Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

Revival of Pakistan DayParade................................................China for peace in Afghanistan,region................................................Lynching of dacoits by mob

See Page 04

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The bullish mood continued topush the index upward close to the target of35,000 levels after gaining 140points to close at 34,826 levelsamid bustling trading activity toimprove the market volume to344 million shares traded Tues-day.

The index opened on apositive note and remainedstrong during the entire tradingsession and likely to test itsupper daily Bollinger bandwhich is currently at 35,000 onthe back of attractive oil & gas

sector and cement sectors looking attractive atthe current levels.

Pakistan Bulk international terminal was

KSE-100 close to 35,000 levelwith another gain of 150 points

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RIYADH: Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee General Rashad Mahmood called on Saudi King Salman bin AbdulAziz on Tuesday.

Khursheed blasts govtover Shikarpur tragedy

Accuses Centre of recent petrol crisis

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—Two bomb blasts one each inKurram agency and Mansehra district targetingmen in uniform Tuesday left at least six peoplemartyred and few others injured. Those killedinclude four army personal and an SHO whoalong with a police party was escorting a Gilgitbound passenger bus. Two alleged militants werealso killed and many injured in search and cor-don off operation later.

All the passengers remained unhurt. An

army convoy, as the military sources said, wastargeted with the help of road side blast nearWarmagae area in Kurram agency in the morn-ing that left four Army men martyred. Thosekilled include the personal of the military BombDisposal Squad (BDS) moving ahead of thearmy convoy.

“The military convoy was moving fromThall area to the Kurram agency headquartersParachinar when a vehicle of the Bomb DisposalSquad hit an Improvised Explosive Device

Six men in uniform martyredin Kurram, Mansehra attacks

Continued on Page 7

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The Corps Commanders’ Con-ference was held at General Headquarters onTuesday, chaired by Chief of Army Staff Gen-eral Raheel Sharif.

According to an Inter-Services Public Re-lations press release, the participants in the meet-ing comprehensively reviewedinternal and external securitysituation in the country alongwith discussing matters pertaining to profes-sional interest.

The review also focused on the most effec-tive manner of implementing the National Ac-tion Plan — which was drafted in the wake of

the Peshawar school attack to chalk out a com-prehensive strategy to combat terrorism — withthe federal and provincial governments, in or-der to eliminate terrorism, extremism and sec-tarianism without any discrimination.

The conference also reviewed OperationZarb-i-Azb — the military offensive launchedin North Waziristan by the Pakistan army in thewake of the brazen attack on the Jinnah Interna-

tional Airport in Karachi andOperation Khyber-1 — an opera-tion to clear out militant strong-

holds in the tribal region of Khyber.The army’s top brass also reviewed the se-

curity situation at the western borders, Line ofControl and the working boundary.

Corps commandersreview security graph

WASHINGTON—Obama Administration hassought more than eight hundred million dol-lars economic and security assistance for Pa-kistan in its new financial year budget pro-posal.

The allocation for Pakistan in the new fi-nancial year includes five hundred thirty fourmillion dollars in civilian assistance and threehundred seven million dollars in security as-sistance.

The budget document says that the requestfor aid demonstrates US commitment to pro-vide security assistance to promote Pakistan’scounter-terrorism and counterinsurgency ca-pabilities. The document says that inview of the ongoing transition in Afghanistan,the Foreign Military Financing is essential to

Pakistan’s efforts to increase stability on itswestern border region as well as overall sta-bility within its own borders.

The Obama administration is deliberatinga impose a 10 per cent cut in economic andsecurity assistance provided to Pakistan in itsnew financial year budget proposal.

The administration has sought over$800million of which $534million is reservedfor civilian assistance and $307million for se-curity assistance.

The budget document stated that the re-quest for aid demonstrates US commitmentto assist Pakistan’s counter-terrorism andcounterinsurgency capabilities.

The document added that in view of the ongo-

Obama Admin seeks over$800m for Pakistan in budget

10pc cut to be imposed on economic assistance

Continued on Page 7

5 girl studentsdead as well

ditchesSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—At least fivechildren died after falling in awell located inside a madrassain Peshawar on Tuesday. Ac-cording to reports, between 25to 30 students were on the roofof the well which had been con-verted into a gutter.

Rescue and police officialssay that the wall of the gutterinside the madrassa was in adilapidated condition and it felldown when children werestanding over it.

As a result of the collapsefive children died while eightothers were injured. All the stu-dents of the madrassa are girls.The injured and the dead were

Continued on Page 7

Modi facespossible statepoll defeatNEW DELHI—Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modi isfacing his first state electiondefeat since taking charge lastyear, opinion polls show, aresult that would dent hischances of consolidatingpower needed to speed up aneconomic recovery.

The ruling BharatiyaJanata Party has orderedscores of its top national andstate leaders to campaign forthis weekend’s high-profileelection to the Delhiassembly where a small anti-corruption party is threaten-ing to stop its momentum.

But even the appointmentof Finance Minister ArunJaitley to oversee thecampaign while he is writingthis month’s federal budgetmay not be enough.

“This is the first time thatwe may see Modi’s momen-tum stopped and that will be ashock,” said Satish Misra, apolitical analyst at theObserver Research Founda-tion. “Despite putting everylast drop of energy into thiscampaign, it looks like theBJP is heading fordefeat.”Modi needs to winmost of the state electionsover the next four years togain control of both houses ofparliament to deliver on hispromise of jobs and economicgrowth. The upper house,

Serbia, Croatianot committedgenocide: UNCourtTHE HAGUE—The UnitedNations’ highest court ruledon Tuesday that neitherCroatia nor Serbia hadcommitted genocide againsteach other’s populationsduring the wars that accom-panied the violent breakup ofYugoslavia in the 1990s.

Peter Tomka, president ofthe International Court ofJustice, said the forces ofboth countries had committedcrimes during the conflict, butthat the intent to commitgenocide — by “destroying apopulation in whole or inpart” — had not been provenagainst either country.

Finding that neither sidehad violated the 1948Genocide Convention, hecalled on the erstwhileBalkan foes to continue theircooperation in compensatingvictims with a view to“consolidating peace andstability in the region”.

The cases were part of the

Lakhvi trial

IHC toconduct dailyhearingsSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The IslamabadHigh Court on Tuesdayannounced that it willconduct day-to-day hearingsin the case of allegedmastermind of the 2008Mumbai attacks ZakiurRehman Lakhvi, upon therequest of the FederalInvestigation Agency.

According to sources,FIA prosecutor ChaudhryAzhar filed an application onbehalf of the agencyrequesting a day-to-dayhearing in Lakhvi’s case.

Prosecutor Azhar wasquoted as saying: “This caseis crucial. The world’s eyes

Continued on Page 7

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Leader of the Oppositionin the National Assembly, SyedKhursheed Shah of Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) on Tuesday assailed the gov-ernment over what he termed its ‘non-serious attitude’ shown in the Shikarpurimambargah massacre.

Speaking in the lower house of Par-liament, he said despite repeated remind-ers form the MNAs, the government hasnot taken notice of the deadly suicide at-tack at an imambargah that killed at least61 people including children during Fri-day prayers.

Shah said Interior Minister ChaudhryNisar Ali Khan did not even condemn theincident and was only interested in secur-ing the federal capital.

“How can a person who could noteven handle Sikandar – an armed man

responsible for the infamous 2013 stand-off in Islamabad – protect the whole coun-try,” he said.

The PPP leader said the masses inSindh were frustrated after the Shikarpurincident, adding that cruelty and helpless-ness of this magnitude has never beenwitnessed in the country’s history.

Responding to accusations hurled atthe government, Federal State MinisterSheikh Aftab said that Shikarpur was notjust a Sindh town but belongs to all in thecountry. Government is saddened by thetragic incident and Prime Minister NawazSharif has been taking everyone onboardon all matters of the national interest, headded.The opposition leader also accusedthe government of the recent petrol cri-sis, terming it an example of bad gover-nance in the country.

“What would be a bigger atrocity thancollecting 27 per cent sales tax on petro-

leum products?” he questioned.Meanwhile, Federal Minister for

Petroleum Shahid Khaqan Abbasi pre-sented a report in the house on the petrolcrisis. He said Pakistan State Oil (PSO)was facing financial problems, addingthat 100,000 metric ton petrol was soldacross the country in the last three days.

He said that additional oil has beenstocked to avoid anymore shortages in thecoming days.

Taking part in the debate, KhursheedShah said that his party was raising voiceagainst the government’s shortcomings atsuitable forum despite that fact that thePML-N opposition went to the courts oversimilar issues during their last tenure.

He said absence of all three concernedministers from the house was an evidenceof the government’s failure in tackling theissues of grave concern.The session waslater adjourned till Wednesday.

Chinese FM due on9th to finalise Xi’s visitWang to meet Nawaz, Sartaj President expected

to attend Pakistan Day Parade as chief guestASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—Chinese For-eign Minister Wang Yi will bearriving in Islamabadon February 9 on a two-day official visit tofinalise the details of theupcoming visit by Chi-nese President XiJinping.

According tosources the ChinesePresident is scheduledto visit Pakistan fromMarch 22 next. Duringhis visit, Foreign Min-ister Yi would meetwith Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif and Ad-viser on Foreign AffairsSartaj Aziz.

The source furtherstated that the agenda ofdiscussion would beagreements to be taken up dur-ing the visit of the ChinesePresident, which would befinalised during talks with the

visiting foreign minister.Wang Yi recently met with

India’s External Affairs Minis-ter Sushma Swaraj in Beijing

on a host of bilateral and mul-tilateral issues, including PrimeMinister Narendra Modi’s firstvisit to China in May.

A diplomatic source saysthe Chinese president is ex-pected to attend the PakistanDay parade as chief guest.

Both China and Paki-stan are working out de-tails of the Chinesepresident’s visit throughdiplomatic channels. Chi-nese authorities havebeen assured about maxi-mum security duringJinping’s upcoming visit.

“We are in the middleof a process to finalise thedrafts of various agree-ments to be signed dur-ing the visit of the Chi-nese president,” PlanningMinister Ahsan Iqbal toldmedia.

He made it clear that atno cost would the visit byPresident Xi Jinping bepostponed this time. He

accused certain political ele-ments of trying to disrupt thebeginning of Pakistan-China

Continued on Page 7

Chinese President Xi Jinping.

AAMIR MAJEED

KARACHI—Fear gripped Karachi on Tuesdayafter a hand grenade attack outside a privateschool located in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block-VIIand recovery of a terrorists’ threatening letterfrom the site of explosion.

As per details, some unidentified pillionriders hurled a hand grenade on empty placein between the two campuses of a privateschool located in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Block-VIIand escaped away. At the time of attack, therewas no student in both campuses of the pri-vate school.

The noise of explosion was heard milesaway from the blast site. Some of the Gulshan-e-Iqbal awakens with the noise of explosionand came out of their houses. The explosionof hand grenade left a crater at the site. Aheavy contingent of police and Rangersreached the spot and cordoned off the area.

The law enforcement agencies have recov-ered warning notes, which were written inUrdu and English languages, from the site of

Grenade attack outside school

Terrorists warn of APS-likestrike in Karachi

explosion. The attackers warned of attacks onschools if the government continues to hangtheir accomplices.

According to DIG East Muneer Sheikh,the attackers also left a hand written warningnote at the site of blast. He said that two as-sailants on a motorbike hurled grenade andescaped from the scene. Director GeneralRangers Maj-Gen Bilal Akbar also visited theblast site.

Taking notice of hand grenade attack out-side a private school, Chief Minister SindhSyed Qaim Ali Shah has sought a report fromInspector General (IG) Sindh Ghulam haiderJamali and ordered investigation into the at-tack. He also ordered foolproof security ofschools in Karachi and interior Sindh.

Sindh Education Minister Nisar Khuhrotook notice of the blast and sought a reportfrom Additional Inspector General (AIG)Karachi police.

Meanwhile, blasts were reported nearHabib Bank Chowrangi in Karachi’s SITEarea as well, however there were no injuries.

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ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—It was not ‘onevs two’ even calling it ‘one vsten’ would be unjust and unfairas more than fifty lawyers in-cluding a former Chief Justiceof the LHC and a retired judgewere arguing in the IHC Tues-day on behalf of MumtazQadri, the convict in SalmanTaseer’s murder case. The gov-ernment side however was rep-resented by a lone figure, Ad-

Qadri’s case can’t be sentto military court: IHC

vocate General who thoughlooked subdued yet was de-fending the state in this highprofile and unusually sensitivecase.

A division bench ofIslamabad High Court (IHC)comprising Justice Noorul HaqN Qureshi and Justice ShaukatAziz Siddiqui is hearingQadri’s appeal against deathsentence granted by an Anti-Terrorism Court (ATC) in Oc-

Continued on Page 7

Pak-IMFtalks continue

DUBAI—Pak-IMF delegationlevel talks for the USD 550tranche to Pakistan continuedhere for the second consecutiveday here Tuesday with FinanceMinister, Ishaq Dar leading thePakistan side.

Would-be successor of Mr.Jeffrey Franks, IMF Missionchief to Pakistan, also joinedthe discussion.

The Minister furtherbriefed the IMF side on the eco-nomic profile of Pakistan and

Gen Rashaddiscusses

bilateral tieswith Saudi King

OBSERVER REPORT

R AWA L P I N D I —Genera lRashad Mahmood, ChairmanJoint Chiefs of Staff Commit-tee who is on an official visitto the Kingdom of SaudiArabia met King Salman BinAbdul Aziz Al-Saud on Tues-day and conveyed good wishesof the Government and ArmedForces of Pakistan.

While expressing condo-lences on the sad demise ofKing Abdullah Bin AbdulazizAl-Saud and appreciating lateMajesty’s efforts in the fieldsof economic development andcounter terrorism, GeneralRashad Mahmood wished theSaudi leadership success andprosperity in the face of toughchallenges ahead.

General Rashad Mahmood

Continued on Page 7

Picture on Back Page

CHAMAN: A health worker is administering polio dropsto a child during the 2nd day of the anti-polio campaign attowns along Afghanistan border.

SHAWAR—A three-day anti-polio vaccination drive haskicked off at 20 districts ofKhyber Pakhtunkhwa amidsttight security arrangements onTuesday. During three-dayanti polio campaign, more than2.7 million under age fivewould be vaccinated. Thou-sands of security teams con-sist on teachers and volun-teers are participating in theanti polio campaign. Officialssaid that special security ar-

Anti-polio drive kicksoff in 20 KP districts

ISLAMABAD—Minister of State for Parlia-mentary Affairs Sheikh Aftab Ahmad Tues-day said the present government has takenstrict stance against terrorism and is com-mitted to make Pakistan cradle of peace.Responding to the points of Leader of Op-position Khurshid Shah in the NationalAssembly today, he said it is the vision ofour government to restore peace and main-tain law and order in order to put the coun-try on the path of sustainable development.

Earlier in his remarks, the Leader of Op-

‘All possible steps to make country cradle of peace’position was critical of the government fornot taking the house into confidence onShikarpur incident. Sheikh Aftab remindedthat the PML (N) after assuming the officetook categorical decisions to revive peace inKarachi and Sindh. Restoring peace in theeconomic hub of Pakistan is our foremostpriority. Expressing grief and sorrow over theShikarpur tragedy, the Minister of State saidthe relevant ministers will take the house intoconfidence on the incident. Sheikh Aftab saidthe government will complete its mandated

term and overcome all the challenges includ-ing terrorism and energy.

Responding to a call attention notice,Parliamentary Secretary for Finance RanaMuhammad Afzal said smuggled cars willbe impounded at all costs. He said the in-terim government had announced an am-nesty scheme for the regularization ofsmuggled cars. Over fifty one thousandsmuggled vehicles were got registered andover sixteen billion rupees were collectedunder this scheme.

He said that inquiry has been startedagainst forty nine custom officers for clear-ing two hundred and thirty vehicles on fakepre-dated papers. Muzamil Qureshi saidKarachi is the economic hub of the countryand the city should be provided with smoothsupplies of electricity. Ayesha Syed said thegovernment should constantly monitor thesupplies situation of petrol in order to avoidpetrol shortage again. She said providing re-lief to the people should be the foremost pri-ority of the government.—INP

Plan devisedto hold GBelections

transparentS K A R D U —C o m p r e h e n -sive arrangements are be-ing made for conductingupcoming Gilgit-Baltistan(GB) assembly electionsin a free, fair and trans-parent manner on Tues-day.

According to officialsources, Chief SecretaryGilgit Baltistan(GB)Sikandar Sultan Raja,Home Secretary SibtainAhmad Tuesday calledon Chief Election Commis-sioner Justice (Retd)Tahir Ali Shah and dis-cussed about the ar-rangements to conductthe forthcoming GB elec-tions in free, fair andtransparent manner.

The Chief Secretaryassured the Chief ElectionCommissioner that all pos-sible arrangement are fi-nalized and full coopera-tion will be extended to theElection Commission forholding the elections in abefitting manner.—APP

KARACHI—Sindh Ministerfor Women Development,Rubina Qaimkhani here

Sindh has highest number of child marriages

rangements have been madefor the security of anti poliovaccination teams to ensureavoid any untoward incidentduring campaign.

The three-day campaignwill cover all the areas of prov-ince except Peshawar, Shangla,Upper Dir and Swat districts.Vaccinators go door-to-doorevery Sunday across the prov-ince to administer drops to chil-dren for polio, said a healthofficial. —Agencies

All demandsof patwaris

accepted:RanaSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Member Provin-cial Assembly and ChairmanSteering Committee on LandRecord Management Informa-tion System, Rana SanaullahKhan has said that Punjabgovernment has accepted allgenuine demands ofpatwaries. He expressed theseviews during meeting withoffice-bearers of Anjuman-e-Patwarian at Board of Rev-enue Office on Tuesday. Hesaid that present revenue staffwill be imparted training in ITskills and modern technical ex-pertise on the pattern ofHealth, Finance and P&D. Hesaid that after capacity build-ing of Revenue staff, the postof patwari will be upgraded toRevenue Field Assistant andof Qanoongo to Field Super-visor.. He said that due to thisstep, government will have tobear an additional financialburden of more than Rs. 11million. He said that revenuerecord rooms will be con-structed at a cost of one bil-lion rupees.

Tuesday invited activists tojoin the public awarenesslaunched by the govern-

ment to sensitise massesabout relevance of SindhChild Marriages Restraint

Act 2013 for them as well astheir children.

Addressing a seminar onChild Marriage Agenda,organised by Women De-velopment Department incoordination with UNICEF,she said the law adoptedunanimously by the Provin-cial Assembly on April 28last year is in process ofmeaningful implementation.

“We seek active in-volvement of all stakehold-ers and with a motive to di-rectly approach the most af-fected segment are launch-ing first leg of our publicawareness campaign inTharparkar in a week’s time,”the Minister said.

“Under the Child Mar-riage Restraint Act, anyoneunder the age of 18 is con-sidered a child and whoeverperforms, conducts, directs,brings about or in any wayfacilitate any child marriageshall be punished with rig-orous imprisonment, uptothree years, and also liableto fine,” the Minister elabo-rated.

Rubina mentioned thatSindh has been noticed ashaving the highest numbersof Child Marriages, wherean estimated 72% of girlsget married under the ageof 20. —APP

SWAT: An eye catching view of the snow covered houses and mountains at Kalam Valley.

ISLAMABAD—National Highway Authority(NHA) has involved private sector in the con-struction of new highways and motorways inthe country and would build several projectson Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) basis.

An NHA official told APP on Tuesdaythat the authority has established a privatesector cell for providing one-window facilityfor the projects. It had taken steps for devel-opment of a public-private partnership policy,legal framework and standard operating pro-cedures for handling partnership projects atall stages, he added. Apart from these steps,the NHA has standardized its documents, ie,pre-qualification criterion, request for propos-als, including evaluation criteria and a con-cession agreement, he said. The NHA officialsaid the construction work on Karachi-Hyderabad Motorway (M-9) would start innear future on build, operate and transfer(BOT) basis. He said that private sector in-

NHA to build severalprojects on BOT basis

PESHAWAR,—The Public Accounts Com-mittee (PAC), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has ex-pressed anguish over severe financial ir-regularities and lack of financial disciplinein the Local Government & Rural Develop-ment Department and constituted a com-mittee. Under the chairmanship of MPAShaukat Ali Yousafzai for conducting com-prehensive investigation into the matter.Other members are included Syed JaffarShah and Mufti Said Janan.

The meeting of the committee held hereTuesday with Chairman, Speaker, KhyberPakhtunkhwa Assembly, Asad Qaiser in theConference Room of the Assembly Secre-tariat. MPAs Mufti Said Janan, Syed JaffarShah, Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, Arbab AkbarHayat and Idrees Khan also attended themeeting.

The meeting discussed in details theaudit paras regarding the Department ofLocal Government, Elections and RuralDevelopment in detail and took several im-portant decisions.

The committee besides, expressing se-vere anguish over different irregularities inthe department issued directives for therecovery of an amount of Rs.1 million fromthe responsible persons and registration ofcases against them with immediate effect.

The committee referred the matter of thenon-depositing of unutilized amount ofRs.4.8 million in provincial exchequer to sub-committee of the PAC.

The meeting also took notice of the non-presentation of the record of the expendi-

PESHAWAR—The Servicedelivery in public sector in-stitution and offices inKhyber Pakthunkhwa hassignificantly improved afterenactment of the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Right to PubicServices law, claimed byAzmat Hanif Orakzai, ChiefCommissioner Right to Ser-vices Commission here onTuesday.

He expressed this viewswhile addressing the partici-pants of Mid CareerManagement course at theNational Institute of Man-agement here.In his detailedpresentation, the Chief Com-missioner said ProvincialGovernment had hitherto no-tified Eight Services i.e Issu-ance of Fard (property docu-ment) Issuance of Domicile

vestment would be a major part of the financ-ing for the Karachi-Lahore Motorway, whichwould form part of the China-Pakistan Eco-nomic Corridor. “Under the Public Sector De-velopment Programme 2014-15, an allocationof Rs6 billion had been made for the 276-kmLahore-Abdul Hakeem-Khanewal Section ofKarachi-Lahore Motorway (KLM) on BOTbasis. The government’s share is 30 percent in the project. The total cost of theproject is Rs41 billion, out of which thegovernment is going to spend Rs6 bil-lion,” he said. “Moreover, the 296-kmSukkur-Hyderabad section will also bebuilt on BOT basis,” he said. He saidthat the future road developmentprojects have been directed towards selfreliance and handing over of projects toprivate sector through Public-PrivatePartnership on BOT basis has been agreat success.—APP

PAC dismayed over financialindiscipline in LG&RD Dept

ture of Rs.7.7 million during financial year2008-09 before the audit authorities and forinvestigation directed the presentation ofrecord concerned before the audit authori-ties.

The committee also took notice of ir-regularities of Rs.4.6 million in differenthealth and sanitation sector projects by theadministration of Town-1 Peshawar duringfinancial year 2008-09 and for detailed in-vestigation into the matter referred it to thecommittee. Speaking on the occasion, Chair-man PAC, Speaker, Asad Qaiser clarifiedthat as the budget is approved by the pro-vincial assembly, therefore, it is also man-dated to question the utilization of the pub-lic exchequer. He said that the protection ofthe national exchequer is the responsibilityof the PAC.

He said that public sector organiza-tions are lacking proper procedure re-garding the implementation of the finan-cial discipline. He slammed that legal re-quirements were not followed in thespending of the public funds. He di-rected the audit authorities for the fol-low up of the implementation of the de-cisions of Public Accounts Committee.

He further clarified that Public Ac-count Committee is not interested in cre-ating of fear and harassment in publicsector organizations, rather they wantedthe establishment of financial disciplinein them and could not ignore irregulari-ties in the utilization of the public ex-chequer.—APP

PESHAWAR—An Apex Committeemeeting chaired by GovernorKhyber Pakhtunkhwa SardarMehtab Ahmed Khan on Tuesday,has banned the sale of police andother law enforcement agencies(LEAs) uniforms in the province.The committee has also decided thatall suicide bombers will be identi-fied and action will be taken againsttheir parents. Additionally, parentsof anyone found involved in terror-ism related activities will also facelegal action. The committee has alsodecided that seminaries in FATA

Security operations of 1181 educational institutions carried out, 443 suspects netted

KP bans sale of LEAs uniformsand Khyber Pakhtunkhwa can nolonger have basements as part oftheir structure. Those seminariesthat have basements at present,their basements will be sealed.Meanwhile, it is also reported thatthe Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police inthe ongoing search and strike op-eration though out the provinceagainst criminals and anti-social el-ements has rounded 443 suspectsand recovered huge quantity ofarms and ammunition.

According to Police statementhere Tuesday, during the operation

the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police inthe operation conducted in differ-ent parts of the province recovered36 arms and ammunition of differ-ent kind and 351 rounds of differ-ent bore.

During the operation 613 housesand 230 hotels were checked and 39cases were registered against theviolators. During snap checking on266 check points, 185 suspects wereheld and recovered 17 Arms of dif-ferent kind and 402 cartridges of dif-ferent bore. During action against il-legal Afghans a total of 57 persons

were detained on violation and 28cases were registered against them.Similarly for the last one month 160persons were arrested on violationof illegal use of loudspeaker and 101loudspeakers were hold. While 160cases were registered against theviolators. Similarly 62 hate martialwere seized and 30 cases registeredagainst 35 persons.

Security inspections of 1181educational institution were alsocarried out and various institutionswere advised to further beef up se-curity arrangements.—Agencies

KP public servicedelivery improves

certificate, issuance of Birth/death certificate, approval ofbuilding plan, registration ofreport in police station andprovision of medical andemergency services in allgovernment health institu-tions .The provisions of thenotified services are beingregularly monitored throughthe Right to Services Com-mission, he said, adding moni-toring team was posted in al-most all districts of the prov-ince. The reports collectedfor the period from 1st Octo-ber to 31 December 2014were extremely encouraging.

The monitoring will fur-ther get streamlined afterpreparation of the new soft-ware for performance man-agement through a PrivateIT Firm.—APP

Lawyers’ boycottcourt on alleged

Civil Judgemisbehaviour

SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—The law-yers abandoned their work andboycotted courts on Tuesdaymorning when one of their col-leagues Qalib Hassan Advo-cate reported that Civil JudgeAkram Ullah had misbehavedwith him in court room by us-ing abusive language. Thematter was reported to Districtand Sessions Judge MianAnwar Nazir who held meet-ing with subordinate judges toknow the cause of the said in-cident. Lawyers’ leaders alsomet the DSJ and complainedthat the judge was at fault whodid not grant request of the ad-vocate for granting seven daystime for producing a vehiclegiven on Supurdari to his cli-ents and also hurled abuses.On the other side the civil judgestated that the lawyer usedabusive language against himin the courtroom when he gavehim three days for producingthe case property. Efforts weremade by both parties to com-promise the issue but with noresult.Meanwhile PresidentDBA Iqbal Gondal called aDBA general body meeting fortoday (Wednesday) at 10 amto decide further course of ac-tion for resolving the issue. Heannounced decision for ob-serving strike in protest againstwhat he called judgemisbehaviour against the law-yers till further course of ac-tion was decided in generalbody meeting.

Cancer centreMULTAN—President CancerSociety, Dr Ibrar AhmedJaved has stressed the needfor establishing cancer cen-tre in the city. Addressing apress conference to mark theWorld Cancer Day beingobserved on February 4, hesaid that 70 per cent of thedeaths occur in developingcountries. He informed thatprevalence of breast cancer,liver, head and neck hadshown a marked increasesince 1995.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The met officeTuesday forecast mainly coldand dry weather in most partsof the country during next 24hours.

However, partly cloudyweather with chances of lightrain is expected at few placesof Kashmir and its adjoininghilly areas. According to syn-optic situation, continental airis prevailing over most partsof the country.

In last 24 hours, rain withsnow over the hills occurredat scattered places in Punjaband Kashmir, while isolated in

Cold, dry weather to prevailHazara, Malakand, Peshawar,Makran divisions and Gilgit-Baltistan.

The lowest minimum tem-perature recorded at Kalam,Parachinar -9C, Skardu -8C,Gupis -5C, Malamjabba,Chitral, Dir -4C, Hunza, Drosh,Astore -3C.—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) Senator Rehman Malik has hintedthat there will be good news regardingthe topsy-turvy ties between his partyand Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM). Rehman Malik, speaking tomedia outside Sindh Assembly building,said that he acts according to party’spolicy. “We want political relations withMQM and good news is expected withinfew days”, Malik said. The PPP senator,commenting on the Senate polls, saidthat his party doesn’t need any help nor

Malik promises good news over PPP-MQM tieswill they count the seats.

Malik added that Afghanistanneeds to take action against terroristsin their country otherwise the situa-tion there will spiral out of control. Healso said that all religious seminariesare not spreading extremism. He addedthat strict action should be takenagainst those Madressahs which arespreading terrorism and extremism.Meanwhile, Muttahida Qaumi Move-ment (MQM) MPA, Khawaja IzharulHassan, has called for in-camera brief-

ing from Sindh government over se-curity matters. Speaking to reportersat Sindh Assembly, the MQM law-maker said that law-and-order situa-tion in Karachi has become grave. “To-day a private school was attacked bymiscreants with hand grenade and theyalso dropped threatening pamphlets.This situation demands that lawmak-ers be briefed over all security mattersat an in-camera session,” he said. “Wehave no enmity with PPP but a politi-cal difference,” he observed.—Online

Revival ofPakistan Day ParadeSENIOR military officials have announced plans to hold annual Paki

stan Day Parade on March 23 this year. Once it was a yearly fixturethat showcased the country’s military might, but it hasn’t been held

since 2008 because of security concerns and terrorism threats. It typicallyfeatured tanks, armored vehicles and ballistic missiles rolling past thereviewing stand while warplanes flew over the heart of Islamabad.

