WASHINGTON DC: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif received by US Secretaryof State John Kerry at the US State Department on Monday.

Pakistan is importantUS partner: KerryUS to resume $300m security assistanceNawaz for joint efforts against terrorism

WASHINGTON—US Secretaryof State John Kerry Sunday saidthe U.S. relationship with Paki-stan “could not be more impor-tant” as Islamabad struggleswith economic, security and re-gional stability issues.

Kerry spoke Sunday beforehe held talks with Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif, who is on anofficial visit to the United States.

The meeting between thePrime Minister and Secretary ofState lasted for three hours dur-ing which regional and interna-tional situation and issues per-taining to bilateral relationswere discussed at length, thesources said. Other matters ofmutual interest including re-gional stability and situation inAfghanistan were also discussedduring the dinner meeting.

From the US side, seniorAdministration officials includ-ing Defence Secretary ChuckHagel, National Security Advi-

sor Susan Rice, Director CIAJohn Brennan and SRAP JamesDobbins assisted the Secretaryof State.

At the outset of the dinnermeeting before the media, Sec-retary Kerry warmly welcomedthe Prime Minister sayingNawaz Sharif is visiting Wash-ington for the first time since hislast trip in 1999.

John Kerry underscoredPakistan’s vital significance toregional stability as the countryaddresses the challenges ofeconomy and insurgency simul-taneously.

He said Nawaz Sharif willhave a series of high-level meet-ings‚ including discussions withPresident Barack Obama andVice President Joseph Biden onWednesday.

As a gesture of goodwill to-wards Pakistan, U.S. officialssay the Obama administrationwill release more than $1.6 bil-lion in military and economicaid to help bolster ties withIslamabad that have deterioratedover deadly American airstrikesand the 2011 raid that killedOsama bin Laden in Pakistan.

“We have a lot to talk about,and the relationship with Paki-stan could not be more impor-tant,” Kerry said as his meetingwith Sharif began.

“On its own, Pakistan is ademocracy that is working hardto gets its economy moving anddeal with insurgency, and alsoimportant to the regional stabil-ity” Kerry said.

Secretary Kerry expressed

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Militants target Jaffar Express; seven killedPortion of track, three bogies damaged; three brothers among deadDERA MURAD JAMALI—Atleast seven persons were killedand 16 injured when a passen-ger train was struck by a bombexplosion in Balochistan’sNaseerabad district on Mon-day, police said.

Asad Gilani, the HomeSecretary Balochistan told me-dia militants targeted Jaffar Ex-press using improvised explo-sive devices in Notal area ofNaseerabad district.

“When the train reachedNotal, there were huge explo-

sions”, Gilani said.He said the blasts damaged

a portion of the railway track andthree bogies of train.

The train was carrying hun-dreds of passengers from Punjabprovince who were returning toBalochistan after Eid holidays.

The Home Secretary saidthe seven people, including twowomen, who were killed in theincident were all passengers. Headded that the condition of sixinjured was reported as serious.

Riaz Ahmed, Quetta’s Su-

perintendent of Police (Rail-ways) said the bomb wasplanted on the track which wentoff when the train reached No-tal, adding that three brotherswere also among the dead.

He further said that Divi-sional Superintendent Railwayand other officials willfile a re-port over the incident.

Zafar Shah Bukhari, a seniorofficial in the area, also con-

firmed the bomb attack anddeath toll.

Bukhari said the Jaffar Ex-press was travelling fromRawalpindi to Quetta, the maintown of Baluchistan provincewhen the explosion occurred,derailing several bogies.

“We have taken the deadbodies and injured to thenearby hospital,” Bukhari said,adding that the condition of sixof the injured was critical.

Some of the dead were

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LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—The Federal andprovincial Governments havegeared up to take on terrorists,in case of failure on talks withTaliban, Interior Ministrysources said.

Besides Federal Govern-

In case talks with Taliban fail...

Federal, provincial govtsgeared up to take on terroristsProvinces start raising anti-terrorism forces; Latest

equipment to be acquired with US military aidment, provincial governments ofPunjab and KP have started re-cruiting personnel for raisingseparate anti-terror forces whichwill be well trained and wellequipped with state-of-the- arttechnology to be possibly ac-quired with the resumed militaryaid to Pakistan. The stalled $ 305

million military aid will startpouring in from Washingtonearly next year aimed atstrengthening Pakistan secu-rity forces.

The sources said Pakistanhas suffered too much in menand material at the hands of ter-Continued on Page 7

Seven injuredin Indian firing

PASRUR—At least seven civil-ians were injured as Indiantroops’ continued unprovokedfiring and shelling along theLine of Control (LoC) in Kash-mir as well as at the workingboundary in Charwa sector onMonday.

Earlier, three persons wereinjured in the bordering villageof Kasur by the Indian forcesfiring and shelling. The citizensin Sialkot and Narowal sectorsare highly perturbed due to con-

tinuous firing and shelling fromacross the border and they havestarted evacuating the areas.

Rangers’ sources said thatthe Indian troops went on wan-ton firing and shelling in Kasursector, injuring three villagers ofDamala village. The Indian gunswere silenced after a befittingreply from Pakistan side.

On the other hand, Indiantroops have continued unpro-voked firing and shelling for the

SC orders govts to holdLB elections in November

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt has directed the four prov-inces and the federal govern-ment to hold local governmentelections in the last week ofNovember, 2013. It also askedthe provinces to issue notifica-tion about demarcation of con-stituencies and present the sameto the court on Wednesday, 23rdOctober.

During hearing by the threemember bench of the apex courtheaded by Chief Justice IftikharMohammad Chaudhry and com-prising Justice Jawad S Khawajaand Justice Gulzar Ahmad onMonday, the court said that ifelections were not held before

December according to the con-stitution, it would issue order tothe federal and provincial gov-

ernments in line with the con-stitution.

Punjab finalises Dec 7for LB elections

LAHORE—The Punjab gov-ernment has finalised a date forholding Local Body electionsin the province.

The provincial govern-ment has informed the Elec-tion Commission of Pakistanthat it will be ready to holdLocal Body elections on De-

cember 7.In its request to the ECP,

the Punjab government statedthat objections regarding de-limitation will be removed inone week. Following this, thenotification for delimitationwould be issued.

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STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Election Com-mission of Pakistan (ECP) hasissued notices to the concernedparties for October 29 after re-ceiving the rigging complaint inNA-252 constituency during theMay 11 general election.

Abdul Rasheed Godil of theMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) had won on NA-252

NA-252 rigging case

ECP notices to partieswhile his victory was challengedby Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf(PTI) candidate.

Admitting the complaint,the ECP has issued notices to theconcerned parties for October29.

The election tribunal issuednotices to either parties for fil-ing their statements and face the

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People be takenonboard overfixing power

tariff: CJSTAFF REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Chief Justice ofPakistan Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry Monday remarkedthat the government must takepeople onboard while fixingpower tariff, otherwise, peoplewould raise questions ongovernment’s practice of simul-taneously undertakingloadshedding and hiking the tar-iff.

A three-member bench ofthe apex court led by the chiefjustice heard the loadsheddingcase.

During the proceedings,Chief Justice said that the peti-tion pertaining to set power tar-iff was filed in July 2012. Hequestioned National ElectricPower Regulatory Authority(NEPRA) as to how the electric-ity rates are determined.

The chairman NEPRA re-plied that the authority increasedthe power tariff on the requestof the federal government.

Meanwhile, Justice Jawad SContinued on Page 7

Girl thrown downfrom flat aftersexual assaultKARACHI—A girl sustainedinjuries after she was throngdown from the second storeyof an apartment in DefencePhase-2 after she wassubjected to sexual assault.

She was injured andshifted to Jinnah Hospital, saidmedia reports.

Police said that oneperson, who was arrested fromthe flat, alleged raped the girl

The accused had met thewounded girl somewhere onMonday. He was living in theflat on rent.—Online

US brushesoff France’scomplaints, says‘all nations’ spyWASHINGTON—The WhiteHouse on Monday brushed offFrance’s complaints about newallegations of eavesdroppingby a top US espionage agency,saying “all nations” conductspying operations.

French Prime MinisterJean-Marc Ayrault earlier saidhe was “deeply shocked” byreports that the US National

Security Agency had secretlymonitored tens of millions ofphone conversations withinFrance and demanded anexplanation.

The White House, in linewith its normal procedure,declined to comment on thespecific charges whichoutraged its ally.

“As a matter of policy, wehave made clear that theUnited States gathers foreignintelligence of the typegathered by all nations,” said

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Indian Armychief briefsAntony onLoC situationNEW DELHI—Army chiefGen Bikram Singh was onMonday suddenly called in bydefence min-ister A K Antonyto brief him about the ceasefireviolations by Pakistan on theLoC, days after the PrimeMinister voiced concern overthe handling of Keranoperations.

Gen Singh, who waschairing a high-level meeting ofhis senior commanders, left theconference fol-lowing acommunication from Antony’soffice. The unscheduledbriefing by the Army Chiefcomes after Prime MinisterManmohan Singh expressedconcern to the defence ministryover the handling of Armyoperations in Keran where itclaimed to have killed 12-13members of a group of 30-40terrorists in an operation thatlasted for 15 days but after itwas called off on October 8,not a single body was foundfrom there.

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Jakhrani takesoath asminister

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Cabinetswells to 17 ministers with therecent induction of Mir MumtazHussain Jakhrani, who took oathas the provincial Minister Mon-day at the Sindh Governor House.

Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat UlEbad Khan took oath from

Jakhrani.Sindh Chief Secretary had

conducted the oath-taking cer-emony as the Administrator.

Chief Minister Syed QaimAli Shah, Sindh Senior Educa-tion Minister Nisar AhmedKhuhro, Sindh Local Govern-

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SC rejectsShahrukh

Jatoi’s appealSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Supreme Court ofPakistan (SCP) Karachi Regis-try has sustained the verdict ofthe Sindh High Court (SHC)while rejecting the appeal ofShah Rukh Jatoi for transfer ofhis case from the Anti-TerroristCourt to a Session Court.

Jatoi had appealed to theSHC that his case should betransferred to a session courtafter removing clauses of terror-ism. However, the SHC had re-jected his appeal after which hehad approached the SCP for re-lief.

The case is pending with theATC being complex one afterthe parents of the slain ShahzebKhan had pardoned the convict

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US EnergySecy callson Nawaz

WASHINGTON—US EnergySecretary Ernest Moniz calledon Prime Minister NawazSharif on Monday and dis-cussed bilateral cooperation.The meeting is part of a se-ries of interactions betweentop United States officials andPrime Minister Sharif, who is

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LANDI KOTAL: Relatives of the persons killed in clash between the two groups over a land dispute in Ashkhel areaprotesting against political administration.

HYDERABAD: People standing in a queue to get their arms licenses computerized atDeputy Commissioner Office.

Man burnswife to death

RENALA KHURD—A manburnt his wife to death overa domestic dispute in anearby locality here on Mon-day. According to police,Muhammad Hanif of RahimBukhsh locality along withhis brother’s wife allegedlyset his wife on fire after sprin-kling kerosene oil on her.

She received critical burnwounds and was rushed toMayo Hospital Lahore whereshe died after some time. Shewas a mother of five. Ac-cused Hanif told newsmenthat he had not set her on firebut she self-immolated overdomestic disputes. Policehave registered a case againstthe accused.—APP

Nine-day digitalachieves workshop

for PBC staffOBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—A nine-dayDigital Achieves Workshopfor Pakistan BroadcastingCorporation staff began hereat National BroadcastingHouse on Monday for theircapacity building to trans-form and preserve precioussound treasures from ana-logue to digital format. Theworkshop has been orga-nized in collaboration withDeutsche Walle Academy.Speaking at the inauguralsession, Director GeneralPBC, Samina Parvez thankedDeutsche Walle for the ca-pacity-building of the staff ofsister organization in Paki-stan and inviting them towork in Germany.

She said we are proud ofbeing a friend of DeutscheWalle. Referring to the digiti-zation of PBC achieves, shetold that under an agreementwith the US Embassy andInternews Network, 3,500hours of 7,000 PBC record-ings will be preserved in digi-tal format in eighteen months.

This material is up to 10percent of the PBC holdings.Project Manager/ Trainer ofDeutsche Walle Academy,Hans Ludwig Marciniakhoped that the workshopwill prove helpful in preserv-ing precious historic record-ing of PBC for intending us-ers in future. The workshop,he added, will boost the ex-pertise of staff to transformthe recordings from ana-logue to digital format.

Iran hands over38 Pakistani

deporteesQUETTA—Iranian securityforce handed over 38 Paki-stani nationals to Leviesforce on Pak-Iran border inTaftan area of Chaghi district.Levies force informed hereon Monday that these Paki-stani nationals had been ar-rested by Iranian securityforce because they were liv-ing there without valid trav-elling documents.

The Levies force havehanded over these deporteesto Federal InvestigationAgency (FIA) for further in-terrogation after completinginitial investigation.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Constructionwork of Lowari road tunnelproject was going on and theproject would be completedwithin three years. An officialof the National Highway Au-thority (NHA) informed APPthat the work on Lowari Tun-nel Project started in Septem-ber 2005. The original tunnelof 8,150 meter was excavatedby January 2009. However,due to change in design fromrail tunnel to road tunnel in2009, additional excavation towiden the tunnel was beingcarried out now.

He said that so far over1570 meter tunnel has beenwidened and overallprogress has crossed 45 per-cent. To a question he saidthat Lowari Road Tunnel wasindispensable for the peopleof Chitral and Dir because itwas the only road link for the

people of these areas withthe rest of the country. More-over, this road tunnel will alsofacilitate access to Afghani-stan and Central Asian Re-publics and the country’strade, tourism and industrywill benefit from it, he said.

He said at times, work onthe tunnel had to be stoppeddue to financial constraintsand bad law and order situa-tion but now steps were be-ing taken to remove all hin-drances in the way of thismega project. The official saidthat the provincial govern-ment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwahas also pledged to allocateRs 3 billion from provincialPSDP for early completion ofvarious ongoing projects in-cluding Lowari tunnel.

He said when work on theLowari Tunnel project began,it was planned to be con-

TDCP instituteproducing

professionalsMULTAN—Institute of Tour-ism and Hotel Management(ITHM), being run by Tour-ism Development Corpora-tion Punjab (TDCP), is pro-ducing professionals. Theseprofessionals can serve thetourism sector not only athome but also abroad againsta handsome salary, ITHM of-ficials said on Monday. ITHMMultan in-charge MisbahIshaq told APP the tourismsector created 24 million jobsevery year in the world andPakistan youth could avail thewindow of opportunity toequip themselves with skillsand get high paid jobs.

ITHM introduced newand modern courses twoyears ago to cater to the de-mand of tourism and the ho-tel industry in accordancewith international standardswhile some courses are onlybeing offered by the insti-tute. The professionalsproduced by ITHM areserving travel agencies,hotels, hospitals, and dif-ferent airlines in Pakistanand other countries.—APPPHCBA discusses

procedure of civiljudges’ appointment

PESHAWAR—A general bodymeeting of Peshawar HighCourt Bar Association(PHCBA) with IshtiaqIbrahim in the chair dis-cussed the modes operandiregarding appointment ofcivil judges said a press re-lease issued here on Mon-day.

The meeting discussedthe matters related with theprocedure of civil judges ap-pointment and adopted aresolution called for the su-premacy of merit in the ap-pointments and conductingof the screening test throughNational Testing Service.

Participants of the meet-ing concurred that an experi-ence of three years should bemandatory for the appoint-ment and allocation of zonalseats should be made keep-ing in view the populationfactor.—APP

PESHAWAR—The death tollof the deadly encounter be-tween two rival groups overthe land dispute at TehsilLandi Kotal, Khyber Agencyhas reached to six persons,an official of political admin-istration said on Monday.

According to politicaladministration, the incidenthas occurred at Ashakhel vil-lage on October 18 whereMeena Zar and HabiburRehman groups after ex-changing hot words overland dispute, started firing.As result, three persons werekilled on the spot and 8 oth-ers injured. Later, three morecritically wounded personsdied in the hospitals. Thepolitical administration hasstarted investigation.

Sargodha: Three personswere killed in separate road

Four killed in road accidents

accidents in Bhagtanwalaand Sahiwal police limits onMonday.

Police said Abdullah, resi-dent of chak 75 SB, KotMomin was on the way tohome on motorbike alongwith his uncle unknown werehit by a speeding bike nearMoazzamabad. Conse-quently, Abdullah died on thespot while his uncle sufferedinjuries.

The injured was shiftedto local hospital but he failedto survive. The family de-clined to register police case.Meanwhile,a motorist HayatAli was killed when a speed-ing tractor trolley hit him nearNehang at Jhang road. Thedriver fled from the scene.The police registered caseagainst unknown ac-cused.—APP

Land dispute claims 6lives in Khyber Agency

Balochistan doctors threaten toquit if their colleagues not recovered

QUETTA—Doctors workingin Balochistan’s govern-ment hospital on Mondaythreatened to quit their ser-vices if their missing col-leagues were not recovered.They said the law enforce-ment agencies had failed toprovide security to the doc-tors in the province and an-nounced to form a task forceto ensure security for them-selves.

Addressing a press con-ference here at the QuettaPress Club, chairman ofDoctors Corps CommitteeDr Haqdad Tareen andpresident Pakistan MedicalAssociation (PMA)Balochistan chapter Dr Sul-

tan Tareen said some 18 doc-tors were kidnapped and laterkilled as their relatives couldnot give ransom amount tothe captors.

Dr Haqdad claimed thatdue to law and order situa-tion and sense of insecurity,84 doctors working inBalochistan had shifted tosafe areas. He said the doc-tors were compelled to thinkof resigning due to the fail-ure of law enforcement agen-cies. He, however, said thatpatients hailing from far-flung areas would be treatedat the out-patient depart-ments of government-runhospitals after 12 pm.

Dr Tareen said that the

associations of Balochistandoctors had also decided toform the task force in accor-dance with law, which wouldmeet tribal elders and othernotables of the province toensure safe and early recov-ery of missing doctors andprevent recurrence of suchincidents. He urged the tradeunions, politicians and mem-bers of civil society to playtheir role for the resolutionof the issues of theBalochistan doctors.Dr Iqbal Tareen,, Dr FaizHashmi, Dr Saadt, Dr Ali Dost,Dr Kalimullah, Dr MustafaJaffar, Jamal Shah Kakar werealso present on the occa-sion.—APP

QUETTA: Dr Haq Dad Tareen addressing a press conferenceagainst kidnapping of senior cardiologist Dr Munaf Tareen.

Lowari road tunnel project tobe completed in three years

SALAHUDDIN HAIDER

ALTHOUGH a verypowerful lobby in Pakistan believes that

the comingweek’s visitto Washing-ton byN a w a zShariff will be“journey intou n k n o w n ” ,those withm a t u r e dmindset differ with it, point-ing out that Pakistan wasnot only an old ally ofUnited States, but has suf-fered immensely also in thelatter’s war in Afghanistan.From overtures over theweek, it was obvious thatAmericans wanted to reas-sure their guest that while

misgivings were definitelythere, there was nothing tobe alarmed about it.

Pak-US ties, since 50s, haveseen ups and downs, but if re-alistically analysed, conceptualchanges have taken place inperceptions and philosophiesover the years. Strategies, andground realities have drasti-cally altered the course ofevents, and set a new path forthe world to trek. Deeply con-scious of these bitter facts,both Nawaz and Obama will bemeeting on Oct 23 to talk onissues, affecting their bilateralties, and roles in the regions,with the idea to redefine theirrespective perceptions and stillfinding common areas for co-operation based on realities ofthe situation.

Issues like Iranian gas pipe-line, China’s decision to sup-

ply two new atomic reactors,Pakistan’s role in post 2014Afghanistan,ties with India, theTaliban factor, its impact on In-dia, Afghanistan and Americaduring and after negotiationswith Hakeemullah Mehsud andmen, may be major concerns ofthe US, and Pakistan too has acase to present like immediatehalt to drone attacks, the endof dual, sometime confusedthinking from White House andState Department on Pak-Af-ghan negotiations, the abys-mally low level of relationshipwith India, American neutrality,or refusal to check India frompersistent firing on Line of Con-trol in Kashmir, trade and in-vestment, will top the Pakistanileader’s agenda.

Talks therefore, are likely tobe on specifics and spread overseveral hours, but while dis-

agreement are possible on morethan one issue, a completebreakdown can be flatly ruledout, because of their age-oldties, surviving the vagaries ofweather over half a century,analysts were unanimous. Theeagerness of the Americans tokeep Islamabad on their side,and not to alienate it completely,was visible from a number ofimportant concessions an-nounced during hurriedly ar-ranged meetings with financeminister Ishaq Dar in Washing-ton in this week.

These include the imme-diate release of $ 322 millionfor Pakistan from the CoalitionSupport Fund (CSF), an im-pressive chunk of $ 1.5 billionfor development projects fromthe Overseas Private Invest-ment Corporation, a privatebody of US entrepreneur but

acting under Washington ad-vice, a World Bank financingof $ 700 million for a ruralnorthern area hydro powerproject in a place called Dasu,and an additional $ 1 billionfrom international develop-ment assistance funds.

Yet another major an-nouncement was the releaseof 1.6 billion dollars for thedevelopment and defenceneeds of this country. TheCongress has already ap-proved the amount, and itshould be added State Banktreasury by January this year.

All these announcementon the eve of the premier’s visit,shows the hosts desire to re-move misgivings, if any, in theminds of the Pakistanis andassure Nawaz that they remaininterested in Pakistan’sprogress. A high level meeting

under Prime Minister withchiefs of army, General kayani,the ISI chief General ZaheerulIslam, foreign affairs and na-tional security adviser SartajAziz, among others, wholeheartedly approved negotia-tions with Taliban. The partici-pants felt encouraged by a lat-est statement from Talibanleader Hakeemullah Mehsudthat either side should setaside preconditions, and lookfor initiating the much awaiteddialogue.

Americans are not op-posed to talking to Taliban, buta religious scholar and politi-cian Maulana Fazlur Rehman,after his two-day secret visit toAfghanistan at a time whensecretary of state John Kerrytoo was in Kabul, claimed thathe had won over Afghan Presi-dent Hamid Karzai to his side.

Americans and Karzai, despitethree days of negotiations arestill faced with unresolved is-sues, but Fazlur Rehman wasabsolutely sure that he hadsecured the release of Paki-stani prisoners in Afghanistan,and that Karzai had agreed forPakistan’s greater role inpeaceful Afghanistan.

Such issues on the tablefor Pak-US dialogue at thehighest level, does raise ques-tions about their success, butsurely it will not be a “jour-ney into unknown”, thoughconsiderable debate is likelyon recent developments inthe region, including Chinarapidly rising role in Pakistan.This would cause a definiteconcern in American and In-dian camps, whose interestsin the region, have begun totake concrete shape.

Will Nawaz visit be really useful?Fake degree case

LHC extendsbail of PTI MNAGhulam Sarwar

LAHORE—Lahore HighCourt (LHC) on Monday ex-tended interim bail of PTI’sMNA Ghulam Sarwar in fakedegree case. During the hear-ing the Prosecutor told thecourt that case of fake degreehas been registered againstGhulam Sarwar and investi-gation against him has beenalso completed in which fakedegree of the accused hasbeen proved therefore interimbail should be canceled.

Ghulam Sarwar’s lawyersubmitted that all allegationsleveled against his client werebaseless and untrue thereforeinterim bail should be con-firmed. The court directed tosubmit complete record of thecase and adjourned the hear-ing till October 28.—INP

structed in two phases. In thefirst phase, the 8.54 kilometerslong tunnel was to be con-structed along with accessroads and in the second phase,a railway track was to be laid.The main tunnel had 7.14 metersmaximum height and 7.55 mmaximum width, with a 9.3 kmlong access road from Dir and9.2 km long road from Darosh.The auxiliary tunnel was twokilometers long.

However in October 2009,the government decided tochange its design from that ofa rail tunnel to a road one.Work on the project was dis-continued again in June 2011,primarily due to financial con-straints. Being one of the long-est tunnels in Asia, the LowariTunnel was of great nationalimportance and would contrib-ute to the socio-economic wellbeing of the area.—APP

BHALWAL—Secretary Gen-eral Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Paki-stan, Liaquat Baloch fearsthat there were notoriousmotives behind the restora-tion of US military aid for Pa-kistan. Talking to media per-sons here on Monday,Liaquat Baloch said that USfavoritism towards Pakistanis not meaningless and it willplace conditions over itwhich will not be in the inter-est of country and its people.

He blamed that there wassome hidden agenda and se-crecy of US as it announcedto restore military aid for Pa-kistan before Prime MinisterMian Nawaz Sharif landed inAmerica. The JI leader saidthe prime minister wouldhave to bring reforms to re-solve the crises faced by themasses and country.

Liaquat Baloch said thatcountrymen were expectingmuch from the Pakistan Mus-lim League-Nawaz (PML-N) ledfederal government but its firstthree months performance dis-appointed them and increasedtheir miseries manifold.

JI smells rat in USmilitary aid for Pakistan

He said that governmentinstead of bringing pledgedeconomic reforms clutchedmasses into the hands of In-ternational Monetary Fund(IMF). The JI leader said thatNawaz Sharif ’s visit to US

has become doubtful due torestoration of aid prior to hisarrival in America thereforeno better hopes could be at-tached with it. Commentingover launching of movementagainst the government,Liaquat Baloch said thatmasses are fed up of the gov-ernment already.—INP

Gandapur rememberedPESHAWAR—A condolence reference ontragic death of Provincial Minister forLaw and Parliamentary Affairs, IsrarUllah Gandapur has been held on Mon-day in the Committee Room of Planningand Development Department Civil Sec-retariat Peshawar. Secretary Planning andDevelopment Department Dr Asad AliKhan, Chief Economist P&D Shahab AliShah and DG M&E Dil Nawaz Marwatand all the P&DD Officers participated

in Condolence Reference. Dr Asad Ali Khan said that Gov-ernment had lost a credible, intelligent and devoted personwhich could not be recovered. He said that the countryspecially Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was passing through criti-cal time and prayed from Almighty Allah to give the countrypeace and prosperity. He and other officers rememberGandapur in good words. All the P&D Officers prayed Al-mighty Allah to grant space to the departed soul in heavenand give courage to the family to bear this irreparable loss.Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Law Department hereMonday held a condolence reference for Israrullah Gandapurwho was killed in a suicide attack at Kulachi area of D.I.Khan.The reference was chaired by Secretary Law, MuhammadArifeen and attended by large number of law departmentemployees. While expressing profound sorrow over the kill-ing of provincial minister, Secretary Law said that the vacuumcreated by his death would not be filled for a long time. Hesaid that the services of Israrullah Gandapur for the prov-ince would always be remembered. Later the participantsoffered Fateha for the departed soul and prayed for grant-ing courage to bereaved family members.—APP

Importance of PM’s US visitRaza Naqvi

ATTOCK—Pakistan attaches great im-portance to its relation with UnitedStates and Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif will discuss enhancingbilateral trade and investment issuesand relations during is visit to Amarica.State Minitser for Parliamnetary AffairsSheikh Aftab Ahmed said this while talk-ing to journalists here at his residence.He said that whole the nation was atthe back of Prime Minister and this visit

of the premier will broaden and deepen its relationshipwith USA. He said Prime Minister during his meetings withUS President and other officials would take up the issuesof counter terrorism efforts, economy and energy demandsand supply and fortification of bilateral economic and po-litical relations. He said that economic stability is prerequi-site for the sovereignty of the country, regional peace andsecurity specially in view of Afghan transition, post sce-nario after withdraw of US forces from Afghanistan in 2014and implications of the development in the neighbouringcountry for Pakistan. The minister said that Prime Ministerwill also take up the issues of energy, trade and economicdevelopment, regional stability and countering violent ex-tremism. He said that specially the issue of controversialdrone attacks/strikes which the US carries out against sus-pected militants will be also taken up as these attacks arecounter productive and impeding Pak efforts to bring nor-malcy to its restive areas. He said that curbing terrorism ison the agenda of Prime Minister as its end will guaranteeinvestment resulting prosperity as only peace could guar-antee development and straightening of economy.

Eradication of spurious medicinesBashir Ahmad Rahmani

HAFIZABAD—Minister of State forNational Health Services Regulationand Coordination, Saira Afzal Tararhas said that Federal Government hasallocated Rs.5 billion for giving loanto youth and 50 percent loan wouldbe given to women so that they couldearn their own livelihood in respect-able manners. Talking to media atHafizabad, she said that special mea-sures are being taken to eradicate sale

of spurious medicines. Replying to a question, she saidthat provision of different amenities of the life to peopleis the top priority of the present government of Paki-stan Muslim League (N) including cheap medicines. Re-sponding to another query, she said that all promisesmade during election campaign would fulfill graduallyg.Meanwhile the Punjab government is committed to pro-vide better healthcare to the masses at their doorstepsacross the province including Hafizabad. This wasstated by Member Provincial Assembly, Syed ShoaibShah Nawaz while talking to media at Pindi Bhattian. Hesaid that a sum of Rs.18 billion was being sent for com-pleting different development schemes across the prov-ince during current fiscal year. Meanwhile the TrafficPolice Hafizabad have challaned drivers/owners of 4,919different vehicles and fined Rs. 18,46,550/- for violatingtraffic rules in the district Hafizabad during the monthof September on the Special directions of SP TrafficHammad Raza Qureshi. According to press release ofTraffic Police Hafizabad issued here on Monday, trafficpolice have also suspended driving license of 15 driv-ers while 12 route permits was cancelled of differentvehicles for violating different traffic rules. Meanwhile,SI Traffic Police Muzaffar Alam delivered lectures indifferent schools and colleges of the district for creat-ing awareness about traffic rules and regulations.

SU Dadu campus holds festivalHY D E R A B A D—The University ofSindh Campus at Dadu Mondayorganised an entrepreneurs festival,which was inaugurated by Vice Chan-cellor Prof Dr Nazir A Mughal. Accord-ing to a University spokesman, stu-dents from all departments of the cam-pus took part in the festival where theMBA students set up stalls of differ-ent objects aimed to enhance the abili-ties of making a place in the business

field. The Vice chancellor on the occasion highlightedthe business opportunities in the country and appreci-ated the role of the graduates of Dadu Campus of theUniversity in starting their business in Dadu and otherparts of the province. He emphasised upon the studentsto analyse the environmental set up relating to smallindustry and promote it in an attempt to remove unem-ployment from the province in particular and the coun-try in general. The VC termed the role of women as im-perative for the economic future of the country and saidthe MBA holder women will help to a great extent inmaximising earnings and raising huge business. Amongothers former minister Zafar Ali Leghari and Pro-ViceChancellor University of Sindh Dadu Campus Dr AnwarAli Shah G Syed were also present on the occasion.Varsity admissions date extended: The Director Admis-sions University of Sindh has informed that last datefor submission of admission forms for admissions indifferent disciplines of Masters and Bachelors DegreeProgrammes has been extended up to Oct 23. He in-formed that the date for submission of admission formshas been extended in the best interest of the those whodesired to get admission in the university.—APP

PESHAWAR—The funeralprayer of four policemen, in-cluding two assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs), who werekilled by unknown assailantsat a security checkpoint onDilazak Road, were offered,police spokesmen said hereMonday.

Senior officials of KPgovernment and CCPO EjazKhan attended the funeralprayers. The Chief Ministerpaid tributes to the sacrificesof the policemen and saidtheir sacrifices would not gowaste. Later, their bodieswere shifted to the native ar-eas for burial.

ASI Fazal Wahab andASI Amin Jan along withconstables Ayub and Liaquatwere performing duty at acheckpoint on Dilazak Roadnear the Ring Road in the lim-its of Paharipura Police Sta-tion when the attackersopened fire on them ataround 8:00 pm. As result, thetwo ASIs alongwith Con-stables Ayub and Liaquatwere killed in the indiscrimi-

nate fire.The relatives of the slain

cops earlier placed their bod-ies on the main Grand TrunkRoad near the Balahisar Fortto register their protestagainst KP Government fornot taking action againstthose involved in killing ofpolicemen in the city. Heavycontingents of police ar-rived at the spot andlaunched a search operation.However, no arrests weremade.

Meanwhile, the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Governor, En-gineer Shaukatullah hasstrongly condemned the kill-ing of the police jawans in aterrorist attack in here onSunday evening and ex-pressed his deep sorrowover the loss of preciouslives. While, strongly con-demn the heinous crime, theGovernor has expressed theconfidence that the elementsinvolved in the gory incidentwill no more remain at largeand will be brought to courtof law and justice.—APP

Committee constituted for security of KP prisons

Phase-wise dismissalof corrupts on the cardPESHAWAR—The InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP)Khyber Pakhtunkhwa NasirKhan Durrani has orderedphase-wise dismissal of cor-rupt, incompetent and crimi-nal SHOs rank police officersfrom the force. This order wasissued from Central PoliceOffice (CPO) here Monday inwhich all Regional Police Of-ficers and District Police Of-ficers were directed to dis-miss all corrupt and incom-petent SHOs rank officer inthree phases from the service.

They were further di-rected to suspend such ele-ments in 1st phase from theirpost in three days and order

inquiry against them. It hasalso been directed that in-quiry should be completed inthe stipulated time and reportbe submitted to CPO so that2nd phase could be startedagainst such unscrupulouselements. They have furtherbeen directed to post newcompetent and good reputa-tion officers as SHO with theprior approval of the boardconstituted for this purpose.

It merits mention that 2ndphase would be initiated af-ter submitting of the inquirystarted in the 1st phase andin 3rd and last phase suchelements could be completelyshunt-out from the force.

Meanwhile, the governmentof Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hasconstituted a committee inpursuance of provincialcabinet’s decision to raise adedicated force named as“Prisons Security Force” forsecurity of prisons in KP.

Zakir Hussain Afridi, In-spector General of Prisonswould act as Chairman, whileAkhtar Saeed Turk, DeputySecretary Home Department,Col. Momin Baig, PrincipalElite Training and KhalidMuhammad, Section OfficerHome Department would bethe members of committee,said an official statement hereMonday.—APP

Long time meat storage dangerous for healthISLAMABAD—Storgae ofsacrificial animals meat in re-frigerators for long period oftime may become hazardousto health, experts warned.On the occasion of Eid-ulAzha, it is a tradition to dis-tribute a large part of sacrifi-cial animals meat among theunderprivileged, relativesand friends, as well as pre-serve it for later use. How-ever, using of stored meatafter many days may lead todigestive disorders, diar-rhoea, food poisoningalongwith symptoms likebloated stomach, abdominalpain, indigestion, and con-stipation, so people shouldavoid storing meat formonths since the outage ofpower affects the quality of

the stored meat.A private clinic Dr Uzair

Awan said that the quality ofmeat is affected if it were notpreserved in a certain tem-perature. Do not jam-packyour freezer; allow proper aircirculation. “Many bacteriapresent in the meat die if itwere properly cooked, butpeople should avoid meat ifit has a foul smell, he added”.A physician Salma said meatcould be stored for manydays in proper cooling, butprolonged hours of loadshedding prevent constantcooling, causing health com-plications.

