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CAIRO: Protesters opposing Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi wave Egyptian flags and shout slogans against him andmembers of the Muslim Brotherhood during a protest in front of El-Thadiya Presidential Palace.

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DAR ES SALAAM, (Tanza-nia)—President Obama de-fended U.S. intelligence-gath-ering tactics Monday in thewake of a report in a Germanmagazine that the National Se-curity Agency had wiretappedEuropean Union buildings.

Der Spiegel reported Sun-day that the NSA also infiltratedcomputer networks and de-scribed the 27-country bloc as a“target,” a report that hasprompted outrage from top Eu-ropean officials.

At a news conference here,Obama said he has asked aides

to look more closely at the rev-elations in the story, and he de-clined to comment on the specif-ics. But the president said that,more generally, all spy agenciesgather information beyond thatwhich is publicly available fromlarge media organizations such asthe New York Times and NBCNews.

“In European capitals,people are interested not just inwhat I had for breakfast, but whatmy talking points are when I’mmeeting with their leaders,”Obama said, suggesting thatother countries employ the same

kinds of tactics. The presidentinsisted that there was nothingsinister about the NSA’s meth-ods, emphasizing that any infor-mation he is given is less impor-tant than his personal conversa-tions with European leaders.

“I’m the end user of this kindof intelligence, and if I want toknow what [German] Chancel-lor [Angela] Merkel is thinking,I will call Chancellor Merkel,”he said.

The allegations made by DerSpiegel are the latest in a stringof revelations on the tactics of theNSA , which also has been col-

lecting massive amounts ofAmericans’ cellphone recordsand monitoring computerrecords of big Internet compa-nies such as Facebook andGoogle. The disclosures, madeby The Washington Post and theGuardian newspapers, as well asDer Spiegel, were facilitated byformer NSA contractor EdwardSnowden, who has been chargedby the U.S. with several feloniesrelated to the leaks.

Snowden has left the UnitedStates and is presumed to be inRussia znd on Monday appliedfor assylum there. Obama de-

Obama defends US intelligence gatheringclined to confirm a report thathe and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin have asked theirlaw enforcement agencies tonegotiate a return of Snowdento the United States. The U.S.does not have an extraditiontreaty with Russia, potentiallymaking a turnover more diffi-cult. Obama sought to reaffirmthe alliance between the U.S.and the European Union.

“Ultimately, we work soclosely together that almost noinformation is not shared be-tween our various countries,” hesaid.—AP

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Military gives Morsi,opp 48-hour ultimatum

Protesters set fire to Muslim Brotherhood HQ, 4 ministers resignCAIRO—Egypt’s powerful mili-tary issued an ultimatum to thegovernment and its opposition onMonday: resolve the crisis thathas pitted hundreds of thousandsof President Mohamed Morsi’sopponents against his supportersand brought this country to a po-litical standstill — or the militarywill announce its own solution.

“The armed forces reiteratesits call to meet the demands ofthe people, and it gives everyone48 hours as a last chance to carrythe burden of the ongoing historiccircumstances that the country isgoing through,” military com-mander Abdel Fatah al-Sissi saidon national television a day after

huge crowds of Egyptians tookto the streets calling for thepresident’s ouster.

“If the demands of the peopleare not met within the given pe-riod of time, [the military] willbe compelled by its national andhistoric responsibilities, and inrespect for the demands ofEgypt’s great people, to an-nounce a roadmap for the future,and procedures that it will super-vise involving the participationof all the factions and groups,”Sissi said.

Anti-government activistshave called repeatedly on themilitary in recent days to backthem in their struggle against

Morsi and his supporters in theIslamist Muslim Brotherhood.Many interpreted Sissi’s remarkson Monday as a victory for theircause, reports The WashingtonPost. “I think it’s highly un-likely that Morsi will be able tomake a deal with the oppositionin 48 hours. I don’t think any-one wants to deal with Morsianymore,” said Wael Nawara, alongtime political activist, andthe co-founder of the liberalDustour party.

“So that effectively meansthat the military will basicallyappoint some kind of transitiongovernment,” he said. The mili-

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IMF agrees togive Pakistan

$5b loanISLAMABAD—InternationalMonetary Fund’s clutches haveexpanded further as the Fundagreed to pay $5 billion loan toPakistan, media reported onMonday.

The agreement on fresh loanwas reached after two days oftalks in Islamabad. Ministry ofFinance has also confirmed thebreakthrough.

During talks, the governmentofficials addressed IMF’s reser-vations over energy sectors andtaxation side.

The authorities assured IMFthat tax collection target has beenset at Rs. 2475 billion during thenew fiscal year through expan-sion in the tax net, whereas, sub-sidy will be reduced step by step.

IMF was also told that remit-tance of power tariff and linelosses will also be brought down.The Fund’s mission will stay inPakistan till Tuesday.—Online

SC gives 10-day deadline to FIAto complete EOBI scam probe

ISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Monday directed theFederal Investigation Agency(FIA) to complete its investiga-tion in the multi-billion scam ofEmployees’ Old-Age BenefitsInstitution (EOBI) within tendays and submit a detailed reportbefore the bench.

A three-judge bench com-prising Chief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, JusticeIjaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Jus-tice Gulzar Ahmed initiated a

Suo-Motu case in multi-billionscam of the EOBI.

The bench also directed theSecretary Interior to extend ev-ery possible cooperation to theFIA for completing investigationin the case.

The bench also directed theinterior ministry to provide se-curity to former Chairman De-fense Housing Authority (DHA)Tariq Kamal and the journalistwho uncovered the corruption inthe EOBI. During the course of

proceeding, the Attorney Gen-eral Munir A Malik apprised tothe bench that according to areport by the Election Commis-sion of Pakistan (ECP), the ve-hicles of EOBI had been usedduring the elections on whichthe Chairman EOBI was re-moved from his post.

Secretary EOBI informedthe bench that in a board’s meet-ing on June 11, 2013 it was de-cided that no property should be

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Nawaz’s China visit highmark in bilateral ties

Ambassador Weidong foresees greater Pak-Chinarelations; Economic corridor to be a reality

ASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—Ambassador SunWeidong of China says, Beijingis looking forward to most cor-dially receiving Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif on his arrival in theChinese capital tomorrow whenhe will start his first visit to theneighbouring country after as-suming the charge of premiershipof his country.

Talking to journalists at theChinese embassy, Monday, theambassador said, the PakistanPrime Minister has chosen Chinato be the first country to visit af-ter taking over as chief executiveof Pakistan. This clearly showshow greatly Pakistan values itsrelations with China.

The ambassador recalled thatthe Chinese prime minister re-cently visited Pakistan as part of

his first foreign tour after he tookover as the chief executive of his

country. This clearly reflectedimportance Beijing gives to itsrelations with Pakistan.

He said, the Pakistani leaderwill interact with Chinese lead-ership and discuss all major is-sues concerning peace in the re-gion, international and regionalmatters of mutual interest as wellas bilateral cooperation in vitalareas. He said, the two sides willdiscuss energy crises in Pakistanwith a view to exploring possi-bility of Chinese assistance toovercome the problem.

They will also discuss pros-pects for more extensive coop-eration in the fields of infrastruc-ture, agriculture and people topeople contacts. Nawaz Sharif is

For new look of the Government....

Send packingcorrupt officials: PM

LIAQAT TOOR

ISLAMABAD—For weedingout corruption from the admin-istrative set up, Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif has directed tosend packing corrupt officialsto create a new look of the gov-ernment.

In his fresh directive to allMinisters, Secretaries, officialsand staff working in attacheddepartments, Prime Minister or-dered for taking immediate mea-sures to curb corruption, ensuregood governance, and improveworking and public dealing.

Corrupt, dishonest and inef-ficient officers cannot deliver tothe people, therefore qualifiedand well-reputed officers shouldbe deployed to ensure rule of law.

Rooting out corruption is thetop priority of the government,there should be zero-tolerance forshady officials, he said in his let-ter. He said the presently de-ployed staff needs to be properly

screened and those having repu-tation of inefficiency, unfriendlyattitude towards public and cor-ruption shall be removed, or theircontracts cancelled forthwith.

Nawaz Sharif also statedthat his directives should be

implemented in letter and spiritfor better results.

He said governance cannotbe improved unless corruption,nepotism, inefficiency and con-

flict of interest are tackledupfront. The Prime Minister saidthe issue has been discussed indetail in the first cabinet meet-ing and on many subsequent oc-casions.

He said clear directions mustbe issued to the officers and staffworking under the administrativecontrol of Ministries, contractualappointees, inductees anddeputationists, to perform theirassigned duties professionallyand in the interest of the generalpublic. “There is no room for cor-rupt and non-transparent prac-tices in the present dispensation,”the Prime Minister said.

“The people of Pakistanhave reposed their trust and con-fidence in our government and tobetray their trust is not an op-tion,” he said.

“The imperatives of goodgovernance are not completewithout strict observance of of-ficial code of conduct, as well as

Power-shareproposal

angers KabulKABUL—Pakistan has floatedthe concept of an Afghan power-sharing arrangement betweenKabul and the Taliban as part ofa peace talks “end game,” Af-ghan Deputy Foreign MinisterErshad Ahmadi said on Monday,a suggestion met with outragein Kabul.

The idea was raised in a Fri-day meeting between Pakistaninational security adviser SartajAziz and Afghan ambassadorUmer Daudzai, Ahmadi toldReuters.

It involved a form of feder-alism and ceding power in someAfghan provinces to the Taliban.It also suggests a visit by BritishPrime David Cameron to the re-gion at the weekend to promote

Hazara townvictims laid to restSTAFF REPORTER

QUETTA—Amid tight securityby police and paramilitarytroops all the 30 victims of adeadly suicide bombing inQuetta’s Hazara town were laidto rest on Monday.

A large number of peoplewere present at the burial undersecurity cover by the provincialadministration. Security wasalso tightened in and aroundHazara Town to prevent theoccurrence of another untowardincident. Frontier Corps (FC)and police personnel weredeployed at all exit and entrypoints leading to Hazara town.

Sindh govt restores1979 LB systemSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh governmenton Monay restored 1979 localbodies system in the province.According to Sindh govern-ment sources, there will bemunicipal corporations inHyderabad, Sukkur andLarkana.

The official sources furthersaid that Deputy Commissionerwill be the District MunicipalCommissioner as well who willoversee the functioning of themuncipal set up.

Meanwhile, it has also beenlearned the Gadap and Malirtowns have been merged to givethem a shape of DistrictMunicipal Corporation (DMC)Malir. In the similar fashion,DMCs have been formed for thefive districts of Karachi.

Scotland Yardfinds evidenceagainst AltafLONDON—London Metropoli-tan Police has interrogated twoleaders of Muttahida QaumiMovement and recoveredimportant archives as well ashigh valued diamonds,jewellery from two banklockers, reported a British-based website quoting sources.

According to sources,police had tracked the details ofbank lockers while conductingsearch operation on Altaf

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MULTAN—Former PrimeMinister (PM) Syed YousafRaza Gilani has called for pro-moting politics of reconcilia-tion to end lawlessness andterrorism and warned if it isnot done so country willplunge into more chaos. Hesaid this while talking to me-dia men along with JUI-F chiefMaulana Fazlur Rehman at hisresidence here Monday.

He held that there areseveral incompetent politi-cians in the country but “ Iam the only politician whowas disqualified. Respond-ing to a question he said noclue has been found abouthis kidnapped son AliHaider Gilani nor has anyone contacted them in thisregard. No one has con-

tacted him for recovery ofhis son nor has any one ac-

cepted responsibility for kid-

Emergency tasks assigned to irrigation officials

Gilani calls for promotingpolitics of reconciliation

napping him, he added.‘We are in contact with

administration and agencies

in connection with recoveryof Ali Haider Gilani”, he un-derlined. Maulana FazlurRehman said on the occasioncountry stands victim of ter-rorism since the last 3 de-cades and its borders are in-secure. Therefore, federationwill have to take along all theprovinces to protect thecountry against menace ofterrorism. “We will have topursue a balanced foreignpolicy on this count, hestressed.

He regretted over kid-napping incident of AliHaider Gilani. “Yousaf Gilaniis my brother and Ali HaiderGilani is my son. I will raisevoice against his kidnappingin the parliament”, hestated.—Online

MULTAN: Ameer JUI (F) Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman andformer Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani talkingto media persons.

Mallick laudsNawaz will for

India tiesMIRPUR—Jammu & Kash-mir Liberation League Presi-dent and Ex-Chief Justice ofAJK High Court Justice(Retd) Abdul Majeed Mallickon Monday appreciated thewillingness of Prime Minis-ter Mian Nawaz Sharif for theestablishment of normal re-lations with India.

Talking to newsmen here,he said Pakistan and Indiandialogue on Kashmir disputecan initiate the process toreach its final settlement in thelight of the aspirations of thepeople of Jammu & KashmirState. He said that Pakistanand India are willing to pro-mote and exchange of trade andpeople-to-people contactsthrough the exchange of del-egations of the expertise. Com-menting on the recent visit ofIndian Prime Minister ManMohan Singh.—APP

PESHAWAR—Two police menof the Special Force werekilled when unknown miscre-ants opened firing on theirsecurity check point on RingRoad here on Monday, policesaid. According to police, uni-dentified assailants openedindiscriminate firing on police-men Usman and Subhan Sherwhen they signaled the out-laws to stop for search in thelimits of Peshtakara policestation. As a result, boththe cops sustained critical in-juries and were rushed to LadyReading Hospital where theysuccumbed to their woundsthe outlaws escaped from thescene.

Dera Murad Jamali: Un-

known armed men shot killedthree laborers and injuredfour others in Tehsil Tamboof Nasirabad district, latenight between Sunday andMonday.

Station House Officer PSKhan Kot, Abid Ali Bangulzaitold APP that laborers work-ing on road project in TehsilTambo were asleep at nightwhen unidentified armed menriding bikes came there andopened indiscriminate fire atthem, leaving three of themdead and four others injured.“The victim laborers wereworking on an ongoing roadproject from Imrani Shakh toMagsi Shakh area,” he said.The assailants managed to

escape from the scene.The police after receiving

information rushed to the siteand shifted the dead and in-jured to hospital. The deadwere identified as DurMuhammad Mengal, AbdulJabbar and Gul MuhammadJamali and the injured wererecognized as Madad Ali,Khadim Hussain, Habibullahand Qadir Bakhsh Nichari.Later, the injured were re-ferred to Larkana Civil Hos-pital due to their serious con-dition.

Bahawalpur: A man waskilled by unidentified kidnap-pers near Abbasnagar onMonday, some 25 kilometersfrom here.—APP

Three labourers killed, 4 injured in ambush

Miscreants firing oncheck point kills two cops

SALAHUDDIN HAIDER

AN evening wasorgnaised here at thecity’s biggest and

most modern food streetPort Grand toi n t r o d u c ethe Italianculture to thePakistanis.

The Ital-ian consulgeneral inK a r a c h iR o b e r t oFranceschinis inaugurated

it, informing the audienceabout the rich Italian cul-tural and its centuries oldheritage. His was a countryfavous for tourism andlovely cuisine however thefunction was marred by mis-management.

The event managementgroup e-commerce gate-way, normally good at or-ganizing events, howeverfelt stranded at its new ex-perience of organizing acultural show.

Over 300 guestswere sold tickets of Rs 500

each, but the three of fourconsul generals l ike theRussian consul generalAndrey Demidov, theSwiss consul generalDidier Boshung and hiswife, were all were put togreat inconvenience, Firstthere was no reserved seat-ing arrangement for foreigndiplomats.

Then no rehearsal wasdone as to how a carnivalparade will be taken out.Repeated announcementswere made from the stagethat the parade is about to

Italian cultural eveningcome, but i t s tartedatleast 45 minutes laterwhile the guests felt dis-comfited by humidweather.

The parade finally fol-lowed by two models,r iding a buggi, and twomagicians holding f ireholders in their hands,and a police band was inat tendance.

Most guests left be-fore the ceremony couldbe completed. There wasnothing about I tal ian inthe whole show.

KP govt establishescomplaint cell

PESHAWAR—The Govern-ment of Khyber Pakhtunkhwahas established complaintcells in Labour, C&W Depart-ment and Social Welfare, Spe-cial Education and WomenEmpowerment Departmentsfor the speedy disposal ofcomplaints filed by publicagainst government function-aries and to direct the quar-ters concerned for correctiveactions. According to a state-ment issued here Monday,Aftab Ahmad Khan, SectionOfficer General has been nomi-nated as the focal person forLabour Department who canbe accessed on telephonenumbers 091-9210981.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The FederalFlood Commission (FFC) onMonday said that flood sea-son 2013 has commencedand all main rivers includingIndus, Jhelum, Chenab, Raviand Sutlej are flowing normalwhile River Kabul is in me-dium flood stage with fallingtrend in Warsak-Nowsherareach. According to FFC re-port, River Swat is also flow-ing in flood with falling trendat Charsadda Road Bridge.

The actual river flows andreservoir elevations indicate

that Tarbela and ManglaDams are at elevations of1504.98 feet and 1185.15 feetrespectively, which are 45.02feet and 56.85 feet below theirrespective Maximum Conser-vation Levels of 1550.00 feetand 1242.00 feet. The com-bined live storage position ofTarbela, Chashma andMangla reservoirs is 7.869MAF as compared to lastyear’s 1.356 MAF. Accordingto Flood Forecasting Division(FFD), Lahore, Yesterday’strough of Westerly Wave

over northern parts of thecountry today lies over Kash-mir and adjoining areas. Sea-sonal Low lies over NorthernBalochistan.

As forecast by Flood Fore-casting Division (FFD),Lahore, scattered thunder-storm /rain is expected overKashmir and uppercatchments of rivers Jhelumand Chenab during the next 24hours. Isolated thunderstorm/rain may occur over KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Punjab(Rawalpindi, Sargodha.—APP

Kabul running in medium flood

KP peace top priorityPESHAWAR—Central Naib Amir Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) and Senior Minister, KhyberPakhtunkhwa Siraj-ul-Haq has said thatthe establishment of peace in the prov-ince is the top priority of the provincialgovernment. He expressed these viewswhile talking to a 20-member delegationfrom district Battagram here in Al-Markaz-e-Islami on Monday. Generalsecretary, JI, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,Shabir Ahmad Khan and amir district

Battagram, Mohammad Rafiq where also present on theoccasion. Senior minister said that drone attacks shouldbe stopped immediately and stressed need for the reviewof the foreign policy. He said that solution to all problemsis in the establishment of Islamic system for which Jamaat-e-Islami is making efforts. He also condemned the loss ofprecious lives in Badhber suicide attack. The delegationalso invited the senior minister for a visit to Battagram,which he accepted. Earlier, KP Chief Minister PervezKhattak also said that restoration of peace was the toppriority of the provincial government. He urged the federalgovernment to formulate and adopt a clear policy in thisrespect and added the provincial government would ex-tend full support to the federal government for restorationof peace. A handout said that he was talking to a delega-tion of Shia Ulema Council at his office here on Tuesday.President of Shia Ulema Council Allama Ramzan Tauqueerled the delegation. The CM said that Pakhtuns were themain victims of the war that has been going on for the lastmany years in the province and had been imposed uponthem. He expressed grief over the tragic incidents of ImamiaColony and Madrassa Hussainia and assured the delega-tion of all possible efforts to bring the culprits to justice.He also directed the concerned quarters to substantiallyincrease the amount of compensation to be given to thevictims of such incidents.—APP

People to feel change soonISLAMABAD—Secretary InformationPakistan Muslim League Nawaz (PML-N) Senator Mushahidullah Khan Mon-day said that investment in the countrywas increasing after the PML-N gov-ernment came into power. Employmentopportunities would also increase withthe boost in trade activities and increas-ing investment, he said in a statementissued here. Had the pervious govern-ment focussed on economic stability

unemployment and inflation would have been controlled,he added. He said that previous government had run theeconomy by printing the currency notes instead of under-taking reforms in national institutions which caused infla-tion. He said that PML-N was focussing on policy of in-creasing business activities in the country. Parliamentaryleader of PML-N in Senate Mushahidullah Khan said thatthe people would feel the change within the next fewmonths. He said that PML-N had initiated work on manyprojects aimed at reducing loadshedding while paymentof 70 percent circular debt had been made by the govern-ment, adding that with the payment of loans, closed in-dustry would also start working besides controling theenergy crises in the country. Earlier, talking to PakistanTelevision channel, Senior Leader of Pakistan Peoples PartyBarrister Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan said that the regionaland other countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka hadopened trials against military dictators and decisions weretaken against them for violating laws. He said that militaryof other countries were also very strong but that the insti-tutions never intervened in the Constitutional matters ofthe governments.—APP

Youth killing denouncedISLAMABAD—Chairman of JammuKashmir Liberation Front (JKLF),Muhammad Yasin Malik has stronglycondemned the killing of two Kashmiriyouth by the Indian Army. Terming thekilling of Irfan Nabi and Tariq Ahmadanother glaring example of Indian stateterrorism, Malik in a statement said thisform of terrorism has been unleashed inKashmir by the so-called largest democ-racy in the world, KMS reported. “A day

before Indian Foreign Minister was giving us a lesson toforget and forgive and after only some hours his forceshave once again shown their ugly brutal face and killedmore innocents,” he said. Malik said that the Kashmiriswere not safe even in their own homes. “The sacred bloodof Kashmiris cannot go unnoticed and Indian state and itsKashmiri puppets will have to reply for these criminal acts,”he added. Meanwhile, JKLF Bandipora district President,Syed Nisar Jeelani along with a delegation reachedMarkundal Hajin and Koundbal Sumbal met the families ofmartyrs and expressed solidarity with them. JKLF-R Chair-man, Farooq Ahmad Dar, Chairperson of Duktaran-e-Millat,Aasiya Andrabi and High Court Bar Association also ex-pressed anguish over the killing of youth by the IndianArmy in Sumbal. Barrister Abdul Majeed Tramboo in astatement in Brussels further said that more than ten thou-sand enforced disappeared persons had been brutally killedin custody and buried in these newly-discovered graves,KMS reported. Tramboo has raised the mass graves issueon various international forums in the past. The Europeanparliament even passed a resolution in this regard. Sens-ing the gravity of the issue, the EU appointed James Alesas Special Rapporteur to have deliberation with India onthis issue, the statement added. Barrister Tramboo alsoexpressed his grave concern over the deteriorating stateof human rights across the length and breadth of the terri-tory.—APP

UAF to ink MoU with CAASFAISALABAD—University of Agricul-ture Faisalabad (UAF) will sign a Memo-randum of Understanding (MoU) withChinese Academy of Agricultural Sci-ences (CAAS) aiming at sharing knowl-edge and expertise to meet the growingenergy demands in a sustainable man-ner. The MoU would be signed underthe auspices of Punjab Government toexplore new avenues meeting the en-ergy needs with the help of Chinese ex-

perts. The was stated by UAF Vice Chancellor Prof. DrIqrar Ahmad Khan while presiding over the meeting of theDeans’ Committee here at New Syndicate Hall on Monday.The University, he said, was the one of its kind that isgoing to offer about 33 new need based degree programmesthat include PhD Physics, PhD Ecology, PhD Genetics,BSc Energy System Engineering, BSc Environmental En-gineering, BS (Software Engineering), BS Bioinformatics,BS Computer Science, BS (Information Technology), BBA(Hons.), BSc (Hons.) Dairy Science Program, Pharmacy-D,MA English, MA Sociology, MA Economics, MSc Math-ematics, M.Ed. and an Associate Degree in Education meantto produce trained manpower to cope with the challenges.The Higher Education Commission, he said, has termedthe UAF initiative of engaging students on hourly bases,a role model for all universities of the country that wouldease-out financial constraints of the students and incul-cate a sense of dignity of work among the youth.—APP

QUETTA—Trade activitiesare at stand still as strike isbeing observed in the provin-cial capital against the HazaraTown blast here on Monday.At least 28 people of HazaraShia community includingnine women and three chil-dren were killed and over 50injured in a suicide blast tookplace outside an Imambargahin Hazara Town, on Sundaynight. Two people later suc-cumbed to their injuries inCMH on Monday.

