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MMA future still bleakMUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Despite clamorousefforts after its restoration,Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal(MMA) has failed to hold itsmaiden meeting since October18 and three consecutive an-nounced meetings have beendeferred due to certain reasons.

Though this time, MMAleadership is determined to holdits first meeting by the end ofthis month sources in MMAtold this scribe that the futureof MMA is still bleak as it hasfailed to woo any major politi-cal party of the country for for-

mation of grand politico-reli-gious alliance for the upcominggeneral elections. This was themain hindrance for conductingmeetings.

The sources said another rea-son of delay in holding MMAmeeting is that the JUI-F islaunching independent flight tomake decisions regarding elec-toral alliance or have seat-to-seatadjustment with other politicalparties. At the time of restorationof MMA it was decided in prin-ciple that the religious group,soon after restoration of theMMA, would prepare a strategyfor seat adjustments with other

parties. The sources claimed thatMMA’s first meeting was called,in the first week of November,after Eid-ul-Azha but this wasdeferred because most the lead-ers of the component parties ofthe alliance were performing Hajjin Saudi Arabia or present inother countries on their personaltours.

The sources further said thenNovember 15 was proposed tohold meeting and this was againdeferred due to certain reasonsand later this was going to be heldby the end of November whichwas also postponed. The sourcesclaimed that now the MMA

meeting will be held by the endof December prior to the dawn-ing of New Year but this is alsonot going to be held sinceMaulana Fazlur Rehman,Chief Jamiat Ulama Islam(JUI-F) and main componentparty of the alliance, was de-liberately delaying it sinceMaulana was waiting for thecaretaker setup which is ex-pected to be announced in themoth March 2013.

On the other hand, thesources further revealed thatthird reason of delay is dillydallying attitude of JI in join-

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Reko Diq case

Trade pacts mustadhere to local laws: CJ

ISLAMABAD—Chief JusticeIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryhas said it was necessary to ad-here to local laws in trade agree-ments and that every country hadmade it compulsory for foreign-ers to follow their laws.

A three-judge bench of theSupreme Court, headed byChief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry washearing the case constituting ofidentical petitions filed againstthe federal government’s deci-sion to lease out gold and cop-per mines in Reko Diq inBalochistan’s Chagai district toforeign companies.

The Chief Justice said thatwhether a country was small or

big, its sovereignty was impor-tant. With regard to states enforc-ing their laws on foreigners, hegave the example of India’s han-dling of Pakistani artists AdnanSami Khan and Rahat Fateh AliKhan.

During the proceeding, thechief justice remarked that terror-ism had reached its furthest limitin Pakistan.

He added one could findbusinessmen in Balochistan whohad no businesses running in theprovince. The bench directedAdvocate Khalid Anwar, thecounsel for the Tethyan CooperCompany (TCC), to conclude hisarguments during today’s hear-ing. —NNI

Pakistan supports Afghanowned peace process: Kayani

Hina, Rasmussen discuss bilateral relationsRAWALPINDI—Chief of ArmyStaff General Ashfaq ParvezKayani has said Pakistan whole-heartedly supports an Afghanowned and led process.

He was addressing a jointmeeting of the Political and Se-curity Council and the EuropeanUnion Military Committee atBrussels on Monday.

Ambassadors and delega-tions comprising defence andmilitary officials of 27 EU na-tions participated in the interac-tive event. The discussion en-compassed situation in Afghani-stan and its effects on regionalpeace and security.

Speaking at the forum, GenKayani highlighted Pakistan’s

perspective on these issues withparticular reference to thenation’s contribution and sacri-fices in the war on terror. Com-menting on reconciliation in Af-ghanistan, he reiteratedPakistan’s wholehearted supportto an Afghan owned and led pro-cess. Meanwhile, Foreign Min-

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OGRA recommendsCNG ban for carsSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Oil and GasRegulatory Authority (Ogra)recommended a ban on the useof CNG in private cars onMonday.

Ogra put forward itsrecommendations to theNational Assembly StandingCommittee on Petroleum andNatural Resources, saying thatonly rickshaws, taxis andpublic buses should be allowedto run on CNG, while allprivate cars should betransferred to petrol.

The committee agreed withthe recommendations and saidthat a six-month deadlineshould be given to private carowners to switch their carsfrom CNG to petrol.

The committee, requestingthe CNG association to reopen

Malik to addressBalochistanAssembly todayGHULAM TAHIR

QUETTA—Federal MinisterRehman Malik who was due toaddress in camera session ofProvincial AssemblyBalochistan Monday postponedhis visit and now in the-camerasession will be held today.

Governor BalochistanNawab Zulfiqat Ali Magsi hasconvened the session of theAssembly Monday on theadvice of Chief MinisterBalochistan Nawab AslamRaisani.

Deputy Speaker MatiullahAgha chaired Monday sessionand after brief sessionadjourned it for today. SpeakerAslam Bhotani declined topreside over the sessionmaintaining that the provincialGovernment has lost itsmandate to govern the provincein the light of the

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Sharifs’ NAB references

LHC reservesruling onpetitions

RAWALPINDI—The LahoreHigh Court’s Rawalpindi benchon Monday reserved its judgmenton petitions seeking quashmentof three corruption referencesprepared by the National Ac-countability Bureau (NAB)against Pakistan Muslim League-N President Nawaz Sharif andhis family members.

The division bench of theLHC, comprising Justice KhwajaImtiaz Ahmed and JusticeFarrukh Irfan Khan, heard thepetitions. During hearing,Khawaja Harris Ahmed, thecounsel of Sharif family, andNAB prosecutor ChaudhryZulfiqar concluded their argu-ments after which the bench re-served its ruling.

The corruption referencesrelate to the Hudaibya PaperMills, Ittefaq Foundries andRaiwind assets. —NNI

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Ten persons in-cluding a religious leaderMolvi Ismail of Ahsan ulUloom and a Police Officerwere shot dead in separateterrorism incidents here onMonday.

The cleric of Ahsan ulUloom was killed after his carwas fired upon by some un-known persons on Abul HassanIsphahani road. The incidenttriggered provocation amongthe people who targeted the

cars and other vehicles standingat CNG stations with sticks andbroke their panes. The trafficflow was suspended. The shop-ping centers were closed.

Heavy contingent of policeand rangers cordoned off the areaon receipt of information of mas-sive vandalizing by the mob. Therangers took into custody 10 per-sons who were found involvedin looting liquor sale point.

Police said Molvi Ismail wasteacher in Jamia Ahsan ul Uloomin Gulshan-e-Iqbal. It may berecalled that 6 students of this

seminary were gunned down 20days back.

The infuriated protesterspelted stones on vehicles fol-lowing this firing incident andsubjected the passers by to vio-lence leaving two citizens in-jured. They torched the tyresand blocked the road . Two ve-hicles were also set ablaze nearFazal Mill. Traffic flow wasdiverted to other side on RashidMinhas road. Exchange offierce firing continued around

Religious leader’s killingsparks violence in Karachi

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KARACHI: A Rangers’ mobile patrolling on Rashid Minhas Road after ransacking by demonstrators on killing of aMadrassah’s cleric on Abul Hassan Isphahani Road. —Photo Imran Gilani

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—Pakistani MuslimLeague-N chief Mian NawazSharif while advocating for theconstruction of more dams calledfor building nationwide consen-sus over Kalabagh Dam.

“Until and unless there iscomplete agreement among allsides, the issue of construction ofKalabagh dam would not be re-solved; hence the nation needs tomake a joint decision for this tomake it a successful project.”

Chief of his own faction of

PML was talking to media onthe occasion of joining hisParty by senior leader of Pa-kistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI)and former Federal Minister,Khwaja Muhammad Hoti inMardan on Monday. He was

MARDAN: PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif talking to media on Monday.

Nawaz calls forconsensus on KBDKhwaja Muhammad Hoti joins PML-N

Russia, China urgeNorth Korea to droprocket launch planMOSCOW/BEIJING—Russiaand China urged North Koreaon Monday not to go aheadwith a plan for its second rocketlaunch of 2012, with Moscowsaying any such move wouldviolate restrictions imposed bythe U.N. Security Council.

North Korea’s state newsagency on Saturday announcedthe decision to launch anotherspace satellite and reportedlytold neighbors it would take asimilar path to that planned fora failed rocket launch in April.

“We urgently appeal to thegovernment (of North Korea)to reconsider the decision tolaunch a rocket,” the RussianForeign Ministry said in astatement. North Korea on

Two policemenkilled in

Peshawar blastPESHAWAR—At least two policemen including a sub-inspectorwere killed and two otherswounded in a targeted attack ona police van by detonating explo-sives at Badaber, Kohat Roadnear Shabkhel police station onMonday.

Talking to media persons, SPRural, Javed Khan said that theexplosion was carried out by aremote-controlled ImprovisedExplosive Device (IED) and two

Christiancharity workershot in Lahore

LAHORE—Gunmen shot a fe-male Christian charity workerfrom Sweden in Lahore on Mon-day leaving her hospitalized, po-lice said.

Bargeeta Almby, 72, was re-turning from work when she wasattacked by unknown assailantsin the upmarket locality whereshe lives.

“She was returning from heroffice and was attacked when shearrived in front of her home in

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SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf was briefedabout the working of Ministry ofHuman Rights here on Mondayand the Prime Minister acceptedin principle a proposal for theappointment of Human Rightsdefenders in the Ministry.

The Prime Minister wel-comed a proposal made by theMinistry for including HumanRights as a subject in educationalinstitutions and directed the min-istry to present a detailed work-ing paper for the consideration ofthe Cabinet.

Advisor to the Prime Minis-ter on Petroleum and NaturalResources Dr Asim Hussaincalled on Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf. He apprised himabout his visit to Iran and his

meeting with Iranian PresidentMahmoud Ahmadinejad today.

Talking to Minister for Na-tional Heritage and Integration‚Samina Khalid Ghurki the PrimeMinister said promotion of cul-ture can play an effective role inpresenting the soft image of Pa-kistan.

In a meeting with SpeakerKhyber Pakhtunkhwa AssemblyKaramatullah Khan Prime Min-ister Pervez Ashraf said addressof the President Asif Ali Zardarito the Khyber PakhtoonkhwaAssembly has opened a newchapter in the democratic annalsof the country.

The prime minister awardedcheque of six hundred thousandrupees to Chairman Special Jour-nalist Welfare Committee SyedIbrar Kanwal in Islamabad on

PM hints at Human Rightsdefenders appointment

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President Zardariarrives in Seoul

SEOUL—President Asif AliZardari arrived in Seoul on Mon-day on a three-day state visit toSouth Korea.

A high official of South Ko-rea received the President at theairport. During his visit, he willdiscuss with his Korean counter-part Lee Myung-Bak the wholegamut of bilateral ties between the

two countries. The two leaderswill also share views on regionaland international issues of mu-tual interests. PML (Q)President Chaudhry ShujaatHussain, Makhdoom AmeenFaheem and Chaudhry AhmadMukhtar are accompanying thePresident.—Online

Picture on Back Page

ISLAMABAD—President Asif AliZardari on Monday on the adviceof the Prime Minister, accordedhis assent to the Criminal Law(Amendment) Bill, 2012.

The Criminal Law (Amend-ment) Bill, 2012 was first passedby the National Assembly on11th November 2010. The Sen-ate passed the said Bill on 3rdMay 2011 with amendment andreturned the same to NationalAssembly. The National Assem-bly again passed the Bill, asamended by the Senate, on 14November 2012 without anyamendment.

The Criminal Law (Amend-ment) Bill, 2012 seeks tocriminalize illegal business ofand dealing in fake prize bonds.

Meanwhile, President AsifAli Zardari on the advice of thePrime Minister gave his assent tothe Intellectual Property Organi-zation of Pakistan Bill 2012.

The Intellectual PropertyOrganization of Pakistan Bill2012 was passed by NationalAssembly on 8th October 2012and by Senate on 13th Novem-ber 2012.

The Bill aims to establish theIntellectual Property Organiza-

tion of Pakistan.The Government of Pakistan

is obligated to ensure adequateprotection of Intellectual Prop-erty Rights in the country fordomestic and international rightsholders alike being signatory tothe agreement on Trade RelatedAspects of Intellectual PropertyRights (TRIPS).

The Concepts of IP Tribu-nals and IP Advocacy are intro-duced in the Bill to ensure ef-fective protection, management,enforcement and adjudication ofIntellectual Property Rights inPakistan.—Online

President accords assent toCriminal Law (Amend) Bill

Iran, Pakistan failto agree on gas

pipeline investmentTEHRAN—Iran and Pakistanfailed to reach an anticipatedagreement on the joint invest-ment needed for the pipeline thatwill carry gas from the SouthPars field to the energy-starvedSouth Asian country, Iranianmedia reported.

The visiting Pakistani Min-ister of Petroleum and NaturalResources Asim Hussain and Ira-

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Youth Festivalcreates

competition spiritM ZAFAR ANSARI

TOBA TEK SINGH—DCOJaved Iqbal Bukhari said onSunday that Punjab ChiefMinister Mian Shahbaz SharifYouth Festival 2012 organizedby people from all segmentsof society and youthprogrammes has providedhealthy entertainment topeople and the young genera-tion has started thinking onpositive lines instead of nega-tive thinking and has engageditself in healthy activities.

He expressed theseviews at Jinnah Hall ad-dressing the District Coun-cil Punjab Youth Festival or-ganized by Kitchen Garden-ing and Cotton Productionfor prize distribution.

Member Provincial As-sembly Mian MohammadRafiq, Regional ManagerFFC Rai shafaqat Ali andEDO Agriculture Dr MianShafiq and others ad-dressed the prize distribu-tion. The DCO said suchcontests would create asense of competition andtolerance among the youth.

The first prize in the cot-ton production in the districtwas won by MohammadAbrarof Chak No. 662 GB andwas given Rs 15,000; secondprize of Rs 10,000 went toChak No. 148 GB’s HamidRaza, while the third prize ofRs 5,000 was bagged byWaheed Anwar of Chack No.187 GB. In Kitchen Gardeningfirst prize went to MohammadTauqeer of Chak No 251 GB,second prize was achieved byChak No. 279 GB and the thirdprize was taken by SultanMohammad Shahid of Gojra.

IS L A M A B A D—The HighCommissioner of Pakistan inSri Lanka, Seema IlahiBaloch, along with Ministerof Economic DevelopmentBasil Rajapksa and Minis-ter of Industry and Com-merce Rishad Badiuddinlaid the foundation stone ofthe Al-Aksha MahaVidyalam in Salam Baikulam,Vavuniya, says a messagereceived here on Monday.The Government of Paki-stan has sponsored the

construction of this schoolbuilding in the resettled vil-lage of Salam Baikulam inVavuniya Town of theNorthern Province of SriLanka to support educationsector development drive ofthe Sri Lankan government.

The newly constructedschool will be catering to thelocal population of SalamBaikulam area. Presently, theschool is offering qualifica-tions up to O Levels and hasan enrolment of over 465

male and female students be-longing to all the ethnicgroups of Sri Lanka includ-ing Sinhalese, Tamils, Chris-tians and Muslims.

The said school projectwas identified by the HighCommissioner of Pakistan dur-ing a visit to Vavuniya in July2012. During the visit she ob-served that despite having lim-ited facilities in the existingschool building where 3classes were being conductedin a single class room.—INP

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Me-teorological Department hasforecast cold and dry weatherfor most parts of the countryduring the next couple of daysas mercury drops in north-west areas. Balochistan andKhyber Pakhtunkhwa arelikely to remain under intensecold and dry weather duringnext few days, private newschannel reported. In Kashmir,mainly cold and dry weatheris expected in most parts,however, light rain with snow-fall over the hills in Kashmirand Gilgit-Baltistan is likely atone or two places during thenext 24 hours.

The lowest minimumtemperatures recorded dur-ing last 24 hours wereSkardu - 10 C, Astore -7 C,Hunza -6 C, Gilgit -4 C andQuetta -3 C. The maximumtemperature recorded dur-ing last 24 hours wasLasbela (Balochistan) 29 C.

Pakistan MeteorologicalDepartment (PMD) onMonday forecast chancesof light rain for the Northwestern parts and upperparts of the country andsnowfall over the hills dur-ing Thursday and Friday.

An official of Met office

told APP the western distur-bance will start from Thursdayevening and cause light rainat north- western and upperparts of the country on Thurs-day and Friday. The twin cit-ies of Rawalpindi andIslamabad are also likely to re-ceive light rain during the twodays. Mainly cold.—APP

Govt focusingon women’swell-being

GUJAR KHAN—First LadyBegum Nusrat Pervez Ashrafon Monday said the govern-ment is working on megaprojects aimed at the well-being of women in the coun-try. Addressing a gatheringof women after attending aMehfil-e- Milad held atChanga Mera village here,Begum Nusrat said participa-tion of women in nationaldevelopment was significantfor the country’s prosperity.

Earlier, the Mehfil-e-Milad focused on offering ofDurood-o- Salam and Naa’ts.Prayers were held for the soli-darity of country. The FirstLady later distributed sewingmachines among the needywomen to help them earn live-lihood through respectablemeans.—APP

Doctors’ strikecontinues inBalochistan

OUR CORRESPONDENT

QUETTA—Doctors’ contin-ued their strike at govern-ment hospitals in the prov-ince here Monday on 48thconsecutive day. Out-pa-tients departments and op-erations theaters were closedin all government-run hospi-tals including Bolan MedicalComplex hospital, SandemanProvincial hospital, FatimaJinnah hospital and others.

President Pakistan MedicalAssociation PMA Balochistanchapter, Dr. Sultan Tareen saidthat doctors would continuetheir strike until FIR againstthem is withdrawn, their ser-vices are reinstated and theirposition is restored at per 19thof November. Meanwhile, AllBalochistan Private HospitalsAssociation also appealed tothe government to resolve theissue as doctors are also notvisiting private hospitals be-cause of strike, due to whichpatients are suffering difficul-ties and hardship.

‘Gas Mafia’ furtherburdens common

consumersSHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—“Gasmafia” has again increasedprice of liquefied petroleumgas (LPG) by up to Rs 15 perkg which would further puthuge burden on domesticconsumers. In MandiBahauddin, domestic cylin-der is already sold for Rs1,700 and now its price wouldshoot up to more than Rs2000. It may be mentionedthat domestic LPG cylindersare purchased by those whocould not get CNG connec-tions due to lack of contactwith local PPP leaders.

The CNG consumers usegas over a month and theirbills do not exceed Rs 1000whereas consumers usingLPG have to purchase threeto four gas cylinders a monthto prepare meals. This dispar-ity is felt seriously by LPGconsumers. Besides, cylinderhas less than 12 kilogramsLPG and the LPG sellersrefuse to weigh the cylinderwhen requested by custom-ers. Complaints made to au-thorities concerned in thisregard bear no fruit.

Imran foravoiding

confrontationon KB Dam

RAZA NAQVI

ATTOCK—Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) ChairmanImran Khan has said thatKalabgah Dam and big res-ervoirs are essential for thecountry but care should betaken to avoid any confron-tation among the provinces.This he said while talkingto newsmen at the residenceof ex-MPA Syed EjazBukhari in Attock on Mon-day. Among others PTI lead-ers, Javed Hashmi, formerstate minister Malik AminAslam, former environmentminster, Syed WajidBukhari and Qazi AhemdAkbar were also present onthe occasion.

He further said that com-ing election will between theemotion of youth and land-lords and ultimately PTI’syouth would be won. Hesaid that political parties willutilize their money on theelections in a bid of pre-pollrigging as they have lootedbillions in shape of develop-ment schemes. He said thatnow the destiny of our coun-try is in the hands of ouryouth and PTI will conductacross the board account-ability of the corrupt politi-cians.

Cold, dry weather toprevail across country

OUR CORRESPONDENT

WAH CANTT—Be realizing itssocial responsibility, POF ad-

ministration organized a freemedical camp at Mirza villagenear Sanjwal Cantt. in which82 Senior Specialist Doctors ofvarious departments of POFHospital and more than 100medical and administrativestaff took part in this camp.More than 5000 patients wereexamined by the doctors andthey were given free medicineson this occasion.

Those patients who re-quired laboratory tests, ultra-sound or ECG were done onthe spot. 30 students of Wah

POF organisesfree medical camp

Attock: Senior Doctors of POF Hospital examining the patientsat free medical camp held at Mirza village near Sanjwal Cantt.

Medical College also partici-pated in this camp. Lectures onsugar, blood pressure andhepatitis were also delivered to

give information about thesediseases to the residents of thevillage and surrounding areaswhile information regardingbasic principles of health andcleanliness were discriminatedto the school children throughmultimedia. Samples of watersof Mirza village were also gottested on this occasion.

Mr. Riaz Ahmed, MemberPOF Board inaugurated thefree medical camp while Mr.Muhammad Asif, Member POFBoard was the Chief Guest ofConcluding Ceremony.

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Monday was in-formed that the main accusedRoohullah in the murder offormer Attorney GeneralSardar Khan has gone to Af-ghanistan and will soon bearrested and brought back tothe country. A three-memberbench, comprising Chief Jus-tice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry, Justice AzmatSaeed Sheikh and JusticeGulzar Ahmad heard the pro-ceedings of the case of es-cape of the main accused inkilling of former AGP Sardar

Khan. During the course ofthe proceedings, IslamabadPolice submitted a progressreport regarding the arrest ofRoohullah.

The Chief Justice re-marked that efforts ofIslamabad Police andRawalpindi Police are not ap-preciate able in apprehendingthe accused Roohullah. TheIslamabad Police informed SCthat they are making effortsto arrest Roohullah, but theprogress is very slow in thisregard. The Rawalpindi Policeinformed SC that raids are be-

ing made in the houses of rela-tives of Roohullah inPeshawar and Abbottabad,but currently the main ac-cused Roohullah is present inAfghanistan.

The Chief Justice orderedthat positive progress shouldbe made in the case withintwo weeks. The IslamabadPolice sought 4 weeks timeto arrest Roohullah. But thecourt granted them 2 weekstime to arrest the accused.The SC subsequently ad-journed the hearing till 18thDecember.—Online

KHALID BUTT

THE department ofhealth is planning tolaunch two special pro-

grams for the southernPunjab in close collaborationwith the community andhealth experts to address pro-vision of health services tothe population and specifi-cally target the poor lookingat options to provide themservices through the privatehospitals also.” This wasstated by Director PunjabHealth Reforms Program,Doctor Amjad Shehzad, in aworkshop ‘ProtectingPakistan’s Poor AgainstHealth Shocks In Disasters’.

A survey of 6000 house-holds in the southern dis-tricts of Punjab for house-hold health expenditures re-vealed that the poor house-holds reported lower levelsof private consultation com-pared to the non-poorhouseholds, poor house-holds were more likely to citecost as a barrier to access-ing health care than non-

poor households: 38.9% forpoor households versus 33%for non-poor households.Higher rates of impoverish-ment were recorded for ruralhouseholds compared to ur-ban households: 15.8% ver-sus 9.4% based on nationalpoverty line. Another impor-tant fact was that althoughthe floods affected all thepopulation it is the poor whostill have more health issuescompared to the non poor.

Dr. Amjad said that thedepartment of health has ar-ranged for the consultationon policy option and as afirst step the relevant techni-cal experts have been calledto initiates a dialogue on thepolicy options to address thesituation. He said that ThePunjab department of healthhas demonstrated the capac-ity to respond to all types ofemergency and disaster situ-ations and in cases where thecapacity required strengthen-ing serious efforts have beenundertaken to enhance thedepartment’s capability, e.g.the dengue unit in response

to the dengue epidemic.He said that there have

been concerns regardingPunjab Health Department’scapacity to respond properlyto disasters; however, a de-tailed analysis of the PSLSM(Pakistan Social Living Mea-surements survey) data thatthe 2010 floods did not worsenthe difference in access tohealth between flood affectedand non-flood affected dis-tricts, and led to improvementin the health services deliveryin flood affected districts. The2010 floods increased the like-lihood of households in floodaffected districts receivingtreatment for diarrhea by 10percent. The floods did notaffect the access to pre andpost-natal care. The data alsodoes not show an increase inOut of Pocket Expenditures forhealth care post flood whichproves that the health re-sponse to the disaster wasadequate.

A very important aspectis that although the floods hitthe poor and rich equally, itis the poor which are still

struggling with health relatedissues and require continuedattention. Data from thePSLSM indicates an overalldecline in the percentage ofchildren suffering from diar-rhea over time; from 12.3% in2005-06 to 11.1% in 2010-11.There is nevertheless an in-crease in diarrhea incidencebetween the last two rounds,driven mainly by an increasein diarrhea incidence in floodaffected districts (9.9% in2007-08 to 12% in 2010-11).

Dr. Amjad said that de-spite the overall progress inaccess to maternal healthservices, the level of servicedelivery remains low, particu-larly for women seekingpost-natal care within 6 weeksof last delivery. “Predictably,these figures are higher forthe non-poor in comparisonto the poor,” he said addingthat the flood affected dis-tricts also shown a consis-tently lower level of serviceutilization for Antenatal Care,Post natal care and skilledBirth Attendant across all 3rounds.

“Although over time wesee improvements in the im-munization rates, interest-ingly the immunization ratesfor the non poor in the floodaffected districts are sys-tematically lower than thosefor the poor in the non floodaffected districts, whichshows that the system is notable to reach a majority ofthe people in the districtswhich later were also af-fected by the floods,” Dr.Amjad added.

He said that the Govern-ment of Punjab is workingon health sector reformsand has prepared a detailedstrategy to supplement theongoing efforts the depart-ment of health initiated astudy to look at the impactof the floods and disasterson the population of Punjab.The funds to support thisinitiative were provided bythe Rapid Social Response(RSR) trust fund which hasbeen generously supportedby the Russian Federation,Norway, the United King-dom and Australia.

Punjab health dept evolves disaster management

NAZIR SIYAL

LARKANA—Country needs adynamic leadership to changethe fate of nation by takingrevolutionary steps to fightagainst the growing delin-quency in society, and youthshould unite against all socialevils and end their weak-nesses. This was stated byspeakers at a one-day youthtraining workshop titled ‘so-cial change and skill develop-ment capability buildingthrough different technicalleadership skills and nationalawareness. The workshop wasaddressed by A. Q Mujahid,Moiz Khan, Abdul QayoomDayo, Rizwan Ahmed,Muzamil, Sameer Nazir andothers.

Khaksar Tehreek Paki-

stan is conducting country-wide workshops and changein the people from differentsocial and educational fields.The speakers emphasized ontechnical skills and know-how about the professionaleducation among youth ofthe motherland. They saidthe society needs develop-ment steps in the educationsector.

They also said that therewas a need to seek the prob-lem-driven and the possibil-ity-driven approaches to re-solve their matters, andadded that youth are the sec-ond class citizens and barri-ers to fulfill the democraticparticipation through theiractive role, trainers said.Speakers stressed on theyouth to come forward to

launch campaign for socialchange and character devel-opment, because there arenumerous challenges of in-flation, soaring commodityprices, law and order situa-tion, unemployment and vari-ous other issues. They canonly resolve these issuesthrough character buildingand leadership skill qualities.****

Chairman Jeay SindhQaumi Mahaz (JSQM) SanamQureshi has dissolved organi-zational structure of DistictEast Karachi and announcedfive-member committee to su-pervise the activities here onSunday. The new organiz-ing committee comprises onAgha Shah Zaman PathanChief Organizer, ShahidNotiar, Naeem Khoso andGhulam Hussain.

Dynamic leadership neededto change fate of nation

Ex-AG Sardar’s murdererin Afghanistan, SC told

Foundation stone of Pak-sponsored school laid in SL

QUETTA: A deserted look of Civil Hospital’s OPD due to doctors’ strike.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—ChairpersonBenazir Income SupportProgramme (BISP) FarzanaRaja has said that underHealth Insurance Programmeof BISP, Rs. 25000 health in-surance will be provided tothe poorest families for thefirst time in the country. Shesaid this while giving a brief-ing to China Investment Cor-poration (CIC) delegationwhich is currently on a visitto Pakistan to explore the in-vestment avenues in differ-ent fields. She informed thedelegation that the pilot

BISP to provide Rs 25,000 as healthinsurance to poorest families: Farzana

project for the health insur-ance has been launched fromFaisalabad.

Giving details of theprogramme, Ms. Raja in-formed the delegation thatBISP is an independent au-thority with the Presidentbeing the Chief Patron andPrime Minister as the Execu-tive Patron. About the BISP’saim, she said BISP is themarshall plan and the flag-ship programme of the gov-ernment for women empow-erment and poverty allevia-tion. Chairperson BISP toldthe delegation that there isno doubt about the transpar-

ency of the programme andthere is a proper check andbalance system of the utili-zation of funds.

She said the hallmark ofBISP is disbursing hundredsof billions of rupees amongthe deserving families withcomplete transparency.Farzana Raja said more thanseven million beneficiaryfamilies have been identifiedthrough Poverty Score-cardSurvey for disbursing Rs1000 per month and billionsof rupees have already beendisbursed till date amongstpoorest of the poor.“Waseela-e-Haq is first ever

initiative for provision of in-terest free loans up to Rs300,000 to help the recipientsset up small businesses”,she said.

Counseling, monitoringand training for starting thebusiness is providedthrough Pakistan PovertyAlleviation Fund (PPAF).She informed the Chinesedelegation that BISP bill hadbeen unanimously passedby the National Assemblyand the Senate based on itsperformance. Farzana Rajasaid that PPP governmentbelieves in empowering fe-males in the country and that

is why under the programmefemalesof a family is givenimportance and all the fundsare directly paid to them soas to ensure real women em-powerment through financialindependence.

Thousands of vulnerablefemale youths have alreadybeen trained and the targetis to train 150,000 studentsevery year so they can earntheir livelihood, she added.She told the meeting thatmore than 15 million womenhave got their ComputerizedNational Identity Cards(CNICs) because of BISP, in-cluding women from FATA.

ATTOCK: Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan and former Federal Min-ister Malik Amin Aslam being welcomed by the party workers on their arrival.

Staff ReporterPESHAWAR—Khyber PakhtunkhwaMinister for Information, Mian IftikharHussein has strongly condemned bombattack on police mobile at Shahabkhelvillage in Badhber area of Peshawar andhad termed it an act of terrorism. Ex-pressing deep grief over the incident,he expressed sympathies with the heirsof the victims of the explosion andprayed for early recovery of those in-jured in the incident. The provincial min-

ister visited Lady Reading Hospital (LRH) where he in-quired about the health of the injured. Talking to media, hesaid that the nation appreciate the bravery of the policeforce who are fighting against terrorists. He said that ter-rorists through their cowardice acts some time target po-lice, general public and sacred places to harass the people.Iftikhar said that maximum control has been made in arrest-ing the wave of terrorism and in this connection aware-ness had also been made in the general public. However,he said that it is now the need of the hour to join handsand take united action against terrorists and prevent themfrom getting further opportunities of targeting innocentpeople. The provincial minister visit each and every in-jured in hospital and inquired about their health and di-rected for provision of better treatment facilities to them.Earlier, unknown miscreants also attacked a police mobilevan apparently with a bomb near Acheeni check-post here,however, no casualty has been reported. According todistrict police here, the incident occurred in Sarband areawhere the miscreants targeted the mobile van of theSarband police station apparently with a low intensity bombthat blasted with a huge bang. However, luckily no casu-alty has been reported.

Asma endorses HRW statementISLAMABAD—Asma Jahangir, formerPresident of the Supreme Court Bar As-sociation has expressed surprise at theheated debate on a statement issued bythe Human Rights Watch on the “judi-ciary muzzling its criticism in the mediathrough contempt of court powers”. “Itwas simply factual and the manner inwhich the arms of the bar leaders arebeing twisted to protect the excesses ofthe superior judiciary further confirms

the sensitivity of the judiciary to its legitimate criticism,” astatement issued by Jahangir said. The media in Pakistanwhich vigorously fights for its freedom was “uncomfort-ably silent over the judgment of the Islamabad High Courtfollowed by the Lahore High Court muzzling the media”, theformer SCBA president said. “Unfortunately, those whocriticise the judiciary are labelled in humiliating terms by thewatch dogs of the prerogative of the judiciary to misuse itspowers,” the statement said. Jahangir urged bar leaders to“show their independence and not be cowed down by theonslaught of individuals with vested interests”. “They mustremain neutral commentators and continue to make the judi-ciary accountable where necessary, while supporting themfully when under unfair pressures,” the statement added.“Blind supporters of all judicial pronouncements may alsotake note of the comments made by the International Com-mission of Jurists, the President of the International CrisisGroup and the interim report of the UN Special Rapporteuron the Independence of the Judiciary, as well as commen-tary made by foreign media outlets and judges,” Jahangirsaid. All the above mentioned organizations and UN Proce-dures “fully supported the demands of the lawyers’ move-ment until the bitter end. Surely they cannot be right thenand all wrong now,” she said.—Online

PPP to protect farmers’ rightsOur Correspondent

RENALA KHURD—State Minister for In-formation and Broadcasting SyedSumsam Bhukhari on Monday said thePPP government was committed to tak-ing care of interests of farmers. Address-ing a huge public gathering after inau-gurating electricity supply to the fruitand vegetable market, Renala Khurd, hesaid the provision of basic necessities,like electricity and gas had always beentop priority of the government. He said

a record number of development projects were accom-plished during four and a half years. Lambasting the Punjabgovernment, the minister said the development processhad been restricted to Lahore only. In fact, he said, theycould not see beyond Lahore. He said, “We don’t believein sloganeering but winning hearts of the masses throughgood work.” Sumsam Bukhari said the country was facingmultiple problems and sectarianism and baradrism (clansystem) had jolted the foundation of the country. He calledfor unity among all sects to frustrate elements lurking toweaken Pakistan. Stressing the vitality of vote, the minis-ter urged people to use their right to franchise accordingto their conscience and in favour of genuine and commit-ted candidates. On the demand of the Anjuman Arhtianchairman regarding development work in the fruit and veg-etable market in Renala Khurd, the minister said as thedate of releasing development funds was to end by 31stDecember this year, there was a remote chance of fundsrelease but added that he would try his best to resolve thematter on priority.

Seraiki province at all costISLAMABAD—Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) Member National Assembly(MNA) Jamshed Dasti on Mondaysaid that Seraiki province would becreated at any cost because this wasthe demand of people of South Punjaband a resolution was also passed bythe Punjab Assembly to create a newprovince in the Punjab. Talking toAPP, he said that the PPP supportedthe popular demand for a Seraiki prov-

ince adding that leadership of PML (N) exposed due tohypocrisy. Replying to a question, Dasti said a Seraikiprovince was the only solution for the problems of thepeople of southern Punjab. A Seraiki province is immi-nent and we salute the Supreme Court for its historicverdict in the Asghar Khan case, said PPP leader andFederal Minister Makhdoom Shahab-ud-Din in a rallyhere on Monday. The minister said the SC verdict in theAsghar Khan case showed that there was a great differ-ence between the PPP and PML-N. He said the Seraikiprovince would be created at any cost because this wasthe demand of people of South Punjab and a resolutionwas also passed by the Punjab Assembly to create anew province in the Punjab. He said the PPP supportedthe popular demand for a Seraiki province. Speaking atthe rally, PPP MNA Jamshed Dasti criticised the PML-Nand its leadership. Jamshed Dasti said the Sharif Broth-ers were the outcome of corruption who became richovernight. He criticised Makhdoom Ahmad Mehmood,Punjab president of the PML-F, and said he was thebroker of Takht Lahore and had been exposed due tohis hypocrisy and in general elections people wouldtake revenge from him for deceiving them. He alsocriticised former state minister and MNA MakhdoomAhmad Alam Anwar for joining the PML-N.—APP

PESHAWAR—The speakers ata function Monday called forspecial attention for children

with disabilities to make themuseful and responsible citi-zen of the society and enablethem to play pivotal role forprosperity of the country. The

World Special Persons Day observed

Particular attentionfor disabled stressed

function was organized byKhyber Medical University(KMU) in connection with

“World Disabled Day” to ex-press solidarity with disablechildren and persons and toboost their courage to facethe society without hesita-

tion. Speaking on the occa-sion, the chief guest of theevent Vice Chancellor KMUProfessor Dr MuhammadHafeezullah said that insteadof sympathizing with dis-abled persons the societyshould treat them as a nor-mal person and provincethem equal opportunities inevery walk of life.

