Even if there was no dealon Mush................................................Demonising each otherdisservice to Pakistan................................................Turkey feels the painof Gaza massacre

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Thousands of people in Paris and London protested against the Israeli brutalities on innocent Palestinians.

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Arab foreignministers meetingMonday on GazaCAIRO—Arab foreignministers are to meet inCairo on Monday todiscuss the escalatingconflict between Hamasmilitants in Gaza and Israelwhich has already killedmore than 120 Palestinians,a diplomat said.

Kuwait, which holdsthe rotating leadership ofthe Arab League head-quartered in the Egyptiancapital, had demanded the“urgent” meeting, thediplomat told on Saturday.

There has been nocoordinated Arab re-sponse to the conflictwhich erupted on Tuesdaywhen Israel launchedwaves of air strikes againstGaza aimed at haltingrocket fire across theborder.

Egypt, the traditionalbroker in Israeli-Hamasconflicts, said Friday itsefforts to halt violence inthe Gaza Strip had metwith “stubbornness”.But it is seen as havingtaken a step back fromthe latest round offighting.

Its new governmenthas been opposed toHamas, the Palestinianbranch of the MuslimBrotherhood which themilitary ousted from powerlast year.—AFP

Iran warns ofwalk awayfrom nukestalksVIENNA —Iran’s chiefnegotiator in nuclear talksin Vienna warned Saturdaythat Tehran is ready towalk away if “excessive”Western demands cause afailure, eight days before adeadline for a deal.

Abbas Araqchi saidhowever that he hopedthat the attendance fromSunday of foreign minis-ters including US Secre-tary of State John Kerrywould help overcome“deep differences” thatremain.

“If we see that theexcessive demands (ofWestern powers) persist-ing and that a deal isimpossible, this is not adrama, we will continuewith our nuclearprogramme,” Araqchi said.

“The presence ofministers will have apositive influence,” hetold Iran state televisionfrom the Austrian capital.“There are questions thatministers need to takedecisions on.”—Agen-cies

GAZA CITY—Israel widened its air assaultagainst the Gaza Strip’s Hamas rulers onSaturday, hitting a mosque, Hamas-affiliatedcharities and an Islamic home for the dis-abled, as Palestinians said the death tollfrom the five-day offensive rose to 135.While Israel vowed to press forward withits 5-day-old campaign, it found itself fac-ing growing international calls to stop.

In New York, the UN Security Councilunanimously called for a cease-fire, whileBritain’s foreign minister said he would bediscussing cease-fire efforts with his Ameri-can, French and German counterparts onSunday. The 15-member Security Councilissued a press statement calling for a de-escalation, restoration of calm and a resump-tion of Mideast peace talks. The press state-ment, which is not legally binding but re-flects international opinion, was the firstresponse by the UN’s most powerful body.

Rain of Israeli bombingturns Gaza into ghost townHorror as Tel Aviv hits care home for disabled people

An Israeli official said the goal of the op-eration is to restore quiet to Israel for acontinuous period.

“This goal will be achieved whether it

Army captain among 3 killed in cross-border attack13 mowed down as Zarb-e-Azb advances in NWA

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—In yet anotherincident of naked aggres-sion from across the border, as many as three Pakistanisoldiers were killed and

equal number of others sus-tained serious injuries nearPak-Afghan border in Bajauragency Saturday wee hours.Those martyred include acaptain of the PakistanArmy. Pakistan has lodged

strong protest with Af-ghanistan over the militant’sattack on the security forcesfrom other side of the bor-der.

On the other hand morethan a dozen alleged mili-tants including fugitiveswere killed and sevenmilitant’s hide outs weredestroyed as the operationZerb-e-Azb progressed onthe 28th day in the restiveNorth Waziristan agency.

Reports reaching heresaid scores of terroristscrossed into Pakistani terri-tory from the neighboringAfghanistan in Ghaakhipass border village in Bajauragency and ambushed thesecurity forces with sophis-ticated weapons that led tothe Shahadat of at leastthree soldiers of the BajaurScouts when their vehiclecame under the fire.

“Three security person-als including an officer em-braced Shahadat in a crossborder attack on a securityforces vehicle close to Pak-Afghan border in Bajauragency on the night be-tween Friday and Saturday.Two soldiers also receivedwounds in the assault andwere shifted to Khar Bajaurhospital for treatment”. Mili-tary sources said adding theinjured soldiers were instable condition.

The sources in the po-litical administration ofBajaur agency told observerthat dozens of terrorists fromAfghanistan crossed intoPakistan in MomoondTehsil of midnight and am-bushed Pakistan checkposts in Ghaakhi pass areakilling three troops includ-

ing a captain and woundedequal number of others. Thesources further claimed thatPakistani forces also retali-ated the fire yet the militarysources when contacted,did not confirm the impres-sion saying the forces onlyconducted the search andcordon operation at the bor-der.

In the meanwhile theoperation Zerb-e-Azb con-tinued in North Waziristanagency where the PakistanAir Force birds launchedstrikes on the militant’s po-sitions early Saturday morn-

ing in the Mir Ali Tehsil ofNWA killing 13 alleged ter-rorists mostly foreignersand destroying seven hide-outs.

According to an ISPRrelease issued to media onSaturday said, terroristsfired rockets on a securityforces check post in Mir Ali.The military launched airstrikes in the area andmowed down 13 terrorist amajority of those were for-eigners. A huge cache ofarms and ammunition was

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LAHORE—Federal Minister for Informationand Broadcasting Senator Pervaiz Rasheedsaid this year’s Independence Day will bemarked by a central ceremony at the D-Chowk to tell the world that the nation isunited under one flag.

“Only one green-crest flag will be afloathigh on the 14th of August and all otherflags would be at half-mast as all politicalleadership would be invited to the nationalceremony to mark solidarity, unity and one-ness,” he said while responding to the me-dia men here Saturday.

The information minister said the wholenation would recite the national anthemtogether on August 14, adding that allwould be free afterwards to follow theirheart’s desire.

Regarding Imran Khan’s call for theAugust 14 D-Chowk rally, Pervaiz Rasheedsaid Imran Khan should not send a mes-sage on the independence day that thepolitical leadership was divided at a timewhen the armed forces were busy in anoperation in the North Waziristan for the

Only Pakistan flag to beafloat on August 14: PR

All political leadership to be invited to mark unitysecurity of the country and a message ofunity must be sent to all.

“Imran Khan should not weakenP a k i s t a n ’ sb u n k e r swithin Paki-stan as thepolitics ofstreet maylead to insta-bility and bebeneficial tothe terrorists,”P e r v a i zR a s h e e dstressed.

Vi s - à - v i sM u s h a r r a f ’sexit, the minister said the PML-N leader-ship never conceded to the PPP’s demandof indemnity to a former dictator and it hadnever been a part of any deal.

“We have not greeted Musharraf in hismedicine of violence, like handcuffs and

Sharjeel alerts federal govt notto interfere in Sindh affairs

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Memonon Saturday told the federal government to stop unneces-sary interference into the affairs of the Sindh government.

In a statement, Memon said that Sindh will not acceptany form of dictation from the federation, adding that thefederal government should focus on resolving the issues

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Rehabilitationplan for IDPs

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—On the direc-tion of the Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharifthe Federal Government hasdevised a comprehensiverehabilitation plan to ensure

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Punjab Chief Minister (CM) MianMohammad Shahbaz Sharif says, the PML-Ngovernment will achieve end of loadsheddingduring its current tenure.

Shahbaz Sharif expressed this resolve whileaddressing the Steering Committee on EnergyProjects (SCEP) here on Saturday. The meetingwas chaired by Minister for Planning and De-velopment Ahsan Iqbal. Federal Minister forWater & Power Khwaja Asif, Secretary PlanningHasan Nawaz Tarar, senior officials of the Plan-ning Commission and the Ministry of Water &Power were also present in the meeting.

Punjab Chief Executive while briefing theparticipants about his recent visit to China andhis meeting with the country’s leadership saidPakistan highly valued the Chinese support inthe energy sector and it is because of their co-operation and the Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’slong-term visionary policies all the energy andpower projects will be completed before or by

Loadshedding to end in current govt’s tenure: Shahbaz

Committee reviews pace, quality of energy projects

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Pakistan lodges strongprotest with Kabul

Ask Afghanistan to eliminateterrorist sanctuaries

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—While strongly condemning terrorist attackin Bajaur from across the Afghan border on Saturday,Pakistan has demanded Afghanistan to eliminate terroristsanctuaries.

Terrorists from Afghan side attacked on a Bajaur Scoutsvehicle at Ghakki Pass in Bajaur Agency where an officerand two soldiers embraced shahaadat, while two soldierswere critically injured.

A strong protest has been lodged with the Afghanside in Islamabad and Kabul. It has been reiterated thatAfghanistan should eliminate the terrorist sanctuaries andnot allow its territory to be used against Pakistan. At atime when a monumental effort is underway through op-eration “Zarb-e-Azb” to eliminate all terrorists and theirhideouts, Afghanistan’s cooperation remains essential forthe success of our counter-terrorism endeavours, A pressrelease from Foreign Office said.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have set up a joint workinggroup and also decided to put in place robust bordermechanism to check cross border terrorism.

2017.Our government’s priority is the low-cost

wind mill power projects. They are sustainable,durable and efficient, he said. He regretted theprevious governments’ reliance on thermalprojects that caused heavy loss to the nationalexchequer. He said the government was pursu-ing a multi-pronged strategy involving the fed-eral and the provincial governments to initiatepower through coal, solar and other resources.For the logistic support to Muzaffargarh,Rahimyar Khan and Jhang power projects aworking commission was also instituted in themeeting comprising the officials of Water &Power, Railways and Planning Division.

In the meeting, it was decided to call Secre-tary Finance Dr Waqar Masood in the next meet-ing to get the views of his ministry, that is reluc-tant to acknowledge the circular debt of overRs300 billion. This is not the first time the issueof payment modalities of power purchase agree-ments has come up. It was also raised during ameeting of Steering Committee on Energy

Projects under China-Pakistan Economic Corri-dor (CPEC), chaired by Minister for Planning andDevelopment Ahsan Iqbal.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif formed thesteering committee after he found out that theactivities of various ministries were notsynchronised, which could delay implementa-tion of energy projects initiated under Pak-Chinacorridor.

The steering committee has been tasked toregularly review progress and find ways to re-move obstacles that may hinder work on criticalprojects like integrated plan for generation, trans-mission and distribution and an integrated planfor transportation of coal across the country.The problem of an obsolete transmission infra-structure has become severe during recent days,leading to long hours of load shedding acrossthe country.

In the days to come, the steering committeewill be dealing with a seven-point agenda thatincludes to review feasibility studies of energyprojects under CPEC.

Nisar orders keepingIslamabad, Rawalpindisecurity on high alert

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for Interior Chaudhry NisarAli Khan on Saturday directed the district and police ad-ministration of Rawalpindi and Islamabad to keep the se-

curity of the twin cities onhigh alert, saying the situationhad become sensitive sincethe military operation wentunder way in NorthWaziristan.

The minister gave thesedirectives while chairing ameeting of officials from thetwin cities’ district and policeadministration here at the in-terior Ministry. The meetingcomes days after Nisar went

back to work as his ties with the PML-N leadershipnormalised following a meeting between the interior min-

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Thousandsprotest Gaza

strikes inLondon, Paris

LONDON—Thousands ofpro-Palestinian demonstra-tors turned out on thestreets of London and Parison Friday to call for an endto Israeli military strikes onGaza.

Several thousandpeople crowded the streetsoutside the Israeli Embassyin west London, wavingplacards that read “Gaza:End the Siege” and “Free-dom for Palestine.”

The crowds blocked anentire road, and several pro-testers managed to climb ontop of a double-decker busstuck in traffic, but policesaid the protest was largelypeaceful. A smaller protesttook place in Paris Friday,where about 100 peopledemonstrated near theFrench Foreign Ministry.

Demonstrators wavedPalestinian flags. Onewoman shouted “Palestinewill survive” had the flagpainted on her cheeks.

Stephane Frappreau,who identified himself asJewish, said the demonstra-tions were about “defendinghumanity and about stop-ping the massacre.”

“I think that people tendto forget that Palestinians arepeople who are suffering, kids

UN Security Councilcalls for ceasefire

OBSERVER REPORT

UNITED NATIONS—The UN SecurityCouncil urged Israel and Hamas Saturdayto end their hostilities in Gaza, calling onboth sides to respect “international hu-manitarian laws” and stop the loss of life.

Continued on Page 7

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—KP Chief Minister Pervez Khattak has said thatmaintenance of friendly relations and cooperation withneighbouring countries is the top priorities of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), saying the coalition provincial government ofhis party is strictly following the same principles. He expressedthese views while talking to the Consul General of Iran HassanDarveshvand here in CM Secretariat. Those present on theoccasion included Special Assistant to CM Mohibullah Khan,Additional Chief Secretary Khalid Pervez and Secretary En-ergy and Power Sahibzada Mohammad Saeed.

During the meeting the chief minister and the Consul Gen-eral of Iran discussed matters of bilateral interest and agreedon enhancement of cooperation and exchange of delegationsin different sectors including solar and hydel energy, explora-tion of oil and gas, education, health, agriculture, livestockand tourism.

The chief minister said that they are keen for promotion ofcordial relations with all neighbours to turn the region that isvictim of poverty and backwardness into the cradle of peaceand development. He said that Islamic Republic of Iran is ourbrotherly Islamic state and both countries are enjoying du-rable friendly relations, which will be further strengthened andstable with the passage of time.

He said that Iran is the principles loving state and the paceof its development despite international sanctions is a prece-dent for the Ummah. Hinting at the invitation of visit to Iran forreviewing the cooperation in various sectors and witnessingprogress and development in Iran, he explained that he is notin favour of foreign visits for the sake of entertainment andhealth. Therefore, he said first the experts of Iran and govern-ment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will sit together to review thepossibilities of cooperation in different sectors and later ifnecessary, he will visit Iran in first spare time, which he said isbest mean for cementing government to government and publiclevel relations. He however acknowledged that bilateral coop-eration in different sectors for development will bear positiveand far reaching impacts and will help in bringing the people ofboth countries closer to each other.

Pervez Khattak said that instead of merely paper work andidol sitting he believed in practical work, saying that is thereason that after coming into power he besides making com-prehensive legislation in all sectors, also fixed clear targetsand now they are working for the achievement of these goals.

Friendly relationswith neighbouring

countries PTI’spriority: Khattak

Loadshedding, price-hike irk masses

Chitralies facing numerousproblems during Ramazan

GUL HAMMAD FAROOQI

CHITRAL—The holy month of Ramadan is very toughfor masses of Chitral as there is 13 hours load-sheddingdaily and it not only affecting the domestic sector butthe business sector too.

Due to continuous load-shedding and low voltagepeople cannot make ice at their houses in fridges andalso there is no ice factory in Chitral but they are luckythey have Lawari snow at least they use to quench theirthirst in Iftrai.

Load-shedding is affecting the tailoring sector asthey are unable to sew the clothes and they are forced torefuse further orders.

The people are also complaining against the highrates of the edibles. A local told this scribe that he wantedto buy meat but the butchers have hided the meat andthey are selling it in black at higher rates while chickenrate is Rs. 100 higher than the schedule rate.

They also appreciated the efforts of additional assis-tant commissioner for controlling the prices and actionagainst the illegal profit makers.

The residents of Chitral demand of the government tocontrol the prices of edibles and eliminate the load-shed-ding in this holy month of Ramadan.

Pakistani declared top lawyer in US

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Named by LEGAL 500 as having won thetop award in the US legal field in the Finance category of

“Asset Finance and Leasing”, ZarrarSehgal has been declared as the “Law-yer of the Year for Team of the Year 2014”,says a message received here from USA.

Earlier Zarrar had been nominated bythe US Chambers Law Directory asamong the top 10 individual lawyers in“Asset Finance” in Band 1 Category.Clifford Chance USA, the law firm inwhich he is “Head of Logistics” and co-

Head “Asset Finance” was also named as the top law firmin the US in Band 1, Zarrar had in 2013 set a record forbeing the first person under 40 (and the first Pakistani) toachieve the distinction of being in the US top 10 lawyersin the “Asset Finance” in Band 1 conferred on him byboth Legal 500 and US Chambers. Both Legal 500 and USChambers Law Directory are recognised as the world’smost prestigious legal guides, recommending firms andindividuals purely on merit.

Obtaining his school education from Karachi Gram-mar School, Zarrar graduated “Summa Cum Laude”fromBoston University, topping in both Economics and Politi-cal Science.

Married with three children and presently living inNew York. Zarrar was selected as a Young Global Leader(YGL) is the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF)in 2010. He is also the President TCF USA, which fo-cuses on raising funds for TCF Schools in Pakistan.Zarrar also does “pro bono publico” work supportingindigent persons needing legal help.

HYDERABAD: Members of Hand, an NGO distributing ration among the peasants whowere recovered from a private jail of a landlord in Umerkot.

CHITRAL: Workers shifting the relief goods from one truck to another donated by the Custodian of Two HolyMosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud for deserving people.

Dera Bugti gaspipeline blown upQUETTA—Unknown menblew up a sixteen inch diam-eter gas pipeline at PirkohPlant in Dera Bugti districton Saturday.

According to Leviesforce, unidentified men hadattached explosive deviceswith the gas pipeline whichwent off. Gas supply hasbeen suspended from Pirkohplant after the blast.

Local administrationreached the site and cor-doned off the entire areaand started efforts to arrestsuspects.

****Unknown armed men in-

jured a man and took awayhis motorcycle at Gahi Khanchowk area of provincialcapital on Saturday.

According to police, thevictim Ghulam Qadir was onway to somewhere whenarmed bandits interceptedand took away his bike andother valuables from him ongunpoint.

However, armed banditsopened fire on him as he re-sisted bid of snatching hismotorcycle. As a result, hereceived one bullet in hishead and was rushed to civilhospital for medical aid. Po-lice registered a case andstarted investigation.—APP

FAISALABAD—Three people were shot deadover an old rivalry in Khurarianwala policelimits. According to police, Imran groupopened firing on their rival Iqrar Qari groupin Chak No 205-RB and killed Naveed, Zahidand Abdul Ghani, a brother of Iqrar Qari, onthe spot. On information, police reached thespot and took the bodies into custody.

Police told that old rivalry had claimedeight lives of both groups so far. Later, thebodies were dispatched to mortuary forpostmortem and investigation is underprogress.

Three friends drowned in the river Raviin the area of Garh police on Saturday. Ac-cording to police, six friends of Chak No.399-GB went to river Ravi at Sheraza Pattan totake bath where Muhammad Usman (16),Allah Ditta (15) and Bahawal Sher (17)

drowned.The divers fished out the bodies and

handed over to their relatives. Meanwhile, itis reported that a married woman committedsuicide over domestic dispute in the area ofGarh police on Saturday. According to po-lice, Imtiaz Bibi committed suicide by swal-lowing poison pills after quarreling with herspouse Lal Khadkhoro at Chak No.622-GBover domestic dispute. She was rushed tohospital but she breathed her last. The po-lice took body into its custody and startedinvestigation.****Lower Dir: The owner of a medical storewas shot dead by unknown when he wason way home after closing the shop in thejurisdiction of Lal Qila police here on Satur-day. —APP

Old rivalry claims 3lives; 3 drown in Ravi

FAISALABAD—State Minister forWater and Power Chaudhary AbidSher Ali has said the government istrying its best to ensure uninterruptedand continuous power supply to con-sumers and upgrading grid station andinstallation on a war footing.

Addressing a review meeting at theFesco Headquarters, he said three mil-lion people benefited with the resto-ration of the grid station atBahawalpur and Kasowal which wasmade operational within the shortesttime of three days only.

He said millions of units savedduring a special campaign againstpower theft and electricity connectioninstalled without any discrimination.

During the briefing, Chief Execu-tive Officer (CEO) FESO told thatFesco was the best distribution com-pany of the country due to the lowestline loses and best recovery and this

year its recovery was 104% and 921million were recovered during the spe-cial campaign against power theft.

The minister appreciated the per-formance of the Fesco and said that itwas role model for other distributioncompanies.

The members of National and Pro-vincial Assemblies informed the min-ister about problems of people of theirarea and he issued necessary orders.

On a complaint of low voltage, heordered to the SEs to submit their re-ports on this issue within one week.He also ordered to take step for theprovision of the meters and trans-formers in the Fesco region. He or-dered to constitute a load managementcommittee consisting upon ShakarAwan, Rajab Ali Baloch, Ch ShahbazBabar and Hamid ul Haq.

The committee will monitorloadshedding in the Fesco region and

would submit its report to the minis-ter.

The minister also warned that in-efficiency and corruption would nottolerate in the Fesco and corrupt offi-cials would not be spared and shouldbe taken to task. The Faisalabad Elec-tric Supply Company (FESCO) has is-sued shutdown programme for nec-essary repair, maintenance and expan-sion of electricity lines.

According to programme issuedby the company, power supply fromKatchery Road feeder emanating from132-KV Jaranwala grid station will re-main suspended from 6 am to 11 amon Sunday (July 13) whereas MK SonsOld feeder originating from 132-KVKhurarianwala grid station and FiveStar feeder emanating from 132-KVPhalahi Wala grid station will observeshutdown from 6 am to 11 am on Mon-day (July 14).—APP

Uninterrupted power supplygovt priority: Abid Sher

ISLAMABAD—National Highway Authority(NHA) will build 487 km Raikot-IslamabadHighway on priority basis as it forms part ofChina-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

This highway is also important becausefour new dams close to this highway namely;Thakot, Pattan,Dassu and Diamer Basha havealso been planned.

He said that these dams will help the coun-try overcome its power shortage,an officialof the NHA informed APP.

Highlighting the significance of the saidproject, the official said that the present gov-ernment was putting special emphasis onChina-Pak Economic Corridor so that tradeties with China and Central States could befurther strengthened and the region couldwitness rapid economic growth and prosper-ity.

He said that Raikot-Islamabad Highwaywill start off from Pak-China border and willconnect to the existing Karakoram Highwayand reach Islamabad and will be further ex-tended to Gwadar in the near future.

Raikot-Islamabad highwayconstruction NHA’s priority

The realignment of the 24 kilometers ofthe existing Karakoram Highway was also partof this project, and this highway will be 2-lane from Khanjrab to Mansehra, 4-lane fromMansehra to Islamabad and 6-lane fromIslamabad to Gwadar. To accommodate thefour proposed dams along this highway, theNational Highway Authority plans to recon-struct 230 kilometers of the Karakoram high-way under the new design.

He said that Pakistan-China economiccorridor will boost, trade tourism, industryand agriculture of the entire region.

The official said that communicationssector has been the top priority of PrimeMinister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif.Raikot-Islamabad Highway project will be-come part of China-Pakistan Economic Cor-ridor on which a memorandum of under-standing was signed between Pakistan’sMinistry of Communications and ChinaRoad and Bridge Corporation in Februarythis year in China.—APP

ISLAMABAD—With 1.8 billionyoung people around the worldthe largest generation of youth inhistory senior U.N. officials aremarking World Population Daywith calls for a renewed commit-ment to helping young people im-prove their lives and the commonfuture.

Action is urgently needed,Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonsaid in his message for the Day,stressing that too many youngpeople are denied a right to a qual-ity education, a decent job, andparticipation in the political life oftheir societies. He expressed par-ticular concern about adolescentgirls who may face discrimination,sexual violence, early marriage andunwanted pregnancies.

The solution lies in investmentin health, education, training andemployment for young people asthey undergo the critical transition

World Population Day: UN urges investment in young peopleto adulthood, the secretary-generalunderscored.

Half the world is under 25 yearsof age nearly 90 per cent of them indeveloping countries, according toUN figures. However, half of thoseemployed from the group are eitherunemployed or in Bans words, stuckin low-wage, dead-end jobs.

I call on all with influence to pri-oritize youth in development plans,strengthen partnerships withyouth-led organizations, and in-volve young people in all decisionsthat affect them, the UN chief said.

By empowering todays youth,we will lay the groundwork for amore sustainable future for genera-tions to come.

Young people are also speakingout for themselves, Mr. Ban said,noting that more than 1,000 youthorganizations endorsed a GlobalYouth Call to recommend youth-fo-cused goals and targets in the sus-

tainable development agenda thatwill start after 2015, the deadline forthe Millennium Development Goals(MDGs).

In his message, Executive Direc-tor of the UN Population Fund(UNFPA), Babatunde Osotimehin,said: We know that healthy, edu-cated, productive and fully engagedyoung people can help break thecycle of intergenerational povertyand are more resilient in the face ofindividual and societal challenges.

Yet too many youth continue tograpple with poverty, inequality andhuman rights violations that pre-vent them from reaching their per-sonal and collective potential, hesaid noting that according to theUN Educational, Scientific and Cul-tural Organization (UNESCO) anestimated 515 million adolescentsand youth, aged 15 to 24, live onless than $2 a day, and millions moreface gender discrimination and other

forms of marginalization.A sustainable future depends

on having resilient populations,which cannot be achieved withoutinvestments in young people, saidDr. Osotimehin, adding that youthnot only form a large proportion ofthe world’s population and de-serve their fair share as a matter ofequity, but are also in a criticalstage of their lifecycle that will de-termine their future and thus thoseof their families, communities, andsocieties.

Call on UN Member States andother stakeholders to invest in thisgeneration of young people whoare at the centre of the new post-2015 development agenda, GeneralAssembly President John Ashe inhis message on the Day, said thatonly by partnering with youngpeople can we make the planetmore resilient and our future moreprosperous.—APP

QUETTA—A two-day regional cross bordercoordination meeting on Polio Eradicationbetween Balochistan and Southern Afghani-stan was held in Quetta in collaboration withUNICEF, here.

More than 70% of the polio cases in 2014globally are from Pakistan. Extensive cross-border population movement is one of themajor challenges faced by both the regions,these populations are responsible for sus-taining poliovirus circulation and spreadingthe virus from one area to another.

“An estimated 800 children are vacci-nated at Pakistan- Afghanistan FriendshipGate everyday” said Rehmat Baloch Minis-ter Health Balochistan. “We need to ensureeach and every child crossing the border isimmunized,” he added

Although, there has been no case ofpolio in Balochistan since past 20 months.However, confirmation of a positive case inSouthern Afghanistan recently and con-stant presence of virus in environmentalsamples of Quetta this year is an alarmingsituation. “Polio virus has no borders chil-dren on both sides of the border are at equalrisk of a life time paralysis if we do not actnow” UNICEF Chief of Field Office RahamaMohammad said.

“Both countries are facing similar issues,no country in the region will be able to eradi-cate polio alone” Dr Abdul Qayum PokhalaProvincial Health Director Kandahar said.He emphasized on the close coordinationand collaboration of both the Governmentsto eradicate polio.—APP

Over 800 kids vaccinated at Pak-Afghan Friendship Gate daily

KARACHI—Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)senior leader Jahangir Badar has made itclear that his party had not signed any dealwith former president Gen. (retd) PervezMusharraf.

Clarifying the statement of former primeminister and PPP Vice Chairman YousufRaza Gilani, Badar said PPP had not singedany deal with Musharraf.

He said ex-president Asif Ali Zardari hadgiven two choices to General Ashfaq ParvezKayani that either Musharraf should resignor be prepared for impeachment.

Earlier on Friday, former prime ministerYousaf Raza Gilani said that former presi-dent General (retd) Pervez Musharraf hadresigned after certain promises weremade.—INP

PPP did not sign any dealwith Musharraf: Badar

Senator Seharcondemns Israelistrikes on Gaza

ISLAMABAD—Senator SeharKamran on Saturday con-demned Israeli assaults onGaza, resulting in the deathof a number of innocent Pal-estinians. Member of Senate’sStanding Committees on For-eign Affairs and Defense,President of Center for Paki-stan and Gulf Studies (CPGS)Senator Sehar Kamran hassaid these Israeli attacks werein violation of not only theUnited Nations conventions,but also human rights.

She urged the interna-tional community, to takestrong action against the Is-raeli aggression, particularlyin the area of Khan Yunis,Palestine. Senator SeharKamran also emphasised theneed for establishing a du-rable peaceful solution tosolve the Palestine-Israelconflict.

Saher Foundation Trustheld demonstration here onSaturday in front of Masjid-e-Shuhada Liaquatabad toprotest bombing on unarmedPalestinian people by Israelijets in Ghaza strip.

Chairman Saher Founda-tion Iftikhar Ghazali con-demned the Israeli aggres-sion and criticised Muslimworld for their silence overit. Other speakers also con-demned the Israeli aggres-sion against innocent peopleof Palestine and alsocriticised the UN for failingto rein in Israel.—APP

HYDERABAD: Ladies are busy in shopping shoes in a local market as the Eid prepa-rations have started in the country.

Akhuwat AILP2014 organizes

Carnival ,Iftar dinner

LAHORE—Akhuwat Intern-ship and Leadership Program(AILP) 2014 organized itsCarnival followed by a sump-tuous Iftar dinner at theAkhuwat Head Office lo-cated in Township, Lahoretoday in the evening.Planned and executed byMs. Rabia Asif (CoordinatorAILP) and Ms. Sidra Younas(Research Associate), theleadership for the event wasprovided by Syed HussainHaider, Director AISEM..

Dr. Amjad Saqib, theFounder/Chairman ofAkhuwat and the Board ofDirectors graced the eventwith their presence.

Twenty-four (24) youngvolunteers from a number ofcolleges and universitieswho formed the core of AILP2014 were the livewire behindthe event. The overall aggre-gate of invitees was about800, including Khawajasirasbelonging to the most im-poverished community andpeople who were physicallyor mentally challenged. Anassortment of stalls, includ-ing games and fun activitywith rides, overjoyed thekids. The young ones fromdeprived segments of thesociety had the time of theirlives at the Carnival.

“We have to create abridge to span the gap be-tween the rich and the poor,realizing that everyone mustbe afforded an opportunityto grow and prosper. I reallyappreciate the effort of theyouth who imbued with theirgreat spirit have put togetherthe electrifying environmentthat has made Carnival 2014such fun” said AkhuwatChairman, Dr. Amjad Saqib.

The volunteers and theteam of AILP 2014 urged theprivileges members of thesociety to share theirwellbeing in the blessedmonth of Ramadan with theless fortunate ones.

The objective of the Car-nival 2014 was to bring therich and poor classes in oursociety closer in a spirit ofsharing and brotherhood.—Agencies

ISLAMABAD— The met office has predictedscattered rain with thundershower atRawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala,Sargodha, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sahiwal,Multan Divisions, UpperK h y b e r - P a k h t u n k h w a ,Gilgit-Baltistan and Kash-mir during the next 12 hoursOn the other side, theMultan Met office has fore-cast hot and dry weatherwith chances of dust raising winds for thecity and its suburbs during the next 24hours.

On Saturday, the maximum and minimumtemperatures were recorded as 41.5 degreescentigrade and 31.1 degrees centigrade, re-spectively.

