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ISLAMABAD: President PML-N Mian Nawaz Sharif addressing the members of business community during a receptionon Wednesday.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

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LORALAI—Imran Khan Chair-man Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf hassaid that PTI, after coming intopower would abolish militaryoperation in Balochistan as thebullet is not the solution of anyproblem.

Speaking a public rally hereon Wednesday , he said that PTIwould transform the country intowelfare state , where justicewould be dispensed without anydiscrimination.

He said local bodies pollswould be held in the country assoon as possible . “:We wouldnot allocate development fundsto any MNA or MPA but theproblems would be resolvedthrough local bodies”, Khan

PTI to stop operationin Balochistan: ImranBenazir was not killed by Taliban: PTI chief

the same educational curriculumthrough out the country.Imran said that the people wouldlay foundation stone of “NewPakistan” on 11 May . He urgedthe youth to come out from theirhomes on election day and en-sure to cast their vote.

Meanwhile, in a startlingclaim, Imran Khan has said thatformer Prime Minister BenazirBhutto was not killed by theTaliban.

Speaking in an interviewwith British newspaper The DailyTelegraph, the PTI chief said thatBhutto had been “clearly killedby people worried she was go-

LONDON—British Prime Min-ister David Cameron has admit-ted that Britain has “paid a veryhigh price” in Afghanistan af-ter the Ministry of Defence(MoD) confirmed new casual-ties in the Asian country.TheMoD earlier announced thatthree British soldiers had beenkilled in a roadside bomb attackon their vehicle in the Afghanprovince of Helmand.

The deaths take the numberof British troops who have beenkilled in Afghanistan since Oc-tober 2001 to 444.Cameron’scomment follows MoD’s ad-

We paid a very high pricein Afghanistan: Cameron

mittance back in March that theAfghan campaign is “unwinnablein military terms”.

During his interview,Cameron also echoed the MoD’sposition that the British forces’continued presence in the coun-try until the end of 2014, is aimedat helping the security of theAsian nation.

“It is important work be-cause it is vital that that countrydoesn’t again become a havenfor terrorists, terrorists that canthreaten us here in the UK,” hesaid.The ministry found in aninternal study back in May that

NATO forces had failed to “es-tablish control over the insur-gents’ safe havens” or to “pro-tect the rural population”.

However, the report by theMoD’s think tank, the Develop-ment, Concepts and DoctrinesCentre, tried to set the stage fornon-military occupation of Af-ghanistan even after a Britishmilitary withdrawal planned for2014. It said that Afghanistan“will be left with a severelydamaged and very weak eco-nomic base” after the pull-outstressing such a situation leaveswestern countries obliged to

fund “large-scale support pro-grams” for many years. Af-ghanistan, however, has dis-missed London’s claim thatthey are staying in the countrydue to security reasons.

During a visit to Londonback in February, AfghanPresident Hamid Karzai criti-cized Britain’s role in hiscountry saying the securitysituation in the Afghan prov-ince of Helmand was betterbefore British forces wentthere.”In 2002 through 2006,Afghanistan had a lot better se-curity. —Press TV

Premiership nopriority:Nawaz‘Country comes first for me’

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) Presi-dent Mian Muhammad NawazSharif Wednesday reiterated thatPremiership was not his destina-tion, instead, he wants to drag thecountry out of all challenges andcrisis.

Addressing business com-munity of twin cities here,Nawaz said that traders, indus-trialists and businessmen are thebackbone of country’s econom-ics. He said when his partywould come in power, all finan-cial policies would be plannedby consultation with businesscommunity.

Former Prime Minister saidthat Pakistan needs experiencedleadership to bring out the coun-try from the problems facing bythe country today, adding that the11 May would be the day PML-

N’s victory. He said that ParvezMusharraf is responsible for elec-tricity crisis but President AsifAli Zardari also did nothing forthe solution of the problem be-cause the priorities of the PPPgovernment was not progress ofcountry rather its priority wascorruption.

Nawaz said that electricity isnot available for 20 hours in thearea, adding that the industry hasbeen closed, and children areunable to study.

He said that PresidentZardari has done nothing for theending of electricity crisis duringthe past five years, adding thatthe rulers have filled their pock-ets through corruption, addingthat the ministers were also in-volved in this matter.

He said that the load shed-ding of the electricity was the giftof the Parvez Musharraf but whyPresident Zardari failed to re-

solve the issue during the pastfive years.

He said that the priorities ofthe government during the pastfive years were otherwise.

He said that there was noload shedding, unemployment,unrest in Karachi andBalochistan and there were noterrorist incidents during thePML-N governments. He saidthat the gas and electricity wasavailable for the masses and Pa-kistan was at the top of theprogress in whole region, addingthat today Pakistan is behindfrom all countries in progress.

He said that the condition ofcountry has been changed, add-ing that the PML-N will take thecountry again on the positionwhere it had left in 1999. He saidthat the masses should considerwho has served the masses andestablished dams and motorwaysduring the past tenures.

Domestic, int’l forcesconspiring against left-wingers

ANP-PPP-MQM joint press conferenceIRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The Awami NationParty (ANP), the MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM) andthe Pakistan People’s Party (PPP)had again reiterated not to bowdown to the extremist forces thatwanted to keep them out of theelectoral process.

These three parties that de-clare them liberal and left-wingerheld a joint press conference atMardan House Wednesday.

Although the three liberaland secular political parties hadnot yet announced formally ifthey had formed an alliance, buttheir stances that they hadshowed in past few days was avivid sign that the three partieshad joined hands to contest thepolls against the right-wingers

and it could be possible if theytake any major step in comingfew days especially for revisionof seat adjustments in certainelectoral constituencies inKarachi.

The Mardan House pressconference was jointly addressedby ANP Sindh President SenatorShahi Sayed, the MQM Coordi-nation Committee deputy Con-vener Dr Farooq Sattar andformer Federal Interior Ministerand representative of the PPP,Abdul Rehman Malik.

Taking a lead while address-ing the press conference, Sayedsaid that the country was pass-ing through serious threats for itssolidarity and despite the fact thatthe political parties had differentmanifestos but they were thenunited against the extremism and

for the sake of integrity of thecountry.

“We had buried our internalpolitical conflicts and leaders ofthree parties, President Asif AliZardari, Asfand Yar Wali andAltaf Hussain had reached a con-sensus to combat the extremismwith unity”, he said. He said thatit was now clear that the countrywas divided into bi-polar politi-cal system, the right-wingers andthe left-wingers and the ANP, theMQM and the PPP representedthe later.

There were some forces thatwanted to bring Taliban-backedforces into powers and drive theliberal and anti-Taliban politicalforces out from the politicalscene. He urged the religious

Shikarpur: Suicide bomberattacks NPP candidate; 2 hurt

JUI rally, PML-N office attackedOUR CORRESPONDENT

SHIKARPUR—National PeoplesParty (NPP) candidate for NA-202 Dr Ibrahim Jatoi and an in-dependent candidate Allah DinoUmrani were targeted in separateincidents in Shikarpur and DeraMurad Jamli respectively, how-ever, both of them remained un-hurt. Ibrahim Jatoi said a suicidebomber blew himself up at Toll

Plaza when he was on his wayfrom Khanpur to Shikarpur. He

said that all of his companionsremained unhurt but his car wascompletely destroyed.

The police also confirmedthe suicide attack in which twopeople sustained injuries. A headand other body parts of the sui-cide bomber were found from thesite of the incident, police said.Police and rangers have launchedsearch operation in the area.

Pak Navy ship PNS Saif toarrive at Port Klang on 6th

KUALA LUMPUR—PakistanNavy Ship PNS SAIF, the thirdship of SWORD Class F-22 PFrigates will arrive at Port Klangon 6th May on Goodwill cumTraining trip. PNS SAIF wasbuilt in Shanghai China and in-ducted into the Pakistan NavyFleet in November 2010.

It is equipped with the state-of-the-art modern weapons andsensors and also carries a Anti-Submarine Z-9EC Helicopter.The ship is capable of survivinga multi-threat environment and ofoperating independently as aTask Force. While berthed atPort Klang, PNS SAIF will par-

ticipate in various events, includ-ing friendly soccer/volleyballmatches with RMN, undertakingvoluntary community welfareactivities in Orphanage, visits toplaces of interests and officialcommitments.

The ship will be also openedfor the visitors including the Pa-kistani and local community on08 May 2013. A PASSEX is alsoplanned during the return journeywith RMN Ships.

Mr. Shahid M. G. Kiani, HighCommissioner for Pakistan toMalaysia has welcomed the visitof PNS SAIF and hoped that this

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US concernedover pre-election

violenceWASHINGTON—The UnitedStates has expressed its concernover violence and condemned theact of terror that have targetedpoliticians and their supportersduring the electoral campaign inPakistan. It also condemned therecent statements by militantgroups indicating their intent todisrupt Pakistan’s democraticprocess.

Acting State Departmentspokesman Patrick Ventrell re-plying to questions during brief-ing on Tuesday said the US sup-

Sarabjit’s familyreturns homeLAHORE—The dejectedfamily of Indian prisonerSarabjit Singh, who wasattacked in Kot Lakhpat Lahorejail last week returned to Indiavia Wagah Border on Wednes-day as the condition of theIndian prisoner remainedhighly critical amid reports thathe is brain dead.

A visibly distraughtSarabjit’s sister Dalbir Kaurtold newsmen at Wagah borderthat she was returning to Indiato take care of Sarabjit’schildren. She demanded thatPakistan should hold aninquiry as to how Sarabjit’s se-curity was compromised and hewas subsequently attacked withbricks and iron rods.

“If the attack was planned bythe government itself then thereis no need for an inquiry. But ifSarabjit was attacked without the

ECP finalisessecurity planfor electionsISLAMABAD—The ElectionCommission has finalizedsecurity plan for the electionday.

According to the plan‚Pakistan Army will remain onstand-by to act as quickresponse force. About 30‚000soldiers will be deployed in thequick response force to dealwith any emergency situationon the polling day.

According to the plansecurity personnel on allpolling stations throughout thecountry will be deployed on10th of this month.

Seven security personnelwill be deployed on sensitivepolling stations while 4personnel will be deputed on

Naval officershot dead

KARACHI—A Navy sailor wasshot and killed in Kharadar areaearlier on Wednesday Accordingto police, Navy sailor Zahid Iqbalwas targeted when he was stand-ing beside a shoe-maker nearEdhi head office.

Zahid Iqbal is the secondstaffer of Pakistan Navy killedthis year. Lt. CommanderAzeem of Pakistan Navy wasalso shot and wounded nearKarachi Port in February, andlater succumbed to his woundsafter remaining in coma forcouple of days.—Online

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added. PTI Chief said that thebiggest issue is terrorism , which

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STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) chief patron BilawalBhutto Zardari said that therewere some hidden forces thatwanted to keep the liberal politi-cal parties away from the elec-toral process so that they couldhijack the elections.

Bilawal said that despite thefact that the frustrated forces andterrorists were fully organisedagainst the liberal forces, the lib-eral forces would ultimately de-feat the terrorists and their vestedplans would never be allowed tobe imposed on the people.

He was talking to the PPPSindh President Syed Qaim AliShah on phone Wednesday.

Shah on the occasion ap-prised Bilawal of the electoralcampaign in the province andcoordination with other political

Bilawal asks Qaim to boostties with ANP, MQM

parties especially the MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM).

Shah told Bilawal that theliberal political parties were fully

determined to stay united and de-feat the terrorists.

Bilawal asked Shah to fur-ther strengthen the coordinationwith the MQM and ANP.

China offers tostep back abit, India

insists on fullwithdrawal

NEW DELHI—Indian Armysoldiers crossed over into Chi-nese territory at the Spanggurgap near Chushul to participatein Labour Day celebrations, In-dian media reported onWednesday.

This is a tradition at the bor-der on May 1, but this year itcomes amid a stand-off about100 km away in Ladakh, pro-voked by Chinese troops settingup camp 19 kms within Indianterritory on April 15.

Earlier on Tuesday, at athird flag meeting betweenarmy commanders from bothcountries, the Chinese report-

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National Highwayblocked over

Magsi’s killingQUETTA—Supporters and rela-tives of Abdul Fateh Magsi, the

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US asks India, Pakto restrain nuke,missileprogrammesWASHINGTON—Expressingconcern over the continuingbuildup of nuclear weapons inSouth Asia, the US has askedIndia and Pakistan to restraintheir nuclear and missileprogrammes and play a positiverole in the global non-proliferation community,American media reported onWednesday.

“The United States remainsdeeply concerned by thedangers posed by the continu-ing buildup of nuclear weapons

Plots to attackArmy: 5

inmates beingprobed

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Pakistan’s secretagencies are probing five prison-ers for allegedly plotting attackson Army convoys and seniormilitary officers, said a news re-port published Wednesday.

According to the report pub-lished by BBC Urdu, a civilianintelligence agency has shiftedthe five prisoners, detained atBahawalpur and Adiala prisonsfor the past three years, to un-known locations for investiga-tion.

The detainees are suspectedof having links with the outlawedTehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)and feared Ghazi Force militantgroups.

According to the BBC re-port, the prisoners are beingprobed for involvement in plotsto attack military targets, as wellas conspiring to abduct seniormilitary officials and their fam-ily members.

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DR M RAMZAN RANA

TAXILA—The PakistanPeople’s party has lined uptwo new knights in the elec-tions battle to reclaim thehistorical city of Taxila, onceknown as “Mini Larkana” asPPP clinched seats from thearea many times due to pres-ence of huge, intact, all timestested ideological votebank. As PPP leadership at-tempting to defend their turfagainst an onslaught of fac-tors and forces: the woes ofincumbency, the myriadtales of corruption, dividedleaderships and the rise ofpolitical challengers whowere absent or weak in 2008elections have filed two newknights including Justice

(retd) Syed Intikhab Shah forNational Assembly constitu-ency NA-53 (Rawalpindi - IV),Safeer Khan for Wah Canton-ment PP-8 (Rawalpindi-VIII)with an old guard Ch KamranAli Khan, provincial assem-bly constituency PP-7(Rawalpindi- VII) who arehighly localized drivers ofpolitics in the area.

Although new on politi-cal arena and first time elec-tion contester, former Justice,Islamabad High Court, SyedIntikhab Shah who has givenboost to party election cam-paign and given soul to theparty which even remaineddead during party’s five-yeartenure. Due to his entry, theparty has been once againactivated. The PPP candi-

dates, especially in the ruralareas of the constituencyhave set its election cam-paign in motion to boost themorale of its activists, whowere foreseeing an anti-PPPwave in the general elections.It has been observed thatPPP candidates are using allavailable tactics during theircampaigns to bag votes fromthe residents of their respec-tive constituencies.

The PPP candidates with-out participation of frontlineleaders have started theirelection campaign with fo-cusing on not to violate theelection code of conduct an-nounced by the ElectionCommission of Pakistan.These candidates are goingdoor-to-door and shop-to-

shop to woo voters in ruraland urban parts of the con-stituency. They are also busyholding corner meetings ofparty workers at variousplaces in their respectiveconstituencies. However, noparty bigwig has yet an-nounced holding publicmeeting ahead of the forth-coming general elections.Political observers are of theview that the inordinate de-lay in finalization of names ofthe candidates was badly af-fecting the party politicalposition in the provincial as-sembly constituency of PP-8, Wah Cantt.

Haji Dildar Khan, who hasstrong roots and politicalpower in the rural areas ofTaxila and Wah Cantonment

with intact individual votebank association have partedways with PML-N as hisname was not announced forthe party ticket for provincialassembly seat. He termed thedecision of Ch Nisar to con-test polls for National as wellas provincial assembly seatun-realistic and “dictatorial”.Due to poor health, the manwho remained with the PML-N for several years launchedhis nephew Safeer Khan forupcoming polls with the PPPflag this time to give boostto party ideological votebank.

The local leaders saidthat issue of load sheddingwould affect the PPP candi-dates vote bank despite thefact that PP-7 was a rural con-

stituency where Ch KamranAli Khan has strong per-sonal and clan vote bank. Ashe belongs to Chakri area ofRawalpindi district wherevoters usually vote for clan-association and other localgroupings but the media hadcreated the awarenessamong the masses.

Ch. Muhammad KamranAli Khan contested 2008 elec-tions as an Independent can-didate and bagged 19,918votes but failed to get electedas he was not given partyticket. While in 2002 election,he also contested as an inde-pendent candidate and cameinto power by clinching 35,583votes and joined PML-Qcamp and served as provin-cial parliamentary secretary

for revenue for five years dur-ing Musharraf era.

Political observers are ofthe view that PPP whichneeds an aggressive cam-paign to face the PML-N andPTI in urban as well as ruralareas of the constituency andit is high time speed up its elec-toral drive with the participa-tion of the frontline leadershipto counter its major opponentthat was already going in topgear. As so far no centralleader has addressed in theelectioneering drive of theparty candidates, the electioncampaign of party is not in topgear as mainstream politicalparties in a bid to establishtheir maximum presence in theelectoral arena have acceler-ated their electoral campaigns

despite security threats.Rafeeq Butt, an old PPPjayala, commenting on PPPelectioneering drive, said thatthe voters loyal to PPPchoose party rather than can-didates, therefore a delay inthe announcement of finalcandidates or launching lateelectioneering drive in thethree constituencies of thearea does not really matter asparty ideological vote bankis intact. Political observersviewed that PPP here couldcome into mainstream and incontesting position withother major political partieslike PML-N and PTI only ifthe central leaders come for-ward and join the candidateselectioneering drive and mo-tivate the supporters.

PPP lines up new knights in election battle to reclaim ‘Mini Larkana’

BASHIR AHMAD RAHMANI

HAFIZABAD—As the electionis nearing, battle of nerves be-tween political stalwarts isreaching new heights witheach passing day. In the ruralarea like Hafizabad biradarisalways played vital role in thegeneral election and so boththe arch rivals Ch. AfzalHussain Tarar of PML-N andCh. Mehdi Hassan Bhattigroup leader of Independentcandidates were vying to mus-ter support of maximum clans.

Recently Ch. Mehdi hassucceeded in winning the sup-port of powerful councillor ofGarhi Awan Malik GhulamHussain Sharoo, PresidentSabzi Mandi Mehr Arshad,Rehmani and Arain Biradary’sRana Akbar Ali President DBA,ex-Nazim Seth Ishaq Ansari, ex-Nazim Ishaq Javed and MalikTariq Javed, leader of ChristianCommunity.

He was given warm wel-come when he and his groupcandidates visited MainBazar inside old city and allthe shopkeepers particularlyjewellers showered rose pet-als and distributed sweetsand raised slogans in favour

of his candidates and de-clared that they would notforget his services for up-grading Hafizabad tehsil todistrict level and other devel-opment projects particularlyprovision of gas. He thankedthe traders for showing theirlove and affection for him andhis group’s candidates.

*****Barrister Syed Wasim-ul-

Hassan Naqvi of JUP, son ofprominent religious scholar ofPakistan late Syed ShabbirHussain Shah Hafizabadi andconfidant of Mian NawazSharif who is contesting elec-tion as an independent fromPP-105 has declared that themasses would bury feudal andcapitalists on May 11.

Addressing corner meet-ing at Kashmir Nagar,Bahawalpura, Jilanipura,Lakhia and Dhingranwali, heappealed to the electorates tocast their votes to honest andeducated candidates so as toprotect the rights of poor anddowntrodden people.

*****A prominent Kabaddi

player of Hafizabad waskilled in a road mishap onWednesday. According to

Rescue-1122 source, 28-year-old Javed alias Jaida of vil-lage Dull Wahab (SukhekeMandi) was on way to hisvillage on his motorcyclewhen a donkey-cart hit hisbike, resultantly he sustainedfatal injuries and was re-moved to a hospital where hesuccumbed to his injuries.

*****May Day was observed

here under the auspices ofPowerloom Workers Union.The participants of the rallyalso took out a mock funeral ofGEPCO to protest against ever-increasing duration ofloadshedding which had madetheir lives absolutely miserable.

The rally was led byMuhammad Zaman Ansari,President of the Union whichwas attended by large num-ber of workers. The rally par-ticipants holding banners andflags paraded the main thor-oughfares and terminated inFawara Chowk where ZamanAnsari called upon the work-ers to forge greater unity toget their rights. He demandeddecrease in the duration ofloadshedding to enable theworkers to earn their liveli-hood peacefully.

Nawaz addressesTalagang meeting

on SundaySHAFFAAT MALIK

TALAGANG—The Chief ofPakistan Muslim League (N)and former prime ministerNawaz Sharif will address apublic meeting in Talagangon Sunday at 3 pm. This ad-dress will be held at localadministration’s designatedplace for public gatheringsnear new Lari Ada. All prepa-rations have been completed,according to PML Nsources. PML-N localleadership’s expectation arevery high and they believethat this address will play akey role in upcoming elec-tions. PML-N is not havingthe same support this timewhich they used to have inthis area.

Ch Pervaiz Ellahi is a seri-ous threat to PML-N’s SardarMumtaz Tamman and PTI’sSardar Mansoor HayatTamman. Both Tammans havewon this constituency butthis time it is very hard forboth of them. Imran Khan’saddress in Talagang couldn’tchange the political scenario.The crowd was charged butwas not in huge numbers.Sardar Ghulam Abbas, inde-pendent candidate who is alsoenjoying the support of PML-Q, is another challenge forPML-N in PP-22 where PTIhave got reasonable presencein the constituency.

There will be tough con-test in PP-23 as well. MalikZahoor Anwar Awan, formerMPA, (unification block) andnow PML-N’s candidate isfacing Sardar Amjad Ilyas ofPML-Q and PTI’s Col (r) Sul-tan Surkhro. Col (r) Sultanand Malik Zahoor Awanhave won this constituencyin 2002 and in 2008 respec-tively. Sardar Ghulam Abbas,ex-District Nazim and inde-pendent candidate from PP-22, have got ample supportin entire area. He is support-ing PML-Q and that can playsome role on May 11.

Hala Division tohave irrigationwater rotation

HYDERABAD—The Execu-tive Engineer Hala DivisionTuesday announced theimplementation of water ro-tation programme due toshortage of water in RohriCanal. According to an-nouncement, water supply toMassu Minor-I, Punnu Mi-nor, Saeed Khan Shakh andRahuki Shak of Massu Sub-Division has been stoppedfrom April 30, 2013 till May 7,2013. Water will be availablein these systems From May7, 2013 to May 15, 2013.

Similarly, water supply toJam Shakh, Miano Minor,Husri Shakh and Massu Mi-nor-II will continue from April30 till May 7 while from May7 till May 15 the supply ofwater will be closed in thesesystems. In ShahdadpurSub-Division, water supplywill continue from April 30 tillMay 7, 2013 in Dos RohriMain Canal from RD-693 toRD-806, Sarhari Minor andOdhiyano Shakh while fromMay 7 to May 15, the supplyof water will be closed inthese systems.—APP

LOWER DIR: Jamaat-e-Islami Deputy Chief, Sirajul Haq addressing a public meeting at Jandool.

MULTAN: Students lit the clay lamp to mark the Youm-e-Shuhda at Yadgar-e-Shuhda.

Electioneering soaring to newheights with each passing day

STAFF REPORTER

MAZAFFARABAD—The PrimeMinister Azad Jammu andKashmir has announced tohold labor convention in AJKadding that every laborerwould get Rs.9000 as salaryper month from July first thisyear, a pension and one hun-dred thousand rupee grantfor their daughters’ wedding. The Prime Minister an-nounced these incentiveswhile addressing gatheringon International Labors’ Dayhere in Central Press ClubMuzaffarabad on Wednes-day.

AJK ministers Syed BazilAli Naqvi, Srdar JavedAyub, ChairmanDevelopmetn AurthorityMuzaffarabad Asad HabibAwan, Administrator Mu-nicipal CorporationMubarak Haider, PresidentPSF Syed Ali Raza, MediaAdvisor Shokat Javed,Shaiq Gillani and others has

addressed. Chief organizerlabor wing Shujat kazmi pre-sided over the ceremony.

The AJK premier also an-nounced to constitute a com-mittee for revival of studentsunion in AJK however, heasked the students to followcode of conduct. He main-tained that Pakistan People’sParty enabled the downtrod-den classes to raise theirvoice.

“Pakistan People’s Partysalutes the struggle of theworkers of Chicago: ShaheedZulfikar Ali Bhutto gaverights to labors, Shaheed Bibitook substantial measuresfor working class’ prosperityand development”, he added.

Mr. Majeed observedthat President Zardari contin-ued the vision and policy ofBhuttos saying PakistanPeople’s Party would nevercompromise on its faith andideology. The premier saidhis government believed inwelfare of the people.

