Let Senate be House ofintellect, not cronies................................................Pakistani Christians toocondemn Charlie Hebdo................................................Burning of Muslims inPatna, India

See Page 04

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—KSE-100 index, breaking itsdouble top formation to makea new all-time high in the pre-vious session, kept on movingupward Tuesday with a gain of107 points to close at 34,121levels at the close of the mar-ket.

The higher high formationsuggests that the index hasmore potential for upside andit could target the uppermonthly Bollinger band whichis currently at 34,700.

Oil & gas, cement and banking sectorslook attractive at the current levels and might

KSE-100: Upward movementsignifies market depth

Continued on Page 7

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif Tuesday orderedsuspension of Pakistan StateOil Pakistan (PSO) DeputyManaging Director (DMD) Fi-nance Sohail Butt after an in-quiry committee held him andOil and Gas Regulatory Au-thority (OGRA) responsible forprevailing petrol crisis.

The committee submittedits preliminary report to PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif in ameeting held to review situa-tion that emerged followingpetrol shortage. The initial re-port blamed OGRA for petrolshortage, saying the ongoingcrisis was a “serious failure onthe part of OGRA”.

It contended that PSODeputy MD is ‘equally respon-sible’ for the crisis. During themeeting, the Prime Ministerdirected for making structuralchanges to ensure that such asituation never arises again.

The meeting endorsedPM’s earlier decision of sus-pending four top officials forfailing to deal with a majorpetrol crisis that led to blackmarketing of the fuel. The sus-pended officials included Pe-troleum Secretary Abid Saeed,

9th day of oil crisis

PM told, OGRAresponsible for

petrol crisisPSO Deputy MD suspended

his deputy Naeem Malik, OilDirector General CM Azamand Pakistan State Oil chiefAmjad Janjua.

Meanwhile, petrol crisishas continued to eighth day onTuesday.

Citizens were desperate tofind fuel for their vehicles. Fi-nance Ministry termed the cri-sis as a conspiracy against thegovernment. The Minister forPetroleum Shahid Khaqan saidthat the petrol shortage wouldbe overcome within the ongo-ing week, saying he was un-aware of any conspiracyagainst the government.

The demand and supplysituation of the petroleum prod-ucts is improving gradually.

According to PetroleumDealers Association 5.7 millionlitre petrol has been supplied tothe petrol pumps during the lastthree days and over 1.8 millionlitre petrol will be provided tothe pumps by tonight whichwill help further improve thesituation. The Association saidthat the staff of the petrolpumps has been directed tosupply diesel and petrol to theconsumers according to theirdemand. To stop misuse of pe-troleum products the supply of

Continued on Page 7

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Election Commis-sion of Pakistan (ECP) has issued a noti-fication of the retirement of 52 Senatorsfrom March 11 after completion of theirtenure.

According to a press release,Chairman Senate Syed NayyerHussain Bukhari of Pakistan People’sParty Parliamentarians, leader of theHouse Raja Muhammad Zafarul Haqof Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz(PML-N) and Minister forInformation,Broadcasting and Na-tional Heritage Pervaiz Rashid wouldretire in March.

According to details, Saeeda Iqbalof PPPP, Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain(PML-Q), Syed Zafar Ali Shah (PML-N), Muhammad Jehangir Bader

(PPPP), Mushahidullah Khan (PML-N), Chaudhary Muhammad Jaffar Iqbal(PML-N), Begum Najma Hameed(PML-N), Syeda Sughra Imam (PPP),Professor Sajid Mir (PML-N),Muhammad Kazim Khan (PPPP),Baber Khan Ghouri (MQM), AbdulHaseeb Khan (MQM), Maula BakhshChandio (PPPP), Islamuddin Sheikh(PPPP), Gul Muhammad Lot (PPPP),Dr Abdul Qayyum Soomro (PPPP),Saleem Manviwala (PPP), Ms ShiralaMalik (MQM), Almas Parveen (PPPP),Farooq Hamid Naik (PPP), RehmanMalik (PPP), Muhammad Zahid Khan(ANP), Abdul Nabi Bangash (ANP),Haji Muhammad Adeel (ANP), GulzarAhmed Khan (PPPP), Waqar AhmedKhan (PPPP), Sardar Ali Khan (PPPP),Haji Ghulam Ali (JUI-F), Farah Aqil(ANP), Ms Farhat Abbas (PPP),

Afrasiab Khattak (ANP), Adnan Khan(PPPP), Amar Jeet (ANP), SardarMuhammad Yaqoob Khan Nasir (PML-N), Abdul Rauf (PkMAP), NawabzadaMuhammad Akbar Magsi (IND), MirMuhammad Yousaf (PPPP), MirMuhammad Ali Rind (BNP Awami),Sabir Ali Baloch (PPPP), Mir HasilKhan Bizenjo (NP), SuruiyaAmeeruddin (PPPP), Kalsoom Parveen(BNP Awami), Maulana Abdul GhafoorHaideri (JUI-F), Muhammad HamayunKhan (IND), Heman Dass (JUI-F),Rashid Ahmed Khan (IND), Haji Khan(IND), Abbas Khan (IND) andMuhammad Idrees Khan Safi (IND).

The nomination papers would befiled to the concerned returning officeson February 12 and 13 while scrutiny ofthe nomination papers would be carriedout on February 16 and 17.

Senators who willretire on March 11

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A district andsessions court here on Tuesdaysummoned Imran Khan, chair-man Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf,over a defamation notice ofRs20 billion filed by formerchief justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry.

The PTI chief had accusedthe former chief justice of pollrigging in the 2013 generalelection. The former chiefjustice’s counsels SheikhEhsanuddin and Taufeeq Asifargued in the court that Khan’sallegations against their clientwere defamatory and claimedRs20 billion in damages.

Chaudhry petitioned to thecourt, saying that the riggingallegations levelled against himwere false.

He also recounted how ina written response to the previ-ous libel notice which was is-sued on July 24 last year,Imran’s lawyers had said thathe did not mean to “abuse ordisrespect any member of thejudiciary”, and had urged theformer chief justice to “recon-sider the idea of entering intopersonal litigation”.

Chaudhry said that Khanshould pay Rs20 billion indamages for attempting to dis-credit him.

District and Sessions judgeJustice Nazir Ahmed Gajana

sought Khan’s reply and di-rected him to appear before thecourt on Jan 29.

Meanwhile, talking to me-dia at his Bani Gala residencebefore departure for PeshawarImran Khan said that he wouldcontest the defamation casefiled by former Chief JusticeIftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry.

The PTI chief said that hewould pursue this matter,claiming that the former chiefjustice’s role in the 2013 elec-tion rigging is coming to theforefront.

“Rs20 billion is quite a lotof money and I don’t have thatamount. I will ask ArsalanIftikhar for money as he hasmanaged to make a lot of it,”Khan said.

To a question, the PTIchief said that if petrol short-age is a conspiracy against thegovernment, it would defi-nitely be hatched by rulingPML-N itself. “Now no onecould blame PTI sit-in for thecurrent petrol crisis,” he said.Imran said that he was all setto announce the countrylockdown, but, he addedNawaz Sharif’s governmentitself shut down the countryby creating petrol crisis.

On issue of alleged electionrigging, he said that formationof judicial commission is es-sential for better future of Pa-kistan.

Court summons Imranon 29th over libel suit

filed by Iftikhar ChImran to fight defamation notice

WASHINGTON—Director General Inter-Ser-vices Public Relations (ISPR) in an interviewwith CNN has said that the armed forces weregoing after terrorists “without any discrimina-tion”. Answering a question about the armedforces’ viewpoint of militant groups, the ISPRDG said: “There are no good terrorists. We aregoing against all terrorists without any discrimi-nation of hue and color.”

Bajwa added that the army had cleared amajor part of the North Waziristan tribal regionduring Operation Zarb-i-Azb except for a smallbelt near the Pak-Afghan border. He that theoperation against militant groups was underwaywith air and gunship helicopter strikes and thesewere being followed by ground operations. “Ithink there is no confusion in our mind that wehave to go against the phenomenon of terror-ism, against all terrorists, and their abettors,”he added.

When asked if the Pakistani army was do-ing enough in order to tackle the issue of mili-tancy in the region, he said: “We’re very clearand we are capable of dealing with them.” Hecompared the performance and efficiency ofPakistan’s military with that of the US and Isafforces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Responding toanother question regarding the change inPakistan’s security situation following the mea-sures adopted after the Peshawar school massa-cre, Maj Gen Bajwa said: “There is a lot moresecurity at the national level...there is a conceptof security.

That has been evolved and there is a reviewof security at every level. I think it is very diffi-cult to guarantee that nothing of this kind hap-pens anywhere in the world.” The militaryspokesman cited the example of the recent at-tack in Paris and school shootouts that occur inthe United States. He said: “The whole nationhas come together. You’ve seen the entire po-litical leadership on one table and take certaindecisions for the future of our country.”Responding to a query about the establishmentof military courts in the country, Maj Gen Bajwasaid that military courts were a stopgap arrange-ment adopted for a period of two years.

He added that the criminal justice systemwas undergoing reform. Talking about relationswith Afghanistan, especially in the wake of thePeshawar attack, the top military spokesmansaid: “Relations were already on a positive tra-jectory, especially ever since we had a new gov-ernment in Afghanistan. There has been grow-ing cooperation. There has been growing un-derstanding between the two countries.”

Pakistan’s army has been fighting local andforeign terrorists in the country’s northwesternregions. The action escalated when the armylaunched Zarb-i-Azb operation in NorthWaziristan in June last year following a brazenmilitant attack on Karachi’s international airportand failure of peace talks between the govern-ment and TTP negotiators. He also said that theinternational community should support Paki-stan in their fight against terrorism.—INP

Army clears major part ofNorth Waziristan: DG ISPR

Blasphemous Caricatures

Pakistan asksOIC to seek

apology fromFrench magazine

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—The Adviser tothe Prime Minister on NationalSecurity and Foreign Affairshas written a letter to the OICSecretary General recommend-ing a legal action to seek anapology from the French maga-zine for publishing blasphe-mous caricatures and joint ac-tion by the Ummah to getcriminalization of all acts ofIslamophobia.

A statement issued by For-eign Office Spokesperson onTuesday while strongly con-demning the publication ofblasphemous caricatures saidthis is an attempt to dividepeoples and civilizations. Thereis a need to promote harmonyamong peoples and communi-ties instead of reinforcing ste-reotypes and making peoplealienated in their own coun-tries.

Echoing the sentimentsof the people of Pakistan, thePresident and the Prime Min-

Suicide bomberblows himselfup near Taxila3 cops slightly injured

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TAXILA—A suicide attackeron Tuesday blew himselfnear a police check-post af-ter the police officials at-tempted to investigate himon the basis of suspicion nearWah Garden.

The attacker was on wayto Taxila from Peshawar. Hegot off the bus at Wah Gar-den near the police checkpost. According to the police,the suicide bomber was atleast 20 to 25 years of age.

City Police OfficerRawalpindi Humayun Bashirsaid that as many as three po-lice officials were slightly in-jured. The bus was shifted toNaseerabad Police StationRawalpindi. Moreover, the

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

Pakistan envoyrubbishes US

warning reportsWASHINGTO N—PakistanAmbassador to the UnitedStates Jalil Abbas Jilani onTuesday rubbished reports ofany warning issued to his coun-try by US ahead of PresidentBarack Obama’s India visit.

“The Indian media has atendency to invent and exag-gerate things,” said the Ambas-sador when asked to commenton reports that the US hadwarned Pakistan against anyterror attacks on the Indian soilduring Obama’s visit. An In-dian news agency on Sundayreported from Washington thatPakistan had been subtlywarned of the ‘consequences’of any terrorist attack duringPresident Obama’s trip if thatis traced back to their country.

Continued on Page 7

Dozens die inSyria marketairstrikeBEIRUT—An airstrike on acrowded market in a Syrianvillage controlled by theIslamic State group killeddozens of people onTuesday, activists said.

Two activist-runmonitoring groups, theBritain-based SyrianObservatory for HumanRights and the LocalCoordination Committees,said the attack occurred inthe village of Khansaa, infar eastern Syria near theIraq border. Khansaa is heldby the Islamic State militantgroup.

The Observatory said“dozens” were killed andwounded. Other activistsgave estimates ranging from30 to 75 people killed.Conflicting tolls arecommon in the chaoticaftermath of violentincidents in Syria.

One activist reachedover Skype in the nearbyprovincial capital ofHassakeh said he was giventhe names of 70 peoplepresumed killed in thestrike, and said another 13bodies were too badly burntto be identified.

The activist, who goes

Anti-Muslimincidents soar inFrancePARIS—The number of anti-Muslim incidents in Francehas soared since the Islamistattacks in Paris two weeksago, an organisation saidMonday.

The National ObservatoryAgainst Islamophobia said116 anti-Muslim incidentshad been reported toauthorities since the January7-9 shooting spree by threeFrench jihadists that killed17.

The two-week tally wasmore than double the numberof incidents recorded for thefull month of January 2014,the observatory said,reporting 28 attacks on placesof worship and 88 threats.

The observatory’s presi-

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

Houthi Shiite Yemeni raise their weapons during clashes near the presidential palace in Sanaa, Yemen.

Russia, Iransign militarycoop dealTEHRAN—Iran and Russiasigned an agreement Tuesdayto expand military ties in avisit to Tehran by the Russiandefense minister.

Sergei Shoigu, in remarkscarried by Russian newsagencies, said Moscow wantsto develop a “long-term andmultifaceted” militaryrelationship with Iran. Hesaid that the new agreementincludes expanded counter-terrorism cooperation,exchanges of militarypersonnel for trainingpurposes and an understand-ing for each country’s navy tomore frequently use theother’s ports.

Iran’s Defense MinisterHossein Dehghan urgedgreater cooperation as ameans of opposing Americanambitions in the region.Moscow and Tehran havestaunchly supported SyrianPresident Bashar Assadthroughout Syria’s civil war,while Washington advocatesregime change and supportsrebel groups.

“Iran and Russia are ableto confront the expansionistintervention and greed of the

Continued on Page 7

Houthistake Yemenpresidential

palaceSANAA/UNITED NATIONS—Militia fighters bombarded theprivate residence of YemeniPresident Abd-Rabbu MansourHadi on Tuesday in an effortto overthrow the government,the country’s information min-ister said.

The attack followed someof the worst fighting in thecapital Sanaa in years on Mon-day, when guards loyal to Hadifought artillery battles near thepresidential palace with thepowerful Houthi movement,which has been in dispute withHadi over political and consti-tutional issues.

“Yemeni president underattack by armed militias seek-ing the overthrow of the rulingsystem,” Information MinisterNadia al-Saqqaf said on Twit-ter on Tuesday evening.

Residents said later thefighting had died down.

The minister did not spe-cifically identify the militiasbut she said they were firingfrom nearby houses. Hadi livesin his private home and not in

Continued on Page 7

LONDON/ ISLAMABAD—Thephotographs of purportedspouse of former President andPPP Co chairman Asif AliZardari have come to limelightafter reports of his secret mar-riage broke some time back.

A Pakistani journalist hasclaimed that Asif Ali Zardaritied knot secretly with awomen living in UAE, reporteda London based news website.

In a tweet on socialwebsite, a journalist AsadKharl without naming formerpresident’s spouse claimed thatthe prevailing rift between Mr.Zardari and his son and chair-man PPP Bilawal Bhutto sur-faced after the reports of

Zardari ties knot withDr Tanveer Zamani living in UAE

Has two-year son Sajawalformer’s marriage. Mr. Zardarihas a son from his second mar-

riage.Now reports started ap-

pearing in several websitesnaming Dr. Tanveer Zamani as

Zardari’s spouse. Pakistani

Continued on Page 7

Extortionistsinjure 16

KarachiitesSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—As many as 16people were injured in a handgrenade attack on Tuesday inBhimpura area. According tothe details, the police quarterswere attacked with a hand gre-nade resultantly, as many as 16people including a woman andat least six children were in-jured.

The injured were shifted tothe Civil Hospital for treat-ment. The police reached thespot after learning about theincident. According to the resi-dents, the Aziz Baloch groupattacked the locality for notcomplying with extortion de-mand.

The gang war group hasbeen threatening the locality fora long time, they added. Theysaid that the police are unableto provide protection to them.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Recent conflicts – Pa-kistan hosts the largest number ofrefugees in the world – and naturaldisasters have worsened Pakistan’songoing educational crisis affect-ing access and the provision ofquality education.

In such a scenario, more con-certed efforts are needed to frameconcrete policies and proceduresfor managing education in emer-gency situations at the federal, pro-vincial and local government lev-els.

This was the message deliveredby experts at the workshop launch-ing a policy brief “TransformingPedagogies: Emerging Contextsand Texts of Teaching Learning” bythe Aga Khan University’s Institutefor Educational Development withsupport from the Department for

Experts stress ‘education in emergencies’ in PakistanInternational Development, UK.

Key stakeholders from the pub-lic and private sectors, includinggovernments, NGOs, educationalinstitutions, scholars, researchersand teachers analyzed the argu-ments presented in the brief to de-cide a way forward.

“Emergencies can also be usedas a window of opportunity to ad-dress the existing educational con-cerns in affected areas. Our disas-ter response plans should includehow to address psychological con-cerns, and how to return to nor-malcy,” said Dr Dilshad Ashraf, themoderator and an associate profes-sor at AKU-IED.“Teacher training programmes needto include interventions strategiessuch as counseling as a first stepto reaching out to children in af-fected circumstances,” she added.

Representatives from the Gov-

ernment of Sindh informed that af-ter the 18th Constitutional amend-ment, their government has taken astep forward in recognizing the is-sues of education in emergenciesthrough the recently launchedSindh Education Sector Plan 2014.The plan has laid policy emphasison developing the capacity of edu-cational managers, school manage-ment committees and teachers.

However, topics related to emer-gencies have not been integratedinto the national curriculum as pro-posed by the National EducationPolicy 2009.

The current national curriculumwas created in 2006 and has notbeen updated since.

Referring to the 19 minimumstandards of International Networkfor Education in Emergencies, ex-perts stressed that Pakistan cangreatly benefit if these standards are

incorporated in the National Disas-ter Response Plan.

The standards are organized infive domains, including founda-tional standards, access and learn-ing environment, teaching andlearning, teachers and other educa-tion personnel and educationpolicy.

Other speakers included DrAyesha Bashiruddin, Acting Direc-tor and Head, Research and PolicyStudies, AKU-IED; Ghulam Nabi,Deputy Director, Reform SupportUnit, Education and Literacy De-partment, Government of Sindh; AliEffendi, Senior Programme OfficerEducation, Aga Khan Foundation;Sadiqa Salahuddin, Executive Direc-tor, Indus Resource Centre; DrMuhammad Memon, Professor,AKU-IED; and Aziz Kabani, Man-aging Director, Sindh EducationFoundation.

CHAMAN—Two miners diedof suffocation and threefainted due to poisonous gashere on Tuesday.

Levies sources said thatpoisonous gas filled in aChromite mine situated inKhanozai area of Chaman. Asa result two miners died ofsuffocation while three oth-ers fainted.

The Levies men pulledthe bodies and fainted min-ers out, shifted them to hos-pital for medico-legal formali-ties and medial treatment.

Death of miners due toinsufficient precautionarymeasures is common in coaland other minerals mines.Despite repeated incidentsclaiming precious lives nolegislation or steps have beentaken in this regard.MULTAN: A mother along

Mother, daughterdie of gas heater blastTwo miners die of suffocation

with her daughter on Tues-day died of fire that erupteddue to a gas heater in theirhouse in Qasim Bela area.According to the details,Eman and Sameena had leftthe heater on as they went tobed to sleep. Fire erupted atnight and enveloped theroom upon which both themother and daughter died onthe spot. The neighbours gotto know about the incident atnoon the next day as womenof the locality noticed theyhad seen none of the twosince morning. However, thepolice were informed aboutthe incident after they learntabout their deaths at night.

The police have shiftedthe bodies to the NishtarHospital for autopsy. Thefamily of the two is heartbro-ken over the incident.—APP

PESHAWAR: Chairman Imran Khan, his wife Reham Khan, KP Governor Mehtab Ahmed Khan and CM Pervez Khattak offering Dua with familymembers of APS martyrs during chehlum ceremony.

Good workingenvironment to

employeesISLAMABAD—Minister forScience and TechnologyRana Tanveer Hussain Tues-day said the government wastrying to provide a good work-ing environment to its em-ployees so that they couldwork with more devotion. Theminister said this during hisvisit to the under construc-tion building of the Ministry.

“The building will leavegood impression on the visi-tors from private sector, indus-trial associations, institutesand multinational agencieswhich is necessary for devel-oping cooperation and sup-port for implementation ofScience and Technology ac-tivities,” he added.

He applauded theconsultancy supervision ofNESPAK organization on ar-chitectural design of the build-ing. Secretary Science andTechnology Kamran AliQureshi briefed the Ministerabout the building and saidthat the building would pro-vide a good working environ-ment for the government em-ployees which lead to en-hance their efficiency. He saidthat it would also save theministry from heavy rentedcharges being paid for theexisting building and wouldbe helpful for better coordi-nation amongst the subordi-nate offices, located in theScience Complex, PCSIR,PCST, PSF ,COMSATS andCOMSTEQUE.—APP

PESHAWAR—The ChiefMinister KhyberPakthunkhwa PervezKhatak here Tuesday an-nounced increase in thecompensation package ofthe students slain theschool carnage to Rs2 mil-lion for each martyrs andtreatment of injured underpatronization ofgovernment.KP to sendcritical injured of APSabroad for treatment: CM

Meanwhile, it is re-ported that Pervaiz KhattakTuesday said the provincialgovernment and ShaukatKhanam Hospital will sup-port to send critical injuredstudents of Army PublicSchool carnage abroad iftheir further medical treat-ment could not be done here.

Addressing a ceremonyorganized here at CM Housein connection with Chehlumof APS martyrdoms, he saidthe KP government has alsoincreased compensationpackage from Rs. 500,000 toRs. 2,000,000 for bereaved

families of APS. He furthersaid the government wascommitted to protectinglives of students for a pros-perous Pakistan, addingthat all the political and mili-tary leadership is unani-mous on this one point.

He said the KP govern-ment is mulling to activateparents-teachers councilsand also equip them withnecessary weapons.

The CM said a plan isbeing executed for immedi-ate repatriation of unregis-tered Afghan refugees andrespectable return of regis-tered Afghans to their owncountry, adding that de-ployment of FC platoons onborders of FATA area wouldhelp improve security situ-ation.

Acknowledging the sac-rifices of Peshawarits in thewar on terror, Pervaiz Khattaksaid the time has come to uti-lize all our energies to com-pensate them by wiping outterrorism in all its forms andmanifestations.—APP

KP to send critical injuredof APS abroad for treatment

ABDUL KHALIQ QURESHI

ABBOTTABAD—Prominent Poet of Hazara, Naseem Abbasiwrote various books of his poetry namely “Nia Asman”,Filhal, and “Falak Hatheli Par” while another book “Wo EkLafz “is under publication nowadays, however, an open-ing ceremony of his poetry book “Falak Hatheli Par” wasorganized under the auspices of Bazm-e-Ilm-o-Fun HazaraAbbottabad here.

Meanwhile, poet of national repute, Sultan Sakoon hadthrown light on the theme of author’s untired efforts whileterming Naseem’s poetic efforts much exclusive and poetof modern time.

In his thesis Sakoon said that the poetry of the authorof such book is entirely based on fruit of thoughts, hence,the author’s efforts was based on research work to depicttrue spirit of our modern society, and our coming genera-tion could learn more and more after studying his senti-ments confined in his truthful poetry m. S p e a k i n gon the occasion, the chief guest of such ceremony, Pro-

Naseem’s book Falak Hatheli Par launchedfessor Asif Saqib went on to say that Naseem Abbasiwrote such book following the civil society’s activities insample words which could convey his poetic efforts netshell results to each member of our social sector that’swhy Naseem Abbasi has proved himself a reality basedpoet of present time.

He said that preface writer of such book, ProfessorDr.Muhammad Sufian Safi says that author of the bookNaseem Abbasi had worked hard to teach our youngergeneration the factual aspect of the realities being hap-pened in the society from time to time was a reflection ofmost precious thoughts of the author.

He said that we need to consider thoughts of the poetminutely so that we could pass our verdict on the basis ofcivilized manners sans hurting the most precious thoughtsof the poet. Professor Asif Saqib said that Naseem Abbasiis poet of modern days, have expressed his thoughts ineasy words brief and comprehensive to depict true pic-ture of life style of each citizen of motherland that couldbe build up future of our younger generation as well.

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Reforms and changes inlaws and rules of business are neces-sary to ensure benefits of the fiscal devo-lution under the 18th constitutionalamendment in Balochistan. Chief Min-ister of Balochistan Dr MohammadMalik said this while addressing the con-cluding session of the 2-day BalochistanDevelopment Forum organized by theChief Minister Policy Reform Unit hereon Tuesday.

Dr Malik elaborated the forum’s twodays proceedings and held the coreobjective of the forum was to share de-velopment priorities of the Balochistancoalition government that aimed to ad-dress critical sectors of the province’seconomy.

He said that Balochistan needed tohave a three-pronged strategy for inclu-sive development in the province whichincluded Institutional development, in-frastructure development and humanresource development.

Article 172(3) which empoweredprovinces to have a joint and equal own-ership and control of natural resources,if followed in its true sense by amending

relevant laws will not only helpBalochistan overcome its historical dep-rivation in development but will also takeit to the level where it can provide re-sources for the development of rest ofPakistan.

He also promised that institutionalreform in the province by restructuringPublic Services Commission to ensuremerit based recruitment through cred-ible and transparent processes will en-sure efficient governance in the prov-ince.He urged that political and bureaucraticdecision makers of Balochistan have tomake a commitment that we would rootour poverty and under developed fromthe Balochistan and would never haveto say again that we are a poor prov-ince.

He also urged the international com-munity to share their technical knowl-edge and expertise besides investmentinto social sectors through coordinatedefforts.

Dr Malik expressed his gratitude tothe participants of the forum for theircommitment to the development ofBalohcistan and their valuable inputs inthe form of data based analysis, strate-

gies and recommendations.Sartaj Aziz proposed each district in

Pakistan should have a policy planningunit on the model developed by ChiefMinister’s Policy Reform Unit with thetechnical assistance of UNDP.He also supported the idea thatBalochistan Higher Education Author-ity should be established so that educa-tion needs can be assessed and ad-dressed at the local levels. He also ex-pressed hope that the issues related toRikodeq will be resolved soon since hebelieved that the area can be a gamechanger for the development of Pakistan.

Earlier in the day during the techni-cal working sessions various expertsand political leadership continued to dis-cuss various aspects of the developmentagenda for the province.

Senator Hasil Bizenjo while talkingthe session on “Post-18th amendmentchallenges and opportunities” said 18thconstitutional amendment had startedaddressing the wrongs committed withthe federating units.

Ziaratwal pointed out that the cur-rent law and order situation is also a by-product of the economic conditions inthe province.

Wide-scale social reform packageaimed for Balochistan: Dr Malik

SUKKUR: Workers of different political parties under the umbrella of ‘Sukkur Par-ties Alliance’ staging a protest against electricity, gas, petrol and water shortage.

Anti-measlescampaign

from Jan 26F A I S A L A B A D — D u r i n gtwelve-day anti-measles cam-paign starting from January 26more than two million childrenof ages six months to 10 yearswill be vaccinated across thedistrict. In this regard districthealth department has re-ceived all the requiredmaterial,said sources fromhealth department hereTuesday. They said that adetailed plan has beenchalked out to make the cam-paign successful. The anti-measles drive will concludeon February 9.—APP

Time to bringchange througheducation, not

force: SirajT I M E R G A R A H — A m e e rJamaat-e-Islami (JI) Pakistan,Sirajul Haq has said that thetime had come for a changethrough promoting educa-tion but not use of force.

He stated this while ad-dressing the oath taking cer-emony of Haji Saeed Gul,Chairman of the District De-velopment Advisory Com-mittee here on Tuesday.

Sirajul Haq said that thewestern powers had alwayssupported dictators in theMuslim world and allegedthat international powerswere spreading unrest in thir-teen Muslim countriesthrough their conspiracies.He said that the Afghanswere being punished in theform of turmoil for defeatingthe Soviet Union and NATO.

He said that Islam hadnothing to do with terrorism.However, religion and reli-gious people were being de-famed through a conspiracy.He said that instead of mak-ing propaganda against themosque, seminary and Islam,efforts should be made tobring the three million semi-nary students closer, andadded that no power on earthcould end the seminaries.

The JI chief said thatthere were flaws in the 21stamendment therefore, theamendments proposed bythe religious parties shouldbe incorporated to maintainthe national unity against ter-rorism.

He said that around tenmillion FATA people are de-nied of the basic civic facili-ties. He proposed that FATAbe declared a separate prov-ince or merged into KhyberPakhtunkhwa. He said it washigh time to try to win overthe estranged Balochpeople.—INP

Land recordcomputerizationin rapid progress

KHANEWAL—District Co-ordination Officer (DCO)Khawar Kamal has directedofficers concerned to en-sure timely completion ofcomputerization of landrecord.

He was chairing a meet-ing attended by revenueofficers including assistantcommissioner, tehsildar,naib tehsildar, district ser-vice centre incharge, andtehsil service centreincharge also.

ADC Ashfaaq AhmedChaudhary informed thatland record of 45 “mauzat”out of 176, had been com-puterized.

The DCO also re-viewed water tax, stampduty, registration fees andother revenues matters.

The DCO also directedthe officers to completetheir targets within stipu-lated time period otherwisestringent action would betaken against them.—APP

Govt releases Rs 183.466billion for uplift projects

ISLAMABAD—The govern-ment has released over Rs183.466 billion so far underPublic Sector DevelopmentProgramme (PSDP) for vari-ous projects against total al-locations of Rs 525 billion forthe fiscal year 2014-15.

According to the latestdata of Ministry of Planning,Development and Reforms,Rs33,996.105 million havebeen released for variousprojects of Pakistan AtomicEnergy Commission, out of itstotal allocations of Rs51,475million, earmarked underPSDP for FY 2014-15.

An amount ofRs7,865.900 million have beenreleased for Higher EducationCommission (HEC) out of itstotal allocations of Rs20,068million whereas Rs15,214.829million have been released forWater and Power Division(Water Sector) out of its totalallocations of Rs43,427 millionfor the current fiscal year.

The government releasedRs26,996.200 million for Rail-ways Division for whichRs39,566 million have beenearmarked in the PSDP of FY2014-15.

An amount ofRs1,948.783 million has beenreleased for Cabinet Divisionout of its total allocations of

Rs2,077 million whereasRs149.483 million have beenreleased for CommunicationsDivision (other then NHADefence Division) out ofRs2,260.765 million.

A sum of Rs260.100 mil-lion have been released forCommerce Division out of itstotal allocations of Rs363 mil-lion whereas out of the totalallocations of Rs11,061 millionallocated for Finance Divi-sion, the government has sofar released Rs2,598.113 mil-lion.

According to the data, thegovernment also releasedRs1,443 million for InteriorDivision for which Rs3,900million have been earmarkedin the budget of current yearwhereas Rs414.775 millionhave been released for Na-tional Food Security and Re-search Division.

Similarly, Rs26,832.2357million have been released forNational Health Services,Regulations and Coordina-tion Division out of its totalallocations of Rs27,014 mil-lion.

A sum of Rs361.802 mil-lion have been released forPlanning, Development andReform Division out ofRs32,878 million, the data re-vealed.—APP

Farmers’convention

PESHAWAR—Pakistan Acad-emy for Rural Development(PARD) is going to organize athree days national farmers’convention starting from Janu-ary 27-29 this month wheremore than 150 farmers wouldparticipate from across thecountry would participate.

The convention would beheld at PARD campus. Agri-culture scientists, public rep-resentatives and resourcepersons from across the coun-try would discus issuesfaced by the farmers and findout solutions, say a statementof the organization issuedhere on Tuesday. In order tocreate awareness among theparticipants about the latesttechnologies in agriculturesector an exhibition has beenalso arranged.

