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Vehicles Belonging To Kashmiris Torched in Jammu

‘Move Employees Quarters Attacked, Attempts Made To Burn Them’

Perpetrators Will Pay ‘Very Heavy Price’: ModiSays Government Forces Have Been Given ‘Free Hand’ To Decide On Timing, Place And Nature Of Their Response; Rajnath Singh Arrives In Kashmir, Reviews Security

Press Trust of India

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Na-rendra Modi on Friday declared

those responsible will pay a "very heavy price" and said the govern-ment forces have been given a free hand to decide on the tim-

ing, place and nature of their re-sponse to the deadliest attack in three decades of insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir. P10

‘Regret’ Every Killing On Our Soil: JRL

SRINAGAR: Commenting on the incident at Lethpora Pul-wama, Joint Resistance Leader-ship comprising both factions of Hurriyat Conference headed by Syed Ali Geelani and Mir-waiz Umar Farooq besides JKLF led by Mohammad Yasin Malik said that people and leadership of Kashmir “regret every killing that happens on its soil.”

“As we witness killing of our loved ones our young, and shoulder their coffins each day, we can feel and understand the pain and sense of loss that the

family and friends of those who are killed go through, not for a day or two when everyone is expressing grief and condo-lences to them but the silent grief and loss that stays with them for a lifetime,” the JRL said in a statement issued here.

The JRL said that the delay in the resolution of the Kashmir dispute, the denial to engage with the sentiments and aspi-rations of the people of J&K and instead the use of a muscular military approach to counter an essentially political and P10

40 Bodies Sent Home For Last RitesSRINAGAR: The death toll in the deadliest attack on government forc-es in Jammu and Kashmir mounted to 49 on Friday as four wounded paramilitary men succumbed to their injuries at army's 92 base hos-pital Badamibagh Srinagar.

Official sources said that bodies of 40 of the slain were identified while body parts of nine others were collected together and would be sent to their native villages after confirmation.

They said that 37 bodies were sent in one go while three others were sent later. Home Minister Ra-jnath Singh attended wreath laying ceremony of the 37 CRPF P10

India Issues Demarche To PakBriefs Envoys Of 25 Countries, Including From P5 Nations

NEW DELHI: In a major diplo-matic offensive against Islam-abad after the Pulwama attack, India held a briefing for envoys of 25 countries, including from P5 nations -- US, China, Russia, the UK and France -- during which it highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an in-strument of state policy.

Before the briefing, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale sum-moned Pakistan High Com-missioner to India Sohail Mah-mood to his South Block office and issued a very P10

Oppose All Forms OfTerrorism: China

Ladakh Division To Be Headquartered In Leh and KargilJAMMU: The Governor, Satya Pal Malik today met the All Par-ty Co-ordination Committee members from Kargil district to understand and resolve the concerns of the people of Kar-gil regarding the newly formed Ladakh Division. The Co-ordi-nation Committee Members in the delegation were Haji Anayat Ali, Chairman Legisla-tive Council; Feroz Khan, Chair-man/ Chief Executive Coun-cilor, Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil; Haji Asgar Ali Karbali, Ex-MLA, Congress; Haji P10

Pak: Won't Make Any 'Emotional Decision' After India Withdraws MFN Status

Observer News Service

JAMMU: Many vehicles, mostly be-longing to a particular community

were torched and several persons were beaten as mobs carrying tri-colors went on rampage in Jammu during a bandh call on P10

SRINAGAR: Vehicles of employees from Kashmir Valley were damaged and stones thrown at official accommodations in the state’s winter capital on Thursday, local news agency reported. It said a number of vehicles from a particular community were also P10

PM Narendra Modi pays last respects to the CRPF jawans, martyred in Pulwama attack, at Palam airport. Photo: PTI

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will not make any "emotional decision" following India announced the withdrawal of the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to the country and respond to it after due de-liberation, a senior official said on Friday.

India on Friday revoked the MFN sta-

tus to Pakistan in the aftermath of Pul-wama attack.

Advisor to Pakistan Prime Minister on Trade Abdul Razzak Dawood told report-ers here that a response to Indian deci-sion would come after due deliberation.

"India has removed us from the list of MFN nations but we will not make any emotional decision and will issue a re-sponse after making due thinking, he said.

Withdrawal of the MFN status would significantly hit Pakistan's exports to India, which stood at USD 488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18.

But a finance ministry official told PTI that the impact of India's P10

BEIJING: China on Friday expressed deep "shock" over the Pulwama attack carried out by a Jaish sui-cide bomber but did not give an assurance to India that it will back New Del-hi's appeal to list the JeM chief Masood Azhar as a global terrorist.

"China has noted the reports of suicide terror-ist attack. We are deeply shocked by this attack. We express deep condo-lences and sympathy to the injured and bereaved families," spokesman of

the Chinese Foreign Min-istry Geng Shuang told a media briefing here when asked about the incident.

In a carefully worded response to a number of questions on the Pul-wama incident, Geng said China condemned the in-cident as part of its overall stand on terrorism.

"We firmly oppose and strongly condemn all forms of terrorism. We hope relevant regional countries will cooperate to cope with the threat of terrorism and P10

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Saturday| 16-02-2019Monday - Saturday (9am - 6pm)No 1- Dal Lake Boulevard Srinagar, 190001, Kashmir

bazar Observer

RN ANG Rz ANG

mq bud

Subject:- Auction of Adda/Entry Fee/Terminal tax of Municipal Committee Pattan for the year 2019-20.

“A U C T I O N NOTICE”

Sealed bids/offers affixed with Revenue stamp of Rs.5/- through registered Post or to be delivered personally are invited from the interested persons/parties for auction of Collection of Adda/ Entry Fee/Terminal Tax for the year 2019-20 commencing from 01/04/2019 to 31/03/2020. The minimum reserve bid amount is fixed as Rs.4.65 Lacs (Four Lacs Sixty Five Thousands only). The bid forms can be obtained from the office of the undersigned against non refundable amount of Rs. 500/- (Rs. Five Hundred only) upto 19/02/2019, upto 4:00 PM.The bids/offers in a sealed or registered cover shall reach this office by or before 20/02/2019 upto 2.00 P.M as fixed by the Director Urban Local Bodies Kashmir and will be opened on the same date in presence auction committee members and bidders who wish to be present. In case of Hartal or any unavoidable circumstances the date of receipt of tenders/bids will be reckoned on next working day. The sucessful bidder shall be bound to implement the following terms & conditions in letter and sprit. TERMS AND CONDITIONS:-

1/- The intending bidder should be permenant resident of J&K state. 2/- The intending person/parties shall have to deposit earnest money of Rs. 20000/- (Rs=

Twenty Thousand Only ) in the shape of CDR pledged to Executive Officer Municipal Committee Pattan which should be appended with the auction/Bid Form without which the bid/ offer will not be considered .

3/- At the finalization of the auction proceedings the highest bidder shall have to deposit 5% of the total bid amount as token money on spot and 95% of the total bid amount shall have to be to be deposited by the highest bidder before taking the possession of entry fee collection.

4/- The bids offered by the bidders shall be inclusive of all applicable taxes (Income tax etc).

5/- The contrcator while offering the bid shall be responsible to visualize all the conditions/circumstances like Hartals,unfavourable circumstances, unrest etc. well in advance .Lateron no claim for relaxation/relief in the ceiling of contract or extension of contract period on this context shall be entertained.

6/- The successful bidder shall have to arrange manpower, furniture, stationary, electricity charges, water charges of his own without claiming any compensation.

7/- The authorized contractor is bound to engage well versed persons who are not involved in any kind of criminal activities for collection with proper uniform/caps during the collection process in a public friendly manner.

8/- The intending bidder who happens to be the defaulter of any Municipal Institution shall not be allowed to participate in the process.

(Govt of Jammu & Kashmir)

OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE OFFICER Municipal Committee Pattan

Fax:-01954-231400-----*******-----Email.eomcpattan@gmail .com

9/- The successful bidder shall be bound to execute an agreement duly registered in the court of law of the terms & conditions laid down herein with the undersigned within seven days from the date of allotment.

10/- The allotee shall be bound to charge the Adda/Entry fee/Terminal Tax as per the Tariff schedule of the committee given below.In case of overchanging the contrcat shall be cancelled and action under rules taken.

11/- The contrcator shall be bound not to charge any entry fee from the VIP’s /Government vehicles/vehciles of Security forces.

12/- The chariman of the Auction Committee i.e Director Urban Local Bodies Kashmir shall have the right to accept or reject any or all bids offered without assigning any reason thereof.

13/- In case of any dispute arising between the parties with respect to any of the conditions as laid down herein above the decesion of Director Urban Local Bodies Kashmir will be final and binding upon both the parties.

Tariff Schedule S.No Type of Vehicle Rate

1 BUS Rs.10/- Per day 2 MINI BUS Rs.10/- Per day 3 SUMO VEHICLE Rs.10/- Per Trip 4 XYLO/SCORPIO/TAVERA/INNOVA& ALL

LIKE COMMERCAIL VEHILCES Rs.10/- Per day

5 LOADED TRUCK Rs.20/- Per day 6 UNLOADED TRUCK Rs,10/- Per day 7 TRALLOR VEHICLE Rs.50/- Per day 8 UNLOADED TRALLOR Rs.10/- Per day 9 LOADED TRACTOR /TIPPER Rs.30/- Per day 10 UNLOADED TRACTOR /TIPPER Rs.10/- Per day 11 LOADED LOAD CARRIER Rs.20/- Per day 12 UNLOADED LOAD CARRIER Rs.10/- Per day 13 AUTO Rs.20/- Per day 14 JCB/POKLAND & ALL LIKE MACHINES Rs.50/- Per day 15 ALL OTHER LOAD CARRIER VEHICLE Rs.20/- Per day 16 ALL OTHER COMMERCIAL VEHICLE Rs.20/- Per day 17 SCHOOL BUS Rs.200/- Per month 18 SRTC BUS & TRUCK Rs.10/- Per day 19 TOURIST VEHICLE Rs.20/- Per day

Other terms and conditions can be had from the office of undersigned during working hours. Sd/= NO:-MC/Ptn/G/18-19/4003-9 Executive Officer, Dated: - 14/02/2019. Municipal Committee, DIPK-NB-5171/18 Pattan

Government of Jammu and Kashmir.

Department of Urban Local Bodies Kashmir SrinagarOFFICE OF THE MUNICIPAL COMMITTEE BEERWAH

AUCTION NOTICE 2019-20No:- MC/Bru/Gen/2019-20/ 1516-23 Date:- 13/02/2019

Subject:-Auction of Entry Fee/Terminal Tax for the year 2019-20.

For and on the behalf of Governor of Jammu & Kashmir State sealed bids/offers affixed with 5 Rupees Revenue Stamps are invited from the interested persons/parties for the collection of entry fee Adda Fee/Terminal Tax for the year 2019-20 w.e.f (10/05/2019 to 31/03/2020 ) of Municipal Committee Beerwah .The prescribed vide forms can be collected/ taken from the office of the Executive Officer Municipal Committee Beerwah against the non-refundable amount of Rs. 2000/= (Rupees Two Thousands Only) on 19/02/2019 4:00 pm. The sealed bid offers should reach the Office of the undersigned by or before 20/02/2019 up to 2:PM and will be opened on the same date by the Auction Committee in presence of bidders/authorized representatives who wish to be present. The Minimum bid amount is fixed as Rs. 8,10,000/(Rupees Eight Lacs and Ten Thousand Only)= for the said period . In case of Strike/Hartal or any avoidable circumstances the date of receipt of the tenders/bids will be reckoned on the next working days. The terms and conditions of the said contract are enumerated here under:-1. The interested bidder should of domicile of J & K State.2. The contract of collection of entry fee /terminal tax shall be for the year 2019-2020 with effect from 10.05.2019 to 31.03.2020 and no claim for any kind of extension/relief shall be entertained by the Department at any stage.3. No such bidder shall be allowed to participate in the process who had been a defaulter from any of the Municipal Institution.4. The auction proceedings for the contract shall be conducted /opened at the Committee level , in presence of the Administrator , Executive Officer concerned and the representative of the Directorate.5. The persons/parties have to produce PAN CARD at the time obtaining of bid forms/tenders documents no document will be issued in absence of PAN CARD.6. The intending bidder shall be bound to accompany call deposit of Rs. 30000/= in the shape of CDR from any nationalized Bank pledged to Executive Officer Municipal Committee Beerwah without which no tender/bid/offer will be accepted.7. The intending bidder shall have to deposit CDR once, he will obtain tender document from this Municipal Committee and is mandatory to participate in bidding /auction process. In case he fails to participate his CDR will be forfeited.8. At the finalization of the auction proceedings, the highest bidder shall have to deposit 5% of the total bid amount as token amount on spot and 95% of the total bid amount shall have to be deposited by the highest bidder before taking over the possession of the entry fee/terminal tax collection posts.9. The total no. is 04 entry posts within the limits of Municipal Committee Beerwah.10. The successful bidder shall be bound to execute an agreement duly registered in the competent court with the Executive Officer Municipal Committee Beerwah within seven days from the date of allotment.11. Allottee shall not deviate the rate schedule of the Committee and in case of any such report, the contract shall be cancelled at the own risk and cost of the contractor.12. The bids offered by the bidder shall be inclusive of all applicable taxes.13. The contractor while offering the bid shall be responsible to visualize all conditions /circumstances like Strike/Hartals, unfavorable circum-stances unrest etc. well in advance. Later on, no claim for relaxation /relief in the ceiling of contract or extension of contract period, on this context shall be entertained.14. The successful bidder shall have to bear/ provide / arrange main power, furniture, sanitary facilities Tools posts and Tool barriers at his own level and own his expenses with out claiming any compensation thereof from the Executive Officer Municipal committee Beerwah .15. No entry fee shall be charged on VIP’s /Govt. Vehicles,/ vehicles of Security Forces .16. The chairman of auction Committee (Director Urban Local Bodies Kashmir Srinagar) shall have to right to accept or reject any or all bid offer’s without assigning any reason thereof.

Sd./executive Officer

Municipal CommitteeDiPK-NB-5190/18 Beerwah

Fax @ 01951-275340Phone No: 01951-275340

eomcbeerwah@gmail.com

Govt Of Jammu and Kashmir

Office of the ZOnal education Officer ShadimargSubject: Deduction of Income Tax from salary for the year 2018-19

ORDER

All the officials of this zone whose salary would exceed Rs 250, 000 (Rupees Two Lac Fifty Thousanad Only) during the financial year 2018-19 are advised to furnish relevant documents of investment limit in original to accounts section of this office before 25th of Feb- 2019 fail to which Inocme Tax for the financial year 2018-19 will be computed as per details available in this office and Income Tax so calculated will be deducted accordingly from the salary of Feb -2019.

No: zEO/19/8110Dated 14/02/2019

Zonal education Officer ShadimargDIPK-17046/18

Govt Of Jammu and Kashmir

Municipal Council anantnagTender Notice

Sealed tenders affixed with Rs 06/- revenue stamps are invited from registered dealers/ agencies/ firms for supply of below mentioned items which

should reach to this office by or before 20/02/2019 upto 2:00 PM the tenders will be opened on the same day or any other subsequent day convenient to

tender opening authority in presence of the tenderers who wish to remain present.

S. No Name of the item Remarks

01 Desktop with CPU- Latest high configuration 13 (windowns 10) with RAM 04 GB (extendable to 04 GB more) & HD 1TB with 01 year warranty.

Rate to be quoted per No

02 Keyboard / Mouse with wire and wireless -do-

03 UPS (Single Battery/ Double Battery -do-

Terms and Conditions01. Each tender should be accompanied with a CDR of Rs 1000/- pledged to Executive Officer Municipal Council Anantnag without which tenders

shall not be accepted / entertained.

02 The tenderer has to quote item wise rate which also include all taxes: freight etc and the material should have to be delivered at Municipal

Council Anantnag.

03 Any conditional or provisional offer shall not be accepted. The offer with overwriting/ erasing shall also be rejected straightway.

04 The successful tenderer shall have to make the supplies within two days otherwise the placed order shall stand cancelled and CDR forfeited.

05. Only those agencies / firms/ dealers shall quote sales that possess GSTIN and have tax clearance certificate from the concerned department.

06 Payment in respect of successful tenderer shall be made after receipt of items as per specification.

07. The tender opening authority reserves the right to accept or reject any offer or all offers without assigning any reason thereof.

Other details can be had from the office of undersigned on all working days during working hours.No: MC/ANG/19/1099-1102Dated 14/02/2019

executive Officer Municipal Council anantnag

DIPK-NB-5185/18

OffiCe Of THe eXeCUTive eNGiNeeRSUB TRaNSMiSSiON DiviSiON-iiND, RaJBaGH,

SRiNaGaREmail id:- std2rajbagh@yahoo.in Fax No. 0194-2310042

CORRIGENDUMCivil contractors falling in the class ‘B”/’C”/”D” are eligible for par-ticipating in the e-NIT No. STD-II/34 of 2018-19 Dated:-06-02-2019 issued vide this office endorsement No. STD-II/2232-35/Ts Dated: - 06-02-2019 having tender ID 2019_PDD_70822_1 for “Yard Met-alling including Construction of Cable Trenches /Square Mesh Fencing/Store Shed/approach road at Receiving Station Hanjoora, Budgam in sub transmission division-II, Rajbagh .

executive engineer,

Sub Transmission Division-ii, Rajbagh, Srinagar.

No.:STD-II/2330-32/Ts Dated:- 15-02-2019

DiPK-17078/18

Saturday | 16-02-2019 03Srinagar Observer

From KO Archives

DIAL-EMMA• TRAFFIC POLICE : 9419993745, 01998-266686• PCR: 0194-2452092,2455883• PDD: 0194-2450213• FIRE AND EMERGENCY SERVICES : 2479488,2452222,2452155• CAPD: 18001807011• SMC HEALTH OFFICER: 9469409081

AIRPORTS

SHIEK UL ALAM AIRPORT: 01942303311

RAILWAYS• SRINAGAR: 0194-2103259• ANANTNAG: 01932-228243• BARAMULLA: 0194-102029• BIJBHERA: 01932-228243• PAMPORE: 01933-294132• PATTAN: 01954-293507• QAZIGUND: 01951-296153

HIGHWAY STATUS• Srinagar-Jammu highway --- (Partially open)• Mughal Road - (Closed)• Srinagar- Leh- (Closed)

HIJRI CALENDAR 10 JAMADI US SANI 1440PRAYERS

• FAJR---5: 51• ZUHR---12: 45• ASR---4:36• Magrib—6:18• ISHA---7:40

This Day in History• 1917 - 1st synagogue in 425 years opens in Madrid • 1918 - Lithuania declares independence

from Russia & Germany (National Day). • 1923 - Allies accept Latvia’s occupation of Memel territory. • 1927 - US restores diplomatic relations with Turkey. • 1929 - KID-AM in Idaho Falls ID begins radio transmissions. • 1932 - 1st patent for a tree issued to

James Markham for a peach tree • 1934 - Austrian Civil War ends with the defeat of the Social

Democrats and the Republican Schutzbund. • 1940 - British search plane finds German supply ship

Altmark, used to accommodate aliied sailors from vessles sunk by the Graf Spee, off Norway.

