Continued on Page 7

Kayani’s statement: Death knell toArmy, Judiciary hobnob rumours

NADEEM SYED

LAHORE—After the currentface-off between the state in-stitutions, one thing is now forsure that Army and judiciarywere never hand-in-glove tosee the back of the present po-litical set up as being claimedin various conspiracy theories,some of them still talk of thetown.

Most of the gossip hasbeen centred on the prospect oftechnocratic government tak-

ing over the country with theblessings of Army and SC. It hasalso been speculated that the tech-nocratic order in question willhave a limited mandate of coupleof years to mend economy. Somecircles talked about the need fora neat and clean leadership to fixthe problems after the failure ofthe existing political leadership.

Even the prospects of elec-tions have been discounted whenthe country’s political leadershipis getting ready for polls in thesequarters and is fully charged.

But then came the warningshot from none other than ArmyChief himself, feeling the heatfrom the hostile media and judi-ciary. But it cleared the haze andconfusion hanging over the po-litical landscape of the countrydue to these rumours. Hisstrongly-worded statement, is-sued by the ISPR was all thingsto all the players that matter thesedays in Pakistan .

“Let us take a pause andexamine the two fundamentalquestions; One, are we promot-

ing the rule of law and the con-stitution? Two, are we strength-ening or weakening the institu-tions” Gen. Kayani asserted

“All systems in Pakistanappear to be in a haste to achievesomething, which can have bothpositive and negative implica-tions,” he said.

In a sober and timely ad-vice, Army Chief said that thecountry’s national interest couldemerge only through a consen-sus between the people and in-

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

Second term win — Best is yet to come: ObamaCHICAGO—The best was yetto come, a triumphant BarackObama said after winning a sec-ond term as US president andthanked “every American” thathad participated in the fiercelyfought election.

Acknowledging the greet-ing of thousands of cheeringsupporters in Chicago, Obama,who defeated Republican MittRomney to get a second term inthe White House, said: “Tonightin this election you, the Ameri-can people, reminded us thatwhile our road has been hard,

while our journey has been long,we have picked ourselves up, wehave fought our way back, andwe know in our hearts that forthe United States of America, thebest is yet to come.”

He congratulated Romneyand his running mate Paul Ryanon a “hard fought campaign”.

“We may have battledfiercely,” Obama said, “but onlybecause we care about this coun-try so deeply”.

Obama, 51, the first AfricanAmerican president of the USand a powerful orator, said that

he looked forward to taking toRomney in the weeks ahead totake the country forward.

“I want to thank everyAmerican who participated inthis election,” Obama told thecrowd. “Whether you voted forthe very first time or waited inline for a very, very long time -by the way we have to fix that -whether you pounded the pave-ment... or whether you held anObama sign or a Romney signyou made a difference,” he said.The nation, he told the gather-ing, “moves forward because of

PESHAWAR: Relatives mourn during funeral of martyredSP Investigation Hilal Haider.

SP among 9 killed inPeshawar suicide blast

Taliban claim responsibilityPESHAWAR—At least nine per-sons including SP Investigationand his two guards were killedand more than 36 others injuredin a suicide blast here onWednesday.

According to AIG ShafqatMalik, a suicide bomber blewhimself up near vehicle of SP in-vestigation Hilal Haider in his-toric Qissa Khawani Bazaar, inRazik Police Station jurisdic-tion. As a result of blast HilalHaider, his driver and a guardand three passersby were killedon the spot and 30 others sus-tained injuries.Three injuredpersons died in the hospital.

SP City Asif Iqbal whiletalking to media persons at thesite of attack said that a suicidebomber struck the vehicle ofHilal Haider adding that six toseven kilograms of explosiveswas used in the blast.

Haider had left his residenceand was en route to his officewhen the suicide bomber, whowas on foot, struck the vehicle.

Rescue and security teamsreached the site of attack nearthe Khan Razik Police station.

All injured were shifted tothe Lady reading Hospital.

The injured were rushed toLady Reading Hospital (LRH)Peshawar where hospital’sspokesperson said 36 injured

Continued on Page 7

Army criticsshould not crosslimits: BegISLAMABAD—Former Chiefof Army Staff General (Retd)Mirza Aslam Beg on Wednes-day said that the PakistanArmy was the defender of theIdeology and geographicalvalues of the country.

Talking to media, Gen Begsaid that those who weremocking at the martyrs of thenation and Pakistan Armyshould not cross limits.

“It is very important toreveal the reasons that whyhidden hands are defamingPakistan Army. Media,politicians and leaders shouldunderstand that Pakistan Armyis our asset,” he said addingthat the Army had givensacrifices in order to safeguardthe homeland.—NNI

Treasury, Oppositiontrade graftcharges in PALAHORE—Punjab Assemblywitnessed vociferous scenesWednesday with both thetreasury and oppositionmembers hurling accusationsand counter accusationsagainst the leadership of PML-N and PPP.

While the PPP membersreferring to the Asghar Khancase demanded hanging ofthose who got money from theISI, the PML-N parliamentar-ians blamed that the thieveswere making noise and raisedslogans “Bibi ham sharmindahain- teray katil zinda hain”.

The ruckus started when thePPP’s Deputy Parliamentaryleader Shaukat Basra wanted tospeak about Asghar Khan case.Speaker Rana Mohammad Iqbalruled that let the house complete

Voters’ list errors

Elections not tobe delayed: CJSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhrysaid on Wednesday that thenext general elections couldnot be affected or delayed dueto errors in the voter lists.

The chief justice said thatassistance of Army and theFrontier Corps (FC) could besought in preparation of thevoter lists.

A three-member bench,headed by Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry,heard the case.

The counsels of thepetitioners told the SupremeCourt that the Secretary of theElection Commission ofPakistan (ECP) had assuredthe court on July 7, 2011 that

Continued on Page 7

Govt not in hurryfor interim setup

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—As the generalelections are approaching fast,the ruling party is not seemed tobe in hurry to go for interim setup before March next year.

Neither any name has beengiven serious thought nor a pro-cess of consultation has been ini-tiated with the opposition tofinalise a name for the positionof Interim Prime Minister, said asource close to the developmentsin President and Prime MinisterHouses.

The party in power will layits cards on the table when thefinal whistle will blow for theelections in March next year, saidthe source. The opposition is alsonot in hurry as Chief MinisterShahbaz Sharif is trying to com-plete his mega projects, particu-larly Metro Bus Service inLahore which is expected to givea boost to his election campaignin Lahore, previously a stronghold of PML (N).

Both the parties will holdcards close to their chests till theprocess of consultation is started.

CHICAGO: US President Barack Obama standing on stage with his wife Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and

you... because you reaffirmed thespirit that has triumphed overwar, over depression”.

Obama who had appeared onstage with his wife Michelle anddaughters Sasha and Malia alsoacknowledged their contribution.

The journey, he said, wouldnot have been possible withoutthe woman who married him 20years ago.“Michelle, I neverloved you more,” he said.

He said he’s hoping to workwith Republicans to solve thenation’s problems. PresidentObama said he wants to meet

with Romney to discuss how towork together.

In his 20-minute speech,President Obama touched on fa-miliar themes he has emphasizedthroughout his presidency. Heurged people to come togetherand said he would work withleaders in both parties to improveeducation, spur innovation, re-duce debt and lessen globalwarming. “We want to pass on acountry that’s safe and respectedand admired around the world.A nation that is defended by thestrongest military on earth and

the best troops this world hasever known,” he said.

He made references to vic-tims of Superstorm Sandy andthe Navy SEALS who killedOsama Bin Laden.

“This country has morewealth than any nation, butthat’s not what makes us rich,”he said. “We have the mostpowerful military in history butthat’s not what makes us strong.Our universities, our culture arethe envy of the world but that’s

Continued on Page 7

President‚ PMfelicitate Obama

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—President Asif AliZardari, Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf and Pakistan Mus-lim League (N) chief NawazSharif have congratulated Presi-dent Barack Obama on his re-election for the second term.

President Asif Ali Zardarihas felicitated President BarackObama on his reelection.

In a message, the Presidentdescribed Obama’s election to asecond term as a clear reaffirma-tion by the American people oftheir confidence in his leadership

Continued on Page 7

Nawaz hails COAS,CJ statements

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—President PakistanMuslim League-N MuhammadNawaz Sharif has said that forthe purpose of progress andprosperity of Pakistan, strength-ening of democracy, stability ofinstitutions and welfare of themasses, it is highly essential thatthere is a complete harmonybetween all institutions and pil-lars of the state.

He said this objective canonly be achieved if supremacyof constitution and rule of lawis ensured and the interest ofPakistan is kept uppermost.

In a statement, MuhammadNawaz Sharif said that everyonehas committed mistakes in thepast, including politicians,judges and generals.

He said it is a highly wel-come sign that these mistakesare being realized, interest in

reforms is being expressed andpredominance of constitutionand law is being acknowl-edged. He said that Army, isthe symbol of Pakistan’s soli-darity and defense, and everypatriotic Pakistani wants to seePakistan Army united andstrong.

He said that any action tocreate rift, division and bifurca-tion in the army is completelyagainst the national interest. Hesaid that judiciary is performingthe sacred role of provision ofjustice in the light of constitu-tion and law. He said that law-yers, people and media launcheda historic struggle for the resto-ration of judiciary which was hitby a dictator, everyone renderedsacrifices.

He said that interpretationof constitution is the ultimateprerogative of judiciary. He

Continued on Page 7

Letter sent toSwiss authorities

Text accords with SC orderSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The much-dis-cussed letter in relation to theNational Reconciliation Ordi-nance (NRO) implementationcase has been dispatched to au-thorities in Switzerland, sourcessaid.

The Foreign Office had dis-patched the letter, which waswritten in accordance with anorder of the Supreme Court, onNov 5.

The draft of the letter —seeking to reopen a graft caseagainst President Asif Ali Zardari— constitutes the points uponwhich both the Supreme Court

and Law Minister Farooq HNaek had reached a consensus.

The writing and sending ofthe letter would lead to ease inthe tensions between the govt andapex court.

Earlier, the government hadcontended that the letter could notbe written as under the Constitu-tion the president enjoyed immu-nity from prosecution.

On Oct 10, after more than30 months into the NRO saga, theSupreme Court had approved thelaw ministry’s draft of the letteraimed at reopening the graft caseagainst President Zardari.

The allegations against Presi-dent Zardari date back to the

1990s, when he and his late wife,former premier Benazir Bhuttowere in power as prime minister.

The Swiss authorities intoallegations of money launder-ing using President’s ZardariSwiss bank accounts previouslycarried former investigations.

The Swiss shelved the casein 2008 when Zardari becamepresident and the governmentcontinued insisting that thepresident had full immunity.

But in 2009 the SupremeCourt overturned the NRO, apolitical amnesty that had fro-zen investigations into the presi-dent and other politicians, order-ing that the cases be reopened.

KARACHI—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has said toroot out the menace of terrorismand stability in the region socio-economic development, enhanc-ing defence technologies andchalking out broad-based tech-nologies was vital.

He stated this while address-ing the opening ceremony ofthree day Defence Export Promo-tion, IDEAS-2012 here onWednesday.

Raja Pervez Ashraf said thatIDEAS-2012 provides an excel-lent interactive forum for De-fence Export Promotion Organi-zation facilitates internationalcollaboration, joint ventures andoutsourcing, besides taking careof defence exports to the repre-sentatives of various countries

Raja for eliminatingroot causes of terrorism

Opens IDEAS-2012 exhibitionassociated with defence sector.Pakistan has a large defencemanufacturing, training and sup-port infrastructure in place, Pa-kistan is not only capable ofmeeting the needs of our asarmed forces, but also demandsfrom other countries.

We produce exceptionally

high quality products and are pre-pared to offer them at mutuallyacceptable terms, he said addingthat IDEAS series of exhibitionshave played a pivotal role inshowcasing the impressive andhigh-performing range of ourdefence industry to the rest of theworld for achieving greater co-operation and industrial collabo-

ration. The prime minister saidthe exhibition aims to addressmajor security issues and poten-tial areas of cooperation betweennations interested in securing andmaintaining world peace. Thus,IDEAS-2012 can be consideredan ideal platform to discuss theimportance of support servicesand equipment required by na-tional and multinational forcesfor any intended action.

He said that the world is intransition with significantchanges taking place at a rapidpace. New centres, particularlyeconomic centres of influence,are emerging. The world’s eco-nomic centre of gravity is gradu-ally shifting to Asia, more spe-cifically to Asia Pacific. Peace

Continued on Page 7

Picture on Back Page

9 more dead askillings continue

in KarachiKARACHI—At least nine per-sons were killed and several ve-hicles were torched in incidentsof violence in Karachi here onWednesday.

Police recovered three bod-ies, stuffed in gunny bags, fromKarimabad area of Karachi. Po-lice was informed about the pres-ence of three dead bodies nearflyover in Karimabad. Policereached the spot and shifted thedead bodies to Abbasi ShaheedHospital.

Police said that the victimswere subjected to torture and thenwere shot dead. The identity ofthe deceased was still not yetknown.

On the other hand, Rangerslaunched a target operation inPehalwan Goth area of GulistanJauhar on a tip off that some mis-creants are present in the area.

Continued on Page 7

SAMREEN FATIMA

MAJOR trends affecting health and well-being of people liv-

ing in Asia were highlightedat the Annual Philips AsiaMedia Summit held on thetheme of “Innovating for aHealthier and More Sustain-able Asia” in Singapore inSeptember this year. It waspointed out that apart fromthe ageing population thereis also a middle-class boomin the region that needs af-fordable medical care. Assuch, governments and theprivate sector in every Asiancountry must invest to up-grade the healthcare systemand also focus on the well-being of the people.

The Summit also under-scored the fact that atpresent more than half of theworld’s population lives incities and urban areas andthis proportion could rise toalmost 70 per cent by 2050,which would put demandson the infrastructure sys-tems, environment and en-ergy consumption. It is,

therefore, imperative that in-dustry leaders engage in pro-ducing products for thesecategories and rise up to meetthe emerging demand.Philips is one such diversi-fied health and well-beingcompany that helps peopleimprove their lives throughmeaningful innovation. It of-fers innovative products andsolutions that benefit thehealth and well-being of in-dividuals and communitiesacross Asia, enabling them tolead healthy and fulfilledlives, using products andsolutions that are easy to ex-perience and use.

Since health and well-be-ing is crucial to individuals,communities and govern-ments, Philips applies itsdeep insights and experiencein health and well-being tohelp people achieve theirneeds, aspirations and de-sires. It is Philips’ avowedmission to improve the health

and well-being of people inAsia through meaningful so-lutions and to make a real dif-ference to people’s lives byclearly identifying commu-nity health and well-beingneeds. Philips’ deep cus-tomer insights and experi-ence spread over 120 yearsand it now aims to become aglobally leading company inhealth and well-being by im-proving the quality ofpeople’s lives. In the Asiaregion, Philips works to im-prove people’s health andwell-being in three focus ar-eas: raising standards of liv-ing by creating Livable Cit-ies; leveraging healthy eat-ing and living habits throughits concept of Healthy Liv-ing and reducing barriers inthe way of quality healthcareunder its Access toHealthcare initiative.

Philips has been engag-ing communities throughvarious activities, partner-

ships and research bodies tounderstand people’s healthand well-being needs better.The Philips Center for Healthand Well-being is one suchdedicated program. The Cen-ter emphasizes on improvingquality of life around theworld and in Asia by identi-fying barriers to health andwell-being and developingsolutions to overcome thesebarriers. With this vision inmind, the Philips Center forHealth and Well-being is de-signed as a knowledge-shar-ing forum that provides a fo-cal point on what mattersmost to citizens and commu-nities. With a diverse rangeof independent experts,policymakers and opinionleaders, Philips debates anddefines the critical problemsthat society is facing anddefines or recommends solu-tions for overcoming theseproblems with the aim of im-proving health and well-be-

ing worldwide and promotingmeaningful change.

To make a real difference,it needs to be understoodwhat health and well-beingmeans to different people indifferent places and at vari-ous stages of life. Philips hasconducted deep-reaching re-search amongst large popu-lation groups to identify thestate of health and well-be-ing across the world.Through this information, ithas compiled what is knownas the Philips Health andWell-being Index. By measur-ing respondents’ feelings to-wards their health and well-being, the company hasgained deeper insights intopeople’s health and well-be-ing attitudes across Asia andthe rest of the globe.

Philips’ expertise in threekey areas – healthcare, light-ing and consumer lifestyle –gives it valuable knowledgeto address key health and

well-being concerns as well asdesires of people. No won-der, Philips is acknowledgedthe world over for its innova-tion, translated from customerinsights and transformed intomeaningful technology andapplications that improve thequality of people’s lives. Vari-ous global trends and devel-opments have led Philips tothink about health and well-being on three inter-con-nected levels: Livable Cities:This is where Philips Lightingcomes in to work with gov-ernments, municipalities anddesigners to unlock the magicof outdoor lighting and spururban interaction, reinvigo-rate urban architecture, enrichurban life and improve energyefficiency to create livableenvironments and healthycommunities.

Healthy Living: PhilipsConsumer Lifestyle helpspeople improve their livingstandards through innova-

tive products focused onhealthier eating and groom-ing that are easy to experi-ence, enabling people to leadhealthy, meaningful and ful-filling lives. Access toHealthcare: This simplifieshealth services to improveaccess to quality healthcareand reduce overall cost. Forprofessionals, this meansaccurate testing that is con-ducted more often, helping todiagnose more accurately ortrack patients’ progress. Forpatients, this means reducedaccess and earlier inclusioninto the healthcare system, aswell as dignified healthcare.

Philips Healthcare pro-vides people-focused solu-tions across the entire cycleof healthcare, delivering de-vices and services that helpwith prevention, screening,diagnosis, treatment and sur-veillance. Philips Healthcarecombines people insights andclinical expertise to improve

patient outcomes while low-ering the burden on thehealthcare system. Theoverarching mission of PhilipsHealthcare in Asia is to makehigh quality healthcare avail-able to as many as possibleacross the region. To improveaccess to quality healthcare,Philips Healthcare works withboth private and public sec-tor entities to converge rec-ommendations on overcom-ing industry challengesthrough high-level discus-sions and healthcare-focusedsymposiums throughoutAsia. These recommenda-tions focus on enabling theentire cycle of care and exam-ine all aspects related tohealthcare management, newtechnologies, medical innova-tion, funding, cost andsustainability of healthcare inAsia.

The Philips Asia MediaSummit underlined the sig-nificance of public-privatepartnership in the health andwell-being sectors and theneed for engagement withlocal communities for sus-tainable growth in the region.

M.ZAFAR ANSARI

TOBA TEK SINGH—A highlevel meeting of Traffic Po-lice officials belonging to dis-tricts of Faisalabad, Jhang,Toba Tek Singh and Chiniotpolice regions was held hereon Wednesday which re-viewed the problems causedby ever-increasing road traf-fic. The meeting took stockof problems relating to inter-city and intra-city traffic, dis-cussed the causes and mea-sures to regulate andsmoothen the flow of smalland heavy traffic. The meet-

ing also decided measures tominimise accidents in citiesand on intra-city roads.

It was also decided thatstrict action should be takenagainst those found drivingvehicles without driving li-cences and under-age rick-shaw drivers will be discour-aged because number of rick-shaws is increasing at rapidspeed in the cities day byday. Later talking to newsmenTraffic SP Chaudhry AsifSiddiqui said that majority ofthe vehicles plying on thecity roads have no fitnesscertificate which was a major

cause of accidents.He further said that rick-

shaws, rehries, hand-cartsand tangas are driven by un-der-age boys who had no re-gard for traffic rules and hadbecome a headache for traf-fic police and public trans-porters. The Traffic SP ex-pressed his dismay that atrend has developed in theyouth that they felt no needto get driving licence and inthis way they endanger livesof people. He stressed theneed for inculcating a spiritof disciplined traffic in thecities.

Work onBooni-Shandorroad demanded

OUR CORRESPONDENT

CHITRAL—An emergencymeeting of all parties was heldhere under the chair of formerTehsil Nazim and presidentPolo Association ShahzadaSikandarul Mulk which wasattended by elites and lead-ers of all political and reli-gious parties. Talking to lo-cal journalists they said thatformer president PervrzMusharraf had announcedand earmarked Rs 590 millionfund for construction andblacktopping of Booni toShandor road but this com-mittee learned that the samefund has been released andpaid to contractor for black-topping of this road but thereis nothing on the ground.

They said that they timeand again had demandedthrough unanimous resolu-tions of the district administra-tion and authorities for start-ing work on the road but theytook no notice of plea. Theyonce again submitted a reso-lution to District CoordinationOfficer, Chitral demanding tostart work on Booni-Shandorroad and fulfill their longawaited demand. They allegedthat it was learnt that the samefund has been released andpaid to contractor and road hasbeen shown complete black-top in papers only.

They said that Booni toShandor road presenting adesert look having bigditches in its middle andpeople of the area as well astourists were facing greatproblems when they travel toShandor every year forwatching Shandor polo fes-tival. They warned if theirgenuine demand was not ful-filled they will be compelledto come on roads and wouldstart a long march. Represen-tatives of all political and re-ligious parties attended allparties conference.

BAHAWALPUR: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif singing national song along with students who got Laptopsduring second phase of Chief Minister’s Laptop Scheme, distributing ceremony at Islamia University.

STAFF REPORTER

B A H AWA L P U R — P u n j a bChief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said that

Punjab Youth InternshipProgramme has been initi-ated from Wednesday, which

No institution to deny jobs to youth: Shahbazwill open up new doors forprofessional training andemployment for the youthand, in future, no institutionwould refuse employment to

any young person on the ex-cuse that he does not pos-ses necessary experience. He

said that, by working in bigoffices, the educated youthwould acquire leadership andadministrative experiencewith which they would not

only play their effective rolein progress and prosperity ofthe nation but would also

eliminate Zar Baba and FortyThieves.

The Chief Minister wasaddressing internshipprogramme letter distribution

ceremony among 5135 youngpersons at Islamia UniversityBahawalpur Wednesday. He

said internship programmewould revolutionize the pro-cess of progress of the coun-try and would prove to be amilestone in the develop-ment of national economy.He said it is a unique eventin the history of Pakistanwhen unemployed youthwould be provided stipendunder Punjab Youth Intern-ship Progrmame. He said af-ter getting necessary experi-ence from different privateand government institutions,these youth would be able toserve Pakistan.

He said today he hasbeen provided an opportu-nity to fulfill the legitimatedemands of the youth of Pa-kistan who are roaming aboutwith degrees but are unableto get employment due tonone-availability of suitableexperience. MuhammadShahbaz Sharif said that hehas initiated this programmefrom district Bahawalpur ofsouth Punjab so that theyouth here can achieve rapidprogress. He announced thathe would appoint five intern-ship holder unemployedyouth in the Chief Minister’sSecretariat, after which theywould be appointed in theoffices of Chief Secretary,Chairman Planning & Devel-opment Board and othergovernment offices.

Addressing the youth,Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif

said that vote is their right andduring the coming elections,they should keep eliminationof corruption, eradication ofloadshedding and promotionof national economy in view.He said lots of hopes havebeen associated with theyounger generation. He saidif we can eradicate Zar Babaand Forty Thieves, no powercan subdue Pakistan. He saidthat he is determined to elimi-nate Zar Baba and FortyThieves and to bring backnational wealth. The ChiefMinister announced thatlaptops scheme would againbe initiated for day scholarsin December, and 125 thou-sand laptops would be distrib-uted during current year. Hesaid that in today’s ceremony,2264 students of Bahawalpurare being given laptops whilestudents of evening classesare also being given laptops.

He said he would not sitidle till every boy and girlstudent gets a laptop. He saidthe critics says we are wast-ing money however laptopsare a source of acquiring lat-est technology and thewhole world comes at yourcomputer screen. He saidPunjab government has dis-tributed 125 thousandlaptops throughout the prov-ince on 100 percent meritwhile equal number oflaptops would also be dis-tributed in future as well.

Towards better health and well-being

NAZIR SIYAL

LARKANA—Larkana police onWednesday claimed to elimi-nate a symbol of terror dacoitin an encounter, he was carry-ing 0.5 million head money, in-volved in 40 different robber-ies, abductions and killingcases and arrested three otheraccomplices and recoveredweapons. According to astatement of SSP LarkanaJaved Jiskani, Arbab known asArbo Sodher was a symbol ofterror and head money on himinvolved in several murder,robberies and abductioncases against him at Mehar andother areas of Dadu district.Police in an encounter atSewhani road in Badah tehsil,killed the dacoit Arbo Sodherand arrested three other un-known accomplices, while an-other monstrous dacoitVichoon along with three oth-ers escaped from the scene.

The police arrestedArbab Sodher and three

Terror dacoit Sodherkilled, 3 arrested

other relatives from Drakhanivillage near Mehar Dadu dis-trict and took them all andkilled Arbab Sodher atDhamrah-Wah near Badaharea Larkana district alongwith the border area of Dadudistrict in an encounter. TheSSP claimed that the encoun-ter took place at Badah po-lice jurisdiction at border areaof Dadu district and killeddacoit Arbab Sodher and ar-rested three accomplices.The police also arrested 30absconders and proclaimedoffenders and recovered 7m.m rifle, 12 bore bandit, car-tridges and heavy quantityBhang from their possessionat Maad and Mahar WadaLarkana a day before.

Meanwhile, Sindh Profes-sors and Lecturers AssociationLarkana chapter protested andcondemned the attack on Pro-fessors of Shaheed BenazirAbad during examination andcalled for the arrest of involvedaccused on Wednesday. SPLA

Reformist leaders ProfManzoor Kalhoro, Prof JamJamali and others toldmediamen that it was a painfulact that people attacked teach-ers who are playing the vitalrole in development of societyand country.

They said that teachersshould be provided securityand protection at schoolsand colleges to avoid suchincidents. They demanded ofhigh ups to take notice of thematter and arrest the involvedaccused and punish themseverely otherwise SPLAReformist will initiate protestmovement at all educationalinstitutions in Sindh.

Meanwhile, the residentsof village Dital Abro districtLarkana held protest and ob-served token hunger strikeagainst Dr Hakim Ali Abro foroccupying the land of grave-yard. Protesting villagers al-leged Dr Hakim Ali Abro alongwith scores of armed men haveoccupied land of graveyard.

Measures to regulateT T Singh traffic evolved

Punjab rationalisesstudents-teacher

ratio to 60:1MULTAN—The provincialgovernment has improvedthe students-teacher ratio to60:1 in order to improve edu-cation standards and ensureoptimum utilization of teach-ing staff. Director CollegesMultan Division Prof. Dr.Muhammad Hussain Azadtold APP on Wednesday thatunder the new formula i.e oneteacher for 60 students in asection, adjustment of teach-ers was expected in two col-leges of Multan.

“Under this policy teach-ers of all subjects would betransferred to institutionswhere needed”, Azad said,adding that the governmenthas started implementing thepolicy in Faisalabad division.He said other divisionswould be directed to followthe suit.—APP

Regularization ofZakat, Ushr

employees urgedOUR CORRESPONDENT

ASTORE—Member Legisla-tive Assembly Gilgit- BaltistanMolana Sarvar Shah of JUIhave requested Chief Minis-ter Syed Mehdi Shah andPrime Minister to regularizethe service of Zakat and usheremployees of the region. Talk-ing to media he said the gov-ernment was taking a lot ofrevolutionary steps for thewelfare of government em-ployees.

The employees of Zakatand Usher departmentshould also be given job se-curity so that they could per-form their duties and more zealand zest, he said. He furthersaid the services of employ-ees of the department in otherprovinces of the country wereregularized.

IRSA releases91,133

cusecs waterIS L A M A B A D—The IndusRiver System Authority(IRSA) on Wednesday re-leased 91,133 cusecs waterfrom various rim stationswith inflow of 52,800cusecs. According to thedata released by IRSA, wa-ter level in the Indus Riverat Tarbela Dam was 1510.40feet, which was 132.40 feethigher than its dead level1378 feet.

Water inflow in the damwas recorded as 27,500cusecs while outflow was re-corded as 50,000 cusecs. Thewater level in the JhelumRiver at Mangla Dam was1185.00 feet, which was145.00 feet higher than itsdead level of 1040 feetwhereas the inflow and out-flow of water was recordedas 9,167 cusecs and 25,000cusecs respectively. The re-lease of water at Kalabagh,Taunsa.—APP

IS L A M A B A D—Fair/part lycloudy weather is expected inthe city during next 24 hours.According to local Met Officeon Wednesday, mostly dryweather has been forecastover the period in other areasof Sindh. Cold and dry weatherwill prevail in majority areas ofBalochistan as shallow lowover the province and adjoin-ing areas still persists. TheMet Office here Wednesdaypredicted dry weather forKhyber Pakthunkhwa andFATA during next 24 hours.

According to Met Officehere, continental air wouldprevail in most parts of thecountry during next 24 hours.Mainly dry weather is ex-pected to continue in mostparts of the country in last48 hours. Skardu remainedthe coldest place where -05degree centigrade tempera-ture in last 24 hours and pol-len count remained 16 per

Partly cloudyweather forecast

cubic meter.The Met Officehas forecast a dry weather forthe provincial capital andadjoining areas on Thursday.

According to the Met

Office, maximum temperaturein the metropolis on Thurs-day is expected between 20to 22 C and the minimum tem-perature to be between 2 to 4C. The dry weather has alsobeen predicted for other partsof the province. On Wednes-day, the highest maximumtemperature of 36 C was re-corded in Lasbella and thelowest minimum temperatureof 1 C was recorded in Kalathill station.—APP

DERA GHAZI KHAN: Students of Government Primary School holding a demonstration againstthe absence of teachers from their school for 3 months, outside Commissioner Office.

HYDERABAD: Rangers personnel checking vehicle atResala road after target killing incident in the city.

Police role against terrorism praisedStaff Reporter

PESHAWRA—Provincial Minister for In-formation Mian Iftikhar HussainWednesday condemned suicide attackon Superintend of Police in QissakhawaniBazar here, termed the attack brutal andinhuman act. He said provincial policehave rendered great sacrifices in the waragainst terrorism and for the protectionof masses lives and properties, addingthat their sacrifices for the sake of coun-try and the nation would be remembered

forever. Eulogizing the role of police force in the war againstterrorism, he said that the brave police officials of the prov-ince have foiled many attacks of the terrorist in Peshawarand surrounding areas and make them desperate. He saidthat their sacrifices restored back the dignity and respect ofthe institution among the masses. The Minister said thatdesperate attempts by the terrorists have not daunted theresolve of police officials to wipe out terrorism and extrem-ism. To a question, he said that foolproof security measureshave been planned for the security of processions in theholy month of Muharram, adding that religious leaders havealso been consulted in this regard. He said leaders of allsects have assured full cooperation to avoid any untowardincident during the holy month of Muharram. Earlier, heprayed for early recovery of injured of Qissarkhawani sui-cide attack. Meanwhile the Khyber Pakthunkhwa Chief Min-ister, Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Wednesday strongly con-demned suicide explosion near Khan Razaak police stationand termed it as inhuman and cowardice act. In a statementhere, the Chief Minister said such attacks could not deterthe resolve of the government in fight against terrorism.

Touts of agenciesOur Correspondent

FAISALABAD—The Awami MuslimLeague (AML) chief Sheikh RashidAhmed said on Wednesday no one canbring change in the country as all thepoliticians are tout of agencies. Talkingto media persons here at a local hotel,Sheikh Rashid said the Asghar Khancase was mere a wastage of time, andnothing will come out of it. He said nobig man except Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto hasbeen trialled in this country. “An army

man becomes meaningless when he sheds uniform,” SheikhRashid said. The AML chief said both the big politicalparties have hijacked the system in the name of democ-racy. He said all the politicians, including himself, are taxevaders. Therefore, he said, no one can conduct account-ability and neither anyone can bring change. He said fairelections have never been held in Pakistan. He blamed theagencies for making and breaking among the political ranks.Regarding the decline in popularity graph of Imran Khan’sPTI, Sheikh Rashid said it was the result of his advicebeing ignored by Imran Khan. He said he was not a rentedMuslim Leaguer, therefore, he will not join the PTI. He saidNawaz Sharif has hijacked his idea of united all the MuslimLeague factions. “Nowadays the corrupt mafia is muchstronger,” he added. He said he was not in support ofNorth Waziristan operation as the country could not af-ford an operation at this particular time. Sheikh Rashidsaid the dead bodies from Karachi have arrived Punjab. Heappealed to the Ulema to play their role for promoting peacein the country.

Water filtration plantsOur Correspondent

HYDERABAD—Sindh Government hasplanned to provide safe drinking waterto each village having population up to1000 people in the province under theproject of Drinking Water Hub Phase-II.Under Phase-I of the said project, thework for installation and activating wa-ter filtration plants has already been in-tensified with the task to complete withinweeks time to overcome waterborne dis-eases and ensure purified water facilities

to the people at their door step. This was informed by theCommissioner Hyderabad Ahmed Bux Narejo while presid-ing over meeting here on Wednesday for issuance of Provi-sional Demand Notes to activate water filtration plantsplanned under Phase-I. He said that this project would notonly reduce health bill of individual and organization butalso to minimize the water related problems of people at farflung areas. The Commissioner informed that order has beenissued to the District administration concerned to submitthe list of villages having population up to 1000 and abovein their areas to the Secretary Special Initiative Department,Government of Sindh under intimation to Special Secretaryto Chief Minister Sindh and himself so that the implementa-tion on this project could be started. Discussing the firstphase of the project, the Commissioner said that total 225water filtration plants were planned in nine districts ofHyderabad Division with 25 filtration plants to each district.During deliberation on progressive report, the meeting wasinformed that out of 225 filtration plants planned inHyderabad Division, the payment against the 127 demandnotes issued by HESCO has been made while 23 filtrationplants have since been energized.

Education upliftOur Correspondent

BAHAWALPUR—The Minister forPrison, Malik Muhammad IqbalChannar said, the provincial govern-ment have been allocated generousfunds to uplift the education sector,particularly in the south, He said thisduring a meeting with the Vice-Chan-cellor, IUB, Prof. Dr. MuhammadMukhtar on Wednesday. Spokesmanof the university, Shahzad Ahmad toldAPP that the provincial minister dis-

cussed different issues related to the uplift of the univer-sity and assured complete cooperation. He said the pro-vision of scholarships of billions of rupees, introductionof internship and the distribution of laptops for the tal-ented students were the ample proof of Punjabgovernment’s commitment for the promotion of educa-tion as it was the priority of the provincial government.The VC, on the occasion, said the university had takenvarious measures in collaboration with different localsocial, cultural and literary organizations for the promo-tion of social, cultural and literary activities. He disclosedthat the support of the HEC had helped a lot in improvingthe quality of education and research work at IUB. Prof.Dr. Muhammad Mukhtar further said all the latest tech-niques were being utilized to impart quality education atIUB besides promoting research activities for the betterfuture of the students. Meanwhile director Anti Corrup-tion Establishment (ACE) Wednesday ordered an inquiryagainst the chairman Board of Intermediate and Second-ary Education (BISE) on corruption charges. MuhammadAnis Gujjar Secretary General Employees Welfare Asso-ciation BISE Sargodha blamed in his application to theDirector ACE that chairman BISE Dr.Muhammad Bashirwas embezzling million of rupees by misusing the au-thorities. The Director ACE ordered the Assistance Di-rector (Coordination) Israr Kazim to probe the mattar andsubmit a complete report in this regard.

STAFF REPORTER

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakthunkhwa Senior Ministerand ANP ParliamentaryLeader in Provincial Assem-bly, Bashir Ahmed Bilour saidWednesday the entire nationwas united against the men-ace of terrorism and militancyand perpetrators involved interrorists attack on SP Inves-tigation Hilal Haider wouldsoon be brought to justice.

Speaking to media afterterrorist attack on SP Inves-tigation in Qisakhwani bazaarhere that claimed lives of fivepersons and injuries to 40,the KP Senior Minister saidsuch cowardice acts of ter-rorism could not deter thegovernment’s determinationin uprooting this scourge. He

said sacrifice of SP Investi-gation would not go waste.He said KP police had addeda new chapter of chivalry inwar against terror.

Through such attacks,Bilour said terrorists weretrying to create panic aheadof Muharram. However, hesaid the government with thesupport of masses wouldthwart the nefarious designsof anti-state elements. TheMinister said a high-levelmeeting had been convenedon November 11 to chalk outa comprehensive securityplan in connection withMuharram-ul- Harram.

