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STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI/SKARDU—In-dian army has escalated theviolation of Line of Control(LoC) by opening unprovokedfiring in the Kargil sector.

Indian troops resorted tounprovoked shelling on Tues-day night at Shakma sector inKargil in which a PakistanArmy officer Captain HafizSarfraz Mir embracedShahadat. Another soldiersepoy Yasin was seriouslywounded in firing.

Military sources said In-dian troops resorted to unpro-voked firing Tuesday night at23:15 hours. Pakistani troops

India extends LoC violations to KargilPak Army Captain embraces Shahadat, soldier injured in LoC firing

responded effectively to Indianunprovoked firing. Exchange offire continued till 02:15 hoursafter midnight, sources addedafter which Indian guns wentsilent.

India is repeatedly resortingto aggression at the LoC inwhich several Pakistani citizens,including soldiers, have beenkilled and injured.

Meanwhile, Director Gen-eral SA and SAARC called onto the Indian Deputy High Com-missioner to the Foreign Officeon Wednesday to protest againstcross border firing, said a state-ment from the Ministry of For-eign Affairs. A protest waslodged over the unprovoked fir-

ing by Indian army soldiers lastnight in the Shaqma sector,

Kargil, that resulted in thedeath of a Pakistan Army cap-

tain and injury to anothersoldier. Pakistan conveyed itsserious concerns on the con-tinued violations of the

ceasefire across the LoC bythe Indian Army over thepast few weeks and the escala-

ISLAMABAD: Imran Khan showing white paper to mediapersons during his Press conference at Central Secretariat onWednesday.

Continued on Page 6

DAMASCUS—Syria’s opposi-tion accused President Bashar AlAssad’s forces of gassing manyhundreds of people - by one re-port as many as 1,300 - onWednesday in what would, ifconfirmed, be the world’s worstchemical weapons attack in de-cades.

Western and regional coun-tries called for UN chemicalweapons investigators - who ar-rived in Damascus just threedays ago - to be urgently des-patched to the scene of one ofthe deadliest incidents of thetwo-year-old civil war.

Reuters was not indepen-dently able to verify the cause

of their death. The Syrian gov-ernment denied that it had usedchemical arms.

George Sabra, one of theleading opponents of Assad, saidthe death toll was 1,300 killed bypoison gas rained down on sub-urbs east of Damascus.

“Today’s crimes are ... notthe first time the regime has usedchemical weapons. But they con-stitute a turning point in theregime’s operations,” he told anews conference in Istanbul.“This time it was for annihilationrather than terror.” An oppositionmonitoring group, citing figurescompiled from medical clinics inthe Damascus suburbs, put the

death toll at 494 - 90 per cent ofthem killed by gas, the rest by

bombing and conventionalarms. The rebel Syrian National

1,300 killed in Syria chemical attack, claims Opposition

Continued on Page 6

Coalition said 650 people hadbeen killed. If the cause of death

and the scale of the killing wereconfirmed, it would be the worstknown use of chemical weaponssince Iraqi leader SaddamHussein gassed thousands ofKurds in the town of Halabja in1988.

Activists said rockets withchemical agents hit the Dam-ascus suburbs of Ain Tarma,Zamalka and Jobar during fiercepre-dawn bombardment by gov-ernment forces.

The Damascus Media Officemonitoring centre said 150 bod-ies were counted inHammouriya, 100 in Kfar Batna,67 in Saqba, 61 in Douma, 76 inMouadamiya and 40 in Irbib, all

suburbs of Damascus.A nurse at Douma Emer-

gency Collection facility, BayanBaker, earlier told Reuters thedeath toll collated from medi-cal centres was at least 213.

“Many of the casualties arewomen and children. They ar-rived with their pupils con-stricted, cold limbs and foam intheir mouths. The doctors saythese are typical symptoms ofnerve gas victims,” the nursesaid. Exposure to sarin gascauses pupils in the eyes toshrink to pinpoint sizes andfoaming at the lips.

The UN team is in SyriaContinued on Page 6

Pre-emptive action against Damascus feared

US underground Command in JordanSPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

ISLAMABAD—Gen. MartinDempsey, Chairman of the USJoint Chiefs of Staff inaugurateda Centcom’s Forward Com-mand in Jordan which is fearedto be a prelude for a militaryaction against Syria and possi-bly Iran.

According to reports reach-ing Islamabad several Americanjournalists were permitted to visitthe new war room for the firsttime on condition of non-disclo-sure of its location and secret fa-cilities.

An Israeli intelligence sourcereported in its website that theCommand manned by 273 US

officers, is bomb- and missile-proof against a possible Syr-ian attack.

Diplomatic circle inIslamabad believe that the set-up of this hi-tech Commandmay be a pre-emptive move tolaunch an attack in Syria andset-up a no-fly zone withinContinued on Page 6

OBSERVER REPORT

I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a nTehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairmanImran Khan said on Wednesdaythat the party has compiled a2,000 paged white paper, whichhe claims proves that the elec-tions were rigged.

Addressing a press confer-ence here, he said, “if the Elec-tion Commission of Pakistan(ECP) fails to put a stop to rig-ging in the upcoming electionsthen it will be responsible for theconsequences.”

He added that during the gen-eral elections the party had “fullfaith” on ECP and weren’t pre-pared to take any steps againstrigging. However, the party wasnow prepared, he stated.

PTI Chairman said that thefocus behind the press conferencewas to ensure improvement in theelectoral process.

He said that if voters losetheir faith in the election process

Imran Khan warns ofreaction if by-polls rigged

— publishes 2000-page white paper

Continued on Page 6

then the voter turnout would de-crease.

“Voter turn-out rate was im-mensely affected after the 1970general elections owing to mas-

sive rigging, failing democracyand martial laws. This time, how-ever, it increased after manyyears.” “It’s not just PTI but oth-

Continued on Page 6

CAIRO—An Egyptian court or-dered Wednesday the release ofousted President HosniMubarak, but it is not yet clearif the ailing ex-leader will walkfree after over two years in de-tention, officials said.

Prosecutors may appeal theorder, which comes following ahearing on charges againstMubarak of accepting gifts froma state-owned newspaper, the lastcase that has kept him in deten-tion. It is not known if they willfile they appeal.

The possibility of Mubarakgoing free is likely to fuel theunrest already roiling the coun-try after the autocratic leader’ssuccessor, President MohammedMorsi, was removed in a militarycoup last month. Top prison of-ficial Mostafa Baz told the pri-

Court ordersrelease of Hosni

vate CBC TV station that his of-fices will ask the prosecutorsThursday if Mubarak is wantedin other cases. If not, he wouldbe set free.

The hearing was held in Toraprison, where Mubarak, 85, hasbeen held for most of his deten-tion since April 2011.

Officials cited security con-cerns as the reason for holding itin the sprawling, tightly securedfacility. Mubarak is now on trialfor the killing of protesters dur-ing the 2011 uprising against himand other charges. He was foundguilty and sentenced to life inprison last year for failing to stopthe killing of some 900 protest-ers in Egypt’s 2011 uprising.

His sentence was overturnedon appeal and he is now being

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STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—During a heateddebate in Senate on Wednesday,Interior Minister Chaudhry NisarAli Khan assailed the PakistanPeople’s Party senators for seek-ing accountability of the shortprevailing tenure of PML-N gov-ernment, saying they must jus-tify their own performance first.

After endlessly answeringopposition’s questions regardingIslamabad standoff, he somewhatunexpectedly snapped out atthem, saying Zamarud Khan,who jumped on Sikandar and

Accountability seekers shouldjustify own performance first: NisarBhara Kahu attack was planned in Waziristan

tried to disarm him, has become“peer-o-murshid” for the PPP.

The interior minister went onwith his criticism sayingZamarud had turned his backwhen the gun was pointed at himby Sikandar the main characterof the Jinnah Avenue fiasco. Heaccused the opposition party forpoliticising the incident.

Reminiscing PPPgovernment’s alleged silence onnumber of incidents includingAbbottabad raid by US NavySeals that killed Osama binLaden and terrorist attacks inwhich thousands of people lost

their lives, Chaudhry Nisar saidthat his party backed the govern-ment rather than criticizing it.

Commenting on probe of theIslamabad incident, he said someuseful information has been ob-tained from Sikandar. “The sus-pect (Sikandar) did not hold any-one hostage….he wanted toreach the parliament house build-ing,” said the minister. Withoutnaming anyone, Nisar said therewere some other people involvedin the Jinnah Avenue spectaclealso. “Islamabad is even moresecure than before,” he added.

SC declares null and voidLakhra power plant pactGovt continues mistakes: Justice KhwajaSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—In its order‚ athree-member bench headed byChief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry said thatthe agreement between WAPDAand Associated Group was nottransparent as violations werecommitted in grant of the planton lease.

The apex court also orderedthe government to take actionagainst those responsible.

The court had taken up anappeal by Habibullah EnergyLimited (HEL) against the SindhHigh Court’s Dec 2007 order ofhanding over the Lakhra powerplant to the Associated PowerGeneration Group.

The 150MW plant set up in1995 is situated in Khanote vil-lage on the right bank of theIndus, about 50km fromHyderabad. It comprises threeunits of 50MW each. It was de-signed on the fluidised bed com-bustion technology introduced inPakistan by the Chinese using

indigenous lignite coal as fuel.Online adds: Justice Jawwad SKhawaja has remarked “govern-ment is committing mistakesupon mistakes and an unletteredperson can commit mistake buthere the highly educated personsare committing mistakes.

He further remarked “ earlierministry of water and power ad-mitted their mistake and now itis being said from chairmanWapda Tariq Hamid that he hadcommitted mistake and he hadnot advertised the matter. Whosemistakes we will overlook.Enough is enough . Nationalinstitutions will not be allowedto be sold out.

A 3-member bench of Su-preme Court (SC) presided overby the Chief Justice of Pakistan(CJP) Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry heard Lakhra PowerProject case here Wednesday,

The court nullified LakhraPower Project lease besides or-dering for holding investigationinto the accord and determinationof civil or criminal case.

Secretary water and powerSaif Ullah Chatha told the courtgovernment had postponed thedecision on privatization ofLakhra Power Project.

Justice Azmat Sheikh in-quired “ government has post-poned or withdrawn the decision.

Secretary water and powertold that decision would be keptpostponed unless reservations onthe project are removed. No de-cision will be taken as long as thecase remains pending with thecourt.

The court ordered secretarywater and power to file statementon postponing the privatizationprocess in writing.

CJP remarked “ the thingcalled transparency was no wherein the agreement. PEPRA ruleswere trampled. Attempt wasmade to sell out national institu-tions at throw away rate. Trans-parency stands where whenPresident and Prime Minister hadalready assigned agreement toAssociated Group. Counsel for

By-polls for 41 NA,PA seats today

ISLAMABAD–By-elections onforty-one seats of National andProvincial Assemblies across thecountry will be held today.

Election Commission of Pa-kistan (ECP) has completed ar-rangements to conduct the pollsin free and fair manner.

The election campaign endedTuesday last nigh and no candi-date can hold election rally. How-ever, they can visit door-to-doorfor canvassing.

Meanwhile, Pakistan Armytroops have been deployed allover Sindh in the constituencieswhere by-elections will be held.The election campaign ended last

night and no candidate can holdelection rally. However, they canvisit door-to-door for purpose.Seven thousand six hundred andsix polling stations have beenestablished for the by-elections.

Of these, 3,080 have beendeclared normal, 2,686 sensitiveand 1,840 highly sensitive.Troops will be deployed insideand outside of highly sensitivepolling stations.

The commission has directedthe Returning Officers to sendunofficial results via fax imme-diately after the vote count andofficial results by using the com-

PM urgesJapan to lowertariff rates forPak textiles

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif hassaid that Pakistan attaches highpriority to its relations with Ja-pan and both the countries needto take these relations to furtherheights as these have been con-solidated over the decades.

The Prime Minister ex-pressed these views in a meetingwith Taro kimura, Special Envoyof Japanese Prime Minister, whocalled on him at the PrimeMinister’s Office on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister empha-sized that Japan is a valuable de-velopment and trade partner andPakistan would appreciate fur-ther Japanese investments invarious sectors in the country es-pecially Japan’s special eco-nomic zone.

The Prime Minister said thatdevelopment and national build-ing is the top most priority of thenewly elected democratic gov-ernment of Pakistan and Japaneseinvestment, therefore, would bemost crucial in this regard.

The Prime Minister said thatboth the countries need to takemeasures to raise the level oftheir bilateral trade, which stoodat 2.1 billion dollars in 2012.

“We need to rectify the tradeimbalance which is titled heavily

Continued on Page 6

CDC meetstodayISLAMABAD—Prime Minister(PM) Nawaz Sharif hasconvened Cabinet DefenceCommittee (CDC) meetingtoday for consultation inconnection with prevailingtension on LoC with India andpost US troops pull out Afghansituation.

Following May, 11elections, this is the firstmeeting of this forumconstituted for forgingcoordination and consultationbetween civil and militaryleadership of the country. PMwill preside over the meeting.

Chaman railwaysstn blast kills two,injures 10CHAMAN—A blast near therailway station in Chamandistrict on Wednesday killed atleast two persons and injuredten others.

Security and rescue teamsreached the blast site andshifted the wounded, whichincluded women, children andtwo policemen, to CivilHospital Chaman where anemergency was imposed.

Deputy Commissioner ofChaman said that the remotely-detonated explosives wereplanted on a motorcycle whichwas parked near the ticketbooth at the railway station.

The blast took place when atrain was leaving for Quetta.

High floods atGuddu, Sukkur

barragesSUKKUR—Guddu and SukkurBarrages were in high flood andwater level was on the rise onWednesday.

The inflow of water atGuddu Barrage is 567418 cusecswhile the discharge is 542100cusecs. The inflow of water atSukkur Barrage is 381055 cusecswhile the discharge is 328025cusecs.

According to Flood Fore-casting Division, the water levelat Kotri Barrage is constantly in-creasing. A huge flood tide willpass through Sukkur and GudduBarrage within next twenty-four

Continued on Page 6

Myanmarurged to remedyanti-Muslim cultureBANGKOK—Myanmar mustaddress anti-Muslim propa-ganda and stamp out a cultureof impunity for religiousviolence or risk “catastrophic”levels of conflict, a rights groupwarned.

Physicians for HumanRights described attacks onMuslims, that have swept thecountry since fighting firstbroke out last year as “wide-spread and systematic,” in areport examining unrest thathas killed around 250 peopleand left tens of thousands

Greenpeace shipentry in oil-richArctic deniedMOSCOW—Russian officialsare refusing to allow aGreenpeace icebreaker into thatcountry’s oil-rich Arctic seas asmultinational energy companiesbegin opening those waters todevelopment.

Russian officials arerefusing to allow a Greenpeaceicebreaker into that country’soil-rich Arctic seas as multina-tional energy companies beginopening those waters todevelopment. The Canadian

Continued on Page 6

KOTLI—Indian spy planes al-legedly violated Pakistani air-space in the Nakyal sector inKotli, Azad Kashmir onWednesday.

The Indian planes contin-ued to fly inside Pakistani airspace for several minutes until

Indian spy planes violatePakistan airspace

planes from Pakistan took tothe air, leading to a retreat ofthe Indian planes.

Previously, two Indianfighter planes had enteredPakistan’s airspace near HeadSulemanki border on June11.—Agencies

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Continued on Page 6

PTI leadergunned downin Nowshera

OBSERVER REPORT

NOWSHERA—Mumlikat Khan,leader of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), was gunned downhere on Wednesday, policesources said.

According to police, twoarmed men on a motorcycle in-tercepted the car of Mumlikat

Continued on Page 6

MULTAN—Relief goods, in-cluding 1,000 tents, 1,000 anti-mosquito nets and 5,000 foodhampers, have reached herefrom PDMA and the adminis-tration has intensified rescueand relief operation on reportsof expected surge in the riverChenab in Multan on Thurs-day. Focal person for DistrictFlood Control Room Assis-tant District Collector (ADC)Ali Akbar Bhatti told APP thatJawans of Pakistan Armyequipped with many boatsbesides 15 boats of Rescue1122 and another 70 hired fromprivate persons were engagedin transporting villagers fromflood-hit areas to safer places.

Bhatti said a truckload ofrelief goods had been do-nated by traders of Multanwhich would be utilized toprovide cooked food to flood-affected people availing shel-ter and other facilities at 24relief camps. These camps in-cluded seven category Acamps, eight category B

camps for people having live-stock and nine category Ccamps for those near the em-bankments. He said reliefgoods sent by the Punjab Di-saster Management Author-ity (PDMA) had been handedover to assistant commission-ers concerned for flood-af-fected people.

XEN Irrigation operationsEhsan Khan said the irrigationdepartment had declaredflood emergency in Multanafter water touched the 410feet mark on 423 feet highAkbar Flood embankment,one of the embankmentsguarding the city area. He saidit could go only two feet morehigh in case of minor surge inwater situation. He said waterlevel in the river Chenab was221,126 cusecs today addingthat it reduced by 40,000cusecs compared to last Tues-day. About reports of 300,000cusec water arrival expecta-tions on Thursday, he said itwas an estimate based on situ-

ation at Trimmu Headworksand exact measurement couldonly be gauged once waterreaches Multan. He, however,added that water level inChenab could rise to 270,000to 280,000 cusecs on Thurs-day which is a medium floodsituation. Flood above300,000 cusecs is called highflood situation.

Quoting irrigation offi-cials, Ali Akbar Bhatti saidwater level in Chenab wouldstart rising tonight and theprocess would continue onThursday and may concludetill Friday afternoon. An offi-cial at the Trimmu Headworkstold that the outflow of wa-ter from Trimmu was decreas-ing gradually and was re-corded at 198,000 cusecs anddown stream was 193,000cusecs. Multan is around 160kilometres from Trimmu andwater level in Chenab atMultan could be between225,000 to 250,000 cusecs onThursday, he added.—APP

Black magic:skull collectors

remandedMULTAN—Two brotherswho were caught red handedby people while they weredigging out skulls fromgraves for black magic lastTuesday night were re-manded to police custody forfive days on Wednesday. In-vestigating Officer of ShahShams police station,Muhammad Yaqoob toldAPP that Zahoor Hussain,caretaker of a graveyard nearChowk Naag Shah, heardsome strange noises lastTuesday night, and startedchecking the graveyard. Heinformed local people whoreached the spot and caughtthe two accused,Muhammad Nasir andMuhammad Zakir, while theywere digging graves. Both ofthem who later turned out tobe the sons of the graveyardcaretaker were handed overto police.—APP

Hindus observeRaki tying ritualPESHAWAR—People belong-ing to minority community,especially Hindus gatheredhere in Peshawar at threeseparate temples for obser-vance of Raksha Bandan (thebond of protection between abrother and sister).

Arrangements weremade for observance ofRaskha Bandan at threetemples in Peshawar at his-toric Kali Bari, Lower Courtsand Gor Ghatri, said Ram Lal,a caretaker of Kali BariTemple in Saddar area. Hin-dus and Sikhs from differentcities including Kohat,Bannu and D.I.Khan arrivedPeshawar for observance ofthe festival which is part ofcelebrations of marriage ofGoga Pir, a Hindu deity, ap-prised Ram Lal.

He said Raksha Bandhanis observed throughout theworld by Hindu communityduring monsoon seasonwhile the celebration of GogaPir marriage started a monthearlier and will culminate inthe end of Aug.—APP

I S L A M A B A D —GovernorPunjab Ch. Muhammad SarwarWednesday assured thatAllama Iqbal Open University(AIOU) will be provided all-possible support to run itsopen-schooling system. Hegave this assurance during hismeeting with the AIOU’s Vice-Chancellor Prof. Dr. NazirAhmed Sangi. The AIOU hasalready prepared a draft planto educate one-million drop-out students through open-schooling system within a pe-riod of five years.

It will be free-educationthat will be provided at district-level throughout the countryas a part of the AIOU plan to

help the government to ensurequality education to all seg-ments of the society across thecountry at the earliest possibil-ity time, while implementing theUN millennium goal, 2015. Therequired infrastructure for ar-ranging classes from primary tomatric level will be provided bythe local governments. Whilethe AIOU will arrange teaching,curriculum, admission, exami-nation and assessment facilitiesto run the schools in a profes-sional manner.

The AIOU will acquirethe services of its tutors andstudents to run theseschools, mostly at eveningtimings. The schools will be

opened in those regions atpriority basis, where the lit-eracy rate is below 40 per-cent, said Dr. Sangi whilebriefing the governor onopen-schooling system.

The AIOU has recentlyintroduced an Earn-to-learnscheme in order to involve itsstudents teaching at the levelof open-schooling system.Ch. Muhammad Sarwar whileeulogizing the AIOU’s initia-tive for fighting out illiteracyin the country said that hewill approach the relevantinstitutions at national andinternational level to seeksupport to make its educa-tional plan successful.

He also assured that in-frastructure facility will alsobe made available to AIOUfor setting up its campus of-fice at Toba Tek Singh, hishometown. A temporarybuilding has been providedto start the office on immedi-ate basis that will be inaugu-rated on August 22. Dr. Sangisaid, a pilot project will belaunched soon at one of thedistricts in Punjab to startopen-schooling system.Necessary administrativework has already been done.A task-force has been con-stituted to finalize its details.

The open-schooling, hesaid has already been approved

by the AIOU’s executive coun-cil. About expansion of over-all AIOU’s infrastructural set-up, the vice chancellor said itwas being done on fast-trackbasis, so that accessibility ofquality education to its stu-dents at their nearest placescould be ensured. The AIOU’sRahim Yar Khan building willbe inaugurated by the Gover-nor in the third week of Sep-tember.

Dr. Sangi also briefedthe Governor about expan-sion of its network of exami-nation offices to thecountry’s main cities includ-ing Karachi, Lahore,Peshawar, Quetta.—APP

5 tons aceticanhydride

seized: ANFISLAMABAD—Anti NarcoticsForce (ANF) and PakistanCustoms in a joint operationseized 15 tons of Acetic An-hydride near Rawalpindi. Asper details, ANF and Direc-torate General Intelligenceand Investigation, PakistanCustoms received informa-tion of mislabeled import ofAcetic Anhydride on fakedocuments and further ex-ported to Afghanistan, saida press release.

Container was inter-cepted near Tarnol, once itwas about to leave fromRawalpindi to Peshawar. De-tail check revealed that 15tons of Acetic Anhydride wasbeing transported to Af-ghanistan, mislabeled as For-mic Acid. Further investiga-tions are under process andcase has been registered un-der CNS act by ANF policestation Rawalpindi. It is per-tinent to mention that ANFhas activated all Law En-forcement Agencies.—APP

PESHAWAR—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan hascompleted all arrangementsfor holding of free, fair andtransparent by-polls in KPwhere about 1.94 million reg-istered voters would exercisetheir right of franchise to electeight parliamentarians onThursday. The by-electionsis being held on NA-IPeshawar, NA-5 Nowshera-I, NA-13 Swabi-II, NA-27Lakki Marwat while electionon NA-25 DI Khan cum Tankhas been postponed due tosecurity reasons.

By election is also beingheld on provincial assemblyseats of PK-23 Mardan-I, PK-27 Mardan V, PK-42 Hangu Iand PK-70 Bannu I. Accord-ing to an official of ElectionCommission, around 1361 poll-ing stations and 2999 pollingbooths have been setup forvoters to exercise their right ofvotes in a free atmosphere. He

said all the necessary electionmaterials have been handedover to the respective Return-ing Officers whereas presidingofficers and assisting presid-ing officers have been directedto reach their respective poll-ing stations/polling booths atearliest.

In Peshawar, a total of225 polling stations and 684polling booths have beensetup for 320,581 registeredvoters. On NA-1, a total of12 candidates are in the runincluding ANP leader andformer Federal Minister HajiGhulam Ahmed BIlour, PTIGul Badshah and SamadMursalin (Independent). Theothers candidates areJehangir Raza Khan of TahrikTahfuz e Pakistan, KamranSiddiq, Mohammad IbrahimQasami of Mutahida DeeniMahaz, Mohammad AteequrRahman, Malik Najeeb GulKhalil and Yaseem Sherazi.

On NA-5 Nowshera-I, a to-tal six candidates are going totry their luck where real battlewould be between PTI DrImran Khattak and ANP DaudKhattak. ON NA-13 Swabi-II,10 candidates are in the race,wherein a neck to neck contestwill be expected between Paki-stan Tehrik-e-Insaf Aqibullahand Jamiat-e-Ulema IslamAttaul Haq. The other candi-dates on NA-13, include IshaqAhmad, Aurang Sher, KhalidMehmood, Shamsul Qamar,Attuallah Shah, Umar Gul,Muhammad Ayaz, andMuhammad Kaleem.

On NA-27 Lakki Marwat,16 candidates are contestingelections, wherein a toughcontest is expected betweenPTI’s Colonel AmirullahMarwat (Retd), MaulanaAttuar Rahman of JUI-F, andMualana Hidayatullah KhanChisti of Muttahida DeeniMahaz.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The HigherEducation Commission (HEC)has conferred Best UniversityTeacher Award on 63 facultymembers of public and privatesector universities in recog-nition of their devoted effortsfor playing an important rolefor enhancing the academicatmosphere in their respectiveinstitutions.

Mian Muhammad BalighUr Rehman Minister of State forEducation, Training & Stan-dards in Higher Education wasthe chief guest at the Awardceremony. For the year 2011,153 nominations were receivedfrom higher education institu-tions from all over the country.After scrutiny and comprehen-sive evaluation, 63 teachers

have been selected by the se-lection committee. This Awardincludes a Certificate of Meritand a cash prize of Rs. 100,000.

Speaking on the occa-sion, he appreciated effortsof HEC for launching aprogramme for recognizingthe valuable contribution ofteachers. He said that thisnational recognition of thecontributions made by uni-versity faculty will act as cata-lyst for others to enhancetheir efforts in the fields ofteaching and research. Heurged the teachers to be arole model for their colleaguesas well as students.

He assured that PML (N)government as per its mani-festo would undertake number

of steps to raise the status ofteacher in the society. Dr.Javaid R. Laghari, ChairpersonHEC, said that faculty is theheart and soul of higher edu-cation system and reputationof the institution depends ontheir performance. He empha-sized that the universities aresupposed to build communi-ties and economies but it is notpossible without proactivecontribution of teachers.

Dr. Laghari urged the fac-ulty members to ensure that thequality of teaching and re-search improves constantly.He also underlined the impor-tance of a strong linkage be-tween universities and the so-ciety. Dr. Laghari also appreci-ated the efforts of academics

division HEC for organizing asuccessful event. Prof. Dr.Mukhtar Ahmed, ExecutiveDirector HEC said that bestteacher award program aims toimprove the quality of educa-tion along with enhancing ex-ternal and internal efficiency ofuniversity education.

