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AKHTAR JAMAL

ISLAMABAD—The AfghanTaliban moderate leadership isunder increased pressures fromhardliners to withdraw conces-sions to the U.S. and wind upDoha Office following Ameri-can backtrack on earlier com-mitments.

The Afghan Shura duringone of its recent meeting cameunder severe criticism byhardliners who demanded clo-sure of Doha Office if AfghanTaliban flag and name plate isnot allowed to put at its “DohaPolitical Office.” AfghanTalibans now say that the United

States and Qatar Government hadagreed to allow “diplomatic sta-tus” to Taliban and had no objec-

tion to hoisting of Afghan Talibanflag which is in fact old Afghanflag and the Representation name

plate. However, the Talibanhardliners now claim that fol-lowing President Hamid Karzai

Taliban moderate leadership under pressure on Dohaoffice, US prisoner may be released

and Indian pressures the UnitedStates had backtracked from itsearlier commitments to Taliban

Terror terminationfirst priority: PMIB, ISI directed to make ‘example’ of

Hazara town bombing perpetratorsGHULAM TAHIR

QUETTA—Prime Minister MianNawaz Sharif on Tuesday di-rected the ISI and IB Chiefs toapprehend the culprits respon-sible for the massacre of Hazaracommunity in Quetta on Sundaylast to restore the confidence ofthe people in the good gover-nance.

In a press briefing MianNawaz Sharif pointed out that hisgovernment was determined toeliminate the menace of terror-ism from Gwadar to Swat andlaw enforcing agencies had beendirected to restore peace all overthe country under all circum-stances.

Prime Minister declared thatthe Federal and Provincial Gov-ernments would spare no effortsto achieve this objective making

the country free from the terror-ist activities. He wondered as towhy terrorist activities had notbeen controlled in Quetta which

was a city of small number ofstreets and bazaars. He declaredthat the Federal Government

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Sartaj meets Indian Foreign Minister in Brunei

Economic cooperation, tradeto take things forward

BRUNEI DARRUSALAM—Prime Minister’s Special Advi-sor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Azizon Tuesday said that it was nec-essary that Pakistan and Indiashould discuss all outstandingissues through confidence build-ing measures to ensure lastingpeace and security in the region.

Sartaj Aziz who met withIndian External Affairs MinisterSalman Khurshid in Brunei onTuesday on the sidelines of ARFmeeting said he reviewed the

confidence building measureswith India, which is the desire ofthe people of two countries. It

was the first high-level contactbetween Pakistan and India sinceNawaz Sharif became the primeminister. The meeting was heldin a warm and cordial atmo-

sphere, discussions focused onbuilding better relations between

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PM nominates two forNAB chairperson post

Rauf Ch named as new FTOSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif has written toLeader of the Opposition in theNational Assembly SyedKhurshid Shah regarding the ap-pointment of chairman NationalAccountability Bureau.

The prime minister had writ-ten a letter to the oppositionleader with two names recom-mended for the position of NABchief. The recommendations forthe position include Justice(Retd) Rehmat Hussain andKhawaja Zaheer Ahmed.

The position of NAB chieffell vacant in May this year afterthe Supreme Court set aside theappointment of Admiral (retd)Fasih Bokhari on a petition filedby Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan in2011.

Bokhari was the secondchoice of President Asif AliZardari for the constitutional of-fice after the apex court in itsMarch 10, 2011 verdict had de-clared the appointment of Justice(retd) Deedar Hussain Shah asillegal, also on Chaudhry Nisar’spetition. Meanwhile, Prime Min-

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Building housing Taliban office Office sign board of Taliban in Doha

Altaf memorandum beingevaluated: Thomson

ISLAMABAD—British Highcommissioner Adam Thomsonsaid on Tuesday that Altaf

Hussain’s issuewas not dis-cussed duringBritish PrimeMinister DavidC a m e r o n ’ svisit to Paki-stan. Talking tomedia here onTuesday Th-

ompson said: “we have receivedMQM’s memorandum and weare evaluating it.” The Metropoli-tan Police is an independent in-

stitution and they are investigat-ing the matter.He added that hecan’t say anything about the in-vestigations.

He said that he would notmake any comments about AltafHussain’s remarks. He termedthe visit of David Cameron assuccessful and said he discussedin length all bilateral and re-gional issues with Prime Minis-ter Muhammad Nawaz Sharifincluding Afghanistan.

He said that the recent visitof British Prime Minister will ago long way in further expanding

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Iran: New US sanctionsto complicate nukes issue

DUBAI—Iran has played downthe impact of U.S. sanctions thatcame into effect this week, butsaid the measures would compli-cate a resolution to the disputeover its nuclear program.

The new sanctions, whichcame into effect on Monday, tar-get trade with Iran’s shipping andautomobile sectors, gold sales toIran and handling of the Iraniancurrency, the rial - a further at-tempt to force Tehran to curb itsnuclear activities.

In recent years, Iran has vig-orously pursued its developmentof nuclear technology whichWestern countries suspect ismasking its attempts to developa weapons capability, allegationsIranian officials have repeatedlydenied. “We have no doubt that

sanctions are a broken policy andwe are surprised about why theAmerican government and othergovernments who take part inthese sanctions continually repeata mistaken and failed policy,” thestate television website quotedForeign Ministry spokesmanAbbas Araqchi as saying late onMonday.

“Removing sanctions wouldcount as a confidence-buildingmeasure and can assist in a reso-lution of the issue but increasingsanctions would have no result,apart from making the issue morecomplex and harder to resolve,”he said.

Hopes for a resolution to thenuclear dispute were boosted lastmonth with the election as presi-dent of Hassan Rouhani, a former

nuclear negotiator who promisesa softer approach to foreign rela-tions than hardline incumbentMahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Analysts say it remains un-certain whether Iran withRouhani as president will bemore amenable to the demandsof world powers that it halt itsmost sensitive enrichment, to afissile concentration of 20 per-cent, and stop work at Fordow,an underground nuclear facilitywhere uranium is enriched.

Supreme Leader AyatollahAli Khamenei has the last wordon all the big decisions in Iran,especially on the nuclear issue.

Last week the head of Iran’satomic energy organization,Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, said

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Fatwa: Suicideattacks areun-Islamic

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—The Sunni IttehadCouncil (SIC) has issued a Fatwa(decree) declaring suicide attacksas Haram (un-Islamic) and kill-ing of foreign guests as a heinouscrime on Tuesday.

The consensus Fatwa issuedby fifty Ulema of SIC termed thecrushing of those resorting to anarmed revolt against a Muslimstate as mandatory on part of thegovernment.

“The Pakistani Taliban whodeclare the killings of Muslimsas legitimate are actually the out-casts of the present era,” the state-ment said.

The statement further saidthat murder is the next big sinafter Shirk (having faith in morethan one God).

“Attacking mosques,Mazars, hospitals, funerals, edu-cational institutions, markets andsecurity forces is not Jihad butchaos. Those who shed the bloodof girl students, foreign moun-taineers and innocent human be-ings are defectors of Islam andrebels of Pakistan,” it declared.

It said extending coopera-tion to the government for a Jihadagainst terrorists is a duty of ev-ery citizen. “The right place forwaging a Jihad against the US isAfghanistan and not Pakistan,”it added.

The Fatwa declared thedrone strikes as violation of in-ternational laws and atrocity onpart of the US.

Syrian rebelsthreaten to targetShi’ite villages

BEIRUT—Syrian rebels in thenorthern province of Aleppo onMonday threatened to seize twoShi’ite Muslim villages that backPresident Bashar al-Assad unlessthey surrendered to the opposi-tion. Activists say both Nubl andZahra villages had been rein-forced by Assad’s allies in theincreasingly sectarian war,among them fighters from Iranand Lebanon’s powerful Shi’iteguerrilla group, Hezbollah.

“We announce our intentionto liberate Nubl and Zahra fromthe regime and its shabbiha (pro-Assad militia), and from theHezbollah and Iranian ele-ments,” the rebels said in anInternet video.

The 27-month-old conflict,which pits mostly Sunni insur-gents against Assad, from an off-shoot of Shi’ite Islam, has al-ready killed more than 100,000people and driven 1.7 millionSyrians to seek refuge in neigh-boring countries.

Assad’s forces, spearheadedby Hezbollah, have made a num-ber of gains since they seized theborder town of Qusair last month.There have also been heavyclashes in Aleppo and surround-ing districts, fuelling expecta-tions that Assad aims to re-estab-lish control of Syria’s largest city.

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UAE sentences68 in masscoup plot trialABU DHABI—More than 65suspects accused of plotting acoup in the United ArabEmirates received prisonsentences of up to 15 years onTuesday in a mass trial thatunderscored the wideningcrackdowns on perceived ArabSpring-inspired dissent acrossthe entire Gulf Arab region.

Rights groups have accusedthe UAE of widespreadviolations including jailhouseabuses against the 94 suspectson trial. The suspects includedteachers, lawyers and even thecousin of one of the UAE’srulers.

Prominent rights activistAhmed Mansoor — who wasjailed in some of the first UAEcrackdowns after the ArabSpring — said prison terms of15 years were given to eightsuspects tried in absentia.

Benazir murder case

ATC for producingMusharraf on July 9OBSERVER REPORT

RAWALPINDI—DuringTuesday’s hearing of theBenazir Bhutto murder case, anAnti-Terrorism Court inRawalpindi categoricallyordered the authorities toproduce former military rulerGen (retd) Pervez Musharraf,the main accused in the case,on July 9 before it as itadjourned the matter to the saiddate.

The ATC was hearing thecase pertaining to the assassina-tion of former prime ministerBenazir Bhutto.

One of the accused personsin the murder, Aitraaz Shah’sapplication requesting bail waspresented in the court, whichwas accepted for today’shearing. Federal InvestigativeAgency’s special prosecutorChaudhry Azhar Ali, despitebeing summoned by the court,was not present at the hearing.Prison officials informed the

ISAF Commandercalls on COAS

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Gen JosephDunford, Commander Interna-tional Security Assistance Forcecalled Army Chief Staff GenAshfaq Parvez Kayani hereTuesday.

According to ISPR, it was aroutine coordination visit, thetwo discussed matters of mutualinterest with particular focus onborder coordination measures.

Gen Kayani was quoted assaying that Pakistan wantedpeace and stability in Afghani-stan. Moreover, Isaf CommanderGen Dunford said Pakistan hada vital role in Afghanistan’speace-building process.

BRUNEI DARUSSALAM: Advisor to Prime Minister on Na-tional Security Sartaj Aziz and Indian Foreign MinisterSalman Khurshid shaking hands.

QUETTA: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif talkingto media at Governor House.

Kerry acceptsinvitation to

visit PakistanBRUNEI—US Secretary ofState John Kerry accepted onTuesday an invitation to visitPakistan, extended to him byAdviser to Pakistan’s PrimeMinister on National Securityand Foreign Affairs SartajAziz during a meeting held onthe sidelines of the 20th Min-isterial Meeting of the AseanRegional Forum.

Sources said that Kerrywas expected to visitContinued on Page 6

and led to the deadlock in talks.Indian foreign minister

Salman Khurshid had warnedthe “U.S./NATO not to crossthe red line” in dealing withTaliban while Indian Ambassa-dor to Qatar Sanjiv Arora hasbeen lobbying against Talibanrepresentation in Doha.

Afghan watchers believethat if more pressure is exertedon its leaders in Qatar and if In-ternational Community fails toabide by its originally agreed‘diplomatic norms set for theopening of Taliban office”, theTaliban Shura may have to post-pone the talks and under con-

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CAIRO—President MohamedMorsi faced deepening isolationand a new outbreak of armedpolitical violence on Tuesday asprotesters massed to call for hisouster, dozens of supporters werewounded by birdshot, the clockticked on a two-day military ul-timatum and high-ranking aidesabandoned him.

For the third consecutive day,anti-Morsi protesters packedTahrir Square in central Cairoand filled the street in front of themain presidential palace whilestarting a new sit-in in front of asecond palace, where Mr Morsi

has been working since lastweek.

They chanted for the end ofhis rule of the country one yearafter he rode to victory as Egypt’sfirst democratically elected presi-dent, reports The NYT on Tues-day. At the same time on Tues-day, reinforcing the sense of im-pending showdown, thousands ofMr Morsi’s Islamist supportersdemonstrated in the Cairo sub-urb of Nasr City and in front ofCairo University.

Armed assailants firingbirdshot wounded at least 40 ofthem at the university and injured

35 others with rocks, police offi-cials said. In a second location, aCairo neighborhood once consid-ered a stronghold of support forthe president’s conservative al-lies, a gunfight erupted as pro-Morsi marchers entered theneighborhood. An angry mobchased them away, and strippedand beat a man presumed to beamong the supporters.

The attacks in both placeserupted at nightfall, while in Al-exandria in the north, 33 peoplewere wounded by pellets inclashes between Mr Morsi’s op-

Protesters in Egypt clash asresignations isolate Morsi

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ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Tuesdayrejected as completely baselessthe comments and ideas attrib-uted to it by Afghan officials re-lating to alleged power-sharingformula with the Taliban or at-tempting to bring fiefdoms toAfghanistan. “This is a fabrica-tion as no such notions have beenexpressed by any Pakistani offi-cial,” Pakistan’s Foreign Officesaid in a statement on its officialwebsite.

As is well known, this is notPakistan’s policy to encourageany separatist tendencies. Infact,Pakistan has always supported apeaceful, stable and united Af-ghanistan. “We are playing a con-structive and positive role to fa-cilitate an Afghan-led and Af-ghan-owned reconciliation pro-cess.” In his telephone conver-

sations with President Karzaisince taking office last month,Prime Minister MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif hasreaffirmed Pakistan’s commit-ment to support the efforts forpeace and stability in Afghanistanand the region, the statement said.

“The negative statementsfrom Afghan leadership and of-ficials tend to vitiate the atmo-sphere and constrain develop-ment of close and cooperativeties between the two countries.”

“We hope that Afghanistanwill reciprocate our constructiveefforts, refrain from attributingmisleading ideas to us, and worktogether for sustainable peaceand stability that is so vitally im-portant for progress and prosper-ity of the two countries and theregion”.—APP

Pak rejects comments attributedto it on Afghanistan as baseless

Saudi Arabiaextends foreign

workers amnestyKHOBAR—Saudi Arabia hasgiven foreign workers anotherfour months to obtain legal sta-tus in the country a day before aprevious three-month amnestyexpired, bringing respite to hun-dreds of thousands of expatriateswho fear deportation.

Foreigners who do a differ-ent job to the one listed on theirresidence permit will now haveuntil the end of the Islamic yearon Nov 3 to resolve their status,Saudi official media reported onTuesday citing an Interior Min-istry statement.

Expatriates account foraround a third of the populationin the world’s top oil exporter and

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Saudi healthdelegation arrivesISLAMABAD—A two-memberdelegation of Ministry ofHealth, Kingdom of SaudiArabia arrived here on Tues-day to address issues per-taining to dispatch of Paki-stani medical professionals.The delegation comprisingof Marjan Moubarak Al-Marjan, Director General andShabbab Al Subaie, Head ofInternational RecruitmentUnit, Saudi Ministry ofHealth arrived here.

Managing Director Over-seas Employment Corpora-tion (OEC), Saeed AhmedShaikh informed that the del-egation would hold meetingswith OEC and other five des-ignated OEP’s during theirtwo- day visit to find outways to ensure dispatch ofmaximum medical profession-als selected by Saudi HealthMinistry in coming few days.

Shaikh termed the visit ofthe two delegates an impor-tant one and informed thatthe delegation would alsocall on Saudi Embassy andSaudi Culture Office to dis-cuss the issues during theirvisit.—APP

IBCC foreducation

system changeMULTAN—A two-day InterBoard Committee of Chair-men (IBCC) will be held fromJuly 3-4 in Islamabad to dis-cuss matters related to pro-posals extended by differentBoards to improve standardof education. Federal Boardof Intermediate and Second-ary Education (FBISE) willhost the meeting while Chair-man Board of Intermediateand Secondary Education(BISE) Ch. Rasheed will rep-resent Multan Board. All thechairmen of educationBoards would attend themeeting.

The agenda includesimplementation on resolutionpassed in previous meeting,equivalence issue, proposalof abolishing third divisionfrom FA, FSc and grace markspolicy, said Secretary FBISEAttique while talking to APPon Monday.—APP

DCO Larkanachairs DPCC

meetingLARKANA—In order to reviewthe prices of essential com-modities during the holy monthof Ramazan, a meeting of Dis-trict Price Control Committee(DPCC) was held here on Mon-day under the chairmanship ofDeputy Commissioner LarkanaUmar Farooque Bullo, at hisoffice. The chair warned thehoarders, profiteers and black-marketeers to avoid creatingany artificial shortage of com-modities else stern legal actionwould be taken against them.

He said that district ad-ministration would make allnecessary arrangements forsupply of essential com-modities to consumers atfixed rates. He hoped thatwith the co-operation of busi-ness community, the pricesof essential commoditieswould be maintained at rea-sonable level.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Minister forReligious Affairs and Inter-faith Harmony SardarMuhammad Yousaf Tuesdaysaid that all the successfulintending pilgrims, who havedeposited their Hajj dueswould be sent to Hajj thisyear and the quota of HGOshave been slashed due totheir failure in booking therequired number of intendingpilgrims.

Talking to media personshe said, the ministry had al-ready completed the entirebooking process of govern-ment scheme intending pil-grims while the HGOs havefailed to book the requirednumber of intending pilgrimsas per their allocated quota.The government has decided

to cut the quota of HGOs asthis will not cause losses to

them. Soon after receiving in-timation of 20 percent hajjquota cut from the Saudi gov-ernment, the Hajj Group orga-nizers (HGOs) had been askedto submit details of their book-

HGOs’ Hajj quota slashedfor failure of data provision

OUR CORRESPONDENT

GUJRANWALA—The Corrup-tion in NH&MP would not betolerated, if any officer of fromtop to bottom found guilty,he would be expelled fromservice. No underage andwithout license driver wouldbe allowed to travel onmotorways and at highways.This was said ZulfiqarAhmad Cheema, InspectorGeneral NH&MP while ad-dressing to NH&MP officerin Police Darbars at Lahoreand Gujranwala.

IG Zulfiqar AhmadCheema, said honest, effi-cient and hardworking offic-ers would be given respect& rewards and corrupt offic-ers would be taken to task.He said officers to performtheir duty without fear and

ensure the implementationof law. He directed to patrol-ling officers to ensure firmenforcement of law onmotorways and nationalhighways. The InspectorGeneral also ordered to en-sure equal application of lawirrespective of one’s status.

He said lane discipline onnational highways be ensuredby keeping the heavy andslow moving vehicles in dis-cipline. He further said patrol-ling standards on highways& Motorways would be im-proved as per internationalstandards and no underageand without license driverwould be allowed to travel onmotorways and at highways

IG Zulfiqar AhmadCheema said that it is theduty of every official ofNH&MP to protect and fight

for its dignity and nobility.He further said providinghelp and guidance to the com-muters, besides their coun-seling, was the hallmark ofMotorway Police and itshould be continued in allcircumstances. He asked theofficers of NH&MP to showpatience and work hard asmore vehicles will break downon road in the current hotseason.

He laid stress on quickand timely response toHelpline 130 Call. He said thatimmediate help be extendedto the road users in distressand special care be given tothe patients, old age persons,ladies and children. He ad-vised them to make theNH&MP as model institutionin Asia with their good be-havior and courtesy.

Cheema: No tolerance tocorruption in NH&MP

THE newly inaugurated,after vast renovationand complete rede-

signing by its new manage-ment, Lahore’s oldest andhistorical Hotel Faletti’s wasthe venue of a grand recep-tion on Monday to honoura host of journalists, whowere recipient of “Journal-ists for Human Rights Award2013.” The reception washosted jointly by PFUJ, PUJand SAP (South Asia Part-nership-Pakistan).

The largely attended re-ception was presided by I.ARehman, Secretary Generalof Human Rights Commis-sion of Pakistan and cur-rently a doyen of Pakistanisjournalists and my formersenior colleagues from thePakistan Times, where hehad the distinction of be-coming its editor-in-chief, a

position once occupied byillustrious Faiz Ahmed Faiz.The guests of honour werePFUJ Pervaiz Shaukat and

PUJ president Rana TariqAzeem.

A panel comprising ofsenior journalists and civilsociety representatives wasformed to assess the contri-

butions by different journal-ists. Eleven journalists work-ing with various media orga-nizations were nominated

for the award and five out ofthem were female journalists.Journalists who won theawards included HussainKashif (Daily Times),Arshad Bhatti (The Nation),

Xari Jalil (Dawn), NausheenNaqvee (Dunya News),Abdul Salam Baitab (Voiceof Pakistan Bannu),Chashman-i-Rabie (HumShehry), Ambreen Fatima(Daily Nawa-e-Waqt),Perveen Khan (Daily Ex-press), Mansoor Mehdi (NaiBaat), Muhammad AkramNasir (Bahawalpur) and AmirSohail (FM 103).

Addressing the partici-pants on this occasion, Ex-ecutive Director of SAP-PKMohammad Tahseen saidthe winning journalists didoutstanding job to highlightthe issues of women, minori-ties and other vulnerablegroups of the society duringelections process in Pakistanunder the title of “Safe Politi-cal Participation of Womenand Minorities in the Elec-toral Process” and their

names were selected for theawards after a strict scrutinyby senior journalists of thecountry. He said the mediaplayed a vital role in advo-cating the cause ofmarginalized people but stilla lot still needed to be donein this regard.

Felicitating the winnersof the award, eminent jour-nalist I.A Rehman said jour-nalists raised rebelliousvoices even during the des-potic tenure of dictators inPakistan and still journalis-tic organizations like PFUJand PUJ were working forthe rights of the journalists.He said civil society’s roleduring the previous martiallaw was admirable and civilsociety along with journal-ists rendered remarkable ser-vice for the restoration offreedom of expression.

Journalists feted with ‘Human Rights Award 2013’ in Lahore

ABDULLAH MADNI

TIMERGARA—More than 150female primary schools’teachers refused to accepttheir promotion to primaryschools’ head teachers (ba-sic pay 15) after re-adjustingthem in far flung areas of theDir Lower. According to anofficial letter issued by thedistrict education officer atotal of 420 female teacherswere promoted to grade 15 asprimary schools’ head teach-ers following the previousgovernment policy of promo-tion of senior teachers. Outof the 420 teachers, 207 wereadjusted in the schools theyhad already been working

150 lady teachers refuseto serve in far-flung areas

while 63 were posted on va-cant posts. Around 150teachers were transferred tofar flung areas of the district.

Talking to local journalistshere on Monday femaleteacher Mrs Taskin Begum,Mrs Nargus Begum, MrsFazilat Begum and Ruqqia com-plained that they had beenperforming their duties awayfrom their native union coun-cils for the last three years.They said now they were fur-ther dislocated and posted inmore remote areas. “It will nowdifficult for us to continue ourservices,” one of them said,adding they had no optionother than to refuse the pro-motion. The government, they

said should give them per-sonal scale of B 15 instead ofpromotion. The primary schoolteacher (PST) cadre they saidhad been divided into threedifferent classes as some areworking in B-12, some in B-14and some in B-15.

The affected teachers saidthey had to suffer more due tothis wrong policy of the previ-ous government. “We haveattached great expectations tothe PTI led government in theKhyber Pakhtunkhwa andthought it would reformulate ajust policy for their promotion,”Mrs Nargus said and de-manded of the government tolet them working in their exist-ing stations.

SWAT: Activists of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party hold a demonstration against govt price-hile in Mobile PhoneCards and POL.

MULTAN: Contract employees of Public Health Engineering Department hold a demon-stration in support of their demands.

PESHAWAR—The govern-ment of KhyberPakhtunkhwa has orderedpostings and transfers ofvarious officers in the publicinterest with immediate. Ac-cording to details, KhalidPervez, Secretary IrrigationDepartment has been trans-ferred and posted as Addi-tional Chief Secretary, P&D,Shahrukh Arbab, SecretaryEstablishment Department asChairman Sarhad Develop-ment Authority, MuhammadHamayun, Secretary Elemen-tary & Secondary Educationas Secretary Zakat, Ushr,Social Welfare and WomenEmpowerment, Syed SaidBadshah Bukhari, SecretaryLocal government & RuralDevelopment to SecretaryEnvironment, Maj. (Retd.)Syed Khalid Hussain Gilani,Secretary Zakat, Ushr, SocialWelfare and women Empow-erment to Secretary Energy

& Power, Sqr. Ldr. (Retd.)Abid Ali, Secretary Health toDivisional Commissioner,Hazara Division Abbottabad,

Likewise, Fazl e Rehmani,Senior Member Board ofRevenue KP to Secretary In-ter Provincial Coordination,Waqar Ayub, SecretaryC&W to Senior MemberBoard of Revenue KP,Jamaluddin, Secretary Excise& Taxation to SecretaryLabour, Hifz ur Rehman, Sec-retary Administration to Sec-retary Local government &Rural Development, HussainZada Khan, Secretary Indus-tries, Commerce & TechnicalEducation to Secretary Agri-culture, Livestock & Coop-eration, Zafar Iqbal, Secre-tary Energy and Power toDirector General ProvincialServices Academy, SyedWaqar ul Hassan, SecretaryMinerals Development toSecretary Administration,

Muhammad Khalid Khan,Commissioner Hazara Divi-sion Abbottabad to SecretaryTransport, MuhammadAkbar Khan, SecretaryLabour to Secretary Irriga-tion, Muhammad AfsarKhan, Secretary Agriculture,Livestock & Cooperation toCommissioner Malakand Di-vision Malakand,Muhammad Adil, SecretaryEnvironment has been askedto report to Establishment,Gulzeb Khan, SecretaryAuqaf, Hajj, Religious & Mi-nority Affairs, to DirectorStaff Training Institute,Peshawar, MuhammadYounis Javed, Director StaffTraining Institute to Secre-tary, Auqaf, Hajj, Religious &Minority Affairs, Deptt, SajidKhan, Secretary Inter Provin-cial Coordination to SecretaryIndustries, Commerce &Technical Education.—APP

Major shake-up inprovincial bureaucracy

ings by June 10 so that apolicy of cutting the ratio ofgovernment and privatescheme could be finalized.

The deadline was ex-tended to enable the HGOsto submit the details of theirHajj bookings. By June 18,the HGOs had booked only21000 intending pilgrims. ByTuesday HGOs have booked43,749 intending pilgrims.The Saudi government hasfixed July 8 last date for sub-mitting the number of in-tending pilgrims. The Saudigovernment has demandedcooperation.

The tour operators hasbooked 43000 pilgrims whilethey had been given thequota upto 57000. HGOshave failed to book the hujjaj

as per quota their requiredquota. The persons whohave deposited their dues willbe sent to hajj. The success-ful pilgrims if volunteer toperform hajj would be sent tohajj next year.