In protest against thedeadly attack on the shiacommunity, Hazara Demo-cratic Party, Shia Council andPkMAP announced strikecall for the city. Reacting tothe attack, main markets inthe city remained closed.

However, traffic plying onthe road was as usual. Strin-gent security has beenadopted to avert any even-tuality. Vehicles of Law En-forcement agencies are seenpatrolling in the sensitive ar-eas. Additional force de-ployed, on the main junctionsare also checking the pedes-trian and vehicles.

The death toll of HazaraTown suicide bomb blast hasrisen to 30 after two injuredsuccumbed to their injuriesand the number of injured is56. The police told APP, hereon Monday that 22 bodieswere kept in Combined Mili-tary Hospital, six in BolanMedical College hospital andtwo in Sandeman Civil hos-pital. The number of injured

being treated at the threehospitals is 56.

When contacted, hospitalsources told this scribe thatthe injured were recognizedas Qambar Ali, Hayatullah,Rahman, Ismail, SaeedAhmed, Raza, Munawwar,Roohullah, Eid Ahmed, SaeedGul, Mir Ahmed, MuhammadHussain, Hazrat Mujahid,Abid Hussain, Amona Bibi,Shair Hussain, Ali Raza,Hameed, Ali Agha, Nilofar,Bakhtawar, Mehran,Shehzadi, Razia, Hadi, Fatima,Tahira, Soghra Bibi, RukhsanaBibi, Masooma, Latifa,Muhammad Raza, Qurban Ali,Abdul Raziq, Sajid Hussain,Talib Hussain, Ali, Aziz,Muhammad Ali, Ali Ashgar,Kulsoom, Fatima and Zakia.

It is remembered here thatunknown suicide bomberdetonated himself outsideImambargah Ali Abu Talib inAli Abad area of HazaraTown Sunday night when hewas stopped at the barrier forbody search. As a result ofthe explosion, 28 persons in-cluding nine women andthree children were killed, andover 50 were injured. Thedead and wounded includeshopkeepers and customers.

At least 28 people ofHazara Shia community in-cluding nine women and threechildren were killed and over50 injured in a suicide blasttook place outside anImambargah in Hazara Town,on Sunday night. Two peoplelater succumbed to their inju-

ries in CMH on Monday.Chaghi: A man was killed

and two others sustained in-juries in a landmine explosionnear Pak-Afghan border areaof Chaghi district on Mon-day. According to Leviesforce, three residents ofChaghi were travelling in avehicle when their vehiclestruck landmine. As a result,they sustained wounds andwere rushed to nearby hos-pital where one of themnamely Allah Gul succumbedto his injuries during treat-ment. The injured includingZia-ul-Haq and Masood werereferred to Quetta based hos-pital in view of their criticalcondition. Law enforcementAgency and Levies forcereached the site.—APP

By-electionschedule

PESHAWAR—The ReturningOfficers issued public noticeand by-election schedule for2013, for the vacant seats ofNational and provincial as-semblies of KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KP).

According to Spokes-man of Provincial ElectionCommission here, the candi-dates can submit their nomi-nation papers with the Re-turning Officer on July 3 to9,while scrutiny of theirnomination papers would beheld on July 11-17.

The last date for filing ofappeals before the tribunalagainst the decision of theReturning Officer rejecting/accepting the nominationspapers is July 22.—APP

Profiteerswarned of actionSIALKOT—The district admin-istration has finalized arrange-ments to cope with price hikeduring Ramazan in Sialkot,Daska, Pasrur and Sambrialtehsils. Special teams will bedeputed to check the qualityand prices of articles of daily-use in Ramazan bazaars and inmarkets and profiteers wouldbe dealt with an iron hand, Dis-trict Coordination Officer(DCO) Iftikhar Ali Sahoo saidon Monday. Talking to report-ers, he said special attentionwould be paid to the availabil-ity of a sufficient quantity ofdaily-use items during the holymonth of Ramazan in the dis-trict.—APP

Speechcompetition

GUL HAMAAD FAROOQI

CHITRAL—Speech competi-tion from different schools heldat Government High SchoolBooni some 75 KM from hereunder auspices of PakistanThinker Forum. Title of thespeech was “Students can playactive role in development ofthe nation and country”.

The ceremony was pre-sided over by Sardar Ali viceprincipal of Aga Khan ModelSchool Booni which wasstarted with the recitationfrom the Holy Quran by stu-dent of 10th class. Some stu-dents also presented NaathSharif while national Anthemwas unanimously read by allof participants. Some stu-dents who delivered speechin favor of the topic wereAnoosha Batool, Kiran Ali,Kiran Atta, Andaleeb Safdar,Farhana Parveen.

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakhtunkhwa Minister forHealth, Information andDeputy ParliamentaryLeader of PTI, Shaukat AliYousafzai has assured thedoctors community thattheir problems will be solvedon priority basis and betterworking conditions wouldbe provided to them.

Talking to delegations ofYoung Doctors Association(YDA) and Provincial Doc-tors Association (PDA) hereMonday, he said that doc-tors were an important seg-ment of our society owingto their association with thesacred profession of health.He said that doctors should

serve the ailing humanity ina most devoted and re-spected way.

Members of the delega-tions apprised the minister oftheir problems and griev-ances. They also presentedhim their suggestions formaking the patient servicesmore effective and assuredtheir full support in the healthsector as per manifesto ofPTI. The minister stated thatthe patient was the main fo-cus of their health policy andprovision of better facilitiesto them was their mission.

He said if they failed toserve the patients, then exist-ence of the entire health de-partment was useless. “In or-

der to improve the healthcareservices in the public sectorhospitals, the managementcadre will be separated andthe people related to this cadrewill be given special training,he said.

Yousafzai categoricallydeclared that the doctorsneeded to perform their pro-fessional obligations as de-fined under the law, addingin injustice would not bedone with any doctor irre-spective of his position. Hestated that provision of bet-ter health care was the legalright of patients and no le-niency on the part of doctorswould be tolerated in givingthem their due right.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Me-teorological Department(PMD) on Monday forecastrain with thunderstorm for iso-lated places of Upper KhyberPakhtunkhwa, NortheastPunjab, Gilgit Baltistan andKashmir during the next 24hours. An official of PMD toldAPP that this rain would notbe a part of monsoonal activ-ity which is caused by east-erly wave but it would be theresult of westerly troughpresent in the upper air. Theday temperatures would riseacross the country especiallyin the plain areas of the coun-try from Wednesday till Fridayand there are chances of an-other monsoon rain spell bythe weekend, the official said.

The highest maximum tem-peratures recorded during thelast 24 hours were ShaheedBenazirabad 45 C, Turbat 43 C,

Dalbandin, Larkana,Moenjodaro and Padidan 42C. The maximum temperaturesrecorded were Islamabad 37 C,Lahore 39 C , Karachi 35 C,Peshawar 35 C, Quetta 35 C,Murree 26 C, Muzaffarabad 36

C, Gilgit 31 C. The rainfall re-corded during last 24 hourswas Muzaffarabad 42 mm,Balakot 35, Parachinar 26,Malamjabba 19, Lasbella 17,Chakwal 16, Shorkot 15, Dir 12,Kohat, Kalam and Rawalakot06, Chirat and Hunza 05,Mangla, Mirkhani andBarkhan 04mm.—APP

Shaukat to resolvemedics problems

Death toll rises to 30, mourning continues, Quetta shuts

Rain likely in KP,Punjab, GB, Kashmir

JAMSHORO: Fishermen busy in lubricating their boats on the bank of River Indus atGhulam Muhammad Barage Downstream Kotri.

LARKANA: A young girl, because of load-shedding, airing with hand-fan outside ChandkaMedical College Hospital.

ISLAMABAD—Poor sanita-tion, hygiene and lack of safedrinking water triggers adownward slide into pov-erty, as inadequate sanita-tion causes Pakistan eco-nomic losses totaling US$5.7 billion which is equiva-lent to Rs. 343.7 billion eachyear. Speakers expressedthese views, while address-ing a two-day national work-shop, co- hosted by theUnited Nations Children’sFund (UNICEF) and theWater and SanitationProgramme (WSP) of theWorld Bank, inauguratedhere today to form synergiesfor achieving sanitation re-

lated Millennium Develop-ment Goals in Pakistan.

“This is equivalent to 3.9per cent of the country’s GDPas highlighted in a WSP report,The Economic Impacts of In-adequate Sanitation in Paki-stan by the Water and Sanita-tion Program. All stake hold-ers need to work together toscale up the pilots programmesand translate the sanitationpolicy principles into action forachieving the sanitation re-lated MDG. As millions remainwithout adequate sanitationfacilities in the country, theworkshop brings together allstakeholders to assess thecurrent situation about access

to sanitation and to deliberateupon the course of action upto 2015 and beyond.

The workshop provides aplatform to the government,semi-government and non-government partners to shareexperiences in developingand implementing variousmodel programmes under thePakistan Approach to TotalSanitation (PATS). The Work-shop will also deliberate uponthe agendas for the forthcom-ing major events on sanita-tion including the South AsianConference on Sanitation(SACOSAN V) and PakistanConference on Sanitation(PACOSAN II).—APP

Lack of safe drinking watercauses annual Rs 343.7b loss

Remembering a rare, iconic Sheikh Asghar HameedKHALID BUTT

THE sad and suddennews of the passingaway of another old

friend, classmate and col-league from Sahiwal, SheikhAsghar Hameed, jolted methis morning. Thus anotherof my close friends, and as-sociates from that remark-able city joined the listwhose fond memories Iwould always cherish aslong as I live. Montgomery,later renamed Sahiwal, wasone of the most beautifullyplanned colonial town, builtlike an English county, witha lot of greenery, parks,clubs and spick and span asthe whole city was washedtwice by the municipality inthose days.

Arriving in that city inthe early years of indepen-dence and particularly dur-ing the golden era of early

50’s, it was a heavenly atmo-sphere prevailing there. Mostof the friends and associatesmade were thus to become mylife long pals. Included inthose list was AsgharHameed, son of a noted locallawyer Sh. Sharif, FarooqNisar, Ijaz Nisar, Iqbal Bhatti,Azeez Jamal, Ahmad AbdulHaq, Shamim Rizvi and manyothers.

When I took to journal-ism while still being a stu-dent along with late FarooqNisar (later DG-APP) tojointly edit college magazine“Sahiwal” and fortnightlyGazette, and representingsome leading national dailies,Asghar Hameed, too starteddabbling in journalism be-coming a correspondent ofDaily “Hilal-e-Pakistan”, inLahore.

I vividly recall those rol-licking days when Asgharand myself went to cover the

elections in Chichawatniwhere late SahibzadaNawazish Ali was pittedagainst Rai Iqbal in the 50’s.It was then we noted how the

dignity of ballot box was be-ing violated converting aclear victory into a heavydefeat.

Both of us returned witha heavy heart to discover theway things were moving

even then. SahibzadaNawazish, a highly reputedlawyer however did not livelong to be killed in a road ac-cident. Farooq Nisar, myself,

Aziz Jamal and Shamim Rizviall took to journalism as alsosome other friends like ourschool teacher SyedHumayun Adeeb, to becomeone of the leading lights inDaily Nawai Waqt.

Iqbal Bhatti, Ijaz Nisar,Abdullah Khan (now knownas A.K.Dogar) Saeed-ur-Rehman Farrukh, AsgharHameed, took to legal profes-sion and reached their pin-nacle. Ahmad Abdul Haqjoined I.B to attain a seniorrank in its hierarchy. AsgharHameed, with whom I sharedapart from my journalisticconnection in Sahiwal, wasalso part of a remarkableteam, which staged a dramain Govt. High School,Montgomry under late Mr.Abbasi our senior teacher.Asghar Hameed, Tariq Aziz(of Neelam Ghar fame), my-self, Iqbal Nazir Warriach(later Brig. Warraich) were allpart of that memorable show.

Asghar Hameed made aname for himself in legal pro-fession remaining Presidentof Distt Bar Association forover a decade and a reputedmember of Pakistan Bar

Council. A confirmed bach-elor, he shifted to Lahoreand due to his obesity andhealth problem, he remainedmostly confined to chamberpractice. But his ability, le-gal acumen and knowledgeof law remained acknowl-edged. Sh. Akram a seniorlawyer, with whom Asgharremained associated, al-ways considered him as hismentor. My only regret isthat I was unable to meethim for quite some time de-spite my earnest request toSh. Akram to arrange ameeting with my old pal.May God bless you myfriend for people like you arerare to find these days. Youwill always remain inthoughts of a legion of yourfriends and well wisherswhere ever they are.

My deep condolence toJavaid Iqbal, his brother andsisters Tahira and Fakhra.

MULTAN—US Consul Generalin Lahore Nina Fite here onMonday visited mausoleumsof renowned saints HazratMusa Pak Shaheed and HazratShah Shams Tabraiz Sabzwarito witness conservationprojects completed with thehelp of US funding in SouthPunjab. The projects are animportant part of US efforts toenhance understanding be-tween Americans and Paki-stanis and highlight sharedvalues of cultural heritage,says a fact sheet issued tomedia by US Consul General.

US Ambassador’s Fund

for Cultural Preservation(AFCP) has provided morethan US$ 1.8 million towards17 different cultural and ar-chaeological projects in Paki-stan over the past decade. Tenof these sites are located inPunjab. The AFCP is a USMission to Pakistan initiativeto partner with Pakistanis andpreserve important culturalheritage sites, The US Con-sul General laid ‘Chadar’ onthe mausoleums of bothsaints and also bought tradi-tional sweet ‘Lachi Dana’ fromoutside the mausoleum ofHazrat Shah Shams.—APP

Conservation of mausoleumsfor future generations stressed

Imran calls for APCof major stakeholders

CHAIRMAN PTI Imran Khan, who has started limited politicalactivities following his recovery from backbone injury, on Sunday, has talked about prospects of his party’s Government in fu-

ture and floated a proposal for hammering out a workable strategy toeliminate the menace of terrorism. While his dream for power at the cen-tre is deeply linked to the performance of PTI as opposition at the Na-tional Assembly and as ruling party in KPK, Imran’s call for conveningof an APC of major stakeholders – Federal and Provincial Governmentsof KPK and Pakistan Army – deserves serious consideration.

Imran intends to write a letter to the Prime Minister on the issue andwe are confident that Mian Nawaz Sharif would respond positively to thesuggestion as it is also in line with his stated policy of taking others onboard in addressing the problem of terrorism. Imran’s concern about KPKis understandable as PTI is heading a coalition there and the province isno doubt bearing the brunt of both terrorism and the war against terror-ism but the issue of terrorism is neither confined to that province nor is ita question concerning Taliban alone. The issue has sectarian and otherdimensions as we have been witnessing in Quetta, GB and Karachi whereapart from local elements, foreign hand is also believed to be there. InBalochistan, an insurgency like situation exists while Karachi has be-come a battle field for conflicting political and other interests, some ofwhich are also being exploited by some foreign forces. Similarly, onlyFederal and KPK Governments and Pakistan Army are not the stake-holders as there are a number of political parties and personalities thatcan play an important role in the restoration of peace besides some reli-gious parties and Ulema that have following as well as influence on people.APC or no APC, Governments and the Army are duty bound to coordi-nate and harmonize their efforts, policies and strategies and once theysort out things among themselves, an APC can be convened to sharedetails, seek further input and refine the strategy.

UK can do morefor Pakistan

BRITISH Prime Minister David Cameron’s visit to Pakistan was ofsomewhat short duration but he held extensive discussions with

President Asif Ali Zardari and new Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharifthat highlighted a number of commonalities between the two coun-tries. Cameron, who was the first foreign head of the Government tohave visited Pakistan after democratic transition, had come from Af-ghanistan and naturally the focus of the talks was Afghanistan andterrorism but there was also considerable emphasis on strengthening ofeconomic cooperation.

Pakistan and the UK have traditionally enjoyed cordial relationsmarked by political understanding and economic and development part-nership and the visit has given further boost to the bilateral relations.Because of the historical linkages, bureaucracies of the two countriesand leadership feel comfortable during their interaction and this factorhas been instrumental in diversifying and consolidating bilateral ties.Cameron’s pledge for help in energy sector has gone well with peopleof Pakistan as they are facing acute power crisis and it is also in linewith the priorities of the new Government. UK can meaningfully helpPakistan address the challenge of terrorism, which is deeply rooted inpoverty and ignorance, by extending support in realizing the country’squest to seek GSP plus status with EU and investment in different sec-tors of the economy. Pakistan is a huge market of 200 million and it islocated at the cross-roads of important regions and the UK can benefitimmensely by inspiring and encouraging its entrepreneurs to invest inPakistan. A number of UK-based companies have long and profitablepresence in Pakistan and there is room for investment in infrastructure,IT, telecom, mining and even defence production.

It is war againstPakistan, rather more

TERRORISTS struck once again in Balochistan and KhyberPakhtoonkhwa on Sunday killing over 50 people in a single day. In a

dastardly act of sectarian terrorism, militants killed 28 people of Hazara com-munity in a suicide attack in Quetta, three others were shot dead in Dasht areaof Khuzdar in firing on buses while eighteen civilians were blown up in a carbomb explosion in Badbher area in the outskirts of Peshawar.

Killings in bomb blasts and firing have become a daily occurrenceand we would say that the enemy has started an undeclared war againstPakistan. In fact, it is more than war because in declared war enemy isface to face, identified and tackled appropriately. But in this type of gue-rilla war, one cannot identify who is enemy of the country roaming amongthe people with nefarious designs and could hit at the target of his choiceany time. What is more dangerous is that the enemy has managed toreach every nook and corner of Pakistan and established its safe sanc-tuaries among the populace. Thus it is more difficult to identify the realenemy who is planning and executing its anti Pakistan agenda to desta-bilize the country and subsequently attain its nefarious designs. In sucha scenario, the role of intelligence agencies becomes more critical butit appears that they have failed in their task and needed complete re-shuffle. Despite three high profile attacks on Hazara Community inQuetta alone, none of the real culprits has been arrested to extract in-formation that could lead to the masterminds. To overcome the menaceof terrorism, we would suggest the complete sealing of border with Af-ghanistan, deportation of all the Afghan refugees and other illegal immi-grants without caring for international reaction as security of Pakistanand its people is more important than anything else.

Pak-Sri Lanka relations

We confess our badqualities to othersout of fear ofappearing naive orridiculous by notbeing aware ofthem.

Egypt: Timefor streetwisdom

There is nothing in the revolutionary rule book to saythat, two years after toppling

a dictator, a country is entitled toenjoy peace. If post-soviet Russiaor post-apartheid South Africa havetaught the world anything, it is thatdemocratic transitions are frail andfragile creatures, which can be preyfor stronger predators. PresidentMohamed Morsi was not exagger-ating when he told the Guardianthis weekend that his first year aspresident of Egypt had been “verydifficult” and that he fully expectedhis troubles to continue.

Some of these troubles havebeen of his own side’s making. TheMuslim Brotherhood made twostrategic mistakes that contributedto the shutdown of dialogue be-tween the two camps that onceshared Tahrir Square. The first wasto push for a constitution that al-lows for greater religious input intoEgyptian legislation. This was doneto keep a doctrinally strict Salafistparty on board, which a few monthslater switched sides anyway. Thesecond was for Mr Morsi to issuethe November 2012 constitutionaldeclaration that gave him sweep-ing temporary powers, which heswiftly abandoned and has regret-ted ever since. There is truth in thecharge that Mr Morsi confused anelectoral mandate with an obliga-tion to keep all sides on board. Butnor can the opposition be given afree pass. It complains that theMuslim Brotherhood has grabbedall the power in all the major insti-tutions of state; yet the recordshows that its leaders were offeredtop jobs in government and repeat-edly turned them down. It laysclaim to a democratic mandate; yetit refuses to participate in electionsit thinks it is going to lose. It claimsto be non-violent; yet rival demon-strations have been fired on, caus-ing deaths and injuries.

The truth, a year after Mr Morsitook office, is that neither side ac-cepts the other’s legitimacy. Cer-tainly, there are serious concernsabout Egypt’s election law and thedanger of gerrymandering. Thequestion is whether these concernsare so grave as to undermine thevalidity of free elections. Until now,elections in post-Mubarak Egypthave been judged, on the whole, tobe fair. Nor is it right to claim thatthe Brotherhood’s organisationalcapacity on the ground is so greatthat nothing can be done. The an-swer to that is for the opposition tobuild its own political movementsfrom the bottom up. As a result,what matters right now is howevents play out immediately on thestreets. Both sides’ principal con-cern is to muster large numbers ofsupporters and keep them on thestreets of Egypt’s major cities. Butthe tragedy for both sides is thatthere is a third camp, sitting in thewings, for whom civil disorder is awin-win situation. This is com-posed of the remnants of the oldregime, who have never really goneaway and are actively seizing theirchance for a comeback.

An obvious danger in Egypt isthat the toppling of a democrati-cally elected president amid wide-spread civil unrest may force thearmy to intervene. Some optimistsclaim that army rule would only lastfor a brief period to allow freshelections to be held. But a moreprobable scenario is that if the armycame to power it would stay for along time. For many Islamists, hav-ing taken the democratic route butbeen denied the chance to see theirleaders govern, opposition wouldnot be a question of ideology but amatter of personal survival. Whatwould prevent them from conclud-ing that a future of arrest, tortureand imprisonment awaits, a returnto what they experienced underMubarak? What would stop theranks of extremists on both sidesswelling? The coming days are piv-otal. Mr Morsi may survive. OrEgypt could be Algeria writ large.A prolonged civil conflict wouldnot discriminate between one sector another, or between Egyptians.Nor would it necessarily respectborders. The stability of a MiddleEast in which the US and Europehave less power to influenceevents, depends to a great extenton a stable Egypt. Both the re-gion and the world are watchingto see which way Egypt chooses.— The Guardian

MEDIA WATCH

Gerald Brenan—British writer

Addressing the passing-o u t

parade ceremony at SriLanka Military Academy,

Chief of Army Staff GeneralAshfaq Parvez Kayani said: “Weearnestly desire regional stabilitybased on a balance of power thatpromotes respect for each other’ssovereignty and discourages anyform of quest for dominance, he-gemony and intimidation.” Paki-stan Army, he addedd, would con-tinue to support Sri Lankan Armyin its pursuit of excellence.

General Kayani was on a three-day visit to Sri Lanka for renewedmilitary commitments in multipleareas of cooperation between thetwo sides. It was indeed an honourfor Pakistan that COAS was invitedto grace the occasion. According tomilitary sources at the GeneralHeadquarters (GHQ), expansion ofthe Pakistan-Army led field-train-ing programme for Sri Lankan mili-tary personnel figured prominentlyduring his visit. Pakistan had playeda major role in supporting SriLankan Army in its war against theTamil insurgents, as Pakistan Armyand its intelligence community hadclose links with the Sri Lankanmilitary establishment.

It is believed that initially Indiahad created, armed and supported anarmed insurrection in Sri Lanka bybringing discontented Tamils on one

Renewal of Doha initiative

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Sunday Magazine

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President Obama decidedi n

June 2010 to launch political prong to find a political

settlement after he concluded thatthere was no military solution inAfghanistan. Secret parleys wereinitiated by Obama’s administra-tion and several Arab and Euro-pean countries including Turkeyand Pakistan were asked to playtheir role. Regional option was alsotried by organizing meetings atLondon, Istanbul, Bonn, Chicagoand Tokyo. Britain and France alsoheld meetings in which Talibanrepresentative sat as an observer.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar keptpersuading the Taliban to holdpeace talks, while Karzai kept uphis frenetic efforts to befriendTaliban and make them agree toshare power. Former ISI chief LtGen Shuja Pasha made a signifi-cant opening by arranging a meet-ing between US officials and SirajHaqqani at Dubai in 2011. Themeeting couldn’t lead to produc-tive results because the US triedto create a wedge betweenHaqqanis and Mullah Omar. TheUS military, CIA, Karzai regimeand India disfavoring talks withTaliban kept employing tricks tovitiate the atmosphere and to pushObama to change his stance.