Labour convention in AJK soon

Labourers salary uppedto 9,000 per month

Wedding expenses raised to Rs 1 lakh

M HALEEM ASAD

TIMERGARA—The Jamaat-i-Islami deputy chief and PK-95 candidate Sirajul Haq onWednesday accused theNato Generals in Kabul ofmaking conspiracy to blockway for religious people tocome in power corridors.Addressing a big party meet-ing at Mayar Jandol, Mr Sirajalleged that one of his reli-able sources at Kabul con-firmed that Nato generals inthis regard had held a meet-ing wherein directives wereissued to subordinates tosupport secular and liberal

parties in Pakistani elections.The JI Jandol chapter

had organized the functionwhich was attended bymore than 10,000 partyworkers, ulema and eldersof the area. The JI candidatefor NA-34 Sahibzada YaqubKhan, district chief andformer MNA MaulanaAsadullah, Izazul MulkAfkari and others alsospoke on the occasion. Sirajsaid that May 11 electionwas a contest between Is-lam and the agents ofAmerica. Warning NatoGenerals, the JI leaderasked them to stay away

from Pakistan politics. “Weare not satisfied with thePakistan foreign policy andwill revive it when came inpowers,” Siraj said andadded that previous rulershad been running the stateunder the US policies.

He said that friendly rela-tions with the Islamic worldwould be established whileefforts would also be madefor a single currency in theIslamic world. The JI leadersaid the JI was determined toestablish ‘khilafat-e-Rashida’rule in Pakistan so that peoplecould get easy and cheapjustice. He said a micro fi-

nancing scheme for youthhad been planned to providethem interest free loans forsmall projects. He said thatsports stadium would also beconstructed to engage youthin healthy activities.

Accusing the ANP andPPP he said that roads,bridges, schools and col-leges were left on the mercyof Allah because no onewanted to resolve people’sproblems. He said the ANPled provincial governmentbadly failed to restore peacein the region and that waswhy the then chief ministerAmeer Haider Khan Hoti had

been running his electioncampaign secretly.

“We will overcome thepower crisis and provide freeeducation and health facili-ties, drinking water and elec-tricity to each house in DirLower if elected,” Mr Haqsaid, adding that work onMayar Asmar (Afghanistan),Balambat Irrigation Schemeand construction of threestadiums in Jandol would beresumed. Earlier workers ofthe JI from Munda, SamarBagh and Maskini whilewaving party flags marchedon the roads and reached theMayar Khwar in procession.

JI asks US military to stay away from Pak politics

ANP candidateescapes firing

attack in MangoraSWAT—Another Awami Na-tional Party candidate for pro-vincial assembly seat in com-ing election escaped terror at-tack in Mangora on Wednes-day, officials said. Wajid AliKhan, ANP candidate contest-ing election from PK-80 con-stituency, was attacked whenunknown gunmen opened fireat his campaign office inMangora city, local police saidadding the ANP leader who isformer provincial minister es-caped the attack.

ANP is among three left-ist parties which were threat-ened and have been attackedby terrorists. Several deadlyblasts have occurred in theKP province recently, killingANP workers. Earlier onMonday, a suicide bomberkilled at least eight peopleand wounded 45 other whenhe rammed his motorcycleinto a bus on University roadnear Azam Tower inPeshawar.

As general elections creepclose, militants boosted theirattacks on political leadersand workers in three prov-inces where dozens ofpeoples including electioncandidates have been killedin targeted attacks.—Online

GUL HAMAAD FAROOQI

CHITRAL—One hundred andtwo border police were com-pulsory retired from govern-ment service with effect fromApril 3, 2013, and some 15 bor-der police staff belonging toKalash community were alsoaffected by this decision ofprovincial government. Hav-ing unique culture of the worldKalash people attract worldtourists but personally theyare leading very miserable life.An old lady from Kalash com-munity at Birir village, DinarBibi, told Pakistan Observerthat they have no source ofincome except employment inborder police or civil forces.

During visit to houses ofthese 15 affected Kalash staffof border police this scribefound their children facingstarvation and mostly getnothing to eat or to continuetheir education because ofstoppage of salaries of their

fathers. Their family memberstold this scribe that they weresacked by the provincial gov-ernment but they were not in-formed timely by the thendeputy commissioner ofChitral Rahmatullah Wazir todo something for their jobs.An affected sepoy Sher Azamshowed some documents tothis scribe that they were al-lowed by States and FrontierRegions Ministry to drawpolice pay scale and otherbenefits on their transfer tofederal government in the yearof 1976 but they were still de-prived of their genuine right.

Most of Kalash (Non-Muslim minority) people de-pend upon border police em-ployment and gain their live-lihood. Subedar Nasrullahsaid that staff serving in po-lice and other departmentshave the benefit to employeetheir sons on their quota butthese 102 border police staffwere not given any benefit to

recruit their sons in borderpolice as their substitute. Re-tired Havaldar Marik kalashsaid that they were living infar flung and remote localitiesof Birir, Rumbor andBumborate where there is nofacilities and no other sourceof income except keepingcattle and serving in borderpolice and civil forces butwere compulsory retired andtheir livelihood was snatched.

Some old women said thatthey were facing great prob-lems and thier children werealso suffering from starvationand mostly eat dry bread with-out any other thing. They saidthat a few years back a Greekvolunteer was kidnapped byTaliban who was supportingKalash community and afterthat no European donor cameback to the valley. It meansthat our border needs morestaff to be deployed to pro-tect them from Afghan Talibanand invaders, she added.

Reinstatement of sacked KalashBorder Police demanded

Photographyworkshop

SWAT—A one-day trainingworkshop on photographyheld here on Wednesday atthe University of Swat forstudents of Journalism andMass Communication. Theworkshop, organized by theDepartment of Journalismand Mass CommunicationSwat University, was con-ducted by a trainer fromPeshawar.—APP

Kayani deepens nation’sfaith in democracy

IN his one of the most inspiring speeches on Tuesday on the occasionof Martyrs Day, Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani touchedupon a number of critical and fundamental issues and conveyed cat-

egorical messages all around that can be construed as pearl of wisdombecause of their far-reaching importance. Apart from relaying signalsthat his institution wanted to transmit to different directions, he also madestatements that the nation wanted to hear from him.

It was necessarily a defence related gathering and that is why theCOAS thought it appropriate not only to boost morale of those who sac-rificed their kiths and kins for the sake of national defence and reiteratedthe oft-repeated resolve to defend the motherland at all costs but alsoemphasized the need to thwart designs of internal and external enemiesof the country through collective efforts. The resolve to fight out terror tothe end would surely convey a clear cut message to militants and thoseharbouring them that they will ultimately have to accept the writ of thestate. But the most striking feature of the speech of General Kayanirelated to elections and democracy, a theme on which he dwelt com-paratively at length and he tried to set things in their right perspective.General elections are a few days ahead but unfortunately still attemptsare being made by some circles and quarters to create confusion whetheror not these would ultimately be held and that is why the categoricalassurance of the Army Chief that elections would be held on May 11and that the Army would extend all possible assistance to ensure theirconduct in free, fair and peaceful manner has widely been hailed bypeople of Pakistan. This, coupled with Tuesday’s reiteration by ChiefJustice of Pakistan Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary that pollswon’t be delayed come what may would surely assuage apprehensionsand fears in this regard and throw a pall of ice on those who are stillconspiring to derail the democratic process. Similarly, his utterances ofsupport for the democratic process are not hollow words as during thelast five years he proved his credentials in this regard by conveyingsubtle message on different occasions that the chapter of interruptionsand interventions is closed. However, General Kayani is perfectly rightwhen he cautions politicians that mere retribution would not end thesaga of hide and seek between democracy and dictatorship until and un-less democracy delivers as per expectations of the masses.

Aren’t candidatesover-spending?

THERE can be no two opinions that public meetings, rallies, posters,banners, loudspeaker, and slogans are beauty of the electioneering

and play an important part in motivating people especially those sittingon edges to make a final choice. All this has to happen within the limitsimposed by the law but regrettably even a cursory look would reveal thatthe rules and code of conduct are being flouted brazenly by parties andcandidates.

The restrictions imposed by the law are not without justificationas the objective is to contain the election expenses so that ordinarypeople could also contest polls. But the way the electioneering is be-ing done by candidates and parties even during these elections makesmockery of the law and the code and conveys a clear message thatcontesting election is a luxury that only wealthy people can afford. Ifother violations are set aside and attention is focused on media cam-paign by some parties and candidates, it would make obvious thatthey are spending much more than allowed by the law. Party ads arerun countless times daily on different channels while full page colouradvertisements of some parties almost regularly appear in newspa-pers. Similarly, posters and banners more than the prescribed sizeand number are seen on highways, roads and even streets of constitu-encies besides party flags and hoardings. It seems that the ElectionCommission is enjoying slumber after issuing the code.

China focuses Ladakhin right perspective

SITUATION on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between China andIndia witnessed some flaring up of tension in the last couple of weeks

as New Delhi accused the Peoples Liberation Army of sneaking into theIndian side by nineteen kilometres and setting up camps in Daulat BegOldi forward sector in Ladakh region. On the other hand the ChineseMinistry of National Defence has stated that media reports of Chineseborder troops, military planes and helicopters crossing the Line of ActualControl into Indian side are not true.

The Chinese spokesperson said their border defence troops alwaysstrictly abide by the relevant agreements reached by the two govern-ments and are committed to safeguarding peace and tranquillity in theborder area between China and India. India raised the alarm bell lastmonth by claiming that the Chinese troops established posts inside itsterritory while China says the territory belongs to it. The area is one ofthe issues which are unsettled in this region and the claimants have diver-gent views. Ladakh has a strategic value and on the face of it China hasadopted the right approach by asserting its control and fluttering the ban-ner that reads, “ You are in Chinese side”. Pakistan too, in a sense, isconcerned because the Silk Route passed through this area in the oldtimes. There exists a wide gap between India and China over the borderissue and their interpretations of where the Line of Actual Control liesstill differ. We hope that the two countries and the world will see theissue in the right perspective and every effort is made to resolve the bor-der issue through peaceful means as tension with all the dangers of aflare up is not in the interest of the two countries and the region.

Enemies of democracy

Knowledge is themother of all virtue;all vice proceedsfrom ignorance.

Pakistan’sdangerous

polls

While analysts are speculating that the forthcoming parliamentary elec-

tions in Pakistan will be a gamechanger, there are forces at worktrying to coerce people into stay-ing at home on the day of the polls.The electioneering efforts of ma-jor political parties — the PakistanPeople’s Party, Muttahida QaumiMovement and Awami NationalParty—have been targeted by ter-rorism in recent weeks. Every day,the Taliban, determined to derailupcoming elections, are bombingoffices and conventions of politi-cal parties and attacking politiciansin Karachi, Quetta and Peshawar.

Their assault has been brazenand consistent, and have broughtlife in the country’s busy commer-cial hub, Karachi, to a near stand-still. At the turn of a major historicevent in Pakistan’s history — theunprecedented completion of ten-ure by a democratic government —the attacks on representatives of de-mocracy show the tightening gripof extremism in the country. Per-sistent attacks by militants duringelection period is a new phenom-enon in Pakistan and bears a dis-turbing similarity to elections inAfghanistan, where forthcomingpresidential elections are bound toface a formidable challenge by theever-burgeoning militancy. Butperhaps even more disturbing thanthis offensive of bombs and bullets,is the fact that political parties arenot making a concerted effort tocondemn this assault on democraticpolitics. For once, Pakistan’s po-litical parties should momentarilyforget their myriad ideological dif-ference, and collectively condemnthe militants. At this critical pointin time, Pakistan’s political forcesshould be united in declaringTaleban pariahs, who have no placein the country’s future. The reli-gious parties and influential reli-gious leaders must participate inthis endeavour, especially sincehundreds of clerics have declareda fatwa making voting a religiousobligation. If these attacks by mili-tants are not vociferously con-demned, it will only adversely af-fect voter turnout on polling day.Pakistanis, especially the younglot, are desperate to cast their votesand make a change. And it wouldbe most unfortunate if these das-tardly attacks result in a low voterturnout. — Khaleej Times

*****

US Afghanpolicy

The news that the US CentralIntelligence Agency (CIA)“allegedly” sent millions of

dollars to Afghanistan’s PresidentHamid Karzai as a way to influ-ence him is not surprising for anumber of reasons. First, the UShas been known to lean on briberyin the past. Who can forget the closerelationship it enjoyed with theMujahideen in Afghanistan? Sec-ond, Karzai was handpicked by theGeorge W. Bush administration tolead Afghanistan just as the ‘waron terror’ was being formulated inWashington.

However, the manner in whichthis is being carried out is straightout of a Hollywood movie:Monthly cash payments packagedin suitcases, backpacks and evenplastic bags! Afghanistan is deal-ing with big challenges, corruptionbeing one of the main ones. Thatthe CIA contributed to this prob-lem, thereby empowering warlords,while the US government has goneto great lengths to portray itself asKabul’s biggest supporter is revolt-ing. If the CIA thought they couldwin support against the Taliban thisway they were mistaken. Fast for-ward to today and the US is meet-ing the Taliban to try and come upwith an agreement that will containthe level of damage done to itsreputation internationally as it pre-pares for its 2014 exit. The ques-tion must be asked: Why does theCIA feel the need to bribe Karzaiif it was there to help Afghanistanget back on its feet and protect itfrom extremism? America’s focusshould have been on security andreconstruction, using a comprehen-sive strategy, not bribery. There’sgot to be a policy re-evaluation andthe US government must respondto this immediately. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

—Proverb

India’s unabated belligerenceforced both civil and militaryregimes to remain India focused

and to turn Pakistan into a securitystate. It in turn retarded economic anddemocratic growth. National securityand unresolved Kashmir dispute be-ing of prime concern enabled themilitary to maintain a domineeringposition even when it was not inpower. The civil government wasrestrained from crossing the redlines drawn by GHQ. This unwrit-ten restriction motivated by na-tional interests irked the civil lead-ership when in power. Sense ofunease and irritation among thecivil elite led to a cold war betweenthe civil and the military. This con-trolled exasperation at times spoiledcivil-military relations.

Failure of successive civil re-gimes coupled with security con-cerns forced or tempted the militaryto step in and rule for long years tocleanse the mess left behind by thecivil government. The politicians inopposition after failing to bringdown the ruling civil governmentcoaxed and provoked the ArmyChief to takeover, assuring him theirfull support in dethroning the electedgovernment. They have traditionallydistributed sweets on the fall ofdemocratic government.

The military regimes did im-prove the economy, maintained sem-blance of order and speeded up de-velopment works because of rela-tively better governance and finan-cial management, but impededgrowth of democratic institutions.

Army’s obsession with conventional wars

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Sunday Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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

Can Pakistan army give up itsobsession with the conventional wars? I ask this ques-

tion because I feel that unless thishappens the State will never be ableto spare and divert the much neededfunds and resources to combat theever growing internal insecuritythreats. Yet I know this can neverhappen and when it cannot it defi-nitely merits an explanation. Tobegin with there is no doubt thatIndia wants to see a stable anddemocratic Pakistan. But not a Pa-kistan that is under its military con-trol. To achieve this aim it wantsPakistan army first to lose its abil-ity to influence the national politics.The Indians have not forgotten howPakistan army’s surrender in 1971war contributed to the loss of itsstatus and prestige. They also re-member how from the ashes of1971 surrender emerged a strongpolitical leader, Zulfiqar Ali Bhuttowho for the first time subjugated themilitary high command and con-trolled the Pakistani military.Though temporarily but militaryduring that period was subordinatedto civilian authority. It is with sucha Pakistan, in which a military nomore promotes plans and executesanti-Indian policies and a civiliangovernment that accepts India asregional hegemony that India wantsto conduct business with.

India wants to execute thesame old paradigm today that itexecuted in 1971 almost under thefamiliar setting. Pakistan armyforced to fight its own people, thusdestined to disintegrate and

As long as the military rulerruled the country without ac-quiring the services of politi-cians, output remained atpeak. In its bid to acquire le-gitimacy by giving a façadeof democracy, each military

ruler inducted the same lot of con-demned politicians in his govern-ment. The mix whitewashed what-ever achievements were made andbrought bad name to the Army.

The PML-N blames GenMusharraf for inflicting a severe blowto the burgeoning democracy. It for-gets that Nawaz Sharif had sacked GenKaramat on flimsy grounds and by-passing Gen Ali Kuli Khan, appointedMusharraf as his successor. Instead ofsacking him when he was in a weakposition after Kargil conflict, he retiredhim when he was strong. Nawaz alsoforgets that Musharraf was fully sup-ported by PML-Q led coalition con-sisting MQM, ANP and MMA from2002 till end 2007. He was allowed tohold two portfolios of President andCOAS. Even Imran Khan supportedhim till 2002. Benazir struck a secreta power sharing deal with Musharrafin July 2007 which enabled her andher cronies in exile to return home.

The secret deal was inked twomonths after the Charter of Democ-racy was signed by Benazir andNawaz Sharif in which the foremostpoint of agreement was never to in-vite Army generals to takeover. Butfor infamous NRO issued byMusharraf, Benazir and otherscouldn’t have returned to Pakistan.PPP returned the favor by lettingMusharraf win 2nd term on 6 Octo-ber 2007, but once it gained power, itjoined hands with PML-N to unseathim in August 2008 and allowed himto go in exile with full honor. Nowwhen he returned to take part in elec-tions, the PPP has joined hands withthose wanting his trial under Article

6. After seeing the poor governanceand record breaking corruption of thelast government, it has now been es-tablished that politicians and notArmy are the biggest enemies of de-mocracy. The Army leadership main-tains that the Army seized power onlywhen the country got derailed andeach time the Army took over thereins it put the country back on therails. The blame game continues evenwhen the Army under Gen Kayanishowed exceptional restraint and re-fused to takeover when huge callswere made repeatedly urging him tofree the people from the clutches ofparasitic rulers and save the countryfrom getting ruined.

Reportedly, ATC Judge KausarAbbas Zaidi who cancelled pre-arrestbail of Musharraf is brother of Captretired Mansur Zaidi, who was courtmartialed by Gen Musharraf. Mansurwas caught running a security com-pany in Islamabad in 2008 and sup-plying weapons to Blackwater. An-other revelation that has come to lightis that Judge Shaukat Aziz Siddiquiwho cancelled Musharraf’s bail wasa Mutahida Majlis Amal candidate in2002 elections and a lawyer of LalMasjid case. Supporters of Musharrafare saying that the judiciary has be-come vindictive and is bent uponpunishing him and are egging on GenAshfaq Kayani to step forward andsave ex Army chief from humiliation.

The last PPP regime managed topull on with Gen Kayani since helent full support to democracy andshowed no Bonaparte’s tendencies.Finding him reliable he was giventhree-year extension to secure itsfive-year tenure. Notwithstandingseveral frictions which erupted fromtime to time on national securitymatters, a near breaking pointreached after the memo scandal in2011 took an ugly turn. The head-

long clash averted due to PMGilani’s retreat. Gen Kayani has seta good precedence of keeping themilitary detached from politics andkeeping it supportive of democracy.Had he intervened and sacked thePPP regime, there would have beenhuge rejoicing and Kayani wouldhave been declared a hero. How-ever, within six months situationwould have reversed. The PPPwould have regained sympathies ofthe people by acting as a politicalmartyr and Kayani branded as ausurper and enemy of democracy.He did well to let them stew in theirown juice and let the people to de-cide the true worth of politicians.

Hopefully this hands-off tradi-tion will be maintained in future aswell. Likewise, the politiciansshould also show greater sense ofresponsibility by not inviting theArmy to takeover or maligning theArmy as a habit to cover their ownfailings. Both the military and civilleadership should develop betterunderstanding and try to improvecivil-military relations andstrengthen democratic institutions.This can happen only when thepoliticians recognize their own fail-ings and carryout self-correctionand start behaving more maturelyrather than continuing to parrothackneyed themes and portrayingmilitary rulers in poor light andblaming them for every wrong thattakes place. Bureaucracy which hasremained part of the problem alsoneeds to mend its ways. Media canplay a constructive role in harmo-nizing civil-military relations.Lastly, now that Musharraf hascomeback at his own despite advicegiven to him by his advisers andEstablishment, and is out of politi-cal race, justice demands that heshould be given fair trial.

crumble as thepeople revoltagainst it as theydid in East Paki-stan. In time thearmy leadershipis visualized to

lose the unity, solidarity and cohe-sion that make it a disciplined andwell-organized and potent force.

Indian military options are fo-cused today only on imposing a slowand painful defeat on Pakistan armyby getting it embroiled in fighting itsown people not only in the borderlands of Afghanistan but in settledurban areas like Karachi andPeshawar where the growing inse-curity and instability calls for it tobe deployed in aid of civil power. ThePakistan army on its part having paidthe cost of executing military opera-tions against its own people in1971,a huge cost of losing half the coun-try, is not likely to implement anysuch agenda that puts to risk its abil-ity to remain a potent force and si-multaneously put up an able defenseon its eastern frontier. With such amilitary mindset the western frontierwill continue to bleed and despite theloss of armed forces personnel andinnocent civilians at the hands of vio-lent and extremists ant-state elementsthe army it seems will not relent.Meaning, it will not fight its ownpeople and it will not fight on bothexternal as well as internal front.

Since it means putting every-thing down to ashes, Pakistan andIndia will never use nuclear weap-ons. So people who imagine that anuclear Pakistan is a powerful Paki-stan are misguided. Nuclear weap-ons are not weapons of war. They areonly weapons of deterrence and wehave seen how despite being nucleararmed States both countries had alimited confrontation in Kargil in1999 under a nuclear umbrella. If this

could happen in the past there are noreasons to believe why it cannot hap-pen in the future. It is therefore ourconventional capability against Indiathat makes us less or more powerful.

In 2002 Pakistan through its headof State committed to India that it willnot allow its territory to be used forterrorist attacks against it. StillMumbai attacks happened in 2008.India reacted by warning the Paki-stani government that if it allows anyfurther attacks on India to be launchedfrom its soil, it will retaliate directlyagainst Pakistan. Why than should thearmy not ensure conventional mili-tary balance and readiness at all timeswhen it is under such a threat fromits powerful neighbor. Besides, Indiacan also implicate Pakistan for anyindependent and unilateral terroristaction carried out on Indian Territoryby terrorists who may have nothingto do with the state of Pakistan.

All these arguments lend me to be-lieve how vulnerable we are as a State.India is relentless in pursuing and en-hancing its conventional military ca-pability. Pakistan has little choice butto match each Indian capability withits own at best as it can. It is also theIndian factor that largely prevents Pa-kistan army to comprehensively knockout the terrorist organizations operat-ing in Pakistan and which have thecapability to act against Indian inter-est without the knowledge of the Stateof Pakistan. Unless the Pakistan armygets the right signals from India it can-not de-commission its India centricagenda and replace it with an anti-ter-rorist agenda the beneficiary of whichwill not only be the State of Pakistanbut India ,the whole region and theworld at large.

The net result of this analysis isthat when India is unable to reducethe level of threat with which it con-fronts the Pakistan army on its east-ern front it leaves it with limited or

no choice to divert the military re-sources to meet the internal threat.Leaving little possibility of re-ori-entation of army defined nationalsecurity policies or the re-configu-ration and re-deployment of Paki-stan army to meet any other threatother than the major conventionalthreat on its western front.

India must realize that no demo-cratic government in Pakistan nomatter how strong it may be will beable to take a position at tangent withthe position of the army on the se-curity challenges that confront theState. India will have to indulge in ameaningful and result oriented peaceinitiative/dialogue with Pakistan. Ifit hopes to create an East Pakistanlike situation and create circum-stances for Pakistan army to gradu-ally lose popular public support andcave in under the enormity of inter-nal security problems than this is notlikely to happen. Both the politicaland military elite of the country willnot allow the State’s security and de-fence to be without a conventionalmilitary shield. And so will mountthe country’s defence expendituresand its efforts of enlarging and en-hancing its conventional war fight-ing capabilities against India.

The continuity of the status quowill only serve the agenda of the ter-rorists and their ever expanding net-works. In the years ahead both coun-tries may have mighty standingarmies to boost about but little to of-fer to the millions of poor and suffer-ing people in their respective coun-tries. One can only hope that the nextdemocratically elected government inPakistan can draw favourable re-sponse from their Indian counter-parts. The chances of which predict-ably seem to be very bleak.—The writer, a retd Army officer,is doing PhD in civil-militaryrelations from KU.