Nadeem Hasan Arif, Fed-eral Secretary EstablishmentDivision would likely to attendthe inauguration ceremony ofthe convention whereasIkramullah Khan Gandapur,Minister for Agriculture KPhas been requested to con-clude the said event. Techni-cal sessions on different is-sues pertaining to water man-agement for small farmers, in-terest free micro finance forsmall farmers-Akhuwat modeland importance of poultrysector would came under dis-cussion in details.—APP

Police doing bestto maintain peaceRAFIULLAH MANDOKHAIL

ZHOB—District Police OfficerZahid Afzal has said that thepolice uniform is a symbol ofthe state. Basic purpose andobligation of the police is toensure citizens’ security andovercome the crimes. Strictaction would be taken indis-criminately against those in-volved in crimes and drugselling.Talking to this correspondenthere at DPO office on Tues-day the police officer said thatas an institution police wereresponsible for maintainingpublic order and safety, en-forcing law and preventing,detecting and investigatingcriminal activities. He said.“Police making all possible ef-forts to maintain peace in thearea and to protect the livesand property of citizens”.DPO said. He stressed theneed of mutual cooperationbetween police and commu-nity to curb crimes, adding thecooperation would enhanceto maintain peace in society.

ISLAMABAD—Minister forInformation,Broadcasting and Na-tional Heritage Senator PervaizRashid said on Tuesday that jour-nalists from Federally AdministeredTribal Areas (FATA) were frontlinesoldiers in the ideological waragainst terrorism and it was theprime responsibility of the govern-ment to fulfill all their requirementsin performing their professionalobligations.

Addressing as chief guest afteradministering oath to the newlyelected office bearers of TribalUnion of Journalists, WANA andLaddah press clubs, here the minis-ter said it was not only a war ofPakistan’s survival and progressbut peace of entire world is alsolinked with the war being fought onthe soil of Waziristan.

“Nobody would be allowed todisturb and snatch peace of the dearmotherland,” the Ministerasserted.Pakistan would soon be-come a cradle of peace where par-

ents would have no worries whilesending their children outside,theminister added.

He said this war has ideologi-cal dimensions too which cannot bewon without winning the hearts andminds of the people,so the supportof media persons was indeed cru-cial in this cause.

“It was our responsibility tofulfil your professional needs as itis imperative for not only Pakistanbut the entire world to win thiswar”,the ministeremphasized.”Without empoweringthe pen of the local media commu-nity it may not be possible to winthis war”, the minister said.

He said that in the past tribalpeople had fought along with ourArmed Forces against the externalenemy but now the war has enteredtheir own areas and affected the lo-cal traditions and norms.

The minister they had beenforced by the enemy to leave theirhomes.He said that rehabilitation of

Waziristan and the people was topmost priority of the government anda comprehensive plan has beenchalked out for this purpose. Hesaid the entire nation including gov-ernment, political and religiousparties,armed forces,police andother law enforcement agencieswere standing by the people ofWaziristan who have sacrificed theirtoday to secure our tomorrow.

The minister said it was the wishof the entire nation that the peopleof Waziristan return to their homesand get all basic necessities oflife.He further added that the gov-ernment would utilize all its re-sources for reconstruction and re-habilitation of Waziristan.

He said that time has come thattribal people should have represen-tation not only in the Parliament butthey should have their own provin-cial assembly and local governmentsystem like four provinces of thecountry.

Moreover he said the govern-

ment wants to reform the centuries-old system of FATA people, andthey should also have right to ap-proach high court and the SupremeCourt for redressal of their griev-ances like the people of the fourprovinces.

He said that press clubs build-ings and houses of journalists dam-aged in the war against terrorismwould be reconstructed as part ofthe rehabilitation and reconstruc-tion plan prepared by Pakistan Armyand presented to the Prime Minis-ter.

The Prime Minister has assuredthat all resources would be providedfor reconstruction of roads,markets,houses, worship places,hospitals and schools in FATA.

Earlier he administered oath tothe newly elected office bearersof WANA and Laddah pressclubs.MNAs from FATA HajiJamalluddin,Ghalib Khan andNazir Khan also spoke on the oc-casion.—APP

FATA journalists frontline soldiers inideological war against terrorism: PR

HYDERABAD: Traders protesting the printing of satirical sketches by French magazine Charlie Hebdo.

Christians protestHebdo

publicationSHAFFAAT MALIK

TALAGANG—Christian com-munity of Talagang stagedprotests on Tuesdayagainst French magazineCharlie Hebdo in solidaritywith the Muslims and de-manded that the cartoonistsbehind the anti-Islam carica-tures be brought to justice.

Holding placards andbanners condemning theblasphemous sketches andcartoons, the protestersmarched from Tehsil Munici-pal Administration toTalagang Press club.

The demonstrators alsochanted slogans against theFrench government.

The Christian commu-nity termed the blasphe-mous cartoons as seriousthreat to the religious har-mony and peace.

The demonstrators alsourged the world communityto take solid and concretemeasures against such incit-ing steps.

They said that it is notacceptable to harm anyone’sreligion by the name of free-dom of speech.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Railways is notincluded among the defaulters of the Pa-kistan State Oil (PSO) and rumours in thisregard are baseless.

A spokesman of Pakistan Railwaystold APP that both the departments havea mutually agreed system of payment onmonthly basis. A system of reconcilia-tion of payment and receipts also existsbetween the organizations.

Rejecting rumours about PakistanRailways’s reported default to PSO, thespokesman said in fact PSO owed Rs340.10 mill ion of Pakistan Railways.Whereas Pakistan Railways has to payRs 775 million to PSO.

The spokesman said that PakistanState Oil has to pay Rs 1.116 billion toPakistan Railways by January 20 on ac-count of fare of oil trains.

Meanwhile, it is also reported thatPakistan Railways will carry out recruit-ment against vacant posts on need ba-sis in due course after rationalization of

Railways not among PSO defaulters

ISLAMABAD—The Met of-fice Tuesday forecast wide-spread rain in most parts ofthe country during next 24hours.

According to details,widespread rain-thunder-storm with snowfall over thehills is expected in northBalochistan’s Quetta, Zhoband Kalat divisions, while atscattered places in KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Islamabad,Punjab’s Rawalpindi,Sargodha, Multan and D.G.Khan divisions, Kashmirand Gilgit-Baltistan.

Moreover, isolated rainis also expected in Karachi,Sukkur, Larkana, Sibbi,Bahawalpur and Naseerabaddivisions.

The lowest minimumtemperature would be ex-pected at Skardu - 5øC,Kalat -7øC, Parachinar -9øC,Gilgit -4øC and Hunza, -6øC.

The minimum tempera-ture of the main cities wouldbe expected Muzaffarabad2øC, Murree 0øC, Peshawar3øC, Islamabad 2øC,Rawalpindi and Lahore 5øC,

Multan and Faisalabad 6øC,Karachi 11øC, Hyderabadand Larkana 10øC, Sukkur,Jacobabad and ShaheedBenazirabad (Nawab Shah)7øC, Badin 9øC and Quetta2øC .

Meanwhile, a westerndisturbance is affectingBalochistan and westernparts of the country and ex-pected to effect upper partsof the country duringWednesday to Friday.

Lahore Met Office also re-ported that widespread rain-thunderstorm is expected inUpper and Central Punjab(Rawalpindi, Sarghodha,Faislabad, Sahiwal,Gujranwala and Lahore divi-sions), while at isolatedplaces in D.G Khan, Multanand Bahawalpur divisionsduring next 24 hours.—APP

Rain across country likely

Anti-polioimmunization

campaignSU K K U R—CommissionerSukkur Muhammad AbbasBloach on Tuesday strictlydirected all Assistant Com-missioners (ACs) and Medi-cal Officers (MOs) of theUnion Councis (UCs) to takeserious steps to ensure cov-ering all children during thepresent immunisation cam-paign.

He said this while presid-ing over a meeting to reviewfirst day performance of thePolio vaccination campaign,started on Tuesday.

The Commissioner saidthat the higher authorities arenot satisfied with the perfor-mance of polio campaign, add-ing that the strict steps andwork hard is needed toachieve the task. Around750,793 children, below five-year , were administered anti-polio drops during a five-daylong drive ended on January19 .

Under the drive,1696 po-lio teams,visited all tehsilsand towns of the district andadministered polio drops to750,793 children below fiveyears of age,Executive Dis-trict Officer (EDO- Health) DrKhalid Randahawa told APP.

He informed that the settarget has been achieved suc-cessfully. EDO monitored thecampaign and visited variousareas to inspect the workingof polio teams. A three-daypolio campaign started in Dis-trict Skardu as well.—APP

CHAKDARA: A doctor of Pakistan Army checking a patient at a medical camp.

staff so as to improve its financial health. There are around 11,865 posts which

are lying vacant in Ministry of Railwaysand its attached departments which willbe filled up on need basis in due course.

The recruitment against 556 vacantposts in Pakistan Railways Police wascarried out on basis of writ ten testthrough National Testing Service (NTS)for which 2583 candidates cleared thetes t . The passing marks were 50 per-cent, an official at the Ministry told APPhere on Tuesday.

The official said recently 446 vacantposts of essential category staff werealso advertised in which 1,60,204 candi-dates appeared in written test throughNTS.

He said although the ban on recruit-ment has already been lifted, however,exercise of rationalization of staff in Pa-kistan Railways has been taken in handto work out precise staff requirement forefficient and safe train operation.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

Kasur—Doctors are absent from the onlyDistrcit Headquarter Hospital in Kasur. Theonly DHQ for a population of 32 lac in thedistrict having funds of millions per yearhas 26 vacant posts of the doctors. Mostof the on duty doctors spend their time intheir private clinics or prefer referring thepatients to Lahore. This is the reason thatin previous three months about 34 seriouslyinujured patients died in ambulances andprivate cars while they were being referredfrom Kasur to Lahore.

It is worthy to mention that there is noorthopedic doctor in the DHQ. There aremany ghost employees in the DHQ whoare taking monthly pay because of beingclose to different political leaders of the dis-trict. Talking to this scribe, MS Ranashafique said that I have written severalletters to high ups in the department for thevacant 26 seats of the doctors but no ac-

tion has been taken by them to solve theproblems of DHQ until now.

Substandard tea business at its peak:People are being affected by different dis-eases because of the substandard tea inKasur. This fake tea business is at it’s peakin Kasur distrcit. Different hotels of NafeesColony, Kot Murad Khan, Chandni Chowk,and other cities are making tea from woodpulp, leaves of different plants and danger-ous industrial grade chemicals. This faketea is then being packed in the name of dif-ferent national and international brands andbeing sold to the public. The district ad-ministration is doing nothing in this regardto stop this dangerous business. Talkingto this scribe, Aslam Bijli Wala, SardarMuhammad Ali Dogar, Bilal Amir Bhatti,Sheikh Shafique and other said that thistea is a slow poison being inducted in theveins of the public. They demanded dis-trict administration to take stern actionagainst this inhuman business at once.

Pathetic condition of DHQs HospitalGB minister forhonest candidates

in electionsISLAMABAD—Federal Min-ister for Kashmir Affairs andGilgit Baltistan, ChMuhammad Barjees Tahirhere Tuesday said that hisparty will give tickets topopular and honest candi-dates for upcoming elec-tions in Gilgit Baltistan.

During a meeting withmembers of PML-N GilgitBaltistan and members ofGilgit Baltistan Council, theminister said we want har-mony in government ofGilgit Baltistan and FederalGovernment in terms of itsvision of developmentwork and serving themasses.—APP

Let Senate be Houseof intellect, not croniesFOLLOWING several months of confusion, uncertainty and political

instability, the country is now gearing up for another phase of Parliamentary elections. The Election Commission of Pakistan, on Monday,

announced schedule to fill one half of the members of the upper house of theParliament, slating elections for March 3.

The announcement would understandably kick-start campaign for ticketsfrom various political parties as their nominees stand good chance of realiz-ing their dream to make it to the Senate. Aspirants from amongst those retir-ing from Senate as well as new ones would knock at various doors for thepurpose to secure a ticket. As the elections would be taking place in the back-drop of floating of ideas of a new Pakistan and a change, it would be worth-while if the national political leadership expresses firm resolve to award tick-ets purely on merit and not because of other considerations, which dominatedthe process in the past. Apart from being representative of the federating units,the upper House or second chamber gives valuable input to enrich legislationand crystallizes debates on important issues because of supposedly backgroundknowledge and expertise of the Senators. There have, of course, been tower-ing and experienced personalities in the upper House adding to its prestigebut with the passage of time mediocre have gate-crashed to the Senate be-cause of either influence or palm-greasing. There have been instances whereseasoned politicians and technocrats of the highest order were ignored toaccommodate cronies, who served only as yes men and contributed nothingsignificant to the proceedings of the House. Tickets have been given to left-overs of National Assembly elections, sold to highest bidders or doled out torelatives, making mockery of this democratic exercise. Worst kind of votebuying and selling of FATA seats takes place and tickets are secured even byknown drug-traffickers and gun-runners. The country cannot progress andprosper unless institutions are strengthened and this can be done by ensuringmerit. We would also expect that Election Commission would also scrutinizethe nomination papers strictly in accordance with Articles-62 and 63 of Con-stitution so that only those with an impeccable record reach to Upper House.

Pakistani Christians toocondemn Charlie Hebdo

THE publication of blasphemous caricatures by French magazine CharlieHebdo have infuriated Muslims around the globe and like other parts of

the world, protest demonstrations are continuing in different parts of Pakistanto condemn the outrageous act of the journal. The dastardly act has triggereda debate whether freedom of expression and media can be used to injurefeelings of others.

What Charlie Hebdo and the likes of others in the West has done, hasconvinced even non-Muslims that these are nothing but deliberate attempts toprovocate believers of a faith, which is highly deplorable. It is because of thisthat Pakistani Christians too are firmly standing with their Muslim compatri-ots in expressing resentment over publication of sacrilegious cartoons. Carry-ing placards and banners inscribed with slogans against the French journal,their processions are a clear testimony that they too are genuinely concernedover such extremist tendencies. As per teachings of the Holy Bible, they feelfor others and their sentiments were represented by Pope Francis, who cat-egorically stated that people ‘cannot insult the faith of others’, adding that hewould punch someone if they offended his mother. As per international lawand teachings of all religions, there are limits to freedom of expression but itis ironical that persons like British PM David Cameroon have adopted a highlybiased approach to this sensitive issue, apparently because of their anti-Mus-lim mind. In this backdrop, sentiments being expressed by Christians of Paki-stan are appreciable as they not only send right signal to their fellow Chris-tians but are also helpful in promoting national unity and inter-faith harmony.Founder of Pakistan Quaid-i-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah had unequivo-cally declared that Pakistan would be a place where all citizens would live inharmony and peace irrespective of their faith, caste or creed. As pointed outby Christian community in Pakistan, publication of blasphemous cartoons isa serious threat to the peace and harmony of world and therefore, OIC shouldtake up matter with all earnest at every available regional and global fora,exposing real face of those claiming to be champions of human rights.

Burning of Muslimsin Patna, India

WHILE India claims to be world’s one of the biggest democracy following policies of secularism and protecting human rights, in reality, it

is perhaps the only country where minorities are victimised the most at thehands of Hindu majority. Though all religious minorities are suffering at thehands of Hindus, the largest minority of Muslims (17%) is the worst affectedand have been subjected to communal violence and economic discriminationsince 1947.

Every now and then there are incidents when extremist Hindus under onepretext or the other target Muslims and their religious places. In the latestincident of animosity against Muslim, at least four Muslim villagers werekilled, three of them burnt to death when their thatched huts were set on fireduring a clash between Hindu and Muslim groups in Patna, in the Indian Stateof Bihar and bullet riddled body of another was found in fields. The violencebegan after body of a Hindu boy was found after he went missing and theallegation was that he wanted to marry a Muslim girl and was killed. In acivilized society, such matters are left to the police to investigate and punishthe culprits but in India, the self claimed secular country, Hindu organisationsfeel free to carry on with their agenda of victimisation of minorities particu-larly the Muslims. Last year around 50 people died in clashes between Hin-dus and Muslims in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh state after which thousandsof Muslims left their homes for safety of their lives. Since the BJP govern-ment came into power last year, Hindu extremism and terrorism have scalednew heights as Hindu terrorists, the backbone of RSS-VHP-BJP-Bajrang Dalare forcibly converting poor Muslims and Christians to Hinduism. All thisonce again re-establishes that the founding fathers took the right decision forthe creation of Pakistan where Muslims could practice their lives according totheir free will instead of suffering at the hands of Hindu majority. After theburning of Muslims in Patna, we would urge the international community totake notice of the discriminatory treatment of minorities in India instead ofblindly praising the country just for the sake of economic interests.

Man is not Charlie!

War inUkraine

FIGHTING between Ukrainian forces and separatistsgoes on unabated, with the

Ukrainians now claiming to haverecaptured ground they had earlierlost. Meanwhile, diplomacy has allbut stalled. As the shells and mis-siles flew in eastern Ukraine,Europe’s foreign ministers, meetingin Brussels, determined that therewere no grounds for any relaxationof sanctions. The strategic plan de-veloped by the EU’s foreign policychief, Federica Mogherini, for agraduated reduction in sanctions inreturn for Russian concessions andcooperation in Ukraine and else-where has been set aside, as mostpeople expected it would be, untilthe situation changes in a funda-mental way.

This situation isn’t just a nastylittle shootout between local mili-tias and the under-equipped and in-experienced battalions of the Ukrai-nian army. It illustrates how thegeopolitical calculus of PresidentVladimir Putin, as he continues tofurbish his anti-western narrativewhile crushing dissent within Rus-sia, has led to some of the worstcrimes perpetrated on European soilsince the Balkan wars of the 1990s.Indeed, it takes a twisted conspira-torial mindset, or brainwashing byRussian propaganda, to even at-tempt to deny that Russia’s armedforces have been deeply engaged inbacking the rebel separatists ofDonetsk and Luhansk, and makingsure Ukraine’s sovereignty over itsinternationally recognised territoryis not restored. It is precisely be-cause of this involvement that thewar has gone on for so long. Re-cent attempts to get peace talks go-ing have failed. The so-calledMinsk ceasefire, agreed in Septem-ber 2014, has been violated fromthe start, by both sides. The Ger-man chancellor, Angela Merkel,rightly cancelled a meeting due tobe held in Kazakhstan with MrPutin because there were no realprospects of progress. Russia stillhasn’t implemented its side of the12-point ceasefire accord: in par-ticular, it must withdraw its forcesfrom Ukraine, pull its army awayfrom the border and accept the de-ployment of international monitorson that same border. Without suchsteps, any diplomatic opening toMr Putin would be useless, and ashow of European weakness. Thesame logic surely applies to lift-ing of European sanctions. Thereis, after all, no other European le-verage available. It would be fool-ish and dangerous to let go of thatleverage before peace has returned.— The Guardian

*****

Politicscan makestrange

bedfellows

SOME of the closet politicians,who have defected to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party

(BJP), despite trashing its creden-tials once to gain notoriety, are fa-mous for being famous. Givingthem admission does not speakhighly of the BJP’s selection pro-cess either except to increase thehorses in their stable.

The likes of Kiran Bedi andShazia Ilmi have failed to cut theirteeth in mainstream politics. Thislatest migration is a get-out-of-jailfree card from the Aam Aadmi Party(AAP), which is losing its lustre, inan attempt to invigorate their future.The BJP is the flavour of the sea-son, the Congress cannot offer asustainable political outlook and itsnew members have discarded theironce-lofty ideals in order to extendtheir shelf life. Sadly, these person-alities never spared an opportunityto ridicule the ruling party’s cre-dentials and publicly shameNarendra Modi and his cohorts forpractising religion-based politics.Hypocrisy and doublespeak arerampant in government. The voteris aware of this. Adopting newphilosophies, ideologies and poli-cies, which were once anathema totheir values, to advance a politicalcareer is not a barometer for integ-rity. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

MERCIFULLY, the pendulum has swung back tosanity. Pope Francis has

stated that there were limits to free-dom of speech and said otherpeople’s religion could not be in-sulted or mocked. The pope madethe comments in relation to attacksby gunmen on the offices of Frenchsatirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. “Tokill in the name of God is an absur-dity… each religion has its dignity”and “there are limits”. “You cannotprovoke, you cannot insult otherpeople’s faith, you cannot mock it,”the pontiff said. “Freedom of speechis a right and a duty that must bedisplayed without offending.” AFrench weekly newspaper Le Jour-nal du Dimanche, presented a ques-tion for survey: “Some Muslims feelattacked or injured by the publica-tion of cartoons of the ProphetMuhammad.” Response indicatesthat 42% checked a box to indicatethat the country should “considerthese reactions and avoid publish-ing these cartoons.”

Pope and I, alongside billions ofpersons who share Popes’ views onfreedom of expression and respectof all religions cannot be Charlie.Other than five million informationextremists, who supposedly boughtthe copies of magazine, rest of themankind is not Charlie. Ironically,after Paris attack, the French authori-ties are moving aggressively to reinin speech supporting Pope’s point ofview; employing a recent law tomete out tough prison sentences ina crackdown. The cover of theCharlie Hebdo’s “survivors’ issue”has sparked fresh controversy andprotests in the Muslim world.

Bangladesh, Begums & foreign powers

DHAKA was understandablyin the midst of violence a fewdays ago because Begum

Khalida Zia of Bangladesh Nation-alist Party (BNP) had given a callfor blockade. Hers was a protestagainst the polls held on January 5last year when Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina won a majority evenbefore a single vote was cast.Begum Zia is to blame herselflargely because she boycotted theelection. She suspected that the pollswould be a farce and that it was fu-tile to contest. But that argument didnot hold water because the election,held despite her boycott, was by andlarge a free and fair affair. GeneralH.M. Ershad’s Jatia Party was ableto return some numbers who con-stitute the main opposition in par-liament today.

That Sheikh Hasina is authori-tarian is nothing new. But BegumZia gave legitimacy to SheikhHasina’s strong methods by avoid-ing the polls. Sheikh Hasina’s gov-ernance is a one-person rule andeven the judiciary feels shy of giv-ing judgments which may annoy her.As for bureaucracy, it has become arubber stamp. Begum Zia’s chargethat she was forced to stay in herparty office for the whole night maybe true. The police themselves ad-mit that they had beefed up the se-curity and were willing to take herto her home. Apparently, she wantedto go somewhere else so as to pur-sue the call for a demonstration onthe first anniversary of her election

Justice shouldnot only be done,but shouldmanifestly andundoubtedly beseen to be done.

boycott. Bangladesh won in-dependence through the bloodof thousands of people whofought the then ruling Paki-stani army. The country shouldhave settled down to peacefulconditions by now. But, as has

happened in other liberated countries,the freedom fighters themselvesbattle against one another to registersupremacy. Bangladesh is no differ-ent. What is painful is the effort totear the social fabric which the lib-erators and custodians of democracyhad inherited when Bangladesh wasborn. But over a period of time theyhave been concentrating more onusurping power and wanting to domi-nate. And they seem to stop at noth-ing in achieving them. Bangladeshis in the midst of something like that.The army once took over the state andtried to govern. But it found that theBangladeshis loved to rule them-selves, raucously and irrationally.

Therefore, the army does notwant to burn its fingers again. Thetwo Begums, Sheikh Hasina andKhalida Zia, continue to fight andhave no compunction in harming thecountry to establish their supremacy.However, good fallout of theirnever-ending confrontation is thatthe people have learnt not to obeytheir calls for hartal or disturb thework. Bangladesh has sustained thegrowth rate at six percent a year forthe last two decades. Yet what is thesolution for peaceful governance?New Delhi, which helped theBangladeshis to liberate themselves,could play a role. But it is backingSheikh Hasina because of her secu-lar credentials. Begum Zia hasstaked her future by aligning withthe Jammat-e-Islami which is fun-damentalist and which sided with theanti-liberation forces, during the

freedom struggle. Islamabad contin-ues try to fish in troubled waters. Butits dependence is on the extremistelements which do not seem to sellat this juncture.

Despite an appeal in the name ofIslam, Bangladesh remains a secular,democratic state. Although the IndianMuslim League, which founded Pa-kistan, originated in East Bengal, laterEast Pakistan could not silence thevoices of liberalism that has been thebedrock of this area. The people, in-creasingly becoming religious today,are liberal at heart. Nearly one mil-lion Hindus still live there and goabout their religious obligations with-out much interference. Pakistan, al-though trying its best, has not beenable to make headway because of themurders and atrocities it committedto suppress the Bangladeshis’ free-dom movement. The cold bloodedmurder of the cream of theBangladesh society was meant todeny it a future of meritorious people.

A book entitled, The Blood Tele-gram—India’s Secret War in EastPakistan, by Gary G. Bass, has con-firmed this. But what the book revealsis the misreporting of events inBangladesh. Many of US Embassystaff did not approve of them. “(TheUS) Embassy has had full-scale re-volt on general issue by virtually allofficers in Consulate General, Dacca,coupled with forfeiture of leadershipfor American community there,Dacca’s reporting has been tenden-tious to an extreme,” says the book.Bangladesh has not been liberated inthe true sense because it heavily de-pends on foreign aids. There is a con-sortium with America playing theleading role to provide Dhaka withforeign exchange and a large amountof Takka, the Bangladeshi currency.As long as the Bangladesh leaders

Pakistan’s National Assembly hasunanimously adopted a resolutionagainst the blasphemous caricatures,and called on international commu-nity, OIC and EU to take actionagainst the publication. Muslims allover the World are out to the streetsregistering their protest in one wayor the other.

Adam B Ellick and Liz Aldermanhave reported interesting facts forInternational New York Times onJanuary 14, in their piece captioned:“Crisis in France Is Seen as Sign ofChronic Ills”. They have opined thatFrance may have just hosted its big-gest outpouring of solidarity since theend of World War II in response toattacks last week in and around Paris,but in the disaffected suburbs, orbanlieues that ring France’s largestcities, those appeals for unity hardlypenetrated the sense of isolation. “Iam French, and I feel French,” saidNabil Souidi, 23. “But here you areforbidden to say, I am Charlie”. Adamand Liz have conducted numerousinterviews from community leaders,Muslims and North Africans wholargely populate the banlieues. Nearlyeveryone interviewed agreed that thefallout from the Charlie Hebdo at-tacks, including a heightened secu-rity response by France and its allies,was a distraction from a larger prob-lem: a sense of increasing social andeconomic marginalization that manycited as a root cause of young peopledrifting toward extremism.

New York Times has also re-ported that a French association thatrepresents 120 mayors across Franceissued a statement warning that thebanlieues were “on edge” amid thefallout from the attacks, and saidthere was an urgent need to addresseconomic, social and educationalshortfalls. Vaulx-en-Velin, a Mus-lim-majority suburb of Lyon, isFrance’s third-poorest city and rep-

resentative of the problems. Here,joblessness is around 20 percent,about double the national average.For young people, it can be as highas 40 percent. About half of residentsdo not have a high school diploma.Police harassment and profiling aretaken for granted. Many are wor-ried that as Muslims, they would belumped together with the killers. InVaulx-en-Velin, the only Charlie ref-erence to be seen was a sign for theCharlie Chaplin cultural center.When Mr. Hollande led a momentof silence across France for the vic-tims of the attacks, two students anda teacher at a local high school, whodeclined to be identified, said manystudents refused to stand.

Around 100 people are under in-vestigation for making or postingcomments that support or try to jus-tify terrorism. The arrests have raisedquestions about a double standard forfree speech here, with one set of rulesfor the cartoonists who freelyskewered religions of all kinds, evenwhen Muslims, Catholics and othersobjected, and yet were defended fortheir right to do so, and another setfor the statements by Muslim, whichhave led to their prosecution. Someof those who were booked under thenew law have already been sentenced,with the criminal justice systemgreatly accelerated, moving from ac-cusations to trial and imprisonmentin as little as three days—justice hur-ried is justice buried.

Ironically, French law does pro-hibit speech that might invoke or sup-port violence. France has speech lawsthat specifically address anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial. “Alot of people say that it’s unjust tosupport Charlie Hebdo and then al-low Dieudonné to be censored,” saidMathieu Davy, a lawyer who special-izes in media rights. “But there areclear limits in our legal system. I have

HURMAT GROUP OF PUBLICATIONSZahid Malik

President & Editor-in-ChiefPh: 051-2256006

Faisal Zahid MalikEditor

Ph: 021-35308445

Gauhar Zahid MalikExecutive Editor

Ph: 051-2853818

IslamabadPh Exchange: 051-2852027

Reporting Desk: 051-2852028, News Desk: 051-5879329Marketing: 051-2262254, 2852029 Fax: 051-2262258

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

KarachiFaisal Zahid Malik

EditorPh: 021-35308446-49Fax: 021-35308447

Email: obskhi@pakobserver.net

LahoreKhalid ButtResident Editor

Ph: 042-37424069, 37424089Marketing Ph: 042-37560900

Fax: 042-36300043Email: obslhr@pakobserver.net

PeshawarTariq SaeedResident Editor

Mobile: 0321-9001476E-mail:obspwr@pakobserver.net

Weekly Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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

do not look within, they will con-tinue to depend on foreign powerswhich will naturally exact the price.Engaged as they are in internalsquabbles, the political parties haveno concrete programmes to liber-ate themselves from foreign influ-ence. In fact, the assistance of for-eign powers is sought to deal withthe domestic problems. However,this is not a long-term solution.The tragedy of Bangladesh is thatboth the Begums, because of theirpersonal enmity, continue to buildtheir support with the help of out-side powers. As long as they domi-nate the political scene,Bangladesh has little future. Butthen how does this change? Un-fortunately, no alternative isemerging. And many attempts inthe past have made no headway.

Fundamentalism is no solutionbecause it seeks to mix religion withpolitics, apart from the archaic think-ing it cultivates. There is no go fromdemocracy. But the hitch is that hos-tility between the ruling AwamiLeague and the BNP is concentrat-ing on how to grab power. The keyto unlock the problem lies withShiekh Hasina. It is probably toomuch to expect from the Prime Min-ister to announce fresh elections soas to give a chance to the BNP toseek its fortunes from within thesystem. But that seems to be the onlyway out in a country that is sharplydivided and engaged in politicalfeuds. The poverty of the peoplewhich both parties promised toeradicate is not possible until thereis a reasonable normalcy. This can-not happen without a fresh start inthe political field.—The writer is a veteran Indianjournalist, syndicated columnist,human rights activist and author.

Gordon Hewart —British lawyer

the right to criticize an idea, a con-cept or a religion. I have the rightto criticize the powers in my coun-try. But I don’t have the right toattack people and to incite hate.”Moreover, article 19 of UniversalDeclaration of Human Rights(UDHR) states: “Everyone has theright to freedom of opinion and ex-pression; this right includes free-dom to hold opinions without in-terference and to seek, receive andimpart information and ideasthrough any media and regardlessof frontiers”.

In 2010, UN Human RightsCouncil passed resolution “Com-bating defamation of Religions”that highlighted some Islam spe-cific points. Concern was expressedthat Islam is being frequently andwrongly associated with humanrights violations and terrorism.Another resolution was passed in2011 that expressed concern at thedeliberate stereotyping of religions,their adherents and sacred personsin the media. Issue is on UNGAagenda; it adopts a resolution eachyear. However this resolution isnon-binding. America and otherWestern countries do not imple-ment this resolution on the pretextthat it would curtail the freedom ofexpression.

Collective Human consciencehas a responsibility towards His-tory. It needs to harmonize andsynergize its efforts to take themankind out of this psychologicalmorass. Pope’s recent statement,UNHRC resolutions and ICCPRprovide adequate framework to re-solve the issue. UN Security Coun-cil should cease the moment andadopt appropriate resolution underchapter 7 of the Charter.—The writer is Consultant toIPRI on Policy and StrategicResponse.

