More blood spills on Gazaroads................................................Nation continues to mournNizami’s death................................................Foreign aid to Provincesshould route through centre

See Page 04

Today’s issue of PakistanObserver carries a 6-PageSpecial Report on CorporateSocial Responsibility and 2-Page on Islamic Banking.

Continued on Page 7

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—The Armedforces of Pakistan, already en-

Armed forces will not indulgein any political wrangling

gaged in an intense campaignagainst terrorists in FATA hasno intention to indulge in po-litical affairs of the country.

Sources close to corridorof political and military powersaid the forces deputed inIslamabad under Article 245 ofthe Constitution will providesecurity to the important instal-lations. In all 350 soldiers tobe deployed for this purposeand they have nothing to dowith any long march or sit-inin the capital.

The impression given bycertain political forces in this

connection is not correct, thesources said. It should be crys-tal clear the Armed Forces willperform their duties within theambit of the Constitution andwill not involve in any politi-cal wrangling.

According to the notifica-tion issued on July 24, ChiefCommissioner Islamabad hadrequested the federal govern-ment to requisite Army forIslamabad’s security.

According to the notifica-tion 350 soldiers will be de-ployed in the federal capital.Army will be given powersunder the Anti-Terrorism Act1997. Army officer will havethe authority to take action af-ter issuing one warning, in ac-cordance with the Anti-Ter-rorism Act 1997. Army willalso have the powers tosearch any building withoutsearch warrant.

Soldiers conducting operation to clear the houses of terrorists in Mir Ali.

Clearance of a terrorists hideout

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ISLAMABAD—Federal InteriorMinister Chaudhry Nisar AliKhan said on Sunday that thedecision to call for the Army’sassistance in maintaining lawand order in Islamabad for threemonths under Article 245 of theConstitution had no link with“any political rally or party”.

Addressing a press confer-ence at Punjab House here onSunday, the Interior Ministersaid that anyone trying to linkthe government’s decision ofcalling in the Army with anypolitical rally of a political partywas actually engaging in political point-scoringand was making the Army’s role needlessly con-troversial at a crucial time.

Nisar said that the decision to call the Army’sassistance in maintaining the law and order situ-ation in the federal capital city had been taken

Article 245 invoked 11times in last 7 years: NisarArmy help to secure Islamabad not connected to any rally

at the time of a decision forlaunching Zarb-i-Azb operationin North Waziristan following aprecedent set during the militaryoperation of 2010.

He said civil military rela-tions are very positive and inany military operation, institu-tions and political partiesshould be on the same page forits success.

The Interior Minister saidseveral high profile dignitariesincluding Imran Khan havethreats from terrorists and theyhave been informed about it.

He categorically stated that Islamabad andno other city would be handed over to the armybut it would only assist the civil administration.He said 350 troops have been requisitioned for90 days under anti terrorism act of 1997.

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ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—The NazriyaPakistan Council, Islamabadhas chalked out a number ofprogrammes to celebrate the68th Independence Day in abefitting manner and its Chap-ters throughout the country toowill hold similar events.

As per its traditions, theNPC through its variousprogrammes will highlight thevision of Pakistan of its

founder, Quaid-e-AzamMohammad Ali Jinnah.

Senator Syed NayyarHussain Bukhari, ChairmanSenate of Pakistan will presideover a National Seminar on“Consolidation of Pakistan andour responsibilities” on August13, while the Federal Ministerfor Information and Broadcast-ing and National Heritage,Senator Pervaiz Rashid willinaugurate on August 11, two

NPC to celebrate IndependenceDay for two weeks

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WASHINGTON—Hamas leader KhaledMeshaal demanded Israel lift its blockade ofGaza and warned that Palestinians cannot co-exist with their neighbors while their land isoccupied, in an interview broadcast Sunday.

On Saturday, Meshaal was interviewed byUS broadcaster PBS in the Qatari capital Dohawhile in Gaza his Islamist militia was underassault from Israeli forces in renewed fightingthat has left hundreds dead.

A full version of the inter-view will be broadcast late onMonday, but excerpts were revealed on Sundayon CBS News’ “Face the Nation.”

Asked by veteran interviewer Charlie Rosewhether he could foresee living beside Israelisin peace, Meshaal said only a future Palestinian

Hamas chief: We cannotcoexist with occupiers

state could decide whether to recognize the Jew-ish state.

“We are not fanatics, we are not fundamen-talists. We are not actually fighting the Jewsbecause they are Jews per se. We do not fightany other races. We fight the occupiers,” he said.

“I’m ready to coexist with the Jews, withthe Christians and the Arabs and non-Arabs,”he said. “However, I do not coexist with the oc-

cupiers.”Pressed on whether Palestin-

ians could recognize the state ofIsrael as a Jewish state, Meshaal reiteratedHamas’ position — the group does not recog-nize Israel.

“When we have a Palestinian state then theContinued on Page 7

Ruet-e-HilalCommitteemeets todaySTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—A meeting of Cen-tral Ruet-e-Hilal Committee willbe held in Karachi today forsighting the crescent ofShawwal-ul-Mukarram 1435A.H.

The meeting chaired byChairman Mufti Muneeb urRehman would be held in the

Continued on Page 7

Wife ofCameroon’s vicePM kidnappedYAOUNDE—The wife ofCameroon’s vice primeminister was kidnapped andat least three people werekilled in an attack by BokoHaram militants in thenorthern town of Kolofata onSunday, Cameroon officialssaid.

A local religious leader,or lamido, named SeiniBoukar Lamine, who is alsothe town’s mayor, waskidnapped as well, in aseparate attack on his home.

Boko Haram, theNigerian Islamist militantgroup, has stepped up cross-border attacks into Cameroonin recent weeks as Cameroonhas deployed troops to theregion, joining internationalefforts to combat themilitants.

“I can confirm that thehome of Vice Prime Minister

Shawwal moonsighted in SaudiArabia, Eid todayRIYADH—Shawwal moonwas sighted in Saudi Arabia,therefore Eid-ul-Fitr in thekingdom will be celebratedtoday, Monday.

Eid will also be cel-ebrated in United ArabEmirates, Kuwait, Iraq andJordan. Similarly, Muslims inmany western countriesincluding the US and UK willcelebrate Eid today.

The sighting of Shawwalmoon marks the end of theholy month of Ramazan andstarts celebration of Eid-ul-

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—As the Operation Zarb-e-Azb,initiated against the local as well foreign mili-tants in the restive North Waziristan agency,entered 43rd day on Sunday, 570 alleged terror-ists have been killed till date with the securityforces destroying around hundred militants hide-outs besides seizing dozens of IEDs and ammu-nition manufacturing factories and suicidebombers training centers.

However, 34 Security forces personnel in-

70 pc of Mir Ali,outskirts cleared570 terrorists killed 34 soldiers martyred in

Operation House-to-house search mountscluding the officers have embraced Martyrdomduring this period in NWA, the Inter ServicesPublic Relations said on Sunday adding the op-eration Zarb-e-Azb was advancing effectivelyto achieve the objectives as 70% area of Mir AliTehsil was cleared on Sunday morning.

According to military sources, the army wasadvancing effectively as majority of the troublemakers have either been killed or flushed outfrom the NWA headquarters, Miran Shah.

The PAF birds that have been pounding the

See also Back Page

Police visit toMH17 disastersite cancelledDONETSK, Ukraine — Ateam of international policeofficers that had planned tostart searching for evidenceand the remaining bodies atthe site of the Malaysianplane disaster in easternUkraine canceled their tripSunday after receiving reportsof fighting in the area.

Alexander Hug, thedeputy head of a monitoringteam from the Organizationfor Security and Cooperationin Europe, said it was toodangerous for the unarmedofficers to travel to the sitefrom its current location inthe rebel-held city ofDonetsk.

Malaysian Airlines Flight17 was shot down with a

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

MANSOOR PIRZADA

GHOTKI—As Eid-ul-Fitar is likely to be cel-ebrated on Tuesday, depending on moon sight-ing for the month of Shawwal. Eid shoppingspree is witnessed on peak inGhotki, Daharki, MirpurMathelo, Ubauro, Guddu,Kashmore, Pano Aqil andSukkur. Women and childrenthronging into different shop-ping markets to prepare them-selves for celebrating Eid-ul-Fitar with religious zeal andfervour.

Large number of womenand young girl flocked to dif-ferent shops to purchase theirfavorite artificial jewelry,bangles and henna (Mehndi)paste, which are traditionallyused to beautify their hands,while children were busy in pur-chasing stylish clothes, shoes,spectacles, and watches. Menwere mostly seen chasing theirfamily by carrying heavy shop-ping bags.

The Garment shops werecrowded at second number,garment shops attracted largenumber of people for buyingready-made garments. Tradi-tional garments like elegant Kurta with traditionalSindhi cap were to be the first choice of men.

Vikesh Kumar, the owner of a wholesale gen-

Eid shopping at peak in Sukkur region

QUETTA: A nomad family placed solar penal to charge the battery at his makeshifthouse to be used during night time.

HYDERABAD: Ladies selecting and purchasing colourful bangles in connection withEid festivities.

eral store told, people are trying to purchase bestitems blindly without bargaining. Shopkeepershave displayed beautiful products to grab thecustomer, and this worked.

A salesman, Jahangir complained that load

shedding has ruined their business; people leavethe selected items in-between as the electricityshuts off, majority of shopkeepers use genera-

tor and UPS but who cannot afford bears theloss of sales.

On other side lower middle class is not ablepurchase more due to inflation rate. Shazia acustomer at garment shop says “I had a big list

to buy for my Eid shoppingbut unfortunately I am unableto buy hardly 50 percent of itin my budget as the prices ofmy needs are talking with thesky.”

Another customerAlamgeer and his spousesaid that they have left buy-ing for their own, now theybuy for children due to infla-tion.

Stalls selling Eidcards have been declined thisyear as the trend of sendingEid greetings cards to relativesand friends residing in othercities of the country andabroad were ending owing tocheaper calling and SMSprices of Mobile packages andavailability of Internet facilities.

Besides, illegalheavy encroachments on roadsof major shopping centres byvendors, selling variety of mer-chandise, including ready-made garments, shoes, spec-

tacles, bangles and decorative items, have becomea source of inconvenience for shoppers in particu-lar and pedestrians in general.

Senators paytribute to

Majeed NizamiI S L A M A B A D — S e n a t eChairman Syed NayyerHussain Bokhari, DeputyChairman Sabir Ali Baloch,Leader of the House in theSenate Raja MuhammadZafarul Haq and Leader ofthe Opposittion AitezazAhsan on Sunday ex-pressed deep grief over thedemise of veteran journal-ist Majeed Nizami and paidtribute him.

According to a collec-tive statement issued hereby the Senate Secretariate,they expressed solidaritywith the journalist commu-nity and termed it a greatloss. Late Majeed Nizamiwould always be remem-bered for his contributionsfor upholding the cause ofdemocracy and freedom ofpress, they said and laudedservices of Nizami for thefreedom of media in thecountry.

They prayed to AllahAlmighty to rest the de-parted soul in eternal peaceand grant fortitude to thebereaved ones to bear thisloss.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D—National Highways andMotorway Police continues actionagainst the transporters onsecond day and retrievedthousands of rupees thatwas overly charged by thetransporters. The retrievedamount was returned to thepassengers at the spot.

As per details NH&MPMotorway Zone imposedfine on 172 PSVs and madethem to return overchargedamount of Rs.3,05,000 to thepassengers at the spot atdistrict Islamabad/Rawalpindi, Peshawar,Sawabi, Chakwal, Behra,Pindi Bhattian, Sheikhupura,Lahore and Faisalabad.

Motorway Police Offic-ers of N-5 North Zone(Peshawar to Lahore) tookaction against 239 violatorsand convinced them to re-turn overly charged amountof more than Rs. 1,20,960 topassengers and imposedheavy fine near districtPeshawar, Nowshera,Khairabad, Kamra, Taxila,Gujar Khan, Dina, Jhelum,Muridke, Kharian, and KalaSha Kaku.

The NH&MP SouthZone (Sukkur to Karachi)took action against 228 PSVsand persuaded them to re-turn Rs. 2,14,500 near Ghotki,Sukkur, Khairpur,Nawabshah, Jamshoro, Hyderabadandand Karachi.

NH&MP return overcharged fare at the spotWhereas, officers appointed at N-5

Central Zone (Lahore to Rahim Yar Khan)took prompt action against 85 PSVs andmade them to return back thousands of

overly charged amount to passengersnear district Lahore, Phool Nagar, Okara,Sahiwal, Chichawatni, Khanewal and

Bahawalpur. The passengers appreciatedthe swift and prompt action taken byMotorway Police.

Meanwhile, Inspector General,

NH&MP, Zulfiqar Ahmad Cheema has di-rected all zonal DIGs to initiate stern le-gal action on such complaints. The I.G

directed to impose heavy fine on suchviolators and to take all necessary mea-sures to retrieve the extra amount taken.He passed directions to impound ve-

hicles of habitual lawbreak-ers.

Upon these directions,officers of N-5 Central Zone(Lahore to Rahim Yar Khan)took prompt action againstdozens of PSVs and madethem to return back thou-sands of overly chargedamount to passengers neardistrict Lahore, Sahiwal,Chichawatni, andBahawalpur.

Motorway Police Offic-ers of N-5 North Zone(Peshawar to Lahore) tookaction against 122 violatorsand made them to returnoverly charged amount ofmore than Rs. 100,000 topassengers and imposedheavy fine on 246 violatorsnear district Peshawar,Nowshera, Kamra, Taxila,Gujar Khan, Dina andJhelum on Saturday. Theyalso impounded a PSV ve-hicle # LES-9991 on thesame charges. Whereas, of-ficers appointed atMotorway Zone imposedfine on 235 PSVs and madethem to return overchargedamount of Rs.214, 230 topassengers at the spot atdistrict Peshawar, Mardan,Sawabi, Islamabad, Chakri,

Kallar Kahar, Lahore and Faisalabad. Thepassengers appreciated the swift andprompt action taken by Motorway Police.

Officials of NH&MP inspecting the vehicles overcharging and overloading during rush travelling of Eid holidays.

Imran asked not to dopolitics on IDPs woes

PESHAWAR—Awami National Party (ANP) provincial presi-dent and MNA Amir Haider Khan Hoti said PTI chief ImranKhan is doing politics on issues of Internally DisplacedPersons(IDPs) and military operation in North WaziristanAgency (NWA).

PTI chief and his provincial government of KhyberPakhtunkhwa has delivered nothing to masses in one year,rather staged rallies against drone attacks, cried againstrigging in general elections in Punjab, opposed militaryoperation against terrorists. “Now Imran Khan has an-nounced ‘Azadi March’ on Pakistan day to get cheap pub-licity,” he remarked.

In his address to ANP workers at his residence in dis-trict Mardan, he said it was PTI government who releasedSufi Muhammad from jail and left the KP people to fall preyto terrorists.

He said Imran Khan has been protesting against dronestrikes and opposing military operation against terrorists,but he has also announced support to operation on thefloor of National Assembly.

Hoti said that he could not understand as why PTI wasthreatening of dissolving provincial assembly of KP in pro-test against rigging in general elections in Punjab. Whetherthey wanted to hide their shortcomings and inefficienciesin KP due to which the province faced wastage of over 86billion rupees in one year, he questioned.

He further said that it was Imran Khan who was amongadmirers of former Chief Justice of Pakistan but now hehas indulged in character assassination of the same per-son. ANP leader said that rigging was done with ANP inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa where ANP leaders were threatenedof dire consequences and even tortured and kept at homeduring elections.

He said ANP did not opted the way of protest againstelections rigging rather continued its struggle for strength-ening of democracy and accepted elections’ results.

Hoti said that PTI chief Imran Khan should not onlymake announcement of celebrating Eid with IDPs ratherask his government in KP to take pragmatic measures forwelfare of displaced persons.—APP

Transparent Zakatpayment helpsreduce poverty

ISLAMABAD—The transpar-ent payment of Zakat to thedeserving can help eliminat-ing poverty and unemploy-ment from the society, saidleaders of Chamber of Com-merce and Industry.

Former PresidentIslamabad Chamber of Com-merce and Industry ZahidMaqbool told APP that thepayment of Zakat is obliga-tory for the Muslims, whopossess at least Rs 40,000 ex-cess money, after meetingtheir basic needs. Paymentof Zakat must be started fromdeserving brother, sisters,close relatives, neighbours,fellow citizens, etc. The Zakatcould also be given to cred-ible welfare organizations,bearing educational expensesof a deserving person, build-ing hospital and schools.

He urged the governmentto play its role in making thedistribution of Zakattransparent.President WomenChamber of Commerce and In-dustry Samina Fazal said themain purpose of Zakat pay-ments is to maintain a bal-anced society. She said Zakatshould be given to the de-serving by the concerned per-son with own hands. With thehonest payment of Zakat-thesociety could be made bal-anced.—APP

QUETTA—The security forces Sunday re-covered explosive devices from a house inDera Bugti town.

According to Levies force, on a tip off,security force and Levies force personnelraided at the house and seized 10 kg explo-sive devices along with detonators and fusein Bugti Colony.

“Explosive materials were being madefor sabotage acts across the area by un-

10 kg explosive devices seizedknown suspects”. Levies force said.

Local administration cordoned off theentire area and started efforts to arrest sus-pects. The police on Sunday recovered abody of man from Kuchlak area, 25 km awayfrom here.

According to police, on a tip off, a po-lice team reached the site and took the bodyinto custody which was dumped near KilliKharotabad area.—APP

CHAKDARA—Amir, Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan,Sirajul Haq has said that the present govern-ment of Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N)should complete its mandated period, sayinghis party would not support any unconstitu-tional move that could lead to winding up ofthe democratic system in the country.

Talking to APP after addressing a gather-ing of the JI workers in his home district, theJI Amir contended that the PML-N has beenmandated for five years term by the peoplethrough a democratic process, adding anymis-adventurism could jeopardize the wholedemocratic system which the country couldno more afford at this critical time.

To a question, he said that PML-N wouldget more sympathy votes if its governmentwas destabilized before the expiry of the con-stitutional period.

To another quest ion, he said that wewanted the federal and the provincial gov-ernments should complete their terms with-out any hindrance and instead the political

Imran not wanting to derail democratic system

PML-N should completemandated tenure: Siraj

entities should work for strengthening thissystem. He said that the government shouldaddress grievances of the PTI about pollsrigging in May 2013 general elections by find-ing an amicable solution to the problem.

To a question, he was of the view thatPTI Chief Imran Khan was not wanting to de-rail democratic system in the country.

Sir jaul Haq urged the government tospeed up relief work for the Internally Dis-placed Persons (IDPs) of North Waziristan,adding that we wanted that displaced peopleshould go back to the native areas at the ear-liest possible time.Multan: Pakistan Muslims League (PML-N)leader, Sheikh Tariq Rasheed Sunday saidthat the whole nation was united under theleadership of Mian Muhammad NawazSharif.

Addressing a press conference here at theMultan Press Club, he said that agitation onIndependence Day would only benefit en-emies of the country.

He alleged that rigging had been provedin PTI leader Javed Hashmi’s constituencyand they wereprotesting againstit.

He askedJaved Hashmi toresign.

Tariq said thatHashmi shouldavoid talkingabout the PML-Nleadership other-wise they wouldnot remain silent.

He said thatthey had also filedan applicat ionwith the ElectionCommission of Pa-kistan (ECP) for avote recount in Shah Mehmood Qureshi’sconsti tuency.—APP

More rains forup country likely

ISLAMABAD—The Pakistan Meteorological Depart-ment (PMD) on Sunday forecast more rains in the up-per parts of the country on the mega festival of EidulFitr, which is expected to fall on Tuesday.

According to the PMD, scattered rain-thunder-shower is expected in Kashmir, Is lamabad, upperPunjab (Rawalpindi ,Gujranwala and Lahore di-visions) , Hazara, Kohat ,Peshawar, Kalat andMakran divisions duringnext 24 hours, while isolatedrain-thundershower is ex-pected in Sargodha,Faisalabad, Bahawalpur, Malakand, Bannu andD.I.Khan divisions.

The monsoon currents are penetrating in the up-per parts of the country, which are likely to intensifyduring next couple of days.

A well marked seasonal low l ies over northBaluchistan and its adjoining areas. Moderate mon-soon currents are continuously penetrating into up-per parts of the country.

Meanwhile the met office has further perdictedscattered rain- thundershower in Islamabad, upperPunjab (Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore divisions),upper KP(Malakand, Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat andMardan divisions), while isolated in Sargodha,Faisalabad, Bahawalpur and Bannu dsivisions, dur-ing the next 48 hours. The hottest places during thelast 24 hrs were reported at Nokkundi 45øC, Dalbandin44øC, Sibbi, Dadu 43øC.—APP

PPP protestunscheduledloadsheddingOUR CORRESPONDENT

LARKANA—Following thecall of Pakistan PeoplesParty (PPP) local area pub-lic staged a protest againstprolonged load shedding inLarkana and other district ofSindh outside Sepco officein Larkana on Sunday.

PPP leader HizbullahBughio, Mazhar Junejo,Sadam Janwari in a jointstatement said that PPP willcontinue to protest againstload shedding and poweroutages in Larkana and ru-ral areas and of the prov-ince.

They further said that asevere power crisis is beingcreated in Sindh and the na-tion is facing severe prob-lems due to the power break-downs in the holy month ofRamzan “PPP shares thegrief of the people ofKarachi and the city cannotbe left at the mercy ofSepco”, they added.

They said that if loadshedding is not ended, theprotest and demonstrationswould be held in the prov-ince and staged the sit-insstrike also through out theprovince. The demonstra-tors also alleged that therulers were enjoying theirlives sitting in chilled roomswhile the rest of the popula-tion was left at the mercy ofthe unbearable heat.

Reports of protest dem-onstrations have also comein from Qambar,Shahdadkot, Ratodero,Dokri, Baqrani, Gerello,Badeh, Nasirabad, Wareh,Mirokhan, Sijawal, QuboSaeed Khan, where the pro-testors complained thatthey were being providedelectricity for just four to sixhours as compared to othercities.

They said the situationis rural areas is even worsewhere people are unable toget drinking water, the situ-ation is particularly disturb-ing during summer monthsand in Ramadan, theyasked.

RAHIM YAR KHAN—A boy threw acidat his fiancé girl on suspicion of her re-lation with another boy in Kot Qatib areahere on Sunday.

According to police sources, the boynamed Imran entered into house of hisfiancé girl at Sehri time and threw acid ather face. She received burned injuries inthe acid attack.

The boy managed to flee from thescene. The girl was shifted to SheikhZayed Hospital for treatment. The po-lice said that the accused boy suspectedthat his fiancé entered into love withanother boy and was speaking over tele-phone with him.

The death toll reached to 13 as morepeople died after consuming poisonousliquor in Liaquatpur area of Rahim Yarkhan.

The incident took place in aLaiquatpur Tehsil where a citizen, namedMoosa, dealt in a home-made l iquor.People from six to seven villages usedto buy liquor from his shop. On Satur-day night, more than a dozen people fellunconscious after taking liquor and werepronounced dead when taken to hospi-tal.

Apart from the 13 dead, at least 16others were being treated at the hospi-tal and some of them are stated to be in

Death toll reaches 13 in toxic liquor consumption

Girl burnt injuries in acid attackcritical condition.

Four of a family from Ghazi Mohallawere among those expired after consum-ing poisonous liquor.—INP

Several prisonersreleased before Eid

FAISALABAD: Several prisoners impris-oned for petty crimes have been releasedby the federal government ahead of Eid-ul-Fitr.

In Faisalabad, 199 prisoners were re-leased from all three jails in the city. Jailsources have said that 182 prisonersfrom District Jail, 14 from Central Jail andthree inmates from Borstal Jail were re-leased.

Distr ict and Sessions Court JudgeAbid Hussain Qureshi paid a visit to Dis-tr ict Jai l in Kasur where he gave eidclothes and presents to women prison-ers. He also ordered the release of 21 in-mates involved in petty crimes.

On other hand, large number of pris-oners, involved in different crimes, hadfiled a petition to be released so that theycan celebrate Eid with their family mem-bers. However, their petitions are stillwaiting to be heard as listening to allpetitions will take time.—NNI

LAHORE—Positive and constructivechange in society’s attitude is mandatoryfor sustainable prosperity and progress inevery sphere of life.

Chairing a roundtable conference on“Impact of change in Society Attitude” hereon Sunday, Principal, Punjab UniversityLaw College, Ms Dr Shazia Qureshistressed an urgent need for immediatechange in the attitude of society towardsits lawful, social and moral obligations inall segments without which society cannotprogress.

She said that the holy “Quran”emphasised strict enforcement of disciplinecoupled with justice in entire society irre-spective of creed,colour, religion and caste.

She said that our prophet Muhammad(peace be upon him) demonstrated the high-est degree of discipline coupled with toler-ance and patience throughout his life andfully adhered to the cardinal principles ofIslam.

She said that in our society, all citizensirrespective of their social status, must re-spond to their moral, social and religiousobligations without any fear.

She said, for example,if people abideby traffic rules,nothing will happen to thembut it would ensure safe journey forthemself and for other road users.

Shazia Qureshi said that why rapid in-

ventions and developments were takingplace in Information Technology,Scienceand Technology and other fields in America,UK and other advanced countries becausechange in the attitude of society was quitepositive.

She urged top political leaders andpeople at the halm of affairs to inculcatethe spirit of simple life with positive andconstructive change in the attitude of soci-ety from top to down if they were sincere inrapid development and progress of thedowntrodden.

Vice Chancellor PU, Prof Dr. MujahidKamran speaking on the occasion fully en-dorsed her ideas.

He said that he was endeavouring hisbest to bring about a revolutionary changein all the 74 teaching departments.

He said that nearly 30,000 students werestudying in morning,afternoon and eveningprograms in the PU.

He said that if he succeeded in his plan,students would prove to be a nursery forthe implementation of change in the atti-tude of society in their practical life.

Sofia Haq,Saif Ur Rehman,SobiaAurangzeb,Dr.Waqar Ch, Sana Izhar, HumaFaran, Bushra Zia,Sami Ur Rehman, andothers also spoke on the occasion andshared their views with other speakers.—APP

Positive change in socialattitude mandatory for progress

MWMC to provide2000 uniforms tosanitary workers

MULTAN–Multan WasteManagement Company(MWMC) will provide 2000uniforms to its sanitaryworkers next month.

Chairman MWMC RaiMansab Ali expressedthese views while talking tojournalists here. He saidthat uniforms were beingpurchased after approvalfrom the MWMC commit-tee and added that initiatewas being taken for identi-fication of the company’sstaff.

He said that specialcleanliness arrangementswould be made on the eveof Eidul Fitr to providepleasant environment tothe citizens.

He said that the eid holi-days of the entire staff ofMWMC have been can-celled, and added that alter-nate holidays would begiven to the staff.

Chairman MWMC saidthat complaint cell has beenset up at MWMC main of-fice and citizens could con-tact on this number 061-9239704 in case of any com-plaint regarding cleanli-ness. He said that sanitarystaff would responsewithin 15 to 20 minuteswith equipments and ve-hicles.

He claimed that 400 to500 ton waste was beingcollected from the city ondaily basis and added thatthey would be able to col-lect 600 ton waste per dayafter eid.

Rai Mansab Ali saidthat Rs 300,000 revenue perday can be collected, if theysell 600 ton waste daily.

He said that companyhave a total of 137 vehiclesand added that the mainte-nance of all the vehicleswould be made after eid.

Rai Mansab said that100 sanitary workers wouldbe recruited after eid formaintaining cleanliness innewly populated unioncouncils and the recruit-ment of MD MWMC wouldbe made soon.—APP

Driver killed in KurramAgency IED blast

PESHAWAR—One person was killed when an Im-provised Explosive Ddvice (IED) planted at roadsidein Mirokas area of Lower Khurram Agency went offwith a big bang on Sunday, political administrationsaid.

According to detail , a passenger coach comingfrom Lower Kurram Agency to Sada Tehsil, when itreached to Mirokas area, an IED planted in roadsidewent off which result in killing of the driver of thecoach, Aziz Khan Ghaljay on the spot while other pas-sengers who were on board remained unhurt.

The coach was badly damaged as a result of theblast, an official of the political administration added.

Soon after, the official of the security forces cor-doned off the area and started search operation.

A banned was also imposed by the security forceson the entry of the vehicles to Sadda Baazar.

Faisalabad: A youth Sunday was hit to death in anaccident in Thikriwala police limits.

According to police, Tariq of Chak No 67-JB Sadharwas riding a rickshaw when a speeding truck hit itnear Sabzi Mandi Sadhar.

As a result, he died on the spot whereas the truckdriver fled.—APP

PESHAWAR: Members of civil society holding a walk to create awareness about thedangers of aerial firing on Sunday.

MULTAN: Minister of State for Education, Trainings and Standards in Higher Education, Muhammad Baligh ur Rehman offering dua afterinaugurating a local college on Sunday.

SIALKOT: Former Federal Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan distributingEid gifts among the inhabitants of the Maskan Old Home.

New currencysells on blackMANSOOR PIRZADA

GHOTKI–The black mar-keting of fresh currency isbeing encouraged by sev-eral bank officials acrossthe district by sellingnew currency notes tobrokers and r ich busi-nessmen. The trade of newcurrency notes in the dis-tr ict is continuing un-abated.

Reports said, TheState Bank of Pakistan hasofficially ordered replace-ment of old and soiled cur-rency notes and providednew notes to the custom-ers. But, bank authoritiespaid no heed to the SBPorders and refused to theircustomers saying thatnew notes has ran out ofstock but actually bankofficials are engaged inselling.

Mostly the new cur-rency notes were sold tothe decorated garlandmakers, which they use tomake decorative gar-landfor the sale while simulta-neously garland makerssale new currency buy ob-taining 20 percent of theface value of the notes.Garland makers purchasenew notes in bulk aroundEid-ul-Fitar as ‘marriageseason’ starts very soonafter Eid.

It was also witnessedthat ATM machines re-mained closed by al lbanks, showing the rea-son of securi ty mea-sures and threat of sabo-tage .

The trade of new cur-rency has been on r isewhile Monday is lastworking day for the bank-ers earn maximum profitby selling new currency. Abanker in a nearestbranch, on the promise ofanonymity, told that theSBP had sup-plied a largenumber of new currencynotes but bank officialswere trying to hide theseso that they could sell thenotes to businessmen.

More blood spillson Gaza roads

THE relentless bombings by Israeli air and ground forces continue tospill more blood on the roads of Gaza where more than 1050 peoplehave so far been killed but what is condemnable is that the western

countries who enjoy immense influence over the Jewish state are justissuing appeals for ceasefire instead of demanding an end to the one sidedatrocities against hapless Palestinians. US Secretary of State John Kerrymet his counterparts from Europe and the Middle East in Paris, and alljust appealed for extension in ceasefire that was earlier agreed for hu-manitarian supplies.

