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SUNDAY, September 21, 2014 / 26 Dhul Qa’ada 1435 AH timesofoman.com wtimesofoman.com facebook.com/timesofoman twitter.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company

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Drowning incident still haunts family, survivor

FAHAD AL MUKRASHI fahad@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Though eight-year-old Ahmed Talal Al Balushi is a lucky survivor, he is in com-plete shock, as he talks about the drowning incident that took the lives of three of his relatives at Khour Al Hamam in the wilayat of Saham recently.

Narrating the incident to Times of Oman, a sobbing Ahmed said he had gone with his brothers Hashim, 13, Jasim, 9, Hassan, 7 to the nearby beach at around 5 pm on September 7. “We were swim-ming very close to the beach, but the tide was strong and it started to drag us back into the sea. I some-how managed to swim back to the shore, but watched helplessly my

three brothers being dragged away by the waves. They were scream-ing but I could do nothing. It’s the most tragic moment in my life. After a few moments, the sea swal-lowed them up,” said Ahmed.

“I am alive today, but even I had to fight a tough battle with the tides,” said Ahmed who is a grade 2 student.

Times of Oman also contacted Mohammed Yusif Al Balushi,

the eldest of the brothers who was in Sohar when the tragic in-cident happened.

He said he was shocked to get a call from a woman of his vil-lage, telling him that three of his brothers were missing at sea.

“I drove as fast as I could to get to my village and offer what-ever help I could to rescue them. I didn’t lose hope and joined the search operations along with the Royal Oman Police (ROP), Civil Defence and local residents. The search operations lasted for hours. We found Jasim an hour after the incident. He died on his way to the hospital. As for Hashim and Hassan, we found them the next day in the middle of the sea,” said a distraught Mohammed.

He confessed that it was a heart-breaking moment and it would take the whole family a long time to overcome.

“However, what has angered me is the sight of children still swim-

ming in these beaches without any parental control at the spot where I lost my brothers,” he said.

Mohammed rues that when he tried to advise the children and their families, they didn’t bother to listen.

Mohammed, along with his friends, plans to launch a campaign in the near future on the impor-tance of parental control over chil-dren who swim either in the sea or in the wadis. Mohammed and his family expressed their thanks to the ROP and the people who helped in the search for his brothers.

His mother is still in shock at losing three children at one stroke, said Mohammed, while denying reports about funds being raised for the family. He said while the rumours spread like wildfire, they affect the family the most.

He said social media was cir-culating incorrect pictures of the three brothers.

His mother was in Barka at the time of the incident.

The sight of his

three brothers being

engulfed by tides on

September 7 is etched

in the memory of the

eight-year-old

HM sends greetingsMUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a ca-ble of greetings to Marie Lou-ise Coleiro Preca, President of Malta on her country’s Inde-pendence Day.

In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan expressed his sincere greetings to the president and her country’s people. >A5

C A B L E S

LUCKY SURVIVOR: Eight-year-old Ahmed Talal Al Balushi, right.

Saraya Bandar Jissah projectgets overwhelming responseTimes of Oman

MUSCAT: Realty owners and in-vestors have latched on to the In-tegrated Tourism Complex pro-ject launched by Saraya Bandar Jissah on September 15. The re-sponse has been overwhelming.

Commenting on the successful response from prospective buy-ers, Sheikh Hamood bin Sultan Al Hosni, CEO of Saraya Bandar Jissah noted, “We, at Saraya Bandar Jissah have been pleas-antly surprised by the huge de-mand for properties and interest in the project. So much so, that we have reassessed our goals for the remainder of 2014 and im-mediately released more stock in the market.”

Oman’s $600 million ITC pro-ject released the residential Zone Zaha to the market on Septem-ber 15. Properties have already been snapped up by owners and investors due to the desirable characteristics, idyllic location and investment potential offered by the development.

The first residential zone to enter the market – Zaha - offers a mix of three and four bedroom vil-las, three bedroom duplexes and two bedroom apartments. Prop-erties located within the Zaha residential zone are also in close proximity to the recreational

club and boasts a variety of pic-turesque views of the landscaped park, flowing lagoon and sweeping seascape beyond.

Sheikh Hamood said, “Owners and investors throughout Oman and the GCC are attracted not only by the quality of the devel-opment and the relaxed lifestyle on offer, they also realise the po-tential for long-term investment as the market continues to gain strength. The property’s stun-ning location is also unrivalled in

the region, which complements their lifestyle expectations.”

Saraya Bandar Jissah repre-sentatives have reported nu-merous enquiries for the newly available residential properties and have fielded a large number of walk-in visits from prospec-tive buyers and investors at their sales centre in Shatti Al Qurum, as well as responding to regional and international sales enquir-ies via their online portals.>A3

R E S I D E N T I A L Z O N E Z A H A

IDYLLIC LOCATION: The property’s stunning location is unrivalled

in the region, which complements people’s lifestyle expectations.

Keralites flock to Middle East

REJIMON Kreji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Job seekers from the south Indian state of Kerala still see the Middle East as their land of opportunity as long as the un-employment among the educated Keralites remains a critical prob-lem at home, a study reveals.

“In spite of these numerous factors favouring a decline in

emigration from Kerala, our sur-vey shows an increase of 83,000 emigrants during 2011-14 and as much as much as 90 per cent of the state’s 2.3 million Diaspora is

in the various Middle East coun-tries,” S. Irudayarajan from the Centre for Development Studies said. There were 2.281 million Keralite Diaspora in 2011, 2.193 million in 2008, 1.838 million in 2003 and 1.362 million in 1998.

The results were published by veteran demographer K.C. Zach-ariah and S. Irudayarajan as part of the Kerala Migration Survey (KMS)-2014 sixth edition. >A3

L A N D O F O P P O R T U N I T Y

OMAN9 killed in collision involving 3 vehicles

2A collision between two light vehicles and a truck in Al Thabti area of

the wilayat of Ibra killed nine people on Saturday. >A3

OMANJapan’s pitches for ‘soft power’

3 ‘Soft power’ has always been significant for post-WWII Japan, which

renounced ‘hard power’ for pursuing state policy. >A6

OMANWhy don’t we use local consultants?

1It is time the government starts saving millions of rials and stops hiring

foreign consultants. >A2

T O P T H R E E I N S I D E S T O R I E S

THE SPLENDOUR OF JABAL SHAMSThe scenic splendour

of Jabal Shams makes

it a favourite spot for

tourists. Times of Oman photographer Cio Datan captured its stupendous

beauty in his lens during

a trip to the area.

See also >A4

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Top stories in one minute with our new daily Digest

A6Apple fans fly to Dubai for iPhone

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OMAN

Why are we not using local-based experts?

saleh@timesofoman.com

It is time the government starts saving millions of rials and stops hiring for-eign consultants and use a pool of local-based experts

who understand what is needed to be done.

At the moment, the govern-ment hires consultants, either individuals or firms, in every project it plans to execute. After more than four decades of progress and millions of rials spent on educating and empow-ering local manpower resources and expertise, the government surely can start putting its trust on home grown consultants. It makes a lot of sense to start as-sessing whether departments in government’s ministries spend-ing money on outside consulting skills represent good value.

The government also brings in consultants to help strug-gling sectors to rectify many structural problems. In the last 40 years, many such experts have been invited to advise the government to reform the finan-cial sector, civil service, urban planning or hospitals.

At closer scrutiny, consultants hired from abroad are either near retirement age or well past their prime. Oman has its own pool of skills in that age category in various professional disciplines but are retired instead of utilis-ing their experience. It should be acknowledged that Oman is producing enough numbers of ex-perts and if they successfully run various departments as directors than surely they have enough knowledge to be consultants when reforms are needed due to changing environments.

The evidence is in The Oman Research Council (ORC) or edu-cational institutions where many papers produced by local scholars are destined to collect dust in the shelves. Obviously no one looks at these researches because some authorities don’t have enough trust in home grown talent.

Perhaps, ORC needs to publish papers by Omani experts and make them more accessible to policy makers. Also, ORC will need to encourage educational institutions to tap the pool of tal-ents in their faculties to conduct researches in areas under devel-opment to help shape experts of the future.

Omani firms overlookedMany Omani-managed consult-ing firms are overlooked and never hired and as a result close down within two years. Instead, the government authorities prefer to hire foreign consulting companies under the pretext that they have more experience. It has been proved many times consultants from abroad have provided mediocre advice. Lo-cal consultants who have been working in their own fields of expertise for years, have the benefit of understanding local needs and are backed with sound professional qualifications. All it takes is for the government is to have more faith. The authorities, instead of rushing overseas every

time they need consultation services, should collaborate with the industries to make best use of local talents.

Oman’s few consulting compa-nies run by Omanis themselves must be given contracts to do consultations in the production of goods services or conduct studies on new projects on anvil. However, the civil service’s departments in need of consulta-tion sometimes have their own staff that can do the same job but are not asked to do it. Instead, money is spent to hire people elsewhere. Sometimes, they are legitimate reasons to buy these skills abroad when they are in short supply locally. But these government departments have now become too dependent on getting core skills outside rather than developing them their own staff. If the departments are already paying for staff who are capable of doing the job but hire a pool of external experts then this is inherently problem that needs to be fixed.

Having technical, organisa-tional, administrative skills in abundance but largely unused or relegated to push office papers is both demoralising and a waste of talent. Not to mention the salaries they get paid to do almost nothing. Putting faith in local talents will pay good divi-dends and will give confidence to retirees to start their own consultation firms.

We need their local knowledge to be put in good use. We have mega projects like the railway system, energy and the expan-sion of manufacturing units and these experts can play important roles instead of staying home in retirement. After all, the retire-ment age in Oman is only 60 as opposed to 65 in most countries. They have five more years to contribute positively to the national economy much more effective than a consultant with no local knowledge.

COMMENTARY

SALEH AL SHAIBANY

SUNDAYBEAT

H AV E YOU R SAY AT T W I T T E R.CO M /T I M ES O F O M A N AT # SA L E H S P EA KS , O R S CA N T H E CO D E TO I N STA N T LY P O ST YOU R T H O U G H TS .

Consultants hired from abroad are either near retirement age or well past their prime. Oman has its own pool of skills in that age category in various professional disciplinesSunday Beat

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Top expat managers can bring in domestic maids

FAIZUL HAQUEfaiz@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: A managerial level ex-patriate working in any of the top level private sector organisations in Oman can bring domestic help from abroad.

Apart from the designation, the other criteria is that an expatri-ate should have a salary of at least OMR700 if they want to bring a female domestic help and a sal-ary of OMR1,500 to bring a male domestic help, according to the Ministry of Manpower.

The ministry has said that an expatriate should be either a chief executive, general manager, presi-dent of a university, or principal of a college apart from a direc-tor, advisor, investor or a doctor specialising in various areas. He or she must be a specialist in any

area, lawyer, an engineer in the in-ternational or ‘mumtaz’ category or lecturers in private educational institutions. The expatriate has to be an employee of the company which comes under international or ‘mumtaz’ category.

To get permission or a licence to bring a domestic help, one should give a letter of assurance from the employer confirming the details of the monthly salary and should be held responsible if details pro-vided by the applicant are found to be untrue. Those who come un-

der the definition of the domestic worker category are maids, per-sonal drivers and nannies.

The applicant is also required to prove that his family is in Oman. One applicant can’t apply for more than one domestic work-er, according to the ministry.

However, these facilities would not come under the policy of Om-anisation in the company, but it would be taken into account if the company was following the policy, said the ministry.

According to the rule, If there

was a requirement for a personal driver, the car would have to be in the name of the expatriate.

A licence and labour card would cost OMR141 for a period of two years for a domestic worker. For a cook, one has to pay OMR201. However, if a domestic worker leaves the country within 90 days of his entering the country, one can get another licence af-ter paying OMR1 only. However, this does not apply in the case of transfer of sponsorship or if somebody absconds.

For female domestic

help, the expat must

draw minimum

OMR700 salary and

for male OMR1,500

Omani families spend OMR63 per month on housingTimes News Service

MUSCAT: An Omani fam-ily spends an average of OMR62.7 per month on housing, says a com-prehensive informatics report on population density and housing expenditure released recently by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI).

The report includes figures on spending in housing and hous-ing facilities in 2011, in addition to the government support for social housing which is repre-sented in housing aids, loans, and residential land.

Additionally, the report details population density as well as the percentage of home owner-ship in Oman relative to the GCC member countries.

Housing aidAdditionally, the total number of cases waiting for housing aid by June 2013 stood at 53,000, while the increase in the num-ber of occupied social housing units is growing by 10 per cent on an annual basis.

Regarding household facili-ties, the report shows that 56.5 per cent of houses are connected with the government water net-

work for domestic use, however, only 35 per cent of the families use government water as a major source for drinking.

Demographically, the report shows that Muscat governorate has the highest population den-sity with 296 people per square kilometre in 2013. It was followed by Al Batinah South with 79 peo-ple per square km and Musandam with 21 people per square km. The lowest population density was re-corded in Al Wusta with 0.5 peo-ple per square km in 2013.

The NCSI report also reveals that 50 per cent of expatriates rent homes while employers pro-vide homes to the remaining 50 per cent of the expatriates. On the other hand, one out of every five Omani families in Muscat and Al Batinah North own their own homes.

The NCSI informatics report compiles information from a de-tailed analysis of official statistics, national surveys and censuses in Oman, and serves as a detailed analysis of official population and household data which aids and informs development of govern-ment policy, as well as decision makers in the private sector and the community as a whole.

N C S I R E P O R T

‘Saraya Bandar Jissah owners to experience luxurious living’

“Residents of Saraya Bandar Jis-sah will experience luxurious community living with a con-temporary edge, the thoughtfully designed master plan creates spacious living areas in the resi-dences, while the community ar-eas offer residents space and all the amenities needed,” he added. The Integrated Tourism Com-plex, apart from being one of the most sought after residential ad-dresses in Muscat, is also an ideal location for residents to engage themselves in the location’s cap-tivating natural beauty.

The Saraya Bandar Jissah de-velopment comprises 398 vil-las, townhouses, duplexes and apartments which are spread

across five residential zones: Safa, Na’eem and Zaha along with Nameer and Wajd. The ITC’s pri-mary market focus is within the Oman market with the buyers expected to be Omanis, resident expatriates and GCC nationals.

Saraya Bandar Jissah is be-ing developed in a 50-50 part-nership between Omran and Saraya Oman, and is located on the outskirts of Muscat on a se-cluded beach surrounded by the Hajar Mountains.

The property is being devel-oped over 2.2 million square me-tres of land with an expansive beachfront aspect and a high point of 250 metres above sea lev-el. Saraya Bandar Jissah will be

home to 398 exclusive residential units, spacious hilltop villas, styl-ish townhouses and luxury apart-ments - all with attractive water-front and mountainside views.

Scheduled for a grand open-ing in 2017, the development also incorporates two luxury hotels operated by the international-ly-renowned luxury operator, Jumeirah Hotels and Resorts. The hotels, each positioned on the beach, will offer tourists a dis-tinctly boutique or resort experi-ence, and will form the major lei-sure component of Saraya Bandar Jissah, providing their guests with a luxurious and relaxing home away from the day-to-day rigours of life.

I D E A L L O C A T I O N

Gulf region jobs attract KeralitesThe study also shows that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has attracted 37.5 per cent of the Kerala emigrants and retains its top position.

Saudi Arabia stands second with 21.8 per cent of the Kerala emigrants and Oman stands third with 7.9 per cent of the Kerala emigrants.

According to the researcher, the glamour associated with Gulf emigration was still very strong among youngsters from Kerala.

“The state’s inability to provide suitable jobs for the increasing number of youths with a second-ary or higher level education could be a major factor in the continued increase in emigration from the state even in the context of a declining population,” Iruda-yarajan told Times of Oman.

“Kerala is not able to cre-ate enough jobs suitable for an increasingly larger number of youngsters with a secondary or higher level of education. As long as the employment condi-

tions in Kerala do not improve, more of the Kerala youngsters could be expected to try their luck abroad,” he said while add-ing that emigration from Kerala is likely to peak very soon, most probably before 2015.

Although the number of emi-grants has increased between

2011 and 2014, emigrants per household have decreased during this period.

Meanwhile, the number of re-turn emigrants (REM) to Kerala in 2014 was 1.248 million, which is about 52 per cent of the number of emigrants.

The corresponding numbers

were 1.150 million in 2011, 1.157 million in 2008, 0.894 million in 2003 and 0.739 million in 1998.

In general, the number of return emigrants has also been on the in-crease, one exception being the period 2008-11 in during which the number of return emigrants decreased by 7,000 persons.

E M I G R A T I O N T O P E A K

Employed in GCC Countries

Source: Kerala Migration Survey 2014

UAESaudi Arabia Oman Kuwait Bahrain Qatar

Other Arab

Othercountries

507,087

421,313

89,238175,212

91,780

61,408113,395

1,236141,396

145,444

765,575

522,287

104,904

92,628135,035

6,696

2011, Pravasi Malayali Census

2013, Kerala Migration Survey

Workers of Kerala still see the Middle East as their land of opportunity as long as the unemployment among the educated Keralites remains a critical problem

0.0

0.3

0.6

0.9

1.2

Returned Emigrantsto Kerala

1998 2003 2008 2011 2014

0.739

0.894

1.157

1.150

1.248(In millions)

Graphics

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9 killed in collision involving 3 vehiclesSTAFF REPORTER

MUSCAT: A collision between two light vehicles and a truck in Al Thabti area of the wilayat of Ibra killed nine people on Satur-day, said an official of the Royal Oman Police (ROP).

A source claimed that all the victims were nationals. Simi-

larly, a collision with a station-ary object in Khoor Grama in the wilayat of Sur, resulted in injuries to two people, also on Saturday.

Another accident involving a vehicle that overturned in Sal area of the wilayat of Jaalan bani bu Ali resulted in injuries to an unspecified number of people on Saturday.

I B R A

FAHAD AL GHADANIfahadnews@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: A woman was ac-cidentally shot dead in Tewi in the wilayat of Sur, according to a reliable source. Confirm-ing the news, the ROP said the woman was shot by the man from the same area. The police rushed to the spot on receiving the information and started in-vestigations immediately.

T E W I

Woman shot accidentally

A4 S U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 14

OMANDawn to dusk at Jabal Shams peak

There is an old Chinese proverb about the

journey being the reward. There are few

places for which this is truer than Jabal

Shams — the highest peak in the Arabian

Peninsula. The scenic splendour on display

makes Jabal Shams a favourite spot for

photographers. Cio Datan captures the art of

nature in its dramatic vistas. It is believed

that Jabal Shams is so called because it is the

first place to greet sunlight at dawn and the

last to say farewell at dusk, in Oman

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Export of some fish species banned in OmanTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Yellowfin tuna, King Fish and Longtail tuna (Sahwa) are among the many aquatic spe-cies that face an export ban in Oman. Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Dr Fuad bin Jafar bin Mohammed Al Sajwani issued a decision on the regulation of fish

exports to boost its availability in local market.

Article 1 of the decision bans export of some varieties from Sep-tember 16 to May 31, 2015. These include Yellowfin tuna, King Fish and Longtail tuna.

Article 1 also issued a ban on export of varieties fish like Grouper, Sea bream and Mullet

from December 15, 2014 to February 15, 2015.

The decision also makes it man-datory for exporters to supply the same quantity they export to the local markets. The ministerial de-cision also states that owners of vehicles transporting and market-ing fish and companies trading in fish will be required to obtain an

approval certificate from the offic-er responsible for the local market.

Fishermen, consumers and seafood dealers are also expecting prices to fall following the ban in the local markets.

“King Fish is being sold at OMR5 to OMR6 per kilogramme (per kg) currently. With this ban in export, we hope the prices will

come down to OMR3 to OMR4 per kg,” said Mohammad Al Kindi, who supplies fish to leading super-market chains in Oman.

With the weather changing, fish which had gone deeper into the water due to the hot weather are surfacing, resulting in fishermen who go to sea early in the morning getting a good catch.

M I N I S T E R I A L D E C I S I O N

‘Sohar Port to open new era of shipping’ Times News Service

MUSCAT: Oman is now open-ing a new chapter in its history of navigation by shifting the commercial shipping move-ment from Port Sultan Qa-boos to Sohar Port, Minister of Transport and Communica-tions Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Salim Al Futaisi, has said.

Oman’s strategic location and the land transport lines and rail-ways which would link its ports to the Gulf region would attract main shipping lines and super tankers to Omani ports, he said.

Despite the assurances that Sohar Port is all set to increase the shipping movement, Sohar Port has faced some difficulties mainly in terms of low perfor-mance in handling containers.

The Containers Terminal at the port has prepared a remedial plan for accumulation of empty containers at the port in response to the Ministry’s directives.

M I N I S T E R ’ S S T A T E M E N T

His Majesty sends greetingsMUSCAT: His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said has sent a cable of greet-ings to Colville Young, Governor General of Belize on his country’s Independence Day. In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan expressed his sincere greetings and wishes to the president and his country’s people. His Majesty has also sent a cable of greetings to Serzh Sargsyan, Presi-dent of the Republic of Armenia on his country’s Independence Day. In his cable, His Majesty the Sultan expressed his sin-cere greetings and wishes to the president and his country’s people.– ONA

C A B L E S

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Buyers are going to Dubai from Oman,

Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait,

Lebanon and Jordan to pick up their phones

An alshop.com’s official

C O M M E N T A R Y

Japan’s ‘soft power’ pitches for brotherhood

The term ‘soft power’ was originally coined by Professor Joseph Nye, former Dean of the Ken-

nedy School of Government at Harvard University. Nye refers to ‘hard power’ as military and eco-nomic power and to ‘soft power’ as that derived from “the attrac-tiveness of a country’s culture, political ideas and policies.”

In the post-Cold War international system, and an increasingly globalised world, ‘soft power’ has gained promi-nence. However, ‘soft power’ has always been significant for post-WWII Japan, which renounced military ‘hard power’ as a means of pursuing state policy, embracing pacifism.

With a wealth of ‘soft power’ resources, Japan continually strives to enhance the attrac-tiveness of its image overseas through human, cultural and intellectual exchange, and public diplomacy. In particular, Japan’s so-called sub-culture of animation (anime), movies, comics (manga), pop music and Japanese cuisine, has significant global reach. It is a tremendous diplomatic resource, and asset for Japan’s international rela-tions. In a 2002 Foreign Policy

magazine article titled ‘Japan’s Gross National Cool,’ Douglas McGray claimed that “Japan has become one of a handful of perfect globalisation nations (along with the USA) and Ja-pan’s growing cultural presence has created a mighty engine of national cool.”

McGray also contends that “commercial trends and products can serve political and economic ends.” The Govern-ment of Japan actively supports the Japanese cultural industry, which produces, promotes and exports popular culture and, in so doing, disseminates positive images of Japan.

One example is the ‘Inter-national Manga Award,’ which the Japanese Government has held annually since 2007. ‘Brand Japan’ or pop-culture diplomacy is far-reaching and, as Ambassador of Japan, one of my favourite parts of the role is to showcase hip, modern Japan alongside our cherished tradi-tional Japan Inc. of kimonos, ikebana (flower-arranging), tea ceremonies, and the concept of ‘wa,’ encompassing harmony and peace, and ‘kyosei,’ the idea of coexistence with nature.

One particularly well-known ‘brand Japan’ pop-culture am-bassador, Hello Kitty, turns 40 this year and is worth $7 billion, appearing on over 50,000 prod-ucts that are sold in 70 countries. Hello Kitty, originally drawn for children by Japanese designer Yuko Shimizu, encompasses a quality that the Japanese call ‘kawaii’ or lovable, cute and ador-able. ‘Kawaii’ is deeply ingrained in both Japanese pop-culture and the Japanese psyche. The

root word ‘kawai’ is formed from ‘ka’ meaning ‘acceptable’ and ‘ai’ meaning ‘love,’ and has taken on the secondary meanings of cool, charming, ‘non-threatening’ and ‘innocent’. These qualities are displayed throughout our much loved mascots in Japan. Mascots are known locally as ‘yuru-kyara’ or ‘loose’ ‘relaxed’ characters and are ubiquitous, used to promote everything from soap, food and train lines, to Japan’s Self Defence Forces, regions, and even prisons.

Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs uses Japanese cartoon characters as representatives of Japanese pop power to the world,

such as Doraemon, a futuristic robotic cat, who embodies core Japanese values of respect and harmony, and was elected as an international ambassador for the country. An iconic anime character, he will be competing with Hello Kitty and others to be Japan’s 2020 Tokyo Olym-pics mascot.

In the Middle East, Captain Majid is the Arabic name for the popular Japanese cartoon Captain Tsubasa. When the Government of Japan distrib-uted water in Iraq in 2003 to help rebuild the nation through Ja-pan’s International Cooperation Agency, as part of Japan’s Official

Development Assistance in the region, they put an illustration of Captain Majid on the water tank lorries, having learned of the happiness he brought to Iraqi children on the soccer pitch, and as a visible sign of Japanese friendship and values.

The world’s third largest economy, Japan is also a nation with a high-tech, high-quality image, and is regularly ranked among the top patent producing countries. Around 20 per cent of global research and develop-ment expenditure comes from Japan, a nation which accounts for only 2 per cent of the world’s population. Japanese technol-

ogy is one of our pivotal ‘soft power’ resources and, coupled with the fact that globalisation and technology have further empowered non-state actors in international diplomacy, every Japanese company and product acts as an ambassador for Japan, or agent of Japan’s ‘soft power.’ Japanese brands have long been committed to shining the spotlight on quality materials and skilled craftsmanship, which have set them apart from others on the market.

This mark of quality extends to non-tech industries such as Japanese cuisine; Tokyo has more Michelin Stars than any other city in the world, including Paris. The medical industry is another area where Japan shines.

The final aspect of Japan’s soft power I would like to hum-bly touch upon is the nation’s resilience, perseverance and orderliness.

These qualities are prized in our collectivist culture, and are evidenced by the manner in which Japan deals with natural disasters, however devastating, which never result in civil distur-bance. During the recent FIFA World Cup in Brazil, it made me deeply proud to see Japanese football fans cleaning up every last trace of their litter from the stadium on their way out, which the international media picked up on. In our modern day ‘global village,’ each of us, diplomat or otherwise, has a role to play in our nation’s soft power narrative.

George Hisaeda is the ambassador of Japan to the Sultanate of Oman

CULTURAL BONDS: George Hisaeda with Professor Joseph Nye,

former Dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard

University–Supplied photograph

With a wealth of ‘soft power’ resources, Japan continually strives to enhance the attractiveness of its image overseas through human, cultural and intellectual exchange, and public diplomacy

GEORGE HISAEDA

ENVOYSPEAK

iPhone 6: Apple fans fly to Dubai

REJIMON Kreji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Eager Apple fans in Oman who want to own the lat-est iPhone 6 series are flying to Dubai as it was put on sale on Fri-day, an official from alshop.com in Dubai said.

“We have received a lot of orders from Oman. We cannot give an ex-act estimation yet since the orders are still coming through. One thing is certain, there has been tremen-dous number of orders. We were even working yesterday, a Friday, to fulfil a lot of them. We even re-ceived a lot of iPhone 6 128 GB

stocks today (Saturday) ,” an offi-cial from alshop.com said.

“Currently, we are receiving or-ders from within the UAE itself and we have priced only the 16GB model at AED 4399 (OMR461.21),” the official added.

According to alshop.com this year’s pre-orders for the iPhone 6 has broken all previous records with 700 pre-orders.

“Buyers are going to Dubai from Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Lebanon and Jor-dan to pick up their phones from

alshop.com’s office,” the official added. There were reports that more than 55 technology lovers from across the Middle East flew to Dubai on Friday to be among the first people in the world to own the new phone.

Best smartphoneMeanwhile, the new phone has widely been praised as the best smartphone device ever by re-viewers in the United States, and with pre-order sales outstripping supply, customers are willing to pay that bit extra, according to the UAE-based online retailer.

There are reports that Apple has already got more than four million pre-orders in the first 24 hours of the launch.

Orders have been brisk, not just in the UAE, but also in the GCC region.

Meanwhile, a trader in Oman told Times of Oman last week that iPhone 6 16GB would cost OMR540, the 64GB model would be OMR590 and the 128GB model would cost OMR640. iPhone 6 plus 16GB would cost OMR680, the 64GB model would be OMR790 and the 128GB model would cost OMR890.

The new series is supposed to go on sale in Oman during the last week of this month.

Orders have been

brisk not just in the

UAE but in the entire

GCC region. Buyers

are going to Dubai to

pick up their orders at

lower price

Science Café set to talk food choices of new generationTimes News Service

MUSCAT: The generation born between 1982 and 2001 (Millen-nials) will have a significant im-pact on Oman’s grocery market and in time will dictate what’s stocked on our supermarket shelves and which restaurants are successful.

Led by Robert MacLean, prin-cipal at the National Hospitality Institute and Dr. Nejib Guizani, department head, food science and nutrition in the College of Agricultural and Marine Sci-ences at Sultan Qaboos Univer-sity, the Oman Animal & Plant Genetic Resources Centre will host its monthly Science Café, on Wednesday at Omantel’s head office in Al Koudh to discuss Mil-lennials and today’s ever-chang-ing food market.

“Millennials want reasonably priced food and want it to be con-venient. However, they are also more willing to pay for fresh and healthy food, and are willing to go to great lengths to find it. Organic, free range, cruelty-free, locally grown, grass-fed, hormone-free - the Millennials’ sensitivity to animal welfare, interest in locally grown produce, the environment and preference for all things nat-ural also define this generation,” suggests Dr Nadiya Al Saady, OAPGRC’s Executive Director.

Unlike previous generations,

Millennials now have the capa-bility to use food as a method of personal storytelling and self-ex-pression. A range of social media platforms allow them to instantly snap pictures of their savoury plates, follow their favourite food blogs, and check in at the trendi-est, newest restaurants. In fact 50 per cent of Millennials now refer to themselves as foodies.

Locally sourced meats and sea-food, followed by locally grown produce, are the hottest trends in 2014. Although the definition

of local food is not homogeneous for the entire generation, Mil-lennials generally feel that pur-chasing brands with keywords like “grass-fed” and “organic” can have a far-reaching impact.

This shift — by young Omanis — could change the marketplace forever as power is shifted to the small guy selling locally produced food at the corner shop or online.

Research is suggesting that Millennials are reshaping what we eat, how we eat, where we eat and how we grow our food.

G R O C E R Y M A R K E T

The new series is supposed to

go on sale in Oman during the

last week of this month.

Kin of tragedy-hit family reach SoharREJIMON Kreji@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Relatives of the trage-dy-hit Indian family have arrived in Sohar from the United Arab Emirates to carry out the proce-dures required to repatriate the bodies to India, neighbours of the Indian family said.

An Indian man and his daugh-ter died in a car crash on the road near Wadi Hibi in Sohar, while the mother was found dead in her bedroom in the apartment on Fri-day. The car in which the expatri-ate and his daughter were travel-ling had collided with a tanker.

“Both of them died on spot. Their bodies are kept in Sohar hospital,” sources added. The family was from the southern In-dian state of Tamil Nadu.

“The father was working with

Sohar Steel and mother was work-ing with L&T,” sources added.

The girl was a Class IV student of Indian School Sohar, while the father had been working in the

company for the past 13 years. According to neighbours, police

is probing the entire incident. At-tempts by Times of Oman to con-tact the police went in vain.

T R I P L E D E A T H S

TRAGIC END: The deceased girl was a Class IV student of Indian School Sohar, while the father had

been working with Sohar Steel for the past 13 years.– Supplied photo

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com haveyoursay@timesofoman.com

Millennials want reasonably priced food. However, they are also willing to pay for healthy food, and go to great lengths to find it

Dr Nadiya Al Saady OAPGRC’s Executive Director

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REGIONS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

Yemen clashes ground planes, close schools

SANAA: Flights to the Yemeni capital remained suspended for a second straight day on Saturday as the toll mounted from clashes between pro-government forces and rebels despite UN efforts to reach a ceasefire.

Forces allied to the govern-ment have been battling to halt the minority sect rebels who have swept into Sanaa from their stronghold in the rugged north-western mountains.

Yemen has been wracked by political turmoil since the 2012 ouster of autocratic president Ali Abdullah Saleh, with rebels and militants jostling to take ad-vantage of his downfall to seize swathes of territory.

The fighting has shut shops, schools and the country’s main international gateway, raising fears that the capital could fall to the rebels who are demanding

economic and political reforms. “The suspension of the flights of Arab and foreign countries is con-tinuing,” an airport source said, while residents in areas near the airport said that air traffic had virtually ceased.

The only aircraft to touch down since Friday was a military plane bringing UN envoy Jamal Benom-ar back from the rebel stronghold of Saada. Benomar spent three days in the northern city trying to negotiate a ceasefire with rebel chief Abdelmalek Al Huthi.

The rebels, who have been camped north of Sanaa for weeks, hail from the minority Zaidi sect, and are believed to be trying to establish themselves as the main political force in the region. Also known as Huthis or Ansarullah, they have battled the government for years from

their heartland of Saada, and complained of marginalisation.

Benomar did not reach agree-ment with Huthi but said the two sides were making progress.

“I have tried to narrow the gap between the two parties and we’ve agreed on a number of points that can serve as the basis of an ac-cord,” Benomar told reporters.

‘Coup attempt’President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi called the rebel offensive a “coup attempt” as he received ambassadors from the countries that helped to foster the political agreement that ended Saleh’s rule. Yemeni media outlets said on Sat-urday that he saw proof of this in the targeting of the headquarters of the state broadcaster, which was forced to interrupt its transmis-sions for one hour on Friday. -AFP

Forces allied to the

government have

been battling to

halt the minority

sect rebels who

have swept into

Sanaa from their

stronghold in the

rugged northwestern

mountainsSMOULDERING FIRE: Smoke rises from near the government TV

building (background), during clashes between majority sect mi-

litiamen and Hawthi rebels in Sanaa, Yemen, on Saturday. – AP/PTI

Israeli drone crashes inside Lebanon: Military source BEIRUT: An Israeli drone crashed inside Lebanon on Sat-urday, coming down close to the demarcation line with the Jew-ish state, a military source.

“The drone crashed on the Lebanese border, inside Lebanese territory. Lebanese troops are in the area,” the source told AFP.

There were no immediate comments from the Israeli side, but the incident is not the first of its kind to take place.

In February, an Israeli drone crashed on the Blue Line, the UN-demarcated line between Lebanon and Israel. Israeli sol-

diers crossed into Lebanese territory during that incident to retrieve the wreckage of the plane.

Israeli aircraft regularly cross into Lebanese airspace, and the border area in south-ern Lebanon has been the scene of tense standoffs sev-eral times in the past.

The Blue Line was drawn up in 2000 by the United Nations after Israeli troops withdrew, from Lebanese territory ending a 22-year occupation of south Lebanon. -AFP

A C C I D E N T

A Lebanese soldier carries

an Israeli drone that fell in

the Marjeyoun countryside

of Lebanon on Saturday. - Reuters

The suspension of the flights of Arab

and foreign countries is continuing

Official, Sanaa airport

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INDIAS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

Modi too shrewd to be swayed by nationalist symbolism: ZakariaWASHINGTON: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “far too shrewd” to be distracted by nation-alist symbolism which would derail his growth agenda and embroil him in unwanted controversies, well known Indian-American journalist Fareed Zakaria suggests.

But Zakaria, who interviewed him for CNN last weekend, also wonders in an opinion piece in the Washington Post if the prob-lem with the new prime minister “turns out to be not that he is too bold but rather that he is not bold enough.” Modi “radiates confi-dence”, writes Zakaria. “The pub-lic lauds him, world leaders court him and the Bombay Stock Ex-change continues to soar.”

“But will this moment of eupho-ria translate into lasting gains? Can India become the world’s next economic powerhouse?” he asks. “Modi is extremely intelligent and focused but is different from most leaders,” Zakaria writes noting

that the Indian leader’s “world-view has been shaped almost en-tirely from experience rather than formal schooling.”

Noting that “Modi is passionate about hygiene” and during the elec-tion campaign stressed that “India needed toilets first and temples later” Zakaria called it “a significant statement because Modi is seen as an ardent Hindu nationalist.”

His Bharatiya Janata Party “platform still contains plans to build a temple in Ayodhya on the grounds of a destroyed mosque, an issue that has been extremely divi-sive in the country,” he wrote.

“My sense, based on our con-versation, is that Modi is far too shrewd to be distracted by nation-alist symbolism, which would de-rail his growth agenda and embroil him in a series of controversies that he does not seek,” Zakaria wrote.

Modi has also handled the in-ternational stage deftly, the in-ternationally regarded journalist

suggests. “He is straightforwardly pro-American and seems to har-bour little ill will toward Washing-ton for having refused to give him a visa for almost a decade,”

“Where Modi has underper-formed, surprisingly, has been in his core competence - economics,” Zakaria wrote suggesting “he has been slow to announce major re-forms. The stalled reform agenda might actually be an outgrowth of Modi’s great strength, his pragma-tism,” he wrote suggesting “India has many bottlenecks, and delay-ing major and needed reforms may come back to haunt Modi.”

“Already, Modi’s honeymoon is coming to an end at home,” Zaka-ria writes citing BJP’s “surpris-ingly poor” performance in a se-ries of by-elections. “It would be a strange irony if the problem with Narendra Modi turns out to be not that he is too bold but rather that he is not bold enough,” Zakaria concludes. -IANS

I N T E R V I E W

WASHINGTON Ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s first visit to the US, two influential American Sena-tors have said the US-India relationship remains one of the most important partner-ships in the world and there is an opportunity to continue making progress that will benefit both.

“As the world’s two largest democracies, the US-India relationship remains one of the most important partner-ships in the world. We warmly welcome Prime Minister Modi to the United States and are hopeful we can work together

to grow our relationship and identify areas we can strength-en in the years to come,” Sena-tor John Cornyn said.

“As the co-founder and co-chair of the Senate India Caucus, I look forward to con-tinuing to help the US-India partnership reach its full po-tential,” Cornyn said in a joint statement issued along with Senator Mark Warner.

Both are co-chairs of the Senate India Caucus, the only country specific caucus in the US Senate. “We have already seen progress in the relationship in the first 100 days of Prime Minister Modi’s

administration, and I believe there is an opportunity to con-tinue making progress that will benefit both of our countries,” said Senator Warner, who pub-lished a ‘First 100-Days’ plan that outlined 12 recommenda-tions for action, seven of which have already been adopted by both governments.

Early this week, the two Senators introduced a resolu-tion that designates September 30, 2014 as US-India Partner-ship Day. The resolution was unanimously passed by the Senate. US-India Partnership Day coincides with Modi’s visit to the White House. -PTI

US Senators hope visit will boost bilateral ties

India offers civil atomic expertise to Bangladesh

NEW DELHI: India on Saturday offered Bangladesh expertise in civil nuclear sector and outer space during a meeting between their Foreign Ministers but the meet could not make any major headway on emotive issues of Land Boundary Agreement, Tees-ta water sharing and extradition of ULFA leader Anup Chetia.

During the third Joint Consulta-tive Commission (JCC) meeting, jointly chaired by External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, the two sides also agreed on proposals to increase and enhance connectivity between the two countries includ-ing a trial run of Dhaka-Shillong Bus Service by 2014. After the meeting, the two sides inked the MoU on Nalanda University.

Reviewing the entire gamut of

bilateral relations, the ministers talked about strategic areas of trade and investment, security, connectivity, border manage-ment, water, power, shipping, re-newable energy and development cooperation among others.

Briefing after the meeting, MEA Spokesperson Syed Akabaruddin said India has offered expertise in the civil nuclear sector as well as in outer space and will now await for specific assistance proposal from the Bangladeshi side.

Asked if the issues of LBA and Teesta water sharing were dis-cussed, he said, water was a “sen-

sitive” issue that needs to be ad-dressed in a manner which was fair, equitable, and none of the party was negatively impacted. The government, which was in the process of evolving a internal con-sensus on Teesta issue, was com-mitted to give it “due attention”.

On LBA, he said, the matter has been referred to the new mem-bers of the Parliament’s Stand-ing Committee and due process will be followed. On India’s long-pending demand for the extradi-tion of ULFA leader Anup Chetia, he said the issue was discussed but declined further details. -PTI

India has offered

expertise in the

civil nuclear

sector as well as

in outer space and

will now wait for

specific assistance

proposal from the

Bangladeshi side

BOOSTING TIES: External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and her Bangladeshi counterpart Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali shake hands during a meeting in New Delhi, on Saturday. -PTI

Maharashtra seat sharing deal eludes major alliancesMUMBAI/NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Satur-day said it hasn’t received any new proposal on seat sharing from Shiv Sena, while the Congress deliber-ated on selection of candidates for 174 seats which it had contested in the last assembly polls, with no seat arrangement still decided with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party.

Elections to the 288 member state assembly are to be held on October 15 and the nomination filling process began on Saturday.

The BJP’s Mahrashtra poll in-charge Om Mathur told reporters after a meeting of the party’s state core committee at leader of op-position Eknath Khadse’s official residence in Mumbai on Saturday, “We have not received any proposal

(on seat sharing) from Shiv Sena. “We will submit list of our candi-dates at the BJP parliamentary board meeting in Delhi tomorrow,” Khadse added.

Asked about Uddhav Thack-eray’s remarks that the Sena had sent its proposal on seat sharing to BJP, Mathur said, “We have not received any new formula.”

On the course of action if talks on seat sharing with Sena fail to materialise, Mathur said, “We are going to Delhi for tomorrow’s meet with our list of candidates.”

Congress-NCP allianceCongress also deliberated on se-lection of candidates for 174 seats in the state, which it had contested in the last assembly polls, with no seat arrangement still decided

with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party. State Congress chief Manikrao Thakre said that it was for the high command to de-cide on the issue of seat sharing.

The NCP is pitching for 144 seats contending that the two par-ties should share 50:50 share in the wake of in the results in the Lok Sabha (Lower House) polls. In the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress could secure only two seats while NCP had won four out of total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Thakre evaded questions on whether Chief Minister Prith-viraj Chavan will be contesting the polls and, if yes, from which constituency. Chavan had been saying that he will be contesting from Karad South seat in his home district of Satara. -PTI

P O L I T I C S

My sense, based on our conversation, is that Modi is far too shrewd to be distracted by nationalist symbolism, which would derail his growth agenda and embroil him in a series of controversies that he does not seekFareed Zakaria, well known Indian-American journalist

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INDIAS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

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Bilawal’s comment on Kashmir far from reality, says India NEW DELHI: India on Satur-day termed as “far from reality” comment of PPP leader Bilawal Bhutto Zardari that his party will get back entire Kashmir from it and asserted the integ-rity and unity of the country was “non negotiable”.

“We are in the process of looking forward and looking forward does not mean that our borders will be changed. We made it very clear that as far as we are concerned, the integrity and unity of India is non nego-tiable,” Spokesperson in the External Affairs Ministry Syed Akbaruddin said. He said the comment was “far from real-ity which takes us back into the past century”.

Addressing party workers in Multan region in Punjab Fri-day, Bilawal, the ‘Gen-Next’ politician of Pakistan, had said his PPP would get back entire Kashmir from India. “I will take back Kashmir, all of it, and I will not leave behind a single inch of it because, like the other prov-inces, it belongs to Pakistan,” said the scion of highly influen-tial Bhutto family.

When Bilawal made these re-marks, he was flanked by former prime ministers Yousaf Raza Gilani and Raja Pervaiz Asharaf. Bilawal, who has announced plans to contest next general elections in 2018, heads the secular Pakistan People’s Party which officially wants good ties with India.

His mother, former slain premier Benazir Bhutto, was twice elected as prime minister while his maternal grandfather Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, who found-ed the PPP in 1967, also served as prime minister in 1970s.