Meanwhile Awami Na-tional Party (ANP) President,Asfandyar Wali Khan andProvincial President SenatorAfrasaib Khan Khattak on

Wednesday strongly con-demned suicide attack on SPInvestigation Hilal Haiderand expressed profoundgrief and sorrow over theloss of precious lives. In astatement issued here, theANP leaders said that terror-ists are making such coward-ice and inhuman acts in a bidto make people hostage.However, they said thiswould not continue longer.

Such inhuman acts couldnot deter the resolve of gov-ernment, police and peopleand time is not for away whenpeace would completely pre-vail in the country. They ANPleaders said joint actionswould continue against ter-rorists unless their completeelimination. They prayed forearly recovery of the injured.

OKARA—A man along witha co-accused killed his twonieces over love marriagedispute and fled the scenehere on Wednesday. Ac-cording to details, deceasedgirls Ayesha and Farzanahailing from village KotlaBurhan of Hujra ShahMuqeem, district Okarawent to bazaar with theiruncle Asghar and disap-peared with their intimatesfrom there.

Asghar traced the girlsand persuaded them to goback with him with promiseto later send them with theirhusbands in accordancewith the tradition by orga-nizing wedding ceremony.On the way back home, theaccused accompanied by hisnephew Hassan shot deadthe two girls and fled thescene dumping the bodies inthe fields.

The bodies wereshifted to hospital for

medico legal requirements.The police registered a caseagainst the accused andstarted search for them.

Meanwhile a girl was killedwhile another injured in an ac-cident in Urban-area policelimits on Wednesday.Accoring to police, Bushra (13)of Muhammadia Colony wasreturning from school on a rick-shaw driven by Mubashirwhen it overturned on WaterSupply Road. Resultantly, shedied on the spot while thedriver received injuries andwas shifted to the DHQ hos-pital.

Meanwhile a man waskilled when a speedy car hithim on National Highwaynear Jangal Pir Ali zai area ofKilla Abadullah district. Lev-ies force said on Wednesdaythat the victim identified asAbdul Jabbar was standingnear the Road when a speedycar hit him. Resultantly, hedied on the spot.—INP

RAHMATULLAH KHAN

PESHAWAR—The PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leadersfrom FATA have demandedfor winding up the ongoingmilitary operation and haltthe CIA-operated drone at-tacks in tribal areas in orderto create a peaceful atmo-sphere for the next generalelections in the region.“Only innocent tribal chil-dren, women and other arebeing targeted in drone at-tacks,” claimed Malik Riaz, aPTI President of NorthWaziristan Agency, provin-cial leader of the party HajiIqbal Afridi and Kosar dawar,general secretary Insaf Stu-dents Federation (ISF) FATAduring a press conferencehere at Press Club onWednesday.

They said that a largenumber of people had ren-dered homeless due to ex-

cessive military operations indifferent tribal agencies.They said tribal people werefacing enormous hardshipsin absence of health and edu-cation facilities, whereas theinnocent people, includingwomen, children and agedwere killed in the US droneattacks and in security forcesaction in tribal region. “Thedrone attacks are against thesovereignty and integrity ofthe county, which must behalted”, they added. Accord-ing to the PTI leaders “Nearly2,800 people, includingwomen and children werekilled in more than 300 droneattacks in tribal areas”.

They said tribesmenwere not terrorists, but pa-triotic and honest with theirmotherland, which hadplayed important role forprotection of borders in pastand will render sacrifices forthe country in future. “We

want peace and stability inthe tribal region andstrongly against the foreignaggression”, they main-tained. They said that thecountry integrity and sover-eignty was at stake due toPro-American policies of thepresent rulers. “The presentruling coalition governmentmust review their policies,and frame foreign policy inthe best interest of thepeople and the state”, theysuggested.

The PTI tribal leaders fur-ther said that the country wasfacing severe internal andexternal challenges in wakeof wrong policies of the rul-ers’, which meant to appeasetheir foreign mentors. Theycriticised that the incumbentgovernment had completelyfailed to deliver at all frontsas the prices hike, unemploy-ment, and corruption were atpeak level.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

ATTOCK—The leaders ofShia sect during a meetingof the district peace commit-tee expressed their concernover the steps of the admin-istration every year duringMuharram. The Shia lead-ers including members ofDPC Syed Khadim HussainNaqvi,Maulana Arif Wahidiand President Anjuman Jan-e-Nisare Hussain AttockSyed Raza Naqvi during themeeting held here at districtcouncil hall.

Under the joint chair-manship of commissioner

Rawalpindi divisionAmdadullah Bosal and Re-gional Police officerMuhammad Zubair khan,they raised objections onthe Muharrram contin-gency plan. Among othersthe DCO Attock UsmanAhmed Chaudhry, DPOMuhammad Hilal Khan andMNA Sheikh Aftab Ahmedwere also present on theoccasion. They said thematter was also broughtinto the notice of higherPunjab government func-tionaries and the districtadministration about thedeletion of their names from

Minor killed,two hurt by

house ownerMULTAN—A minor boy waskilled while his mother andbrother were injured by somepeople at Basti Malook hereon Wednesday. Investiga-tion Incharge, SI MuhammadHusnain told APP that Zahidwas living in a rented houseowned by Munir at BastiMalook city along with hiswife and two sons. OnWednesday, Shakeel, son ofthe house owner Munir en-tered the house and alleg-edly killed Zahid’s 4-year-oldson Hannan with a repeatedblow of a sharp edgedweapon. He also injured hiswife Fariha and 3-year-oldson Ahsaan and fled. The in-jured were shifted to Victoriahospital Bahawalpur.—APP

FAISALABAD: President PPP, Punjab, Mian Manzoor Ahmad Wattoo, addressing a press conference at the resi-dence of opposition leader in Punjab Assembly Raja Riaz.

LARKANA: MNA Azra Pechuho, Incharge Pakistan Task Force Polio, along with Com-missioner Larkana Dr Saeed Mangejo, visiting Children Hospital.

MULTAN: Workers are busy in removing encroachments near Ghanta Ghar Chowk.

Shoppingcentre looted

SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Bur-glars broke into a shoppingcenter and took out Rs25,00,000 cash from the safeafter breaking it on Tuesdaynight, situated in CommitteeBazar.

The robbers stole gar-ments worth Rs 100,00,000and fled away unnoticed.Next morning when the ownercame to open the centre, hefound locks and the safe bro-ken. On checking it wasfound that the burglars hadcarried away all the garmentsand cash lying in the safe.City police have registered acase and further investiga-tion is in progress.

Nation united against terror

Committee to ensure peace during Muharram

PTI calls for end to drone attacks

the 4th schedule list anddeceased ulema from thebanned list.

But unfortunately thesituation is remains same. Inresponse to the objections,Commissioner Bosal andRPO Zubair assured the Shialeaders about resolution oftheir complaints and bring-ing it in the notice of thehigher authorities. Address-ing the meeting, the commis-sioner asked the religiousfigures of all sects to followthe code of conduct to en-sure peace during Muharrambesides maintaining unity forreligious harmony.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

HYDERABAD—A 6-day me-dia training workshop is un-derway at the HyderabadPress Club here to improvethe skills of media persons.The event has beenorganised by the South AsiaMedia School (SAMS), awing of South Asia Free Me-dia Association (SAFMA).As many as 35 journalistsrepresenting Sindhi, Urduand English language dailiesand belonging to variousdistricts of Sindh are partici-pating in the workshop,which began on Monday.

SAFMA’s Hyderabad di-

vision President KhalidKhokhar informed that SAMSconducts capacity buildingand training programmes toenhance journalistic skills ofmedia persons. Khokhar saidthe purpose to introduce thetraining programme was tohelp reporters bolster their pro-fessional skills. The trainer ofthe first day’s session wasMohammed Ali Shah, Chair-man of Pakistan FisherfolkForum (PFF).

Shah gave presentationon environmental issues re-lated to water, including dams,barrages, diversions and ef-fects of forest depletion onhuman life and livelihood.

Media trainingworkshop underway

Two girls shot deadover love marriage

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—A high leveldelegation from KhyberPakhtunkhwa province, ledby Minister for Social Wel-fare, Special Education &Women Empowerment Ms.Sitara Ayaz, held meeting withTurkish Deputy Minister forFamily & Social Policy Prof.Dr. Ashkin Asan in Ankara,says a report received fromAnkara.

The Pakistan delegationalso included Minister forZakat & Usher Mr. ZarshaidKhan, Additional SecretarySocial Welfare Mr. RuhullahKhan, and Deputy Chief ofChild Protection & Welfare

Commission Mr. Ijaz M. Khan.The Turkish side agreed

to consider possibility of set-ting up an orphanage basedon the Turkish model. Turkeyalso offered that Pakistancould study Council ofEurope’s Convention on pre-venting and combating vio-lence against women and do-mestic violence (also knownas the Istanbul Convention),which is the first comprehen-sive legally binding legislationto tackle this serious violationof human rights. Ms SitaraAyaz said her government willstudy the proposal.

Lauding the excellentachievements made by Tur-key in providing social safety

nets to its citizens, Ms Sitara

Ayaz said Pakistan can learna lot from the Turkish experi-ence in protecting the vulner-able sections of society such

as women, children, orphans,etc. She also briefed the hostsabout the legislation intro-duced for women empower-ment and child protection inher province. Our governmenthas empowered women le-gally, socially, politically andeconomically, she said.

Ms Sitara proposed tohold exhibitions of handi-crafts produced by womenfrom Khyber Pukhtunkhwaprovince and Turkey. Thiswill help sharing experiencebetween the women entre-preneurs and shall furtherboost economic empower-ment of women. Ms. SitaraAyaz invited Prof. Dr.Ashkin to visit Pakistan.

Pak to benefit from Turkishsocial safety nets to citizens

Baig namedmember US

EditorialAdvisory BoardOUR CORRESPONDENT

HUNZA—The University ofNorth Carolina, GreensboroUSA, Department of Educa-tional Leadership and CulturalFoundation School of Educa-tion Buildin has appointedSharif Ullah Baig as a memberof International Editorial Ad-visory Board of the NationalCouncil of Educational Ad-ministration (NCPEA). Hehas been appointed in recog-nition of his contribution inthe area of research in humanvalues, behaviors and educa-tional leadership. Sharif UllahBaig, a resident of Shishkat-Gojal, is currently working asan Instructor.

Obama to continueto rule the world

AS expected the American people have reposed confidence in theleadership of incumbent President and thus Barack Obama wouldcontinue to rule the world for the next four years. Mr Obama had

to face a tough competition and during election campaign sometime hisopponent Mitt Romney appeared to be having some edge but ultimatelyhe emerged victorious.

Obama’s election for the second term has established that in spite ofsagging economy and lack lustre foreign policy, the voters thought itappropriate to prefer him over his challenger and his slogan of “change”appeared to have impressed the Americans. Though it is understood thatthere would be no major shift in US policies because traditionally duringthe second term, the US President continues his earlier policies. But nowit is a different world altogether and Obama will not only have to addressthe domestic issues but also as supreme commander of the world’s onlysuper power he will have to reshape his foreign policy altogether with aview to improve American image abroad as there is increasing criti-cism over its war mongering culture and Bush ignited adventurism.American interference in different parts of the world including theMiddle East and Africa with the sole purpose of installing pro-Wash-ington regimes has backfired and there is now more opposition to itspolicies in Egypt, Libya and other countries than in the past. The issueof Palestine remains unresolved which will also be a challenge to Obamaduring his second term because Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu isknown to be more closer to Mitt Romney and he would not be cooper-ating with Obama Administration to find a solution to the decades oldproblem. There is also discontentment among the Americans as theeconomy is not picking up and required number of jobs are not beingcreated to satisfy the people. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hasalready made it clear that she would not be member of the Obama Ad-ministration during his second term and it is expected that some otherchanges would also be made at the top policy making level. It would beadvisable for Obama if he pays more attention on the domestic front tocalm down the nerves of the Americans and give a second look to theforeign policy to promote peace in the world.

Let the State ofPakistan be supreme

AN endless debate is going on in Pakistan as to which institution issupreme and the stakeholders are advancing their arguments to jus-

tify that they have the ultimate authority to decide what was in the inter-est of the country. This debate is creating misunderstanding and under-neath confrontation, which some time come to the surface and gives theimpression that the whole system would collapse.

In our opinion all institutions must realize that it is the State of Paki-stan which is and should be supreme and every other institution is sub-servient to it. The three main institutions mentioned in the constitution ofPakistan as Pillars of the State are Parliament, Judiciary and the Execu-tive and functions and responsibilities of each one have been clearly de-fined. There should be one point agenda for every institution of strength-ening the state of Pakistan all round. Unfortunately every body who isholding an important position considers himself above others and that isweakening the federation. The need is that we should give up projectionof power of “self” because no one is indispensable and people keep onchanging but the institutions and the State remain. If all the institutionswork in unison within their constitutionally given mandate, that wouldbetter serve the interest of the country and set a good precedence. Wemust realize that everyone of us is enjoying freedom and pride due to theState of Pakistan which had been carved out by our forefathers throughtheir tireless efforts and great sacrifices under the leadership of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah. They did not claim and asserted for re-wards for their long struggle and only worked wholeheartedly how tostrengthen the country which came on the world map as first IslamicRepublic. Therefore, after sixty five years of independence maturity mustcome and every individual and institution should play his role in theinterest of the State by working collectively in an harmonious atmosphereinstead of self projection as history would not forgive those who wouldgive preference to self interests over those of the State.

Pak show cases its indigenousmilitary equipment

PAKISTAN’S 7th Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS) opened atKarachi Expo Centre Wednesday show casing locally manufactured

military equipment. Some of the major indigenously developed productsbeing showcased in IDEAS-2012 include main battle tank Al Khalid, JF17 Thunder fighter aircraft, jet trainer aircraft and UAVs in addition toother armaments and communication equipment.

Holding of IDEAS-2012 is a proud moment for Pakistan and is a clearmanifestation of the fact that the country does not lack behind in qualitydefence production. Around 80 foreign delegations from across the worldhave arrived which reflects the deep interest of the international defenceorganisations in the products of Pakistan which are of high quality andmeet international standards. A total of 209 firms including 74 local and209 foreign have put on display their products. Though the exhibition isbeing held after a gap of four years but there is an over whelming re-sponse from the exhibitors as well as delegations. The country is alreadyexporting defence equipment produced at POF Wah and Aeronauticalcomplex Kamra and there is vast scope to enter the third world marketbecause Pakistani equipment is cheaper compared to the developed coun-tries. Even some of the Western countries are importers of spares andother equipment and we hope that the trade delegations would place sig-nificant orders at the conclusion of the exhibition. However we wouldstress that the country should step up its efforts and enter into joint ven-tures with different countries not only to meet the defence needs of ourArmed Forces but also produce surpluses for export.

The times are on for a serious debate on what is corruption and to see its many

manifestations. How does onedefine corruption? Is it possibleto see understand the thought pro-cess that goes into the person togratify himself. It may be betterand easier to point to the mani-festations then to define this as anissue. Countries have been exam-ining these issues and Pakistanhas been through a period ofmore than a decade but corrup-tion is not that easy to removegiven the culture in which we are.It all started innocently when thePM was Nawaz Sharif when theEhtasab bureau was establishedwith Saif-ur-Rehman heading theorganization. The Ehatasabcourts were established and thestructure was in place.

This country has a culture oftrying to be perfect. A retired HighCourt Chief Justice was appointedto head the court and he was giventhree very honest and experiencedsenior police officers to help thecourt and to investigate. Thesethree were the ones I could swearon their honesty and excellence.Where the court was weak I willnot say. With the advent ofMusharaf National AccountabilityBureau [NAB] was established. It

Bureau or commission of corruption

Robbing the mandate

A bit of fragrancealways clings to thehand that gives youroses.

Air Marshal Asghar Khan’scase was eventually takenup by the Supreme Court

with what one could call defi-nitely more than ‘slight’ delay, butthe decision, which came ratherswiftly, has stirred things up quitea bit. We still don’t know whatwill be its consequences but con-sidering how such matters havebeen dealt with in the past, thechances are that the issue willgradually fade away, to be re-placed by some other burning is-sue of which we seem to have anever-ending cycle. Still, it seemsto have provided civilians, or sothey think, a cause to whip aroundISI, and through it, the military.

Having observed Pakistanright from the start, I have nohesitation in saying that for thesorry state that we are in, bothcivilian governments and armyare responsible. After all, AyubKhan’s martial law was entirelyuncalled for and while it nodoubt brought some prosperityto the country, it did so at a costfar in excess of the benefits re-ceived in that it shook the veryfoundations of the state fromwhich the country never recov-ered. After all, frequent militaryinterventions, of which Ayubwas the pioneer, did prevent de-velopment of strong democratictraditions.

However, even the civiliangovernment leaders disappointedthe masses greatly and most ofthem spent their power, time andenergy enriching themselves andobliging their friends and rela-tions to the great misfortune ofthe country and the masses. It isfor this reason that taking over

US &new worlddisorder

Little by little, we are slippingunconsciously into a newworld order. Some have called

it a G-zero world, in which no onenation is powerful enough to lead,but each is strong enough to preventthe other from having its way.America’s retreat can be traced tothe burial of two assumptions it heldas universal truths when the SovietUnion collapsed. One was the fatallyflawed belief it could remake failedstates in its image. History, language,culture, geography did not count.Democracy could be unpacked by aprovincial reconstruction team fromthe back of a Chinook. Nation build-ing died a slow and ugly death inIraq and Afghanistan. The other wasthe belief that deregulated, unfet-tered globalised capital was the natu-ral world order. That died withLehman Brothers.

Much of what George W Bushdid wrong in his first term as presi-dent, Bill Clinton did too, only it wasnot as immediately noticeable inBoris Yeltsin’s Russia as it was inIraq in 2003. It took three presidentsfor these illusions to be shed, andBarack Obama’s own contributionto two decades of military hubriswas ordering the troop surge in Af-ghanistan. Leading from behind isthe infelicitous phrase Mr Obamaused to describe the US role inLibya, but even that fails to catchthe constraints that now ground theprojection of US power. The fact thatliberated Libya is a more lethal placefor US personnel than theunliberated country was representsanother part of the same learningcurve. The US, Britain and Francehave yet to give a full account oftheir relations with the deposed Arabdictators in Tunisia, Egypt andLibya. Nor will western powers to-day come clean about their supportfor Saudi Arabia and Jordan, whichare in the process of organising acounter-revolution against pro-de-mocracy protests in the Gulf states,on whose airfields the US woulddepend for an attack on Iran. Thesethen are really quite narrow param-eters within which to decide whocould make the better president, MrObama or Mitt Romney. The incum-bent Mr Obama has become by dintof experience shorn of illusion, inmany ways the antithesis of the manwho gave that soaring speech inCairo. He is prepared only to devotehis time to problems he thinks he canchange, but by the same token he ismore prepared to use lethal force inthe form of drones than any of hispredecessors. He has become a re-alist in the mould of BrentScowcroft.

Mr Obama faces a Republicanchallenger who has cared so littleabout the subject that would take upso much of his time as president, thathe has adopted many of the sameneocons – John Bolton, Reuel MarcGerecht, Eliot Cohen – who asformer members of the Project forthe New American Century, got USpolicy into the mess it is in. Thesemen are serial offenders, responsiblefor the sort of blunder Mr Romneymakes after hours of hard delibera-tion. Not comments like the one hemade twice in his campaign thatSyria is apparently Iran’s route to thesea. The biggest foreign blunder ofhis campaign, his attack on state-ments issued by the US embassy inCairo before it became known thata US ambassador had been killed inLibya, was made on the unanimousrecommendation of these people.Think, too, of the challenges the nextpresident faces, chief of which is todefuse through negotiation the cri-sis over Iran’s nuclear enrichmentprogramme.

Closely linked to this is a civilwar in Syria, in which there is a mili-tary stalemate. The minute Basharal-Assad’s regime were to fall, theeffects of the loss of a Shia-led re-gime, even a Baathist one, would befelt the next day in Iraq. Egypt andTunisia’s relatively bloodless revo-lutions are still in the balance. Jor-dan and the Gulf states are beingshaken by the same forces thattoppled the dictators in the Arab re-publics. In Afghanistan, a US troopwithdrawal has to be managed in theworst possible conditions.

China meanwhile is fast build-ing its naval forces and flexing itsterritorial claims in the South ChinaSea. The list is by no means exhaus-tive but the choice of who is betterequipped to navigate the chaos ofthe new world disorder is crystalclear.—The Guardian

was used more as atool of repressionthan as a tool forcleaning the existingmess. The presentNAB ordinance is[maybe was] the onethat is in positioneven now. It is subjectto change along withthe bureau becoming

a commission. That is not a cosmeticname change. It has distinct mean-ing but for Pakistanis it could meananything. The substantive parts arein the act [now bill] itself.

What is happening in the regionhas to be taken cognizance off. In-dia is in turmoil and the doings ofAnna Hazare and later of hisbreakaway colleague ArvindKejrival needs to be established.Anna as we all know went in to hun-ger strike in support of his LokpalBill [a bill to eradicate corruption].After the social testing of strengthIndian government finally relented.But the go slow tactics meant thatmore action needed to be taken. Inthe first draft of the bill that congresspresented the PM was exempt fromnay prosecution under the bill andAnna Hazare was back to his waystill the government again buckledunder the social pressure.

His break away faction ofKejrival, an activist, started anNGO called the Indians againstcorruption [IAC]. He soon had thisorganization all over India. Whathas been their action? He takes onthe congress leaders for their cor-ruption and then strikes at the BJBchief for his corruption. In the re-cent Cabinet reshuffle he again tar-geted the Congress for the removalof the Petroleum Minister. Kejrival

pointed out that he was transferredon the basis of the power of thecorporate sector. He goes on mak-ing announcements as to corrup-tion based on documents. He willbe a force to reckon with. Now thetarget is on Salman Khurshid thenew external affairs minister.Chidambram’s son is also in theline of fire.

India’s public sector watch doghappens to be Criminal Bureau ofInvestigation [CBI-equivalent toour FIA] and this is part of the oldgovernance structures. Pakistancontinues to have NAB but a newlaw is under consideration. Thereis no institution in the NGO sector.One is under consideration and thatwill depend on whether we canhave the kind of response thatNGOs in India get and the kind ofsupport that the media gives them.In Karan and in Sardesii they haveanchor persons who dissect issuesand not personalities and their dili-gence can never be in doubt.

The previous NAB ordinanceand the current bill have been stud-ied by the author. My view is thatthe law sections by themselves aremeaningless unless some groundrules are established. The first ishow independent can an institutionbe. It can be independent if the headof the organization is not interferedwith. In Pakistan you may get anyone from the celestial heights hewill be interfered with. Law is inliving and not in special exceptions.It is obvious that those in powerpolitically would like it to be usedfor and them and against their po-litical masters. Musharaf used it asan instrument of oppression and tospread his tyrannical authority. Soexternally the first requirement is

MEDIA WATCH

Chinese Proverb

of the civilian set up by the mili-tary, and vice versa, both providegreat jubilation to the people. Ihave intentionally avoided usingthe term ‘democratic government’because the conduct of most of ourcivilian governments hardly en-titles them to that description. Not-withstanding all this, people in Pa-kistan still seem to have greater re-spect for military personnel thanthe civilian leaders.

Peoples Party is now complain-ing bitterly about being robbed ofits mandate by the ISI. However,the same party had done exactlythat to Sheikh Mujibur Rahman andhis Awami League, an act that re-sulted in the separation of East Pa-kistan from us as well as wide-spread death and destruction thoughin all honesty, it must be said thatthe process of separation of theeastern wing had started much ear-lier with the dismissal of the gov-ernment of Khawaja Nazim-ud-Dinby Ghulam Mohammed, and rein-forced further by mistreatment ofBengalese by the west wing, espe-cially during Ayuib Khan’s rule,with the final act being the rejec-tion of Mujibur Rahman’s mandateby the West Pakistan leaders.

In the 1970 national assemblyelections, out of the 162 seats allo-cated to the eastern wing, SheikhMujibur Rehman’s Awami leaguebagged 160 whereas against 138seats allocated to the west wing,PPP secured only 81. In percentageterms, Awami Leaque won 53 per-cent as against PPP winning 27 per-cent of the total national assemblyseats of 300.

Even in provincial assemblyelections, Awami League secured288 seats, which works out to 96percent of the total 300 seats allo-cated to the eastern wing. How-ever, Peoples Party won 113 seatsin Punjab, 28 in Sind, 3 in NWFPand none none in Balochistan, add-

ing up to 144 seats, or 48 percentof the total 300 seats allocated tothe western wing, securing simplemajority only in one of the fourprovinces, Punjab. With that sortof performance, the threat to breakthe legs of any one who dared goto East Pakistan to attend NationalAssembly Session called bySheikh Mujib did not demonstratethe best of democratic traditions.Air Marshal Asghar Khan alsodoes not appear to be quite con-vinced that the real objective of the

PPP founder-leader was service tothe country.

So Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto solvedthe problem by reportedly suggest-ing to Sheikh Mujib “You on thatside and I on this side” thus facili-tating the final separation of theeastern wing which unfortunateprocess had started much earlier bythe West Pakistan politicians andmilitary men who never gaveBengalese the respect and sharethey were entitled to.

According to various reportson the Asghar Khan case, ISI is al-leged to have prevented PPP fromcoming to power because it con-

sidered Benazir Bhutto to havebecome a security risk. Not hav-ing inside knowledge, I can’s re-ally comment on that but I did seeone press conference BB heldjointly with the Indian prime min-ister Rajiv Gandhi. In answer toa question “What about Kashmirproblem” Rajiv Gandhi said“What problem, I don’t see anyproblem?” Saying that, he lookedaround smiling, and BB did thesame, as if nodding in agreement.I would say that so far as thepeople of Pakistan are concerned,no state institution deserves un-qualified praise because of itsperformance now and/or in thepast. We would urge, request andbeg of them to have some mercyon us and start working collec-tively for the common good in-stead of creating unnecessaryfriction in order to establish theirsupremacy over others.

We are presently facing exter-nal and internal threats which havethe potential of developing into ex-istential threats if allowed to go onunchecked. At a time like this, weneed a capable government to dealwith pressisng issues but insteadhave one that has proved itself in-capable of achieving anything sig-nificant except of course ensuringits own continuity, which it is do-ing in an admirable manner, com-pletely unperturbed over the astro-nomical corruption,misgovernance and other seriousproblems which are speedily tak-ing us to a point of no return.

While all this is going on, vari-ous state institutions and theirleaders are getting at each other’sthroat, fighting their ‘turf’ wars,which is really disgusting. I thinkthe only sensible way to get out ofthis absolute mess is to go for earlyelections, under a neutral caretakergovernment and I hope the sincerepeople among us strive for that.

for the selectors of leadership togive an n irreversible authority tothe Chairman. The second sole au-thority would be to let him havethe where withal for deliveringwhat he has been charged with.This takes us to two managementaspects-one of subsidiary and theother of distributed leadership.This means that what the chairmanNab seeks for himself he has inturn to give downstream. The factthat India’s CBI has stood the testof time is because it has withoutlet served the nation rather thanthe political bosses. With over 500TV channels and each vying forspace the TV analysts are very in-vestigative. There power is curbedby the law of Torts that India ahsand the defamation aspects. Indiahas for its citizens also the free-dom of speech as well as the fightto information. Pakistan does notseem to understand the Rule oflaw and how to be an architect ofsocial and cultural aspects of thecountry. It certainly cannot givedirection to the social factors-asis evident.

India has dealt with the cor-rupt in a more even handed man-ner than Pakistan and recoursemay be had to the incarcerationand the courts decision makingauthority-eleven to thirty years iscommon happenstance for a caseto be realized if you are lucky.People have been incarceratedwithout trial for as many as thir-teen years!!! So equitable actionsare part of the Indian culture-thecorrupt are taken to task. The Ac-countability courts do not functionappropriately. The corrupt arecaught and tried not the innocentno matter of what political colour.

Hurmat GroupZahid Malik

President & Editor-in-Chief

Faisal Zahid MalikEditor

Ph: 021-32211777, 32631102

Gauhar Zahid MalikExecutive Editor

Ph: 051-2852027-8

IslamabadPh Exchange: 051-2852027, 2852028

Reporting Desk: 051-2262254, News Desk: 051-2252480Marketing: 051-2262254, Fax: 051-2262258

Email: observer@pakobserver.netWebsite: www.pakobserver.net

KarachiFaisal Zahid Malik

EditorPh: 021-32211777, 32631102

Fax: 021-32626902Email: obskhi@pakobserver.net

LahoreNadeem SyedResident Editor

Ph: 042-37593341, 37566702Fax: 042-36300043

Email: obslhr@pakobserver.net

QuettaGhulam TahirResident Editor

Ph: 081-2829238-40Fax: 081-2829072

Mobile: 0333-7944760

PeshawarResident Editor

Ph: 091-5252157Fax: 2591705

MuzaffarabadAbdul Hameed Shaheen

Resident EditorMobile: 0315-5010791

Dr Zafar AltafEmail: dr_altaf@hotmail.com

S H R HashmiEmail:srhhashmi@hotmail.com

Peoples Party isnow complaining

bitterly aboutbeing robbed of its

mandate by theISI. However, the

same party haddone exactly thatto Sheikh Mujibur

Rahman & hisAwami League,

an act thatresulted in

separation of EastPakistan from us.

Voice of the People

Germany losing patience with Britain

When you spend time in bothBritain and Germany, it isimpossible not to notice

how distant their stances on Europehave become. When Angela Merkelmeets David Cameron at DowningStreet, to discuss the EU budget,they ought to have plenty of com-mon ground. Berlin actually standsto lose more than London: under thecurrent plans, its contribution wouldrise by about 30 billion euros overthe seven years, whereas the UK’swould go up by 17 billion. Nor doesMerkel need to be told that the bud-get is a nonsense: even her Europhileforeign minister, GuidoWesterwelle, says that the currentset-up “leads to aberrations such asEU subsidies going to day-spas orromantic hotels”.

So why are the talks expectedto be frosty? The problem for the UKis, first, that the EU budget just isn’tthat important to Germany at the mo-ment. For the past two years, Berlinhas been preoccupied by the

eurozone bail-outs, and endless bick-ering over the lending capacity of therelevant funds (among other fasci-nating topics). Second, Germanystill perceives its contribution as anecessary sign of its commitment tothe greater good.

Indeed, the bailouts – despitetheir unpopularity – have actuallymade Berlin more reluctant to kickup a fuss over the EU budget: a fewbillion more, in return for a bit ofgoodwill in the austerity-fatiguedMediterranean, is seen as a soundinvestment given the trillions atstake over the euro. Such subsidiesare also a convenient way to hidepart of the Länderfinanzausgleich– the unpopular transfer paymentsto the East.

Recent reports suggest thatMerkel’s frustrations have reachedthe point where she’s prepared towave goodbye to Britain altogether.In the past, so the analysis goes, Ber-lin needed London to balance theMediterranean bloc. Now,Germany’s chequebook does all thetalking. Certain people in Merkel’soffice have taken to slipping this intochats with journalists, in case those

in Westminster have missed it. Be-yond this posturing, however, Ber-lin knows that an EU without the UKwould be a much less pleasant place.The single market would shrink by15 per cent, with 75 billion euros inannual German exports facing extracosts. Germany’s contribution to theEU budget would increase by an ad-ditional 10 or 15 billion euros. Norwould Britain’s global clout be easyto replace.

If it really came to a situationwhere the UK was on the verge ofleaving the EU, Germany would al-most certainly crunch the numbersand conclude that, as LudwigErhard said, “without Britain, Eu-rope would only be a torso”. Buttaking the long view, I am optimis-tic that a new Anglo-German dealis still there to be struck – one thatwould not just keep Britain in Eu-rope, but create a Europe that Brit-ain could live with. How could thishappen? First, both Cameron andMerkel need fundamental changewithin the EU in order to keep theirdomestic audiences on side.

Almost two thirds of Germans,for example, oppose the idea of giv-

The exact size of intended Indian nuclear arsenal remainsambiguous however some In-

dian strategists have suggested as-tounding figures of maintaining atriad between 400 to 1000 nuclearwarheads. These targets, if true, re-main unattainable in near future ifIndia solely relies on its domesticUranium production capabilities.Some reports suggest that by 2006,Indian nuclear program had comeunder immense strain due to Ura-nium shortage and had Indo-US dealnot come through, it might not havebeen possible to operate all thenuclear reactors in India.

Annual Natural Uranium con-sumption for civil and military pur-pose in India was reaching up to 475tons while the production was be-low 300 tons. Although this short-age was overcome by utilizing oldstocks of nuclear fuel but it directlyaffected the Indian plans to expandtheir nuclear weapons inventory.This precarious situation has dra-matically changed since India nego-

Undermining S Asian nuke deterrence — IItiated multiple nuclear deals withwestern countries including Austra-lia. These deals permit India to pur-chase enough fuel for its safeguardedreactors for power generation whileutilizing its domestic reserves ofUranium for production of fissilematerial. The new 500 MWe FastBreeder Reactor, expected to becompleted by 2013, would furtherenhance Indian fissile material pro-duction capability by three times. Asa result Indian ambition of maintain-ing stockpile of several hundrednuclear warheads would be achiev-able in much earlier timeframe thanpreviously assumed.

Some scholars in Pakistan arguethat Pakistan doesn’t need to in-crease the size of its nuclear arse-nals because even as less as fivenuclear warheads would suffice tobe a credible deterrence against In-dia. This is a weak argument in de-terrence theory, as the concept ofnuclear deterrence is not a notion ofabstract numbers frozen in perpetu-ity but rather is a dynamic theorypivoting around adversary’s nuclearcapabilities and strategic thinking.Since the overt nuclearization ofSouth Asia, Indian military plannershave reinvigorated the concept of

Referendumand threats

M RAFIQUE ZAKARIA

Muttahida Qoumi Movement hasannounced to conduct countrywidereferendum on 14th November 2012in which people of Pakistan will beasked to vote for the kind of Paki-stan they want? And the choices are:1) Pakistan of Quaid-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah ? Or 2) Pa-kistan of Taliban ?

This announcement of MQMhas not gone down well with theTaliban and they have now startedto threaten MQM of dire conse-quences. Taliban are the ones whodo not hesitate to kill several inno-cent people at one point of time. Ithink MQM should reconsider itsdecision of conducting referendum.Who will be responsible if 5 to 10Taliban suicide bombers strike atany referendum camps resulting inloss of many innocent lives. As weall know and have witnessed that ourlaw enforcing agencies includingRangers have completely failed toprovide security of life and propertyto the people.

MQM has already expressed itsfears of presence of Taliban inKarachi. Taking the threat of Talibaninto consideration, I think MQMshould do away with the idea of con-ducting referendum in the best in-terest of people of Pakistan.—Karachi

Librariesin Pakistan

JAWED AHMED KHURSHEED

Muhammed Zubair, a devoted, un-conventional and above all a hospi-table chief librarian of Bedil library,Sharfabad, Karachi whom I meetdaily and find an opportunity to payheed to his personal experiences asa chief librarian of a specialized li-brary of literature comprising morethan 1,00,000/- books and files ofhundred of literary magazines dat-ing back in the 19th century.

He says that there are many rea-sons involved in not developing aculture among people to visit librar-ies in Pakistan since it came intobeing. Many scholars and poetswere determined to establish a li-brary and they made tremendousefforts to cater books as much asthey could from every nook and cor-ner of Pakistan and abroad. ZafeerulHasan was an example of his ownwho established a library widelyknown as Bedil library which is nowbeginning to expand leaps andbound.

There were many libraries es-tablished in Pakistan and closed dueto insufficient financial resources letalone employing skilled staff to alibrary. A library along with librar-ian must employ an indexer, cata-loguer and classifier. A few librar-ies in Pakistan are equipped withthese skilled staffers. Now in Paki-stan, a librarian has to do manyworks for which he is not employedsuch as he has to index, catalogueand classify.

In this regard, titles—that arepublished in the developed coun-tries—contain its classification andcatalogue number making the workof a librarian a bit easier to index abook to place it in its right place.There are many known publishersof Pakistan whose published worksare errorless and commendable andthey can print such information ontheir titles as sometime a librarianis unable to ascertain which cata-logue number to assign due to un-indicative of its subject. If the pub-lishers in Pakistan prefer to add suchinformation, this will meet the in-ternationally recognized standard ofpublication.—Karachi

Superannuationage in Pakistan

ASGHAR MAHMOOD

According to media reports the Of-fice Mangement Group officers ofthe Establishment Division haveprepared a petition against exten-sions recently granted to senior bu-reaucrats after reaching the age ofsuperannuation. They have arguedthat these extensions are against theFebruary 2011 observations of theSupreme Court of Pakistan on theissue. In legal context, the petitionof OMG has substance and rel-evance. . There should be no exten-sion in service beyond the age ofsuperannuation. This policy vitiatesagainst the interests of serving of-ficers in the line of promotion.

