HumanRights (UDRH) is a milestone

document in the history of humanrights; the document was drafted withthe collaborative consent of differentlegal and culture backgrounds. Its ar-ticles highlights the basic right of a hu-man being; the most universal rightamong them is “Everyone has the rightto life, liberty and security of person”.Taken in true spirit the statement re-flects the basic human rights of secu-rity, freedom and the right to be aliveon his/her own terms.

If Implemented in the true spiritearth will become a peaceful planetwhere the inhabitants will finally ac-cept the existence of other humans andtheir rights. But then again there aresome obstructions in the way; it is nota legally binding document. The sig-natories to the document themselvesbreach it when and where required. In

the contemporary world we hearpeople talking of interdependencies,economic dependencies, lesser wars,and equality. In my opinion thesethings have only contributed towardsa discriminatory society where thehigher powers are exploiting the re-sources in the name of free trade , tar-iff reductions , and finally in the nameof a global village. These have di-rectly affected the lives of humans.And their rights have been deniedsince their living standards are af-fected. Organizations such as EU,NAFTA are for the Americans andEuropeans, which will surely givethem a competitive edge over the oth-ers in terms of price, and production.They also argue that this interdepen-dency have prevented wars. But therewere more wars fought between 1948the time of the declaration till nowthan ever. And the United Nationsplayed the role of a silent audience.

Life is not about breathing and eat-ing it has more to it. You should begiven the chance to practice your reli-gion without being subjected to dis-crimination. In case of our religion any

crime committed by a Muslim it is notthe individual but the religion whichis convicted. Girls are prevented fromwearing hijabs, since according tothem it makes them the object of at-traction and hence subject to discrimi-nation. On the other hand there Nunsare always seen around wearing thatbut never stopped. They have goneto the extent of expelling girls fromeducational institutions on the chargeof wearing hijabs.

In some countries, people havemade cartoon images of the HolyProphet (PBUH), and the productionof Anti-Islamic Film, portraying himas a terrorist and questioning his teach-ings. But then again the United Na-tions were not able to stop it in spiteof the fact that the feelings of billionsof Muslims were hurt and there werea few agitations in some Muslim coun-tries and some have registered com-plains to the United Nations. Thesewere denied on the excuse of freedomof speech and expression. The rightgiven to the police to shoot and kill isa violation of the UDHR articles.There are cases in UK where Irish

HR violations & politics

With Modi vying for it,Rahul Gandhi refusingit, Manmohan Singh

hesitantly peering at it, the PM’schair seems much in the news allthe time. So I take the next flightto Delhi, race down Race CourseRoad and find security letting mein on orders from the most pow-erful chair in India. The PM’s kursiis rocking away quite agitatedly,

“You’re quite agitated?” I ask. “Idon’t think I have long to live!”“Now, now,” I say, going up to thesixty something old chair, “There’snothing that a good carpenter can’tfix, let me see, your arms are okay,your…” “Ouch!” shouts the PM’schair. “Ah! Your back is hurting?”

“If you’ve been leaned on fornine years it’s going to ache, what?”“Yes,” I agree, massaging the back,“I don’t need to guess who leanedon you!”

“Italian women don’t knowhow to lean,” pants the PM’s kursi,“They don’t lean for support, theypush, full body weight, relentlessly,purposefully, without easing a mo-

ment, then in the last year the sonjoined in! It hurt with both leaningon me and with that Manmoahanallowing dem to do it!” “Just lean-ing don’t break a good chair,” I saystubbornly.

“What about rocking? I’m not arocking chair, but I’ve been rockedthroughout my life! The only time Iwasn’t was in my first few years. Butwhen the Chinese invaded I gotrocked a bit till the old man sittingon me blamed his defense minister,fired him and the rocking stopped!”

“So you’ve been rocked andleaned on?” I ask. “And pushedaround a bit too.” “Most chairs have,”I say, making my way to the gate.

An old chair..!“You don’t believe I haven’t longto live?” shouts the PM’s kursi. “It’syour imagination!” I shout back.“It’s not! Come back!”

“No!” “Please! Please!” I walkback reluctantly, it’s not everydaythe PM’s kursi say ‘please.’“What?” I ask. “You think I can takebeing leaned on?” “Yes!” “Okayleaning and rocking and maybesome pushing?” “Sure,” I say,“That’s what chairs are for!” “But,you think an old chair like me canhandle a fellow like Modi just sit-ting on me? “Then,” I whisper,“You’re a gonner. That will be theend of the PM’s chair.!”—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

pressive as Assad solely because ofhis effectiveness in squelching mili-tant Islam. But it would be foolishto give advanced weapons and train-ing to rebels who, after dealing withAssad, are likely to threaten US al-lies and interests. The United Na-tions is powerless because Russia,using its veto, will forbid any mean-ingful action by the Security Coun-cil. This means that if the UnitedStates were to intervene, it wouldbe perhaps under NATO or as partof some “coalition of the willing.”But while there’s lots of gnashingof teeth in Western capitals, there islittle stepping up to the plate.

Would US intervention at leastsave civilian lives? Perhaps. But if,say, the regime responded to a US-enforced no-fly zone by using its ar-mored vehicles in even more brutalattacks against innocent towns andvillages, what would we do then?Try to destroy all the tanks as well?Start using drones to blast Assad’spalaces in hopes of taking him out?Put boots on the ground? What’shappening in Syria is enough tobreak your heart. But for now, theright thing to do is to stay out.— Courtesy: The Washington Post

people were killed on the charge ofaccusing them of being terrorists lat-ter on found other wise. Where byUK is the signatory of the declara-tion. Muslims living in Europe orAmerica are subjected to discrimi-nation on regular basis and their livesmade hell for no reason what so ever.Dr Aafia Siddiqui a very learnedPakistani is given life imprisonmentin America accused of being Al-Qaeda member. On the other handthe release of Raymond Davis is de-manded despite the fact that he hasallegedly killed two innocent Paki-stanis. Still he is involved in the mis-deeds. There is a long list of “Why’s”which are questionable. But some-times these questions are seems likea big joke, particularly in the Inter-national Politics. Are these declara-tions for the Americans and Europe-ans only? If it is for Humanity as awhole then in my opinion it is themost contradictory. At the end whatcould I say is that: “If you don’t be-lieve in your own words don’t ex-pect others to believe it”—The writer is NDU student.

Madeeha RazaEmail:liaqat2007@yahoo.com

Abdul Hadi MayarEmail: ahadimayar@gmail.com

IDPs in camps are prone to diseases

ANP ready to forgive bloodif militants start talks: Adeel

M SARWAR AWAN

ISLAMABAD—Senator HajiMuhammad Adeel, a prominentleader of Awami National Party,has said, “We’ll forgive the bloodof slain ANP workers if militantsagree to negotiations seriously”.

The Senator made this offerto militants speaking during aseminar arranged by FATA Re-search Centre entitled “IDPs ofFATA: Issues and Challenges’and launching of a report pertain-ing to the security situation ofFATA here at a local hotel onTuesday.

The speakers highlighted theplight of the Internally DisplacedPersons living in different campsin Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who areprone to a number of diseases.They brought into limelight theissues of IDPs amidst the persist-ing wave of extremism and mili-tancy in FATA and urged the gov-ernment to ‘do more’ for theirrehabilitation.

The chief guest of the semi-nar, Ahmer Bilal Sufi, FederalMinister for Law, Justice andParliamentary Affairs said that

people should be aware ofPakistan’s international commit-ments to tackle the issue of ex-tremism and radicalization. “Weneed to distinguish between pres-sure and obligation”.

Ibrahim Shinwari, a politicalanalyst, said, “The number offactors that compelled people todisplace due to escalated mili-tancy varies across the FATA.Drone Strikes, suicide bombingand other terrorist activities haveaffected the innocent civilianpopulation in the Federally Ad-ministered Tribal belt during thisprolonged conflict”.

He added that elders hadbeen forced by the militants tosend young people to their groupswhile capturing their sources oflivelihood. This also caused massmigration from FATA.

Syed Zaheer-ul-Islam Shah,Director General Provincial Di-saster Management Authoritysaid, “People of KhyberPakhtunkhaw and FATA have notbeen suffering due to their ownfaults but due to the vested inter-ests of international community”.He informed the audience that

IDPs from Bajaur, Mohmand andOrakzai had returned to theirhomes while phase-wise repatria-tion of IDPs of Kurram and SouthWaziristan is in process.

Mr Shah said that 165,427families are still living as IDPsand added that more than 19,000people recently arrived fromKhyber Agency are still living asIDPs.

Gul Bat Khan Afridi the headof IDP Shura said the recent blastin Jalozai Camp had claimedmore than 18 lives but still nosecurity measures have beentaken for the camp but ironicallycamp management has takenstrict security measures for them-selves.

Dr. Ashraf Ali presidentFATA Research Centre said,“Until and unless the issue of ter-rorism and militancy is resolved,the rehabilitation of FATA IDPsseems day dreaming”.

FATA Research Centre, anIslamabad based think tank, alsolaunched a report revealing thesecurity situation in FATA dur-ing the first quarter of 2013 at thisoccasion.

CHANGE OF NAME

I have changed the name ofmy son Haisam SohailGondal as Haitham SuhailGondal. He should be calledand written accordingly.

Suhail Gondal 3, KhanPlaza Rehmanabad

Rawalpindi.

ther stated that he believed thearrow, cycle and bat have joinedhands ahead of the polls.

Earlier, Imran Khan hadchallenged PML-N chief NawazSharif to a live TV debate andsaid Nawaz should not fear theconfrontation if he is a true leader.

Apart from his rebuttal ofallegations raised by PTI Chair-man, Shahbaz also spoke on therecent attacks on the AwamiNational Party, PakistanPeople’s party and theMuttahida Qaumi Movement

Arrow, Bat, Bicycle will evaporateFrom Page 1

activists. “Interim PM and theElection Commission of Paki-stan is responsible to put a stopto these attacks and we stronglycondemn them,” he said.

Lashing out at rivalry PTIchief, former Chief MinisterPunjab, Shahbaz Sharif Tuesdaytermed Imran Khan as chiefpolling agent of former militarydictator Pervez Musharraf.

Shahbaz Sharif viewedKhan could not separate himselffrom support of then-presidentPervez Musharraf during refer-

leader in Chitral in view of hisrecord development works andconstruction of Lawari TunnelProject carried out during his ten-ure and would easily win fromNA-32 if allowed to contest elec-tion. He said people were the realjudge to decide about fate of can-didate in elections.

“Tolerance and patience aremust for undiluted democracyand it is must for all political par-ties to educate people for ensur-ing real democracy in the coun-try”, he argued. He said main aimof the Federation is to integratepeople. He said Gen Musharrafhad served the country with bestof his abilities and registrationof treason case against himwould open a new Pandora Box.He prayed before the court toallow his candidate to contestelections from NA-32 Chitraland set aside the verdict of theElection Tribunal.

The Chief Justice observedthat whenever the dictator tookover, the country was plungedinto crisis, adding in past dicta-tors did not allow politicalschooling to grow. He said con-tinuity of democracy was mustto grow mature political leader-ship. He said the country canmove forward towards progressand development by strictly fol-lowing law and constitution. Hesaid 1973 constitution was unani-mously adopted and it was theprime responsibility of the judi-ciary to defend it.

Announcing the decision,Justice Dost Mohammad Khancited that Musharraf had imposedan illegal emergency, targeted thejudiciary and confined the judgesin their homes along with theirchildren; therefore the court wasimposing a life-time ban on theretired general, barring him fromcontesting polls for the nationaland provincial assemblies as wellas the Senate.

The Court ruled the findingsin the judgment of the ElectionTribunal in addition to other rea-sons noted by this bench are goodenough for the disqualification ofGen (Retd) Pervez Musharrafand dismissed all the five identi-cal petitions of the petitioner. Thelearned Court ruled that all thepetitions in this case are dis-missed and lifetime ban is placedon him for contesting electionsof any house of the parliament.

MusharrafFrom Page 1

Durrani committed suicide afterkilling of his wife and three chil-dren.—Online

Finance DirectorFrom Page 1

slashed in the light of interna-tional market. In Rawalpindi,Islamabad, Murree, Attock andMultan, LPG is now available atRs105/kg. While in Lahore,Faisalabad, Gujranwala, Sialkotand Gujrat, LPG will be sold atRs100/kg.

According to new prices ofLPG, Gilgit, FATA,Muzaffarabad, Naran, Kaghan,PSW has recorded Rs 110Kgwhile Rs1258 domestic prices.

In other areas of countryRawalpindi, Murree, Jhelum,Islamabad, Rahim Yar Khan,Attock, Mirpur includingBahawalpur has recorded Rs 105Kg while Rs 1198 domestic.Meanwhile, Lahore, Faisalabad,Gujranwala, Sialkot Gujrat hasrecorded Rs 100 Kg while domes-tic Rs 1150 and Karachi Rs.95 and1090 domestic prices have re-corded.—Online

LPG priceFrom Page 1

of so called “servant of Punjab”40 thousands people were mur-dered, 27 thousands kidnapped inthe province while other crimeswere on highest level in Punjabadded that police was busy inescorting Sharif family whichcosted millions of tax-payersmoney. “Those who let the na-tion down for five times couldnot be given another chance asthey just cannot outdo them-selves. They are hardwired toplunder. Doing any good to theircountry is against their verygrain”, he said.

He said Sharif brothersshould not forget that country-men were not a flock of sheep orgoats, who they will be able todrive by leading them down thegarden path every time.—Online

Imran firmFrom Page 1

Nizami assures INPcompensation forgutted equipment

ISLAMABAD—Minister for In-formation and Broadcasting ArifNizami said on Tuesday that thecaretaker government would takeall possible steps to compensatethe Independent News Pakistan(INP) for equipment burnt in amysterious fire at its head officeon Sunday morning.

During a visit to the burntbuilding of the news agency, heassured that an inquiry would beheld in to the tragic incident andhe would personally call the In-terior Minister to ensure timelyinvestigation.

Expressing his sympathieswith the INP management and itsstaff Nizami said that with thegrace of Allah Almighty no lossof life occurred in the incident.

He also appreciated the INPmanagement for making alter-nate arrangements to continue theagency’s service in difficulttimes.

The minister also visited theprotest camp of INP employees.

A mysterious fire gutted theIslamabad office of INP on Sun-day morning. There were reportsthat electrical short circuitingmight have caused the fire but theemployees suspected a foulplay.—APP

ISLAMABAD: President National Press Club Farooq Faisal briefing Minister for In-formation and Broadcasting Arif Nizami about the blaze in the office of INP news agencyon Tuesday.

this purpose defies the Consti-tution of Pakistan and the demo-cratic process and considers allforms of bloodshed justified,then, does the fight against thisenemy of the state constitutesomeone else’s war?”

He said even in the historyof the best evolved democraticstates, treason or seditious up-risings against the state havenever been tolerated and in suchstruggles their armed forceshave had unflinching support ofthe masses; questions about theownership of such wars havenever been raised.

“We cannot afford to con-fuse our soldiers and weakentheir resolve with such misgiv-ings,” he added.

“In line with the spirit ofthis occasion, alongside Paki-stan Army I would like to ex-press my profound appreciationfor FC, Rangers, Police, Fron-tier Constabulary and Levies,who have sacrificed tremen-dously in the struggle againstterrorism and extremism andhave kept the flag of Pakistanfluttering high,” the Army Chiefsaid.

However, he said, the big-gest sacrifice has been renderedby the people of Pakistan, whosesteadfastness and support is asource of immense strength forthe Armed Forces of Pakistan.“I salute the spirit of patriotismof the entire Nation.”

General Kayani said martyr-dom is a great honour and for-tunate are those who are blessedwith it.

“We all sincerely pray forthe families of the Shuhada.May Allah grant them strengthand fortitude! Ameen!”

