Sarabjit’s bodylands in AmritsarAMRATSAR—The body of

Continued on Page 6

Election security

Army deploymentby May 5: DG ISPR

ISLAMABAD—Director GeneralISPR MajorGeneral AsimSalim Bajwasaid on Thurs-day that Armydeployment inBa loch i s t anhas almost be-ing completedwhile deploy-ment in KPK is currently under-

way.Bajwa said that army de-

ployment in Punjab and Sindhwill begin from today (Friday)while in FATA army is alreadypresent, adding that deploymentprocess for maintaining law andorder during elections will becompleted by May 5.

Maj. Gen Bajwa said thatthe army is providing security

Continued on Page 6

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—At least sevenpeople were injured in a largeblast targeting an electoral officeof Muttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) near Karachi’s busyBurns Road area on Thursdaynight. Initial reports suggest thepolitical office, set up for elec-

tion campaigning in the city’sNA-250 constituency, was thetarget of suspected terrorists.Several party activists areamong the injured.

Injured are being shifted tonearby Civil Hospital. Securityand law enforcement forceshave cordoned off the areawhich was engulfed with fear

after the bombing.DIG South District Amir

Sheikh told that the bomb ex-ploded inside a nearbymosque. DSP Preedy PoliceStation Zamir Abbasi told theblast was carried out througha time-device and around twoto three kilos of explosives

Attack on MQM officeinjures seven in Karachi

Continued on Page 6

Musharrafinterrogated in

Bugti murder caseRAWALPINDI—A joint investi-gation team on Thursday re-corded Musharraf’s statement inAkbar Bugti murder case at hisfarmhouse residence in ChakShahzad, converted into sub jail.The investigators questioned theformer military ruler about mur-der of Baloch nationalist whowas killed in military operationduring Musharraf regime.

A local anti-terrorist courton Thursday formally allowed

Continued on Page 6

LANDIKOTAL: Assistant Political Agent, Dr Azmat Wazir giving awards to position holder Levies Force Jawansafter their passingout parade.

WE in Russia considerPakistan as a confident, responsible and

well integrated member of theinternational community” said

the RussianConsul Gen-eral AndreyD e m i d o vwhile speak-ing at the65th year ofdiplomatic re-lations be-tween Mos-

cow and Islamabad at a grandreception at the consulate hereearlier this week. It was a greatgathering with a variety ofguests enjoying his hospital-ity and a film on the historicsummit between late AyubKhan and the then Indian primeminister Lala Bahadur Shastriat Tashkent, a city which de-stroyed completely few years

later but has been rebuilt to bea major tourist attraction now.

“On May 1, 2013 we cel-ebrate the 65th anniversary ofdiplomatic relations betweenRussia and Pakistan” Demidovsaid and emphasized that “ thehistory of our bilateral relationssaw both: good and not sogood. But irrespective of thegiven state of the then relationsboth countries always felt thenecessity to maintain goodcontacts” “our Two countriesalways understood that theyhave common interests—to putan end to the threat of terror, toeliminate the drug menace, andthe threat to religious extrem-ism and other evils” he re-marked.

He added that “the twoparties note the proximity oftheir respective positions onnumerous international issueslike; inadmissibility of arms racein outer space, combating ter-rorism and religious extremism,

and combating illegal traffic ofnuclear materials and drugs”

“As a result of numerous meet-ings and talks of our leaders anddiplomats, relations betweenRussia and Pakistan have be-come more confidential”Demidov stressed and contin-ued that “we in Russia considerPakistan as a confident, respon-sible, and well integrated mem-ber of the international commu-nity” He concluded that “ ourtwo countries have to go for-ward, to advance for the betterfuture of our two countries andpeoples, better future of the re-gion, of the world”.

The CG ‘s speech encom-passed in quite impressivewords history of the Pak-Rus-sian relationship. Pakistanmoved towards former USSR,commonly called Russia, afterthe 1965 war. The Tashkentsummit was arranged under thepatronage of the then sovietprime minister Alexi Kosygin,

who also visited Pakistan. Si-multaneously moved towards

Russian diplomat praises Pakistan

Pak Post issuescommemorative

postage stamps onYaum-e-Shuhada

ISLAMABAD—On the occa-sion of Yaum-e-Shuhada andto pay homage to supremesacrifices of Shuhada, Paki-stan Post has issued threecommemorative PostageStamps of Rupees 8 each.

The postage stampscarry pictures of CaptainKarnal Sher Khan(Shaheed), Havildar LalakJan (Shaheed) recipient ofNishan-e-Haider and NaikSaif Ali Khan (Shaheed) re-cipient of Hilal-i-Kashmir(equivalent to Nishan-e-Haider), said a press releaseissued by ISPR here onThursday.

It may be mentionedhere that Yaum-e-Shuhadais celebrated on April 30every year to pay tribute tothe brave sons of soil whorendered their lives for thedefense of the mother-land.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Former Gover-nor of Punjab and SecretaryGeneral of Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) Latif KhosaThursday said, PPP has gotsecurity threats due to whichit is avoiding massive elec-tion campaign across thecountry. This he said whileaddressing a press confer-ence held here at PPP Cen-tral Secretariat. He said thatPPP believes in religious plu-ralism without any discrimi-nation of caste and creed butthere are certain extremist el-ements in the country whichare targeting PPP’s rallies tosabotage its mandate.

In spite of all, PPP willemerge as a single largestparty in the elections May 11,he hoped. Khosa alsoclaimed that PPP would forma government in the centerand the four provinces withthe mutual understanding ofits collation partners. He de-

HYDERABAD—The represen-tatives of the minorities com-munities in Hyderabad haveappealed to the governmentto ensure law and order sothat the candidates couldcarry out their electioneeringin peaceful atmosphere. Dueto these steps, they said thevoters could not feel anykind of fear during exerciseof their right to vote. Theysaid that recent waves of ter-rorism in different provincesof the country have gripped

the people in terror and eventhe candidates are being re-stricted not to continue theirelectioneering campaign.

Rev Dr Daniel Fiaz of theCatholic Diocese ofHyderabad Church andSamason Shukardin SeniorClergy talking to this scriberequested the politicians onbehalf of the Christian com-munity to make process ofthe election peaceful andavoid any enmity, whichcould cause unrest in the

country. “We achieved thismotherland after renderinggreat sacrifices and there is aneed for combined struggleirrespective of creed andcaste for the solidarity of ourbeloved country”, they said.

The member NationalLobbying Delegation andprominent minority leader M.Parkash Advocate also ap-pealed for conduct of peace-ful, free and fair electionswhich he said could only bepossible with prevalence of

law and order. He said thatleaders of political partiesshould highlight their partymanifestoes so that thepeople could select thosecandidates as their represen-tatives who could strive fortheir rights.

The gentle attitude of theleaders of political partiessurely create a congenial at-mosphere for free and fairelections, he said and addedthat Elections-2013 is the life-line for democracy.—APP

KARACHI: Picture taken on the occasion of the 65th year celebrations of the estab-lishment of Pakistan-Russia diplomatic relations by the Consul General Andrey VDemidov. It shows Sharfuddin Memon, Adviser to Sindh Home Department, Talat Jabeen,Chief of Kuwait Petroleum Company, Faisal Zahid Malik, Editor Pakistan Observer,Mrs Qudsia Khan, Director NAB and Majyd Aziz Balagamwala.

China to sign the border agree-ment, and then abandoned themembership of Seato andCento, which in the beginningwas called the Baghdad Pact.Both these alliances, althoughhelped build the Pakistanarmed forces, but the country’sfirst and still the solitary SteelMill, remains a towering re-minder of the Pak-Russianfriendship. Their ties sufferedsever setbacks during BanglaDesh crisis, and the then Presi-dent Podgorny was harsh onGeneral Zia who tried to mendfences with Moscow.

However as time passedby, the world political map andinternational relationship be-gan to take new shapes. Paki-stan and Russia, both realizedthat they have to be togetherin many fields. As Presidentsof Pakistan, General PervezMusharraf and later AsifZardari visited Russia to renewtheir ties and give them newform and shape. A visit to Pa-kistan by President Putin wasput off in the last minute, Butthe goodwill continues to ex-ist between the two countrieswhich should continue to ex-pand, experts hope.

The Russian celebrationfor bilateral ties, saw somevery fine friends like editors,Kazi Asad Abid of daily Ibrat,Faisal Malik of Pakistan Ob-server, Qudsia Kahtoon for-merly a journalist, now a di-rector in NAB, the Baig broth-ers, Ikthiar and Ishtiaq,MUkhtar Ahsan Zuberi,Anwar Saleh Mohammad,Kaleem Farooqi, HaroonAgar, President of the KarachiChamber of Commerce and In-dustry, senator Haseeb Khan,Arab diplomats, Roheli ofSaudi Arabia, Nassir Al-Muttairi ot Kuwait, Ibrahim ofBahrein, Swiss consul generalDidier Boshug, the Germanconsul general Dr TinoKlinner and his Russian wife,the Japanese Consul GeneralAkira OUCHI, the IranianConsul General MehdiSobhani, and many more.

Minorities demand peaceful atmosphereSecurity threats force PPPto limit elections campaign

clined the statement of PPPPunjab President MianManzoor Ahmad Wattoo foroffering the premiership toPakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI)’s Chief Imran Khan ifbecomes collation partnerwith PPP and declared that itwas misinterpreted by somemedia persons.

‘Khanpur: PakistanPeople’s Party south Punjabpresident MakhdoomShahabuddin said his partywould create south Punjabprovince after coming intopower, saying opponents ofthe new province would be re-jected in the general elections.Addressing a public meeting atKotla Pathan here on Thursday,he said PPP is a popular partyas it had deep roots in themasses, adding that the futureof the party would bright.

Appreciating Benazir In-come Support Programme(BISP), he said the World Bank

declared the BISP a transpar-ent programme.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

P E S H AWA R — E u r o p e a nUnion Election ObserverMission led by MichaelGhaler Chief Observer calledon Provincial Election Com-missioner, KhyberPakhtunkhwa Sono KhanBaloch here Thursday. TheElection Commissionerbriefed the mission regard-ing the arrangements madeby ECP, in KPK and FATAfor conducting general elec-tions in a transparent, peace-ful and impartial manner.

He informed them thatECP is committed to hold thecoming elections in free andpeaceful way with the assis-

tance of Administration andLaw enforcement agencies.He informed that foolproofarrangements are being madefor the security by the Pro-vincial Government. Ad-equate number of Police offi-cials and other security per-sonnel would be deployed atsensitive polling stations.

Sono Khan further addedthat special arrangements willbe made for the conduct ofpolling in militant hit areasparticularly in FATA. TheArmed forces will also assistECP in this connection. Brief-ing the delegation in re-sponse to their queries re-garding casting of votes bywomenfolk he told that un-

der the Constitution and Elec-tion Laws everybody has theright to cast his/her vote ir-respective of their genderdiscrimination.

He informed that some 40women candidates are con-testing the General Electionson general seats includingone from Bajaur Agencywhich is a encouraging signfor the womenfolk. High-lighting the significance ofthe upcoming General Elec-tions he informed, as com-pared to the pervious Gen-eral Elections almost all ma-jor political Parties are partici-pating in the present elec-toral process includingFATA where Political Parties

have fielded their nominees.He said due to the exten-

sive drive of the ECP for mo-tivating and educating vot-ers a good turnout is ex-pected on May 11. MichaelGhaler Chief Observer andhis companions thanked theProvincial Election Commis-sioner and termed the meet-ing comprehensive andmeaningful. Sono lauded ef-forts of the European Unionfor observing the ElectoralProcess in Pakistan.

The delegation wascomprised of SalomeHirvaskoski, Human Rights,Gender Analyst, Antje

Armed forces to assistECP for peaceful elections

Recruitmentagainst federaljobs demandedQUETTA—Former Vice Presi-dent Supreme Court Bar As-sociation (SCBA) Balochistanchapter Jhanzeb Khan Jadoonhas called for early recruitmentof Baloch youth against thevacancies available in the fed-eral government on provincialquota. Prominent lawyer saidon Thursday that despite thedirectives issued by the Care-taker Prime Minister Mir HazarKhan Khoso to the Establish-ment Division, advertisementin the local news papers for thevacant posts in federal gov-ernment are yet to be adver-tised.—APP

Advice to cast vote with confidenceStaff Reporter

PESHAWAR—The Khyber PakhtunkhwaGovernor, Engineer Shaukatullah hassaid that the integrated action plan be-ing placed on ground coupled with theresources put at the disposal of admin-istrative machinery and the law enforce-ment agencies will be fully utilized infacilitating the voters to cast their ver-dict with confidence and peace of mind.He was presiding over the 33rd meetingof the provincial Apex Committee held

at Governor’s House, Peshawar on wherein the over alllaw and order situation in the province was reviewed es-pecially in wake of the forthcoming general elections be-ing held on 11th of this month. Besides the Caretaker ChiefMinister, Mr. Justice ®, Tariq Parvez Khan, Corps Com-mander, Peshawar, Lt. Gen. Khalid Rabbani, Chief Secre-tary, Ghulam Dastagir Akhtar and the Home Secretary, Mr.Muhammad Azam Khan the meeting was also attended byIG Frontier Corps, IGP, ACS FATA, Commandant, FrontierConstabulary and provincial heads of other law enforcingagencies. The visiting European Union Election Observa-tion Mission, led by its Chief Observer, Mr. Michael Gahlercalled on the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor, EngineerShaukatullah at Governor’s House, Peshawar here onThursday. The delegation was also comprised of Ms AntieGrawe, Political Analyst and Mr. Salome Hirvaskoski, Gen-der & Human Rights Expert.

Ex-CM condemns attacksKARACHI—Former Chief Minister andPresident, Pakistan People’s Party Sindh,Syed Qaim Ali Shah has condemned sui-cide attack on NPP leader Dr Ibrahim Jatoinear Shikarpur. He expressed his happi-ness that the has saved the life of DrIbrahim and prayed for his long life, saida statement issued on Thursday. Qaimhas also condemned the attack on thevehicle of his party’s former MNA ShaziaMarri in which many workers of PPP were

injured. He added that such acts of violence and firing onrallies and processions of PPP are against the norms of de-mocracy. Qaim also condemned the attack on procession ofParveen Laghari, a candidate of PPP (District Thatta) theother day, and said that the courage and spirit of PPP work-ers can not be tested by such acts. MQM’s candidate to tryluck in general elections from PK 4 Peshawar: MuttahidaQuami Movement (MQM) candidate Muhammad AyubKhan is trying his luck in general elections from PK 4Peshawar against the nominees of ANP, PML-N, QuamiWatan Party, JUI-F and Muttahida Deeni Mahaz. As manyas 18 nominees of different political parties including nineindependent candidates will contest general elections fromPK 4. In 2008 general elections, the ANP candidate SyedAqil Shah secured victory from this constituency, how-ever, in 2002 general elections, Muttahida Deeni Mahaz can-didate Muhammad Ibrahim Qasmi got victory. ANP andMuttahida Deeni Mahaz have once again given party ticketto Aqil Shah and Ibrahim Qasim respectively to contest gen-eral elections from PK 4.—APP

Never deceived massesRafiullah Mandokhail

ZHOB—President Pakistan MuslimLeague Balochistan and candidate PB-19 Sheikh Jaffar Khan Mandokhail hassaid that we have never deceivedmasses in the name of welfare, but didthe politics of truth and services. Thepeople of Zhob have given decision infavor of our caravan of progress andprosperity. Addressing a public meet-ing here on Thursday, Ex-minister JaffarMandokhail said that we have secured

success during the past two decades for progress of Zhoband prosperity of its people despite severe opposition andhurdles hatched by opponents and paved way for devel-opment of the area, adding that our slogan is “ProsperousZhob” that would remain the same for ever, he added.Mandokhail said the caravan had laid foundation in 90sfor development and numerous development projects havebeen completed benefiting the people. He said. PML pro-vincial president said that masses could easily differenti-ate between corrupt and the honest representatives. Timeto entice the masses through slogans and creating hurdlesin the way of progress is now over, he added. He furthersaid that we would ensure education, health, developmentschemes, electricity, clean drinking water, agriculture, live-stock, sports of youth and other activities to make Zhobprosperous, adding that the aim of our politics is the elimi-nation of educational backwardness, poverty, unemploy-ment and to serve the masses without any discrimination.

A well-attached memorialto pay tribute to late FE Chaudhry, who had

died recently aged 104, washeld at Lahore Catheredal. Anumber of distinguishedpeople of Lahore includingPunjab Minister of Health,Sports, Youth and Women

Affairs, Saleema Hashmi andformer Chief Editor, The Paki-stan Times, Mr. I.A.Rehman,were present. Mr. Rehman alsospoke to highlight variousfacets of late F.E. Chaudhryduring his long stint with ThePakistan Times. Being a se-nior former collegue in P.T andold friend I was also asked tospeak on the occasion. “I feelindeed privileged to speak andrecount about my long asso-ciation and friendship with anold and senior colleague ofthe Pakistan Times Mr. F. EChaudhry, which spannedover 60 years.

I was just breaking out in

journalism as a part time jour-nalist or a stringer when I firstmet Mr. Chaudhry. I was lo-cated in Montgomery nowcalled Sahiwal, and was a fre-quent visitor to Lahore espe-cially in connection with somemega sports events. Mr.Chaudhry even at that early

stage of the Pakistan Timeswas an iconic figure, who usedto move around on a bike withhis typical sola hat and wasseen at all important occasions,whether it pertained to sports,political, social or other officialoccasions. Having been is thefield as a free lance photogra-pher for important publicationssince pre-partition era, whenhe was still employed as se-nior teacher at the prestigiousSaint Anthony school ofLahore, he commanded univer-sal respect and instant recog-nition everywhere.

To top it was the factorthat many of his former stu-

dents had gone out to oc-cupy important positionsacross the country and I findout even in India. I vividlyrecall that way back in 1954,when I was part of a recep-tion committee of the 4thNational Games to be held inMontgomery, we went to re-ceive a large Indian athleticcontingent at Wahga. Whenthe Indians led by their chef-de mission, Ashwani Kumar,a senior Police officercrossed he saw ChaadhrySahib, and rushed out totouch feet of his old teacher.As I was told the same Mr.Ashwani Kumar was tohonour, F.E.Chaudhry inAmritsar later during the In-dian National Congress Ses-sion being held in that city.

A team of Pakistan Times,including its senior reporterSyed. Amjad Husain and F. EChaudhry daily crossed overthe border to cover the ses-sion being chaired by PanditJawahar Lal Nehru. The se-curity was inevitably tightand media was kept at safedistance from the dias andMr. Nehru, Mr. Kumar, whowas the commissioner of Po-lice, had made exceptionsonly for his old teacher F. EChaoudhary and allowed himcomplete freedom of move-ment. As a result, P.T took alead to come out daily withbetter coverage than by itsIndian counterparts. In thosedays papers from both coun-

tries were readily and freelyavailable every morningboth in Lahore and Amritsar,and PT had made arrange-ments to make the copiesavailable even at the Con-gress Session also.

I recall my growing friend-ship with Chaudhry sahib in

subsequent years and hismany-pronged role in hisadopted new profession. Hehad emerged as the foundingfather of photo-journalismbeing the first truly profes-sional in the field to set outclear bench-mark for this inthe field, including that of ut-most integrity discipline andethics. He also was a pioneerto cover the sports includingcricket with his own devicewhen the zoom lens was notreadily available.

F.E. Chaudhry alsoplayed a very active and no-ticeable role in the PUJ andcommunity affairs through-

out and won the love andaffection of all his col-leagues. Another specialtyof F.E Chaudhry was that hehad perhaps the best andmost valuable record of ourindependence movementand historic growth of cityof Lahore. It could be fittingtribute to set up a museumto display the great treasurehouse left behind by F.E.Chaudhry, which also in-cludes a biography in Urducomplied by journalistfriends Munir Ahmed Munirand includes rare and valu-able facts and information.

Here, I would like tomention the last meetingwith Chacha Chaudhrybarely 48 hours before hislO4th birthday at the resi-dence of his son AnthonyChaudhry; I would alwayscherish the memories of thisfarewell meeting as I foundhim talking passionatelyabout good old days andwith absolute clarity, whichI found most remarkable.However, It was with a tingeof extreme sadness, that Irecall he breathed his last onthe morning of his specialbirthday gathering beingarranged at a local club byhis close friends and familymembers. FE. Chaudhry, weall fondly called Chacha,would remain in thoughtsand mind of all whose livesbe touched and a legion ofhis well wishers.”

A tribute to iconic FE Chaudhry

ISLAMABAD/HYDERABAD—The Election Commission ofPakistan (ECP) on Thursdayannounced to establish69,875 polling stations anddeclared 32,360 as sensitiveand very sensitive. Accord-ing figures provided by theCommission, 12,716 pollingstations have been declaredhighly sensitive and 19,644sensitive. There will beseven security personnel de-ployed on most sensitivepolling stations, five on sen-sitive and four on others.

In Punjab, total numberof polling stations would be40,078 of those 4,463 pollingstations have been declaredas highly sensitive and 8,439as sensitive and rest 27,176as normal. In Sindh ECP es-tablished has 15,000 pollingstations out of those 4,176have been declared as highlysensitive, 5436 sensitive and5,388 normal. In Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, ECP set up9,300 poling stations and de-clared 2,142 polling stationsas highly sensitive, 3,453sensitive and 3,753 normal.