It also envisages to up-grade quality of researchthrough staff developmentand provision of better facili-ties. He also underlined therole of teachers for bringingpositive change in the soci-ety. Best University Teach-ers Award Program was initi-ated by HEC in 2004 to im-prove the quality of educa-tion along with enhancingexternal.—Online

Awards conferred on 63best university teachers

ISLAMABAD: Muhammad Baligh-ur-Rehman, State Minister for Training and Standards in Higher Education, giving awaycertificate to a university teacher during Best University Teacher Award 2011 ceremony at HEC.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

WAH CANTT: Lt Gen Muhammad Ahsan Mahmood, Chairman POF Board, laying the floral wreath at Yadgar-e-Shuhada on the eve of 5th death anniversary of POF Shuhada.

OBSERVER REPORT

WAH CANTT—Fifth DeathAnniversary of POF Shuhadawas observed in Wah Cantt.with dignity and honour. On21st August’2008, 70 POF Em-ployees embarrassed martyr-dom and 196 injured in 02 sui-cide attack at POF gates. Inorder to pay tribute to theseShuhadas, this day is ob-served in POF every year andspecial prayer functions areheld for them. This year too, asimple and impressive func-tion was held at POF Hotel inorder to pay homage to theseShuhadas.

Lt Gen MuhammadAhsan Mahmood, HI (M)Chairman POF Board wasthe Chief Guest on this oc-casion. Addressing on thisoccasion, Chairman POFBoard said that we saluteto the pious souls of thesePOF shuhadas who laiddown their l ives for POF

and motherland and reaf-firmed our pledge that wewould not let their greatsacrifices to go in waste &make the defence of themotherland invincible.Chairman POF Board fur-ther remarked that the cow-ard act of the terroristswould not lessen our cour-age and we would continueto shoulder our responsi-bilities with courage, dedi-cation and commitment.

He further announced toset up a fund throughwhich educational and mar-riage expenditures of thesons and daughters of theShuhada would be met.Chairman POF Board gaveaway cheques valuingRs.20 thousand to familymember of each Shaheed.He further assured them toget flat for the family mem-bers of the POF Shuhadasfrom the residential schemebeing launched by Punjab

Govt. at Taxila.A large number of fam-

ily members of theShuhada and injured par-ticipated in this function.Chairman POF Board in-quired about the problemsof the family members ofShuhada, assured them toresolve their problems atthe earliest, expressed hissolidari ty and sympathywith them and informedthem the steps being takenby POF Administration fortheir welfare.

Chairman POF Boardstressed upon POF employ-ees that they should shoul-der their duties with hon-esty for the progress of thisorganization so that thisdefence installation couldmake progress by leapsand bounds and assuredthe employees that POFadministration would takeevery possible steps fortheir welfare.

5th anniversary ofPOF martyrs observed

Punjab Governor resolves toeducate one million students

1.94m KP registered voters toelect eight parliamentarians

Relief goods distributed

SWAT: Dengue affected patients are being treated in isolation ward of Saidu SharifHospital.

Academic evaluation

Load-shedding reducedISLAMABAD—The National Assemblyon Wednesday was informed that du-ration of electricity load-shedding hasreduced significantly by six to sevenhours due to the steps taken by thegovernment. The National Assemblyresumed its session in Islamabad onWednesday with Deputy SpeakerMurtaza Javed Abbasi in the chair. Min-ister of State for Water and Power AbidSher Ali told the Hour during question

hour that 1700 MW electricity has been added to the na-tional grid following retirement of circular debt by the gov-ernment. He said equitable load-shedding is being ensuredacross the country as per the directions of the SupremeCourt. He said the government is committed to completelyeradicate power theft and in this regard smart meters arebeing introduced. Referring to the government’s measuresto enhance electricity generation, the Minister of Statesaid the government is pursuing a two pronged policycomprising supply side measures and demand side mea-sures to end load-shedding in the country. He said over4600 megawatt electricity will be added to the national gridin the short term. He said that work on Neelum-Jhelum andNandipur Power Projects has been expedited as part ofgovernment efforts to produce cheap electricity. He pointedout that demand of electricity has increased more thanfifty percent in the last seven years and efforts both onshort-term and long-term basis are being made to bridgethe demand and supply gap. All sources including hydeland alternative energy are being explored for this purpose.The Minister of State told the House that Water and PowerDevelopment Authority has prepared a master plan to con-struct small and big dams not only to cope with the short-age of water but also meet energy crisis.—Online

Befitting replyMUZAFFARABAD—Opposition leader inNational Assembly (NA) Syed KhurshidShah and PPP information secretaryQamar Zaman Kaira have warned if anybid is made by India to impose war thenPakistan knows well to give befittingreply. They said this while talking toOnline here Wednesday. Syed KhurshidShah said Mian Nawaz Sharif has be-come Prime Minster (PM) for third termand he cannot give any concession to

India at any cost. India will have to come forward for talks.He went on to say recent ceasefire violations by Indiahave reached the peak and interior minister should playvital role in this respect. “We call upon UN to preventIndia from committing violations of ceasefire accord “, headded. Kaira said barrister Sultan Mehmood has broughtno trust move against party prime minister and AJK PPPpresident, which constitutes sheer violation of party dis-cipline. Therefore, it cannot be pardoned in any way, headded. Barrister has no relevance with PPP now, he held.There is no terrorism inside AJK, he said adding it is notcorrect to dub arrest made from Muzaffarabad in connec-tion with Islamabad incident as terrorism. To a question hesaid it does not seem that PM Nawaz Sharif will supportlotacracy again in AJK.PM will not commit this folly again,he hoped. PPP leader Zammurd Khan said Islamabad inci-dent bears evidence to security failure. My consciencecommanded me to move forward and I reached close toSikandar. Had I not done so , this drama would have con-tinued the whole night long, he added.—Online

Gilani reiterates plea for VDCs dissolutionISLAMABAD—Veteran Hurriyet leader inIndian occupied Kashmir Syed Ali Gilanihas reiterated the demand for disband-ing of the so-called Village DefenceCommittees. (VDCs). Syed Ali Gilani ina statement issued in Srinagar said thatdissolution of the militia of SanghParivar was not only imperative forbringing an end to atrocities on theMuslim population of the Jammu regionbut also maintaining communal har-

mony in the territory, KMS reported. He said that crores ofrupees fund for the VDCs and salary of its members wasan extra burden on the exchequer of the occupied territory,adding that the amount was being utilised for suppressingthe Muslim community of Jammau region, which was un-just. He said that the authorities were equally responsiblefor rights violations committed by (VDCs) as they supportthem. The veteran Hurriyet leader said that people couldbe silenced through continued imposition of curfew in theregion but it could not be termed durable peace. He saidthat arrest and exemplary punishment to the people in-volved in the August 9 incident was only way to maintainpeace. He also demanded release of all illegally detainedKashmiri youth. Describing the puppet Chief Minister,Omar Abdulla as a weak politician, Syed Ali Gilani said thathis five-year tenure gave nothing to the Kashmiri peoplebut cruelty, depression and suppression. He said that dis-banding of VDCs was not in his jurisdiction as he wasnothing than a show boy.—APP

Modern citiesPESHAWAR—Chief Minister KhyberPakhtunkhwa Pervez Khattak has saidthat two mega cities of international stan-dards with all the facilities of modernlifestyle are being established onMotorway M-1 near Colonel Sher KhanShaheed Interchange and atAbbottabad. This he said while chair-ing a meeting of Provincial Housing De-partment at his office. He said that itwas vision of the Chairman Pakistan

Tehrik-e-Insaf Imran Khan to provide modern residentialfacilities to the public of the province at affordable prices.Secretary Housing Department gave a detailed briefing tothe participants of the meeting on various aspects of themega city projects. The project of a proposed mega cityon Motorway M-1 will be completed at an estimated costof Rs.45.80 billion on 45,000 kanal land. This mega city willhave all the facilities of modern civic facilities includingeducation complex, medical complex, five/seven star ho-tel, commercial zone, police station, Mosques, Apartments,Golf course, theme parks, petrol/CNG stations, playgrounds, green belts, wide roads, electricity, sui gas andothers. It will serve a population of more than 602130.Addressing the meeting the Chief Minister termed theproject as of great importance and directed the authoritiesconcerned to prepare the final plan of the project withinfifteen days so that the same could be approved formally.He said that the proposed mega city will be first of itsnature not only in the province but in the country as well.The meeting was told that because of its unique and im-portant location the mega city will become a hub of com-mercial and business activities. Public private partnershipor any other feasible mood of implementation will beadopted/decided for the project. The Chief Minister di-rected the authorities of housing department to take nec-essary steps for the acquisition of land for the proposedmega city at Abbottabad. Besides others Special Assis-tant to Chief Minister on housing department Mr. AmjadAfridi, Additional Chief Secretary, Planning and Develop-ment, Khalid Pervez, Additional Chief Secretary FinanceSahibzada Saeed.—APP

FESCO issuesshutdown noticeFAISALABAD—The FaisalabadElectric Supply Company(FESCO) has issued a shut-down notice for necessary re-pair, maintenance and expan-sion of electricity lines. Ac-cording to the programme is-sued here on Wednesday,power supply from Amin Townfeeder emanating from 132-KVOTP grid station will remainsuspended from 7:00 am to 1:00pm while City Sammundri,Dijkot Road and Farooq feed-ers originating from 132-KVSammundri Road grid stationwill observe shutdown from6:00 a.m. to 12:00 noon onThursday (August 22). Simi-larly, electricity supply fromWaryam Road, City, Rissala,Dabbanwala.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The competentauthority in the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Local Govern-ment, Elections and RuralDevelopment Departmenthas dismissed 16 officersand officials of theMansehra Development Au-thority with immediate effectafter finalization of inquiryunder process against themin the office of Syed KamranShah (PCS SG BS-20) oncharges levelled againstthem in accordance with theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Ser-vants (Efficiency and Disci-pline) Rules, 2011. In a dis-missal order issued by theLocal Government, Electionsand Rural Development De-partment on Wednesday ithas been explained that theunder mentioned officers ofMansehra Development Au-

thority were charge sheetedand Syed Kamran Shah wasappointed as inquiry officerto conduct inquiry againstthe said officers/officials.

The inquiry officer exam-ined the charges, evidenceson record and explanationsof the accused officers/offi-cials and submitted his re-port recommending imposi-tion of major penalty of “Dis-missal from service” uponthe accused. On goingthrough the findings and rec-ommendations of the inquiryofficer, the material on recordand connected papers in-cluding defense by the ac-cused officers/officials, thecompetent authority has im-posed a major penalty of“Dismissal from Service”upon the under mentioned 16officers and officials of theMDA.

The officers/officials so

far dismissed from servicesinclude: Riazul Haq, the thenproject director (BP-19),Mansehra now PD, KDA,Kaghan; Syed Asad Ali Shah,the then project director,MDA now manager TourismCorporation BS-19; SajjadAhmad Jan, account officer(BS-17) MDA Mansehra;Muhammad Akhtar Khan,assistant director (tech) BS-17 MDA Mansehra; AjmalHussain Shah, ex-assistanthousing officer (BS-14),MDA Mansehra now officeassistant ADA, Abbottabad;Ashfaq Ahmad, sub engineer(BS-11) MDA; MuhammadSaeed, building inspectorMDA; Fiaz Ahmad, drafts-man MDA; Mushtaq AhmadQureshi, stenographer ADA,Abbottabad; Syed MazharHussain Shah, H/O divisionalaccountant MDA;Muhammad Khurshid-1.

RAFIULLAH MANDOKHAIL

ZHOB—A 3-day capacitybuilding workshop onZoonotic diseases for mediaassociate persons under Bio-Engagement program orga-nized by Relief Internationalconcluded here on Tuesday.Journalists associated withprint and electronic media at-tended the workshop. DistrictProgram Manager Abuzer,Veterinary Officer Dr. SyedRamazan Shah, Dr. YousafHassan and Dr. Naseebullahbriefed the participants andhighlighted the danger ofZoonotic diseases.

Highlighting the pur-poses and objectives of“Livestock for Life” project,they said that the main ob-

jective of the project was ad-vocacy and awareness as wellas capacity building.“Zoonotic diseases - Rabies,Anthrax, Leshmeniasis, Tu-berculosis, Tetanus, Brucello-sis, Dengue , Congo and BirdFlue are considered the dead-liest public health hazards.They said. “Zhob district fallson route of nomads (Kochis),where they temporarily staywith their cattle. The migrationof nomads is the biggest rea-son of cattle-born diseases inthe area”. They maintained.

Veterinary experts saidthat there are some diseaseswhich are curable but owingto lack of precautionary mea-sures, timely diagnosis andeffective treatment; they arenow a very tough challenge

for human beings. Congo fe-ver is one of them, which is aviral and fatal disease. Lackof awareness is the majorhurdle in combating the dis-ease. They added. “Cong fe-ver is caused by a tick-bornvirus. Birds are the mainhosts for the immaturestages of this tick species.However, migratory speciescould carry infected ticksover long distances andthereby disseminate the vi-rus. The hosts of the Congovirus include a wide range ofwild and domestic animalssuch as cattle, sheep andgoats. Animals become in-fected by the bite of infectedticks and the virus remainsin their bloodstream for aboutone week after infection.

JHANG—As many as 300 vil-lages in the district were af-fected by floodwater of RiverChenab. The Jhang city issurrounded by floodwater ofrivers Chenab and Jehlum.Standing crops on thou-sands of acres of land werewashed away by flood in thedistrict.

Two persons drowned infloodwater here on Wednes-day. According to Rescue-1122 sources, five personswere taking a dip in floodwa-ter in Mauza Wijhlana whenthey went into deep waterand could not swim.

The staff of Rescue-1122

ISLAMABAD—Chief of JamiatUlema-e-Islam (JUI-F)Maulana Fazlur Rehman onWednesday described post-ponement of by-elections inD.I Khan’s NA-25 a “con-spiracy” against his partyand called for scheduled vot-ing in the constituency.

The Election Commis-sion of Pakistan Tuesdaynight cancelled August 22by-polls in Dera IsmailKhan’s National Assemblyconstituency N-25 overfears of an impending ter-rorist attack and unfavor-

MASTUNG/QUETTA—Threepersons including two secu-rity personnel sustained se-rious injuries in a bomb ex-plosion near Motorway Po-lice vehicle in Khat Kochaarea in Mastung district onWednesday.

According to securitysources, Motorway Policewere on routine patrolling inthe area when a plantedbomb on the road explodedwith a big bang, injuring threepersons including two secu-rity personnel.

The injured were shiftedto hospital for treatmentwhere they were stated to bein critical condition. The se-curity forces and other lawenforcement agencies cor-doned off the entire area and

started search operation forhunting the miscreants inconnection of the blast.

Meanwhile, the FrontierCorps (FC) personnel onWednesday arrested at leasteight suspected persons oncharges of target killings,kidnapping and snatchingvehicles in Pashtoonabadarea of Quetta. According toFC sources, on tip off, theFC personnel conductedraids at two houses in thearea from where they ar-rested eight suspects in-volved in target killings, kid-nap for ransom, robberiesand snatching vehicles andmotorbikes. The suspectedpeople were shifted to un-disclosed location for inves-tigation.—INP

300 villages in Jhang district under flood-waterpresent at a nearby flood re-lief camp rushed to the spotand rescued three personsidentified as Khalid, Hasnainand Rafiq. The bodies of HajiKubhar and Bashir Mochiwere fished out after an hec-tic efforts of five hours.

Meanwhile, all roads lead-ing to Jhang city were underfloodwater due to whichthere are shortage of veg-etables, milk, meat and fod-der in the city.

The prices of essentialitems have also increasedmanifold. Citizens of Jhanghave demanded the authori-ties concerned to take stock

of the situation and do theneedful for the rehabilitationof flood victims.

Lahore: River Chenab atPanjnad is likely to attainmedium to high flood levelranging between 275000-325000 cusecs between Au-gust 23-24, flood forecastingdivision reported hereWednesday.

Meanwhile, River Indus atGuddu is in high flood, whileChenab at Trimmu, and Raviat Balloki were in mediumflood,stated the report. RiverIndus at Chashma andSukkur,River Kabul atNowshera, Ravi at Sidhnai

and Sutlej at G.Swala,Sulemanki and Islam areat low flood level. Accordingto Met experts,scattered thun-der showers are expected overMehmand, Bajour andKhyber Agencies, Malakand,Hazara, Peshawar andRawalpindi divisionsalongwith Islamabad, Kash-mir and Gilgit Baltistan in next24 hours. Floodwater in theRiver Ravi damaged standingcrops on hundreds of acresin the district. A deluge of100,000 cusecs passedthrough the river inundatedcrops around Mouza Tatar,Mehlokey.—APP

Postponement of by-polls aconspiracy against JUI-F

able security conditions.In a letter to the Chief

Election Commissioner, theJUI-F chief expressed hisreservations over the ECPmove and called for imme-diate voting in his home-town consti tuency whichhe vacated since he wonthe May 11 election from allthree National Assemblyseats he contested.

PTI chief Imran Khanhad also campaigned in theconsti tuency, exchangingfiery rhetoric with the reli-gious party leader.—INP

PESHAWAR—On the direc-tives of Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif, thechiefs of National DisasterManagement Authority(NDMA) and Provincial Di-saster Management Author-ity (PDMA) visited flood-af-fected areas in Chitral. Chair-man, NDMA, MohammadSaleem Aleem and PDMA Di-rector General Atif Rahmanvisited the deputycommissioner’s office wherethey were briefed about theflood and losses caused by it.

Addressing a gatheringat the venue, Aleem said hu-mans cannot stop naturalcalamities but can minimize

NDMA, PDMA chiefs visitChitral to assess flood damages

losses through better plan-ning. He also expressed griefover the seven lives lost inthe recent flood in Chitral. “Aproject has been launched tocreate awareness about howto be safe in natural disas-ters and deal with critical situ-ations to avoid damages,”said Aleem, adding affectedpeople would be compen-sated and reconstruction ofinfrastructure would also be-gin soon.

Provincial Disaster Man-agement Authority-PDMAhas released Rs.18 million toDeputy Commissioner Chitralon account of initiative takenfor relief activities immedi-

ately, said Atif Rehman. Hefurther added, PDMA has al-ready provided 200 tents, 200blankets and other Non Fooditems in large number to Dis-trict Administration Chitral foraffected population. DistrictAdministration has given Rs.0.7 million compensations to7 families on account of lifelosses in recent flood, Hesaid.

The Provincial DisasterManagement Authority-PDMA Punjab has dis-patched relief goods i.e. 5000Food hampers, 1000 Tents,6000 Blankets and Medicinefor the flood victims of Chitralloaded on 20 Trucks.—APP

Lack of awareness major hurdlein combating Zoonotic diseases

16 officers of MDA dismissed

3 injured in attack on policevan; 8 suspects arrested

Rain expected inHazara division

ISLAMABAD—The weather islikely to remain partly cloudyin most parts of the provinceincluding provincial capitalin next 24 hours with chancesof rain in Hazara andMalakand divisions. Talkingto APP here on Wednesday,official of the met office saidcloudy weather is expectedin most parts of KhyberPakhtunkhwa on August 22with chances of rain and thun-derstorm in Hazara andMalakand divisions. Thetemperature remained 38 de-gree centigrade in Peshawaron Wednesday while theminimum temperature re-corded in Peshawar was 24degrees.

Official of the met officeinformed that humidity re-mained 45 percent in the pro-vincial capital. He said 2 mmrain has been recorded inSaidu Sharif in the last 24hours while 5 mm in

Taimargara. The Met Officeon Wednesday forecast apartly cloudy weather withchances of drizzle in the me-tropolis during the next 24hours. The maximum tem-

perature will remain in therange of 32 to 34 degreecelsius during the next 24hours.

Mainly hot humid weatheris likely to prevail elsewhere inthe region, the weather forecastsaid. APPThe MeteorologicalDepartment Wednesday fore-cast rain for Hazara divisionduring next 24 hours that wouldhopefully bring the temperaturecongenital.—APP

MURIDKE: People moving to safer places after flood situation in Nullah Dek at Tapyala Dost Muhammad.

PESHAWAR: Polling officials on the way after getting polling material at City No. 1School for by-election in NA-1 constituency.

HYDERABAD: Students holding the polio awareness walk organized by Rotary Club.

Dar brings WB aroundon Diamer-Bhasha DamThe unambiguous statement of the World Bank Vice President (Op

erations) Xiaoyu Zhao that the Bank is on board and supportive ofthe construction of Diamer-Bhasha Dam, can rightly be taken as news

of the decade because of the significance of the decision and its positiveimpact on implementation of this project of national importance. The an-nouncement came during his meeting with Finance Minister Ishaq Dar,who conveyed to the visitor the firm commitment of the Government tobuild the Dam and played a major role in bringing the WB around on DB.

Unlike Kalabagh Dam, Diamer-Bhasha Dam is a non-controversialproject, the inauguration of which took place way back during Musharrafera but unfortunately there is no worthwhile progress on its implementa-tion except comparatively small yearly allocations made in the budget forland acquisition and statements churned out by leaders about its execution.Even allocations of last year were diverted by the then Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf for development schemes in his native constituency in GujarKhan, which spoke volumes about the non-serious stance of the PPP Gov-ernment on the project. Apart from lackluster attitude of the rulers, fundinghas been one of the major hurdles and in this backdrop the decision of theWorld Bank to support its construction augurs well especially because ithas dropped its illogical demand of seeking NOC for the Dam from thecountry’s arch enemy India. One can now expect practical steps for execu-tion of the project as Asian Development Bank too had expressed its will-ingness to provide finances for the purpose while the Islamic DevelopmentBank has moved a step further in providing 100 million Euros for its con-struction. It is significant to note that all these achievements were the out-come of the untiring efforts of Ishaq Dar, who remained engaged withthese institutions and convinced them to support this vital project. Dar suc-cessfully presented budget just within days of assumption of power byPML(N), held fruitful negotiations with IMF for fresh package and took anumber of other initiatives but the one to seek finances of D-B Dam projecttops all of them. We hope that the Finance Minister, Minister for Water andPower and especially the Prime Minister would see to it that in future nobottlenecks are allowed to retard the execution of this project and ensurethat the construction of Dam begins at the earliest.

MQM on elections under UN!MQM is known to be a party of educated but middle class but at

times some of its leaders make such statements that run contrary notonly to the given perception about the MQM but also against the groundrealities which turns them into a butt of jokes. The latest is the statement ofits Deputy Convener Nasir Jamal who has demanded population census,fresh de-limitation of constituencies and polls under the supervision of theUnited Nations.

The MQM leader has offered a strange logic to support his conten-tion saying that if investigations into BB murder case can be done by theUN then why not elections. He has conveniently ignored that there is ahell of difference between the two, as apart from other things the assassi-nation of BB was thought to be offshoot of an international conspiracyand what does involvement of the UN means in a purely domestic affairsof a country like holding of elections. We, however, may point out thatthis is in line with some other stray statements made off and on by MQMleadership that were received by the nation with utter surprise and dis-may and in some cases the leadership had to take them back. Nasir Jamalmust realize that it was the census conducted by Pakistani institutionsthat showed overwhelming majority of Urdu-speaking population in ur-ban areas and elections conducted by the Election Commission made itpossible for the party to remain part of the coalition during two succes-sive governments. We hope that the MQM’s top leadership would re-strain its leaders and workers from making statements that not only castdark shadows on the party but also bring bad name to the country.

Technical hub ofAl-Qaeda in Lahore

THE bursting of technical hub of al-Qaeda right in Lahore by intelligence agencies on Tuesday shocked a vast majority of people

who are questioning as to how it functioned unnoticed for such a long timedespite a number of search operations after the incidence of every terroristact in the Provincial capital. The sophisticated digital devises recoveredfrom the venue show how well entrenched the outfit is in Pakistan andthere is every possibility of similar communication centres in other citiesand inaccessible areas serving the needs of al Qaeda and other militantorganisations.

It irritates one about faulty intelligence gathering system of our agen-cies despite the fact that they are spending billions of rupees unaudited onequipment and manpower. According to details, the arrested suspects wereengaged in mobile phone tracking of their victims and planning to kidnapson of a key political figure and several others. Our agencies claim to beequipped with latest equipment including Global Positioning System (GPS)tracking devices to determine the precise location of a vehicle, person, orother assets of terrorists, yet they failed to locate a facility doing the samejob in their midst for such a long time. It is because of the lacklustre andinefficient performance of the security agencies that Lahore suffered themaximum terrorist attacks and same is happening in KPK, FATA,Balochistan and Karachi. Another startling report came out from Quettathe same day where the Frontier Corps seized more than 100 tons of explo-sives, improved explosive devices, detonators and other arms and ammu-nition that were smuggled into the city. While we appreciate the securityagencies for unearthing of the technical hub of al-Qaeda in Lahore andrecovery of explosives in massive quantity in Quetta, it should also serveas an eye openers for the ranks and files of the institutions entrusted withthe sacred task of internal security of the country and we expect that theywould also be made accountable for their lapses.

Anti-Pakistan chauvinism in India

The early birdcatches the worm.

General isno longer

untouchable

Compared with the announcement in June in which thePakistani prime minister,

Nawaz Sharif, declared hisgovernment’s intention to presscharges against Pervez Musharraffor treason, Tuesday’s court indict-ment against the former militaryruler for murder in connection withthe assassination of Benazir Bhuttois a sideshow. Few analysts believethere is hard evidence linking MrMusharraf to Bhutto’s murder, al-though a UN report concluded thathe failed to make serious efforts toensure her safety. The treasoncharges, if they materialise, are adifferent matter, as the legal case thathe subverted the constitution whenhe imposed emergency rule in late2007 is relatively easy to make.

Mr Musharraf already facescharges in four cases related to hisperiod of rule. One way or another,it amounts to the same thing: put-ting a once untouchable general ontrial. Pakistan’s powerful militarydid not support his return from ex-ile in London but they would alsonot want to see one of their owndragged through the courts. Muchhas changed in his absence. Thechief justice, Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry, with whom MrMusharraf feuded for most of histime in office, is about to retire.There has been an unprecedentedoutbreak of criticism against thechief justice, from within his ownranks, the Lahore High Bar Asso-ciation, and from the politicianImran Khan. Mr Chaudhry nolonger walks on water as far as manyof his activist lawyers are concerned.

More importantly, the army,too, is about to have a new leader.In his forthcoming book, GettingAway With Murder, the man wholed the UN investigation inBhutto’s assassination, HeraldoMuñoz, describes the outgoingarmy chief, General Ashfaq ParvezKayani, as a professional soldier ofindependent mind. Mr Muñoz saidthat the general expressed doubtsto him about the claim by hisformer boss Mr Musharraf thatBhutto had been assassinated by thePakistani Taliban. He also spokefondly of Bhutto, saying she hadgrown as a politician.

