QUETTA: Chief Election Commissioner Fakhruddin G Ibrahim meeting with leaders of different political parties ofBalochistan on Thursday.

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ECP issues orderswith galvanic effectAll parties in Balochistan to take part in pollsNominations filing deadline extended

Recruitment ban lifted Punjab, Sindh CSs changedLIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—After drivingstrength from Supreme Court andthe army, Election Commissionof Pakistan moving with fastspeed issued orders on Thursdaywith galvanic effect, giving amessage to political parties andtheir candidates that this timeunscrupulous elements will notsucceed in penetrating into na-tional and provincial legislatures.

Besides extending date forfiling papers, it also ordered thatno postings, and transfers will bedone without its approval. Itchanged Chief Secretaries ofPunjab and Sindh. Meanwhile,Chief Election Commissioner

Fakhruddin G. Ibrahim in his cru-cial meetings with political lead-ership in Balochistan on Thurs-day succeeded in convincingthem that change will take placethrough ballot and not bullet. Allparties expressed desire to par-ticipate in polls, if their some ofthe reservations will be ad-dressed.

Earlier in a meeting,Fakhruddin G Ebrahim briefedthe Interior Secretary, InspectorGeneral and Frontier Corps per-sonnel over the maintenance oflaw and order in the provinceduring the upcoming generalelections.

He also ordered for betterarrangements to conduct polls in

Dera Bhugti and Kohlu.Agencies add: A ban previ-

ously imposed by the commis-sion on new recruitment in gov-ernment offices ahead of generalelections has also been lifted. Theban had been in place for the pasttwo months to discourage theprevious government from mak-ing political appointments aheadof general elections.

However, the ECP’s addi-tional secretary MohammadAfzal Khan said that a ban ondiversion of funds already allo-cated to various developmentschemes was not being lifted.

According to a new electionschedule announced Thursday,

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SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Caretaker PunjabChief Minister Najam Sethi hassaid that he has made aprogramme of consultation withpolitical leaders for the holdingof transparent elections and aneutral administration.

He said for this purpose hemet the leaders of Pakistan Mus-lim League-Q Ch. ShujaatHussain, Ch. Pervaiz Elahi,Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami SyedMunawar Hassan, President Pa-kistan Muslim League-NMuhammad Nawaz Sharif andformer Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz SharifThursday while he will hold ameeting with Chairman Tehreek-e-Insaf Imran Khan today (Fri-day). He said the purpose of his

meetings with the political lead-ers is to seek their views abouthonest, hard working and the bestofficers. He said that it is a good

omen that no political leader hasnamed any officer with whom hehas any personal relation and heis happy that his job has becomeeasier.

He said that decision regard-ing a permanent Inspector Gen-eral Police in Punjab is also be-ing made. Najam Sethi said thathe has made consultation withChief Election Commissioner ontelephone regarding changes inbureaucracy and this process willbe completed within a week. Heexpressed these views after meet-ing with the leaders of Jamaat-e-Islami in Mansoora today. AmeerJamaat-e-Islami Syed MunawarHassan, Farid Ahmed Parachaand other leaders were alsopresent on the occasion.

Caretaker Chief Minister

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Kabul ‘overreacted’to small incident: PakISLAMABAD—Pakistan onThursday accused Afghanistan ofoverreacting after Kabul can-celled a military visit to protestagainst cross-border firing, in thelatest sign of worsening relations.

“We believe that Afghanistanoverreacted to a small incident,”foreign ministry spokesman Ai-zaz Ahmed Chaudhry told AFP.

The Pakistani army invited11 Afghan officers to take part ina military exercise in the south-western city of Quetta, but theAfghan government called theirvisit off because of “unacceptablePakistani artillery shelling”.

The governor of the easternAf-ghan province of Kunar,Fazlulah Wahidi, told AFP thatup to 50 rockets fired from Paki-

stan dam-aged property on Mon-day and Tuesday. The Pakistaniforeign ministry said its “disci-plined and respon-sible” troopshad responded to what it called“some intrusions from the Af-ghan side”. The spokesman saidthe army visit had been designedto in-crease “mutual cooperationand confidence, and we believesuch activities should continue inthe larger interest of peace in there-gion”.

Western officials believePaki-stan, which backedAfghanistan’s 1996-2001 Talibanregime, has a crucial role to playin shoring up peace efforts be-tween Kabul and Taliban insur-gents. But Afghanistan and Pa-

Continued on Page 6Dual nationality

SC issues notices to 20former lawmakers

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt of Pakistan issued noticeson Thursday to 20 former law-makers who had tendered theirresignations for holding dual na-tionalities. The three-memberbench of the apex court headedby Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry instructedthe respon-dents to appear beforecourt in person or through coun-sel.

During the hearing the courtin-quired from the Election Com-mission of Pakistan about the rea-sons for not disqualifying thedual-nation lawmakers and askedas to why were criminal casesnot proceeded against the former

members of provincial and na-tional assemblies, when they hadsubmitted their resignations.

The former lawmakersagainst whom the court issuednotices include Dr Asim Hussain,Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi, MuradAli Shah, Dr Muhammad AliShah (late), Sadiq Ali Memon,Abdul Moeed Siddiqui, AskariTaqvi, Muhammad Raza Haroon,Dr Nadeem Ehsan, Syed TayyabHassan, Fauzia Ejaz, SabeenRizvi, Arish Kumar, Dr DonyaAziz, Arif Aziz Sheikh, JamilAhmed Malik, Faiza Asghar, DrTahir Ali, Jamil Ashraf andJavaid Iqbal Tarkai.

Shahrukh Jatoi escape

Bilawal House’sprotocol officerarrestedSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The FederalInvestigation Agency (FIA) hasarrested protocol officer ofBilawal House, Wasi fromKarachi, a metropolitan ofPakistan, here on Thursday.

According to sources, Wasiwas arrested from Karachiairport while trying to leave thecountry.

The protocol officerallegedly helped prime accusedin Shahzeb Murder case,Shahrukh Jatoi in escapingfrom Karachi to Dubai.

On December 25, 2012,Shahzeb was murderedallegedly by Shahrukh over a

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Egypt: Diversheld whilecutting InternetcableCAIRO—Egypt’s naval forcescaptured three scuba diverswho were trying to cut anundersea Internet cable in theMediterranean on Wednesday,a military spokesman said.Telecommunications execu-tives meanwhile blamed aweeklong Internet slowdownon damage caused to anothercable by a ship.

Col. Ahmed MohammedAli said in a statement on hisofficial Facebook page thatdivers were arrested while“cutting the undersea cable”of the country’s maincommunications company,Telecom Egypt. The statementsaid they were caught on aspeeding fishing boat just offthe port city of Alexandria.The statement was accompa-nied by a photo showing threeyoung men, —Agencies

SC lawyershot dead inRawalpindiRAWALPINDI—Someunknown armed attackers shotdead a senior lawyer of theSupreme Court, ChauhdryMuhammad Khan, inRawalpindi.

According to the initialunconfirmed reports, theunidentified armed miscreantsopened fire at lawyer ChMuhammad Khan’s car nearFauji Foundation Hospital andshot him dead on the spot.

This latest incident oftarget killing took place inRawalpindi’s Morgah PoliceStation’s area, where armedmiscreants easily fled awayafter killing Ch MuhammadKhan. The police rushed to theside immediately afterreceiving information of theincident. The rescue team hasmoved the dead body tohospital for the formalitieswhile police have startedprimary investigation into thekilling. —INP

ALI SYED

ISLAMABAD—In the wake ofUS sanctions and its alliedcountries of EU, Japan andCanada, Iran has not be ableto get the $ 51 million fromPakistan for the electricity itis exporting to some areas ofBalochistan.

Now it has been decidedthat Pakistan would providethe wheat and rice instead ofcash and Tehran has agreedto it.

Iran had earlier threat-ened Pakistan to cut electric-ity supply, if dues amounting$ 51 million are not paid.

“This warning had landedthe energy deficit country intomore trouble as the switchingoff by Iran would have mul-tiplied the power outages du-

ration in Balochistan,” revealsthe official document availablewith The News.

Iranian energy company—TAVANIR in its communica-tion to Foreign Office of Paki-stan had told in plain words thatit is going to cut the electricitysupply of 74 MW by August, ifits dues are not be paid. Iran isexporting the electricitythrough 132 kv transmissionline from Jakigur to Mand. In2006, Pakistan imported 39MW and then 36 MW moreadded from Iranian side.

Pakistan is currently im-porting electricity of 74 MWfrom Iran for bordering areas ofBalochistan and sinceIslamabad did not pay for theelectricity being imported sinceJune 2011 up till now. Iranianelectricity is currently beingimported at the rate of 8-9 centsper unit.

This senior official on thecondition of anonymity toldthat the government of Pakistanis willing to pay $ 51 million,but in the wake of US and EUeconomic sanctions, it is diffi-

cult to go for any banking trans-action for Iran . Meanwhile, theNTDC had placed the requestwith Iran not to cut the electric-ity supply hoping the issue willbe resolved and the Iran will becompensated.

After exhausting all theoptions, both the countrieshave decided on barter tradeunder which Pakistan wouldcontinue to provide wheat andrice instead of the cash in dol-lar to Iran because of the USsanctions.

It is pertinent to mention

that Pakistan has already inkeda deal with Iran for importing1000 MW at 10 cents per unit.“The tariff will be revised afterevery three years after the com-missioning of the project.”

The project to import 1000MW electricity will be materi-alized in the four years’ time.Under the proposed project, hesaid, Iran would build a powerhouse specifically for Pakistanin Zahidan and a 700 kilometertransmission line will be laiddown from Pak-Iran border toQuetta for importing the elec-

Import of electricity from Iran

Pak will provide no cash indollars but wheat, rice

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court(SC) has issued contempt ofcourt notice to former PrimeMinister Raja Pervez Ashraf forwriting a controversial letter tothe Chief Justice of Pakistan(CJP) in Rental Power case.

A 3-member bench of SCpresided over by the CJPIftikhar Muhammad Chaudhryresumed the hearing of rentalpower case Thursday. WasimSajjad advocate appeared in thecourt on behalf of former primeminister Raja Pervez Ashrafand argued that “ you had giventhe observation with referenceto sending the letter. Too muchhowever has been said in the

SC issues contempt notice to Rajaletter. CJP remarked “ this is notthe first letter whereby job has

been done beyond our ambit. Itwas done so to seek favorable

order from the court otherwise procedure in this respectis in place.

The letter issued from PMsecretariat carries the diarynumber and signature of primeminister. This is a sensitivematter. What has been said isnot correct and is an act of in-terference. Every citizen of thiscountry is enduring difficulties.We will issue order if it is notbeing taken. You have tried toinvolve the court and judges.You could file an application.You are trying to influence thejudges. Two reports against youhave been received. In one re-

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STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—IslamabadHigh Court Thursday declarednull and void contractsawarded for developmentschemes worth Rs5 billion informer prime minister, RajaPervez Ashraf’s constituency.According to sources the court

scrapped the deal for it wasfound not only shoddy but alsoagainst Public ProcurementRegulatory Authority rules andregulations.

Directing National Logis-tic Cell to return the amountpaid immediately, the IHC or-dered the authorities concerned

Contracts for Rs5bn upliftwork in ex-PM area annulled

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PML-N toannounce partycandidates on

April 20ISLAMABAD—Senior leader ofthe Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) Senator IshaqDar has said that the PML-Nwill announce the names of itscandidates contesting the gen-eral elections on April 20.

Talking to Online on Thurs-day the PML-N leader said de-liberations are underway on thenames of the party candidates,which will contest the generalelections on the ticket of thePML-N.

However the candidates’names were yet to be finalized.He said that as per the circular

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Sethi claims consulting CECabout bureaucracy reshuffleStarts consultation with political leaders

ECP takes notice ofSethi’s statement

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP)has taken notice of Punjab care-taker Chief Minister NajamSethi’s statement regarding trans-fers and appointments.

The Election commissionclarified that only the ECP hadright of transfers and appoint-ments. The commission has liftedban on new appointments in the

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Details of formerMPs assets issued

ISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission of Pakistan (ECP)has issued details of former par-liamentarians’ assets. Noor AlamKhan from the PPP is the richestformer MNA with assets amount-ing to Rs 32 billion. JamshedDasti has the least amount of as-sets with only his salary bankaccount.

Former Prime Minister RajaPervaiz Ashraf has assetsamounting to Rs 72 million.Ashraf has two cars valued at Rs1.8 million, while his wife has 10tolas of gold. The former primeminister has also taken Rs 8 mil-lion from his brother. He alsoowns nine flats.

Former Opposition leader inthe National Assembly,Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has Rs8.3 million in his bank account.Nisar has a house in Rawalpindiand a farm house. The formeropposition leader is also theowner of nine apartments.

Ghulam Ahmed Bilour fromthe ANP has assets worth Rs 39.4million, while Arbab Alamgir hasa net worth of Rs 2 billion.Alamgir is also the owner of an

Supreme Courtorders to concludefake degree cases

by April 4ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt has ordered law enforce-ment agencies and lower courtsto conclude all fake degree casesby April 4. Chief Justice IftikharMuhamamd Chaudhry has di-rected lower courts and law en-forcement agencies to inform theElection Commission of Pakistan(ECP) and Supreme Court afterconcluding the cases.

A three-judge bench headedby Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry was hear-ing the fake degree implementa-tion case on Thursday. Duringproceedings, reports regardingthe pending fake degree cases

Continued on Page 6

tricity that will be injected inthe national grid.

To a question, the officialsaid that the nature of trans-mission line will be of 500 kv-DC (Direct Current). Whenasked as to who will fund theproject of transmission linefrom border to Quetta, the of-ficial said Iran has shown itswillingness to provide $800-900 million for the project andwe are in process to examinethe offer.

It is pertinent to mentionthat Iran has already come upwith offer to export electric-ity in the rage of 5000-6000MW during the last visit ofPakistan’s delegation headedby Federal Minister for Petro-leum and Natural Resourceswhere in it discussed the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.

PM directs InteriorMinistry to firm uparrangements forgeneral elections

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterJustice (R) Mir Hazar KhanKhoso has said that he is com-mitted to holding of free and fairgeneral elections in the countryand directed the Ministry of In-terior to firm up all necessary ar-rangements to achieve this na-tional objective.

The Prime Minister madethese observations at a briefinggiven to him by the senior offi-cials of the Ministry of Interioron the overall internal securitysituation in the country as wellas arrangements made in con-nection with holding of generalelections.

Mir Hazar Khan Khoso saidthe general election is a big chal-

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Ameer Muqamto contest NA-4,NA-30, NA-31

SWAT—Central Vice Presi-dent PMLN, Engr. AmeerMuqam here Wednesday re-ceived nominations papersto contest polls from threenational assembly and threeprovincial assembly seats innext coming elections.

Engr. Ameer Muqamwould participate in the up-coming electoral battle bycontesting elections fromNA-4 Peshawar, NA-30 Swatand NA-31 Shangla.

He also received nomina-tion papers of three Swat pro-vincial constituencies in-cluding PK-81, PK-82 andPK-85. Ameer Muqam wonnational assembly seat NA-31 from Shangla in 2002 fromthe platform of MMA.—APP

PPP ticket to ZebKhan opposed

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TIMERGARA—Former unioncouncils’ Nazims of the PPPhas again opposed the partydecision of awarding ticket toformer provincial ministerMahmood Zeb Khan for PK-94 and demanded of the pro-vincial leadership to satisfyworkers in Dir Lower.

Speaking at a news con-ference Muhammad IbrahimKhan, Muhammad Israr,Jehan Bahadar, SiasatHayat, Mushtaq Ahmad,former district presidentAurang Zeb Khan, AlamZeb and others alleged thatthe PPP provincial leader-ship had formed a commit-tee led by former MPAAbdul Akbar Khan to meetworkers in Dir Lower anddecide party ticket afterconsultation with them butthe committee did notbother even to visit Dir.

“The committee decidedawarding ticket to formerminister Mahmood ZebKhan while sitting inMardan or elsewhere,”Ibrahim Khan said, addingthat they would not acceptthe decision.

Members of the groupsaid that provincial organiza-tion and the committee con-cerned would be responsiblefor any kind of negative con-sequences on the party.

MULTAN—Justice andPeace Committee (JPC), an o n - g o v e r n m e n t a lorganisation felicitatedNajam Sethi for his selectionas caretaker Chief MinisterPunjab. In a press statementhere Thursday, Executivesecretary JPC Shah Zaman,appreciated the pledge ofNajam Sethi to protect rightsof minorities and downtrod-den segments of society.

He said that caretaker chiefminister Najam Sethi wouldplay effective role in holdingfree, fair and transparent elec-tions. The JPC also demandedthe caretaker chief ministerNajam Sethi to ensure tightsecurity so that people couldcast votes without any fear.

Shah Zaman said thattransparent election could

help improve democraticnorms which was key to pro-mote peace and stability inthe country.—APP

Change in MQM priorities are too distinct to ignoreSALAHUDDIN HAIDER

THROUGHOUT its 26years of electoral life,MQM had preferred

solo flights,detesting alli-ance or com-promises onseats which itconsiders itsassets. Its un-f l i n c h i n gfaith in thevote bank has

helped it write history as faras the success rate for na-tional and provincial assem-blies are concerned, which initself is a convincing explana-tion to part ways with the PPP.Its decision to delink from along, 5 years of coalition inSindh and at the Centre, there-fore, was least surprising.

Its decision to contestthe coming elections all byitself, was entirely in keepingwith, both with its own prin-ciples, and with the set pat-tern of our political traditions,ANP too, had opted to be onits own. So far so good. Whatwas surprising however, andcomical in fact, was theparty’s reluctance to with-draw its ministers from occu-pying seats meant for cabi-net members. The situationbecomes confusing all themore when 36 of their fellowMPAs have taken their seatson the opposite side. It is notonly dichotomy, it looks likesome sort of a joke.

Governor Ishratul Ebadresigned without losing aminute after the party’s de-cision to part company withPPP, and rested in Dubai, butlike before, western coun-tries, interested in their in-vestment in Karachi, per-suaded him and AltafHussain to let him be backfor being the most suitable

for a slot, which even thoughnot as powerful as was thecase during Musharraf ’sdays, can still have a calm-ing effect on a situation get-ting worse. He is calm, cool,and calculated, and excels inwinning friends. These arerare qualities which havebeen assets from him and hisparty, and has helped him wineven the worst of enemies tohis side.

That alone has been thereason for being acceptableto all, and earned him thecredit of being the longestserving governor for anyprovince in Pakistan. Logicalindeed, yet some of the mostdie hard supporters of MQM,have remained unconvincedas to what prompted the partyto keep its governor in officeand then keeping an indis-creet silence on the future ofits ministers in the Sindh cabi-net. The confusion was fur-ther compounded whenRehman Malik met the MQMchief in London and soughthis cooperation for futurealso. The press release issuedby the party after the meetingwas least understandable.

It quoted Altaf Hussainas saying that core commit-tees of the two main coalitionparties, i.e. MQM and PPP willmeet to sort out the situation.Such a statement was boundto give birth to questions asto whether the party has re-ally decided to be in opposi-tion at least till after the elec-tions, or has there been somerethinking lately. Some ana-lysts even want to knowwhether MQM has changedits priorities. Argument, ad-vanced by certain quarters,that it has become a completepolitical party now, whenthroughout its existence it hadbeen asserting itself as a move-ment, is not easily digestible.

In fact one tends to dismiss itas perverted logic.

The party has not deviatedfrom its founding principles. Itsslogan of being the spokes-man for the 98 percent havenots, and its persistent oppo-sition to vested interests,waderas and jagirdars, its in-sistence for making the middleclass the backbone of thecountry, continue to be very,very powerful in nature anddoes carry a strong appeal tothe teeming millions. The ques-tion nevertheless will continueto be asked whether its basicphilosophy is intact? How-ever, the party needs to explainto its sympathizers and sup-porters about the second mostimportant question.

This is about as towhether it now has chosento be permanently in the gov-ernment. Such a viewemerges from the aftermathof the meeting Rehman Malikhad with Altaf in London.Nothing wrong with that.Seeking power to implementits policies is the most potentobjective for any politicalparty, and if MQM has learntlessons over the years, andhas reached conclusionsthat it can better achieve itsgoals of benefitting its peopleby being in the government,is in tune with the time. Po-litical parties are not chari-table organizations to con-fine themselves to welfare ofthe people. That too is andought to be their motto.

MQM runs a powerful char-ity foundation which is invest-ing in future with projects likeacademic institutions, and si-multaneously provides what-ever temporary or urgent reliefit thinks is required by the suf-fering humanity. In the opinionof some, MQM has reachedcertain levels, where it can al-ways alter its policy, and most

critics believe it to be a correctapproach. Changes becomeunavoidable with the changein time. This is not 80s or 90s,when MQM was in infancyor in formative stages. It hasgained in experience, andmust put those to its own ben-efit and for the benefit of itsfollowers. It can simulta-neously need to protect theinterest of urban populationwhich are its strong holds.Complaints have been mount-ing of indiscretion and in-equality in job provision inSindh.

The quota system, invogue only in the southernprovince, does demand 40/60ratio of jobs between urbanand rural areas. This is not be-ing done. In fact has flagrantlybeen violated by the PPP. InInformation department also,45 new information officershave been recruited, withoutreference to the public servicecommission, whose involve-ment becomes necessary forjobs in grade 17 and above.Even the educational qualifi-cations were relaxed. No ur-ban representative was cho-sen from amongst those 45new recruits.

There are several ex-amples where fundamentalof the Constitution havebeen violated. MQM votersare now looking upto theirparty for support. Its candi-dates may face an ugly situ-ation in some areas. The de-mand for separate Muhajirprovince, has been stoutlyrejected by Altaf and col-leagues, but these kinds ofinjustices, cannot keep itquiet for long. Such is thesituation, under which theparty will have to seek freshmandate. Win it will, nodoubt about that, but it mayface a tough situation dur-ing electioneering.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan Rang-ers, Sindh, yesterday con-ducted ‘targeted raids in dif-ferent areas of the city andheld around 100 suspects in-cluding 2 alleged hardenedcriminals belonging tobanned religious outfit. ARangers spokesman said thatthe areas included FrontierColony, P&T Colony and Af-ghan Basti. He maintained that23 alleged notorious criminalsincluding what he termed as‘target killers affiliated withdefunct organisations, politi-cal group and extortionists”

were arrested.The spokesman further

pointed out that 114 weaponsof different calibres includingSMGs, rifles, pistols, gre-nades and crackers were re-covered. On the other hand,four people, including a teen-ager girl, were killed in differ-ent acts of violence in the cityyesterday, police said. Theysaid the body of a man wasfound on Northern Bypassnear Surjani town within theremits of Surjani police sta-tion. It was shifted to AbbasiShaheed Hospital for medico-legal formalities. The identityof victim could not be ascer-

tained yet. Police said thebody was four days old.

A teenager girl Safia, 15,daughter of Qari Mukhtarwas found dead in her housein Azizabad within the limitsof Azizabad Police station.The body was shifted toAbbasi Shaheed Hospital formedico-legal formalities. Po-lice said she committed sui-cide by strangulating her dueto unknown reasons.

Separately, a man ageingabout 30 was gunned downby unidentified armed mennear Essa Nagri in PIBColony in the premises ofAziz Bhatti police station.

JPC felicitates Sethi

RAHMATULLAH KHAN

PESHAWAR—Participants at apre-budget dialogue have pro-posed that separate fundsshould be allocated in next pro-vincial budget for those boy andgirls’ education institutes, whichhave been damaged by mili-tancy in order improve educa-tion in the province. The pre-budget policy dialogue titled,“Effective Education FinancingKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Budget2013-14, organised by Instituteof Social and Policy Sciences (I-SAPS) in collaboration with

Separate budget for militancy-hitinstitution proposed

Department for InternationalDevelopment (DFID) held hereat a local hotel.

The participants were in-cluded Masood Ahmad, aSpecial Secretary Finance,Department of Finance,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Saif-ur-Rahman Usmani, DirectorFMIU, from Provincial Depart-ment of Finance, Dr SalmanHumayun, Executive Director,I-SAPS, Ahmad Ali, ResearchFellow I-SAPS, Naeem Sidhuand representatives from civilsocieties, officials of educationdepartment, relevant stake-

holders attended the pre-bud-get dialogue.