End

ange

ring

Lib

ya’s

str

ateg

ic n

atio

nal

asse

t

Email:kuldipnayar09@gmail.com

Kuldip Nayar

Iqbal KhanEmail:wonderous101@gmail.com

Voice of the People

Family planningMUHAMMAD AZAM

The problem of overpopulation iseating away the very roots of our na-tion like termite. When our countrycame into being, the population ofWest Pakistan, now Pakistan, wasonly 30 million. Today it is about200 million. The government estab-lished in early sixties a departmentof family planning. This was indeeda very naive step because familyplanning cannot be imposed but canonly be implanted as an idea alongwith general education of the people.Had the government invested bil-lions that were spent on family plan-ning instead on the department ofchild education, we would have wit-nessed decrease in population in pro-portion to increase in the ratio ofeducation.

Meanwhile, our population con-tinues to escalate while the resourcescontinue to shrink at a very danger-ous speed. Look at all the world, noliterate society anywhere allows itspopulation to outgrow its resources.But an illiterate society lacks suchsense and allows unbridled over-growth of population resulting inpoverty and discontentment, leadingto general unrest and an unstablepolity. All schemes relating to na-tional welfare are bound to fail whilesuch is the case. Who somebodyaddress this serious issue?—Muzaffargarh

Marks-orientededucation

SIDRA TALHA

Education in Pakistan is consideredas nothing more than passing theexams. Focusing the aim of learn-ing merely on gaining higher marks,succumbs student’s creativity andpotential for good. Since primarylevel of education, test scores andreport cards serve as standard per-formance indicators. The childhoodis not easy when exam outcomes arethe only means to prove your worth.To avoid scolding of teachers andparental taunts, students put all theirefforts into memorizing significantvolume of information. This makesstudy just a chore not a cheerfullearning process. In secondaryclasses, examination results are thegatekeeper of access to reputablecolleges. So the students cram up allthe concepts without understandingtheir actual implementation. Ghostwritten essays and notes facilitatethe dilemma.

Studying for testing require-ments, persists in colleges uni-formly, as evaluating the obtainedmarks weightage is the admissioncriteria of prestigious universities.Thus, to get enrolled in elite insti-tutes, students turn to cheating, acommon practice in colleges andsociety as a whole. Escalating theacademic ladder, when students getaccepted in professional universi-ties the race against marks pro-ceeds. The impression that only topscoring students are recruited forsatisfactory jobs, cut them off fromthe bigger picture. Instead of learn-ing latest industrial trends and de-velopments, students concentrateon bookish theory to score big. Thisbroadens industry-academia gap.Therefore, our educational systemneeds serious reforms like appoint-ing teachers with proper pedagogi-cal skills and revising the curricu-lum. Furthermore, parents shouldlet the kids take up career of theirchoice and aptitude.—Karachi

Petrol shortagein PunjabLARAIB HAMEED

I want to ask the higher authorities,what PML-N government wants todo with Pakistani people, why thereis no petrol on stations? If there willbe no petrol then how people canrun their vehicles without petrol asCNG is already not there. Why theywant to deprive Punjab ofevrerything. In Rawalpindi 90%petrol pumps are closed and peopleare pushing their cars from one placeto another. The public transport isalso badly affected and it has be-come impossible for working people

We need a peaceful PakistanUSMAN KHATTAK

Why is there terrorism, why there is unemployment why there are no opportunities for business?The Afghan refugees have attained full control on all these fields. Why our Government is delay-

ing the solution of this issue? Afghan refugees came into Pakistan in 1979, when Soviet Union invadedAfghanistan. At that time Afghan refugees were in a very difficult condition because they had lost theirhomes, animals and all sources of income. Almost 3 million refugees came to Pakistan at that time. Theyneeded support, not just moral but also social and financial. This duty was done by Pakistan and itspeople. But what they gave in return to the people of Pakistan? Around 3 million Afghans still reside inPakistan. These refugees have got the citizenship of Pakistan through different means. A large numberof these people are illiterate. These people are crossing the Durand Line without any scrutiny check.Our policy makers should think about it and chalk out alternate strategies to this longstanding issue.These cross border free movements are one of the main reason for our security problems. We need apeaceful land where our children can get good education and can enjoy their childhood.—Islamabad

DISCLAIMER

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

View From Abroad

Palestinians’ decision to join ICC deserves support

THE Israel exception to Western governments’ humanrights principles has been

starkly on display in the reaction tothe Palestinian Authority’s decisionto join the International CriminalCourt. In Washington, Ottawa, Parisand London, as well as Tel Aviv, theresponse has ranged from discourag-ing to condemnatory. The Palestin-ian move has been seen as “counter-productive,” “deeply troubling,” “aconcerning and dangerous develop-ment” that could make a “return tonegotiations impossible.” Before ac-cepting these howls of protest, weshould ask why, exactly, the Pales-tinian move is supposed to be bad.

Given the outcry, one wouldthink this move targets only Israel,but the ICC doesn’t work that way.Rather, the court will be empoweredto prosecute war crimes committedin or from Palestinian territory — thatis, crimes committed by Israelis orPalestinians. The court’s prosecutoris not dependent on formal com-plaints by ICC members but can nowinitiate cases on her own. Many ofthe Western objections are based onthe argument that having the Pales-tinians in the ICC will somehow un-dermine Israeli-Palestinian peace ne-gotiations — moribund as they havebeen. The US State Department

opined that it would “damage the at-mosphere” for peace.

But the broad parameters forpeace have been known for years.What has been lacking is the trustbetween the two sides to make thepainful decisions necessary for apeace accord. Nothing underminesthat trust more than impunity for thewar crimes that Human Rights Watchhas found continue to characterize theconflict, whether settlement expan-sion, Hamas rocket strikes or Israel’slax attitude toward civilian casualtiesin Gaza. By helping to deter thesecrimes, the ICC could discouragethese major impediments to peace.

Moreover, the Palestinians’ will-ingness to embrace the ICC shouldbe applauded for what it says abouttheir tactics. Hamas is rightfully con-demned for its rocket attacks on Is-raeli population centres. Yet Hamassigned off on joining the ICC, eventhough its leaders could now faceprosecution. Indeed, because thesewar crimes are factually and legallyamong the easiest to prove, they maystand the greatest chance of ICCprosecution. The ICC is no guaran-tee that such attacks will cease, butit provides a disincentive, as well asan avenue of redress for victims.Why is it bad for the Palestinians topursue such legal avenues ratherthan more rocket attacks?

But isn’t the ICC another UNinstitution that will focus exces-sively on Israel? No. Unlike politi-

cal bodies composed of govern-ments, such as the UN General As-sembly or Human Rights Council,the court’s investigations and pros-ecutions are led by an independent,professional prosecutor, FatouBensouda of Gambia. She hasearned a reputation as a sober, dis-passionate, no-nonsense lawyerwith no evidence of anti-Israel ani-mus. In decisions she has madeabout the Israeli-Palestinian con-flict, she declined a Palestinian re-quest to assume jurisdiction madebefore statehood was recognizedand, in a case brought by anothergovernment, decided against open-ing an formal investigation becausethe alleged crime in question wasnot serious enough.

Given Palestinian vulnerabilityto prosecution, the West’s reactionsuggests an interest not in seeing im-partial justice done but in keepingIsraelis out of the dock in TheHague. Yet the ICC is a court of lastresort. It is empowered to act onlywhen national authorities have not.So the easiest way for any govern-ment to avoid ICC prosecution of itscitizens is to conscientiously andcredibly investigate and prosecutealleged war crimes by its forces.

Both the Israeli and Palestiniangovernments have an abysmalrecord in this regard. The Palestin-ian Authority is not known to haveinitiated any such investigations.The Israeli military prosecutor oc-

The dust of despair..!

THE other day a friend ofmine sent me pictures of theback windows of cars thick

with dust, but sketched on the thickdust were beautiful portraits byScott Wade. When dust gets thickon the back window of his MiniCooper, Wade uses it as a canvasto create temporary works of art.

Among his creations was acopy of C.M. Coolidge’s ‘A Friendin Need,’ better known as dogsplaying poker. Wade used his fin-ger and other implements to etchthis homage to Vincent Van Gogh’s‘Starry Night’ and Leonardo daVinci’s ‘Mona Lisa.’ Wade lives

off the unpaved Roadrunner Roadnorth of San Marcos, which dusts theback windows of his car and giveshim the canvases to create his ownworks of art. A portrait of KinkyFriedman on the back of the Mazdadriven by Wade’s wife, Robin Wood,was featured on the gubernatorialcandidate’s Web site.

A collage of wildlife decoratesthe Mini Cooper’s window. Wade’screations attract admirers whereverhe goes. Who needs a frost-coveredwindow when you’ve got road dustto create a Christmas scene? Besideshis finger, Wade uses traditional arttools, such as paintbrushes, and un-conventional ones, like a chewedPopsicle stick, to make his drawings.

Wade takes pride in his creations,though he knows that with one goodshower, his work will just wash away.

As I looked with awe at these picturescreated out of dust, I wondered howlike life Wade’s creations are. Wegrumble, cry out and weep at thetroubles and worries that fall thick overour lives, not realizing that beautifulportraits can be painted on them: Dur-ing the massacre of the Jews by Hitler,two friends found themselves togetherin a concentration camp. The wholecamp, including the German guardsknew they were the best of friends.One day, news came that some of themwere to be transported to the gas cham-bers and all the prisoners were orderedto line up and number themselves.

“I want all the odd ones to stepforward and the even numbers to stayput!” shouted the Nazi commandant.The two friends looked at each otherand when it came to their turn bothstepped out and quarreled with each

other that they were the odd onesout. The whole camp looked at thetwo and there was not a dry eyeamong the prisoners as the twofriends tried to save the other frombeing killed. The story goes thateven the stony guards wept andnumbers were called out again andSimon was led off.

But suddenly in that horriblecamp of death there was a new feel-ing; one of caring and compassion,as the inmates and guards realizedthey had witnessed a beautiful pic-ture in the dust of despair! Despair,disappointment, dejection makewonderful canvasses. If there’s duston your windscreen start paintingpictures lovelier than the originals.The thicker the dust the more beau-tiful they will be..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

India a regional wild bull

INDIA occupies a unique position in the South Asian regionby dint of occupying nearly 72

percent of the land surface in SouthAsia, being a home of 77 percentof the region’s population, and ac-counting for nearly 75 percent ofthe regional economic output. It hasthe third largest Army (1,325,000)in the world and its economy isranked 10th strongest ($2.0 tril-lion). Notwithstanding its political,economic and military prowess,India is viewed as a hegemonicpower by all her six neighbours –from Bangladesh in the east to Pa-kistan in the west, from Nepal andBhutan in the north to Sri Lanka inthe south since all the six SouthAsian States have suffered at thehands of India.

Indian political scientist (late)Dr Bhabani Sen Gupta wrote in theIndia Today April 30, 1984, “TheIndian elephant cannot transform it-self into a mouse. If South Asia isto get itself out of the cripplingbinds of conflicts and cleavages, thesix neighbours will have to acceptthe bigness of the seventh. And sev-enth, that is India, will have toprove to the six that big can indeedbe beautiful.” India instead choseto become a wild bull suiting herinner chemistry.

Drunk with power, India wouldnot hesitate to attack a country if itwere in her interest to do so and ifshe felt that the other side was tooweak to resist. Indian leaders arestaunch followers of infamousChanakya (author of Arthasastraduring Chandragupta rule) and theyfeel no penitence in implementingthe deceitful policies of their Guruto undermine the neighbouringcountries in pursuit of their geo-economic interests. Believing in thedictum ‘everything is fair in loveand war’, they befriend the enemyof the neighbour, carryout false flagoperations, create misgivingsthrough propaganda war, anarchyand destabilization through covertoperations and put their sins in the

basket of others. RAW is no-torious for conducting clan-destine operations in theneighbourhood. Once Indiafails to assert its authoritythrough coercion, it thenprojects itself as the big

brother to draw brotherly respectfrom younger brothers. Itsbehaviour as a big brother howeverleaves much to be desired. Ratherthan earning respect by behavingmaturely and generously, it behavesarrogantly and expects one-sidedrespect and concessions. It has be-lieved in the policy of taking all andgiving nothing in return. It consid-ers unilateral concessions as itsbirthright.

By the virtue of its size, eco-nomic potential and military power,India claims a regional leadershipposition for herself, while her SouthAsian neighbours accuse her of ex-ercising hegemony. Her neighboursthat have been repeatedly bittenhave reasons to complain. India hasfrequently resorted to military forcein the region and is the initiator ofterrorism. It befriended MuktiBahini in East Pakistan and thentreacherously split Pakistan intotwo in 1971. India ousted the Ranasin Nepal and put King Tribhuvanon the throne in 1950.

India pressed him to sign atreaty of peace and friendship thatis viewed by many Nepalese poli-ticians as imperialist. India trainedthe Tamil Tigers to kick-start a re-bellion in Sri Lanka in 1983 whichraged till 2009. India restored PrimeMinister Gayoom’s rule during theattempted military coup inMaldives in 1988. India didn’tspare even Bangladesh which shehelped in gaining independence in1971 and pitched Chakma rebels(Shanti Bahini) against Gen ZiaurRahman government and subse-quent regimes. Hasina Wajid,daughter of Mujibur Rahman is inIndia’s best books. To please In-dia and hurt Pakistan, she has un-dertaken farcical trials of agedJamaat-e-Islami leaders allegedlyinvolved in war crimes during 1971war and some have been hanged.

In terms of forcible seizure andland grab, India has occupied Mus-lim-majority J&K (October 1947),Muslim-ruled Hyderabad (1948),

Portuguese-administered Dadra &Nagar Haveli (1954), and Goa, Diu& Daman (1961), and Buddhist-ruled Sikkim (1975) through a sur-feit of vicious and fraudulentmeans, often discounting people’swishes. For instance, an opinionpoll by CSDS in 2007 showed that87% of people in the Kashmir Val-ley didn’t want to live under India.And yet, India, the so-called larg-est democracy in our world, has nowish to hold such a referendum inthe occupied territories.

In violation of the UN Resolu-tions and pledge given by Nehru,India stubbornly clings to the oc-cupied territory and claim it as in-tegral part of India. In order to re-tain her illegal occupation, Indiahas stationed 750,000 occupyingforces in Indian Occupied Kashmirand has subjected the haplessKashmiris to a reign of terror. Tokeep Pakistan restrained from voic-ing concern and seeking a plebi-scite, India waged a massive proxywar in FATA and Balochistan in2003 which is still continuing andis now resorting to water terrorism.India has water disputes withBangladesh and Nepal.

So far, from Bhabani SenGupta’s utopian view, India has be-come a regional wild bull, if not anelephant or even worse. And no onelikes such a beast! Truly, the stampof a regional hegemon is written allover India’s face. As a matter of factwith the resurgence of the Hindutvafascist forces in the national politicsof India, she has the potential to be-come a regional pariah. And that isan ominous sign for the entire re-gion! Just as the United States ofAmerica and Russia are hated todayin many countries globally for theirhegemony, so is India in South Asia.

India being an imperialistpower and ruled by 2.8% Brahmanrulers wants to become super powerof South Asia and a world power.This ambition is essentially drivenby the myth of Mahabharata, fanati-cized by every Brahman. Not onlyBrahman leaders behave callouslytowards the neighbors, their behav-ior towards minorities in India isalso atrocious. Muslims, Sikhs,Christians and even low caste Hin-dus have suffered a great deal athands of Hindu extremists. India’s

Kenneth Roth

oppressive policies have givenbirth to dozens of insurgencies.

India considers Pakistan asthe lone obstacle in the way of herimperialist ambitions. India’s dan-gerous plan conceived after 9/11in 2001 to denuclearize andbalkanize Pakistan through proxywar has run into difficulties be-cause of NATO’s and ANA’s in-ability to defeat Afghan Talibanand ISAF’s withdrawal. Increas-ing intimacy between USA andPakistan as well as between newAfghan regime and Pakistan ishappening at a time when Indo-Pakistan relations are sailingthrough choppy waters. Thischange in the outlook of USA try-ing to remove the distrust accumu-lated over a period of time and torebuild friendly ties with Pakistanis vexing India. Not knowing howto disrupt growth of Pak-US andPak-Afghan ties, India is continu-ing to play the terrorism card.

After heating up the LoC inKashmir and working boundary inSialkot sector together with abor-tive false flag operations, RAW inconcert with elements within Af-ghan NDS, is using runawayFazlullah and Khurasani tocarryout terror attacks against softtargets inside Pakistan to causemaximum pain. Attack on ArmyPublic School Peshawar was mas-terminded by RAW. Now targetsof similar nature including DHAsand Askari colonies are listed asfuture targets. Several terror at-tacks in Balochistan in quick suc-cession are link of the same chainto build up pressure on Pakistanand force the Army to give abreather to the FATA militants andget deflected towards the easternborder.

The US must be firmly toldto discipline the wild bull if it isserious in getting rid of thescourge of terrorism. At the sametime, Pakistan should impressupon other South Asian States thatif they desire to live as indepen-dent respectable nations and wantto progress, they will have to findways and means how to tame thewild bull.— The writer, a retired Brigadier,is Director MEASAC ResearchCentre.

casionally conducts investigationsbut hardly ever prosecutes anyone.The most serious punishment im-posed in recent years for abuseagainst Palestinians was a 7 1/2-month prison term for an Israeli sol-dier who stole a credit card. TheICC provides a strong reason forboth sides to break this pattern ofimpunity. Again, what is wrongwith that? But what if Israel doesnot change? If it continues to ex-pand settlements and to use meth-ods of warfare that impose an un-acceptably high civilian toll whilerefusing to prosecute offenders, thatis not a path that Western govern-ments should endorse. Keeping theICC out at all costs may be goodfor the Israeli leaders who fear ICCprosecution, but it is hardly goodfor Israelis, Palestinians, peace inthe region or global justice.

It is not too late for Western gov-ernments to change course. Obliga-tory condemnations are one thing,but Israel is pushing to punish thePalestinian Authority. It already isthreatening to withhold tax revenuescollected in the West Bank on thePalestinians’ behalf. Western gov-ernments should refuse to follow suitwith their own sanctions. The Pal-estinians’ landmark decision to facedown misguided threats and em-brace the ICC should be bolstered,not undermined. The writer is execu-tive director of Human Rights Watch.— Courtesy: Los Angeles Times

to reach the places of their respectiveduties.—Via email

Raheel Sharifeverywhere

KHURRAM IQBAL

The recent developments have madethis notion undeniable that it’s noone but Raheel Sharif everywhere.The newly elected AfghanistanPresident Ashraf Ghani, visitedGHQ and discussed the securitymeasures with General RaheelSharif and both concerted to launcha joint venture against the militants.Then Raheel Sharif went to UnitedStates and held a meeting withChairman Joint chiefs of staff Mar-tin Dempsey and discussed the op-eration Zarb-e-Azb, launchedagainst the militants. Moreover, healso met high US officials as well.Then Pakistan was blooded with theattack on APS that left 142 dead in-cluding 134 children. Right on thatday Raheel Sharif went to Kabul toask Afghan government to take strictactions against Mullah Fazlullah andOmer Khurasani.

He took guarantee fromAshraf Ghani to screw up mili-tants and intensified the Zar-e-Azb. Then, Raheel Shrif was inEngland where he met the Primeminister David Cameroon andother high officials and discussedwith them the progress in opera-tion Zar-e-Azb, against militants.During all these recent develop-ments our civilian leadership ap-pears to have gone hibernated andit’s all Raheel Sharif everywhereto safeguard the interests of thenation and the motherland.—Via email

Plight ofKahuta people

MOHSIN ALI

Kahuta is an important city of Paki-stan. It is very famous due to theKahuta Research Laboratories(KRL), doing a great service to thenation. Kahuta is Tehsil ofRawalpindi and it is the gateway tothe earthly paradise - Kashmir. Alarge number of people travel dailyfrom Kahuta to Rawalpindi andIslamabad for daily job. The condi-tion of main Kahuta road is verypoor. People face a lot of difficul-ties due to huge traffic jams, particu-larly because of the railway track.

The dream of a carpeted roadand flyover never seems to comingtrue in coming years. The miseriesof Kahuta’s people are boundless.TMA Kahuta is not showing anyinterest in construction of roadproject or flyover at Sihala railwaytrack. Government of Pakistan is stillquiet on this behaviour of TMA andconcerned authorities. People ofKahuta including students and em-ployees suffer from a lot of troubles.Majority of them become late toreach their destination. I personallysuffer from this problem. Is it due tolack of funds? Or lack of interest ofadministration? Government shouldtake concrete steps in order to re-solve this major issue.—Via email

Ulema condemnPeshawar massacre

USMAN KHATTAK

Pakistan Ulema Council (PUC) hasdecided to celebrate 2015 as a yearof peace, love, forbearance, dialogueand end to terrorism, extremism andsectarianism. In their speeches,Ulema stressed the need for peace inthe country and expressed their de-termination for the efforts to make itpossible. The gathering appealed toall armed groups in Pakistan to giveup armed struggle against the Paki-stani nation, and become a part of thestruggle to convert Pakistan into atrue Islamic welfare state. All reli-gious and political leaders of theMuslim world were also urged todetermine a course-of-action in thelight of the teachings of Holy Quranand Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] forguiding the Muslim youth.

The gathering assured the Paki-stani government and Armed forcesthat all unbiased measures which are

Asif Haroon RajaEmail: asifharoon7751@yahoo.com

taken to end terrorism, extremism andsectarian violence in the country willbe fully supported. The moot sup-ported the establishment of militarycourts and demands that the cases ofclerics, teachers, students, professorsand doctors who had been murderedacross the country should also betransferred to these courts. The gath-ering endorsed the blasphemy law butdemanded that measures should betaken to stop its wrong use.

The PAC strongly condemnedthe massacre that was committed ata school in Peshawar, and believedthat terrorism, brutality and vicious-ness have nothing to do with Islamand the Shariah of ProphetMuhammad [PBUH].The confer-ence declared that Islamic teachingsclearly equate the killing of one per-son with the killing of whole human-ity, and murderers will always re-main in hell like infidels; therefore,it expressed solidarity with the fam-ily members of the victims, prayedfor the forgiveness of the victims anddemanded the government to arrestthe culprits and expose them in frontof the nation. Honorary Nishan-e-Haider was demanded in the APCfor the Army school Peshawer prin-cipal, teachers and students. ThePUC recognized the equal valuesand rights of all women, mothers,sisters and daughters given in theConstitution.—Rawalpindi

Need forpublic libraries

ONUSHA AHMAD

The advent of technology in our day-to-day life, the reading culture is dy-ing down. But blaming technologyfor the declining reading culture iswrong. It is not the fault of technol-ogy that we see young people moreattracted towards phones and otherdevices. It is the fault of not havingenough libraries.

Everywhere around the worldwe see that public libraries are oneof the best sources of getting books.However, in Pakistan, this does notseem to be the case. If at all thereare libraries that are either in ruinsor on the brink of closing down. Theneed for more public libraries istherefore a must. Sure e-books arethe new form that can be carriedaround and accessible any time, buta book is something that cannot bereplaced. Therefore, the governmentshould work towards building andrestoration of public libraries.—Karachi

Terrorism BokoHaram style

JAVAID BASHIR

Nigeria has been plagued by the ter-rorism of worst kind for over fourdecades. First it was ripped apart bycontinuous civil war, waged bytribes of Northern and SouthernProvinces. They have noted to es-tablish hegemony over entire Nige-ria. Millions of people were killedbrutally during these wars.

Nigeria witnessed many militarycoups and bloody revolutions. BokoHaram is the terrorist group whichhas reeked devastation, death anddestruction. It is the most despisedand detested terrorist group. It isworse than thugs, rogues, and ban-dits killing for money. Their modusoperandi is quite similar to the no-torious groups of the rest of theworld.

The militants have joined handsfor the criminal enterprise. They kid-nap for ransom and looting and rob-bing the people. Boko Haram hasemerged as the most dangerous ter-rorist group. It must be eliminatedfrom the face of this earth.—Via email

PETER POMERANTSEV

AFTER most Central European statesjoined the EU and NATO, it seemedthat the last page of Cold War history

had been turned. But reports of the death ofconflict in the region turned out to have beengreatly exaggerated. Russia is on the moveagain, aiming to show the world that NATOhas feet of clay, that the EU is a geopoliticalweak sister and the transatlantic alliance amyth. The US might be slowly waking up tothe challenge of Vladimir Putin’s evermoreexpansionist Russia, but it still considers theissue a “regional” problem. The Kremlin’sobjective is not to send tanks into Tallinn, how-ever, but to compromise the White House.

The Kremlin knows it is weak and must relyon the jujitsu of an “asymmetric” approach inwhich it uses the West’s own openness as aweapon. Nowhere is the new approach felt morekeenly than the Baltic states, where large ethnicRussian populations are courted by Kremlin-funded compatriot NGOs while being fed a dietof propaganda by Russian television. In Estonia,for instance, the “Russian” part of the populationlives in a different reality from the rest of thenation—a reality manufactured by Moscow andfilled with hostility. While most ethnic Estonians(and all historians) recognize that Estonia wasoccupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, Russianmedia and NGOs claim Estonia “voluntarily”joined the USSR, a thesis that fifty-six percentof the Russian population in Estonia agrees with.In April 2007, when a Soviet memorial statue,the Bronze Soldier, was relocated from a citysquare to a cemetery, there were street riots by

The Battle for Central Europelocal Russians who were organized, accordingto Estonian officials, by Russian compatriotNGOs run by the Russian secret services. It’snot an unlikely thesis. Back in 2004, KonstantinKosachev, then chairman of the Russian DumaForeign Affairs Committee, stated: “[Russia]cannot explain the purpose of its presence in thepost–Soviet Union?.?.?.?The West is doing thisunder the banner of democratization, and one getsthe impression we are doing it only for the sakeof ourselves?.?.?.?Our activeness is following tooopenly Russian interests. This is patriotic but notcompetitive.” Soon after, the Kremlin began cre-ating its own “banners,” such as Russkiy Mir—an organization “aimed at forming the RussianWorld” for Russians in the near abroad. Accord-ing to Alexander Chepurin, then head of the Rus-sian Foreign Ministry’s Department for Compa-triots Abroad, “the Russian diaspora abroad pro-vides social and humanitarian support for theimplementation of the interests of the RussianFederation in post-Soviet countries.” If the West-ern conception of “soft power” is based on mak-ing democratic societies attractive, the Russianvision sees it, in Putin’s own description, as “amatrix of tools and methods to reach foreignpolicy goals without the use of arms but by ex-erting information and other levers of influence.”

Putin’s Guerrilla Strategy PeterPomerantsev | essay Russia today is not asstrong as the Soviet Union once was, butVladimir Putin has used energy and financialleverage, along with propaganda, to snatchpower from the jaws of weakness.

“It is hard to guess what Russia is trying toachieve when it publicly threatens us or violatesour air and sea space,” said Iivi Anna Masso, an

adviser to Estonian President Toomas HendrikIlves, at an October meeting on “The Kremlin’sChallenge” convened in Tallinn by the WorldAffairs Institute (publisher of this journal). “Doesit really plan to invade? Or is it just trying todemoralize us? The scare tactics could have eco-nomic consequences—it might affect our invest-ment climate when international journalists con-stantly write about how Russia is threatening toinvade, or how ‘Narva is next.’” One of Tallinn’sfears is a small-scale Russian “encroachment” to“protect” Russian-language groups in Estonia:an incursion small enough to have NATO mem-bers bickering about whether it deserves to becalled an “invasion” requiring a response. IfNATO is discredited in such a way, then whyshould anyone in the world take the West, andthe US in particular, seriously? Since the crisisin Ukraine started, NATO has somewhat rampedup its rhetoric vis-à-vis Russia and even held somemilitary exercises in the Baltics. But as long asthe countermeasures are as halfhearted as theyhave been, the Kremlin will be happy. It is win-win for Moscow: its actions reveal NATO’s weak-ness, yet when NATO postures in response, ithelps the Kremlin sell a story to the Russian publicthat the motherland is under attack from an ag-gressive US-EU alliance.

Of all the Baltic republics, Latvia has thehighest percentage of Russian diaspora, andfaces many similar problems to those Estonianow tries to deal with. The Russian-languagePBK network, which is sold programs andnews by Russia at low rates, is the second mostwatched channel in the country. Latvia’s roleas a center for money laundering also makes ithighly dependent on financial flows from Rus-

sia: half of the country’s investment comesfrom foreign depositors, largely from formerSoviet states. In the words of the Guardian’sLuke Harding, Latvia has become “a play-ground for Russian interests: business, politi-cal and, above all, criminal.?.?.?.?TheKremlin’s agenda in Latvia is to slowly reversethe country’s strategic direction from pro-westto pro-Moscow.” And in this it has had somesuccess. “I’m afraid of all this Russian capi-tal,” Valeri Belokon, an important Latvianbanker, told Harding. “Capital isinfluence.?.?.?.?The danger for a small coun-try is that we become dependent on Russia.We definitely have to defend ourselves.”

In Estonia, the Kremlin uses the opennessof Western culture and information as part ofits subversive techniques; in Latvia, it uses theopenness of markets to achieve the same goals.

Further south, in Bulgaria, which the formerRussian ambassador to the EU, VladimirChizhov, has referred to as Russia’s “TrojanHorse” inside the EU, Russian influence growssteadily. The German secret services have ex-pressed concern about the fact that Moscow con-trols about one-third of Bulgaria’s output, andthat the country’s ruling coalition is closelyaligned with Moscow and contains, in the wordsof one Der Spiegel report, “former CommunistParty members, intelligence service workers, andBulgarian oligarchs who do businesswith?.?.?.?Putin’s minions.” Even in the CzechRepublic, parties on both the left and the rightare funded by Russian state companies, whileCzech shell companies formed by the Russianenergy giant Gazprom control large portions ofthe energy sector.—WA

ALEXANDER J. MOTYL

UKRAINE will consolidate its democratic institutions,while Vladimir Putin’s Russia will consolidate its fascistregime. Although Ukrainians will complain more than

Russians, their country will actually be getting stronger, whilethe hypercentralized state structure centered on Putin’s cult ofthe macho personality gets weaker. Democratically ruled peopleswhine publicly; dictatorially ruled peoples whine privately. Thefact that 80-plus percent of Russians are likely to continue tosupport Putin won’t mean that 80-plus percent are happy withlife in Putin’s crumbling realm.

Economically, both countries will be in for trying times.Ukraine’s GDP will contract, unemployment will rise, and infla-tion will increase—but for the right reasons, as Kyiv embarks onreforms that, while not quite as radical as most economists wouldwish, will be radical enough to begin the long and arduous taskof transforming Ukraine into a genuine market economy. Russia’sGDP will also contract, unemployment will also rise, and infla-tion will also increase—but for the wrong reasons, as the ossi-fied Putin regime pays heavily for having not diversified or de-veloped its doomed economy. Energy prices, the ruble, its goldreserves, and foreign and domestic investment will collapse asRussian capital takes flight and pressure from Western sanctionscontinues. The economies of both the Russian-occupied Donbasenclave and the Crimea will contract even more, making lifeincreasingly unbearable for their inhabitants, who will continueto flee both eastward and westward, thereby pushing both re-gions closer to literal no-man’s-lands.

Socially, both countries will see a rise in popular activism.Ukrainians will take to the streets to protest against radical re-forms that inevitably lower their already low living standards.Russians, even those who continue to dote on Putin, will take tothe streets to protest against empty store shelves, governmentcorruption, and the steady flow of body bags from the occupiedDonbas. As Putin’s repressive apparatus responds with more ar-rests and head-crackings, expect a determined minority—per-haps Russians, almost certainly non-Russians—to respond withacts of terrorism.

The war in eastern Ukraine will go on, despite the best ef-forts of the West and Kyiv to reach a negotiated settlement. Forone thing, Putin’s proxies in eastern Ukraine are out-of-controlwarlords for whom war has become their only raison d’être. Foranother, Putin will want no permanent peace, as that would onlystabilize Ukraine. A large-scale military assault aimed at captur-ing all of Ukraine, or even establishing a corridor from Russia tothe Crimea, is probably out of the question, as the Ukrainianarmed forces are strong enough to deter it. But low-level fight-ing of the kind that has characterized the Donbas for the last fewmonths seems a sure bet. Equally likely is a continuation of ter-rorist attacks within Ukraine, which Ukraine will survive whilePutin’s reputation as an exporter of terrorism will only grow.