All this further muddies thewaters about who was really behindher assassination. The author him-self concludes that almost every-one played a part. Mr Musharrafwas ill advised to return to Paki-stan, where his political support hasevaporated and where he spends histime under house arrest. Even witha new army chief and chief justice,Mr Sharif will have to balance thedemand to seek justice for emer-gency rule, with the needs of a mili-tary that remains the most power-ful institution in the land. A presi-dential pardon for Mr Musharraf,if convicted, could be one way out.Establishing the rule of law is go-ing to take somewhat longer.— The Guardian

*****

Impartialjudiciary &Musharraf

Former Pakistani military rulerPervez Musharraf was formally charged on three counts

for the assassination of formerPrime Minister Benazir Bhutto.The charges were murder, con-spiracy to commit murder and thefacilitation of murder.

Whether he is guilty or not, itis important that this trial — whichhas the potential to rivet observersoutside Pakistan and in the state aswell — is organised in a democraticand unprejudiced manner. Theformer general must get the oppor-tunity to put up an adequate de-fence, while acquainting himselfwith the interpretations of the law.There are probably many withinPakistan’s political fraternity, no-tably the judiciary, who may wishto grind the axe on Musharraf forhis alleged lapses in the past, butthe country’s able judges must beobjective and impartial.

Musharraf is seen as someonewho did not exactly champion thecause of democracy. He managedto alienate many while at the helm.He must, however, accept that it isthe democratic infrastructure thathas now thwarted his ambitions asa politician who wanted to castaside the bullet and win by the bal-lot. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

—Proverb

Although Indian blame-game against Pakistanabout violations at Line of

Control (LoC) in Kashmir has hid-den purposes, yet it has been cre-ating anti-Pakistan chauvinism.However, by acting upon apreplanned scheme, Indian sol-diers crossed over LoC in Kash-mir on January 6, this year and at-tacked a Pakistani checkpost, kill-ing one Pakistani soldier and in-juring many troops. Besides, In-dian troops shot dead two Paki-stani soldiers on LoC on January10 and 15. This practice continuedfrom time to time.

While, in order to justify its ag-gression, India concocted a fabri-cated story of accusing PakistanArmy of killing its five soldiers onAugust 6, this year, In this regard,Indian External Affairs MinisterSalman Khurshid and other officialsblamed Pak Army for the incident.In this respect, Pakistan ForeignOffice and Pak Army sourcesstrongly denied Indian accusationsas “baseless and unfounded.”

Earlier, Indian Army Chief Gen-eral Bikram Singh had alreadythreatened to retaliate against Paki-stan for the alleged killing of its sol-diers, saying, he had asked his com-manders there to be aggressive in theface of provocation. This actuallyhappened in the recent days. Whileaccusing Pak Army of firing alongthe LoC, Indian troops perenniallystarted unprovoked firing at the LoCin Kashmir including WorkingBoundary in Sialkot and Nakiyal

On Capital punishment

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All successful governmentsaround the world work according to systems, proce-

dures and policies which is why de-spite change of governments, suchcountries keep proceeding on the setpath to progress. Unfortunately, thatis not so in our beloved country,which is mostly run on the whimsand fancies of individuals at thehelm, who often turn out to be suit-able for any position except the onethey are in, and that happens to beour greatest misfortune. Also, whilefederal and provincial parliaments aswell as senate exist, important deci-sions are on occasions made just byone or two persons, without the mat-ter being discussed in depth by theparliamentarians, maximum contri-bution of some of whom remainslimited to thumping the desks whentheir heroes are demonstrating theirskills at oratory, irrespective ofwhether or not these are relevant tothe urgent needs of the country andthe people. I must admit that thisthumping of desks also serves a use-ful purpose: it keeps from sleepingthose who have a tendency to dozeoff and wakes up others who seemto be enjoying a short nap, as oftenshown on television.

Recently, the government hadannounced its intention to carry outexecution of few convicted criminalsfor whom all legal remedies hadbeen exhausted. Even the names ofthe convicts and dates of hanging hadbeen announced, after signing of theBlack (death) Warrant by the ActingPresident in the absence of PresidentAsif Ali Zardari, who had main-tained a moratorium on executions

sector, which killed some ci-vilians. But Indian guns be-came silence when Pak Armyand Rangers responded withequal response. RegardingPak-Indian new peace pro-cess, Indian Foreign Minis-

ter Salman Khurshid said on August16, “Talks with Pakistan become dif-ficult or impossible or are suspended,the situation as of now is not condu-cive for talks with Islamabad.”

Earlier, Indian External AffairsMinistry spokesman SyedAkbaruddin stated that India wouldnot hold talks with Islamabad untilissues related to the LoC ceasefireviolations and the alleged killing offive Indian soldiers were not ad-dressed. It shows that there is neitherany chance of the proposed Nawaz-Manmohan meeting next month inthe sidelines of the UN General As-sembly session, nor prospect visit ofIndian Prime Minister ManmohanSingh’s visit to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, in his address, dur-ing India’s Independence Day, Con-gress-led Indian premier Singhwarned Pakistan on August 15 againstusing its soil for “anti-India activity”over a deadly attack on Indian sol-diers. Nevertheless, the ongoing pre-text of India is to create obstacle inthe way of the new peace processwith Pakistan so that Pak-Indian is-sues like Siachen, Sir Creek, WullarBarrage, water and especially maindispute of Kashmir remain unre-solved. In the past too, New Delhiavailed various crises to suspend theprocess of Pak-India talks. For ex-ample, in 2002, under the pretensionof terrorist attack on the Indian par-liament, India postponed the processof dialogue. Again, in 2008, Indiasuspended the ‘composite dialogue’under the pretext of Mumbai terrorattacks which were in fact, arranged

by its secret agency RAW. India andPakistan had resumed the new phaseof talks in March 2009. But, everytime, prime ministers and foreignministers of two countries ended theirmeetings with issuance of positivenotes, and vowed to settle the realissues, but same failed without pro-ducing tangible results due to Indiandouble game.

Indian adamant stand regardingPak-India parleys are not withoutsome sinister designs. In this context,India is determined to keep its holdon Kashmir which is considered byit as integrated part of the Indianunion. Now, with rise in tension onLoC, and by manipulating the August6 incident, Indian rulers, oppositionparties, media, particularly newschannels have resorted to fanninganti-Pakistan sentiments, war hyste-ria and jingoism to sabotage the at-mosphere for any constructive en-gagement in near future.

In fact, whenever any untowardincident happens relating to both thecountries directly or indirectly, Indiannews channels start an ugly campaignfurther deteriorating the situation.Nonetheless, Bharatya Janata Party(BJP) leader Rajnath Singh said thatIndia’s patience was at an end and de-manded that all dialogue betweenNew Delhi and Islamabad includingConfidence Building Measures(CMBs) be stopped after Indiaclaimed that Pakistan violated theceasefire. Particularly, AK Antony al-legedly stated in Lok Sabha on Au-gust 8, “Specialist troops of the Pa-kistani Army crossed the Line ofControl into Indian territory andkilled five Indian soldiers…we allknow nothing happens from Pakistanside of the LoC without support, as-sistance, facilitation and often, directinvolvement of the Pakistan Army.”Indian Parliament on July 14 rejected

for nearly five years now, duringwhich time only one convict washanged and that, too, because both themurderer and the victim belonged toarmed forces, and the civilian gov-ernment chose not to interfere in that.

Perhaps President Asif AliZardari was influenced by Europeanstates and other internationalorganisations which have been run-ning a campaign against death pen-alty, which they consider inhuman,but fail to acknowledge the fact thatit is awarded for crimes that are farmore cruel. My compassion willsurely be for the innocent victimswho had a far better right to life, anddid not have to die, but for the brutalact of the convicted murderers whoought to be given due punishment fortheir crime. If you just utter the word‘crime’ and ask others what does thatmake them think of, I am sure theywould say ‘punishment’. And ofcourse justice would demand a pun-ishment befitting the crime. I don’tthink any one of us would have heardof people being sent to gallows for aparking offence.

As for the people who advancethe argument that executions wouldnot deter murderers and quote the ex-ample of suicide bombers who seemto be all set to embrace death and in away, look forward to it, I would saythat hanging would sure have a de-terrent effect on their trainers andhandlers whose elimination woulddefinitely reduce the supply of sui-cide bombers. We just heard that theseexecutions have been stayed for now.According to press reports, the Presi-dent had sent a letter to Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif that he wanted tomeet him to discuss the issue of thelong-pending death sentence of hun-dreds of convicts. However, since thePresident was out of the country, thePrime Minister directed the Interior

Ministry to keep in abeyance all mat-ters relating to the execution of deathsentences till the conclusion ofPresident’s meeting with the PrimeMinister. I think with all legal require-ments met, and arrangements alreadymade, there was simply no reason tohold back the executions. In parlia-mentary democracy, this is the presi-dent who is supposed to act on theadvice of the prime minister but inthis particular instance, the roles seemto have been reversed., and for nogood reason.

While the letter from the Presidentmight be a reason for postponing theexecutions, some believe that it wasmore due to the threats hurled by mili-tant outfits warning of retaliatory ac-tion in case the executions went ahead,also reminding the government ofwhat they did in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwaprovince. Rightly or wrongly, somepeople feel that the government is get-ting cold feet and is trying to wriggleout of its commitment to execute theconvicts, using letter from Presidentand international pressure as an ex-cuse. It would be very unfortunate ifit turned out that way.

As for the President, I think heshould be more on the side of themasses who have suffered badly at thehands of the terrorists, for no fault oftheirs, instead of being soft on the mur-derers and hardened criminals. I thinkonce all legal remedies have been ex-hausted, the convicted prisonersshould be executed without unduedelay, more so because some of themare reported to have been running theirgangs from inside the prisons. More-over, while they are alive, their asso-ciates might launch attacks to freethem, killing more people in the pro-cess. We already have two cases oflarge-scale attacks on prisonswhereby the terrorists got freed hun-dreds of their associates, who would

now resume their operations withadded vigour and confidence.

As for international pressurefrom countries and organisationswhich want us to stop executionsand in fact, to abolish capital pun-ishment altogether, well, they arewithin their rights to hold whateverbeliefs they like and it is all rightalso for them to preach the same toothers. However, we have to act tak-ing our particular situation into ac-count. We also have to rememberthat these countries which grieveand protest excessively over the ex-ecution of a few murderers and hard-ened criminals have their handsstained with the blood of hundreds,thousands or even millions of inno-cent people, through their imperialmisadventures now and in the past.Just see what is happening in Egypt.

I remember having read some-where that bravery does not meanthe heart does not squeak, but thatnobody else should know it does.However, with trembling legs, shak-ing hands, thumping heart and a paleface, all resulting in the calling offof the executions, I am not quite surethat we would exactly be present-ing a picture of courage. There couldstill be slight justification for hold-ing back some executions providedthat it was done as part of a dealwhereby militants agreed to surren-der and to discontinue their activi-ties. However, with militants step-ping up their operations and threat-ening yet more, our one-sided con-cessions do not particularly appealto me because in my view, and Ibelieve in those of all right-think-ing people, they will amount tonothing but a retreat, and a veryshameful one for matter, which willwork out to our own disadvantage.—The writer is Karachi-basedfreelance columnist.

the Pakistan National Assemblyresolution, saying it leveled “abso-lutely baseless and unfounded” al-legations against India.” The reso-lution asserted that Pakistani Armywas involved in unprovoked attack”on the LoC. Besides, some othermembers of Indian Parliament usedtough language against Islamabad.One of them stated that New Delhishould teach a lesson to Pakistan.Another member said that Indiashould even prepare itself for warwith Pakistan.

No doubt, Indian media, oppo-sition party BJP and members ofcivil society have created uproarover the alleged LoC incident. Inthis context, anti-Pakistan chauvin-ism in India incited public to taketo the streets. The Pakistan HighCommission in New Delhi wasstormed by supporters of the Con-gress Party’s Youth Wing, while theLahore-bound friendship bus wasstopped by protestors in Amritsar.And PIA offices in Bombay andNew Delhi were also ransacked byextremists of Hindu fundamental-ist party, Shiv Sena.Although, In-dian elections are due in 2014 andruling party Congress and oppo-sition parties including BJP intendto take popular ride in the elec-tion campaign by cashing anti-Pa-kistan sentiments, yet main pur-pose of New Delhi is to use de-laying tactics in resolving the realissues with Pakistan including theKashmir dispute.

Consequently, anti-Pakistanchauvinism in India could neverbring both the countries on the lineof true friendship. Such irrespon-sible approach may also result intonuclear war between the twoneighbouring countries.—The writer is Lahore-basedpolitical analyst.

Sajjad ShaukatEmail: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

S R H HashmiEmail:srhhashmi@hotmail.com

Voice of the People

Flood-victimsstarving to death

HASHIM ABRO

Indeed, the flood victims in theworst- affected areas in the countryare reported to be living in an un-speakable misery. They are passingtheir days and nights under the openskies in subhuman conditions in thecatchment areas of Indus River inSindh Over 100000 children are re-portedly severely malnourished.Elderly people and pregnant womenhave simply faded away and arestarving to death in Ghotki,Shikarpur, Kashmor/Kand Kot,Khairpur Mirs, Larkano and Dadu.This horrific situation reminds howbad the flood- management condi-tions are there and how the relevantFederal and Provincial DisasterManagement organizations have ut-terly failed in the disaster-prone andpoverty-paralyzed, otherwise re-sources-rich, Sindh Province.

In this doomsday scenario, in-action and indifferent attitude of theProvincial authorities, in particular,the district administration, irrigationdepartment officers, revenue offic-ers etc. who are paid from the taxmoney of the people of Pakistan isa sad and painful reality. Since theflood-battered people of Sindh arestarving, they need our succor interms of cooked food, potable wa-ter, medicines, mosquito-nets, tents,and WASH facilities. However, Irequest to the Provincial govern-ment to first feed the starving rains-floods-and poverty–stricken people,then talk of Local Government Billand other issues because the livesof disaster–hit people are more im-portant than other issues.—Islamabad

The disconnectMANZOOR ELAHI

We as a nation are suffering an ex-traordinarily tragic misfortune be-cause terrorism is thriving heremainly on account of a schism be-tween our different organs of state.This is at least the conclusion onedraws from the book ‘Inside Al-Qaeda and Taliban’ written by thelate journalist Syed Saleem Shahzadwho was slain as a result of expos-ing through this book the deepmechanism operating in our currentterrorist mess The elected govern-ment is forced to work for the bet-terment of its people by its neces-sity to please its constituency, thepeople of Pakistan, to whom it isbeholden for its votes. The bureau-cracy, on the other hand, enjoys per-manent posts but holds the actualpower to run the state business. Thelatter consider the civilian leadershipto be a semiliterate class whose gutsthey really hate.

The administrative and securityapparatus actually continues to pos-sess the same anti-people mindsettoday as it did during the Britishdays. This disconnect between thepeople’s representatives and the bu-reaucracy opens up a fault line inthe state structure that not only in-vites outsider intervention but alsomoves the bureaucracy to try tomalign the politicians by everymeans possible especially throughploys that cause the people to suffereconomic hardships such as rise inprices and poverty. They even try toencourage and teach those politi-cians who want to become corruptbecause a corrupt politician then be-comes their good asset.

The big foreign powers areonly interested in keeping the bal-ance of power in every region ofthe world by setting the regionalpowers against one another so thatthey remain engaged in fightingamong themselves instead of com-ing together to challenge the out-side manipulators and work for the

Are we a disciplined nationALI ASHRAF KHAN

The recent incident of the gunman Sikandar that occurred in Islamabad and covered live by ourelectronic media on 15th August, has been debated in the National Assembly. In his speech Interior

Minister Ch Nisar mentioned several things; one of course police and security forces did make mistakesin handling the event, but he also attributed the delay in the police action to the electronic media and thereporters who refused to follow the orders of PEMRA and police and thus hampered the police action.By giving the madman primetime on TV channels, they encouraged him to carry on feeling proud that‘the whole of Pakistan’ is watching him. And secondly, he said that there were some handlers of thegunman and the episode was leading the probe agencies to Abu Dhabi and some other figures whosename could not be revealed at this stage. Now what does this tell us about the state of affairs in ourcountry? The institutions have been undermined and weakened to such an extent that today the police,for instance, is ill equipped and ill trained to handle security threats in the capital, and when they tellreporters to back off and they don’t, they turn out to be helpless. On the other hand, all the privatemedia channels financed by lucrative advertisements of multinationals are sabotaging the prompt ac-tion by the police and sensationalize the acts of terrorism to keep the public glued to the TV screen. Is thiswhat freedom of information means? This is not information at all but sensationalism acting to aid those‘handlers’ who seem to be behind the whole incident. There is a dire need, together with improving thework of our security agencies, to regulate the private TV channels. The answer might be the PEMRA —a formal statutory institution for this purpose, but nobody is ready to listen to PEMRA. If there is adisregard to this statutory organization, then is there any single institution or individual which couldtake the responsibility and also enjoys such respect of our media that they could obey him even at thecost of the lead in breaking unauthenticated news items? Alas, there can be none, as we are absolutely anundisciplined nation and so is our media. There is a total disregard for law and legally authorizedorganizations, otherwise the orders of PEMRA or the persuasions of Police could not be turned downand the media persons and the crowd of on-lookers could disperse immediately. To be a civilized anddisciplined people we shall have to respect the laws of the land and the prescribed codes of conductburied in the relevant documents of the state.—Karachi

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

Why Saudi Arabia is backing Egyptian coup?

It took almost 60 years for the CIAto own up to its role in the British-backed coup that overthrew

Iran’s prime minister MohammedMossadegh on August 19, 1953. ButSaudi Arabia’s backing for the recentEgyptian coup, which its head of in-telligence, Prince Bandar bin Sultan,had worked so tirelessly to achieve,was instantaneous. When AdliMansour, the former head of Egypt’ssupreme court, was sworn in as in-terim president, King Abdullah senthim a message praising the Egyptianarmy for having saved the countryfrom a dark tunnel.

The Saudi monarch followed thisup last Friday with a speech whosebluntness was atypical of the man.“Let the entire world know,” he pro-claimed “that the people and govern-ment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabiastood and still stand today with ourbrothers in Egypt against terrorism,extremism and sedition, and againstwhomever is trying to interfere inEgypt’s internal affairs.” This wasunusual, not only because Abdullahwas aiming his words at his other ally,the United States, and the Gulf state’sregional rival Qatar, whom he ac-cused of “fanning the fire of seditionand promoting terrorism, which theyclaim to be fighting”. It was rare be-cause the monarch, who prefers be-hind the scenes diplomacy, was soexplicit. The kingdom has backed its

words with money, and oil. It has al-ready put together an $12bn (£7.7bn)aid package along with the UAE andKuwait which is four times as muchas the military and economic grantsfrom the US and the EU combined($1.5bn and $1.3bn respectively). Onhis return from meeting the Frenchpresident at the weekend, the foreignminister, Saudi al-Faisal, vowed tocompensate Egypt for any loss of EUor US money. Barack Obama’s im-potence in the Middle East is beingparaded by the US’s closest Arabmilitary ally.

Prince Bandar has also been toMoscow. Being on opposite sides ofthe civil war in Syria (the kingdom isseeking the fall of Bashar al-Assad,who Russia supports militarily) wasno impediment to a productive visit.Both sides agreed to keep the oil pricehigh, found common ground in theirhatred for the Muslim Brotherhood,whom top Russian Arabists in theministry of foreign affairs equate withIslamic extremists. Russia feels it hasevery reason to fear political Islam,with a population of indigenous Mus-lims from the Caucasus, which is ris-ing as a proportion of the RussianFederation’s total population, andexpected to hit 19m or 14% of thepopulation by 2020. “Are you mad?”an MFA official told his US counter-part “to support the guys with beardsover the guys with ties?”.

Why has the kingdom, famed forits caution on the diplomatic stage,put all its eggs in one basket, which,considering the volatility in Egypt,

remains fragile and unpredictable.Who knows which side in Egypt willprevail, and if that is so, why backthe coup leader General Abdel Fattahal-Sisi so publicly? Sisi thanked thekingdom in fulsome terms. He saidthat the Saudi intervention was un-precedented since the Yom Kippur1973 war with Israel. Praise indeed.

For Dr Maha Azzam, associatefellow of the Middle East and NorthAfrica programme at ChathamHouse, the kingdom’s fire-breathingsupport for the coup comes as littlesurprise. Not only had they been as-tonished by Washington’s abandon-ment of the kingdom’s closest re-gional ally in Hosni Mubarak, a pointthey made very clear during his trial.They had seen him replaced, at thepolls, by the Brotherhood, whichchallenged the kingdom’s claim to bethe protector of Islam. Azzam said:“What they had was a lethal equa-tion, democracy plus Islamism, albeitunder the Muslim Brotherhood. Thatwas a lethal concoction in undermin-ing the kingdom’s own legitimacy inthe long run. They know full wellthey do not want democracy, but tohave another group representing Is-lam was intolerable.”

The royal family have re-sponded to the campaign they arefacing on social media by sacking aKuwaiti TV preacher with Brother-hood links. Tareq al-Suwaidan, whohas more than 1.9 million Twitterfollowers, was told that there is noplace for those who carry deviantthoughts at the Al Resalah channel.

Views From Abroad

Pakistan facing political instability

A day before the Eid, a suicidebomber attacked in a courtyard of a mosque in Quetta,

where senior police officers weregathered to offer funeral prayer for aslain Police Officer. At least 35 per-sons of police force including somehigh-ranking officers were killed inthis incidence. This is not a new in-cident in Quetta, Balochistan or else-where in Pakistan as suicide andbomb attacks on military installa-tions, security force personals andgeneral public has become a dailyroutine in Pakistan for the last twodecades. Target killing on sectariangrounds is another misery, which hasbecome an endless tragedy for thepeople. There are a number of rea-sons for this miserable situation,which the people of Pakistan havebeen continuously facing for a long.The major cause of this situation ispolitical instability, which hasplunged the country in the deluge ofa number of serious affairs.

With commemoration of 66thanniversary of our independence, weare also celebrating the freedom to

expression, which includes freepractice of religion, faith and speech.But unfortunately we remained un-der the strong hold of civil and mili-tary bureaucracy from the very be-ginning as politicians proved them-selves incapable and inefficient. Thesecond tragedy of Pakistan was thatit could not eliminate feudalism af-ter getting independence. As a re-sult feudal politicians become stron-ger and stronger day by day and con-trol the power corridor. Four mar-tial laws and unending string ofweak governments, how can oneexpect political instability in such avolatile political scenario?

India took three major steps tostrengthen democracy and democra-tization. Firstly, drafted its constitu-tion and implemented it on 26th Janu-ary 1950. Secondly, eliminated feu-dalism and thirdly, decided to remainnonaligned in the bi-polar world.Contrary to India, Pakistan neitherprepared its constitution in due courseof time not brought an end to feudalsocio-economic system. When a con-stitution was formulated and imple-mented in Pakistan on 23rd March1956. General Elections were sched-uled in February 1959 but MartialLaw was imposed on 7th October1958, which objurgated the constitu-

tion without its proper implementa-tion. Another factor, which is one ofthe major problems in Pakistan, is thestrong hold of feudal system.

The feudal politicians have con-trolled the power corridors, whichgiven rise to bad governance, ineffi-ciency and corruption. Another veryimportant and concerned factor po-litical instability in Pakistan is theWeak Electoral System. Repeatedlyrigged elections in Pakistan haveeroded already weak public confi-dence in electoral institutions andfuelled domestic alienation and vio-lence. Pakistan has never been gonethrough fair and transparent elec-tions. We are well aware of our cor-rupt political culture, which is pro-moting the culture of inheritance inpolitical system. In Pakistan lead-ership is being spoiled by the stronghold of armed forces over politics.Majority of political leadership inPakistan comes through an Armynursery. So it’s not possible thatthey could ever bring political stabil-ity in Pakistan.

Present day civilian governmentdoes not implement local governmentbodies, which are responsible for lo-cal transportation, planning and de-velopment, public utilities, local so-cial-welfare services, parks, recre-

ation, and culture. The Local Gov-ernment system could decentraliza-tion power and authority. It facili-tates and stimulates local sustain-able development throughout allregions in the country. But unfor-tunately the leadership is not inter-ested in the implementation of lo-cal government system.

Political Stability in Pakistan ispossible through the youth, whocould change the current stale sys-tem. As youth is the backbone ofevery country. Through such a plat-form new political leadership couldarise in our country. By such aunion, young intellectuals, strongpolicy makers, remarkable strategymakers and curious and inquisitivedecision makers from youth couldcome out, which are a need of Pa-kistan today. Finally, to democratisestate, society need to bedemocratised. It is only possiblewhen the politics should be liber-ated from the clutches of ruling eliteand the feudal aristocracy. For agenuine federal system, the powersneed to be devolved to the grass-root level up to the Union Council.All decisions should be on merit andtransparent, so that the involvementof the people should increase.—The writer is freelance columnist.

David Hearst

As my friend smoked awayyesterday, I saw themagain, the chimney sweeps.

They were spluttering and cough-ing and spitting black soot out oftheir little mouths. “There’s nomore chimney’s to clean, why areyou back?” I asked. “To clean hu-man chimneys,” they said together.

“We thought with expertise we had,we’d help, but it is impossible.” “Im-possible..!” they all shouted togetheragain.

I looked at the tiny chimneysweeps, their hair matted with filth,their bodies covered with yellowishred blood. “Down which chimneyshave you been?” I asked, concerned.“Human chimneys,” their leader said.“We thought we’d help the world to-day. To clean the stuff your surgeonsfind impossible to clean, the stuffthat’s stuck in throats” And lungs..”“Of a million smokers..!” “But wecouldn’t,” they cried together .

“They’re worse than the chimneys ofLondon.” “There’s blood in theirthroats..” “In their lungs..” “In theirmouths..!” “There are tumours as bigas ..” “Bullfrogs in a pond..”

“Bullfrogs are harmless..” “Thisbullfrog kills!” “There are abscessesin lungs..” “Cancers in mucous mem-brane..” “Cancers in throats..” “Inlungs..” “Cancers, cancer every-where..!”

The tiny chimney sweeps stoodwith their little brooms, and there wasa weariness about them that did notcome from work. “Tell me,” said theleader, brandishing his dirty bloody

Smokin’ away..!

But this is a dangerous strategy. Aspresident, Morsi resisted callinghis regional enemies out for themoney and support they gave toEgyptian opposition politicians,parties and private television chan-nels for good reason. Up to 2 mil-lion Egyptians are employed asguest workers in the kingdom andtheir remittances were importantfor an economy on its knees. Hefeared that the Saudis would kickthem out if he accused them ofundermining his presidency. How-ever today, Egyptian ex-pats arenot the Brotherhood’s problem orresponsibility.

What could well follow is anunrestrained campaign by its mem-bers to destabilise the Saudi andUAE regimes. Azzam said: “For theUS and EU, there is very little greyarea. Either you have authoritarianregimes, including Assad or youhave the Arab spring. The authori-tarian regimes are saying: ‘If we useenough force, we can quell the tideof democracy.’ For Washington itmeans that there is no regionalplayer that can now mediate withthe Egyptian military. No one thatcan play the role of good cop.”