However, the sanctity of super-annuation age stipulated in the CivilServants Act 1973 is debatable . InJapan and some other countries, theage of superannuation is 65. Withchange in average age in Asiancountries and socio-economic pres-sures in Pakistan, there is need torevisit the superannuation age for

MQM referendumCOL RIAZ JAFRI (R)

You want Quaid’s Pakistan or Taliban’s Pakistan, is what theMQM leader is so naively asking the people in a referendum?

Who would in his proper senses opt for Taliban’s Pakistan over theQuaid’s Pakistan? What a question to be posed for a national refer-endum?! I sincerely hope that with the obvious outcome that is ex-pected to be Altaf Bhai thumping his chest doesn’t conclude, “Okay,I will be your President for the next 5 years”, as had Maulvi Ziadone once upon a time!!—Rawalpindi

Views From Abroad

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

limited warfare under a nuclear um-brella, a concept that is likely to beput to test if the nuclear asymme-tries grow between India and Paki-stan. A nuclear triad of several hun-dred warheads along with a rudi-mentary missile defence capabilitywould give India a false sense of as-surance that Pakistan would be self-deterred by the retaliatory cost if itdared to cross the nuclear thresholdagainst an Indian conventional ag-gression. In retrospect, a limited con-flict between the two countrieswould become more plausible withhigh possibility of spinning into afull scale war. Pakistan therefore,would be tempted to expand itsnuclear inventory to maintain thenuclear equilibrium in the region be-sides further lowering its perceivednuclear thresholds, especially onceit faces a perilous western border.Adding of short range nuclear ca-pable missile ‘Nasr’ by Pakistan inits nuclear inventory is indicative ofthis phenomenon.

There is no doubt that these mea-sures could have incurable economicconsequences for Pakistan and mayresult in a fatal blow to its dwindlingeconomy. Some western media re-ports suggest that Pakistan may al-

civil servants, military officers andother government functionaries. TheParliament may discuss the issue andamend the law in the prescribed man-ner. There should be no arbitrarinessin the matter of extension in service.

One comes across many octoge-narians active in the private sector..It is a common sight professionalsworking beyond 75. In legal commu-nity age is a positive factor. TVScreen will prove it.

A message of Dr. ShigeakiHinirama of Japan , who is workingdiligently at the age of 101 as aphysiacian and educator in Tokyo, isbeing circulated on the social mediathat one should lead active life andkeep working till the last day of hislife to keep healthy and productive.There are many bureaucrats in theGovernment/ Presidency who believein and follow this philosophy. I thinkthey are the healthiest and happiestpersons in Pakistan.—Islamabad

Cosmetic stepsnot needed

KHAWAJA UMER FAROOQ

At the time when things are goingbad to worse for normal people inPakistan, political parties are justtaking cosmetic steps to scoringnumbers in media politics. This isthe main reason that political partiesare losing trust in general public. Biggatherings of political parties andtheir foolish demands have becomebig joke these days. Despite courtorders political parties have failedto implement court order to reduceCNG prices in their areas and pro-vide relief to suffering people.

Unfortunately Political partiesare still busy in non issues politics.Now according to media newsMuttheda Qumi Movement has de-cided to organize referendum acrossthe country and people would beasked in the referendum whether theywanted a Pakistan of Mohammad AliJinnah or of extremist. It is a matterof great sorrow that after indepen-dence of sixty years political partieshave still not realized actually whichtype of country we need. Everyoneknows that this type of cosmetic stepscan’t bring change in normal peoplelives. Instead of non issues politicalparties should come to genuine issuesand try to solve basic demands of gen-eral public.

Recent ruling of supreme courtabout peace situation in MuttahedaQumi movement ruling province isenough to open eyes of political par-ties. Supreme court clearly stated thatin presence of four thousands killersdream of peace can’t come true inSindh province. Total number ofpeople killed in Muttehada QumiMovement ruling province this yearhave exceeded to total number ofpeople killed in law less tribal areas.—Jeddah, KSA

Delayedsugarcane crushing

HASHIM ABRO

Nowadays, the sugarcane growers areseen desperate and disturbed in thesugarcane growing belt of Sindh,once known as Cuba of Sindh, includ-ing Thatto, Badin, Tando MuhammadKhan, Ghotki and also Khairpur Mirs.Normally, the sugarcane crushingseason used to begin on November Iin the province but unfortunately likepast two consecutive years, this yeartoo, Shylock natured mill owners of36 sugar mills in the province, a ma-jor ratio of the owners in the corri-dors of power and politics, are usingdilatory tactics and exploiting the in-flation and disaster –hit growers andalso trying to ravage and ruin the ag-ricultural economy of the provincewith this devilish design to invest lessand earn exorbitant profits.

It is now time that the provincialgovernment must take some concretesteps to protect the sugarcane grow-ers and industry as well. Is there any-one God fearing somewhere in powerand authority in the province or in thiscountry to come forward and protectthe growers from the exploitation bythe sugar millers. I am confident ifthe growers and laborers are protectedfrom the exploitation by the sugarmill owners and given enhancedrates, ensured timely payments, then,it would have a positive impact onthe agriculture sector in the province.If otherwise, then, the rural economywill be massively damaged becausethe growers will not have resources

ing more cash to Europe. Second,many in Germany now accept thata flexible Europe, allowing for dif-ferent modes of membership, is in-evitable. Such diversity could bea very good thing. It is also exactlywhat Britain wants.

Third, Germany is desperate toensure that integration does not de-stroy the single market, which re-mains an asset. This should includemaking sure that any eurozonebanking union doesn’t push theCity of London “offshore”, whichwould cut off a facilitator of in-vestment and a gateway to globalmarkets for Germany.

Both London and Berlin sup-port the prudent use of publicmoney, and oppose the paperingover of economic cracks throughfast and loose money. Both wantto boost cross-border trade, in Eu-rope and across the world. If theBritish Government stops its mis-guided lecturing, and advocatesthat kind of change, it may find ithas more friends than it realised.The writer is director of the thinktank Open Europe.— Courtesy: The Telegraph

The car ahead moved forward,I followed and there was ascreech of brakes as a vehicle

from the right narrowly missed hit-ting me. I looked at the signal, itwas still red. I had followed the carin front blindly without checking tosee whether the signal had turnedgreen..! I had blindly followed aleader. As I reflected on my care-lessness, I thought of all of us whoblindly follow those who lead.There are various reasons for usdoing so; many of us are attractedto those who have the power of ora-

tory, or others who have glib tongueor charming personality. We arefooled by dynamism, or sometimesby an air of authority.

One group of people, who arebeing exploited and fooled day afterday are senior citizens. Many of themfeel that their days on earth are num-bered and spend hours in front of TVlistening to mesmerizing teacher, orspend day after day followinggodmen or guru who convince thesegullible souls to part with their timeand ultimately their money.

This money finally goes in theleader leading rich lifestyle with halfa dozen Roll’s or a Merc in everycity..! When Israel was rebuilding thewall of Jerusalem under hard anddangerous conditions, their leaderNehemiah took his turn at both build-ing and standing guard. Special food

was allotted to him as the leader buthe refused to accept it, unlike his pre-decessors. He ate from the same ra-tions that were offered to everyoneelse. Two options come to those wholead, the temptation to serve them-selves or the opportunity to serve thepeople they lead. Nehemiah chose tobe a servant leader and it earned forhim enormous respect.

So there’s your test. Look for theservant leader. People who are will-ing to serve you, rather than thosewho will make you their servants,when they come to power. Peoplewho will walk beside you, not thosewho enshrined in ivory tower or be-hind Z category commandos tell youwhat to do.

The servant leader is the leaderyou should look for. Gandhiji was aservant leader, Mother Teresa another.

Follow the right leader..!Not for them fancy car or fancierlifestyle. They led because theyloved the people they served, andpeople loved them back in return.I read from the words of KahlilGibran: “You may have heard ofthe Blessed Mountain. It is thehighest mountain in our world.Should you reach the summit, youwould have only one desire, andthat to descend and be with thosewho dwell in the deepest valley.

That is why it is called theBlessed Mountain”. And that mydear friend is the leader we shouldbe looking for. The one who hasclimbed up the mountain top, seenhis vision and now has one desire,to climb down and serve those whodwell in the deepest valley. Followthat leader, blindly..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Pledges hold good for Kashmiris

The people of Pakistan observed Kashmir Black Dayon October 27 and renewed

their unswerving support for the juststruggle of Kashmiris for the real-ization of their fundamental and in-alienable rights. The Kashmiris hadrendered countless sacrifices in theirfight for freedom and for fulfillmentof the promise for the effective ex-ercise of their right to self-determi-nation as envisaged in the relevantUN resolutions. It is noteworthy thatthe noble principles and values, thatunderpin the just Kashmir cause, areupheld and supported by all justiceand freedom loving people acrossthe world. They have proven to theworld that they will never compro-mise their dignity and honour norforfeit their fundamental rights. It isalso believed that the United Na-tions’ promise to the Kashmiris ascontained in relevant resolutionsmust be fulfilled. A peaceful settle-ment of the Kashmir dispute, thataccords fully with the aspirations ofthe Kashmiri people, is a must forpeace and prosperity in this region.

The UNCIP resolutions datedAugust 13, 1948 and January 5, 1949endorsed by the Security Counciland accepted by both Pakistan andIndia provided for a ceasefire, de-marcation of ceasefire line, demili-tarization of the state and a free andimpartial plebiscite to be conductedby the United Nations. The plebi-scite was never held and the Indianpledge was never honoured. Indiajustifies its refusal on the flimsygrounds of various new develop-ments that have taken place duringthe last six decades. Kashmiris arecontinuing their struggle for the rightof self-determination, promised tothem by the United Nations, Indiaand Pakistan.

The sacrifices offered by theKashmiris in terms of life and prop-erty are unprecedented in history.Indians argues that the conditionsdeemed necessary for a peacefulsettlement of the promised plebiscitewere never achieved by Pakistan.Under these circumstances whatshould be done to find a solution?India is in a position to come up witha way out. So far, Indians are deny-ing greater autonomy to theKashmiris because it is the Indianegoism and not the thinking that is

the basis of their policies on Kash-mir. Hegemonic policies of Indianleadership are responsible for the lin-gering Kashmir dispute, that hascrippled the lives of hundreds ofthousands Kashmiris since October27, 1947. Nonetheless, as the worldorder has been shifted from bi-polarto uni-polar set of systems, therefore,the US being the only super powershould intervene and help resolve thelong outstanding issue of Kashmir.

There were number of propos-als on the cards for the amicableresolution of Kashmir issue. Eversince 2004, India and Pakistan hadbeen involved in Confidence Build-ing Measures (CBMs) as well as inbackchannel diplomacy to explorepossibilities to resolve the Kashmirissue. It was the time to take advan-tage of the conducive atmosphereand take the process ahead and comeup with more CBMs so as to reachan amicable solution of the Kash-mir issue. Unfortunately, the grue-some episode of “Mumbai terroristattacks of November 26, 2008” inwhich 164 people were killed,stalled the peace process between thetwo neigbouring countries.

New Delhi accused “Pakistanstate involvement” in Mumbai car-

nage, setting a pre-condition for re-starting of Indo-Pakistan bilateraltalks, if Pakistan takes actionagainst the perpetrators of thecrime. In an in-depth analysis onMumbai attackers, Ms ChristineFair - a political scientist at theRAND Corporation analyzed thatthe involvement of ‘home-grownmilitant groups’ can not be ruledout completely. It is concluded byforeign experts in counter-insur-gency that lack of conclusive evi-dence has shown that “officialagencies” have not orchestrated theMumbai terrorist attack. It isgrossly wrong to think of Pakistanas a perpetrator of terrorism be-cause Pakistan is a country that hasremained frontline state in GWOTsince 2001. In the ongoing war onterrorism the armed forces haveso far lost 40,309 people with3,097 soldiers martyred and 721others permanently disabled. Pa-kistan wants a peaceful settlementof the Kashmir dispute. To resolvethis issue, all of them have to leavetheir “stated positions” and haveto show flexibility to move for-ward. A step-by-step approach to-wards seeking a solution on Kash-mir is the need of the day.

ready be ahead of India in thenuclear number game. It is notclear if these reports are based onsome credible sources or aremerely aimed at giving a psycho-logical assurance to Pakistan thatits nuclear deterrence is not at stakeas a result of nuclear co-operationbetween India and other westerncountries. With non-state actorsoperating loose, both within Indiaand Pakistan, South Asia risks asudden escalatory scenario with aplausible march towards a“Nuclear Armageddon” under theauspice of United States and otherwestern states offering nuclear as-sistance to India.

In such a case, besides the costfor Pakistan, which is obvious, notonly dream of ‘shinning India’would crumble but the global eco-nomic consequences would also beunbearable. Earlier the India andother western states recognize risksof undermining South Asiannuclear deterrence to bring a fun-damental change in this policy; thebetter it would be for the peace andsecurity of the region and rest ofthe world.—Concluded.—The writer is an MPhilresearch fellow at NDU.

Mats Persson

include money to purchase agri-in-puts and proper season to cultivateand such a situation will lead to “ foodinsecurity” and inflation problem inthe coming days in the province.—Islamabad

Sindh: Zardari’sgenerosity

MOHAMMAD KHAN SIAL

President Asif Ali Zardari has re-cently shown his “generosity” againtowards people of Sindh. As per pressreports, the seats reserved for studentsof Sindh (except Karachi) in newlyupgraded Jinnah Sindh Medical Uni-versity of Karachi were total 23. Inother words, the average number ofseats for rest 22 districts of Sindhcomes only one seat per district.President Zardari showing his so-called “generosity” towards people ofSindh has increased the number ofseats from 1 to 2 per district.

The people of Sindh are striv-ing hard to lift restrictions on admis-sions of Sindhi students in Karachiinstitutes imposed on them duringthe govt of military dictator General(r) Musharraf and ruling PPP madesuch promise during last generalelections to do away with such re-strictions. Despite heavy protestdemonstrations from students andothers from time to time, PPP Govthas forgotten its said promise likeothers made towards people of Sindhin the past.

The people of Sindh also proteston changing the name of Sindh Medi-cal University by Governor Dr Ibadthrough an ordinance and hereby askthe Governor and PPP govt. what washarm in the name of Sindh MedicalUniversity after upgrading fromSindh Medical College?—Karachi

Quaid’s PakistanMAARIJ FAROOQ

Pakistan today is surrounded by manyproblems which are not given by oth-ers but the people of Pakistan them-selves. Pakistan in the current sce-nario is not having peace in the coun-try, everywhere there are bomb blasts,in Karachi everyday there are 10-15killing due to target killing and sameis the situation of Baluchistan. Sec-ondly Pakistan is facing the worsteconomic crisis then ever had. Indus-try in Pakistan is closed, no foreigninvestments in the country and plusthe reputation of the country is dam-aged very badly.

The poor resident of a country donot have the basics necessities of thelife like Electricity, food, water,cloths, shelter etc and they are cryingfor their rights they are begging theofficials for their basic rights but thegovernment is not at all serious insolving the issues. Instead of servingthe poor people of the country, thesecorrupt officials are busy in fillingtheir pockets with the American aid.It will be good if we call this aid “beg-gary” because after taking this moneythe mouths of the Pakistanis gets shutand then Americans are free to doanything in country and Pakistanis areonly allowed to condemn not morethan anything.

Pakistan People’s Party and therecoalition partners have totally failedin solving the issue of load sheddingwhich is the reason why the majorityof Pakistan’s population have de-clared the PPP’s tenure a great fail-ure and want to get rid of these cor-rupt officials as soon as possible.They want to have a person which ishaving the ideology of Quaid-e-AzamMohammad Ali Jinnah and can leadthe country in a right way.

The situation is still very muchin our hands although we are facingsome difficulties. If the corruptionfinishes from the country and achance is provided to youth so thecountry can go in right way and willprosper but if the officials didn’t takesome major steps so the situation willget worst and the country will haveto face such problems that their out-comes will be very much horrible.—Via email

Shams uz ZamanEmail:smszmn72@yahoo.com

Urooj Raza

JAMES PARKER

PERHAPS the most remarkablestory in Southeast Asian affairs this last 18 months hasbeen the largely unanticipated

“opening up” of Burma, driven byPresident Thein Sein. A series of po-litical and social reforms have quicklyled to major world economies, includ-ing the EU and the U.S., dropping orreducing their sanctions against thecountry. Despite some very reason-able concerns that things may bemoving too fast given ongoing inter-nal difficulties, it is hard to deny thatvast change is in the wind, and it isnot just internal factors which aredriving the changes.

The EU is also preparing to pro-vide development aid of more thanU.S. $100 million to the country.Much less reported, but possiblymore significant, Burma launched itsfirst debit cards on Friday, which willgradually spread and facilitate trans-actions across the country, as well ascash machine access. Such a schemewill eventually funnel more funds tobanks, improving their ability to fi-nance investments across the coun-try. Currently, cash still dominates thecountry.

Also on Friday (Nov 2nd), Presi-dent Sein signed into law a parliamen-tary bill clearing the way for foreignfunds to be invested into the coun-try. The bill had been amended to makeits clauses more attractive for foreigninvestors, with conditions on start-up capital and ownership limitationsbeing eased.

One country which is already tak-ing advantage of the newly open cli-mate is Japan. Several Japanese firmsare looking to relocate facilities out-side of China (or at least create re-dundancies in their supply chains),following rising labor costs and po-litical risk there. Newly openingBurma with its lower labor costs, portaccess, improving transport infra-structure, natural resources, proxim-ity to India’s rare earth metals andhunger for foreign investment is ideal(although the Japanese so far are fo-cusing on the entire S.E. Asian re-gion). Japanese clothing chain Hon-eys began manufacturing jeans inthe country this year.

Indeed Japan’s economic engage-ment with Burma has a long history.Japanese firms had retained strongeconomic involvement in Burma un-

Burma: The Promise and PerilMIKE LUPICA

THE country, even one withthis kind of terrible unemployment, did not just senda message on Tuesday that it

wanted Obama more than it wanted anempty suit of a candidate like Mitt Rom-ney. It also sent a message to the Re-publican Party that it must change now,or will never get the White House back.Barack Obama did not just win a sec-ond term on Tuesday night, he wonhimself a do-over, won himself achance to be the President in the nextfour years that people hoped he wouldbe and wanted him to be four yearsago.

The ones who hate him, the scream-ers from the Tea Party and the scream-ers from the right-wing media whohave not just attacked Obama’s gov-ernance but his character and his pa-triotism, do not believe Obama has itin him to do better. It is his job now toprove them wrong. But it is not justhis job to work with this obstruction-ist Republican Congress. Maybe nowthat Congress will finally be willing towork with him. Once there wasLincoln’s team of rivals, written aboutquite well and quite famously by DorisKearns Goodwin, her book of that nameinspiring Steven Spielberg’s newmovie about Abraham Lincoln. Nowwe see if somehow, in a country sick todeath of partisan politics, PresidentObama can work as well with his ownrivals. If the modern Republican Partycontinues to be run by the zealots onits fringes, if the faces of that partycontinue to be the obstructionists inCongress whose stated mission is toblock anything and everything thisPresident tries to do, than it will loseagain in 2016, whether Chris Christieruns or not. You know what the best ofit late Tuesday night? Watching a po-litical has-been like Karl Rove actingas if he was going to barricade himselfin the studio at Fox if Fox’s own deci-sion-desk experts didn’t stop callingOhio for Obama. Of course Rove isanother perfect face of his party: Smug,rich, wrong.

The Republicans will console them-selves with the closeness of the popu-lar vote, continuing to ignore what theyoung say with their votes, and Afri-can-Americans, and Hispanics. Theycan say now that it was the storm

Election 2012

President Obama wins over Mitt RomneySandy that saved Barack Obama, thosepictures of him standing side-by-sidewith Christie in a ruined New Jersey.But smart people, and that means notpeople blinded by their insane,Limbaugh-like hatred of Obama, knowbetter than that. Smart people know thiswasn’t just the beginning of Obama’ssecond term on this long day and night,the day and night of long voting lines.

It was the end of a Republican Partythinking it could continue to be theparty of angry whites.

The Republicans have to ask them-selves a question that has been asked

in the run-up to Nov. 6, 2012: If theycan’t beat an incumbent DemocraticPresident this time, with this economy,when do they? But the bigger ques-tion, for both the re-elected Presidentand his political rivals, is how they dowork together going forward, how theyconvince the people who caredenough to stand in those lines to voteon Tuesday, that the government of

this country isn’t hopelessly broken. Itwas a much younger Barack Obama, atthe Democratic Convention of 2004 inBoston, the night he really started run-ning for President even if the countrydidn’t know it at the time, who said this:

“There’s not a liberal America and aconservative America. There’s a UnitedStates of America.” Now it is his job toshow once and for all that those were

not just words, from another speech.The country deserves better from him.It deserves better than the wretched pro-cess Presidential politics has become,with these awful Super Pac ads, with

billions of dollars spent, with the Presi-dent who originally ran four years agoon hope and change too frequently look-ing small and mean, even against anopponent like Romney who seemed will-ing to say anything to get himselfelected. Obama needs to prove himselfworthy, going forward, of the people inthose lines yesterday.

—Courtesy - Daily News NY.

The country, even one with this kind of terrible unem-ployment, did not just send a message on Tuesday that it

wanted Obama more than it wanted an empty suit of a candi-date like Mitt Romney. It also sent a message to the Republi-can Party that it must change now, or will never get the WhiteHouse back. Barack Obama did not just win a second term on

Tuesday night, he won himself a do-over, won himself achance to be the President in the next four years that people

hoped he would be and wanted him to be four years ago.

AWIDYA SANTIKAJAYA

MANY deem the territorial disputein the South China Sea as themost prominent issue in the upcoming Asean Summit in Phnom

Penh, which is understandable because theevent will be followed by the East Asian Sum-mit, where big powers in the Pacific, most no-tably China and the United States, will takepart. While the South China Sea is obviously“hot”, there is another important develop-ment to watch. In the November summit,Asean leaders are scheduled to inauguratethe Asean Institute for Peace and Reconcilia-tion (AIPR).

Proposed by Indonesia while hosting lastyear’s summit, the AIPR aims to contribute toresearch on and policy recommendations forconflict resolution. The institute will also en-hance existing cooperation among Aseanthink tanks and hold workshops or share ex-periences in conflict resolution. The estab-lishment of the AIPR is a clear indication thatthe long-standing principle of non-interfer-ence has adapted to the changing situation.Asean members now are less reluctant to talkabout conflicts, although doing so potentiallycreates tension and embarrassment.

Among other conflicts, intra-state con-flicts remain difficult issues to completely andcomprehensively solve. Around the world,there has been slow and steady progress inresolving intra-state conflicts. According toAurel Croissant and Christoph Trinn in their2009 book, domestic conflicts in Asia haveincreased significantly, while inter-state con-flicts have become less significant. In South-east Asia, intra-state conflicts still persist untilnow. According to a report by Human RightsWatch, between 2004 and 2007 at least 2,400people were killed and 4,000 others injured inSouthern Thailand.

Recently, conflicts in Myanmar’s Rakhinestate have also claimed many lives. Clearly,the number of causalities provides a ratio-

nale for prioritising efforts to searching forresolution to intra-state conflicts. To addressintra-state conflicts, Southeast Asian nationsusually prefer to exercise domestic policiesthat focus more on security. For the sake ofsovereignty, integrity and national dignity,

they do not seem eager to give up on thecore of their national sovereignty in exchangefor international involvement. Intra-state con-flicts are so sensitive that countries in theregion usually avoid discussing the conflictsin any international mechanism. In this sense,the “Asean way”, characterised by an atti-tude of non-interference in the internal af-fairs of one another, has been widely criticisedfor prolonging intra-state tensions in South-east Asia.

The situation has changed in recent years,although there is still a lot of work to do. Anadaptation of the non-interference principle,especially in dealing with intra-state conflictscan be observed from two channels: Cross-border democracy and regionalism. Govern-ments are now more careful in handling intra-state conflicts to avoid criticism from the in-ternational community, the media andneighbouring countries. This was the casewhen Asean Inter-Parliamentary MyanmarCaucus (AIPMC) repeatedly sent messagescondemning political repression in Myanmar.

A government cannot simply say that in-tra-state insurgencies are not our businessbecause cross-border civil society groups arenow aware and concerned about what is hap-pening in other countries. At the same time,

the countries of Southeast Asia have beenfostering deeper and closer levels coopera-tion by working toward the creation of theAsean Community in 2015. That development,to a certain degree, has transformed percep-tions of Southeast Asian states toward secu-

rity norms and the political culture in the re-gion. The Asean Charter, for example, clearlymentions that the purpose of the associationis to promote democracy, good governance,rule of law, human rights and freedom (article1, paragraph 7, the Asean Charter). In thatregard, intra-state conflicts may be consid-ered a common concern among SoutheastAsian nations because unresolved conflictscan endanger regional and global stability.

In the case of the peace process in Aceh,for instance, military observers from Aseancountries took part in a ceasefire monitoringmission. Learning from ongoing changes inthe “non-interference” principle, the AIPR hasmodalities and opportunities to contribute tointra-state conflict management, although itis not exclusively designed for intra-stateconflicts. The institute should look beyondresearch and advisory roles with little powerto influence policies. Instead, the AIPRshould be involved in policymaking andimplementation. In this regard, nevertheless,it should not ambitiously focus on conflictresolution, but on creating suitable condi-tions for resolution.

One area that the AIPR can work on con-flict management is by promoting socioeco-nomic development in conflict areas, which

are mostly economically underdeveloped.There are subregional initiatives, such as the

Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Tri-angle (IMT-GT) and the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-the Philippines Economic EastAsean Growth Area (BIMP EAGA), but theirroles in improving economic conditions andcontributing to peace must be greatly ad-vanced and focused.

The AIPR could initiate a “trust fund”from Asean members and donors that wouldepecially be used to direct financing to infra-structure projects in regions, such as South-ern Thailand, Papua, Mindanao and Kayinstate. Joint investment promotion, empower-ment of small and medium enterprises, capacity

building and development of centres of ex-cellence in those regions could also be seri-

ously considered. Another potential projectis to promote more people-to-people contactsand exchanges of scholars and local NGOleaders. The role of the AIPR, however, canonly be beefed up if there is strong politicalwill from Asean leaders. Asean Secretary-Gen-eral-designate Le Luong Minh will certainlyplay a pivotal role in transforming the AIPRinto a valuable vehicle for peace and recon-ciliation in the region.

—Courtesy - Jakarta Post. [The writeris a PhD scholar at Australian NationalUniversity’s Asia Pacific College of Diplo-macy (ANU-APCD), Canberra].

Asean’s potential roles in intra-state conflict resolution

In the early stages, focusing on those areas will help the AIPR buildimportant credibility. The recent signing of the initial peace agreement

between the Philippine government and the MILF rebel group is a wakeupcall for Asean leaders to revisit their approach to dealing with intra-state

conflicts. In this sense, the AIPR has a lot of opportunities to play a role incontributing to long-lasting peace.

til international pressure forced themout (along with most other countriesaside from China) in the late 1980s,so there is recent memory and experi-ence of operating in the country. Asthe case of the former Yugoslaviademonstrated, the reform and open-ing of a repressive regime in a multi-ethnic state can unleash certain ten-sions. This problem has alreadyreared its ugly head in the Rakhineregion of Burma, where religious andethnic violence has emerged in recentmonths. Foreign firms or countrieslooking to get involved in Burma willhave to remain aware of the instabil-

ity that could continue to haunt thecountry at times (or in certain areas).Equally, ongoing internal problems

could bring renewed internationalcondemnation, depending on howNaypyitaw responds.

Japan seems to be at least partlyaware of these risks, and as Stratforreported in a recent analysis, theNippon Foundation recently donatedUSD$3 million to help improve the lives

of Burma’s ethnic minorities, also host-ing the heads of various rebel groupsin Tokyo for talks. Efforts such as theseto ameliorate social tensions must comealongside standard corporate invest-ments if Burma is to emerge as a stable,growth economy. Burma remains a stra-tegic country whose recent ‘re-open-ing’ has provided an opportunity forregional and global players to increasetheir engagement with the country.China’s influence in the country maywell suffer in relative terms, but there isno reason the world’s renewing engage-ment with Burma cannot also bringgreat benefits, both strategic and eco-

nomic, to China too.China sees Burma as a potential

‘land-bridge’, allowing goods and re-

sources to be shipped overland toYunnan rather than through the Mal-acca Straits. Such a bridge will not besecure unless Burma can deliver a bet-ter life to all of its citizens. Internationalengagement with Burma can only helpthis goal.—Courtesy - The Diplomat.

From a look at some of the recent events it is clear thatchanges are indeed continuing apace. Following a 25 year

hiatus, the World Bank last week granted a small but symbolicU.S. $245 million of credit and grant funding for Burma, whichwill be dispersed in an immediate U.S. $80 million instalment

and a further U.S.$165 million will be made available when thecountry clears roughly U.S. $400 million of overdue debt.

MARTIN KHOR

WITH the world engulfed in the aftermath of a financial crisis andthe midst of another one, havemainstream economists changed

their theories and policy prescriptions to be moreaccurate in depicting reality and more relevantto policymakers? To a large extent, the big crisissparked by the Lehman Brothers collapse of 2007and the Euro crisis sparked by the Irish andGreek debt problems have shaken the dominantassumptions that the financial markets are effi-cient and governments should leave them alone.

These assumptions should have alreadybeen questioned as a result of the Asian finan-cial crisis of 1997-99. But Western governmentsand the International Monetary Fund (IMF) wereable to divert the blame away from developedcountries’ speculative funds and recipient coun-tries’ deregulated credit markets to allegationsof crony capitalism and government misman-agement. With the crises in the United Statesand Europe, it is more obvious now that thefinancial institutions and markets themselves

are the cause.The belief in the theory of the efficient mar-

ket that can do no wrong, and the policy offinancial liberalisation and deregulation basedon this theory had facilitated the freedom of themarkets that then led to the recent and presentcrises. At a conference last week in Izmir, Tur-key, well-known economists and policymakersdebated the state of the global economy and ofeconomics.

Joe Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate and formerWorld Bank chief economist, gave a blisteringcritique of how the standard economics modelhad failed to deal with the financial crisis be-cause wrong assumptions were made and wrongquestions posed. The orthodox model also

could not handle current issues being debated,such as the multiplier of government spending,the nature of deleveraging and the liquidity trap.

In the aftermath of the crisis, orthodoxeconomists and the policy makers in the UnitedStates made wrong policies. Stiglitz called for anew economics model that asked the right ques-tions and one that could anticipate abnormaltimes, the sources of shocks and is able to prop-erly describe what is happening. On the side-

lines of the conference, the Turkish Central Bankco-organised a roundtable on capital flows.

The central bankers and international insti-tutions seemed to agree that volatile short-termflows were having damaging effects on devel-oping countries, including financial instability,

housing price, stock market bubbles, currencyappreciation that made exports uncompetitiveand destablisling effects of sudden stops or re-versals of the inflows. The Turkey CentralBank’s Governor spoke of new policy tools be-ing used by Turkey to discourage unwantedshort-term capital inflows.

The G24’s director Amar Bhattacharyasummarised developing countries’ concernsover the effects of capital inflow surges andoutlined the range of policies they were takingto address these, including macro-economicpolicies and prudential measures including mar-ket intervention as well as capital controls. Whilemost of the discussion on capital controls wereon regulating inflows, I brought up the success-ful Malaysian example of controlling outflowsselectively and accompanied by several othermeasures. The position of the IMF, which tradi-tionally championed free capital flows and whichonce wanted to prevent countries from usingcapital controls, was interesting. Its officialrecognised the adverse effects that free capitalflows can have, and the possible benefits ofcapital controls, which are significant changesfrom the Fund’s old rigid view.

But this IMF official also cautioned againstusing these measures as they could have badeffects on the country itself and on other coun-tries. One example given was diverting un-wanted funds to other countries that did notregulate. The counter to this was that moreattention or even blame should be placed onthe “source countries” that allow its banksand investment funds to move their massivefunds around the world in search of quick prof-its, with devastating effects on recipient coun-tries, rather than prevent or discourage thetargeted countries from taking defensive mea-sures. At sessions on developing country is-sues, He Fan of the Chinese Academy of So-cial Sciences analysed the present imbalancesin China’s economy and the prospects of fu-ture growth driven by urbanisation and con-sumer spending on services to offset fallingexports. The South Centre’s chief economistYilmaz Akyuz argued that developing coun-tries had not de-coupled their economies fromthe developed countries. With the prolongedglobal slowdown, they have to change theirexport-dependent development strategies.

— Courtesy - The Star.

Addressing the global crisis

Most speakers concluded that the crises were caused by deregulationthat unleashed the beast of financial speculation by big banks and invest-ment firms. They also agreed that economists and policy makers have not

yet learnt the right lessons. As a result, the needed basic reforms havebeen avoided while wrong policies are being pursued. The world is on the

brink of new financial crises and a recession.

not what keep the world comingto our shore.” It’s “the belief thatour destiny is shared, that thiscountry only works when we ac-cept certain obligations to one an-other.”

Obama pledged to work withDemocratic and Republican lead-ers to reduce the nation’s federaldeficit, fix the tax code, reformimmigration and reduce thenation’s dependence on foreignoil. Republican Mitt Romneyconceded the US presidentialelection to Obama early onWednesday morning after a hard-fought campaign.

“This is a time of great chal-lenges for America and I praythat the president will be suc-cessful in guiding our nation,”Romney told supporters in Bos-ton after calling Obama to con-gratulate him.

Obama defeated Romney ina number of key swing states,despite the weak economic re-covery and stubbornly high un-employment that dogged hiscampaign. Television networks

Second term win — Best isyet to come: Obama

From Page 1

called the election late on Tues-day, but the Romney campaignwaited more than an hour to agreeon the results in Ohio.

“I so wish, I so wish, that Ihad been able to fulfill yourhopes to lead the country in a dif-ferent direction, but the nationchose another leader,” Romneysaid in his concession speech.

This is the second time theformer Massachusetts governorhas made a run for the presi-dency. Romney had promised torevive the nation’s economythrough reforming the tax code,reducing the debt and confront-ing China on its trade practices.

Obama, America’s first blackpresident, won by convincingvoters to stick with him as he triesto reignite strong economicgrowth and recover from theworst recession since the GreatDepression of the 1930s. An un-even recovery has been showingsome signs of strength but thecountry’s 7.9 percent jobless rateremains stubbornly high.Obama’s victory in the hotly con-

official business and then themember would be allowed toraise his point of order.

The opposition protestedover the observations of thespeaker and sloganeering startedand the house gave the look of afish market. Shaukat Basra saidthat real faces of Sharif broth-ers have been exposed before themasses in the Asghar Khan case.He said the nation will not for-give those who got money fromthe ISI. He said the PML-Nleadership should clarify its po-

Treasury, Opposition trade graft chargesFrom Page 1

sition in the House. They de-manded that like Syed YusufRaza Gilani and Rehman Malik,cases of Sharif brothers shouldalso be referred to the ElectionCommission. He also called foraction against General AslamBeg and Lt General HameedGul. The speech by ShaukatBasra infuriated the PML-Nmembers and they raised slo-gans against President Asif AliZardari.

After failing to pacify themembers from both sides, the

speaker adjourned the house forhalf an hour. However, whenthe session started after thebreak, there was again accusa-tions bout. Provincial MinisterChaudhry Abdul Ghafoor Khanquestioned about the killers ofBenazir Bhutto Shaheed andwho were indulging in corrup-tion and plunder.

He said Nawaz Sharif andShahbaz Sharif always servedthe country and the nation andnot a single pie of corruption hasbeen proved against them—INP

persons had been received andthe condition of six injured wascritical.

SSP City Asif Iqbal said thatlimbs and some other body partsof the suicide bomber have beenrecovered. He said that the sui-cide blast was aimed at target-ing security forces.

He said that evidences havebeen gathered from the site ofblast and investigations were inprogress.

TTP has claimed responsi-bility of the blast. Spokesmanfor the TTP told media over thetelephone that they carried outthe suicide blast and vowed tocontinue attacking the securityforces.—INP

SP among 9killed in Peshawar

suicide blastFrom Page 1

Elections not to be delayedFrom Page 1

the lists of the voters werebeing prepared and the voterswould be registered according totheir present residential addresses.