It is also reported thatthat Pakistan House Makkahhas been set up to providesubsidized housing to thePakistani pilgrims but thesedays non-nationals are beingaccommodated there. Thesources said Federal Minis-ter for Religious AffairsSardar Muhammad Yousafand Federal Secretary Reli-gious Affairs Shahid Khanwould visit Saudi Arabia onJuly 3 and July 5 respectivelyto look into the matter andtake decisions.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Anti NarcoticsForce (ANF) has launchedsuccessful operations atPeshawar, Rawalpindi,Lahore, Karachi and Quettarecovering opium, charas andheroin. According to details,ANF, Peshawar in couple ofoperations, recovered opium,heroin and hashish, said apress release here on Tuesday.First operation was launchedat a house located in Mohallah,Khajooran,Village, Darvesh,District Haripur, recovering 500gram opium and 2 kilogramsheroin from the house.

An accused named NasirKhan resident of DistrictHaripur was arrested on thespot and case was registered.In second operation, ANF re-covered 7.2 kg hashish fromthe personal possession ofAmjid Ali resident of DistrictMardan. Accused was ar-rested and case under CNSAwas registered. Meanwhile,ANF Rawalpindi launchedsuccessful operation, recov-ering 1.40 kg heroin from apassenger Rahat Rehmanresident of District Sargodhaat Benazair International Air-port, Islamabad.

The accused was ar-

rested on the spot and casewas registered. Accused waspassenger of Flight EK. 613,scheduled to fly for SaudiaArabia. In an operation byANF Lahore, 7.70 kg hash-ish was recovered from a per-sonal possession of an ac-cused named Ishaq Masihresident of Kapoor Wali,Sialkot near Daska.

The accused was ar-rested on the spot and casewas registered. In anotheroperation at Sialkot Airport,ANF Lahore recovered in-gested heroin filled capsulesfrom abdomen from a coupleof Pakistani nationals namingMuhammad Fayyaz residentof Bhimber and NisarHussain resident ofSargodha, who were arrestedon the spot and case was reg-istered. The accused personswere passengers of FlightNo. G. 9552 destined to fly forJeddah. ANF Karachi recov-ered 2.5 kg hashish from per-sonal possession of an ac-cused near PSO Petrol PumpHala Naka, Hyderabad. Theaccused named MuhammadHanif resident of Hyderabadwas arrested and case wasregistered.—APP

ANF anti-drugdrive afoot

Police recoverfive stolen

statuesLARKANA—The SSPLarkana, Pir MuhammadShah said here Tuesdayevening that Larkana Policehave arrested two allegedthieves involved in the theftof five religious statues fromHarijan Kirshna Temple inSamiabad near Ali GoharabadMohallah of Larkana city, inthe limits of Market PoliceStation. Addressing a pressconference in his office hereon Tuesday evening the SSPsaid, the Police arrested twoaccused involved in the theftof five religious statues fromHarijan Kirshna Temple inSamiabad near Ali GoharabadMohallah of Larkana, in thelimits of Market Police.

He further said that theSHO Market Police Stationhas worked hard and aftercompletion of investigation,reached the thieves and ar-rested the accused NaeemShaikh and Abdul SattarKhumber, who were workingin the field of rubbish andwho had broken the statuesinto pieces. He said that thefive costly statues that werestolen from the temple werefive bronze religious sculp-tures.—APP

Quality materialsin developmentprojects urged

PESHAWAR—Taking strongnotice of slow pace of workon development projects onMatta-Fazal Banda Road inSwat district, the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Minister forSports, Culture and Archeol-ogy, Mehmood Khan Tues-day directed the concernedauthorities for acceleratingpace of work on the underconstruction projects andensure use of quality materi-als to make it durable and lifelong.

He also directed them toensure its timely completionso that people could belargely benefited from it. TheMinister was taking to a rep-resentative delegation oftehsil Matta Swat that calledon him under chairmanshipof Major Iqbal Khan here athis Office. The Minister madeit clear the elements foundguilty of using sub-standardand poor materials would bebrought to justice.—APP

Measures to check rain lossesTANDO MUHAMMAD KHAN—FormerFederal Minister Syed Naveed Qamar,MNA, has said that preventive mea-sures would be taken to cope up withpotential threat of severe rains andfloods in the district and negligence inthis regard would not be tolerated atany cost. He expressed these viewswhile talking to media after attending ameeting of officials of various depart-ments here on Monday. Members of

Sindh Assembly Syed Aijaz Shah Bukhari, Abdul KarimSoomro, Deputy Commissioner Asif Memon and otherswere also present at the occasion. Naveed said that per-formance of all concerned departments was reviewed inthe meeting and departments those were lagging behindin this regard were directed to improve their performanceregarding preventive measure in case of any emergency.Follow up meeting would be held next week to review theperformance of concerned departments, he added. He saidthat previous government took befitting measures to re-habilitate a large number of flood affectees when unprec-edented rains and floods played havoc in Sindh in recentpast and hundreds of thousand people were compelled toleave their abodes. He told that it was decided to takeimmediate steps to improve drainage system of TandoMuhammad Khan. Sindh province is needed to make con-certed efforts so as to match up with number of indicatorsthat measure progress towards the Millennium Develop-ment Goals (MDGs), a set of eight goals adopted by Paki-stan along with 189 other countries in 2000 and set to beachieved by 2015. Sindh government authorities are, how-ever, hopeful that with the 18th amendment in the consti-tution and the province more resource through the NFCaward would be in a far better position to mobilize theresources itself.—APP

‘Re-used syringes causing HIV’HYDERABAD—Injecting unsafe and re-used syringes to the patients is the mainsource of transmitting diseases of HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis-B, Hepatitis-C and it isthe need of the hour that an awarenessshould be created not only among thepeople, but also among medics andparamedics to avoid such an injurioushabit. Talking to APP here on Thursdayeminent surgeon and Associate Profes-sor of Surgery Liaquat University of

Medical and Health Sciences (LUMHS) Jamshoro Dr. FaisalGhani Siddiqui expressed his grave concern over the hab-its of medics, paramedics as well as quacks for using thereused syringes and playing with the precious lives ofpeople. He said that majority of the people believed thatthe use of injection could bring early relief from their painthat’s why they force their doctors for injections. The doc-tors also prefer to prescribe injections to the patients forproviding them early relief, he added. Dr. Faisal Ghani saidthat only sterilised syringes could protect them from otherdisease, but the situation could be grave if the patientsbecome the victim of reused syringe. He said, according toa survey, the rate of using injection is 14 per patient peryear in Pakistan, which is highest as compared to othercountries and the use of unsafe syringes for the patients,the victims of Hepatitis-B and Hepatitis-C. He said that therate of Hepatitis-B and Hepatitis-C is increasing in the coun-try particularly in Sindh due to lack of knowledge about itsprevention. The burden of the disease associated withunsafe therapeutic injection in the country particularly inSindh is very high, he said. Dr. Faisal Ghani emphasisedthe need of spreading awareness about the threats of theuse of unsafe syringes particularly in rural areas of thecountry, where the victims of deadly diseases are increas-ing due to lack of knowledge.—APP

Hydel power generation to be raisedSher Gondal

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Punjab Ministerfor irrigation Mian Yawar Zaman visitedHydel Power Station Rasul and an-nounced increase of water dischargefrom 1000 to 2000 cusecs to increasegenerating capacity of the power sta-tion from 4 to 12.5 megawatts. Secre-tary Irrigation Zahid Saeed, DCO MandiBahauddin Imtiaz Niazi and Power andWater Coordinator, Punjab, Shahid RiazGondal accompanied the minister. Talk-

ing to media, the minister said that Punjab Government,led by Shahbaz Sharif, was working on war footing to endthe scourge of power load shedding and in this respect ithad formed a high level technical committee to considerfeasibility of initiating new projects to overcome powershortage. He said in addition to Rasul Hydel Station thecommittee would recommend setting up Hydel Power Sta-tion at Khokhra Head in this district. Rasul Hydel PowerStation was commissioned in 1951. Two units were installedwith 22 Megawatts generating capacity. Total requirementof water to run this station to its full capacity is 3624 cusecs.Another unit can be installed according to original plan-ning of the power station. If this is done Rasul Hydel PowerStation could produce 33 megawatts electricity in total.Unfortunately the Hydel power station due to poor main-tenance and short discharge of water is generating only 4megawatts electricity at present.

Inquiry termed mere eyewashISLAMABAD—Veteran Hurriyet leader,Syed Ali Gilani, APHC leaders ShabbirAhmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmad Khanhave termed the so-called inquiry intothe Sunday’s killing of two youth atSumbal in Indian Occupied Kashmir asmere eyewash and said that no culpritin uniform has been punished for hismisdeed so far. Syed Ali Gilani in a me-dia interview said that the inquiry or-dered into the killings was laughable and

was only an announcement to cool the fraying tempers.”“There will be no inquiry and no uniformed personnel willbe punished,” he added, KMS reported. The veteran leadercalled for a march towards Bandipora, and Gandarbal to-morrow, to express solidarity with the family members ofmartyred teenager Irfan Ahmed Ganai and Tariq Ahmad.The veteran leader asked the people of entire Kashmir tohold funeral prayers in absentia for two martyrs on Fridayand stage strong protests after congregational prayersagainst unjustified killings by army. Senior APHC leaderand Democratic Freedom Party Chairman Shabbir AhmadShah in a statement said that India was killing the Kashmiripeople because they were divided into many groups. “Ifthey (Kashmiris) fight united then India will have to changeits stubborn approach,” he added. Paying tributes to themartyrs, he said, “We are the guardians of martyrs’ bloodand will not allow it to go waste.” “People of Kashmir arewell aware of the mission of the martyrs and will continuetheir fight till the Kashmir issue is resolved as per the wishesand aspiration of the martyrs for which they laid downtheir lives,” he added. APHC leader and National FrontChairman Nayeem Ahmad Khan in a statement said thatwhen everybody knew that Irfan and Tariq were merci-lessly killed by India forces then what was the need andnecessity of an investigation. “The Kashmiri people arewell aware of such announcements.—APP

PESHAWAR—Advisor toChief Minister on PopulationWelfare, Shakeel AhmedTuesday directed the au-thorities concerned to utilizeall their energies for better-ment of the Population ofWelfare Department besidesadopt efficacious measuresby involving opinion makersto control increasing ratio ofpopulation in the province.

In a briefing here, he saidthe KP government was wellaware of its duties and re-sponsibilities relating to wel-fare planning and directed theofficials of his department toutilize all available resourcesand energies to put the De-partment on scientific lineand make holistic approachesand strategies regarding con-trolling population for better-ment of masses.

He said the PakistanTahrik e Insaf Govt was en-deavouring to eliminate cor-ruption, ensure transparency

and merit system. He said pres-sure was mounting by manyfolds on every sector of na-tional economy due to the in-crease in population, adding itwas necessary to overcomethis problem with active par-ticipation of all stakeholders.The excessive increasing ratioof population itself demandedthat we should be mindfulabout the forthcoming prob-lems expected to be increased.

The entire nation, he said,should seriously take this is-sue and extend full coopera-tion to the government in thisregard as we could not re-solve this problem alone. Hesaid increasing the size of na-tional economy was neces-sary for achieving the devel-opment goals and the govern-ment was making all possibleefforts in this regard.

Earlier, he was briefedabout new and progress onongoing projects and ex-pressed satisfaction over pace

of work. Secretary PopulationWelfare Zafar Ali Shah andother high ranking officialswere present on the occasion.

Hyderabad: GynecologistDr Hameeda Jagirani saidhere on Tuesday that the ru-ral women’s health is miser-able due to lack of health fa-cilities and skilled health pro-viders. She said talking tothis scribe here that thou-sands of women die eachyear due to complications ofpregnancy and 10 times morewomen develop life-longpregnancy-related disability.She said the health status ofwomen is directly linked towomen’s low social status.

She said in terms ofhealth status, the figures arestunning and added that theuntimely death or disabilityof a woman, a tragedy in it-self, adversely affects thehealth of her children, house-hold productivity and thenational economy.—APP

Mushaira heldunder auspices

of PALPESHAWAR—Speakers of acondolence reference andMushaira paid rich tributesto renowned late Pashtopoet Syed Saif-ur-RehmanSaleem, adding he had ren-dered unprecedented ser-vices for Pashto languageand literature. The condo-lence seminar/Mushaira washeld under the auspices ofPakistan Academy of Letters(PAL), in collaboration withRanara Adabi Jirga(Peshawar) here in Glozai.

Resident Director, PAL,Said Wali Khiyal Mohmandpresided over the event whileProfessor Aseer Mangal,Wadood Hashtnagarai andNazir Yusufzai were chiefguests on the occasion. Thefunction was also attended byAshraf Ghamgeen, IlyasTalwan, Aimal Khattak andMurad Ali Murad. Before theformal beginning of theprogramme Qur’aan Khwaniwas also held for the eternalpeace of the departed souland on behalf of PAL a wreathof flower was put on his grave.

Addressing the seminar,Resident Director, PALPeshawar, Said Wali KhiyalMohmand said that Syed Saif-ur-Rehman Saleem was thechampion of peace and histeachings gives the lesson ofhumanity, nationalism, broth-erhood and love. Theprogramme was attended bya large number of poets andwriters from Waziristan,Swabi, Mardan, Charsadda,Nowshera.—APP

Lawyers role inprovision of cheap

justice urgedP E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Minister forLaw and Parliamentary Af-fairs, Sardar Israrullah KhanGandapore has urged law-yers’ community for playingtheir positive role in provi-sion of cheap justice. He ex-pressed these views whiletalking to a 10-member del-egation of Shangla Bar As-sociation, which called onhim under the leadership ofthe member provincial as-sembly Abdul Manam.

The delegation briefedthe minister regarding prob-lems and difficulties faced bythe lawyers’ community,which besides, provision ofbooks and furniture forShangla Bar Library were in-cluded land acquisition forjudicial complex, prison andprovision of special grant forthe bar association.

The minister assuredthat the PTI led provincialgovernment will resolve theproblems of lawyers’ com-munity on priority basis. Heappreciated the services oflawyers’ community in na-tional development and res-toration of democracy in thecountry.—APP

Rural women’s health is miserable due to lack of facilities

Measures sought tocontrol population growth

QUETTA—Chief Minister Dr.Abdul Malik Baloch has as-sured on Tuesday that thegovernment would effec-tively discharge its respon-sibility to ensure security tolife and property of its citi-zens at all cost. He along withprovincial minister AbdulRahim Ziaratwal here visitedthe Hazara town to condolewith families of victims ofSunday evening suicideblast that left as many as 30people including women andchildren killed her.

Speaking on the occa-sion, the Chief Minister

Security tightened, Quetta normal

Govt committed to ensuresecurity to people: Baloch

Balochistan condemned theattack and said the govern-ment will do everything pos-sible for relief of the victimsfamilies. He said that the bestavailable medical facilities arebeing provided to the injuredof the blast and those who arein precarious condition will beshifted to Karachi.

Meanwhile, it is reportedthat security has further beentightened in the provincialcapital in the wake of lastSunday suicide blasts inHazara town that left as manyas 30 people killed and manyothers injured.

Quetta police sources toldAPP here on Tuesday that thenumber of police pickets hadbeen increased along the roadslinking Hazara Town with thecity besides augmenting thedeployment at already estab-lished check posts in the pro-vincial capital. The law en-forcement agencies officialsalso kept patrolling the vicin-ity round the clock in order toshun the attacks.

The fresh contingents ofBalochistan Frontier Corpswere assisting the policeforce raiding the suspectedhideouts of the miscreants

involved in violence. Thepolice and FC teams raided anumber of locations includ-ing Sariab Road, SabzalRoad, Kharoatabad andtaken into custody dozens ofsuspects to determine theirinvolvement in the subver-sive activities. The pillionriding had already beenbanned under 144 of CrPC inthe provincial capital besideslaunching a crackdownagainst vehicles with tintedglasses and without registra-tion number plates. Police andFC impounded several suchvehicles on Tuesday.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Me-teorological Department(PMD) on Tuesday said theheat wave would grip thecountry during the next twodays, increasing the day tem-peratures. The weatherwould remain hot and dry inmost parts of the countryduring the next 24 hours withchances of isolated rain-thun-dershower in Malakand,Hazara division, GilgitBaltistan and Kashmir.

The synoptic situationsays that seasonal low waslying over north-eastBalochistan and a westerlytrough over upper parts wasmoving eastwards. Theweather would remain hotand dry in most parts ofPunjab, Sindh, Balochistanand Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.The day temperatures wouldrise during the next two daysand there are some chancesof rain during the weekend,the met office said.

The maximum tempera-tures recorded during the last24 hours were Islamabad 37C, Karachi 35 C, Lahore 39 C,Peshawar 35 C, Quetta 35 C,Skardu 33 C, Murree 26 C,Muzzafarabad 36 C, Gilgit 31C, Faisalabad 38 C, Multan37 C and Hyderabad 39 C. TheKP Meteorological Depart-ment here Tuesday forecastrain-thundershowers at iso-lated places of Upper Khyber

Heat wave to persistPakhtunkhwa, North East ofPunjab and Gilgit Baltistanduring next 24 hours thatwould hopefully bring tem-perature down.

A Spokesman of Met Of-fice told APP rain in UpperKP was expected becauseseasonal low lies over North-west Balochistan and adjoin-ing areas besides a westerlytrough was also prevailingover upper parts. In next 24hours, mainly hot and dry

weather was expected inmost parts of the country,however, rain-thunder-shower was expected at iso-lated places of northeastPunajb, upper KP & Gilgit-Baltistan/Kashmir.

Rain is also expected atAbbottabad, Thandyani,Haripur and Manshera dis-tricts during the said period.The tourists have reached totourists places like Thandyani,Nathia Gali and Gora Gali inlarge number to enjoy pleas-ant change in the weatherthere. Mainly hot and dryweather is expected in mostparts of the country.—APP

TANK—The 10th phase ofSouth Waziristan Agency(SWA) IDPs repatriation pro-cess, jointly supervised byPak-Army and Political Ad-ministration under the opera-tion “Naveed-e-Sehr”,started here Tuesday. Asmany as 694 families compris-ing of 3,991 IDPs would berepartriated to their respec-tive areas including Shahoor,Janta, Chagmalaai, Saroaiki,Anzr, Kaza Kach, Zari Wam,Nazar Khel, Shabozai, BangiWala, Maki Khel, AhmedWaam, Ghazahaibat Khel,Sararogha, Parta Gai, ShotaTai, Sriaway Gala, Spankai,Raghzai, Khadar Baba,Merosh Khel, Dam Kachlai,Gharlama, Sagar Ghazai,Shankai Mela, Nwi Kch andSamoogh.

The authorities have al-ready established registra-

10th phase of SWA IDPsrepatriation starts

tion centres at Tank andD.I.Khan for the respectableand peaceful return of dis-placed persons to their re-spective areas. It may be re-called that nine repatriationphases under operation“Naveed-e-Sehr” has beencompleted and according toconcerned authorities,10,014 families have beensuccessfully repatriated tothe areas. Pak-army has alsostarted developmental andwelfare oriented activities in-cluding establishment ofmodel villages, education in-stitutions besides rehabilita-tion of hospitals and tradecentres. The returning IDPswhile appreciating the effortsof authorities expressed thehope that all the required ba-sic amenities of life wouldalso be provided to them intheir areas.—APP

NOWSHEHRA: IDPs of Jalozai Camp blocked Charat Road during a demonstration against non-availability of rationin the camp.

MULTAN: PML-N workers felicitating newly elected Member Parliament BegumShaheen Shafiq.

FATAHPUR—Four persons in-cluding woman were gunneddown over an old rivalry onTuesday at Fatahpur, a villagein the suburb of TehsilShakargarh. Last year, the vic-tim party had gunned downGhafoor Khan in a fair. The vic-tims were going to the court inorder to pursue their proceed-ings that their rivals openedfire on them.

As a result, two realbrothers Israr Khan and SajidKhan along with their sisterSidra were gunned downwhile Israr Khan’s 10-year-old son Ahad sustained in-juries and rushed to hospitalbut unluckily could not sur-vive. Apart from this, apasser-by also received bul-let while miscreants man-aged to escape the site ofoccurrence.

Sargodha: A man waskilled while two others in-jured when a car overturneddue to over speeding on the

One killed, two hurt as car overturns

Shakargarh: Fourkilled over old enmity

Jhaverian-Shahpur road onTuesday. Police saidMuhammad Younas ofMandi Bahauddin along withMazhar Iqbal and FaizRasool was riding a car, whichoverturned near Doore Wala.As a result, Younas died onthe spot while the otherswere injured. Meanwhile, ayoung man was gunneddown in an incident of crossfiring in Jharvian police lim-its on Tuesday.

Loralai: A man was killedand two others sustainedwounds in a road mishap inLoralai district on Tuesday.According to police, the vic-tims including Nazar Khan,Wazir Khan and NazarMuhammad were crossingthe road when a vehicle hitthem due to over speeding.As a result, Nazar Khan diedon the spot while two othersreceived injuries.The bodyand the injured were shiftedto nearby hospital.—APP

QUETTA: Two baby girls and thalassaemia patients sit-ting with their father seeking financial help.

Afghanistan belongs toPashtuns, may be othersAS different options are being explored and debated to find a way

out of the Afghan imbroglio, Pakistan has reportedly proposed apower sharing formula between Kabul and the Taliban as part of

the peace talks aimed at bringing the long drawn conflict to a responsibleend. But unfortunately, the idea floated by Advisor on National Securityand Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz during his meeting with Afghan Ambas-sador, has been frowned upon by the Afghan Government, labeling it asan attempt to create Taliban fiefdoms.

The unnatural reaction of President Karzai and his team membersin Kabul makes it abundantly clear once again that they are least inter-ested in restoration of peace in their country as prospects of peacethreaten their petty personal or group interests. Karzai had behaved inalmost similar manner when the news broke out about opening of Talibanoffice in Doha to serve as coordination point between the United Statesand Taliban. The word Taliban is almost synonymous to Pashtun whichis the largest ethnic majority in Afghanistan and you cannot dream aboutpeace by sidelining the major players. Karzai himself is a Pashtun butregrettably he dangerously compromised interests and rights of themajority for the sake of his personal agenda. Rejection of Pakistaniproposal is also indicative of myopic approach of rulers in Kabul andthat they are totally devoid of the capability to comprehend the starkground realities. Pakistan has repeatedly said it would support an Af-ghan-led and Afghan-owned process of reconciliation in theneighbouring country, which effectively means that all segments of theAfghan population should be on board. Pakistani proposal is aimed atbringing an early end to the conflict in Afghanistan as continuation ofthe war means continuation of miseries, difficulties, challenges andthreats to Pakistan itself. The country has suffered badly during the lastfour decades of instability and war in Afghanistan and therefore, Paki-stan is genuinely interested in restoration of durable and sustainablepeace in that country. No doubt, there are other ethnic minorities likeUzbek and Tajik but by and large Afghanistan belongs to Pashuns andthey must not be sidelined in post-withdrawal period. We would, how-ever, suggest to Pakistani authorities as well to use the terminology of‘Pashtuns’ and not ‘Taliban’ for a power sharing arrangement.

Good governanceis key to new look

THROUGHOUT his election campaign, Mian Nawaz Sharif had beentalking about new Pakistan where stinking corruption would not be

tolerated. It is heartening that after his shifting from Raiwind to PM Housein Islamabad, he is firmly inclined to grapple the issue of corruptionshowing zero tolerance to the phenomenon.

Monday’s direction of the Prime Minister to the federal ministersand secretaries to cancel contracts of the corrupt officials and takeconcrete measures to eliminate corruption in Government offices is aloud and clear message to all and sundry that there is no room for thecorrupt in the new set up. In fact, the country sank deep into corrup-tion of all sorts during the last five year of the PPP Government andnow there is a strong perception that the country cannot go forwardon the road to progress and prosperity without weeding out the cor-rupt. To begin with, we would urge MNS to divorce the word ‘newPakistan’ from his vocabulary and revert back to the Quaid’s Paki-stan. The founding father had envisaged an Islamic, democratic andwelfare state and the country would be better off if steps are taken torealize this cherished objective. We heard about new Pakistan fromZA Bhutto after dismemberment of the country, from former Presi-dent Musharraf and even PTI Chief Imran Khan during his electioncampaign but all this proved nothing but gimmick. Like PM NawazSharif, CM Punjab Mian Shahbaz Sharif too is talking about the men-ace of corruption and we hope they would introduce good governance,transparency and meritocracy in every walk of life. Apart from cor-ruption by contractual officials, what about corruption by others?

US invades world privacyIT is rather astonishing that President Obama has defended US intelli

gence gathering tactics in European countries which are close allies ofthe world’s only super power. At a news conference in Dar-es-Salam,Obama justified the wiretapping of European Union buildings sayingthat all spy agencies gather information beyond that which is publiclyavailable from large media organizations.

Obama’s assertion is unacceptable as it amounts to invading privacy.The US considers rising China as a rival and is also being subjected todifferent types of spying. Even third world countries including Pakistanare also target of spying including wiretapping of telephones of importantofficials and departments in addition to physical presence of spies’ net-works. There is growing outrage in Europe over the reports and FrenchPresident and spokesman for Chancellor Merkel of Germany have expressedtheir anger over the disclosure. The French President went to the extentthat the talks on new trans-Atlantic trade pact scheduled to start next weekshould be delayed until questions over the spying issues were resolved. ABritish newspaper reported additional details about the surveillanceprogramme pointing out that the list of targets included the EuropeanUnion’s missions and French, Italian and Greek Embassies as well asother American allies including Turkey, India, Japan, Mexico and SouthKorea. The vast spying programme is a clear indication that the US doesnot rely even on friends. We may say that this is a clear violation of basicfundamental rights as the first thing in fundamental rights is one’s pri-vacy which no one has right to violate or interfere in. The US had beenphysically invading several countries including Iraq and Afghanistan butby eavesdropping, Washington has invaded and humiliated its allies andthe strong reaction from some of the countries is natural. It is because ofsuch acts that trust deficit about the US is widening world over.

BJP & Modi to destroy secularism

I remember myyouth and thefeeling that willnever comeback anymore — the feelingthat I could lastforever, outlast thesea, the Earth, andall men; the deceitfulfeeling that lures uson to perils, to love,to vain effort — todeath...

The plotthickens

It’s beginning to make perfectsense why the US has been desperate to get its hands on Ed-

ward Snowden. Despite US Presi-dent Barack Obama’s claim thathe’s not going to engage in “wheel-ing and dealing” to get the fugitiveexpatriated to US territory, US VicePresident Joe Biden’s phone call tothe Ecuadorian President, RafaelCorrea, goes to show the impor-tance Edward’s extradition has forthe Obama administration. Andwhy is this exactly the case? Per-haps because Snowden is likely tospill even more beans about USNational Security Agency’s clan-destine activities.

This is exactly what he is do-ing. A report leaked by Snowdento the German paper, Der Spiegel,cites a 2010 official document al-leging that the NSA had been in-volved in spying on EU offices inthe US. According to the citeddocument, the NSA spied on theEU’s internal computer networksin Washington and at the regionalbody’s UN office in New York. Thenews has rung alarm bells in theEU leadership, with the head ofPresident of the European Parlia-ment, Martin Schulz, saying that ifthe leaked information was true, itcould “have a severe impact on EU-US relations.” He has also de-manded full clarification from USauthorities regarding the issue. Theleaders of the 27-member bloc,which has tighter privacy lawscompared to the US, have ex-pressed grave concern afterSnowden’s shocking revelationsabout the NSA made headlines.They has been particularly anxiousto know whether EU citizens wereaffected by NSA’s snooping. AndSnowden’s leaked documents haverevealed just that. He has claimedthat he has a lot more to reveal tothe world, and everyone, save theObama administration, is waitingfor his revelations with batedbreath.