The battles lines have nowbeen clearly drawn throughout theArab world. The military coup inEgypt, and Saudi support for it,represents an attempt to turn theclock back, to halt the wave ofdemocratisation heralded by thetoppling of Arab dictators.— Courtesy: The Guardian

progress of their own people throughregional cooperation. It is not diffi-cult to comprehend the working ofthe present interminable terrorist ac-tivities and its protagonists and therole of our permanent state function-aries in it once you have read theabovementioned book.—Multan

Revival ofPakistani cinema

M MOAZEN BILAL

It is a truth widely acknowledged thatthe once-thriving Pakistani film in-dustry is now dead. The reasons be-hind this slow demise include the in-troduction of VCR, cable television,market competition from Bollywood,absence of the sense of direction andpatriotism in the film producers andfinally the Islamization of GeneralZia. The industry, which once boastedmore than 700 cinemas, now has justover 100. The number of films pro-duced in Pakistan per year has de-clined from 200 to under 25. Mostcinema halls have been converted intoShopping Malls or housing apart-ments. The themes into which Paki-stani films can be loosely categorizedare: classical romantic films (1950s-1960s); the Gandassa movies (1980s-1990s); and the amateur-sensational-ist or “vulgar” films which are aimedat salvaging the businesses of filmproducers.

But a recent spate of ambitiousproductions has raised hopes that themoribund movie industry may be onthe verge of a renaissance. Theprojects like Humayun saeed’s pro-duction Main Hoon Shahid Afridi,Shahzad Rafique’s Ishq-e-Khuda,Matteela Production’s Zinda Bhaagand Iram Parveen’s internationallyacclaimed, small-budget Josh are fewof the reviving pills for the Pakistanicinema. I would like to draw the at-tention of media giants to invest andproduce quality films for the better-ment and competition of the neigh-boring country. In this regard initia-tive taken by ARY films and ISPR isworth mentioning. Upcoming pro-ductions like Waar, Operation 021and Saya e Khuda e Zuljalal whosejust trailers are out have put a newlife into the Pakistani cinema. Thequality of action and dialogues ismuch more improved and has theability to glue the audience to the cin-ema screens.

It is refreshing to see Pakistanifilmmakers taking a different ap-proach from the past of singing anddancing and creating thought provok-ing media. Their aim is to stir thesenses and create positive thought.Through film we can frame our cul-ture and present it to the world. If wecan make Pakistani cinema such asthese upcoming movies the backboneof our revival, it will lead to furtherhigher budget thought provokingmedia. Our cinema owners, in na-tional interest, should not give pref-erence to Indian films when our filmsare ready for release. It wouldn’t bea bad idea if the government restrictsthe import of Indian films in order togive Pakistani films unrestricted ex-hibition time.—Lahore

Social advertisingis not enoughFATIMA HASAN ZAIDI

Gone are the days when the politicalparties used to influence people. Nowpeople elect leaders whose actionsspeak louder than words. PTI mustunderstand that taking out rallies dailyin various sectors of Islamabad is notthe way to reach the hearts and mindsof people. They must do somethingif they think they are capable of get-ting a seat in National Assembly.

Last evening I received a re-corded call from Imran Khan saying,

broom into my face, “when theyknow that smoke can cause…”“Cancer..” “And death..!” “Why dothey smoke?” I looked at the littlechimney sweeps and gathered theminto the book again. “Do youknow?” they shouted, “that every30 seconds…”

“Every thirty seconds…” theyrepeated shrilly. “A smoker dies oflung cancer?” As my friend smokedaway yesterday, I saw them again,the chimney sweeps and I criedalong with them, for lives lost sostupidly..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Mahrukh A MughalEmail: newsobs@gmail.com

Globalisation and terrorism

Economic aspiration, technological advancement and hegemonic desire contributed in

making the world a global village.Economic factors in globalizationperspectives have indicated that richhas become more rich and poor hasbecome poorer and the capital isconstantly being swept away fromthe world into a few hands and hun-ger, diseases, joblessness, illiteracy,utter poverty and violent frustrationare spreading like wildfire even inEurope. The global economy hascaused much damage to the poorcountries.

As per UNDP estimates in 1820,per capita incomes of world’s rich-est and poorest countries was 3:1,by 1913, the estimate grew to 11:1,by 1950, 35:1, by 1973, 44:1 and by1992, it blew to a 72:1. This analy-

sis is echoed by David Landis, Pro-fessor Emeritus of History and Eco-nomics at Harvard University.

In addition to the victims of darkside of globalization, the poor coun-tries were also hit hard by their re-spective leaders due to weak politi-cal system, corruption and lack ofgovernance. Majority of Muslimstates are mainly poor and charac-terized by great inequalities ofwealth, justice and quality of life.The social unrest in Muslim statesswelled against US behind globalenergy resources, (Greg Buckman,Globalization, Tame it or scrap it),hegemony of Jews over Muslimsand monopoly for Americanizationin the globalization. The communitywith the radicalized perception in theglobalized world emerged as Al-Qaeda and attempted to safeguardtheir interests against USA.

The September 11 terrorists’ at-tacks on twin towers in New Yorkand Pentagon marked as beginningoscapesalized terrorism as the terror-

ists, their training and mastermindsbehind the attack were from differ-ent regions of the world. This resultedinto global war on terror targeting Al-Qaeda network in Afghanistan, Iraq,Pakistan, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, etc.Both the terrorists and security forcescountering each other are usingEthnoscapes, Financescapes,Ideoscapes, Mediascapes andTechnoscapes as the tools.

The theories prevail regardingself-generated global war on terrorfor achieving own interest. Attack-ing Iraq for invaluable resources,followed by establishing foothold inAfghanistan for central Asian energyresources and containing china thatis becoming a growing threat forUSA. Iran is also under threatthrough this area from USA, andPakistan’s prized Gwadar Port, tril-lions of dollars of mineral resourcesin Balochistan and the Karachi port,they all offer USA of hegemonic de-sign. The war is not about terrorism,but about America’s desire to con-

trol energy in Central Asia, Af-ghanistan, Balochistan etc and pro-mote corporate plans to plunder theregion’s reserves. The use of forceto curb terrorism can have limitedeffect; however prolonged use offorce becomes counterproductive.

Based on the USA global Waron terror, attacking Iraq for oil andAfghanistan for energy resourcesand containing china, the con-spiracy theory on 9/11 terroristsattack on world trade centre,American hegemony over theworld, the concept of military in-dustrial complex, the dark side ofglobalization and the blow backtheory or Newtonian on terrorismverifies the fact that beside the in-ternal issues of underdevelopedMuslim world, the emergence ofglobalization or Americanizationhas fuelled the under developed Is-lamic world towards radicalizationand global terrorism.—The writer is a MPhil scholarat NDU, Islamabad.

Tarik EusophzaiEmail: tm_eusopezai72@yahoo.com

“ National Assembly ko Asad Umarki zarurat hai , 22 August ko ballaypa mohar lgae.” Well this is not theway to advertise a person. Peoplewith common sense will give this calla thought that an intellectual is mak-ing such calls around but most of ourpopulation is illiterate, they mightmark Bat just because of the interestin cricket or might not be knowingwhether NA needs Asad Umar or not.This is just the way to exploit youth.

In case if the state is in need ofPTI, where were the party memberswhen a man of no power, Sikanderhostaged Islamabad for about 5 hours.Though police was not taking anyaction because it is their requirementto follow the rules of government butPTI was not police bound. They couldcome and set Islamabad free fromSikander. But who bothers a state’slegacy more than a rally. This is notthe way to bring change.—Rawalpindi

Islamic bankingin Pakistan!

OVAIS KAMIL

On behalf of the citizens of IslamicRepublic of Pakistan, I congratulateMr. Mamnoon Hussain on the historicelection as the 12th President of Is-lamic Republic of Pakistan. We areeager for his leadership, which willbring back our country’s integrity andrespect.

On the opening ceremony ofState Bank of Pakistan, the Founderof the Nation, Quaid-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jinnah said “Wemust work our destiny in our ownway and present to the world an eco-nomic system based on true Islamicconcept of equality of manhood andsocial justice.” So, in light of theQuaid’s statement, I would like tomention that unfortunately the mostof the banking system in Pakistan isstill working on the interest basedsystems, which is Haram (forbid-den) in Islam. Pakistan has themeaning of “La ilaha illallah”which means we follow Allah’s or-ders at any cost, but regrettably weare not. The crime of dealing inRiba (Interest) is so serious thatGod has declared war against thosewho deal in it. Muhammad (SAWs)has cursed anyone who deals withRiba, the one who takes it, the onewho pays it and the one who recordsit, as their sins are considered equalunder the Holy Qur’an.

On the other hand, the IslamicBanking has various benefits for thesociety, both religiously as well aseconomically. The Islamic Bankingis growing rapidly and currently itshares around 10% of the overallbanking industry of Pakistan whichwas non-existent about 10 years back.In the last decade, 5 full fledged Is-lamic Banks are established and 14conventional banks opened their Is-lamic Windows, but still it is not suf-ficient, as there are 90% customerswho are still stuck in conventionalInterest Based Banking.Also, thereare many areas which are not cov-ered yet e.g. Government Certifi-cates, Bonds, Islamic Pension Cer-tificates etc. Therefore, in order tomake the country a true Islamic State,I urge Mr. President to take strongsteps for the growth of Islamic Bank-ing and Finance Industry in Pakistan.Finally, I thank Mr. President for con-sideration of my views and look for-ward to the response to these matters.—Via email

RAWALPINDI: Pir Muhammad Naqib-ur-Rehman, custodian of Eidgah Shrine, addressing abig congregation at Eidgah Sharif.

CBA union Tariq Mehmood tookthe plea in the court employeesunion was also party againstprivatization of Lakhra project.Employees had opposed theprivatization on solid statistics.

CJP remarked “ if formerchairman of Wapda is respon-sible for privatization of LakhraPower Project then proceedingsis also required to be initiatedagainst him. He can face civiland criminal cases . This projectis national asset and it is not gro-cery shop that it is sold out toany one as per one’s will.

CJP observed “ why thepeople don’t learn lesson fromthe past. Example of rental powercase is before us. Lakhra Power

SC declares null and voidFrom Page 1

project counsel Shahid Hamidsaid “ business men are verypowerful in our country. JusticeSheikh Azmat Saeed remarked “no one can be more powerfulthan law and constitution.

CJP asked Shahid Hamidcounsel for Wapda “ you couldnot satisfy the court during thelast three days with regard totransparency in the contract ofLakhra power project.

Justice Jawwad S Khawajaremarked “ it seems as if you arecounsel for A ssociated grouprather than Wapda.

Additional Attorney General(AAG) requested the court to al-low federal government to priva-tize Lakhra Power project. CJP

remarked “ if federation wantsprivatization of Lakhra PowerProject then where the interestsof Sindh will stand. Federationprivatized Lakhra Power Projectby overlooking the interests ofSindh.

Wasim Sajjad counsel forAssociated Group said federationhad issued NOC in respect of theproject. The court declared leaseof Lakhra Power Project nontransparent and null and void.

The court ordered thatLakhra Power Project leaseagreement can not be maintained.Investigation be held and civiland civil and criminal cases bedetermined, court further or-dered.—Online

Sources said CDA will re-view the prevailing tension be-tween Pakistan and India on LoCand post US troops pull out Af-ghan situation.

PM has sought detailedbriefing from operational com-mander of army on incidentwhich took place on Aug 6 onLoC. Sources said is interestedin ascertaining facts about theseincidents and later he will accordapproval to certain steps aimedat defusing tension on LoC.

Afghan situation will also bereviewed at length in the meet-ing. According to agenda ofmeeting opportunities and diffi-culties Pakistan may confrontfollowing the pull out of Afghantroops from Afghanistan will bediscussed in meeting. —Online

Security forces cordoned offthe railway station after the blast.Railway traffic in the area wassuspended whereas the Pak-Af-ghan border at Chaman was alsosealed following the incident.

President Asif Ali Zardariand Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif strongly con-demned the blast at Railway Sta-tion in Chaman.

Expressing his heartfelt sym-pathies with the bereaved fami-lies, the president prayed for eter-nal peace of the departed soulsand for the courage to the be-reaved families.

Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif also prayed to Al-mighty Allah for resting the de-parted souls in eternal peace andgranting courage to the bereavedfamilies to bear their loss withfortitude. The prime minister di-rected the concerned authoritiesto provide best medical facilitiesto the injured.—INP

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Chaman railwaysFrom Page 1

puterized result management sys-tem.

On the other hand, the Elec-tion Commission of Pakistan(ECP) has also readied a secu-rity plan in connection with theby-elections with public holidayannounced for August 22 in 33districts.—INP

hours. Meanwhile,The spillwaysof Khanpur Dam have beenopened after the water touchedthe dangerous level of 1978 feet.

The discharge of 6600 cusecswater is continuing from the spill-ways of the dam.

Moreover, high flood tide of555,000 cusecs water is passingthrough Chachran near RahimYar Khan in River Indus whilewater discharge at Head Panjnadis 122000 cusecs.—Online

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High floodsFrom Page 1

ObituarySTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Masud Ijazuddin,brother of Mahmood Riazuddin,Deputy Controller News, PBCNews, Radio Pakistan Islamabad[Cell Phone: 0300-5283060],Engr Amenah Arooj SeniorEngineer Nespak, Engr HaleemaZareen Assistant Manager MTC,and Engr Owais Moinuddin andFatima Darakhshan expired inFaisalabad on early Wednesdaymorning.

He was laid to rest inJudgewala graveyard in thepresence of a large number ofmourners.

This was the fourth tragedyMahmood Riazuddin has suf-fered in six months. Earlier hismother-in-law expired in mid-February, sister-in-law on April1, maternal aunt on August 3 andnow his brother on 21 August.

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Almighty Allahsent Holy Prophet HazratMuhammad (peace be upon him)to this world as a blessing for allthe worlds and no amount ofthanks by human beings sufficesthis kindness of the Creator.

“By celebrating the birthdayof the Holy Prophet (peace beupon him), Muslims thank Al-mighty Allah for this great kind-ness and blessing,” said PirMuhammad Naqib-ur-Rehman,custodian of Eidgah shrine, whileaddressing a big congregation atEidgah Sharif here on Tuesdayon the occasion of BarhveenSharif and 23rd annual Urs ofSheikh-ul Mahaddiseen PirMuhammad Habib-ur-RehmanLasani (RA). Besides prominentreligious and spiritual figures, alarge number of the lovers of theHoly Prophet (peace be upon

him) and devotees of EidgahSharif, including women, at-tended the congregation.

The custodian of Eidgahshrine said that by celebrating thebirthday of the Holy Prophet(peace be upon him), Muslimspromote the concept of monothe-ism and Almighty Allah and an-gels also join the believers in theremembrance of the HolyProphet (peace be upon him).Thus, he said, the remembranceof the Holy Prophet (peace beupon him) continues throughoutthe universe all the time.

“By making MedinaMunawwara the centre of theirgravity with unity, truly follow-ing the teachings of the Quranand Sunnah in their letter andspirit, and enlightening theirhearts with the love for the HolyProphet (peace be upon him),Muslims can succeed in theworldly life as well as in the

Hereinafter,” he said. PirMuhammad Naqib-ur-Rehmansaid that the Pir Habib-ur-Rehman Lasani (RA) spent hislife in the affection with the HolyProphet (peace be upon him) andpromotion of the teachings ofQuran and Sunnah.

He said the abodes of thesaints are the centres of peace andtranquility so people shouldstrengthen their bond with thesaints. He said peace, unity andlove is the gist of the teachingsof Pir Lasani (RA) and his ser-vices for the promotion of teach-ings of Islam are unforgettable.

Earlier, SahibzadaMuhammad Hassan Hasib-ur-Rehman presented Naat to paytribute to the Holy Prophet (peacebe upon him). In the end, PirMuhammad Naqib-ur-Rehmanprayed for unity among Muslimsand progress, prosperity and se-curity of the country.

Pir Naqib calls for followingteachings of Qur’an, Sunnah

investigating allegations that bothrebels and army forces usedchemical weapons in the past,one of the main disputes in inter-national diplomacy over Syria.The Swedish scientist leading theteam, Ake Sellstrom, said the re-ports should be looked into, butdoing so would require a requestfrom a UN member state.

France said the mission mustbe sent to the site to

“investigate immediately”.Turkey and Saudi Arabia madesimilar calls. Britain said it wasdeeply concerned and wouldraise the issue at the UN Secu-rity Council, adding the attackswould be “a shocking escalation”if confirmed.

Extensive amateur video andphotographs appeared on theInternet showing countless bod-ies, with victims choking, someof them foaming at the mouth,

1,300 killed in SyriaFrom Page 1

and no sign of outward injury. Avideo purportedly shot in the KafrBatna neighbourhood showed aroom filled with more than 90bodies, many of them childrenand a few women and elderlymen. Most of the bodies appearedashen or pale but with no visibleinjuries. About a dozen werewrapped in blankets.

Other footage showed doc-tors treating people in makeshiftclinics. One video showed thebodies of a dozen people lyingon the floor of a clinic, with novisible wounds. The narrator inthe video said they were all mem-bers of a single family. In a cor-ridor outside lay another fivebodies. A Syrian military officerappeared on state television andsaid the allegations were untrueand a sign of “hysteria and floun-dering” by Assad’s opponents.Information Minister Omran

Zoabi said the allegations were“illogical and fabricated”.

The head of the oppositionSyrian National Coalition saidAssad’s forces had carried out amassacre: “This is a chance forthe to see with their own eyes thismassacre and know that this re-gime is a criminal one,” AhmedJarba said.—Reuters

retried, along with his securitychief and six top police com-manders. His trial resumes laterthis month.

He is facing a number ofother corruption charges, but noother trial dates have been set.

The court officials spokeanonymously because they arenot authorized to speak to themedia.

Rights lawyer and judicialexpert Nasser Amin said proce-durally Mubarak should havebeen released since his sentencewas overturned, but that the po-litical circumstances may delayletting him go.

‘’His release will causechaos,’’ he said. ‘’It will be usedby Islamists as proof of the re-turn of the old regime.’’—AP

Court ordersFrom Page 1

homeless. The US-based groupsaid that while the situation in thecountry currently appeared calm,a failure to properly investigateand deal with the causes of thetensions risks further clashes.

PHR reported that “the bra-zen nature of these crimes andthe widespread culture of impu-nity in which these massacresoccur form deeply troubling pre-conditions that make suchcrimes very likely to continue.”

“If these conditions go unad-dressed, Burma may very wellface countrywide violence on acatastrophic level, including po-tential crimes against humanityand/ or genocide,” it continued,using the country’s former name.Myanmar has strongly deniedprevious accusations by watch-dog Human Rights Watch of eth-nic cleansing against theRohingya in Rakhine state.

Attacks against Muslims,who are thought to make up atleast four percent of Myanmar’spopulation, have thrown the Bud-dhist-majority nation’s much-hailed emergence from militarydictatorship into question.

Communal unrest betweenlocal Buddhist and RohingyaMuslims engulfed the country’swestern Rakhine state in June andOctober 2012, with whole vil-lages burned to the ground leav-ing some 140,000 homeless,mainly the Rohingya. This yearthe conflict has widened to tar-get Muslims in general, with sev-eral eruptions of violence spread-ing across the country.—AFP

Myanmar urgedFrom Page 1

next few weeks on the pretextof alleged use of chemical weap-ons in Syria.

The report claimed that theU.S. Air Force command sectionis in direct communication withthe US, Israeli, Jordanian andSaudi Air Force headquartersready for an order by PresidentBarack Obama to impose a par-tial no-fly zone over Syrian airspace.

Another section is designedto coordinate operations betweenUS and Jordanian special forces,as well as the units trained in com-mando combat by US instructorsin Jordan.

The Israeli site reported thata closed section houses CIA per-sonnel who control the work ofUS agents going in and out ofSyria and also a communicationscentre. In his briefing to US

US underground Command in JordanFrom Page 1

forces on August 15, Gen.Dempsey commented: “Jordanlives in a very volatile region andat a very critical time in its his-tory. They can count on us to con-tinue to be their partner.”

He suggested that the opera-tion could continue well into nextyear or beyond.Situated atop the undergroundfacility is a large surface struc-ture accommodating the Ameri-can military and civilian officesdealing with Syrian issues fromJordan. It is guarded by US andJordanian security units.

According to reports thereare today some 1,000 US mili-tary personnel in the Jordan, plusa squadron of F-16 fighters andseveral Patriot anti-missile bat-teries strung along the Jordanian-Syrian border to shield Jordanianand American bases and the capi-

tal, Amman. Obama’s final deci-sion on US military intervention– consisting of a no fly and abuffer zone in Syria – is expectedin the coming two to three weeks,depending on Dempsey’s recom-mendations upon his return toWashington after checking outpreparations in Israel and Jordan.In neither operation will USboots touch Syrian soil.

According to the report thebuffer zone in the south up toDamascus would be captured by3,000 rebels trained in specialoperations tactics and armed byUS forces in Jordan. Jordanianspecial forces are to spearheadthe operation under US com-mand. It is feared that PresidentAssad may take the fight outsidehis borders by launching mis-siles against Israel, Jordan andmaybe Turkey.

tion of tensions, which werecounterproductive and det-rimental for stability andpeace in the region.

The statement from theFO said that while Pakistanwas committed to a con-structive, sustained and re-sult-oriented process of en-gagement, India should takeserious and credible mea-sures to prevent furtherceasefire violations and re-duce tensions.

To the agony of Pakistan,the Indians are blaming Pakistanfor the ceasefire violations. TheIndian troops have violatedceasefire along the LoC 35 timesduring the last 15 days.

The martyred CaptainSarfraz belongs to Jorian villageof Hafizabad district. His fatherChaudhry Mansab Ali is also aretired Subedar Major of the Pa-kistan Army. Captain Sarfraz’smarriage was scheduled afternext few months.

He was the youngest amongthe brothers and sisters. Sarfrazjoined the Pakistan Army in2007.

He was deployed at Siachenthree months ago and on Tues-day night he embraced martyr-dom in Indian shelling.Humayun Mir, brother ofmartyred Captain Sarfraz Mir,said he is proud of his brother.

He said Sarfraz was en-gaged to his cousin and his mar-riage was scheduled after fewmonths. Sarfraz’s father said hisson was Hafiz-e-Quran and heembraced martyrdom and he isproud of his son.

Pakistan’s new governmenthas tried to be conciliatory overthe latest outbreak of border vio-lence. On Monday, Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif said Pakistanand India should be fightingpoverty and illiteracy instead ofeach other. He has also asked fortalks with Indian officials.

But with elections is in aposition to make any conces-sions to old enemy Pakistan.

India extendsFrom Page 1

ers who have also complainedabout rigging in the general elec-tions. We requested Chief Justiceof Pakistan to conduct a thumbprint verification process in justfour constituencies but it was re-vealed that he already had 20,000cases pending,” said Khan.

“What could be more impor-tant than this?’ he added.

The PTI chairman said thata lot of secrets will be unveiledin white paper document. Bring-ing his address to a close, he rec-ommended that biometric pollingbe introduced for next elections.“We will introduce this systemin our (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa)province,” he said.

Imran warnsFrom Page 1

against Pakistan. This can onlybe achieved if Japan importsmore products or increases thequantity of existing importableproducts from Pakistan. Lower-ing of tariff rates for Pakistan tex-tiles would also be helpful.

We hope the Japanese gov-ernment would give this idea afavorable consideration”, addedthe Prime Minister.

The Prime Minister said thatPakistan would also appreciate ifthe Japanese investors/donoragencies help Pakistan in mitigat-ing its energy shortages by fi-nancing the energy projects inPakistan like Diamer BashaDam, Kurram Tangi Dam,Munda Dam, and other Small/Medium Dams.—Online

PM urgesFrom Page 1

Khan and sprayed it with bulletshere at Jehangira Chowk and es-caped from the scene. MumlikatKhan lost his life while anotherman present with him in the carsustained injuries.

The tragic incident occurredwhen Mumlikat Khan was trav-elling in his car from JehangiraChowk to his home located atStation Road.

PTI leadergunned down

From Page 1

Chaudhry Nisar said thebotched suicide attack at amosque in Bhara Kahu wasplanned in Waziristan.

He said the accused wantedto target a large gathering duringEid but could not do so due totight security, when he turnedtowards Bhara Kahu.

According to Nisar eight in-dividuals including Afghan refu-gees and a woman suspected tobe involved in the incident hadbeen identified. Nisar said five ofthe suspects had been arrestedwhile three were in Waziristan.

Informing the House aboutthe Islamabad gunman, Nisarsaid there was still no link un-covered between Sikander and amilitant group.

He added that doctors hadnot given permission to interro-gate Sikander and efforts wereunderway to gather all informa-tion so a conclusion to the inci-dent could be reached.

Press Russian officials arerefusing to allow a Greenpeaceicebreaker into that country’s oil-rich Arctic seas as multinationalenergy companies begin openingthose waters to development.

Officials with the environ-mental group say Russia’s refusalis an attempt to keep internationalscrutiny away from the contro-versial developments. They sayrepeated denials of a permit forthe Arctic Sunrise to enter theNorthern Sea Route violate inter-national law.

“These western companiesare coming to Russia to operatein conditions where standards arelower and there’s less scrutiny andfewer consequences,” said ChristyFerguson, a Canadian Greenpeacemember on board the Arctic Sun-rise, which is expected to crossinto Russian waters Friday.

The Russian government hasmade no secret of its desire todevelop its offshore energy re-serves, thought to be the richestof all the Arctic nations. Presi-dent Vladimir Putin has said he

Greenpeace ship entryFrom Page 1

plans to secure $500 billionworth of investment in the Rus-sian offshore over the next 30years. Western majors includingExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell,Total and Eni are all present,mostly through joint ventureswith state-owned companiessuch as Gazprom and Rosneft.

“We want to go to the KaraSea to bear witness and docu-ment what’s happening in termsof preparation for oil drilling,”said Ferguson, who spoke to TheCanadian Press via satellitephone. To get there, the ArcticSunrise has to use the NorthernSea Route, which runs over thetop of the continent and requiresa permit from the Russian gov-ernment.

“We decided that we wouldbe straightforward with our in-tentions, that we would followthe procedures as they are laid outto the letter and that we wouldbe transparent about our intentionto go there to conduct non-vio-lent, legal protest,” Fergusonsaid. —AP

Accountabilityseekers should

justify ownFrom Page 1

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—India A team’sall-rounder Parvez Rasool’sfather was happy with thenews that former India cap-tain MohammadAzharuddin may becomecoach of Jammu & Kash-mir Ranji Trophy team.

“It’s a great news. Notonly Parvez, but all ourother boys will benefit, if he(Azharuddin) accepts thejob, Ghulam Rasool Zargarsays from his residence.