Bilawal’s father Asif Ali Zard-ari was Pakistan’s president from 2008 to 2013. -PTI

D I P L O M A C Y

13 get 20-yearimprisonment for gang-rapeKOLKATA: A West Bengal court on Saturday sentenced 13 people convicted of raping a tribal woman in Birbhum district of the state to 20 years of rigorous imprisonment.

The 20-year-old woman was gang-raped in January in Subal-pur village in the district, follow-ing the orders of a kangaroo court which found her “guilty” of having an affair with a man outside her community. “The court of Bolpur additional district judge Siddarth Roychowdhury sentenced all the 13 accused to 20 years rigorous im-prisonment. All the accused were convicted of gang-rape, assault and wrongful confinement,” public prosecutor Shamsul Zoha said.

During the course of the trial, the court examined 31 witnesses, including medical experts and po-lice officers. The court also direct-ed the district administration to take care of the dependents, if any, of the 13 accused which includes the village headman who had or-dered the gang-rape. The incident had led to nationwide outrage. -PTI

C O U R T V E R D I C T

KBC gets its first Rs7 crore winner in two brothersMUMBAI: The Narula brothers, Achin and Sarthak, became the first ever contestants to win the highest prize of Rs7 crore (sev-enty million) in reality game show ‘Kaun Banega Crorepati’, hosted by Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan.

The Narula brothers, who hail from Delhi, emerged victorious after answering all the 14 ques-tions correctly with the help of four lifelines.

Achin is a marketing manager and Sarthak is a student. Achin has been trying to be a part of the iconic show for the last 10 years but al-ways fell short of being selected for the fastest finger first contest.

Bachchan, 71, hinted about the

big win on his official blog and Twitter handle while posting his pictures from the show.

He wrote, “It is a topsy turvy world tonight and KBC is the one that needs to be blamed!! What in-credible moments, what brilliance and what an incredible play..! That is all I am permitted to say.”

Incredible moment“The beauty and the excitement of KBC at its very maximum! Just an incredible moment,” Bachchan tweeted, followed by a photograph from the sets of the show featuring the winners.

“Bazuumbaaa,” the actor posted along with the snap adorned with the Rupee symbol.

Bachchan, who has been host-ing the show for 14 years, was re-portedly speechless as the broth-ers made it to the top prize.

Bright brainsSiddhartha Basu, who is the pro-ducer of the show, said the jack-pot win was a moment to cherish. “We have been waiting for a mo-ment like this since the inception of this show. It is a pleasure to see bright brains like Achin and Sarthak battle it out for the Maha Jackpot.” Gaurav Seth, Senior Vice President Marketing, Sony Entertainment Television called the win a “momentous occasion” while congratulating the brothers on their win. -PTI

A F T E R 1 4 Y E A R S

BIG DAY: Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan presenting the cheque of Rs70 million to Achin Narula and Sarthak Narula, the first crorepati of this season of KBC in Mumbai, on Saturday. -PTI

India, Nepal discuss cross-border crime

KATHMANDU: Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday said he has held extensive discussions with Nepalese officials here to de-velop a mechanism to control the menace of cross-border crimes, including the smuggling of fake currency notes.

“We have held extensive dis-cussions on matters pertaining to cross border crimes and fake currency among other things during the meeting,” Singh told journalists just before leaving for New Delhi.

“We have also discussed about developing a mechanism to con-trol these crimes,” he said. The two countries share an open bor-der with no visa restrictions ei-ther way.

Singh was on a three-day visit to Nepal to attend the 6th SAARC Interior/Home Ministers’ meet-ing. The notorious influx of coun-terfeit currency notes threatens India’s economy.

India has from time-to-time

drawn the attention of Nepal gov-ernment towards the blooming currency rackets there.

On many instances the fake currency notes have been smuggled into Nepal to be used for anti-national activities in the country.

On a question about terrorism, he said: “We will face all kinds of challenges related terrorism with full strength.” Home Minister Singh said peace, stability and prosperity in Nepal is crucial for India’s interests.

“India realises that when there is peace, prosperity and stability in Nepal, only then we can have peace, prosperity and stability in our country,” he said.

Singh also assured all kinds of assistance to Nepal for its de-velopment. He said talks on the pending extradition treaty will continue with Nepal.

“We haven’t reached any con-clusion yet, but I am confident that it will be fruitful.” “Nepal

is a sovereign country and any decision on whether the country should return back to Hinduism will be taken by Nepal’s citi-zens,” he said when asked about his government’s views on Hin-duism in Nepal.

Besides attending the SAARC meet, Singh met Nepal’s President Ram Baran Yadav, Prime Minister Sushil Koirala and his Nepalese counterpart Bamdev Gautam. He also held consultations with sen-ior political leaders of the ruling and opposition parties.

“I felt after meeting people here that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Nepal has had a very positive impact on common people,” he said.

Singh lauded signing of a pact between Nepalese government and GMR Energy Group to de-velop the 900 MW Upper Karnali hydropower project and assured that more investments will pour-in from India after the landmark agreement. -PTI

India has from

time-to-time drawn

the attention of

Nepal towards the

blooming currency

rackets there. On

many instances the

fake currency notes

have been smuggled

into Nepal to be used

for anti-national

activities there

A10

PAKISTAN S U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

END IMPASSE: ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK Followers of cleric Tahirul-Qadri (not in picture) listen to him during an anti-government protest in front of Parliament in

Islamabad, on Saturday. Asian Development Bank president Takehiko Nakao warned an ongoing political impasse could

damage Pakistan’s recently stabilised economy, as the country’s finance minister said Islamabad would miss its growth

target due to the recent floods. — AFP

Taliban leader killed in clashes

ISLAMABAD: The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on Sat-urday said that they lost a senior commander, identified as Gul Hasan Afghani, in clashes with security forces in the North Waziristan tribal region.

Taliban spokesperson Shahidul-lah Shahid said that Afghani was

killed in clashes with the army in the Boya area of the agency two days ago.

Afghani, who belonged to Af-ghanistan’s Kabul city, was re-

leased from an Afghan jail some time ago.

Shahid said that the attack was jointly carried out by Taliban’s Mehsud faction and the local Tali-

ban and had inflicted “heavy losses on the security forces.”

“The Taliban fighters also cap-tured some areas of the agency dur-ing the operation, and seized arms

and other equipment,” he added. Security forces had launched the long-awaited military operation against the Taliban and foreign militants in North Waziristan on June 15 after peace talks with the Taliban collapsed.

The military says forces, backed by fighter jets and gunships, have killed over 1,000 militants so far.

The Taliban spokesperson, however, denies the army’s state-ment and claims that the military operation faces a total “failure” and that the military’s informa-tion wing the Inter-Services Pub-lic Relations (ISPR) is “trying to mislead the people through its favourite media.”

Army statements rejectedShahid rejected the army’s state-ments on Taliban casualties, control over areas in North Wa-ziristan, destruction of Taliban control and command system and

the arrest of the Taliban members behind the attack on educational activist Malala Yousafzai.

The military spokesperson Di-rector-General ISPR Major Gen-eral Asim Bajwa had earlier said that a group of 10 Taliban militants has been captured in connection with the attack on Malala. He had added that the Taliban chief had ordered the attack.

‘Never active’The Taliban spokesperson, how-ever, said that the arrested sus-pects in connection with attack on Malala were never active Taliban members, adding that they may have been arrested during the 2009 operation in Swat valley and had been missing since then.

“The Taliban central command system is fully secure and active and is successfully attacking key targets of Pakistan Army,” Shahid said.— Express Tribune

Gul Hasan Afghani

was killed in clashes

with the army in

Boya area in North

Waziristan, Taliban’s

spokesman said

The Taliban also released photographs of the funeral of their slain commander Gul Hasan Afghani and their chief Maulvi Fazlullah led the funeral which took place at an undisclosed locationNEUTRALISED: Gul Hasan Afghani

Taiwan tourist killed after fall from cliffISLAMABAD: A Taiwanese tour-ist has plunged to her death in a popular mountaineering area in northern Pakistan, officials said on Saturday.

The woman fell from a cliff in the scenic Hunza Valley on Friday as she and a male French climber were returning from a trek to a nearby glacier.

“Yu-Ching Chang, a female tour-ist from Taiwan has died after fall-ing from a cliff while returning from Patundas peak on Friday,” local police official Fakhruddin Ahmed said.

Police and local volunteers have retrieved her body from the gla-cier, he added.

Hussain Jami, another official, said Chang’s French friend had re-ported the accident to police in the nearby village of Passu.

Imtiaz Ali, owner of local tour operator Hunza Holiday, said the accident took place on a treacher-ous stretch of the mountain.

“The descending route that the tourists took is very dangerous — even the locals are very care-ful. One miscalculated step will result in nothing short of death as one would fall thousands feet down on rocks.” — AFP

H U N Z A V A L L E Y

Two pilots hurt as army jet crashesQUETTA: A Pakistan army aircraft crashed in the south-western city of Quetta on Sat-urday injuring two pilots, the military said.

“Two pilots were wounded after their MFI-17 Mushshak aircraft-fixed gear trainer air-craft, crashed near the hills of Ziarat, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) east of Quetta on Saturday morning”, a military official said.

The incident was confirmed by another military official who said the crash was a result of technical fault.

“The wounded pilots were transported to Quetta for treat-ment. They are in stable condi-tion,” he said.

The Pakistan army uses Mushshak aircraft to train pi-lots in its aviation wing.

Manufactured locallyThe aircraft, which is manu-factured locally, is a big source of export earnings for Pakistan and sold to several Middle East-ern countries. The exact cost of the aircraft and number sold have not been made public. — AFP

T R A I N I N G M I S S I O N

MQM holds rally to protest PTI stance on provinces in SindhKARACHI: The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) staged a rally in Karachi on Saturday to protest against a statement made by a member of the Paki-stan Tehreek-e-Insaf opposing the formation of new provinces in Sindh.

PTI leader Nadir Laghari had stated that the party was against the formation of new provinces in Sindh — an act MQM chief Altaf Hussain condemned — prompt-ing the MQM to stage a walkout in the joint session of Parliament on Friday.

Addressing the rally in Kara-chi on Saturday, MQM member of National Assembly Khusbakht Shujaat said, “If you want Paki-stan to remain strong, to grow, the establishment of these units must be made.”

“We must make administrative units to strengthen the federation in Pakistan. This is not an alien concept. You will decide what has to happen, the decision is in your hands,” she said.

In reference to the local body

system, Khusbakht questioned the rulers as to why this system was abolished. She then asked her supporters, “Did you not benefit from that system? Did you not get clean water and electricity?”

“You (the rulers) stopped this system because you are against our province,” she said, further stating, “We feel happy when

we look at how other provinces are developing, but are sad-dened to see that our province, Sindh, is not.”

She warned that the crowd at the rally would increase. “We have taken the first step today to make you understand.

“This step can go much further,” she said. — Express Tribune

F O R M A T I O N O F N E W P R O V I N C E S

If you want Pakistan to remain strong, to grow, the establishment of these units must be made. We must make administrative units to strengthen the federation in Pakistan. This is not an alien concept. You will decide what has to happen, the decision is in your hands

Khusbakht ShujaatMuttahida Qaumi Movement member of National Assembly

Oil tankers targeted near Quetta

QUETTA: Three oil tankers, car-rying smuggled petrol from Iran, were attacked on Saturday in Mastung district, about 45 kilo-metres off Quetta.

They were on their way to Quetta from Taftan, a bordering town with Iran, when they en-tered an infrequent route near Mastung to avoid security checks at the Basham check post in the Panjpai area.

Unidentified men opened fire

on the oil tankers in the moun-tainous area, a few kilometres away from the last check post. As a result, two of the oil tankers caught fire and burnt to ashes.

Sold in Quetta“The oil tankers were carry-ing smuggled Iranian oil which was going to be sold in Quetta,” Anwar Baloch, a senior official in Mastung told The Express Tribune, adding that the attack

was a fight between two rival smuggler groups.

“The drivers are in custody and are being questioned,” Baloch added.

Intense firingThe paramilitary Balochistan Levies’ personnel rushed to the spot soon after the intense firing but the armed group which car-ried out the attack managed to flee the site. — Express Tribune

S M U G G L I N G I R A N I A N P E T R O L

Yu-Ching Chang, a female tourist from

Taiwan has died after falling from a cliff while

returning from Patundas peak on Friday

Fakhruddin Ahmed, Local police official

A11

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HOME SWEET HOME: Turkey’s Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, centre, and his wife Sare Davutoglu, left, welcome freed Turkey’s

Consul in Mosul Ozturk Yilmaz, right, and dozens of other freed Turkish nationals held hostages by Islamic State militants in northern

Iraq for more than three months, on Saturday at the Esenboga Airport in Ankara. — AFP

46 Turks held hostage by IS in Iraq back home

ANKARA: Forty-six Turks held hostage for months by Islamic State extremists in northern Iraq were freed and returned to Turkey on Saturday, to emotional family reunions and a triumphant Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

The Turkish diplomats and their children were seized along with special forces officers in their consulate in the city of Mosul on June 11 as IS militants overran whole swathes of northern Iraq.

Davutoglu announced their liberation early Saturday and cut short a visit to Azerbaijan to greet the ex-hostages.

He gave no details of the circum-stances of their release, though other officials and media reports spoke of a “secret operation”.

“Early in the morning our citi-zens were handed over to us and we brought them back into our country,” Davutoglu told report-ers before leaving the Azerbaijani capital Baku.

Ankara said three of the consu-

late’s Iraqi staff had been released earlier by the militants.

Turkey’s intelligence agency, armed forces and police had worked to secure the hostages’ freedom, Davutoglu said after going to meet them in the city of Sanliurfa near the Iraqi border and flying on with them to the Turkish capital Ankara.

Unnamed heroes“There are unnamed heroes, like those who brought our citizens back to Turkey. They acted for the sake of our country, for the sake of our people. I salute them,” the prime minister told a cheering crowd of supporters waving Turk-ish flags as he stood atop a bus at Ankara’s airport.

He kissed one of the freed hostages, consul-general Ozturk Yilmaz, on the forehead, after saying the hostages had “stood strong” and unbowed during their captivity.

Yilmaz said: “I am proud of

what I have gone through for my country.” He added that he “never lost hope” and was “very happy” to be back in Turkey.

President Recep Tayyip Erdog-an said the Turkish authorities had carried out a “pre-planned, detailed and secret operation”.

“It continued all through the night and was successfully com-pleted in the early morning. From the very first day, our intelligence agency has followed the issue with patience and determination and finally carried out a success-ful rescue operation.”

Although officials gave no de-tails of the operation, private NTV television said Ankara had not paid any ransom and instead had negotiated with local authorities in Iraq.

No other countries were in-volved in the operation and there were no clashes with the IS mili-tants, NTV said, citing anony-mous security sources.

The hostages were taken to

eight different locations during their captivity and the spy agen-cy tracked their whereabouts by drones and other equipment.

Promises not keptTurkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said IS had promised to free the hostages earlier in con-tacts through mediators, but the promises were not kept.

“The last date they gave was September 20. Therefore we did what was necessary when the time came,” he said.

“I hope we will never face such a test in the future. I think our state was very successful in pass-ing this test,” he said.

On his Twitter account, he thanked “all those who contrib-uted to the release of the hos-tages”, especially the spy chief Hakan Fidan.

The Islamic State had also kid-napped 31 Turkish truck drivers in early June in Mosul and had released them a month later. — AFP

The Turkish

diplomats and

their children were

seized along with

special forces

officers in their

consulate in the city

of Mosul on June

11 as Islamic State

militants overran

whole swathes of

northern Iraq

SEEKING REFUGE: Syrian Kurds carry their belongings after crossing the border between Syria and

Turkey near the southeastern town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, on Saturday. Several thousand

Syrian Kurds began crossing into Turkey on Friday fleeing Islamic State fighters who advanced into

their villages. — AFP

Brown urges UK leaders to fulfil pledge to ScotlandEDINBURGH/LONDON: For-mer prime minister Gordon Brown urged British leaders on Saturday to keep their promise to grant further powers to Scot-land after it voted to remain in the United Kingdom, as a con-sensus between London’s main parties evaporated.

All the three biggest parties had promised to rapidly expand Scot-land’s autonomy in a last-minute push to shore up support for the union just days before Thursday’s referendum, which came down 55-45 against independence.

But within hours of the result, Britain’s Conservative Prime Min-ister David Cameron had reshuf-fled the cards by promising not only to fulfil the pledge to Scot-land but also to make it part of an overhaul of the balance of powers across the rest of the United King-dom, within the same timeframe of a few months.

He vowed to produce “a bal-anced settlement: fair to people in Scotland and, importantly, to everyone in England, Wales and Northern Ireland as well”.

The announcement quickly shattered the pre-referendum consensus among London’s main parties.

Labour opposition leader Ed Miliband said plans for constitu-tional change on that scale needed to be put to members of the public through a convention in autumn 2015, after the next parliamentary election — which Cameron’s Con-servatives said amounted to kick-ing the issue “into the long grass”.

Labour’s Brown, who had helped to rally fellow Scots behind the United Kingdom, told supporters on Saturday in Fife, Scotland, that “the eyes of the world are upon the leaders of the major parties in the United Kingdom”.

“These are men who have been promise-makers and they will not be promise-breakers,” he said, “and I will ensure as a promise-keeper that these promises that have been made are upheld.”

DissatisfactionAlthough the referendum result was clearer than expected, the fact that 45 per cent backed seces-sion attested to a dissatisfaction with London’s politicians that reaches from the divided streets

of Northern Ireland to impover-ished former mining villages in Wales, and not least to struggling parts of northern England that feel a million miles from the rel-ative prosperity of London and the southeast.

RegionalismWith Scotland having put region-alism high on the agenda, Cam-eron and the other London parties are under pressure to demonstrate that England — which unlike Scot-land, Wales or Northern Ireland has no regional government of its own — is not disadvantaged in fi-nancial or democratic terms.

“We can’t allow there to be a different process of devolution to Scotland and a different timetable for England, we have to do the two together or not at all,” said Con-servative lawmaker Andrew Percy.

“The English cannot be fobbed off. I don’t think the English public will stand for it,” he told BBC radio.

But senior Labour lawmaker Hilary Benn said giving more pow-ers to England could not be de-cided under Cameron’s timetable. — Reuters

I N D E P E N D E N C E B I D

These are men (leaders of the major parties) who have been promise-makers and they will not be promise-breakers. I will ensure as a promise-keeper that these promises that have been made are upheld

Gordon BrownFormer British prime minister

Al Nusra executes Lebanese soldierBEIRUT: A Lebanese soldier has been executed by the Al-Nusra Front, the Syrian affiliate of Al-Qaeda, the government said on Saturday.

The soldier “was killed by ter-rorist groups who threatened to kill other hero soldiers in captivity”, Defence Minister Samir Moqbel said after meeting security officials.

HostageOne of Al Nusra’s Twitter ac-counts announced that the group had killed the soldier it was hold-ing hostage.

The soldier “Mohammed Ham-miya, first victim of the Lebanese

army’s stubbornness,” the Tweet feed said.

It was the first claim of its kind made by Al Nusra since around 30 soldiers and policemen were kid-napped in the town of Arsal near the border with Syria, during fight-ing between the Lebanese army and extremists from Syria.

Most seriousThe fighting in Arsal was the most serious border incident since the Syrian conflict erupted in March 2011. In late August and early September, two Lebanese soldiers were beheaded by the Islamic State, which had been holding a number of the hostages. — AFP

A L Q A E D A A F F I L I A T E

Tunisia Qaeda group endorses IS rebelsTUNIS/TIRANA: An Al-Qae-da-linked Tunisian group has offered backing to the Islamic State organisation that has over-run chunks of Iraq and Syria, be-coming the third extremist group to do so this week, a US-based monitor says.

Okba Ibn Nafaa, whose mili-tants Tunisian armed forces have been hunting in mountains near the Algerian border for two years, has identified itself with Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, the in-ternational extremist network’s North African branch.

On Tuesday, AQIM and the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) urged extremists in Iraq and Syria to unite against the common threat from a US-led coalition assem-bled to fight IS.

“The mujahedeen brothers in the

Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade from... (Tunisia) are supporting, en-dorsing, and strongly sustain-ing the State of the Islamic Ca-liphate,” the group said, quoted by SITE Intelligence Group late on Friday.

“They are urging it to move for-ward in breaking the borders and

crushing the thrones of the ty-rants everywhere,” SITE quoted a statement on Facebook as saying.

The Tunisian army accused the extremists in July of killing 15 soldiers in the restive border region in the bloodiest day in the army’s history.

Meanwhile, Albania upped se-

curity on Saturday as it prepared to host Pope Francis amid warn-ings that Islamic State extremists could be planning an attack on the Catholic leader in the mainly Muslim country.

Police were out on the streets of the capital Tirana, with some 2,500 officers due to be deployed for the pope’s visit on Sunday.

Highest alert“The alert level of police forces is at the highest level. A large num-ber of police will monitor all ac-tivities” during the pontiff’s stay, Albanian Interior Minister Saimir Tahiri said.

Iraq’s ambassador to the Vati-can had warned ahead of the visit that the pope could be in danger from the IS after he voiced sup-port for US air strikes targeting the extremists in Iraq. — AFP

E X T R E M I S T S ’ T H R E A T

The mujahedeen brothers in the Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade from... (Tunisia) are supporting, endorsing, and strongly sustaining the State of the Islamic Caliphate

Okba Ibn Nafaa Brigade

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It has had all the hallmarks of ‘the Scottish play’. Passion, ambition (possibly tipping

into hubris), realpolitik … and the man who would be king. And as a Scot who lives and works in Lon-don but whose veins bleed tartan, I have over the last two years watched with growing trepi-dation as this Shakespearean drama has unfolded.

Couples don’t decide to divorce because of the economics of their dodgy marriage. They split up be-cause they don’t love each other any more.

Alex Salmond has been totally misguided in pushing for that di-vorce. But he is, without doubt, a brilliant leader/orator. He has shown commitment and an un-wavering vision for the future of Scotland without the English.

The proof is in the haggis. More than 3.6 million of the 4.3 million people (sadly not me) eligible to

vote have made their views clear with an 85 per cent turnout — one of the highest in British general election history. Bring out The Guinness Book of Records!

Much has been made — and not entirely approvingly — of the fact that 16-year-olds were able to vote. The sight of young people casting their ballot in school uni-form may be unusual but it shows a rare level of commitment in the young. Are these the same kids who we criticise for being apa-thetic — interested only in com-puter games and hanging about on street corners?

Ironically many of them will still be too young to vote in the General Election next May — should they even be interested.

The message coming from Westminster has stood in stark contrast to Salmond’s clarity and drive.

From the original daft decision

to allow one section of the popula-tion to decide on an issue which was bound to impact on us all, to the frantic trips north and rapidly formulated coalition speak of re-cent weeks, there hasn’t been a lot of leadership on show.

Praise be for Gordon Brown who emerged as an 11—hour hero and reclaimed the Scottish flag for the No voters. The last few weeks have seen an avalanche of media interest in the referendum, totally overshadowing everything else that’s going on.

What better moment then for the Royal & Ancient — St An-drews’ world—famous golf club — to mount its own referendum, and after 26O years of a strict men—only policy, finally vote to admit women.

Two quite different decisions and two brilliant outcomes. Both on my home turf. I call that a hit. - The Independent

TODAY IN HISTORY

OPINION POLL

454 In Italy, Aetius, the supreme army commander, is murdered in Ravenna by Valentinian III, the emperor of the West.

1327 Edward II of England is murdered by

order of his wife. 1520 Suleiman (the Magnificent), son of

Selim, becomes Ottoman sultan in Constantinople.

1745 A Scottish Jacobite army commanded

by Lord George Murray routs the Royalist army of General Sir John Cope at Prestonpans.

1942 GBritish forces attack the Japanese in Myanmar.

2 STALWARTS OF SHIPPING INDUSTRY GIVEN FAREWELLMUSCAT: Two stalwarts of the shipping industry in Oman who have lent their mite for more than two dec-ades were given a fitting farewell at the end of their long tenure. A grand farewell party was jointly organised by the Port Services Corporation (PSC) and all shipping agencies in Oman at the poolside of Oman Sheraton Hotel recently for Alimuddin Shaikh and Jimmy Var-ghese, both general managers of Al Fahya Shipping and Muttrah Shipping.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES

On the eve of 9/11 anniversary this year, US President Barack Obama finally came forth with his plan to “degrade, and ultimately destroy” Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) through a “sustained counter-ter-rorism strategy”. And, indulging in

self adulation, he claimed his plan was “comprehen-sive”. His supporters heaved a sigh of relief; their pres-ident indeed finally gave the world a strategy to com-bat Isis. Equally quick were his critics in denouncing his plan. They said it was a “characteristic exercise in foreign policy minimalism” and is essentially vacuous “calculated to shore up the public’s sagging confidence in Obama’s stewardship of US foreign policy”.

Well, whatever! The world wasn’t much convinced. Neither are we too sure if his plan will ultimately re-deem the world of the biggest threat to civilisation in post World War II era. His immediate predeces-sor gave us a similar assurance almost a decade and half ago to sell his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He pledged to defeat and to eliminate Al Qaeda. Thir-teen years later we are still far away from achieving the objective.

Today, the successor goes into yet another linger-ing war in the Middle East and the target today is Isis. Unfortunately, however, history was neither with the predecessor nor is with the successor. And that makes us all the more sceptic about the success of the fresh mission against terrorism.

The mighty Roman Empire, which had conquered almost half the world by sheer force of its army, suf-fered humiliating defeats against small, numerically inferior Germanic tribes which eventually brought the Empire down. Between 238 and 267 repeated at-tacks of the Germanic tribes, the Goths, the Herulis and others shook the foundation of the ancient empire and drove massive holes into the myth that the Roman army was invincible. The Romans suffered a series of crushing military defeats against the Germanic tribes.

History is full of records of how mighty states, king-doms and empires with much larger and organised military have been defeated by small militant groups or non-state tribal forces. In fact, history shows us that such small non-state forces with much smaller military strength have traditionally fared and per-formed much better against larger state forces having superior military strength.

There have been exceptions and one very recent ex-ample is the rout of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. But that was a rare exception which still does not prove a deterministic phenom-enon of history.

Logic and chronicles of great military victories sug-gest that it is very much possible for stronger, larger and sophisticated military powers to defeat smaller enemies “with the right combination of strategy, re-sources, and willpower”. But can we refute the facts that different Chinese ruling dynasties, the Roman Empire and the pre-Islamic Persian Empire were all

defeated by perceptibly smaller groups with inferior military strength.

Genghis Khan’s creation of Mongol hegemony or Mongol Empire began with uniting many of the no-madic tribes of northeast Asia and leading them into series of spectacular military conquests of contempo-rary kingdoms having much superior armies. Invasion of the barbarians of Zagros, the Gutians, led to the col-lapse of Akkad Empire.

These happened in the past. But, even today we see the phenomenon happening. The United States and its Nato allies have failed to defeat, dismantle and de-stroy Al Qaeda and Taliban. So has Pakistan and India. They have no significant achievements to boast about in their fights against extremist and militant insur-gents. Even after more than twenty years the Maoists, radical Leftist insurgents, are still fighting the mighty Indian forces and have actually gained in strength. In Pakistan, the Taliban fighters are now closer than ever to over run the government and strike at will. Similar, if not worse, is the prevailing situation in Afghanistan.

Isis, with much less firepower and numerical strength, has made stunning inroads in Iraq defeating the Iraqi Army and the Kurdish Peshmerga. Its mili-tary achievements and the speed with which it has conquered a vast swath of land in Iraq and Syria es-tablishing a Caliphate — Islamic State — has surprised the world. Its fighting prowess is now well established and this will certainly make the task, the American president has taken upon himself, rather onerous.

One may argue that Isis’ success and its growth into a powerful fighting machine owes more to the popular support from the people of the sect it represents. This is taking a simplistic view and does not offer us the whole story. Isis, like the smaller groups that defeated mighty empires and military powers in history, has in its favour what the 14th century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun postulated — asabiyyah.

Asabiyyah, as posited by Khaldun, is a strong bond of cohesion or solidarity, religious and otherwise, found in “groups on the margins of society” — often called fanaticism by modern scholars. Well whatever, there is no doubts asabiyyah offers the smaller groups a greater sense of purpose which, through ages in his-tory, has enabled them to overwhelm bigger and stron-ger military forces.

And with strong asabiyyah Isis is today a formida-ble foe the US forces may face in Iraq and Syria as it has already experienced in Afghanistan. Obama says that this war against Isis will take years. Indeed it will. But, there isn’t any guarantee from his side that he and his successors will win the war. If the United States wants to win the war it will, more than just war strate-gies, need to either break Isis’ asabiyyah or to the US army has to develop that sense of purpose.

The author is the Opinion Editor of Times of Oman. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman.

Obama does not have history in his favour

Unfortunately, however, history was neither with the predecessor nor is with the successor. And that makes us all the more sceptic about the success of the fresh mission against terrorism

The PML-N parliamentarian also decided better to be safe than sorry in jettisoning the plane he had just boarded. Both the parliamentarians later put up a weak kneed defence of themselves being ‘victim’ to the airlines ‘mismanagement’

Pakistan had a Rosa Parks moment last week when Senator Rehman Malik, a former interior czar from the Pakistan

People’s Party, the last ruling party; and Dr. Ramesh Vankvani, a parliamentarian from the current ruling Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz, were offloaded from the national car-rier for keeping the passengers waiting for ap-proximately two hours.

Malik, in fact, never made it to the plane — as a video which went viral showed. Sens-ing he could get more than a verbal lashing at the hands of pretty irate passengers, he wisely turned back.

The PML-N parliamentarian also decided better to be safe than sorry in jettisoning the plane he had just boarded. Both the parlia-mentarians later put up a weak kneed defence of themselves being “victim” to the airlines “mismanagement”.

In response, the national carrier — not im-mune to being treated like a handmaiden by un-bridled movers and shakers — fidgeted with the done—to—death “technical reasons” mantra to explain the delay. You would be hard-pressed to find a soul who actually buys the spin.

If there’s a surprise in this hopefully, liberat-ing episode — Pakistanis across the divide drew deep satisfaction from the comeuppance as it were — it is that it took so long to arrive. Indeed, one of the passengers is heard saying, “We’ve taken it for 68 years. Are we going to take it an-other 68?”— referring to the country’s existence.

The former interior minister — known for his dandy ties and irresistible urge to be in the frame of a TV camera anytime, all the time —had his share of the humble pie in full public view. In the video he can be seen walking the jetway before proverbially, turning on his heels.

“Malik Sahib, you should be ashamed of your-self...”, he is heard being told. When he turns back and says something (not audible but ap-parently something to the effect that it was not his fault), he is greeted with more fury. “It IS your fault. Malik Sahib, you are not a minister anymore, and even if you are, we don’t care.”

So did he really go home chastened? A little dazed perhaps, but may be not exactly chas-tened, for, he later blamed the national carrier for “mismanaging” the affair, and even had the gall to suggest those shouting at him were people from the opposition Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (because some people described the table—turning episode using the PTI’s fa-mous slogan Tabdeeli aa nahi rahi, tabdeeli aa gayi hai! — change is not coming; change has already come!)

Going through the shemozzle, my mind harked back to the summer of 2012 when I

had the opportunity to interview Malik in de-tail. One nugget about how he and his party blunts criticism still stands out and is worth mentioning.

At one point during the conversation, talk turned to how Geo, one of the leading private TV channels, continued to run down the PPP gov-ernment, often times criticized for even hitting below the belt.

One spoof show came in for particular men-tion. “I can’t even sit with my family and watch it,” Malik complained. In all fairness, I agreed with him.

But when I questioned him about how did the PPP tolerate similar provocative actions from the opposition, media and judiciary com-bine, his response was: “In politics, you have to be thick—skinned. President Asif Zardari (PPP Co—Chairperson) had decided from Day One that no matter even if we were verbally abused, we would not respond.”

Malik has obviously stayed the course. On Youtube one can still find a clip where people abuse him to his face, and he walks away — just like he did last week after realising he could no longer take his parliamentary privilege for granted.

Yet another plane incident in its wake has dented the sense of entitlement the country’s elite have crassly exhibited all these years. This time, it involved Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of the prime minister, no less.

On a London—bound flight, Maryam report-edly tried to get her maid, bearing an Economy class ticket, upgraded and sat next to a bu-reaucrat in the Business Class. Even though a ground staff had facilitated the move under pressure, the bureaucrat would have none of this, and went ahead and complained to the captain on board.

In a fascinating encore to the changing times, the captain refused to accede to the PM’s daugh-ter’s demand and ordered the passenger back into the Economy class as dictated by the origi-nal ticket. He also gamely ignored the rant of the carrier being “our airlines” that the PM’s wife, who was also traveling, was quoted as saying.

Maryam later tweeted nothing of the sort happened, but the claim contrasts with the sub-sequent suspension by the airlines of its official who facilitated the upgrade.

While Pakistan may not have seen the last of the protocol pillages, there’s a welcome spring in the step to stop it.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Islama-bad. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely his and not of Times of Oman.

Why Pakistan’s Rosa Parks moment brings hope now

HISTORYNET.COMLetters, containing not more than 200 words with full name, address and telephone number, may be sent by mail (Times of Oman, P.O. Box 770, P.C. 112, Ruwi), by fax (24813153) or by e-mail (times@omantel.net.om)

Catalonia eyes independence referendum

GraphicsGraphic News /

Countdown To Referendum

50km

Tarragona

BarcelonaLleida

Girona

P Y R E N E E S

FRANCE

S P A I N

ANDORRA

C A T A L O N I A

M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a

Catalonia is heading for a showdown with the Spanish government over the wealthy industrial region’s plan to hold a nonbinding referendum on independence on November 9

2006Reformed version of Catalonia’s autonomy statute, giving regional government greaterpowers, comes into force

2010Constitutional Court in Madrid strikes down key provisions of statute in response to complaint by Spanish centre-right People’s Party. Court rules there is no legal basisfor recognising Catalonia as nation

Sep 20121.5m people take part in independence rally in Barcelona

NovSnap elections held in Catalonia – newCatalan parliament has 107 out of 135 MPs supporting self-determination referendum

Jan 2013Sovereignty declaration adopted byCatalan parliament

Spanish Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy rejectscall by Catalan presidentArtur Mas forgreater fiscal independence

Apr 2014Spanish parliament votes against transferring referendum powers to Catalonia

SepHundreds of thousands of Catalans form “V” for “vote” along two of Barcelona’s main roadscalling for their right to vote

Sep 19Catalan parliament approves bill enabling Catalonia to hold nonbinding referendumon Nov 9 – central government set to challenge law in Constitutional Court

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As Isis continues in its disturbing progress and gruesome acts, the

world is trying to decide the next course of action. Among the solutions suggested one that surprisingly got a lot of attention albeit its absurdity merits some explanation.

According to this irrational suggestion, the PKK, which is a Leninist-Marxist terror-ist guerrilla group, should be armed and used against Isis.

The question here is: Is it plausible to use the PKK against Isis?

The PKK has been fighting the Turkish army for the past 30 years claiming the lives of 60,000 people in the process. They operate based on Le-ninist-Marxist ideals for the goal of building a Communist state in the region.

After that, they have plans to further expand and take over the entire region to spread their Communist re-gime and build a so-called “dictatorship of the prole-tariat”. To this end, they have ambushed, killed, blown up buildings, torched villages, kidnapped people and en-gaged in drug trafficking.

Since they have a Leninist-Marxist ideology, they have paid great importance to the education of their recruits with Leninist ideals and as a result, have been engaged in a constant effort to promote their ideology to the Kurdish population.

They believe that each and every one of their members must be purged of all their former loyalties, like loyalty to their families, countries, beliefs and values and must turn into machines ready to kill and be killed for a Com-munist goal which they are not sure achieving ever.

They are so severely brain-washed that they have re-nounced their normal lives and have taken to living in caves in the mountains for the rest of their lives hoping that one day the ideals of Lenin can be achieved and become heroes someday.

In an unexpected turn of events, US officials have hint-ed at using the Communist PKK against Isis.

However, it would be far better for the United States to draw lessons from its past mistakes and see that Com-munist terrorism should be eliminated rather than being fed, and that can be possible only with an ideo-logical confrontation.

Furthermore, it’s impos-sible for the PKK to be suc-cessful against Isis. The truth is, if it ever comes to that, Isis will easily destroy the PKK in a matter of days.

However, if heavily armed, some undoubtedly believe PKK will only use its weapons and training only to harm Tur-key and will divide Turkey.

The US decision will only compound problems of Turkey.

The first thing that should be understood that is Turkey will not be divided no matter how heavily armed the ter-rorists are. So this new plan of reinforcing the PKK with more arms in the hopes of di-viding Turkey will fail again.

However, if PKK gets clos-er to building a Communist Kurdistan in the region, it will turn its guns immedi-ately at the Western powers as it sees them as a natural ideological enemy.

With weapons supplied to them by China and Russia, it will rise as a new North Korea in the Middle East, adding further to the woes of the world.

The question, therefore, is how to stop Isis? Isis and its fanatical followers are delu-sional and dangerous because of their grotesquely distorted interpretation of Islam.

However trying to elimi-nate them by force will only produce more terrorists and fuel their vengeful spirit even more.

The only thing that can ef-fectively stop Isis is to teach them the real values of Islam — love, compassion and peace to all the people of the world.

Isis is undoubtedly un-aware of the teachings of Is-lam and thus has a twisted understanding of the faith.

For this very reason, a wide-scale and effective intellectual campaign in-tended to teach the true Islam will not only stop the spawning of terrorism but will also effectively bring it to a decisive halt.

The writer is a popular author and a political commentator based in Turkey. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman.

How judicious will it be to use terrorists to fight terrorists?

This divorce wasn’t meant to happen

MATTER OF FACT

Muhammad Shakil Auj, the dean of the Islamic Studies faculty at Karachi University, was shot and killed on September 18. Typically, his killers were not identified. Dr Auj was

an outspoken citizen never afraid to disagree with orthodoxy, but he always voiced those disagreements with academic diligence, in-tellectual integrity and moral clarity. That mix has become lethal as challenging religious orthodoxy looks increasingly like a death sentence, as it indeed was for Dr Auj. The police have said that he was accused of blasphemy in 2012, with calls for his decapitation circling on text messages.

Given the gravity and consequences of these accusations, Dr Auj was well aware of the threats he faced to his life. That he lodged an FIR against his accusers, but it was to no avail. No one pursued his case; no one searched for his would-be killers. It must also be asked why the university did not make adequate arrangements to protect its senior staffer; the university must also have known about the danger to his life. In fact, as a bastion of secular learning and diverse discourse, the university was equally threatened, and Dr Auj’s loss has been a mor-tal blow not just to his family, but to his students, his university and to academia in Pakistan as well.

There is a sinister cycle of violence in this city. Those who seek to challenge select narratives of faith are not safe on the streets, in the mosques or in institutions of secular learning. When bigotry seeps into the university — the one site which is regarded to be the haven of different views, a place where minds are nourished — there are few spaces left for critical thought, diversity of opinion, or any kind of aca-demic conviction that strays outside the tyranny of the mainstream. That mainstream itself has been, and continues to shift unceasingly to the right, and its presence demands an oppressive silence, if not out-right conformity. On September 18, an iconoclast was silenced and the murderous bigots had won. - The Express Tribune

An iconoclast silenced

Washington may heave a sigh of relief, and European lead-ers from Madrid to Brussels rejoice that secessionist urges across the continent have now been held in check. But no

such complacency is appropriate here. Despite the decisive scale of the No victory, this extraordinary and historic referendum, which prompted political participation on a level never seen before, has land-ed all parties and all leaders in terra incognita. Alex Salmond, despite nearly doubling his party’s support over the two-year campaign, has stepped down as Scottish First Minister and leader of the SNP, accept-ing that his life’s work has now ended. David Cameron, bounced into making extravagant constitutional promises on the hoof to attempt to salvage the No campaign at the 11th hour, is now required to make good on those pledges to an impossibly tight timetable.

Meanwhile, Ed Miliband, who has rarely looked more uncomfort-able and unconvincing than when trying to whip up support for La-bour across the border, found himself comprehensively upstaged by his miraculously rejuvenated predecessor, Gordon Brown. And if Cameron carries through on his promise to balance increased powers for the Scottish Parliament with more votes for English MPs at West-minster on specifically English issues, the Labour leader could face the dizzying prospect of winning the next general election yet then being unable to pass key measures as a result of being deprived of the votes of Scottish Labour MPs.

Nor is this disorientation, the sense of having been pitched into a brave and baffling new world, confined to professional politicians. It will take all of us a while to get our bearings. In the process, some of our most settled habits will have to change. In the first place, London will have to get used to the fact that it is not the centre of the world and the only place that really counts. The Cornish and Welsh nationalists wasted no time in demanding a Cornish assembly and more powers for Wales, respectively.

Scottish devolution, rushed through by Labour in an effort to shore up its own support across the border, was the great counter-tendency to that, but as all Labour’s most potent politicians hitched their wag-ons to the Westminster star, this only ended up fuelling Scotland’s long-simmering sense of resentment and undermining Labour’s Scottish hegemony.

It has been an amazing example of democracy in action, with hun-dreds of thousands of normally apolitical people caught up in the de-bate and finally queuing in staggering numbers to make their mark. It’s time for the rest of the country to say very clearly that it lies with the people. If we say that with sufficient vigour, and invest the same sort of passion that the Scots have shown, it will be the first step towards making our democracy fit for the future. - The Independent

Scottish independence: Old kingdom, new settlement

A D N A N O K TA R

D O T T I I R V I N G

D E B A S I S H M I T R A

KA M R A N R E H M AT

ROP taking the right steps to discipline motorists This refers to the news story, Sin-gle red light violation can land you in jail (September 20). The ROP is indeed taking the right step to curb the growing instances of traffic violations in Oman. There is the need to punish the deliber-ate traffic offenders. Oman enjoys a very good image all over the world but the growing number of road accidents and traffic offences are playing a spoilsport. We often see drivers overtaking from the wrong side, disrespecting the zebra crossings, over-parking and blocking other cars, and the most dangerous of all — using mobile phones while driving. The school bus and taxi drivers are the worst traffic offenders and they need to follow the rules and driving etiquette. We can now hope that

the strict punitive provisions be-ing undertaken by the ROP would instil a sense of discipline among the erring drivers and the Omani roads become safer for all.Mohamed Al Riyami Muscat

Authorities should mull cancellation of licensesThis refers to the news story, Single red light violation can land you in jail (September 20). The ROP has indeed made a very good beginning in disciplining the delinquents on the roads of Oman. It would be better if the authori-ties considering extending the jail terms as well as cancellation of licences. I would like to take this opportunity to impress upon the authorities to look into the problem of tailgating and making

the pictures available in public domain to shame erring drivers.Murali DharMuscat

The move in South Sudan has come at a wrong timeThis refers to the news story, South Sudan bans foreign workers, aid agencies staff (September 16). This move has come at a wrong time as the country needs urgent humanitarian assistance and technical support from the friendly countries. John DengMuscat

Need to take a holistic view of safety standardsThis refers to the news story, Indian workers’ death in Oman

dips (September 17). Compared to the Western countries the safety standards are poor in some companies (not all) here, but com-pared to the countries where most of the workers are coming from the safety standards are quite good. If you feel your company doesn’t care about your health, why do you work with them? If it is not safe then complain. Yes, it is the duty of the companies to provide safe working environ-ment but that doesn’t mean that everybody has to risk their life if not provided. No company likes to have injuries or fatal accidents on site as this has legal consequenc-es. Safety has to be considered by all — the employer and the employees. So you cannot blame only one side.Christoph ClaassenMuscat

READERS’ FORUM

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It has had all the hallmarks of ‘the Scottish play’. Passion, ambition (possibly tipping

into hubris), realpolitik … and the man who would be king. And as a Scot who lives and works in Lon-don but whose veins bleed tartan, I have over the last two years watched with growing trepi-dation as this Shakespearean drama has unfolded.