• 1942 - German submarines attack Aruba oil refinery • 1943 - World War II: The USSR reconquers Kharkov. • 1945 - US forces land on Corregidor, complete conquest on March 3 • 1945 - Venezuela declares war on Nazi Germany • 1948 - Miranda, famous moon of Uranus,

photographed for 1st time. • 1959 - Fidel Castro becomes the 16th Prime Minister of Cuba

after overthrowing Fulgencio Batista • 1961 - China uses its 1st nuclear reactor • 1961 - US satellite Explorer 9 is launched • 1965 - Pegasus 1 launched to detect micro-meteors • 1966 - France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker, Algeria • 1968 - Beatles George Harrison, John Lennon and their wifes

fly to India for transcendental meditation study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

• 1978 - 1st Computer Bulletin Board System (Ward & Randy’s CBBS, Chicago)

• 1982 - Assembled STS-3 vehicle moves from Vandenberg AFB to launch pad

• 1989 - Egypt, Iraq, Jordan & North Yemen form common market

Tower Blasts Deepen Power Crisis

Observer News Service

SRINAGAR: Power supply to the valley seemed to take a turn for the worse this evening with possibility of total darkness looming in event of blasted transmission towers near Banihal town collapsing under the impact of heavy snowfall in the region. Authorities were keeping their fingers crossed in anticipation of the damaged towers withstanding heavy snowfall or fierce winds. They were under stood to be charting desperate contingency measures, including temporary restoration, to tide over the grim situation arising out of the blasts. The picture would be dear by tomorrow. According to reports, mysterious blasts report-edly triggered by some 'unidentified persons’ on Sunday and Mon-day morning damaged the double circuit 132-KV Udhampur -Srinagar transmission tower in 220-KV Kishenpur Pampore transmission tower in Banihal area. All the four legs ofthe 132-KV tower are damaged while the 220-tower, though standing, has tumbled twards one side. Their to-tal collapse can cut off the entire power import to the valley, leaving it with a mere 70 megawatts (mw) - 50 mw from uri project and 20 mw from other power stations - barely sufficient for the essential loads only.

When contacted, the power development commissioner, Vinod Sharma, told Kashmir Observer this evening a of engineers led by a superintending engineer visited the spot yesterday and, after collect-ing some equipment, left Udhampur again today to start restoration of the damaged towers, possibly tomorrow. Strengthening of the 220-KV tower and re-erection of the '132-KV tower would be taken up simulta-neously. He said it would require a minimum of three days to effect the repairs. Meanwhile, Sharma said, extra curtailment was resorted to in the valley this evening following a snag in one of the circuits of 220-KV transmission line between Qazigund and Wanpoh. With a big question marie banging over the 17-hour relief in six days provided to the valley consumers last week, the availability of energy is likely to be badly dis-rupted. At present, the power import has come down to 230 mw which includes 50 mw from Uri project. The availability had] gone up to 350 mw last week, mainly due to fall in demand, facilitating the 17-hour relief. Sharma said one of the double circuit 132-KV Udhampur-Srinagar transmission line had been in a state of disrepair for the past two years. This leaves the department with only one circuit of this line besides the 220-KV Kishenpur-Pampore transmission line to import power to the valley. However, Sharma insisted the valley was getting "more than 55 per cent" of the available power against Jammu's 45 per cent. He attrib-uted the longer spells of darkness in Kashmir to tigher con-sump turn" compared to Jammu region's load.

It may be recalled two transmission towers of both 132-KV and 220-KV lines at Qazigund were blasted in similar circumstances on the night between January 13 and 14 last year followed by blasting of 400-KV tow-er at Kutpora near Wagoora in Budgam district a day later. The power supply to the valley was disrupted for more than a fortnight till the tem-porary restoration equipment was airlifted from Delhi for erect the dam-aged towers. Curiously, the blasts have been taking place only in winter.

(KASHMIR OBSERVER, 16 February, 2001)

A FISHERMAN casts his net in the Dal Lake on Friday. .... Pic Abid Bhat

Qazigund Fault Forces Extra Shedding

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT REGIONAL TRANSPORT OFFICER ANANTNAG

NOTICEWhereas joint application has been received by this office from

Mr.Amir Rasool S/O Gh Rasool R/O KP Road Manzhama Anantnag (Party No.1st) as Transferor, (Seller) Owner of the Vehicle BearingRegd. No.JK03C-8223(Commercial/Non-Commercial) covering under R/P No.Nill.and Mr.Bashir Ahmad Dagga S/O Ab Rehman Dagga R/O Shadi-pora Sumbal Bandipora (Party No.2nd) as Transferee (Purchaser) re-questing for transfer of R/C & R/P of the above noted Vehicle from party No 1st and 2nd. And Cancellation of hire purchase agreement with JK Bank Lalchock Anantnag .Before the case is disposed off on its merit, anybody have any objection regarding the proposed transfer Amy file his objection within( 7) days from the publication of this notice to the office of the undersigned. No any representation / objection shall be entertained after stipulated period.

Assistant Regional Transport Officer Anantnag

OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT REGIONAL TRANSPORT OFFICER ANANTNAG

NOTICEWhereas joint application has been received by this office from

Mr.Feroz Ahmad Kuchay S/O Mohd Afzal Kuchay R/O Lidroo Phalgam Anantnag(Party No.1st) as Transferor, (Seller) Owner of the Vehicle Taveera BearingRegd. No.JK03B-7543(Commercial/Non-Commercial) covering under R/P No.1108/mc/ang.and Mr.Shabir Ahmad Wani S/O Ab Rasheed Wani R/O Gantalipora Bijbehara Anantnag (Party No.2nd) as Transferee (Purchaser) requesting for transfer of R/C & R/P of the above noted Vehicle from party No 1st and 2nd. And Cancellation of hire purchase agreement with As Per Reg.Certificate.Before the case is disposed off on its merit, anybody have any objection regarding the proposed transfer Amy file his objection within( 7) days from the publication of this notice to the office of the undersigned. No any representation / objection shall be entertained after stipulated period.

Assistant Regional Transport Officer Anantnag

Observer News Service

Srinagar: Kashmir drivers along with their counterparts from Jam-mu staged a protest at the press enclave here to protest Friday’s vandalism in Jammu. Scores of the Kashmiri drivers along with the Jammu counterparts assembled at press colony to protest the assault on drivers in Jammu, reports said.

The protesting drivers alleged that a couple of divers were beaten and many vehicles were torched by the mob in Jammu earlier in the day. They also sought the safety and security of the People living outside the state, mostly drivers ferrying pas-sengers from Kashmir to Jammu.

“We never assaulted anybody from Jammu or any other state, then why would somebody as-sault the Kashmiris outside,” said one of the protesting drivers. Vari-ous leaders from mainstream and separatist camps Friday expressed concern over safety of Kashmiris living in Jammu and outside in wake of what seemed to be con-certed violence in the winter capi-tal city over Thursday’s attack on CRPF in Pulwama . According to reports, mobs defied curfew and went on rampage in several areas of Jammu, destroying property and setting vehicles ablaze. The

mobs burnt tyres and placed bar-ricades on several roads. Reports said a number of vehicles from a particular community were dam-aged and attempts made to set on fire their dwellings by the ram-

paging crowds. Secretariat Employees Union

Ghulam Rasool Mir told local news agency GNS that attempts were made to set ablaze the several residential quarters of employees while stones were thrown at most them. “Our vehicles have been damaged and attempts have been made to torch our houses,” Mir said. Army conducted flag march-es in sensitive areas. The Joint Re-sistance Leadership comprising

Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Syed Ali Geelani and Yasin Malik “strongly condemned the incidents of arson in Jammu in Gujjar Nagar and else-where incident where some com-munal elements freely torched the

vehicles of Kashmiri Muslims and injured many others,” according to a statement.

Former chief minister and Na-tional Conference chief Omar Abdullah said the reports of vio-lence and arson in Jammu were deeply worrying while PDP chief and former CM Mehbooba Mufti sought the intervention of Home Minister Rajnath Singh and the Jammu and Kashmir police in the matter.

...........PULWAMA ATTACK

Cab drivers protest Jammu vandalism Observer News Service

Srinagar: The J&K High Court has directed government to ensure that an enabling envi-ronment is created in Jammu and Kashmir for all the dis-abled persons.

Hearing a Public Interest Litigation filed by one Javed Ahmad Tak, a division bench of Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Sanjeev Kumar passed the direction after pe-rusal of a status report filed on behalf of the Department of Social Welfare, J&K Gov-ernment, in which reference has been made about the fa-cilities being extended to the disabled persons in the State.

“Apart from the Govern-ment Scheme and measures, it is essential to ensure that an enabling environment is created in the State of Jam-mu and Kashmir for all the disabled persons,” the court said, adding, “We find that in paragraph 6 of the status report, it is mentioned that the Government of India has approved and released Rs. 42.74 lacs for creation of barrier free environment in seven buildings located in the State of J&K. Moreso, DPRs of 16 more buildings are stated to have been sub-mitted to the Government of India recently.”

The court asked govern-ment’s social welfare de-partment to place before it the details of the creation of facilities which are to be designated for persons with disabilities.

“Moreover, there is an es-sential need that Academic Institutions provide an en-abling environment for the disabled persons,” the court said and directed that Uni-versity of Kashmir and Cen-tral University Kashmir shall be arrayed as party respon-dents in the instant petition through their respective Reg-istrars. “Registry shall issue

notice to the newly arrayed respondents without any process fee. Notice issued shall indicate that they shall submit a status report on the above issues, on or before the next date of hearing”

The court also appointed Ms. Moksha Kazmi, Advocate of this Court as Amicus Curiae for assistance in the matter.

“Let a copy of the status report be furnished to the Member Secretary, J&K State Legal Service Authority. The status report shall also be circulated to all the Secre-taries, District Legal Services Authorities, who shall en-sure that the benefits of the Schemes mentioned therein are informed and provided to the every disabled person in the State,” the court added.

Ensure enabling environment for disabled persons: HC

Observer News Service

Srinagar: Commissioner Srinagar Municipal Corporation (SMC), Mir Tariq Ali held a meeting with all senior officers of the Corpo-ration on core and public Cen-tre issues. In order to revitalize and reinforce the working of the Corporation in all sectors, great emphasis was laid by the Com-missioner for timely action and for remaining highly responsive to public aspirations.

The focus was laid that all the

officers and field functionaries shall take cohesive and collabo-rated steps to address the public issues specifically on the follow-ing subjects. Regular sanitation in all the electoral wards and collection of garb age and its dis-posal in an efficient manner;

Timely rendering of services like Death & Birth Certificates, Building Permission Cases under Public Service Guarantee Act;

Completion of targeted proj-ects under State Plan, Devolu-tion Grants, Centrally sponsored

schemes like JTFRP, AMRUT and Drainage Schemes;

Curbing the menace of poly-thene, across the district;

Speeding of Anti Encroach-ment Drives by the concerned wings throughout the District;

Devising a perpetual action for relocating the street vendors.

It was exhorted that all the wings will remain seized with their responsibilities without any laxity and shall ensure that the public issues are addressed in a time bound manner.

SMC Commissioner meets senior officers

Highway shut againSrinagar: The 300-km-long Srinagar-Jammu highway has been shut again due to landslides, trig-gered by rain on Friday. An official said that rain has triggered fresh landslides on the highway in Pan-thal. “The operation to remove the debris has started and the highway is likely to be restored for one-way traffic in the afternoon, he said. The stranded vehicles will be allowed only when a green signal is received from BRO and traffic police officials posted at several places on the highway, said an official.

After partial restoration of the highway, there was some relief from the severe shortages of es-sential supplies in the landlocked Kashmir Valley.

However, frequent closure of the highway and allowing only one-way traffic has resulted in increase in prices of essentials, particularly fresh vegetables as there is hardly any local vegetable available in the valley during winter.

NEWS Saturday| 16-02-2019 4I r a n F M I n S y r I a

Making Sense Of The World Around U s

Press TrusT Of IndIa

New Delhi: Taking Congress head on over the Sohrabuddin case, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the appropriate question for party president Rahul Gandhi to ask would be, who killed the investigation in this case.

The Special CBi Judge, Mumbai, who deals with CBi cases had acquitted all accused in Sohrabuddin case, the minister said, adding "more relevant than the Order of the Acquittal is the observation of the Judge that in the investigation, from the very beginning, investigating Agency did not investigate the case pro-fessionally in order to find out the truth but to divert it towards certain political persons."

Responding to the comment of Gandhi on the day of the judgement that 'no-body killed Sohrabuddin', Jaitley said, "it would have been more appropriate if he had asked the right question, namely who killed Sohrabuddin case investigation,

agencIes

hONG KONG,: A pair of his father’s old tandoor ovens helped hong Kong restaurateur Asim hussain achieve a dream — the world’s first Michelin star for a Pakistani restaurant, an accolade he hopes will fire interest in the country’s often overlooked cuisine.

like many of hong Kong’s 85,000 strong South Asian population, hussein’s family trace their lineage in the bustling finan-cial hub back generations, when the city was a British colonial outpost.

his great-grandfather arrived during world war One, overseeing mess halls for British soldiers while his Cantonese speaking father owned restaurants in the eighties and nineties.

hussein, 33, already had some twenty eateries in his group when he decided to embark on his what he described as his most

‘War Kills Over 100,000 Babies A Year’PTI / AFPMunich: At least 100,000 babies die every year because of armed conflict and its im-pact, from hunger to denial of aid, Save the Children International said on Friday.

in the 10 worst-hit countries, a conservative es-timate of 550,000 infants died as a result of fighting between 2013 and 2017.

They succumbed to war and its effects, among them hunger, damage to hospitals and infrastruc-ture, a lack of access to health care and sanitation and the denial of aid.

it said children face the threat of being killed or maimed, recruited by armed groups, abducted or falling victim to sexual violence.

"Almost one in five children are living in areas impacted by conflict -- more than at any time in the past two decades," said the charity's CeO helle Thorning-Schmidt in a statement.

"The number of children being killed or maimed has more than tripled, and we are seeing an alarm-ing increase in the use of aid as a weapon of war," she said on releasing the report at the Munich Security Conference.

Save the Children said a study it had com-

missioned from the Peace Research institute Oslo had found that 420 million children were living in conflict-affected areas in 2017.

This represents 18 percent of all children worldwide and was up by 30 million from the previ-ous year.

The worst-hit countries were Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, iraq, Mali, Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

The total number of deaths from indirect ef-fects over the five-year period jumped to 870,000 when all children under the age of five were included, the charity said.

it also issued a list of recommendations to help protect children, from steps such as committing to a minimum age of 18 for military recruitment to the avoidance of using explosive weapons in populated areas.

Thorning-Schmidt said the rising number of child casualties was very worrying.

"it is shocking that in the 21st century we are going backwards on principles and moral standards that are so simple -- children and civilians should never be targeted."

Pak Committed To Implementing ICJ's Decision In Jadhav CasePress TrusT Of IndIa

islamabad: Pakistan is com-mitted to implementing the decision of the international Court of Justice in the Kulb-hushan Jadhav case, a senior Pakistani official said as the country's delegation left for the hague on Friday for the oral proceedings in the case that will commence at the world court from February 18.

indian national Jadhav, 48, was sentenced to death by a Pakistani military court on charges of espionage and terrorism in April 2017. in-dia moved the iCJ in May the same year against the verdict.

A 10-member bench of the iCJ on May 18, 2017, had re-strained Pakistan from execut-ing Jadhav till adjudication of the case.

Pakistan's Attorney Gen-eral Anwar Man soor would lead the Pakistani delegation at the iCJ while Director Gen-eral South Asia Mohammad Faisal would lead the Foreign Office side, a senior official told Dawn.

The iCJ has set a timetable for the public hearing in the case from Febraury 18 to 21 in The hague and harish Salve, who represents india in the case, is expected to argue first on February 18.

The english Queen's Coun-sel Khawar Qureshi will make submissions on February 19 from islamabad's side. Then india will reply on February 20 while islamabad will make its closing submissions on Febru-ary 21, the daily said.

it is expected that the iCJ's decision may be delivered by the summer of 2019.

"we are fully prepared with our strongest evidence being the valid indian pass-

port recovered from Com-mander Jadhav with a Mus-lim name, the official told the Dawn, adding that Pakistan was committed to implement-ing the decision, irrespective of what decision came from the iCJ.

in reply to a question about iran, the official said the Pakistan government was con-vinced that iran had no role in Jadhav's episode though he remained there for some time. "india wants to drag iran into this dispute but we will not let it happen," he said.

in New Delhi, Ministry of external Affairs Spokesperson Raveesh Kumar on Thursday declined to go into the details of the case.

"The oral proceedings on the international Court of Justice are commencing on February 18. india will pres-ent its case before the court. Since the matter is subjudice it is not appropriate for me to state our position in public.whatever we have to do, we will do at the court," he said in response to a question.

No Unilateral US Pullout From Afghanistan: PentagonPress TrusT Of IndIa

Brussels: washington will not unilater-ally withdraw from Afghanistan, the Pen-tagon chief said Thursday, as NATO said the Kabul government must be brought into US peace talks with the Taliban to end the country's 17-year war.

Acting defence secretary Patrick Shanahan said any decision to reduce the number of US troops in Afghanistan would be taken in coordination with NATO, which runs a training and sup-port mission in the war-torn country.

The United States is leading a push for peace talks with the Taliban, seeking a breakthrough in the grinding conflict, with the islamists announcing wednesday a fresh round of meetings in islamabad.

But NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg warned against any more de-lay in involving the Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani in the process, saying that without it lasting peace would not be possible.

US President Donald Trump wants to end US involvement in Afghanistan, where 14,000 American troops are still deployed -- raising Afghan fears that washington could exit before securing a durable peace deal.

But, after talks with fellow NATO defence ministers in Brussels, Shanahan

said washington would not act alone."There will be no unilateral troop re-

duction. That was one of the messages in the meeting today. it will be coordinated. we work together," he said after the meet-ing, which came after a tour of Kabul and Baghdad for Shanahan.

"i feel as though we're creating the dip-lomatic leverage Ambassador Khalilzad needs. we really need to talk about the pos-sibility for peace. This may be our moment."

Zalmay Khalilzad is the US special envoy leading talks with the Taliban and he has expressed hope of finding a deal before Afghan presidential elections scheduled for July.

washington held talks with Taliban officials in Qatar last month as part of efforts to convince the militants -- oust-ed from power in Afghanistan by a US-led invasion in 2001 -- to negotiate with Ghani's government.

Shanahan's commitment was wel-come news to Germany, which has been a frequent target for US criticism since Trump came to power, particularly over its defence spending. German Defence Minister Ursula von der leyen said it was important that "there will be no unilateral decisions by the Americans, but that ev-ery step, every strategic step in Afghani-stan will be discussed within the circle of NATO defence ministers".

Russia, Turkey, Iran hail US Syria withdrawalPTI / AFPSochi (Russia: The leaders of Russia, Turkey and iran hailed the planned US withdrawal from Syria as they met for talks Thursday on how to work more closely together in the country's long-running conflict.

hosting his Turkish and iranian counter-parts in the southern city of Sochi, President Vladimir Putin said the three welcomed the expected US pull-out from northeastern Syria.

it would be "a positive step that would help stabilise the situation in this region, where ultimately the legitimate government should re-establish control," he told a joint press conference after the talks.