Mingora: Like otherparts of the country, WorldSpecial Persons Day wasobserved with spirit and fer-vor in district Swat. On thisconnection several colourfulfunctions were held in dif-ferent places, which besidesspecial persons was also at-tended by prominent socialpersonalities and expressedsolidarity with the specialpersons. The largest func-tion in this regard was heldunder the auspices of Envi-ronmental Protection Soci-ety (EPS) in Khpal Kor Hall,Mingora.

Multan: Dozens of dis-abled persons wheeled theirchairs on city roads on Inter-national Day for the Disabledon Monday, urging the gov-ernment to provide facilitiesto them for trouble-free move-ment. The wheelchair cara-van began its march from theoffice of the Society for Spe-cial Persons (SSP), southPunjab, and concluded at thedistrict sports ground. Thedisabled persons festivalwas a colourful show wheresingers and magicians per-formed.—APP

Police officer commits suicide

2 cops, one dacoitdie in encounter

GUL HAMAAD FAROOQI

CHITRAL—A Zoonosis con-trol office has been opened atthe livestock building inDanin, Chitral. It may be notedthat Zoonosis, also calledZoonotic disease, refers todiseases that can be passedon from animals, whether wildor domesticated, to humans.Speaking at the inaugural cer-emony, Dr Nizamuddin, theAssistant Director of Live-stock Department, termed theopening of the office veryuseful and beneficial forpeople of Chitral. He thankedthe Relief International for

funding the office for the long-term benefit of farmers andpeasants.

Dr. Riaz, the programmemanager of Relief International,said it was a series of livestockfor life programmes funded byUS Department of States forcontrol of Zoonotic diseases inPakistan. He said many dis-eases impacted human life fromanimal and some diseases alsoimpacted cattle from humanbeings. Zoonotic diseases arecommunicable from animals tohuman beings and vice versa.He said some 296 diseases areZoonotic and a very seriousthreat to public health. The

most common zoonotic dis-eases are tuberculosis, anthrax,leshmeniasis, tetanus, rabies,brucellosis, dengue fever,Congo fever, bird flue mosquitoborn malaria, etc. he added.

He said the main objectiveof the programme was to cre-ate awareness and encouragea behaviour change throughdifferent ways. Prevention andresponse capacity building ofcommunity health workers,public health workers, veteri-nary health staff in controllingZoonosis was necessary. InPakistan, the programme isimplemented in five districts ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Animal disease controlcentre opened in Chitral

Cab driver shot deadby unidentified man

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TIMERGARA—A cab driverwas killed by unidentifiedgunman during night atRahimabad area of Adenzai,police and residents told me-dia. They said unidentifiedpersons called on the driverBakhtawar Syed, son of UmarSyed, at night who did notreturn home till Sunday morn-ing. Later his body was foundin his car No PSA 1281 onRahimabad road. The motivebehind the crime could not beascertained. The Ouch policehas registered a case andstarted investigation.

Also a 13-year-old boy AbuZar, son of Sher Muhammad, aresident of the Tazagram villagein the jurisdiction of Ouch Po-lice station, committed suicideby swallowing anti-mice poi-sonous pills, residents said.They said the boy committedsuicide after his parents ex-pressed anger for wonderingaimlessly. Residents said theboy had informed his relativeson Friday that he was going toend his life but no one took itserious. They said the boybought the pills from a gen-eral shop. According to thevillagers it was the third inci-dent of that kind.

OUR CORRESPONDENTS

JHANG\SARGODHA—Twopolicemen and one dacoitwere killed in a Police en-counter in chak number 175Mochiwala late Sunday. Ac-cording to police sources, ona tip off, police raided a houseafter finding that a pro-claimed offender Ramzanalias Ramzani Baloch, hav-ing head money of Rs.100,000, was hiding therealong with his companionsand had exchange of firewith the outlaws.***A person was killed whileother injured in a road mis-hap at Mukhiana Link road,Shabirabad on Monday. Ac-cording to police sources, the

deceased was identified asMuhammad Aslam and in-jured Bilal Shah.

Sargodha: An assistancesub-inspector shot himselfdead over a family dispute inSahiwal police limits on Mon-day. Muhammad RamzanJoiya of Godhewala, an ASIof Special Branch Sargodha,quarreled with his family oversome issue and then shothimself. He was shifted toDHQ hospital were he died.***

Robbers killed a man onresistance in the jurisdictionof Kirana Police Station. Po-lice said on Monday that threearmed persons entered thehouse of Muhammad IshaqGujjar at Chak 42 SB and tookthe family hostage.

SIALKOT: Rangers’ soldiers patrolling the streets to avoid any untoward incident,ahead of the upcoming bi-elections in PP-122.

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor KP Masood Kausar and others offering the funeral prayers of thepolice personnel martyred in blast near Badaber Police van at Police Lines.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—All Pakistan OilTankers Owners Association(APOTOA) KhyberPukhtunkhwa have givendeadline of 72 hours for saferecovery of kidnapped Presi-dent of the association, fail-ing which oil supply toBacha Khan Airportalongwith the province andFATA will be stopped. Theoffice-bearers of theAPOTOA held a protestdemonstration against ab-duction of the presidentNasir Ali Khan, central Sec-retary General of APOTOANawab Sher, provincial Gen-

APOTOA threatens tostop oil supply to KP tillrecovery of its president

eral Secretary JanMuhammad Khan, centralInformation Secretary DostMuhammad were leading theagitators here opposite can-tonment Railway Station onMonday.

Holding banners and plac-ards inscribed with slogans oftheir demands for safe releaseof the president from thehands of the kidnappers, theywere also chanting their full-throat slogans favour of theirdemands and against the ab-ductors. While talking to me-dia persons, they said thatNasir Ali Khan had beenpicked up by unknown kid-nappers on November 29 2012,

saying some unidentified mencame to the Nasir’s house lo-cated at Pubbi (Nowshera) at12; 30am midnight and kid-napped him.

“Some people knocked atour door at 12; 30am, and Icame out my of home to knowwho are outside, meanwhilethe people showed them-selves to be guests and re-quested me to call my father(Nasir),” son of the kid-napped president Ali NasirKhan informed and added,“When my father went out tomeet them, they immediatelystarted pushing my father intoa without Number plate ve-hicle and took him away.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor,Barrister Masood KausarMonday said that IslamiaCollege has a great role inpromotion of education andknowledge in this part of theworld in particular since itsestablishment 100 years ago.He said time has come thatthe custodians of this his-toric asset should also con-tribute significantly to helpin further improvement ofquality of education in theprovince.

Presiding over the 7thmeeting of the Sir SahibzadaAbdul Qayyum MemorialTrust at Governor’s House

here he further stated that weowe a lot to the founders ofthis historic institution andthere is a need to pay backthe return of their contribu-tion in the coins of our effi-cient services for furtheringtheir vision especially to-wards promotion of qualityof the knowledge being im-parted in this province inparticular.

The meeting beside oth-ers was also attended by theformer-Provincial Governor,Lt. Gen (R) Ali MohammadJan Aurakzai, former Gover-nor of Balochistan, Lt. Gen(R)Imaranullah Khan, ex-Ambassador, Amir Usman,chief secretaries, SahibzadaImtiaz Ahmad, Muhammad

Azam Khan and Ejaz Rahim.Beside, sitting Vice Chan-

cellor of Islamia College Uni-versity, Prof Dr. Noor Jehanand the Ex-Vice ChancellorUniversity of Peshawar ProfDr. Abdul Matin Khan werealso present. The meeting re-viewed various proposals tofurther expand the role andcontribution of the trust forsupplementing the ongoingefforts at various levels forpromotion of education in theprovince and it was told thatthe trust has managed re-sources to further expand itscontribution and institutionaldevelopment of its serviceswhich also include provisionof scholarships to deservingstudents in near future.

The participant alsoshared proposals to help themanagement of the IslamiaCollege University,Peshawarfor observing Centenary Cel-ebrations of the institution inApril next year in a befittingway. Barrister MasoodKausar who is also the chair-man of the Trust, welcomed

the enthusiastic spirit andgenerous contribution of thetrustees for carrying forwardthe vision of Sir Sahibzadaabdul Qayyum and assuredthat every possible step willbe taken to materialize theworkable initiatives.

Meanwhile, functioningof the Sir Sahibzada Abdul

Kausar lauds Islamia College role in education promotion

PESHAWAR: Wife of Corps Commander, Peshawar, Lieuten-ant General Khalid Rabbani giving prize to a special child dur-ing ground breaking ceremony of Umeed (Center of SpecialEducation) on ‘International Day of Persons with Disabilities’.

Iftikhar condemns

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—District admin-istration Peshawar has de-cided launching of full pledgeoperation for removal of en-croachments from graveyardsin the city and has also soughtthe provision of an amount ofRs.50 million for constructionof boundary walls aroundthem. The decision was takenin meeting held here with Dis-trict Coordination Officer(D.C.O), Mohammad JavedMarwat in the chair.

Others who attended wereincluded Assistant Coordina-tion Officer (A.C.O),Habibullah Arif, HRDO,Naseer Khan, DOR, SyedMaqsood Shah, tehsildar,Bakhtiar Khan, DSP,HajiImtiaz Khan, Deputy Director,Auqaf, Nadeem Ahmad, ad-ministrators of all towns, Di-rector, PDA, Shujaat Ali, DSPFaqirabad, Sajjad and others.

Addressing the meeting,DCO Mohammad JavedMarwat said that in light ofthe directives of PeshawarHigh Court (PHC) operationagainst encroachments ingraveyards is continued. But,he said that operation for theelimination of encroach-

Operation againstencroachments sought

ments on graveyards is es-sential to ensure that singleinch encroached land ofgraveyards is retrieved topresent a complete and com-prehensive report in the courtin this regard. The meetingconstituted a committeecomprising of DOR, HRD andTMOs of all four towns of thedistrict to monitor anti-en-croachment operation inAkhund Baba, Bakhshi Puland Tajabad graveyards.The meeting directed SSPOperation for keeping a spe-cial squad of police on alertin police lanes to avert anyunpleasant incident duringthe operation.

Furthermore, PeshawarDevelopment Authority(PDA) was directed for pro-vision of heavy machineryand administrators of alltowns to ensure the presenceof their BCA staff in offices.The meeting also sought anamount of Rs.50 million forerecting of boundary wallaround the retrieved landduring the operation to pre-vent future encroachments inthe graveyards. The meetingdecided the registration offormal FIRs against the en-croachers.

Qayyum School,working un-der the aegis of the Trust atKotha in district Swabi alsocame under discussion andit was told that an academicblock is also scheduled to beinaugurated at its new cam-pus on the eve of the cente-nary celebrations of the Is-lamic College.

How to bluntcourts’ verdicts?

THE component parties of the present coalition Government has allalong been claiming that they fully respect the verdicts of the courtsand implement them yet it has been observed that these have often

been ignored and even if implemented then in a half-hearted manner. Thelatest example is disqualification of members of Parliament or theirresignations because of implications of the dual nationality case.

As the Election Commission was to make a decision about fate of 16legislators who failed to submit declarations about dual nationality bythe deadline, concerned members of the National Assembly belonging toMQM and members of MQM and PPP from Sindh Assembly tenderedtheir resignations. As the general elections are approaching, the ElectionCommission has decided not to fill the vacant seats through by-electionsand this will have consequences for legislative agenda of the rulingcoalition that earlier wanted to get some constitutional amendment billsadopted from the present Assembly. But the most striking aspect of theentire episode is that without even waiting for ink of the judgement of thecourt to dry, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shah instantlyreappointed resigned members as advisors and special assistants. Thoughconstitutionally and legally one can appoint any one as advisor and specialassistant but in this case propriety demanded their exclusion from thecabinet. This is because the affected people violated legal requirementsand attracted penalties as well including recovery of salary and benefitsenjoyed by them during their tenure as members of different legislatures.It is ironical that the Sindh CM has openly circumvented the spirit of thecourt judgements and in a way has made mockery of the rule of law.Apart from moral aspects of the issue, these re-inducted members wouldhardly earn any respect from people at large or the bureaucracy becauseof their disrespect to the law and the constitution.

Least integratedSouth Asia

ACCORDING to Asian Development Bank (ADB), South Asia accountsfor just 2 percent of world trade and 1.7 percent of world foreign direct

investment, while its intra-regional trade makes up less than 6 percent ofits total trade, making it one of the least integrated regions in the world. Ithas also pointed out that it takes 32 days on average to complete trade-related procedures in South Asia, which is among the highest in the world.

Regional economic integration means agreement amongst countrieswithin a certain geographic area for reducing and ultimately removing tariffbarriers, making sure there is better flow of services or goods through therespective nations. There are a number of such groups or organizations inthe world today that have helped accelerate the pace of socio-economicdevelopment of the member states with varying degrees of success – theidea being the European Union that is said to have achieved almost totalintegration of economies of the member states followed by ASEAN, GCCand NAFTA. Such an integration serves as a vital strategy for addressingthe issues of political instability and conflicts that might affect that particularregion; members have a wider choice of services and goods; encouragestrade liberation, market expansion and more increased investment to membernations, it creates employment prospects and leads to creation of new andbetter technologies and resultantly encouraging economic growth. SouthAsian countries established SAARC way back in 1985 for the very objectivesbut unfortunately it has yet not taken off the ground because of lack ofsincerity, interest and commitment. This is despite the fact that the membercountries could have benefitted immensely from regional trade, sharing ofexperiences and expertise and establishment of centres of excellence aswell as joint ventures to fight their common enemies of poverty andignorance. But for this to happen to we need visionary leadership that canaddress political issue wisely enough for economic cooperation to grow.

Asif, real faceof Pakistan

MOHAMMAD Asif made every Pakistani proud by clinching WorldSnooker Championship in Bulgaria. Asif, who was unbeaten in the

tournament, defeated England’s Gary Wilson 10-8 and bagged the honourfor his country.

People in Pakistan took keen interest in the match, which was full ofsuspense and there were jubilations all around when the Pakistani nationalemerged victorious and showed to the world the real face of Pakistan. ChiefMinister Punjab Shahbaz Sharif has done well by immediately announcinga reward for him, which would give him the much needed financial supportand encouragement. Snooker, generally regarded as having been inventedin the Sub-continent by British Army officers, is popular in many of theEnglish-speaking and Commonwealth countries. The word snooker alsohas military origins, being a slang term for first-year cadets or inexperi-enced personnel. Pakistanis have unmatched qualities and they can per-form wonders in all fields including sports but what is lacking is enablingenvironment. Except for Cricket, Hockey and Squash, other sports are be-ing ignored by the government and as a result our youths are not able toengage in positive activities. There is need that sports Ministries at theprovincial levels launch special programmes for talent hunt in other fieldsand extend financial and training support. It is a recognised fact that whensportsmen participate in an international event, they contribute in buildingpositive image of their country. Asif worked very hard to win the champi-onship and it could prove as a turning point for the sport in Pakistan. Hewas the third Pakistani to reach the final and the second one to win it.Through his dedication and personal efforts, Asif has become a nationalhero and deserves a rousing welcome on return home.

Awards to friends of Bangladesh

A wise man makeshis own decisions,an ignorant manfollows the publicopinion.

India’s renowned daily ‘TheHindu’ in its recent report statedthat 150 more people and orga-

nizations would be honored in thefourth of a series of ceremonies tobe held on Victory Day for havingextended their wholehearted sup-port to Bangladeshi people duringthe so-called war of independencein 1971. The question can be askedas to why it is being done so belat-edly i.e. after 40 years of its inde-pendence. In the first ceremony, theBangladesh Freedom Honor wasgiven to Indira Gandhi posthu-mously on 25th July 2011. In thesecond ceremony on 27th March2012, the government honored 83individuals and organizations. Andon 26th October 2012, in the thirdceremony 61 individuals and orga-nizations were honored. Foreignministry officials said that the In-dian president, Pranab Mukherjeehad already given his consent tovisit Bangladesh on the occasion.

It is learnt that approximately15 Pakistanis are also included inthe final list of persons to be hon-ored for their contribution to the so-called Bangladesh’s liberation waragainst their own country way backin 1971. Some Pseudo-intellectuals,journalists and media persons fromPakistan, who are ever-ready to joinhands with anti-Army forces, havealso been invited. Only unconscio-nable Pakistanis would attend theceremony to receive an award from

Egypt:Revolutionary

riftsNearly two years on, the revo

lution in Egypt has reachedexactly that point it should

have tried at all costs to avoid – adeep and perhaps insurmountabledivide between two forces that bothclaim to be its sole inheritors.Mohamed Morsi’s supporters saythat after months of obstructionism,boycott and delay, and a constitu-tional court about to undo all his ac-tions, the Egyptian president had nochoice but to push through a finalconstitutional draft, which halveshis power as president and whichanyway will be put to the popularvote. His opponents – secular, lib-eral and Christian – united as neverbefore by what they see as an Is-lamist power grab – scream:“Hands off our revolution.” Bothcan put thousands on to the streets,as we saw this weekend and will seeagain this week.

The first point to make is thatthe process has been more conten-tious than the result. Human RightsWatch called the constitutional draftboth flawed and contradictory in thatit provided for basic protectionsagainst arbitrary detention but failedto end military trials for civilians.But it noted that the final draftdropped the stipulation that equal-ity for women should be subject toconformity with the rulings of Is-lamic law – a provision promotedby the Salafis. However, there issome broad wording justifying limi-tations on key human rights, whichappear to place the “true nature ofthe Egyptian family” above and be-yond them. It is a mixed bag, and,like so much of this debate, contin-gent on future interpretation. Butdoes this draft merit walkouts,months of paralysis, or indeed a con-stitutional court decision annullingthe drafting committee itself? It isnot clear that it does. No country, letalone a bankrupt one, can toleratean endless merry-go-round of parti-san court decisions.

There is no doubt that the con-stitutional court’s original annulmentof the whole of the Islamist-domi-nated parliament – when the objec-tions were to only one portion ofthe seats – suited the supreme mili-tary council’s purposes. And therewas nothing to assume the courtwould not have annulled the con-stituent assembly that was ap-pointed by that parliament, render-ing the draft invalid as well. Bothsides have forgotten what happened22 months ago when Egyptians putaside their sectarian identities onentering Tahrir Square, and wavedthe national flag instead. In thename of that flag, those who claimto be democrats need to rediscoverthe long forgotten art of compro-mise. — The Guardian

*****

Fightagainst

terrorism

The approval of the NationalCounter-Terrorism Authority(Nacta) Bill by Pakistan’s fed-

eral cabinet is a positive move. How-ever this legislation, aimed to boostcoordination between differentcounter-terrorism agencies, needs tobe debated and passed by the parlia-ment before it becomes an act. Nactahas been in the shadows since itsformation by an executive order in2000. Unfortunately, because of alack of commitment and politicalwill, not to forget red tape, this spe-cific body, designed to coordinateintelligence, research and act as aninternational liaison unit, has notbeen allowed to develop and harnessthe work being done by securitybodies under the Ministry of Inte-rior and intelligence agencies.

The extent and nature of the ter-rorist threat facing the countrymakes it imperative that anorganisation, specifically dedicatedto combating such threats within thecountry, be put in place and empow-ered to work towards achieving itsobjectives. Only an organisation thatworks in tandem with varied secu-rity bodies, without bureaucratic re-strictions, can face the challengesthat currently pose a threat to na-tional security and have regional andinternational implications as well. Atleast, 35,000 people have been killedbecause of terrorism over the pastdecade in Pakistan and it is impera-tive that efforts are bolstered to fightthis menace. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

Chinese proverb

Bangladesh. It ap-pears that some el-ements taking ad-vantage of the pro-India governmentin Bangladesh arebent upon tarnish-ing the image ofPakistan and itsmilitary. Lastweek, SheikhHasina refused toattend recentlyheld D-8 confer-ence in Pakistan

unless Pakistan tendered apology for,what she said, Genocide of Bengalis.Pakistan government had constitutedHamood-ur-Rehman Commission toidentify underlying causes for thistragedy and if there were excesses.

Hamood-ur-Rehman Commis-sion Report observed that formationof One-unit, principle of parity, uni-tary form of government and systemof basic democracies were the rea-sons for alienating the people ofsmaller provinces that led to disinte-gration of Pakistan. Whereas thecommission criticized the then mili-tary and politicos for their ineptness,it had debunked the propaganda byIndia that two to three millionBengalis had been killed by the Pa-kistan army. The Commission had putthe figure of casualties at twenty sixthousand including the killings ofWest Pakistanis, members ofPakistan’s security personnel andBiharis that were butchered by MuktiBahini guerillas. Anyhow, formerprime minister of BangladeshKhaleda Zia is on record having saidthat figure of three million dead washighly exaggerated. Many bookshave been written calling the geno-cide of Bengalis farce; however thoseunder the influence of India or writ-ers with anti-Pakistani streak put thefigure as high as 3 million.

It has to be mentioned that peoplehave not forgotten the genocide ofnon-Bengalis during the civil war andafterwards at the hands of Bengali

nationalists. However, Pakistan con-sidered the matter settled, as SheikhMujib had made no demand for apol-ogy during his visit to Lahore to at-tend Islamic Summit. But SheikhHasina has shown complete obedi-ence towards Indian masters, be ithumiliating Pakistan or be it provid-ing and unwavering support to In-dia, which has deprived Bangladeshof its right over river Barak when itunilaterally decided to build aTipaimukh dam on this site with hugereservoir. This means that RiverBarak, which flows into Bangladeshfrom the Indian state of Manipur, willgo dry completely. India is also con-centrating small rivers flowing fromIndia to Bangladesh to make a main-stream in India to us water for itsdomestic use, thus deprivingBangladeshi farmers of water by di-verting its rivers.

Many writers hold the view thaton 16th December 1971, Pakistanwas dismembered as a result of in-ternational terrorism. India was, ofcourse, on the forefront wherebythe former USSR helped India inimplementing the insidious plan todisintegrate Pakistan. Unfortu-nately, Pakistan’s so-called friends- America and the West - acted assilent spectators. A lot many books,theses and reviews have been writ-ten on the causes of fall of Daccaand disintegration of Pakistan. Itwas unfortunate that in 1971 theUN and the big powers did nothingto stop India to dismember indepen-dent country with recognized inter-national boundaries. After thebreak-up of Pakistan, India de-clared that two-nation theory hadsunk in the Bay of Bengal, but ei-detic reality was that Bangladeshbecame an independent countrywith Muslim identity, and in gen-eral Bengladeshis are not willing toaccept India’s hegemon.

The differences between Indiaand Bangladesh also exist over dis-tribution of water on Teesta River.In April 2010 Water Resources

Ministers of the two countries hadmet in New Delhi under the aegisof the Joint River Commission.While Bangladesh wants to havewater sharing on 50-50 basis avail-able at Ghazal Doba — the onlyrelease point of Teesta river waterto Bangladesh — India is yet totake a final call on the issue asmuch will depend on the WestBengal Government. However,people of Bangladesh would resisthegemonic designs of India, andwould not cave into their pressure.There was another bone of conten-tion i.e., since 1987 when India de-cided to fence some locationsalong Indo-Bangladesh interna-tional border, (at present 2,859 kmhave been fenced out of the sanc-tioned 3,783 kms) Bangladesh hasbeen upset. For Indians the influxof Bangladeshis across the borderwas a problem eluding any long-standing solution.

The decision to fence was aimedat primarily to stop illegal cross-bor-der commodity movements, whichwas not without a political cost bi-laterally. Bangladesh always per-ceived it to be an unfair move, as itreflected not only India’s lack oftrust towards its neighbor but alsomeant overlooking and disregardingwhat is largely considered as a his-torical trend of free movementacross the subcontinent. Neverthe-less, with the fences that were builton Indian soil with Indian resources,there was very little Bangladeshcould do to stop the process. It pro-tested about these fences being de-fence structures, which are not per-mitted between the neighbors within150 yards from the zero line.Bangladesh had also refused to sendits troops to Afghanistan, whichseems to be the result of the fact thatBangladeshis guard their freedomvery jealously, despite SheikhHasina’s appeasement policy to-wards India.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

India is considered as the largestdemocracy and one of the champions of human rights, but in fact

it has a poor human rights record es-pecially in protecting women rights.Indian media, women rights activ-ists and civil society have been rais-ing voices against the crimes againstwomen, but after the recent mediareporting of unprecedented rise inrape cases in Haryana, the criticismhas intensified. The National CrimeRecords Bureau (NCRB) in its re-cent research has found that rape hasbecome India’s fastest growingcrime with an increase of 873 percent in the last five decades. In 2011,the number of rape cases recordedby NCRB was close to 25,000, outof which 9,398 cases of rape in-volved children. Women activistsblame the rise in rapes primarily dueto the low conviction levels and thefact that the perpetrators of the crimeare generally known to the victim.

Madhya Pradesh witnessed3,406 cases followed by West Ben-gal in 2,363 cases while UP had 2,042cases in 2011. Delhi had the highestnumber of rape cases at 568 in 2011.As regards child rape, more than 19cases of child rape are reported inIndia every day. Worse still the num-ber of such cases registered with thepolice has been rising for the last fiveyears. The message is clear: India isa dangerous place for women andchildren. From Haryana to Bengal,rape is a grim reality in India. Every20 minutes, a woman is raped in In-

India’s despicable human rights recorddia. Every third victim of rape is achild, according to 2011 figures fromthe NCRB. Despite its despicable hu-man rights record of oppression andrepression on minorities in India, itsleadership harbors ambition to becomepermanent member of the United Na-tions Security Council.

In October 2011, just a monthlater when the unidentified massgraves in Indian Held Kashmir cameto media limelight, the prime minis-ter of India Mr. Manmohan Singhduring his address at UN GeneralAssembly’s 66th annual session hadonce again called for early reform andexpansion of the UNSC “to reflectcontemporary reality”, which implic-itly meant India’s inclusion in theUNSC as a permanent member. Priorto it, the spokesperson of Indian min-istry of external affairs VishnuPrakash had also told the media that“we have impeccable credentials tobecome the permanent member of theUNSC”. One wonders how could the‘harsh realities’ be put aside beforeweighing India for permanent mem-bership of UNSC. How unfortunatethat a country with a notorious recordof showing disregard to more thantwenty UN resolutions and worsthuman right violations in Kashmirboasted of being a potential candidatefor a ‘responsible’ status at UNSC.

One surely needs to find out the‘impeccable’ credentials from India’spast 65 years history, which is repletewith its belligerency, indigenous sepa-ratist movements, minorities’ issuesand growing fundamentalism. So faras the minority rights in the so-calledlargest democracy are concerned, Sikhmassacre in 1984, Muslims’ pogromin 2002, Christians’ carnage in Orissa

in 2007 and demolition of several mi-norities’ worship places are still alivein the memories of the surviving vic-tims. The most abhorring fact is thatthe criminals who committed theabove massacres enjoy vast ‘politicalpowers’ in India, and for this reason,the culprits of minorities’ mass mur-ders go scot-free till now. On the otherhand, myriad separatist and secession-ist movements going on in India arereflective of the turbulent communalproblems the country is confrontedwith for the past many decades.

Moreover, India’s subjugation ofKashmiri people by denying them theright to self- determination and theviolation of basic human rights by In-dian army in Kashmir have broughtignominy and disgrace to the country.According to a report on HumanRights violations in Kashmir pub-lished by Human Rights Watch andother HR organizations state that be-tween 1989 to June 30, 2012 approxi-mately 98,274 Kashmiris have beenkilled by Indian security forces. Therehave been 7,969 custodial killings,over 107,351 children have been or-phaned, 22,728 women widowed and9,920 women gang-raped. In fact, theabove figures send shivers down thespine of all the conscientious people.On the other hand, some local and for-eign journalists and media men arebeing barred from presenting indepen-dent views on Kashmir. Those who tryto raise their voices are threatened withdire consequences.

Angana Chatterji, co-convener ofthe International People´s Tribunal onHuman Rights and Justice in IndianHeld Kashmir and also the eyewitnessof those unmarked mass graves whichshe found during her visit to Baramulla

and Kupwara districts, has also facedtremendous harassment by Indiansecurity and intelligence personnelfor her writings and deep concernover human rights violations in IHK.According to a report written byRiyaz Wani published in Tehalka on23rd September 2011, the Kashmirgovernment deported human rightsactivist Gautum Navlakha fromSrinagar airport. In November 2010,US academic Professor RichardShapiro, husband of AnganaChatterji, was also denied entry byimmigration authorities in New Delhibecause he was a frequent visitor toKashmir and interacted with varioushuman rights activists, scholars andyouth to learn from their experiences.

American radio broadcasterDavid Barsamian, who was de-ported, had also said that India de-nied him entry because of his viewson Kashmir. He ironically com-mented that he was happy that heescaped without being tortured. Theanswer could be elicited from a re-cent article by a renowned writerIjaz Zaka Syed published in GulfNews on 24th of September with thecaption ‘Cry, my beloved country!’He says, “…financial indexes are noparameters of a nation’s progress.Remember, under Hitler, Nazi Ger-many too had registered unprec-edented economic growth within ashort span of time — and look whereit got it.” Kashmir, which is consid-ered a paradise on earth for its en-chanting scenic beauty, is now turn-ing into a ´secret´ graveyard of itsown inhabitants while the culpritstate is being considered for award-ing UNSC permanent membership.Isn’t it a travesty of justice?

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Voice of the People

Ceasefire tests five leaders

The diplomatic activities underthe current Gaza ceasefire willtest whether a quintet of lead-

ers — each with his own domesticcritics — can find a peaceful ratherthan a military solution to the Pales-tinian situation. The ceasefire lan-guage was direct but ambiguous: “Is-rael should stop all hostilities in theGaza Strip by land, sea and air, in-cluding incursions and targeting of in-dividuals.”

Both Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamasprime minister of Gaza, and IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuhave already been criticized at homefor settling on those terms. Haniyehfaced criticism because there was nosignificant relief from Israel’s seablockade, and the main land cross-ings from Gaza through Israel to theWest Bank are still under Israel’s con-trol. In addition, Haniyeh has notgotten Egypt to ease the controls itimposed at its southern Rafah cross-ing into Gaza to prevent the opensmuggling of arms to Hamas.

While Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz,chief of staff for the Israel Defence

Forces, said that Israel will continueoperations to stop weapons-smug-gling into Gaza, it’s unclear whetherIsraeli drones can operate over Gazaunder the ceasefire agreement. Sinceneither Israel nor the United Statestalks officially to Hamas, all ceasefirenegotiations went through the Egyp-tians, putting Egypt’s PresidentMohammed Morsi in the middle ofan international issue while he facesserious problems at home.

The agreement states: “Egyptshall receive assurances from eachparty that the party commits to whatwas agreed upon,” and “Each partyshall commit itself not to perform anyacts that would breach this under-standing. In case of any observations,Egypt, as the sponsor of this under-standing, shall be informed to followup.” Morsi, a member of the MuslimBrotherhood, which opposed the1979 peace treaty between Egypt andIsrael, has been criticized by Pales-tinians for not opening up the Rafahcrossing. He must deal with Hamasofficials who want to rebuild theirarms stockpile, including Iranian-made Fajr-5 missiles that showedthey could reach Tel Aviv and Jerusa-lem. Morsi’s claim at home last weekthat the judiciary could not overrule

Foreign Minister’s interview toa private TV channel on 30thNov. has exposed failed foreign

policy. FM said trade with India willbe given preference over Kashmir,which is continuation of Musharrafpolicy. She conceded India’s perma-nent presence in Afghanistan as bi-lateral reality between India and Af-ghanistan. On US presence in Af-ghanistan beyond 2014, she left theanswer to transition details betweenKabul and Washington. It clearlyshows that FM was unwilling to ad-mit permanent military presence in-cluding 10-15,000 troops in Afghani-stan for next 30 years, which has al-ready been reported in internationalmedia. FM should explain to the pub-lic how she plans to win support ofpublic for US controlled Afghanistan,and how will her common strategysucceed because public is demand-ing complete and immediate with-drawal of US forces from Afghani-stan to bring an end to fake terror war,

Pak failed foreign policybeing used to protectUS Asia-pacific policyin the region.

P a k - A f g h a nTrade Agreement(PATA) underminesnational interests.While responding tothe question on Indianpresence in Afghani-stan, FM said it is Af-

ghan-India bilateral issue. She em-phasized the importance of Afghani-stan for Pakistan’s access to CARS.India’s infrastructure development inAfghanistan is part of US-India tradeagreement and it can only succeedwith PATA. The current standoff onForeign Direct Investment (FDI) inIndia due to adverse effects on retailbusiness shows the complexity ofopening FDI without supporting in-frastructure. The £500 bn offshore taxhavens in UK involving 28 shamcompanies protecting 21,500 compa-nies shows nature of challenge foradvanced economies. India is in noposition to monitor multinationalcompanies, collect taxes and protectits small businesses.

On the other hand, Islamabad hasagreed to allowed toll free access toIndia through Pakistan. Reportedly,Delhi is has launched eight-lane high-way to link with CARS through Pa-kistan and Afghanistan. Our leadersshould explain to public how it plans

Women faceexploitation

HASHIM ABRO

Women in today’s particularly, in therural areas of Sindh, are socially andeconomically handicapped. Theyare deprived of equal participationin the socio-economic activities. TheConstitution of Pakistan has taken along leap in the direction of eradi-cating the lingering effects of suchadverse forces so far as women areconcerned. It recognizes women asa class by itself and permits enact-ment of laws and reservations favor-ing them. A number of Articles inthe Constitution make express pro-vision for affirmative action in fa-vor of womenfolk. It prohibits alltypes of discrimination againstwomen and lays a carpet for secur-ing equal opportunity to women inall walks of life, including educa-tion, employment and participation.

In spite of all these develop-ments, the truth remains that wide-spread violations of women’s rightscontinue to persist in the country,especially, in the remote and ruralareas of Sindh and Balochistan. Theforces of globalization and extrem-ism and the unwillingness of othersegments of humanity continue topose a threat to women’s humanrights. Structural inequalities andpower imbalances facilitate suchviolations.

Urge for easy money, at timesgreed, facilitating a life full of com-forts, possibly luxury, has in the re-cent few years -during PPP-led coa-lition government- made Sindhi ru-ral women more susceptible to ex-ploitation and violence but where isthe government, where are the rel-evant public sector organizationssuch as Commission on the statusof women and provincial womenwelfare, social welfare and humanrights departments? Unfortunately,all these relevant organizations havedone nothing to alleviate miseries ofwomen and elevate their socioeco-nomic status in the province.—Islamabad

Allegationsagainst Morsi

KHAWAJA UMER FAROOQ

Recent allegations and media cam-paign of western media speciallyAljazeera news channel againstnewly elected Morsi government inEgypt is baseless and rude. No onecan compare present demarcatedelected Egyptian government toformer Mubarak regime. Allega-tions are coming from official offormer Mubarak regime who ac-cused that Morsi is acting like adictator and Morsi is also harmingjudiciary and legal system.

Unfortunately some sources areusing famous Tahrir square for scor-ing political points and destabilizedpresent government. Morsi not actedalone and purposed new constitu-tional amendments. Egypt Parlia-ment elected by public purposedand approved recent amendment inconstitution. Now matter is going topresident and finally public woulddecide whether constitutionalchanges are part of constitution ornot. Unemployment and public ex-pectations are high but true realityis that no one can solve last fortyyears problem in just few days. Onlydays ago Egyptian president playeda vital role in Peace truce betweenIsrael and Hammas whole world ap-preciated Morsi efforts. Newlyelected President and most of newelected members are highly edu-cated and have capability to faceeconomic and political challenges.—Jeddah, KSA

BD demandfor sorry!