In Balochistan, ECP es-tablished 3,678 polling sta-

tions and declared 1,783 poll-ing stations as highly sen-sitive whereas 1,235 sensi-tive and 660 normal. Similarlyin FATA, ECP established1,269 polling stations anddeclared 134 as highly sen-sitive whereas 1,117 sensi-tive 1269 normal. In federalcapital, total 550 polling sta-tion have been establishedwhile it had declared 18 poll-ing stations highly sensi-tive, 12 sensitive and 520normal. A total of 1695227voters including 920868male and 774359 female willexercise their right of fran-chise on May 11, 2013 forelection of six members ofNational Assembly.

106 candidates contest-ing elections on six NationalAssembly seats of OldHyderabad which comprisedMatiari, Hyderabad, TandoMuhammad Khan and TandoAllahyar districts. The Elec-tion Commission of Pakistan(ECP) has planned to set up1524 polling stations with 4804polling booths including 2570for male and 2234 female vot-ers of Matiari, Hyderabad,Tando Muhammad Khan and

Tando Allah districts. Accord-ing to details, the ECP will setup 262 polling stations with770 polling booths including407 for male and 363 for fe-male in NA-218 Matiari cumHyderabad (Old Hyderabad-I) where 288653 voters includ-ing 150918 male and 137735female will exercise their rightof franchise for election oftheir representative among 12candidates.

The candidates who arecontesting the elections onNA-218 included AbdulRazzaq Memon (Rose), ImdadAli Solangi (Ladder), PiralMajidano (Fist), Dr. Mufti AijazAli Khoso (Audio Cassette),Syed Ghulam Shabbir Shah(Kite), Shakeel Ahmed (Hen),Fazulullah Qazi (Pitcher),Makhdoom MuhammadAmeen Fahim (Arrow),Makhdoom Jalil Zaman(Wheel Barrow), MakhdoomJamil Zaman (Wrench), NaseerAhmed Memon (Still Camera)and Syed Yasir Ahmed Shah(Stag).

In NA-219 Hyderabad-I(Old Hyderabad-II), the ECPwill set up 262 polling sta-tions with 897 polling booths

Hyderabad division to have 124 polling stations

32, 360 polling stations declared sensitiveincluding 488 for male and409 for female voters where302211 voters including168501 male.—APP

MULTAN: Candidate of Jamaat-e-Islami for NA-149 Liaquat Bloch and other partyworkers join hands during a corner meeting.

HYDERABAD: A relative of late Irfan Sheikh holds hispicture while weeping during a protest against non-arrestof killers.

Transfers,postings

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The Govern-ment of KhyberPakhtunkhwa has orderedposting and transfers of thevarious officials in greaterpublic interest with immedi-ate effect. According to de-tails, Zakiullah, SecretaryHousing has been postedMember (Gen) Provincial In-spection Team, Engr. ZahidArif , C&W Officer posted asSecretary Housing Depart-ment, Muhammad Farooq ,District Officer (F&P)Nowshera as Settlement Of-ficer Mansehra, ShahidMahmood , Assistant Com-missioner Lachi as DistrictOfficer (F&P) Nowshera,Rashid Khan, Secretary Dis-trict Public Safety Commis-sioner Mardan as AssistantCommissioner Lachi.

PESHAWAR—Jamaat-e-Islami(JI) Provincial Naib Ameer(Vice President) Siraj ul HaqThursday unveiling partymanifesto for KhyberPakhtunkha expressed deter-mination to establish peacein the province by defeatingterrorism. Announcingparty’s manifesto here at apress conference, he said theparty would immediately stopthe military action in tribal ar-eas and other parts of theprovince. He said more than46,000 people including secu-rity officials have martyred inthe war on terror, which hasnot yield any positive result

so far, he remarked.Siraj ul Haq said if elected

to power his party would pro-vide free of cost medical fa-cilities to terrorism affectedpeople and will introducemeasures for their completerehabilitation. The issue ofmissing persons would beresolved and they would berecovered, he added. Sirajsaid that measures would betaken to restore the confi-dence of the people in thepolice force and it would bemade a symbol of peace andsecurity. Referring to the is-sue of electricityloadshedding, he said if to be

given mandate by thepeople, JI would take 110 bil-lion rupees from the federa-tion for power generationprojects in the province.

He criticized ANP-led pre-vious provincial governmentfor not spending even a pennyduring the last five years underthe head of power generationprojects. The JI Naib Ameersaid his party would form sucha system that would ensureeducation and employment forall on merit basis. Haq said theJI would provide free of costeducation to Intermediate level,will set up universities for fe-males and give interest free

loans to outstanding studentsfor their encouragement. Hesaid steps would be taken tomake Khyber Bank, a completeIslamic bank, adding that banwould be imposed on conven-tional banking.

The system of Zakat andUsher would be implementedin letter and spirit and no-body would be spared abovethe law. He further informedthat JI would introducemonthly salary package forKhateeb of mosques. Ifelected, the party would in-troduce strict laws to doaway with honour killing andSwara in the province.—APP

Jamaat-e-Islami issues KP election manifesto

Determined to establish peace

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Me-teorological Department(PMD) on Thursday forecastmainly dry weather for mostparts of the country duringthe next 24 hours. However,there are chances of rain andthunderstorm at few placesof Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan. According to thesynoptic situation, continen-tal air will prevail in mostparts of the country on Fri-day. The weather will remaindry in Punjab, Islamabad,Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand Balochistan during thenext 24 hours.

The temperatures willrise during daytime especiallyat southern parts of the coun-try, which will turn theweather hot. The highestmaximum temperatures re-corded during the last 24hours were Lahore andShorkot 36C, Faisalabad,Bahawalnagar, Bhakkar and

Dry weather likely inmost parts of country

Mithi 35C. The maximum tem-peratures recorded in othercities during the last 24 hourswere Islamabad 31C, Lahore35C, Karachi 30C, Peshawar28C, Quetta 15C, Skardu 22C,

Murree 19C, Muzaffarabad25C, Gilgit 26C, Faisalabad35C, Multan 32C andHyderabad 33C.

The pollen count re-corded in Islamabad was 663per cubic meter. The rainfallrecorded during the last 24hours were Parachinar 64,Quetta 30, Dir 13, NoorpurThal 9, Kalat and Ormara 8,Lower Dir 7 and Panjgur 6mm.—APP

Frank admissionof Cameron

AT long last, the Western leadership has started acknowledging thefact that Afghan aggression was a big mistake and that there is nomilitary solution to the problem. The latest acknowledgement has

come from British Prime Minister David Cameron who has frankly admit-ted that his country has ‘paid a very high price’ in Afghanistan, where 444British troops have been killed since invasion in 2001. His comments fol-low British Ministry of Defence’s admittance back in March that the Af-ghan campaign is ‘unwinnable in military terms’.

The Afghan adventure is becoming controversial both in the UnitedKingdom and the United States where public opinion is questioning thevery rationale of the war and killing of people in a senseless manner. Butunfortunately, this realization has dawned upon the West not because ofloss of thousands of innocent people in Afghanistan but the increasing num-ber of body bags they have to receive, confirming the belief that Afghannever compromise on their sovereignty. About fifty countries contributedtheir troops in Afghanistan under the umbrella of ISAF and several of themhave already withdrawn their forces. Both France and Canada ended theircombat missions early, although they have yet to bring all their troops home.Australia has said most of its troops will be home by the end of 2013 andthat it will close its Tarin Kot base in Uruzgan province by that time. Thepressure on Nato leaders to pull troops out has also been exacerbated by aseries of “green-on-blue” attacks in which members of the Afghan securityforces have turned their arms on coalition troops. At least 60 Nato person-nel were killed in such attacks last year alone and resistance forces haveexacted a much heavier toll - since 2001 more than 3,000 coalition troopshave been killed in Afghanistan. The stated objectives of the United Statesto eliminate ‘safe havens’ of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, eliminate Talibanand improve security for Afghans are far from realization.

Protection ofconsumer interests

A ceremony to confer Consumer Choice Awards was held in Karachi toencourage competition to provide high quality products and services

to consumers. In his message on the occasion, President Asif Ali Zardaripointed out that protection of consumers’ interests is necessary for the na-tional economic growth, as this is the only way to restore consumers’ con-fidence in picking up products and services based on their own likes.

Pakistan is one of those countries of the world where consumer is suf-fering in many respects and the Government has so far paid only lip serviceto safeguard his/her rights. According to a report over 50 percent of theproducts in Pakistan are either substandard, adulterated or counterfeit thathave flooded the markets and the consumers are being cheated due to theabsence of consumer protection laws and lack of enforcement of existingfood and drug laws. Consumers too have to be blamed as they do not botherto exercise their rights and purchase products and accept services withoutchecking price or quality. There are over 300 brands of cooking oil andbottled water available in the market in various sizes of tins, bottles andplastic cans, but only nine cooking oil and 22 banaspati manufacturers, 36water bottlers, one biscuit manufacturer, and only one carbonated drinksmanufacturer were registered with Pakistan Standards and Quality ControlAuthority (PSQCA). Adulterated milk, red chilies, tea and even fake medi-cines are openly sold but inspectors and magistrates responsible for ensur-ing quality of food and drugs are just minting money and consumers them-selves are in disarray. It is unfortunate that only three or four consumerprotection organization are in Pakistan and they too are not as active asthey should be as against 5,000 organizations in neighbouring India. Apartfrom adulteration and substandard quality, the unjustified rising prices arealso a matter of concern and there is, therefore, need for development of aviable mechanism to safeguard interests of consumers.

Total insensitivity toMyanmar Muslims

ANTI Muslim riots erupted once again in Myanmar Wednesday withmobs attacking Mosques and torching homes and security forces wit-

nessing the ethnic cleansing as silent spectators. Two mosques and morethan 80 homes in four villages around Oakkan, about 100 km from thecountry’s capital were damaged or destroyed in the latest violence.

Attacks against Muslims, who make up an estimated four percent ofMyanmar’s population have exposed the inability or total apathy of theruling Junta to provide security to the minority. One report quoting terri-fied villagers said that police were not there to protect them when a crowdattacked a local mosque on Tuesday evening. This was a clear proof thatthe Myanmar government is totally insensitive to anti Muslim riots and ina way supporting the people, mostly Buddhists to crush the Muslim popu-lation and force it to leave the country. Followers of Buddhism are thoughtto be peaceful and tolerant people but there are factions, usually fundamen-talist in them who have been neither tolerant nor peaceful. These peoplewith the backing of the government are out to crush the Muslims livingthere for centuries but not recognized as nationals. What is most disturbingis that international human rights organisations and US and other westerngovernments are keeping mum as they are more interested in restoration offull democracy so that their chosen democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyicould get the chance to rule the country. Unfortunately she too is silentover the ethnic cleansing and history bears testimony that many leaderscould not make their name who failed to confront the challenges. There-fore we would impress upon the Muslim countries to activate the OICcontact group and strongly raise the Myanmar Muslims massacre at theUN Security Council to find a permanent solution.

Looting the nation’s wealth

If you do not tell thetruth about yourselfyou cannot tell itabout other people

Sri Lankadilemma

The Commonwealth is one ofthe world’s great institutions,embracing 54 member coun-

tries comprising more than a thirdof humanity. Sadly, an unseemlyrow is brewing over the choice ofSri Lanka as host of theorganisation’s next biennial sum-mit. Worse, this controversy couldembroil the Queen, who attendsevery such occasion in her capac-ity as head of the Commonwealth.

Choosing Sri Lanka mighthave seemed a laudable gesture to-wards a country that emerged fromcivil war in 2009. But this decisionwas still a mistake. PresidentMahinda Rajapaksa can fairlyclaim to have brought peace, buthe did so in a manner comparableto Rome’s pacification of Carthage:Sri Lanka’s conflict ended in awelter of bloodshed when govern-ment forces cornered the LiberationTigers of Tamil Elam on a tinypatch of territory, and poundedthem mercilessly, regardless of thepresence of thousands of civilians.Mr Rajapaksa, a ruthless and au-thoritarian leader, proceeded to re-write the constitution to enhance hisown power, making his brotherdefence minister and using violenceand intimidation against critics. InJanuary, Chief Justice ShiraniBandaranayake was illegally forcedfrom office as the president soughtto stamp his authority on the judi-ciary. Switching the venue of thesummit is not feasible, because thatwould require unanimity amongCommonwealth members. Offi-cially, our Government says that nodecision has yet been taken onwhether to attend. In reality, theabsence of Britain or the Queenfrom a Commonwealth gatheringis unthinkable. The best coursewould be for Sri Lanka to show itsworthiness to host the meeting bydemonstrating its adherence to theCommonwealth’s values. Restor-ing the chief justice would be agood start. — The Telegraph

*****

Nocompromiseswith IsraelThe offer by a small group of Arabforeign ministers to hand over Pal-estinian land to Israel — rather thanconform to the 1967 borders — thatwas hailed by some in Israel andthe US, is likely to come as a shockto Arabs and Palestinians. It notonly marks a departure from theArab consensus reached in Beirutin 2002, but also sets a grave pre-cedent which the Israelis are likelyto once again take advantage of.

The Beirut initiative marked amajor Arab compromise: Fullnormalisation of ties with Israel andrenouncing claims to 78 per centof the historical homeland of Pal-estinians. In return, the Arabssought Israeli withdrawal from ameagre 22 per cent of the land, aswell as the establishment of occu-pied East Jerusalem as the capitalof the Palestinian state and a mutu-ally agreed, just solution for millionsof Palestinian refugees that to thisday yearn to return to their homesfrom the squalid camps they nowlive in. Israel refused the offer anddid not even bother to put a counteroffer on the table. Eleven years later,a few Arab foreign ministers havedecided to respond to Israel’s intran-sigence by offering yet another com-promise. What is more, this wasapparently done without any con-sultation with the remaining mem-bers of the Arab League and per-haps, most importantly, withoutany consideration of the wishes ofthe Palestinian people on whosebehalf the offer was made.

Speculation is rife in Israel thatthe offer may mark a gesture by theArabs of a willingness to return tonegotiations. What the ArabLeague needs to ask itself iswhether it is willing to sit at a tablewith one of the most right-winggovernments in Israel’s history,whose ministers live in the verycolonies that the League wantsgone. Israel has proven time andagain that it is not willing to recip-rocate any Arab compromise. Sixdecades of conflict have taught usthat the Arab League has been to-tally ineffective in the face of Is-raeli colonisation. There is littledoubt that it will not be able to doanything much now. The sooner theLeague recognises this, the better.— Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

—Virginia WoolfBritish writer

A couple of days ago HighCourt have revised the judgment of the Election Com-

mission of Pakistan and have al-lowed Raja Pervez to contest theelections for National Assembly. Hehad been debarred from contestingbecause of allegations of misuse andoverspending of money from the dis-cretionary fund of the Prime Minsterin his own constituency Gujjar Khanwhile the fund had already been ex-hausted by his previous incumbentwhen he took over from Prime Min-ister Syed Yusaf Raza Gilani.

Raja Pervez spent a consider-able part of his sojourn in office ofonly three months to get hold ofmoney for the discretionary fund. Inorder to do so the allocations of fed-eral government funds were divertedfrom several key developmentschemes, including the Diamer-Bhasha Dam project, to providePrime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashrafadditional spaces for discretionaryspending in a bid to lure voters keep-ing in mind the forthcoming elec-tions. According to government of-ficials, the Prime Minster was alsorecklessly allocating funds forprojects in PPP’s constituenciesahead of the general elections thatfalls under pre-poll rigging.

He was of course not the firstPrime Minister or Minister to spendthe money of the nation on his per-sonal and party concerns inspite ofthe so-called check and balance sys-

Pak-Afghan stability interrelated

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Pakistan’s Army Chief Gen.Ashfaq Pervez Kayani heldtalks with Afghan President

Hamid Karzai on April 24, this yearin Brussels in a meeting hosted bythe US Secretary of State JohnKerry aimed at easing tensions overborder disputes and the stalledpeace process.

Recently, tension arose be-tween Pakistan and Afghanistanwhen Kabul blamed Islamabad formortar attacks and construction ofsecurity wall inside Afghanistan in-cluding deployment of Pakistanisoldiers across the Pak-Afghan bor-der. On the other side, Pakistan’sForeign Affairs Office and ArmySpokesman Maj-Gen. Bajwastrongly rejected Afghan allegationsregarding any intrusion near thePak-Afghan border.

Reliable sources suggest thatKerry failed to bridge the differ-ences between Islamabad andKabul. Pakistan has always coop-erated with Afghanistan for peaceand stability, but the repeated rheto-ric of Karzai accusing Islamabad offacilitating the extremist elementshas been vitiating the atmosphere.

In fact, Karzai has always fol-lowed the US blame game againstPakistan. While ignoring the re-sponsibilities of the US-led NATOcountries, in the past few years, es-pecially US civil and military highofficials have repeatedly beenemphasising Pakistan to ‘do more’against the militancy in the tribalregions in order to stop cross-bor-der infiltration in Afghanistan.

Having failed in coping withthe Afghan Taliban and to pacifytheir public, particularly, US hasshifted the blame game towards

tem and another constitutionaloffice of Auditor General ofPakistan, which has beenturned into a rubber stamp de-partment. The judges, hearingthe suo motto notice case men-tioned above about the splurge

of funds into Prime Minister RajaPervez Ashraf’s Gujjar Khan con-stituency, seemed most amazed whenFederal Secretary Cabinet DivisionNargis Sethi informed that the previ-ous prime ministers had been alsospending funds unchecked on selectprojects similarly for the past twodecades. Though this is not a tenablereply from a federal secretary, whois supposed to be a custodian of of-fice but when she was elevated outof turn in higher grade this reckless-ness was bound to happen. My per-sonal experience during BenazirBhutto tenure was that blue eyed of-ficers in government departmentshad also created a head of account intheir department called secret funds,one case that I tried to probe unsuc-cessfully was that of Rs. One Mil-lion reserved as secret funds with theDirector-General, Intelligence & In-vestigation, Direct Taxes under CBR,since the then Finance Secretary wasshielding the officer, the CBR repliedto my query that “ Funds were allo-cated under this head of account andentire amount of Rs. One Million waslying in bank account, but inspite ofrepeated insistence CBR did not pro-vide any proof like bank statementetc., to substantiate CBR statementthat money was never withdrawnfrom the bank account or statementof account was not furnished delib-erately. But FACC did not fail in itsduty and recommended disciplinaryaction under E&D rules of 1973.

There is a long history of usingand abusing discretionary funds in thegovernments of Pakistan. If we lookat this phenomenon historically ithails probably from the times of ourMaharajas and Nawabs who neverdivided their personal funds from thepublic one and always regarded allstate money as theirs. It was duringBritish raj that British tried to teachthat state money is not personal to therulers but belongs to the state andruler’s personal income has to be prop-erly segregated from public funds. Butit seems that 200 years of colonial rulecould not override the idea that publicmoney is at the discretion of the rulerand he can use it for his personal needsalso. Funds had also been divertedfrom other projects by former premierYousaf Raza Gilani, especially forprojects in Multan – Gilani’s constitu-ency and by almost all previous gov-ernments. The ideal of perks and privi-leges is also connected to this sub-continental tradition; plots and carsand drivers on public money comeunder the same heading and shouldnot belong in a modern state that callsitself ‘democracy’.

In the wake of the allegationsagainst the former Prime MinisterRaja Pervez’s official documentshave been produced which reveal thatthe federal government slashed thefunding of 12 projects to provide PMAshraf Rs5 billion in additional fundsunder the Peoples Works Program-II(PWP-II) – the incumbent premier’sdiscretionary development budgetpool. Finance Minister Dr AbdulHafeez Shaikh himself approved anincrease in PWP-II’s size to Rs37 bil-lion from Rs32 billion. All together,Raja Pervez Ashraf had allocated astaggering Rs42.486 billion on cho-

sen projects. But the additional sec-retary of finance informed the courtthat the total amount of funds solic-ited by the former premier for hispreferred projects was Rs47 billion– 15 billion of which were siphonedoff from other national developmentprojects such as those led by theHigher Education Commission, theBhasha Dam project, the LawariTunnel project and National SavingSchemes. The funds for RajaPervez’s spending according to sec-retary cabinet division Nargis Sethiwere released even after ElectionCommission put restrictions on therelease of any funds. She added thatin search for documentation of mis-use of discretionary funding shewent through almost all 149 devel-opment schemes and found nomonitoring system on any of them.

The case of the former PrimeMinister Raja Pervez shows thatthere are many more problems towait for solution than only corrup-tion. The feudal mindset of our rul-ing class has to be changed or, im-proved still better; they have to bereplaced as rulers. Raja Pervezthought being Raja he had free ac-cess to the public money because thenation is nobody to him, he caresfor his family, baraderi and politicalclout in his constituency first. Theweak ECP could not restrain peoplelike the Raja from contesting theforthcoming elections as they havenot restrained cheaters and default-ers also. That is why there will behardly any change as a result of theforthcoming elections if they takeplace, and I fear that Pakistan willstill continue to reflect anotherPatiala House. God may help thepeople of Pakistan.

Pakistan for incursion of mili-tants in Afghanistan. In fact,Afghanistan is responsible forcross-border terrorism in Pa-kistan.

Since April, 2011, some 200to 400 heavily-armed insur-

gents from Afghanistan’s side en-tered Pakistan’s region from time totime, targeting the security checkposts and other infrastructure. Theyalso beheaded some Pakistani sol-diers and killed many innocentpeople. So far, these terrorists havekilled more than 100 personnel ofPakistan’s security forces.

In this respect, Pakistan’s civiland military leadership lodged astrong protest with their counterpartsin Afghanistan and NATO, sayingthat their forces were doing nothingto check insurgents’ activities, basedin the Afghan provinces of Kunar andNuristan. Afghan government alsorefused to hand over MaulviFazlullah, leader of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and othermilitants who have been conductingsubversive acts in Pakistan. TTP hasalso accelerated terror-attacks tosabotage the forthcoming electionsin Pakistan.