While many are demonisingthe 30-year-old former CIA workerfor jeopardising America’s securityby divulging classified information,Snowden’s actions do have an up-side. They have made the Ameri-can understand that their state istransgressing the very values thatit overtly seeks to protect. Thistransgression by the state might bearguably justified after 9/11, but atleast the American citizens shouldknow about it. — Khaleej Times

*****

Croatia’smembership

a shot inEU arm

If you are to believe the growing Euro sceptics and the economic doomsayers, the Euro-

pean Union (EU) is a failed politi-cal and economic experiment.However, that is far from being thetruth. Yes, it has its issues, but itsfuture is bright and assured. Thatis the view of the people and gov-ernment of Croatia, who, becamethe newest member of the bloc. TheEU now ties 28 countries in a po-litical, social, commercial and fis-cal federation. While the bloc is inthe grips of recession, Croatia stillrelies on it for 60 per cent of itsnational trade. Staying out as anindependent unit simply made nosense.

The Zagreb government willbe quick to remove its customsposts, open its borders to visa-freetravel for all Europeans and alignits social welfare and developmentprogrammes in line with the EUCommission in Brussels and theEU parliament in Strasburg. As aformer member of Yugoslavia thatbroke away in war, it now readilyand peacefully joins another blocafter a ten-year process, It is justtoo bad that Turkey’s applicationfor the EU has been stalled for thepast three decades. — Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

Joseph Conrad—British writer

Politics in India may not be thesame again. The BhartiyaJanata Party (BJP) has charged

the agenda. It has introduced purecommunalism to the soft Hindutavathat prevailed so far. By appointingthe hardliner Narendra Modi,Gujarat Chief Minister, the panelchief for the 2014 parliament elec-tion, the party has dropped every bitof ambiguity over secularism. It isstark Hinduism for all to see. Ap-parently, the old leadership resistedthe decision. Tall L K Advani hadeven submitted his resignation fromall the posts he held in the party. Yetthe irresponsible younger cadre wasin no mood to accommodate the so-ber point of view. For them, asharper communal politics was theminimum. Advani had reportedlywarned behind the walls that Modiwas not a proper person for India.

The atmosphere may becomemore bitter when the BJP propagatesthe Hindu Rashtriya openly. True,the concept goes against the verygrain of the constitution whichwanted the country a secular demo-cratic republic. But the BJP hasfound no benefit from it. In the fu-ture, the very word, secularism, willcome under different interpretations.Parties, however parochial in out-look, will claim to be secular. There-fore, Modi’s acceptance speech wasunderstandably vehement againstthe Congress, the largest political

Mountaineers killing to subvert our interest?

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Sunday Magazine

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The newly elected government of Mian Nawaz Sharifhas inherited a difficult task,

that was visible to everyone andPML-N being the friendly opposi-tion party of ruling junta during last5 years must have been more in theknow of things and should have pre-pared with a team and plan to re-vamp the damage made to the na-tion and the county. Apart from theeconomic and energy woes there isthe problem of terrorism that is pre-venting all other efforts to succeed.

With Karachi almost out ofcontrol and a helpless PPP govern-ment in place, with drone attacksgoing on despite the loud mouthedpledges of the government to stopthem now the killing of foreignmountaineers at the base camp ofNanga Parbat in Gilgit-Baltistan, afar flung area that has also seenhorrible Shia killings in the past,but tourism being the main sourceof local income foreigners havenever been harmed the Pakistangovernment is facing still anotherchallenge. What has happened?Militant killers dressed in the uni-forms of Gilgit Scouts kidnappedtwo guides and made them showthe way to the base camp of NangaParbat where they attacked andkilled ten foreigners and one oftheir guides. It is quite normal inPakistan for people who are notentitled to be able to get hold ofuniforms of all kinds, be it Pakistanarmy, police Frontier corps or Gilgitscouts. This fact has been high-lighted and criticized time and againbut never anything has changed.

In reacting to the attack federalgovernment suspended the chiefsecretary and inspector general ofGilgit-Baltistan and promised to

party which has come to beassociated with secularism.He wants the party to disap-pear from the scene so thatthere is no confusion betweenthe BJP, a Hindu outfit, andthe Congress, with secular

credentials.This may or may not happen but

the BJP has embarked upon the taskof wiping the slate clean with no men-tion of secularism whatsoever. Sinceindependence, even long before it, thefreedom struggle was based on the ideaof an independent India which wouldknow no difference on the basis ofcommunity or caste. The leaders im-mersed in that struggle agreed toIndia’s partition but not to the thesisthat the religion could be mixed withpolitics. Secularism is thus the cornerstone of the structure that India hastried to raise after partition. It has notbeen an ideal effort. Yet it has kept thecountry together, with no recurring ex-ample of communal divide.

In the process, the nation hasalso come to recognize the distancebetween the communal forces andthe secular elements. It has resultedinto a healthy development: secularpolitical parties have generally keptaway from the BJP to stall its instal-lation at the Centre. The inductionof Modi may not defeat the process.But it will definitely confuse theHindus who, leave some apart, areanimated with cosmopolitanthoughts. They stopped the BJP win-ning in the last two parliamentaryelection because when the time forcasting votes came, they put theirweight behind the liberal forceswhich has kept the country more orless midway neither left or right. The

danger of its going right has in-creased now. RSS, which has initi-ated and supported Modi sees in himsomeone nearer to their ideology ofHindutava and anti-Muslim. RealModi was, however, exposed whenhe blessed the massacre of Muslimsin Gujarat a decade ago. Not a wordof regret even after years only un-derlines his anti-Muslim thinking.How can India have a person likehim as the Prime Minister? The re-percussions of such a person at thehelm of BJP, not possessing evena semblance of liberalism, can bedangerous. Obsessed with drivinga wedge between Hindus and Mus-lims, he can vitiate the youngmind. Liberalism or idealism al-ready receding to the background,bigotism and the extremism willgo to allocate what is left of thecomposite culture.

When I was India’s High Com-missioner at London, Prime Minis-ter Margret Thatcher asked me the se-cret of India staying together for cen-turies. I told her that we did not be-lieve that the country was divided intoblack and white. We believed thatthere was a vast grey area. We wenton expanding that area. That was oursecularism. The idea kept the nationtogether. She was reportedly im-pressed by my explanation and shetold this to Soviet PresidentGorbachev. He sent a delegation toIndia to study the strength of greyarea, secularism. Modi will makeblack further bleak and shut everyopening for the grey area to expand.In the last few decades, the BJP haspurveyed the impression that it islooking for a space that will give itan image of being right of Right, that

of pro-Hindu but not of extremist.Modi will stop such an ideology de-veloping. It will be saffron all theway. The BJP has foolishly cometo realize that it would have tosharpen difference with the Muslimsto look different. It believes that ifthere is any time to play the Hinducard, it is now. This is a wrong think-ing, leaving no space for even smallgestures for conciliation. Advani’spresence evokes hope.

The greatest benefit of Modi’simportance will be to the Congress.Not that it is intrinsically secular butit has the reputation of being so. TheMuslim electorate, nearly 15 per cent,will move towards the Congress andadversely affect large parties like ofMulayam Singh’s Samajwadi party,which has a large Muslim followingin UP. The party’s image is also secu-lar. The Congress will gain becausethe next election is not that of stateassembly but of Parliament. TheMuslims, know the importance. TheNational Democratic Alliance(NDA), the BJP’s allies, may still partcompany with the party.

The real loss is that of the In-dian nation. At a time when it looksthat the various elements have foundtheir identity within the country,Modi’s image of parochialismcomes in the open. The idea of In-dia will be jeopardized. It is a pitythat the country will be unsettlingwhen it is settling down to an ideol-ogy which may not be purely secu-lar but does not disturb people ofdifferent faiths to live a life of theirown in their own way.—The writer is a veteran Indianjournalist, syndicated columnist,human rights activist and author.

find the culprits. So far 37people have been taken intocustody but will this help? Weknow that these are haphazardarrests that might not be help-ful. If the government is in-tending to perform better than

the previous one, the activities so farundertaken might not be sufficient tomake a difference. The next questionis who were the killers and where didthey come from.

There are two possibilities: one,we have the admission of TTP thatthis is their killing squad that is theone of Pakistani Taliban. They areready for peace talks but the deathof their leader Waliur Rehman in aUS drone strike has prevented thisfor the time being. Drone strikes arenot only violating Pakistani sover-eignty, they are also against inter-national law and though the presentnew government has vowed to fightagainst drone strikes the moves theyhave taken so far seem not to be suit-able to solve the problem. The mes-sage was that TTP through this kill-ing wanted to give to the interna-tional community.

The second option was discussedon ARY by Mushahid Hussain andShamshad Khan in a talk show werelinking the GB killings to the Dohapeace talks. They said that theTaliban have contacts with China andsome other countries already andnow their office was established withhoisting of flag and anthem, it iscalled “Political office of IslamicEmirates of Afghanistan”. Now UScould be contemplating to share partsof Afghanistan with Taliban, Karzaiand National Alliance to bring Indiafactor into Afghanistan. During theshow they tried to connect this kill-ing in Gilgit-Baltistan with puttingpressure on Afghan Taliban to com-promise. But this seems to be toomuch of a “khayali pulaow”. Thoughthere are no doubt contacts betweenthe Afghan and Pakistani Talibanboth have a different agenda: whileAfghan Taliban fight against foreign

occupation Pakistani Taliban are atwar with its own people, the govern-ment in Islamabad and the PakistaniArmy. The third option that has beendiscussed in the media also is thatthe killer dressed in scout uniformsmight have come from Indian sideto pressurize Afghan Taliban into theDoha talks. But again, India is veryweary about the peace talks in Doha.They are not part of it and they areafraid that something will be decidedthat they won’t like and is againsttheir interest in Afghanistan. Butwould the GB action give whatso-ever signal to the Afghan Taliban orto the US or to Karzai? This againseems not so likely.

The most logical explanationmay, therefore, be the connection toTTP and may be to draw attention tothe plight of the people of Gilgit-Baltistan and the insufficient statusof Gilgit-Baltistan. Though Gilgit-Baltistan is obviously under Pakistanirule since 1947 when the people ofthe area liberated themselves andopted to join Pakistan but this Paki-stani state has since then refused toaccept them fully. That has deprivedthe people of Gilgit-Baltistan of de-velopment, constitutional status andself-rule and has rather made theminto a colony of Islamabad. The half-hearted measures of the previous PPPgovernment have not helped eitherand have not resulted in even mak-ing Gilgit-Baltistan into a full-fledgedprovince. The latest killing spree ofmilitants whosoever they are is justshowing that if Gilgit-Baltistan is notgiven provincial status and self-ruleas provided in the constitution, itmight be the next candidate for aBaluchistan-like situation.

Pakistani rulers have miserablyfailed to take advantage of its geo-political and strategic location, ratherthey played havoc and continue to dothe same by becoming US ally. Thissituation should have been fully usedfor national progress and prosperitybut every autocratic ruler worked forpersonal gains and national fabric was

torn into pieces and the result is weare divided into ethnic and linguis-tic groups and result of 2013 elec-tion is a proof of that. Will NawazSharif be honest and sincere fromthe core of his heart to steer the rud-derless ship of Pakistan on a safe andprogressive path. Convene nationalconference to hold threadbare dis-cussions to evolve national consen-sus on vital issues starring in the faceof the nation and develop outlinesof our national interest and forgegreater national unity to weld thenation into a wall of steel to face thechallenges starring on the face of na-tion. Passing of resolution in Na-tional Assembly condemning NangaParbat killing will not serve any pur-pose, government has to digout theroot cause of the menace.

First time KKH was blocked in1990 by Tehrik Nifaz-e-Shariet-e-Mohammadi in league with RetiredMajor Amir, our rulers for politicalexpediency did nothing to check itthen now when these two countriesare planning to develop Gwadar-Kashgher rail link, such securitylapses on the part of Pakistani ad-ministration will fail our economicprogress and prosperity. The recentkilling of MP’s in Karachi and KPKdemands stern action against theculprits and the delinquents in ad-ministration. Distance from USgreat chess game that is stopping usto stand on our two feet’s, developsustainable economic plan, exploreoil, gas, mineral and natural re-sources available in abundance inBalochistan, Sindh, Punjab andKPK not utilized for unknown rea-sons. This pathetic situation is aptlydescribed in following verse: “ Mirbimar howey jiskey sabab. Ossi At-tar key Londey sey Dawa Letey ho”meaning that Mir had caught someinfection from his friend doctor andto remedy this he secretly took treat-ment from the son of the same doc-tor to overcome infectious disease.God bless Pakistan in this hour oftrial and tribulation.

Kuldip NayarEmail:kuldipnayar09@gmail.com

Ali Ashraf KhanEmail:balti@super.net.pk

Voice of the People

Musharraf’s trialMALIK UL QUDDOOS

Nawaz Sharif has announced in theNational Assembly that the govern-ment will try Gen (r) PervezMusharraf for treason. It is believedto be a tactical move by the PML-Nto divert the attention of media fromloadshedding, the price hike, bud-get, terrorist attacks, and the recentkillings of tourists at Nanga Parbat.

However, this move may onlyprove successful for the time beingbut would not hold good for long asthe public is least interested in a re-venge trial by politicians of a mili-tary dictator. Instead, they want a so-lution of their daily problems whichhave made their lives miserable.

Mr Sharif must not forget thatthe people have not given him aheavy mandate owing to the pastperformance of his previous tenures.They have elected him because ofthe misdeed of the PPP governmentwhich had miserably failed to de-liver. The tragedy with our main po-litical parties is that they have thesame old teams to work with andone cannot expect any better resultsfrom the present lot also.—Karachi

*****ABDEALI NAFAR

The PML-N has moved forward toinitiate a treason case against formerPresident and Army Chief PervezMusharraf. Pakistan’s memory isnot that short; they have not forgot-ten the storming of one of the judi-ciary by goons during the last Sharifgovernment.

Wasn’t that an equally an act oftreason? Moreover, our great reli-gion teaches us to forgive and for-get when one gets a chance to over-come his opponent. Thirdly, theopening up of such a case will openPandora’s Box as other skeletons inthis closet can turn and twist thiscase to the detriment of the newlyinstalled government.—Karachi

A bombshell in SC

S M ANWAR

This refers to the headline, ‘AG dropsBombshell in Supreme Court’ (June27). Not a day passes when onedoesn’t read harrowing news of thesenseless killing of innocent people,through remote controlled bombs orexplosives wrapped around body ofmisguided suicide bombers.

As if these mad killings were notenough we are told of a “bombshellin Supreme court”. The news reportsays that a person no less than theretired JusticeYasmin Abbassey anda former law secretary, would stoopso low as to be willing to bluff noless than the Supreme Court first bywriting a letter on Nov 5, 2012 forproceeding with the $60 milliongraft case against the Presidentpending in the Swiss court, ostensi-bly to show obedience to the Su-preme court, and then after 10 dayssecretly writing another letter not toopen the case to save her master,making a joke of the SupremeCourt’s order. I do not know howstrong the graft case is against thepresident but I do think this ‘bombshell’ takes the cake of rank syco-phancy amongst those who are paidto uphold and respect the law.—Karachi

Preventing deathby drowningDR AKBAR HEREKAR

Recently I read an article that notesnine deaths due to drowning whichtranslates into nine families thathave suffered a major loss. It is thattime of the year when the mercuryis rising, and due to lack of electric-ity people find alternatives to escapethe heat. Drowning is a form ofdeath that is easily preventable bysimple and cheap measures and pre-

News bulletin on private channelsMADIHA VIQUAR

There is a plethora of news channels which are a part of our media.Almost 70% of the “news” is notnews at all. It is either mere gossip, or is so petty that it does not deserve to be part of a news bulletin. Ournews channels have become habitual of scandalizing and sensationalizing every issue and often they donot even bother to verify the information which they are forwarding to their audiences. They havebecome obsessed with the term “breaking news” and use it to report those kinds of facts which cannoteven be called “news.” Every piece of information is reported as breaking news and many times thechannel’s transmission is also interrupted for this purpose. Secondly, the language used in the newsbulletins is extremely vulgar and colloquial. The speech of the newscasters is very informal, some-times even slang and offensive. The text written on the news tickers is equally inappropriate. It seemsthat those who are running the country’s biggest news networks don’t actually know the meaning ofthe word news, because news means reporting the facts as they are; but on our news channels, opin-ions rather than facts are reported. The media personnel do not realize that the purpose of a newsbulletin is solely to report facts, and opinions are to be given in talk shows. Another major flaw in thereporting of these channels is the use of music in news bulletins. Many times headlines are accompa-nied by songs. First a song is played and then comes the headline. This is done deliberately to arousepeople’s sentiments, especially on issues of violence and calamities. It is another way to sensationalizenews. The blithe disregard for the gravity of something as important as news, especially by our elec-tronic media, is indeed lamentable. It is indeed a harsh reality that the Pakistani electronic media actu-ally typifies yellow journalism.—Karachi

READERS

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

—Editor

Who is behind sectarian attacks in Pakistan?

Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP)and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ),both Sunni militant groups,

have taken responsibility for the bulkof attacks against Shiite Muslims inPakistan. SSP was established in theearly 1980s under the reign and pa-tronage of the second military dic-tator in Pakistan, Zia ul-Haq. LeJbroke off from SSP in 1996 after itsfounder, Riaz Basra, had differenceswith his seniors.

Analysts and activists in Paki-stan surmise that Saudi Arabia andIran are carrying out a proxy war onPakistani soil by providing financialand other support to militants fromboth camps. For example, thebanned Shiite militant group, Sipah-e-Muhammad Pakistan, was formedwith the explicit purpose of target-ing leaders in SSP and LeJ in re-sponse to increased attacks againstShiites.

In 2012 almost 400 Pakistanislost their lives in sectarian violence,and the bulk of them were ShiiteMuslims, according to the Centre forResearch and Security Studies. Sixmonths into 2013, the Shiite com-munity has already lost more than300 members in four major attacks– three in Quetta, the provincial capi-tal of Pakistan’s largest provinceBalochistan, and one in Karachi, thecountry’s commercial metropolis.

The majority of the Shiites killedare members of the minority Hazarapopulation, which is situated mostlyin Quetta’s Hazara Town and MehrAbad. The persian-speaking andmostly Shiite Hazaras are known fortheir distinct Mongolian features,making them easy to pick out in acrowd. More than 1,000 Hazarashave been killed in targeted attacksin the past 10 years.The last gov-

ernment, the Pakistan People’s Party(PPP) was heavily criticized for it’slack of action. Then, on May 11,2013, Pakistan elected a new gov-ernment to power, led by PakistanMuslim League-Nawaz (PML-N).However, The PML-N has been run-ning the provincial government inPunjab, Pakistan’s largest provinceand the birthplace of the militantgroups who have claimed to be be-hind the bulk of the attacks, sincethe latest transition from militaryrule to democracy in 2008. And thecontinued presence of both militantgroups has prompted critics to ac-cuse the party of being incompetentor complicit.

Despite their public statementspromising to get to the bottom of thekillings, government officials seemreluctant to move beyond referencesto vague “intelligence failures,” andsay little about how to get aroundthose. The outcry and protest againstthe killings came to a head earlierthis year when the country’s mostvulnerable Shiite minority, theHazara population, staged a four-day, 24-hour sit-in, where they re-fused to bury the bodies of theirloved ones. The refusal to bid fare-well to those killed in the first at-tack was a powerful statement com-ing from an Islamic community asit goes against the Islamic injunc-tion to bury the dead as soon as pos-sible, so that those left behind canbe at peace.

At first, many thought the sit-insuccessfully pushed the governmentinto action. The federal government,led by the PPP at the time, dismissedthe sitting provincial government ofBalochistan – where the bulk of anti-Shiite attacks take place – for fail-ing to maintain law and order. How-ever, no real action was taken, saidcritics. And when a second attacktook place in February, it broughtHazaras to the streets again, this time

demanding immediate action. Thistime, the Punjab’s PML-N-led pro-vincial government – which is nowruling Pakistan – carried out arrestsof 152 militants from SSP and LeJacross Punjab. But by the end ofMarch, 2013, the same governmentreleased the militants. The govern-ment explained that the they couldnot legally detain the prisoners formore than 90 days without puttingthem in front of the courts. Pakistanicourts, on the other hand, have beennotoriously incapable of seeingthrough successful prosecutions andpunishments of militants behind theattacks – despite public statementssent out by both the SSP and the LeJclaiming responsibility.

Analysts say that the attack inMarch at a Shiite Muslim mosquein Karachi shows that the militantsthreaten more than just Quetta. Buta call for a government-led country-wide crackdown seemed to fall ondeaf ears. The current attack hasShiite groups, again, demanding ac-tion. The lack of action has causedsome analysts to accuse the govern-ment of incompetence, or complic-ity. Though there is no conclusiveproof of state patronage, some ana-lysts say that elements within thestate are – at best – allowing themilitants to operate with impunity.

Quetta, the site of most attacksagainst the Shiite community, isknown for the enormous presence ofthe paramilitary Frontier Corps.Though the Frontier Corps is offi-cially separate from the PakistaniArmy and intelligence services,other analysts say that Pakistan’scentral security establishment callsthe shots. Their overwhelming pres-ence has caused many to wonderwhy the Frontier Corps has failed toarrest perpetrators who carry out at-tacks – attacks that are sometimesrecorded on video and by peoplewhose faces are easily visible.

Views From Abroad

Pakistan’s Interior MinisterChaudhury Nisar Ali Khan hashinted at the critical role played bythe Frontier Corps. “How canQuetta be the repeated victim ofterrorist attacks with police, Fron-tier Corps, security, and intelligenceagencies on every corner?” askedMr. Khan in a speech following adeadly attack against a universitybus and a medical complex in thesame city.

There are now some indicationsthat the LeJ is cooperating with thePakistani Taliban in launching at-tacks against Pakistani state andShiite targets. Some analysts saythat the government has an interestin maintaining good relations withthe LeJ, so they can ensure that thelatter do not intensify attacksagainst the Pakistani state.

The lack of action against theperpetrators reflects a policy of“good Taliban, bad Taliban,” saysArif Jamal, a US journalist and po-litical analyst referring to Talibanwho are dangerous only to outsid-ers vs Taliban who pose a threat tothe Pakistani state. Both Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan (SSP) andLashkar-e-Jhangvi (LeJ) do not tar-get the military, government, or ju-dicial sectors, and this makes them“good Taliban.” The corps has astrategic interest in maintaining tieswith militant groups that keep awayfrom attacks on the Pakistani state’sinstallations. Mr. Jamal points tothe 2009 attack against the Army’sgeneral headquarters in Rawalpindiby the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan(TTP) – a group considered to be“bad Taliban” because of their at-tacks against the state. In that in-stance, the government actedquickly: Gen. Pervaiz Kayani flewin the head of LeJ, Malik Ishaq, tonegotiate a settlement with the TTP.— Courtesy: The Christian Sci-ence Monitor

Afghanistan: Competing hope & despair

As John Kerry circumventedIslamabad, Special Representative James Dobbins

and Prime Minster David Cameronstrived to wear his shoes. After apro-India statement in New Delhiasking India to play a central rolein Afghanistan, and with no tan-gible proposals with regard toDrone attacks, Kerry hardly had achance of meaningful engagementwith the new government of Paki-stan. Skipping Pakistan from the re-gional tour of John Kerry has sentdepressing signal. No one wouldbuy the lame excuse of evolvingsituation in the Middle-East as thereason for dropping Pakistan fromthe itinerary.

What made US Secretary ofState John Kerry say that Indiacould play”central role” inAfghanistan’s elections next year isnot known. He went on to say thatthe world’s largest democracycould help the Afghan governmentimprove its electoral system andcreate a credible frame-work tosettle disputes. Mr Kerry’s state-ment has been received inIslamabad with surprise and dis-may. New Delhi and Washingtonhave different strategies on estab-lishing peace in Afghanistan. Whilethe US has initiated talks with theTaliban, India has objected to it,saying that it could lead to confer-ring legitimacy to insurgent groupsand send a wrong signal to variouscompeting factions.

It is Pakistan that has a centralrole in peace and reconciliation inAfghanistan, and it is Islamabadwhich has facilitated opening ofTaliban’s Doha office and establish-ment of contacts between theUnited States and Afghan Taliban.

Earlier too, on the demand of Af-ghan High Peace Council, Pakistanhad released Afghan prisoners thatwere potentially helpful in further-ing the process of national recon-ciliation.

India is not an immediateneighbour of Afghanistan, Ameri-can insistence to make it in-chargeof post 2014 Afghanistan is fraughtwith dangers. The real problem inAfghanistan is foreign interferenceand aggression and that is why Pa-kistan has all along been insistingthat it would support an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led process ofreconciliation and peace.

In the broader context, there’sneither a framework nor much in-centive to scale down the conflictin Afghanistan. American politi-cians are striving to make Afghani-stan look like an American victory,but that is simply not the case, run-ning away is exactly what Americais doing. Recently Fox News re-ported that right now, “violence isat levels matching the worst in 12years.” The war in Afghanistan isfar from over. Peace remains elu-sive. Abdur Rashid Dostum has re-portedly been working overtime tobolster his militia in anticipation ofrenewed civil strife.

Taliban opened their politicaloffice in Doha with an eye catch-ing ceremony that included a rib-bon cutting and playing of theTaliban anthem, while the Qatarideputy foreign minister was in at-tendance. The Taliban said they in-tended to use the site to meet withrepresentatives of other countriesand the United Nations. Languagethe Taliban used closely followedthe American framework for peacetalks. They indicated intent to dis-tance themselves from Al Qaedaand other terrorist groups, sayingthat Taliban’s aims were onlywithin Afghanistan and they did notsupport the use of Afghan soil to

plot international attacks. Coincid-ing with opening of political officein Doha, Taliban also sent a strongmessage through a deadly summeroffensive in Kabul. In a dare-devilattack, Taliban stormed PresidentialPalace and a high profile CIA basein Kabul.

This incident came a day afterthe American military formallyhanded over control of countrywide security to Afghan forces. Itwas one of the boldest attacks sinceKarzai narrowly escaped assassina-tion in April 2008, during a mili-tary parade. Show of strength in themost secure area of the Afghancapital doesn’t necessarily implythat Taliban are averse to peace, itonly shows that their will to fightis also intact.

The dormant US-AfghanTaliban dialogue showed signs ofrevival during last month, mostlydue to the Pakistan’s effort. It is alast-minute effort to push for a po-litical settlement before it’s too late.Inaugural ceremony in Dohabrought forth the huge perceptionalgaps amongst the vision of threeparties to negotiations. The cardi-nal point is that the political façadeof Emirate of Afghanistan, whichhad melted away after the fall ofTaliban government in 2001, nowstands revived and acknowledged.Now it is only a matter of time thatit receives dejure international rec-ognition.