M HASSAN ABBASI

Although D-8 conference waspeacefully arranged in Pakistan butthe conference ended in a failurewhen regional neighborsBangladesh former East Pakistandidn’t participated in it though Pa-kistan Foreign Minister tried to con-vince Bangladesh’s Prime Ministerduring his visit to Bangladesh fewdays before the conference butBangladesh demanded for officialSorry statement for the maltreatmentwith the Bengalis in 1971 war butPakistan refused to do so and there-fore Bangladesh participated at theadvisory level in the conference.

On the one hand where Govern-ment is seeking sorry from theBalochs and developing relationwith its revival enemy India thenwhy is not Pakistan Governmentready to say sorry though PakistanGovernment realizes that it had donewrong with the Bengalis but real-ization is not needed the acceptanceto the fact could only came when itwill say Sorry to the BangladeshGovernment which will open newdoors of friendship.—Karachi

Responsible & vibrant mediaANWAR PARVEEN

The media is very vibrant these days on various issues related tointernal affairs of the country. Media sets a trend by giving

awareness about problems and making people to understand theirrole in overcoming the problems. But when such a media instead ofdeveloping positive attitudes indulges into confusing the minds thenit leads to chaos and questions the credibility of media. The need ofthe hour is a responsible and caring media. There is requirement ofpresenting the positive as well as negative side of the issues, han-dling it by suggesting what is doable without hurting any nationalinterest. It is time to adopt confidence gaining strategies. The mediacan unite the people removing misconceptions while providing aforum to display tolerance and respect for others point of view tobuild larger consensus.—Islamabad

Views From Abroad

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to protect its market share in Afghani-stan and CARS. Similarly, how jobswill be protected and manufacturingexpanded. There are talks of expand-ing exports to Europe whereas in 3-day India-China Strategic AllianceMeeting (26-28 Nov.), India signedimport agreements with China be-cause Chinese products are cheaperby 30 to 40 percent as compared toEurope. The garment industry firesin Karachi and Dacca have shownhuman right abuses of exporters serv-ing European markets. Islamabadcannot allow continuation of humanrights violations in export industryserving European markets withoutguarantees and protections in linewith US protectionism policies toprotect local workers, manufacturersand economy. Therefore, India can-not be given access to CARS andAfghanistan through Pakistan.

FM is misguiding importance ofAfghanistan route to CARS for Pa-kistan. In fact it is the US version ofSilk route for US $600bn multina-tionals business operating under FDIpolicy from India. China has devel-oped energy and trade corridors withCARS. By linking Pakistan throughnorthern Areas, it can help Pakistanovercome its energy needs, create astrong economic hub in northern ar-eas through KKH, create millions ofjobs and strong agri-based exportsand infrastructure development from

Waziristanchallenges

LT COL M S THUTTAL (R)

Malala Yusufzai, a young girl fromSwat, was attacked by the Taliban ofFazlullah group from across the bor-der in Nuristan, Afghanistan. Thisalso led to pressure on Pakistan toundertake operations in NorthWaziristan. But this is a serious mat-ter; operations are undertaken in or-der to bring relief. Any operation hasto be undertaken after gathering reli-able intelligence, with able assistanceof local population and keeping inmind the tribal traditions.

Challenges for army redouble asa large number of troops deployed oneastern front have been move to west-ern border, thus leaving the defenseagainst India unbalanced. This situa-tion has been exploited by neighbor-ing countries and an invisible foreignhand seems to be working behindfuelling insurgency in the troubledareas of FATA as well as Balochistan.Vacation of posts by Nato-Isaf forceson the other side of the border leavesthe Durand line vulnerable for Paki-stan. This indicates towards the plotto keep Pakistan Army engaged onits western borders, so that continuedengagement weakens the armedforces from within. So Pakistan hasmore at stake than what seems at theface value. The human angle hasnever been given any priority. Peopleof FATA, who are loyal to Pakistan,are fed up of terrorism.

The situation demands a strategyto be made afresh involving locals,all political parties and stakeholder,with an aim to win over the heartsand minds. Army must be relieved ofthe local administration burden. It canbe redeployed in DI Khan. Develop-ment work must start with the coop-eration of local tribes. Politicallyelected representatives and civil so-ciety organizations must rally peopleand show their presence by sharingtheir grief and treating them with dig-nity. Political parties must establishoffices inside North and SouthWaziristan. Political governmentshould hold negotiations with thetribes to redefine social contracts. Nojoint NATO-Pak Operations shouldbe conducted. We should not over-stretch army’s deployment in FATAand Swat. Political activities must beallowed in FATA, elections must beheld across the tribal area, commit-tees be formed to write a new socialcontract, the FCR needs to be re-writ-ten, FATA be declared a separateprovince, and development work bestarted a massive pace to bring thetribal people to mainstream.—Lahore

Are westupid enough?

HIRA MUZAFFAR

While going through an English dailynewspaper and after reading all sortsof not so charming news regardingthe downfall of our beloved country,my eyes got stuck on this astonish-ing news; Malala leads TIME’s Per-son of the Year list. I go through thisnews and find out that this girl hasbeen placed ahead of Barack Obamaand Hillary Clinton due to her count-less efforts for speaking for thewomens’ right. As an ordinary liberalgirl and a citizen of Pakistan, I shouldbe happy to see such a brave and fear-less Pakistani girl who has been ableto take her place amongst the top lead-ing leaders of the world and whosename has been placed in the world’smost renowned magazine, TIME.

Like everyone, we should cel-ebrate the accomplishments and any-thing that counts in favor of our un-der developed country. But I want toshare my view point here. I am not apolitical person, nor have I muchknowledge about the political partiesthat whom backfired who and why.But, I just want to ask the questionthat is in my mind: if this girl (sorryMalala but I would not like to callyou lady due to certain reasons) wasbrave enough to step forward andspeak her word in front of theTaliban’s and when everyone start-ing from local media to the interna-tional leading organizations sup-ported and recognized her achieve-ments then why still none of us hasseen her on any live interview by any

IAEA facilitates India’s NSG membership?

The Washington based researchinstitute ‘Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), emphasized on In-

dia that it should ensure more trans-parency, independence for its nuclearregulator and tight security measuresto ensure smooth transit of its nuclearstockpiles from one place to another.India’s negligent security in handlingof nuclear materials has come to lighton at least two occasions in whichradio active materials- from a hos-pital and a university laboratory –were discarded and ended up in ascrap dealer’s shop in New Delhi.The radio active field of the radioactive material sold to the dealer wasfound to be of 500 R (Roentgen) perhour – enough to kill a person withexposure of one hour to the radia-tion. The incident resulted in onefatality and radiation injuries to atleast ten others. It is believed thatsome of the material was meltedand resold to other vendors. No onein India seems concerned on thelong term effects that this sold ma-

terial with radioactive ingredientswould cause on Indian lives. Thereis another aspect of irresponsiblehandling of nuclear materials in In-dia. Easy availability of nuclear ma-terials in the common markets mayfacilitate religious extremists and ter-rorists in acquiring the same for mak-ing dirty bombs in India.

Despite acceptance of lax atti-tude in handling of nuclear materialsby some in the Indian nuclear indus-try, it is a pity that international com-munity fails to acknowledge the sameand continues to feed India with lat-est nuclear technology. The NewDelhi incident was not the first onethat emanated from India. About fiveyears ago, Germany had reportedfinding radioactive steel coming fromIndia. The French followed with re-ports of radio-active buttons in eleva-tors originating from nuclear radioactive steel, again from India.

The UN nuclear watchdog thatkept unusual silence so far on the fre-quent leakages from Indian nuclearplants, has awakened to the realityand decided to inspect few of thenuclear plants for irregular practices.As such, an operational safety review

team of IAEA arrived in India on 29thOctober amid anti-nuclear energyprotests questioning IAEA’s author-ity and demanding its closure as anindependent watchdog. These gov-ernment organized protests were con-ducted to send a massage across tothe International Atomic Agency thatit was not welcome in India for in-spection purposes. The Indian movewas to influence IAEA’s findings thatwould otherwise undermine India’scredibility as a responsible nuclearstate and thwart its ingress into theprestigious NSG.

In an open letter to the IAEA byCoalition for Nuclear Disarmamentand Peace (CNDP), it has requestedthe agency not to allow its team’s vis-its to be publicized as a blanket cleanchit on nuclear safety to the Indiannuclear industry. The letter endeav-ors to guide the visiting team on is-sues that plague nuclear establish-ment. The letter also reveals that workforce employed on the nuclear relatedconstruction at the nuclear complexwas not provided with adequatehealth cover and forced to work inextremely dangerous environments.The initial inquiries by the IAEA

however, have already been pub-lished by one of Rajasthan’s localnewspaper. These initial findingshave revealed serious vulnerabili-ties in India’s nuclear regime. Mostconcerning was the finding thatnuclear complex at Kota, Rajasthanthat houses 6 reactors, two moreunder construction, does not havethe auxiliary diesel generators thatare crucial to ensure that uninter-rupted power supply to reactors con-tinues in case of a loss of coolantaccident. The findings have alsoquestioned efficacy of using oldequipment to monitor radiation ex-posures. Meanwhile, Indian nuclearindustry has expressed satisfactionon Obama’s re-election as it may as-sure that its application for fullmembership of NSG will makerapid progress since the US is toassume the group’s presidency nextJuly. Such a development may havedangerous consequences for Paki-stan if India becomes the memberof NSG as it will use its veto powerto block the opening up of foreignsupport in Pakistan’s quest for ac-quisition of latest technology formeeting its energy needs.

his proclamations has led to protestsagainst the Egyptian leader. His in-ternational activities, critics say, haveinterfered with his domestic duties.Some also say his ceasefire work is acover for his assumption of dictato-rial powers. US President BarackObama faces a different dilemma. Hedepends on Morsi to carry out deal-ings with Hamas, which the UnitedStates has labelled a terrorist organi-zation, although the White House isunder pressure to take a strong standagainst Morsi’s claim to extra-judi-cial powers.

In addition, Obama’s indirectdealings with Hamas have undercutPalestinian President MahmoudAbbas, whom Washington has beenbuilding up. Yet the US has opposedAbbas’ primary diplomatic initia-tive, a UN General Assembly reso-lution that had Palestinian land rec-ognized as a UN non-member, ob-server state. Abbas is the last leaderin this unusual quintet. In the wakeof the Gaza ceasefire, he has loststanding within the West Bank andinternationally in the internal battleover Palestinian leadership. Thequestion is whether he will regainsome stature as a result of the UNvote last week. The approval is a step

China and CARS. It will end energycrisis in Pakistan because it will befree to claim its share in regionaleconomy including CARS, Af-ghanistan and China. It should beprotected as national interest. Stra-tegically speaking, by routingIndia’s trade through China, Paki-stan can solve Kashmir issue with-out any delay because it will becomeirrelevant for India. In addition, itwill protect Tibet from foreign med-dling. A peaceful Tibet will helpkeep bilateral relations healthy be-tween China and India.

Islamabad should strengthen re-gional approach to solve Afghan is-sue. The positive outcome of Pak-China-Afghanistan trilateral meet-ing is a good start. Beijing hasshown its resolve to help promotepeace in the region and called forgreater role of SCO in solving re-gional issues. China-Afghan rela-tions including bilateral trade arepositive signs. US has also sup-ported the process. It is thereforelogical to demand complete with-drawal of US forces including mili-tary bases to help promote regionalintegration and peace. FM failed topoint out that withdrawal of UStroop, end of US Asia-Pacific policyand cancellation of permanent sup-ply routes through Pakistan for next50 years are necessary to bring peaceto the region and end $20 bn annualloss to Pakistan economy.

media channel? She claims to bebrave then why isn’t she still braveto face the general public and getdocumented live? The stories andimages about Malalas endless hardwork is on different social networksand there are so many articles andviews by everyone then why we havenot been able to hear her word ofthanks to those who actually stood byher true efforts to acknowledge herfor the steps she took? Or if I missedany such interview or her remarks,please be kind enough to share thelink or article with me.—Islamabad

1971 humiliationT A MALIK

It was in the month of December thatPakistan suffered humiliation in1971. It is time to reflect and perhapslearn some lessons from repeatedmistakes by our establishment andpolitical elite, who consider them-selves above law. Without account-ability there can neither be democ-racy, nor writ of state.

Our rapid economic and moraldecline will reduce us to yet anotherSomalia like situation, if immediateremedial measures are not taken.Quaid’s vision of a democratic wel-fare state was one that was based onrule of law, where all men were tohave access to equal opportunities,where merit prevailed and public of-fice holders were expected to adhereto ethics and morality and be heldaccountable for any abuse of power.Imposition of Urdu as a national lan-guage on majority Bengali speakingpopulation of Pakistan was a stepwhich created bitterness and ill-willand was against all democratic norms.Those responsible were unmindful ofthe fact that movement for creationof a separate homeland for Muslimswas started in Bengal as early as1905, much before anybody else eventhought of it.

The Quaid’s vision of a welfaredemocratic state was destroyed bynone other than its paid civil and uni-formed bureaucracy, when theystarted meddling in politics and in-trigues. Had this country adhered tothe vision of our founding fathers,Pakistan would not have had to en-dure the ignominy and shame of sur-render and dismemberment in 1971.The choice of Ayub Khan with a tar-nished past, who as Col was accusedof accepting cash and jewelry fromfleeing Hindus during the days he wasin the Boundary Force for fivemonths in later half of 1947, was abad decision. This file was closedwhen GOC Lahore Gen Biggs pickedup a weak Major Musa to close thefile and clear the way for Ayub’s pro-motion as a Brigadier.

Public morality suffered a blowwhen the self assumed Field Marshallwas so careless to be involved withChristine Keeler while on an officialtrip to UK. Ayub Khan repaid hisdebt to Musa when he made him Cin C bypassing others more senior anddeserving than him. It was none otherthan Ayub Khan, who knowingly se-lected a debauch to head the military,a man under whose watch Quaid’sPakistan and his vision received asetback in 1971. The indiscipline,both financial and ethical, that infectsour bureaucracy and ruling politicalelite started from the plunder ofevacuee property in 1947 and theirgreed for real estate which was initi-ated by allotment of state lands to itspaid servants instead of to deprivedsections of our society and continuestill todate. Inspite of constitutionalembargo on dual nationality holdersto hold public office, the fate of thiscountry, its institutions and its politi-cal parties are in the hands of menwho owe their allegiance and loyal-ties to other nations, and for whomthis country is just a safe financialstopover, where they can safely plun-der its assets and flee to evade ac-countability.—Illinois, US

toward statehood, as well as a ges-ture toward the 1967 borders andan opportunity for the Palestiniansto join UN organizations.

In a surprise move, Hamas re-versed course and announced sup-port for the Abbas proposal. Thischange came out of a phone callbetween Abbas and KhaledMeshal, the Hamas political chief,who is in exile in Damascus.Whether this means the two Pal-estinian leaders will reconcile maybe determined soon. Meshal in-tends to visit Gaza on Dec. 5, andAbbas told a West Bank audienceon Nov. 25 that he wants to workon unity efforts.

Each leader will face domes-tic opposition if he reaches com-promises unacceptable to some ofhis constituents. If the leaders failand fighting resumes, the resultscould be much worse than the eightdays of rockets, missiles andbombs that left hundreds dead orwounded. After 64 years, peopleon the ground, Arab and Israeli,deserve a peaceful resolution. Thewriter reports on intelligence, de-fence and foreign policy for TheWashington Post.— Courtesy: The Japan Times

It was a sad football fight I witnessed. The argument startedbetween two teams over a game

of football. The words said unfor-tunately were not about the game.“Listen,” I said as I walked in afterhearing the fight between both theteams. “Isn’t the fight about whetherthe goal was foul or not?”

Both the teams put down theirheads. “Then why were you mock-ing each other’s religions?” Both

the teams put down their heads. I seethis happening all over. Today wemourn the passing away of a belovedold friend Mr Tolerance! We owemuch to Mr Tolerance; he’s the oneallowed bits and pieces of a foreignlanguage to enhance and fortify hisown; who allowed another philoso-phy from stranger across the borderto strengthen his own knowledge ofthe unknown, who accepted hisneighbours strange call to prayerwithout it making him insecure of hisown. We owe much to him.

His was a slow death. His healthbegan to deteriorate when humansbore no physical difference from eachother started looking for differences;when twenty with a beard became a

majority and five without a minority,when twenty with a turban feltemboldened to stare down at five withno turban on their head.

He nearly died a violent deathwhen six million in Hitler’s Aryanland were gassed but was resuscitatedwhen soldiers from countries acrossthe border killed the man inside hisbunker. He nearly died in cold warwhen capitalist businessman in capi-talist country felt it necessary to storebomb and pile it for use against com-munist neighbour who also storedbomb and aimed it on capitalist shore.

He nearly died when super-power sent soldier and missileagainst a bearded dictator and whenbearded dictator was captured and

Death of tolerance..!hanged in foreign shore, though noarms of destruction were found onhis soil. But today, Mr Toleranceis dead. Bombs and blasts are usedon innocents, and child and womenare safe no more.

Mr Tolerance is dead, but it istime that someone greater than tol-erance takes his place. It is time thatMr Understanding shows his face.That we learn to understand eachother, that we learn to understandthat behind mask and beard lies theface of fear. Let us understand whywe are afraid of each other and gen-tly show that there is no reason tobe afraid. Tolerance is dead, but letUnderstanding take it’s place..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Walter Pincus

Urooj Raza

Rizwan Ghani Email:sadcat44@hotmail.com

JONATHAN SCHANZER, BENJAMIN

WEINTHAL

THERE was never much doubtthat the U.N. General Assembly would overwhelminglyvote to upgrade the Palestin-

ian Authority to the status of nonmem-ber state on Nov. 29. The big surpriseof the event was that a number of keyWestern European countries did notjoin the United States and vote againstthe resolution. The Czech Republic wasthe only European country to voteagainst the upgrade, and shockingly,the normally staunchly pro-Israeli gov-ernments of Germany and Britain de-cided to abstain. Does this mean thatIsrael has lost Europe? Germany’s sur-prising decision, in the eleventh hour,to shift from opposing Palestinian Presi-dent Mahmoud Abbas’s bid to abstain-ing on it was reportedly tied to the ques-tion of Israel’s ongoing constructionof settlements in the West Bank — arecent source of contention in Europeancapitals. Germany appears to have takenthis opportunity to address the con-flict on the world stage.

This decision was especiallyshocking to Israelis given Germany’shistorical relationship with the Jewishstate. Chancellor Angela Merkel de-clared in a 2008 speech before theKnesset that she supported Israel’sright to defend itself and that only theIsraelis and Palestinians without ex-

ternal interference could negotiate atwo-state solution. “Every Germanchancellor before me has shoulderedGermany’s special historical responsi-bility for Israel’s security,” Merkel saidthen. “This historical responsibility ispart of my country’s raison d’être. Forme as German chancellor, therefore,Israel’s security will never be open tonegotiation.”

The Federal Republic has based a

How Israel Lost Europe Bringing Down the Muslim Brotherhoodlarge chunk of its devotion to Israel’ssecurity on the notion ofWiedergutmachung, or reparations for

the German crimes against EuropeanJewry during the Holocaust. AlthoughGermany likes to present itself as Israel’s

strongest ally in Europe, the relation-ship has often been shaky. Take theexample of Christoph Heusgen,Merkel’s national security advisor andMiddle East point man, who in 2009 ayear after the chancellor’s speech be-fore the Knesset sought to convince

U.S. envoys to weaken Washington’sopposition to the United Nations’ Gold-stone Report, which alleged Israeli warcrimes in Gaza during that year’s Op-eration Cast Lead.

According to a WikiLeaked cablefrom the U.S. Embassy in Berlin at thetime, Heusgen “thought [Israeli PrimeMinister Benjamin] Netanyahu needed‘to do more’ in order [to] bring the Pal-estinians to the negotiating table. With

Palestinians in East Jerusalem gettingnotices from Israeli authorities that theirhouses will be destroyed, it would be

‘suicide’ for President Abbas to moveunder the current circumstances.”

The cable continued: “Heusgen

said he could not fathom whyNetanyahu did not understand this. Hesuggested pressuring Netanyahu bylinking favorable UNSC [U.N. SecurityCouncil] treatment of the GoldstoneReport to Israel committing to a com-plete stop in settlement activity.”

In 2010, Merkel and Netanyahu hada heated telephone exchange over thesettlements issue, and the relationshipfurther frayed over Germany’s decisionthis year to upgrade the PalestinianAuthority’s representation in Berlin tothat of a full diplomatic mission with anambassador. Germany’s U.N. absten-tion on Nov. 29 may also have beendriven by domestic calculations.

—Courtesy FP

RAMY YAACOUB

EGYPT’S Tahrir Square is onceagain making headlines allover the world. Protestershave filled Cairo’s downtown to

the brim twice in the past week just asthey did last year, during the heady 18-day revolution that toppled HosniMubarak. This time around, however,

the square was packed with Egyptiansopposed to a power grab by thecountry’s Islamist movements. Themessage was clear: There are moversand shakers on the Egyptian politicalscene, and they are not Islamists. Atlong last, Egypt’s non-Islamist opposi-tion has a chance to get in the driver’sseat building a powerful political ma-chine of their own and changing the di-rection of their country. On Nov. 22, Presi-dent Mohamed Morsi issued a consti-tutional decree that turned Egypt’s bal-ance of power on its head. Two of thedeclaration’s six articles may ostensiblyaddress the demands of Egyptians: Oneorders a retrial of those implicated in thekilling of protesters during the revolu-tion, and another sacks the prosecutorgeneral a remnant of Mubarak’s regime.Both actions, however, only served tosugarcoat the rest of the articles, whicheffectively transform the president intoan omnipotent leader.

The declaration not only givesMorsi, a longtime leader in the MuslimBrotherhood, the authority to issue anynecessary decision or legislation with-out overview from any other branch ofgovernment, it paves the way to set uprevolutionary courts. This “revolution-ary protection” law essentially gives thepresident the power to put on trial any-one deemed to be enemy of the revolu-tion, state, or regime. The ambiguity ofits language is dangerous as tens ofthousands of ordinary Egyptians sawimmediately. The response was an im-mediate uproar by Egypt’s infamouslyfragmented opposition and within a few

hours, that well-known fragmentationwas giving way to unity. The Nov. 27marches and protest in Tahrir were thelargest since the revolution’s heyday, andwere followed by another huge proteston Nov. 30 after Morsi refused to retracthis decree. Disturbingly, many Egyptianprovinces have also seen violent clashesbetween supporters and opponents ofthe Brotherhood. Clashes led to the burn-ing of several offices belonging to the

Brothers’ political wing, and the deathof a few protesters from both camps.

Many skeptics, including the Broth-

erhood, are convinced that the currentunity between Egypt’s opposition forceswill be short lived. This could not befurther from the truth. Emergency con-stitutional decrees and similar measuresare in themselves not foreign to democ-racies, and have been exercised success-fully across the globe at numerouspoints in history. Egypt, however, is dif-ferent: Egyptians well remember thecountry’s disastrous experience withthem during the previous dictatorship.Lest we forget, a major motivator for lastyear’s revolution was the long-standingemergency law, which was in effect for

30 years straight and suspended Egyp-tians’ constitutional rights. In fact, thiswas one of the common grievances thatall factions of the revolution could agreeupon.

But since Mubarak fell, Egypt’s frac-tious non-Islamist groups have had ahard time maintaining that unity. Unlikethe decades-old institutionalized Mus-lim Brotherhood and the hard-line Salafimovements, these groups only gained

the space to operate freely less than twoyears ago. They have had to learn howto structure their political institutions,

build their ground operations, and de-velop their policies not to mention ne-gotiate their electoral alliances and navi-gate the various crises of Egypt’s post-revolutionary landscape. Initially, thesenew parties splintered into many smallgroups, failing to provide a united vi-sion for Egypt’s future. They feared suc-cessful alliances, worrying it would di-lute their influence and blur their ideo-logical message. Today, these concernsdo not exist instead, these groups fearmarginalization and political annihilationif they don’t unite against Morsi’s powergrab.—Courtesy Foreign Policy.

J MICHAEL COLE

WHILE China’s oil dealings withcountries like Iran and Sudan receive global attention, its budding relationship with Iraq may turn

out to be the most important. A lot of attentionhas been paid in recent years to energy-hungryChina’s billion-dollar bids on oil fields in Canadaand the Asian giant’s reliance on oil from coun-tries like Iran and Sudan to fuel its growingeconomy. But its growing interest in anothermajor oil producer has gone largely unnoticed,and if current trends continue, that Middle East-ern country could become the world’s next “oilsuperpower,” with China, not the West, actingas both Iraq’s main partner and top beneficiaryof its rich resources in what some now call theB&B trade axis (Beijing and Baghdad).

In the past decade or so, China waited pa-tiently on the sidelines while the U.S. and itsallies coped with Iraq’s new, and often timesmessy internal dynamics that followed the 2003overthrow of Saddam Hussein by a U.S.-ledcoalition. China reemerged in 2008, however, tosign post-Saddam Iraq’s first major oil deal witha foreign country. While the majority of Iraqi oildeals in the post-Saddam era were awarded toWestern firms, the Western shift to a more ame-nable and independent oil-rich Kurdish regionin the north amid disenchantment with south-ern Iraq is creating a vacuum that China hasfound hard to resist. Even more so than Russia,a traditional player in Iraq during the Soviet era,China has the capital that Baghdad is desper-ately seeking to build its oil and gas infrastruc-ture, while Iraq has crude potentials that arealluring to a China that seeks to diversify itsenergy sources. Already, Chinese oil firms havetaken an active interest in acquiring deals thathad been awarded to Western firms in 2009-2010, which the latter are now relinquishing sothey can focus on alternative oil fields inKurdistan. Although talks between China andIraq go back to at least 1997, major investmentshave only occurred in recent years, with Chi-nese National Petroleum Company (CNPC) fo-cusing on the 17 billion barrel Rumaila field —Iraq’s largest — and Halfaya, both in the south.As of 2010, China had made five major oil in-vestments in Iraq since the overthrow of SaddamHussein, one of which was in Kurdistan.

Relations are already on the right foot. Tocreate goodwill with Baghdad, Beijing in 2010forgave about 80 percent of Iraq’s $8.5 billiondebt to China and has signed multibillion-dollartrade deals in various sectors, including indus-try, government, tourism, and transportation.As China seeks to expand its fledging defenseindustry, it is not unreasonable to think that atsome point Iraq will turn to it for military hard-ware, which in turn would create incentives for

China’s Oil Quest Comes to Iraq

An Islamist power grab has given Egypt’s secular opposition an opening to shape theircountry’s political future.

MARTIN KHOR

Investment treaties between governments areallowing private companies and investors tosue countries for billions of dollars. Companiesare claiming that their investments and futureprofits are affected by a range of governmentpolicies, including non-compliance with newhealth, environmental or economic measures.Multinationals are often equipped with a pow-erful legal team and are capable of seriouslydamaging the economies of poor countries. Thegrowing number of recent cases has given riseto global concern and a movement to amendthe laws and investment treaties.

An epidemic of international legal suitstaken by companies against governments forbillions of dollars is causing public concern andleading to reviews of investment treaties. A grow-ing number of international law suits has high-lighted an emerging global crisis: the nature andeffects of investment treaties signed between

governments but which are allowing privatecompanies and investors to sue countries formillions or even billions of dollars.

The most recent cases involving investmentinclude a US$1.8 billion judgment against Ecua-dor obtained by the U.S. oil company Occiden-

tal Petroleum, a US$2 billion suit filed againstIndonesia by a UK mining company Churchill,cases taken against Uruguay and Australia forpublic health measures by tobacco companies,suits threatened against India by several multi-national companies, and even the seizure of anArgentinian warship in a Ghana port on behalfof a U.S. investment firm. The law suits, whichhave resulted in judgments totalling many bil-

lions of dollars against governments, were takenby companies and investors claiming that theirinvestments including future profits had beenaffected by a range of government policies, in-cluding non-compliance with contracts or newhealth, environmental or economic measures.

Most of arbitration cases are taken up in theICSID (International Centre for Settlement ofInvestment Disputes), based in the World Bankin Washington. The tribunal system is widelycriticised for its lack of professionalism andtransparency, its conflicts of interest and thesecrecy of its cases and outcomes.

The epidemic of cases and the high lossesthat governments have suffered or will poten-

tially suffer is giving rise to grave concerns andcalls by several governments as well as publicinterest groups and legal experts to review andamend the agreements that have led to the legalsuits. The agreements are of two main types -the bilateral investment treaties (BITS) signed

between pairs of governments (of which thereare now around 3,000) and the investment chap-ter contained in bilateral or regional free tradeagreements (especially those involving theUnited States). Many of these agreements have“investor-to-state” dispute systems, underwhich a private company or investor can di-rectly sue governments in an international tri-bunal by claiming that their property or profits

have been “expropriated” or adversely affectedby a violation of contracts or by recent policymeasures. The following are some recent casesof legal suits taken by investors against coun-tries: An ICSID tribunal in October awarded ajudgment for US-based Occidental Petroleum(Oxy) against Ecuador of US $1.8 billion, itslargest ever award, in a case taken under theU.S.-Ecuador BIT. In addition, Ecuador has topay $589 million in backdated compound in-terest and half of the costs of the tribunal,making its total penalty around $2.4 billion.

The government is countering theChurchill case, claiming that Churchill did nothave the correct type of mining licenses. LawMinister Amir Syamsuddin said Churchill’s ac-quisition of a local company broke the law asthey did not report nor get approval from theregency government and Jakarta. Two Minis-ters and other senior officials will be repre-senting Indonesia at the case in ICSID.

—Courtesy Other News

Fourth, the treaties prohibit expropriation of the investments. The definition of “expropriation” is verybroad; it includes direct expropriation such as takeovers of property but also indirect expropriation including

“regulatory takings”, or the implementation of new policy measures that affect the potential revenue and profits of the investors.

greater military cooperation between the coun-tries and further entrench China’s presence in

Iraq. China’s prospects in Iraq are certainly en-viable. The vast amounts of capital at the dis-

posal of state-owned oil firms like CNPC, com-bined with Beijing’s more permissive and risk-

tolerant rules of engagement on foreign invest-ment, will give it a net advantage as it attemptsto outbid potential competitors for Iraq’s oil re-sources. Additionally, Beijing will have one upon other potential bidders for not having to facethe colonial baggage that comes with their in-vestment, such as the U.K.’s BP, or Russianand French companies.

The implications of this shift away from theWest in favor of China will be far-reaching forboth Iraq and the Middle East. About two thirdsof Iraq’s estimated oil reserves of 143.1 billion

barrels and natural gas holdings of 126 trillioncubic feet are located in southern Iraq, the same

parts of the country that Western companiesare pulling out of. Industry sources maintain

that by 2020 Chinese companies could be in-volved in projects within Iraq that account for

at least 2 million barrels per day (bpd) of theestimated 6 million bpd Iraq will produce by then(from 3.1 million bpd at present), and may beaiming for 3.5 million bpd by 2035. According tothe International Energy Agency (IEA), Iraq’soutput could reach 8.3 million bpd by 2035. Toput Iraq’s potential in context, by comparison,China imported about 970,000 bpd from SaudiArabia in 2011 and currently purchases about520,000 bpd from Iran, or about half of Iran’stotal exports of 1 million bpd, which is downfrom 2.3 million bpd in 2011 before Western sanc-

tions over its suspected nuclear weapons pro-gram kicked in (prior to the sanctions, China

accounted for roughly 20 percent of Iran’s ex-ports). However, the U.S. Energy InformationAdministration (EIA) estimates that falling pro-duction resulting from lack of investment, a highrate of natural decline in maturing oil fields, andthe impact of the sanctions regime, will reducethe quantity of oil that is available for exportand thus reduce Iran’s importance as an oil ex-porting country. Venezuela, another importantsource of crude for China, exports about 1.7million bpd, of which China accounts for 10 per-cent. There as well, natural decline, lack of in-vestment, and rising domestic consumptionhave led to an about one-quarter decline in ex-ports since 2001.

For its part, Russia produced 9.8 million bpdof crude in 2011, of which 7 million bpd wereexported with China buying about 375,000 bpd.Unresolved territorial tensions, Moscow’s ten-dency to use oil exports as an economic weaponwhen relations sour, and Russia’s growing mis-trust of China’s “rise” may have convinced theBeijing leadership that Russia cannot be countedon to serve as a reliable source of energy, itsvast resources notwithstanding. And whileCanada, a beacon of stability, shows great po-tential for China, Beijing is aware that major in-vestments by China will remain a controversialissue in Canada, which could cause severe de-lays to the process of transforming the North

American giant into a major source of energyfor China. From the above figures, it is thereforeeasy to see why Beijing would increasingly turnto Iraq, possibly the next “energy superpower,”as a source of crude to ensure it can continue tofeed China’s economic expansion well into thefuture.

However, ever wary of Western designs,China remains extremely susceptible to anypossibility that its access to energy will be dis-rupted. Such fears are exacerbated by China’sincreasing reliance on oil imports, which cur-

rently stand at 55 percent, or 5.3 million bpd, ofa total consumption of 9.9 million bpd. As itseconomy continues to expand, China’s oil de-pendence will grow commensurately, makingdisruptions to its imports all the more threaten-ing. Efforts by the U.S. to attain energy self-sufficiency and therefore reduce its reliance onthe Middle East are also fueling fears amongthe more conspiratorial minds in Beijing, whobelieve that a U.S. that is less dependent onMiddle Eastern oil would be more inclined tosow discord within the region to “punish”China economically. While such scenarios areunlikely, there is little doubt that self-suffi-ciency, added to Washington’s “pivot” to Asia,will result in the reduction of U.S. forces in theMiddle East, where they currently serve as theguarantors of security. As the U.S. developsnew sources of energy and increases domesticproduction (it could possibly overtake Saudioutput by 2020, with 11.1 million bpd), theMiddle East as an object of national security alongstanding legacy of the “Carter Doctrine”could gradually become a thing of the past, orat least become less strategically significant tothe U.S. Conversely, unless China embarks onits own policy to achieve energy self-reliance,or finds energy sources on its vast territorythat have hitherto been undiscovered, the im-portance of the Persian Gulf for its economicsecurity will only increase. As a result, unlessanother power steps in, the People’s Libera-tion Army could eventually replace the U.S.military as the guardian of the Gulf. And thisextends beyond Iraq.

Lastly, as Beijing’s investments in Iraq andthe Middle East expand, so will the need toensure the unrestricted flow of crude and natu-ral gas to China, which will add immediacy tothe need to provide protection navigation inthe Persian Gulf and throughout the long jour-ney oil tankers must make to reach East Asia.

Unsurprisingly, one major driver in China’sdecision to invest heavily in its Navy over thepast two decades has been the requirement toensure access to energy sources abroad. Notonly has its fleet of frigates and destroyersundergone a dramatic transformation in the past10 years, incrementally the PLAN has learnedto operate away from its waters and has em-barked on several “goodwill” visits overseas,such as the port call by a Navy Escort TaskGroup in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, inMarch 2010. Given the high stakes for the re-gion, Beijing’s engagement of Iraq over the nextdecade will deserve close scrutiny. [J. Michael Cole is a Taipei-based journalistwho focuses on military issues in NortheastAsia and in the Taiwan Strait. He previouslyserved as an intelligence officer at the Cana-dian Security Intelligence Service. You canfollow him on Twitter: @jmichaelcole1

Additionally, China’s carrier ambitions, with the commissioning of the Liaoning earlier this year and allegedplans to build more, also point to a desire by Beijing to acquire the ability to sustain a permanent naval presence

overseas with the means to launch military operations well outside its traditional theater of operations. FutureMiddle Eastern contingencies certainly fit such requirements.