Ukraine will continue to insist that the Russian-occupied ter-ritories are occupied only “temporarily,” and Russia will con-tinue to insist that its war against Ukraine is really only an inter-nal Ukrainian squabble, but the end result of Russia’s continuedoccupation of both the Donbas enclave and the Crimea will bethe continued, if uneven, consolidation of Russian rule. Facedwith tough economic circumstances at home, Kyiv will continueto reduce its economic relations with, and financial subsidy of,the occupied territories. The burden of supporting the increas-ingly desperate inhabitants will fall on Russia, which will haveto decide whether it prefers to make hay from a humanitariancatastrophe of its own making or actually to help save the vic-tims of its imperialist policies. My guess is that Putin the greathumanitarian will opt for catastrophe.

All in all, barring some unexpected deus ex machina,Ukraine’s state, society, and army should get stronger, while itseconomy should be on the mend. Russia’s state and economywill weaken, its army will discover the limits of its strength, andits society will grow more troublesome for Putin. Ukraine andRussia will be moving in diametrically opposed directions. Timeis on Ukraine’s side, and decidedly not on Russia’s, because timefavors democracy and not fascism.Under conditions such as these, the Putin regime could actuallydisintegrate. Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has re-cently accused Western leaders of wanting “regime change” inRussia. They don’t. But they should. Replacing Putin’s fascismwith democracy as soon as possible would be the greatest thingfor Russia, Ukraine, and the world.—WA

What to expectfrom Ukraine andRussia in 2015?

BAGHDAD—As the season for wheat planting inIraq wound down early last month, farmers in areasunder the control of Sunni militant group IslamicState grew worried. More than two dozen farmerstold Reuters they had not planted the normal amountof seed, because they could not access their land,did not have the proper fertilizers or adequate fuel,or because they had no guarantees that Islamic Statewould buy their crop as Baghdad normally does.

Farmers, and Iraqi and United Nations’ offi-cials, now fear a drastically reduced crop this spring.That could leave hundreds of thousands of Iraqishungry. But another big loser would be Islamic State,which controls territory that normally produces asmuch as 40 percent of Iraq’s wheat crop. Thebreakaway al Qaeda group, which declared an Is-lamic caliphate across parts of Syria and Iraq lastsummer, has killed thousands and forced hundredsof thousands from their homes. Islamic State mili-tants had hoped to use wheat to show it can governbetter than the Arab governments it condemns asinfidels. They have published pamphlets with pho-tos of golden fields and fighters distributing food.

A bad crop might not cost the group control ofterritory, but it would seriously dent its campaign tobe seen as an alternative government, and hurt itscredibility among some fellow Sunnis. Iraqi farm-ers have long complained of Baghdad’s neglect andmismanagement of agriculture. International sanc-tions and the U.S. invasion further hurt the sector.But many farmers say this planting season marks

IS sows seeds of despair in ‘wheat season’an all-time low. Across the border in Syria, whereIslamic State has controlled the city of Raqqa sinceMay 2013, wheat production last year was downalmost 70 percent from the level before the civilwar, according to the U.N.’s Food and AgricultureOrganisation (FAO). Syrian farmers in Islamic State-held territory say production was hit by the conflict,poor rainfall and fuel shortages. Several told Reutersthat Islamic State did not help farmers plant, anddid not purchase their harvest as the Syrian govern-ment used to. Instead, farmers say they were forcedto look for new buyers and often fell prey to avari-cious middlemen.

U.N. and Iraqi government officials don’t haveaccess to much of Iraq, so cannot provide an accu-rate forecast of the country’s 2015 wheat crop. Farm-ers will begin harvesting in April and productionwill also be determined by the weather – so far veryfavorable according to the United States Departmentof Agriculture (USDA) – and farmers’ access to theirfields. arming in huge swathes of the rural belt aroundBaghdad has also shut down because of violence,or because farmers fear the Shi’ite militias whichnow control the area and are fighting Islamic State.

But the greatest concern is in northern Iraq. In-terviews with farmers who remain on their land orhave left for Kurdistan, suggest that few in IslamicState-controlled parts of the country’s breadbasketregion were able to plant as normal. ecent satelliteimagery from NASA and USDA reinforces that.The imagery, publicly available through the Global

Agriculture Monitoring Project at the University ofMaryland, shows that crops in Islamic State-con-trolled parts of Nineveh and Salahadeen provincesappear far less healthy than in Kurdish-held terri-tory.

Sunni farmer Abu Amr laments how tough ithas become. Abu Amr once hated Iraq’s Shi’itePrime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who lost power fol-lowing elections last April. But his view began tochange when he was not paid for last season’s har-vest. Instead, Islamic State militants stole it from agovernment silo they had seized. When we saw thechaos of IS we wanted Maliki back. Everything isgone, my livestock, my harvest, everything,” hesaid.Abu Amr has moved to peshmerga-held Kirkuk.Old neighbors have told him by phone that theyhave planted about a third of his 25 hectares (61acres) using seeds stored in his house. He sent somecash to buy fertilizer, but not enough.

“We used to blame Maliki for everything. Nowwe cry and hope for the return of those days,” hesaid. “Before, there was some kind of security, somekind of state. It is incomparable to the current situa-tion.” During its military campaign against Baghdad,Islamic State used wheat as a symbol of its newpower. It seized government silos and hundreds ofthousands of tonnes of wheat from opponents, es-pecially members of the Christian and Yazidi mi-norities. uch as it did in Syria, Islamic State has keptIraqi government employees and silo operators inplace to help run its “caliphate”. That decision pro-

vided an early propaganda victory, when fightershanded out milled flour in sacks stamped with theIslamic State logo in Mosul, the north’s largest city.

But U.S.-led airstrikes and pressure from Iraqiforces, allied militias and Iraqi Kurdish fightersknown as the Peshmerga have made it hard to de-fend ground, let alone govern. slamic State has notonly lost some territory but, preoccupied by its mili-tary effort, it has been unable to provide farmerswith seeds, fertilizer and fuel at subsidized rates, asthe Baghdad government does.

“There was no support,” said a Sunni Arabfarmer in Sharqat, a town on the Tigris, just east ofthe road linking the militant-held cities of Tikrit andMosul. Normally we get supplies (for planting) fromthe government but this year, we got nothing.”Further north, Yazidi farmer Salim Saleem aban-doned his fields and olive tree groves when IslamicState fighters overran the fertile Nineveh valley. Nowhe lives with his family in a rented house in Dohuk,in the relative safety of Iraq’s semi-autonomousKurdish region. He says airstrikes and Peshmergaforces have not dislodged Islamic State from hishometown of Bashiqa, but have turned the farm-land into a battlefield. Several weeks ago Saleemscaled the Peshmerga-held Zartek mountain nearBashiqa to inspect Yazidi-owned land. “I saw withmy own eyes that the land was bare,” he said. nareas recently retaken by Peshmerga forces, thereare constant reminders of the dangers that have keptmany farmers from planting.—Reuters.

ELISABETH BRAW

THE blunt reality is that there will be dwindling appetiteand patience in the US Congress—and in the Americanbody politic writ large—to expend increasingly precious

funds on behalf of nations that are apparently unwilling to de-vote the necessary resources or make the necessary changes tobe serious and capable partners in their own defense.” That’sSecretary of Defense Bob Gates on his way out of office, back in2011.

Secretary of State John Kerry, too, has called on America’sNATO allies to increase their defense spending to the agreed 2percent of GDP. Here’s the grim picture: apart from the UnitedStates, at 4.4 percent, only Britain (2.4 percent), Greece (2.3percent), and faithful Estonia (2 percent) meet this target. Need-less to say, the European NATO members also remain far from“serious and capable partners in their own defense.”

That, Hans-Peter Friedrich tells me, needs to change. “Putinis teaching us the meaning of power politics,” the deputy leaderof the German Parliament’s Christian Democrats, who overseesEuropean issues, recently told me. “Agreements [such as na-tional borders] only mean something if they can be backed up byaction. Europe must be capable of defending itself.” Friedrich, aveteran parliamentarian and former cabinet minister with a Ph.D.in law, is daring to articulate an uncomfortable reality: thoughcollective defense is the pillar of NATO collaboration, the Ameri-can public’s “dwindling appetite” for involvement means the Eu-ropean allies will have to step up. “I wish that we’d establish aEuropean pillar of NATO,” he told me.

It’s not that it hasn’t been tried. (Back in 1999, NATOformally endorsed the EU’s European Security and DefenseIdentity, noting that the United States may not be able to getinvolved in every European security contingency. ESDI,where art thou?) This spring, Friedrich and fellow center-right parliamentarians in other European countries will in-formally talk about the matter. But such conversations areleaving the Baltic states alarmed.

“Baltic leaders are keeping a bilateral connection withWashington as a backup,” one general in the region told me.One can sympathize with them. Recently, Latvian DefenseMinister Raimonds Vejonis told me that, thanks to NATO’s150 soldiers on Latvian soil, he’s not afraid of Russian ag-gression. “Who wants to start a war against the US?” heasked. “That’s what Russia would do if it attacked -Latvia.Putin is not that stupid.” But without US soldiers part ofthat contingent, what would happen?

—Courtesy: WA

US ReliabilityDepends on Europe’s

Contribution toNATO

BEIJING—Claims that Chinahas overtaken the United Statesas the world’s largest economywere denied by the head ofChina’s National Bureau of Sta-tistics (NBS) on Tuesday. “TheNBS does not countenancethese claims by some scholarsand media organizations,” saidbureau head Ma Jiantang at apress conference in Beijing. A study last year by the In-ternational Comparison Pro-gram (ICP) projected that Chinawould overtake the U.S. in 2014based on purchasing power par-ity (PPP), which measures GDPin terms of prices of the samegoods between nations. PPPtakes into account the purchas-ing power of a currency ratherthan market exchange rates.Roughly, how many family

JERUSALEM—Israel’s largeArab minority closed shops andschools from the northern Gali-lee to the southern Negev deserton Tuesday as part of a day-longstrike to protest against the deathof two Arab men in incidents in-volving Israeli police. Sami al-Jaar, 20, was shot dead by offic-ers during a drugs raid which trig-gered protests in the southerntown of Rahat on Thursday. Po-lice have not said why Jaar, whowas unarmed, was shot, other thanthat he took part in “riots”. “Po-lice were in danger and theyopened fire,” said police spokes-man Micky Rosenfeld.

At Jaar’s funeral on Sunday,45-year-old Sami Zayadna diedas police fired tear gas and rubberbullets towards thousands of an-gry mourners. Locals saidZayadna died of gas inhalationand hailed him as a “martyr”.Police said he had a heart attack.The results of an autopsy are ex-pected soon. Tensions betweenIsrael’s police and the Arab com-munity, which at 1.7 millionpeople accounts for 20 percent ofthe population, have surged sincea 22-year-old Arab man was shotdead in the Galilee last Novem-ber moments after banging on thewindow of a police vehicle.

Tuesday’s strike is a relativelyrare occurrence and represents ashow of unity among the Arabpopulation, which frequentlycomplains of discrimination.Israel’s three main Arab parties,

Palestinians protestIsraeli suppression

divided in the past, plan to run ona joint list in elections on March17. Despite that coordination,polls indicate they will still winonly around 11 seats in the 120-member Knesset, as in the past.

But politicians are buoyed bythe growing unity. “Every daywe’re stronger. A few years agoif a citizen were killed here therewouldn’t be this kind of move-ment,” Arab Knesset memberJamal Zahalka told Reuters.“We’re more inspired, the Arabsof the Negev are bound moreclosely to those of the Galilee andthe north. We’re more united andable to defend ourselves,” he said.Since the deaths, police havepulled out of Rahat. Squad carsand a water cannon truck idledoutside its main gate, where redgraffiti reading “Our blood isn’tcheap!” is scrawled. Police denyany excessive use of force in deal-ing with Arabs and point to thediversity in Israeli society, whereArabic is an official language andan Arab serves on the SupremeCourt. Despite that, poverty ratesand joblessness among the Arabpopulation are far higher than theIsraeli average. Israeli Prime Min-ister Benjamin Netanyahu, wholeads a right-wing government,has threatened to revoke the citi-zenship of anyone who calls forIsrael’s destruction. Others in hisgovernment have called for a“loyalty test” for Arab citizens,hardening the sense of isola-tion.—Reuters

BEIJING—China issued a de-tailed guideline for a “new type[of] think tank with Chinesecharacteristics” to support de-velopment and strengthen softpower. The guideline, which wasjointly issued by the General Of-fice of the Communist Party ofChina (CPC) Central Commit-tee and the General Office of theState Council, said that by 2020,think tanks in all organs mustclearly define their positions and

China instills nationalmerits in think tanks

specialties, with the aim thatseveral think tanks will wieldmajor influence in the world. This new type of think tankwill play an influential role inthe policymaking process andthe modernization of gover-nance. Think tanks should stick toMarxist ideology, follow theCPC’s leadership and provideintellectual support to help re-juvenate the nation, according tothe guideline.—Xinhua

MOSCOW—he Kremlin said onTuesday increased military activ-ity by Ukrainian governmentforces had undermined hopes ofarranging a four-way summit onthe conflict in east Ukraine,Russia’s RIA news agency re-ported. estern leaders say the ef-forts to bring together the leadersof Russia, Ukraine, Germany andFrance are being hampered byMoscow’s failure to implement aceasefire agreement reached morethan four months ago.

“The renewal of hostilitieson the part of the Ukrainian au-thorities, of course, seriouslyundermines the potential effec-tiveness of preparations for ameeting in the Normandy for-mat,” Kremlin spokesmanDmitry Peskov told RIA. heNormandy format refers to

Kremlin action derailsUkraine summit

When Palestinian men, women and children attempted to march peacefully alongside Israeli and international activiststhey were immediately surrounded.

meetings of Russian PresidentVladimir Putin, UkrainianPresident Petro Poroshenko,French President FrancoisHollande and German Chan-cellor Angela Merkel.

Attempts to hold a summitlast week in Kazakhstan failedafter violence increased in east-ern Ukraine, with governmentforces and the separatists they arefighting blaming each other forthe renewed hostilities. he fourcountries agreed on Jan. 12 thatinsufficient progress had beenmade at preparatory talks for thesummit to go ahead. They said a“contact group” comprising Rus-sia, Ukraine, the OSCE securitybody and the separatists in eastUkraine should meet to try toresolve remaining differences.—Reuters

China denies beingworld’s No.1 economy

cars, Big Mac’s, units of elec-tricity or university educationscan one person’s salary buy inone nation, as opposed to an-other person’s salary in a differ-ent country. “The NBS also took part inthe study, which establishedPPP for different countries, butwe need to be cautious in ap-plying the study results,” Masaid. “For various reasons, wethink the PPP methodologymight have underestimated ac-tual price levels in China andover-estimated China’s GDP.With that proviso, we don’tagree with the results,” Ma said. Despite a continuouslygrowing economy, it should benoted that China remains a de-veloping country with a popu-lation of 1.3 billion.—Xinhua

by the name Siraj, said he ob-tained the list from woundedsurvivors who were rushed toa hospital in a nearby town.But he said the toll could berevised as activists inter-viewed more survivors.

It also was not immedi-ately clear who conducted theairstrike, Siraj said.

Some wounded residentssaid it was a Syrian govern-ment airstrike using so-calledbarrel bombs, canisterspacked with explosives thatare usually dropped from he-licopters. Such bombs cannotbe precisely targeted, and ac-tivists say they have killedthousands of civilians.

Other residents said war-planes from the U.S.-led coa-lition battling the IslamicState fired missiles at themarket, according to Siraj.

The Local CoordinationCommittees said it was a Syr-ian government airstrike.—AP

Dozens diein SyriaFrom Page 1

dent, Abdallah Zekri condemned the “acts ofhatred towards French people of the Muslimfaith, the immense majority of whom respectthe values of the Republic and secularism.”

“This situation is unacceptable and we’reasking the authorities to go beyond the reas-suring speeches and act to put an end to thisscourge,” he said.

Islam is France’s second-biggest religionwith an estimated 3,5-5 million followers.

Several mosques have been attacked sincethe Paris killings, which began with a massa-cre at Charlie Hebdo satirical weekly andended with a bloody hostage taking in a Jew-ish supermarket.

In several towns shots have been fired atmosques and racist slogans daubed on theirwalls. In Corsica, a pig’s head was hung onthe door of a prayer hall.

President Francois Hollande and his gov-ernment have repeatedly warned againsttarring all Muslims with the extremistbrush.

Anti-Muslim incidentsFrom Page 1

petrol in bottles and other containers has beenbanned. According a spokesman of PakistanState Oil petrol supply from companies’ outletshas been doubled which will help overcome thesituation.

Meanwhile, Oil and Gas Regulatory Au-thority (OGRA) has refused to accept respon-sibility of ongoing petrol crisis in Punjab prov-ince. According to private TV channel, a postof member oil in OGRA is vacant for the pastsix months which caused lack of quorum thateventually resulted in failing to make decisions.The sources said that interviews for the post ofmember oil have already been conducted, add-

PM told, OGRA responsibleFrom Page 1

guide the index towards newhighs, as the brisk trading of315 million shares Tuesdayalso indicated the appetite ofthe investors.

Pak Electron was the vol-ume leader of the day with26.67 million shares traded inscrip while Maple Leaf Cementwas on second and JahangirSiddiqi co were on second andthird position in terms of vol-umes with 26.62 and 16 mil-lion shares respectively.

KSE-100From Page 1

ister have strongly con-demned the publication,which has caused great of-fence to Muslims by hurtingtheir sentiments and religioussensibilities all over theworld.

The National Assemblyand the Senate Foreign Rela-tions Committee have passedresolutions condemning theblasphemous publicationwhich has hurt the core beliefof all Muslims.

We believe that freedomof expression should not bemisused as means to attack orhurt public sentiments or re-ligious beliefs, the statementadded.

Pakistanasks OIC

From Page 1

bus driver has also been ar-rested and further investiga-tions are ongoing after cor-doning off the area

Interior MinisterChaudhry Nisar Ali Khan hassummoned a report of the in-cident.

Security in major citieshas been beefed up in thewake of the deadly Talibanassault on Peshawar’s ArmyPublic School on Dec 16which left 150 people — in-cluding more than 132schoolchildren dead.

Suicide bomberblows himselfup near Taxila

From Page 1

In a speech last week Hollande reiteratedthat “Muslims are the main victims of terror-ism.”

A portion of the 10,000 troops mobilisedlast week to boost security have been assignedto protecting mosques.

Some prominent political figures have,however, defied calls for unity, with remarksseen as fanning anti-Muslim sentiment.

A senior member of the far-right NationalFront (FN) representing the party in the Eu-ropean Parliament, Aymeric Chauprade, de-clared in a video last week that France was“at war with some Muslims”.

“We’re told a majority of Muslims arepeaceful. But a majority of Germans were also(peaceful) before 1933 and national social-ism,” he said.

FN leader Marine Le Pen, who has joinedmainstream political parties in warningagainst confusing Islam and fundamentalism,distanced herself from Chauprade’s re-marks.—AFP

ing that prime minister has yet to approve aneligible candidate for the post. It further saidthat OGRA had informed the oil companies andpetroleum ministry about petrol stock on De-cember 28. He said that holding OGRA respon-sible for prevailing power shortage is ‘unjusti-fied’.

Earlier, the inquiry committee tasked toprobe prevailing petrol crisis suggested in itspreliminary report that fuel shortage was a“serious failure on the part of OGRA.” Thecommittee also held PSO Deputy MarketingManager Sohail Butt responsible for the cri-sis.

economic field are yielding positive results andshall further boost bilateral commercial ties.

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq conveyed the best wishesof the Parliament and the people of Pakistan.He said Turkey and Pakistan are joined togetherwith abiding bonds of friendship and brother-hood which have withstood the test of times.He praised the remarkable progress made byTurkey in the last twelve years and commendedthe public welfare oriented policies of the Turk-ish government. He agreed with the TurkishPresident that frequent exchanges of parliamen-tary delegations between Pakistan and Turkeywould provide an opportunity to learn from eachother and work together for strengthening of de-mocracies and democratic institutions.

Sardar Ayaz Sadiq briefed the Turkish Presi-dent about the proceedings of the10th session of thePUIC, where Pakistan presented a draft resolution,condemning publication of blasphemous caricatures.

The resolution was adopted unanimously and shallbe reflected in the final communiqué.

It states that the publication of such offen-sive material is also against the internationallyrecognised norms of freedom of expression in-cluding the provisions of article 20 of the Inter-national Covenant on Civil and Political Rightsof the United Nations. The resolution suggestedpersuading the international community, theUnited Nations, the OIC and the EU to work inunison for creating conformity and understand-ing among civilizations by taking steps to stoprepeat of such condemnable practices in future.

The Speaker on arrival was received at theAnkara Airport by Mr. Burhan Kayatürk, Chair-man of Turkey-Pakistan Parliamentary Friend-ship Group in the Turkish Grand National As-sembly, Deputy Governor Ankara and Mrs.Aisha Farooqui, Chargé d’Affaires of PakistanEmbassy.

Turkish President receivesFrom Back Page

United States throughcooperation, synergy andactivating strategic potentialcapacities,” Dehghan said.“As two neighbors, Iran andRussia have commonviewpoints toward political,regional and global issues.”

Russia has maintainedfriendly ties with Iran and hasbuilt its first nuclear powerplant. Last fall, it signed a dealto build two more reactors inIran.

Shoigu did not mention theongoing controversy over adeal to deliver a sophisticatedair defense missile system toIran. In 2007, Russia signed a$800-million contract to sell

Tehran the S-300 missile sys-tem, but the weaponry wasnever delivered amid strongobjections by United States andIsrael.

Iran has filed a lawsuit witha court in Geneva seeking $4 bil-lion in damages over the breachof the contract, but the courthasn’t yet made any ruling. Rus-sia has insisted that its decisionto freeze the S-300 delivery wasbased on the United Nations Se-curity Council’s sanctionsagainst Iran.

Iran’s state TV reportedTuesday that Iran and Russiahave agreed to settle their dif-ferences over the missile deal,without offering further details.

Russia, Iran signFrom Page 1

The media reports said thatthe US had asked Pakistan toensure there is no cross-borderterror incident during PresidentObama’s visit to India. Defend-ing the Pakistan government’sstand on terrorism the Ambassa-dor said, “As a matter of fact USSecretary of State John Kerry,who visited Islamabad last week,had deeply appreciated the stepstaken by Pakistan against terror-ism and extremism.”

Lashing at the Indian mediaJilani added, “These actions aremeant to purge our country of allsuch elements. These actions arealso in pursuance of our policynot to allow any one to use ourterritory against other countries.”Earlier in January, Indian Gen-eral Officer Commander 16Corps, Nagrota (J&K), Lt Gen-eral KH Singh warned that Pa-kistan trained terrorists are plan-ning to target soft targets includ-ing schools and civilian areasahead of US President BarackObama’s visit. —INP

Last year, Russian mediareports said that Moscow hadsought to end the dispute byoffering Iran a different,slightly inferior version of theS-300 system, but Tehran hadrejected the proposal.—AP

Houthis take YemenFrom Page 1

the palace. A government offi-cial said two people were killedin the fighting.

Earlier on Tuesday, Houthifighters had entered Yemen’spresidential palace after a briefclash with security guards, wit-nesses and security sources toldReuters.

A Houthi leader denied thatfighters had gone into the presi-dential palace to control it andsaid they were protecting thecompound from security per-sonnel who were trying to stealweapons.

The Houthis seized Sanaain September, began dictatingterms to an enfeebled Hadi, andadvanced into central and west-ern regions of Yemen whereSunni Muslims predominate.

The Houthis want morerights for the country’s ZaydiShi’ite sect and say they arecampaigning against corrup-

tion.Meanwhile. Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon calledfor an immediate halt to hos-tilities in Yemen Tuesday as theU.N. Security Council held anemergency meeting on the cha-otic situation in the impover-ished Middle East nation.

U.N. spokesman StephaneDujarric said Ban deplores theheavy fighting between armedgroups and Yemeni presiden-tial guards throughout Sanaaand “calls on all sides to im-mediately cease all hostilities,exercise maximum restraint,and take the necessary steps torestore full authority to the le-gitimate government institu-tions.”

Britain’s U.N. AmbassadorMark Lyall Grant said he calledTuesday’s closed-door councilmeeting to hear a briefing onthe situation from the U.N. en-

voy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar,who is in Qatar and heading toSanaa later Tuesday.

“Clearly the situation hasdeteriorated very significantlyover the last 48 hours and that’swhy the Security Council needsto meet and decide its re-sponse,” Lyall Grant said.

He expressed hope that thecouncil will issue a statementexpressing “deep concernabout the deteriorating securitysituation.”

The secretary-generalurged all sides to resolve dif-ferences through peacefulmeans and to remain engagedwith U.N. and Gulf Coopera-tion Council members,Dujarric said.

Ban condemned the Jan. 17kidnapping of presidential ad-viser Ahmed Awadh BinMubarek and called for his im-mediate release.—Reuters/AP

Zardari ties knot withDr Tanveer Zamani

From Page 1

websites also posted her somephotographs.

Meanwhile, sources re-vealed that in January 2011, AsifZardari, President of Pakistan atthat time, got married to Dr.Tanveer Zamani according toMuslim Shiyat bylaws in Dubai.Now Asif and Tanveer Zardarihas a two- year old sonSajawal, named after the fatherof Haji Mohammad HussainZardari who was the grandfatherof Hakim Ali Khan Zardari; isthis little step brother Zardari Jr.,a real cause of Bilawal’s repul-sion and inclination back to-wards Bhuttos?

The source said that despiterepeated requests from his far-ther and other party seniormembers Bilawal BhuttoZardari opted to stay away anddid not participate in his

mother, Mohtarma BenazirBhutto death anniversary heldin December last year.

The sources said news of themarriage was leaked from Dubaiand went viral, with adverselynegative response from the PPPjiyalas, family, friends, media,political opponents, BB fans andZardari’s own children. There-after, the couple decided to re-fute the news in order to suppressthe media hype and Zardarithreatened a lawsuit of 100 bil-lion dollars to the country’s larg-est media group. With this hypeor news, Hakim Ali Zardari gotstroke and died after continued3- month long illness, in May2011. President Zardari andTanveer Zamani decided to playlow and she pulled herself fromparticipation in political activi-ties in the US.—INP

Pakistan envoyFrom Page 1

Pakistan,Indian

From Back Page

has already said that the issue ofvisas for PIA employees in In-dia would be resolved soon. Shealso said that PIA had been di-rected to initiate litigation on theproperty issue. Pakistan and In-dia ties came again under enor-mous stress after India’s BSFkilled two ranger soldiers alongLoC on December 31 followedby Indian army firing killing a13-year old girl, Sumaira in resi-dential areas of Zafarwal on Jan2. Now the raising of the issuepertaining PIA is a further at-tempt of stressing the ties.

The tension between thetwo countries is apparentlyskillfully made up at a timewhen Pakistan is quite busy inwar against terrorists inside thecountry getting successes inNorth Waziristan’s Zarb-e-Azboperation and enhancing tieswith Afghanistan.

The CM directed the IG tomake the investigation systemmore efficient. “I want timelycompellation of investigationand submission of challans inthe court.. You have tostrengthen your entire systemfor proper implementation ofNational Action Plan,” he said.

Pakistan Rangers SindhDG Maj. General Akbar Bilaltold the CM that the Rangershad conducted 570 operationalactivities in Lyari during theperiod of targeted operationstarting from September 5,2013. 165 encounters havebeen conducted and recovered741 bigger weapons.

Rangers demand Rs132m to meetprofessional needs

From Back PageHe said that gang war was

going on in Lyari between 2major groups, Uzair Balochand Baba Ladla. “We have setup 36 check posts in Lyari, ofthem five at entrance points and31 pickets inside and on theroof top,” he said.

He said the Rangers havearrested or eliminated hardenedcriminals involved in kidnap-ping for ransom in Karachi andinterior areas of Sindh. Theworth mentioning are TegoKhan Tegani, TTP leader AbidMuchhar- a Mehsood tribes-man, his accomplice Suri. Theywere involved in kidnappingfor ransom in Defence andClifton areas. Their arrestshave brought a clear reductionin such cases.

The DG Rangers said thatthere was a dire need of devel-oping a separate command andcontrol system in Lyari underwhich electronic surveillanceof each and every street wouldbe made. ‘The project wouldcost Rs132 million and wouldbe efficient enough to keep aneye on every activity in thearea,” he said.

The CM asked the DGRangers to submit the scheme forapproval.

He said that some 65 Rang-ers personnel have lost their livesin the line of their duty. The fed-eral government has releasedcompensation of only 38 person-nel. On this Sindh Chief Minis-ter Syed Qaim Ali assured himthat his government would re-lease the remaining compensa-tion.

Sindh Home SecretaryAbdul Rahim Soomro briefingthe meeting said that he had helda number of follow up meetingsof sub committees formed underNational Action Programme.

He said in the meeting op-erational framework, dealingwith tactical issues, inter agencycoordination and coordinationwith federal government werediscussed. Rahim also said thatthe meetings of legal committee,media committee and intelli-gence committee have also beenheld.

Injured toreceive

From Back PageImran Khan, however, couldnot address the scheduled me-dia conference as he had toleave back for Islamabad foronward sojourn to Saudi Arabiafor the performance of Umraalong with his spouse. The Pa-kistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)Chairman arrived CM housewithout a protocol.After receiving criticism for his21 vehicle convoy during hisprevious visit to Army PublicSchool, Imran Khan had cat-egorically stated that he wouldnever use a protocol again.

The chief MinisterKP Pervez Khattak attended aceremony held in connection ofAPS massacre Chehlum at thein Chief Minister House .Theprovincial government, he saidwill give Rs 20 lakh each to thefamilies who laid down theirlives in attack on APS lastmonth.

In Islamabad PrimeMinister Muhammad NawazSharif Tuesday vowed that theblood of the martyrs of ArmyPublic School would not gowaste and reiterated that thenation will never forget theirsacrifice.

In a message on theChelum - 40th day of martyr-dom of the young school chil-dren, the Prime Minister saidthe government has achieved asignificant success against theterrorists and added that withthe help of Allah Almighty willwipe out terrorism from thecountry.

The Prime Ministerexpressed deep sympathieswith the parents of the martyredchildren and said the entire na-tion stood with them in theirhour of grief.

He said he recalls theinnocent faces of those childrenwhenever he takes a decisionagainst the terrorists.

LAHORE: Health workers hold a demonstration in support of their demands outside DGHealth Office.

Impact onIran ofsanctionTEHRAN—Agovernmentministerlaunched a rare attackMonday on Iran’sdownplaying of theimpact of internationalsanctions, saying that“lying” to the public overthe measures had left thecountry “backward”.Mohammad RezaNematzadeh, the industry,mining and trade minister,delivered the broadside ata conference in Tehran,claiming years of state-ments about sanctionsnot hurting the countrywere false. “Why shouldwe abandon logic andswear instead or haveempty gestures?”Nematzadeh asked. “Doyou think the worlddoesn’t get it that ourgestures are empty? Thatour remarks areempty?”.—AFP

French PMadvisessocialintegrityPARIS—Deadly shootings byhomegrown Islamists havecast a light on France’s“geographical, social andethnic apartheid”, PrimeMinister Manuel Valls saidon Tuesday in one of thestarkest indictments ofFrench society by agovernment figure. The Jan.7-9 attacks on satiricalweekly Charlie Hebdo and aJewish supermarket in Parishave plunged France into asoul- searching debate toassess how the threegunmen were radicalizedand how to prevent a repeatof violence that claimed 17victims.—AFP

CHECHNYA: A view of Million March against French magazine ‘Charlie Hebdo’ to publish a depiction of the HolyProphet Muhammad (PBUH).

ANKARA: Turkish President Mr Recep Tayyip Erdogan receives Speaker of the National Assembly of PakistanSardar Ayaz Sadiq on Tuesday.

GHAZNI—At least eight ci-vilians including women andchildren were killed whentheir van struck a roadsidebomb in southern Afghani-stan on Tuesday, officialssaid.

The incident occurred inthe Jaghuri district of Ghazniprovince, Deputy ProvincialGovernor Mohammad AliAhmadi told AFP.

