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Continued on Page 7

MQM shows maturity afterNine-Zero raid................................................Pak silence over Indian wateraggression................................................Rising number of policeencounters

See Page 04

See also Sports Page

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—KSE-100 though bounced backwith a gain of over 346 points to close in greenat the level of 32929 levels hereon the last session of the week.

The index is likely to risetowards 33,150 which is itstrend-line resistance. Thisbounce could be temporary aslong as the index keeps trad-ing below 33,500 said marketanalysts, however the tradingactivity was improved follow-ing withdrawal of notices is-sued by the SECP, said a bro-ker.

However improvement in the index wasnot supported by the market volumes whichremained lacklusre as 157 million shares traded

in Friday’s session. The volume leader of theday was Maple Leaf Cement with 16.64 mil-lion shares while Jahangir Siddiqi & Co andTRG Pakistan were second and third volume

leaders with 13.57 million and 9.86 millionshares traded to their credit.

KSE-100 bounces back witha gain of 346.41 points

Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif witnessing test fire of Pakistan’s own indigenous developed armed Drone Burraq and Barq Laser GuidedMissile.

SARWAR AWAN

KARACHI—Pakistan on Fri-day successfully tested its firstindigenous armed drone namedBurraq, and its laser guidedmissile named Barq. The dronehas the ability to fly in all typesof weather conditions andstrike its targets with pinpointaccuracy.

Chief of Army Staff Gen-eral Raheel Sharif attendedthe ceremony and witnessedthe test fire of the new mis-sile on static and moving tar-gets.

Speaking on the occasion,General Raheel said thisnewly developed arsenal willincrease the military’s capac-ity in fighting terrorism. Hecommended engineers, scien-tists and technicians for theiruntiring efforts to develop thisstate of the art technology.

The army chief termed ita great national achievementand a momentous occasion inthe history of the country.“Let’s join hands to take Pa-kistan forward in respectivefields,” General Raheel saidin his message to the fellowcountrymen.

Armed droneBurraq with

accuracy testedsuccessfully

Missile Barq tested on static, movingtargets New developments to

enhance mily fighting capacity: RaheelThe military announced

that a very effective forcemultiplier had been added tothe inventory of the armedforces. In November 2013,the military had indigenouslydeveloped surveillance-ca-pable drones. The inductionof two unmanned aerial ve-hicles, called the ‘Burraq’ and‘Shahpar’ systems, in the Pa-kistan Army and Air Forcewas seen as a landmark andhistoric event.

The drone test was thesecond major announcementthis week from the Pakistanmilitary about its growing ar-senal. On Monday, the mili-tary said it had successfullytested a new medium-rangeballistic missile capable ofcarrying a nuclear weapon.

The Shaheen-III missilehas a range of 1,700 miles andis capable of carrying a war-head to any part of India aswell as deep into the MiddleEast, including Israel.

Prime Minister NawazSharif also issued a statementhailing the new drone. NawazSharif said the weaponswould “add a new dimensionto Pakistan’s defenses.”

IHC orders releaseof Lakhvi

Delhi objects strongly; Pakistansummons Indian envoy, lodges protest

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD/NEW DELHI—Islamabad High Court on Fridaydeclared the detention orders is-sued by district magistrateagainst Zaki urR e h m a nLakhvi, primeaccused inMumbai attackcase, illegal andordered for hisrelease.

The courtalso declarednull and voidthe notificationof Lakhvi de-tention issuedby the govern-ment. JusticeNoor ul HaqQureshi of IHC pronouncedthe judgment which was ear-lier reserved on the petitionchallenging the detention or-ders of Zaki ur RehmanLakhvi. The court set aside thedetention orders issued for thethird time and ordered that theaccused be set free.

The verdict said Zaki urRehman Lakhvi is a Pakistani

citizen and he cannot be de-tained under external pressure.Anti-Terrorism Court had ac-cepted bail plea of Lakhvi andlater government issued hisdetention orders under 3 MPO

which werechallenged bythe petitioner inIHC.

The judg-ment said thatdetention ofZaki ur RehmanLakhvi is notonly illegal butalso the funda-mental rights ofa common Pa-kistani citizenare being im-pinged upondue to his de-

tention. Raja Rizwan Abbasi,

counsel for Lakhvi, had takenplea during previous hearing ofthe case that repeated extensionin the detention order of his cli-ent by the government is ille-gal and the cases registeredagainst him are also unlawful.Giving arguments in the court

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STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan on Friday signed anagreement with Qatar for the import of Lique-fied Natural Gas in order to reduce the cost ofpower generation.

Talking to media representatives inIslamabad, Federal Minister for Petroleum andNatural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi saidthat the first shipment of LNG will reach Paki-stan by the end of March.

He claimed the power generation costthrough LNG will reduce by 40 per cent as com-pared to diesel.

The Minister also said that the LNG importprice will be submitted before the EconomicCoordination Committee for approval.

“Pakistan heavily relies on its import of fur-nace oil and diesel to fuel power stations andboth fuels are relatively expensive as comparedto LNG, which is cheaper and a more efficientalternative. LNG is also cleaner and considered

environment-friendly,” said Abbasi.He added that LNG will initially be provided

to Kot Addu Power Company (Kapco) and fourpower plants in Punjab for power generation.

Abbasi also said that Pakistan urgently needsto utilise its existing power generation to ca-pacity, while reducing its reliance on costly,imported diesel fuel for electricity generation.

Re-gasification of LNG will allow genera-tion facilities to reach their maximum potential,using a cleaner and more efficient fuel, and willsupport the country’s push for greater energysecurity and diversification.

The converted fuel will help the governmentmake an estimated savings of about $1.0 billionper annum on its current fuel import bill of nearly$15 billion.

Earlier this week, Engro Elengy Termi-nal Limited (ETPL) — a subsidiary of EngroCorporation — said the government had failedto sign a deal for import of LNG with any

Agreement signed withQatar for LNG import

First shipment to reach Pakistan by end of March

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32 moreMQM suspects

remandedto RangersAAMIR MAJID

KARACHI—Another 58 sus-pects belonging to theMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) arrested from NineZero were presented on Fridayin an anti terrorism court (ATC)in Karachi. Faisal alias FaisalMota, who was sentenced todeath in the murder case ofjournalist Wali Khan Babar wasalso amongst them.

The ATC however granted90 days remand of 32 suspectsbelonging to MQM, to the Rang-ers. Also, the ATC granted cus-tody of Faisal Mota, Nadir Shah,Shabbir Mullah, and Amir Ali toPaposh Police on remand till 25March. The Rangers on Tuesdaybrought 27 arrested MQM menincluding Amir Khan to an ATC,following Wednesday’s raid atMQM headquarters Nine Zero aswell as the party’s public secre-tariat Khursheed Begum Memo-rial Hall.

A huge quantity of armsand ammunition, walkie talk-ies, binoculars and other mili-tary gear used by Nato forcesin Afghanistan were also seizedduring the raid.

TARIQ SAEED

PESHAWAR—As many as fifty militants werekilled in the trouble Tiraah valley of Khyberagency and many others wounded seriouslywhen the PAF war planes heavily pounded theinsurgents positions in fresh strikes on Fridayin Operation Khyber 1.

The military and the independent sourcessaid the Pakistan Air Force jet fighters went forheavy bombings on the militant’s positions inMeherban Kalay of Kooki Khel area in the vola-tile Tiraah valley of the Khyber agency destroy-ing number of militants’ hideouts. The inces-sant bombings, as the reports say, resulted inkilling of around fifty alleged militants whilemany others sustained injuries.

“In early morning precise strikes in Tiraahvalley Khyber agency, 48 terrorists werekilled”. A two lines communiqué issued tomedia by the Inter Services Public Relations(ISPR) Friday said.

The independent sources said the indiscrimi-

nate strikes conducted early morning led to kill-ing of 50 people and wounding to fifteen othersamid apprehensions that civilians also fell preyto the fresh blitz though the military sources saidthe aerial operation was a targeted one and ac-curate and those killed were the trouble makers.

The Operation Khyber 1, the second legof Military Operation titled Zarb-e-Azb, itmay be recalled was initiated on October 19,2014 against the insurgents challenging theofficial writ in volatile Khyber agency spe-cially the trouble Tiraah valley for the lastmany years.

The Tiraah valley and some other pocketsin the Khyber agency, that consists of Bara,Jamrod and Landikotal sub-divisions, have infact been in the grip of violence and bloodshedfor the last many years including infighting be-tween the defunct Tehreek Islam and Lashker-e-Islam led by self –styled cleric Mangal Baghthus turning the area into a battle field.

They have also been targeting the men in

50 dead in PAF KhyberAgency fresh blitz

US drone kills six in Pak-Afghan border area

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ISLAMABAD—Afghan Taliban talks withthe government in Kabul are likely to takeplace though certain issues are yet to befinalized.

Taliban are considering launchingtalks with Kabul but debate is going onthe issue of presence of foreign forces inAfghanistan, they are realizing that Af-ghanistan needs peace, sources privy totheir fresh meeting informed.

Spokesman of Afghan TalibanZabihullah Mujahid in a message said thatno doubt that Afghans want peace, but thisis possible after the foreign forces stopaggression and allow sovereignty to Af-ghans.

The good omen in the history of Af-ghanistan after Taliban were ousted fromKabul in wake of 9/11 is that their politi-cal and military councils are not rejecting

Afghan Taliban-govt talks face uncertaintythe prospect of talks with the Afghan gov-ernment.

The negotiation committee membersfrom the Afghan government are also inprocess of consultation for the talks, thesources said.

The Afghan Taliban also three timesrebuffed the reports of their contacts withKabul in last four weeks and most freshlyon Thursday night when they even re-buffed visit of the members of their politi-cal office for talks with Kabul to any othercountry.

There were unconfirmed reports in thelast two weeks that Afghan Taliban nego-tiator Qari Din Mohammad visited Paki-stan having meetings with officials includ-ing the Chinese ambassador.

It would be a major shift in mode ofinsurgency and also one of the biggest

news in the last 13 years if any meetingbetween the Afghan government andTaliban take place for peace talks.

Until recently Afghan Taliban as apolicy were denying talks with Kabul,though they were ready to hold talks withthe foreign forces, the US, as they wereterming Karzai administration as a puppetgovernment.

The sources confirmed that commit-tees for the proposed talks on both the sideswere formed who were engaged in affairslike discussing agendas for talks and otherissues, yet no direct meeting has takenplace.

The Taliban side is silent over the Af-ghan government willingness to give shareto them in power and also accept their de-mands within constitutional framework.

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N Zealand beatBD, Englandregister win overAfghanistanHAMILTON—New ZealandFriday continued theirunbeaten streak in the poolstage, as they defeated

Bangladesh by three wicketsin a cliff-hanger at Hamilton.Chasing a fighting target of

289, the match went back andforth, but New Zealand held

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Obama callsGhani, commendseffort to improveties with Pakistan

WASHINGTON—US PresidentBarack Obama held a videoconference with his Afghancounterpart Ashraf Ghani, anddiscussed bilateral ties, thepeace process and commendedthe new Kabul regime for itsefforts to improve relationshipwith Pakistan, the White Househas said.

The Afghanistan Chief Ex-ecutive Officer Dr AbdullahAbdullah also participated inthe video conference call. “ThePresident commended Presi-dent Ghani and Dr Abdullah ontheir leadership in promotingan Afghan peace process to endthe conflict in Afghanistan andtheir initiative to improve Af-ghanistan-Pakistan relations,the White House said yester-day.

Obama encouraged accel-erated Afghan progress to-wards forming an inclusivenational unity government andexpressed his expectation that

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Govt encouragesinvestment in

energy sector: PMISLAMABAD—Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif Fri-day said that the governmenthas made investor-friendlypolicies to encourage foreign

investment to Pakistan particu-larly in the power sector.

Talking to a delegation ofChina Gezhouba Group Invest-ment Holding Company, led byit’s Chief Financial Officer LinXiaodan, here at the PMHouse, the Prime Minister saidthe government was takingsteps to meet energy shortagein the country.

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Pakistanibrothers pleadguilty to NYterror plotMIAMI—Two Pakistan-bornbrothers who were raised inSouth Florida pleaded guiltyto attempting to plot a terrorattack against New York City,and one also admitted guilt toreaching out to hardlineterrorist elements in theMiddle East. Sheheryar AlamQazi, 32, and Raees AlamQazi, 22, each plead guilty toone count of conspiring toprovide support to terroristsand a count of conspiracy toassault two federal lawenforcement officers. RaeesQazi also plead guilty to anadditional charge of attempt-ing to provide support to alQaeda, Ft. Lauderdale’s Sun-Sentinel reported.

Investigators said thebrothers began their terroristactivities at least as far backas the summer of 2011 andhatched potential strikesagainst numerous landmarksin New York City. The pairwere arrested in November2012 after one of the menspent a few days in New Yorkto scout possible targets.Although both men activelydiscussed terrorism, courtdocuments indicate that the

Balochistangovt to collect

bio-data ofAfghan clerics

STAFF REPORTER

QUETTA—Balochistan gov-ernment has decided to collectthe bio-data of all Afghan cler-ics currently performing dutiesas Paish Imams (prayer-lead-ers) across the province, it hasbeen learnt.

On Friday, BalochistanChief Minister Dr MalikBaloch chaired the meeting ofApex Committee comprising

Continued on Page 7

Mangal Bagh,JamaatulAhrar backinto TTP foldSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Lashkar-e-Islam, a militant organisationled by Mangal Bagh, andJamaatul Ahrar led by OmarKhalid Khorasani that hadsplit from the TTP, “unitedand re-formed the Movementof the Taliban in Pakistan,”The Long War Journalreported.

The announcement of there-unification of the factionsand their merger withLashkar-e-Islam wasannounced by Jamaatul Ahrarspokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan.

The decision regardingthe reunification of theoutlawed militant group cameafter the three leaders,Khorasani, Fazlullah, andMangal Bagh, met for “a jointconsultative meeting,”according to Ehsan.

The location of their

Picture on Back Page

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NaturalresourcesISLAMABAD—Provincialgovernmentwas taking steps forutilization of naturalresources for the humandevelopment. This wasstated by Caretaker ChiefMinister Gilgit BaltistanSher Jehan Mir whiletalking to the member ofGilgit Baltistan CouncilAtaullah Shahab whocalled on him in Gilgit,reported Radio Pakistan.The Chief Minister saidthat government wasproviding incentives tothe national as well asinternational investors toinvest in the field ofhydropower and mineralsfor which the area hasgreat potential. He saidminerals policy was beingformulated which wouldhelp to motivate theinvestors. APP

HYDERABAD: Provincial Minister Rubina Qaimkhani addressing a press con-ference at Hyderabad Circuit House.

TAXILA: Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Siraj-ul-Haq addressing a public meeting here.

KARACHI: Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah reviewing the guard of honour during the passing out paradeat Police Training Centre Saeedabad, Karachi.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Chief Min-ister Syed Qaim Ali Shah hassaid that he had given fourchallenging tasks to Sindhpolice to eliminate targetingkilling, curb kidnapping forransom, bring an end to extor-tion and wage war against ter-rorists. “I am proud to an-nounce here that the policeand rangers have showngood results and good perfor-mance,” he said while address-ing the 87th passing out pa-rade of 510 policemen at Po-lice Training College (PTC)Saeedabad, on Friday.

He said that the countrywas passing through a verydifficult phase. Terrorist activi-ties followed by lawlessnessbadly affected day to day lifein province and particularly inKarachi. “The growing inci-dents of target killing, kidnap-ping for ransom, extortion andterrorism became big chal-lenges for the government tocontrol,” he said and addedthat he took it as a challenge.

The chief minister furthersaid that he not only providednecessary facilities and equip-ments to Sindh police butraised their annual budget fromRs13 billion to Rs60 billionwithin a few years and then

imparted them latest trainingsand also gave them free handin discharging their profes-sional duties.

“Today we are reaping thefruits of our focused efforts,strategy and sagacious policythat there is not a single caseof kidnapping for ransom inthe province today. The trad-ers are no more receiving chitsfor extortion and target killinghas also come to an end,” hesaid. Appreciating the Sindhpolice and Rangers, Qaim AliShah said that they have notonly restored peace in theprovince in general and in

Karachi in particular but havesuccessfully detected impor-tant cases of Shikarpur bombblast, murder of JUI-F leaderDr Khalid Mahmood Soomroand various others.

He said that he had in-spected the parade and wasproud to witness the highspirit and morale of newlytrained policemen, includingladies police.

“This is your country andthis is your province- you haveto protect it and its people withcourage and with the highspirit of patriotism,” he urged.Talking about PTC Saeedabad,

the chief minister said that itwas in shambles when he hadvisited last time. “I providedyou enough funds to reno-vate its hostels, administrationblocs and today it gives a verygood look. I am sure this newenvironment would help youto flourish your professionalskills further,” he hoped.

The IG Sindh GhulamHaider Jamali in his welcomespeech thanked the chief min-ister for is support and saidthat there was a need of a hos-pital and ambulance in thePTC Saeedabad for betterhealth facilities to the under

training and teaching staff.He said that PTC

Saeedabad was established in1984 and so far it has impartedtraining to 17000 policemen. “Ifeel proud to announce thatthis centre has given trainingsto the police of Balochistan,Gilgit- Baltistan and to the per-sonnel of FIA.

Now it has devolved mostmodern trainings such an anti-terrorism training, commandotraining, training to handle ri-ots,” he said.

FAISALABAD—Prison authorities inFaisalabad on Friday hanged two deathrow prisoners convicted of murder andrape, bringing to 27 the number of ex-ecutions in Pakistan since it resumedcapital punishment in December.

The two convicts – Sajid alias‘Taru’ and Mohammad Akhtar alias‘Haseena’ – were hanged to deathearly Friday morning at the FaisalabadCentral Jail. Sajid was sentenced todeath for murder, while Akhtar wasconvicted of committing murder andrape. Anti-terrorism court (ATC),Faisalabad had awarded death sen-tence to Akhtar in 2001. He had in-truded into a house on December 10,1999 and attempted to rape a woman.The culprit also stabbed to death thefather-in-law of the victim namedManzoor, who had offered resistanceto the culprit. A compromised deal wasreached late on Thursday night be-tween the families of the victims and

2 condemned prisoners hangedDeath warrants for three more convicts issued

Akhtar to pardon the culprit late, butauthorities rejected the case, termingall the cases of murder and rape asnon-pardonable. The appeals of theconvict had already been rejected bythe Lahore High Court and the Su-preme Court. His mercy appeal wasalso turned down by the president.The other death row convict,Muhammad Sajid, had killed a womanKhursheed Bibi and wounded her hus-band Azhar, on March 12, 2000, over apersonal feud. He was awarded deathsentence by an ATC court inFaisalabad, on March 30, 2001. Sajid’spetitions were also turn downed bythe superior courts and his mercy ap-peal had also been rejected by thepresident. It was the first ever hang-ings at the Faisalabad Central Jail.Since resumption, all previous execu-tions had taken place in the city’s dis-trict jail. Initially executions were re-sumed for terrorism offences only in

the wake of a Taliban massacre at anarmy-run school in Peshawar whichhad claimed the lives of more than 150persons, mostly schoolchildren, onDecember 16, 2014.

Sargodha: Jail authorities haveissued deaths warrants for threeconvicted prisoners and they will behanged on different dates. Sourcessaid that Abdus Sattar, who hadbeen condemned to death in a mur-der case and currently languishingin Shahpur Jail, will be hanged onMarch 19. According to the sources,two other condemned prisoners,who were identified as Rab Nawazand Zafar and languishing inMianwali Jail , will be hanged onMarch 17. The jail sources said thatthe courts have rejected the mercyappeals of the convicts.—Agencies

ISLAMABAD—National Accountability Bureau(NAB) on Friday distributed Rs.8.233 millionrecovered from officers and officials in differ-ent cases from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK).

Director General NAB, Shahzad Saleemdistributed cheques at a ceremony and handedover Rs.4,550,608 to Director Peshawar Devel-opment Authority (PDA), Pervez Alam.

The amount was recovered from officers/officials of PDA regarding illegal allotment offive kanal plot near Bagh-e-Naran Sport Com-plex, Phase-II, Hayatabad, Peshawar for estab-lishment of family entertainment facility.

Similarly, Rs.33,15,820 were handed overto Director Bannu Development Authority(BDA), Zafarullah Khan. The amount was re-covered from officers/officials of BDA and oth-

NAB distributesRs 8.233m recovered in KP

ers regarding illegal, sub-standard and poorquality of developmental works i.e. construc-tion of roads, protection walls and installationof street lights in Bannu Township during 2011-12.

Further, they were instrumental in grant-ing tenders to favourites and illegally extract-ing the allocated funds.

Moreover, the DG handed over chequesof Rs.366,750 to Additional Commissioner In-land Revenue Service RTO, Abbottabad,Mumtaz Ahmad.