The Emerging Crisis of Investment Treaties

Iraq nevertheless remains divided by sectarian conflict and terrorism, a situation that is unlikely to changefor years to come. As such, major Chinese investment projects there will face the same high risks that have

compelled Western investors to look elsewhere. Although it tends to be more risk-tolerant, China probably willnot countenance any major disruption in operations or threats against its nationals.

How Benjamin Netanyahu lost friends and Mahmoud Abbas influenced people.

Sarkozy’s successor, François Hollande, did not let the financial blow to this Paris-based organization get in theway of his support for the Palestinians at the United Nations. Hollande has made clear that the settlement issue

is a priority for his government. “It erodes the building of trust between the sides and constitutes an obstacle to ajust peace, based on a two-state solution,” said France’s Foreign Ministry in a statement this month. In a late-

October meeting with Netanyahu in Paris, Hollande said that the two countries had “divergences on occupation,which we want to see halted.” Although Hollande has played his cards close to the vest, he announced this week

that he would support Abbas’s bid.

KABUL: Federal Minister for SAFRON Engineer Shaukaullah called on Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday.

ing MMA. The sources said JIleadership is busy in bargainingwith PML-N and PTI for elec-toral alliance and in case no dealwas struck either with PML-Nor PTI, then JI might join MMA.The sources said Markazi JamiatAhl-e-Hadith Chief SenatorProf Sajid Mir is present inSaudi Arabia and he was as-signed a special task to makegrounds for a proposed alliancewith PML-N.

The sources said there wasleast chance of success for SajidMir because some strong ele-

MMA future still bleakFrom Page 1

ments in PML-N are not infavour of supporting any pro-posed alliance with MaulanaFazlur Rehman or with MMAand one of the chief opponent ofthis proposed alliance with MMAis PML-N stalwart ChaudhryNisar Khan who is not ready totrust Maulana for making elec-toral alliance as Maulana, in hisopinion, was still a man of Presi-dent Asif Ali Zardari.

The sources said MaulanaFazlur Rehman can ally with PPPand ANP and in this case,Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith

chief Sajid Mir can detach him-self from the MMA since he en-joys cordial relation with MianNawaz Sharif. This could be-come a cause of breaking MMAin future.

The MMA garnered the sec-ond-largest majority in the Na-tional Assembly with 58 out of342 seats, as well as majority inKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assemblyand minority in Sindh andBalochistan Assemblies. Butlater, in 2005, due to differencethe parties separated and couldnot reunite till now.

PAKPATTAN: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif offering dua after laying foundationstone of Pakpattan Hydro Power Project on Monday.

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of SyedImam Ali Shah, JudgeBanking Court No-II

District Courts BuildingGujranwala

Suit No.626/2012Summit Bank Ltd E gartonRoad, Lahore —PlaintiffVersusMuhammad Riaz —Defen-dantSummons U/S 9 (5) of theFinancial Institutions (Re-covery of Finances) Ordi-nance; 2001 (OrdinanceNo.XLVI of 2001)Summons to: MuhammadRiaz S/O Muhammad Iqbal,Bussiness Under the Nameand Style SHAHEEN Trad-ers R/O Ghala MandiGhakkhar Gujranwala andF.NO-826, NEAR JanubiRailway Phatak, GhakharMandi.WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted a suitagainst you and other for therecovery of Rs=4,234,604/51- along with mark up/inter-est and cost etc, claimed to bepayable by you A Summonsu/s 9(5) Ordinance XIVI of2001 referred to above ishereby issued requiring youto make within 30 days of theservice of the Summon, anapplication for leave to de-fend the suit in the form ofwritten statement U/S 10 ofthe said ordinance.

Take notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above,the Banking Court shall passa decree as prayed for in theplaint, in the favour of theplaintiff Banking Company.Next date for further proceed-ings, in the case has beenfixed on 07.01.2013.

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this28.11.2012Seal of the Court

Banking Court IIGujranwala

FOR SALE

House Equipments/Furniture, A/C, Car-pets and other relatedHouse equipmentssparkly used by theSaudi Military AttacheOffice at House # 60 ,St. 25 Sector F-10/1,Islamabad.Sealed quotation myplease be sent to Mr.Abdul Rehman Al-amriUp to 5 December 2012.

Gulshan Chorasi and MochiMore.

Ahl-e-Sunnah Jamat whiledenouncing the killing of MovliIsmail termed his killing as greatloss. On the other side 2 personswere killed in a car firing inci-dent in town Sabri chowk andtheir bodies were shifted toAbbasi Shaheed hospital.

As per police the victimswho were identified as Jaseemand Nadim were real brothers.They are stated to be workers ofa political party.

Some unknown bike ridersopened fire in Bilal colony lo-cated in jurisdiction of Industrialarea police and killed HidaytUllah, sub inspector, incharge ofpolice post. His body was shiftedto Jinnah hospital.

Two bodies bundled in sackswere found near police post inSohrab Goth. Police said these ofthe two people who were shotdead.—Online

Religiousleader’s killing

From Page 1flanked by senior party lead-ers including Sardar MehtabAhmad Khan Abbasi and En-gineer Amir Muqam.

Mian Nawaz Sharif ex-pressed serious concern over thefast deteriorating law and ordersituation in the country with par-ticular reference to Sindh andBaluchistan and rapped the in-cumbent ruling set up for its in-competence to handle the situa-tion. He lamented the overallsituation prevailing in thecountry. He said he wasnot canvassing for personalgains adding all their effortswere aimed at bringing pros-perity to the motherland. Headvised the people to makeprudent decision before go-ing to the polls adding thefuture of Pakistan was in thehands of people. He said itwas a good omen that assem-blies in Pakistan were goingto complete their term.

Nawaz Sharif said the wholenation should decide whetherthey need Kalabagh Dam or not.“Building of national consensuson this project is must before tak-ing any decision in this regard”,he said. He said owing to worst

energy crisis the country wasconfronted with, the constructionof new dams includingKalabagh Dam was must.

Earlier in his address hesaid “I hope that Mr. Hoti’sjoining us will strengthen thePML-N in Mardan andKhyber-Pukhtunkhwa andI’m sure that we will win ma-jority of seats from here inupcoming general elections,”

He said he would take alongall the patriotic and peace lovingforces of the country along totackle the grave challenges. Hesaid focus would be on establish-ment of peace in restive areas ofKhyber Pukhtunkhwa, FATA andBalochistan.

PML-N Chief said Pakistanwould be made a hub of eco-nomic activities if he came intopower adding Pakistan has agreat potential in every fields oflife and efforts is required to fullytap its huge resources’ potential.

The PML-N chief calledupon the masses to elect honestand upright representatives in theensuing elections, adding he con-siders politics as a trust of peopleand never indulged in the attain-ment of personal interests.

He said Pakistan wouldhave achieved tremendouseconomic progress had hiselected government was notoverthrown in 1999, addingthat he had taken upmotorway issue with ECOcountries to link Pakistan withCentral Asian States (CAS)through motorways and had hecompleted five year term not onlythe motorways would be build upto Gawadar Port but it would alsobe extended up to TashkentUzbekistan that would certainlymade the country an economicpower and improve the socio-economic condition of poorstrata. Mian Nawaz Sharif saidthat PML-N would continue itsefforts for the elimination of cor-ruption as it was directly affect-ing economic growth rate andpeople’s life. He said his partyhad laid a strong foundation forpositive politics and that PML-N’s constructive role in comple-tion of five-year term of thepresent assemblies could not beoverlooked. “We made defenceimpregnable by conducting sixnuclear tests against Indian’sfive,” he said. He was optimisticabout changing of destiny of thecountry and put it on road toprogress and development ifvoted to power.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minis-ter, Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifhas demanded that corruptZardari gang should return thelooted money of the nation, oth-erwise the entire nation will riseagainst him and snatch this lootedmoney from them. He said thatpeople will take the revenge offour and a half years’ corruptionby the federal governmentthrough power of vote and oustthese looters through ballot. Hesaid that the merchants ofIslamabad set up a market but novenal was available in Punjab. Hesaid that Mian Ata MuhammadKhan Maneka and his colleagueshave great services for Punjabgovernment as they have alwayssupported the truth.

He expressed these viewswhile addressing a foundationstone laying ceremony of HydroPower Project at MauzaKumharewala, Pakpattan Mon-day. Shahbaz Sharif said Punjab

Nawaz calls forFrom Page 1

Government has started public-welfare projects and transparencyand merit have been given prior-ity in them.

He said that if anyone provedcorruption of even a penny inthese projects, he will presenthimself before the court of thepeople. The Chief Minister saidthat had Mian MuhammadNawaz Sharif been Prime Min-ister in place of PPP Prime Min-ister for the last four and a halfyears, the country would not havebeen plunged into darkness andthere would not have been cor-ruption of billions of rupees inrental power projects.

He said that federal govern-ment had committed enmity withPunjab due to which the machin-ery of Chicho Ki Malyaan andNandipur power projects wasstopped at Karachi and theseprojects costing Rs. 70 billionwere delayed. He said that theworkers of Chinese companyworking on these projects wentback and it is not easy to bring

Shahbaz asks Zardari toreturn the looted money

ister Hina Rabbani Khar metNATO Secretary GeneralAndres Fogh Rasmussen hereon Monday.

Khar and Rasmussen dis-cussed issues pertaining to bilat-eral relations during their meet-ing. Foreign Minister Khar andArmy Chief General AshfaqPervez Kayani are in Brussels ona two-day visit. The ForeignMinister is expected to addressNATO’s Atlantic Council and theForeign Relations Committee ofthe European Parliament.

Gen Kayani is expected tomeet the Political Security Com-mittee of the EU besides holdingother vital meetings.

It is also being reported thatUS Secretary of State HillaryClinton will meet Khar andKayani.—Online/SANA

Pakistan supportsFrom Page 1

Monday. The amount has beengranted to Syed Ibrar Kanwal inrecognition of his meritoriousservices in the field of journal-ism despite physical disability.

Raja Pervez Ashraf said thegovernment is committed to tak-ing all possible steps to provideequal opportunities to personswith disabilities.

Pir Bilal Chishti from AjmerSharif also called on Prime Min-ister Raja Pervez Ashraf.

PM hints atHuman Rights

defendersFrom Page 1

kilograms of explosives was usedin the bomb.

He said a roadside bomb wastargeted the police mobile whichwas completely destroyed.

The injured were shifted tothe Lady Reading hospital whilethe deceased were identified assub-inspector Tajammul Khanand Sepoy Ibrar.—INP

Two policemenkilled in

Peshawar blastFrom Page 1

the Model Townneighbourhood,” Awais Malik, asenior police official told AFP.

Doctors said she was hit inthe chest and was recovering inhospital. “A bullet hit her in thechest. We have treated her andshe is improving now,” AliUsman, a doctor at the hospital,told AFP. No further details aboutthe attack were immediatelyavailable.

Police and colleagues toldAFP, Almby is the managing di-rector in Pakistan of Full GospelAssemblies, which describes it-self as a ‘church fellowship’founded in the United States withcongregations worldwide.

The organization runs chari-ties in the country including atechnical training institute, adultliteracy centre and orphanage.Almby has lived in Pakistan forthe past 38 years, according topolice.—AFP

Christiancharity worker

From Page 1

nian President MahmoudAhmadinejad both reaffirmedtheir keenness to pursue the de-signed route, Iran governmentwebsite dolat.ir reported.

The pipeline is designed tocarry 21.5 million cubic meters/day of gas from Iran’s offshoreSouth Pars gas field to Iranshahron the border with Pakistan from2014. Pakistan is expected to getaround 750,000 Mcf/day to 1Bcf/day of gas by mid-2015.

Ahmadinejad welcomed the“start of construction on Paki-stani soil” and said he hoped theproject would be able to go onstream as soon as possible. Con-struction of the pipeline on theIranian side has already started.

“Pakistan has decided to ex-pand its cooperation in all areas,especially energy, with Iran,”Hussain was quoted as say-ing.—Online

Iran, Pak failFrom Page 1

stations, assured that the taxtariff of stations and other indus-tries would be made uniform.

Standing Committee chair-man Jamshed Dasti told mediathat a uniform tax will ensure thatthe CNG stations do not go intoa loss and prices are also notraised.

“We have asked the CNGassociation to reopen 400 stationswhich were earlier closed down,”Dasti said.

The recommendations willalso be forwarded to the SupremeCourt.

OGRArecommends

From Page 1

judgment of the Supreme Court.Forty members of the pro-

vincial assembly out of sixty fiveparticipated the today session.

Earlier the same membersexpressed confidence in theleader of the House NawabAslam Raisani.

Interior Minister Mr.Rehman Malik will brief themembers of the provincial as-sembly on law and order situa-tion in camera session of the as-sembly.

Malik to addressBalochistan

From Page 1

them back as if the work on theseprojects is started now, an addi-tional expenditure of 20 billionrupees will have to be borne andwaited for another two years fortheir completion. He said that theeconomy, agriculture and indus-tries of Punjab are being ruinedintentionally.

Shahbaz Sharif said that thehigh-ups of federal governmentearned billions of rupees by ex-ploiting the poor farmers throughblack marketing of fertilizers. Hesaid that due to criminal negli-gence of the federal government,the country has been plungedinto darkness and is facingworst loadshedding. He said ifthe tales of Zardari and his cor-rupt team are narrated, the daywill end but the story of theirloot and plunder will not fin-ish. Shahbaz Sharif said that ifthe people elected MuslimLeague-N through power ofvote in the coming elections,we will eliminate the energycrisis within two years.

Police IDwoman killed

in Chiefsmurder-suicideKANSAS CITY—Police haveidentified the girlfriend of aKansas City Chiefs player killedin a murder-suicide as 22-year-old Kasandra M. Perkins.

Police spokesman DarinSnapp says linebacker JovanBelcher fatally shot Perkins onSaturday.

He then drove to ArrowheadStadium and committed suicidein front of his coach and gen-eral manager

Authorities did not releasea possible motive for the mur-der-suicide, though police saidthat Belcher and his girlfriendhad been arguing recently. Thetwo of them have a 3-month-oldchild.—AP

Monday notified the U.N.shipping agency, the Interna-tional Maritime Organization,about the launch, which wasscheduled to take place betweenDecember 10 and December 22at between 11.00 a.m. and 5.00p.m. EST.

The rocket’s first stage drop-off would take place off the westcoast of the Korean Peninsula,while the second stage wouldoccur off the Philippines - bothstages nowhere near Japan, co-ordinates provided byPyongyang showed.

Echoing its criticism of theApril launch, Russia said NorthKorea had been warned not to ig-nore a U.N. Security Councilresolution which “unambigu-ously prohibits (it) from launch-ing rockets using ballistic tech-nology”.

China was not so direct inits criticism of North Korea, buturged “all sides” not to take anyaction that “worsens the prob-lem”.

“China believes that main-taining peace and stability on theKorean peninsula and in North-east Asia accords with the inter-ests of all sides and is the jointresponsibility of all sides,” For-

eign Ministry spokesman HongLei told reporters.

“In the present circum-stances, we hope all sides can becalm and restrained and not takeany moves to worsen the prob-lem. China will remain in touchand coordinate with all sides.”

In Washington, U.S. StateDepartment spokeswomanVictoria Nuland condemned thelaunch plan on Sunday, calling ita provocative threat to the Asia-Pacific region.

Election in South: NorthKorea says its rockets are usedto put satellites into orbit forpeaceful purposes. Russia said inits statement North Korea wouldbe allowed to exercise its rightto peaceful activity in space onlyif the U.N.-imposed restrictionswere lifted.

The warnings come justweeks before South Korea’s De-cember 19 presidential electionin which how to handle NorthKorea is a major campaign issue.The isolated North has for yearstried to influence major events inthe South by issuing propagandaor launching armed attacks.

North and South Korea havebeen technically at war since their1950-53 conflict ended in a truce,

not a peace treaty, and regionalpowers have for years been try-ing to rein in the North’s nuclearprogram.

Countries trying to stopNorth Korea’s arms program be-lieve it is using rocket launchesto perfect technology to build amissile arsenal capable of deliv-ering a nuclear warhead to theUnited States.

North Korea is under U.N.sanctions that ban trading in mis-sile or nuclear technology thathave driven its already direeconomy deeper in trouble bycutting off what was once a lu-crative source of hard cash.

Russia has often balancedcriticism of the nuclear activi-ties and missile launches ofNorth Korea, a Soviet-era cli-ent state, with calls on otherpowers to refrain from bellig-erent actions against it, whichMoscow says can be counter-productive.

Russia is a permanent mem-ber of the U.N. Security Counciland is upset by any defiance ofcouncil resolutions. Pastlaunches by Pyongyang havecaused concern among Russiansliving near the country’s borderwith North Korea.—Reuters

Russia, China urge North Koreato drop rocket launch plan

From Page 1

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab Univer-sity, the oldest seat of learning inthe subcontinent, will fully sup-port all students with specialneeds for pursuing higher stud-ies leading to PhD free of cost.Chairing a seminar on “Empow-ering persons with disabilities;Success Stories” conducted bythe Special Education Depart-ment, PU in connection with in-ternational day of disabled per-sons here at new campus, Dean,Prof Dr. Liaqat Ali said that VCProf Dr. Mujahid Kamran had al-ready directed all heads of facul-ties and deans of various disci-plines to facilitate the studentswith special needs.

He said that first time in 130years history of the varsity allspecial students studying in dif-ferent faculties of the PunjabUniversity had already been to-

PU to support specialstudents for higher studies

tally exempted from all sorts offees including admission, depart-mental and examination with im-mediate effect.

He said the PU always at-tached great importance to allspecial children. He said all eli-gible and deserving special stu-dents will also be awarded schol-arships without any hindrance.He said that VC had also directedhigher authorities of varsity thatall genuine problems being facedby the special students must beaddressed on top priority.

Dean PU Prof Dr. EhsanMalik said that special childrenworld over possess all abilitiesand capabilities with normalpeople and they always demon-strate their highest level of com-petence in different fields. Direc-tor, IER, Prof Dr. Mumtaz Akhtaremphasised the need of conduct-ing such kind of seminars regu-larly on all international days

dedicated for the welfare of spe-cial children and creating aware-ness among the massess abouttheir genuine needs to be fulfiled.

Prof Dr Shaikh MuhammadIqbal, former senior facultymember of English DepartmentSargodha College and Shafiq UrRehman and Aamir Mushtaq nar-rated their success stories.

Dr. Waqar Chaudhary, Re-gional Director, AssociatedPress of Pakistan, Central Re-gion, Punjab, who is also patron-in-chief of special students, PUspeaking on the occasion saidthat all out efforts are beingmade on war footings by the VCPU to provide best of the bestpackage of facilities to all spe-cial students.

He said that now special stu-dents in PU can study upto PhDfree of cost which he added is arare opporunity not only in Paki-stan but in whole of Asia.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Pakistan Tehirk-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman ImranKhan, condemning the killingof seminary teacher MaulanaIsmail in Karachi, said the gov-ernment has miserably failed tocontrol law and order situationin Karachi and current deterio-rating situation is highly dis-

Govt fails to curb terrorismin Karachi: Imran

tressful and condemnable. In ajoint press statement issuedhere on Monday, PTI Vice-Chairman Shah MehmoodQureshi, Secretary General Dr.Arif Alvi, President JavedHashmi and Information secre-tary Shafqat Mahmood stronglycondemn the killing of semi-nary teacher, Maulana Ismail,and the killing of 7 others as a

result of unknown men’s firingin Karachi. PTI sends their sin-cere condolences to his family,friends, and colleagues.

PTI Chairman, Imran Khansaid the rulers had miserablyfailed to control the law and or-der situation of Karachi, targetkilling and extortion was con-tinuing in the city, the police andRangers were helpless.

LALAMUSA—Minister for Infor-mation and Broadcasting QamarZaman Kaira has said that Islamis a religion of peace, harmonyand tolerance.

He was talking to Head ofJamia Qadria Aliya PirMuhammad Afzal Qadri duringa meeting here. Kaira stressed theneed for promoting true Islamicvalues of peace, tolerance and re-ligious harmony in the country.“We love peace as per the teach-ings of Hazrat Muhammad(PBUH) and want to conquer theworld through love and dia-logue”, he said.

The Minister said that todaysome elements were trying toforce others to accept their creedsrather convincing them throughlogic. Kaira said that Islamspread through love and dialogueinstead of using force. He alsosaid that seminaries were not aproblem, but some of them werebeing misused by some people,who should be exposed by thesociety. The Minister stressed the

need for getting both religiousand modern education to confrontthe new challenges. InformationMinister Qamar Zaman Kairasaid that regular membership ofShanghai Cooperation Organiza-tion (SCO) would be helpful forPakistan to combat terrorismmore effectively. The Ministersaid this while talking to mediaat Benazir Bhutto InternationalAirport before his departure forBishkek to attend SCO confer-ence to be held December 4-5 inthe Capital of Kyrgyzstan.

The minister said Pakistanhas given unmatched sacrifices inwar against terrorism to makesecure the whole world. He saidinternational community has ac-knowledged the sacrifices ren-dered by the Pakistan.

He said during the confer-ence he would stress that Paki-stan should be given permanentmembership of the SCO in viewof the forum’s importance in eco-nomic cooperation and maintain-ing regional security.

Islam religion of peace: Kaira

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan on Mon-day asked Afghanistan to takesteps to create conducive condi-tions for voluntary and dignifiedreturn of Afghan refugees to theircountry.This was discussed dur-ing a meeting between PresidentHamid Karzai and Federal Min-ister for States and Frontier Re-gions Eng. Shaukatullah, whocalled on him.

The Minister requested Presi-dent Hamid Karzai to appeal Af-ghan refugees—residing in Paki-stan— to return to their countryand play their role in the recon-struction and rebuilding of Af-

Shaukatullah meets Hamid Karzai

Pakistan for early returnof Afghan refugees

ghanistan. President Karzaithanked people and governmentof Pakistan for hosting and assist-ing millions of refugees for morethan three decades.

The two sides emphasized theneed for further promoting thebilateral cooperation in the areasof mutual benefits, said a pressrelease received here from Kabul.The Minister is currently on threedays’ official visit to Afghanistan.He visited the sites wherein thereturnees from Pakistan are resid-ing.He visited the Kuchi AbadTownship, Kabul, and held meet-ing with the elders of returnees and

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The chief of JamiatUlema-e-Islam-F Maulana Fazl-ur-Rahman, Monday said therewas no such movement as“Taliban” anywhere inPakistan.“We do not recognizethe movement, which the forceshave officially acknowledged asTaliban’s. It was simply unac-ceptable to us”, said he address-ing a press conference here.

The JUI-F leader, in thestrongest of words, warnedagainst dubbing anyone as ter-rorist. “No one can be allowedto brand someone as a terror-monger”, Maulana Fazal said.

No ‘Taliban’ movementin country : Fazl

He said his party had alwaysraised voice for the sectarian har-mony and would continue to doso in future. Fazl was of the viewthat seminaries, clerics, and stu-dents were being targeted under aconspiracy.

“People are tired of pickingup dead bodies. It’s time sectar-ian violence was reined in. I ap-peal to my party workers tothwart this intrigue”, he said.

To a question he said a mili-tary operation could not bringabout peace in the country.

“Warfare cannot ensure last-ing peace. It doesn’t work thatway. They have to come up withbetter ideas”, Fazl added.

listened to their problems.He assured them to take up

their problems with the concernedforum.

The Minister also held meet-ings with the Afghan Minister forRefugees and Repatriation Af-fairs, Dr. Jamahir Anwari, and theSenior Advisor to PresidentHamid Karzai on InternationalRelations, Dr. Yahya Marufiand discussed with them the is-sues relating to the voluntaryreturn of Afghan refugees andsought their cooperation to ex-pedite the repatriation process ofthe refugees. —APPSC moved against

Registrar’sextensionISLAMABAD—A writ petitionwas filed in the Supreme Courton Monday against the exten-sion of the Supreme Court Reg-istrar Dr. Faqeer Hussain forconsecutive third time. A citizen,Malik Gul Zali Khan filed a pe-tition in the apex court takingstance that the further extensionof the Registrar is against theArticle 25 of the Constitutionand an indiscriminate behaviourtowards the lower staff. Hestated in the petition that theextension in the services of theRegistrar for third time seemedto be an alarming bell for thedignity of the judiciary, there-fore, the matter may be con-sidered. —Online

ExplosivesdefusedDERA ISMAIL KHAN—Abomb planted in Sherani colonyopposite Gomal University wasdefused on Monday. Accordingto bomb disposal squad, thebomb was planted under-ground. On information by thelocal people, police and bombdisposal squad reached the siteand defused the device. BombDisposal Squad InchargeInayatullah Tiger said that thebomb was planted in front of ahouse opposite Gomal Univer-sity police station. He saidthree kgs of explosive materialwas used and its safety wireand detonators had alreadyblasted but luckily there wasno blast.—INP

MNA SabeenresignsISLAMABAD—PML-N Mem-ber of the National AssemblyMrs Sabeen Rizvi has resignedfor having dual nationality. Dr.Fehmida Mirza, Speaker of Na-tional Assembly has acceptedher resignation from 29th No-vember, 2012. National Assem-bly Secretariat has sent a notifi-cation in this regard to ElectionCommission for further neces-sary action. Mrs. Sabeen Rizvisaid that she was resigning fromthe National Assembly due topersonal reasons. —INP

TTPwants missileas symbolISLAMABAD—Nuclear scien-tist Dr. AQ Khan’s politicalparty Tehreek-e-Tahafuzz Paki-stan has requested the ElectionCommission of Pakistan to as-sign a missile as the party’selection symbol. According tosources, the Tehreek-e-Tahafuzz sent a request to theECP one week ago to allot themissile as symbol of the partyin the upcoming general elec-tions. The Election Commis-sion will make a decision re-garding the symbol during itsnext meeting. —Online

Tremors joltLahore, other citiesLAHORE—Low intensityearthquake measuring 3.5magnitude on Richter scalewas felt in Lahore on Mondaymorning, the Met office said.According to reports, thetremors were fel t inFaisalabad, Lahore,Sheikhupura, Kasur,Khanewal and other areas ofthe province. Panic grippedthe people who came out oftheir houses reciting versesfrom the Holy Quran. The Pa-kistan Meteorological Depart-ment said the intensity of thequake was recorded 3.5 magni-tude on the Richter scale.—Online

UN to pull staff out of Syria

UNITED NATIONS—TheUnited Nations is to pull non-essential staff out of Syria be-cause of the growing conflictdangers and is restricting travelfor those remaining, a UN newsagency said Monday.

A quarter of the 100 inter-national staff still in Damascuscould leave this week, somestaff could be moved out of thenorthern city of Aleppo andtravel outside the capital will berestricted, the UN humanitarianofficials said.—AFP

No decision to unblock

YouTube: PTAISLAMABAD—There has beenno decision to unblock YouTubenor was it officially opened ac-cording to the Director Generalof Pakistan TelecommunicationAuthority (PTA) Farooq Awan.

As per media reports, Awansaid the PTA would investigatethose Internet Service Providers(ISPs) who opened the videosharing website in some citiesof Pakistan on Monday.

The DG PTA added that ac-tion would be taken against theISPs which opened YouTubeand their licenses’ could be sus-pended. YouTube was banned inPakistan three months ago overpublishing of an anti-Islam filmon its website.

Meanwhile, some newschannels flashed this news re-port as breaking news that theYouTube service has been re-stored in Pakistan while few oth-ers said it has been restored invarious cities.

In the meantime, FederalMinistry of Information Tech-nology has issued a statement,saying it has not issued any or-ders for restoration of YouTubeservice in the country.

Sources in Peshawar haveconfirmed that YouTube serviceis available there but sources infew other cities includingKarachi have said that yet it hasnot been restored.—Online

Russia, China urgeNorth Korea to droprocket launch plan

MOSCOW/BEIJING—Russiaand China urged North Koreaon Monday not to go aheadwith a plan for its secondrocket launch of 2012, withMoscow saying any such movewould violate restrictions im-posed by the U.N. SecurityCouncil.

North Korea’s state newsagency on Saturday announcedthe decision to launch anotherspace satellite and reportedlytold neighbors it would take asimilar path to that planned fora failed rocket launch in April.

“We urgently appeal to thegovernment (of North Korea)to reconsider the decision tolaunch a rocket,” the RussianForeign Ministry said in astatement.

North Korea on Mondaynotified the U.N. shippingagency, the International Mari-time Organization, about thelaunch, which was scheduledto take place between Decem-ber 10 and December 22 at be-tween 11.00 a.m. and 5.00 p.m.EST.—Reuters

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Over 100 tomb-stones were desecrated byunidentif ied men at anAhmadi graveyard in theModel Town area of Lahoreearly Monday morning.

Eyewitnesses said 12 to15 masked men, carryingweapons and excavationtools, had entered the grave-

yard in Model Town Q Blockbetween 1:30am and1:45am.At least five of themen were reported to be car-rying weapons, including9mm pistols and a bigger gun.

They removed and brokethe tombstones of graves.

They also told the care-takers that they were not sup-posed to write the Kalima orBismillah on the tombstones

Over 100 Ahmadi graves desecrated

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB)on Monday stated that it hadcompleted its probe againstthree retired military and twocivilian officials in the case per-taining to alleged fraudulent al-lotment of 141 kanals of Paki-stan Railways land in Lahore tothe management of the RoyalPalm Golf Club.

A spokesman for the NABsaid the bureau had recordedstatements of the five officials— Lt-Gen (retd) Javed AshrafQazi, Lt-Gen (retd) SaeeduzZafar, Maj-Gen (retd) HamidHassan Butt, Khursheed AhmadKhan, former finance member,and Iqbal Samad Khan, ex-gen-eral manager (operations), ofPakistan Railways. The inves-

Railways land allotment case Probe completed against five officials: NAB

because, “Ahmadis are infi-dels.” I was about to sleepfor a while when I heard thesound of someone jumping in-side the compound.

When I was about tocheck who could be there, anumber of men pounced onme, started beating me andsnatched my gun,” saidMuhammad Younis, a guard atthe graveyard.

tigation report would be pre-sented in a meeting of the

NAB’s executive board thisweek, the spokesman said.

SEOUL: President Asif Ali Zardari being received by First Vice Minister of Korea Ahn Oh Young on his arrival here onMonday.

The Minister said that Paki-stan would also like to benefitfrom the expertise of the SCOmember countries in taking mea-sures against terrorism and ex-tremism. Kaira said Pakistan, be-ing an observer, has been an ac-tive participant in the activities ofthe organization which is quiteevident from being the first to ap-ply for the full membership ofSCO. He said Pakistan has sup-ported all initiatives of SCO at allinternational fora as its believedthat the forum can play an impor-tant role to eliminate terrorism andpoverty from the region.

He said China, Kazakhastan,Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikestanand Uzbekistan are regular mem-bers while Pakistan and India haveobserver status.

Kaira said initially it wasplanned that Prime Ministerwould attend the conference butdue to his important engagementshe was assigned the task to repre-sent Pakistan at this important fo-rum.—APP

Rangers to bedeployed for

Punjab bye-pollsLAHORE—The Election Com-mission of Pakistan has decidedto deploy Rangers for today’s bye-elections in five constituencies ofPunjab. Bye-polls will be held inthe constituencies NA-107 Gujrat-IV, NA-162 Sahiwal-III, PP-26Jhelum-III, PP-92 Gujranwala-IIand PP-122 Sialkot-II.

The ECP spokesman said thedecision was taken in the wake ofcomplaints about possible riggingin votes. He said Rangers wouldremain deployed till election re-sults. He said the voting resultswould be handed over to districtreturning officers under the su-pervision of paramilitarytroops.—INP

DIABETES has already been tied toan increased risk of kidney and cardiovascular troubles, nerve damage

and vision loss, and now a new study findsdiabetics to be more than twice as likely asthose without the diseaseto have hearing impair-ment. In a review of pastresearch on the question,scientists in Japan alsofound that younger diabet-ics were at even higher riskthan older adults - thoughthey cannot explain why,and experts caution thatthis kind of study does notprove that diabetes is di-rectly responsible for thegreater hearing loss rates.

“It doesn’t defini-tively answer the ques-tion, but it continues toraise an important pointthat patients might askabout,” said Dr. StevenSmith, diabetes specialistat the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minne-sota .

It’s also not the first time researchershave found a link between diabetes andhearing loss. In 2008, researchers from theU.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) sawsimilar patterns in a sample of more than11,000 people. In that study, people withdiabetes were twice as likely to have hear-ing loss as those without the condition.

Generally, hearing loss is defined ashaving trouble understanding what peopleare saying in a hushed voice, and missingsome words at a regular volume. The Ameri-can Diabetes Association estimates there

Is diabetes linked tohearing loss?

are currently about 16 million people liv-ing in the U.S. with diabetes, and NIHsays about 36 million Americans reportsome level of hearing loss.

It’s thought that high blood sugarlevels brought on by diabe-tes may lead to hearing lossby damaging blood vesselsin the ears, according toChika Horikawa, the study’slead author from NiigataUniversity Faculty of Medi-cine in Japan, and col-leagues. They collected in-formation from 13 previousstudies examining the linkbetween diabetes and hear-ing loss and published be-tween 1977 and 2011. To-gether, the data covered7,377 diabetics and 12,817people without the condi-tion.

Overall, Horikawa’steam found that diabeticswere 2.15 times as likely as

people without the disease to have hear-ing loss. But when the results were bro-ken down by age, people under age 60had 2.61 times the risk while people over60 had 1.58 times higher risk. The re-searchers, whose findings appear in theJournal of Clinical Endocrinology andMetabolism, note that future studies thattake more factors into account, such asage and noisy environments, are neededto clarify the link between diabetes andhearing loss. Still, Horikawa told ReutersHealth in an email, people should recog-nize that diabetics may be at risk for hear-ing loss based on their results.

ISLAMABAD: US Deputy Chief of Mission Ambassador Richard Hoagland giving awayshield to a girl during the launching ceremony of Urdu-language series, called ‘Meinaur Mere Dost’ (Me and My Fridends).

RAWALPINDI: Handicapped children presenting tableau during a ceremony on the occasion of ‘International Day of Persons with Disabilities’ atRawalpindi Arts Council.

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—Though it wasa chilly evening of Sundayin the capital but it got warmwhen about 1500 Pakistanielites thronged the grandshow of 41st National Day ofthe United Arab Emiratesheld at the residence of EssaAbdulla Al Basha Al Noaimi,a popular and pleasing am-bassador of the UAE to Pa-kistan.

The warmth friendshipand strong bond of brother-hood reflected from the factthat President of PakistanAsif Ali Zardari was the ChiefGuest on this memorable andspectacular gala where anumber of Ministers Includ-ing Ahmed Mukhtar, Chief ofNaval Staff AdmiralMuhammed Asif Sandila andother military officers werepart of the National Day cel-ebrations.

Politicians from politicallandscape including PTIleader Wasim Shahzad,

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, Ejaz-ul Haq, a large number ofambassadors and HighCommissioners, RetiredGenerals and ex-civil ser-vants and diplomats, busi-nessmen, religious leaders,

mediamen and friends of theUAE joined the celebrationswhich continued for threehours at the sprawlinglawns of the ambassador’sresidence located in Diplo-matic Enclave.

The whole atmospherewas a giving a festive lookas colourful lightings, bun-tings and spectacular dis-play of a cultural troupe, es-pecially came from the UAEstunned the guests. Their

traditional dance with theirswords on the beat of themusic thrilled the partici-pants. A big screen installedon the occasion was continu-ously beaming the historyand socio- economic devel-opment of the UAE which iscomposed of seven princi-palities in the south of Arabpeninsula.