The revival of the annual military parade that enthralled people isreally a welcome development and hopefully it would serve as a moralebooster for the nation. The decision comes in the backdrop of an other-wise highly depressed environment marked by insecurity caused by ex-tremism and terrorism and also a hostile regional situation. The paradereflected preparedness of the Armed forces, their professionalism and avariety of indigenously produced equipment. It used to serve as a strongmessage to both internal and external enemies about strength of thecountry and readiness of its forces to take on the enemy. As the paradeis held on a day when Pakistan Resolution was adopted in Lahore in1940, it also showed resolve of the Armed forces and the nation to de-fend the country. We hope that the parade this year would be meticu-lously planned to serve its purpose in an effective manner. There arereports that the Chinese President Xi Jinping, who last year put off histrip to Pakistan in August because of political upheaval caused by sit-ins, is likely to be the guest of honour on the occasion. Should thishappens, it would give new dimension to the traditional event and wouldalso be in the fitness of things given the regional strategic environment.Anyhow, the plan to hold the parade after a long time augurs well for avariety of reasons. Its revival is revival of an institution and we wouldurge the Government to take steps for revival of other institutions aswell. With the passage of time, there is almost all round deteriorationand many national institutions have lost their glory due to pathetic atti-tude of the authorities concerned. As the states exercise their authorityand governance through their institutions, we also need to revive andstrengthen all our institutions in every respect.

China for peace inAfghanistan, region

ADVISOR on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz hasrevealed that China has offered to host peace talks between the Af-

ghan government and the Taliban. In an interview, he, however, addedthat a decision will be made by Afghan Government and that Pakistan isalso ready to play the role of a facilitator in the Afghan peace process.

Direct talks between Afghan Government and Taliban are need of thehour. No doubt, former Afghan President Hamid Karzai was reported tobe in touch with Taliban and the latter were encouraged to open an officein Doha, Qatar to serve as a contact point but the initiative filed to yieldany positive outcome. At the instance of Karzai, Pakistan also freed doz-ens of Taliban to create congenial atmosphere for dialogue. However, thistime round the situation is somewhat different and there are bright pros-pects for success of dialogue. Majority of occupation forces are now outof Afghanistan, a new Government is in place at Kabul and above all theoffer comes from a country with known credentials for neutrality andpeace. Unlike other countries, China has no axe to grind in Afghanistanexcept to promote regional peace, which is key to its own developmentand that of the entire region. The Chinese offer cannot be in void and oneexpects that Beijing would have done its homework for the purpose totake the process to a logical conclusion. Afghanistan has unfortunatelybecome a battleground for conflicting strategic interests and the conflicthas ruined the country in every respect. We have been emphasizing inthese columns that Afghans have the capability to sort out their problemsand march forward provided they are facilitated for the purpose in a trulyneutral manner. As China has no other interest than peace in Afghanistan,we hope its facilitation would be welcomed both by Afghan Governmentand Taliban so that the conflict is brought to an end.

Lynching ofdacoits by mob

IN yet another incident three robbers were lynched by an angry mob inFaisalabad after they injured three citizens during a robbery bid on Mon-

day. It was a gory incident, which was unbearable, but more than that itreflects people’s lack of confidence in police and the judicial system be-cause the process of investigation and trial takes years with zero result.

Incidents of robbery, kidnapping for ransom and extortion are on therise and despite tall claims by the law enforcement agencies like arrest ofthousands of offenders, reports of such crimes are daily broadcast andpublished by the media. There are many reasons for these crimes but ifpolice force shows its determination to wipe out this tendency, at leasttheir numbers could be brought down significantly. Many gangs of crimi-nals are operating across the country who indulge in bank dacoities, enterinto houses and business centres and loot the people at gun point and thenescape. That is why there is a perception that many of these crimes takeplace with the connivance of police. The Faisalabad incident where threerobbers were overpowered and lynched is a proof that people have notrust in police that the accused would be honestly interrogated and takento the courts for trial. One hears killing of under trial prisoners in courtpremises or their escape from police lockups too frequently. This is a sadcommentary on the functioning of state institutions and the deterioratinglaw and order situation that we witness today is due to inefficiency, cor-ruption and presence of black sheep in departments responsible to ensurepeace and security to the people. One may recall the murder of two youngbrothers who were stoned to death in the presence of police in 2010 inSialkot and only some personnel were suspended initially to pacify thepeople and then restored. We hope that the Faisalabad incident wouldserve as a wake up call for the institutions and their heads to providejustice to the people by following the due process of law otherwise thealready brutalized society would be further radicalized.

Importance of Kashmir Solidarity Day

Raise thestakes for

Russia

WESTERN nations arecreeping in the directionof additional sanctions on

Russia in reaction to the latest of-fensive it has launched in easternUkraine. But the steps being con-sidered are modest, and Russianruler Vladimir Putin is showinghimself to be unresponsive to eco-nomic pressure. He initiated his lat-est escalation — including the dis-patch of hundreds of modern tanks,artillery and antiaircraft systems ina campaign to expand rebel-heldenclaves — well after the recentcrash of the ruble and predictionsby his ministers of a sharp and pain-ful recession. Economic measuresare still worth adopting, as they mayinfluence Russian behaviour orweaken the Putin regime in thelonger term. For now, however, theUnited States and its EuropeanUnion allies must consider how tostop the ongoing military aggres-sion in Ukraine and deter Mr. Putinfrom further adventures. The clearanswer is direct military support tothe Ukrainian army.

A new report by eight seniorformer US officials, including twowho served in the Obama adminis-tration, spells out what aid is neededand why. Facing Russian T-80tanks, Ukrainian forces lack anti-armour systems; 70 percent of thosethey have do not work. About 70percent of their casualties comefrom Russian rocket and artilleryfire, but Ukraine does not havecounter-battery radars that can lo-cate the source of that shelling ordrones that can spot them from theair. The report, whose authors in-clude former undersecretary of de-fence Michèle Flournoy, formerambassador to NATO Ivo Daalderand Brookings Institution PresidentStrobe Talbott, recommends that theUnited States immediately supplyUkraine with $1 billion in militaryassistance for 2015 and $2 billionmore in the next two years. US con-tributions, it notes, might open thedoor for military aid from EuropeanNATO members such as Britain andPoland. No one, includingUkraine’s democratic government,believes Ukraine can win a waragainst Russia. But defensive weap-ons could blunt Mr. Putin’s offen-sive and raise its cost in a way thatmight deter him. Though Russianssupported his seizure and annex-ation of the Ukrainian province ofCrimea last year, polls show theyoppose military intervention ineastern Ukraine and are not accept-ing of Russian casualties. PresidentObama had made a prioritythroughout the Ukraine crisis ofoffering Mr. Putin “off-ramps” onthe assumption that the Kremlinseeks a face-saving way to restorecomity with the West. By now itshould be obvious that this is notMr. Putin’s goal. He is attemptingto win what he regards as a waragainst NATO and upend the post-Cold War order in Europe. He willstop only if the cost to his regimeis sharply raised — and quickly.— The Washington Post

*****

Leadingbusiness hub

THE UAE is already a globaltrade and communicationhub, and it is actively plan-

ning to expand this role in the worldeconomy, as exemplified byDubai’s hosting of Expo 2020which will help define the UAE asone of the world’s leading businesshubs. This means that from the eco-nomic point of view, the UAEshould no longer think of itself as aGulf state with a global role, butneeds a rethink of itself as a globalstate that is positioned in the Gulf.

All this will require it to workto the highest competitive standardsso that the world’s leading compa-nies are anxious to make the UAEa natural part of their global plan-ning. Such a shift covers a widerange of very different activities likeinfrastructure, regulation, man-power availability, ease of doingbusiness, and ensuring that thewhole social environment supportspeople coming to do business. TheWTO has worked tirelessly to pro-mote free global trade and open upprotectionist markets. It has hadastonishing success over its de-cades of hard work, greatly in-creasing world prosperity, and theUAE is an important part of thatsuccess. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

INDIA and Pakistan have a poortrack record of settling their disputes bilaterally. Whenever ne-

gotiations enter a conclusive phase,India arbitrarily disrupts the nego-tiation process. Recent calling off ofForeign Secretary level talks is thelatest manifestation of historic In-dian attitude. All significant agree-ments between the two countrieshave invariably been underwrittenby a third party; for example IndusWater Treaty was facilitated by theWorld Bank, and it has only survivedbecause the Bank continues to be theguarantor of Treaty. NumerousUNSC resolutions (around 20) onKashmir are gathering dust despitefact that each year UNGA reaffirmscontinuation of Kashmir dispute.

Interestingly, it is not a territoryfocused dispute, it relates to humani-tarians issue and can be easily re-solved through democratic processof allowing people of Jammu andKashmir to exercise their choicethrough an impartial vote. Recentlyright of self-determination was ex-ercised by Scotland and Catalans.Earlier, people of East Taimor andS Sudan were given this right. Whatis good for people of East Taimor,South Sudan, Scotland and Catalansis good for Kashmiris as well. Thisis what leaders of oldest and largestdemocracies need to realize.

In this context, Kashmir Soli-darity Day is observed every yearwith the objective of seeking apeaceful solution to the Kashmirproblem, and delivering a prag-matic message to the internationalcommunity. Solidarity Day wasfirst observed in 1990 on the callof Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif,who was then opposition leader andchief minister of Punjab. Keepingin view the importance of the is-sue, the federal government headed

Extremism would sap India’s energy

WHEN Jawaharlal Nehrudeclared on January 26,1929, from the banks of

Ravi that India wanted complete in-dependence, not the dominion sta-tus, hitherto demanded, very fewpeople believed that they would seethe end of the British rule 18 yearslater. But it happened non-violentlyand without any rancour. So muchso that it took Lord Mountbatten, thelast Viceroy, two hours to travelfrom the Viceroy Lodge, nowRashtrapati Bhavan, to ParliamentHouse. Every person in the throngwanted to shake hands with him.There was no bitterness and thepeople looked forward to a politywhich would be independent andwould have their elected represen-tatives to help them realize the ethosof pluralism and egalitarianismwhich they had cherished.

Why the social fabric has gottorn and why the dream of a plural-istic society has become more dis-tant are the questions that stare atour face. From whichever angle youlook at, the fault lies with the politi-cal parties. Their parochial ideolo-gies and an eye on power havepushed aside the ideals which in-spired us to throw out the mightiestcolonial power without firing a shot.Having gone through the ordeal offreedom struggle we were inspiredby idealism and values. Little did we

We must learn towalk before wecan run.

realize that the British had di-vided us so much that for thetime being we pushed intobackground our inclination tocaste and community. Thisschism reappeared soon afterthe last British soldier left the

gateway of India at Mumbai. And to-day we are divided caste-wise, reli-gion-wise and language-wise.

One can argue that China, whenit attacked India in 1962, thought inthe same way but found a unitedcountry to defend the northeasternterritory which in ordinary times wasconsidered arguably a point for dis-cussion. The only explanation is thatan outside invasion unites the coun-try, not the dangers of division or dis-pute. However reprehensible the rea-son, it does not hold water today. Thecountry has been furrowed deep bycaste and religion. This becomes allthe more appalling when the state isfound mixed up in strife. Prime Min-ister Narendra Modi’s emphasis ondevelopment, however praiseworthy,loses its sheen when he meets the RSSleaders who make no bones abouttheir ideology of Hindu Rashtra.

The BJP rules at the centre and itendangers the idea of India, a demo-cratic and pluralistic society. I do notbuy the argument that radical Islam isencouraging the violent fringe amongthe Hindus. The RSS is systematicallychanging the complexion of the pol-ity so that it looks Hindu. Its chiefMohan Bhagwat has proudly saidmany a time in public that the Hinduraj has returned after 800 years! Whateffect it would have on the minorities?Several Muslim leaders have told methat the community lives in fear.

Things have reached such a pass thatserious Muslim thinkers are worriedover the extremism in Islam (Islam lit-erally means ‘Peace upon you’). Eventhere is a move to admit Hindu stu-dents in madarsas. The Muslim stu-dents also want to join the DAV andArya Samaj educational institutions.

What is disconcerting is that evenactivists from secular parties are mak-ing a beeline for the BJP. It cannot bethe love for ideology but sheer aspi-ration to be on the side which is inpower. Such personalities like KiranBedi who have stood against com-munalism all their lives are proudlyparroting the stand of the BJP. Basi-cally, it is the lure for key positionsin the party they consider would cometo power. The fallout of these devel-opments is not healthy. It is makingthe minorities insecure and forcingthem to think that they are secondclass citizens. This will sap the en-ergy of India and come in the way ofdevelopments. Until there is a feel-ing among the minorities and themarginalized that they will equallygain, there will be no concerted ef-fort to push the wheel of India ahead.

The increasing strength of the BJPshould be a point of concern not onlyfor the minorities but also the liberalsin the country. The idea of India, asinspired by Mahatma Gandhi, is a statewhere all are equal before the law andenjoy equal opportunities. The feelingof the Muslims is that they are increas-ingly pushed to the wall. This may leadto desperation. The world has seensuch developments in the past andmore dangerously in the present. Thekilling of 12 people by the armed gun-men early this month in the Paris of-

by Prime Minister Benazir Bhuttodeclared February 5 as a public holi-day. Thus the day, with bipartisansupport, became a national event.With the passage of time it hasevolved into a global event. Day isdedicated to show support and unitywith the people of Indian-occupiedJammu & Kashmir (IoK), their on-going freedom struggle, and to payhomage to the martyrs who lost theirlives while fighting for Kashmir’sfreedom from Indian misrule. Keep-ing in view Indian Prime MinisterModi’s machinations to unilaterallyalter status of Indian occupied Jammuand Kashmir (IoK), the upcomingsolidarity day on February 05, has be-come of special significance.

Foreign Secretary of Pakistan hasbriefed the Ambassadors of the P-5countries and the EU, based inIslamabad, on recent developmentsabout Kashmir. Referring to the in-digenous struggle of the Kashmiris,the Foreign Secretary reaffirmedPakistan’s unflinching political,moral and diplomatic support to theKashmiri people. He emphasized thatresolution of the Kashmir dispute waspivotal for ensuring peace, securityand stability in the region. Only vi-able option is to settle this humani-tarian issue in accordance with theUNSC resolutions. Pending UN reso-lutions need to be implemented; andfor this requisite enabling environ-ment should be provided by theUNSC—especially the P-5.

There are continuous humanrights violations by the Indian forcesin IoK. Human rights organizationslike: United Nations Council on Hu-man Rights, Asia Watch, Amnesty In-ternational, and even Indian HR or-ganizations have continuously beenraising voices about the wayKashmiris are being treated by Indiansecurity outfits. India’s massive ac-quisition of weapons has further com-plicates the regional strategic stabil-ity; adding to India’s unilateralist at-titude towards the Kashmir dispute.India’s defence spending has been

upped by 12 percent for the currentfiscal year; it stands at US$ 38.35billion against Pakistan’s spending ofunder US$ 7 billion. India has beenthe top buyers of arms for the lastthree years. Strategic concessionsdoled out to India by PresidentObama during his recent visit havefurther stiffened Indian attitude to-wards Pakistan in general and IHKin particular.

In a recent statement, Advisor toPM on National Security and ForeignAffairs Sartaj Aziz has cautioned thatObama’s new fond love for rejuve-nating Indo-US nuclear deal (Agree-ment 123) for political and economicexpediencies would have a detrimen-tal impact on deterrence stability inSouth Asia. Sartaj Aziz further saidthat proposals to add new centers ofprivileges in the Security Council runcontrary to the collective objectivesof Security Council reforms and haveno rationale. Pakistan supports re-formed Security Council that corre-sponds to positions and collective in-terests of all member states and notjust a few, he added.

It is in this context that Pakistanhas briefed the influential envoysabout Kashmir. This refocus was longoverdue. Foreign Secretary has re-stated the principled stance that Pa-kistan would continue to support theindigenous struggle of Kashmiris byextending “unflinching political,moral and diplomatic support toKashmiri people.” While remainingfirm on its just stance on Kashmir,Pakistan is committed to a meaning-ful and constructive dialogue withIndia to resolve all outstanding issues.Pakistan has been proposing a threepronged Strategic Restraint Regimeto India comprising: conflict resolu-tion; nuclear and missile restraint; andconventional balance.

After the recent state elections,political stalemate prevails in IoK andthe territory stands polarized on reli-gious lines. Though PDP and BJPhave hinted that they could soon an-nounce the formation of a coalition

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Weekly Magazine

Sadia Zahid MalikEditor

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

fice of the Charlie Hebdo is not jus-tified even by the tenets of the HolyQur’an. The insult of the HolyProphet (PBUH) is not acceptablebut killing the people connectedwith it is also equally condemnable.I can understand and appreciate thehurt and anger the insult of the HolyProphet (PBUH) must havecaused. But to kill the people al-legedly connected with it is a blowagainst humanity, particularly free-dom of expression.

The axiom that your liberty endswhere my nose begins holds goodin this matter. But in this case, therevenge is the killing. It will be alaw of jungle if the individuals takeupon themselves to avenge the in-sults to the religious icons. People’sanger is understandable and all ef-forts should be made to assuage it.But what kind of world it would beif people take to arms because theirreligion has been insulted or theiricons run down? Methods are veryimportant. Mahatma Gandhi saidthat if means are vitiated, the endsare bound to be vitiated. It is a pitythat the Indians have not come upto that standard. But this does notfalsify the nobility of what he said.In a world, crisscrossed by fanati-cism, extremism and jihad, the onlydictum to adopt is cooperation andconciliation. This was the dream ofNehru when he raised the flag onthe banks of Ravi. I wish that Indiawould follow that path and be anexample for other countries, particu-larly the neighbours.—The writer is a veteran Indianjournalist, syndicated columnist,human rights activist and author.

—Proverb

government in Jammu and Kash-mir; a formal agreement may notbe easy to achieve. “Now, I thinkwe might not have to wait for long,”PDP spokesman Nayeem Akhtarsaid. “I think the structured dia-logue is not very far now. We lookforward to it,” he added. If thesetwo parties do form a coalition gov-ernment, this shall certainly be amarriage of convenience, as bothparties hardly have anything com-mon. It appears that after joiningthe coalition, BJP will embark upona trajectory to weaken the govern-ment from within; thus causing agovernance paralysis leading to anearly re-election with an objectiveto install a BJP led government.

Indian Army’s deceitful doc-trine for Kashmir based on winninghearts and minds has not workedbecause it is not viable under theprevalent circumstances. Despitehaving deployed over 600,000troops enabled by numerous dra-conian laws, Indian army faces a‘No War, No Peace,’ situation inIOK. Violation of internationalHumanitarian Law is an acceptednorm and such acts are committedwith impunity, as laws prevent re-course to justice by the effecteesof atrocities. Due to a very hightroop to population and troop toland ration, IOK is rightly per-ceived as an open prison. It remainsmilitarized to the point of one sol-dier stationed for every 17 civilians.Torture, extrajudicial executionsand rape have been systematicallyused, as tools for repression, by theoccupation forces.

At this moment of its height-ened national hubris, India unreal-istically expects Pakistan to relenton its principled stance on Kash-mir. It is time to celebrate the soli-darity day with added zeal to re-fresh international conscious aboutlingering Kashmir dispute.—The writer is Consultant toIPRI on Policy and StrategicResponse.

Email:kuldipnayar09@gmail.com

Kuldip Nayar

Iqbal KhanEmail:wonderous101@gmail.com

Voice of the People

Technology getsupper hand

ARSALAN ISLAM

Internet Marketing is all about howto properly focus marketing strategyto maximize online success. At Up-per Hand Technologies we strive toprovide your business with a com-petitive advantage needed to drivemore traffic, leads and sales. Ourcompany provides quality servicesdedicated to getting our customersa return on the investment they arewilling to make into their business.

Each business has its ownstrengths and weaknesses. Our goalis to help our clients identify thoseitems that need improvement in theirbusinesses and work to give themthe Upper Hand on their competi-tion. If our customers do not suc-ceed, neither do we. Whether youare a lead generation website,ecommerce website or an informa-tional website that sells advertise-ments to generate revenue, yourwebsite needs traffic to capture thoseopportunities.—Karachi

Rightsizing inPak textile cityWAQAS ABDUL QAYYUM

?Pakistan textile city was estab-lished by the government of Paki-stan to develop world class indus-trial zone to promote textile indus-try. The project is with the object tocreate 80,000 jobs for unemployedmanpower. It is still not operationaldue to some technical reasons andapprovals.

The management is now plan-ning for right sizing of the employ-ees who have been associated withPakistan Textile city since begin-ning. They all are hardworking andcommitted people and put in all theefforts to make the project opera-tional but the policy issues failed theproject. There is no one who canraise the voice in favour of poorsouls. They worked hard but the re-ward is the right sizing. I request themanagement and government toplease look into the matter and com-pensate the dedicated employees.—North Karachi

Perfect injusticeHASHIM ABRO

It is a painful reality of Pakistani so-ciety that elements like order and se-curity, legitimacy, checks and bal-ances, fairness and effectiveness, in-deed, interrelated but these unfortu-nately have become alien in our so-ciety. There is neither law nor orderin the society because there is no jus-tice at all in this country but perfectinjustice. There are a few peoplewho progress by leaps and boundsin this country while others remainin pitiable plight; they pass decadesand decades in the same grade.

Many would agree that ours isa society where law ruthlesslygrinds the poor and the rich rule andreign the law. Look around us. Re-grettably, we live under the rule ofindividuals, and not the rule of law.Notice how much order and justicewe have in Pakistani society, evenfrom one’s house to graveyard,nowadays?—Via email

India: Hindu,secular State?

MUHAMMAD AZAM MINHAS

Though, President Obama andPrime Minister Modi made severalgestures to charm each other andsigned a number of agreements andMoUs to bring the two countriescloser in different spheres of life; yetthe ground realities forced UncleSam to convey a warning about thegrowing monster of religious dis-crimination in India. Because, theworld has come to understandthrough facts and figures that theHindu extremists have now proved

Child labour continuesSHAHID AHMED QURESHI

This is in extension to the contents of the letter of Anum Afzal published by Pakistan Observer on 1st

February that I would like to add that Poverty is the greatest single cause behind the child labour.Poverty in Pakistan necessitates the children to work in order to allow their families to reach theirtarget take-home income for butter and bread. The low cost of child labour gives the employers asignificant advantage in the market, where they work on improbable wages. It was estimated that onequarter of our country’s workforce was made up of child labourers. In Pakistan’s city, Hyderabad,children enter the workforce at the age of 8 or 10 and they make bangles and bracelets. How to over-come at community and household level by government as well as themselves, a child can work withhis/her family in family based trades/occupations, for the purpose of learning a new trade/craftsman-ship or vocation, By providing alternate opportunities for vocational training and education to chil-dren and providing viable alternate economic opportunities to poor families was an important aspectof the programme to create a substitute to the income brought in by children’s work and thereby enablethe children to go to school, raise awareness among employers of children and parents of the impor-tance of education, the hazards children face in the work places and the consequences of these. Thegovernment took initiative to reduce the child labour in the country and support the poor families interm of financial assistance and for providing them employment and passing an order for the familiesof the working children that they should enrol their children at school for their education and due tothis practice country’s literacy ratio will increase.—Badin

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THE articles, columns andletters are published on thesepages in good faith. However,the contents of these writingsmay not necessarily match theviews of the newspaper.

—Editor

View From Abroad

Pakistan’s competing narratives

AS John Lanchester wrote inThe London Review ofBooks: “Everybody in poli-

tics now seems to talk about narra-tives all the time; even political spin-doctors describe their job as being ‘tocraft narratives.’ We no longer havedebates, we have conflicting narra-tives.” I once read that there is animportant difference between “thefacts” and “the truth.” The differencebetween “narrative” and “the truth”is even more important. “Narrative”does not refer to twisting facts to suitour stories; it refers to the act ofchoosing which facts to use in orderto create a story that fits a certainagenda. This is more dangerous thanmerely falsifying facts (an offenceeasy to detect) because a fact-based“narrative” can be taken seriously andinfluence events to come.

Take, for example, the attack onthe Army Public School in Peshawar,Pakistan, on Dec. 16, in whichTaliban gunmen killed about 150people, most of them children andteachers, before the military killed theattackers. In the aftermath, Pakistan

was united in grief and anger againstthe Taliban. Civilian and militaryleaders alike expressed resolve thatdomestic terrorism had to be defeatedbefore it claimed more innocent lives.The Pakistani Taliban immediatelyclaimed responsibility, calling the at-tack revenge for a six-month-longmilitary operation that has targetedmilitants in North Waziristan. Butvery quickly, two competing narra-tives developed, disrupting thecountry’s unity.

The first: that the attack was con-ducted by members of the PakistaniTaliban who have been strategic as-sets of Pakistan’s military and intel-ligence establishment but have nowturned on it, trying to destroy the Pa-kistani state itself. The second: thatthe attackers were actually agents ofIndian intelligence, or perhaps theCIA, masquerading as Taliban. In thisversion, the attack was part of a de-cades-old conspiracy by Pakistan’sfiercest enemies to destroy country.

The first narrative is popular withprogressive and secular Pakistanis —those in the intelligentsia and themilitary who have a nuanced under-standing of local and regional poli-tics and who recognize that the stra-tegic landscape changed on Sept. 11,

2001. Conservative citizens, analystsand old-school military brass espousethe second — which fits the tradi-tional assumption that India isPakistan’s No. 1 enemy and that ourforeign policy must focus on restrain-ing any aggression from it.

That well-worn view hasn’tchanged much over decades, thanksto three wars and to innumerable bor-der skirmishes, which continue today.Believers in the first narrative under-stand that Pakistan needs to transformits security policy so that it deals withthe internal threat from the PakistaniTaliban and other militants; they fearthat Pakistani society will become“Talibanised” as militants gain sup-porters. Adherents of the second nar-rative see only external threats, con-cluding that no policy change isneeded, and that Pakistan must digin its heels and continue to treat In-dia as hostile. They also think thatAmerica’s claims to be our ally arefalse, and that Washington wants tohelp India break up our country.

It is painfully clear today — inthe wake of a bombing at a Shiitemosque in Shikarpur that killed atleast 50 people on Friday — that thenarratives we choose today will haveprofound sway over where we go as

US-India Bhai-Bhai!

US President Obama’s visit inIndia has been awaited amongmany speculations about how

the US President and the new IndianPrime Minister would go. The realtyof the visit seems to have gone be-yond all expectations. For the eco-nomically weakened US, closer re-lations with India that is not only ahuge market for American goods andinvestment to cover up their own fi-nancial loses due to Afghan and Iraqmisadventure where trillions of dol-lars were sunk, but as well a fast-growing counterweight to arch rivalChina is a clever move that is tryingto change the so far negative balanceof President Obama’s foreign policyduring this last part of his presidency.

When Obama tried to emphasizethe national feelings of the Indiansand said that the significance of theEnglish language and the Anglo-Saxon influence of the Indian elitewas decreasing the Indian Prime

Minister tried to assert that In-dia wants to build a “just soci-ety”. But Obama’s made it clearthat “Just Society” is only pos-sible in India which has 80%Hindu population when major-ity learns to respect the remain-

ing 20% minorities that includesChristians, Muslim and Buddhist etc.who are not presently being treatedat par with the majority socio-eco-nomically. 9/11 ignited the Afghanand Iraq wars which ultimatelybrought the myth of US supremacyto its knees and now oil prices havebeen scaled down to pressurize Iran,China and Russia to remain in har-mony with US. Hence a new role forIndia to work as US policeman inAsia is in their dream, by ignoringPakistan’s role as a frontline state inAfghanistan.

The new economic super powerChina that is challenging US lead inthe world has to be shown its placeby forging a new alliance withChina’s neighbour and competitor forthe economic lead. India - a majormember of the BRICS - has beenamong major challengers of US eco-nomic superiority as well. Obamaused his visit in New Delhi to try and

drag India out of BRICS and into aUS partner. But given India’s acuteawareness for its own national inter-est such change of sides doesn’t seemlikely. For India the visit bringsprogress in the lingering civil nucleardeal that had been on cold storage formany years and much needed invest-ment especially in the field of tech-nology transfer for Indian economy.For Prime Minister Modi personallythis visit is a private triumph makingthe butcher of Gujarat a respectedpolitician and a personal friend of thecountry that had once neglected him.

Besides, US relationship with Pa-kistan that has become especially im-portant after the withdrawal of mostUS troops from Afghanistan has beena matter of concern and envy for In-dia especially considering the wors-ening of Indian influence in Afghani-stan under the Afghan presidentGhani and his active attempts tobridge old grudges between Afghani-stan and Pakistan. The recent Indianprovocations along the LoC and theworking border with Pakistan thatcost the lives of dozens of Pakistanicivilians are just an expression of thisenvy and concern. Even on the dayof Obama’s arrival another such un-

Bina Shah

provoked shelling at Charwah sec-tor shows India’s defiance when Pa-kistani politicians are expecting USpressure on India in this matter.One wonders when Pakistan willlearn its lesson about American‘partnership’.

More than with US Pakistanneeds active integration within theregion. While China, Russia andAfghanistan are on a good wayIndia is not so far. This problemshould be on top of the to-do list,but hoping or waiting for US sup-port in this regard is surely no op-tion. US does only what is impor-tant for their own national inter-est; Pakistan is not big enough amarket to be important so now In-dia has been chosen as the newpartner. For India this is a wel-come occasion to ask Pakistan todo more’. But while despite theglamour of Obama’s India visitthe new friendship may turn outto cool down soon, Indo-Pak re-lations remain a matter of con-cern. Our dilemma continues howto restore our lost sovereignty?God bless Pakistan.—The writer is Karachi-basedsenior columnist.

a country tomorrow. I believe firmlyin the first narrative — that Pakistanmust face its inner demons if it’s tosurvive as a country. But when Iwrite, my beliefs and preferencescannot stand in the way of inconve-nient truths. Should new events con-tradict that narrative — human con-duct being prone to delivering sur-prises — I would be conscience-bound to document story as it reallyhas played out.