The amount was recovered from officers/officials of Income Tax Department Abbottabadwho were involved in bogus income tax refundthrough collecting signed cheques from inno-cent Earthquake affectees of 2005.—APP

InvitedBADIN—GeneralSecretaryJamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F)Sindh Maulana RashidMehmood Soomro hasinvited Dr Zulfiqar Mirzato join his party to servepeople.Talking to media aftercondolence over demiseof Moulvi Ghulam AliGopang here on Thurs-day, Maulana Rashid saidthat by joining JUI-FZulfiqar Mirza wouldhave opportunities toserve the people of Sindhin real terms.—APP

Gas forSwabiPESHAWAR—Speaker,KhyberPakhtunkhwa Assembly,Asad Qaiser has directedthe removal of the compli-cations in the provision ofSui gas to district Swat assoon as possible toprovide the facility to thepeople of the district assoon as possible.He was presiding over ameeting regarding Sui gasin Khyber PakhtunkhwaHouse, Islamabad.Besides, Senior GeneralManager (Distribution)North, Syed ZahidHussain, General Manager(Coordination) AbdulAhad, General Manager(KP), Arbab Saqib, DeputyChief Engineer, ShafqatVirk, Deputy Director,MNPR, Aleem Khan andExecutive Engineer, FawadKhan, MNA AqibullahKhan was also present onthe occasion.The Speaker, KP Assem-bly asked the SNGPLauthorities for provisionof Sui gas to Marghuz,Kotha, Thandakoi, Zarobi,Gar Munara, GharaAkakhel, Ambar, Kunda,Pontia, Mankai, Zaida,Kalabat, Minai, Jalozai,Jalbai, Thordher, Punjpir,Yousufi, Chota Lahore,Shah Mansoor, Kaddi,Bamkhel, Dhok, Batakaraand Hamlet on prioritybasis.—APP

SenatepollsISLAMABAD—President ofthe National Party (NP)Senator Mir Hasil KhanBizenjo on Friday saidthat recent elections ofthe Senate will contributeto the improved politicalenvironment in Pakistan.He said that all thewinning candidates ofthe NP came out clean inthe elections like they didin the earlier elections aswe don’t believe in usingmoney in the politics.Lauding the resolve ofthe government to rootout terrorism, he said thatmilitary operation will notbe fruitful unless politicalparties strive to changethinking of the massesregarding extremism. —INP

STAFF REPORTER

IS L A M A B A D —Organized2nd one day workshop forindustry stakeholders on thetopic of “FM Radio Broad-casting in Pakistan” at a lo-cal Hotel of Karachi. Majoremphasis of this workshopwas to engage stakeholdersto identify issues relating toFM radio licensing e.g. tar-iff, renewal of licenses, op-erational issues and otherhurdles being faced by FMradio licensees. Other im-portant aspect of the work-shop was to find out way forsector development and cre-ate awareness aboutPEMRA laws, regulationsand Code of Conduct.Mr.Parvez Rathor, ChairmanPEMRA, in his key note,pondered light on the FMradio broadcasting sector inPakistan. Other speakersfrom PEMRA including Mr.Wakeel Khan, General Man-ager and Mr.MuhammadIqbal, Assistant GeneralManager who shared views,experience and knowledgeabout regulatory issues andchallenges of FM radio

PEMRA holdsworkshop on FM Radiobroadcasting in pakistan

Police, Rangers producegood results inoperation: Qaim

broadcasting in the country,technological advancementin FM broadcasting and fu-ture of radio systems.

Speakers from the indus-try; Mirza MuhammadNaeem, CEO FM Awazgroup, Mr. Mehdi Raza Di-rector FM 107 Karachi andMr Zulfiqar Shah from FM105 Karachi, shared theirpractical experiences andknowledge about issuesand challenges to FM radiosector in the light of regula-tory impediments. Based onthe discussion, presenta-tions and lectures; Twoworking groups were formedcomprising PEMRA and in-dustry representatives tosort out following main is-sues; 1. Regulatory and Tar-iff issues: which also in-cluded Code of Conduct, feestructure and renewal pro-cess of FM radio licenses,2. Operational impediments:that included adherence totechnical parameters, net-working of FM stations, lo-cal content production, livetelephonic calls which some-times contain objectionablediscussions and duration ofadvertisements etc.

ISLAMABAD—The Met Of-fice on Friday forecast rain-thunderstorm at scatteredplaces across the countryduring next 24 hours.

According to details,scattered rain is expectedin Islamabad, Punjab’sRawalpindi, Lahore,Gujranwala, Faisalabad,Sahiwal and Bahawalpurdivisions, Kashmir, while atisolated places inSargodha, Multan,D.G.Khan, Sukkur,Larkana, Zhob, Sibbi divi-sions, upper KhyberP a k h t u n k h w a n ’ sMalakand, Hazara,Peshawar, Kohat andMardan divisions andGilgit-Baltistan.

Meanwhile, a westerlywave is affectingBalochistan and adjoiningareas and likely to gripeastern parts of the coun-try on Friday/ Saturday.

During last 24 hours,

Rain expected atscattered places

weather remained dry inmost parts of the country.However, widespread rain-thunderstorm occurred inMakran division, while atisolated places in Quetta

and Kalat divisions. Kalam and Astore with

-2øC, Gupis, Kalat andSkardu -1øC remained thecoldest places in the coun-try.

The temperature atmain cities would be ex-pected Muzaffarabad 6øC,Murree 7øC, Peshawar8øC, Islamabad 7øC,Lahore 11øC, Multan 12øC,Karachi 18øC, Sukkur 11øCand Quetta 6øC during next24 hours.—APP

Boundary wall for PakistanMarine Academy okayed

ISLAMABAD—Twenty nine police stationsand over 60 checkposts in Peshawar are in-volved in power theft putting a dent on theefforts of federal government to overcomeenergy crisis, a leading newspaper has said.The country’s leading national daily Dawnin its report on Friday said Peshawar’s po-lice force is indebted by an amount of Rs 15million to Water and Power DevelopmentAuthority (Wapda). The debtors includeboth ordinary and model police stations thatwere established by the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government in Gulbahar, Faqirabadand Town areas within the city.

According to a survey conducted bynewspaper, these police stations use oneof the three methods including stealingpower directly from main electricity lines,using a ‘kunda’ and indirectly by means ofpassing a ‘kunda’ connection through elec-tricity metres. “The citizens of Peshawar areopen in their criticism of the provincial gov-ernment and police for their part in theinstitutionalisation of power theft,” the pa-per said.

When these figures were brought tothe attention of Senior Superintendent Po-lice (SSP) Operations Dr Mian Saeed, he

29 police stations, 60 checkposts involved in power theft

PESHAWAR—Social Wel-fare Department of theAnti-Narcotic ForceKhyber Pakhtunkhwa Fri-day held awareness andmass socializing lecturehere at Ghazali Institute ofMedical SciencesPeshawar.

Project Officer ANFKhyber PakhtunkhwaMuhammad Amir Khurshidhas highlighted variousefforts being put in byANF to curb the use ofdrug that harmful to health.

Nicotine, the drug thatmakes tobacco addictive,goes to your brain veryquickly.Use of drug and to-bacco causes bleedinggums (gum disease) andcancers of the mouth andthroat while smoking in-creases your heart rate andblood pressure and causes

ANF launchesanti-narcotics

awareness campaignheart disease and heart at-tacks.

If you try to do activi-ties like exercise or playsports, your heart has towork harder to keep up.

Smokers have troublebreathing because smok-ing damages the lungs andif you have asthma, youcan have more frequentand more serious attacks.

He also lauded the ef-forts of Director Ghazali In-stitute of Medical SciencesPeshawar MuhammadIbrahim and PrincipalMuhammad Riaz Khan fortaking keen interest in edu-cating their students.

Muhammad Arif of So-cial Welfare Department,ANF KhyberPakhtunkhwa, was alsopresent along with otherparticipants.—APP

PESHAWAR: SP City Afzal Ahmad addressing business man.

CHAMAN: Police arrested suspects during search operation at Trunch road.

2 more UMCcases in SSCexamination

MULTAN—Another two Un-fair Means Cases (UMCs)registered on Friday in ongo-ing Secondary School Certifi-cate (SSC) examination underthe Board of Intermediate andSecondary Education (BISE).

The total number ofUMC cases has been risento six while in personifica-tion cases, the number hasgone to seven by detectionin two papers of class 10held today , says a daily situ-ation report issued here.

Faisal Iqbal s/oMuhammad Iqbal roll no627098 was caught redhanded cheating in Biology-II(Group-II) at Library Hall ofGovt College Burewala whileUMC case was also regis-tered against another candi-date named Sajid Ali s/oAbdul Qayyum roll no639136 in the same paper atGovt College Vehari, addedthe report.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister forInformation & Higher Education MushtaqAhmad Ghani has said that PTI-led KhyberPakhtunkhwa government has taken unprec-edented measures in elementary, secondary andhigher education sectors, ensuring transparencyand merit at all levels. He emphasized upon con-ducive educational environment in all highereducational institutions, free from political in-terference.

Addressing as a chief guest in the functionof Pakhtunkhwa College Teachers Associationheld here on Friday, he said the education is thekey to cultivate peace and rule of law in the so-ciety and it is also a linchpin in national devel-opment, without which the house of cards falls.He maintained that the provincial government

Edu backs rule of law in society: Ghanihas allocated a considerable amount for educa-tion sector in the financial budget to set up ofnew colleges with a view to provide higher edu-cation to students at their door steps.

Recalling the achievements made in highereducation sector in KP during financial year2013-14, the Provincial Minister told the partici-pants that 103 per cent targets were achieved inannual development programs of the department.He assured that 100 per cent result would alsobe achieved during the current fiscal year byimplementing the developmental projects in let-ter and spirit.

Mushtaq Ghani further said that the KP gov-ernment has eliminated political interference, in-fluence from public sector colleges and univer-sities of the province. He emphasized uponteachers and administrations of the higher edu-cational institutions to ensure conducive envi-

ronment at the institutions and involve the stu-dents in curricular and extra-curricular activities.

He said the department of higher educationhas initiated training programmes for capacitybuilding of faculties in higher educational insti-tutions under faculty development support pro-gram. The representatives of the college teach-ers association lauded the efforts of former Sec-retary Higher Education Mrs. Farah Hamid inthe development of the mentioned department.

At the end, the chief guest distributed cer-tificates of excellence among government col-leges of Abbottabad, Bannu, Daragai andD.I.Khan on good performance andoutstandingresult. The function was attendedby Secretary Higher Education Muhammad AliShehzada, Secretary ST&IT Mrs. Farah Hamid,Director Colleges Noorullah wazir and principlesof all colleges of the province.

ISLAMABAD—Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SardarMuhammad Raza Khan has said that Local Body (LB) elec-tions in the province of Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK) wouldbe held in April or May this year. Talking to media he said thatdates for LB polls for Punjab and Sindh had also been an-nounced. He said that printing of some 500 million ballot pa-pers would be required for the process of LB adding that thedelimitation process was imperative for smooth LB elections.He said that Senate elections were held in peaceful atmo-sphere.

“Except Khyber Pakhtunkhawa (KPK), the process of elec-tion in three provinces; Punjab, Sindh and Balochistan, wasfound smooth and without any problem,” he said.

He said that Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP)would take action against the elements found involved inthe horse-trading adding that ECP would take action on

KP LB polls in April or May: CECthe matter of rigging in the election on the basis of evi-dence. The matter of rumpus in the KPK assembly shouldbe investigated, he said. Raza Khan said that ECP couldnot provide a “big staff” for conducting general electionsor local bodies elections.

ECP had to make arrangements of the polling staff fromother institutions for smooth flow of election process in allparts of the country, he added. Replying to a question, hesaid that the discussions were made with PTI chief ImranKhan on the matter of bio-metric system, role of electiontribunals,and voting rights for overseas Pakistanis.

He said that any advance technology should beadopted for making the process of election more free andfair. He however said that electronic voting or bio-metricsystem would take time to implement in Pakistan for achiev-ing better results.—APP

acknowledged the crime and said that elec-tricity of all police stations would be legal-ized shortly once sufficient data concern-ing power theft by the police had been col-lected. “Police stations in Peshawar, fromthe ordinary to the model stations, areopenly engaging in electricity theft,” thenewspaper said. Pakistan faces a year-roundelectricity shortfall which rises to around8,000-9,000MW in the summer. In light of thesefigures, electricity theft may be viewed as aserious crime. Iftikhar, 35, says: “We are pay-ing for theft which we don’t commit.”

Afia Malik, a researcher at the PakistanInstitute of Development Economics, docu-mented the energy crisis in Pakistan in anedited volume produced by the LahoreSchool of Economics. She tabulated thestubbornly prevalent high rates of trans-mission and distribution (T&D) lossesacross the country. She found that the high-est rates for T&D losses were recorded forpower distribution companies in KhyberPukhtunkhwa and Sindh. Peshawar ElectricSupply Company (Pesco) in KPK reportedT&D losses of 36 per cent in 2011/12, whereasKarachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC)reported T&D losses of 29.7 per cent.—APP

K A R A C H I — N a t i o n a lAssembly’s Standing Commit-tee on Ports and Shipping onFriday recommended a bound-ary wall for Pakistan MarineAcademy (PMA) immediatelyin view of threats to certaineducational Institutions.

Acting Chairman of theStanding Committee, HajiMuhammad Akram Ansarichaired a meeting regardingthe performance of PakistanMarine Academy held atPMA. The meeting was at-tended by the Committee’smembers including SohailShoukat Butt, Ch. SalmanHaneef Khan, Mehar IshtiaqAhmed, Ms. SeemaMohiuddin Jameeli, Ms.Shaheen Shafiq, Ms.Romina Khurshid Alam, PirMuhammad Aslam Bodla,Khalil George, Mir Aamir Ali

Khan Magsi andMuhammad Jamal-ud-Din.

Speaking to journalists,acting chairman Ansari saidthat an amount of Rs 60 mil-lion has been recommendedfor the safety of PMA, reno-vation of its three projectsand other matters.

PMA is a fruitful acad-emy and our committeewould strive hard for its im-provement and solution toother issues pertaining to it.

Giving his suggestionsto the PMA authorities hesaid that they should takesteps for further enhance-ment in the educational stan-dard of the academy. Earlier,Commandant PMA, TahirJamil briefing the committeesaid that PMA is a trainingcomplex spread over a widearea.—APP

Rotary Clubmedical camp

ABDUL KHALIQ QURESHI

ABBOTTABAD— Rotary Clubhas organized one day FreeMedical Camp for patientswho have been suffering birthdeformities and other disabili-ties associated with brain &spinal cord disorders at AltafHospital here on Saturday.

Dr. Tahir Mehmood and DrSumaira Tahir who have beenrunning Post- Polion and BirthDeformity Correction Centre inAbbottabad from last few yearshave voluntarily participatedin the camp and provided medi-cal treatment to patients.Twenty patients of differentdisability took part in the medi-cal camp who came from farflung areas of the district. Presi-dent Rotary Club Dr Amir Altafand Secretary General SheikhNisar Ahmed were alsopresent at the occasion. Dr.Sumaira Tahir told the mediathat they have been planningto hold free medical camps inother mountainous regionswhere the probability of suchdiseases may be high . She toldthat they are concerned withtreatment of by-birthdeformaties, spinal cord disor-ders, Conginite Disease, Au-tism Spectrum Disorders andMultiple scleroses and in-formed that they have beenproviding result oriented treat-ment .

She disclosed that By-Birth Deformities would100% recoverable, and in Po-l i o m y e l i t i s ,Transervemyelitis , thechances of recovery de-pends upon the severity ofthe disease. “ if a polio virusdamaged is severe then theremight be probability of 60%recovery but if the damageis mild then the patient.

Two SHOssuspended

ABDUL KHALIQ QURESHI

ABBOTTABAD—District Po-lice Officer Abbottabad hassuspended SHO Cantt andSHO Donga Gali and had or-dered the departmental in-quiry. SHO Cantt Javed Khanwas suspended on the direc-tive of IGP KPK after the find-ing of the complaint filed byone complainant that he wasfalsely dragged in the murdercase. Inquiry committee con-stituted proved that com-plainant was right and IGPordered the suspension ofSHO Javed Khan, ASI SardarWajid and Head Moharrarconstable Asghar. Depart-mental proceedings againstthree were also initiated. DPOalso suspended the SHODonga Gali Qazi Innam on thegeneral public complaint andhad appointed additionalSHO Havelian Hafeez as SHODonga Gali. Departmental in-quiry was also started againstthe suspended SHO.

MQM shows maturityafter Nine-Zero raid

RAID of the Rangers on 90, the headquarters of MQM, waslike an earthquake the tremors of which might continue to befelt for a long time to come. According to a spokesman of the

Rangers, convicted and hardened criminals and target killers wereapprehended during the successful raid along a huge cache of armsand ammunition. Twenty-eight accused including Aamer Khan werepresented before the court on Thursday and they were remanded toRangers for 90 days for thorough investigation.

In sombre and well thought out reaction on Thursday, the MQMleadership defended party’s position, claiming that majority of about110 rounded up during operation in and around 90 were not MQMworkers. But it was all the more pertinent to observe that unlike thepast when the party resorted to jamming the city through strikes andshutter downs, it did not made such a call this time round and in-stead opted for sober and mature political response. This showedthat the party got the right message and has decided to play its rolein a responsible manner. We have been emphasizing in these col-umns that the politics of confrontation and wheel-jams benefits nonebut the enemies of Pakistan, and it is appreciable that the MQM hasultimately understood the ground realities. Apart from restrainingitself from adopting a threatening posture, the MQM did not objectto removal of barriers placed on roads leading to 90 and instead hastried its best to convey an impression that it was cooperating withthe law enforcing agencies in restoring peace and security in thecity of Quaid. The party has bigger stakes in Karachi by virtue of itsfollowing and support and therefore, it will get more benefit thananyone else if normalcy returns to Karachi and normal business,industrial and routine activities are allowed to take place. This ma-ture and laundered image of the MQM would surely improve itsstanding further and it will be in a better position to play its politicaland positive role in national affairs. There is, in fact, dire need onthe part of the party leadership to review and revise the policies andstrategies of MQM as per dictates of the ground situation.

Pak silence over Indianwater aggression

AN exclusive report appearing in this newspaper has highlighted theIndian water aggression against Pakistan and criminal apathy and

negligence on the part of the relevant authorities in the country in re-sponding to the grave challenge. The report reveals that apart from itsplans to construct dozens of water reservoirs in Occupied Kashmir, In-dia is also contemplating legislative measures to strengthen its hold onwater resources in violation of the Indus Basin Treaty.

As per implications of the proposed legislation, rights of Pakistanover the Western rivers of the Indus basin allocated to Pakistan wouldbe restricted. India, since long, is steadily and systematically imple-menting a plan that would give it much leverage over the rivers flowinginto Pakistan. There are genuine apprehensions that India could use itas a weapon to destroy agriculture and economy of Pakistan. Thesefears are not imaginary as already India has designed several dams inclear violations of the World Bank brokered Indus Basin Treaty andwas not willing to modify their designs as per satisfaction of Pakistan.This has forced Pakistan to knock the door of the arbitrator as per pro-visions of the Treaty. It is all the more unfortunate that there is no duerealization of the Indian designs and the need to safeguard water inter-ests of the country zealously. It was height of irony that in the past theman entrusted with the responsibility to protect rights of the country inthis regard played a dirty role allegedly for the sake of a few bucks andis now enjoying a cozy life abroad. All this happened in the presence ofmulti-layer of security agencies responsible for watching and oversee-ing interests of Pakistan. Pakistan being an overwhelming agrarian coun-try, there is dire need to ensure availability of irrigation water on a sus-tainable basis. Regrettably, our Parliamentarians bring frivolous per-sonal matters for discussion on the floor of the two Houses and have notime and interest to raise the real issues of the country on which reststhe future of our coming generations. We would also urge the Govern-ment to form a permanent think tank to study deeply the water issuesand come out with firm plans for implementation.

Rising number ofpolice encounters

A man (security guard), who murdered his employer because of delay in payment of salary, was killed in Lahore during exchange of

fire with police. The incident of killing of the employer had createdpanic in the area with demands for bringing the culprit to book.

It is tragic that the killer committed a serious crime and had mus-tered courage to fire upon the police party and as a result got killed.This is not just one incident of the kind as there are frequent reports ofcriminals killed during police encounters in Punjab and other parts ofthe country. The rising number of such incidents is reflection of grow-ing crime rate and dare devil behaviour of criminals who confrontpolice frequently. Regrettably, the Government and the agencies con-cerned are only focusing on terrorism these days and as a result streetand other crimes are on the rise. The incidents of snatching of cars,bikes, mobile phones and purses are almost daily reported by mediabut there is no effective response to the situation. In some cases, thevictims are shot dead when they try to resist. The fundamental duty ofthe Government is protection of life and property of the citizens butthey have been left to the mercy of the deteriorating situation. It isbecause of criminal negligence of police and ineffective judicial sys-tem that people resort to mob justice. The Federal and Provincial Gov-ernments, police heads and Chief Justices of the Supreme and HighCourts must ponder over the situation and join their heads to tacklegrowing incidence of street crimes.

Political turmoil in Bangladesh

Iraq’s battleof Tikrit

A MAJORITY of Americansback the idea of sendingcombat troops to Iraq to de-

feat Islamic State, a poll finds. Yetsuch an action may not be needed.On Wednesday, the Iraqi Army, inits first major test since collapsinglast year to an IS advance, enteredIS-controlled Tikrit, a city just 80miles north of Baghdad. While themilitary battle for Tikrit is itselfsignificant – a prelude to takingback the second largest city, Mosul– what was striking was not mili-tary in nature.