Majority of the participantswere of view that educationsector was plunged to militancyduring last five years. Despitethe fact, they said steps hadbeen taken for promotion bygiving top priority to the sectorin the KP province. Theystressed that there needed tobudgetary allocation to all dis-tricts on head of education onequitable basis to meet exist-ing missing facilities and up-gradation of education infra-structure in all districts.

Rangers nab 100 in targetedraids, 4 gunned down

Saifullah Brothersfile nomination

STAFF REPORTER

P E S H A W A R — P a k i s t a nPeoples’ Party KhyberPakhtunkhwa President,Anwar Saifullah Khan Thurs-day submitted nominationpapers to contest in the up-coming General electoral fromPK-74 Lakki-1.

Former federal MinisterSalim Saifullah Khan also hassubmitted nomination pa-pers for NA-27 Lakki Marwatas independent candidatewhile former Member Na-tional Assembly, HumaynSaifullah Khan will try hisluck on constituency NA-27and PK-75 Lakki-2 on ticketof PPP.

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—Twenty fiveoffice-bearers of PPP andPYO on Thursday resignedfrom primary membership ofthe party to protest againstthe attitude of the party highcommand in ignoring the oldand loyal workers of the partywhile awarding the partyticket. They have particularlyexpressed their resentmentover the award of PPP ticketfor PP-105 to Khizar HayatMangat, who has never beenparty member and termed it

disgrace to the old and die-hard party workers.

Those who sent their res-ignations to Faryal Talpur in-cluded City PPP President Ch.Zulifqar Ali Chand Bhoon,Tehsil Vice President MalikJawad Ashraf Awan and oldPPP Leader Ch. Bashir AhmadGujjar. PYO District PresidentHafiz Abdul Rehman Jarral and21 other office-bearers includ-ing Irfan Wance, MuhammadAfzal, Imran Ashgar, RaiNaveed, Haji Nazir, BilalSarwar, Rana Ghulam Mustafa,Ghulam Abbas Joya, Talib

Bloch, Muhammad Ashraf, LalDin, Abbas Chadhar, Riaz Butt,Khawar Bhatti, MuhammadShahbaz, Sohail Abbas, HafizMuhammad Azeem, RanaAurangzeb, Nasir Hussain,Rana Sajid and ShakeelAhmad.

According to insiders, theaffiliation of PPP and PML (Q),like other districts, have seri-ously weakened both the par-ties and created serious dentin Hafizabad. One of the mostpowerful groups (Ch. MehdiHassan Bhatti, President Dis-trict PML (Q)) has also been

disheartened. Though hisgroup’s prospective candi-dates were going to file theirnomination papers on Fridayyet his group was still unde-cided to contest elections in-dependently or to switch overto other party. Over one hun-dred prospective candidateshas obtained nomination pa-pers from the Returning Offic-ers and so far outgoing MNASaira Afzal Tarar and MalikFayyaz Ahmad Awan of PML(N) have filed their nominationpapers for NA-102 and PP-105respectively.

PPP ticket holder KhizarHayat Mangat, All PakistanMuslim League CandidateMalik Atiq-ur-Rehman, SyedWasim-ul-Hassan Naqvi ofSunni Ittehad Council, IftikharAhmad Ansari (Independent)have filed their nominationpapers to contest electionfrom PP-105, Rai Qamar-uz-Zaman Kharal of PTI has filedhis nomination paper to con-test election from PP-106 andRai Fayyaz Kharal of PPP hasfiled his nomination papers tocontest election from PP-105and NA-102.

Party tickets bungling alleged

25 PPP, PYO office-bearers resign en bloc

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Jamaat-e Islami(JI) leaders Nasrullah Shajihand Engineer Abdul Aziz filednomination papers. Accord-ing to details, JI Naib Ameerand former Deputy Parliamen-tary leader in Sindh Assem-bly Nasrullah Shajih filed thenomination papers for NA-252and PS-116 for general elec-tions while JI leader and Sec-retary Al-Khidmat WelfareSociety Engineer Abdul Azizfiled the nomination papersfor PS-110, 112 and 113.

Speaking to media, Shajihsaid that JI would file nomi-nation papers from all con-stituencies of the city, add-ing that seat adjustmentwould be expected from allparties in the larger interestof the people of the city ex-cept the former ruling partyand its coalition partners. Heappealed to the people tosupport JI to eliminate targetkilling, extortion and streetcrimes from the city.

Replying to a question, hesaid that the discussion regard-ing seat adjustment was being

continued with PLM-N, PTI,JUI-F, JUP, ST and others par-ties, however; he denied anydiscussion with MQM in thisregard. He said that the JI wasnot satisfied with the voters’verification process althoughthe leadership had decided toparticipate in the elections. Hesaid that the decision of delimi-tations of electoral constituen-cies was from the SupremeCourt of Pakistan but the elec-tion commission had showed atwisted approach and used de-laying tactics due to which JIrejected delimitation process.

JI leaders file nominationpapers for NA, PS seats

BAHAWALPUR: People visiting Spring Season Flowers exhibition organized by Pakistan Horticulture Society atDring Stadium.

Ex-KP Info Minister faces fake challengeStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—Former KhyberPakthunkhwa Minister for InformationMian Iftikhar Hussain is facing toughelectoral challenge in his home con-stituency PK-12 Nowshera-I at thehand of Pakistan Tahrik e Insaf (PTI)candidate. PTI has fielded MianKhaliqur Rehman from the constitu-ency who lost the 2008 election to MianIftikhar Hussain by a thin margin ofaround 200 votes. Mian Iftikhar

Hussain was very vocal in the just concluded ANP ledcoalition government in Khyber Pakthunkhwa being anofficial spokesman, has earned good reputation in waragainst terror and was awarded Tamagh e Imtaiz for hissupreme courage and bravery by the previous govern-ment. The political observers believed that PTI candi-date would give tough time to Mian Iftikhar Hussain asthe latter was facing tremendous difficulties in runningthe election campaign in his constituency due to threatsto his life by the banned militants’ outfits. Mian IftikharHussain has virtually been barred from visiting the con-stituency in the election campaign that will certainly ben-efit the PTI contender to cash on the situation. MianIftikhar has been asked by the party’s leadership to con-fine his election activities only to Bacha Khan Markaz,Peshawar instead of coming in public open. The formerInformation Minister has started receiving delegationsof elders from his constituency in Bacha Khan Markaz,Peshawar as part of his election campaign. On the otherside, Pakistan Muslim League-N is likely to give partyticket to its leader Hussain Ahmed Khattak. PK-12Nowshera-1 is consisted of urban and rural areas includ-ing Pabbi Tehsil, Khuderzai village.

HEC curriculum body calls on VC UoPStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—A twelve member del-egation of the Higher EducationCommission‘s National CurriculumRevision Committee for Pakistan Stud-ies called on Vice Chancellor Univer-sity of Peshawar Prof. Dr MuhammadRasul Jan. The committee was led byDirector Pakistan Study Centre Prof.Dr Fakhr-ul-Islam while Deputy Direc-tor HEC Nasir Shah also accompaniedthe delegation. Improvement in cur-

ricula of Pakistan Studies, on the lines to develop lovefor the country, and spirit of patriotism among studentsmust be kept as priority while designing updatedcourses, said Vice Chancellor UoP Prof. Dr MuhammadRasul Jan in his address. He said we as Pakistanis’ mustbe proud of, where we are today as individuals, andmust give respect to all countrymen, and the ideas theybelieve in. The VC termed the role of Pakistan Studiesas integral in shaping behavior of youth towards mu-tual harmony and integrity. He added unity among ourranks is need of time as enemy of the soil is trying tocreate unrest by employing brutal acts of terrorism, eth-nic divides and sectarian violence. Dr Jan appreciatedthe visit of distinguished Professors from across Paki-stan to UoP for exchange of their ideas and experiences.He emphasized the need for including local heroes es-pecially those involved in Pakistan Independence move-ment in Pakistan Studies courses, for inspiration of theyouth, so that they could follow their footsteps. DeputyDirector HEC Nasir Shah said that Government of Paki-stan has approved HEC as the competent authority forthe supervision of curricula beyond class XII. He addedHEC is inclined to maintain the standards of educationwhile keeping in view the nation’s social, ideologicaland economic needs.

UAF spring festival startsFAISALABAD—The University of Ag-riculture Faisalabad has opened Grey-hound National Championship inwhich 150 greyhounds are participat-ing. First of its kind, the championshipis a part of UAF ongoing spring festi-val which brings colourful events in-cluding agricultural exhibition, fancybird show, pet show, tent pegging,farmer convention and alumni meet etc.The event arranged at Racecourse

Ground, Jail Road, UAF, remained a source of attractionfor locals. The championship is divided into seven roundsthat will continue till Thursdays late night. Ayub Agri-culture Research Institute (AARI) Director General DrNoorul Islam along with UAF Acting Vice Chancellor ProfDr Iqbal Zafar inaugurated the event. The prize distribu-tion for the winners will be held on March 31. Under theSpring Festival, March 29 will bring agri exhibition andflower show at 9:00am at UAF’s D Ground, Alumni Meetat 10:00am, Fancy Bird Show at 12:15 noon, Pet Show at12:30 noon, Seminar on Agri Entrepreneurial Growth andEmployment Opportunity at 2:00pm, cattle show at 3:45pm,tent pegging at 4:15pm, sport competition at 5:00pm, andMushara at 8:30pm at Iqbal Auditorium. March 30 will beopened with Business Meeting of Alumni Association at2:30 pm and cultural show at 8:30pm. The programmes ofMarch 31 include Farmers Convention at 10:30 a.m. atIqbal Auditorium. Prize Distribution of Exhibition, flowershow and fancy bird and pet show would be held at3:00pm at D-Ground and prize Distribution of cattle showand tent pegging at 6:00pm.—APP

Prof Noshad hailed for Sitara-e-ImtiazHYDERABAD—The Vice ChancellorLiaquat University of Medical andHealth Sciences (LUMHS) JamshoroProf. Mashoor Alam Shah has congratu-lated Prof. Noshad A. Shaikh, Ex-ViceChancellor LUMHS for receiving thehonour of “Sitara-e-Imtiaz” on March23, 2013. In a statement, issued here onThursday, he praised the services ofProf. Noshad and said that he capturedthe peak of excellence in the field of

medical education and research. The services rendered bythe LUMHS, under the dynamic leadership of Prof. NoshadA. Shaikh, by providing shelter and medical cover to morethan ten thousand displaced flood victims were remark-able, he said and added that the University has also beenhonored to be the first ISO Certified public sector medicaluniversity during the tenure of Prof. Noshad A. Shaikh asVice Chancellor. The management of University of Sindhhas rusticated 13 students for a period of three years oncharge of committing malpractice and impersonation dur-ing BA (Pass) Part-II Annual Examinations. According toController of Examinations University of Sindh, 13 candi-dates Ali Akbar Samo, Bashir Ahmed Keerio, Fareed AhmedTalur, Ghulam Nabi Somro, Munawar Hussain Soomro,Mukhtiar Ali Mirbahar, Mohammad Zohaib Qureshi,Muhammad Raheel Qureshi, Nazim Hussain Shah, RashidAhmed Qureshi, Shoaib Ali Memon, Rab Dino Panhwarand Ghulam Rasool Rustamani have been banned for aperiod of three years on account of committing miscon-duct and imitation during the annual examinations. Theserusticated persons will not be able to appear in any exami-nations for a period of three years from any college, hesaid.—APP

Arrangementsquicked for

peaceful mannerHYDERABAD—Election Secu-rity Committee of the districtfinalised strategy to conductpolling in peaceful, free and fairmanner after reviewing overallelection security scenario anddeliberations on potential sen-sitive polling stations.

Meeting of the commit-tee, held the other day, waspresided over by District andSessions Judge HyderabadHassan Feroz while DeputyCommissioner HyderabadAgha Shah Nawaz Babar,SSP Hyderabad HaseebAfzal.—APP

QUETTA—Caretaker ChiefMinister (CM) BalochistanNawab Ghous BakhshBarozai called on Chief Elec-tion Commissioner (CEC) Jus-tice (retd) Fakhruddin G.Ibrahim and discussed ar-rangements being put in con-nection with conducting ofgeneral election 2013. Themeeting held on Wednesdaynight and the two decided thatall available resources wouldbe used for conducting free,fair and transparent generalelection 2013 in Balochistan.

The meeting was also at-tended by Secretary ElectionCommission Ishtiaq Ahmed,Inspector General Police,Home Secretary, Principal Sec-retary to Chief Minister, Pro-vincial Election Commissionerand Commissioner Quetta.

The caretaker CM informedthe CEC that a comprehensivesecurity plan has been devisedand all candidates contestingelections and the polling staffwould be provided fool proofsecurity while government ma-chinery would remain impar-tial during the elections.

He said that he was goingto hold meetings with SardarAkhtar Jan Mengal, the Chiefof his faction of BalochistanNational Party (BNP) and othernationalist leaders ofBalochistan to remove their res-ervations pertaining to law andorder during the elections. “Ihave told nationalist politiciansthat Election Commission of Pa-kistan is an independent andpowerful institution and no rig-ging would be reported in theelections 2013.—APP

SHER MUHAMMAD KHAN

MULTAN—A teenage girl waskidnapped by four men in thePolice Station Qutubpur AreaTimber Market area, policesaid. The police have alsoregistered a case against fourcriminals with no arrest madeyet. A police official said thatan FIR was registered on thecomplaint of father FayazAhmad of the victim againstfour men.

The victim’s father allegedthat Nadeem Shareef,Shafeeq, Haji and an unknownperson kidnapped her daugh-ter and took her to an un-known place. The had hadgone to market to fetch someedibles form a nearby shopbut she was abducted, theFIR said. Further investiga-tion were underway.

*****Parts of the district includ-

ing the city received rainfall ofvarying intensities on Thurs-day, making weather pleasantby decreasing mercury level.In Multan, rain, overcast con-ditions and windstorm madeweather pleasant by decreas-ing the temperature at night-time. Meanwhile, the rains dis-turbed routine life as rainwa-ter inundated many roads androadsides at different places ofthe city. Inundated rainwateron roads and slippery causedmassive traffic jams in everynook and corner of the city.Several incidents of skiddingof motorcycles were also re-ported from various parts ofthe city.

Maximum and minimumtemperature in the city was re-corded 32 degree Celsius and17C respectively. People cameout of their houses in theevening to enjoy wet condi-tions.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Caretaker Infor-mation Minister MusarratQadeem has informed that81000 security personnel in-cluding police, levies, QaumiRazakars, forest rangers andCivil Defence will be deputedon election duty for ensuringpeaceful observance of theballoting in KhyberPakthunkhwa.

Briefing mediamen aboutdecisions of the first caretakercabinet’s meeting chaired bycaretaker Chief Minister Jus-tice Tariq Pervez here Thurs-day, the Information Ministersaid, the provincial govern-ment will bear Rs 160 millionexpenditures to be incurred onthe deployment of security

men for election duty acrossthe province.

She told a questioner thatArmy would be on standbyand would be called only onneed basis during the elections.She told that the cabinet to-day reviewed the election ar-rangements, security situationin the context of the electionsand general law and order situ-ation prevailing in the prov-ince which she maintained hadshown considerable improve-ment towards betterment.

The IGP and Home Secre-tary gave detailed presentationto the cabinet on the securitysituation while Secretary Lo-cal Government in his detailedbriefing gave an overview ofthe election arrangementsmade in the province for hold-ing of fair and transparent elec-

tions in a peaceful environ-ment. Similarly officials of theProvincial Election Commis-sion briefed the cabinet aboutthe polling stations and theirpreparations for the smoothsailing of the election process.The Information Minister saidthat caretaker government towork as bridge between theGovernments.

She said the chief ministerdirected the officials of the pro-vincial departments to fullyfacilitate the election commis-sion in the holding of fair andtransparent balloting. Thechief minister also urged theofficials of the administrationto take all possible measuresfor ensuring fair and transpar-ent elections and maintenanceof peaceful environment. Theinformation Minister said for

the first time Election Commis-sioner has evolved a strategyto monitor the election activi-ties by forming monitoringteams.

The monitoring teamswould visit the constituenciesto monitor the election processin the province to ensure codeof conduct was being fol-lowed. She said that 135 moni-toring teams in KP would moni-tor the elections.

The officials of the Elec-tion Commission told the cabi-net meeting that 9284 pollingstations will be setup in the KPfor 35 NA and 99 provincialassembly’s general seats. Shesaid 6512 polling stations havebeen declared sensitive whereshe said good arrangementshave been made for the obser-vance of peaceful polling.

M HALEEM ASAD

TIMERGARA—Former dis-trict general secretary of thePakistan Tehrek Insaf, DirLower, advocate JehanDastagir has announced toquit the party and joined thePakistan Muslim League Nalong with his family mem-bers and friends. He made theannouncement during anews conference wherePML-N provincial joint sec-retary Farooq Iqbal, DirLower president MalikBehram Shahzada, Youthwing vice president FaridKhan Yousafzai, Balambatpresident Samiullah Khatirand other local leaders werealso present on the occasion.

Besides advocateDastagir, other members of

the PTI including Ilyas Khan,Junaid Khan, Bakht Jamal andImran while Bacha Mir Khanof the PPP also announced tojoin the PML-N. Addressingon the occasion JehanDastagir said that he had beenactive in politics since 1999.He said he was made generalsecretary of the PTI in 2002and made the party popularin youths. He said after realiz-ing the fact that only MianNawaz Sharif could steer thenation out of crises he de-cided to join the PML-N. Hesaid he had joined the PTIalone while now he was join-ing the PML-N along with hisfamily and friends.

Malik Farooq Iqbal whilespeaking on the occasion saidthat joining the PML-N by thePTI activists would further

strengthen the party in DirLower. He said the PML-Nwas committed to end corrup-tion, lawlessness and unem-ployment. The PML-N work-ers and local leaders de-manded of Mian Nawaz Sharifto visit both the Lower Dir andUpper Dir before election.They also demanded of thegovernment to make func-tional the Timergara library.

Malik Behram said thatinterviews of their aspirantcandidates had been held theother day and soon theirname would be made public.He said that twelve personshad got nomination papersfor one national and fourprovincial assembly seats inDir Lower. The party wouldselect one name each, headded.

Teenage girl kidnappedCase registered

81,000 security personnelto perform KP election duty

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—After gettingdisgraceful defeat in Afghani-stan, US, Zionists and Indianimperialists were hatching con-spiracies to pitch Muslimsagainst Muslims bymanoeuvring suicide bombingin Balochistan and other partsof the country to disintegrateit, Hafiz Muhammad Saeed,Chief of Jamat-ud-Dawa saidhere. Addressing a big gather-ing here under the auspices ofIttehad-e-Ummat Conference,he warned Muslim rulers notto bargain the interests ofUmmah and formulate policyaccording to Holy Quran tosave the Ummah from the sla-very of imperialist forces. Hesaid that more then 0.15 million

Muslims have been martyredin Kashmir by the Indian impe-rialists and we should not be-tray their sacrifices.

He further said that Pakistanirulers should not deviate from itsprincipled stand over the Kash-mir and refrain from giving MFNstatus to Bharat. He made ferventappeal to the Muslims to adopttheir lives truly in accordance withthe teachings of Islam and HolyProphet (PBUH) and only bowbefore Almighty Allah for theresolution of their day-to-dayproblems.

*****A poor worker has commit-

ted suicide by taking poison-ous tablet due to poverty here.He was rushed to a hospital butcould not survive. Accordingto Rescue sources, Akhtar, son

of, Haji Yousaf of MohallahSherpura was working on anoven and has been married amonth back but due to sheerpoverty he decided to put anend to his life by taking wheatpreservative tablet which canbe have easily in the area.

*****The Kissan Board,

Hafizabad, has called upon theprovincial government to an-nounce wheat procurementscheme and set up procurementcentres in the district withoutfurther delay. Aman UllahChattha, President District KB,said that wheat harvestingwould start in the first week ofApril and government shouldstart supply of ‘bardana’(empty sacks) and ensure pro-curement of wheat by April 15.

Many PTI activists join PML-N

Only Nawaz can steer country out of crises

US, Zionists, their Indian lackeyshatching anti-Muslim policies

All resources to be usedfor free polls: Barozai

MULTAN—Secretary GeneralJamat-e-Isalmi, LiaqatBaloch, General SecretaryPPP South Punjab, MalikAmir Dogar and Member ofMQM Rabta Committee,Iftikhar Randhawa amongothers party members and in-dependent candidates filedtheir nomination papers forgeneral election 2013. Ac-cording to details, LiaqatBaloch and Amir Dogar filednomination papers for NA-149, while Iftikhar Randhawafiled papers for NA-150.

Others who submittedpapers include: Malik ShahidKhohar (PML-N) for PP-199,

Sheikh Mohammad Yunis (In-dependent) for PP-199, MehrGhulam Mustafa Buhari(MQM) for PP-199, SyedAbdur Rasheed (Indepen-dent) for PP-199, RanaMohammad Hafeez (PML-Q)for PP-194, Nawab Nadeem-ud-din (PML-N) for PP-198,Rizwan Thaheen (Indepen-dent) for PP-197, Amir Dogar(PPP) for PP-198, HafizMushtaq (PTI) for PP-194 andAhsan-ud-din Qureshi forNA-149. It is pertinent to notethat ECP has extended thedeadline for candidates to filenomination papers across thecountry.—APP

Baloch, Dogar, Randhawafile nomination papers

FAISALABAD: Lawyers of District Bar Association holding a demonstration in support of their demands.

PESHAWAR: PML-N workers of KP 3 UC Ward-21 Zargarabad protesting in favour oftheir demands.

STAFF REPORTER

P E S H AWA R — C a r e t a k e rChief Minister KhyberPakhtunkhwa Justice (Retd)Tariq Pervez Khan has saidthat holding of free, fair andimpartial elections in apeaceful environment in theprovince. He expressedthese views while chairingthe first meeting of the care-taker provincial cabinet inPeshawar on Thursday.

The meeting reviewedin detail the preparations ofprovincial election commis-sion and other concerneddepartments for the upcom-ing general elections andthe law and order situationin the province with particu-lar reference to the generalelections. Chief SecretaryGhulam Dastagir Akhtar, In-spector General Police,

Akbar Khan Hoti, AdditionalChief Secretary AttaullahKhan Toru, Secretary Ad-ministration Hifz-ur-Rehman, Secretary Homeand Tribal Affairs AzamKhan, Secretary FinanceSahibzada Saeed, SecretaryLaw and Parliamentary Af-fairs Mohammad Arifeen,Secretary Local governmentAurangzeb Khan, SecretaryInformation, Azmat HanifOrakzai and Provincial Elec-tion Commissioner SonuKhan Baloch attended themeeting. In his address thechief minister said that ac-cording to the constitutionof the country holding of fairand transparent electionswas the duty of electioncommission however, thereis a provision for caretakergovernment in the constitu-tion to help and assist the

election commission to holdfree, fair and transparentelections in a peaceful envi-ronment.

The role of caretakergovernment is that of abridge in the smooth trans-fer of power from an electedgovernment to other, hemaintained. The chief minis-ter said that though the care-taker government was not anelected one but it has thehuge responsibility of main-taining and creating peace-ful environment for free, fairand transparent elections.

The meeting expressedits satisfaction over thepreparation of the con-cerned departments for theelections and the prepara-tions and planning’s of thelaw enforcing agencies tomaintain law and order dur-ing the election process.

KP CM assures fair, free polls

Now when lists of defaultersare on ECP table

As scrutiny of the nomination paper is about to begin, media reports suggest that different organizations have provided lists ofdefaulters to the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) that

would help it judge the contesting candidates on the yardstick of articles-62 and 63 of the Constitution. A list of telephone defaulters and thosewho did not pay their electricity bills has been published by newspaperswhile there is still curtain of secrecy over those who are defaulters ofloans from banks, got their loans illegally written off or have not paidtheir taxes.