Christopher Merrill, a poet andjournalist who reported on theBalkan wars in the 1990s, said in arecent interview with the filmmakerKalpna Singh-Chitnis that “warsare brought to an end by militarymeans and diplomacy, not journal-ism, which has a much different re-sponsibility: to record the truth.” InBosnia, he said, “I was under no il-lusions writing about this that myrole was anything other than get-ting the facts straight, teasing outtheir meaning, and composing alively narrative true to the eventsthat I witnessed.” In Pakistan,where we have been living for sometime with a seemingly endless war,that advice has never been moreimportant.— Courtesy: The New York Times

A feather for the baby..!

T’was the habit of Mr Sparrow to always build his nestwith straw from the stable.

“You clever man!” chirped MrsSparrow happily, “While all demother birds go roun’ searchin’ forstraw you jes’ sort of walk into datstable and grab a beakfull to buildour house!” And now that MrsSparrow was expecting again, hewalked into the stable then shookhis head. “There’s human’s in destable!” he chirped with disbelief.

“The innkeeper turned themout!” mooed the cow. “Said therewas no room in the inn!” said the

sheep. “Told them to use the mangerif they wanted!” “Because thewoman’s jes’ going to deliver!” saidthe cow who knew much about suchmatters. “Mrs Sparrow is also jesgoing to deliver!” said Mr Sparrowproudly. He picked up a beakfull ofstraw, then nearly dropped it as heheard the sound of a new born child.

“There’s a baby born in thatstable!” said Mr Sparrow to hismissus while he neatly laid out thestraw for his new house. “I know!”said Mrs Sparrow. “Whatcha meanyou know?” said Mr Sparrow crossly,“You didn’t come with me to datstable m’dear?” “I heard de babycry!” “You did?” “I never heard a lil’baby cry like that! It was not like itbe scared to leave its mama’s womb!It cry like it want to be born!” Mr

Sparrow stared at his wife thought-fully. He wondered how womenknew things like this more than mostmen, “The innkeeper didn’t haveroom for them in the inn!” he saidsort of worried. “That baby’s cometo make room in heaven for peoplelike dat innkeeper!” said Mrs Spar-row thoughtfully. “How you knowthis woman?”

“I bin’ staring at that star outside!I bin’ listen’ to them shepherdstalkin’! That child is a special babyhusband!” “Whatcha doin’ with thestraw I jus’ brought?” asked Mr Spar-row suddenly. “Take it back husband,put it round the baby in manger! Ican’t take the straw meant for de HolyChild!” Mr Sparrow started backwith his beakfull of straw. “Husbandtake dis’ feather o’ mine! Put it where

it’ll warm the baby!” Mr Sparrowclimbed onto the crib and laid thefeather on the little child. Themother of the babe watched andsmiled. She reached forward andtouched the sparrow. “I put yourfeather on the lil’ babe like yousaid!” said Mr Sparrow. “I hope itkeeps him warm! Pity about the inn-keeper though! It’s to save men likehim the babes’ come down!”

Mr Sparrow stared at his wifethoughtfully. He felt glad with whatMrs Sparrow had done for the baby,but wondered sadly why people thebabe had come down for didn’t haveroom for him. “I don’t understanddem human fellers!” he chirped ashe went to gather straw to buildanother nest for Mrs Sparrow.—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

that they launched a heinous cam-paign “India for Hindus” certainly.

The extremists are all out to con-vert other minorities into Hinduism,if they want to live in India. Accord-ing to Mohan Bhagwat of the right-wing Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh(RSS) - is also the ideological wingof PM NarendraModi’s party - thatIndia was/is only and only a “Hindunation”. Modi, at present is under se-rious fire to rein in hard-line affiliategroups those are promoting a Hindu-dominant agenda for forcing - spe-cially, the Muslims and Christians -to convert them into Hinduism.

In December 2014, Muslimswere forced to attend ceremonies or-ganized by RSS, where about twohundred were converted and onChristmas Day (CD) the same groupannounced to convert thousands ofChristians as Hindus. This plan wasabandoned after opposition by Modiwho apparently was apprehensive ofits impact on the visit of Uncle Sam.Apart from conversions of Mosquesand Churches into Hindu prayerplaces, are also under attack by Hinduextremists in different parts of India.The distribution of hate literatureagainst religious minorities is going-on day-in-and-day-out.

The worst aspect of the entireepisode is that Modi, who presidedover killing of over two thousand in-nocent Muslims when he was ChiefMinister of Gujarat, has not, even,denounced the conversions, not tospeak of any action against such ac-tivities by his affiliate groups. Whatis going-on in Kashmir? O’, this stateof affair was/is exposing fully, India’sclaims about a secular and democraticstate and should be a cause for con-cern for all those who care about hu-man rights around the globe! Doessuch a State with such an officialagenda deserve to be included in per-manent members of the UNSC? ThePresident of USA, HRAs, and sup-porters of Hindu State should thinkagain and again honestly.

Anyhow, after saving State’s in-terests and by judging the whole af-fairs at the time of winding-up hisvisit to India, US President honestly,warned India not to stray from herConstitutional commitments - allowpeople to freely profess, practice andpropagate their religion - certainly.So, everybody around the globe iscompelled to say, is India: Hindu/secular state?—Via email

Terrorism inPakistan

AMMARA FATIMA

State strategies sometime may riskState’s sovereignty as Pakistan is pay-ing price, as a terrorism-torn coun-try, of ill-planned strategies in tack-ling militancy and extremism, whichstarted in early 1980s. The War onterror in the wake of 9/11 attacks cre-ated chaotic and destructive scenario,along with escalated sense of insecu-rity across the US and European na-tions. US considered it as an attackof America’s sovereignty. In retalia-tion, USA with collaboration withNATO launched a military attack onAfghanistan.

Pakistan could have restricted itsrole in war waging in Afghanistanas other US allies did previously. Pa-kistan should have put certain limi-tations on support to safeguard itsown security but unfortunately so farPakistan’s security and politicalstrategists failed to devise such plan.As a frontline state in war on terror,Pakistan brought the war to its landfrom Afghanistan. This is glare ex-ample of strategic failure. In detail,Pakistan cannot brush aside this re-ality that it failed to get desired-in-centives to US in response of sup-porting war on terror. Rather, inap-propriate diplomatic initiatives ledto deterioration of relations betweenAfghanistan and Pakistan. At na-tional level, Pakistan could not de-velop a consensus-based nationalpolicy for countering terrorism,though after Peshawar massacre aconsensus has been observed thatseems to be short term due to im-mature political elite of Pakistan.Labelling some militants as good

New priorities, old relations

PRESIDENT Barack Obama’srecent visit to India has broughtto fore new deals and did bol-

ster Washington’s ties withDelhi.Although both US and Indiahave been enjoying fruitful relations,there was a time during the last fewyears when both countries seemed tohave drifted apart and some did opinethat a foreign policy dilemma wasupon them. However, Obama’s visitdid place US-India relations back ontrack as both leaders are confident ofmoving forward while fulfilling theirmutual trade goals.

During the last decade China hasrisen as a force to reckon with in theglobal industrial and trade sector. TheUS wants to counter this threat thatis destined to shake United States’dominance; therefore, Washingtondoes need a South Asian player tocounter the influence that Beijing isgarnering over the world. In order tocounter the China Threat, US has

been working at raising India’s eco-nomic standards, however, much ef-fort is still needed. This is why dur-ing his visit, President Obama as-sured to grant India with a loan of$4 billion because he views thatWashington-US business and stra-tegic partnership can go a long way.In terms of GDP growth rate Indiahas to make an effort to surpassChina’s GDP growth rate of 7.4%however, with US support, India canbegin by moving ahead of its cur-rent GDP rate of 5.8%.

As the US views India as a stra-tegic partner, it also wishes to useIndia’s geographical location to in-crease its trade activities. Both coun-tries did assure to remove all oddsfrom the South China Sea so as tocreate a more peaceful trade route.Perhaps it is because of the disputebetween two Chinese companies overthis region which has made the USpursue India’s support in endingChina’s dominance and to use it forcommercial activities which willeventually accentuate Washington’s‘Pivot to Asia’ policy as the SouthChina Sea is a straight sea route to

reach Far Eastern countries. AlthoughChina knows about United States’Pivot to Asia strategy, only time willtell if China would openly accept USdominance over this region.

If trade is the big question, thendefence ties are also equally impor-tant which is why the two head ofstates did sign defence deals and didpave way for India to expand its re-newable energy sector. The highlightof the Obama-Modi meeting how-ever, was the progress the two coun-tries shows in their civil nuclear deal.First signed in 2008, neither of thetwo countries could move ahead how-ever, Obama and Modi were confi-dent to have taken a first step in oversix years by discussing the commer-cial and legal aspects of this deal.

International relations and for-eign policy affairs were the talk ofthe meeting between Obama andModi, however, India’s neighbour,China and Pakistan, were also hav-ing a high profile meeting of theirown when Pakistan’s Army Chief,General Raheel Sharif visited Chinaand met with General Qi Jianguo,Deputy Chief of the PLA (People’s

Ali Ashraf KhanEmail:balti1551@gmail.com

Liberation Army) General Staff;General Fan Changlong, Vice Chair-man of China’s Central MilitaryCommission; and Yu Zhengsheng,Chairman of Chinese People’s Po-litical Consultative Conference(CPPCC). Where it was evident thatUS is harbouring deeper bonds withIndia, China and Pakistan did notwaste time to signal their friendshipand that they are an all-weatherfriend. Perhaps the meeting betweenGeneral Sharif with his Chinesecounterpart would dilute anythoughts that Delhi had regardingcontrolling the South Asian regionwith Washington’s support. It ishowever evident that the US wantsto stand by India while Pak-Chinaties are only growing stronger. Withsuch an equation in place, it is yetto be seen what shift we will see inUS-China and Pak-India affairs.When any shift does take place, itwill spell a major change in foreignpolicy affairs among these fourcountries especially in South Asiaand between US-South Asia.—The writer is a freelancecolumnist.

M Omar IftikharEmail:omariftikhar@hotmail.com

and the others as bad is a grave mis-take. There must be zero tolerancefor extremists group and accountingonly nation’s security and interests.—Via email

Why Hijab?RAMSHA SHAHID

Growing up as a Muslim girl in theModern era is an entirely differentexperience. Since an early age I wastaught to be a very practisingMuslimah, I saw that my mom al-ways wore the hijab (head scarf). Imyself started to wear hijab at the ageof 12 in middle school. 1st Februaryis known as a World Hijab Day.World Hijab Day was inspired byNazma Khan, an American citizen.She experienced the negative side ofpractising hijab after 9/11. She faceddifferent kind of harassment and de-cided to stand against this oppression.She created World Hijab Day andtried to encourage non-hijabi womento wear hijab. She wanted non-hijabiwomen to experience what hijabiwomen went through daily. The op-pression and the stereotypical judg-ment that is associated with hijab. Atthe same time, hijab day also aims tostop the physical judgment of thewomen, and promote judgment basedon intellectual abilities

After practising hijab, the waypeople viewed me was amazing andthe amount of respect I received wasincredible. There are many boys andgirls who use inappropriate language,but when I am around them, theyavoid that kind of talk. Hijab shieldedme from the impact of peer pressure.I got some non-Muslim friends and Iam frequently asked by them as towhy I cover. I always try my best toremove their misconceptions aboutIslam and my choice of wearing myscarf. Hijab is not a new concept; ithas been observed by women ofmany religious backgrounds. Hijabgave me self-confidence, made me astronger person, and helped me un-derstand my purpose of life and freedme from peer pressure.—Lahore

Religionby force

RUDABA GORAYA

It is my own choice to choose myfaith. Religion is a complete way oflife whether it’s Islam, Christianity,Hinduism, Buddhism or any otherreligion. Every individual has to livehis life according his own choice.Not a single secret scripture ask youto force any person to adopt any re-ligion; it’s a personal choice. And thebest example we have in this sce-nario is Islam, the religion of peacefor humanity. Allah Almighty clearlymention in Quran, respect others re-ligion so to get respect for yours; butunfortunately in poor, neglected andoppressed societies, people areforced to convert. This needs to bediscouraged even if it is by choicebecause the choice exercised in so-cial disparities and injustices is nochoice at all and is totally againstIslamic laws.

One who does such things is notsincere with one’s own religion.Verse of holy Quran ayah number256 AL-Baqara ‘’there is no com-pulsion in religion”. So if someonewants to call people to the path ofALLAH try to do this with yourgood deeds. Because Islam is a reli-gion based on love and round about23.20 percent Muslims in the worldshould respect this fact.—Rawalpindi

PYOTR ROMANOV

THE time has come to admit that diplomacy is not all-powerful, and that endless calls for peace, in the absence of real

conditions for peace, eventually devolve intodemagoguery. Such calls are outwardly veryhumane, but inwardly devoid of content. Ofcourse, even a “bad peace” is better than a “goodwar,” but even a “bad peace” is not always at-tainable.

In this way, the current escalation of theconflict in eastern Ukraine was inevitable.Implementing the provisions of the Minsk Pro-tocol is impossible if the conflicting parties areunwilling to take even the first step in the pro-cess — observing a cease-fire.

The West routinely blames the pro-Russianseparatists for renewing hostilities, while Rus-sia blames the government in Kiev, eventhough, of course, both sides are guilty.

Moreover, it is futile to hold either Rus-sian President Vladimir Putin or UkrainianPresident Petro Poroshenko personally respon-sible for the acts of violence. First, this is acivil war, the most brutal of all contests andthe type in which passions always flare beyondthe bounds of the rules and customs of war asrecognized by international law.

Second, detachments of soldiers are fight-

A guard attempts to arrest a fighter of the Ayda Ukrainian volunteer battalion, who entered the compound of the Defense Ministry in Kiev,during a protest.

ing on both sides that only nominally obey theirrespective leaders. Both volunteers and mer-cenaries are fighting alongside the separatistsin eastern Ukraine, and why would a merce-nary observe a truce?

Poroshenko can promise whatever hewants, but he does not control the “private”army financed by the oligarchs, nor the unitsof the Right Sector and other radicals.

As a result, even if Poroshenko managesto silence the guns of the Ukrainian army regu-lars, there is no guarantee whatsoever that theirregulars of every stripe will stop shelling thecivilian neighborhoods of Donetsk.

It is also a mistake to exaggerate Putin’sability to influence the situation. Yes, he holdsconsiderable authority in eastern Ukraine, butnot unlimited authority. To believe otherwiseis only an illusion. There are many guerrillafighters among the separatists.

It is well-known that many of the field com-manders rebuke Putin for having stopped theirprevious offensive when the momentum wasin their favor. Now, they say, they will not giveKiev a second respite, no matter what Moscowdemands.

And finally, it was inevitable that the MinskProtocol would reach an impasse because nei-ther side is as yet inclined to make the slightestcompromise. Kiev is determined to regain lost

territory even while the separatists are strug-gling to expand their zone of control.

Kiev rejects federation and onlymumbles something about a certain decen-tralization of power while the separatistsdemand self-determination and indepen-dence. And so on.

Kiev still refuses to recognize the separat-ist militias as full-fledged participants in nego-tiations. Where is the basis for compromiseunder such conditions?

Such deadlocks are common in history, butunfortunately, it was usually not the diplomatswho found a way out of the labyrinth but thegenerals who, without thinking twice, puncheda hole in the wall with their tanks. Only afterthat did the diplomats step in.

An interesting example from history is theBalkan wars of the 19th century. Bosnia andHerzegovina were in turmoil and the Russianworld was indignant over the behavior of theTurks and the indifference of the British to theincreasingly violent situation.

So when the Russian ambassador askedBritish diplomat Lord Derby to finally explainthe meaning of British policy in the east, thelatter coolly remarked that the Christian insur-gents in Bosnia and Herzegovina were notfighting for the sake of administrative reforms,but for independence or autonomy from the

Muslim Ottoman Empire, which would not bewillingly granted.

Thus, the two sides held mutually exclu-sive positions, leaving no room for agreement.Lord Derby concluded by saying that the greatpowers could do nothing but wait for the out-come of the struggle.

If the Turks failed to subdue the uprising,then perhaps the Sultan would agree to recog-nize Bosnia and Herzegovina as autonomousregions. But if, on the other hand, the Turksdefeated them in battle, the rebels would showgreater compliance.

At the current stage of the conflict in east-ern Ukraine, the diplomats will have to tempo-rarily step aside. They will continue with theirwork in one form or another and, God willing,achieve some progress, but they will not setthe agenda for the contending parties.

The time to fight has come again to easternUkraine, and a great deal of blood will con-tinue to spill there because neither the separat-ists nor the Ukrainian army can achieve a deci-sive victory yet. Thus, the fever of war — withits brief remissions and its sudden seizures —will long continue. It is deeply regrettable, buta fact.

—Courtersy: MT[Pyotr Romanov is a journalist and his-

torian]

War in Eastern Ukraine Has Only Just Begun

CURTIS S. CHIN, JOSE B. COLLAZO

NEPAL might not yet be on a US president’s travel agendabut a much anticipated recent return visit to India by USPresident Barack Obama may signify that South Asia is

finally getting some well-deserved attention as part of the so-calledAmerican rebalance—or what was once known as the ‘pivot’—toAsia. Who knows? Nepal—and the Himalaya’s glaciers—mightbe next. After all, climate change seems to be very much on thisUS president’s agenda. That’s a welcome change, as America andAmerica’s policymakers wake up to the obvious, namely that thereis more to Asia than China, and that a South Asia strategy must bemore than a grab bag of programmes seeking to match China’sefforts. Yet, in his State of the Union address to the Americanpublic this January, Obama gave short shrift to Asia, while pro-claiming past successes and outlining an agenda for further im-proving the US economy. “The shadow of crisis has passed,” hedeclared, “and the state of the union is strong.” Pointedly, the USpresident chose not to use his 70-minute annual address, to ex-plain what can be a critical part of his economic agenda. That is,increased engagement and strengthened trade relations with theentire Asia-Pacific region, including nations, such as India andNepal, which rarely make the US headlines.

Too often, East Asia alone has seemed the predominant fo-cus of the US policy pivot eastward. Understandably, there mighthave been no mention of tiny Nepal, but there also was no men-tion even of his then upcoming visit to India. Americans maywell have wondered where their president had gone so soon af-ter concluding his State of the Union address. Expanding en-gagement: Now, back in Washington after his trip to India—thefirst time a sitting US president has visited that nation twice—Obama has some easy explaining to do. Indeed, a real opportu-nity for expanded engagement to go beyond East Asia is at hand,and Nepal could be part of it.

The Asian Development Bank estimated that Nepal’seconomy grew by an estimated 5.2 per cent in the 2014 fiscalyear, exceeding forecast. But, it will have to grow nearly doublethis rate if it is to reduce the staggering level of unemployment,which stands at 46 per cent. A US ‘business pivot’, which bringsinvestment and jobs, could be instrumental in achieving this,and would be good for both the US and Nepal. There is an ad-mittedly small, relative to India, but solid base of trade and in-vestment, to build on. Nepal and the US had some $110 millionin total two-way goods trade during 2013, according to the Of-fice of the US Trade Representative.

US goods exports to Nepal totalled $33 million, while goodsimports from Nepal totalled $78 million. By import category,the US, in 2013, imported some $35 million in textile floor cov-erings, $10 million in woven apparel, $6 million in art and an-tiques, $5 million in knit apparel, and $3 million in leather goodsfrom Nepal. According to the latest available data, US foreigndirect investment (FDI) in Nepal (stock) was $5 million in 2012,up 25 per cent from 2011. And in the area of education exchange,small numbers can matter. At Howard University in Washing-ton, DC, a quarter of incoming freshmen from overseas comefrom Nepal, according to the Washington Post. The students fromNepal, some 26 at last count, outnumber Jamaicans, Nigerians,and every other international group in the class of 2018. So, whatmight an expanded US pivot to all of Asia, including Nepal—arebalance of the rebalance if you will—encompass?

First, the US must embrace a ‘business pivot’ that goes be-yond the China marketplace, and that looks to opportunities thatexist in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Already, US investmentin Southeast Asia surpasses that in four BRIC nations—Brazil,Russia, India, and China—and can be built upon. This wouldentail a concerted effort to ‘geographically rebalance’ US effortsacross the region, with a particular emphasis on strengtheningeconomic ties with South Asia. Second, a bipartisan effort isneeded to implement a trade policy that benefits small businesses,not just big multinationals. Additionally, Washington must alsoset an example for the rest of the world by ensuring that intellec-tual property rights are protected, and that tax policies do notdiscourage business success by its own citizens, particularlyAmerican entrepreneurs, whether working directly in Asia orexporting product from America.

—Courtesy: Kathmandu Post

America pivots south

ZHOU FANGYIN

SINCE China’s “One Belt and One Road” strategy, whichrefers to the Silk Road economic belt and the 21st centurymaritime Silk Road, was initiated at the end of 2013, sig-

nificant progress has been made and increasing support has beengarnered from the international community. At the same time,however, new problems have arisen with the promotion of cross-border cooperation. Sri Lanka’s newly elected PresidentMaithripala Sirisena announced the review of a number of mega-projects, including a construction project in Colombo harbor.Later, Greece’s new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ call afterappointing his fresh cabinet is to halt its privatization, includingthe port sale to China in Piraeus.

When things like this happen, negative views concerningthe “One Belt and One Road” initiative have appeared. Somehave even started to discourage it. China is experiencing an im-portant phase of rapid rise, and the economy and society havecome into a transition period. At the diplomatic level, China isexploring a path of major power diplomacy with Chinese char-acteristics in pursuit of peace, development, cooperation and win-win results. In this respect, the “One Belt and One Road” initia-tive is a specific strategy as well as a significant channel to real-ize its goals. Meanwhile, it could also promote the transforma-tion of our strategy of foreign policy.

“One Belt and One Road” is a strategy that is gradually pro-grammed and implemented in a complicated and constantly chang-ing international background. It is an unprecedented major explora-tion as well as an attempt at a new type of international relations. Ifthere is one thing for certain about this exploration, it is that it hastoo many uncertainties and the process won’t be perfect. But with-out these imperfect, and sometimes even painful process, it is hardfor us to find the new path for the major power diplomacy withChinese characteristics, or for our diplomatic innovation.

There are always twists and turns when carrying out greatundertakings. Ups and downs will appear in the promotion of the“One Belt and One Road” initiative. But what is important is notthose obstacles, but our attitude to them. There will be more prac-tical difficulties in pushing forward cooperation including the widevariations in politics, economy, society and culture among coun-tries along the route and some conflicts and contradictions be-tween certain states, which are hard to tackle in the short run.Besides, several nations are facing profound political adjustments,and economic and social transitions. Moreover, interventions fromother major powers are also making the process arduous. In addi-tion, the initiative is a common course for all the countries alongthe “road” and “belt.”

The project requires diverse cooperation with an open mindamong countries along the route. And China is not going to forceit forward alone, but will help it enter a new virtuous cycle tomake the cooperation smoother, while respecting the interna-tional environment, realistic conditions and objective principlesof development. The initiative needs steely determination andgreat political wisdom to overcome difficulties in practice. Itwill take a long time to see the results. Thus, we cannot rashlydefine success or failure in the short term. Actually, the difficul-ties we are facing now are not the real challenges. The shift inthe values and ideas over the “One Belt and One Road” from theinternational community and their reactions following the changesare the real challenges for us in the future.

—Courtesy: GT[The author is a professor at the Guangdong Research Insti-

tute for International Strategies. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn]

‘One Belt, One Road’needs perseverance

KIEV—Separatist rocketsstreaked across hills in easternUkraine on Tuesday as rebelspounded the positions of Ukrai-nian government troops hold-ing a strategic rail town, whileboth sides prepared to mobilisemore forces for combat. U.S.officials said Washington wastaking a “fresh look” at provid-ing Ukraine with lethal aid af-ter a surge of violence follow-ing the collapse of a new peaceeffort on Saturday, althoughthey emphasised that no deci-sion had yet been made.

Kiev’s military said fivemore Ukrainian soldiers hadbeen killed in clashes, whilemunicipal authorities in therebel-controlled city ofDonetsk said 15 civilians hadbeen killed by shelling at theweekend.

Talks between Ukraine,Russia and rebel officials inMinsk, Belarus, had raisedhopes of a new ceasefire tostem the violence in a conflictthat has claimed more than5,000 lives. But they broke upwithout progress with Ukraineand the separatists accusingeach other of sabotaging themeeting. Donetsk reverberatedto the thud of artillery and mor-tar fire through the night andseveral homes were destroyedwith at least one civilian deathon Monday.

Separatists kept up attackson Debaltseve, a strategic railhub to the northeast ofDonetsk, in an attempt to dis-lodge government forces there.

The outskirts of Yenakieveand Vuhlegirsk, both on themain highway to Debaltseve,were under heavy artillery fireas rebel multiple rocket launch-ers and artillery pummelled thepositions of Ukrainian troops inthe area. At one point, a salvoof around three dozen rocketsfired from rebel positionsscreamed across surroundinghills towards Debaltseve. Itwas followed 15 minutes laterby incoming fire from govern-ment forces.

“The toughest situation isaround Debaltseve where the

Rebels pound Ukrainian govt forcesillegal armed formations are continuing to storm thepositions of Ukrainian military,” military spokesmanAndriy Lutsenko told a briefing. But he said Ukraine’sforces in the town were enough to hold it and he de-nied that government forces were encircled.

According to Kiev officials, January was one ofthe bloodiest months in eastern Ukraine since the con-flict erupted. Regional police spokesman VyacheslavAbroskin said 112 civilians had been killed by sepa-ratist shelling and attacks.

The rebels, in a statement quoted by Russia’s RIANovosti news agency, said 242 civilians had beenkilled in the month as well as 92 of their number.

The separatists, who the West says are armed byRussia and supported by several thousand Russiantroops, defiantly announced a general mobilisationplan which they said would boost their fighting forces

to 100,000 men.Kiev itself is also pressing ahead with a fourth

wave of military call-up aimed at raising an extra50,000 men.

The Western powers support Kiev’s view that apeace deal sealed last September, which included aceasefire and a commitment for foreign fighters andmilitary equipment to be withdrawn from Ukraine, isthe only viable roadmap to ending the conflict.

But the separatists, who have declared their own‘people’s republics’ and have notched up several mili-tary successes since then including taking Donetskairport from government troops, now appear to wantto negotiate a new blueprint.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel appealed fora ceasefire to be urgently restored in Ukraine, underthe terms of the Minsk peace plan, and said Germany

would not support Kiev’s military forces through de-liveries of weapons.

The New York Times reported on Sunday Wash-ington was taking a new look at providing Ukrainianforces with defensive weapons and equipment in theface of the rebel offensive.

A senior administration official, speaking on con-dition of anonymity, confirmed the issue was gettinga “fresh look”, adding that it was unlikely any deci-sion would be taken until after Secretary of State JohnKerry visits Kiev on Thursday.

The separatist rebellion erupted last April afterRussia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea in response to theousting of a Moscow-backed president by street pro-tests in Kiev which ushered in a government com-mitted to integration with Europe.

Moscow denies it has any regular troops in

Ukraine despite what the West and Kiev say is incon-trovertible proof.

In a street on Yenakieve outskirts, a shell landeddirectly onto a third floor apartment of a nine-storeybuilding, instantly killing a woman and wounding her

husband.“We had to climb across the balcony to evacuate the

man and we left her lying in the rubble. She was pickedup later by a sanitary team,” said Anatoly Pomazanov,42, who owns a grocery shop in the building.

“It is like this every day. The shelling is inces-sant. We keep children in cellars. We let them outonly during lulls in shelling, for about 30 minutes atmost. I want to ask President (Petro) Poroshenko: arewe also Ukrainians or simply targets.—Reuters

HEFEI—Even though landtransfers and legal disputeshave become synonymous inrural China, farmer Xie Yimanin Shanfeng Village, in eastChina’s Anhui Province, didnot hesitate for a second whenleasing his land thanks to a newlegal initiative.

Rural land in China is man-aged through collective owner-ship, with farmers each as-signed a small plot of land. Inrecent years, however, due tourbanization, farmers haveswarmed to cities to seek alter-native employment, leaving theland idle. In response, manyturned to leasing their farmlandto large-scale and specializedagriculture businesses.

Yet, the practice is hamperedby unclear legislation and a lackof legal guidance, meaning thatmany do not honor their contrac-tual obligations. Thegovernment’s new agriculturepolicy aims to address this issue.

Last week, Xie leased hisfield - a plot of around 0.27hectares - to a local large-scalefarmer for 15 years. The rentalfee will swing in line with theprice of grain.

This process was madepossible after the provincialgovernment in Anhui providedlegal consultation, dispute

Document to give legaltools to Chinese farmers

settlement advice and supervi-sion to farmers in the middleof 2014.

Soon, more farmers acrossChina will benefit from thepolicy, as the Central Commit-tee of the Communist Party ofChina and the State Councilreleased its first major policydocument of 2015, whichcalled for improved systems todeal with issues such as ruralproperty rights protection,regulation of the rural marketand rural reform.

Known as the “No.1 Cen-tral Document”, this policy em-powers local governments, al-lowing them to roll out a seriesof legal reform measures thatwill give hundreds of millionsof farmers access to legal ad-vice.