Rather, the advance revealeda new spirit of political inclusion.Both Sunnis and Shiites were at thefront, either in the Army or relatedmilitias. And before the battle, bothPrime Minister Haider al-Abadiand Iraq’s leading Shiite cleric,Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani,called for no revenge killings ofSunni civilians in Tikrit who mighthave been forced to assist IS. Mr.Abadi even offered an amnesty toresidents. Breaking Iraq’s cycle ofrevenge and retribution remains itsbiggest challenge 12 years after theAmerican invasion and more thana year after IS took over a third ofthe country. The solution largelylies in re-establishing an Iraqi na-tional identity. Specifically, Abadimust fulfil a promise by his Shiite-dominated government to provideopportunity and integration to mi-nority Sunnis as well as ethnicKurds. If the 200,000 Sunnis of aliberated Tikrit can be convincedto embrace the central government,then hope will rise for the Armyrolling back IS elsewhere. It mightalso accelerate political progresstoward non-sectarian government.Such steps are needed to preventIraq from continuing to be used asa proxy battleground by Shiite-ledIran and Sunni-led Saudi Arabia ina contest between Islam’s twomain branches. When Abadi be-came leader last year, the country’sdemocracy was renewed and Ira-qis may have felt a growing spiritof equality, an essential ingredientfor any nation’s identity. Sunnisand Shiites in Iraq have a long his-tory of living together, and evenintermarrying. The more they em-brace that inclusive past, the moreother nations, such as Iran, orgroups, such as IS, will lose in theirgrab for control or territory. In ad-dition, Iraq will not need to ask theUnited States to send combattroops to fight IS.— The Christian Science Monitor

*****

Assadtightens grip

Despite Western and Arabhopes he would be consigned to the dustbin of

history, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad enters his fifth year of civilwar clinging to power. Alarm overthe sweeping expansion of the Is-lamic State (IS) militant group inSyria and Iraq means that interna-tional priorities have shifted awayfrom Assad’s removal. In the fouryears since the conflict erupted inMarch 2011, leaving more than210,000 people dead, Assad’sforces have succeeded in haltinggains by rebels and militants seek-ing his overthrow.

While rights groups still regu-larly accuse Assad of indiscrimi-nately killing his own people,sending helicopters to drop crudebarrel bombs, even the Syrian op-position no longer demands hisresignation as a precondition forpeace talks. A European diplomatwho often travels to Damascus saidEU states are divided on how todeal with the man described byFrench Prime Minister ManuelValls just last month as a “butcher”.“Outside of France, Britain andDenmark, who reject any role forAssad in Syria’s future, many Eu-ropean countries think that afterfour years, this position is unten-able,” the diplomat said. Today, theregime controls 40% of Syrian ter-ritory home to 60% of the popula-tion. Assad has a “window of op-portunity” to negotiate in the com-ing months before the looming2016 US presidential electionstarts to restrict Washington’s flex-ibility on Syria, said David Lesch,professor of Middle East historyat Trinity University in Texas.— Gulf Times

MEDIA WATCH

THE beginning of 2015 haswitnessed one of the worstpolitical turmoil in the his-

tory of Bangladesh. Since last twomonths, the country has been badlyparalysed by the blockades ofroads, railways, waterways and ral-lies staged by the Bangladesh Na-tionalist Party (BNP). The unrestwas triggered by the banned pro-test launched by the BNP on Janu-ary 5, on the eve of anniversary ofcontroversial general elections heldlast year. The motive behind it wasto remind BNP members and therest of the country about the riggedelections 2014, in which almost 17political parties including BNP hadboycotted. The anniversary wasmarked as “Democracy KillingDay” by the protestors. Mrs. Ziaordered a crippling transport block-ade which led to killing of morethan hundreds of people and lossof national economy.

According to media reports,the country faced taka 1.2 ($15.5bn) turmoil cost since January dueto nationwide agitation and trans-portation blockade. Under thisviolence, over 1000 vehicles havebeen set alight, about 25 incidentsof railway sabotage have oc-curred, more than 10,000 peoplearrested over allegations of van-dalizing and torching vehicles anddozen have been shot down un-der Awami League’s (AL) “shootto kill strategy”. Fakhrul IslamAlamgir, BNP secretary generalwas arrested in Dhaka; most ofthe political leaders are still hid-ing. A TV channel owner was ar-

PTCL privatisation — a shady deal?

AFTER eight years, it transpires from the statement ofMinister of State and chair-

man Privatisation CommissionMohammad Zubair that Pakistanwill not receive entire due amountworth of $800 million from Etisalatagainst the privatisation of PakistanTelecommunication Company Lim-ited due to the price differences ondisputed 34 properties of the PTCL.During his briefing to the sub-com-mittee of the Senate Standing Com-mittee on Finance and Revenue inJanuary 2015, he informed that gov-ernment could not transfer 34PTCL’s properties to Etisalat due tothe several reasons. He told thatthere are huge differences betweenthe prices of disputed 34 properties,as estimated by Pakistan andEtisalat. As per government evalu-ation, the cost of these properties is$92 million whereas Etislaat hascome up with assessment of $400million. Earlier, Etisalat had takenthe position that the value of 34properties was $800 million; there-fore it was not obliged to pay theoutstanding amount.

In 2006, Emirates Telecommu-nication Corporation (Etisalat) ac-quired a 26 per cent stake in Paki-stan Telecommunication CompanyLimited (PTCL) in a deal for $2.6billion. Nowhere in the world ismanagement of the company or cor-poration given to 26 per cent share-holder. The reason for privatisationof the state enterprises was de-

That action is best,which procures thegreatest happinessfor the greatestnumbers.

scribed that these were aburden on the exchequer.But the PTCL, even be-fore its privatisation, wasone of the leadingtelecom players in Asia.It had a large pool of ex-pert technicians, many ofwhom had even been de-puted for short periods to

foreign countries to help lay telecom-munication networks. Within SouthAsia, it had been the first to intro-duce several telecom services and hadan extensive copper and fibre opticnetwork. Financially too, PTCL’s per-formance was enviable, and onewould not understand the idea behindselling the profitable organisation.

In 2005, the year before itsprivatisation, PTCL posted revenuesof 84 billion rupees, with earningsbefore interest, tax and depreciationof 54 billion rupees and a net profitof 27 billion rupees. In 2006, Etisalatpaid $1.4 billion up front as per theagreement, and remaining $1.2 bil-lion were to be paid in six equal bi-annual installments. A sum of $800million is still pending, as Etisalatsays that Pakistan government failedto transfer properties to PTCL dueto various reasons. During PPP-ledgovernment, then Minister forPrivatisation Waqar Ahmed had re-vealed before the National Assem-bly that the privatisation deal ofPTCL with Etisalat was not trans-parent and made in violation of rulesand procedures. “The deal ofprivatisation of PTCL was not trans-parent. It was made contrary to rulesand procedures”, said the ministerreplying to a question.

Unfortunately, PTCL-Etisalatdeal proved big financial scandal inPakistan, which was reported in printand electronic media claiming thatPTCL was worth a lot more. An ex-Senior Vice President had claimed the

privatisation as Pakistan’s biggest fi-nancial scandal. He said that pricingdecisions were made on the basis ofold records instead of determining onthe basis of the then prevailing mar-ket value. Addressing a function atPrime Minister House after the sign-ing ceremony of the agreement forthe sale of 26 per cent shares andmanagement rights of PTCL toEtisalat Group of UAE, then primeminister Shaukat Aziz described “theprivatsation of Pakistan Telecommu-nication Company Limited (PTCL)as a defining moment in theprivatisation process as it is the larg-est transaction in the country’s his-tory, which would promote economicactivities and bring more foreign in-vestment.” But that did not happen.

It was reported that in Septem-ber 2006, when Etisalat had re-fused to honor the deal, they wereoffered a secret price discount of394 million dollars along withcommitment to lay off 20,000 em-ployees and to bear the 50% costof layout. Being state-owned en-terprise, it was Government’s re-sponsibility to measure the scopeand feasibility of privatisation.PTCL was and is one of the oldestand strongest corporate enterprisesand revenue contributor in Pakistan.The key objective of any businessentity is to earn profit, and whenPTCL was making good profits,there was no reason to privatize aprofitable organisation. There is nomajor change in organisationalstructure and policies. In fact, thereis no improvement in quality of ser-vice to clients despite increase intariff. It has to be mentioned thatEtisalat has taken more than it in-vested in PTCL in form of profits.

After the PML-N formed thegovernment in June 2013, somespadework was done by the Ministryof Finance and Privatisation Com-

rested when it broadcasted aspeech calling for governmentsoverthrow by Tarique Rehman, sonof Khaleda Zia, exiled in London.All these catastrophic events arereflective of an open politicalbattle between the two BengaliBegums i.e. Khaleda Zia vs.Shiekh Hasina Wajid in which thepoor local masses are paying theheavy cost of life and property.

Ironically, Shiekh Hasina hascelebrated Election Day as “Con-stitution and Democracy Protec-tion Day” but since her term inoffice from 2008, she has used itsmandate against opposition,amended constitution for her ownpolitical interests, thus undermin-ing the true concept of democracy.Even the fourth largest party,Jamaat e Islami (JI) was barredfrom running into elections 2014,because of its Islamic character. Inthis political crisis, country haswitnessed slow economic progres-sion under AL. Shiekh Hasina hasbeen playing her anti-Pakistanstance and also establishment ofInternational Crimes Tribunal(ICT) for the military court trialsfor the war criminals of 1971, un-der which many Islamist leadershave been prosecuted, as steps togain political advantage at home.

AL deep rooted animosity forPakistan lies since the time ofShiekh Mujeeb-ur-Rehman, due topolitical differences and sense ofeconomic deprivation between thetwo wings. Shiekh Hasina consid-ers India as its mentor, for its sup-port to Bangladesh in 1971 warand alleges Pakistan for provok-ing unrest in Bangladesh and spon-soring militancy.

AL wants to destroy BNP as apolitical force before 2019 elections

as it threatens AL’s geo- strategic andpolitical interests. AL mistrustsKhaleda Zia for her pro-China andpro-Pakistan tilt and also for her softpolicy on Islamist leaders which areopposed to AL’s core agendas. Un-der AL, country’s economic compe-tence has become irrelevant, manyJatiya Party ministers are planningto quit form parliamentary opposi-tion, and public sentiments havebeen hurt due to suspension of hu-man rights and humiliation of Mrs.Zia. The political violence has alien-ated the neutral voters and AL’s rigidpolicies to control the courts, secu-rity apparatus and press have furtheraggravated the situation. Arrest war-rant for Khaleda Zia after she failedto appear in Court hearing againsttwo corruption charges against herand hanging of JI leaders have addedto national discord and polarizationin the society.

PM Hasina has accused BNPLeader for anarchy and instability inthe country. She claimed that BNPaims to topple the present AL gov-ernment. BNP demands fresh andfair elections under neutral caretakergovernment, which stands abolishedsince 2011 under 15th constitutionalamendment, which is not acceptableto the opposition parties particularlyBNP. Last year BNP failed to engagegovernment into meaningful mid-term elections. So this year it has gotopportunity to condemn the 2014controversial elections. AL believes2014 elections in conformance withthe Bangladeshi Constitution andBNP had taken its own decision notto participate in the polls and thusAL is not ready to meet up BNP’sdemand for fresh elections. BNPwanted Army to intervene butArmed forces have refused sayingthat it respects Bangladesh’s consti-

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mission to settle the dispute overtransfer of properties to Etisalat. InJuly 2013, NAB had reportedlykicked off investigation into thePTCL privatisation deal on “variousaccounts”. After making initial pay-ments, Etisalat withheld six tranchestotaling $800 million following adispute over 136 properties. Thegovernment had already transferredover 3,300 properties in the nameof PTCL, but Etisalat was reluctantto pay the balance in violation of theunderstanding reached with Paki-stan authorities. The PTCL deal hasbecome more of a sovereign deal be-tween the two countries and less aprivatisation deal, thus limiting therole of NAB, according to a gov-ernment official who was involvedin the transaction.

Some analysts and members ofbusiness community having vestedinterest say that the NAB’s decisionto launch investigations would be ablow to the plan to restart theprivatisation process aimed at reduc-ing the role of government in doingbusiness in addition to getting rid ofloss-making state enterprises. How-ever, selling of a national asset anda profitable enterprise like the PTCLis not in line with the objective ofprivatisation of state enterprises. Theprivatisation of state-owned entitieswas also part of the conditionsagreed with the IMF for a $7.3 bil-lion bailout package. But there arelessons to be learnt from the PTCLdeal that national assets should notbe sold at throw-away prices. It ishoped that the present governmentwould privatize the state enterprisesin a transparent manner, and wouldput in its best efforts to revive andstrengthen the economy, as strongeconomy is indispensible conditionfor strong defence.—The writer is Lahore-basedsenior journalist.

Francis Hutcheson Scottish philosopher

tution and laws. The military take-over will threaten the stability fur-ther, as the country has alreadywitnessed 19 military backedcoups and two military dictatorsrule since 1971.

At regional level, neighborsparticularly Pakistan and India aresilent over the crisis and unwill-ing to meddle in the political im-passe. Both countries follow thepolicy of “not-to-intervene” inmatters which are essentially do-mestic in nature. At internationallevel countries like US, China, EU,UK and Canada have strongly con-demned the political violence andongoing unrest in Bangladesh.They have urged the governmentand the opposition for a politicaldialogue. The UN General Secre-tary Ban-Ki Moon has made anappeal to all political leaders ofBangladesh to seek a peacefulresolution to the current crisis forlong term development and stabil-ity of Bangladesh.

Although PM Hasina Wajidhopes that Bangladesh will able toovercome this manmade crisis butthe current situation in Bangladeshwill not change dramatically.These protests and violence willnot push government for freshelections in near future. Realisingthe gravity of situation, construc-tive dialogue is required to breakthe current deadlock between op-position and the government.There should be adoption of inclu-sive, tolerant, participatory anddemocratic approach. The politi-cal parties must overcome differ-ences and find a comprehensivestrategy for speedy resolution toprevent any further damage to statestructure and economy.— The writer works for IPRI.

Mohammad JamilEmail: mjamil1938@hotmail.com

News & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & ViewsNews & Views

Aymen IjazEmail:research.pak@gmail.com

Voice of the PeopleCriminals rule

the roostJAWAD AHMED JUNEJO

We have been living in Bhittai Abadfor last two years and almost all ofour family members have become thevictims of mobile snatchers and loot-ers since then. Criminal deeds arebeing done on the route that goesfrom Bhittai Abad through PehalwanGoth to Johar Chorangi. I have beenrobed twice while en route to KarachiUniversity since it is the only routethat I have to take daily.

And my sister has been robbedthere thrice out of which once heroffice van was attacked by a thiefwith gunfire and she barely sur-vived. It is not just about my familybut also the lives of many peoplewho use this route daily are at stakejust like two of the chinchi ridershave already lost their lives last yearin the same route by snatchers.

The concerned security depart-ment and Police must take immedi-ate measures to overcome this situa-tion of lawlessness. The recent raidby the law enforcing agencies on theheadquarters of a political partyspeaks volumes of the stinking rot-tenness propped up in the state o Pa-kistan where ‘fair is foul and foul isfair’ with criminals ruling the roost.—Via email

IndustrialpollutionHASHIM ABRO

It is noticed that the sugar and oil andgas production activities have createdunexpected industrial pollution in theupper and lower regions in Sindhprovince. An irreparable damage iscaused to the land and ecology. Theprocessing and disposal of chemicalshave polluted the soil, water and de-stroyed several natural lakes in theProvince. Water pollution is reportedto have killed fish and other aquaticanimals and organisms. Different wa-ter borne diseases and epidemics, likedysentery, typhoid etc. are also tak-ing their share.

Fumes, such as carbon dioxide,sulphur oxide, hydrocarbon, nitrogenoxide etc are emitted as a result ofincomplete combustion of fuel andother carbon containing substancesin exhaust pipes and plants. The ad-verse effect of the plants and ma-chines produces intolerable odour,which is causing impairment of men-tal function and foetal developmentand aggravation of cardiovasculardiseases. Gas flaring in the oil exploi-tation zones reduces the quality of theair in the environment. But who caresin this polluted society where pollutedpeople rule and reign.—Via email

Educationfor all

SHABBIR AHMAD

Chief Minister Sindh, Syed QaimAli Shah while addressing a prizedistribution ceremony in honour ofposition holders of Board’s exami-nation on Saturday has clearlystated that almost 04 million chil-dren in Sindh Province cannot at-tend school due to poverty. It isquite alarming situation that a ChiefMinister, who has served as CM forthe last seven years in Sindh hasexplicitly stated such facts and fig-ures. But the situation is no differ-ent in other Provinces .

The official figures for literacyrate is 55% in Pakistan but in a coun-try where no census has been con-ducted for the last 17 years, how canone believe such official figures.Moreover, according to the “officialdefinition”, any person can be con-sidered as literate who can read andwrite his/her own name or a fewwords. But it is a fact that writing orreading one’s own name does notmake a person literate and the offi-cials also know this fact but theyhave to maintain a healthy figure forliteracy rate. So instead of makingand implementing policies for theimprovement of education sectorthey have kept the requirement fora person to be declared as literate atthe minimum possible level.

Moreover, more than 08 millionchildren are out of school in the en-tire country but nobody has evergiven it a serious thought, that whatthese children will do when theygrow up. What will be their contri-bution to society? How they willearn their livelihood. Are we delib-erately making a force of millionsof people which might be the rea-son for destruction of our society?The answer is probably YES.

If we go through the official fig-ures of literacy rate as well as thegeneral perception, we find that Fed-erally Administered Tribal Areas(FATA) and Baluchistan are in a dis-mal state of affairs. Main reason be-hind it is the policies of differentgovernments and the local leaders

Just one school pleaseATHAR ALMANI

After visiting agricultural farm house at village Haji EssaGhirano which is about 20 km far from Tando Muhammad

Khan, I observed that there was no school within a radius of 10kms of the village. There were about 10 villages and population ofthese villages must be in thousands but unfortunately, no schoolwas seen anywhere; instead, the pictures of prominent lawmakerswere pasted on walls and displayed on hoarding boards, but thisserious matter was not in their mind or agenda of development. Itis the basic right of every kid to get basic education at his doorstepsand it is also slogan of the Government. But slogans are only onadvertisement campaigns rather than for on-ground implementa-tion. So it is earnest request to those in power to please give a seri-ous thought to this appeal, “Please give us just one school for ourkids at village Haji Essa Ghirano Deh Ladhan Taluka Bulri ShahKarim District Tando Muhammad Khan”.—Hyderabad

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

—Editor

View From Abroad

Americans are ‘back-stabbers’ says Khamenei

IRAN’S Supreme Leader accused“back-stabbing” America of“tricks and deceptions” on Thurs-

day as the clock ticked towards adeadline for a final agreement onTehran’s nuclear ambitions. Ayatol-lah Ali Khamenei delivered a causticresponse to an open letter from 47 Re-publican senators, warning that a fu-ture US president might revoke anynuclear deal with Iran. This message– furiously denounced by PresidentBarack Obama – raised the possibil-ity of Iran walking away from anagreement while deflecting the blameon to America.

“Of course I am worried, becausethe other side is known for opacity,deceit and back-stabbing,” said Aya-tollah Khamenei in a speech to the As-sembly of Experts, Iran’s most seniorbody. “Every time we reach a stage

where the end of the negotiations is insight, the tone of the other side, spe-cifically the Americans, becomesharsher, coarser and tougher. This isthe nature of their tricks and decep-tions.” Ayatollah Khamenei said thesenators’ letter showed the “collapseof political ethics” in Washington.However, he stopped short of con-demning the talks or the prospect ofa nuclear deal, praising Iran’s nego-tiators as “good people” who wereserving the country’s interest.

Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Ira-nian foreign minister, will meet hiscounterparts from Britain, France andGermany in Brussels on Monday. Dip-lomats from Iran and America willthen resume the nuclear talks in Swit-zerland on Tuesday. The deadline fora final agreement falls on March 24.

On balance, experts believe thata deal remains possible despite thesenators’ letter. “I still think we havethe possibility of something emerg-ing, partly because in Iran they’ll be

calculating that they’re never goingto get a more favourable hearing inthe White House,” said Ali Ansari,the professor of Iranian studies at StAndrews University.

In Washington, Republicans re-mained largely unrepentant for sign-ing the letter, which has earned Sena-tor Tom Cotton, its lead signatory, thenickname “Tehran Tom”. Privately,some senior Republicans – includingthose who signed the letter – are anx-ious that it will help the White Houseto demonise any opponents of anuclear deal as warmongers. Theirgenuine concern focuses on the tech-nical merits of a possible deal whichthey fear will make too many con-cessions to Iran.

In particular, Republicans – andsome Democrats – are wary about al-lowing Iran to keep its capacity toenrich uranium and avoid answeringquestions about past research into thetechnology needed for nuclear weap-ons. Asked whether Republicans

Registration of Afghan refugees

IMMIGRANTS always prove ahuge burden over the economyof the country they migrate to

and usually such people never getthe status of first grade citizens inthe countries they strife to settle inbut in Pakistan the situation seemsaltogether different. Here the refu-gees enjoy all possible liberties andfacilities and sometimes the refu-gees are so powerful that they seemdominating over the local popula-tion. At present in Pakistan, theterm ‘Refugees’ is specifically usedfor the Afghan immigrants whosemigration into Pakistan startedsomewhere in 1980 during Sovietwar in Afghanistan.

