India’s aggressive foreignpolicy................................................Planet earth becomingdangerous place................................................Shikarpur Imambargahattackers remain untraced

See Page 04

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—KSE-100 as predicted by Paki-stan Observer in the last report,has resumed the journey ofgrowth with a gain of 232points amid brisk trading ofover 327 million shares onMonday.

In fact the Pakistan marketclocked 8% MoM return, thusemerging as the best perform-ing FM and third best perform-ing global equity market, amida number of key positive trig-gers. Index in fact retested its

all time high with high volumes and closed ingreen while the growing volume of trading was

KSE-100 resumesjourney of growth

Gains 232 points amid brisk activity

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SARWAR AWAN

RAWALPINDI—Pakistan onMonday conducted a success-ful flight test of the indig-enously developed AirLaunched Cruise Missile(ALCM) ‘Ra’ad’, with a rangeof 350 kilometres, enablingPakistan to achieve ‘strategicstandoff capability’ on land andat sea.

“Cruise Technology” isextremely complex and hasbeen developed by only a fewcountries in the world. Thestate of the art Ra’ad CruiseMissile with stealth capabilitiesis a low altitude, terrain hug-ging missile with high maneu-verability; can deliver nuclearand conventional warheadswith pin point accuracy, says apress release issued by ISPR.

Director General StrategicPlans Division, Lt-Gen ZubairMahmood Hayat, congratulat-ing the scientists and engineerson achieving yet another mile-stone of historic significance,

ALCMcruise missileRa’ad testedsuccessfullyStrategic standoff capability on

land and sea achieved President,PM congratulate scientists

termed it a major step towardsstrengthening Pakistan’s fullspectrum credible minimumdeterrence capability.Pakistan’s strategic pursuits areaimed at achieving strategicstability in the region, he said.

He appreciated the techni-cal prowess, dedication andcommitment of scientists whocontributed whole-heartedly tomake this launch a success.

He showed his full confi-dence over operational pre-paredness of strategic forcesincluding employment and de-ployment concepts, refinementand training of all ranks in op-erational and technical do-mains.

The successful launch hasbeen commended by PresidentMamnoon Hussain and PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif, whohave congratulated the scien-tists and engineers on their out-standing achievement.

The accuracy of the missileis reported to be comparable toBabur cruise missile.

UNKNOWN DESTINATION: Pakistan conducted a successful Flight Test of the indigenously developed Air LaunchedCruise Missile ‘Ra’ad’ on Monday. Another

Delhi churchransacked

NEW DELHI—Unidentifiedpersons ransacked a Christianchurch in Delhi on Mondaymorning in what the churchcalls a case of vandalism.

The incident happened atthe Saint Alphonsa church insouth Delhi’s Vasant Kunj inthe early hours of Mondaymorning. Two prayer materi-als, the monstrance and theciborium ,which are held sa-cred by believers, were stolenalong with a DVD player, butother valuables were left un-touched.

This is the fifth such attackon a Christian church in Delhiin recent months and comesjust a few days ahead of Delhielections.

A senior police officerwho visited the spot said thecrime came to light when theparish priest reached theContinued on Page 7

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan hasstarted policy level talks withthe International MonetaryFund (IMF) in Dubai for theprovision of $550 million as6th tranche of loan under theExtended Funds Facility (EFF)program. Under this programIMF provides assistance in sup-port of comprehensive pro-grams that include policies ofthe scope and character re-quired to correct structural im-

Talks with IMF in DubaiDar leads Pakistan team

balances over an extended pe-riod

Pakistan entered an ex-tended fund facility (EFF) pro-gram with IMF on September4, 2013. EFF Pakistan programis a 36-month extended ar-rangement under the ExtendedFund Facility (EFF) for SDR4.393 billion (US$6.64 billion,425 percent of quota).

First tranche of SDR 360million ($544.5 million, 34.8percent of quota) became

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NATO airstrike kills 12insurgentsKABUL—At least 8 armedTaliban including 4 Pakistaniinsurgents were killed and 6others including 3 Pakistanirebels were wounded duringNATO’s air strike in Nuristanprovince on Sunday night.

According to the reports,the insurgents were busy onorganizing and designing ofterrorist activities in theirhideout, which were targetedby NATO air strike and losttheir lives.

According to anotherreport, 4 armed rebels werekilled and 2 others woundedfollowing clashes amongTaliban militants and Afghanmilitary forces in Nangarharprovince yesterday.

The clashes took place inHaska Mina district of theprovince, while armedTaliban attacked on ANAconvoy.

A commander of AfghanNational Army (ANA) said inthe clashes 4 armed militantswere killed and 2 others werewounded.—INP

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf(PTI) Chairman Imran Khan in a meetingwith Chief Election Commissioner (CEC)retired Justice Sardar Muhammad Raza Khanon Monday demanded that National Assem-bly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq be suspended till in-vestigation into the alleged rigging in theNA-122 constituency was complete.

PTI chairman also provided CEC withevidence of rigging stating that Election Tri-bunal had to pass the verdict pertaining torigging in NA-122 in a four-month stipulatedperiod, but has failed to do so, while the casehas now been dragged for two years.

Imran told reporters after the meetingthat his party has also requested that the CEC

Imran demands NAspeaker’s suspension

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s Foreign Affairs ad-viser, Sartaj Aziz, has said China has offered tohost peace talks between the Afghan gov’t andthe Taliban.

“But the decision will be made only by theAfghan government. Pakistan is also raedy toplay the role of a facilitator in the Afghan peaceprocess,” he said.

He urged the Afghan Taliban to join politi-cal process and take part in the next elections.

Mr Aziz said in an interview that the Talibancannot capture Afghanistan by force and thatthey would also be dangerous if they tried tomilitarily control the country.

“I think there is no possibility of the Talibanrule in Afghanistan again and Pakistan wantsthey should be politically onboard. Talibanshould take part in next elections,” the advisersaid in an interview with Channel 24 TV chan-nel aired Sunday night.

He said Pakistan is ready to facilitate peacedialogue between the Afghan government andthe Taliban but Kabul will have to take the ini-tiative as the process is Afghan-led.

“The first stage of reconciliation is that letthe negotiations start first. Let theme first iden-tify those people (Taliban) who are ready to talk.Our only advantage is that we know who theirleaders are so we can advise them that you cantalk to those people who represent leadership ofthe Taliban,” the Pakistani adviser said.

“Once the process starts and serious ne-gotiations begin our facility will be availablebut the Afghans will decide if they want totalk. It is up-to the Afghan gov’t how theywant to onboard them (Taliban), what pack-age they plan to offer?”

Asked if Pakistan will hand over theTaliban leaders to Afghanistan, Sartaj Aziz said

China offers to host Afghangovt-Taliban talks: Sartaj

should form two tasks force to look into giv-ing overseas Pakistanis a right to vote as wellas the possibility to introduce an electronicvoting system for the next general elections.

The meeting took place two days afteran election tribunal in Lahore turned downImran’s plea for action against an inquirycommission that inspected the record of elec-tion in NA-122. The PTI chief had soughtre-inspection of the records of certain poll-ing stations in the constituency.

Disposing application, tribunal memberKazim Ali Malik had said that at this stageit was premature for the PTI leader to seekre-inspection. The tribunal has set February

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Sindh ApexCommittee (SAC) has decidedto create special anti-terrorforce (ATF) to fight terrorists.The proposed ATF’s personnelwould be trained by PakistanArmy. Initially the numberATF personnel will be onethousand

The SAC meeting was heldat Sindh Chief Minister (CM)House Monday with the CM inchair. Sindh Governor Dr IshratUl Ebad Khan, Inspector Gen-eral of Police, Sindh GhulamHaider Jamali, Pakistan Rang-ers Sindh Director GeneralMaj. Gen. Bilal Akbar and

Karachi Corps Commander at-tended the meeting.

The meeting discussed lawand order scenario and tookcrucial decisions regardingmaintenance of peace and tran-quility.

The meeting discussedmeasures for the security ofsensitive places while continu-ing with the ongoing targetedoperation without discrimina-tion and measures for the pre-vention of Shikarpur-like trag-edy.

The meeting decided toforward 57 cases of terrorismto the federal government foronward handing over to themilitary courts.

Sindh Govt to createATF with 1000 personnelForwards 57 cases for military courts

PR rejectsImran’s claims

over ballot papersSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—InformationM i n i s t e rP e r v a i zRashid hassaid ImranKhan keptpeople men-tally con-f u s e dthroughoutthe period ofhis protests in Islamabad andplayed politics for two yearson fake ballot papers. Talk-

Pakistan Dayparade to be

held afterseven years

ISLAMABAD—A joint mili-tary parade of Pakistan’sarmed forces will take placeon Pakistan Day, 23rd Marchafter a gap of seven years.

The parade will beorganised by joint staff head-quarters in Rawalpindi,which oversees the threearmed forces of Pakistan.The venue for the parade isyet to be finalised, with thetwo vast compounds shortlisted as potential sites.

The last military paradetook place on March 23,2008 during the tenure ofGen (retd) Pervez Musharrafas a civilian president.

Furthermore, ChinesePresident Xi Jinping is ex-pected to attend the PakistanDay parade as chief guest.

Continued on Page 7

Musharraf,Pagara to formnew political

allianceOBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The former Presi-dent of Pakistan General (Retd)Pervez Musharraf and PirPagara on Monday decided toform a new political alliance inSindh. Leaders of different par-ties will be invited to join thisalliance.

According to the sources,contact with leaders of PakistanPeople’s Party will also be has-tened. Pakistan MuslimLeague-N’s those leaders whohave been angered or have ex-pressed reservations will alsobe invited to join the alliance.Musharraf and Pir Pagara willalso meet leaders of Punjab,Balochistan and KhyberPakhtunkhwa.

Sources say that Pir PAgaraand Musharraf will be jointheads of the alliance. The newalliance might be named asPakistan Muslim League.

US commander,COAS discuss

troops coord alongPak-Afghan border

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The head offoreign forces stationed in Af-ghanistan on Monday metArmy Chief General RaheelSharif to review the currentsecurity situation along the Pa-kistan-Afghanistan border.

The Inter-Services PublicRelations said in a statementthat General John F Campbell,commander Resolute SupportMission and United StatesForces in Afghanistan, calledon the Army chief at the Gen-eral Headquarters inRawalpindi.

“During the meeting, mat-ters of mutual interest and re-gional security with particularemphasis on coordinationalong Pak-Afghan border werediscussed,” the statementadded.

The visit is part of the regu-Continued on Page 7

Three dacoitslynched bymob inFaisalabadOUR CORRESPONDENT

FAISALABAD—Threerobbers were lynched by anangry mob in Faisalabad afterthey injured three citizensduring a robbery bid onMonday.

According to police,armed robbers barged into ashop and started looting.They also opened fire andinjured three men overresistance.

Hearing the gunshots, theneighbouring shopkeepersand other people rushed to thespot and overpowered therobbers. The angry mobseverely beat the robbers andrefused to hand them over tothe police.

After they were severelybeaten by the mob the robberswere handed over to policebut the three accused werebeing shifted to the hospitalwhen they succumbed to theirinjuries.

Obamaproposes$3.99tr budgetWASHINGTON—PresidentBarack Obama on Mondayproposed a $3.99 trillionbudget for fiscal year 2016that sets up a battle withRepublicans over programs toboost the middle class that arefunded by higher taxes oncorporations and wealthyAmericans.

The budget foresees a$474 billion deficit, which is2.5 percent of U.S. grossdomestic product. It projectsdeficits stabilizing at that rateover a 10-year period, senioradministration officials said.

Obama’s budget fleshesout proposals from his Stateof the Union address andhelps highlight Democraticpriorities for the last quarterof his presidency and thebeginning of the 2016presidential campaign.

But it is as much apolitical document as a fiscalroad map and would requireapproval from the Republi-can-controlled Congress to gointo effect.

“Our hope is that bylaying out ... a clear economicvision centered around themiddle class and economic

Continued on Page 7

ISLAMABAD—The prices of theessential commodities especiallyfruit, vegetable, pulses, poultry andedible oil have registered a substan-tial decrease after reduction inprices of petroleum products bythe federal government.

A survey of different marketsconducted by APP here on Mon-day revealed that the reduction inpetroleum products had resulted insignificant cut in the prices ofkitchen items.

The general public, commuters,businessmen, traders, farmers andtransporters hailed the reduction inprices of various petroleum prod-ucts saying that it will bring aboutrelief for the people who were up-set with the increasing trend ofprices of essential commodities.

When asked to comment, a shop-keeper said that the prices of veg-etable have been slashed. Now,prices of tomatoes have been re-duced from Rs 60 per kg to Rs 50per kg, Kaddu from Rs 60 per kg toRs 50 per kg and Shimla mirch fromRs 80 to Rs 50 per kg.

Another shopkeeper informedthat in the next few days, the pricesof kitchen items and other essen-tial commodities will witness fur-ther decrease as the transportationexpenses have been cut down dueto decrease in the fuel prices.

A buyer Muhammad Amir saidthat the he bought sugar on Rs 58per kg as it was earlier on Rs 62 perkg. The prices of chicken andwheat flour also witnessed reduc-tion due to cut in the fuel prices.

Pasham Khan, a small trader saidthat the government has won thehearts of the people by reducingprices of petroleum products.

A businessman, Malak Akhtarappreciated the government stepstaken to provide relief to the massesthrough reducing the price of pe-troleum products.

He said that reduction in pe-troleum prices would help providerelief to the common man. He saidthat reduction in petroleum prod-ucts would also have impact oncommodities of daily use. Anotherbusinessman, Kashif Abbasi saidthat with reduction in oil prices,transport fares would decrease allover the country.

He said that the governmenthad taken a marvelous step for the

welfare of people and everythingwould now be available at cheapprices. “The democraticgovernment’s step will leave a posi-tive impact on the nationaleconomy,” said a senior citizenRab Nawaz. He said that the costof import products would alsocome down.

A shopkeeper MuhammadKashif said that people wouldhave a better purchasing power dueto direct and indirect effects of thecut in petroleum prices.

Engineer, Zia ur Rehman saidthe credit for the decision to lowerprices went to Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif as a sig-nificant decrease in the price of pe-troleum products had been wit-nessed for the first time in the his-

tory. A shopkeeper at Sitara marketsaid that the price reduction is notin their hand but it is the responsi-bility of the manufacturers to sup-ply various commodities on the re-duce rates. Muhammad Aayan, aschool student lauded the reduc-tion in the transport fares but com-plained that the transporters are yetnot ready to reduce the prices.

He demanded that the trans-port authorities should take strictaction against the transporters overcharging the people despite notifi-cation of reduction in the prices.The government has issued direc-tion for reducing prices of essen-tial items in proportion to the de-crease in the rates of petroleumproducts while transport fares re-duced by the transporters.—APP

Essential goods; prices registerdecrease due to cut in fuel prices

LAHORE—Federal Minis-ter for Defence Production,Science and TechnologyRana Tanvir Hussain hassaid the nation will expresssolidarity with Kashmiripeople on Kashmir Day be-ing observed on February5 across the country.

Talking to media at acompensation cheques dis-tribution ceremony amongthe flood victims in a vil-lage near Ferozwala, districtSheikhupura, he said thatIndian rigid attitude wasmain hurdle in the way ofrooting out terrorism in theregion.

He demanded India tofulfil its promises of rightto plebescite to the people

Sharjeel rubbishessuggestion for

emergency in Sindh

of Kashmir according to theresolutions of United Na-tions and wishes of thepeople of Kashmir.He said that ethical, diplo-matic and political supportof Kashmiri people wouldbe continued till the free-dom of Kashmir.

Rana Tanvir said Paki-stan owns the best and lat-est missile system andnuclear technology of theworld and it had ability toretaliate in a befitting man-ner to any aggression. Hesaid that there was nothreat to Pakistan fromNuclear Civil agreement be-tween United States and In-dia, however, such kind ofagreement would spur arms

race in the region.He said that India could

not become permanentmember of the UN SecurityCouncil despite the sup-port of the US. He urged theleadership of India to playits role according to theagenda of SAARC coun-tries for durable peace inSouth Asia.

The minister said thatPakistan wanted relation-ship with India on equalbases but the same shouldnot be construed as weak-ness of Pakistan. He saidPakistan was strugglingagainst terrorism and PakArmy and Nation were onthe same page in thiscause. He said that 2015

would prove to be a year ofMega projects which wouldopen new era of develop-ment and prosperity.

The minister said thegovernment was takingsolid steps to tranfer ben-efits of decrease in petro-leum products to themasses and Prime MinisterMian Muhammad NawazSharif had directed the pro-vincial governments forthis purpose.

He said foreign handcould not be ignored in theincident of Shikarpur inci-dent. He said Pakistan wasready to play its role withthe cooperation of India andAfghanistan for curbing ter-rorism in the region. —APP

KARACHI—Sindh Ministerfor Information, SharjeelInaam Memon here onMonday said imposition ofemergency in the provincecan be no solution to thecurrent situation as the en-tire nation is united againstterrorists.

Talking to media prior tocommencement of provin-cial assembly session, hesaid all agencies of the coun-try are equally engaged inquelling unscrupulous ele-ments and for early restora-tion of law and order situa-tion.

Citing Shikarpur inci-dent as a national tragedy,the provincial minister forinformation said the entirecountry has been engulfedinto terrorism related activi-ties.

Terrorists are trying toplay havoc and attempt totake minutest of the oppor-tunities without any consid-eration towards sanctity ofthe sites and age or genderor status of their targets, saidSharjeel Inaam Memon.

“It is because of theseharsh facts that stringentmeasures are being adoptedto contain the situation in-cluding provision for militarycourts across the country,”he said.

To a query, the SindhMinister said that previouslylaw enforcers were engagedin providing security cover tothe Namazis offering prayersat mosques now there is needto keep vigil on educationalinstitutions besides other

sensitive installations. “Wehave arrived to the point whenthe need to support ourforces has grown all the more

as fight against terrorism is anational cause,” said the min-ister. Sindh Minister for Infor-mation said MQM’s demandfor imposition of emergencyin the province holds no rel-evance as our forces, rang-ers and army are jointly han-dling the situation. He alsodispelled the impression thatthere were no doctors orneeded facilities did not existat the hospitals in Shikarpurcausing difficulties for the vic-tims of the tragedy.

“On the contrary SindhHealth Minister immediatelycontacted the concerned of-ficials and declared emer-gency at all government hos-pitals in Shikarpur, Sukkurand Larkana,” SharjeelMemon said.

“As a matter of fact 17senior doctors and sur-geons are still attending pa-tients at the Shikarpur CivilHospital,” he added.—APP

ANF arrests 11drug smugglers,

recovers narcoticsISLAMABAD—The Anti Nar-cotics Force (ANF) has re-covered 254.72 kg charas,700 grams heroin and 2.4 kgopium, arresting 11 drugssmugglers including two Af-ghan national.

ANF conducted nineoperations in various citiesincluding Rawalpindi,Attock, Haripur, Faisalabad,Khanewal, Peshawar andKarachi, said a press release.During operations 4 vehiclesalso seized during the opera-tions. Most of the recov-ered drugs were beingsmuggled for local con-sumption. —APP

India’s rigid attitude hurdle in curbing terrorArms dealersarrested

MULTAN—Regional PoliceOfficer (RPO) Amjid JavedSaleemi said that police hasarrested six arms dealers andrecovered huge cache ofarms including 27807 bulletsfrom their possession.

Regional Police OfficerAmjid Javeed Saleemi saidon Monday that Khanewalpolice arrested foursuspacious persons fromJahanian.

During investigation, thearrested outlaws informedthat they were arm-dealersand used to sell arms in dif-ferent cities. They informedthat they used to bring armsand ammunition from tribalareas.—APP

Saad asks PTI to clarifyits stance on terrorism

Daska in gripof crimesSTAFF REPORTER

DASKA—The Daska city is inthe grip of fresh crime wavewhile the people are feelinginsecure due to the risingdacoities Girls kidnaping andthefts in the city areas. Mean-while five women includingtwo young girls were forciblykidnapped in separate inci-dents in Daska during the lastfive days.

The residents of the areashave alleged that the Daskacity police have miserablyfailed to protect the lives andproperties of the people, be-sides their failure to trace theculprits involved in heinouscrimes.They said Daska po-lice remain busy performingspecial political duties, leav-ing the innocent people at themercy of the criminals. Out-laws remained active and tookaway a car, a motorcycle, goldornaments and other valu-ables worth lakhs of rupees indifferent strikes in Daska.

In Daska city, five un-known armed dacoits lootedgold ornaments, cash, elec-tronics and other valuablesworth of Rs. 35 Lakh duringa broad day light from thehouse of Lady DoctorIbtesam Umer Reportedly,the accused stormed into thehouse located at few yardsaway from the buildings ofCIA and Rescue 15 Daska onCollege Road, made hostageall the family members in-cluding women and childrenat gunpoint and fled awayafter looting.

Federal Minister for Railways Khawaja Saad Rafique inspecting Power Vans at Cantt Railways Station, Lahore.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Minister for Rail-ways Khawaja Saad Rafiqueon Monday asked PakistanTehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) toclarify its position whether itwas supporting the waragainst terrorism or it wasbehind Taliban.

Talking to journalists af-ter the inaugural ceremony ofPR power vans at Cantt rail-way station, he said that thePTI leader Advocate HamidKhan was petitioner in thecase of military courts,whereas, the PTI ChairmanImran Khan had supportedthe idea of military courts inthe All Parties Conference.

He said that the PTI chair-man should direct HamidKhan to withdraw petitionfrom the court or expel himfrom the party on violationof party stance and end thepolicy of hypocrisy.

The minister said that thedecision of setting up militarycourts had been taken withconsensus of all political andreligious parties to eliminateterrorism from Pakistan solegislation on the issueshould not be made contro-versial by raising questionson it.

He said that the core is-sue of Pakistan was terrorism,adding that prosperity could

only come in Pakistan after curbing the menace of terrorism.He said that privatization of Pakistan Railways was not underconsideration and there was no need to privatize it at all asRailways was on the track to success and its deficit waslowering day by day.

He said that no worker would be sacked from the depart-ment; however, few officers and workers had been removedfrom the jobs on corruption charges. “Manpower of PR willbe rationalized for its betterment,” he said.

The PR had to face a loss of Rs 37 billion owing to damageto the PR assets in reaction to the assassination of formerPrime Minister Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, but now it wasgradually covering the deficit, he said. Describing the avail-ability of power vans, he said that ten out of 40 latest powervans had become functional with the cooperation of Chinaand the remaining would be inducted in the system by midApril. He said that issue of electricity in trains would besorted out by coming summer season.

Malik Ishaq’scase moved toATC in Multan

LAHORE—An anti-terrorismcourt (ATC) in Lahore hastransferred the case againstMalik Ishaq, leader of bannedmilitant organisation Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ), to an ATC inMultan on the orders of theLahore High Court (LHC).

During the ATC hearing,the case against Ishaq’s al-leged spreading of religiousdissent was transferred to ananti-terrorism court in Multanon the orders of Lahore HighCourt. Ishaq’s case wasmoved to an ATC in Multandue to his status as a high-profile terrorist. Ishaq cannotbe presented in court inLahore as he is detained inMultan. The hearing of thecase will commence from Feb14 in Multan.

He was also previouslyarrested over charges relatingto hate-speech and incitingviolence. Having facedcharges relating to killing ofmore than 100 people, mostof them Shia Muslims, and theattack on the Sri Lankan cricketteam in March 2009, Ishaq hasspent around 15 years in Pa-kistani jails.

Punjab government hasfiled a case against Ishaq, whois currently incarcerated inMultan, of advocating andpreaching religious vio-lence.—INP

ISLAMABAD—Upper Sindhcities and northern areas ofPakistan received light andheavy rain on Monday asPakistan MeteorologicalDepartment (PMD) forecastmore downpour in the coun-try.

The PMD says wide-spread rain with snowfallover the hills is expected inIslamabad, upper/centralPunjab (Sargodha,Rawalpindi, Faisalabad,Gujranwala, Lahore, Sahiwaldivisions), Kashmir andGilgit-Baltistan, while atscattered places in KP(Malakand, Hazara,Peshawar, Mardan, Kohat,Bannu, D I Khan divisions)and at isolated places inBalochistan (Kalat, Quetta,Zhob, Sibi, Nasirabad,Makran divisions), SouthPunjab (Multan,Bahawalpur, D.G Khan divi-sions), Upper Sindh(Sukkur, Larkana divisions)during the next 24 hours.

It said the wet spell islikely to continue till Tues-

More rains likely

PESHAWAR—A group of students and teach-ers who survived a Taliban attack at ArmyPublic School Peshawar left Monday for atrip to China aimed at healing the mental scarsof their ordeal. According to reports, ten stu-dents and two teachers who escaped thebloodshed have been sent on a 10-day tripto help them recover.

“The basic aim of the visit is to divertthe attention of the survivors from the night-mare,” sources said.

An official at the Army Public School saidmore survivors will be sent in coming daysto other countries”.

The officials said the decision was takenafter psychiatrists suggested that survivorsneed long-term therapy and mental healthcounselling.

Meanwhile, The Shuhada Forum, com-prising victim families of Army Public School(APS) tragedy Monday asked Imran Khanto quit provincial government of Khyber

APS students leave on‘healing trip’ to China

day. Rain with snow overhills is occurred at scatteredplaces in KP (Malakand,Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat,Bannu divisions),

Islamabad, upper Punjab(Sargodha, Rawalpindi,Faisalabad, Gujranwala,Lahore, Sahiwal divisions),Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan, while at isolatedplaces in Kalat, Quetta,Multan, Sukkur and Larkanadivisions.

Rainfall during last 24hrs in mm: Rainfall: (mm):Pattan=24, Parachinar=20,B a l a k o t = 1 6 ,M u z a f f a r a b a d = 1 5 ,Rawalakot=14, Dir=13, GarhiDupatta=12, Murree=9,Kakul=8, Kotli=8,Malamjaba=8, Kalam=5 andIslamabad Z.P=3.—NNI

PESHAWAR—Central General Secretary ofJamat Islami, Liaqat Baloch urged the gov-ernment to make a policy for the return andresettlement of Internal Displaced People(IDPs) keeping in view their sacrifices forthe country and the nation.

Addressing a press conference here atMarkaz Jamat Islami after a meeting withthe elders of FATA, Liaqat Baloch said thatmillions of FATA people had been dis-placed from their native areas and livingmiserable life.

He said that education of their childrenand financial issues were adding woes totheir worries and need immediate attentionof the government, adding that Local Bod-ies elections should also be held in FATAto empower the tribal people.

Condemning APS and Shikar Pur inci-dents, he said the two incidents were bar-baric and inhuman acts of terrorism. Refer-ring to Madrassas, he said that if the gov-ernment is concerned about registration ofany Mudrassa then it should confirm thefacts from Wifaqul Madaris Pakistan.

Regarding Kashmir day, he said Kash-mir is integral part of Pakistan, and rallieswould be carried out on the day to expresssolidarity with Kashmiris.

Commenting of USA President BarakObamaâ•™s visit to India, he said the im-perialist forces do not want to see prosper-ity and political stability in the region, add-ing the Obamaâ•™s visit would furtheraggravate the security situation in the re-gion.—APP

JI for early return of IDPs

ANUSHA RAMZI

DURING the tenures of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Punjab government has been a symbol of

good governance, which is acknowl-edged by all and sundry. It would not bewrong to say that PML-N got the man-date in 2013 elections because of his ster-ling performance in the largest provinceof the country. He is living up to thosetraditions, as Punjab government, underhis guidance, has taken the lead in imple-mentation of Plan of Action to eliminateterrorism. Addressing the ceremony withregard to passing out of the first batch ofCounter-Terrorism Force, Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz sharif said: “It is notonly an important day for Punjab, but itis of great importance in the history ofthe country…Political and administrativeteam have worked in unison for giving apractical shape to the vision of PrimeMinister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif, whichwas presented in July 2013”.

Within a month after assuming hisoffice, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif hadinvited all the stakeholders, includingleaders of political parties, heads of se-curity agencies and members of civil so-

Punjab government symbol of good governanceciety, to reach a consensus on Counter-Terrorism Strategy. It was imperative, asradicalism and extremism posed an exis-tential threat to Pakistani society andstate, and terrorists had been‘ attacking,whenever and wherever they wanted. Un-fortunately, comprehensive and vi-brant counter-terrorism, anti extrem-ism and counter radicalism strate-gies were lacking, and there weregrey areas and ambiguities in thepolicies. It was because of these fac-tors, plus lack of will, on the part ofprevious governments that they hadfailed to evolve consensus on for-mulating such policy. However, allsegments of society support PM’ssincere efforts to fight the menaceof terrorism and bring peace in thecountry.

Present government is fightingthe terrorists militarily and alsovows to address the problems facedby the people in socio-economicand development fronts.Counterterrorism campaigns nowspan the spectrum of latest trends in war-fare technology, from deploying highlyequipped special operations forces topreparing comprehensive plan of action

to fight terrorism. Muhammad ShahbazSharif, being the Chief Minister of the larg-est province, with population of morethan the three provinces put together, hasgreat responsibility, as overcoming prob-lems faced by the jobless people, means

that half of thecountry’s popu-lation has beenwell-served. Infact, other prov-inces shouldemulate thePunjab govern-ment. Fightingterrorism and ex-tremism in all itsforms and mani-festations is anarduous task,and innovativeand extraordi-nary measureshave to be takento fight thisscourge.

In his speech, the Chief Minister saidthat terrorism has caused huge loss tothe country and the national economy.He said that worst kind of terrorism inci-

dent happened in the history of the worldon December 16, 2014 at the school ofPeshawar, where terrorists killed the in-nocent children.

He said that the entire nation, fromPeshawar to Karachi, has united againstterrorism due to this horrible incidentand an exemplary demonstration of unityand consensus is unprecedented in thehistory. He said that this menace will beeliminated through strong commitmentof the nation, and Pakistan will be madean Islamic Welfare State, in the real sense,as envisioned by Quaid-e-Azam,Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Allama Iqbal.

Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif said thatthe brave Army of the Pakistan hasachieved remarkable successes in op-eration “Zarb-e-Azb”, and a new historyis being written in the war against ter-rorism. He expressed the hope that Paki-stan will win the war against terrorismand there will be a durable peace in thecountry.

He reiterated that the government willnot rest till giving a crushing defeat tothe terrorists. He said there are many ex-amples in the comity of nations when thenation, political and military leadershipbecame united against the challenge of

terrorism, and they won the war. He saidthat the entire nation, including politicaland military leadership, is united againstterrorism, and will achieve successagainst the enemies of peace.