The lackluster approach to the conflict by the US and its allies reflectsthat they want to give Israel maximum time to crush the Palestinians tomaximum extent. Similarly the response from the Arab and Muslim worldis not which it should have been. During the 12 hour ceasefire on Saturday,bodies of dozens of Palestinians were pulled from the ruins of bombed-outhomes in Gaza as Palestinians ventured onto streets after the truce tookeffect, some eager to check on homes they had fled, others to stock up onfood and other items or inquire about the whereabouts of their relativesand friends. In many places they found astonishing devastation, apart-ment buildings levelled, entire blocks of homes completely wiped out byrelentless Israeli bombardment and bloods on every road and street. Wemay warn that the world does not realize that bombardment and suppres-sion by disproportionate force gives birth to more resistance and terror-ism. This excessive use of force would instil the desire of revenge amongthe Palestinians youths who have already lost their near and dear ones.The almost isolated Gazans have been left at the mercy of Israel and theywould have no alternative but to go for suicide acts if Israeli is not givena categorical call from Washington that enough is enough and this blood-shed of innocent people should come to an end. The Hamas is makingreasonable demands of lifting the siege on Gaza, opening the border cross-ings and to have free access to the world. Therefore, we would emphasisethat time has come for the US and Israel’s western allies to give a seriousthought for a while to the emerging situation in Gaza, ensure an immedi-ate cessation of hostilities by Israel and work for addressing the demandsof the Gazans for bringing peace and enabling the people to burry over athousand who have fallen victims to Israeli barbarity.

Nation continues tomourn Nizami’s death

THE nation and particularly the journalistic circles are still in a state ofshock over the death of an icon and legendary Editor of Nawa-i-Waqt

Group of newspapers Dr Majid Nizami. The news of his death saddenedeveryone who came across him or read his writings in his long journalis-tic career of 74 years.

It is all on account of certain journalistic principles that he upheldthroughout his life of boldness, truthfulness and unyielding stand againstthe rulers. He was perhaps the last crusader in the group of Editors whoused their pen for the greater good of the people of the subcontinent i.e.establishment of Pakistan. Throughout his life Majid Nizami followed theprincipled journalism against heavy odds and sometime has to suffer inmany respects. He was the torch bearer of Pakistan Ideology and renderedmeritorious services to keep the spirit of Pakistan movement up among thenation, never compromised on his love for Islam, Pakistan and this aspectof his life was eminently reflected in his newspapers. He was a staunchsupporter of the Kashmir cause and continued writing and speaking urgingthe Pakistani governments to work tirelessly for the solution of the prob-lem. In fact Majid Nizami was saturated with the spirit of Pakistanism andany loss to the country was intolerable for him. With time he grew into arespected editor for various political groups, newspaper industry and infact in every field because of his unbiased views on critical issues and hiscommitment to Pakistan. He was very active at forums of newspapersand editors and in the forefront to fight for the freedom of the print media.In his death the newspaper industry has lost a staunch and consistent fighterfor press freedom and democratic rights. He was a missionary Editor andthe tributes being paid to him by visits of large number of people at hisresidence and in messages is a reflection of the respect one gets, not onaccount of wealth or properties which one might have amassed within thecountry and abroad, but because of one’s contributions for the greatergood of the people and the causes he kept dear to him.

Foreign aid to Provincesshould route through centreSOME diplomats and USAID mission met the KP Chief Minister Pervez

Khattak and offered him investment and aid in various sectors includinghighways and telecommunication in the Province. During the meeting theChief Minister aired his government’s concern about the health of thou-sands of IDP infants and fear of eruption of epidemic diseases and calledfor direly needed help of friendly countries and welfare agencies directly tothe Provincial government.

At the face of it, it is a good gesture of the friendly countries to offerhelp in development projects and for the relief of the IDPs but we wouldsay that the whole of the world should come to the relief of the IDPs, aslooking after over one million people is a huge task and particularly sobecause Pakistan has already deployed its resources in war on terrorismwhich is an international problem. It fact the western countries startedthe war against terrorism and Pakistan extended all the assistance. It isnow their turn to whole heartedly support Pakistan while it has launcheda major operation in North Waziristan Agency to root out the menace ofterrorism. It is because of this military operation that the civilian popu-lation had to leave their homes and belongings and thus are staying incamps or with relatives waiting for assistance from all quarters. We sayso because they have lost all the sources of their earnings by leavingtheir areas and it is the responsibility of the Pakistani government andthe international community to come to their rescue. But strictly speak-ing, this assistance should be routed through Islamabad and we wouldwarn the Provinces that over stretching the 18th Amendment would bedetrimental to the interest of the Federation of Pakistan.

Upsurge in China-India ties and Pakistan

Israeli policythrives onconfusionin Gaza

THE relentless assault on Gazais set to continue even as atemporary ceasefire was put

in place. While Hamas has agreedto a temporary truce, the Israelis areacting in two contradictory direc-tions and deliberately creating con-fusion. At the same time that IsraeliPrime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu took the latest ceasefireproposal to his cabinet, his Minis-ter of Defence warned that the armywas preparing new and largerground operations in Gaza. Thecabinet rejected the ceasefire termsalthough the Israelis announced aunilateral 12-hour “pause” in thefighting to cover yesterday.

The planned muddled responsefrom the Israelis allows them to reapthe international benefit of their“pause” while not being commit-ted to any of the political require-ments of the ceasefire deal. It alsoallows Israeli troops to continuetheir current work of destroying thecross-border tunnels without anyconditions being imposed on them.

The Israelis have already killedmore than 950 Palestinians in Gazain the current round of fighting.Three-quarters of them were civil-ians and the dead leave behindrightly furious and embittered rela-tives, along with millions of fellowGazans and Palestinians all over theterritories who will never want tomake peace with those directly re-sponsible for the savage murder ofso many people.

Nonetheless, US Secretary ofState John Kerry is attempting tofind the right terms for a seven-day ceasefire, which he hopes willcover the days of Eid, duringwhich both sides will work withintermediaries to find the termsfor a long-term truce. Hamasleader Khalid Mesha’al has re-peatedly said that he wants an endto the blockade of Gaza.

The Israelis are ignoring thefact that rocket attacks had almostcompletely stopped for two yearsunder the previous truce. This ex-poses the underlying truth that theattack on Gaza has nothing to dowith the Gazans, but a lot of do withIsrael trying to wreck the reconcili-ation between Fatah and Hamas,which was leading to a united Pal-estinian government with muchgreater legitimacy. — Gulf News

*****

The K2success

FOR A nation that is mired infighting terrorism and is inclusively inward looking

these days, there is a treat for it juston the eve of its Independence Day.

The news that six Pakistanishave successfully climbed theworld’s second highest peak is laud-able. This is, indeed, a world recordand what makes it more spectacularis that after six decades the moun-taineers had been able to hoist theirnational flag at the top of K2. Thelast successful bid was by the Ital-ians and it has since been a tale ofhalf-hearted attempts and tragedieswith individual Pakistanis making itto the peak off and on. The moraleof this adventure is the team spirit,which is in wanting for the nation.

Mountaineering attempts usu-ally remain out of limelight unlessthey are successful or met with atragic end. That is why it is impor-tant to come up with the necessarypraise for the six Pakistani men alongwith three Italians who scaled the K2heights near Pakistan’s toughestnorthern border with China. Whichis why K2 is regarded by mountain-eers as more challenging than MountEverest — the world’s highest peak— in Nepal. It is, nonetheless, a posi-tive sign that Pakistan’s pride — K2— is now leased with an upgradedweather station, a gesture from anItalian organisation, which will go along way in attracting tourists andpotential hikers.

Pakistanis have a lesson to learnfrom their six fellow contemporar-ies who made the country proudeven in their limited resources. Thatcould not have been possible hadthey been distracted at the hands ofparochial forces that are on the loosethese days. The lesson is loud andclear: unite with a common frameof mind to scale new heights. It’stime for the strife-torn countrymento recast their own K2 heights intheir respective fields.—Khaleej Times

MEDIA WATCH

SINCE last few years, bothChina and India are trying toupgrade their economic and

defence relations. In 2013 ChinesePresident Xi Jinping proposed afive point formula to improve bi-lateral relations. The two countrieshave strategic and economic dia-logue in place. Both restarted thestalled defence dialogue in 2013and are expected to resume jointmilitary exercises shortly. Chinaand India also have specializeddialogues on Afghanistan, CentralAsia and counter-terrorism. In2013 Premier Li chose India as hisfirst overseas stop. During his thatvisit to India in May 3013, he em-phasized on the need to build trustand laid stress on economic ben-efits of greater ties. China-Indiaeconomic relations have alreadygrown with their bilateral trade go-ing up from US $ 3 billion in 2000to US $ 66 billion in 2012.

With Narendra Modi cominginto power in India as the PrimeMinister, China and India are tak-ing initiatives for achieving sub-stantive improvement in their bi-lateral relations. In June 2014,Chinese foreign Minister,Mr.wang Yi visited India as a spe-cial envoy of Chinese President.During his two-day visit, Mr.Wang met Prime Minister Modi,called on Indian President, andheld discussions with the IndianExternal Affairs Minister. Accord-ing to the Times of India datedJune 10, 2014, China said that For-eign Minister Wang Yi’s con-cluded visit to India was of “greatsignificance” and sent out a mes-sage that Chinese leaders pay high

Indian disrespect to UN body

THE United Nations MilitaryObserver Group in India andPakistan (UNMOGIP) was

established in 1951, through UNSCResolution 91. It was in successionof UN Resolutions 39 (1948) and47 (1948), providing for establish-ment and enlargement of UnitedNations Commission for India andPakistan (UNCIP) to observeceasefire in the disputed state ofJammu and Kashmir. Earlier Indiaand Pakistan signed Karachi Agree-ment, allowing supervision ofceasefire line by UN Observers inMarch 1951. Since its establishmentin 1951, UNMOGIP has been per-forming its assignments efficientlyin line with the UN mandate.

Recently, the newly formedIndian Government under PrimeMinister Narendra Modi has or-dered the mission to vacate a gov-ernment building under its use inNew Delhi. According to MajorNicolas Diaz, the Officer in Chargeof New Delhi Headquarters ofUNMOGIP, Indian authorities havenot given any good reasons, whileordering vacating the building cur-rently in use of the mission. He fur-ther said that, “the Observers Groupwould continue to operate in linewith the U.N. mandate and that itwas looking at alternative accom-modation.” The Srinagar group ofthe mission however, has not re-ceived any such directive by Indianauthorities. For monitoring theceasefire in disputed state of Jammuand Kashmir, UNMOGIP has itsoffices at Srinagar, New Delhi,Muzaffarabad and Islamabad.

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Weekly Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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

It’s an ill wind thatblows nobodyany good.

Whereas, Pakistan has fully co-operated with UNMOGIP, India hasnot been supportive with the missionand ever since 1972, it even starteddiscrediting the role of this UN mis-sion. India even has not been con-sulting the mission concerningceasefire violations along the Lineof Control in Indian occupied partof Kashmir, thereafter. Indian mili-tary authorities have also restrictedthe activities of the UN military ob-servers on the Indian side of the Lineof Control. On its part, Pakistan re-spects the UN Mission (UNMOGIP)and has always facilitated its moni-toring, travelling all over the LoCand accommodated them respec-tively. It is continuing to lodge com-plaints with it against ceasefire vio-lations by India along LoC. In fact,this UN mission is the only neutralbody, which can oversee theceasefire violations on either side ofLoC and give on ground situation toUnited Nations Headquarters, untilresolution of Kashmir dispute as perthe wishes of its people.

Over the years, successive In-dian governments have approachedUnited Nations to declare UN reso-lution on Kashmir as old, out-datedand irrelevant, particularly after theSimla Agreement of 1972. TheWorld body (UN) however, neveraccepted the Indian stance and itsunfounded demands and maintainedthat, UN resolutions are totally rel-evant and valid, until the resolutionof the dispute is found in accor-dance with these (resolutions)through impartial plebiscite or else,declared obsolete through anotherUN resolution. This UN stance isbased on its Charter, which givesright of self-determination to every-body including the people of Kash-mir. International community and

India itself has accepted these reso-lutions. It was only the implemen-tation stages, where India createdhurdles, one after the other.

Pakistan feels that, “United Na-tions resolutions on Kashmir remainvalid, legal and operative unless theworld body comes out with a newresolution on the dispute.” Indeed,UN resolutions on Kashmir, besidesbeing legal, reflect the will of theinternational community. However,Pakistan even welcomes the bilater-alism, if that approach leads towardsresolution of the dispute. Since theSimla Agreement-1972, India andPakistan could not resolve any mi-nor issues through bilateralism, howcould they solve Kashmir dispute?Then, India has taken a hard stanceover the status of Kashmir. WhereasUN, international community andPakistan declare Kashmir as a dis-puted territory, India declares it asits integral part. With such an irra-tional approach and rigidity, how canbilateralism work?

Indeed, Kashmir is neither a bi-lateral issue nor its solution can befound through this approach. It is aglobal issue, in which besides, Pa-kistan and India, there are two moreparties involved in it directly, i.e.Kashmiri people and UN as a worldbody. As per UN resolutions,adopted on March 30, 1951 and laterreiterated on January 24, 1957, “anyaction which may have been takenor might be taken by the Constitu-ent Assembly of Kashmir to deter-mine the future status and affiliationof the entire state or any part of itwould not at any cost constitute adisposition of the state.” The factualposition on Kashmir dispute is that,India cannot undermine UN resolu-tions on Kashmir and UN observermission (UNMOGIP). It is just cre-

attention to bilateral ties and theirmutual interests far outweigh dis-putes.” From this visit, we knowthat China-India relations are nowin a new age of gearing up,” Chi-nese Foreign Ministry spokesper-son Hua Chunying said, “Indianleaders also responded positively,”Hua said, pointing to the statementof Modi who said that Wangbrought important messages fromPresident Xi Jinping. Modi’s com-ing to power has brought very posi-tive responses from China’s lead-ership. Chinese are well conversantwith Modi since as Chief Ministerof Gujarat, he had attracted China’sinvestment for infrastructureprojects of the state. While theChinese foreign office has indi-cated Beijing’s willingness towork closely with the Modi gov-ernment, a Chinese governmentthink tank has called Modi asIndia’s Nixon who would expandbilateral ties with China in a largeway by amicably resolving borderdispute to jumpstart an Asian revo-lution. It is also being said byIndia’s strategic community thatfast tracking India’s relations withChina is certainly a big idea forModi to work on.

According to India’s EconomicTimes, out of India’s five year planup to 2017 of investing US $ 1 tril-lion in its infrastructure projects,China has offered to share 30 per-cent of investment equal to US$300 billion in those projects. In thiscontext, during his visit to India inJune 2014, China’s Foreign Minis-ter also talked more about China’sparticipation in India’s economicdevelopment. Chinese Presidentalso met Modi on side lines ofBRICS summit and invited him forthe upcoming APEC summit (forthe first time) and also invited himto visit China. China-India relations

are also warming up due to theirclose cooperation at BRICS forumwhere, in the latest summit, all fivemember states have createdBRICS Bank.

China and India are enthusias-tic to improve their relations to ad-vance their national interests. Whiletheir common interests includepeace in Afghanistan, Central Asiaand South Asia in post US with-drawal scenario to protect their in-vestments in Afghanistan. Bothcountries also want peace on theirborders to focus on their economicdevelopment and to reap benefits oftrade and investments in their hugeconsumer markets. Both countriesalso want to cooperate in multilat-eral forums. Moreover, while Indiawants to use China’s influence onPakistan to its benefit, Chinawishes to limit India’s expandingrelationship with the US and Japan.Although both countries want to ad-vance their relations, next few yearswill be important to gauge whetherthey can make major compromisesto address their bilateral irritants.And, above all if India can reallyexercise so called strategic au-tonomy to get too close to China inview of the incentives provided byits strategic relations with the US.

However, in the light of the re-cent diplomatic warmth seen be-tween China and India and in viewof the long enduring strong strate-gic partnership between Pakistanand China, which China would cer-tainly like to further strengthen, thescholars’ community in Pakistan isof the view that advancement ofChina-India relations may also bebeneficial for Pakistan, provided itdoes not undermine Pakistan-Chinarelations. With its good relationswith India, China can help in influ-encing that country for resolutionof Kashmir and other disputes with

Pakistan. Moreover, China-Paki-stan-India cooperation on Afghani-stan can greatly help in bringingpeace in that country and influenc-ing India to end its interference indestabilizing western parts of Pa-kistan from Afghanistan. By mu-tual economic cooperation all threecountries can gain by increasingtrade and investments, althoughPakistan would desire that if Chinaintends to invest in India on a largescale to the tune of US $ 60 bil-lion per year in next five years, itmay also invest at least US $ 10billion per year in Pakistan. In thiscontext China may also like tocomplete construction of eco-nomic corridor from Kashgar toGwadar in next five years.

But, with all these likely ad-vantages, in the near future, inview of its strategic interests re-lated to India, if China gets com-pelled to support India’s candida-ture for permanent membership ofUNSC and NSG, without Pakistangetting into NSG and before reso-lution of Kashmir and other dis-putes with India, it would be a verybad development for Pakistansince it would amount to allowingIndia to attain full dominance overPakistan in the region and at worldstage. While it will weakenPakistan’s defence by eroding stra-tegic balance in South Asia, Paki-stan will also be in no position tonegotiate resolution of its disputeswith India at bilateral level, al-though Pakistan’s very strongfriendship with China suggeststhat such a scenario will notemerge. It however, seems appro-priate to suggest that Pakistanshould remain in constant contactwith China on the subject.—The writer works forIslamabad Policy ResearchInstitute.

ating hurdles in the smooth wayforward for a peaceful solution ofthe issue. By asking UNMOGIP tovacate New Delhi office, India hasexposed itself internationally. Thisact of new Indian Government un-der Modi is a total disregard toUnited Nations and internationalobligations and norms. In fact, UNand civilized international commu-nity should question the IndianGovernment and particularly PrimeMinister Modi, once he attends theUN General Assembly session inSeptember this year. Should therebe any legal and moral grounds forthe Prime Minister Modi to addressthis world body (UN), whose man-date and resolutions he disregardedto the level of humiliation?

Since United Nations is debat-ing the right of self-determinationfor those being oppressed and sup-pressed at the hands of brutal forcesand through state sponsor terrorism.Kashmiri would like to ask thisworld body and its civilized mem-ber countries that they should dis-cuss their case on merit and givethem their basic right; right of self-determination, which UN guaran-teed them through its over 25 resolu-tions. Rather giving them their rights,India is trying to force out theUNMOGIP’s neutral observers, whoreport to UN, the happenings onground, all the LoC. Whereas UN isappreciated by people of Indian oc-cupied Kashmir for the continuationof its observer mission (UNMOGIP),despite Indian resistance, they do feelthat, this forum should compel Indiato stop human rights violations be-ing perpetrated there and subse-quently give Kashmiris their right ofself-determination.— The writer is Islamabad-basedanalyst of International Relations.

— Proverb

Dr Muhammad Khan Email: drmk_edu@yahoo.com

Col M Hanif (Retd)Email:hanifsardar@hotmail.com

Voice of the People

Beggars, beggarseverywhere!

SABA SHAHEEN

Stop your car for a minute on a traf-fic signal and a not so healthy womancarrying a malnourished child willmake your heart stoop and for a sec-ond you realize your cruelty for hav-ing not thought about her and all thoseassociated to her class ever. But themoment you fetch a five rupee conor a 10-20 rupee note out of yourpocket and give it outside your car’swindow, the curtains are folded andyou come up with an entire newdrama when you are encounteredwith yet another similar sort of beg-gar or sometime even with more ex-pert make up, apparently more de-serving to get your money than theone you initially thought of! And youare in confusion as to how to get yourcar pulled out of this mob?

Almost every year, especiallybefore the holy month of Ramadan,such campaigns are run and actionsare taken against such beggars but allin vain. Although this is not for thefirst time, attention is being made tothis issue. But once again authoritiesare requested to look in this matterand help us come out of this menace.—Karachi\

Failure ofcivilian govtTAHIR IQBAL JADOON

Media debates on Article 245 for thelast two days, may prove and lead toput a cat among the pigeons. Thistime it was PML-N and its catapult(Infirmed, stone bow) Leader whowas earlier with people of logic (socalled). One hopes that Governmentwill not be arresting PAT and PTI forimportuning on 14th August 2014.Invoking Article 245 at this very timeis open writing on the wall, no mat-ter how many Ministers and howmany times Federal Government jus-tifies its position. Pakistan Army andPML-N are poles apart; this is evi-dent from the actions of NawazSherif’s policy. However, the otherSherif, I mean Gen Sherif, is silentlyobserving the latest happenings in theFederal capital.

Invoking of Article 245 hasproved that our civilian institutionshave completely failed to performand one hopes that they will admittheir failure sooner or later whichI am sure they will never. How-ever, this may be a trick of Miansto deal with Dr. Qadri and ImranKhan and indirectly MQM as thesame action will be taken atKarachi. MQM will be in troubleif Army is called in Karachi.

In order to understand Article245, we must know it as stated inthe constitution of Pakistan. “245.Functions of Armed Forces: TheArmed Forces shall, under the di-rections of the Federal Government,defend Pakistan against external ag-gression or threat of war, and, sub-ject to law, act in aid of civil powerwhen called upon to do so.

(2) The validity of any directionissued by the Federal Governmentunder clause (1) shall not be calledin question in any court. (3) A HighCourt shall not exercise any juris-diction under Article 199 in relationto any area in which the ArmedForces of Pakistan are, for the timebeing, acting in aid of civil powerin pursuance of Article 245: Pro-vided that this clause shall not bedeemed to affect the jurisdiction ofthe High Court in respect of any pro-ceeding pending immediately beforethe day on which the Armed Forcesstart acting in aid of civil power. (4)Any proceeding in relation to an areareferred to in clause (3) instituted onor after the day the Armed Forcesstart acting in aid of civil power andpending in any High Court shall re-main suspended for the period dur-ing which the Armed Forces are soacting.” So till October 2014, wingsof High Courts have been curtailed.I hope Mr. Najam Sehti will be thehappiest man now as soon he will

Ramazan in Gaza and BannuALI ASHRAF KHAN

The Holy month of Ramzan has been ordained by the Creator for Muslims to pause and checktheir commitment not only to Allah but also to the world and humanity. Fasting and contemplating is

the spiritual part of it only. Ramazan doesn’t mean that we have to withdraw from the world and just sitand wait for Iftar or even to bother about our own salvation. Our commitment to Allah and to the worldhas to be practiced in Ramazan even more than during the rest of the year. But that is not the case,especially in the Islamic world, especially in Pakistan. Muslims in many places of the world are suffering;from the onslaught of the Israelis in Gaza and from the negligence of the Pakistani state inside and outsideof Bannu IDP camps. But while in many parts of the Middle East and even Europe protests and demon-strations are on against the ruthless bombing of Gaza city and the living quarters of the population therewith hundreds of civilian deaths including women and children, in the Muslim world nobody seems tobother about it. At the same time, by now more than a million IDPs displaced from their homes by theongoing operation in the tribal areas are suffering from displacement, lack of food, health care and shelterfrom the blazing heat. Despite this national emergency, the Provinces of Sindh and Punjab have closedtheir borders to the displaced Muslims and private solidarity seems also to be lacking. This missing soli-darity with Muslim brothers inside and outside the country is a dangerous sign of the deteriorating spiritof Islam within the Muslim community and a sad state of affairs in this ‘Islamic’ Republic of Pakistan.Half of the government including the Prime Minister left the country for Umra instead of taking care ofthe situation at home. The common man is religiously observing fasting while the traders and vendorshave doubled the prices of essential items to fleece them, while the rulers care for themselves more than foranybody else and are busy explaining NRO terms to guarantors in wheeling and dealing to perpetuate inpower. Is this the kind of democratic commitment we are able to offer?—Via email

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—Editor

Pakistani mango’s odyssey!

IT took well nigh two decades, butPakistani mango has finally managed to reach the shores of Japan.

Or may be not, depends on whetherone is to give credence to a reportpublished in a section of the press thatthis country successfully managed toland the first consignment of this de-lectable fruit in Tokyo. However, themarketability of the fruit in that coun-try remains under a cloud of sorts.

As a nation we may be forgivenfor being overly fond of our mangoes.Pakistani mango, we believe, isnature’s gift to mankind. It hurts ourcollective ego, therefore, to find thatthere are nations that are deprived ofthe pleasure of enjoying this fruit.And we enthusiastically jump at anyopportunity to rectify the lapse andto let the deprived nations enjoy thetaste of our mango.

The perspicacious reader maywell look askance at this new-found

interest in this particular itemof commerce. The fact is thatany mention of mangoes inrelation to Japan brings backa flood of memories, not allof them pleasant. One wouldcrave the indulgence of thegentle reader to relate a short‘diplomatic episode’ of somerelevance to what may be

termed as Pakistan-Japan mango di-plomacy that commenced aroundthe mid 1990s.

It came to pass that the PrimeMinister at that time, while embark-ing on a tour of Japan, thought it fitto use her discretion to include inher entourage a few gentlemen farm-ers from the ‘mango-growing belt’of the country. It may be added,within parentheses, that no researchof any genre appeared to have goneinto this somewhat impulsive deci-sion. In particular, the Foreign Of-fices of the two countries were notbrought into the loop, so to say.

Fast forward to Tokyo where, inthe course of her bilateral discussionswith her Japanese counterpart, thePrime Minister casually let drop herearnest desire to conclude on spot anagreement on export of Pakistani man-goes to Japan. She added, helpfully,that in anticipation of this momentous

accord she had actually included in herentourage a group of Pakistan’s lead-ing exporters of this fruit.

The Japanese hosts were caughttotally off-guard. It would be nearerthe truth to aver that they were veri-tably stunned. As members of a veryhardy and methodical race, Japanesebelieve in preparing their briefs in avery thorough, pain-staking manner.The mango salvo of our side wassomething they had not anticipatedat all. The Japanese are not knownfor giving vent to their sentimentsin public, but if looks could kill theJapanese Foreign Office chaps at thenegotiating table would have beenhard put to come through unscathedthat fateful morning.

The situation was salvaged - al-beit partially - thanks to a subsequentofficials’ level meeting - during whichamong other things the Pakistan sidelearnt a few home truths about thepesky ‘fruit fly’. Japan, it appeared,had embarked upon a campaignagainst the fruit fly in earnest somedecades earlier. The import of fruitto which that pesky insect was par-tial came for special attention.

It took them some two decadesof stringent measures, but the Japa-nese did manage to rid their countryof the dreaded insect. Japan had, our

side was pointedly informed, in-vented a machine, (otherwise knownas a VHT plant) that helps eliminatethe fruit fly, without damaging thefruit. Japan’s trading partners in fruithad been using the process success-fully for years. Now it was our turn.

As one recalls, the Japaneseeven offered the services of expertsto acquaint us with the procedure.The ‘minutes’ of the meeting wereduly recorded and on return to Paki-stan sent to the concerned offices“for necessary action”. From all ac-counts, it appears evident that thedocument in question went the wayof all such documents – coming torest in some dusty corner of the of-ficial archives to provide sustenanceto a favoured nest of office termites.

There the matter appears to haverested over the past several years,despite inspired stories from year toyear about the efforts of the concernedauthorities to make a ‘breakthrough’in the export of mangoes to the Japa-nese market. Keeping in view thechequered history of the odyssey Ja-pan-ward of the Pakistani mango, oneis inclined to take the news reportunder reference with a generous pinchof salt. But one never knows!— The writer is a formerAmbassador of Pakistan.

Views From Abroad

Air tragedies bring grief without order

WHEN air travel goes wrong,the modern world hasgiven us a script to follow.

Forensic workers in coveralls de-scend on the crash scene. Police tapeseals off the site and keeps the fullhorror at a distance. There is an or-derly numbering of the dead and gath-ering of the evidence. Bodies are re-patriated, funerals are held. Eventu-ally, there is explanation.

The bereaved, and the rest ofus, take solace in science, logic, in-vestigation, the gradual restorationof order. It’s a process that orga-nizes tragedy into a shape the mindcan process and the heart cangrieve. Whether it was mechanicalfailure, human error or terrorism,we are reassured by the notion thatknowledge brings the power to stopit from happening again.

But 2014 has been different.

Twice this year, when disaster strucktwo Malaysia Airlines planes, fate hastorn up the script. One plane disap-peared, leaving investigators comb-ing a vast ocean, a disaster with nowreckage and no bodies.

Another scattered its remainsacross a vast field, where politicalunrest made an orderly process im-possible. Usually, to keep horror atbay, we watch the news and slot itinto boxes: a war here, a disaster there(and the farther away the better).

But two worlds collided whenMalaysia Airlines Flight 17, filledwith holidaymakers and AIDS re-searchers, was taken down by a mis-sile fired from a war in easternUkraine. None of the 298 peopleaboard was a citizen of Ukraine orRussia. With the crash site in a warzone, all the usual rules and proce-dures evaporated. Confusion aboutwho was in charge, and hostile mi-litiamen, kept international inves-tigators away, and the disaster scenestood largely unsecured. Interna-

tional monitors said debris had beentampered with.

There were reports of looting.While investigators were kept out,journalists made their way in. Theyproduced a stream of scarcely com-prehensible images. Bodies andbody parts where they shouldn’t be— in someone’s house, in a field,still buckled into a seat. Thescorched and damaged detritus offamily holidays: guidebooks, duty-free bags, teddy bears and toys.

For many watching on televi-sion and computer screens, the im-ages produced a sense of mesmer-izing dread, as horrified fascinationbattled the urge to look away. Youcould see it in the faces of the tele-vision journalists. They sometimesseemed adrift, unsure how to be-have, or how much of the horrorthey could or should convey.

Meanwhile, around the world,families of the victims looked onaghast, wondering who would im-pose order, uncertain when they could

Jill Lawlessbury their dead. “When I am in mybed at night, I see my son lying onthe ground,” said Silene Fredriksz-Hoogzand, whose son Bryce and hisgirlfriend Daisy Oehlers died ontheir way to a vacation in Bali —two of almost 200 Dutch passen-gers killed. “They have to comehome, not only those two. Every-body has to come home.”

She was expressing a near-universal human wish: To bringhome the remains, observe therituals of mourning, give grief ashape and a focus.

The bereaved relatives’ wish is,slowly and partially, being fulfilled.Days after the crash, the majorityof the bodies were removed in arefrigerated train, and began to beflown to the Netherlands. But whilethe remains have begun their jour-ney home, the investigation is stilla long way off. For another set offamilies there is no wreckage, nobodies and no answers.— Courtesy: Arab News

Electronic media shindigs

INTRODUCTION of the privatesector in the field of electronicmedia and the accompanying

freedom of expression, is probablythe best thing that has ever happenedin this land of the pure. While it isheartening to see the media enjoy-ing its freedom and guarding it zeal-ously, it is equally disappointing tosee the absence of the component ofresponsibility. There is a discerniblepropensity to scandalize things,rumour mongering and playingfavourites in disregard to the inter-nationally recognized professionalethics - more so among the elec-tronic channels.