In order to give a fresh kickto the peace process, Obama af-ter getting re-elected in Novem-ber 2012 hastened to change hishawkish top leaders and bring inrelatively moderate ones. JohnBrennan replaced Gen Petraeus as

platform. According toreports, India trainedthem in urban guerrillawarfare, armed themwith the latest weaponsand unleashed them onpeaceful Lankan citi-zens. But India with-drew its support whenit felt the heat of insur-

gency in India, as Tamils, Maoistsand other ethnicities having sepa-ratist tendencies had become aserious threat to the country. InSri Lanka, it took quite a while forpeace-loving Sinhalese to learn tocounter and fight perniciousplans of Delhi. They of coursehad the backing of the Pakistanisand the Chinese that led to thevictory, which ensured sover-eignty and independence of SriLanka. Of course, primarily it wasdue to the unrelenting efforts andsheer determination of SriLankan leadership that it coulddecimate Liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelan (LTTE) ending thedecades-old civil war and battlefor carving out an independentethnic homeland.

The separatist rebels were onceconsidered one of the world’s mostfeared guerrilla armies, and hadgained control of about a third of theisland before the government hadbegun the major offensive. When SriLankan forces were on the verge offinal victory, India, the US, the EU,the UN, Amnesty International weresuggesting to Sri Lankan governmentthat it should enter into dialogue withthe rebels who were using thousandsof innocent citizens as human shield.However, President Rajapakse hadmanaged to cut the supply line of‘Tigers’ including the main source ofsupply of arms to Tigers from India.

In 2007, India had rebuked SriLanka for expressing a desire toprocure radars and other smallerequipment from Pakistan andChina, as Indian-origin radarsthen in service with Sri Lankaproved ineffective, and failed todetect air attacks of Tamil Tigers.Sri Lankan government was notdeterred by such bullying tactics.

India has been trying to de-stabilize the countries on its pe-riphery. It tried to cut China intohalf by instigating a rebellion inTibet, which could havebalkanized the country into smallpieces; it had destabilized Sikkimand virtually took it over. It tried tocreate terror in Bhutan; supportedterror in Nepal in order to wrest itaway from Beijing’s sphere of in-fluence. It repeatedly tried to domi-nate Bangladesh through RakhiBahini type of operations and in-terfered in the internal affairs ofeven Burma and Thailand. It triedto physically take over Sri Lankaat least once by sending its forcesthere, and also tried to occupy theMaldives also. Some times back,the editor of London-basedJane’s Defence Weekly in an in-terview had said: “Led by ViceAdmiral Wasantha Karannagoda,the SLN developed a maritimestrategy that starved the Libera-tion Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)of support from the ocean leadingto their capitulation on land.”

Interviewed by Tim Fish, Jane’sNaval reporter, in the issue of April29, 2009, Vice Admiral WasanthaKarannagoda had said that the LTTEwas kept alive for a long time byWarehouse ships which transportedillegally acquired weapons constantlyinto the country. They kept eight ves-sels on the high seas and used them

as floating warehouses contain-ing illegally acquired warlikematerials such as artillery, mor-tar shells, artillery shells, torpe-does, aircraft, missiles, underwa-ter vehicles, diving equipment,radar, electro-optical devices andnight vision equipment. SriLanka had bought arms andsmall speedboats from Pakistanand China which according toLankan Navy were invaluable.According to Rupees News re-port “Islamabad delivered armsdirectly to the areas affectedwhere Lankan army was fightingthe rebels. During the attack onthe Jaffna peninsula, which wasa turning point in the war againstthe Indian sponsored terrorists,the Pakistani Air force droppedarms for Sri Lankan forces rightto the battlefield. Pakistan hadalso provided the satellite sur-veillance and a lot of intelligenceto Sri Lanka. The speedboats andfake fishing boats kept tab onthe supply lines from India.

Instead of recognizing their equalstatus and sovereignty, India expectsthat South Asian countries that aremembers of the SAARC should for-mulate their external and internalpolicies according to its will andwishes. India is trying to emulate theUS – the sole super power, whichwants to run the world according toits whim and fancy. India considersitself as a regional power and arro-gates to itself the role of determiningthe extent of independence and sov-ereignty of its neighbours. This is thebasic reason that SAARC has re-mained a non-starter so far. Thoseeconomic alliances and unions werestrong and effective where member-states were treated as equal partnersand with respect. And the EuropeanUnion is a case in point. It is hopedthat Pakistan’s elected leadershipwould also keep this in mind beforegoing extra mile in dealing with In-dia. At the same time Pakistani lead-ership should get inspiration from SriLankan leadership vis-à-vis the wayit had shown will and determinationin decimating insurgents.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

CIA Director, John Kerryreplaced Hillary Clinton asSecretary of State andChuck Hagel took overfrom Leon Panetta as Sec-retary Defence. The newteam realized the gravity

of the obtaining security situa-tion and the cutout date of De-cember 2014 inching closer.They understood that unlessTaliban agreed to hold talks andunless Pakistan helped, smoothtransition was not possible.Peace process picked up mo-mentum after April 24, 2013Brussels meeting between JohnKerry, President Karzai and GenKayani. Ill-tempered Karzai’sunstoppable complaintsagainst Pakistan military com-pelled Kerry and Kayani tojointly cross the last hurdlewithout him.

The breakthrough in Dohaonce again flared him up. He gotmiffed over secret backchannel ef-forts by the US and Pakistan with-out taking him along. He was ig-nored because he had proved to bea tetchy lame duck. Karzai didn’tpick up courage to admit that hishectic efforts since 2009 to woo theTaliban had completely failed.Heavy amount of secret funds hereceived from the CIA were usedby him to buy the loyalties ofTaliban senior leaders and otherPashtun notables but he failed tobreak Mullah Omar’s Shura. Paki-stan was pressured by him and theUS to release Taliban prisonersheld in its custody. 20 prisonerswere released by Pakistan as agoodwill gesture but this move alsobackfired since none approachedKarzai or Salahuddin.

When all his efforts failed hestarted blaming Pakistan. He hasmaintained a highly antagonistic

posture towards our military es-tablishment and ISI as is evidentfrom his invectives he off and onhurls and the interview he gaveto Salim Safi on Geo TV on June17, 2013. He reiterated his stanceof non-recognition of DurandLine and held military establish-ment responsible for destabiliza-tion of Afghanistan and preven-tion of peace talks with Taliban.With this colored mindset, it wasnatural for him to burst out whenhe learnt that Gen Kayani and LtGen Zaheerul Islam were instru-mental in persuading the Taliban tostart the peace talks.

Karzai’s tantrums not onlymarred the big event but also de-layed the commencement of formalpeace talks between the US andTaliban in early June. To put pres-sure on Washington, he hanged upAfghan-US strategic partnershipagreement which he and Obama hadgladly signed on May 01, 2012 inKabul. The agreement had yet todecide the issue of retention of mili-tary bases by US forces beyond2014. Reportedly, Karzai had givenhis consent for nine bases and re-tention of up to 15,000 US forces inthe garb of trainers and advisers till2024 but this was to be approved byAfghan Loya Jirga.

He ignored the historic signifi-cance of peace process over whichhinges the hope of ending the blood-shed in Afghanistan and peace in theregion. The Taliban acted wisely andceded to the US and Qatar’s requestto remove the contentious flag andthe plaque and saved the processfrom getting disrupted once again.They were sensible enough to real-ize the importance of this event forthem when seen in the backdrop oftheir unabated persecution sinceOctober 2001 and isolation from theworld comity. The whole world is

now recognizing them as a le-gitimate stakeholder and re-questing them to end the warand arrive at a political settle-ment.

The Taliban formally an-nounced in Doha that they will notallow Afghan soil to threaten othercountries and also expressed readi-ness to meet other Afghan factions.Taliban didn’t give a firm commit-ment of severing ties with al-Qaedaas had been demanded by Washing-ton, but their undertaking to disal-low others to use Afghan soil toharm others was accepted as a goodenough starter. The Taliban didn’tinsist on releasing their five pris-oners imprisoned in Guantanamo asa pre-requisite for talks. The UShad also softened its stance by notinsisting upon the implementationof its three pre-conditions of break-ing ties with al-Qaeda, renouncingviolence and accepting AfghanConstitution framed by Karzai re-gime at the behest of US.

Notwithstanding the signifi-cance of recommencement of Dohainitiative, the process is still frag-ile and vulnerable to disruptiongiven the vested groups hell-bentto fail it. While the US and Talibanwould have to set aside their asper-sions and distrust for each other andproceed forward with open andgenerous minds, the US will haveto reign in the spoilers trying to de-rail the process.

Pakistan is the only countrywhich has contacts with Talibanand other militant groups in Af-ghanistan as well as with importantleaders of NA and hence is in anenviable position to play a pivotalrole in forging a political solutionprovided its due place is recognizedby all stakeholders and is trusted.Doha office is just the beginningand the path forward is riddled withcomplexities requiring patience,coolness of mind and large-heartedness by all concerned.—The writer is a retired Brig and

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

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Asif Haroon RajaEmail: asifharoon7751@yahoo.com

Voice of the PeopleKashmir debate

AFTAB AHMED

Norwegian Parliament, DeputySpeaker Akhter Choudery, MemberPeter Giemark and Chairman Kash-mir Group in the house conductingdebate session on Kashmir, high-lighted Kashmir issue. This was thefirst time Norwegian parliamentdiscussed core issues related toKashmiris People living in Norwe-gian for past 35 years. NorwegianParliament efforts are timely andmost welcome as it has recognizedthe necessity of the regulation ofKashmir dispute, which besidesbringing bloodshed and enormousmiseries to the people of Jammuand Kashmir is posing a continuednuclear warfare threat in this partof the world. World is taking noteof Human Right Violation.

As regard Indian atrocities andextra-judicial killings, internationalpeople tribunal for Human Rightsin India Administrated Kashmirand Association of parent of disap-peared persons released a report of335 pages in Dec 2012 uncoveringimmoral acts of Indian Army bor-der security force (BSF) centralreserve police force (CRPF) andelements of other security and po-lice force all violently strikingagainst armless Kashmiris. Largestdemocracy on earth did not botherto acknowledge or investigate,10,000 people disappeared duringthe last two decades, many miss-ing people may have ended up inthese unmarked graves and un-marked graveyards entomb bodiesof those murdered in fake encoun-ters and arbitrary evocations. In-dian security forces employed vari-ous forms of ethnic cleansing suchas un law full confinement, kidnap-ping, sieges, shelling of civiliandestruction of homes, mosques,rape, torture, beating etc. And thosein human methods continued till thedeath of innocent Kashmiries.

Human Rights watch, in itsvarious reports and Amnesty inter-national also pointed out grave hu-man rights violation in the Indiancontrolled Kashmir, indicating, theMuslim majority population in theKashmir valley suffers from therepressive tactics of the securityforces. Under the Jammu andKashmir disturbed areas act, andthe Armed forces Jammu andKashmir special power act, andPublic safety act, security forcespersonnel have extra ordinarypowers to shoot suspected persons,their reports have called for the re-peal of those laws which providethe armed forces with extra ordi-nary power to search, detain anduse lethal force. These laws alsoprovide immunity for securityforces their prosecutions, evenwhere the facts are well established.

The Kashmir dispute is theoldest unresolved internationalconflict in the world today. India’sforcible occupation of the state ofJammu and Kashmir in 1947 is themain cause of the dispute. Paki-stan does not accept the Indianclaim. The united nation also doesnot consider Indian claim as le-gally valid. It recognizes Kashmiras a disputed territory with the ex-ception of India the entire worldcommunity recognized Kashmiras a disputed territory. The fact isthat all the principles on the basisof which the Indian Subcontinentwas partitioned by the British in1947 justify Kashmir becoming apart of Pakistan.—Via email

WAPDA needsoverhauling

GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN

This is in reference of press releaseissued by Muhammad Abid Rana,Director Public Relation WAPDALahore which appeared in the presson dated 29-06-2013. ‘TheWAPDA Spokesman has stated thatWAPDA officers are not respon-sible of load shedding. I think thatWAPDA officers are not fullyawarded that WAPDA is an inde-pendent department. Under admin-istrative control of one chairmanwho is responsible to control all thewings of different natures of worksof the WAPDA ie power, water,Generation, Distribution, Renova-tion and Maintenance Of electric-ity lines etc. Hence how DirectorPublic Relation can say thatWAPDA is not responsible forload-shedding in any way. IfWAPDA is not responsible forload-shedding, then who is re-sponsible of load-shedding? It isalso a matter of great concern thatno step has been taken so far forincreasing generation of more elec-tricity power and the load sheddingstill prevailed in this Islamic coun-try of Pakistan for the last morethan 27 years.

WAPDA can be run by a fewhundred officers in most efficientway but it is noticed that WAPDA

Pakistan’s problems & 3-T solutionPROF DR A QAYUM MANGI

This is apropos the report, “G-8 vows to fight global tax evasion”(June 19). The G-8 summit in Britain ended with a new global

solution. The leaders pledged to enforce strict regulation to curbglobally three Ts: tax evasion, trade and transparency. Unfortu-nately in Pakistan, industrialists with the help of tax officials notonly evade tax but also weaken the economic foundation of ourcountry. Trade of our country is shrinking every year due to energycrisis and bad governance. There is no transparency and corrup-tion is rampant. The political system is unable to stem the tide ofcorruption. The G-8 declaration should be taken seriously in Paki-stan. We should take drastic steps to curb these interrelated issues.We should impose exemplary punishment to offenders in order tocurb these menaces. We should create a foolproof system to stop taxevasion and resolve the energy crisis to increase our exports andmitigate the dependence on foreign countries.—Sukkur

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Viral justice

Every week now it seems, I seeon my Facebook news feedthat some poor Afghan cop has

been beat up. It’s a sign of progress.The first incident happened last No-vember, when several guards of thedeputy speaker of Parliament, ZahirQadir, assaulted an Afghan police of-ficer for blocking their convoy’s wayafter a bomb blast in the diplomaticenclave. Such incidents are all toocommon in Kabul, where a noxiousassortment of armed groups — someofficial, some private — brush elbowsin the streets. Here it’s personalities,rather than formal positions, that mat-ter, and the guards of a strongman likeQadir outrank a simple police officerby several degrees. No matter if he wasjust trying to do his duty.

The commoner, when he mis-takes his place, normally retreats tonurse his bruises. But something dif-ferent happened this time. Some hap-pily-anonymous bystander was snap-ping photos at the scene, and imagesof the thuggish-looking guards beat-

ing down the cop soon went viral onFacebook and other social media sitespopular with Afghans. I rememberseeing the images on my own feed,coupled with outraged remarks fromlocals decrying “warlords” and theirthugs. Pretty soon, local journalistswere calling Kabul’s chief of police,Gen. Mohammad Ayoub Salangi,who — no doubt after consulting withhis boss, the interior minister — is-sued a strongly worded condemna-tion. The offending bodyguards werearrested and later released after Qadirmade an apology on TV.

Then, in April, MohammadHaider, the son of an important po-litico, was caught on video — on mydoorstep, in fact — beating a traffic-police officer who had had the temer-ity of stopping his fancy SUV. Thatvideo also went viral, the local me-dia got a hold of it, and Haider wasforced to appear at a press conference.His apology to the officer was alsobroadcast live on television.

Last month, it was the turn ofAhmad Zia Karimi, an army majorand the son of the military’s chief ofstaff, Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi.After his car was stopped for a search

because of its tinted windows (that’sillegal), Karimi tried to browbeat thecop into letting him go. That failed,so he made a phone call. Two truck-loads of private gunmen arrived andbeat up the offending officer so se-verely that he requiredhospitalisation. The cop later gave anexclusive interview to Toolu TV, aleading local channel, resulting in anarmy investigation and public embar-rassment for General Karimi. (Therehave been no arrests yet.)

Here, as in Pakistan, the increas-ing availability of camera phones andmobile Internet access is chippingaway at a culture of impunity for themost powerful. Bystanders are ableto capture evidence of incidents andthen self-publish it. Once the newsattracts a critical mass of viewers onFacebook, private channels can nolonger ignore it, and they no longerfear that they’d be sticking their necksout by reporting it alone.

This development also speaks toa newly emerging political conscious-ness among educated urbanites inAfghanistan. Unlike Afghans in thecountryside, who, caught between theTaliban and international military

Views From Abroad

troops, worry about daily survival,the residents of Kabul are concernedwith the depredations of the wealthyand politically connected. The po-lice officers in these incidents arestand-ins for every Kabuli who hasbeen bullied by scowling privateguards in armored Land Cruisers.(Of course, the police also routinelybeat confessions out of suspects.)

On Wednesday, I found a newincident on my Facebook feed, thisone allegedly involving the guardsof a member of Parliament, AhmadBehzad, who beat up a traffic cop.The video, shot by the Ministry ofInterior, shows a sad-looking po-lice officer in a hospital bed, his leftarm swathed in bandages. SediqSediqi, the ministry’s spokesman,then comes on: “The mistreatmentby the security guards of Mr.Behzad, one of the MPs, of the traf-fic police officer is a savage action.It is inhuman and illegal, and theMinistry of Interior condemns it.”If it seems strange that a ministrygoes viral to get justice, well, wel-come to Kabul. The author isKabul-based magazine writer.— Courtesy: The New York Times

Global regime & Indian nuke ambitions

The credibility of internationalnuclear non-proliferation regime is under severe stress. Dr

Jaspal a renowned analyst on nuclearstudies narrated in his article that thenuclear non-proliferation is an inte-grated network of treaties and otherstandard-setting arrangements, whichprovides a comprehensive frameworkfor the behavior of states and inter-national organizations and other ac-tors, in the nuclear power realm. Thisbrief enlightenment on the subjectgives quite comprehensive under-standing of what the nuclear non-pro-liferation regime has to do with inactual. In this sphere the efforts tobring India on the forefront as a mem-ber nuclear supplier’s state simplybacklashes its image and meaning.

The materialization of Indo-USnuclear deal posed stern questions forthe non-proliferation regime andnuclear trade worldwide. It managedthe NSG waiver without acceptingNPT, in addition the deal also ex-cluded 8 Indian nuclear reactors fromIAEA safeguards that are well suitedfor 1,250 kilograms plutonium up-

grading for weapon purposes “whichhas the ability to produce 240 nuclearweapons a year.” Consequently, am-plifies regional instability and verti-cal proliferation of nuclear weapons.The US cannot in any terms call thestep an advantage to global non-pro-liferation regime.

Paradoxically speaking the cre-ators of non-proliferation regime andits cartels have created rooms fornuclear mishandling within the groupitself. Countries namely UnitedStates, United Kingdom, Canada,France, Japan, West Germany andSoviet Union got together to form theNuclear Supplier’s Group (NSG), inresponse to Indian diversion fromCanadian based rector (diverted plu-tonium from the Canadian-IndianReactor) that was given for peacefuluse. Pragmatically recounting NSG’sobjective or purpose was to regulatenuclear commerce so further diver-sions as that of India could not takeplace again since India used it formilitary purposes that resulted in In-dian Peaceful Nuclear Explosion(PNE) in 1974.

Evidently New Delhi is beingpushed forward for the legal certifi-cation of NSG membership by therecognized NSG member states —France, Russia, the UK, and the US

are now at the head to make India amember of the NSG, facing resistancefrom China and few other states. Inthis regard, Britain said India shouldbe allowed to join global body thatcontrols atomic exports, even thoughit has refused to join pact. Britain hasstepped up many efforts to let Indiajoin an influential global body con-trolling nuclear exports, resultantlythis move would boost one of the de-jure country’s standing as an atomicpower in the international arena. Thekeepers of international nuclear non-proliferation regime are persisting toembrace a non-NPT nuclear weaponstate for nuclear commerce actingdiscriminatory towards the otherSouth Asian non-NPT but a nuclearweapon state (Pakistan) — obtainingsame status.

Sarcastically on one side West-ern nations; the US, Britain, Japan,UK and Russia are engaged in‘nuclear trade with India and on theother side they are strongly opposingChina’s assistance to Pakistan to buildnuclear power plants under the Inter-national Atomic Energy Agency(IAEA) umbrella. Such a discrimi-natory approach damages the cred-ibility of nuclear non-proliferationregime.’ Even though if Pakistan is anuclear weapon state, it faces acute

energy shortage and lacks nuclearpower infrastructure to produce sat-isfactory electricity. Convincingly,“its nuclear infrastructure needs sub-stantial foreign assistance to increasethe nuclear power generation.” If‘diversion fear’ is the justificationfor not granting Pakistan the sametechnology, though for instance evenif one accepts it, how Indian inten-tion, plan or motive makeup can berationalized? With an already historyof civil to military diversion, howcould India be trusted again? How-ever India does not fall on the stan-dard criterion for the NSG member-ship since it has poor proliferationrecord with no interest in interna-tional non-proliferation treaties (re-jected NPT calling it discrimina-tory). It depicts a barefaced viola-tion of nuclear non-proliferationnorms and laws by internationalcommunity in general and the NSGin particular. It would not be wrongto analyze from the above that themove would lead other NPT-NWSto withdraw from NPT keeping it-self legally authorized for civil tech-nology as well as also creating spacefor their military diversions.—The writer works as ResearchAssociate for Strategic VisionInstitute.

Matthieu Aikins

With the rains expected inanother two weeks, I decided to go over to the

umbrella store and chose a goodsturdy one to beat the monsoons. Iwas a little surprised to see a muchwider range than they had the yearbefore. “Are you a student sir?”asked the pleasant looking salesmaninside the store. “What differencewould that make?” I asked equallypleasantly. “The student kind haveextra strong steel ribs inside that are

able to with stand a lathi charge,” hesaid without a change in his pleasantface, “and instead of cloth we use tar-paulin to withstand water cannonsduring a anti-rape or anti-corruptiondemonstration at India Gate!”

I told him I wasn’t a student andwe moved into the interiors of theshop, “Would sir want a transparentone or one which will safeguard hisprivacy?” “I wonder what privacythere is to safe guard in the rains!” Ilaughed and the pleasant lookingsalesman laughed with me, “ I assumesir is single?” “Why should you as-sume that?” I asked a little crossly.“Because if your madam walks a littleclose to you or if sir has forgotten toput his top shirt button, the moralpolice will immediately arrest you!”

I told the young salesman that mywife and I kept a decent distance be-tween us even during the rains, “AndI always wear my top button,” Ishouted. “But sir you have a beard!”said the owner coming quickly assoon as he heard my raised voice. “Sowhat?” I shouted.

“You could be mistaken for a ter-rorist!” said the owner and the sales-man smiled at his owner, looked atme and nodded in agreement. “I’lltake the one that isn’t transparent!” Iwhispered and the pleasant lookingsalesman smiled his approval as hisboss went back to the counter.

I looked at the different handlesand decided to take the curved one.“Don’t!” hissed the salesman.“Why?” I asked sharply pulling my

An umbrella for the monsoons..!hand away. “It’s the same shape asSreesanth uses in the Kerala rains,”he said. “You could be arrested formatch fixing!”

“I have no intention of beingarrested for something so low!” Isaid, “And I had no idea so muchwas associated with buying an um-brella!” I walked out in a huff andinto the raincoat shop next door.

“Do you want a thin plastictype or a canvas one sir?” askedanother pleasant looking salesman.“To beat the water cannons, themoral police and the HRD ministerisn’t it?” I asked laughing hysteri-cally. “Just to beat the monsoonssir..!” said the salesman and lookedat me strangely.—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

A step in right direction

The just concluded two-day ‘US-Pakistan Business Opportunities Conference’ jointly or-

ganized by the US and Pakistan gov-ernment, which was attended by rep-resentatives of investment companiesof Pakistani, US and United ArabEmirates with a view to identify newbusiness opportunities in Pakistanthat waited to be exploited, has endedon a very positive note. The partici-pants of the conference throughspeeches, panel discussions and net-working events discussed a widerange of business opportunities in theagri-business, energy and educationas well as the lucrative avenues inregards to entrepreneurship, access toUS market, consumer goods and fran-chising, venture capital, informationtechnology and the investment poli-cies of the Pakistan government.