In the past, Ling Jihe, alarge-scale rice farmer in AnyiCounty in the eastern provinceof Jiangxi, said countless num-ber of people broke contractwith him.

“I signed a three-year con-tract with a local villager to renthis land a few years ago, but hewanted to back out after only ayear,” Ling said, adding that“some villagers promised not toraise the commission within thecontract’s term, but they neverkept their word.—Xinhua

OIC SG condemnsmurder of

Japanese journalistJEDDAH—The Secretary Gen-eral (SG) of the Organizationof Islamic Cooperation (OIC),Iyad Ameen Madani, con-demned the continuation ofheinous acts by the terroristgroup that calls itself the Is-lamic State (IS), the latest onebeing the cold-blooded murderof Japanese journalist KenjiGoto.

Madani offered his condo-lences to Goto’s bereaved fam-ily, the Japanese people andgovernment; and renewed theOIC’s sympathies with thefamilies of all those who werecruelly killed by this terroristgroup.

The Secretary General fur-ther renewed his call for a mul-tifaceted confrontation to ex-tremism and extreme and ter-rorist movements. A confron-tation that calls for politicalinclusiveness, seeks economicrevival, create social hope andpurpose and deprive extremistsfrom their claim of ideologicaland religious legitimacy.

The Secretary Generalvowed to marshal all OIC’s re-sources in the fight against ter-ror and extremism; and to helpexpose those who penetrate andexploit extreme movements toserve their political ends andagendas.—Email

JINAN—Chinese scientists have identified sixnew genetic predispositions for leprosy, whichwill inform treatment research. The findings werepublished online in the world-renowned scien-tific journal “Nature Genetics” on Tuesday aftera study involving 8,313 samples.

A research team, from the Shandong Provin-cial Institute of Dermatology and Venereology ineast China, over the course of four years workedwith institutions from Singapore, the UnitedStates, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

So far, Chinese scientists have identified 18

Chinese scientists identify sixnew leprosy gene variants

genetic predispositions for leprosy. The researchteam set up a risk prediction model based on the18 genes and initiated experiments last year in10 counties and cities in Shandong Province, saidZhang Furen, the team leader.

“The establishment of the model makes earlydiagnosis of leprosy a possibility and is the firststep to translating our findings into practical tech-nology,” said Zhang Guocheng, executive deputydirector of the dermatology and venereology con-trol center with the Chinese Center for DiseaseControl and Prevention.—Xinhua

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI—A“breakthrough understanding” toopen India’s nuclear power sec-tor to U.S. firms reached duringPresident Barack Obama’s visitto New Delhi last month couldbe finalised this year, Indian of-ficials say.

The Jan. 25 announcementby Obama and Indian PrimeMinister Narendra Modi fol-lowed six weeks of intensivetalks, but few details were re-leased beyond a frameworkbased on India’s acceptance ofthe principle that plant operators

US-India nukes ‘breakthrough’to finalise within year

should bear primary liability inthe event of a nuclear disaster.

Significant work remains onthe fine print of a deal aimed atunlocking projects worth tens ofbillions of dollars that have beenstuck the drawing board for years.India wants to nearly treble itsinstalled nuclear capacity, whichwould make it the world’s secondbiggest market after China.

US officials say details of aninsurance scheme to protect sup-pliers from crippling lawsuitsneed to be thrashed out and Indiastill has to ratify a U.N. nuclear

convention. Indian officials do notrule out completing the processthis year. “We are committed tomoving ahead on all implemen-tation issues at an early date,” saidSyed Akbaruddin, chief spokes-man at India’s Ministry of Exter-nal Affairs. “There are no policyhurdles left.” The US official saidWashington expects the Indiansto ratify with the IAEA in the nearfuture, along with documentation“stating what their law intends”on the issue of liability, whichshould offer further reassuranceto U.S. firms.—Reuters

where his party is in a minority, is frus-trating his efforts to pass laws related totax and foreign investment.

The BJP’s campaign has been markedby infighting with party workers frustratedthat Kiran Bedi, the first woman officer inthe Indian Police Service, was appointedas the party’s chief ministerial candidate -even though she wasn’t a party memberuntil three weeks ago.India’s most power-ful Hindu group, the RashtriyaSwayamsewak Sangh, which is also the

ideological parent of the BJP, said on Tues-day the party was struggling in Delhi andcriticized Bedi, saying she wasunpopular.The Aam Aadmi, an anti-cor-ruption party, is on course to win between36 and 41 of the 70 seats in the Delhi as-sembly, according to three opinion pollspublished this week. The BJP is on courseto win between 27 and 32 seats and theCongress party, which has dominated poli-tics over the last century, will win betweentwo and seven seats, its worst-ever per-

formance in the city, the polls show.The vote will take place on Feb. 7 and

the results will be announced three dayslater.

BJP spokesman Sudhanshu Mittal dis-missed reports that the party was gettingnervous about a likely defeat.

“Who said we are in panic? We willdeploy all the resources at our command.This is Delhi. Ministers and parliamentmembers live here. Why should they notcampaign?”.—Reuters

Modi faces possibleFrom Page 1

long legal fall-out from thebreak-up of Yugoslavia intoseven states in wars that lastedeight years and left more than130,000 dead in Europe’s worstconflagration since World WarTwo.Croatia filed its caseagainst Belgrade in 1999 andSerbia its counter-case againstZagreb only in 2010.

“Croatia has not estab-lished that the only reason-able inference was the intentto destroy in whole or in partthe (Croatian) group,” Tomkasaid of Serbia’s campaign todestroy towns and expel civil-ians in Slavonia andDalmatia.

Rejecting Serbia’s coun-terclaim, he said Croatia hadnot committed genocide whenit sought to drive ethnic Serbsfrom the province of Krajina.

“What is generally calledethnic cleansing does not con-stitute genocide,” he said.“Acts of ethnic cleansing maybe part of a genocidal plan, butonly if there is an intention tophysically destroy the targetgroup.”

The panel of judges re-jected Croatia’s claim by fif-teen votes to two. Serbia’scounterclaim was rejectedunanimously, implying thateven Serbia’s delegated judgehad ruled against.

Serbia,CroatiaFrom Page 1

are on this case therefore itshould be heard daily by IHC.”

The hearing of Lakhvi’scase will commence from Fri-day.

The hearing of Lakhvi’scase was scheduled at the IHCon Tuesday but was postponedas the protracted case ofMumtaz Qadri, the policemanjailed for murdering Punjabgovernor Salman Taseer, washeard in its place.

Lakhvi, 54, was reportedlyarrested soon after the attacksfrom the headquarters of thebanned Lashkar-e-Taiba mili-tant group in Muzaffarabad.

He was tried by an Anti-Terrorism Court on charges oftraining terrorists and facilitat-ing the Mumbai terror attacks,filed by a Special InvestigationUnit of Federal InvestigationAgency, since 2009.

IHC toconductFrom Page 1

the volume leader of the daywith 34 million shares tradedin this scrip, while K Electricand Power Cement were thesecond and third volume lead-ers with 30 million and 29 mil-lion shares traded respectively.

KSE-100From Page 1

shifted to the Hayatabad Medi-cal Complex.

SP Cantt Faisal Shehzadconfirmed the death toll. Thedead and injured girls are be-tween the ages 10 and 16.

Soon afterwards peoplerushed to the scene to help res-cue the children who fell inside.Rescue 1122 also reached thesite of the accident, but weredriven away by angry locals.

The madrassa is located inthe Pashta Khara area ofPeshawar and is situated insidea house where the girls werebeing educated.

Fivegirls dead

From Page 1

ing transition in Afghanistan, theForeign Military Financing is es-sential to Pakistan’s efforts toincrease stability on its westernborder region as well as overallstability within its own borders.

The request is part of USPresident Barack Obama’s $4trillion spending plan for 2016.An amount of $7 billion is beingsought for overseas contingencyoperations, to respond to imme-diate and extraordinary nationalsecurity requirements.

Senior State Department of-ficial Heather Higginbottom saidthe funds “will support criticalprograms and operations in Af-ghanistan, Pakistan and Iraq, aswell as exceptional costs relatedto our efforts to fight ISIL” – anacronym for the Islamic Statemilitant group – and “respond tothe conflict in Syria and supportUkraine.”—INP

Obama AdminFrom Page 1

They made a special mention of changingscenario in Occupied Kashmir with Indianruling party BJP trying to make inroadsinto the body politic ofJammu and Kashmir.

Addressing the con-ference Sardar AttiqueAhmed Khan, formerPrime Minister of AzadKashmir and leader ofMuslim Conference saidPakistan has always sup-ported the cause of theKashmir people and the people of Jammuand Kashmir would always remain thank-ful to the people and successive govern-ment of Pakistan for their continued sup-port. He said in fact Pakistanis and theKashmiris are bound by unbreakable his-toric, cultural, economic, defence and geo-graphical relation.

Referring to the unprecedented sacri-fices of the Kashmir people over the past67 years, he said the world community hasalso been taking notice of the Kashmirissue because of these sacrifices. Heurged the Pakistani media to show greatercommitment to the cause of the Kashmirpeople and highlightvarious aspects of theissue in realistic per-spective.

Former President ofAzad Kashmir SardarMuhammad Anwar,said there was need forboth Pakistan and theKashmiri leadership toadjust their strategies inrespect of the Kashmir issue. He pointedout that the people of Kashmir valleydeserved salute for expressing their ma-turity during the recent elections in Oc-cupied Kashmir. They foiled attempt bythe Indian prime minister Modi, whowanted to fulfil his so called Mission 44.

The BJP had dreamt to win 44 seats inthe 87 member Srinagar Assembly but theBJP could not succeed.

Sardar KhalidIbrahim a prominentKashmiri leader in hisaddress said Pakistan’sstand on the Kashmir is-sue is based on interna-tionally recognized prin-ciple of self-determina-tion. He said Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah had greatfaith in the people of Jammu and Kash-mir and the great Quaid believed that theywould make the right decision when al-lowed to exercise their right to self-de-termination. He said there is no doubt thatKashmiris would vote for Pakistan when-ever they got the oppor-tunity.

Mr. GhulamMuhammad Safi, leaderof All Parties HurriyatConference (G) in hisaddress said the interna-tional communityshould treat theKashmiri people thesame way was as treatedEast Timor. East Timor even though itwas integral part of Indonesia, its peoplewere allowed to exercise their right toself-determination. He said how couldIndia deny the same right to the Kashmirpeople in the presenceof UN resolutions.

J a m a t - e - I s l a m ileader Liaqat Balochsaid Pakistan will al-ways remain commit-ted to the cause of theKashmir people. He sa-luted the Kashmirpeople for their greatsacrifices in the cause

of freedom from India. He said Kashmiriswill never accept Indian occupation. In-dian repression cannot dampen sprit ofthe people of Jammu and Kashmir.

Former DeputySpeaker, National As-sembly Sardar WazirAhmed Jogezai in hisaddress said the Paki-stani nation unani-mously stand by thepeople of Jammu andKashmir in theirstruggle against Indianoccupation. The people of Pakistan andthe Kashmiri people share hopes andfears. They share common destiny.

PTI leader ShaukatAli Yousafzai in hisspeech said Pakistandoes not need to feel anyweakness in the midst ofgrowing relations be-tween the United Statesand India. Pakistan canface all challengesthrough adopting boldpolicies. He asked the Pakistan govern-ment to follow a vibrant Kashmir policy,as there could be no development in SouthAsia without the resolution of this issue.

Kashmiri leaderMohtarma ShameemShal in her speechlauded the support of thepeople and governmentof Pakistan for theKashmir cause. How-ever she pointed out thatthere was need for morepractical work to pursuethe Kashmir cause. Shepassionately urged the Pakistani media toallow more space to highlight the Kash-mir issue to attract the international at-traction.

Pakistani leaders express solidarityFrom Back Page

resolution of the Kashmir issuethrough creditable dialogueadding that they are the basicparty to the dispute along withIndia and Pakistan.

He expressed these viewsin his written message read outat a seminar here Tuesdayorganised by Nazriya PakistanCouncil at Aiwan-I-QuaidFatima Jinnah Park.

Mir Waiz said the situationin the world demands resolu-tion of burning issues that af-fect the world peace. Kashmiris one of such issues. Hestressed the need for paving theway to allow the Kashmiripeople to exercise their right toself-determination. The AllParties Hurriyet Conferenceupholds this stance and would

continue its struggle for the at-tainment of this objective.

The Mirwaiz thanked thepeople and successive govern-ments of Pakistan for providingpolitical and moral support tothe cause of Kashmiri people.He also appreciated Prime Min-ister Mohammad Nawaz Shariffor raising strong voice at theinternational level for the rightsof the Kashmiri people.

Mir Waiz MuhammadUmar Farooq is currently inNew Delhi.

Let Kashmirisplay

From Back Page

Zahid Malikfor revisiting

Kashmir PolicyFrom Back Page

to the fourth generation and it isin the blood of every new-bornchild. Second, Pakistan has sac-rificed and suffered a lot for itsprincipled position on Kashmirand it will have to continue to doso. Third, India has assumed andmade itself believe that the inde-pendence of IHK wouldstrengthen other separatist move-ments in India and has also madethe world believe that indepen-dence of the IHK would lead toseparation of more of its States.Fourth, the world was giving asympathetic ear to Indian voices.“Some of these ground realitiesare conflicting with each other,”he added. Hence the strugglemay be like that of Ireland.

Taking advantage of thepresence of the Pakistani andAJK leadership, Mr. Malikpleaded for strengthening Pa-kistan in all respects. He alsourged the leadership, in themeantime, to develop the AJKin all respects so that prosper-ity may be visible all around.

Pak-IMFFrom Page 1

the measures the governmenthad taken strengthening thecountry’s economic credentials.

Secretary Finance, Dr.Waqar Masood, Governor StateBank, Ashraf Wathra, Addl. Sec-retary (EF), Shahid Mehmood,Chairman FBR, Tariq Bajwa,Economic Advisor, Ejaz Wastiand other senior officials are par-ticipating in the talks along withthe Finance Minister. —INP

Chinese FMFrom Page 1

Economic Corridor.The Chinese president would formally open this corridor from

a location not be disclosed due to security concerns, the sourcesaid.

“The visit by the Chinese president is extraordinary becauseof two reasons, first due to the visit by US President BarackObama to India last month and second due to long awaited jointservices military parade on March 23 in Islamabad which wouldbe graced by the Chinese president,” Senator Mushahid HussainSyed told media.

Late last year, following consultations between the govern-ments of China and Pakistan, the visit of Chinese president toPakistan was postponed in light of protests in Islamabad led byPakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf and Pakistan Awami Tehreek.

As the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N blamed PTI chiefImran Khan and cleric Tahirul Qadri’s protest in the capital forthe postponement of Chinese president’s visit.

(IED) planted at road side nearWarmagae area resulting in bigexplosion that left four mem-bers of the BDS force escort-ing the convoy, martyred”. Awell placed military source toldPakistan Observer adding thesecurity forces later went forthe search and strike operationmowing down two terroristsand wounding many others.Earlier, a bomb blast inMansehra, Hazara division ledto the martyrdom of an Addi-tional Station House officer anda cop near the bus terminal.

Two cops also sustainedserious injuries. Reports reach-ing here say a police party wasescorting a Gilgit bound buswhen it was hit by the explo-sion near Lari Adda inMansehra on the night betweenMonday and Tuesday thatbadly damaged the police ve-hicle leaving the AdditionalSHO Police Station citynamely Fareed and SepoyAjmal martyred. “The Policeparty led by SHO Fareed wasescorting a Gilgit bound pas-senger bus that had departedfrom Rawalpindi.

The convoy was targetednear the Mansehra Bus termi-nal at around 12.30 a.m. leav-ing the SHO and a cop killedwhile two other policemen sus-tained injuries”. An official ofthe Police control roomMansehra told newsmen. All thepassenger of the Gilgit boundbus remained safe as the lawenforcers and the rescue teamsrushed to the site of the blast andretrieved the dead bodies and theinjured cops who were shiftedto Ayub Medical ComplexAbbotabad for treatment.

The investigations wereunder way and the search op-eration also launched in thearea, yet the culprits could notbe apprehended. It may be re-called, that following frequentattacks on the Gilgit boundpassenger busses in the past,a police party always escort

Six men in uniformFrom Page 1

the passenger busses, coachesete to avert the terrorist’s at-tack. The defunct Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) report-edly owned the responsibilityof attack on the Gilgit boundpassenger bus.

The Khyber PakhtunkhwaGovernor, Sardar MahtabAhmad Khan Tuesday hasstrongly condemned a terror-ist attack on security forcesconvoy using an improvisedexplosive device in KurramAgency and expressed hisdeep shock and sorrow overthe loss of precious lives ofsecurity personnel. Express-ing his deep sympathies withmembers of the bereavedfamilies of martyrs, the Gov-ernor said that the immortalsacrifices of the SecurityForces to restore peace andstability in the region willnever go in vain and will al-ways be remembered withgreat pride.

The elements involved inthese heinous crimes, he added,will also no more remain atlarge and will be brought tocourt of law and justice. Healso prayed for eternal peace ofthe departed souls and courageto the bereaved families to bearthe irreparable loss with pa-tience. He has also wishedearly recovery of the injured.

tober 2011. Counsels forTaseer’s murderer Tuesday ex-pressed their apprehension thatMumtaz Qadri’s case might beshifted to military court.

On this the IHC benchmade it clear it was an ap-pellate forum and not a trialcourt therefore the case couldnot be shifted to a militarycourt.

Chief of Mumtaz Qadri’slegal team, former Chief Jus-tice of the Lahore High Court(LHC) Khwaja MohammadSharif argued that legal heirsof Taseer had no interest inthis case. He further arguedthat the confessional state-ment of his client under sec-tion 164 was recorded onoath whereas it was not nec-essary and that is a proce-dural flaw. He further arguedthat his client had no crimi-nal background and had noenmity with Taseer.

The prosecution in thiscase did not fulfill some le-gal formalities during trial asit did not record evidence ofone Waqas Khan who wasSalman Taseer ’s host inIslamabad. Advocate Shariftold that Waqas Khan waswith Taseer at the time of oc-currence.

Sharif also mentioned thenames of witnesses whowere examined before theanti terrorism court ofRawalpindi during trial. Oneof the witnesses wasShehryar Taseer son of theslain Salman Taseer. He toldthe IHC bench that SalmanTaseer had married a non-Muslim woman and had an-other son Aatish Taseer. Atthis point the court directedthe counsel to focus on thecase instead of giving irrel-evant references.

Advocate generalIslamabad (AGI) MianAbdur Rauf told the IHCbench that notices had beenissued to the legal heirs ofthe slain governor Taseer butnone have appeared. Hehowever, said the court couldproceed further as the for-mality of summoning legalheirs had been fulfilled.

Not only a crowd of law-yers was present inside thecourtroom, a large number ofQadri’s supporters werepresent outside the courtbuilding chanting slogans fortheir hero.

Finding the courtroomsmall Justice Noorul Haq NQureshi remarked the nexthearing would be conductedin comparatively large court-room No.3.

The court will resumehearing in this matter todayand Khwaja Sharif will con-tinue with his arguments.

For legal experts and top-ranking lawyers of criminalcases, it is a simple case ofappeal as Qadri has given aconfessional statement in thepresence of a magistrate.

Qadri’s casecan’t be sentto militarycourt: IHC

From Page 1

Gen RashadFrom Page 1

also called on PrinceMuhammad Bin Sulman BinAbdul Aziz Al-Saud, DefenceMinister, Prince Miteb BinAbdullah, Commander of SaudiArabian National Guards,Abdul Rahman Bin Ali Al-Rubaian, Deputy Interior Min-ister and General AbdulRehman Bin Saleh Al-Bunyan,Chief of General Staff and dis-cussed matters related to profes-sional interests which includeddefence production collabora-tion, exchange programmes,training and host of other areasbetween the two Armed Forces.

The discussions with dig-nitaries also focused on evolv-ing regional security situation.General Rashad Mahmood ex-plained the steps taken by gov-ernment under National ActionPlan, effects of operation Zarb-e-Azb and improving relationswith new Afghan government.

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Nazriya Pakistan Council & Editor-in-Chief Pakistan Observer Zahid Malik speaks at AllParties Conference on ‘Kashmir Issue in the Emerging Scenario’ organised by NPC at Aiwan–i-Quaid. Leader AllParties Hurriyat Conference (Ali Gilani) Ghulam Muhammad Safi, Sardar Khalid Ibrahim, former President AJK,Sardar Muhammad Anwar, former Deputy Speaker National Assembly, Wazir Ahmad Jogizai, former prime ministerAJK, Sardar Attique Ahmad Khan and PTI leader, Shaukat Yousafzai sitting on the stage.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—A spectrumof Pakistani and Kashmirileadership believes thatthere can be no sustain-able peace in South Asiawithout the resolution ofthe Kashmir issue in accor-dance with the wishes ofthe people of Jammu andKashmir.

They were expressingtheir views at the ‘All Par-ties Conference on Kash-mir Issue in the EmergingScenario’, organized byNazriya Pakistan Council(Trust)(NPC) at Aiwan-i-Quaid, Fatima Jinnah Park,in Islamabad Tuesday.Chairman NPC, Mr. ZahidMalik, Editor-in-Chief Pa-kistan Observer chairedthe conference.

A number of Pakistaniand Kashmiri leaders intheir addresses at the con-ference said that the Kash-mir issue should be ur-gently resolved in accor-dance with the UN resolu-

All Parties Conference on Kashmir issue

Pakistani leaders express solidarity with the struggling Kashmiri people‘Kashmir issue major threat to peace in South Asia’

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—It is evidentthat the resolution of theKashmir issue would be along drawn struggle, there-fore, it is imperative to comeout with a new KashmirPolicy and to keep the issuelive in the meantime.

This was stated by Mr.Zahid Malik, Editor-in-Chief,Pakistan Observer, at an All-Party Conference on Kash-mir held Tuesday. He saidthat as Pakistani Governmentas well as the Armed Forceswere in the process of takingcritical decisions, therefore,

instead of ongoing cyclo-styled and cosmetic expres-sion of sympathy and soli-darity with the people ofIndian-occupied Jammu &Kashmir, a result-orientedlong-term strategy may beevolved.

Mr. Zahid Malik, who isalso Chairman, Nazriya Pa-kistan Council, Islamabad,urged the Pakistani andKashmiri leadership to keepin mind four stark realities.First, he said, the Kashmiris’struggle for independencein the IHK has transmitted

Zahid Malik for revisitingKashmir Policy

Let Kashmirisplay their rolefor sustainablepeace in SouthAsia: Mir WaizHAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD——Chair-man All Parties Hurriyet

C o n -f e r -e n c e ,M i rW a i zU m a rFarooqs a y st h e

people of Jammu andKashmir be given op-portunity to play theirrole for sustainablepeace in South Asia. Hesaid the Kashmiris wantto contribute to the

Continued on Page 7 Continued on Page 7

Former CJPNaseem Hassan

Shahpasses away STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Former Chief Jus-tice of Pakistan, Justice Dr.

N a s e e mH a s s a nShah diedin LahoreTuesday atthe age of86.

The fu-n e r a l

prayers of Dr Naseem HasanShah will be offered in 58-D,Sir Syed Road, Gulberg-IIItoday . Dr Naseem was bornon April 15, 1929.

Naseem Hassan Shah re-mained as a judge of high ju-diciary for an overall time of26 years. Shah was one of thefour judges who in 1979 ac-cording to the decision ofthe High Court, handed outthe death sentence toformer President of Paki-stan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. Hewas also involved in restor-ing the government ofMian Nawaz Sharif in 1993.The late Naseem HassanShah was appointed as theChief Justice of Pakistanfrom 17th April 1993 to1994. Shah also acted as Pa-kistan Cricket Board’schairman for some time.

President MamnoonHussain and Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif and ChiefMinister Punjab ShahbazSharif have expressed deepsorrow and grief over thesad demise of former ChiefJustice of Pakistan Justice re-tired Dr Naseem Hassan Shah.

tions. The Kashmir relatedworld body resolutions en-shrine the right of the Kash-mir people to self-determina-

tion. They recalled that bothIndia and Pakistan had ac-cepted the resolutions. Pa-kistan continues to stand

for these resolutions, whileIndia is not ready to honourits commitment to the Kash-mir people and the world at

large. The speakers high-lighted repressive Indianmoves in Occupied Kashmirand saluted the Kashmir

people for their heroicstruggle for their right toself-determination.

The Kashmiri peoplehave offered supreme sacri-

fices for their cause andtheir sacrifices have beenunprecedented.

DHAKA—Opposition activ-ists in Bangladesh trying toenforce a transport boycottthrew petrol bombs at a busearly on Tuesday setting offa fire that engulfed the ve-hicle killing seven people, afire department officer said.

The opposition rejecteda general election just overa year ago and stepped upits protests last month in abid to force Prime MinisterSheikh Hasina to step downand hold a new election.

At least 51 people havebeen killed in political vio-lence over the past monthincluding the seven on thenight-bus to Dhaka.“Seven died on the spot af-ter opposition activistshurled petrol bombs,” fire

7 killed in BDas petrol bombsthrown at bus

NPC condolesKing Abdullah’s

demiseSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The NazriyaPakistan Council,Islamabad, has condoledthe passing away ofKhadim Al HarmainSharifain King Abdullah binAbdulaziz Al Saud of SaudiArabia.

In its meeting held onMonday at Aiwan-i-Quaidunder the chairmanship ofMr. Zahid Malik, the mem-bers of the Executive Com-mittee lauded the services ofthe late King and describedhim as a reformer and afriend of Pakistan.

Continued on Page 7

Nabil Gabolburieshatchet withMQMKARACHI—Muttahida Quami Move-ment (MQM) MNA NabilGabol said on Tuesdaythat he had differenceswith the party which hadnow been resolved. Gabolsaid he had sent hisresignation as MNA to theMQM Rabitta Committeesome time ago but had notleft the party. —INP

RAWALPINDI: General Raheel Sharif, Chief of Army Staff, presiding over the Corps Commanders Conference atGeneral Headquarters on Tuesday.

department official MonirHossain told reporters inthe southeastern district ofComilla. Sixteen peoplewere injured, several of themcritically, he said.

Bangladeshi politics hasbeen mired for years in bit-ter rivalry between Hasinaand BNP leader BegumKhaleda Zia. Both womenare related to former na-tional leaders and they havealternated as prime ministerfor most of the past twodecades.Analysts say the renewedpolitical turmoil couldthreaten the country’s $24-billion garment export in-dustry, already under pres-sure after a string of fatalaccidents.—Reuters

KARACHI—Two more con-victed terrorists affiliatedwith Lashkar-i-Jhangvi werehanged on Tuesday morn-ing at the central prison inKarachi.

Attaullah alias Qasimand Mohammad Azam aliasSharif were sentenced todeath for killing Dr Ali RazaPeerani in June 2001 inKarachi’s Soldier Bazaararea. Strict security mea-sures were taken inside andaround the prison. All roadsleading towards the centralprison were also blockedand heavy contingents oflaw enforcement agencieswere deployed to avert anyuntoward incident. An anti-terrorism court (ATC) haddeclared both of them guilty

Two more terroristshanged in Karachi Jail

of the murder in July 2004.The convicts’ appeals

against capital punishmenthad been turned down bythe Sindh High Court andlater the Supreme Court ofPakistan. PresidentMamnoon Hussain had alsodismissed their mercy peti-tions.

Black warrants for theexecution of the two con-demned prisoners were is-sued on Jan 24 on a requestof jail authorities. The trialcourt had asked jail officialsto carry out the hangingunder the supervision of ajudicial magistrate on Tues-day.

Following the trialcourt’s order, the convictsheld their last meetings withtheir families.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The dead bodyof a one-and-half-year-old mi-nor girl, who went missinglast day outside house inNazimabad area of Jalalabad,was found near her house on

Toddler raped, killed in Karachi

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court (SC) has or-dered for removing all the hurdles erectedin embassies and urban areas in federalcapital within 24 hours.

A 2-member bench of SC headed byJustice Jawwad S Khawaja took up the casefor hearing Tuesday.

The court while summoning chairmanCapital Development Authority (CDA) hasordered if the hurdles are not removedwithin 24 hours then chairman CDA will besent home. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja re-marked “ embassies be told this is our coun-try.

Erecting hurdles in urban areas in thename of security can not be allowed. Gen-eral public is disturbed due to these hurdles.Either CDA does not want to do this job orit is under some one pressure. CDA wasdirected to remove 216 hurdles in Islamabadbut chairman CDA says it can not be donein a day. Steps be taken in this respect andreport thereof be presented.

He observed “ No institution includingCDA is above law. People are facing muchdifficulty. Are the intelligence agencies

SC orders CDA Chief toremove hurdles in 24 hours

above the law. Hurdles be removed or CDAshould tell that its wings are burnt in initi-ating action against the government insti-tutions. Chairman CDA should appear inthe court today and satisfy the people andcourt.

Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani has re-marked “ if the embassies have securitymatters then they should shift to diplomaticenclave or make some other arrangement.The court was told during the course ofhearing that hurdles erected in urban areasand by some government institutions havenot been removed so far.

Security has been provided to someembassies due to intelligence agencies.Hurdles have also been raised and it is be-yond CDA powers to remove them. Gov-ernment can take any action with referenceto it. Justice Jawwad S Khawaja while ex-pressing resentment over it remarked ifhurdles are not removed within 24 hoursthen chairman CDA will be sent to home.The hearing of the case was adjourned tilltoday directing chairman CDA to appearbefore it in person today.—Online

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Normal flight operations re-sumed on Tuesday following successfulnegotiations between staff of the PakistanInternational Airlines (PIA) and manage-ment after a prolonged protest by the em-ployees.