On arrival of PresidentAsif Ali Zardari, anthems ofboth the coun-tr ies wereplayed. Latercake- cutt ingceremony washeld where the Presidentjoined the ambassador andother dignitaries amidst ap-plause by the participants.Essa Abdulla Al Basha AlNoaimi must be happy withhis performance as his pro-lific, pleasant and winningpersonality developed ex-cellent relations not onlybetween governments ofPakistan and UAE but alsobetween the people of both

UAE desert converted into booming flowers in four decadesHub of economic activities attracts the whole world; Magnificent show erupted into joy and

feelings of brotherhood; Pakistan is my country also: Essa Abdulla Al Basha Al Noaimi

ISLAMABAD: Dancers from UAE posing for a group photo on the occasion of NationalDay of United Arab Emirates.

the brotherly countries.Credit goes to him forputt ing the relat ions onfast track in all spheres ofhuman activities. He hasremarked on one occa-sion that “Pakistan is mycountry also” which re-flected his strong likingfor Pakistan. He use tovisit far flung areas of Pa-kistan for helping theneedy people.

The vi-sion of SheikhZayed BinSultan Al-Nahyan, the

current President His High-ness Sheikh Khalifa BinZayed Al-Nahyan and VicePresident and Prime Minis-ter His Highness SheikhMohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum converted theUAE desert into boomingflowers in four decades.UAE has become a hub ofeconomic activities wherebusinessmen from all overthe world are attracted.

Guests at the National Day recep-tion of UAE.

3D animated cartoon series launchedSANA JAMAL

ISLAMABAD—Three youngmiddle school detectives, at-tempting to solve the case ofa troubled fellow, reach thecore issue faced by many butlargely ignored. The fellowstudent had been the victimof gender discrimination andviolence. The sneak previewof the 3D animated cartoonseries “Mein or Mere Dost”(Me and My Friends), soonto be aired on local channels,

was shown here at a launchevent on Monday as part ofthe 16 Days of Activismagainst Gender ViolenceCampaign.

Pakistan’s first-ever 3Danimated cartoon series“Mein or Mere Dost” hasbeen designed to educatechildren about gender equal-ity and advocate againstgender-based violence. Theteam behind the project isAurat Foundation (AF) andCreative Village with support

from USAID. Designed forchildren 9-12 years old, theseven-episode cartoon se-ries counters gender stereo-types and sends construc-tive messages against gen-der-based violence.

The Urdu-language se-ries, called Mein aur MereDost (Me and My Friends),features a team of young de-tectives, who help their fel-low to tackle various gender-related dilemmas bravely andlive life to the fullest.

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterRaja Pervez Ashraf has saidthat government is committedto take all possible steps forproviding equal opportunitiesto persons with disabilities inthe public and private sectorto utilize their abilities for theprogress and prosperity of thecountry.

He made these remarksduring a ceremony to awardcheque of Rs. 6 lacs to SyedIbrar Kanwal, Chairman Spe-

cial Journalist Welfare Commit-tee at the PM’s House onMonday. The amount hasbeen granted to Syed IbrarKanwal in recognition of hismeritorious services in thefield of journalism despitephysical disability.

The Prime Minister calledupon the people Governmentinstitutions, civil society andphilanthropists to make con-sistent and resolute efforts forproviding equal opportunitiesto special persons for their ac-tive participation national life.

The Prime Minister alsoapproved a proposal made bySyed Ibrar Kanwal for provi-sion of 7 laptops to physicallyhampered journalists so thatthey can be facilitated in dis-charging their professionalwork. The Prime Minister ex-pressed the confidence thatthe federal government as wellas the provincial governmentswould take solid steps for pro-viding an enabling environ-ment for special persons andtake into account their specialneeds.

PM: Govt to provide equalopportunities to special people

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—Rodolfo J.Martin-Saravia, the Argen-tine Ambassador, hosteddinner at his Residence inhonour of the ParliamentaryFriendship Group for Argen-tina, a group committed topromoting friendly relationsbetween Pakistan and Ar-gentina.

The Argentine Ambassa-dor said his country wishesever-growing prosperity toPakistan and wants tostrengthen relationship byworking together to foster

stability in the region andaround the world.

The main subject of dis-cussion was the issue of theMalvinas Islands (known asFalkland Islands in the En-glish-speaking world), a ter-ritory claimed by Argentinabut controlled by British mili-tary.

The Ambassador hadinvited several reputed po-litical analysts and distin-guished diplomats whowere able to further explainthe Members of Parliamentbackground of the issue. On3 January 1833, the

Malvinas Islands were oc-cupied by British forces thatdisplaced the Argentinepopulation and authoritiesthat had legitimately settledthere and replaced themwith subjects from Britain.The Argentine immediatelyprotested forceful that isstill continuing.

The Ambassador saidArgentine has sovereigntyrights over the Malvinas,the South Georgias andSouth Sandwich Islandsand the surrounding mari-time areas, being part of itsnational territory.

Rodolfo fetes parliamentaryfriendship group

Four agrofarms sealed

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The CapitalDevelopment Authority hassealed another four agrofarms on violation of its by-laws and non-confirminguse. CDA had issued noticesto all the allottees / ownersof Agro Farming Scheme whohad enhanced the coveredareas beyond the allowablelimits.

Some agro farms wereunder non-confirming useand were holding differentactivities in violation of theCDA bylaws. Such activitiesinclude storage of engineer-ing & catering material, juicefactories and used for officepurposes which tantamountsto violations of CDA rules.

Water supply fromRawal Dam reducedRAWALPINDI—Supply ofwater to Water and SanitationAuthority (WASA) forRawalpindi from Rawal Damhas been decreased by threemillion gallons per day(MGD).

According to sources,earlier WASA was provided24 million gallons water perday (MGD) for Rawalpindibut now it would be provided21 MGD. One and a half mil-lion gallons per day water cutwould be made in the watersupply of clients of WASA,while the remaining 1.5 mil-lion gallon per day cut wouldbe made in the MES supply.The decision of reducing thewater supply from the damhas been made under thelowering water level in RawalDam and forecast of less rainin coming days.

When contacted, MDWASA, Raja ShoukatMehmood, confirming thenews, said that the authoritywould try to compensate thewater shortage by suppliesthrough water tankers andfrom tube-wells.

He further said that ra-tioning of the water hasbeen done for the benefit ofthe masses so that the citi-zens could get water in sum-mer even in case of fewerrains. The DG WASA urgedthe citizens to carefully usethe water and immediatelyinform the authority if theyfind water leakage some-where.—INP

ISLAMABAD: PML-N MNA Dr. Tariq Fazal Choudhry offering Dua after inauguratingthe start of development work at Model Town Humak.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The trafficsystem has been ruined dueto long queues of vehiclesat Compressed Natural Gas(CNG) stations in the twincities, while on the otherside, most of domestic us-ers have been deprived ofgas and the citizens havebeen forced to burn woodto cook meal.

The CNG stations own-ers have been taking in-flated charges from the con-sumers. While the logqueues of vehicles could beseen at CNG stations whichhas ruined the traffic system

in the twin cities.On the other hand, the

severe cold weather has en-gulfed the twin cities but mostof the residential areas, in-cluding Adyala Road,Khatana, Dhoke Jumma,Mubarik Lane, Sadiqabadand Shakrial and other areasare deprived of gas. The citi-zens have been forced toburn wood for cooking.

The citizens expressedconcerns, saying the au-thorities have not been pay-ing attention to resolve theissue of gas loadshedding.They said that they werepoor people and could notafford kerosene oil for do-

mestic cooking. Citizenshave demanded of the con-cerned authorities to quicklysolve the problem of the citi-zens.

It should be mentionedhere that President of NBPForum, Zafar Iqbal said thegovernment should stop thegas wastage, adding that in-creasing the gas and CNGprices was not the solution.

Meanwhile, Taxi DriversAssociation Islamabad hasannounced to stage a pro-test demonstration in DChowk against non-provi-sion of CNG today (Tues-day).

President of the taxi driv-

Domestic users deprived of gas

Long queues of CNG vehicles ruin twin cities’ traffic systemers union, Malik Aftab saidthat taxi drivers of twin cit-ies of Islamabad andRawalpindi would stage apeaceful protest demonstra-tion in front of the ParliamentHouse at D Chowk.

The union president ap-pealed to the Chief Justiceof Pakistan to fix separatepetrol pumps and CNG sta-tions for the public trans-port so that the travellingfacilities could be improvedfor the residents. They alsodemanded strict actionagainst the owners of theCNG stations that were notproviding gas to the motor-ist and transporters.

ISLAMABAD: Drivers trying to start an out of order cab while standing in a long queueat a CNG Station due to strike by some CNG station owners.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Constructionwork on a part of KashmirHighway has been stoppedagain due to negligence andslackness of the Capital De-velopment Authority (CDA),as the contractor could notget the bills to date.

According to sources,the contract of constructionof five-lane Kashmir High-way from Golra Morr toPeshawar Morr was awardedin February, 2011 at the costof Rs1.6 billion. The projectwas to be completed in twoyears time i.e. till February,2013. The work progress onthe project should have been80 percent now but it is only27 percent due to non-pay-

ment of funds.The sources said that

bills of Rs200 billion of thecontractor were still due onthe CDA, therefore the con-tractor had sent a notice tothe CDA under clause 69 ofthe contract and threatenedto stop the construction workif the bills were not paid soon.

But Member Engineer-ing, Sanaullah Amaan held ameeting with the contractoron November 20 and as-sured him that the civic au-thority would pay Rs30 mil-lion in two days and 80.5million in the last week ofNovember while the remain-ing money would be paid inDecember. The civic author-ity is yet to pay Rs110.5 mil-lion bill to the contractor.

Kashmir Highway expansion

Construction work halteddue to lack of funds

ISLAMABAD—National High-ways & Motorway Police hasrecovered 04 stolen cars andarrested 02 car lifters. A citi-zen informed Motorway Po-lice through NH&MPHelpline (130) that a whiteCorolla Car No. LOZ-2231,model 1996 has beensnatched on gunpoint bytwo unknown culprits fromthe jurisdiction of Civil LinesPolice Station, Faisalabadand requested for help to re-cover the said car. On receiv-ing this informationMotorway Police got alertedall its patrolling officers.

After few minutes theNH&MP officers SPO QalibAli and SPO Ghulam Abbassaw the said car in Behra ser-vice area on Motorway (M-2). Meanwhile, when the cul-prits saw NH&MP Patrollingvehicle they tried to fled

away, However, NH&MP of-ficers arrested the two cul-prits named Shahid Iqbal r/oSargodha and MuhammadKhuram r/o Lahore and tookthe car into their custody.

In 2nd incident, NH&MPofficers SPO MuhammadYousaf and PO Rana Naveedsignaled to stop a speciouswhite Corolla Car No NY-964,Model 2009 on MotorwayMain Tool Plaza entry point,Islamabad at 0655 hrs, but thedriver of the car fled awayand stopped at some dis-tance and fled away by tak-ing the advantage of dark-ness. NH&MP officers tookthe car into their custody.However, on search a tele-phone number was foundand dialed, which revealedthat the said car was stolenfrom Waris Khan Police Sta-tion, Rawalpindi. In 3rd inci-

dent, during routine patrol-ling at Motorway (M-1) theNH&MP officers PO GhulamFarid and APO Iftikhar ob-served a Silver colour CorollaGLI Car No. UF-487, whichwas parked on the hardshoulder on Motorway andno one was present there.

The NH&MP officers tookthe car into their custody andduring search of the car the cardof the owner Muhammad MakiKhan was found who was in-formed about recovery of thecar. In 4th incident, Local Po-lice Gujranwala informedMotorway Police throughNH&MP Helpline (130) that a2D salon Car No. LRX-9091,has been stolen fromGujranwala and requested forhelp to recover the said car. Onreceiving this informationMotorway Police got alerted allits patrolling officers.—Online

Motorway police recover 4stolen cars, arrest 2 car lifters

Fehmida, Kundicongratulate CPNE

office-bearersISLAMABAD—Dr FehmidaMirza, Speaker and FaisalKarim Kundi, DeputySpeaker National Assemblyhave congratulated thenewly elected office bearersof Council of Pakistan News-paper Editors (CPNE)

In their separate mes-sages to the newly electedPresident of CPNE Mr. JamilAthar Qazi, Senior Vice Presi-dent Shaheen Qureshi, Sec-retary General AamerMehmood and other officebearers, the Speaker andDeputy Speaker extendedtheir warmest felicitation ontheir success.

They said that their elec-tion was an evidence of trustand confidence of JournalistCommunity reposed on them.They hoped that they willwork for welfare of Journal-ist Community and freedomof press.

The Speaker and DeputySpeaker said that freedom ofexpression was essential forstrengthening democracy inthe country and free inde-pendent media serve the in-terest of the people by act-ing an impartial critic of gov-ernment policies.—INP

Faulty tubewelldeepens water

shortage in CivilLines Scheme

RAWALPINDI—The tubewellof Civil Lines Scheme hasbroken down causing watershortage to the residents ofthe locality.

The tubewell is not work-ing, deepening the water cri-sis in the area, the residentscomplained. They demandedconcerned authorities to en-sure provision of water sup-ply at the earliest.

WASA Managing Direc-tor Raja Shoukat Mehmood,when contacted, said thatwater being provided to CivilLines through water tankerson the account of dysfunc-tional tubewells, adding thatworkers were busy in repair-ing tubewell to ensure provi-sion of water supply to thelocality at the earliest. —INP

Airport HousingSociety facinggas shortageSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Since the fuelgas supply is getting morecomplex situation in twin cit-ies of Rawalpindi andIslamabad, residents of Air-port Housing Society (AHS)are in much difficulty as nogas is available throughoutthe day.

“Gas is not availablethroughout the day and weare unable even to cook thefood”, said Ms Nabila Jamila resident of the area addingthat their kids were forced totake ready made breakfastswith them to their schoolsand after reaching back theyagain face the same problemfor the lunch”.

The concerned privateadministration of the areaclaimed that they were work-ing to solve the issue forwhich they had asked thecontractors to check the sup-ply lines.

“We have asked the con-tractor to check the supplylines and to repair or unblockthe lines if they are founddamaged or blocks”. The resi-dents further said that theywould take up the matter tothe higher level if it was notsolved early.

ISLAMABAD—Federal Boardof Intermediate and Second-ary Education (FBISE) willhold the papers of Statistic -II, Islamic Studies-I andFrench-II of Higher Second-ary School Certificate (HSSC)supplementary examinationon December 7. These paperswere previously scheduled tobe held on November 22 andpostponed for the examina-tion centers of Islamabadcapital territory only due toproclamation of local holiday.

The papers will be heldat 9:00 am to 12:00 noon atthe examination centers in-cluding Islamabad modelCollege for Boys H-9Islamabad (for male candi-dates and FG Girls ModelHigher Secondary School, G-

6/1-4 Islamabad (013) for fe-male candidates.

The roll number slips of thecandidates appearing in thesaid examination have beendispatched to their institutionsin case of regular candidatesand those of private candi-dates at the address given bythem in the admission forms.In case, the roll number slip isnot received by any candidate,he/she should immediatelycontact the offices of theboard including Controller ofExamination Conduct at 051-9250607, Deputy Controller ofExaminations (HSSC Con-duct) at 051-9250619, Assis-tant Controller of Examina-tions (HSSC conduct) at 051-9250641 and Assistant Secre-tary at 051-9250651.—APP

FBISE to conductpostponed papers on Dec 7

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—On the direc-tions of Chairman CapitalDevelopment Authority(CDA), Syed Tahir Shahbaz,CDA has launched a vigor-ous cleanliness campaignand awareness expedition inthe Margallah Hills NationalPark and other areas ofIslamabad for conservationand protection of the envi-ronment of the federal capi-tal.

The Authority is collabo-rating with the governmentand private schools, NGOsand other partner organiza-tions to help preserve therich bio-diversity inhabited inthe Margallah Hills NationalPark and enhance the greencover of Islamabad, which isa unique feature of the city.

Hundred of students fromthe government schools,Head-Start School Systemand SOS Village are partici-

pating in the campaign inau-gurated by the Member En-vironment, CDA, Dr. KazimNiaz on Monday at the Trail– 5 of Margallah Hills Na-tional Park. The enthusiasmsand passion of the students,teachers and environmental-ists was remarkable while par-ticipating the adventurousactivities initiated to raiseawareness for environmentalprotection and preservationof the bio-diversity. The chil-dren were divided into differ-ent groups for participatingin different activities includ-ing art competition, cleanli-ness, expedition and walk inthe Margallah Hills.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Member Environmentsaid that the Margallah HillsNational Park is an asset forthe city and it would be pro-tected and preserved as itgives a unique character tothe Federal Capital. He saidthat CDA has planned differ-

ent activities in collaborationwith Public and PrivateSchools, EnvironmentalNGOs, including WWF toraise awareness for keepingthe city clean and protectingthe natural assets of theGreen Islamabad. This activ-ity would be extended to theother environmental facilitiesof the city as well. The Au-thority has planned to holdsuch events at Marghzar Zooand Lake View Park as part ofthis campaign.

CDA is also collaboratingwith WWF for holding ad-venturous activities inMargallah Hills National Parkwhich include hiking andtraining on vegetation man-agement, plantation, im-provement of degraded ar-eas, site areas, picnic spotsand other environmentalconservation measures.The Margallah Hills NationalPark has unique characteris-tics and rich bio-diversity.

CDA launchescleanliness campaign

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—President In-ternational Islamic Univer-sity, Islamabad (IIUI), Profes-sor Dr. Ahmad Yousif Al-Draiweesh on Mondayurged the ulemas to discour-age issuing Fatwas based oncontroversy and extremismwhich lead the societies to-wards anarchy and socialproblems. He was address-ing to the inaugural cer-emony of two day Interna-tional Conference on “Fatwaas a Non State Legal System”organized by the Faculty ofShariah and Law, IIUI in col-laboration with Islamic Re-search Institute (IRI), IIUI,Shariah Academy, IIUI,

Higher Education Commis-sion (HEC), Islamabad andAl-Wastia Forum, Jordan.

Dr. Al-Draiweesh saidthat unfortunately there aresome scholars in the Islamicsociety who issues suchFatwas repugnant to Quranand Sunnah which promoteextremism, intolerance in thesociety and defame Islam andIslamic Ideology.

He added that on the ba-sis of Fatwas issued by someUlema the Muslim societiesare facing the phenomenonof terrorism due to which theMuslim societies are indulgein severe problems all overthe world.

He added that it is theprime responsibility of the

Muslim Ulema to project thetrue picture of Islam accord-ing to Quran and Sunnah. Dr.Al-Draiweesh said that in thehistory of Islam, the scholarsobserved great care and ana-lyze every aspect of the mat-ter before issuing Fatwa.

Dr. Al-Draiweesh laudedthat only government ap-pointed Muftees should is-sue Fatwas, in the Islamicsociety to avoid intolerance.He also presented researchpaper in the conference. Theinaugural ceremony was alsoaddressed by Dr. IzzuddinBinzaghiba, Prof. Dr.Muhammad Ahmad HassanAl-Qudh, Dr. Khalid Masood,Dr. Tahir Mansoori and Dr.Zia ul Haq.

Ulema urged to discourage issuingFatwa based on extremism

06:2001:3003:45

07:00

Zohr

December 4

HAMDARD Thinker’sForum is to hold a discus-sion on ‘Expension of cit-ies: Economic and SocialProblems’ at HamdardMarkaz Murree Road.

*****

PAKISTAN Academy ofLetters (PAL) is organiz-ing a ‘KhawateenMushaira’ today 4th De-cember, at 2:00 p.m in theConference Hall of PAL,Pitras Bukhari Road, Sec-tor H-8/1, Islamabad.Prominent poetessKishwar Naheed will pre-side over the Mushaira.

December 5

JOSH LITERACY CON-FERENCE in connectionwith 116th birth anniver-sary of great revolution-ary poet Josh MalihAbadi, organised by theJosh Adabi Foundation,at Pakistan Academy ofLetters, Pitras BokhariRoad, Sector H-8/1,Islamabad, 3 pm.

Continuing

MINIATURE paintingsexhibition titled ‘The Kingmust die’ by Asif Ahmed,at Tanzara Gallery, HouseNo 14, Street 12, Sector F-7/2, Islamabad, continu-ing up to December 811:30 am to 6:30 pm.

Air CommodoreFarooq Habibpromoted as

Air Vice MarshalSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Govern-ment ofP a k i s t a nhas pro-moted AirC o m m o -d o r eF a r o o qHabib tothe rankof Air ViceMarshal.

Air Vice Marshal FarooqHabib was commissioned inPakistan Air Force on 22ndJune, 1982 in GD (P) Branch.He is a graduate of CombatCommanders’ School, AirWar College and National De-fence University. During hiscareer, he has commanded aFighter Squadron and an Op-erational Base. He is recipientof Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Military).

LHC CJforms six benches

RAWALPINDI—To providespeedy justice, the LahoreHigh Court (LHC) Chief Jus-tice Umar Ata Bandial con-stituted two divisionalbenches (DB) and four singlebenches (SBs) for the LahoreHigh court Rawalpindi benchin the next week.

According to schedule,DB no.1 will comprise ofJustice Kh Imtaiz Ahmedand Justice MuhammadFarrukh Irfan Khan whileDB no 2 will comprise onJustice Ch MuhammadYounas and Justice AliBaqar Najifi.

The divisional bencheswill hear the murder cases andappeals of all kinds.—APP

ISLAMABAD: Senior Advocacy and Communication Officer HelpAge Waqas Qureshispeaks during Media Sensitization Workshop on Ageing & Rights of Older People ofPakistan organized by UNFPA in collaboration with HelpAge, at a local hotel.—POPhoto by Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD: School children participating in hiking event at Margallah Hills Na-tional Park on the launching of vigorous cleanliness campaign.

Encroachmentsin Sadiqabad

on the riseSTAFF REPORTER

RAWA L P I N D I—Encroach-ments in Rawal Town are onthe rise while the Tehsil Mu-nicipal Administration(TMA) remains unable tocontrol the situation.

In most parts of the city,citizens cannot find an ap-propriate space for parkingtheir vehicles at commercialcentres. Pedestrians face dif-ficulty in movement due toincreasing encroachments onboth sides of the roads inSadiqabad, Muslim Town,Raja Bazaar, Bohar Bazaar,Jinnah Road, CommercialMarket, Trunk Bazaar, DhokeKhabba, Dhoke Farman Aliand some other localities.

Bilawal takesexception to attacks

on minoritiesISLAMABAD—Chairman Paki-stan Peoples’ Party (PPP)Bilawal Bhutto Zardari hastaken strong exception to thelatest incidents of attacks onthe minorities and urged pro-vincial governments and thelaw enforcement agencies todo their best to protect thefundamental rights of the mi-norities of the country.

The Chairman PPP said“yesterday there was a reportof demolition of a Hindutemple in Karachi and todaywe woke up to the news ofdesecration of graves of in-nocent Pakistanis in Lahore.”

Bilawal said the attackson temples‚ graveyards‚properties and lives of theminorities are an attack on theJinnah’s vision of Pakistanand pose an existential threatto the country‚ somethingShaheed Benazir Bhuttogave her life fighting against.

The Chairman PPP ap-pealed all political parties‚religious bodies‚ civil societyorganizations and all institu-tions of Pakistan to rise upto defend the Jinnah’s Paki-stan as the continuing at-tacks on the minorities‚ if un-checked will threaten thevery existence of Pakistan.

He said “our forefathersdid not give their lives for anintolerant‚ extremist‚ sectarianand authoritarian Pakistan. Iappeal you to rise up to de-fend Jinnah’s Pakistan and myparty will stand by you‚ shoul-der to shoulder.”—NNI

SRINAGAR—Terming theclampdown on the Old City as“painful and needless,” thechairman of the Hurriyat Con-ference led by Syed AliGeelani has said that the gov-ernment had sensationalized aminor incident and given riseto many doubts and suspi-cions.

“India is pursuing a policyof divide-and-rule in Kashmirand trying its utmost to tear theunity and amity of Kashmiristo shreds,” he said. “The stategovernment is run more by theIndian home ministry than byOmar Abdullah, and is delib-erately promoting political un-

certainty and instability.” “If some untoward inci-

dent had occurred at some placein the lower city, then measuresto maintain law and ordershould have been taken in thatspecific spot, and we allowedaccess to the area to resolvemisunderstandings createdamong people,” he said. “Butinstead, the government sensa-tionalized the situation by seal-ing off half the city, which trig-gered off a furious rumour millcausing people to harbour mis-givings about each other,” hesaid.

Geelani made a strong ap-peal to the Shia and Sunni com-

munities to show restraint andwisdom, and not allow “the en-emies’ plots” to succeed. “Ournation is beset with great diffi-culties because of being underforeign occupation, and wecannot afford discord and dis-harmony,” he said.

Condemning nocturnalraids and arrests in old cityquarters, Geelani said that theKashmir police was addingfuel to the fire, and its stupid-ity could turn the situation evenworse.

The Hurriyat (G) chair-man targeted the chief minis-ter for “giving Kashmir itsworst dispensation.” “His

tenure is proving to be theworst of all governments (inthe state) so far, and has out-stripped everyone one in in-flicting atrocities,” he said.“He wants to enforce the si-lence of the graveyard throughthe barrel of the gun to pleasehis masters in Delhi and safe-guard his chair,” he said.

Demanding the immediaterelease of arrested youth,Geelani said that the Hurriyat(G) could not remain silent ‘onthis extremely intolerable situ-ation.” Meanwhile, the Hurriyat(G) claimed that some mischie-vous elements were bent uponcreating chaos and disruption by

spreading rumours.Quoting a report by

Hurriyat (G) leaderMuhammad Shafi Lone whohad toured the interior city toreview the situation, the alli-ance claimed that these ele-ments were directly or indi-rectly linked to pro-Indiaorganisations.

“The Shia and Sunnicommunities want to live inpeace and amity, but someblack sheep are trying to mis-lead people,” it said. “We arekeeping a close eye on suchelements, and will exposethem if they do not mend theirways,” it said.—NNI

Govt blew up minor incident, curfewneedless: Geelani

MIRPUR: Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Ch Abdul Majeed congratulating PML-N leader Haji Razaaqon joining PPP.

SRINAGAR—The Chairman ofAll Parties Hurriyet Confer-ence, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq hassaid that the heads of variousreligious organizations haveformed a counter strategy todefeat the elements conspiringto divide Kashmiris on commu-nal and sectarian lines.

The APHC Chairman in amedia interview in Srinagarmaintained that anti-people el-ements and agencies were plan-ning to create a rift among theKashmiri people who had al-ready bore the brunt of atroci-ties by Indian forces over thepast 22 years.

The veteran Kashmiri

Strategy formed againstsectarian elements’ designs

Srinagar under curfew for 6th consecutive dayHurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilaniin a statement in Srinagar saidthat Kashmir was famous forreligious harmony all over theworld and India under a well-planned conspiracy was tryingto foment sectarian disharmonyin the territory. He pointed outthat Panchayat elections wereaimed to sabotage theKashmiris’ sacrifices for the justcause of Kashmir.

APHC leader, Zafar AkbarButt during his visit to differ-ent areas of Beerwah said thatsacrifices of the Kashmiri mar-tyrs had centre-staged the Kash-mir dispute at internationallevel.

Curfew remained imposedin all major parts of Srinagarincluding Rajori Kadal for thesixth consecutive day, today.

An important meeting of thepeople belonging to variousschools-of-thought, which wasto be presided over by the Chair-man of All Parties HurriyetConference, Mirwaiz UmarFarooq, could not be held dueto the curfew. Restrictions wereimposed in Srinagar and adjoin-ing areas on Wednesday follow-ing a sacrilegious act by a for-eign footwear company.

Dozens of people includ-ing children were arrested byIndian police during a protest

march, which was organisedby the Jammu and KashmirHandicapped Association inSrinagar on the occasion of In-ternational Day of DisabledPersons, today.

In Oslo, the Executive Di-rector of Kashmiri Scandina-vian Council, Sardar AliShahnawaz Khan in a state-ment expressed satisfactionover the Palestine’s up-grada-tion as the United Nationsnon-member observer statusand appealed to the WorldBody to fulfil its responsibili-ties towards the redeeming ofthe right to self-determinationof the Kashmiris.—KMS

Sacrifices ofKashmiri

martyrs not togo waste: Zafar

SRINAGAR—APHC leaderand Jammu and Kashmir Salva-tion Movement Chairman,Zafar Akbar Butt paid glowingtributes to martyrs of Kashmirincluding Ghulam Rashool Dar,Habibulah Lone, ShakoorAhmad Malik, Gulzar AhmadLone and Shabnam Nazir.

Zafar Akbar Butt during hisdoor-to-door campaign visitedseveral areas of Beerwah includ-ing Hanjibugh, Mazhama,Kanihama and Naribal along withother party leaders and activists.

The APHC leader ex-pressed grief and sorrow overthe demise of Reyaz AhmadMalik’s father and expressedsympathy with the bereavedfamily. Reyaz Ahmad is Kash-mir-based journalist. His fatherAbdul Samad Malik was a pro-freedom and a social activist.

Addressing several gather-ings during this daylong visitZafar Butt said that the bloodof martyrs would not go wastebut would definitely bring posi-tive results. He said that the sac-rifices of Kashmiri martyrs hadcentre-staged the Kashmir dis-pute at the international leveland their mission would be ac-complished at all costs.—KMS

Matter of concernthat CRPF needed tosave a brother from

a brother: MalikSRINAGAR—Jammu andKashmir Liberation Front chair-man, Muhammad Yasin Malikhas said it is a matter of con-cern that CRPF is required tosave a brother from a brother.

Referring to group clashesin parts of Srinagar, he said, “Itis a big tragedy and shame forus that CRPF personnel fromUP, Bihar and other Indianstates stand at our door steps tosafeguard our property andfamilies, as we face danger notfrom any enemy but from ourown Muslim brethren.”

“Condemning and protest-ing against acts of blasphemy isa right of every Muslim but is itreasonable and based on wisdomthat Muslims rather than con-demning the criminal act of theshow company start fightingeach other. Is it honorable for usthat today we fear our own Mus-lim brothers and some CRPF hasto guard our houses and fami-lies.” Malik said some agencieswere desperate to divide Mus-lims of J&K in the name of sects.“And that is why we are keep-ing close contact with every sectand always try to guard the unityamong Muslims.—NNI

WAZIRABAD: Chairman of Zafar Ali Khan Trust Khalid Mehmood presenting a sword toPresident of AJK Sardar Mohammad Yaqoob Khan.

SRINAGAR: Members of All Jammu and Kashmir Disabled Association participating inanti-government protest.

SRINAGAR—Hurriyat (M)Chairman Mirwaiz UmarFarooq has called upon thepeople, especially youth, tomaintain unity and mutualbonhomie so as to foil the evildesigns of those who want todivide the Kashmiri society.

Mirwaiz asserted that theagencies were hell bent upon tocreate tension between theKashmiri Muslims and breakthe mutual bonhomie existinghere since ages. He said as a partof their (agencies) well plannedconspiracy, they want to breakthe social fabric of Kashmir asit suits their interests.

Stressing that lakhs ofpeople were made hostage intheir homes by clamping in-definite curfew in Srinagar,

Mirwaiz demands releaseof detained youngsters

especially in old city, APHCChairman expressed seriousconcern over the restrictionslaid on the movement ofpeople.

Mirwaiz also resented thearrest of dozens of youth andransacking of houses and beat-ing of inmates by the policeduring the nocturnal raids con-ducted in old city. He said, “Itwas highly shameful and amatter of concern that theyouth who were not present intheir houses, their parentswere picked up and put behindbars.”

APHC Chairman in-formed that one SajjadAhmad, a physically chal-lenged person told them thatthe police raided their house

on Tuesday morning. Ahmadsaid that the police was look-ing for his brother, SarfarazAhmad. During the raid,Ahmad said the police beat theinmates, broke appliances andwindowpanes and ransackedthe house and then detainedhis father, Sheikh GhulamQadir. Another personMohammad Hussain was alsodetained.

Mirwaiz said dozens ofshopkeepers have also beenarrested by the police. On theinstruction of APHC Chair-man, a delegation led by Ad-vocate Shahid-ul-Islam visitedthe detained youth and shop-keepers. The Mirwaiz has de-manded immediate release ofthe youth.—NNI

SRINAGAR—With their pleasfor facilitating pilgrimage tothe Sharda Devi shrine in AzadKashmir finding little favourwith the government, a groupof Kashmiri Pandits have nowpinned their hopes on HurriyatConference chairman MirwaizUmar Farooq’s upcoming Pa-kistan visit.

Not only do they want himto take up the issue with theneighbouring country, they alsowant to be part of the moder-ate Hurriyat delegation that isscheduled to visit Pakistan.

“It has always been ourwish to visit the Shardatemple. Now that Mirwaiz isscheduled to visit Pakistan, wewant him to raise the issuewith Pakistan so that we areable to visit this shrine whichis thousands of years old... Wewould also like to be a part ofthe delegation that is going to

Pilgrimage to AJK shrine: Panditspin hopes on Mirwaiz’s visit

Pakistan,” AnantnagPraphandak Committee (APC)chairman Jigen Goja told TheTribune over the phone.

Mirwaiz, who heads themoderate Hurriyat conglomer-ate, is currently holding delib-erations with a cross-sectionof people in the Valley to builda “broader consensus” overthe Kashmir issue ahead of hisPakistan visit scheduled onDecember 15.

Goja, who is currently inJammu, said an APC delega-tion after holding consulta-tions with other KashmiriPandits would visit Kashmirnext month and meet Mirwaizwith their demand. “As he iscurrently talking to the civilsociety and others, we wantthat he should also raise thisimportant issue pertaining toour community.... Moreover,the visit to the shrine is not just

our demand but also of other(Pandit) groups,” he added.

Goja said the Shardha Devishrine had immense religioussignificance for them and thatthere were “no reasons” for notallowing them to visit thetemple as there were “no prob-lems” while visiting NankanaSahib in Punjab, Pakistan.

Several groups for longhave been demanding pilgrim-ages to the Sharda temple,which is located across theLine of Control (LoC).

While it has been a long-pending demand of the All Par-ties Migrant CoordinationCommittee (APMCC) to visitthe shrine, the Akhil BhartiyaGujjar Mahasabha (ABGM)had recently urged the state andCentral governments to openthe route to the shrine viaJumagund village of the borderdistrict of Kupwara.—NNI

SRINAGAR—The tourism de-partment has spent more thantwo crore rupees on foreign vis-its of ministers and top officialsto promote Kashmir as an inter-national tourist destination.

As per the documents, in2008 the tourism departmenthas shown an expenditure of Rs4896214 for organizing tourismpromotion events in foreigncountries.

On the first visit toSingapore, the department hasspent an amount of Rs 867660for a tourism seminar.

The delegation comprisedof Director Tourism (Kashmir),Deputy Director and DirectorTourism Jammu. During thesecond visit to Berlin (Ger-

‘Selling destination Kashmir’abroad proves costly

many), the department utilizedan amount of Rs 585340 for or-ganizing road shows and otherevents, while as during the thirdand fourth visit to Malaysia andBahrain, the department hasshown an expenditure of Rs2316224 and Rs 1126990 re-spectively for organizing vari-ous events.

Secretary Tourism, DirectorTourism Kashmir, Deputy Di-rector Jammu, Additional Di-rector Publicity and P.A toDeputy Chief Minister werepart of the third and fourth visit.In 2009, the tourism departmenthas spent an amount of Rs2418872 on tourism seminarsand other related activities or-ganized in London and Berlin.

The documents reveal thatan amount of Rs 1628700 hasbeen spent during two visits toBerlin. An amount of Rs 790172has been utilized in London forthe same activities.

The expenditure has beenspent on the delegation com-prising of Minister for Tour-ism, Directors and otherhigher rung officials of the de-partment. During the visits toDubai, Berlin, London andother places, the departmenthas utilized an amount of Rs5430647 in year 2010 on a del-egation comprising of minis-ters and other high rung offi-cials for organizing roadshows to attract tourists toKashmir valley.—NNI

25 farmers ofvalley to

participate inAgri- Tech 2012

SRINAGAR—A group of 25progressive farmers of valleywere deputed for participationin Agri-Tech 2012- India’s Pre-mier Biennial Agro Technologyand Business Fair from Ist De-cember 2012 to 4th December2012 at Chandigarh.

