Need to re-visit 18th

Amendment................................................Non-state actors in a state................................................Countrywide prayers forSultan Qaboos

See Page 04

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Theindex formed anew all time highwith increased vol-umes, demonstrat-ing the strength ofthe bullish trend inthe last couple ofdays and kept upthe momentum

with a 57 point gain to close

KSE 100 all time high,gains 57.85 points

Continued on Page 7

SRINAGAR—Militants in Indian-held Kash-mir attacked an Indian army camp Friday, trig-gering a fierce gun-battle that left 11 Indiantroops and six suspected assailants dead, offi-

17 dead as militantsattack army camp in IHKEight Indian soldiers including Lt Colonel die

cials said.An army officer told The Associated Press

the rebels hurled grenades and fired automaticContinued on Page 7

LONDON: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif shaking hand with British Prime Minister David Cameron andAfghan President Ashraf Ghani after their meeting at 10 Downing Street.

M A KAISERIMAM

LONDON—The leadership of Pakistan, Af-ghanistan and UK have vowed to fight terror-ism collectively while Pakistan has demandedthat steps be taken for repatriation of Afghanrefugees.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, British PrimeMinister David Cameron and Afghan PresidentAshraf Ghani held a meeting on the table ofbreakfast in London on Friday.

The Pakistani and Afghan leaders met theBritish PM at his residence at London’s Down-

Pak, Afghan, Britainpledge to fight terrorNawaz urges on steps for Afghan refugees’ return

Continued on Page 7

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—A delegation of the World Bank ledby Ms Satu Kristina Kahkonon, Director, metFinance Minister Ishaq Dar here on Friday. Fi-nance Minister Ishaq Dar thanked the WorldBank for approving Country Partnership Strat-egy (CPS 2015-19) which is aligned with theGovernment’s economic development agenda/priorities i.e. transforming the energy sector;supporting private sector development; reach-ing out to the vulnerable/poor; and leveragingregional markets.

The visiting delegationfelicitated Finance MinsterDar and his whole economicteam on the successful 4th -5th review with the IMF andlaunch of Sukuk, IslamicBonds, bringing strength tothe national economy. Thedelegation also congratulatedIshaq Dar on the headway

made regarding the CASA-1000 during his visitto the USA. Director, Satu Kristina said it is all

Dar gets WB felicitationon Sukuk launch

Says govt ready to hold talks with PTI from Sunday

Continued on Page 7

SHC extendsstay against Npower plants

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh High Court(SHC) has extended the stay on2 under construction nuclearpower plants at Hawks Bay inKarachi. The stay was sanc-tioned on a constitutional peti-tion filed in the higher court bySharmeen Obaid Chinoy andothers. The stay was extendedtill Dec 12.

According to details, TheSHC Chief Justice, JusticeMaqbool Baqar and Justice

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

Pakistan, USenjoy strategic

partnership: JilaniWASHINGTON—Pakistan andthe United States have a strate-gic partnership that has gainedimpetus with productive coop-eration in a range of areas,Islamabad’s ambassador to theUnited States said.

Speaking at the AmericanUniversity on relations be-tween the two countries, Am-bassador Jalil Abbas Jilani re-

Continued on Page 7

New Zealand winfinal Twenty20,level seriesOBSERVER REPORT

DUBAI—New Zealand wonthe second Twenty20

international againstPakistan by 17 runsand levelled the series1-1 in Dubai on Friday.

Pakistan werebowled out for 127after chasing a target of

145 set by the Kiwis.Earlier, after being put in

SUKKUR—Police have made headway in the investigationinto the murder of senior Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl leaderDr Khalid Mehmood Soomro, as two accused believed tobe involved in the murder have been detained.

SSP Sukkur said that the special investigation teamtasked to probe the murder of the senior politician hadconducted raids in some 21 areas and had picked up 12suspects including two accused.

The official said that police was close to breakthroughin the investigation. Following important information pro-vided by the detained suspects, the scope of the investi-gation had been extended to Punjab and Balochistan.

It is to be mentioned that the late Soomro was Secre-tary-General of JUI-F Sindh and had also remained mem-bers of Senate.

Dr. Khalid Mehmood Soomro was shot dead in a tar-geted attack on last Saturday, when he was offering Fajarprayers at a Madrassa in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Society in Sukkur.

Police had said that four assailants arrived in threecars and three of them, aged between 25 and 35, enteredthe Madrassa from the back gate and opened fire on Soomrowhile the fourth stayed in the vehicle.—Online

Headway inSoomro’s murder

investigation

QUETTA: JUI-F supporters protesting against killing of Dr Khalid Soomro and attacks on JUI-F chief, outside Quetta Press Club.

Farmersprotest low

price ofSugar cane

STAFF REPORTER

GHOTKI—A large numberof sugar cane farmers stagedprotests against low price ofsugar cane at National High-way Ghotki and Ubauro hereon Thursday.

Hundreds of the farmersflocked to the streets of cit-ies and ended their protestat National Highway Ghotkiand Ubauro, demanding thefair price of sugar cane pur-chase.

Talking to the media, pro-testors said that Sindh gov-ernment had fixed sugarcanepurchase price at Rs182 per40kg for the crushing sea-son 2014-15 in October butlater Sindh government re-duced the price to Rs155 per40kg from Rs182.

Fed Ombudsmanholds conference

on alternatedispute resolution

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — Wa f a q iMohtasib has proposed to in-troduce the system of free andamicable settlement of com-plaints against mal-adminis-tration by government agen-cies and officers through Al-ternate Dispute Resolution(ADR) in a collaborative ef-fort involving provincialmohtasibs. Provision for thisexists in article 33 of the Of-fice of Wafaqi Mohtasib (Om-budsman) Order 1983. This isin pursuance of the govern-ment agenda to promote ADR.

This was endorsed in ameeting of Federal Advi-sory Committee on Reformsand Alternate DisputeResolution comprisingprominent national person-alities and experts belong-ing to different fields in-cluding law, judiciary, civilsociety, business and in-dustry, civil servants anduniversities along with fed-eral and provincialMohtasibs. In this regardthe first ever meeting of thecommittee was held here onFriday, December 5, 2014.

The committee has beenconstituted with the pur-pose of providing commongrounds for addressingproblems of people at grassroot level while providingalternate dispute resolution.

The meeting was in-formed that the WafaqiMohtasib has disposed offover 135,000 complaints inthe recent period with animplementation rate ofabove 90%, and was againexpected to achieve similarresults in the year 2014. Yet,the meeting felt that muchneeds to be done in terms ofcreating awareness aboutthe mohtasib system.

CHAMAN: Girls busy in their study while sitting on the floor due to shortage and non-availability of furniture at Government Girls High School.

DERA ALLAH YAR: Commissioner Naseerabad Division Zaid Bin Maqsood supervis-ing polio drops to inaugurate Polio Immunization Campaign on Friday.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Anti-Narcotics Force (ANF)Sindh while continuing with their struggle forthe elimination of the menace of narcotics, boththe consumption through drug peddlers’’ densand export to foreign countries, foiled a bid forsmuggling the huge consignment to the desti-nations abroad. In this regard, the ANF in theirrecent action against the smugglers of the nar-cotics recovered 2 tons of hashish and 12 kilo-grams of fine quality heroin.

The ANF had on a tip-off from their intelli-gence sources barricaded the Super Highway NewKarachi Tool Plaza and intercepted a truck No C-2102 (Mardan) and recovered the aforementionedquantity of the narcotics. The ANF team alsonabbed one and on information obtained fromthe arrested, started raiding on smugglers hide-outs.

Earlier, the ANF had in recent weeks recov-ered another huge consignment of 64 Kgs of hero-ine, which was worth billions in international mar-ket.

As part of the strategy, the ANF CommanderBrigadier Muhammad Abu Zar had under his spe-cial plans launched a furious crackdown against

ANF committed to eliminate menace of narcotics

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—KP Chief Minister PervezKhattak has asked the vice chancellorsand university teachers all over theprovince to equip the students withlatest knowledge and sciences to pre-pare new batches of highly qualifiedand talented youth as per market needsas well as to make universities cradlesof research and innovations in allspheres of life. He assured that PTI-ledcoalition govt would never compromiseon quality and needs of higher educa-tion while our steps in this regard pro-vided ample proof of our sincerity tothe purpose.

He was talking to Dr. Noor JehanVice Chancellor University of Swabi athis office CM Secretariat Peshawar whopresented him two years annual perfor-mance report besides highlighting theachievements and hardships faced bythe university. Speaker KP AssemblyHaji Asad Qiaser, Senior Minister forHealth Shahram Khan Tarakai, Minister

Khattak assigns VCs, teachers totransmit latest tech to students

for Sports and Tourism Amjad Afridi,Advisor to CM on Planning & Devel-opment Mian Khaleequr Rehman, MPAMehmood Jan, Chairman CM ComplaintCell Al-Hajj Dilroz Khan and other au-thorities were also present on the occa-sion. Delegations of MPAs and elitefrom various parts of the province alsocalled in him and apprised him of theproblems and demands of their respec-tive areas while the Chief Minister as-sured its proper resolution.

Pervez Khattak assured that fundsfor construction of new building of theuniversity after purchase of 1500 Kanalsland alongside motorway with cost ofRs.300 million. He assured that besidesthe ADP other sources would also beutilized for the purpose. He accepted theinvitation of attending the ground break-ing ceremony of the new Universitybuilding and assured that all the leadersof coalition govt and ministers wouldparticipate in it. He said that provincialgovt was giving top priority and specialattention to the higher education under

educational emergency in the province.He said that this year Rs.4000 millionhave been set aside for establishmentof endowment fund for HEIs andincentivizing academic achievements ofthe students, Rs.3478.0 million havebeen allocated for establishment of col-leges chartered as degree awarding in-stitution, Rs. 1992.0 million for the financ-ing and strengthening /establishment ofhigher education institution, Rs.1204.0million for improve quality of higher edu-cation, Rs.3973.0 million for strengthen-ing/faculties of Colleges/Universities,Rs.143.0 million for strengthening ofacademic and financial monitoring andRs.213.22 million for strengthening fouryears bachelor degree program that hesaid was part of the ADP of current fis-cal year.

Chief Minister said that present wasthe era of progress and competition inall sectors including education whilewe have to compete our neighboringcountries and international communityin the race of development.

the narcotics smugglers on Nov 14, 2014, whichwould continue till Dec 15, 2014. The crackdownwas part of Brig. Abu Zar’s strategy to curb themenace of the narcotics and hence a full-fledgedoperation was planned and launched, which henamed as “Ummeed-e Nau’ (The Ray of Hope).

Under the Ummeed-e Nau, a mentionable num-ber of drug peddlers and smugglers were nabbedof which a lot were produced in courts of law andthus they were under trail while a number of oth-ers were being interrogated at the ANF investiga-tion unit.

According to sources, on the special initia-tives by the ANF Commander Brig. Abu Zar theANF was fully determined to cleanse the societycompletely from the established brands of drugsand other things that were also being used asdrugs.

The ANF was not only striving hard to elimi-nate the narcotics and carrying out special treat-ment and rehabilitation projects for the addictsbut the mission would remain half complete with-out the extended support from the civil societyand the philanthropists especially for the helpof those recovered from addiction. They couldbe helped to get accommodated in terms of jobsand support in adult literacy plans, said the

sources.They said that besides the launch of the

Ummeed-e Nau anti-narcotics operation underthe auspices of the ANF Commander Brig. AbuZar, the ANF had also started a sideline projectfor helping the drug addicts to come back tonormalcy of life through intensive treatment andrehabilitation. The ANF had also helped thecleansing of a good number of the young ad-dicts, the street children.

The sources said that in past, only big smug-glers were chased and nabbed but now the ANFhad changed their strategy and action was ex-pedited against all those involved in the busi-ness of narcotics irrespective to their size andcapacity. Through that particular strategy, thespread of the narcotics in residential colonieshad drastically reduced.

He said that the ANF had also been orga-nizing workshops and seminars on the subjectthrough which people received proper knowl-edge and became aware of the dangers of thenarcotics. However, in today’s time, the role ofprint and electronic media was very importantas regard to spread of awareness across theboard so the media should also focus on it forthe greater interest of Pakistan and the masses.

PESHAWAR—Around 30 installs set up todisplay various precious stones and otherhandicrafts as a three-day Gems and Jew-elry exhibition started at Peshawar Museumhere on Friday.

The provincial government has under-taken step to organize gems and jewelryshow with joint collaboration of the RoyalGems Gallery, Tourism Corporation KhyberPakhtunkhwa (TCKP), All Pakistan Com-mercial Exporters Association (APCEA),Women Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try (WCCI) Peshawar, Empower the Nationorganization (ENO) and Directorate of Ar-chaeology and Museums of KhyberPakhtunkhwa.

According to organizers, the show anjoint effort to boost up the Gems and Jew-elry sector with active participation ofwomen, and attract investments in the sec-tor, besides to build up a soft image of theterrorism-stricken Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Mineand Mineral, Ziaullah Afridi, Advisor toChief Minister, Amjad Afridi formally inau-gurated the exhibition during a ceremonyheld at Peshawar Museum.

During inaugural ceremony, ExecutiveDirector RGG Saima Umar, APCEA provin-cial chairman Mihanjuddin, Secretary Tour-ism, Archaeology and sports Dr. AftabDurrani, Director Archaeology and Muse-

Three-day gems and jewelryexhibition opens in Peshawar

ums, Dr Abdul Samad, MD TCKP MushtaqAhmad, former KPCCI vice president AneesAshraf, Ms.Nushat Rauf and other officialspresent.

Saima Umar in her welcome speech saidthe basic purpose of organizing the show,to make collective efforts for developmentof Gems and Jewellry sector, besides es-tablishment of soft-image of this region,which could support to attract investmentin this important sector.

She extended gratitude to all thosewhich were supporting them in arrangingshow for promotion of Gems and jewelrysector in Khyber Paktunkhwa.

APCEA provincial chairman, Minajuddinwhile speaking on the occasion urged thegovernment to take serious steps for tap-ping rich natural resources and boosting ofGems and jewelry sector in the province. Healso suggested that a gems training centreshould be established under public-privatepartnership, to train youth and make easi-ness in process of cutting and polishing ofgems items, and export them in finishingshape to foreign countries.

Minister for Mine and Mineral, ZiaullahAfridi said the provincial government istaking measures for promotion of gems andjewelry sector along with tapping of othernatural resources under public-private part-nership. —APP

Husband amongfive arrested

on wife tortureMULTAN—Police have ar-rested a man, his mother andthree others on charge oftorturing his wife in Delhigate police area on Friday.

A woman, Saira Bibi, hadalleged that her husbandHafiz Younis, mother-in-lawZubaida and other relativeshad tortured her severely.She had complained that shewas dragged in the street andher clothes were torn.

Police had registered anFIR and on Friday arrestedher husband, mother-in-law,and other relatives, includingShahzad, Makia, and Sadia,for investigations.—APP

ABDUL KHALIQ QURESHI

ABBOTTABAD—The selected lawyers fra-ternity of Hazara region has especially hailedJustice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan whowas on Friday named Pakistan’s new chiefelection commissioner,(CEC) a day beforethe expiry of a Supreme Court deadline tofill the key constitutional office lying va-cant for over 16 months.

The announcement was made by Sena-tor Rafiq Rajwana, chief of the parliamen-tary committee that appointed Justice Khan,69for five years span of future course oftime was appreciated loudly that he did itkeeping in view the significant services ren-dered by Mr Khan in Apex Court of Paki-stan latter he served as Chief Justice ShariatCourt of Pakistan as well.

It is pertinent to mention here theRajwana viewpoint together with theIslamuddin Shaikh of Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) proposed the name of justiceKhan and it was supported by all partymembers during the meeting of the com-mittee. Such a concept itself revealed thatthey had followed the true personality fitfor the same slot.

Lawyers hail new CECFazal –e – Haq Abbasi Adocate pres-

ently President Supreme Court of PakistanBar has said that the appointment of Mr.Khan was appreciable in all respects thatdeserved to be posted on the same mostimportant slot to run the country’s generalelections process with befitting mannerswith right directions.

Syed Sharif Hussain Shah Adocate andpoet said that Justice Khan had served thenation as a true judge like an unapproach-able personality who gave justice to allwalks of life equally; hence, in lieu of hisunforgettable services a true decision hasbeen passed by the competent authoritiesof the country.

The Syed Amjad Shah, Member KP BarCouncil said that the Members of ImranKhan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) didnot attend the meeting, but even then MrKhan was appointed as CEC of Pakistanwas a nice decision making attitudeadopted by the constituted committee.

PTI members have refrained from at-tending meetings of the parliamentarypanel since party legislators resigned enmasse at the peak of their protests inIslamabad in August.

TOBA TEK SINGH—A head-on collisionbetween a passenger van and a motorcyle-rickshaw claimed the lives of four childrenand wounded six others near Pir Mahal areaof Toba Tek Singh on Friday morning.

A passenger bus collided with a motor-cycle rickshaw which was carrying schoolchildren near the Sandhilianwali area in TobaTek Singh.

According to rescue sources, the acci-dent took place near Pir Mahal area of TobaTek Singh where a motorcycle-rickshaw,carrying schoolchildren collided with a pas-senger van, leaving four children dead onthe spot and six others wounded.

The collision caused the rickshaw tooverturn, killing four school students onthe spot. Six others, including the driver ofthe rickshaw, were injured in the mishap.All students were aged between 8-12 years.

Police and rescue teams reached the ac-cident site and shifted the victims to Pirmahal

PESHAWAR: Corps Commander Lt Gen Hidayat ur Rehman giving trophy to a studentof Cadet College Kohat on excellent performance.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Corps Commander Lieuten-ant General Hidayat Ur Rehman hasstressed upon cadets to devote all theirenergies to education to meet the chal-lenges of 21st century, with a passionatedesire to lead the nation in the

He was addressing on the occasionof Parents Day of Garrison Cadet CollegeKohat on Friday. Corps Commander said“we are standing at the threshold of 21stnew millennium with honour and grace.Education is the basis of civilization andprogress in the world and only those na-tions are in the fore-front who have de-voted their energies towards education,he stressed.

Lieutenant General Hidayat UrRehman appreciated the turn out of theCadets, PT display, Taekwondo, Gymnas-tic and Drill of the young cadets.

Education basis of progress,civilization: Gen Hidayat

In his welcome address principal ofthe college Brigadier ® Munawar Alamgave review of the college performanceand achievements.

He said that within a short span oftime the college has made remarkableprogress in both co-curricular and extra-curricular activities and produced praise-worthy results in F.Sc and Matric exami-nation.

Later, Corps Commander LieutenantHidayat Ur Rehman distributed prizesamong the best cadets of the college. Ca-det Haider Ali was declared as best playerof the year while cadet Shahid clinchedthe trophy of academics. Cadet ShaheerAli was awarded “Best Cadet of the Year”trophy while Ayubi house won the Cham-pion House trophy.

Earlier on his arrival at Kohat, CorpsCommander was received by Major Gen-eral Azhar Saleh Abbasi.

HYDERABAD: Activists of SANTPAT hold a rally on Sindhi Culture Week, outside Radio Pakistan on Friday.

4 children died in TT Singh accidentTwo bank guards die of asphyxia

Civil Hospital. Relatives of the deceasedchildren staged a protest on Multan-Faisalabad road blocking the flow of traffic.

MARDAN: Two security guards of aprivate bank located on Bank Road died ofsuffocation due to gas leakage in Mardanon Friday.

According to rescue sources, the twoguards were asleep inside the bank afterperforming their routine duty but due togas leakage from the generator, the roomgot filled with the gas leading to asphyxia.

Later, when the staff reached the bankto resume their duties, both the guards werefound dead inside the office. The rescueteam was called in immediately who tried torevive the two victims but to no avail.

Both the guards were declared dead andtheir bodies were shifted to District Head-quarter Hospital for medico-legal formali-ties followed by police probe into the inci-dent.—Agencies

IS L A M A B A D—Chief ofAwami Muslim League(AML) Sheikh Rashid onFriday said that the gov-ernment wanted violenceduring Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf ’s protest inFaisalabad on Dec 8.

“Nei ther anyone’sshop wi l l be forceful lyclosed in Faisalabad norwill we allow anyone toforceful ly open marketbut government wantsclash on that day,” saidRashid who is an ally ofPTI.

“The government willface a tit for tat reply,” heaffirmed, while speaking tomedia persons outside theParliament House.

PTI chairman ImranKhan has announced pro-

Sh Rashid fears govt,PTI clash in Faisalabad

tests in Faisalabad andLahore as part of his anti-government campaign,with a call of countrywidestrike on Dec 18.

Sheikh Rashid claimedthat Imran Khan had of-fered him to join talks withthe government. “Thereare many competentpeople in PTI, I thereforedidn’t think it appropriateto be part of negotiations,”he said.

He said the govern-ment “is just wasting time”by engaging PTI in talks.“The nation demandsnothing but PrimeMinister ’s resignation…To battle with the obsoletesystem and destroy it isright of the people,” hesaid.— INP

Biochemistry-MolecularBiology

moot startsSTAFF REPORTER

BAHAWALPUR—A four dayInternational Conference heldunder the auspices of Paki-stan Society for Biochemis-try and Molecular Biologystarted at the Islamia Univer-sity of Bahawalpur. Prof. Dr.Rao Muhammad Afzal Khan,Vice Chancellor, IUB/GSCWUinaugurated the moot.

The Vice Chancellor inhis presidential address saidthat such type of conferencesare integral part of academicand teaching activities andnew prospects of academicresearch can be achieved.Focal person of the confer-ence Prof. Dr. Faizul HassanNaseem Chairman of Chem-istry Department welcomedthe delegates from Pakistan,Malaysia and U.K.

Nayar PrincipalEdward College

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The Board ofGovernor’s of the Peshawarbased Edwardes College inits special meeting held un-der the chairmanship of theGovernor, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, SardarMahtab Ahmad Khan atGovernor’s House, Peshawarhas approved the appoint-ment of Brig. Dr. NayarFardous as Principal of thishistoric institution.

The nomination was rec-ommended by a high pow-ered search committee, con-stituted by the Board almostsix months earlier. The Com-mittee headed by the ViceChancellor of the Universityof Peshawar, Prof. Dr. RasoolJan and also comprised ofMr. Muhammad Ali Shahzad,provincial Secretary, HigherEducation, Archives and Li-braries; Prof. Dr. Nasser AliKhan, Vice Chancellor, Uni-versity of Haripur; Dr. KhalidKhan, Additional SecretaryHigher Education and Mr.Atta Ullah Shah, Deputy Sec-retary to Governor, KhyberPakhtunkhwa besides Rev.Shahzad Murad, a nomineeof Bishop, Diocese ofPeshawar.

It merits a mention herethat the post was advertisedtwice in the media of inter-national standards and thecommittee after having thor-ough examination of a totalof fifty illustrious candidateswho had applied in responseto both the advertisementshave found Brig. Dr. NayarFardous at the top of the list.It has been further observedthat Brig. Dr. Nayar Fardouscarries in his credit of serv-ing a number of prestigiouseducational institutions inline with his normal duties.

CH A K D A R A—Advisor toPrime Minister, AmirMuqam Friday said thatImran Khan betrayed con-fidence of the Pukhtunsby insulting their mandate

Imran betrays trust of nation: Muqamand pushing them to-wards backwardness intheir eighteen months rulein Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Addressing partyworkers convention here

at Ouch, he said, the PTIChief pushed the countrytowards economic quag-mire by giving deadline af-ter deadline for the dis-missal of the presentdemocratic governmentwhich all proved wrong.

The PML-N leadersaid that he challengedhis claims about provisionof free education andhealth faci l i t ies in theprovince to the deservingpeople, adding he (Imran)made the resignation issuea joke.

The government wasready to hold by polls onthe seat vacated by thePTI legislators but theywere not sincere in quit-ting the national assembly.

The PTI has to wait forthe next general electionsto be held in 2018.

The KP Chief Minister,he said should f ight forthe rights of the

province instead ofinvolving himself in con-tainer politics.

He said the PML-Ngovernment started mega

projects including con-struction of Lawari tunnel.

He told that construc-tion work on Timergara-Chakdara would starts o o n .

Earl ier Amir Muqamvisi ted the residence oflate journalist IhsanullahQureshi who died in a roadaccident and gave Rs50,000 from his pocket forthe welfare of his family.

He promised to getmore financial assistancefrom the Prime Minister forthe bereaved family.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Mainly coldand dry weather is expectedin the country during the

next 24 hours. However,partly cloudy conditionswith chances of light rainand light snowfall are ex-pected at a few places ofMalakand and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Temperature of somemajor cities recorded on Fri-day morning: Islamabad 6

Cold, dry weatherexpected

degree centigrade, Lahore11, Karachi 18, Peshawar 8,Quetta 1, Gilgit minus 1,Murree 3, andMuzaffarabad 4 degree cen-tigrade.

Meanwhile, the MultanMet office has forecast dryweather with chances ofmist in the morning for thecity and its suburbs duringthe next 24 hours.

On Friday, the maximumand minimum temperatureswere recorded as 26.0 de-grees Centigrade and 12.2degrees Centigrade, respec-tively. Humidity was recorded94 per cent at 8 am and 54per cent at 5 pm.—APP

Need to re-visit18th Amendment

FORMER President retired General Pervez Mushraff, who is knownfor his candid and forthright stand and remarks, covered a numberof subjects during his well articulated address to the Youth Parlia-

ment in Karachi on Thursday. His comments that the Army should playonly its Constitutionally defined role and the system must not be allowedto be derailed, would surely evoke positive response from all segments ofthe society that want stability and continuity, which is so vital for progressand prosperity.

However, the most crucial part of his speech related to the issue ofchecks and balances in the system, which he believed was created throughNational Security Council and Article 58/2(B) of the Constitution but washedaway by the 18th Amendment. The former President was necessarily speak-ing in the context of power of the head of the state to dissolve the NationalAssembly and he was critical of the 18th Amendment as it rolled back thisdiscretionary power. The question of checks and balances is most relevantin preventing misuse of power and authority but we have seen that thispower of the President was widely misused to send elected Governmentspacking and in a way introduced an unending vicious cycle of political andeconomic instability. It is also a fact that absence of this power also gaveway to autocratic tendencies on the part of the elected leaders. However,leaving this aspect aside, we fully endorse the viewpoint of the former Presi-dent that the 18th Amendment needs to be revisited as it created some ofthe highly unfortunate and unhealthy drawbacks in the system especiallyrelating to education, health and local government. It is strange that theFederating units got immense powers and authority following devolutionand that too at the cost of strength of the Federation and cohesion andharmony but they are reluctant to devolve powers and funds down to thegrassroots. Practical implementation of the 18th Amendment has exposedserious flaws in this hurriedly drafted and adopted law that need to beremoved at the soonest. It is, however, regrettable that some people espe-cially Mian Raza Rabbani have made it a question of ego and are notwilling to listen to anything logical in this regard. They forget that theConstitution allows amendments under a set procedure and the 18th Amend-ment itself has grossly modified the Constitution. There is, therefore, noharm to review it in a holistic manner and remove these flaws for the sakeof smooth running of the system and the Federation.

Non-state actorsin a state

THE terminology ‘non-state actors’ has gained currency but it remainsmostly undefined. Some believe non-state actors (NSA) are entities

that participate or act in international relations. They are organizations withsufficient power to influence and cause a change even though they do notbelong to any established institution of a state. This definition covers al-most all those institutions that do not belong to the state and may includeNGOs as well.

In Pakistan too, with the passage of time, non-state actors have ac-quired strength and nuisance value. Chief of Army Staff General RaheelSharif also used this term on Thursday when he commented that pres-ence of non-state elements in Pakistan has complicated the internal se-curity situation. His reference was obviously one of the outfits of non-state actors, i.e. the militants. Certainly these non-state actors have ac-quired strength and established their countrywide network, posing seri-ous threats to the state and its institutions. They have become so prob-lematic that they strike anywhere they want and cause immense mate-rial and psychological losses. Therefore, the resolve of the Army Chiefto eliminate such elements with the full backing of the nation is appre-ciable and hopefully this mission would be accomplished at all costs. Itis, however, to be noted that the non-state actors are not product of anyfault of Pakistan but the phenomenon developed mainly due to invasionof Afghanistan by the then Soviet Union. These non-state actors wereorganized, trained and equipped to fight the erstwhile super power butafter its fall they were left high and dry and as a result Pakistan becamethe casualty. For quite some time Pakistan was also left in the lurch totackle the problem on its own and the international community movedonly when the menace started threatening other states. Anyhow, nowthat a decisive military operation is underway, it is critically importantthat the global community especially Afghanistan and occupation forcesthere, extend a helping hand in eliminating this danger once for all.