Barbecuing meat is alsounsafe for health since themeat is not properly cookedthat way and, in most cases,

could lead to contracting dif-ferent diseases, she added.The advantages of havingmeat are helpful to youngpeople in the process ofgrowth. But over eating ofany thing cause malady andis harmful for health. Eatingmeat should also be balancedwith healthy foods like veg-etables and fruits, and alsoregular exercise can workwonders. Researchers havefound that defrosted meat canrapidly become contaminatedwith bacteria. The finding maypartly explain the UK’s food-poisoning epidemic.

Work at the Centre for Celland Tissue Research at theUniversity of York has shownthat thawed tissue is riddledwith capillary-like canals

through, which microorgan-isms can travel, The GuardianReported. Ashley Wilson, di-rector of the centre and leadinvestigator, warned that thepreviously overlooked prob-lem should be taken seriouslyby consumers, butchers, su-permarkets and the Food Stan-dards Agency after his resultsare published. “It is a poten-tial risk,” he said. “Our resultssuggest that you should usefrozen meat the same day as itis thawed.”

The team used novel mi-croscopy techniques to re-veal the ultra-structure ofchicken breast. They foundthat it underwent a processof micro-canalisation. Elon-gated ice crystals align them-selves with muscle fibres as

the chicken freezes. Whenit thaws, the crystals meltand leave behind a series oflinked voids once filled bywater, salts and proteins.This network is connectedto the chicken’s surface,which is often contaminatedwith microorganisms suchas salmonella.

“The micro-canals andtheir contents provide theperfect environment for theproliferation of bacteria,” DrWilson said. When the sci-entists exposed thawedchicken to non-pathogenicbacteria, they found thatthe bugs could penetratemore than 10mm into themeat in eight hours. Infec-tion of fresh meat was con-fined mostly to its sur-face.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The PlanningCommission of Pakistan hasso far released Rs63.476 bil-lion under its Public SectorDevelopment Programme(PSDP) for various projectsagainst the total allocationsof Rs540 billion for the fiscalyear 2013-14. According thedata of Planning Commissionof Pakistan, out of these al-locations, Rs11960.403 mil-lion have been released forvarious projects of PakistanAtomic Energy Commission,out of its total allocations of

Rs52300 million earmarkedunder PSDP for FY 2013-14.

Similarly, a sum ofRs7312.961 million has beenreleased to National HighwayAuthority out of total alloca-tion of Rs63038.619 million forthe current fiscal year. Out ofthe total funds of Rs25,739.199million allocated for the Na-tional Health Service Regula-tions and Coordination Divi-sion for the current year, thePlanning Commission releasedRs5644.614 million so far.

The Commission also re-

leased Rs5589.679 million forRailway Division out of its to-tal allocations of Rs30,964.894million whereas Rs160 millionhave been released for Na-tional food Security and Re-search Division out of its totalallocations of Rs750 million forthe year. Rs3698 million havebeen released for Higher Edu-cation Commission out of itstotal allocation of Rs18490 mil-lion for the year 2013-14whereas out of total alloca-tions of Rs2363.974 million ear-marked for Law, Justice.—APP

Govt releases Rs63.476bfor development projects

PESHAWAR—Former Infor-mation Minister KP and ANPleader Mian Iftikhar Hussaincondemned the assassina-tion of four policemen by theunknown militants inPeshawar city the other dayand urged the provincialgovernment for taking secu-rity measures to avoid suchincidents in future.

Talking to media-men af-ter inquiring health of the in-jured cops at LRH, he said, theprevious ANP-PPP govern-ment had formulated a viablesecurity plan to protectPeshawar from the incidentsof terrorism and had deputedpolice men at all the checkpoints. But the present gov-ernment soon after coming

ANP favours talks with Talibaninto power removed policemenfrom 146 check points makingthe provincial capital insecure,he alleged. Mian Iftikhar main-tained that if policemen are notsafe at their check posts thenwhat would be the conditionof the ordinary people.

Such incidents create dis-appointment and unrest inthe security forcesresultantly morale of thepeople shaken which is verydifficult to restore. Thereforethe government functionar-ies should demonstrate cour-age and should be presentamong the masses in suchdifficult times. “We favouredtalks with the militants”, hesaid adding, governmentshould forthwith announce

their planning to this effectso that legal and constitu-tional measures could betaken to protect lives andproperties of the people fromfurther destruction.

The former KP Informa-tion Minister also visited thehospital and inquired afterthe health of the injured ofthe tragic incident andprayed for eternal peace ofthe departed souls of theslain cops and expressed soli-darity with the bereaved fami-lies. The relatives of the de-ceased, who had blocked themain G.T.Road as a protestagainst killing of the fourcops, reopened the road onthe appeal of the ANP leaderMian Iftikhar.—APP

Cleanlinesscampaign launched

SHAFFAAT MALIK

TALAGANG—Tehsil Munici-pal Administration Talaganghas launched a cleanlinesscampaign to make the townclean. Administrator TMA,Tanveer ur Rehman said thatevery effort is being made tomake Talagang a model town,this is duty of every one toplay its role for beautificationand decoration of the town.

*****Vehicles and pedestrians areforced to pass through brokenmanholes in Talagang .Mainroad and most of the streets ofTalagang are showing the samepicture and on some placespeople have put stones toavoid accidents which is creat-ing problems for motorists andmay cause of any serious acci-dent especially in night hours.

Robber policeconstable caught

red-handedMULTAN—A robber policeconstable was caught red-handed by the public duringan attempt of robbery inMultan. According to thepolice, four armed robberssnatched 22 thousand ru-pees from a youth, SaghirAhmad, in the jurisdiction ofSaital Mari Police Station.The local residents came toknow about the robbery at-tempt and they startedshouting for help. They alsomanaged to capture one rob-ber while shouting but histhree accomplices fled awayfrom the scene.—INP

Four slain cops funeralheld, CM pays tributes

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Me-teorological Department(PMD) Monday forecastmainly dry weather for mostparts of the country duringthe next few days. Accord-ing to the synoptic situation,continental air was prevailingover most parts of the coun-try.

Dry weather is expectedin most parts of Punjab,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sindh,Balochistan, Kashmir andGilgit Baltistan during thenext 24 hours. The maximumtemperatures recorded dur-

Dry weather to prevailing the last 24 hours wereIslamabad 31 C, Lahore 34 C,Karachi 34 C, Peshawar 32 C,Quetta 25 C, Skardu 22 C,Murree 22 C, Muzzafarabad

31 C, Gilgit 28 C, Faisalabad34 C, Multan 35 C andHyderabad 37 C.—APP

FAISALABAD—A 13-year-oldgirl suffering from polio wasallegedly raped by two menin Faisalabad. According tomedia reports the accusedpersons raped the girl, whohailed from Jaranwala, andlater escaped from the site ofincident. The report, how-ever, did not specify how therape took place. The girl wasimmediately shifted to a hos-pital in a serious condition.

According to the police,the alleged rapists resided inthe same year as the victim.The authorities registered acase against the suspects.Later, the police claimed thatone of the accused men hadbeen arrested whereas inves-tigations were underway toapprehend the other sus-pect. In a separate incident

13-year-old paralysedgirl raped by two men

on October 19, the Timergarapolice arrested the rapist of aseven year old girl.

Fazal Mabood, stationhouse officer of theTimergara police, said thepolice arrested the accusedon the complaint of the girl.He said the girl, resident ofShingrai, Timergara reportedto the police she was rapedby a youth, who runs a streetshop. According to the vic-tim she was handcuffed bythe accused when she wentto his shop to buy toffees,and raped. The Timergarapolice registered a case un-der sections 376/511 of theZina Ordinance and arrestedthe accused. Medical reportand circumstantial evidencealso proved the claim of thegirl.—Online

FAISALABAD: People standing near a coaster, which overturned on Canal Road due to loosening of tyre rod.

ABBOTTABAD: Afghan citizens taking an old woman to hospital on wheelbarrow in-stead of ambulance.

MEPCO imposesRs202m fine on 9,867

power pilferers

MULTAN—Multan ElectricPower Company (MEPCO)in collaboration with Dis-trict Task Force and FIAteams imposed f ine overRs 202 mill ion to 9,867power pilferers across theregion. According toMEPCO sources, the Dis-trict Task Force, MEPCOand FIA teams conductedseparate raids across theregion and caught 9,867power pilferers from vari-ous places for steal ingmore than 18.2 million elec-tricity units.

However, the teams put6,102 applications with policefor registration of FIRsagainst the power pilferersout of whom 2,743 cases havebeen registered in police sta-tions concerned.—APP

Pakistan needs actionnot just Ordinances

THE Government, on Sunday, issued yet another ordinance in anattempt to tighten noose around the neck of terrorists and thoseinvolved in heinous crimes. The new Ordinance enhances the

level of sentences and also envisages establishment of special PoliceStations to handle cases relating to terrorism and other crimes of seri-ous nature. It also seeks designation of Special Federal Courts to ren-der inexpensive justice with promptitude.

It is the duty of the Government to ensure protection of life andproperty of the citizens and with this in view the new piece of lawwould surely go a long way in moving towards realization of that cher-ished objective. The terrorists and hardened criminals are moving freelyeven after carrying out target killing of one hundred innocent peoplejust because of lacuna in the existing laws. Credit goes to the Commit-tee headed by PML-N’s legal brain Zahid Hamid for coming out withnecessary recommendations for amendments and improvements inthe existing laws and the Government has promptly enforced them.Hopefully, the situation would change after implementation of themeasures envisaged in the new Ordinance. However, we believe thatin the first place even the enhanced punishments are unlikely to serveas a deterrent as the Government has put a cap on the death penalty. Itis beyond comprehension that a person who takes dozens of innocentlives is just awarded maximum punishment of ten years and is freeagain to indulge in same criminal activities. Secondly, we believethat if there is genuine will and determination on the part of police,courts and the executive, even the existing laws were sufficient totake care of the situation we are currently finding ourselves in. There-fore, the main issue is of implementation and action and not just issu-ance of Ordinances. We hope that police would carry out speedy in-vestigations followed by speedy trials by undeterred judges.

India’s unrealisticstand on Kashmir

INDIAN Foreign Minister’s statement stubbornly rejecting third partyintervention for the resolution of Kashmir issue soon after the pub-

lication of the news quoting Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif as sayingthat he had, in 1999, sought US role in resolving the lingering issue,indicates that New Delhi is not ready to listen to the voice of reason.The statement has not caused any surprise because as they say, it is inline with Indian policy on the issue.

There was a silver lining that since the world now appears to be allset for the resolution of ticklish issues threatening international peace,India would agree for the solution of the long-pending dispute for du-rable and sustainable peace in the region. The Prime Minister of Paki-stan had talked about the involvement of the US as confidence in UN isfast eroding as is reflected in rejection of Security Council membershipby Saudi Arabia. The Saudi refusal to sit on the UNSC seat clearlyindicates that the world body has become useless, unable to resolveconflicts and is acting as a pawn in the hands of the West. While worldover terrorism is being condemned and India too talks of controllingthe menace but at the same time it is indulging in the worst form ofState terrorism in held Kashmir to suppress the freedom struggle ofthe people. The need of the hour is that the US and international com-munity must take serious notice of the unrealistic Indian stance onKashmir and find out options to resolve the issue in line with aspira-tions of the people along with other international issues. The state-ment by the Indian Foreign Minister has dashed the hopes of solutionof the issue but we still believe that the leadership in New Delhi willultimately realize that without solution of Kashmir issue peace cannotbe established in the region for which people are yearning.

Gas discontinuation mayadd to mass unrest

INDUSTRIAL sector and the CNG industry across the country is upin arms against the decision of the Government to cut supply of gas

to them for three winter months under the pretext of short supply andhigher demand. Though under agreement, the gas is provided subjectto availability in winter, yet it is a harsh decision that would cripplethe industry.

No doubt there is shortage of gas and the CNG stations are al-ready being closed for four days in Punjab but the industrial sectorneeds uninterrupted supply of gas and electricity to keep the wheelmoving. The draconian decision, apparently taken to ensure supplyof gas to power plants and households during winter, will have mul-tiple negative implications including closure of industrial units, bankdefaults, loss of jobs to millions of workers, reduction in tax rev-enue, frustration on the part of the CNG users, leading to furtherslump in economic activities. The businessmen had lot of expecta-tions from the new Government and things started moving in theright direction in first three months but the decision to cut the gassupply is sending negative signals. We say so because when there isuncertainty about supply of energy, how the businessmen would gofor investment in the existing or new projects. Though the gap oftwo billion cubic feet of gas in demand and supply is too big tobridge, yet some remedial measures could be taken to manage it. Ata time when all the attention of the Government is devoted to en-sure supply of electricity, gas supply is equally important. We aretalking to import electricity from Central Asian Republics and Rus-sia, which is appreciable, but same urgency is needed for import ofgas from Iran and Turkmenistan. In the meantime, the Governmentmust re-consider its decision and ensure supply of gas to industrialsector and the CNG stations for at least three days a week.

Dismal economic indicators

I am willing to loveall mankind, exceptan American.

The dronedestruction

IN a thought-provoking reporton the misuse of drones,Christof Heyns concluded that

deploying them as a form of globalpolicing has undermined interna-tional security. The emeritus lawprofessor from South Africa, in hisstudy submitted to the UN GeneralAssembly, said that the trend ofsending down drones to target face-less and little-known enemy willencourage more states and terror-ist groups to acquire unmannedweapons. The report, which islikely to be debated at the UN Gen-eral Assembly on October 25, callsfor international laws to be re-spected rather than ignored.

The drone syndrome, of late,had been at the heart of argument indeciphering the controversial war onterrorism. Though the United Stateshad used the unmanned objects forspying and precision targeting overseveral countries of Asia and theMiddle East, such as Afghanistan,Iran, Yemen, and elsewhere, Paki-stan had become the bleedingground as more than 2,000 peoplelost their lives in its restive tribalzones during the last 10 years. BenEmmerson, UN special rapporteuron human rights and counter-terror-ism, however, said that owing tounderreporting and obstacles to ef-fective investigation, those figureswere likely to be an “underestimate”of civilian deaths. This brings to forean issue that is callously describedin war jargon as ‘collateral damage’,literally ignoring innocent and non-combatant civilian casualties. To putthe history of aerial destruction inits right perspective, Emmerson hascalled on Pentagon authorities toreveal its own data on the level ofcivilian casualties inflicted throughthe use of remotely piloted aircraftin classified operations in Pakistanand elsewhere. It is an issue, whichneeds to be addressed in its properperspective, if the world powers areliterally interested in putting an endto human excesses at the hands ofstate-centric forces. Which is whythe rapporteur notes, “the claim thatdrones are more precise in targetingcannot be accepted uncritically, notleast because terms such as ‘terror-ist’ or ‘militant’ are sometimes usedto describe people who are in truthprotected civilians”. That is exactlythe enigma these days as Pakistan,Afghanistan and the Western pow-ers galvanise their synergies to bro-ker a thaw with the disgruntled ele-ments of yesteryears by bringingthem on board. The Taliban, and thelike, have thus come up as a pre-condition to stop drone strikes be-fore they could commit for dialogue.While the policy of eliminating ter-ror through aerial strikes and re-mote-controlled gadgets hasn’tworked, it’s time to rethink a strat-egy that is more inwardly lookingand comes to engage the target inan interactive manner. Merely elimi-nating the ‘enemy’ has worsenedground realities. — Khaleej Times

*****

Weed outremnants ofautocracy

THE political system, that ofa multi-party democracy,that the Maldives has opted

for has the potential to come apartat the seams. The future shows omi-nous signs of unrest, which in turncould affect this tiny nation’s pros-pects across multiple platforms. Thecrisis seems to be gathering momen-tum as authorities have blocked thepresidential elections, when it ap-peared that the voters were leaningin favour of Mohammad Nasheed,a democratically-elected leader,who was toppled roughly 20months ago by outgoing PresidentMohammad Waheed.

The outgoing premier isrumoured to be loyal to former au-tocrat Maumoon Abdul Gayoom,currently in political hibernationbut still possessing influence in thecountry’s politics. The internationalcommunity, particularly Maldives’neighbours, must insist that thewheels of democracy be allowedto turn. Unnecessary unrest couldaffect trade and commerce. TheMaldives must exorcise the ghostsof the past. It cannot wish for de-mocracy without cleaning out thedeep-rooted remnants of autocracy.The people’s will is paramount anddemocratic elections must be a plat-form for that. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

THE International MonetaryFund in its latest report on global outlook warned that inter-

national growth would take anotherbig hit if the US failed to raise itsdebt ceiling. As it was expected, Re-publicans and Democrats agreed toraise the debt limit to resolve thecrisis. Anyhow, in a separate chap-ter on Pakistan and Middle East, theIMF in its report admitted that re-duction in energy subsidies and de-preciation of rupee will likely resultin higher inflation in Pakistan. Itmeans that people will have to paymore for electricity and depreciationof rupee. There will be increase ininput costs of the industries in addi-tion to enhanced sales tax by two percent, which will be passed on to theconsumers. Earlier, IMF conditionsfor the current loan included thatIndia be given the status of MostFavored Nation; Pakistan shouldimport electricity from India, andexerted indirect pressure to do awaywith the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline.This amounts to bartering awayPakistan’s sovereignty.

Pakistan’s Economic Survey2012-13, which was released a daybefore announcement of 2012-13budget, stated that the countrymissed almost all the targets in dif-ferent sectors of the economy. TheGDP growth rate in the fiscal yearthat ended on 30the June 2013 re-

mained at 3.6 per centagainst a target of 4 per-cent. The fiscal deficit was8.5 per cent against the tar-get of 4.7 per cent, andagainst 14. 9 per cent tar-get for investment thecountry could achieve 14.2per cent. Foreign DirectInvestment was projected

at 1.8 billion dollars, but remained800 million dollars. Public debtsoared to Rs. 14000 trillion i.e. 61 percent of the Gross Domestic Product,which is in violation of Fiscal respon-sibility Act. Ishaq Dar said that theInternational Monetary Fund (IMF)would be approached for fresh loanprogram to repay the previous ones.This knocks the bottom of the pre-tense of PML-N leaders who havebeen critical of the IMF loans orgrants from other countries, but nowthey do not feel qualms for treadingthe beaten track.

Pakistan is indeed facing eco-nomic challenges vis-a-vis fiscal defi-cit, trade deficit and current accountdeficit. Deteriorating law and ordersituation, corruption, flawed deci-sions of inept leadership in the past,energy shortfall and prohibitive costof energy have made many industriesunviable, adversely impacting ex-ports and the exchequer. The inevi-table result is that Pakistan has missedall economic targets. As regards tradedeficit i.e. excess of imports overexports, Pakistan has been trying toovercome this problem for more thanhalf a century. Yet in 2012-13Pakistan’s imports were $40 billionand exports at $24 billion resultingin trade deficit of $16 billion. It isunfortunate that despite more than$13 billion remittances annually fromoverseas Pakistanis during the last

two years, our current account defi-cit was more than $3 billion. Andgovernment had to meet this short-fall and fiscal deficit through loansbecause of lowest rate of tax ratio toGDP ratio to tax. Similar was the casewith ratio of savings to the GDP.

It is common knowledge that forhigher growth there has to be substan-tial increase in investment. But thepresent rate of savings to GDP isaround 12 per cent, which is lower ifcompared with the developing coun-tries and emerging economies of theworld. To have a 5 per cent growth,investment ratio of savings to GDPshould be at least 15 per cent on thebasis of ICOR 3:1, and especiallywhen foreign investment is not forth-coming. The problem is that inflationhinders the capacity to save, as iterodes the incomes of the people, es-pecially salaried class and fixed in-come groups. However, the most se-rious aspect of our dire economic situ-ation is the growing public debt,which is more than 64 per cent of theGross Domestic Product. Pakistan’stotal debt amounts to Rs.14120 bil-lion ($136 billion); foreign compo-nent is $60 billion and domestic debtis Rs.7880 billion ($76 billion).

It was due to the accumulationof debt-mountain that Pakistan hadto allocate more than Rs.1000 billionfor debt-servicing alone. It is unfor-tunate that despite being a resource-ful country, Pakistan has been ableto pile up such a huge public debt. Infact, we have been producing less andconsuming more; earning less andspending more. It should be borne inmind that the magnitude of the pub-lic debt limits the fiscal space to in-vest in human development, in infra-structure, and also to enhance capac-ity to build strong defence. The

Pak-US ties an eyewash?

AT this critical hour whenPakistan’s internal and external crises have intensified,

the visit of Prime Minister NawazSharif to the United States and meet-ing with the President BarackObama at the White House on Oc-tober 23, this year is of great signifi-cance in wake of rapidly changingscenario in this region.

In the recent years, Pak-US tieshave passed through various ups anddowns, and trust-deficit still existsbetween them. In this regard, afterthe 9/11 tragedy, Pakistan joined theUS war against terrorism as front-line state and Islamabad was grantedthe status of non-NATO ally byWashington because of the successesachieved by Pakistan’s Army andcountry’s Inter-Services Intelligence(ISI) against the Al Qaeda militants.Within a few years when the US-ledNATO forces felt that they are fail-ing in coping with the stiff resis-tance of the Taliban, they startedfalse allegations against Pak Armyand ISI of supporting the AfghanTaliban. On the other side, cross-border terrorism has continued inPakistan, and heavily-equippedmilitants have been entering in ourcountry from Afghanistan’s side,who have so far killed several per-sonnel of the security forces.

However, differences increasedbetween Pakistan and the US be-cause ISI thwarted the anti-Pakistanactivities of the agents of Blackwa-ter and CIA which had started re-cruiting Pakistani nationals whowere vulnerable. On the informa-tion of this top spy agency,Pakistan’s establishment expelled

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threats faced by Pakistan have to beunderstood in the light of fast chang-ing regional and international situa-tion, which add urgency to revivethe economy so that adequate re-sources could be allocated to defendPakistan’s integrity and sovereignty.It is painful to note that every gov-ernment in Pakistan continued totake loans by accepting and comply-ing with harsh IMF conditions onthe pretext that they have to take theloans to pay back the previous loansto avert default.

But the conditions of the IMFvis-à-vis increase in the rates of elec-tricity, gas and other utilities pro-duces ‘the multiplier effect’, lead-ing to cost-push inflation making itimpossible for the local producersto compete in the world market. Inthe domestic market, people have topay more for everything, whicherodes the incomes of salaried classand fixed income groups, pushingmore and more people below thepoverty line.

But this crisis is of our ownmaking – inept policies and the ram-pant corruption that has eaten intothe vitals of the nation. The govern-ment should restructure the publicsector enterprises because on theaverage these state enterprises arecausing a loss of more than Rs. 500billion per year, in addition to wast-ages, corruption, loot and plunder inother government departments,which is estimated around Rs.1000billion per year. Last but not theleast; imports should be rationalized,and the government must show zero-tolerance to corruption, tax evasion,wastages and mismanagement inpublic sector enterprises.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

several American spies oper-ating in the country. On theother side, US withheld $800million in military aid to pun-ish its army and ISI.High-level strategic dia-

logue among the US, Paki-stan and Afghanistan set for sched-uled for February 23-24, 2011 inWashington had been postponed dueto a serious crisis, sparked by thearrest of an American, RaymondDavis who was involved in murder-ing two Pakistani nationals.

Since May 2, 2011, Pak-US re-lations further deteriorated whenwithout informing Islamabad, UScommandos killed Osama Bin Ladenin a covert military operation. Andin the aftermath of the deliberate airattack on Salala Army outposts onNovember 26, 2011 in MohmandAgency, which killed 26 soldiers,Pakistan’s bold steps such as vaca-tion of the Shamsi Airbase and clo-sure of NATO ground supply routesthrough its territory to Afghanistanfor seven months deepened the gulfbetween both the countries.

Moreover, by setting aside Par-liament resolution, the trip of DG ISILt. Gen. Zaheerul Islam to America,rallies and processions of Pakistan’spolitical and religious parties, whileignoring the Pak-US new rapproche-ment, CIA-operated drone attackshave kept on going on FATA.

Although by rejecting US pres-sure and defying the threat of sanc-tions, on March 11, 2013, Pakistan’sPresident Asif Ali Zardari inaugu-rated the much-delayed section of a$7.5 billion Iran-Pakistan (IP) gaspipeline project with Iran, yet Ameri-can duress continues as part of USduplicity with Islamabad. Particu-larly, Pakistan’s economic crisis hasaccelerated, bringing about other-re-lated problems like load shedding,unemployment, soaring prices ofproducts and dependence upon the

US-led developed countries, and IMFand World Bank for financial aid.

In these adverse circumstances,Nawaz-Obama meeting is of greatimportance. In this context,Pakistan’s Finance Minister IshaqDar already indicated on October 14that Pak-US talks would be focusedon American aid to stabilize Paki-stan in various sectors like defense,economic, trade and investment,while Islamabad would satisfyAmerican concerns regarding anti-terrorism measures including safetyof nuclear weapons.

Notably, on October 18, in an of-ficial statement, Pakistan has askedIran to construct the Pakistani sideof the gas pipeline because interna-tional sanctions were preventingIslamabad from raising funds for thisproject. Earlier Ishaq Dar also ex-pressed similar thoughts due toAmerican pressure.

Nevertheless, sources suggestthat during the Nawaz-Obama dia-logue, Pakistan would reiterate itsdemand of civil nuclear cooperationfor power generation and greater ac-cess to the US markets or preferen-tial trade agreement for Pakistan soas to upgrade its economy. In thisrespect, recently, a top US officialstated that Washington is also con-sidering supply of civil nuclear tech-nology to Islamabad.

In fact, there is no guarantee thatthe US administration would fulfill itscommitments because it has been play-ing double game with Pakistan. In thisconnection, as to how current Pak-USinteraction will become positive asAmerica which signed a nuclear dealwith New Delhi in 2008, intends tomake India a great power of Asia tocontain China and destabilize Pakistanas well as Iran. Therefore, it has rap-idly been boasting India in varioussectors, especially defense.

It is mentionable that Pakistan’sprovince, Balochistan where China

has invested billion of dollars to de-velop Gwadar seaport which couldlink Central Asian trade with rest ofthe world, irritates both America andIndia. It has even shifted the centralgravity of the Great Game to Paki-stan. In the recent past, China hassigned a number of agreements withPakistan to help the latter in diversefields, and Islamabad handed overthe Gwader port to Beijing.

As regards US shrewd diplo-macy, entrenched in AfghanistanAmerican CIA, Indian RAW andIsraeli Mossad have perenniallybeen supporting subversive activi-ties and sectarian violence in vari-ous parts of Pakistan—especially inBalochistan through their affiliatedmilitant groups such as Baloch Lib-eration Army (BLA), Jundollah(God’s soldiers) and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) includingother insurgent groups to fulfill thesecret strategic designs of US, In-dia and Israel. Besides martyringseveral personnel of security forces,these foreign-backed entities kid-napped and massacred manyPunjabis, Pushtuns, Shias, people ofHazara community and patriotBalochis including Iranian Shias. Inthe past few years, they abductedand killed many Chinese and Iraniannationals in Pakistan.

Nonetheless, reality behind Pak-US strategic partnership is that theUS has been playing a double gamewith Pakistan, sometimes cajolingthe latter with economic and mili-tary aid, while appreciating its mili-tary operations, sometimes blamingit for cross-border insurgency in Af-ghanistan. So, Pak-US relationshipis just an eyewash. It is confined toAmerican war against terrorism, asUS also needs Pakistan’s help tillNATO forces complete their with-drawal from Afghanistan in 2014.—The writer is Lahore-basedfreelance columnist.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

Sajjad ShaukatEmail: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

Voice of the People

Sunnah-e-Ibrahimi

COL. RIAZ JAFRI (RETD)

Some of the city streets, especiallyin the olden city interior, are stink-ing with such a bad foul stench andsmell that it is not possible for oneto walk through them without cov-ering one’s nose with a hanky. Thesestreets are literally littered withoffals, innards and entrails of theanimals that have been sacrificed bythe faithful in almost every housethere. Each one of them is nowblaming the government and themunicipal corporation for not doingits duty and clearing the mess. I saywhy blame the city governments,they are doing their best but themagnitude of the task is just beyondthem to do it all in a day or two. Asa matter of fact their janitorial staffworks overtime and is not even al-lowed to proceed on Eid holidays.

I think it is we who are to beblamed for it all? It is we who with-out any consideration what so everfor others or the unhygienic condi-tions that it will create, simply throwthe innards outside our houses openin the streets without bothering theleast about what we are doing.Where is that ‘Safaii - Nisf Eeman’which is preached so ardently to usday in and day out? Do we realizethat Nisf Eeman could constitute allour Salats, Siam and probably Hajjput together !! This calamity is nota one time affair but is repeated ev-ery year and shall keep itself repeat-ing until we prohibit the indiscrimi-nate slaughtering at each and everyplace and wherever one wishes todo it. There should be proper slaugh-terhouses – preferably – outside thecity skirts where such sacrificeshould be carried out. Incidentally,such a practice would also be in ex-act accordance with the Sunnah eIbrahimi. Remember, he didn’t tryto sacrifice his son Hazrat IsmailA.S. at his home but took him faraway from his house to do so. Sothe exact spirit of the Sunnah wouldbe to carry out the sacrifice awayfrom one’s house.—Rawalpindi

Seizure of drugsat Jinnah Airport

MUHAMMAD ADEEL

Now days Security has become a ba-sic need due to terrorism in theglobe. Thousands of people havebeen killed just because of securitylapse. The world’s security dimen-sions have changed and the way ofpeople’s living has also changed. Asterrorism is rising,’the security sys-tem also expanding in the wholeworld. Customs department’s out-fits ant entry and exit points are thebackbone of any security of coun-try. If customs officials work prop-erly then nobody would dare indulgein illegal acts.

The positive thing is that theCustoms Drug Enforcement Cell’sKarachi Airport unit is doing theirjob without a shadow of a doubt.DEC staff recovered heroin fromPIA flight PK-787 departing forLondon. Had the flight departedwithout recovering Heroin, it wouldhave been one of the shocking mo-ments for Pakistan.—Karachi

Safe dentalpractice

DR MAHMOOD A KHWAJA

IT is reported in some studies thatnumerous dental clinics and dentalhospitals in Pakistan have staff thatdoes not usually have professionaleducation or training about dentalamalgam used in operative dentistryand health hazards from mercury ex-posure. Follow up the Sustainable

Politicians are not actorsFATIMA HASAN ZAIDI

People say politicians are actors, but it is not right to say this as they are the patriotic people like we areand every other body who-so-ever is the part of his patriotic land. Have you ever given a thought to

it as to how difficult it would be for us, the common public to survive in this world of vanity and hypoc-risy, people cheating each other and projecting themselves what actually they are not. In the presentday world, it is the politicians, despite all their merits or demerits, who control the destiny of nationsincluding ours. We can’t survive if politicians do not play their role in our lives. They are the ones whocontrol things because for controlling of things, in fact it is not the law enforcing agencies, but thepolitical masters who control these agencies including Police. It is our common observation and fre-quently we watch on TV that our politicians are found with diverse attributes, at times they speaksense while on the other they are just nostalgic. But it does not mean that they are actors. At times theypose themselves what they are not, hence arrogant; sometimes they are clueless and speak timidly asthey have no answer and sometimes they beat about the bush because they have to justify the illogicalacts of their ‘masters’. So they are in fact pitiable. Francis Bacon says, ‘Men in great places are thriceservants; servants of the sovereign or state, servants of the fame and servants of the business; so asthey have no freedom, neither in their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their times’. Hence thesepoor souls are miserably subservient to the regrets of their past follies and apprehensions of theirfuture fall-outs. We are far better; just observe and enjoy. It is man’s nature that he is found withdifferent moods in different situations. So in fact, politicians are not actors but it is the callousness of ourmedia which portrays and projects our leaders as vain, hypocrites, arrogant, childish, at times states-men, visionaries and icons of wisdom, forethought and foresight. It is our media which exaggerates andoverplays the moods of our politicians in the talk shows on channels. Those who dub our politicians asactors are myopic and do not understand the tense and difficult situations through which our politicianshave to undergo while serving the people of Pakistan..—Rawalpindi

Dangerous donations

MUSLIMS last week celebrated Eid-ul-Azha, marking the end of the Hajj pil-

grimage and commemoratingAbraham’s obedience to God.Those who can afford to do so markthe occasion by sacrificing a goat,cow or camel. The festival seeks toengender unity across the globalMuslim community and promotephilanthropy, as the meat from sac-rificial animals is usually donatedto the poor. But in Pakistan, it of-ten drives conflict.

Most Pakistani families donatethe hides of sacrificial animals tocharitable organizations, who thensell them to local tanneries for about$45 each. Shaukat Khanum Memo-rial, a cancer hospital founded bycricketer-turned-politician ImranKhan, has collected last week about40,000 hides from across the coun-try. But political parties, extremistorganizations and criminal gangshave all gotten into the lucrative hidetrade and compete fiercely to collectthe donations. The hides providehalf the annual requirement of thecountry’s leather industry, and gen-erate more than a billion rupees dur-

ing the festival in the port city ofKarachi alone.

Violence erupts when compet-ing groups snatch hides from eachother, or try to collect donations ina rival party’s turf. In previousyears, people have been killed ingun battles over hides. The prob-lem is particularly acute in Karachi,the country’s financial capital,where political parties and crimi-nal gangs also routinely clash overland and the proceeds from extor-tion rackets.

Tensions start to rise a few daysbefore the Eid-ul-Azha. Whilefamilies throng markets to select thebest goat or cow they can afford —and children delight at the sight oflivestock adorned with bells, rib-bons and henna — political partiesand extremist organizations startasking for hide donations. Thesegroups set up stalls, use loudspeak-ers and slather city walls with graf-fiti calling for hides. I remember asa child walking through the mar-kets with my parents, the festivemusic drowned out by strident an-nouncements listing locationswhere people could drop off hides.Extremist organizations especiallytry to cash in on the trade. Manysolicit donations under false pre-tences, pretending to be Islamic

Views From Abroad

charities: half of the 24 entities thatsought permission to collect hidesin the capital city of Islamabad thisyear turned out to be fronts for otherorganizations. Political parties arealso in on the game: On the morn-

ing of the festival, party workersstalk the streets of residential areas,monitoring sacrifices and schedul-ing the collection of hides to ensurethey get the maximum haul. Resi-dents who wish to donate hides tocharities of their choice, rather thanlocal parties, are often compelled

Huma Yusuf

DISCLAIMER

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

to perform the sacrifice outsidetheir neighbourhood to avoid be-ing harassed or coerced. In areaswhere multiple groups vie forpower, party workers go door-to-door or drive through in trucksbearing party flags.

To prevent theft and violence,the government took many precau-tions this year. Organizations hadto apply for permission to collecthides, and approved groups havebeen issued identification badges.Local police officials were taskedwith monitoring vehicles that col-lect hides and ensuring safe trans-fer from residential areas to tan-neries. Residents have been en-couraged to call complaint centresif unauthorized groups pressurethem. Religious scholars have alsogotten involved, decreeing thatdonating to groups involved in ter-rorism is forbidden.