Adding that, the petitionersclaimed that around 1-1.5 mil-lion people were affected by theerrors in the residential ad-dresses.

Director General of ElectionCommission Sher Afzal told theapex court that after court’s di-rections, authorised people weresent to visit people and verifytheir addresses.

He said that if someone wasnot present at their residence atthe time of the visit, his/her ad-dress was taken from the perma-nent address column of his/herNational identity card issued bythe Nadra. Chief Justice saidthat absence of a person from hisresidence does not allow the

ECP to use his/her permanentaddress. He said that the vote ofa person should be registeredback to the constituency whereit was listed before. He alsoadded that the vote should be inaccordance with the 2008 elec-tion. Counsel of Jamaat-i-IslamiRasheed A Rizvi told the apexcourt that only in Karachi thereare around 1.5 million peoplewhose votes had been registeredto their permanent addresses (asmentioned in their NIC).

He said that the provincialelection commission was notcooperating with anyone.

Chief Justice IftikharChaudhry remarked that the taskof completing the voting listswas almost complete; however,the issue of errors in the ad-dresses should be corrected onan emergency basis.

Indian delegationvisits historical

placesSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Deputy Chief Min-ister of Indian Punjab, SukhbirSingh Badal and his delegationvisited Lahore Fort, BadshahiMosque, Gurdwara Dera Sahiband Samadhi Ranjeet Singh.

When Deputy Chief Minis-ter of Indian Punjab SukhbirSingh Badal and his delegationreached these historical places,they were received by SpecialAssistant to Chief MinisterPunjab, Syed Zaeem HussainQadri. Sukhbir Singh Badal andIndian delegation highly appre-ciated the beauty ofShishmahal.

The Indian delegation wasalso conducted on a tour ofBadshahi mosque. The mem-bers of the delegation appreci-ated the Islamic architecture ofBadshahi mosque and also re-corded their impressions in thevisitors’ book. Later, SukhbirSingh Badal and his delegationwent to Gurdwara Dera Sahib.

The Indian delegation alsosaw Samadhi of MaharajaRanjeet Singh and lauded theefforts of the government forthe maintenance and conserva-tion of historical places.Sukhbir Singh Badal said thathe was very pleased to see theancient culture and lifestyle ofLahore. He said that besidesother rulers, Lahore also has theimprints of Sikh ruler RanjeetSingh which are of deep ven-eration for the Sikh community.

Kayani’sstatement

From Page 1

stitutions. “No individual or in-stitution has the monopoly todecide what is right or wrong indefining the ultimate national in-terest. As we all know the ChiefJustice is not a man to take a ly-ing low. The very next day camethe reply from the CJ, making itloud and clear that SC was theultimate arbiter in all matters.

The two statements from twoimportant institutions landed inthe media outlets like a bomb-shell. The political analysts arenot sure how this controversywill unfold in coming days.However, most political com-mentators maintained that GenKayani’s target audience wasnot just the army rank and file.They foresee a clash brewing upbetween powerful institutions.

But more enlightenedcircles found some positives outof the Army Chief’s statement.

The controversy triggeredby the strongly-worded state-ment of Gen Kayani underlinesin the first place that all the con-spiracy theories circulating inpower circles have no basis. Andthat there is no behind-the-sceneactivity or hobnob between mili-tary and judiciary to underminethe existing political set-up de-spite being so discredited bymedia and judiciary.

In fact all the institutions,Army, judiciary and politicalleadership are in the same boat,feeling the heat from hyper-critical media and judiciary.The political leader on its ownhas been trying to assert itselfand make sure that it should notbe taken for granted by others.

Army finds itself right underthe spotlight with at least nine ofits ex-generals implicated in vari-ous cases. The Army feels un-easy to find its affairs being dis-cussed in media and in public asnever before. Hence, there is atalk of restraint on its part to beexercised by all institutions be-fore a common ground is foundby all the stakeholders.

tested swing state of Ohio - asprojected by TV networks - wasa major step in the fight for the270 electoral votes needed toclinch the White House andended Romney’s hopes of pull-ing off a string of swing-stateupsets.

Obama scored narrow winsin Ohio, Wisconsin, Iowa, Penn-sylvania and New Hampshire -all states that Romney had con-tested - while the only swing statecaptured by Romney was NorthCarolina, according to televisionnetwork projections.

While Obama supporters inChicago were ecstatic, Romney’sBoston event was grim as thenews was announced on televi-sion screens there. A steadystream of people left the ballroomat the Boston convention center.

At least 120 million Ameri-can voters had been expected tocast votes in the race between theDemocratic incumbent and Rom-ney after a campaign that wasfocused on how to repair the ail-ing US economy.

and a powerful endorsement ofObama’s vision for his country.

The President expressed thehope that the relationship be-tween Pakistan and the US wouldcontinue to prosper duringObama’s new term.

President Zardari said he isconfident that the leadership ofthe two countries would be ableto further deepen and broadenbilateral relations on the basis ofmutual respect and mutual inter-ests. He said he looked forwardto working closely with PresidentObama towards the shared objec-tive of peace‚ security‚ stabilityand prosperity in the region.

Meanwhile‚ Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has also con-gratulated President BarackObama on his re-election for thesecond term.

In his letter of felicitations‚the Prime Minister stated that thepeople of United States ofAmerica had once again reposedtheir confidence in his leadership.

Underscoring the importanceof relationship between Pakistanand the United States‚ PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashraf saidPakistan looks forward to con-tinue to work with the UnitedStates for a mutually beneficialrelationship.

Pakistan Muslim League(Nawaz) Chief Nawaz Sharif hascongratulated US PresidentBarack Obama on his re-electionas President of the United States.

President‚ PMfelicitate Obama

From Page 1

and stability are essential for anynation that seeks economic pros-perity and social justice.

Prime Minister PervezAshraf said that Pakistan is con-fronted with complex chal-lenges. The external and inter-nal threats to Pakistan rangefrom socio-economic to po-litico-military spectrum. “Weare confronted with extremism,militancy, and intolerance in thesociety. The cumulative internaland external effects have some-what eroded Pakistan’s space tomanouever. In the midst of allthese challenges, there lie oppor-tunities for us.”

He said that Pakistan’s re-lations with China are timetested. “Our relations can befurther enhanced by focusingon trade and energy sectors.Pakistan can also benefit fromChina in defence collaboration,offsetting the undeclared tech-nological apartheid.”

Raja Pervez Ashraf said thatPakistan can also benefit fromTurkey and Malaysia’s rise as theNew Centre of Economic Influ-ence. We are already in the pro-cess of strengthening our eco-nomic ties with Turkey throughHigh Level Cooperation. Theprime minister was of the view

that Russian aspiration to in-crease influence and diversifytrade provides ideal opportunitiesfor Pakistan to expand relationswith Russia on broader basis. Therecent interaction of the Russianand Pakistani authorities has beenquite productive and points toeagerness on both sides to deepenour bilateral ties.

He was of the view thatIndia’s need for energy and tradewith Central Asian Republics islargely dependent on Pakistan.South Asia, being home to one-fifth of world population andblessed with immense naturalresources, has the potential toemerge as a leading and potenteconomic force, he said. “Peaceand stability are essential forsocio-economic development ofthe region. It is a matter of satis-faction that both India and Paki-stan are moving forward in theright direction through Compos-ite Dialogue Framework.

Pervez Ashraf said there ex-ists a great potential in our rela-tions with Iran. Iran can be asource much needed energy forus. “Iran-Pakistan gas pipelinewill open up a new chapter ofdeep engagement with Iran.”

He said that Afghanistan be-ing a landlocked country depends

upon Pakistan for its trade withthe outside world. “Given a widerange of commonalities betweenIslamabad and Kabul, both coun-tries stand to benefit. Pakistansupports Afghan-owned and Af-ghan-led peace and reconciliationprocess and is ready to lend anyhelp in this regard. Along withopportunities on the externalfront, we must also help our-selves by capitalizing on InternalOpportunities including Low taxto GDP ratio offers potential forimproving tax revenue. The gov-ernment is making efforts towiden the tax net and increase taxto GDP ratio.”

The premier said Pakistanhas a long history of defencecooperation with nations acrossthe globe, especially the Afro-Asian region. In the past, thishas primarily been limited tothe field of military training, or-ganizational support and re-structuring. “However, we nowintend to extend this relation-ship towards collaboration indefence production withfriendly countries, whereby wewill mutually assist each otherin establishing indigenous ca-pabilities to provide internalstrength and stability to col-laborating nations.”—INP

Raja for eliminatingroot causes of terrorism

From Page 1

said that awarding punishmentto any person regardless of hisposition, name or status is theconstitutional responsibility ofjudiciary. He said that weak-ening judiciary is like turningthe country into a jungle with-out constitution and law,whereas weakening army tan-tamount to weakening nationaldefence.

Muhammad Nawaz Sharifsaid that army, under the leader-ship of its present head, has de-sisted from any kind ofadventurism and in his freshstatement, he has also talkedabout following the rule of lawand constitution. Similarly, hesaid, the new judiciary is givinghistoric decisions without anyfear under the constitution andthe law. He said that the centralpoint of both the speeches by theChief Justice and the Army Chiefis to ensure predominance of con-stitution and law which is a mat-ter of great satisfaction and sym-bolically reflects light and hopefor a new emerging Pakistan.

Nawaz hoped that the me-dia would play its role in bring-ing the two institutions togetherfor strengthening of democraticprocess and safeguarding theinterests of Pakistan, so that thedemocratic journey in Pakistanshould continue, all decisionsare taken by the people of Pa-kistan, while all institutionscontinue to discharge their du-ties by strictly remainingwithin the limits of constitu-tion and law.

Nawaz hailsCOAS, CJ

From Page 1

The accused opened fire onRangers as a result one officialreceived bullet wounds. TheRangers returned the fire due towhich one person was killed.

The targeted operation con-tinued for two hours. Accordingto Rangers sources, arms werealso recovered during operation.

Three accused, Abbas,Khalid Umar and Amjad, werealso arrested by Rangers. Twomen were killed when unidenti-fied men opened fire on them ata restaurant in Orangi Town onWednesday.The men, identifiedas 23-year-olds Jahangir andRaza, were sitting in a restaurantwhen unidentified men openedfire on them, killing them in-stantly. The bodies were shiftedto Abbasi Shaheed Hospital.

Officials said a truck and buswere torched near Haroon shop-ping center in Shadman area, abus near Five Star Chowrangiand a car in North Nazimabadsoon after funerals of two people,who were killed in firing onTuesday, were offered in city’slocality.—SANA

Violence claims ninelives in Karachi

From Page 1

It will be a very difficult and cum-bersome exercise. The Govern-ment is trying to push generalelections to end of April or Maynext year, the sources said.

While the Election Commis-sion has already announced thatit is ready to hold elections anytime, the main political parties in-cluding PPP, PML (N) and PTIare not ready to go to polls. ThePTI is holding party electionsbefore the general elections whilethe prevailing situation in PPPand PML (N) has indicated thatthese parties will take time toenter into election mode.

Govt not in hurryfor interim setup

From Page 1

ISLAMABAD—Additional Au-ditor General Tanveer Ahmed onWednesday disclosed that 15public sector organisations per-sistently refusing to get theiraccounts audited by AuditorGeneral of Pakistan (AGP).

Talking to media in the Par-liament House Tanveer Ahmedsaid these public sectororganisations included DefenceHousing Authority (DHA), Na-tional Bank of Pakistan (NBP),National Database and Regis-tration Authority (NADRA),Pakistan TelecommunicationCompany Limited (PTCL),Pak-China Investment Com-pany, Securities Exchange

15 public entities refuse toget accounts audited: AAG

Commission of Pakistan(SECP), National Press Trust(NPT), Pakistan Poverty Alle-viation Fund (PPAF), VirtualUniversity Lahore, Agri-Busi-ness Support Fund, PakistanWelfare Truest Fund, PakistanMedical Dental Counsel(PMDC),People PrimaryHealth Initiative KhyberPakhtunkhwa(KPK) and WahNobel Private Limited. He saidFederal Board of Revenue(FBR) has also refused to getaudited some of their accounts.

Earlier, giving briefing tothe Senate Standing Committeeon Finance chaired by lawmakerNasreen Jalil of MQM, Tanveer

Ahmed said during the last fi-nancial year 2011-12 Rs.2.42billion were charged upon thefederal consolidated fund tomeet the expenditure of the Au-ditor General of Pakistan out ofwhich Rs1,862.164 million wererelated to employees.

He informed that during theaudit year 2011-12 Auditor Gen-eral of Pakistan certified the ac-counts of 194 entities of the Fed-eral, Provincial and District gov-ernments out of which 166 ac-counts were certified pertainingto district governments and 9self-accounting entities werealso included in the certificationprocess.—Online

Syria shuts Hamas officeDAMASCUS —Syrian securityforces have raided and sealed theDamascus office of Hamas chiefKhaled Meshaal, who left thecity months ago along with otherleaders of the Palestinian group,Hamas said on Wednesday.

Relations between Hamasand long-time ally Syria havesoured since Meshaal and othersenior officials quietly quitDamascus late last year after

President Bashar al-Assadstepped up a crackdown on anti-government protests.

Syria is home to at least500,000 Palestinians, accordingto the United Nations. Syria’suprising has split loyalties, withmany Palestinians sympatheticto the 19-month-old uprising bytheir fellow Sunni Muslims, andothers backing Assad, whoseAlawite faith derives from

Shi’ite Islam.In recent weeks,dozens of Palestinians have beenkilled by Syrian army shellingof rebel positions in and aroundthe Yarmouk refugee camp inSyria, opposition campaignerssaid. Meshaal’s office, whichhad also served as his residenceand the group’s main headquar-ters in Damascus, was raided onMonday, Hamas said in a state-ment.—Agencies

Rs 48b uplift projectsapproved

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Planning andDevelopment Board approved Rs48.49 billion funds for upliftprojects in the province duringthe last quarter from July to Sep-tember 2012. According to quar-terly report issued by Planning &Development department here onWednesday, the total volume ofdevelopment projects in the pro-vincial budget 2012-13 is Rs.185.32 billion.

The Punjab government di-vided its core development bud-get into five parts which calledsocial sector, infrastructure de-velopment, production sector,services sector and miscella-neous. Over Rs. 16.85 billionhave been spent on upliftschemes during the last quarterfrom July to September 2012,showing 34.79 percent spendingof funds on developmentprojects, says report.

The P&D Board approvedover Rs. 26.68 billion, out of thetotal Rs 73.98 billion allocatedfor infrastructure developmentsector during the same periodwhile over Rs 11.76 billion havebeen spent on the projects reg-istering 44.37 percent spending

of funds. For production sector,Rs 735 million were approved,out of over Rs. 8.61 billionwhile over Rs 668 million werespent on development schemeswith 26.13 percent spending offunds.

Over Rs 861 million, outof total allocated amount ofover Rs 11.13 billion were ap-proved for services sector dur-ing the last quarter and over Rs350.07 million were spentshowing 38.91 percent spend-ing of funds.

He said if the country got an hon-est leadership, it could achievemarvelous results.

Dr AQ Khan said, unfortu-nately, the country’s present rul-ers took guidance from Washing-ton and not the Holy Kaaba. Thecountry was in the grip of Qabzagroup. Killing of citizens wasgoing on in Karachi and the situ-ation in Balochistan was gettingworse with every passing day.

He said the government wasblaming Taliban for the situationbut in fact, the actual responsi-bility rested on the people whowere in power. He also said it washigh time that honest and expe-rienced people come forward tolead the nation and the media alsoguided the people in the right di-

Dr Khan seeks allianceFrom Back Page

rection.He said he would also meet

PML(N) leader Mian NawazSharif and PTI chief, ImranKhan, for this purpose. Dr Khansaid that the re-election of USPresident Obama won’t bring anychange in the US policy for Pa-kistan. He added that the JI com-prised of patriotic people whoseintegrity remained unchallenged.

Dr Khan said that the peopleregular in prayers and fastingwere termed as orthodox. If it beso, he too was an orthodox. Hesaid the masses were facingcountless problems and theyshould be wise to elect goodpeople in the next elections.

Briefly speaking on the oc-casion, Syed Munawar Hasan

said that Dr. A.Q. Khan was notan individual, he was an associa-tion in his person and there wasa great revolutionary within him.The JI Ameer said Dr A.Q. Khanshould have been the Presidentof Pakistan but he could not riseto that office because he was notMr. Ten per cent.

Earlier, Syed MunawarHasan welcomed Dr AQ Khanon arrival at Mansoora and thetwo leaders discussed the situa-tion obtaining in the country andother matters of mutual interest.

Other JI leaders who werepresent at the meeting includedJI deputy chief, Ch MuhammadAslam Saleemi, JI SecretaryGeneral, Liaqat Baloch and DrFarid Ahmed Piracha.

Gohar Ayub,his son joining

PML-NOUR CORRESPONDENT

LAHORE–Former Foreign Minis-ter Gohar Ayub along with his sonOmar Ayub is all set to join PML(N) any time this week.

Sources disclosed that all is-sues between the two sides havebeen settled and Gohar’s inclusionis likely anytime in the formerruling party which is once againattracting political figures in a bigway with elections approaching.

Omar Ayub Khan also con-firmed to the media the ongoingtalks with PML (N) leadership,saying “We will soon formallyannounce to join PML-N”.Gohar Ayub has been elected for fivetimes to the National Assembly(NA). In 1990-93, Gohar AyubKhan was appointed as senior vicepresident of the Pakistan MuslimLeague.

The political analysts are ofthe view that more political fig-ures would join PML (N) closeto election.

Nurses granted one year service extensionHABIB KHAN

LAHORE—On the direction ofPunjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif,Punjab Health Department hasextended the service of 91nurses of Lahore General Hos-pital for one year more and anotification is this regard hasbeen issued.

Principal Post GraduateMedical Institute & Lahore

General Hospital Prof. Dr.Anjam Habib Vohra told in thisconnection that the above saidnurses were recruited last yearduring dengue epidemic andthey worked devotedly with agreat sense of responsibilitywhile serving dengue patientsand defeating the disease.

Prof. Dr. Anjam HabibVohra further said that ChiefMinister Punjab will awardcommendatory certificates to

those who rendered extra ordi-nary efforts against dengue dur-ing the international dengueconference to be held in currentweak.

For this purpose, nomina-tions from LGH have also beensent, he added.

He said that if we establishthe habits of keeping our envi-ronment clean and neat we canget rid of all kinds of diseasesincluding dengue.

Blast in Kurram killsthree, injures 14

PESHAWAR—At least threepeople were killed and some 14others injured when a blast hitKurram Agency on Wednesday.

According to the media re-ports, the blast took place atabout noon time at a market areain Sadda, a small town inKurram Agency which bordersAfghanistan.

This was the second blastreported in the country’s restivenorthwest where a suicide bombattack on Wednesday morningkilled at least six people includ-ing three policemen andwounded over 30 others inPeshawar. —NNI

QUETTA—Jamiat Ulema-e-Is-lam (JUI-F) Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said thatparliament’s supremacy to rulethe masses should be acceptedand no other institution includ-ing judiciary or army has rightto represent the masses.

Talking to media persons onarrival at Quetta Airport onWednesday, Maulana Fazl urRehman said that parliamentar-ians elected through massesvotes have mandate to represent

public. He said the countrymenshould not be deprived off theright to elect their representa-tives. He said that entire coun-try was in the grip of terrorismand extremism and in the ongo-ing circumstances clash betweeninstitutions would be harmful tothe country.

The JUI-F chief said thatpeace and strong economy werethe requisite for progress andprosperity and also resolution ofall the prevailing crises hurting

Parliament is supreme: Fazl

DOHA—Pakistan and Qatar haveexpressed their resolve to main-tain strategic relationship and in-tensify cooperation in diversefields especially trade and com-merce, energy, agriculture, infra-structure and investment.

The understanding came dur-ing talks between President AsifAli Zardari and Emir of QatarSheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani in Doha Wednesday. Thetwo leaders first had one-on-onemeeting followed by delegationlevel talks in which the Presidentwas assisted by Foreign MinisterHina Rabbani Khar, Advisor onPetroleum and Natural ResourcesDr. Asim Hussain and Pakistan’sAmbassador to Qatar MuhammadSarfraz Ahmad Khanzada.

The two sides discussed indetail the current state of bilateralrelations and agreed to upscalecooperation in various sectors tothe mutual advantage.

President Asif Ali Zardariemphasized the need to increasethe level of bilateral trade andhoped that the visit of the busi-ness delegations may give a boostto bilateral trade.

He said Pakistan would ap-preciate if Qatar extends supportto our request for holding the thirdround of negotiations on Pak-GulfCooperation Council Free TradeAgreement. He urged Qatar tolobby with other GCC countriesfor early conclusion of the pro-posed FTA as it would furtherconcretize the extraordinary tiesbetween Pakistan and GCC coun-tries.

Pak-Qatar to maintainstrategic relationship

Zardari seeks Doha support in Neelum-Jhelumhydro power project; FTA with GCC

The President said at presentonly three Qatari companies areoperating in Pakistan and invitedmore Qatari companies to estab-lish operations in Pakistan. Hesaid Pakistan would appreciate anearly response on an MoU for Fi-nancial Assistance for Construc-tion of National Highway andMotorway Infrastructure pendingwith Qatar.

He said Pakistan has a vibrant,stable and mature financial mar-ket and many foreign banks aredoing good business in the coun-try. Pakistan would welcomeopening of Qatari Banks in thecountry. He said we believe thatpresence of Qatari banks in Paki-stan would act as a catalyst forfuture bilateral economic coopera-tion.

The President said Pakistan is

initiated a number of projects formeeting its energy requirement. Itwould welcome Qatar’s participa-tion in the Neelum-Jehlum hydropower project.

He expressed happiness thatQatar Gas has signed an agree-ment with two Pakistan based gascompanies. He said Pakistanbrought out one of the most gen-erous incentives regime throughvibrant petroleum exploration andproduction policy 2012. He in-vited Qatari Petroleum and GasCompanies to take advantage ofthe new policy and invest in Oiland Gas exploration and produc-tion sector.

He said Pakistan could offerpartnership in Pakistan RemoteSensing Satellite System (PRSS)which will be built and launchedin collaboration with China.

WASHINGTON—The Talibanleader who sparked internationaloutrage by ordering the attack ona Pakistani schoolgirl last monthhas escaped retribution by hid-ing in a section of eastern Af-ghanistan where U.S. forces arealready spread thin and focusedon other targets, according toU.S. officials.

U.S. military and intelli-gence officials said that MullahFazlullah, the mastermind of theattack on 15-year-old MalalaYousafzai, operates out a regionadjoining Pakistan where severalhundred U.S. troops are sta-tioned. But they said findingFazlullah is not a priority be-cause he is not affiliated with al-Qaeda or with insurgents target-ing U.S. and Afghan interests,reported The Washington Post.

“Our guys just aren’t track-ing him,” a senior Special Op-erations official said. “He isviewed as an ‘other-side-of-the-

border’ problem.”When asked if Fazlullah was

a priority, a senior intelligenceofficial responded, “Not with somany other potential targets” inAfghanistan. Fazlullah’s relativesafety reflects a larger trend in thedifficult terrain along both sidesof the Afghan-Pakistan border.Plenty of attention has been fo-cused on militants attacking U.S.and Afghan troops from havensinside Pakistan. But officials saidextremists from Pakistan also havemanaged to evade the Pakistaniarmy and CIA drones by findingsanctuary in remote parts ofAfghanistan.“The FATA is diffi-cult [for insurgents] because thereare drone strikes,” said a congres-sional staffer, using the acronymfor semi-autonomous FederallyAdministered Tribal Areas on thePakistan side of the border. “It’seasier to be in eastern Afghanistanwhere there’s no real presence” ofU.S. troops.—Online

KARACHI: Prime MinisAr Raja Pervez Ashraf cutting ribbon to inaugurate 7th International Defence Exhibition IDEAS-2012 at Expo Centre. Chief Minister Sindh Qaim Ali Shah and Speaker Sindh Assembly Nisar Khuru are also present.

Meeting on KP,GB boundariesdemarcationPESHAWAR —The Federalgovernment has called themeeting of Chief Ministers ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andGilgit Baltistan for demarca-tion of boundaries betweentwo provinces next week atIslamabad. The meeting wouldevolve future strategyregarding making foolproofsecurity of KarakoramHighway.—Online

Two hours IESCOloadsheddingStaff ReporterISLAMABAD—IslamabadElectric Supply Company(IESCO) has issued newschedule of loadsheddingfor domestic consumersunder load management.Two-hour loadsheddingwould be experienced in 24hours in the region. Tofacilitate consumers IESCOhas displayed theloadshedding schedule ofall feeders on its website.

Gold extendsgains on

Obama victorySINGAPORE—Gold extendedgains on Wednesday after Presi-dent Barack Obama was re-elected in the United States, pav-ing the way for continued mon-etary stimulus in the world’slargest economy. The preciousmetal, typically seen as a hedgeagainst inflation, in October ral-lied to an 11-month high above$1,795 an ounce after the U.S.Federal Reserve announced athird round of aggressive eco-nomic stimulus in September.

Obama’s victory will helpgold as it means that quantitativeeasing will continue, said YuichiIkemizu, branch manager forStandard Bank in Tokyo.—Online

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chiefImran Khan has said that by us-ing military in Held Kashmir,India is “losing the battle ofheart and minds”.

“India is using troops inKashmir. They are losing thebattle of heart and minds. It’slike treating cancer withdispirin,” Imran said in an inter-view with an India daily, MailToday. The cricketer turned poli-tician said the Kashmir issuecannot be resolved militarily.

“I will work on a road mapby making people from India,Pakistan and Kashmiris look fora solution by sitting on a table.”

Imran is currently present inIndia to attend the World Eco-nomic Forum in Gurgaon.

Of terrorism in Pakistan, thePTI chief said that terror lead-ers can be “transformed.”

He said he will “declarejihad to save Pakistan” and “willdisarm all militants group oper-ating in the country”.

Kashmir issue can’t beresolved militarily: Imran

“I am sure they can be putinto nation building, human be-ings can change. I will makethem realise that militancy is nota solution.” He said if he be-comes the prime minister of Pa-kistan, he will bring the culpritsbehind Mumbai attacks to jus-tice. “India must understand thelegal process takes time, but Iwill bring the Mumbai perpetra-tors to justice. We have to fol-low the rule of law,” he said.

Imran said he was confidentof winning the upcoming elec-tions: “I have created the onlydemocratic party in Pakistan.We are now preparing for ademocratic tsunami.”

Speaking about Pakistan’srelationship with India, he saidhe was “in favour of a new re-lationship.” “All these years wehave had a relationship whichwas detrimental to the entire sub-continent. We moved one stepforward, two steps backward.Mumbai came, (and) we wereback to square one.” —NNI

TRIPOLI—U.S. officials inLibya have begun to look for re-cruits for a commando forcewhich they plan to train to fightmilitants, says a former com-mander of Libyan rebels whotoppled Muammar Gaddafi.

There was no immediate U.S.comment. After a wave of anti-American protests in the Arabworld in September during whichthe U.S. ambassador to Libyadied, President Barack Obamatook measures to improve the se-curity of U.S. diplomatic installa-tions in the region. A team of about10 Americans from the embassyin Tripoli visited a paramilitarybase in the eastern city ofBenghazi 10 days ago to interviewand get to know potential recruits,according to militia commanderFathi al-Obeidi.

“The American team asked usfor a tour of our base and we

granted them permission to walkaround freely,” he told Reuters.

“They stood with many of ourmen taking down information.They asked them about their ages,backgrounds, their tribal loyalties.They wanted to know what kindof training they had received, ifany.”Obeidi is a commander withLibya’s Shield, an umbrella groupfor various armed militias that re-fused to join the official army af-ter the war that ousted Gaddafi lastyear.”— AP

US building upanti-militants Libya force

Mullah Fazlullah hiding inAfghanistan: US officials

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Punjab governmentand doctors associations haveagreed upon service structure andother matters relating to doctorscommunity and government andthe representatives of doctors havefinally signed 42 out of 54 genu-ine and practicable demands.

A ceremony in this regard washeld at Chief Minister’s Secre-tariat today in which the commit-tee, headed by Senator Ishaq Darand constituted for service struc-

Punjab doctors end strikeafter agreement with govt

ture of doctors by the Chief Min-ister Punjab, formally announcedand disclosed that besides mem-bers of the committee, represen-tatives of doctors’ associationshave resolved the issue by sign-ing over it. Senator PervezRasheed, Zahid Hamid MNA,special assistant to CM on Health,Kh. Salman Rafiq, SecretaryHealth Punjab, Arif Nadeem, Sec-retary Law, Abul Hassan Najmi,Advocate General Ashtar AusafAli, Secretary Regulations,Shahnaz Nawaz, senior officers of

finance and other concerned de-partments as well as representa-tives of young doctors associationand their spokesman, Dr. NasirAbbas, general secretary of MTAProf. Tehseen Riaz, Dr. MasoodSheikh of general cadre, Dr.Tanveer Hussain of PMA andother office bearers were presenton the occasion. Addressing thepress conference, Senator IshaqDar said that uplift of health sec-tor and welfare of the doctors istop priority of Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif.

national and masses interests.Fazl was of the view that US

presidential election has nothingto do with Pakistan as their for-eign policy would not change.He said if US and foreign pow-ers were sincere in establishingpeace across the globe especiallyin South Asian region, theyshould take on ground steps bywithdrawing allied forces fromAfghanistan rather than makingcontroversial announcements inthis regard.—NP

Pakistan to signaccord with 49

NATO countriesISLAMABAD—Pakistan has de-cided to sign an accord with 49NATO countries similar to onewith USA regarding supplies forNATO troops in Afghanistan.

The accord, to be signed atthe end of the month, carries thesame terms and conditions asthose with USA, would allowfor resumption of NATO relatedsupplies for other member coun-tries as well; enabling thesecountries to transport theirequipment, during their with-drawal from Afghanistan.

The 3-year accord wouldnot allow NATO member troopsto transport weapons into Af-ghanistan, while the general se-curity for containers and truckstraversing the Afghan boundroutes of Southern and North-ern tips, would fall on to Paki-stan. There would be no duty ortaxes involved in this transpor-tation services, which wouldalso include transportation ofmateriel made through rail-ways.—Online

Ch Nisar offersRind to join PML-NISLAMABAD—OppositionLeader in the NationalAssembly Chaudhry Nisar AliKhan, on Wednesday metLeader of Opposition inBalochistan Assembly YarMuhammad Rind and offeredhim to join PML-N. Ch Nisararrived at Rind’s Islamabadresidence along with seniorparty members includingKhwaja Asif and Tariq FazalChaudhry. The PML-N leadersassured Rind of their unquali-fied support in these difficulttimes and offered him to jointhe party. The leaders discussedoverall political situation of thecountry and Balochistan inparticular. —Online

NATO oil tankerscross TorkhamborderKHYBER AGENCY—Afteryear long suspension of NATOoil tankers supplies, two oiltankers entered Afghanistanthrough the Torkham bordercrossing on Wednesday.According to details, strictsecurity arrangements weremade for the oil tankers on theroad leading to Torkhamcrossing. NATO supplies weresuspended a year ago when USaircraft bombed the Salalacheckpost in Mohmand Agencyin November last year. After anapology by the United States,supplies through Pakistani landroutes were reopened in Julybut the supplies could not beresumed through Torkhamborder due to security, anddifferences between tankersowners and logistic companiesover payment of dues. Two oiltankers safely crossed the Pak-Afghan borders on Wednesday.Political administrationofficials said that necessarysecurity arrangements weremade to secure the tankers frompossible attacks.—INP

Sindh withdrawshead-moneyKARACHI—The Sindhgovernment has withdrawnhead-money for 11 accusedand a notification has alsobeen issued in this regard.According to the reports, theSindh Home Departmentrevoked the bounties which ithad announced on April 25 thisyear. The accused include Zafaralias Langra, Sohail alias Dafa,Farhan aka Mota, Shahid akaMix Pati and others. —Online

SC accedes toRiaz pleas

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt, acknowledging the objec-tions raised by real estate tycoonMalik Riaz over the judicialbench, on Wednesday declaredthat the review petition will beheard only when the two-memberbench is available for the purpose.

It is worth noting here that thecounsel of Malik Riaz, ZahidHussain Bukhari, during the pre-vious hearing, pleaded the courtagainst the constitution of a newbench; as according to him, thesame bench which had given theAugust 30 decision should hearthis matter.

The apex court’s three-mem-ber bench headed by JusticeJawwad S Khawaja, heard the re-view petition filed by Riaz againstDr Shoaib Suddle Commission,which is probing a business dealbetween Dr Arsalan and Hussain.The other members of the benchare Ejaz Afzal Khan andChaudhry Ijaz Ahmad.—INP

Dr Khan forgrand alliance ofpatriotic parties

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Nuclear scientist DrAbdul Qadeer Khan has stressedupon the patriotic political par-ties to unite at one platform andset up a grand alliance to savethe country from complete de-struction before it was too late.

He was addressing a jointpress conference with theAmeer, Jamaat-e-Islami, SyedMunawar Hasan, after a meet-ing with him at Mansoora.

The father of the country’satomic bomb said that themasses were already deprived ofRoti, Kapra and Makan, and ifthe things remained unchanged,the masses won’t even get grassto eat.

He said there was no dearthof resources in the countrywhich had successfully builtnuclear bomb and missiles mak-ing the country’s defence im-pregnable.

Continued on Page 7

STOMACH cramps With the festiveseason in full swing, it becomes extremely difficult to refrain from over-

indulgence in food. Festivities are an easyexcuse for people to set aside there dietplan and gorge on delica-cies that they otherwisetend to avoid. From road-side chat to home madepuri kachori; relishing onboxes of sweets sent byfriends and relatives and acup of coffee with everyguest dropping by - whatmore does one need to feelthe cramps in stomach atthe end of the day’s longcelebration.

Unchecked and un-healthy eating habits dur-ing the festival seasoncan, and in most cases dolead to food poisoning anddisturbance in the bowels.Vomiting, diarrhea, ab-dominal pain or stomachcramps, a low-grade fever, headaches, andmuscle aches are symptoms that one ex-periences with food poisoning.

Here are the top five easy and quickhome remedies to get instant relief fromfood poising:

1. Ginger: Ginger is a well known remedyfor various gastrointestinal distresses.Loaded with potent anti-inflammatory com-pounds ginger helps quell nausea and gas-tric distress. Chewing a piece of ginger tossedin honey helps relieve the severity of nau-sea. Ginger tea relieves stomach cramps andupset caused by food poisoning.2. Cumin: Add a tablespoon of crushed

cumin seeds to the soup to soothe theinflammation in your stomach. Crushedcumin with fenugreek powder mixed witha glass of water or half a cup crud helpsrelive abdominal pain and vomiting.

Cumin seeds are of greatbenefit to the digestive sys-tem as they help stimulatethe secretion of pancreaticenzymes, compounds nec-essary for proper digestionand nutrient assimilation.3. Basil: Basil is another ex-cellent home remedy to curestomach infection due to itsanti-bacterial properties.

Taking juice of basilleaves with water emptystomach in the morning en-hances digestive power. Ba-sil juice helps stop vomitingimmediately. Strain the juiceof a few basil leaves and addit to a tablespoon of honeyto get instant relief.

Mix chopped basilleaves, sea salt and one shake of blackpepper to three tablespoon of crud. Takethe mixture three times in a day till youare totally cured of food poisoning. Itwill also cure any cramps or gas problemassociated with food poisoning.4. Lemon: The acidity of the lemon juicekills the micro-organism and toxins in thegastrointestinal tract.Squeeze juice of alemon and add a pinch of sugar to it anddrink, or you can even add lemon to yourtea.Since fluid intake is very importantas one tends to lose more water throughdiarrhea taking lemon juice in short in-tervals helps you keep hydrated.

Five easy ways to curefood poisoning

ISLAMABAD: Ambassador of Tunisia Mourad Bourehla with Chief Guest Advisor toPM for Human Rights Mustafa Nawaz Khokhar, Ambassador of Saudi Arabia Abdul AzizIbrahim Al-Ghadeer, Executive Editor Pakistan Observer Gauhar Zahid Malik, Ambas-sador of Morocco Mohammed Rida El Fassi, Ambassador of Algeria Dr Ahmad Benflis,High Commissioner of Brunei Darussalam Pehin Col. (Retd) Abdul Jalil Ahmad andothers, during a dinner hosted by the Tunisian Envoy in honor of newly arrived Ambas-sadors of Oman Riyadh Yousuf Alraisi and Jordan’s Ambassador Nawaf Saraireh.—POphoto by Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD: A nightingale sitting on a plant, with an insect in its beak, in a park of the Capital City.