The lists of defaulters are either with the ECP or with other con-cerned organizations and if the process of scrutiny was thoroughly andhonestly undertaken then there is likelihood that the corrupt and de-faulters would be eliminated from the scene, clearing the way for com-paratively better lot to make to assemblies. Unfortunately, at the mo-ment, the entire focus is on former parliamentarians while it is anybody’sguess that there are thousands of other defaulters, corrupt and crimi-nals that might be applying for tickets of some political party or intendto contest the elections as independents and onus of blocking their wayfalls on the departments concerned and the Election Commission. Any-how, this is time to cleanse the politics of the corrupt and those whoreached assemblies in the past through fraudulent means including sub-mission of fake degrees. Such people do not deserve any concession orleniency and the Election Commission would be failing its responsibil-ity if it made no foolproof arrangements for a transparent scrutiny pro-cess. There is no reason why the Commission should not carry out thisresponsibility as per expectations of the people when the public opin-ion is fully backs the objective of weeding out of the corrupt and thereis universal demand for strict implementation of the relevant provi-sions of the Constitution that were there also in the past but kept dor-mant. It is worth mentioning that the Chief Justice of Pakistan is alsodetermined to provide umbrella to the electoral process. We, therefore,hope that the Commission would not miss this historic opportunity andwould lay foundation of a process that could ultimately give the coun-try a clean and spotless administration after several elections.

SC shows remarkableprudence in Musharraf’s caseTHE Supreme Court has refused to take direct action against former

President Pervez Musharraf over Dr Mubashir Hassan’s plea seekinghis disqualification in the upcoming elections. The petitioner had arguedthat General Retd Musharraf violated the constitution on November 3,2007by imposing emergency in the country.

The decision by the Chief Justice shows remarkable prudence be-cause had the court taken suo motu action it could have been interpretedby some critics in the negative sense. Otherwise too in our view the formerPresident has every right to take part in Pakistani politics. There wouldbe test of our politicians in the May 11,2013 elections and certainly thepeople would vote for the better. During his tenure, barring one or twocontroversial decisions, Musharraf did a lot for the country includingimprovement of economy along with his Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.Our economy has been in very poor shape now and a visionary leader-ship is required to put in stimulus by addressing all the ills includingpower shortages, corruption and bureaucratic hurdles. Major politicalparties have either already announced their Manifestoes or would be do-ing so in the coming days and one appreciates that due emphasis is beinggiven to the economy because that is key to solution of problems likeunemployment, inflation and poverty. It was satisfying that no hurdlewas created in the return of the former President and the honourableChief Justice rightly observed that the Election Commission of Pakistanknows better how to apply articles 62 and 63 of the constitution. There-fore we would emphasise that by following the precedence of the ApexCourt, every institution must play its role to ensure free and fair electionsas they are important for a bright and peaceful future of the country.

Bulletproof cars’demand ups

ACCORDING to a report, appearing in this newspaper, the demandfor bulletproof cars has suddenly increased especially among the

worried business community that finds it increasingly difficult to moveabout in view of the pretty precarious law and order situation. As perDirector of just one car manufacturing company, they receive demandfor at least 20 bulletproof cars every month by the private sector.

The development is indicative of the serious security concernsthat prevail among people. Previously, bulletproof vehicles were ac-quired only by law enforcing agencies and for VVIPs but the chang-ing pattern reflects poorly on the overall security environment in thecountry and inability of the Government to improve the situation. Itis obvious that bullet proof cars cost much more than the ordinaryones but there is no price of life and one obviously has to take care ofhimself in the face of increasing incidents of target killing. The situ-ation is particularly worrisome in Karachi, Quetta and KPK wherekidnapping, extortion and target killing have become order of the day.The acquisition of bulletproof vehicle by citizens shows that theirfaith in the ability of the Government to safeguard life and propertyhas eroded. But bulletproofing is no answer to the threats of securityand the next Government will have to make law and order its firstpriority. Otherwise, a day would come when people will have to placeorders for armored vehicles in the face of rising number of bombblasts and use of modern attack weapons by terrorists.

Modern China’s hidden Achilles heel

Every man is wanted,and no man iswanted much.

Currencyswap deal

The fifth Brics summit inDurban has brought to foreinherent contradictions in the

politic-economic alliance. The fiveemerging markets consisting ofmore than one-third of the worldpopulation, however, made a gen-erous attempt to seem business-wise as each of them inked dealsworth billions of dollars amongthemselves. These deals rangedfrom helicopters and fighter jets tooil and gas deals, and even an un-derstanding to work for environ-ment-friendly industrial policies.The most outstanding achievementwas the $30 billion currency swapdeal signed between Brazil andChina that would enable both thecountries to trade in their local cur-rencies regardless of global finan-cial conditions.

The monetary arrangement isdesigned to safeguard against fu-ture global financial crises and is amasterstroke of politics against themonopoly of dollar in the interna-tional trading circles. China and thelike, including the European Unionand Japan, for long had hinted atexpanding the basket of interna-tional currencies and allowingstates to trade in their local fiat. Towhat extent can this yuan-reaisamalgamation matter on the inter-national scene is not so difficult toguess given its limitations to thetune of 30 billion dollars. But itcould set a precedent wherein ma-jor emerging economies can signsimilar deals, which could inevita-bly result in weakening the dollar’sindispensability. The greenback isalready in a fix as recession world-wide has unnerved its clout to thecore. How the US will react to suchextra-regional pacts, especially ata time when Washington wants atrouble-free relationship with itssouthern neighbours and theworld’s second largest economyremains a question mark for timesto come. Beijing, however, in itsendeavour to push for a more in-ternational role for its currency hasbeen trying to promote the yuan asan alternative to the US dollar, sinceChina’s currency is not fully con-vertible to other currencies.

It has been quite successfuland that is evident from bilateralswap deals it has struck with Aus-tralia, worth up to $31 billion, andis in talks with the Bank of Englandto finance a three-year bilateraltrade and investment programme.The fact that China made use of theBrics forum is meaningful, and itis hoped that similar deals are inthe offing with India, Russia andSouth Africa, which could come tocement more than half of its inter-national trade in its own denomi-nator. — Khaleej Times

******

Syrianopposition

The future of Syria will be dependent on how its peoplecome together as a single

force that brings about a long-awaited change. What the coun-try needs most though is that aclear blueprint for the future isoutlined and followed. At the re-cent Arab League meeting inQatar, Syria’s seat was occupied,for the first time, by a figure fromthe opposition. Symbolic as thismay seem, it is an important indi-cation as it gives the movement anofficial stance amongst its Arabneighbours. It also clearly signalsthat the current regime is no longerperceived to be likely to surviveunder any condition.

The head of the Syrian Na-tional Coalition, Muath Al Khatib,in his address at the summit focusedon the needs of the opposition andthe suffering of the people. He alsourged for further assistance to begiven to the opposition. Perhapswhat is most significant is the factthat Al Khatib has highlighted thefact that the conflict in Syria hasbecome more complicated and bru-tal as a result of the interference ofother parties and countries in thecountry’s affairs. There is no ques-tion that freedom has a price andthat change on many occasionsbrings with it unforeseen circum-stances and factors. Yet, in anygiven conflict, the most importantfactor that should enable a groupof people to overcome difficultiesis that they should stand united intheir fight against injustice. Andfor the Syrian opposition, this willbe the most important step to betaken. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

Ralph Emerson—US poet

If in the 1960s it was the fashionto predict the imminent collapseof India, with even the brilliant

writer Sir Vidya Naipaul succumb-ing to the Churchillian influence ofthose who regarded the people ofIndia as incapable of unity. Since the1997 handover of Hong Kong fromLondon to Beijing, several booksand articles have talked of the “com-ing collapse of China”. Indeed, thatwas the title of a book by GordonChang, a formidable intellect. Mostsuch doomsayers regarded the au-thoritarian rule of the Chinese Com-munist Party (CCP) as being incom-patible with continued rapid growthand social stability, whereas in factthe Chinese economic model de-pends on strong government to en-sure rapid growth.

Had the CCP loosened its gripover policy, growth would haveslowed down rather than acceler-ated. While the private sector inChina needs to become as much ofa priority for policymakers as state-owned enterprises (SOEs) have beensince economic reform acceleratedin the mid-1980s, the unique Chi-nese model of development neces-sitates robust mentoring by the statein order for even the private sectorto achieve its full potential. Nearlynine years ago, this columnist hadwritten (in the Far Eastern EconomicReview) that in China, it was not“Authoritarianism versus Growth”

Impending cracks in militant organisations

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Sunday Magazine

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The political milieu in the strifetorn province of Balochistanis undergoing a sea change.

With the interim government inplace, it is interesting to note that thecaretaker Prime Minister of Pakistanas well as the caretaker Chief Min-ister is Baloch while the Chief Jus-tice of Pakistan has a Baloch domi-cile and the President is of Balochorigin. This quirk of fate should re-move some of the grouse of theBaloch dissidents and provide an op-portunity to the incumbents of thehigh positions to offer some respiteto their troubled province and enableit to come back into the fold of thefederation and drop the collisioncourse its separatist elements hadadopted. Another major develop-ment, which can be viewed posi-tively, is that personal rifts and jeal-ousies have led to creation of cracksand differences between BalochistanLiberation Army (BLA) and UnitedBalochistan Army (UBA).

The BLA is a separatist militantgroup, which was propelled intofame during the summer of 2000,after it claimed credit for a series ofbombings of attacks on Pakistaniauthorities in response to the allegedmistreatment and neglect of theBaloch province in Pakistan. Thegroup is currently headed byHarbyiar Marri and has an estimatedstrength of 500 fighters. It was de-clared a terrorist organization in Pa-kistan in April 2006, after a series ofattacks conducted by the group tar-geting security personnel, civiliansand journalists. On 17 July 2006, thegovernment of the United Kingdom

listed the BLA as a proscribedgroup per the Terrorism Act2000. As a result of this desig-nation, any person associatedwith the organization is barredfrom entering the United King-dom. The group’s actions have

also been described as terrorism bythe US State Department of State. TheBLA and UBA have been acting intandem, creating unrest and destabi-lizing the province, however, thegrowing rivalry between the two ex-tremist groups, is likely to depletetheir resources as well weaken theirresolve to foment trouble. These dif-ferences are likely to grow in days tocome, especially when Khair BuxMarri becomes politically furtherweak. Cracks and fissures betweenBLA and UBA exist and are likely togrow in days to come as personal in-terests and jealousies between lead-ership are likely to create more divi-sion between the two outfits.

Previously Zarman Marri wasmore active on media front for pro-jecting Balochistan issue and less in-clined towards militancy. Harbiyar’slust for power and desire to exerciseabsolute control over BLA, with aview to project himself as the abso-lute leaders of BLA, compelledZarman to establish his own militantoutfit-UBA. Formation of UBA hasdiluted the collective power of BLA.Reports indicate that UBA has beenformed with due approval and bless-ings of Khair Bux Marri.

Differences are widening be-tween the two outfits led by Marribrothers. Dispute over weapons &ammunition has also become causeof rift between BLA and UBA.Ferraris who joined UBA took alongwith them weaponsI ammunitionwhile arms dumped in Kahan areawere also taken by UBA led militants.Harbiyar tried his best to retrievethese arms but all in vain. Mehran

(Zarman) is brother-in-law ofBrahamdagh Bugti and both enjoyclose relationship. Their closeness hasresulted into the joint militant activi-ties of UBA and BRA. On the otherhand there is a trust deficit betweenBrahamdagh and Harbiyar over Rs60 million which Harbiyar reneged.Greedy attributes of these leadershave further heightened the rivalry.

Instead of brainstorming and re-solving his issue with other Balochsub nationalist leaders including hisfather KB Marri and brother ZarmanMarri, Harbiyar Marri relies on thecounsel of paid advisorI Ferrari com-manders working under him. More-over, he believes in militancy ratherthan popular politics. On the otherhand, Zarman is reported to haveregular consultation with his fatherand other significant people. The lawenforcement agencies in the provincehave a small window of opportunityto exploit the crevasses created in therelationship of the militants.

It is also worth noting that the richmineral treasures of Balochistan andstrategic importance of Gwadar portare the focus of all the major powers.Various schemes of division based onsectarianism make the fact evidentthat anti-Pakistan forces/ hostilecountries are attempting to break thesocial fabrics of the province. Sec-tarian groups like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi,working on the behest of these hos-tile elements, are highly active inBalochistan to foment sectarian vio-lence. Forensic investigations of sec-tarian killings indicate that sameweapons and killing patterns are usedin targeting the leaders /followers ofvarious sects. These facts take us tothe conclusion that a third group isstaging sectarian killings to provokelarge scale violence in the country.Involvement of RAW and westernhostile agencies, therefore, cannot beruled out. Foreign intervention is cer-

but “Authoritarianism andGrowth”, that China owedits rapid material ascent tothe CCP’s policy of centralcontrol over overall trends,and nothing has happenedsince then to cause a revi-sion of this view. While thecurrent leader Xi Jinping isunlikely to go the Roh-Ching-kuo way, his succes-

sor is very likely to leave office in2033 after having initiated a transi-tion to a popularly elected executivein place of the present system ofnominated leaders. The Chinesepeople are modernising themselves asfast as their economy, and are todaycompletely different from what theywere even fifteen years ago.

The danger to the stability ofChina will come not from declaredenemies of the CCP - these can behandled with relative ease, at least solong as growth continues to be be-yond 6% annually. Rather, the trueAchilles Heel of the Peoples Repub-lic of China is the fact that across in-stitutions, those who have studied hu-manities abroad are taking over thehigher rungs of decision-making inpreference to those who were edu-cated within China. There is a differ-ence between the study of science andengineering and the learning of hu-manities. The latter often result in theingestion of mindsets and world-views incompatible with the core in-terests of the country of origin of thestudent studying in the US, the UKor other NATO-bloc countries. Moreand more children of top leaders ofthe CCP are going to fashionableNATO-bloc universities for higherlearning in non-technical subjects,including finance and economics. Awestern education usually results inthe individual concerned losing fa-miliarity with the basic conditions

within his or her country of origin.A substantial part of the reason

why India continued to proceed to ad-vance at a snail’s pace after 1947 wasbecause both Jawaharlal Nehru aswell as Indira Gandhi were educatedin the West, in contrast to Lal BahadurShastri, who was wholly educated inIndia. Both Nehru and his daughterfashioned policies that continued thecolonial pattern of not trusting theIndian people, so that the straitjacketof state control that had snuffed outenterprise during the British Raj wascontinued. Only when the India-edu-cated P V Narasimha Rao or AalBehari Vajpayee took charge did theeconomy accelerate,only to onceagain decline now that the duo ofSonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh(both of whom were educated abroad)are in charge.

In a travesty of what is needed inorder to ensure good governance,each year the Government of Indiaspends tens of millions of dollars edu-cating its officials (and a scatter ofpoliticians) in pricey universities suchas Oxford or Harvard. Those that re-turn imbibe the colonial mistrust andcontempt of the Indian people, andfashion policies that have the effectof promoting NATO-bloc interestsrather than that of their own country.In ministries dealing with economicmatters in particular, a foreign degreeis highly prized, and the higher ech-elons get filled by these birds of pas-sage, who often see a stint in India asjust a means of earning the goodwillof NATO-bloc countries, to whichthey yearn to return

China is facing the same prob-lem as India. Its policy elite are send-ing their sons and daughters toNATO-bloc countries for educationin the social sciences. When they re-turn, these favoured individuals en-sure that they and other foreign re-

turnees slowly begin to elbow outfrom higher positions those educatedin China. As a consequence, policygets skewed in an elitist direction,thereby creating conditions whereeconomic progress and stability canbe at risk. Even more than in India,there is a craze in China for West-ern education, western dress andwestern lifestyles. Slowly, thosethat have fallen prey to such a trans-formation of their psyches are ex-tending their tentacles across thevarious agencies of government.However, as yet, at the top those incharge are still those who havestudied entirely in China, at leastso far as the social sciences is con-cerned. There is as yet noManmohan Singh in Beijing.

However, unless the Chineseleadership looks at the example ofIndia and understands the value ofeducation at home rather than inNATO-bloc countries, increasinglypolicies that are skewed in an elit-ist direction will get formulated andimplemented, as they were whenJiang Zemin was in charge. Thingschanged during the ten years underHu Jintao, and it is to be hoped thatPresident Xi Jinping will follow the“Asian nationalist” track of HuJintao rather than the blind west-ernization favoured by Hu’s prede-cessor, Jiang Zemin. The problemsfacing Chins need Chinese, notwestern, solutions. And for these tobe worked out and implemented,those educated at home need to begiven primacy over those educatedin the NATO bloc. Indeed, the lat-ter are modern China’s hiddenAchilles Heel.—The writer is Vice-Chair,Manipal Advanced ResearchGroup, UNESCO Peace Chair &Professor of Geopolitics, ManipalUniversity, Haryana State, India.

tainly a major agent of sectarian vio-lence. Unfortunately the neighbor-ing Muslim countries are involvedin promoting and strengthening dif-ferent sectarian organizations in thecountry. In this context if Iran isbacking Shia organizations thenArab States are financing Sunni sec-tarian groups to further their owndesigns. The Western countries arealso providing funds to moderatereligious groups as a part of theirstrategy to counter radicalization inPakistan which is eventually harm-ing Pakistan’s cause of national in-tegration. Domestic media while de-nouncing sectarian killings inQuetta, Karachi, KPK and GB mustexpose the foreign powers involvedin sectarian violence in Pakistan.

The current unrest inBalochistan centers around forceddisappearances, kidnappings, tar-geted killings, assassinations andterrorism. However, these aremerely the tactics of a much broader,more geopolitically complex war inwhich the United States and itsWestern allies are engaged. Thoughseemingly insignificant against thebackdrop of all the regional and in-ternational crises affecting ourworld, Balochistan is, in fact, anexus: the point at which diametri-cally opposing strategic interestsconverge. Another positive develop-ment is the resolve of Akhtar Mengaland his Baloch Nationalist Party tocontest the forthcoming elections.

The interim set up should makesure that they make use of the timeat their hands and bring the prov-ince towards peace. It is an uphilltask but where there is a will, thereis a way.—The author, a retired PAFGroup Captain, served as Air &Naval attaché at Riyadh and iscurrently a columnist, analyst andTV talk show host.

Sultan M HaliEmail: sm_hali@yahoo.com

M D NalapatEmail: mgnalapat@gmail.com

GeopoliticalGeopoliticalGeopoliticalGeopoliticalGeopoliticalnotes from Indianotes from Indianotes from Indianotes from Indianotes from India

Voice of the PeopleLinguistically Taqwa means

protection and shield fromwhat is harmful. In Islam

Taqwa means for a person to have aprotection and shield between himand punishment of Allah Almighty.So Taqwa is a comprehensive wordfound in the Qur’an that carries themeaning of fear, respect, and rever-ence for God. In other words Taqwameans to cleanse or purify the heartand the soul. The concept of ‘Taqwa’is the realization of the Creator’s be-nevolence and the potential loss, dueto our own actions. The practical im-plication of ‘Taqwa’ is a person’scomplete submission to God’s direc-tives. Consciousness of Allah is thehighest plan a true Muslim must al-ways strive to achieve, stay awayfrom forbidden things, and to do allthe things ordered by Allah Almighty.

Taqwa is a Gift from God “Butto those who receive Guidance, Heincreases the (light of) Guidance,and bestows on them their Piety andRestraint [Taqwa]. “ (Qur’an 47:17).Now the question arises what sort isfear God? And how is God to be

Taqwa

Guards readyto robALI JUTT

The steps taken by Election com-mission of Pakistan should be ad-mired. it will truly help the electoralprocess be democratic in genuinesense. But all the measures initiatedthereby will not bring desired endswithout proper execution. The an-nals of the laws, best enacted ever,alone are unable to turn the lot ofnation if they lack implementation.

The crux of problem is that thegrave violations of the conduct ofelection are being committed in PP230 and NA 166 Arifwala distPakpattan. Neither political partiesnor the candidates are ready toabidely the electoral laws. And mostimportantly of all the governmentalmachinery is being used in the elec-tion campaign. The government ser-vants are rendering their services toprospective victorious candidatesand public offices are being used ascamp offices.

All the appointments and trans-fers have been banned. So what tospeak of enforcement if authoritiesresponsible themselves take to vio-late and no transfer is allowed. Fromthis platform request Chief ElectionCommissioner to equip the districtElection Commissioners with nec-essary powers to take strict actionsagainst these black sheep and to rec-ommend their transfers in order toinsure free and impartial elections..—Muzaffarabad Arifwala

Vote andconfusion

SULEMAN MANSHA

A remarkable section of Pakistanisociety is unable to decide whetherthey should cast their vote or not.If the answer is yes then the ques-tion arises that for which politicalparty they should go. If they arereluctant to use the right of votethen how can we make them un-derstand the importance of theirvote. The problem is very serious.The reasons behind the problem areour vested interests, caste system,superficial knowledge of politics,increasing political parties, turncoat politicians, dark years of dic-tatorship, immature democracy,failure of mainstream political par-ties to deliver, illiteracy etc.

All these causes cannot berooted out within a short period oftime. But pragmatic and feasibletechniques can be opted for encour-aging the society, as a whole, to par-ticipate enthusiastically in the com-ing general elections. Firstly thepolitical parties, media and ElectionCommission of Pakistan shouldlaunch a fascinating campaign byusing modern techniques. Secondlythe educated people and political ex-perts must guide them, who are notaware of the worth of their vote, thatwhat revolution they can bringthrough their vote.

Thirdly the journalists and col-umnists can bring the people on theright track through their manifestooriented writings. There is direneed to create awareness among themasses that what is a good mani-festo, its importance in politics, itsimpact on health, education,economy, energy sector, politicalsystem and all other important de-partments.

Finally the track record and im-pact of the policies of the rulingparties must be kept in mind, Thewisdom and sincerity of the politi-cal parties, who have not been inpower, can be determined bydeeply studying their manifesto andby assessing the feasibility of theirpolicies. All of us will have to playa constructive role in this regard.—Lahore.

Charged parkingMUAHMMAD ANNUS

At different locations in Karachi,motorists and motorcycle ownersare being fleeced in the name ofcharged parking. In most places,once you have parked your vehicle,you are given a receipt which saysRs10 per car and Rs5 per motor-cycle. However, you are actually

Competing with PharoahsMUHAMMAD ANNUS

Our outgoing political leaders – the former prime minister, former speaker of the National Assemblyand the former Sindh Assembly legislators – being mortals were short-sighted as in the last week of

their rule they legitimised perks and privileges for their lifetime only. Though their action was akin tothat of the ancient Pharaohs who were not answerable to their subjects, our politicians failed to learn anadditional lesson from the ancient rulers: they ignored seeking perks and privileges for life hereafter.Our former representatives should have arranged to have their bodies mummified and to have pyra-mid-like buildings built where they along with their state-provided private secretaries, cooks, drivers,security guards could be buried along with the wealth acquired during their five-year rule. This way thenational exchequer will not lose out since the newly-built pyramids in Pakistan would pull away touristsfrom the 3500 years old Egyptian pyramids. The interim government can do this one last good deed forthe outgoing guardians of ‘jamhooriyat’ by issuing an ordinance which will be certainly passed with noquestions asked by the future assemblies.—Karachi

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

asked to pay double this rate and itseems that either KMC or the Can-tonment authorities look the otherway on this matter. I should add thatin some places where there is noparking fee at all, even there motor-ists are charged. At the Sunday Ba-zaar on University Road oppositeSafari Park, citizens are made to payRs20 for less than one hour of park-ing and disputes between motoristsand parking lot attendants are thenorm. At shopping malls, the park-ing fee per car is as high as Rs30.Why can’t the Karachi city admin-istration take notice of this and or-der the required action against thecharged parking contractors?—Karachi

UnemploymentSUMAIRA AHMED

Unemployment is serious problem ofour country. The biggest reason ofunemployment is the destruction ofagricultural sector ,it is the back boneof our economy ,which contributes21-23% to GDP, that’s why about44% people are associated with it di-rectly or indirectly.