But such measures have beenemployed before, with little suc-cess. The profits are too large topass up. That’s why Eid-ul-Azhahas become more about greed thanabout sacrifice. The writer is a col-umnist and was the 2010-11 Paki-stan Scholar at the Woodrow Wil-son International Centre for Schol-ars in Washington.— Courtesy: The New York Times

US made Pakistanepicentre of terrorism

THE US leaders and media often cite Pakistan as theepicentre of terrorism. If it is

true, it didn’t attain this status at itsown. Outsiders are responsible formaking Pakistan epicenter of terror-ism and the most dangerous coun-try. Ironically, the ones responsiblefor converting a law abiding andpeaceful country into a volatilecountry are today in the forefrontcensuring it. Till the onset of AfghanJihad in 1980, Pakistan was a mod-erate and nonviolent country.

Invasion and occupation of Af-ghanistan by Soviet forces in De-cember 1979 brought five millionAfghan refugees in Pakistan. Theserefugees disturbed the peace ofFrontier Province and Balochistanwhere bulk got permanently settled.2.8 million Afghan refugees havestill not returned to their homes.Besides becoming an economic bur-den, they have posed serious socialand security hazards. Foreign agen-cies mandated to destabilize Paki-stan have been recruiting bulk ofterrorists from within them.

Once the US decided to backproxy war in Afghanistan, CIA com-missioned thousands of Mujahideenfrom all over the Muslim world andwith the assistance of ISI, motivated,trained and equipped them to assistAfghan Mujahideen in their fightagainst Soviet forces. Large numberof seminaries imparting religioustraining to the under privileged chil-dren were tasked to impart militaryand motivational training as well andprepare them for Jihad. FATA andPashtun belt of Balochistan contigu-ous to Afghanistan were convertedinto forward bases of operation fromwhere young Jihadists were un-leashed. For next nine years theyouth were continuously recruitedand launched to fight the holy waragainst the Evil Empire.

The whole free world led by USenthusiastically applauded the hero-ics of holy warriors and none caredabout astronomical fatalities and

critical injuries suffered bythem. The single point agendaof the US was to defeat theSoviet forces with the help ofMuslim fighters. Not a singlesoldier of any country includ-ing Pakistan took part in the

unmatched war between a superpower and rag-tag, ill-clothed andill-equipped Mujahideen.

None bothered about the ill-ef-fects this long-drawn war will haveupon this region in general and Pa-kistan in particular acting as theFrontline State. Although Pakistanwas only supporting the proxy warand was not directly involved, but itremained in a state of war and itfaced continuous onslaughts ofKGB-RAW-KHAD nexus as well asattacks by Soviet trained Afghan pi-lots and soldiers in the form of airassaults, artillery barrages and mis-sile/rockets attacks. Throughout thenine-year war, Pakistan faced twinthreat from its eastern and westernborders. Pakistan’s relentless sup-port ultimately enabled theMujahideen to achieve the miracleof the 20th century. They defeatedthe super power and pushed out So-viet forces from Afghanistan in Feb-ruary 1989.

All foreign Jihadists who hadcome from other countries were notaccepted by their parent countries.They had no choice but to stay putand get settled in Afghanistan and inFATA since they had collectivelyfought the war and had developedcamaraderie with the Afghans andtribesmen. The US having used themas cannon fodder to achieve its inter-ests was morally bounded to resettlethem. It was honor bound to helpPakistan in overcoming the after ef-fects of the war. FATA that had actedas the major base for cross borderoperations deserved uplift in socio-economic and educational fields. Af-ghanistan required major rehabilita-tion and rebuilding after its devasta-tion. Nothing of the sort happened.

The US callously abandoned Af-ghanistan, Pakistan and Jihadists andinstead embraced India which hadremained the camp follower of So-viet Union since 1947. This callousact opened the doors for religious fa-naticism and militarism. Pakistansuffered throughout the Afghan war

and continues to suffer to this dayon account of the debris left behindby Soviet forces and proxy war. Bythe time last Soviet soldier left Af-ghan soil, Pakistani society had gotradicalized owing to free flow ofweapons and drugs from Afghani-stan and onset of armed uprising inoccupied Kashmir.

Pakistan’s efforts to tackle thefallout effects of the war got seri-ously hampered because of harshsanctions imposed by USA underPressler Amendment in October1989 and political instabilitythroughout the democratic era from1988 to 1999. Besides, Iran andSaudi Arabia started fuelling sectari-anism in Pakistan throughout 1990sin a big way, which gave rise to reli-gious extremism and intolerance andsharpened Shia-Sunni divide.

Unseating of democraticallyelected heavy mandate of NawazSharif led government by GenMusharraf and the latter opting toditch Taliban regime and to fight glo-bal war on terror at the behest of USAenergized anti-Americanism, reli-gious extremism and led to creationof Mutahida Majlis Ammal (MMA),an amalgam of six religious parties,which formed governments inKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andBalochistan. MMA on the quiet nur-tured extremist religious groups thatwere also funded by foreign powers.

The fact that after 9/11, the USchose Pakistan to fight the war as aFrontline State is a clear cut indica-tion that Pakistan at that time wasviewed as a responsible and valuedcountry and not a dangerous coun-try. However, Pakistan’s nuclearprogram was an eyesore for India,Israel and the US. The planners hadmade up their minds to intentionallycreate anarchic conditions in Paki-stan so that its nukes could bewhisked away under the plea that itwas unstable and couldn’t be trusted.

The initial attempt towards thatend was to first allow bulk of Talibanand Al-Qaeda leaders and their fight-ers to escape to FATA from Afghani-stan and soon after forcing Pakistanto flush them out from SouthWaziristan (SW). This move createda small rivulet allowing terrorism toseep into FATA, which kept gush-ing in because of RAW led and CIA

backed covert war at a massivescale and turning the rivulet into ariver. Likewise, another rivulet wascreated in Balochistan. Concertedand sustained efforts were made todestabilize FATA and Balochistanand gradually sink Pakistan in seaof terrorism. Six intelligence agen-cies based in Kabul kept sprinklingtons of fuel on embers of religiousextremism, sectarianism, ethnicityand Jihadism.

The US instead of helping in re-solving Kashmir dispute misguidedGen Musharraf to forget about UNresolutions and float an out of boxsolution and try and resolve the dis-pute in accordance with the wishesof India. In order to woo India,Musharraf gave it in writing that hewill not allow Pakistan soil to beused for terrorism against any neigh-boring country including India.While making this commitment uni-laterally, he committed the fatal mis-take of not imposing this conditionon India. To further please USA andIndia and make the latter agree tosign peace treaty, he bridled all Jihadigroups engaged in Kashmir freedomstruggle as well as in sectarianism.He also allowed India to fence theLine of Control. These moves didplease India but angered Jihadis andsectarian outfits and in reaction, theyhastened to join Tehrik-e-TalibanPakistan (TTP) and turn their gunstowards Pak security forces dubbedas mercenaries of the US fighting USwar for dollars.

But for phenomenal clandestinesupport by foreign powers to theTTP in the northwest and to theBLA, BRA and BLF in the south-west, extremism and terrorismcould have got controlled after ma-jor operations launched inMalakand Division including Swat,Bajaur and SW in 2009 and minoroperations in other tribal agencies.The disarrayed network of TTP washelped to get re-assembled and re-grouped in North Waziristan andthat of Maulana Fazlullah in Kunarand Nuristan in Afghanistan. Ratherthan correcting their follies in Af-ghanistan, NATO chose to makePakistan a scapegoat and declaredit responsible for their failures.— The writer is a retired Brig anda defence analyst.

I SEE many people talking ontheir cell phones while drivingand to such as these do I bring

back an article from my archives:The young man driving the latestfancy car had one arm on the steer-ing wheel and the other hugginghis cell phone in an intimate em-brace: “Did I wake you up?,” heasked, speaking seductively intothe mouthpiece.

You know you shouldn’tphone and drive,” said the huskyvoice at the other end” “What arecell phones for?,” asked the youngman, “if not for taking the bore-dom out of driving!.” The signal

in front, suddenly turned to red, butthe young man with his phonepressed to his ear and his mindpressed elsewhere did not notice thechange and continued drivingthrough.

“What are you wearing?” heasked, holding his breath in antici-pation and literally looking into thephone. He did not see the startledscooterist veering dangerously toavoid him. All he felt was a thud,which he mistook for the sound ofhis own heart beat as he repeated thequestion “What are you wearing?”

“Come and see,” said the huskyvoice at the other end. Yes I’m com-ing,” said the young man accelerat-ing his car, so that the speedometerneedle started climbing up danger-ously, “and I’m not going to put thisphone off till I reach you.” The otherdrivers on the road, in their cars andbuses and trucks tried desperately to

pull their vehicles quickly out of theway of the speeding car.

“Hello, hello,” said the youngman, suddenly realising the phonehad gone off. “Hello, sweethearthello,” he shouted into the mouth-piece. “Damn,” he shouted, “damn,”and drove faster. An old lady with awalking stick, crossing the road at apedestrian crossing did not see theapproaching car. She was flung up,high into the air and the crowd thatgathered round her, knew that shewould never need the stick again.The young man in the car onlyshouted deeper into his cell phone.“Hello, hello, damn, damn,damn…..”

A schoolboy, was astonished tosee the car bearing down on him. Hejumped out of the way in time, butnot before his school bag and lunchbox were scattered allover the road.He wondered whether his father had

Death through chatter..!made a mistake in telling him tocross the road when the lights weregreen. He decided not to obey thesignals again.

Meanwhile, the young mandriving the latest fancy car, onearm on the steering wheel and theother hugging his cell phone, bentdown to press redial so that hecould talk to his girlfriend again.His eyes were filled with anticipa-tion…. He did not see the lorryswitching lanes in front of him….

“Hello,” said the husky voiceat the other end of the line, “hello,”she shouted as she heard the pierc-ing scream and the sound of tear-ing metal. “Hello,” screamed thehusky voice at the other end again,but the young man one mangledarm on the smashed wheel and theother still clutching his cell phone,lay still, never to hear her again..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Asif Haroon RajaEmail: asifharoon7751@yahoo.com

In previousyears, people havebeen killed in gunbattles over hides.

The problem isparticularly acute in

Karachi, thecountry’s financial

capital, wherepolitical parties andcriminal gangs alsoroutinely clash over

land and theproceeds from

extortion rackets.

Development Policy Institute (SDPI)study on mercury contamination inair at dental sites in five cities of Pa-kistan, a recent review of the threesets of curriculum approved by thePakistan Medical and Dental Coun-cil (PMDC), the Higher EducationCommission (HEC) and Universityof Health Sciences (UHS), followedat dental teaching institutions in thecountry, has revealed absence of top-ics related to mercury exposure, en-vironmentally-sound use of mercury/mercury amalgam and managementof mercury wastes.

There is also a dire need to teachand train upcoming professional den-tists in non-mercury-based dental fill-ings, encapsulated and mechanicalmixing methodologies, besides healthhazards to dental staff arising fromprolonged and continuous mercuryexposure. It is most strongly recom-mended to the PMDC, HEC andUHS to review and revise their cur-riculum/syllabus for dental teachinginstitutions in the country by includ-ing the above and other relevant top-ics for safeguarding public healthwith best possible service options andpractices.

The Minamata Convention onmercury adopted by over 140 statesand already signed by over 90 coun-tries, including Pakistan, recently inKumamoto, Japan, also encouragesparties to phase down the use of den-tal amalgam and encourage educationand training to dental professionalsand students on the use of mercury-free dental restoration alternativesand on promoting best managementpractices.—Islamabad

The Karachipopulation

SYED SAYEF HUSSAIN

According to Wikipedia (http://e n . w i k i p e d i a . o r g / w i k i /List_of_cities_proper_by_population)and some other websites, on accountof population, our Karachi City is thethird largest city in the world withabout 13 million populations, follow-ing Shanghai, China (19 millionpeople) and Istanbul, Turkey (14 mil-lion people).

The question I want to ask, if thecity fathers and the country fathersare really prepared to handle andmanage such a huge city, and do theyhave proper and evolving plans tomanage this city? Or we would al-ways continue to face the plethora ofissues, as we are facing every min-utes of our lives in this mega city?—Karachi

The worldof fashionMOMINA KHAN

The word ‘Fashion’; which generallymeans designing, making, and wear-ing of clothes, has originated from theLatin roots of culture. It initiallymeant the cutting or forming of anitem or a cloth. However, the worldof fashion has evolved - literally aswell as metaphorically- from juststitching and cutting of a cloth to styl-ing and changing trends. It nowmeans to staying up to date with thetrends, styles and personal prefer-ences.

No perspective, however basic,can escape the corpus of criticism andphilosophies regarding the downsideof fashion. Thus it’s difficult to con-clude that if it is media that is shap-ing our society and minds or if it’ssociety shaping media. Moreover,many criticize fashion on the groundsof the supposed morality or immo-rality of clothing and personal adorn-ment.

However, in the present time, theworld enormously seems to ignore theanti-fashion statements and instead,religiously tends to follow the bigshots of the fashion world. Millionsof youngsters across the globe look

up to or seek guidance from their fa-vorite fashion ‘Gurus’. Chiefly, teen-agers’ nowadays revolve around theneeds and desires of looking chic andsmart. The fashion world directly in-fluences the minds of the youth andso, many youngsters step out toblindly follow their fashion heroes inhopes of achieving their aims of look-ing ‘striking’ and ‘dashing’ as the me-dia gently puts it. Fashion trendschange from one time period to thenext and are often transmitted fromone generation to another.

Fashion today has changed itsideal of what it should be. Trends setto follow decades ago have evolvedever since into extreme comfort wearnow. People are now more aware ofthe current styles and forms and thusthey eagerly and much more conve-niently adopt the ever changing fadsand fashion of today.—Via email

Let us avoidindecisionMUKHTAR AHMED

Apropos to lead news “Drones issueto be raised with Obama”(Oct 20)Nawaz said when talking to mediabefore his departure to US. He is alsoexpected to raise Kashmir, Aafia andcivil nuclear technology issues withObama

These issues are not new andObama knows it well. But he looksnot ready to extend any help to Paki-stan except appreciating our role inwar on terror and finally asking Pa-kistan to resolve these issues amica-bly. US have made it very clear thatif they find any threat from anywherein the world, they would strike thetarget in any country of the worldwithout any fore warning. Therefore,we have no choice so drones willcontinue. There have been roughly330 drone attacks since 2004 at anaverage of 33 per year that killed 2200people that include 400 civilians and600 wounded

In fact issue of talks with Talibanwill be the main focus. Pakistan isunited as far as talks with Taliban isconcerned, but how can you start dia-logue when TTP wants to dictate itsown terms. Unfortunately the strat-egy of our Government is still notclear and we are facing catch 22 situ-ation. Taliban are very clear in theirobjectives where as we are all con-fused. TTP has openly said that it isPakistan who wants negotiations asthey have tried all options suggest-ing that our security agencies havenot succeeded in their plans. Someheads should have rolled on such na-tional failure, but we have no con-cept of accountability at higher ech-elon as they all walk hand in hand.

We are creating new force toeliminate terrorism. On the otherhand the TTP chief has said his orga-nization is just now a part of the nowworld wide Islamic movementagainst the west. The goal of themovement was the establishment ofan Islamic caliphate from the Cau-cus region of Central Asia to thedeserts of Africa; he further said thatthe Pakistan’s leadership knows thatthe Taliban’s victory is near.

We should be happy on the re-lease of coalition support fund and $1.6 billion military aid stopped by USfew years back and then do what theywant us to do, as beggars can not bechoosers.—Via email

GIULIANO BATTISTON

THE dusty cemetery inSaracha village hoststhree new graves: small

hills of soil shielding the bod-ies of Sahebullah,Wasihullah and Amanullah,three of the five boys andyoung men killed by anISAF-NATO airstrike on lateFriday, Oct. 4. Malim SaidAgha, Dagrwal Khan Aghaand his sons with a pictureof Asadullah killed in a NATOstrike. Credit: GiulianoBattiston/IPS.

According to the firstsISAF-NATO reports, the fivewere “enemy forces”, “insur-gents”, killed with a “preci-sion strike”. According to thewhite banner overlooking

Afghan families want accountability, not apologiestheir graves, they are “mar-tyrs”: innocent people killedby error. Wasihullah andAmanullah were brothers.They used to live in a housenot far from the cemetery inSaracha village in the districtof Beshud at the door ofJalalabad, the main city in theeastern province of Nangarhar.Their father, Qasim HazratKhan, shows IPS the placewhere they were killed, justbehind his house.3

Amanullah was about 21years old (civil registries hereare not common), had a wifeand three daughters. Khanproduces a card showing thatAmanullah was working forthe Afghan government forcessince March this year. Hisbrother Wasihullah was 10

years old, a student in fifthclass in Samarkheel’s highschool, not far from Saracha.Friday evening they were withSahebullah, 14, who “had aninternship in a shop of metal-workers in Jalalabad to learnthe job,” his brother NaderShah, 35, told IPS.

Asadullah Delsos and GulNabi were the other two boyswith them. Asadullah, “a 14-year-old boy, was still waitingto have his first whiskers,” saidKhan. Gul Nabi “was a 15-year-old boy, whose family comesfrom Pachir in Khogyani dis-trict. He worked as a carpenterin Kabul, but he used to comehere whenever the parentsneeded his help.” Khan saidthe five boys were sitting inthe open space behind his

house “after they went hunt-ing for birds with badì (airguns).” Around 10 pm heheard “the first of three long-lasting shooting-sequences.When it stopped, I reached theroof and saw at least two heli-copters and, far from here,some planes without pilots.”

When the shooting startedagain, he waited inside thehouse until he heard someonescreaming: “Brother, your kidshave been killed.” He came outand tried to reach them, hesaid, “but the American sol-diers told me to keep away.”The bodies were carried to themain Jalalabad hospital “onlyat 1.40 am,” said Nader Shah.“We were able to have themback in our hands after 2.30am.” Early Saturday morning

Asadullah’s father DagarwalKhan Agha, a logistics officerin the city jail received a call.He had thought his son wassleeping in their parents’ housein Saracha. “They said I hadto reach the hospital. Oncethere, I was told my son was inthe death chamber.” The elderbrother of Dagarwal KhanAgha, Malim Said Agha, stillcannot understand “howthose young boys could beconfused with insurgents.They were just kids. TheAmericans killed innocentpeople. This was confirmed bythe Afghan authorities,” hetold IPS.

Ahmad Zia Abdulzai,spokesperson for the gover-nor of Nangarhar province,told IPS on phone: “The

Nangarhar deputy governor,Mohammed Hanif Gardiwal,sent an envoy to Beshud, to-gether with an envoy sent byPresident Hamid Karzai: theirinquiry states the five boyshad no links with insurgency.”ISAF-NATO have not yetpublicly admitted the airstrikewas an error. Contacted by IPS,Lieutenant-Colonel Will Grif-fin, chief of the press desk atthe headquarters of ISAF Pub-lic Affairs, said “the incident isstill under investigation. Itwould be inappropriate to com-ment at this time.”

According to the victims’families, ISAF-NATO repre-sentatives acknowledged themistake privately. “One of theforeign commanders of theJalalabad airfield invited me to

his office on Tuesday Octo-ber 8. He accepted the errorand apologised for it. Thesame happened the day afterat the Governor’s palace,”Khan told IPS.

The meeting on Wednes-day Oct. 9 was confirmed toIPS by Ahmad Zia Abdulzai,spokesperson for the gover-nor of Nangarhar. FormerNangarhar governor Gul AghaSherzai (he resigned a coupleof weeks ago to run for the nextpresidential elections, hisdeputy Mohammed HanifGardiwal, several representa-tives of the Afghan securityforces, including Colonel SahibKhan, head of security inBeshud district and GeneralAbdul Rahman from Kabul,representative of the Interior

ministry took part in the meet-ing. In addition there weresome tribal leaders, the rela-tives of the five killed boysand “two foreign envoys”,whose name is not known.“The two Americansapologised, admitting theyhave killed innocent people,”Agha told IPS. “In front of allthe participants they saidthey made an error,” saidKhan. Abdulzai said “theAmericans offered their apol-ogy in front of the victims’families and Nangarhar’s au-thorities.” All the victims’ rela-tives this IPS correspondentmet said they have receivedsome offers from the “foreignenvoys” as a form of ‘com-pensation’.

—Inter Press Service

Another African Unionfailure in Sudan

AHMED HUSSAIN ADAM

THE brutal crackdown in late September by Sudan’ssecurity forces and militias, resulted in over 200 deathsand hundreds of protesters wounded and arrested,

according to Sudanese and international human rightsorganisations. The largest anti-government demostrationsin many years saw protesters who sought a reversal of thegovernment’s decision to reduce fuel subsidies.

The incident also resulted in the detention of a numberof political opponents, a crackdown on journalists, and re-strictions on freedom of expression and organisation, thusviolating the fundamental and constitutional rights of theSudanese people. Notwithstanding the crackdown of Omaral-Bashir’s brutal regime, the African Union (AU) has failedto act according to the requirements of its founding docu-ments, including the AU’S Constitutive Act of 2002 and theAfrican Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. There hasbeen neither an official reaction from AU’s executive or-gans, nor from the African Commission on Human andPeoples’ Rights, the enforcement mechanism that has beenestablished by the African Charter to promote and protecthuman rights and fundamental freedoms in Africa. Follow-ing its failure to deliver in Darfur, the AU seems to be des-tined to fail Sudan at large.

“Darfur is a test case for the AU,” and the AU will “suc-ceed in the Darfur test case”. These words, still echoing inmy ears, were uttered by Ambassador Said Djinnit, theformer director of the AU’s Peace and Security Council.This was in Addis Ababa, May 2004, and Djinnit was ad-dressing the negotiating delegations of the conflicting par-ties in Darfur for talks on the modalities of the implementa-tion of the N’djamena Ceasefire Agreement for the Humani-tarian Purposes in Darfur.

The failure of the AU in Darfur constitutes a serioussetback to the doctrine of “non-indifference” and the slo-gan of “African solutions for African problems.” The agree-ment had been signed in April 2004, by the Sudanese Lib-eration Army (SLA) and the Justice and Equality Move-ment (JEM) on the one hand, and the government of Sudanon the other. As an African, the words of AmbassadorDjinnit were a source of inspiration. I was so proud thatfinally our continent would stand up to its complex andlongstanding problems and resolve them once and for all,and without outside intervention. My hope was based onthe new spirit and aspiration that came with the birth of theAU as a successor to the Organisation of African Unity(OAU). The AU came with noble values of humanity, prin-ciples and doctrines of democracy and human rights, en-shrined in its founding documents, such as the AU’s Con-stitutive Act which shifted Africa from the doctrine of “non-interference”, the legacy of the old OAU, to the new doc-trine of “non-indifference” that marked the new era of theAU. To my chagrin, however, the horrific events that laterengulfed Darfur, and the protests in Sudan, have renderedthe Ambassador’s words mere wishful thinking. Indeed,the AU has failed the test case on all fronts.

It has been 10 years now since the AU started its in-volvement in Darfur in various aspects of the crisis, includ-ing monitoring the ceasefire, peace-making and peacekeep-ing. Nonetheless, the Darfur human tragedy is still unfold-ing. Furthermore, the conflict has spilled over to the statesof South Kordofan and Blue Nile. The failure of the AU inDarfur constitutes a serious setback to the doctrine of “non-indifference” and the slogan of “African solutions for Afri-can problems.” Too little, too late

Last month, the protest demonstrations and popularuprisings in Khartoum engulfed various neighbourhoodsand spread widely throughout the rest of Sudan’s largeurban centres. The entire world has been a witness to thehorrific and violent crackdown against the peaceful dem-onstrators who have been defying the brutal regime inKhartoum. Bashir’s security forces responded to the peace-ful demonstrators with an iron fist and absolute force. Re-grettably, the international response has been weak andhas fallen short of adequately responding to the gravityand magnitude of the crisis. However, the worst and mostregrettable response has been the AU’s. The AU has beensilent throughout the course of the unfolding pro-democ-racy uprising. To date, there has been no statement fromthe AU on this grave human rights situation which fallsunder the category of “serious circumstances” of the Con-stitutive Act 2002. Many human rights organisations havebeen dismayed and shocked by the silence and inaction ofthe AU. Indeed, this silence has brought the credibility andintegrity of the AU into question.

Article 4H of the act permits the AU to intervene in amember state in the case of “grave circumstances”, whichinclude gross violations of human rights such as crimesagainst humanity, war crimes and genocide. It has been thehope of Africans that the birth of the AU would mark afresh beginning, a new era that would transform Africa to afree, peaceful, democratic and prosperous continent. More-over, the hope was also that the newly establishedorganisation would be on the side of the people and notthe rulers. We still have hope in the organisation that weonce dreamed of to play the lead role in transforming Africaand for Africa to stand as a world model for democracy andhuman rights.

In Sudan, the AU and African leaders failed to fulfiltheir obligations under the AU’s founding documents. Fur-thermore, it is evident that Bashir’s regime has been usingthe AU, under the banner of African solidarity, to obstructand frustrate regional and international efforts towards re-solving the crisis in Darfur. Waiting for Bashir?

In September, during the meetings of the United Na-tions General Assembly in New York, I had the opportunityto meet with two high profile AU officials who have beenworking on the Sudan file for quite a long time. In mymeetings with officials, I asked why the AU has been silenton the situation in Sudan. Its silence will undermine theAU’s role and engagement in Sudan. The responses werenot convincing, they gave the impression to me that theywere waiting for Bashir to quell the peaceful pro-democ-racy protests and consequently end the uprising.

—Courtesy Aljazeera

DUBAI—Iran believes it canwrap up negotiations withworld powers over its nuclearprogram in one year or less,Iranian media quoted its chiefnuclear negotiator as saying.

At talks last week, the firstsince moderate PresidentHassan Rouhani’s election inJune, Tehran offered a three-phase plan it said could yielda breakthrough in the stand-off after years of diplomaticparalysis and increasing con-frontation.

“If we see the same seri-ousness in future negotiationswhich we saw in the Genevanegotiations, we believe thatwithin six months to one yearwe can conclude the negotia-tions,” Deputy Foreign Min-ister Abbas Araqchi said in aninterview with the state-

Iran sees nuclear talks withpowers finishing within year

owned, Arabic-language AlAlam television channel. “Per-haps within three months orsix months we can reach a con-clusion regarding the firststep,” he said, in remarks thatwere published on Monday byISNA news agency.

The United States and itsEuropean allies suspect Iran isworking towards a nuclearweapons capability, and havelevied sanctions on Iran’s en-ergy, banking and shippingsectors that have battered theIranian economy and causeda currency crisis. Iran denies itis after nuclear weapons, say-ing its uranium enrichmentprogram is purely for peacefulenergy purposes.

The six world powers deal-ing with the Iranian nuclear is-sue are the five permanent

U.N. Security Council members- the United States, Russia,China, Britain and France - plusGermany.

Washington described lastweek’s negotiations as themost serious and candid todate, and the parties haveagreed to meet again inGeneva on November 7-8.Nuclear and sanctions expertsfrom both sides are to meetbefore the next main round oftalks.

But all sides have stressedthat wide differences must stillbe overcome to nail down adeal. “Certainly there are seri-ous differences between usand the other side,” Araqchisaid, according to ISNA. “Weeven have deep disagree-ments with each other. Despitethis, we are hopeful we can

achieve a common resolutionto this dispute.”

Araqchi reiterated thatIran would not stop refininguranium, saying domestic en-richment was a right of the Ira-nian people - but that the ex-tent of enrichment was nego-tiable. Iran has so far defiedU.N. Security Council de-mands that it suspend enrich-ment and other sensitivenuclear activities.

Western officials have saidIran should increase the trans-parency of its nuclear program,stop enriching uranium to 20percent fissile purity - a shorttechnical step away fromweapons-ready fuel, reduceits uranium stockpiles andtake other steps to assure theworld it does not want atomicweapons.—Reuters

MOSCOW—A bomb blasttore through a bus in thesouthern Russian city ofVolgograd on Monday, au-thorities said, killing at leastfive people in the deadliestsuch attack outside Russia’svolatile North Caucasus re-gion in nearly three years.

The explosion alsowounded 17 people, seven ofwhom were in grave condi-tion, a spokesman for the lo-cal investigators said. After aseries of conflicting reportsabout the cause, the NationalAnti-Terrorism Committeesaid it was a bomb.

“Today at 2:05 p.m., anunknown explosive devicedetonated on a passenger bus

Bomb blast on bus insouthern Russia kills five

in the city of Volgograd, caus-ing human casualties,” thecommittee, Russia’s topcounter-insurgency agency,said in a statement. It did notassign blame and there wasno immediate claim of respon-sibility.

Insurgents who say theyare fighting to create an Is-lamic state in Russia’s mostlyMuslim North Caucasus havecarried out deadly bombingsinside and outside the region,made up of several provincesalong Russia’s southern bor-der. The insurgents claimedresponsibility for a suicidebombing that killed 37 peopleat Moscow airport in January,2011, and two nearly simulta-

neous suicide bombings thatkilled 40 people on the Mos-cow subway in 2010.

Volgograd is a city ofaround one million people thatlies 900 km (560 miles) south-east of Moscow and a fewhundred kilometers north ofthe North Caucasus andBlack Sea resort city of Sochi,where Russia will host the2014 Winter Olympics. Presi-dent Vladimir Putin has stakedhis reputation on the Gamesand ordered authorities toboost security in the NorthCaucasus, where the Islamistinsurgency is rooted in twopost-Soviet wars pittingChechen separatists againstthe Kremlin.—AP

BEIJING—A court in easternChina said it would announcea decision on Friday onwhether to accept an appealby ousted former senior politi-cian Bo Xilai over his guiltyverdict and life sentence oncharges of bribery, corruptionand abuse of power.

Bo, once a rising star inChina’s leadership circles whohad cultivated a followingthrough his populist, quasi-Maoist policies, was jailed forlife in September after a dra-matic fall from grace that shook

China to announce decisionon Bo Xilai appeal on Friday

the ruling Communist Party.His career was stopped

short last year by a murderscandal in which his wife, GuKailai, was convicted of poi-soning a British businessman,Neil Heywood, who had beena family friend.

In a brief statement postedon its website, the high courtin the eastern province ofShandong, where Bo was firsttried, said the decision wouldbe announced on Friday at 10a.m. It gave no other details.Bo’s guilty verdict is unlikely

to be overturned as the courtsare controlled by the Commu-nist Party, which long ago pro-nounced him guilty.

A source with directknowledge of the case toldReuters it was unclear if Bo’ssentence might be reduced.

“There is that possibility,”said the source, who asked notto be named because of thesensitivity of the issue.

The source earlier had saidthat Bo appealed immediatelyafter the sentence was an-nounced.—Reuters

SYDNEY—A long, hot sum-mer looms for AustralianPrime Minister Tony Abbottas devastating wildfires nearSydney fuel opposition tohis plans to repeal a carbonemissions tax, one of his ba-sic campaign pledges in theelection he won a month ago.

The links between theblazes and climate changecaused by carbon emissionsare complex and as the driestinhabited landmass on earth,deadly wildfires have been aperennial problem for Austra-lia.

But a series of record-busting hot, dry conditionsacross the continent and anearly start to the SouthernHemisphere summer has re-kindled arguments onmankind’s impact on climateand what can be done to miti-gate it. Abbott was electedin September on the back ofplans to repeal Australia’sscheme to price the carbonemissions responsible for

Australian wildfires putheat on climate change

global warming. He has prom-ised to dissolve both thelower house and the Senateif his plan to scrap the schemeis blocked.

But as the fires spread,the pressure is mounting onAbbott, who once describedthe science around climatechange as “absolute crap”.

“Reducing emissions isnot a free lunch, but neitheris climate change,” said JohnConner, the Chief Executiveof independent researchorganisation The Climate In-stitute. “If we’re seriousabout reducing the risks ofclimate change and climateimpacts like these bushfires,then we need to have a seri-ous climate policy which iscredible.”

More than 200 homeshave been destroyed sincelast Thursday as scores offires burned through thou-sands of hectares of bush,farms and rural communitiesoutside Sydney. —AP

PARIS—France and Mexicohave angrily demandedprompt explanations fromWashington following fresh,“shocking” spying allega-tions leaked by former US se-curity contractor EdwardSnowden.

The reports in Frenchdaily Le Monde and Germanweekly Der Spiegel revealedthat the National SecurityAgency secretly recordedtens of millions of phone callsin France and hacked intoformer Mexican PresidentFelipe Calderon’s email ac-count. French Interior Minis-ter Manuel Valls described therevelations in Le Mondenewspaper as “shocking”, inan interview Monday withEurope 1 radio.

The spy agency taped70.3 million phone calls inFrance over a 30-day periodbetween December 10 andJanuary 8 this year, LeMonde reported in its onlineversion, citing documentsfrom Snowden. According tothe paper, the NSA automati-cally picked up communica-

France, Mexico seekanswers on US spy claims

tions from certain phone num-bers in France and recordedtext messages under aprogramme code-named “US-985D.” Le Monde said thedocuments gave grounds tobelieve that the NSA targetednot only people suspected ofbeing involved in terrorism butalso high-profile individualsfrom the world of business orpolitics. Valls said the revela-tions would call for “preciseexplanations by US authoritiesin the coming hours.”

US authorities declinedcomment to the French dailyon the “classified” docu-ments. View gallery.”FrenchInterior minister Manuel Valls,seen here during … FrenchInterior minister Manuel Valls,seen here during a visit to theCaribbean island ofGuadeloup. The Le Mondearticle followed similar revela-tions by Der Spiegel alsobased on documents pro-vided by Snowden that USagents had hacked into theMexican presidency’s net-work, gaining access toCalderon’s account.—AP

LONDON—Britain hasagreed to build the country’sfirst nuclear power plant in ageneration, despite concernsraised by the Fukushimameltdown in Japan as theU.K. seeks to secure its fu-ture energy needs and cutgreenhouse gas emissions.

The government struck adeal with Electricite de Franceand a group of Chinese in-vestors Monday to build thecountry’s first nuclear powerplant since 1995 — a massiveproject that will bring in 16billion pounds ($25.9 billion)of investment to keep thelights on amid declining sup-plies of North Sea gas andrapidly escalating fuel costs.

“If people at home wantto be able to keep watchingthe television, be able to turnthe kettle on, and benefit fromelectricity, we have got tomake these investments,”Energy Secretary Ed Daveytold the BBC. “It is essentialto keep the lights on and topower British business.”

The deal for the new re-actor, which will be built atHinkley Point in southwestEngland, underlines the des-peration politicians acrossEurope face in meeting en-ergy needs amid dwindling

UK looks to new nuclearplant to secure energy

fossil fuel resources and ris-ing costs.

Germany decided twoyears ago to shut down all ofits nuclear power plants by2022, following years of anti-nuclear protests and theshock of the meltdown atFukushima, Japan in 2011.But the effort needed to rampup renewable energy sourcesto replace domestic nuclearreactors is proving to becostly: not only do many newwind, solar, water and biom-ass plants need to be built,but Germany’s energy gridhas to be overhauled to bal-ance the fluctuating supplysuch power sources provide.