Kayani assuresfull support

From Page 1

The , former president willbe kept at his farmhouse in ChakShahzad earlier declared as sub-jail.. Pervez Musharraf, who wason a 4 day physical remand, wasnot produced by FIA before thecourt Tuesday for security rea-sons.

FIA lawyer, ChaudhryZulfiqar told the media that theirinvestigation from Musharraf hasbeen completed and therefore, noextension in his physical remandwas required.

Later, the court ordered himto be sent to jail on 14 day judi-cial remand and the hearing wasadjourned until May 14.

It may be recalled that dur-ing previous hearing formerpresident Pervez Musharraf washanded over to the Federal Inves-tigation agency (FIA) on physi-cal remand till 30 April BenazirBhutto murder case.

The ATC allowedBalochistan police to interrogatePervez Musharraf in the murdercase of Nawab Akber Bugti whowas killed in 2006.

A 25-member team of DeraBugti police had filed an applica-tion to the ATC seeking inclusionof former army ruler in the assas-sination case, stating thatMusharraf was wanted by the po-lice. The ATC, however, rejecteda plea for immediate physical re-mand of Musharraf.—INP

Musharraf sentFrom Page 1

already scheduled. Moreover atleast 17 of the 22 attending par-ties including the PML-N,PML-F, JI and JUI-f also de-manded for Army troops to bedeployed at sensitive polling sta-tions in the province. ANP,MQM and PPP did not supportthe call to bring in Army.

Haleem Adil Sheikh, be-longing to the Pakistan MuslimLeague–Q initiated the meetingtalking about the need for freeand fair elections adding thatthat the deteriorating securitysituation was not helping thecause. Jamaat-i-Islami’s Moh-

PPP, MQM, ANP oppose deploymentFrom Page 1

ammad Hussain Mehenticritised the government and se-curity agencies for failing to pro-vide security and demanded thatthe army be called in.

The meeting was attendedby provincial home secretary,additional chief secretary ofhome department, InspectorGeneral Sindh police and Direc-tor General Rangers, Karachi.

The 22 political parties par-ticipating in the APC includemainstream parties such Paki-stan People’s Party, MuttahidaQaumi Movement, PakistanTehrik-i-Insaf, JI , Awami Na-

tional Party, Pakistan MuslimLeague–N, PML-Q, PML-Functional, PPP-ShaheedBhutto, Mohajir Qaumi Move-ment–Haqiqi, Sunni Tehrik,Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam–F, JamiatUlema-i-Pakistan, MajlisWahadat Muslimeen, MuttahidaDeeni Mahaz, All Pakistan Mus-lim League.

Moreover, nationalist par-ties such as the PakhtunkhwaMilli Awami Party (PkMap),Sindh United Party, AwamiTehreek, Sindh Taraqi-passandParty and Qaumi Tehrik alsotook part in the meeting.

endum. I challenges him (forlive debate), but he escaped in-stead; former chief minister ofPunjab, the most populous prov-ince of the country said duringa conference in Lahore.

Imran Khan was favoringMusharraf during its referendumto validate his presidency whichhe got after a coup in 1999. Nev-ertheless, Khan after reviewingthe attitude of the dictator with-drew his support and became astrong voice against measures ofPervez Musharraf.

not directly deal with law and or-der however it has handed overcopies of the said report on na-tional security to the caretaker fed-eral ministers suggesting that thegovernment should at least set upa mechanism for implementationof the PCNS report.

The commission also sug-gested that a separate divisiondirect under the control of theprime minister, which would in-clude representatives of all intel-ligence and law enforcementagencies/departments divisionsof the provincial and federal gov-ernments respectively, should sittogether under one roof at the PMSecretariat and adopt necessarymeasures on daily basis to solvethe problem. “At least give it atry leaving the final results toAllah almighty. And if anyonehas a better solution, it shouldalso be shared immediately be-fore the caretakers to go home,”said the ECP statement.

ECP wardsFrom Page 1

killing of two of his party work-ers. He said MQM was being tar-geted recurrently in incidents ofterror and bomb blasts, addingthat it was a plot to sabotage hisparty from taking part in the com-ing elections.

He also agitated against thekilling of MQM’s Hyderabadcandidate Fakhrul Islam lastmonth who was contesting forthe Sindh provincial assembly’sPS-47 seat. Altaf demanded ofthe President, caretaker PrimeMinister, caretaker Interior Min-ister and Chief Election Commis-sioner to arrest those responsibleand adopt emergency measuresto curb terrorism.—INP

2 MQMworkers killed

From Page 1

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A 15-Member Af-ghan Youth delegation ex-changed views with students ofNational University of ModernLanguages, on matters ragingfrom US Withdrawal from Af-ghanistan to May elections inPakistan.

The Afghan Youth delega-tion comprisisng men andwomen from the capital Kabuland other provinces of Afghani-stan was led by Mr. MohammadYousuf Ghaznavi, Senior Out-reach and Advocacy Advisor,Counterpart International, Kabul.The delegation is on a week-longvisit to Pakistan as guests of Sus-tainable Peace and DevelopmentOrganization, Islamabad. Thevisit is aimed at discussing op-portunities, challenges and strat-egies pertaining to youth partici-

Afghan, Pak youthshare regional vision

pation in the peace and concilia-tion process in both the countries,raising awareness as well asbuilding trust and mutual under-standing in youth of the twocountries.

The delegation had a veryproductive inter-active sessionwith the Faculty and students ofInternational Relations, Conflictand Peace Studies. The Pakistanistudents asked searching ques-tions relating to precarious secu-rity situation in Afghanistan, USwithdrawal by the end of 2014and the role of India in the post-withdrawal scenario.

Head NUML Internationalrelations department Dr ZA saidQureshi said, there is a silver-lin-ing in Pakistan, given the fact thatthe media is very vibrant, judi-ciary is completely independentand there is a lot of awarenessamong the masses.

Monday night and his bullet-riddled body was found on

Tuesday morning.But Levies sources said that

armed gunmen had opened fireon Magsi’s vehicle killing theindependent candidate along

Electoral candidate killedFrom Page 1

with his relative and two secu-rity guards. He was contestingelections as an independent can-didate for Balochistan Assemblyfrom Jhal Magsi.

The attack was followed byan exchange of fire between

armed men and supporters ofMagsi. An announcement waslater made by the provincial elec-tion commission of Balochistanthat elections would be post-poned in Jhal Magsi due to theincident.

HEADINGLEY: Stuart Broad was back at the bowling crease on the second day during Yorkshire vs Derbyshire, County Championship, Division One.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Saly Samson,the brother of IPL’s young-est player (Sanju Samson)to score fifty in IPL, hadundergone shoulder sur-gery last week (inCoimbatore) and while rest-ing at his home inTrivendrum had all time towatch every ball of the IPLmatch between RR andRoyal Challengers.

“We are all very happyand excited with his perfor-mance”, he said over tele-phone.

“He was lucky enoughto get the opportunity toplay his natural game to-day”.

“Rahul sir (Dravid) re-

Sanju can bat at everyposition, says his brother

shuffled the batting orderand Sanju scored 63 runs.But I can tell you Sanju canbat at any number”, thebrother, Saly, who also playsfor under25-State team,added.

Sanju, at 18, became theyoungest to score 50 runs inIPL. “At the age of 13, he wasselected for Kolkata KinightRiders selection trials. Lastyear also, he could not getthe chance to play and we areproud of his performance to-day”, the brother added.

“No, he is not only for“fatafat” cricket. He can playall versions of the game. Hehas scored runs in the do-mestic matches and we ex-pect him to score many moreruns”.

According to his brother,Sanju is the above average

student in his academy ca-reer. “He score above 90percent of marks in SSC. Hehas appeared for 12th Com-merce examinations (St. Jo-seph School) and result isawaited. He hopes to com-plete his graduation inthree more years”.

The family is awareabout the fact that the IPLbrings a lot more money.“He is matured enough andunderstand his responsi-bilities. We have no con-cern and we are sure themoney would not bring badimage to our family. He isnot a party boy”, thebrother added.

“My brother does notplay for money. He wantsto enjoy the game. Moneyis not everything to him”.the brother concluded.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Ahmed Jamalfrom Abbottabad won theUfone – ‘King of Speed’ ofRs.1 Million grand prize af-ter clocking the highestspeed of 143 km/h here onthe final day at Ufone – PCBfast bowlers camp.

Other fast bowling con-testants Muhammad Imranfrom Karachi marked thespeed of 136 km/h, whereas,Abdul Ameer and, FaisalYaseen from Faisalabadmanaged to bowl at thespeed of 135 km/h.

The recent Ufone “Kingof Speed” trials held acrossthe country managed tobring in more than four thou-sand fast bowlers, each

wanting to find a place at theNational Bowling camp andtrying his best to win a prizeof Rs.1 Million.

Ufone announced an-other chance for the luckyfour, who had qualified forthe national training camp towin the cash prize on last dayof camp. The condition toreach or top 145km/h was setaside and any bowler whowould clock the highestspeed would be declared thewinner.

Ahmed Jamal who stands6 feet 4 inches and won thegrand prize after proving him-self the fastest bowler said,“I am pleased and excited af-ter winning this grand prizeand showcasing my talent toan expert like Wasim Akram.

Under the supervision ofWasim Akram, I have learneda lot about different tech-niques used in fast bowling;this camp will help me a lotin the days to come.”

He said that his initial aimwas to join the training campto improve his bowling skillsbut since Ufone announcedanother chance to win thecash prize, he tried very hardto deliver the fastest speedto win the prize offered byUfone.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Wasim Akram, formercaptain of the nationalcricket team and also thebrand ambassador of fastestdata cellular network, Ufonesaid, “I am happy to see thatwe still have great fast bowl-

Ahmed Jamal Wins Ufone – ‘King ofSpeed’ Grand prize of Rs. 1m

ing talent in Pakistan, wejust need to find that talentand polish our youngsters.Fast young bowlers likeAhmed Jamal are the futureof this country; they canbecome part of our nationalteam and take Pakistanicricket to new heights ofglory.”He said that Ufone and PCBhad done a tremendous jobby bringing together youngemerging fast bowlers andproviding them with an op-portunity to showcase theirtalent. He also hoped thatUfone and PCB will con-tinue to organize suchhealthy and useful eventsin the future and that wouldbe a great service to Paki-stani cricket.

Bajaur CricketUmpires, Scorers

Associationmeeting held

PESHAWAR—The inauguralmeeting of Bajaur CricketUmpires and Scorers Asso-ciation, meeting held at AlHuda Model School, SadiqAbad Patak Bajaur Agencywith members of all thoseumpires who attended thetwo days training courseconducted by former TestUmpire Prof. Mian SaidAhmad Shah and PCB Panelumpire Sohail Khan.

The aim of the meetingwas to organize for the pro-motion of the game ofcricket in its true letter andspirit, and to ensure that thegame is played with all itsfairness.

In the meeting the rulesand laws pertaining to cricketwere discussed while keep-ing the local playing condi-tions.—APP

South Asianbodybuilding

postponedLAHORE—The 10th SouthAsian bodybuilding champi-onship slated to be held herefrom May 2-6 has been post-poned, Pakistan Bodybuild-ing Federation announcedon Tuesday.

“We received requestsfrom a number of SAARCcountries to postpone theevent”, said Sheikh FarooqIqbal, Secretary PBBF.

“The new dates will beannounced in due course oftime after consulting the par-ticipating countries”, headded.—APP

LAHORE—Pakistan haveappointed the AustralianTrent Woodhill as their bat-ting coach for the ChampionsTrophy. He will join the squaddirectly in England and willbe on probation for threeweeks with the national sidein June.

Woodhill, 42, is currentlypart of the support staff withDelhi Daredevils in the on-going IPL. He was NewZealand’s assistant coach tilllast year and has also beeninvolved with MelbourneStars in the Big Bash Leaguein Australia.

“He was offered a short-term role as batting coachand he has accepted it,”Intikhab Alam, PCB Directorinternational cricket, told re-porters. “His services will beon trial and if the manage-ment is happy with his workhis contract will be ex-tended.”

The decision to appoint

Trent Woodhill appointedPak batting coach

Woodhill followed seriousconcerns over Pakistan’sfragile batting, which floppedduring their 3-0 rout in theTests in South Africa earlier

this year. The team also lostthe five-match one-day se-ries 3-2. Pakistan had beenhunting for a batting coachfor the last year and a halfbut never settled on one can-

didate.In response to a PCB ad-

vertisement last year, severalformer players, includingZaheer Abbas and SaleemMalik, applied for the rolebut the PCB had insisted onhiring a candidate with atleast a Level 3 coaching ac-creditation and a minimum offive years’ experience work-ing with top cricketers. Pa-kistan appointed the formercaptain Inzamam-ul Haqahead of the India tour lastyear but he wasn’t retained.

“He (Woodhill) was pre-ferred over the former play-ers in our country only be-cause of his qualification,”Alam said. “These days,coaching qualificationshave become very neces-

sary. He is an experiencedcoach and has worked withvarious teams, but if the ex-periment goes wrong, it’s athree-week contract, not alengthy one.”—INP

Karate C’shipat Faisalabad

LAHORE—Faisalabad willhost the 22nd National KarateChampionship and NationalJunior Karate Championshipfrom May 3-5 at CrescentSports Complex.

Teams from all the affili-ated units of Pakistan KarateFederation includingWAPDA, Army, Railways,Police, Punjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Balochistan,Sindh, Islamabad and FATAwill be displaying their talentin the event.

The championship willbe held in the followingevents / weight categories(Seniors), IndividualKumite,below 50 kg, below 55kg,below 60 kg, below 67kg,below 75 kg,below 84 kgand above 84 kg besidesteam kumite, individual kataand team kata. (Juniors U16),Individual kata,below 48kg,below 52 kg,below 57kg,below 63 kg and individualkata.

PKF is also organizingReferee / Judges Course onthe side lines of the competi-tion . Nearly 50 referee / judgesfrom all over country will beattending to upgrade their ex-isting knowledge.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Marium Mirzaof Lahore shocked ShahidaFarooq in ladies singles’ firstround match of Subh-e-nauClay Court Tennis Champion-ship here at Islamabad Club onTuesday. Marium played verywell against fourth seedShahida Farooq and defeatedher in straight sets.

In another fixture, MeheqKhokhar defeated Alina Khanby 6-4 and 6-0.

M. Abid, Usman Rafique,Fahad Masood, M. Mudassarand Imad Amir qualified forquarterfinals of men’s singles.Top seed M. Abid brushedaside Rehan in first match ofthe day. M. Mudassar hadgood time against ArhamAtique in the second match.

Asadullah, M. Muzammil,Hasnain Amjad, Shakirullahand Arham Atique won theirrespective matches in BoysJuniors U-18 matches.

M. Muzammil and Huzaifawon their Boys U-14 matches.Results: Men’s Singles (sec-ond round): M. Abid bt M.Rehan 6-0, 6-1, Fahad Masoodbt Mr. Rizwan 6-2, 6-3, M.Mudassar bt Arham Atique 6-

Marium upsets Shahida inSubh-e-Nau Tennis C’ship

2, 6-4 Usman Rafique bt Dr.Farrukh 6-0, 6-0, Imad Amir btAhmed Mahmood 6-0, 6-0.Boys Juniors U-18 (secondround): Asadullah bt ShafiBagri 6-1, 6-0, M. Muzammil btMuneeb Sajid 6-0, 6-3, SairemSahir bt Sami 6-2, 6-0, WaqasBaig bt Waqas Masih 6-0, 6-3,Hasnain Amjad bt M. Wamiq6-1, 6-1, Shakirullah bt BehramHabib 6-1, 6-3, Arham Atiquevs Haris Irfan 6-0, 6-1. Boys U-14 (second round): M.Muzammil bt Abdullah Hasan6-0, 6-2, Huzaifa bt MikaelNaqvi 6-1, 6-0. Men’s Doubles(Quarterfinals): M. Mudassar/Arham Atique bt Fabio De

Feo/Paul Bonnet 6-2, 6-2 FaizanKhurram/Ahmed Ch bt AbbasKhan/Tahirullah 6-0, 6-1.