Couples don’t decide to divorce because of the economics of their dodgy marriage. They split up be-cause they don’t love each other any more.

Alex Salmond has been totally misguided in pushing for that di-vorce. But he is, without doubt, a brilliant leader/orator. He has shown commitment and an un-wavering vision for the future of Scotland without the English.

The proof is in the haggis. More than 3.6 million of the 4.3 million people (sadly not me) eligible to

vote have made their views clear with an 85 per cent turnout — one of the highest in British general election history. Bring out The Guinness Book of Records!

Much has been made — and not entirely approvingly — of the fact that 16-year-olds were able to vote. The sight of young people casting their ballot in school uni-form may be unusual but it shows a rare level of commitment in the young. Are these the same kids who we criticise for being apa-thetic — interested only in com-puter games and hanging about on street corners?

Ironically many of them will still be too young to vote in the General Election next May — should they even be interested.

The message coming from Westminster has stood in stark contrast to Salmond’s clarity and drive.

From the original daft decision

to allow one section of the popula-tion to decide on an issue which was bound to impact on us all, to the frantic trips north and rapidly formulated coalition speak of re-cent weeks, there hasn’t been a lot of leadership on show.

Praise be for Gordon Brown who emerged as an 11—hour hero and reclaimed the Scottish flag for the No voters. The last few weeks have seen an avalanche of media interest in the referendum, totally overshadowing everything else that’s going on.

What better moment then for the Royal & Ancient — St An-drews’ world—famous golf club — to mount its own referendum, and after 26O years of a strict men—only policy, finally vote to admit women.

Two quite different decisions and two brilliant outcomes. Both on my home turf. I call that a hit. - The Independent

TODAY IN HISTORY

OPINION POLL

454 In Italy, Aetius, the supreme army commander, is murdered in Ravenna by Valentinian III, the emperor of the West.

1327 Edward II of England is murdered by

order of his wife. 1520 Suleiman (the Magnificent), son of

Selim, becomes Ottoman sultan in Constantinople.

1745 A Scottish Jacobite army commanded

by Lord George Murray routs the Royalist army of General Sir John Cope at Prestonpans.

1942 GBritish forces attack the Japanese in Myanmar.

2 STALWARTS OF SHIPPING INDUSTRY GIVEN FAREWELLMUSCAT: Two stalwarts of the shipping industry in Oman who have lent their mite for more than two dec-ades were given a fitting farewell at the end of their long tenure. A grand farewell party was jointly organised by the Port Services Corporation (PSC) and all shipping agencies in Oman at the poolside of Oman Sheraton Hotel recently for Alimuddin Shaikh and Jimmy Var-ghese, both general managers of Al Fahya Shipping and Muttrah Shipping.

FROM OUR ARCHIVES

On the eve of 9/11 anniversary this year, US President Barack Obama finally came forth with his plan to “degrade, and ultimately destroy” Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (Isis) through a “sustained counter-ter-rorism strategy”. And, indulging in

self adulation, he claimed his plan was “comprehen-sive”. His supporters heaved a sigh of relief; their pres-ident indeed finally gave the world a strategy to com-bat Isis. Equally quick were his critics in denouncing his plan. They said it was a “characteristic exercise in foreign policy minimalism” and is essentially vacuous “calculated to shore up the public’s sagging confidence in Obama’s stewardship of US foreign policy”.

Well, whatever! The world wasn’t much convinced. Neither are we too sure if his plan will ultimately re-deem the world of the biggest threat to civilisation in post World War II era. His immediate predeces-sor gave us a similar assurance almost a decade and half ago to sell his wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He pledged to defeat and to eliminate Al Qaeda. Thir-teen years later we are still far away from achieving the objective.

Today, the successor goes into yet another linger-ing war in the Middle East and the target today is Isis. Unfortunately, however, history was neither with the predecessor nor is with the successor. And that makes us all the more sceptic about the success of the fresh mission against terrorism.

The mighty Roman Empire, which had conquered almost half the world by sheer force of its army, suf-fered humiliating defeats against small, numerically inferior Germanic tribes which eventually brought the Empire down. Between 238 and 267 repeated at-tacks of the Germanic tribes, the Goths, the Herulis and others shook the foundation of the ancient empire and drove massive holes into the myth that the Roman army was invincible. The Romans suffered a series of crushing military defeats against the Germanic tribes.

History is full of records of how mighty states, king-doms and empires with much larger and organised military have been defeated by small militant groups or non-state tribal forces. In fact, history shows us that such small non-state forces with much smaller military strength have traditionally fared and per-formed much better against larger state forces having superior military strength.

There have been exceptions and one very recent ex-ample is the rout of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka. But that was a rare exception which still does not prove a deterministic phenom-enon of history.

Logic and chronicles of great military victories sug-gest that it is very much possible for stronger, larger and sophisticated military powers to defeat smaller enemies “with the right combination of strategy, re-sources, and willpower”. But can we refute the facts that different Chinese ruling dynasties, the Roman Empire and the pre-Islamic Persian Empire were all

defeated by perceptibly smaller groups with inferior military strength.

Genghis Khan’s creation of Mongol hegemony or Mongol Empire began with uniting many of the no-madic tribes of northeast Asia and leading them into series of spectacular military conquests of contempo-rary kingdoms having much superior armies. Invasion of the barbarians of Zagros, the Gutians, led to the col-lapse of Akkad Empire.

These happened in the past. But, even today we see the phenomenon happening. The United States and its Nato allies have failed to defeat, dismantle and de-stroy Al Qaeda and Taliban. So has Pakistan and India. They have no significant achievements to boast about in their fights against extremist and militant insur-gents. Even after more than twenty years the Maoists, radical Leftist insurgents, are still fighting the mighty Indian forces and have actually gained in strength. In Pakistan, the Taliban fighters are now closer than ever to over run the government and strike at will. Similar, if not worse, is the prevailing situation in Afghanistan.

Isis, with much less firepower and numerical strength, has made stunning inroads in Iraq defeating the Iraqi Army and the Kurdish Peshmerga. Its mili-tary achievements and the speed with which it has conquered a vast swath of land in Iraq and Syria es-tablishing a Caliphate — Islamic State — has surprised the world. Its fighting prowess is now well established and this will certainly make the task, the American president has taken upon himself, rather onerous.

One may argue that Isis’ success and its growth into a powerful fighting machine owes more to the popular support from the people of the sect it represents. This is taking a simplistic view and does not offer us the whole story. Isis, like the smaller groups that defeated mighty empires and military powers in history, has in its favour what the 14th century Arab historian Ibn Khaldun postulated — asabiyyah.

Asabiyyah, as posited by Khaldun, is a strong bond of cohesion or solidarity, religious and otherwise, found in “groups on the margins of society” — often called fanaticism by modern scholars. Well whatever, there is no doubts asabiyyah offers the smaller groups a greater sense of purpose which, through ages in his-tory, has enabled them to overwhelm bigger and stron-ger military forces.

And with strong asabiyyah Isis is today a formida-ble foe the US forces may face in Iraq and Syria as it has already experienced in Afghanistan. Obama says that this war against Isis will take years. Indeed it will. But, there isn’t any guarantee from his side that he and his successors will win the war. If the United States wants to win the war it will, more than just war strate-gies, need to either break Isis’ asabiyyah or to the US army has to develop that sense of purpose.

The author is the Opinion Editor of Times of Oman. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman.

Obama does not have history in his favour

Unfortunately, however, history was neither with the predecessor nor is with the successor. And that makes us all the more sceptic about the success of the fresh mission against terrorism

The PML-N parliamentarian also decided better to be safe than sorry in jettisoning the plane he had just boarded. Both the parliamentarians later put up a weak kneed defence of themselves being ‘victim’ to the airlines ‘mismanagement’

Pakistan had a Rosa Parks moment last week when Senator Rehman Malik, a former interior czar from the Pakistan

People’s Party, the last ruling party; and Dr. Ramesh Vankvani, a parliamentarian from the current ruling Pakistan Muslim League -Nawaz, were offloaded from the national car-rier for keeping the passengers waiting for ap-proximately two hours.

Malik, in fact, never made it to the plane — as a video which went viral showed. Sens-ing he could get more than a verbal lashing at the hands of pretty irate passengers, he wisely turned back.

The PML-N parliamentarian also decided better to be safe than sorry in jettisoning the plane he had just boarded. Both the parlia-mentarians later put up a weak kneed defence of themselves being “victim” to the airlines “mismanagement”.

In response, the national carrier — not im-mune to being treated like a handmaiden by un-bridled movers and shakers — fidgeted with the done—to—death “technical reasons” mantra to explain the delay. You would be hard-pressed to find a soul who actually buys the spin.

If there’s a surprise in this hopefully, liberat-ing episode — Pakistanis across the divide drew deep satisfaction from the comeuppance as it were — it is that it took so long to arrive. Indeed, one of the passengers is heard saying, “We’ve taken it for 68 years. Are we going to take it an-other 68?”— referring to the country’s existence.

The former interior minister — known for his dandy ties and irresistible urge to be in the frame of a TV camera anytime, all the time —had his share of the humble pie in full public view. In the video he can be seen walking the jetway before proverbially, turning on his heels.

“Malik Sahib, you should be ashamed of your-self...”, he is heard being told. When he turns back and says something (not audible but ap-parently something to the effect that it was not his fault), he is greeted with more fury. “It IS your fault. Malik Sahib, you are not a minister anymore, and even if you are, we don’t care.”

So did he really go home chastened? A little dazed perhaps, but may be not exactly chas-tened, for, he later blamed the national carrier for “mismanaging” the affair, and even had the gall to suggest those shouting at him were people from the opposition Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (because some people described the table—turning episode using the PTI’s fa-mous slogan Tabdeeli aa nahi rahi, tabdeeli aa gayi hai! — change is not coming; change has already come!)

Going through the shemozzle, my mind harked back to the summer of 2012 when I

had the opportunity to interview Malik in de-tail. One nugget about how he and his party blunts criticism still stands out and is worth mentioning.

At one point during the conversation, talk turned to how Geo, one of the leading private TV channels, continued to run down the PPP gov-ernment, often times criticized for even hitting below the belt.

One spoof show came in for particular men-tion. “I can’t even sit with my family and watch it,” Malik complained. In all fairness, I agreed with him.

But when I questioned him about how did the PPP tolerate similar provocative actions from the opposition, media and judiciary com-bine, his response was: “In politics, you have to be thick—skinned. President Asif Zardari (PPP Co—Chairperson) had decided from Day One that no matter even if we were verbally abused, we would not respond.”

Malik has obviously stayed the course. On Youtube one can still find a clip where people abuse him to his face, and he walks away — just like he did last week after realising he could no longer take his parliamentary privilege for granted.

Yet another plane incident in its wake has dented the sense of entitlement the country’s elite have crassly exhibited all these years. This time, it involved Maryam Nawaz, the daughter of the prime minister, no less.

On a London—bound flight, Maryam report-edly tried to get her maid, bearing an Economy class ticket, upgraded and sat next to a bu-reaucrat in the Business Class. Even though a ground staff had facilitated the move under pressure, the bureaucrat would have none of this, and went ahead and complained to the captain on board.

In a fascinating encore to the changing times, the captain refused to accede to the PM’s daugh-ter’s demand and ordered the passenger back into the Economy class as dictated by the origi-nal ticket. He also gamely ignored the rant of the carrier being “our airlines” that the PM’s wife, who was also traveling, was quoted as saying.

Maryam later tweeted nothing of the sort happened, but the claim contrasts with the sub-sequent suspension by the airlines of its official who facilitated the upgrade.

While Pakistan may not have seen the last of the protocol pillages, there’s a welcome spring in the step to stop it.

The writer is a senior journalist based in Islama-bad. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely his and not of Times of Oman.

Why Pakistan’s Rosa Parks moment brings hope now

HISTORYNET.COMLetters, containing not more than 200 words with full name, address and telephone number, may be sent by mail (Times of Oman, P.O. Box 770, P.C. 112, Ruwi), by fax (24813153) or by e-mail (times@omantel.net.om)

Catalonia eyes independence referendum

GraphicsGraphic News /

Countdown To Referendum

50km

Tarragona

BarcelonaLleida

Girona

P Y R E N E E S

FRANCE

S P A I N

ANDORRA

C A T A L O N I A

M e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a

Catalonia is heading for a showdown with the Spanish government over the wealthy industrial region’s plan to hold a nonbinding referendum on independence on November 9

2006Reformed version of Catalonia’s autonomy statute, giving regional government greaterpowers, comes into force

2010Constitutional Court in Madrid strikes down key provisions of statute in response to complaint by Spanish centre-right People’s Party. Court rules there is no legal basisfor recognising Catalonia as nation

Sep 20121.5m people take part in independence rally in Barcelona

NovSnap elections held in Catalonia – newCatalan parliament has 107 out of 135 MPs supporting self-determination referendum

Jan 2013Sovereignty declaration adopted byCatalan parliament

Spanish Prime MinisterMariano Rajoy rejectscall by Catalan presidentArtur Mas forgreater fiscal independence

Apr 2014Spanish parliament votes against transferring referendum powers to Catalonia

SepHundreds of thousands of Catalans form “V” for “vote” along two of Barcelona’s main roadscalling for their right to vote

Sep 19Catalan parliament approves bill enabling Catalonia to hold nonbinding referendumon Nov 9 – central government set to challenge law in Constitutional Court

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As Isis continues in its disturbing progress and gruesome acts, the

world is trying to decide the next course of action. Among the solutions suggested one that surprisingly got a lot of attention albeit its absurdity merits some explanation.

According to this irrational suggestion, the PKK, which is a Leninist-Marxist terror-ist guerrilla group, should be armed and used against Isis.

The question here is: Is it plausible to use the PKK against Isis?

The PKK has been fighting the Turkish army for the past 30 years claiming the lives of 60,000 people in the process. They operate based on Le-ninist-Marxist ideals for the goal of building a Communist state in the region.

After that, they have plans to further expand and take over the entire region to spread their Communist re-gime and build a so-called “dictatorship of the prole-tariat”. To this end, they have ambushed, killed, blown up buildings, torched villages, kidnapped people and en-gaged in drug trafficking.

Since they have a Leninist-Marxist ideology, they have paid great importance to the education of their recruits with Leninist ideals and as a result, have been engaged in a constant effort to promote their ideology to the Kurdish population.

They believe that each and every one of their members must be purged of all their former loyalties, like loyalty to their families, countries, beliefs and values and must turn into machines ready to kill and be killed for a Com-munist goal which they are not sure achieving ever.

They are so severely brain-washed that they have re-nounced their normal lives and have taken to living in caves in the mountains for the rest of their lives hoping that one day the ideals of Lenin can be achieved and become heroes someday.

In an unexpected turn of events, US officials have hint-ed at using the Communist PKK against Isis.

However, it would be far better for the United States to draw lessons from its past mistakes and see that Com-munist terrorism should be eliminated rather than being fed, and that can be possible only with an ideo-logical confrontation.

Furthermore, it’s impos-sible for the PKK to be suc-cessful against Isis. The truth is, if it ever comes to that, Isis will easily destroy the PKK in a matter of days.

However, if heavily armed, some undoubtedly believe PKK will only use its weapons and training only to harm Tur-key and will divide Turkey.

The US decision will only compound problems of Turkey.

The first thing that should be understood that is Turkey will not be divided no matter how heavily armed the ter-rorists are. So this new plan of reinforcing the PKK with more arms in the hopes of di-viding Turkey will fail again.

However, if PKK gets clos-er to building a Communist Kurdistan in the region, it will turn its guns immedi-ately at the Western powers as it sees them as a natural ideological enemy.

With weapons supplied to them by China and Russia, it will rise as a new North Korea in the Middle East, adding further to the woes of the world.

The question, therefore, is how to stop Isis? Isis and its fanatical followers are delu-sional and dangerous because of their grotesquely distorted interpretation of Islam.

However trying to elimi-nate them by force will only produce more terrorists and fuel their vengeful spirit even more.

The only thing that can ef-fectively stop Isis is to teach them the real values of Islam — love, compassion and peace to all the people of the world.

Isis is undoubtedly un-aware of the teachings of Is-lam and thus has a twisted understanding of the faith.

For this very reason, a wide-scale and effective intellectual campaign in-tended to teach the true Islam will not only stop the spawning of terrorism but will also effectively bring it to a decisive halt.

The writer is a popular author and a political commentator based in Turkey. All the views and opinions expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not reflect those of Times of Oman.

How judicious will it be to use terrorists to fight terrorists?

This divorce wasn’t meant to happen

MATTER OF FACT

Muhammad Shakil Auj, the dean of the Islamic Studies faculty at Karachi University, was shot and killed on September 18. Typically, his killers were not identified. Dr Auj was

an outspoken citizen never afraid to disagree with orthodoxy, but he always voiced those disagreements with academic diligence, in-tellectual integrity and moral clarity. That mix has become lethal as challenging religious orthodoxy looks increasingly like a death sentence, as it indeed was for Dr Auj. The police have said that he was accused of blasphemy in 2012, with calls for his decapitation circling on text messages.

Given the gravity and consequences of these accusations, Dr Auj was well aware of the threats he faced to his life. That he lodged an FIR against his accusers, but it was to no avail. No one pursued his case; no one searched for his would-be killers. It must also be asked why the university did not make adequate arrangements to protect its senior staffer; the university must also have known about the danger to his life. In fact, as a bastion of secular learning and diverse discourse, the university was equally threatened, and Dr Auj’s loss has been a mor-tal blow not just to his family, but to his students, his university and to academia in Pakistan as well.

There is a sinister cycle of violence in this city. Those who seek to challenge select narratives of faith are not safe on the streets, in the mosques or in institutions of secular learning. When bigotry seeps into the university — the one site which is regarded to be the haven of different views, a place where minds are nourished — there are few spaces left for critical thought, diversity of opinion, or any kind of aca-demic conviction that strays outside the tyranny of the mainstream. That mainstream itself has been, and continues to shift unceasingly to the right, and its presence demands an oppressive silence, if not out-right conformity. On September 18, an iconoclast was silenced and the murderous bigots had won. - The Express Tribune

An iconoclast silenced

Washington may heave a sigh of relief, and European lead-ers from Madrid to Brussels rejoice that secessionist urges across the continent have now been held in check. But no

such complacency is appropriate here. Despite the decisive scale of the No victory, this extraordinary and historic referendum, which prompted political participation on a level never seen before, has land-ed all parties and all leaders in terra incognita. Alex Salmond, despite nearly doubling his party’s support over the two-year campaign, has stepped down as Scottish First Minister and leader of the SNP, accept-ing that his life’s work has now ended. David Cameron, bounced into making extravagant constitutional promises on the hoof to attempt to salvage the No campaign at the 11th hour, is now required to make good on those pledges to an impossibly tight timetable.

Meanwhile, Ed Miliband, who has rarely looked more uncomfort-able and unconvincing than when trying to whip up support for La-bour across the border, found himself comprehensively upstaged by his miraculously rejuvenated predecessor, Gordon Brown. And if Cameron carries through on his promise to balance increased powers for the Scottish Parliament with more votes for English MPs at West-minster on specifically English issues, the Labour leader could face the dizzying prospect of winning the next general election yet then being unable to pass key measures as a result of being deprived of the votes of Scottish Labour MPs.

Nor is this disorientation, the sense of having been pitched into a brave and baffling new world, confined to professional politicians. It will take all of us a while to get our bearings. In the process, some of our most settled habits will have to change. In the first place, London will have to get used to the fact that it is not the centre of the world and the only place that really counts. The Cornish and Welsh nationalists wasted no time in demanding a Cornish assembly and more powers for Wales, respectively.

Scottish devolution, rushed through by Labour in an effort to shore up its own support across the border, was the great counter-tendency to that, but as all Labour’s most potent politicians hitched their wag-ons to the Westminster star, this only ended up fuelling Scotland’s long-simmering sense of resentment and undermining Labour’s Scottish hegemony.

It has been an amazing example of democracy in action, with hun-dreds of thousands of normally apolitical people caught up in the de-bate and finally queuing in staggering numbers to make their mark. It’s time for the rest of the country to say very clearly that it lies with the people. If we say that with sufficient vigour, and invest the same sort of passion that the Scots have shown, it will be the first step towards making our democracy fit for the future. - The Independent

Scottish independence: Old kingdom, new settlement

A D N A N O K TA R

D O T T I I R V I N G

D E B A S I S H M I T R A

K A M R A N R E H M AT

ROP taking the right steps to discipline motorists This refers to the news story, Sin-gle red light violation can land you in jail (September 20). The ROP is indeed taking the right step to curb the growing instances of traffic violations in Oman. There is the need to punish the deliber-ate traffic offenders. Oman enjoys a very good image all over the world but the growing number of road accidents and traffic offences are playing a spoilsport. We often see drivers overtaking from the wrong side, disrespecting the zebra crossings, over-parking and blocking other cars, and the most dangerous of all — using mobile phones while driving. The school bus and taxi drivers are the worst traffic offenders and they need to follow the rules and driving etiquette. We can now hope that

the strict punitive provisions be-ing undertaken by the ROP would instil a sense of discipline among the erring drivers and the Omani roads become safer for all.Mohamed Al Riyami Muscat

Authorities should mull cancellation of licensesThis refers to the news story, Single red light violation can land you in jail (September 20). The ROP has indeed made a very good beginning in disciplining the delinquents on the roads of Oman. It would be better if the authori-ties considering extending the jail terms as well as cancellation of licences. I would like to take this opportunity to impress upon the authorities to look into the problem of tailgating and making

the pictures available in public domain to shame erring drivers.Murali DharMuscat

The move in South Sudan has come at a wrong timeThis refers to the news story, South Sudan bans foreign workers, aid agencies staff (September 16). This move has come at a wrong time as the country needs urgent humanitarian assistance and technical support from the friendly countries. John DengMuscat

Need to take a holistic view of safety standardsThis refers to the news story, Indian workers’ death in Oman

dips (September 17). Compared to the Western countries the safety standards are poor in some companies (not all) here, but com-pared to the countries where most of the workers are coming from the safety standards are quite good. If you feel your company doesn’t care about your health, why do you work with them? If it is not safe then complain. Yes, it is the duty of the companies to provide safe working environ-ment but that doesn’t mean that everybody has to risk their life if not provided. No company likes to have injuries or fatal accidents on site as this has legal consequenc-es. Safety has to be considered by all — the employer and the employees. So you cannot blame only one side.Christoph ClaassenMuscat

READERS’ FORUM

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website: www.newindiaoman.com

NEW INDIA ASSURANCEProtect your properties/assets through New India’s FIRE INSURNCE POLICIES.

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FAMINE IN SOMALIA A displaced Somali woman carries a child and her

belongings as she arrives at a temporary dwelling after

fleeing famine in the Marka Lower Shebbele regions to

the capital Mogadishu, on Tuesday. The UN said this

month more than a million people in war-ravaged So-

malia were struggling to meet daily needs. The roughly

130,000 people displaced from their homes this year

alone are bearing the brunt of the crisis. — Reuters

Key secures third term as premierAUCKLAND: New Zealand’s conservative Prime Minister John Key swept to a historic elec-tion victory on Saturday, secur-ing a third term as voters ignored campaign allegations of dirty tricks and mass spying.

The resounding win makes Key the first New Zealand leader able to govern in his own right since proportional voting was introduced in 1996 and means his centre-right National Party has increased its vote in all three elections he has contested.

“I’m ecstatic, it’s a great night,” the 53-year-old former currency trader said after a result that con-founded opinion poll predictions.

Worst performanceNational won 61 of 121 parlia-mentary seats, up from 59 at the last election in 2011, while the main opposition Labour Party managed only 32, down two, af-ter its worst performance since the 1920s.

Labour leader David Cunliffe, facing questions over his future, said it was time to rebuild the centre-left party, not lay blame.

“I’m certainly happy to take my share of blame for this result, but I’m getting consistent feed-back from people that they want me to muscle up, to carry on and drive through the change that we need,” he said. — AFP

H I S T O R I C P O L L V I C T O R Y

Buffer zone to be part of Ukraine peace plan

KIEV: Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian militias were due Satur-day to pull back their troops from a demilitarised zone created under a new peace plan agreed in mara-thon overnight talks.

A nine-point agreement thrashed out in the early hours of Saturday in the Belarussian capi tal Minsk

also requires the withdrawal of all “mercenaries” from eastern Ukraine and an immediate end to hostilities.

New Russian convoyBut Russia appeared ready to keep up the pressure on its westward-leaning neighbour by sending in a new convoy it claimed was carrying aid for the rebel-held city of Donetsk that Ukraine never approved.

Former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma — representing

Kiev throughout stuttering efforts to resolve the five-month conflict — said the agreement rested on the creation of a 30-kilometre (20-mile) buffer zone.

Forces from both sides are re-quired to retreat 15 kilometres from current frontlines within 24 hours of the signing of the ac-cord and allow monitors from the OSCE pan-European security or-ganisation into the area to make sure the truce holds.

Territory under rebel control would be left open to their admin-

istration under a temporary self-rule plan adopted by lawmakers in Kiev on Tuesday.

The Minsk pact — also signed by Moscow’s ambassador to Kiev and the self-proclaimed “prime ministers” of the rebel-run regions of Donetsk and Lugansk — aims to shore up a ceasefire deal agreed two weeks ago.

Foreign mercenariesThe latest agreement crucially re-quires both sides to immediately withdraw “foreign mercenaries” from the conflict zone in industrial eastern Ukraine.

Kiev and Western allies accuse Russia of clandestinely slipping at least 1,000 paratroopers into east Ukraine to help the guerrillas mount a surprise counter-offen-sive late last month.

The Kremlin denies ordering soldiers into Ukraine. But Mos-cow’s Kiev envoy Mikhail Zurabov told Russian media after the Minsk signing ceremony that both sides appeared to have hired for-eign mercenaries.

Both sides agreed to leave the most divisive political issues concerning the rebel-held area’s status for future negotiation in order to get the terms of the truce worked out first. — AFP

A nine-point

agreement thrashed

out in the early hours

of Saturday in the

Belarussian capital

Minsk also requires

the withdrawal of all

‘mercenaries’ from

eastern Ukraine and

an immediate end to

hostilities

CONFLICT: Smoke rises after a weapon factory controlled by

pro-russian militants exploded near Donetsk, on Saturday. — AFP

ECSTATIC: New Zealand Prime

Minister John Key, centre,

celebrates after his win in the

general election, at the 2014

New Zealand National Party

election event in Auckland on

Tuesday. — AFP

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Khodorkovsky challenges Putin with new movement

GENEVA: Mikhail Khodorkovs-ky, a Kremlin opponent who spent a decade in prison, on Saturday launched a movement to bring together pro-European Russians to challenge President Vladimir Putin’s grip on power.

Khodorkovsky was released from prison late last year and is now based in Switzerland. He urged his compatriots to pull to-gether to be able to influence the fate of the country.

“A minority will be influential if it is organised,” he said as he announced the launch of his new movement called Open Russia.

Khodorkovsky stressed that his new project — dubbed after his eponymous charity that was shut down after his imprison-ment —would be an online “plat-form” for like-minded people, not a political party.

Upon his release from prison Khodorkovsky vowed to stay

out of politics. But his new pro-ject appears to belie his political ambitions.

The soft-spoken former head of the now defunct Yukos oil firm said all those supporting a pro-European course for Russia should unite ahead of parliamen-tary elections scheduled for 2016.

The launch of the group comes as Kremlin critics say the country, locked in a dramatic confronta-tion with the West over Ukraine,

is hurtling toward political and economic catastrophe.

The West and Kiev accuse the Kremlin of invading Ukraine and threatening stability of the entire Europe.

Khodorkovsky said he and he allies believed that ordinary peo-ple could make Russia, which has been saddled with several rounds of biting Western sanctions, change direction.

“We support what they call the

European choice or a state gov-erned by the rule of law,” said Kho-dorkovsky.

“We believe that the state-ment ‘Russia is not Europe’ is a lie that is being imposed on society on purpose.

“This is being done by those who want to rule the country for life” Khodorkovsky said in a thinly veiled reference to Putin, the for-mer KGB operative who came to power in 1999.

We are Europe“We are Europe, both in terms of geography and culture. In fact, the European way of development does not mean rejection of nation-al values. In Europe every country follows its own path.

“We are not simply Russian Eu-ropeans. We are patriots.

“And true patriots even during pitch-dark reaction should serve their country and their people.”

Putin, by comparison, has sought to promote Russia as an antithesis of the West and claimed isolation would be a boon for the country.

Opinion polls show that a ma-jority support Putin’s policies but economists say that could change as Russia is sliding into recession. — AFP

A minority will be

influential if it is

organised, Kremlin

opponent Mikhail

Khodorkovsky said,

as he announced the

launch of his new

movement called

Open Russia

We support what they call the European choice or a state governed by the rule of law. We believe that the statement ‘Russia is not Europe’ is a lie that is being imposed on society on purpose. This is being done by those who want to rule the country for life

Mikhail Khodorkovsky,Vladimir Putin opponent

No obvious lead in probe of Mali crashPARIS: Investigators probing the crash of an Air Algerie flight in Mali that killed 116 people in July said on Saturday there was no obvious lead yet and all possi-bilities, including terrorism, were being explored.

Flight AH5017, a McDonnell Douglas 83 jet that had taken off on July 24 from Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso bound for Algiers, crashed in the Mali desert after its pilots asked to turn back as bad weather struck.

Terrorism“At the moment... nothing is telling us that we can rule out or confirm terrorism. We are not favouring any line of inquiry,” Bernard Bou-daille, of France’s Bureau of Inves-tigations and Analyses (BEA) air safety agency, told reporters in the Malian capital Bamako.

France bore the brunt of the tragedy, with nearly half of the vic-tims its citizens. Other passengers came from Burkina Faso, Lebanon, Algeria, Spain, Canada, Germany and Luxembourg.

Presenting the initial report into a probe into the tragedy, Bou-daille and the head of Mali’s civil aviation accident commission, N’Faly Cisse, said the crew was experienced and not hampered by fatigue, and prepared to deal with difficult weather. — AFP

A I R A L G E R I E F L I G H T

Results of disputed Afghan poll to be declared todayKABUL: The result of Afghani-stan’s disputed election will be declared on Sunday, officials said Saturday, as last-minute talks between the two rival candidates struggled to nail down a proposed power-sharing deal.

The stalemate between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdul-lah since the June 14 vote has plunged Afghanistan into a po-litical crisis as US-led Nato troops end their 13-year war against the Taliban.

Both men claim to have won the fraud-tainted election, and the United Nations and the United States have pushed hard for a “na-tional unity government” to try to avoid a return to the ethnic divi-sions of the 1990s civil war.

“The IEC will officially an-nounce the final result of the presidential election tomorrow,” Independent Election Commis-sion spokesman Noor Moham-mad Noor said.

Mujib Rahman Rahimi, a

spokesman for Abdullah, said the two candidates had not yet signed a power-sharing deal.

Differences“Most of the differences have been solved. The only one which remains is over how the election results are announced,” he said.

“The IEC is not supposed to an-nounce the final results before the agreement is finalised. I hope they won’t do that.”

Ghani’s campaign team con-firmed the deal was still not agreed late on Saturday.

Still changeThe election process has been plagued by delays and setbacks, and the latest timetable for results could still change un-less the remaining disputes are ironed out.

Ghani — who won the vote ac-cording to preliminary results — is set to emerge as president, with Abdullah nominating who will fill

the new post of “chief executive officer”, possibly taking on the role himself.

Under the Afghan constitution the president wields almost to-tal control, and the new govern-ment structure faces a major test in the coming years as the country’s security and economic outlook worsens.

President Hamid Karzai, whose successor was originally due to be inaugurated on August 2, was constitutionally barred from standing for a third term in office. He has stayed publicly neu-tral in the election.

After the June election was en-gulfed in fraud allegations, the US brokered a deal in which the two candidates agreed to abide by the outcome of an au-dit of all eight million ballot papers and then form a national unity government.

But Abdullah later abandoned the audit, saying it was failing to clean out fraud. — AFP

I M P A S S E

Afghan President Hamid Karzai, whose successor was originally due to be inaugurated on August 2, was constitutionally barred from standing for a third term in office. He has stayed publicly neutral in the election

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DON’T DROP DEAD DROP YOUR PHONE TROPICAL STORM LASHES PHILIPPINESA man wades past a partially submerged vehicle parked on a flooded street after Tropical

Storm Fung-Wong battered Rizal province, east of Manila, on Saturday. Storm Fung-Wong

churned towards Taiwan after killing at least five people in the Philippines, and forcing

some 200,000 people into temporary shelter, including in Manila. -Reuters

Marzouki all set for reelection bid

TUNIS: Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki announced on Saturday he will stand for re-election in November, in a key vote almost four years after a revolt that sparked the Arab Spring uprisings.

The polls, along with parlia-mentary elections in October, are seen as the final step in Tunisia’s transition after more than two decades under strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali who was top-pled in 2011. The moderate party Ennahda won Tunisia’s first post-Ben Ali election the same year.

Marzouki, a fierce opponent of Ben Ali and a secular ally of En-

nahda, was chosen as president in December 2011 in a vote in the National Constituent Assembly.

The 69-year-old kicked off his re-election campaign with an at-tack on “dirty money” in politics.

“My candidacy is an example of transparency,” he said. “We must not allow corruption in this first democratic experience,” he said after registering for the November 23 vote.

Critics often accuse cronies of Ben Ali’s former autocratic regime of seeking to derail the reform pro-cess. Marzouki faces a number of

rival candidates including Nation-al Assembly speaker Mustapha Ben Jaafar, a former central bank chief, and one-time premier Beji Caid Essebsi.

Essebsi, 87, earlier this month accused “infiltrators” in his par-ty who oppose his candidacy of wanting to kill him, prompting an inquiry by prosecutors.

The north African nation, the cradle of the revolutions that shook the Arab world, is seen as a beacon of hope compared with other chaos-hit countries like Libya and Egypt. -AFP

The polls are seen

as the final step in

Tunisia’s transition

after more than two

decades under Zine

El Abidine Ben AliFINAL TRANSITION: Tunisian President Moncef Marzouki

speaks to media after submitting his candidacy for the upcoming

presidential elections, in Tunis, on Saturday. -Reuters

UK, France agree to stop influx of migrants PARIS: Britain and France have agreed to improve border controls and cooperate more closely in an effort to control a growing number of illegal immi-grants trying to cross the Eng-lish Channel from the French port city of Calais to Britain.

The port has long been a mag-net for illegal migrants trying to reach Britain, which is not one of the 26 European Union mem-bers to have abolished controls at common borders.

France has said the number of migrants gathering in Cal-ais has shot up as more people flee humanitarian crises in the Middle East, and northern and eastern Africa. UK will con-tribute 5 million euros annually over three years under the deal, according to a joint statement from UK interior minister The-resa May and her French coun-terpart Bernard Cazeneuve.

“This fund will finance moves to secure the port of Calais and protect the vulnerable,” Caze-neuve said on Saturday.

The port layout will be changed to make it easier to carry out controls and improve traffic flow, and barriers will be put up along the bypass leading to the port area, the ministers said. British and French police forces plan to work more closely to dismantle criminal networks seeking to transport migrants to the UK, they added.

France estimates the number of illegal immigrants in Calais at 1,500, up by 50 per cent in the past year as Europe strug-gles to deal with the influx of the world’s poor into a region they see as a haven. -Reuters

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SOHAR ALUMINIUM UNVEILS SUSTAINABILITY REPORTSohar Aluminium on Thursday launched its Sustainability Report for last year under the auspices of Sheikh Mohammed bin Suayyid Al Kalbani, Minister of Social Development. >B3

Sohar Aluminium plans to invest $35m

A E JAMESbusinesseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Sohar Aluminium plans to gradually raise capac-ity by 28,000 tonnes per annum (tpa) to 390,000 tpa by 2019 with an additional investment of $35 million, a top-level official of the company told journalists

here on Thursday.The company, which is now

upgrading to a new generation technology, currently produces 375,000 tonnes of primary alumin-ium a year in the form of hot metal, with two main local consumers.

The capacity expansion will be on a small scale since upgrading an existing plant is not like a green

field project, noted Said Moham-med Al Masoudi, chief executive officer of Sohar Aluminium, on the sidelines of an event to launch its Sustainability Report.

Upgrading to Aluminium Pe-chiney (AP) technology will allow the plant to be more efficient, par-ticularly in terms of energy con-sumption, he added.

Referring to an earlier proposal to double the installed capacity, Mulham Al Jarf, chairman of So-har Aluminium, said that there is no such immediate plan. “When the market is encouraging and gas is available, we will reconsider the expansion project,” noted Al Jarf.

Among the two local consum-ers, Oman Aluminium Processing Industries takes around 50,000 tonnes per year while Oman Aluminium Rolling Co takes 140,000-160,000 tonnes, said an agency report. A third major con-sumer of the output is being ar-ranged, Masoudi said.

The company plans to increase share of liquid metal it supplies to two customers as they ramp up their operations, ensuring that SA contributes further to the de-velopment of downstream indus-tries in Oman, according to the Sustainability Report released by the company.

Also, Sohar Aluminium man-aged to source 64 per cent of its purchases from local vendors (excluding raw materials), mostly from Al Batinah region last year. Further, as part of its corporate social responsibility framework, Sohar Aluminium board has committed 1.5 per cent of the shareholders’ profit towards im-plementing sustainable projects for the benefit of the local com-munity. These projects cover edu-cational institutions in Al Batinah region, environment and social awareness programmes and small and medium enterprises develop-ment within the region.

This investment will

raise the company’s

capacity by 28,000

tonnes per annum to

390,000 tonnes per

annum by 2019 Mulham Al Jarf. — Picture by Talib Al

Wohaibi

British trade team explores business tie-ups in OmanELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: Oman has been a pacesetter in several areas in the energy sector, including en-hanced oil recovery (EOR), and there are various investment opportunities for British compa-nies in the Sultanate, according to a UK delegation.

“Oman is the leader in the re-gion in EOR. There are some feasibility studies of enhancing renewable energy with an EOR capability of carbon capture. This is an interesting develop-ment in the technology field for the hydrocarbon products,” Terry Willis, head of a visiting delegation, told reporters here on Wednesday.

Willis, who is the regional di-rector of the Energy Industries Council (EIC) for Middle East,

Russia, and Africa, had brought a delegation of 11 companies to Oman from September 15 to 17. Around seven of these compa-nies are already established in Oman and are mainly active in the supply chain. > B4

U K - O M A N T R A D E

Terry Willis. — Picture by AR Raj Kumar/

Times of Oman

B2

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Sezad inks pact with Bank Sohar to finance projects in DuqmTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Yahya bin Said bin Ab-dullah Al Jabri, chairman of the Special Economic Zone Authority of Duqm (Sezad) signed on Thurs-day, in his office at Knowledge Oa-sis Muscat (KOM), a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Bank Sohar that stipulates facilitating the access of required finance by investors and companies that wish

to set up their venture at Sezad. This is the second MoU signed

by Sezad with local banks to facili-tate the access of required finance for investors to set up their ven-tures in Duqm Special Economic Zone. Sezad signed the first memo-randum with the National Bank of Oman (NBO) last July.

Sezad seeks to attract investors at the Duqm Special Economic Zone through signing of MoUs

with local banks. In addition, Sezad will sign similar MoUs with other local banks to provide the finance the companies need, es-pecially in the small and medium enterprises sector.

Yahya bin Said bin Abdullah al Jabri confirmed that Sezad is working to encourage the invest-ment in Sezad through a number of mechanisms including singing of MoUs. In a press statement, he ex-

pressed hopes that the MoUs Sezad is signing with the local banks would encourage local investors to localise their projects at Sezad.

Foreign investorsHe pointed out that financing is one of the challenges that inves-tors face, which Sezad seeks to overcome through the signing of MoUs with local banks which will contribute in attracting various in-

vestments and to achieve the goals of Sezad in diversifying the sourc-es of national economy. He said that Sezad is working to create an advanced and encouraging invest-ment environment to local and foreign investors through a pack-age of incentives and facilities that the Royal Decree stated (79/2013) to issue the system of Sezad.

The MoU stipulates the coop-eration between Sezad and Bank

Sohar to facilitate the required financing by investors who wish to set up their ventures in Sezad. According to the MoU, Sezad will present the offers provided by Bank Sohar to potential investors at Sezad.

Bank Sohar, as per the MoU will provide several services to the in-vestors. The MoU also includes banking for SMEs, and Islamic window business.

I N V E S T M E N T

L&T Oman wins

contract to build

Adam airbase

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Larsen & Toubro Oman, a subsidiary of L&T, has won a prestigious order from the Sultanate’s Ministry of Defence. The contract was won against stiff international competition for the construction of Adam Air base in Al Dakhiliya Governo-rate, said a company release.

“We have been gradually es-tablishing our credentials in the Middle East and, especially in Oman, as a construction or-ganisation of calibre with the successful execution of many prestigious projects, including the Salalah International Air-port,” said S. N. Subrahmanyan, member of the board and senior EVP (Infrastructure and Con-struction) of L&T.

“This order that we have won is a reaffirmation of our capabil-ity to deliver projects of magni-tude and high criticality with superior quality within stipu-lated timelines.”

T O U G H C O M P E T I T I O N

Oman Trading

office in Shanghai

SHANGHAI: Reinstating its commitment to explore new market opportunities and ben-efit from the Asian markets, the Oman Trading International recently inaugurated its rep-resentative trading office in Shanghai, China, the fifth global office for the company. Shanghai is considered a vital market in the field of oil derivatives, gas and petrochemicals. - ONA

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Sohar Aluminium’s sustainability report lists milestones Times News Service

MUSCAT: Sohar Aluminium on Thursday launched its sustaina-bility report for last year under the auspices of Sheikh Mohammed bin Suayyid Al Kalbani, minister of social development. The event, which took place at In-tercontinental Hotel Muscat, was attended by high profile dignitar-ies, executives, as well as repre-sentatives of the media.

The sustainability report re-views Sohar Aluminium’s eco-nomic, environmental and social performance as contributors to sustainable development in 2013. The report seeks to shed light on a higher level of detail on Sohar

Aluminium’s sustainability per-formance and has been published every year since 2009.

The visitors to the event were taken through an exhibition show-casing a number of Corporate So-cial Responsibility (CSR) projects that Sohar Aluminium has sup-ported. Representatives from each CSR beneficiary presented their projects and appreciated the im-portant role of Sohar Aluminium in its success. The beneficiaries included government institutions, non-government organisations (NGOs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

Mulham Bashir Al Jarf, chair-man of Sohar Aluminium officially launched the sustainability report

and explained its significance. “We have had a fruitful year in Sohar Aluminium, achieving an array of milestones across all spheres. This report fulfils our obligation as a transparent and responsible

company by sharing with you, our stakeholders, these achievements, as well as the challenges, opportu-nities and future plans,” he said.

Mulham stressed the impor-tance of Sohar Aluminium’s vision

‘Passion for Excellence, Be the Best’ and how it is deeply rooted in the way Sohar Aluminium drives its business through the six business pillars. “Our sustain-ability report focuses on each one of these pillars and our efforts to create a zero injury workplace, minimise our footprint on the en-vironment, train and develop our workforce, maximise our positive impact in community services, support downstream job creation while continuously improving our production process, and meet the highest expectations of our cus-tomers,” he added.

The keynote speech for the launch event was delivered by Mahmood Ali Al Alawi, secretary

of Al Noor Association for the Blind in Al Batinah and Al Dhahira Governorates, during which he highlighted the role of Sohar Alu-minium towards establishing the office for Al Noor Association for the Blind in Sohar.