Despite denials, the Doha officeis World’s one window contactpoint with the Government (in ex-ile) of Islamic Emirate of Afghani-stan. From their new office in Qatar,Taliban officials announced thatthey were ready to engage Ameri-can and Afghan officials in peacetalks, and they now sought “a po-litical and peaceful solution.”Sooner or later the other two par-ties would reconcile to negotiateunder the flag and emblem that

Taliban had displayed during theceremony. Doha peace initiative isthe latest move in America’s rapidretreat from the war in Afghani-stan, a war the US no longer wantsto be part of.

These peace talks would onlybe the beginning of a “complex,long and messy” ordeal. Americawants to just get out of Afghani-stan. In his second inaugural ad-dress, President Obama stated, “Adecade of war is now ending.”Later in May, he reiterated, “Thiswar, like all wars, must end. That’swhat history advises…” Americahas had enough of war. America’swill to fight is sapped. Americantalks with the Taliban show thateven a superpower has failed tohumble these elements with force.

President Karzai’s politicalpower is posed to follow a fizzlingcurve as Afghanistan inches to-wards political transition. Soon theUS-Islamic Emirate dialoguewould become more robust andmeaning full. Taliban’s self asser-tion, both militarily and politically,should be understood with all se-riousness; attempts to marginalizepredominant Pushtun populationof Afghanistan would lead no-where. No one should expect du-rable peace by handing over Af-ghanistan to minority ethnicgroups.

Pakistan should strive for anall inclusive Afghan solution. Itmust reinforce its outreach to non-Pushtun political forces in Af-ghanistan, including all major2014 presidential candidates. Thegoal should be to convinceAfghanistan’s major stake holdersthat Pakistan seeks peace and sta-bility for its neighbour and couldact as a bridge for an intra-Afghandialogue. Pakistan indeed has anarduous task at hand in Afghani-stan—to keep a balance betweenhope and despair.

Mahvish Ahmad

Some years ago as my daughters were growing up, I realized that I didn’t like the way

they dressed: They were tryingvery desperately to look as ordi-nary as possible, even to the ex-tent of looking a tad shabby.

That’s when I realized that oneof the deepest cravings of youngpeople, especially teens, is to beliked by their peers. Like all of us,they want to be accepted and theywant to be valued. It’s during thosecritical teen-age years that they be-

gin to play a game called, ‘Followthe Follower’.

The game is not the same as“Follow the Leader.” Following thefollower is about conforming ... talk-ing, dressing, acting and even think-ing like one another.

The idea is to fit in. In adulthoodhowever, we are supposed to dis-cover who we really are and do ourbest to grow into that person. Wefind our value, not in acceptance byothers, but because we believe in ourworth. It doesn’t always happen. Butit’s a wonderful day when we cansay in honesty, “I know who I amand I’m glad I am me.”

A children’s author got it rightwhen he wrote, “Be who you are andsay what you feel, because thosewho mind don’t matter and those

who matter don’t mind.” It takesstrength to swim against the tide. Ittakes courage to speak your convic-tions. And it takes trust to act on yourown intuition. It’s hard and reward-ing work to grow up and becomewho you really are.

In the end, whatever real successyou find in life will be a result ofyour being true to yourself ratherthan an imitation of somebody else.

I’ll never have to be accountableto anyone for not being more likemy favorite celebrity, that shiningstar in my chosen field or anybodyelse. And at the end of my life, thequestion I never want to be asked is,“How come you weren’t more likeyourself? You had such great poten-tial. You were a wholly unique per-son — unrepeatable and irreplace-

Being yourself..!able. Why you weren’t more likeyou?”

It took me far too long to real-ize that, in a world that wants meto conform, my greatest job is tobe myself. It’s a challenging andrewarding job and nobody can doit as well as me.

Tallulah Bankhead quipped,“Nobody can be exactly like me.Sometimes even I have troubledoing it.” Especially in a world thatwants us to conform. “To be no-body but yourself in a world thatis doing its best day and night intomaking you like everybody else,”said poet E. E. Cummings, “is tofight the hardest battle there is andnever stop fighting.” Be yourself!It’s a battle worth winning..!—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

cautions. Before going to the beachfor swimming and picnics we worrymore about whether or not paperplates, cups and food are ready, ratherthan noting whether or not we havetaken appropriate measures for safety.

As a doctor who works in firstresponse, I understand that preven-tion has a greater role in drowningthan does rescue and therefore urgethose families and youngsters goingto the beach to take along with thema rod to plant in the sand, a rope totie to it, and some form of local float-able device such as a tire tube orempty bottle can in case needed, aswell take a few moments to learn theappropriate method to approach adrowning victim without panicking.It takes a mere ten to fifteen min-utes to learn and implement thesemeasures but goes a long way in sav-ing lives.—Karachi

Research oneconomic growth

ENGR RIAZ AKBAR

It is encouraging to learn that researchpublications in Pakistan rose from3,939 to 6,200 and simultaneouslyPhD faculty at public universitiesjumped from 4,203 to 6,067 in thelast two years. Budget allocation(2013-14) of Rs57billion has alsobeen made to the HEC. I suggest thatall research scholars be tasked toevolve methodologies in boosting theeconomic growth of Pakistan withspecial emphasis on direly neededenergy which is hampering our eco-nomic growth.

I would also stress that PhDsmust pool in their shares for the up-lift of Pakistan. This will minimisepoverty and unemployment issues.The chairperson HEC is requested toask all industrialists to forward thelist of problems confronted in theirproduction processes. In turn, thechairperson HEC may allocate thetopics of research to PhD scholars.This is the only way to overcome ourindustrial problems. Any expenditureincurred in resolving industrial prob-lems should be borne by the industri-alist concerned. It would be a greatservice to Pakistan if implemented.Mere publications of research papersdo not serve any useful purpose asfar as the economy of Pakistan is con-cerned. It is expected that close col-laboration between HEC and indus-trialists can resolve their many issuesas well as innovative techniques inthe improvement of existing methods—Wah Cantt

Manufacturefarm implements

SHAFQAT RASOOL AND

MANAN ASLAM

Farm machinery and equipments aremajor inputs to agriculture. Efficientuse and application of these inputs tofarm production is one of the man-agement tools to maximize farm pro-duction and profit. There is reinforc-ing relationship that generally existsbetween hydrological, biological,chemical and mechanical inputs forincreasing yield. The effort so farmade to raise agricultural productionin Pakistan had been concentrated onsuch inputs as high yield varieties,fertilizer, pesticides, and water for ir-rigation. Very little attention has beenpaid to mechanical inputs in past dueto which mechanization had late startand registered slow progress.

In Pakistan, farm machinery is animportant sub-sector of agriculturethat contributes to national economy.The use of agricultural machinery isincreasing day by day in Pakistan likeother developing countries of theworld. About 80% of the farmers inthe Punjab are small with land hold-ings up to 5 hectares and owners ofsuch farms are practicing subsistencefarming under deficit as their yieldof major crops is hardly 50% of theprogressive farms. One of the majorcauses of low productivity is the useof inappropriate or inefficient mecha-nization. The productivity of thesefarmers can be increased if appropri-

ate level of mechanization is adopted.Unfortunately, small farmers do nothave the potential to own tractorsalong with essentially required set ofmachinery and equipment for thecropping system being practiced.

Although machinery rental ser-vices are available from the neigh-boring farmers but these are limitedto land preparation, wheat / paddyharvesting and threshing. Further-more, farmers providing machineryand equipment on rental basis are notfully aware to use it efficiently. It is,therefore, necessary to develop ca-pacity of farmers and service provid-ers to operate farm machinery andequipment efficiently and economi-cally. Farm machinery can be catego-rized into animal driven implements,tractor drawn implements and othermachinery which are drawn by elec-tricity or by engine. Due to develop-ment of new farm equipments, ani-mal drawn equipments have vanishedtoday. Pakistan has not made signifi-cant progress in development of largefarm equipments such as combineharvesters, laser land leveler etc.However, Pakistan has made devel-opments in the manufacturing of trac-tors and others small equipments thatare used in various farm operations.

Manufacturing industries of farmmachinery are mostly smaller indus-tries in Pakistan and went through aperiod of neglect for the twenty yearsafter independence. The production ofagricultural implements remained inthe possession of private sector. Asthere were no proper guidelines andknowledge with the prospective entre-preneurs, a number of small units wereestablished in different areas of theprovince to meet the demand of agri-cultural implements. This has resultedin a mushroom growth of agriculturalimplements manufacturing units in thecountry, which just produce imple-ments according to their own knowl-edge, without following any standards,design specifications, quality controland without using proper raw mate-rial and manufacturing technology.

During the decade of 1970 theimportance of farm machinery wasrecognized and most of industries inPunjab were established during thattime. There are nearly 500 manufac-turing units working in the Punjab(mostly located at Mian Channu(Khanewal), Daska, Gujranwala,Faisalabad, Multan and Rahim YarKhan) which are manufacturing dif-ferent types of agriculture machineryand equipment.—Faisalabad

Ensuring welfare ofbrick-kiln workers

NAZIA SHAHEEN

In our country democracy is strict onhaving votes from the public butthere’s no implementation of the lawat any level. I am a citizen of Paki-stan and my main concern is the de-velopment of my region and the coun-try. I am connected with the public,as well as with government officialsand elected representatives. Everybrick klin owner is responsible forsubmitting 7pc tax annually/per brickklin labour to Punjab Employees So-cial Security Institution (PESSI).

According to the PESSI Ordi-nance 1965, Rs540 social security taxwill be paid by brick kiln owners sothat brick klin labour can also get ben-efits regarding social security dispen-sary etc, where people can get freebasic facilities. But brick-kiln own-ers do not pay the tax. They are notimplementing the bonded labour sys-tem (Abolition) Act 1992. The PunjabChief Minister should make sure thedepartments concerned to resolve theissue of social security cards forbrick-kiln labourers.—Lahore

Iqbal KhanEmail:tweets@wonderous101

ister Mohammad Nawaz SharifTuesday sent an advice to Presi-dent for appointing Abdul RaufChaudhry as new Federal TaxOmbudsman.

Abdul Rauf is a retired bu-reaucrat who worked on variousposts as federal secretary. He willreplace Federal Tax OmbudsmanDr. Shoaib Suddel on completionof his tenure.

Mr. Chaudhry joined gov-ernment service in 1974 throughcompetitive examination con-ducted by Federal Public ServiceCommission and was placed inDistrict Management Group.

In the Federal Government,Mr. Chaudhry has served as Sec-retary to Government of Pakistanfor the Ministry of Housing andWorks and the Ministry of Tex-tile Industry in addition to hispresent assignment as SecretaryEducation. His other importantassignments in the federal gov-ernment include his serving asChairman Capital DevelopmentAuthority, Additional Secretaryand Joint Secretary in the PrimeMinister’s Secretariat as well asother ministries. Born on 7thJuly 1951, Mr. Abdur RaufChaudhry has done his M.A inEconomics from the Universityof Punjab as well as Masters inDevelopment Studies fromVanderbilt University, USA. Healso holds a diploma in Devel-opment Studies from Universityof Cambridge, UK.

He has attended severalcourses in the realm of manage-ment studies, which include thecourse on Development and Ad-ministration at NIPA, Lahore,Advance Course in Manage-ment at Staff College, Lahoreand a management course atKennedy School of Govern-ment, Boston USA.

PM nominatesFrom Page 1

sideration cease-fire proposal.Prime Minister Nawaz

Sharif is eager to see an early re-sumption of talks with concernsof all parties addressed butIslamabad now insists that Af-ghans should themselves settletheir own mechanism and agreefor a broad-based understandingfor talks and peace process inAfghanistan with the aim to bringpeace and begin reconstructionthere.

Taliban leaders say that sud-den demands to withdraw thename plate of “Islamic Emirateof Afghanistan” and lowing of“Islamic Emirate Flag” fromDoha Office has encouraged thehardliners within Afghan Shura

Taliban moderates under pressureFrom Page 1

who now claim that the “doublegame” was being played to en-sure long-term presence in theregion.

The Doha set-back has badlydamaged the role of “mediators”while discouraging many offi-cials who did lot to convinceTaliban to join peace talks.

According to Taliban sourceshad there been no hurdle in talksthe American prisoner, US ArmySergeant Bowe Bergdahl wouldhave been released.

American Sergeant BoweBergdahl was grabbed by AfghanTaliban on June 30 2009 and adeal for his release in exchangefor five Taliban activists had al-ready been agreed upon.

“We did not break the dealand ready to honour it but theAmerican side have refused tofulfill their commitments madeearlier”, a Taliban official toldthis correspondent on conditionof anonymity.

Taliban sources say that de-spite a set-back Taliban leader-ship was ready to proceed aheadif the other side showed its sin-cerity.

A proposal for cease-firebefore the start of Ramazan asof July 10 was also under con-sideration by Afghan parties andif Prime Minister DavidCameron’s fresh initiative is ac-cepted a quick positive movemay still be witnessed in days.

On Sunday rebels shot downa helicopter close to Nubl, whichactivists said had been carryingsupplies to the villages. Authori-ties in Damascus said they weretaking Education Ministry em-ployees to supervise school ex-ams. Seven employees and thehelicopter crew were killed, theysaid.

A video released by activistsa few weeks earlier showed anarmy officer apparently recruit-ing Shi’ite villagers in Zahra andNubl to form fighting units tosupport the army against therebels. “In order to prevent asingle drop of blood from beingspilled and to find a peaceful so-lution, we have set the followingconditions,” the video statementby the rebels said.

Among the demands werethe surrender of Assad’s forcesand their weapons, followed bya power sharing deal between thelocals and the rebels. “If there isno response (to rebel demands forsurrender) there will be a majormilitary operation on those twovillages,” the statement said.

Syrian rebels threatenFrom Page 1

The sectarian nature of theconflict has set regional SunniMuslim powers - notably GulfArab states and Turkey - againstAssad’s Shi’ite Iranian andHezbollah allies in a deepeningproxy war on Syrian soil.

Deputy .S. Secretary of StateWilliam Burns, speaking at theend of a visit to neighboringLebanon, condemnedHezbollah’s military interventionin Syria.

“Despite its membership inthe Lebanese government,Hezbollah has decided to put itsown interests and those of its for-eign backers above those of theLebanese people,” Burns said.“We condemn in the strongestterms Hezbollah’s actions inSyria. They ... stand in direct vio-lation of Lebanon’s disassocia-tion policy (from Syria) and placethe future of Lebanon at risk.”

Hezbollah’s role in Syria,along with Sunni Islamist fight-ers smuggled over the border tofight for the Syrian rebels, hasexacerbated sectarian tensions inLebanon which is still scarred by

its own 1975-1990 civil war.Fighting has broken out in

the Mediterranean cities of Tri-poli and Sidon, while rocketshave been fired at a Hezbollahdistrict of southern Beirut and inthe Bekaa Valley.

Saudi Arabia, which has ac-celerated armed support for therebels according to Gulf sources,urged the European Union onMonday to arm Syrian rebelswithout delay.

Riyadh and its partners in theGulf Cooperation Council alsocalled on the United Nations Se-curity Council to meet to preventa massacre in the central city ofHoms, where Assad’s forces havebeen waging an assault on rebel-held districts.

The Syrian Observatory forHuman Rights reported heavyarmy bombardment and clasheswith rebel fighters for a third dayin the contested city, which sitson an axis connecting Damascusto the heartland of Assad’s mi-nority Alawite sect in the hillsoverlooking the Mediterra-nean.—Reuters

would extend full cooperation tothe government of Balochistan inits efforts to eliminate the activi-ties of terrorists and ensure peacefor rapid development activities.

The Prime Minister alsopresided over a high-level lawand order meeting which was at-tended by the Chief SecretaryBabr Yaqoob FetehMohammad, Directors GeneralIntelligence Bureau, DirectorGeneral MI and ISI to ascertaintheir views regarding the deplor-able law and order situation inBalochistan and their views toimprove the situation withoutfurther loss of time.

The Prime Minister pointedout that the competent police of-ficers would be provided to theprovince to curb the crimes andeliminate the activities of thecriminals. He firmly pointed outthat the terrorist activities wouldnot be tolerated.

The Prime Minister saidrooting out terrorism and extrem-ism was the first priority of thegovernment and directed the In-ter Service Intelligence and In-telligence Bureau to arrest theperpetrators of the recent bomb-ing targetting the Hazara com-munity to make it a test case.

The premier was on a visitto Quetta two days after adeadly suicide bombing inHazara town which claimed 30lives and was accompanied byFederal Interior MinisterChaudhary Nisar Ali Khan,Pashtoonkhwa Milli AwamiParty (PkMAP) chairmanMehmood Khan Achakzai, DGISI Lt-Gen Zaheerul Islam, theDG Intelligence Bureau (IB),and other top officials. Speak-ing to mediapersons after chair-ing the high level meeting theprime minister said he had cometo visit Quetta in order to reviewthe law and order situation andthat effective measures were

there would be no change inIran’s production of enriched ura-nium to produce fuel.

But in an interview withIran’s state news agency on Tues-day, the organization’s formerhead Gholam Reza Aghazadehsaid that Iran’s nuclear issue was“in the 90th minute” and that bothWestern countries and Iranneeded to enter serious talks.

With Rouhani not taking of-fice until early August, analystssay any further nuclear talks be-tween Iran and the P5+1 groupof nations - the United States,Russia, China, Britain, Franceand Germany - are likely to beheld before September.—Reuters

Iran: New USFrom Page 1

Ten-year sentences werehanded to 60 others, includingSheikh Sultan bin Kayed al-Qasimi, who was head of a groupknown as al-Islah, or Reform. Heis a cousin of the ruler in Ras al-Khaimah, the northernmost ofthe UAE’s seven emirates.

At least 26 of the suspectswere acquitted, Mansoor said.

Mansoor said at least twobrothers of the suspects were de-tained hours before the verdictswere handed down, reflectingwider trends across the Gulf asleaders attempt to quash anychallenges to their rule.

Dozens of people have beenjailed across the Gulf for blogposts and Twitter messagesdeemed offensive to rulers. Au-thorities across the Gulf also haveclaimed to have dismantled al-leged espionage rings — someaccused of links to rival Iran orits proxy Hezbollah.

But the UAE has been themost aggressive in movingagainst suspected threats fromIslamist groups.—AP

UAE sentencesFrom Page 1

Pak-UK relations.He said both thecountries have similar views onAfghanistan and want a durablesolution of its issues to bring peacethere. He said the visit of the Brit-ish Prime Minister was aimed atgiving a message that both are onthe same page on Afghan issueand want stability in the war torncountry.He said both the leadersalso discussed ways to overcomethe menace of terrorism which iscommon threat to both Pakistan,UK and world.

Thomson said that his coun-try will provide technology tocontrol Improvised ExplosiveDevices and British Home Sec-retary will visit Islamabad soonto extend cooperation to Pakistanin this regard.

To a question, he said bothPakistan and Britain will have towork together for the success ofAfghan reconciliation process.

He said issue of drone attacksalso came under discussion dur-ing the meeting and DavidCameron encouraged to solvethis issue through dialogues withUnited States.—Online

Altafmemorandum

being evaluatedFrom Page 1

ATC that the prosecutor’s ab-sence was due to a lack of ad-equate security.

Meanwhile, a police reportwas submitted in the court whichsaid that Musharraf could not bepresented at the hearing due toinept security arrangements.Musharraf’s lawyer added thatthe former military ruler hadsought exemption from atten-dance on account of security con-cerns.

The ATC ordered the formerpresident to be present at thecoming hearing of the case onJuly 9. It also asked the FIA andpolice to submit all the previousrecords pertaining to the case.

Benazir Bhutto was assassi-nated in a gun-and-bomb attackoutside Rawalpindi’s LiaquatBagh on December 27, 2007. Shewas killed after addressing anelection campaign rally in the city.

ATCFrom Page 1

needed to be adopted to restoretraditional peace of Balochistan.

Nawaz also met with a tribaldelegation of the Hazara commu-nity, which also included the rela-tives and heirs of the victims ofthe recent bombing in Quetta tar-geting the minority community.

He assured the provision ofevery possible security measuresfor the Hazara community.

He said that every person in-volved in terrorist activitieswould be held accountable add-ing that he had instructed all in-stitutions to deal with criminalswith iron hands. Nawaz also saidthat all decisions would be imple-mented upon and that the issueof targeted killings and missingpersons in Balochistan would beaccounted for.

“I have directed ISI and IBofficers to arrest the culprits in-volved in recent bombings tomake it as a test case”, he said.

Prime Minister NawazSharif said it was high time totake action against target killersand resolve the issue of missingpersons so as to ensure peace inBalochistan. He vowed to con-tinue efforts for restoration ofdurable peace and called for im-mediate measures to control tar-get killings and terrorism in theprovince.

The Prime Minister said actsof terrorism were neither accept-able to the federal governmentnor to the provincial. He stressedthe need for improving the per-formance of administration andlaw enforcement agencies, say-ing the federal government wasextending all-out support to Dr.Abdul Malik-led provincial gov-ernment in its efforts for a peace-ful Balochistan.

“The services of best policeofficers will be handed over toBalochistan to strengthen thepolice department,” the PrimeMinister said. He said the intel-

ligence agencies had been askedto support the provincial govern-ment and unearth elements, cre-ating law and order problem inBalochistan.

Prime Minister Nawaz saidthe attacks on Quaid’s Residencyand students of Sardar BahadurKhan Women University wereunacceptable and beyond justifi-cation.

“The sacrifices of personnelof law enforcement agencies(LEAs) and Frontier Constabu-lary (FC) were commendable,who had laid down their lives inthe terrorist attack at Bolan Medi-cal College Hospital,” the PrimeMinister said while paying trib-ute to the martyred of securityforces.

He lauded efforts of the pro-vincial government for maintain-ing peace in the province and saidthe serious steps taken by Dr.Malik for checking terrorism, hadsent a positive message across thecountry.

Stressing the need for end-ing terrorism and extremismfrom the country, Prime Minis-ter Nawaz said parliamentariansand heads of political partieswould be called to chalk out acompressive security plan. “Weare committed to ensure peacefrom Khyber to Gwadar,” hemaintained.

Referring to law and ordersituation in Sindh and KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KPK), he said thefederal government supportedthe provinces to combat terror-ism and ensure peace.

The Prime Minister alsochaired a high level meeting onlaw and order at the GovernorHouse. Home Secretary AkbarHussain Durrani briefed themeeting regarding steps beingtaken for maintaining peace andaction against elements, creatinglaw and order problem in theprovince.

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the two countries, said ForeignOffice spokesman. Sartaj Azizsaid trade and economic coopera-tion between the two countriescould act as a catalyst and raisethe confidence level on both sidesthat would allow a sustainedpeace process. In this regard, theAdvisor appreciated the recentvisit of the Indian energy missionto Pakistan in which trade in elec-tricity and gas was discussed.

Both Ministers discussedsteps that further were needed inthis regard. They also agreedthat the Pakistan-India JointBusiness Council meeting whichhad just concluded its session inIslamabad on 29 June was an-other important mechanism thatwould help in taking the processforward.

Referring to the positive out-come of the ARF meeting, bothleaders were of the view that re-gional cooperation would give animpetus to the economic devel-opment and prosperity of Southand South-East Asia. Decisionstaken at the ARF should be trans-lated into action soon.

Both expressed the hope thatthe bilateral dialogue process alsobetween Pakistan and Indiawould be resumed with holdingof different meetings in next fewmonths. The Indian ExternalAffairs Minister conveyed greet-ings from Prime MinisterManmohan Singh and expressedhis government’s desire to en-gage with Pakistan on all issuesand work improving bilateral re-lations.

Reciprocating the warm sen-timents of the Indian EAM, theAdvisor informed him that PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif was giv-ing priority at improved relationswith India by picking up thethreads from the Lahore processof 1999.—APP

EconomicFrom Page 1

Islamabad between July 28 andJuly 29 and would hold meetingwith political and militaryleadreship of the country.

The main topic discussedduring the meeting sides was bi-lateral cooperation in the post2014 period, said Foreign OfficeSpokesman.

Giving further details, theSpokesman said, the Adviseremphasised the need for holdingthe next round of Strategic Dia-logue at Ministerial level be-tween the two countries.

The Strategic Dialogue pro-cess provides an institutionalmechanism to strengthen bilat-eral relations, action in severalareas through different workinggroups and in this regard Paki-stan is looking forward to Secre-tary John Kerry’s visit to Paki-stan.

The Adviser to Prime Min-ister also highlighted that themain focus of the foreign policyof the newly elected governmentwill be economic revival andsocio-economic development.

The two sides must makeefforts to increase trade from thecurrent level of US dollars 5 bil-lion to dollar 10 billion in the nextfive years.

The Adviser also stressed theneed for greater market access toPakistani exports to the UnitedStates.

Secretary John Kerry appre-ciated new government’s focuson the economy and said he ac-cepted in that context the impor-tance of greater market access forPakistan’s exports to the USA.

He emphasised that im-proved law and order was alsonecessary for economic revivaland larger foreign investment.

Sartaj Aziz expressed thehope that the two sides would beable to have a comprehensivediscussion for cooperation in sev-eral areas during the upcomingvisit of Secretary Kerry to Paki-stan later in the month.

This was the first high levelinteraction between the two For-eign Ministers in which bothsides agreed to work jointly for afruitful and positive relation-ship.—APP

Kerry acceptsFrom Page 1

for decades the authorities haveturned a blind eye to visa irregu-larities to give Saudi companiesa ready stream of cheap importedlabour. That has led to the emer-gence of a labour black market,which the government saysmakes it harder for Saudis to getjobs in a country with an official12 per cent unemployment rate,and which economists say fostersinefficiencies.

Remittances from workers inSaudi Arabia are an importantsource of revenue in Yemen, Pa-kistan, India, Sri Lanka, Indone-sia, the Philippines and Yemen.

Earlier this year the kingdombegan to crack down on the manyforeign workers who have vio-lated their visa terms with sur-prise inspections on streets andin company offices. Tens of thou-sands of people were deported ordecided to leave the country un-der this pressure, raising concernabout possible damage to theeconomy if deportations contin-

ued. The government then an-nounced an amnesty duringwhich workers would be forgivenany fees or fines for visa viola-tions such as overstaying orswitching jobs, but bureaucraticdelays mean many have still notregularised their status.

“They might have deportedme. This is the situation for somany of us. I was very worried.We didn’t know what would hap-pen on Wednesday (when thedeadline expired),” said a Paki-stani working as a receptionist fora company in Riyadh.

Behind the crackdown is agovernment effort to enforcesweeping labour reforms it in-troduced last year that imposequotas for Saudi and foreignemployees and reserve somejobs exclusively for locals.Companies try to get aroundlocalisation quotas by hiringworkers who are officially

sponsored by another company.However, the government is

trying to close that loophole byimposing the same quotas onmanpower companies.

Workers are also in violationif they work in a different pro-fessional field to the one they arelisted under, a widespread prob-lem in a country where manyexpatriates are officially listed aslabourers but work as anythingfrom drivers to administrators.“Maybe 30-35 per cent of ourstaff is correctly registered. I have10 people under the sponsorshipof our company, of whom six areSaudis. So technically we’ve metour quota. But there are 12 oth-ers who are employed from out-side,” said an office manager inRiyadh. “If they hadn’t extendedI would have had to ask manyof our staff to work from homefrom tomorrow or to stop work-ing temporarily until we couldresolve the problem,” headded.—Reuters

Saudi Arabia extends foreignworkers amnesty

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ponents and supporters with gun-fire from both sides, police offi-cials said.