Ladies Singles (firstround): Meheq Khokhar btAlina Aftab 6-4, 6-0, SaraMansoor w/o Lanny, KainatKhan w/o Natalia, Rida Khalidw/o Shahida Badshah, MahinAftab w/o Amna Khan,Mehvish Chishtie w/o FatimaMansoor, Mariam Mirza btShahida Farooq 6-2, 6-3Wednesday’s Fixtures Men’sSingles 9:00am to 11:00am,Boys U-18:- 11:00am to 1:00pm,Boys U-14:- 1:00pm to 3:00pm,Ladies Singles:- 2:00 pm to 4:00pm.—APP

GOSFORD, AUSTRALIA: Michael McGlinchey of the Mariners pleads for a free kickafter being fouled by Kim Changsoo of Kashiwa during the AFC Champions Leaguematch between the Central Coast Mariners and Kashiwa at Bluetongue Stadium.

OEIRAS: China’s Shuai Peng returns the ball during herPortugal Open first round tennis match Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD—The 17th AsianIndividual Squash Champion-ship (seniors) will roll into ac-tion here at Mushaf SquashComplex from Wednesday.

“As many as 43 players,including 19 female playersfrom nine Asian countries willchip in the five-day extrava-ganza”, Senior Vice Presidentof Pakistan Squash Federation(PSF) Air Vice Marshal SyedRazi Nawab told media here.

Both male and female play-ers from Pakistan, China, Ma-laysia, Hong Kong and SriLanka will feature in the event,whereas male players of Ku-wait, Jordon, Iran and Iraq willtake part in the event. He saidover 21 foreign officials includ-ing coaches and referees hadalso arrived. He said the PSFwas making all-out efforts tohost the event in a befittingmanner. “The championshipwill help bring international

squash back to Pakistan,” hesaid. To a question he said se-cure accommodation had beenarranged for the players andtechnical delegates.

Pakistan Squash Federa-tion (PSF) in its Annual Gen-eral Meeting for 2012 hadasked Punjab Squash Asso-ciation (PSA) to host thischampionship, as they hadsuccessfully hosted AsianMasters Championship inSeptember 2012 in Lahore. Pa-kistan being the hosts willhave 12 players in this cham-pionship, including six female

The national men outfit willbe comprised of Amir Atlas,Farhan Zaman, FarhanMehboob, Nasir Iqbal, DanishAtlas and Ali Bukhari. Whilefemale team is consisted of ofMaria Toor, Rushna Mehboob,Zoya Khalid, Saima Shaukat,Riffat Khan and SamarAnjam.—APP

17th Asian IndividualSquash C’ship begins

No CaribbeanTests for PakistanISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s tourof the West Indies this yearwill comprise five ODIs andtwo Twenty20 internationalsbut no Tests, because of thedifficulty in finding a windowfor a full tour.

“The Pakistan issue, it’sfair to say that we haven’tcompletely concluded nego-tiations or the final dates, butwe’re confident that will bedone shortly,” WICB chiefexecutive Michael Muirheadsaid in Port-of-Spain. “Itwon’t be a Test series any-more; we’re going to be fo-cussing on five ODIs and twoT20s. We have just notfinalised with Pakistan, themsigning off on the schedulewe have been provided”ESPNcricinfo reportedMuirhead as saying.

The WICB presidentDave Cameron said he was nothappy about the absence ofTests but there was little thatcould be done.—AP

Mardan, Peshawarto clash in KP U-17

Girls BadmintonPESHAWAR—Strong title con-tender Mardan and Peshawarset-up final showdown afterdefeating their respective rivalsin the semi-finals of the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Inter-RegionGirls Under-17 BadmintonChampionship being playedhere at Wadood Hall, QayyumSports Complex Tuesday.

International Coach of theDirectorate of Sports KhyberPakhtunkhwa Syed Jaffar Shahwas the chief guest.GeneralSecretaries KP BA Haji AmjadKhan and PDBA Mian SadaqatShah, national coach HayatUllah, teams officials, playersand spectators were alsopresent. Before the start of thesemi-finals matches the playersof Mardan, Peshawar, DeraIsmail Khan and Bannu wereintroduced to him.

He lauded the efforts of theDirector Sports (WomenGames) Rasheeda Ghaznavi forholding the nine events of thetotal 14 teams to be organisedthis year.

He said the Directorate ofSports is very keen to haveequal opportunities for bothmale and female.The male ac-tivities are also continuedand a total of 28 games wouldbe organised wherein onlyUnder-17 male and female areeligible to take part, headded.

She said a team out of theChampionship will be short-listed for the camp like we didin other disciplines which willrepresent KhyberPakhtunkhwa in the forth-coming PSB Inter-ProvincialYouth Under-16 BadmintonChampionship for both fe-male and male to be organisedhere by the Directorate fromMay 16-18.

She said the camp for theboys and girls will be organisedon May 2, with collaborationof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bad-minton Association underqualified coaches.—APP

Net Effect NetballProgramme todayLAHORE—Pakistan NetballFederation is organizing NetEffect Netball Programme forGirls from May 2 (today) atSir Syed Girls College, WahCantt.

The three-day beneficialactivity is being organised incollaboration with Interna-tional Netball Federation andIslamabad Netball Associa-tion.

“We are confident thataround fifty schools will beattending the programme“,said Mudassar Arain, Sec-retary, PNF here on Tues-day.—APP

Power tariff up byRs1.34 per unitISLAMABAD—National Elec-tric Power Regulatory Author-ity (NEPRA) has approved in-crease in power tariff by Rs 1.34per unit under fuel adjustment.Central Power PurchasingAgency (CPPA) had sought in-crease of Rs 1.37 per unit, stat-ing that production of 6,000MWexceeded Rs 54 billion due toadditional usage of fuel duringMarch. However, NEPRA ap-proved Rs 1.34 increase in elec-tricity tariff. New tariff will beapplicable after Water & PowerMinistry’s notification.—INP

Azerbaijan, PakNavies cooperationBAKU, AZERBAIJAN—Azerbaijani and Pakistani navieswill hold discussions on coop-eration in military-technicalsphere, Azerbaijani DefenseMinistry’s press service said onTuesday. The issues on coopera-tion in various fields betweenthe two countries’ navies will bediscussed in Karachi on May 2-3, the Defence Ministry ofAzerbaijan said. Azerbaijani ser-vicemen attended “Aman-2013”multinational naval exercise inKarachi, in March, 2013.—INP

Gas pipelineblown upNASEERABAD—Some uniden-tified persons blew up an 18-inch diameter gas pipeline inMalgazar area of Naseerabadlate on Monday, halting gas sup-ply to several parts of Sindh in-cluding Karachi. A team fromShikarpur was dispatched to thearea to start repair work and re-store the supply.—INP

Security forcandidates, votersISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Tuesday directed pro-vincial governments to improvelaw and order situation duringMay 11 general elections. Whilehearing a case pertaining to elec-toral reforms, a three-memberbench headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryissued directives to all the fourcaretaker chief ministers to en-sure peaceful process of elec-tions and make conducive envi-ronment for election campaigns.The court ordered chief secretar-ies of Sindh, Balochistan, Punjaband Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to pro-vide security to candidates andvoters.—INP

Governor Punjabcalls on PresidentKARACHI—Governor PunjabMakhdum Syed AhmedMahmud called on PresidentAsif Ali Zardari here at theBilawal House on Tuesday.Overall situation in the provinceparticularly security arrange-ments for holding free and fairelections were discussed duringthe meeting. The Governor ap-prised the President about vari-ous steps being taken to main-tain law and order in Punjab andto ensure holding of free, fairand transparent election in theProvince.—APP

China erectsfifth tent in

Daulat Beg OldiHAMEED SHAHEEN

MU Z A F FA R A B A D—Chinatroopps entering 19 km insideDaulat Beg Oldi forward sectorhave set up the fifth sdecurity-watch tent with a fluttering ban-ner that reads, “You are in Chi-nese side”. Daulat Beg Oldi,media reports say, is a frontaldividing line, thought to be ofhigher strategic value in militaryterms. Ladakh is highly resist-ing mountainous region.

It can be a part of Pakistan-China Silk Route which wasoperative in olden times. Chinaand Pakistan are closest neigh-bor practically believing in andacting together in the regional aswell as international arena.

Their mutual approach dip-lomatically and via public del-egations raises a highest level ofmutual confidence by both gov-ernments.

Pakistan and China hadsigned a border agreement backin 1958. The only aquatic accessto the international seas forChina is via Gwadar sea port.Recently the government of Pa-kistan handed over Gwadar’sseat port for hanlding by thePeople’s Republic of China tothe reported anger of some“power”. China has huge invest-ment almost in every functionalsector of Pakistan economy.

The biggest hydropowerprogect - Neelumn-Jhelum -would produce on completion969 MW of power. China canalso undertake another huge re-forestation project in AJK, a lu-crative initiative indeed.

Habib chalks outsecurity plan forholding fair polls

ISLAMABAD—Federal Ministerfor Interior, Malik MohammadHabib Khan visited Ministry ofForeign Affairs where he up-dated Ambassadors, High com-missioners and Diplomats on thesecurity plan for conduct of gen-eral election-2013 in Pakistan.Federal Minister for Interior,Malik Mohammad Habib Khansaid that Government of Paki-stan will ensure security acrossthe board according to the Con-stitution and the guidelines setby the Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP) for holding fairand free elections.

He said that he has visitedall provinces and met stakehold-ers across board and found po-litical leadership enthusiastic forparticipating in upcoming gen-eral elections, and the securityforces had a high morale.

He said that we as Interimsetup are here to ensure securityfor process of election so that thetransfer of power to the electedrepresentatives takes placewithin the prescribed period asin the Constitution.—Online

SHEIKHUPURA: Former Prime Minister and PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif addressing ahuge public meeting.

Huge electioneering expenses make a mockery of EC rulesMUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—It is the season ofelection rallies and door-to-door campaigns. Candidatesare losing no opportunity towoo people in whatever waythey can.

Although, there’s a strictban on election material suchas buntings, posters and ban-ners, politicians have plannedtheir campaigns rathercolourfully and got the sup-porters to make as much noiseas they can.

The economists havefailed to pin down the exactfigure of estimated amount tobe spent in elections by thenational as well as the provin-cial candidates across thecountry. The candidates claimthat their election expenses

are within the limit set by theElection Commission of Paki-stan but ground realities tell usdifferent story.

Talking to Pakistan Ob-server Adnan Gul, an advocateof the Lahore High Court saidthe law imposes a limit on thelevel of spending by or on be-half of every candidate in theconduct and management ofhis election.

“This is to ensure a levelplaying field between candi-dates. Without such a limit,parties with greater resourceswill gain advantage throughspending more for publicityand awareness.

This leads to distortions inthe democratic process,” add-ing he said any spending by oron behalf of a candidate in ex-cess of the limit set by the law

is an election offence called anillegal practice.

The expenditure towardsthe number of vehicles usedfor campaigns, posters, hand-bills and other election mate-rials will have to be includedin the candidate’s election ex-penses and turned in to theElection Commission,” ob-s e r v e sGul.

P r o -v i n c i a lElection Commission’sspokesman said the EC moni-tors and regulates the vehiclesused by the candidates and ex-penses towards election cam-paigning. The candidates havebeen asked not to spend lav-ishly.

As many as 24, 000 candi-dates are contesting elections

from national and provincialconstituencies across thecountry and if a candidatespends approximate Rs 5 mil-lion in elections, the aggregateamount will exceed hundredsof billion rupees. The econo-mists believe that a colossalportion of black money willbe spent during this election.

Accord-ing tothe eco-

nomic experts, billions of ru-pees have been spent on vari-ous mediums of the advertise-ment including Panaflex. Ear-lier, the candidates used to gethelp of the painters for draw-ing of their sketches but nowthey can get hundreds ofprints of their pictures withinminutes. Majority of the can-

KALABAGH: Chairman Tehrik-i-Insaf Imran Khan addressing a public meeting on Tuesday.

didates are using Panaflex fortheir advertisement which isthe latest medium for adver-tisement.

Second medium being usedfor election campaign is mes-saging through cellular compa-nies. Candidates are campaign-ing through mobile messagesand Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf(PTI) is using this mediummore effectively for spreadingthe electoral messages of itsleader Imran Khan.

Catering business is alsogetting highest profit duringthis election as candidates needcatering including chairs, tablesand utensils for election meet-ings and public rallies. Anotherbusiness that flourishes duringelections is transport since thecandidates already have bookedthe vehicles on rent for their

election campaign at higherrates as compared to normaldays.

Another sector that isearning money with bothhands is painting, printing andcomposing. In cities the busi-ness of Panaflex is flourish-ing while in rural areas thecandidates are still dependingon wall chalking, banners andposters.

Similarly, those dealingwith UPS and generators arealso earning reasonable profitsince due to load shedding.Video makers and photogra-phers are also making profitduring this election season.The candidates are also spend-ing million of rupees for theirown security since they havehired hundreds of professionalbody guards.

AMSTERDAM—Queen Beatrixof the Netherlands has handed thethrone to her son Prince Willem-Alexander.Queen Beatrix, 75,signed the instrument of abdica-tion in Amsterdam after 33 yearson the throne.Willem-Alexanderhas now become the country’sfirst king since 1890.

Huge crowds of orange-cladpartygoers are in Amsterdam topay tribute to the popular queen,who maintained a recent Dutchtradition to hand over to a newgeneration.

‘Heart-warming affec-tion’Queen Beatrix announcedher intention to stand down inJanuary, saying her son wasready to reign and that it was

Dutch Queen Beatrixabdicates to her son

time for the throne to be held by“a new generation”.

She formally relinquishedthrone at a short ceremony in theRoyal Palace on Tuesday, sign-ing a statement which read: “Inow withdraw from my officeof Queen of the Netherlands,and the monarchy will now betransferred to my eldest son,Willem-Alexander.

“There were huge cheersfrom the crowds outside, watch-ing on giant screens, as she andthe prince and his wife signedthe deed.Willem-Alexander isnow king, and will later be offi-cially sworn at the Nieuwe Kerk,before a joint session of theDutch parliament.—BBC

MEIKHTILA—In Myanmar’scentral heartlands, justice andsecurity is elusive for thousandsof Muslims who lost their homesin a deadly rampage by Buddhistmobs in March.

Many are detained in prison-like camps, unable to return toneighborhoods and businessesrazed in four days of violence inMeikhtila that killed at least 43people, most of them Muslims,displaced nearly 13,000, andtouched off a wave of anti-Mus-lim unrest fuelled by radical Bud-dhist monks.

“It’s for their own security,”

Muslim victims of Myanmarunrest face uncertain future

said a police officer at a campinside a sports stadium onMeikhtila’s outskirts. The campholds more than 1,600 peopleguarded by police with orders notto let them leave, said the officer,who declined to give his name.

A dawn-to-dusk curfew hasbeen in force in Meikhtila sincethe government declared martiallaw on March 22. Skeletal wallsand piles of rubble are all thatremain of Muslim homes andbusinesses that once covered sev-eral blocks at the heart of thetown of 100,000 people in thecenter of Myanmar.

Trials have begun, but so faronly Muslims stand accused,raising fears that courts will fur-ther aggravate religious tensionby ignoring the Buddhist ring-leaders of the violence.

The unrest and the combus-tible sectarian relations behind itare one of the biggest tests ofMyanmar’s reform-minded gov-ernment, which took power inMarch 2011 after almost half acentury of hardline military rule.