Countrywide prayersfor Sultan Qaboos

OMAN is the most peaceful state in the region and its friction free foreign policy has earned, for its leadership, a position of great respect-

ability among comity of nations. Oman achieved progress and prosperitydue to mature, sincere and committed leadership of Sultan Qaboos bin Said,who worked very hard to address problems of his people and steer thecountry on the path of development since his coronation in 1970.

It is because of his people-friendly policies and governance that hiscountrymen are concerned about his health and praying for his early recov-ery. The Sultan is undergoing medical treatment in Germany since July 10and for the first time he addressed the nation from abroad on the occasion ofthe national day and his appearance on TV was a great source of relief forworried Omanis. Sultan Qaboos always demonstrated goodwill for Paki-stan and expressed readiness to take the bilateral relationship to new heights.Hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis are also engaged in nation buildingtasks in Oman. His ailment has, therefore, naturally caused concern in Pa-kistan as well and on the appeal of this newspaper special prayers wereoffered during Juma congregations in the length and breadth of the countryfor his speedy recovery. The sentiments expressed for the leader of thebrotherly country manifested the love of people of Pakistan for a leaderwho cared not only for his own people but also Pakistan. We hope that thisexpression of concern and solidarity would send a positive message to Muscatas well as to Germany. The prayers for the health of Sultan Qaboos alsoestablished the fact that genuine leadership inspires not only its own coun-try but in the entire region and the world at large.

Babri Masjid Demolition Day

Debatingnuclear energy

NUCLEAR energy remains adivisive issue more thanthree years after the March

2011 triple meltdowns at TokyoElectric Power Co.’s Fukushima No.1 nuclear power plant. Prime Min-ister Shinzo Abe’s administration hasreversed its predecessor’s policy ofseeking a phaseout of nuclear powerand is pushing to restart nuclear re-actors that have been idled in thewake of the 2011 disaster, even asmedia surveys show a majority ofthe public remains opposed to reac-tivating the plants. The Dec. 14Lower House election provides vot-ers with a chance to have their sayin the nation’s energy policy, whichnot only affects their everyday livesbut will have broad long-term socialand economic repercussions. Thecandidates and their parties in therace are urged to clarify their posi-tions and voters should not hesitateto make their voices heard.

The administration’s energypolicy sounds self-contradictory.Abe pledges to reduce the nation’senergy dependency on nuclearpower “as much as possible” —without setting specific targets or atimetable — through energy-savingefforts and introduction of renew-able energy. The prime minister isalso leading efforts to promote thesale of Japan’s nuclear power tech-nology overseas. While the sameplan calls for maximum efforts inthe three years from 2013 to in-crease Japan’s supply of renewableenergy, the administration has be-gun reviewing the feed-in tariff sys-tem — introduced in 2012 to pro-mote renewable energy — afterpower companies stopped buyingsolar power under the system on thegrounds that increased purchase ofsuch energy could disrupt the sta-bility of the power supply. Today,all of the nation’s 48 nuclear powerreactors remain offline. The powerfirms seek to restart the idled reac-tors as they face the heavy cost ofimported fuel to increase output atthermal power plants to compensatefor the shutdown of nuclear powerplants. Restarting a single nuclearreactor will save them an estimated¥10 billion to ¥15 billion a monthin fuel expenses. Abe has arguedthat the nation is losing trillions ofyen each year because of the addedfuel imports, whose cost has alsobeen exacerbated by the yen’s fallagainst the dollar. The business sec-tor also decries the higher cost ofelectricity and calls for the restartof nuclear reactors.

The process is being pushedforward while more than 120,000people in Fukushima remain dis-placed from their homes due to ra-diation fallout from the 2011 melt-downs at the No. 1 plant and asTepco continues to struggle in itsbid to clean up the mess. The blindfaith in the safety of nuclear powerhas been shattered by theFukushima disaster, and the much-touted cost advantage of nuclearenergy over other sources appear tobe in doubt. The administration hasnot provided convincing answers tovarious key questions posed overnuclear power, including the doubtsover its policy of seeking a nuclearfuel cycle or the pending issue ofpermanent disposal of highly radio-active nuclear waste. The opinionsexpressed in media polls show thata large part of the public is still notconvinced of the safety of nuclearenergy. Japan’s energy policy alsoshapes its actions on climatechange, because the energy sectoraccounts for a major portion of thenation’s emissions of global warm-ing gases such as carbon dioxide.The government came under inter-national criticism last year when itreplaced its plan for cuts to emis-sions by 2020, because its new “ten-tative” plan represented a net in-crease in emissions from the KyotoProtocol base year of 1990. Offi-cials said the plan was the best theycould offer while the future of idlednuclear power plants remains un-certain. Japan’s carbon emissionshave in fact increased as the nationrelied more on thermal power out-put after the Fukushima meltdowns.But the uncertainty over nuclearpower, which does not emit carbondioxide in power generation, shouldnot be used as an excuse for inac-tion on efforts to reduce the emis-sion of greenhouse gases. Norshould Japan’s climate policy relyon nuclear energy, since it wouldbe unrealistic to expect a return tothe condition before 2011, whennuclear energy accounted for 30percent of the nation’s electricitysupply. Lawmakers and parties needto lay out energy plans that includemeasures to reduce emissions.— The Japan Times

MEDIA WATCH

ON 6th December 1992, BabriMasjid was demolished bythousands of Hindu fanatics;

and Muslims throughout the worldexpress their grief and observe mar-tyrdom of the mosque every year onthis day. More than 2000 people werekilled in the riots following the demo-lition that broke out in many majorIndian cities including Mumbai,Delhi and Hyderabad. In Gujarat,state officials and police were directlyinvolved in the violence, which hadbeen admitted in the commission’sreport. The groups most directly re-sponsible for that violence againstMuslims included were VishwaHindu Preshad (VHp), the BajrangDal and Rashtriya SwayamsevakSangh (RSS), collectively formingSangh Privar. The then Congress gov-ernment headed by late NarasimhaRao was responsible in equal mea-sure and cannot be absolved of eventsas it was saddled in the Centre.

Evidence suggested that beforebecoming prime minister RajivGandhi had started his election cam-paign from Babri Mosque, which wasearlier locked up under the orders ofthe court because some extremistsHindus had placed statues there.Rajiv along with his supporters brokeopen the locks and worshipped in themosque. BJP had to go further toscore the point over the Congress,which led to the demolition of themosque. Anyhow, India has inflictedmany wounds on its minorities. Mus-lims, Christians, Sikhs and Dalits(low caste Hindus), all have suffered

Evolving Sino-Afghan relations

AFGHANISTAN’S newlyelected President AshrafGhani when embarked on

his first foreign visit after taking theoffice his destination was Beijing.He was warmly received by the Chi-nese President Xi Jinping himself atthe airport that shows the increas-ing importance of Afghanistan toChina. China being a neighbor ofAfghanistan has serious stakes inpeace and stability in that countrytherefore, based on the Chineseethos of helping friends – the cur-rent focus of China’s engagementwith Afghanistan is centered on ca-pacity building of Afghans throughfinancial assistance and investments,enabling them to meet the upcom-ing challenges successfully.

China, during Ghani’s visit reit-erated its resolve to help Afghanistanovercome risks to its crucial post-2014 political, security and economictransition and announced non-reim-bursable grant of RMB 500 million(US$ 81.4 million) for 2014 and afurther grant of RMB 1.5 billion(US$ 244 million) for 2015-17.Moreover, China will provide 500scholarships to the students and train3000 Afghan professional in variousfields over a period of next five years.

China’s new leaderships’ proac-tive diplomacy has gradually startedshowing positive results, especiallyin the context of economic relationsand regional connectivity. In the re-cent years China’s emerging role asa factor of regional stability in Southand Central Asia is gaining preemi-nence. Initiation of Silk Road Eco-

March comes in likea lion and goes outlike a lamb.

nomic Belt and 21st Century Mari-time Silk Road commonly known as‘One Road – One Belt’ is fast gain-ing acceptance and popularityamongst the Eurasian and SoutheastAsian nations. Afghanistan being aconduit connecting Central Asia andSouth Asia has an important role toplay in terms of intra-regional con-nectivity, therefore economic recon-struction, political reconciliation andcapacity building of Afghan Armedforces to deal effectively with themenace of terrorism and extremismare some of the shared objectives ofthe neighbors of Afghanistan.

China traditionally has been keep-ing a politically low-profile on Af-ghanistan for some obvious reasons,one of them being overwhelming pres-ence of the US and NATO, it did notwant to convey any wrong signals.Now with the withdrawal of foreignforces from Afghanistan a new chal-lenge has surfaced for neighbouingcountries as to how the factors of in-stability could be preempted. Thiscould only be achieved by strength-ening the capacity of Afghanistan’selected government and developing abroader consensus amongst stakehold-ers. Therefore, it was for first time thatChina held an international conferenceon Afghanistan. As a host of the ‘Heartof Asia Conference’ which was the 4thround of the ministerial conference ofthe Istanbul process, China seemsready to shoulder its regional respon-sibilities and international obligationsfor promotion of peace and develop-ment in Afghanistan.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani’sfirst state visit to China which wasfollowed by attending the Conferencein Beijing provided an opportunity forin depth exchange of views betweenthe Chinese and Afghan leadership.

During the visit President Ghani wastold by the Chinese President XiJinping that “China will enhance itssupport for Afghanistan’s peaceful re-construction, help Afghanistan framea plan on national economic and so-cial development, train professionalsand develop agriculture, hydroelec-tricity and infrastructure.” Ghani ex-pressed his gratitude and said that‘Afghanistan views China as a reli-able strategic partner and believes thatChina can help it speed up its devel-opment and is ready for a long-termstrategic cooperative partnership withChina.’ Earlier, China and Afghani-stan have signed a ‘Treaty of Friend-ship and Good Neighbourly Relations’in 2006. As their bilateral relationsevolved the two countries entered intoa ‘Strategic Partnership’ through an-other treaty signed in 2012. The re-cent surge in terrorist activities inXinjiang and other cities of China hasnecessitates a regional counter-terror-ism approach targeting the root-causes. This can only happen if Af-ghanistan and bordering regions ofPakistan are stabilized by dismantlingthe terrorist hideouts and networks.

China is taking keen interest andassuming a key role in eradicatingpoverty (one of the root causes of ter-rorism) in its neighbourhood by mak-ing investments and undertaking con-struction of infrastructural projectsfor better communication and expan-sion of trade. China’s approach to-wards Afghanistan is inclusive as re-flected by Xi Jinping’s consultationswith his Indian, Russian, Pakistaniand other counterparts. China has ex-pressed interest to become part of allinnovative initiatives aimed at pre-venting political chaos and infight-ing amongst Afghan groups and sup-ports an Afghan-led and Afghan-

in equal measure, and arenot allowed to lead theirlives according to theirfaith and culture. It has tobe mentioned that Babrimosque was demolishedby Hindu nationalists de-spite a commitment toIndian Supreme Courtthat the mosque would

not be harmed.One-man commission of inquiry

was established on 16th December1992, which gave its report after 17years. The commission recordedstatements of several politicians, bu-reaucrats and police officials includ-ing Kalyan Singh, late NarasimhaRao, former deputy prime ministerL.K. Advani and his colleagues MurliManohar Joshi and Uma Bharati aswell as Mulayam Singh Yadav. Thereport stated in unambiguous termsthat the demolition of the BabriMasjid was planned, systematic; andwas the intended outcome of a cli-mate of communal intolerance delib-erately created by the Sangh Parivarand its sister affiliates, including theBharatiya Janata Party. Justice M.S.Liberhan went on to state: “It cannotbe assumed even for a moment thatL.K. Advani, A.B. Vajpayee or M.M.Joshi did not know the designs of theSangh Parivar”.

The report had accused the RSSof being the chief architect of thedemolition. Justice M.S. Liberhantermed Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L.K.Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi aspseudo-moderates, pretending to keepa distance from the RamJanambhoomi campaign when theywere actually aware of the whole con-spiracy. On 30th September 2010, theLucknow bench of Allahbad HighCourt gave the verdict stating that theland of the disputed site be divided intothree parts, 1/3rd part for Hindus, 1/3rd part for another Hindu sectNimrohi Akhara and 1/3rd for Mus-

lims. Anyhow, the verdict was chal-lenged in the Supreme Court, butHindu extremists remained defiant andwere not willing to accept the verdictand they wanted the entire 2.77 acresof land for constructing the temple.

Muslims side filed 7 appeals inMay 2011 to lay claim over the wholeof Babri Masjid site and also adjoin-ing plots which cover the Ganj-e-Shaheedan (Martyrs Compound) asmany of the Muslim martyrs lie bur-ied in these graves. On 9th May 2011,the two-member bench of the Su-preme Court expressed surprise as tohow Allahbad High Court could di-vide the title among three litigants?Anyhow, the Lucknow bench of theAllahabad High Court on 30th Sep-tember 30, 2010, had ruled that theBabri Masjid in Ayodhya was builton a site after demolishing a templeon it in 1528. While admitting theappeals by all the parties, the apexcourt allowed worship at the make-shift temple at Ayodhya.

Western media is all praise for the‘Shining India’ but Hindu fanaticscontinue perpetrating atrocities onMuslims, Christians and Dalits -lower caste Hindus. On 25th January2010, Hindu extremists desecratedtwo churches in Karnataka(Banglore) and damaged a statue ofMother Mary. In 2008, desecration oftwo churches in Hebbal andRajarajeshwarinagar had shocked theChristian community. St. JamesChurch in Mariyannapalya offNagawara Ring Road was ransacked,and cash from the offering box andtwo gold-plated crowns were stolen.In October 2008, 310 villages wereaffected with 4,640 homes, 252churches, and 13 educational insti-tutes torched during attacks. In Sep-tember 2013, fresh violence had beenreported in strife-torn Kandhamaldistrict in Orissa, with angry peoplesetting several houses on fire inKurtamgarh and Mangapanga vil-

lages in Orissa. Media reports saidthat more than 100 people werebeaten, hacked or burned to deathsince the mob violence began.

This is happening in what theysay the largest democracy and so-called secular state. In Kashmir com-munal violence is a matter of routinethat has taken heavy toll andKashmiris continue to protest againsthighhandedness of the Indian govern-ment. Minorities are groaning underrepression by the brute Hindu ma-jority throughout India and follow-ers of all religions are being subjectedto inhuman treatment. Muslims,Christians and Dalits are not al-lowed to lead their lives accordingto their beliefs, traditions and cul-ture. Muslims are the worst victimsof Hindu chauvinism; apart fromkillings in Kashmir recent burningalive of Muslims in Andhra Pradeshby Hindus is a case in point.

Efforts are being made tochange demography in Kashmir andAssam. Orissa government has notbeen able to restore order and is alsobiased towards Christians and re-fuses to compensate to buildchurches demolished by Hindus.Human rights organizations regu-larly publish atrocities committed onChristians, Muslims and Dalits.Kashmiris are, however, the worstsufferers on earth, as since 1989 atleast Indian forces have killed morethan 90000 Kashmiris. According toS.O.S from Srinagar, 22784 womenbecame widow, and there were10129 cases of rape by Indian secu-rity personnel. Furthermore, manyhouses and infrastructure in the val-ley has been destroyed. People ofIndian Held Kashmir do not expectany good gesture from NarendraModi, but they are determined tocontinue their struggle to get rid ofthe Indian yoke.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

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

owned peace and reconciliation pro-cess. At the Heart of Asia Confer-ence, Chinese premier Li also pre-sented a five point proposal forAfghanistan’s stability, includinginsisting self-governance of the Af-ghan people, promoting politicalreconciliation among different Af-ghan political parties, speeding upeconomic reconstruction, exploringa development path for the country,and strengthening external support.China for the last two years has alsoappointed a special envoy on Af-ghanistan for regular consultations.

Afghanistan’s plunging intochaos is a nightmare for regional sta-bility that suits none. It is in the long-term interest of all the countries tocooperate with each other in con-taining cross-border movement ofterrorists and try to clear the regionfrom the menace of terrorism, ex-tremism, separatism and narcoticstrade. Peace development and eco-nomic integration needs to beplaced on top priority. China overthe years has also emerged as thelargest investor in mining and en-ergy sector in Afghanistan and dur-ing the recent visit Afghan Presi-dent expressed his country’s ‘will-ingness to cooperate with China inareas like oil and gas, mining andinfrastructure projects besides wel-coming Chinese investments in thecountry. With Afghan PresidentAshraf Ghani’s recent visit to Chinaa new chapter in China-Afghan re-lations has opened. China in thecoming months will take concretemeasures to support Afghanistan’sefforts for sustainable capacitybuilding in all sectors.— The writer is Executive Director,Pakistan Council on China,Islamabad.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

Fazal-ur-RahmanEmail:effrahman@hotmail.com

Voice of the People

Ban on weaponsTAUQEER AHMAD

A news is in circulation in the so-cial gatherings that a ban on artifi-cial toy guns is being imposed inMardan. The news is obviously ofmuch significance as a thoughtfulattention towards this issue was longover due and genuinely required thecognisance of the authorities to thissocial problem which is largely pol-luting the minds of the new genera-tion with violence, aggression andabuse of ammunition. The news, ifit is not just a rumour, brings a rayof happiness on the faces of elders.Even if it is just a rumour, the con-cerned authorities should ponder totake such initiative not only inMardan but all over the country.

Unfortunately, the demand of ar-tificial arms and bombs are exces-sively alarming especially in Pakhtundominating regions where weaponsare beheld a sign of culture and tribaldignity. People feel proud to have araptor or Kalashnikov on shoulderand exhibit the vigorous bravery andbrutality as it would make them morerespectable and noble. The trend ofpossessing extraordinary arms deeplyinfects psyche of children and raisesa desire to have such arms in theirhands to relieve their innocent temptto the ammunition. Childhood attach-ment toward toy guns results a ten-dency to destructive arms as theygrow older.

We see many people narrating acommon adage about de-weaponization of our society that “thechildren should be given a pen not agun”; ostensibly the people despiseviolence; but never desist from buy-ing a gun or toy pistol for their chil-dren. Our society has developed anobsession of arms which has resultedin a lot of social evils; we do not hesi-tate in taking out our gun during apetty fight. We take this behaviouralintolerance and violent attribute fromour surroundings, movies, cartoonsand video games. We have totallyforgotten the usage of weapon as adefensive tool for safety and secu-rity but made it tool to go offensive.The temptation of arms in childrenhas left nothing to justify our sloganof “No to Violence”. The social re-formers should make it realise to thesociety and the government shouldimpose a ban on sale of toy guns.Apart from what are used for secu-rity purpose, there should be a strictban on display of arms at all levels.—Peshawar

Digitalgeneration

SYEDA ZARTASHIA AZMAT

The world has quickly become digi-tal, and the younger generations areleading the pack with technology thatmay render some other items obso-lete. As pre-teens and teenagers rou-tinely turn to digital devices for en-tertainment and schoolwork, the faceof education may change as well.Another item that may go the way ofthe dinosaur is the printed book. Stu-dents can now carry an entire libraryworth of reading material on a slime-reader device or on the many otherevolving tablet-type machines. Theremay be a day when one no longerbrowses the aisles of the school li-brary for a book, but only downloadsthe text instantly when needed. Sometextbooks are already offered in digi-tal format, and some school systemsand teachers may opt for the conve-nience of digital devices. Little dataexists as to just how many schoolshave policies allowing the use of cellphones and other digital devices in

Pakistan’s burgeoning energy crisisM FAZAL ELAHI

Problems confronting Pakistan today are innumerable. The gravity of these problems is serious enoughto send shiver down the spines of every citizen of this country. You name it and it is there; rampant

corruption, gas and electricity mismanagement and shortage, water shortage, miserable law and ordersituation, rapidly declining foreign investment, terrorism, and many, many more. The most critical ofthese problems are the devastating electricity and gas shortages. These two problems have acquiredcritical dimensions because they are directly impacting the industries and thereby the economy of thecountry. Not that the government in saddles is ignorant about the severity of the situation but thingshave gone so worse, vis-a-vis these two major issues, that it has become awfully difficult for it to bringthese two extremely vital problems under immediate control. Initially, it was decided that the govern-ment, due to critical electricity and gas shortages, would zero down electricity and gas supplies to theindustries. But realizing that this action, on the part of the government, would have a serious impact onthe industries and thereby the dismal economic condition of the country, it has decided to retract itsearlier decision on the matter. The latest decision of the government to provide uninterrupted electricityand gas supplies to the industries sounds really good. However, what boggles the minds of those who arefully aware of the gravity of the situation is how would the government fulfil this commitment with noimprovement whatsoever in the current very poor status of these two vital energy resources? Unambigu-ously, the commitment made by the government has raised the expectations of the industrial sector ofthe country without taking stock of its ability to meet it. The fact remains that the promise made by it,not to subject the industries across the country to electricity/gas load shedding, while simultaneouslysaying there will be no increase in consumer load shedding, can only be fulfilled if there is a significantincrease in the production of electricity/gas, something that the government hasn’t been able to do thusfar. Keeping our fingers crossed and hoping that the government would somehow succeed in fulfillingthe commitment that it has made, this would not only resuscitate the rapidly waning industrial sector ofthe country but also reinvigorate it. This may also bring some relief to the domestic consumers of elec-tricity/gas who stand equally brutally battered by the menace of electricity and gas shortages. It alsogoes without saying that rampant corruption in the management and distribution of these preciousnational resources is the major factor in aggravating the problem which devoured the previous govern-ment and is now putting the popularity of the present rulers at a clear stake. It is an established fact thatprudent, thoughtful and honest distribution of electricity and gas can make a big difference; hence it isan immediate need of the hour either to go for zero tolerance to corruption in the distribution portfoliosof WAPDA, SNGPL, SSGPL and KESC or immediately privatize them to block the rampant pilferage,theft and continuous agony of the consumers – both domestic and industrial.—Islamabad

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View From Abroad

Fight extremism with hospitality

JORDAN’s minister of Islamic affairs recently ordered imamsthroughout the country to

preach peace or face banishmentfrom the pulpit. “You clerics are ourground forces against the extrem-ists,” Hayel Dawood said. A moveby Jordan’s imams toward a middlepath is the right one to take. Islamis full of positive messages of char-ity, respect and tolerance.

Not long after the minister’sedict, here in the US, the Washing-ton National Cathedral hosted its firstMuslim prayer service. This was partof the cathedral’s mission to be ahouse of prayer for all people, and toelevate moderate religious voices. AMuslim spokesman saw this serviceas a sign that the Christian commu-nity is supporting the religious free-dom of Muslims.

Both efforts are well-inten-tioned, and may have very positiveresults. But I worry that such at-tempts run the risk of abandoningcertain core convictions. In Jordan,religious freedom is being sacri-ficed. At the Washington NationalCathedral, Christian identity may

become diluted. Fortunately, ex-tremism can be fought by additionrather than by subtraction. Specifi-cally, by adding an emphasis onhospitality in religious gatherings.Hospitality is a practice at the heartof Christianity, Islam and Judaism,but we often ignore it. I am con-vinced that welcoming strangersnot only leads to greater under-standing between people but alsodraws us closer to God.

Abraham is the father of all threeof these monotheistic faiths, and heis renowned for his hospitality. In theBible, Abraham welcomes threestrangers and discovers they are theLord (Genesis 18:1-15). When I vis-ited Istanbul with an interfaith grouplast summer, I was pleased to see inthe palace museum an artifact called“Abraham’s saucepan.” From theearliest days, there has been a linkbetween Abraham and hospitality.

Christians, Jews and Muslimscan all counter extremism by mak-ing hospitality a central part of theirreligious practices. As people eat,worship and work together, they dis-cover that strangers really are not sostrange. Christians and Jews can ac-cept Muslim invitations to fast-break-ing dinners during Ramadan, and thenreturn the invitation at social events

in their congregations. Table conver-sations build relationships, especiallyif people talk about common con-cerns such as child rearing andneighbourhood safety. Theologytends to divide, while shared commu-nity concerns bring people together.

For example, members of vari-ous faiths worshiped together thisThanksgiving, the one true interfaithAmerican holiday. Music and prayersfrom each tradition were offered, andstatements given about individualthanksgivings. In Fairfax, Va., theEzher (Bloom) Mosque joined twoPresbyterian congregations this year,and Imam Bilal Ankaya said that “weneed to be grateful to God (because)we live in a country where we feelsafe and secure.”

Christians, Jews and Muslimscan also work together for the goodof our communities. To honour thevictims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks,the Ahmadiyya Muslim Communitybegan organizing blood drives acrossthe US in 2011. Its members did thisto affirm their belief that life is sa-cred. In three years, they have orga-nized more than 900 blood drives,helping to save potentially more than100,000 lives. In this effort, theypartnered with the American RedCross and a number of churches and

Henry G Brinton

Nation on the move..!

A few decades ago when theformer prime ministerIndira Gandhi ruled the

country and brought in the state ofemergency, she also brought in ahost of slogans which wereprinted, plastered and pasted allover on walls, billboards and alsoon public transport. I rememberlaughing heartily at one such pub-lic transport bus as it made its way

slowly up a slope: on it was written‘Nation on the Move’ and underneath,‘Maximum speed 20 kmph!’

It’s now nigh on forty years sincethe draconian emergency happened,but the memory of that ironic cap-tion lingers and more so today as Iam seated right now in a lawyer’soffice for some official work and ashe gets my work done I look out ofthe window at the traffic below and Ismile: ‘What are you smiling about’asks the lawyer a good friend of mine.

‘Looks like traffic in our countrystill goes at 20 kmph!” I tell him andthen tell him about the incident in my

childhood. I am not going to com-ment about how fast the nation is onthe move, because I’d like to giveModi a chance as he zips in and outof countries selling India, but I’d liketo talk about the pitiful state of the20 kilometers an hour traffic: Indis-cipline is the biggest factor; the lat-est cars vie with the oldest truckswhich try to avoid slow moving yetdangerous rickshaws!

Pedestrians cross wherever theywant. Good public money has beenspent on broad roads but corrupt con-tractors using the worst material haveseen that driving hasn’t become easier

as the fastest cars and heaviest lor-ries try to avoid the treacherous pot-holes. Nation is on the move!

Poor Modi, he’s got a job cutout for himself, because nothing isgoing to push the nation faster ex-cept the bringing in of discipline andthe routing out of corruption! Tillthen 20 kmph is as fast as we willgo, though its been forty years withno upping of the speed limit..!Slowly, like a snail, the nationmoves, hopefully forward and notwearily tiredly finally going backat the same snails pace..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

synagogues. Members of differentfaiths can also organize food collec-tions for the hungry, blanket drivesfor refugees and home-buildingprojects in conjunction with groupssuch as Habitat for Humanity. Notevery positive interfaith relationshipdevelops face-to-face; sometimes,the strongest bonds develop whenpeople work shoulder-to-shoulder.

Showing hospitality to strangersis a powerful way to counter extrem-ism because people who eat, pray andwork together are far less likely todemonise one another. It can guideour communities to a middle pathwithout sacrificing core convictionsbecause hospitality is already a prac-tice that is deeply rooted in the threeAbrahamic traditions.

We need this today, more thanever, as youths attack US sailorsin Istanbul and as leaders inAmerica, such as Oklahoma Re-publican state Rep. John Bennett,make anti-Islam comments. Thecure for such extremism is not thesubtraction of free speech, but theaddition of events that get peopleof different faiths eating, drinkingand talking together. The writer ispastor of Fairfax PresbyterianChurch in Virginia.— Courtesy: USA Today

Corruption in a nosedive

CORRUPTION is generally defined as misuse of entrustedpower or authority by the

elected politicians or appointed civilservants for private gains. It usuallyentails embezzlement of funds, nepo-tism, kickbacks, bribery as well as de-liberate attempts to perpetuate a sys-tem with inbuilt avenues of corrup-tion, graft and entitlement. Corrup-tion has many forms but the majorcause of concerns are the systemiccorruption and political corruptionwhich germinate other forms of cor-ruption that eat into the social andeconomic fiber of a country besidesgenerating social tensions and ham-pering its economic progress.

Political corruption occurs at thehighest level of the political systemusually at the policy formulation levelwhen politicians and state agents en-titled to make and enforce laws in thename of the people, use their posi-tion to sustain their power, status and

wealth leading to misalloca-tion of resources and perver-sion of the process of decisionmaking. Systemic or endemiccorruption is an integrated andessential aspect of the eco-nomic, social and political

system prevalent in a country, embed-ded in a wider situation that helps tosustain it. It is universally recognizedthat corruption invariably is relatedto lack of good governance and thedegree of corruption in a society or acountry depends on the level of goodgovernance attained by a particularlycountry. It is social phenomenon per-meating the entire world though withvarying degrees.

Some agencies of the UN andglobal organizations like Transpar-ency International keep a constantwatch on the prevalent corruption inthe countries of the world and basedon their assessments issue annual re-ports on the Corruption PerceptionIndex (CPI). Pakistan has invariablyfigured on the top rungs of the cor-ruption index. The Transparency In-ternational Report for 2012 issuedby the agency revealed that as com-pared to 2011, Pakistan had gonefrom the 42nd most corrupt country

in the world to 33rd most corruptcountry on the CPI index.