According to various survey re-ports more than 2.6 million Afghanrefugees were living in Pakistan bythe end of year 2012. Most of themwere living in KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Federally Adminis-tered Tribal Areas and Northwest-ern Balochistan. In 2013 Pakistanwas home to an estimated 2.6 mil-lion Afghans and among these 1.7millions were registered refugees

and the rest were living undocu-mented and unaccounted foralong the two countries’ sharedborder. There are two categoriesof the Afghan refugees living inPakistan, the registered ones andthe unregistered ones.Though the government of Pa-

kistan is providing all possible helpand support to the registered refu-gees in collaboration with theUnited Nations High Commis-sioner for Refugees but the actualproblem is these refugees living inPakistan without any informationand registration. Such illegal Af-ghan Refugees have become a pain-ful burden on the limited resourcesof Pakistan. The government ofPakistan had been continuously re-questing the Afghan government tomake proper arrangements for re-patriation of these refugees to Af-ghanistan but this request was nevertaken serious.

`However a tripartite agreementwas signed in 2003 between thegovernments of Pakistan and Af-ghanistan and the U.N. High Com-missioner for Refugees which heldthe UNHCR responsible to assistthe repatriation of Refugees whowanted to return until 2005; later,the agreement was extended toMarch 2006 and then to December2006. At present the final date for

the repatriation of UnregisteredRefugees to Afghanistan is 31st De-cember 2015.

In the first week of this Janu-ary, a high level meeting on policyrecommendations for repatriationand registration of Afghan refugeesresiding in Pakistan decided thatthere will be no extension in dead-line of return of Afghan refugeesbeyond 31 December 2015. Themeeting also decided that thoserefugees living in urban areas willbe sent back to refugee camps andfor this purpose new sites for refu-gee camps will also be established.

Illegal and unregistered Afghanrefugees are creating a lot of prob-lems for Pakistan regarding terror-ism and law and order situation.There are countless people whoclaim to be Afghans but in fact theyare not. Every day hundreds of Af-ghan people cross the Durand Linewithout any papers or permission.Since these Afghans have a lot ofresemblance with the local peopleliving in Pakistani area along theDurand Line, it becomes very dif-ficult for the law enforcement agen-cies to put a check on them. Theseillegal ‘trespassers’ so many timestry to settle themselves in refugeecamps also. The situation is becom-ing grave and serious day by day.When the law enforcement agen-

David Blair, Peter Foster

cies take any action against suchillegal refugees, the governmentof Pakistan has to face a lot ofresistance and opposition fromthe so-called human-rights orga-nizations. These organizationsdefame the government of Paki-stan by blaming that the Afghanrefugees are being harassed bythe law enforcement agencies ofPakistan in the name of the Na-tional Action Plan.

A spokesman of the Ministryof Interior has recently rejected allsuch blames and allegations bysaying that in line with the tripar-tite agreement between Pakistan,Afghanistan and UNHCR, no ac-tion is being taken against any Af-ghan refugee, all legal action isagainst those individuals who donot possess CNICs or other docu-ment which can authenticate theirantecedents. Pakistan has alwaysbeen very helpful and supportiveto Afghanistan and the Afghan na-tion. It has no ill-will or grudgeagainst any Afghan national, butat the same time it is the right ofthe government of Pakistan to keepa vigilant eye on those who are in-volved in terrorist activities eitherthey are from Afghanistan or anyother country.—The writer is Multan-basedfreelance columnist.

Popcorn..!

NOW I’ve always bin’ apopcorn fan and shocked toread this favourite snack of

millions can cause this potentiallyfatal health condition known as‘popcorn workers’ lung! Like I saidI love popcorn, not because I relishbuttery taste or crackle in the mouth,and the melting to a gentle softnessbefore the craving for anothermouthful! I love popcorn becauseof opportunity it gave me in life:

The chance to see a CricketTest match! India was playingEngland at home, with the dash-

ing Nawab of Pataudi leading quitea swashbuckling group of players.There was the handsome Pataudihimself, I remember seeing him atnets and wondering why he lookedsomewhere and talked elsewheretill I realized it was glass eye do-ing mischief.

Then there was Farokh Engineer,who inspired us kids as opening bats-men, it didn’t matter that he cameback as fast as he went in to bat, butthe way he smashed the ball when hewas batting had us gasping.

There was Kundran and manyfelt he was as good an opener and abetter wicket keeper than Engineer,but more often than not, selectors dif-fered with our view. Borde was theretoo, a little old to be in the team andvery often heckled by home crowd

to bat faster. All the heroes were thereand all we wanted to do was see themplay. But there was no way we couldafford the tickets!

And then it was my brother and Ilooked at the popcorn factory nextdoor: It wasn’t really a factory, but asmall shed where the owner had acouple of stoves and a sealing ma-chine and supplied popcorn to a fewtheatres in the city; he managed toget the contract for the stadium.

“We’d like to sell popcorn at thestadium!” I told Mr Popcorn; that waswhat we called him and immediatelyhe got us two vendor passes and sentus to the stadium. There was alwaysa need for cheap labour, or so hethought but it wasn’t popcorn pack-ets that were sold that day. Two broth-ers spent their time gazing at their

heroes oblivious of customers de-manding popcorn.

“Did you see that?” asked mybrother. “Yes!” I shouted and clappedwith glee as Salim Durani hit a six.We watched India win the match andcame home happy to have seen ourheroes in flesh and blood. As for MrPopcorn, he couldn’t for the life ofhimself fathom how his belovedpopcorn, whose buttery taste meltedin the mouth or so he was led tobelieve, now lay unsold on two ven-dor baskets.

I’m glad today we didn’t spendtoo much time selling popcorn orI’d be worrying about the ‘popcornworkers lung’. Luckily the onetime I was a ‘popcorn worker’ Ihardly worked..!—Email:bobsbanter@gmail.com

which do not allow the population ofthese areas to attain education andplay their due role in the developmentof the country. One common percep-tion behind this attempt on the partof the local leaders to keep the popu-lation illiterate, is that they fear thateducation will bring in awarenessamong the population. They willlearn how to fight for their rights andin this way the leaders will no morebe able to keep these people loyal andunder command.

Situation in relatively developedareas is also not very encouraging.Although there are ample opportu-nities for getting education but thenumber of government schools isstill below par. Most of the govern-ment schools are overpopulated andthere are more than hundred studentsper single teacher in these schools.The buildings of most of theseschools are also very old and in aprecarious condition as some ofthese schools were built before theindependence. Some buildings can-not allow students to attend theschool in rain or blazing sun. More-over, drinking water as well as toi-let facilities are not available in mostof the schools not only for the stu-dents but also for the teachers.—Karachi

New Multanairport melodrama

MUKHTAR AHMED

Never in the history of aviation, mightsome one have ever witnessed sucha unique ceremony as happened dur-ing inauguration of Multan Interna-tional Airport. Prime MinisterMuhammad Nawaz Sharif who ledthe ceremony was accompanied,among others, by his Special Assis-tant on Aviation and Minister of Statefor water and power. The DG CAAand Deputy DGCAA the actual mas-ters of the ceremony were treated asguests whereas they should have beenin the forefront conducting the show.The junior-most officer conducted theceremony whereas it should havebeen the Deputy DG CAA.

The DG CAA should have giventhe welcome speech followed byspeech by Prime Minister. After thespeech was over DG CAA, Dy DGCAA and other senior directorsshould have conducted the tour ofnew terminal. PM’s Special assistanthad no business to conduct the tour,in fact he should have been amongthe audience. It is a unique inaugura-tion of new airport that is still incom-plete with major defects in its con-struction as reported in the print andelectronic media.

In fact it was not a new airportbut technically it was up gradationof the existing airport. This airportwas to be completed in 2013 but hasbeen delayed by two years withmassive corruption stories. Whatwas the urgency for its inaugura-tion when the project was still in-complete? What was the motivebehind early inauguration? Is itcover plan to save the contractors?We have already destroyed PIA,Pakistan Steel Mills, Pakistan Rail-ways due to political interferencebut no lesson has been learnt.—Via email

VIP cultureJAVAID BASHIR

We have inherited VIP Culture fromthe days of British Indian Empire,The pomp and show was given to thedignitaries who enslaved us to thevestiges of British Empire. I havelived abroad for decades, but have notseen such kind of elitist treatmentgiven to even the heads of state.

Even the President of USA re-ceives no VIP treatment, when movesaround in the city. No roads are closedor blocked or any cavalcade followshim. A police officer can stop a StateGovernor for traffic violation and is-sue him a ticket of warning/fine.

No one is treated in a specialmanner or given undue courtesy.The Ministers stand in line and waitfor their turn. Here in Pakistan anyTom, Dick and Harry is treated spe-cially, and feel proud of it. Thispractice must be abhorred andchanged. VIP Culture must end andeveryone should behave like other

risked being blamed if the talks col-lapse, a senior senate aide was san-guine. “If the administration triesto scapegoat Republicans, well theywould have done that anyway, eventhough these negotiations wouldnever have happened were it not forthe role Republicans played in cre-ating the sanctions that brought Iranto the table in the first place,” saidthe aide.

Republicans bitterly reject thebinary war-or-peace, take-it-or-leave it view of the deal espousedby the Obama administration. Theyargue that a collapse of the currenttalks would ultimately provide anopportunity to “recalibrate” the dip-lomatic effort. “Remember thesetalks have been going on since 2003when the ‘E3’ European nationsengaged Tehran,” added the aide.“If these talks stall, they won’t goaway. The Iranians will come back,because they always do.” — Courtesy: The Telegraph

Pak-India ties: Taking a new turn?

INDIAN Foreign Secretary S.Jaishankar as a part of hisSAARC yatra visited Pakistan,

last week. He started his tour fromBhutan, then went to Dhaka, thenIslamabad which was then followedby Kabul. S. Jaishankar who is theson of one of India’s leading stra-tegic analysts, the late K.Subrimanyan, in the past was alsoa part of the Indian team which ne-gotiated the landmark Indo-USdeal. It was his first tour of theSAARC since he took office inJanuary 2015.

The visit of the Indian ForeignSecretary was portrayed way tooambitiously in the Pakistani media.India called off the talks with Paki-stan in August last year citing itsinvolvement in India’s internal mat-ters when Pakistani High Commis-sioner in India met with theKashmiri Hurriyat leaders.

The media frenzy which waswitnessed as Indian’s Foreign Sec-retary reached Pakistan was notnew. But this media hoopla seemeda bit far-fetched as some portions

of the media even termed it as adrastic turn around where the rela-tions between Pakistan and Indiaare concerned.

It should not be forgotten thatIndia has not made any exception forPakistan, this visit is a part ofJaishankar’s SAARC tour. Some partof Pakistan’s current governmenttried to depict this visit as a part of itssuccessful foreign policy by success-fully engaging its neighbours but ac-cording to some observers it will benothing more than another photo-shoot opportunity.

Pakistan and India have not yetresumed composite dialogues. Eventhe dialogue process which hastaken place in the past has not beenable to reap any long-lasting results.Furthermore, it should be remem-bered the SAARC charter clearlystates that bilateral and contentiousissues shall be excluded from thedeliberations.

The Indian Foreign Secretary’svisit may be seen as a positive de-velopment of Pakistan and Indiaagreeing to talks in future but mak-ing a mountain out of a molehill isnot suitable either. There are someserious questions which the policymakers in Pakistan need to askthemselves before they kneel and

rejoice over the ForeignSecretary’s visit.

Is this a strategy to establish In-dian hegemony in the region by de-picting Pakistan as nothing morethan a subservient of India? Is thisa part of a long-term series by get-ting India a permanent seat in theUnited Nations, making otherSAARC countries nothing but dor-mant in the region by displayingIndia as a leader of the region anda global power instead of a regionalpower? Is Pakistan ready to dealwith India as a member of theUNSC, in non-compliance to theUNSC resolutions regarding Kash-mir? Are we cognizant of the priceon which peace comes at?

It seems as if the current gov-ernment of Pakistan has bittenmore than it can chew especiallyever-since Modi came into power.Pakistan wanted to start to start itsrelationship with the Modi regimeon a positive note, even the Pre-miere Nawaz Sharif attended hisswearing-in ceremony but as timeprogressed, the hopes of starting afresh page in the Indo-Pak contextfaded soon. Frequent displays ofaggression by Indian officials,cross-border violations, shellingover the working boundary, and

then eventually calling off theForeign Secretary talks last Au-gust seems as if Indian side hasother ideas on dealing with Pa-kistan. It is not too far-fetched toassume that perhaps India wouldnot have returned to the table hadit not been due to the externalpressure, mainly US’s pressure.

It is rather ironic that Indiadid not raise any hue and cry asthe Pakistani High Commis-sioner in India met with theKashmiri Hurriyat leader SyedAli Shah Geelani, the other dayas opposed to the previous timewhen they altogether called offthe talks.

Peace should not have a price.It’s not a barter trade. Events likethese may be viewed as a posi-tive development but unexpectedrealisations should not be attachedor expected from such meetings.Seriousness should be shown byboth sides because peace is notjust a question of the ruling elitebut the question of over 1.6 bil-lion people. In one line, the bestexpression to describe the recenttalks in Pakistan will be, at best,talks will remain talks.— The writer is an independentresearcher.

Ali Sukhanver Email:alisukhanver@hotmail.com

Ifrah WaqarEmail:ifrah.waqar@gmail.com

ordinary citizens.—Via email

Poor sanitationin KarachiMADIHA VIQUAR

Karachi has literally been in a messsince quite a few months now, as theheaps of garbage are seen dumped onmany roads of the metropolis as wellas under flyovers. No efforts are be-ing made to remove the filth; in fact,in some areas the waste has accumu-lated to such an extent that it has over-flowed and encroached upon half ofthe road, making it difficult for ve-hicles to pass.

It is evident that the streets arenot being cleaned regularly and evensome main roads can be seen litteredwith polythene bags, paper cups andthe like. Moreover, parts of certainroads like the main Shaheed-e-MillatRoad and the Tipu Sultan Road arestrewn with garbage which does notonly provide a disgusting sight but isalso extremely hazardous to health. Irequest the concerned authorities toorder immediate removal of thesegarbage heaps from the roads andensure proper disposal of both thedomestic and industrial waste.—Karachi

Sylviastolz’s case

KHURRAM SHEHZAD AWAN

Every person has the right to speakon any topic in the countries wherefreedom of speech is protected underlaw. In many countries of the worldpeople used to protest against theunlawful acts and to highlight thebasic problems for the sake of get-ting their rights.

What actually is the freedom ofspeech? West is using the right of thefreedom of speech and expression tohurt the feelings of the followers ofdifferent faiths, particularly the Mus-lims; the recent example being thepublication of blasphemous materialby the French magazine CharlieHebdo. Muslims should be aware ofthe dual standards of the westernworld and should create a sense ofopinion building against the misuseof the freedom of speech as it shouldnot be used to provoke anger amongdifferent communities.

There is a difference between thecriticism and blasphemy and it isalso condemned by the Pope. Sofreedom of speech must have lim-its. Recently the case of Sylvia Stolzwho is sentenced for denying theHolocaust, in a speech in 2012, setsan example for the Muslims that theyshould unite to fight for their ethnicright as when Charlie Hebdo makescartoons to provoke the Muslims,they say it’s freedom of speech buton the other hand when someoneuses same right against the Holo-caust, they punished that person.This double standard of the west isan eye-opener for the Muslims andthe conscientious nations.—Islamabad

Livestockand pastures

HASHIM ABRO

The economy in the rural areas inSindh province is primarily based onagriculture and livestock. Green pas-tures are dwindling or being de-stroyed and livestock development isonly a myth, not reality, but who caresin this parasitic society where rulingelite has itself emerged as the worstkind of parasites.—Via email

IVAN SUKHOV

MOSCOW’S announcement this weekthat Russia would withdraw from theTreaty on Conventional Armed Forces

in Europe (CFE) hardly came as a surprise. Itwas just one more bridge between Russia andthe rest of the world that Kremlin leaders havedecided to burn — this time, officially. In truth,this is not the most important bridge Russia hasburned. In fact, Russia first violated the CFEduring the first Chechen War, when it usedforces exceeding those allowed by the treaty tosuppress the separatist movement on its terri-tory. After the treaty was adapted in 1999 totake the post-Cold War geopolitical situationinto account, Russia ratified the new versionof the treaty, but not a single NATO memberdid. In fact, both Russia and the West are toblame for the fact that their mutual relationsstill contain normative foundations that havepartially lost relevance. And while those rela-tions swung from mutual affection to mutualdistrust over the 25 years of post-Soviet his-tory, that normative foundation was graduallygrowing obsolete.

Perhaps if politicians on both sides hadtaken a more practical approach to formulatingthose norms, they would not have reached thecurrent impasse. However, history has no placefor “ifs” or “might have beens” and is oftendefined by a series of emotional peaks and val-leys. In this case, they include the willingnessto cooperate following the terrorist attack onSept. 11, 2001, Putin’s open frustration withthe West in his speech in Munich in 2007, the

Russia Slamming Door After Door on the WestRussia-Georgia war in 2008, the attempt to reachan agreement with NATO at the Lisbon Sum-mit in 2010, and finally, Crimea and the war inUkraine in 2014.

Russia’s decisions to annex Crimea and sup-port separatists in eastern Ukraine were more thanjust burning bridges: They were a deliberate at-tempt to slam the door on the Western world.Some in Russia might think that this country ac-tually kicked the door wide open and that all theweaker peoples and states out there are nowawaiting their fate in terror. But no, the door prob-ably did close — and more on Russia than on theoutside world. Although Russia’s relations withthe West have had their ups and downs from theearly 2000s to the mid-2010s, there were notmarked by an overall positive trend.

And it is also safe to say that Russia hadeven more opportunities to establish mutuallybeneficial institutional ties with the West in theearly 2000s following Vladimir Putin’s firstpresidential win and his raft of proposals forcooperation in the fight against internationalterrorism than existed in the late 1980s underformer Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev andformer U.S. President George H.W. Bush. Rus-sia is clearly not the only one to blame for thefact that the West aggressively incorporatedCentral and Eastern European states in the 1990sand 2000s, following the logic that “you shouldtake everything you can now so that it won’tget used against you tomorrow.”

Now, in analyzing all that led up to the an-nexation of Crimea and all that has happenedsince, it is clear that Russia took lessons notonly from former Soviet leader Josef Stalin and

Catherine the Great, but also from modern lead-ers in Brussels and Washington. Every humaninteraction, whether successful or not, is alwaysthe product of all its participants. If Russiaslammed the door shut in 2014, then it did sofor a reason. That has also created a certain in-ertia that could slam closed other doors that stillremain open. Halting that process is more thanjust difficult — it requires extraordinary pow-ers of mind and will.

Unfortunately, there is nothing to suggest thatthe very Western leaders who contributed toRussia’s decision to slam the door shut are nowcapable of reversing that process. Instead, after thedoor bangs closed and the plaster of European se-curity crumbles to the floor, they are more likelyto turn to each other and say, “You see? That isexactly what we warned could happen.” The Rus-sian leadership will also find it difficult to over-come this inertia. Seeing that the West shows noreal signs of regret over the failure of strategiccooperation, Russia — regardless of who becomesthe next Kremlin leader — will continue slam-ming every remaining door until no more remain.

As one of the global power centers in a bi-polar world, the Soviet Union could not affordthe luxury of international isolation after WorldWar II — a time and a status that many of today’sRussian leaders look back on with nostalgia. Butthe world has changed during the 25 years ofpost-Soviet history. It is impossible to revivethat bipolar world, and simply withdrawing fromthe CFE, the NATO-Russia Council or the Par-liamentary Assembly of the Council of Europeonly increases Russia’s isolation without in-creasing its power or influence.

And because Russia’s leaders undoubtedlyunderstand this, it means that they continueslamming those doors primarily to see how theWest will respond. Apparently, there is no idealresolution to this problem, and so Russia con-tinues looking for new doors to slam shut.Theoretically, it might choose to withdraw fromthe UN Security Council, but if it does that,Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkinwon’t have the pleasure of lecturing U.S. Am-bassador to the UN Samantha Power.

If Russia wants the world to view it as a su-perpower, it is going about it in the wrong way. Asuperpower needs to have something to offerbesides a sense of offended dignity, somethingthat would justify closing all those doors behindit. For example, it should have an idea or seemcapable of transforming the country into an alter-native center of power in the world, somethingthat could change its isolation into the beginningsof a new system of intergovernmental ties, alli-ances and mutually beneficial relationships.

Even Hitler’s Germany deliberately wentinto isolation with fully developed plans for analternative project, however horrible it seemedfrom the outside and however terrible were itsconsequences. Unfortunately, Russia’s with-drawal into isolation more resembles the behav-ior of an offended teenager who shuts himselfin his room in the expectation that his fatherwill come along soon after, pat him on the headand discuss their plans for a weekend together.

—Courtesy: MT[Ivan Sukhov is a journalist who has cov-

ered conflicts in Russia and the CIS for thepast 15 years.]