Earlier Tuesday , PIA employees boy-cotted all duties countrywide, to protest

PIA flights resume asemployees call off strike

against the recent policy of managementcollecting federal excise duty on free/subsidised domestic tickets being issuedto its employees and their family members.

According to sources, several flightoperations were disrupted causing hard-ships to passengers.

All passengers on a PIA flight waitingto departure from Islamabad’s Benazir

3 French soldiersattacked outside

Jewish centreNICE—Three soldiers onpatrol outside a Jewish com-munity centre on the FrenchRiviera were attacked by aknife-wielding assailant onTuesday, leaving two ofthem slightly injured, a po-lice source said.

The attacker was ar-rested, said the source, add-ing that the lives of the in-jured soldiers were not indanger.

The attack took place inbroad daylight in the centreof Nice as the troops werepatrolling the centre underreinforced security measuresintroduced after last month’sdeadly jihadist attacks inParis.—AFP

Tuesday.As per details, the police

have recovered the deadbody of one-and-half-year-old minor girl Zainab daugh-ter of Mirza Zahid Baig fromNazimabad area of Jalalabadone day after her abduction.

IS claims to haveburned Jordanian

pilot aliveBEIRUT—The Islamic Stategroup released a video onTuesday purportedly show-ing the burning alive of a Jor-danian pilot, in the militants’most brutal execution yet of aforeign hostage.

The highly produced 22-minute video released onlineshowed images of a man pur-ported to be the pilot Maazal-Kassasbeh, who was cap-tured in December, engulfedin flames inside a metal cage.

Jordanian state televisionconfirmed the death and saidKassasbeh had been killedon January 3.—AFP

MurderedJapanesejournalist’speace tweetgoes viralTOKYO—A poignant tweetby murdered journalistKenji Goto on the virtue ofbeing calm was spreadingrapidly on social mediaTuesday, days after he wasapparently beheaded byIslamist militants. “Closeyour eyes and remainpatient. It’s over once youget angry or yell. It isalmost like praying. Hatingis not the role of humans;judgement is God’sdomain,” Goto’s four-year-old tweet read. “It was myArab brothers who taughtme this,” he tweeted inJapanese on September 7,2010. By early Tuesdayafternoon, the message hadbeen retweeted more than26,000 times in Japanese,with English versions alsowidely circulated.—AFP

Continued on Page 7

A new study finds that women whoconsume more caffeine are lesslikely to have tinnitus - a condition

where a person perceives noise in one or bothears, or in the head, even though there is noexternal sound.

Researchers found thatthe more caffeine womenconsumed, the less likelythey were to have tinnitus.The researchers, fromBrigham and Women’sHospital (BWH) in Bos-ton, MA, write about theirfindings in The AmericanJournal of Medicine.

According to theAmerican Tinnitus Asso-ciation, around 50 millionpeople in the US experi-ence some degree of tin-nitus, which is often de-scribed as “ringing in theears” although somepeople also hear hissing,buzzing, roaring, clickingor chirping. Of these,about 1 million are so badly affected theycannot function normally day to day.

For the study, the researchers analyzeddata on over 65,000 women with and with-out tinnitus from the Nurses’ Health StudyII. The women were aged between 30 and44 at the start of the study in 1991, whenresearchers collected a wealth of informa-tion on medical history, lifestyle and diet.At this point, the average caffeine intakewas 242.3 mg per day - the equivalent ofnearly two and a half 8-ounce cups of cof-fee. Most of the caffeine consumed camefrom coffee drinking.

In 2009, 18 years after they joined the

study, the women were asked questionsabout tinnitus, including date of onset,where applicable. When a woman re-ported experiencing symptoms eitherdaily or on a few days per week, the re-

searchers counted it as acase. They identified a totalof 5,289 cases of reported in-cident tinnitus. Women whoconsumed more caffeine lesslikely to be among tinnituscases

When they analyzedthe results, the team found themore caffeine women con-sumed, the less likely theywere to be among the tinnituscases. Senior author GaryCurhan, a physician-re-searcher in BWH’s ChanningDivision of Network Medi-cine and professor of Medi-cine at Harvard MedicalSchool, says:

“We observed a sig-nificant inverse associationbetween caffeine intake and

the incidence of tinnitus among thesewomen.” He and his and colleagues foundthat regardless of age, rates of tinnituswere 15% lower among women who con-sumed 450-599 mg a day of caffeine,compared with women who drank lessthan 150 mg a day (about one and a half8-ounce cups of coffee). Prof. Curhamnotes that while the reason behind thefinding is unclear, we know that “caffeinestimulates the central nervous system,and previous research has demonstratedthat caffeine has a direct effect on theinner ear in both bench science and ani-mal studies.”

Tinnitus less common inwomen who drink more coffee

Baligh ur Rehman, Minister for Education and Training, Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, Chairman HEC and Dr Shahid Siddiqui,Vice Chancellor AIOU sit on stage during opening ceremony of two-day symposium on Curriculum Development.

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—The two-daynational symposium on“Curriculum Development inHigher Education” began atAllama Iqbal Open Univer-sity (AIOU), Islamabad onTuesday. The symposium,which is being organized bythe Academics Division ofHigher Education Commis-sion (HEC), is aimed atbrainstorming the most suit-able procedure to be adoptedas a guideline for undertak-ing curriculum revision anddevelopment at undergradu-ate and graduate levels.

Engr. Muhammad Balighur Rehman, Minister of Statefor Federal Education andProfessional Training wasthe chief guest in the open-ing ceremony. Prof. Dr.Mukhtar Ahmed, ChairmanHEC, Dr. Shahid Siddiqui,Vice Chancellor AIOU andDr. Mansoor Akbar Kundi,Executive Director HEC, Dr.Mahmood-ul-Hassan Butt,former VC of AIOU and akeynote speaker as well asVice Chancellors of differentlocal universities were alsopresent.

The experts, invited fromrelevant fields in academiaas well as industry, will re-view the current practices of

Timely revision of curriculum imperativefor assuring quality education

curriculum development in higher edu-cation and will have focus group dis-cussions to recommend strategies forimproving the current practices.

The symposium is aimed at placinghigher education in its local milieu fromthe international context that is kept inview when transplanting educationalpractices, identifying and filling thegaps that currently exist in higher edu-cation curriculum planning, respondingto needs of the society and related in-dustries, fulfilling the curriculum de-velopment needs with regards to coor-dination and alignment, improvinghorizontal and vertical relationship incurriculum, and revising the curriculumon regular bases for continuous im-provement.

Speaking at the occasion, the Min-ister said that curriculum is one of themost important components of the edu-cation system and appreciated theHigher Education Commission for tak-ing well-timed initiative to review theprocess of curriculum development. Hesaid that timely revision of curriculumwas imperative for assuring quality of

education and setting high standards forthe education sector.

He shared with the audience the es-tablishment of National CurriculumCouncil, which has representation of allregions of the country and is aimed atsetting minimum criteria for curriculafrom KG to Grade-12. He told the au-dience that an Inter-Provincial Educa-tion Ministers Conference was held re-cently in Islamabad which was attendedby education ministers and secretariesfrom all provinces, FATA, AJK andGilgit Baltistan. “The response from allregions of the country was very posi-tive and the participants discussed per-formance of the education sector anddiscussed future plan of action for thepromotion of the education sector.”

The Minister stressed the signifi-cance of academia’s linkage with theindustry, SMEs as well as the Govern-ment to make sure that our educationinstitutions work as an engine for thesocio-economic growth of the country.

The Chairman HEC elaborated therole of erstwhile University GrantsCommission and HEC, since its incep-

tion in 2002, for curriculum revision.He said that though HEC’s CurriculumRevision Committees in different dis-ciplines have been meeting regularly toreview curricula of respective subjectsbut a need was felt to gather experts andevaluate the review process itself.

“The basic concept of holding thissymposium is to further develop thecurriculum review process and seekguidance from experts on how currentpractices of curriculum review may befurther improved and ensure that cur-ricula taught at higher learning institu-tions fulfills the requirement of our so-ciety, industry as well as government’spolicy making,” Dr. Mukhtar said.

It is expected that by end of this ac-tivity a white paper highlighting spe-cific recommendations on the themeand the objective of this symposiumwill be developed by the core commit-tee consisting of curriculum planningspecialists. This white paper will serveas guidelines for Curriculum Divisionof HEC to set framework and standardsof curriculum development in an appro-priate way.

VC Forum to seek joint efforts byuniversities of Muslim world

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—The upcoming third ViceChancellors’ Forum (VC Forum) on‘Universities in the Islamic World: Fac-ing Global Challenges’ will helpstrengthen bond among the universitiesof the Islamic world.

The forum being held on Feb 23-24this year, is being organized with a viewto facing the global challenges to uni-versities of the Muslims world.

According to a statement, the forumwill provide a platform to the univer-sity heads for boosting cooperation andencouraging dialogue among them andthe institutions they represent.

VC Forum is jointly being organized

by the Ministry of Science and Technol-ogy, Government of Pakistan; Ministryof Federal Education and ProfessionalTrainings, Government of Pakistan;Higher Education Commission, Pakistan;COMSATS Institute of InformationTechnology, Pakistan; Islamic Educa-tional, Scientific and Cultural Organiza-tion, Morocco; and the Federation of Uni-versities of the Islamic World, Morocco.

Over 300 Vice Chancellors/Rectors/Presidents of the universities/highereducation institutions of the Islamicworld are expected to attend the VC Fo-rum.

The heads of all Islamic universi-ties will be able to jointly draw plansand programs for their respective insti-

tutions especially promoting networkamong the participating universities,pool of scholarships for the students ofthe Islamic world, exchange of studentsand faculty, initiating joint academicprograms, promoting research and es-tablishing virtual centers of excellence.

In the VC Forum, the universitiesheads will also sign memoranda of un-derstanding besides holding panel dis-cussion on different topics relating tothe higher education.

Exhibition will be one of the impor-tant features of the VC Forum, whichwill provide an excellent opportunity touniversities/ higher education institu-tions to showcase their respective areasof strength to its participants.

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court (SC) has can-celed the bail of Muhammad Amin, prime ac-cused in Pattoki Housing Society corruptioncase and issued orders for his arrest till Febru-ary, 10. A two members bench of SC presidedover by Justice Jawwad S Khawaja took up thecase for hearing Tuesday.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja has remarked “who will protect the country. How will the un-known culprits of Shikarpur tragedy be arrestedwhen the accused could not be apprehendeddespite availability of all particulars. Non ar-resting of the prime accused despite assistanceof ISI, IB and police is failure of NAB.

He further remarked “ plea bargain is aninstitutionalized corruption. NAB grip over thepoor is very firm but the influential accused es-cape on the basis of advance information pro-vided to them by their informers in the ranks ofNAB. People should know NAB is doing what.Master mind is the accused who is not nabbed.NAB expenses are surpassing its profit.

He observed incidents are occurring in broadday light but no one is there to apprehend theaccused. The problems will not be created if theinstitutions perform their function.

Justice Sarmad Jalal Usmani has remarked

Pakistani Young Doctors who got degrees from China holding a protest demo in favour oftheir demands on Tuesday.

“ the accused who deprived the people of theirlife long hard earned money disappeared butNAB authorities are not ashamed over it.

NAB Prosecutor General (PG) appearedbefore the bench and presented the progress re-port in respect of arrest of accused involved inPattoki housing society corruption case. He ad-mitted in the court NAB could not arrest primeaccused Muhammad Amin despite assistancefrom police and intelligence agencies.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja remarked “howcan the accused be arrested when advance in-formation is provided to him by his informerswithin from NAB that attempt is being made toarrest him. Therefore, the culprits are notnabbed. NAB already provides protection to theculprits by striking plea bargain. PG said “werecover money through plea bargain. It is cor-rect we could not arrest the accused but our ef-forts are continuing.

The court while addressing two brothers ofprime accused Muhammad Amin said “ whenyou were being arrested your third brother wasalso with you. Where he went away. They toldthe court that they had information he was inOkara but his hideout was not in their knowl-edge. —Online

Seminar onAmericanStudy Aid

R AWA L P I N D I — F a t i m aJinnah Women University(FJWU) Library, under theumbrella of Susan B. An-thony Reading Room(SBARR), on Tuesday ar-ranged a speakers programmeon ‘Should we accept Ameri-can Study Aid for HigherEducation or Not’.

Guest Speaker of theseminar was Dr. SaminaNaseem, Lecturer, EducationDepartment while ChiefGuest of the event was Ms.Bushra Ghous, Manager In-dustrial linkages, Ms. ZarinaBibi, Coordinator SBARR onthis occasion gave a brief in-troduction of the guestspeaker.

Dr. Samina also briefedthe students about the variousscholarships and exchangeprograms of USA. She saidthat when the students are se-lected for some scholarship itis a matter of pride because itis an opportunity to explorethe talents and the world. Shehighlighted the general ob-stacles and hardships, the stu-dents confront while applyingfor scholarship and how theycan overcome suchhurdles.—APP

President RCIC Malik Fateh Khan presenting a shield to Ambassador of Denmark Jesper Moller Sorenson on the occasionof a meeting of the club.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD—The results of survey forBase Transceiver Stations (BTSs) haverevealed that power level of radio wavesis much below the prescribed danger lim-its and no harmful effects of telecom tow-ers.

Pakistan Telecommunication Au-thority (PTA) along with Frequency Al-location Board (FAB) conducted an ex-tensive survey recently in major cities ofthe country including Azad Jammu &Kashmir (AJK) to check omission ofpower level from transmitters and receiv-ers of BTSs/Towers installed by mobilecompanies.

No harmful effects of telecom towers: Survey The survey results also revealed that

power level of radio waves was in linewith policy directives of Ministry of IT& Telecom, World Health Organization(WHO) and International Commission onNon-Ionizing Radiation Protection(ICNIRP) guidelines.

The survey was carried out with helpof special tools/equipment in seven cit-ies across the country including Lahore,Karachi, Muzaffarabad, Peshawar,Quetta, Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

So far, PTA has conducted four na-tionwide surveys since 2009 and resultsof all these surveys showed that the mis-

conception regarding hazardous affects ofthe towers was not correct.

The towers have been installed andare working within the specified param-eters defined by the regulator as well asinternational bodies concerning the issue.

It may be mentioned that, the cur-rent exercise was undertaken on the in-structions of Chairman PTA, Dr. SyedIsmail Shah and regulator is very muchvigilant/cognizant of issue directly relatedto health of the general public and shallcontinuously monitor working of the tow-ers to ensure that set standards are fol-lowed.—APP

SC cancels bail of prime accused inPattoki Housing Society corruption case

06:25 01:3004:00

07:15

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Work on installation ofmodern LED lights has been started onthe route of Metro Bus Project, in firstphase, LED lights on Jinnah Avenue,where construct ion work has beencompleted, have been instal led andmade operational.

The LED lights would be installedon the under construct ion parts ofJinnah Avenue, i .e . underpasses andthe parts where construction work is inprogress, as soon as the constructionwork would be completed there.

Similarly, LED lights would be in-stalled on the whole Metro Bus routein phases.

The LED lights, designed in l inewith latest technology, are not only at-tractive and economical but would alsosave energy.

The decision for installation of LEDlights was recently taken during a meet-ing at CDA

Installation of LED lightson route of Metro Bus

A view of LED lights installed on the route of Metro Bus Project at Jinnah Avenue.

Headquarters, which was attendedby Chairman, Capital Development Au-thority (CDA), Maroof Afzal, Commis-sioner Rawalpindi, Zahid Saeed, Mem-ber Engineering, Shahid Sohail, Mem-ber Administration and Estate, Amer AliAhmed and concerned officers of En-gineering Wing.

During the meeting, the decision forrepair and maintenance of roads, af-fected by Metro Bus Project was alsotaken. In the light of the decision, re-pair / maintenance work on roads inSector G-9 is underway.

In the meanwhile, Chairman CDAhas said that with the instal lat ion ofLED lights, we will not only save en-ergy but it would also enhance beautyof Jinnah Avenue.

Chairman CDA, Maroof Afzal hasdirected the Engineering Wing to ex-pedite the pace of work on repair / main-tenance of roads and ensure i ts earlycompletion, as payment would be madefrom the funds allocated for Metro BusProject.

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan is observingWorld Cancer Day today (February 4,2015) with the rising awareness aboutthe disease’s devastating impact onhealth. However, despite all suchawareness campaigns and commit-ments the disease is steadily on therise and every year nearly 80,000 Paki-stanis lose their battle of life againstcancer. It is an undeniable fact that

Pakistan marks World Cancer Day todayCall to quit smoking to avoid deadly disease

after cardiovascular disease, cancer isthe second biggest killer in the worldand there were an estimated 8.2 mil-lion deaths from cancer in 2012. In Pa-kistan alone, there are more than 1.4million cancer patients.

Cancer is among the leading causesof the Non-Communicable Diseases(NCDs) which constitute 60 percent ofthe total health burden of the country.On the other hand, smoking and use ofvarious tobacco forms are the major risk

factors behind incidence of cancer.Various reports and surveys con-

ducted at national and internationallevels have revealed that smoking isdirectly linked with cancer and themore one uses tobacco the more oneis at risk from this deadly disease.

International Lung Cancer Morbid-ity & Mortality Trend Report 2014 re-veals that more than 90 percent of thelung cancer is caused by active smok-ing and according to the recent Paki-

stan Demographic & Health SurveyReport (PDHSR 2012-2013) incidenceof smoking has increased during thelast one decade. There is a stark in-crease in tobacco use among men as45 pc of male population of 15-49 yearsuse some form of tobacco. Of the totalnumber of smokers 70 percent use to-bacco in the form of cigarettes (10 ormore daily). In this backdrop it isclearly evident that smoking or to-bacco use is a risk factor for lung and

other forms of cancer.Nadeem Iqbal Executive Coordina-

tor of TheNetwork for Consumer Pro-tection while talking to media here onTuesday expressed his concerns overthe rising trend of smoking and inci-dence of cancer in Pakistan. He saidsmoking and incidence of cancer inPakistan said smoking is not only harm-ful for its users but everyone in its prox-imity. Second hand smoke is equallyhazardous and causes number of dis-

eases including lung cancer.In order to combat both tobacco

epidemic and cancer incidence weneed to put more pressure on the in-dustry and not just on the consumers,he said.

NCDs specially cancer preventionand control should be on prior agenda,and the commitment of the governmentis essential to take appropriate mea-sures at the national policy and sus-tainable policy should be formulated.

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—The rule of law andtransparency in every field are ourpriorities. These attributes are thebasis of good working and fame ofthe department. Superior traditionswere established from the beginningin this department and will alwaysbe maintained.

Rule of law, transparencyour priority: IG NH&MP

IG NH&MP Muhammad Saleem Bhatti addressing officers at Chakri. DIG Muhammad Wisal Fakhar Sultan and SSPAbbas Ahsan are also present on the occasion.

These views were expressed byInspector General, National High-ways & Motorway Police,Muhammad Saleem Bhatti during hisaddress to the officers at Chakri(Motorway – M2).

The Inspector General said thateffective measures would be config-ured on permanent basis to providedbetter medical and residential facili-

ties to the officers. Office buildingsand hospitals would be constructed,he added.

In the end, the Inspector Generalinteracted with the officers andpassed suitable directions to solvetheir problems. The DIG, MuhammadWisal Fakhar Sultan and SSP AbbasAhsan were also present on the oc-casion.

ISLAMABAD—The National Institute ofFolk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa)opened its Souvenir Shop here at the Pa-kistan National Museum of Ethnology“Heritage Museum” at Garden Avenue,Shakaparian.

The soft opening of the shop wasperformed by Ms. Shahera Shahid, Execu-tive Director, Lok Virsa in the presence ofLok Virsa officers and staff.

Talking to this news agency, ED, LokVirsa said “it is for the first time in thehistory of Lok Virsa since its inception in1974 that we have set up our own Souve-nir Shop in pursuance of the mandate as-signed to the Institute i.e. to provide aplatform to the master artisans from allover Pakistan including remote areas tosell their products.”

Explaining the objectives of the Shop,Ms. Shahera Shahid said “it will help/support master artisans in continuanceand revival of their craft traditions; en-courage them to introduce new innova-tions in their techniques/designs/colorsaccording to the modern day needs; con-tribute towards the alleviation of povertyamong rural artisans community and pavethe way for their economic empowermentthrough traditional skills”.

Lok Virsa opens its ‘souvenirshop’ at Shakarparian

She further added that the price andquality aspect of the different crafts ofthe Shop have been meticulously scruti-nized. It is expected that the various craftsavailable at Shop will attract the atten-tion of both locals and foreigners.

The Executive Director highly ap-plauded the ef for ts of Ms. Sajee laNaveed, Director (Museum), Lok Virsaand her team of profess ionals whoconceptualized the idea and built uponthe Shop from scratch and executed theent i re task wi th in the shor tes t t imeframe.

The Shop consists of craft items skill-fully produced by different master arti-sans under the guidance of Lok VirsaManagement.

The colors and designs of variouscrafts as exhibited are based on the em-blem of Lok Virsa. Souvenirs that havebeen displayed in the first stage at theShop include Horse Puppets, Rugs(Tuggars) in Sheep Wool, Wooden (Wal-nut Wood) Horses, Dupattas in Tie Dye,Chunri Multani Dupattas, Ceramic Mugs,Leather Bracelets with Semi PreciousStones, Leather Necklaces with Semi Pre-cious Stones, Wall/Table Plates in Lac-quer Wood Work, etc.—Online

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Special daylongprogrammes will be aired by RadioPakistan tomorrow (Thursday) to high-light the Kashmir cause and struggleof the Kashmiri people for right of in-alienable self-determination to markKashmir Solidarity Day.

These programmes have speciallybe designed to underline the signifi-cance of solidarity with Kashmiris, UNresolutions on Kashmir, Pakistan’sstand on Kashmir, efforts of thepresent democratic government topeacefully resolve Kashmir issue, and

Special daylong Kashmir dayprogramms by Radio Pakistan

global views on Kashmir.Messages of the Presidents and

Prime Ministers of Pakistan and AzadKashmir will be broadcast at 07:10 a.m.during programmes Subh-e-Pakistanand Hum Pakistan. Special songs,Kashmiri slogans and translations ofthe messages of President and PrimeMinister of Pakistan are also the partof this programme. Special interviewsof President and Prime Minister ofAzad Kashmir will be aired at 07:30 a.m.

One-minute silence will be observedat 10 a.m. A special feature “Eh Bint-eKashmir” has been scheduled at 11:05a.m. The joint session of Azad Kashmir

Legislative Assembly and Council aswell as proceedings of Kashmir con-vention will be broadcast live.

Special interviews of Federal Min-ister for Kashmir Affairs and Gilgit-Baltistan and All Parties Hurriyet Con-ference leaders will be broadcast at01:20 p.m.

A Radio Report based on humanchains to be formed at bridges linkingPakistan and AJK and other majorevents of the day will be broadcast at04:05 p.m. Special discussion programmetitled, “Indian obstinacy, obduracyhurdle in way of resolution of Kashmirissue will be aired at 04:30 p.m.

ISLAMABAD—Despite theclosure of CNG, residents ofvarious sectors of the capitalincluding posh sectors andseveral areas in Rawalpindiare facing extreme gas short-age multiplying their miseries.The worst hit areas are F-7,F-8, F-10, F-11, I-10, I-9 , G-9G-11 and G-10, Chak Shahzad,

Low gas pressure in twin citiesMargalla Town and some ar-eas of Bara Kahu and areasof Rawalpindi such asKhanna Pul, Shamsabad, Sat-ellite Town, Sadiqabad,Gulzar-e-Quaid, Dhok KalaKhan, Faisal Colony and NewMahal Pur. The residentsclaimed that SNGPL was met-ing out discriminatory treat-

ment to them in gas supplyand that they fail to under-stand as why they are de-prived of this essential com-modity despite that now theCNG is closed. Due to lowgas pressure and suspen-sion, residents of many dif-ferent localities were seen atLPG cylinder vendors buying

canisters. Several residentscomplained that most peoplehave installed compressorsin their homes due to whichthey get zero pressure. A ladyliving in Islamabad’s poshsector F-7/3 complained thatsince past 3 years they havebeen facing this problem ev-ery winter.—Online

ISLAMABAD—Six terrorists linked to bannedoutfit arrested in Islamabad. Security forceshave arrested the six terrorists linked tobanned outfit during search operation inseveral parts of Islamabad.

All terrorists have been shifted to un-known location for the investigation pur-pose. Sources told that security forces havestepped up operations to implement the

6 TTP terrorists arrestedin search operation

National Action Plan against terrorism.Intelligence agencies have launched the

search operation in most parts of FederalCapital to arrest suspects.

Sources further told that all arrestedsuspects were belong to banned outfitMohmand Agency and which were plannedto spread terror related activities inIslamabad.—Online

Islamabad’stransporters

refuse toreduce fares

ISLAMABAD—Despite cut-ting petroleum prices severaltimes, fare of Islamabad’spublic transport are not be-ing reduced compellingcommuters in the capital totravel costly.

According to Onlinesurvey, owners of wagonand coaster are followingold rates of fare. If passen-ger asks them about reduc-ing fares, they argue thatthey have not received newfare list from transport au-thority. Even the taxi driversare demanding high faresfrom the passengers.

Passengers were of theview that governmentshould take strict actionsagainst transporters for notreducing fares. On the otherhand, petrol is easily avail-able on all petrol pumps butthe owners of petrol pumpsare not happy due to the in-crease of tax on petrol.—Online

200 Rawalpindischools to getMobile SIMs

RAWALPINDI—Punjab gov-ernment has decided to is-sue mobile SIMs to morethan 200 primary and middleschools in the first phase inRawalpindi district for use incase of any emergency.

According to reports,the Education DepartmentRawalpindi has entered intoan agreement with Ufonecompany for this purpose.The mobile SIMs will be is-sued in the name of con-cerned schools.

The Punjab governmenthas ordered governmentschools in 36 districts of theprovince to purchase mobileSIMs and concerned EDOshave been issued necessarydirections.

The SIMs would beavailable with the schoolsduring the month of Febru-ary, 2015.—INP

Motorists facing hardships due to sewerage pipes and construction material lying on the road during the construc-tion work of Metro Bus Project in Rawalpindi.

JKLF Chairman, Mohammad Yasin Malik addressing a mammoth public gathering in Gandarbal Chowk.

MUZAFFARABAD: Coordinator INSPAD Naila Shahzad Lolabi receiving performance certificate from AJK UniversitySyed Dilnawaz Gardezi here on Tuesday.

DR. GHULAM NABI FAI

LET us remember here that the future ofJammu and Kashmir is not something thatthe governments of India and Pakistan can

decide without involving the Kashmiri people. Howthis diverse people’s representatives should be iden-tified, and then associated with the process towarda possible settlement, are crucial if difficult ques-tions, but every human and democratic principle de-mands this association. Professor Rajmohan Gandhi,grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, July 2003.

If you intend to build a house, the first prereq-uisite is that you have a piece of land on which tobuild it. A foundation for conflict resolution is simi-lar. Yet no platform, formal process, forum, confer-ence, or any agency involved in conflict resolutionis now in place, to the best of my knowledge, formediating the dispute among the countries whichpurport to have a stake in the future of Kashmir.Since the Simla Agreement of 1972, India has re-fused to permit any third party, such as the UnitedNations, to be involved in negotiating a settlement,declaring that the Simla Agreement specifically nar-rowed such a process exclusively to bilateral dis-cussions. However, this is absolutely not true. A read-ing of the international law indicates that the pointof departure for determining a just and lasting basisfor Kashmir dispute should be (a) the Charter of theUnited Nations which, in its very first article, speaksof “respect for the principles of equal rights andself-determination of peoples” and (b) the interna-tional agreements between the parties to the dispute– the Governments of India and Pakistan.

Setting the Stage for Settlement of KashmirIndia and Pakistan have concluded multiple

agreements which fall in this context. The first isembodied in the resolutions adopted by the UnitedNations Commission for India and Pakistan (UNCIP) on August 13, 1948 and January 5, 1949.These resolutions constitute an agreement because,unlike most resolutions of the Security Council orthe General Assembly of the United Nations, theirprovisions were first negotiated with the parties and,in written statements, explicitly accepted by them.These agreements were written out in detail and areself-explanatory. Since it binds both India and Pa-kistan to respect the verdict of the people of Kash-mir to be obtained through a free vote under theimpartial supervision of the United Nations. WhenIndia seeks to propagate the impression that theUnited Nations resolutions have been supersededby the Simla Agreement, that impression is false.

That the implication is false can be readily seenfrom a comparison of the two texts: one that of theU.N. resolutions and second that of the Simla Agree-ment. But even if it were true, it would run counterto a standing principle of international relationswhich is set out in Article 103 of the Charter of theUnited Nations (accepted by every Member of theUnited Nations, including India & Pakistan). TheArticle says: “In the event of a conflict between theobligations of the Members of the United Nationsunder the present Charter and their obligations un-der any other international agreement, their obliga-tions under the present Charter shall prevail”

What, then, is the relevance of the Simla Agree-ment as far as instituting a peace process betweenIndia and Pakistan, fully recognizing Kashmir’s

inherent right of self-determination, is concerned?The pertinent facts about the Simla Agreement

are: The Agreement nowhere precludes a settle-ment of the Kashmir dispute along the lines laiddown by the United Nations with the consent ofboth India and Pakistan. Nor does it require thatthe United Nations be by-passed in the effort to-wards a settlement. On the contrary, it expresslysays that the relations between the two countriesshall be governed by the principles and purposesof the Charter of the United Nations. One of thebasic principles of the Charter ( Article 33) is toseek a solution of any dispute by negotiation, en-quiry, conciliation, arbitration, judicial settlement,resort to regional agencies or arrangements or otherpeaceful means. The linked principle (Article 34)is that the Security Council may investigate anydispute and (Article 36) at any stage recommendappropriate procedures or methods of adjustment.The Agreement thus reinforces the obligations ofboth parties to achieve a settlement in accordancewith the resolutions endorsed by the Security Coun-cil i.e. UNCIP resolutions and, if their bilateralefforts fail, to turn to the United Nations for assis-tance. Nothing would be more contrary to the Char-ter — and, therefore, to the Simla Agreement it-self — than to bar recourse to the United Nations.