Minister for Finance and Eco-nomic Affairs Ishaq Dar who led thePakistan delegation to the conference,gave an exhaustive account of theeconomic policies that the new gov-ernment contemplated to pursue torevive the economy and the indus-

trial and investment policies designedto spur economic growth and devel-opment in those sectors, with majorthrust on promoting small and me-dium enterprises. He also spelt outthe contours of a medium term planand goals under structural reforms(2013-16) that would raise the GDPgrowth to 7 per cent as compared to3 per cent during the last five years,enhance investment to GDP ratio to20% and the measures designed tokeep the demon of inflation confinedto a single digit. He also successfullyidentified the myriad of opportuni-ties for investment in energy, agricul-ture and oil and gas sectors and therange of incentives prescribed for thedomestic as well as foreign investors.

A substantive and immediate out-come of this initiative is that at theend of the conference , Pakistan Pri-vate Investment Initiative waslaunched which will set up two newprivate equity funds solely for fur-ther expanding Pakistan’s dynamicand fast-growing small and mediumsized businesses and industrial con-cerns. The US will provide $24 mil-lion for each fund which will beequally matched by the contributionsfrom Abraaj Group and JSPE. Ini-tially the pooled funds will be in thevicinity of $100 million which are

expected to grow many fold intohundreds of millions of dollars.

Realistically speaking, the em-phasis by the PML(N) governmenton private sector led growth , espe-cially the promotion of small and me-dium enterprises is a very pragmaticdecision and in line with the groundrealties. Small and Medium sized in-dustries invariably are the back boneof the economy of any country ow-ing to its size and the employmentopportunities that they generate withminimal effort. It will perhaps be per-tinent to mention the US and Japanowe their economic progress to thevital role played by the small andmedium sized industries.

Being mindful of this policy im-perative, the government has alreadyannounced certain incentives for theforeign as well as the domestic inves-tors who invest in the export process-ing zones by enhancing the tax-holi-day facility to ten years from the ex-isting 5 years period besides conces-sion on the import of machinery forthe purpose, prompting some of thecritics of the government to say thatthe budget promoted the interests ofthe business community rather thanbeing people friendly. I think that char-acterization is absolutely naïve. Thisis the time when the government will

have to explore all possible avenuesto not only stabilize the economy butalso to put it on the path of sustainedgrowth, including borrowing fromthe international lending institutionslike IMF and the World Bank becausethere is no other options available tonudge the growth process. The gov-ernment is already in the process ofnegotiation a new loan from the IMFfor which modalities are being dis-cussed. It is encouraging to note thatthe finance minister has stated it cat-egorically that the loan will be nego-tiated on Pakistan’s own terms andno new taxes or other measure willbe taken on the insistence of the IMFthat hurt the common man. And if heis able to achieve what he is saying itwill indeed be an unprecedented suc-cess of a manager of the economy.

In the backdrop of the fact thathe was instrumental in the settingup of the Pakistan Private Invest-ment Initiative at Dubai conferencethrough his forceful advocacy, it canbe hoped that while dealing with theIMF he will, through his persuasivediscourses, be able to clinch a loanwith favourable terms. Managingthe economy is a very painful andarduous undertaking, especially ina country like Pakistan, more so inview of the present state of economy.

has created more and more unnec-essary posts and has employed manyNos of un-necessary officers in or-der to please the politicians. And assuch, there are now 60 % extra /excessive officers in WAPDA.There is no load shedding in thehouses of WAPDA officers thenhow WAPDA officers can feel themiseries being faced by their valu-able consumers. 5)- Most of thesource full VVIP persons are fullyinvolved In the cases of theft ofelectricity and also are not payingthe electricity bills but WAPDA hasnever initiated to take any actionagainst such sourceful defaulters.—Via email

Do somethingfor laityHASHIM ABRO

When I look at the rural and rusticpeople of upper and lower districtsof Sindh province and reflect on theirpsyche then I logically come to theconclusion that they have alwaystheir hope in the PPP ruling elite andin their government to elevate theirlives and transform the provincefrom within but unfortunately, thistime too, our rulers are not doinganything for the poor, the oppressed,the downtrodden, the sick, the handi-capped, the aged, the lonely, theabandoned, and those in mental andspiritual anguish in Sindh province.

History is a testimony to the factthat our past and present rulers havenever worked conscientiously andperseveringly for justice and for hu-man dignity. There is injustice, fear,constraint and suffering everywherein the country. All and sundry havebecome slaves in the depths of theirhearts, slaves to sin.

They are not doing anything toensure the moral and vocational edu-cation of the youth and to bring thetransforming and uplifting messageof the Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhuttoand his daring daughter MohtarmaShaheed Benazir Bhutto to individu-als and communities.

One never knows when theseprovincial rulers will renew theircommitment to their responsibili-ties and do something for the lay-men in the province. I pray to GodAll Mighty to guide our provincialrulers so that they may do some-thing for the poor people of prov-ince, if not anything else, at least,they ensure law and order andsafety and security of life and prop-erty in the province.—Via email

IAEA andcyber security

YASIR HUSSAIN

The reliance of states complex ma-trix of binary code through internethas limitless potentials that comewith equally big hazards that canlead to wars. Computers and systemsconnected to cyber space are highlyvulnerable to potential exploiters,who can be criminals and or state-sponsored ‘warriors.’ There are sev-eral challenges related to cyber se-curity. First is to identify that acyber-attack is an individual act oris state-sponsored. The second chal-lenge lies in assessing how a targetedstate would respond to such an at-tack. Third is to create global normson cyber security under an effectivebody to regulate the state and indi-vidual behavior.

State-sponsored cyber warfarecan be traced back to the first GulfWar 1991 in which USA employeda computer oriented command andcontrol system, paralyzed Iraq’scommunications and used hi-techsmart weapons which led them to adecisive victory. Many scholarscontest the idea that first Gulf Warwas an example of informationwarfare. They say it was informa-tion in warfare that is the use ofcomputers and highly advancedweapon systems in war. Neverthe-less it was first Gulf War that madeChina realize the importance ofcomputers and technology in futurewarfare. China started building itscapabilities in this new dimensionof war and now holds a strong po-sition in the world to challenge the

superpower on the cyber front. Therecent alleged Chinese cyber-at-tacks on the U.S. and the Israel-U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear fa-cilities give a glimpse of extent ofdamage can cyber-attacks cause.

Despite the American protestsand concerns Chinese hackers havecontinued their cyber espionage bystealing terabytes of data fromAmerican institutions. The intrinsiccomplexity of cyber space has be-reft states to dominate it which inthe future potential cyber conflictswill play its due part.

Now it is becoming evident thatfuture conflicts will be dominated byinformation and cyber warfarewhich has already started to strainChinese-US relations. It is ironicalthat the more states rely on comput-ers, networks and information sys-tems the more vulnerable these areto disruption and cyber-attacks.

There is a growing resonance ofthe notion that traditional modes ofland, sea and air warfare may be sub-stituted with cyber space. Unfortu-nately, cyber laws and internationalnorms have not been able to catchup with the progress in the cyberworld. These remain almost ad-equate for addressing cyber-crimes.

There are no norms for cyber ac-tivities that states do against eachother. The IAEA, which is prima-rily a nuclear watch dog can be givenan additional hat of dealing with glo-bal cyber-security watch dog.

Recently, IAEA has adoptedcertain guideline towards the pro-tection from threats of cyber-attackson nuclear facilities. IAEA pre-pared a draft declaration for theupcoming conference in Viennafrom 1-5 July 2013.

IAEA is keen to make furtherefforts to foster international co-op-eration and assist member states inthe area through the establishmentof appropriate guidance.

However, It further adds that,“more needs to be done to furtherstrengthen cyber security worldwidebecause a cyber-attack related crisiscan lead to a nuclear response. Thoughthe IAEA proposal focuses on nuclear-security related aspects only, the or-ganization is well placed to adopt alarger role and may have to ultimatelyexpand its size and scope.

Though the powerful states arestill reluctant to accept their cyber-warfare capabilities, they will haveto give transparency and assurancesonce global norms appear. The IAEAmay become a forum to bring allstates of disparate interests on singletable but what would the world dowith non-state actors who only needinternet and computer to wreakhavoc that can bring states on theverge of war?—Via email

Reducingearthquake damage

JAVED IQBAL RISHI

The modern technology, which isbeing currently practiced in manythird world countries, is the use ofgadgets for base isolation and seis-mic dampers. This is known as pas-sive seismic resistant techniques.Research on earthquake resistancearound the world has indicated thatseismic energy absorbing capacity ofreinforced cement concrete and re-inforced brick masonry buildings areprone to fail in a severe earthquakezone such as Quetta and Kashmir.

This is because there is an up-per limit to their seismic energy ab-sorbing capacity. However, by in-stalling base isolator pads anddampers in any building, it is pos-sible to totally absorb the earth-quake shock energy of a building,be it of bricks, reinforced concreteor steel. This technique is both costeffective and can be retrofitted inan existing structure also.—Karachi

Beenish AltafEmail: beenishaltaf7@gmail.com

Malik M AshrafEmail: ashpak10@gmail.com

purchased without carrying outaudit and lawful investigation.

He further stated that cur-rently there was a total of Rs.34.387 billion of investment bythe EOBI adding that propertieswere also purchased during theZaffar Gondal’s regime. TheSecretary further stated that thegovernment had no funding in theEOBI and it works at its own.The Chief Justice remarked thatRs 250 million had been spent topurchase a plot sizing 3 kanal 16marlas. Director Investment re-sponded that the EOBI gave anadvertisement for the purposethus it was not un-lawful.

Director General FIA ap-prised to the bench that theagency had total 11 cases at itsdisposal and out of them investi-gation had started on two ofthem. He further stated that asmany as three culprits had beenarrested by the FIA while twoothers were on bail involved inthe scam. The bench directed theFIA to complete its investigationwithin ten days and present a de-tailed report during the next dateof hearing and adjourned the casetill July 12.—APP

the Afghan-Pakistan relationshipas well as peace talks with theTaliban had failed before he hadeven arrived.

“We believe this federalismis a means for the Pakistanis toachieve what they could notachieve through their proxy (theTaliban) on the battlefield,”Ahmadi said. In Islamabad, Pa-kistani foreign ministry spokes-man Aizaz Chaudry denied anysuggestion of ceding territory hadbeen made during the meeting.

“It was a courtesy call dur-ing which the adviser and ambas-sador also discussed bilateral re-lations. No reference was madeto ceding of provinces toTaliban,” Chaudhry told Reuters.Pakistan was not immediatelyable to comment on what wassaid by Aziz or its view ofAhmadi’s assertions.—Reuters

also expected to discuss variousaspects of the grand railwayproject to connect Gwadar withJinjiang or western China thatborders Gilgit Baltistan of Paki-stan. Ambassador Sun said,China has proposed creating ofEconomic Corridor from Gwadarto Western China. Pakistan andChina will discuss the idea dur-ing Nawaz Sharif’s visit.

To a question, the ambassa-dor said, China shares Pakistan’skeen interest in seeing theGwadar Port functional as the,port will play primary role inpromoting the proposed Eco-nomic Corridor between the twocountries.

He said, Pakistan and Chinaenjoy best of bilateral relationsand their relationship has no par-allel in modern international re-lations. He said, this relationshipmay be a role model for othercountries. “However, there is vastscope of strengthening bilateralcooperation in various fields.” Heexpressed the hope that with thepassage of time, relations be-tween the two countries wouldgrow to new heights.

To a question he said, Chi-nese companies are investing inPakistan more and more to playtheir role in economic develop-ment of a most friendly country.He expressed the hope that tradevolume between the two coun-tries will also expand withinyears and the current imbalancefavouring China will beminimised.

tary had repeatedly signaled thatit does not want to return to thehelm of politics, which it com-manded — turbulently — in thefirst year and a half after theouster of longtime dictator HosniMubarak in February, 2011. ButSissi also said earlier this monththat the army would step in ifEgypt’s political crisis worsened.

Before the military’s an-nouncement on Monday, four ofMorsi’s cabinet ministers submit-ted their resignations, in a showof solidarity with the anti-govern-ment protesters, the state newswire reported. President Obama,speaking to reporters during a tripto Dar es Salaam, Tanzania,urged Morsi to talk with opposi-tion leaders and find a solutionto the unrest.

”What is clear right now isthat although Mr. Morsi waselected democratically, there’smore work to be done to createthe conditions in which every-body feels that their voices areheard and that the government isresponsive and truly representa-tive,” Obama said. “If the situa-tion is going to resolve itself for

A day of mourning wasbeing observed in Quetta in thewake of the blast on the call ofthe Hazara Democratic Party,Shia Council and thePakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party(PkMAP). All government of-fices were shut in the provincialcapital to mourn the tragedy, andthe main markets in the city alsoremained closed. The deadly sui-cide blast ripped through theAliabad area of Hazara town onSunday night, claiming 30 livesand leaving around 70 wounded.

According to senior govern-ment official some of the injuredpersons were still serious in seri-ous condition. The woundedwere being treated at the CMH.

Meanwhile, Chief MinisterBalochistan Abdul Malik Balochstrongly condemned the incidentand termed it an attempt on thepart of terrorists to undermine hisnewly-elected government’s ef-forts for restoration of peace inQuetta. “I have called police andthe officials of secret services tobrief me about the overall law andorder situation in Balochistan,”said the chief minister. “No com-promise would be made on thepeace of the province.”

Hazara townFrom Page 1

SC gives 10-dayFrom Page 1

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NawazFrom Page 1

the benefit of Egypt over the longterm, then all the parties therehave to step back frommaximalist positions. Democra-cies don’t work when everybodysays it’s all the other person’sfault and I want 100 percent ofwhat I want.”

In the early Monday morn-ing, protesters stormed and ran-sacked the MuslimBrotherhood’s Cairo headquar-ters, looting its offices, and set-ting fire to sections of the eight-story building as police officerslooked on. Several MuslimBrotherhood offices in other cit-ies also were attacked. The head-quarters of Egypt’s ruling Mus-lim Brotherhood was overrun byyouths who ransacked the build-ing after those inside were evacu-ated on Monday following anight of violence that killed atleast seven people.

By far the bloodiest incidentof Sunday’s mammoth andmostly peaceful protests againstthe Brotherhood and PresidentMohamed Morsi, it began afterdark and continued for hours,with guards inside firing on

youths hurling fire bombs androcks. A spokesman for theBrotherhood blamed the violenceon “thugs” and said it would bedemanding answers from policewho failed to protect it.

He said two of those insidewere injured - by fires - before asecurity detail from the move-ment was able to evacuate allthose inside the compound inmid-morning. The violence willlikely add to a sense amongBrotherhood members, long op-pressed under Hosni Mubarak,that they face a political siegesince being elected last year,which they blame on liberal op-ponents and loyalists of the oldregime. Images of the four-storeysuburban building, its wallsscorched, windows smashed andlooters making off with officefurniture, recalled those of thedestruction of the state securityheadquarters when Mubarak wastoppled in 2011. The Brother-hood had fortified the headquar-ters’ walls in the run up to theprotests. The building was alsoattacked earlier this year in pro-tests against Morsi.—WP

Military gives Morsi, opp48-hour ultimatum

From Page 1

compliance of general principlesof transparency, respect of rulesand laws.”

Prime Minister NawazSharif said for a completely newlook of the government; “weneed to be very careful in the se-lection of our teams and thoseholding positions of authority,whether in the Divisions or thestatutory bodies, as this selectioncan affect the image of the gov-ernment, on the one hand and itsperformance on the other.”

He also directed that he beregularly updated about the sta-tus of compliance.

Send packingFrom Page 1

Hussain and his relativeshomes.

The sources said that Londonpolice had compiled a reportbased on solid evidences againstAltaf Hussain and sent it toCrown Prosecution Service.

The Crown Prosecution Ser-vice is responsible for prosecut-ing criminal cases investigated bythe police in England and Wales.Police sources added “MQMchief will be part of interrogativeprocess after governmental law-yers response.” Two former lead-ers of the political party providedfirm proofs to London policewhich helped the officials in in-vestigations.

Police officials alsoclaimed that amount of morethan one million pounds wererecovered during the raid. Lon-don Metropolitan Police andCrown Prosecution Serviceswill present progress report onImran Farooq murder case be-fore British Home Secretary.

Crown Prosecution Serviceswill hold a special session withthe top police officials beforemeeting the home secretary.

Earlier, Chief of theMuttahida Quami Movement(MQM) Altaf Hussain voluntar-ily stepped down from his poston June 30 after the raid con-ducted by London police on hisresidence but rejoined his postafter 6 hours —INP

Scotland YardFrom Page 1

Kashmir eventFrom Back Page

believe Britain to be a politico-moral party in this unyielding dis-pute when the British left Jammuand Kashmir in limbo. Pakistanhad acquired sovereignty overJ&K state via standstill agreementsigned between Maharaja HariSingh and Pakistan governmenton August 12/15.

It was under this accord thatPakistan flags flew atop princi-pal building in Jammu and Kash-mir – including post offices andtelegraph offices on the birth dayof Pakistan.

It was exactly after twomonths 26 days that Hindustanlanded her aggressive troops atSrinagar on October 27, 1947and raced to the UN SecurityCouncil to lodge a complaintagainst Pakistan with having areference to that landmark stand-still agreement between the lastruler of Kashmir and Pakistangovernment.

Cut in numberFrom Back Page

The Embassy would also like tomake it clear that present projectof expansion of the Haram Sharifin Makkah will increase the avail-able space by 400,000 squaremeters to accommodate two Mil-lion and two hundred thousandworshippers.

With regard to expansion ofspace for Tawaf, it earlier accom-modated 44,000 pilgrims perhour, and after completion of theexpansion project, will accom-modate more than 130,000 pil-grims per hour at all stories androoftop.

The decision by the Kingdomof Saudi Arabia to decrease thenumber of pilgrims was wel-comed by a number of Muslimcountries and religious leaders inthe Muslim world. Because theseexpansion projects for the TwoHoly Mosques and the Tawafspace, the biggest ever in the his-tory, are time-restricted which willbe completed within three years.

PML-N believes in stability ofdemocratic institutions: Shahbaz

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Speaker NationalAssembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiqcalled on Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif, atModel Town here Monday anddiscussed matters of mutual in-terest and other important issues.

Talking on the occasion,Shahbaz Sharif said that Paki-stan Muslim League-N believesin stability of democracy as wellas democratic institutions. Hesaid that people have given man-date to PML-N in general elec-tion for the solution of theirproblems. He said that PML-Nimmediately after coming intopower started taking steps forcontrolling load-shedding andresolving other issues. He saidthat every promise made to thepeople will be honoured. He saidthat tough divisions will have tobe taken for the stability of na-tional economy.

Referring to energy crisis, theChief Minster said that theformer rulers only generatedcommission instead of electric-

ity during the last five years. Hesaid that the nation suffered theagony of load-shedding and thecountry was plunged in darknessbut the former rulers remained in-different. He said that presentleadership promised to the peopleto control load-shedding and theywill be rid of this problem.

He said that circular debt ofelectricity has gone beyond Rs.500 billion but the promise toeliminate circular debt withinsixty days will be fulfilled. Hesaid that the rich have no rightover subsidy on electricity. Hesaid that it is ironic that both richand the poor are benefiting fromsubsidy on electricity. He saidthat the cost of production ofelectricity can be reduced bygenerating power from alterna-tive sources.

He said that Punjab govern-ment has made planning to pro-duce electricity from solar en-ergy, biomass, biogas and coalwith the cooperation of privatesector. He said that provincialgovernment is evolving a 5-yearenergy policy with the consul-

tation of stakeholders. He saidthat the proposed visit of PrimeMinister Muhammad NawazSharif to China is also going tohelp in overcoming economicproblems.

The Chief Minister furthersaid that besides generation ofelectricity, controlling power-theft and line losses is also es-sential. He said that Punjab gov-ernment will play an effectiverole in curbing electricity theftand a taskforce has been formedfor this purpose.

Shahbaz Sharif said thatNandipur power project is pend-ing for the last two and halfyears due to corruption andgreed of the former rulers andits cost of construction has in-creased from Rs.22 billion toRs.57 billion.

He said that the Chinesecompany has again been invitedto resume work on NandipurPower project and its officialsvisited Pakistan recently. Hesaid that PML-N government istaking revolutionary measuresfor overcoming energy crisis.

OBSERVER REPORT

OSLO—President of KashmirEuropean Alliance Sardar PervezMehmood has said in a pressstatement that Delhi does notunderstand aspirations and sen-timents of the people of Jammu& Kashmir. Sardar Pervez re-acted to the statement of UPAchairperson Sonia GandhiWednesday June 26’s statementwhen she said that New Delhiunderstood sentiments of thepeople of Jammu & Kashmir anddemocracy in India offered solu-tion to all problems.

Sardar Pervez Mehmood hassaid that India either does notunderstand or pretends to misun-derstand the wishes and aspira-tions of the people in Jammu &Kashmir. People of Jammu &Kashmir seek right of self deter-mination to decide their destiny.People of Jammu & Kashmir arestriving hard to get rid of Indianslavery. Economic packages arenot an alternative to right of selfdetermination, he said. Eight In-dian troops were killed by free-

dom fighters just before the ar-rival of Indian Prime Minister inSrinagar and that was a clearmessage to Manmohan Singhand Sonia Gandhi that they arenot welcome to Kashmir.

Sardar Pervez rejectedGandhi’s note that people in J&Kwanted to move forward andbuild a future based on secular-ism and Indian democracy. In-dian democracy is embeddedwith ruthless cast system in In-dian society and that is full ofhatred and prejudice dividing theIndian society into so-called sa-cred and inferior sections orclasses. The notorious Hindu castsystem violates the golden equal-ity principles dictated by Islamand advised and practiced bygreat civilizations of moderntimes as well.

Sardar Pervez Mehmoodsaid that small economic incen-tives like Himayat and Udaanschemes aimed to help womenof occupied territory cannot re-place the horrific image of so-called Indian democracy underthe shadow of which Indian mili-

tary gang raped villages after vil-lages during false crackdowns.These tiny economic packagesare nothing but a mockery to ter-rified Kashmiri nation’s multiplewounds.

The mass grave story is oneof most serious humanity crimeafter Holocaust and Bosnianmassacre he said. India has to paythe price of all such horrendouscrimes committed to unarmedcivilians, children and women inJ&K.

Sardar Pervez Said thatDelhi’s political elite has reachedKashmir and trying their best tomislead the public through so-called economic and civic wel-fare projects and also talkingabout holding local bodies pollsto divert the world’s attentionfrom the core issue of Kashmirconflict.

The core issue cannot bemisted by any tactic what’s soever, except to give Kashmiripeople the right of self determi-nation through a plebiscite en-dorsed and promised by UN Se-curity Council. He maintained!

Delhi does not understandKashmiris sentiments: KEA

PTI fieldsFrom Back Page

Mianwali’s seat has been vacatedby Imran Khan while NA-48 hadbeen won by Javed Hashmi.

The PTI sources said thatNoor Hayat Kalyar has beenawarded the party ticket for NA-68 Sargodha while LiaquatRanjha has been nominated forPP-118 Mandi Bahauddin.

The board also awarded tick-ets to Gul Bacha Khan for NA-1Peshawar, Dr Imran Khattak forNA-5 Nowshera, Dawar Kundifor NA-24 Tank, Umar Farooq forPK-23 Mardan, Engineer Adil forPK-27 Mardan, and Malik Adnanfor PK-70 Bannu. The PTI wouldalso support the brother of lateFarid Khan from PK-42 Hangu.

Meanwhile, the PTI chief hasconstituted a review commissionto conduct a comprehensive en-quiry into the allegations of mis-conduct and malpractice/corrup-tion during the ticket awardingprocess for candidates in Punjab.

The commission will alsoexamine the candidate evaluationprocedures and suggest ways andmeans to improve them. The re-view commission is also taskedto look into various causes whichadversely affected the party’s per-formance during the general elec-tions and make necessary recom-mendations in this respect.—APP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Government shouldfocus on eliminating the Unac-counted for Gas (UFG) whichconstitute to around 12% of thetotal 4.3 billion cubic feet(BCFD) gas production of thecountry.