Myanmar is a predominantlyBuddhist country, but about 5percent of its 60 million peopleare Muslim.—Online

Sarabjit’s familylikely to returnas his condition

worsensLAHORE—The distraught fam-ily of Sarabjit Singh, the Indianprisoner on death row in Paki-stan who was brutally assaultedlast week, is likely to returnhome after doctors have report-edly indicated that he was “clini-cally dead”.

Sarabjit’s lawyer AwaisShiekh told a news channel thatSarabjit’s sister, Dalbir Kaur,had expressed the family’s de-sire to return to India. “After thedoctors told her about Sarabjit’scondition, she had first told methat they wanted to go back to-day. But later, in their hotel, theysaid that they will go back to-morrow,” Shiekh told a newschannel from Lahore.

Sarabjit Singh, 49, was ad-mitted to a Lahore hospital in acritical condition after a viciousattack on him by fellow prison-ers at the Kot Lakhpat jail April26. He has been on ventilatorsupport ever since.

His lawyer said that mediahad asked Dalbir Kaur if thedoctors at Jinnah Hospital inLahore had sought her permis-sion to remove the ventilatorsupport from Sarabjit. India hadMonday appealed to Pakistanfor the release of SarabjitSingh’s release even as a medi-cal panel in Pakistan said thathe would continue to get treat-ment in Pakistan.

The ministry of external af-fairs in New Delhi had askedPakistan to take a “sympatheticand humanitarian” view onSarabjit. Dalbir Kaur, Sarabjit’swife Sukhpreet Kaur and daugh-ters Swapandeep and Poonam,had crossed from the Attari-Wagah border to Pakistan Sun-day afternoon to visit him inhospital.—Online

India will retaliate massively,if Pakistan uses nukes: Shyam

PML-N to take country ontrack of prosperity: Nawaz

Comprehensive plan of action needed to end terrorismOUR CORRESPONDENT

SANGLA HILL—Pakistan Mus-lim League-Nawaz (PML-N)Chief Nawaz Sharif has prom-ised that after coming into power,his will take the country to itsposition of prosperity anddevelopmnet, where it had left itin its previous tenure.

Addressing a public gather-ing in Sangla Hill, he said hisparty will serve the masses aftercoming into power. He claimedthat during his previous tenure,there was neither any power load-shedding nor lawlessness and ter-rorism.

The PML-N chief said thatduring his period, the country hadsufficient gas and electricity andthe government was consideringexporting electricity to India.

Nawaz Sharif said that at thattime Pakistan was ahead of all

regional countries, including In-dia but today it is behind all coun-tries in the region.

He said that after coming intopower, the PML-N will take thecountry to those position, whereit had left it in its previous ten-ure. He said his party will servethe masses after coming intopower.Meanwhile,President NawazSharif said that militancy and ter-rorism have no place in Pakistanand neither the laws of the coun-try nor the religious beliefs or thecultural traditions of its citizenssanction use of violence againstfellow humans.

He said that PML-N rejectsmilitancy and extremism andcondemns terrorism in all itsforms and manifestations. “Thereis no justification for acts of vio-lence, irrespective of any pretextor provocation,” Nawaz said.

He said that neither militancynor terrorism can be countered bymere use of force. “This is a prob-lem that has penetrated deep intothe vitals of society and thereforeneeds a well-thought out, com-prehensive and sustainable planof action that should include eco-nomic, social, administrative andpolitical initiatives and measuresto root out this menace,” he said.

Nawaz said that after com-ing to power, the PML-N gov-ernment would ensure integra-tion of FATA into the country’smain political mainstream.

He said that a crashprogramme would also belaunched to establish small andmedium size industrial enter-prises in the Tribal Areas to pro-vide gainful employment to theyouth and making them stake-holders in peace and security ofthese areas.

NEW DELHI—India will retali-ate massively even if Pakistanuses tactical nuclear weaponsagainst it. With Pakistan devel-oping “tactical” nuclear war-heads, that is, miniaturizing itsweapons to be carried on short-range missiles, India will protectits security interests by retaliat-ing to a “smaller” tactical attackin exactly the same manner, as itwould respond to a “big” strate-gic attack, said a report publishedin The Times of India.

Articulating Indian nuclearpolicy in this regard for the firsttime, Shyam Saran, convener ofthe National Security AdvisoryBoard, said, “India will not be thefirst to use nuclear weapons, butif it is attacked with such weap-ons, it would engage in nuclearretaliation which will be massiveand designed to inflict unaccept-able damage on its adversary. Thelabel on a nuclear weapon usedfor attacking India, strategic or

tactical, is irrelevant from theIndian perspective.” This is sig-nificant, because Saran was plac-ing on record India’s officialnuclear posture with the full con-currence of the highest levels ofnuclear policymakers in NewDelhi. Giving a speech on India’snuclear deterrent recently, Saranplaced India’s nuclear posture inperspective in the context of re-cent developments, notably the“jihadist edge” that Pakistan’snuclear weapons capability haveacquired.

Saran argued that as a resultof its tactical weapons, Pakistanbelieves it has brought down thethreshold of nuclear use. “Paki-stani motivation is to dissuadeIndia from contemplating con-ventional punitive retaliation tosub-conventional but highly de-structive and disruptive cross-border terrorist strikes such asthe horrific 26/11 attack onMumbai. —Agencies

Money and politics

THE “Cinnamon Challenge”, whichinvolves trying to swallow a teaspoon of cinnamon without water

within sixty seconds, has led to manycalls to poison centers, emergency de-partments visits and hospitalizations ofteenagers who requireventilator support for col-lapsed lungs.

Swallowing a tea-spoon of Cinnamonwithin sixty seconds is anearly impossible chal-lenge. Even on the onlinedare, there is a warning:“It’s going to burn, youare going to cough, andregret you tried.”

The Cinnamon Chal-lenge is a dare that hasspread throughout theInternet. While most chil-dren know about it, veryfew parents and teachersdo, researchers from theUniversity of MiamiMiller School of Medi-cine wrote in the journalPediatrics.

Steven E. Lipshultz, M.D., the GeorgeBatchelor Professor of Pediatrics andDirector of the Batchelor Children’s Re-search Institute, said:

“Given the allure of social media, peerpressure and a trendy new fad, pediatri-cians and parents have a ‘challenge’ oftheir own in counseling tweens and teensregarding the sensibilities of the choicesthey make and the potential health risksof this dare. Ingesting and Aspirating DryCinnamon by Children and Adolescents:The ‘Cinnamon Challenge.”

The authors said that parents needto be told about the Cinnamon Chal-lenge, and they need to advise their chil-dren about the dangers. Parental advicereally matters to kids, they added.“Schools and pediatricians should be

encouraged to discuss withchildren the ‘CinnamonChallenge’ and its possibleharmful effects.”

Co-author JudySchaechter, M.D., M.B.A.,Interim Chair of Pediatrics,was surprised to find outduring a recent dinner witha dozen pediatricians thatnone of them had everheard of the CinnamonChallenge.

Even though most teen-agers who choose to dothe challenge endure onlytemporary effects, the re-searchers wrote that poi-son centers are receivingan increasing number ofcalls related to the Cinna-mon Challenge, and more

kids are ending up in emergency depart-ments and being hospitalized.

Cinnamon is a caustic powder con-sisting of cellulose fibers which do notdissolve and are not biodegradable inthe lungs.

Animal studies have shown that cin-namon can cause inflammation of the air-ways and lungs (if it is inhaled), and itcan also cause lesions and scarring inthe lungs and airways. People withasthma, pulmonary cystic fibrosis,chronic lung disease or a hypersensitiv-ity to spice need to be especially careful.

The cinnamon challenge landsmany children in hospital

ISLAMABAD: Managing Director Oxford University Press, and Director, Karachi and Islamabad Literature Festivals, Ameena Saiyid OBEspeaks during the inauguration ceremony of the 1st Islamabad Literature Festival at a local hotel. Ambassador and Head of the European UnionDelegation Lars-Gunnar Wigemark and Nominee for the Man Booker International Prize 2013, Intizar Hussain are also seen in the picture.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD: Roots Pakistan team which win First Lego League International Cham-pionship 2013.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—China has adream and the dream will betranslated into reality whenwe will complete the processof modernizing our countryby the mid of this century”,said Liu Jian, the Ambassa-dor of People Republic ofChina.

He stated this while ad-dressing the prize distribu-tion ceremony of the 12thChinese Bridge – ChineseProficiency Competition forForeign Students, whichwas arranged by ConfuciusInstitute Islamabad and Em-bassy of the People’s Re-public of China at NationalUniversity of Modern Lan-

China endeavouring for economic, cultural development of Pakistanguages (NUML), Islamabad,Tuesday.

Mr Liu said that this is thedream of every citizen ofChina and every one of usmaking ones best possibleefforts for achieving thisdream. We also have a dreamabout Pakistan and we aregoing to merge both thedream. Under this dream weare working jointly for theeconomic, commercial, cul-tural development as well aspeaceful coexistence in thisregion. He said that this Chi-nese Bridge competition is abridge between China andPakistan and will help thepeople of both the nations tounderstand an enriched cul-tural, social, literary and aca-

demic heritage of the hostsociety.

Mr Liu told the studentsthat good grasp and under-standing of Chinese languagewill open you a new windowof opportunities. Besides allthis, Pakistan and China co-operated with each other inall critical and testing mo-ments to demonstrate theworld that our friendship ishigher than the mountainsand deeper than the oceans,he added.

Earlier to this, speaking onthe occasion, SenatorMushahid Hussain, ChairmanPak-China Institute, said thatthe model of Pak-Chinafriendship is unique in theworld in a sense that both

countries are different in size,population, culture and evenin belief but still their friend-ship is exemplified. It is exem-plified because they devel-oped their relations on certainprinciples. Mr Hussain saidthat the Chinese dream is adream of economic stability,peaceful coexistence, strate-gic harmony where is no oneis high lord or no body is un-derdog. Efforts of NUML andConfucius institute in promot-ing relations in the field of lan-guage and culture are admi-rable, he added.

Moreover, speaking at theoccasion, Rector NUML MajGen (R) Masood Hasan saidthat “The aim of this competi-tion is to arouse enthusiasm

of students in various coun-tries in learning Chinese andstrengthen the understand-ing of Chinese Language andCulture. We understand thatby holding such kinds of in-ternational activities, it notonly exposes our students toChinese culture and languagebut also enhances in them thegood will for Chinese people”

Besides, seven Pakistanistudents participated in the12th Chinese Bridge Compe-tition. The competition wasdivided into three parts andtheme of the activities was“My Dream About China”.Student has to deliver aspeech in Chinese languagein the first part, answer ques-tions of judges in the second

part and perform somethingin Chinese talent show whichwas third part of the competi-tion. Students delivered theirspeeches in Chinese, an-swered the questions withconfident and then performedcultural dances and Chinesesong to demonstrate theirmastery in Chinese language.

The first position waswon by Imran Zia, and thesecond position was won bytwo students Sadia Perveenand Usman Javaed. The win-ners of this competition willparticipate in Final Competi-tion of 12th Chinese Bridge –Chinese Proficiency Compe-tition for Foreign College Stu-dents which will be held inChina. The Rector NUML Maj

Gen (R) Masood Hasan,and Ambassador of PeopleRepublic of China Mr LiuJian gave away the prizesto the winners of the event.

In the end RectorNUML presented univer-sity shield to Chinese Am-bassador while ChineseAmbassador presentedhim a gift. The competitionwas also attended by theDirector General NUMLBrig Azam Jamal, ChineseCultural Counsellor MrZhang Yingbao, Head ofChinese Department, Headof Confucius Institute, fac-ulty members of Chineseand Confucius and otherdepartments of the univer-sity.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Roots Paki-stan team from Roots DHA1Flagship campus Islamabadwon the Exclusive JudgesAward for Resource Man-agement in Robot Design inthe First Lego League Inter-national Championship 2013held in St. Louis, Missouri,USA.

They have indeedbrought great honor for Pa-kistan. Team Roots Pakistanwas among the best 82 teamsout of 20,000 teams fromaround the world. The awardwas given by FLL chief pa-tron and judges. Captain ofthe team Waleed Kashif said,“It was a moment of great

pride to win the FLL champi-onship and see the Pakistaniflag waving high in the FLLPit Areas. We proudly sangour national anthem and dis-played our beautiful cultureat the World Festival. I amgrateful to my school RootsDHA1 Islamabad.”

The team members ofRoots Pakistan consisted ofCaptain Mohammad WaleedBin Kashif, AbduacllahGulraiz, Haider Ali Tariq, OmerKhalique, Rafay Arshad,Malik Samiullah & FaiqueShakeel with Mr. Saeed Akhteras their coach. Speaking onthe occasion, Ms. KhadijaMushtaq Executive DirectorRoots DHA1 Flagship campuscongratulated the students.

Roots team wins Int’lFLL Championship

Convocation ofBilquis College of

EducationCITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Convoca-tion Ceremony of M.A En-glish, M.A Education, M.Ed,B.A, B.Sc and B.Ed Courseswas held at Bilquis College ofEducation for Women, PAFBase, Nur Khan Tuesday.Professor Dr. MuhammadMasoom Yasinzai, Vice Chan-cellor, Quaid-e-Azam Univer-sity, Islamabad was the ChiefGuest on the occasion, whileAir Commodore (Retd) Dr. IjazAhmad Malik, Vice ChancellorAir University, Islamabad pre-sided over the ceremony.Begum Shehla Tahir, PresidentPakistan Air Force WomenAssociation (PAFWA) wasalso present on the occasion.

The Chief Guest awardedtrophy, medals and certifi-cates to the position holdersin various disciplines.“Quaid-e-Azam Trophy” forbeing the best student of theyear was won by Miss JamilaNaseer of B.Ed Course.

While addressing thegraduating students, Profes-sor Dr. Muhammad MasoomYasinzai, Vice ChancellorQuaid-e-Azam Universitysaid, “Education is growth,education is not the prepara-tion for life; Education is lifeitself. So, education givesyou the power to thinkclearly, the power to act welland the power to appreciatelife. It helps you to differen-tiate between what you doknow and what you don’tand to meet new ideas withcuriosity and fascination.”

The Chief Guest furthersaid, “It is a matter of con-cern that lack of educationhas hampered the steadyprogress of our nation. To-day Pakistan is faced with theproblem of illiteracy coupledwith over population whichhas added dimensions to ournational responsibilities.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The first everIslamabad Literature Festivalbegan here at a hotel on Tues-day with an objective to pro-mote literature and readinghabit among the residents ofthe Federal Capital.

The two-day event is or-ganized by the Oxford Univer-sity Press (OUP). About 70authors, writers and poets of

Literature festival beginsEnglish, Urdu, Punjabi andPashto languages werepresent at its inaugural ses-sion. The festival will con-tinue on Wednesday.

Addressing the inaugu-ral ceremony, Lars-JGunnarWigemark, country head ofthe European Union in Paki-stan, said that the EU wasthe largest contributor forpromotion of education inthe country.

He hoped that the Paki-stani nation would overcometerrorism. Pakistan has a richculture and history, headded.

Debates, discussions, in-terviews, talks, ‘Mushaira’,Dastan Goi (story telling), abook fair, book launches,reading and signings are themain programmmes in thefestival to entertain the visi-tors.

CITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—District Coor-dination Officer (DCO)Rawalpindi Rashid MahmoodLangrial has directed the As-sistant Commissioners (ACs)to make arrangements for hir-ing vehicles for transporta-tion of polling staff and elec-tion material.

This was stated by DCOat a meeting held here to re-view the arrangements for theelection day. The meeting wasattended by Additional Dis-trict Collector (ADC) SaifAnwar Jappan, AC Cantt,Saddar Kalar Syedan, GujarKhan, Kahota and KotliSattian, Zahid Sohail, NadiaPervaiz, Fahad Waqar Azeem,

Election 2013

Arrangements for transportationof election material

Tasleem Ahmed Khan, Capt® Bilal Hashim, SecretaryRTA Owais Tarar and others.