Russia and iran -- who both back the re-gime of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad -- and rebel supporter Turkey have positioned

themselves as key foreign players in Syria's long-running war.

The United States has had troops in Syria backing Kurdish-led forces fighting the islamic State group but President Donald Trump issued an abrupt order in December to pull out all 2,000.

The Kurdish-led fighters were on Thurs-day battling to expel iS jihadists from the small town of Baghouz in eastern Syria, the last bastion of their "caliphate" that once controlled large parts of the country.

Putin said Thursday's talks were "con-structive and business-like" and that "close coordination" was crucial to ensuring long-term stability in Syria.

he said the three leaders agreed to "strengthen cooperation" in the so-called As-tana framework -- a process initiated by Rus-

sia, iran and Turkey that has eclipsed paral-lel peace talks led by the United Nations.

They also agreed to work together to put together a constitutional committee that would work to resolve Syria's political fu-ture, Putin said, adding that another round of talks would take place in Astana in late March and early April.

Rouhani said Thursday's talks were "very helpful and frank" and insisted on Syr-ia's territorial integrity, calling for a "purge of terrorists" from the rebel-held northwest-ern province of idlib.

he also suggested he did not believe the US was planning to withdraw from Syria.

"we have no optimism about what the Americans say... but if they do withdraw, it will be very good news." - 'important we work together' -

At a separate meeting Thursday with Putin, erdogan said the planned US pull-out made it more important for other foreign powers to work together in Syria.

"The US withdrawal decision is one of the most important tests ahead of us. The uncertainty over how the decision will be implemented remains. it is very very impor-tant that we work together in this new situa-tion," he said.

As a sign of cooperation, he said Russia and Turkey had agreed to start "joint pa-trols" in order to contain "radical groups" in idlib province.

The two countries agreed last year to jointly monitor a buffer zone around idlib and a statement from the three leaders on Thursday agreed to take "concrete steps" to further control the zone.

Khashoggi killingTurkey media publish image of 'local collaborator' istanbul, Feb 14 (AFP) Turkish me-dia on Thursday published images of a so-called "local collaborator" who allegedly helped the Saudi hit squad dispose of the body of mur-dered journalist Jamal Khashoggi, citing istanbul police.

The dissident journalist and washington Post contributor was dismembered after being killed on October 2 at the Saudi consulate in istanbul but his remains have not yet been found.

CCTV images leaked previ-ously showed a Saudi agent leaving the consulate after the murder wearing Khashoggi's clothes, who was identified as a "body double".

At one point, a hooded man was seen walking alongside him, who was identified in an istanbul police report as a "local collabora-tor, the private NTV television reported.

After weeks of denial, Saudi Arabia admitted that Khashoggi had been killed after entering the consulate to obtain the paperwork necessary for his upcoming mar-riage to a Turkish woman called hatice Cengiz.

Turkey says he was killed by a team of 15 Saudis who strangled him, and Ankara has repeatedly asked Riyadh to identify the local who alleg-edly helped them dispose of the body.

The police report also said that after the murder, the hit team or-dered a large quantity of meat which was then delivered to the Saudi residence near the consulate where there was a large industrial oven.

Several Turkish media outlets speculated whether the oven may have been used to dispose of the dismembered corpse.

"was barbecuing meat... one of the previously made plans?" won-dered the police report, which was published by the state-run Anadolu news agency.

The murder sparked inter-national outrage and hurt the kingdom's image.

Riyadh arrested a number of senior Saudi officials allegedly involved in the murder. (AFP)

Trump to declare national emergency to build border wallPress TrusT Of IndIa

washington: US President Donald Trump will sign an executive order declaring a national emergency, which will empower him to fund the construction of a massive wall along the US-Mexico border to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country and curb drug smuggling.

The move would help Trump get USD 5.6 billion for the construction of the wall that, he has asserted, is essen-tial for national security.

President Trump will sign the government funding bill, and as he has stated before, he will also take other executive action - including a national emergency -

to ensure we stop the national se-curity and humanitarian crisis at the border, white house Press Secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

The President is once again delivering on his prom-ise to build the wall, protect the border, and secure our great country, she said.

The white house state-ment came soon after Senate Majority leader Mitch McCon-nell made the move public.

i had an opportunity to speak with President Trump and he, i would say to all my colleagues, has indicated he's prepared to sign the bill. he also (will) be issuing a nation-al emergency declaration at the same time. i indicated i'm

going to support the national emergency declaration," Mc-Connell said.

On the Democrats say-ing they will challenge the move in the Supreme Court, Sanders said, "we're very pre-pared, but there shouldn't be (legal challenges). The presi-dent's doing his job. The Con-gress should do theirs."

Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer and house Speaker Nancy Pelosi said that declaring a national emer-gency would be a lawless act, a gross abuse of the power of the presidency and a desper-ate attempt to distract from the fact that Trump broke his core promise to have Mexico pay for his wall".

Air India Resumes Flights To Iraq After 30 year GapagencIes

NAJAF, iRAQ: Air india on Thursday resumed flights to iraq after a 30 year gap, when a plane carrying pilgrims landed in the city of Najaf.

“This is the first time in the last 30 years” that a plane has come from india to iraq, said Pradeep Singh Rajpu-rohit, india’s ambassador to iraq, at the international air-port that serves the holy city.

“we are very fortunate that the holy city of Najaf has been chosen as the first desti-nation”, he added, noting that attempts to restore direct air links had been ongoing for some time. Govt’s hajj package still lowest compared to india and

Bangladesh: ministerFlights were prevented by

years of conflict in iraq and sanctions against Saddam hussein’s regime after his in-vasion of Kuwait, as well as by the extended chaos that came in the wake of the former dic-tator’s 2003 downfall.

The plane started its jour-ney in lucknow, the capital of india’s Uttar Pradesh state, and upon landing the crew and pilgrims were welcomed by iraqi officials.

Pilgrims from around the world come to Najaf, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) south of Baghdad, to visit the tomb of imam Ali, Prophet Moham-med’s son-in-law.

Indians disembark from an air India flight at najaf International airport

Saturday | 16-02-2019 05NewsPULWAMA ATTACK

Observer News Service

Srinagar: Various leaders from mainstream and separatist camps Friday expressed concern over safety of Kashmiris living in Jammu and outside in wake of what seemed to be concerted violence in the winter capital city over Thursday’s attack on CRPF in Pulwama . According to reports, mobs defied curfew and went on rampage in several ar-eas of Jammu, destroying prop-erty and setting vehicles ablaze.

The mobs burnt tyres and placed barricades on several roads. Reports said a number of vehicles from a particular com-munity were damaged and at-tempts made to set on fire their dwellings by the rampaging crowds. Secretariat Employees Union Ghulam Rasool Mir told local news agency GNS that at-tempts were made to set ablaze the several residential quarters of employees while stones were thrown at most them. “Our ve-hicles have been damaged and

attempts have been made to torch our houses,” Mir said.

Army conducted flag marches in sensitive areas.

The Joint Resistance Leadership comprising Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, Syed Ali Geelani and Yasin Malik “strongly condemned the incidents of arson in Jammu in Gujjar Nagar and elsewhere incident where some communal elements freely torched the vehicles of Kashmiri Muslims and injured many others,” according to a statement.

The JRL said “right from 1947 communal forces active in Jammu who leave no stone un-turned to attack and intimidate Muslims and Kashmiri people, adding, that it is responsibility of the government administra-tion to ensure the safety and security of Muslims and Kash-miris and living there.”

Former chief minister and National Conference chief Omar Abdullah said the reports of vio-lence and arson in Jammu were deeply worrying.

Taking to Twitter, Omar said

neither Kashmiris nor Muslims had carried out the attack which killed 49 CRPF personnel.

“Giving vent to anger by at-tacking innocent people because of their ethnicity or religion is no way to honour the sacrifices yes-terday. Reports of violence & ar-son in #Jammu are deeply worry-ing. I hope political leaders & civil society are able to ensure cooler heads prevail,” Omar tweeted.

“Kashmiris/Muslims in Jammu didn’t attack our CRPF jawans yesterday, terrorists did. This violence is a convenient tool by some to shift the blame. Let’s unite against terror let’s not al-low terror to divide us,” he wrote.

While appealing to the home minister Rajnath Singh, who ar-rived in Srinagar to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of Pulwama attack, to issue direc-tions to all state governments to take special care in areas, colleg-es and institutions where Kash-miris are residing or studying.

“They are soft targets in a sur-charged atmosphere,” he said.

“If the security forces & the administration’s attention is shifted to dealing with commu-nal violence in #Jammu instead of investigating yesterday’s at-tack & preventing further at-tacks who are we helping with

the arson & violence?” he said. The Peoples Democratic Party

(PDP) president Mehbooba Mufti said she spoke to Jammu police chief to deploy additional forces in the communal sensitive areas.

“Distressed to hear about

miscreants in Jammu trying to take advantage of the situation by inciting tension. Guv admin should have preempted this by securing minority dominated areas. Have spoken to IG Jammu to deploy additional security,”

she tweeted. She said she had also sought the intervention of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh in the matter.

People’s Conference chairman Sajad Gani Lone said that “act of bravery in the aftermath of the savage attack on CRPF person-nel would be to give a united re-sponse as opposed to falling into the trap of the perpetrators of this attack of incitement against people of a particular province.”

He “made a passionate appeal to the people and civil society of Jammu for upholding the tenets of tolerance and brotherhood in the wake of dastardly attack on CRPF convoy in Pulwama yester-day,” according to a statement.

Expressing anger and anguish over “hooliganism by miscre-ants of various right wing or-ganizations” at various places in Jammu city, AIP President Er. Rasheed urged law enforcing agencies and civil administra-tion to ensure protection to all sections of people without be-ing biased.

Calls for safety of Kashmiris after Jammu violence

Srinagar: The Kashmir Cham-ber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Friday asked people of the state to maintain communal harmony and not allow vested interests to divide the state on regional lines. The KCCI was re-acting to the violent protests in Jammu, a day after over 40 CRPF personnel died in a suicide at-tack carried out by Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

"Everyone has condemned yesterday's killing (of CRPF per-sonnel). We condemn any sort of killing and we condemn this (pro-

tests) also as we are losing hu-man lives," KCCI president Sheikh Ashiq Ahmad told reporters here.

"... Unfortunately in Jammu, some elements are trying to cre-ate a regional divide. They are politicising the issue ahead of the elections. A common man has no role in all this," he added. Ahmad said the regional brotherhood in Jammu and Kashmir (J-K) should be maintained at all costs.

"We spoke to our counter-parts in Jammu and told them that our regional brotherhood should be maintained at all cost. We are also talking to the

administration to ensure that no attempt is made to give it a communal colour," he said.

The KCCI president said the government should address the Kashmir issue so that loss of lives in violence is stopped.

"There should be talks on Kashmir issue... We do not want to lose more lives. We have to take steps that send a message of brotherhood," he said.

"We are also in touch with Jammu Chamber and if need arises, we will send our team to Jammu. We have to live togeth-er," he added.

Business body rings up counterparts for ‘brotherhood’ Observer News Service

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Police has detained seven per-sons from Pulwama district of South Kashmir in connection with the deadly attack that left over 40 CRPF personnel dead near Awantipora, reports quot-ing officials said Friday.

The youths were detained from Pulwama and Awantipora during the night on suspicion of links with the planning of the suicide attack, the first of its kind in which a militant of Jaish-e-Mohammed detonated an explosive-laden vehicle near a CRPF bus, according to news agency PTI.

The overall planning is be-lieved to be done by a Pakistani national, Kamran of JeM, who has been operating and moving in areas -- Pulwama, Awantipo-ra and Tral area of South Kash-mir, PTI reported/

The 'fidayeen' (suicide attack-er) was identified as Adil Ahmad from Kakapora in Pulwama. He had joined the JeM in 2018.

According to initial investiga-tions, the planning for the terror strike was done at Midoora area of Tral in South Kashmir.

Police are also looking for another local JeM overground worker who was instrumental in arranging the explosive ma-terial.

New Delh: The Jammu and Kashmir Police on February 8 had sent an intelligence in-put to the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, Army and the Air Force warn-ing of a possible IED attack, ac-cording to a media report quot-ing a letter written by a top cop.

“It is not known why despite the early warning, the CRPF al-lowed its 78-vehicle convoy carrying 2,547 security person-nel to go from the transit camp in Jammu to Srinagar -- a 270-km stretch,” says a report by news agency IANS.

45 CRPF personnel were killed and many injured on Thursday afternoon when a suicide bomber rammed his ve-hicle packed with improvised explosive device (IED) into a bus carrying Central paramili-tary force personnel. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed militant outfit later claimed responsibility for the attack. The intelligence input, sent on behalf of the Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, asked all se-curity agencies to "sanitize ar-eas properly before occupying your place or deployment as there are inputs that IEDs could be used," the report says.

Marked "Extremely Urgent", the letter accessed by IANS, was marked to the Deputy Inspector General of Central Reserve Police Force, South Srinagar; DIG CRPF, North Sri-nagar; DIG CRPF North Kash-mir, Baramulla; DIG CRPF South Kashmir, Awantipora; DIG CRPF South Kashmir, Anantnag; DIG Sashastra Seema Bal, South Headquarters (Special Opera-tions) Kashmir and all Senior Superintendents of Police of Kashmir zone.

The information was also shared with Inspec-tor General, CRPF, Kashmir operations sector, IG CRPF, Srinagar sector, IG Border Security Force Headquarter Kashmir, all range Deputy Inspector Generals of Police of Kashmir zone, Brigadier General Staff (operations) at the Srinagar-based 15 Corps, the DIG Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the Air Force, , the Commandant Central In-dustrial Security Force (CISF) and SSP, Armed Police, Con-trol Room Srinagar.

The letter also mentioned that it should be for "all con-cerned".

Seven youth detained Police intel had warned of IED attack week before: Report

‘Eye-opener for India, world’Srinagar: United Jihad Coun-cil (UJC), an amalgam of various militant groups, on Friday said the anti-Kashmir policies of Government of India (GoI) and silence main-tained by world community will compel the Kashmiris to become ‘suicide attackers’.In an e-mailed statement, UJC spokesman Syed Sadaqat Hussain quoted its chief Syed Salah-ud-din as saying, “the suicide attack carried out by 18-year-old militant, Adil is an eye-opener for India and world community.”

He said “India can’t blame

Pakistan and also can’t be-fool the world through its media. Kashmiris carry out the struggle on their own and Adil’s sacrifice is a glar-ing proof of it.”

UJC Chief further added “silence maintained by world community and terming Adil’s sacrifice as terrorist act is shameful and condem-nable. Slain Adil is hero of na-tion and shining star of free-dom struggle of Kashmir.”

He said “those at the helm in Pakistan should help in resolution of Kashmir diplo-matically.”

Srinagar: A Kashmir student of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) has been booked by the police and suspended from the varsity after he allegedly posted a controversial social media post regarding Thurs-day’s Pulwama attack.

AMU on Friday suspended an undergraduate student from Kash-mir for allegedly lauding a militant outfit in a social media post after over 40 CRPF personnel were killed in a suicide bombing attack on the Srinagar-Jammu highway. AMU spokesperson Omar Peerzada told

news agency PTI that the matter is being further probed and "strong deterrent action" will be taken once the investigation is complete.

"AMU has zero tolerance for any such pernicious activity and anyone indulging in such an act will not be spared," Peerzada said.

The student's alleged remarks had triggered outrage on social media. The student was booked under the Indian Penal Code for promoting enmity between differ-ent groups and relevant sections of the Information Technology

Act, another media report quoted Aligarh Senior Superintendent of Police Akash Kulhary as saying. However, several Kashmiri stu-dents of the university also issued a statement, according to local media reports, alleging that the fake social media post was being circulated to instill fear and de-fame Kashmiri students.

“It is a matter of serious concern that a Kashmiri student at AMU is being alleged by some new por-tals for tweeting an ‘objectionable’ tweet relating to the attack on CRPF

in Kashmir,” the statement said. “The student is a responsible person and is aware about his duties in the legal and constitutional framework. The student has denied of tweet-ing the alleged ‘tweet’ that is being spread in his name.”

The statement added: “It appears that some elements are hell bent on defaming the Kashmir community at Aligarh Muslim University.”

It said the student named by the news portals “studies Mathemat-ics at AMU and is one of the bright students at the campus. We want to

communicate the people across the spectrum that Kashmiri students at Aligarh Muslim University are focused on their academics and no attempts should be made to falsely implicate us or to threaten us.”

“No attempts should be made to instill fear among the Kashmiri stu-dents across India and we should be allowed a democratic space to pres-ent our point of view in a reason-able manner. We don’t want to live under fear, and we want an environ-ment of peace to exist and spread,” the statement added.

AMU: Kashmiri student booked, suspended over alleged post

Mumbai: Veteran actor Shabana Azmi on Friday said she and her husband, lyricist-writer Javed Akhtar, have decided not to at-tend Kaifi Azmi's birth centena-ry celebrations in Karachi in the wake of Pulwama attack.

The couple was invited to Pakistan by the Karachi Arts Council for a two-day event.

@Javedakhtarjadu and I were invited for a 2 day event celebrating Kaifi's Centenary and were truly looking for-ward to it. I appreciate that our hosts the Karachi Arts Council mutually agreed to cancel the

event at the nth hour in the wake of Pulwama attack, Azmi posted on Twitter.

"Karanchi art council had in-vited Shabana and me for a two day lit conference about Kaifi Azmi and his poetry. We have cancelled that," Akhtar added.

Azmi said after the attack, she feels weakened in her belief that people to people contact can force the establishment to do the right thing.

"We will need to call halt to cultural exchange... There is no way we can carry on with cultural exchanges between

India and Pakistan even as our martyrs are laying down their lives for us. I stand in solidar-ity with the grieving families," she wrote. Azmi, however, said one should differentiate between the establishment and the people.

"But let’s not lose sight of the fact that there is a differ-ence between the Pakistani Es-tablishment and the people of Pakistan and vice versa. On both sides of the border stand sisters and brothers divided by circum-stances with which they had nothing to do," she added.

Shabana, Javed Akhtar cancel Karachi event

Chandigarh: Strongly condemning the "cowardly" attack in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, Punjab Cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu Friday asked whether an entire nation can be blamed for a handful of people. Sidhu, who was among the invitees for the swearing-in ceremony of Imran Khan as Pakistan prime min-ister last year, however posed, "For a handful of people, can you blame the entire nation and can you blame an individual?"

Talking to reporters here after the Punjab Assembly was adjourned for the day in solidarity with the CRPF soldiers killed in the terror attack, the cricketer-turned-politician said, "It (the attack) is a cowardly act and I condemn it firmly. Violence is al-ways condemnable and those who did it must be punished." Assert-ing that terrorism has no caste or religion, Sidhu said, "For the last 71 years, this has been happening. Had they stopped ever?"

Can’t blame entire Pakistani nation: Sidhu

Police arrests five gamblersObserver News Service

Srinagar: Police in Bandipora raided a gambling site and arrested five people in its latest action against il-legal activities in the district

“Five persons identified as Jah-angir Ahmad Magary, Farooq Ah-mad, Manzoor Ahmad, residents of Sumbal, Naseer Ahmad @tanza and Nazir Ahmad Hajam, both residents of Tangpora Sumbal were arrested

following input about gambling ac-tivities in Tangpora area of Sumbal, Bandipora,” a police spokesman said.