Unemployment rate is increasing, which has two major aspects.Firstis the adoption of modren machineryand capital intensive technology,which has decreased the demand oflabou. Second is less attention fromgovernment to agricultural sector, dueto this there is less availability of fer-tilizers, pesticides, quality seeds, ab-sence of land reforms and lack ofagricultural awareness.

Industrial sector which is sec-ond largest sector of economy andcontributes about 19% to nationalincome.But it is also employing lesspeople, whose main reason is thebreak down of electricity,gas andother, which are affecting thepeople, increasing unemploymentratio.

We would like to suggest thatwith proper planing, strong policies,better law and order situation, resolveresolution of energy crisis,improvingagriculture and sincerity with Paki-stan, we can not only tackle the issueof unemployment but all economicproblem of our country.—Karachi

Raiders on bikesMUHAMMAD ANNUS

In Karachi, the sea of motorcycles inthe rush hours will make one realisethat there are no traffic laws for them.The government functionaries imple-menting traffic rules have totallyfailed to implement any rules andregulations.

Their two and three day drivesto isseminate awareness among bik-ers have done little to change theirbehavior in any way. The blatant dis-regard for life or limb is amazing;these daring youths are seen ridingon pavements, jumping the signals,rushing between cars and the onewheeling not only endangers theirlives but the passersby as well Thebehavior of the unruly bikers couldbe improved through education; theycan be taught basic traffic rules andethics in their syllabus.

They should be exposed to vari-ous threats and penalties for violationof traffic rules. Revamping the traf-fic warden system might also pay thedividend.—Karachi

Institutionalfragility

ABRAIZ MUZAFFAR SHAIKH

The societal trend to determine pa-rameters and the procedural outlin-ing to observe such parameters is thefundamental course of smooth sail-ing. The problems get generatedwhen overstepping or outlawing dis-turbs the mechanism. This fundamen-tal change is apparent in progressivejudicial authority. The use of powersand prerogatives is an inalienableright but when it comes at the expenseof narrowing down the powers andprerogatives of other institutions, itdamages the spirit of separation ofpowers.

Inevitably, there had been unfor-tunate weak justice system in the paston several crucial occasions whichhas now given rise to an institutional

Sensitive information must be kept secret

The Justice and Security Bill returns to the House of Lords. Itprovides a way forward on one

of our most pressing national secu-rity problems. Let me explain. Lessthan six months into my time as Se-curity Minister in the Coalition Gov-ernment we uncovered an al Qaedaplot to unleash Mumbai-style gun at-tacks on three major European cities.Almost exactly a month later wefoiled a bomb plot which would havebrought down two freight aircraftover the eastern seaboard of theUnited States.

The fact that these plots did notend up as major terrorist incidentswas not the result of the conversionof the enemy, but of the extraordinarydiligence of our agents and the closeintelligence sharing partnerships wehave with our allies in Europe, theUnited States and across the world. Ihave seen this work in action: teamsof intelligence agents, working with

foreign allies, painstakingly siftinginformation, building up a picture ofthe activities of those who would dous harm.

Their work together is based onone thing above all: trust. Trust ineach other and trust on the part ofthose willing to help our agencies.Lose either and we are irretrievablyweakened. Concerned members oflocal communities with valuable in-formation need to be confident thatif they go to the police, their safetywill not be endangered and theirnames will never come out. Such in-dividuals also deserve to have confi-dence, as do we all, in the account-ability of the system and its demon-strable commitment to the rule of law.

That a question mark currentlyhangs over the United Kingdom inboth areas is extraordinarily damag-ing. It affects our own ability to gatherinformation and it reduces our over-seas partners’ willingness to sharetheirs with us. The effect is of a dim-mer switch slowly turning, reducingour ability to see clearly the threatsfacing us. In the Justice and Security

Bill we have remedies which are vi-tal to our future security.

The most important thing the Billdoes is to make the intelligence agen-cies firmly accountable to the courts– for the first time. The current courtrules – once criticised but now some-what perversely lauded by the Bill’sopponents – exclude national secu-rity evidence from the courtroom en-tirely. This results in a situation inwhich claimants against the govern-ment are unable to prove their caseand the Government is unable to de-fend itself. This constitutes a hope-less failure of accountability and adenial of justice.

It is also a serious national se-curity problem. A small but grow-ing number of cases are piling upwhich are unresolvable by the courtsunder current procedures. All ofthem have national security evidenceat their heart – material which ifopenly released would identify in-dividual names or particular partner-ships or secret techniques. Oursources, our agents, and our partnersare increasingly worried that there

Pauline N Jones

feared? Indeed, a person exhibits thefear of Allah by seeking to preventAllah’s punishment by carrying outwhat Allah has com-manded of him andabstaining from whatAllah has prohibitedhim. Taqwa is Loveof God. In Islam fearof God, obedience toGod and sacrificingfor God’s cause arestages (that should bemaintained) on thespiritual path tosomething better;love for God. AllahAlmighty says “O yewho believe! FearAllah, and let everysoul look to what (provision) He hassent forth for the morrow. Yea, fearAllah: for Allah is well-acquaintedwith (all) that ye do. (Qur’an 59: 18-19). A person once asked the HolyPropohet (PBUH), O Messenger ofAllah Give me some advice He re-plied, I advise you to fear Allah be-cause it is the head of everything.

Views From Abroad

Economic growth of China

Global economic and financialcrisis have hurt all the countries of the world-albeit with

varying degree. No country is an ex-ception. No one thought four yearsago that the high tide of economicgrowth will turn into a economic tsu-nami which will engulf our entireglobe. No one thought that China-theeconomic juggernaut and power-house of Asia too will be affected bythis El-nino. Yet it is a hard realitythat this Asian giant, which did notsee a growth rate of less that 10-12%in over a decade, is too be rattled bythese crisis, not seen since the greatdepression of 1930’s. Foreign directinvestment in China declined for thefirst time in three years in 2012, offi-cial data showed recently, amid eco-nomic turmoil in developed marketsand a slowdown in Chinese manu-facturing and exports.

FDI, which excludes financialsectors, into China declined 3.7 per-cent to $111.72 billion last year from2011, the commerce ministry an-nounced. It slipped from an all-timehigh of $116 billion recorded in 2011and was the first year-on-year de-crease since 2009, according to pre-vious figures. Ministry spokesmanShen Danyang said, meanwhile, thatin 2012, Chinese directly invested$77.22 billion overseas in non-finan-cial sectors in 141 countries and re-gions, an increase of 28.6 percent

from the year before. The invest-ment figures come as China’seconomy slowed throughout most of2012, while developed economiessuch as the United States, the Euro-pean Union and Japan largely re-mained weak. Economic growth inChina has declined for seven straightquarters though recent positive signshave led economists to expect a re-bound this year.

The median forecasts in surveysof economists are for growth of 7.7percent in 2012. Economists polledalso expect the economy to grow 8percent in 2013. The lion’s share ofFDI into China comes from 10 Asiancountries and economies includingJapan, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Thatfigure declined 4.8 percent last yearto $95.74 billion. Investment from theEuropean Union fell 3.8 percent to$6.11 billion. But investment fromthe United States and Japan in-creased. Inflows from the US gained4.5 per cent to $3.12 billion, whilethose from Japan increased 16.3 per-cent to $7.38 billion. The growthmomentum and tempo of investmentfrom some developed countries in-cluding the United States and Japanwas mixed.

In 2013, the ministry is likelyto keep fundamental policies on for-eign investment stable and the over-all size of FDI stable. However onesignificant change in the growth andinvestment strategies is notable.China is keen to promote overseasinvestment as part of its efforts toreform Chinese growth model andacquire important foreign assets in

sectors such as enegy, mining andhigh tech industries. It is going tobe a trend in the long run. It is highlylikely that overseas direct invest-ment will surpass foreign direct in-vestment in the years to come. Itseems to be national strategy totransform China from big exporterto big investor. The biggest rise inChinese investment in a major mar-ket during January and February2013 was in Australia where itsurged 282%. It was followed byHong Kong where it went up 156%and US by 146%,while in south eastAsia, it went up by 114%.Howeverit recorded a negative trend with re-gards to Japan, where it went downby 31% and Russia down by 46%.As regards income in-equality, themedia made no attempt to show ei-ther China’s phenomenal rise in re-cent decades or the consequences ofthat rise, for the Chinese workersand society. According to a study,the top 10 percent of the populationtoday account for 75 percent of na-tional income. The wealthiest fivepercent earn 44 percent. At the topof the Chinese pyramid there are 251billionaires. At the bottom, morethan 150 million Chinese who stilllive on less than $1.25 a day.

The “market-socialism” that hasapparently triggered the “phenom-enal rise” can neither elevate the dol-lar-a-day Chinese labourer out ofpoverty nor even offer better livingstandards for the majority of Chinese.The World Bank’s China 2030 reportworked out with China’s State Coun-cil (cabinet) and presided over by

fragility and social deprivations, yetoverassertion of the authority to im-prove its image in a jiffy will not pro-duce the desired results and wouldrather disturb the institutional bal-ance.

The prevailing mode of rushingto justice may help to enlighten thehopes of people but it is causing asevere imbalance among institutionsand setting ambiguous precedents.It is not always the incapacity or un-willingness of the executive but insome cases the executive authorityis given no room to act actively be-cause of immediate suo motu ac-tions.

Taking the top bureaucrats byhand and getting them implementedorders in an often unreasonable timeand inappropriate manner is tanta-mount to rushing to justice which cancrush the very justice altogether. Butthis also does not mean supportingthe delay in justice which also hap-pens to defeat justice.

There is a dire need to balancethe judicial authority so that it nei-ther results in rushing to justice norin its delay. The judiciary should ex-ercise its activism in parallel to re-straint. It should first give the otherinstitutions due chance and time toexercise their powers in a reasonableand timely manner. Failure to do soshould only provoke the judiciary tostep in.—Karachi

Controlling roadmishapsOMER SABIH

This is apropos of the letter ‘Grow-ing number of road accidents’ (March24). I agree with the writer that roadaccidents have greatly increased andfatality rates have become a seriousproblem in the country. However, Iwould like to add some points. Roadaccidents are usually caused by lackof awareness and consciousnessabout traffic rules. Moreover, humanerrors further aggravate the problem.It is, indeed, a matter of fear anddread.

Road accidents can be reduced byincreasing police surveillance, impos-ing heavy fines in case of violationof rules, improving road infrastruc-ture and local public transport likeMetro Bus Service. Improved localpublic transport will surely reduce thenumber of vehicles on roads, result-ing in reduction of road accidents.Road-safety laws need to be compre-hensive on key-risk factors likespeeding, wearing seat belts/bike hel-mets and their enforcement should bestrengthened in Pakistan.—Lahore

The unsung girlsTAUQEER AHMAD

This refers to awarding Sitara-i-Shujaat to Malala Yousufzai’sfriends Kainat and Shazia, the vic-tims of the Swat incident. There isno doubt the Taliban’s act created anegative impression about Pakistanacross the world, but I believe thatMalala and her friends are not theonly Pakistanis who had been tar-geted by the narrow-minded barbar-ians. They were not alone who suf-fered while getting education, butthere are millions of girls who haveto quit their education, besides los-ing their family, homes, dreams andsweet memories.

Has President Asif Ali Zardaridone something to share their pains?Has he awarded them any award? No.They have not been even given finan-cial compensation that had beenpromised. If the president reallywants to give awards, he should thenfirst give to those millions of girlswho also want to go to school, wantto chase their dreams and havestrength to fight terrorists. Whyshould only Shazia and Kainat beawarded?—Peshawar

incoming Premier– envisages that theregime will maintain the largest stra-tegic state enterprises, but roughly100,000 government-owned compa-nies will be fully privatised.

After seven consecutive quartersof slowing growth, China’s gross do-mestic product (GDP), will rise by7.7 percent in 2013, according to themedian forecast of 15 economistssurveyed by AFP. The growth for2012 was recorded at 7.8%.But theeconomy still faces challenges suchas unresolved structural problems in-cluding overcapacity and reliance oninvestment-driven growth, said YaoWei, Hong Kong-based economistwith Society Generate.

“We can’t get over-optimisticover the current recovery,” shesaid.China’s economy averagedGDP growth of 10 percent in thedecade to 2010. A slower rate of 7.0-8.0 percent is seen by economists aspart of China’s natural economicevolution as spending on projectssuch as transport and utility net-works are reined in.

Never the less, the growth ofChina has been spectacular during thelast two decades. It has been grow-ing at a double digit rate since 20years and has now become secondbiggest economy of the world, afterUSA. The predictions are that it isgoing to take over that role from USin 2030 which does not seem to beimpossible, keeping in view thetrends and growth model of China.—The writer is former Director,Emigration, Overseas Employment& Consultant ILO, IOM.

will be a repeat of the BinyamMohamed case in which materialgiven to us in confidence was re-leased by the court. This punctur-ing of confidence is casting a pallover vital relationships.

Let me put this in context: whenI joined the diplomatic service theagencies did not even officially ex-ist. The level of agency accountabil-ity contemplated by this Bill is notreplicated anywhere else in theworld. As the House of Commonsrecognised when it voted with bigmajorities in favour of it: the Billwill do a power of good. It will helpto restore our reputation as a coun-try which believes in the rule of lawand it will bring back confidence inour ability as a nation to keep sen-sitive information secret. These arevital components of the fight to keepour nation secure. I hope the Lordswill support the bill wholeheartedly.The writer is former Security Min-ister and currently the government’sspecial representative to business oncyber security.— Courtesy: The Telegraph

This is because Taqwa encouragesgoodness and forbids evil.

Faith is a necessary componentof achieving Love forGod. Love of Godbrings about the bestin the individualwhose actions ben-efit those around. Itis misplaced whenfeelings for createdthings, or beings,causes a diversionfrom focusing on theConscious Realitythat created all. TheConscious Realitythat sustains all. Godrewards those whowork to develop love

for Him and who yearn for theirmeeting with Him. The Qur’an givesan example of one who strives andstruggles through life while await-ing the final meeting with God. Faithis the decision of the believer toworship that which is unseen andunseeable in this life. Thus, it is one’swillingness to submit to the direc-

Delhi has the dubious distinction of being known as therape capital of the world!

Some residents of the capital arefurious their city has been thus cas-tigated: “Just imagine,” said a me-chanic as he walked down the roadogling the posterior of a seventyyear old women, “there were only560 cases of rape in the city last year!

Only five hundred and sixtytwo cases! What about the major-ity of women! Those who didn’t get

raped? The problem is we concentrateonly on the minority! Never, ever themajority! We should ask those whowere not molested to meet at RedFort on Independence Day and pro-claim to the world they were nottouched! That way people will knowit is a safe city!”

A taxi driver who was listeningto the conversation shook his head ap-preciatively at the mechanic, “I knowa fifty year old woman staying nearmy house who has never been rapedor molested!” “You know her person-ally?” asked the mechanic, suddenlyvery interested, “if we can persuadeher to speak up next Republic Day, itwill clear the name of the city! I onceknew a young woman in my own areawho said she had never been molested

by a man!” “We can rope her in!” saidthe taxi driver excitedly. “She waslying!” said the sardar mechanic.“Who was she?” “My sister!” “Andthe man?” The mechanic smiledsheepishly. The mechanic and hisnew found taxi driver friend decidedthey had a cause to fight for, “ wehave to clear the name of this city!”

“Get women!” “Who will standup..” “And say…” “They are notscared of men!” “Or to go out in thedark!” “Signature campaign!”shouted the taxi driver. “What isthat?” “The women will sign a sheetof paper..” ”Which we will send tothe President!”

The mechanic and his taxi driverfriend bought a sheet of paper from astationery shop nearby, made neat

Rape Capital..!columns and decided to start theircampaign in earnest. “First,” saidthe taxi driver, “we will start withmy house. My mother is the fiftyyear old woman I was talkingabout. She will be the first to sign.It will be an auspicious beginning!”

They drove to the taxi driver’shouse, where the son explained tothe mother what she had to do.“Will you have some tea or colddrink?” asked the driver graciously.“Cold drink!” said the mechanicand the driver went out purchasedthe same and brought it for his newfriend. “Have you signed mother?”asked the driver. “I can’t!” wept themother, “while you went out, thisman your friend, he…”—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

Rashid Ahmed MughalEmail: mughal_rashid@hotmail.com

tives of God, in letter and spirit andin the best of manners - even whenone could easily have avoidedthem. It is this choice to followGod’s rules, in our utmost obedi-ence and our sincerest attempts,which develops a deep sense ofreverence for the Allah Almighty.

God is Most Merciful and For-giving, and He is happy wheneverone of His servants repents fromhis deep heart so that He can washaway his sins. Keeping Allah’sMercy foremost in mind helpsman to be hopeful, and this in turnincreases the desire to act righ-teously. However, what is equallyimportant to keep within contextis fear. Hope and fear are like thewings of birds, and a believer hasto keep them balanced. Havingthe fear of God is most often con-sidered to be a positive sign ofspiritual well-being. A personshould be fearful of Allah evenin times of happiness and cel-ebration. It is raising ourselves upin a sense of awe to our possi-bilities and divine glory.

The Spirit Of Islam

Shaukat M Zafar

LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi called on President PML-N Muhammand Nawaz Sharif and former chiefminister Mian Shahbaz Sharif on Thursday.

said that the caretaker cabinetwill be formed within two tothree days and will comprise fiveto six ministers while a few moreministers will be added if re-quired. He said that the membersof caretaker cabinet will not beof any political party. He said thatholding of free, fair and transpar-ent elections is the mandate ofcaretaker setup and this nationalresponsibility will be dischargedas a sacred obligation.

He said that the positive pro-posals have been put forward inthe meetings with the politicalleaders and the leaders of all po-litical parties have stressed theneed for posting of honest,hardworking and neutral admin-istration and creating afavourable atmosphere for theconduct of elections so that thevoters could exercise their rightof franchise freely.

He said that constitution andlaw will be fully upheld in theholding of peaceful and transpar-ent elections. He further said thatclean, competent andhardworking officers will bebrought forward in the provincialadministration.

Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami SyedMunawar Hassan welcomed theappointment of Najam Sethi asCaretaker Chief Minister and as-sured his full cooperation. Hesaid that Najam Sethi is a com-petent person and it is hoped hewill take effective steps for en-suring free and fair election.

He said that the appointmentof Najam Sethi as caretaker chiefminister is very important. Hesaid that people have confidencein Najam Sethi who is an able andhardworking person and will dis-charge his responsibilities effi-ciently.

Earlier, Caretaker ChiefMinister Najam Sethi had a meet-ing with Muslim League-Q lead-ers, Ch. Shujaat Husain, Ch.Pervaiz Elahi and Ch. MoonisElahi in Gulberg and discussedmatters regarding holding ofelections in a transparent manner.

Sethi claimsFrom Page 1

nomination forms for electoralcandidates will now be accepteduntil March 31 throughout thecountry, while the dates for otherelectoral processes has also beenchanged. The ECP made thechanges after leaders fromBalochistan requested an exten-sion the deadline for nominationforms, and candidates faced dif-ficulties filing papers.

According to the originalschedule, the deadline for sub-mission was March 29.

After submission of candi-dacy papers, scrutiny will be un-dertaken by election staff fromApril 1 to April 7. Appealsagainst nomination papers maybe filed until April 10, judg-ments on which would be madeby April 16.

The final list of electoral can-didates will now be released bythe election commission on April18. General elections will be heldthroughout Pakistan on May 11.

According to the InteriorMinistry, a total of 85,000 poll-ing stations would be set upthroughout the country. The min-istry also said that it was currentlyin the middle of identifying sen-sitive areas.

The ECP has also made otherimportant announcements re-garding campaigning for thepolls.

Earlier Thursday, the ECPfixed the limit of election expen-ditures at Rs 1.5 million for theNational Assembly and Rs 1 mil-lion for provincial assemblies. Italso decided to ban car rallies, use

kistan deeply distrust each otherand trade blame for Taliban vio-lence plaguing both sides of their2,400-kilometre border, drawnup by British colonialists andknown as the Durand Line.

Relations had recently im-proved, building up to a three-way sum-mit hosted by BritishPrime Min-ister David Cameronon February 4 as part of effortsto end 11 years of war in Af-ghanistan.

But since then, there havebeen a series of public accusa-tions and disagreements betweenAfghan and Pakistani officials.

Late Wednesday the bodiesof 15 men believed to have diedfight-ing Nato and Afghanforces in Afghanistan’sHelmand province were handedover to clerics on the Pakistaniborder in the southwestern dis-trict of Chagai, officials said.

KabulFrom Page 1

The court also refereed to thedual nationality case pertaining toPakistan Muslim League–Q law-maker Shehnaz Shaikh, whose na-tional assembly mem-bership wassuspended and was ordered to re-turn back all perks and privilegesreceived as a lawmaker, and saidthat the same action was nottaken in other cases pertaining todual nationality.

SC issues noticesFrom Page 1

Dase Foundationawards prizes

to childrenSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Dase Founda-tion Pakistan arranged a func-tion here to award prizes to tal-ented students.

Ch Khalid Bashir ChairmanDase Foundation who presidedover the function said the Foun-dation is working to promoteawareness is rural area of thefederal capital territory.

Vice Chairman SumairaJaved said, great talent is avail-able in Pakistani students. TheDase Foundation will play anactive role in backward areas inthe fields of health and education.

Traders, people inNA-48 demand

PML-N ticket forAjmal BalochSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Traders ofIslamabad and the commonpeople in National Assemblyconstituency, NA-48, Islamabad,have demanded of the PML-Nleadership to award party ticketto Ajmal Baloch.

Ajmal Baloch is a prominenttrader leader and PML-N activ-ist from Islamabad. Besides re-maining President of TradersWelfare Committee, Aabpara forseven consecutive times, he hasalso remained Organizing Secre-tary of Traders Action Commit-tee Islamabad and Vice Chairmanof All Pakistan Anjuman Tajiran,Pakistan.

Ajmal baloch had joined Pa-kistan Muslim League in 1990and has offered many sacrificesfor the party. He was also sent tojail during the campaign for res-toration of judges.

The traders of differentmarkets of Islamabad haveannounced full support to AjmalBaloch and urged the PML-Nleadership to award party ticketto him, so that the party is able toretain the seat.

of the Elections Commission ofPakistan (ECP) the candidatescontesting the upcoming generalelections shall be trustworthyand shall not be deflator of anyfinancial organization, thereforeall political parties have to con-duct thorough scrutiny while se-lecting their candidates, headded.

When asked about distribu-tion of party tickets, the PML-N Senator Ishaq Dar said theparty is mulling over the matterand doing critical scrutiny of thecandidates.—Online

PML-N to announceparty candidates on

April 20From Page 1

port you figure at the top and insecond report you are in the mid.SC had issued order and it wasto be implemented. We issue no-tice to Raja Pervez Ashraf thathe should explain it.

If this custom is allowed tobe pursued, then president andprime minister will write letter tothe court in future. An act of thisnature from a common citizen isa different thing. We will do jus-tice. We have heard you. Heshould not have written this let-ter. PM is writing a letter that mysuch and such case be seen. Noreview petition has been filedeven. We have worked under in-stitution. You are interfering bywriting letter. Had we taken no-tice then it would have been saidcourt has been influenced. Aftercommitting contempt of courtyou are trying to say some thingmore. Applications come fromthousands of citizens but they arenot prime minister”.

Wasim Sajjad contended “influencing the court was not ourobjective. CJP remarked “ wewere hearing the case in Karachiand TV channels were telecast-ing the news item. Confidentialwas written on the top of enve-lope. Monogram and stamp onthe letter all was of prime min-ister house. We cannot promotethis custom. This is the opinionof the whole bench not mine.

Justice Gulzar observed “ itwould not have been a problemif he had written a letter on plainpaper and sent it to us. Everything which was used here wasproperty of office.

CJP remarked “ if PM letteris digested today then what willhappen tomorrow. Justice Azmatremarked “ SHO will too sendletter to us in future.

Waseem Sajjad said “ pressis also saying so. Please deal thismatter like the matter of a com-mon man. CJP remarked “ he isfacing not only a single case. Thiscase is not an ordinary case. Whydid he write letter to chief justicewhen he was holding the officeof prime minister. We had takennotice of it at the time it was doneso that he was doing so deliber-ately. We will issue him notice.