Of course, terrorists continue to im-prove their techniques and strategies inaddition to using the tactics of their or-thodox predecessors: setting off bombsin public places, assassinating officials,kidnapping individuals to demand po-litical concessions or ransom payments.Internet and social media can play a vi-tal role in reducing the incidence of ter-rorism, checking growing increase inradicalism and controlling extremism inthe society. But, at the same time, mili-tant organizations also use them forradicalization, recruitment and raisingfunds. Al Qaeda and ISIS have usedthese facilities in Europe to mobilize thepeople for their war in Iraq and Syria,and thousands of jihadis from Europehave reached Middle East.

Punjab Chief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has rightly said that theWar Against Terrorism is the war of sur-vival for our coming generations. He saidthat this is the war of Pakistan and nowPakistan is facing a decisive moment.

Governor assents SindhCondominium Act-2014

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat UlEbad Khan has assented the Sindh Condo-minium Act- 2014. The Act shall be enforcedwith immediate effect and shall extend to thewhole of the province of Sindh except to thecantonment areas and the projects of Na-tional Security declared by the Federal Gov-ernment.

According to details, the Act is aimed atregulating the services, amenities, façade,parking and common areas in public saleprojects by the residents, union or societyof the project through the registered mainte-nance companies in the province of Sindhand to provide for matters ancillary theretothat the maintenance of the project for oneyear after obtaining completion certificatefrom Authority shall be the responsibility ofthe builder through registered maintenancecompany which may charge appropriatemaintenance fee from the allottees as pre-scribed.

The lessee shall be authorized to collectone year maintenance fee from the sub-les-see in advance before handing over pos-session of the unit to the sub-lessee. Thebalance of maintenance amount collected bythe builder shall be handed over to the main-tenance company or to the resident coop-erative maintenance society through

crossed cheque. The maintenance periodshall start from the day of approval ofcompletion certificate of the building and theallottees are informed in writing through reg-istered post or courier service to take overthe possession.

The builder shall provide lift fitness cer-tificate to the resident cooperative mainte-nance society or management companyalong with signed contract for maintenanceof lift, for one year at the time of handingover the project. In case the builder or hisdesignated management intends to maintain,manage the building and shopping mall, shallhave to form a maintenance managementcompany duly registered with the authority;provided that the priority to maintain thebuilding shall be given to maintenance com-pany owned by the builder.

The maintenance of the services andamenities at a public sale projects shall bethe responsibility of the registered mainte-nance companies through allottee who shallform a cooperative society under the Volun-tary social Welfare Agencies (registration andControl) Ordinance, 1961 for the maintenanceof the project. The society shall be an orga-nization no for profit, to promote harmonyand a sense of belonging among allottees ofthe project and has a separate legal entityfrom its members and has the right to sue inthis capacity.

ABDUL KHALIQ QURESHI

A B B O T T A B A D — H e a v ysnowfall was continuingsince last night on mountain-ous series of Hazara includ-ing Northern areas, the layerof snow was observed so farover and above one feet re-ports received from hill topssays Monday.

However, the intermittentrain was continuing inAbbottabad since last nighthad spreaded severity of chilldue to which no one coulddare to face such hardenweather situation even for awhile. The muddy road doesnot allow pedestrians to walkfrequently, though the trafficwas smoothly found playingon main Silk Route since morn-ing to late at night despite slip-pery roads condition.

Galyat area hill topsknown as Nathiagali,Thandian, Meera Jani,Chhangla Gali, and Beran Galiincluding surrounding partsof the entire region is beingreceived constant snowfall

Punjab Chief Minister MianMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif.

POF Admn wellaware of its

responsibilitiesSTRAFF REPORTER

WAH CANTT—POF admin-istration is well aware of itssocial responsibilities andalways helped the country-men on the eve of eachnatural calamity took placein the country.

Keeping in view the mis-erable condition of Tharaffectees, Lt GenMuhammad AhsanMahmood, HI(M) ChairmanPOF Board directed to setup two relief camp in WahCantt. for collection of do-nations for these affectees.POF administration dis-patched 223 bags of edibleitems valuing one million forThar affectees while eachbag contained 15 kg flour,10 kg Rice, 3 kg Sugar, ½ kgTea Lipton, ½ kg Milk Pow-der, 5 liter Cooking Oil &mineral water. The value ofeach relief bag comes intoRs.4450/-.

These relief goods havebeen handed over to 18 Div.S&T Unit by Karachi officeof POF for onward dispatchto Thar affectees.

Illegal gatewayexchange raided

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tele-communication Authority(PTA) in its ongoing effortsto control grey traffickinghas unearthed an illegalgateway exchange atWazirabad.

According to details, asuccessful raid against thegrey operator was carried outalong with FIA team at Vil-lage Abu Al Fateh Wali,Wazirabad. An illegal ex-change comprising of 4 VoIPGateways, 8 Ports, Switches,SIMs, 2 Desktop Computersand 2 Modems were confis-cated.

The successful raidsagainst the grey operatorswere made possible becauseof continuous monitoring,commitment and persistentefforts by PTA in curbingthe menace of grey trafficthus curtailing the loss tothe national exchequer be-cause of grey traffickers inthe country.—Online

Pakhtunkhwa for not helping inquiry of thetragedy despite passage of several weeks.

Addressing a press conference here, theaffected mothers said that Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf leader Imran Khan had promised tohold inquiry within 16-days of the carnagebut the provincial government has yet totake any decision, they deplored.

“Why Imran Khan not holding sit-in fortheir children,” they questioned and askedImran Khan to quit the KP government onfailure of his government in the province.

They demanded holding of judicial in-quiry into the incident and called for expos-ing the perpetrators of the incident.

The Shuhada Forum gave 48-hour dead-line to the provincial government to orderjudicial inquiry into the incident otherwisethey would hold sit-in, they warned.

The affected families demanded award ofhighest military award to martyred childrenand privileges to affected families. — APP

Thandiani road blockeddue to heavy snowfall

thrice. One Naheed Khan toldon mobile that no electricitysupply was found since lastnight in the area, sans pitchdarkness nothing has beenfound and observed so far.

In addition, shortage ofedibles due to landslidingshas also been stopped en-tirely due to which the entireresidents of such localities arefacing hardships. But nothingis being done to address thesufferings of residents de-spite roaring earnest requestsand appeals before thepresent KP government.

The entire Thandianiroad leading to surround-ing parts of Galyat wasblockaded due to heavysnowfall since variousdays, therefore, the entirearea men were found cutoff from rest of the areas.Most of the families wereunable to buy their dailyuse commodities from theirnearby shops due to thicklayer of snow had crippledtheir lives to traverse evena step forward.

Secy Healthvisits hospitalsto enquire after

blast victimsSUKKUR—Provincial Secre-tary for Health Sindh, IftikharShalwani accompanied byCommissioner SukkurMuhammad Abbas Balochvisited Ghulam MuhammadMahar Medical TeachingHospital and Hira MedicalCentre here on Monday toinquire after the welfare ofShikarpur bomb blast victimsand reviewed treatment facili-ties being provided to them.

On this occasion, Secre-tary Health directed authori-ties to provide all possible fa-cilities and medicines to thewounded and added that nonegligence in this regard willbe tolerated.

Secretary HealthShalwani also paid surprisevisit at Anwar Paracha Hos-pital Sukkur and Taluka Hos-pital Rohri and showed dis-pleasure over lack of facilities,absence of doctors and hav-ing no proper cleanliness atthe hospitals. During the visitof Government AnwarParacha Hospital, he noticedand showed great astonish-ment that there was not asingle patient under the ad-mission at the hospital.

He expressed his concernover the matter and said thatinquiry would be made intothe matter and action takenagainst the doctors and theofficers responsible. How-ever, during his visit atTaluka Hospital Rohri, somepatients and their relativescomplained to the Secretaryregarding lack of facilitiesand absence of doctors atthe hospital. The patientsand their relatives com-plained the Secretary regard-ing non provision of medi-cines to the patients and toldhim that doctors of the RohriHospital .—APP

India’s aggressiveforeign policy

INDIA seems to be following an aggressive diplomatic campaign topromote its foreign policy agenda of extracting maximum possiblebenefits from big powers in different spheres of life. After successful

visit of US President Barack Obama, Indian Prime Minister NarendraModi is planning to visit China in May this year. External Affairs Minis-ter Sushma Swaraj was in Baijing on Sunday, on a three day visit, toprepare grounds for the visit of the Prime Minister.

The plan to visit China is reflective of India’s proactive diplomacy andis apparently aimed at neutralizing negative impact of Obama’s visit onSino-India relations. According to both Indian and world media reports,Modi and Obama, during their talks mostly discussed China and the formerwas reported to have spoken the language that pleased Washington. Thetwo discussed plans and signed agreement that are seen as part of the strat-egy to contain growing Chinese influence. In this backdrop, the proposedvisit of Narendra Modi to China is a clever move to keep the giant neighbourin good mood despite moves to undermine its long term interests. Thisaggressive approach of India in foreign relations is in sharp contrast to thesheepish mentality that prevails in our foreign policy corridors. The kind ofenvironment that Pakistan found itself in ever since independence requiredpursuance of a highly balanced and neutral foreign policy to safeguard ournational interests. However, from the very beginning, we kept all our eggsin one basket and therefore, inflicted harm on the country. Thanks to thearchitect of Pak-China friendship – late Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto – that todayPakistan has a dependable, all-weather friendship. However, Baboos in theForeign Office still lack the vision to steer the country’s policies in a dy-namic manner and are victims of same old sluggishness and inaction. Weare not reciprocating Chinese gesture with the same enthusiasm and havetotally failed to maintain cordial ties with Russian Federation. We hope thatour leadership and those at the helm of affairs at the Foreign Office woulddemonstrate vision and courage to pursue a truly nationalist foreign policy.

Planet earth becomingdangerous place

VIOLENCE and terrorism has increased tremendously as almost dailyinstances of terrorism take place in different parts of the globe. Luck-

ily, in Pakistan, the threat is receding due to consensus and firm decision ofthe national political and military leadership to address the challenge squarely.Terrorist sanctuaries have been dismantled and they are now on the run.

Previously, the phenomenon of terrorism and extremism, wrongly orrightly, was being associated with this region, but now terrorists and ex-tremists are having field day everywhere in the world. Sunday is usuallyconsidered to be a lean day in every respect but on February 1 (Sunday) anumber of terrorist incidents took place in different corners of the globe.Nigerian troops repelled extremists who attacked from four fronts onMaiduguri, the biggest city in northeast of the country. In a separate at-tack, a suspected Boko Haram suicide bober killed himself and eight oth-ers in neighbouring Yobe state. Two US defence contractors were shot atin Saudi Arabia, second such attack in recent months. There were alsoseveral casualties in clashes between Islamic State militants and Iraqiforces while two Japanese nationals were beheaded by radicals in Syria,causing pain and anguish among peace loving people of Japan. All thisshows that the world is becoming a dangerous place to live in because ofa variety of factors mainly injustice, inequality and use of force by pow-erful states against weaker nations. Palestinians are being killed andmaimed almost daily by Israeli forces while Americans have bombedIraq and Afghanistan to stone age for questionable reasons. Kashmirishave also lost about one hundred thousand souls in their quest for right toself-determination. The brutal use of force in different countries and re-gions has so far failed to produce any positive result and instead the prob-lem of terrorism and extremism has compounded. The UN was supposedto work for global peace but it has not been able to perform its duties asper the spirit of its charter and expectations of the majority of the worldcommunity. Therefore, leaders should join hands to discuss why the worldis becoming a dangerous place and how to restore much-needed peace.

Shikarpur Imambargahattackers remain untracedSINCE the tragedy of Shikarpur Imambargah, there are no clues with the

police which may lead to the arrest of the attackers. Cosmetic statementsare being made by the government circles that every effort was being made totrace the perpetrators of the Friday bombing, yet it is astonishing that thosebehind the heinous act are still at large despite passage of four days.

Though the Provincial government announced compensation for thevictims’ families and the Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah himselfvisited the city to have an on the spot assessment of the security arrange-ments, but the people would not be satisfied with routine visits and assur-ances. After the mega city of Karachi, terrorists have spread in the inte-rior of Sindh and there is danger of more attacks in retaliation to actionagainst the anti-state elements in North Waziristan and raids in other partsof the country. As a matter of routine, high security is provided to placesof worships including Mosques and Imambargahs particularly on Fridaysand other special occasions to prevent any untoward incident but it ap-pears that the police did not pay any attention to the dangers in Shikarpur.It is an admitted fact that our police gets active once an incident takesplace and this tendency encourages the stonehearted people to carry outsuch dastardly acts without any challenge. The real problem is that secu-rity personnel are deployed at the time of prayers but the terrorists plantthe explosives when the target area is almost empty. In this age of moderntechnology like CCTV cameras and mobile phone tracking system, peopleinvolved in the attacks could be identified and nabbed. There should alsobe realization among the security agencies that enemy agents are wellentrenched in Balochistan and Sindh and they are involved in attacks onreligious places to pave the ground for sectarian divide. Therefore, wewould emphasise that the Shikarpur incident should be made a test case,intelligence gathering be strengthened and those behind the incident bearrested without loss of any more time to satisfy the enraged people.

Inequality: Past will devour future

Boehner’sNetanyahuploy runsonto rocks

WHEN House SpeakerJohn Boehner and IsraeliPrime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu cooked up a plan to by-pass the White House and haveNetanyahu address Congress, bothmen surely thought they had pulledoff a coup. For Netanyahu, thespeech offered a high-profile chanceto push his top objective: derailingnegotiations to arrest Iran’s nuclearweapons programme, which he’sconvinced will produce a deal thatleaves Israel vulnerable. The timingof the speech, two weeks before Is-raeli elections, could also giveNetanyahu a political boost.

For Boehner, the yield was simi-lar. By breaking long-standing pro-tocol, he upstaged President Obamaon the day after his State of the UnionAddress and served notice that thenew Republican Congress wouldcarve its own path, even in foreignpolicy, where national unity is mostimportant. The move also pleasedpolitical contributors and hard-linersin Congress who share Netanyahu’smisgivings. Less than two weekslater, however, the manoeuvre islooking less like a masterstroke thana singularly destructive unforced er-ror. A backlash is underway in Is-rael, where a number of critics, in-cluding Netanyahu’s former ambas-sador to the United States, MichaelOren, are worried that by politicisingthe issue, Netanyahu and Boehnerare jeopardizing long-standing bipar-tisan support for Israel. That’s trou-bling, but the consequences for theUS are potentially worse. In a scantfew days, Boehner’s invitation —worked out with Israeli AmbassadorRon Dermer, who was once a Re-publican political operative — haspoliticised the US-Israeli relation-ship in a new way, marked by politi-cal sniping in both countries. Lastweek, the Democratic minority lead-ers in Congress, both long-time sup-porters of Israel, politely cautionedNetanyahu that he is making a mis-take. Indeed. He risks swapping analliance between nations for an alli-ance between his Likud Party andthe GOP. Even if the ploy succeedsin torpedoing the arms negotiations,it would be a costly win, raising trou-bling questions about the degree ofcontrol Netanyahu has over deci-sions that could cost American lives.There is no more sensitive task —or a more hazardous one — than try-ing to keep nuclear weapons out ofIran’s hands. Throughout the talks,the six nations negotiating with Iranhave shown remarkable unity. Itwould be a shame if all that effortwas lost because of political games-manship here or in Israel. Politics,as they used to say, should end at thewater’s edge. — USA Today

*****

Act againstBoko Haram

THE latest news reports fromNigeria on Sunday show thatBoko Haram has the ability to

strike at targets anywhere within thenorthern reaches of the country andspread its murderous campaign ofterror into neighbouring countries.The group launched an all-out assaulton Maiduguri, sparking runningbattles and emphasising the need fora common front against the group.

At a meeting of the AfricanUnion (AU) in Addis Ababa at theweekend, United Nations Secre-tary-General Ban Ki-moon has wel-comed the decision of the AU tojoin forces to stop Boko Haram —a move that’s timely, badly neededand one that shows that there is noplace on the continent for such anevil group. What’s encouraging isthat the AU has pledged to set up amultinational joint task force to co-ordinate efforts against the terror-ists. Already, Boko Haram is re-sponsible for creating more than amillion internally displaced peoplein the region and its kidnapping andkillings have generated a wave offear unprecedented in decades.

What’s more worrying is thatthe Nigerian government has failedto organise a cohesive campaignagainst the group, and its troops areeither incapable or inclined to endthe threat. With elections due in Ni-geria, there should be but one itemon the agenda for voters — elect-ing a powerful leader who can fi-nally end the terrorist group, de-stroy its leadership, restore har-mony and free the hostages en-slaved by the terrorists. And whowill work close with the AU toachieve that. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

AFTER Mr. Obama’s lastState of the Union addressthe inequality debate

reached a crescendo in the developedworld. In his address Mr. Obama de-scribed the rising inequality as“therising challenge of our time”. In areport about the concentration ofwealth in few hands - released aheadof this year’s meeting of billionairesand politicians at Davos - the anti-poverty charityOxfamstruck the samechord. The report warned that- oncurrent trends-the wealth accumu-lated by the one percent of the rich-est would be more than half of theworld’s wealth. The richest one per-cent had seen their share of globalwealth increased from 44 percent in2009 to 48 percent in 2014, the re-port said. These numbers exhibits thatthe concentration of wealth in fewhands is quite simply staggering andthe wealth gap between the richestand the rest is widening rapidly.

This focus on the inequality islargely the result of the louder chordstruck against inequality by the rockstar fame French economist ThomasPiketty. His dense, well-researchedacademic tome Capital in theTwenty-First Century put the men-ace of inequality back on the politi-cians and academicians agenda.Before Piketty’s book the debateabout the inequality was almost inwhispers in the corridors of powerand the ivory towers of academia.Piketty’s academic work struck thechord with the situation in the realworld, which generated the resonantfrequencies.In his book Pikettytrack the concentration of income

Fears over Indo-US nuclear deal

INDIA-US nuclear deal signedby George W. Bush and approved by the Congress in 2009

had given rise to asymmetry inSouth Asia. Pakistan had every rea-son to be upset, because by refusingto ink similar deal with Pakistan -an old strategic ally that was inter-twined with the US and the West invarious pacts since 1950, felt be-trayed. President Barack Obama hascommitted to give state guaranteeto India on behalf of AmericanNuclear Suppliers with regard to li-ability in case of nuclear-related ac-cident. Anyhow, the way the US hastreated a friend that stood by its al-lies for about half-a-century, is de-plorable. Responding to Pakistan’sconcerns over US-India nucleardeal, the US State Departmentspokesperson Jen Psaki said: “It hasstrong relationship with each ofthem. These relationships are strong;they are vital to our strategic inter-ests, and they stand at their own”.

This statement is rhetoric, as Pa-kistan has given all the sacrifices inthe war on terror but India has beenrewarded in the form of N-deal. Infact, foundation for strategic relation-ship with India was laid by the thenpresident Bill Clinton during his visitto India in March 2000, and blos-somed during George W. Bush era.Pakistan had expressed concerns overIndo-US nuclear cooperation deal,when it had been approved by theCongress and became a law afterPresident Bush signed it. Some facts

Home is wherethe heart is.

about N-deal; on March 2,2006 in New Delhi,George W. Bush andManmohan Singh hadsigned a Civil NuclearCooperation Agreement,following an initiationduring the July 2005 sum-mit in Washington be-tween the two leaders

over civilian nuclear cooperation.The US had been pressing India

to move on the deal before the end ofPresident George W. Bush’s tenure,warning the pact may not survive inits current form under the next admin-istration. The implementation of agree-ment had earlier hit the snag after theUS Congressional vote in December2006 requiring of India to pledge notto conduct any more nuclear test andnot to use spent nuclear fuel from theplants the country would receive fromthe US. Anyhow, by concluding anuclear deal with India the Bush ad-ministration had allowed business andpolitical interests to trump up the na-tional security interests of the UnitedStates. Besides, creating asymmetry inSouth Asia, the US-India nuclear tradelegislation had granted India the ben-efits of being a member of the nuclearnon-proliferation treaty without requir-ing it to meet all of the responsibilitiesexpected of responsible states.

It has to be mentioned that Indiaremained outside the internationalnuclear mainstream since it misusedCanadian and US peaceful nuclearassistance to conduct its 1974 nuclearbomb test, refused to sign the nuclearNon-proliferation Treaty, and con-ducted additional nuclear tests in1998. India had been cut off frommost US civilian nuclear assistancesince 1978 because of these viola-tions. It was felt that India’s willing-ness to open some nuclear reactorsfor international inspection in returnfor the deal was not enough, as the

agreement allowed it to keep its ex-tensive and secret nuclear weaponsand materials production complexoff-limits. By adopting the nuclearbill, Congress had disregarded theprovisions that would have requiredcommitments from India to restrainits production of nuclear weapons andnuclear bomb material.

The legislation also overlookedthe US obligation to uphold UN Se-curity Council Resolution 1172 ofJune 1998, which called upon Indiaand Pakistan to join the Comprehen-sive Test Ban Treaty, stop nuclearweapons deployments, and halt theproduction of nuclear bomb material.In a recent visit to India, US Presi-dent Barack Obama stated that hesupported India’s candidature for apermanent seat in the United NationsSecurity Council. Disregarding theinternational covenants to advance itsforeign policy objectives could resultin a new arms race in Asia, which isalready home of four nuclear pow-ers. Former US president Bush hadalso expressed similar sentiments toappease India, but the fact remainsthat US cannot influence majority ofthe countries to vote for India to makeit permanent member of the UNSC.

In the past, the US had advocateda “criteria-based approach underwhich potential members must be su-premely well qualified, based on fac-tors such as: economic size, popula-tion, military capacity, commitmentto democracy and human rights, fi-nancial contributions to the UN, con-tributions to UN peacekeeping, andrecord on counterterrorism and non-proliferation”. The position taken bythe US reinforced its desire to see In-dia as permanent member of theUNSC because otherwise it shouldhave incorporated conditions ofshowing respect for and implement-ing UNSC resolutions. Pakistan onThursday said India does not qualify

and wealth deep into the past for theUSA, Europe and some developingcountries such as India, Argentine andIndonesia.After his analysis he pur-ported that there is a fundamentallogical contradiction in capitalismwith potentially terrifying conse-quences for wealth accumulation andinequality. His central premise is thatwhen the rate of return on capital ‘r’exceeds the economic growthrate‘g’i.e. r>g,this leads to the con-centration of wealth in few hands andinequality goes up.

The prescription provided by thePiketty to tame the Frankenstein ofinequality is the redistribution ofwealth by adopting the radical poli-cies to tax the rich.He proposed a glo-bal progressive wealth tax wheretherate of tax rises with the level ofwealth. Along with progressive taxa-tion its also vital for the governmentsto make the efforts to induce the forcesof convergence through the diffusionof knowledge and investment in thepolicies and programs for enhancingthe skills of the individuals. He arguedthat becauseof the political and socialnature of inequalityit’s the function ofthe political governments to solve thisproblem and cannot be left alone tothe forces of market.

Pikkety relied heavily on the datafrom the developed countries; how-ever, the underlying concepts arehighly relevant for the developingcountries like Pakistan. Forinstance,Pikkety’s proposition thatinequality rises when the rate of re-turn on capital exceeds the economicgrowth rate is painfully true in thecontext of Pakistan. We are witness-ing this trend of concentration ofwealth in one percent (in the form ofbig industrialist, industrialist-feudaland big land-owner)from the 1960stothe present day. For the better un-

derstanding of the relationship be-tween the rate of return on capital andinequality,in the context of Pakistan,the declaration of the assets by thePrime Minister Mr. Nawaz Sharifprovides a good example. Accordingto his statementsof assets and liabili-ties submitted to the parliament -taken on their face value without cast-ing any doubt on Mr. Sharif’s truth-fulness about the disclosure- Mr.Sharif’s assets recorded an astound-ing increase during the last few years.In 2011, the net worth of Mr. Sharif’sassets was Rs. 95.6million,in 2012,the net value of Mr. Sharif’s assetsraised to Rs. 261.6 million, in 2013assets ballooned to Rs. 1.82 billionand in 2014, the total value of assetsin his own name and that of his wifehad jumped to 2.36 billion.Last yearhis investment in the Sugar Mills in-creased 600 percent while the remit-tances he received from his son alsoincreased. Do the labor wages sawthe same upward trend in Pakistan?This shows that capital is unequallydistributed than labor income.

Mr. Sharif’s statement of assetsand liabilities clearly indicates thatmost of his wealth is inherited. Thisphenomenal increase in inheritancewealth happens when the rate of re-turn on capital greatly exceeds the rateof economic growth and Piketty put itsuccinctly that in such situation“thepast tends to devour the future”. Thismeans that society inevitably tends tobe dominated by the inherited wealth.The regressive tax policies and thedeclaration of only small part of in-come by the rich for tax purposes areother factors, which give boost to theforces of divergence and inequality.Similarly, inefficient tax machinery,low contribution of manufacturingsector towards creating employmentand the businesses based on the ex-

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to become a full member of theUnited Nations Security Council(UNSC), given its record of viola-tions of UN resolutions, particularlypertaining to Jammu and Kashmir.

Having that said, Germany, Ja-pan, Brazil and India have been lob-bying to get permanent membershipof the Security Council with vetopower. In various meetings, Pakistanhad taken the position that non-per-manent members’ representation beincreased and be given to severalother regions, which would helpdemocratize the UN. The world isaware of the fact that Israel and In-dia have ignominious record ofshowing utter disregard to the UNand its resolutions, apart from vio-lation of human rights. Pakistan andother South Asian countries wouldnot feel comfortable to see India - ahegemonic state and an aspirant ofa regional and world power - be pro-vided an opportunity to further itsinterests and designs.

There is a general perception thatprospects of world peace could befurther obscured if the veto powerwas given to the new permanentmembers of the Security Council, asthe misuse of the veto power in thepast by the permanent members wasthe reason for the Security Council’sinability to maintain internationalpeace. The glaring example was theuse of veto-power on various resolu-tions on Kashmir and Palestine byformer Soviet Russia and the US.During the Cold War era, veto powerwas used for advancing interests ofthe super-power to detriment of a na-tion like Pakistan. The resolutionspassed by the Security Council couldnot be implemented because superpowers were not serious enough, ei-ther due to India’s size and popula-tion or their whims and fancies.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

—Proverb

ploitation of labor and natural re-sources are the major contributingfactors for the domination of forcesof divergence which consequentlyraised inequality. On the other hand,the factors, which are important forthe domination of the forces of con-vergence, are not on the radar ofPakistan’s public policymakers. Theefficient wealth distribution systemrequires efficient tax machinery,educated and skilled human beingsand a socio-economic system whichprovides a ladder for the upward so-cial mobility.

The problem of inequality inPakistan is more dreadful than thedeveloped world because the solu-tion is in the hands of the problemcreators. In the developed worldpolitical and economic elite is atleast physically separated which,required a lot of political and finan-cial bargaining before the politi-cians make the policies which servethe interests of the economic eliteinstead of the society as a whole.However, unfortunately in Pakistaneconomic and political elite isphysically and virtually clubbed inthe same souls. Inherited politicsleads to the increase in inheritedwealth concentrated in few hands.

It’s the time for ourpolicymakers, politicians and socialthinkers to promote the forces ofconvergence in order to restructurethe current political and socialstructures which are hindering thedistribution of wealth and upwardsocial mobility. Otherwise, it willbe too late and as Piketty put itbeautifully “the past will continueto devour the future”.— The author is an AssistantProfessor in the YBU BusinessSchool, Yildirim BeyazitUniversity, Ankara.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

Dr Haroon M ButtarEmail:haroonbuttar@gmail.com.

Voice of the PeopleHealth terrorismMARRIA QIBTIA, S NAGRA

Media has played a commendablerole in illuminating the issue ofmeat that is being sold rampantlyacross the country by heartlessbutchers who have sold their veryconscience. These butchers havenot only been selling the meat ofharam animals under the facade ofmutton and beef but also have soldthe meat of dead halal animalswhich can pose serious health prob-lems to the buyers.

When arrested and interro-gated, these butchers without theleast bit of resentment were abruptin their wrong justification that be-ing poor they were right in earninga living by resorting to such means.Their duplicity was exposed whenin an answer to a question whetherthey would want to serve the samemeat to their families and children,they concluded that they could notdo so in their wildest imaginationsand contrarily consumed veg-etables which were affordable inthis era of price hike.

The attitude of these butchersis simply a manifestation of theweak moral fabric of our society.What we want for others is notsomething that we want for our-selves. These butchers have beenarrested and imprisoned but whatabout loads of others who are in-dulged in the same business but arecleverly masking their ill practices?

It seems as if we have taken thelead in health terrorism as well assuch ill practices are not witnessedanywhere else in the world .Thegovernment must not ignore this is-sue as this cannot be curbed by sim-ply arresting and imprisoning theculprits. Precedents whenever setdo play a pivotal role in serving asa deterrent and this is what the gov-ernment needs to do at the currenthour by awarding exemplary pun-ishment to individuals involved inthis gruesome business. A law re-garding health terrorism must bepassed through which those affect-ing the health of the general popu-lace by selling rotten items must beawarded severe punishment , as thiswill serve as a strong deterrent forsuch conscienceless individualswho are weakening our basis andaffecting our generations.—Lahore

Don’t spoiltheir future

JESICA JAVED

Children are meant to learn, not toearn. Child labour is the most com-mon problem in our country. Child-hood is the most precious time ofanybody’s life but these littlelabourers fail to enjoy this time. It’sreally very heart breaking to seesmall children working in houses,stalls, factories. They watch otherchildren going to school with greatdesire. They too have a right todream, to get education.

The reason of child labour ispoverty, the poor parents of theseinnocent children can’t afford theschool fees, secondly they are illit-erate they don’t know the impor-tance of education but we all areeducated, we know the importanceof education so why we become il-literate by doing the same thingwith innocent children. Can weimagine our own children work-ing on tea stalls or houses? Defi-nitely not!! Then why other chil-dren? Only because they are notour own children? We don’t haveany relation with them? Childrenare the future of our country. Thereis no reason, there is no excuse.We should all unite together tostop this nonsense act. Againstchild labour we must fight.—Via email

Animal welfarein limelight

ZOVIA FAROOQ

Animal are living sensitive crea-tures with the capacity to feel pain.As such they should be treated withutmost care and respect. It’s theleast they deserve. obviously thecondition the animal working onthe hobbit movie were living in,were substandard and dangerous, ifinjury and deaths occurred !

The disclaimer “no animal washarmed in the making of this film’has become a standard phrase ofpopular culture. So accustomed arewe to seeing it among films’ clos-ing credits and so material has itbecome, that it is startling to real-ize it is a recent innovation.