Every year around 516MMCFD gas out of total 4.3BCFD is stolen by different sec-tors and gas theft has increasedsubstantially after the mushroomgrowth of CNG sector in thecountry. If the government cur-tails/minimizes these gas losses,the current gas crisis can bebrought under control withoutreducing supplies to any sectorat all.

The ‘system inefficiencies’in SNGPL and SSGC distribu-tion networks are the crux of theproblem and have never beenaddressed properly. Sources saidthat government should carry outenergy efficiency audit across theboard to audit every single sec-tor of economy using natural gasincluding the domestic consum-ers who waste lot of gas usinginefficient equipments. Fertilizerindustry sector is the ‘most en-ergy efficient in comparison toothers which include power sec-tor (Including Government oper-ated Power Generation Compa-nies Genco’s, IPPs etc), indus-tries and CNG sector.

At this stage Governmentshould focus on cost benefitanalysis of using gas for differ-ent sectors of economy. Enhanc-ing energy efficiencies of differ-ent sector is a medium to longterm initiative which requiressubstantial investments and in-centives at the policy level withclear and tangible benefits tothose who comply and penaltieson those who don’t, sources

added.Fertilizer industry sources

while quoting a comprehensiveresearch report prepared by In-ternational Resources Group forthe Asian Development Bank andthe Ministry of Planning andDevelopment Government ofPakistan informed that, “TheSystem Level Economic Valua-tion indicates that reducing gasto the fertiliser sector costs theeconomy Rs196 million permmscfd, while increasing gas tothe power sector costs theeconomy Rs98 million permmscfd,”.

The plant level comparisonbetween fertilizer and powerplants show that using 100mmcfd for fertiliser saves Rs29.4billion compared to fertiliser im-ports, while replacing 100mmcfd for power saves Rs6.4billion compared to heavy fuel oilimports. Thus, using natural gasfor fertiliser has a higher savingsrelative to using it for power gen-eration by Rs23 billion. Thiscompares well with the valuefrom the economic model, whichfor use of 100 mmcfd in thefertiliser sector gives a net ben-efit of Rs19.6 billion.

Sources said that the teamworking on the report appliedtwo approaches: an energy sys-tem economic analysis, and aplant-level comparison. Bothapproaches gave a similar result,which is that natural gas has ahigher economic value for fertil-izer production. The energy sys-tems analysis shows that reduc-ing gas to fertilizer and increas-ing gas to power both increaseenergy system costs. The plant-level analysis shows that import-ing fertilizer has a greater eco-nomic cost than that of import-ing heavy fuel oil for power gen-eration.

Theft of gas at massive scale

Plug leakages, cater totransport, IPPs, fertilizer

Implementing laws forprotection, dev of forests

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Provincial Ministerfor Forests, Wildlife & Fisheries,Malik Asif Bha Awan has saidthat every possible step would betaken for implementing laws forthe protection and developmentof forests.

He directed that immediateand strict action should be en-sured against the persons in-volved in wood theft by takingtough decisions.

He said that according to thevision of Chief Minister PunjabMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif,Forests Department would befurther strengthened and acti-vated so that dream of greenPunjab could be materialized. Hedirected Forests officers to for-mulate comprehensive recom-

mendations for making monsoontree plantation campaign a suc-cess.

He expressed these viewswhile presiding over the meetingof the officers of Forests Depart-ment here today. Additional Sec-retary Forests, Chief Conserva-tor Punjab, all divisional and dis-trict forests officers attended themeeting.

Addressing the meeting, Pro-vincial Forests Minister said thatjoint efforts should be made forchecking the wood theft fromgovernment forests.

He directed that actionshould be taken against all offic-ers and officials responsible ofthe destruction of forests.

He stressed the need for prac-tical steps for controlling the de-struction of forests.

Four killedin KarachiKARACHI—Four people werekilled in periodic violence indifferent parts of Karachi onMonday as paramilitary Rang-ers continued their operationagainst criminal elements. Of-ficials said the firing incidentstook place in Kasba Colony,Baldia Town, Sohrab Goath andAgra Taaj areas where armed at-tackers shot dead four people.Three of them were killed withinan hour on Monday morning.Meanwhile, Rangers carried outtheir crackdown in Ittehad Town.Officials said over 1500 soldiers,including women personnel tookpart in the ‘targeted operation’,searching suspected houses andarresting dozens of people.—NNI

LONDON—The leaders ofFrance and Germany added theirvoices on Monday to the grow-ing outrage over reports that theUnited States has been spying onits European Union allies, rais-ing new suggestions that talks ona new trans-Atlantic trade agree-ment may be at risk.

President François Hollandeof France issued some of theharshest language from a Euro-pean leader, telling reporters dur-ing a visit in northwestern Francethat “we cannot accept this kindof behavior between partners andallies.” He said the spying should“immediately stop.”

European anger over US spying clouds trade talksIn Berlin, a spokesman for

Chancellor Angela Merkel of Ger-many, Steffen Seibert, echoed Mr.Hollande’s anger over the eaves-dropping. “We’re not in the coldwar anymore,” he told reporters.

Mr. Hollande hinted that talkson a new trans-Atlantic trade pact,scheduled to start next week,should be delayed until questionsover the spying issue were re-solved. “We can only have nego-tiations, transactions, in all areasonce we have obtained these guar-antees for France, but that goes forthe whole European Union, and Iwould say for all partners of theUnited States,” he said, accordingto a translation of his remarks re-

ported by The Associated Press.The anger overshadowed ef-

forts by Secretary of State JohnKerry to play down concernsabout American surveillance, tell-ing reporters at a conference ofSoutheast Asian nations in Bruneion Monday that “every country inthe world” involved in interna-tional affairs engages in activitiesto protect its national security.

The latest accusations sur-faced in the online edition of theGerman newsmagazine DerSpiegel, which reported on Sat-urday that American agencies hadmonitored the offices of the Eu-ropean Union in New York andWashington. Der Spiegel said in-

formation about the spying ap-peared in documents that wereobtained by Edward J. Snowden,the former American intelligencecontractor, and were seen in partby the magazine.

On Sunday, the online editionof The Guardian in Britain re-ported additional details about thesurveillance program. The news-paper said that one document ithad obtained listed 38 embassiesand diplomatic missions in Wash-ington and New York, describingthem as “targets.” It detailed abroad range of spying methodsused against one, including bugsimplanted in electronic commu-nications gear and the collection

of transmissions using specializedantennas.

The list of targets included theEuropean Union’s missions andthe French, Italian and GreekEmbassies, as well as those of sev-eral other American allies, includ-ing India, Japan, Mexico, SouthKorea and Turkey, The Guardianreported.

The reports came at a timewhen there was already consider-able tension between the UnitedStates and its European allies overMr. Snowden’s earlier revelationsof apparent American spying onofficials of allied governments andthe gathering of data on electroniccommunications by millions of

people around the world.In the latest accusations, the

documents seen by The Guardiansuggest that the intent of the eaves-dropping against the union’s of-fice in Washington was to gatherinside knowledge of policy differ-ences on global issues and otherpotential disagreements amongmember countries, the newspapersaid. Catherine Ashton, theunion’s top foreign policy of-ficial, said in a written state-ment on Sunday that the unionwas seeking “urgent clarifica-tion of the veracity of and factssurrounding these allega-tions.” The president of theEuropean Parliament, Martin

Schulz, said in a statementthat he was “deeply worriedand shocked.” He added, “Ifthe allegations prove to betrue, it would be an extremelyserious matter, which willhave a severe impact on E.U.-U.S. relations.”

The United States and theEuropean Union are sched-uled to complete talks on thetrans-Atlantic trade agree-ment by November 2014.

Those talks are threat-ened by the spying accusa-tions, according to VivianeReding, the EuropeanUnion’s commissioner forjustice.—NYT

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The mercury hadsoared to its apex on Monday butthe city was lucky to see the tem-perature cooled down. This wasonly because the protest rally wasproduced by the lawmakers of theruling political party, the PakistanPeople’s Party Parliamentarian(PPPP).

The PPPP lawmakers alongwith hundreds of protestors be-longing to gang war crime-hitLyari gathered at the city’s finan-cial avenue, I I Chundrigar Roadprotesting against the extra-judi-cial murder of boxer Saquib.

Eminent social worker, AbdulSattar Edhi also joined the protest

rally.Some of the protestors also

held weapons in their hands.Rangers was missing from thescene while Police alone had cor-doned off the protestors from en-tering the venues toward SindhChief Minister and Sindh Gover-nor Houses located in red zone.The PPPP lawmakers and the trainof protestors wanted to reach theJinnah Court, the headquarters ofSindh Rangers.

A day earlier, PPPP KarachiDivisional President Abdul QadirPatel had in a press conferencealleged the Rangers of murderingboxer Saquib extra-judicially.However, the Rangers or SindhGovernment did not speak on that

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—In response towhat appeared in the newspa-pers and the media about regu-lation of the number of pil-grims, the Information Sectionof the Saudi Arabian embassyhas clarified the position of theKindon in a statement issuedby the embassy says.

As the government of theCustodian of the Two HolyMosques is keenly dedicated tothe security, safety and reliefof the pilgrims and makingsure that they perform theirHajj rituals with ease, comfort,serenity and security, it haskept on year after year increas-ing the services and facilitiesand expanding both Mosquesin Makkah Mukamma andMadina as well as the space forTawaf at the Haram MuawaraSharif.

In this context, the deci-sion was made to regulate thenumber of pilgrims this yearby 20% to overseas pilgrimsand 50% for the internal pil-

Saudi Arabia undertakes expansion of Haram Sharif

Cut in pilgrims numberto ensure safety

grims.The decision aimed at pro-

tecting the lives of Muslimsouls in the Haram Sharif. Nodoubt that density of the ex-pected number of pilgrims willcause to delay execution of theexpansion projects of servicesand facilities, in addition to the

hazards that crowding will en-tail for the pilgrims.

The sole objective ofthe decision is safety of pil-grims from all hazards and tocater for the needs of increas-ing number of pilgrims in theyears to come.

Continued on Page 6

LAHORE—Federal Minister forRailway Khawaja Saad Rafiquehas said that Vigilance cell isbeing set up to avert corruptionand such strategy will beplanned that no one can dare tocommit corruption again.

Talking to media on Mon-day here he said that work hasbeen started in railway on emer-gency basis and 2/3 of trains willbe functional in next five years.Target has been given to railwayauthorities to run 4 big trains TezGam, Kuraquram, Quetta andKarachi up to July 2013.

“Purchasing of train enginesand maintenance of railwaytracks would be the top priori-ties. I am in favor of public-pri-vate partnership but it does notmean that other party will is al-lowed to digest everything”, hesaid

Saad announces to set‘Vigilance Cell’ in PR

Saad Rafique stated thatmajor reshuffling of the officersholding key posts is being donein different sections of the de-partment and no political pres-sure will be acknowledged inthis regard.

“I have felt that after takingcharge and studying about rail-way that railway could be madebetter and profitable department.For this faithful, hard workingand capable officers and work-ers are needed and there is nolackness of such staff in depart-ment”, he added.

He said that in every sectionprofessionals would be ap-pointed and for transfers andposting only merit would be fol-lowed. A 5-year plan will bemade for railway, which will bemonitored annually according toits targets..—Online

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Three memberbench of the Supreme Court onMonday sought a report over thepayments released to the inde-pendent power producers duringthe hearing over the suo motonotice taken of prolonged andun-announced loadhedding inthe country.

A three-member bench ofthe apex court comprising ofChief Justice IftikharMuhammad Chaudhry, JusticeIjaz Ahmed Chaudhry and Jus-tice Gulzar Ahmed heard thecase .

During the hearing, the chiefjustice remarked that despite therelease of payment made by thegovernment to IPPs there was nosignificant change in the supplyof electricity. On a bench’s queryregarding the supply and de-mand of electricity to the portcity of Karachi, Managing Di-rector Pakistan Electric PowerCompany Zargham Ishaq Khanapprised the bench that KarachiElectric Supply Corporation wasan independent private company

Pakistan, Indiaexchange listsof prisoners

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI—The Governments of Pakistanand India on Monday exchangedlists of prisoners lodged in eachother’s respective jails.

According to the ConsularAgreement signed between thetwo countries in May 2008, listsof prisoners are to be exchangedtwice a year: on January 1st andJuly 1st respectively.

Consistent with the provi-sions of this Agreement, theForeign Office handed over tothe Indian High Commission inIslamabad, a list of 491 Indianprisoners lodged in Pakistanijails.

A similar list of 386 Paki-stani prisoners was also handedover to the Pakistan High Com-mission in New Delhi by the In-dian Ministry of External Af-fairs.

Upon receipt of these lists,the respective Interior/Homeministries consult the provin-cial home departments and jailauthorities to ascertain howmany of the prisoners are com-pleting their jail term.Accordingly, upon completionof the jail terms these prison-ers are released.

The government of Paki-stan views the issue of prison-ers as a humanitarian one andcontinues to make efforts fortheir release as soon as theirprison sentence has been com-pleted. —APP

CJ questions loadsheddingdespite payment to IPPs

and does not fall under the um-brella of PEPCO.

He further said that PEPCOhad an agreement of providing650 Megawatts to KESC whilerest of the electricity was gen-erated by the KESC by itselfadding that the KESC also hadas many as three IndependentPower Plants working for thegeneration of electricity.

“If KESC is generating tomeet its demand, this is com-mendable,” the Chief Justiceremarked.

However, the bench issuednotice to the Chief ExecutiveOfficer KESC to present reportregarding the supply, generationand demand of electricity forKarachi. Meanwhile, the benchnoted that there was a dire needto overcome the power theft inmany areas of the country. Thebench remarked that those whopay their bills regularly shouldnot suffer because of electricityand gas thieves.

Later, the bench summonedchief secretaries of all the fourprovinces, finance secretary andthe CEO of KESC.

Two copsgunned down

PESHAWAR—Two police con-stables were gunned down atRing Road in the Pishtakharapolice station jurisdiction onMonday afternoon. Police saidthat members of the special po-lice forces Constable Osmanand Constable Subhanullahwere on duty on Ring Roadwhen terrorists riding a motor-cycle attacked them.—INP

Lyarites protest againstkilling of boxer Saquib

matter. The Lyari protestors led byPPPP MPA Samina Naz Baloch,Javed Nagori and Abdul QadirPatel had held dialogue with thedistrict South Deputy Commis-sioner Mustafa Jamal Qazi andhanded him a memorandum overthe extra-judicial murder of boxerSaquib. The memorandum statedthat the workers of PPPP werebeing murdered without givingthem the right of fair trial in anycourt of law in case they had anycharge of crime. They demandedthe government of taking indis-criminate action against the crimi-nals. Rangers should review itspolicy and pattern of investigationand that they would record theirprotest on all forums available.

PTI fields Asad,Ayla for by-polls

ISLAMABAD—The parliamen-tary board of Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf has finalised the party’selectoral candidates for the up-coming by-polls to be heldacross the country on August 22.

PTI Chairman Imran Khanchaired the parliamentary boardmeeting held in here on Monday.PTI Vice Chairman ShahMehmood Qureshi, PresidentJaved Hashmi, Secretary GeneralPervez Khattak, Additional Secre-tary General Saifullah Khan Niazi,KP President Asad Qaisar andPunjab President Ijaz Chaudhryalso attended the meeting. Theparliamentary board decided tofield senior party leaders AsadUmar and Ayla Malik as theparty’s candidates for the up-coming by-elections to be heldin NA-48 Islamabad and NA-71Mianwali.

ISLAMABAD—In view of the gascrisis and rising incidents of CNGcylinder blasts, the Oil and GasRegulatory Authority (Ogra) hasdecided to launch a drive to wipeout hundreds of CNG stationsoperating in residential areas.

At present, over 3,000 CNGstations are operating in the coun-try and majority of them are lo-cated in residential areas.

Sources said that the regula-tor would serve notices on resi-dential areas’ CNG stations Mon-

OGRA to remove CNG stationsoperating in residential areas

day (today) – a move that wouldlead to closure of these CNG sta-tions across the country.Ogra would issue notices to CNGstations near mosques, schoolsand hospitals in residential areasand seek explanations as to underwhich policy these outlets wereestablished and what measuresthey had taken to ensure safety ofthe people living around. Thesources said Ogra had decided tosuspend the licences of these sta-tions if they failed to satisfy the

Kashmir eventin House ofCommons

HAMEED SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—An interactiveevent on Kashmir saga is be-ing held in the House of Com-mons, UK, on July 8, 2013with Kashmiri and Britishleaders updating one anotherof the latest geo-political graphof Jammu and Kashmir.

Britain behind the curtainhas been very active in induct-ing facilitation of Kashmirisfor crossing line of dividefreely with other necessarysafeguards.

Kashmiris too have beendemanding full freedom tothem to cross the ‘technical’dividing line since long.

Kashmiris with stage-to-stage background knowledgeof the state are participating inthe House of Commons eventwhich may form some ‘solidbasis’ for future talks betweenPakistan and Hindustan onKashmir and dossier for inter-national community.A majority of Kashmiris

Students visitOxford UniversityLAHORE—The 40-memberdelegation of position holdingmale and female students whichis on a study tour of renownedforeign universities visited Ox-ford University Monday andsaw its various sections. Direc-tor South Asian Studies OxfordUniversity Dr. MathewMcartney gave a lecture to theposition-holder students and in-formed them about the historyand admission procedure of theuniversity. Talking on the oc-casion, Dr. Mathew Mcartneysaid that sending of merit schol-ars to renowned universities ofthe world by Chief MinisterPunjab Muhammad ShahbazSharif is a commendable stepand he has proved to be an edu-cation-friendly Chief Minister.The students are in UK on astudy tour in accordance withthe education friendly policy ofthe Punjab government.—INP

CM orders freetreatmentStaff ReporterLAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif, on the appeal of awoman of Makka ColonyLahore who lost her eyesightdue to torture by her husband,Monday directed to provideher free treatment. He directedProvincial Health Minister andSecretary Health to ensure freetreatment of the women ingovernment hospital.

Continued on Page 6

QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik Baloch talking to relatives of injured persons of Saturday’s suicideattack in Hazara Town at CMH.

Consultation overwomen concernsLAHORE—A two-day nationalconsultation on women, peaceand security in Pakistan willbegin at a hotel on Wednesday.The consultation is being orga-nized to address concerns ofwomen and girls in post-conflictand disaster situations and toensure participation of womenin all stages of peace buildingand post-disaster relief and re-habilitation. Discussions andsuggestions from the consulta-tion will feed into a national re-port on current perception ofwomen’s role in peace and con-flict situations and promote sug-gestions to increase their partici-pation in decision making. Ad-vocacy and Communications isorganizing the event.—APP

authority.Ogra has already directed all

transport authorities to launch acrackdown on vehicles fitted withuncertified CNG or LPG cylin-ders. In May Ogra imposed a banon vehicles in which CNG cyl-inders were fitted beneath theseats and disconnected gas con-nections of 22 CNG filling sta-tions on charges of violation.However this ban did not applyon vehicles with CNG cylindersfitted on roofs.—INP

Continued on Page 6

COLLAPSIBLE laundry hampers withwire supports may pose a risk tochildren’s eyes, according to research-

ers who saw two related injuries within a year,both requiring surgery.

Such hampers have anembedded stiff wire spring,which can be dangerous ifthe cloth frays and the wirebecomes exposed, research-ers said.

“Parents should receivea warning of the risks ofthese hampers,” Dr. IrisKassem from the Universityof Illinois at Chicago andher colleagues wrote Mon-day in Pediatrics.

They describe the casesof two children who eachhad an eye punctured by oneof those wires - an 11-year-old boy injured while put-ting clothes in a collapsiblehamper and a 23-month-oldgirl.

Both needed emergency surgery for cutson their eyeballs.

The older boy had a second surgery andnow wears a contact lens, according to thestudy team. The younger girl developed a lazyeye but her vision returned to normal afterwearing glasses and a patch for a year and ahalf.

Dr. Michael Repka, a pediatric ophthal-mology researcher at the Johns Hopkins Uni-versity School of Medicine in Baltimore, saidhe had not personally treated this type of in-jury, but sees how it could occur.

“There are dangers in lots of productsand I think it’s great they called attention

to this one, and certainly people ought tolook at the design,” Repka, who wasn’tinvolved in the new study, told ReutersHealth.

“But it’s not isolated to wire hampers,”he added. “Wires from lots ofproducts can hit kids in theeye.”

Repka said it’s too earlyto draw conclusions about col-lapsible wire hampers basedon these two cases - other thanto say a wire that’s poking outat kids’ eye level is a hazard.

A representative fromWhitmor, which makes col-lapsible hampers, said no eyeinjuries have been reported tothe company.

“We’ve been on themarket many, many years withthese items … and never havewe had a customer complainabout anything, much less aninjury,” Scott Felsenthal toldReuters Health.

He said Whitmor’s pop-and-fold ham-pers come with a warning label and that thecompany will be looking into whether itscollapsible hamper needs a warning label aswell. Kassem said warning labels are “a goodstart,” but some hampers may require de-sign changes as well.

She recommended two precautions forparents. “One is to have the hamper in a safelocation so children cannot be near or playaround this product,” she told Reuters Healthby email. “The second thing I suggest is tocheck the integrity of the hamper and if thefabric is frayed in any way, it needs to bethrown away.”

Collapsible hamperspose eye risk for kids

ISLAMABAD: Colourful trees add to the beauty of Islamabad.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasiin a meeting with Mustafa Babur Hizlan, Ambassador of Turkey to Pakistan on Monday.

3 JULY

RAWALPINDI Arts Coun-cil will hold a photographyexhibition by Mona Fazaltoday (Tuesday) at 3 pm.The exhibition will be heldat RAC art gallery. Theexhibition will go on till 4thJuly 2013.

*****

LITERARY organization,Bazm-e-Akbar Allah Abadiin collaboration with Paki-stan Academy of Letters(PAL) would arrange alaunching ceremony of abook “Babu Nagar” by wellknown humorist poetHussain Ahmed Shirazi onJuly 3. The event would beheld at Pakistan Academyof Letters (PAL),Islamabad.

ISLAMABAD—United StatesAmbassador to Pakistan, Rich-ard Olson on Monday said thepast Soviet mistake of leavingAfghanistan without rehabili-tating the local populationshould not be repeated in fu-ture.

He was addressing at alaunching ceremony of TheTalloires Network at NationalUniversity of Science andTechnology (NUST) and aseminar on Pak-US HigherEducation Initiative on CivicEngagement sponsored by In-novations in Civic Participationand US State Department.

He said the defunct SovietUnion had withdrawn from Af-ghanistan in early eightieswithout completing the reha-bilitation of local populationwhich was a mistake andshould be avoided.

The ambassador said “Pa-kistan has suffered a majorchallenge of Afghan refugeessince long which ultimately has

Olson stresses stability in Pakistan, Afghanistan

ISLAMABAD: US Ambassador Richard Olson greets Dr Masood Hameed Khan, Dean ofDOW Medical University Karachi at the July 1 Civic engagement celebration at the Na-tional University of Science and Technology.

burdened its socio-economicfabric and created instability inthe region” he said.

The US government ac-knowledges the sacrifices of Pa-kistan for peace of the regionand would support stability inPakistan and rehabilitation ofAfghan people.

About the project of linkingof Pak-US top universities, theambassador said “Today we cel-ebrate the culmination of aproject linking top Pakistaniuniversities with top U.S. uni-versities for the purpose ofstrengthening civic engagementin higher education”.

“Beyond its educationalbenefits, inculcating the valueof service in the next generationhas the power to change livesand change nations,” he ob-served.

Minister for Planning andDevelopment, Ahsan Iqbal saidthe aspect of community build-ing and rehabilitation was ne-glected during the process ofwithdrawal of Russian forces

from Afghanistan whichbrought huge devastation to theregion.

At that time, he said theweaponised people should havebeen given proper training andcounseling, bringing them intohealthy sphere of life.

Now the aspect of commu-nity building and rehabilitationof the people must be given im-portance in wake of withdrawalof US troops from Afghanistanin 2014, he said.

He said that peace in Af-ghanistan was need of hours forstability in the whole region andboth the countries of Pakistanand United States must continuejoint efforts to establish peacein the region.