Meanwhile, in his meeting withthe new NATO/ISAF Commander inAfghanistan, Gen. Joseph F Dunfordon April 1, 2013, Gen. Kayani askedhim to stop cross-border infiltrationfrom Afghanistan.

The way the Afghan militants arechallenging a highly professional PakArmy by cross- border attacks isenough to prove that US with theassistance of secret agencies likeAmerican CIA, Indian RAW and Is-raeli Mossad which have well-estab-lished their collective network in Af-ghanistan is fully backing these in-cursions to destabilise Pakistan.

Afghanistan has become a hubof anti-Pakistan activities from wherethese external secret agencies are alsosending logistic support to Balochseparatist elements to dismember

Pakistan in order to obtain the secretstrategic designs of the US, India andIsrael against China and Iran. Besidesmartyring several personnel of secu-rity agencies in Balochistan, theseforeign-backed entities kidnappedand massacred many innocent peoplewho include teachers, professors,lawyers, Shias etc.

Notably, in the recent years, aseries of international conferenceswere held so as to bring stability andpeace in Afghanistan before the for-eign troops commence withdrawalfrom that country in 2013, whichwould be completed in 2014. NATOhas started moving its equipmentsvia Pakistani route. US-led devel-oped nations also pledged billionsof dollars for the development of Af-ghanistan.

While, American top officialshave repeatedly agreed that withoutthe help of Islamabad, stability can-not be achieved in Afghanistan. Pa-kistan has also been facilitating US-backed dialogue with the AfghanTaliban, which has now been sus-pended.

With the cooperation of PresidentKarzai and Afghan secret agencyKhad, and by manipulating US faultystrategy and double game withIslamabad, while availing the oppor-tunity of lawlessness in Afghanistan,especially RAW has been implement-ing a plot to fulfill Indian strategicdesigns against Iran, China and par-ticularly Pakistan. In this regard,Pakistan’s inauguration of the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project withIran, and handing over the control ofGwader seaport to China have irkedthe eyes of US and India.

However, India which has al-ready invested billion of dollars in Af-ghanistan, signed a wide-ranging stra-tegic agreement with that country onOctober 5, 2011 also includes to helptrain Afghan security forces, whileassisting Kabul in diversifiedprojects. Overtly, it is open strategicagreement, but covertly, India seeks

to further strengthen its grip in Af-ghanistan to get strategic depthagainst Islamabad.

Regarding Indian activities inAfghanistan, the then NATO com-mander, Gen. McChrystal hadpointed out: “Indian political andeconomic influence is increasing inAfghanistan…is likely to exacerbateregional tensions.” In the recent past,US Senator John McCain remindedthe Obama administration that en-couraging India to take a more ac-tive role in Afghanistan, while si-multaneously criticising Pakistancould be a recipe for disaster.

As a matter of fact, India wantsinstability in Afghanistan, whichfavours its clandestine aims againstPakistan. But Pakistan seeks stabil-ity in Afghanistan, which is not pos-sible owing to Indian presence there.Hence, Pakistan has legitimate con-cerns in Afghanistan.

Nonetheless, in the post-2014scenario, despite the presence ofAmerican troops on small scale,New Delhi which has been assist-ing the Northern Alliance againstthe Afghan militants will not be ina position to maintain its networkdue to successful guerrilla warfareof the Taliban. Afghanistan will bethrown in an era of uncertainty andcivil war. In that drastic situation,foreign donors will not be able tosustain their economic aid in thatlawless country.

So, by showing realistic ap-proach, US and other westerncountries should realise that unlikeIndia, Pakistan shares commongeographical, historical, religiousand cultural bonds with Afghani-stan, while Pak-Afghan stability isinter-related, which is essential fortheir global and regional interests.Especially, America must aban-don its faulty strategy in this re-gion and double game withIslamabad, and must check Indiansecret strategy against Pakistan aswell as Afghanistan.

Ali Ashraf KhanEmail:balti@super.net.pk

Sajjad ShaukatEmail: sajjad_logic@yahoo.com

Voice of the People

Wall chalkingNASEER HASHMI

Wall Chalking is a wide spread Phe-nomenon in Pakistan especially inKarachi. Wall Chalking can be ob-served on every single wall in thecity. Which advertises the Campaignof the Candidates belonging to dif-ferent Political Parties, Advertise-ment of various products, Compa-nies and most importantly BlackMagicians can be seen. Citizens ofKarachi should refrain from wallchalking because it destroys theBeauty of the city and leaves a nega-tive impression on Society.

Being a citizen of Karachi I re-quest City District Government ofKarachi (CDGK) to remove theWall chalking as Election Commis-sion of Pakistan (ECP) has issueddirectives against Wall Chalking andSindh High Court has also sent No-tice to all the political parties in or-der to keep the city clean and beau-tiful.—Karachi

Dishonestyall over

MUHAMMAD RAFIQUE

We were told that the Election Com-mission of Pakistan (ECP), beingtruly independent, would not allowdishonest persons to contest the elec-tions. But now we see that it has notdisqualified even certified crookslike those who submitted fake de-grees and an ex-PM who sold someland that he did not own. Besidesthese, it has allowed even bank loandefaulters like the ex-speaker andher spouse, as well as the formerforeign minister (who paid incometax that was less than the price ofher handbag). As for those who werenamed as recipients of ISI moneyin the Asghar Khan case, they areholy cows who cannot be touched.One is tempted to ask what the useof articles 62 and 63 is if criminalsare not restrained from standing inthe elections?

Knowing the mindset of the ma-jority of our voters (who mostly voteon caste basis), immoral and corruptpeople will be elected again, givingthem ample time to loot the countrywhile cases against them will takemany years to be fully decided. Iwonder why the outgoing govern-ment did not amend the constitutionto allow only corrupt people to con-test the elections. That would havebeen much closer to reality. The nextgovernment should do so immedi-ately.—Via email

Discriminationin education

HIBA NAEEM

In times when our country could notbe more disunited, our educationalsystems have never created morediscrimination than today Our chil-dren are exceedingly conscious ofthe class differences as they head onto different educational systemswithin one society. There was a timewhen private schools were nation-alized but that seems hardly any so-lution for our times. What the au-thorities can do, however is to re-vise and amend syllabus and intro-duce more thought provoking sub-jects for our young minds. Thiswould eventually help studentsstudying from local boards, be com-petent enough and help eradicatediscrepancies education is creatingin our society.—Via email

Zardari isno wise!

SANSAAR KANDHRO

During last five years of PakistanPeople Party’s Government, partyfaced different issues from Memocase to Swiss Bank. Party’s electedPrime minister Yusuf Raza Gilaniwas convicted and Raja Pervez was

Drops of rainASMA SHABBIR

As Pakistani politicians struggle with the legacy of General Ziaul Haq while facing the disqualification axe under the Constitution via Articles 62 and 63 (introduced by General Zia under malicious

intent), somewhere else history has been made by people defying the legacy of the now-dead dictator.Two women, one from Fata and the other one from the Provincially Administrated Tribal Areas (Pata),have filed nomination papers to contest the upcoming elections. Badam Zari will contest the electionfrom Bajaur Agency, one of the seven tribal agencies under Fata where tribal women are generally notallowed to even cast their votes in elections. The other woman, Nusrat Begum, will contest from LowerDir — an area which was occupied by the Taliban as recently as 2009. Though we all welcome thissupposed change in mindset from the comfort of our cosy living rooms, these two women face realdangers in a brutal world. They are standing up to get themselves accepted as equal human beings whilechallenging the Taliban who have held Fata at gunpoint. Health workers are unable to conduct poliovaccination campaigns, girls’ schools are frequently targeted with impunity, women rights activists aretargeted and the whole atmosphere is one of fear. One need not mention Farida Afridi, Malala Yousufzaiand Perween Rahman who were openly threatened by the Taliban and eventually targeted. We don’twant to establish memorial funds in the name of Badam Zari and Nusrat Begum, we want them to bealive and play an active role in the country’s politics. Badam and Nusrat may be the first drop of rain ina suffocating hot summer which has lasted many years since the Americans defeated Soviets in Afghani-stan. We have to break this never-ending cycle of miseries in our region.—Karachi

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

are requested to typetheir letters legibly withdouble spacing and only onone side of the paper.

—Editor

about to be convicted, many times wefelt PPP government will be no moreby tomorrow morning but every timeour prediction went wrong. PresidentAsif Ali Zardari was the sole personbehind all action scenes; he managedeverything well by performing dan-gerous stunts live, before every stuntI used to listen different commentsfrom different people while travelingin bus, at bus stop, at institute andalso at home. Some of them used tosay he is wise no one can beat him hewill manage himself, no one can stophim and some of them used to sayPPP is no more!

While watching these actionscenes live I personally used to thinkthat Zardari is a wise man his plan-ning is perfect, he has enough skillsto face certain type of politicians inPakistan, but now I think I was wronghe is not wise person! There was an-other force behind him who gave in-structions and training for those stuntsduring his government because thesedays at party level he is taking verypoor decisions! He is unable to planfor simple single election! Stunt manwho successfully completed 5yearsof government for the 1st time can-not even select suitable candidates forelections.

If a person cannot make wisedecisions at party level, can not runparty well and his own party work-ers are leaving him. New comers areleaving him like Shirazi’s of Thattaditched him. How could his govern-ment survive for the 5years? Howcould he be sole stunt man? I thoughtZardari is wise but he is not.—Karachi

Openingbatsman

KHURRAM MANZOR

Khurram Manzor is a very goodopener in test Cricket. In his last Testagainst Australia in Jan 14-18-2010at Hobart he scored 77 runs, but ourselection committee ignored him forall the series after the Australian tour.I think Karachi cricket Authorityshould re-consider their policy.Karachi players are neglected for in-ternational cricket. PCB must have afair Merit Policy or a quota system,which though is not an ideal solution.—Karachi

Why languagecomplex?SUMBUL BATOOL

I want to draw the attention of con-cerned authorities toward this seriousmatter that Environmental issues inPakistan have been disturbing thebalance between economic develop-ment and environmental protection.As a great problem for the nature andnation of Pakistan and As Pakistan isa large importer of both exhaustibleand renewable natural resources anda large consumer of fossil fuels, theMinistry of Environment of Govern-ment of Pakistan takes responsibilityto conserve and protect the environ-ment.

Currently water pollution fromraw sewage, industrial wastes, andagricultural runoff; limited naturalfresh water resources; a majority ofthe population does not have accessto potable water; deforestation; soilerosion and desertification.

Little attention was paid to pol-lution. Some are these related con-cerns, such as sanitation and potablewater, received earlier scrutiny. In1987 only about 6 percent of ruralresidents and 51 percent of urban resi-dents had access to sanitary facilities;a Greater success has been achievedin bringing potable water within reachof the people; nearly half the popula-tion enjoyed such access by 1990.However, researchers at the PakistanMedical Research Council, recogniz-ing that a large proportion of diseasesin Pakistan are caused by the con-sumption of polluted water, have beenquestioning the “safe” classificationin use in the 1990s. Even the 38 percent of the population that receivesits water through pipelines runs therisk of consuming seriously contami-nated water, although the problem

Pak politicians court a younger crowd

As Pakistan prepares to vote fora new civilian government,many are closely watching the

25 million-strong youth population –60 percent of whom have promisedto make their way to the ballot boxon May 11.

But how their growing clout willshape the next government is unclear.Pakistan’s young people are losingconfidence in the democratic system,according to a British Council studyout earlier this month, with roughlysimilar percentages expressing sup-port for sharia or military rule as ex-press support for democracy.

While this has some observersworried, analysts are quick to cautionthat the survey results should note betaken at face value. “We need to digdeeper and ask more intelligent ques-tions. For example, what do theymean when they say ‘Islamic sharia’?For a lot of people, sharia refers toequality, justice, a welfare state, and

support for the poor and downtrod-den. It does not equal putting themullahs [Islamic clergy] in power,”says Khawar Ghumman, a politicalanalyst and journalist for Pakistan’sDawn newspaper. Mr. Ghummansays that it makes little sense to seesharia and democracy as mutuallyexclusive categories.

When asked which system ofgovernment they preferred, 29 per-cent of young people between theages of 18 and 29 said they wouldprefer democracy as a political sys-tem; 38 percent picked “Islamicsharia”; and 32 percent picked “mili-tary rule.”

But, as Alia Amirali, the secre-tary-general of the National StudentsFederation and a seasoned left-wingstudent activist, notes, “both a sup-porter of the Pakistan Taliban and afemale student at the InternationalIslamic University in Islamabadmight say that they prefer Islamicsharia as a system, but they probablyhave two very different definitions ofthe same concept.” Ms. Amiralipoints out that the survey indicates

as many as 70 percent of young Pa-kistanis might vote in the elections –a data point that reveals a politicallyactive generation. “That alone shouldput to rest the cries about the ‘impend-ing death of democracy’ and the ‘ero-sion of legitimacy’ that haveemerged,” says Amirali. In fact, manyof Pakistan’s political parties seem tobe scrambling for – and counting on– the youth vote.

During the launch of his party’selection manifesto in Islamabad ear-lier this month, Imran Khan, theleader of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI), or Pakistan Road to Justiceparty, claimed that his party wouldtake home the bulk of young people’s25 million votes. The party has apopular reputation for appealing tothe younger generation.

Mr. Khan, a former cricketer andrelative newcomer to Pakistani poli-tics, is known for political rallies thathave turned out 250,000 people. Hisparty is also known for its young, die-hard supporters (or jiyalas in Urdu)on Facebook and Twitter – and theirtendency to harass anyone who criti-

Mahvish Ahmad

Views From Abroad

Prophets and BooksAccording to a report in

Musnad Ahmed collection ofAhadith, the Holy Prophet

(PBUH), said: “From Adam to me,Allah sent a hundred and twenty-fourthousand Prophets, of whom threehundred and fifteen were entrustedwith a Book.” The question is whywere there so many more Prophetsthan Books? To reflect on this is togain an understanding about the veryinstitution of Prophethood. If the roleof a Prophet were simply to deliverthe Book, as some misguided peoplein our time try to argue, there shouldhave been as many Books as Proph-ets. But the very fact that there havebeen many Prophets without a newBook, firmly establishes the need forthe Prophets as a source of guidancein its own rights.

It had to be so because life emu-lates life. We need live human beingsto inspire us; to show right fromwrong in every day struggles of life;to confront us and pose questions; toanswer questions; to clarify miscon-ceptions; to hold our hand; to be themodel. We certainly need principlesto guide our thoughts and actions. Butwe also need real life examples to

relate the principles to real life situa-tions. For most of our living experi-ence involves judgment calls. Polite-ness is a desirablemoral value. Butwhen does politenessturn into weakness?Firmness is also a de-sirable attribute. Butwhen does it turn intoarrogance? How dowe balance our dutiestowards Allah withthose towards otherhuman beings? Howdo we balance bothwith duties towardsourselves? We areconstantly faced withconflicting claims onour resources, energies, and attention.How do we resolve those conflicts,without doing any injustice? Theseare real life questions that require reallife answers. This point is beautifullyestablished in the Opening Chapter(Surah Fatiha) of Qur’an. It is a shortsurah, consisting of only sevenverses, and it consists of a prayer forguidance: O’ Allah! Show us theStraight Path. Yet two of the seven

verses are used to describe theStraight Path in terms of people. “Thepath of those on whom Thou has be-

stowed Thy Grace.Not the path of thosewho earn Thine wrathnor of those who goastray.”

It would havebeen simpler to justrefer to the Straightpath as the Path of theQur’an. But thelonger descriptionhas been used to em-phasis the fact thathuman beings need ahuman model to pro-vide complete guid-ance. Of course

Prophets were sent to provide theneeded guidance. It is also obviousthat whatever a Prophet declares isbinding on all his followers. “To ac-cept a person as a Prophet of Godand then to refuse to accept his com-mands, is so ridiculous that I wouldnot have believed any sensible per-son would ever offer this proposi-tion,” says prominent Hadith scholarMaulana Manzoor Naumani. But this

most irrational of ideas has beenpromulgated by a segment of West-ern educated Muslims. They say,without a sense of irony, that we ac-cept the Qur’an but not the Hadith.Anyone who says that he accepts theQur’an but rejects the hadith can-not be serious. Or he has not readthe Qur’an either. For the Qur’ansays: “And We have sent down untoyou the Message so that you mayexplain clearly to the people whatis sent for them and so that they maygive thought.” (Al-Nahal 16:44).

It also declares: “Allah did con-fer a great favour on the believerswhen He sent among them a Mes-senger from among themselves, re-hearsing unto them the Signs of Al-lah, purifying them, and instructingthem in Scripture and Wisdom,while before that they had been inmanifest error.” (Aale Imran 3:164).So it is the job of the Holy Prophet(PBUH), to explain the Qur’an. Andit is the job of the believers to obeyhim. “He who obeys the Messen-ger obeys Allah indeed” (Nisa 4:80).And even more emphatically it says:“And obey Allah and obey HisMessenger.”(Al-Taghabun 64:12).

varies by area. In Punjab, for ex-ample, as much as 90 percent ofdrinking water comes from ground-water, as compared with only 9 per-cent in Sindh. The centralgovernment’s Perspective Plan(1988–2003) and previous five-yearplans do not mention sustainable de-velopment strategies. Further, therehave been no overarching policiesfocused on sustainable developmentand conservation. The state has fo-cused on achieving self-sufficiencyin food production, meeting energydemands, and containing the high rateof population growth, not on curtail-ing pollution or other environmentalhazards. Therefore i request to theauthorities to take immediate actionagainst it as soon as possible!—Karachi

Let’s rebuildit together

SIBTAIN ALI

Pakistan is slowly inching towardseconomic bankruptcy and civil war.I suggest that we formulate a newsocial contract especially designed forthe betterment of the 95 percent ofthe ‘have-nots’, who always pay 100percent bills and taxes and never de-fault on bank loans. Let us make anew Pakistan, which is redesigned tocater to the needs of the exploited. Inorder to achieve these objectives, itis proposed that the following stepsmay be initiated jointly by the gov-ernment, the opposition, the benchand the bar, civil and military bureau-cracy, students, trade unions and thecivil society.

For this: the constitution may beamended to change the current faultyelection system, which ensures therule of the minority over the major-ity. The election system should alsobe changed so that the whole countrydirectly votes for a president or theprime minister. Pakistan’s charter ofdevelopment for the next fifty yearsshould also be finalised in such a waythat it is not politicised. And in orderto empower the maximum number ofpeople to enjoy the fruits of self-rule,we should convert every division ofPakistan into a province.—Karachi

Media &nutrition issues

DR M IRSHAD DANISH

Pakistan is facing a silent crisis ofmalnutrition that is amongst theworst in the world and has not im-proved for decades. This needs to beurgently addressed in order to safe-guard the country’s future develop-ment and prosperity. It’s a simplefact that nearly half of all childrenin Pakistan are malnourished, andthis undermines their mental andphysical growth, as well as thecountry’s prospects. Pakistan’s lead-ers must urgently recognize and re-spond to this challenge, and mustprioritize the evidence-based poli-cies and programs which can addressthis crisis.

Journalists can play an importantrole in highlighting the important is-sue of malnutrition. However, due tomedia transformation in the last de-cade or so, social journalism is stillan evolving phenomenon in Pakistan.Therefore because of more focus onpolitical issues and criminal report-ing, social and health issues are notmuch covered as required. Conse-quently, Nutrition is not a priority areaand less integrated in manifestos ofthe political parties. It is duty of se-nior journalists and media persons tounderline the issue of malnutrition tosave future of Pakistan.—Islamabad

The Pakistani nation is all set togo for the next round of general elections on May 11, 2013.

Notwithstanding performance of thedemocratic government during thepast five years, the completion of thefive-year term of the government andsmooth transition to a care-taker setuphas been commended by internationalcommunity including the Common-wealth of which Pakistan is one ofthe founding members. The interna-tional community eagerly watchesPakistan’s journey towards demo-cratic consolidation in near future.

Unfortunately, the ‘local democ-racy’ part of the recent democraticphenomenon in Pakistan is not veryimpressive and in fact once againsubstantiated the view that grass-roots democracy has never been pro-moted by democratically elected re-gimes in Pakistan. The local govern-ment elections due in Pakistan since2009 are of course a far cry now untilthe new government assumes power.Gauging from the media it is quiteevident that the election campaignsand general environment are guidedby issues like application of articles

62 and 63 of the constitution to theintending candidates, return of anumber of political veterans to Pa-kistan, etc. While it is reasonable tobelieve that electorates expect a clearvision of the contesting political par-ties and candidates in relation topressing issues like law and order,energy crisis and rising inflation; onething clearly missing in discoursesis what would happened to localgovernments after general elections.

This is in sharp contrast to the fa-mous saying – “All politics is lo-cal”[1]. A little before the announce-ment of the general elections, all fourprovinces had local government leg-islations in place, last being the SindhPeoples Local Government Ordi-nance, 2012 promulgated in Decem-ber 2012 after prolonged negotiationsbetween two coalition parties in theprovince. The other three provinceshad already adopted hybrid variantsof Devolution Plan of 2001 and Lo-cal Government Ordinance of 1979.At this point in time, the people ofPakistan can rightfully expect a clearroadmap and vision of their leadersin the matter of a government that isclosest to the citizens.