However it satisfying to note thatthe two successive reports for the year2013 and 2014 issued by TPI, haveindicated a reversal of the trend. TheCPI index for the year 2013 releasedby the Transparency Internationalshowed Pakistan to have gone downon the corruption scale by almost tenpoints. It also indicated improvementin governance as no major corruptionscandal had been unearthed by theever vigilant Transparency Interna-tional and the media. The report for2014 issued two days ago confirmsthat the corruption ranking of Paki-stan has further gone down by onepoint from 126th last year to 127ththis year. As compared to 2012 therating has improved by 11 pointswhich is unprecedented since the TPIstarted issuing the report in 1995.

A deliberate and conscious at-tempt is being made by the govern-ment to revive the economy and pro-viding finances for self-employmentto the youth of the country in a trans-parent manner, as well as the politi-cal and legal reforms to improve lawand order, security and fighting ter-rorism. There are also steps in the

offing to remove the inadequaciesof the eighteenth amendment andbringing other constitutionalamendments to improve gover-nance. The government is presentlyengaged in a consultative processwith the parties represented in theparliament in this regard.

Good governance is about bring-ing political and economic reforms,maintaining law and order, free ac-cess to information and data, improv-ing and strengthening judicial sys-tem, a responsible and accountableadministrative apparatus, institu-tional reforms, judicious taxationsystem, encouraging civil society or-ganizations to monitor performanceof the government and the existenceof a free media in the country.

Pakistan has a free media andan independent judiciary and boththese institutions deserve unquali-fied accolades for their role in ex-posing and checking corruption atthe higher echelons of the govern-ment during the previous regime.Billions of dollars and rupees havebeen reclaimed from the plunder-ers of the national exchequer.— The writer is Islamabad-basedfreelance columnist.

class. In the United States, a 2013 U.S.Department of Education survey in-dicates only 7 percent of public-schools witnessed these digital devicesin the classroom every day. However,things can change in a short period oftime. Although technology has broughtwide ranges of applications for edu-cation and it is very useful and benefi-cial for sure, it also causes severalproblems. Currently, technology isoverused in the classrooms. Teachersalways complain about students usingtheir cell phones and tablets frequentlyduring classes, making distractions forthings that are not related to class ma-terials. The rate of plagiarism for as-signments and lack of respect for cor-rect language usage within essays havebeen increased among students. It alsomakes student to forget about the de-tails. Some students just think aboutcopying the material from what theyfind in the internet and do not payenough attention to how useful this in-formation would be. Digital technol-ogy makes copying and pasting easy,of course. But that is the least of it.The Internet may also be redefininghow students, who were dealing withmusic, file-sharing, Wikipedia, e-books, Dropbox, and etc., understandthe concept of copyright and author-ship. Moreover, the priority of whatthe information actually conveys is re-placed with where the information canbe found. Students have lost their fo-cus in the classrooms.

E-Mail, text messages, and onlinevideo games are becoming obstaclesto the students’ concentration, pro-ductivity, and learning potential andaptitude. The higher-order thinkingskills of the teenage students havebeen declined. Textual resources havebeen replaced with more video-basedinformation resources, which canlead to a deep intellectual laziness andother maladies of brain. Technologycan also affect not only student learn-ing but also the economy signifi-cantly. Based on a report on 2014,about 7,100 teaching positions areeliminated in New York City, whichis effectively eight percent of allteachers in the city.

Digital devices may be greatlearning tools, but they also offer anumber of distractions to students.When a student is supposed to be tak-ing notes on a laptop in the classroom,he or she might be downloading mu-sic, updating social networking sites,streaming video, or checking celeb-rity gossip. Classrooms are evolvingand so are students. Learning is verydifferent from the way older genera-tions may have learned. Whether thepresence of digital technology helpsor hinders remains open for debate.—Via email

Pollutionin LahoreARSALAN ISLAM

The Punjab government often boastsabout Lahore being a developed cityand plans to further develop it ac-cording to international standards.Lahore is among the 10 most pol-luted cities in the world.

(This finding is based primarilyon the atmospheric pollution of the re-spective studies). Environmentalistslist several causes behind the spreadof atmospheric inclusions such as theopen burning of garbage and indus-trial waste, the emission of smoke bytwo-stroke engines and unfit vehicles,the consumption of fossil fuel contain-ing lead in high quantity, use of rub-ber tyres and coal as fuel in factories,cutting of trees and the fast disappear-ance of green areas in the city etc.Another factor which has come intoplay and added to the misery of thecitizens is the uncontrolled demolition

Malik M AshrafEmail:ashrafazim2000@yahoo.com

Roaming in death zone

MY son, a 9th grader lad tellsme that things are not rightin Bangladesh. “What’s

wrong with us, papa”? He stares at me.I preferred not answering him, for Idid not have one. I truly suppose thatwhat he said or asked wasn’t withoutessence. He has his reasons to be up-set, to be concerned about his futurein this country. So everything is hap-pening. Inside few days, we have hadsad news of horrific road accidentspouring in from all directions.

24/7 we keep ourselves coiled infear of learning about someone’stragic demise in most inhuman andmiserable conditions. Capital Dhakais now a free death zone with mon-sters all around to crush your skullsunder their wheels. We learned withutter shock of the painful death ofZaglul bhai while getting off from abus on his way to attend a TV chatshow. It wasn’t his fault that he choseto travel by a bus. We know he met

his end. The next morn-ing a university studentwas crashed between twobusses. It wasn’t his faultthat he set off for his workplace. His was a futureseemingly bright.Away in Kushtia a brightlearner, Titu, was crushedunder the wheels of over

speeding bus inside the campus of theIslamic University. What followedwas simply out of the world. Theangst and frustration of the fellowstudents were there to behold. Thirtyfive busses were destroyed. Univer-sity closed sine die. These are only afew reported incidents that took placein the capital and outside. During thistime many such tragedies must havehappened across the country that re-mains unreported - the sad killings,suicide, agony of starvation, tortureand violence – and what have you.

And in the chilly evening of clas-sical soiree, we witness the lighten-ing flight of our national prideQayyum Chowdhury to the hereaf-ter. He died standing. How do wedefine the deaths caused by recklessdrivers? Who is responsible? Don’twe all stand accused? The history ofreckless driving and the complicityof the BRTA staffs in supplying fakelicenses in abundance has been the

practice for the last four decades.Despite reports, serious allega-

tions against the officials and staff ofthe BRTA and regular loss of lives inhighways and within the towns, noth-ing is being done to rein in notoriousgang of criminals in BRTA and itsstooges. The creators of the recklessworld of transport workers are thetransport owners, flawed system ofconcerned departments and brokentraffic management. Our transportbusiness is run in peculiar fashion ona unique model. The owners rent outvehicle to a party on a fixed amountto be deposited at the end of the day.That amount is reportedly always onthe higher side. The party hiring ve-hicle from the owner(s) has bags ofcomplaints against the owners whenrealizing undue fares from the hap-less commuters.

Every private vehicle (busses,trucks, human haulers, auto threewheelers, rickshaws) on public serviceis hired from its owners. So the oper-ating party has to hurry things up tomeet the owners demand and top it offwith a handsome profit for themselves.Fares that they realize are always high.Busses plying in same routes have dif-ferent fare rates! Conductors and driv-ers would give you a million reasonsfor this unfair means. You just can’tchallenge. The CNG run three wheel-

ers will charge anything that comesin their mind. Take it or leave it. Thetempos do the same.

They try to make as many tripsas possible throughout the day tomeet the rent for the owner and alsopocket their profits. More tripsmean more money. For this theytake on each other in the streets anddrive like mad caps risking the livesof commuters and pedestrians, allthis right under nose of traffic po-lice. Apart from the fare, the uncivi-lized way transport workers treat thepassengers are indescribable. Theywill strip you off if you dare to chal-lenge any of their words or gestures.

The most frustrating part is theway they flout road rules and disre-gard sentiments of the commutersand the pedestrians. We have seenpassengers thrown off the runningbus or beaten up by the rouge trans-port monsters for reasons beyondones comprehension. It’s also timethat the administration, civil bod-ies, trade union leaders, studentsand people from all walks of life‘get reckless’ to stop this killer fra-ternity, called the transport work-ers. A national movement for saferoads is the call of the moment.—The writer is the DhakaCorrespondent of PakistanObserver.

Muhammad Ali SattarEmail:malisattar@outlook.com

Dhaka CallingDhaka CallingDhaka CallingDhaka CallingDhaka Calling

and construction activity going on inthe city at a large scale, making thepeople vulnerable to allergies causedby inhalation of dust and other harm-ful particles. The Punjab govt shouldtake steps to resolve these problems.—Karachi

The disposablebeings

SYED N ABBAS HAIDER

I am fascinated by the concept of dis-posable crockery that nowadays cafesand stalls are using as substitute ofconventional one. The step provides acost benefit to the businesses, and theyhave an opportunity to earn highermargins as well. The disposable pieceof hardware can be used once or twice,and then, it gets dumped into the trash-cans. However, it is rather painful forme to apply the abovementioned no-tion on the living beings. There arepeople in the country who do not wantto grow and learn because they can-not stand the pain that the process ofhuman development involves. They donot have the energy to invest in theirown growth, and they waste too muchtime in enjoying and merrymaking asthey do not bother about the deeperrealities of life. They do not grow gutsthat will assist them in terms of lead-ing others, and without leadershipskills, they remain servants of others.When their time of demise draws nearthen, the feelings of guilt and remorseclutch them in their claws, and theyleave this world with the strong senseof un-accomplishment whatsoever.

The blind followers lose sense ofright and wrong in their lives, and theirobjectives remain focused on accumu-lation of wealth, but after receivingmonetary gifts from God, they cannothave the hearts to spend their fortuneout of fear that they might lose themoney, and therefore, they keep theirfinancial resources stashed in the bank,and tend to fulfil their future needs bysaving the present stake. With the pas-sage of time, they develop an emptyfeeling from the inside, and they spendtheir lives with an unexplained gloomyfeeling that does not go away by evenbuying shiny clothes and cars. In lateryears, they think that they have notdone anything worthwhile during theirstay in the world. If one has emotionsof emptiness from the inside, it meansthat one has not performed enoughdeeds. We need to integrate social ser-vice and humanistic values in our livesso that we can shield ourselves fromlater sense of anguish and deep suf-fering at an emotional level.

The next generation is too muchfocused on their needs and wants, theydo not bother to serve the society thatis the utmost attribute of being human;and therefore, they stick with whatworks for them. They derive unhealthydegree of contentment from their cur-rent jobs that the concept of develop-ment withers away from their exist-ence, and eventually, the corporatesector of the country find better re-placements for the prevalent humanresources, and the unproductive onesget dumped into the market as if theywere disposable pieces of crockery.—Attock

TANG XIAOYANG

FOURTEEN years ago, The Economistran a cover story titled “Africa: TheHopeless Continent.” For centuries, es-

pecially in recent decades, this land has beenmarginalized by the great waves of globaliza-tion and the information revolution. Inflictedby long-term poverty and turbulence, the con-tinent, especially sub-Saharan Africa, seemedto be lost in finding its position in the interna-tional community.

But 13 years later, the same journal rananother story, calling Africa “a hopeful conti-nent.” It seems that the world has regained itsfocus on this ancient land. Both Chinese Presi-dent Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang havepaid substantial visits to African countries sincethey assumed office. Meanwhile, the WhiteHouse has suddenly shown a keen interest inAfrica by holding US-Africa Leaders Summitin August, the first such event of its kind.

More work needed to solidify China’s place on newly bright continentAfrica’s rise is part of the rise of emerging

economies, in which China has made an excep-tional contribution. China-Africa relations, aftersome dramatic changes in the past decade, needto be reoriented, with a key question that mustbe answered: What is the fundamental force thatkeeps pushing both sides drawing closer?

Tang Xiaoyang, assistant professor at the De-partment of International Relations, TsinghuaUniversity, and also a resident scholar at theCarnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy, be-lieves China is exercising “economic diplomacy”in Africa. His new book China-Africa EconomicDiplomacy and Its Implication to the Global ValueChain, has expounded his ideas on this issue.

A competition between rich countries has justbegun on the continent. Addressing over 50 Af-rican leaders in the August summit, US Presi-dent Barack Obama said Africa “happens to beone of the continents where America is mostpopular and people feel a real affinity for our wayof life.” It was a rare flattering from the super-

power to Africa, although the most powerful mangave no African leaders one-on-one meetings.

As a continent endowed with abundant natu-ral and human resources, Africa, although stillfull of uncertainties and risks, unintentionallyturns out highly complementary with China’sdevelopment. China’s proactive moves, to someextent, have drawn the attention of other indus-trialized countries like the US, which is reluc-tant to allow Beijing to take the upper hand onthis promising continent.

However, it is a “natural process,” as Tangargues, that China’s economic presence is grow-ing much stronger in Africa. “China’s market-orientation reform and economic boost will un-avoidably influence other regions,” Tang said.“What Africa has matches what China needs, andvice versa. Thanks to powerful Western mediapublicity, China has fallen into some controver-sies in Africa. Its growing economic presence hasbeen depicted as so-called exploitation and evencolonization. In his new book, Tang highlights

“complementarity” and “interconnection” as thenew characteristics of China-Africa relations.Despite an academic book title, Tang is not apedant. In fact, thanks to years of field researchin Africa, he has had extensive experience onAfrica and gathered plenty of first-hand infor-mation. Using a lot of examples and case stud-ies, Tang has made his book much more read-able than many others of its kind. Trying to avoidparroting the official rhetoric about China-Af-rica relations, Tang’s vision has gone beyond“win-win relations.”

As Tang argues, “China and Africa are ableto establish an economic relationship based onequality and mutual respect,” but “such a patternis not always conducive to the fulfillment of win-win.” Great expectations there should be, butTang’s words remind us that given the fact Chinaand Africa have widely different cultural back-grounds and levels of social management, reci-procity is a great target, but never an easy one.

—Courtesy: Global Times

Israeli firefighters inspect the scene of the attack. Police identified the driver as a member of the militant Islamicgroup Hamas.

BEN S. CARSON

LIKE millions of other Americans, I appreciate the plightof billions of people throughout the world who would likenothing more than to find themselves in the United States,

where they could enjoy a much higher standard of living andwonderful opportunities for advancement.

It certainly seems like a compassionate thing to offer themlegal status in America and the opportunity to pursue their dreams.It should first be considered, however, that we have millions ofpeople already mired in dire poverty in our inner cities, ruraltownships and places such as Appalachia who would certainlyappreciate a helping hand before we extend one to foreigners.The same principle is seen when you board an airplane and hearthe announcement, “In case of an emergency, oxygen masks willdrop from the ceiling. Put yours on first and then administerhelp to those around you.” There are many around us already indire need of help.

According to President Obama, only those 5 million or soillegals who have been in America for five years or more willbenefit from his largesse. He indicates that they will not be eli-gible for health care and other benefits. Obviously, this fits rightin the same category as his promise that, “If you like your doc-tor, you can keep your doctor.” Once illegals have legal status, itwill be difficult to deny them any of the multitudinous entitle-ments that are freely distributed throughout our society.

Also, we must remember that illegals who have been herefor less than five years will have to only claim that they havebeen here longer than that in order to collect goodies. In effect,instead of helping 5 million people, we will probably be aidingat least twice that many. Even this would not be a problem if wehad plenty of money. The sad fact is our national debt is ap-proaching $18 trillion. If you paid that back at a rate of $1 billionper day, it would take nearly 50 years. Many pinnacle nationsbefore us have met their fate through fiscal irresponsibility. Whatmakes our leaders think that we are immune from the destruc-tive forces of a shaky financial foundation?

The founders of our nation feared that the time would arisewhen an individual or group of individuals in our governmentwould become intoxicated with their power and attempt to im-pose their will upon the entire society through dictatorial de-crees rather than through the legal process established by ourConstitution. For this reason, they established three separate butequal branches of government, dividing the powers. This inge-nious method of power division worked beautifully until recently,but hopefully, we are about to experience a demonstration ofhow the separation of powers preserves the integrity of our sys-tem. It will require that the legislative and judicial branches ofgovernment manifest the necessary courage to stand up for thepeople they represent.

The American people should not be manipulated into be-lieving that they are heartless simply because they want to pre-serve the rule of law in our nation and look after their own be-fore they take in others. We also have to consider the millions ofpeople who have immigrated here legally as well as those whoare in the queue. It is incredibly unfair to them to grant amnestyto those who have jumped ahead of them in line illegally. I hopeall of our government officials will recall the words of the Pledgeof Allegiance, with particular emphasis on the part that says,“with liberty and justice for all.

—Courtesy: Washington Times [Ben S. Carson is author of the new book “One Vote: Make

Your Voice Heard” (Tyndale)]

Obama has forgotten hisofficial duty is to Americans

JONATHAN POWER

OVER 15,000 foreign jihadists from 80 countries are believed to be fighting alongside militants in Syria, the CIAsays. The Syrian war is estimated to have mobilised more

European Islamists than all the foreign wars of the last 20 yearscombined. What to do when the jihadists try to return home?Many of them might be trained to wage jihad against their homecountries. The danger is, as Daniel Byman and Jeremy Shapirowrite in the current issue of Foreign Affairs, that “the returnedfighter seasoned by battle acquires a new authority among hisold friends and followers on social media — a street cred thatallows him to recruit and radicalise others and send them intothe fray”.

On the other hand because of the use of social media wherethe returnee sometimes brags about his exploits and adventures,it becomes easy for the intelligence services both to track himdown and know who he is trying to reach. The threat posed byreturning jihadists is too often hyped by both Western politiciansand the media. The number of those who go to fight from West-ern countries is only about 2,500. Of course, even if only 25 percent at some point return, that could be enough to cause may-hem, if that is what they are intent on doing. The impression thatone used to get is that until a few months ago.

They were driven not by the wrongs at home, but by theclarion call of the ultramilitants of their Muslim sect, the Sunni,who want to cut down the Shiites and establish their own caliph-ate. But now that Western air strikes on the Sunni fighters of theIslamic State (IS) by Western and Gulf countries are well estab-lished — they began in August — there is talk among the for-eign fighters about bringing home the war in revenge.

Even so, the situation must be kept in proportion. It used tobe said there would be a “blowback” from the war in Iraq. It didnot happen. Second, many of the jihadist volunteers will neverreturn as they will die in combat — the ferocity of the presentfighting exceeds that of other recent conflicts — join new mili-tary campaigns elsewhere or return home disillusioned and peace-fully inclined.

Third, thanks to pervasive intelligence, they are often ar-rested on their return. This year alone the UK police say theyhave arrested 218 returnees and 40 British citizens are awaitingtrial on terrorism charges. In Europe, five terrorist plots werefoiled, but there has been no serious successful terrorism onEuropean or American soil for a number of years. Fourth, thenumber of returnees who are still militants is not particularlylarge. One study found that only one in nine Western fighterswho went abroad between 1990 and 2010 came back determinedto attack home targets. Iraq offers other lessons.

During the war on Iraq, initiated by president George W.Bush and British prime minister Tony Blair, dozens of Muslimsfrom the US and Europe went to fight. Many became even moreradicalised during the fighting and joined Al Qaeda after it es-tablished a local affiliate in 2004.

In 2005, the CIA director, Porter Goss, warned the SenateSelect Committee: “Islamist extremists are exploiting the Iraqiconflict to recruit new anti-US jihadists.” In fact terrorists failedto perpetrate attacks in the West, apart from a bungled one atGlasgow airport in 2007. (This was carried out not by returningjihadists but by a tiny group of homegrown Al Qaedasympathisers.)

The experience of Iraq also points to another problem forjihadism — the fighting among militants. The IS jihadists have tolook three ways: towards the governments of Syria and Iraq, to-wards the danger from the sky and towards the threat from the lessextreme militants in Syria who although fighting the regime ofPresident Bashar Assad want to see IS eradicated. But what to doabout those who do try and return home to wage war? The UKgovernment already has a policy in place that allows it to seize thepassports of those it suspects of terrorism. That is one way to go.Another, as practiced in Saudi Arabia and Denmark, is to developpolicies that would reintegrate them into normal society.

—Courtesy: Jordan Times

Blowback offoreign jihadists?

TEHRAN—10th Session of theIslamic Conference of Infor-mation Ministers in their two-day meeting concluding hereon Dec 5, 2014 issued a 9-pointTehran Declaration on ‘MediaConvergence for Peace andCalm in Islamic World’.

Following is the text:We, the Information Minis-ters of the OIC MemberStates, participating at the10th Session of the IslamicConference of InformationMinisters held in Tehran, theIslamic Republic of Iran, on3-4 December 2014;

Being cognizant of the tre-mendous challenges facing theIslamic Ummah, and renew-ing our commitment to the nobleobjectives of the OIC and sup-porting all the initiatives andactivities, particularly in themedia and information domain,directed towards promotingunity, solidarity and cooperationamong the Member States;

Recognizing the invaluableopportunity provided to us, theInformation Ministers of theOIC, by the 10th ICIM to delib-erate on promoting “Media Con-vergence for Peace and calm inthe Islamic World” in order touphold unity and solidarityamong Muslims worldwide;

Further recognizing the vi-tal and leading role of media,in all its different forms, as anefficient tool in shaping the lo-cal, regional and internationalpublic opinion;

Being convinced of theimportance of OIC’s role andvisibility in international andregional affairs, through furtherefficiency and revitalizing itswork areas and programs in thefield of media, to ensure the

OIC media to fortify peace, calmin Islamic world: Declaration

rightful place of Muslim com-munities in a world experienc-ing rapid social, economic, cul-tural and technological devel-opments;

Bearing in mind the grow-ing threats posed by hostilecampaigns against Islam andMuslims projected and ratherintensified by various interna-tional media in the West in or-der to propagate Islamophobiaaiming at tarnishing the trueimage of Islam, a religion ofmoderation and tolerance;

Emphasizing the need toreinforce the civilizational

message of the MuslimUmmah, built on the values ofdialogue and coexistence in aclimate of justice, security andstability;

Reaffirming the principleof consolidating joint Islamicaction among OIC Member

States, particularly in the fieldof media, and their constantsupport to the cause of Pales-tine and Al-Quds in all inter-national fora;

Taking into considerationthe Final Report of the 10th Is-lamic Conference of Informa-tion Ministers which aim topromote OIC Member States’contribution and cooperation inthe field of media;

1- Commends the out-standing role of OIC MemberStates’ mass media in exposingthe horrifying war crimes andcrimes against humanity com-

mitted by the Israeli Zionistregime against the Palestinianpeople and its efforts to executethe plans of judaizing the cityof Al-Quds Al-Shareef; andlauds the role that mass mediaplay in highlighting the legiti-mate struggle of Palestinians to

end the Israeli occupation, wealso commend the efforts of Al-Quds Committee.

2- Emphasizes the needto effectively harness the po-tentials of information andcommunication technologiesin the OIC Member States,which requires concerted ef-forts to bridge the informationdivide in the digital mediathrough seeking modern infor-mation technologies and nec-essary investment in the re-lated infrastructures and hu-man resources.

3- Emphasizes the im-

portance of media conver-gence for promotion of peaceand calm in the Islamic Worldand stresses the role that themedia shall play to confront allforms of violence, extremism,fanaticism, racism and ha-tred.—Email

THE HAGUE—The Interna-tional Criminal Court’s chiefprosecutor dropped all crimesagainst humanity chargesagainst Kenya’s president onFriday, highlighting the court’sproblems in bringing to justicethe high-ranking officials it hasaccused of atrocities.

Prosecution office spokes-woman Florence Olara toldThe Associated Press that pros-ecutor Fatou Bensouda hadfiled a notice withdrawing thecharges against PresidentUhuru Kenyatta.

Kenyatta had been chargedwith murder, rape, persecution,deportation and other inhu-mane acts as an “indirect co-perpetrator” in violence thatflared after Kenya’s 2007 elec-tions and left more than 1,000people dead.

The collapse of the case isa new blow to the credibilityof the court’s prosecution of-fice. The office has launched

Charges against Kenyanpresident dropped

nine full investigations since itsestablishment in 2002 — all ofthem in Africa — and has justseven suspects in custody.

Kenyatta’s British lawyer,Steven Kay, said in an email tothe AP that the court and itsprosecutors, “owe (Kenyatta)an apology for bringing pro-ceedings based upon false wit-nesses and impugning his in-tegrity in such circumstances.”

Kenyatta’s trial was post-poned twice this year while pros-ecutors attempted to shore uptheir case after a key prosecutionwitness refused to testify andanother admitted giving false evi-dence. Earlier this week, judgesgave prosecutors a week to an-nounce if their case was strongenough or to drop the charges.

Kenyatta was indicted in2011 but went on to become thepresident of Kenya in the 2013election, using his indictment atthe Hague-based court as a ral-lying issue.—AP

KIEV—Russian Foreign Min-ister Sergei Lavrov criticized theWest on Friday for what he saidwere constant attempts to blameRussia for the crisis in eastUkraine and said Moscow wasnot isolated over the conflict.

Lavrov reiteratedMoscow’s calls for Kiev to holddirect talks with pro-Russianrebels fighting governmenttroops in eastern Ukraine, say-ing it “makes no sense” to seekways out of the conflict with-out the separatists’ involvement.

“Our Western colleagues,some European countries butAmericans first and foremost ...if they want to try to present usas the main culprits, which iswhat they are constantly doing

West wrong inblaming Russia for

Ukraine crisis: Lavrov... this is not right, this won’twork,” he said. The West saysRussia provides arms andtroops to the rebels to destabi-lize Ukraine and stall its drive

Lavrov also called onKiev’s Western backers, in-cluding France and Germany,to press Ukraine to carry outconstitutional reform, whichMoscow has said must give theRussian-speaking eastern re-gions wide autonomy.

To address common securityproblems in Europe, Russia saysit wants a new platform for dia-logue between the EuropeanUnion and the Eurasian EconomicUnion, a bloc which Moscow iscreating as a counterweight to the28-nation EU.—Reuters

PARIS—France’s defense min-ister says 500 of the 2,000French troops in Central Afri-can Republic (CAR) will bewithdrawn by spring now thatsecurity is returning and U.N.peacekeepers are in place.

Jean-Yves Le Drian said onFriday that security in theformer French colony has pro-gressively returned with schoolsreopened and some 8,000 peace-keepers fanning out.

He spoke a year after France

France withdrawing500 troops from CAR

began sending troops to stabi-lize the country after a Muslimrebel coalition overthrew thepresident and sectarian violenceerupted. At least 5,000 peoplehave died.

The minister said therewould now be a gradualdrawdown of French troops.He did not project when allthe troops would be gone.Three French soldiers havebeen killed over the pastyear.—AP

JERUSALEM—A poll conducted ahead ofIsrael’s March elections and publishedFriday indicates strong support for thecountry’s rightwing bloc but also doubtsover Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu’s leadership.

Netanyahu fired two ministers fromcentrist coalition partners earlier this week,forcing the election, which is expected tobe fought over Israel’s stagnant economyand its tenuous security situation, includ-ing its tense relations with the United States.

If re-elected as prime minister,Netanyahu has indicated he would like tocobble together a coalition of right wingand religious parties which could be ex-

Israeli poll: Netanyahuweak, rightwing strong

pected to push Jewish settlement in theWest Bank and promote Israel’s identityas a Jewish state.

The new poll, published in theMaariv newspaper, shows that together,five rightwing and religious partieswould receive 63 seats in the 120-seatparliament, enough to form a govern-ment. While the bloc is an unofficial one,it represents parties whose ideas aremore or less in line with those ofNetanyahu himself. Its largest compo-nent —and the overall leader in the poll— is Netanyahu’s own Likud Party.

The bloc would swell to 74 seats inthe Knesset if former Likud lawmaker

Moshe Kahlon’s newly formed partyjoined in. But the poll also shows that 60percent of Israelis want to replaceNetanyahu as prime minister, with Kahlonand former Likud minister Gideon Saarboth emerging as preferable alternatives.

The poll shows Labor Party leaderIssac Herzog lagging behind the primeminister by only a single percentage point.Labor is one of the kingpins of the left-center bloc that seeks to replaceNetanyahu, and re-ignite Israel’s stalledpeace process with the Palestinians.

The poll was conducted Wednesday bytelephone among 500 respondents. It hasa 4.3 percent margin of error.—AP

FRANKFURT—A 20-year-oldGerman man was sentenced tothree years and nine months inprison on Friday after he admit-ted joining Islamic State mili-tants in Syria, in the first trialin Germany of a home-grownjihadi accused of membershipof the insurgent group.

Judges decided to treat theman, known as Kreshnik B.,who was born in Germany toKosovan parents and spent sixmonths in Syria last year, as ajuvenile because of his lack ofmaturity. They said there wasno evidence he had fought di-rectly.

“As a youth, he was notable to resist the influence ofhis Islamist friends,” said chiefjudge Thomas Sagebiel.