The DCO directed theACs to provide all facilitiesto the polling staff for thesmooth functioning of theelection.

The DCO also directedthe ACs to make special ar-rangements for transporta-tion of polling staff and ma-terial in hilly areas.

He said that on the in-structions of Election Com-mission of Pakistan (ECP),supply of election materialto the polling station is re-sponsibility of the admin-istration and the funds inthis regard has been re-ceived.

Hiace vehicles should bearranged and Secretary Re-gional Transport Authority(RTA) Rawalpindi shouldtalk to the transporters sothat in time supply of elec-toral material could be en-sured.

The DCO said that ACswill make all arrangementsand provide a map of the poll-ing stations to the wagondrivers and security staffwho will supply the electionmaterial to the polling sta-tions.

Meanwhile, for maintain-ing law and order during up-coming general elections,policemen’s training for elec-tion duties is in progress at thePolice Lines Headquarters.

I S L A M A B A D —Is lamabadHigh Court has given the au-thorities one week time to ini-tiate proceedings against theInspector General Police, BaniAmin for his alleged role inthe escape of Gen (retd)Pervez Musharraf.

Action against IG within a weekThe verdict was given,

here on Tuesday, by JusticeShaukat Aziz of the court.

The deputy attorneygeneral told the court that athree-member penal hasbeen constituted and its de-tails sent to the establish-

ment division. The panelmembers are, namely, QamarZaman Chaudhry, ShahidRasheed and ShahidullahBaig. He also said inquiry ofthe incident is progressing atits normal pace and will becompleted soon.—NNI

Conduciveenvironment forworking womenISLAMABAD—Chairman Sen-ate Syed Nayyer HussainBokhari has said that cre-ation of conducive workingenvironment for women isessential for enhancing theirproductivity and contribu-tion to national life and ulti-mately developing a progres-sive and positive society andfor achieving a respectableposition in comity of nations.

He was expressing theseviews in a first ever meetingheld by any Chairman Sen-ate with female officers andofficials of Senate Secretariatat Parliament house here.

The Chairman reiteratedthat the country belongs toeveryone irrespective of gen-der and hence no discrimina-tion should be made in thisregard.

The Chairman said that“we have zero toleranceagainst harassment ofwomen at work place as wellas any sort of gender dis-crimination.”—NNI

Mah-e-Iqbalactivities at PNCA

ISLAMABAD—The 2-day cal-ligraphy workshop in con-nection with Mah-e-Iqbalactivities concluded here onTuesday at Pakistan Na-tional Council of Arts(PNCA) with the distributionof certificates among theparticipants.

The workshop started onMonday to highlight the ide-ology of national poet AllamaMuhammed Iqbal, as thisyear, the month of April hasbeen declared as ‘Mah-e-Iqbal.’

Director of PerformingArt Division (PAD), ZulfiqarAhmad distributed the certifi-cates among forty (40) par-ticipants.—APPMay 2

ALLAMA Iqbal OpenUniversity’s final examsof matric, intermediateand bachelor for the se-mester Autumn, 2012 willstart from Thursday.

20 outlaws nabbedISLAMABAD—Islamabad Po-lice on Tuesday arrested 20outlaws from various areas ofthe city and recovered sto-len valuables items, weaponsand wine from their posses-sion.

According to policespokesman, SHO Nilorepolice stat ion InspectorMuhammad Aslam alongwith police team arrestedaccused Shahzad who waswanted to police in variouscrime of heinous natureand recovered stolen prop-erty amounting to Rs.200,000 and vehicle fromhim.—APP

“The higher you go in acompany, the lessoxygen there is, so

supporting intelligentlife becomes difficult.”

Rates for conversionKARACHI—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 and forproviding Forward Cover onForeign Currency Deposits(excluding F.E. 25 deposits)by the State Bank on May 2.The rates are U.S. Dollar Rs98.4468, Japanese Yen Rs1.0103, Pound Sterling Rs152.6418 and Euro Rs128.7094.—APP

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Water and Power, Dr Musadik Malik meeting with UAE consultant delegation.

KARACHI: SEVP & Group Chief, Global Home Remittance Management Group address-ing a Press conference.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

FAROOQ IFTIKHAR

A number of economistsand writers had alreadyidentified causes of

economic ills. Some hadquoted global recession whileothers termed decade-longwar on terror as the reason foreconomic meltdown. Theymight be correct but to me thereasons are altogether differ-ent as well as controllable.

Let me tell you in a bitfrank manner that we shouldnot underestimate the need forhaving a better understandingto the economic challenges.The remedies we prescribe,for the economy to move on

When going gets toughto a high growth providing ris-ing incomes and jobs to most Pa-kistanis, depend on our under-

standing of the ailments. If wedo not know what ails the bodyhow can we prescribe medi-

cines?I am convinced that incon-

sistency in economic policiesand bad governance are the rootcause of all ills and need to betackled on priority because anyfurther delay while all other is-sues including electricity short-age, gas unavailability, low tax-to-GDP ratio, deteriorating lawand order situation, high markuprate and fast widening fiscaldeficit are secondary in nature.Once the governance is im-proved and policies are madeindependent of political influ-ence, all other areas would reg-ister automatic improvement.

What good can you expectin a country where you have a

new Finance Minister everynow and then, four Governorsof State Bank in past five yearsor a Secretary of Commerce af-ter every four months and Fi-nance Secretary who is not sureof his tenure? These are impor-tant economic posts that provideeconomic direction to the coun-try.

In less than one year time,we witnessed rapid change atthese top offices. And this singlephenomenon broke hell on usand caused bigger damage thanany other thing. Had a little at-tention been given to ensureconsistency in policies, the eco-nomic situation today wouldhave not been so bad.

It would have been better onthe part of the government if,soon after assuming the charge,it had constituted an indepen-dent panel of experts for the sakeof identification of the economicissues and a well-tailored set ofproposals with a completemechanism of implementation.

Electricity Shortage: Theelectricity shortage and the un-availability of gas have crushedthe entire economic activity inthe country. The cottage indus-try, the backbone of Large ScaleManufacturing EnterprisesLSMEs, has come to a grindinghalt since these small business-men have no alternate arrange-ments.

There is no doubt that weneed to increase our power pro-duction capacities, however, themost matter to deal with is howto make our existing capacityfully operational.

Black Economy: The mon-ster of smuggling has also beenspreading its tentacles un-checked since the very birth ofthe country and today the blackeconomy in Pakistan has grownto be more than half the formaleconomy.

The country’s paralleleconomy had already gone wellover $100 billion, while consider-ing the total GDP of $200 billion.The underground economy is ex-panding at the rate of nine percent

against the real economy that iscrawling at a little above three per-cent and one can well imagine theamount of money being eaten upby the undocumented sector.

Law and Order: Law andOrder mainly is an issue of po-litical will. Had the governmentensured the posting of rightpeople, on merit, at all policestations and made the police hi-erarchy accountable from top tobottom, the situation would havebeen not so bad.

High Markup: Cut in markupis the equally important to keepPakistani merchandise competi-tive in the global market as in In-dia the markup rate is 7.5 percent,in Bangladesh it is 7.25 per cent,

in Nepal 8 per cent, Sri Lanka 7.5,Euro area 0.75 per cent, in Korea2.75 per cent, in South Africa 5per cent, Taiwan 1.88 per cent,Thailand 2.75 per cent, Egypt9.75 per cent, Brazil 7.25 percent, in Japan zero per cent,United States 0.25 per cent, UK0.50 per cent, China 6 per cent, ,Australia 3 per cent and in Indo-nesia it is 5.75 per cent.

The rate of markup in anumber of developing and de-veloped countries is enough tomake the point that State Bankof Pakistan would have to makedownward revision of rate ofmarkup.— Writer is the President ofLCCI

AMANULLAH KHAN

KA R A C H I—The NationalBank of Pakistan spearheadingtwo major economic contribu-tors i.e. Home remittances andCredit to agriculture sector byinitiating innovative productsto support the major economicareas of the country.

Khalid Bin Shaheen,SEVP/ Group Chief & Chair-man NBP Exchange CompanyLimited at a media briefingsaid that although Pakistan hassuccessfully tapped globalmarket of remittances whichlends a strong support of over$14 billion a year yet some 60

NBP initiates homeremittances via legal channels

percent of the remittances stillarriving through Hawala orHundi. However efforts areunderway to bring the remain-ing remittances into legalchannels.

Replying to a question re-garding attracting a hugeamount of foreign funds withoverseas Pakistanis throughincentives by introducingschemes like regularizing outof customs vehicles, he dis-closed that such schemes areunder consideration to attractinvestment from overseas Pa-kistanis by offering them in-centives.

It may be noted that India

which is largest recipient ofHome Remittances to the tuneof $69 billion a year of whichonly 35 percent are workers re-mittances while remainingflow of funds is remitted byIndians settled abroad. Na-tional Bank under the guide-lines of the State Bank is alsoconsidering to attract funds ofPakistanis in the investmentschemes in Pakistan.

In order to streamlinehome remittances, completelyrevamped NBP’s remittancesprocessing setup resultantlybeneficiaries can receive theirremittances in minutes fromacross the globe.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Ambassador ofTajikistan, Mr. Sher Ali S.Jononov called upon Mr.Sohail Wajahat Siddiqui, Min-ister for Petroleum & NaturalResources and discussed is-sues related to Energy andPower sector. Collaboration inEnergy sector of Pakistan wasthe main concern.

Tajikistan is the majorplayer in the Oil sector withproven oil reserves of 39.828billion barrels in 2012. Thecountry has natural gas produc-tion of 27.25 billion cubicmeters and consumption of

Tajikistan offers energysector cooperation

19.77 billion cubic meters mak-ing it a net gas exporter.Tajikistan has shown keen in-terest in investing in Oil andGas exploration and productionsectors of Pakistan. They arekeen to bridge over Energyshortfall of Pakistan. They of-fered to provide 3000 mega-watts of electric power. For thispurpose, they have offered toconstruct a 27 kms long trans-mission line from Tajikistan toPakistan. They also offered tosetup a grid station on Pakistaniside.

In order to alleviate theshortage of Energy and to meetthe future requirements of the

ISLAMABAD: Photograph show (Front Row) Faiq Said,Head of payment Services HBL, Nauman Dar, President andCEO HBL and Kazi Abdul Muktadir, Acting Governor StateBank of Pakistan.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Habib BankLimited (HBL), Pakistan’slargest bank, launched itsbranchless banking service‘HBL Express’. Mr. KaziAbdul Muktadir, Acting Gov-ernor State Bank of Pakistanand Mr. Nauman Dar, Presi-dent and CEO, HBL werepresent at the launch.

Speaking on the occasionMr. Nauman Dar said, “HBLExpress is another step by HBLtowards achieving its vision of

HBL launches morebranchless banking

supporting financial inclusionin the country. It will provideconvenient and reliable bank-ing services to the people of Pa-kistan.”

HBL Express will belaunched with Domestic Re-mittances and Utility Bill Pay-ments. The product portfoliowill be expanded to include In-ternational Remittances, Mo-bile Wallets, G2P Paymentsand Corporate Solutions in thenear future. To allow its agentsto conduct transactions, HBLExpress has pioneered in pro-

viding its agents withSmartphones equipped with acustom developed mobile ap-plication.

Addressing the gathering,Mr. Kazi Abdul Muktadir ex-pressed, “Pakistan’s branchlessbanking model supported bybanks is considered amongst thebest in the world. In a countrywhere over 90% of the popula-tion is unbanked, HBL Expresssupported by the bank’s distri-bution network will help recruitnew users to mainstream bank-ing.”

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Tax reforms keepingin view the ground realities are es-sentially required to steer economyout of hot waters was the focus ofthe Federation of Pakistan cham-bers of Commerce and Industry(FPCCI) in the proposals for bud-get 2013-14.

In fact the FPCCI in its bud-get proposals has prepared a num-ber of tax reforms in its quest tobroad tax net and bring more tax-payers into the net.

Zubair ahmed Malik PresidentFPCCI while finalizing the Bud-get proposal for the forthcoming

Tax reforms must for economic revival

FPCCI finalizes itsbudget proposals

Budget 2013-14 said that in orderto pursue more people into tax netall taxpayer should be issued a cardon the pattern of credit card titlesFBR National Identity Card underwhich all taxpayers should be givenone per cent concession on alltransactions, government pay-ments, utilities bills and govern-ment challans while non-tax pay-ers should be charged one per centadditional on all such transactions.Malik said that FPCCI would sub-mit its budget proposal to the gov-ernment and FBR very soon.

He said that the budget pro-posals submitted by FPCCI wouldpave way to the economic revival,

bring more taxpayers into tax netand revival of industry. He how-ever said that if the proposals pre-pared by the apex body of thecountry’s businessmen would notbe incorporated into federal bud-get the FPCCI would reject theFederal Budget 2013-14.

FPCCI in its proposals hasdeclared tea, coffee, tyres, PVC,POL products, electric appliancesand machinery, polythene, steelproducts, cigarettes, sulphonicacid, ceramic tiles, surgical instru-ments and medical equipment,mobile phones and spices as smug-gling prone and should be protectedfrom smuggling.

SBP holiday todayStaff ReporterISLAMABAD—The StateBank of Pakistan and alloffices of SBP BankingServices Corporation,including the Public DebtOffices, will remain closedon May 1, (Wednesday)being Public Holidaydeclared by the Governmenton the occasion of LabourDay.

Farooq Iftikhar

country, Mr. Sohail WajahatSiddiqui stated that Ministry ofPetroleum & Natural Resourcesshould be dynamic to meet newchallenges. The HonourableMinister, Mr. Sohail WajahatSiddiqui asked the Tajikistanside to come up with a conceptpaper so that a Government toGovernment negotiations maybe started. He also stated thatthe Ministry of Water andPower should be brought onboard regarding the said nego-tiations.

The Ambassador thankedthe Minister and showed keeninterest in keeping up bilateralties in oil and gas sector.

PIAF rejectshike in power

tariffSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Pakistan Industrial& Traders Association Front(PIAF) on Tuesday severelycriticized increase over rupee 1percent in electricity tariff andcalled for its withdrawal in thelarget interest of economy.

The Chairman PIAF MalikTahir Javed said that at a timewhen the entire country was fac-ing an acute shortage of electric-ity the business community wasunable to understand logic be-hind increase in power tariff.

He suggested to the WAPDAauthorities to focus on recoveryof outstanding dues instead ofburdening the consumers. He saidthat circular debt had alreadyreached alarming level but no at-tention is being paid to curtail itwhile the line losses under thehead power pilferage are also fastgoing out of proportion. The PIAFChairman said that if the increasein power tariff is not reversed, thecost of doing business would jumpup to new heights.

He said that the caretakerPrime Minister should at leaststop NEPRA from making anyfurther hike in electricity tariff.

Malik Tahir Javed said thatit is very unfortunate the peoplewho are sitting at helm of affairshave no understanding to theground realities.

KESC for releasereceivablesStaff ReporterKARACHI—Karachi ElectricSupply Company has made anurgent SOS call to the Federaland provincial Governments forrelease of payments againstgovernment dues of Rs71billion. In a message sent tothe government, KESC has saidthat the power utility is facing asevere liquidity issue due tohuge outstanding receivablesfrom various federal andprovincial entities. KESC is indesperate need of these funds topay PSO and IPPs for furnaceoil supply to maintain currentloadshedding regime in the city.It is feared that the loadshedding duration will go ashigh as 14 hours a day acrossKarachi and parts of InteriorSindh and Balochistan ifimmediate steps are not takenby the government. Consider-ing the law and order situationin the city and the forthcominggeneral elections, it is criticalthat KESC is able to run itsgenerating plants.