One of the last barriers tothe British deal was removedduring a visit to Asia lastweek by Treasury chiefGeorge Osborne, who an-nounced that Chinese firmswould be permitted to investin civilian nuclear projects.

China General NuclearCorp. and China NationalNuclear Corp., both majority-owned by the Chinese gov-ernment, will provide 30 per-cent to 40 percent of the fi-nancing. EDF, which is con-trolled by the French govern-ment, will provide 45 percentto 50 percent.—AP

Cholera kills 50 innorthern Nigeria

in a weekKANO—Cholera has killed 50people in northwest Nigeriain the past week, health offi-cials said, in the latest out-break of the disease whichhas claimed thousands oflives across the countrysince 2010.

The latest infectionsstruck Zamfara state whereresidents began drinking wa-ter directly from streams anduntreated wells after a mainwater pipeline was forced toshut.

“We have recorded anoutbreak of cholera in thepast one week in six localgovernment areas of thestate which has resulted inthe death of 50 people whileseveral others have beenhospitalised,” Zamfara statehealth commissioner KabiruJanyau told AFP. Road con-struction around state capi-tal Gusau forced officials toclose a main pump leading towater shortages in severalparts of the state, Janyausaid.

“People have turned tostreams and open wells fordrinking water which led tothe outbreak,” he said. Chol-era, a highly contagious in-testinal infection, is transmit-ted by water soiled by humanwaste.

The disease leads to di-arrhoea, dehydration anddeath if untreated. Nigeriasuffered cholera epidemicsduring the rainy seasons of2010 and 2011, with nearly2,000 people killed over twoyears.—AFP

Residents look at a fire at a petrol and oil shop in the Bustan Al-Qasr neighbourhood of Aleppo, Syria.

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of Syed ImamAli Shah, Judge BankingCourt No-II Gujranwala

Suit No.318/2013Faysal bank Ltd, G.T RoadBranch Gujranwala —PlaintiffVersusMuhammad Weqeel etc —De-fendantSummons U/S 9 (5) of the Fi-nancial Institutions (Recoveryof Finances) Ordinance; 2001(Ordinance No.XLVI of 2001)Summons to: (1) MuhammadWaqeel S/O Mehar Din R/OMohallah Hameed Colony, GillRoad Opposite Muzaffar Gen-eral Store Gujranwala (2)Muhammad Waqeel C/OWaqeel Choti Cattle feeMohallah Hameed, Gill Roadopposite Muzaffar GeneralStore Gujranwala.WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted a suitagainst you and other for therecovery of Rs=488,058/70-along with mark up/interest andcost etc, claimed to be payableby you A Summons u/s 9(5)Ordinance XIVI of 2001 re-ferred to above is hereby issuedrequiring you to make within30 days of the service of theSummon, an application forleave to defend the suit in theform of written statement U/S10 of the said ordinance.Take notice that on your fail-ure to file such applicationwithin time specified above,the Banking Court shall pass adecree as prayed for in theplaint, in the favour of theplaintiff Banking Company.Next date for further proceed-ings, in the case has been fixedon 11.11.2013.

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this21.10.2013Seal of the Court

Banking Court IIGujranwala

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of Syed ImamAli Shah, Judge BankingCourt No-II Gujranwala

Suit No.310/2013UBL Denga Pathak BranchGujranwala —PlaintiffVersusMuhammad Suleman YousafSandho —DefendantSummons U/S 9 (5) of the Fi-nancial Institutions (Recoveryof Finances) Ordinance; 2001(Ordinance No.XLVI of 2001)Summons to: MuhammadSuleman Yousaf Sandho S/OMuhammad Yousaf ShahidSandho R/O House No-19-B,Commissioner Colony, Com-missioner Road Gujranwala.WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted a suitagainst you and other for therecovery of Rs=458,032/46-along with mark up/interest andcost etc, claimed to be payableby you A Summons u/s 9(5)Ordinance XIVI of 2001 re-ferred to above is hereby issuedrequiring you to make within30 days of the service of theSummon, an application forleave to defend the suit in theform of written statement U/S10 of the said ordinance.Take notice that on your fail-ure to file such applicationwithin time specified above,the Banking Court shall pass adecree as prayed for in theplaint, in the favour of theplaintiff Banking Company.Next date for further proceed-ings, in the case has been fixedon 05.11.2013. Given under myhand and the seal of the court,this 21.10.2013Seal of the Court

Banking Court IIGujranwala

COURT NOTICE

In the Court of Mr. RanaMuhammad Yousaf Shahib,Judge Banking Court No-IGujranwala OLD P.W.D

Rest House OPP. Commis-sioner Officer, Gujranwala.

Suit No.272-1/2013UBL Rail Bazar Hafizabad —PlaintiffVersusAsif Raza —DefendantSummons U/S 9 (5) of the Fi-nancial Institutions (Recoveryof Finances) Ordinance; 2001(Ordinance No.XLVI of 2001)Summons to: Asif Raza S/ORiaz Hussain Shah R/O BhaykAhmed Yar Tehsil & Distt,Hafizabad.WHEREAS the aforesaidplaintiff has instituted a suitagainst you and other for therecovery of Rs=251950-63/-along with mark up/interest andcost etc, claimed to be payableby you. A Summons u/s 9(5)Ordinance XIVI of 2001 re-ferred to above is hereby issuedrequiring you to make within30 days of the service of theSummon, an application forleave to defend the suit in theform of written statement U/S10 of the said ordinance.

Take notice that on yourfailure to file such applicationwithin time specified above,the Banking Court shall pass adecree as prayed for in theplaint, in the favour of theplaintiff Banking Company.Next date for further proceed-ings, in the case has been fixedon 28.10.2013.

Given under my hand andthe seal of the court, this14.10.2013Seal of the Court

Banking Court IGujranwala

In his remarks, the ChiefJustice said that 60% populationof the country was below pov-erty line and the local govern-ment elections would benefitthese poor people. He said theAdministrators were acting likeKings in the districts and thecourts would not allow any com-promise on the constitution.

Additional Attorney Gen-eral Shah Khawar informed thecourt that legislation would becompleted and submitted to theCabinet very soon about newlocal government system.

He said earlier local govern-ment elections were conductedunder two different ordinanceswhich were enforced by dicta-tor and they have lapsed with his

SC orders govts to holdLB elections in November

From Page 1

departure.He said for the first time a

local body system is being en-forced in the Federal capital andit is possible that a PresidentialOrdinance would be enforcedfor this purpose.

At this the Chief Justiceasked him to inform the courtthat about the consequences theFederation and the provinceswould face if the constitutionwas not followed.

Punjab Advocate General inhis report said that demarcationof constituencies has been com-pleted and only objections arebeing heard. He said that finalgazette notification would beissued on 4th November.

Advocate General Sindh

said that election commissionwould be requested in the firstof November for holding ofelections. He said demarcationof constituencies has alreadybeen completed.

KPK Advocate Generalsaid that due to precarious lawand order situation and Eidholidays, the new local bodiesrules act could not be passedand hoped that it would bepassed during the current week.Representative of theBalochistan government did notappear before the court.

The Apex Court directed theprovinces to submit the notifi-cations of constituencies by 23rdOctober and adjourned the hear-ing till Wednesday. —INP

the confidence that the visitwould provide the necessaryimpetus to further deepen andexpand the US- Pakistan rela-tions. Pakistan was an importantcountry in the region and the USwould be working with thedemocratic government ofPrime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif in all areas of bi-lateral relations under the re-vived mechanism of the Strate-gic Dialogue, the Secretarystressed. He further appreciatedthe bold decisions taken byPrime Minister Sharif for reviv-ing the economy and overcom-ing the energy shortages.

Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif noted that helooked forward to meeting withPresident Obama at the WhiteHouse on 23 October. Thiswould be the first summit levelinteraction between the twocountries after the historicdemocratic transition in Paki-stan. The Prime Minister reiter-ated his determination to revivethe economy and improve thelaw and order situation in Paki-stan. Outlining his vision of pro-moting peace and stability in theregion, the Prime Minister em-phasized the need to work to-

Pakistan is important US partner: KerryFrom Page 1

gether in meeting the commonchallenges of extremism and ter-rorism.

Meanwhile the US StateDepartment has asked Congressto resume more than $300 mil-lion in blocked security assis-tance to Pakistan, officials saidSunday amid an upswing in re-lations.

“This is part of a long pro-cess of restarting security assis-tance cooperation after imple-mentation was slowed duringthe bilateral challenges of 2011and 2012,” deputy State Depart-ment spokeswoman Marie Harfsaid.

US security assistance wasinterrupted during that period,although $857 million in civil-ian assistance continued to flow,Harf said.

She said US security assis-tance would build the capabili-ties of Pakistan s security forces,“which is critical to counteringviolence in the western border

The PPP and PTI have ex-pressed their reservations overthe Punjab government’s an-nouncement to hold the elec-tions on a non-party basis.

The Supreme Court duringproceedings of the Local Bodyelections case has repeatedlycalled upon provincial govern-ments to conduct polls at the ear-liest. During its proceedings onMonday, Chief Justice of Paki-stan Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry directed the KhyberPakhtunkhawa government tocomplete legislation regardingthe Local Body elections prior toits next appearance to the court.

Punjabfinalises

From Page 1

Khwaja remarked that the courtshowed patience because thegovernment was itself with-drawing the notification.

He said that the commonmasses could not understandwhile reading the electricity billsthat which tax has been imposedon them. The hearing of the casewould resume on Tuesday.

People be takenonboardFrom Page 1

last five days in Sialkot andNarowal sectors making the lifeof the villagers miserable.

It has almost become a rou-tine for Indian troops who startfiring and shelling just after thedusk forcing the citizens to re-main confined to their homes.

The villagers in Chaprar,Bajwat, Sajit Garh, Umranawaliand Shakargarh sectors haveborne the main brunt of the In-dian firing, as the shelling keephitting their houses and injuringseveral of them.

While a large number ofpeople have shifted from theirnative villages in Bajwat andUmranawali to safer placesaway from the bordering areasothers are still braving the In-dian firing. A number oflivestocks have also been killedin the firing.

The unprovoked firing andshelling by the Indian troops,which started from October 15have thus far martyred two Pa-kistanis including one soldier ofthe Rangers and injuring twoothers. —INP

Seven injuredFrom Page 1

regions.”“And US civilian assistance

to Pakistan has delivered realresults on the issues most impor-tant to Prime Minister Sharif andall Pakistanis: energy, education,and economic growth,” she said.

The Prime Minister was ac-companied by Advisor to thePrime Minister on National Se-curity and Foreign Affairs Mr.Sartaj Aziz, Finance MinisterMr. Ishaq Dar, Special Assistantto the Prime Minister on ForeignAffairs Syed Tariq Fatemi andForeign Secretary Mr. JalilAbbas Jilani.

Earlier, upon his arrival atthe Andrews Air Force Base inWashington for a three day offi-cial visit, the Prime Minister wasaccorded warm welcome by thesenior officials of the WhiteHouse and the Department ofState. A smart contingent of theUS armed services also pre-sented guard of honour to thePrime Minister.—INP

rorists who have been killinginnocent people includingwomen and children daily. Theglobal entrepreneurs are scaredto invest. The situation hasreached to the level of do anddie, sources said.

The government has alreadyamended anti-terrorism lawsand lately a new ordinance hasbeen enforced titled ‘Pakistanprotection Ordinance’ aimed atrooting out cancer of terrorismfrom the country.

Under the ordinance “writ ofthe state shall be restored withfull might of the law and thosewho pursue fruit of terror andfear, regardless of nationality,colour, creed or religion, shallbe treated as enemy aliens anddealt with strictly without any

Federal, provincial govtsgeared up to take on terrorists

From Page 1

compunction.”The successes intargeted operation in Karachi,apprehending five thousand out-laws have encouraged the gov-ernment to go against unscrupu-lous elements in the same way.

The recent spurt in terrorstrikes in KP has forced theprovincial government to im-mediately set up a separateforce to protect lives of inno-cent people.

The sources said process oftalks with Taliban will moveforward after the return of PrimeMinister from the US. Thesetalks will be held within theambit of the Constitution only.The proposed talks will also bean important item on the agendaof talks between Nawaz Shariand the US leadership.

identified as PR woman policeconstable, Bashiran Bibi,Naeem, Nadeem and Wasimwhile injured as Shizan,Mohammad Arif, Noor Elahi,Alishba, Nadeem, Sanwwan,Arz Mohammad, Farooq,Salamat, Zeeshan, Umair andBibi Allah Rakhi.

“Rail service betweenBalochistan and other provinceshas been suspended, a specialtrain has left for the Notal tocarry the stranded passengers toQuetta,” Pakistan Railways(PR) spokesman said.

Divisional Superintendentof PR, Quetta-Sibi Section FaizMohammad Bugti and otherofficials have reached the siteand supervised rescue operation.

The blast was so powerfulas it left a huge crater at the placeof blast causing train suspen-sion.

Soon after the incident, lo-cal administration reached thesite and started shifting the in-jured to CMH Sibi and DeraMurad Jamali Hospital, while,the railway authorities also ini-tiated rescue operation to send

Militants target Jaffar ExpressFrom Page 1

LAHORE: Activists of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf hold a demonstration against rising inci-dents of raping of women and even minor girls.

the stranded passengers to theirdestinations.

After the mishap, PR sus-pended train operation fromQuetta. Quetta destined BolanMail and Akbar Bugti Expresswere stopped at Jacobabad rail-way station.

Chief Minister BalochistanDr Abdul Malik Baloch andGovernor Mohammad KhanAchakzai, in strong terms con-demned the incident and orderedthe officials to help the strandedpassengers and provide bestmedical facilities to the injured.

Terming it an incident of ter-rorism, the CM Balochistan hassought detailed report from thehome department. The chiefminister also instructed theBalochistan government to pro-vide medical treatment to all in-jured. The train service was ex-pected to resume after repair ofthe damaged track and securityclearance, a railway official said.

There has been no claim ofresponsibility for the attack.

The defence minister wasbriefed by the Army chief on thesituation on the Line of Control(LoC) where there have been fre-quent ceasefire violations by thePakistan Army, defence ministryofficials said. A total of 136ceasefire violations have been re-ported in 2013, the highest in thepast 8 years. Even on Monday,Pakistani rangers opened fire at10 border posts injuring twopeople.—PTI

National security councilspokeswoman Caitlin Hayden.

“As the president said in hisspeech at the UN general assem-bly, we’ve begun to review theway that we gather intelligence,so that we properly balance thelegitimate security concerns ofour citizens and allies with theprivacy concerns that all peopleshare.”

Ayrault said during a trip toDenmark that it was “incrediblethat an allied country like theUnited States at this point goesas far as spying on private com-munications that have no strate-gic justification, no justificationon the basis of national defense.”

The US ambassador toFrance, Charles Rivkin, wassummoned to the foreign min-istry in Paris over the claims,based on leaks from fugitive USex-security analyst EdwardSnowden and published by LeMonde and the German weeklyDer Spiegel.

Indian Army chiefFrom Page 1

US brushesFrom Page 1

due to meet President BarackObama to discuss a broad rangeof cooperative ties on Wednes-day.

Ahead of the White Housemeeting, Nawaz Sharif will alsodiscuss ways to strengthen bi-lateral relations with Vice Presi-dent Joseph Biden.

Pakistani leaders are urgingthe country’s friends in the in-ternational community to investin the energy sector to helpIslamabad meet its exponentialdevelopment requirements.

Nawaz Sharif is also sched-uled to address a gathering ofprominent American businessleaders during his four-day USvisit.—APP

US EnergySecy callson Nawaz

From Page 1

onward legal proceedings in thisregard. The election tribunalfixed Nov 7 for the first hearingof the case.

The charges were same asprevious that bogus votes werecast in the elections. As the pre-cedence was already set by theelection tribunal, the NationalDatabase and Registration Au-thority (NADRA) may be askedto carry out the verification ofthe thumb impressions on theballot papers.

ECP noticesFrom Page 1

Int’l LivestockNutrition conference

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The University ofVeterinary and Animal SciencesLahore in collaboration withNutritionists Association of Pa-kistan is holding “InternationalLivestock Nutrition Conference”on its City Campus from Octo-ber 23 to 24, 2013.

The conference will com-

prise total eight sessions includ-ing five technical sessions be-sides inaugural, plenary and con-cluding recommendation session.

The technical sessions willbe on dairy nutrition, feed re-sources and manufacturing tech-nology, beef nutrition, buffalonutrition and nutrition of smallruminants, respectively.

and his accomplices includingSiraj Talpur. The deed of pardonwas dismissed by the SHC overtechnical flaws especially due toa missing affidavit.

The aggrieved family ofShahzeb had filed a writtenstatement in the Sindh HighCourt mentioning that they hadpardoned the murderers of theirson. They had claimed that theyhad pardoned the killers of theirson “in the name of Allah”.

The aggrieved family wasalso placed under tremendouspressure from the supporters ofthe parents of the criminals andreports appeared in the nationalmedia that the slain Khan’s fa-ther had consented to accept acompensation money for par-don.

Police’s role this case wasbiased and they had been reluc-tant to arrest the criminals. How-ever, the pressure from the me-dia, civil society and the apexcourt was so tremendous that thecriminals who had fled to Dubaiwere brought back to the coun-try with the assistance of theInterpol.

The ATC awarded deathsentences to Shahrukh Jatoi andSiraj Talpur while life imprison-ment was awarded to 2 others.The main accused Jatoi had filedappeal in the SHC against thesentence and appealed to theSupreme Court against SHC.

SC rejectsFrom Page 1

ment Minister Syed OwaisMuzaffar, Sindh InformationMinister Sharjeel Enam Memon,Mukesh Kumar Chaowla, MirHazar Khan Bijarani, GyanChand Asrani, Sindh Minister forSocial welfare Rubina SaadatQaim Khani, Nizam Khan Shoru,Pakistan People’s Party Parlia-mentarian Sindh chapter generalsecretary Taj Haider werepresent. Jakhrani’s portfolio wasyet to be decided.

JakhraniFrom Page 1

LONDON —Girls educa-tion campaigner MalalaYousafzai said she isn tscared of new threats fromthe Taliban. Speaking in

her first in-t e r v i e wwith an In-dian median e t w o r k ,M a l a l aYo u s a f z a isaid she is“scared of

ghosts, not Taliban.”Malala Yousafzai, a globalicon for world leaders andcitizens alike, said shesees herself just as an or-dinary teenage girl. Shesaid her world may have

changed but she has not.Recounting the horror ofbeing shot at point blank, abullet almost going throughher brain - all because shespoke up for the rights ofyoung girls to go to school,Malala said her firstthought waking up in a hos-pital in Birmingham washow she or her family wouldpay for the treatment.

What if the Taliban tar-gets her life again? Malalasays she isn t scared bytheir new threats.

“I may be scared ofghosts,” she said, “never ofthe Taliban.”

Meanwhile he 16-year-old Pakistani teen targeted

for a Taliban assassinationbecause she championededucation for girls has in-spired the development ofa school curriculum encour-aging advocacy.

George WashingtonUniversity announcedMonday that faculty mem-bers are creating multimediacurriculum tools to accom-pany a book recently re-leased by the teen, MalalaYousafzai. Several facultymembers will pilot the cur-riculum early next year forboth college and highschool instruction.

Free of charge, it will fo-cus on themes such as theimportance of a woman s

voice and political extrem-ism, the university said.

The tools won t justlook at the teen s story, butalso how the same issuesget reflected elsewhere,such as when girls facechild marriage and pres-sures to leave school, saidMary Ellsberg, the directorof the university s GlobalWomen s Institute.

“It s going to be reallyinteractive and really en-courage students to do ...activities outside of school,it will encourage them to getengaged in the communitiesand as well to help theMalala Fund directly,”Ellsberg said. The univer-

sity s Global Women s In-stitute is partnered withthe Malala Fund, a non-profit that seeks to ensuregirls around the worldhave access to education.

In 2012 when a Talibangunman walked up to abus taking Malala andother children home fromschool in Pakistan s vola-tile northern Swat Valleyand shot Malala in thehead and neck. Anothergirl on the bus was alsowounded.

Malala now resides inBritain, where she wasflown for medical care.Her memoir is “I amMalala.” —Online

I am scared of ghosts, not Taliban: Malala

IS L A M A B A D—Expressingdisappointment at commentsby Indian Foreign MinisterSalman Khurshid on the sta-tus of Jammu & Kashmir, aforeign office spokesman ofPakistan Monday said thedispute was the core issuebetween the two South Asianeighbours.

The spokesman said itwas unfortunate that the In-dian leadership continued torefer to the state of Jammuand Kashmir as an integralpart of India, when the real-ity was clearly otherwise.

As a member of theUnited Nations, India shouldnot overlook or underminethe numerous UN SecurityCouncil resolutions on theissue, he added.

In an interview to NDTVon Sunday, Khurshid hadsaid it would be a waste oftime to question Delhi’s claimover the troubled region. Healso voiced concern overceasefire violations at theLine of Control and hopedthese do not result in anymore casualties.

“There is no way inwhich India will accept anyintervention on an issue thatis entirely accepted in theSimla Agreement as a bilat-eral issue between India and

Pakistan,” he added referringto Prime Minister NawazSharif ’s suggestion for USmediation in the Kashmir dis-pute.

The Pakistani spokes-man said while bilateralagreements might exist, thesanctity of the United Na-tions resolutions could notbe understated.

He said the Kashmirdispute remained a funda-mental component of thebilateral dialogue processand resolution of the issuewas vital for maintaining

peace and security in theregion.

“India’s continued in-transigence over this issueis counterproductive and isunhelpful in the efforts toresolve this dispute,” saidthe spokesman.

“Pakistan remains com-mitted to a purposeful ,constructive and result-oriented dialogue with In-dia and believes that seri-ous efforts need to be madein maintaining a positive at-mosphere and avoid negativepropaganda.”—APP

Indian minister’s statementon Kashmir refuted

Pre-arrest bail ofSalman acceptedISLAMABAD—A petitionseeking pre-arrest bail of fa-mous lawyer Salman AkramRaja has been accepted inthe case of sending threat-ening SMSes to the Su-preme Court Judge Jawad SKhawaja. Additional Ses-sions Judge RafaqatHussain heard the case onMonday and granted pre-arrest bail to the lawyer tillNovember 05. Renownedlawyer, Aitzaz Ehsan ap-peared before the court onthe behalf of Salman AkramRaja. Additional SessionsJudge Rafaqat Hussain ad-journed the case till Novem-ber 05.— INP

Four accusedarrested in QuettaQUETTA—The CIA policearrested four accused in-volved in kidnapping for ran-som and murder of a childhere on Sunday. According topolice, the accused had kid-napped a minor child fromSariyab Road of Quetta oneyear ago and had demandedRs10 million for his release.However, the poor parentswere unable to arrange the ran-som money after which thekidnappers killed the child. TheCIA police continued searchfor the culprits and at last man-aged to nab them during a raid.Upon the information pro-vided by the detained culprits,the police also recovered theremains of the murdered child.A case has been registeredagainst the accused and fur-ther investigation was inprogress. —INP

Man killed, 14 injuredas bus overturnsFAISALABAD—A man diedand 14 others includingwomen and children werewounded when a bus carry-ing participants of weddingturned turtle here on Mon-day. According to police, abus carrying participants ofwedding ceremony fromLahore to Faisalabad over-turned near Thatta Bridge atCanal Road due to openingof tie-rod. As a result of acci-dent 15 people includingwomen and children sus-tained injuries. —INP

ANKARA—Pakistan’s firstindigenously built F-22 frig-ate “PNS ASLAT” will bevisiting Gölcük Naval Base inTurkey from 22 to 25 Octo-ber 2013 and will participatein various harbour and seaexercises with the TurkishNavy. PNS ASLAT wascommissioned in PakistanNavy on 17 April 2013 and isthe fourth ship of SWORDClass Frigates added in Paki-stan Navy inventory. Thiswarship is 123 meters long,displaces 3144 tons and canattain and sustain speeds ofover 29 knots.

This ship forms mainstayof Pakistan Navy surfacecombatants. The ship is ca-pable of operating indepen-

dently or as part of a taskforce in multi threat environ-ments. PNS ASLAT isequipped with state of the artweapons and sensors foranti-submarine, anti-surfaceand anti-air operations withcomprehensive self defencecapabilities. The vessel is amulti-mission frigate and em-barks a Z9EC-20 helicopterwhich enables it to conductdedicated anti-submarineoperations thus enhancingthe ship’s operational range.

This friendly sojourn byPNS ASLAT to Gölcük Na-val Base, which is the mainbase of the Turkish Navy onthe east coast of the Sea ofMarmara in Gölcük – Kocaeli,will further strengthen exist-

ing bilateral ties. Reciproca-tory visits of high level de-fence delegations, exchangetraining programmes and vis-its of naval units is a regularfeature of Turkey-Pakistandefence relations. Turkishfrigate F-496 TCG Gökovaparticipated in AMAN-2013naval exercise organized byPakistan Navy from 4-8March 2013.

Commanded by CaptainAhmad Farooq, PNS ASLATin its current deployment inthe Mediterranean and BlackSea has already visited PortSudan (North Sudan), Tripoli(Libya), Novorossiysk (Rus-sia) and her next destinationwill be Jeddah, SaudiArabia.—INP

Pak first indigenously built frigate totake part in Turkish Naval exercises

KARACHI—According to apreliminary report of the au-topsy performed on the bodyof slain lawyer Naimat AliRandhawa on Monday, theadvocate had received twogunshots to the head atclose range.

The advocate’s body,which was buried without anautopsy, was exhumed todayfor a post-mortem examina-

tion, in the light of court di-rectives.

Security was strict asdoctors performed the au-topsy and collected samplesfrom the advocate’s remains.

Advocate Naimat AliRandhawa, a former prosecu-tor at an anti-terrorism courtand a leader of the PakistanMuslim League - Nawaz’s le-gal wing in Sindh, was

gunned down in Karachi’sNorth Nazimabad area on thenight of Sept 26.

The body, which was tohave been exhumed earlierthis month for a post-mortem,underwent the autopsy to-day as the lawyer’s son,Naseer Randhawa, hadmoved an application in thecourt challenging the direc-tive.—INP

Randhawa’s body exhumed; autopsy performed

I S L A M A B A D — O p p o s i t i o nLeader in the National Assem-bly Syed Khursheed AhmedShah has said that oppositionwill protest in the upcomingsession of the National As-sembly against raise in pricesof electricity and petroleumproducts.

Speaking to media personsoutside the Parliament Houseon Monday, he said PakistanPeoples Party (PPP) will con-tinue to play the role of genu-ine opposition. However, hesaid the PML-N governmentshould be allowed to completeits term. Talking about the for-eign tours of the incumbentgovt, he said that the opposi-tion is not being taken intoconfidence such visits. ThePPP leader slammed the govtfor not making public the re-port of Abbottabad Commis-

sion. Commenting onBilawal’s speech, KhursheedShah said that Bilawal ‘s re-cent speech at Garhi KhudaBakhsh was a good beginningin politics.

The opposition leaderhoped that Prime Minister’svisit to the United Stateswould serve the nationalinterests.To a question,Khursheed Shah said: “Whenthe PPP was in power, we hadclear foreign policy to maintaingood relations withneighbouring countries andsuggested the PML-N-led gov-ernment to follow the same forregional peace and in countriesinterest.”The Opposition Leaderadded Pakistan is an indepen-dent and sovereign state and weshould not yield to any pres-sure while formulating our for-eign policy. —Online

Opposition to protest in NAagainst electricity, POL price hike

Afghanistanrefuses to release2500 Pakistanis

KABUL—Afghanistan gov-ernment has decided not torelease about 2500 Pakistaniprisoners languishing in itsjails. A statement issued bypresidential spokesman, AimalFaizi said that Maulana FazlurRehman during his visit of Af-ghanistan has discussed withPresident Karzai among otherissues, release of Pakistaniprisoners. Karzai had commit-ted to consider the issue andafter due deliberations, it hasbeen decided that Pakistaniprisoners cannot be set free.

In the past Pakistan hadraised the issue of release ofPakistani prisoners severaltimes but Afghan officialsbacktracked from their commit-ment twice. It is worthmentioning that Pakistan in therecent past has release severalTalban leaders. —INP

Non recoveryof missingpersons is a

question markon LEAs: SC

I S L A M A B A D — S u p r e m eCourt expressing its non sat-isfaction over the perfor-mance of intelligence agen-cies and police has askedthose individuals or institu-tions who have knowledgeof missing persons to fulfillthe requirements of the lawor face action.

On Monday a two mem-ber bench of the SC headedby Justice Mian Saqib Nisarand consisting of Justice IjazAfzal Khan heard the hear-ing of missing personsSajjad ul Hassan, SaeedAhmed from Multan andAttique ul Rehman fromSheikhupura.

Additional AttorneyGeneral Tariq Khokar andChairperson Defense of Hu-man Rights Amina Janjuaand senior police officialswere present in the courtroom.

During the course of thehearing the court orderedthe police and other depart-ments to produce the threemissing persons before thecourt in three weeks time.

Expressing his dismayJustice Mian Saqib Nisar re-marked that he fails to un-derstand how people in-volved in this act can live inpeace. He said that non re-covery of missing personsis a big question mark on thelaw enforcing agencies. “ This is the first time I amhearing this sort of case andI am awed and in deep griefover what the families ofmissing persons must begoing through”, the Justiceremarked. —Online

OBSERVER REPORT

M U L T A N — P a k i s t a nPeople’s Party Patron-in-Chief Bilawal BhuttoZardari will soon be ap-pointed opposition leaderin the National Assemblyafter winning the elections,PPP President of southPunjab chapterMakhdoom Shahabuddinsaid on Monday.

Shahabuddin was talk-ing to the media at theMultan Press Club, accom-panied by the entire South

‘Bilawal Bhutto willbe NA opposition

leader soon’LHC seeks freshreport on rape of girlSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore High Courthas directed District and Ses-sions Judge, Nankana Sahib tosend fresh report regardingsubmission of police reportbefore the trial court within aweek regarding gang rape of agirl so that the investigationcould be concluded transpar-ently. According to details,daughter of Bashir Ahmed ofSyedwala Town was returningfrom nearby shrine with hereleven-year-old cousinShakeel. On the way three ac-cused Rao Asif alias Kaka, RaiSaqlain and Rana Waheedoverpowered Shakeel.

NASEERABAD: Security personnel gather beside a train that was damaged by a bomb explosion on Monday.

KARACHI: Governor Sindh Ishratul Ebad Khan administering oeath to the newly electedinister Mumtaz Hussain Jakhrani while Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah looks on,at Governor House on Monday.

Punjab PPP leadership.His words echoed re-

cent media reports thatsuggest Bilawal will beelected as a member of theNational Assembly – pos-sibly from NA-204 Larkana– after the seat is vacatedby Former Sindh law min-ister Ayaz Soomro.

M a k h d o o mShahabuddin added thatthe young Bhutto wouldeventually progress fromopposition leader to primeminister of Pakistan in nextgeneral elections.

FOR many outdoor runners the ideaof pounding a treadmill means trading daylight for drudgery but as the

air chills, fitness experts say treadmillclasses can hone efficiency and form andadd a dash of glamour toindoor running.

“There’s a little snob-bery about running on atreadmill,” said DavidSiik, a track and fieldsprinter turned treadmillclass fitness instructor atEquinox, the upscalechain of fitness centers.“Most racers are a littleashamed of running in-doors.” Siik, who is nowbased in Los Angeles,turned reluctantly totreadmill running after apost-college stint in NewYork City.

“I was sick of runninginto cars trying to get toCentral Park,” he ex-plained, “and New York in January is notalways the friendliest place to run.” Nowthe humble treadmill has him hooked. “Istill really enjoy running outside, butthere is nothing better than the ability tocalculate and monitor your goals on atreadmill,” he said. “You’re running onthis computer.”

Siik, 33, believes too many people geton the treadmill without knowing whatto do. “They hit ‘on’ and then they’reclueless,” said Siik, who tries to bring theenergy of a spin class to his 45-minutetreadmill workout class, which includesthree runs, each progressively harder,

after an initial warm-up.The treadmill is by far the most

popular cardio machine, accounting for58 percent of home fitness sales in 2012,according to the National Sporting

Goods Association, a per-centage that has stayedconsistent over the pastyears. The elliptical trainer,at eight per cent, is a dis-tant second.

Melanie Douglass, aUtah-based dietitian andtrainer with ICON Healthand Fitness, whose prod-ucts include cardio equip-ment, has also taughtclasses on the treadmill,which she calls her pre-ferred piece of equipment.“People always work moreefficiently (on the treadmill),because the motor and belthelp you maintain a consis-tent pace,” said Douglass.

She said people errwhen they go too slow, or do the samething day after day. “Exercise is not sup-posed to be comfortable,” she explained.“You have to challenge your body.” Dr.Michele Olson, professor of exercisephysiology at Auburn University atMontgomery in Alabama, said besidesteaching proper running and walkingform, classes help the exerciser learn “thebells and whistles” of the modern ma-chine. And unlike outdoor running, train-ing on a treadmill ensures you are run-ning at your intended pace, she said. Sim-ply varying the grade, or incline, everyminute will push up the calorie burning.

Treadmill classes mix it upwith workhorse of the gym

Students performing on the stage during Fifth Roots Youth Model United Nations in Federal Capital.

Member Estate Capital Development Authority addressing the meeting participants.

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D —Chai rmanKhan Research Laboratories(KRL) Ijaz Mukhtar said Mon-day young scientific re-searchers are backbone ofnation, and computationalscience can play a vital role inthe development of country.He was addressing inauguralceremony of a five-day “Na-tional Conference on Compu-tational Biology” organizedby Department ofBioinformatics & Biotechnol-ogy of International IslamicUniversity Islamabad (IIUI), incollaboration with KRL andPakistan Society of Compu-tational Science/Biology atFaisal Mosque Campus of theuniversity. Rector IIUI, Dr.Masoom Yasinzai, ActingPresident IIUI, Dr. Nabi BuxJummani, Chief Organizer andHead of Department of

Chairman KRL Ijaz Ahmad Mukhtar, Rector IIUI Dr Masoom Yasin Zai, Acting Presi-dent IIUI Dr Nabi Bux Jummani on the occasion of five-day ‘National Conference onComputational Biology’.

Bioinformatics & Biotechnol-ogy, Dr Jabbar Zaman Khattak,scientific experts and studentsacross the country also at-tended the ceremony.