Logistic delegation from China visits NUMLSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A 12-memberXinjiang Logistic Delega-tion from China visited Na-tional University of ModernLanguages (NUML),Islamabad, Wednesday.

The delegation, whichwas headed by Mr YuanJianmin, Deputy SecretaryGeneral China Council forInternational InvestmentPromotion, Executive Direc-tor and MD Sinotrans &CSC Xinjiang Co. Ltd andalso Standing Vice Presi-dent Xinjiang Institute ofForeign Studies, met Direc-tor General (DG) AzamJamal and other officials ofthe university and dis-cussed prospectus and mo-dalities of establishing anEnglish Medium School inUrumqi, Xinjiang by

NUML.The members of delega-

tion including Mr ChenXinmin, General Manager(GM) Xinjiang Hualin Logis-tic Company Ltd, Mr BaoLongze, GM XinjiangShuangying Lenglian Logis-tic Company, Mr WangYongsheng, PresidentXinjiang Construction De-sign and Plan Institute andmany high officials of manyother Chinese logistic com-panies met the DG.

During the meeting withDG Brig Azam Jamal, MyJianmin told that high offi-cials of Xinjian province areeagerly waiting for the estab-lishment of English MediumSchool at Urumqi by NUMLas it will be another symbolof Pakistan-China’s friendlyrelations. He said thatNUML’s Chinese and

Confucius Departments arecontributing a lot in promot-ing cultural and academicexchanges between bothcountries but the establish-ment of the school will pro-vide an opportunity to popu-lation of Xinjiang, whichcomprises of 30 differentraces, to have interactionand connection with theirPakistani brothers. He fur-ther said that President ofChina Hu Jintao, metaphorsPakistani-China relations asGood Neighbeours, GoodPartners, Good Friends andGood Brothers. History isreplete with incidents wherePakistan and China stood byeach other in adverse timesand now both are contribut-ing in each others economic,geographic, and strategicwell being, he added.

DG Brig Azam Jamal told

the members of visiting del-egation that “as far as theestablishment of a school byNUML in Xinjiang is con-cerned, work is going on theproject and time is not afarwhen we will practicallyimplement it. NUML is hav-ing expertise to run an aca-demic institution of any level.Moreover, institute inXinjiang will further be ex-panded for the teaching andlearning languages of otherChinese local languages butalso other foreign languagesin China”. DG also briefed thedelegation about the Univer-sity, its seven regional cam-puses and different depart-ments. The meeting was alsoattended by Registrar Brig(R) Saeed Akhtar Malik, Di-rector Admin, Director Aca-demics and other officials ofthe NUML.

ISLAMABAD: DG NUML Brig Azam Jamal presenting an appointment letter of the firstoverseas visiting professor to Head of Xinjiang Logistic Delegation Yuan Jianmin.

ISLAMABAD: Brazil Ambassador Alfredo Leoni and Cuban ambassador Zenen BuergoConcepcion along with music group from Cuba.

Spellboundperformance by

Cuban music groupLIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—First ever mu-sic group from Cuba held Pa-kistani audience spellboundon Tuesday as popularsongs based on melodioustunes from Latin Americawarmed up the Brazil em-bassy.

The Cuban Group A3Jazzz was at their best as thegathering kept on listening tothe tunes flowing from theirinstruments for about onehour and twenty minuteswithout stop.

‘An evening of Cuba andBrazil in Pakistan’ was a jointprogramme of both the coun-tries to introduce music ofthat part of the world to thePakistani fans. The Brazilambassador Alfredo Leoniand Cuban ambassadorZenen Buergo Concepcionwere present on the occa-sion. The music concert wasfollowed by a delicious gar-den dinner, where Braziliandelicacies were served.

A3 Jazz is composed oftalented young Cuban musi-cians currently teaching atthe National College of Artsin Lahore. Ana MariaOropesa is an awarded pia-nist, graduated in Music atthe Superior Institute of Arts,in Cuba.

Alberto BatistaHernandez is a Master inMusic, specialist in Percus-sion and a Professor at theNational School of Music ofCuba. Ariel Jorge Pérez Ca-ballero is an awarded trom-bonist, graduated in music atthe Superior Institute of Arts,in Cuba.

On the occasion, AlfredoLeoni welcomed his gueststo the beautiful evening, amemorable cultural event ofthe capital.

The Cuban ambassadoron the occasion said thethree young Cubans, whichis the first ever visit of anymusic group from Cuba toPakistan has brought a mes-sage of peace, love andfriendship from Cubanpeople.

CITY REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D—Addressingthe Conference “Applicationof Iqbalian Vision to the 21stCentury” here Wednesday,the former Prime MinisterYousaf Raza Gillani said thatIqbal instructed spiritual lead-ers to come out of the shrinesand take charge of the lead-ership of the nation.

Sahabzada SultanMuhammad Ali of the houseof the Sufi saint Hazrat SultanBahoo (RA) and founding fa-ther of MUSLIM Institute saidIqbal is not the Iqbal of a cer-tain era but will always perform

Iqbal’s thoughtswill always live on

the obligation of guiding thefollowers of the faith of theHoly Messenger (PBUH).

Addressing the Confer-ence, the Chairman PML(N)Raja Zafar ul Haq said thatmany events are to be orga-nized in relation to the com-memoration of the birth ofIqbal, but there is no parallelto the qualitative academicdiscourse found at thepresent conference. Iqbal’stheory of unity required ab-solute knowledge for theachievement of unity.

Former DG ISI, General (R)Hamid Gul said that the Af-ghan nation is a brave people

according to the views of Iqbaland that is why they have de-feated a super power five timesover. Iqbal’s thought will al-ways live on because it isbased on Quranic thoughtwhich will live forever.

Expressing his views,Senator Akram Zaki com-mented that MUSLIM Insti-tute taking up the cause ofIqbal is a highly appreciablepurpose.

Walid Iqbal, a grandsonof Iqbal and a central leaderof Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insafsaid that our youth need tobecome active players, in-spired by Iqbal’s philosophy.

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD —Javier M.Carbajosa Sanchez, Ambas-sador of Spain met DeputySpeaker National Assembly,Faisal Karim Kundi in Parlia-ment House on Wednesday.

Faisal Karim Kundi whiletalking to the Ambassador saidthat Spain is an important na-tion in the European Union anda friend of Pakistan. He said

Spain desires to furthercement ties with Pak

that Pakistan attaches impor-tance to its relations with Spainand wants to further solidifythose relations through parlia-mentary and people-to-peopleexchanges.

He said that interactionbetween parliamentarianswould further pave way forcreating better understand-ing between both the coun-tries. He also stressed forenhancing economic coop-

eration in diverse fields es-pecially in trade and the en-ergy sectors.

Javier M. CarbajosaSanchez, Ambassador ofSpain reciprocating to thesentiments of Speaker saidthat his country also desiresto further cement ties withPakistan. He said that Spainand Pakistan had been trad-ing partners and had beencollaborating in various fields.

Case againstsheesha smoking

IS L A M A B A D —IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) onWednesday, adjourning thehearing of the case againstthe increasing trend ofsheesha smoking in the fed-eral capital to unspecifiedperiod, ordered to present thedecision of the Lahore HighCourt (LHC) and respectivelaws against the sheeshasmoking in front of the court.

According to sources,Justice Shoukat Aziz Siddiquiheard the appeal filed by ad-vocate Yasir Mehmood. Dur-ing the hearing, the plaintiffsaid that the use of sheeshawas increasing in the marketsand parks of the federal capi-tal and police and the admin-istration are playing the roleof silent spectators.

On this, the Justice saidthat the same case was alsobeing heard in the LHC andasked for the LHC’s decisionon the case and laws banningthe sheesha smoking.

The plaintiff replied thatan ordinance passed in 2002banned the sheesha smok-ing, while he did not knowabout the decision of theLHC.—INP

Dengue patientadmitted in PIMSISLAMABAD—First patientfrom Islamabad, reported tobe suffering from dengue fe-ver, has been brought at Pa-kistan Institute of MedicalSciences (PIMS).

Sources in PIMS in-formed that the patient is a28-year-old lady who lives inSector I-9. She was broughtto the hospital in a feverishstate and complaint of vom-iting.—Online

ISLAMABAD: Students taking part in painting competition entitled ‘Culture for De-mocracy & Peace’ during National Culture for Democracy Festival at Lok Virsa.

ISLAMABAD: Visitors taking interest in the pieces of art displayed during an exhibi-tion titled ‘Here and There’ by Damon Kowarsky.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Dr Farooq Sattar, Dr RozinaAlam, Syed Waqas Jafri, Sadaqat Abbasi and Chaudhry Manzoor sitting on the stageduring Annual Convention on Investing in Education for a Progressive Nation orga-nized by Pakistan Coalition for Education at a local hotel.—PO photo

ISLAMABAD: German Ambassador Dr Cyril Nunn with the performers during an exhibition about the Germanactivities in Pakistan, at a local hotel.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The NationalAssembly Standing Commit-tee on Capital Administra-tion and Development onWednesday expressed seri-ous concern over the hugedisparity among the fees ofpublic and private schools.

The committee met hereunder the chairmanship of

NA Body concerned overdisparity in school fees

Jamshaid Ahmad Dasti.All the heads of the pri-

vate schools were invitedby the Committee to briefon “O” & “A” levels cur-r iculum taught in theirschools .

The Committee asked theheads of the schools to ac-commodate poor students.The Committee also asked allheads of schools to strictly

adhere to the teachings ofIslam and our cultural values.

The Committee ap-proved the Injured Persons(Medical Aid) AmendmentBill, 2012, after incorporatingsome of the suggestions/amendments given from theMinistry and the Membersof the Standing Committee,and will finalize it in the nextmeeting.

ISLAMABAD—US Ambassa-dor Richard Olson has un-derscored the United States’strong commitment to ad-vancing education in Paki-stan in his closing remarksWednesday at the 14th An-nual American Studies Con-ference organized by Quaid-i-Azam University.

“Unlocking Pakistan’spotential by improving edu-cation is one of our top as-sistance priorities,” saidAmbassador Olson in clos-ing the Conference.

“Many of our programsfocus on young learners –we are helping 3.2 millionchildren learn to read andbuilding training facilities forteachers at 16 Pakistani uni-versities, but we are alsodeeply involved in increas-ing access to higher educa-tion.

We are proud to operatethe world’s largest Fulbright

US Ambassador highlightscommitment to education

exchange program in Paki-stan, providing a world-classU.S. education to some ofyour best and brightest. Butwe are also proud that we areproviding university scholar-ships for more than 12,000students to study near homeright here in Pakistan”theAmbassador said.

The annual AmericanStudies Conference, sup-ported by the U.S. Embassyin Pakistan, brings togetherprofessors and students tofoster greater understandingof the U.S. in Pakistan usingan interdisciplinary ap-proach. Ambassador Olsonalso announced the launch-ing of a university partner-ship between Ball State Uni-versity and Quaid-i-AzamUniversity.

This partnership will fos-ter academic exchange, jointresearch, and curriculum de-velopment in American Stud-

ies. This is the second of eightplanned partnerships be-tween Pakistani and U.S. uni-versities that the UnitedStates will fund.

The first university part-nership was signed on Au-gust 29, 2012, between FatimaJinnah Women’s Universityand the University of Texasat Austin.

Ambassador Olson saidAmerica sincerely wants tosee a strong, vibrant, Paki-stan, because what is goodfor Pakistan is what is goodfor the region, the world, andby definition, the UnitedStates.Education is the key to that”concluded Olson. “Together,we are carrying out compre-hensive education programsthat help millions ofPakistan’s children andyoung people rise as far astheir hard work and initiativewill take them.”—INP

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A two-day In-ternational Conference Ad-vanced Concrete Technol-ogy and its Applications(ACTA-2012) organized byNational University of Sci-ences and Technology con-cluded here Wednesday.

The chief guest of theclosing session of the con-ference was Secretary Min-istry of Science and Technol-ogy, Akhlaq Ahmed Tarar.

The conference aimed atpromoting awareness, trans-ferring technology and ben-efitting from the extensivework of reputed foreign re-search scholars.

Enhancing awareness onexploitation of modern con-crete and promoting collabo-ration between industry,academia and practitionerswere few of the agendapoints of the conference.

The conference was or-ganized with valued coopera-

NUST organizes internationalconference on ACTA

tion of DAAD (German Aca-demic Exchange Service) andACI (American Concrete In-stitute), says a press releaseissued here on Wednesday.

Secretary MoST MrAkhlaq Ahmed Tarar urgedall the researchers to work onsuch a significant issue whichis often considered a non-issue.

He commended the en-deavors of all the concernedwho made the conference re-ally a success. Mr Tarar con-sidered the conclusions ofthe conference really signifi-cant and was of the view thatthe recommendations woulddefinitely prove helpful whileformulating future policies.

The keynote speaker ofthe conference Dr Thomas A.Bier, chair of ConstructionMaterial Technology at Uni-versity of Freiberg Germanyaddressing the participants,accentuated the use of mod-ern concrete in cementitousmaterials and highlighted its

tremendous growth. He further explicated

how conventional concretewas being steadily replacedby the modern one being in-evitable in future applica-tions.

Dr Bier was of the viewthat a complete shift to thisnovel technology could bewitnessed throughout theglobe.

Dr Thomas Ditt, HeadCultural Section German Em-bassy, emphasized the exi-gency of inter-cultural aca-demic relations. He furthersaid that promotion of aca-demic pursuits of studentsmay result in a revolutionizedworld. Ms Ursula Saarbeck,Local Representative Paki-stan mentioned the academicexchange scholarshipsspecified for the studentspursuing their higher studiesand briefed how academicexchange programmes pavethe way for educational af-fluence within academia.

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—The Germanembassy in collaborationwith German companies op-erative in pakistan arrangeda grand exhibition to high-light role Germany can playin promoting process ofsocio-economic develop-ment in Pakistan.

In the daylong exhibitionon Wednesday titled “ Ger-many on the Road” : Dis-cover, what Germany has tooffer!’, several German com-panies doing business in Pa-kistan displayed their prod-ucts and literature to high-light vast possibilities of co-operation between Pakistanand Germany.

Addressing the gather-ing , Ambassador CyrillNunn of Germany said Paki-stan and Germany are boundby close historic and culturalrelations.

“The people of the twocountries feel lot of goodwillfor each other”, he said. Herecalled that poet-philoso-pher Dr. Iqbalhad studied inGerman universities and hehad admired German philoso-phers.

Roots flaunts talent at‘Germany on the Road 2012’

The ambassador said inthe current global scenarioGermany is in a position togreatly help Pakistan in itsefforts for rapid progress. Heexpressed the confidencethat Pakistani companieswere interested in collaborat-ing with German companiesto update and modernisetheir undertakings. He saidPakistan has great potentialto make rapid progress in allfields of life and Germany cantake pride in developing moreand more partnerships.The cultural side of the exhi-bition was marked by folkdances of both Germany andPakistan, performed by stu-dents of Roots InternationalSchool.

Their performance washighly appreciated by theviewers. A large number ofindustrialists, universityteachers and students at-tended the exhibition.

The German Embassy, incooperation with the Paki-stan German Business Forum(PGBF) and German-linkedcompanies and institutionsactive in Pakistan held thisexhibition to present the mul-titude of linkages between

Germany and Pakistan bygiving German companies,Germany-linked companiesand German institutions theopportunity to display theiractivities in Pakistan in a con-cise and vivid manner.

Roots School SystemDHA1 campus Islamabad hasdeveloped strong ties withGermany and is doing excel-lent work in Pakistan by pro-moting the German languageamong young Pakistaniswith the support of theGoethe institute of FederalRepublic of Germany operat-ing worldwide.

The program held was acomplete exposure to Germanculture and reflected on allvistas of German life from itslanguage, poetry, art anddance to its exquisite cuisine.The students from RootsSchool System DHA1Islamabad opened the vi-brant exhibition by present-ing a perfect cultural pan-orama and transported theentertained audience on amagic carpet ride to visit vari-ous parts of Germany as wellas on a wondrous journeythrough all the provinces ofPakistan.

R A W A L P I N D I — D u r i n gMuharram-ul-Harram therewould be complete restrictionon misuse of loud speakersand the cases would be reg-istered against the speakersof different sects andzakreens who would deliversectarian speeches to injurethe sentiments of other sectsunder Amplifier Act and theywould be arrested.

TMAs would carry out acomprehensive operationagainst wall chalking andbanners based on sectarianmaterial be removed beforethe commencement ofMuharram. All departmentswould make joint efforts forthe peaceful passage ofMuharram to maintain tran-quility of general public.

These decisions weretaken in the meeting of Dis-trict Law & Order committeeheld in DCO Office,Rawalpindi which was pre-sided over by ADC (G) Saif

Misuse of loud speakersprohibited during Muharram

Anwar Jappah. CPO AzharHameed Khokhar also ad-dressed the meeting andbriefed the meeting about thesecurity arrangements.

The meeting was also at-tended by ACs of Saddar,City, Murree, Kahuta, Taxila,Zahid Suhail, Qurat-ul-Aain,Tariq Manzoor Chandio, Dr.Rafique Akhter and ArifRahim, SAO Aqeel AhmedKhan, CTO Syed IshtiaqShah, officers of Rescue 1122and Civil Defence and DistrictKhateeb Hafiz Iqbal Rizvi.

CPO Azhar HameedKhokhar informed the meet-ing that every mourning pro-cession and Majlis would becovered by the police offi-cials for security arrange-ments and the security wouldalso be provided to hospitalsto avoid any clash betweenthe followers of any sect anddoctors. Duty roasters ofpolice staff was being issuedin this regard.—Online

50pc quota forIslamabad in

subordinate courtsISLAMABAD—Justice ShoukatAziz Siddiqui of Islamabad HighCourt (IHC) on Wednesday,accepting the appeal of theIslamabad High Court Bar As-sociation, ordered to allocate 50percent quota to Islamabad inall the subordinate courts ofthe federal capital.Accordingto sources, the justice also or-dered to send the judges ex-ceeding the quota back to theirrespective provinces.

The high court heard theappeal filed by the IslamabadHigh Court Bar Association,District Bar Association andadvocate Waqas Malik. Gen-eral Secretary of the high courtbar, Chaudhry Junaid AkhtarChouhan said that judgesfrom the provinces were tem-porarily brought to the dis-trict courts Islamabad, but thejudges have been made per-manent, affecting the quota ofIslamabad—INP

AIOU exams tobegin from

November 19ISLAMABAD—Final examina-tions of PGD/MA/MSc Pro-grams for the Semester Spring2012 of the Allama Iqbal OpenUniversity will begin from No-vember 19th, announcedMuhammad Bashir Chaudhry,Controller of Exams, AIOU.

He said that roll no slipsare being dispatched to all theeligible/enrolled students attheir given addresses byPostal Mail Service.

The students who will notreceive his/her Roll No Slip upto 15th November are advisedto contact the nearest RegionalOffice of the University orArshad Khan Baloch, DeputyController of Exams, personallyor on his Phone Nos: 9250051/9057648 for issuance of dupli-cate roll no slip.—INP

Park Enclaveaffectees againattack workers

ISLAMABAD—Affectees ofvillage Mohrian have at-tacked the workers of theconstruction firm that iserecting the boundary wall ofthe Park Enclave HousingScheme.

According to sources,the affectees also threatenedthe workers of the construc-tion company. These ele-ments had stopped the con-struction work on in thehousing scheme many times.

The work continues forsome days and then is haltedby the affectees but the au-thorities concerned have to-tally failed to control the mis-creants and deal with theaffectees, the sources said.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the scheme was ini-tiated in July 2011 but itsboundary wall could not beconstructed even after thelapse of more than one yeartime.—INP

Malala Zindabadconvention on

Nov 10CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—InternationalHuman Rights Observer(IHRO) Pakistan has de-cided to celebrate the “Inter-national MALALA DAY onNovember 10 at Islamabadby arranging “MalalaZindabad Convention”.IHRO has taken this histori-cal initiative after the calland launching “I AmMalala” website byMr.Gordon Brown, UnitedNations Special Envoy onGlobal Education.

By promoting the Interna-tional Malala Day, IHRO be-lieves that it will be a great ini-tiative to realize and imple-ment the agenda of the Mil-lennium Development Goalsof the United Nationsadopted in 2000.

The international commu-nity committed to ensuringprimary education for all chil-dren, boys and girls alike, allover the world. It is unlikelythat this goal will be met aseducation is still a dream,rather than reality for 61 mil-lion children around the world.

05:5001:3004:00

07:00

Zohr

November 8

PAKISTAN Coalition forEducation, a civil societyrepresentative network isholding a two-day na-tional level educationconvention titled “Invest-ing in Education for aProgressive Nation” onNovember 7 to 8. Morethan 200 civil society rep-resentatives will be gath-ering in the capital city todiscuss and formulatecollective actions in orderto improve the status ofeducation in the country.

*****IQBAL Day celebration,at the Pakistan NationalCouncil of the Arts Audi-torium, Sector F-5/1,Islamabad, 10 am to 2 pm.

*****ALUMNI AssociationNational Institute of Psy-chology (AA-NIP) in-vites you to come andjoin on Annual AlumniDinner at 4:30 to 10:00 pm.Venue: Geo Physics Au-ditorium, QAU,Islamabad Programme.

*****NAZRIYA PakistanCouncil (Trust) is holdinga Mushaira in connec-tion with Iqbal Week cel-ebrations, 6 p.m, at Aiwan-i-Quaid F-9 Park,Islamabad.

*****PAKISTAN QaumiYekjehti Council will holda function to celebrateIqbal Day at IMCG, F-7/4,at 10 a.m.

November 10

GENERAL Body Meetingof the Human ResourceDevelopment Network atthe HRDN Secretariat,House No. 41, Street 56,F-6/4, Islamabad.

*****OPENING of a pantingexhibition by RajajChangez Sultan, MobinaZuberi, Nafisa Athar,Athar Mahmood, NaeemPasha, Nusratji, SaranSultan and Shahla Rafi, tobe inaugurated by IftikharGillani, Patron-in-Chief ofthe Tumair Studios, at theGallery Changez,Islamabad, 11 am to 6 pm.

*****GENERAL Body meetingof the Human ResourceDevelopment Network, atthe HRDN Secretariat,House No 41, Street 56,F-6/4, Islamabad.

November 12

LAUNCHING of book‘Confronting the Bomb’edited by PervezHoodbhoy at 4:30 pm atKuch Khaas, House No 1Street 1, F-6/3 Islamabad.

*****HUSSANIA conferenceorganised by the MarkaziImam Hussain Council, atthe Pearl continental, TheMall Rawalpindi, 2 pm.

Solution ofaffectees’

problems stressedSHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—There is aneed for comprehensivestrategy and making speciallaw for resolving the chronicproblems faced by theaffectees of the Federal Capi-tal Islamabad.

Getting admission inIslamabad School and Col-leges is the basic right ofIslamabad Rural area stu-dents and concern authori-ties should entertain theirAdmission cases on priority.This was stated by PPPleader Faisal Sakhi Butt whilein Public gathering here inSector D-12 of Islamabad.Large numbers of affacteesattended the meeting.

Faisal Sakhi Butt urgedupon concerned Authority toevolve a workable mecha-nism and strategize the prob-lems confronted by theaffectees. He said their is direneed to make comprehensiveplan for amicably resolvingthe issues of the affectees.

MUZAFFARABAD: A delegation of IHK Women for peace and justice meeting membersof their AJK counterpart organization.

ISLAMABAD: AJK President Sardar Mohammad Yaqub Khan presenting his US tour report to APHC leaders.

YOUNUS FAROOQ

The excessive use of inhuman laws, as such,AFSPA (special powers act) and PSA (Pub-

lic Safety Act) by armedforces, citing national securityreasons, have militarized theIndia-held Kashmir politics, infact, consolidated Indian politi-cal command over Kashmir.Law must have force and vio-lence behind it as to make itmore effective and practical,says, author of third wave, po-lice force and military are onlyallowed to use this kind offorce and violence in the lineas well as outside the line oftheir duty, adds Alvin Toffler,at the barrel of gun or at thepoint of violence, political gov-ernments sustain their grip andsuppress people. Security laws,procedures and statuary laws,says, Alvin Toffler, in the nameof national security, are exces-sively applied even against in-nocent people and sometimes

A culture of inhuman lawsagainst whole community.

In the wake of militant in-surgency that led to huge massexodus of pundit community,boys and man were picked upat will by security forces,beaten, thrashed, tortured andlodged in jails for indefinitedays. In the face of 1987 fixedelections, the spree of torturesand custodial disappearancesadded a new dimension to theKashmir conflict. People votedMuslim United Front to victory,but as is believed, governmentforces thrashed and detainedthem and take power to politi-cians of time. As the story goes,migration of pundits was speeded up by fragile governancepresent at that time coupled withinability on the part of the gov-ernment to provide protectionand security to pundit commu-nity. The culture of systematicmilitarized violence is a hall

mark of political administrationin suppressing mass revolt to theground. The arbitrary arrests,custodial disappearances, tor-tures and killings from 1990s upto 2010 is clear cut emphasis onthe kind of repressive gover-nance installed in Kashmir.Without force and violence gov-ernment cannot run indefinitely,peace becomes casualty andtruth gets persecuted.

During 1990,s When armedforces pick up any one at will aterrible cue of social shockspread to society in a flash andsociety as a whole gets alert andprefers caution over risk andaverse to rise in revolt againstgovernment of time. A climateof fear and terror reaches in allcorners of society. This is amarked trend present in the liv-ing habits of people of Kashmir.Preventive detention, detentionwithout trial, is another arbitrary

way to arrest anyone on thegrounds that he is going to com-mit an act of wrong in the fu-ture, which may put at peril,national security, public order orforeign affairs. Arrest is madeon apprehensions that the sus-pected “may” indulge in antinational activities and subse-quently put behind bars. Themotivation behind is to spreada wave of terror across wholecommunity as to the time po-litical terrorists consider appro-priate. Some other direct wayswere rebellion part is crusheddown is on spot killings as wehave seen in protest strikes, up-risings and riots in Kashmir.The arrest of revolutionary lead-ers followed by suppression ofpeople is another way fit tocharacterize militarized politics.

The recurring pattern ofkillings in Kashmir from pastyears have indicated political

propensity to military aggres-sion as most of those who died,were either shot above chests orhit in leg or necks, by militaryor paramilitary forces or policemen. The outward stability ofKashmir hides volatile under-currents. It then amazed me todiscover youth of certain agegroups pelting security man, inreturn, shot on the spot. Howcan they do this? To break thecuriosity, a civil servant officertold me ,’’a protesting mob findsitself safe in numbers, fre-quency of pelting increases,added in a surprising note,armed forces cannot estimateprecisely the actual size ofpacked mob and cannot seeclearly what type and composi-tion a mob consist of? He saidany one can be present in theprotesting mob, I chimed in‘’any one ‘he said, ‘you do notmiss your guess. (He was refer-

ring to militants).Journalists should cross-

check and double proof factsand figures. Next day, back in2010, I chanced upon a univer-sity professor while crossing alane and he debated the matterwisely. He cited law of propor-tionality, said, force appliedmust match force received, inother words, we can say a stonefor a stone, a bullet for a bullet.If you slap me, I will slap back.If you scratch my back, I willscratch your back. You cannotshoot someone for a trifle stone.This is a problematic aspect ofconflict which has stirred uppeople in all walks of life.

The coalition governmentled by National Conference inJam mu and Kashmir has will-ingly or unwillingly, let off hookperpetrators, in absence of anyconclusive evidence, is a mat-ter of debate. Judicial wing has

become untenable and movingin circles. During the publicuprising of 2008 witnessed inoccupied Kashmir, the count ofcivilian causalities ran to 108,and as many injured, approxi-mately. Sentiments were run-ning high. The grisly scene ofspluttered blood bodies tuckedin speedy vehicles sent chills tothe bone and flesh. People werestaggering, stabbing in pain.Innocent and young bulk fell tobullets. Distressed families bur-ied kith and kin, immediate andremote. It was challenging tochoke back tears. Womanjabbed chests and smashedfaces. Fear and hopelessnesshad wrapped the atmosphere. Itwas a near perfect storm.

As reports go, governmenthigher ups and media circlesrushed to scene of mourn andpoliticians exaggerated grief tospice- up newspaper columns.

Some families were shatteredand back to wall. Literallyspeaking, Kashmir was onboil. In conflict zones, for me,it boils down to ample com-pensations, economic pack-ages and special dole outs as apro quid qua for innocent cau-salities. Life has become cheapin this part of Kashmir. Theleading duty of state is to pro-vide security of its people andproperty. Its duty is to gainconfidence of masses and winhearts. To the contrary, vio-lence and suppression of truthhas begot more violence.Popular discontent of the ex-cluded youth group is often thesource of instability and re-pression. Democratic forcesare putting squeeze in publiclife. Kashmir conflict hasclaimed thousands of lives ofinnocent people, striped honorof scores of woman and si-lenced many voices in its pain-ful endurance. And the storycontinues unabated… Cour-tesy.—Kashmir Watch

SRINAGAR—The veteranKashmiri Hurriyet leader, SyedAli Geelani has emphasised thatIndia has lost its political fightagainst the people of Kashmirand is trying to suppress thevoice of people by dint ofpower.

The veteran leader in astatement issued in Srinagarsaid that the puppet administra-tion should understand that ev-ery family and each person inthe territory had offered sacri-fices, which would not be al-lowed to go waste.He con-demned the sealing of his partyoffice in Islamabad town andthe arrest of party leaders, Mir

India loses political fightin Kashmir: GeelaniUN silence over HRs violations deplored

Hafeezullah and Amir Hamza.Senior leader of the All Par-

ties Hurriyet Conference,Shabbir Ahmad Shah in a me-dia interview in Srinagar urgedthe world community to prevailupon India to help the people ofKashmir in securing their in-alienable right to self-determi-nation.

The senior APHC leaderdeplored the silence of theUnited Nations over the blatanthuman rights violations perpe-trated by the Indian army andparamilitary forces in the occu-pied territory.

Another senior APHCleader, Agha Syed Hassan Al

Moosvi talking to people dur-ing his visit to different areas ofBadgam asked India to comeout of the delusion that theKashmiris could be intimidatedinto submission through use ofbrute force. He reiterated thatthe people of Kashmir wouldcontinue their peaceful strugglefor freedom from Indian bond-age, against all odds.

Rich tributes were paid to theJammu martyrs of November1947 during a function organisedby the Kashmir Centre London.The function was addressed byProfessor Nazir Ahmed Shawland other members of theKashmiri community.—KMS

Aasiya pays richtributes to

Jammu martyrsSRINAGAR—The Chairpersonof Dukhtaran-e-Milat, AasiyaAndrabi has paid rich tributesto the Jammu martyrs of No-vember 6, 1947 and added theseMuslims offered supreme sac-rifices against New Delhi’s im-perialism.

Aasiya Andrabi in a state-ment issued in Srinagar saidthat the people of Kashmirhad rendered unprecedentedsacrifices and their strugglewould not go waste. She reit-erated the Kashmiris’ resolveto continue l iberat ionstruggle till complete success.

Aasiya Andrabi con-demned the imposition of re-strictions by the Indian policeon the Muslim League semi-nar scheduled at the Tehreek-e-Hurriyet head office inSrinagar.

Meanwhile, paying richtributes to the Jammu mar-tyrs of November 6, 1947,the Chairperson of JammuKashmir Mass Movement,Farida Behanji termed theday as a milestone in thehistory of Kashmir. Farida,while addressing a functionheld here in memory of theJammu martyrs, reiterated thepledge that the ongoingstruggle would be taken to itslogical conclusion at al lcosts.—Online

IHK employees’pen-down strike

continuesSRINAGAR—Work in mostgovernment offices in theValley was adversely affectedas the employees pen-downstrike against anti-peoplepolicies of the occupation au-thori t ies continued onWednesday.

Around 400 employeesstaged a sit in outside the Di-visional Commissioner’s of-fice in Srinagar. The protest-ers, led by General SecretaryEmployees Joint Action Com-mittee (EJAC-Q), FarooqAhmad Trali, presented amemorandum to the Divi-sional Commissioner contain-ing the list of demands of theemployees.

Among other things, theemployees were demandingregularisation of daily-wagersengaged after 1994 and removalof pay anomalies in the clericalcadre.

“This is our third round ofprotest programme as the ad-ministration has failed to fulfilour demands,” Trali said whileaddressing the employees be-fore taking out a rally towardsCommissioner’s office.—KMS

SRINAGAR—In a historic con-ference with the members of civilsociety, Adbee Markaz Kamraz(AMK) decided to launch a con-certed campaign and form a com-prehensive strategy for the pro-motion and preservation ofKashmiri language and literature.Meanwhile, an eleven- membercommittee was set-up to take-updifferent issues of the languagewith the government.

In an effort to galvanise allsections of society vis-à-vis the“language movement,” AMKheld a detailed interaction withcivil society in a conference in theSeminar Hall of Youth Hostel,Wazir Bagh Srinagar. Represen-tatives of different sections of so-ciety, including academicians,lawyers, teachers, businessmen,former administrators, conserva-

Historic interaction betweenlitterateurs, civil society

tionists and doctors participatedin the conference. During thethreadbare discussions, variousproposals were put forth and sev-eral decisions taken for the pro-motion of Kashmiri language andliterature.

The conference while extend-ing wholehearted support toAMK, resolved to be active partof its “language movement.” Totake up the issues of Kashmirilanguage directly with the gov-ernment, including teaching of thelanguage in the 9th and 10thclasses, an eleven-member com-mittee was set up which wouldbe meeting the Chief Minister asa first step of the strategy.

The members of the commit-tee are: Prof Rahman Rahi, ProfMuhammad Zaman Azurdah,Ghulam Nabi Khayal, Zaffar

Iqbal Manhas, Zareef AhmadZareef, Shehzadi Simon, Prof CL Vishen, Shakeel Qalandar,Nusrat Bashir with Dr Aziz Hajniand Dr Shujaat Bukhari as jointconvenors. The first of its inter-action between the litterateurs andcivil society discussed various is-sues of the Kashmiri language andliterature and shared their view-points. Most importantly, it wasdecided that those political par-ties who will not support the pro-motion and preservation ofKashmiri language and culture,shall be taken on jointly by theAMK and the civil society.

The conference was unani-mous to oppose any move tochange the Persio-Arabic script ofthe language, while as it was re-solved that cultural aggressionfrom government or non-govern-

ment forces shall be resisted willall the force. The participants laidstress on the promotion of the lan-guage at local levels, for whichseveral suggestions were putforth. Maintaining that Kashmirilanguage is a symbol and guard-ian of collective identity ofKashmiri culture and civilisation,the conference resolved to seeksupport from all sections of soci-ety to preserve this identity andcivilisation.

Earlier, welcoming the par-ticipants AMK President Dr AzizHajni said this historic interactionbetween litterateurs and civil so-ciety shall strengthen the founda-tions of lasting cooperation be-tween the two in the larger inter-ests of collective identity ofKashmiris irrespective of regionor religion.—NNI

Pak HC invitesMirwaiz for talksSRINAGAR—Ahead of the pro-posed visit of delegation led byHurriyat (M) chairman MirwaizUmar Farooq to Pakistan, thecountry’s High Commissionerto India has invited him to dis-cuss the modalities and agendaof the visit. Sources in con-glomerate told Greater Kashmirthat Mirwaiz Umar Farooqalong with other executivemembers have been invited byPakistan High Commissioner inNew Delhi, Salman Bashir formeeting on November 10 fordiscussing itinerary and agendaof their visit to the country.

“The High commissionerhas called Mirwaiz some daysbefore and invited him to NewDelhi to give final touch to theproposed visit to with Pakistan,”sources added. This meetingassumes significance since theproposed visit to Pakistan nextmonth is scheduled after fouryears.

Although Hurriyat (M)leaders had visited Pakistantwice in the past decade, but itis for the first time that they aremeeting Pakistan High Com-mission officials before going tothe country. Meanwhile,Hurriyat (M) is holding anemergency meeting tomorrowat their party headquartersRajbagh to discuss the currentdevelopments vis-à-vis theirPakistan visit.—NNI

Salah-ud-Dinasks people to

rememberJammu martyrs

SRINAGAR—United JihadCouncil (UJC) chairman andHizbul Mujahideen chief SyedSalah-ud-Din has called uponthe people of Jammu and Kash-mir to “remember and respectsacrifices rendered by martyrsof Jammu region in November1947.”