Just over few decades ago, Hol-lywood was casually ignoring anyconcerns about animal cruelty. Oneof the Hollywood movie, a waterbuffalo was slaughtered with a ma-chete. Such instances were not par-ticularly unusual in the history offilm making. Perhaps 100 horses

Shikarpur Imambargah attackARSALAN THAHIM

The blast of ferocious and the deadliest attack in my city’sImambargah was heard by me during Friday sermon. Doz-

ens of casualties took place and over fifty people severely in-jured. But more deaths took place due to shaggy picture of less-ened emergency services. There were no ambulance servicesavailable and city’s civil hospital was almost without staff at theone hour span of time of the attack. Only credit goes to localindigenous people and auto rickshaw drivers who left no stoneunturned to carry the wounded people towards hospital. Being amain district hospital which covers the four taulkas of the districthas no facilities or specialist doctors to treat the patients, prima-rily in emergency time. Due to such dilapidated conditions of thecity, many blood flowing bodies were shifted to Sukkur andLarkana hospitals in which many ended their life battle on wayto destined hospitals. As an eye witness, I request the Prime Min-ister Nawaz Sharif and all concerned authorities to take somedecisive actions, so that such incidents be avoided in future.—Shikarpur

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THE articles, columns andletters are published on thesepages in good faith. However,the contents of these writingsmay not necessarily match theviews of the newspaper.

—Editor

View From Abroad

New phase in India-US ties

JUST a year back, the world’s twobiggest democracies were on acollision course over the

Khobragade affair. Today, thanks todeft diplomacy by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi and his team, Wash-ington and Delhi are well on their waynow to chart a new course in theirbilateral ties. When Modi had visitedthe United States in September, hiscritics wanted to discredit him by ask-ing where the substance was. Theyargued that Modi’s visit was aboutstyle, that the optics overpowered thereal issues that were bedeviling therelationship. When Modi invitedObama as the chief guest at the Re-public Day celebrations, the criticscame back arguing that what was thepoint of inviting Obama who hadbecome a lame-duck president withthe defeat of the Democrats in theNovember midterm elections.

But what Modi and Obama havebeen able to accomplish now under-scores once again how far aheadModi is of his critics. It also showsthe remarkable ability of Modi tounderstand how modern-day politicsand diplomacy work. It was the op-tics of his visit to the US last Sep-tember that convinced Washingtonabout Modi’s ability to deliver. TheObama administration recognizedthat, after years of disappointmentfrom Manmohan Singh, they werenow getting an interlocutor in Modi

who understood how important it wasto get the US-India relationship rightand he was ready to deliver with hisimmense cache of political capital.

So even though Obama’s foreignpolicy agenda has been crowded, hemanaged to galvanize the Americanbureaucracy to give one more chanceto India before the end of his term.And that bet seems to be paying off.What is equally important is how theanti-Americanism of the Indian po-litical class is also now a thing of thepast. Even when the National Demo-cratic Alliance government underAtal Bihari Vajpayee was trying tostructure a partnership with the U.S.and the United Progressive Allianceunder Singh was trying to take thatforward, the anti-Western hypocrisyof the Indian establishment was jar-ringly evident.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s oldguard led the charge to make the pas-sage of the civil nuclear deal diffi-cult and then worked to bring in a li-ability law that did so much damageto Indian interests. The Indian left,right and centre all colluded in thischarade. Washington was neededwhen it came to Pakistan, Afghani-stan, and China, but swords wouldbe out if any Indian leader dared tomake a case that a strong partnershipwas in the interest of India. All in thename of good old-fashioned non-alignment, Singh’s efforts tooperationalize the nuclear deal werescuttled by his own party more thanby the opposition. Modi has put anend to that nonsense. His bear hug of

Obama is a reflection of the realitythat only a minority in India havebeen able to time and again articu-late: There are no real substantive is-sues dividing the two countries. Forsure, there are differences but they areon tactics. And it is this realizationthat made Modi and Obama take theplunge this week and sort out issuesranging from the nuclear deal to de-fence cooperation.

The nuclear deal had been heldup for six years amid concerns overthe liability for any nuclear accident.With Obama using his executivepowers to roll back the condition thatUS authorities be allowed to moni-tor use of nuclear material purchasedby India from third-party countries,and the US agreeing to India’s pro-posal to build a risk-management in-surance pool of 1,500 crore rupees(roughly $24 million) to providecover to suppliers who shunned thecivil nuclear agreement because itmade them liable to pay compen-sation in the event of a nuclear ac-cident, a great leap forward hasbeen made. Bilateral defence coop-eration has also been energized withthe two states agreeing to extend theDefence Cooperation Agreementand identifying four projects underthe Defence Technology Trade Ini-tiative (DTTI) for joint productionand development and exploring co-operation for jet engines and air-craft carrier systems.

There is an attempt now to makethe DTTI more operational so that itbecomes result-oriented. So far, since

Shadows shroud Pakistan

IT is no more a secret that TTP isacting as foot soldiers of RAW.Ajit Kumar Doval, the National

Security Advisor of the Prime Minis-ter of India latest talk in a seminar di-lating his thought how to buy the socalled Taliban’s by paying more thanothers specially Government of Pa-kistan has exposed the penetration ofRAW in Pakistan. It is a well knownfact RAW has support of NDS andalso Mossad. Kao , the first head ofRAW had admitted in his memoiresthat first visit on taking over as RAWHead was to Mossad in 1968 and dis-cuss cooperation between the twoagencies against common enemy, Pa-kistan. The result, RAWs had a spec-tacular success in erstwhile East Pa-kistan in a short period of three years.The present Geo Political scenario ismuch more complex and threateningfor Pakistan. Reportedly Cold Startdoctrine is revived, beside Logisticbuild up, a fast pace reorganizing andraising is in progress of rapid mov-ing battle formations. Forth genera-tion self propelled guns placed onwheels for quick deployment is inhand .Reportedly 500 wheel based155 SP guns are being acquired fromSerbia and another over a 1000 to belocally built/assembled.

US withdrawal from Afghanistanis going to be complete by the end of2015. USA desires a greater role forIndia in post withdrawal scenario.Even UN Secretary Gen recently ex-pressed greater role for India in Af-ghanistan, as part of larger Globalagenda of USA and the West. Theylike India to emerge as a power and aplank of their Foreign policy to con-tain China. Let us examine the narra-tive of US policy in the context ofGlobal scenario. From US strategicview on one side India be helped toemerge as regional power in the largercontext to contain China and its grow-ing interest out side China , to create anew economic block of Asian andsouth Asian countries, make like

Shanghai block as pivot. Mini-mize Chinese influence in postUS withdrawal in Afghanistan.A proactive India will just do that.

Similarly Russia must bechecked reasserting it influencein Afghanistan and at the same

time Pakistan must not be allowed todrift towards Russia and a weak gov-ernment serves that purpose. Furthereconomically dependent Pakistan iseasily controllable through IMF andWorld Bank and at the same time itsrulers are vulnerable with their per-sonal assets in USA and the West. Thesecond dimension is India. Beside itsdesire to be a regional power, Indiawants to be a power beyond region.US tilt toward India has offered her agolden opportunity to achieve globalambitions, to dither Pakistan, removethe stumbling block in its way and cor-rect the mistake of partition. TodayDoval is true successor of Kao. Thegame plan is the same, chess board isthe same and the target is the same.Pakistan’s internal political situationis in a shambles. In the pursuit ofpower and money our politicians byand large are blind to emerging dan-gers. There are few who understandthe complexities of the Geo Politics.

India in the last ten years suc-ceeded to up the spectre of terrorismto its optimum limits and Peshawarschool massacre is the recent venturein which RAW involvement is proved.Indian politicians like Ramsawamiopenly declare Muslims has no spacein India .Muslims in India and Paki-stan be divided on sect, ethnic andnationalist lines. Pit civil against mili-tary, weaken the Judiciary and createsocial disorder. To some extent theyare successful. US presidents visit hascome about at a most appropriate time.They will exploit US desire to strate-gically engage India .They will like toisolate Pakistan diplomatically as wasdone by Indra Ghandi in1970s.Fortunately Pak Army’s resolve, success in Swat, North Waziristan ,and actions elsewhere initiated hasgreatly upset their plans. Surprisinglythere is a ray of hope, as the nationhas woken up from slumber, speciallythe new generation is united and hasforced the Government to prioritise thethreat and tackle internal threat of ter-

rorism first, and examine its DefencePolicy especially when Indian strate-gic planning is becoming evident, spe-cially the new strategic postulation byRaja Raman and some of the promi-nent planners to call the bluff onPakistan’s nuclear capability. Quicksurgical intervention, capture strate-gic area, without crossing the redline of nuclear response and forcePakistan to negotiate peace on theirterms, a la 1971 situation. For thatPakistan Diplomatic Isolation AndInternal Chaos is necessary.

For Pakistan, there is a strong needto revisit all its Foreign, Defence, In-ternal and Economic polices. The gov-ernance is improved and that mean amulti dimensional approach is re-quired. Similarly no concrete actionis visible on action plan except con-tinued army operations against terror-ists. Image building internationallywill not come about unless roots ofterrorism are eliminated. It will requirepolitical resolve. The interest of thecountry must come first. Economicallystrong, politically stable, free fromspectre of terrorism, strong civil bu-reaucracy free from political med-dling, merit supremacy along withelectoral reforms will usher countryin a direction which will increase rel-evance automatically internationally.

The third dimension is relationwith Afghanistan. Both the countryand people have bonds dating back toover a thousand years. This relation-ship is imbedded in the lives of ourpeople even when we are not onfriendly terms. Indian penetrationthrough RAW has its negative impactin the form of increased terrorism. Thiscan be offset with deft handling ofAfghanistan’s concerns. Pakistan’sinvolvement in their internal politicalaffairs must cease. Pakistan must notbe involved in power struggle if iterupt, in post US period. Pakistan in-volvement with Afghan Talban hasoutlived its utility. Pakistan should re-main neutral. To the concentration ofIndia, new Government under AshrafGhani has already set the ball rolling,follow up actions on both side hasimproved the possibility to all embrac-ing friendship on the basis of mutualbenefits for both the countries. Not-withstanding that, there are still ele-

Harsh V Pant

ments on both side who to grind theirown axe will not hesitate spoil allthis, beside India has many friendsin Afghanistan, including USA whosee a role for India in Afghanistan aspart of their global strategy. Pakistanmust be on the watch.

The geo strategic scenario in theregion is changing fast and also glo-bally. A new cold war is in the off-ing. Pakistan remains an importantstrategic bridge between South Asia,in the west CIS and extending up toRussia, and Middle east and beyond.Its strong nuclear capability, emerg-ing youth and strong committedarmy is an encouraging assurance forthe future of Pakistan. To meet thesemultiple threats there is no choice butto improve internal governance,which unfortunately is not likely inthe confines of present system ofGovernment. It must be reformed buthow. It needs to be pondered at ev-ery forum. The stakes are very highand time is slipping. Transformationis also required to bring the nationin the ambit of discipline. Lack ofdiscipline is visible in every walk oflife. For that we go back to our Is-lamic values, and follow HazratUmar (RA) approach, force of lawmust be brought down heavily onevery one without distinction. Manya western scholars have pointed out,justice and observance of law theyhave learnt from Islam otherwisethey were a barbarian society.

And let us accept our generationhas messed up the things and timehas come to amend, that, the youngergeneration is not even aware of thecircumstances which led to creationof Pakistan. They are not aware ofthe Hindu mentality. Between 1917and 1946 every effort was made tostay together. Hindu politicians werenot prepared to give any space toMuslims in post British India. For-tunately Prime Minister Modi andRSS doing the job and Pakistaniyouth are getting aware of Hindumentality. Muslims in India, to livein India, has to Indianise themselvesand must shed their Muslim identity:that is the manifesto of BJP.—The author, a retired Brigadier,is anti-terrorism expert anddecorated war veteran.

its institutionalisation in 2012, nomajor projects have emerged. Andnow certain projects have beenclearly outlined on which work willbegin. This is a major step forwardand also very ambitious with the talkof working groups on aircraft car-rier and jet engine technologies.

Where the two leaders are nowlooking at the US-India relationshipthrough the prism of the strategicchanges in the larger Asia-Pacificand Indian Ocean region, what hasbeen striking is how marginal Pa-kistan has become in the relation-ship. The P-word was not mentionedeven once in the two leaders’ jointpress conference. In their joint state-ment they reiterated their call for Pa-kistan to bring the perpetrators of theNovember 2008 terrorist attack inMumbai to justice even as they re-affirmed the need for joint and con-certed efforts to disrupt entities suchas Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Jaish-e-Mohammad, D Company and theHaqqani Network. There is much tolook forward to as India-US relationsmove to another level now. A confi-dent new India is shedding the diffi-dence of the past in its dealings withAmerica. And that can only be agood thing for the two nations. Thewriter teaches in the Defence Stud-ies Department at King’s CollegeLondon. He is also an adjunct fel-low with the Wadhwani Chair inUS-India Policy Studies at the Cen-tre for Strategic and InternationalStudies, Washington.— Courtesy: The Japan Times

Old is still gold

IN the complex where I happen to stay, we had for manyyears the same security service,

made up of old watchmen. They’dbeen with us for years, had got usedto the vagaries of the residents,their temper tantrums, their kindmoments, had watched the chil-dren grow up, seen many of thepeople move from scooters to carsand from cars to better cars, theyknew the dogs in the complex andthe dogs knew them and waggedtheir tails and even pranced aboutwhen these watchmen came by.

But slowly the residents in mycomplex started noticing that thesesame men who had entered service

when they were young and sprightly,were not so anymore. Sometimeswhen they forgot to dye their hair, andpulled off their caps, it was noticedthey had a head of grey. Very oftenwhen my neighbours came back froma foreign trip and expected the poorwatchmen to carry their luggage upthe stairs, they found the same menhuffing and panting.

And so they started saying:“Change the watchmen!” “They can’trun!” “They can hardly walk!” “If arobber comes, they’ll be useless!”One fine day, after such a meetingthat the residents had gathered to-gether for, these watchmen foundthey would have to leave in a month.I saw their faces and found myselflooking the other way when I passedthe gate. It seemed even the dogs inthe colony knew their friends wouldsoon be leaving and for quite awhile,

very often in the middle of the nightI heard them howling, as if wishingtheir old friends goodbye.

And the new men came. Theycame in their smart uniforms, their newpeak caps, and freshly ironed ties!They walked up and down and wavedtheir sticks, and the dogs barked atthem, barked after them, and barkedthrough the day and through the nightat these new recruits. One fellow wasfound fast asleep at night while he wassupposed to guard the gate, anotherwatched with vacant stare whilethieves stole a stepladder belonging toa nursing home and most found theycouldn’t identify who resided in thecomplex and who didn’t.

“Where are the old watchmen?”asked one resident who for manyyears had shamelessly called them oldand ancient. “Get them back!” saidanother. “Where are they?” I asked. I

found them one day as I drove pastthe housing complexes down theroad, I stopped the car and got out,“You found a job?” I asked.

“At double the salary sir!” “Wenever knew that our experience wasvaluable!” “The people love ushere!” I drove away happy and sad.Sad for ourselves that in our hasteto replace old people we had got ridof experienced hands and happy forthem that in their being forced toventure out they had found that theywere useful and needed and had gota raise and benefits beyond theirwildest dreams. I remembered theirfears and apprehensions, and knewthat if they hadn’t been thrown outthey would never have known theold saying, that ‘old is gold’. Some-times we old need to be thrown outto realize we’re still gold..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

Tariq KhalilEmail:tariqkhalil21@gmail.com

were, for example, killed during themaking of the original Ben Hur incustomary, this was justified on thegrounds of artistic merit.

But the outcry that greetedHeaven’s Gate indicated this excusewould no longer suffice in a societyincreasingly opposed to animal mal-treatment. It also ensured therewould be international attentionfairly or not when Sir Peter Jacksonwas accused of stumbling into thesame territory during the filming ofthe hobbit. The reaction of Sir Peterto claims by animal wranglers thatup to 27 animals died during theshooting of the trilogy spoke vol-umes of his awareness of, and sen-sitivity to, the new environment.This was not even a case where itwas alleged that animals had suf-fered during filming, rather it wasclaimed they had been kept at a farmfilled with bluffs, sink holds andother death traps.

Duck-shooting, for example isalready in the sights of activists,so too, are rodeos and grey houndracing. Such is the acceleratingpace of change in popular attitudesto animal welfare that it is reason-able to ask what others practicesmay not survive the next decades.Let’s hope future movie produc-tions, where animal are used, itwill be compulsory (through regu-lation) to employ animal welfareinspectors to make sure this neverbecome an issue again.—Via email

Well doneSSP, Hyderabad

ASFANDBHUTTO BHUTTO

We, the inhabitants of Hyderabadcity, particularly the people ofQasimabad, are very grateful to theMr. Irfan Baloch (Senior superin-tendent of police), who with hisdedicated and persistent efforts, hascontrolled the rampant crimes suchas kidnapping for ransom, extor-tion, gambling, drug-peddling,mugging, targeted killing etc. Priorto the posting of Irfan Baluch asSSP, the law and order situation wasreally precarious and there was ut-most unrest and chaos in the city,but with the taking over the chargeof the office of SSP by Irfan Baloch,visible control on crimes has beenwitnessed and the people are heav-ing a sigh of relief..

His dedication to work, dili-gence and sagacity in resolving theintricate problems really are the keyfactors that contribute in the perfor-mance of Police under him. Earlier,the criminals were roaming freelyunder the special patronage of feu-dal lords and some black sheep inthe government and the police force,it is he (Irfan Baloch) who has coun-tered their influence and perishedtheir malicious agendas. Now, wethe indigenous of Hyderabad city,can hang out with our friends andfamilies safely and peacefully with-out any fear of being robbed. Wehope such initiatives for launchingcrack-downs against the perpetratorswill be lasted till the elimination oflast criminal in the region.—Hyderabad

Internet foreducationIFTIKHAR GUL

My kids study at a local private sec-tor school. Recently the school hasintroduced computers in classroomsfor all grades. While I appreciate thestep taken towards improving learn-ing experience, it also reminds meof my times in school. But disturb-ing was the sudden realization thatmajority of schools, both private andstate-run, are still far behind. Thesteep difference in learning experi-ence and quality of education trans-lates into unequal distribution of op-portunities to children.

Education continues to remainan underserved national responsibil-ity of Pakistan. Some 7 million to10.5 million children are out ofschool in Pakistan. Majority of thoseattending school are not learning ina satisfactory manner. What is most

discomforting is the fact that despiteavailability of technological serviceslike broadband internet, the true po-tential for learning and education isnot being tapped.

It was good to see a nationalcompany like PTCL addressing theeducational emergency facing Paki-stan by coming up with an e-learn-ing programme to provide bettereducational opportunities to stu-dents. Other companies in the fieldshould also follow suit by offeringtailored e-learning solutions. I seekids on internet every so often and Iwish to see them use such facilitiesto receive quality education.—Rawalpindi

Peace neededin Badin

JABBAR HABIBANI

Badin, a coastal district of Sindh,has remained a peaceful place ofcountry through decades. Unfortu-nately like whole country, this partof sindh is being thrown in lawless-ness for political interests. This dis-trict has remained stronghold ofPPP and most of the times, all con-stituencies belong to this party. Atpresent all elected MNAs andMPAs are from PPP. It is very sadto say that due to internal rifts ofPPP’s leadership they have imposedinefficient and characterless offic-ers on public; government officesare of no use for public, there is nocontrol on district officers to comein their offices on time and addressthe public issues.

Since the beginning of NewYear, crime has spread like virus inwhole district. Two murders, manyrobberies from shops and homes,snatching of valuables on roads,motorbikes from towns and few carlifting incidents are the main ex-amples. It is a humble appeal fromthe people of Badin to Prime Min-ister, Chief Minister Sindh, IGSindh and elected representatives ofdistrict to restore peace in districtand bring vibrant and honest offic-ers to curb crime and bring pros-perity in area.—Badin Sindh

Ch Sarwar’sresignation

JAVAID BASHIR

Ch. Sarwar was requested to comefrom United Kingdom to serve asGovernor of the largest Provunceof the country. He has an illustri-ous career in Britain’s politics. Heis an honest, bold and straight for-ward man. He is not afraid of speak-ing his mind. He was misfit withthe incumbent rulers, who have dif-ferent approach to politics than Mr.Sarwar’s style.

He believes in no nonsense poli-tics and is a maverick politician. Hecould not fit in with Pak politics. Hecould not act like a henchman or aYes-man. The rumours of his resig-nation were circulating since lastyear, but now he has finally tenderedthe resignation. Conflicting reportshave been circulated about his res-ignation. One report says, he volun-tarily resigned, while the other saysthat he was forced to resign. It is anon issue, who did what. The resultwould remain the same.

Ch. Sarwar has a lucrative busi-ness in U.K. and would perhaps goback to attend his business there.Governor Sindh, also a person withgood qualities of head and heart,should follow the suit, before it be-comes too late. Good luck to him.—Via email

NAIROBI—In recent years, the West hasconjured up fantastic theories like “neo-colonialism”, “China is exploiting Africa’sresources,” etc., effectively throwing mudat China over its win-win cooperation withAfrica.

These theories, however, have increas-ingly become unpopular as China and Af-rica have constantly expanded cooperationin terms of scope and content over theyears to focus on building up Africa’s abil-ity to sustain its own development and cre-ating a win-win scenario.

At the just concluded African Unionsummit in the Ethiopian capital, theworld witnessed the birth of a “centurydocument” detailing China-Africa co-operation on infrastructure projectsacross the African continent. Spanningnearly half a century and covering theentire African continent, this memoran-dum of understanding (MOU) has el-evated China’s win-win relationshipwith Africa to a new height.

While African leaders embraced theblueprint designed to improve Africa’s in-frastructure, which has long been stiflingeconomic growth, some Western mediawere obviously not happy about it. Float-ing terms like “concrete diplomacy”, “neo-colonialism”, etc, they opted to be a jeal-

HUGO DIXON

MATTEO Renzi’s position has beenstrengthened by Italy’s presidentialelection. The prime minister per-

suaded the electoral college, made up mainlyof parliamentarians, to choose SergioMattarella – against the wishes of SilvioBerlusconi, the media magnate, former primeminister and up to now Renzi’s quasi-part-ner.

The weekend’s success probably allowsRenzi to accelerate reforms of the economy,the political system and the judiciary. Hemustn’t waste the chance, as Italy is livingon borrowed time. Since seizing power lastyear, Renzi, leader of the centre-left Demo-crats, has been relying on an uneasy pact withBerlusconi, the much-diminished leader of thecentre-right Forza Italia. The two are not in aformal coalition, but Berlusconi has supportedRenzi on many key issues.

The Italian prime minister has needed hisrival’s support partly because he does not haveenough votes in the Senate, the country’s up-per house, to push through an essential con-stitutional reform – the removal of theSenate’s power to bring down governments.That change is important because in the cur-rent system it is hard to govern the countrywithout elaborate deals. Renzi also neededBerlusconi’s help because many parliamen-tarians from his own are more left wing thanhe is. The centrist premier could not rely on

Renzi still living on borrowed timethem to support various reforms, especiallythose that aim to liberalise the economy.

The government’s alliance withBerlusconi has infuriated left-wing parliamen-tarians, who view it as a pact with the devil –partly because Berlusconi beat them in threeelections and partly because of his poor eth-ics, including a tax fraud conviction.

Renzi’s nomination of Mattarella as presi-dent, a largely ceremonial post, simulta-neously united his own party and dividedBerlusconi’s. In the process, he reinforced hisauthority.

Although Mattarella is a centre-left poli-tician, he has kudos with the Democrats’ leftwing because he resigned from a governmentin 1990 after it passed legislation favourableto Berlusconi’s media interests. That prin-cipled stand also explains why the media ty-coon didn’t want him.

Berlusconi seems to have hoped Renziwould fail to secure Mattarella’s election be-cause enough dissident Democrats wouldobject in Saturday’s secret ballot. In the end,however, the Democrats united. Even worsefor the ageing tycoon, many of his own par-liamentarians supported Mattarella. They arefrustrated because Berlusconi appears to bemore interested in sorting out his own legaland business problems than in providing adynamic vision which could bring the cen-tre-right back into power.

There is one potential blemish on Renzi’svictory. He still needs Berlusconi to push

through legislation, especially to finalise theSenate reform. If the pact between the twomen is irreparably damaged, the premier couldyet rue his Machiavellian manoeuvres. ButRenzi still appears to have Berlusconi over abarrel. The prime minister can both damagehis quasi-ally’s media interests and help himwith his legal problems. The older man alsoseems in thrall to the premier, seeing him ashis political heir – a charismatic figure whowill do whatever it takes to secure power.

So how will Renzi use his strengthenedauthority? The government promises to ac-celerate reform with new measures to improvethe country’s weak educational system andinefficient civil service. It also says it willfocus more on implementing existing reformsand will complete the constitutional measures.Mattarella’s election should help Renzi im-prove the civil justice system. Currently, longdrawn out court processes deter investment.As a former judge, the new president may beable to coax his erstwhile colleagues intodropping some of their objections to the pro-posed changes.

Renzi’s track record on reform has beenmixed. In his first months as premier, he wascriticised for announcing plans but doing littleto implement them. He ignored many recom-mendations of a review on how to rein in pub-lic spending, because they might give himpolitical problems. Renzi also gave low-in-come voters a cash giveaway, a move thatlooked like a thinly disguised bribe. And his

eye-catching reform of the labour market wasdiluted: it didn’t apply to either existing con-tracts or the public sector.

After years of stagnation and recession,Italy’s GDP should increase again this year.But that won’t owe much to the government’sown efforts. The European Central Bank’squantitative easing programme, which willinvolve purchasing huge amounts of govern-ment bonds, has already boosted Italian ex-port potential by driving down the value ofthe euro and cutting the state’s interest bill onits vast debt.

The plunge in the oil price has also been aboon for the Italian economy. But this boost willbe only temporary. It is vital that Renzi uses thebreathing space to press on with reform to ad-dress Italy’s three big economic ills: high un-employment, virtually no growth and govern-ment debt that is nearly 140 percent of GDP.

With the ECB spraying so much li-quidity into the market, bond investors arecurrently not concerned about any of this.But there are risks on the horizon: in theshort run, the possibility that Greece willblow up, which might raise doubts aboutItaly; and longer term, the possibility thatthe rest of the euro zone recovers and in-terest rates rise while Italy is stuck with astagnant economy, which could make itsdebt-load unsustainable. Renzi’s big vic-tory gives him a big opportunity. He mustnot waste it.

Courtesy: By Reuters

The West’s baloney aboutChina-Africa cooperation

ousy kind who loathed being sidelined andconspired to drive a wedge between twopartners who do not fear to work up a sweatfor better future.

“When the West labels Chinese aidand infrastructural projects in Africa asneocolonial, it is a question of sourgrapes,” said Professor MuneneMacharia, lecturer of international re-lations with Kenya-based United StatesInternational University.

The notoriety of the West’s coloniza-tion in Africa, which lasted for hundredsof years dating back to the 15th century,is well-known to the world. Even today,Western powers, in particular those inwestern Europe separated from Africaonly by the Mediterranean, cannot breakout of a mentality to see Africa as their“backyard”. Long gone is the history ofenslavement in Africa. But the ills of one-sided economic structure and backwardinfrastructure, left behind by Westerncolonizers, are not easily remedied. To-day, Africa remains the only continentthat has not realized industrialization. Itsweak status in the global economy hadroots in the colonial past.

Nowadays, natural resources likeoil, gas and minerals in many Africancountries are in fact controlled by West-

ern powers, who have taken advantageof their dominant role in the global eco-nomic and trade order. On the otherhand, Africa has gained little as it haslong been treated by the West as a ma-terial supplier and market to dump in-dustrial products.

“The West is not happy that Chinais assisting Africa to overcome one ofits biggest challenges that is faces to-day,” said Macharia. “The West hasbeen in Africa for a long time but hasnever made development of Africa’s in-frastructure as a priority.” “The West-ern nations only develop infrastructurein Africa that helped to ship Africa’sresources to the West,” said Dr.Gerishon Ikiara, lecturer of interna-tional economics with University ofNairobi, and ex-Permanent Secretarywith Kenya’s Ministry of Transport andCommunications.

The West’s defamation will noteclipse China’s honesty and sinceritywith African brothers. In a vivid de-scription of the vision of cooperationwith Africa, Chinese President XiJinping said that the phoenix will comeif the nest is built and that teaching oneto fish is better than giving him afish..—Xinhua

ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA—PresidentSalva Kiir of South Sudan and the rebelcommander Riek Machar signed anothercease-fire agreement on Monday, edgingthem closer to a final deal to end a 15-month conflict that has ravaged the newcountry, mediators said. African diplo-matic sources said the agreement, whichwas not immediately made public, sets outhow the two leaders would share poweronce they formed an interim government.It proposes that Mr. Kiir would remainpresident while Mr. Machar would becomevice president, the sources said.

The warring sides also agreed to abideby a cease-fire deal that was signed in Janu-ary 2013, but which has been frequentlyviolated. The rebels, however, said many

Rebels agree to cease-firein South Sudan

more details need to be agreed upon beforethe deal could be labeled a “power shar-ing” agreement. After signing the deal, Mr.Machar said the two sides would hold morediscussions on the functions of the provi-sional government. Women and their chil-dren walking near a truck carrying govern-ment troops in the Tabit village in the northDarfur region of Sudan. The United Nationsestimates that the conflict in the region haskilled about 300,000 people and displacedtwo million.Sudan and Rebels in DarfurRegion Begin Peace TalksNOV. 23, 2014

Few other details were revealed afterfrantic late-night talks. Regional diplomatshad warned the warring sides that failureto come up with a new accord could leadto sanctions. The conflict in South Sudan,

Africa’s newest nation and one of its poor-est, erupted in December 2013 and hasrumbled on since then despite several com-mitments by both sides to halt the violence.More than 10,000 people have been killed,1.5 million people have been driven fromtheir homes, and many in the oil-produc-ing nation of about 11 million people arestruggling to find enough food to eat.

Seyoum Mesfin, the chief mediator,said the two leaders had agreed to resumetalks on Feb. 20. The two sides must havea transitional government in place by July,when Mr. Kiir’s presidential term runs out.Human rights groups have said both fac-tions are responsible for ethnic killings andother abuses, driving the nation to the brinkof famine.—NT

Egypt beefs up security after Sinai terrorist attacks .

PHILIP STEPHENS

EVEN as Britain toys with the idea of loosening its ties toEurope, British politics looks set to become, well, moreEuropean. The proud British boast has long been that, what-

ever else might be said about the Sceptered Isle, it was a beaconof political stability. Others were forever held hostage to the in-certitude and grubby dealmaking of coalitions; Britain’s two-party system guaranteed decisive single-party rule.

No longer. The coming general election is shaping up as acontest not so much about who will win, but about which of themain contenders will lose less badly. Last September’s indepen-dence referendum left Scotland’s place in the four-nation unionof the United Kingdom far from certain. Westminister politi-cians often joke about Belgium’s enduring struggle to hold itselftogether. The grins now look a little wan.