Asif Haroon RajaEmail: asifharoon7751@yahoo.com

Muhammad Ali EhsanEmail: muhammadaliehsan1@hotmail.com

Voice of the People

Need of asociologistFAHIM HUSSAIN

Today we say about our institutionsand foundations that they are bad,not working well, corrupt or not ef-fective to cater people needs. Apartfrom that we took many things fromwestern countries, trying to adoptthem as wardrobe style, songs andmany physical things. From theseadaptations we forget one thing toadapt or didn’t made our institutionsstrong by one major point.

That major point is the need ofa sociologist in every institutionstarting from it’s establishment toit’s maintenance. The sociologistwill see the matter from each aspectand mainly work for a society bywhich every department will be atit’s ease and working efficiently. wewill not face institution failures andwill build a better society.—Karachi

Female educationand prosperity

SARFARAZ SAMAD

Gender inequality in education isextreme. Girls are less likely to ac-cess school, to remain in school ex-cel achieve in education. Educationhelps men and women claim theirrights and realize their potential inthe economic, political and socialarenas. It is also the single mostpowerful way to lift people out ofpoverty. Education plays a particu-larly important role as a foundationfor girls ’ development towardsadult life.

Everybody has the right to edu-cation, which has been recognizedsince the Universal Declaration ofHuman Rights (UDHR) in 1948.The right to free and compulsoryprimary education, without dis-crimination and of good quality, hasbeen reaffirmed in all major inter-national human rights conventions.There are 12 million school - agechildren in Pakistan who have neverbeen to school, two-thirds of whomare girls. Many view Pakistan’s edu-cation crisis through the prism ofdeep-rooted cultural hostility towardeducating girls – an analysis that isat best an oversimplification.

In education lies the redemptionof a nation and the entire interna-tional community. There is alwaysopportunity for a new start and totake this new start why not take aside with Girls Education, Islamdoes not restrict education to fe-males. Islam is a flexible religionand it allows equal opportunities ofeducation to both sexes. The needis to interpret it in its real essence.Last but not the least, no society canprogress by restricting more thanhalf of its population in the abyss ofignorance and a maze of undue lim-its. Napoleon once said about therole of mothers in building processof a nation that, “ Give me the bestmothers, I will give you the bestnation.”—Karachi

Law abidinglawyers

COL RIAZ JAFRI (RETD)

The lawyers did wise in remainingpeaceful and not taking the law intheir own hand unlike the previousoccasions on the appearance of Gen-eral Pervez Musharraf (Retd) in theATC on April 26th. Some of theyounger and aggressive black coatshad designs to avenge themselvesand teach the police and Rangers alesson for the treatment meted outto them a day earlier. On the otherhand, the law enforcing agencies tooexpecting the reprisal had alsoequipped themselves fully and wereprepared mentally to face the worst.Any small provocation from thelawyers would have triggered a con-flagration of the worst sorts andmost probably to the detriment ofthe lawyers only.

The lawyers, who were beingviewed as the ‘untouchables’ by thejudiciary had lost much of the sym-pathies of the ordinary citizen for

The pot calling the kettle blackALI ASHRAF KHAN

There is a lot of accusation going on against Syria alleged to have used chemical weapons whilefighting a foreign sponsored insurgency against the government of Bashar al Assad. Even before

having any proof for their allegations Western media have actually already made up their opinionand are starting a new anti-Syrian wave of propaganda against the elected government of Syria. Theyseem to have forgotten or think that we have forgotten that it was the US and the West which hadgiven chemical weapons to Saddam Hussein in Iraq so they can use them against Iran in a war thatkilled thousands of Muslims on both sides and that suited nobody else than the US in their drive forhold over oil resources. Never mind Iraq, it was the US themselves who used chemical and biologicalweapons in their imperialist war in Vietnam killing and maiming hundreds of thousands, destroyingagricultural land and nature in Vietnam at large few decades back, no case of war crime or genocidewas started against US till date? It was neither Syria nor Iraq who developed chemical weapons andused them but the West, string from Hitler in Germany and now the US has inherited this type ofwarfare and developed it to new heights. There should be an outcry against this kind of westernhypocrisy; we should not take these lies silently—Karachi

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—Editor

their mafia like high handedness onvarious occasions in the courts allover Pakistan. They as such did wisein not creating the situation and thusa voided the thrashing and the dam-age to their reputation from the wellprepared and determined law enforc-ers. The HCBA President very pru-dently assured the media that the law-yers were the law abiders and not thelaw breakers. It is hoped that the ‘lawabiders’ would always keep the abovein mind and never in future take thelaw in their own hands.—Rawalpindi

Womenprisoners’ plight

RAJA GHAZANFAR ALI

I have just read a most serious typereport of HRCP (Humane RightCommission of Pakistan) about mostpitiable position of women prisonersin an English daily dated 24-04-2013which shocked me very badly. TheHRCP report has stated that there arearound 1100 women prisoners in allthe Pakistan jails throughout thecountry and they are not being treatedwell in the jails Management staff andwomen prisoners are living there inmost pitiable position. There is nolady doctor in the Lahore womenjails. Similarly, there is no separatesection or juvenile jails for the teen-aged and guiltless girls.

There is no proper toilets andbath rooms in the women jails. It isa matter of great surprise that theheight of walls of the bathrooms arehardly three to four feets. There isalso not existed any hairdresser shopfor women prisoners hairdressingand maid servant for ladies help ser-vices. There is no proper library andreading rooms and TV rooms etc.Only reading of Islamic books cancreate many changes, improvingcharacters of women prisoners. Dur-ing hot season, there is no arrange-ment of generators in the jails andmost women prisoners faint due tosuffocation.

It is requested that separate jailsshould be constructed in Karachi,Hyderabad, Sukkur. Larkana, Quetta,Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalpur,Multan, Sargodha. Sahiwal, Lahore,Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Peshawar,Mianwali for the women prisonersunder women police jailers and fullhuman rights should be provided toall women prisoners so that two mainaims should be achieved ie the im-proving character of women prison-ers and 2)- immediate decision of thecases of crimes against them forawarding immediate sentences tothem according to laws and proce-dures.

It is also advised that a commit-tee of well-educated women shouldbe constituted for the surprised check-ing of the women jails and the re-dressing genuine types of grievances/problems at the spot. The jail staffshould be shuffled every three monthsby transferring them to others jails.The women prisoners should kept inthe nearest jails from their homes.

It is also requested that a numberof steps should be introduced in thewomen jails for the purpose of im-proving their characters and for mak-ing them good women citizens. Aspecial committee will be formed ofold retired Judges and senior advo-cate for the finalization of all longpending cases of the women prison-ers and in future no more than onehundred prisoners should be kept injails at a one time.—Rawalpindi

Labour DayARSHMAN NASEER

Every year on May 1, people acrossthe world, including Pakistan cel-ebrate Labour Day as a public holi-day. A few arrange get-togethers toenjoy the much needed holidaywhile others spend it either watch-ing TV, playing games or sleepingin all day. The idea is to gain as muchfrom this day as one can – for one-self. But, what no one does is thinkabout what this day truly stands for.Has any of us done something ofvalue for the labour class or tried toresolve their problems? There arecountless problems which are beingfaced by our labourers such as pov-erty, illiteracy, food and water cri-

Obama plays for time to avoid ‘red line’

Barack Obama really, reallydoes not want to get tangledup in Syria. For almost a year,

Obama’s secretaries of State — firstHillary Rodham Clinton, now JohnKerry — have pressed the presidentfor more aid to the insurgents whoare fighting to overthrow SyrianPresident Bashar Assad.

Obama and his White Houseaides have resisted, fearing a slip-pery slope that would lead inexora-bly to US military intervention andthe kind of messy Middle Easternwar he campaigned against in 2008.But Obama has also insisted thereis a “red line” that the Syrian regimemust not cross: chemical weapons.If Assad used nerve gas or otherchemical agents, the president saidbluntly last year, that would be “agame-changer.”

We are about to find out if thepresident meant what he said. It ap-pears certain that Assad’s forceshave used nerve gas on his oppo-nents. The information comes fromseveral sources, and the Israelis, theBritish, the French and the Demo-

cratic head of the Senate IntelligenceCommittee, Senator DianneFeinstein (D-Calif.) all think the redline has been crossed.

But Obama has reacted by blur-ring the line he drew. The test, hesaid last week, is whether Syria hasengaged in “the systematic use ofchemical weapons,” not just one ortwo incidents that might be acciden-tal. And even if that line has beencrossed, it is not clear what theUnited States will do. “By game-changer,” he said Tuesday, “I meanthat we would have to rethink therange of options that are availableto us.”

In the face of such vague warn-ings, it’s no wonder that Assad, whois in a fight for his life, decided totest the red line’s limits. His forcesused chemical weapons in smallamounts in two or three places —just enough to terrorize his enemies,deter fence-sitters from joining therebel camp and see how Obamawould react. So far, the president isplaying for time. But pressure isbuilding on him to act more force-fully — exactly the outcome hehoped to avoid. “It’s not just aboutSyria,” one official noted. “Iran iswatching to see what happens to a

regime that crosses one of our redlines. North Korea is watching.Everybody’s watching.”

Obama has bought time by cit-ing George W. Bush’s unhappy ex-perience with evidence of weaponsof mass destruction in Iraq. Thistime, he insists, we have to be cer-tain, so he’s demanding that Syriaallow United Nations arms inspec-tors into the country to look for evi-dence of chemical weapons. He’salso asking Russia, Syria’s mostpowerful ally, to lean on Assad tocut it out.

Assad, if he’s smart, will stopusing nerve gas on the battlefield, atleast for a while. But the rebels aremounting increasingly effective at-tacks in Syria’s capital, Damascus,and if Assad’s regime fears it couldlose the capital city, the chemicalweapons may come out again.

In his news conference Tuesday,Obama acknowledged that stayingout of the conflict was not an avail-able option. “We are already deeplyinvested in trying to find a solutionhere,” he said. “We already aredeeply engaged,” he added, referringto the non-lethal aid, training and in-telligence the United States has beensupplying to rebel groups.

Doyle McManus

Views From Abroad

French economy in crisis

As the Euro Zone crisis continue unabated and one afterother the member countries

continue to fall victim to this never-ending meltdown, the list is gettinglonger and longer and deeper anddeeper. This time it is the Frencheconomy which is facing a majorchallenge and the on-going crisishave created internal blocks withinthe Zone-one led by Germany andthe other by Germany, mainly dueto currency policies. Investor confi-dence was hit by news that reces-sion in the 17-nation Eurozone deep-ened sharply in the final deepenedsharply in the final three months of2012 as the debt crisis continued tosap growth.

The Eurozone economy shrank0.6 percent in the three months toDecember, while compared with acontraction of 0.1 percent in the pre-vious quarter, according to officialdata. In the second quarter of 2012,it contracted 0.2 percent, meaningthat the recession has now lastedthree quarters. The Eurozone hadmeanwhile registered zero growth in

the first quarter of last year. Ana-lysts said the latest figures wereworse than expected, with the ma-jor economies, including power-house Germany, also dragged down.

For 2012 as a whole, theEurozone economy contracted 0.5percent and the wider 27-memberEuropean Union by 0.3 percent. Fi-nance ministers and central bankersfrom the Group of 20 leading econo-mies who met in Tokyo recentlycame under attack, mostly fromEurope, over its monetary policy ofbig spending, which has pusheddown the yen. The Bank of Japan,under pressure from the new gov-ernment, last month unveiled a planfor unlimited monetary easing anda target for two percent inflation.

The moves, which had been ex-pected, added to the yen’s weaknessand sparked charges of manipulationfrom around the world and fuelledfears of a fresh currency war whererival nations drive down their cur-rencies to gain a trade advantage.Japan’s Asahi daily,reported that theG20 warned members of any com-petitive currency devaluations. WallStreet provided an anaemic lead,despite two giant mergers, includ-ing that of American Airlines and

US Airways to create the largestAmerican carrier. France is set torevise down its target for growth thisyear, Finance Minister PierreMoscovici signalled, recently. Buthe played down any extra austerityto meet deficit targets after theeconomy showed zero growth lastyear. And he alluded to a possibilitythat the European Union might allowFrance a delay on bringing down thedeficit. The economy shrank by 0.3percent in the fourth quarter of 2012and growth was zero for the wholeyear, data from the statistics instituteINSEE showed. Growth is critical tothe French economy because it raisestax revenues and reduces some wel-fare spending.

The latest data puts the govern-ment in a dilemma over a commit-ment to the European Union to cutits public deficit to within the ceil-ing of 3.0 percent of output this yearas the Eurozone, struggling as awhole with recession, fights its wayout of the debt crisis. The zerogrowth in France in 2012, as re-ported by the national statisticsagency INSEE is a sharp slowdownfrom growth of 1.7 percent in 2011.It scuttled France’s chances of meet-ing its target of reducing the public

deficit to 4.5 percent of gross do-mestic product in 2012, which wasbased on the economy growing by0.3 per cent, as well as throwinginto question the 2013 target ofreaching 3.0 per cent level that isthe allowed ceiling for Europeancountries.

Earlier this week, the indepen-dent public accounts court warnedthat the target for cutting the pub-lic deficit to 3.0 percent of outputwas unrealistic and also said thatthe government had to focus muchmore on cutting expenditure. Thegrowth figures for France contrastsomewhat with those for Germany,which has the biggest economy inEurope and is the main pillar withFrance of the Eurozone.

The ground realities, therefore,indicate tough, rough and bumpytimes in future-at least in the nearfuture for the French economy. Un-employment is likely to remainhigh and business confidence lowand consumer spending sub-dude.It all depends on the leaders andthe policies they pursue, which canpull France out of this quagmire.—The writer is former Director,Emigration & OverseasEmployment.

ses and so many others. A vast ma-jority of labourers and daily-wageworkers remain outside the field oflabour laws, which means that work-ers have no paid holidays, no jobsecurity, no medical coverage, nopension or provident fund, no limiton working hours and are paid noovertime. In Pakistan with all this,there is also an issue of child labour.Child labour in Pakistan is growingat a disturbing rate.

It is important to note that Paki-stan became a member of the Inter-national Labour Organization (ILO)right after its independence in 1947.However, there is not much changewhen I look at the present situation,there seem to be no labour laws’implementation. There should be in-ternational monitoring in the coun-try and people should be held ac-countable who use child labour andbonded labour. I know many peoplewho are working as labourers just fora small amount and they don’t haveeven one day off, because the daythey don’t work there is no food intheir house.—Via email

Curse of childlabourSIBTAIN ALI

God has given human beings the boonof wisdom and discretion to thinkupon the signs of the universe and todraw conclusions. That is the reasonwhy they disclose the hidden facts ofit and its structure and have made re-markable progress in many walks oflife. Children are the flowers ofheaven. They are the most beautifuland purest creation of God. Anyoneup to the age of 18 is a child and hisbasic right is to receive education andproper upbringing. Child Labour is aserious social problem within Paki-stan and is considered a violation ofhuman rights by the United Nations.Children are especially exploited inthe third world countries as they area cheap source of labour and Paki-stani children are used as labourersin the Sports Industry, Carpet Indus-try and the Footwear and in glasswareproduction.

According to the Federal Bureauof Statistics of Pakistan, 3.3 millionout of 40 million children are work-ing in various industries, althoughchild labour is strictly prohibited bylaw. The factors that generate childlabour within Pakistan are parentalpoverty and illiteracy; an irrespon-sible political system; social and eco-nomic pressures; lack of education.Social attitudes in Pakistan due towhich a child is considered an adultat quiet an early stage due to biologi-cal changes, also are a cause of ex-ploitation of children below 18 years.Poverty is a major social issue withinPakistan and as a result children aremade to work in various industriesin order to support their financiallypoor parents.

The status of the family directlyinfluences the choices available toa child and obviously if a family isextremely poor with comparativelyless resources then consequently,each member, be it a child or anadult will be required to work andbring in money in order to survive.Girls and boys are forced to workas domestic servants in the homesof the upper middle class or thericher elite. Thus class divisionsbecome more prominent with theexploitation of the poor by the richand this leads to an inequitable dis-tribution of wealth and income. Thefuture and progress of Pakistan de-pends on an educated and enlight-ened youth and if a child is notproperly socialized then he/she willnot be able to grow as confident andliterate Pakistani citizens. Pakistanneeds a strong government and po-litical structure to address the issueof child labour for its better future.—Karachi

The territorial issues and border conflicts with India, thesocio-economic differences

within the country, the struggle fora share of power between the prov-inces and the early death of thefounder of Pakistan Mohammad AliJinnah, are some of those realitieswhich not only politicized the policymaking elites and their willingnessin introducing the fair democraticprocedures but also encouraged thenon-democratic elements in thecountry including the army. Even af-ter 63 years, the country could notget cleaned from feudal, tribal,punchayt system and sectarian seg-regation. In this grim situation thepublic has been left untutored in thekind of vigilance usually needed tohold political leaders accountable.Pakistan failed to establish a stabledemocratic government due to con-stitutional conflict. Due to politicalinstability, Pakistan’s economic andsocial growth has been curtailed.

The root cause of Pakistan po-litical woes lies in its feudal and thewinner-take-all approach to govern-ing that has been practiced by suc-cessive civilian and military leaders.

The Muslim League that brought in-dependence to Pakistan, lacked in-ternal democracy. Once partition andstatehood had been achieved, pro-vincial and local political partiesconfined Muslim League just a pa-per-party. There were no oppositionparty to counter Muslim League ini-tially, but latter on, Muslim leagueitself was disappeared. Coupled withthe political legacy of MuslimLeague, the civil and military bu-reaucracy, that was of much impor-tance due to its scarce number,gained so much power that they de-pressed the political institution. Theconstitution-less 10 years-historyfrom 1947 to 1956-was an ill exer-cise of the political actors, whichinvoked the military to interfere inthe politics.

Absence of a complete consti-tution, allowed the peoples withpower to manipulate the politicaland constitutional institution, asthey wanted. Different powerfulcivil and military bureaucratsplayed blasphemy of constitution,parliament and political parties.Political parties in Pakistan are notworking fairly. The intra-party elec-tion is no to be seen. The leaders,consequently, are autocrats. Politi-cal parties are famous in the nameof leader of the parties. Personifi-cation has harmed extremely the

true essence of democracy. Thethird pillar of the state, the judiciaryhas also dual strategies all over thehistory. Mostly the role of the judi-ciary has been vulnerable. It hasalways provided a so-called legalway to the dictators to assume thepower. The constitution has beenabrogated many a time with thehelp of the judiciary. Beside the ju-diciary and Army’s role in politics,the intelligence agencies have be-come a major actor on the nationalpolitical scene. Military intelligenceand Inter-Services-Intelligence (ISI)are widely believed to have had amajor hand in shaping the candidatesand the choices available to votersat least since General Zia’s generalelection of 1985. In these situationhow a true democratic governmentwould be formed to realized thedreams of the great Quaid?

In addition to all above givenanti-democracy factors, the dynamicstructure of the state is also not inthe favour of democratic values tobe flourished. For most of its his-tory Pakistan has been divided intoprovinces drawn basically on ethniclines. Political loyalties and attitudehave a strong ethnic dimension tothem, and the central government’sdesires to manage Pakistan’s ethnicdiversity can have a major impacton resource allocation foreign policy

Political instability in Pakistan

A few weeks ago I watchedshocked as a traffic policeman who discharged his

duty in Mumbai, and booked anelected representative for rash driv-ing was beaten black and blue whenhe came to face the MLAs at thelegislature. Have we reached sucha state I wondered that our elected

representatives were above the truth,above the law?

I imagined a conversation withone of them: “Why are you fightingtruth?” I asked a member of the housesadly. “You are very limited in yourthinking!” said the member scorn-fully, “you say that we were wrongin beating up the policeman?

“Yes,” I whispered. “Based onwhat?” “Based on the law of theland!” “Aha!” “What?” I asked,“what?” “We are changing the law!”“That’s twisting the truth!” “Thetruth?” “Yes the truth!” “Isn’t the lawbased on truth?” “Yes,” I said. “So

we have decided to nudge the truthhere and there, to fit in with laws weare passing!” “No!” I shouted angrily.

The member of the house lookedat me, “You are angry?” “Yes,” Ishouted. “I will get you arrested!”“For getting angry?”

“You cannot be abusive to anelected member of the house!” “Isthat a law?” “We have passed it!” “Ihave a right to protest!” “Not any-more! We have removed that right!”I walked to the door and then turnedaround.

“I will fight this law in thecourts!” I shouted. “You can’t,” he

Everything legal..!

Indeed, the United States is al-ready providing non-lethal mili-tary supplies, training and intelli-gence to moderate factions amongthe rebels, plus millions of dollarsin humanitarian aid to Syrian refu-gees.

The administration’s hope isthat, over time, the Assad govern-ment will weaken, the moderaterebels will become stronger and theradical Islamist rebels of the NusraFront will diminish. That would al-low Obama to keep direct US mili-tary intervention to a minimum andto avoid putting US troops on theground, unless they’re needed tosecure Syria’s chemical weaponsstocks.

He has public opinion on hisside. A CBS News/New YorkTimes poll released Tuesday foundthat 62% of Americans think theUnited States bears no responsibil-ity for getting involved in the Syr-ian war. The president tends toagree with that, and he still hopesto avoid getting more deeplytangled in Syria. But a civil war ina country with chemical weaponsand three important US allies onits borders can’t be wished away.— Courtesy: Los Angeles Times

decision, and the game of politics.Another elements which has viti-ated the democracy in Pakistan isviolence in politics. The patiencerequire for a democratic system ishighly tacking in almost all the par-ties and theirs drivers. Democracyaccommodate the presence of dis-sent party. Democracy is the prod-uct of wishes of the people and notof the desires of an elite few. Butpolitical prayer of Pakistan couldnot do so. Illiterate voters, familyties a among politicians and feu-dalism has constrained democracyin Pakistan. Democracy can be re-vived in Pakistan by taking follow-ing steps. Reform the judiciary.Creation of an independent elec-tion commission. Internal partyelections.

Strengthen the free press. Cre-ation of more provinces. Don’t ne-glect provincial and local govern-ment. Implementation of the con-stitutions. Continuity of fair elec-tions. Protection of minorities andcivil liberties. The nation politi-cal parties should embrace a newspirit of co-operation and con-structive opposition, moving be-yond out dated confrontational,self-defeating street agitation,walk-outs and boycott politics toengage in vigorous political de-bates free of violence.

Yasmeen KanwalEmail: yasmeen.kanwal92@yahoo.com

said. “Why not?” I asked. “We havejust abolished all the courts! Thehouse is supreme! Tomorrow wewill abolish jails!” “This is illegal!”I whispered. “Come here,” said themember, “now open the new con-stitution we have redone for ourcountry! Open to page 52! Look forthe word you just said!” “Illegal!”I whispered, “its not there!”

“We banned the word yester-day in the house! Everything mydear man is legal in this country,everything, we are a free country,free from the law..!”—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

Rashid A MughalEmail: mughal_rashid@hotmail.com

knowledge of the authorities thenan inquiry is definitely needed.”

Sarabjit’s lawyer AwaisSheikh said he would file a freshpetition in Lahore High Court(LHC) seeking its permission toallow the Indian doctors to bepart of the medical board whichis treating Sarbjit Singh. Sarabjitremains in deep coma and doc-tors are not very hopeful abouthis survival.—INP

Sarabjit’s familyFrom Page 1

would further strengthen the bilat-eral military relations between thetwo brotherly countries. Pakistanand Malaysia have had alongstanding cooperation in theDefence sector. Such unique in-teractions between the two pro-fessional Naval Forces wouldalso develop understanding inestablishing a more secured andconducive maritime environ-ment that is essential for globalpeace and economics.—NNI

ordinary stations.Meanwhile Prime Minister

Justice (R) Mir Hazar KhanKhoso has decided to place theNational Crises ManagementCell (NCMC), presently workingunder the Ministry of Interior, atthe disposal of Election Commis-sion of Pakistan (ECP).—INP

Pak Navy shipFrom Page 1

port the right of the Pakistanipeople to participate fully in theelection of their representativesand their ability to fulfill theiraspirations for a peaceful, pros-perous, and democratic nation.

He said the United Stateslooks forward to witnessingtimely, transparent, free, and fairelections on May 11th. Theseelections will mark an importantdemocratic transition, a historicdevelopment of which the peopleof Pakistan can be very proud.He made it clear that they do notsupport any particular politicalparty or any individual candidate,and look forward to engaging thenext democratically elected Gov-ernment of Pakistan.

Asked about the spike in theviolence in the last few weeks,and whether people can go outwithout any fear and vote MrVentrell said the US in additionto condemning the violence sur-rounding the elections also urgesPakistanis to get out and vote andexpress their free will so that de-mocracy can prevail and thepeople’s voice can be heard.“We’re concerned about the vio-lence but we urge the electoralprocess to continue” he re-marked. —INP

US concernedFrom Page 1

ECP finalisesFrom Page 1

ISLAMABAD: PTI leader Makhdoom Javed Hashmi addressing a public meeting on Wednes-day. Dr Shahzad Waseem is also present.