Foreign Minister MohamedKamel Amr resigned, bringing toseven the number of ministers toannounce their resignations sincethe outbreak of mass anti-Morsiprotests on Sunday, although theprime minister’s office said in astatement that they would con-tinue to carry out their duties. Thecabinet spokesman, Alaa al-Hadidi, and two presidentialspokesmen also quit, state mediareported.

Other state institutions alsoundermined Mr. Morsi’s grip onthe state, with a court ruling or-dering the removal of the Morsi-appointed prosecutor general,Talaat Abdallah, and moving toreinstate a prosecutor first ap-pointed by President HosniMubarak before his ouster in theArab Spring euphoria of 2011.

Also on Tuesday, Egypt’slargest ultraconservative Islam-ist group and its political arm,the Nour party, joined the callfor early presidential electionsand the formation of a caretakercabinet. The group did not heedthe original calls to protestsagainst Mr. Morsi but appears tohave been influenced by theturnout.

The opposition umbrellagroup that has coordinated theprotests, the June 30 Front, saidon Tuesday that it had namedMohamed ElBaradei, a promi-nent Egyptian statesman and op-position leader, to represent thegroup in “any possible upcom-ing talks with the armed forces.”The group said its demands in-cluded Mr. Morsi’s departure andthe formation of a technocraticcabinet to run the country.—AP

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New Jamiat-e-IslamiAfghanistan leaders appointed

KABUL—The new leaders of theJamiat-e- Islami Party of Af-ghanistan (Islamic Society ofAfghanistan) were appointed.

The appointments were asfollows: Salahuddin Rabbani astemporary Head of Party, AhmadZia Massoud and KalimullahNaqibi as Deputies, AttaMohammad Noor as President ofthe Executive Council, WasilNoor Momand as SecretaryChief, Abdul Sattar Murad asChairman of the Political Com-mittee and Waqif Hakimi asSpokesman.

The newly appointed leadersfind themselves at the helm of aparty that saw the assassinationof its head, BurhanuddinRabbani, 20 months ago.

The leading members saidthat this decision took place af-ter a series of consultations withmembers of Jamiat-e- Islami.

“We chose these new lead-ers on the basis of consultationswith Jamiat-e- Islami Party mem-

bers and we all agreed on thisselection,” said Ahmad ZiaMassoud, head of the NationalFront Party and newly appointeddeputy of Jamiat-e- Islami.

Members of the Jamiat-e-Islami Party maintained thattheir party will play an impor-tant role in the upcoming presi-dential elections, and one oftheir members will be a presi-dential nominee.

“The Jamiat-e- Islami Partyhas a candidate in the election andwill more broadly play an impor-tant role. We are working on astrategy for participation,” saidSalahuddin Rabbani, the newlychosen temporary head of theparty.

In the mean time, the Jamiat-e- Islami has been involved indiscussions with the current gov-ernment about peace negotiationswith armed oppositions and theopening of the Taliban’s office inQatar. “We cannot call Peace ne-gotiations in Qatar a failed pro-

cess, the Afghan government de-manded the bringing down of theTaliban flag, and the flag and theboards were brought down.

Now the Taliban is consult-ing and after some days they[Taliban] will declare their deci-sion and if they [Taliban] are notpresent for negotiations with theHigh Peace Council then theQatar office will be closed,”Rabbani added.

The newly appointed lead-ers of the Jamiat-e- Islami saidthat the party will appoint per-manent leaders at their generalassembly after the presidentialelection is held.

Former President of Af-ghanistan, BurhanuddinRabbani, led the party from 1968to 2011

Rabbani was assassinatedSeptember 19, 2011 by a Talibansuicide bomber posing as a peaceenvoy. He was the head of theAfghan High Peace Council atthe time.—NNI

India rejects Edward Snowden’srequest for political asylum

NEW DELHI—The Indian gov-ernment has rejected the requestfor asylum by former US gov-ernment contractor EdwardSnowden, the Ministry of Exter-nal Affairs said on Tuesday.

Confirming that the Indianembassy in Moscow did recievean asylum request fromSnowden, Ministry of ExternalAffairs spokesman SyedAkbaruddin said: “We don’t seeany reason to acceed to the re-quest”. Earlier in the day, Exter-nal Affairs Minister SalmanKhurshid said that India is notan open house for asylums. Hiscomments came hours afterWikiLeaks claimed thatSnowden has applied for politi-

cal asylum in 20 countries, in-cluding India.

He, however, told reporterson the sidelines of the Associa-tion of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) regional forum meet-ing in Bandar Seri Begawan thatIndia has given asylums in past,“but we are not an open housefor asylums since we have a verycareful and objective policy”.

Notably, Snowden is cur-rently sheltered in the transitzone of Moscow airport.

These asylum requests havebeen filed by Sarah Harrison, thelegal advisor of WikiLeaks inthe matter of Snowden, thewhistle-blower website said onMonday night, adding that the

first two requests were made toEcuador, followed by Iceland.

The requests were latermade to a number of countriesincluding Austria, Bolivia, Bra-zil, China, Cuba, Finland,France, Germany, India, Italian,Ireland, Netherlands, Nicaragua,Norway, Poland, Spain, SwissConfederation, Venezuela.

The Obama Administrationhas warned countries not to giveasylum to Snowden, arguingthat he is wanted in the US oncharges of espionage and leak-ing classified information.Snowden worked for the NSAbefore he fled to Hong Kong lastmonth with laptops full of con-fidential information. —INP

Shahbaz for provision of modern,quality health services to citizens

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Minis-ter Muhammad Shahbaz Sharifhas said that those associatedwith health sector should evolvesuch a healthcare system whichcould provide modern and qual-ity health services to every mem-ber of the society on equitablebasis. He said that condition ofhospitals can be improvedthrough collective wisdom andconcerted efforts. He said that thegoal of setting up a healthy soci-ety cannot be achieved withoutimproving healthcare system.

He said that besides provi-sion of treatment facilities, dueattention to preventive health isalso necessary. He said that Pa-

kistan is facing a number of chal-lenges including substandardhealthcare system, energy crisis,load-shedding, corruption andlaw and order problem but theseissues can be resolved throughvision, hard work and collectiveefforts.

He said that Punjab govern-ment is launching health insur-ance card scheme for extendingquality health facilities to thecommon man. He said that ahuge sum of Rs.26 billion wasspent during the previous tenureof the government for providingfree medicines to the poor andcommon man and this processwill continue in future as well.He said that Punjab governmenthas allocated a record sum of

Rs.45 billion for health sector inthe new budget. He said that Pa-kistan Muslim League-N govern-ment has been given a historicmandate for resolving people’sproblem and no effort will bespared in this regard.

He was addressing inaugu-ral session of a 2-day PunjabHealth Sector Reforms Confer-ence at Chief Minister’s Officetoday.

The Chief Minister said thathe considered it an honor to par-ticipate in the conference andhoped that solid proposalswould come forth in the confer-ence for improving healthcaresystem. He thanked the organiz-ers of the conference on hold-ing this important event.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—The scorecardof India’s first match (andsecond of the on-going tri-series) against West Indieson Sunday shows TeamIndia captain MahendraSingh as designatedwicketkeeper though thefact was that he could notcome on field owing to thehamstring injury while In-dia batting first.

h t t p : / /www.espncricinfo.com/tri-nation-west-indies-2013/engine/match/597924.html

According to India’snoted statistician, RajneeshGupta, Dinesh Karthick,and not Dhoni should havebeen credited here.

Speaking exclusively, hesays, “Ideally the person

Dhoni getting credit forNOT keeping wickets?

who actually donned thegloves should be credited asthe wicketkeeper. I personallyfeel that if a player keeps wick-ets for the entire duration ofthe innings, he should be ac-knowledged as the keeper. Ifhe does this for only someovers, then the designatedkeeper should get the credit,with a footnote mentioningabout the incident”.

Explaining more about theprocedure, he add, “the teamlists the captains exchange atthe toss clearly indicate as towho is captain and wicket-keeper for the match. Cricinfo,Wisden and other sourcesrecord the official captain andwicketkeeper as declared atthe start of the game, andchanges caused by injury etcare noted in the text / foot-notes”.

“However, while there isa requirement in the laws that

the umpires must be in-formed who the captain isbefore the toss, there isnothing in the laws whichsays the wicketkeeper hasto be named in advance ofactually taking the field. So,it should not matter muchwho was the designatedwicketkeeper at the time ofthe toss. I have seen manyteam sheets which did notcontain any informationabout the keeper”.

“The things might getcomplicated. What if, theregular wicketkeeper keptwickets for half the dura-tion of the innings and thensomeone else took over forthe remaining half? Whatif, two players swap therole regularly during thecourse of an innings (thisis legitimate!).There is noway you can show that ina scorecard”, he fears.

ISLAMABAD: Players of Sindh team winner of Netball in a group photograph with winner trophy during 32nd National Games at Sports Complex.

OBSERVER

CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—India A will playa tri-nation series in SouthAfrica, according to NaaseiAppiah, Cricket SouthAfrica’s acting CEO.

Speaking exclusivelyover telephone, he said, “wehave scheduled a tri-nationseries in July-August thisyear with A teams from In-dia and Australia”.

India A team to play tri-serieswith Australia in South Africa

“The schedule of thematches are being workedout”, he added.

The Indian cricket boardis likely to make announce-ment any time soon, it islearnt here.

However, there is no clar-ity yet on Team India’s visitto South Africa in Novemberthis year. India is scheduledto play three Tests, sevenODIs, and two T20 matches.

Apparently, the Indian

cricket board had expressedreservation over appointmentof Haroon Lorgat as CSA’sCEO. The BCCI, it was re-ported, had even threatenedto pull out of India’s tour ofSouth Africa in November thisyear on the issue.

“We see no reason whythese matches can’t be held.The tour is on as far as ICC’sFuture Tour Programme(FTP) is concerned”, NaaseiAppiah added.

SPORTS REPORTER

KARACHI—Ufone, anEtisalat Group Companywith its presence in all themajor cities with a compre-hensive coverage acrossPakistan, is launching GolfClinic for children across thecountry. Under this initia-tive, the telecom companywill provide unique oppor-tunity of training with thebest and top-ranked playersin the country to children.

This is for the first time inthe history of Pakistan that atelecom company has takenup the precision club and ballsport. The main ideology be-hind this initiative is thatsince Golf is a budding sportin Pakistan and the best timeto start training for any sportis youth, it is important thatGolf is promoted among thetalented youngsters of thiscountry.

Ufone to foster future Golferswith its Golf-Kids Clinic

Talking about the Golf –Kids Clinic Amir Pasha Headof PR & CSR - Ufone said,“Ufone has been supportingGolfers for a number of years.Our sponsored players in-clude the top 4 players in thecountry. We are promptingthese players to help preparefuture Golfers in Pakistanwho will get this once in alifetime opportunity to trainand play with the best.”

Two of the coaches whowill be participating in theUfone Golf - Kids Clinic areAzhar Shah Bukhari andMohammad Nazir. Both ofthese players are certifiedUSGTF (United States GolfTeachers Federation) train-ers. Mohammad Nazir is cur-rently Pakistan number 4while Shabbir Iqbal andMatloob Ahmed have heldonto the Pakistan number 1and number 2 slots for a num-ber of years.

Speaking at the MediaLunch of Ufone Golf - KidsClinic Matloob Ahmed Paki-stan number 2 said, “It can-not be emphasized enoughthat recreational activitiesand sports need corporatesupport.

However Golf has neverbeen able to grab the lime-light like other sports andnow with Ufone coming for-ward to foster future Golfersin Pakistan, I feel a new eraof Golf has begun in our coun-try.”

Since its inception,Ufone has focused on thepeople of Pakistan, empow-ering them with the most rel-evant yet futuristic commu-nication modes, services andpackages. Ufone Golf - KidsClinic is yet another revolu-tionary programme beinglaunched by the telecom gi-ant which is praiseworthy forits inimitability.

KARACHI: Amir Pasha, Head of PR & CSR – Ufone, coaches Azhar Shah Bukhari,Mohammad Nazir and others at launching ceremony of Golf Clinic.

MELBORNE—Australia canselect Pakistan-born spinnerFawad Ahmed from the startof the Ashes after his citizen-ship application was fast-tracked.

The 31-year-old wouldhave become eligible for Aus-tralia on 18th August, but isnow available for the start ofthe five-Test series on 10thJuly.

Fawad, who claimed asy-lum in 2010, is due to tourwith Australia A but couldnow challenge off spinnerNathan Lyon.

Australia have beenstruggling to find a top-classspinner since the retirementof Shane Warne in January2007.

Cricinfo adds: Thelegspinner Fawad Ahmed’sapplication for Australian citi-zenship has officially beenapproved, clearing the wayfor a possible call-up to theTest squad for the Ashes.Ahmed described the confir-mation from former federalimmigration minister BrendanO’Connor as a “dream mo-ment”, and said he was nowlooking forward to givingsomething back to the coun-try that had welcomed himafter he fled from Pakistan in

Legspinner gets Australia citizenship

Ashes 2013: Fawad fasttracked to boost Australia

2010.In one of his final acts as

immigration minister beforelosing the position in a cabi-net reshuffle, O’Connor ap-proved the application lastweek and an official citizen-ship ceremony is all that re-

mains before Ahmed can ob-tain his passport. The an-nouncement was made at theMCG on Tuesday andO’Connor said he had lis-tened to a number of submis-sions, including those fromCricket Australia, on the char-acter and virtues possessedby Ahmed.

“I was able to tell FawadAhmed today that his appli-cation for citizenship hasbeen approved,” O’Connorsaid. “It was approved latelast week ... and it was ap-proved because we were ableto look at the application in adifferent light because of thechanges to the Australian citi-zenship act that wentthrough the parliament notlong ago.”

Those changes meantthat some individuals couldhave their citizenship fast-tracked if it was consideredthey could be of benefit toAustralia in a range of fields,including sport, science,medicine and the performingarts.

However, Ahmed’s lack ofwickets in two matches forAustralia A in Belfast andBristol last month mean thatan Ashes call-up is no cer-tainty, and he is instead con-centrating on the upcomingAustralia A tour of Zimbabweand South Africa. Ahmed saidhe was grateful for the sup-port he had received in hisapplication for citizenship andhe was pleased to be able tofocus solely on cricket for thefirst time in many years.—Agencies

ISLAMABAD—The InterimCommittee of PakistanOlympic Association (POA)has reserved five million ru-pees to award cash prizesto medal winning athletesof the ongoing NationalGames 2013.

“It will be for the firsttime in country’s historythat winning athletes willalso be getting cash prizesin a national event,” Chair-man of the Interim Commit-tee Asif Bajwa said whiletalking to media here atMedia Centre PakistanSports Complex.

Giving details he saidthat the winner of a goldmedal in an event would getRs 3000, silver medalist Rs2000 and bronze medalist Rs1500. He said the athleteclaiming more than onemedal would be rewarded

Rs 5m reserved for NationalGames medal winners

accordingly adding, theamount will be paid to thembefore they disperse.”

Bajwa said that excellentarrangements had beenmade to facilitate the ath-letes during the games add-ing that they would go backwith good memories. Hesaid that the daily allow-ance for athletes had beendoubled while a number ofother steps had also beentaken to ensure that theyare properly looked afterduring their stay in the Capi-tal.

To a question he saidthat strict action would betaken against the athleteswho had gone to South Ko-rea to participate in AsianIndoor Games. “They haveviolated government’spolicy by featuring in thesegames; hence action will betaken against them,” hemaintained.

To another question hesaid that POA electionswould be held on 5th ofJuly adding that all arrange-ments had been finalized tohold these elections in afree, fair and transparentmanner.

Following is the medaltally list of on the fourthday of National Games 2013being played at differentvenues in the Federal Capi-tal.—APP

Team ..... G ...S ... B .. TotalArmy ..... 77 . 52 .. 22 .... 151Punjab ... 10 . 15 .. 22 ...... 47Navy ...... 6 .. 13 .. 22 ...... 41KPK ........ 1 ... 7 .... 9 ....... 17Railways 5 ... 4 .... 6 ....... 15Sindh ...... 3 ... 3 .... 9 ....... 15Balochistan0 .... 3 .... 9 ........ 12Islamabad1 ... 2 .... 7 ....... 10PAF ........ 4 ... 2 .... 3 ......... 9FATA ..... 0 ... 1 .... 1 ......... 2

Medal Table

LONDON—The leading la-dies had already departed thestage but the under-studieskept the most unpredictableWimbledon script bubblingalong on Tuesday withSabine Lisicki proving she isno one-hit wonder by reach-ing the semi-finals.

A day after producing theshock of shocks at a tourna-ment that has seen upsetsgalore by beating red-hotfavourite Serena Williams,the smiling German over-whelmed Estonia’s KaiaKanepi to reach her secondsemi-final at Wimbledon.

So far giant-slayers havehad short shelf lives atWimbledon with SteveDarcis, Sergiy Stakhovskyand Michelle Larcher deBrito - who took out RafaNadal, Roger Federer andMaria Sharapova respec-tively - all failing to last an-other round.

Not so the grasscourt-loving Lisicki, who neededonly 65 minutes to win 6-3 6-3 against 46th-rankedKanepi.

A semi-finalist in 2011and a quarter-finalist lastyear, the 23rd seed, whobroke down in floods of tearsafter beating Williams, is nowonly two wins away from be-coming Germany’s firstgrand slam champion sinceSteffi Graf triumphed atWimbledon in 1996.

“I feel much fresher, fit-

Lisicki follows up Serena shockon under-studies day

ter, better than two yearsago,” Lisicki, who lost toSharapova in the 2011 semis,said.

“I was just as focused asyesterday because ... I knewit’s going to be tough afteryesterday’s match to justkeep the level up.

“But I think I did a verygood job to go for my shotsand play smart. It had to be adifferent game today.”

A quarter-final line-upfeaturing eight players fromeight nations and only two

grand slam titles betweenthem had prompted somescornful morning headlines.

However, the openingmatch on Centre Court fea-tured two players with genu-ine pedigree between fourthseed Agnieszka Radwanska,runner-up two years ago, andformer French Open cham-pion Li Na of China.

An absorbing contestwas still in the balance at oneset all when light rain forceda stoppage and the roof wasclosed.—Agencies

Rogers to openfor Australiawith Watson

LONDON—Chris Rogers willhave the chance to revive hisinternational career aftercoach Darren Lehmann con-firmed Monday the veteranbatsman would open along-side Shane Watson in nextweek’s first Ashes Test.

Lehmann, brought in lastweek after Cricket Australiasacked former coach MickeyArthur, had already indicatedall-rounder Watson would bereturning to the top of the or-der. But with Australia’s squadfeaturing several openers,that still left some doubt aboutthe identity of Watson’s first-wicket partner.

However, former Austra-lia batsman Lehmann endedspeculation Monday by an-nouncing the 35-year-oldRogers, who has enjoyedseveral successful stints inEnglish county cricket,would open having made hislone Test appearance fiveyears ago.—AFP

Mardan Clubreach soccersemi-finals

PESHAWAR—Mardan clubreached the semi-finals of theongoing District Mardan Rightto Play Inter-Club FootballTournament being played atYounis Stadium Mardan .

Chairman District Foot-ball Association Ali Goharwas the chief guest on theoccasion and before the startof the match the players ofthe two teams’ Mardan cluband National club were intro-duced to him. Members of theDFA Mardan, officials andlarge number of spectatorswere also present.

Speaking on the occa-sion, Ali Gohar said that it isthe fifth occasion that Rightto Play Inter-Club FootballChampionship is beingorganised by DFA Mardan inwhich more than 28 affiliatedclubs are taking part.—APP

Football: Rooneymay want a new

challenge: PhelanL O N D O N — M a n c h e s t e rUnited striker Wayne Rooneymay wish to leave the PremierLeague champions in order toseek a “fresh challenge” else-where, according to formerassistant coach Mike Phelan.

The future of the 27-year-old player has been the subjectof intense speculation in theBritish media, after outgoingmanager Alex Ferguson re-vealed that he had asked to theleave the club for the secondtime. Rooney made a similar re-quest in 2010, only forFerguson to persuade him tostay put at Old Trafford.—APP

ALMATY, Kazakhstan—ARussian rocket carrying threenavigation satellites wortharound $200 million crashedshortly after lift-off from theRussian-leased Baikonurlaunch facility in Kazakhstan onTuesday after its engines sud-denly switched off.

The accident led to a largespill of heptyl, a highly toxicrocket propellant, but therewere no reports of casualties orof any immediate threat tonearby settlements.

State-run Rossiya-24 tele-vision showed footage of the

Musharraf securitycut downISLAMABAD—Islamabad Po-lice has reduced the strength ofsecurity personnel’s deployedaround the residence of formerpresident Pervez Musharraf.Media reports said that 200 po-lice personals including 5 checkposts were deployed outside thefarmhouse of former president.He is house arrested in ChakShehzad under security con-cerns. On Tuesday reducing thestrength of security, police au-thorities deployed 20 police per-sonals and 2 check posts outsidethe farmhouse. PervezMusharraf is being tried in thecases of Akbar Bugti assassina-tion, Benazir assassination andjudges’ detention case.—Online

SC rejects petitionagainst AltafISLAMABAD—The SupremeCourt on Tuesday rejected Bar-rister Zafarullah’s petitionagainst the MQM chief AltafHussain over his controversialspeech. In his speech, when PTIworkers were holding a demon-stration at Teen Talwar area ofClifton, Altaf Hussain madesome remarks that created con-troversy and prompted manyPakistani and British citizens tofile complaints at London Met-ropolitan Police. Earlier, ChiefJustice Iftikhar MuhammadChaudhry remarked that the pe-tition has some legal pointswhich needed to be amended,and asked Barrister ZafarullahKhan to amend his applicationand file it again.—INP

Man beats wife to deathLAHORE—A woman was alleg-edly beaten to death by her hus-band in Lahore on Tuesday forgiving birth to a baby girl. Rela-tives of the deceased, Kiran,placed her dead body onShalimar Link Road to protestagainst lack of police actionagainst the accused. Kiran wasbrutally assaulted by her in-lawsafter she gave birth to a babygirl, they alleged. Her familysaid that police were trying togive it a color of accident to savethe suspect. Protesters accusedthe police of giving VIP proto-col to the accused in lock-up.Later, they dispersed after po-lice assured that justice wouldbe done.—INP

Third suspectarrestedGIGLIT—Security forces onTuesday claimed to have appre-hended another person suspectedof involvement in the killing offoreign tourists at Diamer on June23. His arrest came a day afteranother suspect, a worker of Wa-ter and Power Department, wascaught from Chilas. The suspectis member of a 16-memebr terrorgang allegedly involved in theDiamer attack. He was arrested onduty. So far three arrests have beenmade by forces. They have beenidentified as locals. Ten people, 9foreign tourists among them, werekilled when Taliban militantsdressed in military uniformsstormed a base camp at Diamerin Gilgit Baltistan. —NNI

ISLAMABAD: JUI Chief Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman meeting with the Federal Minister for Finance Senator MuhammadIshaq Dar.

KABUL—Taliban suicide at-tackers blew up a truck bombearly Tuesday at the gates of aNATO supplier’s compound inKabul and sprayed gunfire atsecurity personnel, killing fiveguards and two civilians, Af-ghan officials said.

The morning attack wasthe latest in a series targetinghigh-profile locations in theAfghan capital. The attackshave made clear the Talibanhave no intention of ending theviolence, even as they say theyare willing to enter peace ne-gotiations.

The U.N. deputy chief, JanEliasson, who was in Kabulwrapping up a five-day trip toAfghanistan when the attacktook place, said continued vio-lence could only harm theTaliban’s own cause.

“I would hope that therewould be steps taken by theleadership of the Taliban to re-alize that the tool of violencein any case cannot instill con-fidence in the population,” hesaid.

“There’s been too much

Taliban kills 7 in attack onsupply firm in Kabul

suffering there and there aretoo many widows, too manyfather-and-motherless childrenin Afghanistan and I think weneed to instill a sense of calm.”

But the Taliban showed nosigns of backing off, tellingThe Associated Press by phonethat Tuesday’s attack was partof its offensive started in thespring to target military anddiplomatic sites with suicidebombers.

“This has no link to thepeace process,” the militants’spokesman Zabiullah Mujahidsaid. “It will continue all overthe country occupied by theforeigners.”

The attack started beforedawn, when a suicide bomberdrove a small truck to the outergate of the logistics centerused to supply NATO troopsand detonated it.

The explosion made a mas-sive crater in the ground anddamaged a guard tower, saidKabul provincial police chiefMohammad Ayuob Salangi.

Two truck drivers waitingnearby to enter the compound

were also killed in the blast,along with the bomber.

Four gunmen then stormedinto the breach and battledwith security guards, and anAfghan police special responseteam that was called in, forabout an hour before beingkilled, the Interior Ministrysaid in a statement. One Af-ghan and four Nepalese guardswere also killed, the ministrysaid.

Mujahid quickly claimedresponsibility for the assault,saying it was “a very effectiveattack that embarrassed the en-emy.” In a statement on theTaliban website, Mujahid saidonly three militants were in-volved in the “attack on a bigforeign base important forNATO logistics,” and listedthem by name.

The Taliban last monthopened a new political officein the Gulf nation of Qatar, andindicated that they were pre-pared to enter into Afghanpeace talks, but at the sametime did not renounce vio-lence.—AP

ISLAMABAD—The issues havebeen settled between MaulanaFazl-ur-Rehman and leadershipof PML(N) as JUI(F) would be-come the part of federal cabinetin the second phase.

On Tuesday, a meeting washeld between JUI(F) Chief,Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman andFederal Finance Minister IshaqDar , during which the politicalsituation and economic chal-lenges faced by the country werediscussed in detail.

Fazl informed the Ministerabout the public sufferings onincreasing GST. On which Darsaid that the government is wellaware of the people’s problemsbut it is the compulsion of thegovernment to implement the

Dar, Fazl meeting proves fruitful

JUI(F) to join cabinet soonsales tax. The tough decisions arenecessary for the revival of theeconomy and for this purpose thenation has to sacrifice.

Both the leaders agreed tostart the negotiation process withTaliban without wasting time .

After the meeting MaulanaFazl-ur-Rehman told the mediathat he assured every type ofcooperation to the governmentfor resolving the problems.

“If US can accomplish thedialogue with Taliban, then whynot Pakistan can do the samething. If government cannot holdtalks with Taliban, then there isno reason to negotiate with USAand India”, JUI(F) head added.

He said that a national policyis required to tackle the matter

of terrorism and his party is infull consensus with the govern-ment on national issues.

Responding a question theMaulana said that as the federalcabinet has taken oath, so it isvery much possible that minis-ters from JUI(F) would be in-ducted in the cabinet in secondleg.