The Agreement makes mention of “a finalsettlement of Jammu and Kashmir” as one of theobjectives of the two parties. It provides that, pend-ing the final settlement of any of the problems be-tween the two countries, neither side shall unilat-erally alter the situation. This obviously is not alicense for leaving problems unresolved. If any-

thing, it implies a commitment to making effortstowards a final settlement.

It is thus a misconception that the Simla Agree-ment has in any way superseded the resolutions ofthe United Nations Commission for India and Pa-kistan (UNCIP) accepted by both parties. Nor canit be supposed to have narrowed the gulf betweenthem and, to that extent, simplified the task ofevolving a settlement. Even if it has done so, itsimpact on the Kashmir situation would have beenopen to question. Nothing in international law con-fers on two parties the authority to make decisionsor conclude agreements which adversely affect therights of a third. The third party here is the peopleof Kashmir. In ignorance or disregard of all thesefacts and their logical corollaries, the recommen-dation is being currently made by some govern-ments friendly to both India and Pakistan ( includ-ing the United States) that the two countries mustresolve the Kashmir problem in accordance withthe Simla Agreement of 1972.

Why is the Simla Agreement put in the forefrontrather than the UNCIP resolutions? There can beseveral explanations. One is deference to India be-cause of its superior might. If this motivates the cur-rent U.S. diplomatic stance, it is, to say the least, un-dignified and contrary to the enduring principles ofU.S. policy towards all situations which involve in-alienable human rights. Another reason can be theimpression that the Simla Agreement, being of morerecent origin than the UNCIP resolutions, might bemore effective in activating the process. This is wrongin view of the fact that, for 43 years, the Agreementhas signally failed to shake India out of its obdurate

refusal to negotiate a settlement of the Kashmir prob-lem. The current Indian position is that India is pre-pared to talk but there is nothing to talk about excepthow to perpetuate the status question of Kashmir.

If non-implementation were to render an agree-ment defunct, then the Simla Agreement is in nobetter state than the earlier, far more concrete andcomprehensive agreement painstakingly worked outby the United Nations and concluded under its aus-pices in 1948-49. If passage of time were allowedto extinguish solemn international agreements, thenthe Simla Agreement has already suffered the samefate as the UNCIP resolutions. If agreements are tobe revived, then why one and not the other?

It may also be that the Simla Agreement isbeing invoked because of lack of knowledge aboutits actual terms and the circumstances in which itwas signed. India is taking full advantage of thisfactor to spread the misinformation that the SimlaAgreement sanctions the perpetuation of the sta-tus quo in Kashmir and absolves her from the re-sponsibility of striving for a settlement of the dis-pute. By citing the Simla Agreement at this stage,or encouraging others to do so, India obviouslyseeks to prevent those basic issues of the disputebeing addressed that were fully taken into accountby the United Nations. The agreement is pressedinto service as a formula for evasion.

Note: This is the first part of the series of ar-ticles on, “Kashmir: Setting the Stage for thesettlement.”[Part I]

—Courtesy: Email[Dr. Fai can be reached at: 1-202-607-6435

OR gnfai2003@yahoo.com]

SRINAGAR—The All Parties Hurriyet Con-ference has emphasized that the internationalcommunity is cognizant of the fact that theresolution of Kashmir dispute is imperativefor the peace and stability in South Asia.

The APHC spokesman in a statement is-sued in Srinagar, today, expressed satisfac-tion over the media reports that the US Presi-dent, Barack Obama during his recent visitto India impressed upon New Delhi to ini-tiate dialogue process with Islamabad tosettle all disputes including the dispute overKashmir.

The spokesman said that only a processof talks between Pakistan, India andKashmiri resistance leadership could onlyguarantee a peaceful solution to the Kash-mir issue.

Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front

Kashmir settlement vitalfor peace in South Asia

Pro-India Kashmiri parties advancing RSS agendaChairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik in astatement said that pro-India Kashmiri po-litical parties were working as a tool to ad-vance the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’sagenda in the territory.

He said that Peoples Democratic Party,National Conference, Congress andBharatiya Janata Party were all part of theconspiracy to communalise atmosphere inJammu and Kashmir.

Hurriyet leaders, Shabbir Ahmad Shah,Zafar Akbar Butt, Muhammad YousufNaqash, Syed Bashir Andrabi and YasmeenRaja in their separate statements termed itas encouraging the decision to observe Kash-mir Solidarity Day on February 5 by thepeople of Pakistan, Azad Kashmir and thePakistanis living in other parts of theworld.—KD

JAMMU—A team of the World Bank (WB)assured the J&K government of its “full sup-port and assistance” in rehabilitation of floodvictims and restoration of infrastructure dam-aged due to the devastating deluge in Sep-tember last year, officials said.

An official spokesman said the WorldBank team assured full support and assis-tance to the State Government and informedthat it is fully aware of the losses sufferedby the people in the State due of the floods.

“The team said they will carry out ananalysis of the loss assessment within fewdays which will give them an overall viewon how the State Government can be pro-vided financial support,” the spokesman said.“They informed that the report shall be sub-mitted to the Government of India, followedby the discussions with the Union Ministryof Finance to finalize the proposal of theState Government.

The team assured the State Governmentthat they are ready to support the people whohave lost their houses, livelihood etc. andtheir main focus is on rehabilitation of theaffected families, revival of the business ac-

WB to assist IHKrehab of flood victims

tivities and also rebuilding of the public in-frastructure.”

The team held sectoral discussions withdifferent administrative secretaries. “Theteam decided to visit the affected areas ofthe State.

One team proceeded to Srinagar whichwill remain stationed there for two to threedays and visit the flood affected areas; theother team which is at Jammu shall visit thedistricts of Reasi, Udhampur, Poonch,Rajouri and Jammu.”

A meeting was held between the repre-sentatives of the State Government and theWorld Bank team.The State Government team was headed byPrincipal Secretary Planning and Develop-ment, B R Sharma and the World Bank teamwas led by SaurabhDani.

Principal Secretary Finance, B B Vyasinformed the team that the State Governmentis looking forward to the support and assis-tance from the World Bank to rebuild dam-aged public and private infrastructure and forrehabilitation of flood affected families, thespokesman said.—GK

A.H.RAO

MIRPUR: The two-day Intra Kash-mir Women Summit, which con-cluded here Monday night, has ex-pressed grave concern over the recentescalated tension between Pakistanand India on the Line of Control inJammu & Kashmir State followingeye ball to eye ball situation in thewake of the frequent incidents ofexchange of firing between the armedforces of the two countries deputedon the LoC.

The conference called for imme-diate opening of all other naturalalong the Line of Control to facilitateJammu & Kashmir people to freelyvisit their families at either side of theLoC. The NGO – Jammu & KashmirWomen for Peace (JKWP) Organiza-tion hosted the conference with the

Intra-Kashmir women mootcalls for LoC softening

sponsorship of the international NGOFriedrich Naumann Foundation(FNF) engaged in promoting the im-portance of establishment of peace inthe conflict zones in various parts ofthe world including the internation-ally-acknowledged disputed Hima-layan State of Jammu & Kashmir.The intra-kashmir conference-cum -capacity building workshop wasopened with the inaugural address byChief Justice (r) Abdul Majid Malikon the topic “Kashmir Dispute: Past,Present & Future”.

The presentation which was in-spiring, balanced and positive led tothe adoption of a resolution for bring-ing the voice of women to the peaceprocess for a just and durable solu-tion to the Kashmir dispute.

The main focus of the two-daysummit was “addressing women is-

sues in divided societies”. The formerChief Justice of AJK High Court Jus-tice Abdul Majid Malik, the chair Dr.Mrs. Attiya Innayat Ullah, ex FederalMinister and the Pattron in Chief ofthe AJK WFPO and Dr. AlmutBesold, Resident Representative inPakistan of the International NGO FurDie Freiheit, Chief Executive Officerand Sr. Vice President AJK WFPO Dr.N. Seema Jogezai, Dr. Zahida Qasim,Secretary Inforamtion AJK WFPOand Coordinator and others.

It was attended by a fully repre-sented cross section of the womenfolk of Mirpur division besides theKashmiri refugee women hailing fromthe occupied Jammu Kashmir state,including academia, professionals,media, intellectuals & lawyers.

According to declaration, unani-mously passed by the summit and

later released to the media here Tues-day, the conference expressed severeconcern over repeated incidents ofviolations of the LoC and devasta-tion by the landmines. The partici-pants also expressed concern over theun-mitigating trials & tribulations ofinnocent victims the LoC.

In this regard the recent letterfrom the Chairman APHC MirwaizUmer Farooq to both the Prime Min-isters of India and Pakistan on thesubject was appreciated. The meetalso praised the letter written byPrime Minister of Pakistan to his In-dian counterpart on the issue. Theconference observed through the dec-laration as saying “consequent to the2003 LoC India-Pakistan ceasefire,no doubt the conflict tapered but didnot end. Regrettably the Ceasefirewas broken in January 2013.

SYED ALI RAZA NAQVI

MUZAFFARABAD—Prime Minister AJKChaudhry Ab-dul Majeed has assured that stepswould be taken for allocation of separate bud-get for a uniform edu-cational system andsports facilities in the next fi-nancial year. Hewas addressing the sports events’ prize distri-bution ceremony at AJK University inMuzaffarabad on Tuesday. He noted that stu-dents are an important segment of a society andcountry adding that it were students who hadstrengthened the Pakistan movement whichresulted into creation of the country under dy-namic leadership of Quaida-e-AzamMuhammad Ali Jin-nah.

He disclosed that Quranic teachings wouldbe mandatory from nursery to graduation in syl-labus of education. He was of the view that causeof rest-lessness and ‘chaos’ in the society is dueto keeping a distance from Quranic teachings.Realizing the importance of sports he said nohigh school would be upgraded until a middleschool had a proper sports facilities and ground.He assured that better sports facilities would beprovided to the students of educational institu-tions in the budget of next finan-cial year.

He urged the concerned officials of KingAbdullah University to accelerate the pace ofwork and asked the Vice Chancellor of AJKUniversity to take nec-essary steps in this con-nection. The Prime Minister said all the politi-cal forces should be united for a strong Paki-stan. He said Pakistan armed forces are engagedin uprooting the extremism and terrorism from

Education systembeing retailored in AJK

the country. Meanwhile addressing the re-viewed meeting of Kashmir Solidarity Day thePrime Minister expressed his resolve that theday would be observed with national spirit allacross AJK and by Kashmiris over the globe.

He expressed his satisfaction over the ar-rangements. He said Pakistan’s moral, diplo-matic and political support to Kashmiris is agreat source of revitalizing the liberationstruggle. He said armed forces of the countryalso encouraged the Kashmiris to unyoke them-selves from forcible occupation of India.Computer Literacy —Azad Jammu Kashmirgovernment has inked a phased integrated planto launch com-puter literacy program from theprimary education level in the educational in-stitutions, official sources said. “The govern-ment of AJK principally decided to introducecomputer literacy from class 1st in all state runprimary schools located in all remote and back-ward areas side by side the urban parts of theliberated state”, the sources told.

“The remote and far flung areas will be pre-ferred under the mass computer literacy exten-sion program”, they added. “Besides, the offi-cial record in all the public sector institutionincluding nation building departments, schoolsand colleges, civic institutions and devel-opmentauthorities across AJK is being computer-ized,under phased program”, the sources said.

The government is paying special atten-tion to create the technical environment sideby side extending quality general educationin the public sector institu-tions across theAJK territory, sources added.

Withdrawarmy from

public places:Film Actor

SRINAGAR—Kashmir-born ac-tor Rahul Bhat, who will be seenin the upcoming Bollywood ro-mantic flick ‘Fitoor’, has saidArmy should be withdrawnfrom public places in the Val-ley. Addressing media personsat Nigeen Club here, he said:“Kashmir is peaceful and beau-tiful. I don’t see any signs orsymbols that would make a per-son feel he is in a conflict zone.But presence of Army at vari-ous places gives you that sense,”he said, adding, “Army shouldbe withdrawn from publicplaces in the valley.”

A native of Vichar-NagSoura here, Bhat has spent 12years of his childhood inKashmir before moving toMumbai. Kashmiri Pandits arewell settled in other states andare living a good life. I don’tthink they need or would liketo return to the valley.

Some people workhard in this busi-ness and become

really popular,really big stars butthey never receive

an award fromwithin the busi-ness. Somehow,when your col-

leagues andfriends believe inyou to the point of

handing you anaward it means so

much more.

—Sharon Stone

ISLAMABAD: Dr Miftah Ismail, Special Assistant to Prime Minister and Chairman, Board of Investment in ameeting with Alexey Yurievich Dedov, ambassador of the Russain Federation.

ISLAMABAD: Aladijan Movlamov, ambassador of Turkmenistan to Pakistan called onthe Federal Minister for Commerce, Engr Khurram Dastgir Khan.

ISLAMABAD—Rice exports increased by3.46 percent during the first half of the cur-rent fiscal year compared to the corre-sponding period of last year. Accordingto data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics(PBS), the rice exports were recorded at$976.784 from July-December (2014-15)compared to the exports of $944.077 inJuly-December (2013-14), showing an in-crease of 3.46 percent.

Among the rice commodities, the ex-ports of basmati rice increased by 2.63 per-cent by going up from $294.517 million lastyear to $302.265 during the first six monthsof the current fiscal year. The exports of allother rice commodities increased by 3.84percent during the period under review asit went up from $649.560 million last year to$674.519 million in the current year, the PBSdata revealed.

Meanwhile, on year-on-year basis, theover all exports of rice witnessed negativegrowth of 9.17 percent in December 2014compared to the exports of December 2013.The rice exports in December 2014 were re-corded at $238.179 million compared to theexports of $262.219 million in December 2013.

ISE-10 index witnessesbullish trendISLAMABAD—TheIslamabad StockExchange Tuesdaywitnessed bullish trendas the ISE-10 index wasup by 77.36 points andclosed at 4103.19 points.A total of 299,100 shareswere traded, up by318,100 shares thanprevious day’s 19,000shares. Out of 154companies, share pricesof 62 companies re-corded increase whileshare prices of 92companies registereddecrease. The shareprice of Sapphire Fibresincreased by Rs.35.28and that of SanofiAventis decreased byRs.22.29. Fauji Cement,Lafrage PakistanCementa and PakistanOilfields remained thetop trading companieswith 200,000, 97,000 and63,00 shares respec-tively.—APP

Port Qasimshipping activityKARACHI—Two shipsC.V Safmarine Ngami andC.V MSC Mandrakicarring containers wereberthed at QasimInternational ContainerTerminal at Berth No 5and 9 respectively atPort Qasim (PQ) onMonday, February 2,2015. Meanwhile threemore ships with contain-ers and 49,102 tonnes ofIron ore also arrived atouter anchorage of PortQasim during last 24hours. Berth occupancywas managed at the Portat 36% on Monday,where five ships namelyC.V Safmarine Ngami,C.V MSC Mandraki, M.TSuper Forte, M.TAtlantic Miracle, M.TArietis were occupiedPQA berths to load/offload containers, Palmoil Chemicals ad Furnaceoil respectively duringlast 24 hours.—APP

LSE down by 84.93pointsLAHORE—Lahore StockExchange here Tuesdaywitnessed bearish trendby loosing 84.93 points,as the LSE Index-25opened with 6315.18points and closed at6230.25 points. Themarket’s overall situa-tion, however, corre-sponded to an upwardtrend as it remained at2.390 million shares toclose against previousturnover of 1.068 millionshares, showing anupward move of 1.321million shares. While,out of the total 93 activescrips 16 moved up, 35shed values and 42remained equal. TheMajor Gainers of the daywere Pakistan Oil FieldsLimited, Pakistan StateOil Company Limited andMuslim Commercial BankLimited by recordingincrease in their pershare value by Rs 16.92,Rs 6.18 and Rs 5.50,respectively. EngroCorporation Limited,Ferozsons LaboratoriesLimited and Honda AtlasCars (Pak) Limited losttheir per share value byRs 5.95, Rs 4.52 and Rs3.10, respectively.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—President of the Karachi Chamberof Commerce and Industry (KCCI), IftikharAhmed Vohra, while commenting on notices is-sued by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to240,000 tax evaders, urged the FBR to ensurestrict follow-up of these notices as these taxdodgers were responsible for giving severelosses to the national exchequer. In a statementissued, President KCCI demanded that infor-mation about these tax evaders must be publi-cized or at least be shared with leading cham-bers of the country including Karachi Chamber,Lahore Chamber, Islamabad Chamber, QuettaChamber, KPK Chamber and Rawalpindi Cham-ber so that the progress of such cases could beimpartially monitored. “This step would alsohelp in regaining the confidence of loyal tax-payers”, he added.

President KCCI recalled that although FBRclaimed to have identified more than 700,000 taxevaders five years ago and assured to bring

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Acting Governor State Bank ofPakistan Saeed Ahmad has said that theSBP sees total transformation of cash pro-cessing business from manual to automa-tion in next five years and thus would liketo see commercial banks aligning their planswith State Bank in this direction. “Withoutthe joint action the desired results to im-prove the quality of currency notes in cir-culation will not be achieved,” he said, whileaddressing participants of Conference onCurrency Management: Strategies for theFuture, organized by State Bank of Paki-stan in Lahore Tuesday. The conferencewas also attended by the leading interna-tional experts from Switzerland, Malaysia,and Sri Lanka besides renowned local ex-perts.

The conference covered important top-ics like Banknote Printing in Pakistan, Cur-rency Management Challenges, GlobalTrends and Developments in Security Inkand Ink-Based Security Features, Evolutionof Banknote Security Features in Pakistan,Global Trends and Developments in Secu-rity, Paper/ Paper-based Security Featuresof Banknotes and Pakistan’s Experience,Challenges Related to Automation of CashOperations and Automation of BanknoteProcessing.

Mr. Saeed Ahmad said that banknotesare face of a central bank and ensuring cir-culation of clean notes, removal of soiledand counterfeit notes, and redistribution offit notes in the system is amongst key re-sponsibilities of the SBP. He further addedthat all necessary steps are being taken tothis effect. Ahmed hoped that the delibera-tions and recommendations coming out

Cash handling in banksto be made mechanical

soon: Saeedfrom this conference would enable StateBank to align its currency management poli-cies and strategies with international bestpractices.

“Being cognizant of this responsibility,SBP has been investing significant humanand financial resources to take this impor-tant function to higher level,” he said. Headmitted that while SBP and Pakistan’sbanking industry is largely at par with in-ternational best practices and standardsboth in regulation and supervision and ser-vice delivery, however, we are quite behindin modernizing and automating its currencymanagement processes.

Saeed Ahmad elaborated that the SBPhas been making extensive efforts to imple-ment its clean notes policy for the last 10years but with limited success largely dueto lack of automation in cash processing.“We have thus planned fast track automa-tion of currency management function bothat the central bank and commercial bankslevel,” he added. He also underscored therole of commercial banks in automation oftheir cash processing systems.

The Acting Governor elaborated thatautomation of cash processing at SBP isnecessary but it could not be effective inachieving its objective of ensuring ad-equate and uninterrupted supply of highquality and clean banknotes across thecountry unless commercial banks also au-tomate their cash processing systems. Itmay be mentioned here that the State Bankis developing a documentary for educatingthe masses about the security features ofbanknotes. Further, a smart phone applica-tion on Pakistani banknotes designs andsecurity features is also being developedfor enhancing public awareness.

FBR urged to monitor tax evadersthem into the tax net but unfortunately, no ac-tion was ever taken against those tax evaderswho have been living luxurious lives but notcontributing a single rupee to the national ex-chequer. He was of the view that despite lapseof more than five years, FBR never acted against700,000 tax evaders who, according to FBR,owned more than one house, have luxuriouscars, they and their kids frequently travelabroad, study in foreign universities, use creditcards and operate bank accounts but they donot even have NTN numbers.

Commenting on recovery measures againstchronic defaulters taken by DG Broadening ofTax Base FBR, President KCCI said that al-though FBR claims to have issued notices to240,000 tax dodgers but at the same time, it onlyshares details of action taken in 513 cases. Outof these 513 cases, bank accounts of 278 caseshave been attached, arrest warrants have beenissued in 40 cases, vehicles in 117 cases havebeen attached and impounded and propertieshave been attached for auction/ sale in 78 cases.

“Keeping in view these minute figures re-vealed by the FBR, I can confidently say thatFBR was very quick in identifying and sendingnotices to tax evaders but was too slow in tak-ing action against tax evaders”, he added.Iftikhar Vohra said, “In such circumstances, theloyal taxpayers are constantly being overbur-dened and have to suffer badly due to complextax procedures whereas the tax evaders, whoare probably highly influential, continue to en-joy the benefits of staying outside the tax netwhich is highly unfair.” He further opined thatdue to complex tax procedures and harassmentbeing suffered by taxpayers, people simply don’twant to come into the tax net and in such asituation, FBR, after failing to act against taxevaders, finds no other option but to furthersqueeze the existing taxpayers in order to attainthe revenue generation targets. “What refrainsFBR from acting against such wealthy tax evaders,remains an unanswered question”, he criticized andappealed the government to publish names andphotographs of tax dodgers in the press.

Rice exports boost 3.5pcin six months

On month-on-month basis, the rice exportsin December witnessed increase of 7.68percent when compare to the exports of$221.197 million in November 2014.

Among the rice commodities, the ex-ports of basmati rice decreased by 27.10and 3.29 percent in December 2014 com-pared to December 2013 and November 2014respectively. Similarly, the exports of otherrice commodities decreased by 3.69 percentwhen compared to the exports of Decem-ber 2014 and increased by 10.58 percentwhen compared to November 2014, the PBSdata revealed.

It is pertinent to mention here that theoverall exports from the country during thefirst six months of the current fiscal yearwere recorded at $12.073 billion comparedto the exports of $12.617 billion during thecorresponding period of last year, show-ing negative growth of 4.31 percent. On theother hand, the imports into the countryincreased by 11.68 percent during the firsthalf of the current fiscal year by going upfrom $21.671 billion in July-December (2013-14) to $24.203 billion in July-December(2014-15).—APP

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Japan International Coopera-tion Agency (JICA) is going to initiate afour year technical support program incollaboration with the Small and MediumEnterprises Development Authority(SMEDA) for quality and productivityenhancement of the Auto Parts Manu-facturing Industry of Pakistan in Aprilthis year. It was disclosed by Mr.Muhammad Alamgir Chaudhry, ChiefExecutive Officer, SMEDA today whileaddressing a meeting at SMEDA headoffice today.

He informed that a meeting was heldwith JICA Chief Representative Mr.Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki to set a roadmap forimplementation of the project and thediscussion’s record of this meeting was alsosigned by Syed Mujtaba Hussain, JointSecretary (Japan), Economic Affairs Divi-sion (EAD), Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad, SeniorJoint Secretary, Ministry of Industries &Production (MoI&P) and Mr. MitsuyoshiKawasaki.

During this 4 years program, technicalsupport will be extended to 50 Auto Partsmanufacturing units of Pakistan throughfive Technical Experts of JICA, who are ex-pected to arrive at Pakistan in April 2015.Out of 50 SMEs, around 10 SMEs would bedeveloped as model factories in the field ofproductivity and quality. Furthermore, de-

JICA to initiate technicalsupport programme

velopment support system through capac-ity building programs of partner organiza-tions and local experts is prime consider-ation of the project. The visiting Japaneseexperts will also hold a series of workshopsboth in Punjab and Sindh on productivityand quality enhancement in auto sector ofPakistan.

It is to note that SMEDA has beencollaborating with Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA) since 2004 toconduit best productivity and quality im-provement knowledge and practices tothe indigenous manufacturers belongingto various sectors. In this connectionSMEDA requested to Government of Ja-pan (GOJ) for initiating a long term tech-nical support of Japanese way of improv-ing productivity and quality. SMEDAaims to broaden the scope of productiv-ity improvement activities across thevalue chain of auto sector and subse-quently improving the share of localiza-tion of auto parts.

The said program is based upon a sur-vey conducted by JICA in collaborationwith SMEDA in September last. Apart fromdetailed discussions held with SMEDA,JICA Mission had also visited 11 auto partsmanufacturing units and conducted seriesof meetings with Pakistan Association ofAutomotive Parts and Accessories Manu-facturers (PAAPAM) and a number ofOEMs both at Lahore and Karachi.

PSM demandsRs 13b forcapacityelevation

STAFF REPORTER

KA R A C H I —Spokesman,Pakistan Steel, ShazimAkhtar stated that the pro-duction of Pakistan Steelhas been elevated from 1.4per cent in April 2014 to 30per cent of 1.1 million tonsin December-2014 with thehelp of Financial Restructur-ing Package of Rs 18.5 bil-lion. With the current pack-age the production capac-ity will reach break-evenpoint that is 77 per cent andin order to sustain andboost the production to 100per cent, an additionalamount of Rs 13 billion hasbeen requested from thegovernment, said a state-ment on Tuesday.

Government of Pakistanand Steel Mill have Rs 8.5 bil-lion in shape of amount foropening of LCs (5bn), fin-ished products 1.5 billion andRaw Material 2 billion ap-proximately. It is imperative tomention here that during thelast six years the plant has notundergone any capital repair,which is the need of the day.Instead of all issues and con-dition of the plant manage-ment is confident and boundto fulfill its commitment andachieve 77 per cent produc-tion capacity.

It is worth mentioningthat this amount will notonly help achieving 100 percent production, but willalso add to asset buildingof this national enterprise.Moreover, Rs 13 billion willbe repaid in couple of years.It is pertinent to mentionthat with the help of recentFinancial RestructuringPackage of Rs 18.5 billionfrom GoP, the loss of Paki-stan Steel Mill has been re-duced by Rs 9 billion andnext year it will further bereduced by Rs 20 billion.

In view thereof Rs 18.5 bil-lion and additional Rs 4.5 bil-lion will be paid back in thenext two years. The spokes-man further added that Rs 4.5billion have been requested forpayment of 3 months’ salaryand utility bills as due to latereceipt of iron ore (22nd Sep-tember 2014) the target wasalso pushed by 3 months thatis April 2015 and this amountwill also be used to pay salary.

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—Federal Min-ister for Commerce, Engr.Khurram Dastgir Khan,Tuesday, said that Pakistanhad proposed toTurkmenistan to sign Tran-sit Trade Agreement to es-tablish strong trade linkageswith the Central Asian coun-tries which may be extendedfurther beyond to Russia.“The Ministry of Commercewill forward the draft of the

proposed Transit TradeAgreement to the Turkmenofficials within the next fewdays for further delibera-tions” he apprised the Am-bassador of Turkmenistan inPakistan AladjanMovlamov here.

Transit Trade Agree-ment with Turkmenistan willestablish another trade cor-ridor into the Central Asianstates where goods will betraded with greater ease andin larger quantity. In the be-ginning of January, firstmeeting of Pakistan Af-ghanistan Tajikistan Trilat-eral Transit Trade Agree-ment (PATTTTA) was heldwhich proved very fruitful.The three sides will meetagain in February inDushanbe with first draft ofthe trilateral transit tradeagreement and the finaldraft of agreement will bebrought on table in Marchin Kabul where PATTTTA isexpected to be signed. Thetwo transit trade agreementswill be the harbinger of newera of trade cooperation be-tween the two regions ofSouth Asia and Central Asia.

The Minister also pro-posed to establish JointBusiness Forum, which willinclude the businessmen oftwo countries to strengthencoordination between pri-vate sectors. This will alsoprovide an assistive plat-form to the Governments oftwo countries to communi-

cate with a single forum forfeedback and facilitation.Trade Development Author-ity of Pakistan will sign anMoU with the trade promo-tion organization ofTurkmenistan to removeprocedural hurdles in thebilateral trade. The pro-posed draft of the MoU willbe exchanged very soon.

The Minister also dis-cussed the ways and meansto simplify and expedite theprocess of issuance of visasfor businessmen on recipro-cal basis. This will encour-age more businessmen totravel to each other’s coun-try and explore new tradeand investment opportuni-ties. The Ambassador wasrequested to provide theMoC with the calendar ofevents and exhibitions to beheld in Turkmenistan thisyear so that the participationof Pakistani businessmenand investors may be en-sured by timely dissemina-tion of information.

The Minister also in-vited the Ambassador andthe Turk companies to par-ticipate in the Pakistan Expo,which is scheduled to beheld in the last week of Feb-ruary. This will provide thevisiting companies and theirrepresentatives an opportu-nity to directly come in con-tact with the local business-men and examine a large va-riety of the products underone roof.

Pakistan proposes transit tradeagreement to Turkmenistan

PPAF leavespositive impactin Sindh Coastal

AreasOBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—A recent as-sessment, by SemioticConsultants, of the SindhCoastal Areas Develop-ment (SCAD) Programconducted by the Paki-stan Poverty AlleviationFund (PPAF) showed apositive impact in the de-velopment of sustainableand viable community in-stitutions of the poor andincreased incomes, im-proved productive capac-ity and greater access tosustainable livelihoods.One key finding was thatthe average income in theUnion Councils where theSCAD programme wasimplemented was approxi-mately 19% higher than inthe control Union Coun-cils at the time of the re-search.