Local governance is a dynamicpolitical process and should not beregarded as a static system of clean-ing rubbish and roads. No system or

model of local government is per-fect and in fact should remain re-sponsive to changing needs of thetime and peculiar circumstances ofthe constituencies. In the past, Pa-kistan has experienced three majormodels of local government systems– 1962, 1979 and 2001, all under theauspices of military regimes. Irre-spective of the merit and demerit ofany particular system it is importantto realize that local government re-form or decentralisation has workedwell when it has been done well.

This article argues that localgovernment system in any country isdynamic. No system is perfect. Thereis no harm in reviewing your ownsystem and adopting goodinternational practices and aligningthose to one’s own ground realities. Acountry like the United Kingdom alsokeeps reviewing its local governmentsystem from time to time. Recently,the UK constituted a commission toexamine role of elected mayors. TheCommission was chaired by aProfessor of Politics at the Universityof Warwick. In the United Kingdom,and perhaps in the developed world,the academia has a lot of influence onpublic policy. In May 2012, in the lightof Warwick Commission’s Reportreferenda were held in eleven cities ofthe United Kingdom. Ten English

LG system: Off the radar now?

Since poor Modi is being refused a US visa time andagain, I thought I’d give him

a few tips: First, Mr Modi, you can’tgo in there with all your gunmenand security! You are afraid to leavethem outside? Well, we do know sir,there is not a moment when youdon’t have gunmen guarding you.We do know that it is because ofsuch security that you are able tosay and get away with all the hate-ful things you say, so why don’t youstop saying them for a week or twosir, then go for your visa. Then thereis a remote possibility people inside

may not recognize you and try to as-sault you!

Second sir, it is good to makea good impression with the officerwho interviews you, so maybe ashaving of the beard will help. Youdon’t want to be mistaken for a ter-rorist do you? I know, I know, youalways say that looking the otherway while men and women wereburnt is not terrorism!

Third sir, you may have to standin line with the rest of the people. Yessir, we know who you are, your partyknows who you are. Yes sir, we knowyou may be the next prime ministerof the country, which you say meansyou are an emperor, but sir, here youwill have to stand in the hot sun likeall of us, so do carry an umbrella, tolook after your complexion. There’sno point getting red in the face, if theyrefuse your visa again.

Fourth sir, you will not be givena right to find out what faith the per-son is, who interviews you. No sir,you may not have a Hindutva persondoing so, because I doubt they’ve gotsuch officers in the visa office. Fifthsir, once people see you coming outwith your passport in hand, they willknow your visa has been refused, sothere’s very little room for fibbing andtelling the people outside that youwere the one who refused taking thevisa, because once they see your pass-port, they will know you have beenrefused again. So put it in your pocketwhen you come out and pretend likeyou know how to do, that everythingis honky dory.

Sixth sir, you will have to stickto the statements you have written.No sir, here they don’t have the op-tion of saying you have changed yourstatement, or have withdrawn your

Refused again..!

cizes the PTI. In a sign of solidar-ity, Khan made sure that 35 per-cent of his party’s slots were givento candidates under the age of 35.Political parties in Pakistan selectcandidates through central parlia-mentary boards, rather than hold-ing primaries. But youth activistAbdullah Dayo from the Progres-sive Youth Forum, an independentstudent activist group, suspects thatKhan will get far less support fromyouths than he hopes for when thevotes are tallied.

“You have to remember thatthere is a huge difference betweenyoung Pakistanis in the country’srural, semi-urban and urban areas.Khan has a lot of support among theurban youth, but far less outside ofthe country’s large metropolitan cen-tres,” says Mr. Dayo, who justtoured 13 districts in Sindh Prov-ince earlier this month, where heestimates that the PTI will fail tomake any substantial gains in Na-tional Assembly seats.— Courtesy: The Christian Sci-ence Monitor

cities held referendums on whetherto adopt elected mayors -Birmingham, Bradford, Bristol,Coventry, Leeds, Manchester,Newcastle, Nottingham, Sheffieldand Wakefield, whereas Doncastervoted on whether to abolish or keeptheir existing system of directlyelected mayor.

The crux of the matter is thatlocal governance is a political pro-cess and in any country it contourschanges as does the institutionaldynamics between different stateactors. Since the emergence ofmodern nation-state, struggle be-tween national and sub-nationalstructures over responsibilities andresources has been at the centre ofstate formation. In Pakistan, it isan opportune time to highlight im-portance of the grass-roots democ-racy and seek commitment of thepolitical parties for the revival ofthe elected local governments im-mediately after culmination ofGeneral Elections and assumptionof the new democratically electedgovernment. Disclaimer: Theviews expressed in this article arethose of the author and in no wayattributable to the Commonwealthsecretariat. —The writer is ad-viser, Commonwealth Secretariat,London.

statement, or you have been mis-quoted. We know it is strange sir,but the visa people are different.

Seventh, you can’t talk inHindi. We know you have im-proved and in Delhi gave a fullspeech in Hindi, but in the visa of-fice they prefer Gujarati! We knowsir, that you now have no moreGujarati ambition, but so many ofyour countrymen have gone overto the US, that they prefer you tospeak in Gujarati or English!

No, no sir, don’t bring burningtires and rioters outside the visaoffice building, we know it workedin your state sir, but it might nothelp in getting you a visa.All the best sir, hope the Americansare convinced by your ‘progressreport’ even if it’s got blood stainson it..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

The Spirit Of Islam

Khalid Baig

Dr Munawwar AlamEmail:naveedahmadkhan@aol.com

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Zubair AhmedMalik, President of Federation ofPakistan Chambers of Commerceand Industry (FPCCI) has invitedbusinessmen of Qatar to explorebusiness opportunities in Pakistanwith an emphasis to establishbusiness to business contacts be-tween Pakistan and Qatar andclose cooperation between FPCCIand the Qatar Chamber of Com-merce and Industry.

FPCCI present said this dur-ing his visit to Doha where heattended the 29th General As-sembly and 16th Board of Di-rectors Meetings of the IslamicChamber of Commerce, Indus-try and Agriculture (ICCIA).

Zubair Malik also paid a

FPCCI invitesQatar businessmen

to visit Pakistancourtesy call on Syed HasanRaza, Ambassador of Pakistanto Qatar and discussed mattersrelating to enhancing bilateralrelations, holding single coun-try exhibition and cooperation inthe field of trade and commercebetween Pakistan and State ofQatar as well as activating theJoint Business Council betweenthe two Chambers through un-dertaking new initiatives to pro-mote economic cooperation andboost ties for mutual benefits.

The President of FPCCIbriefed the Ambassador aboutthe promising market potentialof Pakistani consumer goods inQatar . He particularly spokeabout the textile products of Pa-kistan which are very popular inthe international market.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf President Makhdoom Javed Hashmi flanked by Dr Shahzad Waseem and RajaKhurram Nawaz addressing a public meeting.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—After appoint-ment by the Caretaker PrimeMinister Mir Hazar KhanKhoso, Tahir Mahmood as act-ing chairman of the Securitiesand Exchange Commission ofPakistan (SECP) has startedworking on his plan tostrengthen regulatory and ac-countability system.

He was appionted after theSupreme Court cancelledMuhammad Ali’s appointmentas chairman of the corporate andequity watchdog. The presentSECP chairman has 25 years ofexperience in accountancy, fi-nance, administration of corpo-rate laws, corporate governanceand enforcement.

SECP’s Tahir Mehmood strengtheningregulatory, accountability system

Will he be able to make theSECP truly independent? Onlythe time will tell this. The SECPremained the captured agencyduring the regime ofMuhammad Ali. The powerfulbrokers wield powers to influ-ence the decision-making pro-cess at the regulatory level.

The Apex regulator duringthat period remained on a relax-ation spree, amending rules andregulations governing the mar-kets.

Almost on a weekly basis,it issued a statement that certainlegal requirements have been‘streamlined’, ‘revised’ or ‘re-laxed’, in the ‘interest of themarket. Each change, however,is carried out in the “interest” ofthe market.

Regulators were fixatedwith creating market volumeseven if it is at the expense oftransparency and governmentrevenues.

On a given day they haveseen, at one end, issuing regu-lations to curb money launder-ing and, on the other, persuad-ing tax authorities to changecollection methods to hidesources of money invested inthe market The KSE’s spec-tacular rise last year can at leastbe partly attributed to anotherfactor entirely – the cleansingof black money.

It seems that the SECP pro-vide tax evaders an opportunityto whiten millions of dollars inundeclared earnings through itsstocks amnesty schemes.

Nimbuzz, Mobilinkpartner to launch new

communications solutionin Pakistan

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Nimbuzz, aleading cross-platform globalcommunications solution andMobilink have announced apartnership to bring theNimbuzz Messenger app toMobilink subscribers across Pa-kistan at an unbeatable price.Nimbuzz is one of the world’sleadingmobile messenger appli-cations, which is compatiblewith a wide range of mobileplatforms.

The partnership will enableMobilink subscribers to opt fora special, discounted ‘NimbuzzBundle’ that will allow unlim-

ited internet usagevia Nimbuzzapp for subscribers to make fulluse of the many features.Mobilink subscribers will alsobecome part of the 150 millionstrong global Nimbuzz fraterni-ties and able to communicatefreely with Nimbuzz usersacross the world.

Talking about the partnership,VikasSaxena, CEO Nimbuzzsaid, “Since messaging is one ofthe fastest growing usage catego-ries on smartphones it becomesimperative that stakeholders inthis ecosystem like telecom com-panies and Nimbuzz work to-gether to bring out services thatbest serve this user need.

Thai Air eyes toexpand Pakistan

operationsSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—General Managerof Thai Airways Pakistan MrPolapat Neelabhamorn statedthat Thai Airways aimed at be-coming second largest carrierafter national carrier operatingbetween Pakistan and Thailand.

Confirming participation ofThai Airlines in the Thai Pavil-ion of My-Karachi Oasis of Har-mony Exhibition 2013, GMThai Airways said his airoinewill also offer 04 free tickets andgift hampers to the visitors ofMy-Karachi Exhibition throughluck draw.

Thai Airways is providingquality services to Pakistanistravelling between Pakistan andThailand.

I S L A M A B A D — P a k i s t a nTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) PresidentMakhdoom Javed Hashmi onThursday underline the need thatpeace in the country to remain adream until withdrawing forcesfrom Federally AdministeredTribal Areas (FATA) andBalochistan, hence the PTI af-ter coming into power wouldrestore peace in the troubled ar-eas by calling back Pak army,as parley was the only panaceato the on-going unrest and chaosthat damaged the country themost in the last decade.

The PTI stalwart and candi-date for NA-48 expressed theseview while addressing publicmeetings at various places in thefederal capital, vowing the PTIgovernment would address theprevailing deprivation and senseof security among the people ofBalochistan and FATA and wouldleave no stone unturned to bringthem into the mainstream.

He said that PTI under thebrave leadership of Imran Khanwould disassociate army fromthe on-going war on terror dueto which Pakistan suffered ahuge loss both in men and ma-terial, vowing the PTI wouldbreak the shackles of US slaveryby making ‘Naya Pakistan’ new

Pakistan.PTI central leaders Dr.

Shahzad Waseem, Ali Awan,Raja Khurram Nawaz and MalikSajid also present on the occa-sion. “The corruption, loot andplunder of the previous federaland provincial governments areno more secret to the people ofthis country, therefore they willnot vote those political partiesand leaders into power in thecoming elections rather they willface a punching defeat at thehands of the PTI,” the PTI Presi-dent added.

He told the charged partici-pants that May 11 would changethe fate and destiny of the coun-try-men, when the people fromall walks of life would come outfrom their houses to vote forPTI, by throwing away the cor-rupt and tested political parties,responsible for bringing thecountry on the verge of bank-ruptcy.

“The PTI is the only politi-cal force having a clear programand agenda and a team of vision-ary and expert that could guidethe country towards progressand prosperity by breaking thebegging bowel,” he maintained.

Javed Hashmi said that hewas well-aware of the problems

being faced by the inhabitants ofthe federal capital and assuredthem that the PTI governmentwould make all-out efforts toresolve their problems on prior-ity basis.

“The PTI government willhold local body elections within90 days, so that the people couldelect their representatives whocould resolve their problems andissues at local level,” he ob-served. He said that provision ofclean drinking water for thepeople of the twin cities, speedyand cheap justice and resolutionof the issues being faced byIslamabad affectees as well asdwellers of Kachi Abadi wouldbe top priority of the PTI gov-ernment.

Javed Hashmi urged the par-ticipants to come forward tospread the PTI and its ChairmanImran Khan’s message ofchange to every citizen of thecountry, adding that the timewas rife to throw the corruptforces out from the politicalarena, who failed utterly in de-livering in the last three-de-cades. “Youth should visit doorto door and keep the massesaware of the PTI’s message of areal change in the country,” headded.—NNI

PTI to withdraw forces fromFATA, Balochistan: Hashmi

Etihad Airways to invest $379mSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Etihad Airways ofthe United Arab Emirates andJet Airways of India today an-nounced that the UAE nationalcarrier has agreed to subscribefor 27,263,372 new shares in JetAirways at a price of INR754.74per share. The value of this eq-uity investment is US$379 mil-lion and will result in Etihad Air-ways holding 24 per cent of theenlarged share capital of Jet Air-ways.

Etihad Airways’ wider over-all commitment to Jet Airwaysincludes the injection of US$220million to create and strengthena wide-ranging partnership be-tween the two carriers.

As part of this Etihad Air-ways paid US$70 million to pur-

chase Jet Airways’ three pairs ofHeathrow slots through the saleand lease back agreement an-nounced on 27 February 2013.Jet Airways continues to oper-ate flights to London utilisingthese slots.

An amount of US$150 mil-lion will be invested by EtihadAirways by way of a majorityequity investment in Jet Air-ways’ frequent flyer program“Jet Privilege”, subject to appro-priate regulatory and corporateapprovals and final commercialagreements which are expectedto be completed within the nextsix months.

Under the strategic partner-ship, which will be subject tofull regulatory and shareholderapproval, the airlines will gradu-ally expand existing operations

and introduce new routes be-tween India and Abu Dhabi, pro-viding an ever wider choice tothe travelling public.

They will combine their net-work of 140 destinations, withJet Airways establishing a Gulfgateway in Abu Dhabi and ex-panding its reach through EtihadAirways’ growing global net-work. Passengers from 23 citiesin India will benefit from directconnections to international des-tinations. New flights from JetAirways’ home hubs and metroairports will further strengthenits current operations from theseairports. Jet Airways’ visioncontinues to be to develop Delhiand Mumbai airports as its pri-mary home hubs and connect-ing them to Asian, European andother regions.

cover during the whole processof printing of ballot papers todistribution.

He said that 50 helicopterswill take part in the distributionprocess of ballot papers. Bajwasaid that in case of need at anypolling station a quick responseunit of the army will be avail-able.

He said that army’s de-ployment throughout the coun-try is being carried out underarticle 245 of the constitu-tion.—INP

Armydeployment by

May 5: DG ISPRFrom Page 1

was used in it. Meanwhile, thePakistani Taliban have claimedresponsibility of the attack.Speaking to via telephone froman undisclosed location, TTPspokesman Ehsanullah Ehsansaid the proscribedorganisation has carried outthe attack on MQM.

The outlawed Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) hadvowed to target secular politicalforces of the country – PakistanPeople’s Party (PPP), AwamiNational Party (ANP) andMQM. The banned outfit hadalso claimed responsibilities ofthe last week’s attacks.

More than 60 people havealready been killed in militantattacks targeting electoralcampaigning of PPP, MQMand ANP, across the countrysince April 11.

Reiterating their stance oftargeting the said parties forhaving secular views, the TTPspokesman, in a video messageearlier today had vowed tocarry on with the targeted at-tacks. This is a developingstory and will be updated ac-cordingly.

Attack on MQMoffice injures

seven in KarachiFrom Page 1

interrogating former presidentGen (retd) Pervez Musharrafin Akbar Bugti case. A joint in-vestigating team had submit-ted an application at ATC,Rawalpindi for allowing inves-tigators to investigate theformer president. —Online

Musharrafinterrogated in

Bugti murder caseFrom Page 1

Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh was Thursday night broughthere onboard a special Air Indiaaircraft from Lahore, where hedied following an assault in ajail.

It was a grim end to thebattle waged by his family tosecure his release after he hadspent over two decades in Pa-kistani jai ls as the planelanded at Rajasansi Airportwhere political leaders, in-cluding Punjab Deputy ChiefMinister Sukhbir Singh Badaland Minister of State for Ex-ternal Affairs Preneet Kaur,were present to receive thebody.

The body is to be taken toGovernment Hospital for au-topsy and would be handedover to the family at villageBikhiwind for a state funeraltoday.

Punjab government hasannounced a financial assis-tance of Rs one crore for thefamily of Sarabjit and de-clared a three-day statemourning. —INP

Sarabjit’s bodylands in Amritsar

From Page 1

Dr Shakil Afridi caseadjourned till June 14

PESHAWAR—The Commis-sioner FCR Sahibzada Anees onThursday adjourned hearing ofDr Shakil Afridi case till June13 due to his engagements forsecurity arrangements duringthe upcoming elections.

The state counsel was tocomplete his argument but be-cause of Commissioners otherengagements, the case was ad-journed till June 13.

During the last hearing DrShakil Afridi’s counselSamiullah Afridi had completedthe arguments on Shakil Afrid’sconviction by the APA Bara andhad pleaded that the APA who

has the power of a judicial mag-istrate had no authority to awardsuch a punishment.

Shakil Afridi was accused ofassisting the United States’ Cen-tral Intelligence Agency (CIA) inobtaining DNA samples of formerAl Qaeda chief Osama Bin Ladenthrough a fake vaccination cam-paign and convicted for involve-ment in anti-state activities by atribal court and sentenced to 33years. Afridi was charged underthe British-time Frontier CrimesRegulation (FCR) that unlike thePakistan Criminal Code (CPRC),does not carry death penalty forhigh treason.—INP

Fazal allegesgovernor KP for

poll riggingISLAMABAD—Chief of JamiatUlema-e-Islam (JUI-F) MaulanaFazlur Rehman has demandedthe removal of GovernorKhyber Pakhtunkhwa before theMay 11 elections.

He made these demands ina letter dispatched to FakhruddinG. Ebrahim, the Chief ElectionCommissioner (CEC) here onThursday. Fazal in his letter al-leged that President Asif AliZardari has given a task to Gov-ernor KPK for rigging the elec-tions and therefore the governorshould be changed.—INP

PPP candidateDharejo escapesattempt on life

in SukkurSUKKUR—Vehicle of PakistanPeoples Party candidate, JamIkramullah Dharejo, was firedupon near Sukkur city of Sindhon Thursday however the can-didate remained safe in the at-tack. Police said Dharejo wasdriving his car and travelling tovillage for election campaignwhen armed men on a motorbikefired multiple shot at the vehiclenear Sukkur city in Sindh.

A companion of JamIkramullah Dharejo who wasalso onboard the car was injuredin firing while the candidate for-tunately remained unhurt. Policearrived at the scene and startedinvestigation. Dharejo, who isyounger brother of Jam SaifullahDharejo, is contesting electionfrom Sindh Assembly constitu-ency PS-III, Sukkur.—INP

Malaysia’s polls

Anwar raisesvoting fraud

alarmKUALA LUMPUR —Malaysianopposition leader Anwar Ibrahimsaid on Thursday that tens ofthousands of “dubious” votersmay have been flown in to keystates to boost the government’schances in this weekend’s elec-tion, an accusation denied by theruling coalition.

Electoral fraud is a sensitiveissue in Malaysia, where a civilsociety movement has sprung upto demand electoral reforms inincreasingly large street protests.A narrow victory by the rulingcoalition on Sunday could trig-ger allegations of cheating andcalls for more street protests.

Anwar said the PrimeMinister’s Office had been in-volved in arranging charterflights for voters supplied by na-tional carrier, Malaysian Airlines.He accused the government offlying at least 40,500 individu-als since April 25 on charteredflights from the Borneo states ofSabah and Sarawak to mainlandareas.—Reuters

Innocent personsdetention notallowed: SC

I S L A M A B A D — S u p r e m eCourt (SC) has allowed 24hours to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa(KP) government to presentrecord of two missing per-sons. The court also orderedchief secretary KP and secre-tary PATA to appear before it.

A 3-member bench of SCheaded by Chief Justice (CJ)If t ikhar MuhammadChaudhry took up the case forhearing Thursday. The courtwas told during the hearing ofthe case that record pertain-ing to missing persons includ-ing Ibrahim could not becomeavailable therefore, more timebe allowed.

The court observed no in-nocent person could be al-lowed to be kept under deten-tion.—Online

ISLAMABAD—Secretary Elec-tion Commission IshtiaqueAhmed has said that cell phoneservices would not be suspendedon day of election (May 11).Talking to media here on Thurs-day, he said polling schemeshave been finalized and all com-plaints regarding the schemewould be solved by tomorrow.

He expressed the hope thatall the arrangements regardingthe provision of security wouldbe made in accordance to thegiven plan and earlier meetingsin this connection.

He said information about thepolling stations could be ascer-tained on mobile phone by SMS

No cell phone ban onpolling day: Ishtiaque

on 8300 from Monday morning.Secretary Election CommissionIshtiaque Ahmed has said that allthe polling stations should be es-tablished in accordance to theCommission’s directives.