When David Cameron formed his Conservative-led coali-tion with Nick Clegg’s Liberal Democrats in 2010, received opin-ion said that this was an interim arrangement. It was, after all,the first such peacetime deal since the 1930s. Business as usualwould resume in 2015. The latest polls show the Conservativesand Labour neck and neck. More significantly, both are strug-gling to secure much above 30 per cent. For the old duopoly tofunction as intended, one needs to be a closer to 40 per cent.

The safest pre-election bet is that the surge in support forsmaller parties — from the UK Independence party on the anti-immigrant right to the nationalists in Scotland and the Greens onthe anarchic left — will result in another hung parliament.Whether it is Cameron or Labour’s Ed Miliband, the next primeminister is likely to lead an unstable government. The electionof 2015 may be followed by that of 2016.

It is tempting to blame the voters’ temporising on theparty leaders. Cameron looks the prime ministerial part, buthe has always been light on convictions. Once a centristTory moderniser, he now chases Ukip rightward.

Miliband’s platform mimics that of Francois Hollande,the French president, in 2012. It assumes (wrongly) that thefinancial crash broke the capitalist mould. The Brits are small“c” conservatives. Much as they recoil from the slash-and-burn approach to the state of Cameron’s newly-ideologicalTories, they have limited enthusiasm for socialism in onecountry.

So the rising support for smaller parties is scarcely sur-prising. Yet Cameron and Miliband shoulder only half theblame. The cyclical happenstances of falling living standardsand a particularly weak generation of leaders has mergedwith deeper secular trends.

The voters’ tribal loyalties — white collars voted Tory,blue collars backed Labour — have been fraying for de-cades. Cameron’s party once boasted 2 million members.Membership is now closer to 100,000 with an average ageof something more than 65. The Conservatives have all butdisappeared in northern England’s great cities. Outside Lon-don, Labour is barely represented in the prosperous south.The march of the Scottish National party has left the Torieswith only one Westminster MP in Scotland. Now the na-tionalists are storming the citadels of the Scottish Labourparty.

It is possible that, come polling day, voters will swingmore decisively in favour of one of the two main parties.Miliband looks the more vulnerable. But a small majorityfor either party would scarcely alter the basic picture.

The forces behind the fractures and fragmentation ofBritish politics reach beyond disenchantment with austerityor understandable lack of faith in today’s leaders. The bondsof the union have weakened, a generation of voters has grownup without any particular party allegiance, and distrust ofelites has turned two-party into continental style five-partypolitics. Before Britain decides it might be a good idea towave goodbye to the EU, it would do well to learn how theEuropeans handle it.

Courtesy: Financial Times

DR AHMED MOKHTAR

THE beginning of the year 2015, apparently, doesn’t haveany signs of contentment or quiet days ahead. Indeed, January was a sad month for the world, beginning with the hor-

rific attack on Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris on January 7.A few days later, the Arab world lost King Abdullah bin

Abdulaziz Al Saud, who was one of its wise leaders. The griefcontinues with the volatile situation in many Arab lands, includ-ing Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Libya and Egypt. The latter witnessedviolent events that claimed the lives of tens of people on thefourth anniversary of the 25th of January Revolution.

Despite the sad beginning, can the year 2015 carry with it incoming days any signs of possibility that Arab countries mightexperience calmness in all places that are currently filled withinstabilities? The answer to such a question cannot rely solelyon a needed victory by the international alliance against militantorganisations that exist in many Arab countries and want to stretchto European states as well, but we need to look closely as well atthe political and economic scene that shook the region, espe-cially after the fall of oil prices that lost more than 50 per cent ofits value, in addition to many hard challenges facing the Arabworld amid inability to reach a true reconciliation.

From a security perspective, the ongoing war with militantorganisations in the region doesn’t appear to be ending anytimesoon, especially with Yemen’s internal conflicts over power, andDaesh’s announcement that their militants will attackneighbouring countries from Libya to achieve their dream ofestablishing a ‘Caliphate’.

Moreover, the way major powers of the world are treatingthe dangers of terrorism in Syria and Libya shows that they arenot yet convinced their countries might soon get caught in thecrossfire or be affected in any way by it to the extent that re-quires a decisive action to eradicate these militant organisations,or they have undeclared interests in the continuation of conflictsin the Arab world. That’s why the Gulf Cooperation CouncilStates and Egypt will take over the biggest share of responsibil-ity in fighting the risks of these militant organisations and pre-vent them from expanding to the rest of the countries in the re-gion.

There is no doubt that such a responsibility will reflect onplans for economic and social development in the Arab coun-tries. As for the political situation, the effort spent by the King-dom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait toreach reconciliation between Cairo and Doha is crucial to guar-antee a united Arab nation in the face of many dangers.

All the mentioned problems and dangers require a seriousinitiative from the various Arab organisations like the ArabLeague or the Gulf Cooperation Council, and to place the matteras a high priority during this year’s agenda, starting from theArab Summit next month.

The current year, despite its sad beginning, might be consid-ered a decisive year regarding the future of the Arab region.Whether it will be an evidence of the ability of the Arab states tounite visions and actions against all dangers, or it will be a newbeginning to a period of draining efforts and wealth from theArabs and leave the region as an arena for conflicts and insta-bilities?

Most countries around the world create ?scenarios for whatthe global map would look like in a period extending to 50 years,but the Arab countries still lack that. So, will this year be thebeginning of future planning for the Arab world?

Courtesy: Khaleej Times

Tough times forArab world

Britain bids adieu tostable politics

TOKYO—Japanese PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe said onMonday he wanted to debatethe possibility of Japan’s mili-tary rescuing Japanese citizensabroad, a day after IslamicState militants said they hadbeheaded a Japanese journalist.

The militants said on Sun-day they had beheaded KenjiGoto, a veteran war reporter,after international efforts tosecure his release through aprisoner swap failed. Theykilled another Japanese hos-tage, Haruna Yukawa, a weekbefore. Abe reiterated his de-nunciation of the militants andsaid Japan was firmly commit-ted to fulfilling its responsibil-ity as a member of the globalcommunity in fighting terror-ism and that it needed to be ableto protect its citizens.

“Preserving the safety ofJapanese nationals is the re-sponsibility of the govern-ment, and I am the personwho holds the most responsi-bility,” Abe told a parliamen-tary committee, adding thathe wanted to discuss a frame-work for rescuing Japanese indanger. In a show of defianceon Sunday, Abe vowed toboost Japan’s humanitarianaid to the Middle East. Thehardline Islamist group,which controls large parts ofSyria and Iraq, released avideo purporting to show thebeheading of Goto, 47, whowas captured in late October.

The video was released aweek after footage was is-sued appearing to show thebeheaded body of Yukawa,who the militants seized inAugust after he went to Syriato launch a security com-pany.

The killings are fanningcalls for Japan’s long-con-strained military to be al-lowed to conduct overseasrescue missions as part ofAbe’s push for a more mus-cular security posture.

Abe told a parliamentarypanel that Japan, whose mili-tary has long been constrainedby the post-World War Twopacifist constitution, could nottake part in U.S.-led air strikeson Islamic State, nor would itprovide logistical support.Scope for the military to mount

Working with globalcommunity only way to

fight terrorism: Aberescue missions is limited bylaw but the government alreadyplans to submit revisions toparliament to ease restrictions.

Even some advocates ofchanges to make rescues pos-sible, however, say Japan’smilitary faces difficulty in ac-quiring the capacity to conductsuch missions. Critics saysending troops overseas wouldjust increase the risk. An inter-nal briefing paper for top gov-ernment officials, seen byReuters last week, said caseslike Islamic State crisis did notmeet proposed conditions forJapan to send troops to join al-lies in combat.

It dodged the question ofwhether planned legal changeswould allow rescue missions insuch cases, but a Japanese de-fense official said it would not.Abe’s government had put highpriority on saving Goto, whowas captured when he went toSyria to try to seek Yukawa’srelease.

An Islamic State videowas released on Jan. 20 ap-pearing to show both Japanesemen and threatening to killthem unless the group received$200 million in ransom. ChiefCabinet Secretary YoshihideSuga, speaking to reporters onMonday, shrugged off specu-lation that Japan was ready topay a ransom, adding that thegovernment had no intentionof negotiating with the mili-tants. Goto’s wife, Rinko, whohad appealed for his release,said she and the rest of thefamily were devastated.

“I remain extremelyproud of my husband, whoreported the plight of peoplein conflict areas like Iraq,Somalia and Syria,” she saidin a statement posted on theRory Peck Trust, a London-based organization support-ing freelance journalists.

“It was his passion to high-light the effects on ordinarypeople, especially through theeyes of children, and to informthe rest of us of the tragediesof war.” An opinion poll byKyodo news agency on Jan. 25,just after Yukawa was killed,found 61 percent of respon-dents supportive of thegovernment’s response.-—Reuters

CAIRO—An Egyptian court onMonday confirmed death sen-tences against 183 men con-victed of killing 13 policemenin a town near Cairo in August2013.

In December the court hadissued its preliminary verdictagainst 188 defendants in amass trial, of which two wereacquitted on Monday whileone, a minor, was sentenced to10 years in prison.

Charges against the re-maining two were dropped af-ter the court discovered thatthey were dead. Monday’s ver-dict came after the initial sen-tences were sent to the grandmufti, the government’s offi-cial interpreter of Islamic law,for ratification. The accused,of whom 143 are behind bars,

Egypt confirms deathsentences for 183 men

over police killingswere found guilty of takingpart in an August 14, 2013 at-tack on a police station inKerdassa, a village on the out-skirts of Cairo, in which 13 po-licemen were killed.

The attack took place onthe same day security forcesviolently dismantled twomassive protest camps sup-porting ousted presidentMohamed Morsi in Cairo,killing hundreds of protest-ers in clashes. Since the armydeposed Morsi on July 3,2103, at least 1,400 peoplehave been killed in a policecrackdown on protests. Hun-dreds were sentenced todeath in swift mass trialswhich the United Nationssays were “unprecedented inrecent history”.—AFP

available on September 6 2013, and theremainder will be evenly phased thereaf-ter subject to quarterly reviews. The IMFhad provided almost $3.2 billion to Paki-stan under existing EFF arrangement butthis money was largely used for payingback the previous loans obtained by Pa-kistan during the tenure of PPP govern-ment.

A well placed source at Finance Min-istry, Monday, told Pakistan Observer thatFinance Ministry Senator MohammadIshaq Dar had arrived in Dubai to headPakistan team at the Pak-IMF talks for therelease of next tranche of $ 550 million. Ateam of officials from Ministry of Finance,Water and Power and Petroleum hadreached Dubai ahead of Finance Ministerfor necessary preparations and undertak-

ing preliminaries.The source added that initial talks at

the technical level have already been heldwhile the policy level talks would continuefor the next three days. The head of IMFReview Mission, Jaffrey Frank and Fi-nance Minister, Ishaq Dar would hold ajoint press conference after conclusion ofthe talks giving details about proceedingsof the parleys. Dar had earlier stated thatPakistan had met the criteria set by the IMFfor the 6th tranche.

The source said that macroeconomicimbalances and longstanding structural im-pediments to growth had prevented full re-alization of Pakistan’s potential. “There-fore problems in the energy sector, secu-rity concerns, and a difficult investmentclimate have combined with adverse

shocks to undermine economic perfor-mance in the past decade” the source addedsaying that as a result, GDP growth hadonly averaged 3 percent over the past fewyears, well below what was needed to pro-vide jobs for the rising labour force and toreduce poverty.

Moreover, domestic deficit financingcrowded out private sector borrowing andcontributed to inflation. Private sectorcredit became negative in real terms, whilemonetary aggregates continue to be drivenmainly by the government’s financingneeds. “The key objectives of the authori-ties’ program are to address short-termvulnerabilities and boost inclusive growththrough macroeconomic stabilization andstructural reforms over the course of theprogram” the source added.

Talks with IMF in DubaiFrom Page 1

the tell-tale gesture ofbullishness in the coming ses-sions during the week.

The volume leader of theday was Jahangir Siddiqi &Company with a trading of over28 million shares while Paki-stan Bulk Terminal and K-Electric were second and thirdvolume leaders with 22 and 20million shares respectively.

KSE-100From Page 1

church and saw the main doorbroken down. The police con-trol room was immediatelyinformed after which a policeteam led by Inspector VirendraJain, SHO of the Vasant Kunjpolice station, rushed to thespot.

Parish priest VincentSalvatore was quoted byNDTV as saying it was a clearcase of desecration and nottheft as the materials stolenwere mostly used for prayer.

Others spokespersons forthe church urged the police notto see it as a mere case of bur-glary.

“This is a clear case ofdesecration, and goes muchbeyond theft.. Police shouldn’ttreat it merely as a case oftheft,”said John Dayal,spokesperson for the UnitedChristian Forum for HumanRights.

The church is named afterSaint Alphonsa, the first per-son of Indian origin to becanonised by Vatican in 2008.

In earlier cases, a Catho-lic church was vandalised bytwo unidentified men in westDelhi’s Vikaspuri on January14, weeks after the ministry ofhome affairs ordered DelhiPolice to install CCTV cam-eras inside and around all re-ligious places.—INP

AnotherDelhi

From Page 1

growth, that we’ll be able to have a pro-ductive conversation (with Republicans)and make progress over the course of theyear,” an administration official said onSunday, previewing the budget’s release.

Republicans have said they see roomfor compromise in areas such as tax re-form and infrastructure, but many ofObama’s programs, which were rolled outin the weeks before the budget’s release,have landed with a thud.

“When ... he devotes his time and en-ergy to talking about the new tax-and-spend policies that progressives like andRepublicans universally oppose, he signalsto Congress that he is once again lookingto argue rather than to legislate,” said KeithHennessey, a former economic adviser toRepublican President George W. Bush.

Democrats, however, viewed the bud-get as a statement of their priorities and achance to demonstrate they represent theparty that champions middle-incomeAmericans.

“(It) affords him an opportunity tocontrast his vision of helping the middleclass with the Republican Congress’ ap-

proach of exacerbating inequality, ig-noring the middle class and making theburdens of those who want to enter iteven greater,” said Neera Tanden, presi-dent of the Center for AmericanProgress, which has close ties to theWhite House.

The budget achieves some $1.8 tril-lion in deficit reduction over the next 10years, officials said, through healthcare,tax and immigration reform, but the fore-cast assumes Republican support forObama’s programs, which is unlikely.

Republicans have blocked immigra-tion reform legislation in the House ofRepresentatives, for example, and the bud-get assumes passage of such a bill.

The administration foresees a con-tinuation of the decline in unemploy-ment, forecasting a rate of 5.4 percentin 2015. The rate currently stands at 5.6percent.

It also proposes a new infrastructurebank, a 6 percent increase in research anddevelopment, and a controversial consoli-dation of U.S. government agencies.Obama has previously proposed combin-

ing trade agencies, but the proposalfizzled.

The budget sets aside $14 billion tostrengthen U.S. cybersecurity defensesafter a spate of high-profile hackings.

It calls for a one-time, 14 percent taxon an estimated $2.1 trillion in profits piledup abroad by companies such as GeneralElectric and Microsoft , while imposing a19 percent tax on U.S. companies’ futureforeign earnings.

It proposes a 7 percent rise in U.S. do-mestic and military spending, ending “se-quester” caps with reforms to crop insur-ance programs and closing tax loopholessuch as one on “carried interest.” Thosemoves would help fund investments in in-frastructure and education.

The budget would also reform rulesgoverning trust funds and raise the capitalgains and dividend rates to 28 percent fromthe current top rates of 23.8 percent.

In foreign policy, the budget funds ef-forts to defeat Islamic State militants andsupport NATO and European allies againstRussian aggression, the White Housesaid.—Reuters

Obama proposes $3.99tr budgetFrom Page 1

lar exchanges between the for-eign forces stationed inneighbouring Afghanistan andPakistani military authorities.

Pakistani security agencieshave shared evidence both withAfghanistan and US about thelinkage between the sanctuar-ies of Tehreek-e-Taliban inKunar and Nuristan andPeshawar massacre.

US commander,COAS discuss

From Page 1

“Pakistan cannot deliver Taliban to theAfghan government as they never listento us fully but we can facilitate in a waythat we can advise them as it is Afghan-led process.”

BORDER SECURITY: Sartaj Azizsaid Pakistan has improved border man-agement with Afghanistan and nowboth have also started coordinating se-curity operations on their side of theborder.

Pakistan and Afghanistan have nearly2500 kilometers porous border and militants

always take advantage of the loose control.Both countries had long been complainingthat militants cross the other side of onecountry launch offensive along the border.

“If we launch operation against themilitants on any of our border region, Af-ghanistan will take measures to ensure thatreinforcements should not reach from itsside of the border,” Sartaj Aziz said.

“We have developed multiple mecha-nisms that there will be regular interac-tion on local military level, higher mili-tary level, intelligence level, national se-

curity level and political level,” he wenton to say.

There had been many military ex-changes over the past few months that hadnever been taken place in years and a highlevel Afghan border forces delegation justwrapped up visit to Pakistan.

“I think if the border is destabilized,then the groups like the Islamic State willalso be looking for a space. If we ensurethe border is peaceful then they will notfind any space,” the Pakistani advisersaid.—NNI

China offers to hostFrom Page 1

7 as the next date for hearing.Imran Khan had alleged that the commis-

sion had not followed its terms of referenceand that it had committed breach of trust bygiving statements to media.

Retired sessions judge Ghulam HussainAwan was appointed by the tribunal to in-spect the record. The result of the electionremained unchanged after the process.

After an audit of a number of polling sta-tions in NA-122 constituency, both the rul-ing PML-N and the PTI have been makingcontradictory claims.

Imran Khan said that one task forceshould be dedicated to derive ways thatwould grant overseas Pakistani’s their due

right to vote and the other to bring electronicvoting system to counter rigging in future.

He said that Election Commission holdsthe authority to conduct day to day hearingin case the decision gets delayed. The ECPalso holds the power to suspend the personagainst which the petition has been lodged(Speaker National Assembly, Sardar AyazSadiq), until the final judgment, he added.

He further said that the results were duein February; any delay thereof would enticethem to take to the streets again.

Imran Khan was accompanied by PTI se-nior leaders Arif Alvi, Jahangir Tareen andNaeemul Haque, and former law ministerBabar Awan.—Sabah

Imran demands NAFrom Page 1

Both China and Pakistan are working outdetails of the Chinese president’s visitthrough diplomatic channels.

Chinese authorities have been assuredabout maximum security during Jinping’s up-coming visit.

Contingents of the Pakistan army, navyand air force are expected to arrive inIslamabad soon for parade rehearsals, withstringent security measures in place.

Last year, the military parade was can-celled for the sixth time in a row due to se-curity reasons.

The decision to resume the military pa-rade after seven years appears to be a mani-festation of the military’s show of strengthin the wake of the shocking attack on theArmy Public School (APS) in Peshawar lastyear, which left 150 people dead, including132 schoolchildren.

Army chief General Raheel Sharif has

vowed to continue the fight against militantsuntil they are completely eliminated from thecountry, with heightened military offensivesin North Waziristan, where operation Zarb-i-Azb is already under way to flush out lo-cal and foreign militants.

In Pakistan, the March 23 is veneratedbecause it is likened to a national holiday,with some military processions that honourthe day.

However, the day’s true greatness is moreuniversal as it demonstrates the ideology ofthe independence movement; justice for themasses through constitutional measuresranging from electoral safeguards to guar-anteed representation in state institut-ions.

It was this day that the Muslim Leaguedeclared its demand for a separate homelandto safeguard the sanctity of the rights of the30 million Muslims in British India.—INP

Pakistan Day paradeFrom Page 1

ing to newsmen here he clarified that ballotpapers were in fact published only in secu-rity printing press, thus rejected claims ofMr. Khan.

“Imran Khan can only contest Senatepolls from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” said theminister.

Rashid claimed that Khan could not winin other provinces as he does not trust on hisparty candidates.

The minister said that the same court Pa-kistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Chief Imran Khan hadearlier expressed his confidence in, he wasnow against it after losing, and in the samemanner the Election Commission that he hadlost hope in earlier, he was now putting hisabsolute faith in.

Responding to the statements made ear-lier by the PTI chief, the minister said thatImran Khan was being completely irrationaland that all those who are being trusted by

him at the moment should realise that theywill be his next targets.

Rashid went on to say that Khan claimsthat rigging took place in the whole countryexcept for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Regarding Imran Khan’s constantchange of opinions and faith in others, theminister said that in a statement in the pastKhan had claimed that the assemblies werefraudulent and not Senate. He went on to saythat, however, now Khan alleged that eventhe Senate is a sham.

Rashid further said that it was not en-tirely the PTI chief’s fault since he had noknowledge of anything and that his advisorsshould be caught who are trying to make amockery of their chief.

The minister also questioned that ac-cording to what law was PTI demanding thatNational Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiqshould resign from his post.

PR rejects Imran’sFrom Page 1

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI —The Institute of CharteredAccountants of Pakistan (ICAP) and Uni-versity of Lahore (UoL) signed a memo-randum of understanding (MoU) on Mon-day. The MOU was signed by YaqoobSuttar, President ICAP and Dr.Muhammad Saleem Shuja , Rector UoLat University of Lahore new Campus inthe presence of Chairman UOL, AwaisRaoof, VC UOL, Dr. MH Qazi, VicePresident and Chairman ETCOM ICAP,Muhammad Maqbool and other officials.

As a result of this collaboration, thegraduates of BS (Hons) and Bcom ( Hons)from UoL will have an opportunity to pur-

sue highly recognized Chartered Accoun-tancy qualification. Under the MOU, thesegraduates will be able to avail exemptionsfrom eight papers of the CA examinations.Similarly ICAP students who have clearedthe respective ICAP subjects will be ableto avail exemptions in the mapped sub-jects of B.Com (Hons) and BS (Hons) Ac-counting & Finance at UoL.

President ICAP, Yaqoob Suttarwhile expressing his views to the audi-ence said that the collaboration wouldincrease the outreach of the partneringinstitutions and will serve as an endeavorto offer dynamic routes of achievementto our brilliant youth’. He stated thatwork-integrated learning will provide a

‘vibrant experience to all graduates, whowill be well equipped to make a posi-tive contribution towards business, eco-nomic and financial sector of the coun-try.’

Dr. Muhammad Saleem Shuja, Rec-tor UoL speaking on the occasion said thatICAP and UOL relationship will lead toan increase in the number of CAs and willbring us at par with countries with well-developed accounting structures. To helpincrease our economic development weneed to produce more professional accoun-tants who can implement good gover-nance, financial efficiency, professionalvalues and ethics in all corporate and pub-lic sector decision making.”

KAP, University of Lahore sign MoU

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif said that thebenefits of record decrease inthe prices of petroleum prod-ucts should be directly trans-ferred to the masses and con-

Shahbaz for benefiting peoplefrom cut in POL prices

cerned Ministers and depart-ments should play an activerole in this regard.

He said that there shouldnot be any complaint of non-availability of petroleumproducts at any petrol pumpof Lahore and other cities ofPunjab.

He said that indiscrimi-nate action should be takenagainst petrol pump ownersinvolved in overcharging.

He was addressing ameeting of Price ControlCommittee through video linkat Civil Secretariat on Mon-day. The Chief Minister said

that interest of people is ofutmost importance.

He said that provision ofrelief and basic amenities tothe citizens is the agenda ofPakistan Muslim League-Ngovernment and maximum re-sources are being utilized forthis purpose.

Shahbaz Sharif said thatgovernment has made sub-stantial reduction in the pricesof petroleum products for thefourth time and he will per-sonally monitor the stepstaken to transfer the benefitsof this decrease to the mas-ses.

He said that every effortshould be made for ensuringthat people should fully ben-efit from these public-friendly steps of the govern-ment. He directed that reduc-tion in transport fares in pro-portion to the decrease in theprices of petroleum productsshould be ensured.

He said that Air condition-ers transport fares should alsobe reduced while prices of es-sential items should be de-creased as well for benefitingthe common man. He said thatsolid results should be wit-nessed in the wake of de-crease in the prices of petro-leum products and said thatno excuse will be accept-able.

The Chief Minister ex-pressed displeasure over thefailure of some departmentsin taking necessary steps forproviding relief to the massesand warned the concerned au-thorities that no negligence orlaxity will be tolerated.

Provincial Ministers Ch.Muhammad Shafiq, BilalYasin, Member National As-sembly Muhammad AfzalKhokhar, Members Provin-cial Assembly Dr. AyeshaGhaus Pasha, Waheed Gull,Chief Secretary, InspectorGeneral Police, secretaries ofconcerned departments andsenior officers attended themeeting through video link.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Provincial Minis-ter for Excise & Taxation andFinance Mujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman has said that terror-ism and unemployment canbe wiped out through promo-tion of quality education. Hesaid that there is a need to uti-lize national resources equi-tably for setting up of a peace-ful society and economicprosperity of the masseswhereas problems like cor-ruption, safarish and unem-ployment can be controlledthrough good governance andtransparency.

Addressing the delega-tions of youth, MujtabaShujaur Rehman said that Rs.274 billion will be spent oneducation sector during thecurrent fiscal year which is26.25 percent of the total bud-get of the province. He main-tained that our country of 190million people has a vibranteconomy, and our populationunder 20 is in majority andthis makes South Asia as theonly large economic area thatshall not face a decline in thenumber of people entering thelabor force for the next 50years, whereas, future is ours.He said that Punjab govern-ment considers education asa tool to development and arecord funds have been pro-

vided for school and highereducation. He said that Rs.2.40 billion has been pro-vided for non formal basiceducation to 20 lakh illiteratepersons.

Mujtaba Shujaur Rehmanthat Punjab government hasrecruited 140000 educatorslast tenure and more educa-tors will be recruited withinfew months to accomplish thetarget of 100% literacy rate inthe province. He commendedthe vision of Mian ShahbazSharif for launching free dis-tribution schemes of laptopsand solar lamps to appreciatethe brilliant students. Thiswill also help to reduce thedropout rate in the schools offar flung areas of the prov-ince. He further revealed thatDFID has given assent to pro-vide a grant in aid to the tuneof Rs.351 million to construct15000 additional class rooms,one additional class room foreach public sector school hav-ing deficient facilities.

Mujtaba Shujaur Rehmansaid that financial grant is be-ing provided for up-gradationof higher education especiallyto the institutions of women,whereas, new women univer-sities are also being establishedin Bahawalpur, Multan, Sialkotand Faisalabad for enhancingratio of higher educationamong women.

Quality education can helpwipe terrorism: Mujtaba

MalikideniesseekingcomebackBAGHDAD—Iraq’s former Prime MinisterNouri al-Maliki on Mondaydenied he is seeking apolitical comeback, despitefrequent appearances inlocal media and a recenthigh-profile visit toinfluential neighboring Iran.Al-Maliki, who steppedaside last year after beingwidely blamed for theIslamic State group’stakeover of a third of Iraq,told The Associated Presshe has no intention ofreturning to the office heheld for eight years unlessthe people desire it.—AP

Israel PMcriticisesLebanonUN forceJERUSALEM—Israeli Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu hascriticised the UN force inLebanon just days after aSpanish peacekeeper waskilled by what Madrid saidwas Israeli fire. In atelephone call with UNchief Ban Ki-moon late onSunday, Netanyahucharged that the UN forcewas failing to report onwhat Israel alleges is large-scale movement ofweapons into southLebanon by the Shiitemilitant group Hezbollah.He also complained that aUN Security Councilresolution, which createdand expanded the numberand mission of the UNforce after Israel’s bloody2006 war with Hezbollah,had not been imple-mented.—AFP

Chinaopposed toObama,Lama meetBEIJING—China warned the UnitedStates on Monday that itwas opposed to anycountry meeting the DalaiLama “in any manner” afterthe White House said U.S.President Barack Obamawould attend an event withthe exiled Tibetan spiritualleader whom Beijing brandsa separatist. The WhiteHouse said last week thatObama would deliverremarks at a Feb. 5 prayerbreakfast in Washingtonabout the importance ofreligious freedom. TheDalai Lama is due to attend.“China is opposed to anynation or governmentusing the Tibet issue tointerfere in China’s domesticaffairs, and opposed to anycountry’s leader meetingwith the Dalai Lama in anymanner,” Chinese ForeignMinistry spokesman HongLei said at a daily newsbriefing.—AP

Sindh 5-8pccut in

transport faresKARACHI—Sindh govern-ment has announced five toeight per cent cut in fares ofintercity public transport.

This has been stated bythe Provincial Minister forTransport and Mass Tran-sit Mumtaz HussainJakhrani in Karachi.

He directed the Secre-tary Transport to ensuretransferring benefits ofthe recent reduction in pe-troleum products to thepeople.—Online

BAGHDAD—The IslamicState group beheaded anIraqi police officer and twosoldiers, the latest in along series of atrocitiescommitted by thejihadists, according to pic-tures posted online Sun-day.

In one photo, a blind-folded man said to be a po-lice lieutenant colonelkneels in a street in frontof a row of gunmen.

A masked militant isthen shown beheading thevictim with a machete, af-ter which his severed headis placed atop his bodyand the machete driveninto his back.

Another photo showsan overweight masked mili-tant apparently strugglingto behead a man identifiedas a captured Iraqi soldier.

A second soldier wasbeheaded at the same lo-cation, according to an-other photo of the scene.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Muttahida Quami Movement(MQM) MPA Khawaja Izharul Hassan onMonday said that the security situation inSindh is deteriorating and MQM is the onlyparty that has consistently raised its voiceagainst the Taliban.

While addressing the media, the MQMMPA said that emergency should be de-clared with immediate effect in the prov-ince and that the Sindh government should

MQM for emergency in Sindhreach out for help from the armed forces tomaintain law and order.

While mentioning that MQM wouldsubmit a resolution in assembly todaycondemning the Shikarpur tragedy, hewent on to say that it was MQM ChiefAltaf Hussain who warned everyoneabout the presence of the Taliban in theprovince. Khawaja Izharul Hassan fur-ther said that a province wide operationagainst terrorists and their facilitators isneeded without delay.

IS claimsbeheading of Iraqisecurity personnel

The authenticity ofthe photos could not beindependently confirmed.

IS spearheaded asweeping militant offen-sive in June that overranlarge areas north and westof Baghdad, and alsoholds significant territoryin neighbouring Syria.

The brutal militantgroup has killed thou-sands of people in bothcountries, some of themin highly-choreographedvideotaped sequences inwhich the victims are be-headed.

Iraqi security forces,backed by Kurdishtroops, Shiite militias,Sunni tribesmen and aUS-led campaign of airstrikes, have managed toregain some ground fromIS.

But the jihadists stillcontrol significant terri-tory, including three ma-jor cities. —AFP

WASHINGTON—President BarackObama has spurned the notion of thecounterterrorism fight being a “religiouswar” with Islam, underscoring that anoverwhelming majority of Muslims re-jects violent ideology and wants peaceand prosperity like other communitiesaround the world.