Ijaz Mukhtar said Pakistaniyouth is actively participatingin the field of research, youngstudents should be encour-aged to launch modern and in-novative scientific researchprojects and termed the recentconference as a milestone inthis regard. He said that wehave a variety of opportuni-ties for development andyoung scientists while utiliz-ing their abilities in the field ofscientific research can lead ourcountry towards a journey ofprosperity and success. “I ap-preciate IIUI; PSF, PakistanSociety of Computational Bi-ology; Higher Education Com-mission and Pakistan ScienceFoundation for organizing thismega National event and their

invaluable contribution to pro-mote the spirit of scientific re-search in Pakistan” he said. Headded due to efforts of re-search community Pakistanhas achieved excellence in thefield of modern scientific dis-

ciplines.Dr. Masoom Yasinzai, be-

ing guest of honour lauded theeffort of IIUI and KRL andwelcomed the worthy guestsand experts while hoping therecent effort would pave the

way for excellence in the fieldof scientific research. “ IIUI notonly striving for promoting Is-lamic values and research butalso it is committed to providea platform for progress in thefield of scientific subjects” he

said. He added that progressin the field of science has be-come a prerequisite for devel-opment and prosperity of na-tions. He urged young sci-entists to learn latest scientifictechniques to compete thechallenges of modern era. Hemaintained that young stu-dents must apply the latesttechniques in the relevant ar-eas of their research as itwould provide valuable re-sults. He expressed full confi-dence in the abilities of youngIIUI scientific researcherswhile vowing that universitywould remain committed toencourage the potential of itsstudents.

Dr. Nabi Bux Jummani, onthe behalf of the PresidentIIUI, Dr. Ahmed Yusif Al-Draiweesh welcomed the wor-thy guests and appreciatedthe efforts of IIUI and KRLand hoped students would

get useful knowledge fromthe conference. He also as-sured every possible supportfor arranging such confer-ences in future.

Earlier, Dr. JabbarZamman Khattak briefed theparticipants about the aimsand objectives of the confer-ence and welcomed them onthe behalf of the department.Scientific experts, Prof. Dr.Syed Walayat Hussain Shahand Dr. Naushaba Atta alsospoke on the occasion andapprised about the aims andvision of such conferences.Valuable lectures were deliv-ered on the first day on vari-ous important scientific top-ics of computational Biologyby Dr. Danial ChristianHoselli , Syed AmmarJaffery, Dr. Nasir Mirza andSyed Nasir MehmoodShah. The conference willlast till October 25.

Conference on computational biology kicks off at IIUI

Murderer of fiverelatives, their

servant arrestedCRIME REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Islamabadpolice arrested an accusedallegedly involved in murderof his five relatives and theirmale servant to grab theirproperty.

Addressing a press con-ference here on Monday, IGIslamabad police SikandarHayat said that the accusedSikandar Zia, the prime sus-pect, gunned down his aunt,her husband and three othermembers of the family anddumped their bodies at a de-serted place.

Later, he also murdered amale house maid, who helpedhim carry out the killing.Skindar Hayat said that theculprit and his three accom-plices have been arrested bythe police.

He said that accusedSikandar confessed that hekilled his aunt and other rela-tives to seize their property.

Talent huntshow at RAC

CITY REPORTER

RAWA L P I N D I —About 30amateur singers part ici-pated in the talent huntshow organized here atRawalpindi Arts Councilhere on Sunday.

Famous folk singerQurban Niazi, poetessRukhsana Nazi, Ali Zeb,Naeem Aziz Mian andHasnain Pasha acted asjudges.

Zaheer Ahmed fromChak Baili Khan was ad-judged the f irst , GhulamAbbas from Rawalpindisecond, and Kamran Sattifrom Gujjar Khan andSameel Laki third.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Most of theeducational institutions work-ing under Federal Directorateof Education (FDE) openedon Monday after week-longholidays of Eid-ul-Azha, withthin attendance. Majority ofthe students visiting theirnative towns for celebratingEid returned on Sunday afterhaving good time with theirrelatives however could notcome to the institutes, feel-ing lethargic.

Shagufta, a teacher at alocal college, said “only fewchildren came to the institutetoday so most of the teach-ers arranged combineclasses to engage the stu-dents in some constructiveactivity.” She said “studyroutine could not be startedproperly due to the low at-tendance of students as wellas teachers”.

Most of the students re-mained idle and teachers pre-ferred not to advance withthe course work so as not to

leave those behind who hadleft the city for Eid, she said.“We have returned on Sun-day after spending Eid holi-days in the northern area toresume the daily routine”,Amir, a parent said.

A majority of the popu-lat ion residing in capitalbelongs to the far flung ar-eas of the country andsettled here for job or edu-cation purposes and mostof them prefer to celebratethe grand festivities of Eidwith their families.

Edu institutions witnessthin attendance after Eid

Residents decrylack of facilitiesin Sector G-13

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The residentsof Sector G-13 have ex-pressed grave concerns overlack of facilities includingsanitation and drainage, andshortage of water supply.

They criticised the Capi-tal Development Authority(CDA) and Federal Govern-ment Employees HousingFoundation for not providingthe facilities to the residentsdue to tussle between thetwo bodies. They said thatthe authority and foundationwere not paying heed to theproblems of the residents.

The residents said thatthe authorities have not de-vised a mechanism of collect-ing garbage and wastes fromthe sector, while nothing hasbeen done so far for properdrainage and sewerage. Theysaid that Sector G-13 is thegateway of the federal capi-tal and the garbage heapsoutside the main market ofthe sector is ruining the im-age of entire city.

They demanded of thehigher authorities of CDA andthe housing foundation to takenotice of the situation and en-sure provision of facilities tothe residents of the sector.

Sale of winterclothes starts

ISLAMABAD—The sale of win-ter clothes has started in twincities of Islamabad andRawalpindi with the changingweather. Crowd of men andwomen can be seen in garmentstores and outlets purchasingshawls, sweaters, jackets andother warm clothes.

Shopkeepers in SaddarBazaar Rawalpindi, talking toINP said that for the time, ma-jority of the residents arebuying woollen clothes ofkids to save them of the ef-fects of changing weather.They said that new variety ofwinter clothes have arrived inthe markets and the sale willfurther increase if it rains.

People from lower andlower middle strata of thesociety are also thronginglanda bazaars in the twin cit-ies to buy the winterclothes.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Special check-ing teams of District Healthand Food Department alongwith Health Directorate of Capi-tal Development Authority(CDA) have challaned 536 foodoutlets, including hotels, res-taurants and bakeries duringthe last three months. Theyalso issued 1290 notices to thefood outlets for failing to com-ply with the pure food laws andunsatisfactory sanitary condi-tions at the premises of foodoutlets, said a Food Depart-ment press release on Monday.

Assistant Director, Food(ICT), Muhammad Afzalchallaned and imposed fine ofRs 5,000 on Piza Hut, SuperMarket for contravention offood laws. He also conductedchecking of Tehzib Bakery,Honey Center, ShikaryalSweets, Prince Bakers andJaved bakers in Blue Area andG-9 Markaz and took samplesof food items for laboratory test.According to details, special

teams conducted as many as1767 inspections of food out-lets in the city and rural areasduring the period and disposedoff 1926 sub-standard ketchups, soda water and oil bottles,50 kg unsound sugar, 1353 kgfake, adulterated ghee, 400 kgsub-standard meat and ar-rested 16 accused under thepure food laws and sealed thefake ghee manufacturing fac-tory and meat godown inTarnol area. 256 filthy utensils,20 dishes of unhygienic bak-eries items, 445 packets ofgutka, 20 kg gurr and 5.5 kgspices were also confiscatedand disposed off on the spot.

Four restaurants andpakora shops were also par-tially sealed for unhygienicconditions at the premises.During the same period, thecourts of law also disposedoff 411 challans against foodoutlets and imposed finesamounting to Rs 148,800 onthe violators and imprisoned59 accused for failing to com-ply with food laws.

536 food outlets challanedfor violation of laws

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The CapitalDevelopment Authori ty(CDA) will execute self-sustainable projects in fu-ture and launch more resi-dential sectors in order tocater the growing housingneeds in the Federal Capi-tal.

This was stated byMember Estate CDA,Shaista Sohail while talkingto a 21-member delegationof staff of KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KPK) CivilSecretariat from StaffTraining Inst i tute,Peshawar, which visi ted

CDA headquarters onMonday.

The Member Estate saidIslamabad was the onlycity of Pakistan which wasplanned and developed onthe basis of Ekistics, a sci-ence of human settlement.

She briefed the delega-tion on the functions ofcivic agency, its administra-tive structure, financial af-fairs, ongoing projects andfuture development of thecity. She said the CDA hadcompleted many mega-projects since the inceptionof Islamabad, while some ofthe mega projects were inprogress.

CDA to launch moreresidential sectors

Students Weekheld to enlightenhidden abilities

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad Sci-ence School and College, F-8/1on Monday celebrated Stu-dents Week and organized dif-ferent competitions to en-lighten hidden abilities of stu-dents. Both academic and co-curricular activities were ar-ranged and participated by stu-dents with great enthusiasm.

Principal of the Schoolsaid’ Students Week’ is anannual event and this yearalso Qirat, Naat, Urdu andEnglish debates, Quiz Compe-tition, Fancy Dress Show andMusic Competition are orga-nized . Among these competi-tions, Urdu debate was formost to mention and winnerswere Aliyan Zahid, HajraSaifullah, Dua Fatima,JaveriaZainab, Alizeh Zahid andHareem Idrees. Cups and cer-tificates were distributedamong the winners. The Prin-cipal encouraged teachersand students for their greatefforts and discipline.

Life returningto normalafter Eid

ISLAMABAD—After giving adeserted look for a week, life isreturning to normal in the fed-eral capital as people are return-ing from their native towns af-ter celebrating Eid-ul-Azhawith their loved ones. Peoplefrom different walks of life andacross the country havestarted returning to the capitalafter celebrating the festivitywith their loved ones.

Capital city wore a totallydeserted look as a number ofpeople who are settled in thecity for education, jobs andbusiness purposes had goneto their hometowns to celebrateEid with their relatives.—APP

Students of ICB G-6/3 enjoying ‘Gol Ga’apay’.

Families of missing persons from Swat holding a protest demanding their release on Monday.

05:30

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Zohr

Brothers in Islam establishregular prayers and charity

Gypsy ladies filling their pots with clean drinking water.

Relatives of Hajis warmly welcoming them at Benazir International Airport.

ISLAMABAD—The IslamabadAccountability Court onMonday directed the Na-tional Accountability Bureau(NAB) to present finalchallan of former chairman Oil& Gas Regulatory Authority(OGRA) Tauqir Sadiq’s cor-ruption case in next hearing.Meanwhile, Tauqir Sadiq hasalso challenged his three-year conviction in absentiafor the multi-billion corrup-tion by the AccountabilityCourt.

Tauqir Sadiq, who is theprime accused in the 82 bil-lion rupees mega corruptionscam, was awarded three-year imprisonment by an ac-countability court ofRawalpindi on May 7, 2013under section 31-A of the

NAB Ordinance 1999 after hedid not appear before thecourt despite repeated no-tices.

The AccountabilityCourt Judge MuhammadBashir was hearing the OGRAcorruption case. During thehearing, Tauqir Sadiq wasproduced in the court. Inves-tigation Officer of NABMuhammad Waqas informedthe court about final challanand said that challan aboutOGRA corruption case wouldbe finalized till the first weekof November.

He said that over 20 wit-nesses have been includedin the challan. He told thecourt that the challan wasdispatched to concerned ex-perts for verification after

which chairman NAB wouldapprove it. He said that threeto four weeks were requiredfor submission of final reportin the court. The court re-marked that it was necessaryto present the challan beforethe court within 14 days. Thecourt adjourned the hearingtill November 04.

Meanwhile, Tauqir Sadiqhas also challenged histhree-year conviction in ab-sentia for the multi-billioncorruption by the Account-ability Court. He told thecourt in the petition that hewas convicted through base-less and false statementsgiven by NAB against him inthe court. On this the courtsummoned reply from NABin the next hearing.—INP

OGRA scam case

NAB ordered topresent challan I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a n

Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) CentralInformation SecretaryShireen Mazari has said thatgovernment’s failure to moveon the mandate of All PartiesConference (APC) is the rea-son why terrorists increasedtheir attacks. On Monday,expressing disappointmenton the statement of PM dur-ing his visit to US she said,PM Sharif was clearly notstating the truth while declar-ing that “talks had begun”but were derailed because“violence erupted”.

She said in fact govern-ment has not moved at all tobegin implementation on themandate of APC, while terror-ism and violence did not sud-denly “erupt” but have beenprevalent with growing in-tensity which is why the APCsought dialogue to givepeace a chance.

Mazari hoped that PMwould take a resolute posi-

tion on drones and makeclear that Pakistan will nottolerate drone attacks any-more.

She also stated that byhaving a low level delega-tion receive the PM on hisofficial visit, the insult wasto Pakistan and its people,not to the person of NawazSharif. The PM Office andMinistry of Foreign Affairsshould have ensured thatthis did not happen as thetrip is minutely planned.The US has once again be-littled Pakistan by dolingout part of the money owedto Pakistan under the Coa-lition Support Fund (CSF) atthe time of the PM’s visit,she added.

The CSF is money owedto Pakistan for services ren-dered at great cost by Paki-stan to the US WoT and itshould not be used to black-mail Pakistan politically,Mazari concluded.—Online

Terrorists increasedattacks due to govt’s

failure: PTI

Women, girlscomplain of

immoral activitiesby motorcyclists

I S L A M A B A D — Wo r k i n gwomen and girls studentsfrom the areas of G-6 and G-7have expressed grave con-cern over immoral activitiesof the motorcyclists on 7thavenue overhead bridge.

This is only overheadbridge which is the safe pas-sage for pedestrians forcrossing 7th avenue but ithas been made impassableby the youths of loose mo-rality who continue to oc-cupy this bridge the wholeday long and whenever wetry to cross it they start fling-ing vulgar remarks on us,said a group of girls students.

“Our offices are located inG-7 sector and we have to movethere by crossing this over headbridge but the youths riding onmotorcyclists start chasing useven on the bridge which is onlymeant for pedestrians, said agroup of working ladies. Resi-dents of the areas demandedcrackdown against theyouths found indulged in im-moral activities on 7th av-enue overhead bridge other-wise they will be forced toblock 7th avenue.—Online

AIOU mailsroll-number slips

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Allama IqbalOpen University (AIOU) hassent Roll Number-Slips ofMatric, FA/F.Sc and BAProgrammes for the SemesterSpring, 2013 to its studentsacross the country and alsoplaced on its websitewww.aiou.edu.pk for conve-nience of the students

This was announced byDr. Hamid Khan Niazi, Control-ler of Exams, AIOU. He furthersaid that final exams of Matric,FA/F.Sc and BA programmesfor the Semester Spring, 2013will start from October 29.

Dr. Hamid Khan said thatthe students who have not re-ceived their Roll No. Slips sofar are advised to contact thenearest Regional Office of theUniversity or Abid HussainSatti, Deputy Controller of Ex-ams (Conduct) personally orat his Ph.No. 051-9250051,9057648 for issuance of Dupli-cate Roll No Slip. For dupli-cate Roll No Slip students arerequired to bring two passportsize photographs duly at-tested by the gazetted officer,he added.

PAL publishesspecial editions ofchildren literature

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Acad-emy of Letters (PAL) pub-lished three special editions ofchildren literature titled,“Bachon Ka Adab” includingmatter translated from foreignlanguages, poem and prose ofregional languages in Urdu. Anofficial of PAL told APP hereon Monday that it is for thefirst time in the history of sub-continent that such kind of lit-erature has been published forchildren in Urdu.

He said that the first edi-tion consists of translation offamous foreign languages’ lit-erature in Urdu, while the sec-ond edition comprising poemsof regional languages in Urdu.The third edition comprisingmoral-based stories, tales ofdifferent languages in Urdu, hefurther said. “Besides, literatureof foreign languages, folk talesof different areas of the coun-try are also included in theseeditions”, PAL official said add-ing Urdu translation of childrenstories written in Brahvi,Balochi, Pashto, Sindhi,Hindko, Punjabi, Saraiki,Pothohari, Pahari and Kashmiriare also part of “Bachon KaAdab”.—APP

7 RBISEemployeespromoted

RAWALPINDI—Seven em-ployees of Board of Interme-diate and Secondary Educa-tion (RBISE) including Assis-tant Controller, Superinten-dent and Assistant Superin-tendent have been promotedby Promotion Committee ofboard. Committee has ap-proved the promotion of allemployees as per their gradeand final decision of promo-tion will be taken the meet-ing of Board of Governors.

Sources said meeting ofpromotion committee washeld Vice Chancellor FatimaJinnah University, ChairmanRBISE and EDO educationdepartment, committee de-cided to promote 7 officersof the education board inmeeting. Details said, GhaffarNiazi has been promoted asdeputy controller from assis-tant contoller, NasarullahJalib from superintendent toassistant controller andMohammad Tariq from As-sistant superintendent tosuperintendent.

Like this committee alsoapproved to promote 4 em-ployees of board from grade9 to 14 as per their grades,while final approval of pro-motion will be given in themeeting of Board of Gover-nors on October 27.—Online

Australian-Pakistanifamily killed in

Rawalpindi attackRAWALPINDI—Pakistan po-lice are investigating the sus-pected murder of five mem-bers of an Australian-Paki-stani family in Rawalpindi.

The Department of For-eign Affairs and Trade(DFAT) says Aamir UllahKhan, his wife and three chil-dren were killed in an attack.

The Australian HighCommission in Islamabadwas notified of the killingslast Tuesday. “We extend oursympathies to the family ofthe deceased and we are do-ing what we can to assist atthis difficult time,” a DFATspokesperson said.

“Our High Commission inPakistan is working with au-thorities in Pakistan, whohave commenced an investi-gation into the suspectedmurders. “The High Commis-sion and the Department arealso maintaining contact withfamily members.” DFAT reit-erated its recommendationthat Australians should re-consider their need to travelto Pakistan.—Online

Senate sessionsummoned for

October 28I S L A M A B A D — P r e s i d e n tMamnoon Hussain has sum-moned the Senate to meet inthe Parliament House Mon-day on Oct.28. The Presidenthas summoned the Senatesession in exercise of thepowers conferred by clause(1) of Article 54 of the Con-stitution of the Islamic Re-public of Pakistan. ChairmanSenate Syed Nayyer HussainBokhari is expected to chairthe session that is likely tocontinue till November 08.

Officials at the SenateSecretariat told APP that it willa routine session and no spe-cific agenda is on cards bynow. During its sitting theHouse will be taking up thequestions submitted by themembers for their answers bythe respective ministers.Moreover, other business likelegislation, Calling AttentionNotices on important issues,adjournment motions andprivilege motions will also betaken up during the session.

According to the offi-cials the House is also ex-pected to take up adjourn-ment motions on hike inpower and oil prices besidesother important recent is-sues.—APP

Rawat residentsdemand strictaction againstencroachers

ISLAMABAD—Owing to thenegligence of the administra-tion, encroachments are onthe rise in Rawat, a suburbanarea of the federal capital.

Small vendors and stallholders have grabbed foot-paths and service roads, manypersons have placed theirkiosks and hand carts on road-side. Extortion mafia is also re-portedly active in the area andreceiving money from the en-croachers for backing them.The officials of the administra-tion are not taking any actionagainst the encroachers andextortion mafia for reasonsbest known to them.

The residents and shop-keepers of the locality havedemanded of the concernedauthority to take a strict actionagainst the mafia and purge thefootpaths and service roads ofthe encroachers.—INP

Weekly Bazaar ofNawaz Sharif Park

to be removedOBSERVER REPORT

RAWALPINDI—District Ad-ministration (Distt Admin) hasfinally decided to eliminate theweekly Itwar Bazaar fromNawaz Sharif Park. It has beenalso decided to eliminate allillegal Jumma Bazaars of ve-hicles from Murree road, whileDistrict Coordinator Officer(DCO) Sajid Zafar Dal has is-sued the orders to adminis-tration of Rawal Town andpolice in this regard also.

Jumma Bazaar of vehicleshas spread from Chandanichowk to Nawaz Sharif Parkon Murree road which is in-creasing the traffic problemsseverely, now DCO has is-sued orders to take strict ac-tion against these illegal Ba-zaars. Sources also said thatDCO has directed RawalTown administration to elimi-nate the Itwar Bazaar estab-lished beside the Nawaz SharifPark because it is damagingthe beauty of park.

Administration and po-lice has prepared the strategyto conduct grand operationagainst vehicles bazaarswhile Tehsil Municipal Ad-ministration (TMA) has setits plan to eliminate the ItwarBazaar.

IntermediatePart-I result today

STAFF REPORTER

R A W A L P I N D I — T h eRawalpindi Board of Interme-diate and Secondary Educa-tion (RBISE) will announcethe result of IntermediatePart-I Annual Examination2013 here on Tuesday.

Talking to APP, RBISEspokesman Arsalan Cheemasaid the result would be placedat the RBISE websitewww.biserwp.edu.pk while CDsof the result could be obtainedfrom designated branches ofHabib Bank Limited.

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad po-lice Monday arrested 10 anti-social elements and recov-ered, weapons, hashish andheroine from their posses-sion, police spokesman said.According to details, SSP

Islamabad directed all policestations for effective crack-down against anti-social ele-ments involved in differentcriminal activities.

ASI Ghulam Murtza fromKohsar Police Station ar-rested accused MuhammadZubair and recovered one 30bore illicit pistol along with 2bullets from him.

Sub-Inspector AbdulGahfoor from Secretariat Po-lice Station arrested a drugpusher Zulqurnain and re-covered 210 gram hashishfrom him. Sub-InspectorMashooq Ali recovered tam-pered vehicle bearing regis-tration No. LPT- 5917 fromMuhammad Saleem.

S u b - I n s p e c t o rMuhammad Ajmal fromTarnol Police Station arrestedaccused Arfan Shah and re-covered one 30 bore pistolalong with 2 bullets from him.Sub-Inspector MuhammadRaiz from Industrial Area Po-lice Station arrested 3 ac-cused Rafiuddin, SaeedUllah, Fawad Shebaz and re-covered one klashankove,

one 9MM pistol along with39 bullets from their posses-sion.

Meanwhile Sub-Inspec-tor Muhammad Akram fromIndustrial Area Police Stationalos arrested accused Sherizinvolved in illegal gas selling.Sub-Inspector MuhammadBasheer arrested a drugpusher Muhammad Fayyazand recovered 110 gram hero-ine from him.

Sub-Inspector ShoukatAli from Koral police stationarrested accused Adeel andrecovered 110 grams hashishfrom his possession. Sub-In-spector Shams Akbar fromCIA police arrested accusedManzar Abbas and recov-ered one dagger from him.

Separate cases have beenregistered against the ac-cused and further investiga-tion is underway. SSPIslamabad has appreciatedthe overall performance of allofficials and said thatIslamabad police were com-mitted to ensuring effectiveaction anti-social ele-ments.—APP

Police arrest 10 out laws,vehicle and weapons recovered

IS L A M A B A D—DirectorateGeneral of Immigration andPassports has made life easyfor the passport seekers bycutting processing times andlaunching a helpline and anSMS service. According toDirector General PassportsSikander Sultan Raja the SMSservice is one of the key mile-stones in easing the processof receiving passports andovercoming bureaucratichurdles.

“The hassle for an indi-vidual to visit the passportoffice repeatedly will beended with this service as theapplicants can have updatedinformation of their passportthrough the SMS,” DG pass-port says.

The directorate’s shortmessage service (SMS) facili-tates the public in trackingtheir documents and pass-ports. A person just have tosend an SMS containingtracking number at 9988 andknow at what stage his pass-port is.

The automated system isprogrammed to respond infour different scenarios:anapplicant would be informedabout the box ID and ship-ment date for passport col-lection, about the status ofpassport if it is still in pro-cess after biometric verifica-tion.

The automated system

will also inform if the case isdeferred and the passportoffice requires more verifica-tion.

Now an applicant can gethis passport in 10 days withordinary fee and in four dayswith urgent fee. The passportapplicants retrieve informa-tion on the status of theirapplications as soon as theyreceive their trackingnumbers.The service will beavailable to all the applicantswho have applied for theirpassports since March 2013.

A new help-line comple-mented by a facilitation deskhas been set up at Islamabadoffice to address complaintsof the public regarding pass-ports. Minister for Interiorand Narcotics ControlChaudhry Nisar Ali Khan isthe guiding force behind allthese measures. Soon citi-zens could also receive theirpassports at their doorstepsas the Interior Minister hasapproved a summary forHome Delivery Scheme.

Under thisscheme,passports will be de-livered at homes in six majorcities of the country. The Di-rectorate of Passports is work-ing on projects for construc-tion of new offices and reno-vation of old buildings totackle shortage of services invarious areas including Sindhto facilitate customers.—APP

Directorate of Passportsmakes life easy for citizens

ASIF HAROON RAJA

THE freedom strugglewhich started againstthe Dogra rule before

Partition is continuingunabatedly because of illegaloccupation of two-thirdsKashmir by Indian securityforces in October 1947. TheKashmiris are fighting for theirfreedom in a bid to completethe unfinished work of thePartition of India.

Some people call it a battlefor the conception of anotherPakistan in the womb of India.The delivery would of coursematerialize if the passion tosacrifice and die in the way ofcause remains young; so saysthe breeze blowing in the Val-ley, known as paradise on earth

World must express solidarity with Kashmirisbut turned into hell by Indiansecurity forces. The Muslimsof Kashmir who have alwaysbeen known to be docile, peaceloving and inward looking wereforced by circumstances topick up arms and demand theirright of self determination aslaid down in UN Resolutionsof 1948 and 1949.

The armed freedomstruggle in Indian OccupiedKashmir (IOK) which sud-denly erupted like a volcanoin January 1990 is 90% indig-enous and the fractional 10%can be traced back to the natu-ral and wholly unavoidablefraternal involvement of theirkinsfolk in Azad Kashmir. Inthe last 22 years, well over100,000 Kashmiris have laiddown their lives to attain free-

dom from the alien rule, whiletens of thousands have beenmaimed, their houses de-stroyed and their women folkraped by the occupationforces. Countless numbers arein illegal detention centres andquietly suffering worst kindsof torture with none to heartheir shrieks of agony and withno light at the end of the tun-nel. Several black laws are inpractice to give a free hand tosecurity forces to arrest sus-pects without warrant, or toshoot to kill any person seenas a possible threat.

Taking advantage of hercloseness with the sole superpower, India has misrepre-sented indigenous freedommovement as terrorism backedby Pakistan. The global anti-

terrorism laws framed byWashington after 9/11 are be-ing misused by India to crushthe aspirations of Kashmirisdemanding right of self deter-mination and to project Paki-stan as a terror abetting state.

She stubbornly clings toher stance that Kashmir is in-tegral part of India and will notpart with it under any circum-stance. India misses no oppor-tunity to harm or badmouthPakistan. She has maintainedher aggressive and negativestance even after signingpeace treaty with Pakistan inJanuary 2004. She remained ona warpath after Mumbai epi-sode in November 2008 forover two years. Finally whenshe decided to soften up andresume stalled composite dia-

logue and to promote two-waytrade and Pakistan respondedby agreeing to give her Most-Favored-Nation status, Indianmilitary deployed in Kashmirupped the ante by first heat-ing up the Line of Controlthrough intrusions and thenmaking a bizarre allegation thatone of the Indian soldiers hadbeen beheaded by Pak military.

The Indians have some-how remained obsessed withthe thought that liberation ofKashmir will set in a chain re-action thereby tearing Indiainto pieces. This fear in fact hasbeen fed by Indian militarywhich doesn’t want to partwith Kashmir under any cir-cumstance. As a matter of fact,ignoring ground realities anddeceiving the world by obfus-

cating truth and clinging on toKashmir which is not theirsmay eventually lead to disin-tegration of India. Indians mustpick up heart to admit that thefeared chain reaction is alreadyin motion in India as can begauged from 19 separatist andinsurgent movements takingplace in several states of In-dia. Over 1500,000 Indian se-curity forces are deployed tocounter the insurgencies.Among all the movements,Naxalite and Kashmiri move-ments are the most dangerous.However, Kashmiri movementbeing Muslim enthused is theAchilles Heel of India.

India being an imperialistpower is governed by a stronghegemonic impulse. Shewants to become super power

of South Asia and a worldpower. The current generationof Indian leaders has still notovercome the desire to createmythical Mahabharata as as-pired by earlier Hindu leaders.Illusionary Mahabharataspans the space between Af-ghanistan and Indonesia.Mired in dozens of insurgen-cies, India considers Pakistanas the lone stumbling block inthe way of her imperialist am-bitions.

Indigenous freedom move-ment in IOK has become ableeding wound for India anda cause of embarrassment.Despite massive human rightsabuses and horrendous cruel-ties perpetrated by 750,000 In-dian forces deployed in a smallvalley since 1990 and given li-

cense to kill under speciallyenacted brutal laws to stiflethe voice of Kashmiris lan-guishing in open prison un-der miserable conditions, themovement continues unde-terred. Each case of brutalityand injustice further fuel theirhatred against India. Holdingof farcical elections every fiveyears under the barrel of thegun and forming puppet gov-ernments through massiverigging in elections has addedto their frustration and resent-ment.

The Amarnath ShrineBoard dispute in occupiedKashmir in the summer of 2008galvanized the Kashmiriyouth, born in 1990s, after alull of few years.

—Courtesy Hamariweb

SRINAGAR—The APHCChairman, Mirwaiz UmarFarooq, the veteran Hurriyetleader, Syed Ali Gilani, andother Hurriyet leaders havetermed as unrealistic and farfrom reality the avowal of In-dian External Affairs Minis-ter, Salman Khurshid, thatJammu and Kashmir is an in-tegral part of India.

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq ina statement in Srinagar saidthat Kashmir was the maincause of tension betweenPakistan and India and theleadership of both the coun-tries should demonstrate po-litical maturity to resolve itthrough meaningful dialogueprocess. He appreciated theefforts of Pakistan’s PrimeMinister, Muhammad Nawaz

Hurriyet leaders reject IndianFM’s claim on KashmirReiterate Kashmiris’ resolve to continue struggle

Sharif, of highlighting theKashmir cause at the globallevel.

Syed Ali Gilani in a state-ment in Srinagar said that thepeople of Jammu and Kash-mir never accepted India’s il-legal occupation and theyhad been continuing theirstruggle to get rid of it for thepast 66 years.

Hurriyet leaders, ShabbirAhmed Shah, Nayeem AhmedKhan, Yasmeen Raja, ZafarAkbar Butt, Javed Ahmed Mirand Firdous Ahmed Shah, intheir statements said thatJammu and Kashmir was in-ternationally recognised dis-puted territory and even thefirst Indian Prime Minister,Jawaharlal Nehru, had prom-ised to give the Kashmiris an

opportunity to exercise theirright to self-determination.They maintained that the con-flict over Kashmir should beresolved through tripartitetalks involving Pakistan, In-dia and the genuine Kashmirileadership in line with the rel-evant UN resolutions.

Senior APHC leader, Pro-fessor Abdul Ghani Butt, ad-dressing a meeting of hisparty, Jammu and KashmirMuslim Conference, inSopore said that Kashmirsettlement was essential forensuring permanent peace inSouth Asia.

APHC leaders, MusaddiqAadil and Ghulam AhmedMir, in their statements saidthat India was creating tensesituation on the Line of Con-

trol to divert the world atten-tion from the Kashmir dis-pute.

The APHC-AJK chapterat a meeting in Islamabad re-jecting the claim of Indian Ex-ternal Affairs Minister reiter-ated the Kashmiris’ resolveto continue their struggle tillit reached its logical conclu-sion. It also appreciated thePrime Minister of Pakistan,Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, forhighlighting the Kashmircause at the internationallevel.

On the other hand,people took to the streets inBaramulla town and stageddemonstrations against thearrest of youth. Indian policeresorted to brute force to dis-perse the protesters.—KMS

MIRPUR: AJK Prime Minister Ch Abdul Majeed offering Dua during inaugural ceremony of cleanliness campaign.

SRINAGAR—Chairman ofHurriyat Conference (G) SyedAli Shah Geelani has accusedthe armed forces of turningPalhalan area of northKashmir’s Baramulla districtinto a “concentration camp.”

“Since last five years, thearmed forces and Task Forcehave virtually convertedPalhallan into a concentrationcamp and whenever anythinguntoward happens, the peoplein Palhallan are punished fornone of their fault.

The supply lines for waterand electricity are snapped,and even they are not permit-ted to purchase food items forthemselves nor they are al-lowed for farming or to lookafter their orchards,” Geelanisaid.

Paying tributes to peopleof Palhallan for their devotion

Palhalan turned intoconcentration camp

and conviction for Islam andfreedom movement, Geelanisaid, “we are closely monitor-ing the situation and in no casewould leave them alone.”

“Hurriyat has decided thatin case the curfew restrictionsare not lifted we will call a statewide protest against this. Thesuppressive measures andcontinuous imposition of cur-few has developed a serioussituation in Palhallan. Con-tinuous imposition has createda tense situation in Palhalan,”he said demanding immediatelifting of curfew restrictionsfrom the area.

Geelani who is also chair-man of Tehreek-e-Hurriyat(TeH) strongly condemned ar-rest of its activists and de-manded their immediate re-lease. “Since 2010, Palhallan iscontinuously being made tar-

get by armed forces and ourworkers are being harassedand arrested,” he said.

He strongly condemnedthe detention of various TeHmembers including Abdul GaniBhat, district presidentBaramulla and Amir Hamzasecretary Department ofDawah

He said Mir Hafiz Ullah,district president Islamabad,Muhammad Shaban Dar, dis-trict President Kulgam andMuhammad Yousuf Falahi dis-trict President Shopian havealso been “unlawfully de-tained.

Geelani alleged that theresidences of Abdullah Nasirpresident, Tehsil Pattan andShowkat Ahmad (Kulgam) arecontinuously being raided,though they were recently re-leased from jails.—NNI

Cleanliness drivekicked off in AJKKOTLI—To make the AzadJammu and Kashmir (AJK)clean and beautiful a weeklong cleanliness drive waskicked off here on Monday.While speaking to inauguralceremony Deputy Commis-sioner Masood-ur-Rehmansaid that cleanliness cam-paign have been started withfull preparations and city wasdivided in sectors.

During the drive drain-age, sewerage system wouldbe cleared, debris of garbagewould be removed, he added.

According to the direc-tives of AJK Prime MinisterCh. Abdul Majeed cleanli-ness week is being observedfrom October, 21 to 27 in 10district of AJK.

In Kotli district, DeputyCommissioner Masood-ur-Rehman with mayor, munici-pal corporation Ch. Ilyas andothers officials have inaugu-rated cleanliness campaigntoday Oct, 21.—APP

SRINAGAR—An hour-longroundtable conference ofcivil society members to de-liberate over concerns ofhuman security in J&Kboiled down to a singleoverpowering perspective:“Shun the slave mind; pressfor resolution of Kashmir is-sue; atrocities will go.”

The members were dis-cussing how they couldpress for disbanding of Vil-lage Defence Committees(VDCs), ‘notorious govern-ment-sponsored militia in-volved in inciting communalviolence’ in Kishtwar andGool incidents this year.

But few advocates dif-fered over the concern, not-ing that the resolution ofKashmir was of prime impor-tance for civil society mem-bers and “we must do littletalking and much tangiblework on ground.”

At the same time the civilsociety members called for

Civil society discusses humansecurity concerns in JK

disbanding of “unconstitu-tional” VDCs for “day-to-day survival of people livingin Pir Panjal areas who havebeen bearing the brunt of thiscommunal militia.”