Parvez, the 25-year-oldright handed middle-orderbatsman and off-breakbowler is the first playerfrom Jammu Kashmir to beselected in an Indian teamto play an internationalside.

“At present there is nocoach for our team till

Great if Azhar coachesmy son and others, saysParvez Rasool’s father

Bishan Bedi was recruitedlast year”, the father added.

“I don’t think time con-strain should be a problemfor Azharuddin. If India’sother cricketer-turned politi-cian Navjot Singh Sidhu canspare all his time for TVshows, why can’t Azhar forcoaching”, the father asks.

President’s radarFarooq Abdullah, the

president of the Jammu &Kashmir Cricket Association(JKCA) is believed to haveoffered the position to TeamIndia’s 50-year-old formercaptain.

“Azharuddin was in ourpresident’s radar from the daywhen his (Azhar) son waskilled in the bike accident.The president didn’t wish todisturb him at that point oftime but now everythingseems to be settled, it is timeto approach him”, SaleemAhmed Khan, the JKCA’s

CAO says from Srinagar.Two years ago, Azhar’s

teen-aged son Ayazzudindied of injuries from bike ac-cident.

“Before becomingMember of Parliament(MP), Azhar used to devotemuch of his time with hisother son Abbas (as Asadis known) for coaching”,John Manoj, the coach inHyderabad, says.

Ex-wife optimistic fortheir son

“I want my son to becoached by Azhar. He canturn out to be his bestcoach”, Naureen, Azhar’sfirst wife, whom he di-vorced in 1996, had saidexclusively to this reportera few months ago fromHyderabad.

Since then, Naureenhas been living inHyderabad and keeps con-tact with his son.

THE OVAL: Jonathan Trott clings on to an edge off Chris Rogers during England vs Australia 5th Investec Test on Wednesday.

5th Investec Test: Watson liftsAustralia with elusive ton

ISLAMABAD: Abdul Aziz, President and CEO UFone, with ‘URock’ winning team from north region at the recentconcluded Ufone Cricket League 2013.

Five playersrestored to

Zimbabwe squadto face Pakistan

HARARE—Opener TinoMawoyo has recovered frominjury and joined experiencedbowlers Graeme Cremer andShingi Masakadza in beingrecalled on Wednesday toZimbabwe’s 20-man squadfor the upcoming seriesagainst Pakistan.

Wicketkeeper RegisChakabva and all-rounderTinashe Panyangare are alsoback in the squad after miss-ing out on the 5-0 one-dayinternational series loss toIndia, which ended at thestart of the month.

Zimbabwe will host Paki-stan in two Tests, three ODIsand two T20 internationals. Theseries starts on Friday with thefirst T20 encounter in Harare.

It will be the fourth seriesof the year for Zimbabwe, her-alding an increase in the fre-quency of international compe-tition, but comes on the heelsof the threat of a strike by play-ers wanting better contractterms and the settlement ofunpaid wages.

Squad: Brendan Taylor(captain), Regis Chakabva,Tendai Chatara, ChamuChibhabha, Elton Chigumbura,Michael Chinouya, GraemeCremer, Timycen Maruma,Hamilton Masakadza, ShingiMasakadza, Tino Mawoyo,Natsai M’shangwe, TinotendaMutombodzi, TinashePanyangara, Vusi Sibanda,Sikandar Raza, Prosper Utseya,Brian Vitori, Malcolm Waller,Sean Williams.—AFP

KARACHI—Pakistan openstheir 2-match Twenty20 Inter-national series against hostZimbabwe on Friday with anaim to reduce the gap with num-ber-one ranked Sri Lanka on theICC T20I Rankings Table.

The series commence atHarare Sports Club Groundwith the second matchscheduled to be held on Sat-urday, ICC announced onWednesday.

Currently ranked secondwith 124 ratings points,Muhammad Hafeez’s sidecan gain one ratings point ifit wins both the matches, tofinish with 125 ratings pointsand thereby reduce the gapwith number-one ranked SriLanka (128) to three.

Zimbabwe too has anopportunity to move up, andwill jump one place to 11th ifit wins both matches in theseries. Zimbabwe is cur-rently ranked 12th with 48ratings points, and can gainup to 16 ratings points to

Pakistan to reduce gapin T20 Rankings

move into 11th with 64 rat-ings points.

In the meantime, Pakistancaptain Muhammad Hafeezwill start the series with anall-round presence on the CCPlayer Rankings for T20Is.

Hafeez is currentlyranked second on the ICCPlayer Rankings for T20I All-rounders with a career-high432 ratings points, and isalso fourth in the PlayerRankings for T20I Bowlersand 17th in the ICC PlayerRankings for T20I Batsmen.

In the bowling table,Saeed Ajmal in second andShahid Afridi in 11th are theother Pakistani players insidethe top 20 who will be seenin action during the two-match series.

For Zimbabwe, spinnerProsper Utseya is the onlybowler inside the top 10, innineth position.

The bowlers’ list is stillheaded by West Indies’ SunilNarine, with Sri Lanka’s

Ajantha Mendis in third.In the batting table,

Hamilton Masakadza is thehighest ranked batsman fromZimbabwe, currently placedat 14th.

ICC Player Rankings forT20I Batsmen are still headedby New Zealand captainBrendon McCullum, followedby England’s Alex Hales insecond place and Australia’sShane Watson in thirdspot.—APPICC T20I Rankings:RankTeam .............. Rating1 Sri Lanka .............. 1282 Pakistan ............... 1243 India ..................... 1214 West Indies ......... 1205 South Africa ........ 1186 England ............... 1137 Australia .............. 1038 New Zealand ....... 1029 Ireland .................... 8110 Bangladesh ........... 7411 Scotland ................ 6212 Zimbabwe .............. 4813 Netherlands .......... 3614 Kenya .................... 34

THE OVAL—For Australia,the series is lost, the inten-sity is not what it was andexpectations could not bemuch lower. ShaneWatson’s bountiful formhas come far too late tochallenge the outcome ofthe series, but there was nodenying the gentle brutal-ity of his strokeplay as hetook a century off a re-shaped England attack inthe final Test at The Oval.

In the morning, Watsonfeasted upon the vulnerabil-ity of two Englanddebutants, amassing 80from 77 balls as ChrisWoakes and SimonKerrigan between themleaked 58 runs in sevenovers, Kerrigan’s confi-dence collapsing markedlyunder the strain.

The afternoon sessionwas more painful forWatson as he was struckbehind the ear on 91 by awell-directed short ball from

Stuart Broad, but he buck-led down to be 121 not outby tea.

England, who dismissedDavid Warner in the fifthover of the day - a simplecatch for the wicketkeeper,Matt Prior, as he fenced atJames Anderson - followedup with the wickets offChris Rogers and MichaelClarke in the middle ses-sion.

Rogers’ laborious stay -23 from 100 balls - endedwhen he nicked GraemeSwann to first slip. Ander-son accounted for Clarke,bringing one back to bowlhim off the top of his pad topass Bob Willis and go sec-ond in England’s all-timelist of Test wicket takers.

Broad’s combative post-lunch spell disturbedAustralia’s equilibrium.Watson’s blow was sicken-ing and left him kneeling onthe floor for a lengthy pe-riod in obvious pain. Not forthe first time in this series,Clarke also seemed to haveproblems picking upBroad’s short ball and hewas lucky to survive onmore than one occasion.

Watson, who neededpainkilling tablets, couldplead disorientation whenhe took a single and col-lided shoulder to shoulderwith Anderson in his fol-low-through - he seemed intoo much of a trancelikestate for it to be presentedas a deliberate physicalstatement.

It was a careful coverdrive off Anderson whichbrought him his first hun-

dred for 25 Tests, since hetook a century off India inMohali in 2010, and thethird Australian hundred ofthe series to follow thosemade by Clarke and Rogers.He was dropped on 104 offAnderson at first slip, an in-viting chance, knee high toCook’s right, off the shoul-der of the bat.

England fielded twodebutants in an Ashes Testfor the first time since theHollioake brothers in 1997and, if Watson met Woakes’first spell in Test cricketwith contentment, hetreated the Lancashire left-arm spinner Kerrigandismissively.

Kerrigan conceded 28 inhis first two overs in a hum-bling introduction to Testcricket, with Watson help-ing himself to six bound-aries. The first boundary, alow full toss, revealedKerrigan’s uncertainty andhe repeatedly droppedshort in his second over asWatson overawed him.

Kerrigan had also beentreated dismissively byWatson in the Lions matchagainst Northampton andinitial indications were thathis 50th first-class matchcould be his most pressingof the lot.

He returned for two dis-tinctly nervy overs beforetea, his faltering belief ex-aggerating an unanimatedapproach to the crease.

Watson’s move to No. 3had not delighted all ob-servers but, at the end of aseries in which Australia’spick-and-mix batting order

has left them 3-0 down , heproduced the most domi-neering top-order batting ofthe summer. There were nodevils in the situation or ina slow Oval pitch andWatson responded to anunpressurised situation bytaking charge of the open-ing morning.

The series was alreadysettled and as much asAlastair Cook, England’scaptain, had spoken of theirdesire to set new standardsby winning an Ashes series4-0, the sense of experimen-tation was apparent.

The inclusion ofWoakes and Kerrigan alsomarkedly changed the bal-ance of the side as Englandswitched from a four-manattack to five and fieldedtwo spinners in a home Testfor the first time since theAshes Test against Austra-lia in Cardiff four years ago.

As Watson purred along,they looked as if they wouldneed every one of them. Therewas a hint of swing with thenew ball, and even a sem-blance of turn for Swann, butEngland were already prepar-ing for reverse swing longbefore the interval.

The inclusion ofKerrigan, Lancashire’s slowleft-armer, was a clear indica-tion to Monty Panesar thathis Test career can no longerbe taken for granted, whilesuggestions that Woakeswould bat at No. 6, ahead ofPrior, emphasised that he willbe expected to make runsaplenty if he is to hold downa Test career.—AFP

Australia 1st innings:Rogers c Trott b Swann 23Warner c Prior b Anderson6Watson not out ........... 141Clarke b Anderson .......... 7Smith not out ................. 27Extras: (lb 6, nb 5) .......... 11Total: (3 wickets) ......... 215Fall of wickets 1-11, 2-118,3-144Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WAnderson ........... 11-3-21-2Broad .................. 13-2-43-0Swann .............. 25.5-4-60-1CR Woakes ........ 12-3-47-0Kerrigan ................ 4-0-38-0

SCOREBOARD

LA H O R E—Pakistan cap-tain Misbah-ul Haq urgedhis country’s cricket chiefsWednesday to revive plansfor an IPL-style Twenty20league to get his playerssharp for international com-petition.

Misbah, who leads theside in Tests and one-dayinternationals, is worriedhis men are losing theiredge because they are notregularly playing theworld’s best in the shortestformat.

Pakistani players do nottake part in the annual In-dian Premier League (IPL)and the country has hostedno international gamessince militants attacked theSri Lankan team bus inLahore in 2009.

The Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) planned tohost a Pakistan SuperLeague in March and Aprilto try to lure foreign starsbut had to shelve the ideaindefinitely, claiming itwanted to give sponsorsmore time to come forward.

Misbah said Pakistanmust stage the T20 league,either at home or at a neu-tral venue.

“Pakistan Cricket Boardis doing its efforts to bringinternational cricket back to

If not in Pak, host T20 leagueat neutral venue: Misbah

Pakistan but in my opiniona Twenty20 internationalleague is a must, if not inPakistan it should be heldin Dubai,” Misbah told re-porters on his return fromthe West Indies.

The 39-year-old fea-tured in the inaugural Car-ibbean Premier Leaguewhere he represented StLucia Zouks.

He will join the Pakistanteam in Zimbabwe later thisweek to lead them in the

three one-dayers and twoTests. He is not part of theTwenty20 squad, which willplay two matches in Harareon Friday and Saturday.

Misbah said a PakistanT20 league would help giveyoung players the skillsthey need in internationalcricket.

“Our players are notproperly groomed becauseof no international cricketand other countries gettheir young playersgroomed by having leagueswhere they get a chance toplay with internationalstars,” said Misbah.

“India is the biggest ex-ample where they are hold-ing the league and gettingtheir players well groomed.”

Pakistani players in-cluding Misbah featured inthe inaugural edition of theIPL but were since not al-lowed to play after relationsbetween the two countriesbecame strained in the wakeof the Mumbai attacks in2008.

Misbah is also due tolead the Faisalabad Wolvesteam to India next month tofeature in the ChampionsLeague, but the tour is injeopardy due to the latesttension between the twocountries.—APP

L A H O R E — P a k i s t a n ’ swicketkeeper Adnan Akmalwas given a green light andinstructed on Wednesdayto remain on stand-by toparticipate in the forthcom-ing Zimbabwe tour by thePakistan Cricket Board(PCB) in place of SarfrazAhmed, a local TV channelreported.

Sarfaraz, who will be un-able to go to Zimbabwe due

PCB calls Adnan for Zimbabwe tourto visa issues, was chosenfor the job after seniorwicketkeeper Kamran Akmalfaced the axe for his recentspate of poor performancesand his younger brotherUmar was dropped over amysterious injury.

Sources said that Adnanwould soon depart for Zim-babwe.

Adnan has not yetplayed any Twenty20

Internationals and has par-ticipated in just five ODIsbetween September 2011 andFebruary 2012.

Meanwhile, Umar Akmal,who performed well bothwith the bat and gloves dur-ing the tour of the Caribbean,practiced at the NationalCricket Academy in Lahoreon Tuesday in a bid to provethat he is fit enough to par-ticipate in Zimbabwe.—APP

Robert responsiblefor Davis Cup

loss: PTFISLAMABAD—The PakistanTennis Federation (PTF)Wednesday held RobertDavis, couch of star playerAisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, re-sponsible for the Davis Cuploss at Myanmar earlier thisyear.

Aisam was part of thesquad that faced NewZealand in an Asia Oceaniagroup II tie, which wasplayed in Myanmar. Pakistanwere leading 1-0 and Aisamwas ahead in the secondsingles match when SriLankan referee Ashita Ajigalastopped the match andawarded the tie to NewZealand, as the court areawas declared unplayable.

Talking to APP, PTF Sec-retary Mumtaz Yousaf con-tradicted news published ina section of press holdingthe PTF responsible for theloss.

It was Robert Davis, whoused Aisam to bring interna-tional tennis to his country.“Robert Davis was given thetask by his government to getshifted the international ten-nis cup tie to his country,”Yousaf claimed.

Mumtaz said Aisam onbehalf of Robert pleaded thePTF that the Davis Cupmatch should be played inMyanmar, which had agrassy court.—APP

Top players reachquarterfinals of

Memorial TennisISLAMABAD—Top players,including Aqeel, Yasir, Abid,Usman, Ahmed, Usman,Faizan and Mudasir onWednesday reached themens singles quarterfinals ofthe 3rd Syed Tajamul AbbasMemorial Tennis Champion-ship being played here at PTFTennis Complex.

In Men’s Singles MainDraw pre quarterfinals: AqeelKhan beat Imad Amir 6-1,6-1;Mudasir beat Malik AbdulRehman 6-1,6-4; MuhammadAbid beat Raja Shahid 6-0,6-4;Usman Rafiq beat ZaidMujahim 6-4,6-4; Ahmed Ch.Beat Fahad Masood 6-1,6-0;Usman Ejaz beat ShaheenMehmood 6-1,6-2; FaizanKhurram beat Sanaullah Khan6-1, 6-4; Yasir Khan beat HamzaBin Asif 6-4,6-3.

In Men’s Doublesquarterfinals: MuhammadAbid, Usman Rafiq beat WakeelKhan, Irfanullah 6-4,6-3; UsmanEjaz, Muhammad Mudasarbeat Imad Amir, Adnan Amir 6-4 6-0; Hassan Riaz, SaadMubarak beat Faizan Khurram,Sadan-ul-Haq 6-1 4-6 10-7;Aqeel Khan, Yasir Khan beatAhmed Ch., Sanaullah Khan 7-5,6-3.—APP

TOKYO—Japan’s nuclear cri-sis escalated to its worst levelsince a massive earthquakeand tsunami crippled theFukushima plant more thantwo years ago, with thecountry’s nuclear watchdogsaying it feared more storagetanks were leaking contami-nated water.

The U.N.’s InternationalAtomic Energy Agency(IAEA) said on Wednesday itviewed the situation atFukushima “seriously” andwas ready to help if calledupon, while nearby China saidit was “shocked” to hear con-taminated water was still leak-ing from the plant, and urgedJapan to provide information

“in a timely, thorough and ac-curate way”.

“We hope the Japanese sidecan earnestly take effective stepsto put an end to the negative im-pact of the after-effects of theFukushima nuclear accident,”China’s Foreign Ministry said ina statement faxed to Reuters inBeijing.

Japan’s Chief Cabinet Sec-retary Yoshihide Suga called thesituation “deplorable”, and theNuclear Regulation Authority(NRA) said it feared the disas-ter - the worst nuclear accidentsince Chernobyl a quarter of acentury earlier - was “in somerespects” beyond the plantoperator’s ability to cope.

The plant’s operator, Tokyo

Electric Power Co, or Tepco, hasbeen criticized for its failure toprepare for the disaster and hassince been accused of coveringup the extent of the problems atthe plant. After months of denial,Tepco recently admitted theplant was leaking contaminatedwater into the Pacific Oceanfrom trenches between the reac-tor buildings and the shoreline.

It said on Tuesday that con-taminated water with danger-ously high levels of radiationwas leaking from a storage tank- the most serious problem in aseries of recent mishaps, includ-ing power outages, contami-nated workers and other leaks.

The NRA said it was wor-ried about leakage from other

similar tanks that were builthastily to store water washedover melted reactors at the sta-tion to keep them cool. Waterin the latest leak is so contami-nated that a person standingclose to it for an hour wouldreceive five times the annualrecommended limit for nuclearworkers. A spokesman for theNRA said the agency plans toupgrade the severity of the cri-sis from a Level 1 “anomaly”to a Level 3 “serious incident”on an international scale for ra-diological releases. An upgradewould be the first time Japanhas issued a warning on the In-ternational Nuclear Event Scale(INES) since the three reactormeltdowns at Fukushima in

Fukushima situation goes ‘serious’: UN

Khanpur Damspillways openedISLAMABAD—Spillways ofKhanpur dam were opened onWednesday as water reached to itsextreme level, while 1550 and1228.8 feet water level has beenrecorded in Tarbela and Mangaladams respectively. As per FloodForecasting Division, 2,16,000cusec inflow and 2,20,000 cusecoutflow of water has been re-corded in Tarbela dam. On theother side inflow of water inMangla dam is 61,000 cusecswhile 16,791 cusecs out flow hasbeen recorded.In Mangla damwater level was recorded 13.2 feetdown from extreme level.—Online

Religious activistshot deadBH A K K A R —Unidentif iedarmed men gunned down an ac-tivist of a religious party here onWednesday. According to de-tails, unknown assailants’sprayed bullets at a worker ofreligious party near DistrictHeadquarters Hospital, killedhim on the spot and fled thescene. The body was shifted toDHQ Bhakkar for medico-legalformalities. The enraged activistsof religious parties and heirs ofthe deceased held protest dem-onstration at Bhakkar-KhansarRoad resulting in massive traf-fic jam on both sides. —INP

Woman killedover karokariRAJANPUR—A man gunneddown his sister over karokaricharges here on Wednesday.Accused hailing from KotMitthan area of Rajanpur declar-ing his sister “kali” with a vil-lager shot her dead and fled thescene. The body was shifted tohospital for medico-legal require-ments and later handed over toheirs after postmortem. —INP

9 suspectsrounded upQUETTA—Frontier Corpsrounded up nine suspects dur-ing a raid in Pashtunabad areaon Wednesday. FC sourcessaid the suspects were in-volved in a number of crimesincluding target killings andcreating law and order situa-tion.—Online

ISLAMABAD—President AsifAli Zardari Wednesday urgedfor translating the cordial rela-tionship and the immense good-will between Pakistan and Thai-land into a substantive partner-ship of mutual benefit and boost-ing bilateral relations to newheights by fully exploiting theenormous potential existing be-tween the countries in the areasof trade, investment, defence,education, science & technologyand culture and Tourism.

The President said thiswhile speaking to Thai PrimeMinister Ms. YingluckShinawatra during meeting atthe Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednes-day.

Spokesperson to the Presi-dent Senator Farhatullah Babarsaid that the two leaders dis-cussed a wide range of bilateral,regional and international is-sues.

The President said that Pa-kistan and Thailand have beenlongstanding friends and alliesas the ties and cultural connec-tion between our two societiesgoes back to more than two mil-lennia to the Buddhist Gandharaperiod. Gandhara civilizationconstitutes an immutable bondbetween our two peoples, hestated. The President remarkedthat Pakistan is proud to havepreserved and promoted this richheritage, which, he said is in-deed the common cultural heri-tage of the world, including

Thailand.The President said that our

common cultural heritage par-ticularly Gandhara civilizationsprovides huge opportunities forpromoting tourism between thetwo countries. The Presidentsuggested for organizing aGandhara exhibition in Thai-land, which he said would helpfurther promote cultural andtourism ties between the twocountries. Discussing bilateralties, the President said that Pa-kistan was keen to comprehen-sively upgrade its relationshipwith Thailand, as a critical com-ponent of our “Vision EastAsia”.

The Spokesperson said thatthe President stressed for more

deepened and broadened rela-tions at the Government-to-Gov-ernment, business-to-business,Parliament-to-Parliament andpeople-to-people levels, whichthe President said was critical tobuilding robust economic andtrade relations between the twocountries. The President ex-pressed confidence that theagreements signed between thetwo sides on establishment of JointTrade Committee and Joint Busi-ness Council would help expandbilateral trade ties and open newvistas of business and trade.He however emphasized on FreeTrade Agreement between the twocountries which he said should bethe centre-piece of the strong eco-nomic partnership. —INP

President urges closerPak-Thai trade, defence ties

ADB delegationmeets PM

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—An Asian De-velopment Bank (ADB) delega-tion led by its Vice President,Xiaoyu Zhao, called on PrimeMinister Muhammad NawazSharif at the Prime Minister’sOffice on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister said thatthe ADB’s support for publicwelfare projects in Pakistan overthe years has been commendableand expressed the confidencethat the monetary institutionwould continue extending its as-sistance in the fields of health,education and infrastructure.

The Prime Minister said thatthe newly- elected governmentis focusing on improvingPakistan’s economy and everyendeavor would be made to im-prove Pakistani people’s livingstandards.

Minister for Finance Mr.Ishaq Dar and other senior offi-cials also attended the meeting.

PIA planeescapes mishap

at BahrainLAHORE—The PIA flight,with several passengers onboard, escaped mishap after itsengine suddenly stopped justbefore takeoff from theBahrain International Airporton Wednesday.

According to details, thePK 290 of the national airlinewas grounded at the BahrianInternational Airport when itsengine stopped working.

After 12 hours delayedpassengers were sent toAllama Iqbal Airport Lahorethrough another flight.

Meanwhile, Airport Secu-rity Force (ASF) personnel re-covered a pistol and bulletsfrom the luggage of a passen-ger who was heading towardsJeddah at the Allama Iqbal In-ternational Airport on Wednes-day.—INP

Malala receivesTipperary

peace prizeDUBLIN—A Pakistani teenagershot in the head by the Talibanhas been awarded a peace prizein Tipperary for her courage anddetermination.

Malala Yousafzai becamethe latest recipient of theTipperary International PeaceAward. The 16-year-old educa-tion activist was attacked byTaliban gunmen last Octoberafter she campaigned for girls togo to school without fear.

The Tipperary Peace Con-vention recognised Malala’scourage, determination and per-severance, along with the impactshe has had on so many peopleacross the world, a private tele-vision channel reported Wednes-day. Speaking to a crowd of over200 people at the BallykisteenHotel in Tipperary, Malala ap-pealed to governments all overthe world to change their lawsthat discriminate against womenand children.

She said she would like toreturn to the Swat Valley in hernative country and would con-tinue her work to ensure thatchildren and young girls all overthe world should be given propereducation. Peace Conventionsecretary Martin Quinn said hewas delighted the teenager hadagreed to accept the award inperson in Co Tipperary.—NNI

HAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—The sad 44th an-niversary of the vicious attemptto burn Al-Aqsa Holy Mosquecomes amid continued Israeliviolations and repeated desecra-tions of the forecourts of theblessed first “qibla” by Israeliextremists, and growing callsby extremists for the destruc-tion of the Mosque and the erec-tion of the alleged temple in itsplace. The anniversary alsocomes at a time when the occu-pied city of Al-Quds is beingsubjected to a systematic cam-paign of ethnic cleansing in-tended to drive out its indig-enous population and replacethem by settlers, in grave vio-lation of international law, saysan emailed message to PakistanObserver here Wednesdayevening.

On this anniversary, theOrganisation of Islamic Coop-eration (OIC) reaffirms that thesafety of the holy sites of Al-Quds is of paramount impor-tance to all Muslims, and is anintegral part of peace and secu-rity in the region.

Thus, Israel, the occupyingpower, bears full responsibilityfor the safety of the holy placesit occupies, especially as inter-national agreements and treaties,particularly the Fourth GenevaConvention, prohibit the occu-pying State from committingacts of aggression against holyplaces or denying worshippersaccess to these places.

The Convention also bansthe alteration of the landmarksof the city, population fabricand urban structure, or any ag-gression against its historicalmonuments.

PA fails to adoptanti-drone rulingLAHORE—After a delay fromthe treasury benches to adoptresolution against drone at-tacks in the tribal belt, PunjabAssembly on Wednesday gavea picture of chaotic house withthe uproar of the opposition.

The opposition had filed aresolution in the assembly toprotest against the indiscrimi-nate drone attacks in the tribalbelt of the country. PML-N’ssenior Minister RanaSanaullah, however, ob-structed passing the resolutionsaying federal government’sefforts on global platformsshould be mentioned in thedraft.The resolution should bepresented before the house to-day (Thursday) after inclusionof federal government view-point over the efforts on the is-sue, Rana said the in houseamid shouting from the Paki-stan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) ledopposition.—Online

Al-Quds protection to ensureMideast peace, security: OIC

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari shaking hand with Thai Prime Minister Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra .

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Gas consumers ofboth SNGPL and SSGCL will bepaying up Rs3,000 more in theform of security deposit in the nextsix months, according to the lat-est decision by the oil and gasregulatory authority (Ogra).

Ogra has agreed to pleas ofboth state-owned utility compa-nies to raise the security depositsfor both existing and new consum-ers to Rs 4,500 owing to increasein the risk of default. As a result,both gas companies would collectRs14 billion from domestic con-sumers in the next half-year. Thegas regulator has also approvedimposition of reconnection feeworth Rs371 on domestic gasmeter connection.