On the occasion FinanceMinister Ishaq Dar said thatMaulana Fazal-ur-Rehman isthe part and parcel of the gov-ernment and it is hoped that thiscollaboration would be contin-ued in the future also. Dar saidPML(N) is thankful to him forsupporting in the elections ofPrime Minister, Speaker andDeputy Speakers.—Online

BANGALORE—India launchedthe first of seven satellites forits domestic satellite navigationnetwork Tuesday, its space cen-tre said, in the first step to cre-ating a scaled down version ofthe US Global Positioning Sys-tem.

A rocket took off in theearly hours from a site in thesoutheastern state of AndhraPradesh and injected the 600-kilogramme satellite into orbit20 minutes later.

Once fully operational in2015, the Indian RegionalNavigation Satellite System(IRNSS) will provide accuratepositioning services for civilianand military users across Indiaand up to 1,500 kilometres be-yond its borders.

“The remaining six naviga-tional satellites will belaunched at every six monthsover the next 30-36 months,”Indian Space ResearchOrganisation chairman KRadhakrishnan said after thelaunch.

The United States’ GPS isthe most widely used networkby consumers with 24 satellites,

India launches newnavigation system satellite

but other countries includingRussia, the European Unionand most recently China havedeveloped rival positioning sys-tems.

China’s Beidou, or Com-pass, navigation system startedproviding services in the regionin December, and is expectedto offer global coverage by2020.

Beijing began building thenetwork in 2000 to avoid rely-ing on the US GPS system. Ac-cording to reports, Pakistan isset to become the fifth Asiancountry to use the Chinese sys-tem.

The IRNSS will providecommercial and public naviga-tional services such as helpingwith disaster management aswell as movements of India’smilitary, including those ofships and aircraft. Indian offi-cials estimate the project willcost 14.2 billion rupees ($238.6million).

India has a well-establishedspace programme, but its cost hasattracted criticism as the govern-ment struggles to tackle povertyand child malnutrition.—AFP

Russia satellites launch failsProton-M booster rocket veeringoff course seconds after lift-off.It fell apart in flames in the airand crashed in a ball of fire nearthe launch pad.

Interfax news agencyquoted an unnamed source assaying launch-pad personnelwere in bunkers when the rocketlifted off. Russia’s space agencyRoscosmos said the accident hadbeen caused by the emergencyswitch-off of the rocket’s en-gines 17 seconds into the flight.

Russia’s state-run RIA newsagency said the switch-off couldhave been caused by a problem

with the engine or the guid-ance system. The rocket con-tained 172 metric tons (1 met-ric ton = 1.1023 tons) of highlytoxic heptyl propellant,Kazakh Emergencies MinisterVladimir Bozhko told anemergency government meet-ing.Talgat Musabayev, head ofKazakhstan’s space agencyKazcosmos, said nitric oxide - aproduct of burning heptyl - wasmuch less toxic for humans. Hesaid it was raining in the area, sotoxic clouds would probably notreach the town of Baikonur some60 km (38 miles) away.—Reuters

Lyari residentsunder siege!STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Lyari has once againbeen made a battle field sinceMonday night after a protest rallywas over,that was led by PPPPKarachi Division President AbdulQadir Patel, Members provincialassembly Sania Naz Baloch andJaved Nagori.

The reason of heavy aerial fir-ing was not yet known. However,the people of Lyari have been be-sieged in their homes and tradeactivities in the area have com-pletely been suspended.

On the other hand, electricitysupply to Lyari’s residential colo-nies continued to remain sus-pended on day third due to whichacute water crisis has gripped theresidents. Despite heavy aerial fir-ing and suspension of utility ser-vices and facilities in Lyari, thelaw enforcement agencies includ-ing Police and Rangers have notyet moved inside the affected areato arrest the outlaws and restorenormalcy. Due to heavy firing andgrenade attack in the vicinity ofAgra Taj and Lyari General Hos-pital, 7 unidentified men were in-jured, who were shifted to hospi-tal for medical treatment.

US to Attempt FirstMissile Intercept Test

Since 2008WASHINGTON–The Pentagonplans on July 5 to attempt thefirst successful interception inmore than four years of a surro-gate missile incoming towardthe U.S. —Agencies

PEOPLE who report eating the most redand processed meat before being diagnosed with colon cancer are more likely

to die during the next eight years, accordingto a new study.

“It’s another importantreason to follow the guide-lines to limit the intake ofred and processed meat,”said Marjorie McCullough,the study’s lead author fromthe American Cancer Soci-ety in Atlanta.While the newstudy can’t prove eating redor processed meats - such asbeef, hot dogs and sausages- causes colon cancer deaths,previous studies have foundthat eating the meats is tiedto an increased risk of de-veloping the cancer.There’sless evidence, however, onhow people’s diets after co-lon cancer diagnoses affecttheir chances of survival.

The U.S. National Insti-tutes of Health estimates that about 143,000Americans will be diagnosed with colon andrectal cancers in 2013, and about 51,000people will die from them.For the new re-search, McCullough and her colleagues useddata from a different study on 184,000 Ameri-cans who didn’t have cancer between 1992and 1993, and who were periodically askedabout what they ate.

After excluding people, who had - amongother things - multiple types of cancer, unveri-fied diagnoses and missing information, the re-searchers had data on 2,315 men and womenwho were diagnosed with colon or rectal cancerbetween the start of the study and June 30, 2009.

Overall, 966 of them died between thestart of the study and December 31, 2010.

The researchers found no link betweenhow much red or processed meat a personate after their diagnosis and their risk of

death, but the amount of meata person ate before their diag-nosis was tied with their riskof dying during the study.

About 43 percent of the580 people who ate about 10servings of red or processedmeat per week at the start ofthe study died during the fol-low up period. That comparedto about 37 percent of the 576people who ate about twoservings per week.The re-searchers also found thatpeople who consistently atemore red or processed meatbefore and after their coloncancer diagnosis were morelikely to die from that cancerduring the study, compared tothose who at the least before

and after diagnosis.Dr. Jeffrey Meyerhardt, who wrote an

editorial accompanying the new study in theJournal of Clinical Oncology, said it’s pos-sible that the link between red and processedmeats and colon cancer comes from cancer-causing compounds found in cooked meator preservatives.“The primary message is aconfirmation that increased intake of red orprocessed meat can have detrimental effectson the development of colon cancer, the typeof cancer and other health effects of patientsin the long term,” Meyerhardt, a gastrointes-tinal oncologist at the Dana-Farber CancerInstitute in Boston, said.

Red meat tied to worsecolon cancer outcomes

ISLAMABAD: Swimming pool of less privileged. Youngsters taking bath to get relief from scorching heat.

ISLAMABAD: Greg Giokas, Canadian High Commissioner called on Federal Minister forPetroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The onlyMarghzar zoo of twin cities ofIslamabad and Rawalpindi islosing its charm due to absenceof prominent animals whichhas led to lack of interest inpeople visiting the zoo.

After the tragic death ofSaheli (Elephant) and severalother animals, the zoo losingits attraction, said an official ofthe zoo on condition of ano-nymity.

The administration failedin bringing back the missing

Murghzar Zoo loses its charmanimals including lion, leopards,snakes and giraffe to the zoo, nei-ther by purchase nor exchangedeals that are common with wild-life associations across the world.

A visitor, Ishtiaq Akber saidMarghazar Zoo, located at thefoothills of Margalla mountains,is a tremendous source of attrac-tion for visitors due to its loca-tion but the administration couldnot be able to bring more animalsfor visitors.

Another visitor Yasmeensaid the children of the twin cit-ies would have to return homedisappointed after not finding

their favorite animals in the zoo. “As compared to other

recreational spots, MarghazarZoo is playing important rolein creating knowledge aboutwild life but there is no biganimals to attract the children,she added.

A 12 year old boy ShahidKhan said, “It’s my last visit. Iwill never come here again.,”The zoo gives pathetic look asmany cages of animals and birdsare lying vacant for the last fiveyears.

Another student said, chil-dren from the twin cities usually

return home with dejected looksafter seeing none of the animalsthat any reasonable zoo would beexpected to home.

When contacted, a CDA of-ficial said that CDA is fully awareof the situation and is taking mea-sures to bring more animals andbirds in the zoo.

“Animals and birds are hid-ing in their cages due to rising ofmercury level and doctors arealways available to take care ofthem,” he said.

There have been no lions inthe zoo for the past decade, al-though in 2001, the zoo had a pair

of lions and six cheetahs” headded.

Meanwhile, the CDA of-ficials said that they are work-ing to add key facilities andanimals to the zoo.

A project being imple-mented by the authority willbring all the missing animalsbut unfortunately there is noconcentration from the side ofCDA.

The residents of twin cit-ies demanded to bring all themissing animals and finalizeddevelopment projects as soonas possible.

RAWALPINDI: This picture shows how traffic rules are being flouted. A large number ofvehicles have been parked in prohibited area.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Greg Giokas,High Commissioner of Canadato Pakistan called on FederalMinister for Petroleum andNatural Resources, ShahidKhaqan Abbasi here on Tues-day in.

While talking to the Cana-dian High Commissioner,Shahid Khaqan Abbasi saidthat Pakistan enjoys cordialand friendly relations withCanada and pledged to carrythese ties forward in the newGovernment.

He observed that Pakistanhas huge reserves of naturalresources and there is an

Canada to support Pakin social, economic uplift

ample opportunity to invest inthe Oil, Gas and Mineral sec-tors.

He said that we welcomeCanadian investment and tech-nical support in the oil and gassector in Pakistan.

Gres Giokas, congratu-lated the Minister on smoothtransfer of power in Pakistanthrough a political process tothe newly elected governmentof PML (N), and hoped thatthis will help strengthen thedemocratic process in Paki-stan. Canadian High Commis-sioner said that Canadian Gov-ernment will continue its sup-port to Pakistan in social andeconomic uplift.

ISLAMABAD—On the directionsof Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif, CDA’s planningwing has finalized proposals tolaunch Metro Bus project in thecapital, official sources in CDAsaid on Tuesday.

The sources told APP thatMetro Bus route will be devisedin a manner that maximumpeople benefit from the modern,comfortable and affordable facil-ity for commuters between thetwin cities.

“Talks are in process withRawalpindi administration towork out the financial contribu-tion for constructing Rawalpindisegment of metro bus, an offi-cial said.

PM’s directive

CDA finalizes launchingof Metro Bus service

The sources further saidthat immediate steps for resolv-ing the urban problems ofIslamabad and launching devel-opment projects were also con-sidered and proposals for metrobus project were given finalshape. A planning wing officialinformed APP that about 48 die-sel run buses would initially bepurchased by CDA throughopen bidding.

When asked why the costof metro service was lesser thanthe bus service of Lahore, theofficial said Lahore was a con-gested city so the engineers ofPunjab government had to workout an elevated expressway forsmooth operation of metro

buses. “In Islamabad, we have

well-planned and wide roadsand don’t need any separate ex-pressway. The only cost on theproject will be on the purchaseof buses, development of termi-nals and bus depots havingworkshops and parking spaces.”

It is pertinent to mentionhere that earlier Punjab ChiefMinister Shahbaz Sharif an-nounced launch of Metro BusService for twin cities on Feb-ruary 24 this year and PrimeMinister Nawaz Sharif repeatedthe same announcement on May7 during an election rally inRawalpindi before the generalelections.—APP

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A large numberof international and national di-saster experts here on Tuesdayexpressed their consensus onimportance of implementation ofbuilding codes as means of saferreconstruction and reducing theafter effects of natural disasters.

They expressed these viewswhile addressing a nationalworkshop on implementation ofbuilding codes arranged byEarthquake Reconstruction andRehabilitation Authority(ERRA) on Tuesday.

The experts also highlightedthe need for taking provincialgovernments, media and com-munities on board to train peoplein seismically safe reconstruc-tion especially in disaster proneareas.

Earlier, Deputy Chairman,ERRA, welcomed the partici-pants while Director General

Setting up Centre ofExcellency at ERRA stressed

ERRA Brig Pervaiz Hayat Niazigave a key note address high-lighting the importance andneed for implementation ofbuilding code of Pakistan.

Engineer NaheedGhazanfar, Architect AzmatZaidi, VP Nespak, representa-tives of UN Habitat, partici-pated in technical sessionswhile Barrister UsmanIbrahim Minister for State forHousing gave the concludingremarks.

Welcoming the partici-pants the Deputy ChairmanERRA, Maj Gen Azeem Asifsaid that Pakistan was vulner-able to natural disasters anddevastating effects of earth-quake 2005 are still fresh in ourmemory. In last three monthsPakistan has experiencednearly 40 earthquakes whichdemands our attention to adoptsafer building codes for wel-fare of the people of the Paki-

stan and lower the vulnerabil-ity through safer reconstruc-tion.

Barrister Usman Ibrahim,State Minister for Housing high-lighted the need to develop andimplement policies, raise publicawareness through media part-nership, and highlight the impor-tance of safer reconstruction,which he said ERRA had exper-tise in.

He also proposed establish-ment of a center of excellencewhich would serve as a platformfor academicians, architects, ar-tisans, NGOs, Builders and en-gineers to promote safe recon-struction as a means of disasterrisk reduction.

Various participants fromacademia, engineering and pro-fessional architects recom-mended making of an expertbody to ensure transparent andquicker implementation of thebuilding codes.

Tourists urged toobserve traffic

rules: CTORAWALPINDI—Traffic rulesmust be observed by the tour-ists to avoid traffic jam problemin Murree.

Traffic Police is implement-ing a special summer traffic plandevised for Murree said ChiefTraffic Officer (CTO)Rawalpindi, Superintendent Po-lice (SP) Syed Ishtiaq HussainShah during his visit to Murreewhich is most attractive resortfor the tourists.

He said, action in accor-dance with the law is beingtaken against the vehicles parkedin no parking zone and doubleparking. He inspected all the ar-rangements made to facilitatethe tourists.

On this occasion, he issuedspecial directives to the trafficwardens to avoid traffic jam onthe roads of Murree.

He said CTP devised a com-prehensive plan for Murree forthe summer season according towhich entry of heavy vehicles inthe city was banned, the CTOadded. He said a Help Line 1915was introduced for facilitating thetourists and the citizens, havingcomplaints, can contact the Traf-fic Police round the clock.—APP

Veteran journalistAnwaar Feroze

passes awayISLAMABAD—Veteran journal-ist Anwaar Feroze passed awayhere on Tuesday at the age of 75.

Anwaar Feroze was aprominent journalist, writer andcolumnist. He started his careerfrom an organization VillageAid in Haripur.

Afterwards he worked fornewspapers Kohistan and Tamirand then he joined Nawai-WaqtRawalpindi and Islamabad withwhich he remained associatedfor 36 years. He also authored abook and visited various coun-tries to attend literary confer-ences and events. Funeralprayers of the deceased will beoffered today.—APP

Matriculationresult onJuly 25

R A W A L P I N D I — T h eRawalpindi Board of Interme-diate and Secondary Educa-tion RBISE would announcematriculation annual result ofExamination 2013 on July 25respectively across thePunjab.

According to RawalpindiBoard sources, the chairman ofall Educational Boards andcontrollers has decided inmeeting that the annual ma-triculation result would be de-clared on 25th of July.—Online

Parking fee inhospitals

RAWALPINDI—Charging ofparking fee in allied hospitals ofRawalpindi has sparked protestamong patients and theirfamilies.Administration of al-lied hospitals of Rawalpindi hasstarted charging the parking feesfrom vehicles following the or-ders of Punjab government.

Sources said that contract ofHoly Family hospital parkinghas been auctioned in Rs 3.3million; District HeadquartersHospital in Rs 7 million whilecontract of Benazir Bhutto willbe auctioned on 9th of July.

Details said that 10 rupeeper hour will be charge to cars,5 rupees to motorcycle while2 rupees to cycle in this re-gard.—Online

JULY 3

LITERARY organization,Bazm-e-Akbar AllahAbadi in collaborationwith Pakistan Academy ofLetters (PAL) would ar-range a launching cer-emony of a book “BabuNagar” by well knownhumorist poet HussainAhmed Shirazi. The eventwould be held at PakistanAcademy of Letters(PAL), Islamabad.

P-9-Khi.zip

Briefs

“The purpose ofbusiness is to create

and keep a customer.”

—Peter F. Drucker

TARIQ KHATTAK

ISLAMABAD—Ministry ofCommerce held in Islamabadthat first of a series of a semi-nars to engage stakeholders ina dialog on the way forward fortrade normalization with India.Secretary Commerce deliveredthe key note address. Pakistan’sformer Ambassador to theWTO, Dr. Manzoor Ahmed andformer President of theRawalpindi Chambers of Com-merce and Industries, Mr.Kashif Shabbir and Ms. RobinaAther, Joint Secretary, Com-merce also addressed the gath-ering. The panel discussion waspresided over by the former

Commerce Minister, Dr. ZubairKhan. The event was attended bysenior diplomats from SAARCcountries and representatives fromacademia and industry.

Secretary, Commerce was ofthe view that liberalizing the ex-isting trade regime with India willspur development in both thecountries. Renowned economist,Dr. Manzoor Ahmed highlightedthe increase in Pakistan’s exportsto India and the revenue gainedby the Government of Pakistansince Pakistan and India initiatedthe process of normalizing bilat-eral trade since March 2012.

Dr. Manzoor Ahmed, formerAmbassador to WTO explainedthe current status of Pakistan’strade policy towards India and

outlined major steps which bothcountries need to take to move theprocess forward. These includeopening new trade routes, trade fa-cilitation and modernizing infra-structure. Ge also suggested thatPakistan needed to eliminate itsnegative list, allow import of allgoods through Wagah and buildcapacity of National Tariff Com-mission to deal with any injury toour industry resulting from anyincrease in imports. With the helpof trade data over the last threeyears, he explained how the pro-cess of normalization of trade hadgreatly benefitted the economy ofPakistan. He said that Pakistan’sexports through Wagah had goneup from almost zero just Rs. 3million in 2007-2008 to almost

Rs.3 billion or an increase of 1000percent. These are exceptionalgrowths that Pakistan has notachieved with any other county.If Pakistan wants to achieve highGDP growth, he recommendedthat trade normalization with In-dia will be the best route.

During the Seminar the Min-istry of Commerce disseminateda set of research conducted by theInstitute of Public Policy (IPP) ofthe Beaconhouse National Uni-versity on the dynamics and im-pact of liberalizing trade betweenPakistan and India. IPP’s researchwas led by renowned economistDr. Hafiz Pasha.

The research conducted byIPP revealed that conservative es-timates indicate that the opening

Employment and economic growth for Pakistan if trade with India is liberalized

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan Gemsand Jewellery DevelopmentCompany (PGJDC) has estab-lished Gems & Jewellery Train-ing & Manufacturing Center(GJTMC) in Gilgit as it is esti-mated that almost 95 percent ofprecious and semi-preciousstones are found in GilgitBaltistan(GB).

GJTMC Gilgit, under thesupervision of PJGDC aims toachieve excellence through im-provement of human resourceskills as well as extending itsproductions in Pakistan and inthe world.

GJTMC Gilgit is equippedwith latest Japanese, Germanand Sri Lankan Lapidary Ma-chines and Gemological equip-ment.

The latest machinery, expe-rienced faculty, cooperativestaff,exposure of the live minesof Ruby, Aquamarine, Tourma-line, Topaz, Quartz, Spinal and

95 percent of preciousgemstones in GB

other gemstones and most sce-nic beauty of the area makes itthe best training institute in Pa-kistan.

Talking to APP, an officialsaid “ GB has vastly abundantresources of colored gemstonetreasures. Most important ofthese are ruby, topaz, aquama-rine, tourmaline and quartz”.

He said this center is suc-cessfully proving training andcommon facility center servicesto the masses.

“This area is blessed withunlimited and heavy deposits ofprecious and semi-preciousstones, precious and semi-pre-cious metals, and industrialstones like Ruby, Gold, Topaz,Aquamarine, Tourmaline, Epi-dote, Paragasite, Zircon, Actino-lite, Lead, Moonstone, Hima-layan Quartz, Emerald, Marble,Granite, Feldspar, Mica, Calcite,Feldspar, Antimony, Graphite,Alum, Coal, Copper, Barite,China Clay etc”.

An official said despite of

the heavy gems and mineralwealth, there was no coordi-nated effort to reap these natu-ral benefits through promotionof awareness about gems, skilldevelopment and market infor-mation and facilitation to theminers.

“ We have imparted Gem-stone Faceting carving,Gemology and ManualJewellery designing Training tomany students and the numberis continuously increasing”.

GJTMC Gilgit has modi-fied Form Grinding Machine forcalibration of stones. Now theForm Grinding machine will notonly perform Grinding of stonesbut it will also be used to cali-brate stones, he stated.Gem Labis also operational on commer-cial basis for identification andcertification of gemstones ofcustomers. “Other commercialfacilities for specimen dressing,cabochon cut, cutting facetingand polishing of gemstones arealso available at the centre”.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI —Bank Alfalah,which is the largest acquirer ofplastics in Pakistan andUnionPay International havelaunched the acceptance ofUnionPay Cards in Pakistan.

Through this strategic al-liance which further expandsBank Alfalah’s acquiring foot-print, UnionPay customers cannow seamlessly use their UPIcards at Bank Alfalah’s wide-spread network of Point ofSale terminals country-wide.

Bank Alfalah’s Presidentand CEO Atif Bajwa said,“Through this enhanced distri-bution, we seek to offer greateraccess and convenience toUPIs global cardholders in

Bank Alfalah and UnionPaylaunch acceptance of UPI Cards

Pakistan. This is just anotherstep by the Bank towards cre-ating an enabling payment eco-system that offers added valueand ‘transacting convenience’to users to meet their day-to-day payment needs.”

–UnionPay International,Cai Jianbo said, “We arespeeding up to expand our glo-bal acceptance network andUnionPay cards issuance over-seas to improve our service forglobal cardholders. China andPakistan are friendly neigh-bors.

To cater for the momentumof increasing exchanges be-tween the two countries,UnionPay International is ac-celerating the improvement ofUnionPay card use environ-

ment in Pakistan through co-operation with local institu-tions.

Bank Alfalah has stronglocal market advantage in Pa-kistan and we hope to providehigh quality service to visitorsand local resident cardholdersby deepening cooperationwith Bank Alfalah”.

Bank Alfalah which isowned and operated by theAbu Dhabi Group conductsbusiness through a network of471 branches across 163 cit-ies in Pakistan.

Union Pay, which wasfounded in 2002, is a bankcardassociation with headquartersin Shanghai, China, withnearly 400 Member banksaround the world.

of trade with India will predomi-nantly benefit Pakistan. IPP’s eco-nomic model predicts that if tradewith India is fully normalized.Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Prod-uct (DGP) could increase by atleast 1.5% in 2014-15. The re-search also indicates that normal-ized trade with India could createapproximately 169,000 jobs overa three years period. The estimatedgain for consumers in terms oflower cost of goods purchasedcould be at least USD 72 Million(PKR 70 billion) per year.

According to the IPP researchdisseminated during the seminar,benefits would accrue as Pakistanis able to substitute more costlyimports from current import des-tinations with less costly imports

from India. The savings in logis-tics costs of imports from Indiaare expected to be significant. Dr.Pasha’s research shows thatPakistan’s total annual import billcould decline by USD 721 Mil-lion (PKR70 billion) if costlier im-ports are substituted by importsfrom India. Cheaper imports ofintermediary goods that are usedby Pakistan’s local production sec-tors will not only help in reducinginflationary pressures in the coun-try, but will also help make Paki-stani exports more competitiveglobally and thus contribute to anincrease in Pakistan’s exportsoverall. Non-Tariff barriers(NTBs) hampering bilateral tradebetween Pakistan and India werediscussed. It was determined that

both countries will need to workconsistently to alleviate these bar-riers to realize full potential ben-efits from trade with India. Bothcountries have shown a willing-ness to remove the barriers: Indiahas recently allowed investmentfrom Pakistan and both Pakistanand India have signed a new visaagreement to facilitate businessvisits across the border. Both In-dia and Pakistan acknowledgedthe need to remove NTBs andmake operational the three agree-ments signed to reduce NTBs re-lated to differences in standardsand standard certification; delaysin customs clearance; and to in-troduce mechanism to resolve dis-pute due to NTBs Lastly, the semi-nar participants concluded that no

maximize benefits from normal-ized trade with India, Pakistanshould improve trade infrastruc-ture including warehousing facili-ties and railway wagon capacityfor land trade at Wagah, and openmore land trade borders to reducethe cost of imports from India. Itshould also harmonize product clas-sification codes to prevent disagree-ments during clearance of Pakistaniexports by India Customs. Both In-dia and Pakistan should implementcustoms agreement to simply cus-toms procedures. Furthermore, bothcountries should facilitate the estab-lishment of branches of banks fromthe counterpart country to removebarriers to trade related to the pay-ment and repatriation of profitsacross the border.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The management ofLalpir Power Limited visited TheLahore Stock Exchange to delivera presentation on the Offer forSale of Shares of Lalpir PowerLimited. Mr. Hasan Mansha,CEO, Lalpir Power Limited whileaddressing before the audienceannounced the quarterly revenueof Rs 800 million during the firstquarter of year 2013.

Mr. Mansha shared that LalpirPower Limited is offering 37.9million shares to the general pub-lic out of its existing shareholdingat a price of Rs. 22 (inclusive ofRs 12 premium) per share. He in-formed that public subscription

Lalpir Power readyto float shares

will begin on 3rd July and willremain open till 4th July throughthe company’s associated banksacross Pakistan.

Mr. Hasan Mansha apprisedthe participants on the businesssegments of the company. Whileresponding to one of theparticipant’s query, he informedthat the power project set up bythe company has a gross genera-tion capacity of 362 MW with anet generation dependable capac-ity of 350 MW. It is a residual fur-nace oil based project. The plantoperated at a capacity of 55% dur-ing the year 2012.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr.Rana Naveed, Company Secre-tary, LSE said that LSE has been

striving to promote investmentthrough the stock exchanges. Headded, LSE is proactively encour-aging the unlisted companies toget listed on the stock exchangeunder the capital raising program.Mr. Rana assured LSE’s full sup-port in making this offer a suc-cess to the investors and to thecompany. He expressed with thelisting of new companies on theExchange, the trading activitywould also increase that wouldsubsequently facilitate the primarymarket.

The purpose of this presenta-tion was to inform the investorsabout the Company’s financials,current positioning and futureprojects.

Appointment ofBajwa as FBRchairman hailedSalim AhmedLAHORE—The ChairmanPakistan Industrial andTraders Associations Front(PIAF) Malik Tahir Javedhas hailed the appointment ofTariq Bajwa ChairmanFederal Board of Revenue(FBR). In a Press Statementissued Tuesday, the PIAFChairman said that the newlyappointed Chairman FBR hasan excellent track recordbesides having a good liaisonwith business community asduring his tenure as SecretaryFinance, he took specialinitiatives for making thebusiness environmentconducive. He hoped thatTariq Bajwa would makeconcrete efforts to make FBRmore effective. He said thatbusiness community hasattached very hopes withTariq Bajwa because hisexcellent performance.

Gas condensaterecovered fromdeeper reservoir

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI —Pakistan PetroleumLimited, has successfully testedproduction of gas-condensatefrom a deeper reservoir at AdamX-1 exploration well, located inDistrict Sanghar, Sindh Province.The potential of deeper reservoirof Lower Basal Sands (LowerGoru formation), at a depth of3450 meters was evaluated atAdam X-1 during May-June,2013.