The SCAD programwas initiated in 2006 un-der the Second PakistanPoverty Alleviation Fund(PPAF-II) Project of theWorld Bank and was de-signed to address multi-farious environment andwater management prob-lems in the Sindh coastalareas, in particular theLBOD Backwash Region(LBR) in the districts ofBadin, Thatta andTharparkar and in coastalareas of Karachi. This pro-gram has been imple-mented by ten PPAF Part-ner Organizations (POs),working in the areas of in-stitutional development,water and infrastructure,development, health andeducation interventionsand livelihoods and enter-prise development.

As a result of the pro-gram, community organi-zations had been estab-lished along with their as-sociated village organiza-tions and local supportorganizations. Thesecomprised of communitymembers and engagedmarginalized individuals,including those from poorhouseholds and women.Thus, this paved the wayfor inclusive planning asindividuals cited a plat-form to raise their voicesand prioritize needs. PPAFhas also identified that thesustainability of thesecommunity organizationsand the capacity buildingof their members must beaddressed in a subse-quent phase of SCAD.

The fundamental objec-tive of SCAD related to thelivelihood of the individualsresiding in the interventionareas. A leading factorwhich helped improve live-lihoods was the implemen-tation of strategic infrastruc-ture according to the needsof the community. Commu-nal needs were prioritizedby the individuals them-selves in the respectivecommunities through thecommunity organizations;this further allowed for own-ership of the infrastructureupon completion. The de-velopment of such infra-structure had a direct andindirect effect on individu-als’ livelihoods – from ac-cess to major roads, timesaved on acquiring waterand provision of lightingduring night hours. This hashad a direct implication onthe productive capacity ofindividuals, where more timecan be allocated to produc-tive activities.

Currency Selling Buying

USA 101.10 100.90

UK 151.91 151.61

Euro 114.57 114.34

Canada 80.09 79.93

Switzerland 108.84 108.62

Australia 77.45 77.30

Sweden 12.17 12.14

Japan 0.8626 0.8609

Norway 13.21 13.19

Singapore 74.75 74.60

Denmark 15.39 15.36

Saudi Arabia 26.92 26.87

Hong Kong 13.04 13.01

Kuwait 342.67 341.99

Malaysia 27.85 27.79

Newzealand 72.86 72.72

Qatar 27.76 27.71

UAE 27.52 27.47

Kr Won 0.0920 0.0918

Thailand 3.108 3.102

ISLAMABAD: High Commissioner of Bangladesh Suhrab Hossain called on Ministerof State for IT & Telecom, Ms. Anusha Rahman.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research SikandarHayat Khan Bosan in a group photo with the participants of symposium on public privatepartnership to manage soil fertility.

PESHAWAR: President Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry,Fawad Ishaq exchanging views in a guest hour programme organized by Press Club.President of PPC Syed Bukhar Shah Bacha also seen in picture.

ISLAMABAD: Senior Vice President ICCI Shakeel Munir and Vice President ICCI MAshfaq Hussain Chatha pose for group photo with Chinese delegation of Kashigar GuyInternational Trade Company.

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—The Food and Agriculture Organization ofthe United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the Ministryof National Food Security and Research, the PakistanAgriculture Research Council (PARC) and the U.S. De-partment for Agriculture (USDA) convened a one-daysymposium on the Public-Private Partnership to ManageSoil Fertility in Pakistan. The objective of the symposiumwas to highlight the significance of balanced fertilizationand to create awareness among fertilizer industry, farmers,academia and agriculture extension workers on the impor-tance of balanced fertilization in food security and sus-tainable agriculture.

The symposium brought together approximately 45participants from the Agricultural Services Departmentsof Fertilizer Industry, Punjab and Sindh Government Agri-culture Extension Departments, Research and AgriculturalInformation Departments, Farmers Associates, Interna-tional Potash Institute- Switzerland, Academia, PakistanAgriculture Research Council (PARC), U.S. Department ofAgriculture (USDA) and FAO to share experiences, casestudies, initiatives and ideas on the public-private part-nership to manage soil fertility.

The Chief Guest on the occasion Mr. Sikandar Hayat

Warid launches shared plans,MiFi device

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The WaridTelecom, Pakistan’s mosttrusted cellular operator,announced the launch ofthe industry’s first sharedplans with its LTE MiFi to-day.

The MiFi device func-tions as a portable wirelessrouter that can connect upto 10 smartphones, tabletsor laptops, whereby userswill have access to LTEspeed internet on the go inall major cities around Paki-

stan. Shared Plans, availablefor both prepaid and post-paid customers, allow theusers to choose up to twoadditional Warid numbers toshare an internet plan and acommon bill whenever andwherever they are.

These are applicable toboth LTE device as well asMiFi device users. The sys-tem is secure as no other de-vice can access the networkwithout authentication bythe MiFi owner. Not justthat, the battery life goes upto six hours adding to the

customer’s convenience.Asim Ali, Director Pric-

ing, Segments & VAS atWarid Telecom, while com-menting on this industry-first said, “We are commit-ted to delivering the state-of-the-art technology thatempowers our customersand makes their lives easier.Warid MiFi is designed toconnect users to the mobileInternet with their own por-table hotspot, so they canstay connected to thepeople and information im-portant to them.”

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Dubai Islamic Bank Pakistan(DIBPL) and Pak Suzuki Motor Company(PSMC), the largest Automobile Manufac-turer of Pakistan, have successfully enteredinto strategic business alliance. DIBPL andPSMC have formally joined hands to ex-tend PSMC cars & financing product to anever-growing base of applicants interestedin easy and Shari’a compliant financing.

DIBPL’s management felt that there is amassive potential in the PSMC producedvariants, which cater to the biggest shareof automobile user. Suzuki variants are pre-ferred by masses and the product rangescover all social and economic segments in-cluding majority of middle-income groups.To further the alliance a special businesspartnership has been created to specifically

KARACHI: Tariq M. Akbar, Head-Global Operations-HBL, Khalid M. Khan, DGM-GAD-HBL, Tanveer Hussain, GM-GAD/E&PM-HBL, Omair Ahmed, Director-NOWPDP, Mr. Amin Hashwani, President-NOWPDP & M. Akram, DGM-E&PM dur-ing an agreement signing ceremony held at HBL head office.

HBL NOWPDPsign agreement for

special peopleKARACHI—HBL, Pakistan’slargest bank, recently signedan agreement with Networkof Organizations Workingwith People with Disabilities,Pakistan. NOWPDP aims to-wards promoting the cre-ation of an inclusive societywhich values and upholdsthe rights of people with spe-cial needs.

This agreement will en-able HBL to integrate peoplewith special needs into themainstream through capacitybuilding of institutions, cre-ating awareness and provid-ing economic empowerment.Mr. Tariq M. Akbar, Head ofGlobal Operations, HBL said,“The bank has taken a verynoble initiative that is com-pletely non-monetarilydriven. This is not a businessopportunity but a pure ser-vice that strengthens our vi-sion of enabling people.”

Mr. Amin Hashwani,President NOWPDP, stated,“We are delighted to see thatHBL has become the torchbearer and the trendsetter indisability inclusiveness,within the banking sector.”HBL is the first bank in Paki-stan to take this projectthrough its 30 selectedbranches Pan Pakistan.

LSE approvesSystems Ltd’sformal listing,

quotation of sharesSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore StockExchange (LSE) Ltd has ap-proved the application forformal listing and quotationof shares of Systems Ltd.,on completion of all formali-ties required under the List-ing Regulations of the Ex-change. According to theLSE notification, the tradingin the shares of the Com-pany started on the ReadyBoard of the Exchange fromTuesday, February 03, 2015and all transactions takingplace in respect of theabove Company shall besettled on T+2 settlementbasis from February, 03,2015.

The first settlement datewill be February 06, 2015.The Market lot of the Com-pany is 500 shares of Rs. 10/- each. After the listing ofthis company at the ReadyBoard Quotation, the num-ber of companies listed atLSE would reach to 432.

FAO advocates adopting 4Rsfor balanced fertilization

Khan Bosan, Minister for National Food Security and Re-search said that “the excessive use of fertilizers have cre-ated unfavorable balance of nutrients including nitrogen,phosphorous and potassium in the soils. This imbalancein the nutrients has emerged as a major contributor in thedecline and degradation of crop production and soil fertil-ity in the country”.

Talking on the occasion, FAO Representative to Paki-stan Mr. Patrick T. Evans shared that “FAO is working ona baseline atlas of current soil fertility practices, disaggre-gated by farm size and cropping systems in Pakistan. Theatlas will help to understand required soil fertility manage-ment changes for sustainable intensification. Conse-quently, appropriate balanced inputs and “4Rs” - Rightfertilizer at the Right rate at the Right time in the Rightplace, would be promoted in partnership with the privatesector, including national fertilizer companies, wholesal-ers/retailers and farmer associations”.

A significant yield gap exists between potential andthe actual yields in Pakistan. This presents an opportu-nity for increased production to ensure food security inthe country. The symposium will contribute to find outways for improving and managing soil fertility by involv-ing farmers for better nutrient management while intensi-fying agricultural production.

DIBPL, PSMC establishbusiness alliance

promote PSMC variants for Islamic Financ-ing via special marketing campaign.

DIBPL Management is committed in work-ing on all fronts to take the Islamic ConsumerFinance to new heights by virtue of a strongstrategic alliance on a country wide level.DIBPL is a subsidiary of Dubai Islamic BankUAE, the world’s first Islamic Bank.Alhamdulillah, DIBPLisa Minimum CapitalRequirement (MCR) compliant Bankthat en-joys a short-term credit rating of ‘A-1’ andlong-term credit rating of ‘A+’, with a “stable”outlook from JCR-VIS. DIB UAE Group is oneof the largest Islamic Bank in the world TotalAsset base of approximately PKR 3.4 Trillion(US Dollars 34 Billion) at December 31, 2014.DIBPL intends to keep this momentum goingfor 2015 as well, aiming to take the overall branchfootprint of 250 locations (200 Branches and50 Branchless Booths) nationwide.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—JCR-VIS Credit Rating Co. Ltd. (JCR-VIS) hasupgraded the Management Quality (MQ) Rating of UBLFund Managers Limited from ‘AM2’ to ‘AM2+’ with Out-look on the assigned rating as ‘Stable’. This rating is cur-rently the Highest Management Quality Rating assignedto any Asset Management Company in Pakistan. The rat-ing upgrade takes into account various measures takenby the company to strengthen the institutional infrastruc-ture and institute a culture of sound governance and riskmanagement that emanates from the Board of Directorsand has cascaded down the organizational hierarchy.

The rating upgrade also takes into account the rela-tive performance of Islamic stock fund has remained con-sistently strong while there is also an uptick in the per-formance of conventional stock fund. Performance ofasset allocation funds and retirement savings fundsstacks favorably against peers. In the income and moneymarket categories, relative return performance featuresvariation, though in most cases, the return differential isnot sizeable.

Mir Muhammad Ali, CEO of UBL Fund Managersexpressed his views stating that, “we are proud to haveacquired the high quality rating of AM2+ which came

JCR-VIS upgrades rating of UBL Fundsright after the prestigious MAP Top Corporate ExcellenceAward”. He added, “It has been a great year for UBLFunds and we are delighted that our clients have en-joyed strong fund performance in equity, retirement andasset allocation funds.” The Management Quality Rat-ing provides an opinion on the overall quality of the man-agement company as a fund manager, including organi-zational structure, quality of human resources, degree ofoversight and accountability, particularly as regards riskmanagement capabilities.

The criterion for management quality rating entailsgreater reliance on qualitative factors. Ability to managefunds is assessed with special emphasis on the extent towhich management has been able to put in place soundgovernance practices and systems to facilitate themanager’s ability to maximize the risk-return propositionfor unit-holders while keeping in view the stated invest-ment objectives. JCR-VIS also considers the financialstrength of a management company in terms of its con-tinuing ability to manage these funds and sustainabilityof its operations. JCR-VIS Credit Rating Co. Ltd. (JCR-VIS) operates as a ‘Full Service’ rating agency providingindependent rating services in Pakistan and is approvedby the Securities & Exchange Commission of Pakistanand State Bank of Pakistan.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—NEPRA is ignoring its respon-sibilities in line with the government poli-cies to provide relief to the masses and de-laying downward revision of power tariffscommitted by the government. MianAdress, President of the Federation of Pa-kistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry(FPCCI) said this while expressing his con-cern over ignoring the government policyby NEPRA for delaying in passing on thecomplete relief to the consumers of elec-tricity distribution companies and conse-quently to the masses, demanded of thegovernment to have a follow up of the poli-cies implemented by the government func-tionaries in letter and spirit.

The FPCCI have send a letter to Chair-man, NEPRA mentioning that the businesscommunity is disappointed on postpone-ment of scheduled hearing of NEPRA that

NEPRA not working in linewith govt policy: Mian Adrees

had to decide on a cut of Rs3.20 per unit inpower tariff due to reduction in oil pricesand cheaper cost of power generation in thecountry in pursuance of the government’sdirectives to Central Power Purchase Agency(CPPA). Mian Adrees further said that dueto reduction in the oil prices in the interna-tional market the government has enoughfiscal space for the relief of Rs. 20 billion tothe masses on account of power tariff. Thiswill ultimately reduce the cost of industrialproduction and make our goods compatiblefor boosting our exports. It will also lead toincrease in investment and employment.

He said that the Prime Minister MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif and Federal Fi-nance Minister, Senator Ishaq Dar time andagain have announced to pass on the ben-efit of reduction in oil prices to the massesin general and trade and industry in par-ticularly through reduction in prices of es-sential items of daily consumption includ-ing power tariff.

FAISALABAD: Players in action in a match during 2nd Women Lyallpur National Chuk Ball Championship playedat University of Agriculture.

ATTOCK: Chairman Al-Faisal Cricket Club giving away cash prize of five thousandrupees to Noman Akhtar for scoring century against Gull Cricket Club.

AUCKLAND: Chiefs Brodie Retallick tries his hand at archery during the New Zealand Super Rugby season launch.

National herourges for

promotion ofhockey

JUND—National hero andformer Pakistan HockeyFederation (PHF) memberRana Naseeb Khan de-manded the government togive due attention and allo-cate sufficient funds for thepromotion of the nationalgame.

Talking to APP on Tues-day he said that hockey be-ing national game should bepromoted throughout thecountry. He also urged themedia to play its positiverole for the promotion of thegame up to grass-roots level.

Rana Naseeb saidhockey is the only gamewhich brings laurels to thecountry by wining more than60 medals. He said it is aworld record as no othercountry has managed to doso in a single game.

He said PHF is demand-ing only Rs 500 million forthe promotion of the game.He said, if internationalevents are restored in thecountry then PHF can gen-erate its own funds.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Ex-President of IslamabadFootball Association, Syed SharafatHussain Bukhari on Tuesday appealed toPrime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharifto make special audit of all accounts ofPakistan Football Federation for the last11 years aimed at saving this sport fromtotal failure.

Talking to media here, he said that PFFhas spent around Rs. 2 billion during the11-year leadership of Makhdum Syed FaisalSaleh Hayat.

He said, however, the football team’sperformance witnessed declined and wasplaced on 8th position in South Asia, 42ndin Asia and 190th internationally.

He said that PFF have been spending

Audit of PFF’s accounts urgedto save football in Pakistan

millions of rupees on salaries of employ-ees, local and foreign trips and other privi-leges.

The FIFA and AFC grants which are tobe spent on coaches, women and youthprogrammes have been misused.

He said that incompetent people havebeen inducted in PFF Secretariat for pro-motion of football game.

Syed Sharafat Hussain Bukhari allegedthat employees of the Federation have beenserving at the residences of some officersbesides misusing of PFF’s vehicles by theofficials.

He also appealed to the President ofFIFA to play a positive role and save thePFF.—APP

Kashmir DaySquash tostart today

PESHAWAR—To expressedsolidarity with the people ofKashmir, the Kashmir DayU-9, Under-11 and Under-13Age Group Squash Tourna-ment will be commencing onWednesday here at PSBCoaching Center.

Former World Championand Squash Wizard JansherKhan and former WorldChampion LegendaryQamar Zaman would gracethe occasion as guests ofhonor and will formally in-augurate the two day Tour-nament.

He said players of Un-der-9, Under-11 andUndder-13 would vie for thetop honor. Talking to APPformer World No.2 MohibUllah said that on the direc-tives of Director GeneralAkhtar Nawaz Ganjera theyare going to organize theevent to express solidaritywith the people of Kashmir.

He said the positionholders players would beawarded trophies and cashprizes on the final and prizedistribution ceremony to beheld on February 5.—APP

PESHAWAR—Tank and Bajaur entered intothe semi-finals after securing victoriesagainst their respective rivals in the ongo-ing Governor Khyber Pakhtunkhwa FATATwenty20 Cricket Cup being played here atArbab Niaz Cricket on Tuesday.

In the first quarter-finals District Tankwon the toss and elected to bat first bysetting up 178 runs with Niaz Zaman scored31 runs including three boundaries and onesix, Naeem scored (29) with three bounderiesand one six, and Asif struck (28) runs withthree boundaries and Liaqat made (23) runswith two boundaries were the leading con-tributors. For Khurram Agency Haroon andHashmat claimed two wickets each.

In reply, Khurram Agency failed to chasethe target and bundled out for 79 runs withHashmat made 28 runs including fourboundaries and Fazal Shsh hit another ex-cellent knock of 25 runs with three bound-aries. For Tank right-arm medium fast bowler

Tank, Bajaur enter GovernorKP FATA Twenty20 Cricket

Cup semi-finalsKifayat Ullah claimed four wickets and Asifgot two wickets. Thus District Tank wonthe match by 98 runs.

In the second quarter-final Bajaur de-feated Dera Ismail Khan by six wickets.Bajaur Agency won the toss and invitedDera Ismail Khan to bat first. Dera IsmailKhan while batting first scored 136 runswith Niaz Muhammad struck 34 runs includ-ing three boundaries and one six, NadeemKhan made 25 runs with three boundariesand Ali scored 24 runs. For Bajaur AgencyIrfan claimed three wickets and Burhanscored 2 two wickets.

In reply to 136 runs winning target,Bajaur Agency chased the target for theloss of six wickets after playing 17.3 overswith Irfan struck elegant 92 runs includingsix sixes and 11 boundaries and Bashirmade 26 runs. For Dera Ismail Khan Fawadtook two wickets and Nadeem Ullah got onewicket.—APP

KARACHI—Faisal Gymkhana and MalirCantt Gymkhana advanced in thequarterfinal rounds of Omar AssociatesTrophy KCCA Zone-IV Color Kit CricketTournament after contrasting victoriesagainst their respective opponents said anews release issued on Tuesday.

Faisal Gymkhana hammered MillatCricket Club by 195 runs at Punjab CCGround. Muhammad Hafeez was namedman of the match for his fine knock of 78.

Replying to Faisal Gymkhana’s 254,Millat CC crashed at mere 60 in 20.1 overs.Naeem Mashwani and Noman Khan cap-tured six wickets between them.

Farkhad Khan produced a brilliant all-round show as Malir Cantt Gymkhana de-feated United Gymkhana by 38 runs at CAAGround.

Farkhad scored 60 and took three wick-

Faisal Gymkhana, Malir CanttGymkhana in quarter finals

ets for 47 runs and was named man of thematch for his effort. Summarized scores:Faisal Gym bt Millat CC by 195 runs.

Fasial Gymkhana 254 all out in 35 overs(Hafeez Ahmed 78, Fayyaz Hussain 43, NoorShah 38, Nadeem Shad 31, Naeem Ahmed3/49, Shahid Hussain 2/28, Adeel Hashmat2/44) Millat CC 60 all out in 20.1 overs(Naeem Mashwani 3/6, Noman Khan 3/11,3/6, Muhammad Bilal 2/11, Touheed Khan2/12).

Malir Cantt Gym bt United Gym by 38runs. Malir Cantt Gymkhana 248-6 in 35overs (Farkhad Khan 60, Adnan Qaisar 53,Ali Shan 40, Naeem Hussain 37, Sabir Bhatti22, Muhammad Asif 5/26) United Gymkhana210 all out in 29.4 overs (M. Yasir 82, HassanAli 34, M. Asif 22, Afaq Ahmed 20. FarkhadKhan 3/47, M. Farrukh 2/41 and Sabir Bhatti2/26).—APP

DUBLIN—World number one Rory’sMcIlroy’s multi-million pounds legal chal-lenge against his former management com-pany was deferred until later Tuesday afterproceedings opened at the Irish High Courtin Dublin. The Northern Irishman, who wonthe Dubai Desert Classic on Sunday, is bothsuing Conor Ridge’s Horizon Sports Man-agement company and being counter-suedover the terms of an agreement he struckwith the firm in 2011.

After proceedings opened, PaulGallagher, McIlroy’s lawyer, said legal teamswere prepared to hold talks on some aspectsof the dispute.

“This is a case, as you know, scheduledto last for eight weeks,” he told the judge.

“There are many issues in the case andwe are seeing if we can narrow the issues.”

The case was due to resume at 1400GMT Tuesday. The deal, which was rene-gotiated in 2013, was to last until 2017, withHorizon receiving commission on the golfer’s

Golf: McIlroy court case deferredfinancial dealings.

McIlroy, 25, has taken action over over#4.2million (5.6million euros, $6.3million) infees to Horizon from his earnings on and offthe course.

Horizon, meanwhile have argued theyhave a contract with McIlroy entitling themto a share of his endorsement earnings until2017. McIlroy terminated his contract withHorizon in September 2013, forming his owncompany to manage his affairs, Rory McIlroyInc.

He argued the terms of his deal werevastly inferior to those signed by other golf-ers at Horizon, including fellow countrymanand major winner Graeme McDowell.

He claims Horizon charged almost fourtimes what top ten golfers pay to agents.

McIlroy was with Horizon when hesigned a sponsorship deal with equipmentmanufacturers Nike in early 2013, said to beworth $100 million over five years, and alsosigned other high-worth deals.—AFP

NORTH CAROLINA: Justin Anderson of the Virginia Cavaliers battles Joel Jamesand Justin Jackson of the North Carolina Tar Heels for a loose ball during a game atthe Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill.

Ali attacksFIFA’s

‘culture ofintimidation’

LONDON—FIFA presiden-tial candidate Prince Ali binAl Hussein criticised theorganisation’s “culture ofintimidation” and chal-lenged incumbent SeppBlatter to a public debate ashe kick-started his campaignon Tuesday.

The Jordanian royal dis-missed concerns about alack of support from withinthe Asian Football Confed-eration, whose president,Shaikh Salman bin IbrahimAl Khalifa, has pledged hissupport to Blatter.

Ali, FIFA vice-presidentfor Asia, revealed that hehad received nominationsfrom the national associa-tions of Belarus, Malta, En-gland, Jordan, the UnitedStates and Georgia.

But although the JordanFootball Association, ofwhich he is president, wasthe only Asian federation tosupport him, he said he wasconfident of attracting sup-port from around the world.

“Obviously there is a bitof a culture of intimidation—let me put it that way—within FIFA,” Ali told a pressconference at a London ho-tel.

“But having said that,this is a candidacy for thewhole world. I do know alsothat there are confederationswho have their own elec-tions coming up in the nextcouple of months.

Pressed on the “intimi-dation” claim, Ali said: “I’mnot going to expand verymuch, other than to say thatin the past, if people take aprincipled stand, then theyend up possibly being pun-ished for it.—AFP

KARACHI—From throwing rocksdown mountains and training byswimming across rivers and streamsin Pakistan´s troubled north-west,unheralded pace bowler Sohail Khan

has come a long way.The 30-year-old was a surprise

inclusion in Pakistan´s 15-mansquad for the World Cup as he wasnot considered amongst thefavourites until the morning of theannouncement.

But former Pakistan captain

Tribal talent Sohail ‘owes’Latif for being in WC squad

Rashid Latif described Khan as “gatecrashing” his way into contentionafter a string of impressive perfor-mances in domestic cricket.

“He has gate-crashed into theWorld Cup squad,” said Latif, cred-ited for grooming the raw talent ofKhan in his domestic team, PortQasim.

“His recent performances forcedthe selectors to give him a chanceand I am confident he will make hismark in the World Cup.”

Khan took 64 wickets inPakistan´s domestic season last yearand got ten wickets in a one-dayevent – an impressive show whichforced him into the World Cup squadat the expense of unfit Umar Gul.

But it hasn´t been an easy ridefor the well-built Khan.

As a youngster, dreaming of mak-ing a name for himself, Khan used tothrow stones down the hills inMalakand agency – the mountain-ous tribal area in KhyberPakhtunkhwa province – to buildmuscle to bowl fast.

Deprived of basic cricket facili-ties, Khan initially played with a ten-nis ball.

“I grew up with a desire to makemy name in cricket,” Khan told AFP.“We did not have any facility to playthe game like a ground or a gym sosomeone told me that if I throwstones over a distance I could buildmy muscle to bowl fast.”

Routine swims in the streams andrivers in the tribal area helped fur-ther build the body.

A relative then told Khan to try

his luck in Karachi where he wasspotted in a talent hunt programmebefore he landed in the safe handsof Latif who honed the tribal talentin his academy.

“I owe a great deal to Latif,” saidKhan. “He told me how to use thenew ball and how to use differenttricks as a fast bowler. What I amtoday is because of him.”

Playing for Sui Southern GasCorporation, Khan took an astonish-ing 65 wickets in his debut first-classseason in 2007, with eight five-wicket hauls.

If that was not enough he re-corded the best match figures in afirst-class game in Pakistan with 16-189, which broke the long-standingrecord of Fazal Mahmood who oncetook 15-76.

That was enough to give Khan aplace in the national team in the one-day series against Zimbabwe andBangladesh at home in 2008.

A return of four wickets in threematches wasn´t enough to cementhis place and in the next three yearshe managed to play three more one-dayers, two Tests and threeTwenty20s, the last in Zimbabwe in2011.

It seemed he would be lost to thegame, but Khan´s hard work finallypaid off.

“I never got disheartened,” saidKhan. “I am now in the World Cupand want to make an impression, beit Virat Kohli (of India) or(Australia´s) David Warner, I wantto bowl fast and take wickets for myteam.”—AFP

Faulkner facesinjury battle for

World CupSYDNEY—Highly-rated ´fin-isher´ James Faulkner facesa race to be fit for the one-day World Cup after CricketAustralia said Tuesday hehas an abdominal musclestrain. The all-rounder un-derwent scans late Mondayon his right side after hepulled up in pain duringSunday´s tri-series victoryover England.

“Scans on JamesFaulkner´s injured side haveconfirmed a moderate gradeabdominal muscle strainwhich is consistent with a´typical´ fast-bowing sidestrain injury,” physiothera-pist Alex Kountouris said.

“He will receive intensivetreatment for the next twoweeks before we can deter-mine when he can return tobatting and bowling.”—AFP

NAPIER—New Zealand flayedPakistan’s attack on the way to acrushing 119-run win during the sec-ond one-day international in Napieron Tuesday.

The win means the Black Capstake the series 2-0 and maintain mo-mentum ahead of this month’s WorldCup, while Pakistan look in disarrayafter two poor displays.

The New Zealanders ran riot af-ter winning the toss and electing tobat, ending their innings at 369 forfive, their highest ever score againstPakistan.

Kane Williamson top-scoredwith 112, Ross Taylor finished 102not out with a boundary off the lastball and opener Martin Guptill alsocontributed 76.

New Zealand innings:Guptill b Shehzad ........ 76McCullum b Afridi ....... 31Williamson b Irfan ..... 112Taylor not out ............ 102Elliott b Ehsan Adil ..... 28Ronchi b Irfan ................ 0McCullum not out ......... 9Extras: (lb 6, w 5) .......... 11Total: (5 wickets) ....... 369Fall of wickets: 1-43, 2-171,3-250, 4-322, 5-340Bowling: .......... O-M-R-WIrfan .................... 10-0-52-2Bilawal ............... 10-0-93-0Afridi ................. 10-0-57-1Ehsan Adil .......... 8-0-68-1Haris Sohail ........ 6-0-47-0Younis ................. 2-0-17-0Shehzad ............... 4-0-29-1Pakistan innings:Hafeez b Elliott ............. 86

Shehzad b McCullum.. 55Younis b McCullum .... 11Misbah b Southee ....... 45Afridi b Vettori ............. 11Umar Akmal b Milne ..... 4Haris Sohail b Milne ..... 6Sarfraz b Elliott ............. 13Bilawal b Southee .......... 9Ehsan Adil b Boult ........ 1Irfan not out ................... 0Extras: (lb 2, w 6, nb 1) .. 9Total: (all out) ............. 250Fall of wickets: 1-111, 2-130,3-173, 4-187, 5-194, 6-206, 7-227, 8-248, 9-250, 10-250Bowling: .......... O-M-R-WSouthee ............... 8-0-52-2Boult ................. 8.1-0-35-1Vettori ................ 10-0-41-1Milne ................... 8-0-52-2McCullum ........... 5-0-33-2Elliott ................... 4-0-35-2

New Zealand crush Pakistanto take ODI series

In contrast, Pakistan mediumpacer Bilawal Bhatti recorded theworst bowling figures in thecountry’s ODI history, leaking 93runs off his ten overs without taking

a wicket.Bhatti was far from the only

underperformer and captain Misbahul-Haq said his team needed to makehuge improvements for the WorldCup.

“We’re nowhere near our best.We need to improve a lot in virtuallyeverything, we need to improve ourbatting and bowling, and especiallythe death bowling.”