It comes weeks after theNato combat mission whichbegan in 2001 was down-graded to support and train-ing duties to help the Af-ghan army and police.

“Eight civilians, includ-ing one woman and a child,

were killed in this morningroadside blast. One childand one woman werewounded,” he said, addingthat the injured child andwoman were taken to thehospital in critical condition.

Asadullah Safi, thedeputy police chief of theprovince told AFP that fourof those killed belonged toone family.

No one has claimedresponsiblity for the attackbut roadside bombs havebeen the Taliban’s weaponof choice in their war againstforeign and Afghan securityforces, now in its fourteenthyear.—AFP

Roadside bombkills eight

Afghan civilians

ISLAMABAD—Pakistani andIndian officials Tuesdayheld meetings to resolve theissue of PIA after Indian au-thorities issued notices tothe airline asking to disposeof its unauthorized pur-chased property in NewDelhi.

Spokesman of PIA RanaHanif confirmed that Paki-stani High Commissioner inIndia Abdul Basit hasstarted raising the issuewith concerned authoritiesin India, though he refusedto comments on meetingswith Indian officials inIslamabad and New Delhi.Foreign Office’s Spokesper-son Tasneem Aslam toldOnline that PIA has askedto only concentrate on thelegal aspect of the issue.She refused to go into de-tails as the issue is underconsideration at properlevel. Nevertheless, diplo-matic sources and PIA offi-cials on condition of ano-nymity are confirming thatthe issue is not only beingraised at the departmentallevel but also through dip-lomatic channels involvingboth the high commissionof India and Pakistan inIslamabad and New Delhi.

Basit met Indian foreignSecretary in New Delhi toutilize diplomatic channelsfor resolving the issue andin Pakistan Indian HighCommissioner was alsourged to look into the issue

for early resolution.A few days ago, India’s

Directorate of Enforcementin the notice to Pakistan In-ternational Airlines (PIA)noted that the properties inNew Delhi were acquired incontravention of the For-eign Exchange ManagementAct and without prior per-mission from the ReserveBank of India. “We informedthe Indian Reserve Bank in2005, when the propertywas being acquired or pur-chased. According to myknowledge all legal require-ments were met,” said thePIA spokesman.

He said that two aeroplanes of PIA, the only flagbearer airline of the coun-try, travels India from Paki-stan a week that earns Rs17 lacs or 6.8 million in ru-pees per month. Thespokesman clarified that sofar no litigation was filed asIndian authorities issuednotices to PIA directly andhoped that it could be re-solved soon. Another prob-lem that was created by In-dian authorities for PIA isno extension of the visas ofPakistan’s national carrierstaff and issued orders forStation Manager SaeedAhmed to leave New Delhi.

Pakistani and Indian of-ficials also discussed thevisas issues, the sourcesinformed. Tasneem Aslam

Pakistan, Indianofficials discuss PIA issue

Continued on Page 7

Turkish Presidentreceives

NA SpeakerANKARA—Turkish Presi-dent Mr. Recep TayyipErdoðan received Speakerof the National Assembly ofPakistan Sardar Ayaz Sadiqhere Tuesday. Sardar AyazSadiq is visiting Turkey tolead a parliamentary delega-tion from Pakistan to the10th session of the Parlia-mentary Union of the Orga-nization of Islamic Coopera-tion member states (PUIC)being held in Istanbul.

President Erdoðan saidTurkey and Pakistan enjoyexemplary relations whichare not affected by thechange of governments andare deep rooted in ourcomm. on history, cultureand ethos of our people. Hesaid our special relationsshould be sustainedthrough more parliamentaryexchanges and people-to-people contacts. He reas-sured every possible Turk-ish support to Pakistan formaking the country furtherstronger. He expressed thehope that Pakistan will soonovercome the challenges itis facing today. Mr. Erdoðansaid initiatives undertakenby the leaderships of Tur-key and Pakistan in the

Continued on Page 7

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Sindh Chief Minister SyedQaim Ali Shah has directed Law Enforce-ment Agencies (LEA) to intensify andstrengthen vigilance at the entry and exitpoints of the province. “The ongoing tar-geted operation has produced encourag-ing results and I want you to further inten-sify it. We are committed to purging theprovince of terrorist elements.”

He was presiding over a meeting onlaw and Order at CM House Tuesday.

The meeting was attended by ChiefSecretary Sajjad Saleem Hotiana, PakistanRangers Sindh Director General (DG) Maj.General Bilal Akbar, Inspector General (IG)of Police, Sindh Ghulam Hyder Jamali, Prin-cipal Secretary to CM Alamudin Bullo,Additional IG Karachi Ghulam Qadir Theboand others.

The IG while giving briefs to the CMsaid the targeted operation has given goodresults. “If the 496 days of targeted opera-tion are compared with the corresponding496 days 337 percent more criminals havebeen killed in encounters, 16 percent moretarget killers arrested, 285 percent more ter-rorist arrested and 96 percent more extor-tionists have been apprehended,” heclaimed.

He said during the 496 days of opera-tion 766 criminals have been killed asagainst 175 of corresponding period , 1399target killers arrested as against 1200 of

Rangers demand Rs132mto meet professional needs

Qaim asks LEAs to intensify vigilance

Continued on Page 7

previous period, 478 terrorists arrested asagainst 124, 463 extortionists held asagainst 236 and 17932 arrested as against13859 during the 496 corresponding days.

Giving details of target killing, he saidthat during the 496 days of operation 2,465persons were killed as against 3848 personduring the same period before operation.This shows 35 percent reduction in killingincidents. Similarly, target killing has comedown by 56 percent. During the operation1,240 persons were killed in target asagainst 2881 during the same period be-fore start of operation.

He said that during 2014, 136 cops losttheir lives in the line of duty in Karachi and47 in rest of Sindh. “The police arrested 41accused and killed 22 criminals in encoun-ters,” he said.

On a query of the CM, he said that 315cases had been completed for submittingof challans in the court. Of them 194 caseshave been identified as terrorist cases tobe referred to Military Court.

Responding to a question of the chairthe IGP said that there were 40 cases ofkidnapping for ransom in Karachi and 60in rest of Sindh when he took over andnow the figures has came down to three inKarachi and four in rest of Sindh.

The IG said that a dedicated force of700 police personnel have been earmarkedfor polio campaign under the command ofDIGP RRF.

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—Chairman Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Imran Khan Tuesday an-nounced to treat the victims of the ArmyPublic School attack at Shaukat Khanumhospital and even abroad, if needed. “Thecompensation amount for the martyrs of thedeadly attack has been increased from Rs. 5lac to 20 lac in each case.” Imran’s an-nouncement marked Chehlum of martyr kids,officially observed in KP Tuesday.

“The PTI led KP government would ex-tend every possible help to the victim’s fami-lies and the injured would be treated atShaukat Khanum MemorialCancer Hospital & ResearchCentre where entire cost of the treatmentwould be borne by the hospital and theywould even be sent abroad for treatment ifrequired”.

The PTI chief declared while address-ing the parents of the victims at the ChiefMinister House here.

The Chehlum of over 150 martyrs of in-cluding 135 children who had fallen victim

Chehlum of martyred kids

Injured to receivetreatment at SKH

Continued on Page 7

to the barbarism of the heartless terroristsat Army Public School Peshawar on Decem-ber 16 was officially observed in Peshawarand the parents of the martyred childrenwere specially invited to Chief Ministerhouse where major ceremony was held andImran Khan and his newly wed wife RehamKhan had dashed on a short trip to the pro-vincial metropolis to be among the bereavedfamilies.

Tuesday was declared public holidayand Peshawar and other parts of the KP andall the educational institutions as well asthe government offices remained closed.Imran Khan who offered Fateha for the de-

parted souls along with hiswife, Chief Minster KP PervezKhattak, Governor Khyber

Pukhtunkhwa Sardar Mehtab AhmadKhan and members of the provincial cabi-net besides parents of the martyrs, mixedup with the bereaved families and sympa-thized with them saying his PTI govern-ment in would extend every assistance tothe victim families.

NAP planyielding positiveresults: Shahbaz

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thatevery Pakistani is stillgrieved at the martyrdom ofinnocent children inPeshawar and this incidentof brutality is unprec-edented in history.

He said that due to sac-rifices of the martyrs thereis a complete unity in thenation against terrorism. Hesaid that the role of all seg-ments of the society is ofvital importance for rootingout the menace of terrorismfrom the society. He said thatimplementation of nationalaction plan evolved withpolitical consensus is yield-ing positive results.

He said that eradicationof terrorism, extremism andsectarianism from the coun-try is need of the hour andPak-Army is writing a newhistory of courage and sac-rifices in the war against ter-rorism.

Don’t interferewith Obamavisit security,India tells US

NEW DELHI—Indian offi-cials politely turned down theUnited States’ request regard-ing the security arrange-ments for President BarackObama’s visit to India, say-ing that Indian security iswell-equipped and trained tooversee the US president’ssecurity, said a report pub-lished by The Times of India.

US officials provided alist of security demands totheir Indian counterparts,which included deployingonly US snipers on rooftopsall along the Rajpath Boule-vard where a Republic DayParade will take place andPresident Obama will attendas chief guest.

Indian authorities onMonday declined this re-quest and asked US officials“not to interfere”, the reportsaid. President Obama’s visitto India will begin on January25 and both India and the USare engaged in tackling is-sues related to security mea-sures.

The US officials also re-quested for a no-fly-zone on theRajpath which Indian officialsalso declined as it would haveresulted in the cancellation ofthe parade’s customary fly-pastby the Indian Air Force.—PTI

Sisi warnsprotestersno harm toeconomyCAIRO—President Abdel Fattah AlSisi said on Tuesdaypeople in Egypt have theright to demonstrate butcautioned that protestingnow could cause moreharm to the country’sbattered economy. “I ammore keen on human rightsthan anybody ... But takecare when you demandyour rights. Take care,don’t take us down withyou,” Sisi told hundreds ofpolice officers and manysenior governmentofficials. “I never say thatdemonstrations arerefused. We put the issueof protesting in a distin-guished position...Butthe 90 million people (ofEgypt) want to eat, drink,live and be assuredabout their future,” Sisisaid.—Reuters

Picture on Page 2

GONE are the days of teenagers beingcontent with climbing trees and playing basketball in their free time. Nowa-

days, they are more likely to be found playingvideo games. But new research suggests thatteenagers who play violent video games aremore likely to cheat, expe-rience increased aggressionand have reduced self-con-trol. This is according to astudy published in the jour-nal Social Psychological andPersonality Science.

A team of researchersfrom the US, Italy and theNetherlands analysed 172Italian high school studentsaged between 13 and 19, whowere required to take part ina series of experiments to de-termine how violent videogames affected their person-alities. For the first experi-ment, participants were re-quired to play either a non-violent video game (Pinball3D or MiniGolf 3D), or a vio-lent video game (Grand Theft Auto III or GrandTheft Auto: San Andreas).

While they were playing the games, a bowlcontaining 100g of chocolate was placed nextto the computer. The researchers told the par-ticipants they could freely eat the chocolate,but warned them that it was unhealthy to con-sume high amounts of candy in a short spaceof time. Results revealed that participants whoplayed violent video games ate more than threetimes as much chocolate, compared with thosewho played the non-violent video games.

The teenagers were then asked to solve a10-item logic test. For each question they an-swered correctly, they were rewarded with one

raffle ticket that they could exchange forprizes. The investigators told the participantshow many questions they answered correctlyand asked them to take the correct amountof raffle tickets from an envelope. However,the researchers knew how many tickets were

in each envelope so they wouldknow if any of the participantshad taken more tickets thanthey had earned.

Results from this experi-ment revealed that the teenag-ers who played violent videogames cheated more than eighttimes more, compared withthose who played non-violentvideo games. Another test in-volved the monitoring of theparticipants’ aggression afterthey played the video gameagainst an unseen “partner,”who actually did not exist. Theplayer who won could “blast”the losing player with a loudsound through headphones.

Teenagers who played theviolent video games blasted the

unseen partners with louder and longer noises,compared with those who played the non-vio-lent games. Commenting on the findings,Brad Bushman, professor of communicationand psychology at Ohio State University andco-author of the study, says:

“We have consistently found in a num-ber of studies that those who play violentgames act more aggressively, and this isjust more evidence.” The investigators alsoused a Moral Disengagement Scale as partof the study. This scale measures the ex-tent to which people hold themselves tohigh moral standards in a variety of situa-tions.

Violent video games reduceteens’ self-control, study shows

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—The two day Ideas Con-clave 2015 kicked off in Islamabad onTuesday, as a range of high rankingpoliticians, technocrats and industryexperts converged in the capital to dis-cuss some of the country’s most press-ing and intractable issues.

The proceedings began with aspeech by Sherry Rehman, the Presi-dent of the Jinnah Institute, which hadorganised the event. The former ambas-sador and federal minister spoke on theincreasing ‘recoil from democracy’ evi-denced in younger Pakistanis, andstressed the need for empowering thecountry’s youth to have a relationshipwith the state. She also noted the grow-ing capacity of civil society to articu-late messages for change, although shecautioned that civil society is a partnerfor democracy, not its prime agent.

Ms. Rehman then moderated theday’s first session, titled “SustainingPakistan’s Democratic Transition” andfeaturing Minister for Interprovincial

Sustaining democracy impossiblewithout good governance: Speakers

Coordination Riaz Peerzada, MQMMNA Dr. Farooq Sattar, PTI MNAShafqat Mehmood, ANP SenatorAfrasyab Khattak and the PPP SenatorSaleem Mandviwala. The varied dis-cussion touched upon the impact ofconflict on the political landscape, aswell as its impact on civil-military re-lations, with the participants debatingpolicy points as well as quoting Urduverses to make their points. Dr. Sattar’sclaim that military courtswereundesirable yet unavoidable;Shafqat Mahmood’s critique of thedemocratic models of the previous twogovernments; Sentaor Khattaks’s de-nouncement of the Taliban as a ‘demo-lition squad’ meant to destroy Afghani-stan and Senator Mandviwala’s firmstance on secularising Pakistan’s poli-tics.

Day’s second session, titled “Un-buckling the Pakistani economy’s strait-jacket”, gained further poignance. Itfeatured several architects of Pakistan’seconomic infrastructure, including theMinister of Commerce Khurram

Dastagir Khan, former SBP governorIshrat Hussain, ex-Finance Minister Dr.Salman Shah and ex-government advi-sors Sakib Sherani and Ashfaque H.Khan.The speakers dissected Pakistan’sgovernance crises from several angles,with Ishrat Hussain beginning by com-paring the utter lack of meritocracy inthe civil services with the relative pres-ence of it in the military.

Underlining his support for democ-racy, he pointed out that such discrep-ancies led to a perception that the mili-tary was better suited for governing thecountry.Sakib Sherani asked for a widerview of the problem, arguing that ratherthan a civil-military imbalance, thegreater issue was the presence of an‘entrenched, self-serving elite’. Hecriticised the parliament for abdicatingits role in debating economic policy, athought which was echoed by AshfaqueKhan.

The latter was also forceful in de-nouncing the nepotism in government,which spared ministers and officialsfrom accountability. Dr. Salman Shah

outlined the need for a grand economicvision, arguing that a country ofPakistan’s size and stature should belooking to join the G20 by 2050.Khurram Dastagir said that reform waspainful and required sacrifices, but inresponse to a question said that hisparty’s opposition to holding local bodyelections was “indefensible”. He alsocalled for an end to turning towards“philosopher kings” and preached ac-cepting the mandate of the people.

The day’s final session, titled “NewMedia: Disrupting the Status Qup andCreating Noise” was moderated by re-nowned journalist and anchor NasimZehra. Attending the panel were theeditor of Dawn.com Jahanzaib Haque,Shahzad Ahmed from Bytes For All,politician and activist Jibran Nasir andthe lawyer Yasser Latif Hamdani.Nasim Zehra characterized the double-edged nature of new media by notinghow it had made public discourse in-creasingly volatile by collapsing hier-archies and forcing authorities to beheld accountable.

Still there is no light at the end of the tunnel. People in large number are standing in a queue to get petrol from a filling station.

Are we reverting to stone age? Non-availability of fuel has forced people to use tree branchesfor cooking and domestic.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A solo exhibition ofpaintings by contemporary artistAbdul Jabbar opened here on Tues-day at Jharoka Art Gallery (JAG).

The exhibition titled ‘Dawn ofHope’ presented his art on both can-vas and jute comprising a total of21 paintings.

Jabbar has been painting for thelast two decades. Following a stintat painting cinema posters inRawalpindi, he went on to pursueteaching art classes in schools andcolleges in Karachi.

Solo exhibition by Abdul Jabbaropens at Jharoka Art Gallery

Visitors taking interest in paintings at a Solo Show “Dawn of Hope” by Abdul Jabbar atJharoka Art Gallery.

“My paintings of this exhibitiondepict the peace and tranquility,found in our villages which, unfor-tunately the cities are devoid of, Iwish that someday the same peacecomes to our cities in these turbu-lent times,” Jabbar hoped.

“It is a tiresome process topaint on jute but the technique isa reflection of the simple life of acommon man in the countryside,”he said, adding that the deep redpaint in his artworks representsblood and how a peasant relent-lessly works from day to night,putting in his blood and sweat into

extensive labour.From tall cityscapes at the fore-

front of hazy skylines offset by con-trasts of deep red or rhythmic whiteand sky blue, the paintings exude alove for the familiar, a sense of be-longing and a reason to return home,he said.

Whereas, white pigeons repre-sent the calm one experiences in therural areas while peacock-colouredbirds, perched on top of an earthenbowl, show romanticism and sym-bolism in the artworks. The imag-ery of birds represents tranquilityand serenity and a love for nature,

he expressed.The gallery curator, Naheeda

Raza while talking to APP said,Jabbar showcased his creativity byexperimenting with different mate-rials to paint on.

“The use of thick layers of oilpaint creates a three-dimensionaleffect in the painting. The reflec-tions of buildings in water the brightcolours of him paintings make himstand out among other contempo-rary artists of the country,” sheadded.

The current exhibition will con-tinue till January 31.

OBSERVER REPORT

RAWALPINDI—Rescue 1122 has started here acapacity building training for Rescue Scouts tobuild socially responsible, healthy, safer and re-silient community.

In this regard Rescue Scouts enrolled withRescue 1122 Central Station Rawalpindi are get-ting training of Community Based Disaster RiskManagement which is a comprehensive trainingfor the prevention of emergencies at communitylevel.

The Director General (DG) Emergency Ser-vices, (Rescue 1122) Dr. Rizwan Naseer initi-ated the Community Based Disaster Risk Man-agement (CBDRM) to develop ownership of thecommunity and to promote coordination andsense of social responsibility amongst the emer-

Rescue 1122 starts capacitybuilding training of scouts

gency departments, rescuers and community thatwould also be helpful to develop safer commu-nities in Pakistan.

The Emergency Officer Information andTraining Rescue 1122 Ms. Deeba Shahnaz hasstarted the training in Rawalpindi.

The Rescue Scouts are being trained on riskand hazard assessment, vulnerability assessmentand capacity development. They are also beingtrained on formulation of disaster risk manage-ment plans at the community level, communitybased multi-hazard early warning and dissemi-nation mechanisms, school evacuation plans anda community evacuation plan.

Ms. Deeba further urged Rescue Scouts andRescue Warden to own their community and takepreventive measures with collaboration of Res-cue 1122 Safety Wing.

Transporters overchargingowing to petrol shortage

ISLAMABAD—Taking advantage ofcurrent petrol shortage, public transportparticularly the taxi drivers are over-charging from commuters ofRawalpindi and Islamabad adding totheir miseries.

Public transport which is alreadyshort on all routes and people have towait for hours at bus stops, have noother option to pay fares of their de-mand to reach their destinations.

Rawalpindi Transport Authorityhas announced a new fare list aftermassive reduction in petrol prices buttransporters are not ready to follow thenew list, even charging almost doublesaying, “We have to wait for hours inqueues to get petrol so extra fare is ourright”.

Asad Khan, who travels daily from

Committee Chowk to Blue Area, wherehe works at a private firm said, “I haveto reach office at 9.00 am and usuallyleave home at 8.00 am but now it is hardto get transport so come to stop at 7.00am or even before to reach office intime.

He said now a days it is a gigantictask to get seat in a van as they are al-ready filled and conductors are not will-ing to board long route passengers.

“I have to take van up to Faizabadand then get another van for Poly ClinicStop from where I walk to my office atBlue Area”, he said, adding, “for lastone week I am paying double fare upto Faizabad and then to the next stopand same is the practice in evening”.

All my office colleagues narratesame tales after reaching office and our

budget is badly affecting as the sala-ries are the same but the transport ex-penses are almost double.

Nayab Ramzan who board a taxifrom Islamabad Airport to Fauji Foun-dation said, the taxi driver charged Rs.500 which is double then normal days.She said when she argue on fare, thetaxi driver said, our working hours arenow reduced because three to fourhours waste daily at petrol pump longqueues.

Tanveer Gul, a van driver atAabpara stop said, “Petrol pumps areselling petrol on higher rates so howcan we bear our expenses”.

He said not only fuel, they have tobear vehicles maintenance expenses soit is not possible to implement newfares.—APP

06:25 01:3004:00

07:15

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

January 20-21National Conference

A two-day national confer-ence on inter-religion co-hesion and understandingstrategy will be held on 20-21st January at Allama IqbalAuditorium InternationalIslamic University FaisalMasjid Campus.

January 25NUML

NUML University will re-main close till January 25,2015. However the univer-sity staff will continue toperform its duties. The In-terviews for admission willbe scheduled in last weekof January and Exam will beheld in February 2015

*****Meelad-e-Mustafa

Annual Meelad-e-Mustafa(SAWW) & Haq Bahoo(RA) Conference to be pre-sided over by Janasheen-e-Sultan-ul-Faqr HadratSultan Muhammad Ali Sab,Patron in chief IslahiJammat wa Aalmi Tanzeemul Arifeen of Darbar-e-AliaHadrat Sultan Bahoo (RA)will be held on January 25from 12:00 pm to 3:00 pm atJinnah Convention Centre.

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Senate SyedNayyer Hussain Bokhari, Tuesday,approved in principle plan for livewebcasting and FM station to broad-cast session and committee proceed-ings live on air.

A proposal for live webcasting onSenate’s official website and a self-ac-

Chairman Senate launches OpenGovernment Initiative

Senate debates and Committees live on FM radioquired FM channel presented by theMedia Directorate got the nod from theChairman Senate and the proposal hasbeen referred to the Senate Finance Com-mittee to work out modalities relating toallocation of funds.

Legislatures around the world broad-cast their proceedings live to the votersthrough webcasting and dedicated FMradio and TV channels in pursuit to move

towards an Open Government that ad-vocates direct voter participation in run-ning the affairs of the government, Ac-cess to Information and empowermentof the people’s representative Assembly.

It is Chairman Senate’s desire to openup the debate in the upper house andcommittee proceedings to the voter,stakeholders and general public. Helauded the Senate Secretariat for com-

pleting the proposal. “Other than the common people and

stakeholders, this will give better accessto journalists who are unable to come tothe Press Gallery,” Chairman Senate saidadding that media houses will get a liveaudio feed to air on their channels therebyincreasing the outreach of the Senate pro-ceedings.

The Webcast via Senate’s official

website will be available to the entireworld through the Internet and FM Ra-dio broadcast will be available to listen-ers in the twin-cities of Rawalpindi-Islamabad and through boosters to otherareas. It will be available throughout Pa-kistan on XM Satellite radio as well viaInternet streaming and through mobilephone apps for iOS, BlackBerry and An-droid devices.

Inspector General, Islamabad Police, Tahir Alam Khan visiting OPF Girls College, F-8/2 to inspect security arrange-ments on Tuesday.

ISLAMABAD—Inspector General (IG),Islamabad Police, Tahir Alam Khanduring his visit of OPF Girls College,F-8/2 Islamabad has appreciated thesecurity arrangements made by OPFGirls College Islamabad and effortsof the Principal and OPF Manage-ment to show great concern for thesafety and security of their students.

In pursuance of awareness cam-paign on current security situation,IG, Islamabad Police, Tahir AlamKhan and Captain Amir visited OPFGirls College Islamabad to inspectthe security arrangement of the col-lege. A briefing on security arrange-ments was also arranged for the stu-dents and teachers in college audi-torium, to bring awareness amongthe children on the current securityconcerns.

The Managing Director Over-seas Pakistanis Foundation, Habib

IG satisfied over securityarrangements of OPF Girls College

Ur Rehman Khan, Deputy Manag-ing Director OPF Israr Khan Jamaliand Director General Education,Shahzad Iqbal Ch also attended thesession. Inspector General Police,Islamabad in his address advised thestudents to keep their reflexes andobservation powers on high alertand report about any unusual activ-ity or person, unattended object orvehicle to the police.

IG Police Tahir Alam Khan in hisaddress highlighted the security is-sues and told the children how to beprepared to secure themselves. Hedescribed the personality of the sui-cide bomber and made the childrenaware of the security risks in theirsurroundings.

The police officials assured theirhelp by providing patrol service anddeploying armed policemen in theareas of the schools of Islamabad.

Talking on this occasion, ManagingDirector OPF, Habib Ur RehmanKhan said that every effort wouldbe made to make fool proof arrange-ments for the safety of students ofall OPF educational institutions.

He further said that necessary se-curity equipments and gadgetswould be provided very soon as perthe standard operating proceduresof Islamabad Police and other secu-rity agencies for the safety and se-curity of the students.

He assured the parents of thestudents that their children study-ing in OPF educational institutionsare in safe hands.

Earlier, one minute silence wasobserved by the IG Police, collegemanagement, teachers and studentsof the OPF Girls College to show soli-darity with the victims and studentsof the APS Peshawar.—Online

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—Taking serious note ofthe petroleum crisis, Chairman SenateSyed Nayyer Hussain Bokhari, Tues-day, called an emergency joint meetingof three relevant Senate Standing Com-mittees namely Finance, Petroleum andWater & Power on Friday.

The single point agenda before the

Joint meeting of three Senate StandingCommittees on petroleum crisis

committee meeting would be to inquireinto the causes of current petroleumproducts crisis in the country.

In a statement issued by the SenateSecretariat, the three committees havebeen asked to meet as this is a cross-cut-ting issue directly related to the Finance,Revenue, Economic Affairs, Statistics andPrivatisation Committee, Petroleum andNatural Resources Committee, as well as

Water and Power Committee.“A joint meeting of the Standing

Committees on Finance, Revenue, Eco-nomic Affairs, Statistics andPrivatisation, Petroleum and NaturalResources and Water and Power willbe held on Friday afternoon. The meet-ing will be co-chaired by the chairper-sons of the committees”, says the offi-cial notice of Senate Secretariat.

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Capital Territory(ICT) Administration, in its on-going driveagainst sale of sub-standard food items,sealed a fake Nimko factory in Sara-e-Kharbuza , during surprise inspection offood outlets.

The manager of the factory has beenarrested and a case has been registeredagainst the accused persons, a spokesmanof ICT informed here on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Deputy Director, Food,

Fake Nimko factorysealed, manager arrested

Muhammad Afzal, during inspection offood outlets in G-9 Markaz, Islamabad, im-posed heavy fines Rs.20,000 on the unhy-gienic food outlets, on account of unsatis-factory sanitary conditions and violationsof hygiene and sanitation laws andchallaned 10 food outlets.

He has directed the food outlets toensure compliance of food safety laws fail-ing which stern action would be takenagainst the violators.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad High Court (IHC) hassummoned secretary establishment divisionon Friday in connection with regularizationof federal contact employee’s case.

A single bench of IHC comprising JusticeAthar Minallah took up case of promotion ofgovernment employees of different depart-ments for hearing Tuesday.

The lawyers of petitioners appeared in thecourt and took the plea federal government isneither regularizing different contract employ-ees nor is it regularizing the employees whohave completed their contract period. JusticeAthar Minallah remarked “ it seems govern-ment does not care for its employees nor itprovides forum to them.

The lawyers told the court “ employeesof different departments have come to thecourt to raise their voice against the attitude

Employees regularization case

IHC summones Secretaryestablishment division

of federal secretaries in connection with theirjobs. Justice Athar Minallah remarked “ suchproblems are being created due to poor per-formance of government and people come tocourts.

Therefore, it is better that court shouldsummon secretary establishment division inperson and seek clarification from him . Courtremarked “ there are such cases of servicetribunal which should be registered in federalservice tribunal instead of court.

The rules and regulations of the govern-ment departments which have been enactedshould be implemented. A commissionshould be constituted in respect of other suchcases which pertain to CSD or other mattersso that these problems could be sorted out.The hearing of the case was adjourned tillFriday.—Online

ISLAMABAD—Cabinet division has issueddirectives to CDA to immediately start workon project of expansion of Kashmir high wayto GT road forthwith on top priority basis.

This project will not only ease traffic flowon the high way but will also provide ap-proach road for new airport. CDA sourcessaid consultant firm has worked out designand as per this design interchange will beconstructed on Golra More. 8 lanes in theproportion of 4 lanes on each side will bebuilt upto GT road till the distance of 2.5

Expansion of KashmirHighway to GT road

kilomater.The existing Kashmir highway is 10 lanes

but the space is not available for construc-tion of 10 lanes ahead Golra more.

Prequalification work of the construc-tion firms will be completed till next weekand then tenders will be invited.

The project is likely to be completedwithin estimated period of 4 months at thecost of Rs 1.10 billion. Finance ministry hasreleased funds under PSDP on this count.—Online

HSSCPart-I & II

supplementaryexams results

announcedI S L A M A B A D — F e d e r a lBoard of Intermediate andSecondary EducationTuesday declared the re-sult of the Higher Second-ary School Certificate Part-I and II Supplementary Ex-amination, 2014 held in No-vember-December.

A total of 27715candidates appeared in Part-Iand 15698 candidates in Part-II Examinations. Of them18684 passed the Part-I and7196 passed the Part-IIexaminations. The resultshave been made available onthe Board’s website atw w w . f b i s e . e d u . p k .

All result cards of regu-lar/ex/private candidateshave been sent on the ad-dresses given by them intheir admission forms.

The result cards of Ex/Prviate candidates belong-ing to Gilgit-Baltistan havebeen sent to sub officeGilgit while the result cardsof overseas candidates toHeads of Institutions fromwhere they appeared.—INP

I S L A M A B A D — S u p r e m eCourt (SC) has admitted forhearing appeal pleas filedby sugar mills ownersagainst Sindh High Court(SHC) decision in respect ofenhancement in the price ofsugar canes.

The SC has sought re-ply from Sindh government

Pakistan an agrarian countrybut land lying barren: SC

and others on the appealpleas till the second week ofFebruary. Justice MianSaqib Nisar has remarked “Providing relief to people in-cluding farming communityis responsibility of the gov-ernment as per law and con-stitution. No one includingfarmers should suffer loss.

Pakistan is an agrariancountry but the land is lyingbarren for want of properpolicy in agricultural matters.He gave these remarks whilepresiding over a 3-memberbench of SC during the courseof hearing of appeal pleas filedby sugar mills owners hereTuesday.—Online

Federal Secretary Information Muhammad Azam, Cultural Counsellor Embassy of China ZHANG Yingbao and DGPNCA Muhammad Naeem looking at paintings displayed at exhibition of Art Work “Fieldtrip Artistic Creation” byPakistani & Chinese artists.—PO photo by Sultan BashirCDA workers hold a demonstration against blasphemous French sketches, at Aabpara Chowk.—PO photo

SRINAGAR—In occupied Kashmir, seniorleader of Hurriyet Conference Jammu andKashmir, Shabbir Ahmed Shah, and otherHurriyet leaders have said that the unpar-alleled sacrifices offered by the Kashmirimartyrs for the Kashmir cause will not beallowed to go waste and their mission willbe accomplished at all costs. These lead-ers were paying glowing tributes to themartyrs of Gaw Kadal on the eve of theirmartyrdom anniversary.