He expressed the hope thatall the arrangements regardingthe provision of security wouldbe made in accordance to thegiven plan and earlier meetingsin this connection. He said in-formation about the polling sta-tions could be ascertained onmobile phone by SMS on 8300from Monday morning. He saidthe polling schemes have beencompleted throughout the coun-try.—Online

India-China standoff

Indian Army suggestsincreasing troops on LACNEW DELHI—A day after thethird flag meeting between In-dian and Chinese military com-manders failed to resolve theborder standoff in Ladakh’sDepsang plains, Indian ArmyChief General Bikram Singhbriefed the Cabinet Committeeon Security (CCS) on the mat-ter and shared details of China’sdemands.

The Army Chief made a de-tailed presentation to explain thestandoff, and described the pro-ceedings of the three flag meet-ings since April 15 when Chi-nese troops set up a temporarycamp inside India’s side of theLine of Actual Control (LAC).

Gen. Singh is believed tohave told the CCS that while theincursion is a localised incident,efforts at the local level havefailed to resolve the situation asthe Chinese side is insistent onthe dismantling of Indian infra-structure, including critical for-tifications, as a precondition towithdrawing its troops.

General Bikram Singh islearnt to have listed steps Indiacould take in case the Chineserefuse to pull out of Indian ter-ritory.

Indian soldiers have beeneyeball-to-eyeball with the Chi-nese in the Daulat Beg Oldie(DBO) sector since April 15,after Chinese soldiers pitchedtents 19km inside the Indian sideof the Line of Actual Control.Indian media reports said thatefforts to resolve the matter con-tinued at the diplomatic levelWednesday, with Indian andChinese officials holding discus-sions over the phone. The Indianambassador in Beijing is be-lieved to have been in touch withChinese officials to find a wayto return to the status quo be-

fore April 15.Army sources have main-

tained that it is possible to cutoff the supply lines of Chinesetroops, but some in the militaryestablishment believe it couldescalate tensions along the dis-puted border.

The army is believed to haveconveyed to the government thatforce levels at the DBO airstripcould be increased to demon-strate that India could deploytroops swiftly. —INP

Two polling stationsblown up inBalochistan

QUETTA—Miscreants Thurs-day blew up two schools desig-nated as polling stations for gen-eral election in Naseerabad dis-trict. A boys’ primary school anda middle school were bombed atthe village of Chattar inNaseerabad district.

“The school buildings weredesignated as polling stations forthe May 11 general election andwe think that they were targetedfor this reason,” district policechief Tahir Allauddin told me-dia persons. Nobody had yetclaimed responsibility.—INP

PSQCA says 31water brandsunhygienic

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Stan-dard Quality Control Authority(PSQCA) has revealed that 31brands collected from differentcities are found unsafe due tochemical or microbiologicalcontamination.

According to the monitoringreport for the quarter (January-March, 2013), it said that eightseven samples of mineral/bottled water brands have beencollected from Islamabad,Rawalpindi, Lahore, Faisalabad,Sargodha, Sialkot, Multan,D.G.Khan,Tandojam, Karachi, Quetta,Peshawar and Gilgit. Thirtyone items which are Nectar,Splash dew, Italian Crystal,Atlantis Premium Water, Hy-dro, Fresco Healthy Water,Unique Water, Pan Pura, Oriel,Kalash Pure Water, PremierPure Water, Nation, AquaCool, Kallan Water, A Cool,Aqua National, Al-Shifa Wa-ter, Active, Sparkling, Dannipure Water, Healthy Water,Vey, Standard, Vina, ECOWater, Rhine Blue, Orion,Sunlay, Blue Danube , PrimePani and Jel) are found to beunsafe due to chemical or mi-crobiological contamination.

Out of those thirty one un-safe brands 13 brands namely,Unique Water, Pan Pura,Oriel, Kalash Water, PremierPure Water, Nation, AquaCool, Kallan Water, A Cool,Aqua National, Al-Shifa Wa-ter and Active) have high levelof Arsenic ranging from 18-379 ppb while its Permissiblelimit is 10 ppb. Statement fur-ther said that this chemicalhas hazardous impact onhealth.—Online

KARACHI: Sulen Muhammad from Afghanistan in action as he beat IBSF World JuniorZhao Xin Tong of China 6-3 to reach in final of 29th edition Asian Snooker Championship.

MUNICH: Bayern Munich players celebrate a goal against Barcelona during the Champions League semi-final firstleg soccer match at Arena stadium.

B A R C E L O N A — B a y e r nMunich cruised into theirthird Champions League fi-nal in four years as a 3-0 winover Barcelona at the CampNou gave them an incredible7-0 aggregate semi-final vic-tory.

The absence of LionelMessi from the Barca start-ing line-up almost eradicatedany hope of an unlikelycomeback before the gamehad even begun, but Bayernshowed their 4-0 first-leg winlast week had been no flukewith a display of controlleddominance.

Arjen Robben openedthe scoring for the visitorswith a trademark left-footstrike just after half-time be-fore a Gerard Pique own-goaland Thomas Mueller ’sheader in the final 20 minutesensured Bayern booked theirplace in an all-German finalagainst Borussia Dortmundat Wembley on May 25 insome style.

Afterwards Pique admit-ted it was one of the mostdifficult nights he has had inhis five years at the club.“Perhaps it was the bitterest

Bayern thrash Barcelonato set up all-German final

night I have had atBarcelona,” he told SpanishCanal Plus television. “Wetried but they scored a goalvery early in the second halfand this left us broken. Thelast 25 minutes were very dif-ficult.”

For Robben meanwhile itwas unconfined joy as heaims to make amends atWembley for missing a pen-alty that could have wonBayern the trophy on homesoil against Chelsea last sea-son. “That’s history 4-0 athome and then 3-0 here, weshould be proud of that andenjoy it. Now we have to winthis thing,” he told Sky Ger-many. “We have so muchquality in the team that wecan win games like these, inthis manner.”

Already without SergioBusquets and Jordi Albathrough injury and suspen-sion respectively, Barca werehanded another huge blowbefore kick-off as the persis-tence of a hamstring injurysuffered in the first leg oftheir quarter-final tie againstParis Saint-Germain forcedMessi to start on the bench.

Without their talisman,Barca started tentatively andonly a desperate sliding chal-lenge from Pique preventedRobben from having a clearshot on goal after he gallopedclear down the left on 11 min-utes.

Pique had to be alertagain seven minutes later ashe again slid in to denyPhilipp Lahm at the end of awonderful Bayern move.

Pedro finally forcedManuel Neuer into a save on23 minutes with a long-rangeeffort that the German num-ber one turned round thepost and Xavi then had thehosts’ best chance of the firstperiod as he hooked over onthe volley after CescFabregas had chested theball down inside the area.

However, Barca were stillout of sorts with a number ofuncharacteristically longballs failing to find their tar-get and another weak effortfrom distance by Adrianowas the only other effort theymanaged on goal before thebreak.

It only took three minutesafter the restart for Bayern to

completely wipe away anylingering doubts they wouldbe travelling to London forthe final when Robben col-lected a raking crossfieldpass from David Alaba, cutinside Adriano onto hisfavoured left foot and burieda rasping drive past VictorValdes into the far corner.

Robben ought to havehad a second moments lateras another quick Bayernbreak caught Barca outnum-bered at the back, but thistime the former Real Madridman couldn’t get the re-quired touch to FranckRibery’s cross and the balldribbled wide.

But further pain was in-flicted upon the hosts 18minutes from time when abeautiful pass from LuisGustavo played in Riberydown the left and his crosswas sliced into his own netby Pique.

And four minutes later itwas 3-0 on the night as moreterrific play from Ribery sawhim burst past Alex Song anddink a lovely ball to the farpost for Mueller to head homehis third goal of the tie.—AFP

LONDON—Former Englandcaptain Mike Gatting was onWednesday named Presi-dent of the historicMarylebone Cricket Club(MCC).

The 55-year-old, whoplayed his county cricket forMiddlesex whose home isthe MCC-owned Lord’sGround, will assume his du-ties on October 1.

He was chosen by thecurrent President, MikeGriffith, who announced theappointment at the Club’sAGM this afternoon.

MCC - who revised thelaws of cricket in 1788, reis-sue them from time to timeand hold the copyright tothem - will celebrate theBicentenary of Lord’s in 2014,and Middlesex the 150th an-niversary of its formation.

Gatting made his first-class debut in 1975 andstayed with Middlesex for hisentire 23-year career, scoring94 centuries and taking 158wickets. He made his En-gland debut in 1978 inKarachi, and, in total, played79 Tests for his country.

He was appointed En-gland captain in 1986 and,although he managed to winonly two of his 23 tests incharge, they were the twothat secured England’s

Gatting appointed MCC presidentAshes victory in Australia in1986-87.

He also captained En-gland to the 1987 World Cupfinal against Australia but hisill-judged reverse sweepwhich saw him caught off

Allan Border’s first ball wasthe pivotal moment in theAustralians winning the tro-phy.

He tarnished his imagefurther in 1990 when he led arebel tour of South Africa -which was still seen as a pa-riah to official tours because

of the apartheid regime - butregained his place in the En-gland team after serving athree-year ban.

He has, though, since re-tiring as a player in 1998proved himself to be a highlycapable administrator in thesport.

Griffith said he was de-lighted someone who was soindelibly linked to Lord’sshould succeed him. “Fewpeople are so closely identi-fied with Lord’s as MikeGatting, and I am thereforedelighted that he acceptedmy invitation to serve asPresident of MCC,” he said.

“He made Lord’s hishome for Middlesex, andmade more appearances forthe county than any otherplayer. “He was an excellentand a particularly brave bats-man for England, and he hascontinued to serve cricketwith a dedication and passionthat is unstinting for bothECB and MCC. “Mike’s ab-solute priority is the good ofcricket - he cares for andthinks deeply about thegame. He has already doneso much for MCC andMiddlesex - it is fitting thatsomeone of his cricketingstature should be Presidentduring this great Ground’sBicentenary in 2014.”—AFP

ISLAMABAD: Rushna Mehboob of Pakistan and Della Arnold of Malaysia in action during match of 17th AsianIndividual Men/Women Squash Championship at Mushaf Squash Complex.

KARACHI—Omar Al-Kojahfrom Syria set the Friday’stitle clash with Afghanistan’sSaleh Muhammad afternotching-up a marathon 6-5victory over Aamir Sarkoshof Iran in the second semi-final on Thursday evening.

Earlier in the first semi-fi-nal of day, veteran Afghancueist Saleh Muhammadshocked IBSF World JuniorChampion Zhao Xin Tong.

Fighting Omar came from1-3 down to overpowerSarkosh after an intriguingand thrilling tussle.

Sarkosh made the breaksof 102 and 88 but still ended

the losers. After keen tussle,the match was locked 5-all.Bit in the deciding frameOmer held his nerves to chalkout 55-42, 69-65, 0-81, 29-59,18-102, 69-0, 0-88, 80-00, 32-63, 72-22, 53-45)

Best of 13-frame finalbreak-off at 10.00 a.m. whilethe presentation ceremonywill be held at 4.30 p.m.

The winner of the cham-pionship will take on trophyand richest cash purse of$7500 and runner-up collect$3500 with losing semifinal-ists Zhao Xin Tong andAamir Sarkosh getting $2000each.—APP

Omar sets title clash withSaleh in Asian Snooker final

SPORTS REPORTER

R AWA L P I N D I — S h e h z a dGugu lifted free class cat-egory of NLC MotocrossChallenge in an exciting andnerve-wracking motocrosscompetition held atMotocross track establishedby the National Logistics Cellat Ayub National Park hereWednesday. Director GeneralArmy Heritage FoundationBrigadier (Retd) Wiqar Gulwas the chief guest on theoccasion and gave awayprizes to the winners of theAdventure Sports.

The facility of Motocrosstrack is the first of its kind inthe region and has been es-tablished by NLC to helpstem the growing trend ofone wheeling in the midst of

Gugu lifts NLC motocross challenge

RAWALPINDI: Bikers at the start point in NLC Moto Cross Challenge.

heavy traffic on main cityroads and save preciouslives of young adventurerswhile providing them chal-lenging opportunities of ad-venture sports in safe andsecure environment.

Over 200 bikers got regis-tered themselves for the com-petition out of which only 50met the criterion set by theorganizers. Teams were di-vided in to four classes as perthe capacity of the motor-bikes. The first class was dedi-cated to 70 cc road bikes, thesecond class included roadbikes of 100cc to 125cc, thirdclass has designated 100cc to125 trail while the fourth onewas the free class category.As many as 51 teams quali-fied for the final contest. Theteams were divided in a group

of six for four rounds on 1.4kilometer track.

In the first class categoryBalaj Waris Munna won firstposition, Ali Farrukh securedsecond while MuhammadAmir clinched third positionin the competition. The sec-ond class category was wonby Shehzad Yaqub while SyedShujaat Heri and ZeeshanBaig stood second and thirdrespectively. In the third classcategory Yasir Akhlaq got firstposition while Zubair Butt andNauman were declared sec-ond and third respectively.The winner of free class cat-egory was declared ShehzadGugu. Mian Zubair clinchedsecond position whileZaigham Sohail got third po-sition in the free class cat-egory.

Karate C’shipbegins today

FAISALABAD—The 22nd Na-tional Karate Championshipand National Junior KarateChampionship will com-mence at Crescent SportsComplex Faisalabad herefrom Friday (May 3).

A spokesman of PakistanKarate Federation said hereon Thursday that karateteams from all the affiliatedunits of Pakistan Karate Fed-eration including Wapda,Army, Railways, Police,Punjab, KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Balochistan,Sindh, Islamabad and FATAare participating in the cham-pionship.—APP

National footballchallenge cup

LAHORE—Country’s topfootball teams will be seen inaction in the National Foot-ball Challenge Cup beingplayed from May 15 at DringFootball Stadium,Bahawalpur.

This event is beingorganised by Pakistan Foot-ball Federation in collabora-tion with the District FootballAssociation of Bahawalpur.

As many as 16 teams ofPakistan Premier League(PPL) and Pakistan FootballFederation League (PFFL) willcompete in the event whichpromises to produce enter-taining and quality football,said a spokesman of PFFhere on Thursday.

The participating teamsare: Khan Research Labora-tories, Karachi Electric Sup-ply Company, ARMY, Paki-stan Air Force, National Bankof Pakistan, PIA , Wapda,Habib Bank, PACA (Pak Af-ghan Clearning Agency),SSG, C National U18 team,Higher Education Commis-sion, Babahwalpur, BhattiUnited, Police, Ashraf SugarMills Bahawalpur. KRL is thedefending champion clubwhich has already won thecup three consecutive times(2010, 2011 and 2012).

“This is the most impor-tant football event after Pa-kistan Premier League (PPL)& Pakistan Football Federa-tion League (PFFL)”, headded. “We are confident ofidentifying new football teamfrom the competition whichwill supplement our ongoingefforts for uplift of the gamein far flung areas”, he main-tained.—APP

Farhan causesmajor upset inAsian SquashChampionship

SPORTS REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D —Pakis tan’sFarhan Mehboob causedmajor upset in the FMC 17thAsian Individual SquashChampionship on Thursdayby routing tournament topseed Ong Beng Hee of Ma-laysia in the second roundhere at Mushaf Squash Com-plex. Farhan, who slipped to140 in the world rankings dueto a period ofinactivity after being rankedas high as 16th in 2009, de-feated world number 22, OngBeng, by 11/4, 11/3 and 13/11. Beng Hee, who had a 5-1record against Farhan on thePSA Tour, had alsosuffereda defeat at the hands ofFarhan in the last encounteragainst him in the 2010 AsianGames team final. Pakistan’s Nasir Iqbaland Amir Atlas also wontheir matches and qualifiedfor the quarterfinals alongwith Farhan Mehboob. Nasiroverwhelmed Kuwait’s AliBader Al-Ramezi 11/7, 11/6,11/8, while Amir Atlas de-feated Jordon’s AhmadAlsaraj 11/6, 11/5, 11/8. However, Pakistan’s AliBukahari, Farhan Zaman andDanish Atlas were out of therace by losing their respec-tive matches. Farhan Zamanlost his match to fourth-seeded M Nafizwan Adnanof Malaysia. The score re-mained 11/7, 5/11, 9/11, 11/3. Meanwhile, in the womenevent, Pakistan’s Maria Toorbeat Gu jinyue of China 11/5,11/4, 11/3. Other female play-ers of Pakistan remained un-able to win their matches.

Sara to clashSaba in final of

Subh-e-NauTennis C’ship

ISLAMABAD—Top see play-ers Saba Aziz and SaraMansoor reached in final ofSubh-e-nau Clay Court Ten-nis Championship on Thurs-day by overwhelming theirrespective opponents here atIslamabad Club.

Saba defeated MeheqKhokhar in first semifinal,while Sara trounced MahinAftab in straight sets.

Both the experiencedplayers will be up againsteach other on Friday in thetitle decider.

Meanwhile, In men’ssingles M. Abid qualified forsemifinals after an easy vic-tory over Fahad. He will faceM. Mudassar in first semifi-nal.

Mudassar defeatedUsman Rafique in secondquarterfinal of the day.Usman could not continuehis match after losing firstset at 5-7 due to foot in-jury.—APP

SHAKARGARH: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan addressing a publicmeeting.

KARACHI: Former prime minister PML-N President Muhammad Nawaz Sharif talking tomedia at Jinnah International Airport.

PPP up against dwindling fortunes in Gujrat

SHAKARGARH—Revealing se-cret of Asif Ali Zardari’s abilityin running the government forfive years, Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf chief Imran Khan terms selland purchase and Nawaz Sharifthree years love with the presi-dent as success formula.

The root of tyrannic systemin the country is Thana, kechheriand patwari culture and PTI willcut this root out after coming inpower he said while addressingan election gathering atShakargarh, a city in the north-east of Narowal District, Punjab.

He termed the previous gov-ernment as the worst ever regimeof the country. He also stated the

formula for successful comple-tion of its term.

He said Asif Ali Zardari,buys everyone as people weresold to him like goats. PakistanPeoples Party and Pakistan Mus-lim League Nawaz were coali-tion partners. For three years theyhad been working together inPunjab. Punjab government hadeverything in control from schoolto power production, yet they de-liver nothing to serve the masses.

Criticizing deployment oflarge number of police person-nel, about 1260 on security ofSharif family, Imran Khan re-vealed that over Rs 200 millionwere spent for this purpose only.

Numbering consequences of de-ployment of such a heavy num-ber of police personnel on Shariffamily’s security, he expressedhis lament over that fact on oneside people of Punjab were suf-fering from worst lawlessnessand on the other hand Sharif fam-ily was living in a secure envi-ronment.

“Time has come to end Poli-tics of Interest in the country.Lion Hunter (Imran Khan) hascome to end politics of Self In-terest,” he added. Comparingcrop production in India wheresubsidy is provided on urea andloans, Khan said a new systemwas a need of the hour.—Online

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Pakistan MuslimLeague-Nawaz Chief MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif saidthat the previous governmentwas responsible for the deterio-rated law and order situation inthe province especially inKarachi.

It was no secret as all knew,which political parties had mili-tant wings. The law and ordersituation could have not becomeso dreadful if the coalition gov-ernment of Sindh paid due at-tention and took measures forthe redressal of the grave situa-tion in the metropolis.

He was talking to the news-men on his arrival at the JinnahInternational Airport Thursday.He said that the future of thecountry was in the continuationof the democratic process. Thosethat talk much about the democ-racy were after snatching thebasic democratic rights of themasses. The caretaker govern-ments did not change the bu-reaucracy except in Punjab.

The Pakistan People’s Partyis lagging behind in the processof convincing the masses due toits previous poor performances.The PML-N condemned the ter-rorist attacks on any politicalparty.

Political parties in Karachihave militant wings: Nawaz

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan Navy’sAnnual Safety Review for theyear 2012 was held at BahriaAuditorium Thursday. Chief ofthe Naval Staff, AdmiralMohammad Asif Sandila wasthe chief guest on the occasion.The safety review is held everyyear with aim to monitor thesafety standards at various Pa-kistan Navy units and to createsafety awareness & safety cul-ture. Through detailed analysisof past incidents, pertinent les-sons are drawn based on whichactive measures are initiated to

avoid recurrence.Addressing the ceremony,

Chief of the Naval Staff, Admi-ral Mohammad Asif Sandila,expressed his satisfaction overthe positive change of enhancedsafety culture within PakistanNavy.

The Naval Chief said thatsafety and operational prepared-ness complement each other inthe optimum execution of navaloperations and the best solutionfor being safe is to be consciousof hazards during all evolutions.We cannot afford to put to harmprecious lives and costly equip-ment by ignoring safety rules.

The Naval Chief was assertiveof the fact that adopting safetyas a habit a culture or more aptlya way of life is of utmost im-portance. We should lead by ex-amples so that our future gen-erations take safety as a by-prod-uct of good performance. Heurged all those responsible forthe training to give due focus tothis aspect and aim to produce awell trained and safety con-scious personnel for the field.

He reiterated that we are adeveloping country and the na-tion spends significant amountof its resources to support theArmed Forces.