His New Zealand counterpartBrendon McCullum was thrilled athis side’s form ahead of the tourna-ment, where they are looming as a

dark horse.“We’ve got to be happy with

where we’re at,” he said.“We’ve played, I guess, a couple

of perfect games. The challenge forus now is to maintainthat freshness andmomentum we’vebuilt up.”

The 369 total wasthe Black Caps’ fifthhighest in one-dayhistory, surpassedonly by scoresagainst second-tiernations Zimbabweand Canada.

Pakistan’s bats-men could only man-age 250 in reply be-fore they werebowled out in 43.1overs, although theywere chasing thegame after a dismalbowling effort.

Only Wahab Riazin 2013 has concededas many runs asBhatti in 10 overs, buthe at least took twowickets againstSouth Africa.

Ehsan Adil faredlittle better againstthe New Zealanders,taking one wicket butgoing for 8.5 an over.

Mohammad Irfanwas the sole bowlerwho appeared re-

motely threat-ening, finish-ing with twofor 52.

W i t hP a k i s t a n ’ sfront-line at-tack failing ,c a p t a i nM i s b a h - u l -Haq wasforced to callon his part-timers.

B u t

Younis Khan, Haris Sohail andAhmed Shehzad had no answers,taking only one wicket between themat the cost of 93 runs.

McCullum set the tone for thehosts with a typically aggressivecameo of 31 before Guptill andWilliamson brought up NewZealand’s 100 off 18.2 overs.

They both cruised to half centu-ries, with New Zealand on 152 at thehalf-way mark. Williamson steppedon the gas after Guptill was dis-missed for 76, moving from 63 to 100in the space of eight overs.

The 24-year old finally fell for 112to Irfan but Ross Taylor then steppedin to club a 70-ball century in his150th one-day international, smash-ing Bhatti onto the roof of the stands.

Taylor appeared in danger of re-maining stranded in the 90s in thefinal over, but a six and a four in thefinal two balls took him to 102.

Pakistan’s openers MohammadHafeez and Shehzad made an excel-lent start chasing down the mammothtotal, notching half centuries at a littleover a run a ball.

Shehzad went for 52 dancingdown the wicket to attack spinnerNathan McCullum but holing out tothe man on the boundary.

Younis Khan could only manage11 as the run rate steadily crepthigher, reaching almost 9.6 at thehalf-way mark. Hafeez (86) anddangerman Shahid Afridi (11) bothwent as they lashed out trying to liftthe pace and when ul-Haq departedon 45 it was all over.—AFP

NAPIER: Kane Williamson and Ross Taylor, however, counterattacked, adding 79 forthe third wicket in 2nd ODI, New Zealand vs Pakistan.

Amir signs up to playgrade-II cricket

Abdul Qadir terms Pak-Indiamatch final before final

Pressure will be on India: InzamamISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir has said theoutcome of India-Pakistan match willdecide their future in the tournament.

“It will boost the morale of thew i n -n i n gt e a ma n dg i v ean ad-d i -t ionale d g ea sw e l l .It willsurelybe a fi-n a lb e -f o r ethe fi-n a l , ”h e

added.He said the much-anticipated

match between the arch-rivals wouldbe the most crucial match of the tour-nament. Only one Asian team wouldmake to the semifinals of the quadren-nial extravaganza, said the legendaryleg spinner according to CricketCountry.

He said the Indian selectors have“committed a blunder” by ignoringexperienced cricketers VirenderSehwag and Yuvraj Singh for theWorld Cup. The two players’ pres-ence would have given the team lib-erty to play with four regular bowlers,he added.

“I think that Australia, NewZealand and South Africa will reachthe last four and the last team will befrom Asian sub-continent providedEngland does not give them seriouscompetition,” Qadir said. Meanwhile,

former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ulHaq feels that Pakistan have neverdefeated India in a World Cup en-counter and the trend is unlikely tochange when the two teams clash onFebruary 15 at the Adelaide Oval.

Speaking during a conclave inNew Delhi organised by televisionchannel, Inzamam said though he hadfull faith in fighting spirit of Pakistaniplayers, the more experienced Indi-ans could clinch the match.

“The pressure, however, wouldbe on the Indians,” said Inzamam.“Once (Ajay) Jadeja told me that In-dian fans wereso used to los-ing in Sharjah,they stopped re-acting againstIndian players,News24onl inereported.

“ S a m etheory applieswith Pakistan inthe World Cup.We have neverwon against In-dia in the WorldCup but a de-feat for Indiacould put themunder hugepressure,” said Inzamam.

Inzamam felt the players of boththe teams would have to give morethan 100 per cent if they want toemerge triumphant in the key contest.“Cricket now has become a differentgame altogether. T20 has changedthings. A team can be easily beateneven after scoring 300 runs. It wasunthinkable during our days,” hesaid.

Two members of India’s 2011World Cup winning team, HarbhajanSingh and Piyush Chawla, said an In-

dia-Pakistan clash always puts extrapressure on the players.

“We never felt any pressure fromwithin the team but talking to public,friends and family members was al-ways a problem. Everyone would tellus that we must win.”

Despite not too impressive per-formance during the tour of Austra-lia, Indian former cricketer Kapil Devsaid at least four teams have thechance to bag the Cup.

“I give India 25 per cent chance. Ithink New Zealand can be the darkhorses. They have never won it be-

fore, but this time they could surprisetop teams,” Kapil said.

The captain of India’s 1983 WorldCup winning team said he was nottoo bothered about the batting orderand other such technicalities. “Nowany batsman can play at any posi-tion. The present Indian team has sixbatsmen, who can be match winners.

“The most important part would beour batting in the first 15 overs. That’sthe time when you build the innings.Nowadays, you need to score at least300 runs,” Kapil said.—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan fast bowlerMohammad Amir has signed a contractwith Karachi-based Omar Associates toplay grade-II cricket from March 9. He wasrecently allowed by the ICC to play do-mestic cricket under the auspices of the

PCB though he continues to be bannedfrom featuring in international cricket un-til September 2.

There were many teams around thecircuit keen to hire Amir, with KESC andKPT the top names in the country, but hefinally struck a deal with the private firm,

which deals in construction and property.“We have signed Amir to play for our

team in Grade-II as we think that every-body deserves a second chance in lifeand career,” said Nadeem Omar, chief ofOmar Associates. “We have signed Amirbecause he has fulfilled everything whichwas required of him and the ICC and thePakistan Cricket Board cleared him.”

As per the revised anti-corruptioncode, banned players can be allowed toreturn to domestic cricket before the endof their penalty if they meet certain criteria.

In the last four years, Amir has com-pleted an Anti Corruption and SecurityUnit education program with the PCB,showed a high degree of remorse in pub-lic, and reportedly disclosed relevant in-formation to the PCB as well as the anti-corruption units.

With the Pakistan first-class and one-day domestic season about to finish,Amir’s only chance of competitive cricketbefore it starts again in October would bea possible return in the Super Eight T20Cup, which takes place after the WorldCup. He was left with no option for nowbut to play grade-II to regain his fitnessand rhythm.

Amir has been playing for variousunregistered clubs and academies inLahore and Rawalpindi since beingbanned from playing competitive cricketin 2010. His appearance for Omar Associ-ates will be the first time he will feature ingrade cricket in the last four-and-a-halfyears.—Agencies

ISLAMABAD—Popular Australian performersJessica Mauboy, Tina Arena, Nathaniel andDaryl Braithwaite will headline the entertain-ment line-up at the ICC Cricket World CupOpening Event accompanied by theMelbourne Symphony Orchestra with Mu-sical Director, Chong Lim.

Victoria’s Minister Tourism and MajorEvents, John Eren, made the announcementfrom Melbourne’s Sidney Myer Music Bowl,where the gala event will take place on Feb-ruary 12, two nights before the MCG hostsAustralia and England in the highly antici-pated opening match of the tournament,Cricket Country reported.

“The ICC Cricket World Cup is returningto Australia for the first time in 23 years andMelbourne is truly honoured to host theOpening Event,” Minister Eren said.

Tournament co-hosts New Zealand willalso stage an Opening Event on the sameevening in Christchurch.

A spectacular fireworks display and sym-bolic ‘World Cup’ moment will provide

Top Australian performers to performat World Cup Opening Ceremony

Melburnians and international guests with anight to remember, with Australia’s multi-tal-ented export, Jessica thrilled to be performinglive. “It is a privilege to welcome the ICC CricketWorld Cup 2015 to Melbourne and Australiaby performing at the Sidney Myer Music Bowlfor the Opening Event in front of a number ofteams, including Australia and England beforetheir big opening match,” Mauboy said.

ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 Chief Ex-ecutive John Harnden said: “It is fantasticto be working with the Victorian Governmenton this world-class event.”

“Tickets for the Opening Event weresnapped up within minutes and we hopethose attending will be even more excitedwith the calibre of artists revealed today,”Harnden said. The event in Christchurch willfeature some of New Zealand’s best knownperformers, cricket legends including Sir Ri-chard Hadlee and Stephen Fleming and aspecial segment to recognise the rebuildingof the city following the disastrous earth-quakes of 2011.—APP

BRISBANE: Jean Carlos Solorzano of the Roar runs the ball during the round 16 A-League match between the Brisbane Roar and Wellington Phoenix at Suncorp Stadium.

Ronaldo‘won’t leaveReal Madrid’

LONDON—Cristiano Ronaldowill finish his career at RealMadrid, the Portuguesesuperstar’s agent said Tues-day as he put a #300 million($452 million, 298 million eu-ros) price-tag on the worldfootballer of the year.

“He is the best player everin the world. You can’t com-pare him with anybody else,”agent Jorge Mendes said ofRonaldo in an interview withthe BBC.

“If for any reason the clubdecide to sell him tomorrowfor #300 million, someone willpay,” Mendes added.

But the agent said therewas no danger of his 29-year-old compatriot, voted theworld’s best player for a thirdtime last month—beatingBarcelona’s Lionel Messi tothe award—leaving Real’sBernabeu Stadium.

Meanwhile, FC Barcelonavoiced “surprise and indig-nation” Tuesday at prosecu-tors’ call for the club and itsformer president to be triedfor tax fraud over the signingof Brazilian star Neymar.

In a judicial file releasedon Monday, prosecutor JosePerals Calleja called forBarcelona and their formerpresident Sandro Rosell toface trial over the signing ofthe striker in 2013.

“FC Barcelona wishes toexpress to its members itssurprise, indignation and to-tal disagreement with thepublic prosecutor’s petition,”the club said in a statement.

According to the Span-ish tax authorities, Barcelonaowe 12 million euros in tax onthe Neymar deal, whichwould see the overall cost ofthe operation rise to 94.8 mil-lion euros.—AFP

KARACHI—The Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) believes that its stance on demand-ing 50% of the revenue from the upcomingtour of Bangladesh is justified, explainingthat technically it is their home series asBangladesh did not fulfil their commitmentpreviously.

While the Bangladesh Cricket Board(BCB) is unwilling to give into the PCB’sdemands, the national cricket’s governingboard came forward to convey the reasonfor their terms.

“To clear any misunderstanding arisingout of the BCB President Nazmul Hassan’sstatement to the media in Dhaka on Mon-day, the PCB wants to clarify the situation,which is diametrically different to what hasbeen portrayed,” read a PCB media release.

“Pakistan had toured Bangladesh in2011, and in accordance with the estab-lished principles of reciprocity, it isBangladesh’s turn to tour Pakistan —which, despite a written commitment in 2012,

PCB claims revenue demandfor Bangladesh tour justified

was not honoured by the BCB.“So while in principle this tour belongs

to Pakistan, the PCB had expressed its will-ingness to visit Bangladesh for two Tests,three ODIs and a T20I in April-May thisyear in order to accommodate the BCB.”

The board further stated that since thisis a Pakistan tour to be hosted byBangladesh, the demand for a share in thegenerated revenue is fair.

“It also needs to be acknowledged thattouring is an expensive proposition, whichall boards finance from profits accruing fromhome tours. Since this is technicallyPakistan’s home tour, the PCB is being ex-ceptionally fair in asking Bangladesh to paya certain percentage to offset its costs,”said the release.

The PCB added that it would engage infurther discussions with their Bangladeshcounterparts in order to deliberate on thespecial condition by Pakistan for visitingBangladesh twice in succession.—Agencies

A new study finds that women whoconsume more caffeine are lesslikely to have tinnitus - a condition

where a person perceives noise in one orboth ears, or in the head, even thoughthere is no external sound.

Researchers foundthat the more caffeinewomen consumed, theless likely they were tohave tinnitus. The re-searchers, from Brighamand Women’s Hospital(BWH) in Boston, MA,write about their findingsin The American Journalof Medicine.

According to theAmerican Tinnitus Asso-ciation, around 50 millionpeople in the US experi-ence some degree of tin-nitus, which is often de-scribed as “ringing in theears” although somepeople also hear hissing,buzzing, roaring, clickingor chirping. Of these, about 1 million areso badly affected they cannot functionnormally day to day.

For the study, the researchers analyzeddata on over 65,000 women with and with-out tinnitus from the Nurses’ Health StudyII. The women were aged between 30 and44 at the start of the study in 1991, whenresearchers collected a wealth of informa-tion on medical history, lifestyle and diet.At this point, the average caffeine intakewas 242.3 mg per day - the equivalent ofnearly two and a half 8-ounce cups of cof-fee. Most of the caffeine consumed camefrom coffee drinking.

In 2009, 18 years after they joined thestudy, the women were asked questionsabout tinnitus, including date of onset,where applicable. When a woman re-ported experiencing symptoms eitherdaily or on a few days per week, the re-

searchers counted it as acase. They identified a totalof 5,289 cases of reported in-cident tinnitus. Women whoconsumed more caffeine lesslikely to be among tinnituscases .When they analyzedthe results, the team foundthe more caffeine womenconsumed, the less likelythey were to be among thetinnitus cases. Senior authorGary Curhan, a physician-re-searcher in BWH’s ChanningDivision of Network Medi-cine and professor of Medi-cine at Harvard MedicalSchool, says:

“We observed a sig-nificant inverse associationbetween caffeine intake and

the incidence of tinnitus among thesewomen.” He and his and colleaguesfound that regardless of age, rates of tin-nitus were 15% lower among women whoconsumed 450-599 mg a day of caffeine,compared with women who drank lessthan 150 mg a day (about one and a half8-ounce cups of coffee).

Prof. Curham notes that while the rea-son behind the finding is unclear, weknow that “caffeine stimulates the cen-tral nervous system, and previous re-search has demonstrated that caffeinehas a direct effect on the inner ear in bothbench science and animal studies.”

Tinnitus less common inwomen who drink more coffee

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The doctors of theSindh province on Monday boycottthe Out-Patient Department (OPD)at the government-run healthcarefacilities to protest killing of fivedoctors in just short span of onemonth.

Targeted killings of doctors, kid-napping, extortion threats, and fail-ure of the government to provideprotection forced Sindh DoctorsWelfare Association (SDWA) toboycott at OPD in all governmenthospitals.

The association also declaredclosure of all private clinics today,while a huge rally was organised byhealth workers of Liaquat NationalHospital (LNH). The SDWAclaimed that there is no one to hearthe voice of the doctors and theirchallenges and that they will keepon protesting for their welfare sinceno law enforcement body is takingany actions yet.

AIG Karachi Ghulam QadirThebo has assured that the murder-ers of the doctors would be broughtto justice. Following SDWA protest,PMA held a session which ended

with a list of demands.The doctors have decided to

give the government 15 days to re-solve the issues to safeguard thelives of those who are forced to ex-ecute their duties under constantfear. It has also been demanded thatthe government compensate fami-lies of the deceased doctors with aminimum of Rs 10 million rupees afamily.

PMA demanded that doctors beissued arms licenses and permitsallowing them to carry weapons asthey move around.

“We have written to everyone,

from the Chief of the Army StaffGeneral Raheel Sharif, PrimeMinsiter, the President and all theSindh government officials includ-ing the Governor, the Chief Minis-ter, to every official, but no one re-plied except the DG Rangers,” PMAleader Dr Qaiser Sajjad said.

“The frequency with which doc-tors are being targeted in Karachicontinues to rise,” he said, addingthat “In the last ten years 127 havebeen killed, 17 of those were killedlast year while in the first month of2015 four have already been si-lenced forever.”

Killing of five doctors

Doctors demand armslicences for their protection

AAMIR MAJEED

KARACHI—Though over two dozenpolicemen have embraced martyrdomwhile fighting with the militants in themetropolis this year, but the Karachipolice is yet to be handed over withClose Circuit Television (CCTV) cam-eras-equipped mobiles despite passingone years.

As per details, the Sindh govern-ment has prepared some 100 CCTV cam-era-equipped mobile a year before fol-lowing an increase in terrorist’s activityagainst the law enforcers. The purposebehind this development was to cap-ture those people who were carrying outattacks on police mobiles with the helpof CCTV cameras. Not only this, the po-

Karachi police awaits CCTVcameras equipped mobiles

KARACHI—Sindh Information MinisterSharjeel Memon on Tuesday said thatany new Madressa (seminary) to be es-tablished will require a No ObjectionCertificate (NOC) and strict action willbe taken against any Madressa tryingto occupy an area forcefully.

While addressing the media, theminister said that the Sindh governmentis entirely focused and determined toroot out terrorists upon receiving in-formation from intelligence agenciesand that several key terrorists havebeen killed.

Reaffirming the commitment to wipeout terrorists for good, he said that ter-rorists call for being beaten by actionand do not understand words.

He went on to say that apex commit-tees have been setup for various divi-sions in Sindh, while training will be pro-vided to police by SSG commandoes aswell as personnel will be trained for thenew Counter Terrorism Force (CTF) forthe province.

He also announced an increase inbenefits for all personnel in securityforces. —Online

NOC required for newmadrassas in Sindh: Memon

Nadeem Riaz Chairman Dolmen Group presenting shield to Commissioner Karachi Shoaib Ahmed Siddiqui oninauguration of Dolmen Mall parking area.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

Activists of civil society stage a protest against Shikarpur incident outside Karachi Press Club.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI Feb 3 government of Ja-pan extended a grant of US$102,008(approximately Rs. 10.2 million) toJam-e-Shafa Organization for “TheProject for the Provision of Ambu-lances to Jam-e-Shafa Organization”under its Grant Assistance forGrassroots Human Security Projects(GGP) scheme.

The grant contract was signed atthe Japan Information and CultureCenter of the Consulate-General ofJapan in Karachi, between Mr. AkiraOuchi, Consul General of Japan inKarachi and Lt. General (Retd)Muhammad Ishaq, Chief ExecutiveOfficer of Jam-e-Shafa Organization.Mr. Parvez Ghias, Chief Executive Of-ficer of Indus Motors Company Lim-ited was also present at the occasion.

Japan provides Rs 10.2 million forambulances to Jam-e-Shafa Organization

The grant covers the cost of twoambulances fully equipped with ba-sic life-support equipment to achievethe objective of providing efficientaccess to emergency services to savethe lives of people in Quetta. In addi-tion to the grant of about 10.2 millionRupees, 1.4 million Rupees are con-tributed by Indus Motors CompanyLimited.

This project is the second case ofpublic-private partnership betweenthe Consulate General of Japan inKarachi and Indus Motors CompanyLimited. The Government of Japanprovided an ambulance and medicalequipment to Jam-e-Shafa Organiza-tion in 2003 and this project is to pro-vide two new ambulances to replacethe old ones.

This project was realized as a re-sult of Mr. Ouchi’s meeting with Dr.

Abdul Malik Baloch, Chief Ministerof Balochistan in April 2014 whenhe promised to consider Japan’s as-sistance to Balochistan throughGGP in the future.

At the signing ceremony, Mr.Ouchi sincerely hoped that theimplementation of this project wouldimprove emergency medical servicesand help save the lives of morepeople in Quetta. Mr. Ouchi alsowished that this support from thepeople of Japan would furtherstrengthen friendly relationship be-tween Japan and Pakistan

Under the GGP scheme, Japanhas funded more than 300 projectsin Pakistan since 1989, and this isthe 12th GGP project and the firstone in Quetta to be implemented bythe Consulate-General of Japan inKarachi since 2009.

A view of traffic jam on the road leading to CM House during a protest by activists ofcivil society.

lice department has made a separatecommand and control room to monitorthe law and order situation at differentplaces of the metropolis. The vehicle,which was equipped with the CCTVcamera, was connected to command andcontrol room with the help of internetdevice.

However, the investigation revealedthat the Sindh government instead ofhanding over these digital mobiles tothe police department assigned theselatest vehicles to accommodate SindhAssembly and the provincial govern-ment officer’s protocol.

Some of the vehicles were sparedfor accommodating VVIP protocols. Outof total 100 mobiles, only 20 mobiles weregiven to Karachi police to counter ter-

rorist activities in the financial-hub.These 20 mobiles were under control ofRapid Response Unit (RRU) of the po-lice. It has also unearthed that the com-pany which was providing service ofmobile patrolling has winded-up its op-eration over non-payment of dues.

As the command and control roombecome dysfunctional with the depar-ture of the company, the police officerstook the internet devices to their houses.

“The CCTV-equipped were distrib-uted to police stations,” Karachi policespokesman Ateeq Sheikh claimed.

I can’t recall the exact number ofpolice mobiles which were distributedin police station, but, probably 60 mo-biles were handed over to police sta-tion,” he maintained.

A new study finds that women whoconsume more caffeine are lesslikely to have tinnitus - a condition

where a person perceives noise in one orboth ears, or in the head, even thoughthere is no external sound.

Researchers foundthat the more caffeinewomen consumed, theless likely they were tohave tinnitus. The re-searchers, from Brighamand Women’s Hospital(BWH) in Boston, MA,write about their findingsin The American Journalof Medicine.

According to theAmerican Tinnitus Asso-ciation, around 50 millionpeople in the US experi-ence some degree of tin-nitus, which is often de-scribed as “ringing in theears” although somepeople also hear hissing,buzzing, roaring, clickingor chirping. Of these, about 1 million areso badly affected they cannot functionnormally day to day.

For the study, the researchers analyzeddata on over 65,000 women with and with-out tinnitus from the Nurses’ Health StudyII. The women were aged between 30 and44 at the start of the study in 1991, whenresearchers collected a wealth of informa-tion on medical history, lifestyle and diet.At this point, the average caffeine intakewas 242.3 mg per day - the equivalent ofnearly two and a half 8-ounce cups of cof-fee. Most of the caffeine consumed camefrom coffee drinking.

In 2009, 18 years after they joined thestudy, the women were asked questionsabout tinnitus, including date of onset,where applicable. When a woman re-ported experiencing symptoms eitherdaily or on a few days per week, the re-

searchers counted it as acase. They identified a totalof 5,289 cases of reported in-cident tinnitus. Women whoconsumed more caffeine lesslikely to be among tinnituscases

When they analyzedthe results, the team foundthe more caffeine womenconsumed, the less likelythey were to be among thetinnitus cases. Senior authorGary Curhan, a physician-re-searcher in BWH’s ChanningDivision of Network Medi-cine and professor of Medi-cine at Harvard MedicalSchool, says:

“We observed a sig-nificant inverse association

between caffeine intake and the incidenceof tinnitus among these women.” He andhis and colleagues found that regardlessof age, rates of tinnitus were 15% loweramong women who consumed 450-599 mga day of caffeine, compared with womenwho drank less than 150 mg a day (aboutone and a half 8-ounce cups of coffee).Prof. Curham notes that while the reasonbehind the finding is unclear, we knowthat “caffeine stimulates the central ner-vous system, and previous research hasdemonstrated that caffeine has a directeffect on the inner ear in both bench sci-ence and animal studies.”

Tinnitus less common inwomen who drink more coffee

CITY REPORTER

LAHORE—Speaker Balochistan AssemblyMir Jan Muhammad Khan Jamali called onPunjab Chief Minister Muhammad ShahbazSharif, here Tuesday.

Matters of mutual interest were dis-cussed in the meeting. Speaker BalochistanAssembly congratulated Chief MinisterPunjab on the setting up of Counter Ter-rorism Force in the province.

Speaking on the occasion, ShahbazSharif said that war against terrorism is forthe survival of the country and the settingup of Counter Terrorism Force in Punjab isan important step in this direction.

He said that war against the enemies ofPakistan will be won with the force of unityand terrorists will find no place to hide inthe country. Member Balochistan Assem-bly Sheikh Jafar Khan Mandokhel was alsopresent on the occasion.

Speaker BalochistanAssembly meets Shahbaz

CITY REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif pre-sided over a meeting of price controlcommittee through video link at CivilSecretariat which reviewed stepstaken for providing relief to thepeople through reduction in trans-port fares and in the prices of essen-tial items in the wake of decrease inthe prices of petroleum products.

The Chief Minister while ad-dressing the meeting of Price con-trol Committee through video linksaid that all out measures should betaken for directly transferring thebenefit of record decrease in theprices of petroleum products and theconcerned departments should play

active role for providing relief to themasses. Shahbaz Sharif said that hewants genuine results. He said thataccording to estimate the economyof the province will receive a benefitof more than Rs. 400 billion annuallyas a result of record decrease in theprices of petroleum products. Hesaid that all out measures will betaken for transferring this benefit tothe common man in the real sense.

The Chief Minister said that it isa big opportunity for providing re-lief to the people and practicablemeasures should be taken for imple-mentation of the programmeevolved for reducing the prices ofdaily use items in the interest of thecitizens. He said that no negligenceor laxity will be tolerated in provid-

ing relief to the common man. He saidthat effective measures should betaken for reducing transport faresand stern action be taken against el-ements involved in overcharging.The meeting decided to undertakelegislation for enhancing punish-ment for overcharging of transportfares. The Chief Minister expressedhis extreme displeasure over laxityshown over some issues and failureto take proper steps and lamentedthat some departments have still notbecome fully active to provide reliefto the common man.

He said that this attitude will notbe tolerated. Shahbaz Sharif set up acommittee headed by Chief Secre-tary and directed that it should con-sider measures for building in house

capacity and submit recommenda-tions within seven days.

He also issued instructions forconstitution of a committee with re-gard to looking into impact of de-crease in petroleum prices over pro-vincial economy. The committee willsubmit its recommendations regard-ing reduction in the cost of produc-tion.

Provincial Ministers Ch.Muhammad Shafiq, Bilal Yasin, Dr.Farukh Javed, Member ProvincialAssembly Dr. Ayesha Ghaus Pasha,Chief Secretary, Secretaries of Fi-nance, Industry, Transport, Agricul-ture, Food, Livestock departmentsand other senior officers partici-pated in the meeting through videoconference.

Petroleum prices reduction

CM issues instructions forproviding relief to citizens

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Around 80 percent women are vulnerableto cervical cancer as theycan be infected by the Hu-man Papillomavirus (HPV)

UACC marks World Cancer Day tofight Cervical Cancer

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The University of HealthSciences (UHS) has launched a novelproject to foster medical profession-alism identity in medical students andhealth professionals.

The project, which has beennamed ‘Project ProfessionalismPunjab’, is based on the idea of nar-rative writing to enhance self-reflec-

tion and empathy, which opens thedoor for deeper understanding of pa-tients’ and health professionals’ ex-periences of illness. Similarly, it pro-motes good practices in medicine.

In this project, every month onecaricatures story, one photograph andone video will be uploaded on UHSwebsite (www.uhs.edu.pk).

Medical students, residents andfaculty can then write a short story,

on the basis of the uploaded content,reflecting their own personal similarexperiences and commenting on thebest practices in healthcare deliveryacross the globe and how they wouldhave evolved.

These stories will be evaluated atthe end of the month and the beststory will be awarded a cash prize.Besides, the top three stories will bepublished on UHS website.

UHS launches innovative projectin medical professionalism

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Vice Chancellor, University ofEducation (UE), Dr.Faiz ul Hasan has saidthat Korea Pakistan relationships are thebest glimpse of proud friendship and co-operation in the world.

Korea has always been presented awarm cooperation for political and eco-nomic stability and for promoting cultural

Commuters moving on the road during rain in the city on Tuesday.

activities as well. Korea-Pakistan (KOPAK)Friendship Centre performing a vital rolefor development projects and other re-nowned constructive initiatives.

He expressed these views as chiefguest on inauguration of cultural andsports festival jointly organized by UoEand Korea-Pakistan (KOPAK) FriendshipCentre at Bank Road Campus here onTuesday.

Pak-Korean relationships aglimpse of proud friendship

Education Minister Rana Mashood Ahmed Khan speaks during the launching ceremony of Curriculum implementation Framework at alocal hotel.

that causes cervical cancerat some point in their lives.As per WHO, Pakistan hasalready made it to top 10countries with highestnumber of Cervical Cancerdeaths, killing around 20women every day.

Professor MaryamMalik (Professor in Obstet-rics and Gynecology atFatima Jinnah Medical Col-lege Lahore, Executive mem-

ber SOGP) said that Cervi-cal cancer is not hereditary.It is caused by a commonand easily transmissible vi-rus, called the HumanPapillomavirus (HPV).

An initiative for cervi-cal cancer on World CancerDay would be helpful inraising awareness amongstwomen. ‘It will alert themabout the risk factors theymay be vulnerable to and

will play a significant role inreducing the burden of thisdisease in Pakistan,’ sheadded.

‘Women death toll islikely to increase by manyfolds as cervical cancer hasnever been considereddeadly in Pakistan andwomen avoid screening &vaccination owing to lack ofawareness. Vaccinationagainst cervical cancer is

the primary means of pre-vention while getting thevaccines as early as pos-sible will protect them in fu-ture,’ said Dr. Naeem Zafar(Associate Professor, Vicepresident Pakistan PediatricAssociation)

He said that a major set-back is that physicians/ pe-diatricians are not consultedfor the prevention of thiscancer.

PPP leader Jahanara Wattoo and others lighting candles in the memory of Shikarpur martyrs.