“The sacrifices of martyrsdemand that the ongoingstruggle must go on,” he said ina statement, on the eve ofJammu Martyrs Day.

Salah-ud-Din said the“Jammu massacre is the mostdreaded chapter of Kashmir’shistory during which more than3,50,000 Muslims were killedbetween 4-6 November 1947.”

“The perpetrators of massslaughter in Jammu should havebeen brought to justice throughthe international court of justicejust like the criminals involvedin massacres of innocent peoplein Bosnia and elsewhere in theworld,” he said. “Alas! It has nothappened due to prejudiced atti-tude of the world community andindifference of international hu-man rights watchdogs.”—NNI

SRINAGAR—Kashmir is yet togive real recognition to AllamaIqbal it owes to the famous poetand thinker. These views wereexpressed by the speakers duringa literary function here at SP Col-lege. A galaxy of poets and schol-ars attended the function and paidtributes to the late poet. Theypledged to preserve his (Iqbal’s)identity and works for the gen-erations to come.

Two books “Kashmir mienIqbal Shinasi Ka Safar” (Journeyof understanding Iqbal in Kash-mir) and “Prof Margoob BanhaliBahasiyate Iqbal Shinas” (ProfMargoob Banhali as a thinker onIqbal) written by Dr Peer NaseerAhmad were released on the oc-casion.

In his address on the oc-casion, Justice (Retd) B.AKirmani said the valley has failedto give due recognition to Iqbaland a lot more needs to be done

Allama Iqbal yet to get duerecognition in Kashmir

in this regard. “The books verywell document Iqbal and his lifebut have some shortcomings.They have failed to touch variousaspects like Iqbal’s influence onSheikh Muhammad Abdullah,”he said.

Prof Abdul Haq from DelhiUniversity seconded Kirmani’scomments and said Kashmir hasfailed to present Iqbal in a properway. “There is lot more to be writ-ten about this great personality.Books that can be the real harbin-gers of Iqbal are yet to be writ-ten. All that we have written tillnow about Iqbal is incomplete andneeds further development,” saidProf Haq.

Speaking on the occasion,former chief secretary and Mem-ber Legislative Council SheikhGhulam Rasool said the turmoilsnatched from us “our rich cul-ture and heritage”. “Due to un-rest we lost contact with our rich

culture. It is the need of the hourto come up with institutes that willenlighten us about personalitieslike Iqbal. Knowing these person-alities is must for our develop-ment,” said Sheikh.

Congratulating the author forcoming up with his works on Iqbal,senior journalist Shujaat Bhukharisaid it was a good beginning.“Iqbal as a personality is so pow-erful that we need to introspect tounderstand his vision.

Mere naming of institutesand parks on Iqbal’s name won’twork. We have to achieve alevel to understand the greatpoet.” Maintaining that Kash-mir finds its mention in almostall works of Iqbal, Prof BashirAhmad Nehvi said, “In hisworks, Iqbal has mentioned thathe was physically and mentallyassociated with Kashmir. Iqbalwas not a poet but was a greatreligious scholar too.—NNI

Police detainHurriyat leader

for quizzingRAJOURI—The Jammu policehas rounded up the chairman ofthe Jammu & Kashmir People’sMovement (JKPM), GA Mir,for questioning regarding hisinvolvement in a hawala net-work. The JKPM is a constitu-ent of the All Party HurriyatConference (M).

Sources said a police partyheaded by a Nagrota DSP raidedthe house of Mir around 6.30pm on Saturday and took himto Jammu for questioning.a InMay, the Jammu police had ar-rested constable Zahid Wani, arelative of Mir, and had recov-ered Rs 5 lakh hawala moneyfrom him. During preliminaryinterrogation, Zahid had report-edly disclosed that the money be-longed to Mir but at that time,sources said, Mir had said thatZahid was carrying the moneyhe got after selling a piece of landwhich belonged to him.—NNI

MUZAFFARABAD—Chair-person Kashmir Centre forSocial & DevelopmentalStudies (KCSDS) ProfHamida Nayeem has beendenied permission by the au-thorities to visit Azad Kash-mir as part of a delegation ofwomen put together by Cen-tre for Dialogue and Recon-ciliation.

“These conferences aresupposed to be confidencebuilding measures but evenhere permission to cross theLoC has been given selec-tively, only to those who suitthe state and those who havebeen questioning and criticiz-ing the state for violating hu-man rights have been singledout and permission has notbeen granted to them”, saidProf Hameeda Nayeem toldKNS.

She said, “Mostly thosepeople who have no under-

Hamidah NayeemAJK visit denied

standing of the issue and nopolitical position have beenselectively taken and wouldonly talk of softer issues ofcommon concern to womenanywhere”.

Meanwhile, ZamarudHabib has also been deniedthe permission to cross overto Azad Kashmir.

The first-ever delegationfrom Jammu and Kashmirwill stay in Azad Kashmir fora week and return on Novem-ber 12. The 10-member del-egation comprises of chair-person HOPE, Nighat ShafiPandit, former principals ofGovernment Women’s Col-lege M A Road Srinagar, ProfNusrat Andrabi and Prof TJoldan, Qurrat-ul-Ain, ProfEffat Yasmeen, ProfRavinderjit Kour, Prof RekhaChowdhary, Prof YasminAshai, Ellora Puri and AyeshaSaleem.—NNI

SRINAGAR—The All PartiesHurriyet Conference has de-cided to consult people fromvarious sections of society aboutits leaders’ forthcoming visit toPakistan.

The decision was taken at ameeting of APHC ExecutiveCouncil meeting, chaired byMirwaiz Umar Farooq inSrinagar, said an APHC spokes-person in a statement. “To makethe talks with Pakistan mean-ingful and result-oriented, theAPHC would talk with differ-ent shades of prudent peopleincluding traders, intellectuals,lawyers and civil society,” the

APHC to consult peopleabout Pakistan visit

statement added. The meetingwas attended by Agha SyedHassan Al-Mosvi, Bilal GhaniLone, Maulana Masroor AbbasAnsari, Mukhtar Ahmad Waza,Maulana Abdullah Tari,Musaddiq Aadil and AbdulRashid Untoo. The meeting dis-cussed in detail the ongoingsituation in occupied Kashmir.

“At the time when the po-litical scenario of the world ischanging and in the context ofthe improving Pak-India rela-tions, the Hurriyet delegation’svisit would provide a chance todiscuss solution of Kashmir indetail with Pakistan. The del-

egation would represent theemotions and aspirations ofKashmiris before Pakistan,” thespokesman said, adding thatduring the visit the delegationwould keep Kashmiris’ standand viewpoint paramount.

Paying tributes to themartyrs of Jammu, the par-ticipants said the people ofJammu region have offeredtremendous sacrifices for theongoing movement. TheAPHC also condemned thearrest of Peoples’ MovementChairman, Ghulam AhmadMir by the Indian police inJammu.—INP

SRINAGAR—Senior leader ofthe All Parties Hurriyet Confer-ence, Shabbir Ahmad Shah hasurged the world community toput pressure on India to grantKashmiris their inalienable rightto self-determination for whichthey have been struggling forlast over six decades.

Shabbir Ahmad Shah in amedia interview in Srinagar saidthat the world should come for-ward and help settle the Kash-

Right to self-determinationfor Kashmiris demanded

mir dispute the way it inter-vened in the issues of EastTimor and Southern Sudan.

The senior APHC leaderdeplored the silence of the in-ternational community over bla-tant human rights violationsbeing perpetrated by the Indianarmy and paramilitary forces inthe occupied territory. He saidthat the people of Kashmir hadgiven unprecedented sacrificesfor the Kashmir cause and

would take the liberation move-ment to its logical conclusion atall costs.

Shabbir Ahmad Shah saidthat New Delhi could not pre-vent the people of Kashmirfrom their just struggle forright to self-determinationthrough use of brute force. Headded that the day was not faraway when the people ofKashmir would get rid of In-dian bondage.—Online

The seeds of everycompany’s demiseare contained in its

business plan.

HBL declaredlargest bankSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Habib Bank Lim-ited (HBL), Pakistan’s largestcommercial bank, was de-clared the “Strongest Bank inPakistan” by The AsianBanker magazine.

The announcement wasmade at a ceremony in Osaka,Japan.

The award was judgedagainst a stringent criteriaincluding Scale of Opera-tions, Balance SheetGrowth, Risk Management,Profitability, Asset Qualityand Liquidity. Mr. JamilIqbal, Head-Global Compli-ance and Mr. Faiq Sadiq,Head-Payment Servicesrepresented HBL on the oc-casion.

“We are privileged tohave received this honourand are grateful to our cus-tomers for their confidenceand trust in us.”, said Mr.Jamil Iqbal.

Tusdec joinshands with GIZ

SALIM AHMED

L A H O R E — Te c h n o l o g yUpgradation and Skill Devel-opment Company (Tusdec)has joined hands with GIZ,Pakistan to foster the renew-able energy sector in thecountry by developingskilled force in various disci-plines of solar technologies.

The program is beingimplemented under the impli-cations of FIT (Funds for In-novative Training), GreenSkills initiative.

A company spokesmansaid Wednesday that Tusdecwill enroll 125 candidates in5 batches to be trained invarious areas of Photovoltaicand Solar Water HeatingSystems. The overall pro-gram duration is stretchedover one year where eachcourse will be for a span ofthree months.

The spokesman furthershared that state-of-the-artfacilities of NIDA Lahore cen-tre will be utilized to adminis-ter the theoretical as well aspractical trainings sessions,while on-site demonstrationswill be organized specificallyin the disciplines of WaterPumping and Solar Dryerwhere proficient master train-ers will deliver the lectures,employing the originally de-ployed infrastructure.

According to him, Tusdechas conducted an acutebaseline analysis comprisedof rigorous focus groups withmajor enterprises (Suppliers,Manufacturers and Assem-blers) of solar power equip-ment and solar heating sys-tems that has divulged hugedearth of trained manpower inthe industry.

Tusdec experts’ panel hascontrived market-oriented andinternationally accredited train-ing curricula, which will enablethe trainees to serve produc-tively in the approaching in-dustry. Tusdec further aims tonurture the diverse areas of re-newable energy sector in Paki-stan with the provision of im-mensely adroit and skilled man-power. Pakistan is experiencingapprox 12 percent increase inits energy consumption witheach passing year.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Securitiesand Exchange Commission ofPakistan (SECP) registered320 companies during Octo-ber indicating a growth of 24percent over correspondingmonth of 2011. The authorizedcapital and paid-up capital ofthese companies is Rs9.61 bil-lion and Rs747 million respec-tively. The new incorpora-tions during the month in-clude 297 private companiesfollowed by 15 single-membercompanies, 3 each as publicunlisted companies and for-eign companies, and 2 non-profit associations. Of the 3foreign companies, one eachbelongs to the US, Ireland andthe UAE.

Foreign investment bynationals from Afghanistan,China, Mauritius, South Ko-rea, Thailand, Turkey, theUAE and the US has beenwitnessed in 12 new localcompanies. These compa-nies are from power genera-

tion, corporate agriculturalfarming, trading, education,cables and electrical goods,I.T., transport, and miningand quarrying sectors.

The trading sector hasthe largest share in new in-corporations with 47 compa-nies, followed by tourismwith 35 companies, serviceswith 29 companies, I.T. with27, construction with 26,communications with 18,food and beverages with 16,and corporate agriculturalfarming with 11 companies.The highest incorporationwas witnessed at the Com-pany Registration Office(CRO), Lahore where 101companies were registered inOctober. It is followed byCROs in Karachi andIslamabad, registering 88 and87 companies respectively.The CRO in Peshawar regis-tered 21 companies, CROMultan and Faisalabad reg-istered 10 companies each,while the Quetta CRO regis-tered 3 companies.

SECP registered320 new companies

ISLAMABAD—The NationalBank of Pakistan (NBP),Islamabad region has estab-lished brisk resolution strat-egy to cope with the AutoTeller Machines (ATMs)faults and problems, bring theATM-related complaints tonominal level, a senior offi-cial of the Bank told APP.“We have 24x7 check up oftheir ATMs through our Re-gional Data Centre’s surveil-lance and the errors are im-mediately taken up by therespective quarters for theirready solutions’, Tariq ZafarIqbal Regional Head of theNBP, said here Wednesday.

He said that NBP’s re-gional management inIslamabad always respondsto the customers’ calls andthere have been witnesses ofon the spot rectifications and

problem resolutions in thisregard. “It is imperative thatwe must appreciate their ser-vice and dedication whichhas made it possible for themetropolitans to meet theirdemands in cash around theclock”, he remarked.

Mr.Iqbal further said thatthe National Bank of Pakistanis the flag-bearer of servicein the financial sector of thecountry. The scope of its ser-vice, he said was not limitedto only domestic operationsbut it is also globally appre-ciated and acknowledged asone of the Region’s bestbanks as accredited throughhigh ratings by the interna-tional financial rating agen-cies as well as by virtue ofhaving won many interna-tional accolade and awardsover the years.—APP

Faulty ATMs

NBP chisels briskresolution strategy

TDAP supportsFPCCIStaff ReporterKARACHI—. Tahir RazaNaqvi, Chief ExecutiveTrade DevelopmentAuthority (TDAP) assuredhis full support to Federa-tion of Pakistan Chamber ofCommerce (FPCCI) for its36th Export Trophy Awardbeing held on 19 November2012. He was speaking toHaji Fazal Kadir KhanSheerani, President FPCCIwho called on Mr. Naqvi inhis office. Begum SalmaAhmed, Vice PresidentFPCCI also accompaniedthe President FPCCI. HajiFazal Sheerani thanked Mr.Naqvi for his support andpatronage of FPCCI andalso offered his assistancein raising voice for inad-equate allocation in ExportMarketing and ExportDevelopment funds, whichhampers the trade develop-ment activities. ChiefExecutive TDAP alsobriefed the President FPCCIabout the TDAP efforts forupcoming D8 Summit andinformed that TDAP isorganizing the TPO HeadsConference, Seminar andExhibition. President FPCCIappreciated TDAP effortsand reaffirmed FPCCI’scontinued support.

NPO int’l workshopISLAMABAD—The 53rdinternational workshop ofHeads National ProductivityOrganization (NPO) held onWednesday. Delegates from20 Asian ProductivityOrganization (APO) memberstates took part in theworkshop. The IndonesianMinister of Manpower andTransmission MuhaiminIskandar. CEO-NPO KhawajaMOHAMMAD Yousufalong with Abdul Basit ,Additional Secretary FoodSafety represented Pakistan.In this session Pakistan’sproposal for expanding APOmembership was accepteddiscussed which was alreadyby GBM. While speaking tothe delegation CEO-NPOKhawaja MOHAMMADYousuf stressed that non-member country missionsshould be revived, membercountries should collaboratemore by increasing the I-OSMs to fully capitalize onNPOs’ productivity enhance-ment initiatives and alsoshould increase linkage withother international Productiv-ity Organization like theWNPO and other majorInternational agenciesworking in this field.—Online

APO expansionapprovedISLAMABAD—Pakistanproposal for expanding APOmembership has beenaccepted and discussed atan international conferenceof Asian ProductivityOrganization (APO) held inBali (Indonesia) which hasalready been approved byGBM. According to amessage received here fromBali (Indonesia), delegatesfrom 20 Asian ProductivityOrganization (APO) memberstates took part in the 53rdinternational workshop ofHeads National ProductivityOrganization (NPO) in Baliwith Indonesian Minister ofManpower and Transmis-sion Muhaimin Iskandar.The CEO-NPO, KhawajaMuhammad Yousuf alongwith Abdul Basit , Addi-tional Secretary FoodSafety representedPakistan. While speakingto the delegation CEO-NPO Khawaja MuhammadYousuf stressed that non-member country missionsshould be revived, membercountries should collabo-rate more by increasingthe I-OSMs to fullycapitalize on NPOs’productivity enhancementinitiatives .—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Karachi Elec-tric Supply Company has re-affirmed its commitment to-wards Pakistan by announc-ing an ambitious investmentplan in excess of Rs 40 billionor $ 400 million. KESC has al-ready invested around $ 1 bil-lion over the last four years invarious large scale projects ingeneration, transmission anddistribution.

The new PKR 40 billioninvestment plan is aimed atenhancing KESC’s genera-tion capacity, improving itsgeneration fleet efficiency,reducing the cost of powergeneration and building therequisite transmission ca-pacity to meet growingpower demand across its ser-vice territory. These projectswill be completed over the

next 18-36 months and KESCwill be arranging requiredfunding from local and for-eign institutions in shape ofboth debt and equity.

CEO KESC, in a relatedstatement said, “we believe inthe potential that Pakistan of-fers and despite the difficultoperating environment wehave demonstrated thisthrough unprecedented invest-ments in the past. The new in-vestment plan is just a reitera-tion of this belief and comes ata time when Pakistan is wit-nessing dampening of inves-tors’ sentiments, both local andforeign”. Under the new in-vestment plan, KESC is un-dertaking combined cycleprojects at its three powerplants at Korangi and SITEthat will significantly en-hance the efficiency of theseplants and add additional 47

MW of generation capacity.A specially designed ‘Trans-mission Package’ would seethe installation of new trans-former bays, addition of 3new grid stations at strate-gic locations and extensionof 6 existing grid stations.

In line with the strategicintent to bring down the costof generation, the new invest-ment plan will allow KESC toconvert two of its oil-fired unitsof 210 MW each at its BinQasim-I to coal. KESC is alsoundertaking to develop a bio-waste to energy project whichwill convert cattle manure fromLandhi Cattle Colony and or-ganic food waste to produce22MW of electricity.

The new investment planwill help KESC accomplishmany strategic objectives,including creation of socialand environmental values.

KESC undertakesRs40b big investment

BoK opens branch in Assembly premisesSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The Bank ofKhyber (BOK) Wednesdayopened a special sub-branch in the Provincial As-sembly of KhyberPakhtunkhwa here to facili-tate the members of provin-cial assembly and staff ingetting better banking facili-ties at door step. The branchwas inaugurated in a simple,but impressive ceremony at-tended by the officials of as-sembly secretariat and Bankof Khyber. Speaker, KhyberPakhtunkhwa Assembly,Kiramatullah Khan was chiefguest while Managing Di-rector (M.D) BOK, BilalMustafa was also present on

the occasion.In his welcome speech,

Managing Director, BOK,Bilal Mustafa said that dueto the confidence of thepeople and patronizing of theprovincial government thebank has registered remark-able growth in all financialheads.

He attributed the growthof the bank to amendmentmade in the Bank of KhyberAct in 2009 by the presentprovincial assembly, whichonce again allowed the bankto open conventional bank-ing branches.

Highlighting the growthof the bank during last fouryears, he said that in March2008 the total deposits of

the BOK were Rs.23 billion,which has now reached toRs.58 billion, load disburse-ment from Rs.1 billion toRs.26 billion and the annualprofit of the bank, whichwas merely Rs.12 billion hasclimbed to Rs.1.10 billion.Similarly, he said that fouryears back, the total num-ber of branches of the bankwas 34 and now that net-work had spread into 73,which by the end of the cur-rent year will reach to 80.Furthermore, he said thatthe rating of the bank hasalso improved to A.

The MD, BOK said thatthe paid up capital of thebank is Rs.8.2 billion willachieve the target of Rs.9 bil-

PESHAWAR: Speaker KP Assembly Karamat Ullah Khan inaugurating 72nd branch ofBank of Khyber at Assembly Secretariat.

lion by the end of the cur-rent year. He said that a lotof other commercial bankshave failed in the achieve-ment of this standard set bythe State of Pakistan (SBP).He said that the provincialgovernment is fully patron-izing the bank and is carry-ing its welfare programsthrough it. In this connec-tion, he especially men-tioned the Rs.3 billionBacha Khan Khpal RozgarScheme, under which thebank has disbursed Rs.1.6billion against the recordrecovery of 99.9 per cent.He said that due to trans-parency and fairness, thescheme a guideline for otherprovinces.

Prime Minister of Pakistan Raja Pervez Ashraf examining gun being manufactured in POF on the occasion of hisvisit to POF Stall during IDEAS – 2012 at Karachi.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Prime Ministerof Pakistan Raja PervezAshraf visited POF Stall af-ter the inauguration ofIDEAS-2012 and he was re-ceived by POF Chairman LtGen Muhammad AhsanMehmood, HI (M) at POFStall. POF Chairman briefedhim the capability of POF.Prime Minister witnessedPOF Products and praisedthe quality products of POF.Pakistan Ordnance Factoriesis showcasing its full rang ofproducts in IDEAS-2012 be-ing held at Karachi. POF Stallhas once again become thefocus of attention among theforeign visiting delegatesdue to state-of-the-art so-phisticated defence technol-ogy of international stan-dard.

POF Stall attracted alarge number of foreign del-egates throughout the day.Chairman POF Board re-mained busy throughout dayin welcoming the delegates

and briefed them about POFproducts. POF Chairman in-vited the delegates to visitPOF in order to see the manu-facturing process of POF.Most of the delegates ac-cepted the invitation of Chair-man POF Board.

POF Chairman told thedelegates that POF is head-ing towards partnering itscompetencies with renownedbrands around the world inthe form of joint ventures.POF Chief expressed his sat-isfaction that “IDEAS-2012”is providing an excellent op-portunity to participatingcountries for joint ventures,technology transfer and gen-eration of economic activi-ties.

It also acts a great plat-form to promote and projectPakistan’s indigenous andintegrated defence manufac-turing sector to the world.

This exhibition will showcase Pakistan’s rich poten-tial in defence and its realstrength in advance tech-nology.

Raja visited POF stallat IDEAS-2012

LSE gains14.39 points

LAHORE—Lahore Stock Ex-change on Wednesday wit-nessed bullish trend by gain-ing 14.39 points as the LSE-25 Index opened with 3948.82and closed at 3963.21 points.The market’s overall situa-tion also corresponded to anupward trend as it remainedat 4.235 million shares toclose against previous turn-over of 3.587 million shares,showing an upward slide of648,100 shares. While, out ofthe total 99 active scrips, 32moved up, 15 shed valuesand 52 remained equal.

Attock Refinery Limited,Pakistan State Oil CompanyLimited and Engro Foods Lim-ited were Major Gainer of theday by recording increase intheir per share value by Rs7.20, Rs 3.94 and Rs 3.80 re-spectively. Lucky Cement Lim-ited, Poineer Cement Limitedand D.G. Khan Cement Com-pany lost their per share valueby Rs 1.66, Rs 0.60 and Rs 0.60respectively. —APP

NHA tocomplete

ongoing projectsSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Na-tional Highway AuthorityMuhammad Javaid IqbalAwan has said that NHA isfollowing a policy of com-pleting the ongoing projectsand providing more funds tothe project which are nearcompletion.

He was addressing thesenior officers of FinanceDivision, Planning Commis-sion, Ministry of Communi-cations, National Highway &Motorway Police, NTRC,NESPAK and NHA the mem-bers of NHA Executive Boardin NHA. The meeting wasattended by

Chairman NHA told theBoard Members that BOIagreement of construction ofK a r a c h i - H y d e r a b a dMotorway (M-9) has beenscrapped with M/s. Binapuri,a Malaysian Company as thecompany could not attain fi-nancial close and start thework on the project in time.

50MW FFC windpower added to grid

OBSERVER REPORT

KA R A C H I—FFC EnergyLimited (FFCEL) has devel-oped the country’s first 50megawatt wind powerproject at Jhimpir, DistrictThatta, in Sindh. Estab-lished with an investment ofUS$134 million, the grid in-terconnection facilities forthis project were energizedon 30th October, 2012,whereby the wind farm isnow connected with theNational Grid.

This major milestone wasachieved by the coordinatedefforts of CPPA/NTDC,HESCO & FFCEL. Theproject is thus ready to playa revolutionary role instrengthening Pakistan’swind-power sector. Brig (R)Tariq Izaz, Project Director,said, “All 33 individual WTGsand ultimately the commis-sioning of the whole windfarm is planned to commencefrom 7th November, 2012 andFFCEL expects to begin com-mercial operations by midDecember, 2012.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan CreditRating Agency Limited(PACRA) has assigned starrankings to the schemes ofArif Habib Investments Lim-ited (AHIL) based on the per-formance review for the pe-riod ended June 30, 2012.

PACRA has awarded thehighest 5-Star (long-term)and 4-Star (short-term) rank-ing to MCB Dynamic Alloca-tion Fund based on relativeperformance within the As-set Allocation Schemes cat-egory. The long-term rankingdenotes the relative perfor-mance as compared to peersover a period of last threeyears ended June 30, 2012.

MCB Dynamic StockFund (MCB-DSF) under thecategory of Equity Schemes,has been assigned a rankingof 4-Star (short-term) and 4-

Star (long-term). MCB-DSFwas launched on 1st March2007 and has delivered totalreturn of 117% since incep-tion as compared to itsbenchmark KSE-30’s returnof -7.3% (an outperformanceof 124.3%). Pakistan CapitalMarket Fund (PCM), underthe category of BalancedSchemes, has been assigneda ranking of 3-Star (short-term) and 3-Star (long-term).

Pakistan International El-ement Islamic Asset Alloca-tion Fund (PIEIF), under theCategory of Islamic AssetAllocation Schemes, hasbeen assigned a ranking of3-Star (short-term) and 3-Star(long-term). Pakistan StockMarket Fund (PSM) and Pa-kistan Premier Fund (PPF),under the Category of EquitySchemes have been assigneda ranking of 3-Star (short-term) and 3-Star (long-term).

PACRA assigns star rankingsfor AHIL Equity Schemes

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMBAD—Minister forProduction Ch. Anwar AliCheema chaired a high levelmeeting regarding PakistanSteel Mills (PSM) inIslamabad to analyze the KeyPerformance Indicators (KPI)of the organization in thewake of recently issued BailOut package of worth Rs 14Billion, out of which install-ment of 3.8 Billion in firsttranche is released. CEO PSMMaj. Gen (Retd). MuhammadJaved, while explaining initia-tives so far taken said, thatthe first tranche was receivedin late August, against whichthey placed order for pur-

chasing two ships of rawmaterial. He further statedthat at least two months arerequired to get shipment ofthe Iron Ore and Coal fromforeign supplier.

He further added that PSMManagement is also explor-ing the options of local sup-pliers of Raw Material fromSind & Balochistan. In addi-tion to that, he informed thecommittee that he is in con-tact with Governor StateBank to engage banks fromIran and Pakistan to facilitatethe suppliers.

PSM has almost 60,000Tons of Raw materials avail-able of which 40,000 Tons is

ready for production and20,000 needs refinement. Itcould enhance the produc-tion up to 25% by the end ofNovember.

The Minister s tr ict lydirected the CEO PSM Maj.Gen. Muhammad Javed toensure the recovery of lossas quickly as possible. Weare trying to reach the de-sired level of 30-40% by theend of Jan 2013 and upto70% by the end of 18months of already ap-proved bail-out packageby the President. I will nottolerate any lax at t i tude,corruption or inefficiencyas long as I am holding thisoffice.

Key PSM indicators analysed: Local marketing okayed

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Production Ch. Anwar Ali Cheema presiding over a meeting of Pakistan SteelMills on analyzing Key Performance Indicators.

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The developmentwork in Koarngi industrial areais due to start very soon asthe initial Rs100 million fundsfor the purpose would soonbe released by the KMC, saidTown Administrator KorangiA Sami Khan. This he statedwhile executing CPLC-Neigh-borhood Care project initiatedby the industrialists of Sector23 led by CEO Maple PharmaShafiuddin Feroz.

Khan said that the con-struction of Road 5000 wouldstart very soon followed bycarpeting of Road 2000. Hesaid the town administrationwas awaiting funds from theAnnual Development Plan

following which severalprojects relating toinfrastructural developmentwould be taken up. Khan ap-preciated the initiative ofSector 23’s industries to es-tablish CPLC-NC project fortheir security.

Chairman KATI ZubairChhaya said as the GovernorSindh was very keen to es-tablish the projects in indus-trial areas, KATI was sup-porting and assisting itsmembers to contribute insuch projects so that theever-increasing crime in KIAcould be curbed. He saidthough KATI members werecontributing towards CPLC-NC and various civic worksin their areas but the KMC

and town administration’ssupport was mandatory.

The administrator saidthe industrialists were readyto pay the KMC’s infrastruc-ture development tax pro-vided the KMC take up de-velopment works and com-plete the ongoing projects.CEP Maple PharmaShafiuddin Feroz said the in-dustries were suffering dueto crime incidents in the areawhere the infrastructure wasextremely poor. He said in-dustries in KIA were export-ing goods worth hundreds ofmillions of dollars yet theywere deprived of basic civicfacilities. He urged the gov-ernment to take up develop-ment works in KIA.

Govt to release Rs100m forindustrial uplift

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—TechnologyUpgradation and Skill Devel-opment Company (TUSDEC)has joined hands with GIZ,Pakistan to foster the renew-able energy sector in thecountry by developingskilled force in various disci-plines of solar technologies.The program is being imple-mented under the implica-tions of FIT (Funds for Inno-vative Training), Green Skillsinitiative.

A company spokesmansaid Wednesday thatTUSDEC will enroll 125 can-didates in 5 batches to betrained in various areas ofPhotovoltaics and Solar Wa-ter Heating Systems. Theoverall program duration isstretched over one yearwhere each course will be fora span of three months.

The spokesman furthershared that state-of-the-artfacilities of NIDA Lahore cen-

ter will be utilized to adminis-ter the theoretical as well aspractical trainings sessions,while on-site demonstrationswill be organized specificallyin the disciplines of WaterPumping and Solar Dryerwhere proficient master train-ers will deliver the lectures,employing the originally de-ployed infrastructure.

According to the com-pany spokesman, TUSDEChas conducted an acutebaseline analysis comprisedof rigorous focus groups withmajor enterprises (Suppliers,Manufacturers and Assem-blers) of solar power equip-ment and solar heating sys-tems that has divulged hugedearth of trained manpowerin the industry. TUSDEC ex-perts’ panel has contrivedmarket-oriented and interna-tionally accredited trainingcurricula, which will enablethe trainees to serve produc-tively in the approaching in-dustry.

TUSDEC supportssolar power industry

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD —Foreign Do-nors along with the US Gov-ernment through USAIDhas continuously sup-ported Benazir Income Sup-port Programme (BISP) dueto its transparency and ad-vanced systems employedin its operations. There is aneed to extend the socialprotection net and opera-tions of BISP in the comingfuture.

This was said by Mr. Ri-chard A. Albright, US Coor-dinator for Economic and De-velopment Assistance andCraig P. Kim, US Special As-sistant for Economic and

Development Assistanceduring their meeting withFederal Minister and Chair-person BISP MadameFarzana Raja here in BISPSecretariat.

Mr. Richard A. Albrightfurther said that by virtue ofnationwide poverty census,BISP has collected compre-hensive data of millions offamilies in Pakistan.

This data should beshared with provincial gov-ernments, NGO and INGOsso that various social sectorprojects could be launchedin the country. US Embassydelegation appreciatedWaseela-e-Taleem (Right toEducation) Programme

launched by BISP, terming ita vital Programme in educa-tion sector of the country.The delegation ensured Ma-dame Farzana Raja of con-tinuous US support in vari-ous projects being intro-duced.

Chairperson BISP whilethanking US Governmentand USAID for their supportto BISP said that it is a trans-parent Programme which isplaying major role for thesocio-economic uplift of themillions of deprived Paki-stanis. Madame Farzana Rajasaid that BISP is one-windowoperation providing com-plete socio-economic pack-age under one roof.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore Chamberof Commerce and IndustryWednesday called for an al-together new country-spe-cific strategy to showcase toouter world investment op-portunities available in Paki-stan and to highlight thestrength of economy andcountry’s strategic location.LCCI Senior Vice President,Irfan Iqbal Sheikh and VicePresident, Mian Abuzar Shadwere talking to newly ap-pointed Ambassador-desig-nate to Japan Farukh Amil,who called on them beforeleaving for Japan to takecharge of his new assign-ment.

LCCI Executive Commit-tee Members MudassorMasood, Mian Zahid JavaidAhmad and Nasir HameedKhan were also present on

the occasion.They said that identifica-

tion of new areas of coopera-tion and dissemination oftrade-related information inan expedited way are the ar-eas need to be focused onpriority basis.

They said that the com-mercial sections of all theembassies abroad wouldhave to play an active rolefor giving much-neededquantum jump to Pakistan’sexports. “Commercial Sectionshould keep itself abreastabout the demand the Japa-nese for imported goods andto get engaged with Japa-nese business circles,” theymaintained.

The LCCI office-bear-ers said that Japan is oneof the trillion economies ofthe world but unfortu-nately Pakistan shares inits business with the outer

world is negligible. Theysaid that Pakistan’s exportsto Japan in 2011 were only$206 million while the im-ports were 1,860 mill iondollars against Japan’s to-tal imports of $854 billionand exports $823 bill ion.Major exports of Pakistanto Japan consist of cottonyarn, petroleum

products, woven cottonfabric, vegetables, electromedical apparatus, leather,leather garments, carpets andsports goods etc. The mainimports from Japan are cars,vessels & other floating struc-tures, products of iron, trucks,parts & accessories of motorvehicles, textile machineryand etc. Pakistan’s Embassyshould have complete knowl-edge of export potential ofPakistan, which should beshared with Japanese busi-nessmen and investors.

LCCI to unfold investmentopportunities to world

US government appreciates BISP

Urges need to extendprogramme’s operations

ISLAMABAD: Chairperson BISP meeting with Mr. Richard A. Albright, US Coordina-tor for Economic and Development Assistance.

Cotton tradinghouse to be bulitMULTAN—A cotton tradinghouse will be set up here andpaper work is in progress toprepare the project, cottoncommissioner KhalidAbdullah has said. Theproject is expected to be ini-tiated after the completion ofa modern and state-of-the-artcotton ginning institute in thecity, he said while address-ing a ceremony here late onTuesday night.

It may be mentioned herethat land has been spottednear cotton research stationon old Shujabad Road to setup the cotton ginning insti-tute. Khalid Abdullah saidgrowers would be providedspace to keep their cottonsamples at the cotton trad-ing house which would beequipped with all facilitiesrelating to cotton trade.

He said before buyingtextile products buyers frominternational marketswanted to see that whichquality of lint was utilized,what pesticides were appliedor whether child labour wasinvolved in product prepa-ration. We must adopt the in-ternationally recognizedstandards if we want tomove with the rest of theworld, Khalid said.—APP

‘Pak-Japan privatesectors

to play role forboosting trade’

FAISALABAD—Private sectorof Pakistan and Japan shouldplay their role for boostingtrade and economic relationsas the volume of trade be-tween the both countries ismuch less than the desiredpotential. This was stated byFarrukh Amil, Pakistan’s Am-bassador- designate to Ja-pan, while addressing a meet-ing at Faisalabad Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(FCCI) here on Wednesday.

He said that Pakistan hadgreat potential for the exportof fruits and vegetables inJapanese markets.

He stressed that packag-ing and presentation shouldbe improved as quality andpresentation was the mostchoice of the Japanese at thetime of purchase. This will pro-mote the marketing of theseproducts thus enhancing ex-ports of Pakistani goods in theJapanese markets. He sug-gested for value addition toPakistani products to fetchmore foreign exchange for thecountry. Though Japan ishelping Pakistan in the eco-nomic and social sectors, yethe will motivate the Japaneseentrepreneurs to invest inmega projects also, he added.

The designate Ambassa-dor assured that he would dohis best for the business pro-motion of the area and askedPresident FCCI Mian ZahidAslam to keep him forwardingfeedback in this context andhe will himself approach to theindustries and business there.He was of the opinion that adelegation from FCCI shouldbe organized in the future andhe would feel privileged tomake the visit of the delega-tion truly productive and ben-eficial to them in the best inter-est of the country.

Mr. Farrukh Amil empha-sized that businesses and in-dustry should come forwardunder public private partner-ship and even mega projectsmight be initiated through col-laborative approach by thepublic and private sector. In hiswelcome address, Mian ZahidAslam, President FCCI con-gratulated the Ambassadordesignate on his appointmentand said that Pak-Japan traderelations could be enhancedand strengthened throughjoint ventures, technologytransfer and investment coop-eration.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The business com-munity believes that US Presi-dent Barack Obama in his sec-ond term must provide directaccess to Pak products in USmarkets, at zero duty, forstrengthening our economythat suffered irreparable colos-sal losses since 9/11 debacle.Founder Chairman Pak-USBusiness Council and VPSAARC Chamber of Com-merce and Industry, Pakistanchapter, Iftikhar Ali Malikgreeting Barack Obama on hissecond time victory as USPresident said this while talk-ing to APP here on Wednes-day.