Although he still displayed

German man jailed forfour years for joining IS

the attitudes of a radical Islam-ist, the judge expressed hopethat a youth sentence wouldhave the necessary educationaleffect.

In Germany, people aged18-21 can be treated accordingto youth law if they are judgedto lack maturity.

The sentence was sixmonths less than prosecutorshad sought but more than thethree years and three monthssought by his defense lawyer,after Kreshnik B., in exchangefor more lenient treatment, ad-mitted joining IS and receivingweapons training.

He looked relaxed as he en-tered the court and looked downat his hands as the verdict wasread. He was dressed casuallyand wore a full beard.—Reuters

ing Street.The Chief Executive of Afghanistan

Abdullah Abdullah was also present in themeeting.

Upon his arrival at the 10 DowningStreet, the Prime Minister was received byBritish Prime Minister David Cameron.During the meeting, bilateral relations,matters of mutual interest and the regionalsituation came under discussion.

Prime Minister appreciated UK’s as-sistance in Pakistan’s social sector devel-opment, particularly, in health and educa-tion. He invited British entrepreneurs’ in-vestments in the energy sector of Pakistan.

The Prime Minister added that a stable,prosperous and democratic Afghanistanwas in Pakistan’s best interest and saidPakistan looks forward to forging a co-op-erative relationship with the Afghan gov-ernment of national unity.

Prime Minister Cameron, appreciatingPakistan’s sacrifices in the fight against ter-rorism, stated that “Pakistan has sufferedmore than any other country in fightagainst terrorism”, and assured of hisgovernment’s support to Pakistan in itsefforts to root out the menace of terror-ism.

Adviser to PM Sartaj Aziz, Special As-sistant to PM Syed Tariq Fatemi and Paki-stan High Commissioner to UK Syed Ibne

Abbas were also present in the meeting.Later, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani

also joined the two leaders. Afghan ChiefExecutive Abdullah Abdullah was alsopresent on the occasion.

In the backdrop of the recently heldLondon Conference on Afghanistan, re-gional situation with particular referenceto Afghanistan was discussed and commit-ments made in the Conference were reit-erated.

The leaders expressed their resolve towork together for a stable, prosperous andpeaceful Afghanistan which would have asalutary impact on the entire region.

Meanwhile, British Prime MinisterDavid Cameron has reiterated London’spledge to extend all possible support forsecurity, economic and political transitionsin Afghanistan.Cameron renewed hispledge in his meeting with PresidentAshraf Ghani at the end of the LondonConference, which was attended by del-egates from more than 60 countries.

The conference provided a platformfor the Afghan government to set out itsvision for reform and for the internationalcommunity to show enduring solidarity.

The British prime minister recalled thatthe UK had lost 453 troops while fightingagainst insurgents in Afghanistan to ensurepeace, security and stability in the country.

He assured Ghani: “At a time whenNATO troops are leaving Afghanistan, wewill provide all-out support for security,political and economic transitions. We willdo whatever we can.” British soldiers werecoming home but London would continueto train and assist Afghan security forcesthrough the Kabul Military Academy, thepremier explained.

The UK would also continue its sup-port for Afghanistan in fighting against themenace of corruption, he said, adding Lon-don was ready to expand bilateral tradevolume with Kabul to pave the way for abright future for Afghans.

Ghani acknowledged that UK was as-sisting his country in various areas, includ-ing durable peace. “We don’t want the fightto continue. We want durable peace, whichis our main target. We are ready to resolveproblems in a political way.”

He said the unity government wouldexpedite steps to step up economic activi-ties and build close coordination with theinternational community.

John Kerry, the US secretary of state,said Washington was committed to ensur-ing peace and stability in Afghanistan.Though a number of states pledged newaid to Afghanistan, the conference was pri-marily meant to back Afghanistan politi-cally, he added.—Online/NNI

Pak, Afghan, BritainFrom Page 1

rifles as they tried to enter an artillery unit ofthe camp in the Uri region before dawn, offi-cials said.

The sprawling camp, also the regional head-quarters of the army’s artillery regiment, is nearthe heavily militarised line of control.

Eight soldiers including a lieutenant coloneland three policemen were killed on the Indianside, police said. The officials spoke on condi-tion of anonymity as they were not authorised tospeak to media.

The attackers struck days before Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi was due to visit Indian-heldKashmir, where thousands of extra paramilitarytroops have been deployed for month-long lo-cal polls.

“The firing has stopped right now,” the In-dian police chief in Kashmir, K. Rajendra, said.“We’re searching and sanitising the area andclearing any unexploded grenades hurled bymilitants.”

None of several rebel groups active in In-dian-held Kashmir issued statements aboutFriday’s battle, which erupted two days after a

17 dead as militants attackFrom Page 1

gun-battle broke out in the neighbouringHandwara region. Six suspected rebels and oneIndian army officer were killed.

Indian forces claim to kill 6 ‘militants’ cross-ing into held Kashmir

Also Friday, government forces inter-cepted two suspected militants on the out-skirts of Srinagar, the region’s capital city,leading to a brief exchange of gunfire, po-lice said. One rebel was killed while thetroops cordoned the area and were lookingfor the second suspect.

Uri, home to a large army base housing sev-eral hundred soldiers, is around 100 kilometresnorthwest of Srinagar, where Modi is due tocampaign on Monday.

The Indian prime minister’s Bharatiya JanataParty (BJP) is staging an attempt to seize con-trol of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature, amove unthinkable until very recently.

The Hindu nationalist party has tradition-ally had no base in the Kashmir Valley, whereresidents’ resentment against Indian rule runshigh.—AP

ferred to strategicdialogue groups on economic,security, defense, energy, edu-cation and other areas that meetregularly to advance bilateralcooperation.

He also cited close coop-eration on regional securityand stability issues includingAfghanistan. Besides the twocountries also cooperate attrilateral and multilateral fo-rums to advance interna-tional peace, security and de-velopment, reported Paki-stani state media.

Ambassador Jilani alsotold the faculty and studentsat the University that Paki-stan has made significantdemocratic strides with freemedia, judiciary, a strongcivil society and national in-stitutions playing their con-stitutionally mandated roles.He said Pakistan’s economicpolicies have also been ap-

Pak, US enjoy strategicpartnership: Jilani

From Page 1

at 32148 level Friday.The index managed to

close above the 32,000 levelwhich is also a bullish sign forthe coming week as well. Theindex could now target 33,200-33,500 which is the uppermonthly Bollinger band.

However, a correction to-wards 31,400-31,600 cannot beover ruled as the index is trad-ing at its upper Bollinger bandin the daily and weekly chartswhich signals correction beforeanother leg up.

The index reached thehighest level at 32315 in thefirst trading session on Fridaywhere 286.48 million sharestraded amid brisk trading activ-ity.

The volume leaders of theday were including TRG, Bankof Punjab and the Silk Bankwith 24 million, 18 million and14 million shares trade to theirrespective credit.

KSE 100From Page 1

Shahnawaz Tariq heard the CPFriday.

The Pakistan Atomic En-ergy Commission (PAEC)counsel Anwar Mansoorwhile giving his arguments inthe court said the nuclearpower plants were coveredwith all the required safetyrules and precautionary mea-sures and hence there was nothreat of radiation as wasfeared by the petitioner. Infact, the term ‘nuclear’ hadperhaps been taken as threatwhile it was absolutely per-taining to the nuclear energy.

He further argued that thenuclear power plants were sosafe that 10 more plants couldalso be constructed at Karachiwithout any fear or premoni-

tion. Thus the governmentwould be able to produce low-cost electricity and the con-sumers would be in a betterposition to afford the powertariff at the rate of just Rs. 8per unit.

He said that the authoritywas in constant contact withthe federal, provincial and lo-cal governments and the fed-eral government was evenready to release more fundsin case of any threat.

He said the authority hadprior to proceeding onward tothe construction of the 2nuclear power plants atKarachi, consulted all au-thorities concerned inclusiveof the Environmental Protec-tion Agency.

The counsel for the peti-tioner Sattar Pirzada in his ar-gument said that the radiationmight jeopardize the commonman.

The People’s Republic ofChina, the producer of thetechnology being used in the2 plants had not installed anynuclear plant based on thattechnology and hence theplants at Karachi could not bedeclared as safe.

Meanwhile, the PAECcounsel Anwar MansoorKhan had raised objection onthe appointment of advocateMakhdoom Ali Khan for as-sisting the court on the case.However, the court asked thePAEC lawyer to file his ob-jections in black and white.

SHC extends stayFrom Page 1

a reflection of the effective eco-nomic policies adopted by thepresent government. “Its in-deed a tribute to thegovernment’s commitment toreform”, remarked RachidBenmassoud, Country Direc-tor, World Bank who accompa-nied Satu Kiristina on the oc-casion. He said it sends a posi-tive signal to the economicmarket.

Satu Kahkonon at thisjuncture remarked that withPakistan achieving the 15billion dollar forex reservesmark, Pakistan will becomeIBRD partner. She also re-ferred to the meeting be-tween MD World Bank, SriMulyani Indrawati and PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharifwhere the former delivered aWB President’s letter to PMNawaz Shairf reiteratingsupport to Pakistan with re-gard to flood affectees andIDPs besides offering assis-tance for polio and other im-

munization programmes inPakistan. Director SatuKahkonon hoped for activeinteraction between Pakistanand the WB aiming at futurecooperation.

Dar appreciated the Bankfor approving financing ofCASA-1000 and Dasu HydroPower Projects for Pakistan,which will help reduce elec-tricity shortages and play avital role in economic growthof the country.

The Minister acknowl-edged Bank’s support ofUS$1 billion for Develop-ment Policy Credits for Fis-cally Sustainable and Inclu-sive Growth and Pakistan’sFirst Power Sector ReformDevelopment Policy Financ-ing.

The Minister on this occa-sion expressed commitmentfor continuous reforms in theareas of energy; taxation andrevenue mobilization; privateand financial sector develop-

ment; financial inclusion; se-cured transactions framework;and expansion of social pro-tection. He also appreciatedeffective administration ofMulti-Donor Trust Fund(MDTF) for KhyberPakhtunkhwa/FATA andBalochistan. The Minister saidPakistan looked to WB’s sup-port on energy sector develop-ment and construction ofDiamer-Bhasha Dam.

Finance Minister IshaqDar said on Friday the gov-ernment is ready to resumetalks with the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf as early asSunday but reiterated that of-ficials from intel l igenceagencies would not be in-cluded in the judicial com-mission to probe last year’spolls, as demanded by ImranKhan.

Addressing a seminar inIslamabad, the finance min-ister also demanded the PTIchief to announce the cancel-

lation of his “Plan-C”.Dar argued that officials

from the Military Intelli-gence (MI) and Inter-Ser-vices Intelligence (ISI) couldnot be included in the judi-cial commission to probe al-leged rigging in general elec-tions of 2013.

“A commission would beestablished under the Paki-stan Commission of InquiryAct 1956,” he said, addingthat no one could direct thejudicial commission.He said, however, if the com-mission itself wants to in-clude officials from intelli-gence agencies, the govern-ment would not object to it.

“A judicial commissionthrough presidential ordi-nance is not feasible, and thatwill not be able to probeelection rigging,” added thefinance minister.

Punjab law ministerterms PTI’s call for shut-down a ‘distant dream’.

Dar gets WB felicitation on Sukuk launchFrom Page 1

preciated by world financeinstitutions.

The ambassador, whoalso had an interaction withthe media, said the U.S. Con-gressional approval of $ 1billion in military support forPakistan is a recognition ofPakistan’s efforts and role incombating terrorism.

Regarding the ongoingZarb-e-Azb military opera-tion in North Waziristan,Ambassador Jilani said Paki-stan is conducting the mas-sive action in its own inter-est, as it wants to get rid ofany terrorists operating on itssoil.

The offensive, he said,has eliminated sanctuaries ofmilitants and dismantledtheir infrastructure. “We areconfident that we will be ableto clear the area”.

The entire Pakistani na-tion including tribesmen is

fully behind the offensive.On Pakistan’s relations

with Afghanistan, the ambas-sador said since the inceptionof President Ashraf Ghani’sgovernment in Kabul, the re-lationship between the twocountries has improved tre-mendously.

There is a much higherdegree of mutual trust andcommitment to cooperationas witnessed during a seriesof meetings between thetwo countries including atthe level of PresidentMamnoon Hussain, PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif andArmy Chief Gen RaheelSharif.

“There is a sea-change inthe relationship”, he said.However, the ambassadorsaid Pakistan and Afghani-stan need to develop an ef-fective mechanism for bor-der management.—Online

Farewell forSudan

AmbassadorLAHORE—A farewell dinnerwill be hosted in the honour ofAmbassador of Sudan toPakistan,Al Shafie AhmedMohamed here on Dec 10.

The dinner will be hostedby leading exporter of steel andChairman Al-Tech group ofcompanies,Mian MuhammadSaeed. Talking to APP hereFriday, he appreciated the out-going diplomat for his remark-able services for promotion ofbilateral relations between thetwo Muslim countries.—APP

LHC suspends LDA’s noticeLAHORE—The Lahore High Court Friday suspended operationof a Lahore Development Authority notice for commercializationof a pharmaceutical factory.

Justice Shahid Kareem passed the interim orders on a petitionfiled by High Noon Labourites (Pvt) Limited challenging a LDAnotice for commercialization of its factory situated at Multan Road.The court also issued notice to Punjab government and LDA forJanuary 27.

Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel Pervaiz I Mir arguing beforethe court submitted that the petitioner-factory was located at Multanroad which was a industrial area. He pointed out that the civicauthorities had also declared it as an industrial area in Lahore masterplan.

He said despite these facts the LDA had issued a notice to thepetitioner-factory and asked to get the property commercialized intwo days, otherwise. it would be sealed.

He contended that the notice was illegal and pleaded the courtto set aside it. He also requested the court to stay the operation ofthe notice.The court after hearing initial arguments suspended theoperation of the notice and sought a reply from respondents byJanuary 27.— APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE–Punjab Chief Minis-ter Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif

Shahbaz asked Police tochange its attitude

has said that provision ofprompt justice to the people andprotection of life and propertyof citizens is the prime respon-sibility of police and it shouldperform its duties efficiently andhonestly. He said that police willhave to change its behavior withthe common man and police sta-tions should be a source of pro-vision of justice to the citizens.He said that funds will continueto be provided to police for im-proving law and order and eradi-cation of crimes, however, po-lice will have to give results.

He was presiding over ahigh level meeting here todaywhich considered various pro-posals for reformation of policesystem, improvement of work-ing conditions at police stationsand provision of prompt justiceto the citizens. Addressing themeeting, the Chief Ministersaid that modern informationtechnology can help improvethe system of provision of jus-tice to citizens in police stations

and computerized record man-agement system is essential forregistration of complaints.

He said that citizens’ feed-back communication systemcan play an important role inproviding justice to the commonman. He directed an effectivesystem of monitoring should bedevised besides measuresshould be taken for improvingefficiency of police. He said thatspecial attention will have to bepaid for capacity-building ofpolice force for harmonizing itwith the demands of the mod-ern age. Shahbaz Sharif said thatpolice should perform its dutieswith commitment and effi-ciency for ensuring law and or-der and elimination of crimesand no effort should be sparedfor redressing the grievances ofcitizens. He said that confidenceof the people in police can berestored through change inThana culture and in addition tobasic reforms, all out measuresshould be taken for this purpose.

Kasur Bypassproject to be

completed in fourmonths

LAHORE—Lahore Develop-ment Authority has extendedits development activities tothe adjoining districts ofLahore and started executionof Kasur Bypass project whichwill be completed at a cost ofRs. 1.5 billion within fourmonths.

The 9.5 kilometers longtwo-lane dual carriage way willlink Ferozepur Road at SadarDewan to Depalpur Road atFaqir Wali in district Kasur.

Central median of the roadwill be 10 feet wide and willaccommodate state of the artarboriculture work and LEDstreet lights.—INP

Workshop on‘Endnote on

Writing” at UVAS

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The Department ofParasitology of the Universityof Veterinary and Animals Sci-ences (UVAS) Lahoreorganised a two-day trainingworkshop on ‘Endnote forWriting Manuscripts”.

Vice-Chancellor Prof DrTalat Naseer Pasha chaired theconcluding session of theworkshop and gave away cer-tificates to the participants.

Speaking on the occasion,the Vice-Chancellor said thatsuch type of workshop wasnecessary to learn writing skillsfor postgraduate students. Healso lauded the efforts of theworkshop organizers.

Earlier, Dr MuhammadImran Rashid was the resourceperson of the workshop. Hegave hands-on training andshared skills and knowledgeabout the writing manuscriptsin Microsoft Office andEndnote.

New Zealand winfinal Twenty20,

level seriesFrom Page 1

to bat by Pakistan, NewZealand managed 144-8.

Skipper Kane Williamsontop-scored with 32 while LukeRonchi made 31 and TomLatham scored 26.

For Pakistan, returningpaceman Umar Gul finishedwith 2-24 while skipper ShahidAfridi took 2-33.

Pakistan lead the two-match series 1-0 after winningthe first match, also played inDubai, by seven wickets onThursday.

Besides Gul, openerAhmed Shehzad also returnedto the team, with Awaiz Zia andMohammad Irfan droppingout.

DUBAI—Al Qaeda has threatened the im-minent execution of an American journalistit kidnapped in Yemen, mocking as “fool-ish” a recently failed bid by US forces tofree him.

Al Qaeda in Yemen released a videodated December 2014 naming the hostageas Luke Somers, 33, saying the photojour-nalist was kidnapped more than a year agoin Sanaa.

US-based monitoring agency SITE In-telligence Group said Somers was seized inthe Yemeni capital in September 2013.

Nasser bin Ali Al-Ansi, of Al-Qaeda inthe Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), threatenedin the video to kill him in three days if Wash-ington fails to meet unspecified demands.

Yemen‘s Qaeda threatens in video to kill US hostage

Terrorists,criminalsbeingtargeted:SharjeelKARACHI—ProvincialMinister Information SindhSharjeel Memon during SindhAssembly’s session on Fridaysaid action was being takenagainst terrorists and criminalswithout discrimination.Addressing Sindh Assembly’ssession presided over bySpeaker Agha Siraj Durrani,Sharjeel Memon said declaredand order a sensitive issueadding that measures taken bythe government havediminished the frequency oftarget killings. Faisal Sabzwariof Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment (MQM) said maybe itsgovernment is obliged toalways portray a perfectpicture.—NNI

Sindh govtasked toshun lip-serviceKARACHI—Opposition lawmakers in theSindh Assmebly on Fridayblasted the PPP-led provincialgovernment to performpractically instead of issuingstatements. MQM’s KhwajaIzharul Hassan made theseremarks during the assemblyproceedings. He also de-manded that target actionshould be launched to arrestkillers of brother of MQMleader Ghazi Salahuddin, whowas shot dead on Thursday.Sindh Information MinisterSharjeel Inam Memon claimedlaw and order had improved inthe city due to better securitymeasures. PML-F lawmakerNusrat Sehar Abbasi saidplatitudes would not serve anypurpose anymore. It’s nowtime to do practical efforts,she emphasized whilereferring to the Sindhgovernment. She asked ifgovernment was doing its partthen why it’s performance wasnot being seen.—Online

ISLAMABAD: Collective Dua being offered at the Faisal Mosque Islamabad, Pakistan for the early recovery and fullhealth of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman after big Friday prayers. Seen in the picture are Mr. Zahid Malik,Editor-in-Chief, Pakistan Observer and H.E. Mr. Walid Eissa Ali Al-Zadjali, Charge d’Affaires of Oman Embassy.—POphoto by Sultan Bashir

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Collective Dua was of-fered for the early recovery and goodhealth of HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said ofOman who is undergoing treatment forsome ailment in a hospital in Germanyat the historic Faisal Mosque.

Reports pouring in from differentparts of Pakistan said that Dua was alsooffered by Imams at various mosques in

Countrywide collective prayers for earlyrecovery of Sultan Qaboos of Oman

other cities of the country.According to another report, special

congregations were also held inBalochistan in this regard.

Imams in their Juma sermons, re-counted the HM’s services for Oman andmore than that for the Muslim Ummahon the whole. In Islamabad, Charged’Affaires of Oman, Mr. Waleed Issa AliAl-Zadjali and other Omani diplomatsas well as diplomats of some Muslim

countries also participated in Dua alongwith officials and citizens representingvarious walks of life. Ladies also partici-pated in the Juma congregations.

The call for special prayers for thespeedy recovery of the HM was made byMr. Zahid Malik, Editor-in-Chief, Paki-stan Observer and Chairman of Interna-tional Seerat Centre and Nazriya Paki-stan Council (Trust) and there was tre-mendous response to that.

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—Militant’s ambush at a securityforces camp in Orakzai agency Friday resultedin martyrdom of at least one soldier and seriousinjuries to six others.

Orakzai agency, it may be mentioned, bor-ders the volatile North Waziristan agency wherethe Pakistan Army led security forces have beenconducting operation titled Zarb-e-Azb againstthe insurgents, challenging the writ of the gov-ernment since long, for the last about six monthand have so far mowed down over 1300 terror-ists including foreign militants.

Reports reaching from Kalaya, the head-quarters of Orakzai agency, said at least onesoldier was killed and six others were injured ina rockets attack in the FC headquarters in Kalayaarea of Orakzai Agency on Friday afternoon.

The unknown terrorists, military sources

One soldier martyred,six hurt in rockets

attack on FC campssaid, fired two rockets at the Kalaya Headquar-ters of FC as seven soldiers sustained seriousinjuries in the attack. The wounded soldiers wererushed to the hospital where one man in uni-form succumbed to injuries. Six others wereadmitted for treatment.

“Six soldiers received serious injuries as aresult of rockets attack on FC Kalaya headquar-ters (a camp housing both Army and FC per-sonnel). One of the wounded soldiers suc-cumbed to injuries”. Well-placed militarysources told Pakistan Observer adding the pro-jectiles were fired by the alleged terrorists fromunknown location in the afternoon.

Orakzai agency, it may be recalled, has alsobeen hit hard by the insurgency since long and anumber of soldiers including officers have em-braced Shahadat and scores wounded in gunbattle with the militants and ambushes on thesecurity forces convoy during the last few years.

The Yemeni defence ministry said lastweek Al-Qaeda had moved hostages, includ-ing an American journalist, a Briton and aSouth African, days before a raid in south-eastern Hadramawt province to free theAmerican.

Ansi mentioned a “failed operation” inHadramawt in which militants died, describ-ing it as the “latest foolish action” by theUnited States.

Yemen had confirmed the operation butmade no mention of US forces taking part.

US media reported that American com-mandos had carried out the raid with Yemenitroops to try to free the US captive.

The New York Times said the comman-dos found eight other hostages during the

raid, including six Yemenis, but not theAmerican.

The Pentagon confirmed Thursday thatUS and Yemeni forces had tried unsuccess-fully recently to rescue Somers.

“Some hostages were rescued, but oth-ers — including Somers — were not presentat the targeted location,” spokesman RearAdmiral John Kirby said.

Details of the operation remained clas-sified but the Pentagon decided “to provideaccurate information given that it is beingwidely reported in the public domain,” Kirbysaid. The Pentagon vowed to work relent-lessly to “bring people home whenever wecan,” he added.

“The United States will not tolerate the

abduction of our people, and will work tire-lessly to secure the safety of our citizens andto hold their captors accountable.”Hundredsof people have been kidnapped in Yemenduring the past 15 years, mostly by tribes-men who use them as bargaining chips indisputes with the government.

Nearly all have been freed unharmed.While AQAP is considered by Washing-

ton as the most dangerous affiliate of alQaeda, it is not known for frequently ex-ecuting foreign hostages.

Its threat follows the murder of fiveWestern hostages since August by the Is-lamic State group that controls parts of Syriaand Iraq. Two US journalists, James Foleyand Steven Sotloff, American aid worker

Peter Kassig, and British aid workers AlanHenning and David Haines were executed.

Yemen is a key US ally in the fight againstal Qaeda, allowing Washington to conduct alongstanding drone war against the group onits territory.

The militant group has exploited insta-bility in the impoverished country since a2011 uprising forced president Ali AbdullahSaleh to step down.

And in recent years there has been agrowing number of abductions by al Qaeda,several of whose hostages remain in captiv-ity.

They include a South African teacher andtwo diplomats, one from Iran and the otherfrom Saudi Arabia.—Online

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a nTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chair-man Imran Khan has said thathe would reveal ‘Plan D’ aftercompletion of ‘Plan C’ on De-cember 18.

Addressing the partici-pants of sit-in here Friday,Imran Khan said he was goingto Faisalabad on Monday.

He said: “Faisalabadis, I’mcoming. If you want tochange your fate, come outwith me for one day and wemight have to bear some paintoo.”

Khan added “if you are

Malikclaims ISactive incountryISLAMABAD—Former interior ministerRehman Malik has said thatIslamic State (ISIS) alsoknown as Daesh is function-ing in Pakistan. PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) SenatorRehman Malik, speaking tomedia after recording hisstatement in the MissingPersons Commission, saidthat a person named YousufSalfi is leading the IslamicState chapter of Pakistan. Hesaid that he will disclose thatwhere the meetings of theterrorist organization wereheld in the country within afew days. The PPP senatorsaid that he was optimisticthat the negotiations betweenPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) and the government willbe successful.—Online

Another childdies in Thar

MITHI—Another newbornsuccumbed to the heartlessconditions of the desert regionof Thar.

The death toll due to foodshortage in the district hasreached almost 150 with thedeath of another little one.

The area continues to suf-fer food shortage due to se-vere drought and absence ofgovernment response to thepublic health challenges inthe area for a long time.

Scarce rainfall and thegovernment’s inability to en-sure food supplies inTharparkar causes malnutri-tion in mothers which results inserious health problems in new-born children.—Online

KARACHI—Pakistan Navyhanded over command ofCombined Maritime TaskForces (CMF) CombinedTask Force 150 to CanadianNavy at a formal change ofcommand ceremony held atHQs NAVCENT, NSABAHRAIN.

Commodore SajidMahmood handed over com-mand of CTF-150 to Cana-dian CCTF-150, CommodoreSantarpia.

The handover ceremonywas graced by Vice AdmiralJohn W Miller CommanderUS Forces Central Com-mand, Commander USFIFTH Fleet and CommanderCombined Maritime Forces.

Addressing the audience,Commodore Sajid Mahmoodlauded support and coopera-tion of coalition partners,which enabled him to dis-charge his duties efficientlyand effectively.

He further highlightedthat relations between Paki-

Navy hands over commandof CMF to Canadian Navy

stan Navy and coalitionNavies are continuouslystrengthening due to our fo-cused commitments in sup-port of Collaborative Mari-time Security in the region.

Combined Task Force150 (CTF-150); a multi-na-tional coalition is one of threetask forces being operated byCombined Maritime Forces(CMF).

Its mission is to promotemaritime security in order tocounter terrorist acts and re-lated illegal activates, perpe-trated by the terrorists net-works.

Pakistan Navy concludedher seventh successful com-mand of CTF -150 whichis manifestation of trust andrespect enjoyed by Pak Navyamongst coalition partners.Over the years, PakistanNavy has not only served themaritime interests of Pakistanbut has also actively partici-pated in international coali-tion operations.—Online

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Sindh High Court (SHC) had issued notices toSindh government, Sindh secretary education, Director Schoolsand other respondents regarding their explanation on the issue of40,000 ghost teachers in public schools under the Sindh Educa-tion Department.

The notices thus issued to the aforesaid respondents also soughtexplanation from them regarding 522 journalists, who were ap-pointed as teachers, continued to drawing slaries and perks andprivileges while they never attended schools as teachers but con-

Judges detention case

Musharrafgiven one day

exemption fromappearance

ISLAMABAD—An anti-terror-ism court (ATC) here on Fri-day approved plea for formerpresident Pervez Musharraf’sexemption from appearance inthe judges detention case.

ATC judge Kausar AbbasZaidi was hearing the case.During the case proceedings,the court was informed thatMusharraf ’s counsel IlyasSiddiqui is busy in SupremeCourt, thus, one day exemptionfrom appearance should begranted to his client.

The court approved theplea and directed that the ac-cused must appear in the nexthearing.

The case hearing was ad-journed till December 19. Thecase over the detention of thejudges is based on an FIR filedagainst the former military rulerin August 2009. —INP

SHC notices authorities over40000 ghost teachers issue

tinued to work for certain media houses as journalists.The constitutional petition No. 6262/14 was filed by eminent

lawyer advocate Mehfooz Yar Khan and was heard by a 2-mem-ber bench of the SHC comprising Justice Syed Hassan Azhar Rizviand Justice Aziz Ur Rehman.

The petitioner had through his CP appealed to the higher courtthat orders should be passed for removing the 40,000 ghost teach-ers including 522 ghost teachers-cum-journalists and fresh appoint-ments should be made on pure merit so that the deserving andeligible candidates could come forward and improvements in edu-cational system should be ensured.