“We contacted Sohar Alumini-um, requesting the sponsoring of the construction of the office. The response exceeded our expecta-tions. Sohar Aluminium agreed not only to build the office, but also to furnish it completely,” he said.

“This generous support is not surprising from Sohar Alu-minium, which has always been an asset to its society across all spheres, ranging from social to cultural,” he added.

P E R F O R M A N C E

Contracting companies’ staff to get free training

ELHAM POURMOHAMMADIelham@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: The Oman Society of Contractors is all set to offer its first training programme to con-tracting companies to help them improve their knowledge and skills in the field.

The programme will begin in the middle of October and will cover four areas — quality, HSE (health, safety, environment), planning and contracts management, Hamed Hashim Al Dhahab, the society’s chairman, said at a press confer-ence on Thursday.

Al Dhahab, who is also the chief executive officer of Al Watanyiah United Engineering and Con-

tracting, said that four training pro-grammes a month covering all the four areas will be provided to rep-resentatives of companies, at least for the next four to six months.

CertificateAccording to the society, the aim of the programme, developed by specialists, is to strengthen the capabilities of the contractors in Grade I and below. No fees will be charged to the beneficiary con-tracting companies.

A competency certificate will be issued to the participants who successfully pass the examination held at the end of the training ses-sions. The application process will be announced in the coming days.

Along with the training ini-tiative, an advisory team of highly qualified professionals from the members of the board has been formed to provide consultancy to contracting companies to guide them and help them overcome the challenges they are facing in the said four areas.

Advisory committeeYusuf Nalwala, managing direc-tor and partner at Al Ansari and vice-chairman of Oman Society of Contractors, said that the advisory committee comprises representa-tives from Al Ansari, Al Hassan Group, Galfar and Nafal Group.

Al Ansari will deal with qual-ity, Al Hassan with contracts

management, Nafal with safety and Galfar for planning, he said. He added that the advisory team will operate from the society’s headquarters and the training programmes will be held at the Al Ansari general purpose hall.

Also certain mechanisms will be developed to provide equal op-portunities for all the companies to participate, Nalwala said. If the programme is successful, it will be developed further, he noted.

Oman Society

of Contractors’

course will cover

quality, contracts

management, HSE

and planning

HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com haveyoursay@timesofoman.com

HONING SKILLS: The aim of the programme, developed by specialists, is to strengthen

the capabilities of the contractors in Grade I and below. – HUSSEIN MAQBLI/Times of Oman

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‘Exports from UK to Sultanate have doubled in last six years’

Asked about the purpose of the delegation, he said that it was meant to provide an exposure to UK companies, show them the opportunities to do business and thus expand UK-Oman trade.

UK-Oman tradeAccording to the British Embassy in Muscat, UK exports to Oman in 2013 were £555 million and UK imports from the Sultanate stood at £115 million. The value of UK exports between January 2014 and May 2014 were £167 million while imports totalled £143. Ex-ports from UK to Oman have dou-bled over the last six years.

Willis said that the trip painted a ‘clear picture’ of the dynamics of the oil and gas industry of Oman

and helped the members gain an understanding of the local busi-ness culture. During their stay, the delegation held talks with Petro-leum Development Oman (PDO), Occidental, Ministry of Oil and Gas, Oman Society for Petroleum Services (OPAL) and a number of local contractors in this sector.

Willis said that it was the third delegation that he had brought to Oman and there had been ‘tremen-dous’ developments since his first visit to the country about eight years ago, especially in terms of infrastructure development and investment in industries.

He further noted that UK com-panies were keen to cooperate with both the public and private sectors in Oman and hailed the

growing cooperation between these two sectors.

Public-private partnership“Oman is a leader in private-public projects for the power sector. It was one of the first countries to privatise its power generation in-dustry,” he said.

The emphasis on in-country val-ue (ICV) initiatives is also growing and UK companies warmly em-brace this policy, added Willis.

He also said that he saw a ‘bright’ future for Oman’s energy market given the heavy investments and the development of upstream and downstream industries in the country and major developments such as those in Duqm.

Commenting on potential in-

vestment by UK companies in the field of renewable energy in Oman, he said, “There are still challenges in getting these schemes to be commercially viable.”

For example, solar energy is ef-ficient only if the panels are clean and it costs a lot to keep them clean in a dusty environment like in Oman, he said, adding that there has to be more attractive tariffs for those who invest in setting up solar panels. Asked about the chal-lenges of doing business in Oman, he said that one point which can be considered both a challenge and a good initiative at the same time is the joint supplier registration system (JSRS). The initiative has eliminated the need for the sup-pliers to register separately with

each oil and gas operator and has instead created a ‘single window’ system for the suppliers to be vali-dated and registered in a common pool of oil and gas supplier base. The various oil and gas operators continuously tap into the JSRS system to seek and identify poten-tial suppliers for their projects.

Willis said that the ones that have a higher weighting of local content are favoured in the pro-cess but noted that it is a good ini-tiative at the same time as it is part of the ICV initiative.

Commenting on EIC’s past ac-tivities, he said, “We did an event in the UK (in 2012) where we got about 120 UK companies in a room and through OPAL and PDO we got some Omani companies in the UK

and they engaged together and as a result of that there has been some very successful partnerships.”

On the training programmes of-fered by EIC, which is the leading trade association for UK compa-nies in the energy sector, Willis said that EIC training consists of technical workshops, industry overviews, business and manage-ment, courses and health, safety and environment training, all pro-vided at highly competitive rates.

He also said that one of EIC’s popular courses about fundamen-tals of oil and gas will be rolled out in the United Arab Emirates - where he is based - for the first time, which takes the participants from geology through to petrol pumps in a single day.

E C O N O M Y

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Oman sees 10.4% fall in exports

MUSCAT: The total value of Omani exports at the end of May, 2014, which include oil and gas, non-oil products and re-exports declined by 10.4 per cent, or about OMR8.3 billion when compared to OMR9.3 billion during the cor-responding period in 2013.

Recently released trade and export statistics issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) re-vealed that the drop is attrib-uted to the decline in oil and gas exports by 9.9 per cent from

OMR6.1 billion by the end of May, 2013 to OMR5.5 billion by the end of May, 2014.

During the same period, the total value of re-exports declined by 24 per cent, recording re-exports of OMR1.2 billion by the end of May, 2014, against the to-tal of OMR1.6 billion during the same period in 2013.

Within the export categories, the only increase recorded was in the non-oil export category, which grew by 2.9 per cent, total-ling OMR1.5 billion by the end of May, 2014, as compared with OMR1.4 billion during the same period in 2013.

The NCST statistics pointed out that the growth in non-oil exports is due to the increase in mineral product exports by 10.4 per cent, growing from OMR417 million by the end of May, 2013, to OMR461 million by the end of May, 2014. Plastic and rubber products also contributed in the growth figures, increasing by 42.3 per cent from OMR103 million recorded by the end of May, 2013, to OMR147 million by the end of May, 2014.

National Centre

for Statistics

and Information

attributes this drop

to the decline in oil

and gas exports

Majis inks key pactTimes News Service

MUSCAT: Majis Industrial Ser-vices, the government-owned integrated industrial water so-lutions company in Oman, has signed a contract with a joint ven-ture between Spain-based Accio-na Agua, and Sogex Oman for the operation and maintenance of Majis’s 20 MLD Reverse Osmosis Plant - I at the Sohar Industrial Port Area. The contract will be for a period of seven years.

Said al Masoudi, Majis Vice-Chairman; Ahmad Saif al Maz-rouy, Majis CEO; Jesus Sancho, AccionaAgua’s Director (Middle East) and Suhaib Abudayyeh, Sogex Oman’s Business Devel-opment Manager signed the contract at a function held at Majis premises.

Briefing on the MoU, Khur-ram Shahid, Planning & Pro-jects Manager at Majis, said the Acciona-Sojex joint venture was awarded the project through a rigorous bidding process launched last year.

“Production and delivery of Process Water is a key busi-ness activity for Majis, and the high-end technical expertise of the two firms will help us better serve our clients.

Mazrouy said the partnership will ensure a better future for not only the industrial sector of the Port Area, but the employees of Majis and members of the com-munity as well, through efficient business solutions, better man-agement of human resources, and skill development of nationals from the area and beyond.

Sancho thanked Majis for their trust in Acciona’s capabilities, and said the company developed cutting-edge expertise in reverse osmosis over the decades while dealing with a series of droughts that battered Spain. “We are ea-ger to start our work at Majis. We are aware how crucial process water is for the industries, and Acciona team will make every ef-fort to ensure smooth operation of the RO plant and make the al-liance a huge success.”

O P E R A T I O N & M A I N T E N A N C E C O N T R A C T

The contract is for a period of seven years. — Supplied picture

Al Hassan wins $6.88m contractMUSCAT: Al Hassan En-gineering Co. Abu Dhabi, which is controlled by Al Hassan Engineering Co. owning 49 per cent of its share capital, has been re-ceived letter of agreement (LOA) from Gasco, Abu Dhabi, for $6.88 million engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) works for replacement of value and actuator at Buhasa. The project du-ration is 33 months from September 2014.

KPMG conducts sukuk workshop MUSCAT: KPMG in Oman, a leading Interna-tional firm providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services organised an intensive two-day Comprehensive Sukuk Workshop on September 17-18. This was the latest in a series of Islamic Fi-nance Seminars and Train-ing Courses that KPMG held earlier and is planning to hold over the coming months. — Times News Service

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ROUND-UPB5

6-year Mitsubishi warranty offers buyers peace of mind

MUSCAT: General Automotive Company, the official distributors of Mitsubishi vehicles in Oman, is giving customers an exclusive op-portunity to choose from a range of Mitsubishi vehicles and receive the best offers in the market.

The limited time opportu-nity gives great prices on a new

Mitsubishi with a peace of mind six-year unlimited warranty, six-years roadside assistance, free two-year/30,000 kilometres ser-vice as well as free registration and one year free insurance, says a press release.

Commenting on the new Mit-subishi offers, Rajesh Sharma, National Marketing Manager, General Automotive Company said, “With our extensive range of models, customers get to pick the Mitsubishi that best suits their individual needs. This limited time offer includes all the favour-ites, from the fun and affordable

Mitsubishi Mirage and Attrage, to the all-new Outlander with its impressive new safety features, to the performance-driven Lancer EX, right up to the range-topping 2015 Model Pajero.

Special pricing“Each vehicle offers very special pricing for a limited period, mak-ing it the ideal time to buy a brand new Mitsubishi and get the peace of mind customers expect from the triple diamond brand.”

The performance favourite for Mitsubishi fans, Lancer EX, boasts a 1.6 or 2.0 MIVEC engine,

advanced performance, a high-tech multimedia sound system and a five star safety rating, all for the amazing starting price of only OMR5,650. While the new Mit-subishi Pajero offers a refreshed 2015 style, with an updated front-end design that revitalises and modernises its iconic shape while retaining its legendary on and off-road performance.

Meanwhile, the fun and youth-ful Mitsubishi Mirage and spa-cious Attrage each offer a stylish take on modern city-car design, with a fuel saving MIVEC en-gine which returns 21km/litre, as

well as reinforced impact safety, and a best in class turning cir-cle for easy parking. Meanwhile, the all-new Outlander helps you explore Oman in style with spa-cious 7-seater comfort, electroni-cally controlled 4WD, power-ful MIVEC engine, Euro NCAP 5-star safety rating and a light-weight, high-strength body.

Valid from September 7 to November 6, the offer applies to almost all the non-commercial Mitsubishi vehicles line up in-cluding the Lancer EX, Outland-er, 2015 Model Pajero, and the Mirage and Attrage.

Valid from September

7 to November 6,

the offer applies

to almost all the

non-commercial

Mitsubishi vehicles

line up including the

Lancer EX, Outlander,

2015 Model Pajero,

and the Mirage

and Attrage

Muscat braces for ultimate DJ showdown MUSCAT: The popular venue of Muscat’s nightlife, Copacabana at the Grand Hyatt Muscat, is known for playing the best R&B, hip hop, dance and techno in town. But on September 25 and 26, this night-club will transform into a musical warzone, with the warriors taking on each other in a battle of beats, says a press release.

Titan Events is organising ‘Oman’s Ultimate DJ’, a competi-tion that will be held over two nights, where disc jockeys will belt out a storm of hit tracks and re-mixes in an effort to win the audiences’ hearts and votes. At stake is a poten-tially career-changing opportunity to play in a major nightclub in Bu-dapest (Hungary) over a weekend, and a slot on ‘Hi’ FM that will add to the DJ’s experience and gain them wider recognition — in Oman as well as in front of an international audi-ence. For those keen to witness the DJ competition live and cheer on their favourite DJs can buy tickets directly at the venue.

C O M P E T I T I O N

Al Hilal Islamic Bank supports Shadi Health Centre’s campaign

MUSCAT: As part of its contin-ued efforts to support activities surrounding health and medi-cal governance, Al Hilal Islamic Bank lent their support to the Health Month organised by Al Shadi Health Centre in Seeb, says a press release.

The bank supported the cen-tre by providing them with gifts for the several medical activities and happenings designed for the health month. In doing so, the bank also sought to raise aware-ness on common issues affecting the community such as diabetes, bone and blood disorders, skin ailments, etc. and the mecha-nisms for addressing them.

Abdullah Al Jabri, general man-ager and head of Al Hilal Islamic Banking Services at ahlibank said, “Al Hilal Islamic Bank was proud to support the Al Shadi Medical Centre. We’re impressed by the

centre’s ongoing success in pro-moting habits of healthy living, and the footfall generated during the health month certainly prove this. Healthy living should be-come a way of life, and we were glad to be a part of an initiative that promotes this culture among the people of the Sultanate.”

Through its various CSR ini-tiatives, Al Hilal Islamic Bank lends particular focus to health and medical facilities underscor-ing the importance of preserving the right of individuals of the na-tion to lead healthy, productive lives. Al Hilal Islamic Bank is fully committed to support civ-ic-oriented initiatives and find suitable solutions to the most pressing challenges in the com-munities they serve. Their spon-sorship of gifts for the Al Shadi Medical Centre reflects this genuine concern.

S O C I A L R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y

One-stop window on office environment MUSCAT: The Oman Office Show 2014, the Sultanate’s definitive trade fair for people passionate about innovative designs, office solutions and productive work-spaces, was held at the Oman In-ternational Exhibition Centre.

The 3-day event organised by Global Exhibitions & Conferences was formally inaugurated by Eng. Khalfan bin Saleh Al Na’abi, advis-er at the Ministry of Sports Affairs. Also in attendance at the ribbon-cutting ceremony were a number of government and private sector dignitaries, says a press release.

The chief guest toured the ex-hibitor stands, and acquainted himself with the significance of the diverse array of office fit-outs, commercial interior designs, and a complete range of office-related products — furniture, equipment, services and solutions that are essential to create the ideal work-place environment.

He also briefly chatted with representatives of various ex-hibiting companies on the na-ture of their offerings to the commercial segments of the office development market.

In his address, Al Na’abi stated, “Today’s office environment has undergone dramatic changes that have had important ramifications for efficiency, productivity and employee well-being. Organisa-tions — government or private — must constantly look at ways to upgrade the office space through the deployment of the latest sys-tems and technologies.

“Even modest improvements to the office environment, perhaps through investments in ergonomic furniture and better lighting, can bring about major improvements in office productivity. The govern-ment, for its part, is also commit-ted to periodically modernising its offices to bring them into line with international standards.”

He further stated, “I’m pleased to hear from the organisers of this event that many of the exhibitors represent reputable international manufacturers of furniture and systems that have the potential to further modernise our sports fa-cilities, stadia and clubs.”

As can be expected of the coun-try’s signature trade event on the office workspace, this year’s Oman Office Show attracted the widest array of brands, products and ser-vices catering to the diverse and rapidly evolving requirements of

the office environment. Leading players from the region’s thriving fit-out industry, as well as the global furnishing and equip-ment supply market are repre-sented as well. In addition to of-fice equipment, furniture, fit-out systems, interiors, décor, etc., the show also catered to work-spaces in hotels, malls, airports, hospitals, educational institu-tions, auditoriums and so on.

Exhibits on display spanned the following product categories: Architectural & design practices, art & décor, audiovisual equip-ment, ceiling materials, curtains & blinds, furniture & furnish-ings, fit-outs & interior designs, filing & storage systems, modu-lar systems, office automation & solutions, partitions & screens, paints, wall coverings & floorings and security solutions.

Showcasing their latest offer-

ings are some of Oman’s best-known office equipment and furni-ture suppliers, including Sharikah Fanniyah Omaniyah (SFO), Moh-sin Haider Darwish (MHD), Office Supplies Co. LLC, Bahwan Fur-nishings & Trading LLC, Fahmy Furniture, Hashimani Furniture, Al Jassar Furnishing, Al Hajiry Furnishing and Zak Furnishings.

Also showcasing their lead-ing brands and services are Kot-toor International, Wood Metal, Advance Technology, Al Maadhi Marbles & Granite, BizMax Info-tech, Desert Dreams, Douglas OHI, Karooh Engineering Consultancy, Smart Vision Technical Services, Uday Khimji International, Vivid Security Solutions, Amfah General Trading LLC, Dew Drop Air Con-ditioning Solutions, KHAIAM, Win-Win Chair Meister Korea Co. Ltd., Writebest Manufacturing SdnBhd, Al Hayat International Hospital amongst others.

“Although a mere three years since it was first unveiled in Sep-tember 2012, the Oman Office Show series has grown by leaps and bounds into a benchmark expo of goods and service that make up the office equipment, systems and fur-niture space in Oman. Today, it’s the most eagerly-awaited expo that focuses exclusively on a segment of the design, interiors and fittings industry that is growing exponen-tially in trend with Oman’s ongo-ing infrastructure, construction, commercial and retailing boom,” commented C. J. Paul, CEO, Global Exhibitions & Conferences.

O M A N O F F I C E S H O W 2 0 1 4

Lifeline Medical Centre celebrates anniversaryMUSCAT: Staff and patients at Lifeline Medical Centre in Dar-sait were all smiles as they cel-ebrated their medical facility’s first year anniversary recently. To commemorate this special occasion, the entire team got to-gether for a fun-filled celebration in the centre’s premises in Dar-sait, says a press release.

Within the past year, Lifeline has established itself as a reliable and dedicated medical facility that gives patients easy access to quality, affordable and compas-sionate healthcare.

Lifeline Medical Centre’s first anniversary celebration was pre-sided over by the centre’s CEO, Retnakumar Janardanan, who reiterated the facility’s commit-ment to the upholding of qual-ity healthcare and best service to the patients. He congratulated all the doctors and nurses for their contribution towards en-suring quality healthcare.

“A year ago, the Lifeline Hospi-tal Group, launched its third cen-tre in Oman at Darsait in Muscat.

Since then, Lifeline Darsait has left no stone unturned in its quest to enhance the overall health of people that live in the vicinity.

“The hospital brings up-to-date technology, highly expe-rienced doctors, world-class facilities and personalised care system under one roof. We have come a long way in one year and we still have a long journey to cover,” said Retnakumar.

S P E C I A L O C C A S I O N

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Amazing Safrane comes with assured cash gift

MUSCAT: Renault Oman from Suhail Bahwan Group has an-nounced a unique offer on its sleek range of vehicles for their custom-ers which will last till October 31, says a press release.

Renault’s exclusive scheme comprises a plethora of benefits on most of their top selling models. Renault’s sedan segment compris-es a prestigious line up of cars that include the sleek Renault Fluence and the strikingly good looking Renault Safrane. The SUV range comprises the Renault Duster and the Renault Koleos.

Customers purchasing the Re-nault Safrane will be entitled to receive free registration, free pe-riodic maintenance service up to two years/3,000km (whichever comes first), free unlimited war-ranty period of up to six years and a cash gift of OMR500 on the Safrane 2.0L and cash gift of OMR1,000 on the Safrane 2.5L and 3.5L models respectively.

Smooth and luxurious drive The Renault Safrane 3.5 V6 fitted

with an automatic six-speed trans-mission comes equipped with the Carminat TomTom navigation system, a solution as efficient as it is easy to update and use, with the intuitive joystick. The hands-free card allows you to open and close the doors as well as start the engine, without even leaving your pocket. Bluetooth technology allows you to make calls in perfect safety.

For easy manoeuvring, the re-verse parking camera displays ob-stacles on the colour screen, while the parking brake is activated automatically when the engine is turned off. On board the Safrane, technology is also harnessed to provide onboard pleasure in the form of the Bose audio system giv-ing you larger-than-life sound.

Upbeat styling and featuresThe Safrane name has become synonymous with quality, durabil-ity and performance. With the next generation Safrane, there is a grow-ing buzz and excitement around

the Renault range as the Safrane is a generously-dimensioned saloon car. Its nicely balanced proportions, fluid and elegant lines sweeping over the broad shoulders denote a powerful presence.

A carefully engineered blend of comfort and performance, and a choice of modern engines, the Sa-frane has an efficient new chassis including the Nissan multi-link rear suspension arrangement for enhanced ride comfort and driving pleasure.

Additionally, it also comes with an athermic windshield, electric mirrors with memory function, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, tri-zone climate control, deadlock-ing with an anti-intruder device, electric rear windows with anti-pinch, Bose CD/MP3 stereo with 10 speakers, Bluetooth, Renault key-less smart card, panoramic sunroof, cream leather seats, power front seats with massage, integrated rear sunblind, as well as front and rear parking sensors. Items such as HID

headlights, 18-inch alloy wheels and an electronic parking brake.

Some engines will settle for flattering performance, the V6 engine adds nobility, flexibility and power; the engine has gen-erous torque available from low engine revs and across a very broad range of uses. This technol-ogy is accompanied by reduced consumption, compared to con-ventional automatic gearboxes.

Renault Safrane has imposing presence and style both inside and out — be it the head or tail lamps or the rear legroom, or the sheer parking lot presence. The boot can carry the weight of the entire family’s needs. In styling, the Sa-frane’s grille is solid and European in character and everything about the Safrane suggests sobriety and high quality. The rear LED lamps provide a sneak preview of the advanced technology awaiting the driver and passengers in the vast space, reserved exclusively for them. This is not just a passen-ger compartment, it is a veritable “business lounge” of possibilities where innovation has been taken to another level altogether!

Suhail Bahwan Automobiles is largely committed to support-ing Renault Oman’s growth in the Sultanate through major emphasis on customer satisfaction and by providing world-class after-sales services in Oman. With a national network of more than 80 show-rooms, service centres and parts outlets, SBA has further built upon its legacy of trust, excellent cus-tomer service and providing value for money to each of its customers.

Renault’s exclusive

scheme comprises a

plethora of benefits

on most of their top

selling models

Al Araimi Travel Group completes 25 years in OmanMUSCAT: The Al Harthy Al Araimi Travel Group which was established in 1989, announced the completion of 25 years of ser-vice as Oman’s leading travel and hospitality provider.

This travel consortium, identi-fied today as Travel City, Travel Point and Al Araimi Travel, has emerged as one of the most re-puted and successful travel com-panies in the Sultanate of Oman, says a press release.

This group which comes under the umbrella of two of Oman’s well established business con-glomerates — Salim Interna-tional and Al Siraj Holdings, un-derwent a management change in 2008, resulting in a complete image restructuring and stream-lining of operational activities that brought about a phenomenal growth to the company in the shortest span of time. Under the able leadership and guidance of the Chairman Sheikh Dr Salim Said Hamad Al Fannah Al Arai-mi and the Managing Director Budoor Mohamed Rashid Al Fannah Al Araimi, the company has grown from only a nine-member workforce to a team of about 300 efficient and skilled personnel, dedicated towards de-livering travel products and ser-vices par excellence.

Travel City is an IATA ap-proved Passenger Sales Agent for all airlines. Formed with the merger of two travel business conglomerates in the Sultanate, in 2008, Travel City acquired two travel agencies - Al Huzaily Travels and Abu Anwar Travel to extend travel services to people even in the interiors of Oman. Today, the travel agency has 42 travel branches across the Sul-tanate of Oman and is en route to further expansion. They have earned a reputation for reliability and quality service that has made Travel City is one of the most trusted and leading travel com-panies in the Sultanate of Oman.

Travel Point office represents all other travel solutions such as international product franchises, high quality leisure and hospi-tality products. Vacations — the Outbound Leisure Travel divi-sion provides optimum holi-day solutions to all customers with tailor-made itineraries and prices. It has specialised in unique holiday products such as international educational trips, opulent travel, sports and wellness holidays and more.

Tour Oman, the Inbound Tours division, provides all travellers landing into Oman with excellent

ground arrangements and logis-tical support ranging from FIT, groups, MICE and cruises. They have currently ventured into di-verse forms of adventure tour-ism, destination weddings in Oman, events and film tourism with the aim of promoting the Sultanate of Oman significantly as a tourist destination on the global front.

Medicare tourism, the Medical Travel division which looks into the treatment of Omanis abroad, has been able to aid a lot of pa-tients at globally renowned hos-pitals with phenomenal facilities under some of the best medical practitioners. Customised spa and wellness packages, reha-bilitation and de-addiction trips have been successfully handled by the team.

“The company is proud of its achievements and service in the travel industry over the period. Our dedicated team of profession-als have strived to maintain their commitment to delivering per-sonal, professional, cost-effective, first-class service to a varied cli-entele in the public, corporate and retail sectors. We are a proud to be an Omani Travel Company and the management is keen on recog-nising and encouraging more Om-ani talent from this sector to be a part of the company’s vision in re-defining travel in Oman as well as support His Majesty’s vision for the Sultanate,” commented Sunil Prabhakar, CEO, Travel Group.

On the occasion, the own-ers of the company expressed their gratitude to the entire team working for the Travel Group as well all its customers who have supported the company for the last two and a half decades. They maintained that true to the com-pany’s vision of redefining the travel and hospitality industry in Oman, it has unique projects in the pipeline.

M I L E S T O N E

Indian School Sohar celebrates OnamMUSCAT: With the message of peace and harmony the Onam sea-son has once again come alive. In-dia School Sohar celebrated Onam amidst great cheer and the cultural extravaganza, says a press release.

The stage was decorated with flowers and with an astonishing snake boat, bringing out the crea-tive talent of students and teachers. The mesmerising Athapookkalam (floral bed) caught the attention of one and all and took everyone into a world of festivity and fun.

The students of Classes VI to XI presented a musical drama in-corporating pulikali, boat race, a famous sport performed in Kerala during the season and Kaikottikali, a traditional Onam dance. The celebration extravaganza reached its helm when the pulikali team

which included four onapuli and a shikkari entered the stage.

Sweet memoriesUnder the guidance of Rajshree, the students enacted the story of

Mahabali. The arrival of Mahabali amid the beats of panchavadyam was well-received by the audience. The celebration brought with it sweet memories — of time spent with family, of eating nice meals

and, of collecting flower petals to make colourful pookkalam.

The celebration came to an end with the message of Principal, Sanchita Verma. Mini Alex coordi-nated the whole programme.

H A R V E S T F E S T I V A L

Autumn Bonanza from Nissan Oman on all-new 2015 Sunny MUSCAT: After a series of suc-cessful promotions and offers all-year round, Nissan from the house of Suhail Bahwan Automobiles has now announced its much antici-pated Autumn Bonanza on their exclusive range of vehicles.

The re-engineered 2015 Nissan Sunny comes with major refine-ments in interior and exterior styl-ing coupled with key additions in customer-friendly technology solutions. This complete makeo-ver model breaks new ground for entry-level compact sedans, says a press release.

Customers purchasing the 2015 Sunny can now avail the excit-ing Autumn Bonanza offer that comes with benefits like free reg-istration, easy finance options, periodic maintenance service for two years/ 35K (whichever comes

first), extended warranty amount and a cashback of OMR400.

Stylish exteriorThe 2015 Sunny boasts a bold new front and rear treatment an-chored by larger headlights, a more substantial looking fascia and standard chrome plating on the grille — all of which strengthen the new Sunny.

Other exterior design elements include a fixed roof antenna, avail-able blacked-out B-pillars, chrome door handles and front fog lights. Smart aerodynamic engineering helps create a low coefficient of drag in the segment which aids in the Sunny’s impressive real-world fuel economy. An exclusive 15-inch V-spoke aluminium-alloy wheel design is available with mid variants and above.

Roomy, refined interiorNissan Sunny offers five-passen-ger practicality with a high degree of comfort and refinement. De-signed to appeal young families looking for a medium sized sedan

that combines upscale design with space, quality and value-added features, all-new Sunny delivers ease of handling in city driving conditions apart from superior fuel economy.

The new Sunny comes with a re-freshingly new centre stack shape, Nissan Intelligent Key with Push Button Ignition, a drive computer with outside temperature display and a steering wheel with stand-ard audio and Bluetooth Hands-free Phone System controls. The 2015 Sunny features a AM/FM/CD audio system, NissanCon-nect with Mobile Apps, standard auxiliary-in, USB/iPod controls, a passenger-side vanity mirror and new seat fabric.

The Sunny, with dual airbags and anti-lock braking system (ABS) as standard fitment, com-bines five-passenger practical-ity with a high degree of comfort, space and value.

The all-new Nissan Sunny’s in-terior volume of 2,549 litres and trunk volume of 490 litres is one

the largest in the segment. Nissan Sunny delivers more

rear legroom than most mid-size sedans – better than even some luxury cars. And the trunk de-sign focuses on useable space, taking into consideration every-thing from the size of the hinges to the shape of the sidewalls. A 60/40-split fold-down rear seat is standard on SV and SL models for even greater cargo versatility.

The 2015 Sunny utilizes Nis-san’s global lightweight ‘V’ plat-form and is powered by a 1.5-liter HR15DE 4-cylinder engine rated at 99 horsepower at 6,000 rpm. The engine features a range of fuel efficiency enhancing technolo-gies, including a dual injector system that allows a wider in-jection of fuel than a traditional single-injection system.

P R O M O T I O N

S U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

ROUND-UPB7

Shopping made easier as alizz, Landmark sign pact

MUSCAT: alizz Islamic bank, Oman’s newest Islamic bank, has signed an MoU with Pride Home and Max Electronics (Home Cen-tre & Emax) for personal asset finance (goods murabaha) ser-vices. As a result of this MoU, alizz Islamic bank will be a preferred Islamic banking financier for per-sonal asset finance, encompassing both home furniture buyers and electronic retail and corporate buyers, says a press release.

Saif Al Yarabi, chief operating of-ficer, alizz Islamic bank and Clive Freeman, chief operating officer,

The Landmark Group, signed the MOU at the signing ceremony in the presence of Moosa Al Jadidi, deputy general manager, Retail Banking, alizz Islamic banking and other executives from both entities.

“At Landmark Group, we con-stantly explore opportunities to improve the shopping experience of our customers. This agreement with alizz Islamic bank will make it easier for our customers to pur-chase items of their choice from our Home Centre and Emax out-lets, providing added convenience to their shopping experience,” said

Clive Freeman.Yarabi said: “The tie-up will ena-

ble the bank to increase its person-al asset finance portfolio substan-tially. It is an exciting partnership which will give us a platform to offer Sharia compliant financing facilities to prospective buyers of Home Centre and Emax through-out the country. Thus, the bank’s retail portfolio as well as customer base can be increased. We see a prosperous and exciting future with The Landmark Group.”

alizz Islamic bank is a young flourishing bank with under one year of operation. The bank has been able to offer differentiated product packages from day one with twenty four products in place for both consumers and corporate customers as well as competitive employee packages. The personal asset finance portfolio includes a dream holiday, education finance such as school or college fees, events including wedding expend-iture, Haj and Umrah, home furni-ture or even purchase of consumer durables such as electronics.

As a result of this

MoU, alizz Islamic

bank will be a

preferred Islamic

banking financier

for personal asset

finance, covering both

home furniture buyers

and electronic retail

and corporate buyers.

The deal will improve

shopping experience

of Home Centre and

Emax customers

LIAG’s architectural masterpieces soon to be seen in SultanateMUSCAT: The Netherlands Embassy will be organising a bilateral business event called “Building for Better Learning’ in cooperation with Oman Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry on November 29. One of the three workshops will focus on Dutch innovative ways of architectural design of educational buildings. The speaker will be Thomas Bögl of LIAG architects and building consultants, says a press release.

LIAG, the most famous Dutch architects and building consult-ants company, is eyeing Oman market. Recently, Thomas Bögl from LIAG visited Muscat and attended several business meet-ings to introduce the LIAG method in Oman.

Set up in 1919, LIAG has de-veloped more than a 100 schools with new layouts for diverse vi-sions of education. Within voca-tional training many schools have developed into reality simulating spaces. Many of the LIAG build-ings have been declared national monuments in the Netherlands.

“Our architecture is transpar-ent in both a functional and for-

mal respect, and we believe in an integrated approach,” an official from LIAG said.

Founded by architect Dirk Roosenburg, LIAG quickly made a name with the Philips Light Tower, which housed the Philips main office in Eindhoven, the Pa-vilion exhibition in Brussels and the KLM office in The Hague.

From 1990 onwards, his grand-son Dirk Roosenburg added many schools to the firm’s list of accomplishments. So far, LIAG has designed more than 100 schools and the firm has grown to 34 employees.

“In order to stay at the fore-front of our field and to anticipate trends and developments, a new partner joins our team every 10 years. Today, more than a dozen partners have realised many high profile projects in the Nether-lands,” they explained.

LIAG has achieved quality by taking a meticulous approach to spatial organisation, floor plan development, façade treatment, adaptation to the existing build-ing structure and the characteri-sation of accessibility.

B U S I N E S S E V E N T

Indian School Ghubra celebrates Onam in style

MUSCAT: Onam celebration at Indian School Ghubra stood out in all its splendour and grandeur. The festive spirit commenced grace-fully with the Pookalam competi-tion, says a press release.

There was a staggering number of 600 enthusiastic participants in

100 teams who designed beautiful and colourful floral patterns.

The traditional and folk dances performed by the students not only described the serenity and beauty of Kerala but also the joy and hap-piness experienced on this occa-sion. The special appearance of

Onapottan, a guest who visits every household in Kerala during Onam, was a visual treat. The drama Neipayasam and the group song brought out the best of Kerala’s culture and tradition. Thiruvathir-akkali was performed by the teach-ers with grace, style and elegance.

F E S T I V E S P I R I T

Ankit Fadia coming back to amaze Oman on November 5MUSCAT: Ankit Fadia, the world renowned young com-puter security expert and ethical hacker, will be back in Oman on November 5 and 6 to conduct a two-day workshop on IT Secu-rity and Ethical Hacking titled ‘Catch Me If You Can’. The work-shop will be conducted with the support of Information Technol-ogy Authority (ITA) - OCERT, says a press release.

“After the enthralling workshop last year, and with the outstand-ing feedback and request from the participants for a longer version of the seminar, we are planning to have a two day extended seminar cum hands-on workshop for the topic,” said an official of Omanad Conferences & Workshops Man-agement Division, the organiser.

“With the correct mix of tech-nical explanations and real life case studies, this two days work-shop will provide participants with real take home value that they can apply to their profession

and individual lives on a daily ba-sis. Plenty of real life case stud-ies, a hands on approach and live hacking demonstrations will be used to unravel the fascinating world of computer hacking!”

“Moreover, it will be an excel-lent opportunity for Oman’s au-dience to attend and experience this unique two-day workshop to learn and understand from Ankit Fadia the latest tools, techniques and methods being used by the cyber criminals and how to fight them. This will help to protect

yourself and your organisation, your kids and family, against the most dangerous cyber security threats,” he added.

Ankit Fadia, is an award win-ning speaker, who has delivered more than one thousand talks in over 25 countries and is a sought after speaker among a variety of different audiences like corpo-rates, industry meets and gov-ernment conferences, colleges etc. He has trained governments, corporates, managers, IT experts, staff and students on how to more effectively solve cyber security issues and related threats and be more secure on the Internet in corporate and business levels.

He is a bestselling author who has written numerous books on topics ranging from computing, ethical hacking and cyber secu-rity. Further he was selected as Global Shaper by the World Eco-nomic Forum and consultant to governments, police and corpo-rates globally.

C O M P U T E R S E C U R I T Y E X P E R T

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ROUND-UPS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

Industry leaders share vision on development goals, challenges

MUSCAT: Key policy makers from Oman government, con-struction industry magnates in the Sultanate and top international consultants shared their vision on Sultanate’s development and dis-cussed their experience in imple-menting the new concepts includ-ing the In-Country Value (ICV) strategy and provided solutions to the challenges at the Dossier Con-struction Awards & Summit 2014 held in Muscat last week, says a press release.

Held under the patronage of Ministry of Transport and Com-munications and supported by Muscat Municipality, Omran, Oman Society of Contractors and Oman Chamber of Commerce & Industry (OCCI), the event at-tracted more than 300 experts including industry leaders, policy makers from the government, pro-fessionals from public and private sectors including project owners, design and engineering consult-ants, construction contractors and construction material companies.

Those who attended the event included Ahmed bin Nasser Al Mehrzi, minister for tourism, who was the chief guest at the summit while Eng. Salim bin Moham-med Al Nuaimi, undersecretary – transport, Ministry Of Trans-port And Communication was the chief guest at the award ceremony. Sheikh Salim bin Mustahail Al Mashani presented a token of ap-preciation to the chief guests.

The event included a half day

summit held in the first half of the day and the award function held in the evening. The summit which began with a key note address by Dr. Hamed Hashim Al Dhahab, chairman of Oman Society of Con-tractors (OSC) and CEO of Al Wa-tanyiah United Engineering and Contracting, involved a panel dis-cussion on the topic ‘In-Country Values (ICV) - Opportunities and Challenges’ featuring top industry leaders. Simon Karam, director of Sarooj Construction and advisor to OSC, gave an introduction on ICV. This was followed by presenta-tions by three eminent profession-als from top Omani companies in-cluding Omran, Oman Electricity Transmission Company (OETC) and Oman Cables Industry.

In his keynote address, Dr. Hamed Hashim Al Dhahab said the construction sector in Oman had recorded an average growth of 5.5 per cent in the last five years and is likely to witness a boom in the coming days. The allocation of OMR2.5 billion for the develop-ment of infrastructure in the lat-est five year plan will give a boost to the construction sector, he said. The government is building several large projects in different sectors including roads, bridges, airports and seaports. He said the contracting firms are facing chal-lenges when it comes to recruiting people. Although there is full sup-port from the Ministry of Man-power, the time taken for fulfilling the target of Omanisation is more

than expected, he said.Giving an introduction on the

concept of ICV, Simon Karam said the concept launched two years ago in the oil and gas sector was all about creating national wealth through enhancing capabilities and skills, and creating awareness on the importance of helping the nation’s industry to survive and grow. He recounted the experience of United States where the public and the government joined hands to help the automobile industry; it should also happen in Oman.

He said ICV can be extended to sectors other than oil & gas.

Taking part in the panel dis-cussion Wael Al Lawati, CEO of Omran, said his company is im-plementing ICV in tourism sector in different ways. It extends from using the services of local trans-port companies to breaking-up

contracts to provide opportunity to local contractors.

He said Omran gives due con-sideration to local manufacturers and added that he was getting posi-tive support from the government, local contractors and consultants. Regarding implementation of ICV, he said the civil society should take the lead in implementing it.

Mohammed Al Ghareebi, ICV manager, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), said his company is proud to be leading in implement-ing the ICV concept. He said for PDO, ICV is not a new concept and the company had been imple-menting key values of it in the past through its social responsibility initiatives and awarding projects to local contractors.

While making a presentation, Ali Said Al Hadabi, CEO of Oman Electricity Transmission Com-

pany (OETC), said there is a huge growth in demand for power and the company was planning ma-jor expansion in different areas which will provide opportunities to consultants, contractors and manufacturers from Oman. The power generation and transmis-sion capacity of the Sultanate have improved vastly over the past and many new transmission lines are being laid, he said.

Gert Hoefman, CEO of Oman Cables Industry in his presenta-tion stressed on the importance of innovation in the manufacturing sector. Innovation adds value, cre-ates jobs and increases possibili-ties of exporting, he said.

He pointed out that his com-pany exports more than half of their products. Regarding imple-mentation of ICV in his company, Hoefman said their motto is ‘Truly

Omani, Trusted Globally’, which reflects their commitment to ICV. Top professionals from three leading consultancy firms made presentations in the Consultants’ Knowledge Series which marked the conclusion of the Summit.

The winners of Dossier Con-struction Awards 2014 were felici-tated in the gala award evening.

The event was organised in as-sociation with prominent con-sultants including Atkins, Renar-det, KEO and CH2M Halcrow. KPMG was the Validation Part-ner. Jotun Paints and Doka were the gold sponsors; L&T Oman, Sharq Sohar Group, Oman Elec-tricity Transmission Co., BEC Group & Carrier, National Bank of Oman (NBO), Said Salem Al-Wa-haibi Group of Companies, Hasan Juma Backer Trading & Contract-ing, Al Ansari Group, Athaiba Fur-niture, Voltamp Energy, Sarooj Construction Company, Simplex Infrastructures, Oman Cables In-dustry, Al Habib and Al-Watanyiah United Engineering & Contracting were the silver sponsors; Shamel International and Al Nasr Group of Companies were the support sponsors. Times of Oman and Al Shabiba were the media partners.

Dossier Construction Awards & Summit is instituted by Dossier magazine, published by United Media Services.

Dossier Construction Awards & Summit 2014

attracted more than 300 experts including

industry leaders, policy makers from the

government and professionals from public

and private sectors

Top experts lined up for ‘Strategy

Execution Conference’ on Nov. 3

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Sultanate of Oman will be host to a four-day high-profile Strategy Execution Conference featuring world re-nowned thinkers and experts from November 3 to 6 at Inter-Continental Hotel.

“Aimed at building leaders’ ca-pabilities, it’s a unique event fo-cusing on how to design, develop and, most importantly, how to ex-ecute strategy,” stated Said Saif Al Harthy, executive director, Tan-fidh Training and Consulting, the event organisers.

The first two days of the delib-erations on strategy framework and execution will be followed by four hands-on workshops on No-vember 5 and 6 to enable the par-ticipants to learn from the legend-ary experts.

Jeroen De Flander, one of the world’s most influential thinkers on strategy execution and a highly regarded keynote speaker, and Prof. Richard Rumelt, who gained a worldwide reputation with his book Good Strategy/Bad Strategy, will lead the panel of experts that also includes Rani Salman, Ghada Abdelhalim, Saif Mohammed Al Nabhani, Jude Chagas Pereira, Ayman Meneassy and Ken Delve.

Talal Al Rahbi, deputy sec-retary general of the Supreme Council for Planning, will be the Guest of Honour.

Tanfidh Training and Consult-ing is an independent Oman-based firm with experience in the fields of strategy management, balanced scorecard, business pro-cesses and human resources.

“Our aim is to provide our cli-ents wherever they are in the globe with business and profes-sional solutions, as well as exper-tise in the organisation structure, management and development of human resources. We offer a range of training, consulting and research services. Our experi-enced multilingual consultants and trainers provide these ser-vices to any size of organisations, both private and public,” added Said Saif Al Harthy.

Jeroen De Flander has shared

the stage with prominent think-ers like Michael Porter, Costas Markides, Roger Martin, Robert Kaplan and David Norton and helped more than 23,500 manag-ers in over 35 countries master the necessary execution skills. His first book Strategy Execution Heroes reached the Amazon best-seller list in five countries and was nominated for Management Book of the Year 2012 in the Neth-erlands. His second book, The Ex-ecution Shortcut, reached the No. 3 spot in its category on Amazon.

Professor Richard Rumelt has been called ‘Strategy’s Strate-gist’ by the McKinsey Quarterly. He has been elected to Thinkers 50, a group of the 50 most influ-

ential business thinkers in the world. Rumelt teaches that a good strategy is a mixture of policy and action designed to surmount a high-stakes challenge. It stands in stark contrast to bad strategy.