It is quite an ordeal to watch cur-rent affair programmes and talkshows, hosted by some uncouth andnon-professional anchor persons -barring a few exceptions - yellingat top of their shrilling voices atpanellists and trying to rub in theirpeculiar perceptions and getting in-volved in a debate with them, in-stead of listening to their views onquestions put to them. Being ag-gressive in approach is adorable butdescending into an insulting mode

is absolutely non-profes-sional and detestable.They also lack the ability of

a professional moderator tocontrol the flow of the argu-ments as is evident from theirnod to the shouting matches

among the participants, presentinga spectacle of the shindigs ratherthan serious forums to discuss na-tional issues; so repulsive to the eyesand jarring to the ears. A professionalanchor person and host of suchshows would always thoroughlybrief the participants about the eti-quettes of the discussion before com-ing on air and also curb his own in-clinations to join the melee.

Most of the anchor persons areinductees from the print media andare not well conversant with the pro-fessional culture of the electronic me-dia and the art of conducting paneldiscussions or talk shows. Some evenhave not worked as journalists at allbefore landing into the arena. Thatprobably is the reason that theseshows look more like entertainmentstuff rather than the forums for infor-mative and educative debates. Hadthese anchor persons and hosts ofmorning shows been properly trainedprofessionals, savvy of the culturaland religious sensitivities of thepeople, the deplorable Geo episodecould well have been avoided. Nobody would grudge an ambience of

freedom for the media but at the sametime nobody would either welcomeerratic and irresponsible conduct onits part. The media must be mindfulof the fact that the onus for preserv-ing its freedom of expression is inex-tricably linked to the exhibition of aresponsible behaviour. There are notwo opinions about the fact that themedia, at present, enjoys unprec-edented independence, thanks to theencouraging and tolerant attitude ofthe government despite a persistentlyhostile and provocative stance ofsome sections of the media. Thatsurely is the dividend of democracy.

There is a need to consolidate thegains of democracy and promotingdemocratic culture in the country inwhich the media has a pivotal role.Being a representative of the society,it is incumbent upon the media to showunswerving dedication to the cause ofdemocracy and the promotion of na-tional interests. These are indeed veryserious issues and are required to behandled and commandeered by thethoroughly professional and knowl-edgeable individuals. In a democraticset up the government is also underobligation to ensure an unfettered pressin the country and its growth onhealthy and professional lines. Whilethe media is a watch-dog against theindiscretions of the government, thelatter is also a watch-dog againststreaks of undesirable behaviour by the

media. That relationship needs to berespected and strengthened.

This is an age of self-regulationand less intervention by the govern-ments. In most of the developed anddemocratic countries, the media -with encouragement and support ofthe respective governments - hastaken upon itself the role of ensuringadherence to the professional ethicsand redress of complaints against ir-responsible, non-professional, unethi-cal and erratic behaviour by any elec-tronic channel or a newspaper.

In Pakistan also necessary legis-lation has been done to establish aPress Council and a code of ethicshas also been devised after discus-sions with all the stakeholders.PEMRA also has issued exhaustiveguidelines for the anchor persons. Inthe backdrop of the Geo incident gov-ernment constituted a committeecomprising representatives of mediaand its own nominees which is re-ported to have drawn up a code ofethics for the media. There is also atalk of setting up a separate regula-tory body for the electronic media.In my view instead of creating newregulatory bodies for the media, thereis a need to strengthen the Press Coun-cil and let it act as a regulatory bodyfor both the electronic and print me-dia as is the case in the free world.— The writer is Islamabad-basedfreelance columnist.

His ways are strange..!

PRAYER is answered in thestrangest of ways, I’vefound, here’s an experience

of a lady who saw answered prayerin God’s strange way of doing so:A woman was at work when shereceived a phone call that herdaughter was very sick with a fe-ver. She left her work and stoppedby the pharmacy to get some medi-cation for her daughter.

Upon returning to her car shefound that she had locked her keys

in the car. She was in a hurry to gethome to her sick daughter. She didn’tknow what to do, so she called herhome and told the baby sitter whathad happened and that she did notknow what to do.

The baby sitter told her that herdaughter was getting worse. Shesaid, “You might find a coat hangerand use that to open the door.” Thewoman looked around and found anold rusty coat hanger that had beenthrown down on the ground, possi-bly by someone else who at sometime or other had locked their keysin their car.

Then she looked at the hangerand said, “I don’t know how to usethis.” So she bowed her head and

asked God to send her some help. Within five minutes an old rusty

car pulled up, with a dirty, greasy,bearded man who was wearing an oldbiker skull rag on his head. Thewoman thought, “This is what yousent to help me?”

But, she was desperate, so shewas also very thankful. The man gotout of his car and asked her if he couldhelp. She said, “Yes, my daughter isvery sick. I stopped to get her somemedication and I locked my keys inmy car. I must get home to her.Please, can you use this hanger tounlock my car?”

He said, “Sure”. He walkedover to the car, and in less than oneminute the car was opened. She

hugged the man and through hertears she said, “Thank You SoMuch! You are a very nice man.”The man replied, “Lady, I am nota nice man. I just got out of prisonyesterday. I was in prison for cartheft and have only been out lessthan 24 hours.”

The woman hugged the managain and with sobbing tears criedout loud, “Oh, Thank you God! Youeven sent me a Professional!” Godmay not always send us what weexpect, but He will always send uswhat we need. It’s up to us to havethe wisdom to recognize the differ-ence and be thankful. God’s waysare strange indeed..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Khalid SaleemEmail: binwakeel@yahoo.com

Friendly FireFriendly FireFriendly FireFriendly FireFriendly Fire

Malik M AshrafEmail:ashrafazim2000@yahoo.com

be appointed as CEO of PCB and noone can dare to challenge it in anyCourt of Law. After all punctures pay.Similarly the arrests made on politi-cal grounds will prove to be shortterm success for PML-N. No oneshould react to this very action emo-tionally as it’s Constitutional moveof Mians. Pakistan Army is advisednot to make any political arrests anddo not involve itself in dirty tricks ofthe politicians and the civilians whoare ever ready to criticize Army.—Islamabad

Ranking of Pakistanin education

ENGINEER SAEED BHANBHRO

In a recent survey it is announced thatPakistan is on the 141st position outof 142 countries in educational back-ground. No university of Pakistan isincluded in world’s best 500 univer-sities. Many underdeveloped andpoor countries are far ahead of Paki-stan. We are lagging behind them.

It can happen here because moremoney is allocated on the expendi-tures of MNAs and Ministers than ineducation sector. Especially in Sindhand Baluchistan, the situation is evenworse. Education is the sector, whichif developed then no one can hindercountries’ progress and development.Irresponsible behaviour of govern-ment and lack of schools is the mainreason of backwardness in educationsector. First of all we do not haveschools but if we do those are non-functional and if schools are func-tional there is no teachers to teach.May be ours is the only countrywhere schools have been convertedinto godowns and cowsheds. Espe-cially in Sindh copy culture has be-come such a poison, which has de-stroyed our education completely.

Everyone here is self-concen-trated, all blame others and nobodyis prepared to take any corrective ac-tion. Now is high time for govern-ment to work for betterment of edu-cation sector. We ourselves shouldalso come forward to work for bet-terment of education, we should ownthe schools in our neighbourhood vil-lage, town or city because it is ourduty and this is nation’s cause. Edu-cation is the only weapon, which wecan be used to change the world.—Khairpur

Israeli bombingon Gaza

M FAZAL ELAHI

The vicious Israeli forces have ruth-lessly killed more than 700 innocentcivilians to date. Calls of the worldcommunity to immediately end theunparalleled atrocities being commit-ted by the Israeli forces in Gaza, fallson deaf ears. The US President, BarakObama backs Israel’s blatant aggres-sion against the innocent civilians ofGaza, saying ‘Israel has the right todefend itself’.

The barbaric Israeli bombing onthe innocuous population of Gaza con-tinues unabatedly. The ruthless bomb-ing by Israel in Gaza has taken a heavytoll on the innocent civilians of thehapless city. As quoted in the media,more than 700 people have so far beenkilled. The audacious Israeli Govern-ment led by Netanyahu, backed by theUS, has outrightly rejected the UNSecurity Council’s appeal for truce.

In the midst of growing interna-tional calls for ending brutalities andfor bringing about an immediateceasefire in Gaza, the obstinate andemboldened Israeli government con-tinues to follow its hot pursuits and itsjets, tanks and artillery continue to in-cessantly pound the Gaza strip day-inand day-out. Least pushed by the seri-ous concerns expressed by the worldcommunity over Israel’s high-handed-ness and aggressive designs in Gaza,Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu has lately blamed Hamasfor trying to “pile up the bodies” of itsown people to generate sympathy. Inan interview with Brian Williams ofNBC News, Israeli PremierNetanyahu said that Israel had no

choice but to defend itself and saidthat the Palestinian militants are tobe blamed for the mounting civiliancasualties. “They are responsible forall the civilian deaths, he emphati-cally stated”. Israel’s obstinacy hascrossed all international norms ofdecency. The cogent US backing ofIsrael’s blatant aggression in Gaza,where over 700 innocent people havealready become victims of unparal-leled brutality, has, in fact,emboldened Israel to continue withits holocaust in Gaza. Some quarters,however, believe that the US is en-deavouring to push for an “immedi-ate” ceasefire in Gaza. One sincerelyhopes and prays it does.

The world community has seri-ous concerns about the rising num-ber of Palestinian civilian deaths andalso the loss of Israeli lives. To bringan end to the crisis that is deterio-rating by the day and devouring hun-dreds of innocent souls every day,the international community, par-ticularly the Muslim world, mustmake concerted efforts to bringabout an immediate ceasefire be-tween the two warring nations. TheHuman Rights Council of the UnitedNations and other international hu-man rights organizations must alsojoin hands with the world nations tobring a quick end to Israel´s offen-sive in Gaza. If this is not done bythem on war-footing and if their ef-forts fail to see the light of the day,the devastation that has already beencaused to Gaza by Israel could ac-quire catastrophic dimensions.—Via email

Advertisementstandards

WAQAS ABDUL QAYYUM

?I would like to draw the attention ofthe concerns on the increasing bare-ness in Advertising Media. When weroam in the city, huge billboards arefull of indecent ads. The ads aremeant to sell products but displayedads are showing something else.

This is enough to prove howmodest we are. The Advertisingcompanies are destroying cultureand have crossed all the limits ofdecency in the name of marketingor branding. We should think wherewe stand and what is our goal. Con-cerned media managers and regu-lators are requested to constitute apolicy for advertising media aswell. I also request the companiesto sell products with manners andwithin cultural boundaries. ?—North Karachi

Gaza crisisSYED NAYYAR UDDIN AHMAD

Why can’t Indonesia, Malaysia,Bangladesh, Pakistan, Afghanistan,Iran, Turkey and Syria and also theTaliban announce to send theirtroops to secure the Muslims fromthe genocide being perpetrated bythe Israeli forces, which have noteven spared the UN safe heavens andhospitals in Gaza.

These Muslim forces should alsoensure breaking the Gaza blockadeby the Israeli Navy, since many years,which has never happened in the en-tire history of mankind. What can Is-rael do against the Muslim forces?Israel will immediately beg for acease fire, even on the announcementof this Muslim forces plan. Pakistanimilitary commander should get thehonour to be the Commander in Chiefof these Muslim forces.—Lahore

Smoke from Israeli strikes rises over Gaza City, in the northern Gaza Strip, Sunday, July 27, 2014.

DAVID IGNATIUS

Washington? The world has been sochaotic lately that it was easy tooverlook two U.S. diplomatic

manoeuvres? involving the turbulent nationsof Afghanistan and Iran? that avoided whatcould have been dangerous ruptures. The ar-chitect of these two agreements was Secre-tary of State John Kerry, who these days seemto be in constant airborne mediation mode.In calmer times, Kerry would have madefront-page headlines with his power-sharingpact in Afghanistan that defused talk of apossible civil war there, and with his agree-ment to extend the delicate Iranian nucleartalks until November.

With the catastrophic violence in Gazaand Ukraine, these developments were barelynoticed. Kerry himself raced off to Cairo andTel Aviv this week to chase an Israeli-Pales-tinian cease-fire. He also continues his regu-lar, largely fruitless, conversations with Rus-sian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov about

In chaotic world, some optimismUkraine. Kerry has yet to demonstrate, in anyof these crises, that he can achieve more thantemporary political fixes or extensions of in-terim agreements. But the intensity of his effortis admirable. The Afghanistan and Iran deals,though little discussed, are worth a closer look.They challenge the conventional wisdom aboutsecurity problems in those two countries. In bothcases, American diplomatic pressure has so faraverted what many analysts were predicting ayear ago could pose new security threats for theU.S. Both crises could still return with a ven-geance, but U.S.-led diplomacy has had sometraction.

The surprise about Afghanistan is that theJune runoff election to succeed President HamidKarzai has produced a power-sharing agreementbetween the apparent winner, Ashraf Ghani, anethnic Pashtun, and Abdullah Abdullah, a Tajik.Abdullah, who had polled the most votes in thefirst round, screamed fraud when the officialcount reported that he had lost the runoff by aroughly 56-44 percent margin. His allies warnedthat they would mobilize Tajik militias for a

renewed Afghan civil war. Some Afghan ana-lysts had been predicting such a return towarlordism ever since President Obama decidedto withdraw U.S. combat troops.

But, wonder of wonders, civil strife hasn’tengulfed Afghanistan. Security is shaky, andAfghan forces struggle daily to keep the Talibanat bay. But the country hasn’t cracked. Ghaniand Abdullah both endorse the bilateral secu-rity agreement negotiated with the U.S., whichwill provide a continuing American militarypresence, at least through the end of 2016.Karzai had refused to approve the pact, but it’slikely to be signed quickly after the recount isfinished in September. Kerry’s unity deal camewhen Ghani and Abdullah agreed to a full auditof the election results, and Ghani offered hisrival a significant role as a quasi-prime minis-ter. Ghani also plans, as he put it in a campaignmanifesto, to “enter into a dialogue with thearmed opposition” when he takes office.

Ghani told me in a telephone interview lastweek that he and Abdullah have agreed on aprogram of outreach to political and business

leaders. His plans for an inclusive nationalgovernment assume that Afghan securityforces, numbering about 340,000, can oper-ate effectively as the U.S. withdraws sup-port. That’s a big “if,” especially in provid-ing logistics for such a big army, but so farthe Afghans have held their ground. Kerry’sagreement to extend the nuclear talks withIran for another four months is harder to as-sess. In the run-up to the July 20 expirationof the interim agreement, U.S. officials hadseemed doubtful that the Iranians would of-fer enough concessions to warrant a rollover.But in the final days, the Iranians appear tohave shown flexibility and creativity on sev-eral key issues.

Critics might argue that Kerry’s negotia-tions with Afghan and Iranian officials haveproduced little more than agreements that“kick the can down the road.” But in such aturbulent world, there are worse things thanbuying some time in hopes of an eventualbreakthrough.

—Courtesy: Korea Herald

DAVID E. SANGER, ERIC SCHMITT

The Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies are developing plans that would enable the Obama administration toprovide specific locations of surface-to-air missiles con-

trolled by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine so theUkrainian government could target them for destruction, Ameri-can officials said. But the proposal has not yet been debated inthe White House, a senior administration official said. It is un-clear whether President Barack Obama, who has already approvedlimited intelligence sharing with Ukraine, will agree to give moreprecise information about potential military targets, a step thatwould involve the United States more deeply in the conflict.

Already, the question of what kind of intelligence support togive the Ukrainian government has become part of a larger de-bate within the administration about how directly to confrontPresident Vladimir Putin of Russia and how big a role Washing-ton should take in trying to stop Russia’s rapid delivery of pow-erful weapons to eastern Ukraine. At the core of the debate, saidseveral officials - who, like others interviewed, spoke on thecondition of anonymity because the policy deliberations are stillin progress - is whether the U.S. goal should be simply to shoreup a Ukrainian government reeling from the separatist attacks,or to send a stern message to Putin by aggressively helpingUkraine target the missiles Russia has provided. Those missileshave taken down at least five aircraft in the past 10 days, includ-ing Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

Since the downing of Flight 17, a civilian jet, the flow ofheavy arms into eastern Ukraine has drastically increased, thePentagon and the State Department said Friday, citing U.S. in-telligence reports. The Obama administration is already sharingwith the Ukrainians satellite photographs and other evidence ofthe movement of troops and equipment along the Ukrainian-Russian border. But a senior administration official acknowl-edged late Friday that the data were “historical in nature,” hoursor even days old, and not timely enough to use in carrying outairstrikes or other direct attacks. “We’ve been cautious to dateabout things that could directly hit Russia - principally its terri-tory,” but also its equipment, the official said. A proposal to givethe Ukrainians real-time information “hasn’t gotten to the presi-dent yet,” the official said, in part because the White House hasbeen focused on rallying support among European allies for morestringent economic sanctions against Moscow, and on gainingaccess for investigators to the Malaysia Airlines crash site.

But the official added that the decision on whether to pro-vide targeting information would soon become “part of the intelmix.” The debate over providing information about potentialmilitary targets gives the first insight into the Obamaadministration’s thinking on long-term strategies to bolsterUkraine, counter Russia and reassure nervous Eastern Europeannations, some of which have joined NATO in recent years. Plansto share more precise targeting information with Ukraine havethe strong backing of senior Pentagon officials and would fitbroadly into Obama’s emerging national security doctrine ofsupporting allied and partner nations in defending their territorywithout direct U.S. military involvement.

Several senior U.S. military and intelligence officials are argu-ing that if Putin does not encounter significant resistances to Russia’smoves in Ukraine, he may be emboldened to go further. And a se-nior State Department official said Saturday that Secretary of StateJohn Kerry supported sharing intelligence on the locations of sur-face-to-air missiles that Russia has supplied the separatists. Provid-ing the location of weaponry and military equipment for possibledestruction - something the United States does for Iraq in its battleagainst Islamic extremists, for example - would not be technologi-cally difficult. “We think we could do it easily and be very effec-tive,” a senior military official involved in the discussions said. “Butthere are issues of escalation with the Russians, and the decisionabout whether it’s wise to do it” is complex.

—Courtesy: WA

Pentagon plan could helpUkraine target rebels’ missiles

CLIFFORD A. KIRACOFE

The US regime change policy in Ukraine set the stage forturmoil and for the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 tragedy. Washington seized on the incident to ramp up its new

cold war against Russia, calling into question the ability of the USto properly manage major power relations. Since 1991, the USspent over $5 billion on various overt and covert programs to causeregime change in Ukraine. It is no secret that Washington’s inter-vention in Ukraine is part of its overall geopolitical strategy againstthe Russian Federation. Over the past year, the US ramped up itsintervention in Ukraine. Considerable intelligence capabilities areassigned to the Ukraine situation, creating a new phase of overtand covert operations. Powerful US diplomatic support props upthe present regime whose legitimacy is questioned by many.

The improper handling of the MH17 tragedy underscoresthe hysteria dominating Washington’s political leadership, as wellas the lack of professionalism in the Obama administration’s di-plomacy. Over the years, I visited Malaysia several times andwas impressed by its friendly people and by its modernity. Imyself have flown from Europe to Malaysia, using a direct Ma-laysia Airlines flight from Paris to Kuala Lumpur. So the presenttragedy is particularly poignant for me. Before any scientific in-vestigation of the incident, Washington went into blaming Rus-sia. Given the Obama administration’s bullying attitude and poorforeign policy record, one would by now expect this.

Improper reactions by the US ambassador to the UN and bythe White House staff are nothing unusual in recent years. How-ever, the wholly inappropriate remarks from the highest levelcall into question presidential leadership. No responsible con-clusions about this tragedy can be drawn until the results of afull and impartial investigation by requisite international organi-zations are made public. The primary international aviation au-thority is the International Civil Aviation Organization whichoperates under the UN. Groundless speculation in the US mediainsinuates a Russian hand behind the tragedy. Such irrespon-sible reporting and commentary reinforce Washington’s psycho-logical warfare operations against Russia that some euphemisti-cally call “information operations.”

The US media of course takes its cues from the White House,and it was no surprise that Samantha Power, the US ambassador tothe UN, immediately pointed a finger at Russia. It is well knownthat she is a close personal friend and advisor of President BarackObama. There are many unanswered questions at this point. Specu-lation has so far been rife about an alleged surface-to-air missiletaking the aircraft down. Such a missile necessarily would be firedfrom a specialized ground installation. Another possibility is thatthe aircraft could have been shot down by air-to-air missiles. In thiscase, a mistake by the Ukrainian air force would be a possibility.

Yet another possibility is that a bomb was placed on the air-craft where the flight originated in Amsterdam. Some expertssay the airport security in Amsterdam is not optimal. The West-ern media seems to have forgotten a similar air tragedy overUkraine. This happened in 2001 when the Ukraine military acci-dently shot down a Russian Tupolev Tu-154M aircraft over theBlack Sea. This Siberia Airlines Flight 1812 originated in TelAviv and was destined for Novosibirsk. 12 crew members andsome 66 passengers died. Eventually Ukraine paid compensa-tion to the families of survivors. The US reaction to the tragedyis irresponsible, provocative, and dangerous. Seemingly minorincidents can lead to war and even to world war.

—Courtesy: GT[The author is an educator and former senior professional

staff member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.opinion@globaltimes.com.cn].

US rushes to blameRussia for MH17 tragedy

ASPEN (COLORADO)—A top Pentagonintelligence official warned that the de-struction of Hamas would only lead tosomething more dangerous taking itsplace, as he offered a grim portrait of aperiod of enduring regional conflict. Theremarks by Lieutenant General MichaelFlynn, the outgoing head of the DefenseIntelligence Agency, came as Israeli min-isters signaled that a comprehensive dealto end the 20-day-old conflict in the GazaStrip appeared remote.

At least 1,050 Gazans - mostly civil-ians - have been killed, and 42 Israeli sol-diers and three civilians in Israel havedied. Flynn disparaged Hamas for ex-

Top US spy predicts ‘something’dangerous in Gaza war

hausting finite resources and know-howto build tunnels that have helped theminflict record casualties on Israelis. Still,he suggested that destroying Hamas wasnot the answer.

“If Hamas were destroyed and gone,we would probably end up with somethingmuch worse. The region would end up withsomething much worse,” Flynn said at theAspen Security Forum in Colorado. “Aworse threat that would come into the sortof ecosystem there … something likeISIS,” he added, referring to the IslamicState, which last month declared an “Is-lamic caliphate” in territory it controls inIraq and Syria.

Confined in the crowded, sandy coastenclave of 1.8 million, where poverty andunemployment hover around 40 percent,weary Gazans say they hope the battlewill break the blockade that Israel andEgypt impose on them. Israeli officialssaid any ceasefire must allow the mili-tary to carry on hunting down the Hamastunnel network that criss-crosses the Gazaborder.

Flynn’s comments about the conflictcame during a gloomy, broader assessmentof unrest across the Middle East, includ-ing in Syria and Iraq. Flynn said bluntly:“Is there going to be a peace in the MiddleEast? Not in my lifetime.”—Reuters

WASHINGTON—PresidentBarack Obama’s request for bil-lions of dollars to deal with mi-grant children streaming acrossthe border set off Democrats andRepublicans. Lawmakers inboth parties complained that theWhite House six years in stilldoesn’t get it when it comes toworking with Congress. TopGOP leaders got no notice of the$3.7 billion emergency request.The administration sent contra-dictory messages about what itwanted to deal with the bordercrisis. And as the proposal drewfierce criticism, the WhiteHouse made few overtures tolawmakers in either party torally support.

House and Senate lawmak-ers in both parties plus severalsenior congressional aides saidthis past week that the handlingof the proposal by Obama andthe White House is emblematicof the administration’s rockyrelationship with Congress: anad hoc approach that shuns ap-peals to opponents and doesn’treward allies. Combined witha divided Congress GOP-ledHouse and Democratic-con-trolled Senate and election-yearmanoeuvring, neither basic norcrisis-driven legislation is get-ting done.

Senate Minority LeaderMitch McConnell, R-Ky., de-scribed the lack of communi-cation between the WhiteHouse and Congress as “stun-ning.” He said he first learnedmany details of Obama’s bor-der request from news reports.Obama is the “only person inAmerica who can sign some-thing into law and help bringmembers of his party on boardfor an outcome on a given pieceof legislation that requires bi-

Lawmakers allege Obamatoo aloof with Congress

partisan support,” McConnellsaid in an interview. “So it’s amystery, but that’s the way theyoperate.”

Several Democratic law-makers echoed McConnell butspoke on condition of anonym-ity to avoid alienating the presi-dent of their party. They saidthey were baffled by the WhiteHouse’s tactics in handling theborder request. Several Demo-crats expressed frustration thatthe president and administrationofficials weren’t more involvedin legislative fights. At a privateWhite House meeting Obamaheld with the top four Republi-can and Democratic leaders inthe House and Senate, SenateMajority Leader Harry Reidappealed to the president to in-tervene in pressing McConnellto allow speedier approval of thepresident’s dozens of ambassa-dorial nominees.

Obama said it was a matterfor Reid and McConnell to workout, an answer that left Demo-crats flabbergasted, according toparticipants in the meeting. Fi-nally, more than a week later,Obama called McConnell tourge him to break the logjamand get ambassadors confirmed.McConnell said the conversa-tion one of the few he has hadwith Obama in recent monthswas limited to ambassadors.White House officials rejectedthe criticism, insisting that theyhave been regularly consultingwith lawmakers.

While frustrated with theadministration, Democrats alsosympathized. They describedObama’s untenable position oftrying to work with Republicansunwilling to give him any leg-islative victories, especially thetea party class of 2010.—AP

MANILA—As conflicts in the tumultuousregions of East Africa and the Middle Eastcontinue to rage, the Philippine govern-ment has begun imposing both partial andtotal bans on Filipino worker deploymentin Kenya, Israel as well as the Gaza Stripand West Bank in Palestine, prohibitingnewly hired overseas Filipino workers tobe sent there. In one of the advisoriesposted on its website, the Philippine Over-seas Employment Administration an-nounced it has imposed a temporary banon worker deployment to Kenya after theDepartment of Foreign Affairs hoistedCrisis Alert Level 2 in the East Africancountry beset by security concerns.

“The POEA Governing Board herebyresolves to impose a temporary suspensionof the processing and deployment of newlyhired OFWs to Kenya,” said the POEA

Manila bans new worker deployments in 3 countriesGoverning Board resolution NO. 16-2014posted on its website. However, the POEAsaid the ban on deploying newly hiredworkers does not include those employedby the United Nations and its affiliate agen-cies. Under the Alert Level 2, the POEAwould still allow the deployment of vaca-tioning workers to Kenya.

“The processing and deployment ofvacationing and returning workers to thesaid country, subject to their compliancewith documentation requirements, shall beallowed,” the POEA said. On July 11, theDFA raised the alert level in the Africancountry, citing reports that the peace andorder situation there has continued to dete-riorate, posing risks to an estimated 440Filipinos there, most of whom are inNairobi, Kenya’s capital. The outbreak ofviolence began last month in Kenya when

Somali extremists attacked a town, as-saulted police and set establishments on fire.

In a separate development, the POEAhas likewise disallowed the processing anddeployment of all OFWs to strife-tornGaza Strip, West Bank and Israel. ThePOEA imposed a total deployment ban inthe Gaza Strip as the Crisis Alert Level 4was recently raised and a quick responseteam from the POEA was directed toclosely coordinate with the DFA on im-mediate and safe repatriation of OFWsfrom the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, in an-other two resolutions, the POEA orderedthe temporary suspension in the deploy-ment of OFWs bound for West Bank andIsrael. Returning and vacationing OFWsare however allowed to go back to thosetwo areas if document requirements aresupplied to the agency.—ANN

Russia unmovedon Westernsanctions

MOSCOW—Russia has re-mained stoic about the threat oftighter Western sanctions overthe Ukraine crisis, but analystsare concerned that the uncer-tainty they generate could alonechoke off growth. The downingof a Malaysian passenger airlinerover eastern Ukraine on July 17,which was carrying mostlyDutch passengers, has hardenedWestern resolve to impose tightersanctions against Russia.

Western leaders have ac-cused the Kremlin of support-ing separatists in easternUkraine, a charge Moscow de-nies, including supplying themissiles believed to havebrought down Malaysia Air-lines flight MH17 with the lossof all 298 on board. The pur-pose of the sanctions is to forceMoscow to use its influencewith pro-Russian separatists toend fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The EU may as soon as thisweek restrict the ability of topRussian banks to raise funds inEurope, and ban new sales ofweapons and much-neededtechnology for the energy sec-tor. The EU’s steps followmoves by the United States,which has barred two majorRussian financial institutions,Gazprombank and VEB, andtwo giant Russian energy firms,OA Novatek and Rosneft fromUS capital markets.

The measures were a stepup from the initial round ofsanctions which targeted offi-cials and business executives,and analysts expect evenbroader sanctions should thecrisis in Ukraine drag on or es-calate. Russian officials have sofar shrugged off the potentialimpact of sanctions. AfterWashington announced its lat-est measures, Russian PresidentVladimir Putin said sanctions“have a boomerang effect” andthe United States would suffer.

Russian officials an-nounced this past week that in-stead of a slowdown they seethe economy picking up. Theywill soon double the growthforecast, they said. “We aremoving at a level of about onepercent annual growth in GDP... and are likely to stay thereuntil the end of the year,” se-nior Kremlin advisor AndreiBelousov was quoted as sayingby Russian news agencies.

The Russian economy ex-panded by 1.3 percent last year,a far cry from the five to 10percent growth rates postedduring much of the previousdecade. Growth was alreadyseen at risk of slowing down,as spare capacity in theeconomy has been exhaustedand the government has beenslow to enact reforms neededto achieve further gains.

Although the initial mea-sures imposed in April were lim-ited, the uncertainty they gen-erated alongside Moscow’s an-nexation of Crimea and the vio-lence in eastern Ukraine dentedinvestor sentiment and sparkedmassive capital flight.—AFP

Iraq militiadisplay

jihadist bodiesBAQUBA (IRAQ)—Shiite mi-litiamen in Iraq’s city ofBaquba dragged the bodies ofIslamic State jihadist fightersthrough the streets Sunday andhung them from a bridge and autility pole. An AFP correspon-dent saw two bodies displayedin the centre of Baquba, aShiite-dominated city barely 60kilometres (40 miles) northeastof Baghdad, but security offi-cials counted at least four.