It may be mentioned that PPLis the operator of Block 2568-13(Hala) Exploration License with65 percent working interest alongwith its joint venture partner MariPetroleum Company Limited with35 percent interest have Duringtesting the well flowed 14.3 mil-lion cubic feet per day of gas and125 barrels per day oil (conden-sate) at 40/64" choke.

The well will be put on pro-duction immediately. The addi-tional hydrocarbon reserves willreduce the gap between supplyand demand of oil and gas duringthe current energy crisis in thecountry.

High Commissioner ofCanada calls on Abbasi

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Greg Giokas,High Commissioner of Canada toPakistan called on Federal Minis-ter for Petroleum and Natural Re-sources, Shahid Khaqan Abbasihere on Tuesday in Islamabad.

While talking to the CanadianHigh Commissioner Abbasi saidthat Pakistan enjoys cordial andfriendly relations with Canada andpledged to carry these ties forwardin the new Government. He ob-served that Pakistan has huge re-serves of natural resources andthere is an ample opportunity toinvest in the Oil, Gas and Mineralsectors. He said that we welcomeCanadian investment and techni-cal support in the oil and gas sec-tor in Pakistan. Giokas, congratu-lated the Minister on smoothtransfer of power in Pakistanthrough a political process to thenewly elected government ofPML (N), and hoped that this willhelp strengthen the democraticprocess in Pakistan. CanadianHigh Commissioner said that Ca-nadian Government will continueits support to Pakistan in socialand economic uplift.

FFC holds FreeEye CampsStaff ReporterISLAMABAD—FFC Corpo-rate Social Responsibilityprogram has diverse objec-tives for uplift of communityin Health, Education andthrough other ReliefPrograms for underprivi-leged. FFC alongwith Al-Shifa Eye Trust has plannedto organize series of free eyecamps in rural areas nearRawalpindi District. The firsteye camp was organized on24 June 2013 in ChakbeliKhan, District Rawalpindiwhere local community wasbenefitted by free eyecheckup, medicine and minoroperations were carried outby competent doctors of Al-Shifa Eye Trust.

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—A meeting of theGrants Review of MonitoringCommittee (GRMC) of the Eco-nomic Revitalisation of KhyberPakhtunkhwa and Fata (ERKF)Project was held at the office ofSMEDA where matching grantsfor affected businesses were de-cided. The project has awardedgrants worth Rs 350 million toaround 450 affected SMEs fromKhyber Pakhtunkhwa and Fata.The ERKF Project is funded bythe Multi Donors Trust Fund(MDTF) and it was launched inMay 2012. The project is offer-ing grants in all parts of KhyberPakhtunkhwa and Fata and so farcovered almost all districts andagencies depending upon the levelof damages. Under the capacitybuilding component more than 10

Grant awarded to affected SMEtraining programmes were alsoapproved in the current fiscal yearrequested by the business commu-nity of the region. Bakht Zameen,President of Islampur hand-weav-ing cluster was of the view thatthe project has brought economicrelief to handloom cluster and theyhave recovered rapidly.

Talking to this scribe ProjectManager, Sarmad Khan said thatthe project has surpassed its tar-gets as far as number of SMEs isconcerned but the team is work-ing hard as the number of affectedbusinesses is much larger than thetargeted numbers. He said thatthey are targeting to award grantsworth Rs 600 million in the nextyear. The Project is funded underMDTF grant of $20 million andexecuted by the World Bankthrough SMEDA, the Departmentof Industries, Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa and Fata Secre-tariat. The SME Developmentcomponent of the project has anallocation of $14 million with ashare of $ 9.1 million and $ 4.9million for Khyber Pakhtunkhwaand Fata, respectively.

The SME Development com-ponent is being implemented bySMEDA. There are three subcom-ponents of the grant programme,viz: rehabilitation, up-gradationsupports and capacity-buildingand business development. Therehabilitation component providesup to Rs 2.5 million to the eligibleenterprises which may be used forreconstruction of basic infrastructureand acquiring, repairing machineryand equipment etc. The subcompo-nent of the up-gradation provides upto Rs 1 million matching grants toSMEs for improving business pro-ductivity and efficiency.

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—In order to furtherstrengthen the trade relationsbetween two brotherly coun-tries, Indonesia and Pakistan, theMinistry of Trade of the Repub-lic of Indonesia in collaborationwith Indonesian Embassy inIslamabad and Indonesian Con-sulate General in Karachi aswell as the Pakistan-IndonesiaBusiness Forum (PIBF) willorganise a Business Forum atlocal hotel Karachi on Monday,8 July, 2013. The Business Fo-rum will be held in a seminarand be attended by more than 20Indonesian businessmen whowill participate to the Interna-tional Trade Exhibition “MyKarachi Oasis of Harmony2013” as well as by about 200hundred Pakistani businessmen.Some high-ranking officialsfrom Indonesian Ministry ofTrade and Indonesian Chamberof Commerce and Industry aswell as some prominent Paki-stani businessmen will attendthe seminar as panelists.

Pakistan-IndonesiaBusiness

Forum on 8thSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab govern-ment allocated Rs 3 billion inFY2013-14 Annual Develop-ment Programme for setting upeconomic zones/industrial es-tates along the Motorway.

Finance Minister MujataShuja-ur-Rehman said PML-Ngovernment started develop-ment of industrial estates in thecities of Rahimyar Khan,Vehari and Bhalwal during itsprevious tenure.

Now the government hasincreased budget for industrialdevelopment from Rs 350 mil-lion to Rs 3,202 millions thisyear,” he added. Rehman saidRs 10 billion have been allo-cated for providing all moderninfrastructure facilities to otherbig cities of the province in-cluding Faisalabad, Multan,Rawalpindi and Gujranwala.He said promotion of industry,commerce investment forTechnological up-gradation,employment generation in in-dustrial & services sector and

sustained growth in foreignand local investment is the pri-ority of the government.

The policy of the provin-cial government is (a) create anenabling environment for theprivate sector to grow andprosper, (b) the resulting eco-nomic activity will achieve thegovernment’s objectives ofemployment generation, in-creased income and povertyalleviation and (c) creating abetter quality of life for thecitizens of Punjab by: 1, en-couraging private sector to in-vest in Punjab 2. Generatinggrowth in the economy to cre-ate employment 3. up-gradingtechnology to enhance profit-ability 4.

Improving infrastructurenecessary for economic uplift,and 5. up-grading technologyto enhance p rof i t ab i l i ty.Rehman said that the gov-ernment is making necessaryinvestment in the Small In-dustrial Estates to providemissing facilities in the in-dustrial sector.

Economic zones,industrial estates along

the Motorway

Mobilink launchesHTC oneStaff ReporterKARACHI—Mobilink haslaunched the HTC Oneexclusively for its customersacross Pakistan. The HTC Onecomes with Andriod OS version4.1.2 Jelly Bean and weighs just143g. It has a display screen of4.7 inches with full HD 1080pvisual capability. The phone alsohas a powerful Qualcomm®Snapdragon 600 quad-core 1.7GHz processor, a micro SIM slot,2GB DDR2 RAM, inbuiltstorage of 32 or 64 GB aswell as dual camera features.Moied Javeed, DirectorMarketing (Mobile Internet)at Mobilink highlighted,“Mobilink continues toremain at the forefront ofbringing the latest in cellulartechnology to our customers.The launch of HTC One isanother step towards consoli-dating Mobilink’s position asthe leader in terms of bringinginnovation to Pakistan’ssmartphone landscape.”

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Finance Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar chairing ECC meting.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal chairs meet-ing of Central Development Working Party.

Gold Tezab 45000.00Silver Tezabi 737.14

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

USA 98.70 98.50

UK 153.04 152.73

EURO 130.66 130.39

Canada 95.12 94.93

Switzerland 106.66 106.44

Australia 91.02 90.83

Sweden 15.07 15.04

Japan 1.0149 1.0128

Norway 16.50 16.46

Singapore 77.43 77.27

Denmark 17.52 17.48

Omani Riyal 256.00 253.00

Saudi Arabia 26.32 26.26

Hong Kong 12.72 12.70

Kuwait 348.52 347.81

Malaysia 30.77 30.71

Newzeland 76.79 76.63

Qatar 27.10 26.05

UAE 26.87 26.82

KR WON 0.0854 0.0852

Thailand 3.159 3.153

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

KARACHI:

MULTAN:

Currency Selling Buying

Bullion Rates

RS PER 10 GRAMS

HAMID SHAHEEN

ISLAMABAD—The UnitedStates Agency for InternationalDevelopment (USAID) PowerDistribution Program is replac-ing old mechanical meters andany damaged meters with stateof the art electrostatic meters inthree government-owned powerdistribution companies(DISCOs) i.e. Lahore ElectricSupply Company (LESCO),Faisalabad Electric SupplyCompany (FESCO) andPeshawar Electric Supply Com-pany (PESCO). More than20,000 meters have been re-placed in LESCO and 9,000 inboth FESCO and PESCO in se-lected subdivisions where im-

provements in meter reading andsubsequent customer billing canbe monitored.

The overall objective of thisprogram is to enhance the com-mercial viability of DISCOs byimproving the accuracy of theenergy billed to customers andeliminating the need to estimatebills. This will improve the con-fidence of consumers in the ac-curacy of their bills and is ex-pected to reduce the commerciallosses of DISCOs and improveprofitability.

The meter replacementproject is a step-by-step process,in which the grid feeders are firstsurveyed and meters identifiedfor replacement in accordancewith DISCO records and ap-

proval. Replacements are fullyrecorded on official DISCOforms. The meters which haveto be replaced are further evalu-ated to decide whether to installthem on walls or poles. Whenpossible, meters are installed onthe walls of homes / buildings;meters are replaced in accor-dance with DISCO technicalspecifications set for all subdi-visions and all retired meters aregiven back to DISCOs for de-struction after two full billingcycles to allow customers to chal-lenge readings as required. Theinstallation teams pay attentionto the smallest of details includ-ing tidying up the tangle of wireson poles and along walls, espe-cially in “congested areas”.

USAID replaces over 29,000 metersin DISCOs to reduce technical losses

STAFF REPORTER

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

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

64 companies awardedfor best performance

companies are working tremen-dously for achieving economicand social development withoutharming the environment andnatural resources.

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

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

English Biscuit Manufacturers,Engro Polymer & Chemical,Engro Powergen Qadirpur,Fatima Fertilizer Company,Fauji Fertilizer Company,Fauji Cement Company, FuajiFertilizer Bin Qasim,GE(11)O& M Balloki,Glaxosmithkline Pakistan,Habitt, Interdesign FMC, Interna-tional Power, Islamabad SerenaHotel, KAPCO Kot Addu PowerCompany, Kay & Emms, KSBPumps Co., Linde Pakistan, LotteChemical Pakistan, Lucky Ce-ment, M. Muhammad Shafi &Company, MESEC, MurreeBrewery Co., National Refinery,Oil & Gas Development Company,Packages Limited, Pak Arab Refin.

STAFF CORRESPONDENT

FAISALABAD—Textile export-ers, manufacturers, processors,hosiery manufacturers and trad-ers have emphasised the need toshare the energy shortage onequitable basis across the boardin the best interest of countryand to save investment of bil-lions dollars. Addressing a meet-ing with the elected members ofNational and Provincial Assem-bly, they announced that textileindustry of Punjab cannot sur-vive if 5 days uninterrupted gassupply was not ensured to value-added, labour intensive, export-oriented textile industry, other-wise textile exporters, manufac-turers, processors, hosierymanufacturers are ready to vol-untarily surrender keys of theirindustrial Units. Asghar Ali,Chairman, Pakistan Textile Ex-porters Association, Syed ZiaAlamdar Hussain, Vice Chair-man, PHMA (North Zone),Mian Zahid Aslam, President,

FCCI, Imran Mehmood, Chair-man, APBUMA, RizwanAshraf, Regional Chairman,APTEPMA and other speakersstated that no gas supply tovalue- added textile sector ofPunjab has crippled whole tex-tile industry. The owners of tex-tile industry have become vic-tim of wrong priorities and it isimpossible to continue opera-tions in the prevailing circum-stances. The nature of our con-tinuous process is such that gasis a basic necessity not luxury,operation without gas supply issimply impossible.

The gas supply situation isgetting worse every day and thisnow become disastrous forPunjab Industry, they added. Theleaders of the business commu-nity mentioned that the billionsof dollars investment and mar-ket share developed in last 2decades are being vanished. Thereal stakeholders in entire tex-tile value chain worst hit by en-ergy crisis. They mentioned that

the energy crisis is yieldingnegative impact over the textiledector of Punjab, resultantly,textile export growth to less ca-pacity utilization, no major in-vestment entered in textile in-dustry. Loss of new employmentand loss of revenue is increas-ing day-by-day, while trade defi-cit is not bridging the gap.

They said that the gas sup-ply to textile industry in Punjabwas 39 percent of our require-ment in 2012 and only 27 per-cent in 2013. Discriminationwithin Pakistan, Sindh gettingGas supply 6 days a week(85pc), while Punjab getting 2days a week (27pc) and no con-crete strategy to cope with thesituation, the added and men-tioned that the internationalcommitments beingdishonoured the Pakistan ex-porters and manufacturers. Weare forced to a situation wherewe have no other choice but toclose down our factories andlay-off all the labour, they added.

Sharing energy shortage stressed

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Everyday around115 million children are exposedto hazardous work around theglobe, including 15.5 million chil-dren who are engaged in domes-tic work outside their own homesaccording to the United NationsInternational Labor Organization(ILO).

Children are being deniedtheir childhood including oppor-tunities for education and otherbasic child rights. More than halfof these 115.5 million domesticchildren laborers are engaged inhazardous forms of work, some-times in exploitative situations ofchild trafficking – with their livesbeing endangered on a daily ba-sis. “It is the responsibility of ev-ery human being to look after thenext generation with care, love

and protection so that they willhave equal opportunity in the fu-ture,” said Mr. Francescod’Ovidio, Country Director forILO Pakistan at a public aware-ness event for the EuropeanUnion-funded project CombatingAbusive Child Labor CACL-II).

ILO Pakistan organized theevent at the Pak-China FriendshipCentre Islamabad to launch theresearch-based visual products oncombating child labor. Visualproducts were produced under theresearch component of CACL-IIby communication and media stu-dents of seven different universi-ties across Pakistan. This pro-vided opportunities for students tohighlight the fight against childlabor by producing video docu-mentaries/short films on child la-bor including causes, conse-quences and impact on develop-

ment issues related to child labor.Chief Guest for the occasion

was the Ambassador of the Euro-pean Union Delegation to Paki-stan, Mr. Lars-Gunnar Wigemark.Other distinguished guests in-cluded Mr. Abdul Khaliq, FederalSecretary for Overseas Pakistanisand Human Resources Develop-ment, Mr. Timo Pakkla, ResidentCoordinator and HumanitarianCoordinator of the United Na-tions, Mr. Khawaja Nauman,President of the Employers’ Fed-eration of Pakistan and Mr.Zahoor Awan, General Secretaryof the Pakistan Workers’ Federa-tion.

Heads of UN agencies, for-eign diplomats, members of civilsociety, the media personnel anduniversity students demonstratedtheir support for eliminating childlabor in Pakistan.

“The European Union sup-ports the ratification of the ILOConvention 189 on Decent Workfor Domestic Workers and hascalled on all Member States toratify this Convention,” empha-sized Ambassador of EuropeanUnion Pakistan, Mr. Lars-GunnarWigemark. Appreciating the Gov-ernment of Pakistan and ILO’sefforts to combat abusive childlabor through the CACL-IIproject, EU AmbassadorWigemark added, “The EU willcontinue to promote improvedprotection of children and theelimination of the worst forms ofchild labor in its initiatives—inparticular in the UN General As-sembly, the Human Rights Coun-cil, and the International LaborOrganization”. By citing thesustainability of project’s out-comes, EU Ambassador

IMF loans avicious circle: JI

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan, SyedMunawwar Hasan, has said thatthe Zionists-controlled IMFwould extend loans to this coun-try on its own terms and the gov-ernment would be wise to refusethat. In a statement, he saidthat the sole agenda of the IMFand the World Bank was to pre-vent Pakistan from attaining self-reliance in energy sector and toraise POL and gas prices here toan exorbitant level that wouldruin our industry and agriculture.

As a result, this countrywould remain dependent on In-dia. Syed Munawwar Hasan saidthe nation had hoped that thePML(N) government would freethe country from the yoke ofIMF/World Bank slavery, butthey had been disappointed as thenew government had started beg-ging from the IMF from the verystart.

MTL achieves saleof 32,000 tractors

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Despite of pooreconomic conditions prevail-ing in the year 2012-13, MillatTractors Limited (MTL)achieved the sale of 32,000tractors.

Thus, MTL continues to bethe market leader by grabbing65 percent share in the localtractor industry. During the fi-nancial year 2012-13,country’s socio-economic con-dition went worse, it has par-ticularly affected the sales oftractors. Earlier, General SalesTax was 5 percent which waslater increased to 10 percent inJanuary 2013, which affectedthe sales adversely.

Agricultural and Commer-cial banks markedly reducedloaning facility to agriculturalsector. On this occasion, a cer-emony was organized duringwhich Sikandar Mustafa Khan,Chairman Millat Group andSM Irfan Aqueel, CEO, MTL,handed over the key of32,000th tractor to a farmer.

‘GSP plus statuscould benefit

agriculture & fishery’LAHORE—Generalized Sys-tem of Preferences (GSP) plusstatus can generate additionalspace for the country’s exportsto EU which is Pakistan’ssingle largest trade partnerwith bilateral trade exceedingten billion Euros. Chief Executive Officer Har-vest Tradings,Ahmad Jawadsaid while talking to APP hereon Monday. “It provides an opportunity toPakistan for improving its re-lations with the EuropeanUnion in terms of trade,as wellas economic/and political re-lations”, said Ahmed Jawad.

He added said that GSPplus will contribute to reduc-tion of poverty and promotionof sustainable developmentand give a boost to the tradingindustry.—APP

Wigemark also praised theGovernment’s initiative of launch-ing a similar •1.5 million programin Punjab province to replicategood results of CACL-II project.Linking child labor in Pakistanwith preferential trade access tothe EU and emphasizing on theneed of its elimination, he said “to become a GSP+ beneficiary, itis crucial that Pakistan eliminateschild and bonded labor, especiallyits worst forms “

Federal Secretary of OverseasPakistanis and Human ResourceDevelopment, Mr. Abdul Khaliqsaid, “in the 21st century, it is ourduty to address child labor on anurgent basis and secure the rightsof every child”.

Mr Khaliq added, the CACL-II project set up successful insti-tutional mechanism in all prov-inces for combating worst forms

of child labor. It pilot-tested thedistrict model approach that wasinstrumental in reducing andgradually eliminating all forms ofhazardous child labor from vari-ous sectors of Sahiwal district inPunjab and Sukkur district inSindh. As a result, local employ-ers’ associations of nine sectorshave pledged to make their sec-tors child labor free. Mr Khaliqalso praised the initiative by allprovincial labor departments to takemeasures to enact the new law onprohibition of employment of chil-dren.

Speaking at the event, Mr. TimoPakkala, UN Resident Coordinatorfor Pakistan explained how childlabor is strongly linked with thecountry’s status on primary educa-tion. Pakistan has one of the largestout-of-school populations of chil-dren; therefore the goal of eliminat-

ing child labor needs to be priori-tized equally with the importanceof achieving the Millennium Devel-opment Goal on education for all in2015.

Children sang and performed,short films and video documenta-ries were shown by university stu-dents which served to remind theaudience that child labor is a scourgeon society, a hindrance to povertyreduction and an obstacle to socialjustice, and must be eliminatedworldwide.

The event concluded with thedistribution of winners’ and appre-ciation shields to the Mass Commu-nication departments of BahauddinZakria University, Fatima JinnahUniversity, Greenwich University,Islamic International University,Lahore College for Women Univer-sity, University of Peshawar andUniversity of Sindh.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Two day aware-ness Training Session on HalaalProducts in accordance withPakistan Standards organized byPakistan Standards and QualityControl Authority (PSQCA).

With estimated figures fortrade touching the trillion USDollar mark, there is staggeringpotential for Halaal productsglobally. This potential has beenrecognized by the Governmentof Pakistan. As in Trade Policy2009-10 and Strategic TradePolicy Framework 2009-12 de-veloped by Ministry of Com-merce, Government of Pakistan.PSQCA, the apex body of Min-istry of Science and Technology,Government of Pakistan realizedthe importance of Halaal and itssocio-economic impacts glo-bally.

PSQCA has not only devel-

oped Pakistan Standards forHalaal for three different levelto build confidence amongstakeholders but also promulgat-ing thereof.

The purpose of the two dayawareness training session is togive updated knowledge andawareness on Pakistan Stan-dards for Halaal and its compli-ance against the requirementsmentioned in the Pakistan Stan-dards.

This awareness training ses-sion provided the methodology,knowledge and skills need toassess, manage, develop, andimplement effective Halaalproduct certification processand documentation. In the con-cluding session, Mr. BarkatSaeed Memon, Deputy Direc-tor General, PSQCA was chiefguest. He appreciated the workof technical committee onHalaal that had developed Pa-

kistan Standards for Halaal forthree different level to buildconfidence among stakehold-ers. He emphasized to all stake-holders to use these PakistanStandards for Halaal for theproduction of Halaal food. Heappreciated and encouragedexperts in using PSQCA plat-form for sharing expertise onHalaal. PSQCA received verygood feedback from the foodprocessing industries, chambersof commerce, associations, certi-fication bodies, academia, researchinstitutions, Darul uloom, experts,free lancers, students etc. in orga-nizing first ever training session onPakistan Standards for Halaal.

This kind of training sessionis part of promotional activity ofthis Authority in promoting qual-ity culture in Pakistan. PSQCA willalso arrange training on Halaal indifferent part of the Pakistan andas well at international level.

Training session on Halaal products organizedMorocco wantsto promote trade

with PakistanSTAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D —Moroccowants increased trade rela-tions with Pakistan as the twocountries have good potentialto promote bilateral trade indifferent areas, said MustafhaSalahdine, Ambassador ofMorocco during an interac-tion with business communityat Islamabad Chamber ofCommerce & Industry.

He said Pakistan and Mo-rocco enjoy excellent broth-erly relations, but trade andeconomic cooperation is notaligned with these good rela-tions and we have to workmore hard to improve trade asboth countries are good mar-kets for each other’s products.He said ICCI should considerorganizing an Economic Dayfor Morocco inviting Moroc-can businessmen to explorenew avenues of mutual coop-eration between the two coun-tries and his Embassy woulddo maximum for facilitatingand making this event suc-cessful.

Mustafa Salah Din saidexchange of trade delegationsis another effective tool toidentify trade potential andexportable products betweenthe two countries. He said weshould develop links betweenbusinessmen of both coun-tries for achieving mutuallybeneficial outcomes. He as-sured that Moroccan Embassywould like to work closelywith ICCI to bring two coun-tries further closer particu-larly on trade, commerce andeconomic fronts.

In his welcome address,Zafar Bakhtawari, President,Islamabad Chamber of Com-merce & Industry said that Pa-kistan attaches great value toits relations with Morocco asit is a brotherly country lo-cated at the gateway of Africaand Europe and thus offersenormous economic opportu-nities.

Heavy buyinghelps stock

market crossthree barriers

KARACHI—The KarachiStock market on Friday expe-rienced intense buying and itsbenchmark 100-index crossedthree upper barriers of 21400,21500 and 21600 points.

The KSE-100 indexclosed 281 points up to closeat 21644.17 points while 30-index increased by 254.97points to close at 16764.81points. Out of total 339 ac-tive scrips, 213 moved upwhile 102 shed values and 24remained unchanged.

Significant increase ofRs 120.95 was recorded inthe stocks of Nestle Pakistanto close at Rs 6295 while thestocks of Wyeth Pak Ltdwere up by Rs 80 to close atRs 1680. The stocks ofBata Pak and Mitchells Fruitlost their per share value byRs 89 to close at Rs 1700and Rs 8 to close at Rs 511respectively.—APP

KARACHI—Business commu-nity representatives from variousareas of Balochistan held a meet-ing at FPCCI Regional Office,Quetta to discuss the issues andpossible solutions for promotionof trade and industry in the prov-ince.

The meeting was chaired byPresident, Pishin Chamber ofCommerce and Industry,Naseebullah Khan Tareen.

Among other senior busi-nessmen, Akbar Khan Kakar,Najam Barech, Ali GoharBaloch, Syed Abdullah Agha andFahmida Jamali were present,said a press release here on Tues-day.

The meeting praised the lead-ership of Federation of PakistanChambers of Commerce and In-dustry (FPCCI) especially Chair-man of Businessmen Panel atFPCCI and former presidentFPCCI, Tariq Sayeed, PresidentFPCCI Zubair Ahmed Malik andIftikhar Ali Malik for supportingand strengthening trade and in-

dustry in the largest but under de-veloped province of the country.

FPCCI’s Quetta RegionalOffice has been playing a veryactive role in this regard, it noted.The business leaders called forespecial support, incentives andfacilitation to local and foreigninvestors in Balochistan to bringthis province at par with otherones on social and economicfronts. They urged Balochistanand Federal Governments to en-sure better law and order situa-tion in the province as it was pre-requisite for trade andindustrialisation.The meetingunderlined the need for establish-ing more chambers in the prov-ince at district level. On the oc-casion, the business leaders fromBalochistan appealed to DirectorGeneral of Trade Organisations,Federal Ministry of Commerce toplay its part in re-constitution ofchambers in this province whichwould help to resolve the problemsof the business community fromthis backward region. —APP

Solution of Balochistanissue discussed

Call to withdrawSales Tax on servicesSIALKOT—Chairman, All Pa-kistan Dry Ports Association(APDPA) Muhammad IshaqButt has expressed concern overlevy of 17 percent Sales Tax bymaking amendments in secondschedule of Punjab Sales on ser-vice act on port operators in-cluding dry ports. Talking tonewsmen at Sialkot Dry Port onTuesday, he said the step willadversely affect the volume ofbusiness being carried outthrough Dry Ports.

Owing to levy of this tax,the services of dry ports will be-come dearer and exporters ofthe respective regions will pre-fer to move their cargo toKarachi, he said. He said thatdiversion of business to Karachiwill cause reduction in revenuein the form of duties and tax toPunjab. Chairman APDPA saidwhy the services of dry ports arebeing subjected to Sales taxwhen five zero rated exportingsectors like textile, leather, car-pets, surgical and sports goodsare exempted from Sales Tax.

Child labor seen as a threat to economy

Dr. Iftikhar Ahmed, Chairman PARC presenting shield to Mr. Ghulam Sarwar PrincipalEstate Officer and Mr. M. Saeed on their retirement.

ISLAMABAD: President ICCI Zafar Bakhtawari presenting shield to Ambassador of Morocco Mustapha Salehuddin.

Mr. Naseem US Sami, Director PSQCA with the participants and facilitators of Two DayAwareness Training Session on Halaal products in accordance with Pakistan Standards heldat Karachi.