Humidity was recorded 53 per cent at 8am and 27 per cent at 5 pm. Temperature ofsome major cities recorded on Saturday morn-ing was: Islamabad 26 degree centigrade,

Lahore and Peshawar 28,Karachi 29, Quetta 20,Gilgitand Murree 18 andMuzaffarabad 24 degree cen-tigrade. According to the syn-optic situation, seasonal lowlies over North Balochistanwith its trough extending

southeastward. Light to moderate monsooncurrents from Arabian Sea are penetratinginto central/upper parts of the country &Kashmir and likely to weaken during next 24hours. A shallow westerly wave is presentover northern parts of the country.—APP

Humid weather with chancesof rain at scattered places

Even if there wasno deal on Mush

THE disclosure of former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani that ex-President General Pervez Musharraf resigned as a consequence of adeal brokered by the Establishment has given a new twist to the hot-

debated issue of trial of the former President under high treason chargesand his ultimate fate. Minister for Information and Broadcasting PervaizRashid has been quick in rebutting claims of the former Prime Minister tothe extent that PML(N) was not a party to any such deal.

One thing is now quite clear that the PPP Government entered into adeal with Pervez Musharraf paving the way for his resignation and for elec-tion of Asif Ali Zardari as head of the state. That the PPP did not proceedbeyond verbal fights on the issue of trial of Musharraf also confirms exist-ence of such a deal. However, deal or no deal by the PPP and irrespective ofthe fact that it was endorsed or not by PML(N), which was the main Oppo-sition party at that time, the fact remains that the PPP Government had acomparatively smooth sailing because of its mature approach in understand-ing ground realities and formulating its strategy to deal with them. Counter-statements of Information Minister and senior leader of PML(N) Raja ZafarulHaq might be true but PML(N) must understand that ground realities re-main unchanged and the party should be sensitive to them for the sake ofnational reconciliation and overall progress and development of the coun-try. There is absolutely no justification to indulge in things that amount toself-infliction and creation of unnecessary tension in the national scene. Insharp contrast to what PML(N) leaders are saying or doing on this issue, itis quite obvious that the overall tone and tenor of the former Prime Minis-ter, while talking on this sensitive issue, was reflective of not only maturityand wisdom but also feeling of an impasse on the issue and showing theGovernment the way out. There are already a host of distractions for theGovernment in pursuing its agenda of economic development as thornyissues like precarious security situation, war against terror, agonizing load-shedding of both electricity and gas and growing frustration among peopledue to rising levels of unemployment and poverty. The Government can ill-afford to humiliate a former Army Chief, open more fronts and add to theuncertainties. PML(N) is rightly considered to be business-friendly Gov-ernment but it can move ahead on the right course only if it shows broad-mindedness in forgetting and forgiving the past for the sake of a brightfuture of the country. Instead of wasting time in efforts to block futuresupra-constitutional interventions through such a flawed policy, the Gov-ernment should save its time and energy on delivering and consolidatingthe system that would obviate the need for such interventions.

Demonising each otherdisservice to Pakistan

FOR quite some time, politicians have been transmitting a loud and clearmessage that they have learnt a lot from past bitter experiences and

mistakes but happenings of the last few weeks clearly indicate that they areonce again treading the same suicidal path for the sake of petty personalinterests. The way they are maligning each other and levelling charges andcounter-charges has raised the political temperature to a dangerous leveland no one knows for sure where the things are going to culminate.

It seems our politicians are unaware of gravity of the challenges facingPakistan because of a number of domestic factors, regional situation and in-ternational game plan. They are spending more time in settling personal scoreand embittering the overall environment than giving time to national issuesand causes. Many of our politicians are spending most of their time in demon-izing others and even going to the extent of involving families. This tendencyis surely disturbing masses who expect their leaders to be role model in everyrespect but the politics of allegations and accusations is not only belittlingstature of the political figures but also to the overall reputation and image ofthe country. One feels ashamed over the quality of the leadership as is beingdemonstrated by some of the politicians. We would, therefore, urge thesepoliticians to revisit their strategies and strictly follow the decent rules of thegame for the greater good of Pakistan and for their own sake.

Turkey feels the painof Gaza massacre

AT a time when Israel has unleashed its brutalities against innocent Palestinians with more than 120 killings in air raids on Gaza and all the

Arab countries are almost mum, Turkey has demanded an immediate end tobombings and has told in categorical term that there can be no normaliza-tion of ties as long as Israel’s actions continue. Turkish Prime Minister hasstated that they couldn’t look positively at a process of normalisation whenbombs are streaming down on our Palestinian brothers.

By voicing support for the Palestinians, the Turkish leader has takenanother lead. His sentiments reflect the views of the people around theworld in general and Muslims in particular. Mr. Recep Tayyib Erdoganhas earned more respect in the comity of nations by supporting the op-pressed people. Earlier on 9th July, Pakistan also condemned Israeli ag-gression and supported the international community’s efforts in bringingabout a cessation of unilateral Israeli strikes killing Palestinians, includ-ing women and children. Though US President Obama offered to facili-tate the cessation of hostilities, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu at apress conference Friday out rightly rejected any such move and said nointernational pressure will prevent Tel Aviv from acting with all power.That indicates the stubbornness of the Jewish leader that he is bent uponcrushing the hapless Palestinians, because with full backing of the USand other western countries, he does not feel any threat from any Arabcountry. In fact Arab countries in the neighbourhood of Israel have beenmade victims of internal civil strife through machinations of Israeli intel-ligence agency and supporting powers. Their leaders for wrong policiesare struggling for survival and now Israel has emerged an unchallengedpower in the region. In this scenario, one may appreciate the statement byPrime Minister Erdogan but that would not be enough to bring an end tothe Israeli aggression. We would therefore impress upon the Muslim coun-tries to convene an urgent meeting of the UN Security Council and raisetheir strong voice for justice for the Palestinians as that cannot be ex-pected from US, which tacitly supports all Israeli actions.

Barking up the wrong tree

Ghani’svote-count

gesture

THE fact is that Ghani withmore than 46 per cent ofvotes feels comfortable for

any vote tally, and on the other be-lieves that some more votes couldfall in his gambit if an audit is con-ducted. The post-runoff vote sce-nario in Afghanistan is perplexing.Ashraf Ghani, a former WorldBank economist, has secured acomfortable edge over his rivalAbdullah-Abdullah.

But political instability has hita new high with allegations of fraudand irregularities all around. None-theless, Ghani’s master-stroke onFriday just hours before he met USSecretary of State John Kerry hasexhibited his leadership skills, andopened an opportunity to defuse thecrisis that can ultimately lead to theBalkanisation of Afghanistan.Abdullah has already hinted atforming a parallel government if hisgrievances are not addressed.Ghani’s offer to opt for an audit ofvote count is appreciated and couldgo a long way in enabling Abdullahto climb down from his hardcorestance. The fact is that Ghani withmore than 46 per cent of votes feelscomfortable for any vote tally, andon the other believes that somemore votes could fall in his gambitif an audit is conducted. He him-self had feared tampering of ballotafter the first round, when he wastrailing behind Abdullah.

What the war-weary countryneeds at this point of time is a con-sensus between Ghani andAbdullah, and a tactic agreementnot to delay the transition of power.There is a hectic agenda beforewhoever is sworn in as the nextpresident, and that includes recast-ing the security strategy and assent-ing the Bilateral Security Agree-ment with the United States. More-over, the country is in need of a newsocial contract that could grant anew lease of liberties and powersto the multi-national society. It isthis perception that the new leaderhas to undo, a feat that HamidKarzai, despite being a Pakhtoon,has not been able to accomplish. It’stime for Abdullah to reciprocateGhani’s gesture and work towardsa solution to address the electoraldiscord. Views expressed in Opin-ion columns and articles are thoseof our contributors and columnists.—Khaleej Times

*****

Silence toPalestine’s

cries deafening

AT the United Nations inNew York on Thursday,Israel’s ambassador to the

world body took out his mobilephone and played to reporters thesound of an air raid warning in a bidto show what life is life for millionsof Israelis living under the threat ofrockets fired from the Gaza Strip.The stunt was nothing other thanpure theatrics. This is the reality: Nota single Israeli has been killed by anyof the rockets fired by Palestinian re-sistance fighters in the Gaza ?Strip.

This is the reality: Israeli navyships offshore can target the area ofthe besieged enclave with rapid-fireand highly accurate long-range guns.And this is also the reality: Israelihelicopter gunships can target mul-tiple targets in a matter of seconds,raining fire and death in an instant.And another truth: Israeli fighter jetsuse laser-guided precision bombsthat can fall within a three-metre tar-get zone. And the most tragic realityis that more than 90 Palestinians havebeen slaughtered and hundreds moreinjured by Israel’s unbridled aggres-sion. And the harshest reality is thatthe world is standing idly by as thisIsraeli war of bigotry and barbaritykills Palestinian women, childrenand men at the press of a button. Yes,the UN Security Council has calledfor a ceasefire, but another ugly re-ality is that Israel acts with impunity.It is a law unto itself, uncaring of thecries for mercy from the council orthe rest of the world. And Israel hashad the loyal support of the UnitedStates for decades. America’s law-makers and its arms cartels doIsrael’s bidding.

This Israeli aggression is a warcrime. It is a crime against human-ity. It is a genocide by the armedagainst the defenceless. And whereis the world and its leaders to con-demn this war on Palestine? Thesilence is deafening.— Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

THIS refers Brig (r) ShamshadKhan’s write-up on ‘Dual nationality’, published recently

in an English newspaper, whereinhe accused dual-nationality holderPakistanis Dr. Tahirul Qadri andAltaf Hussain, of damaging thecountry politically and economi-cally, creating much nuisance forpublic, disrupting life, threateningdemocracy. He has requested bothto leave us (Pakistanis) in peace. Ifone were to believe him, it wouldmean that there would have beenperfect peace and tranquillity in thecountry but for the mischief doneby these two characters.

Now, as for Altaf Hussain, hisinfluence and that of his party is lim-ited to Karachi and a few cities ofSindh, and the party does not enjoyeffective power even in Sind Assem-bly because of being in the minor-ity, as the number of constituenciesis based on 1998 population censuswith no adjustment for subsequentgreat migration of people to cities.And as for Dr. Qadri, he is yet to doanything substantial. The unneces-sary killings, mass arrests andshootings in Lahore were the high-handedness of what even the writerhimself calls ‘brutal Punjab police’and the drama at Islamabad/Lahoreairports came about because of in-competence of the governmentwhich despite having a capacity andtendency to use excessive force -which it demonstrated a few daysearlier in Lahore while invadingMinhaj-ul-Quran Secretariat - couldnot handle an elderly, unarmed per-son whose only demand was to beallowed to get off at the destination

The idea of justice

I STILL remember that wayback in 1946 while atRawalpindi and during curfew,

the youngsters in the neighborhoodwould go to the roof tops and shoutPakistan Zindabad. Pakistan thenwas only a concept. The basis wasthe economic and social injusticesthat had been meted out to theMuslims over more than two cen-turies of British colonial rule. Evi-dence whether we achieved thatgoal is rather thin if not altogethermissing. Recall that we were toprovide musawat [equity] to all thepeople residing in what is now Pa-kistan. Also realize that we werenot equal to the task.

There is no need to apportionblame to any one, for in some senseall of us have failed and failed torealize our destiny and our cause.Go back to the Pakistan resolutionand to the Agriculture committeeheaded by the late Hameed Nizamiand its work on social justice.Those were heady days and weMuslims never realized the powerof greed and malicious behaviourthat was to come to us in the sixdecades plus. We removed all justrules and kept only those that suitedus from the colonial days. When itsuited us we called a system colo-nial and pronto we deleted it fromthe governance factor. We gambledon greed, vindictive and viciousbehaviours and attributes.

The other day after a consider-able time, I met one of the currentSecretaries to the Federal govern-ment. Normally I avoid meeting

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Weekly Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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

Plato is dear tome, but dearerstill is truth.

these kinds of powerstructure[s] that realize theirpower form the powers thatbe. Most of these current vi-sionaries are living on socialBaisakhis and need all kindsof props. They derive their

power from being subservient to anindividual or a series of individuals.The realization will dawn sooner orlater that misplaced loyalty will leadto trouble. The police in Lahore musthave realized this after the Modeltown firing. SAM was a word thatwas used pretty often to indicate‘selfish and ambitious’. In manyways the collapse of such an unjustsystem was inevitable and that willhappen. There is no need to mendthe social fabric because major sur-gery is genuinely required.

The entire system needs to beoverhauled. In the past two days Ihave heard Arslan Iftikhar defendhimself and I admire his courage toanswer questions in a blood thirstysociety to anchors that seem to beextremely hostile. I do not care whathe has done unless he is provenguilty in a court of law. I see no needto take him to task for his father’sacts. Some one else’s deeds cannotbe attached to another. I could neverunderstand why we pelt people thathave been in power only when theyare no more in authority. Where wereall these sages when the criticizedwere in power? Is this what we havecome to? Pelt hatred and stoneswhen some one leaves power?

The realization came in formerEast Pakistan [1971]. Mujib had justbeen released and he was speakingat a public meeting. The speaker whopreceded him was critical of AyubKhan. Mujib got up from his chairand stopped the speaker saying thathe had no personal vendetta withAyub, only a political one and now

that he is not in power, don’t makehim a point. Undue criticism is notmy way of considering manlybehaviour, especially when theadversary’s chips are down. Wherewere you when you could havestopped excessive use of power?Where is your sense of justice andyour conscience after the Modeltown action by the police? Why thePublic litigants have not come for-ward to the High court to seek jus-tice for the unfortunate. So whatwe are, is what we have decided tobecome because of our selfishnessand lack of moral clarity. Alas thereis no one to provide this moral clar-ity. In many ways modern informa-tion technology is part of the rea-son for this. We have had informa-tion Ministers always trying to de-fend the indefensible.

Is Pakistan’s violence based onthe uniqueness and absolute author-ity of our leaders? Let me explain.Do our leaders think that they areby themselves unique and thereforeany one standing in their way needsto be exterminated? Go throughPakistan’s short history and therewill be evidence to that effect. Ana-lyze the political parties and you willsee the party leaders being eulogizedfor no apparent reason. The party iswell below the system of democraticpower and its usage. Where is de-bate and dialogue in any party? Theminute you hear the leader’s namebeing taken unnecessarily and namedropping then the undemocratic pro-cedure becomes obvious. What de-mocracy and what derailment; justthe power blocks are trying to pre-serve themselves.

The people of Pakistan whetherliving in the periphery or at the core,all suffer distinct forms of humilia-tions every day. There is no wonderthat the interaction with the state

(Islamabad) that he was booked forand there was no valid technical rea-son for plane’s diversion (hijacking)to Lahore. The government’s capac-ity to handle situations was also dem-onstrated earlier when a lone gunman,Sikandar, with wife and two minorkids, held up the country’s capital forhours and the drama ended only withthe unscheduled interruption byZamarrud Khan.

The writer’s letter demonstratesthe typical Pakistani mentality toblow things out of all proportionsand inability to distinguish appear-ance from reality, confusing form forsubstance. What democracy is therein Pakistan, which is being threat-ened? What he confuses for democ-racy is purely a pact between twofamily-owned parties, to take turnsto misrule, rob and plunder the coun-try while in government, with theother party extending full support,and having the favours returnedwhen its turn comes to form the gov-ernment. These are the so-calleddemocrats who have damaged thecountry politically, economicallyand morally with the PML-N goingabout methodically, hacking downall the major institutions in the coun-try by placing favourites in impor-tant positions, bypassing the laiddown procedures and is trying to doaway with rules about governmentpurchases and contracts. After hav-ing the last fling during his specially-created third term, Nawaz Sharifwould leave the nation with massiveloans topped up further with heftycommissions, while reducing thefuture revenue by selling off evenprofitable state-owned entities tonominees of friends and relativesand spending the proceeds on unpro-ductive misadventures.

And while the corrupt and ineptpoliticians have played a prominent

role in ruining the country, the restof the damage has been done bysome opportunist dual-functionGenerals like Ayub Khan, YehyaKhan, Ziaul Haq and PervezMusharraf. Though a few of theGenerals brought some degree ofshort-lived progress, prosperity andstability to the country, it was faroutweighed by their destructivework of not letting true democracytake roots in the country.

Ayub Khan sold Pakistani riversto India, fought unnecessary andcostly wars with it, messed up eventhe civil service in the country andtogether with his son, created ethnictensions in Karachi from which thecity never recovered. And while leav-ing, passed on the control to Gen.Yehya Khan who presided over thedismemberment of Pakistan the pre-paratory work for which had beendone earlier by Ayub Khan throughmistreatment of Bengalis. And YehyaKhan’s man in East Pakistan, Lt-Gen.A.A.K (Tiger) Niazi brought the ul-

timate disgrace to the country andthe Ummah by staging the biggestsurrender in the Muslim history andthe second biggest in the world his-tory. And Gen. Ziaul Haq, in orderto prolong his rule, enthusiasticallyjoined the US war with the SovietUnion, much against the advice ofsane Pashtun leaders who hadwarned of serious consequenceswhich we are facing now, in the formof Jihadis created by Zia on massscale with international funding. AndGen. Musharraf gave us Kargil andthe bunch of corrupt politicians, dulycleansed through NRO.

So, Brig. Shamshad surelypicked up wrong persons whilenaming those who damaged thecountry politically and economi-cally, created much nuisance forpublic, disrupted life and threateneddemocracy. The culprits have beenthe corrupt politicians and the over-ambitious dual-function Generals.If Brig. Shamshad looked at thematter in an unbiased manner, hewill conclude that in fact Dr. TahirulQadri is a benefactor, making a last-ditch attempt to protect whatever isleft of Pakistan. He has not evenstarted yet and already, a Parliamen-tary committee for electoral reformis being formed.

I may mention here that the vastmajority of Armed forces personnelfrom the lowest to the highest rankshave served the country well, sacri-ficing their lives in the process, aswell as coming to the aid of civilianadministrations in times of calamitieslike floods, earthquakes and otheremergencies, and are now lookingafter internally-displaced persons andgiving them their own rations, whichis why people of Pakistan have greataffection and respect for them.—The writer is Karachi-basedpolitical analyst.

functionaries has been so mali-ciously demented. Which Provincecan say that there is no brutaliza-tion of its inhabitants? Where theinteractions are fair and just? Wheremafias have not been used? Is theterrorism not now a state function?Forget Model town for a moment.Is Karachi not a target of terrorismby the government? The protectionof Pakistan law recently passed willallow more of the same against po-litical adversaries. Why is the lawfor only two years because thenthere will be a tilt in power and thepowers of today do not want the lawto be used against them? Are thepolitical leaders original and theirefforts based on their own reason-ing? The thoughts of our leaders aresome one else’s opinions, their livesa mimicry and their passions a quo-tation. In the process of clingingto power, many criminal activitieshave and will take place. So it issurprising that we talk of the su-premacy of the law and we havethe investigation agency that takescare of the civilians in shoot outs.Not only was I against the ModelTown action but I have been say-ing that Karachi cannot be savedby this idiotic action; more than20000 arrests and the output is noteven worth mentioning; TV pro-paganda aside.

The state has to steady itself andthat can be done by institutions notobeying illegal orders. There is noth-ing repulsive about this way of think-ing. The powers need to have them-selves examined for what they havebeen up to. I can tell you that thestate is abating. We are not equal tothe task. So tolerate criticism andlisten to the sane noises in the sys-tem if only to improve. Alas justice!—The writer is a retired FederalSecretary.

—Aristotle Greek philosopher

Dr Zafar AltafEmail:dr_altaf@hotmail.com

S R H HashmiEmail:srhhashmi@hotmail.com

Democracy inPakistan is purely apact between two

family-ownedparties, to take

turns to misrule,rob and plunder the

country while ingovernment, with

the other partyextending full

support, and havingthe favours

returned when itsturn comes to form

the government.

Voice of the People

WAPDA: Thedinosaur

MUHAMMAD MOHSIN

Water & Power Authority wasformed on 12th of February 1958. Itwas headed in its initial years by ourlegacy of the British-era top civil ser-vants who by virtue of their colo-nial-aimed training were experts indeveloping Wapda’s bureaucracywith all its perks and privileges forits employees rather than fulfillingthe main purpose of Wapda’s cre-ation: developing electricity genera-tion using river-water resources, pre-viously suppressed by the colonialpowers. They followed the 1910Electricity Act, which was actuallymeant to supply power to the privi-leged classes instead of the commonman and industry. Under this lawany stretch of land in a city can becommandeered to pass over it elec-tric lines without any regard to thefuture expansion needs of the con-cerned city and nobody was allowedto build any house in their vicinity.Although Pakistan Electric PowerCompany (PEPCO) was inaugu-rated in October 2007, but that alsopractically remains under Wapdathrough Ministry of water andpower. Wapda’s bureaucracy rightdown to a lineman always remainedbusy in availing of the personal ben-efits made possible by Wapda’smonopoly. Wapda authorities havenever paid any attention to the fu-ture needs of the nation.

The result is that there is a con-stant shortage of 6 to 8 megawattsof electricity in the country result-ing in a load-shedding of 8 to 18hours a day. Although Wapda claimsthat it has no authority over the 10regional electric supply companiesincluding the Multan Electric PowerCompany (MEPCO), yet everypolicy decision has to be cleared bythem with the Chairman Wapda,who in turn seems to have a mindsetfrozen in colonial times. For in-stance, the residents of ChahChashma locality in Muzaffargarh,over whose houses 440KV lines arepassing, have for the last 10 yearsbeen trying to get those life-threat-ening wires relocated to the road-side which is the proper place forthem, but Wapda’s answer has al-ways been the same: no way as per1910 Electricity Act.

Wapda is a dinosaur that needsto be dismantled completely and itsname abolished. Electricity genera-tion should be shared by privateand public companies while itsdistribution should be totallyprivatized. The cheapest sourcesof electricity should be employedfor its generation and this policyshould be fully supported by stateauthorities as it involves some in-ternational hurdles because allsuch sources are banned by the su-perpowers as they hinder their pe-troleum products’ profit-making.—Muzaffargarh

Illogical logicJAVAID BASHIR

Everything falls on dumb ears thesedays. No one is prepared to listen tothe voice of the conscience, and hearsane views. It is just absurd to rea-son with the illiterate, disgruntledand pseudo-intellectuals. In this at-mosphere of chaos nothing is hap-pening right. Shouting and shootinggoes on unabated. There is no re-spite from the brutes, killing inno-cent people. 14 dead and more than80 critically wounded.

The worst kind of State actionand barbarity on display a fewblocks away from the residence ofChief Minister of the Punjab Prov-ince. And he is not aware of it. Whata dumb response? First blood hasbeen drawn, yet no remorse or apol-ogy tendered. Irony is that hawksand doves have been sent to defendthe indefensible. Commission or nocommission, it can not wipe the

Yaum-e -Shuhada-e-KashmirMUKHTAR BUTT

July 13th is commemorated as Kashmiri Martyrs’ Day in the memory of Kashmiris killed by Dogratroops. It was on 19th April 1931, Dogra DIG barred Imam Munshi Muhammad Ishaq from deliver-

ing Eid Khutaba in the Municipal Park Jammu. This sparked protests throughout the valley. Peoplegathered in Srinagar Jamia Masjid and demanded severe punishment to culprits. Abdul Qadeer whochanted slogans against Maharaja was arrested on sedition charges. On 12th July violent demonstra-tions were held against his shifting to Central Jail Srinagar. On 13th July 1931, thousands of peoplegathered outside Central Jail to witness the trial. At Zohar time a young man rose to call Azan but wasshot dead by Dogra soldiers, 21 people tried to complete the Azan but were killed. Protesters carrieddead bodies in the streets of Srinagar against Dogra soldiers and this followed week long mourningfrom 13th July to 26th July, that shook the whole state. Since then, the day is observed as KashmirMartyrs Day in the memory of 21 Kashmiris who embraced Shahadat while delivering ‘Azaan”. It wasafter this incident that Kashmiris realized the need to form political party Muslim Conference to wagestruggle for freedom. In 1936 elections it succeeded in getting 19 out of 21 seats that un-nerved IndianCongress tried to create division in Muslim Conference but failed. On 19th July 1947, MC passed aresolution to merge Kashmir with Pakistan considering the geographical proximity and overwhelm-ing Muslim population, language and cultural relations of Jammu and Kashmir. Ironically despitelapse of 67 years, Kashmiris are still struggling and have sacrificed over one lac people with thou-sands arrests of innocent Kashmiris, gang raps and custodian killings. The UN is sleeping and so theworld conscience is also in deep slumber. PM Modi’s plans are very dangerous; he is all out to amendthe Constitution to seal the fate of Kashmiris. It is time our leadership wakes up from slumber andforget the Aman Ki Asha and ensures that issue of Kashmir is resolved as per UN Resolutions prom-ised by India to hold plebiscite under the supervision of UN. Till such time this issue is not resolved,the region shall remain destabilized and peace shall remain a distant dream.—Karachi Cantt

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

—Editor

For sustainable partnership

ON the occasion of the FrenchNational Day it is a pleasureand a privilege for me to ad-

dress the Pakistani people.The storming of the Bastille, on

14th July, some 225 years ago, wasthe starting point of the FrenchRevolution and has been celebratedevery year ever since, as the Na-tional Day of France. “Liberty,Equality, Fraternity” became thenational motto. The Declaration ofRights, which was adopted in 1790,encompassed principles and univer-sal values, which continues to bethe basis of the French democracy.

On the 14th of July, we will alsocommemorate the 100th anniversaryof the First World War which be-gan in 1914 and all the countries ofwhich soldiers were involved in thisterrible conflagration have been in-vited to participate in the militaryparade. Representatives of theArmed forces of Pakistan bearingthe flag of Pakistan will also marchon the Champs-Elysées as part ofthis military parade.

Diplomatic ties between Paki-stan and France were established in1947 and since then, the exchangesbetween the two countries havesteadily increased, to become amulti-facetted relationship. Our twocountries, rooted in old civilisations,

and each endowed with astrong cultural identity areattached to the cultural di-versity making the richnessof the world.

Over the past years, Iwas given the opportunity

to visit many cities and Provincesof Pakistan, and was impressed bythe creativity of a vibrant civil so-ciety and in particular by the youngpeople I came across.

Cooperation in science,academia and culture has intensifiedover the past decade and the culturalactivities of Alliances Françaiseshave promoted the deepening of un-derstanding and reciprocal inspira-tion between our cultures throughnumerous events, classes and work-shops. France also remains one ofthe most favoured destination inEurope for Pakistani students - over600 Pakistani students are currentlygetting their degrees in France -owing to a dynamic programme offellowships. In 2012, we addition-ally launched a need-based scholar-ship programme to unable studentsof less developed areas or Pakistanto attend the most renowned univer-sities of the country, before eventu-ally pursuing their studies in France.Specific attention is given to genderbalance with more than 45% of thesponsored students being promisingyoung ladies.

Trade between France and Paki-stan has crossed the 1.5 billion USDthreshold for the third year in a rowin 2013 and has shown an importantincrease of the surplus in favour of

Pakistan with the duty-free access tothe EU market for a large range ofproducts through the EU GSP+mechanism granted to Pakistan inDecember 2013. We anticipate a newboost in bilateral economic relation-ships. A visit of a high level Pakistanibusiness delegation to France, lastJune, will help in developing B to Bcontacts and a group of French busi-ness leaders will visit Pakistan in thefirst quarter of 2015. With respect toinvestment in Pakistan, major Frenchproducts are in negotiation and willhopefully come to fruition anytimesoon, strengthening the presence ofthe 44 French multi-national compa-nies active in Pakistan.

I would like to pay a special trib-ute to the Pakistan-French BusinessAlliance and to the Pakistan-FrenchBusiness Council for their dedicationin enhancing bilateral relationship.

The agreements signed betweenthe two governments in the field ofwater and sanitation, as well as thefinancial and technical assistance pro-vided to a number of hydropower andenergy efficiency related projects willcontribute to improve the infrastruc-tures in key areas for the developmentof Pakistan.

I had the privilege to attend theinauguration, in April 2014 by thePrime Minister of the Uch PowerPlant, operated by the French utilityGDF-SUEZ, which will generate anadditional 1000 MWe.

France appreciates the activeinvolvement of Pakistan, in deal-ing with international peace and se-curity, and pays tribute to the Paki-

stani Armed forces as major troopcontributor to the UN peace-keep-ing operations.

France recognises the securitychallenges being faced by Pakistanand the sacrifices it has made inthe fight against terrorism and ex-tremism, and will continue to standby Pakistan in its efforts towardspeace and security. During themeeting held last March betweenthe Prime Minister of the IslamicRepublic of Pakistan, Mr. NawazSharif, and the French President,Mr. François Hollande, both thecountries reiterated their determi-nation to strengthen cooperation inthe area of security.

Pakistan plays a pivotal role inthe stability and security of SouthAsia and France appreciates thecommitment of the Government ofPakistan for enhancing regional co-operation and the stability of this partof the world.

Finally, this message on theoccasion of the Bastille Day,gives me the opportunity to renewthe appreciation of the Frenchcommunity for the hospitability ofthe Pakistani people, and to ex-press the friendship and the bestwishes of the French people to thepeople of Pakistan for their con-tinuing prosperity. It is also theright time to express my commit-ment to spare no effort for en-hancing cooperation and friend-ship between the French and Pa-kistani people.— Message of the Ambassador onFrench National Day.

Views From Abroad

When media joins the dirty game of politics

AS the Israeli killing machinecontinues to slaughter innocent civilians in the besieged

Gaza enclave, Palestinians are alsofacing a different type of psychologi-cal war, which seems, so far, to beworking in favor of the Israeli occu-pation. Hundreds of innocent civil-ians have either been killed or se-verely wounded because of the ruth-less and brutal Israeli airstrikes. Addto that the countless number of Pal-estinians who are left homeless afterthe Israeli warplanes have demol-ished their homes. It is a dirty gameplayed by those who claim to be pro-tectors of democracy and those whohave been preaching and lecturing usabout the ethics of journalism.

Despite the bloodshed perpe-trated by the Israelis against innocentcitizens in Gaza, the US and the Is-raeli propaganda continues to send amisleading message to their audience.

Most of the reports that are beingaired or reported portray the Israelisas victims of Palestinian brutality,putting them as equal forces at war.

Since the Israeli occupation hasintensified its crackdown against thePalestinians in the occupied WestBank and in Gaza, and since the Is-raeli Army has launched the opera-tion against innocent civilians in Gazaand despite the horrific scenes com-ing from Gaza on the ground, themainstream media in Israel and theUS seem to be telling only one sideof the story and still insists on ignor-ing the Palestinian side of the story.

In one of its earlier headlines, theWall Street Journal said “Israeli AirDefense Intercept More Rockets asFighting Continues.” Such mislead-ing headline gives a wrong percep-tion to an audience barely aware ofwhat is happening in this part of theworld.Meanwhile the Los AngelesTimes said “Palestinian RocketsReach Farther into Israel.” Again,reading such a headline gives an im-pression that the Israelis are the vic-

tims and living under Palestinian bru-tality. The New York Times, however,describes the Israel’s inhumanairstrikes against the innocent popu-lation in Gaza as if it was a war be-tween two equal armies by sayingIsrael and Hamas “exchanged fire.”