According to Prof. Rumelt: “When you learn to spot it, you will see bad strategy flourishing at all levels, from a local urgent care centre to the White House. The hallmarks of bad strategy are a fail-ure to define the challenge, mis-taking visions and financial goals for strategies, using fluffy concepts and language to disguise the lack of actionable ideas, and generating long lists of so-called ‘priorities’ rather than having a coherent way of exploiting a point of leverage.”

H I G H - P R O F I L E E V E N T

Aimed at building leaders’ capabilities, it’s a unique event focusing on how to design, develop and, most importantly, how to execute strategy. Our aim is to provide our clients with business and professional solutions

Said Saif Al HarthyExecutive director, Tanfidh Training and Consulting

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM

SPOR SY O U R G A M E

SECTIONC S U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

HAMILTON PIPS ROSBERG FOR SINGAPORE POLE Lewis Hamilton snatched a dramatic last-gasp pole position from his Mercedes teammate and championship leader Nico Rosberg for today’s Singapore Grand Prix with a phenomenal lap yesterday. >C4

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for a

Om obliterates own record as medal hunt begins in Incheon

INCHEON: North Korean pocket rocket Om Yun Chol broke his own weightlifting world record at the Asian Games yesterday, while hosts South Korea matched power-house China’s gold medal haul with five on the first day of competition.

Less than 24 hours after a vibrant opening ceremony marked the launch of the 17th Asiad, Om hoist-ed more than three times his own bodyweight with a superhuman lift of 170kg in the clean and jerk.

Standing just 1.52m tall (5ft) and weighing 56kg (123lbs), Om’s mighty lift came near the end of a day in which 18 gold medals were split between eight countries.

China’s Zhang Mengyuan won two gold medals, in the women’s 10 meters air pistol event and in the team event.

Some 9,500 athletes from 45 countries are competing at the Games, the world’s second-biggest multi-sport event after the sum-mer Olympics, with 439 gold med-als in 36 sports up for grabs.

And while there are 14 more days of competition to go, it is hard

to imagine a gold medal being cel-ebrated with such joyous abandon as Om displayed at the Moonlight Festival garden venue.

The London Olympic champion let out a roar of triumph, raced to celebrate with his coach, did a lap

of honour draped in the North Ko-rean flag, then posed on the podium with a razor-sharp salute as the na-tional anthem played in his honour.

The scene would not have pleased the conservative groups who had demanded Incheon or-

ganisers take down North Korean flags flying around the city in the lead-up to the Games, but the crowd’s reaction to Om’s win was one of delight, not distrust.

Tensions between North and South Korea are high and the two

states are still technically at war after the 1950-53 Korean War end-ed in a truce, not a peace treaty.

“I am very happy,” the 22-year-old Om said. “Whenever our people face difficulty, we come together and make it through the rough time.”

South Korean fans also had good reason to cheer their own athletes as they took five gold medals in wushu, fencing, cycling and equestrian.

Lee Ha-Sung picked up the hosts’ first gold in the men’s wushu changquan and his coach, Park Chan-Dae, said Lee had accom-plished something he never could.

“He has achieved my dream for me,” said Park. “Although I won gold six times in the Wushu World Championships, I only got a silver medal at the Asian Games.”

Lee’s combination of whirling kicks, athletic leaps and intricate hand movements earned him a score of 9.71 points to take gold in the martial arts discipline, ahead of Macau’s Jia Rui (9.69) and Japan’s Daisuke Ichikizaki (9.67).

India open accountSouth Korean equestrian Kim Kyun-Sub won a gold medal in the dressage team event and paid trib-ute to his late uncle, who died in a horror fall at the Asian Games in Doha eight years ago.

Kim Hyung-Chil was crushed when his horse threw him over a fence then landed on him during the eventing competition in the Qatari capital.

India, perennial underachievers at the Asian and Olympic Games, already have a gold medal to crow about after Jitu Rai won the men’s 50m pistol event.

While his closest opponent, Vi-etnam’s Nguyen Hoang Phuong, cracked under pressure, Rai kept a cool head and a steady hand to shoot straight and take the title.

There were two gold medals apiece for Mongolia and Kazakh-stan, while Japan, who are deter-mined to beat fierce rivals South Korea to second place in the medal standings behind China, could manage only one, in judo. - Reuters

Om hoisted more

than three times his

own bodyweight with

a superhuman lift of

170kg in the clean

and jerk, and his

mighty lift came near

the end of a day in

which 18 gold medals

were split between

eight countries

INCHEON: It was a day of defeats for the Sultanate at the Asian Games yesterday with Omani athletes failing to find success in the team events as well as the individual disciplines.

In hockey, handball and ten-nis, the Omani teams suffered one-sided defeats. In hockey, Oman came up against an aggressive Chinese side who handed them a 5-0 defeat while in handball, regional rivals Qatar posted a 31-19 victory over Oman.

In tennis, men’s team were defeated 3-0 by Saudi Arabia with Omran Al Balusi losing to Omar Ahmed (6-2, 6-1), Younis Al Rawahi going down to Ammar Al Haqbani (6-1, 6-0) before the Omani pair were handed a 7-5, 7-5 defeat by Musaeed Al Azzam and Faisal Al Rebdi.

The women’s team too suf-fered a similar 3-0 loss at the hands of India. Omani star Fatma Al Nabhani put up a semblance of fight before going down to Ankita Raina (6-4, 2-6, 6-3) after Sarah Al Balushi’s challenge was brushed aside by Prathana Thombare (6-0, 6-1). Later, the Omani duo gave a walkover to Rishika Sunkara and Natasha Palha.

In beach volleyball, the team

of Abdullah Said Faisal Al Subhi and Zahran Sulaiman Al Hashmi lost to Kazhaks Alex-ander Dyachenko and Alexey Sidorenko 21-10, 21-12.

In shooting, Omani girl Wadha Nassir Al Balushi finished 23 in the 10m air pistol qualifications while Sailim Al Nasri finished 30rd in trap

men’s qualification. In the 50m pistol men’s qualifica-tion, Jamal Mansoor Al Hattali finished at 41.

Jamal and Salim are sched-uled to continue their challenge in the 10m air pistol and trap men’s qualifications respec-tively today.

In today’s other action, Oman

face Tajikistan in football and the handball team will face China. Beach volleyball duo of Haitham Al Sherequi and Ahmed Al Hosni will be in ac-tion against Kuwait’s Faisal Al Ajmi and Jasem Al Sabaghah. Swimmer Issa Al Adawi will start his campaign in the 200m freestyle.

Success evades Sultanate’s athletes

ONE-SIDED AFFAIR: Sami Awadh, left, of Oman evades a tackle from Chen Du of China during their match in the hockey competition of the Asian Games in Incheon yesterday. – AFP

OCA assembly approves Indonesia as Asiad hosts

INCHEON: The Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) general assembly yesterday rubber-stamped a decision by its lead-ers to let Indonesia stage the 2018 Asian Games.

Indonesia stepped in after Vi-etnam pulled out of staging the next games because of the cost.

The OCA executive board agreed on Friday to give the event to Indonesia. Jakarta will be the main host city with events also planned elsewhere, includ-ing Palembang and Bandung.

OCA President Sheikh Ah-mad Al Fahad Al Sabah had stressed that if the general as-sembly failed to approve Indo-nesia he had the power of veto but the resolution was passed yesterday with no dissent.

“I have received many re-quests from different cities in this continent but the most se-rious bid was from Indonesia,” the Kuwaiti said.

Meanwhile, the entire United Arab Emirates (UAE) judo team has been kicked out of the Asian Games after the OCA ruled that all three members were ineligible.

Mihail Marchitan, Ivan Re-marenco and Victor Scvortov were sent home from Incheon by officials because they failed to meet three-year residency rule for naturalised citizens.

All are reportedly of Mol-dovan origin.

“We received a letter from the OCA,” said Nasser Al Tamimi, secretary-general of the UAE judo federation.

“The three got their UAE passports two years ago. We have been told they need to fin-ish the third year to allow them to participate.” - AFP

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Miller fires Kings XI to win over Tridents

MOHALI: David Miller smashed a 34-ball 46 under pressure and Parvinder Awana scalped three wickets as Kings XI Punjab notched up a four-wicket victory over Barbados Tridents in the Champions League Twenty20 here yesterday.

Put into bat, Barbados posted a challenging 174 for six, riding on twin half centuries by Dilshan Munaweera (50) and Raymon Reifer (60) in their stipulated 20 overs. Punjab then managed to held on to their nerves despite losing wickets to eventually earn a hard-fought victory, their sec-ond win in as many matches in the tournament.

Needing 25 off the last two overs with four wickets in hand, Miller and No. 8 Akshar Patel (23) scored 47 runs off 19 balls to take their team home.

Chasing 175 to win, Punjab were

off to a good start with openers Virender Sehwag (31) and Manan Vohra (27) sharing 41 runs in 22 balls but the latter was dismissed by Ravi Rampaul in the fourth over.

Sehwag and newman Wriddhi-man Saha then added another 35 runs before the wicket-keeper batsman was sent back into the pavillion by James Franklin in the eight over.

Glenn Maxwell (16) then joined Sehwag and the Australian soon started his innings with a bound-ary. However, his stay was short lived as after hitting three fours in eight balls he was caught by Ashley Nurse off Rampaul in the 10th over.

In the 12th over, Sehwag too was

back in the pavillion after he was trapped in front of wicket by Sri Lanka’s Jeevan Mendis as Punjab slumped to 103 for four.

A lot was expected from skipper George Bailey but the Australian could not stay longer as he gave an easy catch to Franklin off a Mendis delivery. Three balls later, Nurse got rid off Perera for a first-ball duck as Punjab were reduced to 131 for six in 16.3 overs.

Stranded on the other side, Da-vid Miller then blasted a six and a four spread over two overs but Punjab still needed 25 off the last two overs. Patel, who had just come into the crease, then turned out to be an unlikely hero as he blasted three fours and a six in the 19th over as Punjab amassed 20 runs.

Miller then put the icing on the cake with a six over wide long off as Punjab registered their second win in two matches.

Brief scores: Barbados Tridents 174 for six in 2o overs (R. Reifer 60 n.o., D. Munaweera 50; Parvinder Awana 3/46) lost to Kings XI Punjab 178 for 6 in 19.4 overs (David Miller 46 n.o., V. Sehwag 31, M. Vohra 27, A. Patel 23; A. Mendis 2/18). — PTI

Put into bat, Barbados

posted a challenging

174 for six, riding on

twin half centuries by

Dilshan Munaweera

(50) and Raymon

Reifer (60) . Punjab

then managed to

held on to their

nerves despite losing

wickets to eventually

earn a hard-fought

victory

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CAPTION KICKER: Parvinder Awana, second left, of the Kings XI Punjab celebrates after dismissing

William Perkings of the Barbados Tridents during their Champions League Twenty20 match at the

Punjab Cricket Association Stadium in Mohali yesterday. – BCCI

Marsh heroics steer Scorchers past DolphinsMOHALI: Mitchell Marsh struck two sixes from the last two balls to pull off a sensational six-wicket win for Perth Scorchers against Dolphins in the fourth match of Champions League Twenty20 at the Punjab Cricket Association Stadium here yesterday.

Set a target of 165 runs, Marsh’s 40 off 26 balls (three fours, two sixes) ensured Scorchers’ victory off the last ball of the match.

Earlier, Khaya Zondo’s unbeat-en 63 off 50 balls — laced with seven boundaries — helped the South African side post a com-petitive 164 for seven.

Scorchers lost Adam Voges (seven from 13 balls) early in their chase but Craig Simmons (36-ball 48) and Sam Whiteman (45 off 32 balls) kept the score-board moving but lost momen-tum in the later stages of the in-nings, with the team needing 16 runs off the last over.

It looked all over for Scorchers when 12 runs were needed off the last two balls but Marsh’s hitting pr Cobras face Hobart

After losing their star all-

rounder Jean-Paul Duminy, an injury-hit Cape Cobras take on Hobart Hurricanes at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket stadium in Hyderabad tonday.

Cobras were dealt a severe blow on Friday after Duminy was ruled out of the tournament due to an injury, which gives an ad-vantage to their opponents from New Zealand.

The Hurricanes boast of a de-cent line-up comprising the likes of Ben Dunk, Aiden Blizzard and seasoned Shoaib Malik of Paki-stan in the batting department and bowlers like Doug Bollinger and Ben Hilfenhaus.

Brief scores: Dolphins 164 for 7 in 20 overs (Khaya Zondo 63 n.o., Keshav Maharaj 29; Jason Behrendorff 3/46) lost to Perth Scorchers 165 for 4 in 20 overs (Craig Simmons 48, Sam White-man 45, Mitchell Marsh 40 n.o.; Kyle Abbott 1/25). - IANS

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MAN OF THE MATCH: Mitchell Marsh of the Perth Scorchers

receives his prize after guides his team to victory over the

Dolphins in Mohali yesterday. – BCCI

Trott denies Johnson caused Ashes exit

LONDON: England batsman Jonathan Trott insisted yester-day that Australia fast bowler Mitchell Johnson was not re-sponsible for his early exit from England’s Ashes tour as he criti-cised Michael Vaughan’s reaction to his health problems.

When Trott quit what turned out to be a 5-0 Ashes thrashing by Australia after twice falling cheaply to fast bowler Mitch-ell Johnson in the first Test in Brisbane, England officials said he was suffering from a “stress-related illness”.

However, South Africa-born batsman Trott later told Sky tel-evision he’d been “burnt out” but was not depressed.

That prompted Vaughan, Eng-land captain from 2003-2008,

to write in his Daily Telegraph column in March that he felt “conned” because he thought Trott’s comments in the inter-view were a sign he’d been strug-gling for cricketing reasons, not mental health ones.

However, in an interview with yesterday’s Daily Mail, Trott said: “A lot of people said it was Mitch-ell Johnson but it really wasn’t. It was what was going on with me; self-inflicted really.

“Give him (Johnson) credit. He bowled really well in the one-day series and Tests...I’ve actually had a few centuries against Johnson, so I wouldn’t say it’s a technique issue.”

“But without digging deeper and finding out what’s going on, that’s what people focus on,” added Trott, who in 49 Tests has

scored 3,763 runs including nine hundreds at an average of 46.75.

Trott, 33, has not played for England since the Brisbane match although he subsequently returned to county duty with Warwickshire, although a recur-rence of the illness in April led to another break from cricket.

But since coming back again with the Midlands county in June, Trott has been in fine form for Warwickshire with four tons.

Reflecting on his state of mind when he first took time out, Trott said: “I wasn’t sure if I wanted to play cricket any more. It became a relief to be away from it.” As for his current state of mind, he said: “I’m just enjoying playing for War-wickshire and if I get the chance to play for England, great.” - AFP

‘ B U R N T O U T ’

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Shot in the arm for cricket in Oman

T.K. MOHANDOSSsportseditor@timesofoman.com

MUSCAT: With Oman becoming the 38th associate member of In-ternational Cricket Council (ICC), the popularity of the game in the Sultanate has increased.

It is evident from the number of teams who have registered for the forthcoming domestic league and also the springing up of academies with good facilities.

In a recent addition, Al Hail Cricket Team, who have their main focus on Omani cricketers, have come up with a full-fledged academy and training centre (Al Hail School of Cricket) at its Ma-bella cricket ground. This has definitely provided much needed impetus for Omani cricketers

Feeling proud was Moula

Bakhsh Al Balushi, the manager of Al Hail CT, while interacting with Times Sport.

“As an Omani, I am feeling proud that I am able to support the cause of cricket in Sultanate, and this is just a beginning. I will continue to work hard to spread the game across the country,” said Moula Bakhsh, who was the founder of Al Hail Cricket Team in 2010 and now the Al Hail Cricket School of Cricket.

“With an initiative to develop cricket at the highest level in the Sultanate, Al Hail CT has gone a long way since inception in 2010,” said the cricket enthusiast, who dreams of seeing the growth of the game in Oman.

“The team (Al Hail CT) was started with the aim of giving an opportunity to local talent who were playing earlier with other

teams but with limited oppor-tunities. It has been a success story since then as Al Hail CT has firmly established its footprints by emerging champions in differ-ent divisions of the Oman Cricket League,” said Moula Baksh.

The Al Hail manager was to the point when queried about the idea of investing a lot in creation of their own ground and facilities.

“Net practice facilities were ear-

lier based only in Darsait and Wadi Kabir which is quite far for the peo-ple based in other far flung parts of Muscat, like Seeb and beyond,” he detailed. “After serious delib-eration and with support from con-cerned ministries, we were able to identify a place in Mabella, suitable for creating all facilities.”

He continued to state that Al Hail Cricket School of Cricket with its enriching vision of de-

veloping cricket in the Sultanate, started with just 15 members.

“The school has gained strength from then on and now boasts of nearly 150 members includ-ing young as well as experienced Omani players. These players are fully supported by experienced ex-patriate players who assist during training sessions,” he said.

“With a firm eye on the ongoing development of the Al Hail CT and the young Omani players, the acad-emy has roped in some highly tal-ented and experienced, profession-al expatriate players who have been entrusted a dual role of teaching the young Omani players the practical nuances of the game through live match situations,” he explained.

Confirming that the academy had its soft launch last week, Mou-la Baksh said the cricket institu-tion is open to kids of above five years in age.

“With state-of-the-art facili-ties and professional coaches, the academy is set to put its own team in Oman junior cricket league. The school has already seen an increase in membership in recent past with most parents in Al Hail, Seeb, Al Khoud, Mawallah, Mabel-lah, Fanja, Barka and Bidaya adja-cent areas agreeing to send their kids to train at the facility,” he added while thanking the Ministry of Sports Affairs for the morale-boosting support.

Moula Baksh also did not fail to point out that his effort did not go

waste. “The facility attracted ful-some praise from the International Cricket Council (ICC) officials. The ICC team consisting of Tim Anderson (Global Development Manager), Neil Speight (Chairman ICC associate & affiliate members & Director), Imran Khawja (Direc-tor), Iqbal Sikander (ACC Develop-ment Officer) and Kanak Khimji, (OC Chairman) and Madhu Jes-rani, (OC General Secretary) had visited the facilities in March this year and hailed the efforts,” he said,

On future ideas, Moula Baksh said: “The focus is to develop the facilities and bring it on par with global standards. Though we have laid astro-turf pitches, our imme-diate goal is to have turf wicket with full green ground.”

He further said that the institu-tion is now tying up with Omani schools to develop cricket at the grass-root level, nurturing bud-ding boys and thus creating aware-ness about the game and a much larger pool of Omani players.

“We are also inviting corporates and clubs to test our facilities and reap benefits,” he said.

Al Hail Cricket Team was the only cricket outfit to have partici-pated in the Sports Exhibition organised by Ministry of Sports Affairs in May 2013.

“The honourable sports minis-ter Sheikh Saad bin Mohammed Al Mardhouf Al Saadi was full of praise for showcasing cricket at the exhibition,” said Moula Baksh.

Al Hail CT, who have their main focus on

Omani cricketers, have come up with a full-

fledged academy and training centre - Al Hail

School of Cricket - at their Mabella cricket

ground. This has definitely provided much

needed impetus for Omani cricketers

FOCUS ON OMANI TALENTS: Oman’s budding talents pictured during a training session at the Al Hail School of Cricket.

FULSOME PRAISE: A team from International Cricket Council as well as Oman Cricket officials visited the facilities at Al Hail School of Cricket in March this year and praised the efforts being

made by the school. A view of net facilities, right, at the school.

The school now boasts of nearly 150 members, including young and experienced Omanis. These players are fully supported by experienced expatriates who assist during training sessions

Moula Bakhsh Al BalushiAl Hail School of Cricket

English clubs settle dispute over World Cup

LONDON: English Premiership rugby clubs on Friday settled a dispute over lost revenue during next year’s World Cup with the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for a reported compensation package worth £13 million ($21.2 million).

The clubs were concerned by the prospect of loss of income streams caused by the disrup-tion of hosting the tournament in England, British media reported. The clubs feared a possible spell of five months without income.

As part of the settlement, the 2015-16 league season will start on October 17 after the Interna-tional Rugby Board (IRB) grant-ed dispensation for club games to be staged during the knock-out phase of the tournament.

“It’s a reflection of the strength of the partnership that we have managed to come to an arrange-ment that benefits both the RFU and clubs,” RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie was quoted as saying by the BBC. - Reuters

R U G B Y

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Mourinho calls for points deductionsLONDON: Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho believes clubs found guilty of breaching Uefa’s Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules should be deducted points and have titles stripped rather than face fines.

Premier League champions Manchester City, who face Chel-sea in a heavyweight clash be-tween the two title favourites to-day, were fined 60 million euros ($83.3 million) in May for break-ing the rules, but the Portuguese believes stricter sanctions should be imposed.

“Are the fines fair? I don’t think so. What is fair is to remove points and titles,” the 51-year-old was quoted as saying by British media. “If you win titles and are then penalised economically, you continue.”

The FFP rules, which were set up by the Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) in 2012, are de-signed to limit financial losses and make football clubs more financially stable.

City have spent heavily since their takeover by Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour in 2008 in an attempt to cement their place among Europe’s elite sides.

FFP rules also dictated that their squad for this season’s Champions League was capped at 21 players rather than the usual 25, but Mourinho suggested the punishment was not enough to dissuade repeat offenders.

“If you have to take one or two players off your list for the Cham-pions League and instead of go-ing with 24 go with 22, no prob-lem,” he added. “But say you start the next championship with six points deducted, which means that you don’t play in the Cham-pions League, but in the Europa League, that is more serious.”

Since Russian billionaire Ro-man Abramovich took over Chel-sea in 2003 the west London club have been among the Premier League’s biggest spenders, but Mourinho insisted they will ad-here to the rules. - Reuters

F F P B R E A C H E S

Unbeaten ISC eye Muscat Tennis League crownMUSCAT: The Indian Social Club Muscat (ISC) tennis team is on a roll at the 2014 Muscat Tennis League organised by Oman Tennis Association (OTA) at Sultan Qa-boos Sports Complex in Bausher.

In the round-robin league of six teams, the ISC team of Suhail Khan, Mohan Kannan, Girish K.K., Rohan Negi, Nevil Philips, Subash Pillai and Kenneth Vaz are the only undefeated team and has climbed to the top of the table with one match to play.

The ISC has scored impressive victories. It defeated Langren 3-1 and has romped to a 3-0 thump-ing of Al-Hyatt Tennis Centre. ISC also defeated OTA Bausher 3-0 and Bediyah Club with a similar

3-0 margin. In the final match, ISC will take on Filipino Tennis Centre September 25.

In other results, FTCO Team achieves two wins against one loss, Langren Team won two and lost one, Al Hyatt Tennis Centre won two and lost one.

In a statement, the OTA said the association’s the aim of hosting the league yearly is to give chance all the tennis players and clubs to play competition regularly.

Six participating teams are: Bedi-yah Club: Abdullah Al Yahyeai (captain), Catherine, Mohammed Al Falahi, Younis Al Naamani, Humeid Al Hajri, Fawaz Al Mandhary, Abdulrahman Al Hajri, Saeed Al Naamani.

FTCO Team: Danny Abordo (captain),

VerCajayon, Marlon Austria, Jerome Reyes, KhairMangotara, Shuck Aldemita, Salim Al Kindy and JoshuaAbordo.

Langren Team: Luis Torres (captain), Robin Kleinveldt, Andres Echevarria, Nick Hilmer, Nikhil Sampat, Gennady, Eugene and Bong Doria.

Al Hyatt Tennis Centre: Nashat Helal (captain), Drar Antar, Imran Khan, Sajeed Khan, Bruno Vanbegin, Daniel, Deptikhan and Ishan.

Indian Social Club: Suhail Khan (captain), Mohan Kannan, K.K. Girish, Rohan Negi, Nevil Philip, SubashPilai and Kenneth Vaz.

OTA - Bausher: Abdullah Al Bar-wani, Zakariya Al Suleimani, Mariam Al Balushi, Shahrazad Al Barakat, Aisha Al Suleimani, Muneer Al Rawahi, Ammar Al Khanjary and Ali Al Sarhani.

I M P R E S S I V E W I N S

CLOSER TO THE TITLE: ISC team members, from left, Nevil Philip, K. K. Girish, Mohan Kannan, Suhail

Khan, Subash Pilai and Rohan Negi. – Supplied photo

Hamilton pips Rosberg for pole

SINGAPORE: Lewis Hamilton snatched a dramatic last-gasp pole position from his Mercedes team-mate and championship leader Nico Rosberg for today’s Singa-pore Grand Prix with a phenom-enal lap in the final seconds of yes-terday’s qualifying session.

The 29-year-old Briton left it late, crossing the line after three rivals had in succession cut their times to take provisional pole to

the raucous delight of the crowd as he secured the prime starting posi-tion by just 0.007 seconds.

Rosberg, who leads him by 22 points in the drivers’ champion-ship with six races remaining, will

start alongside him from second place after the Mercedes pairing grabbed their team’s seventh one-two of the year.

It was Hamilton’s third pole suc-cess in Singapore, his sixth this

season and the 37th of his career. Rosberg’s reaction was pithy,

but understandable when he was given the news on team radio: “Dammit!”

Mercedes F1 boss Niki Lauda

said: “Unbelievable! They did a good job my two guys, but every-one’s catching up, that worries me a little bit.”

Australian Daniel Ricciardo, whose lap appeared to be enough for pole, delighted many of his compatriots packed into the Ma-rina Bay street circuit by claim-ing third on the grid for Red Bull ahead of his teammate and de-fending four-time champion Se-bastian Vettel, winner of the last three Singapore races.

Behind the two Red Bulls, Fer-nando Alonso qualifying fifth for Ferrari ahead of Felipe Massa of Williams and Kimi Raikkonen, who was seventh in the second Ferrari.

On a tense and thrilling evening, Finn Valtteri Bottas was eighth in the second Williams ahead of Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen of McLaren and Daniil Kvyat for Toro Rosso.

In hot conditions with a humid-ity level of 77 per cent at the start, the opening Q1 mini-session was busy from the start as Hamil-ton and Alonso set the early pace under the 1,500 spot-lamps that flooded the Marina Bay circuit with light for the seventh running of a modern classic street race.

Hamilton, one of only three drivers - all champions - to have won in Singapore, clocked a best early lap in 1:47.847 to set the pace while the other two victors Alonso and Vettel, who is chasing a fourth successive win, adopted alternative strategies.

Alonso was soon on the pace, but Vettel delayed until the final min-utes when Ricciardo and Hulk-enberg also took advantage of the improving track conditions as the cars laid down a layer of rubber with their super-soft tyres.

By the end, Ferrari were on top with Raikkonen ahead of Alonso and Hamilton third ahead of But-ton, an outcome that suggested Mercedes’ mastery was under threat. It was the first time this year that the Finn was fastest.

A late effort saved Massa from joining the usual suspects in early elimination as Adrian Sutil of Sauber, Pastor Maldonado of Lo-tus, Jules Bianchi and his Marus-sia team-mate Max Chilton went out with the Caterham pairing.

In Q2, Alonso and then Hamilton set the pace again as Ferrari contin-ued to flex their new-found muscle before a late Rosberg lap lifted him top by nearly half a second.

Jenson Button missed out on the top ten shootout, finishing 11th for McLaren ahead of job-hunting Jean-Eric Vergne of Toro Rosso, the two Force Indias, Este-ban Gutierrez of Sauber and Ro-main Grosjean, who was 16th in his Renault.

For Button, it signalled that he had been out-qualified 8-6 by Mag-nussen this year while for Gros-jean, a front-runner last year, frus-tration boiled over.

“I cannot believe it, bloody engine, bloody engine,” he complained. - AFP

The 29-year-old

Briton left it late,

crossing the line

after three rivals had

in succession cut

their times to take

provisional pole to

the raucous delight

of the crowd as he

secured the prime

starting position by

just 0.007 seconds

‘UNBELIEVABLE!’ Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton is congratulated by teammate Nico Rosberg, right, after

winning the pole position for the Singapore Formula One Grand Prix at the Marina Bay street circuit

in Singapore yesterday. – Reuters

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Ivanovic, Wozniacki in Tokyo title clash

TOKYO: Ana Ivanovic of Serbia ousted top seed Angelique Kerber in straight sets yesterday to reach the final of the $1 million Pan Pa-cific Open against U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki.

Third seed Ivanovic charged back from 3-5 down in the first set to beat the 26-year-old German fa-vourite 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals.

Denmark’s Wozniacki, seeded second and looking to get over her loss to world No. 1 Serena Wil-liams in the U.S. Open two weeks ago, outplayed Spaniard Garbine

Muguruza 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 in two and a half hours.

“I started a little bit slow but af-ter the break I tried to get more ex-plosive and moving a little more,” Ivanovic said of her second broken serve which put her 2-1 down at the start of the match.

She did not lose any more serves and broke world number eight Kerber four times altogether.

“It was for sure a tough match,” said Kerber. “We played great but

she (Ivanovic) was able to catch the important moments.”

Wozniacki, 24, broke Muguru-za’s serve five times but lost hers four times in a marathon match spiked with long rallies.

“I kept fighting. It was a very competitive match,” said Wozni-acki, who was the world number one in 2010 and 2011, now ranked ninth after returning to the top 10 with her U.S. Open performance.

“I just tried to stay in there and in

the end I think maybe I had a little bit more energy than what she had.”

Muguruza, aged 20 and ranked 26th, beat Wozniacki in their two previous encounters, taking an Australian Open round of 32 clash 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in January.

Wozniacki, the 2010 Pan Pacific Open champion, broke the Span-iard’s serve in the 10th game to take the first set after surviving nine break points on her own serve.

But she lost serve three times in the second set and lost the first two games in the decisive set.

Wozniacki rallied back to take six straight games, breaking her opponent three times. An increas-ingly erratic Muguruza served and shot a forehand wide on match point.

“She broke me at the start of the third. But I knew I was right there. I had just to keep going and I was still believing in myself,” said Wozniacki, who has 22 career WTA titles including the lower-tier Istanbul Cup this year.

Muguruza later teamed up with fellow Spaniard Carla Suarez Na-varro in the doubles final. But they lost to defending champions Cara Black of Zimbabwe and India’s Sania Mirza 6-2, 7-5. Top-seeded Black and Mirza earned the prize money of $44,835. - AFP

Ivanovic charged

back from 3-5 down

in the first set to beat

Kerber 7-5, 6-3 in

the semifinals, while

Wozniacki outplayed

Muguruza for a 6-4,

2-6, 6-2 win DOUBLES CHAMPIONS: Zimbabwe’s Cara Black, right, India’s Sania

Mirza display their trophy after defeating Garbine Muguruza and

Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain in the Pan Pacific Open women’s

doubles final in Tokyo yesterday. – Reuters

FIGHTING PERFORMANCE: Ana Ivanovic of Serbia returns a shot

against Angelique Kerber of Germany during their women’s singles

semifinal at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo yesterday. – AFP

Niculescu beats Cornet for crown

GUANGZHOU: Romanian Mon-ica Niculescu overcame heat and fatigue to beat second seed Alize Cornet in the final of the Guang-zhou International Women’s Open for her second WTA career title yesterday.

The world No. 60 rallied from 4-2 down in the first set to win 10 games in a row and beat her 22nd ranked French opponent 6-4, 6-0.

“I was so happy to finish in the

end because it was very hot and very humid, and I was very, very tired,” Niculescu said after her win.

“But to finish so strong was amazing for me. I have many emotions right now, but most of it is joy and confidence. It’s my second WTA title and that’s just an amazing feeling.”

Cornet, 24, struggled with her serve and committed 12 double faults against an opponent who

had none. The 26-year-old Ni-culescu had a great week at the $500,000 event where she did not drop a set and lost just 17 games in the five matches.

“I think it’s very tough to play against me because I put many balls back and run a lot and fight for every ball - I think in this heat and humidity it’s definitely not easy to play against me,” Niculescu added. - Reuters

G U A N G Z H O U T O U R N E Y

Monfils faces Davis Cup fitness raceMETZ: Flamboyant French star Gael Monfils could miss the Davis Cup final against Switzerland after suffering a knee injury at the Metz ATP tournament yesterday.

Monfils was hurt in his 7-6 (8/6), 6-2 defeat to Joao Sousa in the semifinals of the hard-court tournament and will un-dergo an MRI scan on Tuesday to assess the damage.

“I did not want to get injured and that’s what has happened,” said Monfils. “I will have an MRI on Tuesday and hope that it’s nothing serious.”

France will host Switzerland in Lille from November 21-23 in the Davis Cup final. Portuguese sixth seed Sousa will face Bel-gium’s eighth-seeded David Gof-fin who defeated Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany 7-6 (7/4), 6-3 in today’s Metz final. - AFP

I N J U R E D

Gael Monfils

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Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Guinea given hosting rightsADDIS ABABA: Cameroon (2019), Ivory Coast (2021) and Guinea (2021) were chosen yes-terday in Addis Ababa to host the Africa Cup of Nations foot-ball tournament.

The decisions were an-nounced by Confederation of African Football (Caf ) Presi-dent Issa Hayatou at the African Union (AU) headquarters in the Ethiopian capital.

Algeria and Zambia were the other contenders to stage the bi-ennial showcase of African foot-ball. Cameroon (1972) and Ivory Coast (1984) previously hosted the Cup of Nations when it was an eight-nation tournament.

Guinea, who seemed the outsiders among the five can-didates, will be staging the 16-team, three-week champion-ship for the first time.

Morocco will stage the 2015 Cup of Nations between Janu-ary 17 and February 8. - AFP

A F R I C A C U P

Ozil, Welbeck help Arsenal stun Villa

LONDON: Arsenal stopped As-ton Villa going top of the Eng-lish Premier League with a 3-0 victory yesterday.

Villa had conceded just one league goal in their previous four league matches but all that changed as Arsenal fired in three inside four minutes at Villa Park.

The much-criticised Mesut Ozil put the Gunners in front in the 32nd minute and former Man-chester United striker Danny Wel-beck scored his first Arsenal goal two minutes later before Villa’s Aly Cissokho turned the ball into his own net.

Meanwhile, Newcastle moved off the bottom of the table and eased the pressure on under-fire manager Alan Pardew by com-ing from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at home to Hull, with substitute Papiss Cisse scoring both the Magpies’ goals.

Southampton won 1-0 away to a Swansea side who had to play more than half the match a man down after Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Bony was sent off.

QPR and Stoke shared the points in a 2-2 draw at Loftus Road while honours were also even in the goalless draw between Burnley and Sunderland.

Leaders Chelsea will look to maintain their perfect league re-cord this season away to champi-ons Manchester City today.

Elsewhere, Manchester United will go in search of their first away league win under manager Louis van Gaal, at Leicester, while Tot-tenham Hotspur take on West Bro-mwich Albion and Everton face Crystal Palace.

Ozil justifies backing Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had been forced to defend Germa-

ny World Cup-winner Ozil, a club record £42 million ($76 mil-lion) signing from Real Madrid last term, after the playmaker came under fire again follow-ing another uninspiring display in the Gunners’ 2-0 Champions League defeat at Borussia Dort-mund in midweek.

But, played in by Welbeck, he

made no mistake with a side-foot chance to put Arsenal ahead against Villa.

Minutes later, the roles were reversed when Ozil’s cross found Welbeck, who fired the ball into the roof of the net.

A stunned Villa then saw Kieran Gibbs’s cross-shot turned into their net by Cissokho, with Arse-

nal’s Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain waiting to pounce.

Arsenal moved to within a point of second-placed Villa and three adrift of Chelsea.

Newcastle, without a win in the league this season, fell behind three minutes after half-time when Nikica Jelavic put visitors Hull ahead with an acrobatic effort

from 15 yards out. Senegal mid-fielder Mohamed Diame doubled Hull’s lead in the 68th minute with a brilliant 25-yard shot.

However, Newcastle gave home fans something to cheer when, with 15 minutes remaining, Cisse powered in a shot at the near post following a fine pass from Cheick Tiote. And three minutes from time, the Senegal striker made it 2-2 after Moussa Sissoko’s ball into the box was nodded down by Yoan Gouffran, Cisse smashed the ball in from six yards out.

At the Liberty Stadium, Bony was shown a red card in the 39th minute when he took away the legs of Maya Yoshida, his second bookable offence.

But it took until 10 minutes before time for Southampton to make their numerical advantage count thanks to a goal from sub-stitute Victor Wanyama, the Ken-yan’s first goal for the Saints.

In yesterday’s early match, QPR narrowly avoided their fourth Premier League defeat of the season as a fine late equaliser from Croatia midfielder Niko Kranjcar rescued a 2-2 draw with Stoke at Loftus Road.

Mame Biram Diouf opened the scoring for visitors Stoke and, fol-lowing Steven Caulker’s equaliser, it was Peter Crouch who restored Stoke’s lead against his former club. But with just two minutes re-maining, former Tottenham mid-fielder Kranjcar scored his first goal since January. - AFP

The much-criticised Mesut Ozil put the

Gunners in front in the 32nd minute and

former Manchester United striker Danny

Welbeck scored his first Arsenal goal two

minutes later before Villa’s Aly Cissokho

turned the ball into his own net

FANTASTIC STRIKE: Arsenal’s Danny Welbeck, left, scores a goal during their English Premier League

match against Aston Villa at Villa Park in Birmingham yesterday. – Reuters

Paderborn go top as Bayern heldBERLIN: Promoted Paderborn were flying high yesterday as they led the Bundesliga with an-other victory while Bayern Mu-nich slumped to a goalless draw at Hamburg.

Elias Kachunga scored in the 71st minute and Moritz Stop-pelkamp added another after 93 minutes to beat Hanover 96 2-0 to improve to eight points.

Munich were unable to get the better of a Hamburg team under new coach Joe Zinnbauer playing out a 0-0 draw in Ham-burg. The reigning champions also have eight points from four games but are sitting third be-hind Paderborn and Hoffenhe-im on goal difference.

And Bayer Leverkusen — leaders coming into the week-end with seven points — face VfL Wolfsburg today. Hoffenhe-im remained near the top of the table with eight points without a loss after a 2-0 win at VfB Stutt-gart, thanks to goals by Anthony Modeste after 15 minutes and Tarik Elyounoussi in the 84th.

Werder Bremen’s streak of coming back from deficits to col-lect points was snapped as Augs-burg won 4-2 at home. Schalke’s struggles continued with a 2-2 draw at home in a clash against Eintracht Frankfurt where two Schalke players and one Frank-furt player saw red. — AFP

B U N D E S L I G A

Ronaldo nets treble as Real hit eight past sorry DeporMADRID: Cristiano Ronaldo netted his 27th career hat-trick and Gareth Bale struck twice as Real Madrid bounced back in style from consecutive defeats with a thumping 8-2 La Liga win at De-portivo La Coruna yesterday.

Portugal captain Ronaldo, the current World Player of the Year, put Real ahead with a 29th minute header at the Riazor before new signing James Rodriguez evoked memories of his dazzling perfor-mances for Colombia at the 2014 World Cup with a stunning strike in the 36th.

The Golden Boot winner at the finals in Brazil with six goals, Rod-riguez picked up the ball just out-side the penalty area and whipped a curling left-foot effort into the far corner past Depor goalkeeper German Lux.

Lux gifted Real, who were look-ing to avoid a third consecutive La Liga defeat, a slapstick third short-ly before halftime when he became stranded outside his area and let in Ronaldo to score his second.

Haris Medunjanin pulled a goal back for Depor from the penalty spot in the 50th minute after the referee ruled Sergio Ramos had handled in the area before Bale squeezed a low shot in off the far post in the 66th.

The Wales winger, who looks on fine form in the opening weeks of the season, scored his second

16 minutes from time when he ran on to a pass from substitute Isco and clipped the ball over Lux into the far corner.

Ronaldo completed his hat-trick four minutes later, Jose Verdu headed a second for Depor in the 84th and Javier Hernan-dez, who has joined on loan from Manchester United, came off the bench and scored a quickfire dou-ble as the home side, promoted from the second division at the end of last season, crumbled.

The Mexican’s first in the 88th

minute was a powerful left-foot strike which flew into the top cor-ner and his second was deflected into the net in the second minute of added time to complete the rout.

It was the first time Real have scored eight goals in an away match in La Liga and just the tonic the European champions needed after defeats at Real Sociedad and at home to champions Atletico Madrid. Early leaders Barcelona were the only team to win their opening three games and play their fourth at Levante today. - Reuters

L A L I G A

HUGE WIN: Real Madrid’s James Rodriguez, Cristiano Ronaldo

and Javier Hernandez celebrate during their La Liga match

against RC Deportivo de la Coruna in La Coruna yesterday . – AFP

WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COMSECTIONC S U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4LIFE & STYLE

The photographer Horst said that “the only real male elegance was English”. What do you think of English style?

I think England ‘made me’, in the sense of taste, and likes. Sometimes I think I understand the English more than they do themselves as an ob-server — I’ve been an outsider but I feel young here. England has been a continuous education.

What is so special about Englishness in your view?You don’t give a damn, and do whatever you want to do. English girls have fantasy, create a puzzle, they have the fashion, they don’t copy it or anybody.

Where do you look for ideas?Anywhere. But now I’m doing very classical things, I am having a moment of Mary Beard — fascinating — I find her so inspiring. There are a few women in I go mad for; it’s not fash-ion, but when she opens her mouth, thousands of marvellous facts come out of her.

Shall we talk about heels?Oh, I was going to talk about Irving Penn. He photo-graphed me in 2002 for The New Yorker and said to me, “Do you have heels in your shop or office?”. And I said, “Yes I do sir”. He asked, “What is the best way to photograph the heel?”. In the pic-ture I am holding the heel in ecstasy, like Saint Teresa. it’s one of my favourite photographs.

Did you meet Horst?The first time I met him was at Oyster Bay, with André (Leon Talley, former editor-at-large on American Vogue). When we arrived we asked, “Where is Horst?” and they said he was in the pool, — he used to swim every day, even if it was freezing! He had the most amazing house, one of those long flat houses in Long Island — and

he’d say, “You see those things there? Gabrielle (Chanel) gave these things to me”. The house was divine, elegant, but not even one picture of him inside, just paintings, mementoes and things.

What do you think about people wearing flat shoes?I think, why not? I love flat shoes — the only thing is you have to be very, very beautiful or very, very feminine — or both! I love tiny girls with flat shoes, it’s the chic-est thing, like Daphne du Maurier in flat shoes walking on the beach in Cornwall. She

looks fabulous.

Who do you look at now?You have to have certain things in life to follow and inspire you. I was very fortunate I grew up in England when we had people like Ossie Clark, Zandra Rhodes.

You designed your first shoes for Ossie Clark back in the Seventies; what were those shows like?Oh my God — like magic. The one I remember best

was Bianca (Jagger) opened with a cane, it was crazy — I miss most of it. Ossie would say, “Do whatever you want to do,” and John (Galliano])would say “The Princess was trapped in Europe and she wants to go to Scotland.” (which) doesn’t say a thing about the shoes, but it’s enough.

Is a brief like that inspiring?Very... much more freedom, you get the basic idea, maybe a word, and it triggers something.-

Do you send emails?No. It’s one of the things I don’t do. I have an iP-hone, and an iPad, but I don’t like to use them. — Camilla Morton/The Independent

The shoe designer has been dubbed ‘the patron saint of the stiletto’

Manolo Blahnik is a shoe de-signer who has been dubbed ‘the patron saint of the stiletto’. Born in 1943 to a Spanish moth-er and a Czech father in the Canary Islands, he produced his first collection in 1972 fol-lowing the encouragement of American Vogue’s then editor-in-chief Diana Vreeland. In 2007, he was awarded for ser-vice to the fashion industry.

Biography

Manolo BlahnikThe guru of heels talks flats

C8

EXTRAS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

When Chris Kaag boarded a flight to the Cayman Islands for a scuba diving trip

in May 2011, his legs stayed straight when he wanted them to bend and his feet flopped inward. He used two canes to move forward and cursed his feet dragging behind.