Activists cited exampleof 1998 Sailan massacre asone of the worst atrocitiesreportedly brought by VDCsin which 19 persons includ-ing minors and women werekilled in cold blood.

“As civil society memberswe have to get to the root ofthe problem first,” said seniorlawyer Zaffar Shah. “Pressingfor the resolution of Kashmirforms our first step. And tillKashmir issue is there, prob-lems like VDCs will persist.”

An argument of activists,Zaffar said, would not makemuch difference to the statepolicy. “Would our argu-ments either make any differ-ence to 22 long years of suf-ferings?” he asked. “Thisdamn issue has to be resolved

and we have a role. We defi-nitely have.”

Shah said, “We are a soldout people and have mind ofslaves. What we need is con-viction; intellectualism wouldfollow.”

He asked members toreach out to the stakehold-ers of Kashmir conflict andgive people some hope. “Donot expect any results fromthe system,” he told them.“There are two things. Eitheryou fight for issues relatingto governance or talk directlyabout conflict, hitting thebull’s eye. We better formu-late a goal.”

Zafar said VDCs were“unconstitutional” bodiesand that power to createsuch militia vested only withthe Parliament. “Thesegroups have made commu-nities precarious. After hav-ing overstepped their do-main, they must be dis-banded at any cost.”—NNI

SRINAGAR—Expressing griefover the death of a police per-sonnel at Palhallan Pattan inthe recent past, PresidentAwami Ittihaad Party (AIP) andMLA, Engineer Rashid hassaid that “continuous arrestsof youth and the atrocities be-ing committed on people byforces is strongly condem-nable.”

“Government instead ofunderstanding the aspirationsof the young generation of

Govt wants to rule throughbarrel of gun: Er Rashid

Kashmir is keen to rule thestate through the barrel of gun.It will be only any inhumanperson who will not feel thepain of the family of the de-ceased police personnel wholost his life in Palhalan but atthe same time police has nomoral or legal right to punishthe common masses just togive an outlet to its anger.”

Stating that the state hasto be governed by the rule oflaw, Rashid said, “no law per-

mits any government to inflictterror on its people.” “Howcome life of a soldier who getshandsome salary can be moreprecious than that of a com-mon man as right to live is thefundamental right of everyhuman being on earth,” hesaid.

Shortly after the DefenseMinistry declined to share in-formation on controversialTechnical Support Division(TSD) set up by former Army

ISLAMABAD—The Chairmanof Jammu and Kashmir Libera-tion Front, Muhammad YasinMalik, and senior APHCleader, Shabbir Ahmed Shah,have called for complete shut-ter down on the October 27 toconvey a message to theworld that the Kashmiris re-ject India’s illegal occupationof their homeland.

It was on October 27, 1947when Indian troops landed inSrinagar and forcibly occu-pied Jammu and Kashmir intotal disregard to the partitionplan of the Sub-continent andagainst the Kashmiris’ aspira-

JKLF calls for shutter down on Oct 27tions, KMS reported.

Muhammad Yasin Malikin a statement in Srinagar term-ing the October 27, 1947 asunfortunate day for thepeople of Kashmir said thatthe memories of the day whenIndian Army landed here stillhaunted every Kashmiri.

“People should observecomplete shutdown and blackout on October 27 (Sunday)as our freedom was snatchedon that very day in 1947,” hesaid.

Referring to the UnitedNation resolutions on Kash-mir, the JKLF Chairman said,

“It was India that went to in-ternational community andpledged to allow Kashmiris todecide their fate.

It was India which, in itsparliament and before thepeople pledged to give peopleof Kashmir their right to self-determination.

But as time passed Indiaforgot its own pledges andstarted torturing, killing andoppressing Kashmiris.”

Yasin Malik said that theworld community shouldshun its silence and play aneffective role in resolving thelingering dispute.—APP

ISLAMABAD: AJK President Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan talking to DeputyChairman ERR Gen Azam Asif .

India, Pakistanshould take boldsteps to resolvekashmir dispute

SRINAGAR—Terming the esca-lation of tensions on bordersas concern for the whole re-gion, the Hurriyat Conference(M) has stressed upon theleadership of India and Paki-stan to take bold steps and ini-tiate a dialogue process to re-solve the Kashmir issue‘themain source of confrontationbetween the two countries’.

In a statement, a spokes-man of the Hurriyat Confer-ence (M) said that the majorbrunt of the border tensionshas to be borne by theKashmiris living across the di-vided border. The party saidthat apart from losing their livesand property, the Kashmiriborder inhabitants on bothsides of the divide have alsoto migrate from their homes inview of the tensions.

“Instead of military con-frontation, APHC believes thatthe meaningful tripartite dia-logue between all the stakeholders is the only way to re-solve the vexed dispute. Thetensions and confrontationsover the past 60 years haveborne no fruit,” reads theHurriyat (M) statement.

Expressing serious con-cern over the aggression ofpolice and other forcesagainst the residents ofPattan, the Hurriyat (M)spokesman said the inhabit-ants were made hostage intheir own houses on the verysecond day of Eid..—NNI Kashmiri women protest in Srinagar against Indian army atroicties.

Indian Army’sclaim over

Keran operations under cloud

SRINAGAR—Nearly a fort-night after Indian army op-erations were called off inKeran sector, questionshave cropped up over whathappened during the longintrusion by infiltrators fromPakistan believed to be fromits special forces.

The Indian army opera-tions, which were said tohave been stopped , contin-ued even five days later till ajoint team of BSF and armymanaged to reach the threeborder posts located inShalabhatu, a village dividedbetween Jammu and Kashmirand Azad Kashmir, officialsources say.

Shalabatu village wasone of the famous infiltrationroutes in early 1990s. A re-port filed by central as wellas state security agenciesabout the Keran encounterhave picked holes in thearmy’s version of the epi-sode.

However, the army re-jected all doubts expressedover the Keran operation andasserted that the troops onthe ground were dominatingthe Line of Control (LoC) andregularly approaching theirown posts all the time.

The army’s narrative thatit killed eight terroristsaround the site of infiltrationwas nailed in the FIRs filedby its units with the localpolice that said the causali-ties were reported from threedifferent places that are faroff from the Shalabatu vil-lage.

The three postsKhokhri, Kulari andMangerta jointly held by theBSF and army were takenover last Saturday. In an emailreply to questions, the ArmyHeadquarters denied it andsaid, “This is incorrect. Thetroops on the ground weredominating the LoC and regu-larly approaching own postsat all times.”

The first FIR was regis-tered on September 24 inwhich one militant, aged be-tween 65-70, was killed. TheFIR, 237/13 was filed inKupwara mentioning that anencounter had taken place atLasadnath area, a place fromwhere it takes three days toreach Shalabatu. The secondFIR, 241/13 was filed inKupwara after one armyjawan was injured. This inci-dent had also taken place atLasadnath area. —NNI

Half the time men thinkthey are talking busi-

ness, they are wastingtime.

E W Howe

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Meeting ofpricing committee to decidePharmaceutical price rational-ization is likely to be held on22nd of October. Pharma in-dustry is expecting a break-through as it has been morethan 12 years that a price in-crease has been granted to theindustry.

Sources at NHRS say thatthe registration board willmeet tomorrow amid numer-ous requests from both localand foreign firms regardingprice revisions. Fall back of nopricing mechanism and artifi-cial depression on pricing isresulting in shortage of medi-

Pharma companies expecting reliefcines and halt in production ofmany pharmaceutical compa-nies, a source in Pharma Indus-try said.

Industry sources said thatmost of the medicines with in-creasing cost of imported rawmaterial, utility expenses andenergy crisis were being pro-duced by the companies formany years to meet the demandsof the patients even when theprofit margins dropped drasti-cally on these products. But nowit has become difficult for themto continue with the manufac-turing of life-saving and highlyprescribed medicines at theirproduction units due to immenserupee devaluation etc.

“The regulatory authority

has failed to finalise a mecha-nism for upward revision ofmedicine prices which havebeen capped since 2001 thoughlocal and multinational compa-nies have given presentation oncost and manufacturing differ-ences due to ever increasing in-put costs,” said a manufacturer.

Since 2002, according topublished government statistics,there has been a price increaseof 215% on food items, 153%in fuel, 179% in Electricity &Gas, 166% in Transportation &Communication, however, thepharmaceutical manufacturersin Pakistan did not get any in-crease apart from few hardshipcases. On the other hand, thePakistani Rupee’s devaluation

against major currencies hasalso contributed in invigoratingthe negative outlook for the sec-tor. According to State Bank ofPakistan, USD on 31st Decem-ber 2001 was 59.09 PKR whichhas reached to 106.

“We are hopeful that newgovernment will look into thismatter seriously and will comeup with a mechanism which willallow to adjust the prices accord-ing to the market forces. Phar-maceutical is an industry worthmore than $2bn and playing avital role in exports, neglectingthis industry will eventually hurtthe exports, employment oppor-tunities and top of all poor pa-tients”, said an industry expert.

It has been learnt that the

Earnings Before Interest, Tax(EBIT) margin of three leadingmultinational pharmaceuticalcompanies is on continuous de-cline for few years, while in thelast two years it came to as lowas 8%. The EBIT of pharmaceu-tical companies are quite low incomparison with the fertilizerand cement sectors of the coun-try. It is worth adding here thathigher EBIT margins for a com-pany show low operating ex-penses to leading to more prof-itable operations and lowerproduct costs. Recent stats byPBS shows that Pharma indus-try has faced an overall 0.21%decline since August 2012 andpolicies of successive govern-ments are responsible for the

such condition of “Sunrise In-dustry” (as termed by a studysubmitted to planning commis-sion).

Pricing is not the only issueas government is also restrict-ing the globally adopted alter-native to produce quality medi-cines at affordable prices, tollmanufacturing. In order to savecosts, many reputable compa-nies particularly multinationalshave outsourced their productsto the domestic pharmaceuticalfirms practicing best manufac-turing practices but DRA is is-suing licences for 3 months only.

Another industry officialadded that DRA is already over-burdened with pricing and regis-trations issues on top of it, it has

added another cumbersome pro-cess of renewing licenses for tollmanufacturing for only threemonths and that too after a lot ofhue and cry from both foreign andlocal companies. He added that afast track registration on whichthrice the normal fee is charged,companies are waiting since Feb-ruary for their cases to be final-ized even after paying his fees.

This issue was raised in an-other context in the Mckinsey re-port on pharmaceutical industry tothe Planning Commission of Pa-kistan in March 2010,” said an in-dustry expert. He said the DRAused to grant two years’ permis-sion to any firm for outsourceddrugs. He said the ADB draft rec-ommended the government of

Pakistan to allow companies tooptimize production configura-tions (and thereby lower manu-facturing costs) by subcontract-ing manufacturing to other com-panies for an indefinite periodas per the consent of two quali-fied companies. Ironically, in-stead of removing that 2 yearslimitation, it has now been re-duced to 3 months.

“There are some 600 com-panies in Pakistan out of which22 are foreign, while 4 foreignfirms left the country due toinconsistent and ad hoc poli-cies,” sources said, adding thatinconsistent policies are dis-couraging further investmentby pharmaceutical manufac-turers in the country.

TARIQ KHATTAK

ISLAMABAD—The PakistanEconomic Coordination Com-mittee has announced the releaseof 75,000 metric tons of wheatto the United Nations WorldFood Programme (WFP). Thiscompletes the entire donation of150,000 metric tons pledged bythe Government of Pakistan for2013. WFP recently concludeddelivery of the first half releasedearlier this year in support offamilies affected by law en-forcement operations in thecountry’s north-west.

This latest contribution fol-lows sizeable in-kind donations

Pakistan donates 150,000 metrictons of wheat to WFP in 2013

from the federal government andthe provincial governments ofSindh and Balochistan last year.More than 70,000 metric tons ofwheat were successfully deliv-ered to disaster-affected com-munities in 2012, thanks tocomplementary funding fromother donors to cover the pro-cessing and transportation of thewheat.

“This year’s donation, val-ued at PKR 5.5 billion (US$52million), places Pakistan asWFP’s second largest donor inthe country in 2013 and demon-strates the government’s contin-ued ownership of the develop-ment process and a strong com-

mitment to helping its people inneed. To date, international do-nors have provided complemen-tary funding of US$29 millionout of the total requirement ofUS$43 million,” said WFP Pa-kistan Country Director, LolaCastro.

Contributions from otherdonors are necessary in order forthe wheat to be milled,fortifiedwith vitamins and min-erals and distributed to familieswho have been compelled toleave their homes in the Feder-ally Administered Tribal Areas(FATA), as well as those whohave returned as the law and or-der process progresses. This lat-

est donation will allow WFP todistribute full cereal ration tothese groups until the first partof 2014.

WFP works together with theGovernment of Pakistan to pro-vide food assistance and align itsstrategies with national prioritiesaddressing food security and nu-trition in the country. WFPaimsto assist 8.3 million people be-tween 2013 and 2015 at a total costof US$535 million with projectsto improve economic opportuni-ties and promote social inclusionin FATA, boost community resil-ience in disaster-prone areas, andaddress nutrition and educationneeds in the country.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—NESPAK has suc-cessfully completed 40 years ofits establishment and during thelast four decades it has under-taken 3400 major engineeringprojects costing US$ 195 billionup to July 31, 2013 in Pakistanand 36 other countries in theMiddle East, Africa, Asia andthe Arab world. A total of 2900projects are located all over Pa-kistan and 500 in the foreigncountries.

This was stated here onMonday by Amjad A. Khan,Managing Director of NESPAK,while reviewing activities andperformance of his company.

These projects have playeda significant role in the devel-opment of these countries andNESPAK has emerged as theleading firm of Consulting En-gineers in Pakistan and one ofthe top consultancy firms in theworld.

NESPAK plays significantrole to build new Pakistan

NESPAK MD said thatNESPAK was established in1973 primarily to replace theforeign consultants who wereworking in a large number onengineering projects includingthe Indus Basin Project whichincluded Mangla and TarbelaDams, 6 Barrages and 8 LinkCanals.

He said that NESPAK un-dertook its first project relatingto the design and constructionof 2065 feet long and 36 feet fin-ished diameter 5th Left BankIrrigation Tunnel at Tarbela.This huge tunnel was success-fully completed ahead of timeby Pakistani engineers much tothe surprise of foreign consult-ants and contractors working atTarbela Dam Project. Within ayear, NESPAK undertook thedesign and construction super-vision of Pakistan Steel Mill andPort Qasim in Karachi.

The NESPAK Chief said thatwith the magnificent start, the

company rapidly expanded itsbusiness and carried out severalmore projects at home and abroad.Giving details of some of the largeprojects recently handled byNESPAK, he said that these in-clude Metro Bus Service and RingRoad in Lahore, 969 MW NeelumJhelum Hydropower Project,Mangla Dam Raising Project,Gadani Power Park Project, 747MW Combined Cycle PowerPlant Guddu, 425 MW CombinedCycle Power Plant Nandipur, So-lar Energy Projects, Iran PakistanGas Pipeline Project, NewBenazir Bhutto International Air-port Islamabad, Sindh and PunjabWater Sector ImprovementProjects, Textile City at PortQasim, Karachi and Governmentof Pakistan funded projects inAfghanistan, Power Plants inSaudi Arabia, Road Projects inOman, Architectural Projects inQatar and Irrigation Projects inNigeria, Iraq and Afghanistan aswell as Port Projects in Yemen.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Union ofSmall and Medium Enterprises(UNISAME) urged the StateBank of Pakistan (SBP) to im-pose a debt ceiling for govern-ment borrowings and fix a debtlimit to inculcate efficiency inthe government spending andborrowings and compel the gov-ernment to remain within theparameters of an healthyeconomy by good financialmanagement and governance.

President UNISAMEZulfikar Thaver said the StateBank of Pakistan is a sovereignbody and entrusted with the task

SBP asked to impose debtceiling on govt borrowings

of objectively overseeing the fi-nancial affairs in line with thefiscal policy of the governmentbut has the bigger responsibil-ity to ensure financial stabilityof the economy as a whole andby virtue of this empowermentit has to draw the line.

He said the State Bank ofPakistan is duty bound to imposeupon the government to remainwithin limits and as the custodianof the treasury influence upon thegovernment to cut down ex-penses wherever possible andfocus on development and utilizethe borrowings accordingly in thebest interest of the nation.

Thaver lamented at the de-

valuation of the rupee and urgedthe State Bank of Pakistan totake measures to protect the ru-pee by ensuring that the importsare with declared money and notundisclosed money which is be-ing used to import goods.

The Afghan transit tradeneeds to be looked into seriouslyand the negative aspects re-moved which enable the goodsto re-enter Pakistan and deprivethe exchequer of revenue andprove a burden on the economydue to the under invoicing caus-ing the buyers to pay for the realvalue to overseas exportersthrough Pakistani exchange bro-kers, further he added.

Cement exportdecliningSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The cement exportshave been declining constantlyfor the last one and a half year,as the exports declined by 0.39per cent in September, 3.29 percent in August and 0.75 per centin July 2013. According to lat-est statistics, the cement exportto India has also declined duenumber of restrictions and lowerdemand. In the same way, theAfghanistan export has also de-clined owing to uncertainty pre-

vailing in the country asNATO and US Troops areplanning of withdrawal by2014. During the first quarterof current fiscal year, the overall exports recorded a declineof 1.40 per cent comparedwith exports during the firstquarter of last year.

However, the overall situa-tion during first quarter of cur-rent fiscal year showed 1.12 percent growth compared to thesame period of last fiscal year.

The Asian Bankercertifies Bank

AL HabibSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Bank AL Habibhas been certified as ‘The Stron-gest Bank Balance Sheet in Pa-kistan, 2013’ by The AsianBanker. The announcementcame at a recognition ceremonyduring SIBOS in Dubai on Sep-tember 17, 2013.

The Asian Banker’s“Strongest Bank BalanceSheets” is an annual assess-ment of the financial and busi-ness performance of commer-cial banks in the Asia Pacificregion. The ranking is widelyfollowed by investors, analystsand the media as the leadingsource to assess the financialstrength of commercial banksin the region.

At present, Bank AL Habibhas a network of 408 branches& sub-branches in 115 cities in-cluding a wholesale branch inthe Kingdom of Bahrain. Thebank also has representative of-fices in Dubai, Istanbul andBeijing.

KARACHI: Muffasar Atta Malik, acting President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce andIndustry presenting crest to M Aslam Jalal, Chairman, KS Money Transfer Limited UK.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Universal Ser-vice Fund (USF) has so far pro-vided telecom services in morethan 3,800 previously un-servedvillages of the country.

The Fund has been runningrural telecom projects to providebasic telephony and data ser-vices in several remote areas ofPakistan, thus creating opportu-nities also for individuals in ru-ral areas to get equal access toICT facilities.

The USF is also success-fully running programmes forproviding basic telephony anddata services, optic fiber connec-tivity to the Tehsils, broadbandinternet to 2nd & 3rd tier citiesand towns and bringing broad-band to the villages through tele-centers.

According to USF hereon Monday, until now con-tracts have been awarded forRural Telecom Projects toprovide a subsidy of Rs. 4.2billion in total. All theseprojects aim to provide ser-vices in 12,000 un-servedMauzas.

In addition, it is mandatoryfor telecom operators in ruralareas where USF is providingsubsidy to power their infra-

More than 3,800 villagesprovided telecom services

structure through renewable en-ergy sources. So far, 66 base sta-tions are on solar.

In Broadband programme,260 previously unserved townsnow have close to 474,000 USF-funded broadband connections.Subsidy winning service-pro-viders are obliged to providefree Broadband Internet to allhigher-secondary schools, li-braries and colleges in their ar-eas.

So far more than 1,000 suchinstitutions have been coveredand around 300 CommunityBroadband Centres have alsobeen established for those whocannot afford to have their owncomputers.

Similarly, in Optic FiberConnectivity Programme, morethan 4,200 kms of Optic FiberCables have been laid, connect-ing 67 unserved tehsils andtowns.

In order to take BroadbandInternet to villages, the USF haslaunched a programme to estab-lish Universal Tele-Centers(UTCs).

These projects aim at intro-ducing and promoting e-ser-vices in the country, especiallywhere availability of PCs andcomputer literacy are the mainissues.

PQ remains activeKARACHI—Three shipscarrying Urea and Edible Oilwere berthed at FAP Terminaland Liquid Cargo Terminal onSunday, 20th October.Meanwhile four more shipscarrying containers, cement andedible oil also arrived at outeranchorage of Port Qasimduring last 24 hours. Berthoccupancy was 45% at the porton Monday where total fiveships namely ILC Friend Ship,Thor Harmony, MT. Quetta,Bunga Alamanda and SuccessMarlina are currently occupy-ing berths to load/offloadwheat, urea, furnace oil andedible oil respective during last24 hours. A cargo volume of41,374 tonnes imports washandled at the port during last24 hours.—APP

Rates for conversionKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Deposits,Dollar Bearer Certificates,Foreign Currency BearerCertificates, Special U.S.Dollar Bonds and profitsthereon by all banks and forproviding Forward Cover onForeign Currency Deposits(excluding F.E- 25 deposits)by the State Bank on October22, 2013. The rates are U.S.Dollar Rs 106.3631, JapaneseYen Rs 1.0843, Pound SterlingRs 172.0211 and Euro Rs145.5367.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Federation ofPakistan Chamber of Commerceand Industry Monday demandedduty free access of Pakistaniproducts to the US markets forhelping it offset the colossal eco-nomic loss during its war againstterrorism.

Pakistan economy has so farsuffered more than one trilliondollars huge loss for last onedecade in its continuing war onterror, FPCCI Chief ZubairAhmad Malik told APP fromBangkok. Pakistan is the onlycountry in the world which isone of the most affected state bythis war, he added. FPCCIwanted duty free trade with theUS private sector and not aid.

FPCCI demands duty freeaccess to US markets

Pakistan could provide the bestquality products of internationalstandard to the US markets onbuy back- basis, provided itsprivate sector was fully strength-ened by the US investors on sci-entific lines, said Malik.

Zubair said US PresidentBarack Obama, in the presenceof Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif currently visitingthe US, must announce freemarket access to Pakistani prod-ucts at zero duty.

He also urged the US busi-nessmen to invest in power, IT,agriculture, livestock, engineer-ing and other sectors as man-power in Pakistan is muchcheaper.

He said the US in order tooffset the threat of food scarcity,

must help Pakistan livestocksector, which had the potentialto meet an ever increasing de-mand of the US market with anexcellent quality of food, fruit,vegetables, beef and mutton.

Zubair said Pakistan wasblessed with plenty of naturalresources which needed to beexplored with the US foreigninvestment. Founder ChairmanPak US Business Council andveteran trade leader Iftikhar AliMalik said the US should alsotransfer the hybrid technology toPakistan for bringing about arevolution and strengthening ofits national economy as war onterror had destroyed the infra-structure in Pakistan whichbadly needed its full rehabilita-tion and reconstruction.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The PlanningCommission of Pakistan has sofar released Rs63.476 billionunder its Public Sector Devel-opment Programme (PSDP) forvarious projects against the to-tal allocations of Rs540 billionfor the fiscal year 2013-14.

According the data of Plan-ning Commission of Pakistan, outof these allocations, Rs11960.403million have been released forvarious projects of Pakistan

Govt releases Rs63.476b fordevelopment projects

Atomic Energy Commission, outof its total allocations of Rs52300million earmarked under PSDPfor FY 2013-14. Similarly, a sumof Rs7312.961 million has beenreleased to National Highway Au-thority out of total allocation ofRs63038.619 million for the cur-rent fiscal year.

Out of the total funds ofRs25,739.199 million allocatedfor the National Health ServiceRegulations and CoordinationDivision for the current year, thePlanning Commission released

Rs5644.614 million so far.The Commission also re-

leased Rs5589.679 million forRailway Division out of its to-tal allocations of Rs30,964.894million whereas Rs160 millionhave been released for Nationalfood Security and Research Di-vision out of its total allocationsof Rs750 million for the year.

Rs3698 million have beenreleased for Higher EducationCommission out of its total al-location of Rs18490 million forthe year 2013-14.

Punjab, UKDID tolaunch skill

development projectSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The governmentof Punjab in collaboration withthe Department for InternationalDevelopment, UK, has decidedto provide training in sharpen-ing different skills of more than80,000 persons for reducing therate of joblessness throughPunjab Skills DevelopmentFund (PSDF).

Usman Khan, Communica-tion Officer of PSDF said thatthe cost of the four-year projectis 25 million pounds. Half of theamount—12.5 millionpounds—would be provided bythe government of Punjab whilethe rest would be provided bythe Department for InternationalDevelopment, UK, he added.

More than 40 million peoplelive below the national povertyline in Pakistan and, out of these,approximately 5.2 million livein southern districts of Punjab.

Usman said that the main pur-pose of PSDF is to provide skillsand vocational training opportu-nities to the poor people of fourdistricts of Punjab—Bahawalpur,Bahawalnagar, Lodhran andMuzaffargarh—which are amongthe ten poorest districts of theprovince with poverty headcountof 51.30 percent (Bahawalnagar),55.07 percent (Bahawalpur).

Reduced Gur smugglingboosts sugar productionStaff ReporterPESHAWAR—Production ofbumper sugarcane crop andstrict check on the smugglingof Gur to neighbouringAfghanistan helped boomcrushing and production ofsugar production in PeshawarValley. Gur Ghanis haveemerged as tough competitorsof sugar mills in the bestquality sugarcane producingarea of the valley. Thegrowers preferred to supplytheir crop to Gur Ghanis,which has a good market notonly in Fata, but also inneighbouring Afghanistan.But, this year, check on Ghrsmuggling and offers ofcompetitive prices by sugarmills changed the situationand growers supplied theircrop to the mills. SaleemGhurmani, an official of amill confirmed that supply ofsugarcane to mills hasremained better than lastseveral years. He said that inthe beginning the growerswere reluctant in supply to getgood price for their commod-ity. However, supply hasimproved with the passage oftime. He said that the mills,instead of official price ofRs.150 for 40kilogram crop,are offering higher prices forbetter quality commodity. Hesaid that the mills ofPeshawar and Mardan areoffering Rs.165 for thecommodity.

Gold Tezab 45600.00Silver Tezabi 728.57

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 46030.00Gold 22 Ct 42090.00SilverTezabi 789.00Silver Thobi 760.00

USA 106.30 106.10

UK 171.76 171.44

EURO 145.35 145.08

Canada 103.27 103.08

Switzerland 117.70 117.48

Australia 102.68 102.49

Sweden 16.53 16.50

Japan 1.0850 1.0830

Norway 17.99 17.96

Singapore 85.64 85.47

Denmark 19.49 19.45

Omani Riyal 256.00 253.00

Saudi Arabia 28.34 28.29

Hong Kong 13.71 13.68

Kuwait 376.35 375.64

Malaysia 33.55 33.49

Newzeland 90.22 90.05

Qatar 29.19 29.14

UAE 28.94 28.89

KR WON 0.1001 0.0999

Thailand 3.417 3.411

Int’l YouthAgri mootSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Representa-tives and youth agriculturistsof twenty six countries arescheduled to participate in athree-day international agri-culture moot beginning onTuesday here with an aim atstrengthening cooperationamong regional countries forthe development of agricul-ture sector.

The three-day moot in-cludes two main events, “In-teractive Session of Consul-tative Group on InternationalAgricultural Research(CGIAR) and National Ag-ricultural Research Systems(NARS) for strengtheningpartnership on AgricultureResearch for Development(AR4D) and workshop on“Youth and Agriculture:Challenges & Opportuni-ties.”

The event has beenorganised by Pakistan Agri-cultural Research Council(PARC) and the Asia PacificAssociation of AgriculturalResearch Institutions(APAARI) in collaborationwith various internationaldonors agencies.

About 100 young agri-cultural stakeholders includ-ing researchers, extensionworkers, entrepreneurs, re-search managers, policyplanners and representativesof Asia-Pacific AgricultureNARS and representativesfrom private sector would beparticipating in the event.

“The workshop aims atassessing national and re-gional constraints, opportu-nities and priorities for at-tracting youth, includingyoung women in agricul-ture,” said Chairman Paki-stan Agriculture ResearchCouncil (PARC), Dr IftikharAhmed. PARC sources toldAPP that and “NARS-CGIAR Interactive Sessionwould be held on October 22at NARC where as two-dayworkshop on “Youth andAgriculture: Challenges &Opportunities” will be heldfrom October 23 at a localhotel.

He said that the anotherobjective of the workshop isto explore mechanisms forempowering farm youththrough their involvement indecision-making process be-sides creating synergies andnetworks for capacity devel-opment.

It will help access tonew knowledge and linkingscience to society throughyouth, he remarked. PARCsources told APP that and“NARS-CGIAR InteractiveSession would be held onOctober 22 at NARC whereas two-day workshop on“Youth and Agriculture:Challenges & Opportunities”will be held from October 23at a local hotel.

Federal Minister for Plan-ning and Development, Pro-fessor Ahsan Iqbal is likely toattend “NARS-CGIAR Inter-active Session where as Min-ister for National Food Secu-rity and Research and FederalSecretary of the ministry arelikely to attend the workshopon October 23.

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

Currency Selling Buying

Bullion Rates

RS PER 10 GRAMS

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Acumen, a pio-neering nonprofit global venturefirm addressing poverty acrossAfrica and in South Asia, todayannounced a $250,000 equityinvestment in SRE Solutions, aprovider of high-quality solarproducts to off-grid customersthroughout rural Pakistan.

Using a unique retail distri-bution network and employinglocal entrepreneurs, the upfrontpayment and monthly instal-ment for the micro-credit prod-uct brings solar solutions withinan affordable range for these off-grid households.

Acumen’s investment willenable the company to scaleoperations and undertake impor-tant pilots with micro-financeinstitutions. SRE intends toserve close to 40,000 house-holds, impacting over a quarter

Bringing light in 250,000 livesof one million lives over the nextfive years. The savings fromsolar solutions enable house-holds to spend more money oneducation, health and other ba-sic needs of the family, as wellas employ a growing group ofvillagers to serve as sales asso-ciates.

“The need for reliable powerin Pakistan’s rural communitiesremains acute, with tens of mil-lions of people who are offgrid,” said Farrukh H. Khan,Pakistan Country Director, Acu-men. “We are excited to partnerwith SRE Solutions to provideaffordable and high-quality so-lar power solutions to thecountry’s off grid communities.”

“A large number of ruralhouseholds in Pakistan still donot have access to the nationalpower grid. Through low costand affordable solar energy so-lutions, SRE plans to target this

colossal gap and aims to sparkthe beginning of a much neededsocio-economic change forpeople living in energy poverty”said Fakhar A Khalifa, the CEOof SRE Solutions. “We are ex-cited to be working with Acu-men.”

Additionally, Acumen hasinvested over $16 million USDin Pakistan since 2001, focusingon a wide range of sustainable,scalable businesses—in agricul-ture, housing, health, water andenergy—that use market-basedapproaches to deliver productsand services to millions of ruraland urban poor. This is the sec-ond energy-related local invest-ment by Acumen Pakistan, fol-lowing an investment earlier thisyear in Aga Khan Rural SupportProgram (AKRSP) which isbuilding community-owned hy-dro power solutions throughoutthe Chitral district.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The leadingTurkish energy company,Karkey KaradenizElektrikUretim A.S.(Karkey), welcomed the de-cision on its Request for Pro-visional Measures by the tri-bunal established under theWorld Bank-affiliated Inter-national Centre for Settle-ment of Investment Disputes(ICSID) on 16 October 2013.

In this decision, the tribu-nal ruled that it is satisfiedpursuant to Article 25(1) ofthe ICSID Convention that ithas prima facie jurisdiction,

Turkish powership likely to get releaseand has ordered the immediaterelease of Karadeniz Power shipKaya Bey (Karkey’s largestPowership and one of fourKarkey vessels that has been il-legally detained in Pakistaniwaters since April, 2012).

Following a hearing on Oc-tober 8, 2013, the ICSID tribu-nal ruled that Karkey’sKaradeniz Powership Kaya Beyregistered under the Turkish flagshould be immediately releasedfrom detention and allowed tosail to Dubai for repairs.

In the decision, the tribunalstated that the State of Pakistanshall grant all authorizations andclearance required for the

vessel’s departure, and shall takeany other action necessary orrequired to allow the vessel todepart lawfully into interna-tional waters.

A Karkey spokespersonsaid: “The decision by theICSID tribunal to order the re-lease of one of our powershipsvindicates the position taken byKarkey that the tribunal clearlyhas jurisdiction under the Tur-key-Pakistan Bilateral Invest-ment Treaty (“BIT”), and thatrecourse to Pakistani courts isnot mandatory under the BIT.This is especially importantsince Karkey has opted to en-force its rights and remedies at

ICSID due to lack of fair andequitable treatment and due todenial of justice in Pakistan.”

The spokesperson alsostated: “In light of the decision,a new opportunity has arisen forPakistan to amicably settle thedispute, especially consideringthe findings therein regardingthe jurisdiction of the tribunaland ICSID.”

Karkey is seeking compen-sation from Pakistan for breachof Pakistan’s obligations underthe BIT in connection withKarkey’s investment in a rentalpower project (RPP) in Karachi,as well as for loss of earningsand costs associated with

Pakistan’s detention of its ships.The dispute has reached thehighest levels of governmentand was discussed during therecent visit to Turkey of NawazSharif, Pakistan’s prime minis-ter.

The prospect of enhancedbilateral cooperation in the en-ergy sector, as desired by bothgovernments, has been dimmedby the long-running legal dis-pute.

Despite Pakistan’s own ad-missions that there is no evi-dence of corruption by Karkey,including such statements in thereview petition filed by the Min-istry of Water and Power with

the Supreme Court of Pakistanand the “No Objection Certifi-cate” issued by the NationalAccountability Bureau (NAB),Pakistan itself, under the threatand pressure of the SupremeCourt of Pakistan, has continuedto aggravate the dispute and hasunlawfully demanded baselesssums from Karkey, in additionto detaining Karkey’spowerships.

Since the new Pakistan gov-ernment was elected in May2013, the NAB has continued itsinquiries into the RPP projects,and it is expected that Pakistan,in order to conceal its ownwrongdoings and contrary to its

previous exoneration ofKarkey, may fabricate furthercharges against Karkey.

The company spokesper-son said: “Increased economiccooperation between Turkeyand Pakistan is in both coun-tries’ best interest. This unnec-essary dispute has clouded theclimate for bilateral coopera-tion and damaged investor andbusiness confidence. We hopeit can be settled quickly andfairly, preventing it from be-coming an obstacle to success-ful future Turkish collabora-tion with the Government ofPakistan in the energy andother sectors.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—A contract signingceremony between KamataPakistan and Punjab Voca-t ional Training Council(PVTC) was organized at thePVTC Head Office here onMonday.

On behalf of Kamata Paki-stan, Mr. Muhammad JunaidSaleem, CEO Kamata Pakistansigned the contract with, Mr.Faisal Ijaz Khan, ChairmanPVTC.