LAHORE: Children taking bath in canal water to cool themselves off.

MADRID—Workers hit bylower living standards andrecord high unemploymentstaged May Day protests acrossEurope on Wednesday, hopingto persuade euro zone govern-ments of the case for easing aus-terity measures and boostinggrowth.

Thousands of protestersmarched in Madrid, snaking upthe Gran Via central shoppingstreet, waving flags and carry-ing placards reading “austerityruins and kills” and “reforms arerobbery”. “The future of Spainlooks terrible, we’re going back-wards with this government,”said former civil servant AliciaCandelas, 54, who has beenwithout a job for two years.

The Spanish economy hasshrunk for seven consecutivequarters, and unemploymentstands at a record 27 percent.There had “never been a May 1with more reason to take to thestreets”, said Candido Mendez,head of UGT, one of two mainunions that called on workersand the unemployed to joinmore than 80 demonstrationsacross the country.

Trains and ferries were can-celled in Greece, and bank andhospital staff walked off the jobafter the main public and privatesector unions there called a 24-hour strike, the latest in a stringof protests in a country in its sixthyear of recession. About 1,000police officers were deployed inAthens, but the demonstrationpassed off peacefully, with about5,000 striking workers, pension-ers and students marching to par-liament holding banners reading:“We won’t become slaves, taketo the streets!”.

Earlier, hundreds of protest-ers affiliated with the Commu-nist KKE party raised their arms

Thousands rally againstEuropean austerity on May Day

in a clenched fist salute onSyntagma Square, scene of vio-lent clashes between police andprotesters during previous pro-tests. “The economy won’t beresurrected by the bankruptbanks and the corrupt politicalsystem but by the workers andtheir fight,” Alexis Tsipras,leader of the anti-bailout Syrizaparty, told protesters.

“Our message today is veryclear: ‘Enough with these poli-cies which hurt people and makethe poor poorer,’” said IliasIliopoulos, general secretary ofpublic sector union ADEDY.Turnout in Greece was lowerthan last year when 100,000marched on Syntagma Square.The May 1 holiday falls a fewdays before Greek Orthodox Eas-ter, so public schools were shutand many workers have left forholidays.

Four heavily indebted eurozone countries - Greece, Ire-land, Portugal and Cyprus -have received sovereign bail-outs. With little or no sign ofgrowth in the euro zone, theEuropean Central Bank is ex-pected to cut interest rates to arecord low 0.5 percent at itspolicy meeting on Thursday.

But analysts say that alonewill do little to lift the euro zoneout of recession, and severalgovernments are now openlydiscussing policies to try toboost growth. Italy’s new PrimeMinister Enrico Letta told Ger-many on Tuesday that his gov-ernment would meet its budgetcommitments but expected Eu-rope to drop its austerity mantraand do more to lift growth.

German Chancellor AngelaMerkel, seen by many in south-ern Europe as the champion ofthe euro zone’s belt-tighteningapproach, struck a conciliatory

tone, saying “budget consolida-tion and growth need not be con-tradictory”. Tens of thousandsmarched in Italy’s major citiesto demand government action totackle unemployment - at 11.5percent overall and 40 percentamong the young - and an endto austerity and tax evasion.Most marches were peaceful,but demonstrators in Turin threwhollowed eggs filled with blackpaint at police.

Pope Francis made a MayDay appeal for governments totackle unemployment, as “workis fundamental to the dignity ofa person”. “I think of how many,and not just young people, areunemployed, many times due toa purely economic conception ofsociety, which seeks selfishprofit, beyond the parameters ofsocial justice,” he told tens ofthousands of people packed intoSt. Peter’s Square for his weeklygeneral audience.

Traditional May Daymarches were also taking placeoutside the euro zone. In Rus-sia, about 1.5 million peoplewere expected to take part inparades, a fraction of the mil-lions that used to march in So-viet times. In Istanbul, Turkishriot police fired water cannonand tear gas to disperse crowdsgathering for a rally on what hasbecome a traditional labour holi-day. A Reuters photographersaid at least six people were in-jured in the clashes.

Thousands of police werestationed across the city centre toblock access to the main Taksimsquare. Authorities often useforce to prevent the rally in thecity centre, having this year de-nied trade unions permission tomarch on Taksim, saying con-struction work there would makeit too dangerous.—Reuters

Kashmiri politicalparties cross talks to

help solve Kashmir knot

AT the weekend the President of Azad Jammu andKashmir Sardar

Mohammad Yaqub Khan whohad returned freshly from Umravisit to Saudi Arabia on a ques-tion from Pakistan Observer re-plied with a tinge of abruptionthat as President of the State(J&K, 88023 sq miles) he wouldvery much like to visit OccupiedKashmir to have unrestricted dia-logue with a people’s spectrumwidest enough.

“We want they want Kash-mir solution” therefore if any in-vitation to him is extended fromSrinagar administration hewould definitely go on a tour ofIndia-held Jammu and Kashmir.On the other side of the dividethey are our brothers - be theyof religion or politicall affilia-tion. We see all with broad-mindedness as Kashmir disputebelongs to all.

President M Yaqub Khan isa jovial personality, displaying asort of universal taste to talk toall, irrespective of politico-reli-gious affiliations. Sardar YaqbKhan expressed this determina-tion during a well-selected lun-cheon to honor Occupied Kash-mir APHC (All Parties HurriyetConference) leader Syed SaleemGilani who was on tour to Paki-stan/AJK.

“I am very much satisfiedwith my talks here with politicalparties heads” However MrGilani, very shrewd politicalunlocker released his friendlytone complaint with regret “thatnone of the political parties ofPakistan has put Kashmir disputeon their public speaking agenda.Conversely, they are fighting

elections on the basis whether“Pakistan and India should regen-erate friendship between thethem: both nuclear south Asianpowers - Pakistan and India.”The AJK/Pakistan chapter ofAPHC also participated in theluncheon. And they too had asimilar tone. Mahmood AhmedSaghar, who shared his percep-tion with Gilani’s.

In their joint resolution,passed unanimously under thechairmanship of PresidentSardar M Yaqub Khan, theyurged the world powers to helpstop massive human rights vio-lations in occupied Kashmir atthe hands of the Indian occupa-tion forces.

The resolution for the firsttime exposed to the hilt the brut-ish tactics of occupation forcesto do every bit of torture and sup-pression. Under the blank pretextof security the Indian army ab-ducts the Kashmiri youth andteenagers leading them to torturechambers as gruesome tactics oftotal suppression.

The resolution demanded re-turn of prejudicially-killed twoKashmiri freedom fighters, nowlaid under tonnes of earth in theTehar jail Delhi,to Srinagar fortheir proper Muslim burial. Bothare brave sons of Kashmir. Bothhave left behind a powerful trailof forward fight to level down theboulders in the way of Kashmirisright to self-determination.Kashmiris have very logicalmind and intellect. It is their as-set, our asset which needs to bechannelized.

Circumstances are subject tochanges but ideology remainsunaltered. This scribe asked MrGilani to comment on how fairis the freedom movement in the‘changed’ global scenario. Kash-mir and Afghanistan are not mu-

tually far off. But an active ma-jority have not yet tried to see thefuture in the context of interna-tional withdrawal from Afghani-stan. The Afghanis under anytribal title are now to a finishingextent battle-hardened and sabrestrikes. Afghanis remained rulersin Kashmir from 1819 to the es-tablishment of Dogra raj whoseautocratic governance lasted till13 August 1947.

The mujahiddin overthrew in1947 the 100-year old Dogra raj.Kashmiri sacrifices are immenseas the sprawling universe itself.Only in Jammu over 250,000Muslims were cut into pieces bythe combined forces of theDogras and RSS. This figure ap-pears in the pages of famousTime weekly published thenfrom London.

The more a historian delvesdeeper, the brutish hands of pre-1947 Kashmir rulers appear. Theskinning alive of Sudhan no-tables at Mong (1832) is a sacri-ficial legacy no one can forget. Itinspires a lot.

As for as the imagined visitby AJK President Sardar Yaqubis concerned, he must rest assurethat it will ha massive landslideapprobation from the people ofJ&K, AJK and GB included.

Hamala Key ChashmeyUbaltey Hain Kubb Tak,

Khyzer Sochta Hai WullerKey Kinare! (Allama Iqbal) {How long the springs ofHimalaya gush forth,/ Khyzer isthinking at the brink of WullerLake}

There is no doubt that by so-cial inter-mixing by theKashmiris across the divide, amore powerful opinion slidewould slip towards Pakistan. Itis writing on the walls of historyand geography Kashmir can bet-ter nestle in the lap of Pakistan.

Some sectors gettinggas at overly

subsidised rate: TariqSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Tariq Kandan,founder of the CNG Association,stressing a powerful case for re-vising the allocation of natural gasto various sectors, has said that thepresent policy is creating deficitby giving natural gas to some sec-tors at an overly subsidized ratethat is resulting in great loss to thetaxpayers.

He was addressing a seminarheld by Consumer Rights Com-mission of Pakistan entitled “Na-tional Consultation” on Naturalgas sector governance here. Thewhole day national consultationwas presided by Ms Saeeda Iqbal,Chairperson Senate StandingCommittee on Climate Change. Itwas widely attended by represen-tatives from prominent thinktanks, members from academiaand representatives from CSOsfrom all over the country.

Kandan insisted that the pre-cious resources should be givento a sector that is willing to pay itsprice. Ms Huma Siddiqi, EnergyResearcher from CRCP, sharedthe finding of the National GasGovernance Initiative NGGI-Pakand identified the gaps present inthe policy and regulatory pro-cesses and stated social and envi-ronmental considerations that con-tribute towards the problems in thenatural gas sector.

Huma Siddiqi shared by say-ing that by far participation andtransparency remain to be themost problematic issues of thesector. The recommendationsgiven by Ms Huma Siddiqi in-cluded; Information regardingpolicy making must be circulatedwith reasonable lead time (mini-mum three months) in advance ofthe initiation of the policy process.Shahzad Iqbal ED (Gas) OGRA,Ejaz Ahmed Chaudhary P.EngGM SNGPL, Islamabad, JavedAkhtar Additional SecretaryPlanning and Development Di-vision, Planning Commission ofPakistan, Sheikh Sarfraz Ali(retd) Senior Executive Direc-tor (GAS) OGRA addressed theconsultation and replied to thequeries put forward by the au-dience.

scholars to issue a religious de-cree against Taliban as they hadopenly declared that those, whowould cast their votes would beinfidel. The people of the coun-try should also decided if theywanted to see the country makeprogress in right direction of seeit being pushed into the dark al-ley of tyranny.

Speaking on the occasion, DrSattar said that the terroristswanted to influence the polls andif they would succeed in hijack-ing the electoral process, it wouldleave serious impacts oncountry’s integrity/

He said that it was astonish-ing to note that the electoral cam-paigns were being conductedsmoothly only in Punjab. Pollsin just one province would notbe acceptable to the masses. Itwas being witnessed that thepolls were converted into a se-lection game and the electoralprocess was rather supervised bythe terrorists, not the electioncommission or the caretaker gov-ernment.

He questioned why the elec-tion commission did not ask thelaw enforcement agencies where-from the terrorists were makinglive calls. Perhaps, they were alsointimidated that if they take suchsteps, the terrorists would alsofinish them.

He said if the institutionswould fail to fulfill their consti-tutional obligations, it would betantamount to supporting the ter-rorists.

He welcomed the statementof the Chief of Army Staff Gen.Asfaque Pervez Kiyani and saidthat the right-wing parties of thecountry and foreign forceswanted to impose Taliban-backedparties in the country.

Speaking on the occasion,Malik said that he had long be-fore the commencement of theelectoral process informed thatthe terrorists would launch theirattacks because the terroristswanted to make the country anew Afghanistan.

Domestic, int’lFrom Page 1

Meanwhile‚ the convoy of an in-dependent candidate Allah DinoUmrani was also attacked with acar bomb in Kachi Pul area ofDera Murad Jamli. However‚ noloss of life was reported.

According to the SHOGhulam Mustafa‚ only a vehiclewas damaged. The police rushedto the site and cordoned off theentire area. The law enforcementagencies also launched an opera-tion to trace the suspects.

Meanwhile, unknown armedmen hurled a hand-held bomb atan office of the Pakistan MuslimLeague-N in Arbab Ghulam Aliroad area of Quetta on Wednes-day, police said.Police said mili-tants hurled the bomb at the elec-tion office of PML-N leader HajiLashkari Raisani.

They said four party activistswere injured in the attack.Theinjured were immediately rushedto civil hospital Quetta for medi-cal treatment. However Raisaniwas not hurt in the attack.Police

said armed men were riding amotorcycle and escaped unhurtfrom the spot.

The blast also damaged theelection office ofRaisani.Lashkari Raisani is con-testing election on PB-4 fromQuetta city on the ticket of PML-N. He is the younger brother offormer chief ministerBalochistan Nawab AslamRaisani.

At least five persons wereinjured in 10 rockets attack onJamiat Ulema-e-Islam’s (JUI)public gathering in Harnai areaof Quetta here on Wednesday.

Police said at least 10 rock-ets were fired by militants from

an undisclosed location form thenearby mountains which landedon JUI’s election rally in Sarghararea of Harnai, Quetta.

Coordinated rocket attackscaused panic in the city. Loudexplosions were heard far andwide in Quetta, plagued by vio-lence in recent days when vari-ous political parties are being tar-geted ahead of general elections.

According to media reports,it is feared that more injuries areexpected due to the rockets at-tack as children were also presentin the election rally.

The injured were rushed tonearby hospital for medical treat-ment.—Online

Shikarpur: Suicide bomberFrom Page 1

slain candidate for PB-32 (JhalMagsi), blocked the NationalHighway linking Sindh andBalochistan on Wednesday inorder to protest the killing ofMagsi on Tuesday.

Hundreds of protestersbrought the dead bodies of theslain independent candidate andtwo of his associates on thehighway’s Quetta-Jacobabadroute. Magsi was killed in a fir-ing incident on Tuesday morning.

The protesters chanted slo-gans against the provincial gov-ernment and the law enforce-ment agencies. They demandedthe arrest of those involved inthe murder of the independentcandidate.

Long queues of vehicleswere witnessed on the NationalHighway during the road’s block-ade. Later, however, protestersagreed to clear the road follow-ing negotiations with the admin-istration.—INP

National HighwayFrom Page 1

Sources told BBC that thesuspects were picked up for com-municating with their partners inMiranshah and Kohat. The sus-pects were allegedly issuing di-rections to coordinate attacks onthe military and paramilitaryforces.

Last year, a brazen attack onthe central jail in KhyberPakhtunkhwa’s Bannu districthad resulted in the escape of over300 prisoners. The freed inmatesalso included Adnan Rasheed, ahigh profile militant and the mainsuspect in a terrorist attack onformer President General (retd)Pervez Musharraf.

Plots to attackFrom Page 1

edly suggested that the twoarmies increase the distancebetween the temporary campsthat they have set up in theDepsang Valley near the Lineof Actual Control (LAC), the defacto border.

However, Chinese officialsdid not discuss a withdrawalfrom Indian territory and Indiamade it clear that unless theChinese troops withdraw com-pletely, it will not move its owncamp that it set up just 500metres away after the Chinesepitched their tents. But inChina’s offer, India sees thefirst signs of willingness tocompromise and hopes thiscould eventually lead to a re-turn to the “status quo” beforethe incursion.

So far, Beijing has said po-litely but firmly that it has notviolated the border. AtTuesday’s meeting, China alsoreportedly reiterated its demandthat India dismantle infrastruc-ture that it has set up in easternLadakh and stop new construc-tion. India has refused sayingthis is its territory. New Delhiis prepared, say Indian media

and their delivery systems inSouth Asia,” Assistant Secretaryof State for International Secu-rity and Nonproliferation Tho-mas Countryman said in his ad-dress to the 2015 Review Con-ference of the States Parties to theTreaty on the Nonproliferation ofNuclear Weapons in Geneva.

“Consistent with our sharedvision of a world without nuclearweapons, the United States hasrepeatedly called on India andPakistan to restrain their nuclearand missile programmes; end theproduction of fissile material foruse in nuclear weapons; and sup-port the commencement of nego-tiations in the Conference on Dis-armament of a Fissile MaterialCutoff Treaty,” he said.

“In that regard, it is with con-cern and deep disappointmentthat we note Pakistan’s reluctanceto support the start of such nego-tiations,” the US official said.“We would welcome meaningfultrust and confidence-buildingbetween these nuclear-armedstates; we must find ways to re-duce regional tensions and dimin-ish the risk that nuclear weaponscould be used, either intention-ally or accidentally, in a crisis,”he said. The United States, hesaid continues to encourage bothIndia and Pakistan to play a posi-tive role in the global non-prolif-eration community and take stepsto prevent proliferation, includ-ing bringing their strategic tradecontrols in line with the guide-lines of the multilateral supplierregimes.

“We support, in a phasedmanner, India’s goal of joiningthe four multilateral export con-trol regimes,” he said, adding thatthe US remains cognizant of itsnon-proliferation commitmentsand objectives when consideringhow to conduct its bilateral rela-tions with any country.

“Our activities with both In-dia and Pakistan continue to beconsistent with our NPT (NuclearNon-proliferation Treaty) obliga-tions and with our commitmentas members of the Nuclear Sup-pliers Group,” Countryman saidaccording to a copy of the speechprovided here.—Online

US asks India Pakto restrain nuke

From Page 1

Capital CallHameed Shaheen

reports, for the long haul but isnot considering the military re-sponse that political leaders likeSamajwadi Party chief MulayamSingh Yadav have suggested.External Affairs Minister SalmanKhurshid told NDTV, “Mulayam Singh being a (former)Indian Defence Minister wouldknow that it is the local command-ers who are handling the issue atthe flag meetings. If there is aneed for higher diplomacy wewill be ready for it.”

He has also countered theopposition’s accusation that thegovernment’s response to Chinahas been “weak” by saying, “Weare engaged in the mechanismthat we have put in place to en-sure that border incidents are re-solved amicably. We would notlike to have unnecessary issuesput into it. We have to ensurethat our perception of the LACis preserved and any violationof it is set right.”

The SP and other politicalparties have slammed the gov-ernment for going ahead withKhurshid’s scheduled visit toBeijing on May 9 despite theborder stand-off.—Online

China offers to stepFrom Page 1

ing to come into power”. He didnot say whether his claim wasbased on any concrete evidencethat he was privy to. The BenazirBhutto murder case is currentlyunderway in an anti-terroristcourt in Rawalpindi.

Khan’s claim contradicts theinvestigations done by a UNcommission as well as Britain’sScotland Yard police.

Benazir Bhutto was assassi-nated on December 27, 2007 inRawalpindi while she was cam-paigning ahead of 2008 elections.

Investigators are currentlyquestioning former military rulerand president General (Retd)Pervez Musharraf was heading thecountry at the time of her assassi-nation. Musharraf has repeatedlydenied his involvement and hasinstead blamed the slain leader forignoring security warnings by thethen regime.—Agencies

PTI to stopFrom Page 1

Boston police arrestthree new suspects

in bomb caseBOSTON—Three additional sus-pects have been taken into cus-tody in the investigation of lastmonth’s bombings at the BostonMarathon, the Boston PoliceDepartment said in its officialTwitter feed on Wednesday.

A police spokeswoman,Katherine Shea, said by tele-phone that she had no furtherdetails to provide. “It’s happen-ing right now,” Shea said.

Investigators had previouslyidentified two suspects, ethnicChechen brothers they saidplaced pressure-cooker bombsat the race’s finish line on April15. —Reuters

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—The Board ofControl for Cricket in India(BCCI) is trying to getLaxman Sivaramakrishna inthe ICC’s Cricket Commit-tee, which is being headedby Anil Kumble.

The news was first bro-ken by the South Africanbroadcaster, Neil Manthropand later confirmed byTony Irish, the South Afri-can Cricketers’ Association(SACA) chief.

Speaking fromBulawayo, where NeilManthrop is covering theZ i m b a b w e - B a n g l a d e s hmatches, and Cape Town,they said, “the voting forthe players representativeson ICC cricket committee isby the 10 Test captains.The majority of the cap-tains voted both for KumarSangakarra and Tim May”.

“But now, the BCCI

BCCI want Test playing captains to votefor Sivaramakrishnanan to replace Tim

May in ICC’s Cricket Committeedoes not want Tim May onthe committee so the votewas re done a second time.Pressure has now been puton captains from certaincountries to change theirvotes on Tim May and nowthe vote is deadlocked at 5-5”.

“Our captain voted infavour of Tim May”, Irishdisclosed.

Obviously all Asian Testplaying captains, MahendraSingh Dhoni, AngeloMatthews (Sri Lanka),Misbah-ul-Haq (Pakistan)and Mushfiqur Rahim(Bangladesh) were subse-quently forced to vote forLaxman Sivaramakrishnan.

“It is a sad day for gover-nance of cricket when play-ers are not allowed to votefreely for their true represen-tatives”, Irish added.

It should not come as asurprise as this is the wayBCCI operates – it threatensBoards or promises benefitsto other Boards to vote the

way the BCCI wants themto vote.

It is completely againstICC direction for the Boardsnot to influence their Cap-tains choice as to a currentplayer representative.

The BCCI do not recog-nize Player Associations ,but they are using their un-healthy power to ensurethat any real player repre-sentative is not on the ICCCricket Committee.

The irony of this thatmakes us laugh is that BCCIcontinually state that theydon’t recognize Player Rep-resentatives – yet they arerolling out their own PlayerRepresentative !

L a x m a nSivaramakrishnan, whenapproached in Chennai ex-pressed his ignoranceabout the development, butadded, “I am born to servethe game. I have been acricketer, coach, commenta-tor and now willing to servein ICC’s cricket committee”.

ADELAIDE (Australia)—CateCampbell showed at the na-tional titles on Wednesdaynight that she is in career-bestform and a contender for the100 metres freestyle title atthis year’s world champion-ships. Now all she needs is abit of luck.

Campbell produced hersecond world-class time ofthe meet to win the 100freestyle final in Adelaide in52.92 seconds, ahead ofyounger sister Bronte, whoclaimed the second berth in53.85. It made them the sec-ond siblings on the world

Campbells’ sister actwins world team berths

titles team, with David andEmma McKeon having al-ready qualified.

But experience tellsCampbell that the toughestpart of her journey toBarcelona could be yet tocome. She says her fatherEric will be looking for bubblewrap to cover her for the nexttwo-and-a-bit months, whileher coach Simon Cusacksays he’ll be searching forany lucky charms he canfind.

The 20-year-old has ahistory of illness and injuriesthat have stymied her ability

to fulfil her potential sinceshe gained prominence as a14-year-old in 2006.

Particularly cruel was theillness in London last year,which Cusack believes ru-ined a genuine opportunityfor Campbell, whose stun-ning time of 52.83 in the semi-finals in Adelaide on Tues-day night would have beenquick enough to win Olym-pic gold. After falling vio-lently ill, with what was laterdiagnosed as pancreatitis,she was forced to withdrawfrom the 100 freestyle racesin London.—AFP

KARACHI—Pakistan’s out-ing in the Jubilee Insurance29th Asian Snooker Champi-onship ended on Wednes-day when Mohammad Sajjadand Abu Saim crashed out inthe quarter-finals.

But Aamir Sarkosh (Iran),Omer Al Kojah (Syria), SalehMuhammad (Afghanistan)and Zhao Xintong (China)advanced into the last fourstage after contrasting victo-ries in the quarter-finals atDarbar Hall of a hotel here.

Like on Tuesday, it wasanother highly disappointingday for the host Pakistan asafter IBSF World ChampionMuhammad Asif and Na-tional Champion HamzaAkbar were eliminated onTuesday, former Asian num-ber two Sajjad and Saim werealso sent packing.

Reigning IBSF WorldJunior Champion ZhaoXintong showed a class actwhen he came from 0-3 downto overpower Abu Saim ofPakistan 5-3 with a spectacu-lar display of snooker.

15-year-old school stu-dent, Xintong showednerves of steel to down Abu

Tong, Sarkosh, Kojah, Salehin Asian snooker semis;Sajjad, Saim crash out

Saim laced with superbbreaks of 102 and 122.

Saim got off to dream startagainst World Junior Cham-pions by securing 3-0 afterXintong struggled in the ini-tial half of the event.

But once the Chinese

snooker sensation Xintongot into his strides there wasno stopping for him. He pot-ted and dipped themulticoloured balls with pre-cision to blast Saim in the lastfive frames.