Of course I don’t expect theWestern media to side with the Pal-estinians against the Israelis, but theleast they should do is to comply withthe ethics of journalism and neutral-ity that they have been preaching tous about for decades. But again, whatcan you expect more from media ap-prentice who work as the US and theIsraeli governments’ mouthpiece.

Even the US response to the vio-lence and the killing of innocent peoplewas ridiculous and not even less des-picable. White House Press SecretaryJosh Earnest said in his statement theUS strongly condemned the rocket fir-ing into Israel and the deliberate tar-geting of civilians by terrorist organi-zations in Gaza. “No country can ac-cept rocket fire aimed at civilians andwe support Israel’s right to defend it-

It’s our problem..!

QUITE often when a heinous crime is committedby a juvenile, we hear the

whole nation raising its voice inanger and shouting it’s not fair theyoungster is getting away with justthree years in a juvenile homewhen he should hang. To such asyou do I address this story:

An Indonesian judge by thename of Marzuki was sitting injudgment of an old lady who

Hani Hazaimeh

pleaded guilty of stealing some tapi-oca from a plantation. In her defense,the old lady admitted to the Judge thatshe was indeed guilty of crime becauseshe was poor and her son was sickwhile her grandchild was hungry. Theplantation manager insisted that she bepunished as a deterrent to others.

The judge going through thedocuments then looked up and saidto the old lady, “I’m sorry but I can-not make any exception to the Lawand you must be punished accord-ingly”. The old lady was fined Rp.1million (USD 100) and if she couldnot pay the fine then she will bejailed for 2 1/2 years as demanded

by the Law. She wept as she couldnot pay the fine. The Judge then tookher hat and put in Rp.100,000 intothe hat and said, “In the name of jus-tice, I fine all present in the Court@ Rp.50,000 (USD 5.50) each asdwellers of this City for letting achild starve until her grandmotheris compelled to steal to feed hergrandchild. The Registrar will nowcollect the fines from all present.”

The Court managed to collect Rp3.5 million (USD 350) including thefine collected from the plantationmanager, whereby the fine was paidoff and the rest was given to the oldlady. Yes, it is the crime of the state

when a woman starves, it is also thecrime of the state when a youngsteris conditioned to think brutality atan early age: When such thinkinghappens he did not get the kind ofeducation that could have taughthim love, he did not get the kind offamily affection that could havetaught him to respect his sisters:And who is to blame?

Not so much him as us. Whenhe is set loose onto the state afterthree years it’s because the state de-serves to have him back, because itis society which has made him whathe is. It’s our problem..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

self against these vicious attacks,”he said. The reality on the ground,however, is a totally different storythan what is being portrayed by theUS and Israel media who are mind-controlling their audience. Mr. Ear-nest seems to be unaware that by thetime this report is published, Israelwill have killed more than 104 Pal-estinians, injured more than 700people and demolished more than 50houses, according to PalestinianHealth Ministry.

Israel, the occupying power, isfully responsible for this escalationin the region, and its criminal as-sault and actions against the Pales-tinian people in the Gaza Strip con-stitute war crimes and crimesagainst humanity.

Palestinians are victims andthey are fighting a decades-longbattle against their colonizer. But asfar as the media is concerned, factsmust be reported and people havethe right to know who is the oppres-sor and who is oppressed.— Courtesy Arab News

blood with the waters of the SevenSeas. The brutality has been decriedand condemned by all.

To add fuel to the fire, the elitehas unleashed its defenders in thePublic, and appearing on the T.V. talkshows shamelessly. Their wolfish at-titude is repugnant to the intelligenceof the Public. They have made thesituation worse by their guile and tact-less discussions. It is just a patheticshow of arrogance. It is too annoy-ing that viewers switch off the T.Vsets. The party is in disarray andshambles. No one can rescue it.

They are making a mess of thesituation with their rhetoric and il-logical logic to defend themselves.They are instrumental in fuelling thefire and no one can control it fromspreading further. They are tryinghard to breath life in the dead politi-cal body. It is no use crying over thespilt milk. Even the Crocodile tearswon’t help their cause.—Via email

Rising streetcrime in Ramazan

WAQAS ABDUL QAYYUM

Ramzan always brings increase ineverything. Increasing in prayers,charity and other good deeds. Butthere are a lot of people who are con-tinuously involved in sinful deeds. Ifwe enlist them, street crime will beon the top. Heavy traffic jam on busystreets is also resulting in increasingnumber of street crimes. In this holymonth, people have different timingsfor going to work places. The streetcriminals know how to make the bestof situation. The incidents usuallyoccur either in morning time or be-fore Iftar. The timing is suitable forthem as Police is also busy in sleep-ing or preparing for Iftar. It is myhumble request to the officials to takenecessary measures and save peoplefrom street crimes.?—North Karachi

Irresponsible fooddepartmentsMNA NASIR JAMAL

The tenders of Punjab and Sindh FoodDepartments are not only issued inviolation of the United Nations Envi-ronment Programme (UNEP)’s callfor a global ban on plastics but also bystoring edible commodities like wheatin the toxic packaging is a deliberateeffort to devastate precious health ofthe people. Bangladesh is the firstcountry to ban plastic bags. Plasticbags have been banned in Bangladeshsince 2002, after being found to beresponsible for the 1988 and 1998floods that submerged most of thecountry. In India, the national legisla-ture proposed a ban on the manufac-turing, sale and use of plastic bags in2003. China banned in 2008.

The decision makers in the Sindhand Punjab Food Departments seemto be least concerned about the eco-logical problems and hazards for pre-cious human lives. Also, Pakistan-Environmental Protection Agency(Pak-EPA) seems to be ignoring thesetenders. Worth mentioning is that lastyear, the policy makers and seniorbureaucracy were warned by EPA, toprocure wheat in jute bags which is anatural biodegradable packagingmaterial. It is also globally acceptedthat jute bags are best suitable forpreserving edible commodities forlonger period.

Could Sindh and Punjab FoodDepartment explain as to how to dealwith aflatoxins developed in the con-ditions of non-aeration under Polypro-pylene packing and the hazards asso-ciated with the decomposition of thesebags and thus causing contaminationin wheat or other commodities?Whither our Federal Government, thatcan’t take actions against the Provin-cial departments who are playinghavoc with the health of masses andare responsible to ignore UNEP call?Why EPA is also a silent spectator?

H E Philippe ThiebaudAmbassador of France to Pakistan

Nuclear Security Summit & Options for Pakistan

THE 3rd meeting of the initiative - Nuclear Security Summit (NSS) 2014, participated

by 50 countries at The Hague onMarch 24-25, 2014, is a practice ba-sically aimed to seek awareness withreference to the threat of nuclear ter-rorism and ‘how to lock up world’snuclear materials more securely, sothat, it should not be so easy, for ter-rorists to steal them. Moreover, revolv-ing strategic Ukrainian environment,inexorably a short-term concern overUkraine, partly overshadowed entirelong-term goal of the NSS this time(2014). By and large, the NSS out-comes cannot be expected as a bind-ing legal instrument since it is not alegal binding and its operatingmechanism is political in nature.

Admittedly all the participatingcountries reached The Hague in or-der to demonstrate and substantiatetheir commitments to the goals andforgoing aims of NSS, so as Paki-

stan endeavored by its presence at theNSS this time also. The fact is beyonddoubt that Pakistan is committed to andhas shown its determination and dedi-cation over nuclear security by partici-pating in all the three meetings of NSS(Washington, DC 2010; The Soul,2012 and The Hague, 2014). Its en-gagement with the international com-munity in promoting nuclear safetyand security has been demonstrativelyadmitted, on the international forums.Moreover, as per NSS agenda, under-standing the risks of nuclear terrorismand nuclear accidents, Pakistani au-thorities have taken appropriate steps.

Moving ahead, as the NSS callsfor regional and collective steps in theway of improved and enhanced secu-rity, Pakistan can adopt a frontlineposition in proposing a “regionalnuclear safety and security arrange-ment by inviting both India and Chinato join in an Asian Trilateral - NuclearSafety and Security Network (AT-NSSN)”. In the term AT-NSSN,coined by Rabia Akhtar, Kansas StateUniversity, proposed in a very ratio-nal, coherent and workable manner,the need to elevate mutual gains that

would, in practical, be beneficial forthe regional stability along with itsnuclear safety and security concerns.Since all these three countries of theregion are nuclear powers, so theyneed to share and contribute their ex-pert experiences and methods in thisregard. It would add to the nuclearknowledge in the region. Ms. Akhtarhere raised a very critical and para-doxical point that the three countriesmeet other global leaders at the NSSforum to reiterate their national andinternational commitments but eventhen they do not try to talk to each otherabout their regional commitments es-pecially when all three are nuclearweapons states; all three share a com-mon border and all three carry histori-cal/political baggage which fostersinsecurity and hampers cooperation.

Pakistan can use such type of fo-rums and several other such platformsto address its national and internationalsecurity concerns including its nuclearand energy security too. In this trilat-eral nuclear region, India and Chinatoo stand with same type of apprehen-sions with each other therefore, thebest opt-able pattern is to discuss the

unease regarding the energy crises,nuclear facilities of the region andnuclear safety and security of theirnuclear weapons over here; where theother important global players can actas the observer states.

Pakistan however, has high-lighted its potential qualification tobe taken as a member in the exportcontrol regimes especially in theNuclear Suppliers Group, as it is in aposition to provide nuclear fuel cycleservices under IAEA safeguards.

Therefore, realistically narrating,Nuclear Security Summits could bebest utilized as a forum or a platformto initiate such type of (bilateral ormultilateral) networks, which woulddirectly boast its objective and float-ing agenda worldwide; that wouldplausibly ahead, in an optimistic man-ner, towards successful outcome ofnuclear security summits. Neverthe-less, being the legal non-binding na-ture, future of NSS would be uncer-tain and indistinct even after the nextprojected summit that is expected tobe held in Washington in 2016.— The writer is a freelancecolumnist.

Beenish AltafEmail:beenishaltaf7@gmail.com

Should now government shut the En-vironment departments and agenciesthat can’t check such hazardous ten-ders and making fake claims to imple-ment the Pakistan Environmental Pro-tection Act, 1997?

Here I would like to request theFederal Government to intervene andpenalise concerned officials in theFood Departments who are leastbothered about the Polypropylenepacking and the hazards associatedwith the decomposition.—Via email

Three cheersfor Costa Rica

KAJAL CHATTERJEE

No kudos is enough for the CostaRican team for its brilliant perfor-mance in the World Cup. Firstly, it hadentered the round of 16 after 24 years;that too by vanquishing two formerWorld Champions, namely Uruguayand Italy. Next it had played a goal-less draw against another formerchampion England and emerged on thesummit of the group. The pre-quarterfinal witnessed their triumph overformer Euro champion Greece.

Though they got eliminated fromthe tournament at the quarter finalstage through tie-breakers, their fightagainst the traditionally strong Neth-erlands till the very last moments ofthe match will remain permanentlyetched in the memories of all foot-ball lovers throughout the globe. Thebrilliant performances of Bryan Ruiz,Joel Campbell, Oscar Duarte, MarcoUrena and Junior Diaz(to name a few)have simply delighted all, irrespec-tive of nationalities.

Not to forget the contribution ofthe master tactician in the managerJorge Pinto. Costa Rica’s achievementis necessarily a very good advertise-ment for international football scenariowhich shows that success is not thesole monopoly of a few selected coun-tries only and that a new footballpower is slowly but steadily emerg-ing from Central America. It is hopedthat Costa Rica will carry on the goodwork by reaching newer heights infuture international tournaments aswell. If the Costa Ricans continue todo justice to their immense talent andpotential, they will definitely rule in-ternational soccer for many years tocome. Costa Rica team is indeed inthe safe hands of these bunch of brave-hearts who are sure to create new his-tories in the game of football.—India

Water and sanitation:Not a priority

HASHIM ABRO

Regrettably, the issue of access to safewater and sanitation has not remainedthe top priority of our successive pastand present rulers in the county. Nei-ther our ruling elite have necessaryvision, nor do they have requisite po-litical will to tackle water sector, whichhas been lacking since the creation ofthis country. The poor and illiteratevoters may be served, not exploitedas being done by our political lot.

However, time has come; there-fore, the provision of safe drinkingwater and facility of sanitation mustbecome one of the top most priori-ties of our ruling elite to save the livesof thirsty members of ‘Human Fam-ily” in Pakistan.—Islamabad

Crewmembers stand on the flight deck of Aircraft Carrier USS George Washington whilst at anchor in Busan port inBusan, South Korea.

URI AVNERY

BOMBS are raining on Gaza and rockets on Southern Israel, people are dying and homes are being destroyed.

Again. Again without any purpose. Again withthe certainty that after it’s all over, everythingwill essentially be the same as it was before.

But I can hardly hear the sirens, whichwarn of rockets coming toward Tel Aviv. I can-not take my mind off the awful thing that hap-pened in Jerusalem. If a gang of neo-Nazis hadkidnapped a 16-year-old boy in a London Jew-ish neighborhood in the dark of the night,driven him to Hyde Park, beaten him up,poured gasoline into his mouth, doused himall over and set him on fire — what wouldhave happened?

Wouldn’t the UK have exploded in a stormof anger and disgust? Wouldn’t the Queen haveexpressed her outrage? Wouldn’t the primeminister have rushed to the home of the be-reaved family to apologize on behalf of theentire nation? Wouldn’t the leadership of theneo-Nazis, their active supporters and brain-washers be indicted and condemned? Perhapsin the UK. Perhaps in Germany. Not here.

This abominable atrocity took place inJerusalem. A Palestinian boy was abducted andburned alive. No racist crime in Israel evercame close to it. Burning people alive is anabomination everywhere. In a state that claimsto be “Jewish”, it is even worse.

Under Israeli law, East Jerusalem is notoccupied territory. It is a part of sovereign Is-rael. The chain of events was as follows:

World’s deafening silence over GazaTwo Palestinians, apparently acting alone,

allegedly kidnapped three Israeli teenagerswho were trying to hitchhike at night from asettlement near Hebron. The action went awrywhen one of the three reportedly succeeded incalling the Israeli police emergency numberfrom his mobile phone. The kidnappers, as-suming that the police would soon be on theirtracks, panicked and allegedly shot the threeat once. They dumped the bodies in a field andfled. (Actually the police bungled things andonly started their hunt the next morning.)

All of Israel was in an uproar. Many thou-sands of soldiers were employed for threeweeks in the search for the three youngsters,combing thousands of buildings, caves andfields.The public uproar was surely justified.But it soon degenerated into an orgy of racistincitement, which intensified from day to day.Newspapers, radio stations and TV networkscompeted with each other in unabashed racistdiatribes, repeating the official line ad nauseamand adding their own nauseous commentary— every day, around the clock.

The security services of the PalestinianAuthority, which collaborated throughout withthe Israeli security services, played a majorrole in discovering early on the identity of thetwo alleged kidnappers. Mahmoud Abbas, thePA president, stood up in a meeting of the Arabcountries and condemned the kidnapping un-equivocally and was branded by many of hisown people as an Arab Quisling. Israeli lead-ers, on the other hand, called him a hypocrite.

Israel’s leading politicians let loose a salvoof utterances which would be seen anywhere

else as outright fascist. A short selection:Danny Danon, deputy Minister of Defense:

“If a Russian boy had been kidnapped, Putinwould have flattened village after village!”

“Jewish Home” faction leader AyalaShaked: “With a people whose heroes are childmurderers we must deal accordingly.” (“Jew-ish Home” is a part of the governmentcoalition.)Noam Perl, world chairman of BneiAkiva, the youth movement of the settlers: “Anentire nation and thousands of years of historydemand: Revenge!” And Benjamin Netanyahuhimself, speaking about the entire Palestinianpeople: “They are not like us. We sanctify life,they sanctify death!”

When the bodies of the three were foundby tourist guides, the chorus of hatred reacheda new crescendo. Soldiers posted tens of thou-sands of messages on the internet calling for“revenge,” politicians egged them on, the me-dia added fuel, lynch mobs gathered in manyplaces in Jerusalem to hunt Arab workers andrough them up. Except for a few lonely voices,it seemed that all Israel had turned into a soc-cer mob, shouting “Death to the Arabs!”

Can anyone even imagine a present-dayEuropean or American crowd shouting “Deathto the Jews?”The six arrested until now forthe bestial murder of the Arab boy had comestraight from one of these “Death to the Ar-abs” demonstrations.

First they had tried to kidnap a 9-year-oldboy in the same Arab neighborhood, Shuafat.One of them caught the boy in the street anddragged him toward their car, choking him atthe same time. Luckily, the child succeeded in

shouting “Mama!” and his mother started hit-ting the kidnapper with her cell phone. Hepanicked and ran off. The choking marks onthe boy’s neck could be seen for several days.

The next day the group returned, caughtMuhammad Abu-Khdeir, a cheerful 16-year-old boy with an engaging smile, poured gaso-line in his mouth and burned him to death. Asif this was not enough, Border Policemencaught his cousin during a protest demonstra-tion, handcuffed him, threw him on the groundand started kicking his head and face. Hiswounds look terrible. The disfigured boy wasarrested, the policemen were not.

The atrocious way Muhammad wasmurdered was not mentioned at first. Thefact was disclosed by an Arab pathologistwho was present at the official autopsy.Most Israeli newspapers mentioned the factin a few words on an inner page. Most TVnewscasts did not mention the fact at all.In Israel proper, Arab citizens rose up, asthey have not done in many years. Violentdemonstrations throughout the countrylasted for several days. At the same time,the Gaza Strip frontline exploded in a neworgy of rockets and aerial bombings in anew mini-war which already has a name:“Solid Cliff.”The name of the six suspectsof the murder-by-fire — several of whomhave already confessed to the appallingdeed — are still being withheld.

—Courtesy: Arab News[Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and

former member of Knesset.Email: avnery@actcom.co.il].

Hypocrisy at its bestSHASHI THAROOR

ACCORDING to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s supporters, his overwhelming victory in India’s general electionswas a sweeping repudiation of everything for which the

previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, ledby the Indian National Congress, stood. Will Modi live up tovoters’ expectations?

There has certainly been a lot of hype. Modi, it was claimedduring the election campaign, would reverse the UPA’s “poorgovernance” and “policy paralysis,” introducing a radically newapproach, based on his corporatist “Gujarat development model.”In doing so, he would transform India, liberating it from the UPA’sexhausted and ineffective policies and thus improving the livesof millions. “Achhe din aane wale hain” — “the good days arecoming” — his supporters declared upon his victory.

In particular, the Modi public-relations machine proclaimedan end to the sops and compromises that supposedly character-ized the UPA coalition. Modi pledged to make the tough deci-sions that the UPA could not, weaning Indians from the statistculture of “doles” and subsidies, while pursuing bold policiesaimed at spurring economic growth and job creation. Indianstoday, he averred, want jobs, not handouts.

It took just a few weeks for the hollowness of these claims tobecome apparent. A commonly cited example of the outgoinggovernment’s alleged economic mismanagement was its sugar-price policy. Powerful sugarcane cooperatives, led by major UPAsupporters, supposedly drove the government to fix extravagantprices and write off sugar farmers’ bad debts, leading to over-production. Instead of eliminating this system, as expected,Modi’s government has augmented subsidies for sugar exportsto support higher output, raised import duties on sugar to dis-courage foreign competition, and increased the percentage ofsugar-based ethanol that must be blended with petrol. His moti-vation is not difficult to discern: His Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)hopes that such concessions will help it to wrest control ofMaharashtra, India’s main sugar-producing state, from the UPAin the upcoming state assembly election.

This goal explains another policy reversal as well. The UPA’scritics long claimed that unsustainably low, state-dictated pas-senger fares and freight charges for rail services — which couldnot cover the cost of maintenance to ensure the safety of trainsand tracks, much less enable expansion and improvement of ser-vice — reflected the government’s inability to make tough deci-sions. It is true that coalition politics prevented decisive action,with a railway minister being summarily dismissed by his ownparty leader — whom the UPA was politically unable to con-front — after attempting to raise fares. But, in the pre-electioninterim budget, the UPA government finally bit the bullet, pro-posing a 14.2 percent increase in rail fares and a 6.5 percent hikein freight rates. Per India’s code of political conduct, the budgetchanges were deferred until after the election.

Soon after taking office, the Modi government announcedits intention to implement the price increases, though officialsmade sure to emphasize that they were merely following throughon an existing mandate. Then, faced with public resistance, theymoderated the planned hikes, particularly of the significantlydiscounted monthly pass currently available to suburban com-muters — an important segment of the electorate in Mumbai,Maharashtra’s capital. Modi had previously derided the UPA’spopulist railway ministers for distorted policies that punishedbusinesses, declaring during his election campaign that India’srailways should be run more like China’s, with increased gov-ernment investment, including for bullet trains.

—Courtesy: AN.

Asean political-securitycommunity challenges

DR MUNIR MAJID

THE people’s Asean would not be a reality if the politics isnot right – both the domestic political systems in whichthe people live and the wider regional order that underpins

the peace, stability and prosperity of their lives.As Asean member states are increasingly discovering, the

previous contention that economic growth and benefit will sat-isfy citizens without the need to be over-excited about politicalrights, is wearing thin.That model does not work any more, if itever did. Certainly, if nothing else, the ICT revolution and socialmedia have provided a shared marketplace of experiences inpolitical societies across the globe.

It is no longer possible to pull the wool over people’s eyes.So state authorities have to get smart to it, whatever politicalsystem they profess.

In this connection, the notion of an Asean political-securitycommunity (APSC) is apposite. The APSC blueprint actually ishard to be faulted. Whoever writes these things, and those whoadopt them, must really know what’s happening around them,even if they do not quite come along in action against their pro-fession in words.Read this: The APSC... ”will ensure that thepeoples and member states of Asean live in peace with one an-other and with the world at large in a just, democratic and har-monious environment.”

Some more: The Asean states will offer democracy, rule oflaw and good governance, and will ensure respect for the promo-tion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedom.

All good intention. However, even if this is all aspiration, itstretches credulity when it is observed how some states in Aseanhave stagnated as communist regimes, others have regressed intopersecution and murder of minorities and workers, and yet an-other has introduced draconian religious laws.

Little wonder then that there is so much cynicism about, forexample, the Asean Inter-Governmental Commission on HumanRights (AICHR) set up in 2009 under the auspices of the APSC“to promote and protect human rights.” Where in Asean, throughthe AICHR, are human rights being protected on their violation?

It is in their promotion that refuge is taken. Even so, thepromotion is gentle. Go to the AICHR web-site and you will seemany pictures celebrating numerous workshops to promote hu-man rights. More Asean meetings while religious minorities arebeing persecuted and put to the sword in enough Asean memberstates.These are all difficult situations to handle no doubt. Aseanforeign ministers try to discuss the Rohingyas issue but Myanmarwould not have it, and will only do so on a bilateral basis withstates facing refugee problems as a consequence of its humanrights violations. And it comes to pass.

Well, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights wasadopted in 1948, and where has the world been? Rwanda-Burundi, Bosnia, Syria, Palestine... the list is endless and thesuffering never-ending. So why pick on Asean?

But, shall we say, Asean is talking about community-build-ing and higher standards of commitments to good governance?Therefore, there is every reason to hold Asean to a better protec-tion on human rights and treatment of citizens.

The laudable objectives of the APSC, and in the settingup of the AICHR, should not be left on the shelf as we ap-proach the end of 2014.The blueprint itself provides for bien-nial review. This review process should be reported and beheld in a more open fashion, with the participation of repre-sentatives of civil society, who must however appreciate theissues of state sovereignty and Asean cohesion.The hard ques-tion is not how to put aspiration down in words but how toimplement it in difficult situations and circumstances. Thatreview process should come up with creative ideas of makingthe words turn into at least some action, at least in respect ofprotection of human rights, and not just kick the matter tolong grass by having more workshops and meetings to studyit.When it comes to international relations and the wider re-gional order, the gap between verbal exhortation and actualaction is just as wide.

—Courtesy: Star

BEIRUT—The roadblocks and sandbags areback, cafes and hotels are nearly empty andmany of the tourists are gone.

Anxiety is gripping Lebanon following aspate of suicide bombings, and an ongoing se-curity sweep targeting militants — some of themwho had been staying in four-star Beirut hotels— has triggered a wave of cancellations of ho-tel and flight bookings in a country already onedge.

The militants involved are said by securityofficials to be part of a network of alleged ter-rorist sleeper cells planning suicide bombingstargeting security leaders and civilians alike.That has fueled concerns that Sunni extremistssurging in Iraq and Syria were taking their fightto Lebanon next.

Along Beirut’s Mediterranean corniche,crowds are thinner. Not far away is the seasideDuroy hotel — one side of it still slightly black-ened after a suicide bomber blew himself upduring a police raid on his room on June 25. Atthe high-end Beirut Souks shopping complexin the downtown business district, the passagesbetween shops are nearly empty of shoppers.

“In the month or two before the incident atthe Duroy, we were seeing a lot of Saudi, Iraqitourists,” said a 36-year-old bookstore manager

Anxiety grips Lebanon after blasts, arrestsin downtown Beirut. “We really thought that thestart of this summer was better than the last one.”

“Then the bombings and arrests happened,and we didn’t see them anymore,” she added,asking to remain anonymous because she wasnot authorized by her employer to speak tojournalists.Lebanon, a tiny country with a his-tory of civil strife, has been profoundly affectedby the civil war raging in neighboring Syria overthe past three years. In addition to the influx ofwell over 1 million Syrian refugees to the coun-try, the conflict has inflamed tensions amongLebanon’s long-feuding sects, causing violence,including street clashes and bombings.

The country is sharply split between thosewho back the overwhelmingly Sunni rebelsfighting to topple Syrian President BasharAssad, and those who support him, includingthe Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which hassent its fighters to shore up Assad’s forcesagainst the rebels.

The recent cancellations cap a downwardtrend in the number of tourists to Lebanon sincethe conflict in Syria began. Tourism MinisterMichel Pharaon said the number of tourists in2013 dropped by 1 million compared to the 2.3million tourists who visited Lebanon in 2010.The number of visitors for the first five months

of 2014 was down 9 percent from the same pe-riod last year, though the ministry had no fig-ures for June and July.

After enjoying relative calm for nearly threemonths, a new wave of violence erupted in themiddle of last month, coinciding with dramaticevents in nearby Iraq, where militants of the al-Qaida splinter group called the Islamic Statehave taken over large parts of the country. Inthe space of one week beginning June 20, a sui-cide attacker blew up his car near a checkpointin eastern Lebanon, another near a cafe in south-ern Beirut and a third blew himself up at theDuroy to avoid arrest.The explosions killed twopeople and wounded others. Security forcessearching for the militants have raided severalhotels in Beirut, upsetting tourists, some ofwhom headed to the airport immediately after-ward. A military prosecutor on Monday charged28 people with planning bombing attacks andbelonging to the Islamic State group.

Now, instead of the relatively calm summerthat Lebanese had hoped would bring somebadly needed cash for the economy, workers putup roadblocks to guard against car bombs.Guards at malls search shoppers more meticu-lously. At the World Cup Fan Park in Beirut,organizers erected metal detectors at two en-

trances to the open air complex with three giantscreens. Additional security personnel gothrough personal belongings before allowingfans to enter.

Pharaon said Lebanon’s security situationis better than other countries in the region.But, he said, if there is a militant “insistenceto target Lebanon, this will impact not juston the tourism sector but the overall situationin Lebanon.”Ayman Fariq Abu Ali, a 30-year-old taxi driver, says his worry is not possiblenew violence — “We grew up with death.We’re used to it,” he said. He’s more con-cerned with making a living with touristsgone. In previous years, he had long-distancefares with tourists visiting around the coun-try. Now he waits on the sidewalk for smallfares, sweating in the thick heat.

Following the attacks, the United ArabEmirates reissued a warning to its nationals notto travel to or stay in Lebanon, making businessowners fear that other Gulf states will followsuit.

“This is going to impact Gulf tourism inLebanon. If I’m from the Gulf, why would Iwant to go to a country where every day there isan explosion or a car bombing?” asked GeorgeAlam, a political analyst—AP.

SEOUL—North Korea on Saturday con-demned a port visit by a US aircraft car-rier to the South as a “reckless” act ofprovocation following proposals byPyongyang to ease cross-border ten-sions.

The USS George Washington ar-rived in the southern port of Busan onFriday for joint military exercises start-ing next week.

A spokesman of the Policy Depart-ment of the North’s National DefenceCommission (NDC) said the visit was“little short of its ‘gunboat diplomacy’in the last century” and “in defiance” ofthe North’s overtures.

“The US should properly understandthat the more persistently it resorts toreckless nuclear blackmail and threat,the further the DPRK (North Korea) willbolster up its cutting edge nuclear force

North Korea condemnsUS aircraft carrier port visit

for self-defence”, the spokesman wasquoted as saying by the North’s officialKorean Central News Agency (KCNA).

He said the exercises, taking placeafter the North reached out last week,were an “open challenge” to its efforts.

“Whenever there was a sign of im-proving the north-south relations and de-tente on the peninsula, the US resortedto sinister interference and obstruc-tions”, he said in reference to the up-coming drills.

The George Washington is scheduledto take part in joint exercises with theSouth Korean navy from July 16-21 aspart of annual military drills, Seoul’sYonhap news agency said.

It will then participate in a searchand rescue exercise with South Koreanand Japanese maritime forces in watersoff the southern island of Jeju for two

days starting July 21, it said.Last week the NDC called for both

the North and the South to halt all hos-tile military activities — a suggestionSeoul dismissed as “nonsensical” in thelight of Pyongyang’s nuclear weaponsprogramme.

North Korea issued another callMonday for a lowering of military ten-sions with South Korea, even as leaderKim Jong-Un oversaw firing drills onan island near the sensitive maritimeborder.

A government statement carried byKCNA said it was time to end “recklesshostility and confrontation” and calledon Seoul to scrap its annual joint mili-tary drills with the United States.

South Korea has repeatedly made itclear that the annual joint drills are non-negotiable—AFP.

Graft leavesIndian health

care ailingNEW DELHI—In 2008, in thelast such study available,Transparency Internationalconfirmed the personal experi-ence of millions of Indians,namely, that health care is themost corrupt institution thatthey encounter in their dailylives, after the police.

It found that 80 per cent ofIndians classified as impover-ished had to pay bribes forhealth services. These includeda hospital bed, a test, outpatienttreatment or surgery. Ninetyper cent of the bribes were paiddirectly to doctors and staff.

Dinner-table talk amongthe middle class and rich Indi-ans often turns to horror storiesof doctors getting kickbacks inreturn for an expensive opera-tion or diagnostic procedure.

Or of highly paid doctorsin private hospitals given “quo-tas” by the management. Thealleged quotas refer to the num-ber of patients, tests and pro-cedures they need to prescribeto generate the required rev-enue for the hospital. Now anAustralian doctor, Dr DavidBerger, has stirred up a nationaldebate about corruption in In-dian health care with an articlein the British Medical Journal.