“Officers have seized playing cards and a stake amount of 6100/- from the gamblers. Case FIR No 19/2019 under section 13 Gambling Act stands registered in Police Station Sumbal. Persons found indulging in criminal activities shall be dealt as per law. Community members are requested to pass information re-garding the crimes in their neighbor-hood to the local police units,” the spokesman said.

Observer News Service

Srinagar:Chairman Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Muhammad Ya-sin Malik has strongly con-demned the slapping of second consecutive PSA on party leader Zahoor Ahmad

Butt who has been shifted to Anantnag Sub-Jail after being slapped with PSA.

“High Court had recently quashed PSA on him and he was shifted to Kupwara jail from Kot Bhalwal jail where form he has been again slapped with PSA,” JKLF chair-man said in a statement.

While condemning this

“state repression”, Malik said that using black laws to pro-long incarceration of political leaders and activists is most undemocratic and tyrannical.

He also expressed heart-felt grief over the demise of Abdul Ahad Lone, father of senior JKLF member Fayaz

Ahmad Lone, of Kaw Mo-hala Khanyar. JKLF leaders Noor Muhammad Kalwal, Sheikh Abdul Rashid, Gh-ulam Muhammad Dar and others reached Khanyar and expressed solidarity with the bereaved family. They prayed for heavenly abode of the de-ceased and Sabr-i-Jameel for the bereaved family.

JAMMU: Secretary, PHE I&FC, Farooq Ah-mad Shah Friday reviewed the propos-als regarding redefining of jurisdiction of various Divisions and Sub Divisions of PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control de-partments in a meeting held here Friday. Chief Engineer PHE Kashmir, Abdul Wa-hid, Chief Engineer PHE Jammu Ashok Gandotra and other officers of PHE, I&FC departments attended the meeting be-sides Chief Engineer I&FC Kashmir, Su-perintending Engineers of Leh and Kargil participated through video conference, an official spokesman said.

The meeting discussed proposals for creation of new divisions and sub divi-sions in PHE and I&FC departments in the state including Leh and Kargil. It was decided that creation of proposals would be submitted to the concerned higher authorities for their accord of necessary approval. Detailed discussion was also held on relocation, redrawing of juris-diction of various divisions and sub divi-sions and villages to be shifted from one water supply scheme to other scheme.

Addressing the meeting, the Secretary said that the proposals with regard to creation of new divisions and sub divi-sions will benefit more and more people and habitations. He directed the officers to ensure safe and adequate drinking water besides providing better irrigation facilities to the people.

PHE reviews modalities for divisions, sub-divisions

Malik condemns PSA on JKLF leader

SRINAGAR: Advisor to the Governor, Khurshid Ahmed Ganai, Friday directed all the Deputy Commissioners in the State to review distribution of food grains with Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs Department and report any lapses if any, found.

In a statement issued today, Ganai, who is in-charge of Food, Civil Supplies & Consum-er Affairs Department, asked the DCs to closely monitor the distribution of foodgrains amongst the rationees in their respective districts.

He also advised the consum-ers to report their grievances to the concerned Assistant Direc-tor and the Deputy Commis-sioner for immediate redressal. They can also register their grievances on the mobile num-bers in the office of Advisor (G): 9419134803/9419408270.

Acute shortages of petro-leum products, vegetables, poultry products, mutton had hit the valley region during the recent week- long closure of the 300 kilometre long Sri-nagar-Jammu highway from February 6 to 12.

Jammu and Kashmir Gov-ernor Satya Pal Malik had on Wednesday directed divisional commissioners and deputy commissioners to address the hardships faced by the people due to heavy rain and snowfall

in the state even as the ad-ministration repeatedly main-tained that the situation was under control and downplayed media reports regarding short-age of essentials and medicinal supplies in the Valley.

DCs told to review distribution of food grains, report lapses

THE ATTACK ON CRPF IN PULWAMA was the deadliest in J&K's three-decade old insurgency, leaving over 40 CRPF men dead. Pic Abid Bhat

Saturday| 16-02-2019

Sunday Observer

Send your write ups and feedback at editpage.ko@gmail.com

No Holds Barredk a s h m i r

Editor-in-Chief : Sajjad Haider

Legal Counsel: Tasaduq KhwajaSwitchboard: (0194) 2106304Editorial: (0194) 2502327Email editorial: editor@kashmirobserver.netPrinted & Published by Sajjad Haider on behalf of the Kashmir Observer LLPPublished from: # 1- Boulevard, Srinagar-190001Printed at: KT Press Pvt. Ltd, Rangreth Ind Area, Srinagar.RNI Registration No: 69503/98Postal Registration No-L/159/KO/SK/2014-16

All in A days work

...

Heart searing incident in Pulwama. And, even before this settled in, it’s unnerving and frightening to see a barrage of social media posts with exhor-tations of a “total war”. Well, there already is “total war” in Kashmir. Since 2016. It’s called Operation All Out. And do people in this country realise that their rage is not their own, that it is engineered, without their even realising it, and that it serves a purpose? Not politicizing anything, but as a journalist covering conflict, and having understanding of conflict, I cannot stop myself from articulating either. Conflicts around the globe have been resolved by a pragmatic mix of dialogue, engagement, initiation of CBMs, and, most importantly, displaying moderation in the use of force. Call one a peacenik, but it cannot be denied that whatever unfolded in Kashmir today, and has been unfolding in Kashmir since July 2016, is the outcome of an enforced political vacuum in that region. Let passion not impair judgement. If brute force could resolve conflict, there wouldn’t be conflicts in this planet. I do hope what happened today does not spill into any kind of untoward incident against hundreds of vulnerable Kashmiri students studying in universities across the country. And, while no word of solidarity can assuage the pain of those who have lost a loved one to violence, May the aggrieved find solace in God and solidarity from God. With much prayers for the departed.

Anando Bhakto

Surendra in ‘The Hindu’

Think!Opinion, Analysis, Essays

...

Delineation Of Concrete Measures

Armed insurgency and counter insur-gency in the late 1980s and early 1990s in Jammu and Kashmir scorched the landscape, blighting educational and

economic opportunities. despite their active role in political mobilization of 1931, the Quit Kash-mir movement (anti-monarchical movement) of 1946, and the fierce nationalism of 1947, terror made women revert from the public to the pri-vate realm. But there are some compelling ex-amples of Kashmiri women working through the discourse of victimhood to construct their identi-ties as survivors.

Can women step out of their ascribed gender roles, once again, to significantly impact socio-po-litical developments in J & K? Can the political and social exigencies of the women of J & K be addressed in more nuanced and purposeful ways?

I would propose an intra-Kashmir women’s conference, organized in collaboration with the Women’s Studies programs at the Universities of Kashmir, Jammu, and muzaffarabad. Women delegates from both sides of the LOC could par-ticipate in the conference to productively dis-cuss concrete methods of rehabilitating victims of violence, either state-sponsored or militancy-related. Women from Indian- and Pakistani-ad-ministered Jammu and Kashmir could discuss the socioeconomic hardships, psychological neu-roses and political marginalization caused by dislocation, dispossession, and disenfranchise-ment. delegates at the conference would then seek mobilization of women for effective change in political and social structures. They would en-dorse diplomacy and peaceful negotiations in or-der to further the India-Pakistan peace process; withdrawal of forces from both sides of the LOC; decommissioning of militants; rehabilitation of Kashmiri Pundits to rebuild the syncretic fabric of Kashmiri society; and rehabilitation of detain-ees. Some of the strategies delineated at the con-

ference may seem utopian, but it would highlight the ability to imagine confidence-building mea-sures that grapple with normative structures and underscore the decisive role that women can play in raising consciousness, not just at the in-dividual but at the collective level as well, giving the marginalized a vision with which to redefine life’s constituting parameters.

An intra-Kashmir women’s conference of the sort I am proposing needs clear nation-building programs, which would involve reviving civil society, resuscitating the shattered economy, providing sources of income, and building social and political structures

Historically, cultural, societal, and market constraints have denied women access to in-formation about the outside world. But the sort of advocacy concretized by the intra-Kashmir women’s conference could overturn the histori-cal seclusion of women and provide them with routes to make forays into mainstream cultural and socioeconomic institutions.

Perhaps the mobilization of women at the collective level would enable a metamorphosis, fostering the skills and ability of women to make informed decisions about issues in the non-do-mestic sphere. The conference would provide a forum where women’s experiences are contextu-alized, theorized and politicized.

An intra-women’s conference of the sort I am proposing needs clear nation-building programs,

which would involve reviving civil society, resusci-tating the shattered economy, providing sources of income, and building social and political structures. Otherwise, such initiatives cannot pave the way for sustainable peace, human rights and security that would diminish the potency of militarized peace-keeping, which follows closely on the heels of milita-rized interventions.

Women in J & K, as in other postcolonial countries, are positioned in relation to their own class and cultural realities; their own his-tories; their sensitivity to the diversity of cul-tural traditions and to the questions and con-flicts within them; the legacies of Sufi Islam; their own struggles not just with the devastat-ing effects of Indian occupation and Pakistani infiltration, but also with the discourses of cul-tural nationalism and religious fundamental-ism; their own relations to the West; their inter-pretations of religious law; their beliefs in the different schools of Islamic and Hindu thought; and their concepts of the role of women in con-temporary societies.

The writer is the author of Fiction of Nationality in an Era of Transnationalism, Islam, Women,

and Violence in Kashmir, The Life of a Kashmiri Woman, and the editor of The Parchment of

Kashmir

Dr Nyla ali KhaN

Women in J & K, as in other postcolonial countries,

are positioned in relation to their own class and cultural realities; their own histories; their sensitivity to the diversity of cultural traditions and to the questions and conflicts within them; the legacies of Sufi Islam; their own struggles not just with the devastating effects of Indian occupation and Pakistani infiltration, but also with the discourses of cultural nationalism and religious fundamentalism; their own relations to the West; their interpretations of religious law; their beliefs in the different schools of Islamic and Hindu thought; and their concepts of the role of women in contemporary societies.

ALexANdrIA Ocasio-Cortez and elizabeth Warren have poked the B-hive. That's B as in billionaire!

Higher taxes! On the rich.The two billionaires with presidential ambitions

who are associated with the democratic Party - How-ard Schultz (who built up Starbucks to ubiquity) and michael Bloomberg (who made his billions deliver-ing urgent info to Wall Street) - instantly came buzz-ing out of their hives.

Taxing the rich was dire! dangerous! It would mean no more honey!

mr Schultz threw a full double Caramel Creme Frappuccino right in ms Ocasio-Cortez's face! meta-phorically, of course. She, by floating the idea of a top marginal income tax rate as high as 70 percent, had caused him to leave the democratic Party and announce his run for president as an independent.

money has played an ever-increasing role in US politics. members of the media not only know that, they promote it. The viability of candidates is based on their access to funds. Schultz could self-fund. That gave him instant status. All the news networks had him on. Immediately. Normally, it's considered im-possible for an independent to win. Still, Schultz said he had a fully caffeinated vision. There were more independents, 42 percent, than either democrats, 31 percent, or republicans, at just 24 percent. They would unite behind him. Plus, he would get anti-Trumpians from the right and centrist democrats as appalled by anti-rich radicals as he was. What policies would he promote if he won? How would he get everyone else, who were still members of the two parties, to come together on them? In his vision, he saw himself swept into office by such a wave, that rather than defy it, legislators would also become his followers. He would then bring in the "best people", "real problem solvers", who would come up with the "best deals" ... it sounded appallingly familiar.

Schultz also felt personally insulted by eliza-beth Warren.

She tried to criticise him "for being a billion-aire". His umbrage was not for himself, it was on be-half of the American dream. "I'm self-made. I grew up in the projects in Brooklyn, New York. I thought that was the American dream?"

Warren's actual proposal was that the first $50m in assets would not be taxed. Assets above that would be taxed at two percent. Assets above one billion dol-lars would be taxed at three percent.

It would affect just 75,000 households.What would that do to Schultz?His net worth was reported to be $3.3bn. He

would pay two percent on the $950m between the first $50m and a billion, then three percent on the remaining $2.3bn. He would be paying $88m. That sounds like a lot. Until you realise he would be left

with $3.21bn! even with a very conservative strat-egy, Schultz would expect to make more than three percent on his money. So his wealth would continue to increase in spite of the new tax.

Schultz screamed, "Socialism!!!"Yes, of course, Americans would stop pursuing

their own special dreams if they knew that at the end they might be worth a mere $3.21bn instead of $3.3bn.

Misleading the publicBack in 2012, Bloomberg said, "raising taxes on

the rich is about as dumb a policy as I can think of."Bloomberg is a good liberal on many things.

But when it comes to taxing the rich, he is a per-fect example of the automatic resistance and, this is important, the fundamental dishonesty of much of what we will hear.

He spoke of driving "out the one percent of the people that pay roughly 50 percent of the taxes, or the 10 percent of the people that pay 70-odd percent of the taxes." Without them, "our revenue would go away, and we wouldn't be able to have cops to keep us safe, firefighters to rescue us, teachers to educate our kids."

Those statistics refer to personal federal income taxes. They exclude the many other taxes Americans

pay: Social Security, medicare, sales taxes, property and school taxes, various fees and levies. Add those in, and we find that Americans pay something closer to a flat tax than a progressive tax, with only the very rich and the truly destitute paying significantly less. This quick conflation that makes it seem like the rich already pay for everything is not only misleading, it is employed constantly without correction. We will hear it over and over again in the coming 22 months.

When the 'S-word' is not enoughWhile Schultz used the "S-word", Bloomberg

used both the "S-word" and the "V-word"!V for Venezuela!"If you want to look at a system that's non-capi-

talistic," he instructed us, "Just take a look at what was once, perhaps, the wealthiest country in the world, and today, people are starving to death. It's called Venezuela."

Venezuela is clearly a country with a lot of prob-lems. However, it's top marginal tax rate is just 34 percent. even after the Trump tax cuts, the top US rate is higher, at 37 percent. Nonetheless, the V-word has already become the new synonym for socialism-as-a-disaster and an argument for not taxing the rich.

Neither Ocasio-Cortez nor Warren are backing down. They're sticking to it and in doing so they have established the standard for the upcoming campaigns. Among the declared and potential demo-cratic presidential candidates, Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Julian Castro, and Bernie Sanders have spe-cifically called for tax hikes on the rich. Another po-tential presidential candidate, Sherrod Brown, said we're likely to hear many more proposals like theirs, because "clearly, we need to make the wealthiest one percent pay more."

The battle is onFor the last half-century, the number one issue

for republicans has been tax cuts for the rich. In-creasing both their wealth and power.

The democrats have been sadly complicit, rou-tinely servicing their own big donors, those mem-bers of the financial elites, like Bloomberg and Schultz, who are socially liberal. The policies of the two parties combined have led us to ever increasing inequality. That condition underlies America's so-cial unrest and the dissatisfaction with democracy that has spread worldwide.

The only real way to address it is with taxes.That debate is on. That debate will be a battle. It

will be fierce, loud, full of lies, and, at last, some real elements of truth.

Neither Schultz nor Bloomberg has issued their own tax plan. Though Schultz says, urgently, that we need "comprehensive tax reform." With not even a hint of what it will entail, except the getting the best people on it.

Then, there's Kamala Harris plan. It is both "pro-gressive" and very problematic, both politically and economically.

It's ending the Trump tax cuts and reaiming them at the least well off, from the genuinely poor up to the middle, using payments. This is necessary since she's speaking of federal taxes and federal in-come taxes only take money from the top 50 percent, so you can't reduce them on the bottom 50 percent, you can only give out money.

The political problem is that really does come off as handouts. The crudest form of redistribution. The practical problem, as with Obama's tax cuts, is where does that money go? does it go to places that grow the economy or to buying cheap goods from China? How does it build business and raise wages? The economic problem is that it retains the ever-growing Trump deficits.

In any case, the battle is on. It promises to be as busy and noisy as a busted open beehive.

It is also the most important and only real politi-cal debate in American politics - which translates to world politics - in decades.

Al Jazeera

Perhaps the mobilization of women at the collective level would enable a metamorphosis, fostering the skills and ability

of women to make informed decisions about issues in the non-domestic sphere. The conference would provide a forum where women’s experiences are contextualized, theorized and politicized.

To Tax Or Not To TaxLarry Beinhart

Demonstrators take part in a protest against tax cuts for rich people in the Manhattan borough of New York City,US November 27, 2017

Saturday| 16-02-2019Think!Opinion, Analysis, Essays

Human being primarily is a danger-ous creation. There are good and bad powers who run her whole system. If humans do not follow moral values,

they obviously will go towards destruction. So there should be some people who remind them of the reality of righteous life. after the prophe-cy, it was needed that some people devote them-selves for the moral training of others.

Therefore, in every society of the world, such great personalities are born whose souls are linked to the soul of the universe. They are blessed with such divine powers that help them discover the reality of hidden and obvious things pertaining to humans and the universe. They can discover unlimited human potential and infinity of universe. Traveling from a bit to wholeness, they move towards such a unity where the whole universe transforms into a sin-gle unit. at this stage, humanity becomes the biggest connection. Love and respect assume the status of faith. Their thoughts leave the boundaries of a particular faith and spread over entire universe trying to make the foundation of a broad human society by disregarding all kinds of differences between humans at a fixed and practical level. usually they are called Sufi, Saint or a Spiritual Leader. They are on higher level of spiritual development but their concern is common people. They never try to build their relations with kings and rulers. most of the Sufis in this region have had mastery over Per-sian and arabic languages, but they still wrote in the local language. They adopted masses ‘language, living manner and culture to come closer and get their attention. Then, with words and actions, they instilled seeds of collective goodness into hearts and minds. Goodness is the asset of humanity and in it lays the survival of humanity. Every part of Pakistan is lit with the thoughts of such great Sufis. But our state neither gave importance to this light of earth and hearts, nor tried to connect with it. The consciousness of any society appears through the creations of its writers, philosophers, po-ets, and painters. Ethically and culturally de-veloped societies recognise and honour them because literature and art reflect the collective wisdom of the society. If the state adopts this collective wisdom of society, not only healthy state originates but also brings conformity to both. and, if the state does not accept the posi-tive awareness of the society, then there will be conflict in the values of both. narrow ideology

and ignorance will flourish; chaos will prevail in the society and the state will move towards destruction and failure instead of development.

State should encourage Sufi teachings and support institutions and persons who are work-ing for spreading the message of Sufism

Bulleh Shah is a great Sufi poet and thinker of this land and his work is representation of universal thought. He, in his imagination, con-siders the whole universe as a single dot that cannot be divided. Oneness of humanity is his first priority. He has nothing to do with any-one’s specific ideology, sects, colours, race and nation. Bulleh Shah does not like hypocrisy, double standards and difference in sayings and actions. Bulleh Shah raised rebellion against all kinds of religious, academic, and social conser-vativeness, racism and sectarianism. He con-sidered all humans just like a family because all are creation of one Creator. He opposed any division and discrimination between humans. Conservatives tried to create controversy re-garding his universal thoughts by portraying his poetry as against religious rituals. Infact, Bulleh Shah was not against any religion but was against religious exploiters. To safeguard their interests, these religious exploiters cre-ated many hindrances in his life. Even after his death, they refused to read his funeral just to re-duce the importance and value of his thoughts. By giving ‘fatwas’ against him they tried to

openly preach hatred against him but failed to finish the name of Bulleh Shah because his phi-losophy rose from the soil of the land and stayed in the hearts of the people. Bulleh Shah himself knew that there was no death in the way he was traveling. That’s why he had announced before his death, “my realm is my thinking, my ideology and my consciousness. Thought, ideology and consciousness never die, so I will live. Though, the body will mix in mud but I will live among all,” and that is what has hap-pened, Bulleh Shah is still alive today. He ex-ists in hearts and minds of people because of his truthfulness. There is no existence of those who gave ‘fatwas’ against him. But it is a national misfortune or a conspiracy that the state rather than adopting the ideology of great Bulleh Shah has implemented the thoughts of rigid preach-ers. They still occupy educational institutions at each level. Thoughts of elements whose mis-sion is hatred and division are promoted. They believe in the Creator but reject its creatures. Bulleh Shah can bear the loss of everything including the temple and mosque, but cannot bear indignity of humanity. For him, humans are honourable because he believes that the heart of a human is home of the Creator. Then, how, by destroying the heart of a human which is home to its Creator, can one relish?