Both Sui Northern Gas Pipe-lines Limited (SNGPL) and Sui

Southern Gas Company Limited(SSGCL) had pleaded to the regu-latory authority (Ogra) that gasprices had increased manifoldsince 1996 when the governmenthad set Rs1,500 as a security de-posit for domestic consumers ofSui gas. The gas companies hadrequested the regulator to allow arevision in security deposits toRs4,500.

“The request of gas compa-nies for revision in security depos-its is justified and therefore theamount of security deposit newconsumers may be fixed atRs4,500,” reads the decision byOgra. “However, once the con-sumption pattern of the consumeris established, revision of securitydeposit on the basis of annual av-erage consumption of threemonths may be carried out by thecompany.” “The adjustment in se-

curity deposit be recovered fromall consumers (new and existing)in gradual manners over the pe-riod of six months in easy install-ments through normal gas bills,”orders the regulatory authority.

The regulator, while revisingnew connection charges andreconnection charges for domes-tic consumers, has also imposedfirst reconnection fee worth Rs371on domestic gas meter connection.

Ogra had taken these deci-sions after perusal of records andhearing arguments of representa-tives of SNGPL and SSGCL.

When contacted, sources inboth gas companies said that af-ter the approved hike in securitydeposit, the SNGPL would col-lect heavy Rs9billion whileSSGCL would collectRs5billion from its domesticconsumers in six months.

Gas consumers to pay Rs3000more in next six months

March 2011. Explosions thenled to a loss of power and cool-ing, triggering a maximumINES Level 7 at the plant.

NRA Chairman ShunichiTanaka likened the strickennuclear plant to a house of hor-rors at an amusement park. “Idon’t know if describing it thisway is appropriate, but it’s likea haunted house and, as I’vesaid, mishaps keep happeningone after the other,” he told re-porters. “We have to look intohow we can reduce the risks andhow to prevent it from becom-ing a fatal or serious incident.”

He said the NRA wouldconsult with the IAEA aboutwhether it was appropriate toassign a rating to the leakage at

the plant.“Japanese authorities con-

tinue to provide the Agency withinformation on the situation atthe plant, and Agency expertsare following the issue closely,”Gill Tudor, spokesperson at theVienna-based IAEA, said in ane-mailed statement.

“The IAEA views this mat-ter seriously and remains readyto provide assistance on re-quest.” Each one-step INES in-crease represents a 10-fold in-crease in severity, according toa factsheet on the IAEA website.(www.iaea.org/) A Level 3 rat-ing is assigned when there is ex-posure of more than 10 times thelimit for workers, according tothe factsheet.—AP

WASHINGTON—A militaryjudge sentenced Army Pfc. Bra-dley Manning to 35 years inprison for giving a trove of mili-tary and diplomatic secrets toWikiLeaks.

Manning, 25, was convictedlast month of multiple charges,including violations of the Es-pionage Act for copying and dis-seminating the documents whileserving as an intelligence ana-lyst at a forward operating basein Iraq. He faced up to 90 yearsin prison.

Manning is required to serveone-third of the sentence, minusthree and half years of timeserved, before he is eligible forparole. That will be in eight

years when he is 33.Judge Denise Lind, an Army

colonel, said Manning was dis-honorably discharged. He wasalso reduced in rank and forfeitsall pay. Manning stood at atten-tion, flanked by his attorneys, tohear the verdict with his aunt,Debra Van Alstyne, sitting be-hind him. He did not appear toreact when the sentence wasread.As Manning was escortedout of the packed courtroom,more than half a dozen support-ers shouted out to him, “We’llkeep fighting for you, Bradley!You’re our hero!” The deci-sion was immediately con-demned by the American CivilLiberties Union.—Agencies

Judge sentences BradleyManning to 35 years

KARACHI—Famed Pakistanpaceman Wasim Akram onWednesday announced that hehad married his Australian girl-friend, Shaniera Thompson,saying he has started a new lifeon a happy note.

“I married Shaniera inLahore last week in a simpleceremony and this is the startof a new life for me, my wifeand for my kids,” Wasim toldAFP.

The 47-year-old’s first wifeHuma died in 2009 after mul-tiple organ failure.

Wasim proposed to 30-year-old Thompson, a formerpublic relations consultant, on

Wasim Akram ties theknot with Shaniera

bended knee last month.Thompson came to Karachi

earlier this month before goingto Lahore to see Wasim’s ail-ing father, where the marriagewas solemnised.

Wasim said Thompson hadconverted to Islam and is learn-ing Urdu.

“She has embraced Islamand is learning our language.She has been close to my sonsand they form a very goodbond,” said Wasim of his twosons from his first marriage.

Wasim played 104 Testsand 356 one-day internationalsfor Pakistan in a career lastingfrom 1984 to 2003.

CHILDREN who have an older siblingwith autism are seven times more likelythan other kids to be diagnosed with

the disorder themselves, according to a newstudy from Denmark.

That extra risk is smallerthan had been suggested inearlier studies.

Researchers also founda higher-than-average riskamong children whose olderhalf-sibling had an autismspectrum disorder (ASD) -especially if the two kidsshared the same mother.

“I think a lot of autismresearchers agree that thecauses of autism are many andit’s very complex,” ThereseGronborg, who led the studyat Aarhus University, said.“Ifit was only genetics we wouldsee a much higher recurrencerate” among siblings, she toldReuters Health.About one inevery 88 U.S. children has anASD, according to the Centers for Disease Con-trol and Prevention.

For their new study, Gronborg and hercolleagues used birth, civil and psychiatricregistries to track 1.5 million children bornin Denmark between 1980 and 2004.

Through 2010, just over 13,000 of themhad been diagnosed with an ASD. That in-cluded 276 children with an older sibling withautism who were also diagnosed with thedisorder.The researchers found the likelihoodof a younger sibling being diagnosed with au-tism when an older sibling had an ASD var-ied between 4.5 and 10.5 percent, with an av-erage of about 7 percent. There was no clear

increasing or decreasing trend during thestudy period.

For half-siblings, the extra risk of autismwas smaller: younger half-siblings who shareda father with an older sibling had a 1.5-times

greater risk of ASDs if theirsibling also had one, a findingthat could have been due tochance.Children who shared amother with a half-sibling hada 2.4-times greater risk if theirolder brother or sister had au-tism, according to findingspublished in JAMAPediatrics.Gronborg said awoman’s lifestyle during preg-nancy or something about theintrauterine environment couldaffect her children’s risk of au-tism.

“But it could also be some-thing in the upbringing,” sheadded.The researchers notedthat it’s possible siblings of achild with an ASD are morelikely to be diagnosed them-

selves in part because parents are more awareof the condition and its symptoms.But theysaid the extra risk could also be an underesti-mate if parents who have one child with verysevere autism are less likely to try to havemore kids.Gronborg and her colleagues saidan autism risk of approximately 7 percentamong younger siblings of children with thedisorder should be “reassuring” for parents.

Zachary Warren, from the Treatment andResearch Institute for Autism Spectrum Dis-orders at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center inNashville, Tennessee, said that rate is sig-nificantly lower than what’s been found instudies of other groups.

Kids with autistic oldersibling have seven-fold risk

Prime Minister of Thailand Yingluck Shinawatra planting a sapling at Shakarparian. Minister for Information Technology, Anusha Rehman is also present.

General (R) Ehsanul Haq, Chairman CPGS, Senator Sehar Kamran, President Center forPakistan and Gulf Studies, Prof. Dr. Jamil Qalandar, Prof. Dr. Richard Bonney and Dr.Muhammad Ilyas Khan during a seminar titled ‘ Innovating Means to Resolve RadicalExtremism in Pakistan’, in Islamabad.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

Famous singer Tranum Naz performs at a function held to pay tributes to Master GhulamHaider at PNCA.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A three-dayInternational Conference onthe Applications of MolecularBiology in Medicine and Ag-riculture started here at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU).

The conference is orga-nized by the Department ofBiochemistry, QAU andISESCO Women in ScienceChair, in collaboration with Is-lamic Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organization(ISESCO) and Pakistan Na-tional Commission forUNESCO with an objective tofoster fellowship and collabo-

Int’l conference on applications ofMolecular Biology at QAU

ration among the biochemists,molecular biochemists and thescientists of related fields.

State Minister for Educa-tion, Training and Standards inHigher Education, MuhammadBaligh-ur-Rehman in his inau-gural speech said that develop-ment of the Education sector istop priority of the government.He said that Prime Minister’sYouth Training Program is be-ing launched to provide an op-portunity for youth to equipthemselves with practicalknowledge and to get hands-onexperience.

He said that government hasfinalized a national plan of ac-

tion to achieve the MillenniumDevelopment and EFA goals toachieve the set targets by 2018.

He appreciated the organiz-ers and said that internationalmix of scientists, researchersand scholars from universities,biomedical and agricultural re-search institutions, has made theconference a perfect platform toshare experience, foster col-laborations and evaluate emerg-ing technologies in molecularbiology across the globe.

While addressing the inau-gural ceremony Prof. Dr.Masoom Yasinzai, Vice Chan-cellor QAU, said that in recentpast the colossal development

of the biological information isan outcome of vast advances inthe field of molecular biology.

These discoveries have re-sulted in transformation of newproducts or processes whichhave flooded world markets,therefore showering vast eco-nomic rewards on those nationswhich have had the courage andthe vision to make Science &Technology the corner stone oftheir development programs.

The Vice Chancellor saidthat latest techniques and state-of-the –art methods in molecu-lar biology provide researcherswith a phenomenal opportunityfor scientific research with new

horizons. He urged the partici-pants to deliberate all thesenew discoveries and shouldfind ways to translate academicresearch into the socio-eco-nomic uplift of the country.

Dr. Bushra Mirza, Profes-sor and Chairperson of the De-partment of Biochemistry saidthe objective of the conferenceis to stimulate interest and pro-mote research and education inBiochemistry, Molecular Biol-ogy and other related fields.She said that conference is anamazing opportunity for ex-perts and young researchers toshare, exchange and discus theongoing research projects.

CONTINUES

THIRD International Con-ference on Aerospace Sci-ence & Engineering at In-stitute of Space Technology,Islamabad from 08:00 am to05:00 pm.

*****

PAKISTAN PNCA hasscheduled a photo exhibitiontitled ‘the Land of diversecultures and civilizations’from 11 am at NAG, F-5/1,Islamabad. The exhibitionwill continue till August 31.

Thai PM plantssapling at

ShakarparianISLAMABAD—Thai Prime Min-ister Yingluck Shinawatra paida visit to Faisal MosqueIslamabad on Wednesday morn-ing and visited various parts ofthe mosque.

According to media reports,Thai Prime Minister YingluckShinawatra also visited ShakarParian and planted a sapling.

Minister of State for Infor-mation Technology AnoshaRehman accompanied the ThaiPrime Minister.—Online

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—An anti-terror-ism court (ATC) on Wednesdayhanded over Akhtar, who pro-vided weapons to Sikandar forstandoff in Islamabad, to policeon two-day physical remand.

Akhtar, accused of provid-ing arms to Islamabad gunmanSikandar, was presented beforeATC judge Atiqur Rahman.

During the hearing, theprosecutor requested the court

Islamabad standoff

Weapon supplier sent on2-day physical remand

to give two-day physical re-mand of the accused for furtherinvestigation which wasgranted.

During interrogation,Sikandar had disclosed to havebought weapons from Akhtarin Pasrur.

On August 15, Sikandaropened fire in the heavily po-liced heart of Islamabad afterslipping past the capital’s manycheckpoints. He was later shotand seriously wounded by po-

lice during a five-hour long dra-matic standoff.

Sikandar was armed with apair of assault rifles that hefired periodically and was ac-companied by his wife and twochildren. He parked his car inthe middle of Jinnah Avenueleading to the parliament aspolice tried to figure out whatto do.

Islamabad police chiefSikandar Hayat said the gun-man belongs to Hafizabad.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Speaker NationalAssembly (NA) Sardar AyazSadiq has said that current dor-mant Parliamentary friendshipgroups with the incumbent par-liament need to be refreshed andrevised in order to explore theview of the world.

Speaking at the launchingceremony of handbook ‘Conceptand Practice of ParliamentaryFriendship Groups’ on Wednes-day here, organized by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung(KAS) he saidthat Parliamentary friendshipgroups are meant to promote thesoft and peaceful image of Paki-stan.

On this occasion ResidentRepresentative, KAS RonnyHeine in his remarks, reiter-ated his desire to work in close

cooperation with Parliamentof Pakistan in order to en-hance peace and democraticpractice within the country.

Ambassador of FederalRepublic of Germany, H.E,Cyrill Nunn, said that onecouldn’t deny the significantof parliamentary groups sincethese groups are actually rep-resenting the wil l of thepeople to connect togetherand bridge the nations towork in collective partner-ship.

First ever Malik KamranAzam Khan Rajar writesHandbook on the subject ofParliamentary FriendshipGroups (PFGs) and Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) hassupported publication of thisHandbook and hosted thelaunch ceremony.

Parliamentary friendshipgroups need to be revised

Threat ofepidemic diseasesRAWALPINDI—Accumulatedrain water in the area of Rawaltown has escalated the threat ofepidemic diseases for the resi-dents while negligence of ad-ministration has turned thewhole area into hub of problems.

As per details, residents ofDhok Elahi Bakhush are suffer-ing from the diseases of malaria,cholera and abdominal problemswhile City District Governmenthas not even sprayed in the area.

On the other side area alsolacks the basic facilities of freshdrinking water, and streetlights,non-availability of police patrol-ling has also increased the crimerate in area. Residents of the areahas said that some people haveillegally occupied the nullahs,due to which whole area turnsinto pond after little raining also,they have demanded from con-cerned authorities to take noticeof this situation and solve theseproblems immediately.—Online

5 nabbed forpower pilferage

RAWALPINDI—Five personswere nabbed in Power theftcases here.

On the special direction ofDCO Rawalpindi Sajid Zafar,Assistant Commissioner cantNazia Perveen Sudan raided inChakala Scheme 3 atIslamabad Jeweler Shop wherethey were getting power bybogus meter and also discon-nect the connection immedi-ately.

She also apprehended fourpersons red handed and regis-tered case against shop ownernamely Abdul Razak in AirportPolice Station.

In other incident, AssistantCommissioner City KhalidJaved Ghoria launched opera-tion at Tippu road and arrestedRaja Riaz of Chief Foods andRefreshment Center owing totemporary electricity meterwhile also registered caseagainst him.

Meanwhile, AC alsolaunched operation in the areaof Sadiqabad against profiteersand also imposed fine of Rs 30,000.—Online

AIOUadmissions

with late feeISLAMABAD—The admissionsof the Allama Iqbal Open Uni-versity (AIOU) from Matric toMA/M.Sc level programmes forthe Semester Autumn, 2013 willcontinue with late fee chargestill September 2.—INP

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prominent sing-ers mesmerized the audiencewith melodious songs and tunesto acknowledge services of leg-endary music composer, MasterGhulam Haider at Pakistan Na-tional Council of the Arts(PNCA).

The vocalist here paid trib-ute to legendary music com-poser, who dedicated his entirelife to compose significant andunique tunes in the field of mu-sic.

Renowned Violin playerRaees Ahmed presented popu-

Singers pay tributes toMaster Ghulam Haider

lar tunes. Amir Raza presented“Dykha na tha kabi hum nay yesama” while Shujahat Ali Bobypresented “Mohabat karny walykum na hon gy”. Nirmal Shahsung “Muj say pheli semohabat” and Ali Raza pre-sented “Dil ko laga kay kahin”.Tarnum Naz presented“Bachpan ke yaadgaron” andSachal Sarmat’s poetry “MahiYaar Gharoli”.

While acknowledging theservices of Master Ghulam, Di-rector General Mohammad Bilalsaid, Master Ghulam has givengreat names in singing to theindustry like Noor Jehan,

Shamshad Begum, MunawarSultana, Saigol and many morewho have reigned the field.

He truly deserved the titleof “Moseeqar e Azam” as he hasmost of the popular films of thatperiod to his credit. Gulbakoli,Intizar, Neend, Koyal, Ghulam,Bayqrar, Shaheed, Khandan,Laila, Zameendar, Akeli etc. Itis our prime duty to promote,project and preserve our cultureassets and introduce it to the newgeneration.

Our rich soil has producedgreat legends and personalitieslike Master Ghulam Haider inevery field of life.

Briefs

The quality of your lifeis determined by the

quality of your relation-ships. The quality ofyour business is no

different.

— Harvey Mackay

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The new phe-nomenon of drastic decline ofregional currencies againstdollar which brought the In-dian rupee to the life time lowagainst dollar is howeverbriding the yawning gap be-tween the regional currenciesespecially of Pakistan, Indiaand Bangladesh.

It was hardly a couple ofmonths ago when Indian ru-

Indian rupee vs dollar hits life time lowRepayment of loans to weigh heavy on economy

pee was at 41 against dollarwhile Pak rupee was around 96-97 a dollar but the economicslowdown which has hit china,India and Pakistan bring the In-dian rupee at life time low at 64which is approaching fast to rs70a dollar with next few weeks,said financial experts. TheBangladesh takka was also notan exception to the race of cur-rency depreciation which stoodat Rs77.40 against dollar.

The expensive dollar has an

adverse impact on import basedeconomies while the capital in-tensive exports are not usuallyre-exported from Pakistan ascompared to neighbouring India.The glaring example of costlyimports in Pakistan is the auto-mobile sector which heavily re-lies on import of completelybuilt units(cbu) or even otherwise on imports of principalspare parts for locally assembledcars or vehicles while automo-bile industry does not exports

locally produced cars like indiawhere a large number of ve-hicles are mandatory to be ex-ported. the most curical segmentof import regime in pakistan isthe fuel oil for power generationas more than 75 percent of thetotal electricity produced in thecountry is produced from thecostly imported fuel oil.

In view of the constant ap-preciation of dollar the theory ofpromotion regional trade in lo-cal currencies is a way out to

give a relief to the economy.Pakistan has already entered

into currency swap arrangementwith China and turkey whichneeded to be expanded to theneighbouring countries like In-dia for trade in local currency.It may be noted that India hasalso entered in a short of cur-rency swap with Iran and pay-ing in local currency for its cudeimports to India.

The Indian rupee couldtouch 70 against the US dol-

lar in a month or so, althoughsome revival is expected inthe currency by the end of theyear, Deutsche Bank said in areport.

“We continue to believethat fundamentally the rupeeis undervalued and has over-shot its equilibrium level sub-stantially, but as numerousepisodes of past currency cri-ses have amply demonstrated,under a scenario of deep pes-simism, currencies can over-

shoot substantially and re-main so for a long t ime,economists at the bank wrotein the report.

Meanwhile the UK poundfor the first time breached the100 mark – against Indian ru-pee making it the first currencyto hit a century maintaining itsedge over the greenback.

According to reports theappreciation in the British cur-rency affects traveling to theEuropean countries particularly

students and tourists. The sharprise in the cost of living in UKhas already impacted plans ofstudents who are now lookingat other countries.

Germany, France andAustralia are showing an in-crease in the number of stu-dents. Travel from India couldalso get hit following a deci-sion by UK to go ahead withrequiring “high risk” Indiantravellers to provide a GBP3000 Visa bond.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The private sec-tor of Pakistan and Thailand hasagreed to boost trade and eco-nomic cooperation in variousfields and hold meetings of JointBusiness Council biannually forfuture growth and prosperity.

Noted Thai investors havealso agreed to visit Pakistan nextmonth to explore new avenuesof investment and economic co-operation.

The development came dur-ing the first-ever meeting ofjoint working group comprisingprivate sector of the two coun-tries. Pakistan side was headedby President FPCCI ZubairAhmed Malik while Thai sidewas led by Mr. IsaraVongkusolkit, Chairman of the

First-ever meeting of Pak-Thaijoint working group held

ISLAMABAD: President FPCCI Zubair Ahmed Malik and Chairman of the Board of TradeThailand Isara Vongkusolkit discussing ways and means to boost bilateral trade during thefirst meeting of the joint working group.

Joint Standing Committee onCommerce, Industry and Bank-ing of Thailand and Chairmanof the Board of Trade Thailand.

Both sides agreed to exploreinvestment opportunities in en-ergy, food processing, agricul-ture, pharmaceutical, auto parts,fisheries, marble, granite, tour-ism and health tourism and en-sure significant progress.

Speaking at the occasionZubair Ahmed Malik said thatPakistan market presents greatopportunities to Thai investorsand that we can help enhancetheir market access to Afghani-stan, Central Asia, and some Gulfand Middle Eastern nations.

He said that Thailand isworld leader in food processing,auto parts manufacturing whileit is exporting fisheries worth 10

billion dollars per annum.Thai investors can explore

opportunities is Pakistan’s ro-bust auto industry, food process-ing and agricultural sector, hesaid, adding that fish productsof Pakistan match western stan-dards.

The FPCCI President saidthat Pakistan’s marble and gran-ite sector exports to China andHong Kong are picking up and heexpects Thailand to consider thispromising sector for investment.

Isara Vongkusolkit tookkeen interest in the discussionand raised many question re-garding reforms agenda, qualityof Pakistani products includingpharma and rice. He informedthat Pakistan can export orangejuice to Thailand where peopleprefer it over any other nectar.

TARIQ KHATTAK

ISLAMABAD—Industrializationmust be an essential part of thegrowth formula if Asian countrieswant to prosper and avoid themiddle income trap, says a newAsian Development Bank (ADB)report. In a special chapter of KeyIndicators for Asia and the Pacific2013, its flagship annual statisti-cal publication, ADB emphasizesthat manufacturing is essential toa high productivity service sector,technological innovation, andmodernizing agriculture.

“Historically, no economyhas reached high income statuswithout reaching at least 18%share of manufacturing in out-put and employment for a sus-tained period,” said ChangyongRhee, ADB’s Chief Economist.

The report notes that onegroup of economies—HongKong, China; Japan; the Repub-lic of Korea; Singapore; andTaipei,China—rapidly industri-alized to become high income

Asia cannot bypass manufacturingpath to prosperity: ADB report

countries, while another groupof economies, including thePeople’s Republic of China(PRC), Malaysia, and Thailand,are transforming more slowly.

Other developing Asian na-tions, such as Bangladesh, India,Pakistan or the Philippines, arechanging even more slowly, havecreated few manufacturing jobs,and are shifting from agricultureinto services. “Right now, as ser-vices boom in the region, it’stempting to shun industrializa-tion, but it will be a serious mis-take if a country wants to be pros-perous,” Mr. Rhee added.

Industry does not lead theway in Asia, the report noted.Services are the largest share ofdeveloping Asia’s output andagriculture remains the largestemployer, providing an incomefor 700 million people.

Regional diversity meansAsia’s economies require differ-ent policy priorities to promotetransformation. Modernizing theagricultural sector is a key task

in developing Asia, in particu-lar for low income countries.

For middle income economiesheavily dependent on labor-inten-sive sectors or currently bypassingindustrialization, the focus shouldbe on upgrading their industrialbase. For these nations, good qual-ity education is essential for indus-trial diversification and reducingthe path-dependency nature ofstructural transformation.

For small island economies,industrialization may not be costeffective, and the future lies inbecoming competitive in certainservice sector niche markets.

Key Indicators for Asia andthe Pacific 2013 also charts re-gional progress in achieving theMillennium Development Goals(MDGs). It notes that two yearsbefore the MDG deadline in 2015,most of the region has made sig-nificant progress in reducing pov-erty, improving access to univer-sal primary education, and pro-moting gender equity andwomen’s empowerment.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research, Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan meeting withJaved Iqbal, Minister for Food of AJK.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif has said that there are vastopportunities of investment inPunjab. He said that local andforeign investors have signed anumber of agreements for in-vestment in energy and othersectors due to investment-friendly policies of the govern-ment. He stressed the need forstrengthening diplomatic andtrade relations between Pakistanand Germany.

He said that German inves-tors should visit Pakistan to ex-plore prospects of investmentwhile Pakistan should benefitfrom the expertise and experi-ences of Germany in industrialsector.

Vast opportunities exist forinvestment in Punjab: Shahbaz

He was addressing a func-tion arranged by Pak-GermanBusiness Forum, here today.German Ambassador CyrillNunn, German Consul GeneralDr. Tilo Klinner, Provincial En-ergy Minister Sher Ali Khan andprominent Pakistani industrial-ists were present.

The Chief Minister also in-augurated Lahore office of Pak-German Business Forum. Ad-dressing the function, the ChiefMinister referred to close rela-tions between Pakistan and Ger-many and said that a number ofprojects are being implementedin Punjab with the cooperationof Germany. He also stressed theneed for further promoting tradeand economic relations betweenthe two countries. He said thatGerman investors should benefit

from investment opportunitiesin Punjab especially in energysector.

The Chief Minister said thatbesides traditional methods ofgeneration of power, productionof electricity from alternativesources such as solar power isalso being encouraged. He saidthat one-window facility wouldbe provided for investment inenergy sector.

The Chief Minister saidthat bureaucracy should adoptthe policy of Red Carpet in-stead of red-tapeism for pro-motion of economic activitiesand investment so that invest-ment targets could beachieved. The Chief Ministerassured that foolproof securitywould be provided to foreigninvestors in Punjab.

Stock market closeslower for secondconsecutive day

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Karachi StockExchange (KSE) bench mark100-index on Wednesday closedlower on second consecutiveday. KSE-100 index decreasedby 471.96 points to close at23015.27 while its 30-index de-creased by 420.32 points to18295.20.

Out of total 354 activescrips, 86 moved up while 247shed values and 21 remainedunchanged. Significant increaseof Rs 31.40 was recorded in thestocks of Wyeth Pak Ltd to closeat Rs 2431.40 while the stocksof Indus Dyeing went up by Rs17 to close at Rs 797.

Siemens Pakistan andClariant Pak lost their per sharevalue by Rs 57.73 to close Rs1,047 and Rs 1,561 to close atRs 296.76 respectively. Mostactive trading of 51887500shares was recorded in FaujiCement.

Total market turnover re-mained at 252124290 shares ascompared to previous 182675150shares. In future trading, thestocks of 4 scrips moved up while115 shed values.