Wasim Sajjad argued “ hehad reservations with regard toNAB and he wanted indepen-dent inquiry. NAB was not ac-cepting his plea. CJP remarked“ NAB is your own institution.

If you have to do this job thenwe issue notice and you pleasegive reply to it. Not a single let-ter comes from prime ministerand a reference is even sent bythe president. Had he sent letterin the capacity of a citizen thenit was a different thing”. Jus-tice Azmat observed “ this cannot become historical precedentthat action was taken on the let-ter of prime minister.

Justice Gulzar remarked “ heis presenting him as a state. Youshould have filed proper appli-cation. Wasim Sajjad said “ youplease reject the letter and takeno action. CJP remarked “ youhave tried to meddle in the af-fairs of court intentionally Willthere be a separate law for theperson holding top office.

Wasim Sajjad requested re-peatedly that the letter be rejectedas he is seeking justice as a com-mon citizen, not as prime minis-ter. CJP observed “ you havereached this position after a longstruggle. Yousuf Raza Gilani hasfiled application in person and hecomes here to give arguments inperson. Separate laws for havesand haves not can not be enacted.We can not be influenced by anyone nor will we allow any one toinfluence the court. He is tryingto take political mileage out ofour verdict. But we can not doso. We can not keep the thingsconcealed”.

Wasim Sajjad prayed “ thisbe treated as request”. CJP ob-served “ he has not filed applica-tion but he has tried to influencethe court.

Recording the verdict, courtsaid NAB had declared RajaPervez Ashraf accused in cor-ruption cases and he is named intwo cases. Under the court’s or-ders NAB is investigating Rentalpower case. Orders for investi-gation were handed over to therespective ministers and con-cerned officers. Chairman NABwas ordered to hold inquiry intothis case as per law and he wasalso stated to be among the ac-cused persons in the light of NABinvestigation. Two reports weresent to SC and Raja PervezAshraf was declared allegedlyinvolved in these reports. On re-ceipt of these reports, NAB wasordered to initiate action in ac-cordance with the law.

This order was issued onJanuary, 16, 2013. Directives

were issued to arrest the accusedincluding Raja Pervez Ashraf.The hearing was to take place onnext day A civil petition bearingNo 118 was filed.

Review petition which wasfiled by Raja Pervez Ashraf waswithdrawn. Wasim Sajjad di d soon the insistence of Raja PervezAshraf.

It is surprising to note that aletter sent by Prime Minister sec-retariat was received on March,8,2013. It was bearing the signa-ture of Raja Pervez Ashraf. En-velope was official and was car-rying the stamp of confidential.It was requested that only chiefjustice whom the letter was ad-dressed could open this envelope.This was done through registrarSC. When the envelope wasopened, a letter from Raja PervezAshraf captioned request for in-dependent inquiry into rentalpower plant case was foundtherein. Letter was written on let-ter pad of prime minister. It wasrequested in the letter that a com-mission be constituted to probeinto rental power case.

The letter was fixed for hear-ing on March, 11. In the meantime Wasim Sajjad appeared onbehalf of Raja Pervez Ashraf. Onhis arguments notices were is-sued to Faisal Saleh Hayat, chair-man NAB and Khawaja Asif.Faisal Saleh Hayat had pointedout corruption in Rental powermatter and told the court that RajaPervez Ashraf had committedcorruption therein Khawaja Asiftalked on the same pattern. RajaPervez Ashraf had appeared inperson and his statement was alsomade the part of the proceedingsof the case.

The court further said reviewpetition which was filed onMarch, 13, 2012 in rental powercase was withdrawn. Court hadordered for holding inquiryagainst him but Raja PervezAshraf was appointed prime min-ister in the mean time. He triedto influence the court and re-quested that another commissionbe constituted.

As per investigation of NAB,inquiry report was not only filedagainst Raja Pervez Ashraf it wasalso filed against some others toobut no one except Raja PervezAshraf requested the court toconstitute commission as theyknew it well that verdict hascome in this respect. —Online

SC issues contempt noticeFrom Page 1

to invite bids and re-award thecontract within 30 days strictly inaccordance with the PPRA rules.

ContractsFrom Page 1

of loud speakers and oversizedpublicity material.

According to the ECP direc-tive, each contesting candidateshall open an account to depositthe fixed amount and ensure tomake all expenditures out of thisamount.

The candidate would submitto the District Returning Officeron every Thursday of the cam-paign period, a statement of elec-tion expenses made by him dur-ing the preceding week.

According to the ECP, carrallies will not be allowed totravel long distances except ifthey have pre-arranged cornermeetings at specific designatedplaces and the meetings shall benotified to the ordinary public bythe local administration.

No person or a political partyshall hoist or fix party flags onany public property or at any pub-lic place, except with the permis-sion from and on fee payment tothe concerned local governmentor authorities.

The ECP has banned wallchalking as part of election cam-paigns and the use of loudspeak-ers except at the election meet-ings. The political parties andcandidates have been asked toconvey their schedule of meet-ing at least one week in advanceto the local administration thatwould be responsible for appro-priate security arrangements andensure equal opportunities to thecontesting candidates.

According to the ElectionCommission, any violation of the

directives would be punishablewith imprisonment for a term thatmay extend to three years or withfine up to Rs 5,000, or both.

The ECP has banned settingup of camps near the polling sta-tions on the polling day, can-vassing for votes, persuadingany elector not to vote for a par-ticular candidate, or exhibitingany notice, sign, banner or flagdesigned to encourage or dis-courage the electors within aradius of 400 yards of the poll-ing station.

The ECP has clarified thatany violation of the said direc-tives would be a corrupt practiceand be punishable with impris-onment for a term that may ex-tend to three years or with fineup to Rs 5,000, or both.

The two-member teams,with a video camera, shall moni-tor the election process includ-ing campaign expenditure andobservance of code of conduct bycontesting candidates and politi-cal parties.

The teams will report to theProvincial Election Commis-sioner on daily basis and the lo-cal administration shall providenecessary security to each teamduring the monitoring in the con-stituency.

The District Returning Offic-ers shall hold meetings with thecandidates and apprise them ofthe relevant laws, rules and thejudgment of the Supreme Courtof Pakistan, pertaining to thecode of conduct and electioncampaign expenses.

ECP issues ordersFrom Page 1

country, but ban on transfer ofdevelopment funds will remainintact.

Sethi while talking to mediahad said that he would change thewhole bureaucracy in the prov-ince and will also appoint newIG police.

ECP takes noticeFrom Page 1

lenge and directed that the admin-istration and law-enforcementagencies should remain alert andimpartial to ensure that the forth-coming elections are fair in ev-ery possible manner.

The Prime Minister was in-formed that the Ministry of Inte-rior was fully geared-up and wasmaking all necessary arrange-ments including collection andpooling of intelligence and roundthe clock monitoring of the situ-ation with the objective of main-taining peace during the electioncampaign and on the ElectionDay. He was also informed that

85,000 poling station are likelyto be established for holding ofelections. In this connection, sen-sitive polling stations and areaswill be identified so that the poll-ing can be carried out peacefullyin those places.

In response to the PrimeMinister’s query over reports re-garding delay in the processingof the passport applications, hewas informed that 6,000,00 ap-plications for renewal of pass-ports were pending because ofshortage of laminate pads. In thisconnection, Secretary InteriorKhwaja Saddique informed the

Prime Minister that tenders forlaminate pads have been con-cluded and the firm whose bidswere found to be the lowest haspromised to provide 5,000,00laminate pads within a week.

The Prime Minister directedthe Ministry of Interior to ensurethat the pendency is cleared at theearliest so that the common manis provided relief.

The Secretary Interior as-sured the Prime Minster that incompliance to his instructionsevery efforts will be made to im-prove the situation with in aweek.—INP

PM directs Interior MinistryFrom Page 1

apartment in Dubai worth Rs 40million. ANP chief AsfandyarWali Khan has assets worth Rs10 million including 50 tolas ofgold.

JUI-F chief Maualna FazlurRehman has assets worth over Rs5.5 million. Ameer Muqam fromthe PML-Q has assets worth Rs160 million and seventeen cars.

Pervaiz Elahi has Rs 64.1million in his bank account,wealth worth Rs 8.9 million andinvestments of Rs 30.49 million.Former National AssemblySpeaker Fehmida Mirza has as-sets of over Rs 80 million and anapartment worth Rs 15 millionin Dubai.—INP

Details of formerMPs assets issued

From Page 1

across the country were submit-ted by the ECP and registrars ofthe provincial high courts.

According to ECP report, 34cases of bogus degrees were sentto the courts. In Punjab, the num-ber of such cases is 19 while twoMPs were acquitted.

Chief Justice Chaudhry saidthat there were only eight casesof forged degrees in Punjab thatare currently being heard inKasur, Lahore, Muzaffargarh,Pak Patan, Rawalpindi, Sahiwaland Sargodha.

ECP apprised the bench thatfake degree cases were also re-vealed in Gujrat and Gujrnawlaas well on which the chief jus-tice said that then the challans ofthose cases must not have beenpresented yet.—INP

Supreme Courtorders to concludefake degree cases

by April 4From Page 1

DAMASCUS—A mortar attackon Damascus University killedat least 12 students on Thursday,state television reported, blam-ing rebels who have stepped upat-tacks in the heart of the Syr-ian capital.

“The number of studentskilled in the mortar attack on thearchitec-ture faculty in DamascusUniver-sity has risen to 12,” saidthe broadcaster, blaming “terror-ists” for the attack, using the re-gime term for insurgents. Previ-ously, the television station hadreported that several people werekilled or wounded in the at-tack.

“The National StudentsUnion condemns the cowardlyterrorist attack that targeted thearchitec-ture faculty of Dam-ascus Univer-sity,” the televi-sion added. State news agencySANA added that six otherswere hurt by “mor-tars that tar-geted the faculty cafe-teria”.

Rebels fighting to oust Presi-dent Bashar al-Assad have thisweek escalated their mortar attackson central Damascus, includingUmayyad Square in the middle ofthe capital, which houses the statetelevision headquarters.

The Syrian Observatory forHu-man Rights, a Britain-basedmonitoring group that relies onsources on the ground for its in-formation, also reported Thurs-day’s attack, although it put thetoll at 10 people dead.—Agencies

Mortar attack onDamascus university

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — R e c t o rCOMSATS Institute of Informa-tion Technology, Dr. S.M.JunaidZaidi, has proposed establish-ment of a Technology Park withthe mutual coordination of ICCIand COMSATS Institute of In-formation Technology to pro-vide a platform to Chinese andPakistani Business communityfor the promotion of mutualtrade activates.

Dr S M Junaid Zaidi wasaddressing the closing ceremonyof Pak-China Business Forumheld here at Pak China Friend-ship Center. The event wasjointly organized by COMSATSInstitute of Information Technol-ogy and Islamabad Chamber ofCommerce and Industries. Sec-retary for Science & Technology,Akhlaq Ahmad Tarar was thechief guest on the occasion. ZiaMain, Chairman Pakistan Cham-ber of Commerce China, also at-tended the Closing ceremony andaddressed the participants.COMSATS Pro Rector DrHaroon Rasheed, Prof. Dr. QaisarAbbas, faculty, students and ad-ministrative staff and members ofCIIT were also present on theoccasion. Dr. S.M.Junaid Zaidiexpressed his appreciation forChines and Pakistani participantsfor their active participation in theevent. He also announced theholding of this Forum on annualbasis in the last week of Marchevery year.

The main features of theevent included an exhibition ofproducts by 100 local and 35Chinese companies and univer-sities. Workshops and sidelinemeetings with industrialists, aca-demicians and Pakistani Busi-ness community were also con-ducted for the promotion of busi-ness activity among the two

countries.Many Chinese companies

participated in this forum to pro-mote Pak- China Business liai-son. These developments,coupled with the growing num-ber of organizations were dedi-cated to research based learning.The event provided an opportu-nity to the business communityand future entrepreneurs to col-laborate and link with Chineseindustry, therefore fifteen Memo-randums of Understanding weresigned among different compa-nies and organizations. Morethan 70,000 people visited Pak-

china business forum from allwalks of life.

Lot of activity was observedon different stalls particularly oncomputers, mobiles, garments,energy saving devices and handi-crafts. The event was organizedin collaboration with the PakistanBoard of Investment, PakistanScience Foundation, NationalTesting Service, Higher Educa-tion Commission, Capital Devel-opment Authority, IslamabadChamber of Commerce & Indus-try, Rawalpindi Chamber ofCommerce & Industry and Paki-stan Software Export Board.

Establishment ofTechnology Park proposedMore than 70,000 people visit Pak-China Business Forum

petty dispute near MubarakMasjid, DHA, in Karachi.

His death sparked a move-ment on social media and trig-gered off a series of protests, con-demnations by political partiesand a suo motu notice by the chiefjustice. Following the suo motunotice by the Supreme Court,Shahrukh’s name was entered inthe Exit Control List (ECL), yethe managed to flee the countryto Dubai via fake passport anddocuments. The passport had hisname as Syed Shahrukh Jatoi.

Bilawal HouseFrom Page 1

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Elite footballer,High performance netballumpire, ANZ championshipnetball coach, Triathlete/cyclist, Professional rugbyplayer, Professional rugbycoach and professionalcricketer, Jesse Ryder arefew of Karen Nimmo’s cli-ents, her website says.They all have been treatedfor different reasons.

Karen is a registeredclinical psychologist with apractice based inWellington, New Zealand.She qualified in psychol-

Jessy Ryder is on recoverypath from his drinking habit,

says his psychologistogy and physical education,and promotes the mind-bodyconnection in her work.

Karen Nimmo was treat-ing Ryder for his excessivedrinking habit. “Jesse(Ryder) was doing very welland was looking forward tojoining the Delhi Daredevilsteam in the IPL”, she said ex-clusively over telephone-chat from New Zealand onThursday.

“The New Zealand Policeare (also) saying that alcoholis not a factor in this incident-it was an unprovoked at-tack”.

“I am of course upsetabout the incident withJesse Ryder and very wor-

ried that his health and thathis life may be at risk. Atthe moment that is what Iam concentrating on”, sheadded.

“I was in a different cityat the time, so I am not sureabout all the details of theincident”.

“I will be able to saymore once I know moreabout his health and imme-diate future”, she furtheradded.

The psychologist re-fused tio divulge detailsabout her sessions with theplayer. “The sessions I hadwith him are confidential . Ican not give any details atthe moment”, she added.

VALLETTA: Mario Balotelli scores twice as Italy win 2-0 against Malta.

LAHORE: A view of cricket match between Rawalpindi Rams vs Bahawalpur Stags during Faysal Bank Super-8 National Twenty-20 Cricket Cupat Qaddafi Stadium.

KA R A C H I —South Africacaptain Graeme Smith onThursday received theprestigious ICC Test Cham-pionship mace and en-hanced prize money of US$450,000 for leading theteam that finished on topof the test championshiptable on the annual cut-offdate of April 1.

Protease assured theirtop standing in the Testchampionship table afterthey made the clean-sweepin the 3-Test matches se-ries against Misbah-ul-Haq’s Pakistan team lastmonth.

This is the f irst t ime,since the current ranking

Smith receives ICC TestC’ship mace & $450,000

Rank . Team ............ Points1 ......... South Africa ..... 1282 ......... England ............. 1143 ......... India .................. 1124 ......... Australia ........... 1105 ......... Pakistan ............ 1046 ......... Sri Lanka ............. 927 ......... West Indies ........ 928 ......... New Zealand ...... 839 ......... Bangladesh .......... 1

system was introduced in2003 that South Africa hadfinished as the number-oneranked Test side, said anInternational Cricket Coun-cil (ICC) statement.

Vince van der Bij l ,former Natal , Transvaaland Middlesex fast bowlerand currently ICC’s Um-pires and Referees Man-ager, presented the mace toSmith who also collectedthe cheque of US $450,000from Cricket South Africa(CSA) president ChrisNenzani along with SouthAfrica’s Minister of Sportand Recreation Mr FikileMbalula, in a ceremonyheld at the Wanderers in

Johannesburg.Van der Bijl said: “The

mace is a symbol of excel-lence and recognition of aside’s outstandingachievement in the tough-est and most t radit ionalformat of the game. ICCTest championship table(as on March 26).—APP

JOHANNESBURG: Graeme Smith receives the ICC Test mace from Vince van der Bijl.

SYDNEY—Australia’s chiefselector John Inverarity saysPakistani asylum-seekerFawad Ahmed will be in con-tention for a place in theAshes squad to tour Englandif he is granted citizenship intime.

The 31-year-old leg-spin-ner was handed a permanentvisa to remain in Australia inNovember after leaving hishome in the border regionnear Afghanistan, where hesaid he was targeted by Mus-lim extremists.

But to play for Australiain the Ashes from July heneeds fast-tracked citizen-ship and an Australian pass-port. Otherwise, under Inter-national Cricket Council(ICC) rules, he will not be-come available until August18, before the fifth Test at theOval.

“Fawad Ahmed is a ma-ture and very good leg-spin-ner,” Inverarity toldThursday’s Sydney MorningHerald.

“I’ve seen quite a bit ofhim and all those who haveplayed against him, and thecoaching staff, rate him as agood bowler.

“He would certainlycome under consideration. Itwill all be considered on

merit. He will be treatedno differently from anybodyelse.”

Asylum-seeker in framefor Ashes selection

Inverarity admitted thesignificance of a former asy-lum-seeker from Pakistanplaying for Australia couldnot be understated.

“If it were all to happen,it would be a wonderful thingfor our Australian society,someone who through themedium of cricket has be-come a central figure in ourcommunity,” he said.

Since his arrival, Ahmedhas established himself withthe Melbourne Renegades inthe T20 Big Bash Leagueand made an appearance forthe Prime Minister ’s XIagainst the West Indies in

January.He is seen as a handy

back-up to Nathan Lyon, withfew other stand-out spin-ning candidates beyondXavier Doherty and GlennMaxwell.

Lyon had an ordinary tourof India, during which Aus-tralia lost the Test series 4-0,although he bounced back totake nine wickets in the fourthTest and Inverarity threw hissupport behind him.

“He is our lead spinnerand we hope he developsand becomes a really goodspin bowler,” he said ofLyon.—AFP

Fawad Ahmed

VALLETTA—Mario Balotelliscored both goals as Italy de-feated Malta 2-0 here to movethree points clear at the topof their World Cup qualify-ing group B.

The AC Milan strikeropened his account early inthe first half from the penaltyspot before doubling his tallyjust before half-time, makingit 10 goals in his last ninematches for both club andcountry.

However, the home sidecould count themselves alittle unlucky as they misseda penalty and also clatteredthe crossbar in the first half.

With Denmark held to a1-1 draw in Copenhagen bysecond-placed Bulgaria, Italyextended their lead at the topof their group and even havea game in hand. Meanwhile,Malta remain rooted to thebottom of the group with zeropoints from five matches.

The hosts started rea-sonably brightly, pressingthe Azzurri at every opportu-nity and not allowing themtime to settle on the ball. But

Balotelli scores twiceto send Italy top

it was that eagerness to closedown at every moment whichwas soon to be Malta’s un-doing.

Luke Dimech over-stretched as he tried to tackleStephan El Shaarawy in theeighth minute and tripped theAC Milan forward in the pen-alty area. That gave Balotellithe chance to open the scor-ing, sending goalkeeper Jus-tin Haber the wrong wayfrom the spot.

However, moments laterMalta had a penalty of theirown, as Andrea Barzagli letAndre Schembri raced clearinto the box only for GianluigiBuffon to bring him down.

Michael Mifsud steppedup to take the resulting spot-kick but could not beat theItalian number one.

T h i r t y - o n e - y e a r - o l dMifsud could have made upfor that mistake just a coupleof minutes later as he leftLeonardo Bonucci for dead,but his long-range shotlooped over Buffon andsmacked the crossbar, muchto the disappointment of the

Maltese crowd.Malta then escaped as

Riccardo Montolivo steamedforward and rounded Haber,only to see his shot from atight angle bounce wide.

The Italians slowlystarted to exert their author-ity and Andrea Pirlo saw afreekick blocked by the wall,before Balotelli put anotherjust over the bar. Malta’s re-prieve was brief, though. Al-most on the stroke of half-time, Bonucci found MattiaDe Sciglio on the left with asuperb long ball. The young-ster showed excellent controlas he advanced towards thegoal before his cut-backfound Balotelli, who side-footed into the far cornerfrom close range.

Italy could, and should,have added another just af-ter the break when IgnazioAbate raced down the rightside into the box, but hiscross was poorly controlledby Emanuele Giaccheriniwho, nevertheless, forced abrilliant reflex save fromHaber.—AFP

Ali beat Bilalto reach CAS

National JuniorU-19 final

PESHAWAR—Ali Bokhari ofPunjab stunned top seedBilal Zakir and took berth intothe final of the Chief of theAir Staff National Junior Un-der-19 Squash Champion-ship being played here at PAFHashim Khan Squash Com-plex on Thursday.

Ali Bukhari of Punjabtook no time against BilalZakir, who after losing thefirst set by 11-5, declaredhimself as retired hurt byleaving the court desperately.Ali was in superb form keep-ing Bilal Zakir under tremen-dous pressure by giving notime to settle down and com-pelled him to leave the courtby declaring himself as re-tired hurt.

It was the second semi-final in which Tayyub Aslamand Ammad Farid providedgreat thrill for the sittingspectators in the main air-conditioned court of the PAFHashim Khan Squash Com-plex.

Both Tayyub Aslam andAmmad Farid were stretchedto five sets battle lasted for52 minutes wherein somebeautiful shorts were alsowitnessed. Both Tayyub andAmmad Farid received thun-dering applauses from thesquash fans and players.

Tayyub Aslam failed toclick in the first set won byAmmad Farid by 6-11 but af-ter managing his position hestaged a comeback and wonthe second set by 11-9.Ammad Farid again got thelead by winning the third set9-11 but he was not allowedby Tayyub Aslam to strikeback and thus marched intovictory in two consecutivesets by 11-7 and 11-7 to sealthe fate of rival at 3-2.—APP

Ryder in comaafter dual assault

C H R I S T C H U R C H —JesseRyder, the New Zealand bats-man, is in an induced comain hospital after being as-saulted twice late onWednesday evening inChristchurch. Ryder, 28, is inintensive care after sufferinga fractured skull, whichChristchurch Police believehappened in the second ofthe two attacks.

The first assault took placeat about 12.30am outside theAikman’s Bar in a Christchurchsuburb Merivale, where Ryderhad been out with Wellingtonteam-mates and friends follow-ing their loss to Canterbury tomark the end of the season.The second attack occurredminutes later at the entranceto the car park of a McDonald’sacross the road, where theother Wellington players hadgone to order food.

“An altercation hastaken place on the footpathoutside Aikman’s involvingJesse and a group of at leasttwo other males. The alter-cation was brief,” DetectiveSenior Sergeant Brian Ar-cher told reporters inChristchurch. “Followingthat incident, Ryder and twoother persons walked acrossthe road towardsMcDonald’s, where hisWellington team-mates hadbeen purchasing some food.A second altercation hastaken place at the entranceto the McDonald’s car park,involving one of the malesfrom the earlier group.

“In that incident it ap-pears Jesse has been the vic-tim of a serious assault andhas suffered head injuries asa result.—Online

Saleem FC winsLahore district

football titleLAHORE—Saleem Khan F.Clift the district football cham-pionship-2013 trophy afteredging out Lums club in thefinal played at Model TownFootball Club / Academy.

Mr. Zahid Amir Rana ChiefExecutive Regal Star NetworkPvt Ltd was the Chief Gueston this occasion. A large num-ber of game spectators werealso present and witnessed thethrilling match. Before thestart of the match the playersof both the teams Saleem KhanClub and Lums Club were in-troduced to the chief guest.