STAFF REPORTER

QUETTA—Balochistan HighCourt’s Election Tribunal hasdisqualified Advisor to ChiefMinister Balochistan on Fish-eries Akbar Askani from theBalochistan Assembly.

The judge of election tribu-nal, Justice Hashim Kakar, hasdirected the Election Commis-sion of Pakistan (ECP) to holdre-polling in the PB-50 Kech-III, from where Askani waselected as MPA on a ticket ofPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz. The court declaredPML-N’s Akbar Askani’s elec-tion as a member of theBalochistan Assembly null andvoid. Ruling National Party(NP) leader Akram Dashti had

filed a petition in the tribunaland demanded verification ofthe votes from NADRA.

The court gave verdict infavour of Dashti after verifica-tion was concluded byNADRA. Askani was also themember of the Committee onIndustries, Mining mineral de-velopment, Labour and Man-power. Askani is a landlord byprofession.

The Balochistan ElectionCommissioner Sultan Bayyazeed said there would be re-election in the entire constitu-ency following the directives ofthe tribunal. Two more casesare pending with the tribunal,seeking disqualification of twoother members of theBalochistan Assembly.

Balochistan PML-Nlawmaker disqualified

Ittehad Airwaysrestores serviceat Bacha Khan

International AirportPESHAWAR—Ittehad Airwayshas restored its air service atBacha Khan International Air-port after 4 months.

Over 7 foreign airlines haverestored their service at BachaKhan international airport so far.All the foreign airlines exceptSaudi Airlines had suspendedtheir service for Peshawar airportafter PIA plane was fired uponand the airport was closed tem-porarily. All the foreign airlineshave restored their service gradu-ally after KP government hastaken measures for security of theairlines. —Online

Imran to reveal ‘PlanD’ after December 18

satisfied with the incumbentgovernment keep your busi-ness open or else shut theshops.”

PTI chairman said: “I shallreveal Plan D on December 18and it would make PM NawazSharif even harder to run thegovernment.’

Imran said Plan C wouldcontinue till formation of ju-dicial commission, adding thathe would accept the outcomesof the JC.

He said if JC, in its find-ings, could not proved rigginghe would accept it and if pollrigging is proven, PM NawazSharif has to resign.

4 more poliocases surface

P E S H A W A R / Q U E T T A /KARACHI—The polio virushas put the future of billions ofchildren in Pakistan at stake.Four more cases have been re-ported from FATA, Balochistanand Khyber Pakhtukhwa.

According to reports, thecurrent figures of polio casesare three hundred and sixty-six.A three-day polio campaignstarted in eleven sensitiveunion councils of Karachi onFriday.

The campaign howevercould not be initiated in areasincluding Guddap Town, Rehri,Landhi and Bin Qasim becauseof lack of security measures.

During the campaign,about 2 lac 72 thousand chil-dren would be given poliodrops.—INP

THERE is good evidence to show thatstress can increase a person’s heart rate,lower the immune system’s ability to

fight colds and increase certain inflammatorymarkers but can stress also raise a person’s cho-lesterol? It appears so forsome people, according to anew study that examineshow reactions to stress overa period of time can raise aperson’s lipid levels.

This finding is reportedin the November issue ofHealth Psychology, pub-lished by the American Psy-chological Association(APA). In a sample of 199healthy middle-aged menand women, researchers An-drew Steptoe, D.Sc., andLena Brydon, Ph.D., of Uni-versity College London ex-amined how individuals re-act to stress and whether thisreaction can increase choles-terol and heighten cardiovas-cular risk in the future.Changes in total cholesterol, including low-den-sity lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipopro-tein (HDL), were assessed in the participantsbefore and three years after completing twostress tasks.

Our study found that individuals vary intheir cholesterol responses to stress, said Dr.Steptoe. “Some of the participants show largeincreases even in the short term, while othersshow very little response. The cholesterol re-sponses that we measured in the lab probablyreflect the way people react to challenges ineveryday life as well. So the larger cholesterolresponders to stress tasks will be large respond-ers to emotional situations in their lives. It is

these responses in everyday life that accu-mulate to lead to an increase in fasting cho-lesterol or lipid levels three years later. Itappears that a person’s reaction to stress isone mechanism through which higher lipid

levels may develop.”The stress testing session

involved examining the partici-pants’ cardiovascular, inflamma-tory and hemostatic functionsbefore and after their responsesto performance on moderatelystressful behavioral tasks. Thestress tasks used were computer-ized color-word interference andmirror tracing. The color-wordtask involved flashing a series oftarget color words in incongru-ous colors on a computer screen(ex. Yellow letters spelling thecolor blue). At the bottom of thecomputer screen, four names ofcolors were displayed in incor-rect colors. The object of the taskwas to match the name of thecolor to the target word. The othertask used was mirror tracing,

which required the participant to trace a starseen in a mirror image. The participants weretold to focus more on accuracy than on speedin both tasks.

At the follow up three years later, choles-terol levels in all the participants in the studyhad gone up, as might be expected through pas-sage of time. However, individuals with largerinitial stress responses had substantially greaterrises in cholesterol than those with small stressresponses. The people in the top third of stressresponders were three times more likely to havea level of ‘bad’ (low-density lipoprotein) cho-lesterol above clinical thresholds than werepeople in the bottom third of stress responders.

Mental stress raises cholesterollevels in healthy adults

Admiral Tan Sri Aziz Jaafar Chief of Royal Malaysian Navy exchanging views with Chiefof the Naval Staff Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Admiral Tan Sri Abdul AzizJaafar, Chief of Royal Malaysian Navy calledon Chief of the Naval Staff in his office,where he held detailed discussion on profes-sional matters with his counterpart.

Various avenues of cooperation betweenthe two navies were also discussed in detail.The visiting dignitary is on a second leg ofhis tour and had earlier attended IDEAS-2014 besides visiting PN units/facilities andmeeting Naval Field Commands at Karachi.The Admiral also called on Defence Minis-ter during his recent visit.

During his recent visit, the Admiral hasalso been conferred with Nishan-e-Imtiaz(Military); one of Pakistan’s highest military

Royal Malaysian Navy chiefcalls on Chief of Naval Staff

awards, in recognition of his distinguishedservices and significant contributions instrengthening the bilateral relationship be-tween Pakistan and Malaysia in general andNavies of both the brotherly nations in par-ticular.

The honourable dignitary joined theRoyal Malaysian Navy in 1974. Besidesholding the appointment as Chief of RoyalMalaysian Navy, the Admiral has had theprivilege to serve on various coveted ap-pointments including Chief of Staff to theFleet Operations Commander, AssistantChief of Staff Human Resources, Fleet Op-erations Commander, Assistant Chief of Staff(Defence Operations & Training) at the Ma-laysian Armed Forces Headquarters andDeputy Chief of Navy.

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—Information Min-ister Pervaiz Rashid, Minister forPlanning and DevelopmentAhsan Iqbal, and Japanese Am-bassador Hiroshi Inomata jointlyinaugurated the newly installed500 KW medium wave transmit-ter here Friday. Radio Pakistan hasformally launched programmesfrom its new digital transmitter setup with the technical and finan-cial assistance of Japan.

Speaking on the occasionAhsan Iqbal thanked the Japanesegovernment for its magnanimoussupport for the rehabilitation ofRadio Pakistan’s MW network.He said this token of goodwillfrom Japan would be rememberedas the airwaves from this networkcontinue to reach the listeners.

The minister pointed out thatseveral information sources wereavailable to the people in today’sworld including private radio andTV channels, Internet and satel-lite technology. Due to techno-logical development access to in-formation has become very easy,he said.

He said keeping in view thechanging trends, the state-ownedmedia institutions would have to bring ex-cellence in their work and adapt to latesttechnology to better compete in the mar-ket.

Ahsan Iqbal said the government onits part was working to modernize its broad-casting outlets through technological adop-tion and capacity building of human re-source.

He said political stability was essen-

tial to put the country on the path of sus-tainable development. He said negativepolitics would not serve the purpose to al-leviate poverty and unemployment.

He said the calls of shutting downcountry’s exports hubs Lahore, Karachi andFaisalabad would put adverse impact onthe economy. Speaking on the occasion,Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Inomatapointed out that Radio Broadcasting was

still a major source of information, particu-larly in remote areas.

He noted that rehabilitation of mediumwave network would enable Radio Paki-stan to reach out to maximum people inGilgit-Baltistan and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

He expressed the confidence that bet-ter access to information on issues such ashealth, nutrition, economic activities and

natural disasters would improve people’slives and thereby contribute to stability ofthe country.

In his remarks, Chief Representativeof JICA Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki said hisagency was looking forward to close coor-dination with the PBC in future for dis-semination of knowledge for livelihoodimprovement and people’s awareness inKhyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

Radio Pakistan launches newmedium wave transmitter

Federal Minister for Information, Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Federal Minister forPlanning, Development and Reforms Prof. Ahsan Iqbal and Japanese Ambassador Hiroshi Inomata unveiling the plaqueto inaugurate the new digital transmission system at PBC headquarters.

Colorful Chinese Food Carnival at Lok Virsa

A Chinese chef demonstrating her skills during preparationof traditional Chinese food.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A ‘ChineseFood Carnival’ was organizedhere at Shakaparian under theaegis of the National Instituteof Folk and Traditional Heri-tage, Lok Virsa, in collabora-tion with the Chinese CuisineAssociation, Beijing.

The event was arranged inthe lush green lawns of theTransport Museum of the Pa-kistan National Museum ofEthnology “Heritage Mu-seum”. There are twenty mil-lion chefs in China out of themtwenty top chefs participatedin the Food Carnival. Overall,more than forty professionalchefs from different regions ofChina demonstrated theirskills on the occasion. Theyleft the audience spell-bounded with their culinaryproficiency and sumptuous

dishes.2015 has been declared as

“Pak-China Friendship Year”.The delegation is visiting Paki-stan for one week in the context

of these celebrations. Besidesdemonstrating their cuisine forPakistani audience, they willalso promote economic activityand introduce Pakistani dishes

back to the China.Ms. Shahera Shahid, Execu-

tive Director, Lok Virsa whilewelcoming the Chinese CuisineAssociation and other guests saidthat Pakistan and China enjoycordial relations based on histori-cal cultural ties. She said thatpeople of both the countries con-sider each other brothers andfriends. The Executive Directorbriefed all that Pakistan andChina share similarities in artsand crafts which are very muchreflective in a number of Paki-stani crafts such as ceramics,embroidery, pottery and others.She apprised all that many ofthese crafts can be seen fullydocumented and preserved at theHeritage Museum of Lok Virsa.

ED, Lok Virsa further high-lighted that Pakistan is blessedwith a variety of fruits and veg-etables together with qualitymeat items. She said that Paki-

stanis love to cook food, eatfood and serve food. More-over, the people of Pakistanother than their own continen-tal dishes enjoy eating Chi-nese, French, Mexican, Italian,Portuguese food, to name afew. The Executive Directorinformed the guests fromChina that a large number ofChinese restaurants are opera-tional in all major cities ofPakistan. This it-self speakshow popular the Chinese foodis amongst Pakistanis.

She thanked the Commer-cial Section of the PakistanEmbassy in Beijing, ChinaCuisine Association, ChinaRadio International, ChinaCouncil for Promotion of In-ternational Trade, Ministry ofCommerce & TDAP for theirpartnership with Lok Virsa inholding the Chinese Food Car-nival in Pakistan.

Case registeredagainst four MNAsISLAMABAD—Islamabad po-lice on Friday booked a caseagainst four members of theNational Assembly after theirguards allegedly tortured po-licemen who raided an allegeddrinks party at house here.

According to Media Re-ports, a police team raided ahouse located in sector F-10of Islamabad following a tipoff that a drinks party is beingheld at the house.

When police team ar-rived, guards of these fourMNAs beat up policemen anddid not allow them to makeany arrest.

Police nominated MNAsSanjay Perwani, Raza HayatHiraj, Najaf Sial and Ch. GulZaman in the case allegedly fortorturing policemen and ob-structing state affairs.—Online

ZUBAIR QURESHI

IS L A M A B A D—IslamabadHigh Court (IHC) has issuedcontempt notice to SecretaryNational Health Service Regu-lation and Coordination(NHSRC) for defying courtorders and misleading the factsregarding Pakistan MedicalDental Council (PMDC).

Justice Athar Minulalh is-sued notice to SecretaryNHSRC Muhammad AyubSheikh in response to a con-tempt petition filed by PDMCPresident Prof Dr MasoodHameed who sought criminalproceedings against the officialfor defying court order.

In October, the court haddirected the official to issuenotification of the members ofthe PMDC, however the courtwas wrongly informed that theLHC had restrained HealthMinistry from issuing any suchnotification. Taking strict no-tice of the misleading informa-tion by the NHRSC top officialthe court directed him to appearin person before the court onDecember 9 and explain whyhe violated the court orders.

It may be mentioned herethat the same bench while hear-ing a petition on October 16had ordered the official to is-sue notification of the PMDCcouncil members within aweek. The official appeared

IHC terms inaction by govt alarming, affecting efficiency

Contempt proceedings againstNHSRC official initiated

before the court on October 23and sought time to issue noti-fication but did not follow theorder. Later, the SecretaryHealth submitted a statementthat Lahore High Court had re-strained the government fromissuing notification. Howeverlater it was found out that theLHC had not passed any suchorder and the statement was anattempt to mislead the court

“The court was not satisfiedwith vague and evasive state-ment made by the responsible,”says the order. The IHC furtherobserved the conduct of the fed-eral government was alarmingand disturbing as an importantauthority was rendered dysfunc-tional for non-issuance of thenotification of its members asrequired under Section 3 ofPMDC Ordinance 1962.

The ordered further statesthat it has been repeatedly em-phasized in various orders passedby this court that the inaction andrefusal on part of the federal gov-ernment to perform its ministe-rial functions under the ordi-nance has caused and continuesto cause irreparable damage tothe profession in general and theyouth aspiring to pursue medi-cal education in particular.

06:15 01:3003:45

07:00

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

December 6-7Flower show

THE Chairman and Mem-bers of the Executive Coun-cil of Islamabad Horticul-tural Society, National Hor-ticultural Society of Paki-stan is holding 32nd Chrysan-themum & Autumn FlowersShow in collaboration withCapital Development Au-thority from 5th to 7th Decem-ber, 2014 at Rose & Jasmingarden, Aabpara.

****Exhibition

ABH interiors. gallery or-ganizing the exhibition onInterior Designing, Archi-tecture, Digital Art, CeilingArt, Architectural Wood-work and fine Arts. Exhibi-tion will start from 25 No-vember to 07 December,2014. H.E. Nawaf KhalifehIbrahim Saraireh Ambassa-dor, Hashemite Kingdom ofJordan will open the exhi-bition on 25th November,2014 at 4pm.

December 8-9National conference

STRATEGIC vision Insti-tute will hold the two-dayNational Conference onFlashpoints of the SouthAsian Security A Review ofPolitical and Security Archi-tecture in the Subcontinenton 8-9 December, SerenaHotel, Islamabad.

December 09Seminar/exhibition

ISSI is holding a seminar on“Fostering religious toler-ance and tackling radical-ism” concurrent with theseminar there will be an ex-hibition of photographs onthe theme of Azerbaijan:The Pearl of Islamic Cultureon December 9, 2014 at0900-1200 hrs. Venue: TheInstitute of Strategic Stud-ies Islamabad, Sector F-5/2.

December 9-11SDPI conference

SDPI is holding a three day17th Sustainable Develop-ment Conference fromTuesday December 9. OnTuesday the conferencewill start at 9:00 a.m. whileon Wednesday and Thurs-day deliberation will beginfrom 9:30 p.m. Venue: BestWestern Hotel, 6-Islamabad Club Road.

December 16Combating violence

THE National Commissionon the status of women isholding a seminar on‘Combating Violence: End-ing Impunity’ on Tuesday16th December, 2014 from09:30 am to 04:30 pm atRamada Hotel, Islamabad.

Staffers of Rescue 1122 demonstrating their skills during an event to mark International Volunteers Day.

Chief Justice Lahore High Court Khawaja Imtiaz Ahmed, President High Court Bar Shafqat Ali Bhatti and Secre-tary General Khuram Kayani are offering dua on the occasion of ladies bar room’s inauguration.

Member Environment CDA Board Mustafain Kazmi and others at 32nd Chrysanthmum & Autumn Flowers Showorganized by CDA at Rose & Jasmine Garden.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

RAWALPINDI—The armed dacoits snatchedRs 1 crore 19 lac from the money changerson gunpoint at Soan Bridge in the jurisdic-tion of police station Airport here on Thurs-day.

After committing the crime the dacoitsmanaged to escape from the scene. On get-ting the information the high ups of thepolice reached on the spot.

According to the investigator TariqGondal said that AJK based moneychangers identified as Raja Sajjad andShabbir came in Mall Plaza where theyexchanged foreign currency with Sky

Money Changer while receiving Rs 1crore 19 lac.

The money changers were going backto Dhudial when the three unknown dacoitscarrying weapons stopped them in a car atSoan Bridge and snatched cash and fledaway.

A heavy contingent of police rushed tothe crime scene and cordoned off the areaand started collecting evidences and re-cording the statements of money changersand other eyewitnesses.

Meanwhile, a case has been registeredwith the police Station Airport.—APP

Armed dacoits snatch over 1 crorerupees from money changers

RAZA UR REHMAN

RAWALPINDI—Emergency Service, Rescue1122 on Friday celebrated International Vol-unteers Day on direction of Director Gen-eral Emergency Service Rescue 1122, Dr.Rizwan Naseer to highlight the role of vol-unteers in communities. The main focus thisyear was awareness and recognition forvolunteers with commitment and hope towork for a better world.

In this regard Emergency Service, Res-cue 1122, Rawalpindi holds an event at Cen-tral Rescue Station, Rawal Road, Rawalpindi.

Ms Neeva Country Head of InternationalVolunteers Organization, VSO was the ChiefGuest on this occasion.

The President Fire & Safety Association,Ghulam Muhammad Naz and Rescue Com-munity Volunteers participated in the event.

Ms. Deeba Shahnaz Akhter, EmergencyOfficer Community Training briefed aboutthe volunteerism, role of volunteer for safercommunities and contribution of rescuevolunteers.

District Emergency Officer, Dr. AbdurRehman briefed about Service andvolunteerism.

Speaking on the occasion Chief Guest,Ms Neeva Country Head of InternationalVolunteers Organization VSO said “An in-spiring team of committed rescuers and Res-cue 1122 volunteers an honor to meet themon volunteer day and see a little of theircommitment , What huge passion they all

have to help other. A pleasure to meet themall.

The volunteers performed their skillswhich they learnt by the Rescue 1122 train-ers and participated in cake cutting cer-emony to commemorate the InternationalVolunteers Day.

The volunteers were presented appre-ciation certificates in recognition of theirservices and new volunteers have alsobeen enrolled during the function.

The Spokesperson conveyed messageof Director General Rescue 1122, Dr. RizwanNaseer to volunteers for their contributionin the community. Director General Mes-sage said that it is the need of the hour towork with more dedication & motivationfor safer community.

Rescue 1122 presented honorary shieldto Neeva Country Head of InternationalVolunteers Organization. Dr Rizwan Naseerfurther said that volunteers are driven by adesire to contribute to the well-being oftheir society, without expectation of mate-rial reward, and their efforts promote civicvalues and social cohesion. He emphasizedthat volunteers are the great human sourceto be utilized in all major emergencies,events and disaster risk reduction strate-gies. He further said that although Rescue1122 has managed to over 2.5 Accidents;Emergencies and Disasters by rescuingover three million victims of emergencies,there was a dire need for prevention ofthese increasing number of emergencies.

Rescue 1122 celebrateinternational volunteers day

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The Pakistan Ex-service-men Association (PESA) has welcomedappointment of Justice Sardar Raza Khanas new Chief Election Commissioner(CEC). He is a man of integrity and is heldin high esteem for giving judgmentsbased on law and his convictions.

In a statement issued here Friday,PESA hoped that CEC will utilize allhis capabilities and strengths to re-store peoples’ confidence in impartial-

ity of the Election Commission. It isexpected that he will carry out ananalysis of the irregularities high-lighted in draft report that was releasedby the Election Commission on itswebsite recently. He is also expectedto co-operate fully with Judicial Com-mission whenever it starts its investi-gations about irregularities alleged tohave been committed during the lastGeneral Elections.

PESA has also expressed satisfac-tion at the successful visit of the Army

Chief to USA. It is hoped that this visitwill ultimately help in bringing peaceand stability in the region soon.

It expressed concern about thewelfare and resettlement of the civil-ian population uprooted due this war.Future of the next generation is atstake. Government of Pakistani musttake immediate steps to re-establishefficient and effective civil administra-tion in tribal areas and help restore andstrengthen their traditional system oflocal leadership.

Ex-servicemen welcomesappointment of Justice Raza as CEC

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pir Mehr Ali Shah AridAgriculture University Rawalpindi(PMAS-AAUR), organized a seminar tocelebrate World Soil Day, here on Friday,to promote and raise awareness on soilsfor sustainable agriculture development,nutrition and food security.

The event was organized by thePMAS-AAUR, Department of Soil Sci-ence and Soil & Water Conservation (SS& SWC). Prof. DR. Rai Niaz Ahmad, ViceChancellor PMAS-AAUR was the chiefguest on the occasion. University Deans,Directors, faculty members and largenumber of students attended the semi-nar.

While addressing the participants,chief guest Prof. Dr. Rai Niaz Ahmad,Vice Chancellor, PMAS-AAUR empha-sized mainly on the management of soil

through latest technologies includingprecision agriculture for maximum out-put/production to meet the world’s de-mand for food. He further suggestedto the Pakistan soil scientists to haveanalyzed the soil of whole country forits nature and properties, which couldbetter reflect for its needs and the re-quired practices/inputs. He also indi-cated that soil is like a living materialhaving several organisms which takepart in its development and greatly con-tribute to crop production. Polluting thesoil with chemicals results in transferof toxic materials in the produce ulti-mately consumed by humans andhealth hazards.

Mr. Patrick T. Evan, the FAO repre-sentative in Pakistan in his address,greatly appreciated the celebration andadmired the efforts of Department of SoilScience, its faculty and students in this

regard. He shared with the participants,the latest developments taking place inthe developed countries for sustainablemanagement of soils to grow healthyfoods.

Other speakers including, MianAlam, Ex. Director Soil Survey Depart-ment, Ch. Muhammad Rafiq, Dr.Muhammad Bashir, and Prof. Dr. SafdarAli, Prof. Dr. Saleem Akhtar, Prof. Dr.Khalid Saifullah of PMAS-AAUR alsospoke on the occasion. While sharingtheir views they highlighted the impor-tance of soil as a critical component ofthe natural system and as a vital con-tributor to the human commonwealththrough its contribution to food andwater. They stressed on increasing thepublic awareness of soil and its contri-bution to humanity and the environ-ment. They highlighted the importanceof soil and the need to use it sustainably.

World Soil Day at PMAS-AAUR

Management of soil through latest technologiesstressed to meet demand for food

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A one day workshop on thesubject of Punjab and Khyber PakhtunkhwaRight to Information Act(s) 2013 was con-ducted here in federal capital Islamabad byDevolution Trust for Community Empower-ment (DTCE), under the Project “Citizens’” En-gagement and Accountability for an EffectiveLocal Government System” This Project isbeing implemented by DTC Ewith the supportof United States Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) through Citizens’ VoiceProject .

The participants of the workshop includedgeneral public former elected local governmentrepresentatives, press representatives, law-yers, civil society and NGO sector. The facilita-tor of the workshop highlighted the main fea-tures of the Punjab and Khyber PakhtunkhawaRight to information Act(s) 2013 and alsobriefed about Information Commission andprocess of Officers nominated as designatedofficials. He also highlighted the application

procedure to seek information from govern-ment departments, and the information that ac-cessible to the general public.

While stating the progress on right to in-formation laws, Mr.Azhar Bashir Malik, ChiefOperating Officer DTCE, apprised that in lastone year there has been a significant progresson ensuring citizens right to information in Pa-kistan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab prov-inces have enacted two very worthy Right toInformation laws in the form of KhyberPakhtunkhwa Right to Information Act 2013and Punjab Transparency and Right to Infor-mation Act 2013.

Mr. Malik stated that these laws ensurethat common citizens have the right to infor-mation that in turn would promote transpar-ency in public service delivery if implementedin true letter and spirit. He further informedthat Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Rightto Information laws are not restricted to theboundaries of the concerned provinces;rather all citizens of Pakistan can benefit andrequest for information.

Citizens engagement, accountability foran effective local government system

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—State minister for CADDBarrister Usman Ibrahim has decidedto audit the accounts of all model col-leges at federal capital on reports ofmassive financial irregularities.

Sources said that audit reports inrespect of 4 model colleges revealed

huge financial malpractices in the ac-counts of these colleges. Certaincases of corruption in the purchase ofequipment for laboratories came tolight.

The audit report in respect offour model colleges includingIslamabad Model college for GirlsF-10/2, Islamabad Model College for

Girls G-10/2, Islamabad Model Col-lege for Girls f-6/2 and IslamabadModel College for Girls F-7/2 dis-closed that 400 chairs were pur-chased for class room of one col-lege but 1200 chairs were shown tohave been purchased. Corrupt prac-tices are continuing in purchase ofchemicals for laboratories.

Audit of all model colleges on reports ofmassive financial irregularities

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Transporters in the twin citiesof Rawalpindi and Islamabad are adamant tonot slash fares despite a sizeable decrease inpetrol and diesel prices announced by the fed-eral government last week.

However, passengers travelling in the twocities are getting increasingly irate over what

they consider to be overcharging.A passenger namely Nasir said the fuel

price drop brought no relief to the people.People are being charged the same fares asthey were before.

Passengers in Islamabad and Rawalpindicomplained public transporters do not followany fare list. “I have never seen them (trans-porters) follow official fares.

Transporters immovable overfares despite fuel price cut

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister AJK Chaudhry Abdul Majeed called on Federal Minister for Kashmir Affairs & Gilgit Baltistan Chaudhry MuhammadBarjees Tahir here on Friday.

FOLLOWING is thetext of an Open Letter

to UJC Chief Mr.Syed Sallahuddin Engi

neer by Hilal AhmadWar. Chairman, People’sPolitical Party (PPP) Se-nior Leader, APHC

“After the First Phaseof Legislative Elections inthe disputed territory ofJammu and Kashmir Na-tion on 25th of November,2014, the Indian medialaunched a campaign toportray the turnout asreferendum, therefore, Iwas left with no optionbut to reiterate the posi-tion of UNO viz-a-vizKashmir electionsthrough a policy state-ment issued on 26th ofNovember, 2014.

This is what the state-ment read: “Polls in Kash-mir are no substitute forUN Plebiscite and Elec-tion a Non-Issue in theeyes of U.N.O.” I had alsostated that portrayingelections in Jammu andKashmir as referendum isdenying the very exist-ence of UNO. The state-ment opened the eyes ofthose who are at the helmof Affairs including thePro- freedom leadership.You as the Chief ofUnited Jihad Council tookthe lead and issued a sen-sible and historic state-ment on “November 27,2014 wherein you haveasked entire pro-freedomcamp though the mediumof Kashmir News Service(KNS) to deliberate onrelevance of polls in J &K viz-a-viz Kashmir Issueand decide whether pollsheld in Jammu and Kash-mir should be termed asan issue or a non-issue!And reach out to Peoplewith a unanimous deci-sion. This statement hasgenerated a debate onboth sides of the ControlLine, as also among theKashmiri Diaspora. Fol-lowing the suit, MirwaizUmar Farooq, Chairman

So-called Kashmir polls nosubstitute to

UN-promised plebisciteAPHC, issued a statementon November 29, 2014 thatthe ongoing elections inJammu and Kashmir are anon-issue, and are purely foradministrative purpose andcan never be projected asreferendum for Kashmir is-sue which has to be re-solved by involving all thethree parties, India, Pakistanand Kashmiris, or by imple-menting United Nation reso-lutions. Senior pro-freedomleader, Shabir Ahmad Shah,on 29th of November, 2014,also termed elections as anon-issue.

Your statement, Mr.Salahuddin, does makesome sense but the questionis why you needed to waitfor twenty five long yearsbefore deliberating upon it.