NAJAF—Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi’ite fighter who was killed in clashes with Islamic State militants in Tikrit, during his funeral.

AHMAD BARQAWI

THE late Muammar Gaddafi once rhetorically asked in afamous speech of his towards the end of his reign; (rightly)questioning the legitimacy of those seeking to overthrow

his government at the time, calling them extremists, foreignagents, rats and drug-addicts. He was laughed at, unfairly cari-catured, ridiculed and incessantly demonized; a distasteful parodyvideo poking fun at the late Libyan leader even went viral onsocial media; evidently the maker of the video, an Israeli, thoughtthe Libyan colloquial Arabic word Zenga (which means an al-leyway) sounded funny enough that he extracted it from one ofGaddafi’s speeches, looped it on top of a hip-hop backing trackand voila …, he got himself a hit video that was widely (andshamefully) circulated with a “revolutionary” zeal in the Arabworld. We shared, we laughed, he died.

But the bloody joke is on all of us; Gaddafi knew what hewas talking about. Right from the get-go, he accused the so-called Libyan rebels of being influenced by al-Qaeda ideol-ogy and Bin Laden’s school of thought; no one had taken hisword for it of course, not even a little bit. Why should wehave? After all, wasn’t he a vile, sex-centric dictator hell-bent on massacring half of the Libyan population while sub-jecting the other half to manic raping sprees with the aid ofhis trusted army of Viagra-gobbling, sub-Saharan mercenar-ies? At least that’s what we got from the visual cancer that isAl Jazeera channel and its even more acrid Saudi counterpartAl-Arabiya in their heavily skewed coverage of NATO’s vi-cious conquest of Libya.

Plus, Gaddafi did dress funny; why would anyone trust ahaggard, weird-looking despot dressed in colorful rags when youhave well-groomed Zionists like Bernard Henri Levy, JohnMcCain and Hillary Clinton at your side, smiling and flashingthe victory sign in group photo-ops, right? Gaddafi called themdrug-addicted, Islamic fundamentalists; we know them as ISIS,or Islamic State. it doesn’t seem much of a joke now, does it?And ISIS is what had been in store for us all along; the “revolu-tionary” lynching and sodomization of Muammar Gaddafi amidmanic chants of Allahu AkbarM, lauded by many at the time assome sort of a warped triumph of the good of popular will (read:NATO-sponsored mob rule) over the evil of dictatorship (sover-eign state), was nothing but a gory precursor for the future of thecountry and the region; mass lynching of entire populations inLibya, Syria and Iraq and the breakup of key Arab states intofeuding mini-statelets.

The gruesome video of Colonel Gaddafi’s murder, whichputs to shame the majority of ISIS videos in terms of unhingedbrutality and gore, did not invoke the merest of condemnationsback then; on the contrary, everyone seemed perfectly fine withthe grotesque end of the Libyan “tyrant” … except that it wasonly the beginning of a new and unprecedented reign of terrorcourtesy of NATO’s foot-soldiers and Gulf Cooperation Coun-cil-backed Islamic insurgents.

The rapid proliferation of trigger-happy terrorist groups andJihadi factions drenched in petrodollars in Libya was not somesort of an intelligence failure on the part of western governmentsor a mere by-product of the power vacuum left by a slain Gaddafi;it was a deliberate, calculated policy sought after and implementedby NATO and its allies in the Gulf under the cringe-inducingmoniker “Friends of Libya” (currently known as the Interna-tional Coalition against ISIS) to turn the north-African countryinto the world’s largest ungovernable dumpster of weapons, al-Qaeda militants and illegal oil trading.

So it is safe to say that UN Security Council resolution 1973,which practically gave free rein for NATO to bomb Libya intosmithereens, has finally borne fruit - and it is rotten to its nucleus.You can call the latest gruesome murder of 21 Egyptian fishermenand workers by the Libyan branch of the Islamic State exhibit“A”, not to mention of course the myriad of daily killings, bomb-ings and mini-civil wars that are now dotting the entire countrywhich, ever since the West engineered its coup-d’etat against theGaddafi government, have become synonymous with the bleaklandscape of lawlessness and death that is “Libya” today.

—Courtesy: AT Online [Ahmad Barqawi is a freelance columnist and writer]

Libya, ISIS unaffordableluxury of hindsight

DAVID FREER

INDONESIA’S Central Statistics Agency records over 80 million internet users within the country, which is the sixth largest amount of users globally. Unfortunately, the high internet

penetration is also accompanied by low awareness of loomingsecurity threats. According to Indonesia’s communications andinformation ministry, there have been 36.6 million cyber-attacksin Indonesia in the past three years. Most of the recorded attacksare attempts at data theft. Not only are corporations and govern-ment institutions affected, but every other Indonesian is also sus-ceptible to this type of attack on a daily basis.

You may have encountered an SMS malware circulating withthe following message: “Congratulations you won a prize! Pleasecall us to claim your prize!” accompanied by an illegitimate phonenumber getting people to transfer money, or an email that promptsinternet users to install an ‘app’ which actually leads them todownload malware. These types of threats may happen to thebest of us, and they share one common theme — exploiting thehuman subconscious. Many people may be familiar with re-nowned psychologist Robert Cialdini’s “Six Principles of Influ-ence”. In its most basic form, Cialdini offers a step-by-step psy-chological guide to getting people to say yes. Very effective inthe workplace or that crucial sales meeting, but these principlesaren’t necessarily confined to the noble quest of “better busi-ness.” In fact, cybercriminals are now swotting the latest socialpsychology tactics in order to get their hands on your data.

The prevalence of social engineering in many publicly dis-closed cyber-attacks demonstrates either an inherent weaknessin the acumen of victims to identify malicious communications,or that cyber criminals are using more complex methods tobypass the “human firewall’. The answer of course likely liessomewhere in between these two statements, but regardless ofthe root cause, it does demonstrate that the first line of defenseis evidently failing. The default position to blame users as thecause for breaches is not entirely fair. Whilst there will be ex-amples where unsafe practices are clearly being employed, IntelSecurity’s latest whitepaper Hacking the Human Operating Sys-tem discusses the techniques used by attackers to bypass theconsciousness of their targets and attempt to manipulate vic-tims through leveraging subconscious levers of influence. Oneof the techniques is using scarcity, because people tend to com-ply when they believe something is in short supply. An offertoo good to be true? It probably is. An email from your bankasking you to do something within 24 hours? Seems too scaryto be legitimate? You’re probably right.

Cyber criminals often use scarcity and urgency to dupepeople into clicking on something malicious without takingthe time to think. Or they could also leverage authority to makevictims comply. Criminals don’t have to dress up in dodgyoutfits to mimic a public official or a trusted source anymore.All they need is a decent replica impersonation of an email orSMS. Ask yourself, why has that delivery company sent methat email when I haven’t ordered anything? So what can wedo to sniff out a cyber criminal? Intel Security has beenanalysing the most common psychological levers being usedby these hackers and phishers and has updated Cialdini’s prin-ciples to reveal how they apply in the digital world and whatyou need to do to stay safe.

—Courtesy: Jakarta Post

Human firewall incountering cyber attacks

WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama’s ad-ministration on Friday will announce the cre-ation of a new advisory group made up of pub-lic officials and leaders from the private sectorto advise on improvements to the governmentagency tasked with helping U.S. veterans.

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secre-tary Robert McDonald will announce the for-mation of the new committee during an eventwith President Barack Obama at the PhoenixVA facility, where long waits for medical caresparked a political crisis for the administration.

“The committee will advise the VA on ad-ditional ways the VA can work to improve cus-

Obama administration to start newgroup to advise on veterans issues

tomer service delivery and veteran outcomes andset the course for longer-term excellence andreform,” a White House official said.

“The members of this new advisory com-mittee have experience in customer service,large-scale organizational change and advocacyfor veterans and include business leaders, Vet-eran Service Organizations members, and healthsciences and academic professionals,” the offi-cial said.

Obama is making a stop at the Arizona fa-cility after a brief trip to California, where heattended a Democratic fundraiser and appearedon a late night television show.—Reuters

US President Barack Obama speaks during a visit to Georgia Tech in Atlanta.

SINGAPORE—China is not seekingunilateral gains from the Belt and RoadInitiatives (BARI) and the first majorpilot projects will be crucial in boost-ing the strategy, a veteran diplomat saidhere in Singapore. Wu Jianmin, who isalso the former president of the ChinaForeign Affairs University, made theremarks at a lecture organized by the S.Rajaratnam School of InternationalStudies ( RSIS), a graduate school ofNanyang Technological University of

China not seekingunilateral gains from BARI

Singapore.During the lecture and the interview

with Xinhua afterwards on Thursday,Wu said the most important change ininternational relations over the past cen-turies is the theme change from “warand revolution” to “peace and develop-ment”, and the latter is what Chinaembraces to kick-start the Belt and RoadInitiatives in this region. “After 36years’ strong growth, people in the in-ternational community say, ‘look, China

today is the second largest economy inthe world, you have to provide somegood,’” said Wu, adding the initiativesare designed to do this.

Asia has been rising after WorldWar II, and has driven the center ofgravity of international relations from,in Wu’s words, “the Atlantic to the Pa-cific,” among which East Asia is un-doubtedly the biggest contributor to glo-bal economic growth in the last threeto four decades. Highlighting the great

accomplishments East Asia hasachieved in recent decades, Wu notedthe imbalance of economic develop-ment among the Asia-Pacific region.The Belt and Road Initiatives will“bring common prosperity” to thewhole region, he said. “South Asia iscatching up, yet central Asia is left be-hind,” Wu said. “The One Belt, OneRoad (Belt and Road) initiatives aredesigned to link East Asia, South Asiaand central Asia together.—Xinhua

Xi wantscloser civil,

militaryintegration

BE I J I N G—President XiJinping has cal led forstrengthening China’s na-tional defense and the com-bat readiness of the armedforces, by greater civil-mili-tary integration.

Xi, who is also chairmanof the Central Military Com-mission, was speaking to thedelegation of the People’sLiberation Army at the NPC.The president noted that overthe past year, the PLA had re-doubled efforts to conductlive-fire training, improvethe Party’s work style andfight corruption, and con-sider how to advance mili-tary reforms.

Xi said civil-military in-tegration has made possiblethe synchronized develop-ment of economic and na-tional defense capabilities.He stressed the need to putsupervision and accountabil-ity in the implementation ofthe integration strategy in theframework of law.

The president called onthe PLA to play an activerole in local economic andsocial development, and con-tribute to people’s well-beingthrough actual deeds.—Xinhua

JAKARTA—The Indonesiangovernment has discovered thata group of Indonesian nation-als detained after attempting tocross the Turkish border intoSyria, allegedly to join the Is-lamic State (IS) militant group,are mostly children.

They are currently beingheld in the Turkish border cityof Gaziantep, 97 kilometres northof Aleppo, Syria. Coordinatingpolitics, legal and security affairsminister Tedjo Edhy Purdijatnosaid on Thursday that the groupfound at the Turkish border wasnot the group of 16 people thathad earlier been reported miss-ing from a tour group in Istanbul.“[This is] a second group. Thereis one man, four women and 11children,” he said at the Presiden-tial Office.

Tedjo said the governmentcould not confirm whether join-ing the militant group was themotive of their travel but thewomen had said that they weregoing to Syria to meet theirhusbands. Last week, anothergroup of 16 Indonesians had re-portedly separated themselvesfrom a tour party of 25 imme-diately after passing throughimmigration in Istanbul. Theyclaimed that they would ar-range family affairs but theyfailed to rejoin the tour partyat the time scheduled in orderto return home on March 4.

11 minors among latestIndonesian IS suspects

Foreign minister RetnoMarsudi confirmed that therewere two groups of Indonesiansattempting to reach Syria viaTurkey. “There is indeed an in-dication that the [latest] 16 aredifferent from the 16 [Indone-sians] who [previously] wentmissing [in Turkey],” she said.

“I cannot confirm this yetsince we have yet to receive for-mal confirmation from the Turk-ish authorities,” she added. Ac-cording to Retno, president Joko“Jokowi” Widodo has told herto continue coordinating withother relevant ministries to in-vestigate the matter.

Reuters reported that Turk-ish authorities detained 16 In-donesians from three familieswho were trying to cross intoSyria, a route frequently usedby potential IS recruits. “These16 people - three families - arecurrently being held at a hold-ing centre and we have infor-mation that Indonesia’s Ankaraembassy is in touch with thegroup,” Turkish foreign minis-try spokesman Tanju Bilgicsaid in a statement on Wednes-day as quoted by Reuters.

National IntelligenceAgency (BIN) chief MarcianoNorman said that a team com-prising foreign ministry offi-cials and a team of BIN offic-ers were heading to Turkey toinvestigate the groups. —ANN

White Houseresponds to

Anwar petitionKUALA LUMPUR—TheWhite House on Friday issuedan official response to a peti-tion calling for the release ofjailed opposition leader AnwarIbrahim, after it amassed a to-tal of 113,806 signatures. “TheUnited States is deeply disap-pointed with Mr Anwar’s con-viction following a governmentappeal of the original verdictfinding him not guilty,” it saidin the statement.

The White House said theyhad made this clear boththrough statements and in theirinteractions with the MalaysianGovernment, and that theywould continue to do so. Itnoted a number of serious con-cerns about the rule of law andthe fairness of Malaysia’s ju-dicial system, given the initialdecision to prosecute Anwar,the decision to appeal the notguilty verdict, and the overturn-ing of that verdict.

Given the strong “compre-hensive partnership” betweenthe US and Malaysia, theWhite House reiterated itscommitment to expanding co-operation on shared economicand security challenges affect-ing the countries’ interests inAsia and globally. “At thesame time, we have and willcontinue to urge the govern-ment to apply the rule of lawfairly, transparently, andapolitically in order to pro-mote confidence in Malaysia’sdemocracy, judiciary, andeconomy,” it said.

The White House added“History has shown that coun-tries that uphold the humanrights of all their citizens –re-gardless of their political affili-ation, ethnicity, race, religion,or sexual orientation – are ulti-mately more prosperous andmore stable”.—ANN

younger Qazi was more personally in-volved, possibly a “lone wolf” terrorist.

Investigators say Sheheryar Qaziwasn’t privy to all the specific details ofhis brother’s plan, but knew that he wasplanning to set off a bomb somewhere inManhattan. He also provided emotionaland financial support, officials said. RaeesQazi was charged with the additional countof attempting to assist al Qaeda for twotrips he made to Pakistan in 2011 and 2012,where he tried to cross into Afghanistanand fight with the insurgents.

There, however, he was told by terrorleaders in Yemen that no additional rebelswere needed in Afghanistan — and thathe should instead focus his efforts on strik-ing in the United States, court documentssaid. By the time Raees Qazi traveled tothe Middle East, federal authorities had

become aware of the brothers’ activities.After losing track of Raees for five days,officials said, federal agents finally ar-rested the two in late 2012. Both have beenlocked up without bond since. Investiga-tors said the plotting never reached an op-erational phase due to a lack of money.

The men also pleaded guilty to acharge of conspiring to assault two fed-eral marshals, for an incident last April atthe federal court complex in downtownMiami. Prosecutors said they distracted themarshals and began fighting with themduring a transfer. The brothers were ex-pected to be tried in June, facing manymore charges, but prosecutors and defenseattorneys struck a plea deal that led to theQazis’ guilty pleas Thursday. Instead, thatis when they will each be sentenced. Anattorney for one of the men said the broth-

ers knew they didn’t stand a chance at trial,CBS Miami reported. “He decided to en-ter a guilty plea. As he told the court, hedid so because he was in fact guilty,” saidAttorney William Barzee.

Evidence that would have been usedagainst the Qazi brothers at trial include FBIwiretaps and communication intercepts thatwere detected by the National SecurityAgency’s controversial cellphone monitor-ing program. Raees faces a maximum pen-alty of 35 years in prison and Sheheryar 20years. Prosecutors will recommend 32 yearsand 17, respectively, the Sun-Sentinel re-ported. The men faced life imprisonmenthad they gone to trial and been convicted.Both men were born in Pakistan but livedthe majority of their lives in the Miami areaand became naturalized U.S. citizens, offi-cials said.—Online

Pakistani brothersFrom Page 1

meeting was not disclosed.The reunification of

Taliban points to the fact thatthe leadership disputes betweenthe groups, which arose afterFazlullah took control of thegroup in the wake ofHakeemullah Mehsud’s deathin a drone strike in November2013, have been partiallyhealed.

It is still not clear whetherthe Mehsud factions, led bySajna and Sheheryar Mehsud,are also in consultation with theleadership to join the TTP.

The announcement comesas the Islamic State is mak-ing inroads in Pakistan andAfghanistan. For the firsttime on February 25, the For-eign Office said the militantgroup poses a threat to thecountry.

“The government is onalert to the IS threat in the re-gion,” Foreign Secretary AizazAhmad Chaudhry said whilebriefing the Senate StandingCommittee on Foreign Affairsin Islamabad at Parliament onMonday.

Mangal Bagh,Jamaatul Ahrar

From Page 1

their nerves, as they overhauledthe target in the 49th over withthree wickets in hand.

Martin Guptill top scoredwith 105 for the Kiwis andShakib al Hasan took fourwickets. Earlier,Mahmudullah’s ton had en-abled Bangladesh to post acompetitive total of 288 for 7in 50 overs. Both the teams arealready in the quarter-finalsfrom Pool A.

In the other match, Englandregistered a compensatory winover Afghanistan by 9 wickets.In a rain affected game atSydney, England chased downthe target of 101 by DuckworthLewis method for the loss of awicket.

After regular interruptionsby rain the match officialshalted Afghanistan innings at111 for the loss of 7 wickets in36.2 overs and revised the tar-get to 101 to be achieved in 25overs. This match was a deadrubber, as both the teams areout of the World Cup and willnow head home.—Agencies

N Zealandbeat BD

From Page 1

BAKU: Rector of Baku State University presenting the Honorary Degree of Doctorate to the President of Islamic Republicof Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain.

he had said that district magistrate was not au-thorized to extend detention orders of his client.Advocate General Mian Abdul Rauf had toldthe court powers for extending detention ordersof Lakhvi rested with the district magistrate,Islamabad. The extended detention period isgoing to expire on March, 16, 2015, and reviewboard would be constituted for further exten-sion in detention, he added.

Additional Attorney General Afnan KarimKundi had told the court while advancing hisarguments that Pakistan was facing pressurefrom 13 countries including India in the matterof release of Lakhvi. There are security concernsas well with regard to his release and his releasecan plague Pakistan ties with other countries too,he added. Justice Noor ul Haq N Qureshi hadremarked “no Pakistani citizen can be detainedand convicted under external pressure. The courthad reserved the judgment after hearing the ar-guments from both the sides.

Meanwhile, India on Friday summoned thePakistani envoy to convey its strong objectionto the court ordering the release of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Hours after the Islamabad HighCourt ruled that Lakhvi’s detention is illegal,Pakistan High Commissioner Abdul Basit wassummoned by the foreign ministry. “He mayhave been granted bail but as you know the trialcontinues, we are all working to complete thetrial. Let the judicial process take its course,”Mr Basit said after the meeting.

India said it is Pakistan’s responsibility totake all legal measures to ensure that he doesn’tcome out of jail. “The overwhelming evi-dence against Lakhvi has not been presentedproperly before court by Pakistani agencies,” the

Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijijusaid, adding that Pakistan must realise “thereare no good terrorists or bad terrorists.”

A furious India had summoned the Pakistanienvoy earlier in December when Lakhvi wasgranted bail by an anti-terror court, just two daysafter a terror attack on a school in Peshawar inwhich over 140 people, mostly students, werekilled.

On the other hand Indian Deputy High Com-missioner to Pakistan J P Singh was summonedat foreign office in Islamabad on Friday and astrong protest was lodged with him over India’sdeliberate delay in the trial of Samjhota Expressterror attack and Indian government’s hue andcry over Lakhvi’s trial in Pakistan.

The Indian diplomat was told by officials atPakistan’s foreign ministry that New Delhi’s hueand cry over Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi’s releaseorders by the court is not justified. A senior of-ficial told the senior Indian diplomat that de-spite Islamabad High Court’s orders Pakistandetained Lakhvi under MPO therefore Pakistan’sintegrity and commitment to try the accused ofMumbai attack should not be doubted.

Pakistani officials held Indian governmentresponsible for the delay in trial of accused ofMumbai attack being taken in Pakistan and In-dia simultaneously. “Despite Pakistan’s repeatedrequests credible evidence about Mumbai attackswas never shared with Pakistan,” the foreignministry official said.

The official observed that Pakistani officialsand prosecutors were not granted access forcross-questioning of Mumbai attack’s key ac-cused in India “and this is hampering the pro-ceeding of the trial”.

IHC ordersFrom Page 1

their visit to Washington laterthis month will demonstrateour mutual commitment to astrengthened US-Afghanstrategic partnership, a state-ment by the White Housesaid.

“The leaders discussed

Obama calls GhaniFrom Page 1

The Prime Minister said that the govern-ment had fixed timelines for all projects and thepower companies undertaking energy projectswere expected to follow them strictly so thathigh demand of electricity could be met withinstipulated timeframe.