Based on six months as avolunteer physician in an In-dian hospital, Dr Berger de-scribes unnecessary X-Rays,CT scans, MRIs, hysterecto-mies and stent procedures, rou-tine bribe-taking, and “needlessdeaths”.He mentions how ref-erence for an electrocardio-gram (ECG) at a private heartclinic or other investigations at-tracted a 10 to 15 per cent kick-back, and how patients with nostructural heart disease werebeing given unnecessaryechocardiograms every threemonths.

Dr Berger’s claim of doc-tors over-testing and over-treat-ing has been supported bymany eminent physicians. Toname only one, top Indian gas-troenterologist Dr SamiranNundy, said on July 4 that“kickbacks and bribes oil ev-ery part of the health-caremachinery”.If India now has agigantic problem, the reasonsare numerous—ANN.

Greater Manila toexplode to 30 mln

by 2025MANILA—Greater Manila’spopulation will explode to 30million by 2025, making it theworld’s second-largest urbanarea after the Japanese capitalTokyo.

Population Commissiondeputy executive directorRosalinda Marcelino told TheStraits Times in an interviewyesterday that the population inGreater Manila - a 5,000 sq kmurban sprawl that covers MetroManila’s 17 cities and townsand the surrounding suburbs -is growing at 2 per cent a year,at pace with the nationalaverage.At that rate, Greater, orurban, Manila will see its popu-lation expand from 22.5 millionin 2010, when the last officialcensus was taken, to 30 millionby 2025.

Unabated urban migrationand inadequate family planningprogrammes are fuelling thatgrowth.Each day, 1,700 peoplemove to the capital city.With the inflow, Metro Manila,the capital region that forms thecore of Greater Manila, will seeits population balloon to 16.3million in 2025 from 11.85million in 2010.

The population of the Philip-pines as a whole, meanwhile, willbreach 100 million and grow to107 million in 2025 from 97 mil-lion in 2010, making it the world’s12th most populous nation.

But among the world’smetropolitan areas, only Tokyo- with 36.4 million people - willbe more populated than urbanManila by 2025. By then, itspopulation will be larger thanthat of Mumbai (26.6 million),Dhaka (22 million), Sao Paulo(21.4 million), New York (20.6million) and Shanghai (19.4million).Marcelino said thegovernment is seeking to re-duce the fertility rate to twochildren per family from thenational average of three chil-dren now. She said a “two-childpolicy” similar to China’s“one-child policy” will beideal, but it will be seen as “co-ercive” in the Philippines.

“The population should notnecessarily be controlled, but itshould be managed, according tothe government’s resources andcapacities,” she said—ANN.

is done militarily or diplo-matically. Israel will considerany suggestion that willbring the accomplishment ofthis goal,” the official said,speaking on condition ofanonymity because he wasnot authorised to talk to themedia. The military said it hasstruck more than 1,100 tar-gets, including Hamas rocketlaunchers, command centersand weapon manufacturingand storage facilities, in a bidto stop relentless rocket firecoming Gaza. Officials in theterritory said that twowomen were killed in the at-tack on the disabled center.The central Gaza mosquewas being used to concealrockets like those militantshave fired nearly 700 timestoward Israel over the pastfive days, the military said.

However, the strikes inthe densely populated GazaStrip show the challenge Is-rael faces as it considers aground operation that couldpotentially pose further dan-gers to civilians. Gaza HealthMinistry spokesman Ashrafal-Kidra said Israeli strikesraised the death toll there to135, with more than 920wounded. Among the deadwas a nephew of IsmailHaniyeh, a top Hamas leader,who was killed in an airstrikenear his home, Hamas offi-cials said. Hamas militantshave been hit hard.

Though the exact break-down of casualties remainsunclear, dozens of the deadalso have been civilians. Is-rael has also demolisheddozens of homes it says areused by Hamas for militarypurposes. “Am I a terrorist?Do I make rockets and artil-lery?” screamed Umm Omar,a woman in the southerntown of Rafah whose homewas destroyed in anairstrike. It was not immedi-

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also destroyed.It further said three ter-

rorists including one Uzbekwas apprehended fromBoya area where as inDegan area two explosiveladen vehicles were de-stroyed through an avia-tion strike. Two suicidebombers were identifiedand chases who explodedthemselves when encircledclose to Boya.

The consolidation ofcleared areas in Miranshahand Datta Khel, the ISPRsaid, road continues whereas six prepared motorcycleborne IEDs and two vehicleborne IEDs, two 12.7mmguns, one 14.5 mm gun,three vehicles, 11 suicidejackets and a huge cache ofarms and ammunition wererecovered during the last 24hours in Khar Warsak andZartangi areas.

In the meanwhile reliefoperation for IDPs atBannu, DI Khan, Tank andPeshawar continues at fullpace. 96,533 ration packseach of 110 Kilogram havebeen distributed amongIDPs.1,012 ton rationshave been collected so farat 59 relief collectionpoints established by Pa-kistan Army throughoutthe country, bulk of whichhave been transported toBannu.

Nisar ordersFrom Page 1

RehabilitationFrom Page 1

rehabilitation of the Inter-nally Displaced Persons ofNorth Waziristan back totheir homes with dignity,once the operation Zarb-e-Azb is over.The federal gov-ernment has providedaround Rs. 8 billion for IDPsso far while Rs. 358.236 mil-lion have already been dis-tributed among 29,853 fami-lies. According to the latestdata available 929859 IDPs,belonging to 80302 families,have been registered so far.However, final figureswould be known afterNADRA completes its veri-fication process. IDPs reg-istration process is expectedto be completed by July 15.

The Federal Governmenthas also announced dona-tion of one day salary of itsemployees to the IDPsamounting to Rs. 200 million.

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concerning the internallydisplaced persons of NorthWaziristan and on reducingelectricity load shedding.

He said PakistanPeople’s Party always actedwith political maturity, alleg-ing that the affectees ofNorth Waziristan operationare completely ignored bythe federal government.Memon said that the federalgovernment must stop inter-

fering in the affairs of Sindhgovernment as per the 18thamendment of the constitu-tion.

He said that unlike whatPakistan Muslim League-Nled Punjab government didto the Prime Minister andPresident in the past, PPP ledSindh government has neverhad a prejudicial attitude to-wards the current Prime Min-ister and the President.

Only PakistanFrom Page 1

exile as he forced Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharifand Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif to exiletwice,” the minister said. Pervaiz Rasheed said lawless-ness had been the rule in the dictatorial regimes while thelaw takes its due course in a democracy, adding the courtswould decide the fate of Pervaiz Mushrraf. To a query,he said Arslan Iftikhar was daggers drawn with PTI Chair-man Imran Khan after PTI chairman’s provocative speechagainst his father (former chief justice Iftikhar MuhammadCh) at Bahawalpur adding that ‘there is always a ArslanIftikhar for every Imran khan in the world’.

To a question, the information minister said KPK wasawarded 1 percent more funds under the NFC award to theprovinces for war against terror, adding that it would getRs 22 billion extra under the NFC and this amount shouldbe used by the KPK government for the food and shelterof the IDPs. He further said the KPK government shouldalso account for Rs 80 billion paid by the federal govern-ment under the NFC for the same purpose during the pastfour years. About PEMRA, he said PEMRA has written toall cable operators regarding the issue of placement ofchannels and it has to wait for fifteen days for the imple-mentation of its instructions as per law. To a query regard-ing consultation with politicians, the minister said the pas-sage of Tahfuz-e-Pakistan Bill was made possible throughconsultation with the all political parties and the govern-ment has no inhibition to contact any political party in thelarger interest of the country, adding that the doors arealways open for all political forces. To a question, he saidPak Army had been playing its due rule for peace addingthat the armed forces and democratic institutions havebeen helping the affectees of the North Waziristan.

He said the mischief makers against the forces will lickthe dust adding that the powers to the armed forces are linewith the Constitution of the country and an all-out resourcesand legal umbrella will be provided to the Armed forces.Regarding PAT chief Tahirul Qadri, the minister said AllamaDr Tahir ul Qadri was known for his political somersaults,adding the PAT Chief Dr Qadri made a similar attempt againstdemocracy last year as well. He said Tahir ul Qadri haddeserted his followers in the lap of pneumonia last year andflown to the foreign lands in the cozy business class plane.To a question, the minister said the duration of theloadshedding will be cut down to the minimum by everyyear, adding that the power transmission lines could notbear the extra power load and the government has decidedto set up a separate company to strengthen power trans-mission lines in the country. —APP

ister and the prime ministerhimself.

Nisar directed the secu-rity agencies that theyneeded to work beyond thecall of their duty and showutmost responsibility in or-der to prevent and counterany untoward incidents.

He further ordered thedistrict and police adminis-tration of Rawalpindi andIslamabad to keep the secu-rity of sensitive locationsextremely tight as well ascarry out increasingly inten-sive surprise search opera-tions in the adjoining areasof the Benazir Bhutto Inter-national Airport. Reviewingthe overall security plans ofthe twin cities, the ministerdirected that there should beimpeccable coordination be-tween the authorities man-aging security of the twincities for improved tacklingof emergency situations.

The minister also di-rected the police to furtherenhance its capacity bymeans of physical trainingand modern equipment pro-curement. The meeting ob-served that joint patrollingteams of Rangers and policehad given a sense of secu-rity to the residents but theirservices needed to be mademore focused and effective.CPO Rawalpindi HumayunBashir Tarar and SSPIslamabad Muhammad AliNekokara briefed the minis-ter about the security plans,ongoing search operationsand their results in their ju-risdictions.

Secretary Interior, Com-missioner Rawalpindi, DCORawalpindi, CPO Rawalpindi,SSP, Chief CommissionerIslamabad, Acting IGIslamabad, SSP ICT, and AIGSpecial Branch were alsopresent during the meeting.Federal Interior Minister alsosaid that security agencieshave to work more than theirduty requirements and haveto be more responsible tocurb any unforeseen inci-dent in the twin cities in re-action to the military offen-sive in North Waziristan tribalarea.

“We need cooperationbetween the security ad-ministration of the two cit-ies so that any unforeseensituation can be curbed”,Nisar said. He instructedthe police force to increasetheir efficiency with the lat-est weapons and physicaltraining.

and women, who are dyingevery day,” Frappreau said.“And I think that peopleshouldn’t confuse things orcome to quick conclusions, be-cause being against Israel aswe are today is not about be-ing anti-Semitic.”France hasboth Western Europe’s larg-est Jewish community and itslargest Muslim population,and the French governmenthas been walking a careful lineon the Gaza developments.

President FrancoisHollande issued a statementearlier this week in support ofIsrael that prompted criticismbecause it failed to mentionPalestinian victims. He laterspoke with Israeli Prime Min-ister Benjamin Netanyau andPalestinian PresidentMahmoud Abbas, then is-sued new statements express-ing support for each and con-cern for all victims.—AP

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Army doctors have beenspecially moved to reinforcelocal medical effort at Bannuand are busy in providingrelief to patients. 12,587 pa-tients have been treated atthe Field Medical Hospitalestablished at Khalifa GulNawaz hospital Bannu byArmy.

Rain of Israeli bombingFrom Page 1

ately known why the build-ing was targeted. The offen-sive showed no signs ofslowing down Saturday asIsraeli Defense MinisterMoshe Yaalon said hiscountry should ready itselffor several more days offighting. “We have accumu-lated achievements as far asthe price Hamas is payingand we are continuing todestroy significant targetsof it and other terrororganisations,” Yaalon saidafter a meeting with top se-curity officials. “We willcontinue to punish it untilquiet and security returns tosouthern Israel and the restof the country.

“Hamas said it hoped themosque attack wouldgalvanise support for it in theMuslim world. “(It) showshow barbaric this enemy isand how much it is hostile toIslam,” said Husam Badran,a Hamas spokesman in Doha,Qatar. “This terrorism givesus the right to broaden ourresponse to deter this occu-pier. “ The Israeli military re-leased an aerial photo of themosque it hit, saying Hamashid rockets in it right next toanother religious site and ci-vilian homes. It said Hamas,Islamic Jihad and other Gazamilitant groups use religioussites to conceal weaponsand establish undergroundtunnel networks, deliber-ately endangering civilians.Critics say such allegationsare too sweeping, and thatIsrael’s heavy bombardmentof one of the densely popu-lated territories is itself themain factor putting civiliansat risk. Sarit Michaeli of theIsraeli human rights groupB’Tselem said that while us-ing human shields violatesinternational humanitarianlaw, “this does not give Is-rael the excuse to violate in-

ternational humanitarian lawas well. “ Israel issues earlywarnings before attackingmany Gaza targets and themilitary says it uses othermeans to do its utmost toavoid harming bystanders.But Michaeli said civilianshave been killed when Israelbombed family homes ofHamas militants or when resi-dents were unable to leavetheir homes quickly enoughfollowing the Israeli warn-ings.—AFP

UN SecurityFrom Page 1

In a unanimous declara-tion, the 15-member councilcalled for a deescalation ofthe crisis that has claimedwell over a hundred lives,and urged a return to the“calm and restitution of theNovember 2012 ceasefire.”The council expressed “se-rious concern” over the“protection and welfare ofcivilians on both sides.” Italso called for a return to thenegotiating table by Israe-lis and Palestinians “withthe aim of achieving a com-prehensive peace agree-ment based on the two-statesolution.”

UK‘extremelyconcerned’LONDON—British ForeignSecretary William Haguesaid on Saturday he was“extremely concerned”about the loss of life inGaza, where five days ofIsraeli air strikes have killedmore than 120 Palestinians.“Extremely concerned abouthumanitarian situation andloss of life in Gaza. Speakingto President Abbas today,”Hague said on Twitter. TheForeign Office confirmedthe tweet and said that afuller statement would beissued later.—AFP

Horrors ofwar mustnever berepeatedPORT

MORESBY—JapanesePrime Minister Shinzo AbeFriday said the horrors ofwar must never be repeatedas he visited a World War IIbattlefield in Pacific nationPapua New Guinea. Asmany as 200,000 Japanesesoldiers died during thebrutal New Guinea cam-paign and Abe headed tothe northern town ofWewak to honour all thosewho perished, where hewas greeted by thousandsof well-wishers. He wasalso due to visit CapeWom, the site of theJapanese Army’s surrenderin PNG on the final day of aPacific swing that also tookhim to New Zealand andAustralia. “We must notrepeat the horrors of thewar,” he said after layingflowers at a memorial, theKyodo News agencyreported.—AFP

Merkelblasts USspyingBERLIN—Angela Merkelsaid on Saturday that newallegations of U.S. spyingshowed Berlin and Wash-ington were completely atodds over how they viewedthe role of intelligence, andshe hoped German actionwould persuade the UnitedStates not to spy onpartners. Her comments toGerman broadcaster ZDFcome two days after hergovernment told the CIAstation chief in Berlin toleave the country, in adramatic display of angerafter German officialsunearthed two suspectedspies. On Friday, WhiteHouse press secretary JoshEarnest told reporters“when differences arise,we’re committed toresolving those differencesthrough the establishedprivate channels... we don’tbelieve that trying to resolvethem through the media isappropriate.” —Reuters

STAFF REPORT

KARACHI—The MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM)coordination Committee onSaturday alleged that Rang-ers personnel have resumedunjustifiable arrests of itsparty members.

The committee pro-tested the arrests of eightMQM workers, calling themove unjustified. It alsoraised objections to raids

MQM alleges Rangers continueraids, arrests of party workers

KABUL—A roadside bomb killedeight civilians travelling in a vehiclein a volatile district of southern Af-ghanistan on Saturday, officialssaid, days after the UN reported asurge in civilian casualties in thecountry. They were going fromPanjwayi district to Kandahar citywhen the bomb hit their vehicle ona main road.

“This morning a roadside bombhit their vehicle killing eight, includ-ing four women,” Panjwayi gover-nor Fazal Mohammad Eshaqzai told

Roadside bomb kills 8 Afghan civilians: officialAFP, adding that two children werewounded.

An interior ministry statementconfirmed the blast and said the vic-tims belonged to one family.

There was no immediate claim ofresponsibility, but roadside bombsare a common weapon used by theTaliban, though attacks that kill ci-vilians often go unclaimed.

According to a UN report releasedWednesday, civilian casualties in Af-ghanistan soared by 24% to 4,853 inthe first half of 2014 compared to the

same period in 2013.Ground combat is now causing

more deaths and injuries than im-provised explosive devices (IEDs)in a worrying sign of spreading con-flict, the UN report said, with womenand children increasingly caught inthe crossfire.

The grim figures underline thefragile security situation Afghanistanfaces as it wrestles with political turmoilover its disputed presidential election,with most foreign forces due to with-draw by the end of the year.—AFP

Model Towntribunal judge

receivesdeath threatSTAFF REPORTER

being conducted against itsparty members.

The committee put forthits demand that safety of thearrested party workers livesshould be ensured.

MQM party chief AltafHussain had earlier decidedto write an open letter toChief of the Army Staff GenRaheel Sharif about “extra-judicial killings of Urdu-speaking innocent workersof the MQM by Rangers,

their arrests and torture”during the Karachi opera-tion. An MQM source hadinformed that Hussain let goof the idea of writing the let-ter on assurances extendedby the Karachi corps com-mander revealing “forma-tion of an investigationcommittee and that actionwould be taken against anyofficer of the paramilitaryRangers found involved inany illegal act.”

BANNU: Pak Army doctor providing medical treatment to an NWA’s IDP at Pak Armyfield hospital at IDPs camp.

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Former infor-mation minister and seniorPakistan People’s Partyleader Qamar Zaman Kairahas endorsed statement offormer premier Yousaf RazaGilani that a compromise wasreached to oust former mili-tary dictator PervezMusharraf.

He also claimed that in-cumbent Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif was also partof that compromise. “Whydidn’t he file a case againstMusharraf if he was not partof the compromise,” he said

and added that the caseagainst Musharraf waslodged through a court.

Earlier, senior PPP leaderand spokesman FahatullahBabar had denied Gilani’sstatement. Babar has dis-missed claims by YousafRaza Gillani stating that therewas no deal with formerpresident Pervez Musharrafto resign.

Babar said Muhsrraf hadresigned and made a decisionto leave Pakistan out of fearthat he would be impeached.

The PPP spokesman saidAsif Ali Zardari had formed ateam to prepare Musharraf’s

impeachment documentswhich included PML-N lead-ers Ishaq Dar and AhsanIqbal. Farhatullah Babar,Raza Rabbani and SharjeelMemon represented the PPPin the team.

Babar added thatMusharraf was sent a mes-sage of his impeachment pro-cess being completed afterresolutions were passed inthe provincial assemblies.

On Thursday, Gillani toldreporters that Musharraf hadresigned after promises hadbeen made of his ‘honourableexit’ and the PML-N was apart of these discussions.

Kaira endorses, Babar denies Gilani’sstatement on Musharraf ouster

KEIV—Ukrainian war planes bombardedseparatists along a broad front on Satur-day, inflicting huge losses, Kiev said, af-ter President Petro Poroshenko said“scores and hundreds” would be made topay for a deadly missile attack on Ukrai-nian forces.

In exchanges marking a sharp escala-tion in the three-month conflict, jets struckat the “epicentre” of the battle against therebels close to the border with Russia, amilitary spokesman said.

The planes targeted positions fromwhere separatists using high-poweredGrad missiles bombarded an armymotorised brigade on Friday, killing 23 ser-vicemen. Warplanes also struck at targetsnear Donetsk, the east’s main town whererebels have dug in, destroying a powerfulfighter base near Dzerzhinsk, AndriyLysenko, a spokesman for the “anti-ter-rorist operation” said.

“According to preliminary assess-

Ukraine claims 1,000 rebelskilled in air attack

ment, Ukrainian pilots ... killed about 500(rebel) fighters and damaged two armouredtransporters,” Lysenko told journalists.

In an earlier air attack on a base nearPerevalsk, north of Donetsk, two tanks, 10armoured vehicles and “about 500” rebelfighters were destroyed, he said.

Rebel representatives, quoted by Rus-sian news agencies, denied they had suf-fered big losses and said the Ukrainianswere using outdated intelligence aboutwhere separatist forces were deployed.

“There were no volunteers (rebels)where the Ukrainian aviation was activeyesterday,” said a spokeswoman for theLuhansk-based separatists, referring tothe Peravalsk attack.

Earlier, the border guard service said jetfighters were scrambled to strike at the pro-Russian separatists after they resumed mis-sile attacks on government forces deployednear the frontier with Russia, south-east ofthe city of Luhansk.—AP

LAHORE—Justice AliBaqar Najafi received adeath threat on Saturdaythrough a letter demand-ing closure of theLahore’s Model Towncase.

The letter categori-cally asked for a with-drawal of the case andthreatened to kill JusticeBaqar and his family.

On receipt of thethreat, the security for theprotection of JusticeBaqar was increased,with additional personnelof the elite force also de-ployed at the LahoreHigh Court.

BAGHDAD—Iraqi forces and tribal fight-ers on Saturday beat back a fresh as-sault by militants on the town of Haditha,strategic for the large nearby dam andits oil refinery, police said.

Battles also erupted on Saturday inthe central province of Diyala as secu-rity forces fought back against militantswho have seized swathes of territoryand a string of towns and cities in anoffensive launched on June 9.

The violence comes a day beforeIraq’s deeply-divided politicians are tohold a parliament session aimed at re-viving flagging efforts to form a gov-ernment in the face of the onslaught.The attack on Haditha, located north-west of Baghdad in Anbar provinceon the road linking militant-held west-ern areas and the provincial capital,began with mortar fire, police said.

Gunmen travelling in vehicles, in-cluding some captured from securityforces, then attacked from two sidesbut were kept from entering the townin fighting that left 13 militants and fourpolice dead, officers and a doctor said.

While there have been previous attackson Haditha, they have not been on thisscale. Capture of the dam by the mili-tants would raise the prospect of it be-ing used to flood towns and villagesdownstream.

Militants earlier this year causedmajor flooding by releasing water fromanother dam in Anbar province.In Diyala province, meanwhile, secu-rity forces and civilian volunteerslaunched a push on Saturday to retakemilitant-held areas north ofMuqdadiyah, a town on a main road toprovincial capital Baquba, a police cap-tain said. In the town of Jalawla, also inDiyala, Kurdish peshmerga fightersbegan a major operation to expel mili-tants from areas they hold, a seniorKurdish officer said.

Major-General Hussein Mansursaid Kurdish forces were using tanksand artillery in the battle, and had suc-ceeded in retaking some territory fromthe militants.Security forces folded during the ini-tial offensive led by the Islamic State

group, prompting the government toannounce that it would arm civilian vol-unteers, thousands of whom have sincesigned up.

While security forces have sinceimproved, they are still struggling tomake significant gains in offensive op-erations, and a major push to retakeSaddam Hussein’s hometown Tikrithas made little progress in more thantwo weeks.

As federal security forces quit theirposts in northern areas during the ini-tial fighting, Iraqi Kurds took controlof a swathe of disputed territory thatthey have long wanted to incorporateinto their autonomous region overBaghdad’s strong objections.While they have kept areas from beingoverrun by militants, the move hascaused a major escalation in tensionsbetween the Kurdish region and thefederal government.

Kurdish authorities on Friday laidclaim to disputed northern oilfields in amove slammed by Baghdad, furtherraising the stakes.—AFP

Iraqi forces beat back freshmilitant assault on Haditha

KABUL—U.S. Secretary ofState John Kerry says bothof Afghanistan’s presiden-tial candidates are commit-ted to abiding by the re-sults of the “largest, mostcomprehensive audit” ofthe election runoff ballotspossible.

Kerry stood with thetwo candidates who aredisputing the results ofAfghanistan’s presidentialelection on Saturday night.He announced that FinanceMinister Ashraf GhaniAhmadzai and former For-eign Minister AbdullahAbdullah have agreed toabide by a 100 percent, in-ternationally supervisedaudit of all ballots in thepresidential election inKabul.

Both candidates haveagreed to a national unitygovernment.EARLIER, Secretary of StateJohn Kerry spent a secondday here in the Afghan capi-tal on Saturday shuttlingbetween the top two presi-dential contenders and thepresidential palace in an ef-

Kerry: Afghan candidatesagree to audit results

fort to forge an agreementon how to audit recent elec-tions and preventAfghanistan’s first demo-cratic transfer of power fromcollapsing.

The two candidates,former Foreign MinisterAbdullah Abdullah andformer Finance MinisterAshraf Ghani, spent the dayinside the United States Em-bassy building holdingseparate meetings with Mr.Kerry, according to cam-paign officials. Mr. Kerrythen traveled to the palaceto talk to President HamidKarzai. Talks were continu-ing into early evening with-out food or drink becauseof Ramadan, for which Mus-lims fast during the day. Mr.Kerry complained, jokingly,to Mr. Karzai that his em-bassy had “starved” him,according to pool reports.

Both candidates say thatthe election was marred byfraud, but both have alsoclaimed victory. By midday,Mahmoud Saikal, an adviserto Mr. Abdullah, said that“preliminary progress” had

been made and that the cam-paign was waiting to see ifthe proposals would be ac-cepted by the other side. Hesaid he was hopeful thatthere would be a break-through by the end of theday. But a spokesman for Mr.Ghani, Abdullah Poyan, saidthe discussions remained“complicated.”

Mr. Kerry is seeking notonly agreement betweenthe two candidates, butalso acceptance by Mr.Karzai, who will step downafter 13 years in power andhas by all accounts re-mained a powerful presencebehind the scenes.

Earlier, Kerry held talkslate into the night on Fridayin an effort to resolveAfghanistan’s disputedpresidential election, warn-ing the two candidates thatthe country’s transition to aself-reliant state hung in thebalance unless the credibil-ity of the vote was restored.

Despite back-to-backmeetings, US diplomatssaid an accord was not yeton the table.—Agencies

VIENNA—Iran has stuck to “unworkableand inadequate” positions in nuclear talkswith six world powers despite a loomingdeadline for a deal to end sanctions againstTehran in exchange for curbs on its atomicprogram, a U.S. official said on Saturday.

“We are still very far apart on some is-sues and obviously on enrichment capac-ity,” the senior U.S. administration officialtold reporters hours before Secretary ofState John Kerry was due to arrive in Viennato join the talks with Iran.

The major powers want Iran to scaleback its nuclear program to deny it any ca-pability to quickly produce atomic bombs.Iran says its activities are entirely peacefuland want crippling sanctions lifted as soonas possible.

“We have made some progress but onsome key issues Iran has not moved, from

Iran sticks to ‘unworkable, inadequate’stances in nuclear talks: US

our perspective, from unworkable and in-adequate positions that would not in factassure us that their program is exclusivelypeaceful,” the U.S. official said.

In view of still wide differences in posi-tions, some diplomats and experts believethe negotiations may need to be extendedbeyond a self-imposed July 20 deadline foran accord.

However, another senior U.S. officialsaid it was difficult to consider extendingthe talks between Iran and the United States,France, Russia, China, Britain and Russiawithout first seeing “significant progresson key issues”.

“If (a comprehensive agreement) can’thappen by July 20 both the administrationand Congress are on the same page, whichis that we obviously have to consider all ofour options.”—Reuters

0.9m IDPs kidsfacing infections

OBSERVER REPORT

BANNU—The number of reg-istered internally displacedpeople (IDPs) from NorthWaziristan Agency reached910,040 on Saturday, accord-ing to the Fata Disaster Man-agement Authority. Almosthalf of that number, mostlychildren and women, faceserious health hazards dueto poor hygienic conditions,in addition to severe hotweather which has increasedARI (Acute Respiratory In-fection), gastro infections,skin and other water bornediseases.

As the registration of theinternally displaced persons(IDPs) continued for the sixthday in Peshawar, 4,500people were added to the list,which according to theFDMA has reached to 80,122families, among them 235,499are male and 261,734 are fe-male, and the rest 393,636 arechildren.

WITH advanced Alzheimer’s disease,language deteriorates and patientsspontaneously speak less and less. In

a small study from Israel, group music therapysessions using tailored songs helped peoplewith middle- to late-stageAlzheimer’s strike up com-munication.

The study may be small,but it nicely demonstrateswhat music therapists andgerontologists have knownfor a while, said Alicia AnnClair, director of the MusicEducation and MusicTherapy Division at the Uni-versity of Kansas inLawrence, who wasn’t partof the study. “It’s one ofthose things that’s kind ofknown but has not been re-searched so it’s great thiswas done,” Clair toldReuters Health.

In her experience, sing-ing is a great way to engagewith some people with ad-vanced dementia. People who may not other-wise be able to communicate may start to spon-taneously sing along, otherwise vocalize, makeeye contact or simply calm down, she said. “But(the new study) was done with people who hada history of singing and enjoying it and beingpart of a singing culture. If you try to do thiswith non-singers I don’t know if they wouldengage,” she noted.

For the study, six patients ages 65 to 83attended group music therapy sessions twice aweek for a month. Four of the patients wereborn in Israel; the other two were born in East-ern Europe and immigrated to Israel in theirearly teens. The patients were not able to con-

sent to the study due to their cognitive state,so their legal guardians or main caregiversgave consent.

Ayelet Dassa, a music therapist and the leadauthor of the study, selected 24 songs popular

in Israel between 1930 and thelate 1950s for the sessions. “InIsrael especially for this group,they came here or were bornwhen the state was becoming in-dependent,” Dassa told ReutersHealth. The songs she chose werepart of the foundation of the pa-tients’ adult identity, which wastied to their country and theirheritage, she said. The music ses-sions led to spontaneous conver-sations about the songs, memo-ries the songs triggered and aboutthe act of singing as a group.Some participants talked aboutlife on the Kibbutz many decadesago, or about learning certainsongs in school with their musicteachers. Others expressed prideat being able to remember lyricsto the songs and participating as

part of a group.Dassa published the study in the Journal

of Music Therapy as part of her doctoral dis-sertation with the help of her advisor, DoritAmir, in the music department of Bar IlanUniversity in Ramat-Gan, Israel. “A large partof the conversation was about how they sangas individuals (and) as a group, and they gavecompliments to each other,” she said.

Many were excited to continue singingeven after the study was over, Dassa said.“The idea that they are part of something isvery important to people with Alzheimer’s,”she said. “They lose their sense of self. Theirself esteem is very low.”

Singing familiar songs may helpprompt Alzheimer’s patients to speak

People getting water from a filtration plant as the residents are facing acute water shortagein Rawalpindi.

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D —Denmarkhas pledged to provide agrant of US$ 1 million tosupport for promotion ofwomen’s role in peace andsecurity in Pakistan. Thegrant, announced by Am-bassador of Denmark,

Jesper Moller Sorensen, dur-ing a signing ceremony heldat the UN Women CountryOffice, here.

The Ambassador said thegrant will support to a pro-gram, which has a new facetto support vulnerable womenin Pakistan. The Ambassadorstated that promoting gender

equality is a consistent fea-ture in all Denmark’s devel-opment and humanitarian as-sistance programs.

Denmark has been ac-tively supporting genderequality programs in Paki-stan since 2010. “Our sup-port to work on gender equal-ity is based on a rights-based

approach that focuses on im-proving women’s access torights, resources and influ-ence”, he added.