Obama told CNN in an interviewaired Sunday that it is an element in theMuslim communities that interprets Is-lam in a “nihilistic, violent and almostMedieval” way and does damage in a

Obama rejects notion of religious war with Islamlot of countries with violence.

He also saw the Middle East andSouth Asia as grounds zero in terms ofwinning back hearts and minds ofyoung people.“It is absolutely true thatI reject a notion that somehow that createsa religious war because the overwhelmingmajority of Muslims reject that interpreta-tion of Islam. They don’t even recognize itas being Islam,” the U.S. president said.Hewas responding to criticism by some Re-publicans who want him to label the fightagainst terror as the fight against radical

Islam.“I think for us to be successful in fight-

ing this scourge, it is very important for usto align ourselves with the 99.9 percent ofMuslims who are looking for the samethings we are looking for” order, peace,prosperity,” Obama noted. “But Ithink we do ourselves a disservice inthis fight, if we are not taking into ac-count the fact that the overwhelmingmajority of Muslims reject this ideology,”he added in the interview aired in CNN’sGPS program.—APP

RAWALPINDI: Gen. John. F Campbell, Commander Resolute Support Mission and United States Forces in Afghani-stan, called on Chief of Army Staff Gen. Raheel Sharif at GHQ.

ISLAMABAD—Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazal’s(JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazal-Ur-Rehman onMonday reminded the government that if JUI-F’s reservations about the 21st Amendmentwere not addressed, a nationwide protest willbe held. He expressed these views during amedia briefing held after attending a meetingof Majlis-e-Shura.

According to the details, the JUI-F chiefstated that the 21st Amendment was becom-ing a source of protection for terrorism. Hesaid that a protest will be held in Islamabad ifthe government does not do away with thediscriminatory clauses in the amendment.Rehman stated that the protest will be spreadthroughout the country if government doesnot pacify their reservations. Fazal-ur-Rehmanstated that steps taken against religious

Fazl threatens to holdnation-wide protest

schools and mosques is part of an interna-tional agenda. He said JUI-F was against sec-tarianism. Rehman also stated that JUI-Fstrongly condemns the Shikarpur incident.

The JUI-F chief expressed solidarity withthe struggles of Kashmir’s people. He an-nounced that nationwide rallies will be orga-nized on 5th of February in this regard.

Fazlur Rehman said that that his partywould fully take part in the upcomingSenate’s elections.

He said that JUI-F would make full useof its vote bank during the elections. He la-mented that government, despite all its ef-forts, failed to address the enduring energycrisis. “Our reservations regarding 21th Con-stitutional Amendment remain intact. This isa discriminatory law,” he said. —NNI

OSLO—The West must be ready for a longstandoff with Russia over Ukraine and notquickly resume normal ties as it did afterthe 2008 Georgian war, a top NATO officialsaid on Monday.

“Our strategy has to be one of patienceand consistency. Russia expects us to giveup the sanctions and go back to businessas usual, without changing its own con-duct,” Deputy Secretary General AlexanderVershbow said in a speech to theLeangkollen foreign policy conference inOslo.

“That is basically what we did after thewar in Georgia in 2008. But this time around,having chosen our course, we must stickto it,” Vershbow, NATO’s number two ci-vilian official and a former U.S. ambassadorto Moscow, said.

Russia and Georgia fought a war in2008 over the breakaway regions ofAbkhazia and South Ossetia.

The war severely damaged relationsbetween Moscow and the West, but drewno direct sanctions, and the European

West must be ready for long standoffwith Russia: NATO official

Union and NATO quickly went back tobusiness as usual with Moscow.

Just three months after the Georgianwar, the EU relaunched talks with Russiaon a partnership pact, and seven monthsafter the war NATO resumed formal tieswith Moscow. Vershbow said NATO didnot seek confrontation with Russia and wasnot looking for regime change.

“What we do want is for Moscow tochange its behavior ... and to return to thespirit of cooperation ... This may be a longtime coming, and will call for strategic pa-tience, but I don’t think we have any alter-native,” he said.

Following Moscow’s annexation ofUkraine’s Crimea region last March andwhat NATO says is the direct involvementof Russian troops in supporting separat-ists fighting in eastern Ukraine, the West’sresponse has been tougher.

The EU and the United States have im-posed economic sanctions on Russia, andNATO has suspended all practical coop-eration with Moscow.—Reuters

Scores ofIndian prisoners

escapeNEW DELHI—Scores ofinmates staged a massbreakout from an Indianyoung offenders detentioncentre Monday by tyingbedsheets together andthen scaling down the wallsof the three-storey building,police said.

A total of 91 inmates, in-cluding several convictedmurderers, managed to fleethe facility in Meerut over-night, although 35 havesince been recaptured, saidthe city’s superintendent ofpolice Om Prakash.

“They removed an irongrille from a window at theback of the building whilepolice were guarding thefront,” Prakash told AFPfrom Meerut in the northernstate of Uttar Pradesh.“This was done so profes-sionally that no one got awhiff,” Prakash added.

Those still on the runincluded inmates convictedof crimes such as murder,rape, theft and banditry,Prakash added. All are agedunder 18.Police say the break-out wasstaged some time between1:00am and 3:00am and thealarm was only raised whenofficers who were patrollingnear the centre spottedsome of the fugitives tryingto flag down public trans-port.

Inmates from the samecentre beat a policeman todeath in December after heobjected to their lewdbehaviour with a womanduring a court trial.—AFP

COAS summonscommanders

meeting todayRAWALPINDI—Chief of theArmy Staff General RaheelSharif has summoned ameeting of the corps com-manders today at the Gen-eral Headquarters to discussthe overall security situa-tion in the country.

In a statement, ISPRsaid that professional mat-ters relating to securitywould be discussed in themeeting. —NNI

Azizabadi newin-charge of

MQM RabittaCommittee

OBSERVER REPORT

L O N D O N — M u t t a h i d aQuami Movement on Mon-day appointed party’s seniorleader Mustafa Azizabadi asin-charge of its CoordinationCommittee.

According to details, ajoint meeting of MQM Lon-don and Karachi Coordina-tion Committees was held todiscuss reorganization in theparty. According to the de-cisions, Dr Khalid MaqboolSiddiqui, Dr Nusrat Shaukatand Aamir Khan have beenmade as the joint in-chargesof the Coordination Commit-tee, while Qamar Mansoorand Arshad Hussain will beworking as the members ofparty’s decision makingbody. Other party leaders KanwarNaved Jamil and AbdulHaseeb were also inductedin party’s Coordination Com-mittee. MQM chief AltafHussain has endorsed thedecisions of the RabittaCommittee.

CONSUMPTION of foods and beveragescontaining added sugars, particularlyadded fructose, is a major factor behind

the dramatic rise in type 2 diabetes, contends astudy. Worldwide, approximately one in tenadults has type 2 diabetes,with the number of individu-als afflicted by the diseaseacross the globe more thandoubling from 153 millionin 1980 to 347 million in2008, the study noted.

“At current levels,added-sugar consumption,and added-fructose con-sumption in particularly, arefueling a worsening epi-demic of type 2 diabetes,”said lead author JamesDiNicolantonio, a cardio-vascular research scientist atSaint Luke’s Mid AmericaHeart Institute in the US.

For the study, researchersexamined animal experimentsand human studies. Data fromrecent trials suggest that replac-ing glucose-only starch with fructose-containingtable sugar (sucrose) results in significant adversemetabolic effects. “The totality of the evidence iscompelling to suggest that added sugar, and espe-cially added fructose (usually in the form of high-fructose corn syrup and table sugar), are a seriousand growing public health problem,” the authorsnoted.

While fructose is found naturally in somewhole foods like fruits and vegetables, consumingthese foods poses no problem for human health,they pointed out. Indeed, consuming fruits andvegetables is likely protective against diabetes andbroader cardiometabolic dysfunction, the authorsexplained. Dietary guidelines should be modified

to encourage individuals to replace processedfoods, laden with added sugars and fructose, withwhole foods like fruits and vegetables, they pro-posed.

Meanwhile, an analysis conducted by re-searchers at Columbia UniversityMedical Center (CUMC) foundthat If new hypertension guide-lines are followed sincerely, itcould help us significantly preventdeaths owing to cardiovasculardiseases (CVD) each year with-out increasing overall health carecosts. “Our findings clearly showthat it would be worthwhile to sig-nificantly increase spending on of-fice visits, home blood pressuremonitoring and interventions toimprove treatment adherence,”said lead author Andrew E.Moran, the Herbert Irving Assis-tant Professor of Medicine atCUMC.

“In fact, we could doubletreatment and monitoring spend-ing for some patients - namelythose with severe hypertension -

and still break even,” he added. In the new guide-lines released by the US National Heart, Lungand Blood Institute, stage 1 hypertension is de-fined as a systolic BP of 140-159 mm Hg or adiastolic BP of 90-99 mm Hg. Stage 2 or severehypertension is a systolic BP of 160 mm Hg orhigher or a diastolic BP of 100 mm Hg or higher.The 2014 guidelines are less aggressive for somepatients, shifting treatment targets to higher bloodpressures. Fewer patients need treatment underthe new guidelines, but according to Moran“even with the more relaxed goals, an estimated44 per cent of adults with hypertension, or 28million people, still do not have their blood pres-sure adequately controlled”.

Added fructosedriving the rise in diabetics

Senator Raja Muhammad Zafar-ul-Haq, Leader of the House in the Senate exchangingviews with Norwegian Ambassador to Pakistan Leif H. Larson.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Capital Devel-opment Authority (CDA)Chairman Maroof Afzal saidMonday that Pakistan’s wet-lands support a wide spectrumof globally importantbiodiversity that merits supportfrom the international commu-nity to ensure its sustainableconservation.

Chairman CDA expressedthese remarks during a cer-emony held in connection toWorld Wetlands Day here atLake View Park. During theceremony Chairman inaugu-rated the events which were par-ticularly organized for this dayincluding awareness walk andcleanliness drive. Highlightingthe importance of wetlands forconservation and preservationof the natural environment theChairman said that Wetlandswere a rich source of maintain-ing natural ecology.

The Chairman said thatwater complaints have beenreduced and water manage-ment wing is working round theclock for the redresal of com-plaints. He said that he has di-rected the concerned to take effectivemeasures to address complaints and torepair water supply lines on war foot-ing.

Maroof Afzal said that the additionof private water tankers in the CDAwater tankers fleet and repair mainte-

Pakistan’s wetlands support widespectrum of global biodiversity: Maroof

Chairman CDA Maroof Afzal leading cleanliness drive in connection with World Wetlands Day at Lake View Park orga-nized by Environment Wing of CDA in collaboration with WWF.

nance of off-road tankers will help re-duce water complains.

The event was organized for theWetlands Day awareness to seek theattention of the people all over the coun-try to highlight the importance of wet-lands and need of their conservation.

People from every walk of life,school/ college students, children, en-vironmentalists, and members of civilsociety participated in the ceremony.

Nature conservationists, commu-nity activists, government officials andmedia persons urged the authorities con-

cerned to ensure preservation of freshwater reservoirs and wetlands, whichprovide source of living to hundreds offamilies and offer habitats to wildlifeand marine species. The ceremonyProgramme was jointly organised by theCDA and World Wildlife Fund (WWF).

PARLIAMENTARY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Leader of the House in the Sen-ate, Senator Raja Muhammad Zafar-ul-Haq,Monday, said that Pakistan highly valued everimproving relations with Norway.

These relations can be further strengthenedwith economic coordination. Senator RajaMuhammad Zafar-ul-Haq has said this during ameeting with Mr. Leif H. Larsen, Ambassador ofthe Royal Norway in Parliament House Islamabad.

During the meeting matters relating to theregional situation specially Pakistan India rela-tions, Kashmir Issue, Afghanistan and the issueof terrorism also came under discussion. Sena-

tor Raja Muhammad Zafar-ul-Haq said that Pa-kistan strongly believes in peaceful resolutionof Kashmir issue in accordance with the UnitedNation Security Council resolutions and in lineswith the aspirations of Kashmiri people.

Leif H. Larsen, Ambassador of the RoyalNorway appreciated the remarks of Senator RajaMuhammad Zafar-ul-Haq and recognized Pa-kistan efforts in war against terrorism.

He said that Norway is keen to have friendlyrelation with Pakistan and interested to haveinvestment in Pakistan. He thanked the SenatorRaja Muhammad Zafarul Haq for worm wel-come and hoped that these friendly relations willincrease in Future.

Pakistan, Norwayrelations improving

TurkeycondemnsShikarpur

terrorist attackOBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Turkey hasstrongly condemned re-cent terrorist blast target-ing imambargah inShikarpur of Sindh Prov-ince during Juma prayer.

According to a mes-sage from Ankara, a Turk-ish Foreign Affairs spokes-man said, Turkey stronglycondemns this heinous at-tack targeting peace, sta-bility and well being of Pa-kistan and on this tragedy,we express once again ourstrong feelings of solidar-ity with the friendly andbrotherly government andpeople of Pakistan.

The Turkish govern-ment spokesman said:“We seek Allah’s mercyupon those who lost theirlives in the attack. Ourcondolences to their fami-lies and we wish the in-jured speedy recovery”.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Intel Pakistanconcluded its National ScienceCompetition by announcingthe winners at Islamabad SirSyed Memorial Complex hereon Monday. The winners areto represent Pakistan at the IntelInternational Science & Engi-neering Fair (ISEF) 2015, to beheld in Pittsburgh, Pennsylva-nia in May 2015.

Millennials UroobaFatima and Hadia FatimaIGCSE students of Roots Mil-lennium Schools’ Flagship

Millennium Campus I-9/3,Islamabad received special rec-ognition for their group projectwork. The proud Millennials re-ceived an award from the Soci-ety of Vitro Biology for “Out-standing Achievement in Cre-ativity and Ability in Vitro Biol-ogy”; a memento and awardfrom the Shaukat Khanum Hos-pital and Research Centre; andthe Best of Category Award inMedicinal and Health ScienceDisease Diagnosis and Treat-ment / Pathology from Intel.

The Intel International Sci-ence and Engineering Fair, spon-

sored by Intel since 1997 is theworld’s largest international pre-college science competition, pro-viding an annual forum for morethan 1,800 high school studentsfrom about 70 countries, regions,and territories to showcase theirindependent research as theycompete for over US $5 millionannually. The National ScienceFair showcased more than 94 sci-ence projects submitted by 197young scientists from all fourprovinces after rigorous compe-tition at district and provinciallevels.

Winners of the National

Science Fair have qualified tocompete in the InternationalScience and Engineering Fair,showcasing their talent on an in-ternational platform for over $5million in prizes and scholar-ships.

Director Schools and Out-reach Mrs. Sabina Zakir waspresent on this auspicious occa-sion and carried a message of theChief Executive Roots Millen-nium Schools Chaudhry FaisalMushtaq TI, that “Roots Millen-nium Schools is beyond educa-tion and schooling, it is chang-ing the national education para-

digm and landscape through itsaward winning curriculum, be-yond the classroom teachingand learning initiatives, teachertraining programs, qualifica-tion, results, achievements,thus promoting social changeand community re-engineering.As we are moving towardsgrowth and development itgives me immense satisfactionthat we are proudly celebratingour distinctions and accom-plishments earned through thededication and hard work ofstudents, faculty members andthe support of parents.”

Millennials win Intel Science AwardVisitors looking at art pieces displayed in the exhibition “Miniatures” by Komal Shahid Khan at Nomad Gallary.—POphoto by Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD—Majority of the educationalinstitutions working under Federal Director-ate of Education (FDE) are yet to acquirecomputer lab facility and staff in this era ofInformation Technology.

IT is a compulsory subject from GradeVI to VIII for the students of the FDE’ runinstitutions however, out of total of 392schools, around 150 have IT labs or staff.

Amir Masood, an IT teacher said “ITLabs are direly needed in these institutionsto make the students capable to excel andcompete other students of private institu-tions.”

He said, the educational institutions infederal capital should be made an examplefor others by ensuring all the facilities.

“It is the boom of computer technology

Majority of public schoolslacks IT lab facility

and students can learn basics at the stage butunfortunately lack of labs at majority of thegovernment run institutions results in irrepa-rable loss to the students”, Shagufta Shahid,a mother of three children said.

Parents are forced to arrange tuition andwell equipped computers at homes so thattheir children can compete with the studentsof private institutions and get outstandingmarks in board examinations, she added.According to an official of FDE, the effortsare underway to establish more IT labs inthe educational institutions.

He said PC-4 of the Computer LabProgramme has been forwarded to the Plan-ning Commission for approval and more labswould be established at middle level afterits approval.—APP

ISLAMABAD—China and Pakistan will arrange series of activi-ties this year to promote cultural exchanges and understandingbetween the two countries, said Chinese ambassador to PakistanSun Weidong.

The two countries are celebrating the 2015 China-PakistanYear of Friendly Exchanges. According to the China Radio In-ternational (CRI), the year will witness a series of activities, lay-ing special focus on strengthening people-to people contacts.

In a interview to CRI, the ambassador, said China and Paki-stan have long been dedicated to promoting all-round bilateralrelations in political exchange, trade and investment, security,among other fields.

The two countries are exploring ways and means to elevatethe all-weather strategic partnership, bringing it to a new height.In this connection, they are all out efforts to realize the ChineseDream and the Pakistani “Asian Tiger Dream” by forging a “com-munity of destiny”.

A grand reception was held in Beijing last week, marking itsofficial commencement at first one of a series of activities whichthe two friendly countries plan to celebrate jointly throughoutthe year.

The event was graced by Vice President of China Li Yaunchaofrom Chinese side whereas Speaker of National Assembly ofPakistan Sardar Ayaz Sadiq led the delegation of Parliamentar-ians from Pakistan, who especially attended inauguration of cel-ebrations of the Friendly Exchanges Year.—INP

Pak-China to celebrate2015 as Year of FriendlyExchanges: Ambassador

Art, craft andjewellery exhibition

attracts islooitesISLAMABAD—The fine minia-ture paintings by Komal ShahidKhan, skillfully crafted ceram-ics by Shahid Waheed and ar-tistic jewellery by JamilaShahid here on Monday at No-mad art gallery attracted the artlovers of islooites.

The artist Komal, graduatedin miniature painting from theRawalpindi campus of NationalCollege of Arts, while comment-ing about her current exhibitionsaid, My work reflects my real-ization of the insufficiency orcomplete absence of peoples’unified resistance against exploi-tation and manipulation, continu-ally propagating lack of self-con-sciousness.—APP

Colour fiestacompetition

ISLAMABAD—City NurserySchool G-10 organized a colourfiesta competition here on Mon-day among students to apprisethem with the importance ofcolour and introduce a spirit ofhealthy competition. Students ofplay group, kindergarten, nursery,class one and two took part in thecontest and decorated their classrooms on the themes assigned tothem.

The themes included blackand White, Purple, Yellow, Red,Blue, Green, Pink, Brown, Silverand Golden and Rainbow.

According to judges decision,Silver and Golden theme onwhich project was given to classKinder Garden (T) secured firstposition in which children madea space ship with a youngest as-tronaut in it. Children, dressed insilver attires, shower snow flakeswith cuttings of sliver crap paperand made a treasure with trivialstuff covered with golden paperand paint, showed an outstandingpresentation to their class roomwith the help of their classteacher.—APP

06:25 01:3004:00

07:15

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

Chairperson SASSI University Dr. Maria Sultan with Chinese Ambassador Sun Weidong after the launching cer-emony of SASSI University.

Prof. Dr. Masoom Yasinzai, Rector, IIUI, Prof. Dr. Ahmad Yousif Al-Draiweesh, President IIUI, Deans and Directorsattending condolence reference for the late King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

Custodian of Eidgah Shareef Pir Muhammad Naqeeb-ur-Rehman leading funeral prayers of his father-in-lawMuhammad Abdullah Jan Pathan.

February 3Symposium

A two-day Symposium on“Curriculum Development inHigher Education” will be-gin at Allama Iqbal OpenUniversity (AIOU),Islamabad.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD —Renowned Defence Analyst andChairperson South Asian Strategic Stability Insti-tute (SASSI) University Dr. Maria Sultan has saidthat today Pakistan faces enormous challengesas we stand at the threshold of the 21st Centurywith baggage of 19th Century, adding that globalsecurity has transformed tremendously withchanges in research, technology and inter-staterelations and ever changing dynamics of securityitself. She was addressing the launching ceremonyof SASSI University, here on Monday.

Dr. Maria Sultan, while introducing the SASSIUniversity, expressed her gratitude to the Presi-dent of Pakistan for providing the patron-ship tothe University, and the Defence Minister of Paki-stan, and the SASSI advisory board as well fortheir unconditional support to the University.

“We are happy to announce that SASSI Uni-versity is a premier institute of higher learningwhich is geared to provide the nation a responsecapability to deal with growing challenges, add-ing that it is only through knowledge that we canbring Pakistan forward and out of these chal-lenges.” She addressed the ceremony. Thecourses offered at the SASSI University on Na-tional Security, Peace Studies, Media Sciences,Counter-terrorism and Intelligence Studies are justfew courses designed to enable the nation andthe next generation to meet the paradoxes withknowledge, Dr. Maria informed.

Dr. Maria, while lauding the active support ofCapital Development Authority (CDA), empha-

Pakistan requires outside the box approach ofknowledge partnership for overcoming challenges

sized that security today is understood tobe an expanded concept ranging from hu-man security to traditional security.

“Pakistan has faced challenges whichhave been unprecedented both in terms ofthe nature, scale and degree of conflict andthreats faced.” She expressed. In addition,she said that the fourteen years of globalwar against terror has placed Pakistan atthe center of the international transitions insecurity where supra individuals, organizedcrime, networks and terrorism have domi-nated the security discourse.

With this at the center of the new glo-bal and regional reality it is extremely im-portant that Pakistan remains cognizant ofthe emerging trends in security at the glo-bal and regional level but also creates asustained national response based on re-search, innovation and a grass roots ap-proach, she said. Dr. Maria was of theview that Pakistan requires an outside thebox approach for the changing environ-ments and to prepare Pakistan for the chal-lenges. “The nation and the country awaita new beginning and this can only be en-sured if knowledge is our partner hence thejourney of SASSI University to equip Paki-stan with knowledge research and innova-tion through studies and higher learning.”She concluded, while thanking the partici-pants for their support to SASSI towardsthis national initiative to achieve its goalsin practical terms.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—About 500 non-Muslimsembraced Islam after witnessing a simple,swift funeral of Saudi Arabia’s KingAbdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud, saidPresident International Islamic UniversityIslamabad (IIUI) Dr. Ahmed Yousif Al-Draiweesh Monday.

This he told in a condolence refer-ence held for King Abdullah bin AbdulAziz at new campus of International Is-lamic University Islamabad. It was at-tended by the Rector IIUI Dr. MasoomYasinzai, President IIUI Dr. Ahmed YousifAl-Draiweesh, Vice Presidents, DGs, Deanand Directors.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr.Masoom Yasinzai pay tribute to the lateSaudi King and said IIUI stands with theSaudi nation in this moment of grief. “Allthe officers, employees and students of

varsity pray for the eternal peace of de-parted soul” said Dr. Masoom Yasinzai.He told that IIUI organized funeral prayerin absentia for late Saudi King and con-dolence reference was also held earlierfor King Abdullah while an IIUI delega-tion also went to Saudi embassy inIslamabad and condoled to AmbassadorJassim M Al-Khalidi.

Rector IIUI said that purpose oftoday’s reference is to convey the griefand pain of IIUI to the Saudi nationthrough President IIUI Dr. Ahmed YousifAl-Draiweesh. He also hoped that in therule of King Salman bin Abdulaziz alSaud, relations between Pakistani andSaudi universities would furtherstrengthen.

President IIUI, in his address on theoccasion said that Muslim Ummah haslost devoted and well- wishing leader andhis demise is an irreparable loss for Saudi

people and Muslim Ummah. He told thatKing Abdullah always advised to his min-isters and advisors to keep Pakistani na-tion near to their heart and added thatKing Abdullah always provided coop-eration to Pakistan in hard times.

Dr. Al-Draiweesh maintained that ev-eryone is equal in front of God and simplefuneral of King Abdullah impressed manypeople while 500 non-Muslims embracedIslam after observing this simplicity whichis core attribute of Islam. He also prayedfor King Salman Abdullah that May Al-lah give him strength to serve MuslimUmmah as his ancestors did. He alsohoped that King Salman would play vitalrole in bringing back the splendor ofMuslim Ummah.

At the end, Dr. Al-Draiweesh prayedfor the eternal peace of the departed souland also prayed for the prosperity andpeace of Ummah.

Condolence reference forKing Abdullah held at IIU

FUI declares resultof first professional

MBBSCITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Founda-tion University has declaredthe result of First Profes-sional MBBS (Annual) Ex-aminations 2014. Out of 148candidates who appeared inthe said examination, 130were declared successfulwith a pass percentage of87.84 %.

Miss. ShaherBano, RollNo. 5438 of the FoundationUniversity Medical College,got first position in the ex-amination securing 379 outof 500 marks. The Universityhas directed the unsuccess-ful candidates to submit theadmission forms within 15days from the date of decla-ration of result. The resultmay also be seen on FUIwebsite www.fui.edu.pk.

Rs 11 stop-to-stoppublic transport farefixed in RawalpindiRAWA L P I N D I—SecretaryRawalpindi Transport Au-thority (RTA) has issued newpublic transport fare an-nouncing stop to stop fare atRs11 and maximum fare Rs 29.

New public transportfares have been announcedfor 40 urban and inter dis-tricts routes. New fareschedule has come into forcewith immediate effect.

As per new fare sched-ule, fare in respect of firststage upto 4 kilomter hasbeen reduced from Rs 12 to11, second stage upto 8 ki-lometer from Rs 14 to 13,3rd stage upto 14 kilometerfrom Rs 19 to 17, 4th stagefrom 14 KM to 22 KM fromRs 22 to 20, 5th stage from22 to 30 kilometer from Rs27 to Rs 24, 6th stage from30 KM above from Rs 32 toRs 29.

On inter district routefare has been reduced from84 paisas KM to 79 paisasand on hilly routes frompaisas 93 to paisas 87 perKM.

Secretary RTA OwaisManzoor Tarar said that 5squads have been set up tostop overcharging of faresand monitor implementationof new fares. —Online

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Islamabad High Court (IHC)has summoned IG Islamabad police TahirAlam Khan on February, 9 in contempt ofcourt case against SHO secretariat policeIslamabad for not registering murder case of2 persons killed in drone attack in the area ofMir Ali at South Waziristan in 2009 .

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui has re-marked “ murder case can be registered anywhere. People sitting in Islamabad are op-erating every thing from here. Police shouldnot fear from registering case as there willbe no drone attack on your police station.Ali South Waziristan drone strike case cameup for hearing before IHC Monday. MirzaShahzad Akbar counsel for the petitionerKarim Khan, Nawaz Bhatti police officerpolice station secretariat and legal counselAbdul Rauf appeared in the court.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui inquiredfrom Nawaz Bhatti ASI of police station sec-retariat “ as to why he has not registeredmurder case of people killed in drone strikeso far as per high court’s orders while SHOsecretariat police had admitted in the courtthat murder case of those killed in drone

strike can be registered.ASI police station secretariat told the

court commissioner Islamabad had writtena letter to FATA secretariat in drone attackcase as per court’s orders saying that mur-der case of two persons killed in dronestroke be registered. On the other handFATA secretariat said in reply that opera-tion was in progress in South Waziristanarea so far therefore, no proceedings couldbe initiated in this case. When situationnormalizes then the case will be registered.

Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui remarked“ you people should act upon law of thecountry. You people should not need fearfrom any one. The law of the land is clearand action should be taken as per this law.This should not be said that situation isnot normal. This is matter of a Pakistani citi-zen. He can get register murder case wher-ever he wills. There is no limit of one dis-trict or other district.

He further observed “ Certain personssitting in Islamabad are running differentoperating systems from here. Murder casecan be registered under high court orders.The hearing of the case was adjourned tillFebruary, 9.

Police should not fear drone strikein registering murder case: IHC

RAWALPINDI—Allied Punjab governmenthospital in Rawalpindi are fleecing and loot-ing poor patients under the pretext of labo-ratory tests while the federal governmenthospitals in Islamabad are providing free fa-cilities of laboratory tests.

While the Punjab government says it isproviding free medical facilities to patientsin all government run hospitals in Rawalpindiincluding Benazir Bhutto, Holy Family andDistrict headquarters hospitals but thesehospitals are not providing free laboratorytests facilities to poor patients.

Talking to INP, various patients said thatthey are giving heavy amounts in the caseof their medical tests to laboratory in BenazirBhutto Hospital of Rawalpindi for diagnos-ing their diseases on doctors advises.

As the fee of medical tests in all AlliedHospitals of Rawalpindi laboratories areequal to private laboratories for medicaltests, hospitals authorities are looting poorpatients.

A patient Ibrar Khan coming in BB hos-pital from Dhamial village of Rawalpindi told

this agency that he gave Rs 600 fee to labo-ratory for his hepatitis test on the advise ofthe doctor and explained that for the firsttime he took this test in a private medicallaboratory at the same amount, adding thereis not difference between medical tests inprivate and Punjab government laboratoriesfees.

A large number of patients have regis-tered their complaints to concerned authori-ties and health department about the unbear-able charges and requested them to providefree medical test facilities in all governmentallied hospital but those requests remainedin vain.

Meanwhile federal government hospitalsincluding Polyclinic and PIMS are provid-ing free of cost medical tests facilities in labo-ratories to all patients, even those patientswho belong to other provinces. People haverequested Punjab chief minister MianShahbaz Sharif to take notice in this regardand direct concerned authorities to providefree medical test facilities in laboratories ofRawalpindi Allied Hospitals.—INP

Allied hospitals fleecing poorpatients in laboratories tests

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court (SC) hasadmitted for hearing Sadiq Ali Memonpetition who was deseated from NA-237Thatha for holding dual nationality andhas issued notice to Attorney General(AG) and others concerned. SC hassought assistance from AG on the pointthat the disqualification period will lasthow long in respect of the person who isdisqualified in dual nationality case andlater foregoes dual citizenship. If this dis-qualification will apply to the then elec-

tion or will stay for ever.Justice Anwar Zahir Jamali has re-

marked “ There is no time frame laid downin the constitution or law in respect ofdisqualification of dual nationality hold-ers. Justice Dost Muhammad has re-marked “ dual national holder is not en-titled to contest election. A 3-memberbench of SC presided over by JusticeAnwar Zahid Jamali took up the case forhearing Monday.

The court ruled “ there is no timelimit determined in the constitution withregard to disqualification of dual nation-

ality holder. Therefore it should be toldthis disqualification would stay howlong.