Put simply, manoeuvring the plane’s narrow aisle was, as usu-al, “not a pretty sight,” says Kaag, a Marine Corps veteran and business owner who has a rare disorder that makes his lower body increasingly unresponsive to his mind’s commands. He uses the canes or a wheelchair to get around.

But when Kaag, 38, got on his return flight six days later, some-thing was different. His legs weren’t so stubborn, his hips were more limber and, for the first time he can remember, he was able to bring his feet off the ground. “I even called the doctor — because I was floored,” he says.

Though the relief didn’t last long, Kaag’s experience offers support for a theory that scien-tists from Johns Hopkins Uni-versity are working to prove: that scuba diving has unique therapeutic effects on the minds and bodies of people with spinal-cord-related paralysis.

In a pilot study that included Kaag and eight veterans who were paralysed while in the military, the Hopkins research team com-pared physical and psychological measurements collected on the first day of the trip with readings taken after the group became scuba-certified, just five days later.

The results were dramatic: On average, the disabled veterans were 10 per cent better at sens-ing light touch and 5 per cent bet-ter at feeling pin pricks. Muscle tightness, or spasticity, decreased about 15 per cent and motor func-tioning improved up to 17 per cent. Among the five partici-pants with post-traumatic stress disorder, their PTSD symptoms were alleviated by 80 per cent, the researchers report. The re-searchers did not track how long these effects lasted, but the participants’ stories suggest the changes lingered anywhere from minutes to weeks.

“These are people who have had spinal cord injuries for an aver-age of 15 years; there are no treat-ments for people who have spinal cord injury for 15 years,” says Adam Kaplin, the neuropsychia-trist who led the study with a Hop-kins colleague, neurologist Daniel Becker. “The question became ‘Jeez, what the heck is going on?’ And to make a long story short, there were several possibilities.”

The study was small, involved countless variables and was in-tended only to explore whether the scuba theory was worth studying at all. The experience is illustra-tive of a broad scientific challenge: How do you go from a patient’s hunch to a scientist’s proof ?

“The end-all, be-all isn’t just to give you an antidepressant or throw you in therapy for 10 years,” says Cody Unser, who founded the Cody Unser First Step Foundation, a driv-ing force behind the pilot study. “It’s actually doing something that you never thought you could.”

Efforts to pursue follow-up studies are slow-moving: Fed-eral funding for science dropped drastically during the sequestra-tion last year. And the prospects may be even worse for a study that seems like no work and all play.

“People say, ‘Well, yeah, you took people to the Cayman Islands, so that must have had a therapeutic effect,’ “ says Kaplin, the chief psychiatric consult-ant to Johns Hopkins’ Multiple Sclerosis and Transverse Myelitis Centres. “Right now,” Becker adds, “I think people are still looking at us like we’re crazy.”

Unser is not one of those people. The 27-year-old, who is studying public health at George Washing-ton University, first went scuba diving in 2000, a year after she was diagnosed with transverse myeli-tis, a neurological disorder similar to multiple sclerosis but much less common. She was not searching for any therapeutic benefit: She had grown up watching her par-ents and older brother dive, and she refused to let her condition stop her from learning to do the same. The experience saved her life, says Unser, whose father is famed race-car driver Al Unser Jr.

Unser began taking other people with paralysis, includ-ing veterans, on scuba trips and trainings through her founda-tion, which she launched soon after her diagnosis in 1999. To-

day, Unser and her mom, Shelley, run the organisation, supporting its activities through a variety of sources, including connections in the racing industry, corporate sponsorships and other foun-dations. Kaplin, one of Unser’s doctors, found it intriguing that many of those divers reported sensations similar to the ones she had felt.

“Cody had been saying, ‘See? See? I’m not the only one. This is really going on. We really need a study,’ “ Kaplin remembers. “And I said, ‘Well, that’s great, Cody. Let me know when you’re going to go down there (to the Cayman Is-lands) and you have money to take people on one of these trips.’ “

For nearly 10 years, Unser pressed her doctors to initiate a study, and Johns Hopkins en-dorsed the idea in early 2011. Within months, the foundation secured funding from Newman’s Own Foundation, Paralysed Vet-erans of America and others.

Kaplin and Becker aren’t the first to study scuba diving’s effects on people with disabilities, but they’re among the few. In a 2007 pilot study, for example, German researchers reported reduced spasticity and improved quality of life among five people with paraly-sis after seven days of diving.

The researchers believe the re-sults they found are due to more than just exercise, which people with paralysis ordinarily must perform for months before seeing even the slightest benefit, Becker says. The changes in the Cayman Islands happened in days.— Anna Medaris Miller/The Washington Post

Scuba diving has unique therapeutic effects on the minds and bodies of people with spinal-cord-related paralysis, suggests a pilot study

Among the five participants with post-traumatic stress disorder, their PTSD symptoms were alleviated by 80%, the researchers report

Chris Kaag, 38 years old,suffered a spinal-cord related paralysis while in military

On average, the disabled veterans were 10% better at sensing light touch and 5% better at feeling pin pricks.

Muscle tightness, or spasticity, decreased about 15% and motor functioning improved up to 17%.

LOUIS Pasteur, a French 19th-century chemist and bacteriologist who created the first vaccines for anthrax and rabies, said, “Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”

This week we have been looking at active and passive defense. But also while the defenders are wondering whether to go after tricks or to sit back and wait for declarer to donate them, they must not lose sight of their target — the number of tricks they need to defeat the contract.

In this deal, South is in four spades. How should East defend after West leads the heart king?

West opened with a weak two-bid, showing a good six-card suit and 5-10 high-card points. East applied the Law of Total Tricks. (When your side does not have the high-card values for game, bid to the 10-trick level with 10 combined trumps.) He hoped to silence the opponents, but South had enough to overcall four spades. (Whenever the opponents pre-empt to four hearts, intervene with a bid of four spades with any reasonable excuse.)

East, when seeing two losing hearts in the dummy, should not thoughtlessly encourage with his seven. South will happily ruff West’s heart continuation, draw trumps and run the diamonds.

East knows that West has six hearts and, therefore, that South has only one. And dummy’s diamond suit is threatening. East should actively overtake the heart king with his ace and shift to the club queen. Here, this works perfectly, resulting in four spades one down instead of one over.

Phillip Alder

C9

ENTERTAINMENT

Do not lose sight of the defence’s goal

B I G N A T E

B O R N L O S E R

M A R M A D U K E

A C E S O N B R I D G E

K I D S P O T H E A L T H C A P S U L EC R O S S W O R D

Ans

wer

to p

revi

ous

puzz

le

WITH LOVE

Previous puzzle Solution

HOW TO PLAY Fill the empty cells with the numbers 1 to 9, so that each number appears once in each row, column and area. — Seven Galaxies

S U D O K U

S U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to extra@timesofoman.com

lion29 Sturdy lock30 Thunder32 Numerous38 Divide in two40 Coral habitat42 Acid rain

watchdog44 Appeal earnestly46 Whaler of fiction

48 Bikini tops49 Colleen’s home50 Studio, maybe51 Beret cousin52 Ms. MacGraw53 Mammoth Cave

loc.54 Umbrage55 Nieces and

cousins

ACROSS 1 Online info 4 Rocker Jon Bon — 8 Clammy12 Quit stalling13 Poet’s black14 I had no —!15 Frat letter16 Like autumn

leaves18 Home of a brave20 Mongkut portrayer21 “Fish Magic” artist24 Wine stoppers28 Rochester’s Jane31 Its logo was Leo33 Kind of tide34 Philosopher — -tzu35 Mr. Gershwin36 Sault — Marie37 Marble block

39 Decade number40 Put away41 Craggy abode43 Hunt and peck45 Hot spring47 Tag51 Beat it! (3 wds.)56 Ipanema locale

57 Obi-Wan portrayer

58 Opera tune59 Fido’s greeting60 Tea herb61 Relax, as rules62 Clique

DOWN 1 Almanac tidbit 2 Muscle complaint 3 Swab (hyph.) 4 Solitaire, for one 5 Kimono fastener 6 Baron —

Richthofen 7 A famous 500 8 Arness role 9 Fuss10 Plaintive cry11 Prospect for gold17 Tampa Bay pro19 Just scrape by22 Give off23 White bird25 Pause26 Green Hornet’s

valet27 Emulate Etna28 Joy Adamson’s pet

C I N E M A S C H E D U L E

BAHJA CINEMA

STARS CINEMA

Film Information - 24540856 / Advance Booking - 24540855Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com

For More Information 24789032, 24786776 Website: www.isurf.co.om

Film information 24791641 / 24786776

Drive Hard (Action / Comedy / Crime)Cast: John Cusack, Thomas Jane, Zoe Ventoura4.00, 8.00, 10.00 & 11.55 pmCP No: 1915 (PG)Last Passenger (Action / Mystery )Cast: Dougray Scott, Kara Tointon, Iddo Goldberg2.00, 6.00 & 11.55pmCP No: 1916 (12+)Daawat-e-Ishq (Comedy / Romance)Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Anupam Kher4.30, 7.00 & 9.30pmCP No: 1925 (U)Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Action / Adventure / Comedy)Cast: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner2.00pmCP No: 1811 (PG12)

Power ( Telugu) (Act\Com) Cast: Ravi Teja & Hansika Motwani3:00pm at Cinema Main \6:30& 9:30pm at Cinema - 2 Munnariyippu (Mal) (Drama) Cast: Mammootty & Aparna Gopinath; 6:15 & 9:30pm Cinema Main, 3:30pm Cinema 2 Vaanavarayan Vallavarayan (Tamil (Action \ Drama) 3:45pm at Cinema -3Cast: Krishna and Monal Gajjar Vikradhitya (Mal) (Drama) 6:45 & 9:45pm at Cinema – 4 Peruchazhi (Mal)(Com) 3:45, 6:45, 9:45pm at Cinema 4 Next Change: Aagadu (Telugu) Mardas (Tamil) Sapthama Shee Thaskaraha (Mal)

The Maze Runner (2D) (Act) Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario3:15, 7:30 & 9:30pm (PG12)Drive Hard (2D) (Crime) (PG12) Cast: John Cusack, Thomas Jane5:30, 9:45 & 11:45pmA Walk Among Tombstone (2D) (Action | Crime) (12+)4:45 & 11:45pmDawat E Ishq (2D) (Com | Dr) (U) Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Anupam Kher2:30, 9:00pmKhoobsurat (2D) (Com) (TBC) Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan7:00 pmThe Giver (2D) (Dr | Sci Fi) (12+) 7:00pmLast Passenger (2D) (Act) (12+) Cast: Dougray Scott, Kara Tointon11:30pmSin City: A Dame To Kill For (2D) (Crime Thriller) (15+) Cast: Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba5:00 pmTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (3D) (Action | Adventure) (PG12) Cast: Megan Fox, Will Arnett3:00pm

Gold Class: 11:00pm The Maze Runner (2D) (Action/Sci-Fi) (PG12) Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario 12:00, 6:00 & 11:45pm Gold Class: 6:15pm Last Passenger (2D) (Action) (12+) Cast: Dougray Scott, Kara Tointon 4:00pmDaawat E Ishq (2D) (Comedy) (U) Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Anupam Kher 11:45am & 9:30pm Gold Class: 8:30pm The Giver (2D) (Dr/Sci-Fi) (12+) Cast: Brenton Thwaites, Jeff Bridges, Meryl Streep 2:00 & 7:45pm Gold Class: 4:15pm A Walk Among The Tombstones (2D)(Action/Crime) (12+)Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens 5:45 & 11:45pm Gold Class: 2:00pm

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (3D) (Action) (PG12) Cast: Megan Fox, Will Arnett, William Fichtner 3:45pm Drive Hard (2D) (Action) (PG) 10:15am, 2:15, 8:15 & 10:00pm

Screen 1Daawat e Ishq (Romance | Drama) (U) Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Pareeniti Chopra, Anupam Kher3:30, 9:30pm Khoobsurat (Comedy | Romance) (PG ) Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan, Kiren Kher6:30 pm Screen 2Khoobsurat (Comedy | Romance) (PG ) Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan3:45, 9:45 pm Daawat e Ishq (Romance | Drama) (U) Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Pareeniti Chopra, Anupam Kher

Drive Hard – 2D (PG) ( Act | Com)Cast: Richard Armitage, Sarah Wayne Callies2:30, 6:00, 9:45 & 11:30pmLast Passenger – 2D (12+) (Act| Thriller)Cast: Dougray Scott, Kara Tointon4:15, 7:45 & 11:45pmThe Maze Runner – 2D (PG12) (Action | Mystery | Sci-Fi)Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario 3:00, 7:00 & 11:45pmA Walk Among the Tombstones – 2D (12+) (Action | Crime | Mystery)Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens2:30, 5:00 & 11:30 pmDaawat-e-Ishq – 2D (U) (Comedy | Drama | Romance)Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Anupam Kher6:30 & 9:15pmThe Rover – 2D (15+) (Crime | Drama)Cast: Guy Pearce, Robert Pattinson4:30pmMunnariyippu – 2D (M) (PG) (Thriller)Cast: Mammootty, Aparna Gopinath9:30pmThe Giver – 2D (12+) (Dra| Sci-Fi)

Sin City : A Dame To Kill For (Crime) Cast: Mickey Rourke, Jessica Alba5:30 pm; (15+) The Maze Runner (Act | Sci-Fi )(PG12)Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario2:45, 4:00, 7:45, 11:30pmMunnariyippu (Thriller) (PG)Cast: Mammootty, Aparna Gopinath, Saiju Kurup9:15 pmLast Passenger (Act | Thriller) (12+)Cast: Dougray Scott, Kara Tointon, Iddo Goldberg3:45, 7:30, 11:45 pmDrive Hard (Act | Com | Crime) (PG)Cast: John Cusack, Thomas Jane, Zoe Ventoura2:15, 6:00, 7:15, 10:00, 11:45pmDaawat-e-Ishq (Com | Romance) (U)Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Anupam Kher5:00, 9:00pm

The Maze Runner (Sci-Fi) (PG12) Cast: Dylan O’Brian, Kaya Scodelario4:30, 9:15, 11:45 pmMunnariyippu (Mal) (Thriller) (PG) Cast: Mammootty, Aparna Gopinath6:45 pm

Drive Hard (2D/PG) (Act/Com)Cast: John Cusack, Thomas Jane,2:15, 6:00, 9:45, 11:30pmThe Maze Runner (2D/PG12) (Act)Cast: Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario12:00, 4:00, 7:45pmPenthouse North (2D/12+)(Dra/Myst)Cast: Michelle Monaghan, Michael Keaton, 12:30, 4:45pmA Walk Among the Tombstones (2D/12+) (Action/Crime/Mystery)Cast: Liam Neeson, Dan Stevens12:00, 4:00, 11:45pmLast Passenger (2D/12+) (Act)Cast: Dougray Scott, Kara Tointon 2:00, 11:30pmDaawat-e-Ishq (2D/U) (Com/Drama)Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Anupam Kher2:15, 6:15, 9:00pmKhoobsurat (2D/PG) (Com/Rom)Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan9:15pmMunnariyippu (2D/PG) (Thriller)Cast: Mammooty, Aparna Gopinath, Saiju Kurup

Last Passenger (Act |Mystery ) (12+) Cast: Dougray Scott, Kara Tointon, 2:45, 5:30 pmDaawat-e-Ishq (Hindi)(Com) (U) Cast: Aditya Roy Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra, Anupam Kher12:30, 9:15 pmDrive Hard (Action | Crime) (PG) Cast: John Cusack, Thomas Jane12:15, 2:00, 3:45, 7:30, 11:30 pm

6:45pm Screen 3Finding Fanny (Dra| Comedy) (12+) Cast: Naseeruddin Shah,3:45, 9:45pm Mary Kom (Drama| Sports | Act) (PG)Cast: Priyanka Chopra, Sunil Thapa 6:45pm

Cast: Brenton Thwaites, 3:45, 5:30 & 7:30pmKhoobsurat – 2D (T B C) (Com | R)Cast: Sonam Kapoor, Fawad Khan,9:00pm

DHRUV KOLTESeptember 21

TANVIR MUDISeptember 21, 2010

AKSHAT ANAND JHASeptember 21, 1999

ABEL JOSEPH ALBYSeptember 21, 2007

LENA DILEEPSeptember 18, 2010

JUDIT MARIA BINUSeptember 21

C10

FIND-IT-ALLS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

PHARMACIESRound the clockAl Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24783334; Appolo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24782666; Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi: 24702542, Salalah: 23291635; Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra: 24503585Muscat RegionApollo, Al Hamriya. Tel: 24787766Muscat, A Seeb Market. Tel: 24421691Muscat, Al Khuwair. Tel: 24485740Muscat, Al Hail South. Tel: 24537080Dhofar RegionMuscat, Al Nahdha Road, Salalah. Tel: 23291635

HOSPITALSAl Amal Medical & Health Care Centre: 24485052Atlas Hospital: Ruwi: 24811743/ Ghubra: 24504000Al Musafir Specialised Medical Clinic: 24706453Hatat Polyclinic LLC,Ruwi: 24563641, Azaiba: 24499269, Sohar: 2683006Al Raffah Hospital: 24618900/1/2Al Massaraat Clinic & Laboratory: 24566435Al Makook Medical Coordinance Centre: 24499434Apollo Medical Centre, Hamriya: 24787766, 24787780Capital Polyclinic: 24707549Badr Al Samaa Polyclinic, Ruwi: 24799760/1/2Capital Clinic, Seeb: 24420740Ceregem National Raak: 24485633Dr Harub’s Clinic: 24563217Elixir Health Centre: 24565802Emirates Medical Centre: 246045401st Chiropractic Centre: 24472274Hamdan Hospital: 23212340International Medical Centre LLC: 24794501/2/3/4/5Kims Oman Hospital: 24760100

24 Hrs Emergency: 24760123Lama Polyclinic, Sohar: 26751128, MBD: 24799077, Al Khuwair: 24478818Magrabi Eye and Ear Hospital: 24568870Muscat Private Hospital: 24583600Welcare Diagnostic and Treatment Centre, Al Khuwair: 24477666Al-Hayat Polyclinc LLC: 22004000

ROYAL OMAN POLICEEmergencies and inquiries: 9999General Directorate of Passport and Residence: 24569603Directorate General of Customs: 24521109Traffic violations inquiries: 24510228Public Relations Admin: 24560099

ACCOMMODATIONAl Bahjah Hotel: 24424400Al Bustan Palace: 24764000 Al Khuwair Hotel Apartments: 24478171Al Madina Holiday Inn: 24596400Al Maha International Hotel: 24494949Al Fanar Hotel: 24712385Al Falaj Hotel: 24702311Al Qurum Resort: 24605945Azaiba Hotel Apartments: 24490979Beach Hotel: 24696601Bowshar Hotel: 24491105Coral Hotel Muscat: 24692121Crowne Plaza Muscat: 24660660Crystal Suites: 24826100Golden Tulip Seeb: 24510300Grand Hyatt Muscat: 24641234Haffa House Hotel: 24707207Hotel Muscat Holiday: 24487123InterContinental Muscat: 24680000Majan Continental Hotel: 24592900Marina Hotel: 24711711Midan Hotel Suites: 24499565Mina Hotel: 24711828Muttrah Hotel: 24798401

Nuzha Hotel Apartments: 24789199Oman Dive Centre: 24824240Park Inn: 24507888Qurum Beach House Hotel: 24564070Radisson Blu Hotel: 24487777Ramee Dream Resort Seeb: 24453399Ramee Guestline Hotel: 24564443Ruwi Hotel: 24704244Safeer Hotel Suites: 24691200Sheraton Oman Hotel: 24772772Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa: 24776666The Chedi Muscat: 24524400The Treasurebox Muscat Hotel: 24502570

AIRLINE OFFICESMuscat Airport Flight information (24 hours): 24519456/24519223Aeroflot: 24704455, Air Arabia: 24700828, Air France: 24562153, Air India: 24799801, Air New Zealand: 24700732, Biman Bangladesh Airlines: 24701128, British Airways: 24568777, Cathay Pacific: 24789818, Egypt Air: 24794113, Emirates Air: 24404400, Ethiopian Airlines: 24660313, Gulf Air: 80072424, Indian: 24791914, Iran Air: 24787423, Japan Airlines: 24704455, Jazeera Airways: 23294848, Jet Airways: 24787248, Kenya Airways: 24660300, KML Royal Dutch Airlines: 24566737, Kuwait Airways: 24701262, LOT Polish Airlines: 24796387, Lufthansa: 24796692, Malaysian Airlines: 24560796, Middle East Airlines: 24796680, Oman Air: 24531111, Pakistan International Airlines: 24792471, Qatar Airways: 24771900, Qantas: 24559941, Royal Jordanian: 24796693, Saudi Arabian Airlines: 24789485, Singapore Airlines: 24791233, Shaheen Air: 24816565, SriLankan Airlines:

24784545, Swiss International Airlines: 24796692, Thai Airways: 24705934, Turkish Airlines: 24703033

MUSEUMSBait Al Baranda: Corniche (seafront opp fish market), Open from Saturday to Thursday 9am to 1pm and 4 to 6pmNatural History Museum: Al Khuwair, Tel: 24604957, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm; Thursday: 9am to 1pmMuseum of Omani Heritage: (former Omani Museum), Madinat Al Alam, Sat-Wed 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday - 9am to 1pm, Tel: 24600946Armed Forces Museum: Bait Al Falaj, Tel: 24312651, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm; Thurs 9-12pm and 3-6pm; Fri 9-11am and 3-6pm. Al Hoota Caves 24498258; Turtle Beach 96550606/96550707Children’s Science Museum: Shatti Al Qurum, Tel: 24605368, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmOman-French Museum: near Muscat Police Station, Tel: 24736613, Open from Sat to Wed: 8am to 1:30pm, Thurs: 9am to 1pmBait Al Zubair, Muscat: Tel: 24736688, Al Saidiya St., Muscatmuseum@baitalzubairmuseum.comOpen from Sat to Thurs: 9:30am to 6pm.National Museum Ruwi: Tel: 24701289, Open from Saturday to Wednesday: 8am to 1:30pm, Thursday: 9am to 1pmSohar Fort Museum: Tel: 26844758, Open from Saturday to Wed: 8 to 1:30pm Thurs: 9am to 1pmMuscat Gate Museum: at Al Bahri Road, Muscat open from Sat to Wed 8am to 2pm

PRAYER TIMINGS

W E A T H E R

Dhuhr 12.05pmAsr 3.31pmMaghrib 6.10pmIsha 7.20pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 4.40am

Sunset 6:06pmSunrise (Tomorrow) 5:55am

High tide 7:22pm 8:15amLow tide 1:55pm 1:42am

OMAN

Max 38Min 33

Max 33Min 27

Max 34Min 27

Max 40Min 26

Max 38Min 28Max 37

Min 21

Max 38Min 25

Max 30

Partly cloudy skies along the coastal areas of Dhofar governorate and adjoining mountains with chances of intermediate drizzle over the mountains. Mainly clear skies over rest of the Sultanate with chances of convective

clouds development and isolated rain with occasional thundershower associated with fresh downdraft wind over Al-Hajar mountains and adjoining areas toward afternoon and evening. Chances of late night to early morning low level clouds or fog patches along the coastal areas.EXPECTED WIND: Along the southeastern coast wind will be southwesterly moderate to fresh and along the coastal areas of Oman Sea it will be northeasterly light to moderate during day becoming variable light at night. Over governorate of Al-Dhahira and Al-Buraimi wind will be northwesterly light to moderate while over rest of the Sultanate wind will be southerly to southeasterly light to moderate.

SEA STATE: Moderate along the southeastern coast with maximum wave height of 2.5 metres and slight to moderate along the rest of sultanate coasts with maximum wave height of 1.5 metres.HORIZONTAL VISIBILITY: Good over most of the Sultanate becoming poor during drizzle, fog, and thundershower.THE NEXT 48 HOURS OUTLOOK: Partly cloudy skies along the coastal areas of Dhofar governorate and adjoining mountains with intermittent drizzle over the mountains. Chance of convective clouds development and isolated rainwith occasional thundershower associated with fresh downdraft wind over Al-Hajar mountains and adjoining areas during afternoon. Chance of late night to early morning low level clouds or fog patches along the coastal areas. Moderate to rough of sea state is expected along Musandam coasts.

Max Min

GULFAbu Dhabi 38 29Doha 38 30Dubai 37 30Kuwait 43 27Manama 38 31Riyadh 38 25

WORLDAthens 31 23Baghdad 37 21Beijing 28 17Berlin 19 12Boston 27 17Cairo 31 22Colombo 30 26Frankfurt 18 11Hong Kong 29 24Istanbul 23 19Johannesburg 24 11Kuala Lumpur 29 23Lisbon 23 15Paris 22 13Perth 19 9Singapore 31 26Tokyo 26 19Toronto 20 9

WORLD

Max 26Min 16

Max 36Min 27

Max 18Min 7

Max 32Min 27

Max 27Min 17

Max 19Min 12

Max 19Min 8

Max 30Min 21

SUNDAYFLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA WY676 JEDDAH  0005WY682 RIYADH  0005WY682 RIYADH  0005WY676 JEDDAH  0005WY636 ABU DHABI  0010WY3908 SALALAH  0010WY3914 SALALAH  0015WY824 KUALA LUMPUR  01054H585 DACCA  0130NL669 SIALKOT  0200TK776 ISTANBUL-BAHRAIN  0205GF560 BAHRAIN  0320EY384 ABU DHABI  0340QR1132 DOHA  0345ET624 ADDIS ABABA  0350EK866 DUBAI  03554H586 DOHA  0605CV856 LUXORE  0635WY674 JEDDAH  0640WY658 BAHRAIN  0640WY668 DOHA  0640FZ041 DUBAI  0645WY638 ABU DHABI  0645WY902 SALALAH  0655WY686 RIYADH  0705WY432 TEHRAN  0710WY102 LONDON HEATHROW  0740FZ043 DUBAI  0800WY602 DUBAI  0800WY274 JAIPUR  0820WY202 BOMBAY  0825WY236 HYDERABAD  0850NL768 LAHORE  0900WY346 ISLAM ABBAD  0915G9114 SHARJAH  0915WY236 HYDERABAD  0925WY242 DELHI  0925WY252 MADRAS  0930WY226 COCHIN  0930EK862 DUBAI  0930WY212 TRIVANDRUM  0935WY268 LUCKNOW  0935QR1128 DOHA  1000EY382 ABU DHABI  1010IX549 TRIVANDRUM  10209W530 TRIVANDRUM  1045WY3302 MUKHAIZNA  1045WY604 DUBAI  1100WY638 ABU DHABI  1105WY372 COLOMBO  1115G9841 RAS AL KHAIMA  1120IX337 CALICUT  1155PK223 PESHAWAR  1220WY324 KARACHI  1300WY904 SALALAH  1305IX817 MANGALORE-ABU DHABI  1325WY906 SALALAH  1425WY632 ABU DHABI  1430WY918 KHASAB  1440WY812 BANGKOK  1440WY3304 MUKHAIZNA  1445WY328 LAHORE  1535FZ045 DUBAI  1545WY656 BAHRAIN  1600WY204 BOMBAY  1645QR1126 DOHA  1705WY292 CALICUT  1710WY246 DELHI  1740WY232 HYDERABAD  1740WY254 MADRAS  1740WY664 DOHA  1750WY284 BANGALORE  1750GF564 BAHRAIN  1810WY3306 MUKHAIZNA  1845TG507 BANGKOK-KARACHI  1900G9116 SHARJAH  1915WY914 SALALAH  1930WY144 MALPENSA  1945WY152 ZURICH  2030FZ047 DUBAI  2050WY614 DUBAI  2050WY312 CHITTAGONG  2110KL441 AMSTERDAM-DOHA  21159W534 COCHIN  2115AI973 DELHI  21256.00E+81 BOMBAY  2130WY624 DUBAI  2140BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI  2140QR1130 DOHA  2140UL205 COLOMBO  2155AI907 MADRAS  2200QR1134 DOHA  2225LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI  2235LH618 FRANKFURT-ABU DHABI  2235GF566 BAHRAIN  2240WY916 SALALAH  2245EY388 ABU DHABI  2245WY124 MUNICH  2255WY414 AMMAN  2300WY116 FRANKFURT  2305AI985 AHMEDABAD-BOMBAY  2310WY134 PARIS  23159W540 BOMBAY  2315WY654 BAHRAIN  2335WY662 DOHA  2340WY612 DUBAI  2345WY696 DAMMAM  2350WY648 KUWAIT  2355WY406 CAIRO  2355

MONDAYFLT NO ARRIVALS FROM ETA

WY682 RIYADH  0005WY676 JEDDAH  0005WY636 ABU DHABI  0010WY924 SALALAH  0035BG021 DACCA-CHITTAGONG  0100WY928 SALALAH  01054H583 DACCA  0130TK776 ISTANBUL-BAHRAIN  0205GF560 BAHRAIN  0320EY384 ABU DHABI  0340QR1132 DOHA  0345EK866 DUBAI  0355MS930 CAIRO  0400WY674 JEDDAH  0640FZ041 DUBAI  0645WY638 ABU DHABI  0650WY658 BAHRAIN  0650WY902 SALALAH  0655WY668 DOHA  0700WY686 RIYADH  0705EP6555 SHIRAZ  0710WY102 LONDON HEATHROW  0740WY602 DUBAI  0800FZ043 DUBAI  0800WY274 JAIPUR  0820WY202 BOMBAY  0825WY282 BANGALORE  0910WY346 ISLAM ABBAD  0915G9114 SHARJAH  0915WY242 DELHI  0925WY236 HYDERABAD  0925WY252 MADRAS  0930EK862 DUBAI  0930WY226 COCHIN  0930WY268 LUCKNOW  0935WY212 TRIVANDRUM  0935QR1128 DOHA  1000EY382 ABU DHABI  1010IX443 COCHIN  10309W530 TRIVANDRUM  1045WY604 DUBAI  1100G9841 RAS AL KHAIMA  1120WY342 LAHORE  1125WY332 KATHMANDU  1130WY372 COLOMBO  1130IX337 CALICUT  1155WY384 MALE  1200WY904 SALALAH  1225WY3302 MUKHAIZNA  1230WY818 BANGKOK  1230WY826 KUALA LUMPUR  1245WY324 KARACHI  1300WY632 ABU DHABI  1320WY918 KHASAB  1330WY606 DUBAI  1330WY906 SALALAH  1425WY812 BANGKOK  1440FZ045 DUBAI  1545WY656 BAHRAIN  1600WY664 DOHA  1620PA450 LAHORE  1630WY204 BOMBAY  1645WY292 CALICUT  1710WY610 DUBAI  1715WY3304 MUKHAIZNA  1730WY254 MADRAS  1740WY246 DELHI  1740WY232 HYDERABAD  1740GF564 BAHRAIN  1810WY3922 DUQUM OMAN  1900G9116 SHARJAH  1915WY914 SALALAH  1930WY646 KUWAIT  1950WY614 DUBAI  2020WY434 TEHRAN  2040FZ047 DUBAI  2050AI977 BANGALORE-HYDERABAD  2105WY312 CHITTAGONG  21109W534 COCHIN  2115KL441 AMSTERDAM-DOHA  2115AI973 DELHI  2125WY924 SALALAH  21256.00E+81 BOMBAY  2130QR1130 DOHA  2140BA073 LONDON HEATHROW-ABU DHABI  2140WY624 DUBAI  2140UL205 COLOMBO  2155AI907 MADRAS  2200QR1134 DOHA  2225LX242 ZURICH-DUBAI  2235LH618 FRANKFURT-ABU DHABI  2235GF566 BAHRAIN  2240EY388 ABU DHABI  2245WY916 SALALAH  2245SG061 AHMEDABAD  2300WY414 AMMAN  2300WY908 SALALAH  2305AI985 AHMEDABAD-BOMBAY  23109W540 BOMBAY  2315WY662 DOHA  2340WY816 BANGKOK  2340WY612 DUBAI  2345WY654 BAHRAIN  2345WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  2345WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  2345WY696 DAMMAM  2350WY406 CAIRO  2355WY648 KUWAIT  2355

FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD BA072 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW  0001AI986 BOMBAY  00059W539 BOMBAY  0020WY811 BANGKOK  0100WY251 MADRAS  0110WY201 BOMBAY  0115WY685 RIYADH  0120WY225 COCHIN  0120WY211 TRIVANDRUM  0120WY431 TEHRAN  0140WY273 JAIPUR  0145WY371 COLOMBO  0145WY267 LUCKNOW  0150WY601 DUBAI  0155WY235 HYDERABAD  0155WY901 SALALAH  0200WY657 BAHRAIN  0200WY123 MUNICH  0205WY115 FRANKFURT  0205WY133 PARIS  0210WY151 ZURICH  0210WY637 ABU DHABI  0220WY241 DELHI  02254H585 DOHA  0230WY345 ISLAM ABBAD  0230WY667 DOHA  0235WY143 MALPENSA  0235TK777 BAHRAIN-ISTANBUL  0255NL772 PESHAWAR  0330ET625 ADDIS ABABA  0450EK867 DUBAI  0500QR1133 DOHA  0515EY385 ABU DHABI  05254H586 DACCA  0715WY3301 MUKHAIZNA  0715WY3921 DUQUM OMAN  0720FZ042 DUBAI  0730GF561 BAHRAIN  0745WY603 DUBAI  0800CV856 HONG KONG  0800FZ044 DUBAI  0840WY323 KARACHI  0840WY903 SALALAH  0900WY253 MADRAS  0920WY327 LAHORE  0920WY291 CALICUT  0930G9115 SHARJAH  0955WY283 BANGALORE  1000WY231 HYDERABAD  1010WY905 SALALAH  1020WY203 BOMBAY  1025NL769 LAHORE  1030WY605 DUBAI  1030WY311 CHITTAGONG  1040WY245 DELHI  1040WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  1045EK863 DUBAI  1045QR1129 DOHA  1100EY383 ABU DHABI  1110IX554 TRIVANDRUM  1110WY3303 MUKHAIZNA  1115WY917 KHASAB  1140WY631 ABU DHABI  11409W533 COCHIN  1145WY655 BAHRAIN  1200G9842 RAS AL KHAIMA  1210WY331 KATHMANDU  1235IX350 CALICUT  1255PK224 PESHAWAR-LAHORE  1320WY413 AMMAN  1345WY101 LONDON HEATHROW  1400WY663 DOHA  1400IX818 MANGALORE  1415WY405 CAIRO  1440WY3305 MUKHAIZNA  1515WY913 SALALAH  1525FZ046 DUBAI  1630WY675 JEDDAH  1645WY613 DUBAI  1715QR1127 DOHA  1805WY623 DUBAI  1805WY915 SALALAH  1840WY681 RIYADH  1840WY647 KUWAIT  1850GF565 BAHRAIN  1855WY695 DAMMAM  1930WY653 BAHRAIN  1935WY661 DOHA  1950G9117 SHARJAH  1955TG508 KARACHI-BANGKOK  2005WY3907 SALALAH  2025WY923 SALALAH  2030WY611 DUBAI  2045WY825 KUALA LUMPUR  2115WY635 ABU DHABI  2120FZ048 DUBAI  21359W529 TRIVANDRUM  2230KL442 DOHA-AMSTERDAM  2230WY817 BANGKOK  2240QR1131 DOHA  2240WY673 JEDDAH  22406.00E+82 BOMBAY  2245AI908 MADRAS  2300UL206 COLOMBO  2305AI974 DELHI  2310GF567 BAHRAIN  2325QR1135 DOHA  2330LX243 DUBAI-ZURICH  2335EY381 ABU DHABI  2345LH619 ABU DHABI-FRANKFURT  2355

FLT NO DEPARTURES TO ETD BA072 ABU DHABI-LONDON HEATHROW  0001AI986 BOMBAY  00059W539 BOMBAY  0020WY811 BANGKOK  0100WY251 MADRAS  0110WY201 BOMBAY  0115WY281 BANGALORE  0120WY225 COCHIN  0120WY685 RIYADH  0120WY211 TRIVANDRUM  0120WY273 JAIPUR  0145WY371 COLOMBO  0145WY267 LUCKNOW  0150WY235 HYDERABAD  0155WY601 DUBAI  0155WY657 BAHRAIN  0200WY901 SALALAH  0200WY637 ABU DHABI  0220WY241 DELHI  0225BG022 DACCA  02304H584 DACCA  0230WY345 ISLAM ABBAD  0230WY667 DOHA  0235WY383 MALE  0235WY341 LAHORE  0240TK777 BAHRAIN-ISTANBUL  0255EK867 DUBAI  0500MS931 CAIRO  0500QR1133 DOHA  0515EY385 ABU DHABI  0525FZ042 DUBAI  0730GF561 BAHRAIN  0745WY603 DUBAI  0800WY3301 MUKHAIZNA  0800EP6556 SHIRAZ  0810WY903 SALALAH  0830WY323 KARACHI  0840FZ044 DUBAI  0840WY253 MADRAS  0920WY291 CALICUT  0930WY815 BANGKOK  0940G9115 SHARJAH  0955WY231 HYDERABAD  1010WY905 SALALAH  1020WY203 BOMBAY  1025WY605 DUBAI  1030WY631 RIYADH  1030WY917 KHASAB  1030WY311 CHITTAGONG  1040WY245 DELHI  1040WY717 ZANZIBAR-DARESSLAM  1045EK863 DUBAI  1045QR1129 DOHA  1100EY383 ABU DHABI  1110IX442 COCHIN  11259W533 COCHIN  1145WY655 BAHRAIN  1200G9842 RAS AL KHAIMA  1210WY663 DOHA  1230WY331 KATHMANDU  1235IX350 CALICUT  1255WY3303 MUKHAIZNA  1330WY413 AMMAN  1345WY131 PARIS  1350WY153 ZURICH  1350WY113 FRANKFURT  1355WY101 LONDON HEATHROW  1400WY609 DUBAI  1405WY121 MUNICH  1415WY645 KUWAIT  1440WY433 TEHRAN  1440WY405 CAIRO  1440WY3921 DUQUM OMAN  1515WY913 SALALAH  1525WY141 MALPENSA  1600FZ046 DUBAI  1630WY675 JEDDAH  1645WY613 DUBAI  1715WY923 SALALAH  1720PA451 LAHORE  1730WY623 DUBAI  1805WY681 RIYADH  1840WY915 SALALAH  1840WY647 KUWAIT  1850GF565 BAHRAIN  1855WY907 SALALAH  1900WY695 DAMMAM  1930WY653 BAHRAIN  1935WY661 DOHA  1950G9117 SHARJAH  1955WY611 DUBAI  2045WY635 ABU DHABI  2120FZ048 DUBAI  2135AI978 HYDERABAD-BANGALORE  2200WY411 AMMAN  2210WY421 BEIRUT  22309W529 TRIVANDRUM  2230KL442 DOHA-AMSTERDAM  2230WY673 JEDDAH  2240QR1131 DOHA  22406.00E+82 BOMBAY  2245AI908 MADRAS  2300UL206 COLOMBO  2305AI974 DELHI  2310GF567 BAHRAIN  2325QR1135 DOHA  2330LX243 DUBAI-ZURICH  2335EY381 ABU DHABI  2345LH619 ABU DHABI-FRANKFURT  2355

A I R L I N E S

LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE

QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (Route 36)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily

FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (Route 36)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (Route 41)06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily 16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily 16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily

TO AL BURAIMI (Route 41)07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily 13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily 17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily

TO SINAW (Route 52)17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily

TO SINAW (Route 52)07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily

To Yanqul (Route 54)14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily

To Yanqul (Route 54)06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (Route 54)08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily

TO IBRI (ARAQI) (Route 54)15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily

TO SUR (Route 55)07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily

TO SUR (Route 55)06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily

TO FAHUD - YIBAL (Route 62)06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily

TO YIBAL - FAHUD (Route 62)12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily

TO DUBAI (Route 201)06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily

TO DUBAI (Route 201)07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily

TO MARMUL-SALALAH (Route 100)07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily

TO SALALAH -MARMUL (Route 100)07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily

TO MARMUL (Route 101)06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily

SALALAH TO DUBAI (Route 102)15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily

TO MARMUL (Route 101)06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily

DUBAI TO SALALAH (Route 102)15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily

TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily 07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily 07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily

FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (Route 204)Dept Destination Arrival Operating Time Time Days 16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily 16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily

FROM MUSCAT (RUWI) TO MUSCAT (RUWI)

LISTINGS

BORN today, you are not always likely to enjoy everything that you have to do in life, but you engage in even the most unpleasant of tasks in a way that keeps you from active displeasure. You have a way of smiling at Fortune, and of doing everything in such a way that has others believing that you can actually take delight in almost anything. The truth is, of course, that you do not — but that is your business! You believe that whether you are enjoying yourself is something that only you have to know for sure, and you enjoy being rather mysterious when it comes to performing with a smile those tasks you do not actually enjoy.

You are a complex individual, and many times you may be thinking or feeling one thing while feeling or thinking something different at the same time. Your heart and your head are not always in agreement, but they are always somehow in sync, working on the same problems at the same time — albeit in different ways.

Also born on this date are: Bill Murray, actor; Stephen King, author; Faith Hill, singer; Larry Hagman, actor; Luke Wilson, actor; Ricki Lake, actress and TV personality; Chuck Jones, animator and director; H.G. Wells, author; Jerry Bruckheimer, producer; Nancy Travis, actress; Ethan Coen, filmmaker.

You may not be able to avoid reacting emotionally to an affront that was not in any way intentional. This only makes things trickier!

VIRGO [AUG. 23-SEPT. 22]

LIBRA [SEPT. 23-OCT. 22] LLLLLLLLLLLLLLL[S[S[S[S[S[[S[S[S[S[S[S[S[S[S[SSSS[SSSSSS

SCORPIO [OCT. 23-NOV. 21] S[

SAGITTARIUS [NOV. 22-DEC. 21] S[[[[[[[[[[[[[

AQUARIUS [JAN. 20-FEB. 18]

You’re likely to encounter one who offers no end of temptation, but you can rely on a past commitment to keep you from making any mistakes.

It’s important for you to dig through a great deal that is worthless before you come up with what you desire; it will mean more to you that way!

You can effectively avoid falling into a serious depression simply by steering clear of something you know to have a detrimental effect.

You may fear that someone close to you has betrayed you, but in fact, he or she is actually trying to surprise you with something good!

You may not be able to avoid all criticism, but you can certainly take the high road in your manner of response.

You can spare someone something painful simply by doing what is expected and avoiding that which could be a surprise.

You’ll enjoy more freedom of choice than usual today, but what you do with it is far more important than the freedom itself.

PISCES [Feb. 19-March 20]

Your imagination will see you through a difficult situation that proves too much for those who cannot see an end approaching.

GEMINI [MAY 21-JUNE 20]

CANCER [JUNE 21-JULY 22]

LEO [JULY 23-AUG. 22]

CAPRICORN [DEC. 22-JAN 19]

Y O U R B I R T H D A Y

ARIES [March 21-APRIL 19]

TAURUS [APRIL 20-MAY 20]

You’re going to need help as you try to do something that requires more than two hands and two feet. This can be a fun adventure!

Go through the proper channels, and you’ll surely have what you need squarely in hand when you absolutely need it.

Another may think that you’re paying attention, and you’ll want to let him or her go on thinking just that for a while!