He said Pakistan-China relationship wasunmatched and economic would furtherstrengthen the bonds of friendship.

The delegation expressed interest in invest-ment in the Neelam- Jhelum hydro project aswell as in coal-fired, LNG based and solar powerplants in Pakistan.

They informed the Prime Minister thatChinese government is encouraging Chinesebusinesses to benefit from the investor-friendly policies of the government of Paki-stan.

The delegation also briefed the Prime Min-ister about their meetings with various officialsin Islamabad.

Muhammad Ishaq Dar, Minister for Fi-nance; Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Minister for Pe-troleum and Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Min-ister for Water and Power attended the meet-ing.—APP

Govt encourages investmentFrom Page 1

supplier and would be liable to pay $272,000per day to Engro with effect from March 31,2015.

It had said that as committed, the Engro’s$135 million LNG terminal was ready to startup provided the government strikes liquefied gasimport deal.

“The terminal has been completed in arecord time and now we are waiting for the gov-ernment to finalise LNG procurement deal,”Shaikh Imran-ul-Haq, CEO of ETPL, had said.“If the commodity is not delivered by March31, 2015, the government would be liable to paythe capacity charges.”

Talking about their bid regarding the sec-ond Floating Storage & Regasification Unit(FSRU) terminal at Port Qasim, Haq had saidthey were hopeful about the result. He had saidthat LNG import was inevitable for the country

as it would address several energy scarcity is-sues.

The Universal Gas Distribution Company(UGDC) – a company established by owners ofCNG stations by pooling their own resources –conveyed to the government last month that itcould open $60-70 million worth letters of credit(L/Cs) for importing three shipments of LNGthat would be enough to meet CNG sector’s re-quirement for at least 45 days. The imports couldbe arranged in 10 days, it had informed the gov-ernment.

“We are not at stage of opening L/C throughour own resources, having gained required fi-nancial strength and can well be in a position toget the LNG in March 2015; the target date setby the government,” wrote UGDC chief execu-tive officer Ghiyas A. Paracha to the petroleumminister.

Agreement signed withFrom Page 1

uniform and killing scores ofthem till date that forcedthe security forces go for adecisive operation in the re-gion.

The security forces, itmay be mentioned, hadpaced up their activit iesagainst the alleged terroristsfollowing militants orga-nized attack on the ArmyPublic School in Decemberlast that had left around 150people with more than 135school children martyred.Since then hundreds oftrouble makers have beenkilled in ground and aerialoperation in volatile Khyberagency especially in theTiraah valley that is consid-ered strong hold of the mili-tants.

At least six militants were

50 dead in PAF KhyberAgency fresh blitz

From Page 1

Taliban are accepting that theirmembers visit certain countriesfor various issues and have tradi-tional links with several countries.Nevertheless, an Afghan officialsaid that the issues about whichTaliban have concerns could bediscussed and sort out once thetalk process is started.—Online

Afghan TalibanFrom Page 1

The Rangers paramilitaryforce early Friday released 19more suspects detained in araid on the Karachi headquar-ters of the Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) in which itsaid illegal weapons wereseized and wanted criminalsarrested.

In the raid on the ‘Nine-Zero’ headquarters, over 100suspects were arrested, includ-ing 27 members of the MQMwho were later produced incourt and remanded into Rang-ers custody for 90 days.

32 more MQMFrom Page 1

killed in a US drone attack inPak-Afghan border area on Fri-day, sources said.

The sources said that un-manned aircraft targeted amilitant hideout in Reena areaon the Afghan side of the bor-der, killing six people includ-ing two “key militant com-manders”.

Identities of the dead wereyet to be known.

the ongoing efforts of the Af-ghan National Securi tyForces to improve security inAfghanistan and the impor-tance of countering extrem-ist threats from groups likeal-Qaida,” the statementadded.—Online

Balochistan govtFrom Page 1

senior military and civil offic-ers to review the pace of imple-mentation of National ActionPlan in the province.

The meeting decided torein in those elements takinglaw into their hands and sell-ing hate materials in Quetta andother parts of Balochistan. Thedecision to collect bio-data ofAfghan clergymen is part ofBalochistan government’s re-solve to implement the Na-tional Action Plan.

In most parts of Quetta andnorthern parts of Balochistan,Afghan clerics have been per-forming their duties as prayerleaders for more than three de-cades. These clerics have estab-lished good ties with localpopulation. “We have no spe-cific details of these clerics,”the officer said.

District Intelligence Coor-dination Committees have al-ready been established to scru-tinise Madrassahs (religiousseminaries) in the province.These DICCs have also beenentrusted the task to collect bio-data of Afghan clergymen, anofficer of the BalochistanHome and Tribal Affairs De-partment told Dawn.com.

The officer of Home De-partment informed that hitherto1,641 seminaries were scruti-nised by DICCs in differentdistricts of the province. Herevealed that so far 2,441 semi-naries were registered with In-dustries department inBalochistan under the SocietyRegistration Act, 2010,adopted by Pakistan PeoplesParty government. Under thisact the registration of seminar-ies, students and teachers wasdeclared essential.

“We have no data aboutthe number of non-registeredseminaries,” the official said.This is for the first time thata vigilant eye is being kept atAfghan clerics since the in-flux of Afghan refugees in theaftermath of 1978 after theRed Revolution in Afghani-stan.

H.E. Mr. Adel Elarbi, the new Ambassador of the Republic of Tunisia called on Mr. Zahid Malik, Editor-in-Chief, Paki-stan Observer and presented him a bouquet, Friday. They also discussed matters of mutual interest. Mr. Hammadi Louati,First Secretary also accompanied the Ambassador. —P.O. photo by Sultan Bashir

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif meeting Chief Financial Officer Mr. Lin Xiaodan, ChinaGezhouba Group Investment Holding Company at the PM Office.

PPP directedto get readyfor LB pollsISLAMABAD—Co-chairman ofPakistan Peoples Party (PPP)Asif Ali Zardari has asked theparty to get ready for theforthcoming local bodies (LB)polls due this year and directedthe party leaders to reach out tothe people. He stated thiswhile talking to a delegation ofparty leaders and office bearershailing from KhyberPakhtunkhwa (KP) and headedby provincial President SenatorKhanzada Khan which calledon him here at Zardari Houseon Friday evening. FormerPrime Minister, Raja PervezAshraf and vice president PPP,Sherry Rehman were alsopresent on the occasion. AsifZardari assured the delegationthat he will soon visit Peshawarto meet party workers ahead ofthe local bodies’ polls andasked the provincial chapter ofthe party to undertake the groundwork for this purpose. —INP

JudicialinquirydemandedLAHORE—Former Presidentof Supreme Court Bar CouncilAsma Jahangir has said that ajudicial inquiry should be heldover Rangers raid onMuttahida Qaumi Movement(MQM) headquarters NineZero at Azizabad in Karachi. AMQM worker was killed andseveral party activists weretaken into custody whenRangers conducted raid at theparty’s headquarters inAzizabad on Wednesday. AsmaJahangir, speaking to media atLahore High Court (LHC) saidthat judicial investigation of theincident should be held to clarifythe matter. “It cannot be saidright now that who is right orwrong”, Jahangir said. —Online

ShockingrevelationKARACHI—In ashockingrevelation onFriday, formerPakistan People’s Party andMuttahida Qaumi Movementleader, Nabeel Gabol, hasclaimed a plan had beenhatched to assassinate him inthe troubled Lyari area.Speaking to media, he allegedthat the task to take him outhad been assigned to a targetkiller named ‘Patni’. He addedthat the assassination was totake place in Lyari so as topresent the killing as connectedto the Lyari gang war. Gabolhad only recently parted wayswith the MQM, after heresigned from the NationalAssembly on February 24,2015. Sources close to theformer MNA had earlierdisclosed that differencesbetween him and the partyleadership had led to hisdecision to quit the party.Gabol went on to say that theoperation at Nine Zero wasinitially planned to take placebefore the Senate election.

OBSERVER REPORT

BAKU—President Mamnoon Hussain has saidthat Pakistan will continue supporting Azerbaijanon the conflict of Nagorno-Karabakh and ex-pressed gratitude on Azerbaijan’s support on thecore issue of Jammu and Kashmir.

The President said this while talking to Min-ister of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan Mr. ElmarMaharram Mammadyarov here in Baku on Fri-day.

The President underlined that real successof Azerbaijan-Pakistan would lie in transform-ing bilateral burgeoning political relations intoconcrete cooperation in the fields of trade, in-vestment, defense, education, culture, scienceand technology. The President stressed that Pa-kistan condemns terrorism in all its forms andmanifestations. The President said that Pakistanis happy to provide training to diplomats fromAzerbaijan at its Foreign Service Academy add-ing that Pakistan would like to have more youngdiplomats from Azerbaijan that would result inbetter understanding and friendship between thetwo countries.

The Minister of Defence and Industry ofAzerbaijan Yavar Jamalov also calls on the Presi-dent Mamnoon Hussain. Talking on this occa-sion, President Mamnoon Hussain said that boththe countries should take advantage of eachother’s experience in the field of defence.

Member of National Assembly ofAzerbaijan, Ms. Ganira Alasgarqizi Pashayevacalls on the President Mamnoon Hussain. Speak-ing with Ms. Ganira Alasgarqizi Pashayeva,President Mamnoon Hussain underscored thatcloser cooperation between parliamentarians of

Mamnoon renewssupport to Azerbaijanon Nagorno-Karabakh

Thanks Baku for backing Islamabad on Kashmirthe two countries could play an important rolein supplementing governmental efforts to fur-ther strengthen the bilateral relations.

The President appreciated Ms. Ganira’s con-tribution to the development of Pakistan-Azerbaijan relations. Ms. Ganira AlasgarqiziPashayeva presented her book to President. ThePresident congratulated Ms. Ganira on writinga book on Pakistan adding that it would furtherenhance friendship and mutual understandingamong people of two countries. PresidentMamnoon Hussain was conferred with an Hon-orary Doctorate Degree by the Baku State Uni-versity here in Baku on Friday.

Speaking on the occasion, the President ex-pressed profound gratitude for being awardedwith Doctorate Degree. The President stated thatthe bonds of brotherhood between the two coun-tries are based on common history, culture, val-ues and way of life.

The President noted with appreciation thatBaku State University had an Urdu Departmentadding that he was pleased to see students learn-ing Urdu and Pakistani culture here. This willcertainly help in bringing our two nations evenmore closer, said the President. Earlier, Presi-dent had candid interaction with faculty mem-bers and students of Urdu Department.

On this occasion, President gave a gift ofvaluable books for the department of Urdu atBaku State University. President also said thatNational Book Foundation, a governmental or-ganization in Pakistan has established a sec-tion in its building to pay tribute to the poetof Azerbaijan Nizami Ganjvi adding furtherthat National Book Foundation is also pub-lishing his books.

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—In pursuance of decision takenduring Finance Minister, Ishaq Dar’s last year’svisit to Moscow for the Pak-Russia BusinessGroup meeting, the Russian government hasnominated Rostec Global to undertake the GasPipeline Project.

In this regard a four-member delegation ofthe Rostec Global Resources, famed Russiancompany, Friday, discussed details includingfinancial arrangements with Finance MinisterIshaq Dar and Minister for Petroleum and Natu-ral Resources (P&NR), Shahid Khaqan Abbasyhere on Friday

During the meeting matters pertaining toconstruction of 1100 KM North South gas Pipe-line project in Pakistan were discussed whichwould transmit Gas/LNG financing arrange-ments.

This is in pursuance of decision taken dur-ing Finance Minister, Ishaq Dar’s visit to Mos-cow last year for the Pak-Russia Business Group

Rostec Global to undertakeGas Pipeline Project

meeting that the Russian government hasnominated Rostec Global to undertake theproject for which details including financialarrangements were accordingly discussed to-day.

Various options for construction of thepipeline including BOT and EPC were ex-plored with Chairman Rostec, AndreyKorobov informing the Finance Minister thatas agreed the project would be carried out onGovernment to Government basis and bulk ofthe financing raised by the Russian side.

The pipeline project would facilitate freeflow of estimated 550 MMCFD of Gas/LNGfor which compressor stations would also beset up.

The pipeline, planned to be laid till the endof 2017 would also feed the 3600 MW powerprojects envisaged in the Punjab province, onits North-South course.

The Finance Minister expressed apprecia-tion on the keen interest evinced by the Rus-sian side in this landmark project.

NEW DELHI—China has held rounds of talkswith the Taliban and asked the Islamist mili-tants to hold direct talks with the Afghan gov-ernment, the head of Afghanistan’s powersharing government said on Friday.

The Chinese have held “one, two or three”rounds of talks with the Taliban in the pastfew months, Abdullah Abdullah said at a con-ference organised by an Indian media group.

“They asked the Taliban to have talks di-rectly with the Afghan government, that’s agood message,” Abdullah said, adding that hedid not know what the outcome would be ofChina’s efforts. China’s foreign ministerlast month said during a visit to Islamabadthat Beijing was willing to help mediate talksto end the Afghan war, but Chinese officialshave not provided many details. China’s For-eign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said thisweek that reports its diplomats in Islamabad

China held rounds ofTaliban talks: Abdullah

met last month with Taliban representatives“do not accord with reality”.Abdullah, speaking at the India Today Con-clave 2015 in New Delhi, did not say wherethe meetings took place. He said Afghanistanhad begun to improve relations with Chinaunder the previous president, Hamid Karzai,with the idea that Beijing could use its influ-ence over Pakistan to help broker peace talks.

China has close ties with Pakistan, whichis widely believed to exert considerable con-trol over the group. But it remains to be seenwhether China’s intervention will have anyimpact.Abdullah’s backing of the nascent process tonegotiate an end to the 13-year insurgency iscrucial because many of his supporters repre-sent the vehement anti-Taliban wing thatfought against the hardline Islamists whenthey held power until 2001.—Reuters

SHC disposes ofplea challengingSaulat Mirza’sdeath warrant

KARACHI—Disposing of apetition filed by Saulat Mirza’ssister challenging his deathwarrant, the Sindh High Court(SHC) on Friday advised herto approach the SupremeCourt. Earlier this week, ananti-terrorism court (ATC) inKarachi had issued Mirza’sdeath warrant after the mora-torium on the death penalty waslifted completely. Preparationsfor the execution of SaulatMirza are underway inBalochistan’s Machh CentralJail.

Mirza’s sister SamiraWajahat petitioned that an ap-peal against her brother’s con-viction was pending in the apexcourt and hence the implemen-tation of his death sentenceshould be suspended until theSC decided on the appeal. Dis-posing of the petition, the courtadvised Samira Wajahat to ap-proach the Supreme Court withher application, as that is whereher earlier appeal was submit-ted.

Mirza was sentenced todeath by the ATC in May 1999for murdering the managing di-rector of then-named KarachiElectric Supply CorporationShahid Hamid, his driver AshrafBrohi and guard Khan Akbar inJuly 1997. He was moved alongwith four high-profile prisonersto the Machh jail, Balochistan,in April 2014.—INP

Ghee becomesrare afterprice-cut

OUR CORRESPONDENT

MULTAN—Ghee and cookingoil has vanished from themarkets in Multan after theannouncement of price reduc-tion by the provincial govern-ment.

The Punjab governmentimposed a Rs15 per kilo/litrereduction in the rates of gheeand cooking oil to shift thebenefit of a marked fall in in-ternational prices of palm oilfrom manufacturers to thepublic.

The sudden disappear-ance of ghee and cooking oilfrom the markets has raisedsevere problems for thepublic.According to the shop-keepers, the supply has beenhalted due to the new reducedrates whereas crisis can beprevented if the suppliers pro-vide them ghee and cookingoil on new rates as prescribedby the government.

The district administra-tion has stated that legal ac-tion will be taken againstthose shopkeepers who areselling the commodities onolder rates whereas DistrictCoordination Officer Multanraided on various shops andfined Rs80,000 to those notobeying the orders.

ISLAMABAD—The PoliticalJirga, which has been play-ing a mediator role betweenthe Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) and the Pa-kistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)over the formation of a judi-cial commission to probe therigging allegations, has senta final draft detailing thecommission’s scope to boththe parties.

The proposed draft wasdispatched to the stakehold-ers after a meeting of the Po-litical Jirga that was held atthe residence of RehmanMalik and at tended byJamaat Islami (JI) chiefSiraul Haq, National Partyleader Hasil Bezinjo, GGJamal and others.

During the meeting, theJirga also reviewed the let-ters written by the PML-Nand PTI to incorporate theirproposals into the final draftbefore dispatching it to boththe parties for endorsementand approval.

While talking to mediapersons after the meeting onFriday, Haq said that the busof democracy was under con-

Judicial Commission

Political Jirga sends finaldraft to PML-N, PTI

stant threat in which all ofthem are traveling

He said that democracyhas suffered from inertiawhile its proponents weremaking hue and cry withoutany focus and purpose.

The JI chief said that theJirga wanted the issue of Ju-dicial Commission settled atthe earliest so that a formprobe into the alleged riggingcould be carried out.

Haq said that the com-mon man wanted the politi-cians to solve their problemsincluding the issue of infla-tion, which has been dentingthe downtrodden very hard.

Malik said that the Jirgahad solicited responses fromboth the parties whether ornot they accepted its mandateand they highly appreciatedits role, prompting it to pre-pare the final draft, contain-ing proposals to make theway for the formation of theJudicial Commission.

He said that the Jirgawanted the issue of forma-tion of the Judicial Commis-sion to be settled in the nexttwo days.—Online

WASHINGTON—The U.S. State Departmentsaid on Friday it was working with Congressto provide about $70 million in new non-le-thal assistance to the Syrian opposition,bringing the total U.S. support to nearly $400million.

US to send $70m in aid to Syrian oppFunds would go toward basic community

services, supporting “vetted units of thearmed opposition,” digital security training,and documentation of war crimes and otherviolations by the Syrian regime, the State De-partment said in a statement.—Reuters

MEDICAL experts around the globeare worried that more and moreviruses and bacteria are becoming

resistant to today’s medicine. They areafraid that in a few generations antibioticsmay become useless.Scientists have alreadydiscovered bacteria thatdo not react if treated withantibiotics. As a resultmedical treatment willbecome more expensive asnew drugs have to bedeveloped.

Doctors and otherhealth experts criticise thefact that antibiotics are be-ing used in a wrong way.They are often prescribedin cases in which they donot work. In some areas,especially Third Worldcountries and denselypopulated areas in India,Pakistan or Bangladeshdoctors have already runout of antibiotics.

Prescribing wrong antibiotics or takingthem for too short a time will not kill offbacteria. Some doctors prescribe antibiot-ics for the common flu, making it ineffec-tive for later illnesses.

The World Health Organization claimsthat many infectious diseases are becom-ing untreatable and cannot be controlled.Many patients who become resistant todrugs even die.

Another problem is that farmers in theUnited States and Europe are adding anti-biotics to feed cattle and other animals, inorder to make them grow faster and pro-

duce more meat.Through increased global travel bac-

teria are spreading faster than ever be-fore.

Since Alexander Fleming discoveredpenicillin in the early 20thcentury antibiotics havesaved hundreds of millions oflives.

Many operations cannotbe carried out if we are un-able to treat infections. Thetransplantation of organs canbecome very risky if patientsdo not get medication tostrengthen their immune sys-tem. Routine operations likeremoving an appendix or re-placing a bad hip could be-come fatal. Childbirth mayonce again threaten awoman’s life and raise childmortality. Even illnesses likepneumonia, which today canbe treated effectively withantibiotics, might once again

turn into a mass killer.Antibiotics have made infections like

tuberculosis treatable. Cancer treatmentwould be unthinkable without the propertreatment of the immune system to ac-company it.

Health experts call for increased ac-tion to fight off diseases. Most commonis the call to improve hospital hygiene,where infectious diseases start out. Es-pecially in Third World countries, bacte-ria spread through dirty water and thesewage system. Even making peopleaware of washing their hands more oftencan stop the spread of infectious diseases.

Can there be a worldwithout antibiotics?

Federal Minister for Climate Change, Mushahid Ullah Khan planting a sapling at MuslimHands School of Excellence at Chak Shahzad.

OBSERVER REPORT

ISLAMABAD—Nation build-ing primarily depends uponthe four equally importantand interconnected pillars ofhouse, educational institu-tions, society and state. Thestronger the ties among thesefour pillars, the closer will bethe contact between the stateand its individuals. The indi-viduals will be able to deliverif the state is appreciative to-wards their abilities.

This was the gist of the

thoughts shared by the intellec-tuals of the twin cities in themonthly meeting of socio-lit-erary forum of Nazriya Paki-stan Council (NPC) ‘Nauqta-i-Nazar’, held at Aiwan-i-Quaid, Islamabad. The topic ofthe discussion was ‘AbilitiesNeed Acknowledgement’.

Dr. Qasim Boghio (Chair-man Pakistan Academy of Let-ters) presided over the discus-sion that was attended by AliAkbar Abbas, RukhsanaSaulat, Dr. Humera Ashfaq, Dr.Fakhra Noreen, Asghar Abid,

Dr. Farhat Abbas, FarheenChaudhary, Wafa Chishti, Ziaud Deen Naeem, Saqib Akbar,Arshad Chehaal, ShujaatHussain and Farah Deeba.Anjum Khaleeq of NPC con-ducted the proceedings.