PQ remains activeKARACHI—Brisk shippingwas observed at the Portwhere five ships scheduled toload/offload containers, rice,steel product and phosphoricacid were allowed berths atQasim International ContainerTerminal, Grain & FertilizerTerminal, Multi PurposeTerminal and Engro VopakTerminal respectively at PortQasim during last 24 hours,port sources said hereTuesday. Three more shipscarrying VCM, MEG,poraxiline and containers alsoarrived at the outer anchorageof Port Qasim during thesame period. Berth occupancyremained at the Port at 57%on Monday where eight shipsnamely C.V NystedMaersk.—APP

Auto policyhurting

manufacturersSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—There have beenover two dozen major changesby the govt in auto policy in thecountry during last five yearswhich hamper the growth in theindustry, creating uncertaintydue to which the industry iscompelled to pull off expansionplans and further investmentswhile introduction of new mod-els and research and develop-ment also gets a hit.

With the least possible mea-sures of calculation the auto in-dustry experts believe that themuch trumpeted amnestyscheme has caused a loss of Rs15 billion to national exchequer.

They said that as per the cal-culations if 51000 vehicles wereto be assembled in the country,regular taxes/ revenues on anaverage would have crossed Rs25 billion.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—PIA will induct atleast twelve Medium range air-craft in its fleet fleet shortly saidLt. General (Retd.) Asif YasinMailk Chairman PIA at a two-day Global Marketing Confer-ence which concluded today.

PIA Chairman appreciatingthe performance of EngineeringDepartment said that the airlinehas established an engineeringhub at Lahore which is now fullyable to handle Check A of B777aircraft.

This will not only save timebut also eliminate problem ofdead legs while bringing the air-craft to Karachi. Similar facil-ity has been planned forIslamabad airport as well. Healso complimented the Engi-neering Department in maintain-ing PIA aircraft as Safety is theairline’s foremost priority.

He urged upon PIA employ-ees to work collectively for thebetterment of the airline. He ap-preciated the performance of Mar-keting Department. He said thatPIA has to increase its network toachieve better sales and advisedmarketing department to preparefeasibilities on commercial basisfor additional destinations whileemphasizing on increasing fre-quencies of its existing profitableroutes. He said that PIA shouldlook into possibilities of startingflights to the African Continent.

Speaking on the occasion,Managing Director PIA,Muhammad Junaid Yunus said theairline has the potential and capa-bility to make a turnaround but wedo need addition of fuel efficientplanes in the fleet. He said there isan improving trend in the perfor-mance as during last six months thelosses have been reduced by anaverage of Rs. 1 billion per month.

Minister forpetroleumvisits GSPSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Minister for Pe-troleum and Natural Resources,Sohail Wajahat Sidduqui, herevisited Geosciences AdvanceResearch Laboratories, Geologi-cal Survey of Pakistan (GSP) andchaired a meeting of geoscien-tists. The meeting was attendedby former Director Generals andformer Deputy Director Gener-als of GSP.

The presentation by incum-bent Director General, Geologi-cal Survey of Pakistan covered awide range of subjects for theSustainable Development ofMineral Sector of Pakistan. Mr.Sidduqui constituted a commit-tee of Think Tanks comprisingformer Director Generals of GSP.Mr. Waheed-ud-Din Ahmed,former Director General of GSPwas elected as Chairman of thecommittee and Dr. Imran Khan,the present Director General,GSP as its Secretary.

The task assigned to thecommittee is to monitor tech-nical activities and to preparethe Road Map for the sustain-able development of the min-eral sector of Pakistan. TheMinister directed the GSP toconvert the department into aprofitable attractive organiza-tion for 5 years and 10 yearswork plan. The aim is to en-able the mineral sector to con-tribute to national GDP.

The Minister further said thatthe policies and issues related tothe mineral policy and depart-mental matters may be vettedfirst by the committee and sub-sequently by the Minister.

PIA to induct12 new aircrft in its fleet

Gold Tezab 48857.00Silver Tezabi 831.42

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 47900.00Gold 22 Ct 46010.00SilverTezabi 895.00Silver Thobi 815.00

USA 98.30 98.10

UK 152.58 152.27

EURO 128.26 128.00

Canada 96.83 96.63

Switzerland 104.37 104.16

Australia 101.45 101.24

Sweden 15.00 14.97

Japan 1.0081 1.0060

Norway 16.81 16.78

Singapore 79.61 79.45

Denmark 17.20 17.17

Omani Riyal 255.00 245.00

Saudi Arabia 26.21 26.16

Hong Kong 12.66 12.64

Kuwait 345.30 344.60

Malaysia 32.44 32.37

Newzeland 83.83 83.66

Qatar 27.00 26.95

UAE 26.76 26.71

KR WON 0.0886 0.0886

Thailand 3.360 3.353

Govt tofacilitate

SME sectorSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Union ofSmall and Medium Enter-prises has invited the atten-tion of government on fi-nance that the past coalitiongovernment did not imple-ment the SME policy noraligned the industrial andtrade policy and budget tostrengthen the economy onscientific lines.

President UnisameZulfikar Thaver said the pastcoalition government did nottake strong measures to boostexports and nothing wasdone in the budget, the indus-trial policy or the trade policyfor the SME sector which isthe majority sector.

He invited the attentionof Dr Shahid AmjadChaudhry Adviser to thePrime Minister and saideconomy has been stagnatingand no new industries arebeing set up. The capital isfleeing and the cost of pro-duction has increased due todepreciation of rupee. Thecountry is importing every-thing and the local industryis retarded.

Union urged the govern-ment to prepare an urgent listof required economic rem-edies for the expected newgovernment to enable themcomprehend the real actualfactual economic situationand to overcome it sensiblyin light of the suggested rem-edies advocated by the care-taker set up.

The union is now anx-iously looking forward to thechanges that will be made byexpert economists in the poli-cies when the new electedgovernment takes charge andhopes measures will be takento boost exports of valueadded goods, promote newand innovative goods indus-tries, import substitution in-dustries and balancing,modernisation and replace-ment (BMR) of existing unitswith the establishment of in-dustrial estates in all theprovinces.

The union has been de-manding of the past coalitiongovernment to take steps toenhance exports, promotevalue addition of agri pro-duce items and focus on fa-cilitating the SME sector forsetting up new industries.

The new government isexpected to help the sectorget rid of costly credit, heavytaxes, high transaction costsand delayed processing ofloans and incentives, highinput costs in a number offorms, and inadequate infra-structure.

The union expertsemphasised the need to edu-cate the prospective policymakers in anticipation justlike in UK, USA, Canada,Japan, Germany and otheradvanced countries wherebriefing on economic issuesare given before election to allthe contesting parties and ac-tual facts and figures areplaced before them by the fed-eral secretaries to acquaintand prepare them to compre-hend the ground realities.

KARACHI—Follow-ing were the bullionrates in major citiesyesterday.

KARACHI:

MULTAN:STAFF REPORTER

SIALKOT—The RawalpindiChamber of Commerce and In-dustry (RCCI) will organise a“Made in Pakistan trade exhibi-tion” in Kabul, Afghanistan,from May 28 to 31 and a similiarexhibition in Manchester, UK,from July 4 to 8.

In this connection, the RCCIon Tuesday organized a launch-ing ceremony of the trade exhi-bitions at the auditorium of theSialkot Chamber of Commerceand Industry (SCCI), invitingSialkot exporters to participatein them.

Commercial Counselor ofAfghanistan in Pakistan Muneer

Pak trade exhibitionsin Afghanistan, UK

Yousafzai, President SialkotChamber of Commerce and In-dustry (SCCI) Sheikh AbdulMajid, President Jhelum Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry(JCCI) Haji Muhammad Zaheerand Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, sec-retary trade exhibitions commit-tee of RCCI, were also present.

The presidents ofRawalpindi, Sialkot and Jhelumchambers were of the view thatthe exhibitions would help topromote a soft image of Paki-stan in SAARC and CentralAsian Republics through Af-ghanistan and in UK and Europebesides paving the way forbringing businessmen closer toeach.

KARACHI: Dr Ishrat Hussain, Haroon Aggar, President KCCI, Muhammad Ibrahim Kasumbi, Chairman GST &Refunds Sub-committee KCCI, Komail Abbas Badami and others after the pre budget seminar.—PO photo by SultanChaki

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Standard Char-tered Bank (Pakistan) Limitedcontinues to build on the busi-ness momentum despite chal-lenging economic and externalenvironment.

The bank has a 150 year his-tory in the region and continuesto pursue its strategy of focusedgrowth, improved cost disciplineand prudent credit expansion. Thisresulted in a fractional increase inadministrative expenses despiteinflation, currency depreciationand investment in the franchise.Net impairments this quarter re-duced by 38% in comparison withfirst quarter last year.

SCB continues to buildbusiness momentum

Though the external envi-ronment remains challengingthe Bank maintains its strategyof focusing on assets growth andretail liabilities pursued for sus-tainable growth of the franchise.

Commenting on the resultsMohsin Nathani, Chief Execu-tive, Standard Chartered Bank(Pakistan) Limited, said, “De-spite a challenging external en-vironment, Standard Charteredis proud to be operating as thelargest and oldest foreign bankin Pakistan. Our results reflectour continuous discipline anddetermination on our strategy offocused growth, improved costdiscipline and prudent creditexpansion.”

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Warid TelecomTuesday joined hands with theGovernment College UniversityLahore Endowment Fund Trust(GCU EFT) to support educa-tion and donated the trust Rs10,00,000. Warid Telecom Salesand Distribution Head AmerAman Khan handed over thecheque to GCU Vice Chancel-lor Prof. Dr. MuhammadKhaleeq-ur-Rahman at a grace-ful ceremony at the GCU Syn-dicate Committee Room. GCUEFT Executive Committee Sec-retary Dr. Khalid Manzoor Butt,Director Facilities YousafBashir and Warid officials alsoattended the ceremony.

Speaking on the occasion,

Warid Telecom joinshands with GCU

Prof. Dr. Muhammad Khaleeq-ur-Rahman said that the recenteconomic crunch has greatly af-fected the institutions of higherlearning in Pakistan and there isa dire needed that noted compa-nies like Warid should come for-ward and support quality edu-cation in Pakistan. He said thatthe world over universities havecome forward by establishingtheir endowment funds with thehelp of their old students andcorporate sector. “Harvard Uni-versity has an endowment fundworth billions of dollars,” headded. However, he said thatGCU is the only public sectoruniversity in Pakistan which hasan active endowment fund giv-ing scholarships to deservingstudents.

Warid Telecom Sales andDistribution Head Amer AmanKhan said that Warid is not justa telecom company but a “lifeka network” and the youth is themost important part of this net-work. He said that costs of edu-cation are rising every year andcollective efforts are required tohelp the bright students of thesociety who cannot afford theiracademic expenses. He said thatGCU is an international standardinstitution in Pakistan and it is aprivilege to support the brightstudents of such an esteemededucational institution.

He also pledged that theWarid would give more dona-tions to the GCU EndowmentFund Trust to support its greatcause.

Tech-collegeinauguratedSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—In keeping withthe directives of President HisHighness Sheikh Khalifa binZayed Al Nahyan to provideassistance to the people of Pa-kistan and to support technicaland vocational educationalthere, the UAE Project to As-sist Pakistan (UPAP) has an-nounced completion of theproject to build Technical Col-lege at Bajaur in Pakistan at atotal cost of US$ 3.4 million.The project was delivered tothe local government in Bajaurfollowing completion.

The official inaugurationof the college was attended byChief of Pakistan Army StaffGeneral Ashfaq ParvezKayani, UAE Ambassador toPakistan Isa Abdullah AlBasha Al Nuaimi, AbdullahKhalifa Al Ghafli, Director ofthe UPAP and senior Pakistaniofficials.

The college is built of a34,000 square feet area. It willprovide diploma level techni-cal education for upto 450 stu-dents in various disciplines ofengineering including electri-cal, mechanical, civil and min-ing.

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Dalda haslaunched its new and uniquecampaign “Vote Aap Ka” allacross Pakistan. Through thiscampaign, Dalda aimed at pay-ing a tribute to motherhood by

reviving the love for our moth-ers in our hearts.

We have become so en-grossed in our daily lives thatwe at times forget to shower ourmother with unconditionallove. With this campaign Daldagave everyone in Pakistan achance to realize the impor-tance of mothers and give them

Dalda launches campaignthe love and affection they de-serve.

For this purpose, people ofKarachi, Lahore and Islamabadwere invited to join us in an ac-tivity called the Mamta Marchon Sunday, 28th April 2013 from8-9pm at Port Grand in Karachi,

Fortress Stadium in Lahore andCentaurus Mall in Islamabad.Countless people joined theMamta March to show theirmothers how much they lovethem and what she means tothem. All these people came tobe part of Mamta March andmade Dalda’s effort a huge suc-cess.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Na-tional Highway Authority Mr.Hamid Ali Khan has said thatNHA is strivinghard for timelyexecution of na-tional highwayschemes inSindh andB a l o c h i s t a nprovinces Fi-nance Depart-ment is provid-ing Rs.9 billionto NHA, how-ever a cut ofRs.2 billion hasbeen made. Hewas presidingover NHA’s Ex-ecutive Board meeting held atNHA head office here on Mon-day. Senior officers from FinanceDivision, Planning Commission,Ministry of Communications,NTRC, NESPAK and Membersof NHA participated.

Mr. Hamid Ali Khan said,pragmatic measures are beingtaken with the cooperation ofNational Highways andMotorway Police for makingjourney safe and sound on NHAnetwork and protection of fenc-

NHA striving for timelyexecution of schemes

ing along the Motorways. Hestressed upon the need of check-ing over loaded vehicles to pro-tect the asset of road network.He desired to provide facility

like first aid tothe travelers. Inorder to run theaffairs of NHAmore properly,NHA code is be-ing revised.

The Execu-tive Board ac-corded approvalfor constructionleft guide bankand right guidebank at Qazi-Ahmad- Amribridge acrossriver Indus. Thebridge will pro-

vide link between Karachi-Lahore-Peshawar national high-way (N-5) and Indus Highway(N-55). Length of this 4-lanebridge will be 1240 meter. Themeeting also discussed award ofseven contracts of Flood Emer-gency Reconstruction Projectwhich also include Dharki-PanoAqil, Ramak-Peshawar,Ubaro- Sanjarpur, Chakdara-Kalam and Kashmor- Kotri sec-tions.

Hamid Ali Khan

Faisal Khan, Director Operation, with Nokia Pakistan Offi-cial GMA receiving the PAS awards 2013 for the best cam-paign for ‘Telecommunications Hardware Manufacturer’category of the Nokia Pakistan facebook campaign ‘Likedby a million’.

FBR bids farewellto two retiring

deputy chairmenSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Officers andstaff of Federal Board of Rev-enue held a farewell ceremonyat the FBR House on Tuesdayfor the two Deputy Chairmen ofFBR Malik Abdul Samad andShahid Rahim Sheikh who areretiring.

Addressing the ceremonyheld in the auditorium of FBRHouse, Member (FATE) RiffatShaheen Qazi lauded the ser-vices of the deputy chairmen.

She said that it is a matterof pride for FBR that its offic-ers have reached the highestlevel of civil service in Pakistan.“We would always look towardsthem for inspiration and guid-ance”, she added.

Dy. Chairman Malik AbdulSamad, in his comments,thanked the seniors, juniors andcolleagues for their support dur-ing his career.

Thanking the officers andstaff of FBR, the Dy. ChairmanShahid Rahim Sheikh said thathe thoroughly enjoyed his careerand learnt a lot from his seniorsas well as juniors.

He said that learning processshould always continue, at ev-ery stage of life. Speaking on theoccasion, Chairman FBR, AnsarJaved praised the dedication,commitment and professional-ism of both the Deputy Chair-men, who happened to be hisbatch mates, and said that theywill always be remembered fortheir meritorious services. Hesaid that they would always re-main a part of FBR’s family andexpressed his best wishes fortheir future.