In 1st half both teamswere goal less draw but afterthe interval the Saleem KhanF.C made a few changes andthey bore fruit whenMuhammad Danish scored inthe 41st min to make the scorewhich gave Saleem Khan F.Ca famous and historic win. Itmay mentioned here thatSaleem Khan F.C through outwell played in district FootballChampionship. After thematch, Chief Guest of the fi-nal match & prize distributionceremony Mr. Zahid AmirRana awarded winning trophyto Saleem Khan’s skipperwhile Lums F.C had to con-tent with runners up trophy,received by skipper.—NNI

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The HumanDevelopment Report (HDR)2013 The Rise of the South:Human Progress in a Di-verse World was launchedon Thursday here by theUnited Nations Develop-ment Programmes (UNDP)in Pakistan.

The Human Develop-ment Report is an indepen-dent study intended tostimulate an informed de-bate on global developmentissues and to highlight

trends for policy makers. TheReport - The Rise of theSouth: Human Progress in aDiverse World - analysesmore than 40 developingcountries that have madestriking human developmentgains in recent years. It at-tributes their achievementsto a proactive developmentstate, a strategic engagementwith the world economy anddetermined social policy in-novations.

The 2013 HDR arguesthat developing countriescan - and should - act as apowerful force in develop-

ment. “The rise of the Southis unprecedented in itsspeed and scale. Never inhistory have the living con-ditions and prospects of somany people changed so dra-matically and so fast,” saysthe Report.

UNDP also released its2013 Human Development In-dex (HDI) along with the Re-port, which ranks countriesin terms of economic and hu-man development indicators.The Multidimensional Pov-erty Index, an alternative toincome-based poverty esti-mates, shows the proportion

of the population living inpoverty is high throughoutSouth Asia, with the high-est rates in Bangladesh (58percent), India (54 percent),Pakistan (49 percent) andNepal (44 percent).

The report is instrumen-tal in the context of Pakistanespecially given the chal-lenges faced today andpolicy choices it will con-front. Pakistan’s HDI valuefor 2012 is 0.515 - in the lowhuman development cat-egory - positioning thecountry at 146 out of 187countries and territories.

UNDP in Pakistan launches HumanDevelopment Report 2013

JIWANI: Vice Chief of the Naval Staff Vice Admiral Muhammad Shafiq interacting with the children at the inauguralceremony of Bahria Model School.

Woman commitssuicideLAHORE—A married womancommitted suicide by settingher on fire due to poverty andprotracted illness here onThursday. According to de-tails, 30-year-old Aamira w/oShoaib, hailing from Tajpuraarea of Lahore was depresseddue to poor financial condi-tions and her prolonged ill-ness which disappointed her.On Thursday morning shesprinkled kerosene oil andset her on fire. She wasrushed to Mayo Hospital incritical condition but couldnot survive. The body washanded over to heirs afterpost-mortem. The deceasedwas mother of two chil-dren.—INP

Two children dieby falling in wellQUETTA—Two children diedwhen they fell in a well whileplaying nearby it in Loralailate on Wednesday. Accord-ing to Levies sources, twochildren fell in a well in UCKachhi area when they wereplaying near it and died be-fore they could be rescued.The bodies were later ex-humed and laid to rest in na-tive graveyard on Thurs-day.—INP

2 more killed inKarachiKARACHI—Amidst arrest of100 suspects, violence con-tinued in the financial hub ofthe country as at least twopersons were killed in firingincidents in two different ar-eas of Karachi on Thursdaymorning, officials said. Ac-cording to police sources, a50-year-old man, Salim, wasshot dead in unidentifiedgunmen’s firing in Kharadar.His body was shifted to theCivil Hospital for postmortem. In another firing in-cident, a 30-year-old manwas killed near Lyari Express-way Bridge, Essa Nagri.Meanwhile Rangers con-ducted a search operation indifferent areas of the city andarrested more than 100 sus-pected people. According tothe reports, Rangers con-ducted operation in FrontierColony, Metrovel, AfghanColony, Sohrab Goth areasand conducted house tohouse search after closingentry and exit points of thelocalities. Rangers also re-covered weapons from thesuspects’ custody. The ar-rested people were sent tounknown location for furtherinvestigation.—Online

Imran, Sarfaraz tofight for NA-126LAHORE—Pakistan’s twoformer cricket legends ImranKhan and Sarfaraz Nawaz willcompete in general electionfrom a Lahore constituency.Former fast bowler andMQM leader Sarfaraz Nawazannounced on Thursdaythat he would run for NationalAssembly election from NA-126 Lahore against former all-rounder and PakistanTehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) chair-man Imran Khan. He saidthat he would submit hisnomination papers on Friday.Nawaz would also contestelection from NA-48Islamabad and has submittedhis nomination papers.Sarfaraz was elected as theMPA from a Lahore constitu-ency in the past.Both Imranand Sarfaraz were fastbowlers in Pakistan teamsimaltaneously and played anumber of Test matches to-gether.—Agencies

UNITED NATIONS—Pakistanhas called for keeping theU.N. Peacebuilding Commis-sion (PBC) financially strongso as to enable the intergov-ernmental body meet the re-construction needs of thecountries emerging fromconflict.

“Success of the UNpeacebuilding endeavourshinges on adequate financialresources,” AmbassadorMasood Khan, Pakistan’spermanent representative tothe U.N., told the GeneralAssembly on Wednesday.

The Commission is cur-rently supportingpeacebuilding efforts in sixcountries: Burundi; CentralAfrican Republic; Guinea;Guinea-Bissau; Liberia; andSierra Leone.

“Member states and the(UN) secretariat need to pro-vide the PBF with resourcesand operational flexibility tomake it more efficient,” thePakistani envoy said whileparticipating in a debate on

the secretary-general’s re-port on the activities of theCommission.

Ambassador MasoodKhan said that the last ses-sion of the PeacebuildingCommission had reinforcedthe need for coherent, effi-cient and predictable re-sponses by the United Na-tions to the needs of coun-tries emerging from conflict.

The session had under-scored three key areas ofpeacebuilding: the strictprioritization of targeted ar-eas, focusing on securitysector reform, local capacity-building and economic revi-talization; sharpening theemphasis on development-related aspects ofpeacebuilding; and refiningthe peacekeeping-peacebuilding nexus for acoherent and seamlessUnited Nations response.

There was a need to har-ness the role of the Commis-sion in conceiving and imple-menting related mandates

and activities. the Pakistanienvoy said. In that regard,he said, its OrganizationalCommittee should undertakemeaningful discussions onfinding a niche for the Com-mission in related decision-making processes.

He said that SecurityCouncil resolution 2086(2013), adopted in Januaryunder Pakistan’s presidency,had underscored the central-ity of the Commission as anadvisory and resource-mobi-lization body. The text hadclarified the nexus betweenpeacekeeping andpeacebuilding and hadhelped to build stronger part-nerships for a collective re-sponse to the challenges.

“We reiterate our strongcommitment and support toUN peacebuilding endeav-ors,” he went on to say. “Weshare the hope that our col-lective peacebuilding effortswill benefit all conflict-af-fected people of theworld.”—INP

UN peace efforts in post-conflict countries

Pakistan urges moreresources for rehabilitation

Relaxation inNWA curfew

MIRANSHAH—The tribes-men took a sigh of relief afterrelaxation was given afterfour consecutive days of cur-few on Thursday.

According to politicaladministration, keeping inview the miseries of tribes-men curfew was lifted inNorth Waziristan Agency(NWA) from 7 AM to 5 PM.

The dwellers of variousareas of the troubled agencyrushed out of homes afterrelaxation in curfew was an-nounced to purchase neces-sary food items and meetother needs.

Large number of peoplewas seen in markets to buyedible commodities and at-tending other urgent pend-ing works.

However, despite relax-ation in curfew no individualwas allowed to leave or enterthe NWA nor movement ofgoods carriage vehicles wasallowed.

It should be mentionedthat curfew was imposed inNWA after suicide attack onsecurity check post at Mir AliRoad on Saturday whichclaimed lives of 17 sol-diers.—INP

Amjad Bhattinew Punjab

DGPRLAHORE—The Punjab gov-ernment has appointedAmjad Hussain Bhatti as Di-rector General Public Rela-tions (DGPR) Punjab andS&GAD.

The Provincial govt is-sued a notification in this re-gard on Thursday.

According to media re-ports, Amjad Hussain Bhattihas served many high pro-file designations includingDirector Public Relations toChief Minister Punjab.

He has also worked asDirector News, Public Rela-tions Department, DirectorPublic Relations, Police De-partment and Deputy Man-aging Director, Punjab Edu-cation Foundation.

Before appointment,Amjad Hussain Bhatti hadbeen working as General Man-ager Lahore Transport Com-pany on deputation.—Online

NE W DE L H I —RenownedIndian actor Sanjay Dutt onThursday said that he wasa law abiding citizen and hewill surrender within thestipulated deadline set bythe Supreme Court.

The Bollywood actorsaid that he has not ap-pealed for pardon. “WhenI am not going for pardon,there should not be a de-bate over it” Sanjay Duttsaid. Sanjay Dutt wasspeaking to media inMumbai. A visibly shakenSanjay Dutt broke downbefore the mediapersons.

“Right now, I am a shat-tered man, my family isshattered,” Sanajy Duttsaid. “I love my country, Ilove the ci t izens of mycountry and I love India,”the actor said.

The Supreme Court onMarch 21 upheld Dutt’sconviction under the Arms

Act for possession and de-struction of an AK-56 be-fore the blasts.

Dutt has four weeksstarting from March 21 tosurrender. Legal expertssaid that unless the SC ex-tends Dutt’s time to surren-der, he may do so two daysbefore the four-week timeperiod ends. A lawyer Duttmet during the last weekhad advised the actor thathe must surrender andhonour the SC verdict andthen pursue his rights fora pardon or a judicial re-view as available.

Sources said Dutt willbe back on the sets onThursday to shoot for T PAgarwal’s ‘Policegir i’ atKamalistan. Some otherDutt films on the floor areRaju Hirani’s ‘PK’, KaranJohar ’s ‘Unglee’ andApoorva Lakhia’s remakeof ‘Zanjeer’. —Online

Sanjay won’tapply for pardon

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—In order to fur-ther strengthen the defenceof Gwadar Port and to en-hance the security of vitalPN assets and installationsalong the western coasts,Pakistan Navy has achieveda significant milestone bycommissioning the 3rd PakMarines Battalion.

The commissioning cer-emony was held Thursdayat Gwadar. Vice Chief of Na-val Staff Vice AdmiralMuhammad Shafiq was thechief guest on the occasion.

Addressing the cer-emony, the chief guest said

that at present the countryis faced with internal and ex-ternal threats, which makessecurity today’s main con-cern. He said that Pak Ma-rines always remainedsteadfast and proved theirmettle whenever the nationcalled for.

Be that defence of bor-der in creek areas, air de-fence of PN assets, securityof sensitive areas, aid tocivil power during naturaldisasters or counteringcowardly acts of terrorism,Pak Marines have alwayslived up to the expectationsof the nation, he added.

The chief guest further

said that Pakistan Navy ismaking all out efforts toequip Pak Marines withmodern weapons and alsofocusing on their profes-sional training in line withthe modern-day require-ments.

He expressed his confi-dence that this would furtherenhance professional com-petence of Pak Marines. Theadmiral extended his felicita-tions to the officers and menof the newly raised MarinesBattalion and hoped thatthey would always displaysame dedication, spirit andenthusiasm while discharg-ing their duties in future.

Third Pak Marines Battalionat Gwadar commissioned

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan hasexpressed concern over con-tinued presence of safe ha-vens of TTP elements inKunar and Nooristan areas ofAfghanistan.

Responding to questionsby newsmen at the weeklynews briefing in IslamabadThursday Foreign Officespokesman Aizaz AhmadChaudhary said TTP ele-ments in these areas are car-rying out undesirable activi-ties against Pakistan. He saidPakistan has taken up the mat-

ter many a times with Afghani-stan at all levels and hoped thatthese safe havens of TTPwould be eliminated.

He said presence of safehavens is a serious matter butPakistan would continue toremain in cooperative mode asthis is best way to defeat theevil forces. When his atten-tion was drawn towards ac-cusatory statements comingfrom Afghan President andForeign Minister, the spokes-man said both sides haveconcerns.—INP

TTP militants carrying outterror acts from Kunar,Nooristan in Pak: FO

COAS briefedon concept of

Territorial ForcesRAWALPINDI—Chief ofArmy Staff, General AshfaqParvez Kayani visited SialkotGarrison, Thursday duringwhich he was briefed aboutthe progress of validationprocess of the concept ofTerritorial Forces.

This concept is aimed atimproving the mobilizationand administration of secondline forces and reserves in theevent of war or a nationalemergency.

It is part of the ongoingrestructuring of the Army,initiated on directives of theCOAS, with a view to improvethe Army’s operational effec-tiveness as well as economyand efficiency of administra-tion.

During interaction withthe local youth, recruited asTerritorial Force, COASlauded the sacrifices ofpeople of Sialkot during pre-vious wars.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—President AsifAli Zardari on Thursday saidthat he would soon visitMuzaffarabad and addressthe joint session of AzadJammu & Kashmir LegislativeAssembly and AJK Councilto reiterate the government’spolicy on Kashmir and thestruggle of its people for theirrights.

The President was talkingto a delegation of Kashmirileadership representing the

entire political spectrum ofAJK and the APHC (All Par-ties Hurriyat Conference),which called on him at theAiwan-e-Sadr.

The delegation called onhim to express the sentimentsof Kashmiri people in the wakeof hanging of Afzal Guru.

The delegation also in-vited the President to visitMuzaffarabad and addressthe join session of Assemblyand council. The delegationwas led by AJK Prime Minis-ter Chaudhry Abdul Majeed.

Zardari to address jointsitting of AJKLA, Council

Lord Nazirapologises for

‘Jewish conspiracy’remarks

LONDON—A British Muslimpeer who caused outrage byblaming a Jewish conspiracyfor his imprisonment over afatal car crash offered an unre-served apology on Thursdayfor his “unacceptable” re-marks. Pakistan-born NazirAhmed was suspended fromthe opposition Labour partywhen the comments, made toa Pakistani television station,were published in The Timesnewspaper earlier this month.Speaking in Urdu, the 55-year-old had attributed a judge’sdecision to jail him for danger-ous driving four years ago topressure from Jews “who ownnewspapers and TV channels”.

“I completely and unre-servedly apologise to the Jew-ish community, to the judiciary,to the newspaper owners,”Ahmed said in an interviewwith the Huffington Post inBritain. Ahmed was appointedin 1998 as Britain’s first Mus-lim member of the House ofLords – the second chamberof the British Parliament.

He struggled to explainwhy he made the remarks, say-ing: “It must have been atwisted mind that said thosethings.” When he saw thevideo on The Times website,“I could not believe that thiswas me,” Ahmed said, adding:“I cannot honestly saywhy.”—INP

TRUDGING from place to place withheavy weights on our backs is an everyday reality, from schoolchildren tot-

ing textbooks in backpacks to firefighters andsoldiers carrying occupational gear. Muscleand skeletal damage are very real concerns.

Now Tel Aviv University researchers saythat nerve damage, specifi-cally to the nerves that travelthrough the neck and shoul-ders to animate our handsand fingers, is also a seriousrisk.

Prof. Amit Gefen ofTAU’s Department of Bio-medical Engineering andProf. Yoram Epstein ofTAU’s Sackler Faculty ofMedicine, along with PhDstudent Amir Hadid and Dr.Nogah Shabshin of the Im-aging Institute of the AssutaMedical Center, have deter-mined that the pressure ofheavy loads carried on theback have the potential todamage the soft tissues ofthe shoulder, causing micro-structural damage to the nerves, MedicalHealth News Reported.

The result could be anything from simpleirritation to diminished nerve capacity, ulti-mately limiting the muscles’ ability to respondto the brain’s signals, inhibiting movementof the hand and the dexterity of the fingers.In practice, this could impact functionality,reducing a worker’s ability to operate machin-ery, compromise a soldiers’ shooting responsetime, or limiting a child’s writing or drawingcapacity.

The research was published in the Jour-nal of Applied Physiology and partially sup-ported by a grant from TAU’s Nicholas and

Elizabeth Slezak Super Center for CardiacResearch and Biomedical Engineering. Fo-cusing their study on combat units in whichsoldiers must carry heavy backpacks, theresearchers discovered that, in addition tocomplaining of discomfort or pain in theirshoulders, soldiers also reported tickling

sensations or numbness in thefingers.

Exploring this issue ina non-invasive manner, theyused biomechanical analysismethods originally developedfor investigating chronicwounds. The analyses showhow mechanical loads, de-fined as the amount of forceor deformation placed on aparticular area of the body,were transferred beneath theskin to cause damage to tis-sue and internal organs.

Based on data collectedby MRI, Profs. Gefen andEpstein developed anatomicalcomputer models of the shoul-ders. These showed how pres-sure generated by the weight

of a backpack load is distributed beneath theskin and transferred to the brachial plexusnerves. The models also account for me-chanical properties, such as the stiffness ofshoulder tissues and the location of bloodvessels and nerves in the sensitive areaswhich are prone to damage.

Extensive mechanical loading was seento have a high physiological impact. “Thebackpack load applies tension to thesenerves,” explains Prof. Gefen. He notes thatthe resulting damage “leads to a reductionin the conduction velocity that is, the speedby which electrical signals are transferredthrough the nerves.”

Heavy loads on shoulders can causenerve damage in the hands, fingers

ISLAMABAD: Artists performing during special cultural show featuring traditional and folk dances and instrumental music arranged for visitingdelegates from 20 countries at National Arts Gallery.

ISLAMABAD: Visitors taking keen interest in the arrangement of flowers during Ikebanaexhibition organized by the Embassy of Japan at PNCA.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

Pak-China rapidly boosting cultural cooperation: Yao Wen

363 pollingstations declared

sensitiveRAWALPINDI—Three hundredand sixty three polling stationsof Rawalpindi Division havebeen placed in category A anddeclared extremely sensitive.

According to a report sentto Home Department Punjab,there are 4297 polling stationsin Rawalpindi Division districtsRawalpindi, Jhelum, Attock andChakwal.

In view of security con-cerns, the polling stations havebeen divided into three differentcategorize and atleast 363 havebeen placed in category A, 717polling station in B category and3217 in C category.

Meanwhile, the police haschalked out comprehensive se-curity plan for ensuring safeelections.—Online

Matricexaminees given

wrong paperSTAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The conduct-ing staff at the RawalpindiBoard examination centres atDenny’s Higher SecondarySchool and other institutionsdistributed wrong chemistryquestion paper to the studentsappearing in the annual Sec-ondary School Certificate Part– I examination. The candidateswere given question paper of2010-12 session paper insteadof the paper of 2011-13 session.

The students taking SSCPart – I examination have pro-tested over the negligence of theboard staff conducting the ex-amination and have appealed tothe board authorities to makerequired amends so that the stu-dents do not suffer loss of oneyear.

ISLAMABAD: Deputy Chief of Mission of the Chinese Em-bassy, Yao Wen distributing awards, uniforms and booksamong Pakistani and ethnic Chinese students at a local school.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Deputy Chief ofMission of the Chinese Em-bassy Mr. Yao Wen on Thurs-day said bilateral relations be-tween Pakistan and China arerapidly growing to new heights.

He said that Beijing is com-mitted to invest heavily inPakistan’s energy and other sec-tors so that people of this greatnation can enjoy a better life.

Mr. Yao Wen said this whilespeaking at an award, books,and uniform distribution cer-emony held at a local schoolwhere students of Chinese ori-gin are also getting free educa-tion. Calling for enhanced col-laboration between educationalinstitutions and exchanges ofstudents and researchers, he saidthat it would be useful to pro-

vide fresh ideas and intellectualcontent for strengthening our un-matched partnership.

Successive generations ofleaders as well as the masses havealways held high the banner ofPakistan-China friendship, saidYao Wen.

He said Chinese are workingon 120 projects in Pakistan witharound a quarter related to energythat is most important part of ourcooperation. In last five yearsvolume of bilateral trade hasgrown by 70 per cent to over $12 billion with Pakistani exportsincreased two-fold from $1 bil-lion to $2.2 billion, he informed.

The diplomat informed thatChinese enterprises were enter-ing the Pakistani market whilePakistani businesses were alsoincreasingly looking towardsChina.Lauding the role of

Islamabad in regional and globalpeace, stability and developmenthe said that Pakistan has offeredgreat sacrifices to ensure peace.

Speaking on the occasion,President Ex-Chinese Associa-tion Raza Khan lauded the Chi-nese assistance and cooperationin various fields terming it agreat service to people of Paki-stan. He lauded the active in-volvement of Chinese Ambas-sador Liu Jian in capacity build-ing of students.

Supporting needy studentsis a great service which is en-suring social development, headded.Raza Khan said weshould increase people-to-people exchanges and promoteunderstanding between thepeople of the two countrieswhich is imperative to carryforward cause of Pak-China

friendship.Terming China a sincere

and selfless friend, Joint Sec-retary Ministry of EducationProf. Muhammad Rafiq Tahirsaid that two countriesshould fully unleash theirpotential of cooperation tobenefit masses.

Pakistan and China needto work closely together toseize opportunities and meetchallenges; we should focusour efforts on developing theeconomy and improvingpeople’s well-being, headded.

Around 8,000 Pakistanistudents are already studyingin China and thousands moreare preparing to join them.

The chief guest also inau-gurated new block in the PeakMontessori and High School.

ISLAMABAD—A workshop ofIkebana (Japanese art of flow-ers arrangement) was concludedhere at the National Art Gallery(NAG) Thursday with a certifi-cates distribution ceremonyamong the participants.

The eight-day workshop,which started on March 21, wasorganized by the Embassy ofJapan in collaboration with thePakistan National Council ofthe Arts (PNCA).

Prof. Asifa Ataka, who be-longed to Karachi, conductedthe workshop. She has beenteaching this art in Pakistansince 1994 in the manner of theIkebana School, one of theleading flower arrangementschools in Japan.

Nearly 50 female partici-pants attended the workshop

Ikebana workshop at NAGand exhibition of the Ikebanamade by the students was alsodisplayed at the concluding cer-emony.

Toshikazu Isomura, Coun-selor and Head of Public Af-fairs Section Embassy of Japanawarded certificates to the par-ticipants of workshop.

Talking on the occasion,Toshikazu Isomura said thatIkebana mentioned the historyof Ikebana in Japan.

He explained that the at-tention given to the choice offlowers harmonization of theflower and the relationship ofall these with surroundingspace has sublimated this workinto an art, distinguishing formsimply decorative uses of flow-ers.

He hoped that the students

habitually make the flower ar-rangements at home or some-where so that a fragrance andbeauty of Pakistani flowers yetarranged in the Japanese stylewould make people around theflowers feel happy.

Isomura appreciated theservices of Prof. Asifa Ataka,for teaching the art of Ikebanato the Pakistani people spe-cially women for the last manyyears. He also mentioned thePresident of the PJCAIslamabad (Pakistan-Japan Cul-tural Association), late SyedHaider Zaidi, who played a vi-tal roe in enhancing the culturalunderstanding among thepeople of Japan and Pakistan.He expressed his deed grief andcondolences over his sad de-mise.—APP

24 diplomats visit HECISLAMABAD—A thirty twomembers’ delegation of juniordiplomats from 24 brotherlycounties paid visit to the HigherEducation Commission HEChere.

The Executive DirectorHEC Prof. Dr. Mukhtar Ahmedwelcomed the delegation andapprised them about the scope,functions and role of HEC forstrengthening higher educationsector in Pakistan. He extendedthanks to the officials of foreignministry of Pakistan for arrang-ing the visit.

He informed that the estab-lishment of the HEC in 2002has brought revolutionarychanges in higher educationsector of Pakistan. The HEChas accomplished more in tenyears since its establishmentthan was achieved in the first55 years of Pakistan’s exist-ence. He informed that due to

revolutionary reforms in thesector, Pakistani universitieshave been reflected among thetop world and Asian universi-ties. During last decade, inter-national collaborations withleading organizations andhigher education institutions ofacademically advanced coun-tries have been establishedthroughout the globe.