In his presidential remarks,Dr. Qasim Boghio maintainedthat our country is full of intelli-gent and skillful people but un-fortunately the long existingpractice of discouraging themerit is creating the situation ofbrain drain at a very alarmingpace. We should improve this

situation so that our country maybe benefited from its own talent.

Appreciating the endeavorof NPC by providing an openforum of discussion for thescholars and writers, he main-tained that this was a step for-ward towards creating condu-cive atmosphere for positivedialogue among differentclasses of society.

The participants of the dis-cussion were of the view thatdisregard to merit is a dual lossfor the country since on onehand it discourages the deserv-

ing ones and on the other handthe benefitted non-deservingones are unable to deliver ac-cording to the requirement ofa position thus effecting theproductivity badly.

All the participants alsoappreciated the annual activ-ity of Gold Medal Awards or-ganized by NPC to acknowl-edge the achievers of Paki-stani society in various fields.This year, the ceremony isscheduled on March 24, 2015at Aiwan-i-Quaid, Islamabad,the participants were told.

NPC holds thought provoking discussion among literati

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minis-ter for States and Frontier Re-gions, Lt. Gen. (R) AbdulQuadir Baloch has urged theresearchers to relate their re-search with social and eco-nomic problems of the countryand come up with tangible so-lutions whether they belong tosciences or arts and humanities.He also appreciated the HigherEducation Commission (HEC)for encouraging and promotinguniversity research.

He was speaking at the 4thOutstanding Research Awardsceremony for the year 2012organized at HEC SecretariatIslamabad on Friday. As manyas 28 outstanding researcherswere given awards in four cat-egories, including Best Re-search Paper, Best Young Re-search Scholar, Best Innovatorand Best Book Publication. Dr.Mukhtar Ahmed, ChairmanHEC and Dr. Tariq Mahmood,Adviser (R&D) HEC were also presenton the occasion.

Congratulating the award winners,the Minister said, “The role of academ-ics and researchers is very important inany society. I hope you will be involvedmore energetically to boost researchculture and relate your work withsociety’s ground realities. I would re-quest our researchers and scholars topay attention areas like energy, water,

HEC confers awards on outstanding researchers

Baloch urges researchers to relate theirwork with social, economic problems

food security as well important socialissues.” The Minister further said thatincreasing access of higher educationmust be linked to quality. Dr. MukhtarAhmed said that HEC has been tryingto give higher education institutions afocus, it has also encouraged facultymembers in the shape of scholarships,post-doc fellowships, travel grants aswell as research awards to recognizetheir services.

“Due to investment in the highereducation sector, now Pakistani univer-sities and researchers are now recog-nized globally,” said the Chairman. He,however, emphasized that after creat-ing the research facilities and induct-ing qualified researchers in the univer-sities, the next step is focus on the pri-ority research areas and by creating so-lutions to problems that face our soci-ety.

Dr. Mukhtar Ahmed said that HEChas been spearheading research in uni-versities which has led to the creationand growth of the indigenous knowl-edge in all fields of sciences. He saidthat it is encouraging to see that the uni-versities have responded passionatelyto all the initiatives taken by HEC forresearch and development and manyprojects have made their presence feltat national and international forums.

Federal Minister Abdul Qadir Baloch presenting award to a university researcher during 4th outstanding research awardceremony at HEC Secretariat.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Federal Minister for ClimateChange, Senator Mushahid Ullah Khan said thattrees are, in fact, the factories of oxygen pro-duction and play key role for controlling the cli-mate change and global warming. Planting 100million trees could reduce an estimated 18 mil-lion tons of carbon per year, he added Treesand forests are vital for fighting carbon diox-ide. This great role that the green vegetationplays an important role in enabling human be-ing to live healthy life on earth,” the ministeradded.

He expressed these views during his key-note address as chief guest at the ‘Tree Planta-tion Campaign at Muslim Hands School her onFriday. Mushahid Ullah Khan said that if eachone of us plants a tree today, we would have200 million trees in a matter of single day. Hehighlighted that educational institutions, particu-larly teachers, can play their important part toachieve this goal and educate children about thesignificance of trees in our environment andhealth and how these can help take natural di-sasters including floods and landslides, whichhave shown increased frequency due to climatechange.

The minister said that trees are sign of thelife on earth and they are inevitable for tacklingescalating environmental degradation and differ-ent health diseases. The minister said that sincethe beginning, trees have furnished us with twoof life’s essentials, food and oxygen. As weevolved, the trees, which are nature’s gift for thehealthy human survival, have provided additionalnecessities such as shelter, medicine, and tools.

Today, their unprecedented importance con-tinues to increase and more benefits of trees arebeing discovered as their role expands to sat-isfy the needs created by our modern lifestyles,he added. The minister said that Trees are a sig-nificant part of every society. Our streets, parks,playgrounds and backyards must be lined withtrees, for these create a peaceful, aestheticallypleasing environment.

Earlier, he appreciated country manager,Syed Zia-ul-Noor, of the Muslim Hands Inter-national, an international non-governmental or-ganization, and his organization for play theirpart in promotion of tree plantation, implemen-tation of different programmes in water, disas-ter risk reduction, poverty alleviation and live-stock sectors in Pakistan. Syed Zia-ul-Noor alsopresented a shield to the Minister MushahidUllah Khan.

Trees play key role for controllingclimate change, global warming

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Following announce-ment of local body elections dates incantonment boards areas and inPunjab, the district election commis-sion Rawalpindi has started updatingthe lists of electoral rolls with regis-tration of new voters.

Interested candidates of PML-N,PPP and PTI aspiring to contest theLocal Bodies elections have stated ob-taining copies of the voters lists and

they are encouraging their supportersto get their names enrolled if not al-ready on the lists. Total number of reg-istered votes in district Rawalpindi are26,73,738 including 12,30,643 fe-males.

There are an unexpected small num-ber of 47 votes of eunuch and 2,835votes of members of minority commu-nities.

According to estimates, the popu-lat ion of Rawalpindi distr ict hascrossed 3.5 million. District election

commission have prepared voter listsseparately of all eight Towns ofRawalpindi including Rawal, Potohar,Gujar Khan, Murree, Kotli Sattian,Kahuta, Kalar Syedan and Taxilawhile voter lists of Chaklala andRawalpindi cantonment boards havebeen prepared separately.

According to district Electioncommission, registration of new vot-ers would continue till announcementof schedule for local bodies electionin Rawalpindi.

Enrolment of new votes in Rawalpindidistrict, Cantonment Boards areas

Search operationin capital, 26

arrestedISLAMABAD—Islamabad Po-lice arrested 26 suspects dur-ing search operation in variousareas of the city, a policespokesman said. IGP IslamabadTahir Alam Khan directed allSDPOs and SHOs to enhancepatrolling as well as checking invarious areas of the city and con-duct search operation at slum ar-eas, Afghan habitats, under con-struction buildings, workshops,bus stands and inns. Followinghis directions, Sub-Divisionalpolice officers performing inIslamabad headed this search op-eration in the areas of Cokena,Talhar Society Area under con-struction buildings and plazas.

They succeeded to nab 26suspects who are being investi-gated further. SSP Islamabad a hassaid the purpose of this searchoperation and high vigilance is toensure foolproof security in thecity and he further directed allSHOs to continue it. He has alsoappealed the citizens to remainvigilant and inform police in caseof any suspicious activity aroundthem.—Online

Wahab’sartwork at

Tanzara GallerySTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—A solo exhibi-tion displaying a total of 37paintings by acclaimed artistWahab Jaffer opened here onFriday at Tanzara Art Gallery.

The artwork consisted ofacrylic on canvas, displayed inthe show were bright, inventiveand symbolic.

The artist had success-fully captured the mood andattitude of the women on thecanvas. His smooth lines,color coordination and bal-anced compositions renderedthe image in a sharp and ef-fective manner.

Jaffer is an artist of eminentstature who has been exhibitedextensively at home andabroad. His bold and adventur-ous style has a strong identity.His paintings exude a refresh-ing energy as he continues tosimplify the female form andexplore the richness of a fullpalette.

The exhibition will con-tinue till March 28.

05:50 01:3004:30

07:45

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

March 14PAF meeting

PAF Retired Officers’ Asso-ciation (PAFROA)Rawalpindi/Islamabad chap-ter will hold meeting, at Of-ficers’ Mess, Air Headquar-ters, here on Saturday. Allmembers and their familieshave been invited and re-quested to intimate abouttheir attendance to Secre-tary PAFROA, Wg Cdr(Retd) Zafar Hameed onTelephone No - 9525811,9280376. PAF retired officerswho desire to become mem-ber of the association arealso cordially invited.

March 16-21Training

A week long, free of cost,poultry training programmeis being offered by PoultryResearch Institute (PRI),Murree Road, ShamsabadRawalpindi. According tothe Senior Research Officer,PRI, Dr. Abdul Rasheed thetraining programme will starton Mar 16 and continue tillMar 21 with 8.30am to 1pmtiming of the course. Inter-ested men and women canapply for the course.

March 18Talk

Sapar Berdiniyazov, Ambas-sador at Large ofTurkmenistan will give aPublic Talk on“Turkmenistan’s Policy ofNeutrality and Peace” at TheInstitute of Strategic Stud-ies Sector F-5/2, Islamabadon Wednesday March 18,2015 at 1700 at the Instituteof Strategic Studies, SectorF-5/2, Islamabad.

****Martyrs’ Day

Turkish Embassy will hold amemorial ceremony “18th

March-Martyrs’ Day” onWednesday 18th March. Thefunction will be held at 11:00am at Embassy of Turkey,Diplomatic Enclave.

Training is being imparted to wardens at PC by Rescue 1122.

CITY REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—The Punjab EmergencyService Rescue 1122 Director General, DrRizwan Naseer has sensitized Police War-dens on best practices for Rapid TransitSystem during construction phase ofMetro here.

Dr Rizwan highlighted the core issuesrelated to road safety and bus rapid tran-sit operations with reference to existingsystem and road crashes data dealt byEmergency Service Rescue 1122, says apress release issued here on Friday.

Emergency Officer Headquarters, Res-cue 1122 Deeba Shahnaz imparted train-ing to wardens on Rescue techniques,professional handling of road crashes vic-tims, evacuation of injured and timely firstaid to helpless victims of emergencies.Further training team practically demon-

strated life saving skills and police war-dens performed hands on life savingskills.

Traffic wardens were sensitized to en-sure strict enforcement of the law withreference to unauthorized overloadeddangerous vehicles, underage driving,non-functional headlights during nightsand driving without license.

The Director General said EmergencyService Rescue 1122 is available roundthe clock to respond emergency and di-saster but it is need of the hour to putjoint efforts to promote safety culture inPakistan.

All the participants actively partici-pated in all practical activities conductedby Rescue 1122 and highly appreciatedthe Emergency management system andits performance since it has been estab-lished in Pakistan.

Rescue 1122 sensitizes policewardens on rapid transit system

RAZA UR REHMAN

ISLAMABAD—The Capital DevelopmentAuthority (CDA) would initiate a com-prehensive programme to upgrade andrehabilitate roads, markets and greenbelts across the Federal Capital. Thiswas decided in a meeting held at CDAHeadquarters here on Friday.

The meeting was chaired by Chair-man CDA, Maroof Afzal while MemberAdministration and Estate Amer AliAhmed, Member Engineering ShahidSohail and other senior officers of theAuthority were also present in the meet-

ing. Under the programme, the author-ity would start rehabilitation work onMargalla Avenue from Saturday, whichwas most used as major alternative ar-tery during work on Islamabad sectionof Metro Bus Project.

All affected roads would also be re-habilitated simultaneously and CDAwould utilize its own resources to com-plete repair and maintenance work of theaffected roads. During the meeting it wasdecided that rehabilitation work on allmajor roads and streets of Islamabadwould be started without delay in orderto facilitate the general public and in the

first phase main arteries of Islamabadwould be repaired.

The authority has also decided toupgrade the different “marakiz” andclass three shopping centers ofIslamabad. For the purpose amenitiesincluding street lights, repair, mainte-nance, up-gradation of footpaths,roads and infrastructure in the marketswould be ensured. In order to makecapital city more beautiful and attrac-tive, the meeting decided to beautifyall entry points, median strips andgreen belts along the major avenueswith colourful flowering plants and

fascinating landscaping.It was also decided to plant different

varieties of shady and fruit trees at se-lected sites and flower beds are beingprepared at slopes and grass would beplanted at slopes along the Kashmirhighway.

On this occasion Chairman CDA,Maroof Afzal was apprised that in or-der to complete the repair maintenanceof affected roads, work on roads of sec-tor G-9 is in progress while repair andmaintenance work on the 9th Avenue,Nazim-ud-Din road, Luqman HakimRoad and other major roads of

Islamabad affected by Metro Projecthas also been started.

He was also apprised about the de-velopment and repair work at I-8 cross-ing and Faizabad areas on IslamabadExpressway. Chairman CDA MaroofAfzal directed the Engineering Wing totake consolidated steps for early comple-tion of repair and maintenance and car-peting work on major avenues of theFederal Capital without compromisingthe quality. He directed concerned offic-ers to pay personal visits to the siteswhere work is in progress to submit dailyprogress report in this regard.

Participants of a walk in connection with International Kidney Day at Benazir Bhutto Hospital.

CDA to initiate comprehensiveprogramme to upgrade roads, markets

FBISE to holdtraining workshops

for examination staffI S L A M A B A D — F e d e r a lBoard of Intermediate andSecondary Education willorganize workshops forthe training of Superinten-dents and Deputy Super-intendents to ensure bet-ter and transparent exami-nat ions.

These workshops will beheld in Islamabad on March16, in Rawalpindi on March17, Wah Cantt on March 18,Peshawar on March 19 andin Lahore on March 21, saida press release issued hereon Friday.—APP

RAWALPINDI—A five-day anti-polio drivewould commence in the entire district fromMarch 16(Monday). During the cam-paign,1696 polio teams would go door-to-door and administer polio drops to 750,793children less than five years ofage,Executive District Officer (EDO- Health)Dr Khalid Randahawa told APP here Fri-day.

He said staff deployed for the campaignhas been issued special instructions andinformed that no negligence in this regardwould be tolerated

EDO said, “1696 mobile teams havebeen constituted for door-to-door vaccina-tion of the children. Besides that 291 spe-cial centers will be set up to facilitate theparents so that their children could be vac-cinated in nearby areas. Sufficient quantityof vaccine is available, and no stone will beleft unturned in our efforts to make the cam-paign a success”.

The Health Department officials havebeen directed to remain vigilant ,particu-larly in those areas where polio-virus wasfound during the last campaign, the Dis-trict programme coordinator Javaid Iqbal Chinformed. He said all possible steps hadbeen taken by the Health Department tomake the campaign a success.

The DPC urged the citizens, particularlythe parents, to come forward and play theirrole for the elimination of the crippling dis-ease from society.

“The parents should cooperate with thespecial teams so that the set target couldbe achieved.” He said continuous effortswere being made to control polio. Specialteams have also been formed to cover ar-eas from where complaints about unat-tended children are registered, he said, add-ing that special arrangements have alsobeen made to cover Cantonment Board ar-eas of Rawalpindi.—APP

5-Day Anti-Polio driveto start from Monday

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Allama Iqbal Open University(AIOU) will set-up the most up-to-date Chem-istry lab at its campus to involve and encour-age youth in research activities for promotionof Science and technology in the country.

This would be one of the country’s most-modern labs where all state-of-the-art scienceequipments and instruments would be avail-able to students for their practical and researchactivities in the field of Science.

This announcement was made by the ViceChancellor Prof. Dr. Shahid Siddiqui whilespeaking at the concluding ceremony of the 2-days training workshop for college teachers atBS level under the title ‘Special Topics in Physi-cal Chemistry’.

The conference was organized by theChemistry Department, AIOU in collaborationwith Higher Education Commission. It was

aimed at providing latest and fresh knowledgeon special topics of Physical Chemistry (boththeoretical and practical components) taughtat BS level in which college teachers feel prob-lems to teach and to demonstrate the practicalcomponent. Altogether 24-teachers of differ-ent colleges across the country including AJK,Gujranwala, Abbottabad, Chakwal, Sialkot,Rawalpindi, Lahore, Taxila, Toba Tek Singh,Wah Cantt, Karak, South-waziristan andMansehra attended the conference.

Vice-Chancellor, AIOU Prof. Dr. ShahidSiddiqui instructed Dr. Naghmana Rashid,Chairperson, Department of Chemistry to startimmediate work on preparing PC-1 for settingup the most modern Chemistry lab.

He said that steps are being initiated topromote the culture of research and develop-ment by creating an enabling environment inthe University where faculty and students willbe engaged in research activities.

AIOU to setup most up-to-dateChemistry lab at its campus RAWALPINDI—Rawalpindi police

have arrested four accused on viola-tion of wall-chalking ban.

Rawalpindi police spokesmantold that Rattaamral police nettedDanish, Rizwan, Nadeem Akhtar and

Idrees Rustam from different areasas they were involved in wall-chalk-ing.

Cases have been registeredagainst them under Punjab prohibitionof expressing matters on walls act.

The spokesman informed, city po-lice had started a campaign againstwall-chalking and strict action in ac-cordance with the law is being takenagainst the elements involved in theillegal activity.—APP

Four wall-chalking ban violators netted

Speakers at a seminar in Geneva have called for implementation of the UN resolutions on Kashmir and repeal of all draconian laws fromoccupied Kashmir.

SRINAGAR—President of Kashmir Traders and Manufacturers Federation Muhammad Yaseen Khan threatened to launch“mas-sive” Valley-wide agitation against the state gov-ernment if the compensation to flood-affected trad-ers isn’t releasedby March 31.

HASSAN ZAINAGAIREE

‘A man cannot ride you unless your back is bent.’Martin Luther King

Addressing his maiden press conference inJammu, soon after taking oath as chief minister of JK state, Mufti Muhammad Sayed

said that PDP forged alliance with BJP ‘out of con-viction and not out of convenience.’ A week be-fore in an interview with NDTV, he said that theywere negotiating with BJP ‘out of conviction, notcompulsion.’ Looking at the face-value, the claimsounds hollow by the one who heads governmentformed after cobbling ‘North and South poles’ to-gether. Laws of physics though defy the logic be-hind the ‘great miracle’, nevertheless it happened.We are a living testimony for the stunning embrace.How can we deny our own eyes.

We are told that the confluence of the twoopposite ideologies has materialized at the call ofconscience, what they hail as ‘conviction’? Butunlike convenience, conviction refuses grafting. Itdoes not make one compromise on identity. Its verytemperament is against the hybrid culture. Its

Conviction or convenience?One wonders where to place the alliance and how?

moorings glue it to the belief basics. Unless it fallsto the tantalizing aroma of power lust or fortune-making, it articulates its soul out fairly andfearlessly. Convenience, on the other hand, pushesyou on the descent. It explores the mid point of,what they call, ‘reconciliation’. A marriage betweenpositives and negatives. Not difficult to guess thebaby evolved of this marriage. Opportunism is notdistant tribe, it has sibling relationship withconviction.

While stitching alliance with BJP, Mufti didnothing unusual, unexpected. He did what his pre-decessors kept doing since last six decades. Fromlegendary Sheikh Abdullah to Omar Abdullahdown on the line, whosoever held the reins of powerfelt the compulsion of skinning their conscience.Their flirtatious nature to embrace power, at anycost, prodded them to do anything they could do.Speaking emotions during elections and then mak-ing a volte face characterized the political class‘mandated to rule’. More the emotional blackmail,more the rigging of trust.

Mufti sahib needs not to ferment morality fromwhat is his purely a political convenience. In this

‘art of possibilities’ he hugged the monster he hadpromised to chase it away. But the hug did not comewithout extracting its pound and a deep bleedinggouge at the face. It scrubbed Mufti and his partyoff the pride rooted in party’s Kashmir-specificagenda. In other words Kashmir nationalism. From‘not an inch’ retreat on his poll manifesto he wentforward to negotiate ‘out of conviction’ what sat-isfied his perpetuity in ‘stable government’.

When you say it is alliance of conviction, itipso facto negates the veracity of earlier statements.That shows shelf life of the electoral promises andmanifestoes is terribly short -from filling of formsto indelible finger mark. Backing out from the ear-lier commitments conveys the fatigue. You smellstink now and, therefore, explore other “hygienic”devices to “wed” the two opposites.

Mufti promised ‘no compromise’ on Article370. He promised revocation of AFSPA withinone year from entire JK. He promised return ofland under army’s unlawful occupation. He saidhe was mandated to get back power projects (start-ing from Salal and Uri ). He declared he will buttDelhi on royalty of projects and seek compensa-

tion in crores of rupees to losses state suffereddue to Indus Water Treaty. He sought support tofight against ‘communal and divisive forces’ andpreserve demography of Muslim majority state.His self rule slogan, a step ahead of autonomy,better not be mentioned. It lifts us up on wings ofecstasy to smell some thing Huryat has sealed thecopyright of.

The 16-page ‘Agenda of Alliance’ BJP and PDPsigned to abide by, in line with other documents,hailed `historic’, is another doublespeak to cam-ouflage power hunger. And frolic in the belief thatpeople are too naïve to dig the intent.