Former Asian numbertwo, Sajjad’s dream to win thetitle was shattered whenIran’s Aamir Sarkoshthrashed him 5-2 which in-cluded a break of 81 in thefourth frame.

Formerly of PakistanSaleh Muhammad, who hasnow migrated to Afghani-stan, routed MohammadLabai of Iran 5-1.

Ex-World number twoSaleh dropped the secondframe before notching up astraightforward victory anda place in the semi-final.

Like Saleh, Omar Al-Kojah also lost a frame be-fore blasting Lu Chun Wai ofHong Kong.

In the best of 9-framesemi-finals on Thursday,Saleh will be up against ZhaoXinton at 10.00 a.m. The sec-ond semi-final will be heldafter the first match. Quarter-Final results: Zhao Xin Tong(China) bt Abu Saim (Pak) 5-3 (32-87, 37-86, 27-64, 57-03,107-31, 129-06, 70-12, 65-27),Omer Al Kojah (Syria) bt LeeChun Wai (HK) 5-1 (68-48,47-38,73-5,67-18,58-18,73-39),Saleh Mohammad (Afghani-stan) bt Mohammad Lababi(Iran) 5-1 (80-22,02-113, 86-08,89-30,79-09,65-42), AamirSarkosh (Iran) bt MohammadSajjad (Pakistan) 5-2 (58-68,66-38,59-23, 50-31, 82-0,36-76,74-38).—APP

ADELAIDE, Australia: Cate and Bronte Campbell finished first and second in the 100metres freestyle.

ISLAMABAD: Farooq Shahid, MD FMC and Squash legend Jan Sher Khan with players during opening ceremony of 17th Asian individual Men/Women Squasah Championship-2013 at Sports Complex.

OEIRAS (Portugal)—China’sPeng Shuai showed little signof a recent shoulder injury atthe WTA Portugal Open onTuesday as she knocked outFrench top seed MarionBartoli in the first round 6-0,1-6, 6-4.

Peng, a 2010 semi-finalistin her only previous appear-ance at the event, had justlimited time to train after re-turning to her homeland totreat a shoulder injury fol-lowing a Miami second-round loss more than a monthago.

After receiving treatmentin her hometown of Tianjin,she travelled on to Germanywhere she made light of hermeagre clay preparation bystunning Bartoli, the worldnumber 14 who is on a poorrun having lost her last fourWTA matches dating back tomid-March.

“I”m very happy to winin such windy conditions,”said the 27-year-old Peng,ranked 34th in the world.

“The clay was blowingaround a lot, making it evenmore difficult.”

Peng won in an hour andthree-quarters as the erraticBartoli produced eightdouble-faults and was bro-ken five times.

The quirky French playerhas reunited with her doctorfather Walter as coach afterseveral months of unsuc-cessful trials with other po-tential mentors includingformer Wimbledon championJana Novotna, but is still look-ing for a win.

“The first match on clayis always tough for me,” said

Tennis: Peng stunsBartoli at Portugal Open

Bartoli. “I had a lot of troublefinding my game and my feeton the court.

“She was playing ex-tremely well. I just tried myhardest and was able to playsome good shots in the sec-ond set. I felt like the thirdwas really close.

“We both started to playquite well, but at 3-3 when Ihad 40-15 she hit quite alucky return and that reallyhurt me.

“It was a very difficultdraw, but I think it is betterfor me to have those kind ofmatches early in the claycourt season and try to im-prove for the big events com-ing up.”

Elsewhere in the openinground, third seed AnastasiaPavlyuchenkova beat ShaharPeer 6-4, 6-4 but German num-ber eight seed Julia Goergeslost to Monica Puig of PuertoRico 7-6 (7/3), 6-2.—AFP

OEIRAS: China’s Peng Shuai returns the ball to MarionBartoli during their match of the Portugal Open.

Harrison retiresfrom boxing

LONDON—Olympic goldmedallist Audley Harrisonsaid Tuesday he was retiringfrom professional boxing fol-lowing his latest loss.

The 41-year-old Britonsuffered a first round knock-out by Deontay Wilder of theUnited States in Sheffield,northern England, on Satur-day.

“There are only so manytimes you can fall before itbecomes foolhardy to con-tinue,” said Harrison, whoseprofessional career failed tobuild on the promise heshowed as an amateur boxer.

“I’ve fallen a lot, but win-ning the (world) heavyweighttitle was a destination I re-ally wanted to get to. Com-ing back from adversity hasbeen synonymous with mylife.

“I’ve done well to turn mylife around, but sadly mydream to be a legitimate worldchampion will beunrealised,” added Harrison,in a statement headlined ‘I’mretiring’ on his officialwebsite.

Harrison became the firstBritish boxer to win an Olym-pic gold medal in the super-heavyweight category at the2000 Games in Sydney and,as a pro, did challenge for aworld title. But a series ofuninspiring contests led tohim acquiring the unflatter-ing nickname of ‘Fraudley’.

The high point of hisprofessional career camewhen he challenged compa-triot David Haye for theWBA world heavyweighttitle in November 2010 onlyto be stopped in the thirdround.—AFP

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan onWednesday vowed to fighton after the tennis world gov-erning body rejected theirappeal over their forfeitedDavis Cup tie against NewZealand.

The International TennisFederation (ITF) upheld thedecision to award the matchplayed in Yangon last monthto New Zealand because thecourt was unplayable.

Pakistan were 1-0 up andleading in the second matchwhen Sri Lankan refereeAshita Ajigala stopped thematch and awarded the tie toNew Zealand, as the courtswere Pakistan’s responsibil-ity.

The Asia Oceania groupII tie was shifted to Myanmarover security fears in Paki-

Pakistan to fight on afterDavis Cup appeal rejected

stan.The ITF’s Davis Cup

committee rejected the ap-

peal by the Pakistan TennisFederation (PTF) on Tues-day, but PTF PresidentKaleem Imam said the fightwould go on.

“The ITF have said thatthe referee’s decision wasright but we will take the ap-

peal to another forum and willfight on against the injusticedone to us,” Imam told AFP.

“If the referee had felt thecourts were not up to themark, why did he start the tiein the first place?”

Announcing the appealhad been rejected, the gov-erning body said the PTFcould now take their case tothe ITF board of directors.

Pakistan was forced toshift the tie to a neutralvenue after the ITF declaredPakistan as unsafe and un-suitable for an internationalevent.

Pakistan has been a no-go area for internationalsports teams since militantattacks on the Sri Lankancricket team bus in Lahore inMarch 2009.—AFP

Mudassar,Ahmed, Usmanjoin quarterfinallineup of Subh-e-nau Tennis C’shipISLAMABAD—M. Mudassar,Ahmed Ch. and Usman Ijazjoined quarterfinal lineup ofSubh-e-nau Clay Court Ten-nis Championship 2013 hereat Islamabad Club onWednesday.

Raja Shahid played wellagainst Muhammad Faisal infirst match of the day. Faisalwas three games up after los-ing first set when RajaShahid bounced back andwon second set and match.Quarterfinals of men’ssingles will be played onThursday.

Top seed Saba Aziz ofLahore overpowered hercitymate Rida Khalid in firstquarterfinal of ladies singles.She did not allow her oppo-nent to play shots freely.

In another match,Marium Mirza lost to youngMahin Aftab after she had anupset victory over 4th seedShahida Farooq on Tuesday.Mahin played exciting tennisagainst her opponent. MeheqKhokhar defeated MahvishChishtie in third quarterfinal.Second seed Sara Mansoorwas awarded walkoveragainst Kainat Khan. M. Abidand Usman Rafique reachedfinal of men’s doubles afterbeating M. Mudassar andArham Atique. Mudassar andArham showed some resis-tance in first set, however, thiswas not enough to defeat ex-perienced pair. They will playpair of Faizan Khurram AhmedCh in final who defeatedMehboob Khana and BrigSiddique in second semifinalof men’s doubles. M.Mudassar and Salman binSaleem qualified forquarterfinals of boys jun-iors’ U-18. Haris Irfanulhaqand Sairem Sahir reachedsemifinals of Boys U-14.Wednesday’s ResultsMen’s Singles (secondround).—APP

Maria can causemajor upset inAsian Squash

C’ship: JonathonISLAMABAD—Pakistan fe-male squash star MariaToorpakai’s coach, JonathonPower believes his pupil cancause major upset in the on-going 17th Asian SquashChampionship when shemeets world no Low WeeWern of Malaysia in theevent.

“She is a very talentedplayer and capable of beat-ing any player in the world.It will be interesting to seeher playing against Low WeeWern,” he told APP.

The former world No 1,who retired from profes-sional squash when he wasat the top in 2006 said, saidhe believed Maria had apromising international ca-reer and would create stir inthe squash world in the daysto come.

Power had spent a lot oftime playing in Pakistan andwas heavily influenced byPakistani squash player.

He said he had come toPakistan to support bothMaria and the game ofSquash.—APP

Karate C’shipto commence

from tomorrowFAISALABAD—Pakistan Ka-rate Federation will organize22nd National Karate Cham-pionship and National Jun-ior Karate Championshipfrom May 3 to 5 at CrescentSports Complex here.

According to ShamimHashmi General Secretary Pa-kistan Karate Federation, theteams of all affiliated units ofPakistan Karate Federationincluding WAPDA, Army,Railways, Police, Punjab,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Balochistan, Sindh,Islamabad and FATA will par-ticipate in the championship.

He said the champion-ship will be held in Individualkumite (below 50 kg, below55 kg, below 60 kg, below 67kg, below 75 kg, below 84 kgand above 84 kg).—APP

Candidateescapes attackDERA MURAD JAMALI—Meer Allah Dena Sadhani, anindependent candidate, escapednarrowly when his caravan hitby a roadside explosive mate-rial here on Wednesday. Sourcessaid that a massive blast ex-ploded when the caravan wascrossing a bridge but no humanloss was reported. According tolocal media, a remote controlledbomb, planted in a car, was usedin the incident. The area wascordoned off by the securityforces and the injured trans-ferred to the nearby hospital.Meer Allah Dena Sadhani is anindependent candidate from PB-29 constituency. As generalelections creep close, militantsboosted their attacks on politi-cal leaders and workers in threeprovinces where dozens ofpeoples including election can-didates have been killed in tar-geted attacks. —Online

Rebel gains in southern Syria sharpen Jordan’s dilemmaAMMAN—The growing powerof Islamist fighters in southernSyria is causing alarm inneighbouring Jordan, whichbacks rebels battling PresidentBashar al-Assad but fears thoselinked to al Qaeda. Similarconcerns among Syria’s otherneighbours, including Turkeyand Israel, are complicating analready disjointed world re-sponse to the bloody turmoil atthe heart of the Middle East.

Jordan has allowed limitedU.S. military training of rebelson its territory. Some otherfighters have crossed from thekingdom into Syria, althoughothers, especially Islamists,have been intercepted and evenput on trial. Eighteen monthsago, Jordan’s King Abdullahwas the first Arab leader to urgeAssad to step aside, but he used

a visit to Washington last weekto voice Jordan’s concern over“militant terrorist organisations”gaining ground along Syria’ssouthern frontier with the king-dom.

His comments in the OvalOffice alongside U.S. PresidentBarack Obama underline fearsthat Jordan’s national security isnow threatened by Islamists inSyria whose hatred of Assad ismatched only by their hostilityto the pro-Western monarchy.As a result, senior diplomats inAmman say, Jordan has resistedpressure from Gulf Arab statesto step up arms shipments torebels it believes might one dayturn against it.

Jordan is also concerned thatSyria, which is widely believedto possess chemical weapons,might lash out in reprisal for any

heightened Jordanian supportfor insurgents. “The fire will notstop at our border and everybodyknows that Jordan is as exposedas Syria,” Assad said two weeksago in an interview which de-picted al Qaeda as a securityconcern for both countries - amessage which resonated withmany Jordanians.

Syria’s rebel Nusra Front,one of the deadliest forces fight-ing to topple Assad, declared itsallegiance to al Qaeda leaderAyman Zawahri earlier thismonth, formally cementing analliance with a group which hastargeted Jordan in the past. Atthe same time, Nusra Frontfighters and other rebels haveopened a new battlefront insouthern Syria, a move whichAssad blamed on the infiltrationof thousands of militants from

Jordan, seizing military postsand swathes of land.

“The security threat comesfrom the Nusra Front and theradical Islamic groups - if theywin and are stationed on theJordanian border, that causesproblems from the army’s per-spective,” said retired JordanianMajor-General Fayez Dwairi.Jordanian officials, who askednot to be identified, said lim-ited security cooperation withDamascus was continuing.

As well as the danger offighting spilling over its borderfrom Syria’s southern provinceof Deraa, Amman faces the fa-miliar threat of young Jordani-ans joining a regional conflictand then returning home, battle-hardened and radicalised. Jor-danian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi travelled to Afghani-

stan in the 1980s and also foughtin Iraq, from where he was be-lieved to have planned attackson hotels in Amman whichkilled dozens of people in No-vember 2005.

With the Syrian border just75 miles (120 km) fromAmman, the conflict in Jordan’snorthern neighbour is muchcloser to Abdullah’s capital thanthe turmoil in Iraq ever was. Soalthough Jordan has allowed thetraining of rebels on its territoryand permitted some Gulf-fundedarms shipments into Syria, it hasrebuffed pressure to send largerconsignments into the war zone,according to diplomats.

“Jordan national strategicinterests come first and beforeany Gulf agenda,” said a seniorsecurity official who asked notto be named, singling out Qatar

for what he said was a flawedpolicy of empowering theMuslim Brotherhood, a long-time adversary of Jordan’smonarchy. The Brotherhood’spolitical wing in Jordan, theIslamic Action Front, has takenpart in protests calling for po-litical reform and denouncingsubsidy cuts in the resource-poor kingdom, which relies onGulf grants to narrow its gap-ing budget deficit.

Publicly, Jordan says it re-mains neutral in the conflict.Prime Minister AbdullahEnsour has even denied in par-liament that Jordan hosts rebeltraining programmes - contra-dicting accounts from rebelsand diplomats - and said thekingdom opposed any mili-tary intervention to overthrowAssad.—Reuters

Air striketargets militantsPESHAWAR—At least four mili-tants killed and two hideoutswere completely destroyed onWednesday by fighter jet attacksin the Orakzai Agency. Accord-ing to sources, the air strikes werecarried out after an authentic in-telligence reports which spots themilitants and their hideouts inUpper Orakzai’s Asmat Khanaregion. Moreover, security forcesthwarted terrorism bid in thevolatile in the Armer area of theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa’s capital,wherein two ready bombs wereconfiscated and dismantled onthe scene.—NNI

More troopsdeployedQUETTA—More army troopshave been deployed in far flungdistricts of Balochistan to ensuresecurity during the upcominggeneral elections. According toPakistan Army spokesman, acontingent of 800 troops left herefor far flung areas of Naseerabad,Jaffarabad, Jhal Magsi, MusaKhel, Kohlu, Sheerani,Dalbandin, Ziarat and Harnai. Sofar, a total of 1250 troops havebeen deployed in various districtsof Balochistan includingMastung, Kalat, Khuzdar,Panjgur, Kharan, Avaran andNaushki.—Online

PST demands pollspostponementLAHORE—Pakistan SunniTehrik has demanded postpone-ment of elections for one month.Talking to media persons here onWednesday, head of the TehrikSarwat Ijaz Qadri said it was notpossible to run the election cam-paign in an atmosphere of terror-ism and uncertainty. He saidelection offices and candidatesare being targeted not only inKarachi but also in Sindh,Balochistan and KhyberPakhtoonkhwa. Sarwat IjazQadri said they are not runningfrom elections but want levelplaying field for all the contest-ing candidates. He said there isno harm in deployment of armyfor transparent and peaceful con-duct of polls.—INP

RAWALPINDI: Secretary Defence Lt-Gen (Retd) Asif Yasin Malik receiving US SenatorJoe Donnelly in Ministry of Defence.

FAISALABAD: Chairman of Pakistan Ulema Council Allama Tahir Ashrafi speaks dur-ing a seminar on ‘Religious status of casting vote and women’s right of vote.’

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Punjab govern-ment has decided that the nextdevelopment budget 2013-14 inthe province would be Rs. 200billion in which 80% of fundswould be allocated for ongoingdevelopment schemes.

In Southern Punjab, develop-ment funds would also be allo-cated according to thepopulation’s ratio. This has beendecided in the high level meet-ings of affairs of developmentbudget of upcoming fiscal year2013-14 presided over by thePunjab Chairman P&D BoardSohail Ahmad.

Secretary P&D Arif AnwarBaloch, senior representatives ofP&D department including pro-vincial administrative Secretar-ies, project directors and otherhigh officials of different depart-ments also participated in themeetings.

According to sources, ChiefMinister Punjab Najam Sethi hasalso directed the Chairman P&Dto release the funds for comple-tion of ongoing developmentprogrames on top priority basis.Moreover, sources told that dur-ing the next fiscal year 2013-14,Rs.160 billion to Rs.170 billionwould be available especially fordevelopment projects in theshape of cash.

Punjab development budgetfor 2013-14 to be Rs200b

According to these figures,provincial government has fo-cused these development sectorsincluded Education sector,Health sector, Social sector, Irri-gation sector and Energy sectoron his priorities.

The Punjab governmentwould also focus on the mattersof waste water treatment plantand deduction in stagnant wastewater ponds in the rural areasduring the next fiscal year 2013-14.

Under the directions of care-taker Chief Minister Punjab, thePunjab government would pro-vide sufficient funds to complete

the projects of energy sector toproduce energy at the differentcanals.

Moreover, developmentfunds are being allocated to con-struct the buildings and improve-ment of the jails across thePunjab under the Jails reformsProject of honorable Chief Jus-tice of Pakistan.

Sources said that under theformulation of ADP 2013-14, thecare taker Punjab government isfocusing to complete all the on-going development schemes ofdifferent provincial departmentsduring the next fiscal year 2013-14 on his top priorities.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—President Asif AliZardari reiterated his resolvethat the general elections thathad been scheduled for May 11would be held the same day andwould not be deferred under anysituation.

The general elevations werepivotal for the continuation ofthe democratic process in thecountry that the PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP) had en-sured during its previous fiveyear tenure in the government.

The President said that thePPP had offered countless sac-

Elections won’t bedeferred at all: Zardari

rifices for the democracy anddespite the fact the electeddemocratic governments of thePPP were toppled, its leaderswere martyred.

The President expressedthese views while talking toSindh Governor Dr Ishrat UlEbad Khan, who called on thePresident Wednesday at theBilawal House in Karachi.

According to sources, thePresident said that the caretakergovernment had already beendirected to take measures nec-essary for holding the generalelections in the country in apeaceful environment. The se-

curity forces of the country andlaw enforcement agencies hadalso been asked to ensure foolproof security on the day of poll-ing, May 11.

Sindh Governor on the oc-casion apprised the President ofsteps taken by the caretakerSindh government for the secu-rity of polling stations and on-going targeted operations byRangers and Police against theoutlaws.

The President asked theGovernor to further enhance thesecurity measures in the city andimplement the security plan be-ing devised for the polling day.

IS L A M A B A D—Earthquaketremors were felt in upper partsof the country including Jammuand Kashmir region, Metrologi-cal Department said on Wednes-day. According to the US Geo-logical Survey, the earthquakemeasured 5.7 on the Richterscale with its epicenter Indianheld Kashmir, some 88 km awayfrom Jammu city in occupiedvalley.

The tremors lasted for 15second started at 12:01pm andwere felt in Muzaffarabad,Mirpur, other areas of AzadJ&K, Islamabad, Rawalpindi,Sialkot, Faislabad, Peshawar,Parachinar, Mohmand Agency,Shabqadar, Swat, Chiniot,Lahore and other cities andtowns of Upper Punjab andAJK. Following the tremors,citizens rushed to open spaces

Moderate earthquakejolts upper parts ofPakistan, Kashmir

fearing for their safety. No lossof life has been reported. Indiancities including national capitalNew Delhi, Jammu, Srinagar,Amartasar, Patyala, Chandigarhand other cities in northern partwere also jolted with quake.Tremors were also felt in east-ern Afghanistan and southernChina.

This was third tremors feltwithin a month as on April 16, a7.8 earthquake with its epicen-ter in Iran was also felt acrossPakistan. At least 40 peoplewere killed in Mashakhel a townlocated on in Balochistan nearthe Pak-Iran border.

On April 24, earthquaketremors were felt across Paki-stan including in Parachinar,Mohmad Agency, Shabqadar,Swat, Peshawar, Islamabad,Chiniot and Lahore.—Online

Seminaryteacher beats

student to deathFAISALABAD—A 12-year-oldseminary student was beaten todeath in Faisalabad on Wednes-day for his failure to memorizelesson. The accused seminaryteacher, identified as QariFarooq, escaped by taking thedead student with him.

An FIR was lodged againstthe suspect by seminary admin-istration. The unfortunate inci-dent took place inside a localseminary located at Canal Road.Sajjad Ahmed, 12, was brutallybeaten with a stick, leaving himdied on the spot.

Qari Farooq called an am-bulance, took the dead body andescaped along with several otherstudents. The police said thatboth accused and the victim be-longed to Bahawalpur.—INP

Eight Pakistanisdetained at

Nepal borderM A H A R A J G A N J — E i g h tpeople, including two womenand four children, from Pakistanwere detained here Wednesdaymorning while they were tryingto enter India through the Nepalborder.

They were stopped bySashastra Seema Bal at Sonauliin Maharajganj district forchecking but failed to producedocuments about their identity,PTI quoted SSB sources as say-ing.

During questioning, one ofthem claimed that several yearsago they had crossed over toPakistan and had got marriedand settled there. Now they weretrying to return home, sourcessaid.

They claimed that they be-longed to Jammu and Kashmirand were coming fromKathmandu, the sources said. TheSSB and local police are verify-ing their credentials.—Online

ISLAMABAD—Election Commis-sion (EC) has directed pollingstaff to extend all available facili-ties to elderly, deaf and specialpersons to facilitate them to castvotes.

In the directives EC asked theelection staff to allow the elderly, handicapped, deaf persons and

Handicapped persons tocast their votes first

pregnant women to cast theirvotes first besides providing ev-ery possible help to them so thatno inconvenience is caused tothem.

EC said religious minoritieshave a specific problem to facethat they may meet discriminatorytreatment at the hands of polling

staff at certain polling stations.The polling staff should not meteout discriminatory treatment toany one in terms of electoral pro-cess.

EC further said elderly, handi-capped, deaf persons and pregnantwomen face the problems of un-dertaking long journeys.—Online

World LabourDay observed

ISLAMABAD—Like other partsof the globe, International LabourDay was observed across thecountry including Pakistan hereon Wednesday (today) to renewpledge for protecting rights ofworkers.

All government and privateorganisations, educational insti-tutions and markets remainedclosed to observe Labour Day.Different political and labour or-ganizations, particularly thelabour wings of political partiesand professional bodies orga-nized programmes to highlightsignificance of the day and rightsof the workers.

Seminars and rallies wereheld in different cities to paytribute to those who laid downtheir lives in Chicago in 1886for the rights of the labourers.The President and the PrimeMinister in their messages havepledged to uphold the rights ofthe working class.—Online

Bomb kills twoteenagers in

Russia’s DagestanMOSCOW—A bomb left in abag exploded near a shoppingmall in the capital of Russia’sturbulent Dagestan Republicon Wednesday, killing twoteenagers, the internal minis-try said.

Mainly Muslim Dagestan,in recent years the home of theparents of the two suspects inthe Boston Marathon bombing,has been affected by an Islam-ist insurgency for over a de-cade since a war in adjacentChechnya, where Russian fed-eral security forces forced Is-lamist separatists from power.

“Two teenagers werekilled and two men are in ahospital in a serious but stablecondition,” a spokesman forthe Russian Interior Ministryin Moscow said.—Reuters

Man kills wife,daughters,

commits suicideISLAMABAD—A man allegedlycommitted suicide after shoot-ing three women including hiswife and two daughters here onWednesday.

According to details, theaccused identified as AfzaalRaza gunned down his wife andtwo daughters over unknowndispute and later committed sui-cide by same weapon in SectorI-10/2 of the federal capital.

15-year-old Ahmed Raza s/o of the murderer was the onlyperson of the family who sur-vived.—INP

Police said that Afzaal Razaengaged in computer businesshailed from Chakwal and hehad recently shifted toIslamabad from Karachi forbusiness purpose.—INP

A NEW, preliminary imaging studythat compares the effects of fructose and glucose on the brain has

found differences that may explain whydiets high in fructose may be behind theobesity epidemic.