Ms. Joana Merlin, SeniorCountry Advisor, UNWomen, shared that“Women, Peace and Secu-rity” is a central area in cri-sis situations, irrespective of

whether it relates to human-made or natural disaster.

The funding from theDanish Government willgive continuity to UNWomen’s work to ensurethat peace and security, andhumanitarian actions areshaped by the leadership andparticipation of women, in-

Denmark pledges grant of $1m for promoting women’s role in peace, security

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Some 21,000 beneficia-ries and their 52 trainers of the Waseela-e-Rozgar scheme under the Benazir In-come Support Programme (BISP) havebeen waiting for their payments for thelast ten months as the government(BISP administration) dismantled thescheme last Sept. Each beneficiary (stu-dent) was to get Rs6000 per monthwhile the payment due to each traineris according to Rs4000 per student. Inthis way, the government owes a totalof around Rs1.8 billion as cost and sti-pend to training providers and benefi-ciaries.

As Eid-ul-Fitr is only a couple ofweeks away, the beneficiaries and train-ing providers have called upon the gov-ernment to release funds the sooner thebetter. It is pertinent to mention here thatduring tenure of the previous PPP gov-ernment, the BISP had signed memo-randums of understanding with 52 in-

stitutes /NGOs for providing technicaland vocational training in 54 differenttrades to poor people across the coun-try under the Waseela-i-Rozgar schemeto help them find employment or starttheir own small businesses.

The institutes claim to have trainedabout 21,000 people, but the BISP hasneither paid to them for their services norprovided funds for stipends of the benefi-ciaries for the past one year. On the otherhand according to the BISP ChairmanEnver Baig the scheme was totally non-transparent. The whole process of hiringtraining institutes /NGOs was carried outin a dubious manner. About half of theorganisations which were awarded con-tracts for providing training to the benefi-ciaries did not exist and the people theyclaimed to have trained were not trace-able. However, the training providersclaim that 25 percent of the beneficiariesfound jobs after passing out. Not only theWorld Bank and the Asian DevelopmentBank who are the main funds providers

for the programme monitored theWaseela-e-Rozgar training programmesthey also endorsed and approved theirmodules and level of proficiency. BasirZaidi, representative of EktaaraInter-national Charitable Education Foun-dation while talking to Pakistan Observersaid the training has been conducted inprestigious institutes including a numberof Rangers’ vocational training institutes.BISP’s claim that most of the training in-stitutes were non-existent is baseless aswe have the complete record. It may bementioned here that the training provid-ers received data of the beneficiaries byno one else but the BISP itself. “If data isnot correct non-transparent, those Assis-tant Directors Deputy Directors and evenDirectors Generals of each provinceshould be held accountable as we receivedit from them,” said he. There are successstories of the beneficiaries and today mostof them are earning handsome amount af-ter getting training in hand-embroidery,carpentry, auto-mechanic, electricity

course, computer graphing and etc, hefurther said.

“Everything was verified. The BISPwas kept fully updated on the trainingand progress of the programme,” saidanother training provider.

The training providers and the ben-eficiaries have urged the BISP to releasefunds without further delay. The BISP hadcomplete record of training providers anddata of the trained people and there wasnothing dubious about it, said Basir Zaidi.

He claimed that his organisation hadmore than Rs90 millionThe trainingproviders also claimed that BISP offi-cials had assured them that the fundswould be released by June 30, but hadfailed to keep their promise.

On July 16, all the beneficiaries andtraining providers are holding a peace-ful march as protest against the non-payment of funds. This will be a tokenprotest but can turn into regular dem-onstrations in case of persistent delayin funds release, he warned.

Waseela-e-Rozgar ‘affectees’demand early release of funds

ISLAMABAD—The Civil Aviation Authority(CCA) has decided for provif security on com-plete perimeter fencing by installing ‘perim-eter intrusion detection system’ in line withthe international standards at the under con-struction New Islamabad International Airport(NIIAP, Islamabad.

For this purpose, a consultant would beengaged to conduct complete survey of thearea measuring 18.4 kilometers and prepareinitial report, according to official sources.

The report, to be submitted soon, will sug-gest various economically viable options avail-able for installing the perimeter intrusion de-tection system in line with the internationalstandards including security audit and risk as-sessment, feasibility study report, conceptual

design report and rough cost estimates.It is worth mentioning that the end of

March next year has been set by the govern-ment as the new deadline for the completionof the New Islamabad International Airport.

According to official sources, 98 per centof the civil works and hydrant refueling sys-tems and 55 per cent work on the air trafficcontrol had been completed.

The local police and the civil administra-tion has also been directed to help the CAA inclearing the area from encroachers.

Under the directive of the prime minister,a power plant will be installed while smalldams will also be constructed to ensure regu-lar electricity and water supply to the airportwhich would cater to the needs of 15 million

passengers in a year.The airport will have 15 boarding bridges

and will be able to handle 400,000 metric tonsof cargo. The government has ordered the in-stallation of latest baggage handling systemat the airport. vThe groundbreaking of theproject was jointly performed in April 2007and it was supposed to be completed within30 months, initially the cost of the project wasestimated to be Rs37 billion.

Later, PC-I of the project was revised inMarch 2012 at a cost of Rs 66 billion.

The Civil Aviation Authority (CCA) hadonce again revised its expenditures puttingthem at Rs 95 billion and October 2016 wasthe anticipated completion date of theproject.—APP

Perimeter intrusion detection system tobe installed at new Islamabad Airport

cluding grass root women.These funds will be utilizedto support UN Women’s pro-gram to work with the Gov-ernment of Pakistan and keypartners in enhancing syner-gies so as to facilitate re-gional networking and part-nerships; support advocacyfor in-country and cross re-

gional programming on inte-grating gender concerns inpeace initiatives; undertakeTraining for Trainers onGender and Peacekeepingwith civil armed forces, aswell as strengthen capacityfor gender responsive policyframeworks and action plans.

The Danish grant will

support the componentswithin the Development Re-sults Framework of theUnited Nations Entity forGender Equality and theEmpowerment of Women(UN Women) Country Pro-gram (2014-2017) in Paki-stan and covers the periodtill December 2015.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A significant decrease in thecrime rate has been witnessed in the Capi-tal City during last month owing high vigi-lance and effective policing measures.

As per data, 22 murder cases have beenregistered in various police stations ofIslamabad from June 1, 2014 to June 30,2014 while 31 cases were registered in thecorresponding period last year.

Three incidents of bike and vehiclesnatching were reported in June 2014 ascompared to nine similar incidents duringJune, 2013. Similarly, 28 theft cases werereported in June 2014 while 41 such caseswere reported in June last year.

Likewise, the city experienced aboutthirty three percent reduction in car theftdue to smart policing tactics used byIslamabad police. In June 2013 total of 73vehicles were stolen.

This year 50 cars have been stolenwhich means a decrease of 23 cases of cartheft as compared to June 2013.

Vigilance at Police pickets, arrest of carthieves and recoveries of stolen vehiclesand a stern message to police to be toughon the criminals have led to this reductionin car theft.

Special checking was started to curb cartheft and police pickets were erected invarious points of the city mainly at exitpoints including Shah Allah Dita, DrakeMurri, Chungi no. 26, T-Cross which helpeda lot to control this crime.

Additionally Islamabad also witnesseda decrease in cases of robberies in June2014 as compared to corresponding periodof the previous year. In all, 28 cases of rob-beries were reported this June against 36in June 2013.

Police spokesman said that Islamabadpolice adopted policy of zero toleranceagainst corrupt police officials and purgedthem from police department.

Disciplinary action was started againstSHO Koral police station and other police-men who were included in a fraud case.

Meanwhile, SSP Islamabad MuhammadAli Nekokara has said that Islamabad po-lice is committed to ensure peace and tran-quility in the city and efforts have been ac-celerated to achieve the desired goals.

He said crackdown has been launchedto arrest absconders and strict patrolling isbeing ensured to check street crime. He ex-pressed his commitment to curb crimethrough effective policing measures in thecity.

Crime rate on decline sincelast month in capital

Federal Minister for Interior and Narcotics Control, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan chairing a meeting regarding law andorder in twin cities.

Raja Muhammad Zafar-ul-Haq, leader of the house in Senate addressing a seminar on Palestine issue on Saturday.

PFUJ reunificationmoot: representatives

of three factionsagree to unite

ISLAMABAD—The represen-tatives of all the three fac-tions of Pakistan FederalUnion of Journalists haveagreed to unite al l thegroups.

The decision was taken ata meeting of the Reunifica-tion Committee held hereSaturday.

The committee consistsof senior journalists Mr,Hussain Naqi, Mr M.Ziauddin, Mr. Nasir Zaidi,Mr. Khawar Naeem Hashmiand Mr. Idrees Bakhtiar. Therepresentatives of the threefactions, Mr. Afzal Butt, Mr.Pervez Shoukat and Mr.Idrees Bakhtiar signed amemorandum of understand-ing to unite the three fac-tions. Rana Azeem andAmin Yusuf were also takenon board on phone.

The matter will be takento the respective Federal Ex-ecutive Council of the vari-ous factions for final ap-proval by August 25. The Re-unification Committee willagain meet on Aug 30 to an-nounce the final decision andsuggest the future strategy ofunification.

The meeting was also at-tended by senior journalists.Farooq Faisal Khan,Khursheed Abbasi, MazharAbbas, Arshad Ansari ,Shafiq Awan and NisarAbbas, who also contrib-uted their valued suggestionfor resolving the disputes.

It is for the first time thatafter a long period of 36 years,the various factions of Paki-stan Federal Union of Journal-ists sat together and resolvedto unite the journalists orga-nization in the interests ofworking journalists and free-dom of the Press.—INP

03:45 01:3005:30

09:15

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

People taking rest under the shade of trees at a local park while observing fast.

A tailor is seen perturbed as he waits for resumption of electricity supply during load shedding.

July 13

ADMISSION process at In-ternational Islamic Univer-sity Islamabad is in fullswing and a great rush ofapplicants has been wit-nessed in couple of days.The university will remainopen on Saturday on Sundayto facilitate the students intheir admission process.

Conference onHazrat Imam

HassanISLAMABAD—Markazi ImamHussain Council (MIHC) isarranging the 37th birth anni-versary conference of HazratImam Hassan (AS) on Sunday(tomorrow) in which one thou-sand Ulmas and Mashaikhsfrom all school of thoughts willparticipate.

According to source, theconference will be held on 13thJuly Sunday 10:30 am at EidGah Sharif Asghar Mall RoadRawalpindi, In connection withthe birth anniversary of thegrandson of the Holy Prophet(PBUH) Hazrat Imam Hassan(AS).

The source said thatMarkazi Imam Hussain Coun-cil (MIHC) is a organization,functioning for secretarian har-mony.

“This is the only palteformwhere Sunni, Shia, Bralvi,Deobandi joined hands to-gether for the noble cause of theunity of the Muslim Umma,”he added.

Mr. Irfan Siddiqi SpecialAssistant to prime minister willbe the chief guest.—APP

RAWALPINDI—Police under its ongoingdrive against anti-social elements havearrested ten lawbreakers including twosuspected dacoits besides recovering over2040 grams charras and five pistols 30 borewith 14 rounds from the possession of thearrested accused.

According to Rawalpindi police,Bunni police held Bashir Shah for hav-ing 520 grams charras while Babar Gul

was rounded up for possessing 510grams charras. Naseerabad police ap-prehended Ayaz and recovered 1010grams charras.

Bunni police sent behind the barsJazab Masih for carrying pistol 30 borewith three rounds. Sultan Mahmood wasrounded up for having a pistol 30 bore.Westridge police netted Khurram Zafar onrecovery of a 30 bore pistol with four

rounds.Other accused were sent behind the

bars for having illegal weapons anddrugs.

Meanwhile, Naseerabad police on aninformation conducted a raid and nabbedtwo suspected dacoits namely Nazeerand Sher Bahadar. Police also recovereda pistol 30 bore with five rounds fromthem.—APP

Police round up ten lawbreakers

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—To keep themselves awayfrom the hot and humid weather conditionsand to enjoy the beauty of nature, a largenumber of tourists from different parts ofthe country throng to Murree mostly onweekends.

The resorts including Pindi Point, MallRoad and Ayubia have become a sourceof attraction for such tourists even in theHoly month of Ramzan.

There have been witnessed a numberof families hailing from KPK and Punjabwho spend whole of the Ramzan in this

beautiful hilly area.A visitor, Sher Ali, while talking to

reporters said he stay most of the timeabroad and had come to Murree with hisfamily a day before the commencement ofRamzan.

He said he would stay in Murree till28th of Ramxan as there was extremeweather in his native area, Noshehra.

Sher Ali said Murree had been devel-oped as par international standard havingall the facilities for visitors’ enjoyment.

Almost all the small and big hotels arebooked on weekends especially those sur-rounding the Mall Road, which is the hub

of Murree and flooded with tourists in thisseason.

“I am enjoying the weather here,” saidAsim Raza, a visitor, adding, “We arespending good family time and especiallythe children are very happy.”

He said Murree had enjoyable enter-tainment facilities and lauded the civicbody for establishing numerous attractivepicnic spots.

He urged the local administration todevelop more recreational facilities to at-tract visitors, considering the easy acces-sibility of Murree and the natural beautyit embed.

Tourists throng Murree on weekend

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The City Traffic Police(CTP) have put a ban on double parkingon city roads and decided to take strict ac-tion against the violators.

Chief Traffic Officer (CTO)Rawalpindi Shoaib Khurram Janbaz saidthat the double parking and wrong park-ing on city roads and commercial areascreate obstructions in smooth flow of traf-fic causing troubles for the motorists.

He said that the vehicles in double

parking and wrong parking on city roadswould be impounded and challen tick-ets would be issued to the owners. Spe-cial awareness campaign is also beingrun and awareness banners have beendisplayed at various roads includingSaddar Cantt area, Kashmir Road,Haider Road, Bank Road, City SaddarRoad, Fawara Chowk, Liaquat Road,Murree Road, Commercial Market,Masrial Road, Chungi No 22 and otherimportant roads of the town.

The CTO appealed to the citizens to

cooperate with the traffic police to ensuresmooth traffic flow on roads. He advisedthe motorists to park their vehicles in singleline and in proper way.

He said, special traffic arrangementshave also been made for Ramazan bazaarsset up in Rawalpindi district and effortsare being made to facilitate the road usersparticularly during the holy month ofRamazan.

The CTP said, traffic rules must be ob-served by the tourists to avoid traffic jamproblems on city roads.

CTP to take strict action ondouble parking

RAWALPINDI—Police on Friday launched aspecial search operation adjacent to Adiala jaillocalities to check suspected elements residingthere.

The operation was launched on the direc-tions of City Police Officer CPO Hamyun BashirTarar.

During the operation, police inspected 70houses and interrogated 150 persons but

made no arrest as it found no objectionableactivity. Another search operation was con-ducted in the area of police stations WarisKhan and searched 57 houses and interro-gated 90 persons.

Besides, police teams are visiting differ-ent hotels and markets to keep an eye on anti-social elements, a police spokesman told APPhere.—APP

Search operation launchedadjacent to Adiala Jail

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Bahria Town has initiated itsrelief operation in North Waziristan for theIDP’s. The chief coordinator of the relief op-eration is Brig. Tahir Butt.

This relief operation will be on a muchlarger scale than the efforts made during the2005 earthquake or the drought relief effortsinThar. Trucks filled with rashan bags weresent for immediate relief to Banu district andlater on while talking to media Bahria Townmanagement quoted that this will be an on-going process now till the IDPs return to theirhomes.

Chairman Bahria Town MalikRiazHussain had requested in a press con-ference earlier last month and requested thefederal government, provincial governmentof KPK and army to give their relief teamsaccess to the IDPs.

He also intimated to adopt as many asone lakh IDPs till the situation gets normalwhich includes tents, washrooms, field hos-pital , school, sewerage, RO plants ,BahriaDastarkhawan& establishment ofmodern village on their return to NorthWaziristan

Brig. ® Tahir had coordinated on the in-structions of chairman Bahria Town MalikRiazHussain, with the Pakistan army, Fed-eral Ministry of SAFRON(Frontier Area),provincial disaster management authority,province KPK government, commissionerand other authorities to make the relief ef-forts by Bahria Town possible.

The first relief mission comprising of 3mobile hospitals, Rashan trucks, doctors,nurses & paramedical staff set off to Banuyesterday. Bahria Town will also be estab-lishing a clinical laboratory in Banuhospitalwhich will be equipped to carry out 30 vari-ous tests.

Bahria Town is also establishingBahriaDastarkhawan in Banu, D.I.Khan,Peshawar, LakkiMarwat&Karak districtswhich will be providing two times meals tofive thousamd people daily.

Chairman Bahria Town Mr. MalikRiazHussain has allocated Rs 50 crore forthe initial expenditures while the remaining450 crore will be provided for the reconstruc-tion of thousands of free homes for the IDP’s.This relief operation will be the largest op-eration compared to all others and will pro-vide relief to more than 100,000 IDP’s.

Bahria Town initiates reliefoperation for IDPs

ISLAMABAD—Owning to lack of main-tenance since long, the IJ PrincipalRoad, one of the busiest roads of twincities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, isin extremely dilapidated condition, cre-ating troubles for the motorists andtransporters.

The motorists continue to suffer dueto the poor condition of the road betweenPirwadhai Mor to Faizabad, which alsocontributes to traffic mess and accidents.

They are facing difficulties owing tothe uneven surface of the road and deepditches at short distances.

The pressure of traffic has increased

significantly on the road and approxi-mately 110,000 vehicles use the roaddaily as General Bus Stand and Fruit andVegetable Market fall on this road. Thetraffic coming from Perwadhi, Ninth Av-enue, Double Road and Pindora Chungitowards Faizabad use the IJP road andface traffic jams during rush hours.Moreover, motorists suffer mostly atnight due to dilapidated road and lackof road lights.

The residents expressing resentmentsaid that IJP Road that dividesRawalpindi and Islamabad also has in-sufficient amount of pedestrian bridges

making it hard for the people to crossthe road.

A motorist, Salman Shah, said theCDA should repair the road and installroad signs, adding that several accidentshad occurred due to poor and not trafficworthy condition of the said road.

Khursheed Ahmed, another motor-ist, said that the road is used by bothheavy and light weight traffic which isfurther breaking down it. He said thatthe CDA which is responsible for repairor up-gradation of the road, should alsoexpand the road to accommodate the in-creased number of vehicular. —INP

Repairing of derelict IJPrincipal Road demanded

RAWALPINDI—Rawalpindi CantonmentBoard (RCB) has decided to collect gar-bage from door to door on vehicles andwill soon start a pilot project in Westridgearea.

After the success of the pilot project,it would be extended to other wards of the

cantt as well.CEO, Cantt Board, Fahim Zafar Khan

said that availability of a permanent gar-bage trenching ground is a grave problembut the board will do its best to resolve it.He said that tracker systems have beeninstalled in the vehicles, which will show

their exact location.He further said that water supply sys-

tem also being computerized that willmake it easy to detect problem in the sup-ply. He said that the board is doing its bestto control the water shortage during nextyear. —INP

Pilot project of door-to-door garbagecollection in Westridge

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Capital Devel-opment Authority (CDA), Maroof Afzalhas directed Water Management Wing fortaking effective measures to ensure fre-quent supply of water at Seher and Iftaartimes to facilitate the residents of the Fed-eral Capital during the holy month ofRamazan.

Maroof Afzal issued these directionswhile chairing a high level meeting hereat CDA Headquarters on Saturday. On thisoccasion officers of Water Management

Wing, Engineering Wing and other con-cerned formations of the Authority werealso present.

Chairman CDA directed the DirectorGeneral Water Management to visit per-sonally the water pumping stations in thecity during the Seher and Iftaar times andentertain the public complaints. He alsodirected him to ensure the presence ofstaff on pumping stations and examine theperformance of the staff on duty. Heasked the Director Water Supply and con-cerned Deputy Directors to submit reportabout the supply of water to him on daily

basis and attend the complaints of theresidents during the Seher and Iftaar timeson priority. There should be no deficiencyof water to the public during the Seherand Iftaar times, Chairman CDA said.

The CDA Chairman was apprised thatthe civic authority has already increasedsupply of water to 39 million gallon perday from Simly Dam to the city on theeve of Ramazan.

He was told that in case of load-shed-ding, generators have been installed forprovision of uninterrupted supply of wa-ter to the resident. Different pumping sta-

tions, which remained non-functionalhave been made functional after neces-sary repair and maintenance, he was in-formed. He was further informed thatsufficient water storage is available inSimly

dam due to the rains, adding that sup-ply of water to 39 million gallon per dayhas been increased during Ramazan. Onthe other hand uninterrupted supply ofwater is continued to the residents of thecity through tube-wells of different sec-tors. Maroof Afzal was informed that inline with his directions, water tankers

from Sports and Culture Directorate andEnvironment Wing have been handed overto Water Management Wing at the start ofRamazan, which has helped us in enter-taining the complaints about the water ondaily basis.

The CDA Chairman directed the wa-ter Management wing to further improvethe water tankers service to cope with theday to day water complaints. He has ap-pealed to the residents of Islamabad to beparticular and calculated about the use ofwater to avoid water scarcity during thecurrent summer season.

Workers throwing rubble into Nullah Leh during construction work of Metro Bus Project, which may result in floodsituation during monsoon season.

CDA chairman orders to ensureuninterrupted water supply at Iftar, Sehar

APHC Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq addresses on Friday gathering during Ramazan at historic Jamia Masjid.

Hurriyet leaders in a seminar organized by Hurriyet Conference Jammu and Kashmirat a hotel in Srinagar reiterated the Kashmiris’ resolve to continue the mission of theirmartyrs till complete success.

SAJJAD SHAUKAT

The Martyrs’ Day, known asYoume Shuhada-e-Kashmir isobserved on July 13 every year

on both sides of the Line of Controland all over the world by theKashmiris to pay homage to 22Kashmiris who were martyred in 1931to free Kashmir from the brutalities ofdespotic Dogra rulers. The day is themilestone in the history of Kashmiristruggle against foreign occupation.However, the history of Dogra rule(1846-1947) in Kashmir is replete withtyrannous treatment, meted out to theKashmiri Muslims by Dogra forces.Under the Dogra rule, they were lead-ing so miserable life that it was diffi-cult to differentiate them from beasts.Slave labour, heavy taxes, capitalpunishment for cow slaughter, andliving under constant terror was or-der of the day.

In this regard, Yousaf Saraf in hisbook, ‘Kashmiris Fight for Freedom’calls it “free forced labour” and “in-stead of donkeys and horses,Kashmiri Muslims were used fortransportation of goods across thefar-flung areas.” Atrocities of theDogra regime could also be judgedfrom the book of Sir Walter Lawrence,‘The India We Served’. While describ-ing the pathetic picture of theKashmiris, he writes, “Army was em-ployed in forcing the villagers to

Kashmir: Martyrs’ Day is Aliveplough and sow, and worse still, thesoldiers came at harvest time andwhen the share of the state had beenseized” and “there was very little grainto tide the unfortunate peasants overthe cruel winter.” On April 19, 1931,the ban of Eid Khutba (Sermon) ig-nited widespread demonstrations inthe Jummu city for a number of days.It was followed by desecration of theHoly Quran at the hands of Dograforces, which resulted into outrageamong the Muslims throughout thestate. In Srinagar, people gathered inJamia Masjid to denounce this blas-phemy. One such get-together washeld in Khankah-e-Muella Srinagar,which was addressed by prominentKashmiris. When the meeting wasconcluded, a youth, Abdul Qadeer,pointing his finger to the Maharaja’spalace, raised slogans “destroy itsevery brick.” With the accusation ofsedition, he was arrested forthwith.Abdul Qadir was to be tried in thecourt but due to large public resent-ment, the court was shifted to CentralJail Srinagar.

On July 12, 1931, in response tothe shifting of court, intense publicprotests were held throughout thecity. The next day, on July 13, 1931,

thousands of people thronged theCentral Jail Srinagar to witness the in-camera trial of Abdul Qadeer. As thetime for obligatory prayer approached,a young Kashmiri stood for Azan. TheDogra Governor, Ray Zada TartilokChand ordered soldiers to open fireat him. When he got martyred, an-other young man took his place andstarted Azan. He was also shot dead.In this way, 22 Kashmiris embracedmartyrdom in their efforts to completethe Azan. The people carried the deadand paraded through the streets ofSrinagar, chanting slogans againstDogra brutalities. Complete strike wasobserved in the city, which was fol-lowed by weeklong mourning. Thisincident shook the whole state andthe traffic from Srinagar to Rawalpindiand Srinagar to Jammu came to haltfrom July 13 to 26, 1931. The 22 mar-tyrs are buried in Martyrs’ Graveyardat Khawaja Bazar, Srinagar. Conse-quent upon these brutal killings, theKashmiri leadership realized the needto form a political party, Muslim Con-ference (MC) with a view to wagingstruggle for their freedom. Later, in1934, state’s first elections were heldand MC won 10 out of 21 seats, andafter two years in 1936, it succeeded

in getting 19 out of 21 seats. IndianCongress was upset with this situa-tion and tried to create division in theranks of Kashmiri leadership. After-wards, on July 19, 1947, MC passed aresolution to merge Kashmir with Pa-kistan, considering the geographicalproximity—majority of Muslim popu-lation (77%), language and cultural re-lations of Jammu and Kashmir.

Ironically, despite a lapse of 66years, Kashmiris are still strugglingand sacrificing to achieve their alien-able right under the UN resolutionsfor the plebiscite in Jammu and Kash-mir. Kashmir Valley is one of the mostheavily militarized regions in the worldwith Indian 7 million armed securityforces which are perpetrating variousforms of state terrorism on the inno-cent Kashmiris. Since 1989, a deliber-ate campaign by the Indian army andparamilitary forces against theKashmiris has been manifested inbrutal tactics such as crackdowns,curfews, illegal detentions, massacre,targeted killings, sieges, burning thehouses, torture, disappearances,rape, breaking the legs, molestationof Muslim women and killing of per-sons through fake encounter. Accord-ing to a report on human rights viola-

tions in the Indian Occupied Kash-mir, from January 1989 to December2013, there have been deaths of 93,984innocent Kashmiris, 7,014 custodialkillings, 1,22,771 arrests, 1,05,996 de-struction of houses or buildings,22,776 women widowed, 1,07,466 chil-dren orphaned and 10,086 womengang-raped/molested.

It seems that non-condemnation ofthese Indian massive human rightsviolations and non-interference for thesettlement of this issue by the so-calledcivilized international community, es-pecially the US have further encour-aged New Delhi to keep on going withits state terrorism on the armlessKashmiri masses. Ignorance of the is-sue by them involves the risk ofnuclear war between Pakistan and In-dia. Indian authorities are not willingto talk with Kashmiri people on politi-cal grounds. New Delhi reached to aconclusion that only bullet is the rightway of dealing with Kashmiris, de-manding their right of self-determina-tion. Surprisingly, Indian successivegovernments are trying to ignore thedynamics of the freedom movement ofKashmiris for the sake of their alienrule. It is notable that dialogue betweenIndia and Pakistan took place on a

number of occasions, but produced nooutcome, prolonging the agony of thesubjugated people of the occupiedKashmir due to Indian intransigence.

Nevertheless, observance ofKashmiris’ freedom struggle duringthe Martyrs’ Day every year is reaf-firmation of the fact that Kashmiriswill continue to fight against Indianillicit occupation. In this context,Youme Shuhada-e-Kashmir is an idealday for Kashmiris to seek inspirationto take their war of liberation to itslogical end. At this time of distress,the people of Pakistan’s side are shar-ing the grief of Kashmiri freedom lov-ers. Pakistan also observes YoumeShudaha-e-Kashmir on July 13,launching a protest against the op-pressive polices of Indian occupa-tion, which have continued againstthe hapless Kashmiris. Nonetheless,on July 13, all over the world,Kashmiris renew their pledge to con-tinue the ongoing war of liberationfor the accomplishment of their rightof self-determination and for the in-dependence of Kashmir from the des-potic Indian rulers who continue stateterrorism in the Indian-controlledKashmir like the Dogra rulers. There-fore, Martyrs’ Day is alive today.

—Courtesy: Kashmir Watch.[Sajjad Shaukat writes on inter-

national affairs and is author of thebook: US vs Islamic Militants, Invis-ible Balance of Power]

July 13 MartyrsDay: Restrictions

descend onOld City

MAHARAJ GANJ (IHK)—Srinagar Authorities havedecided to impose restric-tions on public movement inareas coming under the au-thority of five police sta-tions of old Srinagar on Sun-day. Chairmen of both fac-tions of Hurriyat Confer-ence, Syed Ali Geelani andMirwaiz Umar Farooq andother separatist organiza-tions have called for a com-plete shutdown on July 13martyrs day.

An official spokesmantold CNS all the areas fall-ing under the jurisdiction ofpolice stations Khanyar,Nowhatta, Maharaj Ganj,Rainawari and Safakadalwill witness severe restric-tions while there will be nocurfew or restrictions in up-town. Meanwhile a policeofficial told CNS on condi-tion of anonymity that mostof the separatist leaderswould be either placed un-der house arrest or detainedin different police sta-tions.—KW

Kulgam journalistsstage anti-Israel

protestKULGAM (IHK)—Workingjournalists AssociationKulgam Saturday staged aprotest against ongoing Is-raeli attack on Palestine frompass few days. Scores ofthese scribes took out apeaceful procession andamid anti-Israel slogansmarched through lanes andbye-lanes of the town.

Carrying banners andplacards, the protestors con-demned the UN and otherinternational bodies for main-taining sinister silence overthe brutality of Israel. Theyurged upon Islamic countriesto show a united face to de-feat the designs of Zionistforces. The protest culmi-nated at DeputyCommissioner’s office whereWorking Journalists Asso-ciation presented a memoran-dum to DDC KulgamJehangir Ahmed Mir.—KW

MAISUMA (IHK)—Following scuffle be-tween police and residents in volatile areaof Maisuma in Civil Lines area of summercapital, massive anti-police clashes andprotests broke out in the area, witnessessaid. Eyewitnesses said that after anti-Is-rael protests in the area, youth pelted stoneson the police. “While police were chasingprotesters, the cops asked a vendor whosells caps, Islamic books and perfumes out-side Ahli-Hadith Masjid, to vacate the placeand get inside. They also misbehaved withthe seller and tried to throw objects he wasselling. A skull cap was also thrown by po-lice cops,” locals alleged.

An eyewitness said that during verbalbrawl some women also joined in. “The situ-ation started to turn volatile and scufflebroke out between residents and police,”he said, adding the residents pelted stoneson police from lanes and by-lanes and alsofrom the mosque. “The police men resortedto baton charge and chased away them.They also pelted stones on people,” theysaid. In the meantime, a local said, an-

Clashes in Maisuma afterpolice, locals scuffle

nouncements were made on public addresssystems of local mosques asking people tocome out on streets and protest againstpolice ‘highhandedness’.