Rashid A Rizvi counsel for Sadiq AliMemon took the plea in the court thathis client had abandoned his Canadiancitizenship before contesting the elec-tion Despite it he was deseated. We cansee there is no provision in the law forthe time frame of disqualification of anyperson even he abandons dual nation-ality. Due to it his client is facing prob-lems and he has to stay away from hisconstituency.

Dual nationality holder not entitled tocontest elections: Justice Dost

ISLAMABAD—The sectors of I-10and Karachi company are becominghubs of encroachments and pollu-tion while the Capital DevelopmentAuthority has become a silent spec-tator.

The residents walking pass the ar-eas also face lots of difficulty, becauseof stalls and push carts that are placedon footpaths.

With no proper arrangements forparking of cars and garbage, markets

are dumps of garbage and diseases.The citizens demanded that

Islamabad administration should takeaction against lawbreakers because itis also destroying the beautificationof Islamabad.—Online

I-10, Karachi Company becoming hubsof encroachments, pollution

ISLAMABAD—A body of a 60 year oldwoman has been recovered in the areaof Shakarparian within the ambit ofAabpara police station.

The dead body of 60 year womanwas shifted to hospital for post

mortem. In the past week, 3 dead bod-ies have been recovered from near thered zone.

In the areas of G-6/2, a dead bodyof young boy was found that is notidentified up till now. Dead body of a

24 year old waiter was also found Jas-mine garden.

Aabpara police station hasstarted further investigation onmatter, but no traces have beenfound up till now.—Online

Body of 60-year-old woman found

MUZAFFARABAD: Author Aisha Masood presenting her book ‘Kashmir 2014’ to the Prime Minister of Azad Kashmir, Chaudhary Abdul Majid.

DR. ABDUL RUFF

AMERICAN presidents do not visit thirdworld countries to enjoy funs. They do soonly for gaining economic and strategic

benefits from the host countries. Obviously, USpresident Obama with a characteristic innocentlook, came to New Delhi to Indian PM Modi’sfirm hugs with large entourage consisting of eco-nomic and military ministries, among others. .

Clearly, it is not just the BJP government butalso the former rulers Congress party is also be-hind the “historic” visit of Obama. Of late, manyIndians, especially enjoying life abroad seem tothink that USA make it its foreign policy goal tomake India great and worse, and awful that Obamahas come to India in order to strengthen Indiandreams. .

Similarly, many Kashmiri leaders who fightto get Kashmir from Indian occupation and handover to Pakistan for its control also thought Obamawas coming to India to secure freedom forKashmiris so that they can happily hand over Kash-mir to Islamabad and suffer along with other Pa-kistanis without dignity. Fantasies always are in-teresting so long as they don’t hurt us. Indian cor-

Behind Obama’s ‘historic’ visit to Indiato witness republican parade!

porate lords are in fact too happy about theObama’s arrival with a big team to get moneysumptuous from India. And they are ready to trans-fer cash to USA as before. After all, the financiallords in India know too well how to mint moneyin the name of India shine. With Obama around,Indian capitalists are bold enough to openly nego-tiate economic deals to benefit greatly.

BJP and PM are too happy because theircleaver moves yielded fruits for the Indian multi-nationals and big business houses. US sanctionson companies in third countries, ease of doingbusiness and intellectual property rights wereamong a dozen issues that figured at the India-USbusiness forum known as IUCEO Forum whereUS President Barack Obama and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi were also present.

Indian corporate lords raised issues related tobilateral ease of doing business, electronic clusterdevelopment and smart cities, innovation and skilldevelopment, issues plaguing the business rela-tionship between the two nations. Parekh, theysaid, also spoke on visa restrictions, the issue ofIndian firms attracting US sanctions for investingin third countries like Russia and Iran, etc.. Oiland Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) talked about In-

dia-US not having a free-trade agreement (FTA)hampering import of liquefied natural gas (LNG).India is seeking long term assured supply of natu-ral gas from the US at competitive prices to meetits energy needs but Washington bars sale of LNGto nations with which it does not have FTA. In theopen discussion that followed, industrial magnetsthat in fact control Indian government and parlia-ment like Birla and Mahindra group and Ambanispoke on challenges faced by Indian companiesinvesting in the US as well as on defence and singlewindow clearance and Indo-US collaboration insolar power. ICICI chief executive talked aboutthe American tax evasion law, FATCA (ForeignAccount Tax Compliance Act) as well as otherbanking issues.

Director General of Confederation of IndianIndustry (CII) has said that US President Obama’svisit as the Chief Guest at Republic Day signifiesan inflection point in the US-India bilateral rela-tionship and that enhanced cooperation is possiblein areas such as defense, infrastructure, high tech-nology, education, and energy US interest in NewDelhi is to get Indian territories for NATO opera-tions and coordinate the US operations it under-takes in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Bush Jr had

failed to achieve that goal after the Sept-11 hoaxand chose Pakistan for the dirty job. Now Wash-ington ‘s hard core strategist might feel the Modigovernment could oblige USA because of Obama’shistoric v trip without linking with Pakistan thistime. . .

After inviting and coercing democrat Obamato visit to view the republican parade in New Delhi,India is too proud, rather boastful that PresidentObama got the rare distinction as the first U.S.president to attend the Republic Day celebrationsand is also the first U.S. president to visit the coun-try twice while in office. . The issue ofoperationalising the bilateral landmark civilnuclear deal and cooperation in multiple sectorsbetween India and US were understood to havefigured as Congress chief Sonia Gandhi andManmohan Singh former Prime Minister withsimilar innocent look as that of Obama, met USPresident Barrack Obama in New Delhi.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi andformer Commerce Minister Anand Sharma werealso part of Congress delegation that met Obamaand his wife Michelle at ITC Maurya Hotel wherethey are staying. Indian leaders underlined theimportance of “inclusive and sustainable growth”

for a society like India where larger number ofpeople is still under the margin of subsistence andtalked about “human face” of reforms. Singh alsounderlined the need for “closer economic partner-ship” between the two countries. The meeting ofthe Congress delegation with Obama was “verypositive” and the two sides discussed a wide rangeof issues for cooperation in bilateral, regional andinternational arena.

A wide range of strategic affair issues cameup for discussion including that of the threat ofISIS in Iraq and Syria and the two sides sharedtheir assessments and concerns during the meet-ing.

Congress party claims Obama acknowledgedthe contribution of the previous UPA government,headed by Singh, in the signing of the Indo-USnuclear deal.

India and the US had yesterday broken the 7-year-old logjam in operationalising their landmarkcivil nuclear deal besides deciding to jointly pro-duce military hardware including advanced un-manned aerial vehicles (UAVs) during talks be-tween Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Presi-dent Obama. Email: abdulruff@gmail.comPrint Version. —Courtesy: KW

SYED ALI RAZA NAQVI

MUZAFFARABAD—Prime Minister ChaudhryAbdul Majeed says Kashmir Solidarity Day willbe observed with great enthusiasm on February5. Talking to various public delegations that calledon him in Muzaffarabad on Monday he appealedto Kashmiris to observe this day with formidableunanimity. The Day is being observed byKashmiris across the globe to show to the worldon February 5 that they are a nation.

He lauded that all the past governments ofPakistan fully supported the cause of Kashmirisby expressing complete solidarity with them anddid not make any compromise on it. The PrimeMinister reiterated that Kashmir is jugular veinto Pakistan and the direction of all its rivers istowards Pakistan that cultivates the country’slands. He observed Pakistan was facing many

Kashmiris to observeSolidarity Dayon February 5

challenges today including international con-spiracies against it. Lauding the role of armedforces of the country on defending geographi-cal and ideological fronts and said army achievedsignificant successes against terrorism also.

The Premier remarked that the entire nationstands like a rock with the armed forces in up-rooting the menace of terrorism. Chaudhry AbdulMajeed said that spring tree plantation drive hasbeen named after Peshawar and Kashmiri mar-tyrs and urged the people of all shades of life totake active part in planting saplings. Condemn-ing the Shikarpur bomb explosion the Prime Min-ister said terrorists could not dampen the spirit ofthe nation through such cowardly acts. and ex-tend good facilities to the patients. Dr. ShabbirAhmed Dar, Dr. Chaudhry Rasheed, Dr. SaleemAbbasi, and Dr. Naeem, Nasir Mughal and oth-ers paid tributes to the service of Dr. Qurban.

Lawyers’delegation meetsAJK President

ISLAMABAD—A delegation ofLawyers Club from occupiedKashmir met the President ofAzad Jammu and Kashmir,Sardar Yaqoob Khan at Kash-mir House in Islamabad today.

The delegation comprisedAdvocate Babar Qadri, BashirAhmad Butt and Hurriyetleader, Engineer MushtaqMehmood. The delegation ap-prised the AJK President of thecurrent political situation of theterritory and also briefed himabout the human rights viola-tions by the Indian troops.

The delegates told him thatthe people of Kashmir were ren-dering unprecedented sacrificesfor securing their right to self-determination and would nevercompromise on their fundamen-tal rights including the inalien-able right to self-determination.

The President assured thedelegation that the AJK gov-ernment and people wouldcontinue to highlight theKashmir dispute and massiveviolations of human rights inthe occupied territory by In-dian forces at internationallevel.—KMS

Snowfall closesSrinagar-Jammu

highwaySRINAGAR—Fresh snow-fall closed the Srinagar-Jammu highway, today. TheSrinagar-Jammu highwayhas been closed because ofmore than three-feet deepsnow on the highway inBannihal and Batote sectors,weather office said. “Clear-ance operations will start af-ter the snowfall stops,” a se-nior official of the trafficdepartment told reportershere. Continuing snowfallalso resulted in poor visibil-ity and air traffic to andfrom the Kashmir valleywas disrupted on Monday.The local weather office hasforecast moderate snowfallin the plains and heavy inthe higher reaches of Kash-mir.—KMS

JAMMU—In occupied Kashmir, Lubha RamGandhi, head of an organisation campaigningfor grant of citizenship rights to non-Kashmirisin Jammu, has admitted that Sangh parivar hassettled outsiders in the territory. Lubha RamGandhi, in a media interview in Jammu said thatthe aim of bringing outsiders was to make de-mographic changes.

Lubha Ram Gandhi, who is a Hindu refu-gee came to the territory in 1947, considersHindu extremist leaders, championing his cause,as his friends, yet when it comes to settlementof Hindus coming from inside India in Jammu,he opposes the move. Most of the people settledat the behest of the RSS—Biharis, Punjabis,Bangladeshis and Myanmarese—have fraudu-lently managed to secure State Subject Certifi-cate and settled in newly-built residential clus-ters such as Nanak Nagar, Bhagwati Nagar,Gorakh Nagar, Gandhi said.

Sangh Parivar has settled outsidersin Jammu, admits Lubha

“Political parties need voters, so they settlethese people here,” he said. “Look, Jammu wasa small city. Beyond Tawi river there was noresidential settlement. But in the aftermath ofthe Operation Bluestar in Punjab, Hindus wereallowed to settle here and granted citizenshiprights as well,” he revealed. Gandhi said afflu-ent outsiders buy their way into the state sub-ject status. “Former Congress legislator RamanBhalla is an outsider,” he said. “Jain Bazar jew-elers are outsiders but managed to get state sub-ject certificates,” he said. When asked whetherhe has any documentary evidence to prove this,he said he doesn’t have any “but anyone can tellyou this is a fact”.“Sangh parivar has settled wrong people in thestate with the aim of making demographicchanges in the garb of fighting for our cause,”said Gandhi, who settled in Vijaypur, about28km from Jammu during 1947.—KMS

No power canforce freedom

zealots intosubmission

SRINAGAR—In occupiedKashmir, Patron of Jammu andKashmir Mahaz-e-Azadi,Mohammad Azam Inqilabi hassaid that no power on earth canintimidate and browbeatKashmiri freedom zealots whoare drawing inspiration fromthe great Kashmiri martyrs in-cluding Maqbool Butt andMuhammad Afzal Guru.

Mohammad Azam Inqilabiin a statement issued inSrinagar said that the sacrificesof Kashmiri martyrs would notbe allowed go waste. He saidthat the people of Kashmirwould continue their struggletill its logical conclusion.

He also made a mention ofthe sacrifices of MirwaizFarooq, Khawaja. Abdul GhaniLone, Jaleel Andrabi, SheikhAbdul Aziz, S. Hameed, Dr.Qazi Nisar, Dr. G.Q. Wani andMaulana Shoukat Shah andother martyrs of the Kashmircause. He said that the Indianformer premier JawaharlalNehru, during his sojourn inKashmir in 1947.—KMS

KOTLI: Chief Secretary, Azad Kashmir, Abid Ali inspecting Sansa Hospital.

SRINAGAR—In occupied Kashmir, Hurriyetleaders, pro-India Kashmiri parties and civilsociety members have slammed Peoples Demo-cratic Party leader, Muzaffar Hussain Baig forhis remarks about settlement of non-Kashmirisin the territory.

The Jammu and Kashmir Liberation FrontChairman, Muhammad Yasin Malik while ad-dressing a gathering in Srinagar said, “Baig’sremarks are meant to appease his RSS mastersto get the ministry.” Malik termed the statementof Baig as a “glaring example of his Kashmirenmity.”

“Today Baig is telling us to find a middlepath for non-Kashmiris. He is the person whoduring his tenure made conspiracies andamended the law pertaining to Kashmiri womenwho marry outside and thus weakened theterritory’s subject law,” Malik said. “To getpower and ministry in Indian government, Baigactually has draped himself in RSS colors and,like in the past, he has started working on anti-Kashmir agenda,” Malik said.

The forum led by the veteran Hurriyetleader, Syed Ali Gilani has said that MuzaffarHussain Baig has literally bowed down beforethe BJP for greed of power. The spokesman forforum, Ayaz Akbar in a media interview inSrinagar said, if NC’s founder SheikhMuhammad Abdullah sold Kashmir for power,Peoples Democratic Party seemed to have tradedhonor and dignity of the territory.

“The PDP has entered into a sell out and is

Muzaffar Baig appeasing RSS & BJP

Remarks on non-Kashmirisdenounced across the board

speaking the BJP’s language. Baig isn’t an Is-lamic scholar who can issue fatwas. He mayknow law the best but can’t issue Islamicfatwas,” Akbar said. He said Baig should recallthat Kashmir has its own constitution accord-ing to which no outsider is allowed to settle orbecome a permanent resident or voter.

He said that Baig was appeasing BJP andRSS. “He is a part of the conspiracy to destroythe existing social fabric of Jammu and Kash-mir. The aim of this conspiracy is to change thedemography of Kashmir and destroy its Mus-lim-majority status,” he said.

Dukhtarane-Millat Chairperson, Syeda AasiyaAndrabi and APHC leader Javed Ahmad Mir saidBaig’s statement has proved that PDP was subordi-nate branch of RSS. They asked the Kashmiris toremain vigilant to these nefarious designs and standup against the settlement of outsiders in Kashmir.

Reacting strongly to PDP leader’s remarks,the National Conference General Secretary, AliMuhammad Saghar said no non-state subject canbecome a permanent resident in Jammu andKashmir and that NC would oppose any suchmove, tooth and nail. He said that the remarks“reflect how low this party has stooped on thisserious issue.” A civil society group, KashmirCenter for Social and Development Studiestermed the statement as provocative and decep-tive. “By juggling about the issue from variousperspectives, he cannot obfuscate the contoursof the issue and confuse people of Kashmir,”the KCSDS said.—KMS

SRINAGAR—In occupied Kashmir, bravingcold, the father of martyred teenage boy, WamiqFarooq has demanded action against the killersof his son.

Wamiq Farooq, a class 7th student, waskilled after being hit by a police tear-gas shelloutside Gani Memorial Stadium at RajouriKadal in Srinagar on January 31, 2010.FarooqAhmad Wani addressing a seminar organizedby a local NGO to commemorate the fifth deathanniversary of Wamiq Farooq at Eidgah mar-tyrs’ graveyard in Srinagar said, “The thenOmar Abdullah administration is responsiblefor the 120 innocent killings. The new dispen-sation should bring to book the perpetrators ofthe 120 innocent killings during the 2010 un-rest.”

Wani said, “Despite passing of five years,the cops involved in the 2010 killings are still

Teenage Wamiq rememberedon 5th martyrdom anniversary

roaming free thus denying justice to victim fami-lies.”

“Wamiq was one of the brilliant students atschool and was given best student award post-humously,” Farooq said while recalling his bestdays.

Speaking on the occasion, MuhammadAshraf Matoo, father of Tufail who was alsokilled during 2010 summer unrest said, “OmarAbdullah himself acknowledged that his partyhas paid heavy price for 2010 killings and AfzalGuru hanging.”

Hurriyet leaders who were present at theseminar paid rich tributes to the departed soul.A delegation of Jammu and Kashmir LiberationFront comprising Noor Muhammad Kalwal,Bashir Ahmad Kashmiri and other party activ-ists organized a special prayer meeting forWamiq Farooq at martyrs’ graveyard.—KMS

JAMMU—In occupied Kashmir, the Jammu andKashmir Peoples Movement (JKPM), a constitu-ent of APHC, has said that several media housesin India are fomenting hatred against the leader-ship of the disputed territory by launching a re-vengeful campaign.

APHC leader and Senior Vice Chairman ofJKPM, Mir Shahid Saleem, in a statement is-sued in Srinagar said that the media channelswere spewing venom against the veteranHurriyet leader, Syed Ali Gilani and otherHurriyet leaders and were inciting people of In-dia against them. He said that it was the directresult of the provocation that members of RSSand other Hindu communal outfits were out to

Indian media houses promotinghatred against Kashmiris: JKPM

assault and harm the common Kashmiris acrossIndia. He said the recent attacks against theKashmiri students and traders were simply theresult of media provocation during the past sev-eral days.

The APHC leader said that some Indianmedia houses claiming to be taking the moralhigh grounds were actually playing a criminalrole of inciting the whole India against theKashmiris. He said that the way some mediarepresentatives invaded Syed Ali Gilani’s resi-dence at Malviya Nagar, New Delhi, a few daysback despite the ailing leader refused to talk tothem was a glaring example of unethical mediapractice.—KMS

The reality is thatbusiness and invest-

ment spending are thetrue leading indicators

of the economy andthe stock market. If

you want to knowwhere the stock

market is headed,forget about consumer

spending and retailsales figures. Look to

business spending,price inflation, inter-est rates, and produc-

tivity gains.

—Mark Skousen

ISLAMABAD: Syed Mazhar Hussain, PTCL Chief Human Resource Office along with second batch of interns at theconcluding ceremony of PTCL Triple-E One-year paid internship programme.

LAHORE: Country Head of World Bank in Pakistan Rachid Benmessaoud called onPunjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Country Direc-tor of the World Bank in Pa-kistan Rachid Benmessaoudmet Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharifhere on Monday.

Ongoing projects in varioussectors including energywith the cooperation ofWorld Bank were discussedin the meeting.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the Chief Minister com-mended the cooperation ofWorld Bank in energy, edu-

cation, health, agriculture, ir-rigation and other sectors ofsocial development. He saidthat the programmes for theprovision of best servicesand relief to the masses arecontinuing successfully inPunjab while the funds

saved through austeritypolicy are also being spenton the welfare of the people.The Country Director ofWorld Bank in PakistanRachid Benmessaoud saidthat the World Bank will con-tinue its cooperation in en-ergy projects as well as agri-

culture, irrigation and educa-tion sectors. He said thatPunjab government led byChief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif is speedilyimplementing various devel-opment programmes in theprovince.

Provincial Minister forFinance Mujtaba Shuja urRehman, Member ProvincialAssembly Ayesha GhausPasha, Chief Secretary,Chairman Planning & Devel-opment, Secretary Financeand concerned officers werepresent on the occasion.

World Bank Country Directormeets Shahbaz

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Telecommunica-tion Company Limited (PTCL) landmarkproject of developing the youth throughits Triple-E Program continues for the 3rdconsecutive year. Batch 2 of the programwas concluded successfully, where over400 graduates from all across the countrybenefited.

The Triple-E Program provides a year-long opportunity to fresh graduates forlearning and development through hands-on training, live projects, job rotations, ex-posure to a fast-paced corporate cultureand cutting-edge information and commu-nication technologies. The program enablesEnrichment, Encouragement and Evolutionthrough a highly structured learning andengagement system implemented and im-proved every year, so that young gradu-ates can compete in today’s highly com-petitive job environment confidently andprofessionally.

The program is one of the most suc-cessful Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) initiatives in the country. RecentlyPTCL held closing ceremonies for the sec-ond batch of Triple-E graduates in all majorcities of the country. Syed Mazhar Hussain,Chief Human Resource Officer (CHRO)PTCL, while speaking at the occasion said,“PTCL firmly believes in the capacity build-

PTCL concludes youthdevelopment internship program

ing of youth and play an active role in ac-celerating the economic progress of thecountry. This program shall empower Paki-stani youth to seek better and brighter fu-ture for themselves.”

“We are also creating an alumni net-work for all the graduating batches ofTriple-E, so that we stay connected withthem, to see them growing in their careersand share updates about PTCL’s businessoperations, culture and matching job op-portunities for them emerging in the fu-ture,” added Mazhar Hussain. This year’straining included 198 learning sessionscomprising of functional and soft skilltrainings, nearly 600 individual liveprojects, more than 200 job rotations aswell as regular feedback and career coun-seling sessions.

Owing to the high quality of talentgroomed, PTCL has already offered ahealthy percentage of the top performersan opportunity to work as full-time employ-ees with PTCL. So far nearly 200 internshave secured employment during and afterthe completion of their internship tenure.The third batch of Triple-E interns has alsobeen selected from thousands of applica-tions received and interviews undertakenacross the country. The initiative reflectsPTCL’s commitment towards corporate re-sponsibility initiatives and vision of devel-oping the youth.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Federal government has ensuredprovision of a historic economic relief to thepeople especially the poor, by reducing petro-leum products’ prices up to 40 percent duringlast six months. These views were expressedby All Pakistan Transporters Federation(APTF) Secretary General Malik WaseemKhokhhar, Lahore Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (LCCI) President Ejaz A. Mumtaz,Lahore Township Industries Association(LTIA) Chairman Zaheer Bhutt and FormerLahore Stock Exchage (LSE) Chairman AsimZaffar in separate interviews with APP hereMonday.

APTF Secretary General Malik WaseemKhokhhar told APP that with the reduction ofPOL prices in the international market, thegovenment had passed this relief to the massesand the transporters also decreased the faresfor various routes. He also hailed the PrimeMinister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Fed-eral Petroleum Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasifor passing this economic relief to the massesespecially the poor segments of the society.Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry(LCCI) President Ejaz A. Mumtaz also termedthe 40 percent cut in petroleum prices duringlast six months, as a good omen for economicgrowth of the country.

He said that cut in goods transport fareswould ensure relief to the industry, whilelow price of furnace oil would help reducethe industrial input cost and help the in-dustry grow thus creating more employmentopportunities. The reduction in inflationrate would alleviate poverty and raise theGDP growth rate, he added. While, LahoreTownship Industries Association (LTIA)Chairman Zaheer Bhutt told APP that de-spite having difficult economic situation

SALIM AHMED

LA H O R E—Pharma Bureau, representativebody of Research based Multinational Phar-maceutical Companies, has urged the govern-ment, Finance Minister Senator Ishaq Dar, andState Minister Saira Afzal Tarar to avert a po-tential drug crisis by formulating a committeeto review the draft ‘Drug Pricing Policy.’

‘We would like the committee to ensure thatthe policy incorporates the predictabili ty,transparency, quality, and product availabilityto encourage investments into quality manu-facturing, incentivizes exports, and also pre-vents unscrupulous/unregistered sector fromflooding market with fake and substandardproducts,’ Shahab Rizvi, Chairman and ArshadSaeed Khan Co Chairman Pharma Bureaustated.

Lack of a functioning regulatory environmentconforming to international standards, which leadsto a failure to articulate a policy whereby pricesare adjusted in a predictable and transparent man-

Pharmaceutical industry urges govt to avert drug crisisner has been the main impediment to the growthof the pharmaceutical industry, they said.

They added that the draft Drug PricingPolicy does not reflect the numerous discus-sions held between the industry and the gov-ernment over the past eight years. ‘We haveexpressed our serious reservations on this draftto the government,’ they added. The proposedcut of 45% in drug prices (which have not beenincreased for last 13 years) will not only ren-der their production unviable but will also re-sult in influx of smuggled fake and spuriousdrugs, they opined.

They said the present form of the policy ifapproved would result in severe shortages ofessential and life-saving medicines (insulins,anti-cancer drugs, TB, anti-epileptic, vaccines,polio, antibiotics, cardiovasculars,paracetamol, etc.) Moreover, it would deprivethe patients of Pakistan from the benefits ofthe latest researches as no further introduc-tion of new therapies would be possible andquality products will be replaced by sub-stan-

dard/fake medicines, they said.They added, drugs will be cheaper for the

rich and more expensive for the poor and threatto the continuation of patient access programsunder which thousands of poor critically ill pa-tients are provided with the latest life-savingtherapies for free. ‘We believe that if the gov-ernment introduces a transparent market ori-ented pricing policy for the pharmaceutical in-dustry, it would create the stability and predict-ability necessary to stimulate investment andgrowth in this important sector,’ reasoned Co-Chairman PB.

Similarly, they added, a transparent and pre-dictable regulatory environment would inevitablylead to the improvement in quality of medicines,access to new therapies at affordable prices andalleviation of essential drugs shortage. The cor-rect stimulus would also enable the Pharma In-dustry to tap into the huge export potential forthis sector, as witnessed by other countries in theregion, and in order to achieve this, the industryneeds a new policy with a transparent mechanism

to adjust prices, benchmarked with other regionalcountries with similar incomes/standards of liv-ing, they added.

‘Such policy would safeguard the interestof both investors and consumers because inthe context of 600 plus local companies, an indi-vidual cost-plus based approach is not practi-cal and could give rise to transparency and pub-lic/media concerns. A comparativebenchmarking based pricing mechanism mayalso be more defensible in the public eye,’ theyadded. Arshad was of the view that Pakistan’sability to evolve a predictable and transparentinvestment environment for the pharmaceuticalsector will be in the long-term interest of thepublic and the country. ‘By implementing apolicy competitively aligned with other coun-tries in the region and also aligned with WorldHealth Organization guidelines, the country canbenefit significantly in terms of Foreign DirectInvestment, exports, job creation, provision ofaffordable quality medicines and other vital eco-nomic benefits,’ reasoned Co-Chairman PB.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Ministry of Petroleum Monday saidthere is no shortage of Premier Motor Gasoline (PMG)

in some areas of Punjab andsaid all marketing compa-nies have been directed toclosely monitor the situa-tion.

In view of the pricereductions in Petroleumproducts, the Ministry ofPetroleum and Natural Re-sources already issued nec-essary instructions to all OilMarketing Companies(OMCs) to top up their re-spective depots and movethe PMG, HSD and otherpetroleum products to en-

tire country on war footing basis, a ministry statementsaid.

Instructions have also been issued to Chief Secretar-ies of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan , Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand Gilgit Baltistan to ensure smooth supplies of petro-leum products at retail outlets in their territorial jurisdic-tion to avoid any kind of shortage, overcharging and dis-comfort to general public/ consumer.

Giving details of the of the oil stock, the ministry saidas of the 1st Feb 2015, the country stocks of PMG were117,000 Metric Tons sufficient to meet the requirement of

Abbasi asks companies tomonitor fuel supply

the country for nine (09) days.Out of the total country stocks, 50000 Metric tons

were available in upcountry including Punjab to meetthe demand and also about same quantity is in transitfrom Karachi to upcountry. On the instructions of Min-istry of Petroleum, all OMCs remained open on Sun-day, 1st Feb 2015 for ensuring swift supply of PMGand other petroleum products to the retail outlets.Further OMCs were also advised to ensure minimum5000 Liters stocks at the retail outlets, all the time, thestatement said. The entire situation has been moni-tored by Ministry of Petroleum and the District Ad-ministrations.

All OMCs have planned to import 350000 MetricTons of PMG in 11 vessels during February 2015 tomeet the demand. Local refineries will also produce130000 Metric Tons during the current month to meetthe surge in the demand. The actual sale of PMG on 1stFeb 2015 was around 33000 Metric Tons, against thenormal sales of 12500 Metric Tons. Out of the total saleof 33000 Metric Tons, in Punjab Province 21000 MetricTons was supplied and the balance was in the rest ofthe country.

The sale of HSD (Diesel) remained at 46000 MetricTons against the normal sale of 20000 Metric Tons.HSD imports of 210000 Metric Tons have also beenarranged during February 2015. The situation is beingmonitored round the clock, 7 days a week to ensuresmooth supply of the PMG, HSD and other petroleumproducts to avoid any discomfort to the general pub-lic, the Petroleum Ministry said.

Traders term continuous POLprices squeeze as historic

relief to massesand multiple challenges, the PML-N gov-ernment had been fulfilling its commitmentof providing relief to the general public andall sectors of economy. At present, the POLprices were higher in other countries thanPakistan, he said, adding that low oil priceswould definitely benefit the industy withincreased trade and production activity.

Former Lahore Stock Exchage (LSE) Chair-man Asim Zaffar was of the view that decreaseoil prices would equally increase the perfor-mance and profit of the industrial and tradesector and this ideal situation would ultimatelyjack up the stock market. The survey revealedthat edible items’ prices cut by 7 to 25 percent,while various income classes including that ofearning Rs 6000 to 10000 per month got reliefof reduction in 11 percent in dearness, of Rs10000 to Rs 20000 by 9 percent, of Rs 20000 toRs 30000 by 7 percent and of Rs 30000 by 5percent.

On August 1, 2014, the petroleum priceswere fixed per litre as Petrol Rs 110.97, Hi-speedDiesel Rs 109.34, light-speed diesel Rs 93.27,karosene oil 97.05, while on February 1, 2015,these prices came as low level as Petrol Rs70.29, Hi-speed Diesel Rs 57.94, light-speeddiesel Rs 80.61 and karosene oil Rs 61.44. Uptill now, the consumers got relief in per litreprice of petrol Rs 40.68, Hi-speed diesel Rs 28.73,light-speed diesel Rs 35.33 and karrocinse oilRs 35.61, similarly, the reduced POL prices alsohelp brought down the urban transport faresby 10 to 15 percent, inter-city transport faresby 8 to 12 percent and goods transport faresby 10 to 14 percent. The low oil prices also cutthe high prices of edible items including 20kgwheat-flour bag prices downs from Rs 780 to760, and per kg price chiken meat from Rs 240to 160, sugar from Rs 67 to Rs 55, rice from Rs90 to Rs 70, potato from Rs 40 to Rs 20, andonion from Rs 35 to Rs 25.