Upon examining brainmagnetic resonance imag-ing (MRI) scans of adultvolunteers, first study au-thor Kathleen A. Page ofYale University School ofMedicine in the US, andcolleagues, found inges-tion of glucose but notfructose reduced bloodflow and brain activity inregions of the brain thatregulate appetite, and in-gestion of glucose but notfructose, led to higherlevels of hormones thatproduce feelings of full-ness and satiety.

They write about theirfindings in a paper pub-lished online in JAMA on 2 January.

In the average western diet, fructosecomes from two sources: as a natural com-pound in fruit, and as an added ingredientof processed foods.

Food companies use fructose becauseit is sweeter than glucose and helps tostabilize processed foods.

The main source of fructose in pro-cessed foods in the US is high fructosecorn syrup, which is also used to improvethe appearance of baked goods becauseit produces a more consistent browning.

There is currently a debate aboutwhether high fructose corn syrup is driv-

ing the obesity epidemic, which is likelyto become more heated since the publi-cation in 2012 of an extensive review inthe International Journal of Obesity thatfound no evidence that consumption of

high fructose corn syrup isto blame for the obesity cri-sis in the US.There are alsoconcerns about links withtype 2 diabetes. A more re-cent study by the Univer-sity of Oxford and the Uni-versity of Southern Califor-nia suggests countries thatuse large amounts of highfructose corn syrup in theirfood may be helping to fuelthe global epidemic of type2 diabetes.

An author of that study,Stanley Ulijaszek, Directorof the Institute of Social andCultural Anthropology atthe University of Oxford,commented on the differ-ence between consumption

of naturally occuring fructose in fruit andartificially introduced fructose as in pro-cessed foods. He said:

“... fructose in an apple is probablyreleased slowly because of the fibrewithin the apple and because the fruc-tose is inside the cells of the apple.”

In their background information, Pageand colleagues write how evidence fromanimal studies suggests that “fructosepossibly increases food-seeking behav-ior and increases food intake”, and that“fructose ingestion produces smaller in-creases in circulating satiety hormonescompared with glucose ingestion”.

Fructose effect on brainmay explain link to obesity

RAWALPINDI: A Labour Day rally passing through Benazir Bhutto Road organized by Oil Tankers Association.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Barrister Feroze Jamal ShahKakakhel, Ambassador of Netherlands Gajus Scheltema and Ambassador of ArgentineRodolfo Martin Saravia during a reception to mark the investiture of King Willem-Alexander of Netherlands, at a local hotel.—PO photo Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD: Mrs Navid Shahzad speaks at reading and conversation session during1st Islamabad Literature Festival.

May 2

ALLAMA Iqbal OpenUniversity’s final examsof matric, intermediateand bachelor for the se-mester Autumn, 2012 willstart from Thursday.

Man kills wife,two daughters

ISLAMABAD—A man alleg-edly committed suicide onWednesday after killing hiswife and two daughters dueto yet unknown reasons, saidpolice here on Wednesday.

Afzaal Raza, a resident ofSector I-10/2 killed his wifeNomi Afzaal, 35 and bothdaughters Yasra Afzaal,15 andLashma Afzaal,17. His sonAhmed Afzaal remained safe.

Afzaal ran computerbusiness in Rawalpindi. Hecommitted suicide using hispistol, police said.—APP

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Two-day 1stIslamabad Literature Festi-val closed here on Wednes-day with over 15000 partici-pants attending 35 ses-sions.

Enthralled with conver-sations, book launching,lectures and reading ses-sions; the first IslamabadLiterature Festival orga-nized by the Oxford Univer-sity Press (OUP) engrossedgreat number of visitors andcelebrities.

On second day of thefestival debates were ar-ranged on Urdu Afsanah,changes in the linguisticsthrough the passage oftime, Dastan or Shairi (Storyand Poetry) and on the so-lution of education prob-

Book launching, lectures at Literature Festivallems in Pakistan.

Besides, the experts onstrategic studies held delib-erations over Afghanistan

and Pakistan: conflict andExtremism and on theNuclear Pakistan: An over-view of the strategic dimen-

sions.Famous poets, literary

personalities and authorswriting in diverse languages,

genres and traditions capti-vated the participants withreadings and group discus-sions. They feature debates,discussions, lectures,mushaira, readings andbook launches.

Meanwhile, aspiring writ-ers, H. M. Naqvi and IrshadAbdul Qadir shared advicesand insights in a session onhow to write a novel.

To a question that whyexchange and refund ofbooks of OUP is not allowedon their outlets in Karachi, theManaging Director OUPAmmena Saiyid Obe told thisscribe it is against the policyof OUP. People used to buyour books, then they want toreturn them without any rea-sons, therefore, exchangeand return of books neverbeen policy of the OUP.

ISLAMABAD—Caretaker Fed-eral Minister for Human Re-source Development, Barris-ter Feroz Jamal Shah has saidthat government is payingspecial attention to educatethe children of workers andhigh standard schools arebeing established for the pur-pose.

Addressing a ceremonyheld in connection with “MayDay” here on Wednesday,Barrister Feroz Jamal Shahsaid that government wasalso establishing vocationaland polytechnic schools so

Labour Day

Govt for educationof workers’ children

that their children might getjobs easily after completionof education.

The caretaker FederalMinister said that govern-ment was paying one lacdowry grant for workers’daughters and in case aworker died during hisduty unfortunately, hisfamily was paid 5 lac ru-pees from Workers Welfarefund.

Caretaker Federal Min-ister said that workers’ chil-dren get three thousandand five hundred monthly

scholarships after matricu-lation and all their expensesof higher education are be-hooved by the govern-ment.

Federal SecretaryAhsan Raja said on thisoccasion that governmentwas going to make a medi-cal and dental collegewhere 50 percent quotawould be reserved forworker’s children. More sohe added that EmployeesOld-age Benefi ts Inst i tu-tion is paying pensions to4 lac pensioners.—INP

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Election Com-mission of Pakistan (ECP) hasdecided to set up 70 checkposts at entry and exit pointsafter preparing security planof two National Assemblyconstituencies ofIslamabad—NA-48, NA-49.

According to securityplan, 24 polling stations havebeen declared extremely sen-sitive while 65 are sensitive.

ECP would establish se-curity check post at 70 differ-ent entry and exit pointswhile 18 check posts will beset up within capital city toensure smooth and transpar-

Election 2013

24 polling stations sensitive,CCTV cameras installed

ent holding of upcominggeneral elections.

Sources in ECP said that11 armored vehicles, 65 motor-cycles, and 15 mobile vans willbe used for frequent patrollingof police, besides deployingover 7,000 security personnelat polling stations on ElectionDay scheduled on May 11.

Meanwhile, District Re-turning Officer (RO), SyedMaroof Ali Shah has approvedthe final list of polling stationsin Rawalpindi district regard-ing the coming elections.

According to pollingscheme, 263, 120 voterswould exercise their right tovote for 6 National and 14

Provincial assemblies inRawalpindi district while180000 officials would rendertheir election duties. Therewould be 2149 polling sta-tions in the district.

There are total 39 pollingstations for women in NA-50while 40 for male and other322 common polling stationsfor both male and females.While in NA-51 48 pollingstations are for females and53 for male and 267 pollingstations are common for maleand females.

Decision has been takento install close circuit camerasat 93 sensitive polling sta-tions in district Rawalpindi.

CBR dropswater bombon citizens

RAWALPINDI—Sky rocketingincrease in water charges byCantonment BoardRawalpindi (CBR) hassparked resentment amongthe citizens. CBR has issuednotification with regard toupward revised watercharges passing on the dras-tic impact to the consumers.

Water bill per month hasbeen increased from Rs 160to Rs 200 in respect of 5marlas houses, from Rs 240 toRs 300 in respect of 7 marlarhouses, from Rs 300 to Rs 400for 10 marlas houses, from Rs400 to Rs 500 in respect of 15marla houses, from Rs 500 toRs 650 in respect of one kanalhouses and from Rs 650 toRs 750 in respect of houseswith area of more than onekanal.—Online

Clean and GreenIslamabad

ISLAMABAD—Capital Devel-opment Authority (CDA)would launch “Clean andGreen Islamabad” campaignin G-9 sector from May 02 (to-day). The three days cam-paign would also be ex-tended to I-10, G-10 and G-11sectors of the federal capital.

Chairman CDA, SyedTahir Shahbaz has directedEnvironment wing, sanitationdirectorate, City SewerageDivision, Enforcement direc-torate, Municipal Administra-tion, Water Supply and En-gineering wing to ensure theirparticipation in the cam-paign.

Syed Tahir Shahbaz hasrequested residents to coop-erate so as to make the cam-paign successful.—Online

6 outlawsarrested

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Po-lice on Wednesday arrestedsix outlaws from various ar-eas of the city wanted by po-lice in crime cases of heinousnature and recovered hugecache of weapons from them,a police spokesman said.

According to details, SSPIslamabad assigned the taskto DSP CIA to take promptaction against those sellingweapons in an illegal manner.

A special team headed byhim raided at arms and am-munition shop in TarmariChowk and recovered five 12bore rifles, three SMG guns,four pistols, one revolver and50 bullets from it.

Accuse Pervez Khan,running this business ille-gally was also arrested andhe was being investigated.

Meanwhile Sub-Inspec-tor Saleem Ullah from CIAPolice nabbed Sharif Ullahand recovered one 30 borepistol from him.—APP

Security guardmolests eunuch

ISLAMABAD—A securityguard sexually assaulted aeunuch in G-11 sector of thefederal capital while the po-lice has failed to register thecase despite medical confir-mation of the crime.

As per details, two eu-nuchs Shabana and Parowere present in their homein G-11 when a securityguard Zulfiqar climbed overthe wall entered the houseand on gun point lockedShabana in a room and sexu-ally assaulted Paro. Policetook the victim to ComplexHospital for a medical exami-nation and the assault wasconfirmed.—Online

ISLAMABAD—”Women al-ready playing a key role inPakistan’s economy andstrengthening their role inenergy sector will create areal difference in nationalprosperity,” said CraigVanDevelde, Chief of Party ofUnited States Agency for In-ternational Development(USAID) Power DistributionProgram, at a gender equityworkshop organized by theUSAID to reinforce the roleof women in the energy sec-tor.

He said that women’sequality is a prerequisite forthe development of anycountry. The nationaleconomy is experiencing im-portant losses because oflow participation of womenin the economy and this alsomakes women heavily depen-dent on their families. Devel-opment of a gender equitystrategy for operations in theareas of employment and ca-

Women play keyrole in economy

reer development, recruit-ments and treatment in awork place in DISCOs is across-cutting initiative ofUSAID Power DistributionProgram,” Craig VanDeveldeadded.

He said with inflationspiking to 12.7 percentagainst the 1.4 percent it hasbeen for the past seven years,the single salary of the earn-ing male member can nolonger feed a family, thus ne-cessitating women in the pro-fessional workforce.

It is becoming imperativeto double the number of thefemale workforce at a rapidpace; in order to achieve thismissed opportunities forwomen must be identified. Fur-ther to this it is incumbent topave the way for improvementof the working environmentvis-à-vis gender balance, andinstill an atmosphere that ac-cepts women as assets andresources, he added.—Online

ISLAMABAD—Vendors haveencroached on footpaths indifferent commercial areas oftwin cities of Islamabad andRawalpindi, creating prob-lems not only for the pedes-trians but also in the smoothflow of traffic.

The shopkeepers andvendors at Karachi Com-pany, Aabpara, Faizabad,Bhara Kahu, Raja Bazaar,Commercial Market, DoubleRoad and adjoining bazaars,

Encroachments incommercial areas

have encroached on thefootpaths.

Shopkeepers displaygoods on pavements whilevendors put up stalls on foot-paths, forcing pedestrians towalk in the middle of theroads.

Residents complainedthat crossing the roads wasvery difficult for them be-cause all footpaths had beencovered with illegal en-croachments.—Online

Men err when theythink they can be

inhuman exploiters intheir business life,

and loving husbandsand fathers at home.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Board of Di-rectors of Silkbank Limited, intheir meeting held on April 27,announced the quarterly re-sults of the bank for the quar-ter-ended March 31, showinggrowth in deposits and rev-enues. The bank significantlyimproved the deposit mix,through increase in low-costcurrent and saving accounts.The bank had made strategicinvestments in new businesslines, credit card and Islamicbanking business, last yearwhich was received posi-tively by the market.

The investments relatedto the promotion and expan-sion of new businesses in-cluding launch of new Islamicbanking branches in the first

quarter, and the impact of thediscount rate cuts last year,resulted in the bank postinga loss of Rs 219 million forthe quarter. However, with

the revenue pipeline fromnew businesses and the ex-isting product portfolio, thebank is well positioned to in-crease revenues and declareprofits for the full year 2013.

The Board has set a clearstrategy for 2013, after freshcapital injection of Rs 2.2 bil-lion at the end of March, 2013.This will enable the bank toexpand its branch network tosupport the continued reduc-tion in cost of funds. Further-more, with the asset-base mixmoving towards higher yield-ing assets, margins are set towiden in the future, ensuringhigher profitability in thecoming years.

In addition, the bankwill continue to make itscost base increasingly effi-cient through greater syn-ergies, process re-engineer-ing while rigorously grow-ing its new business initia-tives and ensuring the fu-ture robustness of the ex-isting businesses as well.

Silkbank posts losses

KARACHI: A petrol pump worker installing the new price tag after reduction in theprices of petroleum products in the country.

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—Fauji CementCompany (FCCL) on Tues-day announced 9MFY13Earning Per Share (EPS) ofRs1.18 against Rs0.11 of thesame period last fiscal year.FCCL’s new production lineenabled it to post volumetricgrowth of 26 percent. Aidedfurther by rising net retentionprice, the company recordedtopline growth of 56 percentto Rs11.6 billion as againstRs7.5 billion during the cor-responding period last year,analysts said.

They said that revenueper ton of the company roseby 24 percent to Rs6,311 asagainst Rs5,082 during thesame period previous yearwhile cost per bag inched up8 percent. This resulted ingross margins expansion by10pps to 32 percent.

Benefiting from lower in-terest rate environment FCCL’sfinance cost came down by 4percent to Rs1.15bn. In3QFY13 the company postedprofit of Rs647 million (EPSRs0.49) as against Rs562 mil-lion (EPS Rs0.42) in 2QFY13,up 15 percent, they said.

Despite contraction inmargins at gross level, lowerfinancial charges that stemsfrom slower declining inter-est rates and PKR devalua-tion as against USD to be theprime imputes for FCCL’sprofitability growth in3QFY13, they added.

FCCL posts Rs1.18 EPS

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—In recognitionof the extraordinary achieve-ments and contributions inthe field of education, JSBank and Mahvash&JahangirSiddiqui Founda-tion hasdonated an ambu-lance to Al-Azeem PublicSchool system along withundertaking other initiativesto support the local commu-nity.

JS Bank in collaborationwith Mahvash& JahangirSiddiqui Foundation has fur-ther pledged to continue itssupport to Al-Azeem publicschool system in the field ofeducation and social work intehsil Kahuta.

Al-Azeem Public SchoolSystem has enormous con-tributions in the field of edu-cation for deprived childrenof the society in tehsilKahuta.

The students of Al-Azeem public school sys-tem include 350 children ofpoor locals and 300 or-phans who are being pro-vided total ly free educa-tion.

It has made some notableachievements as over 30graduates of Al-Azeem pub-lic school system are cur-rently studying in elite col-leges of Pakistan includingCadet College HasanAbdal,PAF College Lower Topa andMilitary College of Jhelum.

JS Bank donates ambulance

Need to developvegetable varietiesLAHORE—Pakistan canearn handsome forex bydeveloping qualitative andhighly productive varietiesof vegetables. Experts toldAPP on Wednesday, thatscientists of Ayub Agricul-ture Research Institute,Faisalabad were working onsuch variety of melonwhich would be more sweetand have less seeds.Experts said that suchvarieties of vegetablesshould be introduced whichgive maximum produce.Vegetable ResearchInstitute, Faisalabad wasbusy in preparing hybridvariety of vegetables to getmaximum yield, they added.They said that new varietiesof vegetables would defi-nitely leave positive impacton the production of veg-etables in the country. Ex-perts further said that agri-culture scientists should beaware of the problems of veg-etables growers so that theirproblems could be resolvedon priority.—APP

Air-passenger trafficup 5.9% in MarchGENEVA—The globe’s air-passenger traffic rose by asolid 5.9 percent in Marchcompared with a year ago,fuelled by strong perfor-mances in emergingmarkets, the InternationalAir Transport Associationsaid Wednesday. “Strongdemand for air travel isconsistent with improvingbusiness conditions,” IATAchief Tony Tyler said in astatement. “Performance,however, has been uneven.Mature markets are seeingrelatively little growth whileemerging markets continueto show a robust expan-sion.” Part of the rise maybe attributable to trafficrelated to the Easterholiday, which occurred inMarch this year versusApril 2012, IATA under-lined. But it said that theseasonally-adjusted trendcontinued to show stronggrowth, with demandexpanding at an 8.0-percentannualised rate in the sixmonths since October 2012.Carriers’ capacity mean-while rose by 3.5 percentcompared to March 2012,pushing up the load factorby 1.8 percentage points to80.3 percent. Internationalpassenger demand rose by6.0 percent, with LatinAmerica and the MiddleEast the driving force.Domestic markets alsoexperienced strong growth,as traffic increased by 5.7percent, driven by demandwithin China.—AFP

UAE, UK sign twoMoUsDUBAI—The Governmentsof the United Arab Emiratesand of the United Kingdomtoday signed two memo-randa of understanding onthe creation of a Dialogue ofValues and Qualification ofFrameworks. ShaikhAbdullah bin Zayed AlNahyan, the UAE ForeignMinister, signed on behalfof the UAE, while the BritishForeign Secretary, WilliamHague, signed on behalf ofthe United Kingdom. Thetwo memoranda were signedas part of the State Visit ofthe President His HighnessShaikh Khalifa bin Zayed AlNahyan to the UnitedKingdom. The Dialogue ofValues will be supervised bythe UAE-UK Taskforce,jointly chaired by Dr AnwarMohammed Gargash,Minister of State forForeign Affairs, and AlistairBurt, British ParliamentaryUnder Secretary for Foreignand CommonwealthAffairs.—Agencies

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Secretary Min-istry of Commerce MunirQureshi has said trade rela-tions with South Asian Asso-ciation for Regional Coopera-tion (SAARC) countries andespecially with Sri Lankawould be enhanced on prior-ity basis and solid measureswould also be taken to en-dorse the trade relations withall neighbouring countries.

He said that Ministry ap-preciated Rawalpindi Cham-

ber of Commerce and Industry(RCCI) for organising 10 SingleCountry Exhibitions in a calen-dar year in SAARC countriesincluding Sri Lanka. Govern-ment will facilitate RCCI for pro-moting local products in theworld trade markets and busi-ness community will be takenon board in the policy makingprocess in future, he added.

Talking to President RCCIKhurshid Sheikh along withSri Lankan High Commis-sioner Jayalath Weerakkodyand Director General Com-

merce Department Ministryof Commerce Sri Lanka P DFernando on TuesdayQureshi said governmentappreciated the role of RCCIin strengthening the nationaleconomy and vowed RCCIwould be facilitated for pro-motion of business activi-ties.

He said Ministry wasmaking all out efforts to en-hance trading activities withother countries of the worldand private sector would alsobe cherished in this regard.

Measures to be taken toenhance trade with neighbours

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—One-go Res-cue Plan for the revitalisationof Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM)and to set it as a profitableorganization proposed.Shahzada Ahsan AshrafSheikh Federal Minister forIndustries and Productiontalking to caretaker PrimeMinister Mir Hazaar KhanKhoso presented him a com-prehensive plan and pro-posed a subsidy of Rs 11 bil-lion to up grade the technol-ogy, make the sick units op-erational and to enhance theproduction capacity of thePSM.

He proposed in order tomake PSM financially stable,Rs 5 billion interest on loanpayable to the National Bankof Pakistan be waived off.Finance Ministry will presentits recommendations on theproposal on Thursday. Fed-

eral Minister said the PSMwas going in loss andneeded bold and courageousdecisions and the One-goRescue Plan presented to thePrime Minister would proveto be a panacea for all the illsof PSM.

He said he imposed astrict ban on recruitment inPSM, as the Mills could notbear the financial burden ofmore employees. He was ofthe view half-hearted effortsand injecting insignificantamounts to revive PSM didnot work well in the past. Awhole-hearted effort was re-quired to accomplish this gi-gantic task, therefore he hassuggested an elaborate plan,which would work under thesupervision of a high-levelcommittee, he added. Theminister said this plan wouldensure PSM would achieveits 70 percent production ca-pacity by August this year.

Minister forrevitalisation of PSM

Grade issue persistsamid dull trading at

cotton marketSTAFF CORRESPONDENT

KARACHI—Trading at thecotton market remained dullwith firm spot rate whilegrade issue, traders at theKarachi Cotton Association(KCA) said. The KCA keptthe spot rate unchanged atRs 6,600 per maund, floorbrokers said.

Trading in Sindh andPunjab stations remained dullwith selective buying ongrades issue as fine lint wasnot available at every stationin plenty on back of deplet-ing stocks.

Mills in Punjab and Sindhstations bought all grades inlimited number to strengthentheir inventories besides theymade deals for fine lint ataround Rs 6,825 per maundto meet domestic as well asforeign cloth orders, saidtraders.

Grade is still a major is-sue and supportive to priceof better grades besides lowgrade lots’ availability is put-ting pressure on sellers’ ne-gotiating terms as they werebound to offer their lots onbuyers’ terms. Leading buy-ers are still eyeing betterquality of lint for finishedproducts for export as cropseason 2012-13 is going toend in around May 2013.

More than 2,000 baleschanged hands with morethan 75 percent of Punjab’sshare in trading. “The qualityconscious buyers are stilleyeing better grades whilesecond grade is also in greaterdemand for blending pur-poses by the textile sector,”said an analyst. “Since shortsupply of fine grades is on therise for those who wants toproduce better cloth and yarn,the fine lint holders remainedconfident for prices tostabilise in the next comingtrading sessions.”

The general buyers inPunjab and Sindh stationsbought selective lots on backof financial crunch on competi-tive rates at around Rs 5,350per maund to Rs 5,425 permaund. Spinners in Punjaband Sindh stations made for-ward deals for a month’s de-livery period on competitiveprices at around Rs 5,475 permaund while in Sindh stationsprivate sector commercial ex-porters made deals for allgrades at around Rs 5,125 permaund to Rs 5,550 per maund,floor brokers added.

Dollar losesagainst rupee

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The dollar re-treated against the rupee inthe interbank market, dealerssaid. It began the day’s trad-ing at Rs 98.47 for buying, fellthree paisas and closed at Rs98.44 for buying and Rs98.49 for selling.

The euro also closedlower versus the local cur-rency as i t ini t iated theday’s trading at Rs 128.81for buying, dipped by 11paisas and closed at Rs128.70 for buying and Rs128.90 for selling.

Likewise, the pound ster-ling posted losses against therupee as it started the day’strading at Rs 152.98 for buy-ing, slipped 34 paisas andclosed at Rs 152.64 for buy-ing and Rs 152.84 for selling.

Open market: The dollardecreased against the rupee,dealers said. It opened theday’s trading at Rs 99.80 forbuying, fell five paisas andclosed at Rs 99.75 for buy-ing and Rs 99.95 for selling.The European currency re-corded losses against therupee as it initiated the day’strading at Rs 130 for buying,shed Rs 1.25 and closed atRs 128.75 for buying and Rs130 for selling.

CVS Caremarkposts

higher profitNEW YORK—CVS CaremarkCorp posted higher quarterlyprofit on Wednesday, as amore severe cold and flu sea-son boosted sales and morenew generic drugs hit themarket.

CVS said net income roseto $956 million, or 77 centsper share, in the quarterended March 31, from $776million, or 59 cents, a yearearlier.

Revenue in the pharmacybenefits management (PBM)unit, which administers drugbenefits for employers andhealth plans and runs a largemail order pharmacy, rose 0.1percent to $18.31 billion.Revenue in the retail divisionrose 0.2 percent to $10.05 bil-lion. Overall revenue slipped0.1 percent to $30.76 billionin the quarter.—AFP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—‘Protection ofconsumers’ interests is neces-sary for the national economicgrowth, as this is only way torestore consumers’ confidencein picking up products andservices based on their ownlikes and dislikes’. This wassaid by President Asif AliZardari in his exclusive mes-sage on 8th Consumer ChoiceAwards held in Karachi.