HEC is emphasizing andworking closely with universi-ties for effective linkages ofhigher education institutionswith industry and society sothat collaborative efforts maybe undertaken for developmentof country and betterment ofsociety. He remarked that Pa-kistani higher education modelespecially quality assurance re-forms are being followed byIslamic counties and other de-veloping countries as one of thebest practices.—NNI

ISLAMABAD—Deputy Com-missioner, Islamabad, AmerAli Ahmed on Thursday re-viewed the progress immuniza-tion against communicable dis-eases among the children up toage of one year, under the ex-panded programme of immuni-zation, in the rural areas of theCapital.

District Health Officer,Islamabad, Dr. Azhar Khan in-formed meeting that health de-partment has achieved 95 percent routine immunization cov-erage under the expandedprogramme of immunization, inthe rural areas during last year,said a press release.

Immunization againstchildren diseases reviewed

Routine immunization cov-erage against measles was 99per cent during the said period,he added.

He further said that thehealth department has written aletter to the officials of WorldHealth Organization for inclu-sion of Pneumoccal vaccine inthe expanded programme of im-munization, as part of routinecoverage against Pneumonia inthe children up to one year old.

He said that routine vacci-nation against pneumoniawould also be started in the ru-ral areas of Islamabad after theassessment of World Health Or-ganization, as part of expanded

programme of immunization.Dr.Azhar further told that train-ing of two master trainers and32 trainers of health department,Islamabad has also been com-pleted for this purpose.

Deputy Commissioner,Islamabad directed the AssistantCommissioner(Secretariat) andAssistant Commissioner(Rural)to supervise the expandedprogramme of immunization inthe rural areas and ensure 100 percent coverage to save the childrenfrom communicable diseases.Officials of district health depart-ment and concerned AssistantCommissioners were present inthe meeting.—APP

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Sen-ate Nayyer Hussain BokhariThursday called for enhancingtrade co-operation and invest-ment in various sectors betweenPakistan and South Korea as theformer gave great importance tobilateral ties with Korea.

“Our relations are ever pro-gressing since their establish-ment three decades ago and itis need of the hour that we mustenhance our trade co-operationand investment in various sec-tors,” Bokhari said in a meet-ing with Korean AmbassadorChongjo Choi who called onhim at Parliament House.

The Korean ambassadorextended formal invitation toChairman Senate from KoreanNational Assembly Speaker,Kang Chang Hee on the auspi-cious occasion of completion of30 years of diplomatic relationsbetween Pakistan and Korea.

Talking about enhancingco-operation in different fields,

Pak-Korea ties to be strengthenedthe chairman said both Paki-stan and Korea should furtherstrengthen their engagement ineconomic sphere where hugepotential exists.

He reiterated that Koreacan particularly invest in en-ergy sector and science andtechnology fields. He said alarge number of Pakistani stu-dents is getting education fromKorean institutions and empha-sized the need to enhance num-ber of scholarships for Paki-stani students as they can actas a bridge between the twocountries.

The Chairman stressed theneed for frequent exchange ofParliamentary delegationswhich can bring about fruitfulresults in the longer run. TheChairman further said thatpeople to people contacts canalso bring the two countriesmuch closer. Bokhari ex-pressed his desire that hewouid appreciate if both Ko-rean President and Prime Min-ister could visit Pakistan. He

said that a large number ofskilled labour from Pakistan isworking in South Korea and ifneeded, more skilled labour canbe sent.

The chairman told the am-bassador that Pakistan wantedgood relations with all itsneighbours and peaceful reso-lution of all outstanding issueslike Kashmir and water disputewith India through dialogue.

Regarding Afghanistan, thechairman said that Pakistanconsiders that stable and peace-ful Afghanistan was essentialfor stability and peace in Paki-stan and the region.

He told that Pakistan, be-ing a frontiline state, had ren-dered immense sacrifices inwar against terrorism. In recip-rocation, the Korean ambassa-dor said that Pakistan’s foreignpolicy was in positive directionand the country was playingcrucial role in the region. He re-iterated that Korea wanted fur-ther strengthening of its rela-tions with Pakistan.

CommunitySupport Initiative

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Bahria Univer-sity has launched a communitysupport initiative for the welfareof the community. The studentsof the university are participat-ing in the initiative.

The students of the univer-sity have been working on vari-ous community welfareprojects in collaboration withvarious voluntary organiza-tions. The Bahria Universityhas linked its degreeprogrammes with communityservice through working on de-velopments projects. The stephas been taken to make studentsactive in social work.

Bahria University studentsof Humanities and Social Sci-ences are working with WomenAid Trust. Women Aid trust isa well-known non-profit orga-nization supporting the commu-nity by upholding human rightswith focus on rights of thewomen.

The Bahrians recently vis-ited Attock Jail. They set up athrift shop there and arrangedan art exhibition, all for the bet-terment of juvenile and womenprisoners of Attock jail.

You must either modifyyour dreams or mag-

nify your skills.

— Jim RohnAmjad Khan, CEO PMEX, Shazad Dada, Chairman PMEX & CEO Barclays Bank PLC,Pakistan and Tariq Mohar, Deputy CEO, Tameer Bank along with the representatives fromboth organizations.

PTCL, ICThold corporate

seminarSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tele-communication Company Lim-ited (PTCL), the largest Infor-mation Communication Tech-nology (ICT) service provider inPakistan, held a seminar here atLahore in connection with‘Managed WAN Service’,which provides end-to-end so-lution for its corporate custom-ers’ growing ICT needs.

The ‘Managed WAN Service’helps companies outsource theirnetworks and personalize mod-ules for individual needs in a se-cure, dependable and cost effec-tive manner and provides onlineanalytics and reporting, proactivenetwork monitoring and elimina-tion of capital expenditure of de-veloping a network. PTCL signedan agreement with Daewoo Paki-stan for provisioning of this ser-vice at the seminar.

Hamid Farooq, PTCL SeniorExecutive Vice President (SEVP)Business Development whilespeaking at the seminar said,“PTCL provides corporate solu-tions in a reliable, flexible and af-fordable manner, based on our vi-sion of ‘One Company One Solu-tion’.

PTCL officials and corporate guests at Managed WAN Ser-vice Seminar held in Lahore.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan MercantileExchange Limited and TameerMicrofinance Bank Limited(TMFB) signed a MoU on intro-ducing a gold-based investmentproduct. The MoU was signed byMr. Amjad Khan, CEO PMEXand Mr.Tariq Mohar, DeputyCEO, Tameer Bank in the pres-ence of Mr. Shazad Dada, Chair-man PMEX & CEO BarclaysBank PLC, Pakistan and represen-tatives from both organizations atthe PMEX Office in Karachi.

A press release issued afterthe event stated that the PMEXand TMFB have developed anunderstanding that TMFB shallintroduce and provide an E-Goldproducts through the trading

PMEX, Tameer MicrofinanceBank sign MoU

platform of PMEX to its cus-tomers. The investors shall beable to buy/sell gold throughTMFB branches/agents andBranchless banking Channelsusing their Mobile Accounts (M-Wallet) through the trading plat-form of PMEX.

The proposed product of-fered by PMEX and TMFB willgive an opportunity to the com-mon man to invest in Gold withtrust, security and convenience.The lot size for investment ingold will also be very smallaround 0.001 Tola which willmake it conducive for a largepopulation to invest in Goldwith their own cash flow easeand convenience. They wouldbe able to keep their gold in theofficial custody of PMEX.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—As the previ-ous government completes its5-year term, and the generalelections are fast approaching,the interim government isgearing up to deal with theacute power crisis responsiblyby making all out efforts tostop circular debt from in-creasing any further. The coun-try has 17,000 MWH capacityto generate but currently it isbeing operated at 9,000 MWHagainst the demand of 14,000.

Controlling circular debt be priorityThe difference of 2000 is under-standable because hydel is notat full capacity but rest 6,000 canbe generated through makingfull payments to oil based plantsand reallocation of gas from lessefficient consumption to mostefficient consumption.

It will be too much to askfrom the interim government tominimize the circular debt but byfully utilizing production capac-ity of efficient power plants, thegovernment can at least make surethat the circular debt doesn’t climbfurther up, said an official of an

IPP. One way is to allocate the fuelto most efficient plants (oil and gasbased plants both). It will save 25billion Rupees annually. Anothermost important is to make pay-ment in time and save the delayedpayment charges amounting to Rs.28/30 billions annually.

Recently a report releasedby planning commission statesthe way the power sector wasgoverned in the last five years.It explained the bad governancein the power sector entities, say-ing that all the power sector en-tities need to be run under cor-

porate culture and then theyshould be sold out ensuring zerointerference of the government.The performance of discos andGencos grossly deteriorated inlast five years. The steps recom-mended by donors and lenderswere never implemented withsincerity and commitment.

Sources at Ministry of Wa-ter and Power said that the pre-vious Govt added enormously tocircular debt just because ofworst governance at top level bynot following the rules. The eco-nomic order which lists down

the cheaper sources of powergeneration was not only crimi-nally ignored but was also ridi-culed by generating power frommost inefficient plants adding tocircular debt which ballooned tonew heights in previous regime.

The data during the periodfrom January to September lastyear shows that the per unit fuelcost of IPPs under 2002 policy onfurnace based power plants wasRs 14.095 against the fuel cost ofRs 21.04 of Gencos. The per unitsaving on gas based plants was Rs2.36. However the authorities did

not use these IPPs to the fullestand made Gencos run to full ca-pacity thus inflicting a huge losson account of efficiency and eat-ing up more fuel to generate asmuch power as IPPs would havemade in less fuel.

If the interim governmentmakes similar mistakes, awave of complete chaos is insight. In the coming summer,either the whole country willbe facing huge power break-downs due to gap in powergeneration and consumption orwill add up to circular debt.

NIP to buildprivate power

generation plantsSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—National IndustrialParks (NIP) has decided to es-tablish private power generationplants in all the industrial parksin the country. These power gen-eration plants would be run oncoal and other agriculture waste.

This was stated by NIPChief Executive Officer MohsinSyed while addressing a largenumber of businessmen at there-launching of Rachna Indus-trial Park.

He said that one-windowfacilities are being made avail-able to the businessmen atRachna Industrial Park. He saidthat infrastructure in the Indus-trial Park would be of interna-tional standards that would notbe in need of any kind of repairin next 30 years.

Mohsin Syed said that allthe development work in the in-dustrial park is in full swing thatwould enable the investors to putup their industrial units in nextthree to six months.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Badia Raza. Coun-try Head Marketing ICAP has

said that soft skills are extremelyessential for students to succeedprofessionally. In today’s busi-ness environment, the competi-tion in the workplace is gettingstiffer and turbulent. It is nolonger enough to have the nec-

Soft skills essential forstudents to succeed

essary capability to do the job,one should also be able to talkwell, write well, and present at-tractively to superiors, and clients

She was addressing at theannual presentation skills com-petition organized by the Insti-tute of Chartered Accountantsof Pakistan, which is a premieraccounting body of the coun-try.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The equity alli-ance strategy between five air-lines including airberlin, AirSeychelles, Virgin Australia,Aer Lingus and Etihad Airways– posted profitable financial re-sults.

The airlines’ individual andcollective results were boostedby a number of measures, in-cluding growing codesharetraffic between their networks,successful joint sales and mar-keting efforts, and a range ofincreasing business and costsynergies.

Airlines equity alliance produces profit resultsJames Hogan, Etihad Air-

ways’ President and Chief Ex-ecutive Officer, welcomed thesuccess of the airlines. He said:“2012 was a year in which theglobal economy remained verytough and in which airline in-dustry profits as a whole shrank,for the second successive year.Yet each of the airlines in ourequity alliance showed strongfinancial performance with eachreporting a profit.

Etihad Airways’ equity alli-ance model has seen increasingcooperation with each of its eq-uity investment airlines. It hascodeshare relationships in place

with each of the other four air-lines, adding to its 38 othercodeshares around the world,which together delivered morethan 1.2 million passengers ontothe virtual network. airberlin,Virgin Australia and AirSeychelles have also alreadylaunched new services to AbuDhabi from their respective mar-kets. In 2012, Etihad Airwaysand its equity partners carried76 per cent of all passengers atAbu Dhabi airport. With the ad-dition of the airline’s remain-ing codeshare partners, thecombined passenger numberamounted to 83 per cent.

Kuwait bansimport of seafood

from PakistanAMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Kuwait has put anindefinite ban on all fish importsfrom Pakistan apparently onhealth grounds, it is reliablylearnt here today.

However sources concernedwith hygienic arrangement atfish port however denied anylapse on health conditions andadded there seems somethingmore than what it meets the eyeas the ban has not only put onPakistan but the similar ban hasalso been put on import of seafood from Iran which seems alikely fall out effect of interna-tional pressures as well as sanc-tions on Iran.

The fish importers fromKuwait however have expressedtheir concern regarding fishfrom Pakistan may contain bac-teria that cause cholera.

Pakistan is a major seafood exporter in the region andso far there was no such com-plain from other buyers in theregion.

Oracle launchesworld’s fastestmicroprocessor

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Oracle has intro-duced a complete refreshmidrange and high-end SPARCserver in line with advance busi-nesses need of computing powerto discover growth and opportu-nities and turn social streams intomarket intelligence.

The new SPARC T5 and M5servers are installed in OracleSolaris with world’s fastest micro-processor. Oracle’s new SPARCT5 servers have set 17 worldrecords(1) and are the world’s bestplatforms for enterprise comput-ing at any scale, delivering the bestvalue for database and enterpriseapplications.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Zuhair Siddiqui,Managing Director, SSGC hassaid that education is a panaceafor all the problems that thecountry is faced with. Hence theSSGC in its CSR initiatives hasfocused largely on supplement-ing educational efforts of otherorganizations.

SSGC Chief said while on thesigning ceremony of Memoran-dums of Understandings witheight reputable and renowned edu-cational institutions and NGOsthat would be benefiting from thegas utility’s CSR initiatives dur-ing Financial year 2012-13.

Zuhair Siddiqui, MD,SSGC exchanged MoU docu-ments with the representatives

SSGC initiates CSR efforts with afocus on supplementing education

of the collaborative partner or-ganizations, that included, TheCitizens Foundation, NED Uni-versity, Institute of BusinessManagement, Family Educa-tional Services Foundation,Omair Sana Foundation,Dowites-78 Operations,Thardeep Rural DevelopmentProgram and Indus ResourceCentre in an elegant and wellattended ceremony organized onMarch 27, 2013 by theCompany’s Corporate Commu-nication Department at the HeadOffice auditorium. Yusuf J.Ansari, SGM (Corporate andLegal Affairs) and NasreenHussain, Dy. General Manager(Corporate Communications)were also seated on stage to wit-ness the exchange of MoUs.

MCB announces30pc cash dividend

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The 65th AnnualGeneral Meeting of the share-holders of MCB Bank Limitedunder the chairmanship of AftabAhmad Khan has approved therecommendation of Board OfDirectors for final cash dividend@ 30% and 10% bonus issue.

The chairman informed themembers that MCB completedyet another remarkable year interms of financial performanceand growth. The Bank reportedprofit before tax of Rs. 32.054billion and profit after tax of Rs.20.941 billion with an increaseof 2% and 8%, respectively. Netmarkup income of the Bank wasreported at Rs. 40.856 billionwhereas non-markup incomecame to Rs. 9.153 billion. Non-markup income registered anincrease of Rs. 1 billion (13%)owing to 16% increase in fee,commission and brokerage in-come and 19% increase in divi-dend income during the year.

TDAP praised forrice exports boostStaff ReporterLAHORE—Ch. SameeUllah, Vice ChairmanREAP has appreciated thedynamic role of Mr. AbidJavaid Akbar, ChiefExecutive, Trade Develop-ment Authority of Pakistan(TDAP) for boosting thePakistani rice exports acrossworld over. He also praisedthe TDAP Chief Executivefor working to the entiresatisfaction of all the tradesectors. He stated thatTDAP, Chief Executive, hasannounced to developcomprehensive programfocused on promoting riceexport to Central AsianStates which is a good signby TDAP for rice exportersand we always stand byTDAP. He said CentralAsian states have hugepotential of export andPakistani Basmati is anintegral part of TurkishCuisine. It would helpexporters to earn moreforeign exchange for thecountry.

MAN expandsservice facilitiesStaff ReporterISLAMABAD—With a launchevent on March 28, 2013,MAN Diesel & Turbo Pakistanannounced the expansion of itspremises in Lahore. At thesame time the company joinshands with its sister companyMAN Truck & Bus for thelaunch of the commercialvehicles division in Pakistanand its latest product, the TGSWW. The MAN location inLahore will be the first wherethe two sister companies resideunder one roof. The event wasattended by the PresidentLCCI (Lahore Chamber ofCommerce and Industries),Mr. Farooq Iftikhar and manyhigh esteemed VIP guestsfrom the local trade business.H.E. Mr. Axel Wech, Ambas-sador of Austria representedtogether with the Hon.Counsel of the GermanEmbassy, Mr. Anees UrRehman, the two home basesof MAN.

Prof Dr Niaz Ahmad Akhtar, Rector, National Textile University, Faisalabad, AamerKhanzada, MD, Pegasus Consultancy inaugurated the 11th Edition of MEGATECH Paki-stan-2013 at Expo Centre.

MEGATECHPakistan 2013inaugurated

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Prof. Dr. NiazAhmad Akhtar, Rector, NationalTextile University, inauguratedthe 11th Edition of the Interna-tional Machinery Exhibition ofGarment & Textile Technology– MEGATECH PAKISTAN2013, at the Expo Center,Lahore.

The opening ceremony wasalso graced by Mr. MirMuhammad Farooq Meyer,Chairman North Zone, PakistanReadymade Garments Manufac-turer & Exporters Association,Mr. Rao Abdul Basit, ViceChairman & Regional In charge,All Pakistan Textile ProcessingMills Association and HajiMuhammad Akram, President,Embroiders of Pakistan.

The exhibition attracted over94 companies from 17 countriesincluding Austria, China, France,Germany, Hong Kong, India,Netherlands ,Canada, Italy, Japan,India, Italy, Taiwan, Malaysia,Turkey, UK and USA.

Allied Bankshareholders approve

65pc dividendSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The 67th AnnualGeneral Meeting (AGM) of Al-lied Bank Limited was held onWednesday, March 27, 2013.The meeting was chaired byMohammad Naeem Mukhtar,Chairman Board of Directorsand was attended by the Direc-tors, SBP representatives, vari-ous institutional investors andnumber of individual sharehold-ers. The external auditors andBank’s Share Registrar werealso present in the meeting.

The Shareholders adoptedthe annual accounts of the Bankfor the year 2012 and accordedapproval for the payment of fi-nal cash dividend @ 20 percent,i.e., Rs. 2.00 per share. Thiswould be in addition to the in-terim cash dividends alreadypaid aggregating Rs. 4.50 pershare, i.e. 45 percent, therebyincreasing the total cash divi-dend for the year 2012 to 65percent. The shareholders alsoapproved issuance of 10 per-cent bonus shares. Total assetsof the Bank increased to Rs.632 billion, while Tier-I Equityimproved by over 14 percent toRs. 43 billion at the year-end.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—JCR-VIS CreditRating Company Limited hasupgraded the Insurer FinancialStrength (IFS) Rating of EFULife Assurance Ltd. (EFU Life)to ‘AA’ (Double A) from ‘AA-’(Double A Minus). Outlook onthe assigned rating is ‘Stable’.

The rating action reflects thecompany’s strong balance sheet

JCR-VIS upgrades IFS ratingof EFU life Assurance to AA

footing that has further increasedon account of continuous growthin regular premium unit linkedpolicies and adequate persistencyof the same, providing EFU Lifea stable stream of renewal busi-ness. Realizing the importance ofhigh persistency level, the man-agement has established a ‘con-servation setup’ responsible formaking efforts towards reinstate-ment of lapsed policies; this hasresulted in improvement in over-all persistency rate in 2012.

The assigned rating takesinto account EFU Life’s strongcapitalization level vis-à-vis thenature of risks underwritten. Withbulk of the business generated byunit linked policies, the asset riskstands transferred to the policy-holders particularly for policieswith cash values exceeding thesum risk assured. As EFU Lifeis a growing company, there arealso a large number of individuallife policies with cash values lessthan the sum risk assured. Riskis however considered manage-able keeping in view the lowcrude death rate experienced inthe past and reinsurance cover-age by highly rated reinsurers.

Traders term budget‘strategy paper’Staff ReporterLAHORE—Terming budgetstrategy paper 2013-14 asunrealistic and impractical, theAll Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran has said that it has notcontained measures to achievemacroeconomic targets. APATcentral general secretaryNaeem Mir observed that therevenue target for next yearhas been set at Rs2.83 trillionwhich is unrealistic as thecurrents year target forrevenue collection at Rs2.53trillion was likely to be missedand hence revised it downwardto Rs2.32 trillion. To achievethe new revenue target thegovernment has to enhance taxnet by bringing agri incomeinto tax net. He said that thefinance ministry has beenrepeating to increase taxationby 0.5 per cent of GDP everyyear which was nevermaterialised over the last fiveyears.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—China is com-mitted to invest heavily inPakistan’s energy and other sec-tors to improve lives of people,Deputy Chief of Mission of theChinese Embassy Yao Wen saidThursday.

Speaking at a function at alocal school here, Yao Wen saidChinese are already working on120 projects in Pakistan witharound a quarter related to en-ergy.

In addition, during the lastfive years volume of bilateraltrade has grown by 70 per centto over $ 12 billion with Paki-stani exports increased two-fold

China to make heavy investmentin Pakistan’s energy sector

from $1 billion to $2.2 billion,he informed.

Yao Wen stressed the needfor enhancing collaboration be-tween educational institutionsand exchanges of students andresearchers to promote intellec-tual cooperation.

Lauding the role of Paki-stan in regional and globalpeace, stability and develop-ment, he said that Pakistan hasoffered great sacrifices to en-sure peace.

Speaking on the occasion,President Ex-Chinese Associa-tion Raza Khan lauded the Chi-nese assistance and cooperationin various fields, terming it agreat service to people of Paki-

stan.He lauded the active in-

volvement of Chinese Ambas-sador Liu Jian in capacity build-ing of students and said thatsupporting needy students wasa great service for social devel-opment. Raza Khan stressed theneed for increasing people-to-people exchanges to promoteunderstanding and carry for-ward cause of Pak-Chinafriendship.

Terming China a sincerefriend, Joint Secretary Ministryof Education Prof. MuhammadRafiq Tahir said that two coun-tries should fully unleash theirpotential of cooperation to ben-efit masses.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Zameen.com,Pakistan’s No.1 Property List-ing and Real Estate portal hassigned up with several interna-tional portals dedicated to clas-sified and property listings, in-cluding global players such asOLX, Trovit & Mitula.com

The strategic move nowconnects Pakistan’s propertymarket and its listings with theworld’s top classified searchengines, putting Pakistan on theradar of genuine buyers and sell-

Zameen.com integrates Pakistanproperty listings with global portals

ers from around the world.With over a quarter million

listings to date, more than260,000 registered users, andover 20 million page views in2012, the effort made by theteam at Zameen.com to verify& provide authentic and securedlistings has lead to the genera-tion of over 500,000 genuineleads for Pakistan’s real estatemarket in less than 3 yearsacross the Buy, Sell, Rent & In-vest categories.

Zameen.com has won Inter-national Property Awards (in

association with) CNBC - BestProperty Portal of PakistanAward 2007, Asia Pacific Prop-erty Awards (in associationwith) CNBC - Best PropertyPortal of Pakistan 2008, Inter-national Property Awards (in as-sociation with) CNBC - BestProperty Portal of Asia 2008 andInternational Property Awards(in association with) CNBC -Best International Portal 2008.

CEO of Zameen.com,Zeeshan Ali Khan welcomes thepartnerships and sharing of list-ings with global players.

TRUDGING from place to place withheavy weights on our backs is an everyday reality, from schoolchildren

toting textbooks in backpacks tofirefighters and soldiers carrying occupa-tional gear. Muscle andskeletal damage are veryreal concerns.

Now Tel Aviv Univer-sity researchers say thatnerve damage, specificallyto the nerves that travelthrough the neck andshoulders to animate ourhands and fingers, is alsoa serious risk.