Ahsan Iqbal stressed on theimportance of modern educa-tion for the development ofcountry and he appreciated thejoint efforts of Pakistan andUnited States for the promotionof education in Pakistan.

He said cooperation be-tween Higher Education Com-

mission (HEC) and USAIDwould open new vistas of devel-opment.

The minister lauded the ini-tiative in which five PakistaniUniversities were twinned with

the US universities for collabo-rating to share knowledge andexperiences regarding commu-

nity service, civic engagementand service learning.

He reiterated the present’government commitment to-ward prioritizing education andyouth empowerment.

Federal Minister for Sci-ence and Technology, ZahidHamid, as a chief guest, com-mended the noble purpose of theinitiative and appreciated rolesof sponsors, ten twinned univer-sities and that of NUST forspearheading that programmeon behalf of Pakistani universi-ties.

He reassured the vice chan-cellors and rectors of the univer-sities that the government wouldprovide maximum support to thecause of higher education in thecountry.

He highlighted that promo-tion of science and technologyin the country was a priority fo-cus of his ministry and the gov-ernment.

Chairperson HEC DrJavaid R Laghari said HEC haspaid special focus over Quality

Teaching and Research and asa result faculty and universitieshave excelled a lot.

He said “Our research hasincreased by 50% just in thelast two years, and the univer-sities are now publishing over7000 papers annually. This wasrecognized by Scimago as thesecond largest increase world-wide and Pakistani universitiesare among the top 7 universi-ties in Asia as ranked in QSWorld University Rankings2013, which includes NUST.

Executive DirectorTallories Network, RobertHollister and ICP Founding Di-rector Susan Stroud enlargedupon the goals of respectiveprogrammes and commendedthe NUST role as the lead uni-versity from the country.

The US-Pakistan HigherEducation Initiative on CivicEngagement supported by a$500,000 grant from the USgovernment and implementedby National University of Sci-ence and Technology.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Judge of Su-preme Court of Pakistan, JusticeKhilji Arif Hussain Mondayurged young judicial officers toapply mediation and other meansof Alternative Dispute Resolu-tion to ensure speedy justice andreduce backlog of cases.

He expressed these views inthe inaugural ceremony ofweeklong orientation course on“New Laws inclusive of a two-day workshop on mediation as anADR Mechanism “in collabora-tion with Karachi Centre for Dis-

Judicial officers asked toapply ADR to reduce backlog

pute Resolution (KCDR) forCivil Judges/Judicial Magis-trates from all over Pakistan in-cluding Azad Jammu and Kash-mir and Gilgit-Blatistan here inthe Federal Judicial Academy(FJA).

He said, “Alternative Dis-pute Resolution Mechanismsmay be new to the westernworld but these mechanisms aredeep- rooted in our society andculture. Various informal meansare used by the elders and thenotables in the rural areas ofPakistan to settle the disputes.”

He said “Panchayat system”

has been at work in various partsof Pakistan but unfortunately thissystem has been ruthlessly mis-used. At some places, the poor andthe vulnerable people have be-come the victim of this system andmore strong and more influentialpeople have remained above thissystem. Referring to the glori-ous Surah An- Nisa of the HolyQuran , he said, “Islam recognizesmediation between the husbandand wife in a conflicting situationin order to restore peace. Thislengthy Surah relates to legal as-pect of “reconciliation betweenhusband and wife.”

FIR registeredagainst land

grabbersISLAMABAD—Koral policeIslamabad has registered a caseagainst 10 persons for grabbinginherited land of a person in ru-ral area of the city, police sourcesaid.

According to details,Muhammad Sabir s/oMuhammad Sadiq has regis-tered a complaint with Koralpolice station alleging ten per-sons for grabbing his inheritedland forcibly in ‘Gangal Area ofIslamabad. —APP

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Capi-tal Development Authority(CDA), Nadeem Hassan Asifexpressed dissatisfaction andannoyance over the slow pacedevelopment work while payinga visit to Kashmir Highway toreview the progress about theongoing development work.Chairman CDA directed Mem-ber Engineering for completionof work on Kashmir Highwaywithin three months.

He also directed MemberEngineering to chalk out a threemonths completion plan for thisvery important project immedi-ately and ensure completion ofconstruction work on KashmirHighway with high quality and

CDA chief annoyed over slowwork on Kashmir Highway

international standard.During his visit to Kashmir

Highway, Chairman CDA,Nadeem Hassan Asif directedthe concerned officers of Engi-neering Wing to ensure properarrangements of security at de-pressions located on the con-struction sites of highway.

He also inspected variousphases of Kashmir Highway;especially the sections of high-way between Peshawar Morrand Toll Plaza and directed theconcerned formation of the au-thority to use modern construc-tion technology and ensurecompletion of work with bestquality by introducing rightconstruction regime.

Later on, Chairman CDA,Nadeem Hassan Asif also vis-

ited Sector D-12.He expressed his dissatis-

faction over the snail’s pace de-velopment work and directed theconcerned formations of the au-thority to expedite the develop-ment work in Sector D-12through joint and effective co-ordinated efforts among differ-ent directorates of CDA.

He urged the concerned of-ficers that further delay in de-velopment activities in SectorD-12 would not be tolerated atany cost.

Chairman CDA, NadeemHassan Asif was accompaniedwith all the Members of CDABoards and officers of con-cerned formations of the author-ity during his visit to KashmirHighway and Sector D-12.

Nisar directs CDAto remove politicalbanners, hoardingsISLAMABAD—Minister for In-terior and Narcotics Control,Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan onMonday directed Capital Devel-opment Authority (CDA) andRawalpindi administration toimmediately remove all politi-cal banners, hoardings and post-ers in Rawalpindi-Islamabad.

In a statement issued here,he further directed that the taskshould be completed within next48 hours.

The Minister said theirplaces of display should be usedcommercially to generate rev-enue for districts rather usingthese venues for political hoard-ings to attract the attention ofimportant government function-aries.

He said in future every ef-fort should be made not to al-low putting up of such bannersexcept during the time of elec-tions.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The menace ofencroachments has increased onfootpaths of various markets of thecity due to augmented Ramzanrelated business activities thusputting the lives of the pedestri-ans at risk leaving no choice forthe walkers but to walk on theroad.

While a survey conducted byAPP from various markets of thecity, a large number of footpathshave been heavily occupied byshopkeepers, vendors, stall hold-ers, and other makeshift shopswhile a number of busy arteries

Footpaths: A nightmare in Islamabadof the metropolis usually re-mained encroached upon by push-carts selling fruit,vegetables andother eatables.

A commuter Ali Ahmed said,all the footpaths from Lal Masjidto Aabpara bus stop could be seenoccupied by the vendors forcingthe visitors to force their waythrough a mass of stalls to the ba-zaars. A local group of people inAbpara Market said, “Despite re-peated appeals to the concerneddepartment to look into the mat-ter, the officials have continuouslyignored the problem,”

A female customer Hina inKarachi Company told that “Asencroachers have taken away thefootpath, it has become difficultfor us to walk on it. Instead ofwalking on the footpath, peoplewalk on roads thus increasing therisk of accidents,” A large num-ber of stall holders have occupiedeven front way of various shopsthus making the female custom-ers very difficult to even enter intothe shop. She added that it is be-ing done with the connivance ofshop owners as they receive rentfrom the stall holders.—APP

Briefs

Any business arrange-ment that is not

profitable to the otherfellow will in the endprove unprofitable toyou. The bargain that

yields mutual satisfac-tion is the only one

that is apt to berepeated.

— B. C. Forbes

HAMID SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—ProminentBusinessmen from Pakistanand India made a commit-ment, Saturday to workamong themselves andthrough their respective gov-ernments for normalizing Pa-kistan India trade. This decla-ration was made at the con-cluding session of the 1stmeeting of the Pakistan IndiaJoint Business Forum(PIJBF). The Forum whichcomprises 15 prominent busi-nessmen from each countryhas been notified by the gov-

ernments of Pakistan and India.This body has been tasked withidentifying the problems facedin cross-border trade and tocome up with recommendationsfor resolving the same.

An Indian delegation led bySunil Kant Munjal, ChairmanHero Corporate Services andcomprising of Rajesh BhartiMittal, Dr. Naresh Trehan,Deepak Amitabh and VikramjitSahney met their Pakistanicounterparts in Islamabad overthe weekend. Bashir AliMohammad the Vice Chairmanfrom the Pakistani side whilewelcoming the Indian delegates

cautioned about the very highexpectations from the Forum bythe various stakeholders. Hestated that there were apprehen-sions in some sectors of theeconomy in Pakistan that tradenormalization would lead to aninflux of cheap & subsidizedIndian products which wouldnegatively impact the local in-dustry and agriculture. Tradenormalization, Bashir AliMohammad stated should be awin-win situation for both theeconomies. Responding toBashir Ali Mohammad’s open-ing remarks, Sunil Kant Munjalthe Co-Chair of the Forum

agreed that trade normalizationshould be a win-win situation forall and that it was the task of theForum to create the conditionsfor this win-win situation to oc-cur. He thanked the govern-ments on both sides of the bor-der for creating the Joint Forumand hoped that the Forum wouldcome up to the expectations ofthe stakeholders on both sidesof the border. Finally he stressedthat the consumer welfare ele-ment of trade normalizationshould be the given the priorityit deserves.

The PIJBF decided to setup10 sector specific taskforces

Pak-India tycoons commit to normalizing bilateral trade

TARIQ KHATTAK

ISLAMABAD—The U.S. con-tinues to support Sindh mangogrowers through U.S. Agencyfor International Development(USAID) as farmers send an-other round of shipments ofpopular Sindhri mangoes,worth USD 0.25 million, to theNetherlands, United Kingdom(UK) and Kingdom of SaudiArabia (KSA). A total of 13consignments, carrying 106tons of Sindhri mangoes wereshipped to the buyers that in-clude Univeg, Special Fruit,and Fair Fruit in the EuropeanUnion (EU) and KSA.

“Shipments of premiumquality mangoes sent to high-end European and UK markets

USAID continues to supportingmarket linkages for mango growers

have materialized from an in-tensive identification process,creation of market linkages,and participation at interna-tional events such as the FruitLogistica in Berlin. We are ex-pecting our partner SME farmsto generate USD 6.8 million inrevenues from these shipmentsthis summer,” said a projectrepresentative.

These are in addition to theUSAID assisted shipments,worth USD 0.12 million,which were sent to the EU ear-lier in the month of June.These shipments are a directresult of USAID’s support tothe mango SMEs in establish-ing on-farm processing facili-ties, provision of technicaltrainings and helping them

achieve international certifica-tions, such as Global G.A.Pand HACCP, which are a pre-requisite for exporting to theglobal market.

USAID’s strategic inter-ventions in supportingPakistan’s mango sector haveincreased the overall sales andexport revenue by USD 20.5million since its inception in2009. The USAID supportedSME mango farms exportedUSD 5.8 million worth ofmangos in 2012 that representsa 107 percent increase fromthe previous year and 488 per-cent increase from thebaseline year of 2009. Theseinterventions have also pro-vided employment to morethan 2,500 people.

NEW DELHI—India and Paki-stan are close to signing the firstever bilateral agreement to sup-ply LNG via a 120-kilometrepipeline from Jalandhar to Jallonear Lahore via Wagah border,Hindustan Times reported.

The paper said that the pe-riod of agreement is expected tobe five years where India willsupply 5 million cubic metres ofgas daily to Pakistan.

The pipeline project is ex-pected to take about 18 monthsduring which GAIL will lay a110-km pipeline from Jalandharto Wagah via Amritsar and Pa-kistani Inter State Gas ServicesCompany will lay a 10-km pipe-line from Wagah to Jallo, on the

India, Pakistan LNGsupply deal almost done

outskirts of Lahore.External affairs ministry

sources told the newspaper thatthe agreement will be finalisedbetween the two companies af-ter negotiations on gas price andsecurity of payments are con-cluded. While India wants tosupply gas at a price linked withcrude prices plus a fixed com-ponent that includes transporta-tion tariff, state tax, VAT andservices tax, Pakistan wants thetax component to be deducted asgas supply is a deemed export.

The Indian petroleum min-istry has now approached thefinance ministry to seek tax ex-emption for gas supply to Paki-stan. The gas supply is expected

to start two years from the daythe agreement is inked.

GAIL wants an interna-tional bank or sovereign guar-antee from Pakistan to ensuresecurity of its payments with athree-month advance and easyclosure of contract incorporatedin the terms of agreement.

“Given the delicate relation-ship between the two countries,GAIL wants the immediate clo-sure built into the gas supplycontract. We expect the contractto go through as Punjab chiefminister Shahbaz Sharif is push-ing for gas supply with hisbrother Pakistan Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif,” a senior officialtold the newspaper.—INP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI —The trade and in-dustry seriously disturbed by ris-ing street crime and law and or-der has invited attention of thegovernment to control the lawbreakers operating in a free forall like situation distracting thesmooth functioning of the indus-try.

Chairman Korangi Associa-tion of Trade and Industry,Mohammad Zubair Chhaya,President, All Karachi IndustrialAlliance, Mian Zahid Hussain,and Vice Chairmen, NajmulArfeen and Niaz Ahmed hasshown their concern on target-ing businessmen and industrial-ist of Karachi in broad day light

Law, order threatenstrade and industry

but law enforcing agencies arefailed to curb these incidents.

They condemned the inci-dents of firing and snatching ofmobile and other valuable fromsons of Mian Zahid Hussain

S.M.Muneer said that un-scrupulous persons are creatingatmosphere of panic and confu-sion among the industrialists.Hedemanded Sindh Government tocontrol the criminal elements ortake help from federal govern-ment, otherwise, businessmenand industrialists of Karachi willconsider to close the businessactivities in Karachi.

Chairman KATI,Mohammad Zubair Chhaya saidthat there are incidents fre-quently happened in Karachi

and several incidents occurredin Korangi Industrial Area inthe last few days.

Mian Zahid Hussain saidthat criminal elements and ex-tortionists are trying to paralyzebusinessmen and factory own-ers due to which business ac-tivities are badly suffered. Hefurther said that on Saturday,some scrupulous persons hasfired and snatched mobile fromhis sons and we realized thatthese criminal elements arefreely deteriorating the law andorder of the city. He said thatgovernment should take noticeof these incidents and ensurethe security of life of industri-als and the people.

SHARAFAT KAZMI

ISLAMABAD—The Board ofDirectors of, Engro Foods to-day announced the appoint-ment of Sarfaraz A. Rehman asCEO Engro Foods with imme-diate effect. Rehman takesoverresponsibilityfrom outgo-ing CEO, Afnan Ahsan, whohas served Engro Foods for al-most 2 years.

During his tenure as CEOof Engro Foods, Afnan pro-vided leadership for bolder andout of box innovations that fur-ther reinforced the image ofthe Company as a premierhome-grown, multinationalfoods company of Pakistan.Throughout his time withEngro Foods, the Company de-

Rehman appointed CEO Engro Foodslivered innovative marketingcommunications and for thefirst time introduced its corpo-rate philosophy under a unifiedtheme titled “Khud Pakistan”.Afnan also provided leader-ship for the launch of DairyOmung and OmungLassi -now successful Engro Foodsbrands, along with promotingthe Al-Safa Halal line to fur-ther penetrate the NorthAmerican and Canadian mar-kets with wholesome and nu-tritious halal food products.

Under his able leadership,Engro Foods was also listedamongst the winners of theprestigious G-20 Challengeon Inclusive Business Innova-tion - a global competitionmanaged by International Fi-

nance Corporation (IFC), amember of the World BankGroup. The recognition at thisG-20 Summit stemmed fromCompany’s commitment topioneering innovative busi-ness models that have posi-t ively impacted themarginalized communities ofPakistan.

Afnan’s guidance andbusiness acumen is widely re-flected in the bottom lineprofitability of the Companywhich crossed the billion-ru-pee mark under his leadershipin 2012.The incoming CEOSarfaraz Rehman is a Char-tered Accountant by qualifica-tion and has over 29 years ofexperience in the FMCG andHealthcare industry.

US keen tostrengthen

trade,economic tieswith Pakistan: NinaMULTAN—The United States iskeen to strengthen trade and eco-nomic ties with Pakistan in allsectors of the economy and istaking all possible measures toachieve the goal .

US Consul General, NinaMaria Fite said this while talk-ing to the member of ExecutiveCommittee of Multan Chamberof Commerce and Industry(MCCI) chaired by MuhammadKhan Sadozai here on Monday.

She appreciated continuityof the democratic process inPakistan and hoped that the newgovernment would work on eco-nomic challenges more enthusi-astically She said that volume oftrade between US and Pakistanhad increased to 6 million dol-lar and it was helping Pakistanin energy sector and taking far-reaching steps to minimise theline losses in distribution com-panies. She said that the Paki-stani businessmen should availopportunities available underUS GSP Scheme.

She said that there are a lotmany opportunities for Pakistanibusinessmen in the US markettherefore they should visit theircounterparts to get benefit ofthem.

The MCCI President saidthat US investment in livestock,agriculture mineral and minessectors could be of great benefitto US investors.

The MCCI president saidthat if US enhances the scope ofGeneralized System of Prefer-ences (GSP) scheme to most ofour textile products that wouldhelp in further improvingPakistan’s exports to US.—APP

Symposium forbusinesswomen

heldISLAMABAD—The US-PakistanWomen’s Council in collaborationwith Islamabad Chamber of Com-merce & Industry and US Em-bassy organized a symposium atICCI to discuss business oppor-tunities for women entrepreneursin textile and fashion sector.

Addressing the symposium,Sarah Peck, Executive Director,US-Pakistan Women’s Councilsaid that US-Pakistan Women’sCouncil was launched in Septem-ber 2012 by USA to promote eco-nomic opportunities for women inPakistan.We are working in col-laboration with Pakistani and USbusinesses.—APP

comprising of not just membersof the Forum but also prominentbusinessmen / experts from therespective sectors. Thesetaskforces would be requiredwithin 60 days of their forma-tion to come up comprehensiverecommendations to address theproblems being faced by busi-nesses in their respective sectorsvis-à-vis bilateral trade. TheForum after detailed discussionsagreed to prioritize five sectorsi.e. Agriculture & Agri products,Automobile and Engineering,Textiles & Textile Made-ups,Pharmaceutical and Education& Vocational Training. The Pa-

kistani side besides Bashir AliMohammad, included, AbdulRazak Dawood, SikanderMustafa Khan, Nauman Dar,Shabbir Diwan, Dr. TariqBucha, Iftikhar A. Malik, Dar,S.M. Muneer, Syed NadeemQamar and Noor MuhammadKasuri. Senior members of theMinistry of Commerce led bythe Secretary Commerce, Mr.Munir Qureshi assisted byRobina Akhter Joint Secretaryalso participated in the meetingalong with senior representationfrom the Ministry of ForeignAffairs and Board of Invest-ment. Gopal Baglay the Deputy

High Commissioner and JayantKhobragade Counselor at theIndian High Commission inIslamabad assisted the Indianside. Kamran Y Mirza, CEO ofthe Pakistan Business Council(PBC) and Samir S. Amir Di-rector Research PBC, alongwith Supriya Banerjee, DeputyDirector General Confedera-tion of Indian Industry (CII)and Manish Mohan DirectorSouth Asia, CII also attendedthe meeting as both the PBC& the CII are the designatedsecretariats for the PIJBF.

The members of the PIJBFalso called on the Prime Min-

ister Mian Nawaz Sharif whoassured the Forum of the Gov-ernment of Pakistan’s commit-ment to the early normaliza-tion of trade between the twocountries. He requested themembers of the Forum to iden-tify those areas in whichprogress could be made in theimmediate future so as to buildtrust and support for normal-ization of trade.

The next meeting of thePIJBF will be held in Septem-ber in New Delhi at which thetaskforces will report backwith progress in their respec-tive areas.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s ambas-sador to Germany Abdul BasitMonday said the newly electedgovernment wanted to work withoverseas Pakistanis to bring thecountry out of current economiccrisis through investments, ex-ports and formal transaction ofremittances.The ambassador wasspeaking at the conference on‘The role of overseas Pakistanisin the economic development ofPakistan’ held in Frankfurt, Ger-many. The conference was at-tended by over 60 prominent Pa-kistani business community mem-bers in Frankfurt and surroundingareas, says a message receivedhere from Germany.

The Ambassador briefed theconference about the steps beingtaken by the government to put the

Pakistani diaspora’s much needed rolein economic development highlighted

country’s economy back on track.He mentioned the steps to

deal with energy problem on war-footing through a comprehensiveenergy policy and rectification oflosses being suffered by the pub-lic sector enterprises to turn theseinto profit-making organizations.

Ambassador Basit said therewould be many more incentivesfor overseas Pakistanis and theinvestment environment wouldimprove in the country soon.

The conference decided tohold such events throughout Ger-many to create awareness amongoverseas Pakistanis and to mobi-lize them to invest in Pakistan andcreate win-win situations.

It was agreed to establish apermanent platform of Pakistanibusiness community in Germany

to ensure regular interaction andimplementation of specific pro-posals. During the Conference,presentations were made by Com-mercial Counsellors HassanYousufzai and Irfa Iqbal on invest-ment opportunities in Pakistan.Businessmen Mir SikandarKohler and Sajjad Naqvi narratedtheir positive investment experi-ences in Pakistan. The participantswere briefed in detail of the rulesand regulations as well as incen-tives in specific sectors of theeconomy.Four sectors namelypower, Information Technology,infrastructure and agriculture andagro-based industry were identi-fied as highly lucrative for invest-ments in Pakistan. Consul Gen-eral Dr. Imtiaz A. Kazi also at-tended the Conference.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The High Com-mission of Pakistan in Sri Lankain association with the TradeDevelopment Authority of Pa-kistan (TDAP), formally haslaunched the EXPO Pakistan2013- Opportunities Unlimitedon 24 June, 2013 in Colombo.

Minister for Industries andCommerce of Sri Lanka, RishadBathiuddin graced the occasionas the Chief Guest and jointlyinaugurated the event, with theHigh Commissioner of Pakistan,Maj Gen (R) Qasim Qureshi,saus a message received from

Colombo here. Chairman Export Develop-

ment Board of Sri Lanka,Bandula Egodage, representa-tives of the main chambers ofSri Lanka i.e. Ceylon Chambers,National Chambers of Indus-tries, Federation of Chambers ofCommerce, Women Chamber ofSri Lanka and the members ofSri Lanka-Pakistan BusinessCouncil, along with major busi-ness houses such as AitkensSpence, Ceylon Biscuit Limited,Akbar brothers, Calico, CWMackie, Haleys, Macksons,

Eswaran Brothers, PackagesLanka, Hands Logistics andTunip Lanka attended the cer-emony.

The Deputy High Commis-sioner of Pakistan gave detailedpresentation on the EXPO Pa-kistan 2013, its history, concept,features and the logistics per-taining to the event.

High Commissioner of Pa-kistan, Maj Gen (R) QasimQureshi, in his address said thatthe economic diplomacy is theprimary focus of the new Gov-ernment in Pakistan.

EXPO Pak 2013 launched in Colombo

Textile city inKarachi soon:KamranISLAMABAD—FederalMinister for Ports andShipping Kamran Michal hassaid that a plan is beingprepared to establish a textilecity in Karachi area to boostbusiness activity andeconomy.He said a piece ofland had been acquired to setup the textile city in Karachi abusiness hub of the country.He said Ports and Shippingwere important sectors whichcan be improved with bettermanagement and efficient staffto generate good revenue.Talking to Pakistan Televisionchannel, he said that foreigninvestors would be called inthis region with conduciveenvironment facility.He saidthat all important steps wouldbe taken to revive the economyunder the dynamic leadershipand great vision of PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif.He saidthat prime minister NawazSharif wanted to bringimprovement in all fields oflife and make this country an“Asian Tiger” during hisperiod of tenure. He said thatPakistan is rich in naturalresources which can beutilized in a proper manner toachieve progress and prosper-ity for the people of theregion.Replying to a question,he said that Pakistan wanted toboost business relations withSri Lanka and India besidesother regional countries.