The city is under the con-trol of the Iraqi army and al-lied Shiite militiamen but issurrounded by many Sunni vil-lages, which have been cap-tured and recaptured severaltimes in recent weeks. “Severalmembers of Daash were killedyesterday in a battle just northof Muqdadiyah,” a nearbytown, a police captain said, us-ing the Islamic State’s formerArabic acronym.

“Militiamen brought fourbodies back and paradedthrough town in their cars, drag-ging the corpses behind them,”he said. “Then they hung themin four different spots inBaquba.” A senior army officergave a corroborating account.Pictures obtained by AFP showone apparently headless bodydangling from a utility post as apasser-by tops to snap a photowith his mobile phone.

Another, wearing the baggysherwal trousers popular withforeign jihadist fighters, is seenhanging from a bridge, next to abanner advertising wedding pho-tography, as traffic passes under.Islamic State fighters and alliedSunni militants swept throughlarge parts of Iraq’s north andwest seven weeks ago. HoldingBaquba, which lies on the east-ernmost of three roads converg-ing on Baghdad from the north,is considered vital to the defenceof the capital.—AFP

DONETSK (UKRAINE)—Ukrainian officialssaid their forces advanced to the outskirts of akey town north of Donetsk as they try to retakethe stronghold held for months by pro-Russiarebels. The move comes as Ukrainian forcesappear to have gained some momentum recentlyby retaking control of territory from the rebels.But Russia also appears to becoming more in-volved in the fighting, with the U.S. and Ukraineaccusing Moscow of moving heavily artilleryacross the border to the rebels.

Ukrainian national security spokesmanAndriy Lysenko said Ukrainian forces were out-side Horlikva, just north of the regional centerof Donetsk. Once they can take Horlivka, “thedirect route is open for the forces of the anti-terrorist operation to the capital of the Donbassregion the city of Donetsk,” Lysenko said. “Theapproaches to Donetsk are being blocked so thatthe terrorists do not get the chance to receiveammunition, reinforcements or equipment.”

Donetsk, a city of about 1 million people, isa major center of the separatist uprising that hasbattled Ukrainian government forces for fivemonths. An Associated Press reporter found the

Ukraine launches offensiveto retake Donetsk

highway north of Donetsk blocked by rebels andheard the sound of artillery to the north. Explo-sions were heard in the direction of the town’sairport, on the northwest edge of the city, anarea frequently contested by Ukrainian forcesand rebels. Black smoke rose from the directionof Yakovlikva, a northern suburb of Donetsk.

About 35 miles (60 kilometers) to the east,the site where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 wasshot down was still eerily empty except for theparents of one of the 298 people killed in theJuly 17 disaster. A full-fledged investigation stillhasn’t started because of the security risks posedby the nearby fighting. But Jerzy Dyczynski andAngela Rudhart-Dyczynski, parents of 25-year-old Fatima, travelled from their home in Perth,Australia to honor their daughter. They crossedterritory held by pro-Russian rebels to reach thewreckage-strewn fields outside the village ofHrabove, where they sat together on part of thedebris, his arm around her shoulder. Fatima “wasfor peace. She will be forever for peace,” herfather said. U.S. and Ukrainian officials say theplane was shot down by a missile from rebelterritory, most likely by mistake.—AP

Palestinian state will decide onits policies. You cannot actuallyask me about the future. I an-swered you,” he said.

“But Palestinian peoplecan have their say when theyhave their own state withoutoccupation.”

Hamas declared a 24-hourceasefire on Sunday, but fight-ing continued in Gaza and Is-raeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu said his forceswould push on with attempts todestroy the group’s tunnel net-work.—AFP

Hamas chiefFrom Page 1

50 killedFrom Back Page

Amadou Ali in Kolofata cameunder a savage attack fromBoko Haram militants,” IssaTchiroma told Reuters by tele-phone.

“They unfortunately tookaway his wife. They also at-tacked the lamido’s residenceand he was also kidnapped,” hesaid, and at least three peoplewere killed in the attack.

A Cameroon military com-mander in the region toldReuters that the vice primeminister, who was at home tocelebrate the Muslim feast ofRamadan with his family, wastaken to a neighboring town bysecurity officials.—Reuters

Wife of CameroonFrom Page 1

AAMIR MAJEED

KARACHI—Further investigation intoout-of-turn promotions of politically-backed employees of the Sindh Assemblyhas revealed the names of a few morepeople who were allegedly promoted out-of-turn at the expense of dozens of seniorsdeserving the promotions.

The evidences available with the Pa-kistan Observer have revealed that someemployees of the provincial legislature,enjoying political-backing, were givenout-of-turn promotions at the cost of se-niors. The blue-eyed officers of the SindhAssembly were given promotions between1998 to 2014 period, during the govern-ment of Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) andPakistan Muslim League-Quaid-e-Azam(PML-Q).

Shafi Abbasi was appointed as a Jun-ior Translator in BPS-11 and on Decem-ber 14, 2002, he was given out of turn pro-motion in BPS-17. On February 04, 2006,he was regularized and he was given in-terim charge of Senior Reporter in placeof Aftab Mehar.

On December 9, 2009, he was pro-

Out-of-turn promotions in Sindh AssemblyBeneficiaries upped at seniors cost

moted in BPS-19 and he was given chargeof Additional Secretary by neglecting ninesenior officers. On March 13, 2013, the postof Additional Secretary was upgraded andhe was appointed as Additional Secretary-1. After passing one year, he was promotedto BPS-20 from BPS-19 on March 2014.Muhammad Hassan Shah was appointed di-rectly as Assistant Secretary in BPS-17 onAugust 2006 by affecting 10 serving offic-ers. On March 17, 2010 Secretary SindhAssembly Hadi Bux told the Finance Com-mittee meeting that provincial legislaturedoes not have Research Officer.

The secretary adopted a view that thatPunjab Assembly has Director General(DG) Parliamentary Affairs and ResearchOfficer of BPS-19. He requested to upgradethe post of Muhammad Hassan Shah inBPS-19 but the Finance Committee hasturned down his suggestion. On Decem-ber 02, 2010, the post of Assistant Secre-tary was upgraded from BPS-17 to BPS-18 and he got grade 18 in just four months.On November 30, 2012, MuhammadHassan Shah was appointed as a DeputySecretary. In March 2013, the post ofMuhammad Hassan Shah was upgraded

again from BPS-18 to BPS-19 and OnMarch 2014, he was appointed as Addi-tional Secretary in BPS-20.

Siraj Fatima was appointed as an En-glish Reporter in 1998 in tenure of SpeakerSindh Assembly Nawab Mirza. She wasappointed again as a Assistant Secretaryon May 24, 2006 and after passing justtwo days, she was appointed as a DeputySecretary on May 26, 2006. She is stillworking as a Deputy Secretary in grade19 and her name was also included in re-cently prepared Finance Committee list.

Usman Ali Chachar was appointed asa Computer Manager in BPS-16 in 1999.On October 20, 1999, the Finance Com-mittee has abolished the post of ComputerManager but he continues to work with-out any post. On October 2002, he wasappointed again in BPS-16 as a AssistantDirector Information Technology (IT).

On April 2007, he was given out ofturn promotion in BPS-17 and he assumedcharge of Director IT. On December 02,2010, the post of Director IT was upgradedto BPS-18 from BPS-17. On March 2013,the nomenclature of his post was changedand he became Deputy Secretary.

militant hideouts in the agency sometimes witha pause of day or so have so far killed over 570miscreants besides destroying more than a hun-dred militants hideouts till date.

The security forces declared to have clearedmore than 80% area of the Miran Shah whiletwo important villages of Boya and Degan,which were known to be large concentrationcenters of local and foreign terrorists, were alsocleared last Sunday and consolidation of Boyaand Degan was completed.

The operation Zarb-e-Azb, the ISPR said,was progressing as per plan and terrorists werebeing eliminated and dislodged from their bases.

“Operation Zarb-e-Azb continues to achieveits objectives and is progressing well. After clear-ance of Miranshah, Boya, Degan from terror-ists, Mir Ali Town along with its neighbouringvillages, the second largest stronghold of ter-rorists has been 70% cleared by security forcestill Sunday morning”.

The ISPR communiqué issued to mediaSunday evening said adding house to housesearch continues and 2 huge ammunition facto-ries with ammunition stock were recovered yes-terday. Besides, 30 barrels filled with explo-sives and chemicals used for making ImprovisedExplosives Devices were also recovered from

70 pc of Mir Ali, outskirtsFrom Page 1

two large underground tunnels during clearanceof Mir Ali, the ISPR said.

It said a massive IED, weighing 5,000 KGswas recovered from Boya, and was diffused bythe expert Counter IED team of Army Engineers.Later when detonated, it shook the entire agencyand the explosion was heard as far as settledarea.

Huge cache of arms, communication equip-ment, and propaganda literature have also beenrecovered.

The ISPR that also embarked upon compre-hensive relief activities for the people displacedin the wake of military operation in NWA, saiddistribution of relief items for IDPs continuesat Bannu, DI Khan and Tank.

Meanwhile, distribution of relief itemsamong IDPs continues at Bannu, DI Khan andTank and 1,52,000 ration packs (each weighing110 Kilograms) have been distributed so far.

Fifty-three thousand special Eid packageshave been distributed among IDPs and distribu-tion of more packages is in progress. Thirty-seven patients have been treated at the FieldMedical Hospitals at Bannu by Army and20,700 cattle have been provided treatment,while 51,345 cattle and 68,872 poultry have beenvaccinated.

building of Pakistan Meteoro-logical Department (PMD)camp office Karachi.

The meetings of Zonal Ruete Hilal Committees IslamabadCapital Territory (ICT) wouldbe held in the building of Min-istry of Religious Affairs nearGeneral Post Office (GPO).And the meeting of zonal com-mittees would be held at vari-ous places in their respectiveareas on Monday.

All the evidence regardingthe position of crescent couldbe conveyed to the chairmancentral Ruet-e-Hilal Commit-tee at Karachi.

Chairman Central Ruet-e-Hilal Committee MuftiMuneeb-ur-Rehman would an-nounce the decision of crescentsighting or otherwise subse-quently on the basis of infor-mation received after evaluat-ing the evidences.

Ruet-e-HilalFrom Page 1

paintings galleries at theAiwan-i-Quaid: (i) Founders ofPakistan Gallery and (ii) Indianatrocities on un-armedKashmiris in IHK. After inau-guration these galleries will beopen for public.

Secretary, Ministry of In-formation & Broadcasting andNational Heritage Mr.Mohammad Azam will inaugu-rate an exhibition based on theculture of the four provinces ofPakistan which will be orga-nized in cooperation withJharoka Art Gallery.

The Flag Hoisting cer-emony will be held on August14 which will be participatedby the citizens of Islamabad.Other programmes includewomen and childrenprogrammes and holding ofdiscussions on various nation-building subjects.

NPC to celebrateFrom Page 1

neither the provincial government could control it not the lawenforcement agencies would be in a position to keep the mil-lions of the blackout-affected citizens away from streets.

Amid this high-tension situation, Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) had become highly furious over the prolonged power out-ages across Sindh province especially in Karachi and it stagedprotest in chain across Sindh especially in front of Karachi Elec-tric head office located in DHA Karachi. A large number of Jialas(PPP workers) from all districts of Karachi had gathered therewhile Sindh Senior Minister Nisar Ahmed Khuhro, Sindh Infor-mation Minister Sharjeel Innam Memon, Senator Saeed Ghani,PPP Sindh chapter General Secretary Taj Haider, PPP KarachiDivision President Syed Najmi Alam, Sindh Minister for KatchiAbadis Jawaid Nagori, MPA Sania Naz Balouch, MPA SajidJokhio, Rashid Rabbani, Waqar Mehdi, Lateef Mughal and oth-ers addressed the protest rally.

In his address to the participants of the protest rally, PPPAdditional Secretary General and Senator Mian Raza Rabbanisaid PPP had in past opposed the act of privatisation of KarachiElectric (Formerly Karachi Electric Supply Company-KESC)but the then rulers, the military dictator’s ruling elite had claimedthat there was a serious dearth of funds to manage the powersupply system at the Karachi Electric level and hence it wasinevitable to sell the power utility to a foreign investor, whowould inject tons of dollars and new venues of employment andprosperity would open to the people.

However, the claims proved fake and all things had movedin reverse direction, The foreign investors did not invest a pennyinto the system but they easily managed to rob the consumersand transferred trillions of dollar to their accounts in foreignbanks.

He warned Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharifthat he should listen to people’s voice. PPP had as yet controlledthe masses over discriminatory treatment given to people of Sindhespecially Karachi but if the anti-Sindh policies of PakistanMuslim League Nawaz government continued, it would be toolate to mend for the PM.

He alleged the PM had in order to favour his blue eyed MianMansha, offered Rs 500 billion in form of outstanding dues foradding power to the national grid through independent power

Protest over prolonged blackoutsFrom Back Page

production (IPP) sector. At that time, the PMLN governmenthad claimed that by clearing the circular debt to the IPP the loadshedding would cease to end.

He said that the IPP owners had soon after receiving thathuge Rs 500 billion wrote to the federal government with a warn-ing that the circular debt had once again reached Rs 300 billion,which should be immediately cleared or else the duration of black-outs could be above 14 hours.

In an ironical tone, Rabbani said despite tall claims, PMLNgovernment had failed to ensure uninterrupted power supply butthe IPP owners had kept their commitment to shed load for 14hours.

Sindh Senior Minister for Education Nisar Ahmed Khuhroin his address said that PPP never bowed down before militarydictators and now the PM should realise that if the atrocitiesbeing inflicted on people of Karachi, Sharif might not be in aposition to find a safe accommodation in Jeddah but perhaps hewould look for another place far away from Jeddah.

A delegation of Muttahida Qaumi Movement had also joinedthe PPP-led protest, led by MPA Khalid Ahmed, who had whileaddressing the participants of the protest rally said that it wasjust a trailor and if problems of the people were not addressedimmediately, a whole movie would follow soon.

Sindh Minister for Katchi Abadis Jawaid Nagori in his ad-dress also endorsed Khalid Ahmed and warned the federal gov-ernment to stop giving s discriminatory treatment to the peopleof Karachi.

He said that apart from different political aims and objec-tives, all political forces in Sindh particularly PPP and MQMwere united for rights of people of Sindh.

PPP Karachi Division President Syed Najmi Alam saidwarned Karachi Electric to stop agonising the people of Karachior else they would snatch the company and would run it to en-sure uninterrupted power supply.

He also warned the Karachi Electric to stop sending inflatedelectricity bills to its consumers in Karachi.

PPP Sindh General Secretary Taj Haider said a case washeard at the Sindh High Court for 2 years and the court hadreserved the verdict on that case for past ten years, which hedemanded to be written and announced without more delay .

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel replied: “Hamasdoesn’t even accept its own cease-fire. It’s continuing to fire atus as we speak.”

On Sunday afternoon, sirens wailed in Israeli communitiesclose to the border, warning of incoming rocket or mortar shellsfrom Gaza.More than 1,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, most ofthem civilians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry andmonitoring groups.

The ministry said that at least 10 people were killed by Is-raeli fire on Sunday and that three more died from wounds theyhad sustained. Around the time that Israel called off its truce in

Israel resumes deadly bombingFrom Back Page

Berlin also advised Germannationals to leave because ofthe unrest in the capital.

Tripoli international airporthas been closed for two weeksbecause of deadly clashes in thearea, and the United Nationsevacuated its staff from Libyaonj July 14 because of the vio-lence.

Phillipson said that “inlight of travel restrictions inand around Tripoli, we are re-ducing the number of staff atthe Embassy,” but that the mis-sion “remains open for corebusiness”.—AFP

the morning, two Palestinians believed to be militants were killedin a strike as they rode on motorbikes east of Khan Younis.

An Israeli reserve soldier was killed overnight by mortar firefrom Gaza as he waited in a staging area along Israel’s borderwith Gaza, according to the military, bringing the total numberof Israeli soldiers killed since the beginning of the campaign, onJuly 8, to 43. Three civilians in Israel have also been killed byrocket and mortar fire.

Seven rockets were fired into Israel on Sunday morning. Twowere intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome antimissile defense sys-tem, and five fell in open ground, causing no injury or damage,according to the police.

The wrangling over even a brief, humanitarian truce re-flected one of the main disagreements between Israel and Hamasregarding any temporary cease-fire. Pending a comprehensiveagreement, Israel has continued to search for and destroyHamas’s underground tunnel network, which has been used bymilitants to infiltrate Israeli territory. But Hamas says it willnot accept any extension until the troops left Gaza.

Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israeli military,repeated on Sunday that Israel would “continue to operateagainst the tunnels” and said that the 12-hour lull on Saturdayhad proved that Hamas was able to control other groups in Gaza.

Atai Shelach, a former commander of the combat engineer-ing unit in the Israeli military, told reporters in a telephonebriefing that the only way to deal with the problem of the tun-nels was to have soldiers in Gaza. He said Israel had discov-ered up to 40 tunnels and scores of access points, and had de-stroyed several of them. “We are in the middle of the opera-tion,” he said, adding, “We won’t find all of them, and once wego out, they will start digging again.”

While Hamas said it was responding to the United Nationsand was taking the needs of Gaza’s residents into consider-ation in seeking a new cease-fire, Mr. Netanyahu was facingpolitical pressure from partners in his governing coalition andfrom some ministers within his own party not to take the pres-sure off Hamas.—Reuters

Lashing out at those criticizing thegovernment’s decision to invoke Article 245of the Constitution, the federal interior minis-ter said that the Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz (PML-N) was not the first governmentto call for the military’s assistance and severalother governments including the previous Pa-kistan People Party (PPP)-led coalition gov-ernment had also sought the help of the armyinvoking the use of Article 245 of the Consti-tution.

He added that even though Article 245 ofthe Constitution had been invoked 11 timesduring the past seven years, an issue was cre-ated only when the Army was called in for as-sistance by the incumbent government.

He said those criticizing the decision torequisition the troops are throwing the institu-tion of army into a controversy at a highly sen-sitive time.

“We can’t wait for an untoward incident tounfold before taking a necessary security mea-

Article 245 invoked 11 timesFrom Page 1

sure,” the Interior Minister asserted.Indirectly criticizing opposition leader Syed

Khursheed Shah’s remarks, he said Sindh govtalso called Pak Army under Article-245 in theholy month of Muharram for maintainingpeace.

He came hard on some politicians who hesaid have made the requisition of army as anational issue. He said these politicians issuedaily statements believing that their futurewould be at stake if there was no ticker overthe TV.

The Interior Minister said use of militaryin assistance of civilian administration underthe constitution is not a new thing. He gave theexample of many countries including India,Canada, Spain and Britain untry where army isused for internal security.

Nisar said there is no harm in negotiationsif Imran Khan and Tahirul Qadri were inter-ested to discuss their long march and dharna.—INP

What stepsFrom Back Page

here, Rashid said PPP shouldremember its words of praisefor Prime Minister NawazSharif on the occasion of TharCoal Project’s inauguration.

“Asif Ali Zardari and ChiefMinister Sindh Syed Qaim AliShah had expressed their gratitudefor Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifat the time of Thar Coal Project’sgroundbreaking,” he recalled.

He said no party includingPPP should stage a protest onthe issue of loadshedding, as injust one year the Federal Gov-ernment has initiated work onprojects that would produce21000 MW electricity.

surface-to-air missile over a part of easternUkraine controlled by pro-Russian separatistson July 17, killing all 298 people on board. U.S.and Ukrainian officials say it was shot down bya missile from rebel territory, most likely bymistake.

While it was not immediately clear whereprecisely clashes had broken out, a Ukrainiandefense official said Sunday that governmentforces are now undertaking efforts to clear theareas around the Boeing 777 crash site fromseparatist rebels.

Hug said the police mission, comprised ofofficers from the Netherlands and Australia, willreconsider resuming operations if security im-proves. Malaysian experts are also due to jointhem next week.

“We continue to reassess the situation con-tinuously and we will start to redeploy tomor-row morning back to the site if the situation

Police visit to MH17 disasterFrom Page 1

changes,” Hug said.Australian prime minister Tony Abbott had

said earlier Sunday that unarmed Australianpolice would be part of the Dutch-led policeforce to secure the area and help recover vic-tims’ remains.

Abbott said that by using unarmed police,Ukraine’s Parliament will not need to ratify thedeployment as it would if the security force wereto be armed.

“This is a risky mission. There’s no doubtabout that,” Abbott told reporters. “But all theprofessional advice that I have is that the safestway to conduct it is unarmed, as part of a po-lice-led humanitarian mission,” he said.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak saidin a statement that his country would send doz-ens of police and that his country had receivedassurances from pro-Russia separatists that theywould provide protection for investigators.—AP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—A delegation of Chinese investorsassociated with energy sector met Punjab ChiefMinister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif here Sun-day. Matters regarding setting up of powerprojects running through coal and developingmining area were discussed in the meeting.Chinese investors evinced keen interest in de-veloping mining area and setting up of coalpower plants in salt range.

Talking to the delegation, Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif said that govern-ment is implementing all practicable projectsexpeditiously for resolving energy crisis. Hesaid that a mega project is being implementedin Punjab for generating energy through coal.The Chief Minister said that special incentivesand facilities are being provided to the localand foreign investors for investment in energysector. He urged upon Chinese investors tocome forward for developing coal mining with

Govt taking all step toresolve energy crisis

modern technology as well as setting up of coalpower plants in mining area and governmentwill provide all possible facilities to them inthis regard. Shahbaz Sharif said that vast re-serves of coal exist in salt range in Punjab andPunjab government is endeavoring for utiliz-ing these reserves in a better manner. That iswhy, Punjab government wants to develop min-ing area on modern lines and Chinese inves-tors should come forward to develop miningzone so that the coal could be supplied to thepower plants uninterruptedly.

Speaking on the occasion, head of Chinesedelegation Li Jingkai said that we want to in-vest in coal power plants in Punjab whereaswe are also willing to develop coal mining areajointly with Punjab government.

Provincial Minister for Minerals Ch. SherAli Khan, Chairman Planning & Development,Additional Chief Secretary Energy, SecretaryMinerals & Mines and concerned officials werepresent on the occasion.

Fitr in Islamic countries.Meanwhile, people in parts of Mohmand agency and

Shabqadar will celebrate Eidul Fitr with Saudi Arabia today.Most of the mosque in Mohamand Agency’s headquarter

Ghallanai, Safi and Khwaizai announced to observe Eid onMonday after Shawwal moon was sighted in Saudi Arabia onSunday evening.

The areas where Eid will be observed includes upper sub-division of Mohmand agency, Baizai sub-division, some partsof lower sub-division Ekka ghund, while tehsil Ekka GhundEid will observe Eid according to the decision of Peshawar’sQasam Ali khan mosque.

Similarly, cleric from Brilvi and Ghair Muqalid sect in somepart of tehsil Shabqadar including Matta Mughal hel, Khwajawasof charsadda also decided to observe Eid with Saudi Arabia.People in some parts of Bajaur agency will also observe Eidtoday.—Agencies

Shawwal moon sightedFrom Page 1

Mr. Zahid Malik, Chairman of Federal Capital Committee of the All Pakistan Newspapers Society, presiding over thecommittee’s urgent meeting at Aiwan-i-Quaid called to condole the sad demise of Majid Nizami, Editor-in-Chief ofThe Nation, Nawa-i-Waqt and Waqt TV.‘Please

stop!’, Popemakespeace pleaROME—PopeFrancis made an emotionalplea for peace on Sundayin an impromptu additionto comments delivered athis weekly Angelusaddress in Saint Peter’sSquare. As the Argentin-ian-born pontiff wrappedup his regular address tothe faithful, he spoke ofthe upcoming centenary ofthe outbreak of World WarOne and said his thoughtswere on the Middle East,Iraq and Ukraine inparticular. With his voiceappearing to crack withemotion, the pope brokeoff from his scriptedremarks to make a directappeal for fighting to end.“Please stop!, I ask youwith all my heart, it’s timeto stop. Stop, please!”—Reuters

Kadyrovputs ban onObamaGROZNY—RamzanKadyrov, the Kremlin-backed leader ofChechnya, said onSaturday he would banentry to and freeze anybank accounts of USPresident Barack Obamaand top EU officials forbringing “tragedy” toUkraine, in a gesture ofdefiance after being hit bysanctions. After theEuropean Union imposedsanctions over Ukrainethat for the first timeincluded the Chechenleader, Kadyrov repeatedRussian statements thatWashington and Brusselswere responsible forplunging Ukraine intoturmoil. “The whole worldhas witnessed the tragedyof Libyan, Syrian, Iraqi andAfghan nations. And theUkrainian one recently,”Kadyrov said on hisInstagram feed.

Govt to gonext month:QadriStaff ReporterLAHORE—Paki-stan Awami Tehreek (PAT)head Dr. Tahir ul Qadri pre-dicted that the PML-Ngovernment was going tobe toppled within a month.Addressing a press confer-ence here on sunday, Qadrisaid that he would soonannounce a date for theelimination of this govern-ment. “We will file a caseof Model Town raid imme-diately after bringingabout the revolution,” hestated. He maintained thatPrime Minister NawazSharif and Punjab ChiefMinister would be arrestedfor their role in ModelTown massacre.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Scattered smallscale protest by citizens andtraders over non-availabilityof potable water and 12 to 18hour blackout in peripheriesof the port city of Karachi

Protest over prolongedblackouts in Karachi

PPP leaders, ministers ask PML-N Govt tostop discrimination with Sindhis

and even in posh residentialareas and city’s establishedrevenue generating tradeand business sites had dis-sipated waves of onwardsevere agitation. The situa-tion if not addressed couldcause extended backlash to

country’s economy.The prevailing untoward

situation called for measureto pacify the fury of thepeople of the city and itcould also reach a stage that

BENGHAZI—At least 36 people were killedin Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi, manyof them civilians, in clashes between LibyanSpecial Forces and Islamist militants on Sat-urday night and Sunday morning, medicaland security sources said.

Another 23 people, all Egyptian work-ers, were killed in the capital Tripoli when arocket hit their home on Saturday duringclashes between rival militias battling overthe city’s main airport, the Egyptian statenews agency reported.

In the last two weeks, Libya has de-scended into its deadliest violence sincethe 2011 war that ousted Muammar Gaddafi,prompting the United States, the UnitedNations and Turkey to pull their diplomaticstaff out of the North African country.

With the central government unable toimpose order, two rival militias are fightingin Tripoli, while army units are trying topush out Islamist militants who have setup camps on the outskirts of Benghazi.

The United States evacuated its em-bassy in Libya on Saturday, driving diplo-mats across the border into Tunisia underheavy military escort after escalatingclashes broke out near the embassy com-pound in Tripoli.

Libya’s western partners worry theOPEC oil-producing country is becoming

50 killed in Benghazi, Tripoli clashesBritish embassy convoy attacked

increasingly polarized between the twomain factions of competing militia brigadesand their political allies, whose battle isshaping the country’s transition.—Reuters

Meanwhile, a British embassy convoyin Tripoli came under fire on Sunday in anattempted carjacking but no-one was hurt,a spokesman for London’s mission in Libyasaid.

“Early this morning a British embassyconvoy was subject to an attemptedcarjacking. Shots were fired at our vehiclesbut they managed to drive on and leavethe area,” spokesman Bob Phillipson said.

“All embassy personnel are safe andaccounted for and there were no injuries,”he said.

The attack took place in western Tri-poli, witnesses said, and came after Wash-ington evacuated its mission in the em-battled Libyan capital under air cover onSaturday.

Carjackings are common in Tripoli andarmed groups target the armoured vehiclesused by foreign diplomats for theft.

Britain advised its citizens to leave thecountry on Sunday, following weeks ofdeadly clashes between rival militia aroundthe airport road in Tripoli.

JERUSALEM — Israel andHamas went back and forthon Sunday over proposalsfor a humanitarian lull in thefighting in Gaza, underscor-ing the external and internalpressures on both sides.

By afternoon, Hamas,the militant group that domi-nates Gaza, had called for anew 24-hour pause, hoursafter Israel had declared oneover in response to a bar-rage of rocket attacks fromGaza into its territory.

The Israeli military saidin a statement shortly after10 a.m. Sunday that it wasresuming its aerial, navaland ground activity in theGaza Strip “followingHamas’s incessant rocketfire throughout the humani-tarian window” that had

After rejecting cease-fire, Hamas proposes a new one

Israel resumes deadly bombing of Gaza Stripbeen meant to last from mid-night Saturday throughmidnight Sunday.

Israel at first acceptedthat lull requested by theUnited Nations, but Hamasrejected it on the groundsthat it did not involve a with-drawal of troops from thePalestinian coastal territory.Hamas then fired barragesof rockets into Israel.Some Israeli politicians havebegun talking of the possi-bility of escalating the of-fensive against Hamas andother Palestinian militantgroups, now in its 20th day,as intense international ef-forts over the weekend topress for an immediate,broader cease-fire appearedto have failed.

Huge clouds of smoke

could be seen rising fromthe eastern neighborhoodsof Gaza City that run closeto the border with Israel, andfewer Palestinians were outon the streets than had beenon Saturday.

But on Sunday after-noon, Hamas backtrackedand said “resistancegroups” would agree to anew 24-hour truce startingat 2 p.m. local time. A Hamasofficial in Gaza released astatement saying that thedecision came “in responseto the intervention of theUnited Nations” and out ofunderstanding for thepeople of Gaza who are pre-paring for Eid al-Fitr, theholiday that ends Ramadan.There was no immediate re-sponse from Israel. Asked

on the CNN program “Stateof the Union” whether Is-rael would accept the offer,

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

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ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—China has assured Kabulthat it would be ready to massively con-tribute to the reconstruction of Afghani-stan as soon as a government of nationalunity is installed there.

China’s special envoy on AfghanistanSun Yuxi gave this assurance on behalf ofhis government when he met in Kabul re-cently with President Hamid Karzai and thetwo presidential candidates AbdullahAbdullah and Ashraf Ghani.

Talking to media in Islamabad Sundayhe said the Afghan leaders agreed on the

urgent need for national reconciliation.He said he has held useful talks with

Pakistan officials. Both China and Pakistanare encouraging national reconciliation inAfghanistan as part of international effortsunder Istanbul process.

Sun Yuxi said Afghanistan has vastnatural resources.

It needs development of economic andsocial infrastructure to wipe off ravages ofconflict.

He said China is willing to build railwayand motorway network in Afghanistan. Itwill also help Kabul in exploration and utili-zation of its abundant mineral resources.

China to build railway, motorwaynetworks in Afghanistan

What steps PPPtook to resolve

power crisis: PR STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Reacting toPakistan People’s Party’sprotest in Karachi againstpower outages, FederalMinister for InformationPervaiz Rashid Sundayasked as to what steps thePPP had taken during itsgovernment to resolvepower crisis.

In a statement issued

Continued on Page 7

EXPERTS generally recommend seven tonine hours a night for healthy adults.Sleep scientists say new guidelines are

needed to take into account an abundance ofrecent research in the field and to reflect thatAmericans are on averagesleeping less than they didin the past.