ISE-10 index witnessesbullish trendISLAMABAD—TheIslamabad StockExchange here onMonday witnessedbullish trend as the ISE-10 index was up by 65.39points and closed at4025.83 points. A total of149,900 shares weretraded, which were up by19,000 shares thanprevious day’s trading of168,900 shares. Out of156 companies, shareprices of 84 companiesrecorded increase whileshare prices of 78companies registereddecrease. Only onecompany remainedstable in today’s trading.The share price ofSapphire Fibres in-creased by Rs.25.69 pershare while the shareprices of Sanofi Aventisdecreased by Rs.21.75per share. Lotte Chemi-cal, Lafrage PakistanCements and FaujiCement remained the toptrading companies inMonday trading with5,000, 4,500 and 3,000shares respectively.—APP

Port Qasimshipping activityKARACHI—Four shipsC.V Posen, M.T SuperForte, M.T AtlanticMiracle and M.T Arietiscarrying containers,12,000 tonnes Palm oil,10,452 tonnes Chemicalsand 69,944 tonnesFurnace oil were arrangedberthing at QasimInternational ContainerTerminal, Liquid CargoTerminal, Engro VopakTerminal and Fotco OilTerminal respectively atPort Qasim (PQ) duringlast 24 hours. Meanwhiletwo more ships withContainers and Diesel oilalso arrived at outeranchorage of PQ duringthe same period last 24hours. Berth occupancyremained at the Port attwenty nine percent onSunday, where four shipsnamely C.V Posen, M.TSuper Forte, M.T AtlanticMiracle and M.T Arietisare currently occupyingberths to load/ offloadContainers, Palm oil,Chemicals and Furnaceoil respectively duringlast 24 hours.—APP

Chinese firm toproduce solar-powered carsBEIJING—HanergyHolding Group Ltd., theworld’s largest thin-filmsolar power company,will launch as many asfive models of solar-powered cars in October,its chairman announcedon Monday. Hanergy iscooperating with threeoverseas and twodomestic partners on thevehicles, board chairmanLi Hejun told a pressconference. Hanergyannounced in lateJanuary that it hadacquired Alta Devices,an American competitor,with charging stationsfor Tesla in Beijing andShanghai. The newmodels will have a rangeof 80 to 100 km oncefully charged, he said.—INP

Ebad nominatessignatory for

WBSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh GovernorDr Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan hasnominated Zaheer HyderShah, Secretary Sindh Irriga-tion Department as authorizedsignatory on behalf of SindhGovernment for signing of theFinancing and Project Agree-ments for the World BankAdditional Financing for SindhWater Sector ImprovementPhase-I Project. According todetails the revised PC-I ofSindh Water Sector Improve-ment Phase-I Project (WSIP-I) was approved by ECNEC on18-04-2014. The ECNEC ap-proved Rs. 28840 million asIDA credit. The World Bankhas already provided US$150.2 million for the original PC-I of the project whereas agreedto provide additional financ-ing of 138 million US dollarsas additional financing.

The project develop-ment objective (PDO) is toimprove the efficiency andeffectiveness of irrigationwater distribution in thethree Area Water Boards(AWBs) of Ghotki, Nara andLeft Bank.

Intel PakistanconcludesNationalScience

CompetitionSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Intel Paki-stan concluded it’s Na-tional Science Competi-tion by announcing thewinners at Sir Syed Me-morial Complex,Islamabad. The winnerswill represent Pakistan atthe Intel International Sci-ence & Engineering Fair(ISEF) 2015, to be held inPittsburgh, Pennsylvaniain May 2015. The eventwas graced by Mr. QaiserMajeed Malik, AdditionalSecretary CA&DD aschief guest.

Individual projectswinners are; Habab Idressfrom Dewan DayaramJethmal Sindh Govern-ment Science collegeKarachi, Shadad Rasool,Buriro Pak Turk Interna-tional Schools and Col-leges Kahairpur andMuhammad AhsanNawaz, GovernmentHigher Secondary School,Vehari. Group projectswinners are; Amir HussainKhan, Ali Ahmed Karim,Kiran Karim, Aga KhanHigher Secondary School,Karimabad, Karachi.Aurangzeb Ahmed,Tohami Bin Shafiq, SyedAli Ahsen MuhammadJafry BeaconhouseSchool System, Lahore.

The Intel National Sci-ence Fair 2014-15 held incollaboration with Paki-stan Science Foundationand Federal Ministry ofScience and Technology,supported by Habib Banklimited and ShaukatKhanum Memorial CancerHospital and ResearchCentre showcased morethan 94 science projectssubmitted by 197 youngscientists from all fourprovinces after rigorouscompetition at district andprovincial levels. Winnersof the National ScienceFair have qualified to com-pete in the InternationalScience & EngineeringFair, showcasing their tal-ent on an internationalplatform for over $5 millionin prizes and scholar-ships.

“The huge numberof students who havequalified for the Na-tional Science Fair andthe ones who’ve furthersecured a position in theInternational Science&Engineering Fair inPittsburgh, Pennsylva-nia are proof that Paki-stan is home to incred-ible talent. One of thecore outcomes of educa-tion is to produce pro-ductive citizens and rolemodels for future, whichwe can only achieve byenabling students in be-coming acquainted withand excelling in technol-ogy,” said Naveed Siraj,Country Manager, IntelPakistan. “Pakistani stu-dents receive interna-tional recognition andgain valuable exposurethrough this platform,while at the same timeshowing the real poten-tial for Pakistan aroundthe world. I would like tothank all the studentswho have participated inthe Science Fairs at allthe qualifying levels,and wish the winningteams the best of luck inPittsburgh.”

Currency Selling Buying

USA 101.00 100.80

UK 152.29 151.99

Euro 114.23 114.00

Canada 79.30 79.14

Switzerland 109.09 108.87

Australia 78.51 78.36

Sweden 12.22 12.20

Japan 0.8574 0.8557

Norway 12.22 13.05

Singapore 74.56 74.42

Denmark 13.07 15.31

Saudi Arabia 26.87 26.82

Hong Kong 13.03 13.00

Kuwait 342.15 341.47

Malaysia 27.82 27.76

Newzealand 73.39 73.24

Qatar 27.73 27.68

UAE 27.50 27.44

Kr Won 0.0916 0.0914

Thailand 3.092 3.085

ISLAMABAD: Dr Mubarik Ahmed, Director General (SARC) PARC & DG DPP Karachi,Waheed Ahmad, Chairman (R&D) PFVA and Dr. Babar Bajwa, Regional Director Paki-stan CAB International signing MoU. Dr Iftikhar Ahmad, Chairman PARC, Dr. M.Azeem Khan, DG NARC, Dr. Shahid Masood, Member (Plant Science) PARC and othersenior officers of the organizations seen in the picture.

KARACHI: President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Iftikhar AhmedVohra presenting KCCI’s crest to Ambassador of Nepal, Bharat Raj Paudyal, duringhis visit to KCCI.

PESHAWAR: Chairman All Pakistan Flour Association KP, Naeem Butt chairing themeeting of executive body at provincial Head Office.

KARACHI: Journalist are in queue for turn to verify their mobile sim card owner dataoutside a customer care stall at Press Club.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The P&G CEO Challenge wentlive in more than 7 countries, providing stu-dents international exposure and a true in-sight into how a multinational company likeP&G operates. The initiative is born fromP&G’s ‘promote-from-within’ approach toleadership development, which focuses onrecruiting the best talent and investing intheir development. P&G’s commitment todeveloping future leaders is well renowned- Chief Executive Magazine has named P&Gthe best overall company for leadershipdevelopment in its list of “Best Companiesfor Leaders” for 3 consecutive years.

P&G, the maker of world-renowned prod-ucts such as Pampers, Always, Safeguard,Ariel, Head & Shoulders and Pantene, pro-vided students from universities acrossPakistan an exciting opportunity to test theirentrepreneurial skills in a regional casestudy competition titled “P&G CEO Chal-lenge” In line with the same spirit, the P&G

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Chief Executive TDAP S.M. Muneer said PrimeMinister Mian Nawaz Sharif is taking special interest forcontrolling law & order situation of Pakistan particularlyKarachi. Karachi is an economic hub of Pakistan whereconducive law and order situation is imperative for busi-ness activities. He stated this at reception hosted by Chair-man Afeef Group Rashid Ahmed Siddiqui in honour ofPresident FPCCI Mian Muhammed Adress, SVP AbdulRahim Janu, Vice Presidents Ikram Rajput, Waseem Vohraand Shenawaz Ishtiaq. On the occation President AllKarachi Industrial Alliance Mian Zahid Hussain, S.M.Naseer, Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan, Mumtaz Shaikh,Ikhtiar Baig, Sardar Yasin Malik and Afeef Rashid hasspoke and Abdul Sami Khan Yahya Polani, Jawed AliGhouri, Zubair Chhaya, Gulzar Firoz, Muneer Sultan,Mehtab uddin Cahwla and others were present.

S.M. Muneer said that arrangements have been madefor the Expo Pakistan by TDAP and almost 93% stallshave been booked. Whereas this year genuine buyers wereinvited instead of relatives as done in the past, so thatgoods made in Pakistan would be presented before buy-

Conducive law & order situationimperative for business activities

ers. The President of FPCCI Mian Muhammed Adress saidthat the working on presenting budget proposal has beenundertaken with full force. He further said soon a delega-tion of FPCCI will meet Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharifto apprise him the difficulties being faced by businesscommunity and put proposals for increase of businessand trade activities.

Mian Zahid Hussain said due to democratic reforms inFPCCI the decision is taking much time to mature. He fur-ther said that the success in FPCCI is due to leadership ofS.M. Muneer and his teamwork. S.M. Naseer said that wehave to work hard for the cause of trade and industry.Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan said that United BusinessGroup is now a voice of Pakistan and it is imperative torevive the FPCCI by working on the constitution of UBG.

The Senior Vice President Abdul Rahim Janu said thatit is first time that stalls for the exhibition were allocatedthrough ballet and we are also finding ways for enhancingthe income of FPCCI. The President of KATI & ChairmanAfeef Group Rashid Ahmed Siddiqui said that Federationwould play its due role under the new leadership and thebusiness community has the high hopes that FPCCI wouldpromote trade and business activities.

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Agricultural Re-search Council (PARC) Monday signed aMemorandum of Understanding with CABInternational (CABI) and All Pakistan Fruitand Vegetable Exporters, Importers andMerchants Association (PFVA) Karachi.The PARC through its regional centerSouthern-zone Agricultural Research Cen-ter (SARC) at University of Karachi signedthe MoU here at National Agricultural Re-search Center (NARC) Islamabad.

Under this MoU, CAB International willprovide funding through the USDA fundedproject to work on the control of PapayaMealy bug and Apple Mites and CodlingMoth in Pakistan. The SARC and PFVA willbe the main collaborators in the projectwhile CABI will build capacity of SARC andPFVA members and will also initiate researchand development program to control mealybug which will be a key step towards re-ducing pests’ risks for horticulture indus-try in Pakistan. The SARC will also be sup-ported by up-grading a Biological Control

PARC inks MoU with CABI,PFVA to control Papaya Mealy bug

Laboratory at the SARC-Karachi.The CABI, SARC-PARC and PFVA will

continue to develop and implement suchprojects in collaborative manner to benefitthe horticultural export industry of Pakistan,according to PARC press statement. ThePFVA will be main beneficiary of the MoU asthe industry cannot withstand as resilientbusiness entity without a solid Research andDevelopment (R&D) base. Being the Inter-Government Agency, CABI and the PARCwill continue to support such developmentactivities in the future as well, to steer horti-cultural export industry development.

Dr. Mubarik Ahmed, Director General(SARC) PARC & DG DPP Karachi, WaheedAhmad, Chairman (R&D) PFVA and Dr.Babar Bajwa, Regional Director PakistanCAB International signed the MoU whereasDr. Iftikhar Ahmad, Chairman PARC, Dr. M.Azeem Khan, DG NARC, Dr. ShahidMasood, Member (Plant Sciences) PARCand other senior officers of the organiza-tions witnessed the ceremony.—APP

P&G promotes professionalleadership among youngsters

CEO Challenge aims at developing andgrooming university students by provid-ing substantial leadership opportunities forthem early on, before they embark on theirprofessional journey. The P&G CEO Chal-lenge saw a large number of applicationswith more than 700 teams registering fromover 20 universities across Pakistan. Thecompetition was divided into five phasesand followed an elimination process inwhich teams were provided a case specificto P&G brands. Each brand case focusedon the different functional elements of man-aging business on the brand. The top 5teams participated in phase 3, competingfor the opportunity to represent Pakistanin the cluster round against universityteams from the Middle East region. Theteams were required to brainstorm andpresent innovative solutions to the busi-ness problems specific to their case withthe winning team from Pakistan emergingfrom Lahore University of ManagementSciences (LUMS).

Dr. Zeelaf Munir, Chairperson, Executive Management Board of English Biscuit Manu-facturers (Pvt) Ltd with Agha Khan University Hospital’s senior management team atthe inaugural ceremony of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.

LAHORE—Huawei Consumer Business Group (BG)Monday announced its 2014 financial performance. To-tal sales revenue increased 30% year-on-year to USD12.2 billion, crossing the 10 billion mark for the first time.Shipment grew by 7.8% to a total of 138 million devicesin 2014, including 75 million smartphones, representinga year-on-year increase of 45%. “Our strategy of focus-ing on premium mid- to high- end products has bornefruit, with 2014 resulting in significant achievements in anumber of areas including product R&D, brand aware-ness, channel development and growth in market sharewhich further consolidated our number three position inthe global smartphone market. The global influence ofour brand has continued to grow, and Huawei has be-come the first mainland Chinese company to success-fully enter Interbrand’s Top 100 Global Brands of 2014list,” said Mr. Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei Consumer BG.

One of the most notable achievements of 2014 is theshipment contribution of mid- to high- end smartphoneswhich rose to 18%. Huawei P7, one of Huawei ConsumerBG’s premium flagship products, achieved global ship-ment of four million units only six months after it waslaunched in Paris in May while Huawei Mate7 has beenoverwhelmingly well-received among business executivesin all markets and shipped over two million units onlythree months since its launch in September last year.

Also of note is a significant growth in revenue con-tribution from open channels (including E-commerce),which accounted for 41% of the total revenue. As of theend of 2014, Huawei Consumer BG has established 630Huawei branded shops, these factors have contributedto the enhancement of the online and offline retail shop-ping experience for consumers. The growing popularityof our mid- to high- end smartphones among consumershas been enhanced by internet marketing initiatives, en-abling Huawei’s brand awareness to continue its expan-sion around the globe.

A recent consumer survey report from IPSOS, whichcovered 32 countries, found that Huawei’s brand aware-ness rose from 52% in 2013 to 65% in 2014, meaning thatthe Huawei brand is recognized by nearly two thirds of

Huawei Consumer Business Group announcesfinancial results, crosses $10b mark

the respondents in those countries. According to IPSOS,Huawei’s Net Promoter Score (consumers who had rec-ommended Huawei handsets to others) reached 43%, plac-ing it among the top three brands in the report. Huawei isalso among the top three brands in terms of Brand Mo-mentum which reflect Huawei’s success in improving itsbrand experience for consumers and further strengthenthe brand’s competitive edge on the global stage.

The Honor brand unveiled by Huawei last year alsodelivered solid performance in 2014. Shipment of Honordevices reached 20 million units, with Honor 3C seriesshipping more than eight million units, Honor 3X seriesover four million units and Honor 6 over three million units.By the end of 2014, the Honor brand had established apresence in more than 60 countries and regions aroundthe world. Huawei Consumer BG has been focusing onmid- to high- end premium devices since 2012. From HuaweiP1 to P7 in the P series, from Huawei Mate to Mate7 in theMate7 series, from Honor 6 to Honor 6 Plus, all of theflagship devices of Huawei Consumer BG aim to differen-tiate themselves with the extraordinary user experiencebrought to consumers by Huawei’s core competency. Pseries redefines smartphone design and offers superbcameras; Mate series stands out by its large screen andstrong battery life; Honor products provide consumersoutstanding connectivity, quality and strong battery life.

Mr. Shao Yang, the Vice-President of Marketing,Huawei Consumer BG said, “The dual-Huawei and Honorbrand strategy has proven to be highly successful, cre-ating synergies which have resulted in raising brandawareness and market share of the Huawei ConsumerBG as a whole. The Huawei brand has consolidated itsleading position in mid- to high- end smartphone marketwhile the Honor brand has established itself as a boldand popular brand among digital native consumers.” 2015will be a year of strategic deployment for Huawei Con-sumer BG, in which Huawei Consumer BG will leveragethe opportunities in Internet, the Internet of Things andcar networking to achieve breakthroughs in various busi-ness areas including products, brand, marketing, chan-nel, retail and e-commerce.—NNI

Pak, IFC signcoop framework

agreementMIAN ARSHAD

I S L A M A B A D —Secre taryEconomic Affairs’ Division(EAD), Mohammad SaleemSethi and Regional Man-ager & Head, InternationalFinance Corporation (IFC)Muneer Ferozie, Monday,signed Framework agree-ment setting out principlesfor cooperation betweenthe Pakistan and IFC forprovision of advisory ser-vices. Under the agreement,the IFC, in two phases re-spectively would provideassistance on project prepa-ration including feasibilityreviews and project tender-ing covering aspects ofprequalification, marketingto potential investors, bid-ding and signing of the PPPcontracts, asset sale andshare sale/purchase agree-ments with successful bid-ders.

The agreement wouldhelp GoP departments tocarry out the smoothprivatization transactionsand the IFC would contrib-ute by mobilizing grantfunds to cover the cost ofexternal consultations forproject implementation. Itmay be mentioned thatWorld Bank has agreed inthe Country PartnershipStrategy (2015 – 2019) toassist the Govt of Pakistanin its PPP (public privatepartnership) andPrivatization programmes.

The GoP, in conjunc-tion with the relevant de-partments aims to increaseprivate sector investmentand participation in the in-frastructure and socialsectors in the form of PPPsand other similar instru-ments. IFC accordinglywould, for each PPP and/orprivatization transaction se-lected for implementation un-der this Agreement, provideadvisory assistance.

ISLAMABAD: NAB has joined hands with Pakistan hockey team to pledge against corruption displaying NAB’sofficial message “Say No To Corruption”.

FAISALABAD: A view of first match of 2nd Lyallpur National Tchoukball Champion-ship for Women 2015 played between Bannu and Mirpur Khas teams at Sports Complexof University of Agriculture.

SIALKOT: Eden Lion and Emirates airline One Day Tournament winner Gujrat Jhelum Blue Captain receivingAward from chief guest.

OCALA (Florida)—Seventeen-year-oldLydia Ko of New Zealand became theyoungest golfer to hold top spot in theworld rankings by tying for second placeat the LPGA season-opening Coates GolfChampionship in Ocala, Florida.

American Tiger Woods was previouslythe youngest golfer to become world num-ber one when he did it in 1997 at 21, whileShin Ji-yai held the women’s record afterreaching top spot in 2010 aged 22.

The Korean-born Ko,led by as many as fourstrokes in the final round butslipped behind after adouble-bogey six at the 17thhole as she finished one shotbehind winner and goodfriend Choi Na-yeon ofSouth Korea, who fired a 68.Still, it good enough to lifther ahead of Inbee Park ofSouth Korea in the rankings.“It’s amazing,” said Ko, whoalso ended the 2014 seasonby winning the CME Title-holders event in Novemberand a $1 million prize forclaiming the season-longpoints race.

Ko, who as a 15-year-oldamateur in 2012 became theyoungest ever winner on thetour, shot a one-under-par 71for 15-under 273 to sharesecond with American Jes-sica Korda and Jang Ha-naof South Korea at the GoldenOcala Golf and EquestrianClub.

The precocious Ko be-gan the final round with a

JEREZ DE LA FRONTERA (Spain)—Four-time world champions Sebastian Vettel sentan early season warning to double worldchampions Mercedes by clocking the fast-est time on his first day of testing withFerrari in Jerez on Sunday.

The German was the first man out onthe track, even sending a message byovertaking Nico Rosberg in the pit laneon the way out for his first lap in the SF15-T Ferrari.

It wasn’t until well into the afternoonthat he surpassed Rosberg on the track,though, as he posted a best time of 1min22.690secs during his 60 laps.

Vettel’s positive opening day was instark contrast to his disastrous test in Jerezduring a troubled final season with Red Bulllast year when he lodged just 11 laps overtwo days.

It was also a good day for Sauber asMarkus Ericsson was surprisingly alsofaster than Rosberg.

However, the Mercedes engines werestill dominant when it came to time out onthe track as Rosberg racked up 157 lapsand last season’s surprise package ValteriBottas completed 73.

The biggest strugglers on the openingday of the four-day session in southernSpain were McLaren as their new Honda-powered MP4-30 could only manage sixlaps.

It was particularly disappointing for thehuge numbers of Spanish fans who hadturned out to see Fernando Alonso on his

Formula One: Vettelfastest on Ferrari bow

return to McLaren.The two-time world champion was also

way off the pace during his brief stint onthe track, trailing over 18 seconds behindthe time set by Vettel.

Red Bull faired significantly better than12 months ago as Daniel Ricciardo wentfourth fastest in registering 35 laps.

The test in Jerez will be followed by twomore in Barcelona later this month aheadof the new season, which starts inMelbourne on 15 March.—AFP

OCALA: Na Yeon Choi of South Korea poses with the win-ners trophy following her victory at the Coates Golf Cham-pionship at the Golden Ocala Golf & Equestrian Club.

Golf: Teenager Ko becomesyoungest world No.1

one-stroke lead and was disappointed notto win the tournament, saying she hadn’tthought about her ranking. “I didn’t reallyknow what I needed to do to get in thatposition.All I was focused on was trying to play mybest out here today,” she said. “So it’s ahuge honour to be in that ranking. “I’mjust going to just focus on my golf, notthink about the rankings. The rankings al-ways comes after the results.”—APP

Ski Federationrevises

schedule forwinter games

SPORTS REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Ski Fed-eration of Pakistan (SKF)has announced the revisedWinter Games 2015 sched-ule.

The federation had lastweek announced cancella-tion of some winter ski com-petitions and postponingthe others.

According to the newprogramme issued here onMonday, the training campfor men ski competitions willcommence on Tuesday atGilgit-Gilgit Baltistan’sNaltar Ski slope.

All he ski associationsand clubs, including CivilAviation Authority Paki-stan, Pakistan Air Force(PAF), Pakistan Army, Paki-stan Navy and Gilgit-Baltistan Scouts havereached at Naltar, said aspokesman of the Ski Fed-eration.

He said the opening cer-emony of men ski competi-tions would be held on Feb-ruary 7.

He said the most presti-gious and big events of thewinter games such as theNational Ski Championshipand the Shah Khan Ski Cupwould be held on February15.

More than two dozen skiassociations of all the prov-inces, Armed forces, Gilgit-Baltistan and IslamabadCAA, Gilgit-Baltistanscouts and teams will chipin the events.

Lyallpur NationalTchoukballC’ship for

Women beginsFAISALABAD—The 2ndLyallpur NationalTchoukball Championshipfor Women kicked off atSports Complex, Universityof Agriculture Faisalabad onMonday.

Eight teams fromLahore, DG Khan, Bannu,Bhawalpur, Mirpur Khas,Hyaiderabad, FaisalabadWhite and Faisalabad Col-ors are taking part in thechampionship.

DCO Faisalabad NoorulAmin Mengal inauguratedthe event.

Speaking on theoccaison, he said thatFaisalabad was a fertilesports district which hadprovided international play-ers of cricket, football,Hockey, Handball andSnooker to the nation.

He announced cashprize of Rs 100,000 for firstposition, Rs 50,000 for run-ner up and Rs 30,000 for thirdposition.

In the inaugural cer-emony, students from Jun-ior and Laboratory GirlsHigher Secondary Schoolperformed all folks of thecountry, showing the colorsof traditional culture.

MPA Dr Najma AfzalKhan, Ex-MPA KhawajaMuhammad Islam, Prof DrKhalil ur Rehman PrincipalOfficer Schools UAF, BasitShakeel Hashmi PresidentPakistan Tchoukball Federa-tion, Emmanuel Asad Secre-tary General PTBF, Mrs.Nasira Kafeel President,PTBF Ladies Wing, and TariqNazir DO Sports Faisalabadwere also present.—APP

Gujrat-JhelumBlue beat Sialkot

Yellow to wincricket tourneySPORTS REPORTER

SIALKOT—In connectionswith the centennial celebra-tions of the Lions Club(1917-2017), a limited overtape-ball cricket tournamentwas held under the auspicesof the Eden Lions Club andEmirates Air Lines in Garri-son Park Sialkot. In the finalmatch of the tournamentGujrat-Jehlum Blue beatSialkot Yellow by 9 wickets.

The team of IslamabadGreen stood third in the com-petition. Abdul WaheedRabbani, Malik Furqan andRaja Aleem were declared asthe best batsman, bestbowler and fielder of thetournament respectively.

The chief guests Dis-trict Governors Lions ClubDr Ahmed Shafi, Ch ShafqatKhawar and ex-PresidentSialkot Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (SCCI)Sh Abdul Majeed gaveaway first, second and thirdposition prizes to Jawad Ali,Arif Khawar Butt and DrIdrees, the captains ofIslamabad, Sialkot andGujrat-Jehlum and otherprominent performers.

KARACHI—Pak Gymkhana and BrightCricket Club advanced in the quarterfinalsof Omar Associates Trophy KCCA Zone-IV Colour Kit Cricket Tournament after easyvictories the other day.

Mehtab Hussain smashed a superb 74with nine boundaries as PakistanGymkhana overwhelmed Punjab CC by 53runs at Steel Town Gymkhana Ground.

At Bright Gymkhana Ground, Bright CCthrashed Falcon Sports by 125 runs.MirBukhtiar Ali who scored 53 was named manof the match.

Summarised scores: Pak Gymkhana btPunjab CC by 53 runs. Pak Gymkhana 247all out in 35 overs (Mehtab Hussain 74,Waleed Ahmed 43, Anwar Khan 28, IkhtiarShah 4/47) Modern Gymkhana 164 all outin 29.3 overs (Sajid Ali 44, Adeel Ahmed 32,Zafar Iqbal 3/35, Kamran Khan 2/8, ShahidNadeem 2/32) Bright CC bt Falcon CC by125 runs. Bright CC 215-9 in 35 overs (MirBakhtiar 53, M Tufail 40, Abdul Rehman 29,

KARACHI—The Sindh High Court onMonday admitted a petition calling for

the imposition of a life time ban onpaceman Mohammad Amir, who wascleared by the International CricketCouncil (ICC) on Jan 29 to play do-mestic cricket.

Petition seeking life banfor Amir admitted in SHC

In his petition, citizen Rana FaizulHasan said that players who hadbrought disgrace to the nation shouldnot be allowed to play the sport.

He added that the InternationalCricket Council and Pakistan CricketBoard (PCB) had allowed Amir to par-ticipate in domestic matches, pavinghis way for a return to internationalcricket.

The petition names the Govern-ment of Pakistan, chairman PCB andMohammad Amir as respondents.

A division bench headed by Jus-tice Muhammad Ali Mazhar will hearthe petition, with the next hearing fixedfor February 16.

The court also issued notices tothe Government of Pakistan throughthe federal law secretary, PCB chair-man Shahryar Khan and MohammadAmir to submit their responses by thenext hearing of the case.

Former captain Salman Butt,bowlers Mohammad Asif andMohammad Amir were banned forspot-fixing during the Pakistan team’stour of England in 2010. The spot-fix-

ing took place during the fourth testat Lord’s.

The trio, who also served jail sen-tences in the United Kingdom, weregiven minimum five year bans by theanti-corruption tribunal of the ICC butwhile the ban for Butt and Amir endsin August 2015, the former also hasbeen given a two-year suspended sen-tence.

Amir was allowed to return to do-mestic cricket earlier than the stipu-lated, since under the ICC’s revisedanti-corruption code a banned playercan apply to ICC’s Anti Corruptionand Security Unit Chairman (ACSU)to allow him to resume playing domes-tic cricket before the end of his ban.

An ICC statement said the ACSUChairman was satisfied that Amir hadcooperated with the unit by fully dis-closing his part in the matters thatled to his disqualification, admittinghis guilt, showing remorse and coop-erating with the Unit’s ongoing in-vestigations and by recording mes-sages for the ACSU education ses-sions.”—APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has constituted a coordina-tion committee headed by Senior MemberBoard of Revenue regarding shifting of Gen-eral Bus Stand Badami Bagh Lahore toShahdara and restoration of cricket ground,gymnasium and wrestling arena besides othersports facilities in Iqbal Park Lahore.

Secretary Transport Punjab, SecretarySports Punjab and Secretary Industry will bemembers of this committee. The committeewill submit final recommendations to PunjabChief Minister.

This was stated by Provincial Ministerfor Sports & Education Rana MashhoodAhmed Khan while presiding over a meetingto review restoration of playgrounds affecteddue to Azadi Flyover and other developmentprojects at Iqbal Park (Minto Park) Lahoretoday. Secretary Sports, Tourism & YouthAffairs Punjab Muhammad Khan Khitchi,Director General Sports Punjab UsmanAnwar, Director General PHA Mian ShakilAhmed, General Manager (TEVTA) AkhtarBharwana, Deputy Secretary TransportSohail Khawaja and concerned officers of CityDistrict Government Lahore attended themeeting.

Govt to provide modern sportsfacilities to people: Mashhood

Rana Mashhood Ahmed Khan said thatthe development of playgrounds and con-struction of infrastructure for providing mod-ern sports facilities to the people of walledcity and surrounding areas at Iqbal ParkLahore is of great importance.

He appreciated that the General BusTerminal Badami Bagh consisting of 282kanal land and auto workshop adjacent toit are being shifted. He said that Punjabgovernment has decided to set up newgeneral bus terminal at 303 kanal land atShahdara Mor.

He said that besides 282 kanal land of oldbus terminal, 56 kanal land owned by PunjabSports Board after shifting of vegetable mar-ket Lahore to alternate place and 252 kanalland retrieved in the second phase will begiven to Sports Board Punjab so that modernfacilities of international standard of varioussports could be provided to the people.

The meeting decided that one technicalinstitute out of three technical institutionsown by TEVTA situated other site of RaviRoad will be shifted to Faisalabad while theremaining two institutions continue to workthere whereas besides constructing VehicleExamination & Certification Center, ChandMemorial Cricket Ground comprising 36 kanalwill be equipped with modern facilities.

Pak Gymkhana, Bright CC enterQF of Omar Associates Trophy

Farzand Khan 24, Kamran Khan 20, AbdulRehman 3/14, Sajjad Ahmed 2/9,Mehtabuddin 2/12).

Meanwhile, the four days Pakistan In-ter University Zone H Cricket Champion-ship 2015 hosted by the University of Sindhin collaboration with Higher EducationCommission Islamabad kicked off at the PCBSindh University Ground Jamshoro onMonday.