ISLAMABAD—The Gross Do-mestic Product (GDP) of Pakistancould be at least 1.5% higher thanthe expected growth by 2014-15if trade with India is fully normal-ized, trade experts said here Tues-day. They were speaking at semi-nar titled “Pakistan-India TradeNormalization” organized by theMinistry of Commerce. This wasa first one of a series of a semi-nars to engage stakeholders in dia-logue on the way forward for tradenormalization with India.

The normalization of tradewith neighboring country couldcreate approximately 169,000 jobs

GDP to go up by 1.5% if trade with India normalizedbesides saving Rs.70 billion an-nually on purchase of goods.

Addressing the participants,Secretary Commerce, Qasim Niazsaid that regional trade was veryimportant to spur developmentand growth. He said that there areseveral examples of successful re-gional trade that led to develop-ment in European countries, SouthAmerica and East Asia, so promo-tion of regional trade in South Asiawould bring good fruits also.

He said that efforts weremade in past to rationalize trade,however these could not materi-alize the full trade potential be-

tween two major economies ofAsia, however added that para-digm shift was made in April 2011by moving from positive to nega-tive list of trade.

He expressed the hope thatexperts of the seminar wouldcome up with concrete recom-mendations for the developmentof trade between both the coun-tries. Speaking on the occasion,Pakistan’s former Ambassador tothe World Trade Organization(WTO) and renowned economistDr. Manzoor Ahmed identifiedfive essential steps to normalizetrade with India.—APP

KARACHI: Afaq Ahmed, leader of Mohajir Qaumi Movement addressing a Press confer-ence at his residence.—PO photo by Sultan Chaki

KARACHI: Members of Pakistan Hajj Group Organizers Committee protesting against decreasing their Hajj quota.—PO photo

Red meat tied to worsecolon cancer outcomesPEOPLE who report eating the most red

and processed meat before being diagnosed with colon cancer are more

likely to die during the next eight years, ac-cording to a new study.

“It’s another importantreason to follow the guide-lines to limit the intake of redand processed meat,” saidMarjorie McCullough, thestudy’s lead author from theAmerican Cancer Society inAtlanta. While the new studycan’t prove eating red or pro-cessed meats - such as beef,hot dogs and sausages -causes colon cancer deaths,previous studies have foundthat eating the meats is tiedto an increased risk of devel-oping the cancer.

There’s less evidence,however, on how people’sdiets after colon cancer di-agnoses affect their chancesof survival. The U.S. Na-tional Institutes of Health estimates thatabout 143,000 Americans will be diagnosedwith colon and rectal cancers in 2013, andabout 51,000 people will die from them. Forthe new research, McCullough and her col-leagues used data from a different study on184,000 Americans who didn’t have cancerbetween 1992 and 1993, and who were pe-riodically asked about what they ate.

After excluding people, who had - amongother things - multiple types of cancer, unveri-fied diagnoses and missing information, theresearchers had data on 2,315 men and womenwho were diagnosed with colon or rectal can-cer between the start of the study and June 30,

2009. Overall, 966 of them died between thestart of the study and December 31, 2010.

The researchers found no link betweenhow much red or processed meat a person ateafter their diagnosis and their risk of death,

but the amount of meat a per-son ate before their diagno-sis was tied with their risk ofdying during the study.

About 43 percent of the580 people who ate about 10servings of red or processedmeat per week at the start ofthe study died during the fol-low up period. That com-pared to about 37 percent ofthe 576 people who ate abouttwo servings per week.

The researchers alsofound that people who con-sistently ate more red or pro-cessed meat before and aftertheir colon cancer diagnosiswere more likely to die fromthat cancer during the study,compared to those who at the

least before and after diagnosis. Dr. JeffreyMeyerhardt, who wrote an editorial accom-panying the new study in the Journal of Clini-cal Oncology, said it’s possible that the linkbetween red and processed meats and coloncancer comes from cancer-causing com-pounds found in cooked meat or preservatives.“The prim

ary message is a confirmation that in-creased intake of red or processed meat canhave detrimental effects on the developmentof colon cancer, the type of cancer and otherhealth effects of patients in the long term,”Meyerhardt, a gastrointestinal oncologist at theDana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, said.

KARACHI: People facing hardships due to slow pace of construction work of a rain drainin Water Pump area.

KARACHI: Designer Sania Masktiya and others on the launching ceremony of out-let‘Sania Masktiya’.—PO photo

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Sec-retary, Muhammad IjazChaudhry has constituted atwo-member committee com-prising Secretary Social Wel-fare, Agha Jan Akhtar, Secre-tary Health, InamullahDharijo, for procurement ofmedicines and health-relateditems from UNICEF in con-sultation with the ProvincialDisaster Management Author-ity (PDMA).

He was presiding over ahigh level meeting to reviewthe progress for preparednessof monsoon 2013 season.

Medicines procurement committee formedA statement here on Tues-

day said that the meeting was at-tended by all Commissionersand Provincial Secretaries of Ir-rigation, Finance Local Govern-ment, Health, Public Health En-gineering, Food and the repre-sentatives of NDMA, NationalHighway Authority, PakistanAir Force and other develop-ment departments.

The Chief Secretary (CS)appreciated the efforts of divi-sional Commissioners and for-warded a report of Commis-sioner Karachi Shoaib AhmedSiddiqui to Secretary Local

Government for necessary ac-tion with the specific referenceof municipal assistance in divi-sions and districts as well asother areas. He issued instruc-tion to Commissioners andDeputy Commissioners to getthe FIRs registered against miss-ing and stolen pumps and ma-chinery pertaining to dewateringand flood relief operation.

The National Disaster Man-agement Authority (NDMA)Coordinator Brig. Kamran Ziainformed the meeting thatNDMA would furnish the rationbags of 50 kg each to any rain/

flood affectee. Secretary Irrigation was

advised to provide machineryand equipment on demand ofthe PDMA and other needyquarters. Special SecretaryAgha Wasif apprised the meet-ing that funds are being ar-ranged as per demands for thetask. Administrator KMCHashim Raza Zaidi apprisedthat in association with Com-missioner Karachi, the Can-tonment Board and ArmedForces authorities, the prepa-ration of flood/rain emergencyplan is in progress—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The United StatesAgency for International Devel-opment (USAID) KarachiDeputy Mission Director Leon“Skip” Waskin and Sindh SeniorMinister for Education NisarAhmed Khuhro attended aground breaking ceremony to-day to mark reconstruction ofthe first of 20 schools damagedduring flooding in 2011.

The USAID is providing $4million to reconstruct theseschools across Sindh.

USAID is assisting theSindh Department of Educationand Literacy carry out a system-atic assessment of damagedschools in Sindh under this pro-

USAID breaks ground of 1stflood-affected school in Sindh

gram. Transitional structureswill be provided where neces-sary so that the children can con-tinue their education while re-habilitation and construction ofnew buildings are completed.USAID will also provide edu-cational supplies to these publicschools and ensure clean drink-ing water and proper sanitationsystem is installed.

USAID Deputy MissionDirector Skip Waskin and SindhSenior Minister of EducationNisar Ahmed Khuhro markedthe occasion by planting a treeon the grounds of the Govern-ment Girls Primary School inShahpur Rizvi, District TandoAllahyar. Officials from Sindh’seducation department, as well as

teachers, students and membersof the community were present.

“We are committed to sup-porting Pakistan’s education sec-tor,” said Skip Waskin at the cer-emony. He added, “We also havea deep commitment to helpingPakistan meet its immediate hu-manitarian needs in the aftermathof natural disasters. In 2010, forexample, the United States pro-vided plastic sheeting, safe drink-ing water, soap, blankets, andenough food to feed over onemillion families for more thanthree months. The total value ofour flood-related efforts since2010 is over one billion dollars,not just on emergency responsebut also on projects like the onewe celebrate today.”

USAID’s effort to rehabili-tate and reconstruct the floodaffected schools in Sindh is justone of the many U.S.-fundedinitiatives that help millions ofPakistani children continue theireducation and fulfill their poten-tial. The United States is alsobuilding new applied researchcenters at Pakistani universitiesthat focus on energy, water, andagriculture. U.S. assistance toPakistan’s education sector in-cludes building or rehabilitatingmore than 850 schools acrossPakistan; launching new degreeprograms in education at 90teacher colleges and universi-ties; and operating the largestFulbright academic exchangeprogram in the world.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The Founder andLeader of Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) AltafHussain has expressed pro-found grief and sorrow overthe brutal killing of partyworker Shezad Ahmad ofOrangi Town sector unit 120by the fierce firing of aimedterrorists.

While expressing sympa-thy with the bereaved familymembers, Hussain advisedthem to be patient and not toconsider themselves alone intime of trial and pain.

He prayed Almighty Allahto rest the departed soul intoeternal peace and for the forti-tude and courage of the

Altaf, coordination committeecondemn workers’ killing

grieved family to bear this ir-reparable loss Amen.

Meanwhile, the MQMCentral Coordination Commit-tee strongly condemned thekilling of its party workerShezad Ahmed of OrangiTown Sector 120 by the firingof armed terrorists and wound-ing of its worker AdnanAhmed.

The Coordination Com-mittee said that Shezad Ahmedand Adnan Ahmed left for theiroffices in the morning thatarmed terrorists attacked onthem which resulted in the kill-ing of Shezad Ahmed andwounding of Adnan Ahmed.

It said that terrorists’ ele-ments are roaming freelyaround in the city and killing

and wounding MQM workers,which is a very deplorable act.The terrorist are deterioratingcity’s law and order situationthrough heinous activities andthe provincial government iscompletely patronizing themwhile the law enforcementagencies are playing the roleof the mute spectators.

The Coordination Com-mittee demanded PresidentAsif Ali Zardari, Prime Min-ister Mohammad NawazSharif, interior federal minis-ter Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan,Sindh Chief Minister SyedQaim Ali Shah, Sindh Gover-nor Ishrat Ul Ebad Khan to im-mediately arrest the killers ofShezad Ahmed and give theman exemplary punishment.

KARACHI—Sindh province isneeded to make concerted effortsso as to match up with number ofindicators that measure progresstowards the Millennium Develop-ment Goals (MDGs), a set of eightgoals adopted by Pakistan alongwith 189 other countries in 2000and set to be achieved by 2015.

Sindh government authoritiesare, however, hopeful that with the18th amendment in the constitu-tion and the province more re-source through the NFC awardwould be in a far better positionto mobilize the resources itself.

Sindh needs concerted efforts to achieve MDGsThey claimed that the provinceshould be able to make a quan-tum leap towards the achievementof MDGs.

The authorities also remindedthat development issues in theprovince had been aggravated bya number of natural calamities inthe province including the 2010floods. Despite its limitation thePPP government in the provincethey said had turned Benazir In-come Support Programme (BISP)as one of the largest social safetynet programmes in South Asia.

The cash transfer and other

interventions under BISP wereclaimed to had helped million ofhouseholds across Pakistan.Moreover, the education budget ofSindh was said to be one of thehighest in the four provinces.Despite these achievements, theMDGs Analysis Report 2013 thattracks progress toward theachievement of MDGs, meant toprovide concrete, numericalbenchmarks for tackling extremepoverty in its many dimensions,has warned that most of the tar-gets were unlikely to be achievedin next three years period.—APP

SSUET preparesreport on rain

emergencyKARACHI—Each year SirSyed University of Engineeringand Technology (SSUET) pre-pares report on Rain Emergencyas a part of public service to as-sist civic bodies and other stake-holders functioning in Karachi.

An official of the institutionsaid here on Tuesday that thepurpose of the report is toemphasise civic bodies for pre-paratory work before monsoon.

He said that since monsoonseason starts from July, it is ex-pected that civic bodies mayhave carried out necessaryworks.

But, efforts of KMC andother local authorities for de-silt-ing and cleaning of nullahs anddrains are not visible, he main-tained adding that still there issome time left for follow up.

It was pointed out that thecity receives an average 200 mmrains from July to September.

The report pointed out thatthe city experienced above nor-mal rains in 2003, 2006, 2007,2009, 2010, 2011.

During 2004 and 2005 citygot below normal rains, but, in-tensity was higher.

The SSUET report main-tained that there is no properstorm water drainage system inKarachi.One that exists is foundin deteriorated condition lackingproper maintenance.Outfalls areblocked. Illegal construction ofhouses, commercial establish-ments ‘Katchi Abadies’ and en-croachments on nullahs has re-duced effective carrying capac-ity of drains.—APP

Occupants ofdilapidated

buildings warnedKARACHI—Karachi Water andSewerage Board (KWSB) onTuesday issued afresh its warn-ing to the residents of 247 di-lapidated buildings in the city,who are yet to vacate these priorto fast approaching monsoons inthe region. The inhabitants of thebuildings declared dangerousand unfit for occupation havebeen repeatedly asked to imme-diately vacate these so as to pre-vent any possible casualty orloss during expected rainfall.

According to senior KWSBofficial the buildings declareddangerous are those that havebeen surveyed by a team of SindhBuilding Control Authority’sTechnical Committee comprisingsenior architects and engineers.

He said there are 247 suchbuildings identified to be di-lapidated and unfit for occupa-tion as their basic structure hasbeen damaged. The official saidthat any report about possiblecollapse of concrete structuresand buildings could be made attelephone number 021-99232354.—APP

Police trainingworkshop

KARACHI—A workshop is be-ing organised to impart anti-ter-rorism training and informationto the police personnel.

A police announcementhere on Tuesday said that thefive-day workshop is being at-tended by the officials of theBomb Disposal Squad and thoseof the CID.

It said that the workshop isbeing held in collaboration withthe Sindh Police and the USDepartment of Justice.

Meanwhile, the InspectorGeneral of Police (IGP) Sindh,Shahid Nadeem Baloch, chaireda meeting here at the CPO onTuesday to review the perfor-mance of the personnel of po-lice and those of the CID withregard to measures against ter-rorism and militancy.—APP

Red meat tied to worsecolon cancer outcomes

LAHORE: Residents of Mughalpura protesting against the alleged killing of a woman by her in-laws.

PEOPLE who report eating the mostred and processed meat before being diagnosed with colon cancer are

more likely to die during the next eightyears, according to a new study.

“It’s another important reason to fol-low the guidelines to limitthe intake of red and pro-cessed meat,” saidMarjorie McCullough, thestudy’s lead author fromthe American Cancer So-ciety in Atlanta.

While the new studycan’t prove eating red orprocessed meats - such asbeef, hot dogs and sau-sages - causes colon can-cer deaths, previous stud-ies have found that eat-ing the meats is tied to anincreased risk of develop-ing the cancer.

There’s less evidence,however, on howpeople’s diets after coloncancer diagnoses affecttheir chances of survival.

The U.S. National Institutes of Healthestimates that about 143,000 Americanswill be diagnosed with colon and rectalcancers in 2013, and about 51,000 peoplewill die from them.

For the new research, McCulloughand her colleagues used data from a dif-ferent study on 184,000 Americans whodidn’t have cancer between 1992 and1993, and who were periodically askedabout what they ate.

After excluding people, who had -among other things - multiple types ofcancer, unverified diagnoses and miss-

ing information, the researchers haddata on 2,315 men and women who werediagnosed with colon or rectal cancerbetween the start of the study and June30, 2009.

Overall, 966 of them died betweenthe start of the study andDecember 31, 2010.

The researchers foundno link between how muchred or processed meat aperson ate after their diag-nosis and their risk ofdeath, but the amount ofmeat a person ate beforetheir diagnosis was tiedwith their risk of dying dur-ing the study.

About 43 percent ofthe 580 people who ateabout 10 servings of red orprocessed meat per weekat the start of the studydied during the follow upperiod. That compared toabout 37 percent of the 576people who ate about two

servings per week. The researchers alsofound that people who consistently atemore red or processed meat before andafter their colon cancer diagnosis weremore likely to die from that cancer dur-ing the study, compared to those whoat the least before and after diagnosis.

Dr. Jeffrey Meyerhardt, who wrotean editorial accompanying the newstudy in the Journal of Clinical Oncol-ogy, said it’s possible that the link be-tween red and processed meats and co-lon cancer comes from cancer-causingcompounds found in cooked meat orpreservatives.

LAHORE: Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal giving away shield to thepopulation welfare worker during a function “Prevent Adolescent Pregnancy” in con-nection with World Population Day.

LAHORE: Students busy in painting at a summer camp during summer vacation atChildren Library Complex.

Mortar shelldefused

LAHORE—Bomb disposalsquad has defused the Rus-sian made mortar shell recov-ered from Davis road.

Police was informed assoon as shell was spottedlying in the garbage dump infront of marriage hall locatedon Davis road.

Police and bomb disposaldefused it taking it to theircustody. The news of bombspread like wild fire grippingthe area in panic.

As per police bomb wasa Russian made mortar shell,which might have come inscrap.—Online

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif has said that those as-sociated with health sectorshould evolve such ahealthcare system whichcould provide modern andquality health services to ev-ery member of the society onequitable basis. He said thatcondition of hospitals can beimproved through collectivewisdom and concerted efforts.He said that the goal of set-ting up a healthy society can-not be achieved without im-proving healthcare system.

He said that besides pro-vision of treatment facilities,due attention to preventivehealth is also necessary. Hesaid that Pakistan is facing anumber of challenges includ-ing substandard healthcaresystem, energy crisis, load-shedding, corruption and lawand order problem but theseissues can be resolvedthrough vision, hard work andcollective efforts.

He said that Punjab gov-ernment is launching healthinsurance card scheme for ex-tending quality health facili-ties to the common man. Hesaid that a huge sum of Rs.26

Shahbaz for provision of modern,quality health services to citizens

billion was spent during theprevious tenure of the gov-ernment for providing freemedicines to the poor andcommon man and this processwill continue in future as well.He said that Punjab govern-ment has allocated a recordsum of Rs.45 billion for healthsector in the new budget. Hesaid that Pakistan MuslimLeague-N government hasbeen given a historic mandatefor resolving people’s prob-lem and no effort will bespared in this regard.

He was addressing inau-gural session of a 2-dayPunjab Health Sector ReformsConference at Chief Minister’sOffice today. Federal Minis-ter for Defense ProductionRana Tanveer Hussain, Pro-vincial Health Minister KhalilTahir Sindhu, Provincial Min-ister for Population WelfareBegum Zakiya Shahnawaz,Advisor Dr. Ijaz Nabi, formerAdvisor on Health Kh. SalmanRafique, Members PunjabAssembly, Secretary Health,vice chancellors, principals,physicians, surgeons and alarge number of persons as-sociated with health sectorwere present.

The Chief Minister saidthat he considered it an honor

to participate in the confer-ence and hoped that solidproposals would come forthin the conference for improv-ing healthcare system. Hethanked the organizers of theconference on holding thisimportant event. He said thatit is unfortunate that while thepresident, prime minister, min-isters, judges, generals, poli-ticians, bureaucracy and theelite avail the best healthcarefacilities in and outside thecountry, the underprivilegedsegments of the society aredeprived of even basic treat-ment facilities.

He said that this unjustsystem will have to bechanged and such ahealthcare system will have tobe devised under which medi-cal facilities are available to allsegments of the society onequitable basis. He said thatit is the basic responsibilityof the rulers, physicians andsurgeons to ensure propertreatment and preventivehealth facilities to the masses.He said that it is lamentablethat a number of children havedied due to measles. He saidthat Punjab government istaking all possible measuresfor the treatment and preven-tion of the children against

this disease.Shahbaz Sharif said that

criminal negligence wasshown by not launchingtimely vaccination campaignagainst measles and suchtragic incidents are intoler-able. He said that he visitedevery nook and corner ofPunjab during election cam-paign and it came to his no-tice that majority of people isfacing the problem of short-age of potable water whilecleanliness and sanitationproblems are also common. Hesaid that the situation in otherprovinces of the country is nodifferent. He said that there isa need to improve health man-agement system of hospitals.

He said that health andsanitary conditions in hospi-tals can be improved throughappointment of chief execu-tive officers and the doctorsdealing with administrativeaffairs can perform their re-sponsibility of serving the ail-ing humanity. MuhammadShahbaz Sharif further saidthat provision of free medi-cines to the deserving per-sons can be ensured byevolving an effective systemof check and balance besidesthe real objectives of alloca-tion of funds under this headcould also be achieved. Hesaid that during the previoustenure of the government, sixmobile health units were im-ported from Holland and sentto south Punjab and are pro-viding modern health facilitiesto the masses.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab Chief Min-ister Muhammad ShahbazSharif has said that Punjabgovernment will take short,medium and long term mea-sures for controlling energycrisis and besides traditionalmethods, power will be gener-ated through alternativesources as well.

He said that it augurs wellthat private sector desires tocooperate with the govern-ment in overcoming shortageof energy.

He said that launching ofenergy generation projectsfrom solar power, biomass,biogas and coal with the co-

‘All out steps mounted toovercome energy crisis’

operation of private sector isbeing seriously considered.

He was talking to a repre-sentative delegation of solarenergy company NizamGroup at Chief Minister’s Of-fice.

Provincial Energy MinisterCh. Sher Ali Khan and Secre-tary Energy Usman Bajwa werealso present on the occasion.Usman Ahmed and AbdullahUmar of Nizam Group gave abriefing to the Chief Ministeron solar energy.

Talking to the delegation,Chief Minister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif said that Paki-stan is facing serious energy

crisis and Pakistan MuslimLeague-N government isstriving for generation ofpower from alternativesources.

He said that a programmehas been evolved to give so-lar energy operated tube-wells to small farmers andthis step will promote agri-culture sector in the prov-ince.

He said that former rulersdisplayed criminal negligenceby wasting five years of thenation while the PML-N gov-ernment will fulfill its promiseof resolving energy crisis atany cost.

CM noticeswoman murder

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has takennotice of the murder of a mar-ried woman in Kot KhawajaSaeed and sought a reportfrom CCPO Lahore.

The Chief Minister alsoordered immediate arrest ofthe culprit involved in themurder of the woman.

LAHORE—The Lahore HighCourt Tuesday suspendedorders of a consultant/ad-viser of the federal ombuds-man for gas restoration totwo industrial units.

Justice Syed Mansoor AliShah passed the order on apetition filed by Sui North-ern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL)challenging federalombudsman’s consultant or-ders. The court also soughtreply from the federal om-budsman, the consultant andothers.

Earlier, SNGPL’s counselUmar Sharif submitted beforethe court that federalombudsman’s consultant AliArif had ordered restorationof gas supply to Danial In-dustries, Gujranwala, andChattan Pottery, Gujrat, with-

out approval of the federalombudsman.

He said the respondentconsultant had passed theorders without authority ashe did not have any judicialpowers.

He further pointed out thefederal ombudsman was thecompetent authority but hispowers could not be del-egated to other staff of theoffice. He contended that theorders of the adviser/con-sultant were illegal andpleaded the court to set themaside.

The court after hearingthe arguments suspendedthe orders and sought replyfrom the respondents. Thematter will be fixed for hear-ing after summer vaca-tion.—APP

LHC suspends orders to restoregas supply to two units

LAHORE—Punjab LabourMinister Raja Ashfaq SarwarTuesday said, he had accel-erated work in the last twoweeks to make CT scan, an-giography and gamma ma-chines functional in socialsecurity hospital, Multanroad, Lahore which had notbeen working for the last twoand a half years.

Addressing a press con-ference at Punjab Assembly,he said the MS of the hospi-tal had been suspended onnegligence and an inquirywas underway.

The department hastaken up the matter of regis-tration of workers as it was

Minister assures resolutionof workers problems

necessary to ensure the pro-vision of basic facilities tothem, the minister said. Stepsshould also be taken to en-sure proper care of workersby creating a conducive at-mosphere in factories, hesaid.

He said every week hewould visit different districtsand directed all hospitals tokeep their machinery in aworking condition so thatpatients could not face anydifficulty.

He said electricity hadbeen provided to LabourWelfare Colony which wasinaugurated in May 2012 andnow workers could live there.

He said the PunjabLabour Department was bear-ing expenses of education ofchildren of labourers and thePunjab government was giv-ing scholarships of Rs 2,500each to graduation studentsand Rs 3500 to students ofmaster’s degrees.

He said that WorkersWelfare Complex inMuzaffargarh had been com-pleted.

Responding to a ques-tion, he said there were manyproblems related to bondedlabour, child labour andforced labour and he hadformed committees to tacklethem.—APP

Dr Wasim forstaunch anti

terror measuresLAHORE—Jamaat-e-IslamiParliamentary leader in thePunjab Assembly Dr WasimAkhtar Tuesday urged thegovernment to come up witha comprehensive strategy toweed out the scourge of ter-rorism.

In a statement at PunjabAssembly premises, he vehe-mently condemned the ter-rorist attacks in Quetta andPeshawar which have de-voured lives of innocent citi-zens.

He said recurring blastsin the country are the biggestimpediments in foreign in-vestment. “New governmentshould take measures tocrush the terrorists”, he said,adding “All the patrioticforces are ready to join handswith the government in itssincere efforts to thwart ne-farious designs of the en-emies lurking to destroycountry’s economy”.

He deeply regretted thatthe image of Pakistan is be-ing tarnished and reiteratedthat the government shoulddevise a new multi-prongedstrategy to improve the situ-ation.

To a question, DrWasim said, there was clearproof of foreign hand be-hind explosions in Paki-stan. He said its a “litmustest for the government”and urged the authorit iesto step forward, curb andcrush terrorism.

On the behalf of his party,he said he vehemently con-demns terrorism at all levelsand assured of positive rolecum efforts for stability in thecountry.—APP

Monthlydepartmental

progress reviewLAHORE—Punjab Ministerfor Industries, Commerce andInvestment ChaudharyMuhammad Shafiq Tuesdaydirected the provincial sec-retaries that overall progressof departments will be re-viewed on monthly basis.

Talking to APP here to-day, he said that on the spe-cial directive of Chief Minis-ter Punjab MuhammadShahbaz Sharif, the overallprogress and performance ofdepartments and its attachedoffices will be monitored ev-ery month.

He said that all heads ofthe attached departmentshave also been directed toensure the timely completionof development projectsstrictly in line with laid downparameters and specifica-tions without compromisingthe quality of constructionmaterials.

He said that monthly re-view meeting will be held onthe Monday of first week ofevery month without anyfail and its minutes will becomputerised. He said thatthere is no room for corruptand negligent officialswhile competent and hon-est one will be fully encour-aged.

Chaudhary MuhammadShafiq said that public moneywill be spent judiciously fortheir welfare and bettermenton top priority. He said thatall problems being confrontedby the people will be solvedthrough good governance.He said that Punjab Small In-dustries Corporation will bemade more effective to bringindustrial revolution in theprovince by promoting andpatronizing the cottage indus-try.—APP

104 newmeasles cases

reportedLAHORE—About 20,707cases of measles have beenreported in Punjab duringthe last six and a halfmonths with the addition of104 new cases during thelast 24 hours.

According to health de-partment officials, at least 182deaths have been reportedso far and most deathsoccured in Lahore,Gujranwala, Rajanpur, RahimYar Khan, Faisalabad, Sialkotand Kasur. During the last24 hours, around 104 casesof measles were reported inPunjab, including 24 in cityhospitals.—APP