He said that China willdevelop Gawadar Port to bringeconomic prosperity for thepeople of Pakistan.Theminister said that Pakistanwill provide security to theforeigners who are engagedin the developmentprojects.— APP

World Cooperativeson Day July 6ISLAMABAD—The United Na-tions’ (UN) International Day ofCooperatives will be observedon 6 July to increase awarenessof co-operatives and promotethe movement’s successes andideals of international solidarity,economic efficiency, equality,and world peace In 1994 theUnited Nations recognized andreaffirmed that cooperativeswere vital in the world’s eco-nomic, social and cultural devel-opment. They help create newethics and values in business andeconomics. On December 16,1992, the United Nations Gen-eral Assembly proclaimed “thefirst Saturday of July 1995 to beInternational Day of Coopera-tives, marking the centenary ofthe establishment of the Interna-tional Cooperative Alliance.”

This year’s theme “Coop-erative enterprise remains strongin times of crisis” links to theglobal economic crisis and howmany co-operatives areresilien.—APP

Walid Irshaid, President & CEO PTCL and other senior officials celebrate 100,000 Broadband customers mark in IslamabadRegion.

OBSERVER REPORT

LAHORE—Samsung Electron-ics, a market leader and award-winning innovator in the elec-tronics industry, officially an-nounced the launch of its newF Series Smart Televisions for2013 in Pakistan, which is de-

Samsung launches smart TVssigned to completely transformHome-Entertainment conceptsin an event held in PC, Lahore.

Mr. John Park, MDSamsung Pakistan and Mr. HDLee, Business Manager Con-sumer Electronics SamsungElectronics Pakistan werepresent on the occasion.

Speaking at a press confer-ence, Samsung Pakistan’s Man-aging Director John Park said,“The ethos behind the new se-ries is Samsung’s belief that thetelevision is not only the cen-ter of the living room, but alsothe center of a modern dayuser’s life.

Gold Tezab 45000.00Silver Tezabi 737.14

Gold Tezabi (24-Ct) 44580.00Gold 22 Ct 40750.00SilverTezabi 690.00Silver Thobi 630.00

USA 98.70 98.50

UK 153.04 152.73

EURO 130.66 130.39

Canada 95.12 94.93

Switzerland 106.66 106.44

Australia 91.02 90.83

Sweden 15.07 15.04

Japan 1.0149 1.0128

Norway 16.50 16.46

Singapore 77.43 77.27

Denmark 17.52 17.48

Omani Riyal 256.00 253.00

Saudi Arabia 26.32 26.26

Hong Kong 12.72 12.70

Kuwait 348.52 347.81

Malaysia 30.77 30.71

Newzeland 76.79 76.63

Qatar 27.10 26.05

UAE 26.87 26.82

KR WON 0.0854 0.0852

Thailand 3.159 3.153

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

Currency Selling Buying

Bullion Rates

RS PER 10 GRAMS

A big market ofPakistani mangoes existin Singapore: Motiwala

KARACHI—There is quite a bigmarket for the Pakistani man-goes in Singapore.

This was stated by theChairman of the Sindh Invest-ment Board (SBI), MuhammadZubair Motiwala.

He was speaking on the oc-casion of inauguration of theSindh Mango festival inSingapore, says a message re-ceived here on Monday.

Motiwala said that theSingaporean very much likedthe quality and taste of the Pa-kistani mangoes.

He stated that businessmen,traders and people from variouswalks of life attended the festi-val and made the event a bigsuccess.

FBR fails to fulfilcollection target

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Keeping its pre-vious tradition intact, the Fed-eral Board of Revenue (FBR)has once again missed the an-nual revenue collection target byhuge margin of Rs430 billionduring the financial year.

“The FBR has provisionallycollected taxes worth Rs1940billion during last financial year2012-2013, which may go toRs1950 billion when figures getfinalise”, said Ansar Javed.Javed retired as chairman FBR.Meanwhile, the government hasappointed Tariq Bajwa as newchairman FBR. Earlier, heserved as secretary finance inPunjab. The government nevercollected revenue collection tar-gets in past several years despiteimposing new taxes worth bil-lions of rupees on masses. TheFederal Board of Revenue hasstruggled to achieve the revenuecollection target during the lastfinancial year 2012-2013 thatforced the tax department to re-vise its target several times in asingle year. The budgetary tar-get of Rs2,381 billion was re-vised downward to Rs2,191 bil-lion for 2012-13.

Shipping activity at P QKARACHI—Four ships carryingcontainers, edible oil, iron ore andfurnace oil were berthed at QasimInternational Containers Terminal,Liquid Cargo Terminal, IOCBTerminal FOTCO Terminal onSunday, 30th June. Meanwhiletwo more ships carrying contain-ers and chemical also arrived atouter anchorage of port Qasimduring last 24 hours.

Berth occupancy was 65% atthe Port on Monday where a totalseven ships namely Maersk Chi-cago, Zea Hai, Vindo Nissa,Bunga Melatidua, Alitis, PearlJabel Ali and M.T Akaki are cur-rently occupying berths to load/offload containers, rice, cement,edible oil, soya been, iron ore andfurnace oil respectively during last24 hours. —APP

Former Chairman Travel Agent Association of Pakistan presenting a souvenir to the Senior Manager Asia Pacific of GulfAir Yahya Ali Buali. Acting Country Manager Gulf Air Khalid Mehmood, Ali Taqi, Abdul Jabbar, Muhammad Sikandarand Hassan ur Rehman also seen in the picture.

Pakistanibusinessman

honoredMUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The Departmentof Commerce and Bureau ofCivil Administration Chinaand China Tibetan CarpetAssociation have jointlyconferred Life TimeAchievement Award to a fa-mous Pakistani Business-man Akhtar Nazir Khan inrecognition of his servicesfor trade development inhandmade carpet industryby bringing together inter-national exporters from In-dia, China, Iran and Paki-stan.

The ceremony was or-ganized by CTCA on the eveof Qinghai InternationalCarpet Exhibition, 2013 atprovince of China Qinghai.

This is the second timethat Akhtar has been hon-ored by the Chinese Gov-ernment by granting himHonorary Citizenship whichwas conferred to him by theMayor of Xining City,Qinghai Province.

He is the only foreignerand first Pakistani to havereceived these honors inChina and the only Pakistanito bring such prides to ourcountry.

While addressing theaward receiving ceremonyAkhtar emphasized theGovernment of China andespecially the Governor ofQinghai Province to furtherenhance the mutual relation-ship between both the coun-tries. He also extended in-vitation to the Chinese Gov-ernor to visit Pakistan andmeet with the Pakistanibusinessmen.

Balloon-poweredInternetaccess

WASHINGTO N—GoogleInc has launched a smallnetwork of balloons over theSouthern Hemisphere in anexperiment it hopes couldbring reliable Internet ac-cess to the world’s most re-mote regions, the companysaid. The pilot program,Project Loon, took off thismonth from New Zealand’sSouth Island, using solar-powered, high-altitude bal-loons that ride the windabout 12.5 miles - twice ashigh as airplanes - above theground, Google said.

Like the Internet searchengine for which Google isbest known, Project Loonuses algorithms to deter-mine where the balloonsneed to go, then moves theminto winds blowing in thedesired direction, the com-pany said.

By moving with thewind, the balloons form anetwork of airborne hotspots that can deliverInternet access over a broadarea at speeds comparable to3G using open radio fre-quency bands, Googlesaid..—Newswire

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—National Forumfor Environment & Health(NFEH) announced results of10thAnnual Environment Ex-cellence Awards (AEEA 2013)for best performance of 2012-13. This was announced by itsChairman Dr. Kaiser Waheedand President NFEH M. NaeemQureshi after final meeting ofjury held at a local hotel.

Naeem Qureshi said theaward has been instituted to rec-ognize and promote the organi-zations which make an outstand-ing contribution to sustainabledevelopment and economicgrowth of the country. Thesecompanies are working tremen-

dously for achieving economicand social development withoutharming the environment andnatural resources.

In this year, more than 140companies and organization hassubmitted their nominations.According to decision of 3-member jury has finalized thename of following 64 compa-nies for 10th AEEA-2013:

AGA Khan UniversityHospital, Al-Rahim Textile In-dustries, Anis Associates, AsliPunjab Pumps Bestway Ce-ment, Clariant Pakistan, CRLFCrown Group, Dawlance,Descon Engineering, ECOBags, EFU General Insurance,English Biscuit Manufacturers,

Engro Polymer & Chemical,Engro Powergen Qadirpur,Fatima Fertilizer Company,Fauji Fertilizer Company,Fauji Cement Company, FuajiFertilizer Bin Qasim,GE(11)O& M Balloki,Glaxosmithkline Pakistan,Habitt, Interdesign FMC, Inter-national Power, IslamabadSerena Hotel, KAPCO KotAddu Power Company, Kay &Emms, KSB Pumps Co., LindePakistan, Lotte Chemical Paki-stan, Lucky Cement, M.Muhammad Shafi & Company,MESEC, Murree Brewery Co.,National Refinery, Oil & GasDevelopment Company, Pack-ages Limited, Pak Arab Refin.

64 companies awardedfor best performance

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minis-ter Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifhas said that manufacturing sec-tor is of key importance in exportsand strengthening of this sectorcan increase national exports andstrengthen economy. He said thatthere is a vast export potential ingarments industry which can helpenhance investment as well asgenerate job opportunities.

He was presiding over a highlevel meeting for the promotionof garments industry and increas-ing textile exports at Model Towntoday. Provincial Ministers MianMujtaja Shujaur Rehman, Ch.Muhammad Shafique, BegumZakia Shahnawaz, MembersPunjab Assembly, Advisors Azm-ul-Haq, Dr. Ijaz Nabi, Chief Sec-retary, Chairman Planning & De-velopment, Vice ChairmanPunjab Investment Board, con-cerned officers besides CentralChairman Pakistan ReadymadeGarments Association Sajid

Manufacturing sector can help promotenational exports, strengthen economy

Saleem Minhas and prominentpersonalities associated with gar-ments industry were present. Themeeting considered in detail mat-ters relating to promotion of gar-ments industry, its problems, in-creasing exports, simplifying ex-port policy and setting up of in-dustrial forum. Addressing themeeting, Muhammad ShahbazSharif said that Pakistan is the big-gest producer of cotton but it islagging far behind theneighbouring countries with re-gard to export of textile and gar-ments which is a matter of con-cern. He said that Pakistan shouldlead the world in export of textileand garments and it is essential toaccelerate manufacturing activi-ties for this purpose. He said thatsolid measures will have to betaken for the development of tex-tile and garments industry. He saidthat use of information technol-ogy can not only help increaseeconomic, industrial and trade ac-tivities but revenue can also be en-hanced.

He said that use of informa-tion technology in the manufac-turing sector is vital in the mod-ern world. He said that PakistanMuslim League-N governmentwhich has come into power witha historic mandate will take effec-tive measures for the promotionof manufacturing sector especiallytextile and garments industry. Hesaid that uninterrupted supply ofelectricity to industries, mainte-nance of law and order and skilledmanpower can strengthen manu-facturing sector and governmentis paying special attention in thisdirection.

He said that Skills Develop-ment Programme is successfullycontinuing in four districts ofsouth Punjab with the collabora-tion of UK Department for Inter-national Development and itsscope will be expanded to thewhole province. He said thatSkills Development Programmewill help prepare skilled man-power for meeting the marketneeds.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Ufone has an-nounced its participation in thefirst GSMA mHealth Grand Tourfor diabetes awareness, initiatedby the Etisalat Group.

This is the first of its kindactivity in the health sector beingstaged at an international platformwhich has been initiated by a cel-lular operator, let alone cellulargroup.

A total of eight staff membersincluding the Ufone team, officialsof the Group and members fromvarious OpCos will be selected toparticipate in a once in a lifetime,2,100km, four-country Europeanexpedition cycling from Brusselsto Barcelona.

Two participants from Ufonehave been shortlisted to be sent toAbu Dhabi for further fitness tests- if chosen, one of them becomespart of the team of 8 to compete

in Brussels.The tour will takeplace between September 5-18,2013 and each participant will ridefor three days from Brusselsthrough Belgium, Luxemburg,Germany, France, Northern Spainon to Barcelona.

Zulfiqar Ali Zaidi, GM Hu-man Resources Ufone said that“employee engagement throughsocial activities has always beenof a matter of pride for Ufone.Etisalat’s participation in theGSMA mHealth awareness cy-cling tour 2013 provided our em-ployees with yet another excitingchance of becoming part of aworthwhile cause and at the sametime feel part of a bigger EtisalatGlobal Community.”

Ufone believes employees areat the heart of its entire operations.Therefore, we believe in our em-ployees taking part in CSR / socialactivities etc. More than 60 em-ployees applied for this health ini-

tiative, which was well beyondexpectations of the management.This is a reflection of the existingpassion of our Ufone staffers toparticipate in CSR activities forhealth awareness and society build-ing program, he added

Pakistan ranks amongst coun-tries with the highest prevalence ofdiabetes, with Sudan and severalSub-Saharan African countries alsosuffering from thisdisease.Shahnawaz Khan, a partici-pant and Ufone staff member said,“I feel immensely privileged to beshortlisted for GSMA mHealthGrand Tour. It’s a great honor torepresent Ufone and I will strive todo my best to get selected. I be-lieve it’s an excellent initiative andEtisalat as well as other participat-ing mobile operators deserve ap-preciation. I am really excited andlooking forward to this journey tobecome part of the fight against themenace of diabetes.”

Ufone employees to participate inGSMA mHealth Grand Tour 2013

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Nepal and Paki-stan have great potential to in-crease bilateral trade, so theyshould focus on promoting directconnectivity and linkages be-tween their private sectors to tapthese trade opportunities, Ambas-sador of Nepal, Bharat RajPaudyalmade said.

Talking to business commu-nity during his visit to IslamabadChamber of Commerce and In-dustry (ICCI), the ambassadorsaid agriculture was an area ofgood mutual cooperation.

He was of the view that boththe countries should explore prod-ucts of comparative advantages

favored by their specific climaticzones, adding Pakistan’s know-how in agro-processing industriesshould be expanded to Nepalthrough establishment of jointventures.

He said Nepal produces bestquality coffee products and Paki-stani entrepreneurs should takeadvantage of our geographic prox-imity to enhance import of theseproducts at competitive price.

Nepal envoy said that Paki-stani entrepreneurs in collabora-tion with their Nepalese counter-parts successfully organized threeconsecutive single country exhi-bitions in Kathmandu in 2010,2011 and 2012.

They should now reciprocate

by hosting similar trade fairs ofNepalese products in Pakistanwhich will contribute to improv-ing bilateral trade.

He said Nepal offers greatinvestment potential in tourism,hydropower, agriculture, minesand mineral sectors and Pakistaniinvestors should explore Nepal forinvestment.

He assured that Nepal Em-bassy would facilitate exchange ofbusiness delegations to furtherenhance trade and investment be-tween both countries.

Speaking on the occasion,ICCI President, Zafar Bakhtawarisaid Nepal and Pakistan enjoycordial relations, but these are notmatched in trade and economic

relations as their bilateral trade isjust $4.8 million. He stressed thatNepal should focus on Pakistanitextile products, clothes, sportsgoods, oil seeds, surgical instru-ments and leather products, whichare known for their good qualityin the world.

He said hydro power couldalso be an attractive area of mu-tual cooperation between Pakistanand Nepal. He said solid institu-tional and legal foundations forbusiness collaboration exist be-tween the two countries includingPak-Nepal Joint Business Coun-cil, Pak-Nepal Joint EconomicCommissions and SAFTA whilePak-Nepal Bilateral Trade Agree-ment provides MFN treatment .

Pak, Nepal trade potential immense

LAHORE—Vikramjit SinghSahney, President, SAARCChamber of Commerce and In-dustry, an apex body of cham-bers in the region, Mondayhailed the goodwill gesture ofPrime Minister of PakistanMuhammad Nawaz Sharif fordurable peace and prosperity inSouth Asia.

Talking to APP on Mondayfrom New Delhi,he said that adelegation of Pak-India JointBusiness Council called onPrime Minister Nawaz Sharif atIslamabad on June 29. He saidduring the meeting, the PMstressed on the need to explorepotential areas of cooperationbetween the two countries andhe said his government wouldpursue investor-friendly poli-cies.

He said SCCI would fullyensure indiscriminatory marketaccess and the industrialists ofboth countries must also be pro-vided a level playing field.

Vikram said Nawaz Sharif

had also informed the membersof the delegation that during hislast tenure, he had pursued apolicy of friendship and coop-eration with India and now thesame policy would be towed.

VP SAARC CCI,Pak chap-ter and veteran trade leaderIftikhar Ali Malik, a member ofthe delegation was also present.

The SCCI Chief stressed anurgent need that all membercountries of SCCI must worktogether to promote durablepeace and strengthen economicties, besides accelerating devel-opment activities for people ofthe region.

Vikram said that 65 per centof total South Asian trade poten-tial had not been exploited, add-ing that it was one of the keyreasons for instability in the re-gion. He said that intra-regionaltrade figures of South Asia weredisappointing as trade in the re-gion constituted only 1.4 percent to the total world importsand only 27.9 per cent of GDP,

the lowest in the world.He said although South Asia

had significantly reduced importtariffs, the cost of trading acrossits boarders was one of the high-est in the world. A number ofnon-tariff barriers have beenidentified which hamper tradeand increase cost.

Iftikhar Ali Malik said thatwith rapid advancement of tech-nology the need forsustainability and survival hadbecome crucial for firmsthroughout the world as compe-tition grows.

He said the current globalcrunch had become a setback forcountries throughout the worldespecially in developing andtransition economies. Therefore,regional cooperation is a impor-tant phenomena today.

He said during the last fiveyears, the balance of land tradeis five times more in favour ofIndia than Pakistan throughWagha, Lahore, which must bebalanced in future.—APP

Vikramjit hails Pak goodwillgesture for peace, prosperity

ISLAMABAD—Chairman, Paki-stan Agricultural ResearchCouncil (PARC) Dr. IftikharAhmad has said that mostlytechnical and scientific knowl-edge remained in shelves thatshould be reached at farmersdoors-step to help increase theircrop production and thus im-prove their livelihoods. Thisworkshop can be one of the in-struments to develop mecha-nism for accessible informationfor extension workers and farm-ers. Collective efforts and wis-dom needed to achieve self-suf-ficiency in agriculture sector andto ensure food security in thecountry.

Pakistan Agricultural Re-search Council (PARC) in col-laboration with International

Workshop on agriculturetechnologies held

Centre for Alleviation of Pov-erty through Sustainable Agri-culture (CAPSA) Indodensia,Food Security Centre (FSC)University of Hohenheim, Ger-many, Sustainable AgriculturalTechnologies Network(SATNET) Asia and Food &Agriculture Organization (FAO)Islamabad organized 5-day In-ternational Workshop(Writeshop) on “IdentifyingSustainable Agricultural Tech-nologies and Translating Re-search Findings into Informa-tion Accessible to ExtensionWorkers and Farmers” at Na-tional Agricultural ResearchCentre (NARC) Islamabad fromJuly 01-05, 2013.

Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad, Chair-man PARC always appreciated

the role of international agenciesespecially FAO, USDA,CIMMYT, ICARDA, ICIMODand other donors for holdingsuch events in Pakistan to sharetechnical and scientific knowl-edge and experience by expertsand financial support for devel-opment of agriculture sector inthe country. He offered specialgratitude to FAOR for generoussupport to bear all the expensesinvolved at local in organizingthis workshop. He also thankedMs. Martina and Ms. Kathrin fortheir support for not only orga-nizing this workshop but for alsoacting as Resource Persons androle of Dr. Ghanzafar Abbas(PARC) as facilitator betweennational and international coun-terparts.

WASHINGTON— prominentPakistani-American businessleader has said Islamabad’spowerful friends should cometogether with an internationalinitiative to bring investmentinto Pakistan in a big way in or-der to revive the country’seconomy as well as help re-gional stability.

Muhammad NasimuddinMirza, chairman of Nazu GroupAmerica, argued that the UnitedStates, China, Saudi Arabia andthe Arab Gulf nations all have amajor stake in South Asianpeace and stability post-2014.

Therefore, he proposed, allthese economic powers shouldlead an effort to form some kindof international consortium orplatform that attracts public andprivate investment in Pakistan’s

Pakistani-American biz leader proposes US-China-Gulf investment initiative

key energy, industrial, tourism,financial services and agro-based industrial sectors.

Pakistan will remain the keyto stability in the region, whenthe U.S.-led forces end combatin Afghanistan — Washingtonmust make it a priority betweennow and the end of 2014 thatPakistan revives its economy asthat will also benefit Afghanpeace and stability, the entrepre-neur, who has business concernsin five countries, argued in aninterview. He particularlynoted that investment in the fieldof energy, which Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif’s governmenthas aptly declared as a top pri-ority, should start flowing at theearliest as power generationprojects take some time for theircompletion.—APP

Dollar extends gainsin Asian trade

TOKYO—he dollar strengthenedagainst the yen in Asia after a se-nior US Federal Reserve officialsaid a winding down of the bank’smassive asset purchases couldstart within months.

In morning Tokyo trade, thegreenback fetched 99.30 yen from99.11 yen in New York on Friday.

Fed board member JeremyStein suggested in a speech inNew York on Friday that the cen-tral bank could make a decisionto begin slowing its stimulusprogramme within three months.Stein, a member of the Fed’spolicy committee, cited Septem-ber as a possible start time for awind down, saying accumulatedeconomic data for the past year,and not just the most recent fig-ures, would be taken into ac-count..—APP

Khushhalibank clients honored atentrepreneurship awards

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The purpose ofthe award was to highlight theperformance of theMicrofinance sector and appre-ciate the work of borrowers whowere able to bring a significantchange to their lives after receiv-ing microfinance loans, servingas a role models for others intheir respective communities.The event was attended by alarge number of people from allcross sections of life. Address-ing the event Federal MinisterAhsan Iqbal hailed the contribu-

tion of the Microfinance sectorand termed it as one of the ma-jor source for poverty reductionfrom the country. He stressedupon the Microfinance institutionto widen their network to makeit easy for the poor to get benefitfrom these institutions to improvetheir lives.

“Pakistan is one of the lead-ing markets in microfinance andis globally ranked third by theEconomist Intelligence Unit interms of the overall business en-vironment for microfinance.Over 900 million dollars havebeen distributed to over 5.5 mil-

lion borrowers at easy install-ments. Referring to gallop surveyin Pakistan there is 20% increasein the earnings of our borrowerswhich tells you the success of ourmission.” said Yasir Ishfaq, GroupHead Financial Services.

He also briefed the gatheringthat the organization is continu-ously working to improvebeneficiary’s quality of life alongwith training them to be activemembers of the community.Bache Singh from Mithi fromSindh and Huzoor Bukh fromBalochistan were the award win-ners representing Khushhalibank.

Muhammad Ali, Vice President FPCCI presenting bouquet to Juan Carlos Ojeda, Ambas-sador of Uruguay.

KARACHI: Member Rabita Committee, Pakistan Sunni Tehreek, Faheem-ud-Din Shiekhand others carrying the coffin of Tehreek worker, Asif Qadri who was killed in firing ofunknown persons in North Karachi, after funeral prayer.

KARACHI: Director General Parks & Horticulture KMC Abdullah Mushtaq chairing a meeting regarding rain emergency in the city.

Collapsible hamperspose eye risk for kids

COLLAPSIBLE laundry hampers withwire supports may pose a risk tochildren’s eyes, according to research-

ers who saw two related injuries within ayear, both requiring surgery.

Such hampers have anembedded stiff wire spring,which can be dangerous ifthe cloth frays and the wirebecomes exposed, research-ers said.

“Parents should receivea warning of the risks ofthese hampers,” Dr. IrisKassem from the Universityof Illinois at Chicago andher colleagues wrote Mon-day in Pediatrics.

They describe the casesof two children who eachhad an eye punctured by oneof those wires - an 11-year-old boy injured while put-ting clothes in a collapsiblehamper and a 23-month-oldgirl.

Both needed emergency surgery for cutson their eyeballs.