Naval Chief satisfied withPN enhanced safety culture

School blasted inNaseerabadNASEERABAD—Some uniden-tified miscreants blew up a pri-mary school with explosiveshere late Wednesday night. Ac-cording to details, unknownmilitants had planted explosivematerial in a government runprimary school located inTahirkot area of Chattar nearNaseerabad. As a result of blastthe school building was razed toground but no causality or injurywas reported. Dwellers said thatthe blast was so severe that itwas heard in far-flung areas.Police have cordoned off thearea after the blast and started asearch operation.—INP

SC bars Murad fromcontesting electionsISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Thursday overruledSindh High Court’s decision andbarred PPP’s Murad Ali Shahfrom contesting elections fromPS-73 Dadu in dual nationalitycase. A three-member bench,headed by Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, upheldthe decisions of Returning Of-ficer and Election Tribunal anddeclared SHC judgment null andvoid. The apex court disquali-fied Shah over his dual nation-ality. Last month, the SindhHigh court allowed the candi-date to run for the Sindh Assem-bly constituency.—INP

Torkham borderto be closedPESHAWAR—Home Ministryof Khyber Khtunkhwa (KP)Thursday directed to seal Paki-stan-Afghanistan Torkham bor-der on May 11, the election’s dayin the wake of security reasons.The KP home Ministry has in-structed the Additional ChiefSecretary FATA to restrict theAfghan refugees to their campsfrom May 10 to 12 on occasionof election. It should be men-tioned that the directives wereissued to pouring in terroristfrom other side of the border asdefunct outfits have threatenedto target the candidates, activ-ists and polling staff. Earlier,candidates contesting the pollshave been targeted killed anddozens of people injured in sui-cide and bomb attacks on elec-tion offices and election cam-paign meetings. It should be men-tioned that Peshawar borderingAfghanistan and tribal agencieswere declared sensitive and fool-proof security to avoid occur-rence of any unavoidable incidentduring the general polls.—INP

Ziarat, MalakandDivision joltedZIARAT/MALAKAND—Severejolts were felt in district Ziarat ofBalochistan and Malakand Divi-sion of Khyber Pakhtunkhawaprovinces on Thursday. Accord-ing to details, tremor of 5.3 mag-nitude on Richter scale shookZiarat and adjoining areas caus-ing immense panic among the lo-cal people. According to Meteo-rological Department, the epicen-ter of earthquake was in Iran, 43kilometer inside earth crust.Meanwhile, quake of 2.3 intensityon Richter scale was felt.—INP

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Pakistan PeoplesParty (PPP), once a strong rivalof Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) in Gujrat, haslost its twilight this time in theforthcoming general elections asa consequence of seat adjust-ment with Pakistan MuslimLeague-Qauid-e-Azam (PML-Q). Now neck and neck com-petition is expected betweenPML-Q and PML-N while Pa-kistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI), athird emerging political force inthe country, is still striving toattract voters in biradari domi-nant constituencies.

The local political punditsclaim that Chaudharis of Gujratwill win both the national as-sembly seats since PPP and

PML-N vote bank is divided dueto various reasons.

Biradrism (caste system) fac-tor is still intact in majority ofrural areas to determine the vic-tory of any political party in gen-eral elections and Gujrat, a pic-ture perfect of biradari politicalsystem, will play a decisive rolein the electoral results since ev-ery political party including PTIis depending on Jatts, Gujjars,Arains, Butts and Kashmiris towin general elections 2013.

NA-104 Gujrat-I constitu-ency covers most of rural areassuch as Jalalpur Jattan, Tanda,Awan Sharif, Jalalpur Sobtyan,Malakpur, Hajiwala and manyvillages. Major Biradries livingin NA-104 Gujrat constituencyare Gujars, Arains, Butts, Jatts,Waraichs and Kashmiris. There

are two provincial assembly seatsin NA-104 Gujrat-I - PP-108 andPP-109 - with a total of 311,343registered votes.

NA-105 Gujrat II, a home-town of PML-Q leadersChaudhary Shujaat Hussain andChaudhary Pervez Elahi, will bea tough battlefield between PML-Q and PPP. This constituency isdominated by Jatt, Gujjar,Warraich and Butt clans and isdivided between Chaudhariesand anti Chaudharies vote. PP110 and PP 111 are the two pro-vincial assembly constituenciesthat comprise of NA 105 Gujratarea.

A tough contest is expectedbetween Jatt and Gujjar biradriesfrom NA-104. ChaudharyWajahat Hussain, a brother ofChaudhary Shujaat Hussain, is

vying for the elections from theplatform PML-Q since he is rep-resenting Jatt from this constitu-ency while his opponent,Nawabzada Mazhar Ali Khan,representing Gujjar biradri, iscontesting elections on the ticketof PML-N while Usman AliTariq is a contestant of PTI.

Nawabzada Mazhar Ali de-fected to PML-N after a rift withPPP on the issue of seat adjust-ment with PML-Q and is nowcontesting elections on the ticketof PML-N against his rivalChaudhary Wajahat Hussain.

Nawabzada Mazhar Ali,former MPA and MNA, doesnot appear in a winning positionsince his younger brotherNawabzada Ghazanfar Ali Gulis also contesting election as anindependent candidate. The rift

between Nawabzada GhazanfarAli Gul and Nawabzada MazharAli will be in favor ofChaudhary Wajahat Hussain ofPML-Q. InterestinglyGhazanfar Gul’s son,Nawabazada Haider Mehdi, iscontesting election on the PML-N ticket from PP-108.

PML-Q has fieldedChaudhry Shafaat Hussain, theyounger brother of ChaudhryShujaat Hussain from PP-109and Shujaat Nawaz Ajnala fromPP-108, PML-N candidates Ma-jor (R) Moeen Nawaz Warraichfrom PP-109, NawalazadaHaider Mehdi from PP108, PTIcandidates Bilal Ahmed fromPP-109 and Abdul Hameed Buttfrom PP-108.

A tough competition is ex-pected between PML-N backed

candidate Major (Retd) MoeenNawaz and Chaudhry ShafaatHussain of PML-Q from PP-109while the position of NawabzadaHaider Mehdi of PML-N isstrong as compared to ShujaatNawaz of PML-Q from PP-108.

NA-105 Gujrat II, a home-town of PML-Q leadersChaudhary Shujaat Hussain andChaudhary Pervez Elahi, will bea stiff battlefield between PML-Q and PPP. A former federalminister and PPP backed candi-date Chaudhary AhmadMukhtar will have to face toughcompetition since the voters ofhis constituency are annoyedwith his poor performance.Chaudhary Pervez Elahi ofPML-Q is in a winning positionafter emerging as a strong can-didate. Chaudhry Mubashir

Hussain of PML-N and Al-HajMuhammad Gondal of PTI arelagging behind in the race.

From PP-110 the PPP’scandidate is Tahir MehmoodWarrach, Zahid HussainSaleemi from PP-111, andPML-Q’s candidates areChaudhry Moonis Elahi elderson of Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahifrom PP-110, Mian ImranMasood relative of Chaudhrisfrom PP-111, PML-N’s candi-dates Chaudhry Raza Mattafrom PP-110, Haji Imran Zafarfrom PP-111 while PTI candi-dates are Saleem Sarwar Jorra,son of former PPP MPAChaudhry Sarwar Jorra;Chaudhry Ifitkhar AhmedSamaa are contesting generalelections on provincial assem-bly seats.

He asked what the politicalparties did to the country and themasses during their previousfive year long tenure when theymade remarks that the politicalcampaign was being run only inPunjab, It was a wrong percep-tion that the terrorists were notagainst the PML-N because theyhad attacked PM-N leadersLashkari Raeesani andSanaullah Zehri.

The situation in Karachicould be quite different fromtoday if the previous govern-ment had implemented the or-ders of the Chief justice of Pa-kistan regarding the law and or-der situation in the city.

Imran reveals success secret ofZardari in running 5-year govt

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Timely electionsbecoming crucially important tostabilize falling foreign ex-change reserves which areenough for three months importcover only. The IMF has offeredaccess to a US$5billion loanunder the Extended Fund Facil-ity (EFF) yet it would be opento negotiations with the incom-ing next elected government asearly as June, with a relaxed re-payment period of 4.5-10 yearsas against. The earlier Stand-ByArrangement of 3-5 years.

It may be noted that foreignexchange reserves fell by 3%MoM to US$11.9 billion equiva-lent to import cover of 3.2-months as the current foreignexchange reserves break up ac-cording to SBP was $ 11,764.4million of which $ 6,676.9 mil-lion held by the central bankwhile remaining $ 5,087.5 mil-lion are with the commercialbanks other than the State Bankof Pakistan.

In the backdrop of depletingforeign exchange reserves andIMF offer to negotiate fresh loan

arrangement with the nextelected government it has be-come most crucial that the elec-tions are held on time for avoid-ing any financial risk to thecountry, said financial experts.On the current account front thedeficit expanded toUS$513million last month tak-ing third quarter deficit CAD toUS$1.22bn compared to onlyUS$0.16billion deficit recordedin the second quarter of finan-cial 2013.

Although the political gurusas well as President, army chiefand ECP chief have expressedtheir resolve on holding the gen-eral elections on time yet poten-tial delay in elections continueto loom over as law and orderremains the most visible threatto timely elections. It may notbe out of place to mention thatanother bomb blast occurred atAbu al Isphahani road nearAbbas town today added to thefear of violence in the city.

The announcement regard-ing deployment of army inSindh and Balochistan from to-morrow was generally wel-comed in the violence.

IMF to extend $5bloan to next govt

Balochistan:Politics of

violence discardedGHULAM TAHIR

QUETTA—There is a big changein the attitude and approach ofthe leaders of the political par-ties discarding politics of vio-lence and embarked uponprogramme to play this role inthe mainstream of national af-fairs through democratic pro-cess.

Almost all the political par-ties in the province have nomi-nated their candidates for theprovincial and national assem-blies due to neutral and impar-tial role of provincial govern-ment headed by Nawab GhousBakhsh Barozai supporting nei-ther political parties nor inde-pendents and all the contestingparties and independents in thecontest have full confidence inneutral approach of the Care-taker Chief Minister GhousBakhsh Barozai who is commit-ted to ensuring free, fair, impar-tial and transparent elections.

The provincial governmenthas completed all necessary ar-rangements for the conduciveatmosphere during electioneer-ing and polling day so that theelectorates could cast their voteswithout fear. To achieve thisobjective civil armed forces andthe army personnel besides 50helicopters are available ensur-ing peace in all the ninetyTehsils, thirty districts and sixdivisions. The army has given acomplete backing to the civiladministration in the mainte-nance of law and order. Thearmy personnel will remain alittle away from the pollingbooths and invisible but wouldbe available with out loss of timein case of disturbance to avertany untoward incident.

The political observersmaintained that it is happy au-gury and the important achieve-ment of the present administra-tion that all political parties aretaking part in the electionswhich is most outstanding de-velopment in the province. Theelectioneering is in progress inthe wake of tribal rivalry. Someelderly politicians pointed outthe province was going throughserious situation where neitherthe tribal system and its tradi-tions were working nor the de-mocracy has helped in maintain-ing the law and order situation.Now the Government is deter-mined to maintain law and or-der at all cost.

There is strong realizationthat the violence is counter pro-ductive.

Musharraf to get fair trial: SCISLAMABAD—Justice JawwadS Khawaja has remarked everyopportunity of defence and ar-guments will be provided toPervez Musharraf to deliver jus-tice to him and no order of Su-preme Court will influence histrial. A 3-member bench of Su-preme Court (SC) headed by

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja tookup high treason case againstformer president PervezMusharraf for hearing Thursday.

Qamar Afzal advocate coun-sel for Pervez Musharraf arguedthat his client’s case is very im-portant case and a 3-memberbench is insufficient to hear it.

Therefore, larger bench be con-stituted, he prayed. The judgessitting in the present bench holdno good impression about myclient therefore, they will not beable to do justice”, he con-tended.

Justice Jawwad S Khawajaobserved “ case is important due

to article 6 and not due to PervezMusharraf. This matter hascome before the court for thefirst time. The 3-member benchon the other hand has been con-stituted on the request ofIbrahim Satti advocate. We cannot constitute bench on the bid-ding of any lawyer.—Online

Till Kashmirsolution, visits to

IHK illogical:Khalid Ibrahim

HAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—The chief ofJammu and Kashmir Peoples’Party, Sardar Khalid IbrahimKhan has criticised AJK Presi-dent Haji Sardar MohammadYaqub Khan who had, a fewdays ago, announced to visitIHK if the Srinagar administra-tion sends him a formal invita-tion.

In his exclusive online in-terview with the Pakistan Ob-server, Sardar Khalid Ibrahim,rejected travel to IHK without aproper plebiscital solution of theJammu and Kashmir disputeunder UN security councilKashmir resolutions.

“If our people have chosento visit IHK without termina-tion of Indian aggression fromJammu and Kashmir whichNew Dehli had committed onOctober 27, 1947, they shouldfirst launch a claim for UN-chiselled Kashmir resolution.Over 600,000 Kashmiris havesacrificed their lives since1947,”he said.

AN ORTHOPAEDIC nurse is a specialty nurse trained in orthopaedicproblems such as fractures and is

an expert in neurovascular status moni-toring, traction, casting and continuousmotion therapy. Morethan 350,000 hip fracturesoccur in the United Statesevery year (Watters,2006). Nurses’ skills, in-terventions, attitudes,communication and con-tinuity of care constitutethe essential componentsof orthopaedic nurse care.

Patient satisfactionmeasures assist nurses inthe evaluation of effec-tiveness of their practiceand assist the process ofimprovement of estab-lished orthopaedic prac-tice methods (Wu et.al,2000). Technical ad-vances in the field of or-thopaedics like Radiography, ComputedTomography, and Magnetic ResonanceImaging have not only led to improveddiagnosis and evaluation of orthopaedicdiagnosis but also innovative treatmentoptions like Vertebroplasty, BupivacaineInfiltration, Total Disc Replacement Ar-throplasty, Unicompartmental Knee Ar-throplasty, The Titanium Rib, Toe-to-Hand Transplantation Surgery, The Scan-dinavian Total Ankle Replacement(STAR), Mechanical Devices for LateralTransfers and Kyphoplasty. Thus, ortho-paedic nurse should have the essentialtraining and skills in the latest innova-

tions in the field.Nursing intervention begins with the

assessment of the patient after a trau-matic event, determination of the mecha-nism of injury, assessment of the injured

or fracture site, confirma-tion of the exact injury, iden-tification of potential com-plications, and assessmentof the patient’s social andprofessional status to iden-tify potential problems thatmight affect treatment andchallenge and are impor-tant as a cause for morbid-ity and mortality (Kobziff,2006).Fractures of the fore-arm in an adult may involvethe ulna, the radius, or bothand it is better to xray theentire upper extremity inmost upper-limb injuries(Altizer, 2003).

Spinal cord injuries aredevastating events, andthey are particularly tragic

when they affect children or adolescents(Vogel et.al, 2004).Nurses should pro-vide interventions preoperatively, intra-operatively, and postoperatively toavoid potential complications (Harvey,2005).Preoperative interventions includea thorough assessment of the patienthistory and screen for hypertension orother problems in order to avoid pos-sible intraoperative and postoperativecomplications. Intraoperative interven-tions include insertion of a urinary cath-eter, prophylactic administration of an-tibiotics and inflammation of tourni-quets.

Essentials oforthopaedic nurse care

ISLAMABAD: Students are busy in their studies at an open air school being run by a philanthropist at a public park in F-6.

ISLAMABAD—Students of Iqra University taking interest in the items displayed duringan exhibition under the auspices of ‘Women Entrepreneurship DevelopmentProgramme’.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD: Students performing during Annual Parents Day and Montessori Gradu-ation Ceremony 2013 of Roots Millennium Schools.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Annual Par-ents Day & MontessoriGraduation Ceremony 2013of Roots MillenniumSchools ThematicMontessori, F-7/1,Islamabad was celebratedwith great enthusiasm onThursday. Annual ParentsDay is the day for parentsin which their children’scomes up with beautifuland enchanting surprisesfor them. For this touchingevent the theme which wasadopted throughout theperformances was“Mosaique Musical – Cre-ating a Beautiful Word”.

Different students ofMontessori tier hosted theshow marvelously. Thetheme set for this AnnualParents Day & MontessoriGraduation Ceremony was“Mosaique Musical – Cre-ating a beautiful world”.

And the magic really

Scintillating performances of young millennialsspeak up in PNCA by thestunning performances ofYoung Millennials. A wel-come performance of SpringHawaiian Dance was pre-sented by the JuniorMontessori Students, as mu-

sic always brings happinessand adds color to life, andthe young one’s proved itby their stunning welcomeperformance.

A beautiful and hearttouching performance was

presented by the studentson “Dancing Fairies”, so theMillennials were buzzingout in that performance.The most colorful and ex-citing rhythmic perfor-mance was presented by

the Montessori studentson Costume Parade. Karate& Aerobics is a martial artdeveloped in Okinawa, Ja-pan.

Chaudhry FaisalMushtaq TI, CEO RootsMillennium Schools con-veyed his message, Rootshas completed its 25 glori-ous and proud years of aca-demic excellence and over-all achievement, so con-gratulations to all who are apart of this great Institutionand have made it possibleto make us go this far.

Addressing the audi-ence Chief Guest appreci-ated the outstanding andstunning performances ofthe Roots Montessori Stu-dents and extended hisheartiest congratulations tothe students, their parentsand teachers of Roots Mil-lennium Schools, ThematicMontessori, F-7/1Islamabad.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The United Na-tions Entity for Gender Equal-ity and the Empowerment ofWomen (UN Women) orga-nized a round table meeting on‘Women’s Participation in theElections and Security Con-cerns’. Representatives ofgovernment and non-govern-ment organizations, interna-tional development partners,academicians and researchersparticipated in the discussion.

Ms. Sangeeta Thapa,Deputy Representative/OIC,

Election 2013

Women’s participationin Elections

UN Women, in her welcomeaddress highlighted thatsupporting national effortsfor inclusive political pro-cesses and promotingwomen’s political participa-tion is a high priority for UNWomen especially as Paki-stan is signatory to interna-tional instruments and cov-enants, particularly the Con-vention on the Elimination ofAll Forms of DiscriminationAgainst Women (CEDAW).

Mr. Mark Andre, Coun-try Director, UNDP, sharedthe significant achievements

of theElectoral Cycle Supportto the Elections Commissionof Pakistan (ECAP) project.He said that the project wasset up following a request bythe ECP to the United Na-tions for electoral assistance.

The project has taken anelectoral cycle approach sup-porting the periods before,during and after elections. Theproject will be working on notonly the current election butin the long run it will begendering the whole cycle ofelections to facilitate women’spolitical participation.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—As count-down begins for the electionpolitical hustle and bustle isseen every nook and cornerof the twin cities with almostevery wall, street and build-ing being festooned with col-orful party flags and banners.

In Islamabad corner meet-ings, political camps and ralliesmark the onset of what is billedas the historic general polls thatfeature the first ever smoothtransition from one democraticegovernment to another.

Election fever is intensi-fying as it is now a week leftto election, so a great hustleand bustle can be witnessedeverywhere in the markets,

Electioneering in twin citieswhere parties stalls are setup, making different an-nouncements from their re-spective parties.

Among other contend-ers four political parties ap-pear prominent: PTI, PML-N,PPPP and JI. A brief surveyon the ramdomly spoken au-dience indicates the finalshowdown is going to be be-tween PTI, PPP and PML-Nnot just in the twin cities, butacross the country.

The candidates who gottickets from different partieshave made their campaign togo in full swing. The portraitsand stickers of different po-litical leaders particularlyNawaz Sharif, Shahbaz Sharif,Benazir Bhutto, Zulfiqar

Bhutto, Imran Khan, SheikhRashid, Hanif Abbasi, FaisalSakhi Butt and leaders ofJamaat-e-Islami are also dis-played on rickshaws, wag-ons, Suzuki pickups, cars andprivate buses along with flagsof different political parties.

While MQM, Jamaat-e-Islami, Awami Muslim Leagueand independent candidatesposters could be seen dis-played on electricity poles ofthe roadside from Rawalpindito Islamabad. In addition tothis, the party candidates andtheir supporters have dis-played electoral symbols atvarious places, which attractsa large number of people dur-ing shopping or walkingalong the road.

Workshop onQS university

rankingsSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—COMSATS In-stitute of Information Technol-ogy (CIIT) organized the 1stCIIT International Workshopon QS University Rankings, incollaboration with Higher Edu-cation Commission (HEC),Ministry of Science & Tech-nology and National TestingService, on Thursday at a lo-cal hotel. QS UniversitiesRankings (QuacquarelliSymonds) is one of the lead-ing 3 international ranking or-ganizations that have beenpublishing annually rankingsof the World’s top universitiessince 2004.

The Vice Chancellors/Rectors/Presidents and se-nior management of univer-sities from Gujrat and upwardPunjab, Islamabad, KPK andNorthern Areas participatedin the workshop.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the Rector CIIT, Dr. S.M. Junaid Zaidi, S.I., high-lighted the various initiativestaken by COMSATS to bringitself at par with internationalstandards.

PML-N setsup electioncampaigncommitteeSTAFF REPORTER

R A W A L P I N D I — M i a nMuhammad Nawaz SharifPML-N President has set upa three-member committee formonitoring and improvementof ongoing election cam-paign of different constituen-cies of Rawalpindi andIslamabad.

Leading business per-sonality and MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif’sclose companion Hamid Mirhas been appointed head ofthe Committee whereas Dr.Jamal Nasir, Pakistan MuslimLeague (N) leader, wellknown social activist & Phi-lanthropist and Sharjeel Mirof Markazi Anjuman Rajranhas been named members ofthe committee.

The committee held itsfirst meeting in Islamabadtoday and took several deci-sions to be implemented inthe next few hours.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A Two DayInternational Conference on“Problems of Quran’s Trans-lation in the Subcontinent”organized by InternationalIslamic University Islamabad(IIUI) concluded at FaisalMasjid Campus of university.National and internationalscholars agreed on the pointthat an international institu-tion for Quranic translationshould be established whichwould work in different lan-guages and arrange a net-work for discussion amongthe various Islamic scholars.