Rates for conversionKARACHI—The following rateswill be applicable for conversioninto rupees of Foreign CurrencyDeposits, Dollar BearerCertificates, Foreign CurrencyBearer Certificates, Special U.S.Dollar Bonds and profits thereonby all banks and for providingForward Cover on ForeignCurrency Deposits (excludingF.E- 25 deposits) by the StateBank on August 22, 2013. Therates are U.S. Dollar Rs103.5847, Japanese Yen Rs1.0633, Pound Sterling Rs162.5036 and Euro Rs138.7931.—APP

PQ shipping activityKARACHI—Five ships C.VUASC Sitroh, C.V CMACGM Debussy, M.T Mykines.M.T Brizo and M.V IkonSalmon scheduled to load/offload containers, cement,palm oil and furnace oil wereberthed at Qasim InternationalContainer Terminal, MultiPurpose Terminal, LiquidCargo Terminal and FOTCOOil Terminal respectively atPort Qasim on Tuesday Aug20. Meanwhile, two moreships carrying containers andwheat also arrived at outeranchorage of Port Qasimduring last 24 hours. Berthoccupancy was observed at thePort at 36% on Thursdaywhere five ships namely C.VUASC Sitrah, C.V CMA CGMDebussy, C.V Nysted Maersk,M.V Ikon Salmon, M.Y BaksNazue, M.V Aurendel Castle,M.T Mykines and M.T Brizoare currently occupying berthsto load / offload containers,cement, fertilizer. palm oil andfurnace oil respectively duringlast 24 hours.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan-Japan Busi-ness Forum (PJBF) hosted a meet-ing inviting the heads of other bi-lateral forums to discuss and ini-tiate measures to address the issuesrelated to trade and investments bytheir respective countries.

Sohail P. Ahmed, Chairman ofPJBF, stated here on Wednesdaythat Pakistan provides a huge con-sumptive power which can be bet-ter utilized if all forums collectivelyapproach the new government andappraise them of the impedimentsstanding in the way of increasedtrade and investments into Paki-stan.

Heads of various forums whileappreciating the move, explainedabout the workings of their respec-tive forums, their membershipshaving representation of both lo-cal and multilateral companies,activities organized by them formeaningful interaction between thebusiness community of Pakistanand their respective countries, par-ticipation in trade fairs and exhibi-tions and organizing meetings withgovernment officials directly re-sponsible to facilitate their objec-tives of trade and investments suchas Trade Development Authorityof Pakistan (TDAP), Board of In-

Pak-Japan bilateralbiz forums meet

vestment (BOI) and the FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR), and in-viting business delegations as wellas government officials from theirrespective countries so as to makethem aware of the potential Paki-stan holds.

This includes very attractiveinvestment policy, populace withmechanical skills, English as acommon business language, fastlearning capability of human re-source as well as natural resourcesavailable to add value.

The meeting identified somekey issues amongst which werethe anomalies and inconsistencyin government policies, delays indecisions involving several min-istries and above all the law andorder situation sending wrong sig-nals to their respective govern-ments who are then constrainedto caution their citizens about vis-its to Pakistan through their traveladvisory.

Also brought into focus werematters related to the availabilityof trained human resources whichneeds to be aggressively addressedby the government by creatingtechnical and vocational facilitiesas also the energy shortage whichis badly hurting the existing indus-try and preventing potential inves-tors to enter.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Federal Board ofRevenue (FBR) Chairman TariqBajwa has informed the Senatebody that the provision of Sec-tion 165A of the Income TaxOrdinance 2001 would not beinvoked for accessing banks’data of registered persons pay-ing taxes as the board will ac-cess bank accounts’ informationof those persons, who are out ofthe tax net or not paying taxes.

The FBR is taking measuresto control corruption in tax ma-chinery and systems like WebBased One Customs (WEBOC)and Computerised Risk-Based

Non-taxpayers bank data tobe accessed by FBR

Evaluation of Sales Tax(CREST) would bring improve-ment in customs clearance andrefund payments.

Bajwa informed theSenate’s Standing Committee onFinance that the FBR has ap-pointed best tax officials withgood reputation in the field for-mations. The electronic systemincluding WEBOC and CRESTwould improve customs clear-ance processes and sales tax re-fund payments to the registeredpersons. The CREST is alsohelpful in conducting meaning-ful post-refund audits of the reg-istered persons. The complaintsin refunds would also be drasti-

cally reduced following imple-mentation of the CREST.

Syed Shujaat Ali, a leatherexporter informed the commit-tee that the FBR is not playingits due role in facilitation of ex-porters. On the behalf of 262leather exporters, he was of theview that an organised systemof bribery is applicable in thefiled formations. Whenever theexporters’ complained about thefield officers to the board, noaction was taken by the tax au-thorities. The exporters havebeen forced to plead their casesbefore the representatives ofpeople in the parliament. Simi

Continued on Page 11

Remittances fromMiddle East

countries registerexponential growth

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Almost seven mil-lion Pakistanis have migratedacross 80 countries for seekingbetter opportunities. Majority ofthe Pakistanis migrating overseasare employed in Middle East re-gion, European region and NorthAmerican region. Over the years,Middle East countries haveemerged as preferred migratingdestination for Pakistanis and theregion currently employs over fivemillion blue collared workforce.

Remittances from overseasPakistanis are a lifeline for thePakistani economy and contributeapproximately six percent of thecountry’s GDP. Coming as a signof celebration, the continuousgrowth in remittances in Pakistanhas maintained its resilience forthe year 2013. As per recent databy State Bank of Pakistan releasein July, Pakistan received a recordsum of US $13.920 billion in 2013registered a growth US $ 800 mil-lion. Out of the total remittancesreceived by Pakistan, Middle Eastregion has a share of 60 percentfollowed by North American re-gion and European region with 17and 16.55 percent respectively.

Trading firm atcotton marketSTAFF CORRESPONDENT

KARACHI—Cotton trading inSindh and Punjab stations re-mained firm amid steady spotrate with fine lint in focus, saidtraders.

Most of the leading buyersbought all grades of lint whileproduction of lint in the ginneriesof Sindh and Punjab returned tonormalcy after wet conditionssubdued, floor brokers said.

Rain affected the physicaltrading activities in Punjab sta-tions, while ginning activities toaround 40 percent were affecteddue to rains condition and non-availability of transport.

This put pressure on generalprices, which went slightly upas deals changed hands ataround Rs 7,050 per maund toRs 7,075 per maund with firmspot rate, which stood at Rs6,850 per maund, traders at theKarachi Cotton Association(KCA) said. In Punjab andSindh stations mills purchasedselective lots on back of gradeissue while spinners made dealson competitive prices at aroundRs 6,825 per maund to Rs 6,975per maund, they added.

Japan sales taxTOKYO—Bank of Japangovernor Haruhiko Kurodahas said a government tax-hike plan would not damagethe economy, but if it does he“won’t hesitate” to adjustmonetary easing. PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe’sgovernment wants to increaseincrementally a tax on salesover the next two years,however some economistsfear the move could riskderailing Japan’s road toeconomic recovery. The planproposes a three-percent riseto eight percent next year,before a further increase to 10percent in 2015. “Thegovernment has said it willproceed with its fiscalstructural reforms. I urge thegovernment to firmlyimplement the plans,” Kurodatold the Mainichi Shimbun inan interview publishedWednesday. He said Japan’seconomy “isn’t likely to slowbecause of the sales tax hike”but added that if it did:“Monetary policy would beadjusted. I won’t hesitate.” InApril the BoJ unveiled amulti-billion-dollar bond-buying scheme—similar tothe US Federal Reserve’s—aimed at kickstarting growthin the limp economy andbringing an end to growth-sapping deflation.—APP

Gold Tezab 46028.00Silver Tezabi 762.85

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 45090.00Gold 22 Ct 41230.00SilverTezabi 690.00Silver Thobi 630.00

USA 103.20 103.00

UK 161.65 161.33

EURO 138.52 138.25

Canada 99.02 98.83

Switzerland 112.58 112.36

Australia 93.19 93.01

Sweden 15.89 15.86

Japan 1.0612 1.0591

Norway 17.32 17.29

Singapore 80.80 80.64

Denmark 18.57 18.53

Omani Riyal 256.00 253.00

Saudi Arabia 27.52 57.47

Hong Kong 13.31 13.28

Kuwait 362.93 362.23

Malaysia 31.33 31.27

Newzeland 81.88 81.73

Qatar 28.34 28.28

UAE 28.10 28.04

KR WON 0.0922 0.0920

Thailand 3.249 3.243

Servicestrade deficit

shrinksSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The deficit intrade of services witnessedsharp decrease of 64.31 per-cent, as exports surge 31.46percent and imports decreaseby 5.70 percent during thefiscal year 2012-13 as com-pared to the correspondinglast year.

The overall exports ofservices during July-June2012-13 were recorded at$6.618 billion against theexports of $5.035 billion inJuly-June 2011-12, showingsurge of 31.46 percent, ac-cording to the data of Paki-stan Bureau of Statistics(PBS).

On the other hand, im-ports during the period de-creased from $8.227 billionin FY 2011-12 to $7.758 bil-lion in FY 2012-13, showingdecrease of 5.70 percent.

Based on the figures, thetotal deficit during the fiscalyear under review was re-corded at $1.139 as com-pared to the deficit of $3.192billion in 2011-12, showingnegative growth of 64.31percent.

Meanwhile on year-on-year basis, the exports of ser-vices in June 2013 increasedby 8.55 percent when com-pared to the trade of samemonth of FY 2011.

Exports of services dur-ing June 2013 were recordedat $470 million against theexports of $433 million inJune 2012.

On the other hand, theimports of services into thecountry during June 2013were recorded at $589 mil-lion against the imports of$859 million in June 2012,showing negative growth of31.51 percent.

Based on these figures,the trade deficit during June2013 stood at $118 millionagainst the deficit of $426million in June 2012, show-ing negative growth of 72.19percent.

On month-on-month ba-sis, the exports of services inJune 2013 witnessed increaseof 17.66 percent when com-pared to the exports of $399million in June 2012.

While the imports inJune 2013 decreased by19.34 percent when com-pared to the imports of $730million during the samemonth of the last fiscal year,according to FBS figures.—APP

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

Currency Selling Buying

Bullion Rates

RS PER 10 GRAMS

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Under a (Techni-cal and Vocational Educationand Training) TVET sector re-form programme, sponsored bythe Delegation of EuropeanUnion to Pakistan, (TechnologyUp-gradation and Skill Devel-opment Company) TUSDEChas initiated TOT (Training ofTrainers) in Peshawar as a firstphase of the three years project.

TUSDEC has partneredwith ACTED (Agency for Tech-nical Cooperation and Develop-ment) and PMN (Pakistan Mi-cro finance Network) for theimplementation of theprogramme aimed at improv-ing the access, quality and ser-vice delivery of the TVET sec-tor for rural, marginalized com-munities through innovative cur-ricula and training methods.

According to a companyspokesperson, TUSDEC will beextending the services of cur-ricula development, training ofthe trainers, programme moni-toring and evaluation. Sixteen

TUSDEC initiates training ofthe master trainers in KP

days training session has beeninstigated in Peshawar in which12 teachers will be trained asmaster trainers in the trades ofDress Making and Hand/Ma-chine Embroidery.

TUSDEC has engaged pro-ficient curricula developmentexperts to formulate innovative,progressive yet immenselyadaptive course of study. Thespokesperson further shared thatinitially four districts of Swat,Upper Dir, Lower Dir andMuzzafarbad have been chosento implement the TOT (Train-ing of Trainers), preparing 12instructors to be stationed backto the their respective TVET in-stitutes to train 2000 females inthe areas of dress making andHand/Machine Embroidery.

The company spokespersonsaid that after the first phase,TUSDEC would organize TOTsessions for the trades of Build-ing Electrician, Refrigeratingand Air Conditioning, Motor-cycle repair, Industrial Electri-cian, Solar Panel and GeneratorTechnicians to equip 75 trainers

to impart trainings in varioustarget districts of Sindh, KhyberPakhtunkhwa and Azad Jammuand Kashmir.

The programme aims to train8000 men and women from ru-ral, impoverished areas alongsidethe IDPs. The source shared thatthe programme methodology willpositively yield towards thedownright achievement of itsobjectives. The programme willenable the TVET trainees as wellas the institutes to upgrade theircurriculum and instruction ap-proaches while enhancing thechances of quality technical andvocational education for the areainhabitants.

The programme will con-tribute in rallying the participa-tory rural and community devel-opment approach which willrender an improved socio-eco-nomic situation in the target dis-tricts. There is a retrograde con-nection between the potentialsof economic growth and voca-tional education as the area canbe identified for its significantprospects to capitalize.

2 illegal gatewaysexchanges seized

in Lahore, KarachiSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tele-communication Authority(PTA) and Federal Investiga-tion Agency (FIA) jointly con-ducted two successful raids atLahore and Karachi and seizedillegal gateway exchanges.Grey Setup operational atLahore area of Badami Baghwas successfully raided andfour Voice over internet Pro-tocol (VoIP) Gateways alongwith supporting hardware andthousands of Mobile SIMswere confiscated. During theraid three persons also appre-hended. Same day anotherSetup was busted at Karachiarea of Clifton. The raid re-sulted in confiscation of 5Quantum gateways and 6 Simboxes. During this raid oneperson was apprehended byFIA.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—“Politicallymotivated initiatives lead to-wards protectionism andhinder economic prosperityand regional integration pro-cess in South Asia” statedIqbal Tabish, Secretary Gen-eral of SAARC Chamber ofCommerce & Industry(SAARC CCI) in his presen-tation at the 8th SAFTA Com-mittee of Experts Meeting

Politically motivated initiatives and protectionism hinder economic openness in of S Asiahosted by Ministry of Com-merce , Government of SriLanka at Colombo, yesterday,the 21st August 2013. He em-phasized for

“Trade and industry in de-veloped world, ASEAN and EUnow takes the lead in new Eco-nomic Order and determinespolicy directions. The leadershipSouth Asia also need to revisitpolicies and dealing economicissues on priority basis” arguedSecretary General of SAARC

CCI demanding implementationof efficient Trade FacilitationMechanism to promote free flowof goods and services, cross bor-der trade and investment, labourmobility under mode 4 of GATSand free movement ofbusinesspersons under regionaldoctrine.

Iqbal Tabish regarded reduc-tion in the validity period of theSVES from 30-90 days as ananti-business approach and re-iterated for issuance of 500

SAARC Visa exemption stick-ers (SVES) for businessmen ofeach member country ofSAARC with validity of oneyear and removal of cumber-some procedures. He proposedfor establishing South AsianClearing Union to promote crossborder trade and investment,opening of SAARC Develop-ment Bank with branches in allmember country, free financialcooperation mechanism, tour-ism development, open sky

policy and provision of roamingfacility through SAARC SIMfor cellular phones to promoteregional connectivity.

Secretary General ofSAARC CCI also recom-mended participatory approachto address the issues pertainingto Non-Tariff Barriers, Para-Tar-iff and Non-Tariff measures andinvolvement of important stake-holders at policy making levelin addition to Mutual Recogni-tion of Certificate to promote

harmonised standards and pro-cedures, appointment of a taskforce to develop a unifiedSAARC product code systemand entrust it reasonability as theappellate authority for com-plaints related to product codediscrepancies for all memberstates.

Review of the status ofutilisation of Mechanism forCompensation of RevenueLosses (MCRL) for LDCs andpartly allocation of the SAARC

Development Fund (SDF) foraddressing supply-side con-straints in LDCs to address thegrievances of LDCs. To addressthe issue of Rule of origin , heproposed promotion of regionalvalue chains, Rule 9(b) (domes-tic value content in the export-ing Contacting State not lessthan 20 per cent of the FOB) tofurther reduce/relax as long asaggregate regional value content(after regional cumulation) re-mains not less than 50 per cent

of the FOB value.For pruning of Sensitive

Items list, he requested allSAFTA countries to undertakeimmediate steps to identify andremove products from their re-maining sensitive lists in whichthey are currently import de-pendent; and have chances ofsourcing from SAFTA tradingpartners at lower costs as canbe identified by examining theexport baskets of SAFTA trad-ing partners.

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The Institute ofChartered Accountants of Paki-stan (ICAP) and the Institute ofCost & Management Accoun-tants of Pakistan (ICMAP) havebeen awarding the Best Corpo-rate Report Awards for morethan a decade. This award hasbeen instrumental in encourag-ing local companies to followtransparency in preparing theirannual reports according to in-ternational best practices. Thesuccess of the award can be

Best corporate, sustainabilityreports award ceremony today

judged by the significant im-provement in corporate report-ing since its inception, withmany companies achievingawards at the regional and in-ternational corporate reportingcompetitions.

This year the Awards Cer-emony is scheduled to be held onThursday, August 22, 2013 at lo-cal hotel Karachi. Mr. SalmanShah Former Finance Minister ofPakistan, Dr. Shaukat Brah,Dean, Karachi School for Busi-ness & Leadership and Mr.Nadeem Naqvi, Managing Direc-

tor, Karachi Stock Exchange willgrace the Event.

Since 2011, the Committeehas initiated a new awardnamely, ‘Best SustainabilityReport Award’, with the aim topromote responsible reportingby companies covering eco-nomic, environment and socialperformance of the business.The objective is to make localbusiness aware of the interna-tional best practices and to fa-cilitate these businesses in ob-taining investments by ethicalinvestors.

ISLAMABAD: Zafar Bakhtawari, President ICCI and Gen (Retd) Ch Muhammad NawazKhan, Chairman Pakistan Red Crescent Society, addressing the business community.

NEW DELHI—Indian State-rungas utility GAIL India will en-ter into a contract with a Paki-stani firm to export natural gasthrough a pipeline from Punjab,Minister of State for Petroleumand Natural Gas PanabaakaLakshmi told the Lok Sabha.

GAIL plans to import gas inits liquid form, called liquefiednatural gas, on a port in Gujarator Maharashtra.

After converting this againinto gaseous state, it will trans-port the gas through cross-coun-try pipeline network to Jalandhar.From Jalandhar a 110-km line isproposed to be laid to the inter-national border near Wagah fordelivery to Pakistan.

“GAIL would enter into thenecessary contract for export ofregassified-LNG with its Paki-stani counterpart based on im-

GAIL India, Pak firmto ink gas pact

port of LNG at Petronet’s Dahej(import facility in Gujarat) orDabhol LNG terminal (inMaharashtra),” she said in awritten reply to a question inLok Sabha.

“After regasification at theabove terminals, R-LNG will betransported by GAIL throughpipelines upto the delivery pointlocated at international bordernear Atari,” she said.

Pakistan wants to import gasfrom India to meet its rising en-ergy deficit. Initially, it wants totake 1-1.5 million tonnes ofLNG (4-6 million standard cu-bic meters per day of gas). Pric-ing and other commercial agree-ments are being negotiated.

Oil Ministry sources said thedelivered price of gas will be upto $22.3 per million British ther-mal unit after including trans-

portation charges and all taxesand duties.

Considering imported LNGprice of $14.50, the deliveredrate would be $15.46 after con-sidering shipping and importduty charges. After re-gassification and service tax, itwould cost $17.01 per mmBtu.

Further, transportation ofgas through trunk pipelineswould cost a further $1.75 ex-clusive of service tax. Thenagain, $0.5 would be charged fortransportation of gas through adedicated pipeline up to Indo-Pak border bringing the totalcost to about $19.54 per mmBtu.

A slew of other costs alongwith Value Added Tax (VAT) isexpected to raise the price of gasto a final $22.3 per mmBtu atwhich it will be delivered toPakistan, they added.—INP

ISLAMABAD: Chairman FBR Tariq Bajwa and FBR Members with the probationary officers of Pakistan AdministrativeService who visited FBR House.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Ministry ofPlanning and Development hasso far released Rs 21.04 billionunder its Public Sector Devel-opment Programme (PSDP)against the total allocations ofRs 540 billion for the fiscal year2013-14.

According to the latest dataof the ministry, an amount of Rs347.495 million has been re-leased for the Cabinet Divisionagainst the total allocation of2179.800 million for the currentfinancial year.

Meanwhile, an amount ofRs 8.188 million were releasedfor the development projects ofClimate Change Divisions as thegovernment has earmarked Rs58.762 million including the for-eign component for variousprojects of common interest inthe country.

The government has alsoreleased Rs 13.433 million forvarious on-going and new devel-

Rs21.04b released fordevelopment projects

opment projects under PSDP2013-14 in Interior divisionagainst the total allocations of6259.166 million.

An amount of Rs 461.368million has been released forLaw, Justice and ParliamentaryAffairs Division against the to-tal allocation of 2363.97 millionfor the year 2013-14.

For fulfilling the commit-ment to provide better healthfacilities to the common man inthe country the government hasallocated a abandoned money inPSDP 2013-14 as Rs 24215.9million has been set to be spenton public health services im-provement anddevelopment.The governmenthas so far released Rs. 5638.97million for different healthprojects.

Rs.7243.40 million has beenreleased for Pakistan AtomicEnergy Commission where as asum of Rs 93.55 million for thePlaning and Development Divi-sion respectively.

Under PSDP 2013-14, Rs5535.179 million has been re-leased for Railways Division tostrengthen and improve the rail-way network in the country,where as Rs.200 million wasreleased for Water and powerDivision so far.

Rs.1500 million released forthe Earth Quake Reconstructionand Rehabilitation Authority asagainst the total education of7500 million in PSDP 2013-14.

It may be recalled that fundsfor Tameer-e-PakistanProgramme are released by theCabinet Division. The PlanningCommission of Pakistan hasbeen following a proper mecha-nism for the release of funds andaccordingly funds are releasedas per given mechanism.

Funds are released as perfollowing quarterly ceilings:First quarter (July - September)20% Second quarter (October -December) 20% Third quarter(January-March) 30 %, Fourthquarter (April-June) 30 %.

CollectorCustoms to visit

FCCI todayOBSERVER REPORT

FAISALABAD—Collector Cus-toms Faisalabad MuhammadZahid Khokhar will visitFaisalabad Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (FCCI) andwill meet the FCCI membershere on Thursday (August 22).

Mian Zahid Aslam Presi-dent FCCI here on Tuesday saidthat Faisalabad being a vibrantindustrial hub in the country andtextile export-oriented city, con-tributes about 50% to the na-tional textile exports.

He said that a meeting withthe Collector CustomsFaisalabad has been organizedto discuss and deliberate uponthe problems being faced by theexporters regarding import andexport for their possible solu-tions thereto.

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D —IslamabadChamber of Commerce & In-dustry (ICCI) will start commer-cial joint venture with PakistanRed Crescent Society (PRCS) sothat it could become self-suffi-cient in financing for reducingthe problems of vulnerablepeople.

This was stated by the Presi-dent ICCI, Zafar Bakhtawariwhile talking to ChairmanPRCS, General (Retd)Chaudhry Muhammad NawazKhan who visited chamber ofcommerce here Wednesday.

Zafar Bakhtawari informedhim that ICCI has already par-ticipated in many welfare activi-ties and donated an amount of

ICCI to start joint commercialventure with PRCS

Rs.3 million to Akhuwat for pro-viding interest free loans toneedy persons.

It also donated an amount ofRs.3.2 million for a cancer hos-pital in Peshawar and wouldcontinue to contribute for peoplewelfare activities, he added.

He appreciated the role ofPRCS for serving the noblecause by reducing the problemsof vulnerable people and urgedthe businessmen to come for-ward and join hands with PRCSin its noble cause.

He said ICCI should begiven representation inPRCS’s Board of Trusteeswhich will help in further im-proving its functioning. Hesuggested that PRCS shouldalso start different commercial

projects to improve its finan-cial viability.

Speaking on the occasion,Chairman PRCS said that theSociety was the largest donor-driven humanitarian organiza-tion in the country respondingimmediately whenever any di-saster or calamity hits people,but receives 95 percent dona-tions from outside Pakistan.

He said PRCS has foot-prints throughout the countryand it provides relief duringand after disasters, both natu-ral and manmade, primaryhealth and welfare services inremote areas and forunderserved people.

He said businessmen canalso partner with PRCS in dif-ferent relief projects.

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Welcoming thefirst address of Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif to thenation, Rawalpindi Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (RCCI)expressed the confidence thatthe country would attain consis-tent progress and durable peaceunder his dynamic leadership. AChamber meeting, chaired by itsPresident Manzar KhursheedSheikh and attended by othermembers, termed the initiativesannounced to improve nationaleconomy and get rid of terror-ism, welcoming and reflectiveof his far-sightedness.

The RCCI president said thetrade bodies fully support thevision of prime minister as itwould yield long-term and sus-

RCCI expresses fullconfidence in PM’s leadership

tainable results, giving substan-tial boost to business activitiesand improving law and orderacross the country. He saidRCCI appreciates the PM’s re-solve to tackle energy and lawand order related problems onpriority, adding “We will extendall possible support to resolvethese problems.”

Sheikh said new powerprojects and strengthening thecommunication infrastructurewould attract local as well as for-eign investors to make invest-ment in different sectors, whichwould also help create more jobopportunities in the country.However, he suggested the gov-ernment to adopt short-term strat-egy to reduce load-shedding andminimize line losses as it wouldbe beneficial for all stakeholders.

larly, it is a fact that a certainpercentage has to be given forobtaining refund cheques in thefield formations.

During the committee meet-ing, the FBR chairman asked theexporter to disclose name of theofficer against whom the com-plaint has been filed. Respond-ing to this, the exporter specifi-cally pinpointed name of a fe-male assistant collector of Cus-toms Karachi allegedly involvedin taking bribes from leatherexporters.

He further alleged that theorders of the Federal Tax Om-budsman (FTO) have not beenimplemented by the FBR.

When Shujaat apprehendedthat his file would be opened bythe Customs intelligence FBR aspunishment for disclosing factsbefore the Finance Committee,the chairman of the committeeassured that the FBR will not doanything like that, but ensureresolving grievances of the ex-

porters community.Bajwa informed the com-

mittee that the FBR has takendifferent measures to encourageelectronic system for processingof refunds and customs clear-ances systems. The informationtechnology system would be in-strumental in reducing mal-ad-ministration in refund payments.

FBR Chairman said that Ihave talked to State Bank ofPakistan governor on the issueof accessing bank accounts in-formation.

Non-taxpayersFrom Page 10

Indonesian Consulfor implementation

of PTASTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The IndonesianConsulate General in Karachiorganised a flag-hoisting cer-emony on the occasion of the68th Anniversary of IndonesianIndependence.

The event was attended byIndonesian nationals in Karachiand also Pakistani guests as wellas members of the Pakistan-In-donesia Friendship Society andthe Pakistan-Indonesia BusinessForum.

A statement here onWednesday said that the Indo-nesian Consul General inKarachi, Rossalis R. Adenan,referred to the Preferential TradeAgreement (PTA) and addedthat the two brotherly countrieshave signed and ratified the PTAin 2012 but the PTA is still un-der process for its implementa-tion and is scheduled to beimplemented in the nearest fu-ture.

‘We believe that the imple-mentation of the PTA will pro-vide mutual benefit for the busi-nessmen of both Pakistan andIndonesia, and the trade volumeof the two brotherly countrieswill be increased’, he added.

India’s forexreserves decline

by $621mNEW DELHI—India’s foreignexchange (forex) reserves de-clined by $621 million to$316.60 billion for the weekended Aug 12 due to sharp dropin the value of foreign currencyassets, official data showed.

The foreign reserves kittyhas declined sharply for the sec-ond consecutive week after surg-ing to an all-time high of $319.08billion recorded during the weekended July 29. The forex reserveshad declined by $1.86 billion to$317.22 billion in the previousweek under review.