He stressed that PresidentUS Chamber of Commerce

(USCC) Thomas Donohue andEU had also fully supportedPakistan’s long standing de-mand of duty-free imports ofPak products on urgent basis.

He said in past the USCCChief in his letter had alsostrongly urged US PresidentBarrack Obama to help flood-ravaged Pakistan by gettingCongress to pass stalled leg-islation that would allow duty-free imports of selected Paki-stani products.

The world candidly ac-knowledged several times thatPakistan is the only countryof the globe that suffered tril-lions of dollars’ losses since9/11, he added. He said thatUS President Barack Obamaon the occasion of 9/11 lastyear had announced 440 tril-

lion dollar package for hiscountry, adding that he shouldalso has announced incentivesfor quick revival of Pakeconomy as the country suf-fered vast loss of lives, besidesdestruction of infrastructureand displacement of millionsof people during efforts tostamp out terrorism from theregion He said that 4500 val-iant troops of Pakistan armedforces laid down their lives inthe war against terrorism andmore than 35000 innocentpeople lost their lives in sui-cide attacks. “At least the USPresident must announce freemarket access to Pak productsas already promised by USSecretary of State HillaryClinton during her last visit toPakistan”.

Tycoons urge Obama fordirect access to US markets

Commercialaviation faces

challengesOBSERVER REPORT

K A R A C H I — C h a i r m a nPALPA Institute of Aviationand Management Sciences(PIAMS), Capt Suhail Baluchhas said that notwithstand-ing the worldwide growth ofaviation industry and relatedbusinesses, Pakistan’s com-mercial aviation sector is fac-ing multi-faceted challenges.He was addressing a seminarorganized by PALPA’s Insti-tute of Aviation Sciences.

“The once thriving com-mercial aviation sector whichpromised a prosperous futureis now reeling in the face ofstiff competition from re-gional and international play-ers, falling revenues and gen-eral decline,” he added.

He further said that al-though the precarious securitysituation in the country follow-ing the 9/11 episode may becited as the primary reason forthis malaise; our failure to keeppace with the latest trends inthe aviation world and beingunable to adopt sound man-agement strategies in this veryimportant sector is also a con-tributory factor.

Addressing the seminar,Director PALPA’s Institute ofAviation Sciences, Dr MirMohammad Shah said that itis for all stakeholders, includ-ing Govt, CAA, operatorsand passengers, to deliber-ate upon and play their rolefor the revival of commercialaviation industry in Pakistanto benefit in each and everysphere of the industry.

Director PIAMS said thatfrom the roles of different stake-holders to policies from Govtand behaviors of operators,everything needs to be revis-ited and lacunas need to beidentified and removed. TheDean of PIAMS, Dr WaliMughni said that PIA in pastfew months has proved thatboth operational and financialturnarounds are possible evenin the existing scenarios. Ifthings are taken towards im-provement and challenges aremet with courage and efficientplanning and prudent plans thecommercial aviation industry’srevival will benefit all the stake-holders across the board. “Tobridge the knowledge gap be-tween where the rest of theworld is and where we stand,PALPA has establishedPIAMS to produce human re-source which is well qualifiedto take up today’s challenges,”said Dr Wali Mughni.

PQ shippingactivity

KARACHI—Brisk shippingwas recorded at the PortQasim where six ships sched-uled to load/offload contain-ers, rice, general cargo andchemicals were allottedberths at Qasim InternationalContainer Terminal, Grain &Fertilizer Terminal, Multi Pur-pose Terminal and EngroVopak Terminal respectivelyon Tuesday.

Berth occupancy was ob-served at the Port at eightysix percent on Tuesday wherethirteen ships namely C.VAbu Dhabi, C.V MaerskKingston, C.V NedlloydHudson, M.V Phutia-19, M.VBeagle-III, M.V On Vatan.M.V Victoria Star, M.T DaiDoung Sunrise, M.V MahaDeepa, M.T Chemroad Sea,M.T Clipper Hermud, M.VDouble Prosperity and KPSAlican Bey are currently atPQA berths to load/offloadcontainers, rice, wheat, cementgeneral cargo, soya been meal,steel scap, palm oil, chemicalsand coal during last 24 hours.

Cargo handling regis-tered an upward trend at thePort where a cargo volume of118,850 tonnes, comprises79,762 tonnes imports and39,088 tonnes exports inclu-sive containerized cargo car-ried in 3.750 containers ( 2,150imports and 1.600 exportsTEUs) were handled at thePort during last 24 hours.

Two ships M.T DaiDoung Sunrise Maersk andM.V Victoria Star sailed out tosea on Wednesday morning,while four more ships C.V AbuDhabi, C.V Maersk Kingston.C.V Nedlloyd Hudson andM.T Chemroad Sea are ex-pected to sail on same day.No ship at outer anchorage.

C.V CMA CGM Strausscarrying containers is ex-pected to take berth at con-tainer terminal on Wednesday.M.V Leopard-B is due to ar-rive at Port Qasim on same day,while three more ships C.VNew Delhi Express, C.V HansaLiberty and M.V Cos Glory aredue to arrive on Thursday, 8November.—APP

Telecom imports increaseSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Telecom im-ports have increased by 19.85per cent during the first quar-ter of the current fiscal yearas compared to the same pe-riod of last year. The overallimports of the telecom groupwere recorded at US$363.179million in July-September(2012-13) against those ofUS$303.028 million in the firstquarter in 2011-12, accordingto the data of Pakistan Bureauof Statistics (PBS).

The imports of mobilephones witnessed an in-crease of 1.59 per cent fromUS$164.300 million duringlast year to US$166.913 mil-lion during the period underreview. The imports of otherapparatus of telecom indus-try increased by 41.48 per

cent, from US$138.728 millionduring last year toUS$196.266 million, the PBSdata revealed. In September2012, the overall telecom im-ports increased by 9.52 percent against September 2011but decreased by 5.5 per centwhen compared to the im-ports of August 2012. Thetelecom imports in September2012 were recorded atUS$121.855 million againstthose of US$ 111.265 millionin September 2011 andUS$128.946 million in August2012.

During September 2012,the imports of mobile phoneswere recorded at US$58.147million against those ofUS$58.992 million in Septem-ber 2011 and US$56.105 inAugust 2012, showing de-crease of 1.43 per cent over

September 2011 and increaseof 3.64 per cent in August2012. The imports of othertelecom apparatus increasedby 21.88 per cent in Septem-ber 2012 against those ofSeptember 2011 while de-creased by 12.54 per centagainst those of August2012. The imports of telecomapparatus were recorded atUS$ 63.708 million in Septem-ber 2012 against those ofUS$52.273 million in Septem-ber 2011 and US$72.841 inAugust 2012, the data re-vealed. It is pertinent to men-tion here that the overall im-ports into the country de-creased from US$11.117 bil-lion last year to US$10.853billion during the first quar-ter of current fiscal year,showing negative growth of2.37 per cent.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Federal TaxOmbudsman (FTO), Dr.Muhammad Shoaib Suddlehas recommended FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) forissuing appropriate direc-tions to all field formations,treating the matter as a sys-temic issue and direct theCommissioner to issue re-fund due, as per law and re-port compliance within 30days.

According to a statementof the FTO Secretariat hereon Wednesday, the Com-plainant M/s S.H. Steel Re-Rolling Mills & Furnace I/9,Islamabad filed a complaintversus the Secretary Rev-enue Division Islamabad inwhich, the complainant be-lieved that his applications

FTO directs FBR to issue refundfor issuance of refund due fortax years 2009 and 2010 werewrongly rejected by the De-partment on 22-02-2012.

He said that his appealagainst the impugned orderwas accepted by the Com-missioner (Appeals), videorder dated 30-04-2012. TheDepartment, however, didnot issue the refund due de-spite repeated efforts by theComplainant, which was tan-tamount to maladministra-tion.

The Authorized Repre-sentative (AR) submittedthat the AOP was dissolvedthrough an agreement andthe business was taken overby the Complainant, in indi-vidual capacity. The Depart-ment rejected theComplainant’s refund con-tending that the tax deduc-

tions were related to an AOP,not to the Complainant.

Setting aside the im-pugned order, the Commis-sioner (Appeals) held thatsince the AOP had notclaimed tax credit in its Re-turns filed for the tax years2009 and 2010, the Depart-ment could not justifiablywithhold the refund due. TheComplainant thereafter re-quested the Department forthe issuance of refund but tono avail. The DepartmentalRepresentative (DR) arguedthat the Complainant’s re-fund claim was rejected onthe ground that deductionswere related to AOP and notto the Complainant. The De-partment filed an appealagainst the order of the Com-missioner (Appeals) beforethe ATIR on 17-07-2012.

Dollar downHONG KONG—The dollarslipped in Asian tradeWednesday, while share mar-kets rose after PresidentBarack Obama was re-electedin a knife-edge US presiden-tial election. As a hard-foughtcampaign came down to thewire Obama was declaredwinner after picking up cru-cial swing states, wipingaway uncertainty that hadpervaded markets for thepast few days.

But in afternoon foreignexchange trade the green-back slipped against theeuro and yen as dealers betthat under Obama the Fed-eral Reserve would con-tinue with the loose mon-etary policy that has seen itflood markets with billionsof dollars.

The European singlecurrency bought $1.2861 inTokyo, well up from $1.2788earlier Wednesday and$1.2814 in New York lateTuesday. The greenbackwas also at 80.05 yen com-pared with 80.34 yen in NewYork.—AFP

Jalil faces trialBENGHAZI—A Libyan court onWednesday ordered Mustafa Abdel Jalil,former political leader of rebels whotoppled Muammar Gaddafi last year, tobe questioned by military prosecutorsover the killing of the insurgents’ topfield commander.Abdel Fattah Younes,Gaddafi’s interior minister before heswitched to the rebel cause soon afterthe start of the revolt, was killed by gun-men on his own side in July 2011. His

death betrayed ideological splits in the rebel movement andwas seen as the work of a faction that mistrusted any ex-Gaddafi loyalist holding a commanding position in the in-surgency. Eleven men, including a former deputy premier inthe National Transition Council, the political wing of therebellion, have been charged in connection with Younes’smurder but only one has been arrested. “The court demandsthe referral of Mustafa Abdel Jalil, former head of the NTC,to military prosecution for investigation in the case of AbdelFattah Younes,” Judge Abdullah al-Saidi said at a hearingfor the accused. Jubilation broke out in the courtroom andabout 100 people celebrated outside, chanting: “Your bloodwill not go in vain, oh colonel,” referring to Younes. Therewas no immediate comment from Jalil. He said in Augustthat the NTC knew who killed Younes but did not elaborate.He retired from politics that month and returned to his na-tive town in eastern Libya. Younes was slain in mysteriousfashion after NTC leaders summoned him back to Benghazi,their political headquarters in eastern Libya, to discuss “mis-takes at the front line”.—Reuters

Thailand, Myanmar support Dawei zoneBANGKOK—Ministers from Myanmarand Thailand met on Wednesday toshow their support for the strugglingmultibillion-dollar Dawei economic zonein Myanmar and to look for ways to drumup more private sector interest. Thailand’sDeputy Prime Minister and Finance Min-ister Kittirat Na Ranong speaks duringthe 10th Asia-Europe Finance Minister’sMeeting and other related meetings at ahotel in Bangkok. “Collaboration on

Dawei is of the utmost importance to both our countries. Thenext step is to invite investment from the state and privatesectors,” Thai Finance Minister Kittirat Na Ranong said dur-ing a break in the meetings in Bangkok. The $50 billion, 250 sqkm (100 sq mile) complex was planned to include a deep-seaport, steel mills, refineries, a petrochemical complex and powerplants. However, Italian-Thai Development Pcl, Thailand’slargest construction firm and the parent of Dawei Develop-ment Co, has struggled to find the $8.5 billion needed to fi-nance infrastructure and utilities under the first phase. OnWednesday, Thailand and Myanmar agreed to set up jointcommittees overseeing infrastructure projects, including a132-km (83-mile) road stretching from Dawei to the Thai bor-der, plus water and energy needs. Another committee willadvise businesses on Myanmar’s new foreign investmentlaw. A follow-up meeting will be held in Myanmar’s capital,Naypyitaw, in December. Funding for Dawei’s first phase willbe decided in the next three or four months.—Reuters

Bid to undermine SNC decriedDOHA—The head of Syria’s main oppo-sition group warned Wednesday thatforces that he says are trying to under-mine his Syrian National Council are in-advertently prolonging the rule of Presi-dent Bashar Assad. Abdelbaset Siedaspoke at an SNC convention in Doha asthe group tried to push back against U.S.criticism and efforts to form a new oppo-sition leadership that would likely side-line the SNC. The group, which was formed

a year ago, has been slow to include activists and fightersfrom Syria who are risking their lives to topple the regime.Made up mostly of exiles and academics, the SNC has ap-peared increasingly irrelevant and out of touch as the conflictin Syria has escalated and the focus has shifted to the battle-field, where control of Syria is almost certain to be decided.Syrian dissident Riad Seif, who is leading the effort to createa new opposition leadership, said the SNC has “failed.”“Nowadays, we need leadership to guide the revolution inthis very difficult period, and we need an authority to lookafter millions of Syrians who have nothing,” the 66-year-oldSeif, who is battling cancer, told The Associated Press onTuesday, the third day of the SNC convention in Qatar. Seifhas proposed setting up a 50-member leadership group inwhich the SNC would have only 15 seats, to make room foractivists and local leaders from inside Syria. Seif says the ideahas won broad international backing, and has portrayed it asthe only way forward for the opposition to garner badlyneeded foreign aid and political support. Seif has told report-ers he is not seeking a leadership post.—Reuters

Cameron terms EU budget ludicrousLONDON—Prime Minister DavidCameron attacked “ludicrous” EuropeanUnion budget plans on Wednesday andplayed down hopes its leaders can reacha spending deal later this month, step-ping up the rhetoric before talks in Lon-don with Germany’s Angela Merkel. TheBritish prime minister has threatened toveto the EU’s seven-year budget, fuel-ling a perception among many in Europethat London is casting itself adrift from

the 27-nation union. German officials are exasperated by whatthey see as London’s slide towards Europe’s margins, a moveunderlined by the British parliament’s vote last week callingfor a real-terms cut in the EU’s 1 trillion euro ($1.28 trillion)budget. Cameron, who wants to stay in the EU and backs areal-terms budget freeze, was humiliated by the defeat andwas accused by opponents of losing control over his Con-servative Party’s anti-Europeans, a group that has helpedbring down former leaders. The prime minister said the thereshould be a separate budget for the EU’s crisis-hit, 17-stateeuro zone currency union, of which Britain is not a member.“They are proposing a completely ludicrous 100 billion euro($128.01 billion)increase in the European budget,” Camerontold reporters. “I’ll be arguing for a very tough outcome. Inever had very high hopes for a November agreement be-cause you have got 27 different people round the table with27 different opinions.”—Reuters

Confidence votePRAGUE—The Czech center-right gov-ernment survived a confidence vote onWednesday when the lower house ofparliament approved a package of taxrises that will be used to cut the 2013budget deficit. The approval came afterPrime Minister Petr Necas put down arebellion in his party over the tax rises.Support for his government has shrunkto a minority in the 200-seat lower house,which leaves it in a weak position to face

more votes over its fiscal plans. The tax package, expectedto bring 22 billion crowns ($1.11 billion) in new revenue, willallow the government to cut the total fiscal gap below theEuropean Union-prescribed 3 percent of economic outputnext year. Necas has been struggling to keep afloat his cabi-net, unpopular due to two years of austerity and a series ofcorruption scandals.—Reuters

AMMAN—Syrian rebels firedmortars at President Basharal-Assad’s palace in Dam-ascus on Wednesday butmissed, in an attack under-lining the growing boldnessof forces fighting to end hisfamily’s 42 years in power. Acrowd gathers at the site ofan explosion in Hai al-Wuroud, near DamascusNovember 6, 2012, in thishandout photograph re-leased by Syria’s nationalnews agency SANA. Resi-dents told Reuters theheavy-calibre shells hit aneighbouring residential dis-trict that is home to membersof Assad’s Alawite sect.State-run media said at leastthree people were killed andseven wounded in what itdescribed as a “terrorist at-tack”. Syria’s war, whichhas already spilled intoneighbouring Lebanon andthreatened to spread insta-bility in the Middle East,poses one of the greatestforeign policy challenges forU.S. President Barack Obamaas he starts his second term.Fighters in the mainly SunniMuslim opposition havestepped up attacks in the

Assad escapes rebels palace motars firescapital this week, setting offat least two bombs in areaspopulated by Alawites andassassinating two figuresseen as close to the Assadadministration.

The violence highlightedthe sectarian dimension of acivil war that is deepening therift between Sunni and Shi’iteMuslims in the region -Assad’s Alawite sect is anoffshoot of Shi’ite Islam. AnIslamist rebel unit said it tar-geted but missed the palace,a compound which sits on ahill overlooking the city thatis mainly used for officialfunctions. It was impossibleto verify whether Assad wasstaying there at the time. Hehas several residencesacross the city.

“This operation came inresponse to the massacrescommitted in our belovedcity,” the Lions of Islam rebelgroup said in a statement.They said they also attackeda military airport and an intel-ligence facility in the capital,but there was no indepen-dent confirmation of thosereports. State television saida judge, Abad Nadwa, waskilled on Wednesday by a

bomb placed under his car.Wednesday’s attempted

mortar strike on Assad’s pal-ace drew comparisons with abomb attack in a highlyguarded district of Damascusin July that killed four of thepresident’s top lieutenants.International and regional ri-valries have complicated ef-forts to mediate any resolu-tion to the conflict - Russiaand China have vetoed threeU.N. Security Council resolu-tions that would have putAssad under pressure.

The United States andother Western powers havealso grown increasingly frus-trated by divisions and in-fighting between Syrian op-position groups. In a newpush for unity, the main Syr-ian overseas oppositiongroup the Syrian NationalCouncil (SNC) is meeting inQatar on Wednesday to electa new leader and executivecommittee.

A day later the SNC andother groups will meet to forma new 50-member civiliangroup that will later choose atemporary government forSyria and coordinate with therevolt’s military wing. U.S.

Secretary of State HillaryClinton said last week it wastime to move beyond the SNCand bring in those “in thefront lines fighting and dy-ing” - a sign of U.S. impa-tience with a group that haslong urged international in-tervention in Syria.

Smoke was seen risingfrom Mezze 86, the mainlyAlawite area where the mor-tars fired at Assad’s palaceappeared to have landed.“Ambulances are heading tothe area and the shabbiha(pro-Assad militiamen) are fir-ing automatic rifles madly inthe air,” said a housewifewho asked not to be named.A car bomb blast killed atleast 11 people in the samedistrict on Monday. Islamists,who are taking on an evermore prominent role in thewar, also claimed responsibil-ity for that attack.

State media said 10 morepeople were killed in a bomb-ing on Tuesday in Hai al-Wuroud - another districtthat is home to manyAlawites. In what appearedto be a tit-for-tat response tothose attacks, a car bombwent off on Tuesday in a

working class Sunni area ofthe city that is a base for therebel forces. Air strikes andartillery barrages unleashedby the Syrian military in thelast few weeks have wreckedwhole districts of the capital,as well as parts of towns andcities elsewhere.

Yet, for all their firepower,Assad’s forces seem nocloser to crushing their lightlyarmed opponents, who inturn have so far proved un-able to topple the Syrianleader. The Syrian Networkfor Human Rights, an oppo-sition monitoring group, saidAssad’s forces killed 154people across Syria on Tues-day, mostly civilians in aerialand ground bombardment onDamascus and its suburbs,and the northern provincesof Aleppo and Idlib.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the jointU.N., Arab League envoy toSyria, said this week Syriacould face the fate of Somalia,becoming a collapsed statewhere warlords and militiasrule. The Syria war has killedabout 32,000 people and leftmany parts of the country inruins. British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron, who in the

past suggested offeringAssad immunity from pros-ecution as a way of persuad-ing him to leave power, saidon Wednesday the presidentwould have to face justice.

“I would like to see Presi-dent Assad face full interna-tional justice for the appallingcrimes he has meted out onhis people,” Cameron said ona visit to Zaatari, a camp hous-ing about 30,000 Syrian refu-gees in Jordan. “I am stand-ing with the Syrian border justbehind me and every night500 refugees are fleeing themost appalling persecutionand bloodshed to come tosafety and frankly what wehave done so far is not work-ing,” he added.

The United Nations hasput Syria’s government on a“list of shame” of countriesthat abuse children, sayingAssad loyalists have killed,maimed, tortured and de-tained children as young asnine. Leila Zerrougui, specialrepresentative of the Secre-tary-General for Children andArmed Conflict, told Reuterson Tuesday the body wasalso investigating the oppo-sition.—Reuters

Residents walk among damaged buildings after a Syrian Air Force fighter jet loyal to President Bashar al-Assadfired missiles at Houla, near Homs.

Yemen securityofficer shot

dead in SanaaSANAA—A gunman shot deada Yemeni security officer nearthe interior ministry in the cen-tre of the capital Sanaa onWednesday, a police sourcesaid, blaming al Qaeda. Sev-eral security personnel havebeen killed in recent monthsin the unstable Arabian Pen-insula country where militantgroups stepped up activitiesduring a revolt against thepresident.

The gunman drove awayon a motorbike driven by asecond man, the source said,declining to be identified.“The assassination resemblesthe many operations that havetargeted intelligence and se-curity officers in recentmonths,” the source said.

“It is clear that it bears thefingerprints of al Qaeda butuntil now we don’t haveproof,” the source added. At-tacks on security officials andpoliticians increased afterYemen’s army, backed by U.S.drone strikes, pushed Islam-ist militants out of towns inthe southern Abyan prov-ince.—Reuters

Israel uses landgrab to halt

statehood bidJERUSALEM—Israel said yes-terday it was pushing forwardwith construction of more than1,200 new homes in Jewishsettlements, in an apparentwarning to the Palestinians torethink their plan to ask theUnited Nations to recognizean independent state of Pal-estine.

The government an-nounced it was accepting bidsfrom contractors to build thehomes in two Jewish enclavesin east Jerusalem, Ramot andPisgat Zeev. The homes areamong 1,200 whose construc-tion Israel ordered fast-trackedin November 2011 after a keyUN body granted full member-ship to Palestine. Senior Pal-estinian official Saeb Erekatcondemned the Israeli actionand urged the US to pressureIsrael to halt settlement con-struction. “What you need tostop is not the Palestinian ef-forts at the UN.”—Reuters

RAMALLAH—Palestinian ne-gotiator Saeb Erakat onWednesday said he hopedthat US President BarackObama’s reelection wouldmean the creation of a Pales-tinian state in the next fouryears. “We hope that a Pal-estinian state will be imple-mented in Obama’s nextterm,” he told AFP, withoutspecifically welcomingObama’s reelection. Erakatpointed out that Israel hadannounced new settlementtenders as Americans weregoing to the polls on Tues-day, and called on Obama totake swift action to preventcontinuing Israeli settlementactivity. He also urged thenew administration to backPalestinian plans to seek en-hanced status at the UnitedNations General Assembly,

Palestinians hopeful of statein Obama second term

where they are expected torequest non-member statuslater this month. “We hopeObama will stop settlementsimmediately and not stop thePalestinians from going to theUN to get non-member sta-tus because non-memberstatus will protect the peaceprocess and the two-statesolution,” Erakat said.

Direct talks between Is-rael and the Palestinians havebeen on hold since late Sep-tember 2010, when theyground to a halt over settle-ment construction. WhileObama’s administrationsought to renew an Israelipartial settlement freeze, italso opposed both a Pales-tinian bid for full UN member-ship and the admission of Pal-estine as a UNESCO mem-ber.—Reuters

Constitution boss out tohijack reforms: Fiji leader

SUVA—Fiji’s military strongman Voreqe Bainimarama hasaccused the academic charged with drafting the Pacificnation’s new constitution of“hijacking” the reform processand overstepping his role.

But Bainimarama, whoseized power in a 2006 coup,denied harassing Constitu-tional Commission chairmanYash Ghai and called on theKenyan scholar to considerhis future as the country pre-pares for elections in 2014.

“No one person ismore important than the taskof producing a constitution forthe Fijian people,” he said.“Yash Ghai can decide for him-self whether he wants to be apart of this process,” he addedin a statement issued lateTuesday.

Bainimarama was re-sponding to an interview Ghaigave to the Australian Broad-casting Corporation Tues-day, in which he complainedthe regime had backed awayfrom a commitment to publicconsultation on his constitu-tional blueprint. Ghai, a legalexpert who has previouslyhelped frame constitutions inKenya and Nepal, also ac-cused Bainimarama of under-mining his independence.

“There has been massiveinterference,” he said. “NowI get emails from the PM(Bainimarama) to do this ornot to do that, and this is akind of harassment.” Ghai hasa reputation for fiercely pro-tecting his autonomy. He re-signed as the US special en-voy on human rights to Cam-bodia in 2008 after a war ofwords with Prime MinisterHun Sen.

Bainimarama dismissedthe harassment allegation as“totally without foundation”and said Ghai’s role was toproduce a draft constitutionfor the government, not todictate what public consulta-tions subsequently tookplace.

“It is not for the commis-sion chairman to hijack theconstituent assembly pro-cess,” he said.

“Professor Ghai seems tofundamentally misunder-stand the process.”

Fiji is preparing a newconstitution after experienc-ing four coups since 1987,largely stemming from ten-sions between indigenousFijians and ethnic Indiansdescended from labourersbrought in by the British inthe colonial era. —Reuters

DUBAI—The Bahraini gov-ernment, facing an uprisingled by its Shi’ite majority, hasrevoked the nationality of 31men for damaging nationalsecurity, state news agencyBNA reported on Wednes-day. The men include Lon-don-based dissidents Saeedal-Shehabi and AliMushaima, son of jailed op-position leader HassanMushaima, as well as clerics,human rights lawyers andactivists, according toMohammed al-Mascati, headof the Bahrain Youth Centrefor Human Rights.

In April, Ali Mushaimascaled the roof of Bahrain’sembassy in London topublicise opposition de-mands for democraticchange. Also on the list pub-lished by BNA were twoformer parliamentarians fromthe leading Shi’ite partyWefaq, Jawad and JalalFairooz, who are of Shi’iteIranian descent.

The ruling Al Khalifa fam-

Bahrain revokes nationalityof 31 over state security

ily used martial law and helpfrom Gulf neighbours to putdown a Shi’ite-led uprisingagainst alleged discrimina-tion that began last year, butunrest has resumed. Shi’iteprotesters and police clashalmost daily. Bahrain, wherethe U.S. Fifth Fleet is basedas a bulwark against Iran, ac-cuses Tehran of encouragingthe unrest and has promiseda tough response as talkswith the opposition havestalled.

Matar Matar, a seniormember of Wefaq, said themove was an escalation of theconflict in Bahrain and ac-cused the government ofhaving granted nationality toSunni Muslim foreigners toboost their numbers in thecountry. “They want to re-place us as a pro-democracymovement via nationalisationof mercenaries and revokingour nationality,” Matar said.

“This is a reflection of acomplex persecution policyagainst race, sect and politi-

cal orientation. It is againstBahrain’s Persian minority,Shi’ites and the pro-democ-racy movement in general.”It was not clear whether themen would be expelled fromBahrain.

In a similar move last De-cember, the United Arab Emir-ates revoked the citizenshipof seven Islamist activists,saying they posed a threat tonational security. Some of themen had demanded greaterpowers for the Federal Na-tional Council, an electedbody which advises the gov-ernment. Bahrain announcedthe move a day after the gov-ernment said it had arrestedfour suspects in multiplebombings that killed twopeople in the capital Manamaand accused the Lebanesemilitant group Hezbollah ofbeing behind the attacks.

The five home-madebombs on Monday bore thehallmarks of Hezbollah, theShi’ite group allied with Iran,authorities said.—Reuters

NEW DELHI—Canadianfirms will be able to exporturanium and nuclear reactorsto India for the first time inalmost four decades under anagreement between the twonations, their prime ministerssaid, but more work isneeded to implement thedeal. Once implemented,the agreement will end a banon nuclear cooperationCanada imposed in 1976 af-ter India secretly exploded itsfirst nuclear bomb in 1974,commonly called the “Smil-ing Buddha”, using materialfrom a Canadian-built reac-tor in India. “Being able toresolve these issues andmove forward is, we believe,a really important economicopportunity for an importantCanadian industry, part ofthe energy industry, thatshould pay dividends interms of jobs and growth forCanadians down the road,”Canadian Prime Minister

Canada to allow civilnuclear trade with India

Stephen Harper said on Tues-day on a visit to New Delhi.

It was not clear howquickly the deal will take ef-fect. The two countriessigned a nuclear cooperationpact two years ago and onTuesday said they had con-cluded negotiations on the“administrative arrange-ments”. However, a joint committeealso announced on Tuesdaythat it would still have to ironout some issues before tradebegins, and an official withthe Indian delegation said theannouncement about con-cluding negotiations was“kind of face-saving”. ndia aims to lift its nuclearcapacity to 63,000 MW in thenext 20 years by addingnearly 30 reactors. The coun-try currently operates 20mostly small reactors at sixsites with a capacity of 4,780MW, or 2 percent of its totalpower capacity, according to

the Nuclear Power Corpora-tion of India Limited.

Canada’s ambassador toIndia, Stewart Beck, said onMonday his country wantedto be able to track all nuclearmaterial, but that India felt itonly needed to report to theInternational Atomic EnergyAgency. It was not immedi-ately clear what safeguardsthere would be to ensure thatCanadian material did not getused again for making nuclearweapons, an issue that hadbeen a key obstacle to theagreement.

Harper said the CanadianNuclear Safety Commissionhad worked to “achieve all ofour objectives in terms ofnon-proliferation”. Canada isin a race against Australia, itsstrategic ally but a commer-cial rival in the uranium busi-ness. Australia is also tryingto nail down safeguards un-der which it too could selluranium to India.—AP

CAIRO—An Egyptian schoolteacher received a six-monthsuspended jail sentence onWednesday for cutting thehair of two 12-year-old girlpupils who were not wearingIslamic headscarves, a judicialsource said. Iman Abu BakrKilany, a science teacher whoherself wears a niqab - a veilthat also covers her face - saidlast month she had been re-moved from the school in thesouthern town of Luxor aftercomplaints by relatives of thegirls - the only two in her classwho did not wearheadscarves.

She said she was beingmoved to an administrative joband docked one month’s sal-ary. Egyptian human rightsgroups and women’sorganisations condemned theincident as an example ofhardline Muslims trying toimpose their values on others

Teacher punished forcutting girls’ unveiled hair

since Islamists took power inEgypt.

Kilany’s lawyer said theverdict was harsh and that shewould appeal, according tothe state news agencyMENA. Many Egyptianwomen wear the headscarf,but the country’s Islamicscholars generally say itshould be done out of freechoice. That view is shared bythe Muslim Brotherhood, thegroup that propelledMohamed Mursi to the presi-dency in June.

Kilany said last month shehad asked all her girl studentsto put on the headscarf be-cause it was required for girlsolder than 10 - a view disputedby many Muslims. In oneheadline-grabbing incident, ayoung man out with hisfiancée was stabbed todeath by three Islamist zeal-ots in Suez in July.—Reuters

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

M U M B A I — S a c h i nTendulkar, who has beenconferred Order of Austra-lia award on Tuesday,however, will not be able toenjoy any particular entitle-ments or privileges. Thiswas revealed by TomBattams, the Press Officerat the Office of the Austra-lian Prime Minister.

Speaking exclusivelyover telephone from his of-fice on Wednesday, he said,“Mr Tendulkar’s honour isin recognition of his serviceto Australia-India relationsby promoting goodwill,friendship and sportsman-

Tendulkar now can use postnominal‘AM’: Austrslian govt

ship through the sport ofcricket”.

“While it does not con-fer any particular entitle-ments or privileges on him,it recognises the abovecontribution in an officialway”.

“He is also entitled to usethe postnominal ‘AM’, hefurther added. “When inAustralia or in any part of theworld, he can now sign asSachin Tendulkar, AM”.

“AM is the abbreviatedform of Honorary member ofOrder Of Australia”, hesigned off.

According to KersiMeher Homji, an Indiancricket historian, now settledin Australia, it’s a highhonour and a rare honour

from a foreign country. Anaward to him is a recogni-tion for all Indians, living inor out of India.

Interestingly, the histo-rian has suggested the re-ciprocal gesture be shownby the Indian governmentto former Australia captain,Steve Waugh.

“To reciprocateAustralia’s gesture of be-stowing Order of Australiato Sachin Tendulkar, Indiashould award Padma Shreeor Padma Bhushan awardto Australia’s master bats-man and former captainSteve Waugh. He has beendoing a lot of charity workfor daughters of leprosysufferers in Udayan, Indiasince 1998", he signed off.

BRISBANE (Australia)—Pace-packed South Africa’snumber one world rankingis on the line in amouthwatering Test seriesagainst an in-form Australiateam that starts atBrisbane’s Gabba on Friday.

The Proteas, who be-came the world’s top side af-ter an impressive 2-1 seriesvictory in England earlierthis year, are looking to re-peat their historic series winin Australia four years agoagainst Michael Clarke’sageing side.

But the glittering incen-tive for the home team is thatthey can usurp South Africa

Cricket: South Africa, Australiain shoot-out for No. 1

and return to the top of therankings with victory in thethree-Test series, which alsoincludes matches in Adelaideand Perth.

Skipper Graeme Smithsaid South Africa were tak-ing strength from their firstever series win on Australiansoil on their last tour, in 2008-09.

“Obviously, winning herefour years ago certainly helpsin the self-belief factor, know-ing that you’ve overcome ahurdle before,” Smith said.

“Winning in someoneelse’s backyard, it’s a toughthing to do and that chal-lenge is something that ex-

cites us.”The Proteas will unleash

their formidable pace battery,led by Test cricket’s leadingpair Dale Steyn and VernonPhilander and backed up byMorne Morkel.

The Gabba pitch tradition-ally offers early life and bounce,with the South Africans yet towin in three Brisbane visits,the last in 1963.

South Africa bowlingcoach Allan Donald spicedup the showdown series bydeclaring his country’s cur-rent pace attack the best hehad ever seen.

Donald in his prime wasone of the most fearsome

quicks in internationalcricket, ripping through op-position batsmen with part-ner Shaun Pollock but evenhe admitted the currentcrop was a league above.

The Proteas also boasta formidable batting line-upfeaturing the likes of Smith,Hashim Amla, JacquesKallis, J.P Duminy and A.B.de Villiers.

Duminy said SouthAfrica’s batting depth wasa key factor in their serieswin over England in Au-gust, which was de Villiers’sfirst asa wicketkeeper-bats-man following an eye injuryto Mark Boucher.—AFP

CHAMAN: Players of Afghan Football club Chaman and KESC Karachi struggling toget hold on the ball in 9th National Premier Football League tournament match atGovernment High School Ground. KESC won the match by 2-0.

PALLEKELE—TillakaratneDilshan smashed an un-beaten 102 to power SriLanka to a seven-wicket winover New Zealand in thethird one-day international inPallekele on Tuesday.

The opener hit 12 foursin his 95-ball knock as SriLanka achieved a rain-re-vised target of 197 with 11balls to spare in a day-nightmatch reduced to 33-overs-a-side due to rain for a 2-0lead in the five-match series

Dilshan also upstagedNew Zealand opener Brad-ley-John Watling, whocracked a career-best 96 notout.

The Sri Lankan openercompleted his 14th one-dayhundred with a six over deepsquare-leg off paceman TimSouthee. He received valu-able support from AngeloMathews, who hit sevenfours in his 47-ball 54 not out.

The pair added 127 forthe unfinished fourth-wicketstand.

The opening one-dayerwas called off without a ballbeing bowled due to rain atthe same venue.