Saudi Cultural Attaché toPakistan Hazza Al-Ghamidi

Conference on problemsof Quran’s translation

was the chief guest of the con-cluding ceremony while it waspresided over by PresidentIIUI Dr Ahmed Yousif Al-Draiweesh. Ambassador ofBosnia to Pakistan, ArminLimo, Iranian Deputy CulturalCounsellor to Pakistan, AliDosti, Director General ofacademies of university anddeans of various faculties at-tended the ceremony. Largenumber of male and female stu-dents was also present on theoccasion.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Hazza Al-Ghamidi saidthat IIUI was established onthe basis of piety and broth-erhood and now it is centerof attention for whole world.

ISLAMABAD—The CapitalDevelopment Authority(CDA) will take extraordinarymeasures for renovation, up-gradation and beautificationof Sector G-9 as this sector isthe most populated sectorand Markaz G-9 is the busiesttrade centre of Islamabad.

Chairman CDA, Syed

Uplift of G-9 sectorTahir Shahbaz said this onthe occasion of launchingceremony of the sector-wise“Clean and Green Islamabad”campaign in Sector G-9 hereon Thursday. The partici-pants of the campaign alsojoined an awareness walk on“Clean and Green Islamabad”campaign.—INP

May 10

OPENING ceremony ofthe weeklong workshopon “Development ofPhysics and LaboratoryTechniques” will be heldon 10th May, 2013 at 10:00a.m. in Science Complex ofthe Allama Iqbal OpenUniversity (AIOU). Vice-Chancellor AIOU, Prof.Dr. Nazir Ahmed Sangiwill preside over the open-ing ceremony.

May 24

OXFORD UniversityPress (OUP) and Foun-dation Open Society In-stitute (FOSI) Pakistan,are delighted to host the6th Children’s LiteratureFestival (CLF) in Paki-stan. The first CLFIslamabad will be held on24 and 25 May, 2013 atPak- China FriendshipCentre.

Water scarcityin offing

RAWALPINDI—Extreme watershortage is feared in RawalpindiCantonment Board (RCB) ad-ministered areas during thesummer season, if water quotato Cantt from Khanpur Damwas not increased in comingdays of summer.

Residents of area com-plained that they were sup-plied with water for half-an-hour.—INP

Fake currency notesISLAMABAD—Circulation offake currency notes valuingRs 1000 is continuing un-checked in Karachi companymarket.

Inflow of these fakenotes makes rapid way inrush hours particularly in theevening time when all theshops are thronged by theconsumers.—Online

“Individuals andorganizations that aregood react quickly tochange. Individuals

and organizations thatare greatcreate

change.”

— Robert Kriegel,

Foreign reservesover $11bStaff ReporterISLAMABAD—The total liquidforeign reserves held by thecountry on April 26 were $11,764.4 million. Giving thebreak-up of the foreignreserves position, the StateBank of Pakistan (SBP), in astatement here on Thursday,said that the foreign reservesheld by it were $ 6,676.9million and by by banks $5,087.5 million.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Algeria wants toincrease bilateral trade by es-tablishing direct contact withthe business community of Pa-kistan and by exporting lique-fied natural gas, according toAlgerian Ambassador DrAhmed Benflis, who wasspeaking to members of theLahore Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (LCCI) inLahore.

LCCI President FarooqIftikhar gave an overview ofthe two way trade and sug-

Algeria keen to soar bilateral trade with Pakistangested a number of measures tofurther strengthen bilateral rela-tions. LCCI Senior Vice Presi-dent Irfan Iqbal Sheikh alsospoke on the occasion.

As Pakistan faces acute en-ergy shortages, Benflis sug-gested that Algeria could helpIslamabad by exporting lique-fied natural gas (LNG). Simi-larly, Pakistani businessmenshould explore opportunitiesand export rice and textile prod-ucts directly to Algeria. Hestressed that both countriesshould expand business-to-business ties by tapping all

available.He said that exchange of

delegations and sector-specificmeasures are needed to giveboost to two-way trade volumebetween Pakistan and Algeria,which is very low despite thefact that both the countries en-joy excellent political and eco-nomic relations.

Dr Ahmed Benflis alsourged the LCCI President to ar-range a strong delegation to Al-geria to explore further oppor-tunities for trade and invest-ment and an Algerian businessdelegation is also planning to

visit Pakistan in comingmonths.

Speaking on the occasion,the LCCI President FarooqIftikhar said that both Pakistanand Algeria are members ofOIC and have excellent cordialand brotherly relations. More-over, Pakistan was among thefirst countries to recognise Al-geria in 1962 upon achievingindependence from France. Hesaid that the Ambassador’s ini-tiative to visit Lahore Chamberis a step in right direction be-cause Algeria is one of the fewIslamic countries, which have

very little interaction with busi-ness institutions like the LCCI.It is always very helpful to havesuch interactions to build closeworking relations with eachother.

He said although the totalsize of two-way trade is too littlebut in recent years some im-provements have been wit-nessed in it. However, in con-trast to growth in our exports,there has been downward trendin imports from Algeria.

Pakistan exports cotton,machinery, manmade staple fi-bres, cereals, textile articles, ar-

ticles of leather, travel goodsand plastics to Algeria.Whereas mineral fuels, oils,sugars and sugar confectionery,iron and steel, pulp of wood,rawhides and skins, organicchemicals and etc are importedfrom Algeria. Algeria importspharmaceuticals, fresh fruits &vegetables, footwear, sportsgoods and etc in a large amountfrom abroad. Pakistan hasearned a unique place world-wide in these areas and can cap-ture greater share of Algerianmarkets with some guidanceand co-operation.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tele-communication Company Lim-ited (PTCL) and Bahria Townhave today signed MoU agree-ment, through which PTCL willdeploy Information Communi-cation Technology (ICT) ser-vices and infrastructure inBahria Enclave, Islamabad.

The agreement shall enableresidents of Bahria Enclave toexperience superior telecom ser-vices of PTCL including voicetelephony, broadband internetand SmartTV as well asPakistan’s fastest and most reli-able EVO wireless broadbandinternet services.

The agreement was signedby Tariq Salman, Chief Techni-cal Officer PTCL and Maj

PTCL signs MoU with BahriaTown for deployment of services

ISLAMABAD: Tariq Salman, Chief Technical Officer PTCL (right) and Maj Gen (Retd) Shaukat Sultan, Executive Direc-tor Bahria Town (left) exchanging documents after signing MoU for deployment of ICT services and infrastructure inBahria Enclave.

Gen.(R) Shaukat Sultan, Execu-tive Director Bahria Town in thepresence of Walid Irshaid, Presi-dent and CEO PTCL and MalikRiaz Hussain, Ex-ChairmanBahria Town. Dr. Riaz Inayat,PTCL Executive Vice President(EVP) Network Development;Cdr. (R) M. Ilyas along withother senior officials from PTCLand Bahria Town were alsopresent at the occasion.

Tariq Salman, Chief Tech-nical Officer PTCL while speak-ing at the signing ceremony said,“We are pleased to partner withBahria Town and look forwardto a cooperative and mutuallybeneficial relationship. Over theyears, PTCL has made con-certed efforts to deploy world-class telecom infrastructure forthe development of the country

and its economy”. “Our goal is to enable our

society to get the most benefitout of our advanced ICT solu-tions and provide our custom-ers with value-centric services”,he added further.

Maj Gen. (R) Shaukat Sul-tan, Executive Director BahriaTown said at the occasion, “It’sa matter of great pride for BahriaTown to partner with PTCL,country’s largest and leadingtelecommunication services pro-vider. We understand the needsfor improvement in the ICT sec-tor, and for this reason out of thesix fiber optic networks thatPTCL has deployed, this wouldbe the second one for Bahriatown residents. We plan to moveforward with the same spirit forfuture projects as well”.

Pak has great renewableenergy potential: Minister

Khushhalibanksecures 1st place atMicrofinance Mela

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The State Bankof Pakistan hosted the MicroFinance Mela 2013 held at CraftBazar Bahawalpur and was par-ticipated in by Micro FinanceBanks from across the countrysuch as Khushhalibank Ltd,Tameer Micro Finance Bank,NRSP Bank, The First MicroFinance Bank, NGOs such asKashaf Foundation and MadawaWelfare Organization.

The main theme of this melawas to celebrate the work beingdone in the microfinance indus-try to alleviate the socio-eco-nomic conditions in the countryand to reduced poverty and un-employment.

The unique aspect of the ar-rangement was that the clients ofeach of the participating banksdisplayed their products, repre-senting the businesses that haveflourished thanks to the financialsupport extended from the Bank.This served as a confidencebuilder as well as a marketing en-deavor for the entrepreneurial in-dividuals who are considered thevery life blood of the economy.

Khushhalibank’s stall dis-played different hand crafted gar-ments, decoration pieces, utensilsand jewellery etc created byKhushhali clients. A Multimediaand sound system was also ar-ranged showing a documentary ofKhushhalibank’s journey.

Oil, Gas forum onMay 30Staff ReporterISLAMABAD—The annual5TH Pakistan Oil & GasForum 2013 organized byShamrock ConferencesInternational will be held onMay 30, 2013 at the MarriottHotel, Islamabad. The themeof the forum is “Exploring andSustaining Energy Needs –Charting Pakistan’s Road toEconomic Development” Theforum attracts a cross-sectionof professionals and practitio-ners from the oil and gassector of Pakistan, includingkey personnel from theMinistry of Petroleum andNatural Resources and itsallied organizations anddepartments. This year’sforum will primarily focus onthe implementation of the oil& gas policy and to findpractical solutions to thechallenges of energy require-ments in the country.

Google Nexus 4 inPakistanStaff ReporterISLAMABAD—LG Electron-ics, in collaboration withMobilink launched the state-of-the-art Google Nexusphone in Pakistan. The phonewill be financed anddistributed in market and toMobilink by BrightexDistribution. Mobilink willalso offer a bundle packageto its customers along withthe phone which will include2GB bucket for 90 days &Free Trial offer of MobiMusic for 15 days. TheNexus 4 is the newest smartphone in the Nexus line-upfrom Google. With asophisticated hardwaredesign from LG, incredibleprocessor powered byQualcomm Technologies Inc(QTI), Qualcomm® Snap-dragon (TM) S4 ProProcessor, and using a 1.5GHz quad-core CPUs, theNexus 4 puts the best ofthese leaders in the palm ofyour hand. “LG is proud andexcited to play this role inhelping build the latestNexus smartphone,” said Mr.D.Y.Kim, President of LGElectronics, Gulf FZE.“Users will be delighted bythe perfectly balancedcombination of form andfunction with the latestgeneration of Android.”

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMBAD—Federal Ministerfor Water and Power, Dr.Musadik Malik has said thatPakistan has great potential ofRenewable Energy and weshould formulate such policiesto attract the investors in thissector by facilitating them.

While presiding over 27thboard meeting of AlternativeDevelopment Energy Board(AEDB) the Minister said thatAEDB should play its role asone window facilitator and towork for bringing investmentfor the Renewable Energy

projects.The Board approved six

month extension in letter of sup-port to M/s Hydro ChinaDawood power. The board alsodecided to set up a committeeto negotiate with Government ofSindh regarding an issue of sub-lease of allocated land for 50MW wind project.

The Minister also askedAEDB to take up matter withNepra on up front tariff policyfor wind project especially oncapacity factor recently an-nounced by Nepra. On theproposal for extension ofLOIs to all the investors for

fast track development ofwind project, the meeting di-rected AEDB to submit theproposal on case to case basiswith valid reasons in the nextsitting of the board.

The Minister while conclud-ing the meeting also asked theCEO, AEDB to give a detailedpresentation on co-generation ofBagasse Energy projects so thatLOIs to be issued to interestedinvestors. The Minister stressedthe need to link the performancefor promotion of employees andask for submission of AEDBregulations to the next meetingof the Board on 7th May, 2013.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prominent busi-ness leader Malik SohailHussain has been re-appointedas Chairman, Diplomatic Af-fairs, Media and Public Rela-tions for the FPCCI Capital Of-fice Islamabad for the year2013.

The appointment was madeby the President Federation ofPakistan Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (FPCCI)Zubair Ahmed Malik. A notifi-cation has been issued in thisregard.

Zubair Ahmed Malik, Presi-dent FPCCI presented appoint-ment letter to Malik Sohail, on

Malik Sohail reappointed as ChairmanDiplomatic Affairs, Media & PR

ISLAMABAD: Zubair A Malik, President FPCCI and Munawar Mughal, former PresidentICCI are presenting appointment letter to Malik Sohail Hussain.

the occasion Munawar Mughal,Chairman Expo CommitteeICCI, Former President ICCI,Muhammad Ali, Vice PresidentFPCCI, Sheikh Abdul Razzaq,Chairman Coordination Com-mittee FPCCI Capital OfficeIslamabad and Tariq Mehmood,Former President Attock CCIalso present.

Sohail has also served VicePresident National Traders Al-liance, President Traders Wel-fare Association Blue Area andas the Senior Vice President ofIslamabad Chamber of Com-merce & Industry. He is a knownfigure in the business and dip-lomatic circles of Islamabad.

His appointment is reflec-

tive of the confidence reposedin him by the President FPCCI,in view of his matchless con-tribution in the same capacitylast year. His outreach willhelp business community inresolving many outstandingissues.

Malik Sohail Hussain saidthat I will try to come up withexpectation of FPCCI and givehis best to keep Flag of FPCCIhigh. He also thanks Tariq Sayedleadder of Business PanelGroup, Vice President CACCI,Former President SAARC CCIand FPCCI, S.M. Muneer, Presi-dent Indo-Pak CCI, and IftikharAli Malik, Vice PresidentSAARC CCI.

Creative economy mostfeasible development option

ISLAMABAD: Officials of UNIDO and Iqra University sign-ing agreement.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The United Na-tions Industrial DevelopmentOrganization (UNIDO) and IqraUniversity on Thursdaylaunched a Creative IndustryCentre and Image Bank at theuniversity’s Islamabad campusto support women entrepreneur-ship by establishing strong linksbetween academia and industry.

Top officials of both insti-tutions and large number ofwomen entrepreneurs includingfashion designers and studentswere present on the occasion.

Those who spoke on the oc-casion included Project Managerof Unido’s Women Entrepreneur-ship Development ProgrammeMr. Marlen Bakalli, Unido Con-

sultant Giulio Vinaccia, NationalProgramme Coordinator ShahinaWaheed, Chancellor Iqra Univer-

sity Hunaid Hussain Lakhani,Dean Dr. Muhammad Islam andrepresentatives of the FirstWomen Bank Limited. They saidthat designing has become an im-portant tool for rapid economic de-velopment as many countries areearning more from fashion design-ing as compare to auto industry,mining and finance etc.

Creative industry is futureengine of growth; it is an areain which many developing coun-tries including Pakistan enjoycomparative advantage, the said.

The experts said that in-creasing commercialization ofthe creative sector has created awindow of opportunity as it isone of the fastest growing sec-tors which is at seven per centof the global GDP are growingover ten per cent annually de-spite global economic decline.The speakers said that creativeindustry has not been mentionedin the Pakistan’s IndustrialPolicy which is discouraging.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Securitiesand Exchange Commission ofPakistan (SECP), to ensure pro-tection of investors, provide en-hanced transparency, and to fa-cilitate companies, has framedthe Draft Companies (Distribu-tion of Specie Dividend) Regu-lations, 2013 (the “draft Regula-tions”) . Draft Regulations havebeen published in the officialGazette of Pakistan and are alsoavailable on the official discus-sion forum of the SECP. Publiccomments can be submittedonline on http://

Public opinion sought oncompanies regulations

forum.secp.gov.pk/forum.php,latest by May 23, 2013. Speciedividend is a form of dividendwhere shares of another companywhether listed or unlisted, whichare held as investment by the is-suing company, are distributedamong the entitled shareholders ofthe issuing company. Distributionof shares of another company asdividend is an acceptable practicein the market which is consideredbeneficial to both the issuing com-pany and its shareholders.

These draft Regulations havebeen developed after detailedstudy of practices in various in-ternational jurisdictions. They

broadly cover the eligibility con-ditions for declaration of speciedividend, the requirement to pro-vide an independent valuation re-port for the securities to be dis-tributed in case the company isunlisted, conditions for distribu-tion of specie dividend, and therequirement to provide a detailedinformation memorandum toshareholders for the securities tobe distributed. In order to ensuremaximum investor protection andtransparency it has been made arequirement that a company’s Ar-ticles of Association should ex-plicitly permit the distribution ofspecie dividend.

Mehmood Arshadappointed as

chairman FPCCIstanding committee

STAFF REPORTER

I S L A M A B A D — P r e s i d e n tFPCCI Mr. Zubair AhmedMalik hasr e a p -pointed Mr.MehmoodArshad, asthe Chair-man ofF P C C IS t a n d i n gCommitteeon ‘IslamicBanking &Takaful’ for the year 2013, inview of his services as Chairmanof the same Committee, duringpreceding year.

During the year 2012, themembers of the Committeerendered valuable contributionto achieve the objectives,which include creating andmaintaining effective commu-nication-bridge between thebusiness community and Is-lamic.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Pak-Business Ex-press, the most modern, wellfurnished and well equipped,private-sector run train aftercompletion of one year of itssuccessful operations has cur-tailed its travel time by one hour,now it is reaching the destina-tion in record 17 hours insteadof 18 hours. The train plyingbetween Lahore and Karachiwith only nine coaches, has con-tributed a staggering amount ofRs.100 crore to the national ex-chequer in just a little over oneyear.

In a statement issued here,Director Pak-Business ExpressMian Shafqat Ali said that thenine-coach train is the smallestone but it is the biggest earninghand of Pakistan Railways. Hesaid that the train has attainedthe status of role model and an

Now Karachi is just 17hours away by train

Pak-Business Express makes another recordample proof of private sector’sabilities to turn even loss mak-ing entities into a profit-makinginstitution.

He said that no other trainis contributing such a big rev-enue to Pakistan Railways. MianShafqat Ali said that the Pak-Business Express had not com-mitted any default as all dues arebeing paid well in time to thesatisfaction of concerned au-thorities. He said that success ofthe train could be gauged fromthe fact that there is a great pas-senger pressure and occasionallytickets are often sold in advance.

The success of Pak BusinessExpress added a new page topublic-private partnership (PPP)as the private sector-run train isearning huge money at this pointwhen PR is facing a huge defi-cit and suspension of trains on alarge number of routes has be-come order of the day.

Mian Shafqat Ali said thatthe very objective behind thisventure was revival of PR andbringing back the lost gloriesonce attached to it. The amountPak Business Express has so farpaid to PR is bigger than thegrand total what the railway au-thorities are getting from allother trains.

He said that Pak BusinessExpress has so far spent a hugeamount to ensure comfort to pas-sengers from buying tickets totheir destination. Pak BusinessExpress spent a big amount to re-duce travel time between Lahoreand Karachi. Pak Business Ex-press is the only train that is trav-elling in between Lahore andKarachi in record time, he added.

“Time was the biggest is-sue for the train travellers andthe management of Pak Busi-ness Express has focused on thisissue vigorously.

Financially integratedSouth AsiaStaff ReporterLAHORE—“SAFE’s projecton developing a harmonizedregulatory framework shallserve as a first step towardsbuilding a financiallyintegrated South Asianregion”, said Mr. Aftab AhmadCh., MD Lahore StockExchange and SecretaryGeneral SAFE during a pressbriefing session held by SAFEof its USAID Small GrantsProgram funded project ondeveloping a regionallyharmonized regulatoryframework. Aftab, in hisspeech, emphasized on theneed to increase cross boarderfinancial activities within theSouth Asian region to createstrong intraregional links andan integrated economic region.

AN ORTHOPAEDIC nurse is a specialty nurse trained in orthopaedicproblems such as fractures and is

an expert in neurovascular status monitor-ing, traction, casting and continuous mo-tion therapy. More than350,000 hip fractures occurin the United States everyyear (Watters, 2006).Nurses’ skills, interven-tions, attitudes, communi-cation and continuity ofcare constitute the essen-tial components of ortho-paedic nurse care .

Patient satisfactionmeasures assist nurses inthe evaluation of effec-tiveness of their practiceand assist the process ofimprovement of estab-lished orthopaedic prac-tice methods (Wu et.al,2000). Technical ad-vances in the field of or-thopaedics like Radiogra-phy, Computed Tomogra-phy, and Magnetic Resonance Imaginghave not only led to improved diagnosisand evaluation of orthopaedic diagno-sis but also innovative treatment op-tions like Vertebroplasty, BupivacaineInfiltration, Total Disc Replacement Ar-throplasty, Unicompartmental Knee Ar-throplasty, The Titanium Rib, Toe-to-Hand Transplantation Surgery, TheScandinavian Total Ankle Replacement(STAR), Mechanical Devices for LateralTransfers and Kyphoplasty. Thus, or-thopaedic nurse should have the essen-tial training and skills in the latest inno-

Essentials oforthopaedic nurse care

vations in the field.Nursing intervention begins with

the assessment of the patient after atraumatic event, determination of themechanism of injury, assessment of theinjured or fracture site, confirmation of

the exact injury, identifica-tion of potential complica-tions, and assessment ofthe patient’s social andprofessional status toidentify potential problemsthat might affect treatmentand challenge and are im-portant as a cause for mor-bidity and mortality(Kobziff, 2006).Fracturesof the forearm in an adultmay involve the ulna, theradius, or both and it isbetter to xray the entireupper extremity in mostupper-limb injuries (Altizer,2003).