Under the contract, PVTC

Kamata Pakistan, PVTC tofacilitate blue collar workers

will share data/profiles of its vo-cational trainees with KamataPakistan for exploring job oppor-tunities. Kamata Pakistan willlink these potential employeeswith employers, thus offeringmatchmaking services. The col-laboration is one of its kinds toopen new avenues for the unem-ployed and new labour marketentrants who lack social and in-formal networks for securingjobs.

Studies reveal that work-ers skilled in vocational tradehave limited access to em-

ployment networks restrictingtheir ability to find relevantjobs. On the other hand, em-ployers sometimes face im-mense difficulties in findingthe right worker. Kamata Pa-kistan has provided a platformfor blue collar workers to getaccess to job opportunitiesand blue collar employers tochoose the best worker froma pool of job seekers. In pur-suing its aim, Kamata Paki-stan has joined hands withPVTC to open job opportuni-ties for its graduates.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—China, the majorpotential market of Pakistanihand-knotted carpet, would helpthe carpet industry to enhance itscompetitiveness and tap the fu-ture market of China.

This was stated by PakistanCarpet Manufacturers and Ex-porters Association (PCMEA)newly-elected central chairmanAkhtar Nazir Khan Cooki whiletalking to media after receivingChinese and Indian delegationat Wagha border.

After attending a carpet ex-hibition in India, a Chinese del-egation along with Indian car-pet industry stakeholdersreached Pakistan through Waghawith a view to attend the four-day Pakistan hand-knotted car-pet mega show 2013, beingopened on Tuesday, Oct 22 atPearl Continental Hotel, Lahore.

The PCMEA chairman in-

Over 150 foreign delegates reachLahore to attend carpet show

formed that more than 150 for-eign delegates mainly fromChina, India, Nepal, Spain andGermany have reached Paki-stan to participate in this exhi-bition. Cooki said besides par-ticipation of regional countries,foreign guests including directimporters, interior decorators,architects, home furnishingcompanies and colour combi-nation experts from the US,Europe, Far East, Australia,Middle East and Africa havealso been invited to attend theevent.

“So this will be a huge busi-ness activity that would cer-tainly improve the image of thecountry at international level,”he said.

The chief organizer of thecarpet show and vice chairmanof the PCMEA (NZ) KamranRazi stated that the visiting Chi-nese delegation would also ex-plore opportunities of joint ven-

tures for encouraging economicactivities between the two na-tions, besides inking a Memo-randum of Understanding withthe Pakistan Carpet Manufactur-ers and Exporters Association.

To enable Pakistan to tap theemerging handmade carpet mar-ket in China, the delegation hasoffered research and develop-ment assistance to the produc-ers of handmade carpet in Paki-stan.

Representatives of Chinesedelegation, on this occasion saidthat they would be delighted tohelp the Pakistani carpet indus-try with its up-gradation, andthereby enabling it to tap theChinese market.

They said that China has al-ready laid the foundation forestablishment of a business de-velopment centre in Pakistan, toextend research and develop-ment assistance to the Pakistaniindustry.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—There might notbe any let up in power outagesin the country as even with thestart of winter season as thecountry is facing a power short-fall of 2200 megawatts thatmight increase in different timesand the masses should not hopefor the 24-hour smooth powersupply in near future.

Power shortfall had de-creased previous days but thatwas only for few days and it isagain on the rise. There are dif-ferent reasons behind this powershortfall including the powergeneration capacity issue. Espe-cially in the winter season thereis another major reason behindincreasing power shortfall thatis decrease in hydel power gen-eration.

It is pertinent to mentionhere that the dams in Pakistan

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Local leaders ofpolitical parties have demandedthe federal and provincial gov-ernments to set up a separategrid station in Lakki city to meetthe needs of electricity and over-come load shedding and lowvoltage problems.

PTI District General Secre-tary Ahmad Nawaz, DinMuhammad and Ihsanullah ofPPP, Quami Watan Party Dis-trict General SecretaryImranullah Marwat andHumayun Khan of ANP saidthat inhabitants of Lakki cityhave been facing the problems

Separate power griddemanded

of loadshedding and low volt-age since long as local politi-cians failed to keep their prom-ises regarding resolving powerrelated problems.

They said that to establish aseparate grid station in Lakkicity was the need of the day andhigher quarters concerned ofgovernment should pay heed toit.

“Residents of the urban lo-cality are hard hit by electricityproblems besides power outageshave brought the business activi-ties and routine life to a stand-still,” they maintained.

They said that the urban lo-cality comprised two union

councils got electricity facilityfrom two power feeders in-stalled in 132KV Tajazai gridstation situated at a distance of14 kilometres in the districtheadquarters complex.

They told that populationof Lakki city was growing dayby day and the governmentshould set up a separate gridstation in Lakki city to meetthe increasing demand ofpower facility. They furthertold that establishment of thegrid station would rid the resi-dents of load shedding besidesthe facility would help toboost business activities in thetown.

Masses shouldn’texpect any relief soon

are primarily supposed to servethe agricultural needs of thecountry. In winter the provincesneed lesser water so the waterrelease from the dams decreasedthus decreasing the power gen-eration through hydel resources.

Mostly the country has torely on IPPs and its public sec-tor thermal power plants to ca-ter the energy needs in the coun-try. In other terms during thewinter season, the country hasto rely on the most expensiveenergy resources. Presently dueto this factor of decrease inpower generation, the load shed-ding duration across the coun-try has increased.

Power generation stands at11,000 megawatt at presentagainst its demand of 13,200megawatt. There are 4-5 hourspower outages in urban areasand 7-8 hours outages in ruralareas at present.

Sacrificial hides, alucrative business

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The collection ofsacrificial hides have been a lu-crative business throughout thehistory on Eid-ul-Adha as reli-gious, political and welfare out-fits spring into action to gener-ate funds for their vested inter-ests. On the pretext of charity,these outfits collect sacrificialanimals’ hides but do not fulfiltheir commitments and use themfor their own purposes. Due tothe reason, international mediaportray a pessimistic aspect oflife on the issue and charge thepeople with creating extremismand terrorism. Political partiesand religious organisations com-pel the people for sacrificialhides through different tacticsand some times threaten them ofdire consequences.

In the opinion of an eco-nomic analyst, there millions ofanimals are sacrificed on Eid-ul-Adha which could be a goodsource of revenue and spent onnation building projects if sac-rificial hides are obligatory tosubmit in national treasury bythe people across the country.

He said that the governmentcan play a vital role into thismatter and can rid the masses offunreliable institutions for thecollection of sacrificial hides.

OBSERVER REPORTER

DASKA—Tunnel technologyfor vegetable production is be-coming popular among smallgrowers in Sialkot district.Sources of Agriculture Depart-ment said that at present morethan 1,000 small farmers hadadopted tunnel farm technologyand more farmers were consid-ering opting for it keeping inview economic benefits in fourtehsils of Sialkot district. Alarge number of farmers havesuccessfully installed walk-inand low tunnels in Sialkot,Daska, Sambrial and Pasrurtehsils of the district and culti-vating off-season vegetables likecucumber, tomato, green chilly,paprika, pumpkin, bitter gourd,

Tunnel farmingbecoming popular

watermelon and melons etc.The technology has paved

the way for bringing about revo-lutionary changes in the agricul-ture sector not only enablinggrowers to produce off-seasonvegetables but also improvingtheir economic conditions.

Ali Muhammad and AkhtarChaudary, progressive farmers,said, “We are successfully at-taining the yield of off-seasonvegetables and gaining betterreturns and farmers have in-stalled walk-in and low tunnelswithout the finical support ofthe provincial government. Theper acre yield of vegetables cul-tivated under tunnel farmingtechnology is much higher ascompared to traditional farm-ing.”

Call for increasedrice produce

OBSERVER REPORT

FAISALABAD—Agriculturetechnology should be modern-ized to enhance rice productionto meet food demands of the in-creasing population of the coun-try. Talking to reporters, DrNoor-ul-Islam, former DG AyubAgriculture Research Institute(AARI) Faisalabad, said thatrice was a precious cashy cropwhich also contributed to cater-ing food demands at globallevel. He said that Pakistan wasranked 4th among rice produc-ing countries of the worldwhereas Punjab’s share was 58percent in national exports. Herice varieties had the potentialto give 50 to 100 maund per acreyield but growers were gettingbelow 40 maund per acre due tolack of latest technologies.

Keeping in view food re-quirements of the increasingPakistani population coupledwith food security challenges.

ISLAMABAD: President FPCCI Zubair Malik, Ambassador of Norway Cecilie Landsverk and others at a reception hostedby Khalid Malik, Chairman diplomatic committee ICCI.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—China, the majorpotential market of Pakistanihand-knotted carpet, would helpthe carpet industry to enhance itscompetitiveness and tap the fu-ture market of China.

This was stated by PakistanCarpet Manufacturers and Ex-porters Association (PCMEA)newly-elected central chairmanAkhtar Nazir Khan Cooki whiletalking to media after receivingChinese and Indian delegationat Wagha border.

After attending a carpet ex-hibition in India, a Chinese del-egation along with Indian car-pet industry stakeholdersreached Pakistan through Waghawith a view to attend the four-day Pakistan hand-knotted car-pet mega show 2013, beingopened at a local hotel on Tues-day.

The PCMEA chairman in-formed that more than 150 for-eign delegates mainly fromChina, India,

China, a potential marketfor carpet exports

Nepal,Spain and Germanyhave reached Pakistan to partici-pate in this exhibition. Cooki saidbesides participation of regionalcountries, foreign guests includ-ing direct importers, interiordecorators, architects, home fur-nishing companies and colourcombination experts from theUS, Europe, Far East, Australia,Middle East and Africa have alsobeen invited to attend the event.“So this will be a huge businessactivity that would certainly im-prove the image of the countryat international level,” he said.

The chief organizer of thecarpet show and vice chairmanof the PCMEA (NZ) KamranRazi stated that the visiting Chi-nese delegation would also ex-plore opportunities of joint ven-tures for encouraging economicactivities between the two na-tions, besides inking a Memo-randum of Understanding withthe Pakistan Carpet Manufactur-ers and Exporters Association.

To enable Pakistan to tap theemerging handmade carpet mar-

ket in China, the delegation hasoffered research and develop-ment assistance to the produc-ers of handmade carpet in Paki-stan.

Representatives of Chinesedelegation, on this occasion saidthat they would be delighted tohelp the Pakistani carpet indus-try with its up-gradation, andthereby enabling it to tap theChinese market.

They said that China has al-ready laid the foundation forestablishment of a business de-velopment centre in Pakistan, toextend research and develop-ment assistance to the Pakistaniindustry. Kamran Razi saidthough Pakistan is also in favourof enhancing mutual trade, stillit necessitates some foreign di-rect investment from China.

He said that FDI wortharound $ 769 million have flowninto Pakistan from China overthe past five years, and some $11.7 million have flown in fromHong Kong. During last fiscalitself, around $120.9 million.

Agriculture’s sharemore than 22pcOBSERVER REPORT

FAISALABAD—The agriculturesector is contributing more than22pc to the GDP and the sharecan be increased by improvingthe sector on modern lines. Aspokesman for the agriculturedepartment said that Pakistanwas ranked amongst big agrar-ian countries of south Asiawhere more than 70 percentpopulation was directly or indi-rectly linked with the agriculturesector whereas the ratio in-creases in Punjab because morethan 80pc population of theprovince depends on agriculture.He said reforms in agriculturecoupled with farmer friendlysteps of the Punjab governmentcould materialize the dream ofself-reliance in food require-ments.

Poultry sectormay get relief

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The FederalBoard of Revenue (FBR) islikely to reduce minimum taxrate from 1 percent to 0.5 per-cent for poultry sector underSection 113 of the Income TaxOrdinance 2001.

The FBR is examining theproposal of the poultry sector toreduce turnover tax from one to0.5 percent. The FBR is alreadyin the process of reduction in theminimum tax rate from 1 per-cent to 0.5 percent under Sec-tion 113 of the Ordinance, 2001for Pakistan International Air-lines (PIA). In this connection,the FBR will issue a notificationto give 50 percent reduction inthe minimum tax of the nationalflag carrier to help it come outof the current financial crisis.

In the past, the federal govern-ment had reduced turnover taxfrom one percent to 0.5 percent forrefineries, oil marketing companies(OMCs), gas companies and anycategory of taxpayer having annualturnover of over Rs 1 billion. TheBoard had also allowed 80 percentrebate on payment of turnover taxby the pharmaceutical distributors,distributors of fast moving con-sumer goods and distributors of fer-tilizers. However, these distributorsThe FBR had already reduced turn-over tax from one to 0.5 percentfor Sui Northern Gas Pipelines(SNGPL) and the Sui SouthernGas Company Limited (SSGC).

38 baseballplayers selectedfor Asian Games

training campLAHORE—The selection com-mittee of Pakistan FederationBaseball has selected 38 play-ers for attending a trainingcamp for the build up of theteam to take part in next yearsAsian Games being held inSouth Korea.

The players were selectedbased on their performance inthe recently concluded Na-tional baseball championship.A selection committee headedby Syed Khawar Shah andJameel Kamran, MussadiqHanif, Basit Murtaza, SyedFakhar, Safraz Ahmed as itsmembers watched the playersin action during the matches,said a spokesman of PakistanFederation Baseball here onMonday.

Following will attend thecamp, Basit Murtaza Butt,Zubair Nawaz, Hafiz Usman,Sumair Zawar, Adnan Butt(Junior), Zaheer Bashir,Umair Imdad Bhatti, ArifNiazi, Jawad, Khalid, Durr-e-Hussain, Tariq, Khalil-ur-Rehman, Nasir, Umer, NasirButt, Ahsan Baig, Farzand,Jawad Ali, Abdul Kaleem,Nadeem Faisal, Adil Sardar,Usama Yaseen, BurhanJohar. “The dates andvenue of the camp will be an-nounced in due course oftime,” he added.—APP

KARACHI—Another consis-tent batting display by Paki-stan can guide them to 2-0triumph over Protease,former captain Zaheer Abbassaid on Monday.

“We got edge over SouthAfrica in spin bowling de-partment and it was our bat-ting which backed them towin the first Test in AbuDhabi,” Zaheer Abbas, whohad been inducted as mem-ber of Interim ManagementCommittee of PakistanCricket Board (PCB), said.

“It was our batting whichwas causing trouble. If ourbatsman maintained consis-tency, they are capable oftoppling world number oneProtease once more,” headded.

He said complimentedopener Khurram Manzoorand debutant Shan Masoodand captain Misbah-ul-Haqoutstanding batting whichhelped Pakistan to cross 400mark to their opponent un-der pressure.

“Misbah was doing as abatsman and support fromkhurram and Shan changedthe fortunes of the team,” 66-year-old Zaheer, who is theonly player from Pakistan tohave scored 108 centuries in

Batting consistencycan guide Pakistan to

series win: Zaheerthe first class cricket, re-marked.

However he warned Pa-kistan team to ready for SouthAfrica’s strong comeback.

“Protease are very fight-

ing unit and Pakistan play-ers must be ready for theirstrong comeback,” he said.

He also praised for finebowling spinners duo ofSaeed Ajmal and Zulfiqar andpacer Muhammad Irfan andJunaid Khan.

To a question aboutchanges in the team, he saidhe would like to see Pakistanfielding an unchange team.

He said one-down-bats-man Azhar Ali has not donewell in the last five inningsbut should be retain in theteam.

“Misbah must boost theconfidence of Azhar becausehe is talent player,” he main-tained.

He said there are chancesthat Hashim Amla may missthe second Test starting inDubai on Wednesday. “Thatmay a good news forbowlers,”.

Commenting on his roleas Member PCB Committee,he said he will be playing hispro-active role to streamlineits working.

“Whatever experience, Ihave gained as player, cap-tain and as an administratorin PIA Sports Division willused to improve cricket set-up of the country,” he said.

He said he spoken toChairman PCB Interim Com-mittee Najam Sethi on tele-phone and so far had no faceto face discussion.

“I will be conveying myexpertise during the meetingas soon it called,” ZaheerAbbas, who had played 78Test and 62 ODI for Pakistanbetween 1969 and 1985, con-cluded.—APP

KCCA Zone-VITrophy cricket

from Oct 26KARACHI—KCCA Zone-VITop Trophy Cricket tourna-ment will be held at variousgrounds of the city from Oct26, it was announced onMonday.

There is no entry fee andball will also be provided bythe tournamentcommittee.Invited teams arerequested to confirm partici-pation by Oct 24.

Teams which have beenextended invitation includedAlamgir Gymkhana, AOCricket Club, Asghar Ali ShahCC, City Gymkhana, GoldenGymkhana, Hyderi Sports,Late Ismail Jaffer CC, Metro-politan CC, NationalGymkhana, North Shire CC,Northern Gymkhana,OrangiMuslim CC, Orangi Star CC,Orangi United CC, PakistanCC, Paposh Nagar CC, QasbaSports, Ravi Gymkhana,Sakhi Hassan Gymkhana,Shama Sports, Sun CC,Taimuria Sports, Taj Sports,Unity Gymkhana and EasternStar CC.—APP

Death ofvolleyball player

condoledPESHAWAR—The SportsCircle Khyber Pakhtunkhwahave condoled the tragic deathof volleyball player IrshadKhan, who died on last Fridayand also was serving in theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Policeas Inspector.

Irshad Khan (26) was sonof President KhyberPakhtunkhwa Volleyball Asso-ciation Iqbal Khan, died dueto lung cancer. Irshad wasfighting the disease for threelong months.

The Khyber PakhtunkhwaVolleyball Association held acondolence reference here atQayyum Sports Complexwhich was attended by na-tional and international volley-ball players who expressedtheir deep shock and sorrowover the loss of precious lives.

Former national volleyballteam captains Abdur RahimKhan, Shahid Hussain, na-tional team coach KhalidWaqar, Ex-Secretary KhyberPakhtunkhwa Volleyball Asso-ciation Shahid Kamal, Ex-Sec-retary General Pakistan Volley-ball Federation Major (Retd)Afzal, Ex-Sports Minister SyedAqil Shah, Vice President Pa-kistan Football Federation andEx-Health Minister Syed ZahirAli Shah, Presidents and Sec-retaries of various associationaffiliated with KhyberPakhtunkhwa Olympic Asso-ciation, former World Cham-pion Qamar Zaman, World No2 Mohib Ullah, squash wizardJansher Khan, Director Gen-eral Sports KhyberPakhtunkhwa Tariq Mehmood,Director Female GamesKhyber Pakhtunkhwa SportsBoard Miss Rashida Ghaznavi,Director Sports Frontier Col-lege for Women Miss RahamBibi, Director Sports BenazirWomen University MariaSamin, Member of the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Sports WritersAssociation, Secretary Paki-stan Sports Writers FederationAmjad Aziz Malik, members ofthe Khyber PakhtunkhwaOlympic Association, officialsof the Sports Board KhyberPakhtunkhwa attended thecondolence reference.—APP

KARACHI—Former captainSamiullah Khan was disap-pointed for another embar-rassing show by Pakistaniteam in the 4-nation 9-A-SideHockey Tournament in Perth(Australia).

“PHF had made Pakistana-club-level team with personalegos and poor administration,”Olympic star forward Samiullahtold APP in an interview in thewake of Muhammad Imran’steam finishing fourth and lastin Perth.

“Current PHF hierarchyhas done irreparable damageto Pakistan hockey which willtake years to recover,” hestressed. He said after failingto qualify for next year’sHockey World Cup in Hague(Netherlands) for the first timein 42-years, if the present PHFset-up was not sacked, the daynpt very far when Pakistan willbe a featuring in the qualify-ing rounds for Asian Gamesand Asia Cup.

“I really feel sorry for thestate of affairs of national

hockey as its repeated failuresdespite tall claims by the fed-eration officials,” he said.

“Our Hockey is passingthrough a poorest phase inhistory and if urgent steps arenot taken, Pakistan may also

be out of the Asian Games aswell,” he said.

“Pakistan hockey sufferedblow after blow and humilia-tion due to wrangling and in-fighting and dirty politics in

Pakistan sports,” he com-mented.

He said Pakistan hockeysuffered highly and was at itlowest ebb despite receivinghuge grant from Pakistan gov-ernment.

He called for immediate re-moval of PHF officials and in-troducing of ad-hoc body totake charge of PHF.

Samiullah said if PrimeMinister can appoint an ad-hoc body in Pakistan CricketBoard why it can not be donein Pakistan Hockey Federation.

He said elections of PHFshould be held under a neutralset-up by sacking all the cur-rent office bearers.

“After Asif Bajwa, the restof PHF should show grace byresigning from their respectivepositions,” former legendaryleft winger said.

He demanded immediatesteps should be taken by thePatron-in- Chief of PHF to putthe national game on the righttrack for revival of the game incoming years.—APP

K A R A C H I — B a t s m a nSohaib Maqsood was look-ing to make his mark in theupcoming five-match One-Day International seriesagainst South Africa start-ing from Oct 30.

“It’s my great endeav-our to serve the country tothe best of my ability,” hesaid in an interview onMonday.

“I am happy that selec-tors have once again con-fidence in me and I will tryto live upto their expecta-t ions and of my country-men,” 26-year-Multanborn, commented.

“I learnt a great deal byplaying against South Af-rica bowlers Dale Steyn,Philander and Morkel while

represent Pakistan “A”.”,he recalled.

He said they are bestpace combination in theworld and it was good ex-perience to play againstthem.Sohaib cracked anunbeaten 34 and also tookone wicket for 17 runs withhis off-breaks in that matchagainst Protease.

“I am looking forward toshow my potential againstthe formidable South Af-rica team,” Sohaib, whomade his Twenty20 debutagainst Zimbabwe inHarare with an at tackingknock of 23 off 16-ball withone four and a sixer.

“As always, I love toattack the bowling.But cancurb my stroke play if situ-

at ion demands,” he re-marked.

Tall and athlet ical lybuild, Sohaib Maqsood,who resemble in batt ingstyle with former skipperInzamam-ul-Haq was de-lighted to see Pakistan win-ning the first Test againstSouth Africa in Abu Dhabi.

Plus six-footer Sohaibsaid he was mentally andphysical well equipped tohandle South Africa bowl-ing attack.

Highly talented SohaibMaqsood, who had scored2737 runs in 42 first classmatches with six centuriesat an average of 43.44 willalso be making his ODI de-but if selected in series.—APP

LAHORE—Aashiyana Boysscored a six wicket win overPunjab Cottage and LahoreShaheen notched up fivewicket win over Gulf Interna-tional as two matches were de-cided in the 4th Amar Cables T-20 Veteran Cricket Champion-ship here on Monday at ShahFaisal ground.

Punjab Cottage batted firstreached 173/7 in 20 overs.Rashid Feroz 51, Shafiq Din 34& Muhammad Sabir 34 runs notout were their main run getters.Aashiyana Boys bowling filmStar Shan Shahid 2/21,Muhammad Khurram 2/27,

Amir Riaz 2/28 & Doctor Ashar1/18 wickets. In replyAashiyana Boys knocked offthe target reaching 174/4 in 18.5overs. Man of the matchJamshaid Ali batted well withsolid unbeaten 86 as ZaheerIqbal 22 & Azhar Iqbal 20 runsalso supported the winners.

Punjab Cottage bowlingMuhammad Shoaib 2/21,Shafiq Din 1/38 & RasheedFeroz 1/33 wickets. WaleedYaqoob and Rashid Riaz werethe umpires pire & Waris Bashirwas the scorer.

Gulf International posted139/6 in 17 overs and their main

PESHAWAR: Girls giving trial for under-19 team organized by PCB at Arbab Niaz Stadium.

PHF made Pakistan clublevel team: Samiullah

P E S H AWA R — P r o m i s i n gopener Adil Amin smasheda cracking century by steer-ing Shama club to a com-fortable 78 runs victory inthe final of the ShamaTwenty20 Cricket League-2013 played here atGymkhana Ground on Mon-day.

Secretary General Paki-stan Muslim League (N)Iqbal Zafar Jagra was thechief guest on this occa-sion. Organizing SecretarySyed Hanif Shah, teamsplayers and spectators werealso present.

Shama club skipperHamad-ul-Hasan won thetoss and elected to bat firstby setting up 205 runs inwhich opener Adil Amin,who also tour with PakistanUnder-19 team to England,smashed a cracking 116runs off 69 balls including12 boundaries and four tow-ering sixes.

His elegant innings

Adil Amin steers Shama club to clinchTwenty20 Cricket League trophy

helped Shama club to piledup 205 runs target while bat-ting first. Besides Adil Aminskipper Hamad-ul-Hasanscored 41 runs includingseven boundaries, Iftikharscored 22 runs and were theleading runs contributors.

For Peshawar StarsWaseem, the right-arm me-dium fast bowler, took twowickets, Imran, Saeed andIltaf took one wicket each.

In reply, Peshawar Starsbowled out for 127 runs.Saeed made 23 runs withtwo boundaries, Jawadscored 21 runs and Imranmade 19 runs. For Shamaclub Arsalan, SaeedHussain took three wicketswhile Aslam Quranshi tookone wicket.

In the end, the chiefguest General SecretaryPML (N) Iqbal Zafar Jagragave away trophies andcash prizes to the winnerand runners-up teams. AdilAmin, who scored three

centuries in the tournamentwith 407 runs, was declaredbest player of the tourna-ment, Aslam Qurashi, whogot 19 wickets, was de-clared best bowler whileHamad-ul-Hasan got bestall rounder trophy andKashif Hayat got bestwicket-keeper.

Peshawar Panther gotthird position trophy. Ashield was also given tocoach and selection SajjadAkhtar, former internationalTest umpire Mian Said Shah,in-charge Gymkhana groundand Vice President PeshawarDistrict PML (Nawaz) ZakaUllah, Ex-President AbdulAziz, Shakeel Ahmad, coachFazal Akbar Shah, JabarKhan, Aleem Khan, AamirMalik, Riaz Rozi, MurtazaShah, Asif Nadeem,Muhammad Asif, SabirAwan, Fakare Alam, ImranUllah, Khawar Khan, AdnanKhan and KhanMuhammad.—APP

Sohaib Maqsood eager tomake his mark in ODI series

PTF president,management

felicitate AisamISLAMABAD—President Paki-stan Tennis Federation (PTF)Syed Kaleem Imam and theentire PTF management hasfelicitated country’s top ten-nis player Aisam-ul-HaqQureshi for winning themen’s doubles title ofStockholm Open DoublesChampionship at Stockholm,Sweden.

Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshipairing with Jean-Julien Rojerof Netherland, who are cur-rently ranked seventh in theATP rankings, defeated theSwedish pair of JonasBjorkman and RobertLindstedt 6-2, 6-2.

President PTF said thatby winning the doubles titleAisam would improve hisdoubles ranking and move tothe top position. He ex-pressed the hope that thetennis player would bringmore laurels for the countryin the days to come.—APP

Two matches decided inCables T20 veteran cricket

scorers were Hafiz Asif 52,Ghulam Ghaus 24 & Zafar HaiButt 12 runs. Lahore Shaheenbowling Raza Shah 2/20,Ghulam Mustafa 2/28 &Muhammad Arshad 2/31 wick-ets. Lahore Shaheen answeredwith 140/5 in 14.3 overs. Topscorer and man of the matchMuhammad Arshad batted wellwith undefeated 82 as JavaidSaleem made 45 runs. Gulf In-ternational bowling Zafar HaiButt 2/15, Riaz ud din 1/32 &Tahir Mehmood 1/27 wickets.Tariq Rasheed and Qaisar Khanstood as umpires & AzharHussain was the scorer.—APP

Karachi Bluesface Abbottabad

in QuaidTrophy opener

KARACHI—Karachi Blueswill take on Abbotabad in theopening 4-day match ofQuaid-e-Azam TrophyCricket Championship start-ing at National Stadium herefrom Wednesday.

14 regional teams dividedin Group-I and Group-II aretaking part in the event.

Ahmed Shahab andGhaffar Kazmi will super-vise the match while IlyasKhan will be the match ref-eree.—APP

ZURICH—Continental giantsPortugal and Sweden weredrawn together in the pick ofthe World Cup qualifyingplay-offs in Europe when thedraw was made by football’sgoverning body FIFA onMonday. Former championsFrance were given afavourable pairing as theytravel to Ukraine for the firstleg on November 15 whileGreece will host Romania andCroatia play their first leg inIceland.

Former World Cup semi-finalists Portugal and Swe-

Portugal get Sweden testwhile France take on Ukraine

den were the first two coun-tries pulled out of the hat asCristiano Ronaldo will defyZlatan Ibrahimovic in whatwill be a battle of star-stud-ded line-ups.

Didier Deschamps’French side, who were nar-rowly beaten to top spot intheir pool by defendingchampions Spain, travel tothe Euro 2012 co-hostswhere they defeated Ukraine2-0 in group play.

Romania are bidding toreturn to the final stages forthe first time since 1998 and

will fancy their chancesagainst goal-shy Greece,who were beaten to top spotin their pool by Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Finally, Iceland look toqualify for the first time intheir history against a Croatiaside coming off back to backdefeats against Scotland andin the midst of a managerialchange.

The second leg will be onNovember 19 with the fourwinners qualifying for the2014 World Cup in Brazil fromJune 12 to July 13.—AFP

DOHA—France broke theeight-day-old mixed 4x50mmedley relay world record onthe opening night of the Dohaleg of short-course World Cupon Sunday.The French quartetof Jeremy Stravius, GiacomoPerez Dortona, MelanieHenique and Anna Santamansused the strategy of opening alead with both male swimmersfirst up, and it worked out well.

The final time of 1:39.54seconds slashed 2.16sec fromthe previous mark set by Rus-sia in Moscow last weekend.

There was the usual gold

Swimming: France break eight-day mixed world recordrush for South Africa’s Chad leClos, compatriot RolandSchoeman and Hungary’sKatinka Hosszu who all wontwice. The 21-year-old le Clos,who beat Michael Phelps in the200m butterfly in 2012 Olym-pics, decided to add the 400mindividual medley to his sched-ule in Doha, and was a com-fortable winner at 4:03.23.

Hungary’s David Verrasztowas second in 4:03.95.Tunisia’s Ous Mellouli wasthird.

Le Clos then returned forhis favourite event—the 200m

butterfly—and even though hewas nowhere close to his Dubaitiming three days ago, he hadno trouble in edging outPoland’s Pawel Korzeniowski.

Le Clos’ timing was 1:50.39.The South African super-

star was then beaten to silverin the 50m butterfly bySchoeman, who also snatchedthe gold in the 50m breast-stroke. Schoeman, acknowl-edged as one of the finestsprinters in the world, was aclass apart from the field as hewon the breaststroke in25.89sec.—AFP

TIMERGARA: Additional Deputy Commissioner Shams-ul-Alam distributing sportskits among the players from Malakand Development Authority.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—The notableabsentee at the JSCA Inter-national Stadium Complexin Ranchi, where India is toplay the 4th ODI againstAustralia on Wednesdaywill be Narendra Dhoni, thebrother of Team India cap-tain.

Narendra Dhoni and hiswife are certain to boycottthe match.

“We are not going towatch the match from theStadium. Yes, you can sayit is a boycott. Jo mainkaheta hu wo main dikhakarrahunga (I will stick to itwhatever I say). Even if myentire khandan (family) isplaying in Indian team,Ihave vowed never to go to

Captain cool’s annoyed brother toboycott ODI match in Ranchi stadium

this Stadium to watch thematch”, the cricket-fanbrother said over telephonefrom Ranchi.

In January this year, thefamily felt insulted when thehost association didn’t give“enough” tickets and issuecomplimentary passes for thethird ODI between India andEngland.

“Knowing it was a bigmatch and the associationcan not issue us so manyfree-passes, I was willing topay for the tickets but my re-peated requests were notheard. My wife had to standin a queue. The people at theassociation had switched oftheir phones and I felt in-sulted...”, Narendra Dhonisaid.

“My parents (father PanSingh and mother DevkiDevi) will watch the match

from the Stadium and theyshould go. Even my five-year daughter may accom-pany them to see her uncleplay”.

“It is not that I shall notwatch the match. I shallcatch them on my tv athome. I did witness theMohali match. I hadswitched off the matchwhen Ishant Sharma gaveaway so many runs in oneover”.

“Mahi did well in Indiainnings but could not bringmatch in India favour Ulti-mately the MoM awardwent to the right man. JamesFaulkner brought victoryfor his team and that iswhere the result counts.

The adjudicators wereright in not awarding theMoM to Dhoni”, hesigned off.

DHAKA: Neil Wagner exults after dismissing Tamim Iqbal during Bangladesh vs New Zealand 2nd Test on Monday.

DUBAI—Star batsman AB deVilliers expressed his confi-dence on Monday that SouthAfrica can rectify the problemswhich led to their defeat againstPakistan in the first Test lastweek.

Speaking ahead of the sec-ond Test starting here onWednesday, the 29-year-oldadmitted South Africa were dis-appointed to lose by sevenwickets in Abu Dhabi.

“The mood is good, we’vemoved on from the disappoint-ing performance, obviously wewere hurt quite a bit after theTest, we haven’t played cricketlike that in a long time and wewere very, very disappointed,”de Villiers said after team prac-tice on Monday.

“We’re finding ways to fixit and that’s the most importantthing. We’ve looked at a fewareas where we went wrongand we’re going to try and getit right,” said de Villiers.

“It’s a must-win game forus and we’re going in there withthat attitude to win that game,

we’re still the number one teamin the world and we are goingto play like it.”

South Africa slumped to

249 and 232 against a spin-cumpace Pakistan attack and failedto stop their rivals from puttingup a mammoth 442 for a com-fortable win.

To add to South Africa’sbatting problems, first Test cen-turion Hashim Amla may not be

available for the second Testas the reliable batsman returnedhome for the birth of his sec-ond child.

Left-hander Dean Elgar islikely to replace Amla.

Dale Steyn also suffered aback problem, but De Villiersbelieves the paceman will re-cover.

“He did tweak somethingin the fielding practice yester-day, but we think it’s not tooserious, so we are just taking agood precaution and makingsure he will be ready for thesecond Test,” he said.

De Villiers praisedPakistan’s bowling, led by off-spinner Saeed Ajmal who fin-ished with 4-74 in the secondinnings.

“I thought they bowledquite well with clever plans. Butthen again few soft dismissalsincluding myself, you neverknow what could have hap-pened,” said De Villiers, refer-ring to his bizarre run out in thefirst innings.

DHAKA—Tamim Iqbal missedout on a century as NewZealand restrictedBangladesh to 228-5 on thefirst day of the second Test inDhaka on Monday, beforerain ended play early.

The dismissals of Tamimfor 95 and Shakib Al Hasanfor 20 just before the tea breakput the Black Caps on top,with bad weather preventingplay in the final session.

Tamim edged NeilWagner to Kane Williamsonat slip, before leg-spinner IshSodhi trapped Shakib AlHasan leg-before.

Before the twin blows,Bangladesh had made steadyprogress after skipperMushfiqur Rahim won the

DUBAI—Experienced Paki-stan batsman Younis Khanon Monday described hisexpulsion from the one-dayside as “shocking” butvowed to end his limitedovers career on a high.