New Zealand innings:RJ Nicol c Jayawardeneb Malinga ......................... 7BJ Watling not out ........ 96BB McCullum lbwb Mathews ..................... 13LRPL Taylor run out(Mendis) ........................... 7JDP Oram lbw b Mendis 2Franklin b Kulasekara ... 26KS Williamson c Mathewsb Mendis .......................... 5NL McCullum not out .. 22Extras: (b 1, lb 2, w 7) .... 10Total: (6 wickets) ......... 188Fall of wickets 1-9, 2-31, 3-43, 4-49, 5-105, 6-117Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WSL Malinga ........... 7-0-40-1KMDN Kulasekara7-1-45-1AD Mathews ....... 5-0-15-1NLTC Perera ......... 4-0-22-0

BMAJ Mendis ..... 5-0-34-2TM Dilshan ............ 2-0-9-0HMRKB Herath ... 3-0-20-0Sri Lanka innings:WU Tharanga c Oramb Southee ....................... 10TM Dilshan not out .... 102KC Sangakkara c Taylorb Mills ............................. 15Jayawardene b McCullum 5AD Mathews not out ... 54Extras: (lb 7, w 6, nb 1) .. 14Total: (3 wickets) ......... 200Fall of wickets: 1-30, 2-65,3-73Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WKD Mills ............ 6.1-0-35-1TA Boult ............... 5-0-29-0TG Southee .......... 7-0-50-1JDP Oram .............. 7-1-43-0NL McCullum ...... 5-0-28-1JEC Franklin ........... 1-0-8-0

Sri Lanka vs New Zealand, 3rd ODI

Dilshan ton gives Sri Lanka 2-0 lead

PALLEKELE: Tillakaratne Dilshan plays an unorthodox shot during Sri Lanka vs NewZealand, 3rd ODI.

Watling, whose previousone-day best was an un-beaten 72 against the WestIndies in Jamaica in July, ear-lier smashed 12 fours in his88-ball knock to help his teampost a competitive total.

Playing his 14th one-dayer, Watling completed hishalf-century off 70 balls buttook just 18 deliveries toscore his next 46 with the helpof eight fours, including threein an over from pacemanLasith Malinga.

Watling, who made animpressive 55 in the lastmatch, added 71 for the un-finished seventh-wicketstand with Nathan McCullum(22 not out). James Franklinwas the other main scorerwith a 25-ball 26.

New Zealand lost anearly wicket after being putin to bat as opener Rob Nicol(seven) was caught by skip-per Mahela Jayawardene inthe slips in Malinga’s sec-ond over.

Sri Lankan seamerMathews then claimed his50th one-day wicket when hetrapped hard-hitting batsmanBrendon McCullum leg-be-

fore for 13.New Zealand were under

pressure at 49-4 after losingskipper Ross Taylor (seven)and all-rounder Jacob Oram(two), but Watling andFranklin steadied the innings

with a 56-run stand for thefifth wicket.

The tourists made twochanges from the side thatplayed the last match, bring-ing in fit-again BrendonMcCullum and Oram in place

of Tom Latham and AndrewEllis. Sri Lanka retained theteam.

The fourth one-day in-ternational will be playedin Hambantota on Satur-day.—AFP

TOKYO—The 2009 world400-metre medley championKatinka Hosszu of Hungarynarrowly missed what wouldhave been a second hat-trickat the short-course swim-ming World Cup meet in To-kyo on Wednesday.

The 23-year-old, whowon the women’s 200m and800m freestyle and 200m in-dividual medley races onTuesday, added two goldmedals in the 400m individualmedley and 200m butterfly in4:28.14 and 2:05.90, respec-tively.

But she had to settle forrunner-up place in the 100mindividual medley, behindBritain’s Sophie Allen, whologged 59.50, and the 400mfreestyle to Melissa Ingramof New Zealand, who clocked4:05.22.

Japan’s Daiya Seto, who

Hosszu misses hat-trick atswimming World Cup

TOKYO—Japanese wres-tling queen Saori Yoshida re-ceived a necklace with a gold-coloured pearl Wednesdayfor winning a record 13straight Olympic and worldchampionship gold medalsover 10 years.

Prime Minister YoshihikoNoda handed her thejewellery worth an estimated$20,300 as part of thegovernment’s “People’sHonour Award” given to fig-ures who inspire the nation.

“Here is the golden pearlyou requested. It’s 13millimetres (half-an-inch)(indiameter) because you won 13straight titles,” Noda told the30-year-old wrestler, clad in ablack kimono, in a ceremonyat his executive mansion.

When Noda decided twoweeks ago to reward the55kg-class freestyle wrestlerfor winning her third straightOlympic gold in August andher 10th consecutive worldtitle in September, Yoshidasaid she wanted a gold-

Golden pearl for Japanwrestler Yoshida

coloured pearl, in recognitionof the pearl-producing regionshe comes from.

“I really feel so happythat I cannot say a word,” the156-centimetre (5ft 1in)Yoshida told reporters afterthe ceremony.

Asked how long her win-ning streak will last, she re-plied: “It will go on as far asit can.” Yoshida earlier saidshe might aim to compete atthe 2020 Olympics if Tokyowins its bid for the megaevent.

With the double victorythis year, Yoshida eclipsedRussian Greco-Roman wres-tler Alexander Karelin’srecord of 12 back-to-backOlympic and world champi-onship titles.

A similar necklace waspriced at about 1.6 millionyen at Mikimoto’s flagshippearl shop in Tokyo’s up-scale Ginza.

Yoshida is the 20th recipi-ent of the award, which wascreated in 1977.

It has been presented to19 individuals in the sport-ing and entertainment worldsand one group—the nationalwomen’s football team washonoured last year for win-ning the women’s WorldCup.—AFP

marked a new World Cuprecord of 4:00.02 to win themen’s 400m individual med-ley on Tuesday, made it adouble by winning the 200min 1:52.48, beating DarianTownsend of South Africa

into second and his compa-triot Kosuke Hagino intothird.

Beijing Olympic dual goldmedallist Britta Steffen ofGermany easily won thewomen’s 100m freestyle in52.42, beating JeanetteOttesen Gray of the Nether-lands and Kotuku Ngawati ofAustralia.

The 2011 world 100mfreestyle champion JeanetteOttesen Gray of Denmarkwon the women’s 50m but-terfly in 25.48, while Ameri-can world record holder Jes-sica Hardy won the women’s50m breaststroke in 29.92.

The Australian duo ofGrace Loh and Rachel Gohclocked 57.71 and 57.72, re-spectively, to beat worldrecord holder Shiho Sakaiof Japan into third in58.44.—AFP

K A R A C H I — P a k i s t a n ’ sbowling ace Saeed Ajmalhas signed with theAdelaide Strikers for theTwenty20 Big Bash League(BBL), cricinfo.comwebsite reported onWednesday.

Ranked number onespinner in the World, SaeedAjmal will be available forthe Strikers’ f irst match,against the Perth Scorch-ers, and may then return forthe latter stages of the tour-nament.

Ajmal’s signature repre-sents a significant additionto the Strikers and the BigBash League (BBL), hisspinning variations havingteased and confused bats-men the world over in re-cent times, not least thoseof Australia.

“I am really excitedabout playing for theAdelaide Strikers and really

Saeed to play for AdelaideStriker in Big Bash

happy that I wil l get thechance to show my talentin the BBL,” Saeed Ajmalsaid.

“I am very keen to meetup with the rest of theboys soon and play mybest in the games that I am

available, with the hopethat Adelaide make the fi-nal stages and I can returnto help win the competi-tion.”

The Strikers coachDarren Berry said he wasdelighted to have signedAjmal, the latest example ofhis policy of using spin asan at tacking weapon ondry surfaces at AdelaideOval.

“We know what thisguy is capable of, havingseen him run through boththe Australian and Englishbatsmen a couple ofmonths ago, so to have himon board is a great resultfor the Strikers,” Berrysaid.

Adelaide have alsosigned the South Australiawicketkeeper Tim Ludemanand the Queenslandlegspinner CameronBoyce.—APP

Imran: Pak-Indo cricket tobring people

closerNEW DELHI—Pakistanformer cricket captain ImranKhan has said that people ofboth Pakistan and Indiawould come closer with theresumption of cricket rela-tions between them, GeoNews reported.

Speaking to media in In-dian city of Gurgaon, Khansaid that cricket series be-tween Pakistan and India tobe played by the end ofthis year would bringpeople close to eachother.

Imran Khan, who led Pa-kistan to its only World Cupvictory in 1992, said thatpeople of both Pakistanand India wanted better re-lations between both thecountries and the upcomingseries would help increasepeople to people con-tacts.—Agencies

Punjab Int’lSports Festival

2012 startsSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The final leg of theyouth activity, the PunjabInternational Sports Festival2012 has been started here onWednesday amid great pumpand show.

Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharifdeclared the event open ata colourful inaugurationceremony, attended by alarge number of sports lov-ers. A musical concert andcultural programme alsomarked the opening cer-emony.

The players of differentcountries including India,Pakistan Yemen, Sri Lanka,Afghanistan presentedmarch past amid applause bythe spectators.

Deputy Chief Minister ofIndian Punjab, Sukhbir SinghBadal and his delegationmembers also graced the oc-casion at the inaugural cer-emony.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Sukhbir Singh Badalpraised the Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif and also hold-ing of the event.

He said they arrivedhere on the invitation ofPunjab Chief Minister andwe respect their warm hos-pitality. He said their visitwill help promote sportsamong the twoneighbouring countries.

The Organizer of thefest ival Rana MushhoodKhan highlighted the ob-jective of the Punjab SportsFestival and said thisshows that there is no law& order issue here and in-ternational sports eventscan be held.

He said Pakistani peopleare highly talented and theycan compete any one in theworld which is reflective fromrecords set for GuinnessBook of World Records inPunjab Sports Festival.

STOMACH cramps With the festive season in full swing, it becomes extremelydifficult to refrain from overindulgence

in food. Festivities are an easy excuse forpeople to set aside there diet plan and gorgeon delicacies that they otherwise tend to avoid.From roadside chat to homemade puri kachori; relishingon boxes of sweets sent byfriends and relatives and a cupof coffee with every guestdropping by - what more doesone need to feel the crampsin stomach at the end of theday’s long celebration.

Unchecked and unhealthyeating habits during the festi-val season can, and in mostcases do lead to food poison-ing and disturbance in thebowels. Vomiting, diarrhea,abdominal pain or stomachcramps, a low-grade fever,headaches, and muscle achesare symptoms that one expe-riences with food poisoning.

Here are the top five easyand quick home remedies to get instant relieffrom food poising:1. Ginger: Ginger is a well known remedy forvarious gastrointestinal distresses. Loaded withpotent anti-inflammatory compounds gingerhelps quell nausea and gastric distress. Chew-ing a piece of ginger tossed in honey helpsrelieve the severity of nausea. Ginger tea re-lieves stomach cramps and upset caused byfood poisoning.2. Cumin: Add a tablespoon of crushed cuminseeds to the soup to soothe the inflammationin your stomach. Crushed cumin withfenugreek powder mixed with a glass of water

or half a cup crud helps relive abdominal painand vomiting. Cumin seeds are of great ben-efit to the digestive system as they help stimu-late the secretion of pancreatic enzymes, com-pounds necessary for proper digestion andnutrient assimilation.

3. Basil: Basil is another ex-cellent home remedy to curestomach infection due to itsanti-bacterial properties.

Taking juice of basil leaveswith water empty stomach in themorning enhances digestivepower. Basil juice helps stopvomiting immediately. Strainthe juice of a few basil leavesand add it to a tablespoon ofhoney to get instant relief. Mixchopped basil leaves, sea saltand one shake of black pepperto three tablespoon of crud. Takethe mixture three times in a daytill you are totally cured of foodpoisoning. It will also cure anycramps or gas problem associ-ated with food poisoning.

4 Lemon: The acidity of thelemon juice kills the micro-organism and tox-ins in the gastrointestinal tract. Squeeze juice ofa lemon and add a pinch of sugar to it and drink,or you can even add lemon to your tea. Sincefluid intake is very important as one tends tolose more water through diarrhea taking lemonjuice in short intervals helps you keep hydrated.5. Peppermint tea: Peppermint oil helps relievesymptoms of irritable bowel syndrome, includ-ing indigestion, dyspepsia, and colonic musclespasms. It is extremely beneficial for peoplesuffering from stomach spasms due to foodpoisoning. Add a few drops to your tea; yourcramps will vanish in a couple of hours.

Five easy ways to curefood poisoning

KARACHI: Fishermen leaving from Ibrahim Haideri to catch fish.

Interior Sindhdevelopmentprojects to be

reviewedKARACHI—Sindh SecretaryWorks and Services, QaziShahid Pervez will review theongoing development projectsin different areas in interiorSindh from November 8 to 9.The Secretary Works and Ser-vices will pay the detailed visitto the Interior Sindh, said anannouncement issued here onWednesday.

Qazi Shahid will reviewvarious ongoing developmentworks at Abdullah Shah HealthMedical Institute, SehwanSharif and in DistrictJamshoro.—APP

Governor returnsafter 7-day official

visit to UKKARACHI—Governor ofSindh, Dr. Ishratul Ebad Khan,on completion of his 7- day of-ficial visit to United Kingdom,arrived here on Tuesday.

The Governor during hisforeign tour was also accompa-nied by senior provincial minis-ter, Pir Mazharul Haq, provin-cial minister for informationtechnology, Raza Haroon andHealth Minister, Dr.SaghirAhmed, said a spokesman Gov-ernor House. He and his teamon the occasion had meetingswith British prime minister,David Cameroon and many ofhis cabinet members besides ex-perts in infrastructure develop-ment, town planning and sectorsrelated to education, health,economy and security,

The governor also heldmeetings with prominent busi-nessmen and investors belong-ing to UK as well as those fromother member countries of Eu-ropean Union, Many of themare expected to reach Pakistanby end of the current month, saidthe spokesman. The Governor,Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad Khan also at-tended an eid reception hostedby British Prime Minister for hiscountry’s muslim communitymembers.

During his deliberationswith the British authoritiesSindh Governor attempted togain “GSP Plus” status for Pa-kistan besides urging them toinvest in the province as well asin the country.—APP

KARACHI—Deputy Commis-sioner District South, MustafaJamal Qazi has directed the Po-lice and Rangers to maintain lawand order and ensure protectionof life and property of the peopleduring the holy month ofMuharram-ul-Haram.

He said this while chairing ameeting to review arrangementsfor Muharram at his office hereon Wednesday, said a statement.

He directed the police andRangers to adopt proactive ap-proach to maintain peace during

Dy Commissioner South reviewsMuharram arrangements

Muharram and finalize all ar-rangements ahead of commence-ment of the Muharram.

Besides prominent ulema,officials of Sindh Police andRangers, Karachi MetropolitanCorporation, Karachi Water andSewerage Board, Traffic policeand other officials concerned alsoattended the meeting.

All concerned officialswere directed to ensure clean-ing of the routes of Muharramprocessions and majalis, re-move encroachments and ar-

range sufficient lighting.The ulema, law enforcers and

other participants of the meetingalso presented their suggestions.

Mustafa Jamal appealed to theulema to cooperate with adminis-tration on the occasion ofMuharram and contact the con-cerned Commissioner in their areain case they need any help.

The officials of law enforce-ment agencies assured the meet-ing that they will make foolproofsecurity for the Muharram-ul-haram.—APP

KARACHI: A labouer pushing a cart loaded with clothes toward whole Sale Market.

Saleem Mandiwallaelected Senator

unopposedKARACHI—Advisor to PrimeMinister on Investment Saleem HMandviwalla has been electedsenator unopposed here on Thurs-day. Mandviwalla is working asChairman Investment Board withthe status of a minister of state wasawarded ticket by PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) for the seatthat fell vacant after the resigna-tion of Adviser to PM on Petro-leum Dr Asim, who had to leavethe Senate due to the dual nation-ality issue. The decision to awardthe party ticket was taken at ahigh-level meeting in Islamabadand took many provincial lead-ers and workers by surprise.

Saleem H Mandviwalla filedhis nomination paper on Tuesdayto the Election Commission inKarachi. The provincial ElectionCommissioner Sonu Khan Balochscrutinized the nomination papersof candidates while other candi-date for the slot Rashid Rabbaniwith drew his papers after whichMandviwalla was declared suc-cessful unopposed.—INP

CNG stationsclosed

for 48 hoursKARACHI—Filling stations ofCompressed Natural Gas (CNG)were closed in Sindh, includingKarachi, on Wednesday morn-ing for 48 hours, multiplying themiseries of commuters, mediareports said. “All CNG Stationsin the Sindh Region will remainclosed from 9am on Wednesdayto 9:00am Friday due to theshortage of gas supply from dif-ferent fields. The lack of supplyis causing low pressure in thesystem,” Sui Southern GasCompany (SSGC) announced.

The 48-hour shutdown hasadded to miseries of people usingCNG-powered vehicles or relyingon CNG-run transport as publictransport turns thin on roads, mak-ing it hard for office workers tomake it to their destinies.

The gas filling stations werealso closed on November 4 dueto an unofficial strike by pumpowners due to an unexpected re-duction in retail price of CNG byover Rs30 per kg on SupremeCourt order.—Online

Qaim slamskilling ofTV staffer

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Min-ister Syed Qaim Ali Shah hascondemned the killing of GeoTV’s Production CoordinatorSyed Faraz Haider in a firingincident. The Chief Minister hasdirected the police to investigatethe incident and ensure the ar-rest of culprits, said in a hand-out issued here on Tuesday.

Qaim Ali Shah offered con-dolences with the family of thedeceased. He prayed Allah Al-mighty to rest the departed soulin eternal peace and grant forti-tude to the bereaved family tobear this irreparable loss.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Founder andLeader of Muttahida QuamiMovement (MQM) Mr AltafHussain has strongly con-demned the blast near KhanRazik Police Station in theQissa Khawani Bazaar area ofPeshawar. He expressed hisgrief and sorrow on the deathof the ASP InvestigationsHilal Haider, his two guardsand some other persons.

He said that the officersand personnel of police andarmed forces that were fight-ing against terrorism were anasset for the nation.

He said that by targetingASP Hilal Haider, the terror-ists had proven once again

Altaf condemns blast inQissa Khawani bazar

that they were working on aconspiracy to destabilize thecountry. Hussain said that thesacrifices of the police, armedforces, and the FC and otherlaw-enforcing agenciesagainst terrorism would notgo to waste. He extended sym-pathies with the bereavedfamilies and prayed for thespeedy recovery of the peopleinjured in the attack.

He demanded of PresidentAsif Zardari, Prime MinisterRaja Pervaiz Ashraf, and Fed-eral Interior Minister RehmanMalik to take serious notice ofthe blast and called for effec-tive steps to curb terrorism.

He said that the elementsinvolved in the blast should bebrought swiftly to justice.

KMC offices,schools to

remain closedtoday

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Administrator,Karachi Metropolitan Corpo-ration (KMC) MuhammadHussain Syed Wednesday an-nounced that offices of KMCand TMO and schools of thecorporation will remain closedon November 8 on the occa-sion of Urs of Hazrat AbdullahShah Ghazi.

However, Fire Brigade,Hospitals, medical clinics, res-cue units and public servicedepartments will not observeholiday on November 8, headded.

KARACHI: Fire brigade officials trying to extinguish fire after an angry mob torched a vehicle following sectarian killing. Gunmen had shot dead tworeligious leaders on Tuesday.

ISMAIL DILAWAR

KARACHI—The police onWednesday claimed to have ar-rested at least three personssmuggling huge cache of weap-ons to this violence-hit me-tropolis for being used in tar-geted killings. The police heldthree passengers of a Karachi-bound bus coming from KhyberPakhtunkhwa province withhuge quantity of lethal arms ina raid at the Super Highway.

According to Sindh police,the law enforcers arrested thethree passengers includingdriver of the bus for smuggling

Three arrested with huge cacheof arms at Super Highway

into the city some 19 SMGswith 40 magazines, 21 rifles ofdifferent kind, four pistols, ahand grenade, a rocketlauncher and scores of bullets.Those arrested are Fayaz, DostMuhammad and Shakeel Khan.Shahid Hayat Khan, the DIGEast zone, told a press briefingon Wednesday that the smug-glers seemed to have intendedto use the weapons in criminalactivities like targeted killings,extortions etc.

The accused wanted touse the arms for carrying outsabotaging activation duringthe month of Muharram as

well as next general electiondue in May next year, the DIGeast is reported to have said.“The police have foiled a bidto smuggle a big quantity ofarms into the city,” Hayatsaid.

The DIG said the policeteam on a tip-off raided the ve-hicle which was moving to-wards Karachi from KPK at theSohrab Goth point.

The DIG told the reportersthat the suspects revealed duringinterrogation about the deliveriesof the weapon. He said outlawedorganizations were the permanentcustomers of the arms smugglers.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Informa-t ion Min i s te r Shar jee lMemon Tuesday said he willrequest Chief Election Com-miss ioner (CEC) to d i s -qualify the Sharif Brothersfor rigging in 1990 elections.

Talking to media after fil-

Sharjeel to move ECP for Sharifbrothers’ disqualification

ing the nomination papers ofSalim Mandiwala at the Elec-tion Commission here, hesaid Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N)chief Mian Nawaz Sharif,rigged 1990 elections andbroke into the public man-date. Lashing out at NawazSharif, Memon said PML-

N chief elicited money fromOsama bin Laden in the firstera of Mohtarma BenazirB h u t t o , a d d i n g S h a r i fb ro the r s t ook Pun jab a stheir personal estate.

Culprits released on pa-role in Karachi, were freedafter judicial proceedings, headded.

KARACHI—Sir Syed Universityof Engineering and Technologywill be the country’s first univer-sity to prepare a directory exclu-sively of its girls alumni. The di-rectory has been prepared by theuniversity’s Girls Affairs Commit-tee which compiled the data ofSSUET’s girls students since thegirls first batch passed out in 1998and the last batch passed out in2008. The Chancellor SSUETEngr Z.A. Nizami was briefedabout the progress of the prepara-tion of the directory at a meetingheld here Wednesday. The meet-ing was attended by Vice-Chan-cellor Prof Dr Jawed H. Rizvi,Registrar Shah Mahmood H. Syedbesides officials of examination

SSUET compiles directoryof its girls alumni

and other departments. The In-charge Girls AffairsCommittee, Mrs Attiya Abid in-formed the meeting that some1234 girls had passed out fromSSUET during the period 1998-2008 and as of the current posi-tion some 682 girls as against 500last year were studying in vari-ous engineering disciplines. These girls form a big chunkof 6194 students studying in sevenvarious engineering disciplines atthis university. The Chancellor was in-formed that Girls Affairs Commit-tee is responsible to look after theproblems of the female studentsincluding activities of their fivecommon rooms. Chancellor Nizami directed

that any problem, if pin pointedby girls, should be solve immedi-ately. He instructed that social ac-tivities by girls should be pro-moted and 3-month programmesbe chalked out for this purpose. He assured that the univer-sity will provide every assistancein providing due facilities to girlsunder-going education engineer-ing studies.The Chancellor was informed thata program is being prepared inrelation to health of girls health. Nizami directed the commit-tee to chalk out an extensiveprogramme that may produce vis-ible impact in relation to activi-ties of girls at the campus and hec-tic activities be generatedthereof.—APP

LUKE Robinson never liked dogsmuch until an ex-girlfriend offeredhim a puppy while he was living in

San Antonio, Texas. The Great Pyreneeshe named Malcolm changed all that.

“It was the first dog of my adult life,”said Robinson, 41. “He was my compan-ion, my mate.” But at theage of 6, Malcolm was di-agnosed with bone cancer— which both devastatedand mobilized Robinson.

When a veterinarianfrom a major universitycouldn’t tell Robinson whyMalcolm got cancer atsuch young age, he wenton a national crusade to“find out why.”

Robinson walked 2,300miles over two years toraise awareness, foundingin the process Two MillionDogs, an organization thatis a pioneer in the field ofcomparative research —finding common links be-tween animals and humans who have can-cer.

Today, a $50,000 grant from the organi-zation is funding such research atPrinceton University to learn how breastcancer tumors progress from seemingly be-nign to malignant ones.

“We are using new model — no onelooked at progression this way,” said OlgaTroyanskaya, the computational biologistwho is leading the genetic research. “It’ssomething that is really out there and for-ward-thinking.”

Cancer Group Refuses to Fund

Dog tumors may give clues forhumans with breast cancer

Planned Parenthood Watch VideoSuzanne Somers’ Dangerous Breast Re-construction Watch Video NevadaCouple Fights Judge Over Daughter’sPregnancy Watch Video

Troyanskaya is collaborating withKaren Sorenmo, an oncologist at the

Ryan Veterinary Hospital atthe University of Pennsyl-vania, who has a special in-terest in mammary tumors.

The pair met whenTroyanskaya’s Germanshepherd Jessie was diag-nosed with terminal cancerin 2006, and she soughthelp from Sorenmo.

Sorenmo provides thePrinceton project with tu-mors from shelter dogs, giv-ing the animals free treat-ment. Dogs have multiplemammary glands and whenthey develop cancer, unlikehumans, they can have mul-tiple tumors.

“The screening is not asgood, but when found, on average [dogs]have seven masses at different stages ofdevelopment,” said Troyanskaya. “Someare benign ... but they are not truly be-nign.”

About 80 percent of dog and humantumors are indistinguishable, accordingto Two Million Dogs.

Troyanskaya compares dog and hu-man tumors on a molecular level andhopes to find genetic markers that cangive clues to how human breast cancertumors progress and which ones aremore likely to become malignant.

LAHORE: PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif chairing by-election monitor-ing committee meeting.

LAHORE: PHA workers buy in arranging flowers at Hazuri Bagh.

LAHORE: US citizens celebrating the victory of President Obama at US Consulate.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Planningand Development Board ap-proved Rs 48.49 billion fundsfor uplift projects in the prov-ince during the last quarterfrom July to September 2012.

According to quarterlyreport issued by Planning &Development departmenthere on Wednesday, the to-tal volume of developmentprojects in the provincialbudget 2012-13 is Rs. 185.32billion. The Punjab govern-ment divided its core devel-opment budget into fiveparts which called social sec-tor, infrastructure develop-ment, production sector, ser-vices sector and miscella-neous. Over Rs. 16.85 billionhave been spent on upliftschemes during the last quar-ter from July to September2012, showing 34.79 percentspending of funds on devel-

Rs 48b uplift projects approvedopment projects, says report.

According to sources,over Rs. 20 billion out of overRs 87.19 billion were ap-proved for uplift projects ofsocial sector. A sum of overRs 4.04 billion has been spenton uplift projects showing22.01 percent spending offunds.

The P&D Board ap-proved over Rs. 26.68 billion,out of the total Rs 73.98 bil-lion allocated for infrastruc-ture development sector dur-ing the same period whileover Rs 11.76 billion havebeen spent on the projectsregistering 44.37 percentspending of funds.

For production sector, Rs735 million were approved,out of over Rs. 8.61 billionwhile over Rs 668 million werespent on developmentschemes with 26.13 percentspending of funds. Over Rs861 million, out of total allo-

cated amount of over Rs11.13 billion were approvedfor services sector during thelast quarter and over Rs350.07 million were spentshowing 38.91 percentspending of funds.

For miscellaneous sector,over Rs 215.9 million wereapproved, out of total Rs 4.39billion and Rs 26.6 millionwere spent on projects fromJuly to September 2012,sources added.

PTI condemnsPeshawar blast

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf’s (PTI) Chairman ImranKhan, Vice Chairman ShahMehmood Qureshi, SecretaryGeneral Dr. Arif Alvi, PresidentJaved Hashmi and Informationsecretary Shafqat Mahmoodstrongly condemned the blasttargeting the vehicle of Assis-tant Superintendent Police(ASP) Investigations, HilalHaider, in Qissa Khawani Bazararea of Peshawar which killedsix people and injured 36 oth-ers.

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insafcondemns all acts of violencetargeting innocent peopleand it is very unfortunatethat extremists are targetingcivilians including womenand children.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LA H O R E—Dr AbdulQadeer Khan said thatImran Khan, the chairman ofPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) collected togetherMusharraf ’s political rem-nants and Imran along withhis sycophant would neversucceed to bring changes inthe country.

Dr A Q Khan met thechief of Jamaat-e-IslamiMunawwar Hassan here inLahore on Wednesday.

Talking to media DrKhan said that if the people

A Q Khan: No changes by Imranin power presently wouldget the power again thenlike food, clothes and shel-ter, people would not geteven grass to fill their bel-lies.

He said the rulers werefilling their own pockets andusurping the national re-sources mercilessly and thepeople of the country werefed up with the presentgovernment.

Answering a question,he said Rehman Malik hadfailed to bring peace andsecurity in the country andit was ridiculous to see for-

eign hidden hands behindevery incident. “WhyRahman Malik does not ar-rest them if he sees Talibanand Indian agents,” heasked.

Talking on the occasionJI Ameer MunawwarHassan said that Dr Khan’sservices to the country areso many and so large thathe deserves to be Pakistan’spresident.

We are many concernsover the care-taker set-up,there is no consultationonly the time is beingpassed, he added.

HABIB KHAN

LA H O R E —On the direc-tion of Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif, Punjab Health De-partment has extended theservice of 91 nurses ofLahore General Hospitalfor one year more and anotification is this regardhas been issued.

Principal Post GraduateMedical Institute & LahoreGeneral Hospital Prof. Dr.Anjam Habib Vohra told inthis connection that theabove said nurses were re-cruited last year duringdengue epidemic and theyworked devotedly with agreat sense of responsibil-ity while serving denguepatients and defeating thedisease.

Prof. Dr. Anjam HabibVohra further said that

Chief Minister Punjab willaward commendatory cer-tificates to those who ren-dered extra ordinary effortsagainst dengue during theinternational dengue con-ference to be held in cur-rent weak. For this purpose,nominations from LGHhave also been sent , headded.

He said that the aware-ness campaign launchedunder the dynamic leader-ship of Chief Minister tosensi t ize public to adapthygienic life style and careabout cleanliness and sani-tation has gone a long wayto stop dengue spread thisyear.

He said that if we estab-lish the habits of keepingour environment clean andneat we can get rid of allkinds of diseases includingdengue.

Nurses granted oneyear service extension

4 kidnappersarrested

LAHORE—The police ar-rested four persons includinga constable who kidnappedhis nephew for ransom and arickshaw driver who abducteda little girl and married her forc-ibly here on Wednesday.

According to details, afterSupreme Court (SC) directivespolice conducted raids and ar-rested three accused includingAli Raza, a rickshaw driver whokidnapped a 12-year old girlSonia Ataria from Hinjarwal areaand married to her forcibly. An-other case of abduction tookplace in Kahna area where apolice constable Ajmal kid-napped his two and half years’old nephew and demanded onemillion rupees as ransom.

The local police arrestedthe uncle and recovered thechild from his custody. Thekidnapper in the preliminaryinterrogation revealed that heis a drug addict and to meethis financial need he kid-napped his nephew.—INP

ET reserves verdicton disqualification

caseLAHORE—An Election Tri-bunal (ET) of the Lahore HighCourt on Wednesday re-served verdict on an electionpetition seeking disqualifica-tion of Parliamentary Secre-tary for Religious Affairs andMPA Iftikhar Ahmad Khan,PP-81, Jhang IX.

The ET, comprising ChiefJustice Umar Ata Bandial,was hearing the election pe-tition filed by Iqbal Khanchallenging the BA degree ofthe MPA. Iqbal Khan hadlost his election as indepen-dent candidate to the (re-spondent) MPA in 2008.

The petitioner alleged inhis petition that IftikharAhmad Khan used unfairmeans to obtain his BA de-gree from Azad Jammu andKashmir University. The pe-titioner pleaded that the re-spondent MPA was not eligibleto hold the seat so he shouldbe declared disqualified on thebasis of having a degree gotthrough impersonation.—APP

LDA to recoverRs 90m plazas

demolition chargesSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore Develop-ment Authority has startedaction for the recovery of ex-penditures worth more thanRs 90 million that had beenspent for the complete or par-tial demolition of 13 high-risebuildings in the city in 2010,during LDA’s operationagainst illegally constructedbuildings.

According to the LDAsources, notices in the re-gard have been served on theowners besides starting seal-ing operation of these build-ings.

LDA has to recover anamount of Rs 6.4 millionfrom Inam Impex, situated at83 Garden Block, GardenTown, along FerozepurRoad, for demolishing itsthree illegally constructedupper floors.

Demolition of two topsstories of Rabi Centre, situ-ated on Main BoulevardGulberg, was carried out byLDA at a cost Rs 17.7 mil-lion.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Young Doc-tors Association (YDA)Punjab after a meeting withofficials of the health depart-ment put off their sit-in infront of the Chief Minister’sSecretariat on Wednesday.

A YDA leader, Dr NasirAbbas, while talking to APPsaid during a meeting be-tween the YDA and healthdepartment officials today,the Punjab government hadaccepted their 50 percent de-mands regarding the servicestructure due to which theYDA leaders decided to post-pone their sit-in and otherprotest move.

Responding to a ques-tion regarding announce-ment of dissolution of YDAbody, he refuted this newsitem and said that the currentYDA body would work till thenext election.

He said a committee hadbeen formed consisting ofYDA leaders and health de-partment officials for furtheraction on the remaining de-

LHC adjourns hearing till Nov 11

Young doctors postpone sit-inmands regarding servicestructure.

“A meeting of the com-mittee is likely very soon,” headded. Meanwhile, PunjabGovernor Sardar Latif KhanKhosa has said that doctorsare relief providers to the ail-ing humanity and treatmentto patients should be theirfirst priority.

He said this while talkingto a delegation of YoungDoctors Association (YDA)who called on GovernorKhosa at Governor’s Houseon Tuesday.

Governor Khosa said thejudiciary was independent inthe country and doctors intheir case would definitelyget relief from the court.

He assured them to makeefforts to fulfil their just de-mands. Punjab Governor saidthat he himself would talk toPunjab Chief Minister for theacceptance of genuine de-mands of young doctors.

However, treating thepatients should be the prior-ity of the doctors, he added.Meanwhile, the Lahore High

Court (LHC) justice IjazulHassan directed the Punjabgovernment to submit a de-tailed summary of approvalof demands of young doctorsbefore the court and ad-journed the hearing till No-vember 11.

The court was hearingthe case pertaining to thestrike called by young doc-tors association (YDA)against the non-approval oftheir service structure by thePunjab government.

The advocate generalPunjab Ashtar Ali Ausaf toldthe court that the Punjabgovernment had approvedthe summary of the demandsput before the governmentby young doctors.

During the course of pro-ceedings, the Punjab advo-cate general and health sec-retary appeared before thecourt. The judge remarkedthat the doctors should seekjustice from courts instead ofstaging protests on roads.

He re-summoned thedoctors and adjourned thehearing till November 11.

Gohar Ayub,his son joining

PML-NOUR CORRESPONDENT

LAHORE–Former Foreign Min-ister Gohar Ayub along with hisson Omar Ayub is all set to joinPML (N) any time this week.

Sources disclosed that allissues between the two sideshave been settled and Gohar’sinclusion is likely anytime inthe former ruling party whichis once again attracting po-litical figures in a big way withelections approaching.

Omar Ayub Khan alsoconfirmed to the media theongoing talks with PML (N)leadership, saying “We willsoon formally announce tojoin PML-N”. Gohar Ayub hasbeen elected for five times tothe National Assembly (NA).In 1990-93, Gohar Ayub Khanwas appointed as senior vicepresident of the Pakistan Mus-lim League.

The political analysts areof the view that more politi-cal figures would join PML(N) close to election. Previ-ously, the trend was oppo-site with more politicians at-tracting towards PTI beingthe main competitor and ri-val of PML (N) in the Punjab.

Badr: Interimgovt to before

electionSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) General Secretaryand Leader of the House inthe Senate, Senator JahangirBadr has said that an interimgovernment would be put inplace with consensus beforethe next general election.

He was speaking to me-dia at the US Consulate, wherethe US election process wasbeing shown live, here onWednesday. Jahangir Badrsaid that general election tobe held next year would betransparent, fair and neutraland nobody would be al-lowed to steal people’s man-date. He said the PPP wouldrespect mandate given bypeople of Pakistan for forma-tion of new government.

Badar said that the PPPwould not accept slavery ofUS or anybody else andwould continue to strugglefor economic, social and le-gal justice in the country.

Obamawould strive

for globalpeace: Nawaz

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—President Paki-stan Muslim League-N,Muhammad Nawaz Sharif,has said that PresidentBarack Obama’s impressivevictory in US elections is amanifestation and reaffirma-tion of the faith of Americanelectorate in his leadership.

Nawaz Sharif said that onbehalf of Pakistan MuslimLeague-N and myself, I takethis opportunity to offer ourbest wishes to the Americanpeople and pray for theirprogress and prosperity un-der President Obama’s lead-ership.

Nawaz Sharif hoped thatPresident Obama will use hissecond term for achievingthe elusive goal of globalpeace and prosperity forwhich United States has toplay a lead role. Nawaz Shariffurther said that we are con-fident that the President willlead the American nation andwork with the global leadersfor achieving this cherishedgoal.