Foreign currency assets, thebiggest component of the forexreserves kitty, declined by $652million to $283.66 billion dur-ing the week ended.—Newswire

CHILDREN who have an older siblingwith autism are seven times morelikely than other kids to be diagnosed

with the disorder themselves, according to anew study from Denmark.

That extra risk is smallerthan had been suggested inearlier studies. Researchersalso found a higher-than-average risk among childrenwhose older half-sibling hadan autism spectrum disorder(ASD) - especially if the twokids shared the same mother.

“I think a lot of autismresearchers agree that thecauses of autism are manyand it’s very complex,”Therese Gronborg, who ledthe study at Aarhus Univer-sity, said. “If it was only ge-netics we would see a muchhigher recurrence rate”among siblings, she toldReuters Health. About onein every 88 U.S. children hasan ASD, according to the Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention.

For their new study, Gronborg and hercolleagues used birth, civil and psychiatricregistries to track 1.5 million children bornin Denmark between 1980 and 2004.

Through 2010, just over 13,000 of themhad been diagnosed with an ASD. That in-cluded 276 children with an older sibling withautism who were also diagnosed with the dis-order. The researchers found the likelihood ofa younger sibling being diagnosed with autismwhen an older sibling had an ASD varied be-tween 4.5 and 10.5 percent, with an average ofabout 7 percent. There was no clear increasing

or decreasing trend during the study period.For half-siblings, the extra risk of autism wassmaller: younger half-siblings who shared afather with an older sibling had a 1.5-timesgreater risk of ASDs if their sibling also had

one, a finding that could havebeen due to chance.

Children who shared amother with a half-sibling hada 2.4-times greater risk if theirolder brother or sister had au-tism, according to findingspublished in JAMA Pediatrics.Gronborg said a woman’slifestyle during pregnancy orsomething about the intrauter-ine environment could affecther children’s risk of autism.

“But it could also besomething in the upbringing,”she added.

The researchers notedthat it’s possible siblings of achild with an ASD are morelikely to be diagnosed them-selves in part because parents

are more aware of the condition and itssymptoms.

But they said the extra risk could alsobe an underestimate if parents who have onechild with very severe autism are less likelyto try to have more kids. Gronborg and hercolleagues said an autism risk of approxi-mately 7 percent among younger siblings ofchildren with the disorder should be “reas-suring” for parents. Zachary Warren, fromthe Treatment and Research Institute forAutism Spectrum Disorders at the VanderbiltKennedy Center in Nashville, Tennessee,said that rate is significantly lower thanwhat’s been found in studies of other groups.

Kids with autistic oldersibling have seven-fold risk

KARACHI: Army troops being deployed at polling stations in Karachi for by-elections to avoid any untoward incident during elections.

KARACHI: Consul General of Morocco Ishtiaq Baig hosted a dinner reception in honour ofGovernor Punjab Ch. Mohammad Sarwar. Group photograph taken on the occasion, showsPresident FPCCI Zubair Malik, Dr Ikhtiar Baig, Education Minister Nisar Khuhro, Justice(R) Saeed Uz Zaman Siddqui and others.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

KARACHI: Dr. Huma Arshad Cheema. Dr. Ayesha Mehnaz and others addressing a semi-nar ‘Tears not a sign of Weakness’ at a local hotel.—PO photo

Chaman RailwayStation blastcondemned

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) leader AltafHussain strongly condemned theblast on Chaman Railway sta-tion and declared it as an act ofopen terrorism. He said that theterrorist in order to destabilizeand agitate the masses of thecountry are continuously target-ing public spots, security forces,government and non govern-ment buildings and worshipplaces. The blast on Chamanrailway station is a similar partof this terrorism which is quitedeplorable.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI–The enemies ofAnti-Polio campaign had onceagain attacked a team of volun-teers in Gulshan-e Maymar.However, no casualty was re-ported and the team membersremained safe. Police had ar-rested the accused that openedfire on the volunteers and recov-ered weapon from his posses-sion.

Anti-Polio volunteer attacked as DO fails to ensure security

On the other hand, the Po-lio eradication campaign in thecity had been badly compro-mised and in many areas, thecampaign had been suspended.In Gadap, the volunteers hadalready boycotted the polioeradication campaign over not-settlement of emoluments pend-ing since Jul 2012, which inother areas of the city, the civiladministration had excusedfrom offering due support to the

volunteers due to holding of theby-elections and said that thecivil administration would be ina position to extend cooperationafter Aug 26.

According to sources, it wasthe duty of the Karachi Metro-politan Compotation district of-ficer prevention Dr AslamPervez to ensure fool proof se-curity of the volunteers by tak-ing Police and local civil admin-istration on board, which he

failed to fulfill and the incidenthad taken place.

The sources said that therewere many areas in the city thatwere highly dominated by theextremist groups that did not al-low the volunteers to enter andin case they do, were attackedby weapons and in recent past,some volunteers and officerswere gunned down but still thevolunteers were compelled toenter those ‘No Go Areas’.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI–Two bodies werefound near Habib Nawaz Farm onHub River Road. Both were killedthrough strangulation. They wereidentified from a chit of paper thatwas with them and their nameswere Haji Abdul Razzaq 35 sonof Rasool Buksh and Pathan 40son of Rahim Buksh.

It was learned that the de-ceased were residents of SukkurColony, Hub in Balochistan and

Bodies of two missingpersons recovered

were among those that were in-cluded in the list of missing per-sons. The deceased Razzaq wasaffiliated to a local Balochi lan-guage newspaper published fromMastoong in Balochistan and wasthe senior sub-editor. He hadsettled in Lyari for some time andwent missing on Mar 24, 2103.

In different incidents of vio-lence in the city on Wednesday,several were killed and injured.In Sohrab Goth near MasjidSabeen, one was killed and was

identified as Muhammad Yousuf45, son of Hidayatullah while inanother incident of violence, NoorWahid 40, son of ShahMuhammad was killed inMominabad area of Orangi Townand was shifted to Abbasi Shaheedhospital. Two persons were killednear Al Asif square while one wasinjured and one body was recov-ered from Reerhi Goth in Cattlecolony in Bin Qasim Town andanother body was found near AlAsif Square.

Altaf lambastsIndian Army on

violationsSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI–Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) leaderAltaf Hussain while condemn-ing the un-provoked firing ofIndian Soldiers along the Lineof Control (LOC) expressedprofound grief and sorrowover the martyrdom of Paki-stan army captain Sarfaraz andwounding of another person-nel of armed forces (Yasin) asa result of this firing.

Hussain deplored the vio-lation of LOC by the Indianand said that said that Indianarmy was creating terrorismalong the Loc by firing andshelling Pakistan army.

He demanded IndianPrime Minister Man MohanSingh to restrain Indian forcesfrom committing violations.

He expressed heartfeltcondolences and sympathieswith the bereaved familymembers of martyred CaptainSarfaraz and Prayed AlmightyAllah to rest the departed soulin eternal peace and grant for-titude and strength to the griefstricken family.

He also prayed for thecomplete and quick recoveryof the wounded armed forcespersonnel, Yasin.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Jamaat-e Islami(JI) rejected newly presentedLocal Government (LG) draft byPakistan People’s Party andother political parties in SindhAssembly. JI Karachi ChiefMuhammad Hussain Mahentisaid that the provincial govern-ment did not hold any consulta-tion with JI leadership beforepresenting the said LG Bill inSindh Assembly.

Despite the fact that thepeople had elected JI mayor for2 times and City Nazim for once,the provincial government didnot contact with JI in the formu-

JI rejects new LG systemlation of new LG draft, Mahentiadded.

He expressed these viewswhile chairing a meeting of theJI leaders at Idara-e-Noor Haq.

JI leaders among JI KarachiGeneral Secretary NaseemSiddiqui, Naib Ameers BarjeesAhmed, Raja Arif Sultan, DrWasay Shakir, Nasrullah Shajih,Hafiz Naeem-ur-Rehman, As-sistant Secretary MuslimPervez, Ali Muhammad, Secre-tary Information Zahid Askariand others were also present onthe occasion.

Mahenti said that the pow-ers and authorities, in the sys-tems of entire world had been

transferred to the third tier of thegovernment (i.e. city govern-ment), however, the process wastotally opposite in Pakistan.

Highlighting the present LGdraft, JI Karachi Chief said thatthe PPP government had trans-ferred the Karachi Water andSewerage Board and SindhBuilding Control Authority toprovincial government whileeducation, health, master planand works and services depart-ments were also being shifted atprovincial level.

It was an conspiracy to shiftpowers and authorities fromCity District Government toSindh Government, he said.

Prof. Farooq getsHEC Best

University TeacherAward 2011STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Prof. Dr M. UmarFarooq, Professor of ENT-Headand Neck Surgery and Pro-ViceChancellor, Dow University ofHealth Sciences (DUHS) re-ceived Higher Education Com-mission (HEC)Best UniversityTeachers Award for the year2011 and 0.1 million rupees cashprize. The Award had been con-ferred to Prof. Farooq on theevaluation done keeping in viewthe parameters and weightage toqualification, teaching, researchand co-curricular activities.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI–Board of Intermedi-ate Education Karachi (BIEK)had totally ignored orders of theSupreme Court of Pakistan(SCP) regarding removing offic-ers on deputation, contract, overpay scale (OPS) and out-of-turnpromotions. The Chief Justice ofPakistan, Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry hadtaken a Suo Motto notice on theissue (SMC No. 16 of 2011 anda 5-member full bench at theSCP’s Karachi Registry orderedfor the removal of officers ondeputation, contract, over payscale (OPS) and out-of-turn pro-

Out of turn promotions, contract services

BIEK not complying with SC ordersmotions. The Sindh provincialgovernment had circulated a let-ter asking all the heads of de-partments to furnish details ofofficers that came under thatruling of the SCP.

A letter was also received atthe BIEK and in compliance tothat orders of the SCP, the BIEKchairman Prof. Anwar AhmedZai had removed a number ofofficers that were working ondeputation in the board, whichincluded Faiza Saleem inspec-tor of colleges, Khalid Iqbal ingrade 18 and Saquib AftabAbbasi, research officer in grade17.

However, in the meantime,

the BIEK chairman Prof. AnwarAhmed Zai’s services were ex-tended for further one year whilethe fact was that the chairmanwas also on contract and hadsome 17 years ago retired fromhis public service. The BIEKchairman had hid his name anda few of blue-eyed officers fromthe provincial government.Nonetheless, the working ofProf. Zai as the chairman ofBIEK was in violation to theruling of the SCP and was a clearmanifest of contempt to court.

Not only this, but other se-rious violations were deliber-ately committed in the affairs ofthe BIEK.

By-polls: Armydeployment

completed in SindhKARACHI— Deployment ofArmy personnel has been com-pleted at all the sensitive poll-ing stations across Sindh.

According to sources,troops have been deployed inand outside sensitive polling sta-tions in Mirpurkhas Khairpur,Shikarpur, and Karachi.

At least 20 security officialswill be posted, under ECP secu-rity plan, at each most sensitivepolling station in by-polls onThursday, informed the ECPsources.

Ten security men will bedeployed at each sensitive poll-ing station and five security per-sons will be positioned at allnormal polling stations. Thearmy troops will be posted ad-ditionally in the most sensitiveand sensitive polling stations.

All political parties endedtheir election campaigning atmidnight, following the direc-tives given by the Election Com-mission of Pakistan (ECP).

Public holiday has been an-nounced for August 22 in 33 dis-tricts on the occasion of votingin 41 constituencies of nationaland provincial assemblies.

As many as 5 million peoplewill vote in 15 National Assem-bly constituencies and 3.7 mil-lion people are expected to votefor 26 seats of four provincialassemblies. The ElectionCommission has instructedthe election commissioners tomake sure security during de-livery of polling goods at thepolling stations.—INP

KARACHI—The Karachi Met-ropolitan Corporation (KMC)has selected a total of 11 loca-tions for installation of pedes-trian bridges in the metropolisduring the current year.

It was informed to Admin-istrator KMC Saqib Soomro ina briefing regarding pedestrianbridges installation during ameeting of the KMC officials.

The meeting also reviewedinstallation of pedestrian bridgeson different locations inKarachi, said a statement onWednesday.

Addressing the meeting, theAdministrator KMC directed theTransport and Communication

11 locations in city to havepedestrian bridges

Department to expedite work oninstallation of pedestrian bridgesat all major roads and corridorsin the city to facilitate the citi-zens in crossing roads.

The Administrator Karachidirected the officers to conducta detailed study of major roadsand corridors of the city.

He also directed to expeditethe installation of pedestrianbridges specially near the hos-pitals, schools, colleges andmajor shopping centers wherepeople have difficulties in cross-ing road.

He also said that a compre-hensive strategy should beworked out in consultation with

the traffic police to ensure theimplementation of traffic rules.

The Administration Karachisaid the installation of new pe-destrian bridges be carried outspeedily and these bridgesshould also have lighting ar-rangements.

He said the senior citizens,women and children must befacilitated in this connectionparticularly where traffic flowwas extraordinary to save themfrom any trouble in crossingroad.

The Senior Director Trans-port and Communication andother officials were present onthe occasion.—APP

Kids with autistic oldersibling have seven-fold risk

LAHORE: Position holders with PU Acting VC Prof Dr Aurangzeb Alamgir, Additional Controller Ahmad AliChattha, Treasurer Rao Shareef and others at Al Razi Hall.

CHILDREN who have an older sibling with autism are seven timesmore likely than other kids to be di-

agnosed with the disorder themselves, ac-cording to a new study from Denmark.

That extra risk is smaller than had beensuggested in earlier stud-ies.

Researchers alsofound a higher-than-aver-age risk among childrenwhose older half-siblinghad an autism spectrumdisorder (ASD) - espe-cially if the two kids sharedthe same mother.

“I think a lot of autismresearchers agree that thecauses of autism are manyand it’s very complex,”Therese Gronborg, wholed the study at AarhusUniversity, said.

“If it was only genet-ics we would see a muchhigher recurrence rate”among siblings, she toldReuters Health.

About one in every 88 U.S. childrenhas an ASD, according to the Centers forDisease Control and Prevention.

For their new study, Gronborg and hercolleagues used birth, civil and psychiat-ric registries to track 1.5 million childrenborn in Denmark between 1980 and 2004.

Through 2010, just over 13,000 of themhad been diagnosed with an ASD. Thatincluded 276 children with an older sib-ling with autism who were also diagnosedwith the disorder. The researchers foundthe likelihood of a younger sibling beingdiagnosed with autism when an older sib-

ling had an ASD varied between 4.5 and10.5 percent, with an average of about 7percent. There was no clear increasingor decreasing trend during the study pe-riod.

For half-siblings, the extra risk of au-tism was smaller: youngerhalf-siblings who shared afather with an older siblinghad a 1.5-times greater riskof ASDs if their sibling alsohad one, a finding thatcould have been due tochance.Children whoshared a mother with a half-sibling had a 2.4-timesgreater risk if their olderbrother or sister had autism,according to findings pub-lished in JAMA Pediatrics.

Gronborg said awoman’s lifestyle duringpregnancy or somethingabout the intrauterine envi-ronment could affect herchildren’s risk of autism.

“But it could also besomething in the upbringing,” sheadded.The researchers noted that it’spossible siblings of a child with an ASDare more likely to be diagnosed them-selves in part because parents are moreaware of the condition and its symptoms.

But they said the extra risk could alsobe an underestimate if parents who haveone child with very severe autism are lesslikely to try to have more kids.

Gronborg and her colleagues said anautism risk of approximately 7 percentamong younger siblings of children withthe disorder should be “reassuring” forparents.

LAHORE: Workers of Election Commission shift the ballot papers for by-elections atNA-129, at Sessions Court.

LAHORE: Ms Amina Elshafei, contestant of Australia Master Chef Season-4 giving awayshield to a position holder during the students’ cooking competition programme at LCWU.

BISE declares9th class resultLAHORE—Board of Interme-diate and Secondary Educa-tion (BISE) Lahore onWednesday declared Sec-ondary School Certificate(SSC) 9th class annual exami-nation 2013 result, showinga pass percentage of 39.48percent.

According to the resultstatistics, a total number of214975 candidates appearedin the examination and84868 were declared suc-cessful.—APP

CT Scanmachine at SZH

out of orderLAHORE—One of the two CTScan machines of the ShaikhZaid Hospital (SZH) are out oforder for the last many daysand hundreds of patients aresuffering so far, hospitalsources said here.

According to available in-formation, the CT Scan ma-chine of the Radiology depart-ment was out of order for manydays and got repaired beforeEid after paying millions of ru-pees to change its tube whileit again got fault after few days.

Even patients on Eid dayshad to get their CT scan testsafter paying Rs 11,000 to a pri-vate lab whereas this test atthe SZH costs Rs 6,500 to Rs8,000. More than two hun-dreds patients have been suf-fering so far due to the machineat the SZH.

Patients have made a fer-vent appeal to high-ups of thehealth department to look intothe matter.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan(ECP) has finalized arrange-ments to hold by-electionson one National and threeProvincial Assembly seats inPunjab capital on Thursday.

The polling would startfrom 8 am and end on 5 pmwithout any break. Army per-sonnel would be deployed inand outside the polling sta-tions while police and othersecurity agencies also wouldbe on high alert to ensure thepolling in a free ,fair andtransparent manner.

According to thesources in Election Commis-sion Punjab, total 28 candi-dates would contest for oneNA seat and three PA seatsfrom the provincial capital.

ECP has established to-tal 638 polling stations in thecity out of which 117 havebeen declared sensitivewhere Army, police and othersecurity agencies would

CTO visits polling stations

By-polls for four cityseats today

make extra-ordinary securityarrangements.

As many as 786,628 reg-istered voters, including468,267 male and 318,361 fe-males, would exercise theirright of votes to elect thecandidates of their choice.

Three major political par-ties PML-N, PPPP and PTIhave field their candidates onnational and provincial as-semblies seats while inde-pendents are also on theground to contest the elec-tion. PML-N has given NA-129 seat to Mrs ShaziaMubashir Iqbal whileMuhammad Ashraf Bhattigot ticket from PPP andMuhammad Mansha Sindhufrom PTI.

In PP-142 KhawajaSalman Rafiq is the candidateof PML-N, MuhammadIdrees of PPP andMuhammad Waqar is con-testing election on PTI ticket.

In PP-150, PML-N gaveparty ticket to MianMarghoob Ahmad while his

rivals are Mehar WajidAzeem of PTI and AsifMehmood Nagra from PPPP.Similarly, in PP-161,PML-Nfield Ch Gulzar Ahmad as itscandidate while his close ri-vals are Ch Khalid MehmoodGujjar from PTI and RanaMuhammad Akhtar fromPPPP.

According to the pollingscheme, a total of 223 pollingstations have been set up inNA-129, 130 in PP-142, 147 forPP-150 and 138 in PP-161.

It is pertinent to mentionthat seats of NA-129,PP-161were vacated by the returnedcandidate of general election2013 Mian MuhammadShahbaz Sharif,PP-142 wasvacated by Hamza ShahbazSharif and PP-150 by MeharIshtiaq Ahmad.

ECP has made compre-hensive security plan underwhich 7,000 police personneland 4,500 army personnelhave been deployed at 638polling stations.

At least four armed po-

lice officials would be de-ployed at every polling sta-tion to ensure peaceful poll-ing process. Army personnelhave been given magisterialpowers to discourage bogusvoting and hooliganism.

Meanwhile, Chief trafficofficer on Wednesday visitedthe office of returning officerLahore, election commis-sioner office and differentpolling stations set up onbusy roads to review arrange-ments for maintainingsmooth flow of traffic.

During his visit, he di-rected the officers concernedto get parked the vehicles ofcitizens at proper distancefrom polling stations.

Two SPs, seven DSPs, 51inspectors and 653 trafficwardens would perform du-ties on the occasion of by-election, he added.

He asked the inchargecity traffic police radio sta-tion FM-88.6 to broadcastmessage about the situationof traffic on roads.

Rs 333 enough for balanced diet: WPFSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—With the mini-mum daily wage of 333 Paki-stani rupees one can have abalanced and nutritious dietif all food groups are in-cluded and the food are pre-pared with clean water andhygiene.

World Food Programme,Country Representative,Lola Castro said on Wednes-day, speaking at a cookingcompetition for which almost30 contestant of six leadingeducational institutions tookpart.

She said that Pakistan isa large productive country asthe world sixth producer ofwheat and fifth producer ofdairy products.

Punjab is always calledthe breadbasket of the coun-try and the food products

raw materials as well as in-dustrial food production aresold to other provinces withproduction deficits and arealso exported around theworld.

She said that World foodprogramme buys in Punjabwheat and mills it to producefortified wheat flour iodizedsalt, pulses and also fortifiedfood like ‘wawa-mum mum’acha mum, high energy bis-cuits.

“These products we uselocally for the undernour-ished children and pregnantwomen, as well as for schoolfeeding interventions in Pa-kistan and neighbouringcountries”, she said.

While, all this demon-strates the capacity of pro-duction and transformationwhich exists and the highpotential we however note

from the PC-1 Punjab inte-grated reproductive mater-nal newborn and child andnutrition programme 2013-2016.

There are many chal-lenges of access to nutri-tious foods and food diver-sification in the provincewhich leads together with thewater and sanitation, educa-tion and health challenges torates of chronic under nutri-tion or stunting of around 39percent (height for age) (inPunjab in children under 5,while wasting or acute mal-nutrition 13.7 percent , whichneeds to be urgently re-duced.

The event was arrangedon the visit of Amina Elshafei,one of the very famous par-ticipant and contestant of theAustralian MasterChef sea-son-4.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Health Depart-ment has taken all neces-sary measures for preven-tion of dengue which in-clude issuance of instruc-tions, meeting of variouscommittees, public aware-ness campaign, disease andvector surveillance andcase response.

This was stated by aspokesman of Health de-partment here on Wednes-day.

It said as far as foggingwas concerned, the deci-sion about fogging wastaken by the Technical Ad-visory Committee compris-

Health Dept ready totackle dengue threat

ing of various experts. Hesaid the last meeting ofTechnical Advisory Com-mittee was held on 15thAugust, 2013 in which onlytargeted fogging was rec-ommended in the areaswhere adult population ofAedes mosquitoes was de-tected. Indoor residualspray, however, is beingcarried out in 40 housesaround all the confirmeddengue cases.

The spokesman furthersaid besides, indoor andoutdoor surveillance teamswere regularly visiting dif-ferent areas for detection ofAedes mosquito breedingsites.

He said mechanical andchemical larvaciding wasbeing done at the spot. Hesaid if the size of the waterwas large and mechanicallarvaciding was not pos-sible, then insecticide(Temiphos) was being ap-plied.

In addition all hospitalsare fully equipped for themanagement of dengue /hemorrhagic fever and req-uisite medicines and diag-nostics tests are availablefree of cost.

The spokesman furthersaid special denguecounters and wards havealready been established inall hospitals.

LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt on Wednesday tooknotice on an application sub-mitted with Complaint Cellthat a 22-year-old boy waskilled in an alleged fake po-lice encounter.

District & SessionsJudge, Lahore and InspectorGeneral of Police Punjab havebeen directed to probe intothe matter and submit theirdetailed reports.

Ahmad Ali, a resident ofJamil Park Saggian, throughhis application, submittedthat his son Mazhar Ali wentto attend a marriage but didnot return. Next day, theNawab Town police informedhim that his son committed atheft and injured a police of-ficial.

The applicant said that

LHC takes notice of torturethe police did not allow himto meet his son besidesthreatening him for threehours that if the injured offi-cial succumbed to hisinjuries,a case would be reg-istered against the applicantand his son.

Next day, the applicantreached police station at9:00 am and police again in-timidated him for more thantwo hours and then tookhim to Jinnah Hospital formeeting the injured con-stable but there was no in-jured official.

After waiting for morethan four hours outside themorgue, police told him thathis son had been killed in apolice encounter and hisdead body was in themorgue.

The applicant said thathis son’s body had clearsigns of torture and burnsand it was clear that he waskept in illegal confinment,tortured and killed him in astaged encounter.

The applicant has ap-pealed for action against SHONawab Town Nazir Uppal,ASI Munir Ahmad and Con-stables Riaz Mohammad,Amir Hayat, MohammadLatif, Mohammad Ahsan,Abdul Ghafoor, AmirQayyum, Mohammad Azamand Mohammad Arif.

The LHC Complaint Celltook serious notice of theepisode and directed theD&SJ Lahore and IGP Punjabto look into the matter andsubmit their reports within aweek positively.—APP

Ombudsmanorders to pay BF

to elementaryschool teachers

STAFF REPORTER

L A H O R E — O m b u d s m a nPunjab, Javed Mahmood, hasdeclared government employ-ees in BPS-16, as gazetted of-ficers and ordered to pay Be-nevolent Fund to all Elemen-tary School Teachers, pro-moted in the same grade.

He directed AdministrativeOfficer, Benevolent Fund toextend benefits to all such of-ficers who have applied withina period of one month and sub-mit compliance report to Om-budsman Office. He has alsodirected Punjab Governmentto review the Punjab Govern-ment Servants BenevolentFund Ordinance 1960 andrules made there under.

Elementary SchoolTeachers lodged a complaintto Ombudsman Punjab stat-ing that they were promotedin BPS-16 of the posts ofEST as level-II, personal tothem on seniority-cum-fit-ness basis in 2009 and con-tributing towards Benevo-lent Fund on monthly basis,at source from salaries @ 3percent as prescribed inPunjab Government Ser-vants Benevolent FundRules, but the benefits enun-ciated in the rules were be-ing denied to them on theplea that they were notgazetted officers.

Girls shine inPU BA/BScexams results

LAHORE—Girl students ofPunjab Group of Collegesbagged top three positions asthe Punjab University an-nounced the result of BA, BScexamination on Wednesday.

It may be pertinent to men-tion that the three toppers areall girl students. Punjab Col-leges have maintained theirsupremacy as Sadaf fromPunjab College Gujranwala se-cured the top position by get-ting 706 marks.

Sadia Nawaz remained sec-ond with 699 marks and GulfamShehzadi stood third with 684marks. Maria Nawaz stood firstin BA exam by securing 669marks while Fahd Arshadstood second with 666 marks.Total number of students ap-pearing in the BA /BSc examwas 134,800 out of which50,281 were declared success-ful. The total percentage ofsuccessful students stood at37 percent.—INP

UVAS earnsmillions of rupeesthrough low cost

FMD vaccineLAHORE—A low cost vac-cine prepared by the opera-tional laboratory of the Uni-versity of Veterinary andAnimal Sciences (UVAS) fordiseases of animlas hasstarted earning millions ofrupees as it received over Rs2.2 million orders during theyear 2012.

Talking to APP onWednesday, UVAS ViceChancellor Prof Talat NaseerPahsa said the universityhad been suplying the lowcost FMD vaccine to theSindh government, PakistanArmy and some private in-stitutions.—APP