The state has realized that extremism can be addressed through promoting the message of Sufis. For this, it is necessary for the state to adopt society’s collective awareness, accept it and promote it, otherwise the people will re-main cut from their land, culture, thought and become victim of anybody’s ambitions. State should encourage Sufi teachings and support institutions and persons who are working for spreading the message of Sufism.

Today, if we are divided on the basis of faith and are in quarrel with each other, its respon-sibility lies on those who snatched our culture, heritage and wisdom. Therefore, if we have to improve our nation, we will have to return their language and its knowledge. The day when the state plans to adopt the wisdom of society, a journey of goodness will start. It is important to understand the poetry of Bulleh Shah and reach the spirit of his message. Then we will realize that salvation of humanity lies in the collective consciousness preached by Bulleh Shah. We can attain universality and become one family by leaving the thieves of our inner self.

Daily Times

Our Collective Consciousness And Bulleh Shah

(A View From Pakistan)

The Wind No Longer Shakes The PaddySome of the sights and sounds of my childhood have ceased to exist

I can still hear the crickets screeching — their shrill sounds piercing the stillness of the night. During monsoons, the frogs would join in — their croaking growing louder only to

stop and start again. Beetles, big and small, black and shiny, would take flight homing in on tube-lights — their thrum and hum adding to the ca-cophony. and a lone owl, always a lone owl, would hoot and pause, and hoot again. The orchestra al-ways comes alive after dusk.

my home in Kerala (a southern Indian state) overlooked a paddy field. The field that started in front of my house ran all the way down to the river (it’s actually a rivulet). It was like an endless ex-panse of green carpet stretching into the distance, where a pipal tree hosted parakeets that seemed to quarrel all the time.

It was soothing to watch the paddy sway in the wind every day. Cool breezes would wash over our home, wafting through the rooms. We hardly needed fans.

It wasn’t always green and picturesque. Har-vests would leave behind clumps of paddy stumps in the brown sun-baked fields in summer. That’s when they became playing fields.

These are some of the images from the past — memories from my childhood. Sights that my chil-dren had never seen, and sounds they never heard.

I decided to change all that one summer. Dur-ing vacations in Kerala, my children would sit at home, eyes glued to the television. Smartphones and WiFi had not intruded into our lives. Their options were limited to television. The two barely spoke malayalam, so they refused to go out and play with the kids in the neighbourhood.

One morning, I announced that we are go-ing to see a paddy field. There will be herons and storks waiting patiently to catch fish. maybe we could get some photos as well. my children didn’t seem too enthused, but joined me at my insistence.

The paddy field in my neighbourhood was no longer there. It had made way for houses. Yet, I was sure of finding waterlogged fields with saplings fur-ther away.

We kept walking, but there was no sign of paddy. Or the storks. Or the herons. The thin paths have widened into dusty roads. We crossed the bridge, and walked past the river. There was no field at all. Concrete houses had sprouted everywhere.

The fields have been brutally scrubbed out of existence. I was crestfallen. I didn’t bother to check the pipal tree and the parakeets.

Well, my children didn’t get to see the field. They couldn’t hear the frogs croaking in the rain, or see tiny frogs slip through our front door. They won’t sprint through the paddy fields with wind in their faces. They won’t have the chance to catch fish with bare hands from the stream that ran along the fields.

much water has flown through the stream since then. my son has become a young man. and my daughter is grappling with adolescence. Smart-phones have brought YouTube into their palms. They see paddy fields, frogs, beetles and crickets on the screens. But they will never appreciate the endless patience of a heron. Or the flight of a stork, as it flapped right in front of your eyes. Or feel the squelchy earth beneath their feet.

my children live a life away from Kerala. So my experiences will remain alien to them. Like the sweet aftertaste of wild gooseberries. The joy of devouring sour green mangoes, mashed with chillies, salt and coconut oil. The warmth of cashew fruit juice dribbling down my fin-gers, staining my shirt.

How will they remember their childhood? What are their fond memories, I always wonder? They will have special moments to reminisce. Of experiences that left a deep impression on them. Images that bring a smile to their lips. Or tears to their eyes.

They certainly won’t be about paddy fields with leaping frogs, statuesque storks and buzzing beetles.

Gulf News

Dr Sughra SaDaf

The state has realized that

extremism can be addressed through promoting the message of Sufis. For this, it is necessary for the state to adopt society’s collective awareness, accept it and promote it, otherwise the people will remain cut from their land, culture, thought and become victim of anybody’s ambitions. State should encourage Sufi teachings and support institutions and persons who are working for spreading the message of Sufism.

Shyam a. KriShna

Much water has flown through the

stream since then. My son has become a young man. And my daughter is grappling with adolescence. Smartphones have brought YouTube into their palms. They see paddy fields, frogs, beetles and crickets on the screens. But they will never appreciate the endless patience of a heron. Or the flight of a stork, as it flapped right in front of your eyes. Or feel the squelchy earth beneath their feet.

How will they remember their childhood? What are their fond memories, I always wonder? They will have special moments to

reminisce. Of experiences that left a deep impression on them. Images that bring a smile to their lips. Or tears to their eyes.

Life TIMES

Saturday | 16-02-2019 08Immune Stimulant Molecule Shown To Prevent Cancer: StudyWASHINGTON: Scientists say they have identified a molecule that stimulates the immune system and may protect against the develop-ment of multiple types of cancer.

The recombinant protein mol-ecule SA-4-1BBL has been used to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of cancer vaccines with success in pre-clinical animal models, said researchers from the University of Louisville in the US.

It accomplishes this by boosting the effectiveness of CD8+ T cells, adaptive immune cells trained to target the tumour for destruction, according to the study published in the journal Cancer Research.

When the researchers treated normal healthy mice with SA-4-1BBL alone, the mice were protected when the they later exposed them to different types of tumour cells.

“The novelty we are reporting is the ability of this molecule to generate an immune response that patrols the body for the presence of rare tumour cells and to eliminate cancer before it takes hold in the body,” said Haval Shirwan, a profes-sor at the University of Louisville.

“Generally, the immune system will need to be exposed to the tumour, recognise the tumour as dangerous, and then generate an adaptive and tumour-specific re-sponse to eliminate the tumour that it recognises,” Shirwan said.

“Thus, our new finding is very surprising because the immune system has not seen a tumour, so the response is not to the presence of a tumour,” Shirwan said.

The researchers have deter-mined that the molecule generates a tumour immune surveillance system through activation of what are known as CD4+ T cells and in-nate NK cells, thereby protecting the mice against various cancer types they have never had.

This function is an indication of the molecule’s effectiveness in

cancer immunoprevention.In the research mice that had

never had cancer were treated with SA-4-1BBL alone, then challenged with cervical and lung cancer tu-mour cells at various time intervals.

The mice showed significant protection against tumour devel-opment, with the greatest protec-tion when challenged two weeks after treatment with SA-4-1BBL.

The cancer immunoprevention effect generated by SA-4-1BBL lasted more than eight weeks.

“Just giving SA-4-1BBL alone

prevents the formation of tumours in animal models,” Shirwan said.

“To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that an im-mune checkpoint stimulator, known for its function for adaptive immu-nity, as a single agent can activate an immune system surveillance mech-anism for protection against various tumour types,” said Shirwan.

Additional testing showed that CD8+ T cells were not required for the protection, but when CD4+ T and NK cells were eliminated in the mice, protection failed, indicat-

ing these two cell types were nec-essary to achieve the effect.

The lack of necessity for CD8+ T cells indicates the process is not one of conventional acquired immunity.

Although the research tested the mice for cervical and lung cancers, the protective function of SA-4-1BBL works without context of spe-cific tumour antigens, giving it the potential to be effective in prevent-ing any number of tumour types.

“We are very excited about the cancer immunoprevention pos-sibilities of this molecule. Its ef-fectiveness is not tumour specific, and as a natural ligand, it does not cause toxicity, as is found with 4-1BB agonist antibodies.

“Plus, the fear of autoimmunity is highly minimised, as evident from our data, because it is activat-ing the innate immune cells,” said Esma Yolcu, an associate professor at University of Louisville.

Immune checkpoint stimulators and inhibitors are major regulators of the immune system and work in a similar fashion to the “brake” and “gas” pedals in a vehicle.

Cancer evades the immune sys-tem by various means, including im-mune checkpoint inhibitors, which apply the brake on the immune response against a tumour. Stimu-lators, on the other hand, serve the accelerator function, improving im-mune responses against cancer. (PTI)

Can Depression Speed Brain Aging?

WASHINGTON: Memory and thinking skills naturally slow with age but now scientists are peeking inside living brains to tell if depression might worsen that decline — and finding some worrisome clues.

Depression has long been linked to certain cognitive prob-lems, and depression late in life even may be a risk factor for the development of Alzheimer’s. Yet how depression might harm cognition isn’t clear.

One possibility: Brain cells communicate by firing mes-sages across connections called synapses. Generally, good cogni-tion is linked to more and stron-ger synapses. With cognitive impairment, those junctions gradually shrink and die off. But until recently, scientists could count synapses only in brain tis-sue collected after death.

Yale University scientists used a new technique to scan the brains of living people — and discovered that patients with depression had a lower density of synapses than healthy people the same age.

The lower the density, the more severe the depression symptoms, particularly problems with atten-tion and loss of interest in previ-ously pleasurable activities, Yale neuroscientist Irina Esterlis said at a meeting of the American Associ-ation for the Advancement of Sci-ence. She wasn’t studying just se-niors but a range of ages including people too young for any cognitive changes to be obvious outside of a brain scan — on the theory that early damage can build up.

“We think depression might be accelerating the normal ag-ing,” she said.

Her studies so far are small. To prove if depression really worsens that decline would re-quire tracking synaptic density in larger numbers of people as they get older, to see if and how it fluctuates over time in those with and without depression, cautioned Jovier Evans, a staff scientist at the National Insti-tute on Mental Health.

Esterlis is planning a larger study to do that. It’s delicate re-search. Volunteers are injected

with a radioactive substance that binds to a protein in the vesicles, or storage bins, used by synapses. Then during a PET scan, areas with synapses light up, allowing researchers to see how many are in different re-gions of the brain.

Esterlis said there are no medi-cations that specifically target the underlying synapse damage. But other brain experts said the pre-liminary findings are a reminder of how important it is to treat depression promptly, so people don’t spend years suffering.

“If your mood isn’t enough to make you go and get treated, then hopefully your cognition is,” said Dr. Mary Sano, who di-rects the Mount Sinai Alzheim-er’s Disease Research Center in New York and wasn’t involved in the new research.

Still, she cautioned that nor-mal cognitive aging is a compli-cated process that involves other health problems, such as heart disease that slows blood flow in the brain. It might be that de-pression, rather than worsening synaptic decline, just makes it more obvious, Sano noted.

With depression “at any age, there’s a hit on the brain. At an older age the hit may be more visible because there may already be some loss,” she explained.

Indeed, another way the brain ages: The blood-brain barrier, which normally protects against infiltration of damaging sub-stances, gradually breaks down, Daniela Kaufer of the University of California, Berkeley, told the AAAS meeting. That triggers in-flammation, setting off a cascade that can cause cognitive impair-ment. Her lab found a specific molecular culprit and is develop-ing, in studies with mice, a way to block the inflammatory damage.

The University of Toronto’s Etienne Sibille is developing a compound to target yet another piece of the puzzle, brain recep-tors that are impaired with both aging and depression. Mouse studies showed it could reverse stress-induced memory loss, he said. Any human testing is at least several years away. (Agencies)

Rate Of Unemployment Drops GloballyGENEVA: The global unemploy-ment rate inched down last year, the UN said Wednesday, warn-ing though that jobs often failed to guarantee decent living, with some 700 million workers wal-lowing in poverty.

Unemployment around the world fell last year to 5.0 per cent from 5.1 per cent in 2017, for the first time dropping to the level seen before the global financial crisis hit in 2008, the Internation-al Labour Organization (ILO) said. But in its flagship "World Employ-ment and Social Outlook" trends report, the ILO also raised serious red flags about the health of the planet's job market.

Deborah Greenfield, ILO's depu-ty director-general, told journalists in Geneva that the decline in global unemployment "is projected to stall", amid "uncertainty on many fronts," and a "deteriorating eco-nomic outlook". The UN agency said it expected the jobless rate to remain at roughly the same level this year and in 2020, although the number of unemployed people should swell by two million to a to-tal of 174 million next year as a re-sult of the expanding labour force.

In particular, the report high-lighted the hundreds of millions of people who remain poor despite

holding one or more jobs. In fact, it found that a majority of the 3.3 billion people employed around the globe last year suffered a "lack of material well-being, economic security, equal opportunities or scope for human development."

"Being in employment does not al-ways guarantee a decent living," ILO research director Damian Grimshaw said in a statement, pointing out that "a full 700 million people are living in extreme or moderate poverty despite having employment."

The report found that a full 61 per cent of all workers worldwide, or two billion people, are in so-called informal employment, with little to no social and contractual protections. Greenfield cautioned that some new and emerging busi-ness models, such as using new

technologies to create temporary work through web-based plat-forms for things like ride-sharing services, could expand that num-ber if not regulated properly.

"Without the right policy mea-sures it could easily add to the infor-mal labour force," she said. Among other issues highlighted in the report was the lack of progress in closing the gender gap in labour force partic-ipation, especially in the Arab states, North Africa and southern Asia.

ILO found that just 48 per cent of women are in the workforce, com-pared to 75 per cent of men, mean-ing that around three in five em-ployed people last year were men. In the Arab states, for instance, the re-port found that the unemployment rate for men stood at 15.6 per cent, three times that for men. (Agencies)

Scientists Upcycle Polyethylene Bags Into Efficient Mobile Battery Parts WASHINGTON: Scientists have created a way to convert plastic bags into carbon chips that could be used in batteries powering our smartphones and other devices.

Plastic bag pollution has become a huge environmental problem, prompting some cities and coun-tries to heavily tax or ban the sacks.

Many plastic bags are used only once and then disposed, ending up in landfills, oceans and elsewhere in the environment, where they can take hundreds of years to decompose. Ac-cording to researchers from Purdue University in the US, polyethylene in plastic bags could be an inexpensive source of energy-storing carbon.

However, previous methods to upcycle polyethylene into pure car-bon have been inefficient or required expensive, complex processes.

The team wanted to develop a simpler yet efficient approach to con-vert plastic waste into useful carbon-containing materials. The researchers immersed polyethylene plastic bags in sulphuric acid and sealed them inside a solvothermal reactor, which heated the sample to just below poly-ethylene's melting temperature.

This treatment caused sulfonic acid groups to be added to the poly-ethylene carbon-carbon backbone so that the plastic could be heated to a much higher temperature without vapourising into hazardous gases.

Then, they removed the sulpho-nated polyethylene from the reactor and heated it in a furnace in an inert atmosphere to produce pure carbon.

The team ground the carbon into a black powder and used it to make anodes for lithium-ion batteries. The resulting batteries performed comparably to commercial batter-ies. (PTI)

Discovery Of Massive Flare Could Unlock The Mystery Of The Sun's OriginWASHINGTON: Scientists say they have discovered a stellar flare 10 billion times more powerful than the solar flares, a discovery that could unlock decades-old myster-ies of the origin and evolution of the Sun and its planets.

Using the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope (JCMT) in Hawaii, the scientists study the birth of nearby stars as a means of understanding the history of the solar system.

The flare is thought to be caused by a disruption in an intense magnetic field actively funnelling material onto a young, growing star as it gains mass from its surroundings, researchers said. The event occurred in one of the nearest star-forming regions to the Earth, the Orion Nebula, and lasted for only a few hours, they said.

"A discovery of this magnitude could have only happened in Ha-waii," said Steve Mairs, astronomer and lead investigator of the team that discovered the stellar flare.

"Observing flares around the youngest stars is new territory and

it is giving us key insights into the physical conditions of these sys-tems," Mairs said in a statement.

"This is one of the ways we are working towards answering people's most enduring questions about space, time, and the uni-verse that surrounds us," he said.

The JCMT Transient Survey team recorded the 1,500-year-old flare using the telescope's state-of the art high-frequency radio technology and

sophisticated image analysis tech-niques. The original data was obtained using the JCMT's supercooled camera known as "SCUBA-2," which is kept at a frigid minus 273 degrees Celsius.

The stellar flare observation was made as part of a monthly track-ing programme from researchers from around the world who use the JCMT to observe nearly 1,000 nearby stars in the earliest stages of their formation. (PTI)

New Study Shows Hidden Genes May Underlie Autism SeverityWASHINGTON: Researchers from the University of Colorado An-schutz Medical Campus have now said that there is a largely hidden part of the human genome that has a huge impact on the severity of autism symptoms.

The discovery could lead to new insights into the disorder and eventually to clinical therapies for the condition.

Researchers found that the critical genes are a part of the ge-nome that is so complex and dif-ficult to study that conventional genome analysis methods have unexamined it.

In this case, the region encodes most copies of the Olduvai protein domain, a highly duplicated and highly variable gene coding family that has been implicated in both human brain evolution and cogni-tive disease. The researchers, led by James Sikela, PhD, a professor

in the Department of Biochem-istry and Molecular Genetics at the CU School of Medicine, anal-ysed the genomes of individuals with autism and showed that as the number of copies of Olduvai increased, the severity of autism symptoms became worse.

Speaking about it, Sikela said, “It took us several years to devel-op accurate methods for studying these sequences, so we fully un-derstand why other groups have not joined in."

“We hope that by showing that the link with autism sever-

ity holds up in three independent studies, we will prompt other au-tism researchers to examine this complex family," he added.

The Sikela lab used an indepen-dent population and developed a different, higher resolution mea-surement technique. This new method also allowed them to zero in on which members of the large Olduvai family may be driving the link with autism.

Though autism is thought to have a significant genetic compo-nent, conventional genetic studies have come up short in efforts to ex-plain this contribution, Sikela said.

He added that the current study adds further support to the possi-bility that this lack of success may be because the key contributors to autism involve difficult-to-measure, highly duplicated and highly vari-able sequences, such as those encod-ing the Olduvai family. (Agencies)

Brain Function Of 'Night Owls' Different From 'Larks': Study LONDON: 'Night owls'—people who go to bed and get up later—have fun-damental differences in their brain function compared to 'morning larks', which may put constraints on their normal working day, a study has found.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham in the UK and colleagues found that individuals whose internal body clock dictates that they go to bed and wake up very late have lower resting brain connectivity in many of the brain regions that are linked to the maintenance of consciousness.