However, The ChairmanFBR also presented mementosto the two retiring officers.

Huge trade potentialexists between

Pakistan and TurkeySTAFF CORRESPONDENT

FAISALABAD—Huge trade andinvestment potential exists be-tween Pakistan and Turkey andDr Muhammad Iqbal Univer-sity will be established inLahore with Turkish collabora-tion, said Taner Kocyigit, Sec-retary General, Pak-Turk Busi-nessmen Association (PTBA)while addressing to the mem-bers of the Faisalabad Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry(FCCI).

Highlighting the objectivesof the Pak-Turk BusinessmenAssociation (PTBA), he said theAssociation worked for promot-ing the business relations ofbusiness people of both thecountries.

The Association has 65members in its fold and serves45,000 members of TUSKON- a high level Turkishorganisation to promote themutual business opportunitiesfor its members.

He informed that PTBAhad been engaged in Pakistansince 1995 and running 22schools in different cities ofPakistan under a centralisededucation system upto highersecondary level.

He said that soon a memo-randum of understanding(MoU) would be signed withFCCI and offered membershipof PTBA to all members ofFCCI from Lahore office till aregular office of the Associa-tion was functional atFaisalabad. PTBA, he said, in-tended to establish TurkishCultural Centre, Turkish Lan-guage Centre and Pak TurkSchool in Faisalabad in 2014and more projects would belaunched in Faisalabad in col-laboration with FCCI.

He said PTBA motivatedthe Turkish businessmen toinvest in Pakistan and afterthe general elections in Paki-stan, many Turkish investorshad shown their interest toinvest in Pakistan in the fieldsof Halal meat, livestock anddairy sector, agriculture, tex-tile, education and other sec-tors..

He said Dr Iqbal Univer-sity would be established at thelevel as that of CambridgeUniversity where education inmany disciplines including en-gineering and medical wouldbe imparted.

Next govt mustissue economicpolicy: Dr Ishrat

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Dean and Director,Institute of Business Adminis-tration (IBA) and former Gov-ernor State Bank of Pakistan(SBP), Dr Ishrat Hussain hasadvised the next government toissue its economic policy direc-tives as a first priority to buildconfidence among traders, in-dustrialists and general pubic.

Addressing a pre-budgetseminar 2013-14 jointly orga-nized by Karachi Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (KCCI)and Association of CharteredCertified Accountants (ACCA),he said that economic policystatement will create conduciveenvironment for boosting trade,industrial and investment activi-ties.

Referring to circular dept,he said that the upcoming gov-ernment must resolve the issueon priority basis.

Dr. Ishrat Hussain suggestedthat an independent debt man-agement office be established.

He said that the governmentwas barrowing for short termfrom banks on higher interestrate. The banks are also prefer-ring government for givingloans as it is secured, rather thanfinancing private sector projectswhich required collateral andhuge documentation, he added.

He said that out of the totalrevenue, 60 percent went toprovinces and 40 percent remainwith federal government with isalready facing huge debt issue.

He said that the provincialgovernment must make effortsto generate revenue and in casethey have sufficient surplusthey must pass it on to the fed-eral government for debt ser-vicing.

He pointed out the total bud-get around Rs 1000 billion wentto debt servicing, Rs 400 billionin subsidies, Rs 600 billion indefense and Rs 400 billion fordevelopment and noting left forother projects and governmentbarrow from banks to meet itsexpenses.

Criticizing governmentpolicies, he said on one handthe government has no fi-nances for education, heath buton the other it is paying hugemoney to PIA, Steel Mill, andRailway etc.

He further proposed thateducation and energy sectorsmust be priority areas of the newgovernment. Referring to subsi-dies, he said government mustevolve mechanism of targetedsubsidies.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The next govern-ment after elections is expectedto introduce economic reformswithin 100 days of installationto save the economy from a po-tential disaster.

Karachi Chamber of Com-merce & Industry’s PresidentMuhammad Haroon Agar, un-veiling Karachi Chamber’s Bud-get Proposals for 2013-~14 hasemphasized that the newlyelected government in its first100 days must bring economicreforms which is crucial for sus-tainable economic growth, in-dustrialization and uplift theeconomy. He was of the viewthat Government’s basic objec-tives of the budget exerciseshould be to increase the ForeignDirect Investment, reduce theBudget Deficit and create newventures for industries. The onlyhope for saving this countryfrom total economic collapse is

KCCI budget proposals for 2013-14

Next govt must introduceeconomic reforms in 100 days

to facilitate private sector en-couraging entrepreneurs to ex-pand existing businesses, as wellas to undertake new venturesand industrialization. TheKCCI’s proposals seek to re-dress the issues through bothadministrative and policy mea-sures aimed at providing reliefand facilitation to the tax pay-ers. Efforts are made to identifythe segments which have so farbeen left out of the tax net de-spite generating substantial in-come, leakages in the system,exemptions and evasions. Con-crete measures have been pro-posed to broaden the tax baseand documentation of economy.

Haroon Agar stated thatKCCI is fully aware of thepresent situation of the economyand as such feels the dual re-sponsibility of looking after theinterests of the business commu-nity and at the same timestrengthen government’s effortsfor revenue generation and

broaden tax base. KCCI recom-mendations for all major sectorsstress on the need for reducingtaxes on already burdened sec-tors and levying taxes on un-tapped areas. Where there is in-come there must be tax. It is theresponsibility of the Govern-ment to expand its tax net whichshould be carried out in consul-tation with business and indus-try across Pakistan. KCCI hashighlighted the most punchingissues such as fiscal measures,high mark-up rate, energy cri-ses, high gas and power tariff,inflation, industrial productioncost, declining exports, increas-ing cost of raw materials, petro-leum product prices etc. The is-sues of export oriented zero-rated sectors as well as directand indirect taxation of indus-try and commercial importers,audit parameters of GST, vari-ous customs duties, port chargesand provincial sales tax aretouched in the proposals.

Best managementcan resolvepower crisisSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Deputy ChairmanPlanning Commission DrNadeem-ul-Haq has said thatimprovement in electricity man-agement, power distributionsystem, metering and tariffrationalisation are must to re-solve the ongoing power crisisthat has crippled the country’seconomy apart from hitting hardto the people due to long hoursof loadshedding.

Dr Nadeem-ul-Haq said theNeelum-Jhelum HydropowerProject, despite lapse of over 10years could not be completedmainly on account of ineffectiveand improper management. Weshould forget about the hydroprojects while fuel mix energycan help overcome electricityload shedding issue in three-fouryear time he said. Under thepresent scenario, head of anydistribution company could notperform efficiently in the sub-ordination of a secretary of theministry. How a Disco’s chiefwith lower grade could performindependently under the subor-dination of Grade-22 secretary,he questioned.

He was of the view that thedistribution company’s chiefshould be a true professionalfrom the private sector. Wewould have to give up the trendof appointing dear and near onesof the political influential, hesaid, adding: Disco’s chief couldbe hired even from abroad if notavailable within the country forimproving efficiency.

The Deputy Chairman furtherstressed the need for an indepen-dent power distribution system thatcould envisage restructuring of thepresent formation besides introduc-ing reforms and decentralization soas enable the Discos heads to takeindependent decisions.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Strong fiscal poli-cies backed by long-term stabil-ity, sizeable budget for energyprojects, cut in spending, tax onagri incomes, rationalization oftaxes and decrease in duties onimported raw materials and in-crease in tax revenues are pre-requisites to sustainable eco-nomic growth of the country.

This was the upshot of thespeeches delivered at a pre-bud-get seminar jointly organized bythe Lahore Chamber of Com-merce and Industry and Associa-tion of Chartered Certified Ac-countants (ACCA) here at theLCCI on Tuesday.

The speakers included:LCCI President Farooq Iftikhar,Senior Vice President Irfan IqbalSheikh, President Pakistan TaxBar Association Zulfiqar Khan,FCCA Muhammad Arshad, Se-nior Partner, Pakistan Law As-sociates, Syed Mansoor AliZaidi, LCCI Executive Commit-tee Member Tanvir Ahmad Sufiand Sana Zeb.

The recommendations alsocovered Sales Tax, Customs andIncome Tax while there was aconsensus among the speakersthat all economic policies shouldbe aimed at facilitation togrowth, be friendly for busi-nesses and easy on spenderpockets.

In his opening remarks, theLCCI President Farooq Iftikharsaid that a sizeable portion of thebudget should be earmarked forthe energy generation projectsincluding hydel and especiallyfor the development and execu-tion of Thar Coal Project.

He said that the shortage ofenergy is the biggest problemfaced by the industry. It hashalted the wheels of industry,rendered millions jobless andadversely affected competitive-ness and export potential.

The LCCI President saidthat it was a sorry state of af-fairs that the patterns of budgetdeficit from previous years con-tinued, as outlays for wages andother expenses, pensions, sub-sidies, defense.

Pre-budget debate

LCCI, ACCA unveilgrowth strategy

THE “Cinnamon Challenge”, whichinvolves trying to swallow a teaspoon of cinnamon without water

within sixty seconds, has led to many callsto poison centers, emergency departmentsvisits and hospitalizations of teenagerswho require ventilatorsupport for collapsedlungs.

Swallowing a tea-spoon of Cinnamon withinsixty seconds is a nearlyimpossible challenge.Even on the online dare,there is a warning: “It’sgoing to burn, you aregoing to cough, and regretyou tried.”

The Cinnamon Chal-lenge is a dare that hasspread throughout theInternet. While most chil-dren know about it, veryfew parents and teachersdo, researchers from theUniversity of Miami MillerSchool of Medicine wrotein the journal Pediatrics.

Steven E. Lipshultz, M.D., the GeorgeBatchelor Professor of Pediatrics and Di-rector of the Batchelor Children’s Re-search Institute, said:

“Given the allure of social media, peerpressure and a trendy new fad, pediatri-cians and parents have a ‘challenge’ oftheir own in counseling tweens and teensregarding the sensibilities of the choicesthey make and the potential health risksof this dare. Ingesting and Aspirating DryCinnamon by Children and Adolescents:The ‘Cinnamon Challenge.”

The authors said that parents need to

The cinnamon challenge landsmany children in hospital

be told about the Cinnamon Challenge,and they need to advise their childrenabout the dangers. Parental advice re-ally matters to kids, they added.“Schools and pediatricians should beencouraged to discuss with children the

‘Cinnamon Challenge’ andits possible harmful ef-fects.”

Co-author JudySchaechter, M.D., M.B.A.,Interim Chair of Pediatrics,was surprised to find outduring a recent dinnerwith a dozen pediatriciansthat none of them had everheard of the CinnamonChallenge.

Even though most teen-agers who choose to do thechallenge endure only tem-porary effects, the re-searchers wrote that poi-son centers are receivingan increasing number ofcalls related to the Cinna-mon Challenge, and morekids are ending up in emer-

gency departments and being hospital-ized.

Cinnamon is a caustic powder con-sisting of cellulose fibers which do notdissolve and are not biodegradable inthe lungs.

Animal studies have shown that cin-namon can cause inflammation of the air-ways and lungs (if it is inhaled), and itcan also cause lesions and scarring inthe lungs and airways. People withasthma, pulmonary cystic fibrosis,chronic lung disease or a hypersensitiv-ity to spice need to be especially careful.

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Zahid Kurban Alvi presiding over all parties conference at Sindh Secretariat.

KARACHI: Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui presiding over a meetingregarding election 2013.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

Art works ondisplay

KARACHI—Fine Art Paki-stan Gallery has organized anexposition of Momin Khanand Shaista Khan’s workshere titled “Sensitive andPowerful Representations”at FAP Gallery, 3C, 35thStreet, Tauheed CommercialArea, Phase-V, DHA,Karachi. The exhibition willremain open from till May4th, 2013.

Momin Khan, identifiedas an ‘artist of movement’ isrenowned for his dynamicportrayal of Buzkashi, frostymountainous team-sportplayed by equally toughenedmen. Holding that the sub-ject had movement, expres-sion, force and power Mominreveals: “I transform my in-ner tumult onto canvasthrough this theme”.

Momin also paintswomen in a unique way. Likemany other artists his womanis neither pretty nor delicate;her eyes let know the ac-count of a thorny existenceas shades narrate the infinitefacades of her being. Mominsaid that he did not paintmuch and being his own criticnever exposed any work un-til absolutely convinced.Shaista Momin, who endeav-ors to unmask the concealedwoman, Shaista said that herinspiration was life.—NNI

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The ElectionCommission was the biggesthurdle in the way of holdingtransparent and fair elections.

This was stated byJamaat-e Islami (JI) SindhAmeer Dr Mairaj Ul HudaSiddiqui while addressing ahurriedly called press confer-ence along with JI nominatedMNAs and MPAs at Idara-eNoor-e Haq Tuesday.

Rashid Naseem, JI candi-date for NA-246, SyedMuhammad Bilal for NA-244,Naseem Siddiqui for PS-101,Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman for

EC biggest hurdlein fair elections: JI

PS-103, Farooq Naimatullahfor PS-105, Syed Wajih UlHasan for PS-104 and otherswere also present on the oc-casion.

Dr Siddiqui alleged thatthe EC instead of providingfacilities to the voters was cre-ating difficulties for them. TheEC was trying to give sup-port to the former coalitionpartners in the government.JI leader feared a massive po-litical movement against thesteps taken by the EC in or-der to patronize the ‘ThappaMafia’ and those, who holdthe people of the city hostageon gunpoint.

IRFAN ALIGI

K A R A C H I — P a k i s t a nPeople’s Party candidateshad on the directives of partyleadership limited their elec-toral canvassing to holdingmeetings with the voters inselective venues, big housesand residential compounds.

The party leadership hadasked them to avoid conduct-ing big jalsas (Processions)and producing elections ral-lies so that any untoward in-cident should be avoided forthe safety of the voters andgeneral public.

The PPP candidate fromNA-252 Asghar Bihari saidthat the PPP had during its

PPP candidates hold indoormeetings with voters

previous tenure strived forthe resolution of publicgrievances and brought agood name to the countryunder the dynamic leader-ship of President Asif AliZardari.

The role of the PPP in waragainst terror and its servicesfor the elimination of extrem-ism from the country wereclear and appreciated world-wide.

He said that the PPPwould raise the minimumwages of the labourer uptoRs18,000 while the specialstipend amount of Rs1000would be increased toRs2000 under Benazir IncomeSupport Programme.

ConvocationKARACHI—The Convocation2013 of the Ziauddin Univer-sity was held at the Expo Cen-tre Karachi on Tuesday. Fed-eral Minister for Housing andWorks, Dr Younis Soomro, wasthe chief guest of the event.

In his address, he praisedthe quality of education im-parted by the Ziauddin Uni-versity. The Minister pointedout that the type of educationprovided by the ZiauddinUniversity in various profes-sional fields is highly com-mendable. He said that DrZiauddin Ahmed’s daughter-Dr Fatima Aijaz, her husbandDr Tajammal Hussain, andtheir family.—APP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Spurious andcounterfeit medicines in Paki-stan pose a big problem caus-ing many deaths due to use ofspurious drugs, civil society,media, consumers and medi-cine manufacturers should joinhands to stop the uncheckeduse of fake medicines in Paki-stan.

This was stated by care-taker Sindh Health Minister Dr.Junaid Ali Shah at a seminaron World Health Day with atheme how to promote use ofgenuine medicines organizedby Pakistan PharmaceuticalManufacturers Association(PPMA). PPMA ChairmanJawed Akhai, former ChairmanDr. Kaiser Waheed and ZahidSaeed, Chairman of SouthZone Nadeem Chandna, Prof.Tipu Sultan, Pro. Vice Chan-cellor of Dow Medical Univer-sity Prof. Omer Farooque, Con-troller Drug Regulatory Au-thority Dr Obaid Ali, Presidentof National Forum for Environ-ment and Health Naeem

Counterfeit medicinesposing serious health issues

Action against spurious drugs must to save lives: MinisterQureshi, Hira Baloch and Dr.Qaiser Sajjad also spoke on theoccasion.