“The situation turned ugly and peopleattacked police with stones during they wereforced to run. A policeman was also thrashedby a youth with a baton,” eyewitnesses said.The youth also appeared on Maisuma Bundand pelted stones on police. A police officialtold GNS police ‘politely’ asked the vendorto vacate for sometime as youth were pelt-ing stones. “But he along with other peopleresorted to misbehavior and hurled abusesand with the help of other people resorted tostone-pelting,” he said.

Witnesses said that police fired pellets toquell angry protesters in the area. Meanwhile,panic gripped Nowhatta after police fired aerialgunshots. Eyewitnesses told GNS that a po-lice gypsy was stoned by a group of youthand after which police cops fired few gun-shots in the air. Official sources confirmedthat police fired ‘two to three’ gunshots in airafter they were attacked by youth.—KD

HYDERPORA (IHK)—While condemn-ing the barbaric Israeli attacks on un-armed civilians in Gaza have been killed,Hurriyat Conference (G) chairman,Syed Ali Geelani has announced toobserve Jumat-ul-vida (Last Friday ofthis holy month of Ramzan) as “Yom-i-Quds” and called for 1-hour peacefulprotests after Friday prayers on 25 Julyagainst Israeli aggression on Palestin-ians. Geelani also announced to ob-serve 3rd Friday (18 July) of Ramzan as“Youm-i-Shodai Kashmir”. He urged theOrganization of Islamic Countries to in-tensify its diplomatic efforts to bringglobal pressure on Israel to stop thewonton killings.

“While expressing his sorrowover the criminal silence of the worldcommunity particularly theOrganisation of Islamic Countries(OIC) over the bloodshed of Palestin-ian people at the hands of Israel,Geelani said that the world is follow-ing duel standards on Muslims andthe bloodshed of Muslims is not con-sidered as human rights violations”,Geelani said. While terming the newgovernment in India as a fast friend ofIsrael, he strongly condemned itsstatement in which instead of express-

Kashmiris to observe JumatAl-Vida as Al-Quds Day

ing sorrow over the bloodshed of Pal-estinian people, they have suggesteddialogs between Palestine and Israel,Geelani said.

“While terming the bombings onPalestine and killing of innocent chil-dren, old people and women in thesebombings as worst kind of state ter-rorism, the pro-Islamic leader of Kash-mir strongly condemned the attitudeof the so called civilized nations of theworld who not only are maintainingsilence over the terrorist activities ofIsrael but they are patting their backbehind the curtain for these activities”,Geelani said.

Though the innocent children andwomen who are killed in Palestine areMuslims, so America, European coun-tries and India doesn’t mention anytype of human rights violation. Butcontrary to that if any Muslim resis-tance group commits any mistake thenall these nations make hue and cry andall the imperialistic powers of the worldname it as Islamic terrorism and at-tempts are made to defame the wholeMuslim community and their religion,Geelani said.

While commenting upon the roleof UNO, Geelani sahib said that this

institution has not only become a‘Toothless Tiger’ but it is totally intothe control of America and without theconsent of this country, it can’t doanything, Geelani said. Geelani saidthe role of OIC as disgusting, the pro-freedom leader of Kashmir said that ifthis institution would have been ac-tive and strong and it would haveearned any kind of influence in theworld, Israel would not have dared tomassacre the Palestinian people insuch a way.

“Most rulers of the Muslim coun-tries are busy in enjoying the luxuri-ous lives and they are unable to un-derstand that in future they may alsomeet the fate of Saddam Hussain andColonel Gaddaffi”, he said. He said thatthe pro-Islamic leader said that if Mus-lims of the world would get united andthey will recognize themselves as a oneUmmah, the Israel like country couldbe eliminated from the world map, butunfortunately due to the cunning poli-cies of enemies of Muslims and dueto some own blunders, they have gotdivided into many groups and theyare killing each other somewhere in thename of Shia and Sunni and some-where on other names.—KD

SRINAGAR—Taller than Eiffel tower, the au-thorities here are busy constructing world’shighest railway bridge over Chenab River.According to the reports received by KNS,the height of the bridge is expected to be 359meters and after completion, the bridge willbe the highest bridge in the entire world.Reports informed that the bridge is expectedto be completed by the end of year 2016.

The railway authorities stated that thebridge is designed in such a way that it couldwithstand seismic activities and high-speedwinds that are usual in the Chenab valley. A5.8 earthquake hit the Chenab Valley on May1, 2013, killing two and injuring 69.Seismic ac-tivity continued in the valley throughout 2013,prompting teams of seismologists to studythe area. A local belief states that the earth-quakes were being caused by hydroelectricconstruction projects in the area however thesame was denied by the experts later.

Reports informed that the work on thebridge started in 2002 but safety and feasi-

World’s largest bridgebeing built in Kashmir

OLD CITY (IHK)—Hurriyat Conference (M) chairman and valley’s chief priest MirwaizUmar Farooq said Kashmir people would donate money if United Nations can’t affordhas no money to run its New Delhi office. Addressing people at central Jamia Masjid inOld City here, Mirwaiz said India was making ‘pretexts to change the disputed status’ ofJammu and Kashmir on international level by sometimes terming the UN resolutions onKashmir as ‘ineffective or by questioning’ the very presence of UN office.

Mirwaiz stated that by asking UNMOGIP office at New Delhi to shift its office, Indiawas ‘contradicting the ground and historical realities’. At the same time, Mirwaiz said:“He stated that if UN has issues with funds to run its office in Delhi, Kashmiris werebenevolent enough to donate the money so as to compensate that problem.” On theoccasion, Mirwaiz paid rich tributes to July 13 martyrs of year 1931. “Those valor soulsraised against the sufferings of Kashmiris at the hands of despotic and monarchical rule,adding, they fought for the rights of people and laid their lives for the cause started by‘Mahajar-e-Millat’ Moulana Yousuf Shah,” he said. He reiterated his call for March to-wards Martyrs’ graveyard Naqashband Sahab on July 13.—KD

Kashmiris offer donationfor running UN Delhi Office

SHUPIAN (IHK)—Hundreds of studentsfrom a college and locals in South Kashmirheld protests, the second day, against Israelover the on-going Israeli ‘aggression’ againstPalestinians in Gaza in which more than ahundred people have died so far. Studentsat the government college in South Kashmir’sShupian assembled in the premises of JamiaMosque and asked people to join them thisafternoon, witness told Kashmir Dispatch.

Students lead anti-Israelprotest in South Kashmir

Protest in Delhiagainst impunityof Indian armed

forcesNEW DELHI—As many as26 civil society organizationsin New Delhi jointly orga-nized a pubic meeting on“Campaign against impunityto the armed forces in armedconflict areas”. The represen-tatives of the civil society or-ganizations deplored that theimpunity worked as a shield,which allowed the armed per-sonnel to escape any pros-ecution, or punishment whichresulted in unabated viola-tions of democratic rights.

They said in the fake en-counter case of Pathribal inoccupied Kashmir, the CBIhad found the Indian armedpersonnel guilty of killing fivemen but the Indian SupremeCourt upheld the claim of theArmy that the Sessions Courthad no jurisdiction to con-duct trial of guilty officers, andthat only the Army had theright to do so. This is an out-right violation of the principleof natural justice where onecannot be a judge of his owncause, they added.

The civil society activistssaid that the impunity givento the Indian armed forces hadbeen justified by the puppetauthorities in the occupiedterritory in the name of pro-tecting national interest, in-tegrity and sovereignty. Butin reality, by the use of vio-lence, the powerful section ofsociety is plundering the re-sources of the people andtrampling on their democraticand other fundamentalrights, they maintained.

They demanded bringingto justice the Indian armedpersonnel who were involvedin torture, rape of people, endmilitary oppression and seekdemocratic solutions of thedisputes, end impunity andbring armed personnel underjurisdiction of civil courts.They also opposed separatelaws for Indian armed forcesand said that criminal laws ap-plicable to civilians shouldapply to armed forces in thesame nature.—KMS

NEW DELHI—The Indian Supreme Court has dismissed a Public Interest Litigation(PIL), challenging special status granted to Jammu and Kashmir under Article 370 of theIndian Constitution. A bench headed by Chief Justice, R M Lodha, refused to entertainthe PIL which said that Article 370 was a temporary provision and was valid only till theso-called Assembly ratified the accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India.—KMS

Indian SC rejects PIL to quash article 370

bility concerns, including the area’s strongwinds, saw the project halted in 2008 beforebeing green-lighted again two years later.The estimated cost of the project, which isbeing handled by Konkan Railway Corpora-tion, a subsidiary of state-owned IndianRailway, is more than 553 crore rupees, re-ports an American based news network.

The bridge will connect Baramulla toJammu in the state and the distance is ex-pected to be covered within six hours. Themain arch is being erected using two cablecranes attached on either side of the riverwhich are secured on enormous steel py-lons, according to engineers of the project.The 1, 31 5-metre long bridges will use upto 25,000 tons of steel with some materialbeing transported by helicopters due to thetough terrain, they said. “One of the big-gest challenges involved was constructingthe bridge without obstructing the flow ofthe river,” the railway s official quoted bythe news network said.—KW

The students used the Mosque’s publicaddress system and a huge crowd gatheredamid anti-Israel and anti-America slogan.Witnesses said the protesters march throughthe town and the gathering swelled. “Bothmale and female students took part in the pro-test,” they added. The protesters marchedthrough Gole Chowk, Bonabazar and gath-ered at Degree College in Gagren Townshipbefore locals dispersed peacefully.—KD

Regardless of age,regardless of

position, regard-less of the busi-

ness we happen tobe in, all of usneed to under-

stand the impor-tance of branding.

We are CEOs ofour own compa-

nies: Me, Inc. To bein business today,our most important

job is to be headmarketer for the

brand called You.

—Tom Peters

Malaysia’s biggestbankKUALA LUMPUR—Malaysia’s secondlargest bank CIMB Grouphas secured central bankapproval to commencemerger talks with RHBCapital and MalaysiaBuilding Society to createthe country’s biggestbank, media reports saidSaturday. The mergerplan comes as Malaysiahopes the financial sectorwill help realise thegovernment’s vision oftransforming Malaysiainto a developedeconomy by 2020. Thetarget is to doubleincome per capita to48,000 ringgit ($15,000) inthe next six years. “Thepotential merged entitywill have total assets of614 billion ringgit. Thiswill knock Maybank,which has total assets ofabout 578 billion ringgit,off the pole position,” theNew Straits Times saidSaturday.—AFP

Tycoon shot dead inKenya coastal cityMOMBASA—A promi-nent Kenyan business-man was shot dead inKenya’s port city ofMombasa late Friday,police and eyewitnessessaid. The murder oftransport magnateShahid Bhat, whichoccurred along a roadnear Mombasa’s airport,comes amid mountinginsecurity in the coastalregion. “The gunmenshot at him as he wasdriving along the road,and as they escapedthey shot at anotherpick-up vehicle, wound-ing a child,” Mombasacounty police com-mander Robert Kitur toldAFP. Bhat was the ownerof a bus and transportcompany that runs afleet of buses acrossEast Africa. Police saidthe motive of the attackwas unclear.—AFP

PR declares BusinessTrain flop projectLAHORE—The PakistanRailways administrationhas declared PakistanBusiness Express projectunder public-privatepartnership as disap-pointing and damaging tothe department. Denyinga statement by thedirector PBE published infew newspapers here onSaturday, a PR spokes-man said the PBEadministration wasdefaulter of millions ofrupees of the PR depart-ment and NationalAccountability Bureauwas investigating thecase. According to thePR, an agreement underpublic-private partner-ship was signed onDecember 18, 2011 andtrain service was initiatedon February 3, 2012 whilethe PBE administrationwas bound to pay Rs 3.19million to the railways ondaily basis but the PBEdefaulted from the firstday. Later, the financialcommittee of the cabinetmade some amendmentsin the agreement andprovided facilities to thePBE.—APP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Zakaria Usman President theFederation of Pakistan Chambers of Com-merce and Industry (FPCCI) said that therespective governments of SAARC mem-ber countries should be encouraged toreview the country-specific list of prod-ucts that have export capacity but lesstrading volume to devise strategies fortrade promotion and development, and toremove trade barriers. The causes oflower trade among the SAARC countriesshould be identified and in the light ofthis analysis country specific list of prod-ucts should be revisited.

He said that sensitive list should berevisi ted to l iberal ize trade amongSAARC countries for those productswhich are being imported from othercountries. Zakaria Usman informed thatpresently Nepal maintains 25.5 percent-ages of total lines in sensitive list whichindicates that 25.5 percent products

SAARC bloc countries needto review products lists

lines are not contributing in regionaltrade with Nepal. Similarly, 22.6 percentof total products lines are included insensitive list of Pakistan it means haveno contribution in regional trade, sensi-tive list of Sri Lanka contains 20.3 per-cent, Maldives 12.8 percent, India 16.9percent and Bhutan 3 percentages oftotal products lines are in sensitive list.

He said that shifting of items fromsensitive list to general category lead toreduction in duties and boost trade. Theeight SAARC member countries includ-ing Pakistan and India concluded a land-mark treaty South Asian Free Trade Area(SAFTA) with a pledge to allow free tradeamong member countries by eliminatingtrade barriers and scale down their tar-iffs in two phases to 0-5 percent.

He further said that under the TradeLiberalization Programme of SAFTA, thecustoms duties on products will be pro-gressively reduced and this program willbe completed by 2016.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Well known telecoms specialistZouhair A. Khaliq, who served and playeda pivotal role in the development and growthof the Pakistan telecom sector, has joinedthe GSM Association as Managing Direc-tor, GSMA Mobile for Development. He willbe based in London, UK.

The GSMA represents the interests ofmobile operators worldwide. Spanning morethan 220 countries, GSMA unites nearly 800of the world’s mobile operators with 250companies in the broader mobile ecosystem,including handset and device makers, soft-ware companies, equipment providers andInternet companies, as well as organizationsin industry sectors such as financial services,healthcare, media, transport and utilities. TheGSMA also produces industry-leadingevents such as Mobile World Congress andMobile Asia Expo.

Commenting on his appointment as MD,Zouhair Khaliq said, “GSMA Mobile forDevelopment brings together the mobileoperator members, the wider mobile indus-try and the development community todrive commercial mobile services for

Zouhair Khaliq now Managing Director,GSMA Mobile for Development

underserved people in emerging markets.We identify opportunities for social, eco-nomic and environmental impact and stimu-late the development of scalable, life-en-hancing mobile services.”

“We work with industry partners anddonors such as the Rockefeller Foundation,the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, theMastercard Foundation, DFID, NORAD,USAID and many others to bring MobileMoney for the Unbanked, Mobile Health,Mobile Enabled Community Services, GreenPower for Mobile, Mobile for DevelopmentImpact, Disaster Response, GSMAmWomen and Mobile for Employment assome of our programmes,” he added. Elabo-rating further, he opined, “Mobile is thepredominant infrastructure in emergingmarkets. We believe it is the transforma-tive technology that enables us to put rel-evant, impactful services into the hands ofunderserved people. Since the creation ofGSMA Mobile for Development it haspartnered with 50 mobile operators, rollingout 104 initiatives, impacting tens of mil-lions of people across 49 countries. My aimwill be to expand and grow this area andmaximize the impact on these communities.

LAHORE—The Punjab government hasdecided to take strict action against theelements involved in manufacturing, sell-ing and all other activit ies related tobusiness of fake pesticides and herbi-cides etc in the province. The step isbeing taken on the direct ion of thePunjab chief minister to eliminate thebusiness of all types of spurious agri-culture medicines, MPA Hussain JehaniaGardazi told APP here on Saturday.

He said spurious agri medicines werepoison for crops and the chief ministerwanted an action like the governmenttaken in the year 1998 when all forms offake pesticides were vanished. He said

the instructions had been passed to theconcerned officials to launch a compre-hensive plan of action.

Gardazi said the control on spuriouspesticides etc would have a very posi-tive outcome of the agriculture produc-tivity and overall economy will be ben-efited. He said not only sellers but manu-facturers and dealers of such a pesti-cides were equally responsible for thiscrime. He said that the government wastaking series of s teps to promote theagriculture sector. The business of fakepesticides etc was one of the big irri-tants in way of agriculture growth, hesaid.—APP

Govt to take strict actionagainst fake pesticides traders

LAHORE—The livestock sector has keyrole in the development of agriculture inthe country as its contributes 55 percentof the agri GDP while it has over 11 per-cent share in the total national GDP. Thiswas stated by Vice Chancellor of the Uni-versity of Veterinary and Animal Sciences(UVAS) Prof Talat Naseer Pasha while talk-ing to APP.

He added that as the livestock sec-tor had mentionalble share in the na-tional GDP, therefore, it needed to havecheck on the prices of l ivestock feed

Livestock key role indevelopment of agriculture

which had big share in the productionof livestock. He informed that raise infeed prices ,illegal export and raise ofmanagement cost had caused high pricesof animals which resulted in high pricesof meat.

He said the role of feed in the growth ofanimal was 75 percent when prices of feedraised it affected cost of production. Hesaid illegal export and management costconsisting of labour,watering and transporthad also an important role in raising pricesof animals.—APP

LAHORE—Provincial Minister for Excise &Taxation, Finance Punjab Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman has said that government is ex-tending all out cooperation to the inves-tors for the promotion of industries andtrade. He said that government is takingshort-term and long-term measures in en-ergy sector to minimize load-shedding andpower plants are being set up in variousparts of the province.

He said that Punjab government hascreated vast opportunities for traders andindustrialists especially to the foreign in-vestors. He said that government has takensolid steps for the generation of electricityand load-shedding will be completely elimi-nated within four years when all units ofthe power plants which are in pipelines willbecome fully functional. While talking toparty workers at his residence, MujtabaShuja ur Rehman said that Excise & Taxa-tion Department earns 28 percent from prop-erty tax and 54 percent from motor vehiclestax, whereas it should be reversed and rea-

‘Govt extends all-out coop forpromotion of industries, trade’

son for low recovery of property tax is thatsurvey of the property was conducted 14years ago.

He said that government has introducedreforms in tax collection machinery and lat-est technology was being introduced in thedepartments to increase the revenue.Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman briefed the partyworkers that while expanding tax net andincreasing tax, hardships of the commonman are being kept in view and only afflu-ent persons as well as rich sectors will bebrought into tax net. He said that all the taxsystem of E&T department is being com-puterized so that everybody can get taxdetails on net and in result of transparencyas well as proper supervision an amount ofRs.15 billion extra will be deposited in pub-lic exchequer. He said that government haslevied taxes on affluent persons havingluxury houses and large & expansive ve-hicles and income generated from taxeswould be spent on low income peoples’houses.—NNI

UZAIR YOUSAF

SINCE the influx of imported cars in Pakistan,the brand perception of Pakistani car ownersis changing. The interesting thing here is that

people are now moving towards upper bracket topurchase a high quality car with comfort and pref-erably additional gadgets, no matter the unit islocal or imported. The survey provides an in-depthmarket research on the automobile industry in Pa-kistan. It has derived valuable information forstakeholders of the industry and consumers alike.And with over 10,000 respondents from all overPakistan, the survey covers people from all walksof life. Data has been gathered from people be-longing to all ages, income levels, and industrysectors. The survey even had responses frompeople who don’t own cars to get a good idea ofthe market from a third person’s perspective.

Imported car influx changes brand perception in PakistanThe data released by Pakwheels.com, an

online automobile website tells that 18.41% ofcar owners own a unit in between Rs1 to Rs1.5million, the highest percentage they get out oftheir survey conducted to mark the automobiletrends for the year 2013.

The data reveals that 15.94% of car ownersowns a car below Rs 0.5 million. The surveyportrays some trends which seldom have dueimportance for four wheel drivers like the track-ing systems, insurance covers, driving licenseholders etc. The survey also shows the increas-ing awareness of brand perception, drive qual-ity, fuel efficiency and much more among thefour wheel community.

86.13% respondents claim that Toyota is thenumber one brand. Honda stands at second with83.38% and Suzuki at third with 69.12%, and soon. However in case of car owner ship, 33.43%

own Suzuki, 28.35% Toyota and 24.65% Hondabrand followed by other brands which have muchlower share in the survey. In case of car featurescompatibility and uniqueness, Honda tops as78.38% respondents claiming the carmaker hasunique and different features if compared withother brands, but at the same time 67.92% respon-dents claim that this brand costs more than theyexpect to pay for the vehicle, again the highestpercentage.

Toyota is second with 60.22% people claimsfor its unique features, again with 57.33% assertedhigh cost phenomenon then their expectations.Suzuki is at third place with 29.82% respondentclaims of some uniqueness along with 42.04%claiming the brands cost more than they expect topay. Matching the brand with the life styles of thepeople, Honda once again leads the other brandswith a percentage of 79.42%, followed by Toyota

and Suzuki with 72.59% and 39.73% respectively.The data said that out of total respondents the

share of car owners who purchased a second handcar is at 55.12%. This is also due to the affordabilityfactor and the low percentage of car financing bycommercial banks. As of today majority of peopleprefer cash payment rather than bank leasing andother source of payments. The data said that 72.2%people purchased their vehicles by paying full cashwhereas only 10.05% people avail the facility ofauto finance or car leasing.

The survey reveals some other facts which arequite appalling like 74.95% cars are moving oncountry roads without any insurance cover, and77.66% car owners are least bothered about thetracking system to be installed for security mea-sures in case of any theft. The percentage of driv-ing license holders is somehow encouraging with72.17% drivers possess a valid driving license.

LAHORE—Chairman Brand and Marketing,Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Com-merce and Industry Sheharyar Ali MalikSaturday stressed an urgent need for de-veloping brands to capture open globalmarkets besides earning more foreign ex-change for the country. Sheharyar Ali Malik,highlighting the significance of brands,said that it was high time for Pak entrepre-neurs, corporate sector especially new gen-eration including youth and women busi-ness magnates to focus on developingbrands in line with international standardswhich he added will not only promote andbenefit their business but also help earnmore foreign exchange.

He said that vertical integration and in-stitutional network are to be strengthenedon modern scientific lines to meet the futurechallenges of global marketing. He said thatby the grace of Allah, Pak entrepreneurs havefull potential to compete the internationalmarkets but unfortunately do not developtheir own brand like KFC, McDonald’s,Guard, Bata etc. The chairman said that pri-vate sector now has to come forward to de-velop their own brand on war footings fortheir own survival otherwise neighbouringcountries will continue to dominate in inter-national markets. He said Pakistan is pro-ducing one the best products in the world insports, textile, fruits, vegetables, handicraftsand in several other sectors but not export-ing them under its own brands.

Sheharyar said, “We must not only

Brand development urgentneed to capture world mart

develop but promote brands throughmanufacturing the best quality productswhich is the need of the hour”.He said thatTrade Development Authority Pakistanunder the dynamic leadership of its chiefexecutive SM Munir has evolved a viablemaster plan to fully encourage Pak brandsin international markets by facilitatingmanufacturers and exporters for holdingsingle-country exhibitions.

He said modern trends and techniquesof marketing can also help promote Pakexports worldwide.He said that TDAPchief has fully assured that absolutelygenuine exhibitors will not only be en-couraged but also facilitated to maximumextent. He urged the private sector to re-store the consumer faith and trust bymanufacturing the best quality productson competitive prices for the promotionof brands. He said that FPCCI PresidentZakaria Usman and Chief Executive TDAPSM Munir,on his concrete proposal,haveagreed in principle to launch short dura-tion courses,workshop and seminars at lo-cal chamber level across the country on“Brand and Marketing” to keep abreast theprivate sector with its vital importance inpromotion of their trade and business.

He said that entire business communityis thankful to Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif for reposing confidence in theprivate sector by appointing a high profileman of integrity and fairly competent per-son as TDAP head.—APP

AMISP issuesrates of

commoditiesL A H O R E — A g r i c u l t u r eMarketing Information Ser-vice Punjab (AMISP) issuedrates of different agricultureproducts as per 100 kg inlocal market on Saturday.Rice (Super Karnal BasmatiNew) minimum Rs 11000 andmaximum Rs 11500, whitesugar minimum 5390 andmaximum Rs 5390, whitegram minimum Rs 5200 andmaximum Rs 5600, Red ChiliWhole (Dry) minimum Rs22500 maximum Rs 22500.Potato Fresh minimum Rs5600 and maximum Rs 5800,Onion minimum Rs 2600 andmaximum Rs 2800, Tomatominimum Rs 3500 and maxi-mum Rs 3700, Garlic (Lo-cal) minimum Rs 8000 andmaximum Rs 8300, Peasminimum Rs 10600 andmaximum Rs 11000, Cauli-flower minimum Rs 6300and maximum Rs 6500,Brinjal minimum Rs 3000and maximum Rs 3200.Apple Kala Kulu (Mandi)minimum Rs 8200 and maxi-mum Rs 8300, Dates(Aseel) minimum Rs 12000and maximum Rs 12500,Lemon (Desi) minimum Rs9200 and maximum Rs 9600,Mango.—APP

U paisa tofacilitate

customers inbill payment

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Owing toavailability of extensive andreliable financial solutions byUfone, Qubee, a renownedbroadband service providerin Pakistan with coverage inKarachi, Lahore and twin cit-ies of Islamabad/Rawalpindi,has taken up U paisa to fa-cilitate its customers in billpayment by entering intoElectronic Bills CollectionAgreement with Ubank,whereby the Qubee custom-ers will be able to pay fortheir bills through U paisamobile accounts or by walk-ing in to any Ufone ServiceCenters and Franchise,Ubank branches and 25,000+U paisa outlets across Paki-stan.

GUJRANWALA: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Shairf visiting the Sasta Ramzan Bazaar.

Emirates takesmilestone

delivery of 50thA380 aircraft

KARACHI/DUBAI—Emir-ates has received its 50thA380 aircraft, strength-ening its position as theworld’s largest interna-tional airline[i]. This lat-est delivery takes Emir-ates’ all wide-body fleetto 224 aircraft, represent-ing the world’s largestfleet of A380s, and alsothe world’s largest fleetof Boeing 777s. After theentry of its 50th A380 air-craft into service by earlyAugust, Emirates will of-fer on a weekly basis atotal of 5.7 billion avail-able seat kilometres(ASKMs) to 145 destina-tions which span theglobe from Los Angelesto Auckland. Since April2010, Emirates has re-ceived 96 aircraft (allA380s and Boeing 777s),increasing its overall ca-pacity by 64% inATKMs and 71% inASKMs, while consis-tently maintaining seatload factors of close to80%. During this period,Emirates also added 48cities to its global desti-nation network.

Sir Tim Clark, Presi-dent of Emirates Airlinesaid: “Emirates has seentremendous organicgrowth in the past 4years, probably the fast-est of any airline in his-tory. We’ve literallyadded capacity equiva-lent to what some mid-sized airlines operate,but more significantly,we have maintained highseat loads and profitabil-ity. This speaks to thestrength of our world-class product, and alsoour business modelwhich is based on an ef-ficient global hub thatconnects Dubai to theworld, and almost anytwo cities in the world viaDubai.” He added: “TheA380 has been very suc-cessful for us, and thisis reflected in the strongcustomer interest andhigh seat loads whereverwe’ve deployed the air-craft.—PR

Dealersexperience huawei

ascend P7LAHORE—Huawei, a lead-ing global information andcommunications technol-ogy (ICT) solutions pro-vider today, conducted aceremony to privilege itsdealers with first-hand ex-perience of its newlylaunched handsets inPakistan.A number ofHuawei’s dealers acrossthe country participatedinthe event.

The ceremony show-cased top of the line prod-ucts produced by thecompany with the newlylaunched Ascend P7, As-cend P6, Honor 3C, Y600and Y330. All eyes wereon the latest 4G LTE-en-abled Ascend P7; thesmartphone which rede-fines excellence with top-notch features, ultra-fastconnectivity, and easiernavigation in a beautifullycrafted design that placesit in a class of its own. Mr.Faraz Khan, Head of Mar-keting, Huawei Pakistanattended the ceremonyand addressed the gath-ering.—PR

Currency Selling Buying

USA 98.50 98.30

UK 168.78 168.44

Euro 133.99 133.72

Canada 92.60 92.41

Switzerland 110.33 110.10

Australia 92.47 92.28

Sweden 14.54 14.51

Japan 0.9721 0.9701

Norway 15.96 15.93

Singapore 79.25 79.09

Denmark 17.97 17.94

Saudi Arabia 26.26 26.21

Hong Kong 12.71 12.68

Kuwait 349.28 348.57

Malaysia 30.90 30.84

Newzealand 86.83 86.66

Qatar 27.06 27.00

UAE 26.82 26.76

Kr. Won 0.0967 0.0965

Thailand 3.058 3.051

Clay Hamilton, Agriculture Counselor, US Embassy in Pakistan paying farewell cour-tesy call to Chairman PARC Dr Iftikhar Ahmad in his office at PARC HQs.

LONDON—Suspense over the appearance of America’s newest com-bat jet, a diplomatic chill between the West and Russia and the re-launch of an Airbus jet with a surprise tweak in its name could makethe Farnborough Airshow one of the least predictable for years.While the world’s largest aerospace event is traditionally a caul-dron for new technology and dazzling flying displays, technicalproblems forced the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to withdraw from awarm-up event and Farnborough’s aircraft list is already crossedthrough with several high-profile no-shows.

The July 14-20 gathering will go ahead without the brand-newBombardier (BBDb.TO) CSeries or popular Russian fighter displays.Qatar Airways has withdrawn its Airbus A380 superjumbo, sayingthe still undelivered plane is not yet ready. At the July 11-13 RoyalInternational Air Tattoo (RIAT) in England, visitors were disap-pointed after Lockheed Martin Corp’s (LMT.N) F-35 fighter jet failedto make the military air show. An engine fire has triggered a fleetwidegrounding of the Pentagon’s newest warplane – and the world’ssingle most expensive weapons program - but officials are still hop-ing the stealth fighter will be cleared to fly at Farnborough.

RIAT visitors drawn by posters making it one of the most antici-pated aviation events had to settle for a “stress ball” shaped like anF-35 but saw a dazzling display of other planes. “It was the mainreason for us to come here - to see the F-35; it is a big disappoint-ment,” said Jan Corstjens, a retired Dutch pharmaceutical executivewith a private pilot’s license. The U.S. Navy said on Friday it wasnot yet ready to lift the flying ban on F-35B and F-35C models.Tensions over the crisis in Ukraine have also depleted this year’sFarnborough show with Russia adopting a scaled-down presence,focusing on civil displays and the space industry.

FRANKFURT—The European Central Bank’sinterest rates are too low for Germany,Bundesbank chief Jens Weidmann said onSaturday, adding that ECB monetary policyshould remain expansive for no longer thanabsolutely necessary. Speaking at aBundesbank open day for the public,Weidmann noted that many savers in Ger-many were irritated by low interest ratesbut said these were aimed at supportinginvestment and consumption. The ECB cutinterest rates to record lows last month aspart of a package of measures to breathelife into a sluggish euro zone economy,where inflation is running far below the cen-tral bank’s target and there is a dearth ofcredit to smaller firms.