More than 50 innocent people werekilled in Gaw Kadal area of Srinagar onJanuary 21 in 1990 when Indian forces hadresorted to indiscriminate firing on peace-ful demonstrators who were protestingagainst the molestation of several womenby troops, the previous night. ShabbirAhmed Shah in a statement in Srinagarappealed to UN Human Rights Council,Amnesty International and the

‘Kashmiri martyrs’sacrifices not to go waste’

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation totake steps to stop the gross human rightsviolations perpetrated by the troops in oc-cupied Kashmir and initiate inquiries intoall incidents of massacres to bring the per-petrators to justice.

Hurriyet leaders, Nayeem Ahmed Khanand Muhammad Yousuf Naqash address-ing meetings and Farida Bahenji and ShiekhMuhammad Yaqoob in their statements inSrinagar deplored that the troops involvedin the Gaw Kadal carnage were not broughtto justice despite the passage of twenty-fiveyears. Meanwhile, the International Forumfor Justice held a protest in Srinagar to de-mand justice for the victims of Gaw Kadaland other massacres carried out by Indiantroops in the territory.

A team of Peoples Political Frontled by Muhammad Musadiq Aadil vis-ited Saidapora area of Sopore and ex-

pressed solidarity with the family of ayouth, who was recently martyred bythe troops in the town. On the otherhand, a trooper of Indian Air Forcecommitted suicide by hanging himselfinside a barrack at new airport inSrinagar. This incident raised the num-ber of such deaths among Indian troopsand police personnel to 330 since Janu-ary 2007.

In London, a delegation of Kash-mir Concern consisting of ProfessorNazir Ahmed Shawl, Iftikhar Chaudhryand Sajid Yousaf met the Members ofBritish Parliament, Shabana Mahmoodand Khalid Mahmood and apprisedthem of the prevailing situation of oc-cupied Kashmir. The MPs raised con-cern over the human right abuses byIndian forces in the occupied terri-tory.—KMS

DR JAVID IQBAL

WITH state proclaiming Governor’s ruleas Omar Abdullah opted out, a grim reminder was served of state losing the

prerogative to account for constitutional exigen-cies like failure to work out a coalition in a frac-tured mandate without reference to Delhi. In 1965,a pliant JK political executive collaborated by en-acting sixth amendment of JK constitution, thuspaving the way for implanting federal constitu-tional measures in exigencies. The exigencies apartfrom failure to put in a political executive to runthe state machinery whatever the reason stand de-fined in Article 355 of the Indian constitution, ‘Itshall be the duty of the Union to protect every Stateagainst external aggression and internal distur-bance and to ensure that the government of everyState is carried on in accordance with the provi-sions of this Constitution’.

Pre-1965 JK head of the state—Sadar-i-Riyasat was supposed to be formally nominatedby President, after getting elected by JK legisla-tive body. He was free to operate in exigencies

Governor Rule: Another constitutional intrusionwithout reference to President of India. Sadar-i-Riyasat did act in 1953 by dismissing SheikhAbdullah led political executive of his own ac-cord without reference to President of India. Withsixth amendment, the powers of JK Head of Statewere mandated to presidential reference. Sadar-i-Riyasat changed garb to Governor, and JK PrimeMinister to Chief Minister This was an abject sur-render, widening the role of President of India, byimplication of the political executive of GOI, op-erating in the federal capital. The President in dis-charge of his constitutional functions stands ad-vised by Prime Minster led Indian Cabinet.

To widen the President’s role by implicationthat of GOI political executive, sixth amendmentof JK constitution was actualized on April, the 10th1965 by a pliant JK political executive aided andabetted by the state legislature put in place by ahighly questionable electoral process of unopposedreturns and ballot tampering. Sixth amendment re-defining Sadar-i-Riyasat and Prime Minister of JKState reads, ‘In the Constitution of Jammu andKashmir (herein after referred to as ‘the Constitu-tion’) except in Parts XII and Parts XIII for the

expressions “Governor” and “Chief Minister” shallrespectively be substituted’. Parts XII and XIIIrelate to ‘AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITU-TION’ and ‘TRANSITIONAL PROVISIONS’.

Sixth amendment relates to section 2 sub-sec-tion (2) on ‘Definitions’ entailed in JK Constitu-tions, it reads, ‘Any reference in this Constitutionto the Sadar-i-Riyasat shall, unless the context oth-erwise requires, be constructed as reference to theGovernor’. It also relates to section 27, theamended version on appointment of the Governorreads, ‘The Governor shall be appointed by thePresident by warrant under his hand and seal’whereas before the amendment, JK Head ofState—Sadar-i-Riyasat was an elected office, asper Section (27) hence by implication primarilyowing allegiance to constitution of JK State.

AG Noorani opines that sixth amendment wasenacted in violation of Section 147 of JK consti-tution [A Constitutional History of Jammu andKashmir-pub: Oxford University Press, 2011,page: 14]. Noorani says, “Section 147 makes it-self immune to amendment” he adds, “It referredto Sadar-i-Riyasat and required his consent to con-

stitutional amendments”. Section 147 relates toPart XII of JK Constitution. This Section impliesa majority of not less than two thirds of total mem-bership of Legislative Assembly for affecting con-stitutional amendment as well as assent of Sadar-i-Riyasat. Section 147 further notes, ‘Providedfurther that no Bill or amendment seeking to makeany change in: (a) this section; or (b) the provi-sions of sections 3 and 5; or

(c) the provisions of the Constitution of Indiaas applicable in relation to the State; shall be in-troduced in either House of the Legislature

It is for constitutional experts to opine whetherchanging the nomenclature of Sadar-i-Riyasat toGovernor as well as change in provision of his electedstatus as per (section 27) affected a change in Sec-tion 147 (a). Noorani stresses on electability of Sadar-i-Riyasat being a norm in Section 147. Section (3)defines the ‘Relationship of the State with the Unionof India’ and Section (5) defines, ‘Extent of Execu-tive and Legislative Power of the state.

There is semblance of saving grace. As perthe section (92) of JK Constitution, while the ref-erence to President is mandatory in cases of break-

down of normal governance mechanism by electedpolitical executive, the rule thus instituted is called‘Governor’s Rule’ the stipulated period being sixmonths in contrast to Indian States, where Presi-dential takeover is stipulated at the very outset,though ‘Governor’ exercises the authority in thename of ‘President’. ‘President’s Rule’ whichcould be norm following the stipulated six monthsin JK brings into play Article 356 and 357 of In-dian constitution, as is the norm in Indian states.Sixth amendment paved the way for it. As perarticle 356, ‘President assumes all powers exer-cisable by Governor or anybody or authority inthe State other than the Legislature of the State’and, ‘declares that the power of the Legislature ofthe State shall be exercised by or under the au-thority of Parliament’. Article 357 is meant tooperationalize article 356.

‘Ek Pahloo Yeh Bi Hai Kashmir Ki TasveerKa’ so said Hafiz Jalandhari decades back, Kash-mir tale has so many shades, constitutional intru-sions time and again is one such shade.—Courtesy: Greater Kashmir .iqbal. javid 46@ gmail.com

COMMENTS:

WHY is the Peoples Democratic Partyreluctant to form the government inJammu and Kashmir despite the fact

that all other parties and the unattached newlyelected Legislative members extended their sup-port to it, weeks back? Barring the BJP, otherparties and the unattached members even af-firmed that their support would be unconditional.National Conference confirmed its support inwriting and clarified that it will not share power.Congress too didn’t put any hard conditions,while the unattached members asked it only toopt for a secular alliance. Despite this positiveand conducive situation, why does PDP sufferfrom Hamlet Syndrome- “to [do] or not to [do]that is the question?”

PDP can’t enter into alliance with the NCbecause it was created to share the grazingground of Kashmir’s oldest political party. In-dian establishment wanted to weaken the NCso that it would not be in a position to arm-twistNew Delhi as it had been doing since 1947.Moreover, the NC symbolized this distinctKashmiri identity and projected itself as the soleprotector of Kashmiri ethos, its age old culture,syncretic religious traditions and demographiccharacter. It also gave the impression that J&Kis ‘semi-independent’ and the wall between thestate and the rest of India is being maintainedby it alone. Since Mufti Mohammad Syeed, whoalong with Ghulam Mohammad Bakhshi,Ghulam Mohammad Sadeq, Mir Qasim and oth-ers actually cooperated with the centre in erod-ing the special status of the J&K, is more loyaland trustworthy in the eyes of the Indian state;it motivated, groomed and projected him as analternative to National Conference. New Delhieven allowed him to use the clichés of “self rule”,“joint legislature”, and “common currency”.

Kashmir govt formation:What ails the PDP

This definitely weakened the National Confer-ence and diluted the demand for the restorationof autonomy.

If Mufti joins hands with the National Con-ference, he will have no ground of his own tostand on. Since both harp on greater autonomy,PDP will have no political program whatsoever.Moreover, presently it is flourishing on anti-NCrhetoric. Once it accepts the support of the na-tional conference it will have to remain tightlipped. It will also drag more than a year blam-ing the NC for misrule, underdevelopment andall the ills faced by the state. This is why PDPcan’t accept the support of the NC.

As far as BJP is concerned, PDP is morethan willing to ally with it because it feels NewDelhi will advance unlimited funds and Muftican deliver better if the centre is cooperative andgenerous. The problem with BJP is that Muftilike BJP has won by exploiting religious andregional sentiments of the voters. Can he ac-commodate BJP’s agenda of abolishing Article370, giving state Subject Rights to west Paki-stan refugees, reserving 8 seats for the Pakistan-administered Kashmir migrants and maintain-ing the AFSPA as it is? The answer is, he can’t,because people in Kashmir will be antagonistand various fractions of Hurriyat includingJamat-e-Islami who tacitly supported Mufti,have openly criticized him and expressed theirresentment.

The only safe alternative for Mufti is to formthe government with the support of Congress,his original party and real mentor, the unattachedfive and Sajjad Lone’s two members who aresimply eager to join him. The resentment inJammu can be dealt with by electing half a dozenMLC’s and nominating two women MLA’s fromthat region. They can be included in the cabinetand the promised “good governance” can takecare of the rest.—KD

SRINAGAR—Former Jammu and KashmirChief Minister and National Conference work-ing president Omar Abdullah Monday said thePeoples Democratic could not form the Gov-ernment till January 19 and they should beblamed for imposition of Governor’s rule in thestate. Omar had earlier said he would publiclyacknowledge that his stepping down (as the care-taker chief minister) was wrong if PDP formedthe Government till January 19.

“So the canard spread by @jkpdp that I’mresponsible for imposition of governor’s rule isdispelled today. Here on in it’s their fault alone,”Omar tweeted this evening. Soon after resign-ing as the caretaker Chief Minister, he accusedthe Peoples Democratic Party of “dallying over”the government formation.

He had defended his decision of resigningafter the PDP termed it a hasty step. “Lastly, if

Omar blames PDP forGovernor rule

@jkpdp have a govt in place before the 19th ofJan I’ll publicly acknowledge that they wereright and I was wrong. Let’s see now,” Omartweeted soon after his resignation.

Last month, a fractured verdict in the Jammuand Kashmir assembly elections left no partywith a clear majority. The highest number ofseats was won by the PDP, but the party with 28seats fell short of the 44 number required to formthe government. Omar asked Kashmiri Panditsthat if BJP is carrying out a ‘ghar wapsi’, theytoo should focus on it. “25 years is a lifetime. Ifthere is a ghar wapasi the BJP & the rest of usshould really be focusing on it is this one,” hetweeted.“So the same people who yesterday asked me ifI would tweet about #KashmiriPandits are to-day accusing me of tokenism. You guys are con-fused,” he said in another tweet.—GK

SRINAGAR—International Forum for JusticeChairman Muhammad Ahsan Untoo Tuesdaystaged a protest against ‘multiple massacres’allegedly committed by Government Forcesparticularly BSF in Kashmir Valley. Untoowrapped a long and wide banner around his bodythat depicted the dates of Gawkadal, Handwara,Kupwara and Sopore massacres. Themulticolour banner draped by Untoo attractedthe attention of scores of people includingmediamen. Untoo marched from Abi Guzar to-wards Press Enclave.

Talking to CNS, Untoo said that Govern-ment Forces involved in so many massacres areroaming free and no accused has been broughtto book so far. “I had lodged a complaint againstCRPF personnel involved in 1990 Gawkadalmassacre in State Human Rights Commissionin 2012 and till date nothing positive have come

HR activist protests‘multiple massacres’

out despite the fact that inquiry was conductedby IGP State Human Rights Commission,”Untoo said. “ I have filed all but 153 petitionsagainst BSF and other security agencies involvedin different massacres and killing incidents. TheSecurity Agencies approached High Court andbarred SHRC to conduct fair and impartial probeinto these massacres,” Untoo said.He said there are so many administrative offi-cials who are still alive and it is the right andduty of the State to question them about theGowkadal massacre.

“Then Governor Jagmohan does not occupyany post now and same is the case with otherwitnesses who occupied important posts inKashmir at the time of massacres. They mustbe questioned and their statements should be re-corded so that justice could be delivered with-out any delay now,” he said.—KW

HYDERPORA, IHK—Syed Ali Geelani, thehead of resistance amalgamate All PartiesHurriyat Conference, Tuesday accused India’sNational Investigating Agency of running an‘extortion racket’ and torturing a Kashmir pris-oner and forcefully obtaining his signature onthe charge-sheet.

The prisoner, Mushtaq Ahmad Lone, who islodged in Tihar jail in New Delhi, was arrested fromhis home in south Kashmir’s Bijbihara in June lastyear by the NIA on charges of helping the HizbulMujahideen militant group with money he receivedfrom his handlers in Pakistan.

His relatives said after the six months of thearrest, the NIA took his remand from Tihar jail forfew days. “During this process he was brought toSrinagar where he was subjected to the third degreetorture and was forced to sign his charge-sheet inwhich a long list of false and baseless allegationswas prepared,” they said.

The octogenarian leader said ‘NIA, the inves-tigation agency of India, has been constituted toimplicate the Indian Muslim particularly theKashmiri youths in the fabricated and false casesand detaining them in jails on false allegation foryears together and this institution has also becomean important source for extortion.”

NIA running extortionracket: Geelani

In a press statement from New Delhi,Geelani, while raising questions over the roleof NIA, said: “NIA has set up an illegal net-work in Jammu and Kashmir and for this pur-pose the state constitution and institutions havenot been consulted.” “Jammu and Kashmir hasits own constitution and laws and according toit no investigation institution from India is au-thorized to directly question any citizen of thestate and in this regard the Ranbir Penal Code(RPC) can’t be ignored in any way.”Geelani said that without taking into accountthe state constitution, the NIA is not only oper-ating in Jammu and Kashmir, but it has becomea ‘big source for extorting money from thepeople’. “This institution has obtained phonenumbers of many well-off persons and at firstthey are threatened over phone to implicate themin the Hawala money cases and then they aredemanded to pay ransom to let them off.” Lone’sfamily said he was a shopkeeper by profession.“If there were allegations against him then thestate police should have itself investigated intothe matter and a case should have been regis-tered under the state constitution.” Geelani alsoaccused the local police for helping the NIA infabricating innocent Kashmir people.—KD

No reason toban Jamaat-ud-Dawa:Minister

NEW DELHI—Pakistan’sMinister for Defence Produc-tion Rana Tanveer Hussain hassaid that there was no reasonto ban the Jamaat-ud-Dawa(JuD), since it is not a terroristorganization but rather a chari-table one, the Hindustan Timesreported Tuesday.

The announcement comesjust four days after Pakistandecided to ban JuD, theHaqqani Network, and 10 moreorganizations. India and the UShave long considered the char-ity run by Hafiz Saeed, as afront for the Lashkar-e-Taiba(LeT) militant outfit, which hasbeen accused by New Delhi formasterminding the 2008 terror-ist attacks in Mumbai

“The government of Paki-stan has no evidence againstHafiz Saeed or the JuD,”Hussain was quoting as sayingby the paper, adding that Saeedhas the right to address rallies.“India or the US should giveus evidence and we will con-sider it. The JuD does not havea military wing and they areonly involved in preaching Is-lam and working in the educa-tion field.”

“Lashkar is banned in Pa-kistan and we have not foundany linkages between JuD andLeT,” the minister said.Hussain said Saeed, who has aUS bounty worth $10 millionon him, was “not involved inany terrorist activity.”—KW

Jagmohanforced Panditsto leave IOK:

Digvijay SinghSRINAGAR—Senior Congressleader and former Chief Min-ister of Madhya Pradesh,Digvijay Singh, has revealedthat the then Governor of oc-cupied Kashmir, JagmohanMalhotra, had forced theKashmiri Pandits to leave theKashmir Valley in 1990.

“Kashmiri Pandits wereunnecessarily forced to leavethe Valley by Jagmohan. Hin-dus and Muslims lived togetherfor Centuries in Kashmir,”Singh wrote on microbloggingsite Twitter. He further said thatit was sad they (KashmiriPandits) had not been settled bysuccessive governments.

It is not the first time thata senior congress leader hasheld Jagmohan responsiblefor the migrat ion ofKashmiri Pandits from theValley. Senior Congressleader, Mani Shankar Aiyar,in his book titled, ‘Confes-sions of a Secular Funda-mentalist’ has written in de-tails how Jagmohan gave asafe passage to the KashmiriPandits to Jammu before un-leashing terror in the Valley.

A day after KashmiriPandits migrated to Jammu, thetroops of Indian Centra Re-serve Police Force fired uponpeaceful protesters in GawKadal area of Srinagar on Janu-ary 21, 1990.—KMS

A delegation of PML-N (Gilgit-Baltistan) led by Marvi Memon meeting with Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan, Ch MuhammadBarjees Tahir in Islamabad.

MUZAFFARABAD: Senior Minister Ch. Muhammad Yasin , Housing Minister Ch. Pervaz Ashraf and Auqaf MinisterCh. Afsar Shahid are discussing some point on Tuesday here.

In business, wordsare words; expla-nations are expla-nations, promisesare promises, butonly performance

is reality.

—Harold S. Geneen

Framework Memorandum for Stategic Cooperation among Beijing Zhubang Commercial Centre, Beijing Interna-tional Economic, Trade Development Association and Punjab Board of Investment & Trade being signed. Ms. LubnaPathan, Director General signed the Memorandum from Punjab Board of Investment & Trade in Beijing.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar chairing abriefing session on privatisation.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Consul General of Turkey in Karachi,Murat M. Onart has stressed the need to furtherstrengthen trade relations between Pakistan andTurkey as the existing trade volume between doesnot depict the true trade potential. Speaking at ameeting during his visit to the Karachi Chamber ofCommerce and Industry, Turkish CG said that Pa-kistan and Turkey have been enjoying strong po-litical, economic and cultural relationships. Bothcountries have been supporting each other in dif-ficult times and Turkey was the only country toannounce one-day mourning over PeshawarSchool incident which clearly highlights the closeand solid ties between the two countries, he added.

Commercial Attaché of Turkish Consulate inKarachi, Murat Mustu, Country Manager TurkishAirlines, Fatih Atacan TEMEL, Chairman Busi-nessmen Group and Former President KCCI, SirajKassam Teli, Vice Chairman BMG, Anjum Nisar,President KCCI Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, Senior VicePresident KCCI, Muhammad Ibrahim Kasumbi,Vice President KCCI Agha Shahab Ahmed Khanand KCCI Managing Committee members werepresent at the meeting. Responding to a sugges-tion regarding formation of a committee to improvetrade, Murat Onart said that an informal commit-

Ample scope for increasing Pak-Turky bilateral trade: CGtee can certainly be formed to seek ways and meansof how to enhance the existing trade volume be-tween Pakistan and Turkey.

Commercial Attaché of Turkish Consulate inKarachi, Murat Mustu said that a delegation fromTurkish Jewelry Association was keen to partici-pate in KCCI’s My Karachi-Oasis of Harmony Ex-hibition to showcase and sell the finest Turkishjewelry. However, in order to make it more attrac-tive for Turkish businessmen, he asked the KarachiChamber to convince the concerned authority inPakistan to give specialdiscounts on duties toTurkish exhibitors whoare intending to participate in this event. Speak-ing on the occasion, Chairman Businessmen Groupand Former President KCCI, Siraj Kassam Telipointed out that political, cultural and trade rela-tions between Pakistan and Turkey have improvedsignificantly during the past 5 to 7 years as thepeople of both countries have lots of respect andcloseness for each other.

He said that many airlines avoid flying to Paki-stan due to security or any other concern but itwas heartening to note that Turkish Airlines con-tinues to expand its operations in Pakistan. SirajTeli was of the view that Turkish Airlines has beenproviding quality services and the business com-

munity was fully satisfied with its facilities. How-ever, he advised the Airline to compare its ser-vices, including tariffs and baggage facilities, withits peer airlines operating in this region and ac-cordingly offer travelling facilities with a view toattract maximum number of Pakistani passengers.

BMG Chairman further mentioned that KarachiChamber only represents the genuine businesscommunity of Karachi and they have been vo-cally raising voice from KCCI’s platform. “What-ever we say, is heard by the decision makers”,Siraj Teli said, adding that Karachi Chamber hasalways emphasized the need to make collectiveefforts but unfortunately, many businessmen andindustrialists pursue individualistic approach,which was not productive at all.

Stressing the need to create linkages betweenthe right people from both countries, Siraj Telinoted that many Business Councils and Forumshave been established in both countries but theyall were futile as business was not coming out.Such Forums and Business Councils never paveway for enhanced trade and there was a need tosegregate these paper-based forums/ businesscouncils. “We must identify potential sectors andcreate strong linkages between the right people,businessmen and registered trade associations”,he added.

Vice Chairman BMG, Anjum Nisar, on the oc-casion, suggested to form a committee compris-ing KCCI representatives and staff of TurkishConsulate in order to take the existing trade be-tween the two countries to the next level. Hewas of the view that joint ventures in the en-ergy, education, textile, marble and agriculturesectors along with technology transfer wouldnot only help in creating job opportunities butcan also bring quantum leap in the trade rela-tions between the two countries. PresidentKCCI, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra said that TurkishConsulate in Karachi and Karachi Chamber havealways had a very meaningful relationship basedon longstanding and deep rooted bilateral trade.

In order to further amplify trade between thetwo countries, Iftikhar Vohra underscored the needto explore investment opportunities in Pakistan,exchange more trade delegations, individual vis-its of businessmen and officials, holding of singlecountry exhibitions to each other’s country, com-bined with joint ventures and better travelling fa-cilities, which would lead to rapid expansion inbilateral trade. He also invited Turkish companiesto participate in Karachi Chamber’s forthcomingMega Event, 12th My Karachi - Oasis of Harmonywhich is scheduled to be staged at the KarachiExpo Center on April 10th, 11th & 12th, 2015.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The world’s largest inspection,verification, testing and certification com-pany SGS has acquired BizTrax ERP, theCloud-based software for Logistics andsupply chain by EfroTech. The ManagingDirector SGS Pakistan, Farukh Mazhar hassigned an agreement with the EfroTechChairman, Feroz Abdullah in a graceful cer-emony held at SGS premises on Tuesday.Speaking on the occasion Feroz Abdullahsaid that it was a great honour for EfroTechthat world’s leading multinational companyfrom Switzerland has acquired businesssoftware from a Pakistani IT company.

He said that EfroTech has already pro-vided the similar business solution to over76 companies. Farukh Mazhar while prais-

ing the BizTrax software said that it was areal honour for Pakistan that a local com-pany has developed world-class businesssoftware. CEO EfroTech, Nadir Feroz whileaddressing the gathering said that BizTraxhas been developed for complete businesssolution which includes sales, inventory,buyer, financials, production, costing, qual-ity and retail. He said that it also includes apowerful and easy to use online reportingand business intelligence tool that facilitatesusers in creating, customizing, scheduling,and publishing dynamic reports through abrowser-based interface. He informed thatadministrators and even ‘non-techie’ userscan setup and format reports on run-timewith the help of robust reporting wizard. Hesaid that BizTRax is also a P@SHA ICT awardwinner.

Swiss multination acquires BizTRaxsoftware developed by Pakistan

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Mr. Zafar ul Haq Hijazi, Chair-man The Securities and Exchange Commis-sion of Pakistan (SECP) has formed a com-mittee headed by Mr. Muhammad HanifJakhura, CEO-CDC which would be com-prise of representatives of the stock ex-changes, and asset management companiesto develop a pilot project for setting up‘Capital Market Hubs’ in small cities of Pa-kistan to attract savings for investments incapital market. SECP Chairman took thisdecision during his visit to CDC Head Of-fice. Mr. Hijazi was accompanied by Mr.Zafar Abdullah, Commissioner – SecuritiesMarket Division-SECP and Mr. ImranPanjwani – Executive Director, SecuritiesMarket Division-SECP.

More cities to have capitalmarket hubs in PakistanSECP forms committee for the task

The SECP Chairman appreciated the initia-tives of CDC and stressed on making effortsfor creating investors’ awareness and increas-ing the number of investors among the vari-ous facets of the society, including doctors,lawyers, accountants, small business-ownersand students. The delegation was welcomedby Mr. Muhammad Hanif Jakhura, CEO – CDC,Chairman and members of CDC Board alongwith senior management team.

The Chairman SECP was briefed aboutvarious initiatives taken by CDC with re-spect to investors’ protection and capitalmarket development. Furthermore, thestate-of-the-art IT infrastructure and CDC’sefforts in effectively implementing an In-formation Security Management Systemwere also discussed and appreciated bySECP delegation.

Picture on Page 14

ISE-10 Index witnessesbullish trendISLAMABAD—Islamabad-Islamabad StockExchange witnessedbullish trend here onTuesday as the ISE-10index was up by 18.62points and closed at4004.33 points. A total of822,400 shares weretraded, which were up by545,800 shares whencompared with previousday’s trading of 276,600shares. Out of 164companies, share pricesof 81 companies re-corded increase whileshare prices of 83companies registereddecrease whereas nocompany remainedstable in today’s trading.Indus Motors remainedthe top gainer with Rs.44.33 per share, whileFazal Textile was toploser with Rs. 29.9 pershares in today’strading. Lottee Chemi-cals, PIA and HondaAtlas Car remained themarket leaders with500,000, 320,000 and 1500shares respectively.—APP

Dar for deliberationson divestmentMian ArshadISLAMABAD—FinanceMinister Ishaq Dar,Tuesday, said that thedivestment should becarried out in a transpar-ent manner with comple-tion of due process. Hedirected the PC toreconvene in a few daysfor further deliberationson divestment of Discosand HBL Speaking at abriefing session by thePrivatization Commission(PC) which outlined thefuture programme ofprivatization of key publicentities, Dar directed thePC to reconvene in a fewdays for further delibera-tions on divestment ofDiscos and HBL. Chair-man PrivatizationCommission, MohammadZubair informed theMinister that in theimmediate future,Privatization Commissionwould focus on divest-ment of GoP shares inHBL and Discos besidessome other SoEs.

Shipping activityat Port QasimKARACHI—Three ships,C.V Safmarine Ngami, C.VMSC Maureen and M.TLiberty-N carryingcontainers and LPG werearranged berthing atQasim InternationalContainer Terminal andEngro Vopak Terminalrespectively at PortQasim (PQ) on Monday,18th January. Meanwhileanother containers shipAl-Farahidi also arrivedat outer anchorage of PQduring last 24 hours.Berth occupancyremained at the Port atsixty four percent onMonday, where ten shipsnamely, C.V SafmarineNgami, C.V MSCMaureen, C.V XpressKailash, C.V K Phoenix,M.V Ikan Kailash, M.VVenus Triumph, M.VSino-6, M.T BungaAngsana, M.T Liberty-Nand M.T Boronia wereoccupied PQA berths toload/ offload Containers,Cement, Steel coil, ProjectCargo, Fertilizer, Palm oil,LPG and Diesel oilrespectively during last24 hours. Cargo volumeduring last 24 hourshandled at 105,373tonnes, comprises 65,271tonnes imports.—APP

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—HBL, Pakistan’s largest com-mercial bank, signed agreements withMasterCard and Monet for the rollout ofthe first Mobile Point-of-Sale (mPOS) ser-vice in the country. The signing ceremonywas held at HBL’s head office in Karachibetween Mr. Faiq Sadiq (Head - PaymentServices, HBL), Mr. Aurangzaib Khan(Country Manager – Pakistan & Afghani-stan, MasterCard) and Mr. Ali AbbasSikander (Chief Executive Officer, Monet).

The mPOS solution that HBL is launch-ing will enable micro and small merchantsto acceptcredit, debit and prepaid cardsaspayment, and can also integrate with thecomplex back end systems of larger retail-ers to provide a robust mobile POS solu-tion. The mPOS technology “Swipe2Pay”,powered by Monet, is an innovative andlow-cost solution, which will help facilitatefast and secure card payments and drivecard acceptance across the country.

Speaking at the occasion, Mr. Faiq Sadiqsaid, “HBL is proud to be the first bank inPakistan to rollout the mPOS technology

HBL signs deal with MasterCard &Monet to launch mPOS service

which will cater both to the consumer andmerchant’s need for a faster, more conve-nient and cost effective way to pay and bepaid. It will also enable payment automationin merchant segments which is not effec-tively covered by conventional POS today.”

Mr. Aurangzaib Khan, Country Man-ager- Pakistan & Afghanistan, MasterCardcommented: “With innovation at the heartof everything we do, it is truly exciting tobe a part of the rollout of the first ever mPOSservice in Pakistan. This solution will en-able all types of retailers, large and small, totake advantage of the world’s fastest pay-ment processing network in-store, off-pre-mises, or on the move. Mobile devices arefast becoming the preferred platform to con-duct payments as they offer a fast, conve-nient, and secure payment option for mer-chants and consumers alike.”

“Monet has worked in collaborationwith HBL on this innovation and this intel-ligent mobile POS is able to complete anytype of transaction from Credit / Debit cardsto real time bill payments and ATM cashwithdrawals / deposits.” said Ali AbbasSikander, CEO at Monet.

KARACHI—Pakistan State Oil (PSO) hassuccessfully managed to overcome the fuelshortage in some parts of the Punjab. A PSOstatement here on Tuesday said that in or-der to do so, the company increased itsimport of white oil products (petrol) andenhanced supplies from local refineries. Onevessel carrying 50,000 MTs of petrol arrivedhere on January 16 and the bulk of it wasdispatched to Punjab to recoupe the short-age in the region.

Two other oil tankers carrying 50,000MTs each of petrol are expected to arriveon January 25 and 29 respectively. Anotherfour vessels of 50,000 MTs each are ex-

PSO subdues fuel shortage in Punjabpected in February, it said. PSO has alsopurchased an additional 10,000 MTs ofpetrol from the vessel imported by ShellPakistan which arrived here on Tuesday.The arrival of these vessels will help buildthe company’s petrol stocks and ensurenormalization of supplies nationwide.

With a share of approximately 46% ofthe total MOGAS market, PSO is living up toits commitment to fulfill the needs of its cus-tomers. It is pertinent to mention here thatthe other 13 oil marketing companies operat-ing in Pakistan holding 54% of the marketalso need to play their role in meeting marketdemands, the PSO statement added.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said thatgovernment has decided to set up an LNGPower Park in the province which will pro-duce one thousand megawatts electricity.He said that the project will be completedspeedily and transparently.

He was presiding over a high level meet-ing here today which reviewed the projectof production of one thousand megawattselectricity from LNG and Taunsa HydroPower Project. Additional Chief SecretaryEnergy, Chairman Punjab Power Develop-ment Company Arif Saeed, Managing Di-rector NESPAK and concerned officerswere present. The Chief Minister said thatelimination of energy crisis is top priority

LNG power park to be set upin Punjab for 1MW power

generation: Shahbazof the government and all out resourcesare being spent for this purpose.

He directed concerned authorities tocomplete feasibility report of the project ofgeneration of electricity from LNG at the ear-liest and said that the concerned institutionsshould work with the best coordination forspeedy implementation of the project. Dur-ing the briefing on Taunsa Hydro PowerProject, Shahbaz Sharif directed concernedofficers to take all necessary steps relatingto early completion of the project. He directedNESPAK to take speedy measures with thecooperation of concerned institutions anddepartments in this regard. He directed thatthe survey and other matters be completedwithin the stipulated period. MD NESPAKgave a briefing on LNG Power Park andTaunsa Hydro Power Project.