Several sleep studieshave found that seven hoursis the optimal amount ofsleep—not eight, as waslong believed—when itcomes to certain cognitiveand health markers, al-though many doctors ques-tion that conclusion.

Other recent researchhas shown that skimping ona full night’s sleep, even by20 minutes, impairs perfor-mance and memory the nextday. And getting too muchsleep—not just too little ofit—is associated with healthproblems including diabe-tes, obesity and cardiovas-cular disease and with higher rates of death,studies show.

“The lowest mortality and morbidity iswith seven hours,” said Shawn Youngstedt, aprofessor in the College of Nursing and HealthInnovation at Arizona State University Phoe-nix. “Eight hours or more has consistentlybeen shown to be hazardous,” says Dr.Youngstedt, who researches the effects ofoversleeping.

The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention is helping to fund a panel of medicalspecialists and researchers to review the sci-entific literature on sleep and develop new rec-ommendations, probably by 2015.

Daniel F. Kripke, an emeritus professorof psychiatry at the University of CaliforniaSan Diego, tracked over a six-year perioddata on 1.1 million people who participatedin a large cancer study. People who reported

they slept 6.5 to 7.4 hours hada lower mortality rate thanthose with shorter or longersleep. The study, published inthe Archives of General Psy-chiatry in 2002, controlled for32 health factors, includingmedications.

In another study, pub-lished in the journal SleepMedicine in 2011, Dr. Kripkefound further evidence that theoptimal amount of sleep mightbe less than the traditional eighthours. The researchers recordedthe sleep activity of about 450elderly women using deviceson their wrist for a week. Some10 years later the researchersfound that those who sleptfewer than five hours or morethan 6.5 hours had a higher

mortality.Other experts caution against studies

showing ill effects from too much sleep. Ill-ness may cause someone to sleep or spendmore time in bed, these experts say. Andstudies based on people reporting their ownsleep patterns may be inaccurate.

“The problem with these studies is thatthey give you good information about asso-ciation but not causation,” said TimothyMorgenthaler, president of the AmericanAcademy of Sleep Medicine, which repre-sents sleep doctors and researchers, and aprofessor of medicine at the Mayo ClinicCenter for Sleep Medicine.

Why seven hours of sleepmight be better than eight

A view of Faisal Mosque from Daman-e-Koh during cloudy weather.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—All over theworld, the 28th July is WorldHepatitis Day. This is to pro-mote awareness amongpeople about hepatitis, itsspread, prevention and treat-ment. This date is picked tohonor Dr. Bloomberg whodiscovered Hepatitis B, 28thJuly is his birthday. Dr.Muzzaffar Lateef Gill, Pro-fessor of Medicine and Gas-troenterology at Maroof In-

ternational Hospital, in an in-terview, highlighted the needto make people know moreabout the causes, preventivemeasures and timely treatmentof the disease. The message onthis day is “know it and con-front it”

He said five hundred mil-lion people in the world popu-lation are exposed to hepati-tis; viral hepatitis kills 1.5million people each year. Ma-jority of these deaths are be-cause of hepatocellular carci-

noma.Hepatitis C affects over 10

million Pakistanis. The major-ity of untreated and relapsecases are at risk for progress-ing to liver cancer. As a result,liver cancer is now the fastest-growing cancer in Pakistan

There is an importantbreakthrough in hepatitis Ctreatment. Sovaldi is a newkind of oral antiviral treatmentfor Hepatitis C virus (HCV).Based on its safety and effi-cacy data, Sovaldi was ap-

proved by the FDA as a break-through treatment in Decem-ber 2013, and was given anaccelerated approval by theEU authorities a month laterin January 2014. 2. Sovaldi isis being made available in Pa-kistan through the special ef-forts of Gilead at only 2% ofits international price, andgives us a real chance to tacklethe Hep C menace in Pakistan.

3. The government couldgive no better gift to the pa-tients of Hep C in Pakistan on

the occasion of Eid and Worldhepatitis day than to registerthis FDA approved drug andmake it available to the suf-fering population.

4. It is a matter of greatconcern to find through thepress that while the FDA ap-proved treatment is still pend-ing registration, 30-40 localcompanies are applying unduepressure on the DRA to regis-ter untested, unverified copiesof the drug without any stabil-ity studies or human safety and

efficacy data. This is a publichealth danger, and could ulti-mately lead to creating resis-tance to a drug which other-wise offers us a real chancetowards eliminating HCV.Professor Gill said, it is veryunfortunate we did not under-stand dynamics of hepatitis Ctreatment appropriately. Lastten years we have been treat-ing Hepatitis c Patients withsubstandard interferon; as aresult we have to deal withpoor outcomes, such as

relapsers and non responderpatients. Professor Gill saidmy biggest concern is makingthe same mistake again by al-lowing /registering substan-dard oral medication for hepa-titis C in our country.

“The message on WorldHepatitis Day from our coun-try standpoint is “know aboutit and confront it.. Unfortu-nately, we are not giving qual-ity treatment to patients ofhepatitis in government hospi-tals. We have made two stan-

dards of treatment — one isfor the poor, which is notquality treatment, and theother one is for wealthypeople, which is very effec-tive. I very strongly urge thehealth ministry to expeditethe registration, availabilityof Sovaldi in the country.

Private-public partner-ships in true spirit, honestyand sincerity are needed to getrid of this disease and hope-fully we will have hepatitisfree Pakistan in near future.”

Five hundred million people in world are exposed to hepatitis

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Rawalpindi police, City TrafficPolice (CTP) and Rescue 1122 have finalized ar-rangements for Eidul Fitr with some 4000 policepersonnel, including Elite police, ladies police,special branch personnel and volunteers, will guardthe lives and property of the public on the festiveoccasion.

City Police Officer Rawalpindi HamayounBashir Tarar has ordered foolproof security forEidul Fitr prayer congregations. Holidays of po-licemen have been cancelled to ensure the securityof the citizens in the city while additional forceswill be deployed in sensitive areas, graveyards,mosques, Eidgahs, Imambargahs and picnic pointsas part of a special security plan for Eid.

All out efforts would be made to avoid anyuntoward incident on Eidul Fitr, said a policespokesman. He said the police prime responsibil-ity was to protect the lives and property of pubic.As many as 2300 police officers and Jawans weredeployed in all the sensitive places, including ba-zaars and shopping malls, to maintain law and or-der situation. Similarly, 3200 law enforcers wouldguard public on Eid day, he added. Officials ofSpecial Branch, Elite Force Commandoes, LadiesPolice, Muhafiz Force and Police Qaumi Razkarswould also perform security duty.

The security plan would continue on Eid daysal-Fitr, said the spookesman. He said the citizensshould cooperate with the security forces by in-forming them about any suspicious situation.

City Traffic Police (CTP) have also made spe-cial arrangements for Eidul Fitr and traffic war-dens would be deployed to control traffic nearEidgahs, mosques and Imambargahs. CTO ShoaibKhurram Janbaz ordered strict action against one-wheeling and vehicles moving with tainted glasses.In Rawalpindi, the Rescue 1122 staff would alsoremain on special duties in the district control room,emergency rescue stations with 14 equipped emer-gency ambulances, 10 fire vehicles, two rescuevehicles, two water bowzers and two special ve-hicles. Rescue posts would be established at AyubPark, Nawaz Sharif Park, Jinnah Park, GPOChowk Saddar and whereas key points to coverEid-ul-Fitr prayer would be established at Chil-dren Park Gawalmandi, Liaquat Bagh Park, RawalChowk and 22 Number Chungi Tench Bhatta.

In Murree, 150 rescuers would remain on highalert with eight fully equipped ambulances andthree fire vehicles. The rescuers have been deputedat Rescue Academy Pindi Point, Charra Pani, 17Miles and Khajut Express Way whereas four keypoints have been established at Mall Road, JikhaGili Bazar, Company Bagh and Kotli Sattian forquick response to any untoward incident.

Police, CTP, Rescue 1122 finalizearrangements for Eid-ul-Fitr

ISLAMABAD—Chairman CDA, MaroofAfzal said on Sunday that availability ofedible items and fresh fruits and vegetablesin Ramazan Sasta Bazaar on cheaper rateswas ensured by the concerned formationof CDA on daily basis. Chairman CDA,Mr. Maroof Afzal expressed these viewswhile chairing a meeting to review the ar-rangements made by CDA for organizingRamazan Sasta Bazaar and provision offacilities to the public in weekly bazaarsof Sector G-6, H-9, I-9 and Bhara Khu asper schedule i.e. Tuesday, Friday and Sun-day.

For this purpose the officers and offi-cials have work hard round the clock tofacilitate the residents of the capital city,said the Chairman CDA, said a press re-lease which issued here.

Ramazan Sasta Bazaar organized bythe Capital Development Authority (CDA)at the site of Sector G-6 Weekly Bazaarhas been providing utmost relief to the citi-zens of the Federal Capital, he said.

The daily used edible items, fresh veg-etables, fruits, poultry and meet were avail-able in huge quantity for the people visit-ing the Sasta Bazaar on daily basis, whilethe Sasta Bazaar remained openedthroughout the holy month of Ramazan.The bazaar administration deserves appre-ciation for organizing the Ramazan SastaBazaar with all required facilities.

Chairman CDA, Mr. Maroof Afzalsaid that availability of edible items andfresh fruits and vegetables on cheaper rateswas ensured by the concerned formationCDA on daily basis. For this purpose theofficers and officials have work hard roundthe clock to facilitate the residents of thecapital city, said the Chairman CDA.

Member Administration and Estate,Amer Ali Ahmed apprised the ChairmanCDA, Maroof Afzal that CDA organizedRamazan Sasta Bazaar at the site of G-6weekly bazaar, besides the permanentweekly bazaars, which remained func-tional during the month of Ramazan. The

stallholders were facilitated at the vacantstalls in Sector G-6, who arranged theirstalls including fresh fruits, vegetables andmeet stalls for provision to the residentson concessional rates. He further informedthe Chairman CDA that the edible itemsavailable to the public were in huge quan-tity, adding that stall have been providedto the vendors free of cost. He said thatthe CDA staff worked round the clockduring the whole month of Ramazan withzeal and devotion and made the edibleitems available to the public on cheaperrates approved by CDA on the pattern ofother weekly bazaars.

The rates for Razaman Sasta Bazaarwere approved in the light of detailedsurvey of wholesale rates by the con-cerned formation of CDA in Sector I-11 Fruit and Vegetable Market, addingthat a large number of people visitedthe Sasta Bazaar on daily basis, Mem-ber Administration and Estate informedthe Chairman CDA.—APP

CDA to ensure cheaper rates atRamazan Sasta Bazars

ISLAMABAD—The H-9 library with itssix sections at various sectors was for-mally inaugurated in an old hostelbuilding here last year are yet is await-ing for its visitors.

This library was managed by theMinistry of Capital Administration andDevelopment (CAD), having its sixother sections in sector I-8, G-11, F-11, I-10, G-8 and G-7.

The library have been constructedin collaboration with the Capital De-velopment Authority (CDA), said an of-ficial of the library.

“Unfortunately, most of the sectionsof the library remain deserted becausepeople do not take interest in research

work or reading books,” he said.“ We also publish bibliographies

time and again. Publishers are boundto inform us about the new books andto keep record every book is allottedan international standard book number(ISBN),” the official informed.

The official further said that weshould create public interest in librar-ies so that they start visiting the facili-ties.

Doctors should come to the librar-ies using their auditoriums by showingdocumentaries to the visitors regardingdifferent diseases. Literature regardinganimals and crops should be kept in thelibraries so that farmers can also de-

velop an interest in the libraries, hesaid.

Hafiz Khubaib Ahmed, the in-charge of the public library, while talk-ing to APP said they wanted to increasethe reading habit among the people andfor that different steps were beingtaken.

He said in schools, students shouldbe given assignments to go to librariesand do research work.

“Although because of the internetand other engagements, reading habitsof people have been affected but thoseappearing in the CSS exams or doingtheir assignments still visit the library,”he said.—APP

H/9 library with its six sections atvarious sectors awaits readers

Citizens facing hardship due to rain water accumulated in a street of Kartar Pura on Sunday.

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Strong wind-storm followed by heavy rainwreaked havoc in different lo-calities of the city, as severallow lying areas went into knee-deep water, while a boy, 13 waskilled on Adiala Road whenroof of a mud house caved induring the rain.

The torrential rainthough brought some respitefor the inhabitants of the twincities from hot and humidweather, yet the destructionit caused in low lying areasby flooding rain water intothe houses proved more pain-ful and destructive to suchlocalities in the city includ-ing Imambargah Chowk,Javed Colony, Sadiqabad,Dhok Saidan, AryaMohallah, Katarian andAdiala Road.

Meanwhile a flood warn-ing was issued on Sunday afterwater level in Rawalpindi’sNullah Lai rose due to intermit-tent rain in twin cities.

The water level of NullahLai at Katariyan stood at 8.74ftand 8.27ft at Gawalmandi. Themonsoon rainfall in Islamabadand Rawalpindi inundated sev-eral low-lying areas.

According to reports, the water entered homes,located near the Nullah Lai. The authorities have alsodirected the residents to move to safer places. TheWASA feared that around 300 homes may get affecteddue to ongoing rains.

Heavy downpour wreaks havoc

Flood warning issued,water level in Leh rises

The met office recorded 40mm rain at Syedpur,45mm at PMD, 47mm at Chaklala and 35mm at Boklaareas of Rawalpindi.

Widespread rain with thundershower is expectedin most parts of the country. The met office statedthat Strong monsoon currents were penetrating into

the central parts of country.Temperature of some major cities recorded on

Sunday morning was:Islamabad 24 degree centigrade, Lahore, Karachi

and Peshawar 28, Quetta and Muzaffarabad 25,Murree 18 and Gilgit 23 degree centigrade.

Gang of streetcriminals busted

in capitalSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Shalimar policeIslamabad have busted a gangof street criminals and recov-ered stolen bike, snatched mo-bile phone, weapons, cash andlooted valuables from theirpossession, a police spokesmansaid on Sunday.

According to details, SP(Saddar) Muhammad Ilyasconstituted special teams undersupervision of SHO Shalimarto trace out the street criminalsinvolved in crime incidents inthe area after receiving somecomplaints. These teams in-cluding SHO Shalimar Inspec-tor Sajjad Haider Bukhari, ASIMuhammad Iqbal, made out allefforts to trace these criminalsand finally busted a gang in-volved in street crimes.

They have confessed theirinvolvement in several cases ofdacoities in Ramana, Margalla,Shalimar and Rawalpindi areawhile further investigation isunderway from them.

03:50 01:3005:30

09:15

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

Cultural Consulate of Iran Dr Taqi Sadiq speaks during Majlis-e-Muzakra at a local hotel.

Members of an NGOs presenting Eid ration for the IDPs to concerned army officials.

Ladies busy in purchasing bangles in preparation of Eid-ul-Fitr, in Sadr.

ISLAMABAD—With the start of last week of theholy month of Ramazan, the major commercialcentres of the twin cities have started experi-encing traffic mess after Iftar time daily due tobuyers rush for Eid festival.

Due to insufficient space for parkings at thecommercial centres, the ultimate traffic burdenis shifted on roads, causing jams. It becomesdifficult for the buyers to do shopping with peaceof mind.

The major commercial centres of twin cit-ies, including Sadar, Raja Bazar, CommercialMarket, G-9 Markaz (Karachi Company),Aabpara Market and other markets, portray thesame picture and the situation will worsen asthe Eid draws nearer. Motorists can be seen frus-trated waiting in queues to get their vehiclesparked.

“It is a difficult task to find place for park-ing the car. The parking lots around markets arenot spacious enough to cope with heavy influx

of vehicles,” said Zohaib Arshad, who was driv-ing around Karachi Company market to seek aplace for parking on Tuesday night.

Talking to APP, he said ideally all the shop-ping malls and plaza should have their own park-ing arrangements.

Mushtaq Ahmed, who was shopping inCommercial Market, Rawalpindi, said he wasfortunate to park his car after half an hour searchand that too far away from the market.

Due to rising number of cars theft, one can-not afford to park his car far away from the re-quired shopping area, he said, adding in such acase, one could not even do shopping with apeace of mind.

Traffic Warden Bilal admitted that there wastraffic problems these days, adding that the po-lice were striving to ensure smooth traffic flow.

He urged the motorists to obey parking rulesas wrong parking was also one of the major rea-sons for the mess.—APP

Parking becomes seriousproblem during Eid shopping

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Rawalpindi City TrafficPolice (CTP) have chalked out a compre-hensive plan for Chand Raat (night beforeEid day) and Eid-ul-Fitr.

Under the traffic plan, enhanced num-ber of traffic wardens to be deployed inmain city areas to control traffic mess onChand Raat and during Eid-ul-fitr prayers.

A control room has been set up at Traf-fic Police Headquarters to monitor the situ-ation.

Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) Senior

Superintendent Police (SSP) ShoaibKhurram Janbaz told reporter that alloutefforts would be made to control trafficon city roads, especially on Chand Raat.

He said that one-wheelers would bedealt with in accordance with the law. Traf-fic wardens had been directed to impoundmotorcycles of one-wheelers in respectivepolice stations. He urged the citizens, par-ticularly parents, to help curb the activityas one wheeling, rash and negligent driv-ing were the main causes for fatal accidents.

All the traffic officers and wardenshave also been directed to remain present

at their duty points so that no traffic jamcould be witnessed, he added.

He said in view of the security of thecitizens, special traffic arrangements havebeen made. Parking of vehicles nearmosques, Imambargahs and other religiousplaces would not be allowed.

Under the plan, traffic police officershave been directed to keep a vigilant eyeon suspicious vehicles. Strict action in ac-cordance with the law has also been or-dered against vehicles having tinted glassesor moving in the city without numberplates, he added.

CTP chalk out traffic planfor Chand Raat, Eid-ul-Fitr

RAWALPINDI—Almost all the commercial banks did notheed the directives of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) toensure uninterrupted working of automated teller ma-chines (ATMs), especially during Eid holidays, major-ity of ATMs in various parts of the city were found closedor out of order on Sunday.

A number of consumers were seen visiting one out-let then another in desperate search for a working ma-chine to withdraw cash as they had come to marketsalong with families for giving final touches to their Eid

shopping, which was a day away.Branches of almost all public and private sector

banks at Bank Road, Adam Jee Road, Maal Road, Saddar,Murree Road, Chaklala Cantt, Fawara Chowk, TenchBhatta, Chur Chowk, Misrial Road, Qasim Market andCommercial Market disappointed their consumers as theyreturned empty handed after seeing the message of “re-gret” displayed at ATMs screens.

“ATMs are considered to be a source of relief forthe consumers in need of fast cash but they have in fact

become a source of annoyance, particularly on the eveof Eid,” said Shahzad Butt, a government employee.

Butt, who had visited ATM kiosks in search of ur-gent needed cash, said he tried several ATM machinesin the city but failed to withdraw money.

Afzal Khan, another bank client, said people, espe-cially salaried class, were the worst sufferers of ATMsfrequent closure.

After the introduction of ATM cards, he said mostof the people had developed a habit of keeping limited

money with them as a safety measure with the under-standing that they would withdraw cash using the facil-ity in any part of the country on need-basis.

The customers have requested the authorities con-cerned to ensure proper maintenance of ATMs owned bypublic and private sector banks for uninterrupted service.They said frequent and hours long closure of ATMs in thename of so-called “hardware maintenance and link-down”was a violation of the SBP instructions for keeping thecash machines operational round-the-clock.—APP

ATMs out of order, banks notheeding SBP directives

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The health teams on Sun-day claimed to have achieved polio vacci-nation target set for high risk areas of thecity and cantonment under a five-day drivewhich concluded here on July, 25.

Talking to reporter, Executive Dis-trict Officer (EDO- Health), Dr ZafarIqbal Gondal said over 162,000 children,below five years age, were administeredanti-polio drops during the campaign

launched in 11 union councils ofRawalpindi city, three wards ofRawalpindi cantt, six union councils ofTehsil Taxila and four union councils ofTehsil Rawalpindi.

“All localities, during the regular anti-polio drive, were declared high-risk areasafter having confirmed reports of presenceof polio virus there,” he said.

In the recently concluded regular cam-paign, he said, 7,11,744 children upto fiveyears age were administered drops to pre-

vent the younger generation from the crip-pling disease.

He said the purpose for launching thespecial drive is presence of people com-ing from North Wazirstan Agency andother parts of Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, es-pecially after sewage samples from theseareas indicated the presence of polio vi-rus.

The EDO said he himself monitoredthe campaign and visited various areas toinspect the working of polio teams.

Polio vaccination target achievedin high risk areas

RAWALPINDI—Transporters taking advan-tage of the passangers’ rush, who wanted tocelebrate Eidul Fitr with their near and dearones in their home towns, on Sunday werecharging extra fares.

All bus and wagon terminals were jampacked with passengers as trains had areadybeen booked. They were seen wandering be-tween terminals to get seat in coaches boundto their destination.

The passengers at Pirwadhai, PeshawarMor, Hamrahi, Faizabad and Soan standswhile talking to APP, complained of over-charging by the transporters. They were tak-ing full advantage of special occasion of Eid-ul-Fitr and demanding high fares but the au-thorities concerned were not monitoring thesituation, they added.

Majid, who was at Pirwadhai Bus-Standwith his family to board a coach for Sialkot,said transporters were demanding extra moneyas Eid tax, but it was difficult to afford thesame for his eight-member family.

The government should arrange morespecial trains and buses at least on special oc-casions like Eid to provide relief to the public,he demanded. Another female passenger wait-ing for a bus at Faizabad, said transporterswere even charging fare for luggage equiva-lent to a full seat, which in normal conditions,was not demanded. Even, small children werenot being spared, she added.

Tahir at Soan Wagon Stand said that hisfamily was leaving for Gujranwala to celebrateEid-ul-Fitr after paying exorbitant fare.

Meanwhile, officers of District Regional

Transport Authority (DRTA) and City TrafficPolice said that special teams were formedfor checking fare violations. The teams werevisiting all terminals to check violations, it wasclaimed. The passengers should note the num-ber of bus/wagon in case of over-charging,misbehaving etc. and inform the authoritiesconcerned assuring that they would take sternaction against them and the violators wouldface strict action.

Secretary RTA Rawalpindi OwaisManzoor Tarar said that the passengers canregister their complaints at a control room setup in this regard with telephone number9270011. He said that a three member specialteam had also been formed to keep check ontransporters plying on inter-city routes duringEid ul Fitr.—APP

Transporters charging extrafares from passengers

ISLAMABAD—Monday, July 28, is the lastdate for submission of claims by the vic-tims of Modaraba/Musharka scam with theNational Accountability Bureau (NAB)Rawalpindi region.

The NAB also asked its other regionsto follow the same set of instructions soas the affected people, who had not beenable to submit their claims, could nowavail the opportunity and also the bureaucould ascertain the total volume of thefraud by the companies under investiga-tion.

According to a bureau’s spokesman,NAB Rawalpindi, through an advertise-ment in the national media, has askedthe victims to submit their applications

along with copies of their Modaraba/Musharika agreements and CNICs tillJuly 28.

The NAB Rawalpindi has sought thecomplaints/claims against seven compa-nies, including Bilal Khan Banghesh,Masseha Forex, Mateeh ur Rehman sonof Haji Surat Rehman of M/s Global Con-cern, Muhammad Ehsan son of AbdulRehman, Hafiz Salahud Din son of MoulviGhulam Sadiq and others, Noman Qureshi,Abdullah & others of NE Associates,Abdullah Khan Muhammad & others ofAl-Shamim Enterprises, Malik HaroonTabreez & others and Ghulam Haider(Malik Naseer & Sons).

Currently, NAB Rawalpindi is pur-

suing 81 cases of cheating public at largeby way of illegal modaraba/musharikabusiness. Seven cases are at investigationstage, 19 at inquiry stage, five at com-plaint verification stage and 50 are at ini-tial stage of complaint. There are total36,462 individual victims in these cases,he added.

Total loss amounted to Rs 22.01 bil-lion of which so far only 1.209 billion hadbeen recovered, the spokesman said. Hesaid so far 10 accused had been arrestedin cases, which were now at investigationstage. Various moveable and immoveableproperties of accused persons had alsobeen cautioned/frozen to account for lossescaused to general public.—APP

Monday last day for submission ofModaraba claims with NAB

RAWALPINDI—The ongoing spell ofmoonsoon rains has exposed tall claims of thedepartments concerned of Tehsil MunicipalAuthority, and Cantonment and ChaklalaBoards about sanitation and cleanliness fordrainage of rain water.

Before the onset of rains, the authoritiesconcerned had claimed that all nullahs anddrains of the city had been cleared of silt andsolid waste and there would no danger of floodduring this monsoon season. But, the rainshave exposed their tall claims as several areasof the city were submerged since the rain spellstarted.

The entire drainage system, mainly of low

lying areas, has been choked, with severalroads turned into ponds of water.

Monsoon downpour has becomeaproblem in different localities Tench Bhatta,People’s Colony, Ghausia Intersection, JanColony, Sher Zaman Colony, Misriyaal Road,PIA Colony, Habib Colony, Gwalmandi,Daryaabad, Mareer intersection, Mareerbridge, Dhowk Chiragh Deen, Afshan Colony,Nadeem Colony, Javed Colony, ChamanzarColony, Arya Mohallah, Sadiqabad,Rahimabad, Ratta Amral, Dhoke Najju, JamiaMasjid Road, Bohar Bazaar, Banni Chowk,Rehmatabad, Akhtarabad, Amarpura, DhokeElahi Bakhsh, Kohati Bazaar and Zia-Ul-Haq

Colony.The residents were facing great difficul-

ties because rainwater inundated streets andgushed into their houses due to poor cleanli-ness arrangements made by the Sanitationdepartment of Cantonment BoardRawalpindi, Chaklala and Tehsil MunicipalAuthority.

The residents complained that after rains,roads and streets remained inundated for sev-eral days creating inconvenience for them.

Rain water made life miserable particu-larly for residents of low lying areas, whereaspower outages were also reported in the dif-ferent parts of the city.—APP

Monsoon rains expose tall claims ofarrangements for water drainage

Police arrest31 lawbreakersRAWALPINDI—Police under itsongoing drive against anti-socialelements have arrested 31 law-breakers, besides recovering5440 grams charras, ten literwine, 10 pistols 30 bore with 40rounds, one kalashnikov andseven rounds, one pistol 32 borewith four rounds, a stolen Honda125 motorcycle and a daggerfrom the possession of the ar-rested accused during last twodays.

According to aRawalpindipolice spokesman, Pirwadhaipolice netted Abid for having 525grams charras while another ac-cused namely Ali was nabbed onrecovery of 515 grams charras.Bunni Police held GhulamRasool for possessing 520 grams.Sadiqabad police arrestedShakoor and recovered 1120grams charras. Airport policealso recovered 620 grams char-ras from Shahbaz.

Rawat police apprehendedTahir for carrying a Kalashnikovand seven rounds.

Bunni police arrested AhsanButt, Shehraz Ali and ShakeelAhmed and recovered a stolenHonda 125 motorcycle fromtheir custody. Other accusedwere sent behind the bars as po-lice recovered illegal pistols,drugs, liquor and other itemsfrom their possession.—APP

RAWALPINDI—Chief Traffic Officer (CTO)Shoaib Khurrum Janbaz said that motorists mustdisplay patience and to avoid rash driving spe-cially at Iftar time.

Every one wants to reach destination on timebut this race ultimately led to a fatal accidents.

Talking to APP, CTO directed wardens that

Motorists advised to displaypatience during Iftar hours

there would be a rush on Iftar time, no warden willleave the point where he is deputed; strict actionwill be taken against them, he said that traffic po-lice is seriously take up the issue of one wheelingduring Ramzan adding that their motorcycles havebeen confiscated in police stations besides impos-ing heavy fines to the violators.—APP

MUZAFFARABAD: AJK Rehabilitation Minister Abdul Majid Khan distributing fooditems among refugees, here on Sunday.

SRINAGAR: Thousands of people attended funeral prayers in absentia of veteran journalist and Chairman Nawa-i-Waqat Group of Publications, Majid Nizami, at Lal Chowk, here on Sunday.

GHULAM NABI FAI

THESE are my views on the principle of ‘right of self-determination’ and its applicability to

the 67-year-old Kashmir conflict tobe considered during the United Na-

tions Working Groupmeeting that is takingplace this week at itsheadquarters in NewYork. What I do hopeto offer is anunstarry-eyed viewof the fate of self-de-termination in Kash-mir; and, the indis-

pensability of convincing India thatits national and economic securitywould be strengthened, not weak-ened, by ending its military occupa-tion.

Self- determination is a principlethat has been developed in philo-sophic thought and practice for thelast several hundred years. It is an ideathat has caused people throughout theworld to rise up and shed the chains

Fate of self-determination in Kashmirof oppressive governments at great risk.Defining the right to self-determinationhas proven elusive since it was cel-ebrated as one of President WoodrowWilson’s Fourteen Points to settle WorldWar I. Article I of the United NationsCharter enshrines as a major purposethe development of friendly relationsamong nations based on respect for the“principle of equal rights and self-deter-mination of peoples.”

The 1960 Declaration on the Grant-ing of Independence to Colonial Coun-tries and Peoples declares that, “Allpeoples have the right to self-determi-nation; by virtue of that right theyfreely determine their political statusand freely pursue their economic, so-cial and cultural development.” Self-determination is the act of a people,expressing their free will to control andparticipate in their nation’s destiny. Apeople must be free to express their

will without interference or threat ofinterference from a controlling author-ity not of the people’s design. Thisincludes alien domination, foreign oc-cupation and colonial rule.

The applicability of the principleof self-determination to the specificcase of Jammu and Kashmir has beenexplicitly recognized by the UnitedNations. It was upheld equally by In-dia and Pakistan when the Govern-ment of India brought the Kashmir dis-pute before the Security Council onDecember 31, 1947. By all customarymoral and legal yardsticks, 18 millionKashmiris enjoy a right to self-deter-mination. Kashmir’s legal history en-titles it to self-determination from In-dian domination every bit as much asEritrea’s historical independence en-titled it to self-determination fromEthiopian domination. The humanrights violations in Kashmir also mili-

tate in favour of self-determinationevery bit as much as Yugoslavia’s hu-man rights violations and ethniccleansing created a right to self-deter-mination in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia,Macedonia, and Kosovo. Kashmir’shistory of social and religious tranquil-lity further bolsters its claim to self-determination every bit as much asEast Timor’s history of domestic peacebefore Indonesia’s annexation in 1975entitled it to self-determination in 1999.