The German economy, Europe’s largest,has been outperforming other countries inthe bloc, however. “It is clear that monetary

Aerospace jamboree on tenterhooks over F-35 fighter “It’s obvious that because of tensions with Western gov-

ernments over differences between Russia and Ukraine, the mili-tary presence is really scaled down at this year’s Farnborough,”said Alexander Velovich, sales representative for Russian andUkrainian clients at the Farnborough Airshow. Many Russianvisitors have struggled to obtain British visas and on Fridaymore than 100 of the expected 450 delegates were yet to receiveclearance, said Velovich. Somewhat more predictable is the drum-beat of civil orders led by leasing firms, despite fears of airlineovercapacity and a peak in the aerospace cycle that have causedthe U.S. sector to underperform wider stocks by around 10 per-cent this year.

Airbus (AIR.PA) and Boeing (BA.N) are expected to grab morethan 500 orders worth well over $50 billion, including a major 100-plane order for Airbus aircraft from leasing company SMBC, re-ported by Reuters on Thursday. Qatar Airways may finalize an or-der for 50 Boeing 777X jets and order Airbus small A320 jets, whileBoeing could confirm the defection of UK’s Monarch Airlines fromAirbus as both planemakers pursue a relentless battle for marketshare. But analysts are likely to scrutinize the announcements moreclosely than ever to see how much is genuinely new business.

“With the usual Airshow games, we could see some previouslyannounced orders being firmed up, and unidentified orders beingidentified,” RBC analyst Rob Stallard said in a note. Most attentionwill be on Airbus as it kicks off the show by launching a revampedand rebranded version of the A330 jetliner. “There is a strong likeli-hood it will be announced at Farnborough,” a senior airline indus-try source said. Airbus hopes to generate more than 1,000 newsales with new engines and curved aerodynamic winglets, but is

also preparing to back away from the newer A350-800 which it oncehoped would replace the A330 and underpin its new A350 jet family.

Airbus has only 34 A350-800s left on order, including HawaiianAirlines which is being courted for the revamped A330. The airlinehas previously been reluctant to change to a different model, but aspokeswoman told Reuters it was ready to examine the A330neosince the A350-800 may not be built. Boeing officials say the changedemonstrates its rival’s wavering strategy and that the market willbe both far smaller than Airbus hopes - closer to 400 aircraft - andshort-lived. Still, the launch is expected to lead to stiff competitionas Boeing tries to limit any damage to margins and sales of itscarbon-fiber 787.

In a last-minute switch, the upgraded model may be named A330-800/900neo - instead of the -200/-300 tags used in pre-marketing - inan effort to smooth the end of the A350-800 and add a new tier inAirbus’s portfolio. Unmanned vehicles will also be a big topic at theshow as the United States wrestles with export policy while Europestruggles to close a gap with Israel and the United States. Few will beable to forget that the air show is also taking place under the shadowof Malaysian Flight MH370. The reasons for the jet’s disappearanceremain a mystery, but the fruitless international search could fuelinterest in tracking technology and more maritime surveillance air-craft, with U.S. and European models on display as Britain ponderswhether to replace its recently scrapped Nimrod aircraft. The aero-space industry is itching for Britain to open bids for a replacementafter cancelling the delayed BAE Systems (BAES.L) Nimrod MRA4in 2010, but Defence Minister Philip Hammond has suggested it maystudy a more complex solution including unmanned vehicles ratherthan a quick plane order.—Agencies

ECB interest rates too low forGermany: Bundesbank chief

policy, when seen from a German viewpoint,is too expansive for Germany, too loose,”Weidmann told a crowd at the start of theopen day. “If we pursued our own mon-etary policy, which we don’t, it would lookdifferent.” “But we are in a currency union,”he said. “That means that in our monetarypolicy decisions, we must orientate our-selves to the whole currency union.” Re-peating a warning he has made previouslyabout the risks of leaving policy loose fortoo long, Weidmann added: “This phase oflow interest rates, this phase of expansivemonetary policy, should not last longerthan is absolutely necessary.” BundesbankVice President Claudia Buch said propertyprices were overvalued in some big city ar-eas in Germany by up to 20-25 percent, butthat there was no acute risk of a price bubbleforming.—AFP

LAHORE—The dam is inevitable for survivalof Pakistan and practical steps are direlyneeded to store water that is fast depletingto avoid poverty and hunger in future.Former Lahore Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (LCCI) Senior Vice President AbdulBasit said here Saturday that constructionof Kala Bagh Dam (KBD) was indispensableand all the stakeholders would have to de-velop a consensus by setting aside theirdiffernces as early as possible in the bestinterest of the country and the nation.

Basit urged the government to focuson the KBD that would ensure inexpensiveelectricity and saving Rs 132 billion annu-ally, adding the Dam was not only benefi-cial to Punjab alone but it would be morehelpful in erasing poverty from KhyberPakhtunKhawa as would irrigate 800,000acres of cultivable land that is located 100-150 feet above the Indus River level in theprovince.

He said, this land could only be broughtunder cultivation if the river level was raisedthat was possible only through the KBD,and other alternative was to pump the wa-ter which was very costly. He creditablestudies have indicated that pumping waterfor potential cultivable land would cost

Call for early building of KBDfarmers Rs 5000 per acre per year while ca-nal water after construction of KalabaghDam would cost only Rs 400 per acre peryear. He said historical data indicates thatduring past 75 years average 146 millionacres of water is available per year in riverIndus.

Kalabagh Dam issue had been politi-cized and the civil society would have toplay a crucial role in creating a larger con-sensus as new large water reservoirs wouldbenefit every Pakistani, he maintained.Abdul Basit said that all the stakeholdersshould show some greater maturity on theissue of Kalabagh. It is high time that allundue stands should be brushed aside tosave the country from that era of darkness.He said, India was constructing dams atevery possible site that left us decades be-hind. He said that everyone knew that ex-isting dams were constantly silting up leav-ing ever decreasing capacity to store wa-ter. The construction of Kalabagh Damalong with other new dams was desperatelyneeded to store adequate water. Accordingto a conservative estimate about 30 millionacre feet of water is being wasted into thesea because the country had no adequatewater reservoirs to store it.—APP

KARACHI: Group photograph of Jubilee Management Team Faisal Abbasi, SohailFakhar, Kashif Naqvi, Murtaza Zafar and Umair Shah taken during iftar dinner hostedby Jubilee Life Insurance at Port Grand.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

Rahat Fateh AliKhan presided over

a Lucky Draw atMcDonald’s

PakistanSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Rahat Fateh AliKhan, a renowned Pakistanisinger of international fame,presided over the 2nd luckydraw ceremony atMcDonald’s Y Block, Defence,Lahore, Pakistan on 12th art-ist Rahat Fateh Ali Khanlooked pretty excited after therelease of his new album “Backto Love” at McDonald’s. Theevent was made even moreexciting when Rahat Fateh AliKhan sang a few songs fromBack to Love much to the sur-prise of the audience, wholoved the live performance.McDonald’s Assistant Direc-tor Marketing, Raza Ali wel-comed Rahat Fateh Ali Khanto the restaurant. The pa-trons at McDonald’s wereextremely delighted as theygot a chance to have theirpictures taken with fromRahat Fateh Ali Khan andget his autograph. He alsotoured different depart-ments of McDonald’s.

Tokyo investorskeep watch onUS, China data

next weekTOKYO—Japanese inves-tors will be keeping an eyeon the release next week ofkey US and Chinese, withTokyo business expected tostay tight ahead of the cor-porate earnings season, ex-perts said. “Trade will bewithin a narrow range, as in-vestors are bracing for thenext earnings season”, whichwill start later this month, saidYuya Tsuchida, strategist ofToyo Securities. Next weekwill see the release in Chinaof second-quarter economicgrowth, the US FederalReserve’s Beige Book oneconomic conditions as wellas crucial retail sales figures.

The Bank of Japan willalso hold a two-day meeting,followed by a news confer-ence by governor HaruhikoKuroda, which will bewatched for clues about fu-ture policy. “But the BoJ meet-ing will probably end up be-ing within market expecta-tions” of no policy changes,Tsuchida added. The head-line Nikkei-225 index at TokyoStock Exchange lost 0.34 per-cent to 15,164.04 after a scareover a Portuguese bank sentWall Street lower.—AFP

ISLAMABAD: Bahria Town has initiated itsrelief operation in North Waziristan for theIDP’s. The chief coordinator of the reliefoperation is Brig. Tahir Butt. This relief op-eration will be on a much larger scale thanthe efforts made during the 2005 earthquakeor the drought relief efforts inThar. Trucksfilled with rashan bags were sent for imme-diate relief to Banu district and later on whiletalking to media Bahria Town managementquoted that this will be an on-going pro-cess now till the IDPs return to their homes.

Chairman Bahria Town MalikRiazHussain had requested in a press con-ference earlier last month and requested thefederal government, provincial governmentof KPK and army to give their relief teamsaccess to the IDPs. He also intimated toadopt as many as one lakh IDPs till the situ-ation gets normal which includes tents,washrooms, field hospital, school, sewer-age, RO plants, BahriaDastarkhawan& es-tablishment of modern village on their re-turn to North Waziristan

Brig. ® Tahir had coordinated on the in-

Bahria Town’s relief operationfor IDP’s kicks off

structions of chairman Bahria Town MalikRiazHussain, with the Pakistan army, FederalMinistry of SAFRON(Frontier Area), provin-cial disaster management authority, provinceKPK government, commissioner and otherauthorities to make the relief efforts by BahriaTown possible. The first relief mission com-prising of 3 mobile hospitals, Rashan trucks,doctors, nurses & paramedical staff set off toBanu yesterday. Bahria Town will also be es-tablishing a clinical laboratory in Banuhospitalwhich will be equipped to carry out 30 vari-ous tests. Bahria Town is also establishingBahriaDastarkhawan in Banu, D.I.Khan,Peshawar, LakkiMarwat&Karak districtswhich will be providing two times meals tofive thousamd people daily.

Chairman Bahria Town Mr. MalikRiazHussain has allocated Rs 50 crore forthe initial expenditures while the remaining450 crore will be provided for the reconstruc-tion of thousands of free homes for the IDP’s.This relief operation will be the largest op-eration compared to all others and will pro-vide relief to more than 100,000 IDP’s.—PR

FAISALABAD—Pakistan Textile ExportersAssociation (PTEA) has welcomed theconstitution of a special banking commit-tee for revival of sick textile units by theTextile Ministry. Revival of sick units inFaisalabad itself can help in fetching US$1 billion in foreign exchange and in addi-tion create thousands of new jobs.

In a statement here Sheikh IlyasMahmood, Chairman and Adil Tahir, vicechairman PTEA appreciated the specialefforts of Textile Minister Abbas KhanAfridi for revival of textile industry andincrease in textile exports. This move isinitiated by the Textile Ministry to perkup the sick production units operating in

PTEA welcomes bankingcommittee for revival of sick units

the textile sector of the country.This step would help to boost industrial-

ization and provide jobs to the labourers.Activation of idle capacities in the value-added textile sector is a major challenge whichis projected to be collectively worth Rs. 150billion, they said. Special banking committeecomprised of National Bank of Pakistan andHabib Bank Limited will take effective mea-sures and provide necessary financial assis-tance to get these units back on track andoperate at their installed capacity.

“We have the capacity and the marketto double the country’s textile exports inthree years, from the current US$ 13 billionto US$ 26 billion.—APP

BERLIN—Germany’s upper house of parliament passedan ambitious renewable energy law which aims to miti-gate the effects of the country’s move away fromnuclear and fossil-fuel generated power. The upperhouse, which represents Germany’s 16 states and whichcould have delayed the bill , passed the bill endingmonths of tough negotiations. And the reform of therenewable energy law can come into force as plannedon August 1.

The green light was given after the European Com-mission on Wednesday said it had ended a probe intoGermany’s legislation and gave backing to the plansafter Berlin agreed to make some amendments to thelaw which had initially sparked a war of words betweenBerlin and Brussels. The government said the bill isnecessary to deal with the undesired side-effects of itsflagship project which aims to replace nuclear power

German parliament passesrenewable energy law

with renewables over the next eight years and most fos-sil fuels by the midcentury. The policy known as “en-ergy transformation” has resulted in a green energyproduction boom, but has also pushed up power pricesfor consumers and many businesses. Companies havecomplained rising power prices would hurt Germany’sindustrial base.

The imminent law trims subsidies for new green powerplants, which range from vast wind farms to small solarpanels installed on private roofs. It also spreads the power-price surcharge which has funded these subsidies moreequally among businesses. Many companies had previ-ously been exempt because they operate in energy hun-gry industries or decided to build their own power plants.The EU had concerns that some German firms producingrenewable energy may have benefited unfairly from subsi-dies in the past.—Agencies

NANCY, France: Andrew Talansky of the US crashes as the pack with stage winnerItaly’s Matteo Trentin, foreground left, sprints towards the finish line during the sev-enth stage.

HAMBANTOTA: Angelo Mathews had to arrest a middle-order wobble during Sri Lanka vs South Africa, 3rd ODI.

NOTTINGHAM: Joe Root and James Anderson added 198 for the final wicket in England vs India 1st Investec Test atTrent Bridge.

HAMBANTOTA—Grinding hundredslike Hashim Amla’s in the first ODI andglorious ones like AB de Villiers’ inHambantota. Quickfire starts likeTillakaratne Dilshan’s fifty off 40 ballsin Pallekele and Sri Lanka’s 99 off thefirst ten overs in the finale. Dramaticcollapses - Sri Lanka recorded 5 for 13in Colombo and 5 for 11 in the secondODI, South Africa contributed 5 for 26in the same game - this series seemedto have it all. Except a run-out. So itwas only fitting that when one came,it proved decisive in a contest whichsaw South Africa make history bywinning a first-ever fifty-over rubberin Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka had polished off almosta third of the target in the powerplaywith Kusal Perera pouncing on any-thing too full, too short or too muchon his pads. When he fell on his sword,Dilshan and a belligerent KumarSangakkara took over and continuedto knock South Africa’s plans out of

shape. With the wind causing havocand the runs coming easily, Sri Lankadidn’t need to do anything too risky.But then South Africa introduced theman they hoped would be their trumpcard, Imran Tahir.

Dilshan hit his first legitimate ballto de Villiers at short midwicket andunthinkingly charged to the otherside of the pitch. Sangakkara initiallymoved forward but then turned back.What could have been a tightly scam-pered single became a two-horse raceto the non-strikers’ end. De Villiersdidn’t need to pull off anything acro-batic, de Kock could afford to fumbleand yet Dilshan lost his battle. Hisfury with Sangakkara would onlyhave got worse over the minutes thatfollowed.

At the end of the next over,Sangakkara was snaffled down the legside in almost a carbon copy of theway he was dismissed by MorneMorkel on Wednesday. The past con-

tinued to hound SriLanka whenM a h e l aJayawardene fell toTahir for the thirdtime in the series,this time off a top-edged sweep.

Sri Lankalost three wicketsfor six runs in thespace of 14 ballsand with it thechance to pull offthe highest chasein the country.

T h ehosts’ middle-or-der managed tokeep the fight aliveuntil the 45th over.Ashan Priyanjanwithstood SouthAfrica’s seamerspeppering himwith short balls

and put on 83 for the sixth-wicket withAngelo Mathews. The Sri Lankancaptain’s form continued but whenhe was dismissed - caught by Morkelat short fine leg to make RyanMcLaren the series’ highest wicket-taker - Sri Lanka folded. McLaren wasSouth Africa’s most successfulbowler but Tahir’s control and cru-cial wicket was what turned a matchSouth Africa would have thoughtthey had by the scruff of the neck atthe innings break.

Twin tons from Quinton de Kockand de Villiers took South Africa totheir largest score against Sri Lanka.They smothered a spin threat thathad grown with the inclusion ofRangana Herath. Although Herathwas Sri Lanka’s best bowler he hadlittle back-up from anyone else, par-ticularly Lasith Malinga who was offcolour for the second time in the se-ries.

De Kock displayed immenseprogress from South Africa’s tour toSri Lanka last year when he wasstrangled by the turning ball. His cen-tury was his fourth in six innings, fifthoverall in an ODI career which is only18months old and the highest by a SouthAfrican in an ODI against Sri Lanka. Italso maintained his 100% conversionrate of half-centuries into three figures.His only lapse was a mis-hit into thecovers, when on 38, and Priyanjandived to his left but could not holdon.

With Hashim Amla at his side forthe opening exchanges and deVilliers to guide him at the end, deKock also learned how to pace hisinnings. He featured in a solid open-ing stand of 118 and resolutely sur-vived the Sri Lankan stranglehold.Mathews’ men did not concede aboundary between the 21st and 31stovers, a period in which de Villiersmade sure de Kock stayed focusedas their union blossomed to 116.—Agencies

South Africa win first ODIseries in Sri Lanka

South Africa inningsAmla b Herath ........... 48Kock b Senanayake 128Kallis lbw b Herath ..... 4Villiers b Mendis ..... 108Duminy c & b Mendis29Miller not out ............... 4McLaren not out ......... 2Extras (b 4, lb 3, w 9) . 16Total (5 wickets) ...... 339Fall of wickets 1-118, 2-132,3-248, 4-328, 5-328Bowling ........ O-M-R-WMalinga .......... 10-0-85-0Senanayake .... 10-0-66-1Mathews .......... 6-0-43-0Mendis ............. 7-0-48-2Herath ............. 10-0-48-2TM Dilshan ...... 7-0-42-0Sri Lanka inningsPerera b Parnell .......... 37Dilshan run out ......... 30

SCOREBOARDSangakkara b McLaren36Jayawardene b Tahir ....... 2Thirimanne b Duminy ... 22Mathews b McLaren .... 58Priyanjan b McLaren .... 30Senanayake b Morkel ... 13Herath b Morkel .............. 1Mendis not out ............... 0Malinga c & b Duminy ... 0Extras (b 2, lb 4, w 20, nb 2)28Total (all out) ............... 257Fall of wickets 1-57, 2-107,3-113, 4-113, 5-151, 6-234, 7-249, 8-257, 9-257, 10-257Bowling ........... O-M-R-WDW Steyn ............ 7-0-55-0M Morkel ............. 7-0-49-2Parnell ................... 4-0-38-1R McLaren ........... 8-0-37-3Imran Tahir ......... 10-0-29-1JP Duminy ......... 8.3-0-43-2

INDIA 1st innings 457ENGLAND 1st innings

Cook b Shami ................ 5Robson b Sharma ......... 59Balance b Sharma ......... 71Bell b Sharma ................ 25Root not out ................. 154Ali b Shami .................... 14Prior b Kumar ................ 5Stokes b Kumar ............ 0Broad lbw b Kumar ...... 47Plunkett b Kumar ......... 7Anderson b Kumar ...... 81Extras (b 6, lb 5, w 4, nb 13)28Total (all out) ................ 496

SCOREBOARDFall of wickets 1-9, 2-134, 3-154, 4-172, 5-197, 6-202, 7-202, 8-280, 9-298, 10-496Bowling ............ O-M-R-WB Kumar ............ 30.5-8-82-5Shami ................ 29-3-128-2Sharma .............. 38-3-150-3Jadeja ................ 35-5-80-0Binny ................ 10-0-37-0Vijay .................. 2-0-8-0INDIA 2nd inningsVijay not out ............. 4Dhawan not out ....... 10Extras 0Bowling ............. O-M-R-WAnderson .......... 2.1-1-4-0Broad ................. 2-0-10-0

NOTTINGHAM—For the first time inhistory, a Test match has seen two last-wicket pairs put on century partner-ships. England started day four trail-ing by 105 with just one wicket remain-ing. When they lost that wicket in thefifth over after lunch, they were lead-ing by 39, after Joe Root and JamesAnderson extended their partnershipto 198, a Test record for the tenthwicket.

Anderson, who made his maidenTest fifty, was on course to join Rooton a three-figure score before he wentafter a full, wide ball fromBhuvneshwar Kumar and edged it tothe wicketkeeper. It wasBhuvneshwar’s fifth wicket, but itcame much much later than he mayhave expected after he had takenEngland’s eighth and ninth wicketsyesterday evening. Root, who hadhardly put a foot wrong since walkingin early in yesterday’s middle session,was unbeaten on 154.

In recent months, India have let anumber of promising positions slipfrom their grasp in overseas Tests.Trent Bridge now joined Durban andWellington. England had been on themat yesterday afternoon, seven downand 255 behind. Their last three pairshad more than doubled their score.

The morning began with Rootsteering Bhuvneshwar to deep pointand chastising himself for taking thesingle and exposing Anderson to thestrike so early. He needn’t have wor-ried. England’s No. 11 played out therest of the over comfortably, and even

whipped Bhuvneshwar from off stumppast midwicket for four.

That first-ball single set the tonefor India’s tactics throughout the ses-sion. In their second Test against SriLanka, England had paid for their ap-proach of giving Angelo Mathews thesingle and focusing all their attackingefforts on his lower-order partners.Now Root was on the receiving endof similar largesse from India.

He generally declined the singlesearly in the over, but the defensivefields did little to stop him from find-ing the boundary. He top-edged aslash off Ishant Sharma throughwhere second slip might have been tomove into the 90s. In the next over,against Mohammed Shami, he playedtwo gorgeous cover drives, the firstone through extracover to go from93 to 97, the sec-ond throughcover point to goto 101.

There wasnothing in the sur-face to trouble ei-ther batsman, butIndia missed a fewhalf-chances toend the partner-ship. Englandwere on 378, andRoot on 92, whenhe pushed the ballto mid-on andtook off for asingle. He had

given up any hope of making the non-striker’s end safely but MohammedShami’s throw was wide of the stumps.

Later, soon after England hadpassed 400, Anderson prodded theball to point and set off, only for Rootto send him back. A direct hit wouldhave meant the end for Anderson, butBhuvneshwar’s throw was inaccurate.

In between, India’s mostly inef-fectual short-ball barrage to Ander-son nearly earned a reward when hepopped one low towards gully,where M Vijay dropped a difficultchance, diving to his right. India keptadding men to the cordon, and at onepoint they had a semicircle of field-ers surrounding Anderson, waitingfor him to fend one in the air.—Agen-cies

England vs India, 1st Investec Test

Astonishing stand gives England lead

NANCY, France—Italy’s Trentin wins Tourde France seventh stage Italian MatteoTrentin won the seventh stage of the Tourde France to pile the agony on Peter Sagan.

OPQS rider Trentin beat the Slovak bybarely an inch in a thrilling sprint finish atthe end of the 234.5km stage from Epernayto Nancy. It was the third time at this Tourthat Sagan had finished second on a stagewhile he’s ended in the top five in all sevenstages so far.

Frenchman Tony Gallopin finished thirdwhile race leader leader Vincenzo Nibali ofItaly came home safely in the front pelotonto keep hold of the yellow jersey. But therewas no such luck for American Tejay VanGarderen, who started the day 11th at 2min11sec but lost another 58sec after crashingaround 16km out on a speedy and hecticfinale.

Italian Trentin wins Tour deFrance seventh stage

His compatriot Andrew Talansky alsocame down in the sprint finish but as hewas inside the final 3km, he was awardedthe same time as the leading group. Aftermore than 200km of leisurely pursuit of asix-man breakaway, which had been whittleddown to just Martin Elmiger and BartoszHurazski by the time they were caught, therace kicked into gear in the final 20km.

The peloton was shredded by a shortbut tough 3.2km climb at an average 5 per-cent gradient, after which Van Garderen wentdown. The pace went up again before thefinal 1.3km climb at a 7.9 percent gradientwhich further slimmed the leaders. Saganattacked over the top with Belgian Greg VanAvermaet but they were caught with around1km left. Sagan still had the legs to chal-lenge in the sprint finish but Trentin heldhim off by a hair’s width.—AP

ISLAMABAD—Star wrestler Inam Butt, whowon gold medal in the last CommonwealthGames, is very much optimistic to repeatthe feat in Glasgow.

“I have been doing hard work for thelast two years to clinch the gold medal atthe Glasgow Commonwealth Games. I’mvery much optimistic to achieve my target,”he said.

A seven-member wrestling team is alsopart of the 83-member Pakistani contingentwhich is going to participate in the Com-monwealth Games, slated to begin inGlasgow, Scotland from July 23 to Aug 3.

Talking with the media persons on thesidelines of a training camp here at the Pa-kistan Sports Board (PSB), the 24-year-oldfreestyle wrestler said he will fight in the86-kilogram weight category.

Butt, who belongs to the Gujranwaladistrict which is also known as the city ofwrestlers, said he considered Indian andCanadian wrestles as his real competitors.

In the 2010 Games held in India, he wonthe gold in the 84kg category by defeatingIndian wrestler Anoj Kumar.

“I am working on various techniquesto handle Indian wrestlers,” he said, add-ing that wrestlers of other countries havean edge over Pakistani wrestlers, who couldnot take part in any international event af-ter the 2010 Commonwealth Games.

Even wrestlers of other countries, in-cluding the Indian wrestlers, got dozens ofopportunities to fight with internationalplayers.

He felt that the dispute which rose as aresult of the parallel body of the POA, ledby Akram Sahi, also left negative impact onthe wrestling federation, which failed to take

part in any international event.Like Butt, another experienced freestyle

wrestler Azhar Hussain, who also won goldmedal in the 55kg weight category in thelast Common-wealth Games said that dur-ing the last four years, Pakistan wrestlerswere not provided chances to participate

in international competitions.The seven-member wrestling squad,

which is yet to be officially announced by thePakistan Wrestling Federation, likely includeInam Butt, Azhar Hussain, Abdul Wahab,Mohammad Sulman, Qamar Abbas, UmairTariq and Mohammad Zaman.—Agencies

Inam eyes repeat of goldfeat in Glasgow

Inam Butt is very much optimistic toachieve his target.—File photo

Arif spins EatonCC in Peace Cupcricket quarters

KA R A C H I —Leg-spinnerArif Yaqboob in his deadlyspell grabbed three wicketsto spin Eaton Cricket Clubin the quarter-final of thesecond Peace Cup RamazanT20 Cricket Tournamentwhen they defeated BYJCCby six wickets at the LawaiStadium Naya Nazimabadhere on Friday night.

Fahadis Bukharislammed an unbeaten 61 in44 balls that included half adozen boundaries and twosixes for BUJCC but thatfailed to save his team fromdefeat.

YJCC batting first,BYJCC scored 115 for theloss of eight wickets in their20 overs. Arif Yaqoob fin-ished with excellent figuresof three wickets for 210 runsin his four overs. Eaton CCin reply romped home for theloss of four wickets in the14th over. Usman Javedhammered a sparkling 17-ball 36, hoisting four sixesand two fours. Bilal Umercracked five fours in his 30off 23 balls. Slow left armspinner Abdul Wahab cap-tured three wickets for 18runs . Arif Yaqoob won theman of the match award forhis super bowling.

Eaton CC by virtue ofthree straight wins assuredtop berth in their group.

Summarized scores:BYJCC 115-8 in 20 overs(Fahadis Bukhari 61 not out,Syed Saif Ali 12, Arif Yaqoob3-20 ) Eaton CC 117-4 in 13.4Usman Javed 36, Ali mehar31 not out, Bilal Umer 30,Abdul Wahab 3-18).—APP

Four matchesplayed in SBPGovernor cup

MULTAN—Four matcheswere played on the secondday of the 2nd SBP Gover-nor cup floodlit tape ballcricket tournament 2014.

The matches wereplayed at the sports ground,LMQ road.

United Bank Limiteddefeated Standard Char-tered Bank by six runs, Bankof Punjab defeated Al-Habib bank by six wickets,Faysal bank defeated AskariBank by seven wickets andMCB defeated Soneri Bankby five wickets.—APP

Swimming:Olympic champ

Muffat retires at 25PARIS—Olympic championCamille Muffat has said thatshe is retiring from competi-tive swimming at 25 follow-ing a disagreement with hercoach. The French womantold L’Equipe newspaper onSaturday that she had madea “mature” decision to callan end to her career.

“I have taken a big de-cision to stop swimming,”said Muffat who won the400 metres freestyle gold atthe 2012 London Olympicsas well as the silver medalin the 200 metresfreestyle.—AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO: Argentina players take training session for World Cup final against Germany.

RIO DE JANEIRO—Germany and Argen-tina plotted battle tactics for the World Cupfinal Friday as Brazil prepared for an un-wanted third place play-off with the Neth-erlands.

With two days to the Maracana Sta-dium showpiece, both finalists were at theirrespective base camps seeking to keep the

lid on mounting tensions and skyrocket-ing expectations.

The final is the latest in a series ofWorld Cup encounters between Germanyand Argentina which includes the 1986 and1990 finals.

Memories of the two sides’ stormy 2006meeting — which ended in a brawl afterGermany’s victory on penalties — were re-vived Friday.

German team manager Oliver Bierhoffsaid he had warned players to keep cool iftempers fray in the Maracana.

“The Argentinians are very warm peopleand great hosts, but on the pitch they havea bit of a personality change and get firedup,” said Bierhoff.

“They have fire in their eyes, which wewill have to be ready for and not provokethem.

“They play hard, aggressive physicalfootball, which means we can’t steer awayfrom our football philosophy and must fo-cus on what we have to do.”

Bierhoff said the Germans were prepar-ing for a tougher challenge than their 7-1thrashing of Brazil in the semi-finals.

“They defend deep, leave little space

Germany, Argentina plan World Cup final tacticsto run into and wait for (Lionel) Messi toshow a mo-ment ofmagic,” saidBierhoff.

“We haveto play ourown game,run the extramile and notgive them thespace theyneed.”

FIFA mean-while an-nounced thatItaly’s NicolaRizzoli wouldr e f e r e eSunday’s fi-nal.

Rizzoli, 42,had been seenas an outsidebet as hecomes fromEurope. Hisprevious as-signments in-clude the 2013UEFA Champi-ons League fi-nal betweenG e r m a n y ’ sB a y e r nMunich and Borussia Dortmund.

The World Cup finalists meanwhile pro-vided seven of the 10 players on FIFA’sshortlist for player of the tournament.

Lionel Messi, Javier Mascherano andAngel Di Maria were included from Ar-gentina with Germany represented by skip-

per Phillip Lahm, five-goal scorer Thomas

Mueller, Toni Kroos, and Mats Hummels.Germany’s Manuel Neuer and Argen-

tine counterpart Sergio Romero both madethe shortlist for best goalkeeper along withCosta Rica’s Keylor Navas.

Argentina trained behind closed doorsas they readied to head for Rio, where an

estimated army of 100,000 Argentine fanshave travelled ahead ofSunday’s clash.

A vast security blanketcomprising some 26,000 po-lice, soldiers and private se-curity guards will be de-ployed across the city and inthe Maracana, Brazil’s justiceminister said.

On Saturday, Brazil andthe Netherlands will contestthe third-place play-off inBrasilia, with both teamsstruggling to raise their spir-its after disappointing semi-final losses.

Dutch coach Louis vanGaal condemned the unpopu-lar fixture after his team werebeaten on penalties by Ar-gentina on Wednesday.

“I think this matchshould never be played,” vanGaal told reporters. “I’ve beensaying this for 10 years. Butwe’ll just have to play thismatch.

However on Friday the62-year-old was putting abrave face on the game.