Spinal cord injuries aredevastating events, andthey are particularly tragic

when they affect children or adoles-cents (Vogel et.al, 2004).Nurses shouldprovide interventions preoperatively,intraoperatively, and postoperatively toavoid potential complications (Harvey,2005).Preoperative interventions includea thorough assessment of the patient his-tory and screen for hypertension or otherproblems in order to avoid possible in-traoperative and postoperative compli-cations. Intraoperative interventions in-clude insertion of a urinary catheter, pro-phylactic administration of antibioticsand inflammation of tourniquets.

KARACHI: A wish gathering was organized at Governor House for Make-A-Wish ailing children. Photo shows Governor Sindh Dr Ishratul EbadKhan, Founding President MAW Ishtiaq Baig, Justice (Retd.) Saeed uz Zaman Siddiqui, Dr Ikhtiar Baig, Minister Health Dr Junaid Ali Shah, MDPIA Capt Junaid Younus, Surgeon Faiz, Moin Khan, Saleem Yousuf, Zeba Bakhtiar, Hina Dilpazeer and Antoine Joignant.— PO Photo Sultan Chaki

KARACHI: Group photo of Chairman NAB Admiral (Retd) Fasih Bokhari with partici-pants of 18th Director Generals Conference.

KARACHI: Policemen and people standing around wreckage of auto rickshaw blown upblast at Abul Hassan Isfahani road.

KARACHI: Singer Arif Ansari performing at Art Council during a family musicalnight.—PO photo

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh ChiefMinister (CM) Justice (Retd)Zahid Kurban Alavi said thatforthcoming general elec-tions would be held on May11 at any cost while provin-cial interim governmentwould ensure fair, free andtransparent elections.

The objective of conven-ing All Party Conference wasto consult the political lead-ers and take the political par-ties on board. Nearly all po-litical parties in conferencedemanded the deployment ofArmy for peaceful and fairconduct of general elections.

Polls on May 11 at any cost: AlviHe said that Army would re-main on standby and when-ever necessary army wouldbe deployed on sensitivepolling stations. Army wouldbe available as rapid re-sponse force.

The caretaker CM saidthis while talking to GermanMedia delegation at CMHouse Thursday. The del-egation discussed variousmatters pertaining to holdingof general elections on May11. The delegation com-prised of Robin Ruhling,Christian Zarm, IngoHasewend, Ul-Qudoos Haq,Dipl-Ing Karl-Heinz.

The caretaker CM in-formed the delegation thatprime responsibility of in-terim government was toprovide logistic support toelection commission of Paki-stan (ECP) for peaceful andconductive general elections.

He informed the Germandelegation that provincial gov-ernment had extended maxi-mum support to ECP addingthat his administration hadtaken concrete measures onpriority basis to improve lawand order situation and a com-prehensive security plan hadbeen evolved by law enforce-ment agencies, which would

be strictly implemented.He informed German del-

egation that Pakistan giftedwith huge natural resourcesand there were many oppor-tunities of investment hehoped that visiting Germandelegation would convincethe investors to take advan-tage of investment opportu-nities in Pakistan. He addedthat there were huge re-sources of Coal and Gas inSindh province and by devel-oping and benefiting fromthese natural resources wecould achieve new destina-tions of development andprosperity.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI–Sindh Law Depart-ment digitalized all the lawsunder the Sindh Code 1823.The digitalization of SindhCode encompassed all thelaws and amendments in thelaws promulgated in the prov-ince during past 190 years.

The Sindh Code 1823 wasofficially inaugurated bySindh Governor Dr Ishrat UlEbad Khan at Sindh Gover-nor House Thursday. Sindhcaretaker Chief Minister Jus-tice (Retd) Zahid Kurban Alviwas also present.

While speaking on theoccasion, Governor said thatjustice was witnesses in thesociety but it was void of bal-

Ebad for amendments in lawsto block safe exit of criminals

ance and impartiality due towhich the impact of justicedone were bearing less fruitand it was imperative that thejustice should be done withcomplete balance sio that thesociety could feel the taste ofthe sweet fruit of justice.

He said that the com-mencement of Sindh Codewould be helpful to the stu-dents of lawa dn the commonman for ready reference intheir studies and discussionsas the entire chain of laws pro-mulgated in 190 years wouldbe available on website.

He said that the deterio-rated law and order situationin the country and the prov-ince was calling for radicalchanges and amendments in

the existing laws that gov-erned the crimes and crimi-nals so that the crime andcriminals should be elimi-nated from the society.

He said that the flaws inthe laws helped the criminalsto escape due execution andpunishment and by improv-ing the existing laws throughamendments would ensurethe criminals would not befree without due justice doneto them. It would also improvethe soft image of the country.

The Governor said thatencroachment of public landwas a menace that deprivedthe state of precious landwhile the land grabbers al-ways make hay while Sunshines.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Sir Syed Univer-sity of Engineering and Tech-nology has launched an ex-tensive in-house skill devel-opment program for its em-ployees to overcome theproblem of over-staffing onone hand and meet the short-age of skilled persons in vari-ous departments on theother.

Under the program, a firstbatch of 30 employees,

SSUET Skill Development Programmemostly computer operatorsand office assistants is under-going training in short handwriting and secretarial proce-dures.

The training is being con-ducted by instructors who in-clude three senior stenogra-phers under the supervision ofDeputy Controller Examina-tion, Irfan Naqvi, who used tobe the private secretary of Sec-retary Local Government,Sindh.According to RegistrarShah Mahmood Hussain

Syed, this ongoing programwill continue for six monthsafter which the trainee will besubjected to a test and suc-cessful of them will be awardedcertificates. They will also beconsidered for future promo-tions. He said the university isfaced with shortage of shorthand writers and this trainingprogram will help overcome theproblem.

Under the skill develop-ment program, the Universityhas trained 18 machine opera-

tors in maintenance and up-keep of various machines.They were imparted trainingthrough reputed GENCO andSiemens solutions.

The program also in-cludes 3-day training in ex-amination system, item writ-ing, MCQ Bank, Marking etc.

The 3-day course will beconducted in consultationwith Thomas Christy, Profes-sor Emirates from Manches-ter with Dr Amin Rehmani astraining coordinator.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Karachi Metro-politan Corporation (KMC)Administrator Syed HashimRaza Zaidi said that the pa-tients, who suffer from blooddiseases, could lead normallife after proper and timelytreatment. In this connectionthe role of various organiza-tions’ blood banks was worthadmiring.

KMC in its hospitals andclinics was taking all possiblemeasures for treatment ofpatients affected by hemo-philia and thalassemia.

Proper treatment of patientswith blood diseases urged

He said this while talkingwith the delegation of bloodbank. He said that the provi-sion of free blood to poor andneedy patients was gooddeed and in this connectionvarious organizations wereplaying vital role. Cousinmarriage was a main cause ofthalassemia and hemophilia.Children suffering fromblood cancer, thalassemiaand other diseases werehardly saved and if facilitiesfor dealing with blood dis-eases were not available, theparents remain in deep pain.

The hemoglobin electro

process test was very impor-tant before marriage so thatupcoming generations couldbe safe from this disease.KMC was reviewing to startthis test in its hospitals sothat citizens could avail thisfacility.

He said KMC was alsotaking measures to ensureavailability of blood forneedy patients in its clinicsand hospitals whereas bloodbanks in Abbasi ShaheedHospital, Sobhraj MaternityHome and Sarfaraz RafiquiShaheed Hospital were al-ready operative.

MQM informsECP of pre-poll

rigging in 35polling stations

KARACHI—MQM onThursday informed the Elec-tion Commission of Pakistan(ECP) that rigging is plannedis 35 polling stations on May11. In a letter addressed tothe ECP, MQM’s seniorleader Farooq Sattar said thatrigging is planned in NationalAssembly constituenciesNA-248 and NA-249.

Sattar demanded that theECP should take notice of thesituation. Moreover, Sattaralso urged the ECP to im-prove law and order situationahead of the elections.

It is pertinent to mentionthat NA-249 constituencycomprises the Karachi’s oldcity areas, includingKharadar, Mithadar, BoultonMarket, Ranchore Lane,Dharamsiwara, Nanakwara,Napier Quarters, Ramswamiand Nabi Bakhsh and Jubi-lee market area, Pan Mandi,and KMC stadium in SaddarTown.

In 2008 general elections,MQM’s Farooq Sattar wonfrom NA 249 a huge margin.This time round, Sattar isagain contesting from sameconstituency.

Nabil Gabol, who re-cently joined the MQM, iscontesting from NA-246 andNA-248 mostly comprisingareas of Lyari. He will faceShahjahan Baloch of PPPand the Pakistan PeoplesParty-Shaheed Bhutto (PPP-SB) chairperson GhinwaBhutto.—NNI

PPP to sweepelections: Qaim

KARACHI—President, Paki-stan Peoples’ Party (PPP)Sindh Syed Qaim Ali Shahhas said that PPPP is fullyparticipating in general elec-tion 2013 and in spite of hin-drances and threats from cer-tain elements, we willInshaAllah sweep the elec-tions and we are confidentthat our candidates will comeback with success by win-ning the maximum seats inparliament and Sindh Provin-cial Assembly.

Syed Qaim Ali Shah saidthat inspite of excessivesand attacks on PeoplesParty workers, the Jiyala’s ofShaheed Benazir Bhuttohave not reacted because,certain ill-fated leaders of socalled parties are efforting toget elections postponed.

He further said thatinspite of atrocities and ter-rorist attacks againstMQM, ANP and PPP, theseaffected progressive partiesand other like minded anddevoted democratic forceshave fully rejected and op-posed such intentions anddesires/demand of un-democratic elements.—NNI

Merchandizeworth millions

burnt in fireKARACHI—More than 10warehouses were guttedwhen a blaze erupted in theWest Wharf area of the citylate Wednesday night caus-ing of millions of rupee.

According to details, thefire broke out at the cargowarehouse in West Wharfand assumed more intensitywith tempestuously blowingwind. As a result, the blazeengulfed three other abuttingwarehouses.

Cosmetics and chemicalsstored at the warehouseswere burnt. Drums filled withoil added fuel to the fire.

Receiving the report re-garding the fire breakout, firebrigade vehicles rushed to thescene. Declaring the fire ofthird degree, the fire brigadecalled in all the firefighting ve-hicles from the city.—INP

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Fructose effect on brainmay explain link to obesity

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

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

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

duced fructose as in processed foods. Hesaid:

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

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

LAHORE: Salman Shahbaz Sharif presiding a corner meeting in NA-128 and PP-159.Rana Mubashir Iqbal, Talha Burki and Akhtar Badshah are also present.

LAHORE: PU VC Dr Mujahid Kamran presenting a souvenir to Punjab Governor Makhdom Ahmed Mahmood at aseminar on Social Discrimination — Poison for Democracy at Punjab University.

LAHORE: A street vendor selling caps and glasses to a customer at his roadside set-upin provincial capital.

LAHORE—Lahore, at alltimes a citadel of powerwhere from the power is be-lieved to flow, has become ahotbed for the rivals con-testing 2013 general elec-tions.

Usually known as astronghold of the PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz(PML-N), the Punjab me-tropolis will see some toughcontests with the emergenceof Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI). The vote of twomajor parties, the PML-Nand the Pakistan People’sParty Parliamentarians(PPPP) is going to be di-vided to fill the bags of PTIcandidates.

Experts are not yet cer-tain that who will be secur-ing clear victory in the up-coming polls. The changingsituation is not only con-fusing the experts but alsothe party leaders, who arediligently wooing the voterswith enchanting agendasand tall claims to resolve

their problems.The parties will be play-

ing the final round and makelast ditch efforts to persuadethe voters as last week for thecampaign is about to set in.

Once again Lahore will befocus of all political partieswith 13 National Assemblyseats. Besides Mian NawazSharif, the PML-N chief, thiscity has also remained focusof PPP leaders Zulfikar AliBhutto and MohtarmaBenazir Bhutto, who pre-ferred to contest electionfrom there. PTI chief ImranKhan is also not an excep-tion as he chose one ofLahore’s constituencies totest the waters.

Past electoral history re-veals that since 1985, thePML-N has been the majorparty to win elections fromthis city with one exceptionwhen it secured only twoseats in 1988.

Mohtarma BenazirBhutto and Mian NawazSharif never lost election fromLahore though Imran Khan

was beaten by Sardar AyazSadiq in 2002 polls and nowonce again he is going for atough contest from the samerival.

The PML-N remained aleading party in 1990, 1992,1997, 2002 and 2008 electionewith winning eight, seven,eight, four and eleven seatsrespectively from the cityfollowed by the PPP withone, two, zero, three and twoseats respectively.

Religious parties couldonly have won a few seatswhen they were in alliancewith Nawaz Sharif in theIslami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI).Otherwise, these parties, es-pecially the Jamaat-e-Islami,had been unsuccessful de-spite claiming considerablepresence in the city.

Some PPP leaders likeAitzaz Ahsan, JehangirBadar, Miraj Khalid and oth-ers were also not consistentto win seats for their partyand will also not be in therun this time.

In this politically enliv-

Lahore: Power citadel terms into rivals hotbedening city, all the major po-litical parties are once againflexing muscles to give toughtime to the PML-N while try-ing their luck independently.Though the PPPP apparentlyseems to be the third mostpopular party in the city inpresence of vigorous cam-paign launched by the PTI.By the time Samina KhalidGhurki is the only strongPPPP candidate.

The PML-N has a strongteam as far as Lahore is con-cerned with fielding 50 per-cent old candidates andSharif family members con-testing on three seats. On thecontrary the PPPP has no bigname this time except SaminaKhalid Ghurki, Bushra Aitzaz,wife of PPP stalwartChaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan, andKhurram Latif Khosa, the sonof former Punjab GovernorSradar Latif Khosa. Similarlymost of the PTI candidatesare also newcomers.

The trend of changingpolitical loyalties is minimalin this cradle of politics ex-

cept one worth-mentioninginstance of Hammad Azhar,son of Mian MuhammadAzhar, a former PML-NGovernor of Punjab, who iscontesting election as a PTIcandidate.

But, nobody can say ofthe wave like the one thatmade PPP founder ZulfikarAli Bhutto to sweep pollsin 70s. This time the deci-sion of winners or losers willlie with the youth and thefemale voters. Had therebeen independent deci-sions by the new voters, thePTI may have given toughtime to the PML-N. But, ifthe family norms of obey-ing the elders, prevailedthen the PNL-N can be suc-cessful owing to longstanding affiliations of theelders with the Sharifs.

Sharifs are desperate tokeep their power hub intactwhile Mr Khan will be try-ing his traditional bounc-ers along with in and outswingers to bold themout.—APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Administrativemachinery of Punjab hasbeen fully mobilized for trans-parent conduct of electionsand maintenance of law andorder. Police and other con-cerned institutions will en-sure complete implementa-tion of the code of conductof Elections Commission ofPakistan. A hotline 8070 hasbeen set up for lodging com-plaints against any irregular-ity and prompt action in thisregard.

This was stated by ChiefMinister Najam Sethi whilepresiding over a high levelmeeting in Lahore. ProvincialHome Minister Tariq Pervezand heads of law enforce-ment agencies were presenton the occasion. The meet-

Govt machinery fullymobilized for fair polls: Sethi

ing reviewed in detail themeasures for making Punjabelection monitoring centreresponsive to public com-plaints.

The Chief Minister madean appeal to the people thatin case of violation of thecode of conduct during elec-tion activities they shouldregister their complaintsalong with photographic evi-dence at telephone hotlines8070 or by downloading ap-plication at their smartphones and send it to theElection Monitoring Center.

Punjab government willcompletely monitor thesecomplaints from the registra-tion to the resolution of thegrievances and in case actionis not taken, those respon-sible will be proceededagainst. He said that holding

of transparent elections is anational responsibility. Hesaid that the caretaker gov-ernment of Punjab has givenaccess to the ordinary citi-zens to the election monitor-ing system so that peacefultransparent and impartialelections could be ensured.

The meeting also re-viewed the government mea-sures for dealing with secu-rity challenges while a sepa-rate election plan was givena final shape for the imple-mentation of the code of con-duct on the election day.

Najam Sethi said that thelaws regarding holding ofpublic meetings and cornermeetings without permis-sion, wall chalking and dis-play of firearms will be fullyimplemented. He said thatpeople should immediately

contact Punjab ElectionMonitoring Center in case ofactivities of suspicious ele-ments or terrorists. He saidthat there are apprehensionsabout law and order, how-ever he expressed his satis-faction over the fact thatPunjab caretaker governmentis fully prepared to ensurepeaceful conduct of elec-tions.He said that security plan hasalso been evolved at provin-cial and district levels for deal-ing with any untoward inci-dent. Similarly, polling sta-tions have been divided intothree categories and securityplans have been evolved ac-cordingly. He said that noone would be allowed tohamper election process onMay 11 and government willensure holding of free, fairand impartial elections.

STAFF REPORTER

LA H O R E—Punjab Educa-tion Foundation (PEF) hasarranged child-friendly at-mosphere in its partnerschools so that the stu-dents could study in a con-genial atmosphere andcome out as confidentleader of tomorrow.

Chairman Punjab Educa-tion Foundation Raja Anwarsaid this while talking to aten-member delegation ofschool teachers, principalsand educationists at hisresidence on Wednesday.

He said that various in-stitutional reforms havebeen introduced includingstrictly banning corporalpunishment in schools.

The PEF has estab-lished school committees tocheck the menace of corpo-ral punishment. The foun-dation has also provided

PEF has builteducation-friendlyatmosphere: Anwar

quality library books to thepartner schools to broadenthe intellectual horizon ofs tudents .

He said that the publicprivate partnership modelof the foundation is aunique experience in theeducation sector which hasgiven new confidence tothe private sector schoolsand helped the poor andneedy to send their childrento school without beingburdened.

The foundation hasalso provided soft loans forthe setting up of IT and sci-ence labs in the secondarylevel partner schools.

He further said that pro-motion of education is acollective responsibility ofthe society and thereforethe NGOs as well as thecorporate sector shouldcome forward for this noblecause.

Sethi ordersjudicial inquiry

into SarabjitSingh death

LAHORE—Caretaker ChiefMinister Punjab Najam Sethihas ordered judicial inquiryinto the demise of Indian spySarabjit Singh.

The chief minister di-rected to examine all factorsinvolved in the death of theIndian prisoner.

Sarabjit Singh was hos-pitalized on Friday April 26following injuries sustainedduring a scuffle with fellowinmates in Lahore’s KotLakhpat Jail.

The Foreign Office saidthat government of Pakistanhad been providing all assis-tance to the family of SarabjitSingh as well as to the Indianauthorities since the occur-rence of this unfortunate in-cident.

The government willcontinue to facilitate for theearly completion of all for-malities and hand over themortal remains of the prisonerto the Indian High Commis-sion at the earliest possible,it added.

Meanwhile, Indian PrimeMinister Manmohan Singhdemanded “justice” from Pa-kistan.

Indian foreign ministryspokesman SyedAkbaruddin called for Paki-stan to conduct a probe intothe assault on SarabjitSingh.

Singh was arrested in1990 and later found guiltyof spying and involvement indeadly bomb blasts in Paki-stani cities.—INP

LAHORE—PML-N presidentMian Nawaz Sharif has said PPPgovernment has turned futureof Pakistanis bleak by acquir-ing record high loans runninginto over one trillion rupees.

“ PPP led erstwhile govern-ment had made the future ofpeople of Pakistan bleak by at-taining record high loans to thetune of over one trillion rupees.loans taken by PPP led coali-

One trillion loan has downednation’s pride: Nawaz

tion government during its fiveyears tenure surpassed theloans taken during the last 60years. These incompetent rul-ers had taken the loan ratio tohigh notch of 68 percent whileno government can obtainloans beyond 60 percent ofGDP”, He said this while talk-ing to a delegation which calledon him here Thursday.

PML-N had broken the

begging bowl but PPP ledgovernment heaped loans allover the world by extendingbegging bowl. Revival of na-tional economy would be themajor challenge for next gov-ernment, he observed. PML-N is ready to face this chal-lenge”, he added. “If we arevoted to power we will whittledown the volume of theloans”, he vowed.—Online

Political coalitionto corner PPP:

MalikLAHORE—Former federal in-terior minister, SenatorRehman Malik alleged onThursday that a political coa-lition has been formed in asubtle manner to corner anti-Taliban parties like PPP.

Addressing a press con-ference at a local hotel, hesaid terrorists weretargetting only three partiesincluding the PPP, ANP andMQM, but PML-N and PTIwere holding public gather-ing even at Swat and north-ern areas. Malik challengedPML-N leader Mian NawazSharif to debate on media,adding that he would soonexpose the corruption ofSharif family.

He said the position ofSharif brothers who fled toJaddah and the agreementmade by them have been ex-posed though they earlier de-nied any such agreement.

He alleged that Mian NawazSharif did not want Chief Jus-tice Iftikhar Chaudhary to berestored as chief justice. It washis suggestion to restore en-tire judiciary on which PresidentAsif Ali Zardari restored thehonourable judges, heclaimed.—APP

Campaignfor safe

participation ofwomen in polls

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—South Asia Part-nership–Pakistan haslaunched its nationwide cam-paign on safe political partici-pation of Women in the up-coming General Election2013, as voters and candi-dates. This campaign islaunched under Aawaz ,Voice and Accountabilityprogram .

The basic objective ofthis Campaign is awarenessraising and motivation for thepublic at large and to sensi-tize them, to ensure women’sand religious minorities par-ticipation in political and elec-toral process as they mustbe exercised their right tovote and to contest in theelection as candidatessafely, and to eliminate vio-lence against women in poli-tics.

To make this Campaignmost effective, multi purposeactivities and programs arebeing conducted throughvarious media (print and elec-tronic) channels.