The princely state, after British su-zerainty for a century, achieved inde-pendence on August 15, 1947 whenBritish jurisdiction lapsed. At that time,Kashmir had chosen neither accessionto Pakistan nor to India, which had beencreated as separate nations through aBritish partition along largely Hindu-Muslim communal lines. Nothing re-garding partition or the lapse of Britishcontrol required Kashmir to renounce

independence for absorption in aneighbouring nation. Kashmir wasoverwhelmingly Muslim, with Pandits,Buddhists, and Sikhs featured as wel-come religious minorities. The ecumeni-cal religious atmosphere in Kashmirfound expression in inter-religiousfriendships, neighbourhoods, busi-nesses, and mutual celebration or re-spect of religious holidays. In otherwords, Kashmir was neither convulsedby religious strife, nor by religious ex-tremists preaching fundamentalismfrom every mosque. The Maharaja rul-ing over Kashmir, however, was an op-pressive Hindu whose tyranny hadsparked an indigenous insurgency.

The then Prime Minister of India,Pandit Nehru, had voiced a consensusview that sovereignty in princely stateslike Kashmir had devolved on their re-spective peoples as of August 15, 1947;and, that the peoples’ voice should pre-

vail in a plebiscite over the sover-eignty ambitions of ruling maharajasin cases of conflict. In Kashmir, Nehruinitially championed a plebiscite todetermine its sovereign destiny. Butthe Prime Minister and his succes-sors reneged on their internationallaw obligation when they realizedKashmir would never vote accessionto India in a free and fair election.

In the interim, several measuresshould be taken to ease the miseryand tensions in Kashmir. Human rightsorganizations should be given greateraccess. India’s security forces shouldbe thinned. All political prisonersshould be released. Emergency laws,which give India’s security forces im-munity for human rights crimes,should be repealed. An independentthird party, such as the United Na-tions or the European Union, shouldmonitor the Cease-fire Line. Kashmirileaders should be permitted free ex-changes across the CFL, andKashmiri exiles should be allowed toreturn without hindrance or retaliation.

—Courtesy: Dr Fai via email

Jehadis willsoon turn to

Kashmir: GenAslam Beg

SRINAGAR—Kashmir is theheart of India-Pakistan rela-tions and jehadis will turntowards Kashmir after thewithdrawal of foreign troopsfrom Afghanistan this year,a former Pakistani armychief has said. “Kashmir isthe core issue that needs tobe settled for peace and sta-bility in the region whereas(Narendra) Modi is notready to compromise onKashmir,” Mirza Aslam Begsaid in an English Daily ofPakistan Sunday.

“It is Kashmir which willdecide Modi’s future be-cause the key to regionalpeace lies with him,” Begsaid. The general remindedModi that for three decades,Afghanistan had served asthe “strategic base of resis-tance” for militants in Iraq,Palestine, Lebanon, Somalia,Yemen, Libya, Syria andJammu and Kashmir.

“After the withdrawal ofoccupation forces from Af-ghanistan by end of thisyear, the jehadis would turntowards Kashmir, as theydid in 1990, after the Sovietwithdrawal, raising thethreshold of confrontationbetween India and Pakistanto a dangerous level. “Be-fore that happens, the twocountries have to find anamicable and peaceful solu-tion of the Kashmir issue.There is no other alterna-tive,” he added.—KD

Gilani: Casesagainst Kashmiris

violation ofinternational law

S R I N A G A R — Ve t e r a nHurriyet leader, Syed AliGilani has said that Kashmiris an internationally-recog-nized political issue and itsdisputed nature has alsobeen accepted by theUnited Nations, so all theprisoners related to this dis-pute are having the statusof political prisoners and areentitled to all those facilitieswhich are meant for the de-tainees of the conflict zonesof the world.

Syed Ali Gilani in a state-ment issued in Srinagar de-plored that “Registeringcriminal cases against theseprisoners and announcingpunishments for them is anopen violation of interna-tional law.” He demandedthe release of all the politi-cal prisoners includingMasarrat Aalam Butt, AmirHamzah, Mushtaq-ul-Islam,Abdul Hameed Parray, Dr.Ghulam Mohammad Butt,Abdullah Nasir, Abdul GaniButt, Assadullah Parray,Javaid Ahmad Falay, NisarAhmad Butt, Abdul MajeedLone, Showkat Hakeem,Manzoor Ahmad Wani,Mehraj-ud-Din Nandah,Molvi Sajad andMohammad Yaseen Yatoobefore Eid-ul-Fitr.

The veteran leader saidthe cases of 44 detaineesincluding Dr. MuhammadQasim, Ghulam Qadir Butt,Dr. Mohammad ShafiSherati, Nazir AhmadShakh, Mohammad AminDar Banihal, MohammadAyoub Dar, MohammadAmin Wani, MohammadAyoub Mir, Sharief-ud-DinReasi, Mohammad SayedButt, and Peer Fayazshould be re-looked onhumanitarian grounds andtheir sentences should beended.—NNI

CHOTTA BAZAR (IHK)—A SpecialOperation Group man was killed andfour including an Inspector sustainedinjuries after suspected militants cor-nered a police party at Chotta Bazar inSopore. The incident took place whenSOG party had disembarked from theirarmoured vehicle to disperse few oddstone-pelters at around 2.15 am.

Police sources said few ‘miscre-ants’ indulged in stone-pleting atChotta Bazar near Jamia MasjidSopore. “An SOG party led by Inspec-tor Dilraj in a bid to control the situa-tion parked their armoured vehicle onone side of the road and came downfrom the vehicle. As soon as they em-barked from the vehicle, unidentifiedgun men hurled a grenade on themwhich exploded with a bang. Gunmen

Clashes during Shab-e-Qadr, 2 killedthen sprayed bullets on the policeparty killing constable MuhammadSayed Khan (368SPR) a resident offrontier district of Kupwara on thespot,” a police official said adding thatthe injured cops including Inspectorwere shifted to BB Cantonment wherethey are recuperating.

Police identified the injured copsas Inspector Dilraj Singh (7305NGO),Constable Yousuf-al-Umar (29IRP) fromthird Battalion, Constable Inayatullah(731AP7) and Constable Imtiyaz(709AP). Eyewitnesses said that soonafter the incident large contingent ofgovernment forces cordoned off thearea, however, no arrest was made.

Reports said that barely an hourafter the incident scores of youth cameon roads and attacked police person-

nel with stones. During the clashestwo persons who were reportedly onway to Jamia Masjid to offer FajarPrayers were injured. Both the injuredfrom Arampora hamlet Mudasir Kalooand Mudasir Sheikh were dischargedfrom the SKIMS. Meanwhile HizbulMujahideen has claimed the respon-sibility for the attack in Sopore.

In a tele-statement to KNS Baleeg-u-Din, the Hizb spokesman said: “Ourcadres carried out the attack inSopore.” In South Kashmir’s Bijbeharatown, unidentified gunmen fired at apolice constable Altaf Ahmad residentof Eidgah Srinagar while he was onhis duty at Goriwan Chowk Bijbehara.Altaf was shifted to SMHS hospitalSrinagar but he succumbed to his in-juries in the hospital.—KO

BHADERWAH (IHK)—Ghulam Nabi Azad,the Congress stalwart is likely to contestassembly elections from his home turf,Bhaderwah, but, his cousin and close aidesitting Member Legislative Assembly(MLA) Mohammed Sharif Niaz is in nomood to vacate. Former Power Minister inNiaz is considered to be one of strongestloyalists of Azad is adamant to fight as-sembly elections on Congress mandatefrom Bhaderwah constituency who hadsacrificed his constituency for Azad in 2006Assembly elections in which Azad had wonthe Bhaderwah Assembly by-election witha record margin of 58,015 votes against hisBJP rival Dhanatar Singh.

In an conversation with media in Dak-Banglow, Doda, Niaz, said: “I, had alreadysacrificed my constituency many occasionsbefore and this time, I will register a strongprotest against any such move by congressparty.” “It’s time for others also to showloyalty towards party and should sacrificetheir assembly constituencies to make roomfor Azad Sahab, why Congress party al-ways uses me as ‘scapegoat’, why not otherloyalists should also vacate their constitu-encies for him,” he said.

“I can contest elections from only fromBhaderwah Constituency, but Azad Sahabcan contest elections in any of the all 87 con-stituencies of Jammu and Kashmir,” he added.

Congress MLA not readyto vacate seat for Azad

Meanwhile, President Jammu and KashmirPradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) SaifUd Din Soz and Azad after consultation withCongress high command have given greensignals to six leaders in the Jammu region whowill contest on Congress tickets in the up-coming Assembly election 2014.

The names of these probable candi-dates include Jugal Kishore from Reasi,Vikar Rasool Wani from Banihal, MasterAshok Kumar from Ramban, Abdul MajidWani from Doda, Ghulam MohammadSaroori from Inderwal and Chowdhary AjazAhmed Khan from Gool Arnas. CongressMLA’s from Chenab Valley have confirmedthe news about signal to them for the up-coming Assembly election. These leadersare having strong roots in their areas sothe party has given signal to them and havetold to start preparing for the upcomingAssembly election which is schedule totake place in October-November.

Sources said that from first week ofAugust, Azad and Soz will start meetingthe workers of all districts. Sources closeto Azad and Soz said development is a con-tinuous process and same accelerated pacewould be maintained in the direction of de-velopment as witnessed in J&K in the Con-gress tenure, beside will announce its 1stlist of the mandate after the Independenceday, sources added.—KD

DRASS (KARGIL)—The army has said thepossibility of terror spillover from Afghani-stan to J&K is a real concern as is the ap-pearance of ISIS posters in Srinagar. Speak-ing to the media in Drass town of Kargildistrict where the army is celebrating ‘VijayDivas’ on the 15th anniversary of India’svictory in the Kargil war, Lieutenant Gen-eral D.S. Hooda, GOC Northern Commandsaid, “We have to be prepared for contin-gencies. That is my job to look at what sortof contingencies can arrive.

“And how it can impact on the securitysituation in J&K. So, the threat is there. Therecould be a spillover. It is not as if nobody istalking about it. You are getting the state-ments by the HM (Hizbul Mujahideen) chiefsaying that he will take support from al-Qaedaand Taliban. “We are hearing statementsfrom Taliban side saying Kashmir is the nextbattle ground. Terms like Ghazve Hind arebeing used. It has not yet manifested itself,but these are things that you have to look atand be prepared”.

On the situation on the border withChina, he said, “The situation on the Chinaborder is absolutely peaceful and calm.“There are no problems. There has been noincident of firing at the Line of Actual Con-trol (LAC). There are some areas where thereis a difference of perception on the align-ment of the LAC. We think of some areaand they think of some other. “There is no

Afghan terror spillover ofreal concern: Indian army

demarcation on the land. And in such areaswe do the patrolling and Chinese soldiersalso do, but even in those areas, wheneverthere are any face-offs, everything is settledpeacefully. I cannot comment on the politi-cal or the diplomatic level, but soldier-to-soldier contact is handled very peacefully”.

On recent ceasefire violations by Pakistan,the GOC said, “Yesterday, there was oneceasefire violation in Poonch-Mendhar andalso one in Akhnoor sector. We had a fewceasefire violations there and they are con-tinuing. “Although, let me state that they arenot (of) the same intensity as was last year.Last year, the firing was much much heavier.But yes, there is a problem”. Talking aboutsome ISIS flags appearing in Srinagar duringstreet protests, he said, “Yes, all these thingsbother us. But we are looking at various con-tingencies and seeing how we need to dealwith them in case they come up to us”.

On improving relations with Pakistan,the GOC said, “See I cannot answer for In-dia-Pakistan relations. These are beinghandled at a particular level. But definitely,on the border the incidents which arehappening...Even the foreign secretarymade that comment that the biggest CBMwas ceasefire along the borders. “And ifthe situation on the LoC and borders iscalm, then it will definitely help and it willbe good for the development of overall re-lations”.—KD

SRINAGAR—The United Jehad Council, anumbrella organisation of militant groups op-erating in Kashmir, Sunday said the amal-gam wasn’t in touch with the Taliban andthose spreading rumors about the Afghanfighters coming to the disputed Himalayanregion wanted to defame the freedom move-ment. UJC chief Syed Sallah-u-Din saidwithdrawal of US troops from Afghanistanis the most positive sign and the glamourof withdrawal of NATO forces from Af-ghanistan will have its effects. “But I agreewith Geelani that as the whole Muslim worldsupports our movement, Afghanistan’spolitical and diplomatic support will be abonus for us. We don’t want Taliban tocome to Kashmir and they are needed inAfghanistan the most. We don’t have anyphysical link with Taliban.”

The UJC chief said participation in pollsis cashed on by India as an endorsement ofaccession with its dominion at the interna-tional level. “India’s diplomatic missions,successive foreign ministers and its lead-ership has always cashed on the elections

We don’t want Taliban in Kashmir:UJC chief Salah-u-din

being held in Jammu and Kashmir. I appealthe Hurriyat Conference leadership to givepoll boycott call in one voice. I am of thefirm belief that if they (Geelani Sahib,Mirwaiz Sahib, Shabir Shah Sahib and YasinMalik Sahib) rise above their personalgrudges, ego and inhibitions and reach outto people jointly at least on this one issue,there will be 100 per cent poll boycott,” hesaid.

He said the UJC is trying its best to unitethe divided separatist leadership in Kash-mir. “If they fail to unite they will be ac-countable before God and the court ofpeople. Besides there is likelihood of ourhuge sacrifices may go in vain but the onuswill lie on our separatist leadership.” Heobserved that in order to nullify Indianclaims made on the participation in elec-tions held in Jammu and Kashmir, and toprove it wrong, the people of Jammu andKashmir should at least to go for 100 percent boycott of the polls at least once tomake it clear to the world community thatthey don’t want to remain with India.—KD

SRINAGAR—Senior Hurriyet leaders, Syed Ali Gilani andShabbir Ahmad Shah have called for release of all illegallydetained Hurriyet leaders, activists and youth on humani-tarian ground so that they can celebrate the religious fes-tival with their families. Syed Ali Gilani in a statement is-sued in Srinagar maintained that registering criminal casesagainst Kashmiri political prisoners and awarding sen-tences to them was a blatant violation of international law.

Shabbir Ahmad Shah condemned the authorities forlaunching crackdown on Hurriyet leaders and continued de-tention of Farooq Ahmad Dar, Mushtaq-ul-Islam ShabbirAhmad Dar, Muhammad Yasin Ataai and others. APHC leader

Detainees’ release onhumanitarian ground urged

Mir Shahid Saleem in a statement issued in Jammu said thatIndia despite using the worst kind of state oppression hadfailed to crush the ongoing freedom struggle in Kashmir.

Meanwhile, the authorities continued to place Hurriyetleaders including Syed Ali Gilani, Shabbir Ahmad Shah,Nayeem Ahmad Khan and Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai un-der house arrest. Thousands of people attended funeral inabsentia of Chairman of Nawa-i-Waqat Group of Publica-tions, Majeed Nizami, at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, today. JKLFChairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik and other freedom lead-ers attended the funeral. Muhammad Yasin Malik paid trib-utes to Nizami.—KMS

Extortionist heldwith toy pistol,

Rs 50,000recovered

PULWOM (IHK)—An extor-tionist who would threatenelected village representa-tives in particular and extractmoney using toy pistol washeld in South Kashmir, a po-lice official said on Sunday.A toy pistol and a tear smokegrenade were recovered fromthe alleged extortionist AijazAhmad Shah in Pulwom whowas apprehended in a jointoperation with army andCentral Reserve Police ForceSaturday evening, he said.

Shah was allegedly extort-ing money from village head-men and other civilians in thevolatile district. The officialsaid, last week, police receivedinformation that a person pos-ing as militant is threateningvillage headmen and other ci-vilians and is extorting moneyfrom them. “Police started in-vestigation in this regard andactivated its sources in thearea,” he said. Last evening ona tip off, Police along with armyand CRPF arrested Shah a resi-dent of Fakeer Mohalla Tral atvillage Chakora.—KD

SRINAGAR—Hurriyet Conference Jammu Kashmir strongly condemning the authorities forlaunching crackdown on its leaders, has said that India and puppet regime do not feel ashamedof detaining and putting under house arrest political opponents on the eve of Eid-ul-Fitr. AnHCJK spokesperson in a statement issued in Srinagar said, “HCJK leaders, Farooq Ahmad Dar,Shabbir Ahmad Dar and Muhammad Yasin Ataai have been lodged in police station RamMunshi Bagh and have not been released even after three days, which is sheer autocracy.” Healso condemned the continued house arrest of the veteran Hurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani,Shabbir Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Ahmad Khan and Muhammad Ashraf Sehrai.—NNI

Hurriyet Conference condemneddetention of Kashmiri leaders on Eid

Everyone with allthose good inten-tions came to helpIndonesia rebuildfrom the tsunami;but the co-ordina-tion problem wasvery big, because

they came withtheir own way ofdoing business;

they came with theinflexibility of theirown governance.

—Sri Mulyani Indrawati

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The country’s automotive industry and autoparts manufacturers are suffering heavily from the after-shocks of inconsistent import policies, rampant import ofused cars and frequent amnesty schemes of the past gov-ernment. Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts andAccessories Manufacturers’ Chairman, Usman Malik,stated that, according to recent press reports, a mafia ofused car importers, in connivance with the Customs aswell as FIA Immigration officials, are misusing the per-sonal baggage schemes, which are meant only to facilitateoverseas Pakistanis for importing their own used vehiclesinto the country.

These press reports have proposed that, in order tocontrol misuse by the mafia, all overseas Pakistanis, whobring their personal vehicles to Pakistan, should be re-quired to register these imported used cars in their ownnames in Pakistan, with the condition that they cannot sell

Used car imports continueto be misused: PAAPAM

or transfer it for few years. As per current rules, overseasPakistanis are required to stay abroad for at least two yearsand the vehicles, which they wish to import, must be intheir possession during stay abroad. Besides they haveto produce foreign vehicle registration certificates alongwith driving license at the time of clearance. However,according to reports, this scheme is controlled by a mafia,which is being patronised by a lobby of some customsand immigration officers.

Now, majority of the vehicles, being imported underthis scheme, are not owned by overseas Pakistanis buttheir passports are stamped by corrupt immigration offic-ers and used for commercially importing used vehiclesfrom Japan. PAAPAM Chairman further quoted above re-ports regarding purchase copies of passports of overseasPakistanis by used car dealers for exploiting this scheme.These photocopies of passports were then imprinted withfake departure and arrival stamps to complete requiredformalities for imported vehicles clearance.

Shipping activity atPort QasimKARACHI—Three shipsarrived at the Port to load/offload containers atQICT, diesel oil atFOTCO, ethylene at EVTLon July, 26, port sourcessaid here on Sunday.Berth occupancy wasmaintained at 50% at thePort on Saturday whereships namely M.V KPS-IAlican BEY- Powership,M.V Dong Hai 7001(Dredger), M.V Pucon,M.T Al Soor II, M.TNorgas, M.V Ns Traders-Iare currently occupyingberths to load/ offloadcontainers, diesel oil,ethylene, rice. Cargohandling operations werecarried out smoothly atthe Port where a cargovolume 31471 tonnescomprising 20044 tonnesimports, 11427 tonnesexport and 402 TUEs washandled at the Port duringthe last 24 hours.—APP

Cotton productiontarget to be achievedKARACHI—KarachiCotton Brokers Forum(KCBF) Chairman NaseemUsman has expressed hisconfidence that the cottonproduction target of 15.10million bales for the nextseason (2014-15) will beachieved due to increase ofover 300,000 acrescultivation area for thecrop. Talking to APP,Naseem Usman said thatthe government’s condu-cive policies had put theeconomy on the right track.He lauded the federalgovernment’s efforts toovercome electricityshortages. He said viablepower projects initiated bythe government wouldboost industrial develop-ment, which would createjob opportunities and bringprosperity in the country.Naseem said despiteenergy shortages, thecountry’s textile exportsrecorded 3.9 percentincrease.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Federation of PakistanChambers of Commerce and Industry, anapex body of chambers has directed allchambers and affiliated trade associationsacross the country to donate generouslyto Internationally Displaced Persons (IDPs)of North Waziristan. FPCCI acting Presi-dent, Shaukat Ahmad while talking to APPon Sunday said that although the govern-ment was fully supporting the IDPs butpublic and private sector should come for-ward to join hands with the government bydespatching uninterrupted supply of reliefgoods and donations especially on the aus-picious occasion of Eidul Fitr.

He made an impassioned appeal to allchambers, traders associations and regis-

tered local unions of businessmen to takerelief goods to camps at Bannu and its ad-joining areas and spend Eid with IDPs. Hesaid that IDPs had rendered great sacrificesfor the country during the operation “Zarbe Azb” and the nation should support themfinancially. He said “As we know, the spiritof Ramazan is tolerance and one shouldhelp the downtrodden of the society. It isalso our duty to help the less privilegedpeople of society.” He urged the people toprovide their Fitra to the IDPs.

Meanwhile, the Guard Group of Indus-tries has dispatched two truckloads of re-lief good and Guard rice for the IDPs. Twoambulances, equipped with medicines andstaff of Mumtaz Bakhtawar Hospitals runby the Guard Group, are alos providing freetreatment to the IDPs.

FPCCI directs all chambers todonate to IDPs

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Dedicated candidates of integ-rity especially educated youth will be fieldedon merit in forthcoming annual elections ofthe chambers of commerce and industryacross the country. Acting chairman, busi-nessman panel, the largest alliance of cham-bers in the country enjoying 99 per centoverwhelming majority in FPCCI, Iftikhar AliMalik Sunday told APP the names of newcandidates for various positions in thechambers will be announced with consen-sus in true democratic manner.

He said that young talented entrepre-neurs with inherited spirit to promote trade,serve the country and help strengthen thenational economy, will be fully encouragedwhile awarding the tickets.

He said a high level committee com-prising senior trade leaders including SMMunir,Chief Executive Pakistan Trade De-velopment Authority and FPCCI VP and

Dedicated candidates to be fieldedin all chamber elections

Zonal Chairman,S.M.Naseer wouldfinalise the nominees with consensus onmerit, keeping in view their professionalstanding in the private sector and theircontribution towards national develop-ment.

Iftikhar Ali Malik said before giving fi-nal shape to the list,all senior local tradeleaders throughout the country will also betaken into confidence.He said no bodywould be allowed to cause a dent in theunity of alliance or sabotage the transpar-ent and democratic process of the chamberpolls, adding that the trade body holds na-tional interests supreme.He said thatsmooth transfer of power in democraticways will be ensured in all chambers. Hesaid that preliminary meetings to review thechambers elections were held one each atIslamabad and Gymkhana Club Lahorewhich was participated in by senior tradeleaders for developing consensus in thelarger interest of the business community.

ATTOCK: Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmed visitingSasta Ramzan Bazaar.

PESHAWAR: Chief Minister KP Pervaiz Khattak chairing a meeting on drafting 1st

Provincial Industrial Policy at CM Secretariat.

NAVEED SIRAJ COUNTRY MANGER INTEL PAKISTAN

OVER the last few years we have witnessed what wemay think of as a mass surge towards the adoptionof technology. Organizations of varying scales em-

braced relatively new technologies in order to drive busi-ness efficiencies. Even medium sized businesses opened

up to deploying the HybridCloud and there are compa-nies that have begun to makeuse of unstructured data andanalytics to make real timedecisions. Actually, it is agreat ego boost to know thatthe world tech fraternity ac-knowledges Pakistan as an ITtiger, but the one overpower-ing reality is: only 10% ofhouseholds in Pakistan areequipped with PCs in com-

parison to more than 10% of households in India, 45% ofemerging economies such as Brazil, Saudi Arabia & Tur-key and 35% of China. So despite having come a long wayfrom where we started, we have to admit the country’sachievements at taking basic computer skills and internetaccess to the majority of its population to drive personalgrowth has a long way to go still.

Considering that a massive chunk of Pakistan’s popu-lation lives in rural areas, the pressing question that needto be asked are: Can technology provide solutions toshrinking land base or depleting water resources? If not,what use is it to the farmer? The problem here is when itcomes to rural Pakistan; we still seem to be caught intime warp: technology has long since moved from beinga provider to an enabler in the urban context. Once weadmit to this, the possibilities are numerous and the

transformational change that technology can bringwithin the country are considerable. In urban Pakistanwe are living with the economic empowerment andprogress that technology can facilitate: it has opened upaccess to unlimited resources in the fields of education,healthcare, citizens-services, financial services to namea few.

We no longer need to be told that PCs and broad-band connections can facilitate instant information intimes where constantly evolving technology is drivinggrowth. So here’s small example for those who questionthe relevance of technology in the rural context - timelyinformation about market prices and production tech-niques will not just help change the way agriculture ispracticed in the country but actually improve the lives ofthose employed in this sector and other trades.

However, mindset is not the only barrier to the lackof internet and PC penetration in rural Pakistan. Neithera lack of desire to be a part of this progress nor negli-gence is to blame. Rather, it is the last mile delivery thathas always been the overarching challenge for us. Thisbeing the case, the enormity of the task-cum-opportu-nity we are looking at can be summed up with a fewrecent facts: As of now, only 6.7% of a rural populationof 889 million has access to computers and the internet.Also, though the Pakistani PC market achieved a recordgrowth of about 30.2 % in the second quarter, 90% ofhouseholds are still without a PC. In other words, nearlythe whole of rural Pakistan is an untapped but readymarket.

We need to work towards two simultaneous goals tomake the most of this opportunity: one, the delivery ofthe internet to the rural doorsteps and two, the motiva-tion of internet adoption by increasing awareness. There-fore advertising and communication will have to workhand in hand with the physical task of getting the con-

nections across. The way forward definitely is a com-bined approach by the Government, Industry and theAcademia with special focus on 4 important aspects.

1) Provision of a robust broadband infrastructure withaffordable last mile access for all.

2) Encouraging local innovation in local languagesto drive customized and area-relevant solutions that willaccelerate usage for education, employment, healthcare,commerce and more. We have many developers who canbe encouraged to create multilingual graphical user in-terface aimed at simplifying the internet and PC experi-ence by offering navigation in native languages are afew steps in the right direction.

3) Scaling of digital literacy to drive awareness aboutthe benefits of technology. The more people know howto use technology to improve their economic conditions,the more interested they will be in adopting it.

4) Finally, facilitating easy access to affordable de-vices. Increasing demand will enable economies of scaleto bring costs down and the government has begun fa-cilitating PC and connection purchase through discounts,low interest loans, direct and indirect tax exemptions.

In this regard efforts of Universal Service Fund (USF)founded by Government of Pakistan in 2006 are also com-mendable. USF promotes the development of Telecom-munication services in under-served areas throughoutthe country. The key objectives of USF are to bring thefocus of telecom operators toward rural population andincrease the level of telecom penetration significantly inrural areas through effective and fair utilization of thefunds. Additionally, the USF aims to improve the Broad-band penetration in the country and to bring significantadvances towards enhancement of e-services, both inrural as well as urban areas of the country.

Since USF’s formation in 2006, it is working on Ru-ral Telecom Projects in un-served areas, for which con-

tracts have been signed with major Telecom serviceproviders in the country for providing telecom services.USF is also contributing to other fields. The specialproject ‘ICT for persons with disabilities’ involves pro-viding ICT related equipment for special person’s insti-tutions. Computing devices have already become anodal component in an average urbanites life. Our taskis to ensure that the PC stability to widen economicopportunities, improve workforce productivity, supportinnovation, decrease business costs, increase trade andforeign investment extends to rural Pakistan as well.With an increase in digital literacy, social media willgrow stronger and green projects such as timely agri-cultural information to small and marginal holdersthrough cost effective digital videos reduce the pres-sure on the public extension system. Also, many offlineproducts and services like air and railway travel book-ings are now increasingly accessible to smaller cities,which is a clear indication of a positive step towardsdevice adoption.

It cannot be denied that in the modern context ofgrowth, IT is setting the foundation for a transforma-tional economy. It is the key to building a nation readyto take on the challenges of the future. To realize this, ITwill have to be ingrained in the day-to-day functioningof government, industry and citizens through productsand services essential to life. Internet connectivity canreduce the rural-urban divide through priority sectorssuch as education, agriculture, banking, health care andby strengthening the effectiveness of delivery of gov-ernment-to-citizen services. Countrywide internet con-nectivity is actually an enabler of digital literacy, nation-wide social, economic and human empowerment. Hence,pushing for computing devices and broadband connec-tivity for all is critical to achieving participatory & inclu-sive growth in the country.

The state of computing devices & broadband penetration in Pakistan

Drive to bringretailers under

tax netISLAMABAD—The FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR)has stepped up its drive tobring retailers under tax net,ordering the establishmentof a specialised cell in all taxoffices for the purpose. Thetax authority issued detailedinstructions to its field for-mations for identifying po-tential retailers who could bebrought under the tax net.As per the details, a cell willbe established in each re-gional tax office (RTO), en-forcement and collection orbroadening of tax base zoneacross the country. The of-ficers/officials posted at thecell will report directly to thetax commissioners.

In the budget 2014-15,government introduced atwo-tier regime for retailers.Those registered under thenormal sales tax regimewould pay standard rate of 17per cent, while those fallingunder the second tier wouldbe charged sales tax at differ-ent rates on their electricitybills. As per order issued hereby the FBR, the cell will en-sure registration of all retail-ers of the first tier within thejurisdiction of all these RTOs,etc. The FBR has alreadyworked out the list of retail-ers who will be segregatedinto the two tiers. To enhancethe base of retailers and iden-tify the potential evaders, therevenue authority has askedthe tax offices to carry out ter-ritorial surveys, conductinternet search and get detailsfrom trade directories to iden-tify the additional retailers.

Moreover, list of peoplehaving commercial connec-tions and total electricity billexceeding Rs600,000 in thepreceding 12 months (averageRs50,000 per month) shall beobtained from the electricitysupply companies.—APP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Pakistan International Airlinegets another A320 aircraft to upgrade itsfleet mostly consisted of aged planes,however the airline needs more focus onimproving customer facilitation ratherthan appeasing favori tes to rescuethenational carrier from extreme financialdeficit. PIA is in the process of acquir-ing latest aircraft in its fleetand has received delivery ofthe second A320 aircraft ondry lease which arrived to-day at Islamabad Airport in-creasing the operat ionalfleet to 26 aircraft. This wasstated by Secretary Avia-t ion and Chairman PIA,Muhammad Ali Gardezi at a simple cer-emony.

Our aim is the revival of PIA as desiredby the Prime Minister of Pakistan, MianMuhammad Nawaz Shareef and under theguidance and supervision of Mr. ShujaatAzeem, Advisor to the Prime Minister on

PIA gets another A320

Needs focus on customerservice

Aviation, the airline is moving in the rightdirection. He said that with the inductionof these latest technology fuel efficient air-craft, the airline will be in a better positionto offers services to its passengers and atthe same time will benefit PIA in terms offuel savings which is a major cost factor forthe airline.