You’re the chief of ourarmed struggle and we hadevery reason to believe thatyou were aware of thenation’s locus standi on theelections. Ever since the in-ception of politico-armedstruggle in disputed terri-tory of J & K many preciouslives have been consumedduring the farcical electionsin the past in the name ofboycott apart from morethan one Lakh martyrs ofJammu and Kashmir whowere struggling for the at-tainment of ‘Right to self-determination’. It is ironicthat those martyrs were nottold by the leadershipwhether the Elections inJammu and Kashmir are anissue or a Non- Issue. Whatanswer the leadership ofKashmir has for the familiesof those who lost their livesto the bullet for participat-ing in the elections, in casewe come to the conclusionthat it should be a non-is-sue. It means leaders whoare responsible for the mur-der of many such peopleshould be tried in the Inter-national Court of Justice. Iwill ask you a simple ques-tion as a fellow freedomfighter on behalf of 13 mil-lion people of J&K. Whenthe leadership does notknow whether elections in

this disputed territory isan issue or a non issue,what right they have gotto lead this movement.The next deliberationcould be whether Kash-mir itself is an issue or anon-issue.

Frankly speaking Ishould not actuallyblame you. This was theresponsibility of the col-lective leadership ofAPHC because you werebusy on military front. Itwas the responsibilityand obligation of APHCleadership to decide anddeliberate upon many is-sues including the elec-tions but they failed todo that partly because oftheir incompetence , lackof knowledge , visionand partly because oflack of courage and de-cision making power .But there were few ex-ceptions in the leader-ship who knew the locusstandi of elections in J &K viz a viz Kashmir Dis-pute but their voice wasstrangulated by the po-litical rotten eggs. Eversince its formation onAugust 10, 1996, myparty stand viz-a-viz elec-tions is clear and un-equivocal that Electionsin this conflict Zone is anon-issue in the eyes ofU.N.O.

It’s the incompetenceof the pro-freedom lead-ership of Kashmir whichis responsible for a hugeand unprecedented voterturnout in Kashmir. It isworth mentioning thatUnited Nations SecurityCouncil has statedclearly that all electionsheld for administrativepurpose are irrelevant, asfar as final resolution ofKashmir issue is con-cerned. United NationsSecurity Council has de-clared J & K Elections anon- issue by passingtwo resolutions onMarch 30, 1951 and Janu-ary 24, 1957 respectivelywherein India is a signa-

SRINAGAR—Union Minister for Finance ArunJaitley’s remarksthat Jammu Kashmir is an integral part of India and that bound-aries cannot be rewritten have come in for severe criticism fromseparatist leaders and parties.Reacting to Jaitley’s remarks in Srinagar, the Hurriyat Confer-ence (G) chairman Syed Ali Geelani said “stubbornness of theIndian government is the main hurdle in resolution of Kashmirdispute.” He advised Jaitley “to go through pages of history.”

“Jammu and Kashmir has never been a partof India and such misleading statements can never alter thehard reality about Kashmir issue. Indian leaders had promisedto resolve this issue under the supervision of internationalcommunity and according to aspirations of people of J&K.Implementation of UN resolutions is imperative for Kashmirresolution but it is the stubborn approach of India that is creat-ing hurdles for its implementation,” Geelani said in a statement.

He said, “India, Pakistan and member countries of UNO aresignatories to these resolutions and India’s first Prime Minis-ter, Jawaharlal Nehru himself took the Kashmir issue to theUnited Nations and promised when situation will become vi-

‘Kashmir is not part of India’:Jaitley’s remarks denounced

able in Kashmir, they would hold plebiscite and give Kashmirischoice to remain with India or Pakistan.” “The instrument ofaccession with India is disputed and not valid. However, thereality is that in August and September 1947, Indian troopsforcibly entered into Kashmir. It was India which took Kashmirissue to UN and passed resolutions on it.

Implementation of UN resolutions is imperative for Kash-mir resolution and all parties are bound to accept the verdict ofpeople,” Geelani said.

The incarcerated chairman of Jammu and Kash-mir Liberation Front (JKLF), Muhammad Yasin Malik,while reacting sharply to Jaitley’s remarks, said, “Jaitleyis ignorant of history and he needs to revisit historyof nations.”

“Kashmiris have been witnessing elections from1950s and even the United Nations has termed theseelections a local affair which has no bearing on thepolitical status of Jammu Kashmir. Kashmiris havebeen hearing absurd and ridiculous statements of In-dian leaders every now and then. —GK

SRINAGAR—Chief Minister Omar AbdullahThursday said the National Conference leaderHaji Yusuf died in the custody of former IGPCrime Raja Aijaz Ali who is now Peoples Demo-cratic Party (PDP) leader, in September 2011.Addressing an election rally in Uri, he said,“After coming to know about the murky dealsof Haji Yusuf, I handed him over to then IGPCrime (Raja Aijaz). He died in his custody. The

Haji Yusuf dies inIGP’s custody: Omar

PDP at that time gave statements that Raja Aijazis a killer and was involved in Haji’s killing.”“Today I am at loss to understand how PDP hasgiven mandate to the same person whom they termedas killer in 2011. How can he protect people nowand represent them when he is a killer?” Omar asked.While lashing out at State Congress president ProfSaif-ud-Din Soz, the Chief Minister said, “Soz’sdream to become the Chief Minister of J&K willnever be fulfilled.—GK

SRINAGAR—Urging India and Pakistan to re-start the stalled talks, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq,chairman of the Hurriyet conference said therole of the separatists in the negotiations couldbe taken up at a later stage. “It does not matterto us whether or not we are involved in the verybeginning,” the Mirwaiz told The Hindu in anexclusive interview. The Modi government hadcalled off talks with Pakistan, objecting to itshigh commissioner in Delhi meeting with sepa-ratist leaders, including the Mirwaiz. TheMirwaiz’s position could help India and Paki-stan to restart

talks. The Mirwaiz answered questions onthe ongoing elections in Jammu and Kashmir,Modi government’s Kashmir policy and Indo-Pak relations. “If they don’t talk and the prob-lem gets prolonged, we are the ones at loss. Forthe Hurriyat, we want to be seen as contribu-tors, not as spoilers. So it doesn’t matter to uswhether the Pakistanis talk to us later, or in thebeginning. It does not matter to us, as long aswe are in the loop. We want to talk to both New

Delhi and Islamabad, but now we would urgethem to start talking, and offer our full supportto the process,” the separatist leader said. Askedwhether he would be fine even if Pakistan didnot talk to Hurriyat before it talked to India, hereplied. “Exactly. We are happy with it. The

whole idea of Hurriyat meeting the Pakistanisis not to present our point of view, it is also givestrength to the whole process. It gives credibility tothe whole process. May be we are not directly in-volved at this stage, but eventually we would like tobe involved. As part of a tripartite or whatever mecha-nism one would call it, where everyone is talking toeveryone. But if India and Pakistan can make thestart, we support that.” He said closer relations be-tween India and Pakistan were essential for the reso-lution of the Kashmir issue, and Hurriyat’s meetingwith Pakistani interlocutors have never been topresent its views only. “We want to contribute to theprocess in a wholesome way,” he said. The separat-ist leader was, however, critical of the Modigovernment’s Kashmir policy that he is still “wait-ing and watching.—INP

Hurriyet wants to be peacecontributor: Mirwaiz

A.H. RAO.

MIRPUR (AJK)—Expressing strong reserva-tions and concern over the recent issuance of anew ordinance of the Power Development Or-ganization by the AJK government regardingthe grant of contracts for the construction of thepublic-sector Hydel Power Generation Projectsin AJK including Jagran Phase -II Hydel PowerProject, Central Secretary General of PML (N)AJK, Shah Ghulam Qadir Friday alleged thatsuch hastily-taken act of AJK ruling cliqueaimed at the second round of massive corrup-tion, has once again totally vanished the sys-tem of check and balance in the infamous pub-lic sector organization – the PDO. Talking to

New AJK hydroordinance rapped Militants are

mujahideen,boycott right: NCBARAMULLA, IHK—Callingmilitants as “mujahideen”, theNational Conference (NC) can-didate for Baramulla, GhulamHassan Rahi, said pasting elec-tion boycott posters is a demo-cratic right. “If anyone calls forboycott or pastes anti-poll post-ers, it is democracy. They havealso their role to play,” the NCleader, told reporters, after hewas asked about the anti-pollposters pasted in parts of theBaramulla district allegedly bymilitants.When asked thatthese posters were attributedto militants, he said: “I don’tthink. Who knows? I don’twant to blame ‘Mujahideen’.God knows who are behindthese posters (sic),” adding:“you know better than mebecause you are affiliatedwith journalism.” —KD

newsmen on Friday, Qadir, also former Speakerof AJK Legislative Assembly, continued that theincumbent PPP-led AJK government inked thenew PDO ordinance few days before the ses-sion of the AJK Legislative Assembly on theinstructions of the Zardari House with ulteriormotive to digest the public money under the garbof the construction of the mega Hydel powerproject of Jagran Phase-II in Neelam Valley dis-trict of AJK. Shah Ghulam Qadir maintainedthat the Prime Minister Ch. Majeed-led AJKgovernment had already got bad image and be-come infamous internationally because of thealleged massive corruption, malpractices and ir-regularities vis-à-vis the grant of contract of theconstruction work of the Jagran Power Project.

tory. But our leaders areadamant to make J & Kelections an issue. Bydoing so APHC leader-ship is unknowingly try-ing to bypass the alreadypassed resolutions by Se-curity Council. WhenUnited Nations has al-ready settled the issue ofJ & K elections and self-determination right, I failto understand why theypoke their nose in the con-stitutional matters whichare beyond their under-standing. Our imposedleaders are damagingKashmir case by their un-wise decision and lack ofknowledge. The aforesaidResolutions stand asguarantee to the people J& K .The resolutions de-clared that the so-called J& K Constituent Assem-bly had no locus- standito bypass the alreadypassed Plebiscite Resolu-tions of the SecurityCouncil. The 24 vacantseats in J & K LegislativeAssembly for the otherside of the Control Lineamply prove that this as-sembly is constitutionallyincomplete and deficientin character. The purposeof the elections in the dis-puted territory of Jammuand Kashmir (Nation) isto set-up an administra-tive machinery to providebasic amenities like water,electricity, education etcto the civilian population.But regrettably the in-competence of our lead-ers who have developeda habit “to poke theirnose in the matters be-yond their understanding,comprehension and intel-lect” have made electionsan issue, which even Se-curity Council had de-clared a non-issue longbefore.

UN Security Councilby declaring the J & KElections a Non- Issuehas given guarantee tothe member nations ofUNO that that no poweron earth can substituteUN plebiscite by elec-tions in the disputed ter-ritory of Jammu and Kash-mir as long as UNO existsand functions underUnited Nations Charterand two aforesaid resolu-tions stand as securityguards to safeguard thedisputed status of Jammuand Kashmir Nations.This means even if voterturnout is 100% it won’ttouch and affect the dis-puted status of Jammuand Kashmir because thepurpose of formation of

Business, morethan any other

occupation, is acontinual dealing

with the future; it isa continual calcula-tion, an instinctiveexercise in fore-

sight.

—Henry R. Luce

ISLAMABAD: German Ambassador Dr. Cyrill Nunn called on Minister of State for Information Technology, Ms.Anusha Rahman. Secretary IT, Azmat Ali Ranjha also present in meeting.

ISLAMABAD—The Asian DevelopmentBank (ADB) and the Government of Paki-stan Friday signed an agreement to invest$150 million to rehabilitate and upgradethe capacity of the Trimmu and Panjnadbarrages in Punjab province. Dr. WernerE. Liepach, ADB’s Country Director forPakistan and Mohammad Saleem Sethi,Secretary Economic Affairs Division(EAD), Government ofPakistan signed theloan agreement, while Saif Anjum, Secre-tary Irrigation, signed the project agree-ment on behalf of the Government ofPunjab.

‘The rehabilitation and upgrading ofTrimmu and Panjnad barrages will help re-duce flood risks and ensure reliable watersupply to 1.7 million hectares of farmlandbenefitting about 600,000 farming familiesor about 4 million people.’ said Dr. LiepachADB is already assisting Pakistan to im-prove capacity and efficiency of its agedirrigation system under a $700 million multi-tranche finance facility for the Punjab Irri-gated Agriculture Improvement Program.

Rehabilitation and upgrading work onBalloki and Suleimanki barrages, construc-

KABUL—Afghanistan is building up its economyafter over 30 years of conflict. President Ghani hasput the economy high up on his agenda and hasdeclared the country “truly open for business”. Ina step towards this goal, Kabul hosted the “FirstInternational Rebuild Exhibition and Conference”,a platform for government officials, private sector,and Chamber of Commerce members to meet, dobusiness, and set development targets andprogrammes to help rebuild Afghanistan. Presi-dent Ghani has made it clear that improvingAfghanistan’s economy is high up on the agenda.However, in a recent speech he stated that this“economic transition poses stark challenges”.

As international donor countries meet in Lon-don to discuss Afghanistan’s future, PresidentGhani will hope to lay out his vision for the coun-try to encourage continued international support.Ahead of this event, Kabul hosted the “First In-ternational Rebuild Exhibition and Conference”, aplatform for government officials and the privatesector to do business and set development tar-

Afghan economy to expand under ‘open for business’ agendagets to help rebuild Afghanistan, according to thescript of a NATO Channel story by LaurenMuchan.

Mushtaq Baaser, Graphic designer, MusalassMedia Productions said “Now I think Afghani-stan is going towards growth, economically, orbusiness-wise. And before, we never could expectthat these kinds of things would happen. Thesekinds of exhibitions and these kinds of opportuni-ties would be there for some companies which arenew to the industry and which are looking for someopportunities to improve their business and theirservices that they are providing. I think this wouldbe the start and this is the start.”

President Ghani has been quoted as sayingthat he wants to move towards self-sufficiencyand that he wants the country “truly open for busi-ness”. Atiqullah Nasrat, Chief Executive Officer,Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Indus-tries said “With the establishment of the new gov-ernment, there are new opportunities arising, thereare new opportunities coming. As you see more

than 70 per cent of our products, constructionmaterials are being imported from other countries,so there is a huge potential to produce these ma-terials within Afghanistan. And we have somesuccessful investments took place in the, youknow, smelting factories, you know, steel produc-tion and as well as cement production factories.But that’s not sufficient. Afghanistan’s demand ishuge. In order to meet the demands we have to doa lot of investments.”

Mohammad Amrey runs Etafaq, a biscuit,bread and juice company in Kabul. He says thatthanks to local companies such as his, the over-all import of these products has decreased, andhe wants to see this trend continue for lots ofindustries. “Afghanistan produces the best qual-ity furniture. Today our printing industry hasdeveloped a lot. It could be one of the best in theregion. There are many other examples like this –bags, food, beverages -and many more productsthat the Afghan market is producing right now.The Afghan people respect and use products that

are manufactured in the country because theyare happy that local people are producing goods,and they are proud that they are Afghan-made,”Amrey said.

President Ghani’s recent trips to Pakistan andChina provided the opportunity to explore waysof boosting business with neighbouring countries.Nasrat, Chief Executive Officer of AfghanistanChamber of Commerce and Industries said “Therewere two visits of our president to China and Paki-stan, together with around 35-40 private sectormembers accompanied him on each visit. It showsthat he values a lot the private sector, and as wellgives a lot of importance to the economic devel-opment. And these visits provided a good oppor-tunity for our private sector to explore the oppor-tunities in China, in Pakistan and as well as attractthem to invest here.” Afghanistan is rebuildingafter over 30 years of conflict. President Ghani hasstated that he does not want to ask the interna-tional community for charity. He said “we trulyneed to learn to fish, not to be given fish”.—NNI

PTEA demandsfriendly textile policyFAISALABAD—Textileexporters have de-manded the approval ofnew textile policy forredrassal of the export-ers’ problems. Express-ing concern over thedelay in the approval oftextile policy here Friday,Sohail Pasha, chairmanand Rizwan Riaz, vicechairman of PakistanTextile ExportersAssociation (PTEA)demanded that new five-year textile policy shouldinclude financial andindustrial facilities,remove hurdles andensure the provision ofnecessary incentives toenhance the textileexports to USD 26 billionby 2019. They said thattextile policy should beprogressive and realisticas GSP plus tradeincentives had opened abig window of opportu-nity for Pakistan to notonly push up its textileexports to the world butalso produce a tradesurplus to help thegovernment overcomeits trade deficit.—APP

Port Qasimshipping activityKARACHI—Shippingactivity remained activeat the port where fiveships carrying contain-ers, G. cargo, furnace oiland edible oil berthed atQasim InternationalContainers Terminal,Multi Purpose Terminal,FOTCO Terminal andLiquid Cargo Terminalrespectively, port sourcessaid here on Friday.Seven more shipscarrying containers,diesel oil and edible oilalso arrived at the outeranchorage of Port Qasimduring the last 24 hours.According to the sourcesberth occupancy was75% at the port on Fridaywhere eight ships namelyMartha Schulte, NYKFurano, Ikan Salmon, SeaLion, Virginia, EasternSun, MT Lahore andArgent Gerbera arecurrently occupyingberths to load/ offloadcontainers, cement, G.cargo, wheat.—APP

FPCCI election:names of VPcandidates todayLAHORE—The names ofaspiring candidates joiningannual election ofFederation of PakistanChambers of Commerce &Industry (FPCCI) for theseat of Senior VicePresident, Vice Presidents(10), and woman VP (1) willbe announced withconsensus today.Chairman Business Groupand VP SAARC CCI,Iftikhar Ali Malik toldnewsmen here Friday thatname of MuhammadAdrees had already beenannounced for the top slotof President FPCCI withconsensus. The FPCCIelection process for theyear 2015 has startedwith the receipt of twonominations each fromall chambers andaffiliated trade associa-tions from across thecountry for the federa-tion managing committeeand general body. Maliksaid 30 members corecommittee of his groupcomprising senior tradeleaders from all prov-inces would announcetomorrow the names ofcandidates.— APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Business and traders com-munity on Friday rejected call of PTI Chair-man, Imran Khan to shut main cities, say-ing they oppose such a move which willhinder investment and weaken nationaleconomy. Lahore, Karachi and Faisalabadare the main industrial cities of the coun-try and Imran’s call to block these cities isvery disappointing. These three cities arethe main hub of country’s economy, saidActing President of Islamabad Chamberof Commerce and Industries (ICCI),Muhammad Shakeel Muneer.

Talking to media here, he said bothpeople and trade unions have rejected thecall of PTI Chief, adding that “We do notthink to shut our industries even in worsesituation. We all need to focus on improve-

ISLAMABAD—The Securities Exchange Com-mission of Pakistan (SECP) on Friday issuedguidelines for companies to maintain websites.According to a statement issued here, theSECP issued a notification in July 2014, re-quiring all public companies to maintain func-tional websites with effect from August 30,2014. It has, however, been noticed that de-spite a lapse of considerable time, some com-panies are not maintaining websites as perthe requirements of the said notification.

In order to facilitate the companies inunderstanding and implementing thismandatory requirement, the SECP has is-sued guidelines for companies. The SECP,through these guidelines, expects further

KHALID BUTT

LAHORE—Credit Suisse has announcedthat it has been awarded Best Foreign In-vestment Bank in Pakistan from The Asset,a leading industry business publication inAsia Pacific. The prestigious publicationalso named the Government of Pakistan’sUS$388 million sell down in United BankLimited as Best Pakistan Deal. Credit Suisseacted as sole international lead manager onthe transaction in June this year. Ali Naqvi,Head of Equities for Asia Pacific, said: “Weare extremely thrilled by the recognition asPakistan emerges as an important market inthe region. This is a clear reflection of theefforts we have made in building the busi-ness and our ability to fulfil clients’ objec-tives in the last two decades and we remaincommitted to this market.”

Credit Suisse is one of the most activeforeign investment banks in Pakistan since

ADB provides $150mto upgrade Trimmu,

Punjnad barragestion of a new Khanki barrage, as well asrehabilitation of key canals is also ongo-ing under the overall multi-tranche invest-ment facility. The two new loans providedtoday will rehabilitate the 80-90 years oldTrimmu and Panjnad barrages, therebyimproving farm incomes through in-creased productivity of irrigated agricul-ture while reducing losses to crops, live-stock and other properties of farmers as aresult of flooding.

‘The project will also help train PunjabIrrigation Department staff and commu-nity members in flood risk and integratedwater resources management measuresand approaches’ Dr. Liepach added. TheTrimmu and Panjnad Barrages Improve-ment project is expected to be completedby 2020. ADB, based in Manila, is dedi-cated to reducing poverty in Asia and thePacific region through inclusive economicgrowth, environmentally sustainablegrowth, and regional integration. Estab-lished in 1966, it is currently owned by 67members-48 from the region. In 2013, ADBassistance totalled $21.0 billion, includingco-financing of $6.6 billion.—Online

Business community opposesPTI call to shut cities

ment of national economy for bettermentof common man.” “Pakistani nation shouldhave to think that Chief of PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan hasbeen working on agenda to destroy theeconomy,” he said. Shakeel further saidthat business community has rejected thecall of Imran Khan, adding some of his ownparty’s leaders are against his decision.

All Pakistan Traders Association(APTA), President Ajmal Baloch said thattrader community has been targeted byImran Khan. Economy of the country hasbeen coming on right track after better eco-nomic policies of present government.Such calls would create hurdles on the wayto progress; he said and added the nationshould have to think that Imran Khan hasbeen working on agenda to disturb theeconomy.

Credit Suisse named ‘Best ForeignInvestment Bank’ in Pakistan

the 1990s and it comprises of an offshoresales and trading platform and research ca-pabilities, covering a number of Pakistanicorporates. It is the only major internationalbank that has an in-house research servicein Pakistan.

In the period under review, Credit Suisseexecuted a number of landmark capital mar-kets transactions as well as arrangedfinancings for the Government of Pakistan.All these deals have had a material impactto the development of the Pakistani capitalmarkets and international investors’ appe-tite for Pakistan risk.

The United Bank US$388 million sec-ondary placement was the first ever accel-erated, overnight block trade out of Paki-stan to international investors and markedthe re-opening of both the market for Paki-stan equity issuance, as well as theprivatisation program of the Governmentof Pakistan after a seven year hiatus.

Punjab sugarmills stoppurchasingsugarcaneSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The sugermills in Punjab havestopped to purchase sug-arcane from growers in theprovince due to reductionin support price of the cropby Sind government.Sectery General KissanBachao Tehreek, RaiAhmed Noor said that thesugar mills have stoppedissuing of permits for pur-chasing of the crop today.He said that the farmerswould suffer huge financialloss if punjab governmentalso reduced the price ofsugarcane as inputs forgrowing the crop has in-creased manifold.

He said the sowing ofwheat would also affectedue to non-purchasing ofsugarcane by the sugarmills, adding that target setfor wheat by the govern-ment would also not beachieved.

A farmer, Sher AliDhudhi said that Sindhgovernment would also re-view its decision to save thesugarcane growers from fi-nancial loss. Federal Min-ister for National Food Se-curity and ResearchSikandar Hayat Bosan Fri-day termed the price reduc-tion decision of sugarcaneby the Sindh governmentas unjustified.

The minister said thatPunjab government hadfixed Rs.180 rupees per 40kg while Sindh Govern-ment had fixed it at Rs 182per 40 kg but through an-other notif icat ion, theSindh Government madeconsiderable reduction inthe prices which he saidwas deplorable.

“The new notificationof Sindh government’sDecision of Interim mini-mum price of Sugarcane,now fixed at Rs.155 per 40kilogram for crushing sea-son 2014-15 is unfair, un-just,” Bosan said accord-ing to a press release is-sued by the Ministry here.Bosan demanded theSindh government to im-mediately restore theolder notification, havingRs 182 price for per 40 kgof sugarcane. The Minis-ter also deplored the de-lay in crushing of sugar-cane which could not bestarted.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Ambassador of Germany inPakistan Dr. Cyrill Nunn called on the Minis-ter of State for Information Technology Ms.Anusha Rahman in her office here on Fri-day. Matters of mutual interest, promotionof bi-lateral relations and cooperation in ITand Telecom sector was discussed in themeeting. Talking to the German Ambassa-dor, the Minister said that Pakistan attachesgreat importance to its friendly relations withGermany and we can explore many new av-enues for cooperation in our rapidly thriv-ing ICT sector for mutual benefit of both thecountries. The first “Technology Park” inIslamabad with collaboration of Korean eximbank is being established and its feasibilitystudy would be started in January 2015. Itwill be an integrated Centre of Technologyto provide conducive environment to ITcompanies under one roof.

Anusha, German envoy mullover coop in IT, telecom sector

Minister also informed the German Am-bassador regarding establishment of 500telecentres throughout Pakistan to facilitatethe people of unserved/underserved areas.These telecentres will provide basic e-ser-vices, NADRA, telecom services i.e. e-health,e-learning and e-agriculture etc. This uni-versal concept of telecentres would help usto bridge digital divide and MOIT has signedMoU with NADRA in this regard. Thisproject has entered in an implementationphase and the first lot of 70 telecentres willbe activated in first quarter of 2015.

The Ambassador appreciated the initia-tives undertaken by the Government of Pa-kistan, especially Ministry of IT. While ac-knowledging the great potential of HumanResource in Pakistan, he offered the Minis-ter that Germany can give specializedtrainings to IT students and entrepreneursof Pakistan and allocate scholarships tostudents in Technology sector.

SECP issues guidelines forcompanies to maintain websites

clarity and uniformity in compliance withrequirements on maintaining websites.Moreover, certain queries of companies’vis-…-vis maintaining websites, for in-stance, requirements for operationallyloss making companies, form and mannerof compliance certificate, have been ad-dressed in these guidelines. The prefer-able format of compliance certificate isalso added as annexure to the said guide-lines.

The power to consider applications forrelaxation and penalizing non- compliantcompanies has been delegated to Commis-sioner (Company Law Division). Theseguidelines have been placed on the SECP’swebsite..—APP

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—The Federal Minister for Fi-nance Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar ad-dressed the participants of the 16th Na-tional Security Workshop on the topic“Economic Policy of Pakistan” at the Na-tional Defense University on Friday. Ad-dressing the participants the Finance Min-ister said that fiscal consolidation; PowerSector Reforms, Gas Sector Reforms,Privatization Programme, Debt Manage-ment Strategy and Monetary Managementare our top priorities. Discussing themacro-economic stability plan for the nextthree years the Minister said, we haveclearly set our targets.

We shall take the GDP growth rate to7%, industrial growth to 8%, fixed invest-ment to GDP ratio to 22%, fiscal deficit(as% age of GDP) 4%, public debt(% of GDP)under 57% ,and inflation under 8%. Wewill also bring tax to GDP ratio to 15%,exports to$32 billion, foreign direct in-

Dar gives three yearsmacro-economic roadmap

vestment to $5.5billion and we have acommitment to take the foreign exchangereserves to $ 20 billion by the year 2017-18, the Minister added. Deliberating onhow these targets would be achieved,the Minister said the above can beachieved through democratic gover-nance which requires supremacy of theConstitution and rule of law in order toreduce corruption, avoiding tax evasion,wasteful expenditure and misuse ofpower.

We wish to follow sound macroeco-nomic policies to reduce fiscal and currentaccount deficits, curb inflationary pres-sures and increase foreign exchange re-serves. The Minister emphasized full ex-ploitation of the technological potential inindustry, agriculture and information tech-nology and optimum utilization of thecountry’s physical and economic re-sources for a better economic future of thecountry. Ishaq Dar made special mentionof National Power Policy 2013-18.

PBIT to createawareness on

GSP PlusSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The 9th CabinetCommittee meeting on GSPPlus was held under thechairmanship of Ministerfor Industries, ChaudhryMuhammad Shafique atCivil Secretariat. Ministerfor Labour & Human Re-source, Raja AshfaqSarwar, provincial secretar-ies and officials of PunjabBoard of Investment andTrade (PBIT) also attendedthe meeting. Chief Execu-tive Officer, Punjab Boardof Investment and Trade,Muhammad Ilyas Ghauricommenced the meeting bypresenting the agenda andapprised the participantsabout the steps taken byPBIT in coherence withobjectives decided in the8th Cabinet Committeemeeting.

Key discussions dur-ing the meeting were re-garding the improvementsrequired in coordinationbetween provincial andfederal departments withrespect to the consolida-tion and forward submis-sion of reports. It was alsosuggested that in order toreview and prepare pro-posals for implementationof Cabinet Committee de-cisions, a sub-committee,comprising of experts,should be formed. It wasalso decided in the meet-ing that PBIT would cre-ate awareness about GSPPlus among stakeholdersand also showcase the ini-tiatives taken by thePunjab Governmentthrough PBIT website.

Mobicash,NTL signagreementSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Mobicash hassigned an agreement withNayaTel Pvt. Ltd. (NTL)whereby it will provide thefacility of payment collectionfor Nayatel customersthrough Mobicash. NayaTelcustomers will have the op-tion of making paymentsthrough Mobicash Over-the-Counter (OTC) servicesor Mobicash Mobile Wal-let. Aniqa Afzal Sandhu,Director Mobile FinancialServices Mobilink said;“Mobicash is continu-ously expanding its foot-print in terms of outreachas well as services that weoffer to bring conveniencewith trust to our custom-ers’ lives. Partnering withNayaTel for bill paymentsolutions is another steptowards enhancing cus-tomer experience in urbanparts of the country justas we continue to bridgethe financial gap in theunder and unbanked ar-eas of Pakistan.”