Sharad Pawar, Union Min-ister for Agriculture Govt ofIndia will inaugurate Agro-Tech2012 Event.

This event will feature dis-play of best products and tech-niques in agriculture and couldprovide opportunity for thefarming community to learnabout latest technologies ad-vancements and latest practicesin the field of agriculture whichis sustainable and environmentfriendly.

It is an international businessfair that attracts participationfrom all over the world, besideslarge scale involvement of theIndian Agriculture sector. In theevent international Pavilions ofCanada, Italy, Korea, Germany,Netherlands, Uruguay, State In-dia Pavilions will display theirproducts and technology.

On the concluding day therewill be technical workshop andinteractive sessions with farm-ers. Project Coordinator Mush-room S.R. Galotra is accompa-nying progressive farmers,interactiong with touring farm-ers he said that the main objec-tive of participating in Agro-Tech 2012 is to make farmersaware about the latest research,development in various field inagriculture and allied sectors sothat farmers after their returnback shall apply same in theirfields and teach other farm-ers.—NNI

Dozens ofdisabled personsheld in Srinagar

SRINAGAR—The Indian po-lice detained over two dozenmembers of the Jammu andKashmir Handicapped Asso-ciation during a protest marchin Srinagar on the occasion ofInternational Day of DisabledPersons.

Scores of members, in-cluding children, of the asso-ciation were protesting nearthe press enclave in Srinagaragainst apathy of the authori-ties towards their miserieswhen police stopped theirrally and took dozens intocustody.

“We were protesting peace-fully, but police detained us,”President of the association,Abdul Rashid Butt, toldmediamen.—KMS

SRINAGAR—Making it clearthat Hurriyat (M) was not afraidof talks, senior Hurriyat (M)leader Prof Abdul Gani BhatSaturday said there was “noquestion of entering into a sellout as the amalgam will find outa way out for the respectablesolution of Kashmir issue.”

Addressing the civil societymembers from Islamabad(Anantnag), Pulwama, Shopianand Kulgam at party headquar-ters here, Bhat said the Hurriyat“will never choose sell out”.“There is no question of sell-out. We will seek a way-out forrespectable resolution of Kash-mir issue. Sell out is impossible.We can’t sell the blood of mar-tyrs and chastity of our daugh-ters and mothers,” the Hurriyat(M) leader said.

Hurriyat (M) not afraid oftalks on Kashmir: Bhat

He said it was the Hurriyat(M) that made India and Paki-stan accept that “Kashmir be-longs to Kashmiris and partici-pation of Hurriyat leaders wasa must for Kashmir solution.”“It was the Hurriyat that talkedto the then Prime Minister ofIndia Atal Bihari Vajpayee,former Pakistan PresidentParvez Musharraf and PrimeMinister of India ManmohanSingh,” he said. Bhat said it wasthe United States of Americathat brought India and Pakistancloser. “US first directed Indiaand Pakistan to start trade sothat two countries come close.They (US) knew that whenevertwo countries talk Kashmir,they fight. So let there be afriendship through trade first,”he said.

The senior Hurriyat leadersaid Hurriyat will never beafraid of talking Kashmir.“Even if our Pakistan visitbrings nothing, but peopleacross the globe will discussthat Hurriyat delegation dis-cussed Kashmir,” Bhat said.“We have already made it clearto New Delhi that Kashmiris areweak and can’t fight with Indiabut won’t accept defeat. Wehave told Indian leadership thatKashmiris have never accepteddefeat.”

He said the Hurriyat delega-tion will not only meet Pakistanleaders who are in power, butthose who in the opposition aswell. “World community is infavour of settlement of disputesso that peace prevails at the in-ternational level.—NNI

SRINAGAR—One much-hypedcross Line of Control trade be-tween the two divided parts ofKashmir is now on the verge ofcollapse. This is because Indiangovernment shows no interest inits progress. Over the pastcouple of months, there is asharp decline in the exchangebetween the two parts becauseof government limitations. Thetraders say the cross line of con-trol trade is becoming a failure.

When the trade between thetwo divided parts started, Indiaand Pakistan government ini-

Traders grappling withgovernmental restrictions

tially agreed on 22 items to betraded across the line but thetraders now complain that only2 to 3 items are presently beinglegally exchanged. Such restric-tions have left the traders indeep problems. The traders inKashmir say the government isbiased towards them becausesuch restrictions are not im-posed on the other trade routesbetween India and Pakistan butIndian government rejects theaccusation and says there is nodouble standard on this issue

For a successful trade ties

between two parts of Kashmir,traders says governments of In-dia and Pakistan should increasethe number of tradable itemswithout restricting things. Theyalso call for regular meetingsbetween the two sides. Thetrade between the two sides ofKashmir started in 2008 after ahuge debate over the confidencebuilding measures between In-dia and Pakistan. The two coun-tries are at logger heads overKashmir since the partition in1947 and have fought two warsover it.— NNI

There will be two kindsof companies in the

future: fast and dead.

— David Weiss

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—Sindh dates havehuge potential to capture inter-national markets with small in-terventions of value addition,said Director General SindhBoard of Investment (SBI) af-ter taking a delegation of offi-cials and date growers fromSindh to one of the world’s larg-est date processing facility inUAE.

A delegation of Sindh Boardof Investment consisting of datepalm growers and officers ofSBI visited the processing plantof Al-Foah Date ProcessingCompany located in Al-Ain,UAE. The processing plant isconsidered the largest dates pro-cessing plant in the world andone of the most the sophisticated

Sindh dates can captureworld markets: DG SBI

as well.The plant was set up by the

UAE Govt. some 14 years agoto help develop date palm clus-ter by acting as a common facil-ity centre for date palm process-ing in numerous forms. Wel-coming the delegation Sameer,Export Sales Manager of Al-Foah and factory manager UdaySingh briefed about the process-ing facility available in the fac-tory before they are packed infinished form for markets.

Growers were sensitisedabout the proper fumigation ofthe raw date crop, which in-creases the shelf life and alsoprevent from any pest, insects ordiseases along with the eggs andlarvae of insects inside. Thestate-of-the-art factory also in-cludes high capacity washing,

sorting and drying facility withcold storage capacity of morethan 60,000 tons. Processeddates are stored at 10 degreeCelsius. Subsequently dateswere either packed in variousforms as whole fruits or theywere diverted to syrup and pastelines.

Further value addition wasbeing done of whole dates bystuffing nuts or by coating withchocolate. Finally, dates andtheir derivatives were beingpacked. Sindh alone producesmore than 300,000 tons of datesper annum and total date produc-tion of Pakistan crosses 600,000tons but due to unawareness ofmodern processing techniquesand value addition Pakistan hasnever achieved International

Continued on Page 14

CNG issue confused on purpose: APCNGA

NA’s petroleum body recommends imposing tax on all sectors

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Securities andExchange Commission of Paki-stan (SECP) has notified draftof accounting rules and regula-tions for the Life and non-LifeInsurance companies.

The drafted revised Ac-counting Formats and regula-tions for published financialstatements and regulatory re-turns by insurance entities havebeen notified in the official ga-zette of Pakistan to elicit publicand stakeholders comments.

By issuing these accountingformats and regulations, theSECP, as the apex regulator,aimed to protect the interests ofpolicyholders and promote thesound development of the insur-ance industry. The ‘Revised Ac-

SECP notifies draft of newregulations for insurance sector

counting Formats & Regula-tions for Conventional Insurers’is also available at the SECPwebsite www.secp.gov.pk.

The existing SEC [Insur-ance] Rules 2002, annexed withit were the Accounting Regula-tions & its Formats were intro-duced by the SECP in 2002.Since the issuance of these rules,almost a decade ago, there havebeen remarkable developmentsand changes in the InternationalReporting Standards (IFRSs) byInternational Accounting Stan-dards Board.

Accordingly, at the behest ofthe SECP, the Institute of Char-tered Accountants of Pakistan(ICAP) reconstituted the Insur-ance Sub-Committee. TheCommittee comprised of indus-try experts, senior partners of

chartered accountant firms, andrepresentatives from the Insur-ance Division of the SECP andtechnical experts from the ICAP.The mandate given by the Com-mission was to review the cur-rent accounting regulations andformats in respect of conven-tional Life and Non-life Insur-ers by taking into considerationthe International Standards.

The Committee was also toaddress the concerns of the in-dustry in relation to IFRS 4. Theunderlying objective of IFRS 4was to achieve global harmoni-zation of the diverse accountingdisclosures and practices in theinsurance industry. After in-depth deliberations, the SECPnotified the draft rules and regu-lation format for public consul-tation.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The NationalAssembly Standing Committeeon Petroleum has recommendedimposing equal tax on all sec-tors in order to provide maxi-mum relief to the consumers.

Meeting of the National As-sembly Sub-committee on Pe-troleum and Natural Resourcesheld in the parliament housewith Jamshed Dasti in the chairexpressed annoyance over theclosure of CNG stations in thecountry which are creating in-convenience for the consumers.

During the meeting both

stake holders including all Paki-stan CNG association and Oiland Gas Regulatory presentedtheir views over the CNG priceand CNG association empha-sized on Parliamentarians to re-move extra taxes on CNG andcalled for end of discriminatoryattitude towards CNG sector.

Chairman OGRA told thecommittee that cost of Gas forCNG sector is Rs 31.9, GIDC isRs 13.25 per kg and Operationcost is Rs 13.33 while Rs 4.55per kg margin has been given tothe CNG sector. ChairmanOGRA Saeed Khan suggestedthat CNG should be used only for

public transport and small ve-hicles and it should be banned forluxurious cars. He said thatmechanism should be evolved togradually phase out CNG fromluxurious cars.

Legislative body was alsoannoyed over the incidents of oiltheft from Parco pipelines andsaid that people are involved inbillion rupees of oil theft andPSO and Parco both stake hold-ers are mum over the situationwhile the ministry of petroleumis also silent over the issue.

Convener Jamshed Dastisaid that during last four yearsmore than forty billion rupees oil

went missing from the pipelinesof Parco and people of Parco andpolice are involved in it. He saidthat committee would forwardthis issue to National Account-ability Bureau (NAB).

Committee also directed In-spector General Punjab to holdthoroughly inquiry over the issue,fix responsibility without any dis-crimination and take strict action.SHO of the area told that accord-ing to FIR registered by PSO 1.6million liter oil was misplacedfrom system.

Jamshed Dasti said that chiefsecurity officers of PSO are alsoinvolved in oil theft and directed

officials of PSO to keep checkon security officers.

Committee recommendedpetroleum ministry to removeMD PSO Naeem Yahya who hasnot respect for committee andfailed to present in the meetings.

Sub-committee also directedPSO to open 400 CNG stationswhich were sealed for violationfor violation of sanctioned loadof gas. Committee directedSNGPL to give details of totaldevelopment funds and also togive complete that how muchamount is being spent in differ-ent constituencies.

Meanwhile, the All Pakistan

CNG Association (APCNGA)has said that energy bureaucracyhas deliberately complicated thesimple issue of CNG pricing af-ter the landmark decision of theSupreme Court (SC) in a bid todeprive masses of economicalfuel, reward influential sectorsand pave way for additional im-ports of costly fossil fuel.

Ministry of Petroleum andNatural Resources, Oil and GasRegulatory Authority (Ogra), in-dependent auditors and parlia-mentarians have accepted thatcurrent retail price of CNG is notsustainable but at the same timenation is being misguided regard-

ing excessive profit margins ofCNG operators, said GhiyasAbdullah Paracha, ChairmanSupreme Council APCNGA.

Speaking to a press confer-ence at a local hotel, he ex-pressed disappointment over re-peated statements by top gov-ernment functionaries to phase-out CNG sector which is usingonly six per cent of the total gasproduction.

He said that following thepeople-friendly verdict of the SCno one tried to understand the is-sue while some elements in thegovernment used all their ener-gies to confuse the situation to

turn judiciary and massesagainst the CNG sector.

Ghiyas Abdullah Parachaasked the President and PrimeMinister to take note of the plotwhich is hurting owners of 3.5million vehicles using CNG,proprietors and staff of 3400CNG outlets and millions ofcommuters.

He said that authorities aredeliberately delaying announce-ment of the prices and imple-mentation of report prepared byauditors to sabotage the Su-preme Court decision, enragemasses and cripple CNG opera-tors financially.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Stocks closedlower on Monday, as tradersbooked profits after the bench-mark index hit record highs ineach of the previous four ses-sions.

The Karachi StockExchange’s (KSE) benchmark100-share index ended 0.22 percent, or 35.88 points, lower at16,537.98 on total volume of195,57 million shares. Themarket surged to a record of16,651.10 on Friday.

Sui Northern Gas fell 0.46per cent, or 0.11 rupees, to 24.05per share, while National Bankdropped 1.32 per cent, or 0.66rupees, to 49.20 per share. BankAl Falah rose 0.72 per cent, or0.12 rupees, to 16.86 per share.

Stocks fall ending 4-dayrally, rupee weakens

The market’s decline waslimited by a smaller-than-ex-pected rise in inflation, whichtraders believe will give thecentral bank the necessary free-dom to ease interest rates laterthis week.

Pakistan’s consumer priceindex rose 6.93 per cent in No-vember from a year earlier, thePakistan Bureau of Statisticssaid. On a month-on-month ba-sis, inflation declined by 0.39per cent from October. In thecurrency market, the Pakistanirupee eased to 96.57/96.62against the dollar, compared toFriday’s close of 96.49/96.54,on weak demand for the localcurrency. Overnight rates in themoney market ended at 7.00per cent compared to Friday’sclose of 9.50 per cent.

Revivalof SMEs,

agriculture inflood-hit areas

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The State Bank ofPakistan (SBP) has extended theexpiry date of the RefinanceScheme for Revival of SMEs &Agricultural Activities in FloodAffected Areas by one year i.e.from November 30, 2012 toNovember 30, 2013.

Refinance limits alreadysanctioned in favour of selectedbanks under this Scheme willalso continue to be available up-to November 30, 2013, saysIH&SMEFD Circular LetterNo.13 issued today.

Banks/Development Fi-nance Institutions (DFIs) canalso apply for enhancement oflimits after utilization of theirexisting limits. Further, otherinterested banks/DFIs, havingbranches in flood affected areas,may also apply to IH&SME Fi-nance Department of SBP forsanctioning of fresh limits un-der the Scheme separately foragriculture and SMEs, the Cir-cular Letter added.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Gao Xiging, Presi-dent of China Investment Corpo-ration (CIC), has said that bilat-eral relations on trade and indus-try between China and Pakistanto get new face as two countriesare great friends and Pakistan isone of the best friends of China.

Speaking at a reception orga-nized by Karachi Chamber ofCommerce and industry the CICPresident added that both coun-tries have been committed to de-velop closer bilateral relations andfurther broaden their economicengagement for achieving com-mon development.

Opportunities for joint ven-tures in different sector do exist.So far, China-Pakistani economicand trade cooperation has seengood progress. He also said thatPakistan is also our neighbourcountry and Chinese always feel

Pakistan and Chinacooperation increasing

safe in Pakistan. Pakistan has verygood potential in different fields.China is also giving new face toits industry with sector diversifi-cation. China-Pakistan’s trade andeconomic cooperation has seengood progress. China InvestmentCorporation (CIC) is State-Owned Institution, having around$200 Billion foreign exchangereserves enters into investment,joint ventures, shareholding etc.

Speaking on the occasionMuhammad Haroon Agar, Presi-dent, Karachi Chamber of Com-merce & Industry(KCCI) ex-pressed that Pakistan and Chinacan collectively do wonders as theeconomic and commercial activi-ties are now focusing towardsAsia.

With Pak-China mutual eco-nomic and cooperation, regionaltrade and trading with SAARC,ECO and Central Asian blockscan multiply to manifolds.

He urged Chinese investmentin energy, infrastructure, metro-railways, mass-transit, damsprojects which are direly neededto uplift economy and furtherstrengthen Pak-China friendly re-lationship and economic coopera-tion. He said that Chinese coop-eration with Pakistan reached highpoints with substantial invest-ments from China in Pakistaniinfra structural expansion, includ-ing the noted projects in the Paki-stan deep water port in Gawadar,however, in view of Pak ChinaFriendship which is deeper thanocean, greater than Himalaya,growth in mutual cooperation isessential to uplift Pakistan’s weak-ening economy.

He cited Karakorum High-way as a remarkable example ofmutual cooperation which is thesymbol of friendship and under-standing. 2011 was celebrated as“Pakistan –China Friendship Year,

on 60th Anniversary of Pak ChinaRelations”. More than 11,000Chinese engineers, techniciansand workers are rendering theirvaluable services in progress anddevelopment of Pakistan.

Chinese investment in Paki-stan increased many fold in keysectors including port develop-ment, roads, railways, mobile tele-phones communication technol-ogy, hydro and thermal power,mining, electronics, and nuclearenergy. A large number of Chinesecompanies are working in Paki-stan in oil and gas, IT and telecom,power generation, engineering,automobiles, infrastructure andmining sector. Both countries havefree trade agreements whichshould be effectively explored formutual benefits of both friendlynations. Public as well private sec-tor Pak-China joint ventures areneed of time owing to immense

Continued on Page 14

Cement sectorposts doubledigit growth

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The decline inexports to India continues un-abated where the uptake of Pa-kistani cement reduced by 38.50percent during the first fivemonths of this fiscal. DuringJuly-Nov 2011, Pakistan ex-ported 298,214 tons of cementto India which reduced to183,387 tons this year.

Although cement sectorposted a healthy export growthof 11.71 percent in November2012, India was the only export-ing destination where exportsdeclined in November as well.Pakistan exported 45,096 tons ofcement to India in November2011 which declined alarminglyto only 25,207 tons in Novem-ber 2012.

The cement sector of Paki-stan otherwise showed healthygrowth in the month of Novem-ber, as for the first time this fis-cal, both domestic consumptionand cement exports posteddouble digit growth, on year toyear basis.

Total cement despatches at2.649 million tons during themonth of November were how-ever, lower than dispatch of2.766 million tons, a month ear-lier. However, when comparedto November 2011 when the to-tal cement despatches were2.255 million tons, the sales inthe month of November 2012were higher by 19.63%. Tradi-tionally, cement despatches

Inflation dips to 6.9pc

SBP may opt foranother rate-cut

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The ConsumerPrice Index (CPI) inflation in thecountry during the month ofNovember was recorded at thelowest level of its revised basedat 6.9 percent as against 7.7 per-cent in October.

“The number is far belowthe market consensus which wasexpecting it in the range of 7.5-8 percent,” said Topline analystNauman Khan.

On MoM basis, inflationstood at –ve 0.4 percent asagainst 0.4 percent last month,while the average inflation in5MFY13 stood at 8.4 percentversus 10.2 percent in the sameperiod last year.

“Though, we still await howindividual heads contributed tosubdued number but we believesubdued food inflation would bethe chief contributor on account

Continued on Page 14

ISLAMABAD—Senior FederalMinister for CommerceMakhdoom Amin Fahim said thatvolume of trade between Pakistanand Korea needs significant in-crease. In a statement prior to leav-ing for three days visit to Korea hecited that current visit wouldstrengthen business and commer-cial interaction between the publicand private sector of both countries.

He further said the businesscommunities of both the countiesneed to be sensitized about theavailable business opportunities.

Pakistan to expand tradewith Korea: Fahim

He also said both countries shouldorganize regular trade exhibitionof potential products which wouldexplore trade options between twocountries.

While telling about currenttrade between two countries theFederal Minister said that Pakistan- Korea volume of trade, whichwas in the region of US $845.18 million in the year 2006-07 reached all time high with ef-fort of current government amount-ing to US$ 1.189 billion showingan increase of 40%.—Online

Rates for conversionKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Deposits,Dollar Bearer Certificates,Foreign Currency BearerCertificates, SpecialU.S.Dollar Bonds and profitsthereon by all banks and forproviding Forward Cover onForeign Currency Deposits(excluding F.E.25 deposits) bythe State Bank on December 4,2012. The rates are U.S.Dollar Rs 96.5473, JapaneseYen Rs 1.1760 Pound SterlingRs 155.0163 and Euro Rs125.8494.—APP

LSE gainsLAHORE—Lahore Stock Ex-change on Monday witnessedbullish trend by gaining 11.56points as the LSE-25 Indexopened with 4183.70 and closedat 4195.26 points.

The market’s overall situa-tion, however, did not corre-spond to an upward trend as itremained at 5.005 millionshares to close against previousturnover of 5.872 millionshares, showing a downwardslide of 866,600 shares. While,out of the total 105 activescrips, 31 moved up, 25 shedvalues and 49 remainedequal.—APP

Sunflower seedcentre demandedOur CorrespondentMULTAN—Peerzada AbdulAli Zakir Usmani President ofAnjuman Kashtkaran Punjabdemanded of the governmentto reopen the Sunflower seedsupply centre in Punjab andSindh, which was catering togrowers by supplying morethan 155,000 tons of sunflowerseed on subsidised rates. Healso demanded to raise itssupport price to Rs 2,400 per40-kg in order to enhanceedible oil production in thecountry. Peerzada said despite23 percent increase inproduction during one year,the government has shut downseed supply centres in Punjaband Sindh. The federalgovernment ensured thesunflower growers that itwould with the support of oilextracting companiesannounce increase in thesunflower support price fromthe existing Rs 1,700 to Rs2,100 per 40-kg.

KBD to cut costStaff ReporterLAHORE—The rice millers andexporters, appreciating theLahore High Court’s decision onKalabagh Dam, has termed itinevitable owing to acuteshortage of energy, fast depletingirrigation water resources andfrequent occurrence of floods.Acute electricity and gas shortagehas not only crippled trade andindustry but also broughtwidespread unemployment andpoverty, they observed. They saidthe LHC verdict had given a newlease of life to the peoplesuffering because of multipleproblems including unavailabilityof electricity. Pakistani riceexporters have now becomeuncompetitive mainly due toenergy crisis and lack of researchin the region, which hasincreased exports, whilePakistan’s ratio of rice export ison decline constantly, observedREAP vice chairman SameeUllah Chaudhary. He said thecountry registered a reduction of49 per cent in basmati rice and 7per cent in non-basmati riceduring this fiscal year (July-Nov)as compared to the same periodlast year. Presently, industry iswithout gas and electricity,forcing the millers to operate ondiesel, which escalates cost ofproduction and renders theexporters uncompetitive in theworld, he stated.

Advisor to the Prime Minister on Petroleum and Natural Resources Dr Asim Hussain shak-ing hands with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran.

Essa Abdulla Al Basha Al Noaimi, Ambassador of UAE along with President and CEOPTCL Walid Irshaid, SEVP Commercial Naveed Saeed and others at PTCL stall on 41stNational Day of United Arab Emirates.

Shafqat Sultana, President FWBL cutting a cake at the 23rd

anniversary of the bank. Salma Ahmed, Majyd Aziz, IshtiaqBaig, Charmaine Hidayatullah and Shaheen Zamir are alsoseen in the picture.

Continued on Page 14

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Mobilink Founda-tion has contributed PKR 3 mil-lion towards the construction ofan out-patient facility at the un-der-construction ShaukatKhanum Memorial Cancer Hos-pital and Research Center(SKMCH&RC) in Peshawar,Khyber Pukhtunkhwa. A chequefor this contribution was pre-sented by Tariq Durrani, Re-gional Director (Sales),Mobilink to Dr Faisal Sultan,CEO SKMCH&RC at a cer-emony organized inSKMCH&RC Lahore.

Since the commencement ofSKMCH&RC’s first facility inLahore, nearly 40,000 patientshave visited the facility from theprovince of KPK. The need fora facility in the province is fur-ther amplified by the existinglack of access to diagnosis andtreatment. The contribution byMobilink Foundation is in-tended to assist SKMH’s effortsto provide state-of-the-art facili-ties to the people of Khyber

Mobilink contributesRs 3 million to SKMH

Pukhtunkhwa (KPK). Construc-tion on the project has started inMarch 2011 and is expected tobe completed within 3 years.

Addressing the ceremony,Tariq Durrani, Regional Director(Sales) Mobilink emphasized,“Mobilink Foundation is pleasedto contribute towards the construc-tion of an out-patient facility atShaukat Khanum Memorial Can-

cer Hospital and Research Cen-ter, Peshawar. Mobilink Founda-tion supports the efforts beingmade by SKMCH&RC for the al-leviation of those suffering fromcancer across Pakistan. Thecompletion of this new state-of-the-art-facility in Peshawar willresult in an increasing number ofdeserving patients getting accessto medical attention.”

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Business canhelp resolve conflicts in acommunity through broaderCorporate Social Responsibil-ity (CSR) framework that ad-dresses social and economicneeds of communities, saidspeakers at a workshop onpeace building and cited rea-son that lack of economic op-portunities and social depriva-tion are the most pressing fac-tors contributing to conflictswithin a community.

They were discussing it ata research workshop on “Plu-

Business can help resolve conflicts through broader CSRral Business Partnerships forPeace: Perspectives from Paki-stan” jointly organized by Sus-tainable Development PolicyInstitute (SDPI), ResponsibleBusiness Initiative (RBI) and In-ternational Alert (IA) in collabo-ration with European Unionhere on Monday.

Giving opening remarks Dr.Vaqar Ahmed, Head of Eco-nomic Growth Unit at SDPI saidthat conference seeks to find away to establish community-business partnerships for peaceconducive economies whereboth can benefit from each other.

Speaking at session ‘eco-

nomics of peace’, MuhammadAli, Chairman, Securities andExchange Commission of Paki-stan (SECP) emphasized uponthe need for factors such as Cor-porate Social Responsibility,corporate good governance anda culture of mediation to reduceand minimize conflicts. He said,“When businesses start invest-ing in social infrastructure, theirimpact on the communities canbe transformational.” He alsoinformed participants that SECPhas drafted guidelines for pub-lic companies to performingCSR activities. These guidelinesseek to institutionalize and

codify CSR activities based onfair, transparent and responsiblebusiness practices to supportcommunity growth and to elimi-nate practices that harm the pub-lic, he added. Nabeel Goheerfrom Commonwealth Secre-tariat, London presented theirwork in Pakistan which focuseson building a peaceful anddemocratic society by appreci-ating the ‘cultural diversity’.Phillip Edward Vernon briefedparticipants on various initia-tives of International Alert(IA)on peace building started inPakistan.

During the session on ‘com-

munities perspective’ NaseerMemon, CEO of StrengtheningParticipatory Organization la-mented corporations and multina-tional companies for ignoring lo-cal communities for employment.Citing UNDP Human Develop-ment Report, he said that despiteproducing natural gas for decades,Dera Bugti is still the poorest, un-derdeveloped and mostmarginalized area in the country.Safwan Aziz from SDPI pre-sented the findings of SDPI studyand shared that most of commu-nity members in their surveyasked businesses to contribute incommunity development through

provision of education, health, andeconomic opportunities. He in-formed that there is no regulationfor CSR in Pakistan and urgedbusinesses to adopt a frameworkfor Corporate Social Responsibil-ity which can make their contri-bution to the society inter-relatedwith their own systems.DamonBristow, from DFID Pakistan saidthat businesses role in develop-ment initiatives must be supportedand appreciated although it is pri-marily the responsibility of gov-ernment .

Speaking at session on “busi-ness perspective for CSR”Khalid Aziz Mirza, Former

Chairman, Competition Com-mission of Pakistan said that be-side CSR the businesses mustcomply with the law of the landin letter and spirit while adher-ing to accepted corporate gover-nance norm and respect all stake-holders rights. Former PresidentEngro Corporation Asad Umaridentified lack of economic op-portunities as one of the manybasis for most of conflicts in Pa-kistan and urged on creation ofjobs, spending royalties on com-munities and improving the so-cial capital in community. Giv-ing way ahead, he said that busi-nesses needs to influence govern-

ment agenda for sustainablegrowth adding that engagingmedia and communities are vi-tal partner for such advocacy.Talking on governance dimen-sion, Altaf Saleem former Fed-eral Minister for Privatizationargued that due to lack of ac-countability businesses tend toindulge in criminal businesspractices for huge dividendsand mostly get away with it. Heurged on to reform governmentsystem which reward honestbusinesses that positively con-tribute toward welfare ofpeople and resulting into peace-ful societies.

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — N a z a rMuhammad Gondal, FederalMinister for Capital Administra-tion and Development Division(CADD) while speaking on theoccasion of Pak-Brazil Interna-tional Seminar on Food Securityand Poverty Alleviation said thatthe government has for the firsttime formulated the Food Qual-ity and Safety bill to ensure foodsafety and maintain internationalstandards of country’s products.

The seminar has been orga-nized by the Ministry of Na-tional Food Security and Re-search (MNFS&R) and BrazilEmbassy in Islamabad in col-laboration with Pakistan Agri-culture Research Council(PARC), World FoodProgramme (WFP), Food and

Govt has ensured food safety: GondalAgriculture Organization (FAO)and Sustainable DevelopmentPolicy Institute (SDPI).

At this occasion, Mr.Moazam Jatoi, Minister of State(NFS&R), Mr. Alfredo Leoni,Ambassador Brazil to Pakistan,Mr. Ahmad Bakhsh Lehri, Sec-retary (MNFS&R) Mr. AbdulBasit Khan, Addl. Secretary,Major General Taqeer Ahmed,MD (PASSCO), Dr. IftikharAhmad, Chairman PARC andother speakers also addressed theexperts, policy markers, dignitar-ies and participants of theseminar.Agriculture scientistsand world-renowned experts hereMonday termed the food securityas global issue that could be over-come by multilateral cooperationaimed at streamlining distribu-tion system and market mecha-nism to ensure easy accessibility

to food to the people.“Food security is not local

or regional issue but an interna-tional one, therefore it is inter-national responsibility to joinhands to address this issue,” theymaintained while addressing thePak-Brazil Seminar on FoodSecurityand Poverty Alleviationhere at a local hotel here.The speakers said that agricul-ture sector in Pakistan has suf-fered enormously during thefloods of 2010 and 2011 as dam-ages to the crops alone were es-timated at over Rs.280 billionwhich not only affected foodproduction but also livelihoodopportunities and access to food.

Earthquake and floods havealso affected supply of cleandrinking water and other healthfacilities thus affecting food uti-lization.

ZONG and Askari Bank announced the launch of ‘Timepey’,a technology-based branchless banking service. Picture showsM R Mehkari, President and Chairman, Askari Bank, AbdulMuktadir, DG, SBP, Zhang Jiang, Chinese Consul Generaland Fan Yunjun, CEO, China Mobile Pakistan.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Warid Telecomthis year again joined handswith White Ribbon campaignwhich is aimed at spreading themessage to end violence againstwomen and girls in all itsforms.

Men and boys in their vari-ous roles as individuals, com-munity members, leaders, edu-cators, fathers, and familymembers have a responsibilityand important role to play inpromoting gender equality andending violence against womenand girls.

In this regard the employ-ees of Warid Telecom markedthe day by pledging while thecompany also broadcastedawareness SMS toits subscrib-ers and spread the message onits social mediums and com-pany website.

While appreciating the con-tinuous support by WaridTelecom, CEO of WRCP Mr.

Warid joins WhiteRibbon campaign

Burki to presentMacroeconomicaddress at MAP

conventionSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Renowned Econo-mist and Former Vice Presidentof World Bank, Shahid JavedBurki, will present a thoughtprovoking Macroeconomic ad-dress at the 13th MAP Conven-tion being held by the Manage-ment Association of Pakistan(MAP) on December 18, hereTheme chosen for this year’sConvention is “Leadership,People, Innovation”. Terrabiz isthe official conference orga-nizer of the Convention.

World’s leadingTrendspotter, Futurologist andAuthor, Magnus Lindkvist, willspeak on “A New World of Pos-sibility”. Magnus is one of themost sought after speakers glo-bally. The Convention also fea-tures the renowned Bangladeshientrepreneur, Dipal ChandraBarua,. Dr. Santrupt B. Misra -CEO, Carbon Black Business &Director, Global H.R. Head,Aditya Birla Management Cor-poration will speak on “The Artof Optimizing 3 P’s with HR –People, Performance and Profit”

The Convention will addi-tionally have the presence of theother highly acclaimed speakersincluding: Dr. Marie Lall – Fel-low Royal Society of Arts; MikeSherman – Head, LivingAnalytics, Group Digital Life,Singtel; Saad Amanullah Khan– CEO, Gillette Pakistan;Shehzad Naqvi – Former Presi-dent and CEO, Royal Bank ofScotland; Muhammad Younas –Head of Innovation & InternalExpansion, Bayt.com; andFurqan Qureshi – SEVP South,Pakistan TelecommunicationCompany Limited. The Conven-tion will be moderated by EithneTreanor – Special Correspon-dent, CNBC Arabia and Manag-ing Director, ETreanor Media.

Omer Aftab said that the in-volvement of Warid, its em-ployees and their overall con-tribution and support helpedspreading the message at awider level.

Omer further added that asper the Social Institutions andGender Index 2012, Pakistanis ranked 55th out of 86 in thelist of countries violating so-cial norms and rights concern-ing women.

The country was ranked94th out of 102 in the GenderInequality Index, 2009 how-ever this year its ranking hasdropped to an alarming rate.Pakistan ranks lowest in theSouth Asian region in terms ofGDP per capita for women.

Right to education, dis-criminatory family codes, re-stricted physical integrity, sonbias, restricted resources andcivil liberties are some com-mon forms of biases againstwomen that need serious con-sideration.

investment potential in Pakistan.Chairman Sindh Board of

Investment & former PresidentKCCI Muhammad ZubairMotiwala proposed the Presi-dent of China Investment Cor-poration to establish Pak-Chinamutual fund that can fund thepotential projects and joint ven-tures in the public and privatesector of Pakistan. He articu-lated that Pakistan has 2nd larg-est reserves of Coal. Pakistancan benefit from Chinese tech-nical assistance in coal energyprojects. He also emphasized onthe urgent need for acceleratingthe effort for development of in-

digenous and cheaper energy re-sources. Reliable, efficient, safeand cost effective solutions forcoal based power generation.Chinese Technical expertise inwind power is also essential.Pakistan and China can also cre-ate joint venture in textile sec-tor as Chinese companies buytextile products from Pakistan.

He also underscored jointcollaboration in in education sec-tor. Pakistan also need technicalsupport and help to build infra-structure for instance expressways and bridges. Investment op-portunities are also available topromote tourism.

Pakistan and ChinaFrom Page 13

appreciation to its true potential.Pakistan dates are ex-

ported mainly for Industrialuse or in the pitted form, whichhardly fetch any price. SindhBoard of Investment has orga-nized visit to modern datesprocessing facilities on thesidelines of participation inInternational Dates Palm Fes-tival in Abu Dhabi. Delegationis based on dare growers, ex-porters and processors ofSindh. Such visits enlarge themental horizons of grower andexporters by exposing them tothe possibilities of quality en-hancement and value addition.In the present day when tech-nological improvements andinnovations have become thenorm in other date palm pro-ducing countries.

Sindh datesFrom Page 13

of post Eid phenomena,” saidKhan.

The soft inflation numberheightened the chance of aver-age FY13 inflation to fall wellbelow the government expecta-tion of 9.5 percent, even afterincorporating in high MoM in-flation in 2H.

“We maintain our view thatsoft inflation numbers could al-low the room for the centralbank to continue the process ofmonetary easing and we expectanother 50-100bps cut in thepolicy rate in the upcomingmonetary policy schedule due insecond week of December,” saidthe analyst.

He said his conviction to theidea also comes from the cen-tral bank’s recent focus ongrowth dynamics which wasalso highlighted in the recentSBP governor’s interview.

SBP may optFrom Page 13

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan andAustria have decided to expandexisting bilateral trade and in-vestment relations.