The older boy had a second surgery andnow wears a contact lens, according to thestudy team. The younger girl developed alazy eye but her vision returned to normalafter wearing glasses and a patch for a yearand a half.

Dr. Michael Repka, a pediatric ophthal-mology researcher at the Johns HopkinsUniversity School of Medicine in Baltimore,said he had not personally treated this typeof injury, but sees how it could occur.

“There are dangers in lots of productsand I think it’s great they called attention to

this one, and certainly people ought to lookat the design,” Repka, who wasn’t involvedin the new study, told Reuters Health.

“But it’s not isolated to wire hampers,”he added. “Wires from lots of products can

hit kids in the eye.”Repka said it’s too early

to draw conclusions aboutcollapsible wire hampersbased on these two cases -other than to say a wire that’spoking out at kids’ eye levelis a hazard.

A representative fromWhitmor, which makes col-lapsible hampers, said noeye injuries have been re-ported to the company.

“We’ve been on themarket many, many yearswith these items … andnever have we had a cus-tomer complain about any-thing, much less an injury,”Scott Felsenthal told ReutersHealth.

He said Whitmor’s pop-and-fold ham-pers come with a warning label and that thecompany will be looking into whether itscollapsible hamper needs a warning label aswell. Kassem said warning labels are “a goodstart,” but some hampers may require de-sign changes as well.

She recommended two precautions forparents. “One is to have the hamper in a safelocation so children cannot be near or playaround this product,” she told Reuters Healthby email. “The second thing I suggest is tocheck the integrity of the hamper and if thefabric is frayed in any way, it needs to bethrown away.”

KARACHI: MNA Makhdoom Amin Faheem called on Chief Minister Syed Qaim AliShah on Monday

KARACHI: Girls enjoying pleasant weather at sea side.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan People’sParty Parliamentary (PPPP)President Makhdoom AminFaheem called on Sindh ChiefMinister (CM) Syed Qaim AliShah Monday.

Both the leaders discussedcurrent political scenario andothers matters of mutual inter-est. The CM apprised Faheemabout the advance preparationsand measures adopted by Sindh

Faheem discusses monsoonarrangements with CM

Government for the monsoonseason adding that monitoring ofthe river dykes was being effec-tively carried out.

He said that today he wouldpersonally inspect the Torri em-bankment and others to know onground state of affairs.

The CM further said that hewas in constant touch with theofficers of irrigation departmentfor monitoring the strengtheningwork of dyke and other relatedissues.

PPP Parliamentary leaderpraising the efforts and hardwork of the CM said that he wasworking with renewed zeal andenthusiasm for the welfare ofpeople of Sindh

He also felicitated CM forpresenting exemplary develop-ment budget for the fiscal year-2013-14. He praised the effortsof government of Sindh for tak-ing steps to address the basicproblems and grievances facedby the common man.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Chief SecretarySindh Muhammad IjazChaudhryhas assured to Chinese diplomatsand investors that Provincial Gov-ernment is doing all its best tostrengthen the security measuresas well all possible efforts shallbe accorded to boost Pak-Chinafriendship and trade relations, inaccordance with the preliminaryties between both the countries.

Chaudhry said this, while ex-changing views with new ChineseConsul General Mr. Ma Yaou,

Pak-China friendship isbeing strengthened: CS

who visited the Chief Secretaryoffice for a courtesy call on Mon-day.

The Chief Secretary welcom-ing the Chinese diplomats (ViceConsullersMr. Pain Qingjiary andMr. Yin Minjawa were accompa-nied by the CG – China) admiredthe Chinese support in coal, energyfields in the Sindh Province. MaYaou , elaborating the significanceof Pak- China friendship, pointedout that Chinese are zealously de-veloping the trade infrastructurethroughout the country and 30Chinese companies with 1500

staffers are working in Sindh, theirsecurity measures may be consid-ered for improvement.

Chaudhary maintained thatenhancement of Police Securityis already in progress, while thelocal people may be employed assecurity guards, thereof. Hepledged to do the needful to gearup the Pak-China ties in all re-spect. The exchange of souvineeralso carried out at this occasion,in addition to presenting Ajrak&Sindhi Topi (Cap) to the Chinesediplomats by the Chief SecretarySindh.

ETD collects morethan Rs.26044 m

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Excise andTaxation Department Sindh hascollected tax of Rs.26044 millionduring the fiscal year 2012-13.According to details, the depart-ment during May 2013 Rs.26044million was deposited in the Na-tional exchequer, from whichRs.3159million was collected asmotor vehicle tax, cotton fees ofRs.135 million, Rs.234 million asprofessional tax, Rs.142 million asHotel tax and Rs.1338 million asproperty tax. Further the Exciseand Taxation Department is try-ing to ensure timely collection oftaxes so that the government cancomplete development schemeswithin time.

Pakistan postissues

definitivepostage stamp

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan Post isissuing a Definitive PostageStamp of Rs. 8/- denominationon Birds Series of Pakistan- RedVented Bulbul. Salient featuresand description of the stamp areincluded in Postal Notice.

The Commemorative Post-age Stamp will be available forsale from 01st July 2013 at allthe important Post Offices inPakistan. It should be carefullynoted that the Stamps are not tobe put on sale before the date ofissue under any circumstances.

The first day of issue coverand leaflet priced at Rs. 5/- andRs. 10 /- each respectively, arealso brought out. The price ofthe first day issue covers andDefinitive leaflet will be recov-ered in cash in addition to thevalue of the stamps required to‘Affixed on the first day of is-sue covers (without stamps).The leaflets may be put on salebefore the date of actual releaseof the Postage Stamp.

A special postmark will beused to service the first day ofissue cover at the Philatelic Bu-reau, Karachi, Lahore, Multan,Bahawalpur, Khairpur,Faisalabad, Hyderabad,Rawalpindi, Gujrat, Gujranwala,Sialkot, Sargodha, Peshawar,Post Mall Gulberg Lahore,Quetta GPOs and National Phila-telic Bureau, Islamabad.

DS Judges getnew assignments

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Chief Justicehas directed the following Dis-trict and Session Judges to jointheir new assignments. Accord-ing to details Syed ShakeelHyder, District and SessionsJudge to join his new assignmentas Judge, Banking Court No. II,Sukkur. Manthar Ali Jatoi,to joinhis new assignment as Judge,Banking Court No. II, Larkana.

Abdul Rahman Bhatti, Judge,Banking Court No.I, Sukkur.Farzana Iqbal, as Judge, BankingCourt No. III, Karachi. Sher BanoKarim, as Judge, Banking CourtNo. IV, Karachi. Naseem Mansoor,as Judge, Banking Court.

KARACHI—National Forumfor Environment & Health(NFEH) announced results of10thAnnual Environment Ex-cellence Awards (AEEA 2013)for best performance of 2012-13. This was announced by itsChairman Dr. Kaiser Waheedand President NFEH M.Naeem Qureshi after finalmeeting of jury held at a localhotel.

Naeem Qureshi said theaward has been instituted torecognize and promote the or-ganizations which make an

NFEH announces 10th environmentexcellence award 2013 for 64 companies

outstanding contribution to sus-tainable development and eco-nomic growth of the country.These companies are workingtremendously for achieving eco-nomic and social developmentwithout harming the environ-ment and natural resources.

In this year, more than 140companies and organization hassubmitted their nominations.According to decision of 3-member jury has finalized thename of following 64 compa-nies for 10th AEEA-2013:

AGA Khan University Hos-

pital, Al-Rahim Textile Indus-tries, Anis Associates, AsliPunjab Pumps Bestway Ce-ment, Clariant Pakistan, CRLFCrown Group, Dawlance,Descon Engineering, ECOBags, EFU General Insurance,English Biscuit Manufacturers,Engro Polymer & Chemical,Engro Powergen Qadirpur,Fatima Fertilizer Company,Fauji Fertilizer Company, FaujiCement Company, Fuaji Fertil-izer Bin Qasim, GE(11)O& MBalloki, Glaxosmithkline Paki-stan, Habitt, Interdesign FMC,

International Power, IslamabadSerena Hotel, KAPCO KotAddu Power Company, Kay &Emms, KSB Pumps Co., LindePakistan, Lotte Chemical Pa-kistan, Lucky Cement, M.Muhammad Shafi & Com-pany, MESEC, Murree Brew-ery Co., National Refinery, Oil& Gas Development Com-pany, Packages Limited, PakArab Refinery, PakistanCables, Pakistan InternationalContainer Terminal, PakistanOilfields, Pakistan Telecom-munication Company.—NNI

KARACHI—The surroundingsand inside areas of all the build-ings of the Secretariat Complexare being converted into com-plete no-parking zone.

It was informed to Commis-sioner Karachi Shoaib AhmedSiddiqi and the Additional ChiefSecretary General Administra-tion Sindh in a meeting aboutsecurity arrangements, parkingand removal of encroachmentsfrom the limits of SecretariatComplex here on Monday.

The meeting was informedthat the surroundings and insideareas of all buildings of the Sec-retariat Complex includingSindh Secretariat building No 1,Tughlaq House, KDA OldBuilding Secretariat and other

Secretariat complex surroundingsto be declared no-parking zone

buildings are being convertedinto no-parking zone.

It was also informed that thevehicles of all officers andVVIPs will drop them and willbe parked at dedicated parkingareas.

The Commissioner Karachiwas briefed that around 250 to300 vehicles of officials of theSecretariat are parked whichneed to be parked and parkingarrangements are being finalizedfor parking of these vehicles.

The Commissioner Karachidirected the KMC officials tofunctional the Saddar ParkingPlaza by July 5, so as to provideparking facility to the people.The meeting also discussed thematters about elimination of en-

Minister asksofficials to perform

duty diligently,honestly

KARACHI—Sindh Ministerfor Anti-Corruption and Min-eral Development ManzoorHussain Wassan has exhortedthe officials of his Departmentto perform their duties with dili-gence and honesty. He said hereon Monday that no corruptionin the departments would be tol-erated. Talking to media personshe said that in case of receipt ofany complaint, inquiry wouldbe conducted and appropriateaction would be taken.

The Minister said that hedesired eradication of corrup-tion from the provincial de-partments.

He further warned that nodereliction of duty would be tol-erated in any case. Earlier,Wassan chaired a meeting of thesenior officials of his depart-ments. A senior official ShazarShamoon briefed about thefunctions and responsibilities ofthe regional offices and staff.

The officers of the depart-ments apprised the Minister oftheir performance.

Wassan said that he wantedto see the Anti-Corruption De-partment active, result-orientedand autonomous. He also askedthe officers of the Departmentto work without any fear orfavour.—APP

croachments from the areas ad-jacent to Saddar and Secretariat,construction of pedestrianbridge, re-routing of publictransport, alternative parkingarrangements and beautificationof Secretariat Complex andSaddar.

It was also discussed thatthere is a capacity to park over600 vehicles inside Bara-Dariand at ground floor of a nearbyposh hotel, which can be usedfor alternate parking.

Additional CommissionerKarachi-I , KamranShamshad, Senior DirectorTransport, Muhammad Atherand other officials concernedwere also present on the oc-casion.—APP

Collapsible hampers poseeye risk for kids

LAHORE: Speaker NA Sardar Ayaz Sadiq called on Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif.

COLLAPSIBLE laundry hamperswith wire supports may pose a riskto children’s eyes, according to re-

searchers who saw two related injurieswithin a year, both requiring surgery.

Such hampers have an embedded stiffwire spring, which can be dangerous ifthe cloth frays and thewire becomes exposed, re-searchers said.

“Parents should re-ceive a warning of therisks of these hampers,”Dr. Iris Kassem from theUniversity of Illinois atChicago and her col-leagues wrote Monday inPediatrics.

They describe thecases of two children whoeach had an eye punc-tured by one of thosewires - an 11-year-old boyinjured while puttingclothes in a collapsiblehamper and a 23-month-old girl.

Both needed emer-gency surgery for cuts on their eyeballs.

The older boy had a second surgeryand now wears a contact lens, accordingto the study team. The younger girl de-veloped a lazy eye but her vision returnedto normal after wearing glasses and apatch for a year and a half.

Dr. Michael Repka, a pediatric oph-thalmology researcher at the JohnsHopkins University School of Medicinein Baltimore, said he had not personallytreated this type of injury, but sees howit could occur.

“There are dangers in lots of prod-ucts and I think it’s great they called at-

tention to this one, and certainly peopleought to look at the design,” Repka,who wasn’t involved in the new study,told Reuters Health.

“But it’s not isolated to wire ham-pers,” he added. “Wires from lots ofproducts can hit kids in the eye.”

Repka said it’s too earlyto draw conclusions aboutcollapsible wire hampersbased on these two cases- other than to say a wirethat’s poking out at kids’eye level is a hazard.

A representative fromWhitmor, which makes col-lapsible hampers, said noeye injuries have been re-ported to the company.

“We’ve been on themarket many, many yearswith these items … andnever have we had a cus-tomer complain about any-thing, much less an injury,”Scott Felsenthal toldReuters Health.

He said Whitmor’spop-and-fold hampers come with a warn-ing label and that the company will belooking into whether its collapsible ham-per needs a warning label as well.

Kassem said warning labels are “agood start,” but some hampers may re-quire design changes as well.

She recommended two precautions forparents. “One is to have the hamper in asafe location so children cannot be nearor play around this product,” she toldReuters Health by email. “The secondthing I suggest is to check the integrity ofthe hamper and if the fabric is frayed inany way, it needs to be thrown away.

LAHORE: People take rest under the shadow of trees during hot and humid day at localpark in front of Railways Station.

LAHORE: A view of garbage and rain water accumulated near Singh Pura.

NA Speaker meets Punjab CM

SALIM AHMED

LA H O R E—Speaker Na-tional Assembly SardarAyaz Sadiq called on PunjabChief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif, at ModelTown here Monday anddiscussed matters of mutualinterest and other importantissues .

Talking on the occasion,Shahbaz Sharif said that Pa-kistan Muslim League-Nbelieves in stability of de-mocracy as well as demo-cratic institutions. He saidthat people have givenmandate to PML-N in gen-eral election for the solutionof their problems. He saidthat PML-N immediately af-ter coming into powerstarted taking steps for con-trolling load-shedding andresolving other issues. Hesaid that every promisemade to the people will be

PML-N believes in stability ofdemocratic institutions: Shahbaz

honoured. He said thattough divisions will have tobe taken for the stability ofnational economy.

Referring to energy cri-sis, the Chief Minster saidthat the former rulers onlygenerated commission in-stead of electricity duringthe last five years. He saidthat the nation suffered theagony of load-sheddingand the country wasplunged in darkness but theformer rulers remained indif-ferent. He said that presentleadership promised to thepeople to control load-shedding and they will berid of this problem.

He said that circulardebt of electricity has gonebeyond Rs. 500 billion butthe promise to eliminate cir-cular debt within sixty dayswill be fulfilled. He said thatthe rich have no right oversubsidy on electricity. He

said that it is ironic thatboth rich and the poor arebenefiting from subsidy onelectricity. He said that thecost of production of elec-tricity can be reduced bygenerating power from al-ternative sources.

He said that Punjabgovernment has made plan-ning to produce electricityfrom solar energy, biomass,biogas and coal with the co-operation of private sector.He said that provincial gov-ernment is evolving a 5-yearenergy policy with the con-sultation of stakeholders.He said that the proposedvisit of Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif toChina is also going to helpin overcoming economicproblems.

The Chief Minister fur-ther said that besides gen-eration of electricity, con-trolling power-theft and line

losses is also essential. Hesaid that Punjab govern-ment will play an effectiverole in curbing electricitytheft and a taskforce hasbeen formed for this pur-pose.

Shahbaz Sharif said thatNandipur power project ispending for the last two andhalf years due to corruptionand greed of the former rul-ers and its cost of construc-tion has increased fromRs.22 billion to Rs.57 bil-lion.

He said that the Chinesecompany has again been in-vited to resume work onNandipur Power project andits officials visited Pakistanrecently. He said that PML-N government is takingrevolutionary measures forovercoming energy crisis.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab govern-ment has accorded approvalto the project for purifying allthe sullage nullahs (drains)including Hadayara Drain inLahore. For this purpose,water treatment plants will beinstalled in a phased manner.After proper treatment of sul-lage water, it will be disposedoff in River Ravi so that theriverine ecology would beprotected.

This was disclosed by theMinister for EnvironmentProtection, Punjab Col.(Retd.) Shuja Khanzada while

Project for purifying allsullage nullahs approved

presiding over a meeting inLahore. The Minister saidthat disposal of Hadayaradrain into River Ravi will bedone after water treatment inthe first phase.

He said that action willbe taken against all those in-dustries in Punjab which areadding pollution in the at-mosphere without proper fil-tration of industrial wastegases in their chimneys. Itwill ensure healthy environ-ment for the people residingin localities near the indus-trial areas.

He said that a meeting ofall the stakeholders which are

linked with the EnvironmentProtection Department will beconvened very soon. In thisregard, Terms of Referencehave been sent to all the rel-evant institutions.

Col. Retd. ShujaKhanzada said that for thispurpose a strategy will bedesigned after a detailed dis-cussion with all the institu-tions and NGOs.

Every institution will bebound to follow this strategyand will present an imple-mentation report to the Envi-ronment Protection Depart-ment after every six months,the Minister added.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The DirectorGeneral, Punjab EmergencyService (Rescue 1122) DrRizwan Naseer carried out aperformance review of emer-gency operations in all Dis-tricts of Punjab to ensureuniform standard of the Ser-vice.

The emergency data re-vealed 48485 victims of emer-gencies were rescued by thePunjab Emergency Servicewhile conducting 47864 res-cue operations in May inPunjab, whereas the averageresponse time was reported6 minutes.

The emergency calls towhich Rescue 1122 re-sponded includes 15482Road Traffic Accidents,28266 Medical emergencies,1323 Fire incidents, 104 Build-ing Collapse incidents, 2244

48485 emergency victimsrescued in June

Crime, 193 Drowning Inci-dents, 240 Special RescueOperations and 12 Explo-sions.

While chairing a meetingof senior rescue officials atEmergency Services Acad-emy, the Director General Dr.Rizwan Naseer said there isdire need of effective en-forcement and implementa-tion of fire safety codes givenin building-bye-laws.

He said main steps in-cluding external steel stair-cases, fire doors; pressur-ized external hydrants sys-tem, evacuation plan andemergency lighting system,installation of fire extin-guishers, clear access andremoval of obstructionsfrom rooftops can ensure lifesafety in high rise build-ings.

Dr. Rizwan Naseer saidfire safety ensures life safety

therefore we have to takeconcrete steps for this noblecause.

These 47864 rescue op-erations in May includes8903 rescue operations inLahore, 4920 in Faisalabad,3601 in Multan, 2724 inGujranwala, 1819 inBahawalpur, 1545 inRawalpindi, 1861 in DeraGhazi Khan, 1255 inSargodha, 1274 in Rahim YarKhan, 1718 in Sahiwal, 1349in Sialkot, 652 in Murree, 1667in Jhang, 652 in Toba TekSingh, 673 in Muzafargarh,603 in Rajanpur, 414 inMianwali, 711 in Pakpattan,759 in Kasur, 614 in Gujrat,775 in Bahawalnagar, 422 inJehlum, 833 in Attock, 866 inKhanewal, 490 in Vehari, 285in Chakwal, 718 in Okara, 564in Hafizabad, 1187 inSheikhupura, 803 in Lodhran,429 in Nankana Sahib.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Provincial Minis-ter for Forests, Wildlife &Fisheries, Malik Asif BhaAwan has said that everypossible step would be takenfor implementing laws for theprotection and developmentof forests.

He directed that immedi-ate and strict action shouldbe ensured against the per-sons involved in wood theftby taking tough decisions.

He said that according tothe vision of Chief MinisterPunjab Muhammad ShahbazSharif, Forests Departmentwould be further strength-ened and activated so thatdream of green Punjab could

Minister for implementing laws forprotection, development of forests

be materialized. He directedForests officers to formulatecomprehensive recommenda-tions for making monsoontree plantation campaign asuccess.

He expressed these viewswhile presiding over the meet-ing of the officers of ForestsDepartment here today. Ad-ditional Secretary Forests,Chief Conservator Punjab, alldivisional and district forestsofficers attended the meet-ing.

Addressing the meeting,Provincial Forests Ministersaid that joint efforts shouldbe made for checking thewood theft from governmentforests.

He directed that action

should be taken against allofficers and officials respon-sible of the destruction offorests.

He stressed the need forpractical steps for controllingthe destruction of forests.Malik Asif Bha Awan saidthat forests should be pro-tected throughout the prov-ince and trees should beplanted on new land.

He said that active partshould be taken in the mon-soon tree plantation cam-paign this year and studentsof universities, colleges andschools should be includedin this campaign so that thedream of green Punjabshould be materialized ac-cording to the vision of Chief

Minister Punjab. The Minis-ter said that the forestsshould be protected like amission and the process ofreward and punishmentshould be enforced in theDepartment.

Malik Asif Bha said nopolitical pressure would beaccepted in the departmentand merit would be observedin all matters. He said thatpeople expect best perfor-mance from the governmentand the success of PML-Nin recent elections is proof ofit.

He warned that actionwould be taken against theblack-sheep in the ForestsDepartment and the timbermafia involved in wood theft.

Teachers trainingworkshop begins

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Centre forEducational Policy and Ad-ministration (CEPA) of theUniversity of Veterinary andAnimal Sciences (UVAS)Lahore organized a five daystraining workshop for theuniversity faculty membershere Monday.

GC University LahoreQuality Enhancement FocalPerson Ms Iram Sohailchaired the inaugural sessionof the training workshoptitled “In-service compe-tency enhancement” whileDean Prof Dr MuhammadAshraf, Prof Dr NasimAhmad, Dr Hafsa Zanebwere also present.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Iram Sohail said thattraining is a continuous pro-cess and such programmesshould be organized to en-hance the teaching skills offaculty members. She saidthat this training will be help-ful for self-assessment andconfidence building of par-ticipating teachers.

Prof Dr Nasim Ahmadsaid that teachers are the rolemodels for students.

Consultationover women

concernsLAHORE—A two-day na-tional consultation onwomen, peace and securityin Pakistan will begin at ahotel on Wednesday.

The consultation is be-ing organized to addressconcerns of women and girlsin post-conflict and disastersituations and to ensure par-ticipation of women in allstages of peace building andpost-disaster relief and reha-bilitation.

Discussions and sugges-tions from the consultationwill feed into a national re-port on current perception ofwomen’s role in peace andconflict situations and pro-mote suggestions to increasetheir participation in decisionmaking.

Advocacy and Commu-nications is organizing theevent.—APP

Relief to masses toppriority: HamzaSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE— PML-N CentralLeader, MNA HamzaShahbaz Sharif said on Mon-day that redressal of griev-ances and relief to the peopleis the major aim of politics ofPakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).

Talking to the media menduring his visit to the resi-dence of slained 12 years oldboy Nasir Bhatti in BadamiBagh area here, he said thatPML-N is making all out ef-forts to come up to the ex-pectations of the masses.

“Sincere efforts are beingmade to achieve the cher-ished goal of nationalprogress and prosperity dur-ing the next five years”, heresponded.

Hamza condoled with thebereaved family of the de-ceased boy and assured thatall out efforts will be made forthe arrest of the murderers ofthe innocent child and policewill utilize all its resources forthis purpose. He directed theconcerned police officials totrace down the culprits withina week. Hamza also presenteda cheque of Rs 300,000 to theparents of Nasir Bhatti as fi-nancial assistance.

Measles claimsone more life

LAHORE—Measles on Mon-day claimed one more life dur-ing the last 24 hours, raisingtotal deaths to 182 in the prov-ince so far. According tohealth department officials,the death was reported fromChildren Hospital and he wasidentified as Abu Bakr, sixmonths, of Chuhng.

Some 73 new cases ofmeasles were reported fromPunjab including 13 fromLahore hospitals increasing thetotal number of cases to 20,498during the last six months.

Meanwhile, AdditionalDirector for EPI Dr NazirHussain while talking to APPhere on Monday urgedpeople to cooperate withvaccinators and contact doc-tors without any delay incase of symptoms of measlesin their children.—APP