This lower brain connectivity was associated with poorer attention, slower reactions and increased sleepiness throughout the hours of a typical working day, according to the

study published in the journal SLEEP.It is already known that there are

huge negative health consequences for night shift workers due to the constant disruption to sleep and body clocks, said researchers, including those from the University of Surrey in the UK and the University of Campinas in Brazil.

However, disruption can also be caused by being forced to fit into a societal 9-5 working day if those tim-ings do not align with your natural biological rhythms, they said.

Since around 40-50 per cent of the population identify as having a prefer-ence for later bed times and for getting up after 8.20 am, the researchers say much more needs to be done to explore negative implications for this group.

"A huge number of people struggle to deliver their best performance during work or school hours they are not natu-rally suited to," said Elise Facer-Childs from the University of Birmingham.

"There is a critical need to increase our understanding of these issues in order to minimise health risks in so-ciety, as well as maximise productiv-ity," Facer-Childs said. Researchers in-vestigated brain function at rest and linked it to the cognitive abilities of 38 individuals who were identified as either 'night owls' or 'morning larks' using physiological rhythms (mela-tonin and cortisol), continuous sleep/wake monitoring and questionnaires.

The volunteers underwent MRI scans, followed by a series of tasks,

with testing sessions being undertak-en at a range of different times during the day from 8am to 8pm.

They were also asked to report on their levels of sleepiness.

Volunteers identified as morning larks reported to be least sleepy and had their fastest reaction time during the early morning tests, which was significantly better than night owls.

However, night owls were least sleepy and had their fastest reaction time at 8pm in the evening, although this was not significantly better than the larks, highlighting that night owls are most disadvantaged in the morning.

The brain connectivity in the regions that could predict better performance and lower sleepiness was significantly

higher in larks at all time points, sug-gesting that the resting state brain connectivity of night owls is impaired throughout the day (8am-8pm).

"This mismatch between a person's biological time and social time—which most of us have experienced in the form of jet lag—is a common issue for night owls trying to follow a nor-mal working day," said Facer-Childs, who is now based at the Monash In-stitute for Cognitive and Clinical Neu-rosciences in Australia.

"Our study is the first to show a po-tential intrinsic neuronal mechanism behind why 'night owls' may face cognitive disadvantages when being forced to fit into these constraints," Facer-Childs said. ( PTI)

09 | Saturday | 16-02-2019

BusinessSENSEX

GOLD

J&K BANKNIFTY

SILVER

HDFC BANKAXIS BANKICICI BANK

35,808.95

32,845.00

DOLLAR POUNDKUWAITI DINAREURO YUAN SAUDI RIYAL71.38 82.58 238.13 91.36 10.48 19.03

39.5010,724.40

36362.00

2,100.70685.30342.60

−67.27 (0.19%) −0.30 (0.75%)

−9.50 (0.45%)

−9.70 (1.40%)

−1.35 (0.39%)

−21.65 (0.20%)

55.00 ((99.9%)

-272.00 (-0.74%)

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi - The CBDT has stressed that Aadhaar-PAN link-ing is "mandatory" for those filing an Income Tax Return (ITR) and this procedure has to be "com-pleted" by March 31 this year.

"Constitutional validity of Aad-haar has been upheld by the Su-preme Court of India in Septem-ber, 2018. Consequently, in terms of Section 139AA of Income Tax Act, 1961 and order dated June 30, 2018 of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, Aadhaar-PAN linking is mandatory now which has to be completed till March 31, 2019 by PAN holders requiring filing of ITR," the CBDT said in an advisory Thursday. The Supreme Court on February 6 had confirmed that linkage of PAN with Aadhaar is mandatory for filing of ITRs. This reiteration of the September order of the apex court came on an ap-peal filed by the Centre against a Delhi High Court order allowing two persons, to file their ITRs for 2018-19 without linking their Aad-haar and PAN numbers. A bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer said the top court has already decided the matter and upheld the section 139AA of the Income Tax Act.

The apex court on September 26 last year had declared the Centre's flagship Aadhaar scheme as con-stitutionally valid but struck down some of its provisions including its linking with bank accounts, mobile phones and school admissions.

Former CBDT Chairman Sushil Chandra, early this month at an event, had said that just 23 crore PAN card holders-- over half of the total PAN card holders -- have so far linked their cards with biomet-ric ID Aadhaar.

He had said the I-T Department has so far issued 42 crore perma-nent account numbers (PAN), of which 23 crore have been linked with Aadhaar. Chandra said that once Aadhaar is linked with PAN and PAN is linked with bank ac-count, the I-T department can find out spending pattern and other details of the assessee. Also since many agencies are linked with Aadhaar, it would be easier to gauge whether the benefits of welfare schemes are availed by

eligible persons, he said. Section 139 AA (2) of the Income Tax Act says that every person having PAN as on July 1, 2017, and eligible to obtain Aadhaar, must intimate his Aadhaar number to tax authori-ties. While Aadhaar is issued by the Unique Identification Author-ity of India (UIDAI) to a resident of India, PAN is a 10-digit alpha-numeric number allotted by the IT Department to a person, firm or entity. The CBDT formulates policy for the tax department.

Linking Aadhaar-PAN is mandatory for tax filers; to be completed by Mar 31: CBDT

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Mumbai - Benchmark equity indi-ces reeled under selling pressure for the seventh straight session Friday as pharma, metal, auto and banking stocks led losses amid sustained foreign fund out-flows, muted earnings season and weak global cues. However, emergence of buying in power, energy and PSU stocks in the last one hour of the session and covering-up of short positions by speculators wiped off most losses. The 30-share Sensex, after slumping 365 points to hit a low of 35,510.97 intra-day, recouped most of the lost ground on fag-end buying, and finally settled with a modest fall of 67.27 points, or 0.19 per cent down at 35,808.95. The index has now lost a lost over 1,165 points in seven sessions. The broader NSE Nifty, after shuttling between 10,620.40 and 10,785.75, settled at 10,724.40 points, down by 21.65 points, or 0.20 per cent. On a weekly basis, the BSE index dropped 737.53 points, or over 2 per cent; while NSE Nifty fell 219.20 points, or 2 per cent.

Market staged a sharp recov-ery from the bottom, confirming support for the market at lower levels, said Sunil Sharma, Chief In-vestment Officer, Sanctum Wealth

Management. Investor sentiment was roiled by weakness in retail sales in the US, and persisting worries around domestic debt and liquidity, he said. "The mid-cap and large-cap divergence contin-ued, and year-to-date the Nifty 50 is outperforming the Midcap 50 by 4.3 per cent," he added.

In stock-specific action, Sun Pharma was the biggest loser among Sensex components, plunging 3.94 per cent, followed by Tata Steel falling 3.12 per cent. Other big losers included Vedanta, Hero MotoCorp, Bajaj Finance, SBI, Axis Bank, HDFC, Maruti Suzuki, Yes Bank, M&M, IndusInd Bank, TCS, HUL, Kotak Bank, HDFC Bank, HCL Techand ICICI Bank, losing up to 2.87 per cent. Dr Reddy's stock crashed over 4 per cent on mas-sive selling by participants.

On the other hand, NTPC, Pow-erGrid, Reliance Industries, L&T, Bharti Airtel, Tata Motors, Coal India, Infosys, ITC, Bajaj Auto and Asian Paint ended higher by up to 4.13 per cent. ONGC, too, gained 2.27 per cent, after the state-owned company Thursday report-ed a 65 per cent jump in its third quarter net profit as higher prices made up for a fall in oil output.

Sector-wise, the BSE metal in-dex emerged worst performer, tumbling 2.32 per cent, followed

by healthcare down 2.27 per cent, auto (1.21 per cent), bankex (0.69 per cent), FMCG (0.44 per cent), consumer durables (0.29 per cent), IT (0.22 per cent), realty (0.18 per cent) and teck (0.12 per cent. However, power index gained the most, rising 2.17 per cent, oil and gas (1.44 per cent), infrastructure (1.09 per cent), PSU 0.57 per cent and capital goods (0.42 per cent). A similar trend was also extended to the broader markets with the mid-cap index falling 1.18 per cent, and small-cap index shedding 0.83 per cent. On the macro front, ris-ing global crude prices dented the rupee, which depreciated by an-other 28 paise to 71.44 against the dollar intra-day. The Brent crude futures, the international bench-mark, advanced to USD 65.10 per barrel, their highest level in nearly three months. Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 2.06 per cent, Shanghai Composite Index fell 1.37 per cent, Kospi was down 12.34 per cent, Japan's Nik-kei shed 1.13 per cent and Singa-pore's Straits Times declined 0.54 per cent.Among European markets were in somewhat mixed form in their early deals with the Paris CAC 40 rising 0.24 per cent; while Frankfurt DAX slipped 0.46 per cent, and the London's FTSE was almost flat.

Sensex ends 67 pts lower; pharma, metal stocks crack

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi - Arun Jaitley Friday re-sumed charge as the finance min-ister after a gap of over a month, which was the second break with-in a year that he had to take to un-dergo medical treatment.

The President of India, as ad-vised by the prime minister, has directed to assign the portfolios of the Minister of Finance and Min-ister of Corporate Affairs to Arun Jaitley, an official statement said on Friday. Jaitley tweeted on Fri-day: "Resumed work at the Min-istry of Finance today (Friday). Thankful to Shri Piyush Goyal who discharged the responsibility at the MoF diligently & competently."

Jaitley, 66, who last week re-turned from the US after under-going medical treatment, first at-tended the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) meeting that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had called to discuss the terror attack in south Kashmir's Pulwama district that killed around 40 CRPF person-nel, and then came to North Block - the seat of the finance ministry.

Sources said he underwent a surgery in the US on January 22 for a reported soft tissue cancer in his left leg. He returned to India on February 9 after undergoing skin grafting. Jaitley, they said, is re-covering well but needs a stick for support to stand or sit down and

walks with a slight limp.After attending the CCS meeting

at the prime minister's residence, he drove to North Block after the

noon sitting in the front seat of Mercedes sedan, instead of his usual Tata Safari SUV.

Jaitley had left for the US on January 13 and returned on Febru-ary 9. During his absence, Railways and Coal Minister Piyush Goyal was given charge of the finance ministry on January 23. Goyal also presented the sixth and final Budget of the NDA government on February 1. Even during this ab-sence from the ministry, Jaitley has been active on social media writ-ing Facebook posts and tweeting

about current issues.Jaitley had undergone a kidney

transplant surgery on May 14, 2018, at AIIMS here and had not

travelled abroad since then. He had stopped attending office at the beginning of April last year due to his kidney ailment and was back in North Block on August 23, 2018. Even then, Goyal had manned the ministry for about 100 days.

In September 2014, he under-went bariatric surgery to treat weight gain that he suffered be-cause of a long-standing diabetic condition. He was earlier last month named the publicity head of the BJP for the upcoming gen-eral elections.

Arun Jaitley resumes charge as finance minister

P C Mody takes over as new CBDT chairman

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi - IRS officer Pramod Chandra Mody on Friday took over as the new chairman of the Cen-tral Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the policy making body of the In-come Tax Department. Mody, a 1982-batch Indian Revenue Service (Income Tax cadre) officer, has been appointed in place of Sushil Chan-dra, who was on Thursday named as Election Commissioner ahead of the Lok Sabha polls due this sum-mer. The officer, who has worked in various capacities in the I-T De-partment, has been working as the Member (Administration) in the CBDT. He will be in office till June this year. The CBDT is headed by a chairman and can have a maximum of six members. After the latest ap-pointment, there is a vacancy of two more members in the board.

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi: Gold regained its glitter with prices surging by Rs 310 to Rs 34,310 per 10 gram at the bullion market here on Friday on increased buying by jewellers coupled with a firm-ing trend overseas, according to the All India Sarafa Association.

Silver also rose Rs 170 to Rs 40,820 per kg, supported by increased offtake by industrial units. Bullion traders said sen-timent in the domestic market turned upbeat on the back of increased buying by jewel-lers and retailers and a firming trend in global markets.

Globally, gold was trading higher by 0.14 per cent at USD 1,315.20 an ounce as weak US

retail data raised fresh con-cerns about a global slowdown while silver shed 0.10 per cent, to USD 15.67 an ounce. In the national capital, gold of 99.9 per cent and 99.5 per cent puri-ties rebounded by Rs 310 each to Rs 34,310 and Rs 34,160 per 10 gram, respectively. The yel-low metal had lost Rs 280 in the previous four days. Sovereign gold, on the other hand, contin-ued to rule flat at Rs 26,000 per piece of 8 gram. In sync with gold, silver ready recovered by Rs 170 to Rs 40,820 per kg and weekly-based delivery by Rs 94 to Rs 39,584 per kg. Silver coins, however, continued to be at previous level of Rs 80,000 for buying and Rs 81,000 for selling of 100 pieces.

Gold climbs Rs 310 on jewellers' buying, global cues

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi: The commerce minis-try would soon notify to the World Trade Organization (WTO) its de-cision to revoke the most-favoured nation (MFN) status to Pakistan on security grounds, an official said Friday. The decision would enable India to increase custom duties on goods imported from Pakistan. India imported goods worth USD 488.5 million in 2017-18.

"Now, the commerce ministry will notify to the WTO to revoke the MFN status to Pakistan by invoking Article 21 of the WTO which is the security exception," the official said. The ministry would work on a list of goods imported from Pakistan over which India would increase the customs duties. After the Pul-wama terror attack on Thursday, India on Friday withdrew the MFN status to Pakistan. Follow-ing this, India can raise customs duties on goods being imported from Pakistan up to the bound level duty rates. Currently, In-dia's custom duties on goods to members of the WTO are below the bound level rates. The cur-rent customs duties imposed are called applied rates and the level at which one can increase is known as bound rates. The main items which India imports include fresh fruits, cement, pe-troleum products, bulk minerals

and ores and finished leather.India granted the MFN status to

Pakistan way back in in 1996, but the neighbouring country had not yet reciprocated.

Total India-Pakistan trade has increased marginally to USD 2.41 billion in 2017-18 as against USD 2.27 billion in 2016-17. In-

dia imported goods worth USD 488.5 million in 2017-18 and exported goods worth USD 1.92 billion in that fiscal. India mainly exports raw cotton, cotton yarn, chemicals, plastics, manmade yarn and dyes to Pakistan. Trade experts said this decision would not have a major implication

on bilateral trade between the countries as the value of trade is below USD 3 billion annually. They said that although Pakistan can drag India into the WTO's dispute settlement mechanism on the matter, their case would be weak as they have not yet granted the tag to India.

Commerce ministry to notify WTO regarding revoking MFN status to Pakistan

India’s decision to withdraw the ‘most favoured nation’ (MFN) sta-tus to Pakistan will adversely im-pact the neighbouring country’s economy which is already in “deep trouble”, Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar said Friday. India on Friday revoked the MFN status to Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack.

“The impact of India’s decision to withdraw MFN status on Paki-stan economy, which is already in deep trouble, could be significant. “On the other hand, India’s ex-ports are marginally dependent on Pakistan’s market and these can be successively diverted to markets in the Middle East,” Kumar told PTI.

He further said India’s large market will now be closed for Pakistani exports. Noting that India has always refrained from taking any trade and commerce

related measures despite repeated provocations from Pakistan, Ku-mar said, “India has been forced to take the step of withdrawing MFN status for Pakistan after the latest extreme provocation in Kashmir.” In a media briefing after the meet-ing of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the MFN status to Pakistan stands revoked. With-drawal of the MFN status would significantly hit Pakistan’s exports to India, which stood at USD 488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18. The MFN status was accorded under World Trade Or-ganisation’s (WTO) General Agree-ment on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). Both India and Pakistan are signa-tories to this, and are members of the WTO. Under the MFN pact, a WTO member country is obliged to treat the other trading nation

in a non-discriminatory manner, especially with regard to customs duty and other levies. Withdrawal of the status would mean that In-dia could impose heavy customs duties on Pakistani goods. In 2012, Pakistan had committed to giving the MFN status to India but re-tracted later due to domestic op-position. Instead of MFN, Pakistan said it was working on granting Non-Discriminatory Market Ac-cess (NDMA) status to India but that also was not announced.

Total India-Pakistan trade has in-creased marginally to USD 2.41 bil-lion in 2017-18 as against USD 2.27 billion in 2016-17. India imported goods worth USD 488.5 million in 2017-18 and exported goods worth USD 1.92 billion in that fiscal. India mainly exports raw cotton, cotton yarn, chemicals, plastics, manmade yarn and dyes to Pakistan.

Withdrawal of MFN status to hit Pakistan economy: Niti Aayog VC

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

Hyderabad: The Institute of Cost Accountants of India (ICAI) would provide training to about one lakh students on the soon-to-be launched GST Accountants course, a senior official said on Thursday.

The government is coming out with Goods and Services Tax (GST) Accountants course, and plans to train about 1 lakh GST Accountants over the next one to one-and-half year. The course fees would be fully funded by the Government of India, ICAI president Amit Anand Apte told reporters here. The ob-jective of the programme is to ensure that compliance as far GST is concerned increases especially in the SMEs sector, he said add-ing the intention was to serve the sector because there was gap be-tween availability of trained re-sources and requirements. “GST Accountants programme will be launched very soon.. about 1 lakh accountants will be trained specifi-cally on GST compliances. We are working out the modalities with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and the course would be tenta-tively launched by February end,” Apte said. The biggest challenge before the government is that most of the SMEs are not able to comply with the provisions of the (GST) law because they are not equipped enough with right kind of trained

accountants who can adhere to the various GST provisions, he said. The concept is to train 1 lakh ac-countants across the country who will be able to serve the SMEs sec-tor. Once these accountants are trained they will be able to serve all the SMEs and the compliance from the field would also improve

substantially, Apte said adding this proposal was discussed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and then taken up with NITI Aayog which has approved it.The course content is almost ready and it would be a 50-hours classroom training. Besides, there would be a 10-hour practical training wherein the government would impart live training in the form of computer-ised filing of the returns in various GST offices across the country, he said. Those from commerce stream could undergo this course and an entrance exam would be con-ducted by ICAI shortly and those candidates who qualify the exams would be eligible to undertake this GST Accountants course, he said. The course would be conducted through ICAI’s 98 chapters and about 300 extension centres across the country, he added.

ICAI to train 1 lakh students on GST Accountants course

PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

New Delhi: The government is considering a proposal to enable interoperability for public Wi-Fi network, which will translate into a seamless connectivity experi-ence for users, a top Department of Telecom official said Friday.

Telecom secretary Aruna Sun-dararajan said 3.7 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots have been deployed by the industry - against the stated commitment of rolling out one million Wi-Fi hotspots by De-cember 2019 - and added that once security nod is obtained on interoperability, it would lead to seamless experience for users and generate new revenue sources for small enterpreneurs. "Working in tandem with TRAI (Telecom Reg-ulatory Authority of India) and with service providers, we are hoping to deploy an interoperable public Wi-Fi network," Sundara-rajan said. She was speaking at an event 'De-licensing of 5 GHz for public Wi-fi' organised by Broad-band India Forum (BIF).