The delegation of bothcountries held bilateral politicalconsultations in Vienna. ThePakistan delegation was led byMs. Ayesha Riyaz, AdditionalSecretary (Europe & FoDP),Ministry of Foreign Affairswhile the Austrian Delegationwas led by Ms. Gabriele Meon-Tschurtz, Head of the Asia Di-vision at the Austrian Ministryfor European & InternationalAffairs.

The friendly relations be-tween Pakistan and Austria spanover more than five decades.Austria, a member of both the EUand the OECD, is an economi-cally developed Western-Euro-

Pakistan, Austria agreeto boost bilateral ties

pean nation, hosting the third-largest UN Headquarters inVienna. Diplomatic relations be-tween Pakistan and Austria wereestablished in 1956. Ever sincethen both the countries have beenenjoying cordial relations.

During the Bilateral Consul-tations, the two sides took stockof the current status of bilateralrelations including political ties,economic cooperation, trade andinvestment, collaboration in thefield of education and science &technology, and cultural and par-liamentary exchanges. Bothsides emphasised the need toenhance higher level politicalcontacts, including parliamen-tary exchanges, to further inten-sify the existing bilateral rela-tions.

They noted that there has beena steady growth in the bilateraltrade volume over the past years,

and agreed to undertake suitablemeasure to sustain this positivetrend. The two sides also agreedto convene the 5th session of thePakistan-Austria Joint WorkingGroup on Trade and EconomicCooperation at an early date.

The Additional Secretarybriefed the Austrian side in de-tail on the investment opportu-nities in the country. Both thesides noted with satisfaction thatOMV, an Austrian oil and gascompany, has one of its largestoverseas investments in Paki-stan. They agreed to strengtheninteraction between their respec-tive business communities tofurther expand the existing tradeand investment relations.

The two sides exchangedviews on regional and interna-tional issues of mutual interestincluding the situation in Af-ghanistan and counterterrorism.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The frequent shut-downs of the CNG stations, con-sidered as the lifeline of thesocio-economic movement, un-leashing a wave of resentmentamong the millions of consum-ers across the country.

While the consumers werestill disturbed due to previousshut down of CNG at the weekend the Sui Southern Gas Com-pany has once again announcedthe closure of CNG stations forthe current week. According toSSGC, all the CNG stations inSindh will remain closed for 48hours from 12 am on Tuesday04 Dec. till 12 am on Thursday06 Dec. 2012.

It is generally said that bythe so called gurus in the energy

Frequent CNG shut downsunpopularising the govt

sector that the gas should beused for more productive pur-poses instead of transportationignoring the fact that the soul ofeconomic and social growth issmooth and affordable move-ment and transportation of thepeople and goods respectively.

If the fuel is not availablethe development of roads andhighways seems meaninglesswhile the secret of economicgrowth in the developed worldis easy and smooth movementof the people and the transpor-tation of commercial and indus-trial goods.

Why the natural gas is be-ing used for power generationwhile the entire developed anddeveloping economies haveswitched over to coal firedpower generation in the coun-

tries like US, Germany, France,China and India etc. while al-most entire power generation inPakistan is so far adhered tocostly fuel oil or natural gas—an interesting question invitingattention of the policy makers.

Meanwhile the SSGC in or-der to justify the shut of CNGstations has pleaded that this stepis being taken by the gas utilityto improve the line pack positionall over Sindh province, whichhas been badly disturbed due toshort supply of gas from differ-ent gas fields causing depletionof line pack and low pressure inthe system, the spokes person ofSSGC disclosed.

SSGC regrets the inconve-nience which may be caused tothe CNG users during the abovenotified 48 hour shut down period.

9.58m cottonbales reachginneries

MULTAN—Over 9.58 millionbales of cotton have reachedginneries across Pakistan tillDec 1, showing a slight decreaseof 0.7 per cent compared to lastyear, says a fortnightly reportissued by the Pakistan CottonGinners Association (PCGA)here on Monday.

According to the report, cot-ton arrival was recorded at9,582,560 bales and of them8,979,559 bales were ginned.

Overall arrival figures showa 0.7 per cent decrease as lastyear’s arrival figure was re-corded at 9.65 million bales dur-ing the corresponding year com-pared to 9.58 million bales so farthis year.

Punjab recorded arrival of6.6 million bales showing a de-crease of 12.4 per cent whileSindh ginneries received 2.977million bales recording a surgeof 41.11 per cent compared tolast year.—APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—More than 100 mar-kets of the city, on the platformof All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran, in a meeting held onMonday to discuss the upcom-ing general elections in thecountry, have vowed not to usetheir association for politicalmileage. However, the meetingof the advisory committee ofAPAT advised the association’smajor figures, including its gen-eral secretary, to go to nationaland provincial assemblies indi-vidually through elections by

Trade bodies rep not to use theirassociation for political mileage

joining any political party to rep-resent the business communityin parliament effectively.

The meeting was presidedover by its central general secre-tary Naeem Mir and attended byrepresentatives of over hundredmarkets of the provincial capitalincluding Shahid Bilal, RanaShahbaz, Shahid Iqbal Dar, Cap-tain Agha Adnan, Sheikh Irfan,Sheikh Israr, Amjad Sheikh,Mian Latif, Sheikh Zia Farid,Muhammad Humayun andAbdul Wadud Alvi.

In the meeting, the advisorycommittee suggested APAT gen-

Ready-madegarments exportgrew by 14.59pc

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The export ofready-made garments from thecountry during the last fourmonths of current financial yearregistered growth of 14.59 per-cent as compared to the sameperiod of last year.

As many as 8,964 thousanddozens of ready-made garmentsworth US$ 604 million exportedduring the period from July-Oc-tober 2012 as compared to the8,294 thousand dozen valuingUS$ 527.12 million in same pe-riod of last financial year.

According to the data ofPakistan Bureau of Statistics,the exports of towel from thecountry surged by 6.62 percentas about 53,526 metric ton towelworth US$ 254 million exportedduring the period under review.

The export of towel duringthe first four months of last fi-nancial year was recorded at46,693 metric tons with netearning of US$ 238.76 million,the data revealed.

According the data of PBStents, canvas and tarpaulin ex-port from the country during theperiod from July-October 2012posted 38.36 percent growth asabout 9,190 metric tons of tents,canvas and tarpaulin exportedwhich added US$ 36.43 millionin national accounts.

The exports of these itemswere recorded at 7,996 metrictons costing US$ 26.2 millionduring same period of last finan-cial year. From July to October2012, other textile materials ex-port grew by 62.63 percent astextile materials worth US$145.91 million exported as com-pared to the exports of US$ 89million last first four months oflast financial year.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that overall textile groupexport from the country duringthe period under review re-corded at 4.87 percent growth asthe country earned US$ 4.39 bil-lion.

ISLAMABAD: Chairperson Benazir Income Support Programme, Farzana Raja brief-ing a delegation of China Investment Cooperation over various initiatives of theprogramme.

Tariq Durrani, Regional Director Sales Mobilink, presentingRs 3 million cheque to Shaukat Khanam Memorial CancerHospital and Research Center, Peshawar.

Asian marketsboosted

HONG KONG—Asian marketsclimbed on Monday after datashowed Chinese manufacturingactivity had picked up pace inNovember, while increased glo-bal confidence provided supportfor the euro.

Tokyo rose 0.66 percent bythe break, Hong Kong was 0.10percent higher, Sydney added0.59 percent and Seoul climbed0.23 percent while Shanghaiwas flat. Beijing said Saturdaythat factory activity grew for thesecond month in a row in No-vember, the latest figures show-ing the world’s number twoeconomy is emerging from itsrecent slowdown.

The country’s official pur-chasing managers’ index (PMI)reached 50.6, up from 50.2 inOctober and 49.8 in Septemberand the highest since hitting 53.3in April. Anything above 50 in-dicates expansion.

In a separate survey, HSBCsaid its PMI hit a 13-month highof 50.5 in November from 49.5 inOctober. Chinese manufacturinghas been hit by weaker demand inEurope and the United States, witheconomic growth hitting a morethan three-year low of 7.4 percentin the July-September quarter.

A more upbeat outlook forChina filtered through to cur-rency markets, where the eurocontinued its recent rise. Thesingle currency gained to$1.3040 and 107.42 yen in earlytrade, from $1.2982 and 107.07yen in New York late Friday.

The dollar eased to 82.37yen from 82.48 yen in US trade.The yen has weakened over thepast few weeks as investors ex-pect a win in December 16 pollsfor Shinzo Abe, the oppositionleader who has pledged to carryout more aggressive monetaryeasing measures to kickstartJapan’s limp economy.—AFP

eral secretary to contest generalelections on some party ticket toensure victory, so that the voiceof small traders could be raisedin assemblies collectively withthe support of political parties.

On this occasion, NaeemMir showed his appreciation tothe representatives of city’s 100markets for posing confidenceon him. He said that APATwould continue its struggle forthe establishment of chamber ofsmall traders and his joining ofany political party will also bethe part of this fight for the causeof small traders.

October are higher than in No-vember.

Market analysts term the cur-rent domestic market situationencouraging as during past fivemonths of this fiscal, the localconsumption has increased infour months and declined only inAugust by 3.41 percent. The lo-cal uptake of the commodity in-creased in two months out of fiveduring this fiscal by over 19 per-cent. The first time it posted over19 percent growth was in Sep-tember 2012 and the second timein November 2012. The overallgrowth in local despatches dur-ing the first 5 months of this fis-cal was 6.78 percent.

Cement sectorFrom Page 13

Air separationplant inaugurated

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Linde Pakistan to-day officially inaugurated itsnew flagship air separation plantinstalled at Sunder IndustrialEstate in Lahore.

This new state-of-the-artplant is now the largest air sepa-ration plant in Pakistan, capableof producing 150 tons per day(tpd) of gaseous oxygen, nitro-gen and argon for the merchantgases market. The investmentvalue of the plant, along withrelated supply chain equipment,is more than Rs 2 billion.

Yousuf Mirza, Chief Execu-tive of Linde Pakistan said, “Ournew air separation plant inLahore represents a milestonefor our business as this isLinde’s fourth and largest airseparation plant in Pakistan. Theadditional supply from this plantsignificantly enhances our abil-ity to respond quickly and effec-tively to meet the gases require-ments of our customers in thenorth, and further reinforces ourposition as the leading industrialgases player in Pakistan.”

Merkel’s euro pushEISENHUETTENSTADT—This fading in-dustrial city, like many in Angela Merkel’sformer East German home, is stony groundfor the chancellor’s message of Europeanintegration and fertile soil for opponentstrying to stop her winning a third term nextSeptember. More than two decades afterunification, income and jobs in the fiveeastern states, home to 15 percent of thepopulation, still lag behind the west andtrillions of euros in transfers have not

stemmed an exodus that has left some areas looking like ghosttowns. “People have too many problems to worry about theeuro crisis,” said Michael, a 40-year-old steelworker in thetown of Eisenhuettenstadt, east from Berlin near the Polishborder. Originally called “Stalinstadt”, it was built in the 1950sas an industrial complex and “the first Socialist city in Ger-many”. The pride of the GDR, it was renamed in 1961 and had50,000 inhabitants in its heyday. In a familiar story across eastGermany, reunification meant mass unemployment as com-munist-run industry failed to compete on the free market. About40 percent of the town’s population went west and much ofthe housing for GDR workers stands empty. In a countrywhose conservative chancellor dedicates a lot of time to blue-sky thinking about the future and demographic change, themost demographically-challenged areas of do not feel theirplight is a political priority.—Reuters

Japan campaign trailTOKYO—Be careful what you wish for.U.S. officials have long urged Japan toloosen limits on its military, bear more ofthe burden of its own defence and play amore prominent global role.Now, Japa-nese politicians gearing up for a Decem-ber 16 parliamentary election are promis-ing to do just that - but with a strain ofstrident nationalism that could give notonly Asian neighbours but also Wash-ington cause for concern. “Who can pro-

tect Japan’s beautiful seas? Who can protect our territoryand our people’s lives?” queried former Prime MinisterShinzo Abe, standing before a huge Japanese national flagas he blasted the current government’s handling of a territo-rial row with China in a recent speech. “The crisis is beforeour very eyes ... We will take back our country, our nation.”Opinion polls suggest Abe’s opposition Liberal DemocraticParty (LDP) will win the most seats in parliament’s lowerhouse, putting the hawkish lawmaker in pole position tobecome Japan’s seventh prime minister in six years. Heabruptly quit the job in 2007, when the LDP was in power,after a troubled year in office. Parts of Abe’s agenda, includ-ing calls to drop Japan’s self-imposed ban on exercising itsright of collective self-defence, or defending an ally underattack, and to boost defence spending after years of de-cline, would be welcome in Washington. Abe also wants torevise Japan’s U.S.-drafted constitution, never altered sinceit was adopted after World War Two.—Reuters

Vatican discloses Pope’s Twitter handleVATICAN CITY—He already has 1.2 bil-lion “followers” in the standard sense ofthe word but next week he will have an-other type when he enters what for any85-year old is the brave new world of Twit-ter. The Vatican said on Monday that thepope will start tweeting on December 12,the feast of the Madonna of Guadalupe.“The handle is a good one. It means ‘pope’and it also means ‘bridge builder’,” saidGreg Burke, senior media advisor to the

Vatican. “The pope wants to reach out to everyone,” he tolda news conference. The tweets will be going out in Spanish,English, Italian, Portuguese, German, Polish, Arabic andFrench. Other languages will be added in the future. “We aregoing to get a spiritual message. The pope is not going to bewalking around with a Blackberry or an iPad and no one isgoing to be putting words into the pope’s mouth. He willtweet what he wants to tweet,” Burke said. Primarily the tweetswill come from the contents of his weekly general audience,Sunday blessings and homilies on major Church holidays.They will also include reaction to major world events, such asnatural disasters. Benedict will be sending his first tweet him-self on December 12 but in the future most will be written byaides and he will sign off on them before they are sent in hisname. But while the pope will be one of the world’s most high-profile tweeters and have many followers, he will not be fol-lowing anyone himself. The pope’s Twitter page is designedin yellow and white - the colors of the Vatican, with a back-drop of the Vatican and his picture. —Reuters

Netanyahu brushes off condemnationJERUSALEM—Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu on Sunday brushed off worldcondemnation of Israel’s plans to expandJewish settlements after the Palestinianswon de facto U.N. recognition of state-hood. “We will carry on building in Jerusa-lem and in all the places that are on themap of Israel’s strategic interests,” a defi-ant Netanyahu said at the weekly cabinetmeeting. In another blow to the Palestin-ian Authority in the West Bank, Israel an-

nounced it was withholding Palestinian tax revenues thismonth worth about $100 million. Israel said the reason for themove was a Palestinian debt of $200 million to the IsraeliElectric Corporation, an obligation that has existed for sometime. Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz cautioned last monththat if the Palestinians went ahead with the U.N. bid Israelwould “not collect taxes for them and we will not transfer theirrevenues”. Yasser Abed Rabbo, a senior Palestinian official,said confiscation of the tax funds due the cash-strappedAuthority, vital to meeting its payroll, was “piracy and theft”.Stung by the U.N. General Assembly’s upgrading of the Pal-estinians’ status from “observer entity” to “non-memberstate”, Israel said on Friday it would build 3,000 more settlerhomes in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, areas Palestin-ians want for a future state, along with Gaza.—Reuters

Opp candidate wins Slovenian electionLJUBLJANA—Former centre-left primeminister Borut Pahor was elected to thelargely ceremonial post of Slovenianpresident on Monday to a backdrop ofrising unrest in the recession-hit eurozone state. Pahor is a member of the op-position Social Democrats, and hascalled for cooperation between the gov-ernment and opposition to tackle theeconomic crisis and prevent Sloveniabecoming the latest member of the 17-

member currency union to seek a bailout. In a run-off vote,Pahor won 67.4 percent, ahead of incumbent Danilo Turkon 32.6 percent with 99.7 percent of votes counted, thestate Electoral Commission said. “There is almost no prob-lem that we cannot solve together,” Pahor, who was primeminister from 2008 to 2011, told reporters after exit pollsindicated he had won. “It is my proposal that we reach apolitical agreement of all parliamentary parties,” he said.The Alpine country of 2 million people has been hit by awave of protests in recent weeks over public sector spend-ing cuts and alleged corruption. On Monday, 30 peoplewere arrested and at least 15 injured, most of them policeofficers, when police and protesters clashed in the capi-tal Ljubljana.—Reuters

Dutch policeraid PKK

meeting, hold 55for questioning

AMSTERDAM—Dutch policeraided a secret meeting ofmembers of the KurdistanWorkers Party (PKK) in theNetherlands early on Mondaymorning, and have held 55people for questioning, thepublic prosecutors office saidin a statement.

The PKK has been fight-ing for Kurdish self-rule insoutheastern Turkey since1984 and is designated as aterrorist organisation by An-kara, the United States andthe European Union. It hasbeen banned in the Nether-lands since 2007.

A group of PKK memberswere meeting in a public parkin Ellemeet, a village in thesouthwest of the country, atsix in the morning when about150 police raided the area, act-ing on a tip-off from the intel-ligence service, the prosecu-tors office said in its state-ment. The meetings hadstarted on Monday and wereexpected to last a week.—Reuters

Iran: Directtalks with USare ‘possible’

TEHRAN—Iran’s foreign min-ister says direct talks with theU.S. are “possible” but thatany such breakthrough initia-tive must be approved by thecountry’s Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei.

Monday’s comments byAli Akbar Salehi mark the firstclear signal that Iran couldconsider one-on-one dialoguewith Washington. But Salehi’sremarks on the official IRNAnews agency did not specifyif these talks would be re-stricted to Tehran’s nuclearprogram or wider issues.

The supreme leader hasgiven no indication he wouldsupport face-to-face talks withWashington, which broke tieswith Iran shortly after the1979 Islamic Revolution. Iranand the U.S. have been partof six-nation nuclear talks,which are currently stalled.The two nations also haveheld meetings over Afghani-stan and Iraq.—AP

KUWAIT—Kuwait’s ruleraccepted the government’sresignation on Monday, thestate news agency KUNAsaid, a step designed to makeway for a new cabinet in theGulf Arab state after parlia-mentary elections boycottedby the opposition. The elec-tion on Saturday was thesecond this year in the oil-producing nation, where aseries of assemblies havecollapsed due to a long-run-ning power struggle betweenthe parliament and the cabi-net, in which the emir’s rul-ing family holds the topposts.

“The emir accepted theresignation of the govern-ment,” KUNA said in anSMS news alert, adding thatthe ministers would serve ina caretaker capacity until a

Kuwait’s government resignsto make way for new cabinet

new cabinet was formed.Under the constitution, anew government must beformed before the first ses-sion of the new parliament.

Sheikh Sabah is expectedto pick his prime minister nextweek, who will in turn form acabinet that will be an-nounced on December 14,said Kuwait’s al-Watan daily,which is owned by a mem-ber of the ruling family. Morethan half the members of par-liament elected on Saturdayare newcomers to the 50-seat National Assembly. Thechamber is expected to bemore cooperative with thegovernment than its prede-cessor because of the oppo-sition boycott of the vote,and protests that divided theU.S.-allied, OPEC memberstate.—Reuters

BEIRUT—Syria said onMonday it would not usechemical weapons againstits own people after theUnited States warned itwould take action againstany such escalation. Thestatements came amid mediareports, citing European andU.S. officials, that Syria’schemical weapons had beenmoved and could be pre-pared for use in response todramatic gains by rebelsfighting to topple PresidentBashar al-Assad.

“Syria has stressed re-peatedly that it will not usethese types of weapons, ifthey were available, underany circumstances againstits people,” the foreign min-istry said. U.S. Secretary ofState Hillary Clinton had ear-lier warned that Washingtonwould take action if Syriaused the weapons. “I am notgoing to telegraph any spe-cifics what we do in the eventof credible evidence that theAssad regime has resorted

Syria denies plans to usechemical weapons

to using chemical weaponsagainst their own people, butsuffice to say, we are cer-tainly planning to take actionif that eventuality were tooccur,” she said during avisit to Prague on Monday.

The opposition believethat Assad, who has uppedhis response to rebel gainsin the 20-month-old revolt,could turn to heavier weap-ons and some have sug-gested he might use chemi-cal weapons. The rebelshave begun to advancequickly in recent weeks aftermonths of slow sieges to cutoff army routes and sup-plies.

In the past few weeks,they seized several militarybases around the country,and an oil field and hydro-electric dam in the northeast.Rebels are using anti-aircraftweapons to attack the mili-tary helicopters and fighterjets that have bombardedtheir positions with impunityuntil now. The main focus

for the army in the past fivedays has been Damascus,where security forces arepushing back hard againstthe rebels and trying to sealthe capital off from rebel-dominated suburbs.

The opposition-linkedSyrian Observatory for Hu-man Rights said the Syrianarmy was trying to take overDaraya, on the southern out-skirts of Damascus, and wasattacking rebels with rocketsas it advanced into someparts of the town. A Syriansecurity source said that thearmy had blocked three en-trances into Daraya and wasoptimistic it could take thetown. Rebels said theywould be able to hold theirground.

“There have been sev-eral attempts to stormDaraya and each time thearmy has suffered majorlosses. This is not new,” saidactivist Samir al-Shami, of theSyrian Youth Union in Dam-ascus.—Reuters

LONDON/TRIPOLI—Libya ishaving to pay extra for foodimports and traders say someforeign firms are divertingshipments elsewhere due tofears - dismissed as un-founded by Tripoli - thatgrowing disarray in the coun-try could delay payments.The North African state,much of which is desert, is abig food buyer and hasstepped up purchases ofstaples including wheat andsugar since the end of fight-ing last year that toppled dic-tator Muammar Gaddafi.

Tripoli shop shelves arenow full of foreign produce.But while international trad-ers had viewed oil produc-ing Libya as a lucrative mar-ket, some now say they arebacking off from trade.“Libya has a huge amount ofoil wealth, but its chaotic ad-ministration and fears aboutnon-payment are still givingit a bad reputation in interna-tional trade,” a European

Libya pays extra for foodimports as sellers fear disarray

grain trader said.Companies contacted by

Reuters could not cite con-crete cases of default byLibyan importers, but ratherunease that payment couldbe delayed, not least by cum-bersome bureaucracy. “Thereis an unspoken Libya pre-mium in the grain trade whichthe country has to pay forgrain imports despite the factthat its huge oil wealth shouldmake it a grade one customerto sell to,” another Europeangrain trader said.

“Traders need the extramoney because of paymentrisks and the general uncer-tainty in the pretty chaoticgovernment there.” Traderscited a November 14 tenderwhere Libya paid $395 pertonne on a cost and freight(c&f) basis for 30,000 tonnesof soft wheat.

“On the very same day,Jordan, by no means a richcountry but a reliable. .trad-ing partner, paid only $378 a

tonne c&f for 50,000 tonnesof higher quality wheat in-cluding more expensive ship-ment costs,” the secondtrader said. Libya’s maingrains buyers are theMatahan agencies in Tripoliand Benghazi, which issuetenders and sell milled goodsto the state agency that en-sures stable food pricesthrough subsidies.

While this process givessome protection to Libyans,the higher import prices willbe costly for the subsidymechanism. There are alsosmaller private buyers. Offi-cials denied there were anyproblems for foreign compa-nies in securing payment, butsome recognised an issuewith perceptions of Libya af-ter the widely publicisedconflict. “For the credit thereis no problem, the commer-cial relationship is clear, it’smore the confidence,” said amarketing official atMatahan Tripoli.—Rauters

Free Syrian Army fighters and residents are seen on a tank, which they say was captured from the Syrian armyloyal to President Bashar al-Assad, after clashes in Houla near Homs.

Clinton pushes US bid for Czech nuclear project

DUBLIN—Irish trade unions’cooperation with a string ofunpopular governments,most of them centre-right, hashelped Ireland avoid thedestabilising protests seen inother bailed out countries.They stayed out of Europe-wide strikes last month againstausterity that brought millionsto marches in Spain, Portugaland Greece, three countriessuffering most from the crisis.

But the union base hasgrown impatient, accusingleaders of being no better thanthe property developers andbankers they despise, just astalks start on a new nationalpay deal to keep the industrialpeace through three moreyears of austerity. “A lot ofthem have been sleeping withthe enemy,” said truck driverand shop steward at Ireland’slargest trade union SIPTU,Michael Slattery, holding aplacard demanding a generalstrike over austerity at a rarerally in Dublin last week.

Irish unions underscrutiny as pay talks start

“When you have the likesof (SIPTU president) JackO’Connor taking home 180grand a year, how can he rep-resent a man that’s bringinghome 30 or 40 thousand? It’scrazy,” Slattery said.O’Connor actually earns115,000 euros ($148,500) ayear, SIPTU said, nearly fourtimes the average industrialwage.

The country has noprominent left-wing newspa-per and few dissenting politi-cal voices to austerity. Thecentre-left Labour Party, jun-ior partners in government, areleftist with a small “l” and itwas one of their own minis-ters who first introducedIreland’s ultra low corporationtax in the 1990s. Ireland alsodoes not have a tradition ofprotest, a trait that stretchesas far back as the pivotal 1916Easter Rising against Britishrule which initially fizzled out,partly due to a lack of publicsupport.—Reuters

PRAGUE —U.S. Secretary ofState Hillary Rodham Clintonlobbied the Czech govern-ment Monday to approve anAmerican bid for a $10 bil-lion expansion of a nu-clearpower plant, even as a rivalRussian offer seems to bethe fa-vorite.

Clinton made her pitchfor the American energy gi-ant Westing-house ElectricCo. in meetings with Presi-dent Vaclav Klaus, PrimeMinister Petr Necas andother senior Czech officialsin Prague. Speaking to re-porters, she stressed theneed for the Czech Republicto wean itself off of a depen-dency on Russia for fuel.

“We are encouraging theCzech Republic to diversifyits energy sources and sup-pliers,” Clinton said. “Givenhow long-term and strategicthis investment is, the Czechpeople deserve the bestvalue, the most tested andtrust-worthy technology, anout-standing safety record,responsi-ble and account-able manage-ment.” TheCzechs get 60 percent of their

oil, 70 percent of their natu-ral gas and all of their nuclearre-actor fuel from Russia.That leaves the NATO mem-ber highly susceptible to eco-

nomic and po-litical pressurefrom Moscow, which domi-nated the Central Europeancountry from the end ofWorld War II to the fall of theIron Curtain.

Revitalizing the Temelinnuclear power plant is a bigpart of the Czech agenda toradically boost its nuclearpower production, de-fying

global skepticism about theuse of atomic energy in theaf-termath of last year’s melt-down at Japan’s Fukushimaplant. And the Obama admin-

istration is hoping to securesome of the windfall by se-curing Westinghouse’s bid.The project could generate9,000 American jobs, U.S. of-ficials said. For the UnitedStates, the battle for theTemelin contract is an ex-ample of an increasinglypromi-nent element of foreignpolicy: Going to bat for Ameri-

can com-panies. If this wasonce a less-promoted ifwidely understood element ofprivate diplomatic re-lations,what Clinton calls “eco-nomicstatecraft” has now be-comean endeavor U.S. officialsproudly promote as part oftheir jobs-building effort forthe United States.

“We are not shy aboutpressing the case forWestinghouse,” Clin-tonsaid. “We believe that com-pany offers the best optionfor the project in terms of tech-nology and safety. It wouldclearly en-hance Czech en-ergy security and further thenuclear cooperation betweenour countries, and it wouldcreate jobs and economicopportunity for Czechs andAmericans.”

To make the case, Clintonand other officials are cau-tioning the Czechs about thedangers of again putting theirenergy future in the hands ofRussia. They need only pointto 2008, when Russia sharplyreduced oil supplies to theCzech Republic immediatelyafter a U.S.-Czech agreement

on a missile defense installa-tion. The Russians blamedthe decline on technical prob-lems.

Still, a consortium led byRus-sia’s Atomstroyexport isbelieved to be leading thechase to build two new reac-tors at the Temelin plant, amidAmerican grumbling over al-leged bribes. The Czech gov-ernment is expected to evalu-ate the final bids in Decem-ber and make a decision in2013.

The reactors won’t beoperational un-til around2025. Clinton is in Prague onthe first leg of a five-day tripto Europe. From the Czechcapital, she’ll travel laterMonday to Belgium. Furtherstops are scheduled for Ire-land and Northern Ireland. Fo-cuses include promoting hu-man rights and democracyacross Eastern Europe andCentral Asia, and NATO sup-port for Turkish efforts to beefup defense of its volatile bor-der with Syria.

In Brussels on Tuesday,the alli-ance’s members arelikely to give formal endorse-

TIRANA—Albania’s presi-dent on Monday set its nextparliamentary election forJune 23 with Tirana underpressure to avoid a repeat ofa contested 2009 vote that setback its bid to join the Euro-pean Union. The oppositionSocialist Party, led by EdiRama, challenged the resultof the last election four yearsago in protests that eventu-ally ended in clashes withpolice. Four protesters werekilled.

Rama will bid again tounseat Sali Berisha, leader ofthe ruling Democratic Partyand Albania’s fiery primeminister for the past eightyears. There have been norecent opinion polls, but withthe government under fireover corruption and weak ruleof law, analysts expect thevote to be close.

In the last election, theDemocratic Party took half ofthe 140 seats in parliamentand clinched a slim majoritywith the support of the So-cialist Integration Movement.

The EU says Albaniamust hold free and fair elec-tions and improve democracybefore it can become an offi-

Albania to vote in June,EU watching closely

cial candidate for membershipof the bloc.

The Balkan state of 2.8million people, one of thepoorest in Europe, is alreadya member of NATO. Both theEU and United States havebeen pressing Albania toovercome an atmosphere ofintense political polarisationbetween the Democrats andthe Socialists that has slowedand sometimes paralysed re-forms.

Unlike most countries ofthe western Balkans, Albaniahas avoided recession, butthe crisis in neighbouringGreece and Italy - Albania’smain trading partners - hasslowed growth and led to afall in vital remittances fromthe large Albanian diaspora.Albanians complain thateconomic growth has failedto reduce widespread pov-erty or improve social welfare.

Also on Monday, Presi-dent Bujar Nishani sackedProsecutor General Ina Ramaand replaced her with AdriatikLalla, a former prosecutoroverseeing the wealth state-ments of civil servants. Theprime minister holds mostpower in Albania.—Reuters

ment to Turkey’s request forPatriot missiles to help it re-spond to a series of Syr-ianrockets that have violatedTurkish airspace. Five Turkshave been killed. Decisionson how many batteries andwhere to deploy them willthen be referred to nationalgovernments, said U.S. offi-cials, speaking on condi-tionof anonymity because theyweren’t authorized to speakpub-licly about NATO delib-erations.

The U.S., Germany andthe Netherlands are the prob-able providers. Each has ex-perts in-vestigating possibledeployment sites near theborder. But it will be weeksbefore any anti-missile batter-ies reach Turkey, the offi-cialssaid.

Clinton also is holdingprivate talks Mondayevening with Paki-stan’s for-eign minister and mili-tarychief to coordinate securityand peace strategies inAfghani-stan as the U.S. andits partners plan to withdrawmost foreign troops throughthe end of 2014.—Reuters

PERTH: Graeme Smith with the ICC Test Championship mace after winning the Perth Test against Australia on Monday.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

M U M B A I — A u s t r a l i a nopener Ed Cowan was dis-tracted with flies and hadto pull out while facingbowlers on several occa-sions in the Perth Testmatch. He was seen clean-ing his helmet every oncein a while. “There is no is-sue here”, Lerato Malekutu,the South Africa team man-ager said in her e mail, butthe bowler, Vernon Philan-der didn’t seem to be happywith it, The batsman had toask for a can of Aeroguard,the repellent.

“Flies have been a tra-ditional issue in Australiancricket and use of fly-repel-lents is part and parcel ofthe game to ensure bats-men are not distracted byhaving flies suddenly fly infront of their face or evenland on their face just as abowler delivers the ball”,Peter Young, the StrategicCommunications Advisor,Cricket Australia, informs.

“I have spoken to our

Flies irritate cricketersin Australia

umpiring department andthey advise that it is not nec-essary to obtain umpire per-mission to spray insect repel-lent on a batsman’s helmet.It is one of those matters ofcommon sense, I am told,such as batsman asking forreplacement batting gloves”,he adds further.

“Indeed, one insect repel-lent manufacturer used MaxWalker in its advertising backin the days when he was aTest cricketer in a populartelevision advertisement thathad a slogan, “Ave a goodweekend Mr Walker” thatbecame a popular one-liner inpopular language”.

“I was thinking of a fa-mous humorous incident thathappened during the infa-mous Bodyline series of 80years ago. The England cap-tain, Douglas Jardine, wasnot very popular with Aus-tralian crowds. At one stage,he was seen at the SydneyCricket Ground waving hishands around in front of hisface to try to shoo the fliesaway”.

“Flies are a detested pestin Australia. They are a par-

ticular irritation for cricketplayers as they have a habitof buzzing in cricketer ’sfaces when they are aboutto face the bowling”.

“A famous Australianspectator known by hisnickname as “Yabba”, sawJardine waving the fliesaway and called out in hisfamously loud and carryingvoice: “Hey, Jardine, leaveour flies alone”.

“Yabba is commemo-rated with a statue at theSCG which sits where heused to sit”, Peter Youngadded further.

Flies in Australia havepuzzled former India captain,Bishan Singh Bedi. “WhenIndia was fielding duringtheir match against NSW inSydney in November 1977,Bedi returned to the Dress-ing Room, looking very sick.When I asked him why, hereplied, “I think I’ve swal-lowed a fly!”, Kersi Meher-Homji has written in his newbook “Cricket Conflicts andControversies (2012)”.

“Flies are everywhere inAustralia during summer”,the historian says.

PERTH—South Africathrashed Australia by 309runs in the third Test onMonday to hold on to theirnumber one Test ranking andruin an emotional farewell forveteran batsman RickyPonting.

Set a mammoth target of632 runs to win, Australialost their first wicket on thesecond ball of the fourth dayand they never were eventu-ally dismissed for 322 as theProteas sealed the three-Testseries 1-0.

Graeme Smith’s SouthAfricans became the firstteam in two decades to de-feat Australia on home soilin consecutive tours, with

Australia vs South Africa 3rd Test

Big win confirmsSouth Africa as No. 1

the West Indies the previ-ous team to achieve it in1992-93.

And they achieved it withsporting good grace afterforming a highly unusualhonour guard for thePonting, 37, Test cricket’ssecond highest run-scorer,as he emerged for his finalinnings.

“I was a little bit embar-rassed and wish it didn’t hap-pen that way, but it was anamazing gesture by Graemeand the South African team,”Ponting said.

In their 200th Test sincebeing allowed back into in-ternational cricket, South Af-rica were only denied their

biggest ever victory in amatch decided in the fourthinnings by a defiant 87-runlast-wicket stand.

Number 10 Mitchell Starcsmashed an unbeaten 68 off43 balls to share in the high-est-ever last wicket partner-ship at Perth’s WACAGround with Nathan Lyon 31off 43 balls.

South Africa’s win alsocontinued their remarkableaway record, with the Proteasnot beaten in an away seriessince losing 2-0 in Sri Lankain 2006. They have lost noneof their three Tests at theWACA, with two wins and adraw.

The Australians wentinto the match as the formside in the two prior drawnTests, and they were deter-mined to send Ponting off ona high note with a win whichwould have made them thetop-ranked side in Testcricket.

However, they werenever in the hunt after a pooreffort on the second day,when they collapsed with thebat and then bowled poorly.

Australia needed to pro-duce an unprecedented runchase to win the match, butthat never looked a possi-bility after David Warner (29)fell to Vernon Philander (2-41) in the first over of theday.