Gardezi said that PIA will receive thethird A320 aircraft in October while one air-

craft on wet lease will be in-ducted in PIA fleet in Augustand it is expected that PIA willhave 7-10 more aircraft in-ducted in its fleet by Decem-ber, this year 2014. ManagingDirector PIA, ShanawazRerhaman sharing his viewson the occasion said that with

the induction of aircraft in PIA fleet, we willbe able to restore our flights frequenciesand introduce new destinations for the con-venience of our passengers. He said thatwith employees team work and the supportof Government of Pakistan PIA will soonbe able to restore its past glory.

Fast foodworkers vow

civildisobedienceVILLA PARK— Compar-ing their campaign to thecivil rights movement, fastfood workers from acrossthe country voted Satur-day to escalate their ef-forts for $15-an-hour payand union membership byusing nonviolent civil dis-obedience. More than1,300 workers gathered ina convention in center insuburban Chicago to dis-cuss the future of a cam-paign that has spread todozens of cities in lessthan two years. WearingT-shirts that said “Fightfor $15” and “We AreWorth More,” the workerscheered loudly and saidthey would win if theystuck together. “Peopleare just fed up,” saidCindy Enriquez, 20, ofPhoenix.

The $8.25 an hour shemakes working forMcDonald’s is not enoughto go to college and be-come a police officer andbarely enough to pay herrent, Enriquez said. Whilethe vote didn’t list anyspecific acts of civil dis-obedience, Enriquez saidsome workers suggestedsit-ins and perhaps block-ing businesses. She saidthey need to keep pres-sure on owners even if itmeans sitting in front ofrestaurants “to make surethey do not sell anything.”

The Service EmployeesInternational Union hasbeen providing financial andorganizational support tothe fast-food protests. Theybegan in late 2012 in NewYork City and have includeddaylong strikes and a loudbut peaceful demonstrationoutside this year’sMcDonald’s Corp. share-holder meeting, where morethan 130 protesters were ar-rested after stepping ontocompany property.Saturday’s convention inVilla Park, Illinois, includedsessions on civil disobedi-ence and leadership training.Kendall Fells, an organizingdirector for the campaignand a representative ofSEIU, said when and whatactions happen next will beup to workers in each city.

The Rev. William BarberII, head of the North Caro-lina NAACP, said the move-ment is young but as impor-tant as when civil disobedi-ence efforts began duringthe early years of the civilrights movement. “Peopleshould not work and be will-ing to work and then be de-nied living wages and be de-nied health care because ofgreed,” Barber said. “Thismovement is saying thatAmerica is less than shepromises to be, morally andconstitutionally, by denyingliving wages,” Barber said.“If you raise wages for work-ers, you buoy the wholeeconomy.”

The campaign comesas President BarackObama and many otherDemocrats across thecountry have attempted tomake a campaign issue outof their call to increase thefederal and state minimumwages. The current federalminimum wage is $7.25 anhour, translating to about$15,000 a year for some-one working 40 hours aweek, though many fast-food workers get far fewerhours. Obama and othershave called for increasingit to $10.10.—AFP

Currency Selling Buying

USA 98.60 98.40

UK 167.50 167.16

Euro 132.76 132.50

Canada 91.76 91.57

Switzerland 109.24 109.02

Australia 92.73 92.55

Sweden 14.44 14.41

Japan 0.9686 0.9666

Norway 15.89 15.86

Singapore 79.45 79.29

Denmark 17.80 17.77

Saudi Arabia 26.29 26.24

Hong Kong 12.72 12.70

Kuwait 348.67 347.96

Malaysia 30.99 30.93

Newzealand 84.50 84.33

Qatar 27.08 27.03

UAE 26.84 26.79

Kr. Won 0.0958 0.0956

Thailand 3.094 3.088

KARACHI: Rashid Ahmed Siddiqui, Chairman, Afeef Group and Karachi BusinessForum hosted a reception on Sunday Seen in the picture, are S M Muneer, Mian ZahidHussain, H E Emil Wyss Consul General of Swiss, Michael Dodman American ConsulGeneral and Afeef Rashid.—PO Photo by Sultan Chaki

KARACHI: Women shop for jewellery at a market ahead of the Muslim festivities of Eidal-Fitr.—PO photo

KARACHI—Eid shopping is gaining mo-mentum as improved law and order situa-tion has facilitated buyers to visit shop-ping centres. In the absence of any cred-ible official sales data of Eid-related items,market traders project overall sale of Rs80billion in Karachi alone as against Rs60-70bn last year. Traders said that like previ-ous two to three years, a large number ofpeople made pre-Ramazan shopping asthey feared that the situation may aggra-vate in major cities as an after effect of themilitary operation in tribal areas.

All-Karachi Tajir Ittehad chairman AtiqMir was of the view that Eid shopping maycross over Rs80 billion this year despiteextreme poverty. A sizeable segment is sopoor that they can’t even afford to buy asuit costing Rs800-1,200. “I believe that 30per cent people in Karachi, like labour classand those living below the poverty-linecannot afford to indulge in Eid shopping,unless someone else enables them to pur-chase new clothes,” he said. Traders havenot scaled down prices despite rupee’s gainagainst dollar which has made import offoreign items cheaper in the last few months.

High spending for Eidul Fitr appearssurprising when cost of living has risen dueto rise in food inflation, high fuel prices andhigh cost of bills. This has forced manypeople to buy sub-standard clothes andother used items. According to PakistanBureau of Statistics (PBS), import bill ofworn clothes, including shoes, shirts, jack-ets, woolen garments, trousers, socks,sweaters jumped to $182 million (457,600tonnes) in 2013-2014 as compared to $146m(375,485 tonnes) in 2012-2013, showing a

MOSCOW—McDonald’s burgers andshakes may become the latest victims ofworsening ties between Moscow andWashington after a Russian consumerwatchdog agency accused the US chain ofsanitary violations. McDonald’s Corp,which opened its first Russian restaurantin Moscow in 1990, became an iconic sym-bol of flourishing American capitalism dur-ing the fall of the Soviet Union. But itsGolden Arches may be in the Kremlin’scrosshairs as ties between Moscow andWashington have fallen to their lowest pointsince the end of the Cold War with con-secutive rounds of US sanctions overRussia’s role in the Ukraine crisis.

“We have identified violations whichput the product quality and safety of theentire McDonald’s chain in doubt,” AnnaPopova, the watchdog’s head and Russia’schief sanitary inspector, was quoted byInterfax news agency as saying. The watch-dog agency Rospotrebnadzor has previ-ously been accused of acting in the politi-cal interests of the Kremlin, banning Geor-gian wine as Tbilisi strengthened ties withWashington and spirits from Moldova af-

CHINA is the world’s highest energy con-sumer, and continues to rely on GCC coun-tries for a large chunk of its oil supplies.Interestingly, in 2014, in line with the decel-eration in China’s imports growth, the shareof imports from GCC countries is also nar-rowing. In its report, Asiya Investmentssays that the importance of the countriesof the Gulf as energy suppliers to Chinahas been decreasing throughout 2014. Im-ports from the GCC, which are almost ex-clusively fuel, accounted for 39.5 per centof Chinese fuel imports by May 2014. Sincethe beginning of the year, the figure hasgone down by 391bps, breaking the posi-tive trend of 2013. As a share of total Chi-nese imports, the flow coming from the GCCdecreased 53bps, also changing the upwardtrend of the previous year. Imports fromGCC experienced a severe downturn sincethe beginning of 2014, falling more in-

Ogra seeks increasein petrol, diesel

pricesSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Oil andGas Regulatory Authority(Ogra) recommended on Fri-day an increase in prices ofpetrol and diesel from Aug1. According to sources,Ogra has sent a summary tothe finance ministry and adecision on price revisionwould be taken on Mondayafter approval by the primeminister. PM rejects Ogra’ssummary to increase POLprices

They said Ogra had rec-ommended a reduction inprices of kerosene and lightdiesel oil and proposed that arevision in prices of all petro-leum products should bemade immediately in view ofthe week-long Eid holidays.According to the workingpaper submitted to the gov-ernment, Ogra has proposeda price increase of Rs1.45 perlitre for petrol, Rs4.10 for highoctane blending componentand 35 paisa for high speeddiesel. It has recommended areduction of Rs1.10 per litrein the price of kerosene andRs1 in that of light diesel oil.

EFU insurancegroup to launch

sharia-compliantproducts

IS L A M A B A D—Pakistan’slargest private insurancegroup will offer sharia-com-pliant insurance products,or takaful, through its gen-eral and life units, addingfurther momentum to gov-ernment efforts to expandthe Islamic finance industry.Both EFU Life Assuranceand EFU General Insuranceplan to open takaful win-dows, a practice which al-lows firms to offer Islamicand conventional productsside by side, according toseparate filings with theKarachi stock exchange.

An alternative to conven-tional insurance, takaful fol-lows religious guidelines in-cluding bans on interest andpure monetary speculationand a prohibition on invest-ing in industries such as al-cohol and gambling. Theplans come two months afterregulators cleared the way forconventional firms to offerIslamic products, part of regu-latory effort to increase insur-ance penetration in Pakistan,which remains the third-low-est in Asia. EFU General hadRs13.9 billion in written pre-miums in 2013, representingroughly a quarter of theindustry’s total. EFU Life hasa branch network of over 150branches around the country.

Company officials de-clined to comment on theirplans but a source at oneof the units said the takafulwindows could be opera-tional in two to threemonths. The entry of con-ventional players is ex-pected to boost the takafulsector, which holds an es-timated 3 per cent share ofPakistan’s total insurancemarket. Last month, UnitedInsurance said it plannedto enter the sector to pro-vide takaful and retakafulproducts both locally andoverseas.—APP

ISLAMABAD: Ex-MNA Ghulam Abbas cutting the ribbon to inaugurate new branch ofChenOne at Centaurus.

MULTAN: A farmer along with his grandson busy in sapling rice crop in their field.

Better sales despitehigh prices

jump of 22pc in quantity and 25pc in value.Traders said that price is not an issue onEidul Fitr since markets offer costly tocheaper merchandise for different catego-ries of buyers.

Unable to cover the cost, many parentsapproach friends and relatives for smallloans to meet demands of their children. Atthe other end of the social scale, there arepeople who spend freely. Small Traders ofArtificial Jewellery and General MerchantAssociation President Saleem Saba saidsale of artificial jewellery has risen by 25pcas compared to last year. He said in fancyjewellery, the local industry holds 75pcmarket share as compared to 25pc of im-ported jewellery, mostly Indian.

In contrast, Chinese items, like hair-clips, hair-bands and other wearing acces-sories hold 75pc market share since theseare not produced in the country. “The im-port of these Chinese items for this Eid sea-son is estimated at Rs10 billion,” he added.Some plastic cosmetics have also arrivedfrom India. A retailer of crockery items inHyderi said that sales of crockery items(both imported and local) like glasses,plates, tea cups, etc soars three times higherduring Ramazan than normal days.

Barring locally made mehndi, Chinesecosmetic items dominate the markets with90pc share as females do not trust in locally-made products. “Our sales double duringRamazan than normal days,” a cosmetic sellersaid. Allawala Market President MohammadAsif said that sale of readymade shalwar-kameez has jumped by 40pc than last year,especially in gents suits, while demand forunstitched suits has plunged.—APP

Russia takes aim at McDonald’sburgers as US ties worsen

ter the former Soviet republic boosted itsdrive to partner with the European Union.A Moscow court told Reuters a regionalbranch of Rospotrebnadzor had asked it todeclare production and sales of someMcDonald’s products illegal after the watch-dog agency carried out inspections ofMcDonald’s restaurants last June.

The regulator says the company is de-ceiving consumers about the energy valueof its Cheeseburger Royales, Filet-o-Fish,Cheeseburgers and Chicken Burgers andabout nutritional value of its milkshakes andice creams. It’s also said in a statement thatCaesar wrap sandwiches and a vegetablesalad were contaminated with coliform bac-teria, which indicates the likelihood of foodpoisoning. McDonald’s, which boasts oflong lines at its restaurants across Moscow,some of which sit in view of the Kremlin’sred walls, said it had not received any com-plaint from the regulator and had no infor-mation about the lawsuit. “For the 25 yearsthat McDonald’s has been working in theRussian market, its main priority has been toprovide quality and safe products to our visi-tors,” the company said by email.—AFP

China reduces its exposure toGCC imports

tensely than the overall fuel imports growth.This is in clear contrast with the trend of2013, since imports from the GCC experi-enced a growth consistently above Chineseimports of fuel. Although imports from GCCrebounded in May 2014, their pace is stillbelow that of fuel imports, and thereforethe GCC keeps losing share.

On further analysis of GCC countries,most of Chinese oil-related imports come fromSaudi Arabia, forming about 20 per cent ofthe total oil imports. Saudi also weighs 46per cent of the total GCC imports basket,and is the main driver of the general slow-down in China’s oil imports from GCC. Nev-ertheless, the kingdom continues to play therole of an emergency supplier and changesin its exports could be explained by changesin Chinese imports. Imports from Kuwait re-main steadily low, while the UAE’s contribu-tion is increasing.—KT

TOTAL assets stood at Dh 34.5 billion, growing 21.8per cent year-on-year and 14.7 per cent on a year-to-date basis. Gross loans and advances stood at Dh23.9

billion, up 12.9 per cent year-on-year and 6.9 per cent on ayear-to-date basis. Gross Islamic financing assets in-creased by Dh1.1 billion compared to 31 December 2013.“We are seeing solid growth in almost all of our lines ofbusiness and the focus for the rest of 2014 is to stronglygrow the bank’s top line as the full impact of our loanpipeline continues to flow through,” said Peter England,RakBank’s chief executive officer.

He said the bank is a seeing exceptionally stronggrowth in its SME and commercial lending, which is a ma-jor engine for growth. “With a strong economic outlookfor the UAE, we are confident that we can continue tobuild on our success in the market as we look ahead to thesecond half of 2014. We are in a strong competitive posi-tion to increase our market share as we plan to launchinnovative products and services over the next two quar-ters, while maintaining our focus on service quality,” addedEngland.

The bank said in a statement that its customer depos-its grew by Dh2.4 billion to Dh25.5 billion compared toDecember 31, 2013. The growth came mainly from a rise ofDh1.1 billion in conventional demand deposits, Dh687million in call deposits and Dh467 million in savings de-posits. “This was offset by a decrease in conventionaltime deposits by Dh412 million. However, there was ahealthy growth in Islamic deposits of Dh599 million overDecember 31, 2013,” the statement said. The bank said

RakBank posts Dh700m in first-half profit, total assets climb 21.8%

despite a drop in net profit in the first half, total operatingincome increased by Dh156.9 million to Dh1.7 billion, anincrease of 10.2 per cent compared to the half year ended30 June 2013.

“This growth was mainly due to an increase of Dh114.9million in net interest income and income from Islamic fi-nancing, and Dh42.0 million in non-interest income, whichclimbed by 12.3 per cent over the same period last year.”Operating costs increased by 11.5 per cent to Dh740.2million compared to the same period last year mainly dueto increases in employment costs. For the quarter endedJune 30, 2014 the profit was Dh365.8 million, which washigher by Dh31.3 million over the quarter ended March 31,2014, reflecting continued improved operating income overthe last quarter. “Net interest income plus net profit fromIslamic financing for the half year ended June 30, 2014grew by 9.6 per cent compared to the half year ended June30, 2013 to Dh1.3 billion.

This was a result of higher interest income on loansand investments, a reduction in the cost of deposits as thebank focused on accumulating low cost transaction ac-counts, and an increase in net income from Islamic financ-ing to Dh58.1 million in line with the growing Islamic fi-nance portfolio which commenced operations in 2013,”the bank said. The total impairment charge for the halfyear stood at Dh258.4 million compared to Dh118.2 millionhalf year ended June 30 2013. Non-performing loans weresteady at 2.4 per cent of the loan portfolio and theannualised net credit losses to average loans and advancesclosed at 2.2 per cent.—AP

KARACHI—Massive power breakdown onFriday morning till afternoon due to techni-cal problems in the National Grid Line inter-rupted electricity supply badly hampered in-dustrial production in the port city. Commer-cial activities however remained largely un-affected. According to traders, the peakshopping time usually starts after the sun-set in Eid season.

Industrialists working three shifts said theywere already stressed because of frequentpower outages, especially at night during themonth of Ramazan. Though many industrial-ists had stand-by generators, they said powergadgets could not be operated indefinitely ow-ing to high power generation cost. The break-down came at a time when exporters were busy

Major power breakdown hitsindustrial production in Karachi

in meeting shipments deadlines ahead of Eidholidays. Ahsan Arshad Ayub, Senior ViceChairman, Site Association of Industry, saidmost of the industrial activities were affectedwhen exports were planned to leave from theport before Eid holidays. He said that still manyareas were without power.

A few days back, Site Association la-mented seven hours unannounced load-shedding despite provision of 222mmcfdaverage gas by the Sui Southern Gas Com-pany to the K-Electric. FB Area Associa-tion of Trade and Industry Chairman ShaikhMohammad Tehsin said that in some areaspower was restored by 11am, but in otherareas, hide and seek of power caused dis-ruption in production activities.—APP

NEW YORK: Gennady Golovkin stopped Australian Daniel Geale in three rounds at Madison Square Garden to retainhis WBA world middleweight title.

GLASGOW: Australia’s Michael Shelley, Kenya’s Erick Ndiema, Kenya’s John Ekiru Kelai lead the pack in theCommonwealth Games men’s marathon in Glasgow on Sunday.

Turkish PMinaugurates

new Istanbulfootball stadiumISLAMABAD—A new foot-ball stadium in Istanbul hasbeen inaugurated by Turk-ish Prime Minister RecepTayyip Erdogan, Anadolunews agency reported Sun-day.

Speaking at the openingceremony late on Saturdayof the Basaksehir FatihTerim Stadium, named afterthe current coach of theTurkish National Turkishfootball team, Erdogan saidthe grounds in the districtof Basaksehir had costabout 178 million lira ($85million).

Turkey has invested inbig-budget sports com-plexes to host internationalsports organizations suchas the Olympics.—APP

NEW YORK—Unbeaten Kazakh starGennady Golovkin stopped AustralianDaniel Geale in three brutal rounds on Sat-urday to retain his World Boxing Associa-tion middleweight world title.

Golovkin sent Geale to the canvas inthe second round with a barrage of blows.

In round three he responded to a hardright to the head from the Aussie challengerwith his own punishing right to the nose,followed by a quick left that sent Gealedown.

Geale, a former International BoxingFederation middleweight champion who fellto 30-3 with 16 knockouts, had no complaintwhen referee Michael Ortega called a haltat 2:47 of the round.

Golovkin, whose amateur resume in-cluded a silver medal at the 2004 AthensOlympics, improved to 30-0 with 27 knock-outs.

Golovkin hasn’t gone the distance sincewinning an eight-round decision in 2008 andsaid keeping his knockout streak alive was

Golovkin crushes Geale toretain WBA title

important.“Yes, absolutely the knockout is very

important, not just for me, not just for myteam, but for everybody,” he said. “This isbig drama show.”

Golovkin had fought twice before inMadison Square Garden’s smaller Theater,but he had never before fought in the fabledManhattan venue’s main arena.

After the bout, Golovkin said he wanteda unification bout with World Boxing Coun-cil champion Miguel Cotto—the PuertoRican who is a longtime favorite of Gardenfans.

Cotto became Puerto Rico’s first four-division champion last month when hestopped Argentina’s Sergio Martinez innine rounds for the WBC middleweight beltin New York.

“I want a unification fight. I want whois the best in the middleweight division,”Golovkin said, adding, when pressed:“Miguel Cotto—I respect him 100 per-cent.”—AFP

GLASGOW—England’s Adam Peatyclaimed Commonwealth gold in themen’s 100m breaststroke in a newGames record time of 58:94sec inGlasgow on Saturday.

The 19-year-old edgedout Olympic championCameron van der Burgh ofSouth Africa into silver.

And Scotland’s RossMurdoch added to his 200mbreaststroke gold by claim-ing the hosts’ sixth swim-ming medal of the Gameswith bronze.

“It’s a major steppingstone for me and for mycountry at the moment,”said Peaty.

“The swimmers havehad a few difficult timesthrough 2012 and 2013, butthe support and morale isgreat at the moment.”

And with Murdoch,Olympic silver medallist inthe 200m breaststrokeMichael Jamieson and An-drew Willis all competing forspots on the Great Britainteam for the 2014 Rio Olym-pics, Peaty insisted he hasplenty more scope for im-provement in the nextcouple of years.

“There is definitely moreto come through trainingand racing, so I’m just get-ting started really.

“You can’t put your feetup with people like Ross,Jamieson and Willis in the 200m aswell. I think that is ia good thing. Itkeeps you on your toes and it is justnice to be up there with those guyscompeting.

“I am having fun at the same timeso I can’t ask for any more.”

World record holder Van der Burghwas left frustrated having turned forhome in front at the 50 metre mark andbelieves he possibly should havetargetted 200m gold rather than tryingto retain his 100m title.

“It was a lot harder than expected.Last night I was very, very easy andthen tonight I just seized up in the last25 metres.

“I think it is back to the drawingboard. We tried to change a few thingsup, but I think I should have swumthe 200m rather than the 100m.

“When I turned ahead I thought Ihad it for sure because in the trainingin the warm-up we were looking better

CGames: England’s Peaty beatsOlympic champ to gold

than in the Olympics, but things don’talways go to plan so I rather it wasthis year than any other year.”

Van der Burgh and Christian

Sprenger have dominated the 50 and100m breaststroke events at the worldlevel in recent years, but with the Aus-tralian not even making the final, Vander Burgh believes the emergence ofMurdoch and Peaty will make retain-

ing his Olympic title in Rio even moredifficult.

“I was coming into the competi-tion expecting to have a big duel

with Sprenger. It was unfortunatethat he couldn’t be here, but thejuniors showed the old guys a thingor two so it is good motivation tokeep working hard for the next twoyears.”—AFP

GLASGOW: Adam Peaty blows a kiss to the crowd after a brilliant last 25 metresbrough him a gold medal.

GLASGOW—Australian Michael Shelleyproduced a stunning final 8km to trump afavoured east African field and claim goldin the men´s marathon at the Common-wealth Games on Sunday.

Shelley, who finished 16th in the Lon-don Olympics, clocked a personal best of2hr 11min 15sec on the largely flat coursearound the streets of Glasgow, to betterhis silver-medal showing in Delhi fouryears ago.

Kenya´s Stephen Chemlany, a pace-maker for compatriot Patrick Makau´sworld record run in the Berlin marathonlast year when he went on to finish fourthin a personal best of 2:06.24, claimed sil-ver in 2:11.58.Uganda´s AbrahamKiplimo, training partner of absent worldand Olympic champion StephenKiprotich, took bronze at 1:08 and wasthe dictator of the early pace.

After a sedate opening 10km, Kiplimoupped the pace, glancing over his shoul-der and accelerating away, taking withhim teammates Philip Kiplimo and MunyoMutai, and Tanzania´s Fabiano Naasi.Thesole Kenyan to stick with the breakawaygroup was defending champion JohnEriku Kelai, although Chemlany workedhis way back to the lead peloton shortlyafter.

Shelley and teammate Liam Adamsalso struggled to stick with the increasedworkrate.After going through the 20km

Australian Shelley trumpsAfricans for marathon win

mark in 1:01.47, the third Kenyan, ErickNdiema, refound the main group. But thenthere was drama as Abraham Kiplimoveered across for a watering station,slipped and fell.

His teammates slowed the pace to al-low him back into action, Mutai evenkeeping hold of his water bottle for himto have a drink.

After the surges of Kiplimo, now con-tent to sit at the back after his tumble, itwas clear no one wanted to set a pace,with the Ugandan team attack stripped ofits impetus.Accordingly, at the 1:17 mark,Shelley and Adams, along with Rwanda´sDieudonne Disi, had managed to reel inthe lead pack.

As the race entered the business end,a welcome injection of pace did finallycome through Naasi, Kelai and Mutai.Aseven-strong pack swept through 35kmin 1:49.05, with Disi, Ndiema and Adamsstruggling.

Chemlany then pulled away withMutai and Abraham Kiplimo, Shelleyfighting in fourth ahead of Kelai.Kiplimothen faded as Chemlany made his moveat 1:56, but Shelley matched him, Mutaialso fading.

Shelley then upped the ante, clocking14:47 between the 35-40km markers, andmoved gradually away from the Kenyan,whose personal best of 2:06.24 was thefastest time in the field.—AP

Zoe Smithclaims gold inwomen’s 58kgweightlifting

GLASGOW—Zoe Smith gotthe better of Welsh veteranMichaela Breeze to claimgold in the women’s 58kg

weightlifting in Glasgow.Smith trailed Breeze by

a single kilo after the snatchpart of the competition inwhich the CommonwealthGames record was brokenthree times.

But after Breeze failed at113kgs in the clean and jerk,Smith responded with amighty 115kg to cement hergold medal position.

She set a new Gamesrecord with a final lift of118kg for a total of 210kgswith Nigeria’s NdidiWinifred taking silver andBreeze bronze.—AFP

AGEAS BOWL—Alastair Cook hadthe sort of fortune an under pressurecaptain needs on the first day at AgeasBowl, and importantly for England heused it to end a wretched run of lowscores and set up a foundation for alarge first-innings score. Cook put on55 for the first wicket with SamRobson, and an unbroken 131 for thesecond with Gary Ballance, making hisfirst 50-plus score in ten innings.

England’s first break came beforethe start, when India’s Man of theMatch at Lord’s, Ishant Sharma, wasruled out with an ankle injury. Cookthen won the toss on a pitch that hadMS Dhoni undecided about whether

3rd Investec Test

England 1st innings:Cook not out .................................. 92Robson c Jadeja b Shami ............. 26GS Balance not out ....................... 77Extras: (b 1, lb 5) .............................. 6Total: (1 wicket) ........................... 201Fall of wickets: 1-55Bowling: ........................... O-M-R-WKumar ................................. 18-5-50-0Shami .................................. 15-2-51-1Pankaj Singh ...................... 14-2-42-0Sharma .................................. 6-0-21-0Jadeja ............................... 17.4-3-28-0S Dhawan ............................... 1-0-3-0

SCOREBOARD

Cook, Ballance putEngland well ahead

to bat or bowl had he called correctly,but the hard and grassy surface of-fered limited swing and seam move-ment to India’s quicks. Both thosepieces of luck would have amountedto naught, however, had RavindraJadeja, India’s participant in the on-going imbroglio involving JamesAnderson, held a straightforwardchance. Cook was on 15 at the timeand the debutant Pankaj Singh,Ishant’s replacement, missed out on amaiden Test wicket.

The first delivery of the match wasperfect from Bhuvneshwar. He pitchedon a good length around off, drew thebatsman forward, wobbled it a bit and

found the edge. Cook looked behindto see the ball fall short of second slip,an immediate sign it was going to behis day. He was beaten by MohammedShami’s away movement too, and hisfirst boundary was off an outside edgethat threaded the cordon.

Robson’s footwork was more as-sured, his judgement astute as he leftdeliveries from Bhuvneshwar thatswung away and seamed into him. Ashis confidence grew, Robson pressedforward and drove on the up to thecover boundary, a shot he repeatedtwice more in his innings.

Unlike at Lord’s, Cook stood out-side his crease in this innings tocounter Bhuvneshwar’s swing. Itworked, and on the times he wasbeaten the ball missed the edge. It wasa tricky tactic to use against the tallerPankaj, though. He bent a few deliver-ies back into Cook, before getting oneto straighten off a good length. Pankajhad taken 300 first-class wickets be-fore getting a Test debut; he couldhave had a wicket in his third over hadJadeja been competent at third slip. Itwas the fifth catch India had put downin the cordon this series.—AFP

AGEAS BOWL: Alastair Cook made his first fifty in 10 innings, England vsIndia, 3rd Investec Test.

GLASGOW—Canada´s PatriciaBezzoubenko was crowned queen ofthe Commonwealth Games in Glasgowon Saturday, completing a five goldmedal haul in rhythmic gymnasticswhile the undisputed king Usain Boltwas arriving for Jamaican relay duty.

Bezzoubenko had already wontwo golds in the team and all-aroundevents and she added three more onSaturday in the clubs, ball and hoopindividual disciplines.

Canada´s Bezzoubenko wins five goldsThe one gold that escaped her

grasp was in the ribbon which wentto Francesca Jones giving Wales theirfirst gold medal of the Games.

The other gold to be won early onin the third day of competition wentto Australia´s Daniel Repacholi in themen´s 10m air pistol.But the toast ofthe town in that event was third-placed Mick Gault of England who at60 won a record-equalling 18th Com-monwealth Games medal.—AFP

COLOMBO: Kithuruwan Vithanage tumbles to his right to catch Alviro Petersen at silly point during Sri Lanka vsSouth Africa, 2nd Test’s 4th day on Sunday.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Former ICC match-refereeTalat Ali believes that Team India captainMahendra Singh Dhoni should not havecriticized Ravindra Jadeja’s guilty verdictin public.

Speaking exclusively over telephonefrom England, where the former openingbatsman has been living, he said, “Dhonihas no business to slam the (verdict of)match-referee openly. If he or the BCCIwere not happy with Boon’s verdict, aquiet letter to the ICC should have beensent by the team manager. The ICC, if themerits were found, could have pardonedthe penalty”.

All rounder Jadeja was found guiltyof “conduct contrary to the spirit of thegame” and has been fined 50% of hismatch fee.

“To me it was a hurtful and negligentdecision. We are definitely not at all

Dhoni has no business to criticizeBoon’s decision Openly: Talat

happy with the verdict “, Dhoni has saidin the press-briefings.

“By saying so, Dhoni has ignited thecontroversy. Instead of openly express-ing his views on Boon’s decision, whydidn’t he write a confidential letter to theICC”, the 65-year-old Talat Ali asks.

Apparently, by his verdict Boon hastried to make England and India happy.

Talat Ali further says, “my views arethat if a level 2 offence was reported thereferee has to give his verdict on a level 2offence. He should have exoneratedJadeja or punished him for this offenceonly”.

“I find it strange that referee has ap-plied level 1 on his own. This may havenever happened before”, Talat Ali, whohas performed referee’s role in 10 Testsand 26 ODIs’, further added.

In the meantime, the ICC, in its replyto our query has said, “To confirm, theLevel One breach cannot be appealed”.

The likely scenario will keep the BCCIlawyers busy now.

Sangakkara stars forSri Lanka on rain-hit day

GLASGOW—Four-time champions NewZealand moved into the semi-finals of theCommonwealth Games rugby sevens afterseeing off Kenya 19-7 at Ibrox Stadium onSunday.

The all-conquering All Blacks will playDelhi silver medallists Australia, who secureda last-gasp 21-19 victory over 2009 world cham-pions Wales.

DJ Forbes, as he’d done in the Kiwis’ nar-row 17-14 pool win over Scotland on Satur-day, mustered his teammates to cool headsafter Kenya pulled back to 12-7.