CNG daily salediminishesfuel crisis

KARACHI—All PakistanCNG Association(APCNGA) on Tuesdaylauded the decision of ChiefMinister Punjab ShahbazSharif and Petroleum Min-ister Shahid Khaqan Abbasifor reopening of Com-pressed Natural Gas (CNG)stations in the province thathelped subside petrol crisis.The decision helped CNGoutlets sell fuel equallinghalf a million litres of petrolper day mitigating problemsof masses, bailing out thetransport sector and bring-ing life to normal in the pro-vincial metropolis, saidGhiyas Abdullah Paracha,leader of the APCNGA.

In a statement issuedhere on Tuesday, he said thatthe crisis would be resolvedwithin two days as masseswould not worry about scar-city of petrol in presence ofCNG. He said that people ofPunjab have been badly hitby the petrol crisis thereforethe government shouldsympathetically considergiving relief to the people ofother places to order reopen-ing of CNG stations acrossPunjab. Ghiyas Paracha saidthat opening up CNG fillingstations across Punjabwould provide relief tomasses, reduce oil import bill,lessen pressure on forex re-serves and provide employ-ment to millions.

The money needed forimport of petrol can be savedfor welfare projects by open-ing CNG stations as naturalgas is a local commodity, hesaid, adding that CNG busi-ness is always done on cashtherefore there is no chanceof any problem. He said thatexperience of Lahore hasproved beyond any doubtthat CNG is critical part of thefuel system and daily lifewhich reduces dependenceon imported fossil fuel and itis immune from volatility ofinternational markets.—APP

PakWheelsholds auto show

in MultanSTAFF REPORTER

K A R A C H I — T h ePakWheels.com, Pakistan’sNo. 1 automobile websiteplans to host an Auto Showin Multan during February2015. The show will be thefirst of its kind to be hostedin the City of Saints. In therecent years, Auto Showshave become an integral partof the community-basedwebsite and this year, thePakWheels Auto Show willbe visiting Multan due topopular demand from thelocal automotive commu-nity there.

The show will feature alarge number of vehicles,including vintage cars, 4x4s,exotic cars, sports cars andbikes for auto enthusiastsalong with a host of differ-ent entertaining and interac-tive activities throughoutthe day for the whole familyin general. Commenting onthe forthcoming show, Mr.Raza Saeed, Co-Founder &CEO, PakWheels, said:“PakWheels has alwaysbeen at the forefront of pro-viding car enthusiasts a plat-form to share their passionand display their treasuredautomobiles. We are com-mitted to bringing autoshows to all cities aroundthe nation and will continueto do so.”

PakWheels has beenorganizing exuberant autoshows since 2011. Theystarted by holding the firstshow in Lahore and pro-gressed to hosting suc-cessful shows in all majorcities of the country, whereattendance has been re-corded in multiples of thou-sands. It is this amazingsuccess that has encour-aged PakWheels to bringthe Auto Show to Multan.

NO justificationof imposing

GIDCSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Chairman Pa-kistan Tanners Associa-tion (S.Z), Hamid A Zahoorhas lauded theparliament’s gesture todefer decision of extend-ing Ordinance for contin-ued recovery of Gas Infra-structure DevelopmentCess (GIDC) which he saidwas not justified sincethere is no work on Pak-Iran-Turkmenistan andAfghanis tan–Pakis tan-India gas pipelineprojects.

He said that the gov-ernment is imposing un-justified GIDC out of wayto meet budget deficitwhereas it has already in-creased 5% tax on petro-leum products. He re-quested the members ofthe parliament to declareit null and void in its nextsession as it alreadytermed illegal by the re-spectable High Courtsand Supreme Court of Pa-kistan.

He said that GIDC is in-creasing cost of doing busi-ness; the production costis being pushed up. “It isadversely affecting the ex-porting industry like leathersince it will make it difficultfor leather industry to com-pete with their competitorsin global markets. He em-phasized that the billions ofrupees that have been col-lected against GIDC.

Currency Selling Buying

Daily opening& closing ratesPMEX Index 2,616Total Volume (Lots): 6,783Traded Value (Rs): 1,061,410,377

Commodity ------------------- Price Quotation --------------- Open ----------- CloseCRUDE OIL ------------------ $ Per Barrel ---------------------- 48.44 ----------- 47.48SILVER ------------------------ $ Per Ounce --------------------- 17.745 ---------- 17.680GOLD -------------------------- $ Per Ounce --------------------- 1,276.2 --------- 1,276.6GOLD -------------------------- Rs Per 10 gms ------------------ 41,657 ---------- 41,650MTOLAGOLD -------------- Rs Per Tola ---------------------- 48,989 ---------- 50,008GOLD -------------------------- Rs Per Tola ---------------------- 48,989 ---------- 50,008RICEIRRI6 -------------------- Rs Per 100 kg ------------------- 3,025 ----------- 3,022PALMOLEIN ---------------- Rs Per Maund ------------------ 3,745 ----------- 3,662SUGAR ------------------------ Rs Per kg ------------------------ 45.15 ----------- 44.38ICOTTON -------------------- US Cents per pound ---------- 59.65 ----------- 59.25WHEAT ----------------------- Rs Per 100 kg ------------------- 3,404 ----------- 3,402

The total value traded was PKR 1.061 billion and number of lots traded was 6,783.PMEX Commodity Index closed at 2,616. Major business was contributed by crudeoil amounting to PKR 768 million followed by gold (PKR 249 million) and silver(PKR 44 million).

USA 100.60 100.40

UK 151.60 151.30

Euro 116.48 116.25

Canada 84.00 83.83

Switzerland 114.28 114.05

Australia 82.19 82.03

Sweden 12.35 12.33

Japan 0.8511 0.8494

Norway 13.16 13.13

Singapore 75.14 74.99

Denmark 15.67 15.64

Saudi Arabia 26.79 26.74

Hong Kong 12.98 12.95

Kuwait 341.77 341.09

Malaysia 27.96 27.90

Newzealand 77.69 77.53

Qatar 27.63 27.57

UAE 27.39 27.33

Kr Won 0.0927 0.0925

Thailand 3.076 3.069

KARACHI: President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Iftikhar AhmedVohra presenting KCCI’s crest to Consul General of the Republic of Turkey in Karachi,Murat M. Onart during his visit to Chamber House.

Muzammil Hussain Sabri, President Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industrypresenting shield to RO Kyong Chol, Ambassador of Democratic Republic of Koreaduring his visit to ICCI.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Lahore Stock Exchange(LSE)-25 Index closed at a record high onTuesday, with analysts crediting falling in-flation and commodity prices as well as aneasing of political tensions. The benchmarkLSE index of 25 shares closed at 6,618.01points, up 2.80 points. The previous peakof 5895.55 points came in June 11, 2014 andLSE’s historical lowest was 1300.94. Nowthe investors’ focus has shifted towardseconomic matters from the political affairsof the country, said Aftab Ahmed Chaudhrythe chief executive officer of The LahoreStock Exchange.

On the economic front official datashowed that inflation had plunged to low,raising investor’s hopes that the centralbank might slash the basic interest ratein its next review. “The inflation (rate) hascome down to 3.96 per cent in y/y, so in-vestors look forward to correspondingcut in interest rates. In line with the inter-national fall in commodity prices, espe-

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Major goal of policy makers in developingcountries is to develop innovative ways to encourage fi-nancial inclusion of the rural poor. Enabling poor farmersto diversify into high value cash crops is one of the bestways to achieve this goal, but farmers lack collateral. Thiswas stated by Mr. Dilip Mookherjee, Professor of Eco-nomics, Boston University, U.S.A. at Zahid Hussain Me-morial Lecture organized by the State Bank of Pakistan atIslamabad.

The lecture was attended by high level governmentofficials, federal ministers besides faculty members of vari-ous universities and bankers. In his lecture, Prof.Mookherjee expounded a new approach towards financ-ing of smallholder agriculture in developing countries Mr.Mookherjee added that existing microfinance products playonly a limited role in financing cultivation by poor farmers.“Indeed, most microfinance include high frequency repay-ment, loan officials actively discourage risk taking, andgroup-members that share loan repayment liability exertpeer pressure,” he said adding, ”Interest rates charged bymost microfinance institutions often exceed interest ratescharged by informal lenders, which in turn are too high toallow poor farmers to profitably grow cash crops.”

In this context, he particularly emphasized the role of‘Trader Agent Intermediated Lending (TRAIL)’ approachfor financing the agriculture sector. Prof. Mookherjee sharedthat TRAIL approach yielded better results as compared toGroup-Based Lending in terms of loan take-off preferences,timely repayment, impact on production and profit of thesmall farmers. In light of his experience, Prof. Mookherjeesuggested that “TRAIL is thus an innovative financial prod-

Economic policy makers needto focus on innovative ways

uct with potentially large development impacts, at lowercosts for the lender”. He recommended this approach as aviable (business) model of financial inclusion that can helppolicy makers and practitioner to expand food productionand manage poverty in developing countries. In this con-text, he highlighted the pilot TRAIL run by the State Bankof Pakistan and called for collaboration.

Earlier, while introducing the Guest Speaker, GovernorSate Bank of Pakistan, Mr. Ashraf Wathra, said that Prof.Mookherjee is an academic par excellence, having devotedhis life to understanding the problems that surround de-veloping economies. He recounted numerous achieve-ments of Prof. Mookherjee and admired the relevance ofhis research in the context of developing economies. Gov-ernor SBP reiterated the role of agriculture sector and itscontribution to national economy. He discussed the hurdlesto an efficient agriculture financing and the weakness ofthe system, especially the banking sector. However, heshowed strong resolve to change the mindset towardsagriculture credit. Mr. Wathra highlighted the efforts ofthe SBP in this regard. He cited the example of the ‘ValueChain Guidelines’ issued by SBP last year and the suc-cessful application of these guidelines in the shape of aresearch project conducted by Research Department, SBPin collaboration with a well known sugar mill in Matiariand a local bank.

Justice (Retired) Nasir Aslam Zahid, the son of (late)Zahid Husain, the first Governor of the State Bank ofPakistan presided over the event. He highlighted theachievements and lofty principles of his father. Mr Zahidalso presented his view on the agriculture sector andthanked the Governor and all officers of SBP for theirunremitting respect for his father.

LSE-25 index closes at record highcially oil, the government slashed petro-leum prices by an average of twenty fourper cent the largest price relief ever.Pakistan’s long-moribund economy hasshown some glimmers of revival underthis government. Ratings agencyMoody’s upgraded the country’s outlookto ‘stable’ from ‘negative.

Analyst said ENGRO was the pick ofthe day on hopes of promised gas alloca-tion. Textiles stocks were also in demandon reports that the European Union (EU)will not object on death penalty, which somefeared could affect the priced GSP+ status.Dealers said a host of positive develop-ments on domestic as well as global frontsbuoyed the market and lifted key indices tonew high. Continuing its surge for the firstday of the current week, the LSE 25-indexhit fresh life-time high closing of 6,618.01points against 6,597.37 points recorded inthe opening of today’s session. The high-est index of the day was 6,631.83 pointswhile the lowest level of the day was re-corded at 6,591.11 points.

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—North Korean ambassador RoKyong Chol, Tuesday, observed that hiscountry had formulated a new policy withmajor focus on reducing tensions & improv-ing economy and wanted to expand tradeties with Pakistan which was an importantcountry of South Asia with good economicprospects. While exchanging views withbusiness community at Islamabad Chamberof Commerce and Industry (ICCI) here, hesaid that Pakistan and DPR Korea hadsigned a trade agreement in 1979, but bilat-eral trade was still not up to the availablepotential and both countries should accel-erate efforts to improve economic ties whichwere very important to tap all untapped ar-eas of mutual cooperation.

He said DPR Korea was focusing on

North Korea keen to expandeconomic ties with Pakistan

economic development based on advancedscience & technology to become a morecompetitive economy and added that byenhancing mutual cooperation, Pakistanand DPR Korea could complement eachother in many fields. He said DPR Koreahas established 13 Special Economic De-velopment Parks in its 8 provinces that of-fered tax holidays and many other incen-tives to foreign investors and he invitedPakistani investors to make investment inthese parks to achieve lucrative returns.

Speaking at the occasion, MuzammilHussain Sabri, President, Islamabad Cham-ber of Commerce & Industry said that Paki-stan and DPR Korea were facing commonproblem of energy shortage and they shouldshare technology and expertise to cope withthis major issue as it was affecting economicgrowth of both countries.

LCCI urges todeclare Ferozepur

Road as‘Industrial Zone’

STAFF REPORTER

LA H O R E—The LahoreChamber of Commerce &Industry (LCCI) has urgedthe Punjab government todeclare Ferozepur Road In-dustrial Area as “IndustrialZone”. The demand wasraised by the LCCI VicePresident Syed MahmoodGhaznavi while talking tothe delegation ofFerozepur Road IndustrialAssociation (FRIA) led byits Patron Chief AdnanButt here at the LahoreChamber of Commerce &Industry.

Other members of thedelegation were includeFounder Chairman of FRIAMuhammad Adnan KhalidButt, Chairman MubasherNaseer Butt, Former Chair-men Shahid Baig andSaadatullah. The FRIA del-egation informed the LCCIVice President thatFerozepure Road Industrialarea has more than 500 in-dustrial units and tradinghouses catering to theneeds of over one lakhpeople directly or indirectlybut due to non-availabilityof fundamental facilities, theindustrialists were facingmultiple problems. Theysaid that law and order situ-ation was also not encour-aging.

The FRIA Chairmanalso sought the help ofLahore Chamber of Com-merce and Industry for afire station in the area toavert any untoward inci-dent in the industrial unitsoperational in the area.

AAMIR MAJEED

KARACHI—Sindh Engro Coal Mining Company (SECMC)Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shamsuddin Ahmed Shaikhhas expressed his confidence that the SECMC wouldinject 660MW of power into the national grid by 2018,provided the company succeeds in meeting financialclose in April 2015. The much sought after addition ofpower generation would be a major relief especially inthe face of acute power shortage which has jumped2000MW due to subsiding water flows in the rivers. Af-ter the groundbreaking of the SECMC Thar Coal Miningand Power Project, which was jointly performed by thePrime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Shariff and Ex-President Asif Ali Zardari on January 31, 2014, thecompany’s shareholders have made equity of Rs 3.8 bil-lion rupees.

The company would have to remove 113 million BankCubic Meter (BCM) sand for extraction of coal, but thecompany has removed two million BCM sand so far. Atleast 80 dumpers, 20 shovels and two each trucks of Hovoand Tonly are engaged in the removal of over burden.The company has paid Rs 170 million rupees to the resi-dents of Thar Coalfield Block-II on account of land ac-quisition and the Sindh government has also speed-upconstruction of road network for easy access to thecoalfield. It may be pertinent to mention that the SECMCproject is part of Pak-China Economic Corridor (PCEC)and the total cost of the project would be Rs 200 billionrupees. The local banks would finance Rs 60 billion ru-pees while the neighbouring country China would financeRs 140 billion rupees.

In a pre-visit briefing, SECMC CEO ShamsuddinAhmed Shaikh said that Pakistan is producing expensiveelectricity by using furnace oil and gas. “However, gen-eration of power by using water resources of the countrycost comparatively low to the government as compare tooil and gas, but we have failed to enhance our hydropower project, which resulted into massive power short-

SECMC likely to inject 660MWinto national grid by 2018

age,” the CEO remarked. “To meet the energy crises, thegovernment first introduces oil-based power plants butas the currency of Pakistan devalued and prices of oilsurged in the international market, then the governmentstarted installation of gas-based power plants,” he re-called. “Generation of power by using gas cost compara-tively low to the government but on the other hand, thegovernment allows opening of CNG stations in the coun-try which resulted into acute gas shortage,” he main-tained.

“In 1990, it was revealed that the Pakistan has coalreserves of 175 billion tons near Islamkot, but unfortu-nately, the government has failed to use the availableresources for generation of electricity,” he asserted. “Now,the federal and provincial government of Sindh has de-cided that the time come to use indigenous resources togenerate cheap electricity,” he said, adding that “India isusing coal for generating power very after partition andnow its coal reserves are about to end, but Pakistan hascoal reserves which can cater country’s power needs upto 500 years.” “On January 31, 2014, the Prime MinisterMian Muhammad Nawaz Shariff and Ex-President AsifAli Zardari have performed groundbreaking ceremony ofSECMC Thar Coalfield Block-II to generate 660MW elec-tricity before 2018,” the CEO said. With groundbreakingceremony, the SECMC has started the work and now weare in a takeoff position, but we are looking at the finan-cial close to pace-up the mining work.”

“Luckily, the three major political stakeholders Paki-stan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Pakistan PeoplesParty (PPP) and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) has sup-ported the SECMC power project,” he said, adding that“PPP-led Sindh government has assured to constructroad infrastructure and provision of water for our projectand the work on both project would be completed in fewmonths. Speaking to the journalists at Thar CoalfieldBlock-II, SECMC Mining Project manager Ahmad NaeemAftab Pasha said that the company has started work toremove overburden from the designated block.

FAISALABAD: Kamran Nasir, CEO JS Global and Nadeem Naqvi, MD KSE at the‘Investor Awareness Session’ jointly hosted by the KSE and JS Global.

KARACHI: KP Minister for Finance addressing to the ‘Business Gathering’ orga-nized by the Bank of Khyber.

PESHAWAR: A view of opening match of Inter-District Women’s Volleyball Championship between Haripur and Lakki Marwat at QayyumSports Complex.

ISLAMABAD: President Islamabad Billiards and Snooker Association Dr Shahzad Waseem with participants inNPC Inter-Media snooker tournament organized by National Press Club.

SUKKUR: A hockey match between Karachi and Hyderabad during PHF All SindhHockeyt Tournament.

PESHAWAR—Haripur, Charsadda,Chitral, Swabi, Abbottabad andMalakand recorded opening day vic-tories against their respective rivalsin the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inter-Dis-trict Women Volleyball Championship,which got under way here at PSBCoaching Center on Tuesday.

Secretary Science and TechnologyFarah Hamid was the chief guest onthis occasion who formally inaugu-rated the Championship in whichteams from 12 districts comprisingLakki Marwat, Haripur, Charsadda,Nowshera, Chitral, Kohat, Swat,Swabi, Abbottabad, Bannu, DeraIsmail Khan, Malakand, Mardan andPeshawar are taking part in the Cham-pionship.

The opening ceremony was startedfrom the recitation of Holy Quran byKinza, followed by Muniza presentedNaat. The teams, officials also offereda joint ‘Dua’ for the departed souls ofAPS martyred.

Amina Shah presented nationalsong, followed by March Past. Na-tional athlete Arosa Khan carried the

Haripur, Charsadda, Chitral, Swabi,Abbottabad,Malakand advance inWomen Volleyball Championship

national flag followed by a group ofplayers wearing traditional costumes.

In the opening match Haipur de-feated Lakki Marwat by 3-1, the scorewas 25-19, 23-25, 25-21 and 25-23 in athrilling battle. For Haripur Anum,Sadia, Qandeel, Hina, Shazia and Sa-mara played excellent game while forLakki Marwat Ronila, Rohina, Rehmina,Nadia and Komal played well.

In the second match Charsaddabeat Nowshera by 3-0 in a one-sidedaffair. The players of Charsadda com-prising Hajra, Basmina, Sana Safeer,Maria, Sana Faqir and Haseena playedwell while for Nowshera, Aroosa,Shaista, Nousheen, Hina and Rozinaplayed well.

In the third match Chitral registeredvictory against Kohat by 3-1, the scorewas 19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-22. ForChitral Saira, Husna, Dilshad, NailaGul, Gul Naz played outstanding gamewhile for Kohat Lubna, Tehmina,Javeria, Roshna and Shazia playedwell.

In the fourth match Swabi stunnedSwat by 3-1, the score was 25-19, 25-

22, 17-25 and 25-23. The players ofSwabi comprising Sabina, Komal,Safia, Sundas, Nazia and Amina playedwell by keeping Swat players undertremendous pressure in the 3-1 battle.For Swat Wafa Dil, Hunza Dil, Benish,Sadia, Saira and Qainat played well.

In the fifth match Abbottbad up-set Bannu by 3-2 in a thrilling matchwitnessed by capacity crowd presenton this occasion. The score was 23-25, 25-27, 25-21, 25-23 and 15-13. TheAbbottabad players comprisingAysha, Komal, Laiba, Hidia, Kinza,Muniza and Rohila played well againstBannu team including Sadia, Naila,Bushra, Sajida and Ambareen.

It was the last match in whichMalakand recorded victory againstDera ismail Khan. The Malakand play-ers comprising Laila, Mobina,Nayyab, Sahiba, Sana and Irum playedwell while for Dera Ismail Mehnaz,Momina, Mehreen and Laila playedwell. The score was 25-21, 22-25, 25-19 and 25-23. Safia, Hunia, Najma,Roheena and Haleema supervised thematches.—APP

KARACHI—Arabian Sea CountryClub (ASCC) has decided not to stageany matches of Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) domestic circuit at its pictur-esque ground in future after contro-versially shifting of two Quaid-e-AzamTrophy Gold League match last year.

PCB Domestic Tournament Com-mittee allocated six matches of thePresident’s One-Day Cup to theirASCC but they regretted to hold thembecause of shifting of match betweenSui Northern Gas Pipelines Ltd(SNGPL) and Port Qasim Authorityand WAPDA-SNGPL last December.

Those matches were later shiftedto Rashid Latif Cricket AcademyGulburg according to revisedprogramme available from PCB.

“We got the best ground in thecountry with top class facilities at ourvenue including boarding and lodg-ing,” former International and GeneralManager ASCC Hasan Jamil said onMonday.

In a letter to addressed to PCB

ASCC refuses to stage President’sOne-day Cup after match shifting controversy

Chairman Shaheryar Khan, Secretaryof the club, Syed Kamran Jawed ex-pressed his disappointment after PCBunilaterally shifted two matches ofQuaid—e-Azam Trophy from ASCC toNational Stadium and Southend Club.

“Whereas the ASCC ground is anapproved venue and is entitled toatleast two or three matches,” he saidin his letter.

“Upon our protest the PCB re-versed its decision of shifting of thevenue and informed all concerned thatboth the matches will be played atASCCL as per original schedule (referletter dated November 26, 2014.”

“On the night of Dec 5, 2014 theground was haded over the match ref-eree and umpire with no objection fromtheir side. At 8:00 P.M the match be-tween SNGPL and Port Qasim has beenshifted to National Stadium whereasthe match between Karachi Dolphinsand Peshawar Panthers will be playedat ASCC from Dec 7, 2014,”.

“The Karachi Dolphins and

Peshawar Panthers played their fixturewithout any incident and appreciatedthe facilities at the Arabian Sea Coun-try Club,” letter elaborated.

“Subsequently GM DomesticCricket Operations vide his letterdated December 8,2014 also shifted theWAPDA vs SNGPL match venue(scheduled to start form Dec 12, 2014)to Southend Club Karachi.

“We therefore feel justified torecord our grievance on this lastminute change of venue which unnec-essarily got noticed by the electronic/print media and is viewed as an at-tempt to malign the reputation of thetop class facilities/ match playing con-ditions at the ASCC,”.

“We are of the opinion that thecommercial interest of the Club hasbeen compromised by this incidentand would like to inform the PCB todelete ASSC form its list of approvedcricketing venues unless these machi-nations are discontinued in future,”letter concluded.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Top seed Essa Naqvi fromDunya TV beat Afzal Javed of Jehan Pa-kistan to retain his title by 3-1 in the fi-nal of NPC Inter-Media snooker tourna-ment organized by National Press Club(NPC).

In the final Essa Naqvi overcame thefancied Afzal Javed 3-1 in the best-of-five-frame final with the scores of 39-31, 41-26,32-41, 42-34. In semi final round Afzal Javedoutclassed Usman Khan by 2-1 and EssaNavi thrashed Izhar Niazi by 2-1 respec-tively.

President Islamabad Billiards andSnooker Association (IBSA) and advisorto chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf(PTI) Dr. Shahzad Waseem was the chiefguest at the concluding ceremony of thetournament while President National PressClub Shahryar Khan, Secretary Tariq

Essa victorious inSnooker Tournament

Choudhry, Secretary Islamabad Billiardsand Snooker Association Faheem AnwarKhan and other dignities were also presenton the occasion.

While speaking at the occasion Presi-dent Islamabad Billiards and Snooker As-sociation (IBSA) and advisor to chairmanof Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Dr.Shahzad Waseem said that snooker hasbeen making Pakistan proud and govern-ment and other departments should pro-vide the permanent jobs for national cueistfor the promotion of this game in the coun-try.

He lauded the efforts taken by NPC toorganize healthy activities for the journal-ist community and said that we are tryingour best to promote the snooker and fo-cusing the grass root level to find out newtalent.—APP

Sri Lanka:Karunaratne lbw b Southee5Dilshan b Williamson ... 44Sangakkara b Milne ...... 76Jayawardene c Ronchi bAnderson ....................... 94Mathews c Ronchib Milne ............................. 0Thirimanne bMcClenaghan ................ 19Perera c McCullum bSouthee ............................ 5Mendis b Southee ........ 12Kulasekara run out ......... 4Senanayake not out ........ 1Herath b McClenaghan .. 0Extras: (lb 2, w 14) ......... 16Total: (for 10 wickets, 49.3overs) ............................ 276Fall of Wickets: 1-11, 2-113,3-180, 4-180, 5-245, 6-253, 7-268, 8-270, 9-273, 10-276Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WSouthee .............. 10-1-59-3Milne ..................... 7-0-28-2McClenaghan ... 9.3-0-58-2

SCOREBOARDAnderson ............. 3-0-19-1Elliott ..................... 3-0-19-0Vettori ................. 10-0-41-0Williamson ........... 7-0-50-1New Zealand:Guptill b Mathews ........ 20McCullum b Kulasekara11Williamson b Perera .... 103Taylor c Sangakkarab Herath ............................ 8Elliott b Mendis ............. 44Anderson run out ......... 47L. Ronchi not out .......... 32D. Vettori not out ............ 7Extras: (lb 1, wd 7) ........... 8Total: (for 6 wickets) ... 280Fall of wickets: 1-24, 2-41, 3-63, 4-151, 5-230, 6-245Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WKulasekara ........... 9-0-51-1Mathews .............. 4-1-16-1Herath ................... 9-1-39-1Perera .................... 8-0-58-1Senanayake ....... 9.1-0-57-0Mendis ................. 7-0-40-1Dilshan ................. 2-0-18-0

NELSON (New Zealand)—Kane Williamsonmade a welcome return to the New Zealandside with an elegant century to set up a four-wicket victory over Sri Lanka in the fourthone-day international Tuesday.

Backed by lusty hitting from CoreyAnderson and Luke Ronchi, New Zealandovertook Sri Lanka´s 276 with 11 balls tospare and move 2-1 ahead in the seven-match series.

In a tense finish New Zealand needed 47off 36 balls when the 24-year-old Williamsonwas removed for 103, his fifth ODI century.

Anderson was run out for 47 with NewZealand needing 32 runs with 26 balls left.

Up stepped Luke Ronchi to blast a rapid32 including three sixes and Daniel Vettorihit a four as New Zealand finished with a

Williamson ton seesNew Zealand to 2-1 lead

flourish.After losing the early wickets of Brendon

McCullum, Martin Guptill and Ross Taylorcheaply, an unflustered Williamson led therescue mission, first in partnership with GrantElliott and then with Anderson.

He brought up his century with a steadyaccumulation of singles, only reaching theboundary seven times with six fours and asix.

But having attained the milestone he wasbowled by Thisara Perera and Andersonvacated the field soon after.

McCullum, on whom New Zealand relyheavily to get off to a good start, failed tooblige this time with a gentle poke at a NuwanKulasekera delivery and was caught at midon for just 11.

Guptill failed to back upfrom his unbeaten 66 in thewashed out third match inAuckland on Saturday ashe was caught behind for20 while Taylor wentcheaply for eight as NewZealand slumped to 63-3after 15 overs.

Elliott, who scored 44,was happy to accumulatesingles in a patient 88-runstand with Williamsonwhich ensured there werewickets in hand for the finalrun chase.

Sri Lanka´s innings wasthe product of finely con-structed performances bytheir two elder statesmenKumar Sangakkara andMahela Jayawardene.

Between them the 37-year-olds contributed allbut 106 of Sri Lanka´s 276with Jayawardene scoring94 off 82 deliveries andSangakkara, who moved upto third on the list of topODI run scorers, making 76off 83.—AFP

NELSON: Kane Williamson flicks in front of square, New Zealand v Sri Lanka, 4th ODI.

Ajmal wishesPakistan towin the WC

ISLAMABAD—Ace off-spin-ner Saeed Ajmal who is con-fident about passing his offi-cial test at Chennai this monthsays he can’t see the green-shirts losing even a singlematch and hopes that Paki-stan will win the World Cup.

Ajmal, who looks for-ward to his official test inChennai on January 24,saidI am a Pakistani so I say thatPakistan will win the WorldCup. “My heart says Paki-stan, I can’t even think ofPakistan losing a match. Mywish is that Pakistan winsevery match at the WorldCup,” he said in an interview.

Ajmal said he haveadded a couple of deliver-ies to his repertoire recentlyduring his time away frominternational cricket, whichare a seam-up delivery andalso the carom ball. “I haveused this opportunity towork on these two new de-liveries and I am pleasedwith the results,” he saidadding both of these newdeliveries are under the fif-teen degree limit.—APP

SBP Governor’scup crickettournament

MULTAN—Two matcheswere decided on the forthday of the 11th SBPGovernor’s Cup inter-banksregional cricket tournament2015 at Multan Cricket Sta-dium here Tuesday.

In the first match, BankAlhabib defeated MuslimCommercial Bank (MCB) bynine wickets.

MCB won the toss anddecided to bat first. MCBmade 54 runs all out in 15overs.

Bank Alhabib achievedthe target in 7.2 overs bylosing one wicket. Nadeemwas declared man of thematch for getting four wick-ets.—APP

Japan unchanged,Al Dardour starts

for JordanMELBOURNE—Asian Cupfavourites Japan kept thesame side for a third straightGroup D match on Tuesday,retaining the starting line-upthat won their first two gamesfor the decisive clash withJordan.

The four-times champi-ons, who beat Palestine 4-0and Iraq 1-0, require only adraw at the Rectangular Sta-dium to secure a place in thelast eight as group winnersand a quarter-final againstUnited Arab Emirates inSydney on Friday. Japancoach Javier Aguirre saidthe reigning championswould nevertheless be go-ing for the win.—APP

Bipin DaniOBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Dr. Abraham Benjamin Villiersbelieves that his son’s world record ofhitting the fastest century in ODI will be“very difficult” to be broken by any bats-man.

Speaking exclusveily over telephonefrom South Africa, he said, “it will not beeasy for any batsman to score century atthis speed. Yes, when Corey Anderson(New Zealand) did this feat in 36 ballslast year against West Indies, it seemeddifficult. But I can now vouch that it willnot be an easy task to score in 30 or lessballs”.

“I watched every ball at the game onSunday. It was a well-planned century andeverything went according to the plan.Both openers scored centuries and laid afoundation and it made AB’s task easier”.

Interestingly, A.B. de Villiers is namedafter his father, who is a general surgeonin Warmbad.

A B de Villiers is a fan of Jonty Rhodes.

Very difficult to break my son’sworld record, says AB’s dad

He saw Rhodes’ famous run out in 1992World Cup and started dreaming to be acricketer.

Monday morning, Anderson woke upto find his record had been beaten by fiveballs.

“It’s one of those things, records arethere to be broken – congratulations toAB, it was obviously a hell of an innings,and to get 149 off 44 is probably evenmore special,” said Anderson on NewZealand Cricket (NZC) web page.

So will the record be broken again?“Never say never! 31 balls is very quick,we’ve got the World Cup around the cor-ner so that could be a good chance forsomeone to take it down.”

“Only God can do something like thatand he would be pushed to be that good.I bet the average player could not do thatto a schoolboy attack let alone in an In-ternational.

He should be ordained for that per-formance”, Clive Rice, the former SouthAfrican player has said on his scocial networking web page.