Prof. Amit Gefen ofTAU’s Department of Bio-medical Engineering andProf. Yoram Epstein ofTAU’s Sackler Faculty ofMedicine, along with PhDstudent Amir Hadid and Dr.Nogah Shabshin of the Im-aging Institute of theAssuta Medical Center,have determined that thepressure of heavy loads carried on the backhave the potential to damage the soft tis-sues of the shoulder, causing microstruc-tural damage to the nerves, Medical HealthNews Reported.

The result could be anything fromsimple irritation to diminished nerve capac-ity, ultimately limiting the muscles’ abilityto respond to the brain’s signals, inhibit-ing movement of the hand and the dexter-ity of the fingers. In practice, this couldimpact functionality, reducing a worker’sability to operate machinery, compromisea soldiers’ shooting response time, or lim-

iting a child’s writing or drawing capac-ity. The research was published in theJournal of Applied Physiology and par-tially supported by a grant from TAU’sNicholas and Elizabeth Slezak Super Cen-

ter for Cardiac Research andBiomedical Engineering. Fo-cusing their study on com-bat units in which soldiersmust carry heavy back-packs, the researchers dis-covered that, in addition tocomplaining of discomfortor pain in their shoulders,soldiers also reported tick-ling sensations or numb-ness in the fingers.

Exploring this issue ina non-invasive manner, theyused biomechanical analysismethods originally devel-oped for investigatingchronic wounds. The analy-ses show how mechanicalloads, defined as the amountof force or deformation placedon a particular area of the

body, were transferred beneath the skin tocause damage to tissue and internal organs.

Based on data collected by MRI,Profs. Gefen and Epstein developed ana-tomical computer models of the shoul-ders. These showed how pressure gen-erated by the weight of a backpack loadis distributed beneath the skin and trans-ferred to the brachial plexus nerves. Themodels also account for mechanical prop-erties, such as the stiffness of shouldertissues and the location of blood ves-sels and nerves in the sensitive areaswhich are prone to damage.

Heavy loads on shoulders can causenerve damage in the hands, fingers

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Justice (Retd) Zahid Kurban Alvi chairing a meeting regarding eradication of Polio.

KARACHI: Activists of Jamhoori Watan Party protesting here against election in DeraBugti.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

KARACHI: Sindh Rangers recovered weapons from detained persons after targetedsearch operation in Frontier Colony.

KARACHI: A candidate filing his nomination papers for upcoming general elections.

Barozai callson Alvi

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh caretakerChief Minister (CM) Justice(Retd) Zahid Kurban Alavisaid that he was confidentthat the elections would beheld in better, peaceful andhealthy atmosphere, whichwas in the larger interest ofcountry and common man.

He expressed their firm be-lief that maximum people wouldcome on polling stations to casttheir votes to their candidates.He was talking to Balochistancaretaker CM Nawab GhousBukhsh Barozai, who hadcalled on the Sindh CM Thurs-day at the CM House. Both thecaretaker CMs discussed mat-ters of mutual interests andhoped that the task of holdingof general elections in free andfair manners will be achieved.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh provincialgovernment would fully sup-port and cooperate and wouldprovide necessary securityand complete protection to theteams engaged in performingduties and administering anti-Polio drops to children.

The caretaker CM said thiswhile talking to the partici-pants of a high level meetingheld at the CM House Thurs-day to review the difficultiesand challenges ahead to theanti-Polio campaign in the

Chief Minister orders strict securitymeasures for polio workers

province.Pakistan Polio Plus Com-

mittee National Chair AzizMemon Sindh Health Secre-tary Dr Noshad Ahmed Shaikh,Project Director EPIKhamisani, Dr Salah Tumsah,Polio team leader WHO, JalalShaikh (Rotary) and MasoodHamed Bhalli (Rotary), Akhtark Alavi, Khalid Latif attended.The caretaker CM said thatPolio was very dangerous dis-ease and it was their responsi-bility to make concerted effortsfor the eradication of Poliofrom society.

The meeting was informedthat there were only three coun-tries of Algeria, Indonesia andPakistan, where polio still ex-isted. It was also informed thatSukkur had been declared asPolio free area while there wereonly two places of Gadap(Karachi) and Hyderabad,where still there were causesof Polio.

The meeting was furtherinformed that there was onlypopulation of 50,000 people ofGadap, which had rapidly in-creased upto 450000 peopleand hygienic conditions were

very bad, due to open drainsand garbage dumps. After re-cent Polio campaign, the nextPolio campaign was being heldin Karachi Division particularlyin Gadap, and also inHyderabad from April 5 to 7,2013. Due to migration ofpeople from one place to other,the germination of polio is in-creased. The caretaker CM as-sured that facilities would beprovided to persons perform-ing duties and engaged in ad-ministrating polio drops to chil-dren, while IG of Police, Sindhand Director General Rangers.

SC constitutesbench over

‘No Go area’KARACHI—The SupremeCourt of Pakistan on Thurs-day constituted a specialbench to hear a case overno-go areas’ reports inKarachi.

A five-member bench ofthe apex court headed byChief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry com-prising Justice Jawad SKhawaja, Justice Khilji ArifHussain, Justice Amir HaniMuslim and Justice IjazAfzal Khan will begin theproceeding over the newsreports pertaining to no-goareas in the country’s finan-cial hub at Karachi registryon Friday. The court hasalso issued a notice to SindhAdvocate General to file re-port.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh PoliceChief said that around 50model women Police Stationswould be established in theprovince while specialwomen facilitation deskswould also be established toentertain women complain-ants diligently and in a re-spectful manner.

This was disclosed by theInspector General of Police,Sindh Shahid NadeemBaloch in a meeting with a 3-member German delegationthat comprised PortfolioManager of GIZ Pakistan,

50 model women police stations plannedMs. Madeliene and GermanPolice Senior Officer Christo-pher. On the occasion, GRPprincipal advisor Dr Khola, ad-ditional IGP, SindhMuhammad Rafiq Butt, DIGheadquarters Dr SanaullahAbbasi, DIG Finance Dost AliBaloch and other senior Policeofficials were present.

The IGP Baloch said that adetailed training programmewould soon be launched forthe women officers and for theupgradation of women policestations in the province so thatwomen police officers shouldimpart professional assistanceto women complainants seek-

ing police’s help.He, on the occasion, is-

sued directives to police offi-cials concerned to immediatelyinitiate measures for the estab-lishment of women facilitationdesks in all police stations inthe province and deputewomen police officers of atleast the rank of Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) to ensurespeedy legal assistance to theneedy women.

The IGP further asked thepolice official concerned thatat least 50 model women po-lice stations should be estab-lished and women facilitationdesks at all other police sta-

tions.On the occasion, the GIZ

Pakistan assured the IGP,Sindh of necessary coopera-tion regarding establishmentof model police stations, fa-cilitation desks and provi-sioning of the required trans-port facility.

It was also decided thatSindh police in associationwith the GIZ Pakistan wouldstart a project for the estab-lishment of Investigationrooms at police training cen-tres Razzaqabad, Saeedabadand Shahdadpur and a foren-sic laboratory in Karachi,Sukkur and Mirpurkhas.

Transfers andpostings of

JudgesSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Chief Jus-tice Sindh High Court,Karachi and the judges ofHigh Court have ordered thetransfer of Ahmed Saba Dis-trict and Sessions Judge,Karachi (South) and directedto report to High Court andMuhammad Shahid ShafiqDistrict andSessions Judge(awaiting for posting) trans-ferred and posted as Dis-trict and Sessions Judge,Karachi (South) with imme-diate effect.

While Manoo MalKhagija Additional Districtand Sessions Judge,Naushero Feroze has beentransferred and posted asAdditional District and Ses-sions Judge Ghotki andManzoor Ahmed MemonAdditional District and Ses-sions Judge Ghotki has beentransferred and posted asAdditional District and Ses-sions Judge Umerkot withimmediate effect.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM)Chief Altaf Hussain appealedto the people to donate gener-ously in the MQM ElectionsFund for bringing a real changein the country.

He said that the MQM wasthe only representative politi-cal party of the poor andmiddle-class people and allparty expenses were defrayedby public donations.

Altaf appeals people todonate for election expenses

The MQM was striving forbringing a positive and realchange in the country for whichit stands in need of financialsupport from the public, hesaid, appealing to the peopleto contribute generously in theelections fund so that genuinepublic representatives couldget elected to the assemblies.

Meanwhile, the MQMChief said that the MQM con-testants had set a record of fil-ing the nomination papers inshortest possible time despite

the complexes and lengthy pro-cedures for filling in the nomi-nation papers. The MQM con-testants deserved due appre-ciation, he added.

He said that the nominationpapers were quite complex anddifficult to fill in without errorsbut the MQM elections cell hadperformed extra-ordinary fortimely submission of the nomi-nation forms from Karachi,Sindh, Punjab, KhyberPakhtoonkhawa andBalochistan.

STAFF REPORTER

KA R A C H I—Copying cul-ture, unfair means andcheating would be fullycurbed during examinationsand prompt strategy to thiseffect was evolved. A com-plaint Cell in this regardwould be established at theChief Minister (CM) House,which would receive com-plaints and monitor the pro-cess of holding annual ex-aminations.

This was stated by thePrincipal Secretary to Sindhcaretaker CM, NaveedKamran Baloch in a meeting

Monitoring Cell forcurbing unfair meansin exams established

of Chairmen and Controllersof examinations of the edu-cational Boards of the prov-ince held Thursday at theSindh CM House.

Rafiq Ahmed BureroSpecial Secretary to CM,Saeed Shaikh Addit ionalSecretary (Boards) andRafia Mallah Deputy Sec-retary (Boards) also at-tended.

The meeting discussedand reviewed the arrange-ments regarding conduct ofSSC annual examination forclass IX and Class X, beingcommencing from April 8,2013.

Explosion incity, 2 persons

injuredKARACHI—A loud explo-sion was heard near a park inLandhi No 4 area of the city,Media reports said on Thurs-day. According to initial re-ports, two persons were in-jured in the explosion.

Rescue teams arrivedsoon after the explosion washeard. Tension prevailed inthe area after the explo-sion.—Online

Bindya Rani filesnomination

papers for PS-115KARACHI—In what appearsto be a rare move in Pakistan,a member of Pakistan’stransgender community filedher nomination papers tocontest the country’s forth-coming elections fromKarachi.

Pakistan is all set to holdgeneral elections on May 11this year. In 2012, the com-munity celebrated their mostprecious victory when theywere allowed for the first timeto register to vote, identify-ing themselves as a third sextransgender.

Bindya Rani, atransgender citizen alsoknown here as eunuchs orhijra arrived here in the citycourt in the metropolis andfiled her nomination papers.She said she would contestpolls on provincial SindhAssembly seat PS-115.—INP

SPENDING hours watching TV or playing computer games each day doesnot harm young children’s social

development, say experts.The Medical Research Council (MRC)

team who studied morethan 11,000 primary schoolpupils says it is wrong tolink bad behaviour to TVviewing, BBC Health re-ported on Tuesday.

Although researchersfound a small correlationbetween the two, they sayother influences, such asparenting styles, mostprobably explain the link.

But they still say “limitscreen time”, this caution-ary advice is becausespending lots of time infront of the TV everydaymight reduce how muchtime a child spends doingother important activitiessuch as playing withfriends and doing homework, they say.

‘We found no effect with screen timefor most of the behavioural and socialproblems that we looked at and only avery small effect indeed for conductproblems, such as fighting or bullying”,said Dr Alison Parkes Lead investiga-tor.

For the MRC study, published in Ar-chives of Diseases in Childhood, Dr AlisonParkes and colleagues asked UK mothersfrom all walks of life about their child’s TVviewing habits and general behaviour.

Almost two-thirds (65%) of the 11,014five-year-olds included in the study

TV time does not breedbadly behaved children

watched TV between one and three hoursa day, 15% watched more than threehours and less than 2% watched no tele-vision at all.

Watching more than three hours’ TVa day at this age predicted avery small increase in “con-duct” problems at the ageof seven.

After their seventhbirthday, these boys andgirls were slightly more likelyto get into fights, tell lies orbe bullies than their peers,according to their mothers’reports.

Dr Parkes said it waswrong to blame social prob-lems on TV.

“Our work suggeststhat limiting the amount oftime children spend in frontof the TV is, in itself, un-likely to improve psychoso-cial adjustment.”

Prof AnnetteKarmiloff-Smith, of

Birkbeck, University of London, said thatrather than focusing on the possible ad-verse effects of TV and video games, itwould be better to look at what positiveimpact they could have on children.

Prof Hugh Perry, chair of theMRC’s neurosciences and mentalhealth board, said, “We are living in aworld that is increasingly dominatedby electronic entertainment, and par-ents are understandably concernedabout the impact this might be havingon their children’s wellbeing and men-tal health.

LAHORE: A large number of visitors on Thursday thronged Punjab University AnnualBook Fair 2013.

LAHORE: Caretaker Punjab Chief Minister Najam Sethi offering dua at the Mazar of Hazrat Data Gunj BakhshAli Hajveri (RA).

LAHORE: VC Prof Dr Muhammad Khaleeq-ur-Rehman distributing medals and degreesamong the students during 11th convocation of the Government College University.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—University of Vet-erinary and Animal SciencesLahore Vice-Chancellor ProfDr Talat Naseer Pasha hassaid that the university willdevelop a ‘natural historymuseum’ for education andtraining of students and pro-fessionals and research onnatural history andbiodiversity.

The Vice-Chancellor saidthis while addressing the in-augural ceremony of a three-day training workshop on“Taxidermy and Natural His-tory Development”organised by the UVAS andthe Pakistan Wildlife Foun-dation in collaboration with

the Higher Education Com-mission, Urdu Science Boardand Directorate ofBiodiversity here Thursday.

He said that this work-shop would be helpful in de-veloping the museum in theuniversity, besides providingtraining to the participantsand making a network for pro-fessionals. He said that wild-life was a related disciple toanimal sciences but had beenignored in the past. Empha-sizing on developing linkagewith related industry andother institutions, Prof Pashasaid that the UVAS had al-ways welcomed collabora-tions as in this high-tech ageprogress was only possiblethrough collaborations.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Prof Dr Masroor EllahiBaber said that the main ob-jective of the workshop washands-on training on taxi-dermy, which was a tech-nique of preparing, stuffingand mounting the skins ofanimals for display and othersources of study.

SHH Jaffery from the Pa-kistan Wildlife Foundationspoke about the history andtechnique of taxidermy whileAtif Yaqub highlighted theobjectives of the workshop.The workshop comprisesvarious technical sessions-which are a mix of lecturesand hand-on practical train-ing of the participants.Online training workshop

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The awarenessseminar for precautions andtreatment from dengue virusheld in University of Educa-tion Township Campus.

Manager Dengue Con-trol Programe of Directorateof Health Dr. Nadeem Razadelivered a lecture regardingprotection from dengue vi-rus, precautions and itstreatment.

By giving a detailed pre-sentation on symptoms,precautions and treatmentof Dengue virus Dr. NadeemRaza said that believing in

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore WasteManagement Company hasdevised a special plan to ex-press solidarity with theChristian workers at the forthcoming sacred occasion ofGood Friday and Easter.

Special cleanliness ar-rangements are being en-sured in the churches and thesurrounding areas. Atten-dance of all Muslim sanitaryworkers will be ensured asChristians will be busy cel-ebrating this religious eventso that routine operations ofcleanliness are carried out.

LWMC and Turk contrac-

tors Al-Bayrak and OZPAKhave planned to distribute spe-cial gifts among Christian sani-tary workers, supervisors anddrivers, who will remain presenton these days. LWMC and Al-Bayrak will give two days sal-ary if Christian workers chooseto work on these holidays whileOZPAK will distribute rationand other edibles equivalent tothe salary of two days.

MD LWMC has re-quested citizens to avoid lit-tering as much as possibleand keep the city clean sothat Christian workers maycelebrate this occasion withall zeal and zest, while the cityremains neat and tidy.

Sethi visitsMazar DataGunj Baksh

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Caretaker PunjabChief Minister Najam SethiThursday visited the Mazarof Hazrat Data Gunj BakhshAli Hajveri, laid a floralwreath and offered specialprayers for progress, pros-perity and solidarity of thecountry. Authorities ofAuqaf Department, DCOLahore, Yousaf Salah-ud-Dinand other personalities werepresent on the occasion.

Later, the Caretaker ChiefMinister visited the mauso-leum of the Poet of the EastAllama Muhammad Iqbal,laid a floral wreath and offeredFateha, besides offering spe-cial prayer, for peace, tran-quility and strength of thecountry. During his visit, theCaretaker Chief Minister alsorecorded his impressions inthe visitor’s book.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Girls this yearagain outshined boys in aca-demics at the 11th Convoca-tion of the Government Col-lege University Lahore asthey clinched top positionsand medals in 17 of 27 disci-plines at BA/BSc (Hons)level, while boys as usualshined in co-curricular activi-ties and sports.

Vice Chancellor Prof DrMuhammad Khaleeq-ur-Rahman presided over theconvocation which was co-chaired by Dean Prof Dr Is-lam Ullah Khan. RegistrarProf Anjum Nisar conductedthe traditional convocationproceedings, while Control-ler Examinations Prof Dr A.SBukhari was also present.

The convocation reporthighlighted that boys se-cured top positions only inten disciplines. However,boys secured 14 of 20 co-cur-ricular rolls of honor and allten sports rolls of honour.

In his convocation ad-dress, Vice Chancellor ProfRahman said education and

Girls outshine boysat GCU Convocation

democracy had symbiotic re-lationship and an ideal de-mocracy could only be sownin the third world politythrough the promotion ofhigh quality educationamong all tears of society.He demanded the budgetaryallocation for educationshould be minimum 4 percentof GDP in the next budgetand government grants foruniversities should bedoubled to cover deficits.

Prof Rahman said thatthis was a knowledge-drivenworld and the divide be-tween the rich and the poorcountries today was simplya knowledge divide. “Onlythose countries that have in-vested in education haveprogressed rapidly,” headded.

Talking about GCU, theVice Chancellor said it was aunique seat of higher learn-ing where students hailingfrom divergent ethnic, sectar-ian and cultural backgroundshad always studied togetherin the most congenial atmo-sphere and groomed as thefinest individuals known for

their spirit of inquiry, toler-ance and an enviable senseof sacrifice.

He said that GCU’s in-valuable contribution in therealm of art and literature hadbeen unrivaled. “The culturalmilieu of this historical insti-tution has inspired many aliterary notable to exploretheir innate gift,” he added.

He said that most impor-tant and potential source ofinstitutional developmentwas industry linkage whichhad so far been untapped inPakistan. He said that GCUwas taking a qualitative leapforward by developingstrong linkages with indus-try through general support,contract research, researchcenters and institutes, re-search consortium, industrialaffiliate programs and newbusiness incubators andtechnology parks. He saidthat GCU had signed 29agreements with industry andresearch institutes n the lasttwo years to promote re-search and academic activi-ties

Later, toppers Bilal Azam

(Applied Management),Madeeha Ahmed (Biotech-nology), Annam Zikera(Botany), Abdul Rahman(Business, Accounting & Fi-nance), Sidra Tariq (Chemis-try). Ajmal Ismail (ComputerScience), Muhammad Imran(Economics), Fatima Saeed(English), Asifa Alam andSidra Saddique (Environmen-tal Science), Aqsa Naeem(Electronics), Taha Naeem(Electrical Engineering),Muhammad Yahya (Geogra-phy), Malik Rehan (History), Rabia Khanum (IslamicStudies), Ambreen Ahmed(Mathematics), Saba Safdar(Microbiology), BashartFatima (Philosophy), AdeelAikbar (Political Science),Amna Malik (Physics),Madhia Masood (Psychol-ogy), Jamshaid Ali (Urdu),Ishaq (Statistics), MadhiaSana (Zoology), Iqra Zahid(Telecommunication) andHira Tanweer (Business Ad-ministration) received goldmedals and rolls of honourfrom the Vice Chancellor.

LWMC to facilitateChristian workers

Online training workshop participants awarded certificates

UVAS to develop naturalhistory museum: VC

the proverb “Prevention isbetter than cure” this fataldisease can be controlledeasily through care.

He added that so manycountries are affected bythis virus and in Thailandwhere one million people areaffected per year but ratio ofdeath is very low because ofprecautionary measurestaken to prevent this dis-ease. He said that we canalso stay away from this le-thal virus by taking preven-tive measures.

Director Division of Sci-ence and TechnologyDr.Rana Abrar Hussain, Prin-

cipal Township Campus Dr.M. Mansha and other pro-fessors, lecturers and a largenumber of students werealso present in the seminarand informative literatureand pamphlets were alsodistributed among the par-ticipants. Students had alsodesigned posters and photomodels of dengue Mosquitoand precautions from thisdisease.

Vice Chancellor Univer-sity of Education Dr. Faiz-ul-Hasan appreciatedDr.Rana Abrar Hussain, Di-rector Division of Science& Technology on arrang-

ing this successful seminarand expressed his content-ment on efforts of PunjabGovernment to el iminatethis disease and said thatgovernment cannotstruggle alone against thisdisease so we should alsotake part to get rid of thisaffliction.

Moreover he said thatstudents should keep theirhouses, s treets and envi-ronment clean and educatethe people as well.

He also insisted the stu-dents to play their role indeveloping healthy andstrong Pakistan.

Awareness seminar on dengue

Former PML-NMPA allowed tocontest election

from PunjabLAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt Thursday provisionallyallowed former PML-N MPAZaib Jaffar to contest elec-tions from Punjab, on a peti-tion filed by her against trans-ferring her vote to KhyberPukhtunkhwa from Punjab.

A single bench compris-ing Justice Syed Mansoor AliShah was hearing the matter.

Earlier, the petitioner’scounsel submitted that thepetitioner was a resident ofRahim Yar Khan, Punjab andhad served as a memberPunjab Assembly from 2008-2013.

However, the ElectionCommission had transferredher vote from Rahim YarKhan, Punjab to DistrictHaripur, KPK and now hecould not take part in elec-tions from Punjab which washer right.

He pleaded the court fordirections to correct therecord and permission forcontesting elections fromPunjab.

To a court query, a deputyattorney general said that thepetitioner could be provision-ally allowed to contest elec-tions from Punjab.—APP

Motorcyclesnatchersarrested

LAHORE—Gulshan Ravi po-lice claimed to have smasheda motorcycle snatching gangand arrested its five membersincluding a lady and recov-ered motorcycles besides il-legal weapons from their pos-session.

During preliminary inter-rogation, the gangsters con-fessed 51 motorcycle snatch-ing incidents committed invarious parts of the city.

A special police led byDSP Gulshan Ravi arrestedAsif Khan a ring leader ofPathan motorcycle snatchinggang. On his lead, the policealso arrested his accomplicesHassan Khan, Riaz Ahmad,Ijaz Safdar and Zubaida Bibi.The police recovered 18 mo-torcycles, registration books,fake number plates besidesillegal weapons.—APP

Petitioner finedfor wastingcourt time

LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt on Thursday imposedfine of Rs 500,000 on a peti-tioner for wasting court timeand withdrawing a petitionseeking disqualification offormer PML-N MPA KhawajaMuhammad Islam for havingfake degree.

A single bench compris-ing Justice MuhammadKhalid Mehmood Khanpassed the order while hear-ing a petition filed by the pe-titioner, Ashiq Hussain.

Earlier, the petitioneralong his counsel appearedbefore the court and submit-ted that he wanted to with-draw petition against theformer MPA KhawajaMuhammad Islam.

However, the court ex-pressed displeasure over thesituation and observed thatthe petitioner wasted courttime and now wanted to with-draw the matter after a com-promise.—APP

BoM of PunjabJudicial

Academy meetsSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—A meeting ofBoard of Management ofPunjab Judicial Academyheld here under the Chair-manship of Chief JusticeLahore High Court, Lahore,Mr. Justice Umar Ata Bandialdeliberated on enhancing theperformance and welfare ofits employees.

The meeting resolvedthat all the sanctionedstrength of staff be confirmedso that they could dischargetheir obligations in a betterway. A committee has beenconstituted to bring paystructure of the employeeson a par with the members ofLahore High Court establish-ment.

Easter Day