Annually celebrated ona national level, ConsumerChoice Awards happens tobe the most distinctive cor-porate event wherein awardsare conferred to manufactur-ers and services providers

solely on the basis of con-sumers’ choice and prefer-ences. 8th Consumer ChoiceAwards was sponsored bySchneider Electric, Dalda,Shizan, Laser In, UFone,Delux, Zong, Fritolay,Nestle, Air Blue, EFU, ZIC,Metro, TCS, Coca Cola, Na-tional Bank of Pakistan, andHakim Sons, and HTC. Mr.Khalid Tawab Caretaker Pro-vincial Minister of Com-merce and Industries wasthe chief guest on this oc-casion.

In his special message,President Asif Ali Zardaricongratulated all awardswinners in 8th ConsumerChoice Awards, and said

that these types of eventspromote trading activities toa large scale, wherein com-panies strive hard to providehigh quality products andservices to consumers.Speaking on the occasion,Caretaker Provincial Minis-ter of Commerce and Indus-tries Mr. Khalid Tawab said,“We all need to work collec-tively in order to promotebusiness and trading activi-ties in the country”.

Other distinguishedpersonalities who ad-dressed in the ceremonywere Mr. Kokab Iqbal Chair-man Consumer Associationof Pakistan, Mr. S. M. MunirPresident of India Pakistan

Chamber of Commerce andIndustry, Mr. Mian ZahidHussain Chief Minister ’sAdvisor for InformationTechnology (IT), Mr. AbdulHaseeb Khan Senator andPresident of BrookesPharma, Mr. Nazeer HussainDeputy Director PSQCA,Mr. Khwaja M. Yousuf CEONational Productivity Orga-nization of Ministry of In-dustries, Mr, Arif AnsariChairman CPA Punjab Re-gion, Mr. Mian Irfan AkramVice Chairman Legal Affairs,Mr, Anwer Aziz Jakarata-Wala, Mr. MohammadIshaque Abbasi, and Mr.Mujib-ur-Rehman, andmany others.

8th Consumer Choice Awards

Protection of consumers interestsnecessary for sustainable econo-growth

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan Petro-leum (PPL) reported its per-formance for the first ninemonths of fiscal 2013 to theKarachi Stock Exchange(KSE) on Tuesday, where itbagged Rs33.53 billion dur-ing the period againstRs32.27 billion in the com-parable period of the preced-ing fiscal year.

Increased production ofoil and gas coupled withlower operating expensesamplified the explorer’s bot-tom-line by 4%, accordingto a copy of the results sent

to the KSE. In his interim re-view of the results, PPL Chair-man Mohsin Aziz said that“profitability during the cur-rent nine months endingMarch 31, 2013 improveddue to increase in oil salesvolume, impact of higher in-ternational oil prices and de-preciation of the rupeeagainst the US dollar.”

Resultantly in the nine-month period, PPL’s revenuesclocked in 8% higher atRs77.177 billion compared toRs71.511 billion in the corre-sponding period of last fiscal.Volumetric gas sales weredown 9.8% to 226,181 million

cubic feet, oil sales were up14% at 2.54 million barrels,whereas liquefied petroleumgas sales shrunk 20% to12,745 tons. Despite the dropin gas sales, favourable well-head prices helped boost thetop-line. Moreover, higher oilprices coupled with increasedproduction and 8% rupee de-preciation also supported thegrowth in revenues.

On the contrary, consid-erable increase in field ex-penses to Rs24.1 billion onaccount of higher explorationactivity severely dampenedperformance, saidMuhammad Ismail, analyst at

BMA Capital. During the pe-riod, PPL’s investment activi-ties fared very well, as itsother income grew by Rs358million as a result of compara-tively higher investments.However, the income waspartially offset by lower in-terest rates. Furthermore,Byco Petroleum paid back itsdebts of Rs25 million to PPL,which was adjusted in otherincome, providing a much-needed boost to thecompany’s bottom-line.

Finance costs of the ex-plorer rose even in the lower-interest environment, as thecompany seeks to expand

locally and abroad throughmergers and acquisitions.During the January-Marchquarter, PPL set up a sub-sidiary in Dubai, United ArabEmirates with the name ofPPL Asia DMCC to developinfrastructure in its Iraq field.Secondly, the company ac-quired MND Exploration andProduction with holding in-terests in five fields in Paki-stan and one in Yemen andrenamed it PPL Europe E&P.From the date of acquisition,PPL Europe E&P contrib-uted Rs62 million and Rs22million to PPL’s revenue andprofits respectively.

Pak Petroleum bags Rs33.5b in nine months

Adamjee Insurancerecords rise

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The after-taxprofit of Adamjee InsuranceCompany for the first quar-ter of 2013 increased 84.4%to Rs703.5 million, accordingto the consolidated interimprofit and loss account of thecompany for the three-monthperiod released to theKarachi Stock Exchange.

While the net premiumrevenues of the company in-creased 20.4% to Rs2.1 bil-lion, after-tax profit rosesharply on the back of otherinvestment income, whichwas up 140.1% in January-March 2013 compared to thecorresponding quarter in2012. Earnings per share in-creased from Rs3.08 toRs5.89 in the three-monthperiod.

Among liabilities, netclaims witnessed a drop of13%, while expenses also re-mained largely flat, ultimatelyresulting in a higher level ofprofit. Net investment in-come from the statutory fundalso increased 220.2% overthe same period. An increaseof Rs1.2 billion in the rentalincome of the company alsohelped the bottom line growyear-on-year.

Atlas Honda postsimpressive growth

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Atlas HondaLimited – the biggest pro-ducer of motorcycles in Paki-stan – posted after-tax profitof Rs1.6 billion in the finan-cial year ended March 2013,an impressive growth of 33%compared to net earnings ofRs1.2 billion in FY12 as salesrose amid launch of new mod-els. The company also an-nounced a final cash dividendof Rs7.5 per share for the year,according to a communica-tion sent to the Karachi StockExchange (KSE) on Tuesday.

The board of directorsalso recommended issuanceof bonus shares in the pro-portion of one bonus sharefor every four shares held.Earnings per share stood atRs19.44 in FY13 againstRs14.56 in the previous year.

BANNU: Farmers are busy in cutting the wheat in a Bannu farm.

Gold Tezab 48857.00Silver Tezabi 831.42

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct)47900.00Gold 22 Ct 46010.00SilverTezabi 895.00Silver Thobi 815.00

USA 98.30 98.10

UK 152.58 152.27

EURO 128.26 128.00

Canada 96.83 96.63

Switzerland 104.37 104.16

Australia 101.45 101.24

Sweden 15.00 14.97

Japan 1.0081 1.0060

Norway 16.81 16.78

Singapore 79.61 79.45

Denmark 17.20 17.17

Omani Riyal 255.00 245.00

Saudi Arabia 26.21 26.16

Hong Kong 12.66 12.64

Kuwait 345.30 344.60

Malaysia 32.44 32.37

Newzeland 83.83 83.66

Qatar 27.00 26.95

UAE 26.76 26.71

KR WON 0.0886 0.0886

Thailand 3.360 3.353

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The AsianDevelopment Bank (ADB)and the Government of Pa-kistan today signed anagreement to invest US$ 73million in rehabilitating thePakpattan Canal andSuleimanki Barrage inPakistan’s Punjab province.“The rehabilitation ofPakpattan and its linkedcannels, and installation ofnew gates at Suleimankibarrage will reduce waterlosses and will improve wa-ter delivery systems ben-efitting about 2.6 millionpeople in four farming dis-

tricts,” said Werner Liepach,ADB’s Country Director forPakistan.

“The Pakpattan Canaland Suleimanki Barrage Im-provement Project is part ofthe phased up-grading ofPunjab’s obsolete irrigationinfrastructure and associatedfacilities. An efficient irriga-tion system is vital to main-tain agricultural outputs andcompetitiveness, this projectaims to rehabilitate nearlycentury old canals and bar-rage to ensure reliable watersupply vital to boost in-comes of farming families inthe country’s breadbasketdistricts. He added.

The annual water leak-ages through damaged gatesof the Suleimanki Barrage ex-ceed 267 million cubic meters,and the Pakpattan Canal andits structures are also badlydeteriorated resulting in dis-order in regulating flows andhigh losses.

In Punjab, Pakistan’s mostpopulous province, irrigatedfarming accounts for 26 per-cent of its gross domestic prod-uct and employs over 40 per-cent of its labor force. Theprovince’s 14 barrages supplywater for irrigation though anelaborate network of 22 mainand link canals. The invest-ment is part of the $900 million

multi-tranche finance facility(MFF) for the Punjab Irri-gated Agriculture InvestmentProgram (PIAIP) approved byADB in 2006 to co-finance in-vestment in Punjab’s irriga-tion sector. The first twotranches were invested in im-proving the Lower Bari DoabCanal, Balloki Barrage and theNew Khanki Barrage. ADB,based in Manila, is dedicatedto reducing poverty in Asiaand the Pacific through inclu-sive economic growth, envi-ronmentally sustainablegrowth and regional integra-tion. Established in 1966, it isowned by 67 members 48 fromthe region.

ADB provides $73m to rehabilitatePakpattan canal, Suleimanki barrage

ISLAMABAD: Group photo of the participants of Gender Equity Workshop for IESCO staff organized by the USAIDPower Distribution Programme.

RAWALPINDI: RCCI President Manzar Khursheed Sheikh and others laying the foun-dation stone of the new chamber’s building.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s in-vestment policy is to activelyseek foreign investment byoffering a broad array of in-centives to attract new capi-tal inflows. This was statedby Maqbool H. H.Rahimtoola, Minister forCommerce, who is leadingthe Pakistan delegation atthe Annual Investment Meet-ing (AIM) in Dubai, a pressrelease received hereWednesday said.

The Minister pointedout that investment policyof Pakistan is very liberaland opens new vistas tolocal as well as foreign in-vestors for investment invarious sectors ofeconomy so as to keep Pa-kistan competitive in inter-

national market and make ita viable place for foreigninvestment.

The World Bank, he said,has ranked Pakistan at num-ber three in South Asia incomparison to other coun-tries including India, SriLanka and Bangladesh in“ease of doing business”.“This higher ranking indi-cates better and strongerregulation for business andbetter protection of propertyrights and it also highlightsPakistan’s openness fortrade and investment,” headded.

He said confidence ofthe investors can be seenfrom the fact that theKarachi Stock Exchangehas gone up by 394% since

January 2009 to the close onthis last Friday. “This in-crease is not speculative, itis based on the rate of re-turn and growth displayedby these companies’ divi-dends and profits,” he em-phasized.

Chairman Sindh Board ofInvestment, Zubair Motiwalamade a comprehensive brief-ing on investment policies,incentive package and tre-mendous potential availablein the field of oil and gas,agriculture and energy sec-tor and highlighted thepolicy parameters which al-low 100 percent foreign eq-uity in the major sectors andfull repatriation of profits anddividends in all the sec-tors.—APP

Pak offers vast incentivesto foreign investors

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan can ad-dress challenges in agricul-ture by embracing biotechnol-ogy as globally the adoptionof genetically modified cropshas been a success withproven socio-economic ben-efits. In addition to meetingfood security challenge, ge-netically modified/biotechcrops offer multiple eco-nomic, crop management,productivity, and environ-mental benefits. Benefits thatthese crops offer include, butnot limited to, better yieldsand guarding against insectpests and weeds as well asbeing cost effective and lesslabour intensive, say biotechindustry representatives.

They were giving brief-ing to a delegation of theAgricultural Journalists As-

sociation (AJA) about latestagricultural technologies in-cluding biotechnology dur-ing their visit to MonsantoPakistan’s state-of-the-artresearch centre in MangaMandi, where the companyis conducting field trials ofits GM corn product “VTDouble Pro” and variousvegetables and fruits. Thejournalists also visited thefield trails site

On the occasion,Monsanto Pakistan Regula-tory Affairs Lead MuhammadAsim, Breeding Lead AbdulGhffar and other companyofficials briefed the visitorsabout the benefits of GMcorn as well as biotechnol-ogy and answered their que-ries. They informed the jour-nalists that their companyhad completed the field trialsof GM corn and now they

were awaiting government’sapproval to launch the prod-uct in the market. Theyclaimed that GM corn can in-crease the productivity ofcorn, an important food cropafter wheat and rice, by con-siderably decreasing thelosses caused by insectpests and weeds. They saidthat farmers were well awareof this problem with no solu-tion. They said Pakistan al-ready had a quantum jump incorn production after intro-duction of hybrid varieties.

They said that corn issown on one million hectaresin Pakistan including 445,000hectares in Punjab and550,000 hectares in KhyberPakhtunkhawa province.They said consumption ofcorn in Pakistan is approxi-mately about 3.8 million tonesand its increasing.

Challenges in agriculture can bemet by embracing biotechnology

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The USAIDPower Distribution Programorganized a one-day work-shop for the Board membersand Finance Directors ofPower Distribution Compa-nies (DISCOs). The work-shop highlighted the suc-cess and rollout of the re-cently completed accountingmanual.

The accounting manualupdates the DISCO’s legacymanual, which was last re-vised in the 1980’s, and pro-vides DISCOs with a manualconsistent with that of a bestpractices modern electric util-ity. It will act as a comprehen-sive finance and accountingresource which is fully com-pliant with all governmental,regulatory and International

Accounting Standards asapplicable in Pakistan. Jobdescriptions, supported bydocumented detail, are in-cluded and will serve as a toolfor training, performance re-views, evaluations and pro-motions.

“Our main objective is toassist DISCOs in improvingtheir performance and effi-ciency, therefore revised ac-counting manual shall help inachieving our objective”Craig VanDevelde, Chief ofParty of the USAID PowerDistribution Program said onthe occasion “We are alsoworking on reducing energylosses and assisting with in-stallation of technical equip-ment in DISCOs which willbring improvement in rev-enue and reduction inlosses”.

“The DISCO can lookforward to an accountingmanual which will be a criti-cal financial resource andhelp improve the DISCO’s fi-nancial reporting practices”Said Gary Bartlett, Financeexpert of USAID Power Dis-tribution Program.

The USAID Power Dis-tribution Program is a five-year USAID-funded project.Through this program, theUnited States Governmentprovides assistance to theGovernment of Pakistan inits efforts to reform thepower sector and mitigatethe current energy crisis.The Program is helping gov-ernment-owned DISCOs im-prove their performance byreducing losses, increasingrevenues and enhancingcustomer services.

New Audit Manuals for DISCOs

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—ACCA held aFoundation Diploma Launchceremony, the first in the seriesof launch events for the newFoundation Diploma. TheFoundation Diploma providesessential knowledge and skillsfor those students without rel-evant training, and serves as aclear entry route onto ACCA’smain accountancy qualificationcalled the ACCA Qualification.

“We want all our aspiringfinance professionals here inPakistan to have every oppor-tunity for success, so we havebeen working closely withlearning partners here to de-velop this Foundation Di-ploma,” said Noor Aftab, headof ACCA Islamabad in her open-ing comments.

Students will be expected

to take all seven exams to gainthe Foundation Diploma andwill then be eligible for theACCA Qualification. With com-puter based exams available allyear, and paper exams twice ayear, the Foundation Diplomastudent could complete theentire Diploma in less than 12months.

The event also included alively panel discussion on thetheme ‘Starting from the Foun-dation’ for which M Uzair, Di-rector Internal Audit, TourismPromotion Services,ManzarKhurshid Sheikh, Presi-dent, Rawalpindi Chamber ofCommerce & Industry,IzzatJahan, Chief Instructor,National Institute of Manage-ment, Dr AfraSajjad, head ofEducation MENASA, ACCAand Noor Aftab, head of ACCAIslamabad were the panellists.

ACCA launches new award foraspiring finance professionals

Jobs, factory datapoint to slowing

economyWASHINGTON—The numberof Americans filing new claimsfor unemployment benefitsrose last week and factoryactivity in the nation’s Mid-Atlantic region cooled inApril, further signs of a mod-eration in economic growth.Underscoring the softeninggrowth outlook, another re-port showed a gauge of fu-ture economic activity fell inMarch for the first time inseven months. They were thelatest data to indicate a step-back in the economy after abrisk start to the year astighter fiscal policy began toweigh. “The evidence ismounting that the economylost momentum in March andthat has carried to April,” saidRyan Sweet, a senior econo-mist at Moody’s Analytics inWest Chester, Pennsylvania.

Economic data for Janu-ary and February suggestedthat growth accelerated in thefirst quarter after activity al-most stalled in the final threemonths of 2012.

RCCI’s new buildingto be constructedwithin 180 days

RAWALPINDI—New buildingof Rawalpindi Chamber ofCommerce and Industry(RCCI) will be completedwithin 180 days said Presi-dent RCCI, ManzarKhursheed Sheikh. RCCIhere on Wednesday held agroundbreaking ceremonyfor its new building.

Senior most member ofRCCI and former President IqbalAhmed Sheikh, Group leaderNajam-ul-Haq Malik and seniorstaff member of RCCI BabaMumtaz Ali laid the foundationstone. While on this occasion,president RCCI ManzarKhursheed Sheikh, Senior VicePresident Pervaiz AhmedWarriach, Vice PresidentNadeem Rauf, former presi-dents, members executive com-mittee and others were present.A stone was laid at a simple cer-emony to mark the foundationof the new building after QuranKhawani and dua.

President RCCI address-ing the participants said thatconstruction of the new build-ing was a long-standingdream of the chamber which isgoing to be fulfilled. It is greathonour for me, he added. Heinformed that modern facilitieswould be available in the newbuilding and seminars wouldbe held on daily basis for thecapacity building of RCCImembers so that they could bemade not only successful busi-nessmen but also useful citi-zens of the country.—APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Punjab Irri-gation and Drainage Author-ity (PIDA) has strengthenedthe institutional role offarmer organizations in theirrigation sector reforms andthis has helped to curtail nondevelopmental expendi-tures.

This was stated by Gen-eral Manager PIDAMianMaqbool Ahmad whilepresiding over a departmen-tal meeting at his office toreview the capacity buildingprogramme of the farmer or-ganizations.

The meeting was at-tended by Deputy GeneralManager (Training) SyedShaiqHussainAbidi, DeputyGeneral Manager (Operation)

Mian Abdul Rashid and otherconcerned officers.

The meeting held a de-tailed review of capacitybuilding programmes of theFOs and termed them impor-tant in achieving the goalsand objective of irrigationsector reforms.

During the meeting, GMPIDA was told that first phaseof training of general bodyand management committeemembers of farmer organiza-tions in the area water boardsof Derajat Canal Circle DeraGhazi Khan and Lower BariDoab Canal Circle Sahiwalhas been completed suc-cessfully.

During the training, theparticipants were apprisedabout different technical,revenue and administrative

issues pertaining to the irri-gation sector so that theycould perform their functionsin an amicable and profes-sional way. The meeting wasfurther told that comprehen-sive training plan for thefarmer members of these twoarea water boards has alsobeen chalked out and will beimplemented soon.

The GM PIDA expressedthe satisfaction that practicaltraining of 70 farmer organi-zations of Bahawalnagar Ca-nal Circle area water boardhas been completed as well.This training process willgreatly help to ensure effi-cient distribution of water,curtailing water theft as wellas better collection ofAbiana, the meeting was fur-ther told.

PIDA strengthens institutionalrole of farmer organizations

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The PakistanEconomy Watch (PEW) onWednesday expressed con-cern over receding gold andsilver prices terming it a signof shrinking economic activ-ity on the global scale. Con-tracting economic activity isbecause of incoherent poli-cies of western banks caus-ing falling demand, is said.

Sharpest decline in goldprices in 30 years is a turningpoint on the global economicmap since financial crisis in2008 after which investorslost interest in paper moneyand shifted towards gold,said Dr Murtaza Mughal,President Pakistan EconomyWatch.

He said that gold tripledin value in last three yearsbefore a recent downturn

which is amazing as no gov-ernment can print gold liketheir currencies.

Western central bankshave been pumping trillionsof dollars into the system toovercome crisis but most ofthe money is being used forspeculation which shouldhave been used to financeprojects to stimulate demand,he observed.

Dr Murtaza Mughal saidthat sliding gold prices is seenby some as failure of globalcapitalist economy which cannow only be sustained byChina and other emerging mar-kets. Many western econo-mies are performing lower thanexpected hitting lives ofpeople which has resulted inreduced demand while manyinvestors are offloading pre-cious metal resulting in sharpfall in the prices, he noted.

Islamic financial systemcapturing attention

Eurozone rate cutlikely as ECB

meets in BratislavaBRATISLAVA—The EuropeanCentral Bank, meeting in theSlovakian capital ofBratislava on Thursday,could cut its interest ratesfrom current record lows andalso unveil new measures tokick-start stymied bank lend-ing, analysts say. Many ECBwatchers agree that a furtherreduction in the bank’s “refi”refinancing rate—held at anhistoric low of 0.75 percentsince July 2012—may notactually prove very effective.

But the central bank hasfew other weapons at its dis-posal for the time being, ana-lysts argue.

“The latest deteriorationof sentiment indicators hasclearly increased the chancesfor more ECB action thisweek. Indeed, the majority offinancial market participantseven seem to be expecting arate cut,” said ING DiBaeconomist Carsten Brzeski.

But the expert said thecase for such a move was notquite so clear-cut.

“A rate cut without addi-tional efforts to repair thetransmission mechanismwould quickly go up insmoke and could even be re-garded as an act of despera-tion,” Brzeski said. “It is hardto believe that the ECB wouldfirst cut rates and come upwith a broader SME (smalland medium-sized enter-prises) funding scheme later.”

ECB board memberJoerg Asmussen cautionedlast week that additional mon-etary easing may not actuallyprove very effective, since itwould not reach the coun-tries, or the areas of theeconomy, that would need itmost. Given the high level offragmentation of eurozonecredit markets, with the coun-tries worst affected by thedebt crisis having to payhigher premia than core coun-tries, the so-called monetarypolicy transmission mecha-nism cannot function prop-erly.

That is the processthrough which monetarypolicy decisions feedthrough into the realeconomy via a wide range offactors, including moneymarket interest rates and ex-pectations. Furthermore,even though the ECB haspumped unprecedentedamounts of liquidity intobanks, those banks do notappear to be lending it on tosmall and medium-sized en-terprises—which form thebackbone of the eurozoneeconomy.

Indeed, SME access tobank loans is continuing todeteriorate, new data showedlast week. Markit chief econo-mist Chris Williamson said theECB’s decision-making gov-erning council “is widely ex-pected to deliver a quarter-point cut in its main policyrate after disappointing sur-vey data highlighted thespread of the region’s down-turn to Germany. “Analystsare also hoping to see theECB discuss non-standardmeasures, notably to help liftbanking lending in theregion’s struggling periph-ery,” Williamson said.—AFP

Oil prices dropon weak

Chinese dataLONDON—World oil prices slidWednesday on weak Chineseand US economic data andahead of the latest weekly snap-shot of energy inventories inthe United States. Brent NorthSea crude for delivery in Junefell 80 cents to stand at $101.57a barrel in London middaydeals.

New York’s main contract,West Texas Intermediate (WTI)for June shed 75 cents to $92.71a barrel. “Crude oil prices re-treated... on Wednesday withBrent sliding lower below $101per barrel, as disappointingChinese PMI manufacturingdata weighed on market senti-ment,” said Myrto Sokou, se-nior research analyst at Sucdenbrokers.

Manufacturing activity inChina slowed slightly in Aprilfrom the previous month, offi-cial data showed, in a sign offurther weakness in the world’ssecond-biggest economy. Thepurchasing managers’ index(PMI) dropped to 50.6 in April,down from 50.9 the month be-fore, according to the NationalBureau of Statistics and theChina Federation of Logisticsand Purchasing (CFLP).

The PMI is a widelywatched indicator of the healthof the Chinese economy, witha reading above 50 indicatingexpansion while anything be-low that points to contraction.Oil prices had meanwhileslumped on Tuesday after anindex on US manufacturing ac-tivity in the Chicago area unex-pectedly dived into contractionterritory in April. Markets wereawaiting the release Wednes-day of US energy stockpilesdata, as well as the outcome ofkey central bank policy meet-ings this week., with expecta-tions that stimulus will keepflowing in a bid to prop up eco-nomic growth. —AFP

A NEW, preliminary imaging studythat compares the effects of fructose and glucose on the brain has

found differences that may explain why di-ets high in fructose may be behind the obe-sity epidemic.

Upon examining brainmagnetic resonance imag-ing (MRI) scans of adultvolunteers, first study au-thor Kathleen A. Page ofYale University School ofMedicine in the US, andcolleagues, found ingestionof glucose but not fructosereduced blood flow andbrain activity in regions ofthe brain that regulate ap-petite, and ingestion of glu-cose but not fructose, ledto higher levels of hor-mones that produce feel-ings of fullness and satiety.

They write about theirfindings in a paper pub-lished online in JAMA on 2January.

In the average western diet, fructosecomes from two sources: as a natural com-pound in fruit, and as an added ingredientof processed foods.