Payments throughMobicash Mobile Walletcan be made by the userfrom their mobile phonebut just providing theircustomer ID. Mobile wal-lets can be opened by anyMobilink user, from out-lets present across thecountry. For making pay-ment from the any of the45,000+ mobicash outletslocated across the coun-try, customer will just haveto provide the customerID to the retailer for pro-cessing of the bill.

Currency Selling Buying

USA 101.30 101.10

UK 158.57 158.26

Euro 125.43 125.18

Canada 88.91 88.73

Switzerland 104.30 104.09

Australia 84.91 84.74

Sweden 13.52 13.49

Japan 0.8447 0.8430

Norway 14.36 14.33

Singapore 77.08 76.93

Denmark 16.86 16.82

Saudi Arabia 26.99 26.94

Hong Kong 13.07 13.04

Kuwait 347.38 346.70

Malaysia 29.20 29.14

Newzealand 78.77 78.61

Qatar 27.82 27.76

UAE 27.58 27.52

Kr Won 0.0910 0.0909

Thailand 3.079 3.073

Daily opening& closing ratesPMEX Index 2,703Total Volume (Lots): 9,129Traded Value (Rs): 2,075,560,841

Commodity -------------------- Price Quotation --------------- Open ------------ CloseCRUDE OIL ------------------- $ Per Barrel ---------------------- 67.38 ------------ 66.76SILVER ------------------------- $ Per Ounce --------------------- 16.362 ----------- 16.452GOLD --------------------------- $ Per Ounce --------------------- 1,210.3 ---------- 1,206.9GOLD --------------------------- Rs Per 10 gms ------------------- 39,918 ----------- 39,766MTOLAGOLD --------------- Rs Per Tola ---------------------- 47,846 ----------- 47,519GOLD --------------------------- Rs Per Tola ---------------------- 47,846 ----------- 47,519RICEIRRI6 --------------------- Rs Per 100 kg ------------------- 3,281 ------------ 3,280PALMOLEIN ----------------- Rs Per Maund ------------------ 3,622 ------------ 3,621SUGAR ------------------------- Rs Per kg ------------------------- 46.15 ------------ 46.27ICOTTON --------------------- US Cents per pound ---------- 60.70 ------------ 61.56WHEAT ------------------------ Rs Per 100 kg ------------------- 3,438 ------------ 3,437

The total value traded was PKR 2.08 billion and number of lots traded was 9,129.PMEX Commodity Index closed at 2,703. Major business was contributed by crudeoil amounting to PKR 1.52 billion followed by gold (PKR 509 million) and silver(PKR 50 million).

ISLAMABAD—The Pakistan EconomyWatch (PEW) on Friday said prices ofall petroleum products can be reducedwhile keeping government’s marginintact. The price of petrol can be re-duced by Rs 16 which will give benefitto masses andm industry to reduceinflation drastically, said Dr. MurtazaMughal, President PEW. He said thatif country buy a barrel for dollar 67and add $ 2 freight premium, 9 per centhandling, bank, LC charges, marineInsurance, 3.8 percent wharfagecharges, 3.5 percent oil companiesmargin and 10 per cent refining cost,the prices will be Rs 56.53 per litre.

Petrol price can be reducedby Rs 16 per litre: PEW

Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that add-ing 17 percent GST and 3.15 per centExcise duty jacks up the cost to 67.93while petrol is being sold at over Rs 84per little in Pakistan. He said that gov-ernment is also collecting levy imposedthrough a SRO surpassing the Parlia-ment which must be abolished to ben-efit the economy and masses. Addinglevy to price of petrol which is cur-rently Rs 10 per litre make per litre priceto Rs 77.93 which means that massesare still paying additional seven ru-pees for every litre they buy.

Dr. Murtaza Mughal said that 40percent reduction in international oil

prices will transfer 1.3 trillion dollarsfrom oil exporters to oil importingcountries hitting inflation hard. In-flation is coming down across theworld allowing central bankers tosoften monetary policies. On theother hand many oil producers arefacing trouble. Some are on the brinkof default while others are devaluingcurrency and tightening monetarypolicies. Saudi Arabia having 736 bil-lion dollars in reserves and some otherrich nations seems comfortable asthey can wait for US fracking indus-try to collapse so that they can dic-tate prices again, he said.—INP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Belgian Ambassador Peter Claes describingPakistan as a good market that offers immense opportuni-ties to foreign investors has assured that the Belgian Em-bassy has been encouraging Belgian investors and busi-nessmen to visit Pakistan with a view to explore more busi-ness opportunities. Speaking at the opening of BelgianCompanies Catalogues Exhibition organized by KarachiChamber of Commerce and industry in collaboration withEconomic & Commercial Representation Embassy of Bel-gium, the Belgian diplomat said that Pakistan’s exports toBelgium have improved slightly in the recent past and itwas being expected that trade between the two countrieswas likely to improve further in future.

Peter Claes pointed out that importance of Belgium inthe wake of its central position and location in the EuropeanUnion calls for more integrated efforts focusing on exchangeof trade delegations, institutional contacts between theChambers of Commerce and participations in trade fairs.Commenting on visa policy, he said that Belgium was partof European Union so it has to follow certain rules andregulations for issuance of visas however; businessmenand industrialists from Pakistan are fully assisted and facili-tated so that they could get their visas. He assured his fullcooperation to the Karachi Chamber for strengthening theexisting business relations between the two countries.

It may be noted that KCCI organized a Belgian Companies’Catalogues Exhibition in collaboration with the Economic &Commercial Representation Embassy of Belgium in its effortsto promote bilateral trade between business communities ofPakistan and Belgium. Belgian Ambassador in Pakistan, PeterClaes, Trade Commissioner of Belgium, Abid Husain, Vice Chair-man Businessmen Group and Former President KCCI, AnjumNisar, President KCCI, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra, Senior Vice Presi-

KARACHI: Senior Vice Chairman PASPIDA, Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Shamsi presentingbouquet to Shiekh Imtiaz Ahmed, acting President FPCCI along with a delegation ontheir visit to Federation House.

Mobilink invitesSnapchat’s CEOEvan Spiegel

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D —Mobi l inkrecently hosted the f irstever visit of Evan Spiegel,CEO of Snapchat to thesub-continent. Evan, whorecently was declared asthe most influential newmedia f igures under theage of 30 of the year 2014was invited by Mobilinkas a means to share knowl-edge about internationaltrends in data and app de-velopment with studentsand professionals in Paki-s t an .

Evan Spiegel is anAmerican Internet entre-preneur who co-foundedthe mobile applicat ionSnapchat along withReggie Brown and RobertMurphy and is CEO of thecompany. According to arecent valuation his com-pany is worth around 10Billion dollars with morethan 100 mill ion peopleusing his app.

During his two-dayvisit Evan met withMobilink’s data and mar-keting teams. Mobilinkalso arranged Evan’s visitto National University ofScience and Technology(NUST) for an interactivesession with students, en-trepreneurs and youngprofessionals.

Evan shared his expe-riences from internationalmarkets with focus on theirimplementation in Paki-s tan.

“We were delighted tohost Evan Spiegel on hisvisit to Pakistan. We areaiming at encouraging aculture of entrepreneur-ship among youth whohave a lot of potential tobecome the future digitalentrepreneurs.

Our talented youth notonly has innovative ideasbut they also understandthe influence of digi taltechnology in driving eco-nomic and social change.

Evan’s session withcollege students wasaimed at providing the in-quisitive minds a chanceto interact with a younginnovative global entre-preneur and learn from hissuccess mantra”, said Jef-frey Hedberg, President &CEO Mobilink.

Evan Spiegel, CEO Snapchat, Augie Fabella (Cofounder VimpelCom), Faculty of NUST,developers and Jeffrey Hedberg, CEO Mobilink along with Mobilink Team.

PESHAWAR: President Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce & Industry, FawadIshaq presenting shield to KP Finance Minister, Muzzafar Syed at Chamber House.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Chairperson TEVTA Irfan QaiserSheikh has said that TEVTA Punjab has de-veloped world’s sixth and Pakistan’s firstonline Skilled Labor Market Information Sys-tem (SLMIS) which will be functional fromJanuary 2015. At present, UK, Korea, Ma-laysia, Philippine and Sri Lanka are usinglabor market information systems. All thesesystems have been studied in developmentof SLMIS by Punjab TEVTA. He was ad-dressing the TEVTA officers here yesterdayin a meeting at TEVTA Secretariat. ChiefOperating Officer Jawad Ahmed Qureshi andothers were also present on the occasion.

Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that the SLMISdeveloped by TEVTA Punjab will providekey information on Punjab’s labor marketincluding market trends, skill training oppor-tunities in different trades & technologies,data of passing out students and job seek-ers as well as vacancies for technical per-sons in the industry. The facility of free reg-istration is available for all the students oftechnical & vocational institutes, job seek-ers and employers on this web portal so thatunemployed skilled youth may find suitablejob opportunities. This web portal will alsoprovide information on employment & un-employment rates in different sectors of in-

Pakistan’s first SLMISready for launch

dustry besides other useful economic data.Chairperson TEVTA further added that

Sialkot Chamber of Commerce & Industry(SCC&I) and Punjab Information Technol-ogy Board (PITB) have actively collabo-rated with TEVTA in the designing of sys-tem & its validation process. This systemhas been developed by Research & Devel-opment Section of TEVTA under dynamicsupervision of the Chief Operating Officer(TEVTA), Mr. Jawad Ahmed Qureshi. TheSLMIS developed by Punjab TEVTA hasalso been appreciated at the national levelby NAVTTC who are working to introducesimilar labor market information systems inother provinces. The SLMIS will be oper-ated and maintained at TEVTA SecretariatLahore by a team of qualified placementofficers and labor market specialists. Thelabor market information of whole Punjabwill be consolidated at TEVTA secretariatin coordination with its district level offices.

The selection & training of staff for run-ning the SLMIS has already been completedduring last month and operational instruc-tions have been issued to field offices. Suchinitiatives by Punjab TEVTA will help re-duce unemployment in the fight againstpoverty and enable the skilled youth ofPunjab to contribute towards socio-eco-nomic development of the country.

MULTAN—Agriculture ex-perts advised farmers to re-duce wastage of agricultureimplements by tacklingweeds problem to meetwheat production target of19.5 million ton for the year2014-15 and increase peracre production to 31.66Maunds. Assistant directoragriculture information,Naveed Asmat Kahlon toldmedia persons that Pakistanproduced 19.4 million wheatlast year when average peracre yield was witnessed at31.14 Maunds.

However, this year theproduction target was in-creased up to 19.5 million tonand average per acre wheatup to 31.66 Maunds. Farm-ers can significantly reducewastage of agricultureimplements by simply tack-ling the weeds, which re-duce the crop production by42 percent and thus main-tains its position on top ofthe list of factors that reducewheat production, Kahlonsaid. According to an as-sessment, weeds consume

Wheat production targetof 19.5m ton achievable

31 to 56 ml water per day andtheir removal from the fieldcan save this water forwheat crop.

Weeds also consumefertilizers, and according toan assessment, they utilize52 kilogram of Nitrogen, 12kg of Phosphorous, and 52kg of potassium from a hect-are of wheat field. Some-times, weeds start damagingthe crop and consumeimplements even before theplants germination. And,when plants bud out of thesoil, the weeds block theaccess of sunlight to themand thus hurt growth byblocking food formationprocess in plants scientifi-cally called photosynthesis.Kahlon said that farmersmust tackle the weeds prob-lem at the earliest to avoidwastage of agricultureimplements including waterand fertilizers, and plugchances of pest infestation.A simple initiative of weedsremoval would not only re-duce their cost but also in-crease production.—APP

dent KCCI, Mohammad Ibrahim Kasumbi and Vice PresidentKCCI, Agha Shahab Ahmed Khan and KCCI Managing Com-mittee members attended the Exhibition. Speaking on the occa-sion, Trade Commissioner of Belgium, Abid Hussain said thatBelgian Catalogue Exhibition at KCCI does not mark just onesingular event but was part of series of manifestations thatcharacterize the ever expanding economic relations betweenPakistan and Belgium. Commenting of trade ties between thetwo countries, he said that Belgium was Pakistan’s fifth largesttrading partner which itself was a very commendable achieve-ment. “”Belgium is a viable and trustworthy partner with solidcredentials in the industrial and business world. The impor-tance we attach to our relations with Pakistan is quite evidentin our approach”, he added.

He also invited Pakistan businessmen and industrialists toexplore the possibility of investing in Belgium. The areas ofinterest would be to set up distribution centers or warehousesso that Pakistani businessmen are able to access the Europeanmarket more effectively considering that Belgium is at the heartof European Union and an excellent gateway to markets likeGermany, France, Holland and beyond. On the occasion, Presi-dent KCCI, Iftikhar Ahmed Vohra said that KCCI was keensupporter of strengthening economic relations with EU coun-tries especially Belgium. He noted that during Fiscal Year 2014,Pakistan exported goods of $470.57 Million to Belgium whileimports from Belgium amounted to $427.76 million. The tradebalance remained slightly in favor of Pakistan; however, thereis still a room available for further trade enhancement betweenthe two countries. Pakistan can also benefit from Belgian ex-pertise in engineering, automobile sector, chemicals industry,electrical and electronic sector etc. he added. Iftikhar Vohra,while underscoring the need to change the negative percep-tion about Pakistan, urged the Belgian Ambassador to invitemore Belgian Companies to invest in Pakistan, especially in theenergy and textiles sectors.

Immense opportunities exist forinvestors in Pakistan: Peter Claes

Oil down afterSaudi Arabia

slashes crude priceSINGAPORE—Oil fell in Asiaon Friday after major pro-ducer Saudi Arabia slashedthe price of the crude that itsells to Asia and the UnitedStates, analysts said. USbenchmark West Texas Inter-mediate (WTI) for Januarydelivery tumbled 31 cents to$66.50 a barrel in late-morn-ing trade and Brent crude forJanuary dropped 38 cents to$69.26. “Saudi Arabia hasjust cut the price of the oil itsells to Asia and the US andthis is going to have a bigeffect on the market todayand early next week,” saidDaniel Ang, an investmentanalyst at Phillip Futures inSingapore.

Saudi Aramco, thekingdom’s state-owned oilcompany, said on Thursday ithad slashed its official sellingprice for Arab light grade oilbound for Asia in January by$1.90 a barrel from December’slevel. It also reduced the priceof Arab light grade oil boundfor the United States by 70cents. “They’re definitelyfighting for market share,” Angtold AFP.—AFP

RAWALPINDI: President Rawlpindi Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Syed AsadMashadi presenting shield to Cantonment Executive Officer, Fahim Zafar Khan on hisvisit to RCCI.

ISLAMABAD: Hungarian Ambassador Istvan Szabo with teams who reached in final of 5th MOL Cricket National Championship for the Physi-cally Handicapped.

FAISALABAD: A view of match during International Handball Tournament between Pakistan and Bangladesh at theUniversity of Agriculture.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan coach WaqarYounis has said that wicketkeeper-batsmanSarfraz Ahmed has “started to come out ofhis shell” and and is trying to play his owngame.

Sarfraz scored 76 runs off 64 balls, withten boundaries, and helped Pakistan to aseven-wicket win in a chase of 136 in thefirst T20 against New Zealand in Dubai onThursday.

“I think it’s been a good seven-eightmonths that he has started coming out ofthe shell and is trying to play his owngame,” Waqar, who is in Dubai was quotedas saying on websitewww.espncricinfo.com.

“He’s a stroke-maker and he likes toplay his shots and when he’s free, whenhe’s got less pressure on him, I feel that heplays a lot better than anybody else.”

“Freedom has been given to him to playthe way he plays. He has been cominggood for Pakistan, he has been in a verygood nick, so it’s good to take advantageof that form he is in,” Waqar added.

Pakistan took advantage of that formby making Sarfraz open, but that only cameabout because Ahmed Shehzad is not yetfully fit. Shehzad was struck on the skullduring the first Test against New Zealandlast month.

“Ahmed has been playing well, unfor-tunately he got hit and he had to returnhome, and in the past few days since hisarrival here, he has not been well,” Waqarsaid. “So he hadn’t played much cricket,that is why we decided to go in for a make-shift opener.

Sarfaraz has started to comeout of his shell: Waqar

SYDNEY—English Premier League champi-ons Manchester City will join Europeanchampions Real Madrid at next year’s In-ternational Champions Cup in Melbourne,organisers said on Friday.

Manchester City is the second teamannounced for the three-team tournamentto take place at the 100,000-capacityMelbourne Cricket Ground from July 18-24.

The third team for the series has yet tobe confirmed, but reports have linked Ital-ian Serie A side Inter Milan.

Owner Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al-Nahyan has invested over #1 billion ($1.5billion) since acquiring Manchester City in2008. Since Mansour’s arrival, City havewon two Premier League titles, in 2012 and2014, as well as the 2011 FA Cup and thisyear’s League Cup.

Manchester City also have a stake inAustralia’s A-League after the club’s Abu

Manchester City join RealMadrid in Australia tournament

Dhabi-based owners purchased and re-branded Melbourne Heart as MelbourneCity early this year.

“We are looking forward, once again,to being a part of the tournament,” FerranSoriano, chief executive of Manchester City,said in a statement.

“We are particularly excited to be visit-ing Melbourne, which is home to our sisterclub, Melbourne City.”

With the securing of Real Madrid andManchester City’s huge box-office appeal,organisers are hoping to build on the localappetite for top European clubs after acrowd of 95,000 watched English PremierLeague Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Australia’sMelbourne Victory at the MCG last year.

Ten-time European champions RealMadrid were named FIFA’s Club of the 20thCentury and are worth an estimated 500 mil-lion euros ($618 million).—AFP

“Ahmed is one of our finest openers, itis not that he will be ignored, probably inthe one-dayers, by when he is hopefullycompletely fit, he will be back in his spot.”

Waqar said it would serve Pakistancricket well if Sarfraz could keep contribut-ing with the bat, a role Kamran Akmal prom-ised to play before “fading away”. “It’ssomething we always had an issue with,since Kamran Akmal sort of faded away.So I think it’s good, someone who can keepwicket well and bat well too.”

The experienced fast-bowling pair ofWahab Riaz and Umar Gul was broughtinto the squad for the T20s after beingsidelined due to injuries - Gul last playedan international game in April, and Wahabin October - but neither got to play thefirst T20. Waqar said given Pakistan’smany options at the moment, they willhave to wait their turn. “They are defi-nitely fit, they are here to play but as Isaid we are spoiled in choice when itcomes to fast bowling or medium-pacers.So it is hard to get into the team rightnow, but it’s good to have a strongbench.”

Like Waqar, New Zealand wicketkeeperLuke Ronchi - who ensured New Zealandhad something to bowl at with a cameo of33 - had good things to say about Sarfraz.“The turning point was probably Sarfraz’sinnings, he batted really well through theentirety to end up 70 whatever not out,”Ronchi said. “That’s the difference I think- we didn’t have anyone get to 50, while hesort of anchored their innings and battedthe way through.”—APP

BHUBANESWAR—Field hockey’s eliteare set for an exciting tussle in Indiafrom Saturday as dominant Australiaseek an incredible sixth successiveChampions Trophy title.

The eastern city ofBhubaneshwar hosts the prestigiouseight-nation invitation tournamentregarded as the third biggest prize inthe sport after the Olympics and theWorld Cup.

With the World Cup held at theHague in the Netherlands in June, thenine-day competition gives respec-tive coaches an opportunity to lookahead and rebuild for the 2016 Olym-pics in Rio de Janeiro.

Australia showcased their undis-puted prowess when they retainedboth the World Cup title and the Com-monwealth Games gold medal inGlasgow earlier this year.

But a field that includes five othernations that have won an Olympicgold — Germany, the Netherlands,England, India and Pakistan — be-sides the fast-improving Belgium andArgentina, opens up the competitionat the Champions Trophy.

The Kookaburras wear a new lookin the absence of veterans Liam deYoung and Rob Hammond, who re-tired after the World Cup, and five-time world player of the year JamieDwyer and Mark Knowles, who areboth injured.

Graham Reid, who replaced thelegendary Ric Charlesworth as headcoach earlier this year, insisted hewas focused on rebuilding a youngteam for the future.

“As I said earlier, we are usingthe Champions Trophy as anotheropportunity to expose our youngerplayers to the rigours of internationalcompetition,” said Reid.

Reigning Olympic championsGermany will bank on one of the mostgifted squads in the competition tobounce back after a disappointing

New-look Aussies set fortough test in India

sixth-place finish at the World Cup.Moritz Furste, world player of the

year in 2012, returns after missing theWorld Cup due to leg injury. Also inthe line-up are Tobias Hauke, whowon the award in 2013, and talented20-year-old Christopher Ruhr.

The Netherlands, ranked secondin the world, are hungry for a majortitle after finishing runners-up to Ger-many at the London Olympics andagain to Australia at the World Cup.

Coach Max Caldas, the former Ar-

gentine international who guided theNetherlands women’s team to goldmedals at the Olympics and the WorldCup, will look to work his magic withthe men’s squad.

England are relying on experi-enced players like Ashley Jackson

and captain Barry Middleton to de-liver a maiden Champions Trophy titleafter finishing fourth at the WorldCup.

Hosts India will miss their Aus-tralian coach Terry Walsh, who wascontroversially sacked despite lead-ing the team to an Olympic-qualify-ing gold medal at the Asian Games inSeptember.

Arch-rivals Pakistan have alsoendured a traumatic year where theyfailed to qualify for the World Cup

and also could not gain a direct entryto the 2016 Olympics.

The teams have been divided intotwo groups for the preliminary leaguewhich will determine the line-up forthe knock-out stage to be contestedby all sides.—AFP

Australian team celebrates with the Champions Trophy after winning thetitle for the fifth time in a row in Melbourne, 2012.— File Photo

PESHAWAR—Soon after arriving Test crick-eter, Imran Khan Friday warmly receivedby hundreds and thousands of the fans,his relatives, elders of the area at his nativevillage Maidan, Dir Lower.

Besides hundreds and thousands ofImran Khan fans, member provincial assem-bly Seed Gul, District Sports Officer Mus-lim Khan, office-bearers from various sportsassociations, officials of District CricketAssociation including Senior Vice PresidentRozamin Khan, President of the ChakdaraPress Club Muhammad Jalil Shah FaisalAfghani, Vice President Ahmad Shah, mem-bers were also present.

Talking to media persons Imran Khanthanked his fans and people from differ-

Test cricketer Imran warmlyreceived at his native village

ent walk of life who warmly received himsoon after his arrival at his native villageMaidan. Imran said he feel honour that heis hailing from a remote village Maidan,District Dir Lower and represented Paki-stan at highest form of cricket againstAustralia.

He also thanked the people for theirprayers. Being a first cricketer fromMalakand Division, he assured that hewould continue his hard working to achievegood name for the country.

He said there no dearth of talent in Dis-trict Dir Lower and Dir Upper and if pro-vided them good facilities more playerswould come up at national and internationallevels.—APP

National hockeyfrom 27th

SIALKOT—The NationalHockey Championship willbe held at the Nawaz SharifHockey Stadium here fromDec 27 to Jan 9 under theauspices of the PakistanHockey Federation (PHF),it was announced on Fri-day.

Chaudhry ArshadJaved, chief organiser of thechampionship, disclosedthis while talking to report-ers here.

PHF Punjab secretaryAjmal Khan Lodhi andformer PHF secretaryMohammad Asif Bajwa werealso present on this occa-sion.—APP

KA R A C H I—Former skipperMuhammad Yousuf and ex- openerSadiq Muhammad havecomplimented the technique, tacticsand courage and rated him as themost dangerous batsman for oppo-nent teams.

“Sarfraz is the most difficult anddangerous batsman in Pakistan reanand has shown a consistency in allbrands of cricket,” MuhammadYousuf said while commenting on aprivate television channel on Friday.

“He (Sarfraz) had proved hisclass and temperament and his bat-ting has sorted out Pakistan’s bat-ting problems somewhat,” he said.

Ace batsman of recent era,Muhammad Yousuf said it was en-gorging that he got an attackingstyle in all brands of cricket and thatwill be very benefitting in ICC World

Yousuf, Sadiq compliments Sarfraz’s technique, temperamentCup.

Sarfraz Ahmed is enjoying adream success in United Arab Emir-ates (UAE) where played key role inPakistan’s success over Australia inTest series and later against NewZealand now spearheaded to an im-pressive victory over New Zealandin first Twenty20 International.

He said Sarfraz’s attacking an ag-gressive approach to the game, put-ting top bowlers under pressure.

Muhammad Yousuf said Sarfrazis naturally gifted player and confi-dence given to him by the manage-ment paying the dividend.

Former Pakistan opener SadiqMuhammad also praised heroics ofSarfraz saying that after grand suc-cess against Australia, Sarfraz’s con-fidence is touching the skies now.

“Finally, Sarfraz is coming in his

own and displaying excellent con-sistent batting,” former Test openersaid.

“Being an opener Sarfraz play-ing his role admirably by finishingthe match which is a true class of abatsman,” he said.

Karachi-based Sarfraz Ahmedsmashed an unbeaten 76 off 64 balls,striking boundaries and brace ofsixes in his team’s easy triumph.

Sadiq said Sarfraz batted reallybatted sensibly and finished thematch in smart fashion by returningundefeated. He said Sarfraz’s con-sistency is setting a good trend forPakistan team in preparations fornext year’s World Cup held in Aus-tralia and New Zealand.

“Sarfraz’s hallmark is his couragewhich holds vital factor in presentday cricket,” he concluded.—APP

Shahsawarswin Polo Cup

L A H O R E —Star - s tuddedpolo team WitribeShahsawars won the GraceKingland Polo Cup held atthe Lahore Polo Club re-cently. Being at the forefrontof promoting the exhilarat-ing sport, the Shahsawarsplayed a fast-paced matchto beat Remington Pharmaby 7.5 goals.

The Grace KinglandPolo Cup is a 6-goal tourna-ment played amongst someof the best teams of Lahore.

In the pool match playedearlier, the Shahsawars poloteam defeated Fantastic 4 byan impressive tally of 8.5goals against 5 while in thesemi-final which waswatched by a large turnoutof polo enthusiasts, theShahsawars beat Rajis by 6.5goals to 3.

Earlier this year, theShahsawars had also wonthe Hush Puppies Polo Cup2014 played in Rawalpindi,beating the HBP PLC RoyalResidencia team in a thrill-ing final match with a scoreof 6 against 5.5 goals.—Agencies

LAHORE: Winners of Grace Kingland Polo Cup, the Witribe Shahsawars team withthe Lahore Polo Club president and chief guest Feroz Gulzar.

PSB to hold YouthTournaments

I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a nSports Board (PSB) will beholding Inter ProvincialYouth Tournaments 2014 allacross the country fromFebruary to June 2015.

Director General PSB helda meeting in connection withfinalizing the organizations ofthe Youth Tournaments 2014here. Director Sports ofBalochistan, KPK, Punjab,Sindh, Gilgit Baltistan, Fataand AJK attended the meet-ing. On the request ofprovincials sports authoritiesDG PSB approved the age ofboys from U-14 to U-17. In themeeting he also accepted therequest to establish youthtraining camps in each prov-ince and necessary financeswill be provided by PakistanSports Board.—APP

DUBAI: Sarfraz Ahmed goes down for a sweep shot against a seamer during Pakistan vs New Zealand, 1st T20.

TOKYO: Laetitia Blot of France (bottom) fights with Japan’s Tsukasa Yoshida (top) during their under 57kg women’squarter finals at the Judo Grand Slam Tokyo 2014 on Friday.

Bipin DaniOBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Hillel Awasker from Israel isnot the only umpire who has lost his lifefollowing hit by a ball on the field of play,according to Sudhir Vaidya, the notedIndian cricket statistician.

“Five years ago one England umpiredied tragically in similar situation”, he saidover telephone from Pune.

“Umpire Alcwyn Jenkins of Englandwas struck on the head by a throw fromone of the fieldsmen while officiating inWelsh Club Cricket match betweenSwansea and Llangennech at St Helensin Swansea in 2009. He was airlifted to ahospital but failed to recover and died on4th July, 2009”, he added.

S. K. Bansal, the ex-India umpire nar-rated an incident of an Indian umpire(Desh Raj) who was seriously ill after be-ing hit by a ball.

Bansal, the 75-year-old former umpire,who has officiated in six Test matches and30 ODIs’ believes that the use of helmetsbe made compulsory for on-field umpires.

“I have made this suggestion in many

Ex-Indian umpire proposes compulsoryhelmets for field-umpires

of my lectures and seminars but the au-thorities have not paid attention to it.Perhaps they may be wanting the pro-posal comes from the Western Countriesfirst”.