—www.met.gov.om

C11

EXTRAS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

Stress makes people grumpy, nasty, grouchy

WHY IS it that when people are too stressed they are often grouchy, grumpy, nasty, distracted or for-getful? Researchers have now discovered the mechanism that explains the relationship between chronic stress and the loss of so-cial skills and cognitive impair-ment. When triggered by stress, an enzyme attacks a synaptic regula-tory molecule in the brain, leading to behavioural problems, the find-ings showed. “The identification

of this mechanism is important because it suggests potential treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders related to chronic stress, particularly depression,” said co-researcher Carmen Sandi from Brain Mind Institute (BMI) at Swiss Federal In-stitute of Technology in Lausanne, Switzerland. For the study, researchers studied a region of the hippocampus known for its involvement in behaviour and cognitive skills.

Why unequal pay irks employeesEVER WONDERED why it bothers you when your colleague earns more even when both of you do the same job? This is be-cause humans have a sense of fairness that has evolved over time to favour long-term cooperation, says a study. The human response to unfairness evolved in order to support long-term cooperation, the findings showed. “This sense of fairness is the basis of lots of things in human society, from wage discrimina-tion to international politics,” said Sarah Brosnan from Georgia State University in the US. Fairness is a social ideal that can-not be measured, so to understand the evolution of fairness in humans, the scientists had earlier studied the behavioural responses to equal versus unequal reward division in other primates. In this study, brown capuchin monkeys became ag-itated and refused to perform a task when a partner received a superior reward for that same task.

Decoded: What makes people feel ‘disappointed’RESEARCHERS have identified a control mechanism in the brain that processes sensory and emotive information that hu-mans experience as “disappointment”. “The idea that some people see the world as ‘a glass half empty’ has a chemical basis in the brain,” said Roberto Malinow, a professor at Uni-versity of California, San Diego School of Medicine. “What we have found is a process that may dampen the brain’s sen-sitivity to negative life events,” he added. As people strug-gling with depression are believed to register negative experiences more strongly than others, the findings have implications for understanding not just why some people have a brain chemistry that predisposes them to depression, but also how to treat it. —IANS

H E A L T H & S C I E N C E N O T E S

Unlike animals, hu-mans do not rec-ognise each other by smell, accord-ing to a study by

researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, on how our bodies have evolved.

The scientists assessed human facial variability using a US Army database of body measurements compiled from male and female personnel in 1988. A comparison of the facial traits of European Americans and African Ameri-cans, such as forehead-chin dis-tance, ear height, nose width and distance between pupils, with other body traits such as forearm length or height at waist, showed that facial traits are more varied than the others. The most variable traits are situated within the tri-angle of the eyes, mouth and nose.

The research team also had access to data collected by the 1000 Genome project, which has sequenced more than 1,000 hu-man genomes since 2008 and catalogued nearly 40million ge-netic variations among humans worldwide. Looking at regions of the human genome that have been identified as determining

the shape of the face, they found a much higher number of variants than for traits, such as height, not involving the face.

The authors asked whether the distance between the eyes or width of the nose was variable just by chance, or whether there has there been evolutionary se-lection to be more variable than they would be otherwise.

They found that people with longer arms typically have long-er legs, while people with wider noses or widely spaced eyes don’t have longer noses. Both findings suggest that facial variation has been enhanced through evolution.

Behavioural ecologist Michael Sheehan, co-author of the study published today in the online journal Nature Communications, said many animals use smell or sound to identify individuals, making distinctive facial features unimportant, especially for ani-mals that roam after dark, but hu-mans are different.

He said: “Humans are phenom-enally good at recognising faces; there is a part of the brain spe-cialised for that. Our study now shows that humans have been se-

lected to be unique and easily rec-ognisable. It is clearly beneficial for me to recognise others, but also beneficial for me to be recog-nisable. Otherwise, we would all look more similar.”

Michael Nachman, population geneticist and co-author of the study, said: “Genetic variation tends to be weeded out by natu-ral selection in the case of traits that are essential to survival. Here it is the opposite; selection is maintaining variation. All of this is consistent with the idea that there has been selection for variation to facilitate recogni-tion of individuals.”

The pair also compared the human genomes with recently sequenced genomes of Neander-thals and Denisovans and found similar genetic variation, which indicates that the facial variation in modern humans must have originated prior to the split be-tween these different lineages.

“Clearly, we recognise people by many traits — for example their height or their gait — but our findings argue that the face is the predominant way we recognise people,” Sheehan said.— Paul Gallagher/The Independent

Human faces have evolved to be unique

because we recognise one another by sight

Human faces evolvedto be recognisable

Humans are phenomenally good at recognising faces; there is a part of the brain specialised for that. Our study now shows that humans have been selected to be unique and easily recognisable

Michael SheehanBehavioural Ecologist

C12

EXTRAS U N DAY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

Daawat-e-Ishq is not as inviting as the title or the film’s promotional events suggested. Food is

important to the plot, yes. And hats off to writer-director Habib Faisal for tempering the texture of the tale with a culinary flavour.

You wish food were the driving force in this freewheeling tale of love during the times of biryani. But no, this is not really a film about food. It’s about a Muslim girl’s search for a life beyond find-ing a suitable match.

At least that is what the plot seems to suggest.

Faisal’s special gift as a film-maker is to portray the Indian middle-class in all its squalid glory. He doesn’t sweep the murk under the threadbare carpet. He

takes on the quirks guilt and the conflicts of the ‘muddle class’ headlong.

Till a certain point the narrative in Daawat-e-Ishq tells us some pungent home truths about the over-educated’ unmarried middle-class girl’s plight as she is forced to squeeze into an ar-ranged marriage.

Anupam Kher and Parineeti Chopra are so convincing as fa-ther and daughter looking for a suitable groom that you tend to forgive the film’s aggressive in-discretions that prop up promi-nently and intrusively in the second-half.

Yes, there are two films here. The ‘Hyderabad’ film in the first-half is charming effusive and endearing.

The second movement takes

us to Lucknow where father and daughter put up a big con show to trap an unsuspecting dulha for Parineeti.

As the plot progresses, it is tragic to see the film’s early ex-cellence fall apart piece by piece to reveal a plot with little charac-ter accommodating characters with a big plot up their sleeve.

Everyone behaves as if he or she is part of a high school play based on H.S. Rawail’s Mere Mehboob. They run around exchanging giggle, kebabs and qawwalis.

Is Sajid-Wajid’s music hom-age to the sound of Laxmi-kant-Pyarelal in the 1970s or a straight rip-off ?

The purpose and intention of doing a film that involves dowry and deception cannot be doubted. Faisal means well. Alas, his story-

telling doesn’t convince us of his intentions. Performance-wise Parineeti and Anupam are a de-light. Parineeti again proves her-self a natural-born scene-steal-er. That’s relatively easy when your co-star is hell bent on being a caricature.

Aditya Roy Kapoor with his kohl-laden eyes and pseudo-Lucknowi drawl is a disaster. His painfully self-conscious perfor-mance reduces the film to a panto-mime of good intentions.

I came away with the ‘baap-beti’ relationship rather than the love story. As for food, I craved for more.

Burp re burp.Film: Daawat-e-Ishq; Cast:

Aditya Roy Kapoor, Parineeti Chopra and Anupam Kher; Director: Habib Faisal. —IANS

‘Bang Bang’ was self-discovery: Hrithik Roshan

ACTOR Hrithik Roshan says bits of his own self are part of every role he plays on screen, but while working on Bang Bang, he discovered a complete similarity between his real and reel self. Bang Bang is the first film in which instead of getting into the character, I discovered that I was the character. It was self-discovery,” Hrithik said at an event. He believes that “it’s a very fortunate moment for an actor” when his characters “become a platform to vent or chan-nelise a similar emo-tion that you are going through in real life”.

Fawad is new ‘eye-candy’ who can act, says Ayushmann ACTOR-SINGER Ayush-mann Khurrana says the new Bollywood entrant is an “eyecandy who can act”. “Way to go @sonamaka-poor. And girls, watch out for Fawad Khan, the new eye candy who can really act,” Ayushmann posted on Twitter.

Mahesh Bhatt’s ‘Janam’ set to be remadeTHERE is talk of Mahesh Bhatt’s 1985 autobio-graphical film Janam be-ing remade. The original featured Kumar Gaurav as Mahesh Bhatt. Now the latter’s protege Imran Zahid would be doing the needful. —IANS

BOLLYWOOD

Habib Faisal may have missed the plot all together

Anupam Kher and Parineeti Chopra are so convincing as father and daughter looking for a suitable groom that you tend to forgive the film’s aggressive indiscretions

W W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O MSECTION

CONNECT H E D A I LY G U I D E

D

D4 VACANCY CARGO D7

S U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

RENT D2

DAILY GUIDE Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

FOR RENT

2 BHK with split AC in Bareeq

Al Shatti. Contact 96708000

1 BHK with split AC in Darsait opp

Muscat Municipality. #96708000

Flat for rent one bedroom, Majlis,

2 toilets, Kitchen , balcony, greater

Muttrah beside Muscat Elect new

building rent R.O 230/-.

Contact 99243059

For Rent 1 BHK and 2 BHK in

Ruwi Mumtaz area. # 91409667 /

24487033

New Building in (Ghala/ Al Ghobra/

Al Mabella). Contact 24505072 /

91155779 Fax 24507045

Commercial Lands in (Ghala/

Al Ghobra). Contact 24505072 /

91155779 Fax 24507045 / www.

goldenkeyreal-estate.com

Industrial / Commercial Lands in

(Al Mabella / Al Messfa).

Contact 24505072 / 91155779

Fax 24507045

New Villas in (Al Ghobra/

Al Khoudh/ Al Mabella). Contact

24505072/ 91155779 Fax 24507045

Villas in 18th November street.

Contact 24505072/ 91155779

Fax 24507045 /

www.goldenkeyreal-estate.com

2 Floors / Flats in Al Ghubra main

road. Contact 24505072/ 91155779

Fax - 24507045

Check out properties on (www.

goldenkeyreal-estate.com). Contact

24505072/ 91155779 Fax 24507045

If you have any properties / Inquir-

ies. Contact us gk@goldenkey-

real-estate.com . Tel 24505072/

91155779 Fax 24507045

5 BHK Villa For Rent in Al Khuwair

25. Contact 99792181

4 BHK Villa For Rent in Bowsher.

Contact 99792181

2 BHK Flat in Rex Road.

Contact 99792181

2 BHK Flat in Mumtaz Area.

Contact 99792181

2 BHK Flat in Wadi Adi.

Contact 99792181

1 & 2 BHK flat in Alkhuwair.

Contact 99792181

Flat for rent 2 Bed, 1 dining, 2 bath

& kitchen behind Muttrah Hotel.

Contact 92815855

Furnished big room with sharing,

kitchen for Executive bachelors

(2 persons) or small family.

Contact 96913738

Spacious room with sharing bath +

kitchen at Wadi Kabir R.O 125/-

Including E&W. Contact 95171271

D2 S U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

Labour camp for Rent in Wadi Kabir.

Contact 99792181

1 & 2 BHK Flat in Al Khuwair.

Contact 99792181

1 & 2 BHk Flat in Ruwi.

Contact 99792181

2 & 3 BHK Flat in Qurum.

Contact 99792181

2 BHK flat in Mumtaz Area.

Contact 99792181

2 BHK Flat in Hamriya.

Contact 99792181

2 BHK flat in Wadi kabir.

Contact 99792181

2 bedrooms flat with hall, 2 bath-

rooms in Ruwi near boys school.

Contact 24700120 / 92584715

5 bedrooms villa with 2 halls, 4

bathrooms in Darsait behind Khimijs

Market. # 24700120 / 92584715

1 & 2 BHK Wadikabir RO 250/-

300/-Contact 92144045

2BHK pent-house with split A/c in

all rooms , very spacious balcony with

sea & city view at Bldg# 1619 way

# 1322 adjacent to Indian Nursery

Darsait R.O 375/- & 1BHK R.O 250/-.

Contact 99476728 / 99831047

Luxury flat at Al Khuwair 33, 1st

floor 3 bed rooms 3 bath room sit-

ting and dinning extra family hall

and mini store. GSM 97127171/

99505908

Flats shops basement location/

Ruwi/Honda rood, MBD area.

Contact 92433127/ 97293708

108/180/192 sq.mt off. space at

Al Khuwair, 700/500 sq.mt show-

room at CBD/ Darsait. Contact Sama

Group LLC, Muscat - Sultanate of

Oman, Tel: +968 24571962/ 63/ 64,

Fax:+968 24571968

2 BHK for Commercial Darsait RO

300/- 325/-. Contact 92144045

2 BHK Darsait with AC Darsait

RO 300/- 325/-. Contract 92144045

1,2,3 BHK Flats & Villas.

Contact 92144045

3 BHK Villa with AC.

Contact 92144045

2 BHK with AC Al Falaj RO 325/-.

Contact 92144045

2 BHK Mumtaz area RO 325/-.

Contact 92144045

For rent 1BHK with parking avail-

able at R.O 210/- Month (including

elect + water) behind Jingle Nursery

Wadi Al Kabir. Contact 98347268

New 2B/R fully furnished deluxe

flat with free Internet available at

Al Khuwair near KM hyper market.

Contact 99460330

For rent single room and flat avail-

able at Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Qurum.

Contact 98100454

3 bed room flat for rent at Mumtaz

area Al Burj hotel. Contact 99104418

/ 99345914

Villa at Al Qurum 20. #92844996

Flat for rent 2 BHK split AC near

Oman house Muttrah. Contact

97007934 / 92629232

Luxury flat in Al Khuwair near

technical college, 3 bedrooms,

3 bathrooms, sitting & dining room

with A.C. Rent R.O 500/-OMR.

Contact 99868487

Store at Wadi Al Kabeer. Contact 92844996

2 BHK Flats for rent in Ghubra &

Azaiba 350 RO. Contact 94232344

2 Fabulous AC flats 3 Bedrooms

family hall in Al Khoud RO 280 & RO

300. Contact 99334699

250 Sqmt Shed / for rent at Al

Misfa- near Oman cement- Ansab.

Good for workshop or warehouse

with full fire safety equipments and

5 Nod Shops for rent at Al Misfa near

Oman cement- Ansab.2 Shops each

14 sqm, 4 shops 35.5 Sqm each will

be ready within 2 months.

Contact 99379880 / 99311209

For rent Flat 2 bedroom attach bath-

room opp Ruwi police station Ruwi.

Contact 99311209/ 99013580

Furnished room with separate

T & B window A/C sharing kitchen

Wi-Fi RO 200 Wadikabir including

W & E. Contact 97132192 Muslims

preferred.

2 BHK Ghubra RO 325/-.

Contact 92144045

New furnished villa in Al Mawalah

south for rent 3 bedrooms & hall &

majlis with big store and room with

bath in the backyard asking 700 /

month. Contact: 95339258

Flat in Ghubrah South attached 3

bedrooms, sitting room & hall.

Contac 95225563

Commercial Villa in Al. Khuwair 33

near Taimur Mosque have 5 bed-

rooms +sitting room + hall +4 toilets

+kitchen With parkings, Rent 1500

Rial. Call#95999904

Ghubra North Villa infront of

bangladesh school have 5 bedroom

+sitting room +2 halls +5 toilets

+kitchen +store With parking &

some furniture, Rent 900 Rial.

Call#95999904

Readymade office space for rent

(110 & 130SM) fully or separate, with

partition) in Bank Melli Iran Build-

ing, MBD area, Ruwi, Opposite center

point. Contact 99011352

Furnished Shop for RENT in RUWI

at prime location suitable for GSM/

Computer /Electronic Shop

Contact : 99016180 / 98825806

One BHK FLAT Al Koudh - Mazoon

Street (Next to Al Koudh Medical

Center). Including Electricity Water

and Internet Rent RO 245.

Contact 92812290

3 Bedroom Spacious Flat for rent in

Ruwi. Prime Location

Contact: 92197959/92502497

2 BHK with A/C’s Muttrah behind

Oman house. Contact 95915154

2BHK apartment with split AC for

rent in Qurum near PDO Gate No-2.

Contact 94057023

Flat / rooms in Mumtaz area.

Contact 94088788 / 92245110

Independent Villa for staff 8 rooms

in 18 Nov 1000 RO.

Contact 94232344

One Bedroom with bathroom at-

tached in Al Khuwair for rent 120

rials per month near Muscat holiday.

Contact 95124975

3 BHK flat Commercial residential at

Al Khuwair. Contact 94232344

3BHK flat Ghubra close to ISG Way

4041, Building 4390.

Contact 99319880

1BHK near Oman house & CBD

Muttrah. Contact 99233116

2 B/R Fully Furnished Executive

Apartment @Azaiba Near Zubair

Showroom. 2 B/ R Fully Furnished

Executive Apartment @ Al Khuwair

33 Near Zhaker Mall. 5 B/R Luxury

Fully Furnished villa at Azaiba with

servants quarter. Contact: Atlas Real

Estate & Rent A Car LLC: 99249069 /

92888376/ 93201688

Email: info@alshahiintl.com

5 Rooms, main living room + Women

living room+2 halls, 6 toilets, kitchen

in Azaiba near Al Fair

800 RO. Contact 99888873

Azaiba Luxury Villa near of Sultan

center have 5 bedroom +sitting

room +2 halls +5 toilets +2 kitchen

+store With parking, Rent 1000 Rial.

Call#92383886

Room for rent in Ruwi. # 95372192

3 rooms, 3 bath & Kitchen Oman

House Muttrah. Contact 99319149

2 BHK flat available for rent in

Al Khoudh Market rent R.O 250/-.

Contact 97661432

3 BHK flat available for rent in

Al Hail (North) rent R.O 280/-.

Contact 97661432

1 room with attach toilet rent

R.O 120/- in Al Hail North.

Contact 97661432

2 rooms, 1 hall, 1 kitchen & 1 toilet

flat available for rent in Mawallah

rent R.O 260/-. Contact 93166088

FOR RENT

FOR SALE

DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4 D3

One Bedroom sharing kitchen bath-

room near Indian School Wadi kabeer

rent RO 130/-Contact 92739154

ACC. AVAILABLE

ACC. AVAILABLE

ACC. AVAILABLE

Furnished flat with two rooms near

al meera hypermarket, Azaiba.

Gsm 99761216

AVAILABLE

Party & Wedding equipment rent-

als. Full line, from Tables, Linen

& Skirting, Chairs & Chair covers,

Cutlery, Crockery, Glassware, Chaf-

ing Dishes, Ice Sculptures, to Large

Sound Systems and spectacular

lighting. Call Andrea 9606 2222 for

Catering and Croyden 9623 5555

for Sound & Light. www.tunesoman.

com, E-mail: info@tunesoman.com

FOR SALE

Restaurant in a running and excellent

condition, ample parking space with a

capacity of 55 seating and a party hall

for sale. Contact - 99343735

We are dealing with sale of all beauty

salon equipments, furnitures & cos-

metics. # 942 888 61 / 942 888 63

Shop for sale at honda rd. Contact :

99221683/ 92830110

Split Unit Air Conditioner 1.5 ton for

sale only 4 pieces available. Brand

new with warranty RO 120/-.

Contact 96789522

A running private school in Azaiba

for sale or lease. Call 9288 7809 /

9556 4746.

Used A/C Bunk beds cupboards.

Contact 92423403

Kitchen equipment office furni-

ture’s and related items for restau-

rants and stationery shops. Contact

92955844/ 98986633

For sale Shop near Nawras hall Seeb.

Contact 95501663

Flats For Sale: OMR 35 Thousand

1 bedroom. OMR 45 Thousand 2

bedroom. Monthly income 1 bedroom

OMR 270 and 2 bedroom OMR 350.

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

Luxury twins villa in Al Khoud near

Awlad Tariq Mosque prefer compa-

nies. Contact 95753538

7 plus BHK brand new Villa

Mawaleh for staff or family 850 RO,

4 BHK Brand new Villa swimming

pool Madinat Allam 1400 RO Nego, 2

& 1 BHK commercial apartment

325 RO. Contact 95178930

Beautiful Villa in Azaiba 18th Nov.

Road Behind Simia Spa 5 spacious

rooms with in suite bathroom living

room dining fully fitted kitchen,

Marble flooring and Double Glazed

PVC Window shaded parking and

Garden. Contact 99425665

Villa for rent in Muscat 6 rooms.

Contact 96116767

NEW warehouse for rent at Ghala

Ind. Area. 1140sqm n 540sqm each,

Near Hotel Al-Madinah Holiday,

Ghala. Container can enter. Immedi-

ate access to roads & highways.

Contact : 95362717

1 & 2 BHK flat for rent at MBD, Ham-

riya, Wadi Adi, Al khoudh, Mabeila

& Shop for rent at MBD & Al khoudh.

Contact: 24834644, 93994401, 02

New Building 2 BHK 3 BHK Flat

back side Muscat Bakery and Bank

Muscat at Wadi Al Kabir.

Contact - 99338133 / 99423862

For rent shop office in Mabelah.

Contact 99355330

Flats, shops basements, location,

Ruwi MBD area, Honda road, Qurum.

Contact 96942749 / 97293708

Big Villa at Bowshar 8 rooms,

8 bathrooms, kitchen, maid room &

Majlis. Contact 91183117

1 Bedroom, 2 Bedroom Penthouse

near Al Nadha Hospital Ruwi.

Contact 99617786

For rent: 5 bedroom villas at

Al Ansab (near Express Highway).

Contact 99199365

Flat for rent 2 BHK sitting room

3 bathroom 2 balcony curtains AC

split Wadikabir. Contact 99324402

New Twin Villa with extra rooms for

rent to one company in Al Mawallah

11. Owner 93233440

2 BHK with A/Cs Mutrah behind

Oman house. Contact 99896838

14,000sm commercial land oppo-

site Al Khoudh round about on main

road (for Investment).

Contact 99879939 / 95555156

Villa MSQ -3 Bedroom with maid

room, Villa at Qurum16-3 bedroom

Villa at Qurum 16, Villa at Azaiba-4

Bedroom, Office space 2-3 Bed-

room type at Qurum # 24566217/

24564686

WANTED

Required restaurant space area

200-250 SQ mtr preferred

Al Khuwair, Ghubra, Azaiba.

Contact 96500750

Wanted labour camp with accom-

modation blocks, ablution blocks,

and kitchen and Dining facilities

in good condition for around 500

people on lease in Ghala area for im-

mediate occupation. Interested party

may Contact 99880275

Furnished room in Ruwi for non

cooking Ex bachelor.# 94412557

2 BR sharing fully furnished Azaiba

RO 250/-. Contact 99321325

Single / double rooms available

for Executive Indian bachelor or

small family in CBD, Ruwi with AC.

Contact 98928458

Full furnished Single room with

separate bathroom, sharing kitchen

including AC for executive bachelor.

Location Mumtaz area Ruwi. Rent

RO.125/ month. Contact 98473500

Family sharing accommodation

available in Al Khoudh.

Contact 98292798

Room for rent near Qurum park

family or Bachelor. Contact

99664703

Room with AC & separate entrance

for non cooking Indian executive

near Rawasco, Al Khuwair

OMR 130/-with E/W .

Contact 97201100 / 95397442

Sharing accomadation @ ruwi 4

family. Bath attached bedroom,

seperate kitchen 130 OMR

Contact 92451695

Semi furnished room with bath-

room for single Ex. Bachelor, opp. al

reef hotel Ghubra prf. Muslim, Wifi

available. Contact 92078090

Furnished room with separate toilet

near Sana, Wadikabir.

Contact 94012930

Oil field camp sparingly used

34 Nos skid mounted steel panel

cabin with master skid and Trailor

mounted fuel tank, water tank etc.

Contact 92579798

Fax 24705554

Email : alobas9@hotmail.com

Shop for sale Barka Oman area 450

mt approximate rent 2000RO per

month, best location building mate-

rial ready made Garments, furniture,

electrical & electronics.

Contact 95925872 / 96593522

Rip Rap stone available for sale.

Contact 98534425 / 91340603

Beauty parlour for rent/ sale in

Al Hail. Contact 99579926

Expat leaving room, House hold

items furniture and car for sell. Ford

Edge 2011 car, Samsung dishwasher,

double & single bed Raha 3 star,

Samsung TV 55’’ HD LED 3 D, TV

cabinet, Crockery showcase in tables

etc. Contact 97259890

New & Refurbished Portable Cabins

GSM 94475705, 97774740

From Owner Al Khuwair 2 separate

Villas plot area 1155 sqm,

RO 420000. Contact 99348943

U – Style Dreadmill heavy 120 kg

capacity with masager RO 175.

Contact 97132192

Corner shop in Sanaya Wadi Kabir

near Dolphin Radiators.

Contact 94087355

Supermarket furniture for sale.

Contact 96296796

Supermarket & department store in

al khuwair for sale.

Contact 96296796

Logistic Company with new equip-

ments, contracts sale. Contact

99438523 / 94252527

Textile shop for sale in Al Khuwair.

Contact 92148699

Sharing accommodation available

for Indian family / working ladies.

One bedroom, hall and kitchen,

separate bathroom in Rex Road

available from December 2014

onwards. Contact 96964756.

One bedroom with attached bath for

rent at Rex road available for

Executive lady. Sharing Kitchen.

RO 130 with E/W. Contact 94103591

Running travel & tourism office for

sale at Ruwi. Contact 97622843 /

97749495

A well running pharmacy at

prime location for sale.

Contact 93240949

Dental clinic for (investment) at

Ruwi (Rex Road). Contact 99879939

Urgent sale of scrap for elec-

tronic item such as TV, Refrigerator,

Freezer, Cooking Range, Washing

Machines etc. Only serious buyers

kindly contact: +968 96725423 for

viewing the items.

High quality well running rope

making machinery, winders & pack-

ing machinery for sale. For details

please call 9239647 1/ 99472634

Coffee Shop on lease or for sale in

Wadi Kabir near Lulu. 99172727,

99433540

Running Carpentry workshop with

10 Nos experience workers for sale.

Contact 99375515

Well running beauty parlor

for sale in Rustaq Contact 99812891

Bath attached room for Expatriate

Al Khuwair. Contact 99743569 /

97004265

Sharing accommodation available

for small Indian family /working

lady. Ghoubrah R/A near Al Raffah

Hospital. Spacious room, separate

bathroom and sharing kitchen.

Contact 98205758

Room for rent in Al Khuwair.

Contact 92153375

Furnished room with attached

bathroom, for non-cooking, Exe-

bachelor in Ruwi. R.O 160/-.

Contact 92478852

Fully furnished room, CBD area,

Free wifi, Advance deposit.

Contact 95934642

Furnished room in Ruwi.

Contact 24833609

Fully furnished Single room for

bachelor, Near Muttrah Hotel. Rent

R.O.95/- (Include.E/W) Contact

98450071

Cntd on pg 6

DAILY GUIDED4 S U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

DAILY GUIDE

DOMESTIC HELP

CATERING

BEAUTY

DRAFTSMAN

DRIVER

DRIVER

HOSPITALITY

ARCHITECT

IT

SKILLED / UN SKILLED

ARCHITECT

ADMIN/HR

TOUR/TRAVEL

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT

MEDICAL

MEDICAL

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

SECRETARIAL & OFFICE

Urgently required a Cook for a

respectable Omani family.

Contact Fax 24566754

Cook required for mess. Contact 97050832

Required an Indian full time

Houseboy or Housemaid for an

Indian family, veg. food, small dog.

Interested pls #95736558

ADMIN/HR ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

EDUCATION

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com classifieds@timesofoman.comTel.: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461

Over 14 years of Gulf experience as

Administrator /HR specialist flu-

ent in Arabic/English with driving

license, looking for suitable position.

Contact 95824598

Young Omani male have experience

10 years as P.R.O , CLERK, helper

supervisor , admin supervisor, H.R

Manager have diploma in H.S.E , IT ,

and P.D.O license looking for H.R po-

sition or P.R.O part time or full time.

Contact 95933288

Indian male M.Sc admin and sales

experience, 5 yrs in Muscat, on visit

visa. Contact 91344706

Email: wilsonvarghese1@gmail.com

Male 44 yrs, 5 Yrs Gulf (Gulfar) exp

as CAMPBOSS B.Com, Ex Indian

army 18 yrs, Diploma HSE, MS

Office , Tally, on visit visa, seeks

suitable posts. Good command on

man management, administration,

supervision & coordination.

Contact 96755351

Female MBA in HR (Indian) seeks

suitable job. Contact 97792820

6 yrs Gulf experience, Keralite

looking for a suitable placement

in HR/Admin, D/L.

Contact 93203492

Email: stk8691@gmail.com

Filipino, 30 years, male looking

for job vacancy in Muscat area for

document controller position with

6 years experience in Gulf country.

Contact#- 98283988 Email-

glyn_mendoza2000@yahoo.com

Male, 27 years with MBA in HR/

MKT having 2 years exp in respec-

tive field looking for suitable

placement in leading organization.

Contact 91705051

ENGINEERS/TECH..

Leading construction company requires Omani national HSE (health safety and environment)

officer with minimum 4 to 5 years

experience. Send your CV to

hrmuscat.2014@hotmail.com.

Required Indian / European Civil Engineer (Sale – RO 1500) & Foreman with 10 yrs experi-

ence in (road, culvert & riprap) &

Indian Driver. Contact 98827105 /

lulubds2014@gmail.com

A well reputed steel fabrication

company in Oman requires safety officer with NEBOSH certificate and

also with diploma /degree quali-

fication. Email: ali@mudest.com /

oman518@gmail.com Civil Engineer not less than 5 years

experience and with driving license,

Fax no 24478522

Email gh1.careers@gmail.com

Required Electrician with 2yrs exp. Send your CV :

jm.cruz@aldosari-global.com

Urgently required Electrician hav-

ing 5-7 years experience in Substa-

tions, over head liens, HV/ LV panel,

transformer installation & cable

work eligible candidates may drop

their CV with DCRP license copy at

below mail at the earliest.

Email: jobs.oman844@gmail.com

Urgently required 1 no. - MEP Engineer in building construction

with minimum 5 years experience.

Apply, fax 00968 - 24605955,

Email: sbc@steelbuildingsllc.com

Leading construction company

requires Quantity Surveyor (QS) preferably Srilankan Nationality

with minimum 8 to 10 years expe-

rience. Send your CV to

hrmuscat.2014@hotmail.com

Required Admin for a reputed res-

taurant group in Oman. Candidates

should have a minimum experience

of 5 years in the administration

dept. knowledge in Arabic will be

an added advantage. Email CV to

recruit.oman2014@gmail.com

Required for a small consultancy office in Muscat a young secretary, (preferably with ACAD Knowledge)

to handle mostly routine secretarial,

admin and accounting duties, Salary

negotiable. Email intersol@omantel.

net.om and jcannas@cytanet.com.cy

Fax 24483902

Required building Electrician 3 nos. Contact 93480497

Lecturers for Admin & Accounts : Graduate with 4 yrs experience,

Lecturers for English : Graduate with

CELTA/TEFL/TESOL Minimum 4 yrs

experience , Lecturers for I.T: Gradu-

ate with Experience in Network &

AutoCAD . (Preference will be given

to Philippino Nationals). Arabian

Institute – Willayat Suwaiq,

Mail CV to: jobs@aifas.net,

aifasswq@gmail.com

ICT & Arabic Tutor for grade 12 with

Syllabus GED bilingual. # 99425200

Science Teachers for a leading

training Institute – You should have

degree in Science and 4 years of

teaching experience. Interested

candidates send you CV to

trainingjobsoman@gmail.com

Diesel Mechanic, Hydraulic Me-chanic, Auto Electrician for heavy

equipment and trucks English

speaking writing and reading for

Mix Company in Barka.

Contact Mr. Amr 94045010

DRAFTSMAN ARCHITECT Desired

candidate Profile: Experience in

detail design. Should be AutoCAD,

3D Max & Photoshop competent.

Contact Details: Please send your CV

to Email: info@pak2pak.com

Tel. 99196733, 99419766

Required Architect,min. 3 yrs expe-

rience in kitchen designing, Carpen-

ter (door) & foreman experience in

carpentry work. Contact 98827105,

Email: lulubds2014@gmail.com

Leading Construction company requires MEP Draftsman

with minimum 8 to 10 yrs experi-

ence. Send your CV :

hrmuscat.2014@hotmail.com

B .Arch, Proficient in 3Ds Max also,

seeks placement. Contact 92169857

/ 99770029

Required Filipino, Male, Female waiters for 1st class restaurant in

Salalah for local transfer.

Contact 92848301/ 92848302

Leading signage manufacturing

unit urgently require light duty driver with experience of working in

technical fields/steel/metal fabrica-

tion, knowledge of Omani interiors

preferred. Send CV to

signage360@yahoo.com

Looking for Sales Executive with

Oman driving license for a reputed

company. Contact – 99450677

Salesman wanted with omani driv-

ing licence. Visa available.

Gsm 99-761-216.

Tours Consultant - A leading IATA

Travel Agency is looking for 2

female Tours Consultants for their

Tours Department. Candidates

should be Omani nationals with

English language skills and with

minimum 1 year experience. Apply

with updated CV and photograph to

latharajeevji@hotmail.com

Travel Agency in Saham Looking for Manager - Male or female -Min

5 yrs exp in GCC - Fluent in English

and Arabic. Contact 99372213 /

92900021

Wanted male Filipino travel Assistant with 1 year experience.

Contact 99189303/ 97370544

Required Indian Cook. Apply to

reservation@johnyinterntional.com

Contact 94146486

Required outdoor Salesman with

D/L email: mailcv7@gmail.com

fax: 24784202

Required Sales Executive with driv-

ing license for Stationery company/

Email CV: mipoman14@gmail.com

Sales man full & part time capa-

ble of closing deals for projects &

maintenance contracts in the field of

Landscaping, gardening & cleaning.

Contact +968 99242207

Email: bestgardens.om@gmail.com

Wanted male G.P female G.P, Nurse and lab technician for well running

clinics in Sohar and Rustaq area.

Contact 95272672

Wanted Doctor for leave vacancy for

well running clinic in Khaboura area

for one month. Contact 95272672

OMANI FEMALE RECEPTIONIST for State of the Art Dental Clinic. Must

speak, read and write English and

have general computer skills. All

interested candidates please send C.V.

to: dental.muscat@gmail.com

Urgently required Lab and IT Tech-nicians for a reputed medical center

in Muscat. Ph 93217982

Email jobsoman001@gmail.com

Required a General Practitioner and a Gynaecologist, Contact:

99424507, 99262685, P.O. Box 13,

Postal Code 112, Sultanate of Oman

Required Medical General Prac-tioner, Pharmacist, lab Technician on urgent basis in Mabela, Seeb.

Contact 968 95200180,

Email : amanammc@gmail.com

Wanted Lab Technician female for

Sohar. Contact: 97182020

Required Dentist. Call: 91290034

Email: dentaclinc04@gmail.com

Urgently required General Practi-tioner (GP) Physiotherapist, Occupa-tional Therapist, Special Education therapist, Lab Technician, Radi-ographer, Nurses, Pharmacist and Specialist Doctors. Priority given to

MOH license holders. send CV to

gsh.abduwani@gmail.com

mobile: 99788291

Urgently require a female who has

worked in Insurance Company in

insurance field for atleast 3 yrs, with

knowledge of internet (part time).

Email : mhca@mhabibgroup.com

Wanted experienced Execu-tive Secretary for the chairman

and group managing director of a

reputed organization in UAE. Attrac-

tive remuneration package offered

to the right candidate mail detailed

CV to: leslie@manappat.com

Urgently required full time/part time Software Programmer with

experience in Asp.net and Oracle.

Email:alex@arktechs.com

Programmers with minimum

3 years experience in VB 6.0 or ASP

net required for a leading software

firm. Please email CV to

hr@promisworld.com

IT Company seeking for IT Sales Engineer 3-5 + years in vendor sales.

Please send your CV to

Email : info@smartnetworktrd.com

Landscaping & cleaning Foreman : minimum of 10 years experience,

fluent English & capable of closing

deals. Contact +968 99242207

Email: bestgardens.om@gmail.com

Urgently required: Manson, Car-penter, Steel fixer, Plumber, Elec-trician, Fabricator, Welder, Pipe Fitter, Riggers with or without PDO.

Manoj Damodar 92830626 /

Anas .C.P 99776471

Wanted Painter: experience in resi-

dential building painting and furni-

ture spray painting. # 99224290

Accounts Manager, MBA (Finance),

P.G. Diploma in HRM, B. Com,15 yrs

experience in Muscat, now working

for const co. NOC/ Release / driving

license available, can join immedi-

ately. Contact 99175042

Indian Male: B.COM, 4 years experi-

ence in Accounts, in Manufactur-

ing Co Oman, Working Knowledge

With Tally ERP- With Oman valid

D/L,Presently working in Muscat

NOC Available Looking for Suitable

position in Reputed Company,

Contact; 95745287 and Email:

raiforeveryone@rediffmail.com

Indian male B. Com / MBA 5 years

experience in accounts, adminis-

tration & sales looking for suitable

placement in a reputed company

NOC . Contact: 95862385

Indian male 37 yrs, B. Com Graduate

15 yrs exp in accounts & administra-

tion with release seeking suitable

placement. Contact:96938820

Accountant male 34 years, MBA

(Fin), 9 years in Oman, Oman driving

license, NOC available, join immedi-

ate. Contact 92425174

Senior Accountant 40 yrs, last 7

yrs accounts receivable incharge for

PDO service contracting & experi-

ence in SAP. Contact 91126314

Sri Lankan Accountant 33 yrs

B.Com Inter CIMA 6 yrs exp currently

in Sri Lanka. Contact +94777222392

or 98157999(friend)

MBA Finance with 6 years experi-

ence in accounts and finance NOC

available. Contact 91157870

Indian male 27 years B. Com with

tally, having 3 years of experience as

an Accountant, looking for suitable

placement in any office jobs.

Contact 98201244

MBA (Finance) 2 years experience

in Accounts & finance expert in Tally

& Office admin. Contact 97473329

Reputed manufacturing company

located at Mabela requires expatriate

lady Account asst. (on company’s

employment visa) with minimum 3

years hands on experience in office

accounting. Please send CV to –

hr1002014@gmail.com

Required female Accountant Postgraduate in commerce email:

mailcv7@gmail.com

fax: 24784202

Required a Beautician for a Salon

at Sur, minimum experience of 3

years in GCC. Should have knowl-

edge of threading, pedicure, waxing,

hairstyles & bridal makeup. Prof-

fered, Moroccan/ Lebanani/ Filipino.

Contact 97916959 Email

prateesh.prabha@yahoo.com

A leading Water Treatment Company is on the look out for Professionals within Civil discipline:

1. PROJECT MANAGER (CIVIL):

Behavioral Traits:

- Behavioral Traits:

Please mail your resume to talent@mpesllc.com

Expatriate Driver (Indian) visa

ready. Contact 93772428,

97067010

Wanted driver. Contact 97469823

Required Nurse with MOH License

or Prometric pass for immediate ap-

pointment. Contact 99310590

Wanted Dentist, to buy or lease a

2 year old dental clinic in Sohar

with all the licenses renewed for the

next 2 years. contact immediately

92625962,95471402

Required General Physician, Staff Nurse, lab technician, Pharmacist. Contact 95133572

Email: dilygeejov@yahoo.com

Required Receptionist, Dental Technician, Staff Nurse for den-

tal clinic. Contact 91290034,

soharmedicare2000@gmail.com

A reputed Shipping & logistic co. require an Operation Executive for immediate placement for their

Muscat / Sohar office. Valid D/L is

must. Experience in this field will be

an added advantage. Send your CV :

recruitcs2013@gmail.com

Wanted urgently looking for smart

–energetic boys and girls with ex-cellent Sales Acumen to products in

Oman. People with relevant experi-

ence and valid Omani driving license

forward resume to

sales@bestpriceoman.com /

bestpriceoman@gmail.com

Required Sales Executive Omani

National male/ female Graduate 2+

yrs experience driving license.

Mail to career@alawazi.com

Looking for a Sales Executive with

previous sales experience of 5 to 6

year of handling products and ser-

vices related to crushers preferably

with technical background and valid

Driving licence. Please Forward your

CV to : mbdeast@gmail.com

Required for a reputed Organiza-tion, dealing with CCTV, EAS sys-tem PDT, scanners etc Oman driv-

ing license must with NOC. Send CV

to suresh@polargroupco.com

Urgently required Sales Executive with Omani DL, good Communica-

tion skills. Contact : 96545020.

Urgently required Sales Execu-tive with Omani DL, good Commu-

nication skills. Contact : 96545020

DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4 D5

DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

ACCOUNT. & FINANCE

DRIVER

DRIVER

DRAUGHTSMAN

DESIGNER

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

ENGG. / TECHNICAL

MEP draughtsman with 7 years

gulf experience looking for suitable

job. Contact 96446247

Draughtsman 10 years experience

in Oil/ Gas, looking for suitable job

immediate joining NOC available.

Contact 968 98628657

Email rizdhanse@gmail.com

Indian male, 26 Years. AutoCAD

M.E.P. Draftsman (Plumbing &

mechanical) having 4 years Oman

experience. Presently working in a

reputed company in Oman. Seeks

suitable placement.

Contact 97351786 / 96143708.

Driver for suitable job K.S.A, 12

years, Oman 3 years Bangladeshi.

Contact 95796030

Light Driver. Contact 94087276

15 Years experienced Indian Light

Driver. Contact 98993526

Pakistani heavy Driver. Contact 93916645

Looking for job as driver exp 4 years

in Oman educate B.A speaks

English, Hindi & Arabic.

Contact 98522914

Pakistani male having light vehicle

driving license & 2 yrs exp in Oman

looking for driver job. Contact

97136073 / 93181200

Bangladeshi male light driver exp.

12 years looking for job in any

office & any company.

Contact 99165961

B.Tech HND Quantity surveyor with

6 years exp (Including Gulf), looking

for a suitable placement with NOC.

Contact 98357512

Email: lebbeah@yahoo.com

AutoCAD Draughtsman. #94196735

Autocad d/man cum supervisor

Diploma in Civil engg(3yrs)

ph : 93837973

Mechanical Engineer (B.E) – 4 yrs

exp in manufacturing / production

seeking placement. # 93694953 ;

Email: alvinfxr@gmail.com

Indian male, 23, Mechanical

Engineer looking for suitable job

vacancies. Contact 91623313 Email

shuhaibusman313@gmail.com

Indian Female, 24, UK Graduate

- MSc Digital Communication Net-

work Engineering with B.Tech Elec-

tronics and Communication holding

a Valid Omani Driving License,

looking for suitable placement.

Contact No. : 95408113

CIVIL/STRUCTURAL ENGINEER, master degree, 12 years of experi-

ence. 5 years experience in Oman.

Mastering Etabs, Safe; concrete,

steel, postension and seismic

design. Looking for a suitable posi-

tion. Contact: 94172438;

mmidriss@gmail.com

Mechanical Engineer 2 years

experience in HVAC. Now in Oman

on visit seeking suitable placement.

GSM:91744764

email: zaidjma@hotmail.com

BE Civil 7years experience as Project

Engineer + QS in Oil & Gas with Oman

D/L GSM: 91273098

Indian female 23 years, 1 year experi-

ence Civil Engineer (B.E) seeking suit-

able placement. Contact 91762468

Mechanical Engineer (CSWIP 3.1

level II certified) Indian male 27 yrs

with 5 years of experience in Steel

structural construction, seeks suit-

able jobs. Contact 91078780

Email nikhihai@gmail.com

Electrical Engineer with 4 years

experience in Electrical power trans-

mission & distribution having valid

Omani Driving license. # 97161234

Email : azhariqbal.fsd@gmail.com

Indian male Mechanical Engineer (M.Tech), Manufacturing Engineer-

ing, having 2 yrs Exp with Oman

D/L - seeking suitable placement,

Contact: 98681278;

Email : alexyvellara@gmail.com

25, Male, ACCA finalist, have good

experience upto finalisation of

accounts and statutory audit, seek-

ing for part time or project based

job,GSM-97654769,email id-

abdullah.nooralam@yahoo.com

Having Experience in Junior Sys-

tem Administrator Cybex Solutions,

Cochin , Assembling & Dissembling

PC, A+, Networking Essentials. PRES-

ENTLY WORKING IN INDIA

Please contact-97239854-Ashe

Electronics & communication

male Engineer, 36 years, Oman D/L,

13 years of experience in telecom /

IT industry seeking a senior post

in product management /sales &

marketing /business development

/ project execution. Local releases

available. Contact 99771815 Email:

teledata1978@rediffmail.com

Indian male, B.Tech (Mech), 18 yrs

experience, in Oman more than 3

yrs in the field of Oil & Gas industry

with valid Oman D/L. Exposure in

Production, Quality Control, HSE and

Admin seeks suitable placement.