LAHORE: Players of Pakistan cricket team at National Cricket Academy before leaving for participation in ICCWorld Cup 2015

LAHORE—Pakistan’s bowling attacksuffered another setback ahead of theWorld Cup with Junaid Khan failingto recover in time to travel to New

Zealand for a short series which wasbeing seen as a warmup for the megaevent.

According to chief selector MoinKhan, Junaid has been replaced withBilawal Bhatti for the New Zealandtour.

The inclusion of Bilawal Bhatti forthe ICC World Cup 2015 squad shallbe contingent on his performance in

Bilawal replaces injuredJunaid for New Zealand trip

the four scheduled matches in NewZealand as well as Junaid Khan’s re-covery, Moin said.

“If Junaid recovers fitness, he willjoin the World Cup squad”, said MoinKhan.

“After the injury report of JunaidKhan by the team physio [BradRobbinson] that he will not be able totravel to New Zealand due to his in-jury and will stay back in Pakistan forimmediate rehabilitation under the su-pervision of Dr Sohail Saleem at theNCA, I discussed the issue with theChairman and other concerned Boardofficials.

“The Chairman has considered andapproved the request of the skipperMisbah-ul-Haq to include BilawalBhatti in the team under the conditionthat Bilawal Bhatti will play all sched-uled matches in New Zealand.

“The decision for his selection willbe considered in accordance with hisperformance as to whether he maycontinue or be replaced. It is, however,clarified that if Junaid Khan regainsfitness, he will join the World Cupsquad as announced on January 7,2015.”

Junaid along with MohammadIrfan, Wahab Riaz, Ehsan Adil andSohail Khan formed a largely inexperi-enced pace bowling attack picked forthe World Cup.

Pakistan are already without keyspinners Saeed Ajmal and MohammadHafeez, who have been suspendedfrom bowling by the InternationalCricket Council over illegal actions.Meanwhile, Pakistan cricket team withtour management on Tuesday eveningleft for New Zealand via Dubai to par-take in the World Cup starting nextmonth.

The tournament is set to start onFebruary 14 and will be played in NewZealand and Australia. Pakistan isscheduled to play two warm-upmatches against Kiwis before the com-mencement of the tournament.

Speaking to media representativesprior to departing for the Allama IqbalInternational Airport, Pakistan cap-tain Misbah-ul-Haq said that the teamwas well-prepared for the upcomingtournament. He vowed to deliver theirbest .

Commenting on India-Pakistanclash on Feb 15, he said that the teamwill try its best to break the jinx andwould defeat India in the upcomingWorld cup for the first time.

He said the team was focused forthe clash as both nations expect maxi-mum from their respective teams.Tour manager Naveed Akram Cheema,on the occasion said that the playerswere highly motivated for the megacricketing event.—APP

Misbah vows to break India jinx as team leaves for World Cup

India Innings:Rahane c Taylor b Finn33S. Dhawan b Anderson 1Rayudu c Buttler b Finn 23Kohli c Buttler b Finn ... 4Raina st Buttler b Ali .... 1Dhoni c Buttler b Finn 34Binny b Anderson ...... 44Patel b Finn .................... 0Kumar b Anderson ....... 5Shami c Ali b Anderson 1Yadav not out ................ 0Extras: (lb-3 nb-1 w-3) ... 7Total: (all out, 39.3 overs)153Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-57, 3-64, 4-65, 5-67, 6-137, 7-137,8-143, 9-153, 10-153Bowling: .............. o-m-r-wAnderson . 8.3 - 2 - 18 – 4

Woakes ........ 7 - 0 - 35 – 0S. Broad ....... 7 - 0 - 33 – 0S. Finn .......... 8 - 0 - 33 – 5M. Ali ........... 9 - 0 - 31 – 1England Innings:I. Bell not out ............... 88M. Ali c Kohli b Binny . 8J. Taylor not out .......... 56Extras: (nb-1 w-3) .......... 4Total: (for 1 wickets, 27.3overs) .......................... 156Fall of wickets: 1-25Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WBinny ........... 7 - 0 - 34 – 1Kumar .......... 2 - 0 - 18 – 0U. Yadav ...... 6 - 0 - 42 – 0Shami ........... 4 - 0 - 23 – 0Patel .......... 7.3 - 0 - 32 – 0Raina ............... 1 - 0 - 7 - 0

BR I S B A N E (Australia)—PacemenSteven Finn produced a career-bestperformance to lead England to anine-wicket thrashing of India inboth countries’ second outing in atriangular one-day series in Brisbaneon Tuesday.

India’s decision to bat first back-fired when they were dismissed forjust 153 in 39.3 overs in the one-dayinternational, with Finn exploitingthe Gabba’s pace and bounce toclaim five wickets for 33.

In reply, England cruised to vic-tory in just 27.3 overs giving them amuch-needed confidence boostahead of the World Cup in Australiaand New Zealand thatkicks off next month.

Their recent one-dayform has been very poor,but they were neverstretched with the bat asthey finished on 156 forone, with opener Ian Bellunbeaten on 88 and JamesTaylor on 56 as theynotched their first win un-der new captain Eoin Mor-gan.

For some time it seemedBell could get to a centuryeven in the meagre chase,but it was too fanciful athought. Bell finished withan unbeaten 88 off 91 balls,James Taylor got a third ODIfifty, and the match was overeven before it got dark inBrisbane. After one round ofmatches, England sat sec-ond in the triangular withfive points, behindAustralia’s nine.

Stuart Binny, who top-scored for India with 44 inhis return to the side,claimed the only wicket tofall, that of opener MoeenAli for eight.

After losing to Austra-lia on Sunday, the Indianbatsmen struggled to copewith the lively wicket.

Finn, on the other hand,made the most of it to claimhis first five-wicket haul in49 one-day internationals,including a number ofprized Indian scalps.

He did most of his dam-age to the top order, as In-

England thrash India in Brisbane ODIdia lost their way after being in asound position at 57-1.

Seamer James Anderson, return-ing to the English side after injury,claimed the first wicket, removing thestruggling Shikhar Dhawan for one,before Ajinkya Rahane and AmbatiRayudu steadied the Indian causewith a 56-run stand.

The fall of Rahane, caught byTaylor from the bowling of Finn on33, sparked the first of two collapsesduring the innings.

Finn then claimed Rayudu, whoscored 23, and Virat Kohli, who man-aged just four, as India slumped to67 for five.

BRISBANE: MS Dhoni gets off the ground to fend a delivery, England v India, CarltonMid Tri-series.

Captain Mahendra Singh Dhoniand the recalled Binny put on 70to revive India’s hopes briefly, be-fore Finn again s t ruck twice inquick success ion to turn thematch.

He had Dhoni caught behind byJos Buttler on 34, the wicketkeeper’sfifth dismissal of the innings, and In-dia folded, losing their last five wick-ets for just 16 runs.

Finn picked up his fifth scalpwhen he bowled Axar Patel fornought .

Anderson ran through the tail tofinish with impressive figures of fourfor 18 from 8.3 overs.—AFP

MELBOURNE—World number one NovakDjokovic got his quest for a fifth AustralianOpen title off to a winning start in straightsets on Tuesday.

The Serb top seed eliminated Slovenia’sAljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in 1hr 49min onRod Laver Arena and will next play eitherRussian Andrey Kuznetsov or Spain’s AlbertRamos-Vinolas.

Djokovic, who lost to eventual winnerStan Wawrinka in the quarter-finals of lastyear’s event, has been troubled by illness inthe lead-up to the year’s first major tourna-ment. But after encountering early problemsfrom the 116th-ranked Bedene he went on tosecure passage into the next round.

Seven-time Grand Slam championDjokovic broke Bedene’s service four timesand only had three break points against hisserve in the match.

Djokovic into Open second round“For a first round performance it was

pretty good, obviously I still need to workon a few things, I’m still developing mygame,” Djokovic said.

“Hopefully, it’s going to be better in thenext one, but credit to Bedene for playingwell today.

“I’ve seen him play only once before andon centre court he had nothing to lose andhe has a very quick service motion so it wasdifficult to read his serve.

“If you have a good serve, you have agood chance to play a good match, so I amjust glad to go through.”

Rafa Nadal has been shrugging hisshoulders and suggesting he may not beready mentally or physically to win thisyear’s Australian Open after an injury-riddled 2014, but top seed Novak Djokovicis having none of it.—AFP

NEW DEHLI—India’s hockey captainSardar Singh has thrown his weight behindthe participation of Pakistani players in theHockey India League (HIL), saying therewas no room for politics in sport.

As many as nine Pakistani players werepart of the first edition of HIL in 2013 butwere barred from playing after pressure frompolitical parties in India. Players from thecountry were not considered the followingyear owing to political tensions betweenthe two countries.

“Pakistan have good players and theyshould be allowed to play in the HIL. Goodplayers need to play in the league. But Ialso understand the situation and one must

Pakistani players deserve tobe in HIL: Indian skipper

follow the government’s stand on it,” Sardarsaid.

Former skipper Ajit Pal also echoedSardar’s sentiments and said that India andPakistan should play bilateral series’ to pro-mote the sport.

“As a sportsman, I would say theyshould be allowed. But one must under-stand the situation,” Ajit Pal said.

Pakistan and India last faced off in thesemi-final of the Champions Trophy, whichthe Greenshirts won 4-3. The enthusiasticcelebrations by Muhammad Imran’s side atthe end of the match caused a furore in In-dia and soured relations between the twofederation to some extent.—AFP

LONDON—International Cricket Council chiefexecutive David Richardson said Tuesday theglobal governing body would come downhard on players who ‘sledged’ or verballyabused their opponents at the upcomingWorld Cup.

During the course of an extensive inter-view on the ICC website, former South Africawicketkeeper Richardson also said officialswere determined to continue their campaignagainst illegal bowling actions and added hewas confident the World Cup would not beblighted by match or spot-fixing.

Several high-profile incidents in recentmonths have led former Australia captain IanChappell to say he fears it can only be a mat-ter of time before things get so heated that aphysical clash ensues.

Meanwhile New Zealand great MartinCrowe has called for the introduction of ayellow and red card system common to manyother sports in a bid to punish poor on-fieldbehaviour in cricket, which has traditionallyprided itself on being a “gentlemen’s game”.

India’s ongoing tour of Australia has beenmarred by numerous verbal spats, with CricketAustralia chief executive James Sutherlandtaking the unusual step of publicly tellingDavid Warner to “stop looking for trouble”after the opener’s latest flare-up saw him de-mand India’s Rohit Sharma “speak English“during a one-day international in Melbourneon Sunday.

Richardson said he was confident the ex-isting system, whereby match referees over-see disciplinary punishments at major inter-national fixtures, could cope with “disrespect-ful behaviour”.

However, he insisted the ICC had been

ICC promise ‘sledging’crackdown at World Cup

stressing to on-field umpires the need to stopsuch conduct at its source, with the WorldCup in Australia and New Zealand now lessthan a month away.

“Over the last six months, or even goingback further to the last Ashes series, therehave been too many examples of playerbehaviour going too far and overstepping theboundaries of acceptability,” Richardson said.

“The amount of sledging and disrespectshown by players to each other was bad.

“Since then, we have done a lot of workwith our umpires and match referees to en-sure they are much more pro-active in termsof policing behaviour on the field and — whenplayers do overstep the mark — taking ap-propriate action.”

He added: “Over the last three or fourmonths, you have seen 12 ICC code of con-duct charges laid against people for exactlythat — disrespectful behaviour on the field.

“For the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, itwill be no different — and at all pre-eventbriefings with the teams, the match refereeswill be making sure that message is deliveredloud and clear.

“The past year has also seen a significantincrease in the number of bowlers banned forsuspect actions, with Pakistan off-spinnerSaeed Ajmal the most high-profile case.

“The game realised we had a significantproblem — and there were just too manybowlers, from all teams, bowling with sus-pected actions,” said Richardson.

“I think we have made very good progressin identifying those bowlers, sending themoff to be tested and, where necessary, sus-pending them until they can remedy their ac-tions,” he added.—AFP

Indianmedia slams‘motormouth’

WarnerNEW DELHI—India’s me-dia on Tuesday lashed outat David Warner over hisrepeated verbal clasheswith Mahendra SinghDhoni’s touring team, de-manding the aggressiveAustralian opener be reinedin.

“Brakes on motormouthWarner” and “TalkativeWarner crosses the line”read two headlines in Indiannewspapers after Warnerwas fined 50 percent of hismatch fee for demandingRohit Sharma “speak En-glish” during Sunday’s one-dayer in Melbourne.

“Warner has a knack ofgetting into trouble. Despitewarnings in the past hedoes not seem to learn,” theTimes of India wrote, refer-ring to his constant run-inswith the Indians during thepreceding Test series.

The Hindustan Timessaid Indian team managershad decided to ignoreWarner rather than react tothe sledging.

“The Indian team man-agement, despite all the ver-bal volleys that flew fromthe Aussie camp, confirmedthat the team had decidedto not react and concentratein getting back to winningways,” the paper wrote.

The Australian fieldershad taken offence when theIndians went for a single offan overthrow which theywrongly believed was inbreach of cricket etiquette.

The reporter for theWisden India website cov-ering the series saidWarner’s behaviour wasunwarranted and would oneday “come back to bite himvery badly where ithurts”.—AFP

GONE are the days of teenagers beingcontent with climbing trees and playing basketball in their free time. Nowa-

days, they are more likely to be found playingvideo games. But new research suggests thatteenagers who play violentvideo games are more likelyto cheat, experience increasedaggression and have reducedself-control. This is accordingto a study published in thejournal Social Psychologicaland Personality Science.

A team of researchersfrom the US, Italy and theNetherlands analysed 172 Ital-ian high school students agedbetween 13 and 19, who wererequired to take part in a se-ries of experiments to deter-mine how violent video gamesaffected their personalities.For the first experiment, par-ticipants were required to playeither a non-violent videogame (Pinball 3D or MiniGolf3D), or a violent video game (Grand Theft AutoIII or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas).

While they were playing the games, a bowlcontaining 100g of chocolate was placed nextto the computer. The researchers told the par-ticipants they could freely eat the chocolate,but warned them that it was unhealthy to con-sume high amounts of candy in a short spaceof time. Results revealed that participants whoplayed violent video games ate more than threetimes as much chocolate, compared with thosewho played the non-violent video games.

The teenagers were then asked to solve a10-item logic test. For each question they an-swered correctly, they were rewarded with one

Violent video games reduceteens’ self-control, study shows

Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad Khan inspecting anti-encroachment operation at Khatoon-e-Pakistan College.

raffle ticket that they could exchange for prizes.The investigators told the participants howmany questions they answered correctly andasked them to take the correct amount of raffletickets from an envelope. However, the re-

searchers knew how manytickets were in each envelopeso they would know if any ofthe participants had takenmore tickets than they hadearned.

Results from this experi-ment revealed that the teenag-ers who played violent videogames cheated more than eighttimes more, compared withthose who played non-violentvideo games. Another test in-volved the monitoring of theparticipants’ aggression afterthey played the video gameagainst an unseen “partner,”who actually did not exist. Theplayer who won could “blast”the losing player with a loudsound through headphones.

Teenagers who played the violent videogames blasted the unseen partners with louderand longer noises, compared with those whoplayed the non-violent games. Commenting onthe findings, Brad Bushman, professor of com-munication and psychology at Ohio State Uni-versity and co-author of the study, says:

“We have consistently found in a numberof studies that those who play violent gamesact more aggressively, and this is just moreevidence.” The investigators also used a MoralDisengagement Scale as part of the study. Thisscale measures the extent to which people holdthemselves to high moral standards in a vari-ety of situations.

A policeman standing alert while health workers administer polio drops to children.

Pakistan State Oil contract carriers being filled at PSO Keamari Terminal for supply to other parts of the country.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Team of Molecular Pa-thology under the supervision of Dr.Saeed Khan attended the 9thAnnualAsia Pacific Biosafety AssociationConference and training workshop,titled as ‘Biosafety and BiosecurityCollective Partnership towards OneWorld One Health’ that took place inBangkok, Thailand. Dr Saeed alongwith two of his students Maria Zahid,and Fatin Zehra received full travelgrant to participate in this prestigiousconference and training workshop.

First day of the session startedwith an impressive inaugural cer-emony that not only comprised ofwelcoming note by the organizers whohighlighted the importance of

DUHS team of scientists receivesBiosafety training in Thailand

biosafety and related safety proceduresand their strict regulations in the labo-ratory. Thai dance was also a beautifuladdition to the ceremony and showeddifferent cultural aspects of various re-gions of Thailand.

Second day comprised of pre-con-ference lectures in which the participantswere given information and guidelinesregarding the upcoming workshops andwhat would they be learning from them.Poster presentations also took place onthe second day in which participants pre-sented their research through impressiveposters and then were awarded with thebest poster prize award accordingly.

Third and fourth days were packed withvery informative workshops on topics cov-ering various important topics such as BSL,ABSL-3 High Containment Facility Design

and Containment Principles, WorkingSafely with Tuberculosis, The GlobalBiotech Revolution – ‘Preserving thegood of powerful science in a dangerousworld’ Biorisk Assessment in LaboratoryEmergency and Animal, Staff, and Op-erational Needs in a BiocontainmentAnimal Research Facility.

The workshops elucidated uponseveral practical and application as-pects in these areas. Participants weregiven presentations and were ex-plained in detail, how to apply andfollow the given information andknowledge in their respective labs.Attendees also asked several questionsrelated to the daily problems or hin-drances that they face in their lab re-garding biosafety, and its regulationin their lab and country.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Chairman of Ansar BurneyTrust International and former Federal Ministerfor Human Rights, Ansar Burney has once againrequested with the Amir of Kuwait, SheikhSabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, DeputyAmir and Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah and Prime MinisterSheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah,in the greater interest of families interest andhumanity to reopen Visa for the families of Pa-kistanis those living and working in Kuwaitsince long.

United Nations former Expert Adviser onhuman rights, Ansar Burney in this regard hasonce again also sent letters to Pakistan’s Presi-dent Mamnoon Hussain, Prime Minister NawazSharif and Ministry of Foreign Affairs with therequest, to intervene and negotiate with the

Ansar Burney requests Kuwaitto open visa for Pak families

Kuwait Government in this important humani-tarian matter to make all possible efforts in thisregard to help Pakistani families in getting fam-ily or at-least visit Visas. He also requested withPak Govt to assist the Ansar Burney Trust In-ternational in this regard.

Ansar Burney said that there is a ban on vi-sas for the families of Pakistanis living andworking in Kuwait. The ban, imposed on na-tionals from Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Af-ghanistan, includes suspending all tourism, visitand trade visas as well as visas sponsored byspouses that now creating big problems in be-tween the families. He said it is indeed the pre-rogative of the Kuwaiti government to hire im-migrant workers from any country. HoweverPakistanis already working in Kuwait must begoverned by laws so as not to put them underadditional emotional stress, resulting fromforced separation from their families.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) Karachi Division PresidentAbdul Qadir Patel, General SecretarySyed Najmi Alam and Secretary Infor-mation Lateef Mughal said demand forthe imposition of Martial Law in Sindhby the Muttahhida Qaumi Movement(MQM) was tantamount to suppressingdemocratic rights of 200 million peopleof Pakistan. The demand was a candidnegation and opposition of Pakistanaccording to the vision of the founderof Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

MQM disappoints 20m Pakistanisby demanding martial law

They said the lawlessness and ter-rorism had wreaked havoc on people ofthe country in every nook and crannyand it was not Karachi alone affectedby the terrorism but Punjab,Balouchistan and KhyberPakhtoonkhawa were also badly af-fected but not a single person from thoseworst affected areas even thought ofimposition of Martial Law.

They said it was an undeniable factthat the MQM had always enjoyed dic-tatorial rule and hence it had alwaysshowed a pro-Martial Law inclination,which it frequently translated into de-

mand for the Martial law. They said itwas a sad chapter in country’s historythat the democracy was never allowedto prosper and grow in the country whilethe masses suffered from the wrongs ofthe Martial Law and later the democraticgovernments paid great prices for ad-dressing the evils of the Martial Laws.

They said the people of Karachi hadalways fought for the democracy andtheir contribution for the democracywas quite splendid and hence the de-mand for the Martial Law could neverrepresent the Karachiites. They said thePPP had endured martyrdom of

Zulfiquar Ali Bhutto, Murtaza Bhutto,Benazir Bhutto and thousands of partyworkers but never thought of MartialLaw and thus the party remained pro-tected from being ashamed in front ofthe masses.

They said it was not known to anysane person as what had compelled theMQM chief Altaf Hussain to make suchanti-democratic demand, which had sad-dened the whole of Pakistani nation.They said to rule the country and to fightfor the democracy were two differentthings and any government could be sac-rificed for the sanctity of the democracy.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh Senior Minister for EducationNisar Ahmed Khohru said Sindh government wouldcomply with the directives of the Supreme Court (SC)of Pakistan for holding the local government elec-tions in Sindh province. However, it would be im-possible to hold LG elections in a month without fi-nalizing the process of delimitations while the fact

LG polls in a month, animpossible task: Khohru

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—World Food Programme Country Director Ms.Lola Castro called on Sindh Chief Secretary (CS) SajjadSaleem Hotiana and exchanged views on Thar ReliefProgramme. The CS welcomed the WFP delegate, who wasaccompanied by three companions viz Ms. Irfan Malik, Headof WFP Programme for Sindh, Ms. Aline Tumonga, Head ofProgramme for WFP Karachi office and Ms. Zohra DonoursRelation Manager WFP Islamabad office.

WFP Country Director callson CS, discusses Thar relief

was that there were no chances of LG elections incoming months.

He was talking to the newsmen after a meeting ofthe Committee on LG elections, which he had chaired.Sindh Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Dr SikandarMeendhro, Sindh Minister for Local GovernmentSharjeel Innam Memon, Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani,Sindh Secretary for Law and Sindh Secretary for Lo-cal Government attended.

The Senior Minister said the next LG election inthe province would be held on the basis of ward andhence wards would be created. The LG electionswould not be conducted on Panel System. Necessarychanges would be made to the Local Government Act,which would be presented in the Sindh assembly forapproval. To a question, the Senior Minister said thosedemanded for the imposition of Martial Law wasamanifest of their undemocratic mindset.

The WFP team highlighted NWFP Relief services inThar and other areas of Sindh like Ghotki, Sanghar, Mithi,Chachro and Umerkot. Ms. Lola informed that task of nu-trition and medical treatment is being strengthened, in as-sociation with the Sindh Government, while 70% to 100%coverage is made in Tharparkar, as well as special care isbeing accorded to children and pregnant ladies. Hotianaappreciated the WFP assistance for Thar people, and as-sured best cooperation from the Sindh Government, to thiseffect.

GONE are the days of teenagers beingcontent with climbing trees and playing basketball in their free time. Nowa-

days, they are more likely to be found playingvideo games. But new research suggests thatteenagers who play violentvideo games are more likelyto cheat, experience increasedaggression and have reducedself-control. This is accordingto a study published in thejournal Social Psychologicaland Personality Science.

A team of researchersfrom the US, Italy and theNetherlands analysed 172 Ital-ian high school students agedbetween 13 and 19, who wererequired to take part in a se-ries of experiments to deter-mine how violent video gamesaffected their personalities.For the first experiment, par-ticipants were required to playeither a non-violent videogame (Pinball 3D or MiniGolf3D), or a violent video game (Grand Theft AutoIII or Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas).

While they were playing the games, a bowlcontaining 100g of chocolate was placed nextto the computer. The researchers told the par-ticipants they could freely eat the chocolate,but warned them that it was unhealthy to con-sume high amounts of candy in a short spaceof time. Results revealed that participants whoplayed violent video games ate more than threetimes as much chocolate, compared with thosewho played the non-violent video games.

The teenagers were then asked to solve a10-item logic test. For each question they an-swered correctly, they were rewarded with one

Violent video games reduceteens’ self-control, study shows

Motorcyclists waiting in a queue to get petrol from a fuel station.

raffle ticket that they could exchange for prizes.The investigators told the participants howmany questions they answered correctly andasked them to take the correct amount of raffletickets from an envelope. However, the re-

searchers knew how manytickets were in each envelopeso they would know if any ofthe participants had takenmore tickets than they hadearned.

Results from this experi-ment revealed that the teenag-ers who played violent videogames cheated more than eighttimes more, compared withthose who played non-violentvideo games. Another test in-volved the monitoring of theparticipants’ aggression afterthey played the video gameagainst an unseen “partner,”who actually did not exist. Theplayer who won could “blast”the losing player with a loudsound through headphones.

Teenagers who played the violent videogames blasted the unseen partners with louderand longer noises, compared with those whoplayed the non-violent games. Commenting onthe findings, Brad Bushman, professor of com-munication and psychology at Ohio State Uni-versity and co-author of the study, says:

“We have consistently found in a numberof studies that those who play violent gamesact more aggressively, and this is just moreevidence.” The investigators also used a MoralDisengagement Scale as part of the study. Thisscale measures the extent to which people holdthemselves to high moral standards in a vari-ety of situations.

Health workers hold a demonstration in support of their demands outside DG Health Office.

Students taking interest in the paintings displayed at Al-Hamra Hall.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Offices of District ChildCommissioners have been set up in alldistricts of the province to safeguard therights of the children below the age 18years and District Advisors concernedhave been assigned to look after the of-fices. It is responsibility of the state toprotect the children’s rights to education,nutrition, shelter, adequate living stan-dards and citizens must raise voice onviolation of the same.

Children, their parents or commoncitizens may send complaint to ChiefProvincial Commissioner for Childrenor District Child Commissioner or in-form on Helpline 1050 in case of abuseof child rights, said Ombudsman PunjabJaved Mahmood. He was addressing theparticipants of workshop on child rightsin connection with 25th Anniversary ofUnited Nations Convention on Rightsof Child.

Chief Provincial Commissioner for

District Child Commissionersoffices set up

Ayub, National Commissioner for Chil-dren Ejaz A Qureshi, Former Minister andVice President Bunyad Foundtion MsShaheen Attiq ur Rehman, UNICEF ChildProtection Officer Ms Peta Gaye, ChildRights Activist Iftekhar Mubarik and Dis-trict Child Commissioners of 36 districtsalso participated the workshop.

Ombudsman Punjab Javed Mahmoodsaid that Pakistan, being signatory of theChild Rights Convention of General As-sembly, was bound to implement the samebut it was observed that issues of childrendid not matter while formation of policiesby the decision makers. National Commis-sioner for Children Ejaz A Qureshi saidthat absence of willpower to resolve theissues of health, security, education andfood always leave impact on children se-riously but they cannot express their feel-ings.

He said that Office of OmbudsmanPunjab was providing a platform to suchchildren as they had serious constraints andcould not come forward. Shaheen Attiq ur

Rehman while addressing to the partici-pants said that no one will come fromoutside to protect the rights of our chil-dren and we have to stand for that.

She said this is the time to stand upfor the rights and bright future of ourgeneration. UNICEF Child ProtectionOfficer Ms Peta Gaye appreciated theoutreach plan of the OmbudsmanPunjab, Javed Mahmood and said thatPunjab has taken a lead in establishingoffices of District Child Commission-ers in all districts of the province. Om-budsman Punjab has made best use ofavailable resources and it is such a nobleidea that other provinces will have tofollow on the same lines now, said MsPeta Gaye.

Child Rights Activist IftekharMubarik said that major part of thepopulation of the country consist of theage group under 18 but there is no dedi-cated department/ministry at provincialas well as federal level to look into theproblems and issues of the children.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said thatprovision of modern health facilities tothe masses is the priority of the govern-ment and quality health services will beensured to the citizens through introduc-ing revolutionary reforms in health sec-tor. He said that billions of rupees are be-ing spent on the provision of treatmentfacilities to the patients. He said that re-forms programme in health sector will be

Shahbaz vows to ensure qualityhealth services to citizens

closely monitored and he will personallyreview this process on regular basis.

He was addressing a meeting ofprovincial steering committee on re-forms in health sector through videolink at Civil Secretariat, here Monday.Secretary Health gave a detailed brief-ing to the meeting in this regard. TheChief Minister said that maximum re-sources are being utilized on the upliftof health sector and provision of mod-ern treatment facilities to the masses.

He said that there is a need to work

on war footing for improving medical fa-cilities in Tehsil and district headquartershospitals. He directed that comprehensiveplanning be made for ensuring availabil-ity of staff and medicines in Tehsil anddistrict headquarters hospitals as well asmaintaining medical equipment in work-ing condition. He directed that a trans-parent procedure be adopted for the re-cruitment of doctors, nurses and para-medical staff against the approved vacan-cies in hospitals while an effective moni-toring system should also be devised for

ensuring transparency and merit in the re-cruitment process.

Shahbaz Sharif directed that aprogramme be chalked out with regardto training of doctors, nurses and para-medical staff and effective monitoringmechanism be evolved for ensuring pro-vision of free medicines in governmenthospitals. He directed that drug-testinglaboratories set up in the province in-cluding Lahore be out-sourced and stepsbe taken expeditiously with regards toreforms in health sector.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said that every Pakistani isstill grieved at the martyrdom of innocent chil-dren in Peshawar and this incident of brutalityis unprecedented in history. He said that due tosacrifices of the martyrs there is a complete unityin the nation against terrorism. He said that therole of all segments of the society is of vitalimportance for rooting out the menace of ter-rorism from the society.

He said that implementation of national ac-tion plan evolved with political consensus isyielding positive results. He said that eradica-

Role of every segment of societyvital for eradicating terrorism

tion of terrorism, extremism and sectarianismfrom the country is need of the hour and Pak-Army is writing a new history of courage andsacrifices in the war against terrorism. He saidthat the nation wants a complete end to terror-ism and the time has come for the accountabil-ity of those who have killed innocent citizens.

Shahbaz Sharif said that enemies of Paki-stan and peace will find no place to hide in thecountry. He said that due to unity and determi-nation of the nation, a complete success will beachieved in the war against terrorism and Paki-stan will be made a haven of peace and tran-quillity. He was talking to elected representa-tives, here Monday.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—A division benchof the Lahore High Court con-sisting of Justice SyedMansoor Ali Shah and Justice

School fees will not go up in wakeof security arrangements: LHC told

Aisha A Malik on Tuesday re-sumed hearing of a petitionfiled by an advocate ZainSakandar agitating securityconcern in schools after thetragic incident of the armypublic School, Peshawar andan interim report was submit-ted before the court.

During the course of hear-

ing, the Court was informedthat private schools will notenhance fees in the wake ofenhanced security arrange-ments and they will managethe security gear from theirown kitty.

The Court was further in-formed that in case of anygrievance parents as well as

school managements will ap-proach concerned DCO for re-dress of their complaints. Vigi-lance committees have beenformed at the district level forstrict monitoring of theschools. Police authoritiessubmitted that satisfactory se-curity arrangements have beenmade in the educational insti-

tutions.Court adjourned the hear-

ing for a fortnight and soughtfurther report in the matter be-fore the next date of hearing.Earlier the petition was heardby a single judge and his lord-ship had referred the case tothe Chief Justice for the con-stitution of a larger bench.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—World Council of Religions(WCR); a representative platform of dif-ferent religions practicing in Pakistan; se-verely condemns the foolish and criminalact of publishing self-imagined sketches ofthe Holy Prophet (PBUH). “Supreme lead-ership of the WCR believes that no reli-gious follower of any religion can do suchmisconduct. It is entirely the act of such

World Council of Religionsraps blasphemous cartoons

secular minded people/group(s) who wants todisturb the peace efforts/processes among re-ligions in the world.”

The WCR believes that freedom of ex-pression is not the way of hurting others byany means as everyone must have to be inparticular limits in order to assure individualand human peace as well. Everyone has theright to be expressed but to the limit fromwhich the rights and boundaries of others start.

Europe, where the human as well ani-

mal being’s rights are important to every-one but why they use to forget the rights,particularly religious ones, of the Muslimsby hurting repeatedly through misconductand criminal act of publishing self-imag-ined sketches of the Holy Prophet(PBUH)? History witnesses that MuslimsNever hurt the followers of other religionsby kidding their particular Prophets asMuslims believe that all Prophets are Holyand most Respectful.