“The game of cricket has become verydangerous. 30-40 years ago, we didn’t findso many sixes being hit by the batsmen.Now the bats have improved with a re-sult we notice so many sixes are beingeasily hit. The power of the bat is so enor-mous and it has become very difficult forclose-in fielders and umpires to officiatewithout helmets”, he added.

“The wearing of helmet will not causeany discomforts to the umpires.If the bats-men can play with helmets on, why can’tumpires discharge their duty with hel-mets”, he asks. The umpires should notbe ashamed of wearing helmets. They arenot playing in dramas on grounds or theyare not in beauty parlous that they can’twear protective gears”.

“Now even the government has madeit compulsory for the pillion riders to wearhelmets along with two-wheeler driversand day will not be far when it is madecompulsory for the umpires”, Bansaladded.

Sarfraz stars in Pakistan’sT20 win over New Zealand

DUBAI—Opener Sarfraz Ahmed madea career best 76 not out to guide Paki-stan to a comfortable seven wicket winover New Zealand in the first of twoTwenty20 internationals in Dubai onThursday. Chasing a modest 136-runtarget, Pakistan were lifted byAhmed’s 64-ball innings which hadeight fours and two sixes as they com-pleted the win in 19.1 overs for a 1-0lead.

The second and final Twenty20

New Zealand Innings:Guptill b Afridi ............. 32Williamson lbw b Ali .... 0Devcich lbw b Tanvir ... 1Taylor c Akmal b Irfan .. 4Anderson b Hasan ..... 48Ronchi b Tanvir ........... 33Neesham c Akmal b Irfan6McCullum not out ......... 1Milne not out ................. 2Extras: (b2, lb1, nb1, w4) 8Total: (for seven wkts)135Fall of wickets: 1-1, 2-10, 3-15, 4-61, 5-112, 6-128, 7-130Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WAli ........................ 2-0-15-1Tanvir .................. 4-0-24-2Irfan ..................... 4-0-27-2Hasan .................. 4-0-24-1

Hafeez ................. 2-0-15-0Afridi ................... 4-0-27-1Pakistan Innings:Sarfraz Ahmed not out 76Awaiz Zia run out ........ 20Hafeez run out ............... 2Haris b McClenaghan 11Umar Akmal not out .... 27Extras: (b1, lb1, w2) ....... 4Total: (for three wkts) 140Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-60, 3-97Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WHenry .................. 4-0-31-0McClenaghan .... 4-0-21-1Milne ................... 4-0-18-0Devcich .............. 2-0-19-0McCullum ........... 4-0-26-0Anderson ........... 1-0-17-0Neesham ............ 0.1-0-6-0

will also be played in Dubai on Friday.Ahmed added a quick 51 for the firstwicket with Awaiz Zia who made 20with two boundaries and then contin-ued the good work with a dominating43-run stand for the fourth wicket withUmar Akmal who made a 24-ball 27 notout.

Akmal finished the match with ahuge six off Jimmy Neesham. In be-tween Pakistan lost MohammadHafeez (two) and Haris Sohail (11) but

Sarfraz kept oneend intact andbettered his previ-ous best of justfive in his previ-ous fourTwenty20s. “Itwas a positiveand aggressivedecision to fieldfirst. The bowlersdid well and thenSarfraz was out-standing,” saidPakistan skipperShahid Afridi ofhis team’s 50thwin in 84T w e n t y 2 0matches.

N e wZealand’s stand-in skipper KaneW i l l i a m s o n

blamed the loss of early wickets for abelow-par total. “There were thingsthat went wrong, we lost early wick-ets and then couldn’t pick up wicketswith the ball. But it’s great to have alook at all the players with so muchcricket to come,” said Williamson. NewZealand owed their total to a careerbest 37-ball 48 by Corey Andersonafter they were put into bat on a flatDubai stadium pitch.

Anderson lifted his team from aprecarious 15-3 with a 46-run stand forthe fourth wicket with opener MartinGuptill (32) and another 51 for the fifthwicket with Luke Ronchi who made33. Anderson hit four towering sixesand a boundary, bettering his previ-ous highest of 20 not out against theNetherlands in Chittagong earlier thisyear. New Zealand lost Williamson forfirst-ball duck and Ross Taylor for justfour. Pakistan’s two left-arm pacemenSohail Tanvir (2-24) and MohammadIrfan (2-27) shared the bowlinghonours.

Afridi, Raza Hasan and Anwar Alialso took a wicket each. New Zealandwere without their regular skipperBrendon McCullum who along withpaceman Trent Boult and Tim Southeeleft for home after the drawn 1-1 Testseries. Both teams also play a five-match one-day series, the first ofwhich will be played in Dubai on Mon-day.—AFP

Indian skipperhopes clash with

Pakistan inquarterfinals

I S L A M A B A D — I n d i a nhockey captain SardarSingh said Pakistan have thearsenal in their disposal toprogress to the next stageof the FIH Champions Tro-phy to be held inBhubaneswar, India fromDecember 6-14.

“I welcome Pakistanteam to India. I will take thisopportunity to wish them allthe best and I hope we havea clash against them in thenext stage of the tournament.Their team is strong and thatthey have the capability tobeat the rivals in their pooland advance to the nextphase of the tournament”,Indian website India.comquoted Sardar as saying.

Sardar hoped to face thePakistan in the knock-outstages of the tournament.

Pakistan are placed inPool A alongside worldchampions Australia, Bel-gium and England, whilePool B consists of hosts In-dia, Netherlands, Germanyand Argentina.

However, Pakistan skip-per Imran Muhammad iseyeing at least a last-fourfinish. “I have been to Indiabefore and it’s a great feel-ing to be back. While pre-paring for the ChampionsTrophy back home, we havebeen working on our weak-nesses that we discoveredduring the 17th AsianGames.—APP

ADELAIDE (Australia)—India’s batsmengained valuable match practice as their two-day tour match against a Cricket AustraliaXI ended in a draw in Adelaide on Friday.

The tourists compiled 375 off 90 overswith stand-in captain Virat Kohli (66), MuraliVijay (60), Ajinkya Rahane (56) andWriddhiman Saha (51) all scoring half-cen-turies.

The local selection finished the matchat 83 for five off 21 overs with Test pacemanIshant Sharma taking two for eight off fiveovers in an encouraging lead in toTuesday’s opening Test against Australiaat the Adelaide Oval.

Vijay and Kohli both re-tired before lunch afterreaching their half-centuriesand to enable some of theother batsmen to get valu-able batting practice aheadof the opening Test.

The CA XI were made topay for dropping Kohli onThursday’s opening day,when the stand-in skipperedged his first delivery toAshton Turner at the firstslip.

Vijay and Kohli shared a123-run stand, steadyingIndia’s innings after the tour-ists slumped to 36 for twoon the opening day.

In the corresponding fix-ture at the same venue lastweek, the opener and No.4batsman also looked a classabove most of their team-mates.

Tasmania paceman EvanGulbis tested the duo with aseries of short-pitched de-liveries.

Vijay wore one bounceron the body that flicked upand hit the helmet, but com-posed himself quickly.

Varun Aaron and UmeshYadav shared the new ballin CA XI’s second inningswith Aaron following up hisfirst innings haul of four for41 with one for 28 off sixovers, while Yadav claimed one for 30 offfive overs.

“Players will probably be talking about

Kohli, Vijay score half-tonsas India draw tour game

what they saw and did, which will be passedonto other (Test) players,” CA XI coachTroy Cooley said.

“It’s a great little network of informa-tion being transferred. We’ll make sure themost up to date information is given to ourbig brother.”

Assistant coach Ali de Winter attendedIndia’s tour game last week, when expresspaceman Aaron sent down some impres-sive spells.

“He’s got some notes for Boof (Testcoach Darren Lehmann) to take away,”Cooley said.

“There’s plenty of information for theboys, obviously India’s series in Englandearlier this year.—AFP

ADELAIDE: A nimble Jake Doran kicks the ball awayfrom his stumps during Cricket Australia XI vs Indianstour match on Friday.

Clarke facesdecision dayahead of first

India TestADELAIDE (Australia)—Australia captain MichaelClarke faces a fitness test at

training on Saturday to checkon his chances of playing innext week’s first Test againstIndia, coach Darren Lehmannsaid. Clarke, troubled by athird hamstring setback sinceAugust, ran at the SydneyCricket Ground on Friday be-fore heading to Adelaide tojoin the Australia squad laterin the day.

The skipper, who wasone of the pallbearers and ledthe tributes at the funeral ofhis close friend and Test bats-man Phillip Hughes onWednesday, will be givenevery chance of taking thefield in the series openeragainst India at the AdelaideOval on Tuesday.

“As long as he’s fine todo the running and can bat(he’ll play),” coach and selec-tor Lehmann told reporterson Friday.

“He flies in this after-noon. We’ll get him battingtomorrow and see how hegoes. “It’ll be case of if he’sfine, he’ll play. We’ll justhave to wait and see. “We’llbe guided by medical staff,the captain himself, selec-tors. We’ll get together andassess what the plan is to-morrow.”—AFP

MIRPUR—The BCB has ended the restrictionon no-objection certificates being issued toBangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan, leav-

ing him free to participate in overseas tourna-ments, the board president Nazmul Hassan hassaid.

“He has no barrier to play abroad. We havelifted the embargo on his NOC,” Hassan said.“It was a unanimous decision on behalf of theBCB’s board of directors.”

On July 7, Shakib was banned for sixmonths and told he would not be granted NOCsto play in overseas competitions until Decem-ber 31, 2015. He was punished for “seriousmisbehaviour” with the Bangladesh coach

Shakib’s NOC restriction liftedChandika Hathurusingha and an altercationwith a spectator during an ODI against India inMirpur.

The BCB later reduced his ban by three ahalf months on August 26, letting him play forBangladesh from September 15. On Tuesday,Hassan had said in an impromptu press brief-ing that the restriction would be lifted within acouple of days, and Shakib will be available toplay in the Big Bash League from December18.

Hassan said Shakib’s improvement inbehaviour had been noticed by the board andthat he had shown “leadership’ qualities. “Weare not against our players,” Hassan said.“However, there are times when situationsdemand strict measures. The ban and NOCembargo on Shakib was a message to every-one that we will not compromise with disci-pline.

“I am glad that the player took the sanc-tions in the right spirit and showed his charac-ter by coming back strongly. I believe the out-come in the context of the Bangladesh teamhas also been positive and we have definitelyseen greater teamwork and camaraderie dur-ing the series against Zimbabwe.”—AFP

Injured Stybarto skip world

championshipsPRAGUE—Reigning cyclo-cross world championZdenek Stybar of the CzechRepublic said on Friday hewould skip next year’s worldchampionships in his home-land because of a shoulderinjury.

“I feel like crying sayingthis, but I’m not going,” theCzech news agency CTKquoted Stybar as saying.

The 28-year-old OmegaPharma-Quick Step rider,who won world cyclo-crosstitles in 2010, 2011 and 2014,tore the ligaments in his rightshoulder in a fall during acyclo-cross race in Belgiumin October.

In August this year,Stybar lost several teeth ina horror crash at the EnecoTour in Belgium, a road racehe had won in 2013.—AFP

Rugby-Ireland planbid to host 2023 WC

ARMAGH (Northern Ireland)—Ireland willbid to host the 2023 rugby World Cup, theIrish and Northern Irish governments saidon Friday, formally launching a politicallysymbolic proposal to win the right to hostthe event for the first time.

Seeking to replicate the successful host-ing by similarly populated New Zealand in2011, the bid would see games played onboth sides of an Irish border once beset bysectarian violence. Unlike soccer, the na-tional team is an all-Ireland selection. “I amdelighted to formally announce theGovernment’s support.—APP

THERE is good evidence to show thatstress can increase a person’s heartrate, lower the immune system’s

ability to fight colds and increase certaininflammatory markers but can stress alsoraise a person’s cholesterol? It appearsso for some people, ac-cording to a new studythat examines how reac-tions to stress over aperiod of time can raisea person’s lipid levels.

This finding is re-ported in the Novemberissue of Health Psychol-ogy, published by theAmerican PsychologicalAssociation (APA). In asample of 199 healthymiddle-aged men andwomen, researchers An-drew Steptoe, D.Sc., andLena Brydon, Ph.D., ofUniversity College Lon-don examined how indi-viduals react to stressand whether this reac-tion can increase cholesterol andheighten cardiovascular risk in the future.Changes in total cholesterol, includinglow-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL), were assessedin the participants before and three yearsafter completing two stress tasks.

Our study found that individuals varyin their cholesterol responses to stress,said Dr. Steptoe. “Some of the participantsshow large increases even in the shortterm, while others show very little re-sponse. The cholesterol responses thatwe measured in the lab probably reflectthe way people react to challenges in

everyday life as well. So the larger cho-lesterol responders to stress tasks willbe large responders to emotional situa-tions in their lives. It is these responsesin everyday life that accumulate to leadto an increase in fasting cholesterol or

lipid levels three years later.It appears that a person’sreaction to stress is onemechanism through whichhigher lipid levels may de-velop.”

The stress testingsession involved examiningthe participants’ cardiovas-cular, inflammatory and he-mostatic functions beforeand after their responses toperformance on moderatelystressful behavioral tasks.The stress tasks used werecomputerized color-word in-terference and mirror tracing.The color-word task in-volved flashing a series oftarget color words in incon-gruous colors on a com-

puter screen (ex. Yellow letters spellingthe color blue). At the bottom of thecomputer screen, four names of colorswere displayed in incorrect colors. Theobject of the task was to match the nameof the color to the target word. The othertask used was mirror tracing, which re-quired the participant to trace a star seenin a mirror image. The participants weretold to focus more on accuracy than onspeed in both tasks.

At the follow up three years later,cholesterol levels in all the participantsin the study had gone up, as might beexpected through passage of time.

Mental stress raises cholesterollevels in healthy adults

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Minister(CM) Syed Qaim Ali Shah has di-rected all concerned organizationsand local administrations to expe-dite the relief activities in drought-affected areas of Tharparkar. Thelocal Administration should startthe distribution of 25000 blanketswithin 3 days which already madeavailable to them.

The CM directed the provincialhealth management to increase thenumber of birth stations, availabil-ity of more doctors, nutrition stabi-lization centers and launch mobilemedical facilities within 10 to 15days.

This he directed while presid-

ing over meeting to review the re-lief activities at drought affectedareas of district Tharparkar held atCM House Friday.

The CM said that though wehave established the relief networkat each nook and corner of the dis-trict Tharparkar to provide staplefood, health and nutrition facilitiesto the affected people without anydiscrimination and we considerablyhave overcome the situation withsuccess but in anticipation of com-ing cold waves, there is need to ac-celerate the relief activities to avoidany adverse impact of cold on thepeople.

He directed the local Adminis-tration of Tharparkar to distribute25,000 Blankets 30,000 Moquito

nets, 2000 date packets among thepregnant and screened lactatingwomen within in 3-days for whichthese item have already been pro-vided to them.

The Secretary Health IqbalDurani, while briefing the meetinginformed that in addition to 68 doc-tors already working at districtTharparkar, more 4 specialist doc-tors, 2 medical officers are beingdispatched to the district Tharparkartoday.

Secretary Food Saeed AhmedAwan briefing the meeting said thatout of 1,29,973 wheat bags allocatedfor distribution of wheat amongdrought affected families in forthphase, 1,28,187 bags have been dis-tributed among the 2,56,374 affected

families till yet. While process ofwheat distribution was in progress.The PDMA DG informed that 25,000Blankets, 30,000 Mosquito netshave been supplied to local admin-istration while 2000 package of dateeach of 2 KG are also being sup-plied for the distribution amongscreened pregnant and lactatingwomen, women and children af-fected with the malnutrition.

He said that distribution ofthese items would be started fromnext Monday. The meeting was alsoinformed the execution on the in-stallation of R.O plants has also beenexpedited and by the end of thisDecember at least 150 RO plants outof designed 750 R.O Plants wouldbe made functional.

Qaim for expediting reliefactivities in drought-hit Tharparkar

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Karachi MetropolitanCorporation (KMC) AdministratorRauf Akhter Farooqui has issuedthe directive for withholding thesalary of 360 employees of Educa-tion and Health Department, whowere found absent from duty.

He also instructed the con-cerned departments to issue them

KMC stops salary of 360 absent employeeswith show cause notice and puttheir service under suspension tillthe completion of inquiry againstthem.

He said the salary of these ab-sent employees will not be dis-bursed till they report personallywith their original service book andservice documents, failing whichsuch employees would be termi-nated from service.

In a meeting held in KMC Of-fice on M.A Jinnah Road Friday,it was informed that the salary ofthe 314 absent employees of edu-cation department was stoppedimmediately whereas 12 doctors,who were deputed in variousKMC hospitals were also foundabscond from duty and now thesewere serving in other countrieswithout obtaining prior permis-

sion from the competent author-ity. Administrator Karachi has di-rected all departmental heads totake action against all abscondand ghost employees withoutdelay.

He said those doctors andparamedics who were now in othercountries should submit the per-mission for that or they will haveto face the action under the law.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Senator Ghani Ssaeed has saidPakistan People’s Party (PPP) had alwaysworked for the welfare of the workers. Theparty had throughout its political struggleproved it was the only political party in Paki-stan that ensured complete respect to peoples’rights, which also included provisioning ofjobs to the offspring of those employees, whohad either retired from service or died.

The issue of the ‘Son Quota’ was alsoone of the basic rights of the people negatingwhich would simply be a sign of deliberatetyranny. The ‘Son Quota’ issue was a burn-ing one, which was being ignored in publicinstitutions and the PPP would take steps to-ward implementation of the laws that governedthe subject-matter.

He was addressing to the protestors atthe Karachi Port Trust where hundreds of theaffectees had staged a sit-in under the banner

Ghani for implementationof son quota law

of the Son Quota Restoration Movement.On the occasion, the Son Quota RestorationMovement President Lala Nazeer Khanbriefed the PPP Senator Saeed Ghani abouttheir grievances and suppression of their justrights for seeking jobs for the children of thoseemployees, who had either retired from ser-vices or had passed away.

The PPP Senator Saeed Ghani assured theSon Quota Restoration Movement Presidentand the protesters that since the PPP had al-ways worked for the welfare and rights of themasses, he would leave no stone unturnedfor the redressal of their just demands for therestoration of the Son Quota. He told themthat he would raise the matter in the Senate ofPakistan while he would personally approachthe Minister concerned for the quick responseon the issue. He asked the authorities con-cerned to implement the laws that governedthe issue of the Son Quota and take appropri-ate measures for alleviating people’s anguish.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The StandingCommittee of the Senate ofPakistan on Defence Pro-duction visited the PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) Mediacell Sindh Thursday. The SCon Defence Production washeaded by Senator SaeedaIqbal while BalouchistanNational Party PresidentSenator Sanaullah Zehri,Awami National Party Cen-tral Vice President SenatorDawood Khan Achakzai hadflanked her.

PPP Senator Taj Haiderand Senator Dr KarimKhawaja had accompaniedthe committee while PPPMedia Cell in-charge andSenator Saeed Ghani, mem-bers Lateef Mughal andHabibuddin Junaidi had re-ceived them.

The Standing Commit-tee visited various depart-ments of the PPP Media Celland was briefed about theworking of the Media Cell.

On the occasion, theStanding Committee saidthe department of informa-tion was the backbone of

Vibrant Media Cellsunavoidable

KARACHI—Provincial health departmenthas initiated second phase of three-dayPolio immunization drive in 11 high-riskunion councils of Karachi, local media re-port on Friday.

In the second phase of the anti-polio cam-paign the health authorities have set a tar-get to administer polio vaccine to 0.25 mil-lion children in high-risk localities of thecity.—NNI

Polio immunization drive any political party and wasof pivotal importance toraise, establish and maintainthe image of the politicalparty.

The department of infor-mation of a political partywas unavoidable as it wasthe key and dynamic depart-ment to deliver the partymanifesto and programmesto the masses across theboard.

Migratory birds from Siberia seen at sea view.

A view of traffic jam at Empress Market Area Saddar.

THERE is good evidence to show thatstress can increase a person’s heartrate, lower the immune system’s

ability to fight colds and increase certaininflammatory markers but can stress alsoraise a person’s cholesterol? It appearsso for some people, ac-cording to a new studythat examines how reac-tions to stress over aperiod of time can raisea person’s lipid levels.

This finding is re-ported in the Novemberissue of Health Psychol-ogy, published by theAmerican PsychologicalAssociation (APA). In asample of 199 healthymiddle-aged men andwomen, researchers An-drew Steptoe, D.Sc., andLena Brydon, Ph.D., ofUniversity College Lon-don examined how indi-viduals react to stressand whether this reac-tion can increase cholesterol andheighten cardiovascular risk in the future.Changes in total cholesterol, includinglow-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL), were assessedin the participants before and three yearsafter completing two stress tasks.

Our study found that individuals varyin their cholesterol responses to stress,said Dr. Steptoe. “Some of the participantsshow large increases even in the shortterm, while others show very little re-sponse. The cholesterol responses thatwe measured in the lab probably reflectthe way people react to challenges in

everyday life as well. So the larger cho-lesterol responders to stress tasks willbe large responders to emotional situa-tions in their lives. It is these responsesin everyday life that accumulate to leadto an increase in fasting cholesterol or

lipid levels three years later.It appears that a person’sreaction to stress is onemechanism through whichhigher lipid levels may de-velop.”

The stress testingsession involved examiningthe participants’ cardiovas-cular, inflammatory and he-mostatic functions beforeand after their responses toperformance on moderatelystressful behavioral tasks.The stress tasks used werecomputerized color-word in-terference and mirror tracing.The color-word task in-volved flashing a series oftarget color words in incon-gruous colors on a com-

puter screen (ex. Yellow letters spellingthe color blue). At the bottom of thecomputer screen, four names of colorswere displayed in incorrect colors. Theobject of the task was to match the nameof the color to the target word. The othertask used was mirror tracing, which re-quired the participant to trace a star seenin a mirror image. The participants weretold to focus more on accuracy than onspeed in both tasks.

At the follow up three years later,cholesterol levels in all the participantsin the study had gone up, as might beexpected through passage of time.

Mental stress raises cholesterollevels in healthy adults

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The Departmentof Parasitology of the Univer-sity of Veterinary and AnimalsSciences (UVAS) Lahoreorganised a two-day trainingworkshop on ‘Endnote forWriting Manuscripts”.

Vice-Chancellor Prof DrTalat Naseer Pasha chairedthe concluding session of theworkshop and gave awaycertificates to the partici-pants.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the Vice-Chancellor saidthat such type of workshopwas necessary to learn writ-ing skills for postgraduatestudents. He also lauded theefforts of the workshop orga-nizers.

Earlier, Dr MuhammadImran Rashid was the re-source person of the work-shop. He gave hands-ontraining and shared skills andknowledge about the writingmanuscripts in Microsoft Of-

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Punjab University LawCollege’s student Ms Noor Asfia Awanhas shown outstanding performance inPU Inter-Collegiate Taekwondo Champi-onship held at Govt. College Chuna Mandiand won Gold Medal.

She is a martial arts player who repre-sented PULC and won gold medal in herweight category and in Wushu also. Shealso got three silver and one bronze medalin machine rowing while one Silver and

one bronze Medal in Karate.Other female student of PULC Ms

Filza Aleem has won Silver and twoBronze Medals in Rowing Machine andKarate while Ms Madiha Hussain alsowon one gold and one bronze medal inKarate.

Dean Faculty of Law and PrincipalLaw College Prof Dr Shaiza NaureenQurehsi appreciated the female studentsand assured them to provide all facilitiesfor the uplift of sports activities. S h eemphasized to work hard in studies.

PULC girls clinch goldmedals in C’ ships

Workshop on ‘Endnoteon Writing” at UVAS

fice and Endnote. Such skillsare helpful for students inwriting and managing synop-sis, thesis articles. One of theworkshop participantsshared his view and said thatevery workshop held underthe supervision of Vice-Chan-cellor Prof Dr Talat NaseerPasha which is the bestsource of learning for theM.Phil and Phd students.

Prof Dr Azhar Maqbooland Dr Muhammad Uneebwere also present on the oc-casion.

Kasur Bypassproject to becompleted infour months

LAHORE—Lahore Develop-ment Authority has extendedits development activities tothe adjoining districts ofLahore and started executionof Kasur Bypass projectwhich will be completed at acost of Rs. 1.5 billion withinfour months.

The 9.5 kilometers longtwo-lane dual carriage way willlink Ferozepur Road at SadarDewan to Depalpur Road atFaqir Wali in district Kasur.

Central median of the roadwill be 10 feet wide and willaccommodate state of the artarboriculture work and LEDstreet lights. Roundaboutswill be constructed along theroad for self regulating of traf-fic. Massive tree plantationwill also be carried out atouter corridors in a width of20 feet on either side of theroad.—INP

Vice Chancellor Lahore College for Women University Dr Sabeeha Mansoor cuttinghe ribbon to inaugurate Ceramics Exhibition at Lahore College for Women University.

LAHORE—The Lahore High Court Fridaysuspended operation of a Lahore Develop-ment Authority notice for commercializationof a pharmaceutical factory.

Justice Shahid Kareem passed the in-terim orders on a petition filed by High NoonLabourites (Pvt) Limited challenging a LDAnotice for commercialization of its factorysituated at Multan Road. The court alsoissued notice to Punjab government andLDA for January 27.

Earlier, the petitioner’s counsel PervaizI Mir arguing before the court submittedthat the petitioner-factory was located atMultan road which was a industrial area.

He pointed out that the civic authoritieshad also declared it as an industrial area inLahore master plan.

He said despite these facts the LDA hadissued a notice to the petitioner-factory andasked to get the property commercializedin two days, otherwise. it would be sealed.

He contended that the notice was ille-gal and pleaded the court to set aside it. Healso requested the court to stay the opera-tion of the notice.

The court after hearing initial argu-ments suspended the operation of the no-tice and sought a reply from respondentsby January 27.— APP

LHC suspends LDA’s notice

LAHORE—A farewell dinner will be hostedin the honour of Ambassador of Sudan toPakistan,Al Shafie Ahmed Mohamed hereon Dec 10.

The dinner will be hosted by leadingexporter of steel and Chairman Al-Tech

group of companies,Mian MuhammadSaeed. Talking to APP here Friday, he ap-preciated the outgoing diplomat for his re-markable services for promotion of bilat-eral relations between the two Muslim coun-tries.—APP

Farewell for Sudan Ambassador

Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reform Prof Ashan Iqbal addressing 11th Annual Fulbright and Humphrey Almni conference atFC College.

CITY REPORTER

Chief Minister Muhammad ShahbazSharif presided over a high-levelmeeting here on Friday which re-viewed proposals with regard tooff-grid solar solution in the privatesector.

Addressing the meeting,Shahbaz Sharif said effective mea-

sures were being taken for overcom-ing energy crisis and a programmehad been evolved to install solarpanels in primary schools which willhelp in uninterrupted supply of elec-tricity to schools.

He directed that the project ofinstallation of solar panels in pri-mary schools be given final shapeas early as possible.

The chief minister also directedto evolve a business model for in-stallation of solar panels in basicand rural health centres and issuedinstructions for evolving a pilotproject for conversion of a tehsilheadquarters hospital completelyon solar energy.

The meeting also consideredthe proposal to provide solar home

solution to low-income families onconcessionary rate. The chief min-ister directed that comprehensiverecommendations be evolved forproviding solar home solution tolow-income families. He also di-rected that a practicable project bepresented for conversion of agritubewells and water supplyschemes on solar energy.

Effective measures being takenfor overcoming energy crisis

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—All Pakistan Anjuman-e-Tajiran (APTT) central generalsecretary Naeem Mir has askedthe Punjab Inspector General Po-lice and Lahore District Coordi-nation Officer to ensure protec-tion of life and property of Punjabtraders, besides making peacefulatmosphere certain in the prov-ince on Dec 8, 15 and 18 on pro-test days called by the PTI.

In a letter written to both theIGP and Lahore DCO, the APATgeneral secretary suggested to es-tablish temporary peace commit-tees consisting of traders’ repre-sentatives all over the provinceand depute additional police con-tingents at major markets.

With a view to ensure security,close circuit cameras should be in-stalled while thousands of policeworkforce, deputed with VIPs,should be called back and they

should be inducted in a Quick Re-sponse Force to cope with secu-rity situation, he said and addedthat local leadership of tradersshould be provided security sepa-rately.

The miscreants might be ar-rested immediately while bannerscreating hatred among businesscommunity should be removed im-mediately, he proposed in the let-ter.

Naeem Mir also called for a

quick drive against encroach-ment to avoid any untoward in-cident. The district administra-tion may arrange ambulances,while keeping the hospitals athigh alerts on the day of PTI pro-test to cope with emergency.

With a view to finalize thewhole security plan, the districtadministration will have to con-sult the trade leaders so thatpeaceful atmosphere could beensured at all cost.

Traders ask IG, DCO to ensure security on protest days