Food companies use fructose becauseit is sweeter than glucose and helps to sta-bilize processed foods.

The main source of fructose in pro-cessed foods in the US is high fructose cornsyrup, which is also used to improve theappearance of baked goods because it pro-duces a more consistent browning.

There is currently a debate aboutwhether high fructose corn syrup is driv-

Fructose effect on brainmay explain link to obesity

ing the obesity epidemic, which is likelyto become more heated since the publica-tion in 2012 of an extensive review in theInternational Journal of Obesity that foundno evidence that consumption of highfructose corn syrup is to blame for the

obesity crisis in the US.Thereare also concerns about linkswith type 2 diabetes. A morerecent study by the Univer-sity of Oxford and the Uni-versity of Southern Califor-nia suggests countries thatuse large amounts of highfructose corn syrup in theirfood may be helping to fuelthe global epidemic of type 2diabetes.

An author of that study,Stanley Ulijaszek, Director ofthe Institute of Social andCultural Anthropology at theUniversity of Oxford, com-mented on the differencebetween consumption ofnaturally occuring fructosein fruit and artificially intro-

duced fructose as in processed foods. Hesaid:

“... fructose in an apple is probablyreleased slowly because of the fibre withinthe apple and because the fructose is in-side the cells of the apple.”

In their background information, Pageand colleagues write how evidence fromanimal studies suggests that “fructosepossibly increases food-seeking behav-ior and increases food intake”, and that“fructose ingestion produces smaller in-creases in circulating satiety hormonescompared with glucose ingestion”.

KARACHI: Chairman Railway Workers Union Manzoor Ahmad Raza join hands with other labour union leaders to mark the International LabourDay at Cantt railway station

KARACHI: Mr. Hussain Lawai is presenting a shield to Rafique Bukhari during aseminar of travel agents organized by United Insurance in collaboration of SummitBank-RY.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

KARACHI: Activists of Pakhtunkhwa Mili Awami Party flashing victory sign during a rally.

KARACHI: Rangers soldiers are busy in a search operation after armed clashes be-tween two groups for the occupation of land at old Sabzi Mandi.

14978 pollingstations inSindh: ECSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The ProvincialElection Commission, SindhWednesday announced theelections scheme for theprovince.

According to the detailsthat the election commissionreleased, the number of poll-ing stations would be 14978while number of pollingbooths would 46429 acrossthe province. The number ofvoters would be 18965392.

Altaf laudsKayani forbold stanceSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Founderand Leader of MuttahidaQaumi Movement (MQM)Mr Altaf Hussain hailed theaddress of Chief of ArmyStaff Gen. Ashfaq PervezKayani to the armed forceson the Martyrs Day.

He said that Gen. Kayanideserved to be praisedgreatly for expressing hispoint of view on highly sen-sitive issues in a bold man-ner. He proved that he was acourageous and fearless sol-dier, who was always readyto defend the country.

The bold statement ofGen. Kayani gave a new hopeto the nation, and it dissi-pated the mist of doubts. Heraised the heads of the na-tion with pride by offering abrave and courageousstance, said Hussain addingthat the entire nation saluteshim and all other offices andmen of the Pakistan Army.

Land mafiagroups’ clash

leaves six shops,car torched

KARACHI—Six shops andone car were torched as twogroups clashed over a landdispute near Purani SabziMandi on Wednesday morn-ing. Reports said that follow-ing the clash the angry dem-onstrators torched six shopsand one car, while the firing,arson and stoning continuedfor sometime.

Police said that the twoland mafia groups over a dis-pute on a piece of land cameclashing violently and later itturned into a free for all, as thebaton wielding demonstratorsopened fire, broke shutters ofscores of shops, looted andtorched them.—INP

Pak Army paystribute to martyrs

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pak Army paidtribute to martyrs of the armedforces who laid their lives forthe defence of the country.

In this regard, an impres-sive ceremony was held to payhomage to the supreme sacri-fices of the martyrs of theArmed forces, Pakistan Rang-ers Sindh, Pakistan CoastGuard, Frontier Corps and Po-lice. Corps Commander Lieu-tenant General Muhammad IjazChaudhry laid the wreath at theYadgar-e Shuhada (Monumentof the martyrs) and offeredprayers for the departed souls.1

ICAP gold medal,certificate

distribution todayKARACHI—The Institute ofChartered Accountants ofPakistan (ICAP) is organizinga ‘Gold Medal and CertificateDistribution Ceremony’ to beheld on tomorrow (Friday) atlocal hotel, Karachi.

According to media co-ordinator ICAP, RafiqVayani, Mr. Ahmed DawoodPatel, FCA, Past President,ICAP, Mr. RuhailMohammed, Chief ExecutiveOfficer, Engro Fertilizers Lim-ited and Mr. Ahmed Saeed,President, ICAP will be thespeakers at the ceremony.

Newly qualified CAs andCA Students who haveachieved outstanding results inICAP’s examinations will beGold Medal awarded passingout & Merit Certificates.—NNI

KARACHI—Governor ofSindh, Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad Khanon Wednesday said the prov-ince will soon have a law forprevention of Thalassemia, agenetic disorder that remainsincurable for the sufferingchildren.

Addressing a ceremonyorganized by Make A WishFoundation, at the GovernorHouse, for children sufferingfrom Thalassemia, Cancer andother blood related diseases,he said an ordinance will beenforced in the province forelimination of Thalassemiavirus.

“As a first step all mar-riage contracts(nikahnamas) would have amandatory column showingthe health status of the

Ordinance to be introduced forprevention of Thalassemia in Sindh

couples, with specific refer-ence to prevalence of the vi-rus,” he said,

The Sindh Governor ap-preciated the organizers ofthe ceremony for fulfillingthe wish of the children suf-fering from terminal diseases,with specific reference to thefact that they may be in thelast stage of their ailment.

Dr. Ishrat ul Ebad Khanexpressed his heart felt sym-pathies with the parents ofthese children and said ageneral realization is requiredabout their plight and suffer-ing.

On the occasion theSindh Governor, in accor-dance to the wishes of the 11selected children, presentedthem with gifts of their choice

besides ensuring that theyalso meet personalities oftheir choice.

Mohammad Asad (12years) received a bi-cycle,Khalid Ikram (7 years) a re-mote controlled helicopter,Mohammad Mehdi (12 years)a television, Muzzamil (12years) had an i-pod, AbdulSattar (four years) a mobilephone, Aniq (eight years) gotre-chargeable motor cycle,Urooj (14 years) and MuskanAfridi (nine years) receivedBarbie dolls.

Eight year old Attiya re-ceived a cricket kit and alsomet her favourite cricketerMoin Khan while nine yearsold Quratul Ain had a meet-ing with her favourite TV ar-tiste Hina Dilpazeer and 13

years old Iqra met with anair-hostess.

The Managing Directorof PIA, Capt, Junaid Younuspresent in the ceremony an-nounced that Iqra will be pro-vided with an opportunity,the national carrier, to fly asan air-hostess from Karachito any destination of herchoice.

The Sindh Governor ap-preciated the gesture andsaid that other organizationsmust also come forward to-wards the cause of terminallyill children.

The ceremony was alsoaddressed by President,Make A Wish Foundation,Dr. Mirza Ishtiaq Baig and itsGeneral Secretary, MirzaIkhtiar Baig.—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan RailwayWorkers (Mehnat-kash)Union, Karachi division oneve of World Labour Day or-ganized series of programsincluding rallies that weretaken out from different partsof the city.

These rallies participatedby senior labour leaders andhundreds of workers paid glow-ing tribute to the victims of

PR workers take out rallies to markWorld Labour Day

Chicago that paved way forlabour reforms and acceptanceof workers’ rights across theworld. Senior labour leadersHabib uddin Junaidi, LatifMughal, Salim Akhter,Manzoor Badayuni and othersaddressing these rallies, thatculminated at Karachi PressClub, said development andprosperity of any country is sig-nificantly dependent upon the

contribution of its labour force.They regretted that the

fact has been largely ignoredin our country where little at-tention is paid towards wel-fare and well being of the work-ing class. “Our labourers arebeing deliberately forced to-wards poverty,” they la-mented and also acknowl-edged their inability to ad-dress the situation.—APP

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Sec-retary, Mohammad EjazChaudhri has directed the de-partmental secretaries, divi-sional and district administra-tion as well as the police todevelop strong linkages withthe ECP Sindh office.

As per details of his direc-tives issued on Wednesdaythe chief secretary said coor-dination with ECP must be fo-cussed towards facilitatingfree, fair and transparent elec-tions in the province.

“No interruption of anysort will be allowed in the elec-tioneering process across theprovince,” said the Chief Sec-retary. For the purpose, he saiddesignation of polling stations

CS asks administration to developstrong linkages with ECP

and deployment of pollingstaff must be ensured in an ef-fective manner with specialconsideration towards facili-tating voters as well as candi-dates in accordance with theirrespective constitutionalrights. The Chief SecretarySindh urged the officials totake prompt notice of the com-plaints, if any, made by the can-didates and ensure actions inaccordance to set rules andregulations.

He said the election con-trol roomwould be functionalround the clock under munici-pality department besides theelection cell constituted atChief Secretary’s office andcomplaint centre must be

strictly monitored.M Ejaz Chaudhri directed

the deputy commissioners ofall districts and concerned po-lice officials to ensure adequateadministrative measures, withspecial care towards securityconcerns of the candidates.“No discrimination must bemade in this regard and everycandidate must be treated withdue respect and regard,” hesaid.

The Sindh CS also directedthe officials to develop liaisonwith all civic agencies so as toensure uninterrupted waterand electric supply at the poll-ing stations besides otherneeded facilities for the votersand polling staff.—APP

KARACHI—The fast ap-proaching national polls offerworking class an opportunityto assert themselves againstinjustice and tyranny, said can-didates for May 11 elections ina programme organised to markthe World Labour Day.

These candidates of anewly established politicalparty, Mohib- e- WattanRoshan Pak, also registeredwith EC of Pakistan, said they

Candidates urge workers toassert their rights in election

were strongly committed to thecause of labour and workingclass of the country.

The ceremony held onWednesday was addressed byHakeem Baloch, candidate forNA - 250, Amir Ali Patti- Wallaycontesting from NA-247,Mohammad Aslam from NA-240 and Abdul Hameed Advo-cate from PS - 98. They saidthey were starting their electioncampaign on May 1 is reflec-

tive of their commitment to-wards the cause of labourers.

Raja Advocate and tradeunionist Sher Alam also spokeon the occasion and paid glow-ing tribute to the martyrs ofChicago. They appealed to theworkers and labourers in thecity to support the party andcontribute towards success ofthe Mohib-e-Wattan RoshanPakistan candidates in thepolls.—APP

THE “Cinnamon Challenge”, whichinvolves trying to swallow a teaspoon of cinnamon without water

within sixty seconds, has led to many callsto poison centers, emergency departmentsvisits and hospitalizations of teenagerswho require ventilatorsupport for collapsedlungs.

Swallowing a tea-spoon of Cinnamon withinsixty seconds is a nearlyimpossible challenge.Even on the online dare,there is a warning: “It’sgoing to burn, you aregoing to cough, and regretyou tried.”

The Cinnamon Chal-lenge is a dare that hasspread throughout theInternet. While most chil-dren know about it, veryfew parents and teachersdo, researchers from theUniversity of Miami MillerSchool of Medicine wrotein the journal Pediatrics.

Steven E. Lipshultz, M.D., the GeorgeBatchelor Professor of Pediatrics and Di-rector of the Batchelor Children’s Re-search Institute, said:

“Given the allure of social media, peerpressure and a trendy new fad, pediatri-cians and parents have a ‘challenge’ oftheir own in counseling tweens and teensregarding the sensibilities of the choicesthey make and the potential health risksof this dare. Ingesting and Aspirating DryCinnamon by Children and Adolescents:The ‘Cinnamon Challenge.”

The authors said that parents need to

The cinnamon challenge landsmany children in hospital

be told about the Cinnamon Challenge,and they need to advise their childrenabout the dangers. Parental advice re-ally matters to kids, they added.“Schools and pediatricians should beencouraged to discuss with children the

‘Cinnamon Challenge’ andits possible harmful ef-fects.”

Co-author JudySchaechter, M.D., M.B.A.,Interim Chair of Pediatrics,was surprised to find outduring a recent dinnerwith a dozen pediatriciansthat none of them had everheard of the CinnamonChallenge.

Even though most teen-agers who choose to do thechallenge endure only tem-porary effects, the re-searchers wrote that poi-son centers are receivingan increasing number ofcalls related to the Cinna-mon Challenge, and morekids are ending up in emer-

gency departments and being hospital-ized.

Cinnamon is a caustic powder con-sisting of cellulose fibers which do notdissolve and are not biodegradable inthe lungs.

Animal studies have shown that cin-namon can cause inflammation of the air-ways and lungs (if it is inhaled), and itcan also cause lesions and scarring inthe lungs and airways. People withasthma, pulmonary cystic fibrosis,chronic lung disease or a hypersensitiv-ity to spice need to be especially careful.

LAHORE: Labourers are busy in their work at Punjab Assembly Building, oblivious ofInternational Labour Day, observed around the globe on Wednesday.

LAHORE: Supporters of Pakistan Workers Confederation chanting slogans in favour of labour rights during a rallyto mark the International Labour Day at GPO Chowk.

LAHORE: Children taking bath in canal water to cool themselves off.

Hamza fortimely elections

LAHORE—PML-N leaderHamaza Shahbaz saidWednesday that holding ofgeneral elections on time wassolution to terrorism in thecountry.

Addressing a press con-ference here at model town,he said that even a single daydelay in holding polls couldcreate severe problems.

The PML-N is movingahead with the high spirit ofserving the masses, addingthat people would cast votein favour of PML-N on itsperformance.

He claimed that his partywould clean sweep in Lahoreduring the upcoming generalelections provincial capital.

He recounted his partyperformance of its last termin which different schemeshad been completed to facili-tate the people besides set-ting up medical college inSouth Punjab.

The PML-N hadchanged 30 percent candi-dates in Lahore to contestcoming elections, headded.—APP

LAHORE—Caretaker PunjabHealth Minister Mrs.Saleema Hashmi has stressedthe need for multi-sectoralcoordination between orga-nizations, researchers andimplementers for programmeand policy design to controlHIV, Aids.

She said that there was aneed for continuity in thepolicies for the success ofPunjab AIDS ControlProgramme. She recognizedHIV as an acute issue thatcould develop into a majorissue in the years to come ifleft unchecked.

She was presiding overthe first Programme ScienceGroup meeting of PunjabAIDS Control Programmehere in a local hotel. In themeeting, Dr FarhanEmmanuel introduced the

LAHORE—Inspector Generalof Prisons Punjab MianFarooq Nazeer Wednesdaybanned inter-district move-ment of all officers withoutprior permission.

Jail Department sourcestold APP here today that IGtook serious notice that mostof the Range Deputy Inspec-tor Generals, Superinten-dent, Deputy and AssistantSuperintendent Jail includingSenior Superintendent Jail,Sahiwal leave their place ofposting during week end and

gazetted holidays withoutprior approval of the compe-tent authority except in courtthus leaving the station un-attended in the prevailingcritical law and order situa-tion in the country.

The IG has issued expressorder to all officers for strictcompliance otherwise strictaction will be taken againstthe negligent besides trans-fer to desk work.

He also cancelled leave ofall jailers and directed to re-port to their place of duty

immediately otherwise strictaction will be taken.

The IG has taken this de-cision to fully ensure fool-proof security in and aroundall prisoners in view of theprevailing law and order situ-ation.

All Range DIGs and Se-nior Superintendents of Jailsacross the province havebeen directed to ensure strictimplementation of the direc-tive and send compliance re-ports within a couple ofdays.—APP

Solid stepssoon for

labourers: PPPLAHORE—All democraticinstitutions should getunited to ensure transparentelections in the country.

These views were ex-pressed by Pakistan peoplesparty (PPP) Lahore PresidentSamina Khalid Ghurki andPPP Lahore Information Sec-retary Abid Hussain Siddiqiin a joint press statement is-sued on Wednesday.

They said the PPP hadalways introduced labourfriendly policies and workersdo get relief whenever PPPcome into power.

After wining the elec-tions, PPP would take solidssteps to uplift the living stan-dard of labourers, theyadded. The PPP will not letthose succeed in their de-signs who were hatchingconspiracies against the de-mocracy in the country. Theysaid that PPP is the party ofpoor people and was not likethose who leave the countryin tough time.—APP

New Wasareforms soonSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Caretaker PunjabMinister for Housing and In-dustry Arif Ejaz has said thatWater and SanitationAgency (WASA) should in-troduce new reforms to im-prove its working besidesadopting a comprehensivestrategy to enhance the rev-enue generation and collec-tion system.

Presiding over a meet-ing of WASA officials hereon Wednesday, he said thatconnections of electricitydefaulters should be re-moved immediately, addingthat action should be takenagainst all those who werenot giving their bills ontime.

To ensure quick relief topeople, Wasa should adopta strategy with the supportof Wapda officials, he added.

Programme Science GlobalProgramme, followed by DrTahira Ezra Raza’s presen-tation where she spokeabout the proposedProgramme Science activi-ties in Punjab.

The Programme ScienceGroup memberships werealso finalized in this meeting.Dr Salman Shahid,Programme Manager PACPalso updated the partici-pants about the activitiesand HIV response of PACPin Punjab.

Meanwhile, Punjab AIDSControl Programme and Cen-ter for Global Public Health,University of Manitoba alsoconducted a seminar in col-laboration with the Instituteof Public Health as a part ofthe Human Resource Devel-opment Programme.—APP

HIV becoming big issue ifnot timely cured: Minister

Voters urged to foilanti-democracy

conspiraciesLAHORE—Secretary Gen-eral, Jamaat e Islami, LiaqatBaloch has impressed uponthe voters all over the coun-try to get united to foil theconspiracies being hatchedagainst democracy.

Addressing corner meet-ings in NA-126 in the Punjabcapital on Wednesday, hesaid that the masses shouldface the challenge and comeout of their homes on May11 for play their historic role.

Liaqat Baloch said thatthe elections 2013 would pro-vide an opportunity to themasses for the reconstruc-tion and development of thecountry. Pakistan, he said,was not simply a piece ofland or a country alone. It wasthe goal envisioned by thefounding fathers for the en-forcement of a system basedon the Holy Quran and theSunnah and the JI was theonly party that could achievethis goal.

He said the JI would takeinto confidence the generalpublic, traders, industrial-ists, farmers, Haris, theyouth, the women folk, mi-norities , workers, profes-sionals, and skilled peopleand strife for self relianceand Islamic economic re-forms.—APP

Inter-district movementof jail officers banned

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz (PML-N) se-nior leader and former PunjabChief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thePML-N believes that it is ouryouth which, if given propereducation and skills, canchange the destiny of the na-tion.

Addressing the activists ofthe PML-N youth Wing inLahore on Wednesday, hesaid, “If voted to power, thePML-N would convert PunjabEducation Endowment Fundinto Pakistan EndowmentFund while education schol-arships and laptops would alsobe given to talented studentsacross the country.”

It may be noted that thePML-N Manifesto envisagesimplementation of new Na-tional Youth Policy with initia-tion of youth training and skilldevelopment programme tocreate one million positions forapprenticeship in trade andindustry, in collaboration withthe private sector to ensure at

Skilful youth can changenational destiny: Shahbaz

least one job for every low in-come family apart from extend-ing self-employment loans tothose who complete training /apprenticeship, especially inthe information technologyand other knowledge-basedsectors. In order to involveyouth in governance at thelocal level, special seats will bereserved for them in the UnionCouncils and District Councilsto prepare them for a biggerrole in National and ProvincialAssemblies.

Shahbaz Sharif told thePML-N Youth delegation thatthe party is fully conscious ofthe importance sporting activi-ties play in improving thehealth and mindset of itspeople and the decline insports and exercise in recentyears. Under a phasedprogramme, modern gymnasiawill be constructed at the dis-trict and tehsil levels, he said.

Shahbaz further said thatthe people of Punjab wouldensure resumption of develop-ment works in the province byagain voting the PML-N topower on May 11. “The PPP,

PTI and PML-Q have invitedthe criticism of people by op-posing development schemessuch as Metro Bus Service(MBS), laptop distributionscheme, Ujala programme andGreen Tractor Scheme,” hesaid. He said that after com-ing to power, the PML-N gov-ernment would also launchMBS projects in Karachi,Rawalpindi and Faisalabad. Headded that Punjab was the onlyprovince which did not get anymonetary assistance from theCentre other than budgetaryallocations.

Shahbaz said thatManzoor Wattoo’s statementthat his party would makeImran Khan PM after winningpolls had vindicated his claimsabout an alliance between thePPP, PTI and PML-Q.

The PML-N leader saidthat aim of the socio-economicpolicies of the PML-N will beto expand employment oppor-tunities in order to reduce pov-erty and at the same time en-sure a fuller utilization of thecountry’s human resourcesfor productive purposes.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab HomeMinister Tariq Pervaiz said onWednesday that he had vis-ited all regions of Punjabprovince to review electionarrangements.

Addressing a press con-ference in connection withthe election and security ar-rangements for upcomingpolls, he said that provincialgovernment had made all ar-rangements according to theelection code of conduct is-sued by the Election Commis-sion of Pakistan (ECP).

He said that till now theyhad completed all arrange-ments according to a sched-ule. He further said that aerialfiring and display of weap-ons would not be allowed,adding that all steps wouldbe taken to ensure conducive

environment for elections.Proper planning had been

devised to deal with any un-toward incident during thepolling day, he added.

He said that securityplans have been devised atprovincial as well as districtlevels.

He said that polling sta-tions have been divided intothree categories and securityplan has been made for eachcategory.

Responding to a ques-tion, he said that CCTV cam-eras, video recording andwalk through gates facilitieswould be ensured at pollingstations.

He said that all candi-dates were being providedreasonable security.

“We are trying our bestto ensure peaceful electionsin the country,” he added.

Election arrangementsreviewed: Tariq

PTI to set newrecord in political

history: AmanullahLAHORE—The people haverejected those who had madefalse promises in the past andtaken a stand in favour ofPakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf,claimed Brigadier (retd) RahatAmanullah PTI candidate forNA-131 on Wednesday.

Talking to APP he claimedthe PTI would set a newrecord in political history ofthe country on the electionday.

He said that PTI is ca-pable and dedicated to bringabout real change in the coun-try by defeating other partiesin the upcoming elections.

He said that young gen-eration was an asset of theparty and the experiencedleaders use their potentialtowards progress and pros-perity of the nation.—APP

Two-day Int’lmoot on institutions

from todayLAHORE—The Economicsdepartment of the Govt Col-lege University (GCU) Lahoreis holding a two-day interna-tional conference on “Insti-tutions, Growth and Devel-opment in Pakistan” fromMay 2 (Thursday) under theauspices of the Higher Edu-cation Commission (HEC).

US Agency for Interna-tional Development (USAID)and Dairy and Rural Devel-opment Foundation (DRDF)will also collaborate.

GCU Economics Depart-ment Chairperson Asif Saeedsaid on Wednesday that theobjective of conference wasto promote a dialogue onPakistan’s future develop-ment priorities in the light ofeconomic performance of thepast decade.

State Bank of PakistanDirector Monetary Policy DrHamza Malik, Planning Com-mission of Pakistan DeputyChairman Dr Nadeem ul Haq,Former Finance MinisterSartaj Aziz, USAID Directorand Acting Consul GeneralLahore Jeffrey N. Bakken,Former Secretary FinanceNawid Ahson, Bond Univer-sity Australia EconomicsDepartment Head Prof DrAhmad Khalid, Dr AbidBurki, Dr Salman Shah, DrAisha Ghaus Pasha and alarge number of other emi-nent economists from Paki-stan and aboard will addressthe conference.—APP

144 new cases ofmeasles reported

LAHORE—Over 10,433 casesof measles have been re-ported in Punjab during thelast five months, including144 new cases during last 24hours.

According to the Healthdepartment officials, at least62 deaths have been re-ported so far, including oneeach at Children Hospital andMayo Hospital on Wednes-day. Most deaths occured inLahore, Gujranwala,Rajanpur, Rahim Yar Khanand Kasur.

During the last 24 hours,around 144 cases of measleswere reported from Punjab,including 41 from city hospi-tals.

Meanwhile, Director Gen-eral Health Services PunjabDr Tanveer Ahmed said thaton investigation it wasfound out the majority ofdeaths in Lahore werecaused by severe pneumo-nia and delay in reachinghospitals.

Measles vaccination isavailable in all hospitals ofthe city in ample quantity andpatients are being treatedfree, he added.—APP