Dr. Junaid Shah said thereshould be strict punishmenton the selling of fake drugs.He underlined the need forstrict implementation of thedrug laws. He expressed hisregrets that the previous SindhAssembly did not pass impor-tant legislations like HealthPolicy Bill, Thalassemia Bill. Heasked for strict action againstbureaucracy for bad perfor-mance and irregularities inhealth sector. He said thehealth sector has not beengiven importance in the coun-try. The government is takingmeasures for creating aware-ness against spurious drugs.

Earlier, speaking on theoccasion, PPMA ChairmanJawed Akhai said a permanentChief Executive should be ap-pointed at Drugs RegulatoryAuthority and we would notaccept the temporary systemin the authority at any cost.He stressed the need for run-ning the authority according

to DRA laws.He deplored that many in-

fluential people are involvedin fake medicines business,who have backing from politi-cal parties and governmentdepartment people. He said theassociation has launched acampaign to create awarenessamong masses against the useof fake medicines.

Former PPMA ChairmanZahid Saeed said all chemistsand druggists should be reg-istered with the drug distribu-tors. All chemists should bemade bound to follow the termsand conditions for mainte-nance of quality of the drugsin their premises. A pharmacistshould be available at everychemist’s shop. Drug inspec-tors should be provide betterjob opportunities, he added.

Dr. Tipu Sultan said about40 percent medicines, beingsold in the country are coun-terfeit and Pakistan is among13 countries of the world,where fake medicines are be-ing manufactured in largerquantities.

PEOPLE can safely add a few nuts totheir diet - or replace other foods withthe high-unsaturated fat, high-fiber

snacks - without gaining weight, a newreview of past studies suggests. Research-ers combined data from 31trials conducted acrossthe globe and found thaton average, there was verylittle difference in changesin weight or waist measure-ments between people whowere put on a normal ornut-supplemented diet.

“Most of the nut-en-riched studies don’t showthat patients gain a signifi-cant amount of weight, incontrast to what one mightthink,” said Dr. DavidBleich, head of Endocrinol-ogy, Diabetes and Metabo-lism at the University ofMedicine and Dentistry ofNew Jersey in Newark.Gemma Flores-Mateo fromthe Institut Universitarid’Investigacio en Atencio Primaria JordiGol in Tarragona, Spain and colleaguessaid previous research has tied nut-con-taining diets to a lower risk of death, dia-betes and high blood pressure.

Bleich, who wasn’t involved in the newreport, said his own work has shown mea-sures of insulin resistance - a diabetes predic-tor - were lower when people added nuts totheir diets. “One would generally think ifyou’re increasing the ‘fat content’ of the diet,you might in fact make insulin resistanceworse,” he told Reuters Health. “It speaks tothis issue of the quality of the fats that we

More evidence addingnuts is a healthy choice

consume.”Nuts may also suppress hungerbecause of their unsaturated fats, fiber andprotein, the researchers noted. In the trialsthey looked at, participants were randomlyassigned to a normal diet or one that in-cluded extra nuts - or, more often, nuts sub-

stituted for other food items -and followed for anywherefrom two weeks to five years.At the end of follow-up,people on nut diets haddropped about 1.4 extrapounds and lost close to halfan inch off their waists, com-pared to those in the nut-freegroups. However, the differ-ences could have been dueto chance.

“Although the magni-tude of these effects wasmodest, the results allay thefear that nut consumptionmay promote obesity,”Flores-Mateo’s team wrotelast week in the AmericanJournal of Clinical Nutrition.“Our findings support the in-

clusion of nuts in healthy diets for cardio-vascular prevention.” However it’s not sim-ply a matter of “throwing additional nutsinto your already poor-quality diet,” Bleichsaid. He said heart protection comes fromlooking at a fuller picture of the diet - andadding fruits, vegetables and olive oil, forexample, in addition to nuts. Dr. AdamGilden Tsai, an obesity researcher from theUniversity of Colorado in Denver, said hewouldn’t recommend people eat nuts ontop of their normal diet, but that substitut-ing them for other foods may lead to somebenefits, such as on cholesterol levels.

LAHORE: PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz Sharif saluting the crowd during a rallyregarding election campaign 2013.

LAHORE: Artists performing during a ceremony in connection with International Dance Day at Al-Hamra Hall.

LAHORE: Health workers injecting measles vaccine to the children during a drivecarried out by Health Department.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Director Gen-eral, Punjab Emergency Ser-vice (Rescue 1122) Dr. RizwanNaseer Tuesday reviewedemergency arrangements forupcoming general electionsand directed all the DistrictEmergency Officers to en-sure proper emergency medi-cal, rescue and fire arrange-ments on 11th May, 2013.

While chairing a meetingof district emergency officershere today, the Director Gen-eral asked them to review allplans and ensure properemergency cover. He furtherstressed that district emer-gency officers should fullycollaborate with the districtadministrations to ensurefree and fair elections. He alsodirected them to provide bestpossible proper and well co-ordinated emergency ar-rangements to political pro-

Emergency arrangements forgeneral elections reviewed

cessions in accordance withthe instructions issued bythe Election Commission ofPakistan. The Director Gen-eral asked the DEOs to sharetheir problems and shortcom-ings being faced by themduring emergency opera-tions so that they may be re-solved timely.

As per the election con-tingency plan, over 8000 res-cue officials shall be de-ployed in shifts by restrict-ing their leaves and the Res-cue Service shall remain onhigh alert in Punjab especiallyin Lahore, Rawalpindi,Faisalabad, Multan, DeraGhazi Khan, Bahawalpur,Gujranwala, Sialkot,Sargodha, Murree, Rahim YarKhan and Sahiwal. Mobileemergency posts shall beestablished near sensitivepolling stations and back upstaff shall remain on highalert to provide immediate

response & rescue if neededin any district of Punjab.Emergency officers includ-ing trained doctors shall su-pervise the arrangements onthe day of polling.

Dr. Rizwan Naseer hasdirected the DEOs to ensureappropriate level of prepared-ness especially during anymass gatherings and ralliesby effective reviewing site &egress plans and accordinglydeploy appropriate re-sources. He also directedthem to develop close coor-dination with district admin-istration and refrain from anypolitical bias.

The Director General hasalso requested the citizens tocooperate with Punjab Emer-gency Service by providingtimely information regardingany emergency by dialling1122 and providing way tothe Emergency Ambulances,Rescue and Fire Vehicles.

Summer passengertrains schedule

OBSERVER REPORT

LAHORE—Pakistan Rail-ways (PR) is starting its Sum-mer Schedule for passengertrains from Wednesday (to-day) after the span of twoyears.

According to new time-table, the time schedule ofnine passenger trains out of96 has been changed. Thenew time of different pas-senger trains are: AllamaIqbal Express departuresfrom Karachi to Sialkot at2.00 pm, Quetta expressfrom Lahore to Quetta at5.00 pm, Islamabad Expressfrom Lahore to Rawalpindiat 6.15 pm, Tezgam fromRawalpinid to Karachi at8.00 am, Jaffar Express fromRawalpindi to Quetta at 9.00am, Bahaud Din Zakriya Ex-press from Karachi toMultan at 6.40 pm, MillatExpress from Sargodha toKarachi at 1.30 pm. The restof the passenger trains willrun according to its previ-ous timetable.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—A meeting of care-taker Punjab Cabinet washeld here Tuesday, under thechairmanship of Punjab ChiefMinister Najam Sethi, at ChiefMinister’s Secretariat.

The meeting was at-tended by Provincial Minis-ters, Advisor for Taxation &Revenue, Chief SecretaryPunjab, Advocate GeneralPunjab, Secretaries of Law,Finance, Higher Education,Women Development, Infor-mation and officers of con-cerned departments.

The provincial cabinetgave unanimous approval toPunjab Commission on theStatus of Women Ordinance2013, after a few amendments,under which a Punjab Com-mission, having at least 50percent women representa-tion, would be formulated,and at least one womenmember would be taken fromminorities. Similarly, leader of

Cabinet okays draft PunjabCommission on Status ofWomen Ordinance 2013

the house or his representa-tive and leader of the oppo-sition or his representativewould be the members of therepresentative commission,while two women parliamen-tarians would also be itsmembers. The cabinet meet-ing also reviewed draft ordi-nance of Noor InternationalUniversity.

Addressing the cabinetmeeting, Najam Sethi saidthat establishment of PunjabCommission is a laudablestep towards empowermentand welfare of women. Hesaid commission would helpsolve problems being facedby women, besides takingimmediate action over vio-lence against women, andinhuman treatment meted outto them.

The Chief Minister saidmore than 50 percent of thecountry’s population con-sists of women, and nationalprosperity cannot beachieved, without bringing

women into the mainstreamof progress and prosperity.He said Pakistani women arehighly capable and are play-ing an effective role in theprogress and prosperity ofthe nation.

He said women haveplayed a significant role innational development, par-ticularly in the fields of medi-cine, engineering, informa-tion technology, education,administration and other sec-tors. He said that society canbe put on the road towardsprogress and prosperity byempowering women, whohave to play a proactive andvigorous role in all fields ofnational development, andPunjab government is takingall necessary steps for thispurpose.

The Chief Minister for-mulated a 5-member commit-tee under the chairmanshipof Provincial Law Minister,which would review draft or-dinance of Noor International

University and submit its rec-ommendations. Najam Sethisaid that nation can onlyachieve progress througheducation, as development isnot possible without impart-ing modern knowledge to theyouth. He said Punjab gov-ernment is providing all pos-sible resources for the pro-motion of education, so thatthe country can achieveprogress and prosperity.

The cabinet meetingalso reviewed various sug-gestions regarding reduc-tion in entertainment taxwhile final recommenda-tions in this regard wouldbe submitted to the cabinetin its next meeting. Secre-tary Higher Education gavea detailed briefing on draftordinance of Noor Interna-tional University, while Sec-retary Women Developmentbriefed the Cabinet aboutPunjab Commission on theStatus of Women Ordi-nance, 2013.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Najam Sethi has said thateconomic progress and wel-fare of the labourers areinterlinked as labourers playa key role in the developmentand stability of the economyof a country. He said that nosociety can achieve the goalof progress and prosperitywithout ensuring dignity andrespect for the workingclasses. He said that onLabour Day, tributes are paidto the supreme sacrifices ofthe martyrs of Chicago.

He said that labourers ofPakistan have also waged aheroic struggle for their rightsand the existing laws andlabour-friendly policies in thecountry are the result of theefforts of the labour classes.

Economic progress, labourersweal interlinked: Sethi

He said that on this day, thenation reiterates its pledgethat fullest support will be ex-tended to the labour classesin upholding their legitimaterights. He said that in order toset up an Islamic welfare so-ciety, the Islamic teachingsregarding the rights and dig-nity of labourers will have tobe followed in letter and spirit.He said that with a view tohighlighting the dignity oflabour, the Holy Prophet(Peace Be Upon Him) termedlabourers as a friend of Allah.

In his message on Inter-national Labour Day, the ChiefMinister said that it was dueto sacrifices of the labour lead-ers of Chicago that thoserights were granted to thelabourers as had been deniedto them for centuries.

He said that due to sacri-

fices of the martyrs of Chi-cago, not only self-respect ofthe labourers was restored buttheir rights regarding wage,working hours, treatment aswell as other facilities werealso granted. He said that thedream of setting up a healthyand prosperous society can-not be realized nor the goal ofnational progress and pros-perity can be achieved with-out welfare of the laboruers.

He said that Punjab gov-ernment has always attachedtop priority to the rights of theindustrial and agriculturelabourers and setting up ofsocial security hospitals, dis-pensaries, labour colonies andeducational institutions ofhighest standard for the chil-dren of working classes are theproof of the labour-friendlypolicies of Punjab government.

Jailers leavescancelled

LAHORE—Inspector Gen-eral of Prisons Punjab MianFarooq Nazeer Tuesdaycancelled leave of all jail-ers and directed to reportto their place of duty im-mediately otherwise strictaction will be taken.

Jail Department sourcestold APP here today, the IGhas taken this decision tofully ensure foolproof se-curi ty in and around al lprisoners in view of theprevail ing law and ordersituation.

All Range DIGs and Se-nior Superintendents of Jailsacross the province havebeen directed to ensure strictimplementation of the direc-tive and send compliance re-ports within a couple ofdays.—APP

LAHORE—Justice SheikhNajamul Hassan of theLahore High Court Tuesdayrefused to hear three peti-tions filed by the Sharif fam-ily challenging National Ac-countability Bureau refer-ences against Ittefaq Found-ries and others.

He referred the cases tothe LHC Chief Justice, with arequest to fix the same beforeanother bench.

Justice Hassan was hear-ing the cases being a refereejudge after the dissentingobservation by a divisionbench which was earlier hear-

LHC judge refuses to hear Sharif family casesing the cases.

The point of difference inthe division bench in two pe-titions titled M/s Hudabia Pa-pers Limited and Ms ShamimAkhtar Vs Federation of Paki-stan is: “Whether this courtafter coming to the conclusionthat the reference and subse-quent proceedings takenthereon are liable to bequashed, should howevermake an observation thatNAB authorities are compe-tent to proceed against thepetitioners if investigation isagain initiated in accordancewith law or would this obser-

vation amount to give a freehand to the NAB authoritiesand premium to the prosecu-tion of their own fault and pro-vide them an opportunity tofill up their lacunas and equipthem with better tools forcombating/victimizing the pe-titioners at their hands after alapse of 12 years and a half.”

The point of differencereferred to the judge in thecase of M/s Ittefaq Found-ries (Pvt) Ltd Vs Federationof Pakistan is “Whether thiscourt should quash the ref-erence and subsequent pro-ceedings thereon on the

grounds that the petitionershad not joined investigation;that civil litigation was pend-ing between the parties andthat the reference is outcomeof mala fide or whether thepetition should be dismissedon the basis that willful de-fault was made out whichwas an offence under theNAB Ordinance and noground for quashment of thereference was made out andthe petitioners should be di-rected to approach thelearned trial court and tomake their pleas before thecourt.”—APP

LHC full bench tohear Musharrafplea for election

LA H O R E —Justice I jazulAhsan of the Lahore HighCourt Tuesday overruledan objection to a petitionfi led by General (retd)Pervez Musharraf chal-lenging orders of the re-turning officer and electiontr ibunal which declaredhim ineligible to contestelect ions from NA-139,Kasur.

The court directed to fixthe matter before a full benchon May 2.

The matter was fixed asan objection case afterregistrar’s office put an ob-jection to the petition thatthe petitioner should ap-proach the Election Commis-sion first as an alternativeremedy.

However, the court af-ter hearing the argumentsoverruled the objection anddirected to fix the petitionbefore a full bench on May2.

The petitioner throughhis petition submitted thatcases were pending againsthim but he was not convictedin any case yet.

He contended that it washis fundamental right to con-test election but the return-ing officer and election tribu-nal had declared him ineli-gible to contest election fromNA-139.

He pleaded the court toset aside orders of the re-turning officer and tribunaland allow him to contestelection from NA-139,Kasur.—APP

Two more kidsdie of measles

LAHORE—At least two morechildren died of measles hereon Tuesday.

As per details, an eight-month old child namedAurangzeb gave up to theoutbreak at Children’s Hos-pital of the provincial capi-tal. The deceased belongedto the Chungi Amar Sidhuarea of the city.

A two-year old child iden-tified as Ahmed from Pattokialso passed away at Childrens Hospital.

On the other hand, theprovincial health depart-ment has launched a specialvaccination campaign inLahore.

Around 3 million childrenbetween age of six monthsand ten years will be vacci-nated during the cam-paign.—NNI