"Telecom service providers have committed to a target of roll-ing out one million Wi-Fi hotspots by end of 2019, and so far we are at about 3.7 lakh Wi-Fi hotspots, which have been deployed, but

they have not yet become interop-erable. Once we get the security clearance for this, we expect to have a full interoperable Wi-Fi ecosystem, which will be pio-neering," she said. The proposed model of interoperability will be a "gamechanger", she added. "The MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) has to give the final security clear-ance, they are looking at it. We expect it to be given shortly," she told reporters. She said interop-erability will make the customer experience seamless, ensuring single log in and one time pay-ment for users. "Today if you go to an airport you have to log in each time and in some cases you have to pay... unless it is bundled with your service provider...This (in-teroperability) will mean that you can access it anywhere, any Wi-Fi provided by any service provider and you need to pay once, log in once and use anywhere....That will be something completely new," she said. Also though the Public data offices or PDO model, it will provide source of revenue to small enterpreneurs. Public Wi-Fi is vital for India, given the surge in data consumption and the fact that broadband connec-tivity needs to reach one billion Indians.

‘Govt mulling interoperability for public Wi-Fi network’

Saturday | 16-02-2019 10

FROM FRONT PAGE

News

Perpetrators Will PayModi said the "blood of the people is boiling", add-

ing the militant outfits and those aiding and abetting them have made a "big mistake".

An IAF transport aircraft brought the coffins to the New Delhi from Srinagar Friday night and they will be later taken to the homes of the victims.

"A befitting reply will be given to the perpetrators of the heinous attack and their patrons," said Modi, a day after the bomber rammed his vehicle laden with explosives into a CRPF bus in a convoy in Pulwama district’s Lethpora area. The Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack on the convoy of 78 vehicles in the deadliest attacks in the state.

In a hard-hitting speech in the Indian national capital, Modi said the "blood of the people is boiling" and forces behind the act of terrorism will definitely be punished.

"I want to tell the (militant) outfits and those aid-ing and abetting them that they have made a big mistake. They will have to pay a very heavy price for their actions. Let me assure the nation that those be-hind this attack, the perpetrators of this attack will be punished," Modi said at a function to flag off the Vande Bharat Express, India's fastest train from Delhi to Varanasi.

He said the government forces have been given "complete freedom".

"(Government) forces have been given complete freedom, the blood of the people is boiling...Our neighbouring country, which has been isolated inter-nationally is in a state of illusion, thinks such terror attacks can destabilise us, but their plans will not ma-terialise," Modi said.

Addressing a public meeting in Jhansi later in the day, the prime minister again did not name Pakistan but said the attack was an outcome of its desperation as it is in a bad shape and has been forced to go to dif-ferent countries with a "begging bowl" to meet even its daily expenses.

He that the “sacrifices” of CRPF soldiers will "not go in vain", he said, "(government) forces have been given permission to take decisions about the timing, place and nature of their response... This is an India of new convention and policy," he said.

Simultaneously, the government said that India “means business” with a meeting of Cabinet Com-mittee on Security(CCS) presided by Modi deciding to revoke the Most Favoured Nation(MFN) status to Pakistan. Withdrawal of the MFN status would sig-nificantly hit Pakistan's exports to India, which stood at USD 488.5 million (around Rs 3,482.3 crore) in 2017-18, sources said.

After the meeting, Finance Minister Arun Jait-ley told reporters that the Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) will take all possible diplomatic steps to isolate Pakistan.

Hours later, the government reached out to the international community, most of whom has univo-cally condemned the attack by the UN-proscribed JeM, in a major diplomatic offensive against Pakistan.

The MEA held a briefing for envoys of 25 coun-tries, including from the P5 nations -- US, China, Rus-sia, the UK and France -- during which it highlighted Pakistan's role in using terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

Before the briefing, Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale summoned Pakistan High Commissioner to India Sohail Mahmood to his South Block office and issued a very strong demarche over the attack and asked Islamabad to take "immediate and verifiable action" against JeM.

According to sources, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria has also been called to Delhi for consultations in the wake of the horrific attack.

An all party meeting has been convened by the Ministry Of Home Affairs in Delhi on Saturday to take stock of the situation.

Protests against Pakistan broke out in several parts of the country, including in Jammu city where curfew was imposed amid demands for retaliation against Pakistan.

The Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) said it won't "forget and forgive" but will "avenge" the death of its personnel.

The country's largest paramilitary force put out a tweet from its official handle saying, "We will not forget, we will not forgive."

"We salute our martyrs of Pulwama attack and stand with the families of our martyr brothers. This heinous attack will be avenged."

As the government and politicians reacted to the attack with anger and the families of those killed came to grips with the enormity of the tragedy, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh travelled to Sri-nagar and laid a wreath on the mortal remains of the troops.

The remains of the 40 CRPF personnel, many of whom were returning from leave to rejoin work in the Valley, were kept in coffins, draped in the trico-lour, ready to make their final journey home.

Singh gave a shoulder to the coffin of one the jawans killed.

"The nation will not forget the supreme sacrifice of our brave CRPF jawans," Singh said.

Echoing Singh's views, the younger brother of V V Vasanth Kumar, who had left his home in Kerala's Wayanad district on February 8 and was one of those killed, said his sacrifice would never be forgotten.

"My elder brother died for the country and we are proud of his sacrifice," Sajeevan told PTI.

Vasanth Kumar's mother Shanta and wife Sheena are inconsolable and his two young children have not yet been informed.

Describing the assault as an attack on India's soul, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said his party as

well as the entire opposition was fully supportive of the government and the security forces.

"I want to make it very clear that the aim of terror-ism is to divide this country and we are not going to be divided for even one second, no matter how hard people try," he told reporters.

The Himachal Pradesh Assembly unanimously passed a resolution seeking a befitting reply to Paki-stan.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh called for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan, asserting "the time for peace talks is over and they should be taught a lesson."

As questions cropped up whether there was any intelligence failure, experts of anti-terror commando force the National Security Guard (NSG) and investi-gators from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) joined the probe into the attack.

40 Bodies Sentpersonnel. He also shouldered coffin of one among

the slain. Nine of the slain CRPF men, they said, are beyond

identification and now DNA test would be conducted to identity their body parts.

“The nine personnel are known but their body parts are not differentiable and now DNA tests are being done,” the officials said, adding, “the samples have been taken and would be matched with their relatives.”

CRPF spokesperson said that bodies of forty per-sonnel have been sent to their respective villages for last rites. Asked about the DNA sampling and missing personnel, the spokesman refused to comment and dropped the phone.

On Friday, a team of NIA visited the scene of at-tack and thoroughly searched the area and collected samples for forensic investigations. “The nature of explosive used and quantity used would be revealed during investigations,” he said.

The attack took place along Jammu-Srinagar high-way when a suicide bomber rammed his explosive-laden car into a CRPF convoy in Lethpora area at around 3:15 p.m. yesterday. Sources said that inten-sity of the blast was such that its sound was heard around 10 kilometers away.

JeM militant outfit had claimed the responsibility for the attack and identified the bomber as Adil Ah-mad Dar alias Waqas Commando and he is also be-lieved to be killed even though there was no official confirmation in this regard so far.

Following the blast, the traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway came to standstill and when the re-ports last came in, the road was still closed. A police official said that the traffic continued to be diverted through Galander area.

A police officer had said forensic experts of have taken samples even as investigations have been set into motion. The officer also confirmed that yester-day’s attack was the deadliest in the 30 years of insur-gency. “Even though there were major attacks in the past also like Badamibagh and assembly but this is the first attack in which there have been such a num-ber of causalities,” the officer had said.

Regarding the vehicle, the officer said that it seems to be a Scorpio or jeep. "Investigations are underway in this regard," the officer had said.

‘Regret’ Every Killinghuman problem, is wreaking havoc in Kashmir

especially on “our next generation and consuming them while those who are here to execute this policy are also under stress and paying a price with their lives.”

JRL said militarization, CASOs use of bullets and pellets blowing up homes, blinding and maiming, PSAs and torture as a means to crush legitimate po-litical aspirations of a people has not only failed but worsened the situation.

JRL said that if this death dance has to stop, if ha-tred and revenge have to stop, if killing and counter-killings has to stop and “if we really want peace in the region we have to put an end to hostilities.”

And the most effective and civilized manner to do so, the JRL said is to reach out and engage and listen to the concerns of all three stakeholders and address them in the spirit of humanity and justice. “Resolve the Kashmir dispute for all times.”

Meanwhile JRL strongly condemned the incidents of arson in Jammu in Gujjar Nagar and elsewhere incident where some communal elements freely torched the vehicles of Kashmiri Muslims and in-jured many others.

JRL said right that right from 1947 communal forc-es active in Jammu who leave no stone unturned to attack and intimidate Muslims and Kashmiri people, adding, that it is responsibility of the government administration to ensure the safety and security of Muslims and Kashmiris and living there.

Vehicles Belonging ToFriday in the wake of the deadliest militant attack on paramilitary CRPF in Pulwama’s Lethpora area yes-terday.

Curfew was imposed as authorities feared a com-munal backlash even as Army was called in to help maintain “law and order” and conducted flag march-es, officials said.

Protesters, particularly in the old city, refused to disperse even after loudspeakers announced that curfew was imposed. "We have imposed curfew in Jammu city as a precautionary measure," Deputy Commissioner of Jammu Ramesh Kumar said.

According to officials, there was complete bandh in Jammu city and there was no traffic on roads and all shops and markets were closed.

Jammu city was rocked by massive protests with people taking to the streets in dozens of places, in-cluding Jewel Chowk, Purani Mundi, Rehari, Shakti-nagar, Pacca Danga, Janipur, Gandhinagar and Bak-shinagar.

According to some reports, there were clashes in Gujjar Nagar area where several vehicles were dam-aged due to pelting of stones. However, police swung into action but not before many vehicles were burnt. “The vehicles bearing registration number from Kashmir districts were attacked in particular,” the sources said.

Raising anti-Pakistan, anti-militant slogans, pro-testers burnt tyres on many roads. The agitators, mostly youth, put up barricades on roads demanding revenge.

Led by the Bajrang Dal, the Shiv Sena and the Dogra front, people took protest marches in the city and held anti-Pakistan protests.

The Jammu Chamber of Commerce and Industries (JCCI) had on Thursday called for shut down in Jam-mu protesting Lethpora attack.

Protesting the Pulwama attack, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association, Jammu, sus-pended work in all the courts in Jammu, including the high court and tribunals.

"The suspension of work by the association is a mark of respect to the CRPF jawans killed in the Pul-wama attack and to express our solidarity and sym-pathy with the bereaved families," J&K High Court

Bar Association Jammu President, B S Slathia said.

‘Move Employeesdamaged and attempts were made to set on fire their dwellings by the rampaging crowds.

Secretariat Employees Union Ghulam Rasool Mir told the news agency GNS that there were attempts to set ablaze the several residential quarters of em-ployees while stones were thrown at most them. “Our vehicles have been damaged and attempts have been made to torch our houses,” Mir said.

He said that if the government failed to provide foolproof security, the employees from Kashmir will be forced to return to Kashmir in a bid to pro-tect themselves and their families. “I have brought it into the notice of chief secretary, Director General of Police and Commissioner Secretary Home,” he said, adding, “If the government fails to provide the re-quired security to safeguard the life and property of the employees, we will issue appeal to employees to protect themselves and their families and return to Kashmir.”

Another employees leader said that the curfew im-posed by the administration was “symbolic” and has not been imposed strictly to enable due protection to the people from Valley including the employees working in civil secretariat and other departments. “Wherever vehicle bearing numbers belong to Kash-mir are seen, they are been damaged,” he added and urged governor to ensure proper security.

In the evening Chief Secretary B V R Subrahman-yam, Commissioner Secretary Home, ADG Security Munir Khan and Divisional Commissioner Jammu visited employees colonies and personally visited most of the employees and assured them all secu-rity. Mir said that the officers also urged maintaining peace and brotherhood. “We are thankful to them,”

Mir said.

Pak: Won't Make Anydecision will be marginal."As the trade between the two countries was just

over USD 2 billion dollars and Pakistan's exports were a fourth of it.

"So Pakistan is not going to lose much in terms of money in the short term," the official said.

Under the MFN pact, a WTO member country is obliged to treat the other trading nation in a non-discriminatory manner, especially with regard to customs duty and other levies.

Withdrawal of the status would mean that India could impose heavy customs duties and discriminate Pakistani goods vis-a-vis similar items of other trad-ing partners.

He said the decision will, in fact, hurt Indians as after revoking the MFN status tariffs would be more on the about USD 500 million Pakistani exports, in-cluding items like cement and salt.

Pakistan exports fresh fruits, cement, petroleum products, bulk minerals and ores and finished leather to India.

But, it is believed that the decision might have long-term consequences as it will further dim the chances of normalisation of trade and tapping the potential of bilateral trade.

The World Bank in report called "A Glass Half Full: The Promise of Regional Trade in South Asia" esti-mated that Indo-Pak bilateral trade could reach to USD37 billion if trade barrier are removed.

The trade through the third country would in-crease as already about USD 3 billion worth goods are trade either through the UAE or Singapore.

India accorded the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 as part of the WTO free trade regime to treat all members of the world trading body on non-discrim-inatory basis.

Pakistan was close to reciprocate the Indian move in 2011 when the Cabinet approved the MFN status for India but it was never implemented.

Ladakh Division ToQamar Ali Akhoon, Former Minister and Leader of National Conference; Haji Nissar Ali, Ex-Minister Congress; Aga Syed Baqir, Ex-MLA, Zanaskar; Agha

Syed Ali Rizvi, Ex-MLC, National Conference; Kacho Ahmed Ali, Ex-CEC, LAHDC, Kargil; Haji Hanifa Jan, District President, National Conference; Mohd. As-sadullah, District President, PDP and Mohd. Hassan Pasha, BJP, Kargil.

After listening patiently to all the delegation mem-bers and understanding the feelings and sentiments of the people Kargil, the Governor announced the following decisions to meet the aspirations of Kargil:

a. The newly created Administrative/ Revenue Division of Ladakh will have its headquarters jointly at Leh and Kargil. There will be offices at both places in Leh and Kargil. Two Additional Divisional Commis-sioners will be posted, one each in Leh and Kargil. The Divisional Commissioner and IG will spend half their time in Kargil and half in Leh. The periodicity of this will be determined by the Committee at (b) below. The SRO will be revised accordingly.

b. The Committee constituted by SAC under the Principal Secretary (Planning) will examine and re-port on the following:

i. The periodicity of the Divisional Com-missioner’s and IG’s sitting at Leh/ Kargil-weekly, fortnightly, etc.

ii. Identify the posts of Divisional Level heads of various departments that may be required for the new Ladakh Division, their equitable locations at Kar-gil/ Leh and their staffing pattern.

iii. Any other measures as necessary.The Committee will submit its report by

24.02.2019.c. The State government will immediately pro-

vide Rs. 200 crores from the JKIDFC/ other sources to a separate account to convert the Kargil airport to a full-fledged civilian airport which can handle me-dium body jets like Boeing and Airbus.

d. The Secretary (Ladakh Affairs) will constantly engage with LAHDC, Kargil and other peoples’ repre-sentatives to improve the development prospects of Kargil.

The Co-ordination Committee welcomed the Hon’ble Governor’s decision and agreed to call off all demonstrations in Kargil.

The Governor welcomed the decision of the Co-ordination Committee and complimented them for the peaceful nature of their demonstration and said this is a hallmark of our democracy.

Oppose All Forms Ofjointly uphold regional peace and stability," Geng

said.Without directly referring to India's persistent de-

mand to declare Azhar as a global terrorist, Geng said JeM has already been included in the sanctions list of the UN committee but he was not forthcoming on why China is opposed to extend the ban on the leader of the group.

When asked about China's stand on the listing of Azhar as a global terrorist by the UN Security Council, he said: "As for the issue of listing, I could tell you that the 1267 Committee of Security Council has a clear stipulation on the listing and procedure of the ter-rorist organisations". "JeM has been included in the Security Council terrorism sanctions list. China will continue to handle the relevant sanctions issue in a constructive and responsible manner," Geng said in an apparent reference to External Affairs Ministry's appeal to all members of the UN Security Council to list Azhar as a global terrorist. If Azhar is listed as terrorist by the UN Security Council, he would face a global travel ban and assets freeze.

China, a veto-wielding member of the UNSC and a close ally of Pakistan, has consistently blocked moves first by India and later by the US, the UK and France to designate Azhar as a global terrorist by the 1267 Committee by putting technical holds.

Asked whether China would be re-looking at the issue in view of the positive momentum in bilateral relations generated by last year's Wuhan summit be-tween Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese

President Xi Jinping, Geng reiterated that: "JeM as an organisation has been included in the sanctions list of the Security Council.

"As to the listing of an individual, we have always upheld an earnest, responsible and professional man-ner. We always acted in accordance with the require-ment of the situation. We will continue to maintain close communication with India and relevant parties on this issue".

Replying to a question on India not permitting UN Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP), Geng said: "Both India and Pakistan are important countries in this region. We hope the two countries can properly resolve (differences) through consultations. We also hope the regional countries can cooperate to uphold stability and peace in this region to curb terrorism".

India on Thursday slammed Pakistan over the Pul-wama terror attack carried out by JeM and asked the neighbouring country to stop supporting terrorists and dismantle terror infrastructure operating from its soil.

India also strongly reiterated its appeal to all members of the international community to sup-port the proposal to list terrorists, including JeM chief Azhar, as a designated terrorist under the 1267 Sanc-tions Committee of the UN Security Council, and to ban terrorist organisations operating from territories controlled by Pakistan.

India Issues Demarchestrong demarche over the attack. Pakistan must take "immediate and verifiable ac-

tion" against the JeM and that it must immediately stop any groups or individuals associated with ter-rorism operating from its territories, Gokhale told the envoy.

According to sources, Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan Ajay Bisaria has also been called to Delhi for consultations in the wake of the attack.

Hours after vowing to isolate Pakistan diplomati-cally in the wake of the attack, the government un-dertook the exercise of reaching out to the interna-tional community, most of which has univocally condemned the attack by the UN-proscribed Paki-stan-based JeM terror outfit.

Apart from the envoys of the P5, Gokhale met the envoys of key countries in Europe and Asia such as Germany, South Korea, Japan, as well as Australia, they said.

"All the Heads of Missions were left in no doubt about the role played by Pakistan based and support-ed JeM in the terrorist attack and our demand that Pakistan ceases forthwith all support and financing to terror groups operating from areas under their control. The foreign secretary also highlighted the role played by Pakistan in using terrorism as an in-strument of its state policy," a source said.

The MEA will continue to take all steps to expose the complicity of Pakistan in the Pulwama terrorist attack and demand immediate and verifiable action against JeM and its leader Masood Azhar, the source added.

Earlier in the day, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, briefing reporters after a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, said the MEA will make a major diplomatic push to isolate Pakistan.

India on Friday also withdrew the 'most-favoured nation' status to Pakistan.

Jaitley said those aiding and abating the perpetra-tors will have to "pay a heavy price".

Countries from across the globe condemned the terror attack with nations such as the US, UK, Russia and France asserting that they stand with India in this hour of grief.

Condemning the attack, Russian President Vladi-mir Putin said perpetrators and sponsors of the at-tack should be brought to book and reiterated his country's support for further strengthening counter-terrorist cooperation with India.