S Africa 1st innings: .. 225Australia 1st innings:163S Africa 2nd innings: 569Australia 2nd innings:Cowan c Elgar b Steyn . 53Warner c Smithb Philander ..................... 29Watson c Smithb Morkel ......................... 25Ponting c Kallisb Peterson ........................ 8Clarke st de Villiersb Peterson ...................... 44Hussey c de Villiersb Steyn ........................... 26Wade c Smithb Peterson ...................... 10

Hastings b Morkel ........ 20Johnson c de Villiersb Philander ....................... 3MA Starc not out .......... 68Lyon c Smith b Steyn ... 31Extras: (lb 3, w 2) ............. 5Total: (all out) .............. 322Fall of wickets 1-40, 2-81, 3-102, 4-130, 5-188, 6-198, 7-198, 8-204, 9-235, 10-322Bowling: ........... O-M-R-WDW Steyn ....... 22.5-6-72-3Philander ............ 21-8-41-2M Morkel ........... 16-2-57-2Peterson ........... 20-2-127-3D Elgar .................... 1-0-4-0F du Plessis .......... 2-0-18-0

In his 168th and finalTest, Ponting came to thecrease at 81 for two, but thefairytale ending did notmaterialise and he made justeight in his last innings.

The former captain gotoff the mark with a trademarkpull shot for four off MorneMorkel from the sixth ball hefaced.

However, he lasted only23 deliveries and 40 minutesbefore falling in unlikely fash-ion to spinner RobinPeterson, just minutes beforelunch.

He was caught at first slipby Jacques Kallis attemptingto force Peterson off the backfoot.

“I’ve been lucky to playas many Tests as I have andcherished every moment, itwas always going to end atsome stage I guess,” Pontingsaid.

Ponting stopped his walkback to the pavilion to raisehis bat and acknowledge thecrowd, while the Proteashalted their celebrations tooffer more applause.

He finished his careerwith 13,378 Test runs at 51.85,including 41 centuries, butwith just 32 runs in his lastseries at 6.40.

Ponting also shares therecord of 168 Test appear-ances for his country with hispredecessor as Australian

PERTH: Ricky Ponting is carried by David Warner andMichael Clarke after the Perth Test on Monday.

PERTH—Former Australiacaptain Ricky Ponting wasgiven a highly unusual guardof honour by South Africa’splayers as he came out to batin his last ever Test inningsMonday.

Ponting, who turns 38 nextmonth, is retiring at the end ofthe ongoing Test in Perth andthe South Africans showedtheir appreciation of his ex-ploits over a 17-year career bylining up to clap him onto thepitch.

The Tasmanian, who isequalling Steve Waugh’srecord mark of 168 Testmatches in Perth, arrived at thecrease to a standing ovationand huge cheers from theWACA crowd with Australiaat 81 for two and chasing 632to win.

Ponting, the second-high-est Test run-scorer of all-timebehind India’s SachinTendulkar, announced his im-pending retirement before theshowdown with South Africain Perth after a record-equal-ling 168 Tests for Australia.

The 37-year-old, who saidhe was more nervous for hisfinal Test than at any otherstage of his career, was look-ing to go out with a big in-nings.

But he lasted just 23 ballsin Australia’s second inningsas the home side slumped to a309-run defeat and South Af-rica won the series 1-0 to re-tain the number one Test rank-ing. “I felt there was one lastbig push for me, and the day

HYDERABAD: Players participating in 400 meter race during 16th Sindh Games.

Ponting gets guard of honour

MELBOURNE: Sam Stosur of Australia poses after win-ning the Newcombe Medal .

MELBOURNE—Tennis starSamantha Stosur on Mondayreceived the award forAustralia’s most outstandingplayer of the year for a thirdconsecutive year at the Aus-tralian Tennis Awards inMelbourne, organisers said.

The former US Open cham-pion won the prestigiousNewcombe Medal, defeatingAustralia’s top-ranked maleplayer Marinko Matosevic,former world number oneLleyton Hewitt and 2011French Open mixed doubleschampion Casey Dellacqua.Stosur, currently ranked ninthin the WTA standings, is thefirst Australian woman sinceWendy Turnbull to finish inthe top 10 in the world threeyears running.—AFPand game was set up for it, but

it didn’t last long enough,”Ponting said.

“Even out of today, onlybeing out there for 20-oddballs or whatever it was, wasstill pretty special.

“It just would have beennice to have a few more next tomy name.”

Ponting said the failurecontinued a frustrating recentinability to deliver in big mo-

ments that led him to retire.“I have put a lot of pres-

sure on myself to perform, ithas always been about biggames and big series for me,”he said.“I haven’t been ableto deal with (pressure) as wellof late as I would like to.

“Normally when those bigmoments come around I havebeen able to find something,and I haven’t been able to dothat for a while now.”—AP

Stosur wins third straightplayer of the year award

KARACHI—World SnookerChampion Muhammad Asifwill be accorded warm wel-come at Quaid-e-Azam Inter-national Airport on his arrivalfrom Sofia (Bulgaria) via Dohaby Qatar Airways Flight land-ing on Tuesday at 4.45 a.m.

30-year-old MuhammadAsif from Faisalabad becamethe second cueist afterMuhammad Yousuf to win theworld title when he defeatedGry Wilson of England 10-8 inmarathon nine hour final onSunday. Officials of PakistanBilliards and Snooker Asso-ciation (PBSA) and Sindh Bil-

World Champ Asif to getrousing reception today

Meanwhile, hairman ofPakistan Billiards and SnookerAssociation (PBSA) and VicePresident of International Bil-liards and Snooker Federation(IBSF) Asghar Valika Mondaydescribed Muhammad Asif’striumph as another goldenmoment in the history of Pa-kistan sports.

“Asif’s triumph will againboost and revive the sport inthe country. I am absolutelydelighted with his victory,”said Asghar Valika, underwhose patronage MuhammadYousuf won the title inJohannesburg in 1994.—APP

liards and Snooker Associa-tion and snooker players andsupporters have planned to

accord him grand receptionon arrival.

Jayawardeneto decide onfuture after

Australia tourC O L O M B O — M a h e l aJayawardene will seriously re-assess his future as Sri Lanka’scaptain and as an internationalcricketer at the end of the tourof Australia.

“I am going to take it oneseries at a time especially afterthe Australian tour I will havetime to think,” he said. “I tookon the responsibility to lead theteam for one year and that willend after the Australian tour.”

He was speaking before SriLanka left for Australia on a tourwhich includes a series of threeTests, five one-dayinternationals andtwoTwenty20 internationals.

“(After the tour) I can sitback and think what I want toachieve not just for myself butfor the team as well. I have al-ways said that I am not a guywho will just hang around forthe sake of playing. If theyoungsters take on the respon-sibility and do the job for SriLanka then I will be very happyto step aside and give them thatopportunity but at the sametime I don’t want the team in asituation where it will have aharmful effect.

“I want to make that transi-tion as smooth as possible. Idon’t want to let go all the goodthings that’s been done allthese years and just walk awayfrom that.—Online

FIFA suspendsS Korean playerfor two matchesSEOUL—FIFA has sus-pended a South Koreanplayer for two internationalmatches over a post-matchpolitical gesture at the Lon-don Olympics, the South’sfootball body said Monday.

FIFA’s disciplinary com-mittee has also slapped a fineof 3,500 Swiss francs ($3,781)on Park Jong-Woo followinghis actions, which relate toan island dispute with Japan,the Korean Football Associa-tion (KFA) said.

The association itselfwas warned for failure toproperly instruct players onrules of conduct.

“We’ve decided to hum-bly accept FIFA’s decisionafter consultations with ParkJong-Woo,” the KFA said ina statement.

The 23-year-oldmidfielder was excluded fromthe awards ceremony for hiscountry’s bronze win in Au-gust after he held up a signreading “Dokdo is our land”while celebrating the Koreanteam’s 2-0 victory over Japan.

FIFA ruled that his actionwas not premeditated butdeserved punishment for“displaying unsportingbehaviour”, Yonhap newsagency said.

International OlympicCommittee officials said Parkbreached rules against politi-cal demonstrations at theGames.

The player has not yetreceived his bronze medal,but South Korean officialssay he will qualify for a pen-sion paid to Olympic medal-lists.—AFP

Ahsan’s tonput Alamgir

Gymkhana in finalKARACHI—Youthful openerAhsan Ali blasted an enter-prising century as AlamgirGymkhana whipped Metro-politan Cricket Club by 90runs to enter the final ofKCCA Zone-VI “A” DivisionLeague Cricket Tournamentat RLCA Ground, NorthKarachi here on Monday.

Talented Ahsan belted 15boundaries and two sixes inhis 113 in 80 balls as AlamgirGymkhana posted a healthytotal of 271 all out in 40 overs.

In reply Metropolitan CCwas restricted to 181 for 9 in40 overs. Promising U-19 allrounder Saud Shakil 69 withthe help of 12 boundaries off79 balls. Najeebullah Khancaptured four wickets for 41runs.

Summarized scores:Alamgir Gymkhana 271 allout in 40 overs (Ahsan Ali113, Waqas Ali 45, AbdullahShah 27,Muhammad Hassan24,Osama Adnan 4-48,Naveed Al-Ameen 2-41,Shahrukh Ahmed 2-23,SaudShakil 2-15) Metropolitan CC181-9 in 40 overs (Saud Shakil69, Rameez Shahid 35,Najeebullah Khan 4-41,Qadus Afridi 2-26, BilalManzoor 2-25).—APP

DIABETES has already been tied to anincreased risk of kidney and cardiovascular troubles, nerve damage and vision

loss, and now a new study finds diabetics tobe more than twice as likely as those withoutthe disease to have hearingimpairment. In a review ofpast research on the question,scientists in Japan also foundthat younger diabetics were ateven higher risk than olderadults - though they cannotexplain why, and experts cau-tion that this kind of studydoes not prove that diabetesis directly responsible for thegreater hearing loss rates.

“It doesn’t definitivelyanswer the question, but itcontinues to raise an impor-tant point that patients mightask about,” said Dr. StevenSmith, diabetes specialist atthe Mayo Clinic in Roches-ter, Minnesota.

It’s also not the first timeresearchers have found a link between diabetesand hearing loss. In 2008, researchers from theU.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) sawsimilar patterns in a sample of more than 11,000people. In that study, people with diabetes weretwice as likely to have hearing loss as thosewithout the condition.

Generally, hearing loss is defined as hav-ing trouble understanding what people are say-ing in a hushed voice, and missing some wordsat a regular volume. The American DiabetesAssociation estimates there are currently about16 million people living in the U.S. with dia-betes, and NIH says about 36 million Ameri-cans report some level of hearing loss.

It’s thought that high blood sugar levelsbrought on by diabetes may lead to hearingloss by damaging blood vessels in the ears,according to Chika Horikawa, the study’s leadauthor from Niigata University Faculty of

Medicine in Japan, and col-leagues. They collected infor-mation from 13 previous stud-ies examining the link betweendiabetes and hearing loss andpublished between 1977 and2011. Together, the data cov-ered 7,377 diabetics and 12,817people without the condition.

Overall, Horikawa’steam found that diabetics were2.15 times as likely as peoplewithout the disease to havehearing loss. But when the re-sults were broken down byage, people under age 60 had2.61 times the risk whilepeople over 60 had 1.58 timeshigher risk. The researchers,whose findings appear in theJournal of Clinical Endocri-

nology and Metabolism, note that future stud-ies that take more factors into account, suchas age and noisy environments, are neededto clarify the link between diabetes and hear-ing loss.

Still, Horikawa told Reuters Health in anemail, people should recognize that diabet-ics may be at risk for hearing loss based ontheir results. “Furthermore, these results pro-pose that diabetic patients are screened forhearing impairment from (an) earlier agecompared with non-diabetics,” saidHorikawa, adding that hearing loss has alsobeen linked to an increased risk of depres-sion and dementia.

Is diabetes linked tohearing loss?

KARACHI: The coffin of Maulana Muhammad Ismail, who was killed in a firing incident on Abul Hassan Isphahani road, being carried to graveyardafter offering funeral prayers.

KARACHI: Special children taking part in a walk on International Day for Disabled persons.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Annual prize dis-tribution ceremony of DHATooba High School was held atPN Sabir Hall here on Monday.Chairman Board of SecondaryEducation, Mr. Fasihuddin Khanwas the chief guest of the func-tion.

The students presented afabulous talent show on the oc-casion. The theme of theprogramme was based on socialand moral values of life. The pre-sentation included skits, poems,a short English play and an ex-hilarating Urdu play.

Speaking on the occasionMr. Fasihuddin said that the realaim of education was to produceconfident, self reliant and dy-namic individuals who couldface the onslaught of challengesin the world successfully. Hetermed confidence, intellect anddynamism as the basic ingredi-ents of a sound personality.

He said that education is apowerful agent of change and an

Prize distribution at Tooba School

58 litres liquorrecovered, 9

arrestedOBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The provincialExcise and Taxation Depart-ment has arrested at least nineaccused for possessing 58 litersof illicit liquor.

On special directives ofMinister for Excise and Taxa-tion Mukesh Kumar Chawla acampaign was launched againstdrugs by and raided differentparts of the city Karachi, recov-ered 58 liters of illicit liquorand arrested 9 accused.

According to details Excise& Taxation Department Teamraided in the areas of Jamila Para,Zia Colony Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Al-Watan Hotel Banaras ChowkPeerabad, Quarter Deedar Hotelnear Kachra Kundi NeelamColony, Tauheed Colony,MusaColony Christan Para F.C.Area,Ibrahin Haidri Goth, PunjabiMohalla, Kohistan Chowk NorthKarachi and Gulshan 13-D an ar-rested 9 accused Faizan, BaqiJan, Ghulam Muhammad,Muhammad Ishaq, Tariq Ahmed.

Disabledpersons

integral part ofsociety: Altaf

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The founder andleader of Muttahida QuamiMovement (MQM) Mr AltafHussain has said that Special Per-sons can play a leading role in thedevelopment of the country ifthey are given opportunities. In amessage on the occasion of In-ternational Day of Persons withDisabilities Mr Hussain said thatthe MQM wants the people withdisabilities to become a usefulpart of the society. Hussain saidthat the disabled persons are alsoan integral part of our society andit is our responsibility look afterthem in a proper manner. Heurged on President Asif Zardariand Prime Minister Raja PervaizAshraf to ensure implementationof laws for the disabled persons.

Alleged targetkiller nabbed

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Alleged targetkiller has been arrested fromPirabad area of the city on Mon-day. While four criminals werearrested from Orangi Town fortheir involvement in robberyincidents. According to policeofficials, an alleged target killerinvolved in target killing inci-dents in Pirabad has been ar-rested.

The accused has killed aman in Orangi Town in 2009.Meanwhile, SSP Orangi Townclaimed that at least four crimi-nals were arrested in an encoun-ter. SSP said that police alsorecovered pistol, jewelry, mo-bile phones and cash from thearrested criminals.

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The Pakistan Mus-lim League-F Monday said thesuccessful province-wide strikeon its call, especially in Karachi,had proved that the party hadgained lot of popularity amongthe masses due to the clear andinflexible stand of Pir Pagaraagainst the disintegration ofSindh.

In a statement MondayShama Munshi, media coordina-tor of PML-F’s ladies wing, saidthe Nov 30th strike had provedthat PML F was also one of thebiggest stakeholders in the poli-tics of Sindh, In fact in Karachias well.

The present political sce-nario is indicating that PML Fwill win with clear majorityalong with its collation partnerand form the government of

PML-F claims stakes in Karachiafter Nov 30 ‘successful’ strike

Sindh. 30th nov strike was a ref-erendum of sindh massesagainst PPP that they have re-ally become fed up with the“PPP Anti sindh” policies.

They wanted to get rid ofPPP and looking for some othersubstitute and this leadershipcrises has been filled by Sain PirPagara.

The masses of sindh havefinally realized that only underthe sincere leadership of Sainpir pagara, they will get theirdestination and will find solu-tion of their core problems,that’s why PML F movement tosave sindh is gaining a momen-tum day by day.

The mass contact cam-paign of Sain Pir pagara start-ing from his first visit tohyderabad on 14th decemberwill prove to be the last strawin the back of PPP’s politics

from sindh. Sindhi’s are unitedunder the leadership of Sain PirPagara and will no more toler-ate discriminations and con-spiracies against our belovedland Sindh. The response ofsindhis against the black law ofSPLGO has shown that theyhave completely rejected the disintegrity of sindh.

Sindh is under going themost crucial period due to theconspiracy to divided it. PMLF expression of solidarity isproving to be a new milestonein creating a history whichwill be written with goldenwords.

Sindhis will never forgivePPP traitors who have bargainover the integrity and vital in-terest of sindh for the sake ofpower. PML F has committed togive any sort of sacrifice for theintegrity of sindh.

KARACHI: Director Education DHA Commodore (R) Talib Hussain presenting a shieldto Mr. Fasihuddin Khan, Chairman Board of Secondary Education, Karachi, at the An-nual Day Function of DHA Tooba High School.

duced individuals who couldpositively contribute for the bet-terment of society.

Chairman BSEK said thathe was happy that DHA gave ut-most importance to educationand was continuously makingefforts for promotion of qualityeducation at all levels. He alsocommended the talented perfor-mance of students and the effortsput up by the teachers to makethe programme a success.

Earlier the Principal, Ms.Raheela Jamshed in her wel-come address said that the mainfocus in the school was on intel-lectual and emotional develop-ment of students to make themresponsible citizens of the soci-ety. She also highlighted the aca-demic and extra curricularachievements of the students ofthe school. At the end the ChiefGuest awarded prizes to the stu-dents who excelled in variouscurricular and non-curricular ac-tivities and awarded certificatesof merit to the teachers. Com-modore (R) Talib Hussain, Di-rector Education DHA was alsopresent on the occasion.

embodiment of transformation inlife. He reiterated that a good edu-

cational background was essen-tial for success in life. He empha-

sized the need for a sound and ef-ficient education system that pro-

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Supreme Court(SC) has deferred the verdictin Karachi violence case. A 5-member larger bench of SC ledby Justice Anwar Zahir Jamalitook up Karachi violence casefor hearing Monday in itsKarachi registry.

Election Commission,Rangers, Revenue department,Jail authorities and IG Policepresented their respective re-ports to the court. An interimorder was to be issued in this

SC defers verdict inKarachi violence case

case but all the judges couldnot sign it therefore, the deci-sion to render the interim or-der was deferred.

It may be recalled that 5-member bench expressed dis-satisfaction over the imple-mentation process of its direc-tives last month and gave re-marks on many occasions thatits directives were not com-plied with.

The court had directed thesecretary election commission toconsult the political parties on thematter of redrawing of electoral

constituencies and submit report.The court had also sought

report about fitness of 3000 ve-hicles. Banning the transfer ofstate land, the court had sum-moned record of state landtransferred after assassinationof Benazir Bhutto. New armslicense policy was also pre-sented in the court.

The court had also directedIG Sindh to set up a cell to forgecoordination between policeand rangers and collect therecord about the apprehensionand custody of the culprits.

KARACHI—Over one billionpeople, or approximately 15 percent of the world’s population,live with some form of disabil-ity. Persons with disabilities, of-ten face barriers to participationin all aspects of society. The re-sult is that persons with disabili-ties do not have equal access tosociety or services, includingeducation, employment, healthcare, transportation, political par-ticipation or justice. There is anurgent need to provide them notonly rehabilitative care but alsomake changes at communitylevel to help them live as inde-pendent members of society.These views were expressed byMedical Experts at a Seminar tomark the World Disabled Dayorganized by Dow University of

OBSERVER REPORT

K A R A C H I — P a k i s t a nPeople’s Party members ofSindh Assembly Imdad Pitafi,Imran Zafar Laghari andSardar Fayaz Bhut have saidthat Mian Nawaz Sharif hav-ing supported Kalabagh Damhas confined himself to a prov-ince only and it has broughtMuslim League (N) biasedpolicies before the people.

This they said in a jointstatement issued here on Mon-day. They said that MuslimLeague (N) wanted to harm thefederation. Those nationalists

PML-N wants to harmfederation: Sindh MPAs

DUHS observes WorldDisabled Day

Health Sciences (DUHS) todayat Arag Auditorium of DowMedical College, Karachi. Prof.Dr. M. Umer Farooq, Pro ViceChancellor, DUHS was the ChiefGuest whereas Dr. NabeelaSoomro, Director, Institute ofPhysical Medicine & Rehabili-tation (IPM&R) were alsopresent on the occasion.

Every year, Institute ofPhysical Medicine & Rehabili-tation, Dow University ofHealth Sciences celebratedWorld Disabled Day to promotean understanding of disabilityissues and mobilize support forthe dignity, rights and well-be-ing of persons with disabilities.

Dr. M. Umer Farooq furthersaid that the celebration alsoseeks to increase awareness to be

derived from the integration ofpersons with disabilities by pro-viding artificial limbs and in ev-ery aspect of political, social,economic and cultural life. Thereis need to create awareness ofevery diseases including disabil-ity. There is need to promoteawareness of the human rights ofthose with disabilities to lead afull and equal life within theircommunities. He stressed on en-suring preventive steps in orderto stop the diseases initially.

Dr. Nabeela Soomro in herwelcome address said that it isthe first ever institute of its kindin Pakistan. It provides compre-hensive multi-disciplinary reha-bilitation services with facilitiesto help patients in Cardiac Re-hab, Neurological Rehab.—NNI

who had presented NawazSharif as here in Sindh, had ex-posed their narrow mindedpolitics before the masses.

They said in Sindh (N)league had not a single politi-cian who possessed politicalwisdom. Mumtaz Bhutto andLiaquat Jatoi both were sea-sonal politicians and their solepurpose was to run after powerand to get it by hook or crook.Even they both had no worth towin elections of councillorship.

They added, ‘MumtazBhutto and Liaquat Jatoi havealways done corruption andfraud. In Pervaiz Musharraf re-

gime Liaquat Jatoi was givenministry to construct KalaBhag Dam.’

They said that in comingelections (N) League would gethistoric defeat in Punjab. Thepeople of Punjab hatedbadly tothis so-called political party andthey knew that the past andpresent of Nawaz Sharif andShahbaz Sharif had been full ofcorruption.

Asghar Khan has provedthat the sole aim of Sharifbrothers is to plunder thewealth of the country and tosteal the tax as well,” they con-cluded.

YOU’VE got to get some of these,Becht recalled the player saying. “Iwas like, ‘What the heck is that?’

He definitely needed it. He said it just locksyou in, hones you in. He said, ‘When Ihave to take them, my fo-cus is just raised up to an-other level.’ ”

Becht said he did notgive Adderall anotherthought until 2009, whenhe was playing in Arizonaand his fellow tight endBen Patrick was sus-pended for testing positivefor amphetamines. Thedrug he took, Patrick said,was Adderall. Becht askedPatrick why he took it, andPatrick told Becht, and re-porters, that he hadneeded to stay awake for along drive.

Those two conversa-tions gave Becht, now afree agent, an early glimpseat a problem that is con-founding the N.F.L. this season. Playersare taking Adderall, a medication widelyprescribed to treat attention deficit hyper-activity disorder, whether they need it ornot, and are failing drug tests because ofit. And that is almost certainly contribut-ing to a most-troubling result: a record-setting year for N.F.L. drug suspensions.

According to N.F.L. figures, 21 sus-pensions were announced this calendaryear because of failed tests for perfor-mance-enhancing drugs, including am-phetamines like Adderall. That is a 75 per-cent increase over the 12 suspensions

Drug of focus is atcenter of suspensions

announced in 2011 and, with a month togo in 2012, it is the most in a year sincesuspensions for performance-enhanc-ing drugs began in 1989.

At least seven of the players sus-pended this year have beenlinked in news media reportsto Adderall or have publiclyblamed the drug, which actsas a strong stimulant inthose without A.D.H.D. Themost recent examples wereTampa Bay cornerback EricWright and New Englanddefensive lineman JermaineCunningham last week.

The N.F.L. is forbiddenunder the terms of the drug-testing agreement with theplayers union from announc-ing what substance playershave tested positive for —the urine test does not dis-tinguish among types of am-phetamines — and there issome suspicion that at leasta few players may claim they

took Adderall instead of admitting to ste-roid use, which carries a far greater stigma.But Adolpho Birch, who oversees drugtesting as the N.F.L.’s senior vice presi-dent for law and labor, said last week thatfailed tests for amphetamines were up thisyear, although he did not provide anyspecifics. The increase in Adderall useprobably accounts for a large part of theoverall increase in failed tests.

“If nothing else it probably reflectsan uptick in the use of amphetamine andamphetamine-related substancesthroughout society,” Birch said.

LAHORE: Sikhs buying items from a stall at the end of annual three day celebrations of455th birth anniversary of Baba Gurunanak Jee.

LAHORE: PML-N leader Maryam Nawaz talking to media persons after a walk in connection with “International Dayof Persons with Disabilities”.

LAHORE: Woman purchasing old text books for her children from a roadside stall atNila Gumbad.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—PML-N leaderSenator Pervaiz Rashid hassaid that Pervaiz Elahi de-serve medal due to corrup-tion and incomplete projects.He said that like otherprojects, Pervaiz Elahi alsoleft Quran Academy incom-plete and Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif is getting it completedspeedily. He said that the lieof Pervaiz Elahi has reachedeven Egypt which he hasmentioned in his advertise-ment. Pervaiz Rashid saidthat Pervaiz Elahi had beenraising slogan of electingMusharraf ten times in uni-form and now he is publish-ing false advertisements innewspapers for electingZardari.

He expressed these viewswhile addressing a pressconference along with Pro-vincial Minister for Auqaf,

PML-N leader’s rejoinderto Pervaiz Elahi

Haji Ehsan-ud-Din Qureshi inLahore. Chairman QuranBoard Ghulam MuhammadSialvi was also present on theoccasion.

Pervaiz Rashid said thatDeputy Prime MinisterPervaiz Elahi fixed plaque ofhis name on varius projectsduring his era but left themincomplete. He said that thereare a number of such projectsfor which payments weremade to the contractors butthey fled abroad. He said thatthe money which PervaizElahi got through corruptionand giving advertisementswill be recovered from him.Pervaiz Rashid said thatPervaiz Elahi has himself ad-mitted that he has saved thePPP government by makingalliance with Asif Zardari. Hesaid that Deputy Prime Min-ister should also give adver-tisements against lawless-ness, unemployment, targetkilling and 20 hours long

power outages. He said thatcontrary to it, Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif completed theincomplete projects left byPervaiz Elahi within shortestperiod which includedLahore-Kasur Road, LahoreRing Road and Thokhar NiazBeg overhead bridge.

Senator Pervaiz Rashidsaid that the picture of QuranBoard and Seerat Acadmywhich is being shown byPervaiz Elahi in the advertise-ment has been downloadedfrom computer. On this occa-sion, he also showed the pic-tures of incomplete buildingof Quran Academy and thecomplete building to the jour-nalists.

MBBS studentsget admission inAmeer-ud-Din

Medical CollegeSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—One hundred stu-dents including sixty-onegirls and thirty-nine boyshave been given admissionin MBBS in the newly estab-lished Ameer ud Din Medi-cal College in the provincialmetropolis.

A circular has been is-sued by the Principal PGMIand LGH Prof. Anjum HabibVohra to the newly admittedstudents here on Mondayaccording to which the girlstudents should submit theiracademic certificates and de-posit fee in the office on De-cember 05 while the boy stu-dents on December 06. Incase of fake educational cer-tificates, their admission willbe cancelled, the circularadded.

Talking to the journalists,Prof. Anjum Habib Vohra saidthat Ameer ud Din MedicalCollege will be affiliated withGeneral Hospital while PGMIFaculty will teach the stu-dents.

He said that Chief Minis-ter Punjab MuhammadShahbaz Sharif had an-nounced the setting up ofthis college during the cur-rent year and his orders havebeen immediately imple-mented. Prof. Anjum HabibVohra has directed Addi-tional Dean PGMI to providecomplete guidance to the stu-dents. It may be mentionedthat like other sectors, girlshave also taken a lead in medi-cal education.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Pakistan Tehirk-e-Insaf (PTI) chairman ImranKhan, condemning the kill-ing of seminary teacherMaulana Ismail in Karachi,said the government has mis-erably failed to control lawand order situation inKarachi and current deterio-rating situation is highly dis-tressful and condemnable.

In a joint press statementissued here on Monday, PTIVice-Chairman ShahMehmood Qureshi, Secre-tary General Dr. Arif Alvi,

Govt fail to curb terrorismin Karachi: Imran

President Javed Hashmi andInformation secretaryShafqat Mahmood stronglycondemn the killing of semi-nary teacher, Maulana Ismail,and the killing of 7 others asa result of unknown men’sfiring in Karachi.

PTI sends their sincerecondolences to his family,friends, and colleagues.

PTI Chairman, ImranKhan said the rulers had mis-erably failed to control thelaw and order situation ofKarachi, target killing andextortion was continuing inthe city, the police and Rang-

ers were helpless.Secessionist groups, re-

ligious militants and a weakgovernment response havecombined to make the cityone of the most dangerousin Pakistan. Disappointed bya political government thatdoes not seem to have thewill to control the rampagingcriminal and militant gangswho are linked to mainstreamparties, PTI demands that thegovernment to take all impor-tant measures to bring peaceand stability in Karachi andto curb the menace of extrem-ism and terrorism.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Punjab Uni-versity, the oldest seat of learn-ing in the subcontinent, willfully support all students withspecial needs for pursuinghigher studies leading to PhDfree of cost. Chairing a semi-nar on “Empowering personswith disabilities; Success Sto-ries” conducted by the Spe-cial Education Department, PUin connection with interna-tional day of disabled personshere at new campus, Dean, ProfDr. Liaqat Ali said that VC ProfDr. Mujahid Kamran had al-ready directed all heads of fac-ulties and deans of variousdisciplines to facilitate the stu-dents with special needs.

He said that first time in 130years history of the varsity allspecial students studying indifferent faculties of the

PU to support specialstudents for higher studies

Punjab University had alreadybeen totally exempted from allsorts of fees including admis-sion, departmental and exami-nation with immediate effect.

He said the PU always at-tached great importance to allspecial children. He said all eli-gible and deserving specialstudents will also be awardedscholarships without any hin-drance. He said that VC hadalso directed higher authori-ties of varsity that all genuineproblems being faced by thespecial students must be ad-dressed on top priority.

Dean PU Prof Dr. EhsanMalik said that special chil-dren world over possess allabilities and capabilities withnormal people and they al-ways demonstrate their high-est level of competence in dif-ferent fields. Director, IER, ProfDr. Mumtaz Akhtar emphasised

the need of conducting suchkind of seminars regularly onall international days dedicatedfor the welfare of special chil-dren and creating awarenessamong the massess about theirgenuine needs to be fulfiled.

Prof Dr Shaikh MuhammadIqbal, former senior faculty mem-ber of English DepartmentSargodha College and Shafiq UrRehman and Aamir Mushtaqnarrated their success stories.

Dr. Waqar Chaudhary,Regional Director, AssociatedPress of Pakistan, Central Re-gion, Punjab, who is also pa-tron-in-chief of special stu-dents, PU speaking on the oc-casion said that all out effortsare being made on war foot-ings by the VC PU to providebest of the best package offacilities to all special stu-dents.

He called upon the special

students to concentrate onpursuing higher studies andtake full advantege of excellentacademic facilities. He saidthat now special students inPU can study upto PhD freeof cost which he added is arare opporunity not only inPakistan but in whole of Asia.

Blind students AamirKamalvi,Malik MuhammadNadeem Aslam Arain, ShamasUl Zia, Shahzad Gulnar, SarfrazAhmad Khan, MuhammadShakil, Muhammad Saleem,Usman Ali Atari and other spe-cial students present on the oc-casion thanked the VC for ef-forts to resolve their problems.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Vice Presi-dent, All Pakistan PaperMerchants Association(APPMA) and founder ofKite Flying Festival in Paki-stan Khawaja Nadeem SaeedWayeen, has appealed tothe Chief Minister PunjabMian Muhammad ShahbazSharif to establish Kite City/Kite Flying Zone out of city.

Khawaja Nadeem SaeedWayeen said here Mondaythat proposed Kite City/KiteFlying Zone would not onlyplay a significant role instrengthening the crawlingtourism industry but arrivalof thousands foreign tour-ists would also help improve

Shahbaz urged toset up kite city

the soft image of Punjab.He said that unlike the

federal government, ChiefMinister Punjab MianMuhammad Shahbaz Sharifwas doing untiring effortsto promote trade, industryand economic activities inthe province.

“It is need of the hourthat the international com-munity should aware aboutthe efforts being done bythe Chief Minister PunjabMian Muhammad ShahbazSharif and proposed KiteCity/Kite Flying Zone couldplay a vital role to this re-gard” he said.

Khawaja Nadeem SaeedWayeen said that a fewyears ago thousands tour-

ists were used to visitPunjab to see the Kite Fly-ing Festival that was asource of economic activi-ties of more Rs. 5 to 7 billionbut some elements had tar-nished the image of Kite Fly-ing and the festival lost inthe mist.

He said that if Chief Min-ister Punjab MianMuhammad Shahbaz Sharifestablishes Kite City/KiteFlying Zone well out of theLahore and forms a commit-tee including representa-tives of public and privatesector to run the affairs ofproposed project then thechances of any untowardincident would also be verybleak.

LHC summonsSecy Local Govton contempt plea

LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt on Monday sum-moned Secretary Local Gov-ernment Punjab for Decem-ber 10 on a contempt peti-tion for disobeying courtorders.

Justice MuhammadKhalid Mehmood Khanpassed the orders on a con-tempt petition filed byMuhammad Asif.

Earlier, the petitioner toldthe court that he was serv-ing as senior legal advisor inCity District GovernmentLahore since 1994.

The petitioner mentionedthat he and others moved apetition for regularization oftheir services in LHC.

He said that the petitionwas disposed of after the re-spondents undertook thatthe process of regularizationwould be completed soon,within six weeks.

However, the respon-dents failed to fulfil theircommitment despite beingapproached many times forthe purpose, he said andadded that other petitionershad been given relief.

He pleaded the court toinitiate contempt proceed-ings against the respondentsincluding Secretary LocalGovernment Punjab.

The court after hearingthe arguments summonedSecretary Local governmentfor December 10 to explainwhy the court orders werenot complied with.—APP

Propertiessealed

L A H O R E — C o m m e r c i a -lisation Directorate of theLahore Development Au-thority sealed 22 propertiesin various parts of JoharTown and Gulberg for non-payment of commercial feehere Monday.

LDA sources said thatowners of the sealed proper-ties had to pay outstandingdues worth millions of rupeesas commercialisation fee, butthey could not do so despitethe issuance of challan formsand repeated notices.

As many as 12 buildingsthat had been sealed in JoharTown included privateschools, workshops andother commercial buildingssituated along MoulanaShoukat Ali Road, NurseryRoad and Expo Centre Road.

In Gulberg area, 10 build-ings were sealed including arestaurant, private schoolsand private offices.—APP

Nawaz capableto steer countryout of quagmire

of problemsSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Sajjada NasheenKalas Sharif Sargodha, PirSyed Shamim Sabir Shahcalled on the Punjab ChiefMinister, MuhammadShahbaz Sharif, here Monday.

Expressing confidence inthe leadership of PML-N PirSyed Sabir Shah announcedto join the party. DeputySpeaker Punjab AssemblyRana Mashhood AhmedKhan and ticket holder ofPML-N from MandiBahauddin Nasir Bosal werealso present on the occasion.

Welcoming the joining ofPML-N by Sajjada NasheenKalas Sharif Sargodha, PirSyed Shamim Sabir Shah,Chief Minister ShahbazSharif said that the popular-ity of the party under theleadership of MuhammadNawaz Sharif is increasingday by day and the candi-dates of PML-N will achievea thumping victory in thecoming elections.

He said that Punjab gov-ernment under the leadershipof Mian Muhammad NawazSharif has completed recorddevelopment projects forproviding basic facilities tothe masses and the fruits ofthese development projectsare reaching the people.