The 35-year-old was lastweek left out of Pakistan’s 16-man squad for the fivematches which follow thetwo-Test series againstSouth Africa.

Pakistan won the firstTest by seven wickets in AbuDhabi while the second Teststarts in Dubai from Wednes-day.

A veteran of 253 one-day,Younis has not scored a lim-ited overs century since No-vember 2008 and managedjust 116 runs in the five-match series in South Africaearlier this year.

He was also not part ofPakistan’s one-day teamwhich won the series 2-1 inZimbabwe last month. Butthe senior batsman said hewas surprised and shocked.

“I am surprised I am notin the one-day team, it’s ashocking news for me. Afterthe last series, it was surpris-ing for me, but for me lifegoes on, for me this is nevereasy,” Younis said ahead ofthe second Test.

Younis shocked at one-day axe

Asked if the 2015 WorldCup (50 overs) was still on

his mind, Younis replied:“Look, I have said this be-

fore, its not 2015 or 2016, ifyou have the fitness youkeep playing.

“I think when Imran(Khan) left he must be 40-42,”said Younis of former Paki-stan captain, who retired af-ter guiding Pakistan toWorld Cup victory in 1992.

“I would say that forMisbah, look people say thatyou are 34 or 35, but it’s upto fitness and being positiveon your body. I still feel good,I feel that I am fitter now thanI was when I was 23 or 24years of age.

“Your fitness comes withtime and age, I think I haveno plans for 2015 but my planis that when I feel that mybody is not allowing me toplay then I am the most hon-est person I will leave but notafter being dropped, I will begoing on a good note.”

Younis retired from theshortest version of the gameafter guiding Pakistan toWorld Tweny20 win in En-gland in 2009.

“The way I retired fromthe T20, I mention it repeat-edly. People feel that I don’twant to play (one-day) andhave told that to the cricketboard, but there is no suchthing, when I will leave I willleave with a bang.”—AFP

Tamim misses ton asKiwis halt Bangladesh

toss and elected to bat in over-cast conditions at the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.

Tamim, who smashed 17fours in his entertaining 153-ball knock, put on 76 withMominul Haque (47) for thethird wicket and 67 withMarshall Ayub (41) for thesecond.

Trent Boult gave NewZealand their first wicketwhen Anamul Haque (seven)miscued a pull shot andWilliamson took the catch.

Ayub looked solid untilWagner, who replaced left-arm spinner Bruce Martin inNew Zealand’s line-up fromthe drawn first Test, bowledhim.

The right-handed Ayub

struck six boundaries in his 62-ball innings.

Corey Anderson endedMominul’s innings by havinghim caught behind.

Tamim prospered aftersurviving two droppedcatches at the start of his in-nings. Wicketkeeper Brad-ley-John Watling dropped theleft-hander on five before skip-per Brendon McCullum lethim off at second slip at 10.Doug Bracewell was the un-lucky bowler on both occa-sions.

Bangladesh made onechange to their team that drewthe first Test in Chittagong,bringing in uncappedpaceman Al Amin Hossain forinjured Robiul Islam.—AFP

DETROIT: Japan’s Mao Asada waves to the crowd after capturing the gold medal atSkate America.

De Villiers confident SouthAfrica can fix first Test woes

HOUSTON: Houston Dynamo defender Jermaine Taylor (4) fights for the ball against New York Red Bulls midfielderTim Cahill (17) during an MLS soccer match. New York won the game 3-0.

Football: Henry,Pires lined up forIndia tournament

MUMBAI—Former footballsuperstars Thierry Henry,Robert Pires and HernanCrespo are being lined up toplay in a new Indian tourna-ment aimed at cashing in ongrowing domestic interest inthe sport, organisers saidMonday.

Fredrik Ljungberg,Dwight Yorke and LouisSaha are among other foreignplayers in the fray for thefranchise-based eventorganised by the All IndiaFootball Federation (AIFF)and its commercial partnersIMG-Reliance.

The Indian Super Leagueis scheduled to be held be-tween January and Marchacross India and feature eightcity teams whose squads willcomprise nine foreign and 13Indian players.

“The idea of the leagueis to revolutionise Indianfootball,” said a spokesmanfor IMG-Reliance, a joint ven-ture between global eventsmanagement group IMG andIndian conglomerate Reli-ance.

“The Indian youth fol-lows a lot of European foot-ball. So we definitely want tobring in their expertise, expe-rience and fan following,” thespokesman told AFP.

Yorke, Saha, Ljungberg,Pires and Crespo had beenconfirmed to play, thespokesman said, adding thatHenry “could be a potential”.

The format will steal exten-sively from India’s top limited-overs cricket tournament,which has been copied inother sports including bad-minton and hockey.—AFP

Tan lifts Chinato first goldat worlds

WROCLAW (Poland)—TanYayun gave China their firstgold of the worldweightlifting championshipson Sunday, winning thewomen’s under 48kg cat-egory.

The Chinese lifter man-aged 84kg in the snatch, andthen lifted 115kg in the cleanand jerk to end the competi-tion with a total of 199kg.

Olympic bronze medallistRyang Chun Hwa of NorthKorea took silver with 186kg(81/105) and Mexican Caro-lina Valencia Hernandez third,181kg (78/103).

China are looking to con-solidate their status asfavourites after winning fivegold medals at the 2012 Olym-pics and four titles at the lastworlds.

But the Chinese must bewary of the Russians who aregunning for a title after go-ing home without an Olym-pic gold and the Kazakhs—winners of two gold medalsat the 2011 worlds and fourOlympic titles.

Meanwhile, The TunisianWeightlifting FederationFTH) confirmed on Mondaytheir team had pulled out ofthe world weightlifting cham-pionships underway in Po-land after two lifters faileddrugs tests.—AFP

KARACHI—South Africa maybe without the world’s No 1batsman and bowler for theirmust-win second Test againstPakistan.

Dale Steyn had to cutshort his training session onSunday after feeling tightnessin his right hamstring and didnot train on Monday, whileHashim Amla, who is await-ing the birth of his secondchild, will be ruled out of thematch if he is unable to leave

SA may miss Amla, Steyn in 2nd TestDurban by Tuesday ataround mid-day, cricinfo.comwebsite reported on Monday.

Steyn was attended to bythe South African physio-therapist Monday morningbut the full extend of his in-jury will only be known in aday’s time.

“We should have a betteridea of the situation tomor-row,” Mohammed Moosajee,South Africa’s team managerwho is also a medical doctor,

said. “We need a 24-hour pe-riod before we can determineexactly what’s wrong.” SouthAfrica’s vice-captain AB deVilliers said Steyn was ex-cluded from training as a pre-caution and they are hopefulhe will be passed fit to play.

Steyn has suffered from avariety of niggles in the lastfive months which led to himbeing left out of the limited-overs tour of Sri Lanka in Au-gust.—APP

Ferrer facestough road tofourth title in

ValenciaMADRID—World numberthree David Ferrer faces atricky opening round clashwith Gael Monfils as he goesin search of his fourth ValenciaOpen title this week. Ferrerfailed to claim his third title ofthe season on Sunday as hewas beaten by Grigor Dimitrovin the final of the StockholmOpen.

And the defending cham-pion will need to be close tohis best to beat an in-formMonfils, who pushed NovakDjokovic all the way in thequarter-finals of the ShanghaiMasters in his last outing.

Indeed, the mercurialFrenchman has a 3-1 lifetimerecord against Ferrer, althoughthe Spaniard did emerge vic-torious from their last meetingin Auckland earlier this year.

The draw doesn’t let up forFerrer even if he should beatthe world number 31 with big-serving fifth seed JerzyJanowicz his potential quarter-final opponent and numberthree seed Nicolas Almagro alsoin his half of the draw.—AFP

FOR many outdoor runners the idea ofpounding a treadmill means trading daylight for drudgery but as the air chills, fit-

ness experts say treadmill classes can hone ef-ficiency and form and add a dash of glamour toindoor running.

“There’s a little snobberyabout running on a treadmill,”said David Siik, a track andfield sprinter turned treadmillclass fitness instructor at Equi-nox, the upscale chain of fit-ness centers. “Most racers area little ashamed of running in-doors.” Siik, who is nowbased in Los Angeles, turnedreluctantly to treadmill run-ning after a post-college stintin New York City.

“I was sick of runninginto cars trying to get to Cen-tral Park,” he explained, “andNew York in January is notalways the friendliest place torun.” Now the humble tread-mill has him hooked. “I stillreally enjoy running outside,but there is nothing better than the ability tocalculate and monitor your goals on a treadmill,”he said. “You’re running on this computer.”

The treadmill is by far the most popularcardio machine, accounting for 58 percent ofhome fitness sales in 2012, according to theNational Sporting Goods Association, a percent-age that has stayed consistent over the past years.The elliptical trainer, at eight per cent, is a dis-tant second.

Melanie Douglass, a Utah-based dietitianand trainer with ICON Health and Fitness,whose products include cardio equipment, hasalso taught classes on the treadmill, which shecalls her preferred piece of equipment. “People

always work more efficiently (on the tread-mill), because the motor and belt help youmaintain a consistent pace,” said Douglass.

She said people err when they go too slow,or do the same thing day after day. “Exerciseis not supposed to be comfortable,” she ex-

plained. “You have to challengeyour body.”

Dr. Michele Olson, pro-fessor of exercise physiology atAuburn University at Mont-gomery in Alabama, said be-sides teaching proper runningand walking form, classes helpthe exerciser learn “the bellsand whistles” of the modernmachine. And unlike outdoorrunning, training on a treadmillensures you are running at yourintended pace, she said. Simplyvarying the grade, or incline,every minute will push up thecalorie burning.

But that’s just the begin-ning. “We’ve researched andstudied walking and running ontreadmills in all directions,”

Olson said. “You burn more calories movingsideways and backwards, particularly at walk-ing speeds.” She even likes to see people withtheir feet on the floor behind the treadmillwalking on it with their hands. “After a set ofpush-ups, treadmill walk with your hands,” shesuggests. “Your shoulder girdle will becomea beast providing you with both upper bodystrength and endurance in those under-aerobi-cally used upper body muscles.”

Siik said using a treadmill is the best 30 to45 minutes of cardio anyone can get inside agym. “The beautiful thing about a treadmill isthat it will never lie to you. It’s a brutally hon-est machine,” he added.

Treadmill classes mix it upwith workhorse of the gym

KARACHI: Director General Rangers Maj General Rizwan Akhtar chairing a meeting of Sindh Operational Committee at Rangers’ Headquarters.

KARACHI: Former Federal Minister Ejazul Haq speaks during Mehfil-e-Naat organisedby Apeah Welfare Society.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Karachi Metro-politan Corporation (KMC) Ad-ministrator Saqib AhmedSoomro said installation of elec-tric poles on the completed trackof Liaquatabad DakkhanaFlyover had begun and thistrack would be completed afterfixing of expansion joints nextweek. The lying of girders wasunderway on the other track ofthis flyover which will also bedone soon.

In a statement issued Mon-day, he said this during a re-view meeting in his officewhich was attended by Direc-

tor General Engineering Depart-ment Niaz Ahmed Soomro,Project Directors of Shahra-ePakistan Flyovers and otherconcerned officers and engi-neers. Director General andProject Directors apprised theAdministrator about theprogress of work on Shahra-ePakistan Flyovers.

The Administrator directedthem to further expedite con-struction work on these projectsas early completion of thesebridges would give considerablerelief to traffic using this veryimportant corridor of the city.During the meeting he noted thatopening of a track of Ayesha

Manzil and Water PumpFlyover before Eid Al Adhahad provided much conve-nience to traffic flowing fromSohrab Goth to Teen Hatti andthe availability of a track ofLiaquatabad DakkhanaFlyover for traffic would makea track of the whole Shahra-ePakistan signal free.

It was informed during themeeting that a total of 18 ex-pansion joints would be usedin both tracks of LiaquatabadDakkhana Flyover and the fix-ing of 9 joints on completedtrack of this flyover will befinished in a week after theirarrival from Korea.

Installation of power polesstarted on Dakkhana Flyover

KARACHI: Security person trying to check the luggage of passengers with a metal detectorat Cantt Railway Station.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Jamaat-e-Islami(JI) Chief Syed Munawar Hasanurged Ulema and religious forcesto play their due roles in orderto unveil the different faces oftyrannous elements.

He said that the country’seconomy, which is depends onthe international loans is increas-ing injustice and cruelty throughwhich the lawlessness is also onthe rise. Hasan was expressedthese views during his visit to theresidence of late Abdul SamiBaloch, brother of Abdul MajeedBaloch, a member of Jamaat-eIslami in Jahanabad, Shershah

on Monday. JI Chief said thatthe rulers of the country werebusy in making please theUnited States and its rulers.

Addressing to the workers,Munawar Hasan said that theinflation and unemploymentwere also the faces of cruelty,which had ignited the lawless-ness in the country.

JI Karachi General Secre-tary Naseem Siddiqui, caretakerAmeer District West Aziz BaigQasimi, General Secretary Dis-trict West Mehmood Ul Hasan,Naib Ameers HameedullahKhan Advocate, Abdul Razzaq,Zone Ameer Sultan Rome,Shaukat Mujahid, JI Informa-

tion Secretary Zahid Askari andothers were present.

Hasan said that the anti-Is-lam forces were trying to desta-bilize the country through itsnefarious designs, adding thatthe economy of loans, unem-ployment and inflation were thefactors which were putting dev-astating impact on the countryand its people.

No peace could be restoredin the society without imple-menting Islamic rules, he saidadding that the war between up-right and tyrannous forces wasbeing continued and we shouldnot distinct ourselves from thesaid continued war.

Munawwar urges Ulema’s role tounveil faces of tyrannous forces

STAFF REPORTER

K A R A C H I — A l - K h i d m a tKarachi had performed sacrifi-cial rites on Eid Al Adha at largenumber.

According to the details,Al-Khidmat in joint collabora-tion with a Turkish Welfare Or-ganization Jansuyee sacrificed110 cows on Eid Al Adha anddistributed the meat amongthousands of the deprivedfamilies.

Jamaat-e Islami (JI) KarachiChief Engineer Hafiz Naeem UrRehman, Ameer JI District EastYounus Barai, General Secre-

tary Al-Khidmat EngineerAbdul Aziz and Senior ManagerManzar Alam also visited thedifferent slaughter houses, setupby Al-Khidmat in various areas.

Speaking at the occasion, JIKarachi Chief Rehman thankedthe Turkish welfare organisationJansuyee on cooperating withAl-Khidmat in order to facilitatethe deprived and needy familieson Eid Al Adha.

He said that the people notonly in Pakistan, but across theworld expressed their confi-dence on Al-Khidmat.

JI Karachi Chief further saidthat the Al-Khidmat and JI were

always remember the less privi-leged and deprived families onevery religious festival and en-sure their best possible assis-tance.

Aziz said that the Al-Khidmat believes on serving thehumanity without any discrimi-nation, adding that it also sacri-ficed 500 animals for the quakevictims of Balochistan.

He also thanked the peopleon giving the hides of their sac-rificial animals to Al-Khidmatand hoped that the people willcontinue their support towardsAl-Khidmat for serving the ail-ing humanity.

Al-Khidmat performedsacrificial rites at large number

Rangers, policedetain 91

more suspectsKARACHI—The rangers and po-lice have detained 91 more sus-pects during latest raids in dif-ferent parts of Karachi.

The East, West, and Southzones’ police and heavy contin-gents of rangers continued tar-geted operation in different areasof the metropolis on Sunday andtook 91 culprits into custody.

All three zones’ police ar-rested 75 more wrongdoers in-cluded proclaimed offenders andfugitives from the raided areasand seized 15 pistols, one re-peater, 42 bullets and fewsnatched motor-bikes from theircustody. Six accused of targetkillings and money extortionwere arrested from Garden, NabiBukhsh, and Ranchore Line ar-eas of the city. The rangers cap-tured nine accused and recoveredweapons from them during raidsin Quidabad, Green Town,Nazimabad, New Karachi,Manghopir, Shah Faisal Colony,Baldia Town, and Gulberg areas.During a raid in Nishtar Roadarea, target killer MansoorBaloch alias Bubbly was arrestedby the rangers.—Online

2 more denguedeaths reportedKARACHI—Two more peoplelost their lives to the dengue vi-rus in city during the last week.

According to Special Secre-tary Health Dr Mansoor Hussain,14 people have died from the vi-rus this year in Karachi, while2,500 cases have been reported.

The Pakistan Pediatrics As-sociation states that after Karachi,the virus is also spreading rap-idly in Hyderabad where over2,000 cases have been re-ported.—Online

AKU to hostmulti-disciplinary

conference onbreast cancer

KARACHI—Aga Khan Univer-sity will host a MultidisciplinaryBreast Cancer Conference withmajor focus on Updates andChallenges here from Oct 26-27.

Experts will make their re-spective presentations on the oc-casion on issues ranging fromBreast Cancer Biology-EvolvingKnowledge to Risk Evaluationand Survivorship; AdjuvantTherapy to Diagnostic andTherapeutic Radiation; Stage IVBreast Cancer to Progress in Sur-gical Management.

Series of pre-conferenceworkshops, scheduled for Oct 25,have also been arranged by theorganisers on topics as MedicalOncology, that addresses themanagement of different sce-narios of breast cancer.Each ses-sion will be preceded by Pre-talkcase based scenarios and discus-sion.—APP

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The ongoing tar-geted operation in the metropo-lis should have launched quiteearlier as the delayed com-mencement of operation had cre-ated problems of various kinds.

The operation was purelyagainst the anti-social elementsand criminals and should not betaken as against any particularparty. It was all about protectingthe interests of the city and thepeople of the city.

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PMLN) Sindh chaptergeneral secretary Salim ZiaAwan said this while addressingworkers and office-bearers of thecity on the occasion of an EidMilan Party held Monday at thePMLN House on Karsaz Road,Karachi.

Federal Minister AbdulHakeem Baloch, provincial in-formation secretary Ali AkbarGujjar, Rana Ehsan, ShahMuhammad Shah, PerveenBasheer Muhammad ShafiJamot, Haji Ameen Mana, MalikRiaz Awan, Irfanullah KhanMarwat, Sultan Khan Jauhry,

Ismail Rahu, Chun Zeb, ShamimAkmal, Iqbal Khaksar, and oth-ers attended.

The PMLN-led federal gov-ernment would keep its commit-ments made to the people of thecountry for resolving of variouscrises that the country was pass-ing through as the federal gov-ernment had in past 4 months se-lected the right path of dealingwith the crises and to seek rid-dance of the crises.

Awan said that it was unfor-tunate that the previous govern-ment had only duped the peopleof the country through tall butfalse claims due to which theeconomy of the country hadreached on the verge of collapse.

He said that the criminalsand the terrorists had ruined theand order in the country fromKarachi to KhyberPakhtoonkhawa due to whichthe investors did not come to Pa-kistan for investing their capitaland the situation had also ruinedthe domestic industry.

He claimed that his party wasmaking all efforts to get rid ofdrone attacks because they werenot in the interest of the country.

Previous govt’s policiesruined economy: Salim

PIA brings backover 4,700 Hajjis

on 2nd day ofpost-Hajj operation

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—PIA First Post Hajjflight for Karachi PK 3002 car-rying 342 Hajjis reached Karachitoday

The Hajjis were received andpresented Rose Garlands on theirarrival at Karachi Hajj Terminalby Mr. Khurram Mushtaq, Direc-tor Marketing PIA and Mr.Rashid Ahmed, Director Cus-tomer Services and officials ofPIA and ASF.

From Jeddah Hajj Terminal,the Hajjis were seen off by PIACountry Manager KSA, ShabazAhmed, PIA Chief Hajj Coordi-nator Mr. Shah Nawaz Rehman,Dy. Hajj Coordinator, CaptainAnwar Adil, General ManagerPassenger Handling Services,Mr. Aamir Bashir and PIAScouts.

Talking to Media at KarachiHajj Terminal, Mr. KhurramMushtaq, Director MarketingPIA said that Managing DirectorPIA, Muhammad Junaid Yunusand senior Management officialsat Head Office are in constantcommunication with PIA offi-cials at Jeddah Hajj Terminal forfacilitation of returning Hajjisand flight departures.

He said that PIA is makingall efforts in providing best ser-vices to returning Hajjis. The air-line officials at Jeddah hajj ter-minal are providing services toreturning hajjis such as filling ofimmigration cards and providinginformation and assistance at theairport from check-in till finalboarding on the aircraft. He saidthat despite heavy rush of return-ing Hajjis of various airlines atJeddah Hajj terminal, PIA’s per-formance is much better thanother airlines which are experi-encing long delays.

PIA Post Hajj operation onthe second day has brought backmore than 4,700 hajjis to themajor Cities of Pakistan through12 Post Hajj flights reachingKarachi, Lahore, Islamabad,Peshawar and Quetta. PIA willbring back more than 67,000Hajjis to Pakistan through 149Post Hajj flights and regularScheduled flights to Pakistan.The Post Hajj operation will con-clude on 19 November 2013.

1st autopsy report ofNaimat Randhawa

declared faultyKARACHI—4 member medicalboard established for autopsy ofadvocate Naimat Randhawa hasdeclared first medical report ofvictim issued by MLO of AbbasiShaheed Hospital as faulty.

As per sources, On Mondaya 4-member medical board com-prising Prof. Farhat Abbas Mirza,Police Surgeon Dr. Jalil Qadir,senior MLO Dr. Saleem and Dr.Tariq Abbasi following the ordersof court reached graveyard ofPaposh Nagar for grave exhuma-tion of the victim.

After taking samples of deadbody under the supervision ofSDM Central Shujaa Hussain,medical board has issued the 2ndmedical report of NaimatRandhwa. In new report the pre-vious report which was compiledby MLO Abbasi Shahed Hospi-tal Nadeem-ud-din has beenclearly declared faulty.

Mentioning here that advo-cate Naimat Ali Randhawa whowas new council in the murdercase of Wali Khan Babar (Re-porter of a private TV channel)was gunned down on September26 in North Nazimabad.—Online

FOR many outdoor runners the idea ofpounding a treadmill means trading daylight for drudgery but as the air chills, fit-

ness experts say treadmill classes can hone ef-ficiency and form and add a dash of glamour toindoor running.

“There’s a little snobberyabout running on a treadmill,”said David Siik, a track andfield sprinter turned treadmillclass fitness instructor at Equi-nox, the upscale chain of fit-ness centers. “Most racers area little ashamed of running in-doors.” Siik, who is nowbased in Los Angeles, turnedreluctantly to treadmill run-ning after a post-college stintin New York City.

“I was sick of runninginto cars trying to get to Cen-tral Park,” he explained, “andNew York in January is notalways the friendliest place torun.” Now the humble tread-mill has him hooked. “I stillreally enjoy running outside,but there is nothing better than the ability tocalculate and monitor your goals on a treadmill,”he said. “You’re running on this computer.”

The treadmill is by far the most popularcardio machine, accounting for 58 percent ofhome fitness sales in 2012, according to theNational Sporting Goods Association, a percent-age that has stayed consistent over the past years.The elliptical trainer, at eight per cent, is a dis-tant second.

Melanie Douglass, a Utah-based dietitianand trainer with ICON Health and Fitness,whose products include cardio equipment, hasalso taught classes on the treadmill, which shecalls her preferred piece of equipment. “People

always work more efficiently (on the tread-mill), because the motor and belt help youmaintain a consistent pace,” said Douglass.

She said people err when they go too slow,or do the same thing day after day. “Exerciseis not supposed to be comfortable,” she ex-

plained. “You have to challengeyour body.”

Dr. Michele Olson, pro-fessor of exercise physiology atAuburn University at Mont-gomery in Alabama, said be-sides teaching proper runningand walking form, classes helpthe exerciser learn “the bellsand whistles” of the modernmachine. And unlike outdoorrunning, training on a treadmillensures you are running at yourintended pace, she said. Simplyvarying the grade, or incline,every minute will push up thecalorie burning.

But that’s just the begin-ning. “We’ve researched andstudied walking and running ontreadmills in all directions,”

Olson said. “You burn more calories movingsideways and backwards, particularly at walk-ing speeds.” She even likes to see people withtheir feet on the floor behind the treadmillwalking on it with their hands. “After a set ofpush-ups, treadmill walk with your hands,” shesuggests. “Your shoulder girdle will becomea beast providing you with both upper bodystrength and endurance in those under-aerobi-cally used upper body muscles.”

Siik said using a treadmill is the best 30 to45 minutes of cardio anyone can get inside agym. “The beautiful thing about a treadmill isthat it will never lie to you. It’s a brutally hon-est machine,” he added.

Treadmill classes mix it upwith workhorse of the gym

LAHORE: Activists of Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf hold a demonstration against rising incidents of raping of women and even minor girls.

LAHORE: A PHA staffer watering the plants at Liberty Chowk.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab UniversityAcademic Staff Association(PUASA) President Dr EhsanSharif has said that the univer-sity teachers have been com-pelled to think that there is aconspiracy behind the sexualharassment case against PU VCDr Mujahid Kamran as the al-legations have been leveled atthe time of completion of DrKamran’s new book on 9/11.

In a press statement issuedhere on Monday, Dr EhsanSharif said that the historyproved that false propagandawas fanned to make controver-sial and challenge the credibil-ity of personalities who un-veiled nefarious designs ofAmerica. He said that Dr

Kamran in his recent book hadrevealed that the conspiracy of 9/11 was home grown and preparedby US’ secret agencies so thatway might be paved to invadeMuslim countries. He said thatPunjab University had become atarget of anti-state elements alsobecause of Punjab University’sinitiative of facilitatingBalochistani students to removetheir sense of deprivation.

He said that this impressionamong PU teachers was alsoempowered by the fact that awoman had been appointedOmbudsperson who had morethan thirty-year long associationwith a specific educational insti-tution which was under the in-fluence of American Missionaryand the relevant Act had beenrecently amended to facilitate her

appointment. Dr Ehsan Sharifsaid that ASA member KhujistaRehan and Vice Chancellor DrMujahid Kamran both hadshowed lack of confidence in theOmbudsperson and it seemedthat Mira Phailbus was not a law-knowing personality and was notmeasuring up the confidence ofboth the parties.

He requested the governmentto review its decision and appointan impartial and law-knowingpersonality as Ombudsperson tofulfill requirements of justice. Hesaid that strict action must betaken when the allegationsproved true or false.

Dr Ehsan Sharif also laudedPU Syndicate for its decision ofcontinuing proceedings inKhujista Rehan case and saidthat PU Syndicate was a high-

powered Statutory body of PUin which there was a represen-tative of Honorable Chief Jus-tice of Lahore High CourtLahore, two representatives ofChancellor, one representativeof Speaker Punjab Assembly,one representative of HigherEducation Commission, Secre-tary Higher Education Depart-ment Punjab, Secretary Fi-nance Punjab, senior Dean ofPunjab University and fourelected members of universityteachers.

He said that in this situation,influencing the Syndicate wasout of question so the Syndicatemust proceed in the said case.He said that any complainantalso had the right to contactHonorable Court against anydecision of the Syndicate.

Punjab University soft target ofanti-state elements: PUASA President

LAHORE: PU VC Dr Mujahid Kamran addressing a six-day workshop ‘Teaching of IslamicStudies and Contemporary Demands’ organised by PU Department of Islamic Studies.

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minis-ter Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifhas given a formal approval toreorganization of governingbody of the Lahore DevelopmentAuthority (LDA) and prepara-tion of a master plan of Lahoredivision.

Chairing an LDA meetinghere, he directed that urban plan-ning be made in accordance withneeds of modern age and a mas-ter plan be evolved for transpor-tation, traffic, water supply, sani-tation and drainage.

The chief minister also di-rected that a strict accountabil-ity system be devised to root outcorruption from the LDA andstern action be taken without anydiscrimination against corruptofficers and staff and casesagainst them be sent to Anti-Cor-ruption Department.

Shahbaz Sharif stressed theneed for institutional reforms totransform the LDA into a publicservice-oriented institution in areal sense. He said an effective

strategy be adopted for welfareand solution of problems of acommon man. Evolving a com-prehensive and effective systemfor purging the authority of cor-ruption and resolving problemsof a common man was of vitalimportance, therefore rapidprogress should be made in thisdirection, he added.

The chief minister also di-rected to ensure early imple-mentation of agreement signedwith Iski of Istanbul for improv-ing water supply, sanitation anddrainage system. He alsogranted approval to setting upseparate commissions forspeedy disposal of disputes be-tween the LDA and citizens aswell as dealing with the mattersregarding illegal buildings andhousing schemes and directedthat committee headed byChairman Planning and devel-opment should submit its rec-ommendations regarding con-stitution of the commissionswithin a week. Shahbaz Sharif

directed that LDA be operatedon the pattern of Istanbul mu-nicipality and full benefit betaken of its experience in vari-ous sectors. He also ordered theP&D Chairman to submit finalproposals regarding establish-ment of Building Control Au-thority and preparation of Mas-ter Plan 2013-2035.

He said development au-thorities throughout the worldgenerate their own resources forcivic amenities and LDA shouldalso evolve a comprehensivestrategy for increasing its re-sources so that maximum facili-ties could be provided to citi-zens. The meeting also gave ap-proval to the appointment ofKhawaja Ahmad Hasaan as theVice Chairman of the LDA.

Earlier, the LDA DirectorGeneral Ahad Cheema gave adetailed briefing on the Author-ity relating to its future projects,implementation of bylaws, ca-pacity-building of officials andother matters.—APP

CM approves LDA governingbody’s reorganisation

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Hearing a petitionon the delimitation aimed at de-fining constituencies and unitsfor the upcoming local govern-ment elections, the Lahore HighCourt on Monday said the courtswere defending the interests ofthe people and would continueto do so.

Chief Justice LHC UmarAta Bandial heard the petition

which alleged that althoughfresh delimitation for the hold-ing of local government elec-tions was the prerogative of theElection Commission of Paki-stan, the Punjab governmentwas interfering in the matter andtrying to influence the outcome.

The petitioner moreover re-quested the court that the Punjabgovernment be barred from call-ing the shots over delimitation.

Responding to the

petitioner’s concerns, the courtsaid the law was the same foreveryone and no one would beallowed to violate it. Directingthe lawyers to continue their ar-guments, the court adjourned thehearing to Oct 24.

Opposition parties in Punjabhave been alleging that the Pa-kistan Muslim League – Nawaz(PML-N) government was en-gaged in pre-poll rigging of thecoming municipal elections.

LHC seeks reply from Punjab govtover delimitation ahead of LG polls

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Ameer, Jamaat eIslami, Pakistan, Syed MunawarHasan has said Indian ForeignAffairs statement terming Kash-mir as an integral part of Indiaand rejecting outside mediationon the issue, was the manifesta-tion of Hindu government’s ob-stinacy and inflexibility.

In a statement here on Mon-day, he said that in fact Kash-mir was the biggest issue be-tween Pakistan and India, andunless and until it was resolved,the ties between the twoneighbours could not improvenor could peace be establishedin the region.

He said, Kashmir was a dis-puted territory and warranted

plebiscite in accordance withthe UN resolutions, and addedthat the UN and the world com-munity had failed to fulfill itsresponsibility to implement theUN resolutions on Kashmir.The US was fully behind Indiawhich had been carrying out thegenocide of the Kashmiris fordecades.

He said the UN hadpromptly arranged plebiscite inEast Timor and South Sudanresulting in their separation be-cause the population there wasChristian whereas theKashmiris were being deniedtheir right to self determinationonly because they are Muslims.

Syed Munawar Hasan saidthe Indian Foreign Minister’sstatement at this moment was

meant to convey the message tothe world community, especiallyPakistan that New Delhi wasneither prepared for talks on theKashmir issue nor would grantthe Kashmiris their right to selfdetermination.

He said, the whole worldwas aware of the brutalities theIndian occupation forces werecommitting in Kashmir asAmnesty’s International’s eyeopening reports were circulatedevery now and then.

However, he said the atti-tude of the international commu-nity, especially the Muslim rul-ers in this regard was most dis-appointing, rather shameful. TheKashmiris were fighting fortheir liberation and their sacri-fices won’t go in vain.

Salman’s statement on Kashmirshows New Delhi’s obstinacy

UVAS,University of

Poonch sign MoUSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The University ofVeterinary and Animal Sciences(UVAS) Lahore and Universityof Poonch Rawalakot (UPR)signed a Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) to promote re-search, education and training invarious disciplines relating toVeterinary and Animal Science.

Vice-Chancellors of both theuniversities, Prof Dr Talat NaseerPasha and Prof Dr ManzoorHussain Khan, signed MoU at aceremony here Monday. The goalof cooperation is enhancement ofeducation, research and improve-ment of professional skills.

The UVAS will depute se-nior faculty members to the Fac-ulty of Veterinary & Animal Sci-ences of the UPR for the benefitof students and young faculty.

The UVAS will help theUPR in training of its junior fac-ulty/lecturers, para-veterinaryand laboratory staff (laboratorytechnicians, laboratory assistantsand attendants). The students ofFaculty of Veterinary & AnimalSciences, UPR, will be allowedto get practical training in theclinics and laboratories of theUVAS to improve their practicalskills. The UPR DVM studentswill be placed in the UVAS forinternship.

Int’l LivestockNutrition conference

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The University ofVeterinary and Animal SciencesLahore in collaboration withNutritionists Association of Pa-kistan is holding “InternationalLivestock Nutrition Conference”on its City Campus from Octo-ber 23 to 24, 2013.

The conference will com-prise total eight sessions includ-ing five technical sessions be-sides inaugural, plenary and con-cluding recommendation session.

The technical sessions willbe on dairy nutrition, feed re-sources and manufacturing tech-nology, beef nutrition, buffalonutrition and nutrition of smallruminants, respectively.

LHC seeksfresh report on

rape of girlSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore High Courthas directed District and SessionsJudge, Nankana Sahib to sendfresh report regarding submissionof police report before the trialcourt within a week regardinggang rape of a girl so that the in-vestigation could be concludedtransparently.

According to details, daugh-ter of Bashir Ahmed of SyedwalaTown was returning from nearbyshrine with her eleven-year-oldcousin Shakeel. On the way threeaccused Rao Asif alias Kaka, RaiSaqlain and Rana Waheed over-powered Shakeel. They took thegirl to a deserted place and mo-lested her for two hours.

The victim told press that shehad been requesting the vaga-bonds with folded hands to let hergo for the sake of Allah andRasool (S.A.W) but in vain. Inretaliation, they tortured her andforced her innocent cousin for thesame sin with her. Father of vic-tim alleged that police had tookthe incident as source of income.

He lodged a complaint butpolice registered the case afterlaps of five days against two andomitted the name of third ac-cused Waheed. Police also gotthe medical examination of thevictim after a week to weakenthe case.

He alleged that ASISaifullah was according proto-col to the accused and humili-ated the affected family beforethem. He had appealed toChief Justice of PakistanIftikhar MohammadChaudhary for justice.

According to the news re-port, the people of the area saidthat the three accused had ruinedthe lives of many girls but nopoor man dared to file complaint.