Titan plans to double market share in jewellery over 3-4 yearsBengaluru: Titan Co Ltd is looking to

double its market share in the jewellery space over the next 3-4 years from around 5% now, the company’s managing director-designate CK Venkataraman said in an interview. Wedding jewellery, which has been a focus area for the company within the segment, will be a key driver in reach-ing that target.

“We’ve done exceptionally well. And we know our first-time customer acquisition is happening at a brisk pace even in the middle- to top-end segments, so there’s clearly a migration from other jewellers," said Venkataraman, who currently heads Titan’s jewellery business.

India’s jewellery industry did not have a good 2018. In February, the Nirav Modi-Me-

hul Choksi orchestrated PNB fraud tainted the entire sector, impacting small and me-dium jewellers as well as listed chains. But the Tata Group-backed Titan has stood out as among the few brands consumers trust, and that was reflected in its financial per-formance through 2018-19.

On 1 February, it reported a 45.97% jump in net profit and a 35.35% growth in reve-nue during the third quarter. Revenue from the jewellery business — mainly retailed under the Tanishq brand — grew 36.95% while profits from the division, before fi-nance costs and taxes, increased 76.51%. Titan earns more than 80% of its total rev-enue from sales of jewellery.

The company opened 40 new Tanishq stores in 2018-19, its highest number in a

year, and expects that kind of acceleration over the next many years, Venkataraman said. Footprint expansion aside, it expects four other drivers to help it achieve its mar-ket share target – the wedding segment, high-value diamond jewellery, its Golden Harvest purchase scheme, and its exchange programme for customers.

“We expect Tanishq to achieve 21.9% sales and 26.5% EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisa-tion) compounded annualised growth rate over FY18-21 as it gains from the shift towards organized players led by strong brand, growing store network and focus on high-value studded and wedding jewel-lery," analysts at Prabhudas Lilladher wrote in a report after Titan reported results on

1 February.In December, in an interview with Mint,

Titan’s current and longstanding MD Bhas-kar Bhat said the company expects the 2019 wedding season to be much stronger than 2018. The average bill value for the wedding segment is almost double when compared with the average bill for other categories at Tanishq, Venkataraman said. The company has around 2-3% market share in the wedding jewellery space, leav-ing immense headroom for growth.

“We’re already a very, very, profitable business (in jewellery) and, therefore, the emphasis is more on becoming stronger in terms of share and focusing less so on mar-gin. But margin comes when sales growth happens," Venkataraman said.

Saturday | 16-02-2019 11SPORTS

“IT’S GREAT TO WIN THE $9 MILLION but I just don’t want to lose to him and give him the satisfaction because the bragging rights are what is going to be even worse than the money,” Mickelson

CHELSEA EDGE OUT MALMO

Barkley and Giroud scored the goals for Chelsea in Sweden

Agencies

Chelsea claimed a 2-1 victory at Malmo in the Europa League last-32 first leg on Thursday to ease some of the pressure on belea-guered coach Maurizio Sarri, while Arsenal suffered a shock loss to BATE Borisov. Away side Chelsea

desperately needed a response after back-to-back humiliating away losses, with last Sunday's 6-0 thrashing by Manchester City following a 4-0 reverse at Bour-nemouth. Ross Barkley took ad-vantage of a defensive lapse by the home team to put Chelsea ahead on the half-hour mark, with Olivier

Giroud adding a 58th-minute sec-ond before Malmo's late goal gave them a glimmer of hope ahead of next week's return match at Stam-ford Bridge. Sarri named a strong team, although he did leave Gon-zalo Higuain and Eden Hazard on the bench. Chelsea found them-selves up against a spirited Malmo

outfit in the first half, roared on by a vociferous home crowd, but kept the Swedes at arm's length before Barkley grabbed their first away goal of 2019. Pedro swung over a cross which Lasse Nielsen should have headed away, but the defender failed with his attempted volleyed clearance and Barkley was

on hand to control and stab into the net. Uwe Rosler's Malmo piled on the pressure at the end of the half, but Barkley twice produced crucial headers at the other end to keep Chelsea in front. Malmo con-tinued to push Chelsea back after the restart, with David Luiz flinging himself to his right to head Arnor

Traustason's shot past the post. But the Premier League giants took total control of the tie in the 58th minute with a wonderful counter-attack. Barkley led the charge before pick-ing out Willian, and the Brazilian powered to the byline before cut-ting the ball back for Giroud to flick in a cool back-heeled finish. The

French striker has now scored five goals in six Europa League games this season, despite only netting once in 23 matches in domestic competitions. But Malmo did grab the goal their efforts deserved in the 80th minute, as Anders Chris-tiansen slotted past Chelsea goal-keeper Kepa Arrizabalaga.

Agencies

Spanish champions Barcelona announced Friday they have extended the contract of coach Ernesto Valverde for another season with the option of one more. Valverde, who took over at the Camp Nou in 2017 after joining from Athletic Bilbao, won the league and cup double

last season."FC Barcelona and Ernesto

Valverde, the first team coach, have reached an agreement to extend the contract between the two parties for another sea-son (2019/20) with the option for one more (2020/21)," the club said in a statement.

Valverde's previous contract would have expired at the end

of this season. He came within a whisker of leading Barca to an undefeated 2017/2018 season when only a defeat late in the season at Levante prevented the team from making history.

Barca's run of scoring in 37 consecutive matches in the league came to an end last Sun-day with a goalless draw away to Athletic Bilbao.

Coach Valverde extends stay at Barcelona

AFP/File / Josep LAGOErnesto Valverde won a league and Copa del Rey double in

his first season at Barcelona

Agencies

Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer will re-turn from injury for Bayern Munich in Fri-

day's Bundesliga game at strug-glers Augsburg, their final tune-up before next week's crunch Champions League clash away to Liverpool. Neuer, 32, has sat out Bayern's last three games with a thumb injury but will prove his fitness at Augsburg ahead of Tuesday's last 16, first leg against Jurgen Klopp's Liv-erpool at Anfield. "Things have gone well yesterday and today -- I'm ready," said Neuer after final training on Thursday.

"The medical department has given me the green light, I've had two good sessions and ev-erything has worked well."

Bayern are wary of rushing Neuer back too soon, especially given his injury history after fracturing his foot twice in quick succession in 2017 which saw him miss most of last season.

Head coach Niko Kovac now has almost a full-strength squad to choose from with only Arjen Robben and Corentin Tolisso still sidelined by injury.

Bayern banking on Neuer for final Liverpool tune-up

AFP/File / EMMANUEL DUNAND Bayern Munich hope to have Manuel Neuer back to face Augsburg

"THE MEDICAL DEPARTMENT has given me the green light, I've had two good

sessions and everything has worked well."

Agencies

Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay are to submit a joint bid to host the 2030 World

Cup, Chile's President Sebastian Pinera announced on Thursday. Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay had already submitted a joint bid to host the centenary edition of football's most prestigious tourna-ment, but Pinera said on Twitter that those countries' presidents had agreed to Chile's participation in the "joint candidacy".

Argentina and Uruguay origi-nally announced their intention to submit a joint bid in 2017 be-fore Paraguay joined the coali-tion later that year.

Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay to present joint 2030 World Cup bid

AFP/File / Anne-Christine POUJOULAT Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay had already submitted a joint bid to host the World Cup in 2030 (trophy pictured with French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris in September 2018), but those countries' presidents agreed to Chile's participation in the bid

Agencies

Valencia closed in on the last 16 of the Europa League by inflicting just Celtic's second home defeat of the

season with a 2-0 win in Glasgow on Thursday. Twice the Celtic off-side trap was broken with ease either side of half-time as Ruben Sobrino's pass was tapped home by

Denis Cheryshev before the Russian turned provider for Sobrino to net on his Valencia debut after a January move from Alaves. Brendan Rodg-ers's men now have a mountain to climb when the sides meet for the second leg of the last-32 tie in Spain on February 21 given the gulf in class on show between the Scottish champions and the side that finish fourth in La Liga last season.

Valencia too strong for Celtic

Agencies

Batsman K.L. Rahul returned to India's squad on Friday for the up-coming limited-overs series against Australia after being sidelined for sexist comments during a contro-versial TV chat show appearance.

Teammate Hardik Pandya had talk-ed about his encounters with mul-tiple women in the chat show aired last month as Rahul sat next to him, prompting an uproar on social me-dia that led to the duo's suspension. While their ban was lifted last month and Pandya returned to the Indian XI in New Zealand, Rahul had to prove his batting form for India A against England Lions in two unofficial Tests.

Rahul has been named in both the one-day and T20 squads an-nounced by the country's cricket board.

Rahul returns to India squad after chat show incidentOpener was suspended for sexist comments during a controversial TV show appearance

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Washington Post publishes missing journalist Khashoggi's 'last piece' on Arab press freedom

Press Trust of India

WASHINGTON: Two weeks after he disappeared, The Washington Post has published what it said ap-pears to be Jamal Khashoggi's final column, in which the missing Saudi journalist writes of the importance of a free press in the Arab world.

Such a forum is currently lacking, says Khashoggi, a Post contributor and US resident who disappeared

entering Saudi Arabia's consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

"The Arab world is facing its own version of an Iron Curtain, imposed not by external actors but through domestic forces vying for power," he writes.

"The Arab world needs a mod-ern version of the old transnational media so citizens can be informed about global events. More impor-tant, we need to provide a platform

for Arab voices," Khashoggi writes."Through the creation of an in-

dependent international forum, isolated from the influence of na-tionalist governments spreading hate through propaganda, ordinary people in the Arab world would be able to address the structural prob-lems their societies face.

"The ultimate fate of Khashoggi - whose writings have been criti-cal of powerful Saudi Crown Prince

Mohammed bin Salman - is still unknown, but leaks by anonymous Turkish officials have painted a picture of him allegedly meeting a grisly demise in the consulate at the hands of Saudi agents.

Saudi Arabia has denied to the United States having knowledge of what happened at the consulate.

In the introduction to Khashog-gi's column - which was accom-panied by a photo of the smiling

writer -- the Post's Global Opinions editor Karen Attiah said the news-paper held off on publishing it in the hopes that he would return.

"Now I have to accept: That is not going to happen. This is the last piece of his I will edit for The Post," Attiah wrote.

"This column perfectly captures his commitment and passion for freedom in the Arab world. A free-dom he apparently gave his life for".

IHC directs ministries to submit inquiry reports of former ISI chiefThe Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Thursday ordered the Defence Ministry to submit an inquiry report of former In-ter-Services Intelligence (ISI) chief Lt (r) Gen Asad Durrani by General Headquar-ters (GHQ) after he sought removal of his name from the Exit Control List (ECL).

IHC Judge Justice Mohsin Akhtar Ki-yani was hearing Durrani’s petition and ordered the Interior Ministry to submit a reply explaining “why Durrani’s name had been placed on the ECL”.

Defence Ministry Law Branch Director Falak Naz said, “Durrani had written a book along with the former chief of the Indian spy agency,” adding that “Dur-

rani had remained the DG Military In-telligence and the DG ISI and there was a pending inquiry against him in GHQ”.

The law branch director further said that he could not speculate about when the inquiry would be completed.

He continued to add that the former ISI chief had also been a part of the 2012 Asghar Khan case regarding the distri-bution of money to politicians.

The former DG ISI’s lawyer Omar Fakhar Adam said they did not receive any notice regarding an inquiry into Durrani after the book was released.

Adam pointed out, “In the Asghar Khan case, General Beg’s name had not

been placed on the ECL.”He argued that his client had to “go

overseas for a conference on Novem-ber 26 and 27 and his name should be removed from the ECL”. Justice Kiyani said that until the GHQ inquiry report and Interior Ministry’s reply were sub-mitted, nothing could be done. The case was postponed until December 3.

Earlier, it was reported that upon Pakistan Army’s request, Durrani’s name was placed on the ECL after he visited GHQ to clarify his stance in The Spy Chronicles, a book co-authored by him and former chief of Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) Am-

arjit Singh Dulat.Following this, the former ISI director

general had petitioned the IHC seeking removal of his name from the no-fly list.

Moreover, Air Marshal (r) Asghar Khan had accused former army chief General (r) Mirza Aslam Beg and Durra-ni of corrupting the democratic process with money. Following that, in 2012, the apex court ruled that “the 1990 general elections had been polluted by dishing out Rs140 million to a particular group of politicians only to deprive the people of being represented by their chosen representatives” and send notices to 21 army officials and politicians.

Facebook launches 'war room' to combat manipulationIn Facebook's “War Room,” a nondescript space adorned with American and Brazil-ian flags, a team of 20 people monitors computer screens for signs of suspicious activity.

The freshly launched unit at Facebook's Menlo Park headquarters in California is the nerve centre for the fight against misinformation and manipulation of the largest social network by foreign ac-tors trying to influence elec-tions in the United States and elsewhere.

Inside, the walls have clocks

showing the time in various regions of the US and Brazil, maps and TV screens showing CNN, Fox News and Twitter, and other monitors showing graphs of Facebook activity in real time.

Facebook, which has been blamed for doing too little to prevent misinformation ef-forts by Russia and others in the 2016 US election, now wants the world to know it is taking aggressive steps with initiatives like the war room.

“Our job is to detect ... any-one trying to manipulate the

public debate,” said Nathan-iel Gleicher, a former White House cybersecurity policy director for the National Secu-rity Council who is now head-ing Facebook's cybersecurity policy.

“We work to find and re-move these actors.”

Facebook has been racing to get measures in place and began operating this nerve centre — with a hastily taped “WAR ROOM” sign on the glass door — for the first round of the presidential vote in Brazil on October 7.

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Jordanian wins $1 million after purchasing 300 ticketsA 48-year-old Jordanian

expat finally won the $1 million (Dh3.67 mil-

lion) Dubai Duty Free raffle draw, after 19 years of pur-chasing about 300 tickets.

Speaking to Khaleej Times, Nidal Marwan Taha said he's been buying tickets for the draw every time he travels since the promotion's in-ception in 1999. "I bought a minimum of 300 tickets over the past 19 years. This time alone, I bought three tickets for the draw, and thankfully one of them scored!" said Taha, a UAE resident for the past 28 years.

The Jordanian CEO, who travels on a monthly basis for work, said buying the Dh1,000 raffle ticket has be-come part of his trips.

"Just like shopping at the Dubai Duty Free, I never miss

a chance to participate in the Millennium Millionaire whenever I travel. It has be-come part of my trip," said Taha, father of three children.

"I'm a firm believer than once you chase a goal, you will inevitably get it. That's what Dubai has been dem-onstrating to us. I'm thrilled

that my perseverance finally paid off."

Taha noted that although he had a gut feeling that he would win someday, the an-

nouncement this year came as unexpected. He said part of the $1 million will go to char-ity, while the rest will be used in personal investments.

But even after the victory, Taha said he will continue to buy the raffle draw tickets every time he travels.

Taha is the ninth Jorda-nian national to win in the promotion since its incep-tion in 1999.

Following the Millen-nium Millionaire draw, two Indian winners were an-nounced in the Finest Sur-prise promotion, each win-ning a luxury vehicle.

Daphney Monsurate, a 58-year-old Indian national from Dubai, won a BMW 760Li xDrive, while Kaushik Thadesh-war, a 44-year-Indian national based in Mumbai, won an In-dian Scout motorbike.

Facebook gave data on user’s friends to certain companies, documents reveal

Facebook Inc offered some companies, including Netflix and Airbnb, access to data about users’ friends it did not

make available to most other apps in 2015, according to documents released by a Brit-ish lawmaker who said the social media company dodged questions about privacy practices and market dominance.

The 223 pages released on Wednes-day were internal communications from 2012 to 2015 between company leaders, including Chief Executive Mark Zuck-erberg, providing fresh evidence and sparking new political scrutiny about previously aired allegations that Face-book has picked favourites and engaged in anti-competitive behaviour.

Facebook said it stood by its delibera-tions and decisions. “The facts are clear. We’ve never sold peoples data,” it said.

The company said it would relax one ‘out-of-date’ policy that restricted competitors’ use of its data. Previously, “Mark level sign-off” would have been required for an exemption to the policy, according to one document, referring to Mr. Zuckerberg.

The documents show that Facebook tracked growth of competitors and de-nied them access to key data.

Mr. Zuckerberg agreed to senior exec-utive Justin Osofsky’s request in 2013 to stop giving friends’ list access to Vine on the day that social media rival Twitter Inc launched the video-sharing service.

“We’ve prepared reactive PR,” Mr. Os-ofsky wrote, to which Mr. Zuckerberg re-

plied, “Yup, go for it.”‘Mark’s friends’ or ‘Sheryl’s’ friends’Among non-competitors, Facebook

still drew distinctions.Ride service Lyft, which does not com-

pete with Facebook, wanted access to comprehensive lists of users’ friends to show carpool riders their mutual friends as an “ice breaker.” Facebook approved the request, saying in an email it would add to a feeling of safety for riders.

In 2014, the company described about 100 apps as being either “Mark’s friends” or “Sheryl’s friends” and also tracked how many apps were spending money on Facebook ads, according to the docu-ments, referring to Mr. Zuckerberg and Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg.

Other emails describe Facebook deny-ing online ticket seller Ticketmaster and an automotive technology supplier ex-tended access to complete lists of users’ friends after Facebook questioned how the date would be used.

The documents also raised questions about Facebook’s transparency.

An exchange from 2015 shows Face-book leaders discussing how to begin collecting call logs from Android users’ smartphones without subjecting them to “scary” permissions screens.

The effort began with some disclosures in 2015. But when the data-collecting became more well known this year amid increased scrutiny on Facebook, the company drew criticism from lawmakers about not doing more to inform users.

Look: Emirates' Boeing 777 aircraft is encrusted with 'diamonds'DUBAI: UAE-based Emirates airline had avid flyers ex-cited after an image of one of its aircraft went viral in social media.

The much talked-about post, which the carrier itself shared on its official Twitter page on Wednesday, shows a Boeing 777 plane encrust-ed with what look like crys-tals and diamonds.

The jazzed-up aircraft is shown parked at a terminal in an airport, surrounded by luggage trucks and glittering in the sunset.

“Presenting the Emirates ‘Bling’ 777,” the caption reads.

The image was shared by Emirates on its official Twitter account, but it was originally posted on Instagram last Tues-

day by Sara Shakeel, a crystal artist. The first post had more than 47,000 likes on Instagram alone as of 2:30pm.

The aircraft in the image looks so real that it stirred a lot of curiosity among so-cial media users, especially those who love the idea of flying in luxury and style.

“That’s my kind of plane,” exclaimed one Instagram user.

“It’s raining diamonds,” said a user on Twitter. “Rap-pers are going to have a field day with this one,” said an-other one.

Contacted by Gulf News, an Emirates spokesperson clarified that Emirates didn’t have one of its planes cov-ered in bling.

“We just posted an art

piece made by crystal art-ist Sara Shakeel,” said the spokesperson.

“I can confirm it’s not [real].”

Shakeel is a Pakistani dentist-turned-artist with close to 500,000 followers. Her Instagram page is pep-pered with digitally-altered images jazzed up in crystals and diamonds.

By adding glitter to just about anything, from a Star-bucks cup to a piece of burg-er, or the New York skyline, Shakeel turns the mundane into extraordinary and get her followers mesmerized.

“I add crystals and diamonds to the most ordinary objects of everyday life,” she once told Forbes in an interview.

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