“We are going to do ev-erything to finish third,” hetold a press conference inBrasilia. “We want to leave the

World Cup unbeaten, something a Dutchside has never achieved.” Brazilian fullbackDaniel Alves was underwhelmed by the fix-ture however.

“The important thing is first place.Nothing else matters,” said the right-back.—AFP

A combination of file photos shows Germany’s defender and captain Philipp Lahm andArgentina’s forward and captain Lionel Messi.

Argentina coach Sabella tostep down after final

BUENOS AIRES—Argentina coachAlejandro Sabella is to step down afterSunday’s World Cup final against Germanyregardless of the result, his agent told Ar-gentine radio on Friday.

Sabella, who took over in 2011, has ledArgentina to their first World Cup final in24 years, where theywill face a powerfulGerman side that de-molished hosts Brazilin the semi-finals onTuesday.

While Argentinawill now have to stepup the search for asuccessor, Sabellacould deliver no bet-ter parting gift thanwinning the WorldCup on the soil oftheir fiercest rivals.

Former Barcelonacoach GerardoMartino and AtleticoMadrid’s DiegoSimeone are beingmentioned as pos-sible candidates to re-place the 59-year-old,according to mediareports.

“To go at the topis always positive. Ibelieve he gave everything to the nationalteam and that now is the time to give wayto another person,” Eugenio Lopez told FMDelta.

“He’s going. He’s leaving whatever hap-pens. Whether they are champions or not,a cycle is ending.”

While state news agency Telam said the59-year-old’s contract was due to expire af-ter the tournament, the news caught someby surprise in Argentina.

“It’s not good that the announcementcame before the final. Psychologically it isnot good for the players,” said soccer en-

thusiast Facundo, de-clining to give his sur-name.

“He did some-thing no trainer haddone in years, whichwas to make a groupof players play as ateam. So as a fan ofArgentine football, Iwish he would carryon, regardless ofwhether we win orlose.”

Sabella told Ar-gentina sports news-paper Ole that he wasfocused only onSunday’s match.

“The future, forme, is the next match,the World Cup final.Thinking about some-thing different wouldbe disrespectful,” hesaid.

A r g e n t i n ahave been more workmanlike than won-derful under Sabella, despite the presenceof four-times World Player of the YearLionel Messi, but he has forged a formi-dable work ethic in the side and intro-duced much-needed tactical discipline.—Agencies

RIO DE JANEIRO—Lionel Messi andNeymar are among the 10 players nomi-nated for the award given to the WorldCup’s best player.

Seven of the candidates announcedby FIFA on Friday play for finalists Ar-gentina and Germany.Messi is nominated alongwith Argentina teammatesAngel Di Maria and JavierMascherano. Germany pro-vides four candidates: MatsHummels, Toni Kroos,Philipp Lahm and ThomasMueller.

Neymar is the only can-didate from Brazil among theplayers selected by FIFA’stechnical s tudy group ofcoaching analysts.

Arjen Robben of theNetherlands and JamesRodriquez of Colombia, thetournament’s top scorerwith six goals, complete thelist.

The winner is selectedby the FIFA technical groupand announced after the final.

Both goalkeepers in the final are on athree-man shortlist to be named best ofthe tournament.

Manuel Neuer of Germany and SergioRomero of Argentina are joined by CostaRica’s Keylor Navas.

The candidates for best youngplayer are Memphis Depay of the Neth-erlands, and France pair Paul Pogba and

Raphael Varane. Nominees for that awardmust have been born since Jan. 1, 1993.—Agencies

Messi, Neymar on 10-manbest player award list

RI O DE JA N E I R O—Nicola Rizzoli of Italy willreferee the World Cup fi-nal between Germany andArgentina.

Jose Mourinho’s ex-clusive World Cup analy-s i s

With a European andSouth American teamplaying, many had ex-pected FIFA to appoint anAsian referee for Sunday’sgame. But Rizzoli got thecall to work his third Ar-gentina match at thisyear’s World Cup.

‘’It is unbelievable forme,’’ Rizzoli said in a videointerview released Fridayby FIFA. ‘’I representItaly in this moment. Iwant to be one of the bestfor sure, and I will.’’

He is the second Ital-ian to referee the final inthe past four World Cups.Pierluigi Collina refereedwhen Germany lost to Bra-zil 2-0 in the 2002 final inYokohama, Japan.

Now head of UEFArefereeing, Coll ina hasbeen a strong supporter ofhis compatriot’s career.

Rizzoli was the refereefor the all-German Cham-pions League final in 2013,when Bayern Munich beatBorussia Dortmund 2-1 inLondon.

FIFA refereeing com-mittee chairman Jim Boycesaid earl ier Friday thatRizzoli would get the d-uty.

‘’We choose the bestreferees for the bestmatches, and the I tal ianwill referee the f inal ,’’Boyce said.

Rizzoli has alreadyworked three matches atthis year’s World Cup, in-cluding Argentina’squarterfinal victory over

Belgium and a group winover Nigeria. He alsohandled the high-profi lematch between the Neth-erlands and Spain on thesecond day of the tourna-ment.

FIFA head of referee-ing Massimo Busaccaalso said that match offi-

cials have improved thefootball at this year ’sWorld Cup.

Busacca said their un-derstanding of the gamehelped increase the num-ber of goals scored andplaying t ime per matchfrom four years ago inSouth Africa.

Meanwhile, refereeshave awarded fewer foulsand yellow cards in Brazilthan in 2010.

‘’Football won in thiscompeti t ion,’’ saidBusacca, a former WorldCup referee.

FIFA also said the 95injuries at this World Cup,seven classed as severe,were a reduction of 40 per-cent .

‘’When we compare allthe matches we can be re-al ly sat isf ied,’’ Busaccasaid.—Agencies

Italian official Rizzolito ref World Cup final

Scolari hailsRobben

as star ofWorld Cup

BR A S O L I A—Netherlandswinger Arjen Robben hasbeen the standout performerof this year’s World Cup inthe eyes of Brazil coach LuizFelipe Scolari.

Brazil and the Nether-lands meet in Saturday’sthird-place play-off inBrasilia and Scolari indi-cated that he will be makinga special effort to stopRobben from hurting hisside as they try to end thetournament on a high.

“I think Robben hasbeen the best player of theWorld Cup,” said Scolari onFriday as he confirmed thatBrazil have trained with thefocus on stopping theBayern Munich winger fromcausing havoc with hisfavoured move of cutting infrom the right wing onto hisleft foot.

Earlier on Friday,Robben was included on a10-man shortlist by FIFA forthe Golden Ball, the prizegiven to the player of thetournament.

A total of seven playersfrom finalists Germany andArgentina, including LionelMessi, are also on theshortlist along with Neymarof Brazil and James Rodriguezof Colombia.—AFP

PORTO SEGURO , Brazil—DiegoMaradona was reportedly so struckby stage fright that he called for hismother’s help as Argentina playerssat in silence in their changing roombefore the 1986 World Cup finalagainst West Germany.

But it was Maradona who pro-vided the moment of bril-liance that decided thegame and gave Argentinaits second title before114,800 fans at the Aztecastadium in Mexico City.Four years later, Maradonawas in tears as the Germanslifted the title in Rome’sOlympic stadium.

Argentina and Germany have along and emotional World Cup rivalryinvolving some of the best playersto grace the game. When they faceeach other again on Sunday in RioDe Janeiro’s Maracana Stadium, itwill be the third World Cup final be-tween the teams - something no othertwo nations have accomplished.

The 1986 and 1990 finals are stilltwo of the most talked about gamesin football history.

In 1986, Maradona was at thesummit of his career and scored allfour of Argentina’s goals in thequarterfinals and semifinals - includ-ing the ‘’hand of God’’ against En-gland. Franz Beckenbauer was incharge of Germany in his first majortournament as coach.

Germany’s camp was in disarray,and goalkeeper Uli Stein was senthome for insulting Beckenbauer.Journalists shared a hotel with theplayers and their nightly escapadesbecame tabloid lore.

But the Germans plodded on andbeat France 2-0 in the semifinals,

even though the Michel Platini-ledFrench team had been widely ex-pected to face Argentina in the final.

And so, in the noon-time heat ofthe awe-inspiring Azteca, Karl-HeinzRummenigge and Maradona led theirsides out. The Germany captain wasplaying injured throughout the tour-nament and had not scored.

Jose Luis Brown’s header andJorge Valdano’s goal on a counterat-tack gave Argentina a 2-0 lead andMaradona’s team appeared to be cruis-ing. Then the Germans struck back.

Rummenigge and substitute RudiVoeller scored from AndreasBrehme’s free kicks and suddenly itwas 2-2 with eight minutes to play.

Maradona had been marked byLothar Matthaeus, who did a good jobthroughout the match. But with the

Germans trying to use the momentumand grab the winner, the ball took aweird bounce in midfield andMaradona sent Jorge Burruchaga rac-ing with a deft left-foot flick.Burruchaga beat the offside trap andArgentina had the title. ViewgalleryArgentina, Germany have rich

World Cup history- The July 8, 1990 file

photo shows Agentina’sDiego Maradona, his armscrossed, fighting h …

later, Valdano toldGermany’s Spiegel maga-zine that Maradona was sonervous before the final

that he called for his mother, Tota.‘’’Tota, come and help me, I am

afraid, you must help me,’’’ Valdanodescribed the scene as Maradonabroke the pre-match silence in thedressing room. Four years after thatgame, Beckenbauer became the firstman to win the World Cup as bothplayer and coach. Germany domi-nated the final, outshooting Argen-tina 23-1 but the South Americansheld on despite having two men sentoff, Pedro Monzon and GustavoDezotti, a first for a World Cup final.

The match was decided by a dis-puted penalty in the 85th minute thatwas converted by Brehme with a lowshot inside the post. Matthaeus hadbeen the designated penalty taker,but he did not trust his shoes andleft it for Brehme.—AP

Argentina, Germany have rich World Cup history

Brazil’s futurefootball bossbacks Scolari

RIO DE JANEIRO—Theman set to lead the BrazilianFootball Confederationsays the beleaguered LuizFelipe Scolari should stayon as national team coachdespite the semi-finalthrashing by Germany atthe World Cup.

“We can all make mis-takes,” Marco Polo DelNero, set to replace JoseMaria Marin in January, toldFriday’s Estado de SaoPaulo newspaper.

“For me, he stays.”Scolari has insisted

since Tuesday’s 7-1 maul-ing to the Germans thatthe subject of his future inthe hotseat should be leftunti l the event has f in-ished.—AFP

RIO DE JANEIRO—Morethan 25,000 soldiers andpolice, the biggest securitydetail in Brazil’s history, willbe deployed around Rio deJaneiro to control Sunday’sWorld Cup final betweenGermany and Argentina atthe Maracana Stadium.

Jose Mariano Beltrane,security secretary for thestate of Rio de Janeiro, saysthe contingent will be thelargest in Brazil’s historywith 9,300 Brazilian defenseforces and at least 10,000military police.

Beltrane says ‘’we need

Biggest security detail inBrazil history at final

to ensure that this eventgoes off like all the othergames in the World Cup.’’

Asked about the largenumbers, Beltrane says ‘’Iprefer to have a great num-ber of men rather than to becaught by surprise.’’—AP

WITH advanced Alzheimer’s disease,language deteriorates and patientsspontaneously speak less and less. In

a small study from Israel, group music therapysessions using tailored songs helped people withmiddle- to late-stage Alzheimer’s strike up com-munication.

The study may be small,but it nicely demonstrateswhat music therapists andgerontologists have knownfor a while, said Alicia AnnClair, director of the MusicEducation and MusicTherapy Division at the Uni-versity of Kansas inLawrence, who wasn’t partof the study. “It’s one of thosethings that’s kind of knownbut has not been researchedso it’s great this was done,”Clair told Reuters Health.

In her experience, sing-ing is a great way to engagewith some people with ad-vanced dementia. Peoplewho may not otherwise beable to communicate may start to spontaneouslysing along, otherwise vocalize, make eye con-tact or simply calm down, she said. “But (thenew study) was done with people who had ahistory of singing and enjoying it and being partof a singing culture. If you try to do this withnon-singers I don’t know if they would engage,”she noted.

For the study, six patients ages 65 to 83attended group music therapy sessions twice aweek for a month. Four of the patients wereborn in Israel; the other two were born in East-ern Europe and immigrated to Israel in theirearly teens. The patients were not able to con-sent to the study due to their cognitive state, so

their legal guardians or main caregivers gaveconsent.

Ayelet Dassa, a music therapist and thelead author of the study, selected 24 songspopular in Israel between 1930 and the late1950s for the sessions. “In Israel especially

for this group, they came hereor were born when the state wasbecoming independent,” Dassatold Reuters Health. The songsshe chose were part of the foun-dation of the patients’ adultidentity, which was tied to theircountry and their heritage, shesaid.

The music sessions ledto spontaneous conversationsabout the songs, memories thesongs triggered and about the actof singing as a group. Some par-ticipants talked about life on theKibbutz many decades ago, orabout learning certain songs inschool with their music teach-ers. Others expressed pride atbeing able to remember lyricsto the songs and participating as

part of a group.Dassa published the study in the Journal

of Music Therapy as part of her doctoral dis-sertation with the help of her advisor, DoritAmir, in the music department of Bar IlanUniversity in Ramat-Gan, Israel. “A large partof the conversation was about how they sangas individuals (and) as a group, and they gavecompliments to each other,” she said.

Many were excited to continue singingeven after the study was over, Dassa said.“The idea that they are part of something isvery important to people with Alzheimer’s,”she said. “They lose their sense of self. Theirself esteem is very low.”

Singing familiar songs may helpprompt Alzheimer’s patients to speak

Consul General of US Michael Dodman, Corina Sanders Public Affairs Officer along withstudents. —PO photo Sultan Chaki

An oil tanker hanging on Nati Jati Pull due to negligence of driver.

No need for Armydeployment in city: Thebo

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s(MQM) Coordination Committee had vehementlycondemned the arrests of 2 workers, Abdul Rehmanand Haroon and a unit in-charge of New KarachiSector Unit 140-A, Haider Baig.

In this regard, Deputy Parliamentary Leaderof MQM in Sindh assembly, Khawaja Izhar UlHassan asked the law enforcement agency (Paki-stan Rangers Sindh) to share information with

MQM about involvement of the arrested workersand unit in-charge in any crime and bring their ar-rest on record, which the agency had not yet done,which was a legal necessity.

He warned that no body of arrested workershould now be found as was done in past thatthe arrested workers were picked form theirhouses, their arrest was not disclosed and latertheir bodies were found dumped at different lo-cations in the city. The MQM leader said re-minded the government of its obligations regard-

ing protecting lives of the people and takingmeasures for causing trust of the people on gov-ernment prevailing.

He said that MQM had serious reservations onarrest of MQM workers while they were not in-volved in any criminal activity despite full supportfor ongoing targeted operation, which did not re-main as neutral.

He said that the entire situation was extremelyfishy as the Rangers were not bringing the arrestof MQM unit in-charge Haider Baig on record.

Rangers should share information if they had anyproof against his alleged involvement in any crimi-nal activity. Conversely, he added, 2 more MQMworkers were arrested from Burns road withoutany charge.

Khawaja Izhar Ul Hassan said that more than30 workers fo MQM were still missing after theirarrest and MQM would use all available consti-tutional and legal means for safe recovery of thearrested and missing workers. Meanwhile, theCoordination Committee said that Pakistan

Rangers Sindh had arrested Haider Baig fromhis residence while workers of Burns Road Sec-tor Unit 22, Abdul Rehman and Haroon werearrested from a location near Fresco Chowk onBurns Road.

The Committee said that MQM workers werebeing arrested in large numbers without anycharge and demanded the Karachi Corpse Com-mander Lieutenant General Sajjad Ghani to in-tervene so that lives of the arrested MQM work-ers should be saved.

MQM shows serious concern over workers’ arrests

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh High Court (SHC) had onSaturday issued notices to Sindh AssemblySpeaker Agha Siraj Khan, Secretary Sindh as-sembly and others in personal capacity on Aug13. The notices issued pertained to allegationslevied against the respondents for minting heftys=um of money for making inductions in civilservice at Sindh assembly.

This development was observed during thehearing of a petition filed by advocateMuhammad Ibrahim Abro, who had not onlyalleged the afore-mentioned respondents forbeing involved in monetary corruption but hadalso submitted certain documentary proofs inthe higher court. The petition was heard by a2-member bench of the higher court compris-ing Justice Muhammad Ali Mazhar and Jus-tice Shahnawaz Tariq.

The petitioner had in his petition mentionedthat the Speaker Sindh assembly had whileacting beyond his constitutional rights and pow-ers appointed several persons in various gradesfrom BPS-1 to BPS-17 for which he receivedRs 3 million from each inductee.

The petitioner claimed in his petition thatthe appointments were made despite there wasalready a ban on new appointments by SindhChief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah till July2013. There were as many as 8, who were ap-pointed in grade-17. The newly appointed per-sons neither were qualified for the post nor hadthey passed an examination form Civil Serviceof Sindh. Further, as per Sindh assembly rules,it was mandatory to invite applications fromsuitable candidates for service through publi-cation of such requirement in newspapers,which was ignored.

The bench had following the argumentsand witnessing the documentary evidences is-sued notices to Speaker Sindh assembly to ap-pear before the bench in personal capacity onAug 13, 2014. It would be pertinent to men-tion that former Prime Minister belonging toPakistan people’s Party, Yousuf Raza Gillanihad also been jailed for making appointmentswhile ignoring prescribed rules and regulations.It would be a severe shock to PPP if petitionerwould succeed in proving his allegations be-cause Speaker then might face a se4rious re-percussion and compelled to step down.

Jobs scam in SindhAssembly: SHC

summons SpeakerSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Founder and leader of Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment (MQM) Altaf Hussain had written an SOS letter to theUnited Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon inwhich he appealed to him to play his role in stopping thelarge scale killings of Palestinian including women and inno-cent children.

In his letter, Hussain said that Israel should be asked toimmediately stop aerial strikes and bombardment of Gaza sothat relief activities could be undertaken to bring help to the

injured and the displaced people.He urged on all Islamic and other countries that professed

to champion human rights to strongly raise their voice againstIsraeli aggression.

He said that Israeli authorities should be asked to resolveissues through dialogue instead of resorting to bombardmentand use of brute force resulting in the death of innocent Pal-estinian.

He expressed deep sorrow on the killings of Palestinianin aerial bombing by Israeli forces and sympathized with thebereaved families, who lost their loved ones.

Altaf urges UNSG to play roleto stop killing of Palestinians

KARACHI—Commissioner Karachi, Shoaib Ahmed Siddiquihas said that the city administration has geared up its operationagainst profiteering and overcharging, and adulteration in fooditems on the part of shopkeepers resulting in large scale arrests,imposition of fines and awarding jail terms, said a press releaseissued here on Saturday.

The Commissioner at a briefing noted that during the lasteleven days of Ramzan, 2551 shopkeepers were challaned anda total amount of Rs 4,830,500 were realized from them asfine. Besides, 257 shopkeepers were sent to jail for indulginingin adulteration and violation of official price list. He furtherstated that the deputy commissioners, assistant commissioners

and ‘mukhtiarkars’ of the six city districts were engaged inproviding relief to people on behalf of the government and hadunleashed crackdown against profiteers and adulterators sincethe inception of the month of fasting. 468 milk sellers werechallaned during this period, recovering a total amount ofRs1,784,500 from them as fine; 684 fruit vendors were challanedand Rs 785,700 were realized from them as fine. Rs832,100were recovered from 906 green grocers, Rs 62,500 from 13meat sellers, Rs 768,500 from 330 chicken sellers, Rs 77,200from 25 wheat flour sellers as fine. The Commissioner directedthe city administration officials to continue crackdown againstdefaulters mercilessly.—APP

Campaign against profiteeringcontinues during Ramazan

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Karachi Police Chief, Addi-tional Inspector General of Police GhulamQadir Thebo had categorically stated thatit was not in line of Pak Army’s duty toconduct military operation in urban areas(Cities) and it would be far better to up-grade and equip Police force to fightagainst terrorist rather than demanding forthe deployment of Pak Army in cities es-pecially in Karachi.

The Karachi Police Chief Thebo hadwithout naming anyone, who had de-manded for the deployment of Pak Armyin Karachi, showed severe reaction totheir demands. It is pertinent to mention

that Karachi Chambers of Commerceand Industry (KCCI) President AbdullahZaki and KCCI Businessmen GroupChairman Siraj Kassam Teli had on be-half of 6 zonal associations of commerceand industry in Karachi laid their de-mands before the Prime Minister MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif during a highlevel meeting at Sindh Governor Houseon July 10, 2014.

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim AliShah had been greatly irked and annoyedover such unexpected demand from thebusinessmen leaders as he had promptlystated the truth that the businessmen hadalways lauded his government for strongmeasures for businessmen’s security and

apprehension of the extortionists and kid-napers for ransom.

However, Thebo further stated thatPak Army was already engaged in NorthWaziristan Agency under the militaryoperation, Zarb-e Azb’ against terroristorganisations and hence it should not bedragged into further swampy businesses.Instead, Police force should be upgradedwith modern training and equipment todeal with the terrorists on their own.

He said that with the promulgationof the Protection of Pakistan Bill, moraleand confidence of Sindh Police would getheightened and said that Police was de-termined to fight against the terrorist tillthe execution of last remaining terrorist.

Demo held forsolidarity with

PalestiniansKARACHI—Saher FoundationTrust held demonstration hereon Saturday in front of Masjid-e-Shuhada Liaquatabad to pro-test bombing on unarmed Pal-estinian people by Israeli jets inGhaza strip.

Chairman Saher Founda-tion Iftikhar Ghazali con-demned the Israeli aggressionand criticised Muslim world fortheir silence over it.

Other speakers also con-demned the Israeli aggressionagainst innocent people of Pal-estine and also criticised theUN for failing to rein in Is-rael.—APP

Qaimcondoles withAmin Fahim

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Min-ister Syed Qaim Ali Shah onSaturday visited the residence ofPPP leader Makhdoom AminFahim and condoled the deathof his brother MakhdoomNaveed-uz-Zaman.

He offered fateha for thedeparted soul and prayed to Al-lah Almighty for eternal peace.

MNA Ayaz Soomro, Spe-cial Assistant to CM WaqarMehdi, Rashid Rabbani andPolitical Coordinator Abbo Bhaiwere also present on the occa-sion.—APP

WITH advanced Alzheimer’s disease,language deteriorates and patientsspontaneously speak less and less. In

a small study from Israel, group music therapysessions using tailored songs helped people withmiddle- to late-stage Alzheimer’s strike up com-munication.

The study may be small,but it nicely demonstrateswhat music therapists andgerontologists have knownfor a while, said Alicia AnnClair, director of the MusicEducation and MusicTherapy Division at the Uni-versity of Kansas inLawrence, who wasn’t partof the study. “It’s one of thosethings that’s kind of knownbut has not been researchedso it’s great this was done,”Clair told Reuters Health.

In her experience, sing-ing is a great way to engagewith some people with ad-vanced dementia. Peoplewho may not otherwise beable to communicate may start to spontaneouslysing along, otherwise vocalize, make eye con-tact or simply calm down, she said. “But (thenew study) was done with people who had ahistory of singing and enjoying it and being partof a singing culture. If you try to do this withnon-singers I don’t know if they would engage,”she noted.

For the study, six patients ages 65 to 83attended group music therapy sessions twice aweek for a month. Four of the patients wereborn in Israel; the other two were born in East-ern Europe and immigrated to Israel in theirearly teens. The patients were not able to con-sent to the study due to their cognitive state, so

their legal guardians or main caregivers gaveconsent.

Ayelet Dassa, a music therapist and thelead author of the study, selected 24 songspopular in Israel between 1930 and the late1950s for the sessions. “In Israel especially

for this group, they came hereor were born when the state wasbecoming independent,” Dassatold Reuters Health. The songsshe chose were part of the foun-dation of the patients’ adultidentity, which was tied to theircountry and their heritage, shesaid.

The music sessions ledto spontaneous conversationsabout the songs, memories thesongs triggered and about the actof singing as a group. Some par-ticipants talked about life on theKibbutz many decades ago, orabout learning certain songs inschool with their music teach-ers. Others expressed pride atbeing able to remember lyricsto the songs and participating as

part of a group.Dassa published the study in the Journal

of Music Therapy as part of her doctoral dis-sertation with the help of her advisor, DoritAmir, in the music department of Bar IlanUniversity in Ramat-Gan, Israel. “A large partof the conversation was about how they sangas individuals (and) as a group, and they gavecompliments to each other,” she said.

Many were excited to continue singingeven after the study was over, Dassa said.“The idea that they are part of something isvery important to people with Alzheimer’s,”she said. “They lose their sense of self. Theirself esteem is very low.”

Singing familiar songs may helpprompt Alzheimer’s patients to speak

Information Minister Pervaiz Rashid talking to newsmen on Saturday.

Commander Logistics Brigadier Mazher Kiyani seeing of a consignment of relief goods for IDPs of NWA, dispatched from Fortress Statidum.

Govt taking measures tominimise load-shedding: Mujtaba

Model Town Tribunal’s JusticeBaqar receives death threat

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Security outside the Lahore High Court (LHC)was beefed up on Saturday after Justice Ali Baqar Najafireceived a death threat.

Baqar is heading the one-man judicial tribunal formed toprobe the Model Town clashes between Pakistan AwamiTehrik (PAT) activists in Lahore that left at least 14 PAT

workers dead and dozens injured, received a letter threaten-ing his life on Saturday. The reason behind the death threatwas not clear till the filing of this report.

Personnel of the elite force and police commandos wereposted outside the court to ensure his security.

Baqar, 50, has conducted over 1,000 cases includingjudgements relating to the civil, criminal and corporate lawas well as narcotics, corruption and immigration.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah ofLahore High Court (LHC) on Saturday consti-tuted a “Wildlife Commission” to investigate intothe issues raised in the petition filed by FeryalAli Gohar regarding protection of wildlife.

The Commission will submit a detailed re-port along with recommendations regarding thecompliance of laws pertaining to wildlife beforethe next hearing dated19.09.2014. The “Wild-life Commission” has been constituted under thechairmanship of Brigadier (R) Mukhtar Ahmad.

Secretary Climate Change Division, Federationof Pakistan, Islamabad, Chairman, FBR and Sec-retary, Local Government Department, Punjabhave been directed to nominate senior respon-sible officer as a representative in the commis-sion.

The main objective of the commission is toensure full compliance of the Punjab Wildlife(Protection, Preservation, Conservation andManagement) Act, 1974, The Prevention of Cru-elty against Animals Act, 1890, Pakistan TradeControl of Wild Flora & Fauna Act, 2012 andConvention on International Trade in Endan-

gered Species of Wild Fauna & Flora, 1973. Thecommission will evaluate existing practices andexamine procedures adopted by concerned fed-eral and provincial government agencies relat-ing to issuance of import permits for bringingwild exotic and other globally endangered spe-cies in Pakistan. The commission will assess thelevel of compliance with requirements and con-ditions laid down in the Pakistan Trade Controlof Wild Flora and Fauna Act, 2012 and otherrelevant frameworks in regards to the import ofexotic and endangered species, and take intoaccount measures adopted by the competent state

functionaries to ensure well-being, adequatehousing and care of such animals, in particularbig cats, within Pakistan. It will also determinethe annual scale of such imports of wild exoticspecies and ascertain the purposes for which theirrecipients have acquired them. It will also de-fine that if the Punjab Government takes the po-sition that exotic big cats do not fall within pur-view of the Punjab Wildlife Act, 1974 then un-der what power are these big cats being housedat the Wildlife Breeding Farms under the Wild-life Breeding Farms Rules, 2008 flowing fromthe Punjab Wildlife Act, 1974. It will also pro-

pose restrictions to be imposed upon owners ofprivate wildlife breeding farms to allow use ofany wild animal for displaying as a political/social symbol. It will also formulate a code ofconduct for political parties and candidates tobe adopted by Election Commission of Pakistanthat display/exhibition of any wild animal aselectoral symbol will be prohibited during Elec-tion Campaign/Public Rallies and in case of anyviolation thereof, penalty may be proposed. Thecommission will enjoy the powers under Order26 of the CPC in order to achieve the objectiveof the Commission.

LHC constitutes commission to formulate wildlife policyVendors displaying and selling traditional spicy food for Iftar.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Provincial Minister for Excise & Taxa-tion, Finance Punjab Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman hassaid that government is extending all out coopera-tion to the investors for the promotion of industriesand trade. He said that government is taking short-term and long-term measures in energy sector tominimize load-shedding and power plants are be-ing set up in various parts of the province.

He said that Punjab government has created vastopportunities for traders and industrialists especiallyto the foreign investors. He said that governmenthas taken solid steps for the generation of electric-

ity and load-shedding will be completely eliminatedwithin four years when all units of the power plantswhich are in pipelines will become fully functional.While talking to party workers at his residence,Mujtaba Shuja ur Rehman said that Excise & Taxa-tion Department earns 28 percent from property taxand 54 percent from motor vehicles tax, whereas itshould be reversed and reason for low recovery ofproperty tax is that survey of the property was con-ducted 14 years ago.

He said that government has introduced reformsin tax collection machinery and latest technologywas being introduced in the departments to increasethe revenue.

Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman briefed the partyworkers that while expanding tax net and increas-ing tax, hardships of the common man are beingkept in view and only affluent persons as well asrich sectors will be brought into tax net. He saidthat all the tax system of E&T department is beingcomputerized so that everybody can get tax detailson net and in result of transparency as well as propersupervision an amount of Rs.15 billion extra willbe deposited in public exchequer. He said that gov-ernment has levied taxes on affluent persons hav-ing luxury houses and large & expansive vehiclesand income generated from taxes would be spenton low income peoples’ houses.

LHC takesnotice ofkilling ofminor girl

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Lahore High Court(LHC) Complaint Cell on Sat-urday took notice of a press re-port on administrative side thatunidentified suspects killed athree-year-old girl after allegedassault.

The Cell has directed theDistrict & Sessions Judge,Sialkot to look into the matterand submit detailed report re-garding steps taken by policealong with his own commentswithin a week.

Special cleanlinessoperation launched to

beautify the cityMUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Lahore Waste Management Com-pany has started a grand cleanliness and wash-ing operation of pathways, bridges, overheadson the instructions of Managing DirectorLWMC Mr. Khalid Majeed. Purpose of thisgrand clearance operation is to persuade thecitizens in using these pedestrian bridges andwalk ways for their convenience and safety.It has been observed that drug users/ abusersand scavengers scatter the waste on theseplaces and cause trouble for the passerby andas result citizens are reluctant in using these

facilities. This washing and cleanliness op-eration is being carried out under the super-vision of Manager Operations Sohail AnwarMalik.

With the help of Ozpak and Albayrak,multiple teams consisting of 4 sanitaryworkers and a supervisor have been formedwho will be carrying out cleanliness activ-ity throughout the city including Ferozpurroad, Jail road, Canal road, Multan road,Raiwind road and Ring road. AssistantManagers Operations, Zonal Officers alongwith their staff will ensure cleanliness mea-sures in their areas.