The impressive Ben Lam scored NewZealand’s third try to appease any concerns,but victory came at a price after Pita Ahki sus-tained a hamstring injury.

“He is probably ruled out now. He hasdone his hamstring so he will be out for therest of the tournament,” said Kiwi playmakerSherwin Stowers.

“It leaves us one man short and meansthat everyone else needs to step up and dotheir role.”

Australia did well to pull back from anawful start against Wales.

“Three tries down was the worst possiblestart,” said Wallaby man-mountain Pama Fou.

“The score before half-time was very cru-

CGames: New Zealand set upAustralia semi

cial. We always knew we had it in us, we be-lieve in one another. It feels awesome to scorethe winner.

“We trained our arses off for the last sixweeks for this moment. We can go all the wayfor sure. It’s just about belief.”

The other semi-final will pitch Samoa, 15-14 victors over England, against Delhi bronzemedallists South Africa, who ran out 35-12winners over Scotland,to the disappointmentof a raucous near-capacity crowd at Ibrox Sta-dium, home to European football giants Rang-ers.

England suffered a blow when JamesRodwell was controversially yellow-cardedbefore half-time, Samoa making the most ofa powerplay to take the lead at 10-7 at thebreak.

Samoa scored with Rodwell in the bin,and Sam Lio Lolo crossed for another with anacrobatic touchdown in the corner for a 15-7lead, all three conversions missed.

Dan Norton collected his own chip aheadfor a converted try to pull England back withina point, but a physical Samoan side clung onfor victory.

The Scots, boasting full internationalsStuart Hogg and Sean Lamont in their ranks,were well beaten by the Springboks.—AFP

GLASGOW: Australia’s Sevens captain Ed Jenkins will lead a relatively inexperi-enced squad

COLOMBO—Sri Lanka had one objec-tive when the day began: score asquickly as possible and declare. Theydid exactly that as they rattled alongat well above four runs an over - morethan double what South Africa man-aged in the first innings - to swell thelead to 368, despite more than an hour

being lost due to rain and bad light. InGalle, Sri Lanka had to chase 370 in120 overs, while here they have awhole day to wheedle out the remain-ing nine wickets.

Yet again, Kumar Sangakkara and

Angelo Mathews formed the bedrockof Sri Lanka’s effort, with both makingbrisk half-centuries to extend theirpurple patches.

With South Africa having turnedthis game into a long slog for survival,their objective when the day beganwas to keep the run-rate down. Get-

ting wickets wasgood, but notgood enough ifthe Sri Lankanrun-rate wasn’treined in. Thelonger Sri Lankawere out therebefore declaringor being bowledout, the shorterSouth Africa’sbatsmen wouldhave to perse-vere. They hungaround for morethan four ses-sions in the firstinnings, but on atrack that hasworn down sig-nificantly more, itwill be miraculousif they last nearlythat long in thesecond.

Sri Lanka knew it as well, and be-gan the morning with a bunch ofboundaries. Dale Steyn and VernonPhilander leaked 27 runs in the firstfour overs before restoring a sem-blance of control. Upul Tharanga

eased the first ball of the day to thelong-off boundary, and did the bulkof the early scoring before nicking onethrough to the keeper on 30.

A Morne Morkel slower ball ac-counted for the other opener, KaushalSilva, and Imran Tahir had a reverse-sweeping Mahela Jayawardene dis-missed for a rare duck at the SSC. Thatbrought together Sangakkara andMathews, who rushed the scorealong.

They were held back for an hourby the rain as the threatening cloudsfinally opened up at lunch. Everyminute lost was a minute less for SouthAfrica to survive, but once play re-sumed they were reminded of thetroubles ahead.

Tahir, as usual, offered loads of fulltosses, and when one of them was putaway to fine leg by Sangakkara, itbrought up his tenth 50-plus score ofthe year and highlighted how far awaySouth Africa are from solving theirspin problem. The next ball pointedout a more immediate worry. Tahir gotthe ball to explode off the rough, un-settling even the well-set Sangakkara.Given how accurate Herath is, thatrough outside the left-hander’soffstump is going to be regularly hitbefore the end of this game, and ev-ery time South Africa’s batsmen arelikely to be guessing what the ball willdo.

Though bad light stopped playwell ahead of the allowed close, SouthAfrica’s batsmen were given a clearidea of what to expect on the final day.

For only the second time intheir Test history, Sri Lankaopened with two spinners.Herath and Dilruwan Pererahad the ball spinning andleaping, there were edgesaplenty before AlviroPetersen popped a catch tosilly point.

Dean Elgar was hit on thebox by a ball that ripped inoff the rough, the promotedQuinton de Kock was be-mused when a delivery fromPerera sharply changed di-rection outside off.

De Kock decided theway to counter the situationwas to play his strokes, un-like every South Africanbatsman in this match, andfinished the day on 21 off31.

South Africa can drawmajor confidence fromJohannesburg 2013 andAdelaide 2012 but neither ofthose great escapes came ontracks as hostile as the onethey will face tomorrow. IfSouth Africa do survive,they would have truly earnedthat No. 1 ranking.—AFP

S Lanka 1st innings: . 421S Africa 1st innings: . 282Sri Lanka 2nd innings:Tharanga c de Kockb Steyn ............................ 30Silva c Philanderb Morkel .......................... 26Sangakkara c de Kockb Morkel .......................... 72Jayawardene b Imran ....... 0Mathews not out ........... 63Vithanage b Morkel ......... 7N Dickwella c de Villiers bSteyn ................................ 16Perera b Imran Tahir ......... 7Herath c de Villiersb Morkel ............................ 4Extras: (b 1, lb 2, nb 1) ..... 4Total: (8 wickets dec) ... 229Fall of wickets: 1-38, 2-82, 3-

83, 4-164, 5-174, 6-203, 7-214,8-229Bowling: ............ O-M-R-WSteyn .................... 13-1-59-2Philander ............. 11-3-35-0Imran Tahir .......... 18-0-76-2Morkel ................ 9.4-1-45-4D Elgar ..................... 1-0-9-0Duminy .................... 1-0-2-0South Africa 2nd innings:Petersen b Herath ............ 0D Elgar not out ............... 13Q de Kock not out ......... 21Extras: (lb 4) ...................... 4Total: (1 wicket) .............. 38Fall of wickets: 1-4Bowling: ............ O-M-R-WHerath ...................... 8-5-7-1Perera ..................... 6-1-24-0Mendis .................... 3-2-3-0

COLOMBO—Sri Lanka’sdebutant wicketkeeperNiroshan Dickwella wasSunday fined 10 percent of

Sri Lanka’s Test debutantDickwella fined

his match fee for claiming an unfair catch on day three ofthe ongoing second Test against South Africa.

The 21-year-old player was found guilty of conductthat is either “contrary to the spirit of the game” or “bringsthe game into disrepute”, the International Cricket Coun-cil said in a news release.

“Dickwella admitted to the charge and accepted thesanction imposed by Jeff Crowe... without the need toconvene a disciplinary hearing,” the ICC said.

The player was also reprimanded officially.The incident had occurred in the seventh over of the

third day when South African batsman AB de Villiersgloved a ball from Suranga Lakmal down the leg side.

Dickwella collected the deflection on the bounce andappealed immediately, while the batsman stood his ground.The decision was then referred to third umpire BillyBowden.

TV replays showed the ball had bounced inches shortof Dickwella’s gloves.

Dickwella had been flown in from England, where hehad been with the Sri Lanka A team, to take part in thematch.

He scored 72 and 16 on debut, besides taking a catchand a pulling off a stumping in South Africa’s first in-nings.—AFP

BALTIMORE—Park In-Bee and RyuSo-Yeon each birdied a sudden-deathplayoff hole Saturday to lift SouthKorea over the United States at theLPGA International Crown, eliminat-ing the top-seeded Americans fromthe match-play event.

Spain and Sweden sweptSaturday’s final four-ball matches 4-0 to advance into Sunday’s singlesmatches, eliminating Taiwan and Aus-tralia, while Japan split with SouthKorea and Thailand split with the USwomen 2-2 to book berths in the de-cisive session.

Golf: Koreans oust top-seededAmericans from LPGA Crown

That lef t the second-seededKoreans and the hosts to fight forone last spot with Park and Ryuplaying Cristie Kerr and Lexi Th-ompson on the par-5 16th with thesecond player ’s score used as atie-breaker.

Park dropped her third shot sevenfeet from the cup, Thompson left her-self 12 feet for birdie, Kerr rolled aputt to four feet and Ryu chipped twofeet from the hole.

Thompson missed her birdie puttand par was conceded, but Parkcurled in her birdie putt. Kerr matched

her birdie but Ryu tapped in for thewin.

“It was the most nervous momentI’ve ever hard in my life,” both Parkand Ryu said, Park adding, “I haven’tputted well this year. I think this puttis really going to help me.”

The Americans lamented twofirst-day losses to Taiwan, the Asianside’s only wins of the week.

“The first day kind of took us outof this,” American Paula Creamer said.“We can’t say that one shot was it.We win or lose together.”

Japan leads with eight pointsoverall while Thailand,Sweden and Spain onseven and the Koreans onsix in the $1.6 million show-down at Caves Valley.“It’s going to be a big day

tomorrow,” Japan’s AiMiyazato said. “It wasn’texpected we could takeeight points. We are hav-ing a super great experi-ence.”The Americans could not

afford a loss in the last four-ball matches if they were toavoid the playoff and Kerrand Thompson nevertrailed in beating Thai sis-ters Ariya and MoriyaJutanugarn 3 and 2.But Thailand’s Pornanong

Phatlum and OnnarinSattayabanphot nevertrailed in beating PaulaCreamer and top-rankedStacy Lewis 1-up.“A big win,”

Sattayabanphot said. “Wehave a good chance. Wedon’t do a lot of trash talk-ing but we’d like to take thecrown home.”—AFP

BALTIMORE: South Korea’s Park In-Bee during the third round of the LGPA Interna-tional Crown in Owings Mills, Maryland.

England’s Smithdefends 58kg

weightlifting titleG L A S G O W — E n g l i s hweightlifter Zoe Smith de-fended her title in thewomen’s 58kg in thrillingstyle at the CommonwealthGames on Saturday.

Smith snatched a best of92kg and maintained thepressure with a Common-wealth record 118kg cleanand jerk for a total of 210kg,four more than Nigeria’sNdidi Winifred (90+116).

Michaela Breeze ofWales claimed bronze with202kg (93+109), her snatchalso a new Commonwealthrecord.

“I loved every second ofthat,” said Smith. “I’m noton the planet at the moment.The Nigerian girl gave me arun for my money, but I gotthe gold.

Winifred said: “Ineeded to snatch the 95kg(which she missed twiceafter making 90kg). I can-not explain it - it just didn’thappen.

“The competition wastough, but I’m happy withsilver.”

The evening sessionsaw Mohammed Hafif iMansor of Malaysia im-prove on his bronze medalfrom Delhi with victory inthe men’s 69kg category.

After snatching 135kg,Mansor clean and jerked170kg for a total of 305kg,4kg more than NigerianYinka Ayenuwa’s 301kg(130+171).

India’s Omkar Otari tookbronze with 296kg(136+160).—AFP

Shah Hussainsecures silver

medal inmen’s judo

G L A S G O W — P a k i s t a n ’sShah Hussain Shah ob-tained a silver medal in the100kg category of themen’s judo event in theCommonwealth Games inScotland.

Shah Hussain was de-feated in the final byScotland’s own Euwan Bur-ton on Saturday.

He earlier beat NewZealand’s Tim Slyfield in thesemifinal but failed to win agold in the final.

However, this was thefirst medal won by a Paki-stani sportsman in theCommonwealth Games2014.

Previously, Shah won abronze medal in the AsianJudo Championship andbronze again at Under-20JIKJI Cup InternationalJudo Championship held inSouth Korea.

He is the son of formerPakistani boxer HussainShah, who also received abronze medal in the 1988Seoul Summer Olympics inthe middle weight category,and was the first Pakistanito win a boxing Olympicmedal.—AFP

A large number of people arrive at Cantonment Railway Station as they proceed to theirhome towns to celebrate Eidul Fitr with their dear ones.

Information Minister Sharjeel Memon addressing the protesters against load-shedding outside K-Electric on Sunday.

EXPERTS generally recommend seven tonine hours a night for healthy adults.Sleep scientists say new guidelines are

needed to take into account an abundance ofrecent research in the field and to reflect thatAmericans are on averagesleeping less than they didin the past.

Several sleep studieshave found that sevenhours is the optimal amountof sleep—not eight, as waslong believed—when itcomes to certain cognitiveand health markers, al-though many doctors ques-tion that conclusion.

Other recent researchhas shown that skimping ona full night’s sleep, even by20 minutes, impairs perfor-mance and memory thenext day. And getting toomuch sleep—not just toolittle of it—is associatedwith health problems in-cluding diabetes, obesityand cardiovascular disease and with higherrates of death, studies show.

“The lowest mortality and morbidity iswith seven hours,” said Shawn Youngstedt, aprofessor in the College of Nursing and HealthInnovation at Arizona State University Phoe-nix. “Eight hours or more has consistently beenshown to be hazardous,” says Dr. Youngstedt,who researches the effects of oversleeping.

The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention is helping to fund a panel of medicalspecialists and researchers to review the sci-entific literature on sleep and develop new rec-ommendations, probably by 2015.

Daniel F. Kripke, an emeritus professor of

psychiatry at the University of California SanDiego, tracked over a six-year period dataon 1.1 million people who participated in alarge cancer study. People who reported theyslept 6.5 to 7.4 hours had a lower mortality

rate than those with shorter orlonger sleep. The study, pub-lished in the Archives of Gen-eral Psychiatry in 2002, con-trolled for 32 health factors, in-cluding medications.In another study, published in thejournal Sleep Medicine in 2011, Dr.Kripke found further evidence thatthe optimal amount of sleep mightbe less than the traditional eighthours. The researchers recorded thesleep activity of about 450 elderlywomen using devices on their wristfor a week. Some 10 years later theresearchers found that those whoslept fewer than five hours or morethan 6.5 hours had a higher mor-tality.Other experts caution againststudies showing ill effects fromtoo much sleep. Illness may cause

someone to sleep or spend more time in bed,these experts say. And studies based on peoplereporting their own sleep patterns may be in-accurate. “The problem with these studies isthat they give you good information about as-sociation but not causation,” said TimothyMorgenthaler, president of the American Acad-emy of Sleep Medicine, which represents sleepdoctors and researchers, and a professor ofmedicine at the Mayo Clinic Center for SleepMedicine. Dr. Morgenthaler advises patientsto aim for seven to eight hours of sleep a nightand to evaluate how they feel. Sleep needs alsovary between individuals, largely due to cul-tural and genetic differences, he said.

Why seven hours of sleepmight be better than eight

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pakistan is passing through dif-ficult time while more crises other than secu-rity concerns, terrorism such as collapse ofeconomy and anarchy are fast looming aroundfor which the political leadership of Pakistanhas to show serenity and take steps to resolvethe forthcoming crises before it would be toolate to mend and for this purpose the govern-ment should immediately lick off politicalconsultations with all political and religiousparties.

Nonetheless, political leaders of certainparties while ignoring needs of the countryare busy in trumpeting their own drums. Theyshould also realise that their agitational movemight deteriorate the overall political and eco-nomic situation in the country and hence theyshould use the forum of the Parliament to

record their concerns and reservations andstrive at driving the government toward peaceand stability in the country and prosperity forthe masses.

Pakistan Muslim League Functional(PMLF) Sindh Vice President and PMLFTanzeemi Committee Chairman Pirzada YasirSain said this Sunday.

On the other hand, the rulers shouldalso realise that today’s democracy israther controversial with respect to resultsof general elections-2013 as almost allpolitical parties in main stream had termedthe polls were rigged at all levels. The gov-ernment should also mend ways for fullyautonomous election commission, whichwould pave ways for pacifying the emerg-ing threats of agitation, which would in noway good for the country, said the PMLFleader.

Opposition must use Parliamentto settle all burning issues

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Over twelve million hepa-titis sufferers exist in Pakistan. Highestfigures have been reported from Sindhand Baluchistan, where almost everyfourth person is infected. Sadly, a major-ity of them are unaware that they are car-riers of the deadly virus. “Chronic hepa-titis B and C cause more deaths world-wide than tuberculosis or even HIV/AIDS,” stated Aga Khan University(AKU) Head of Gastroenterology Prof.Dr Shahab Abid at a public awarenesssession held to mark World Hepatitis Dayat the University Hospital.

Viral hepatitis - known as hepatitisA, B, C, D, and E - affects millions ofpeople worldwide, causing acute andchronic liver disease.

“Revolutionary changes are takingplace for the treatment of hepatitis C. It

can now be cured and even totally elimi-nated from the world map,” said DrSaeed Hamid, Professor and Chair, De-partment of Medicine, AKU. Lately, thebiggest successes have been the devel-opment of new and highly potent medi-cations for treatment of hepatitis C. “Theintroduction of the new direct actingantiviral agents in the form of pills aremore effective, safer and better-toleratedthan existing therapies,” added DrHamid.

These medications are extremely ex-pensive. Pakistan is very likely to re-ceive them at nominal costs comparedto USA and Europe because manufac-turers and international agencies realizethe importance of providing the drug inresource poor countries with the high-est disease burden. “The onus is now onthe regulatory authorities in Pakistan tobring these drugs, already approved by

the US FDA, to the market as soon aspossible for the benefit of the public”,added Dr Hamid.

Reuse of unsterile needles and sy-ringes, dental equipment, razors for shav-ing and unsafe blood transfusions are themajor reasons for transmission of hepa-titis in Pakistan. Strict measures are ex-tremely important to stop the transmis-sion of hepatitis B and C.

If left untreated, hepatitis B and Ccause progressive liver disease leadingultimately to liver cancer.

Hepatitis C is the most commoncause of liver cancer and is one of theleading causes of cancer-related deathsworldwide. “Once the complications ofliver disease set in, the only option leftfor a cure is liver transplantation whichis not widely available in Pakistan,” saidAKU Department of Medicine Prof. DrSyed Hasnain Ali Shah.

Hepatitis C is No.1 driver for liver cancer

Divisional,district adminchallan 562profiteersSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The divisionaland district administrationschallaned 562 profiteers andimposed fine of Rs 919200 onthem, in different areas of themetropolis.

This was stated by Com-missioner Karachi SohaibAhmed in a statement here onSunday.

Four profiteers were alsoarrested for default in paymentof fine amount.

He said that 154 milksellers, 94 chicken/ meatsellers, 263 fruit and veg-etable vendors and 51 othershopkeepers were challenedand fined for overchargingduring price checking inSaddar, Gulshan- e-Iqbal,Liaquatabad, New Karachi,Landhi, Korangi, ModelColony Garden, Baldia,Ferozabad, Jamshed Quar-ters, Nazimabad, Bin Qasim,Ibrahim Hyderi and someother areas of the city.

He said that the crackdownagainst profiteering will con-tinue till the sale of essentialitems is ensured according toofficially approved price list.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Chief SecretarySajjad Saleem Hotiana has said that thecivic agencies have been given 15 daysdeadline for the cleaning of stormwaterdrains to avoid any situation which mayarise in case of heavy rains in the me-

tropolis.The chief secretary inspected cleaning

of various stormwater drains in districtSouth on Saturday.

Administrator Karachi Rauf AkhtarFarooqui, Deputy Commissioner SouthMustafa Jamal Qazi, Administrator DMCSouth Afzal Zaidi and other relevant offi-

cials accompanied him, said a handout is-sued here on Sunday.

The chief secretary said that the civicagencies have been given 15 days to en-sure cleaning of stormwater drains, add-ing that he would again visit various lo-calities of the city to inspect cleanlinessconditions.

Stormwater drains to be cleared in 15 days

EXPERTS generally recommend seven tonine hours a night for healthy adults.Sleep scientists say new guidelines are

needed to take into account an abundance ofrecent research in the field and to reflect thatAmericans are on average sleeping less thanthey did in the past.

Several sleep studieshave found that seven hoursis the optimal amount ofsleep—not eight, as waslong believed—when itcomes to certain cognitiveand health markers, al-though many doctors ques-tion that conclusion.

Other recent researchhas shown that skimping ona full night’s sleep, even by20 minutes, impairs perfor-mance and memory the nextday. And getting too muchsleep—not just too little ofit—is associated with healthproblems including diabe-tes, obesity and cardiovas-cular disease and withhigher rates of death, studies show.

“The lowest mortality and morbidity iswith seven hours,” said Shawn Youngstedt, aprofessor in the College of Nursing and HealthInnovation at Arizona State University Phoe-nix. “Eight hours or more has consistently beenshown to be hazardous,” says Dr. Youngstedt,who researches the effects of oversleeping.

The Centers for Disease Control and Pre-vention is helping to fund a panel of medicalspecialists and researchers to review the sci-entific literature on sleep and develop new rec-ommendations, probably by 2015.

Daniel F. Kripke, an emeritus professor ofpsychiatry at the University of California San

Diego, tracked over a six-year period dataon 1.1 million people who participated in alarge cancer study. People who reported theyslept 6.5 to 7.4 hours had a lower mortalityrate than those with shorter or longer sleep.The study, published in the Archives of Gen-

eral Psychiatry in 2002, con-trolled for 32 health factors,including medications.

In another study, pub-lished in the journal Sleep Medi-cine in 2011, Dr. Kripke foundfurther evidence that the optimalamount of sleep might be lessthan the traditional eight hours.The researchers recorded thesleep activity of about 450 eld-erly women using devices ontheir wrist for a week. Some 10years later the researchers foundthat those who slept fewer thanfive hours or more than 6.5hours had a higher mortality.

Other experts cautionagainst studies showing ill effectsfrom too much sleep. Illness maycause someone to sleep or spend

more time in bed, these experts say. And stud-ies based on people reporting their own sleeppatterns may be inaccurate.

“The problem with these studies is that theygive you good information about associationbut not causation,” said Timothy Morgenthaler,president of the American Academy of SleepMedicine, which represents sleep doctors andresearchers, and a professor of medicine at theMayo Clinic Center for Sleep Medicine. Dr.Morgenthaler advises patients to aim for sevento eight hours of sleep a night and to evaluatehow they feel. Sleep needs also vary betweenindividuals, largely due to cultural and geneticdifferences, he said.

Why seven hours of sleepmight be better than eight

Ladies busy in purchasing bangles from a vendor in connection with upcoming Eidul Fitr.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—A delegation ofChinese investors associatedwith energy sector met PunjabChief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif here Sunday.Matters regarding setting up ofpower projects runningthrough coal and developingmining area were discussed inthe meeting. Chinese investorsevinced keen interest in devel-oping mining area and settingup of coal power plants in saltrange.

Talking to the delegation,Chief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif said that govern-ment is implementing all prac-ticable projects expeditiouslyfor resolving energy crisis. Hesaid that a mega project is be-ing implemented in Punjab forgenerating energy through coal.The Chief Minister said thatspecial incentives and facilitiesare being provided to the localand foreign investors for invest-ment in energy sector. He urgedupon Chinese investors to comeforward for developing coalmining with modern technologyas well as setting up of coalpower plants in mining area andgovernment will provide allpossible facilities to them in thisregard. Shahbaz Sharif said thatvast reserves of coal exist in saltrange in Punjab and Punjab gov-

Govt taking all step toresolve energy crisis

ernment is endeavoring for utiliz-ing these reserves in a better man-

ner. That is why, Punjab govern-ment wants to develop miningarea on modern lines and Chineseinvestors should come forward todevelop mining zone so that thecoal could be supplied to the

power plants uninterruptedly.Speaking on the occasion,

head of Chinese delegation LiJingkai said that we want toinvest in coal power plants inPunjab whereas we are alsowilling to develop coal miningarea jointly with Punjab gov-

ernment. He said that we areplanning to set up two power

plants of 150 megawatt in coalmining area in Punjab and alsoready to cooperate with Punjabgovernment for developingcoal mining zone.

Provincial Minister for

Minerals Ch. Sher AliKhan, Chairman Planning

& Development, AdditionalChief Secretary Energy,Secretary Minerals & Minesand concerned officialswere present on the occa-sion.

A delegation of Chinese power sector investors called on Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday.

Vehicles on their way during rain experienced in provincial capital on Sunday.

LAHORE—The amorphous Lahore worea deserted look as gaiety on the citystreets and markets thinned down after alarge number of population has left forhometowns ahead of the Eidul Fitr.

A less number of people are seen inthe market places, mosques, restaurants,roads and transport terminals as most ofthe people have headed to their home-towns.

More peace would be available to theLahorites during the week as the adventof Eid lures people every year to be withtheir families in other parts of the coun-try.

A large number of families usuallyleave for their hometowns and villagesfor a family reunion on the auspiciousoccasion of Eid which reduces the traf-

City wears deserted lookfic and transport to the minimum on thecity roads.

Hina Asif, a resident of Allama IqbalTown, while talking to APP here on Sun-day said she always looks forward to thearrival of Eid holidays as she can drivemore freely and visit parks without thefear of being cramped for space.

The number of rickshaws and othermeans of transport also fall to the mini-mum as most of the transport, in the pro-vincial metropolis, is managed by thepeople from other parts of the country.

Abdul Ghaffar Zahid, a grade 19 gov-ernment servant who hails fromBahawalnagar, said his family had leftfor the hometown during the last weekas the children were on summer holidaysand they yearned to spend time with their

grandfather.He said the two Eids provide an op-

portunity to reunite with the parents andother relatives whom you could not seefor months.

Muhammad Asif, a motor mechanicfrom Hafizabad, said the labour had leftfor their homes on the eve of Saturdayon 9 days holidays and there would bevirtually no work during the next week.

Aimen Ali, manager at a famous res-taurant, said that the number of peopledining in had also cut down to the almost50 percent and the same trend would con-tinue till Saturday.

However, the gaiety of markets in theposh areas was still at its peak as peoplefor the nearby towns and cities poured infor Eid shopping.—APP

Jazba Foundation despatches 4thconsignment of relief goods for IDPs

LAHORE—Jazba Foundation, a non-gov-ernmental organization (NGO) has des-patched 4th consignment of relief goods,including cooking oil, flour, sugar, tea,skimmed milk, biscuits, medicines andtents etc to Internally Displaced Persons(IDPs) in Bannu.

Former Punjab governor and head ofthe foundation, Lt. Gen. (retd) KhalidMaqbool told APP on Sunday that valiantPakistan armed forces were engaged in thewar against terrorists in North Waziristan.

In this hour of trial, the IDPs mustbe supported and facilitated for theirtemporary stay at camps set up by thegovernment, he added.

He said that although federal and pro-vincial governments were extending fullsupport to the IDPs for their rehabilitation,however, people should come forward inthe holy month of Ramzan and donate gen-erously for them.

Khalid Maqbool said the consigmenthas been handed over to the military com-

mander of the area for its distributionamong the displaced people.

He said the foundation, apart fromimparting free of charge technical train-ing to unskilled manpower, previously hadalso sent relief goods consignment worthmillions of rupees to flood victims inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Punjab provinces.

About the foundation, he said: “Wemanage funds ourself through public do-nations, which are audited by charteredaccountants annually”.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore zoo has chalked out spe-cial programmes, including puppet shows,variety shows, and other entertainment to at-tract visitors especially children during EidulFitr holidays.

Director of Lahore Zoological Gardens,Muhammad Naeem Bhatti told APP on Sun-day that wildlife guides would be deployed atvarious important points, especially near tigerand bear cages, to provide information to visi-tors about them, their natural habitat, habits,average life span, food. Cages of tigers, lionsand monkeys are likely to be the centre of at-traction for visitors, especially children whoenjoy each and every action of these animals.

Bhatti disclosed that a small area has alsobeen earmarked for ‘jumping jacks’ for thekids. “Leaflets and stickers relating to theLahore Zoo, describing its history and the ori-gin of its wildlife wealth, would be given free

of cost to visitors for their information”.Special ticket booths, four each for men and

women, would also be established at both entrypoints of the Zoo to facilitate the visitors, headded. The Director said that foolproof arrange-ments have been made to plug any possibility ofpilferage of revenue, while the staff has been di-rected to take care of the visitors and make theirvisit to the Zoo pleasant and enjoyable.

Responding to a query, Bhatti said thata Red Crescent ambulance equipped withthe latest medical facilities would be avail-able in the Zoo premises in case of any emer-gency to provide quick medical aid to thevisitors.

He said a contingent of reserve police andbomb disposal unit would carry out patrollingin and around the premises to avert any act ofsabotage, pick-pocketing or eve-teasing. “Ser-vices of a batch of armed security guards havealso been acquired from the private sector,”he added.

Special programmes for Zoovisitors during Eid holidays

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—All deputy inspectors generaland superintendents of prison across theprovince have been directed to further beefsecurity in and around jails during Eidholidays.

Inspector General of Prisons, PunjabMian Farooq Nazeer talking to media hereon Sunday said that no laxity would betolerated on strict enforcement of securitymeasures.

He directed that jails should not be leftunattended even after office hours and su-pervisor/duty officers must perform round-the-clock duty.

Security of all jails beefed upon Eid holidays

Cautioning that security should bebeefed up to optimum level to avert anyuntoward incident, he said at least two as-sistant superintendents should be presentinside jails from dusk to dawn.

The IG directed that the outer walls ofjail must be guarded carefully day andnight to check the entry of anyunauthorised person and the network ofclose circuit televisions must be opera-tional to check movement of inmates in-side and outside of jails.

The IG said all relatives of inmateswho visited prisoners must be thoroughlysearched with metal detectors at the mainentry point of prisons.

He said food should be cooked underthe supervision of assistant superintendentsof jail after clearance by the jail doctor.

Mian Farooq Nazeer said all regionalDIGs including DIG Headquarters MianSalik Jalal, DIG Inspection and superin-tendents had been directed to ensure propercompliance of security instructions in theirrespective jails through surprise visits.

When contacted, SuperintendentCamp Jail Shahram Tauqir Khan told me-dia that on the specail directive of prisonschief, an additional force has been de-ployed at all sensitive points besides roundthe clock armed patrolling,leaves of jail-ers have also been cancelled.

Action againstovercharging

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Motorway PoliceCentral & M-2 South Zonehave initiated stern action oncomplaints of overchargingagainst transport owners aheadof Eid on the directions of IG,Zulfiqar Ahmed Cheema.

According to a MotorwayPolice spokesman on Sunday, thepolice had adopted all possibleways to return extra fares to pas-sengers under the supervision ofDIG Bashir Ahmed Memon dur-ing surprise checking.

The central Zone has re-turned an overly chargedamount of Rs 102,685 to 354passengers and imposed Rs43,000 fine on vehicles underthe supervision of SSPMuhammed Inkasar Khan.

M-2 South Zone police of-ficers checked more than 1300vehicles and took action against57 violators and made them toreturn an overly chargedamount of Rs 100,027 to 1002passengers.