Vice Chancellor Mehran University ofEngineering and Technology Prof. Dr.Muhammad Aslam Ukeli inaugurated thechampionship in which a total of seventeams including University of Sindh, SindhAgriculture University Tando jam, MehranUniversity of Engineering and TechnologyJamshoro , Liaquat University of Medicaland Health Sciences Jamshoro, Shah AbdulLatif University Khairpur, Isra UniversityHyderabad and Quaid Awam University ofEngineering, Science and TechnologyNawabshah are taking part.—APP

48 players vyingfor honours

KARACHI—The main roundof the Champion Hunt Ini-tiative Programme forSquash (CHIPS) begins atthe PN Roshan Khan-Jahangir Khan squash com-plex on Monday with 48players vying for honoursin three categories — under-13, under-15 and under-17.

Forty two players haveearned the nod directlywhile the remaining six havecome through one-dayqualifiers that took place onSunday.

The players who havehave qualified includeMujtaba Gadit and M. RafiKhan (under-13), AunAbbas and M. Hammad(under-15) and SaadAbdullah and Abdul Malik(under-17).—APP

Bipin DaniOBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—In 1992 Imran retired afterwinning the World Cup and went on tobuild the Shaukat Khanum Memorial Can-cer Hospital and Research Centre inLahore. He appealed to his World Cupwinning team-mates and Pakistani fansto donate for the noble cause.

23-years later the former Pakistan cap-tain is all set to open a new hospital inPeshawar, according to Dr. Faisal Sultan,the CEO at the hospital.

Speaking exclusively over his mobilefrom Lahore, the CEO says, “the hospitalbuilding is being under construction andis hoped to be ready by this year end”.

“Imran’s second hospital will be moreequipped with the latest equipments”, he

Imran Khan’s second cancerhospital to be ready by year-end

added.“I am not sure whether Imran would

be in Melbourne on March 29, but yes,if Pakistan team reaches to the WorldCup final, the possibility can’t be ruledout”.

“Imran Khan has appealed to the do-nors to fill his pocket with Rs. 1 billionneeded for the completion of the hospitaland has received good response all overthe world”, Dr. Sultan further added.

The first Cancer Hospital in Pakistanwas Imran Khan’s dream when his motherShaukat Khanum died of cancer in 1985for the lack of facilities in his country.

Imran Khan’s cousins, Javed Burkiand Majid Khan have also played for thecountry. The Pakistani present captainMisbah ul Haq, like Imran, is a Niazi andthat two are related.

DUBAI—Australia will enter ICCCricket World Cup 2015 in pole posi-tion in the latest ICC ODITeam Rankings which werereleased on Monday follow-ing its 112-run tri-series finalvictory over England inPerth on Sunday.

“Australia’s victorymeans that it currently holdsa six-point advantage oversecond-placed India, whoalso featured in the series,and the reigning ICC CricketWorld Cup champion is apoint clear of South Africawho lies a further point be-hind on 113 points,” said aan International CricketCouncil news release issuedon Monday.

With a number of ODI series con-cluding in recent days, the second andfinal match between New Zealand andPakistan is set to be played on Tues-day, with the Black Caps holding a 1-0 lead following its seven-wicket winin Wellington on Saturday.

A victory for sixth-placed NewZealand would see it reduceEngland’s lead to two points, while awin for seventh-placed Pakistanwould level the series 1-1 and reducethe gap on the Black Caps to threepoints.The 14 competing teams willthen complete their final ICC CricketWorld Cup warm-up fixtures ahead ofthe beginning of the tournament onFebruary 14.

Meanwhile, Australia’s GlennMaxwell has moved up 19 places to acareer high 17th position in the ICC

Player Rankings for ODI Batsmen andis the highest mover in the top 20 af-

ter scoring 152runs in fivematches, whileJames Faulkner(up 14 places toa career high21st) is just tworatings pointsbehind SouthAfrica’s Faf duPlessis in 20thplace.

England’s IanBell, who wasthe highestruns scorer inthe series (247runs) has alsovaulted 13

places to 25th. South Africa’s AB deVilliers remains in top spot, 24 pointsclear of his team-mate Hashim Amla.

There were also positive progres-sions for Black Caps batsman LukeRonchi (up 33 places to a career high27th), who could feature in Tuesday’sODI in Napier, and England’s JamesTaylor (up 53 places to 86th).

In the ICC Players Rankings forODI Bowlers, England’s JamesAnderson has moved up two placesto fourth spot after taking seven wick-ets in the tri-series, at an average ofjust under 20.

Australia’s Mitchell Starc, whowas the top wicket-taker in the series(12 wickets for 196 in five matches)has moved up five places to seventh,while England’s top wicket-taker,

Steven Finn (11 wickets for 235 in fivematches), has progressed 14 placesto 12th. Moeen Ali has also pro-gressed his rankings by 41 places to56th after taking seven wickets for 200in the series.

Other recent significant moversinclude West Indies bowler JasonHolder (up 18 places to a career high41st) and New Zealand fast bowlerTrent Boult (up 56 places to a careerhigh 61st).

Meanwhile, in the ICC ODI PlayerRankings for ODI All-rounders,Bangladesh’s Shakib Al Hasan hasregained the number one ranking af-ter moving up two places, 10 pointsclear of Sri Lanka’s Angelo Mathewsin second place.

To find out exactly how forthcom-ing series will affect the RankingsTable, please click here. The ODI andT20I Rankings tables, unlike the TestRankings Table, are updated afterevery match.—AFP

Australia to enter World Cupin top spot in ODI rankings

ICC ODI Team RankingsRankTeam ......................... Rating1 ...... Australia ......................... 1202 ...... India ................................. 1143 ...... South Africa ................... 1134 ...... Sri Lanka ......................... 1095 ...... England ........................... 1046 ...... New Zealand .................. 1017 ...... Pakistan ............................. 968 ...... West Indies ....................... 949 ...... Bangladesh ....................... 7510 .... Zimbabwe .......................... 5311 .... Afghanistan ...................... 4112 .... Ireland ................................ 34

GLASGOW—Celtic cruised into theScottish League Cup final with a com-fortable 2-0 victory over rivals Rang-ers in the first Old Firm derby in nearlythree years.

It wasn’t the record rout that manypredicted before the match, but it wasan entirely uneven contest with theScottish Premiership leaders lauding itover their city rivals to claim victory inthe 400th competitive outing of one ofthe world’s fiercest rivalries.

Leigh Griffiths headed home theopener after just 10 minutes and KrisCommons, one of four Celtic players inthe starting 11 who had featured in thefixture previously, rifled home a sec-ond in the 31st minute as the Hoopsthreatened to run riot.

The Celtic supporters smelt bloodbut their side failed to go for the jugu-lar as they seemed content to playwithin themselves in the second half

Celtic cruise past rivals Rangers toLeague Cup final

GLASGOW: Celtic midfielder James Forrest (centre) vies for the ball with Ian Black and Darren McGregor ofRangers during the semi-final match of Scottish League Cup.

Junaid out of Cricket WCKARACHI—Pakistan’s left-arm fastbowler Junaid Khan was ruled out of theupcoming World Cup after failing to passhis fitness test, he said Monday.

Junaid suffered a hamstring injury inhis right leg after he slipped and fell whilebowling during the third day of the na-tional training camp at the Gaddafi Sta-dium before Pakistan’s departure for NewZealand.

“Junaid appeared in a fitness test andwas not found fit enough to play theWorld Cup,” a Pakistan Cricket Board(PCB) spokesman said.

Junaid was one of the senior bowlersin Pakistan’s pace attack, which includesMoham-mad Irfan, Wahab Riaz, and up-and-coming Ehsan Adil.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t pass the fitnesstest. But perhaps this was God’s will. Myprayers are with the Pakistan team,”Junaid tweeted.

The development comes as a big blowto Pakistan who are already without theservices of the suspended Saeed Ajmal

and Mohammad Hafeez and the injuredUmar Gulfor theWorld Cup.

BilawalBhatti, whor e p l a c e dJunaid forPakis tan’stwo-matchs e r i e sa g a i n s tN e wZealand, isexpected tofill his placein theWorld Cupsquad aswell.

Shoaib Malik, Sohail Tanvir and AzharAli, meanwhile, have been been put onstand-by by the touring committee andthere is a possibility that Pakistan don’topt for a like-for-like replacement.—APP

as Rangers failed to test ‘keeper CraigGordon.

Celtic will now face Dundee Unitedin the final on March 15 while Rangers,who are still plagued by financial prob-lems and boardroom battles, will refo-cus their attention on trying to catchHearts in the race for the Scottish Cham-pionship.

“I think 2-0 was a fair result,” Celticmanager Ronny Deila said.

“In the first half we had fourchances and we scored two which wasokay. The second half we didn’t havemany but they didn’t have a shot ontarget either.

“It was a very good day. There wasan unbelievable atmosphere in the sta-dium and the players were unbeliev-ably focussed and performed very wellso I’m proud of the boys.”

Rangers caretaker manager KennyMcDowall was disappointed with the

manner of the goals his side conceded.“We were set up to try and keep it

tight early on in the game so to lose agoal like that threw a spanner in theworks and unsettled people,”McDowall said.

“It made the first half sticky anddifficult. I thought we did far better inthe second half but just couldn’t getthe goal to make it interesting.”

The match at Hampden was the firstmeeting of the Old Firm since April 2012with Rangers subsequently forced tostart life again in the country’s bottomtier following liquidation in June 2012.

The match, which was televised livein 54 countries around the world, hadbeen keenly anticipated by supportersof both clubs but the atmospherearound the stadium prior to kick-off wasstrangely subdued, as if the fans hadforgotten what to do in the absence ofthe fixture.—AFP

THREE of the world’s top 10 ODI bowlersface suspension from bowling over illegalaction, says data released by the Interna-

tional Cricket Council’s (ICC) on one-day inter-national (ODI) rankings,

Currently at the top spot,Pakistan’s ace spinner Saeed Ajmal wassuspended from bowling by the ICCon September 9. Not only his ‘doosra’,Ajmal’s off-spinner was also declaredto be illegal.

An independent ICC analysis re-vealed that all of the Ajmal’s deliveriesexceeded the 15 degrees level of toler-ance permitted under the regulations.

The 37-year-old off-spinner is un-dergoing remedial work on his bowl-ing action and vows to make a come-back to the international arena.

Sunil Narine of West Indies, thesecond best bowler in the world inICC’s ODI ranking, was reported twicefor a suspect action during the last year’s Cham-pions League T20 and was later barred from bowl-ing.

The off-spinner has also withdrawn his namefrom the West Indies World Cup squad, saying

Three of ICC’s top 10 bowlers face suspensionhe needed more time to work on his remodeledaction.

Narine has undergone intense remedial workon his action and preliminary tests have shown

him bowling all his deliveries under the 15 de-grees flexion allowance now.

Pakistan’s Mohammad Hafeez takes the eightspot on the list and faces a similar bar from bowl-ing as that of Sunil Narine.

Hafeez’s arm both around and over thewicket exceeded the limit of 15 degrees. Overthe wicket, Hafeez turned his arm at angles mea-suring from 16 to 18 degrees while around thewicket it ranged between 12 and 19 degrees.

Hafeez has also failed to clear two unofficialbio-mechanics tests conducted to assess thelegality of his bowling action.

ICC’s crackdown on bowlers, especially spin-ners, was not received well by many experts ofthe game.

Former West Indies captain and batting iconViv Richards believed the ICC’s crackdown onbowlers with suspect actions has come at thewrong time and it should have been done a whileago.

“In my opinion such action should havebeen taken some time ago and on a wider basisbecause these guys have been there for quitesome time,” Richards had said.

Former Pakistan all-rounder Azhar Mahmoodhad also questioned the timing of the decisionwhen the ICC had referred Ajmal for a suspectbowling action.

“It’s not fair when they say he’s not bowlingwith a legal action ... He’s been playing cricketfor so long, so why now?” Mahmood had said.

SY D N E Y—Australian skipper MichaelClarke, battling to regain fitness fromhamstring surgery and chronic backpain, said Monday hewould be prepared to playunder the captaincy ofyoung gun Steve Smith.

Amid reports that theteam prefers the stand-skipper who has had a sen-sational summer at thecrease ahead of the WorldCup, Clarke insisted his re-lationship with his team-mates was exceptional.

And asked on Triple Mradio if he would play un-der Smith’s leadership, the33-year-old replied: “Mostdefinitely I would.” Clarkesaid he had already beenin Smith’s position himself.

“I feel for Smithy be-cause I sat in his shoeswhen a lot of the media were calling for[former captain] Ricky Ponting [to go].

“It’s certainly not personal betweenSmithy and I. We’ve been friends for along time and we’ll continue to be. Thepeople that sit above both him and I willmake their decisions,” Clarke said.

“Whatever they feel are the best 11players, they will pick that 11. Whoeverthey feel is the best captain for the teamthen they’ll pick that.”

Clarke did his best to bat away re-ports on Fairfax media that the playersprefer the laid-back Smith, who is eightyears his junior. “I’d like to know whereit’s coming from,” he said.

“It’s obviously disappointing be-cause I haven’t been around the team...for the last seven weeks now I’ve beenaway from the group.

“I feel l ike my relationship withCricket Australia, especially my team-

Michael Clarke ‘ready to playunder Smith’s captaincy’

mates, is exceptional. I speak to all myteammates regularly.”

Clarke was forced to bow out after

the first Test against India in Decemberwith the serious hamstring injury, andSmith filled in as captain for the threeremaining Tests.

Smith last week capped a remarkableseason by sweeping the main awards atthe annual Allan Border Medal cer-emony, including Australian player ofthe year.

Cricket Australia has given Clarke un-til Australia’s second pool match againstBangladesh on February 21 to prove hisfitness for the World Cup.

He hit 51 for his local Western Sub-urbs team on Saturday in his first come-back game, including two fours and asix, and said medical staff considered hisrecovery was ahead of schedule.

Clarke is now set to play for a CricketAustralia XI in a practice one-dayeragainst Bangladesh in Brisbane onThursday.—AFP

Vela to undergomeniscusoperation

MADRID—Real Sociedadboss David Moyes has re-ceived a huge blow with thenews that top scorer Carlos

Vela faces a lengthy spell onthe sidelines with a torn inter-nal meniscus.

The Mexican had to besubstituted early in Sociedad’s4-1 defeat to Real Madrid onSaturday and is expected tomiss at least the next six weeks.

“During the game inMadrid he suffered a twistedright knee,” the club said in astatement on their website.

“Once clinical examina-tions and scans had takenplace, the existence of an in-ternal meniscus tear wasfound. “After consulting spe-cialists to evaluate the bestcourse of action, we have de-cided on surgery.” TheBasques have only managednine goals in 10 league gamessince Moyes took charge inNovember, of which Vela hasscored five.—AFP

Three rivals takeon Blatter for

FIFA presidencyL A U S A N N E —Footba l l ’sworld governing body FIFAannounced on Monday thatfour candidates are biddingto become its president, in-cluding long-time incumbentSepp Blatter.

The three others whohave thrown their hat into thering are Asian Football Con-federation vice-presidentPrince Ali bin Al Hussein ofJordan, former Portugal inter-national Luis Figo and Dutchfootball chief Michael vanPraag. After that the FIFA ex-ecutive committee will meetin Zurich on May 29 and de-cide if Blatter will get a fifthterm as president or bring ina new man.—AFP

CONSUMPTION of foods and beverages containing added sugars,particularly added fructose, is a

major factor behind the dramatic rise intype 2 diabetes, contends a study. World-wide, approximately one in ten adults hastype 2 diabetes, with thenumber of individualsafflicted by the diseaseacross the globe morethan doubling from 153million in 1980 to 347 mil-lion in 2008, the studynoted.

“At current levels,added-sugar consump-tion, and added-fruc-tose consumption inparticularly, are fueling aworsening epidemic oftype 2 diabetes,” saidlead author JamesDiNicolantonio, a car-diovascular researchscientist at Saint Luke’sMid America Heart Insti-tute in the US. For thestudy, researchers examined animal ex-periments and human studies.

Data from recent trials suggest thatreplacing glucose-only starch with fruc-tose-containing table sugar (sucrose) re-sults in significant adverse metabolic ef-fects. “The totality of the evidence iscompelling to suggest that added sugar,and especially added fructose (usuallyin the form of high-fructose corn syrupand table sugar), are a serious and grow-ing public health problem,” the authorsnoted.

While fructose is found naturally insome whole foods like fruits and veg-

etables, consuming these foods posesno problem for human health, theypointed out. Indeed, consuming fruitsand vegetables is likely protectiveagainst diabetes and broadercardiometabolic dysfunction, the au-

thors explained. Dietaryguidelines should be modi-fied to encourage individu-als to replace processedfoods, laden with addedsugars and fructose, withwhole foods like fruits andvegetables, they proposed.

Meanwhile, an analysisconducted by researchers atColumbia University MedicalCenter (CUMC) found that Ifnew hypertension guide-lines are followed sincerely,it could help us significantlyprevent deaths owing to car-diovascular diseases (CVD)each year without increasingoverall health care costs.“Our findings clearly showthat it would be worthwhile

to significantly increase spending on of-fice visits, home blood pressure moni-toring and interventions to improve treat-ment adherence,” said lead author An-drew E. Moran, the Herbert Irving Assis-tant Professor of Medicine at CUMC.

“In fact, we could double treatmentand monitoring spending for some pa-tients - namely those with severe hy-pertension - and still break even,” headded. In the new guidelines releasedby the US National Heart, Lung andBlood Institute, stage 1 hypertension isdefined as a systolic BP of 140-159 mmHg or a diastolic BP of 90-99 mm Hg.

Added fructose driving therise in diabetics, study finds

Daughters of Naseer Ahmad, who was arrested during raid of Rangers on 20th January,weep during a protest demonstration to demand his release on Monday.

KARACHI—Doctors inKarachi boycotted outdoorpatient departments (OPDs)in all private and govern-ment hospitals in protestagainst increasing incidentstarget killings and extortionin the mega city on Monday.

The protest call wasgiven by Pakistan MedicalAssociation (PMA) whichwas backed by various or-ganizations.

PMA Secretary Dr

Doctors boycott OPDs inprotest against target killings

Saqib Ansari vowed thatdoctors will protest everysecond day until their de-mands are met. During pro-test, doctors will only attendadmitted patients and emer-gency units, he said.

As per details, 17 doc-tors were gunned down in2014 in various areas of themetropolis whereas fourdoctors have been murderedthis year. Reportedly, manyof the doctors are receiving

life threats from extortion-ists.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Employers’ Fed-eration of Pakistan is to holdone day an awareness sum-mit on the “Act of sexual Ha-

Summit on of sexual harassment at workplacerassment at Workplace –2010” on 4th February, 2015at Islamabad Hotel. Justice(R) Yasmeen Abbassi is toChair the program. The law isapplicable on all Government

Autonomous Organizationsand Private sector. ILO is col-laborating with EFP (Employ-ers’ Federation of Pakistan).The event will attend largernumbers from industry, elite

and officials includes ILO’sDirector Mr. Francesco d’Ovdio will also attend theevent along with President ofIslamabad Chamber of Com-merce & Industry.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—The gangs ofcriminals and terrorist had in-creased their efforts to keepthe Sindh provincial govern-ment to lag in the race of de-velopment, which was aplanned conspiracy of en-emies of Pakistan. It was onrecord that when the Paki-stan People’s Party (PPP) wasin power, the non-state ac-tors and enemies of the coun-try joined hands together tofail the PPP’s government bycreating crises one after an-other but the PPP had alwaysfoiled their plans and contin-ued to serve the masses.

PPP Karachi DivisionDeputy Information Secre-tary Manzoor Abbas saidthis Monday. He said thePPP Sindh government hadinvited investors fromacross the globe to investin mega projects that wouldaim at taking the provinceand the country to the apexof progress. In this regard,the PPP Sindh governmenthad signed many memoran-dum of understandings(MoU) with many interna-

Terror attack in Sindhpart of international

conspiracy: Manzoortional firms but at the sametime the enemies of theprovince, country and thepeople accelerated their ac-tivities for sabotaging on-ward plans of progress anddevelopment.

The suicide blast inShikarpur was one of therecent proof of the fact thatthe terrorist had simplywreaked havoc on the inno-cent people of a particularsect with the intention tocause to confront two reli-gious sects in armed clash.However, PPP Sindh gov-ernment and the people ofthe province had foiled thatconspiracy with unity.

He said the association ofPakistan with China incountry’s development hadproposed an economic corri-dor in which Sindh was notincluded while the fact wasthat Sindh was the only prov-ince that contributed around70 percent to the national ex-chequer while the provincealso had natural ports and hadmajor oil and gas reserves.Coal reserves in Tharparkarwere a major part of that richresources of energy.

ICAP, UoL sign MoUKARACHI—The Institute ofChartered Accountants of Pa-

kistan and University ofLahore signed a MoU onMonday. The MOU wassigned by Yaqoob Suttar,ICAP and Dr. Muhammad

Saleem Shuja, UoL at Univer-sity of Lahore new Campus inthe presence of ChairmanUOL, Awais Raoof and otherofficials.—INP

Added fructose driving therise in diabetics, study finds

CONSUMPTION of foods and beverages containing added sugars,particularly added fructose, is a

major factor behind the dramatic rise intype 2 diabetes, contends a study. World-wide, approximately one in ten adults hastype 2 diabetes, with thenumber of individuals af-flicted by the diseaseacross the globe morethan doubling from 153million in 1980 to 347 mil-lion in 2008, the studynoted.

“At current levels,added-sugar consump-tion, and added-fructoseconsumption in particu-larly, are fueling a wors-ening epidemic of type 2diabetes,” said lead au-thor JamesDiNicolantonio, a cardio-vascular research scien-tist at Saint Luke’s MidAmerica Heart Institute inthe US. For the study, re-searchers examined animal experimentsand human studies.

Data from recent trials suggest thatreplacing glucose-only starch with fruc-tose-containing table sugar (sucrose) re-sults in significant adverse metabolic ef-fects. “The totality of the evidence iscompelling to suggest that added sugar,and especially added fructose (usually inthe form of high-fructose corn syrup andtable sugar), are a serious and growingpublic health problem,” the authorsnoted.

While fructose is found naturally insome whole foods like fruits and veg-

etables, consuming these foods poses noproblem for human health, they pointedout. Indeed, consuming fruits and veg-etables is likely protective against diabe-tes and broader cardiometabolic dysfunc-tion, the authors explained. Dietary guide-

lines should be modified toencourage individuals to re-place processed foods,laden with added sugarsand fructose, with wholefoods like fruits and veg-etables, they proposed.

Meanwhile, an analysisconducted by researchersat Columbia UniversityMedical Center (CUMC)found that If new hyperten-sion guidelines are followedsincerely, it could help ussignificantly prevent deathsowing to cardiovasculardiseases (CVD) each yearwithout increasing overallhealth care costs. “Our find-ings clearly show that itwould be worthwhile to sig-

nificantly increase spending on office vis-its, home blood pressure monitoring andinterventions to improve treatment adher-ence,” said lead author Andrew E. Moran,the Herbert Irving Assistant Professor ofMedicine at CUMC.

“In fact, we could double treatmentand monitoring spending for some pa-tients - namely those with severe hyper-tension - and still break even,” he added.In the new guidelines released by the USNational Heart, Lung and Blood Institute,stage 1 hypertension is defined as a sys-tolic BP of 140-159 mm Hg or a diastolicBP of 90-99 mm Hg.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif said that thebenefits of record decreasein the prices of petroleumproducts should be directlytransferred to the massesand concerned Ministersand departments shouldplay an active role in this re-gard.

He said that there shouldnot be any complaint of non-availability of petroleumproducts at any petrol pumpof Lahore and other cities ofPunjab. He said that indis-criminate action should betaken against petrol pumpowners involved in over-charging.

Shahbaz for benefitingpeople from cut in PoL prices

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—After successful launchof Electrical Technician, Machinist,Customer Service Officer, Sales Of-ficer/Assistant courses, TEVTA withthe collaboration of GIZ will intro-duce a new course of Welding, Fab-rication and Pipe works. Under Ger-many Pakistan Training Initiative(GPATI), this two years course isbeing launched at Government Ap-prentices Training Centre, CollegeRoad, Township and classes willstart on 20th February, 2015. It wasstated by Chairperson TEVTA IrfanQaiser Shaikh while addressing a

TEVTA introducing new course under GPATImeeting here yesterday at TEVTASecretariat. Chief Operating OfficerJawad Ahmed Qureshi, GeneralManager (Operations) Hamid GhaniAnjum, Director ApprenticeshipTraining Waheed Asghar and otherofficers were also present at this oc-casion.

Irfan Qaiser Shaikh said that theaim of launching this course is toproduce the employable and skilledworkforce to meet the demands ofrelevant industry. The key featuresof the program include approval bythe trade testing board, supervisionof experienced Instructors, opportu-nity of on-job training in national and

multinational companies andmonthly stipend during On-JobTraining.

General Manager Operationswhile narrating the admission crite-ria said that the admission forms areavailable now from the institute aswell as on TEVTA website. 25 train-ees would be admitted. The entryqualification for the said course ismatriculation. The last date of appli-cation is February 07, 2015. The can-didates will be shortlisted up to Feb-ruary 10, 2015. The partner compa-nies shall select the candidates onFebruary 16-17, 2015 and class shallstart on the said date.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Lahore Waste ManagementCompany (LWMC) removed more than1300 tons of solid waste from the areasadjacent along the railway lines from KotLakhpat to Shahdra. Operation was backedby a team of 250 workers and a fleet of heavymachinery including loaders, dumpers, ex-cavators etc. Operation lasted for twoweeks under the direct command of MDLWMC Khalid Majeed and Senior Man-ager Operations Suhail Anwar Malik.

LWMC removes 1300 tons wastealong railway lines across city

Awareness Campaign was also held atQainchi railway crossing which was con-sisted of walk in the area, setting up ofcamps, public briefing and distribution ofpamphlets. Campaign was led by Head ofCommunication Department Jamil Khawarand Senior Manager Operations SuhailAnwar Malik and it was attended byLWMC officials, local residents and repre-sentatives of market committee offices. Ini-tiative to cleanup railway lines has beenappreciated by citizens with commitmentto maintain cleanliness in future together.

Quality education can helpwipe terrorism: Mujtaba

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Provincial Minister forExcise & Taxation and FinanceMujtaba Shuja-ur-Rehman has saidthat terrorism and unemployment canbe wiped out through promotion ofquality education. He said that thereis a need to utilize national resourcesequitably for setting up of a peace-ful society and economic prosperityof the masses whereas problems likecorruption, safarish and unemploy-ment can be controlled through goodgovernance and transparency.

Addressing the delegations ofyouth, Mujtaba Shujaur Rehmansaid that Rs. 274 billion will be spenton education sector during the cur-rent fiscal year which is 26.25 per-cent of the total budget of the prov-ince. He maintained that our coun-try of 190 million people has a vi-brant economy, and our populationunder 20 is in majority and this makes

Residents of Gulistan Colony holding a demonstration to press on their demands.

Traffic on the move in city during rain on Monday morning.

Policemen showing the satellite phones and other items recovered in a raid as the bookies have started their businessahead of Cricket World Cup.

He was addressing ameeting of Price ControlCommittee through videolink at Civil Secretariat onMonday. The Chief Minis-ter said that interest ofpeople is of utmost impor-tance. He said that provisionof relief and basic amenitiesto the citizens is the agendaof Pakistan Muslim League-N government and maximumresources are being utilizedfor this purpose.

Shahbaz Sharif said thatgovernment has made sub-

stantial reduction in theprices of petroleum productsfor the fourth time and he willpersonally monitor the stepstaken to transfer the benefitsof this decrease to themasses. He said that everyeffort should be made for en-suring that people shouldfully benefit from these pub-lic-friendly steps of the gov-ernment. He directed that re-duction in transport fares inproportion to the decreasein the prices of petroleumproducts should be ensured.

He said that AC trans-port fares should also be re-duced while prices of essen-tial items should be de-creased as well for benefit-ing the common man. Hesaid that solid results shouldbe witnessed in the wake ofdecrease in the prices of pe-troleum products and saidthat no excuse will be accept-able. The Chief Minister ex-pressed displeasure over thefailure of some departmentsin taking necessary steps forproviding relief to the

masses and warned the con-cerned authorities that nonegligence or laxity will betolerated.

Provincial Ministers Ch.Muhammad Shafiq, BilalYasin, Member National As-sembly Muhammad AfzalKhokhar, Members Provin-cial Assembly Dr. AyeshaGhaus Pasha, Waheed Gull,Chief Secretary, InspectorGeneral Police, secretaries ofconcerned departments andsenior officers attended themeeting through video link.

South Asia as the only large eco-nomic area that shall not face a de-cline in the number of people enter-ing the labor force for the next 50years, whereas, future is ours. Hesaid that Punjab government consid-ers education as a tool to develop-ment and a record funds have beenprovided for school and higher edu-cation. He said that Rs. 2.40 billionhas been provided for non formalbasic education to 20 lakh illiteratepersons.

Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman thatPunjab government has recruited140000 educators last tenure andmore educators will be recruitedwithin few months to accomplish thetarget of 100% literacy rate in theprovince. He commended the visionof Mian Shahbaz Sharif for launch-ing free distribution schemes oflaptops and solar lamps to appreci-ate the brilliant students. This willalso help to reduce the dropout rate

in the schools of far flung areas ofthe province. He further revealedthat DFID has given assent to pro-vide a grant in aid to the tune ofRs.351 million to construct 15000 ad-ditional class rooms, one additionalclass room for each public sectorschool having deficient facilities.

Mujtaba Shujaur Rehman saidthat financial grant is being providedfor up-gradation of higher educationespecially to the institutions ofwomen ,whereas, new women uni-versities are also being establishedin Bahawalpur, Multan, Sialkot andFaisalabad for enhancing ratio ofhigher education among women.

He said that 101 new collegeswere constructed while missing fa-cilities were provided to 96 collegesduring the last six years. He told thatestablishment of 82 new collegeshave been planned while missing fa-cilities will be provided in 68 collegeswith a cost of Rs. 1470 million.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Lahore High Court(LHC) on Monday stopped Punjabgovernment from cancelling the regis-tration of Minhajul Quran International.

LHC’s Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan heard

LHC bars Punjab govt from cancellingMinhajul Quran’s registration

the case. The defense lawyer was ofthe view that the provincial governmentissued a notice regarding cancellationof Minhajul Quran‘s registration, alleg-ing that funds of the organization wereutilized in last year‘s anti-governmentprotests led by Pakistan Awami

Tehreek(PAT) chief Tahirul Qadri.The lawyer prayed to court that reg-

istration cannot be cancelled on the ba-sis of such allegations. After hearing thearguments, Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan issueda notice to the Punjab government andsummoned reply within 15 days.