NOC available, can join immediately.

Contact 96517010.

Civil Engineer 8 years Exp (2 in

Angola with DAR AL HANDASAH, 4

months in Oman) as a site engineer.

He holds a Diploma in project man-

agement, fluent in English & Arabic.

Contact: 99170315

Mechanical Engineer 6 years ex-

perience MPM certified in Projects,

Driving license. Contact 99487902

Indian male working as QC inspec-

tor / maintenance Engg having 4

yrs Oman experience in pumps and

valves Oil field with Oman driving

license. Contact 95339870

Communication Engineer IT help

desk support network configuration

security system, telephone network,

computer maintenance,

Contact 99165277 / 95402507

Pakistani professional civil Engi-

neer seeks suitable placement. Have

30 years experience with consult-

ants /contractors for executing /

managing large building projects.

NOC available. Contact 99570179

B.Tech Mechanical. Indian male

with 1 year experience in Oman

looking for suitable job. NOC avail-

able. Contact: 96542340.

Email: athisays@gmail.com

D. A.E Civil Engineer, civil foreman,

Pakistani diploma of Associate Engr.

Contact 92286164

Indian male, D.M.E 37 yrs, presently

working in India and having 16

years experience in heavy engineer-

ing design and plastic design by

using multi CAD design tools.

Contact +91-9884641295

Email: lalujohn@gmail.com

Indian female Senior Accountant

with 10 years experience in Ac-

counts, Finance, Audit & Tax man-

agement. Contact 96263157

Accountant Sri Lankan 30 yrs,

western Educated (UK) having 6 yrs

experience Accounting & Finance

including 3Yrs in Oman. Looking

for suitable position. Tel:96908831

hmfahim@gmail.com

Indian male, M.Com, MBA 7+ years

of experience in Accounts, having

valid Oman D/L, looking for suitable

placement. Contact 97126707

Indian male MBA (HR& FIN) exp one

year as HR, EXP now we have visit

visa, looking opportunity in Admin

–HR/ hospitality / purchase, seeking

suitable placement as soon as pos-

sible. Contact 93662430

Email: smsalmanamu@gmail.com

Indian male, 23 years B-TECH

MECHANICAL ENGINEER with certi-

fied quality Controller-NDT level

2 qualification, seeks suitable job

contact- 91531905,95989606

Mechatronics Engineer with diplo-

ma in product design and analysis

looking for a job #-98584349 @-

chalapronsulhil@gmail.com

Indians, Civil Engineers Team

10yrs Oman Exp (Project Manager,

Project Coordinator, Site Engineer) in

Tendering to finishing the projects

all works. Looking for suitable job

Please contact 91481656 Email

engineersteam2000@gmail.com

Experienced female Electrical

Engineer. Contact 93800906

Indian Male B.E & MBA, 20yrs expe-

rience in Civil construction including

7 yrs in Oman, Looking for project

manager ( Civil) readily available

with NOC. Contact 97906977

Email gbs303@gmail.com

Project Road Engineer with 5 years

exp, seeks job. Contact 97646908

Civil Engineer Indian male 13 years

Gulf experience with driving license.

Contact 99794456

Masters Degree in Petroleum

Engineering looking for suitable

placement. Contact 91127333

Indian Male B.E & MBA, 20 yrs

experience in Civil construction

including 7 yrs in Oman, Looking for

project manager (Civil) readily avail-

able with NOC. Contact 97906977,

Email : gbs303@gmail.com

Civil Engineer (Diploma), looking

for a suitable post, Now as position

Site Engineer total 10 years experi-

ence (4 years in Oman). Contact

93477358/ 95648309 Email

mohammadtoslim@gmail.com

Indian male, Diploma in Civil Engi-

neering having 17 years experience

in India & 5 months experience in

UAE, now available in Oman in visit-

ing visa seeking suitable placement

GSM- 93097757,

e-mail :kamalraj75@gmail.com

Indian male, Diploma in Civil Engi-

neering having 17 years experience

in India & 5 months

experience in UAE, now available in

Oman in visiting visa seeking suit-

able placement . GSM- 93097757,

E-mail :kamalraj75@gmail.com

Civil Project Manager 19 years

exp 17 yrs Gulf having Oman

license. Contact 00919950673719 /

96570465. Email :

arshadjamalkhan@rediffmail.com

Graduate in electrical & electronic

engineering having 3 years experi-

ence in construction and procure-

ment fields. Also have knowledge of

Automation systems ( PLC SCADA ),

Autocad and professional electronic

design and automation. Valid oman

driving licence looking suitable

position. E mail. Sajeel2009@gmail.

com or call 93116402

Electrical Engineer (BE), Indian

male, 27 years having 4.5 years in 5*

hotel construction projects, working

in Muscat at present, NOC avail-

able, looking for suitable placement.

Contact 96733258

Email: suriramesh.s@gmail.com

Sudanese Civil Engineer has

15 years experience in contracting

and construction in Gulf, looking for

a job in Oman, on visit visa.

Contact 95963355

Sudanese Petroleum Engineer with

2 years exp. in Oil & Gas. Looking for a

suitable job. Resident in Oman

with valid driving license.

Contact 95155147

Email: amino.ae@gmail.com

Electrical & Electronics Engineer, B.Tech, (female), Having more than

6 years experience in the areas of

QA/QC, Team management, Estima-

tion, testing, verification, validation,

maintenance, etc, seeks a suitable

posting, Resident in Oman on

dependent visa. Contact 95809765

Email: dhanucr@gmail.com

Fine fighting Engineer, bachelors

Mechanical Engineering, Sudanese,

3 years experience, resident, driving

license. Contact 91135140

Indian male, 23 years, 6 months exp

in Spreads Survey, Computer knowl-

edge LISCAD currently on visit visa.

Contact 94480460 / 96751243

Indian male B.com, 6 years experi-

ence in Oman as an office secretary,

document controller and presently

working as an operation executive

in an insurance agency. Looking for

a suitable post. NOC available.

Valid Oman D/L Contact: 98026324

Email: rajeshpathivoor@gmail.com.

Indian Female having 13 years expe-

rience with driving license seeking

suitable position in Accountant cum

Sales Coordinator, Business Develop-

ment # 00971555817625 or

email: babusangi74@gmail.com

Indian female,MBA finance with

8 years experience in accounts.

having oman experience . Storng in

tally ,net browsing & ms office.look-

ing for suitable position.

Contact :93475578

Email: prasanthi.bandi@gmail.com

Elect. Engr 9 yrs in Electrical projec-

tor having Oman D/L with NOC

ready to do local transfer. # 92732744

Email: jobluk.om@gmail.com

Engineer with MTech in Energy

Engineering and BTech in Chemical

Engineering and Certified Energy

Management System Auditor with

one year internship project experi-

ence in auditing. Contact 95094101

Email: sachin_s_46@yahoo.co.in

Electrical Eng. BSC with 8 years ex-

perience in Oil & Gas field especially

in ESP. Contact 92657255

Indian male Instrumentation Engi-

neer having 2 years experience in

process instruments, seeks suitable

placement. Contact 95954385

Bsc Civil Eng PMP, MBA, 15 years

experience with valid Omani driving

license. Contact 95702191

B.Tech Mechanical Engineer having

6+ (3 yrs exp GCC) exp seeking

suitable placement. # 97841963

Indian Male Mechanical Engineer (B.E) Looking for suitable placement.

Contact 92310741

Indian male, 23 years BE (Electrical

& Electronics) having 1 year experi-

ence looking for suitable placement.

Contact 98201244

Indian male having 2 years experi-

ence in accounts with valid Oman

driving license looking for suitable

position. Contact 93826377

Indian male MBA Finance 6 plus

years experience in Accounts &

finance specially in Oil & Gas includ-

ing 2 years in Oman Now on visit

visa. Contact 94327063

Email : shabab016@yahoo.com

Sri Lankan Chartered Account-ant/Bsc. Acct (44 yrs) with 15 yrs

experience in the field of accounts

& Finance & audit .NOC available .

Contact No: 99227205 Email.ram-

shiva771@gmail.com

Accountant MBA Finance Indian

female 4 years Gulf experience.

Contact 94297959

Indian female 23, M.Com with 2.5

yrs experience in Accounts & back

office, seeks for suitable placement.

Contact 95995743 Email deepthi.

prasannan23@rediffmail.com

M. Com, with 12 yrs of working exp ,

working knowledge with tally pres-

ently working in oman .

NOC available. Ph:99035707.

email:abraz78@gmail.com

Indian male, 28 yrs B.Com 7 years

experience in Banking & Financial

sector, seeking any suitable job.

Contact 96181072

Email : anish_tafri@yhaoo.com

Indian male (27) MBA Finance & HR

having 2.5 years exp in Accounts

and Tally ERP 9, MS Office, Inven-

tory MGT with Oman driving license,

seeks suitable job. Contact 92373592

Sri Lankan Accountant male

25 years BBA (finance), (IMA (UK)

finalist seeks suitable replacement,

knowledge in Tally ERP9,

MYOB & quick books.

Contact 94352126

Email: rimathnazmi@yahoo.com

Senior Sales & Marketing/ Opera-

tions Management (female) profes-

sional with more than 19 years of

proven experience in FMCG, Health

Care Industry, Wellness Industry. A

self-starter, quick-learner, high-ener-

gy producer who has proven record

of successes exceeding quota on both

professional and personal level and

for motivating a team to perform at

their highest potential. #91140866

Seeking Senior position in procure-

ment for an honest & well experi-

enced Indian. Contact 97073942

MEP Manager: Indian male aged 33

years having 10 years of experience

in construction/ consulting/ project

mgmt .Looking for suitable place-

ment with consultant/construction

company. Contact No . 968-91155120

& 91-9029549968,

Email Id : shk2get@gmail.com

General Manager / working partner

20 years adverting agency experi-

ence. Contact 93031168

MISCELLANEOUS

Indian graduate female residing in

Ghala having 5+years of Oman ex-

perience in procurement/ logistics/

inventory/admin with excellent

computer skills(PGDCA).Seeking

suitable placement.NOC available.

Contact:95382966

Indian male 22 MBA Graduate with

BBM degree looking for a suitable

job with Oman driving license.

Contact 94143154

Email: rinojnathen008@gmail.com

Indian male, 5yrs Exp in Banking/

Cust Care in India, proficient in MS

Office, looking for job # :94325939

Indian male 42 years, 10 years ex-

perience as Raw- material controller

seeking suitable placement.

Contact 96734104

Denter, painter, vehicle-10 years

experience need job seeks job

with visa. # 96136615 / 91139936

Male MBA, 2 years experience

looking for suitable job. Email :

faisalme.beg677@gmail.com.

Contact 98083010

Seeking a driver post job in com-

pany or family in Oman. Please

Contact: 98982410

Indian female, P.G. Diploma in

Journalism and Mass Communica-

tion, 4 yrs of exp as sub- editor/

content editor in India,

seeking suitable placement.

Email: aayiishaa@gmail.com

Contact no: 95886447, 93063576

MANAGER/ SUPER

INFORMATION TECH

INFORMATION TECH

Indian Male, B.E computer science

with MBA(finance) 26 age ,5 years

experience in Oracle DBA/ Oracle

Apps DBA, Linux seeking a suitable

position in the field of IT.

Contact # +968 97739982,

Email-zubairalikhan1@yahoo.com

EDUCATION

Indian male M.Sc, B.Ed Science

Maths on visit visa looking for

teacher job. Contact 91344706

Email: wilsonvarghese1@gmail.com

Female 33, Indian, 7 yrs of experi-

ence London (UK) as a Nursery

Nurse, NVQ3 and level 2 in Pediatric

first aid, have also completed MBA

(Management studies) from UK

currently in Oman, looking for suit-

able opportunity. Contact 91720086

Email: nausheen_7120@yahoo.com

MSc. Chemistry Teacher (5 y EXP.)

Pakistani female looking for a job in

School/college 96580101

Indian female M. Sc Chemistry

having 2 years industry & 2 yrs

teaching experience seeks suitable

placement. Contact 96358771

Indian MSc. B.Ed Maths, Science on

visit visa looking for teaching posi-

tion. Contact 91344706

M. Pharm, Ph. D (Pharmaceutical

Chemistry, under completion), In-

dian female, currently under family

visa, seeks suitable academic/lec-

turing position. Contact 95509601;

email - hanaowi@ gmail.com

Chemistry Teacher (Indian Male)

: 33Yrs, B.Ed. & M.Phil. (Chemis-

try), having 10 Yrs experience as

a Chemistry Teacher for Higher

Secondary, Seeking suitable job

in Oman.Contact: +919952849285

(India), +96898989716(Oman),

Email : shanchem1981@gmail.com

Indian Female 25 yrs, Bsc.(Physics)

Bed. 2 Yrs experience in teaching,

currently on visit seeking suitable

placement .Contact 98217776 Email:

haleenahabeeb007@gmail.com

HOSPITALITY

Female 21 Tally 1 year experience,

looking for visa. Contact 95330720

Male 22 Housekeeping front office

Hotel management degree course.

Contact 96732520

Indian Male, 26 yrs, graduate

in hospitality science, with New

Zealand business diploma and previ-

ous Oman experience in Customer

service seeks suitable placement in

hospitality/salesmarketing/

logistics/ admin. Contact 91383167

Indian male: CCNA, 9 years

experience computer Hardware &

maintenance, Telecommunication

presently visit visa, suitable vacancy

in Muscat. Contact 99286582

Email : jesincr@gmail.com

Masters in computer applications

with experience looking for suitable

placement. Contact 98824135

email: jebin.joseph22@gmail.com

Microsoft Certified System

Engineer, over 5 Years Experience in

Dubai as IT Administrator, IT Techni-

cal Support & Documentations, OS/

Software upgrades, Hardware &

Network Support, System moni-

toring etc. Please Contact Hassan

+971504993590 or +968 96123649

email naqvi.saiyed@gmail.com

Driver looking for job for company/

personal. Contact 91179635

26 Years male looking for light

duty driving work, good speaking

English. Contact 92868244

Driver with Car. Contact 91707140

Indian executive Driver.

Contact 94003617

4 years experience Heavy Driver is

available. Contact 99687270

B.SC Interior Designing Degree

holder with 8 years of experience in

various types of interior fitout job

worked as a Site Engineer having

Omani Driving Licence seeking for

suitable placement.Contact Number :

00968 - 95896061

Graduate Civil Engineer having 20

Years experience in Engineering

Consultancy , specialist in Contract

Administration , Construction & Of-

fice Management , Project Supervi-

sion seeks immediate placement .

Visa Release available.

Contact : GSM : 93475252.

Diploma in Electronics Engineer-ing with 5 yrs experience in Oman

as customer coordinator & Indoor

sales executive, seeks suitable job.

Speaks Arabic, English & Hindi.

Contact 95681406

Email : nizampu@yahoo.co.in

Mechanical Engineer (Male) , B.sc.

degree, 12 years of experience in

mechanical engineering. Contact:

+966560287193 /

+968 97269090,E mail:

mohamadhawary@yahoo.com

Indian male, B.Tech (Mech), 15 yrs

experience, in Oman more than 3

yrs in Manufacturing Industry with

valid Oman D/L. Exposure in Op-

erations, Quality Management and

Admin seeks suitable placement.

NOC available, can join immediately.

Contact 91301625.

Indian male B.tech Mechanical

Engineer with 3years experiance

looking for suitable job.Currently on

visit visa. Mob:96268488

ali.syedausaf@gmail.com

Mechanical Engineer,(BTech in

Mechanical) with Certified quality

controller - NDT level 2 qualified as

per ASNT - SNT-TC-I A, with

1 & half yr exp. as quality control

engineer, presnetly in India seeks

suitable placement Cont : 95405033

suhylehameed@gmail.com

Indian army retired colonel with 25

years experience in telecommunica-

tions & IT system integration avail-

able for immediate employment

in project management / Business

development immediate availability

to join. Contact +968- 97266308 or

Email: amrain66@gmail.com

BSC computer information systems,

male Graduated & qualified from UK

with 6 years experience in software

testing, WEB DEV, IT support & mar-

keting having license.

Contact +968 98399587

Email: mailnadeem91@gmail.com

IT Help Desk Support (33), 8 years

experience troubleshooting network

configuration, designing, hardware

maintenance, website design and

administration (Joomla).

Contact 94197650, 95072166.

Email : babo877885@hotmail.com

Sudanese male 26 yrs, B.Sc in Com-

puter Science and one year experi-

ence, Looking for job in any school

or any institute. Contact 97714778

SAP BO/ BODS consultant 6+ years

experience with EMBA (IT) , B.Tech

(IT), OCP, OCA, ITIL and AIX certified,

seeks a suitable posting. #92532996

Email: surbob@gmail.com

Indian male 22 Graduate BCA CCNA,

hardware, networking CCTV,

MS Office two years experience look-

ing for suitable place. # 98129846

Indian male, 28 years MAS

(Canada), B.Tech (IT), 1.8 Years of

experience as Oracle DBA, seeks job.

Contact 98023300 Email

arshadmohiuddin@hotmail.com

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D6 S U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

Indian Female 29 yrs, B-Com Gradu-

ate with Basic Computer Knowledge

and Tally having 6 yrs experience

in accounting, seeking for the place-

ments in Accounts/ HR/ Admin,

Presently on visit visa in Oman.

Contact: 95478149,

Email: tnaik15@gmail.com

B.Tech mechanical Degree Attested

from UAE, Dubai, seeks job as a

Mechanical Engineer or Trainee.

Call.+968 96728279

Masters in Information Systems

with 10.5 years of experience is

looking for a placement in teaching,

Technical support & System Admin-

istration. Contact: 98502793, email:

radhasiva12345@gmail.com

Pakistani male 46, welding/me-

chanical/pipeline engineer,25 years

experience,certified welding inspec-

tor, omani driving license, #93215186

Senior Accounts Professional,

Indian male, 35 years, M.Com, MBA

(Fin) 8 years in Oman, with valid

Oman DL and NOC available. Capable

to handle accounts up to finalization.

Contact 9602 3965.

Indian female B.Com with 5years

experience in accounts/commercial

assistant, having Oman D/L seeks for

suitable placement in Ruwi /w.kabir

surrounding. #99665096

Email: vcshetty33@gmail.com

Well experienced Senior Account-

ant seeks part time accounting job.

Contact :98803439

Indian Male 30yrs,having around

8yrs experience in Sales & Market-

ing & Customer relations, Looking

for immediate placement with NOC

available.# 99369497 / 92080354.

Having Experience in Junior Sys-

tem Administrator Cybex Solutions,

Cochin, Assembling & Dissembling

PC, A+, Networking Essentials, pres-

ently working in India.

Contact 97239854-Asher

Male, Indian, 24, Graduate in

B.E (Hons) computer hardware &

networking with 1 year experience,

seeking a placement in IT Sector.

having oman driving license.

mobile: 92711506.

EMAIL: ammarayyub@gmail.com

Indian Female MA. B.Ed. with One

year Teaching experience, Sub-

ject: English, seeking for an urgent

suitable placement, Now in Oman.

Contact: -: 93961142, 92184408

Email:-anoopkesavan78@gmail.com

Admin Executive, 31, Indian Male,

having 8+ years exp. in reputed

companies seeking suitable place-

ment in any gulf region. Contact

+968 99276601 & 97693456. email :

muralimahdav77@gmail.com

34 years Indian male, working as

QC Inspector in maintenance field,

having 4 years experience in Oman

and valid Oman driving license.

Contact 95339870

Indian male, Accountant , 11 years

experience in accounting, tally, look-

ing for a part time job. #no.96423671

Senior Accounts Professional,

Indian Male, 35 years, M.Com, MBA

(Fin) 8 years in Oman, with valid

Oman DL and NOC available. Capable

to handle accounts up to finalization.

Contact 91395515.

Indian, Female, Pharmacist avail-

able with MOH License, preferably in

Muscat. Contact 94391355.

Office Administrator and IT Support

Executive with 8+ years of experi-

ence in diverse industries looking for

job in similar field, available to join

immediately with NOC.

Contact No.95494907,

sirajahmed0303@gmail.com

Pakistani male 35 years, looking

for suitable placement in accounts,

14 years experience with 2 years in

Oman. #97646927 / 92531035.

Indian Male having 10 years of

Experience in Oman having Valid

Omani Driving license working in

Purchase Dept looking for a suitable

position. salary is negotiable.

obarla313@gmail.com

Contact 94304324

26 years Indian male with MBA &

PGDFM,Total 3.1 years experience in

administration and accounts .seek-

ing suitable placement in muscat.

having oman valid driving license.

Contact :93359371,

57 Yrs. Old healthy person seeking

an opportunity in any area of works

(Painting, Store asst, Traffic control-

ler, Foremen, Controller). Saudi expe-

rienced. Contact-97239854-Asher

Mechanical Engineer -B.E with 4yrs

exp in manufacturing/production

presently in Oman on visit visa seek-

ing suitable placement. #: 93694953,

Email : alvinfxr@gmail.com

Indian female, P.G. Diploma in

Journalism and Mass Communica-

tion, 4 yrs of exp as sub- editor/

content editor in India, seeking suit-

able placement.

Email: aayiishaa@gmail.com

Contact no: 95886447, 93063576

Electronics & communication

Engineer, having 3+years experience

(2 yrs GCC) in Security systems/low

current systems (FAS, CCTV, ACS,

PAVA etc) seeking suitable post in

construction/manufacturing/produc-

tion/maintenance depts. Contact:

hashimjm@gmail.com, 98132746/

00966544912293

Senior Accounts Professional,

Indian Male, 35 years, M.Com, MBA

(Fin) 8 years in Oman, with valid

Oman DL and NOC available. Capable

to handle accounts up to finalization.

Contact 91395515.

Indian Male having 10 years of

Experience in Oman having Valid

Omani Driving license working in

Purchase Dept looking for a suitable

position. salary is negotiable.

obarla313@gmail.com # 94304324

Indian Male Graduate with 10+ y-exp

in IT H/w Business Dev, Retail Man-

agement Import/Purchase distribu-

tion looking for suitable position.

GSM: 96981051

Admin Executive, 30, Indian Male,

having 8+ years exp. in reputed

companies. Seeking suitable place-

ment in any gulf region. Contact

+968 99276601 & 97693456. email :

muralimahdav77@gmail.com

Mining Engineer and also did NE-

BOSH (IGC), Fire and Safety (HABC)

25 year old Pakistani male looking

for job and recently on visit visa.

Available to join respective firm.

Contact # 97412696,

Email: shan37yousfani@gmail.com

28 year Indian female (MBA) with

3+yrs experience (Oman) in

Accounts is seeking suitable

placement in Muscat.

Contact 96141283.

Seeking a good replacement as

accountant in a good organization

in oman having 4 years experiences

in India and 6 yrs in Muscat in a re-

puted group of companies as senior

accountant . please contact :

95 12 93 52 / 91 35 04 11.

Mining Engineer and also did NE-

BOSH (IGC), Fire and Safety (HABC)

25 year old Pakistani male looking

for job and recently on visit visa.

Available to join respective firm.

Contact number# 97412696, Email:

shan37yousfani@gmail.com

Young boy (B-Com) HAVING experi-

ence Marketing, Customer

Relationship, Store managing .

Seeking suitable opportunities &

presently in India. .Mob:97239854.

Mail:asherlalitha@yahoo.com

NRI

Launching Four elegant 3B/R

villas on ECR road, Chennai.

Spread across 4 grounds, each

3140 sq.ft villa is designed

with all modern amenities.

Contact: + 968 95357358

email : luxuryvillas4@gmail.com

2400 sq. feet 5 Bedrooms House

for sale at Prime location in Pan-

dalam expected price 85 lacs. 6.75

cents of land for sale at Benedic

Nagar behind Mar Ivanios college

Nalanchira. Trivandrum. Contact

99169299 / 9446960052

Property options Mumbai & Pune

commercial rent @140/- S.F & Res.

10K INR purchase @ 4K/S.F INR

onwards. Contact +919833298143

Email: greenhouser24@gmail.com

Looking for an experienced A/R

conditioner and deep freezer Tech-

nician to independently handle

a running refrigeration service

center in Kannur Kerala.

Attractive terms offered.

Please send CV to

vfixenterprise@gmail.com

For Astrological consultation,

Jathakam. Contact 99860435 /

97102599

MATRIMONIAL

Nair Boy, 32/165 cm (Divorced)

Accountant MBA, seeking alliance.

Contact 97058681

Suitable alliance invited from pro-

fessional qualified boys Christian

RC Girl BSC Nurse MOH Nizwa 26

years 162 cm Hailing from Idukki.

Contact 91753129

Looking for Hindu (Nair) girls for

marriage, 31 yrs, Kerala Indian

Telecom Engineer. #97050267

Delhi basedman [cast-kahar]aged

45 years widower [have one child]

techebivien working in capitel area

sultanate of oman with family status

is looking girl to marry those inter-

ested may cont: 0096895934683

email -salrefco@ omantel.net.com

R.C Kerala 5.8, 29 yrs. Contact 98917545

Hindu, Iyer boy, 38/179 cm, work-

ing as Accountant in a reputed

company in Oman for last six years

seeks suitable alliance. #99464170

Sunni Muslim Pakistani parents,

seeking proposal for Graduate

daughters of age 26 and 28 years.

Contact 97442790

Mangalore Sunni Muslim, seek-

ing suitable bride (preferably from

Dakshina Kannada) for their son

working as Logistics Manager.

Contact 92198085

Suitable alliance Invited from

professional qualified boys for

Nair Girl, B.Tech, Bharani, 29 years

161 cm Hailing from Ernakulam.

Contact 99269673

ACC. AVAILABLE

Single room for working Indian lady

with keralite family near

Indian school Wadi Kabir.

Contact:-99630578

Sharing accommodation available

(2 rooms) at Al Khuwair near KM

Trading with spilt A/C.

Contact 96558699 / 98407703

Semi furnished room with bath-

room for Ex. Bachelor, opp. Al Reef

hotel Ghubra prf. Muslim, wifi avail-

able. Contact 92078090

1 Bedroom available in Rex road

suitable for bachelors.

Contact 99889590

2 rooms opp OC Centre, attached

toilet, Exec Indian bachelors.

Contact 96154889

Independent rooms in Qurum.

Contact 95529970

One Bedroom sharing kitchen

bathroom near Indian School Wadi

kabeer rent RO 130/-

Contact 92739154

Room for rent separate kitchen &

Bathroom Al Ghubrah.

Contact 95032152

MANPOWER

Engineers, Mason, Labors, Drivers, Cleaners, all kind of skilled worker

categories. National Gate for Human

Resource services and business

Consultancy. Contact 98864555/

99200044/ 96298000.

Email : omanmng@yahoo.com

Housemaid, beautician, house boy, cleaner, cooks, driver (light & heavy), electrician, plumber, con-

struction helper. Contact 95175192,

mail: oman.manpower@yahoo.com

SKILLED / UN SKILLED

Welding cum fabricator, gulf expe-

rienced, 6G/3G/ARCH/ XRY

PH: 93837973

Indian male, mechanical technician,

22 years exp (6 years in Oman) as

Mill Wright Fitter, Maintenance &

Fabrication work, currently having

family status seeks suitable place-

ment, NOC available -# 97217281

SALES / MARKETING

SALES / MARKETING

A Mechanical Engineer having over

10 years experience in the Oil & Gas

Sales marketing and business devel-

opment. NOC available.

Contact 95864396 / 97608419

Indian male with male 3 years exp

in Oman 2 years in accounting & 1

year in sales seeking for a suitable

placement. Also interested working

for working in sales or purchase

with valid Oman D/L. #96059201

Indian male 27 years B.Com, 6 years

experience in sales and marketing

like electronics, household cleaning

equipments, holding valid Oman

D/L, looking for suitable place-

ment in reputed company. Contact

95660231 / 96567258

Indian male having 7 yrs of experi-

ence in indoor sale (supervisor) in

furniture, NOC available. Contact

96615479 / 98732726

Indian male 27 Diploma in logistics

B.Com. 1 year exp in DHL, 2 years

exp in Oman. Having Oman D/L &

Oman NOC available seeks suitable

placement in logistics field.

Contact – 97836358

Indian male 15 years experience

in sales & marketing dealing with

building materials, construction

equipments, Industrial tools,

cleaning & agriculture equipments

seeking suitable position with valid

Oman D/L. Contact 92406527

Indian male MBA HR & Marketing,

seeking for suitable placement. Now

on visit visa. Contact 93191169

Indian male 32 years having

9 years experience in sales worked

in Oman as Marketing executive

with valid driving license,

looking for suitable job.

Contact 93838265 / 92850686

Email sinujohn2013@gmail.com

Indian male 26 yrs , B.Com looking

for a suitable placement counter

sales & showroom in change store

keeper having 2 yrs exp.

Contact 96268481

Email: moizuddin412@gmail.com

Indian male 26 yrs B.Tech Mechani-

cal looking for a suitable placement

sales & marketing. Contact 96268488

Email: ali.syedausaf@gmail.com

Sales / retail 6 yrs experience in

Oman with D/L, NOC available.

Contact 92453375

Salesman having Car & D. License

with 10 yrs of experience in Sales,

seeks suitable jobs. # 95650478

MBA (Marketing/ HR) Indian male

with 4.5 years exp in Business

Development and Marketing, seeks

suitable placement, Currently avail-

able on visit visa. Contact 97618033

Email vjgeorge12@gmail.com

Qualified Senior Sales and Market-

ing Management Personnel with 25

years Oman experience in FMCG

business looking for senior position.

Contact +968 97814897

Indian Male, 28 yrs, having 5

years experience in FMCG Sales in

visit visa, Looking for any suitable

jobs in Oman. Contact 98531486/

98988824

Indian Male, MBA in Marketing and

Finance, 10 years’ Sales & Business

Development Experience with valid

D/L of Oman & UAE looking for a

suitable placement. NOC Available.

Contact: 93969961

e-mail abhilash.pvrk@gmail.com

Indian male 24 years MBA (Market-

ing/ IT) Fresher well versed in CRM

and MS Office Packages, looking for

sales / marketing job. #99180369

Email khajaaftab@gmail.com

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

Female staff nurse with Oman

Prometric passed, seeking suitable

placement, currently on visit visa.

Contact 97803046

Indian male 11 years experience in

sales and marketing having D/L of

Oman looking for a suitable place-

ment. Contact: 98125746,

Email: jineshmudt@gmail.com

18 years of extensive experience in

Sales & Marketing in GCC. Holding

valid Omani driving license & NOC

is available. Fluent in Arabic and

English Language seeking for

a suitable placement. #96383958

Seeking a good replacement as Ac-

countant in a good organization in

Oman having 4 years experiences in

India and 6 years in Muscat in a re-

puted group of companies as senior

accountant. # 9512 9352 / 91350411.

MEP Project Manager Engineering

Degree holder with 16 years of expe-

rience in Engineering, Contracting

and Execution of Building, Infra-

structure and Industrial Construc-

tion seeks suitable job. Valid D/L,

NOC available Contact 95689623

MEDICAL

Female Indian dentist with 6 years

experience. Prometric exam cleared

seeks placement in Muscat.

Contact 97816530

Pharmacist Indian (f) (B. Pham)

MOH Oman license on family visa

seeks a job. Contact 98525042 /

98582078

Registered male Nurse, seeking

job in Oman BSN passed Oman pro-

metric ACLS, BLS certified currently

on visit visa experience 7 years.

Contact 98564833

Registered male Nurse, seeking job

in Hospital company passed Oman

prometric, currently on visit visa

ACLS, BLS certified experience

11 years. Contact 98566245

Female Dentist Indian with MOH

license, 13 years experience, seeking

a suitable job in Muscat #93213869

Senior Lab Technician, BSC MLT,

EXP, Passed MOH exam

PH : 93837973

Egyptian GP with MOH license NOC

14 year’s experience, 2 years in

Oman & 5 years as Medical director.

Contact 968 93851109

Email: sherif.samiro76@gmail.com

Nursing caregiver, qualified Nurse/

Asst. Nurse (male/ female) medical

staff seeks placement for Hospital/

clinic. Contact 92989109 (Oman),

0091 – 9555427742 (India),

medicoport@gmail.com

Female staff nurse with Oman

Prometric passed seeking suitable

placement currently on visit visa.

Contact 98305353

Indian Female, 30 Years, B.Com

with 3 Years Oman and 7 Years

India experience in admin/Back

Office, Omani Driving License,

seeking suitable job. Contact

96727030/96253400

Indian male MBA 32 yrs having 10

yrs exp seeking suitable placement

in Admin/HR/ Operations/ Coordi-

nation/ logistics etc. Holding valid

Oman D/L. Contact - 99054786

Indian Male over 10 years experi-

ence in Office / Sales Coordinator,

Admin, Secretarial and purchase

with driving license and NOC

available. Well versed in MS office.

Looking for suitable placement.

Contact 99709336

SECRETARIAL / OFFICE

PROJECTS

Experienced Safety officer, seeks suitable placement. Contact

92887119/ 99592878

Sr. Business Development Execu-tive - Projects GSM :-92758761

29 yr old indian male graduate 5yrs

oman exp in sales and marketing

with valid oman driving license

looking for suitable job.Noc available

ready to join immediately

Contact : 95136784

Indian Male B. Tech (E.C.E) 3 years

experienced in Logistics and 1year

Experienced in Power plant Mainte-

nance. Looking for suitable Vacancies.

Currently on visit Visa. # : 94321777

Email: ahmadece@gmail.com

The Business Development Manager, Iraqi, Experience 14 Years

Inside and outside Oman following

activities: tenders& real estate&

construction & marketing projects&

investments& transportation & Ma-

rine services& companies manage-

ment& develop business.

Contact 93240027

Indian male 28 years MBA (HR

& Marketing) 6 years marketing

experience like telecom, pharma

electronics holding valid Oman

driving license looking for suitable

placement in a reputed company.

Contact 93434049

Email: riyaskv@hotmail.com

Male 10 yrs, exp in sales & market-

ing with D/L. Contact 99054673

SENIOR BUYER with 8 years procure-

ment experience (in middle east), in

Oil and gas as well as Industrial pro-

jects and having more than 16 years

of job experience, is on the lookout

for a suitable placement. Currently in

Oman. Contact: 91750084

Male MBA with +15yrs of exp in

senior / middle mgt in insurance,

telecom automobile, printing and

publishing and electrical in India

and GCC on family visit,

looking for a suitable opening.

Contact 97330734

Indian Male over 10 years experi-

ence in Office / Sales Coordinator,

Admin, Secretarial and purchase

with driving license and NOC avail-

able. Well versed in MS office, look-

ing for suitable placement.

Contact 99709336

Sales/ Marketing / customer

service release / NOC available UK

+ Oman experience valid Oman D/L,

excellent communication & organ-

izing skills, can join immediately,

Email : plavon_ctg@yahoo.com,

gsm 92342060 / 96761225

Female, Bangladeshi, MBA,

7 years experience in Marketing and

administration including Dubai and

Oman, valid Oman Driving License.

Requesting to contact only those

companies who are eligible to give

visa. Contact 98763963

MISCELLANEOUS

MISCELLANEOUS

DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4 D7

DAILY GUIDESITUATION WANTEDCARGO

Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with Buffet, & Land Tours

Al- Ainain Marine Tours Contact- 98029602, 92808636

BUSINESS BUSINESS

Looking for Partnership to run and

invest in well established Aluminum

casting factory located in capital

area. Contact +968 99326318

Email smatcon@hotmail.com

3 Independent ware houses in Ghala

area 300 SQM / 600 SQM & 1150 SQMS.

Open storage of up to 4000 SQMS on

Barka main road. #99509460

TOURS

TOURS

DRIVING

Learn driving automatic from

scratch. Contact 98599675

RENT A CAR

RENT A CAR

M.V. FOR SALE

2010 MazdaCX-7, Full Option,

Mileage 60000,Finance available,

OMR7500, Contact 91630633

Mitsubishi Pajero 2004 model

white full option.

Contact 96608725

2014 Mazda 6 Prestige 2.0L for

Immediate Sale. Soul Red Color.

3 Years’ Service Package.

Contact: 99672008

Toyota Yaris auto 2009, 142k,

R.O 2600. Contact 93289652

Mazda-3, 2009 model full

automatic. Contact 99737879

Ford focus full options, 2010, 8100

kms, expat lady driven, excellent

condition and all tyres changed

recently for immediate sale. Fixed

price OMR 3000. Contact 99421138

Mitsubishi Lancer 2006 excellent

condition Mulkiya upto 2015-07.

Contact 99378397

PROTON GEN 2 FOR SALE: Manual

Gear. Good condition. Single owner.

Silver colour. 1st registered August

2009. Full insurance till August

2015, Price OMR 1,680

Tel: 99333479 or 95215360

2011 model Nissan Sunny Auto-

matic. Contact 99467005

Hyundai Tucson 2009, v6, 2.7,

auto / 4wd, rear view camera, expat

owned, excellent condition, 58,000

km, RO 3900. Contact-94129462

Mitsubishi Lancer model 2009 full

automatic. Contact 99045803

Mercedes C180, 2005.

Contact 99755644

FOR HIRE

TRUCK FOR HIREIsuzu 10 ton cargo body truck

(2012 FVR) with UAE experienced driver

available for long term / short term rent.

Contact: 95346950

Running truck wash for rent in

Ouhi Sunia Sohar. Serious people

can. Contact on 97864747

50 seater bus with PDO specification

for rent or lease. Contact

99839898

TRANSPORTATION

Transportation Available

Contact:-97180655

Transportation. Contact 96771559

Car with driver available.

Contact 99526610

Transportation available.

Contact 95570429

Transportation. Contact: 97897833

Transportation. Contact 99509283

Transportation. Contact 96785989

Transportation. Contact 93425167

Transportation. Contact 98132389

Increase your income on commis-

sion basis with our landscaping &

gardening services provided for

big, small projects & maintenance

contracts. Contact +968 99242207

Email: bestgardens.om@gmail.com

FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know more

about Islam, please call: 99425598,

96050000, 99353988, 99253818,

99341395, and 99379133. For ladies:

99415818, 99321360, 99730723

Orvisit: www.islamfact.com

Ayurvedic Massage, backache,

joint pain, neck pain etc.

Contact 96245877

Ayurvedic treatment for joint

pain, backache, paralysis massage,

steambath, obesity, spondylitis,

IDEAL CARE Ayuvedic Clinic, 18 No-

vember Street Azaiba. #99639695

Ayurvedic treatment for backache,

paralysis, arthritis etc & massage,

All Season (Vaidyaratnam).

#24475280 / 95371554 / 92504980

GOOD NEWS

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

D8 S U N D AY, S E P T E M B E R 2 1 , 2 0 1 4

DAILY GUIDE Tel. 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 431 / 456 / 461 Fax: 24812624

Email: dailyguide@timesofoman.com

SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED

CLASSES

WEBSITE

WEB, ERP and Business Intelli-

gence (BI) creation and man-

agement at rock bottom price.

Contact: http//webviewoman

COMPUTER

House Shifting. Contact 99708138

GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,

Contact 99314807/24792998

MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your

marble. Contact 24793614/

99314807

Civil Maintenance, Painting Elec-

tric, Plumbing, Decor, Tile Fixing,

Lecithin Copra Board flat stifling ,

Carpet Cleaning and A/C Servicing.

Contact 97897831 (Indian keralite)

YallahOman.com - Shop & gift on-

line. Cheapest prices. Pay by card or

cash on delivery.

Carpet, sofa cleaning, glue remov-

ing, shampooing, house cleaning,

polishing & painting etc.

Contact – 99542979 / 98855815

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QA-

BAS- 99320217 /24788722

Carpet & sofa cleaning, house

cleaning. Contact 99542979 /

98855815

A.M Trading Pest control. Contact 99067923

Electrical Plumbing Painting

Contract and Maintenance.

Contact 98456535

Painting Interlock plumbing

maintenance. Contact 92142319

We translate documents from

English to Arabic and Arabic to

English. Contact 99242119

SITUATION WANT-SERVICES

Water proofing ABUQABAS-

Contact 99320217/24788722

Door to Door Computers repair

specialist laptop software

Website cartridges.

Contact 99199376

MEP Design / MEP/ Arch. Shop

drawings. # 91467905 / 94373456

For HT cable jointing and

termination works 33KV/11KV.

Contact 99056438 /

Email: npgoman@gmail.com

Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles

polishing, carpet shampooing,

maintenance. Contact ABU QA-

BAS- 99320217 /24788722

Window & split unit A/C servicing

& maintenance. Contact 96236476

Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile

polishing, pest control & anti-ter-

mite treatment, general cleaning

painting, Plumbing, Electrical,

shifting. Contact Mundhir

Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C. #

24810137, 99450130

MARBLE polishing & crystalliza-

tion building cleaning floor, floor

polishing, carpet, sofa shampooing,

pest control, anti termite,

shifting, maintenance.

Contact 99504275

Carpentry painting, Aluminum,

Electrical. Contact 98962384

House shifting & transporting.

Contact 92490422

GULF INTERNATIONAL LLC

all kind of pest control.

Contact 92326955

We assist Buying / Selling / Renting

/ Empty Plots, Villa, Buildings, Open

Lands, Warehouses, Industrial Lands

on long and short term lease & Man-

agement of Properties. Kindly fax

us or email copy of your kurki with

contact details. Fax No . 24533348,

Email : info@goldenlllc.com

Catering services We do industrial

catering service, Canteen/ mess, 3

times packed meals, and all types of

catering events. Contact 92188777/

99249899

Truck repairing and truck body

fabrication Misfa Ind. area. Contact

92326955 Bridge Gulfa LLC

A/C, Fridge & Washing Machine servicing & Repairing,2. Painting,

Plumping, Electrical & carpen-

try works. Contact 97014234 /

24504281 / 99447257

Electrical Works, Maintenance,

Building Gas Pipelines, Fire Alarm

& Security systems. Contact Amjad

Majees Trading & Contracting:

99467936

Cleaning Services, Carpet Sham-

pooing, General Cleaning, Polish-

ing, Ocean Center LLC.

Contact 99884591

Hardware, Networking full setup

and service for home and business

RO 15/- per visit. Call : 92054431,

97311847

House shifting, packing & Trans-

portation.Contact 99657644 /

98518013

SITUATION WANT-SERVICES

Split & window A/C servicing &

repairing. Contact 99557080

P.R.O Service. Call me 99368907

Split & window A/C servicing &

maintenance. Contact 93769089

I Nurmuhamed Seeraj (Holder of

Indian Passport no L 3864530) Son

of Nurmuhamed having permanent

residence in 1/1503 Balamurugan

Nagar, Attanthangal Sholavarampo,

Chennai 167, Tamil Nadu (Complete

postal address in India) & presently

residing in P.O. Box 276 P.C 131 Al

Wadi centre, Qurum, C/O Azeez Ab-

dullah, Sultanate of Oman (Complete

postal address in Oman) intend

to change my name from Nurmu-hamed Seeraj to Noormohamed Sirajudeen ( new name) for all

practical purposes. Any objection to-

wards my name change may please

be communicated to Embassy of

India, Muscat, Diplomatic Quarters,

Al Khuwair, P. Box no 1727, Postal

Code 112, Ruwi, Sultanate of Oman.

CHANGE OF NAME