Self rule , that PDP cashed on fulsome has beenput on the carpet. The new gimmickry (and mim-icry too) is that ‘ nobody can touch Article 370’, asif PDP’s ‘soft separatism’ was meant to maintainits present status(husk), not ‘restore to state 1947position and glory’ as the party leadership keptblowing the trumpet of. Let us stomach it for theirnon-availability of numbers in assembly. However,its bending on Sharnarthees (West Pakistan Refu-gees) and not taking a firm stand in accordancewith the provisions of the state is disgusting . In-

stead it pleased BJP by agreeing , what they unjus-tifiably and cunningly puts as, ‘one time settlement’of refugees. Deluges that visit one-time leave noth-ing to retrieve. There is nothing ‘humanitarian’ toplead at the cost of others’ miseries, nay calamity.Land held by army is sensitive issue and partyvowed to return it. Alliance Agenda though talksof returning land taken by army in violation of pro-visions of law, it chains PDP to agree ‘ except in asituation where retaining the land is absolutelyimperative in view of specific requirement’. Whoseauthority is to prevail to decide what merits ‘spe-cific requirement’ ? Obviously not sategovernment’s. Thus dice is kept rolled in favor ofthe powerful.

That said and done, what Mufti did in ‘recon-ciling’ two extremes, other Indian mainstream lead-ers, in particular Abdullahs , would have capitu-lated to far worse imperious demands of BJP. Thebuoyancy of spirit Mufti demonstrated in prolongednegotiations to explore midway is not in the bonemarrow of NC and its leaders. A phone call is allthat to show up its hip gyrations.

—Courtesy: Greater Kashmir

SRINAGAR—President ofKashmir Traders and Manufac-turers Federation (KTMF)Muhammad Yaseen KhanThursday threatened to launch“massive” Valley-wide agita-tion against the state govern-ment if the compensation toflood-affected traders isn’t re-leased by March 31.

“New Delhi as well as thestate government has been in-different to the flood-hit trad-ers. So far, the governmentshave provided us no compen-sation. And this approach of thegovernment will force us totake extreme steps in case ourdemands are not met,” he saidin a press conference here.

In absence of any financialhelp from the government,“most” business centers are yetto restart operations after thefloods, Khan said.

“We tell the state govern-ment to stop looking at us as

Traders seek compensationbefore March 30, threaten

‘massive’ agitationtenants and as second rate citi-zens. We are none of them, butowners of Kashmir,” he said.He asked the state governmentto take up the issue of compen-sation with New Delhi, andhave it resolved “within thedeadline on priority basis”.

“This destruction caused bythe floods is because of the stategovernment’s negligence. It is,therefore, the government’s re-sponsibility to compensate us.And until we receive it, we willnot leave them,” he asserted.

About the mode of protest,the KTMF president said “thistime we will fight from all thepossible ways, but the imme-diate step will be taken afterMarch 31”.

Khan said the Federationhad already planned to launchan agitation when the assur-ances from cabinet ministersincluding Altaf Bukhari,Haseen Drabu, and Imran Raza

Ansari motivated it to give upthe idea.

Criticising the role of thebanks and insurance companiesfor their “failure” in helping thetraders, Khan said: “Only 50per cent of Rs 35,000 crorelosses was insured and the factis that the traders got only Rs2,800 crore. Where would trad-ers get rest of the money?”

KTMF had Sunday met thesix-member Cabinet Sub-Com-mittee (CSC), which the PDP-BJP coalition has formed toassess the damages caused bythe floods.

The list of demands sub-mitted by KTMF to the CSCincludes Rs 10, 00,000 as com-pensation to each affectedtrader, waiver on taxes andbank loans for 10 years, time-bound insurance settlement ofinsurance cases, quick buildingpermission, and a single-win-dow clearance system.—KR

SRINAGAR—Recently released fromfive years illegal detention Hurriyetleader, Masarrat Aalam Butt has ex-pressed full confidence in the leadershipof Syed Ali Gilani, maintaining that theveteran leader had always been a sourceof inspiration for him.

Masarrat Aalam Butt in an interviewwith Kashmir Media Service, today, saidthat he would continue his sincere effortsfor resolution of the Kashmir dispute un-der the stewardship of Syed Ali Gilani. Heurged the Hurriyet leadership to forgegreater unity among its ranks to take theongoing liberation movement to its logi-cal conclusion in a more effective man-ner. He also appealed to the internationalcommunity to play an effective role in thesettlement of the Kashmir conflict for en-

Aalam expresses confidencein Gilani’s leadership

Release of illegally detained Kashmiris demandedsuring durable peace in South Asia.

The Chairman of All Parties HurriyetConference, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, ad-dressing a gathering at Jamia Masjid inSrinagar demanded immediate release ofall illegally detained Kashmiris languish-ing in different jails. He deplored that theIndian government and media were mis-leading their people by portraying a wrongpicture of Jammu and Kashmir.

Hurriyet leaders including JavaidAhmed Mir, Mukhtar Ahmed Waza,Nayeem Ahmed Khan and Shabbir AhmedDar addressing public gatherings at dif-ferent places stressed the need to settle theKashmir dispute through meaningful dia-logue process among Pakistan, India andthe genuine Kashmiri leadership.

On the other hand, the Amnesty Inter-

national India in a statement issued in NewDelhi demanded of the Indian authoritiesto ensure fair trial to the Kashmiri detain-ees booked under draconian law, PublicSafety Act. It said that the release ofHurriyet leader, Masarrat Aalam Butt, whohad been detained multiple times under thePSA, had once again drawn attention tothe abuses enabled by this oppressive law.

In Geneva, speakers at a seminar or-ganized on the sidelines of the 28th ses-sion of the United Nations Human RightsCouncil called for implementation of theUN resolutions on Kashmir and repeal ofall draconian laws from occupied Kash-mir. The speakers included Syed FaizNaqshbandi, Sardar Amjad Yousaf Khan,Victoria Schofield, Alfred D Zayas andDaniela Dongues.—KD

SRINAGAR—Hurriyet leader, NayeemAhmad Khan has said that the Kashmiripeople are facing the worst kind of Indiastate terrorism for demanding their rightto self-determination.

Nayeem Ahmad Khan addressing apublic meeting at Singhpora in Baramullademanded release of over 500 Kashmiripolitical prisoners languishing in differentjails. He said that over 100,000 civilianshad been martyred by the Indian forces inlast two and a half decades only because

Kashmiris facing worstkind of state terrorism

they demanded political rights. “The stateterrorism has rendered more than 30,000women widowed while thousands havebeen molested by the troops,” he deplored.

He appealed to the international com-munity to take notice of the Kashmiris’ plightand play role in settling the Kashmir disputefor establishing durable peace in the southAsian region. He said that the Kashmiripeople would protect and safeguard the sac-rifices of their martyrs at all costs.

Meanwhile, Hurriyet leader, Shabbir

Ahmed Dar speaking to people at NaseemBagh in Sopore said that India was using bru-tal tactics to suppress the Kashmiris’ strugglefor securing their right to self-determinationbut it would never succeed in its designs.

He said that India had put thousandsof innocent Kashmiris behind the bars tosuppress the break their resolve and theworld community must come forward andtake cognizance of the crimes against hu-manity being committed in occupied Kash-mir by Indian forces’ personnel.—KW

LAHORE—India should take all possibleand the most effective steps to resolve thelong awaited Held Kashmir issue at theearliest in the vastest interests of peacebetween India and Pakistan including du-rable peace in entire South Asian coun-tries, otherwise a worldwide movementwould be launched in near future with thecollaboration of globally recognized hu-man rights organizations such as AmnestyInternational. Human Rights Watch, Hu-man Rights First, Human Defenders andall other organizations, which are nowdeeply involved and committed to resolveKashmir issue at all costs, renowned poet,writer, politician and Chairman of HumanRights International- HRI , Syed AnwarAleemi advocate, conveyed his compre-

Solve Kashmir issue: E-message to Modihensive e-message to the Prime Ministerof India Mr. Narender Modi Friday.

It is demanded through the letter thatthe Government of India should arrangeat the possibly earliest the free and fairplebiscite/referendum under the strict in-structions of United Nations for the bet-terment of humanity at large.

Syed Anwar Aleemi, Chairman HRItold that the copies of the letter had al-ready been sent to The Secretary Generalof United Nation Mr. Ban Ki-moon, Presi-dent of USA Mr. Barak Obama and PrimeMinister of United Kingdom Mr. DavidCameron to take proper action for the reso-lution of the issue strictly in accordancewith the resolutions of United Nations forthe achievement of durable peace and tran-

quility of entire world especially in SouthAsian countries.

Human rights activists of internationalstature do not accept the maliciously ar-ranged so-called recent elections in the HeldKashmir, which often took place after theimposition of curfew and with using all ruth-less organs to keep Kashmir under theirconstant rule. Entire international family ofhuman rights activists clearly name suchelections as mere fraud for misleading theinternational community, which is unbear-able for all who are the flag bearers of in-dependence and civil liberties for all livingon this Earth Planet without any discrimi-nation. Indian Governments mode of prac-tice towards Kashmir issue is named as anopen violence.—Email

Delhi ‘harassing’Mufti: NC

SRINAGAR—National Confer-ence has said that New Delhishould stop harassing and dis-tressing elected Chief Ministerof Jammu and Kashmir and inno way Centre should interveneinto the subjects that fall inState List.

“Mufti Muhammad Sayeedis not an autocrat but a Chief Min-ister who has been elected by thepeople of Kashmir. People havegiven him authority to take deci-sions in the State. Centre has noright to challenge and raise hueand cry over the decisions takenby him,” former member parlia-ment and National Conferencesenior leader Shari-u-Din Shariksaid, adding that New Delhi istreating Kashmir as its colony.Kashmir is not a colony of India.

It has its own elected ChiefMinister who has right to takedecisions. Centre is not onlychallenging the authority ofChief Minister but also giving animpression to the people ofKashmir that they are the slavesof India upon whom all decisionswill be thrusted from NewDelhi,” he said. Castigating NewDelhi for over-reacting over therelease of Masrat Aalam, Sharif-u-Din Sharik said that Masratwas arrested by State Police andit was the state court that orderedhis release.—KD

JAMMU—J&K State Commit-tee of CPI(M) has reiterated itsstand that Article 370 cannot beabrogated, as this is the onlylink between Jammu and Kash-mir and the rest of India. TheState Secretary of the party,M.Y.Tarigami alogwith ShamPrasad Kesar and M.Y.GNairang senior leaders of theparty addressed a news confer-ence in Jammu on Thursday.They referred to the statementof Union MOS Home in whichthe Minister informed theRajya Sabha yesterday that thepresent government is not con-sidering the abrogation of thearticle, because it has not therequired numbers in the parlia-ment. The leaders asserted thateven if the government has 2/3rd majority in the parliamentit cannot abrogate the article370 as for that, recommenda-tion of the Constituent Assem-bly of J&K is mandatory andthe constituent assembly hasceased to exist after 1956. Infact, article 370 which has beenreduced to husk, needs to berestored to its original position,they maintained.

No party despitenumbers can abrogate

370: CPI(M)Replying to a question they

explained that article 370 in noway, undermines the unity ofthe country and is in the bestinterest of the entire state ofJ&K. It was included in theConstitution of India after pro-longed negotiations betweenthe then established leadershipof the state and the rest of thecountry.

The leaders expressed theirdismay over too much hypegiven to the release of MasratAlam and said that anindividual’s release should notcreate an impression that it willjeopardize the security systemof the entire country. Instead offocusing on such an unimpor-tant issue, the governmentshould rather try to deliver onground and mitigate the suffer-ings of the people, who are in amiserable condition, due todevastating floods, untimelyheavy rains and snow blizzardsin Kashmir and several areas ofJammu.

Replying to another ques-tion, they made it clear that In-dia has a vibrant judicial sys-tem and if the govt.—KW

IOK HCBAflays attitude

of Indianpoliticians, MPsSRINAGAR—The High CourtBar Association of occupiedKashmir has strongly criticizedthe attitude, method and man-ner of certain Indian politiciansand parliament members, whoraises hue and cry both in andoutside parliament, over therelease of Masarrat Alam Buttwho was released from overfour years illegal detention.TheBar Association in a statekmetnissued in Srinagar said that de-taining a person repeatedly onsame charges was not only aserious violation of humanrights but is also a violation ofthe provisions of draconianPublic Safety Act (PSA).

It said that Masarrat Buttwas arrested in October 2010and till his release in March,2015, he was detained on sixoccasions under PSA. Like-wise, from 1990 till his last re-lease in March, 2015, he hasbeen detained under black law,PSA 16 times and in all thegrounds of his detention, thesame stale, old and frivolousgrounds have been repeatedlyused by the detaining authori-ties, it added.—KD

The reality is thatbusiness and

investment spend-ing are the true

leading indicatorsof the economyand the stock

market. If you wantto know where the

stock market isheaded, forget

about consumerspending and retailsales figures. Lookto business spend-ing, price inflation,interest rates, andproductivity gains.

—Mark Skousen

KARACHI: Governor State Bank of Pakistan Ashraf Mahmood Wathra addressingduring Easy Mobile Commerce 2015.—PO photo

ISE-10 Index witnessesbearish trendISLAMABAD—IslamabadStock Exchangewitnessed bearish trendhere on Friday as theISE-10 index was downby 6.17 points andclosed at 3857.77 points.A total of 26,100 shareswere traded, which wereup by 24,100 shareswhen compared withprevious day’s tradingof 2000 shares. Out of141 companies, shareprices of 114 companiesrecorded increase whileshare prices of 27companies registereddecrease whereas nocompany remainedstable in today’strading. Indus Motorsremained the top tradingcompany in today’strading with Rs. 35.64per share, while theshares of PakistanTobacco Pakistandecreased by Rs. 32.96per shares during thetrading session. K-Electric, Fauji FertilizerBin Qasim and MariPetroleum remained themarket leaders duringFriday’s trading with25,000, 500 and 400shares respectively.—APP

Shipping activityat Port QasimKARACHI—Four shipsC.V. Hanjin Shenzen,C.V. CMA CGM Florida,M.V. Oriental Queen andM.T. Atlantic Glorycarrying containers,general cargo andchemicals were arrangedberthing at QasimInternational ContainerTerminal and MultiPurpose Terminal berthnumbers 1 & 3 respec-tively at Port Qasim(PQ) on Thursday, portsources said here onFriday. Two more shipsscheduled to load /offload container andcrude oil also arrived atouter anchorage of PortQasim during the last 24hours. According to thesources berth occu-pancy was observed at50% at the Port onTuesday, where sevenships namely C.V HanjinShenzen, C.V CMACGM Florida, M.V TanBinah-22, M.V OrientalQueen, M.T AtlanticGlory, M.V Inceptionand Lahore are currentlyoccupying PQA berthsto load / offloadcontainers, cement,general cargo, chemi-cals, canola seeds andfurnace oil respectively.Cargo volume handledat the Port during thelast 24 hours was120,052 tonnes, com-prising 91,015 tonnesimports.—APP

SBP injectsRs 772.95b intomarketKARACHI—State Bankof Pakistan (SBP) onFriday injected Rs 772.95billion into market forseven days through itsopen market operation(OMO). The rate ofreturn accepted is 8percent, said a SBPrelease.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The Chairman Securities and Ex-change Commission of Pakistan (SECP)Muhammad Zafar Ul Haq Hijazi has emphasizedthe need to make Pakistan’s capital market morevibrant, transparent and effective to cater to thelong term funding needs of the industry. How-ever, the priority should be to safeguard the in-vestors’ interest. He said this during a visit of theKarachi Stock Exchange’s here on Friday. Chair-man KSE, Muneer Kamal and MD Nadeem Naqviwelcomed the Chairman SECP and his team to theKarachi Stock Exchange.

Tahir Mahmood, Commissioner (CLD &LL&GCD) SECP, Akif Saeed, Commissioner (SCD& IS&TD) SECP, Imran Iqbal Panjwani, Execu-tive Director (SMD & PRDD) SECP and MusaratJabeen, Director / Head of Chairman Secretariat,SECP also accompanied the Chairman, says astatement issued by the Commission here to-day. Hijazi said that it was important for the front-line regulators to carry out their responsibilitywith diligence and ensure that prescribed regu-lations were being followed by market partici-pants.

Chairman SECP for making Pakistan’s capitalmore vibrant, transparent

ISLAMABAD—Minister for FinanceMuhammad Ishaq Dar on Friday expressedthe hoped that the Aviation Policy, whenfinally implemented, would help growth ofthe Sector in Pakistan and contribute tostrengthening of the economy. He statedthis while reviewing the proposed AviationPolicy put forth by the Aviation Divisionhere on Friday.

Special Assistant to Prime Minister onAviation, Capt. Shujaat Azim apprised theFinance Minister about salient features ofthe policy saying it aimed at promoting pro-fessionalism in the aviation sector throughpublic-private partnership. The Policy en-visaged strengthening Pak Civil AviationAuthority (PCAA) and incentivizing avia-tion business in Pakistan. Public-privatepartnerships, Shujaat said would be intro-duced for airport operations, managementand development.

He explained that in order to enhance

Finance Minister reviewsproposed aviation policy

regulation of aviation services paid up capi-tal requirement was being enhanced for air-lines coming into business. Minimum no ofaircrafts required for domestic and interna-tional operations was also being reviewed,he added.

He hinted at outsourcing managementof landside and terminal buildings to knowninternational companies engaged in airportbusiness through a transparent process atmajor airports.

Shujaat said that private investmentwould be encouraged for overall promotionof the aviation sector. The Minister appre-ciated the initiatives by the Aviation Divi-sion and directed that the Policy documentmay be presented to ECC in due course forconsideration. He hoped that the Policy,when it was finally implemented, would helpgrowth of Aviation Sector in Pakistan andcontribute to strengthening of theeconomy.—APP

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—A Memorandum of Under-standing (MoU) was signed here at minis-try of Petroleum and Natural Resourcesbetween the Government of Pakistan,Kawait Petroleum Corporation and KirtharPakistan B.V on Friday for exploration ofoil and gas in Paharpur block. The cer-emony was witnessed by Federal Ministerfor Petroleum and Natural ResourcesShahid Khaqan Abbasi and Advisor to theMinistry of Petroleum and Natural Re-sources.

The MoU, Exploration licence (EL) andPetroleum Concession Agreements (PCA)were signed by Sheikh Nawaf Saud NasirAl-Sabah, the Chief Executive Officer ofKuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Com-pany (KUFPEC), Secretary ministry of Pe-troleum and Natural Resources ArshadMirza and Saeedullah Shah, Director Gen-eral Petroleum Concessions. The govern-ment executed PCA and EL over BlockNo.3170-5 (Paharpur) with Kirthar PakistanB.V. The Paharpur block is located in DeraIsmail Khan and Tank districts of KhyberPakhtunkhwa with a small part of Bhakkardistrict of Punjab.

The total area of the block is 2260.79 kmand minimum firm work commitment is US$9.5 million including drilling of two explor-atory wells. Apart from minimum work com-mitment, the company is obligated to spenda minimum of US$ 30,000 per year in theblock on social welfare schemes. The gov-

Pak-Kuwait ink MoU for oil, gas exploration

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Petroleum & Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Secretary Petro-leum Arshad Mirza exchanging the documents of the signing of Petroleum Concession Agreement & Explorationlicense for Paharpur Block with Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company.

ernment of Kuwait has taken keen interestin the upstream petroleum sector and in-tends to invest more in the exploration ofoil and gas in Pakistan.

Pakistan has a large sedimentary basincovering over 827,268 Sq.km and spreadover both onshore and offshore. Majorityof the area has remained unexplored or un-der explored. The current government hastaken various measures to create an invest-ment friendly environment in the Explora-tion and Production (E&P) sector to attractinvestment.

Due to the efforts by the ministry ofPetroleum and Natural Resources, 173 wellshave been spud, 47 discoveries have beenmade and 17 leases have been granted dur-ing the tenure of this government. The grantof 46 new blocks during the tenure of thecurrent government has increased the areaunder exploration from 269,152 sq km to363,639 sq km (35% increase), which is nowabout 44 % of the total sedimentary area.

Moreover, around 32,000 bbl of oil pro-duction per day have been added and over500 mmcfd additional gas has also been in-jected in the gas network system. Pakistandomestic oil production touched its high-est level on December 7, 2014 - 100,698 bar-rels per day. The aforesaid performance isthe result of effective monitoring of E&Pactivities in accordance with the work com-mitments. Various steps are also being takento improve the regulatory oversight andprocedures have been developed to stream-line and facilitate the regulatory approvals.

ISLAMABAD—State Bank of Pakistan hasrevised its instructions on Fit and ProperTest Criteria for board and senior manage-ment in banks/DFIs. A comprehensive FPTCriteria is already in place for Board mem-bers, Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) andKey Executives of Banks/DFIs.

In order to make the FPT Criteria moreobjective and to ensure succession plan-ning and diversity of the knowledge/expe-rience base of the management, followingchanges have been made, a statement ofthe Central Bank issued on Friday said. TheBanks/DFIs shall ensure that the posts ofkey executives shall not be filled on acting/additional charge basis for more than three(3) months.

In order to ensure compliance withSBP’s FPT Criteria in respect of appoint-

SBP revises instructions onFPT Criteria

ment on key positions, the Banks/DFIs shallconduct prior self assessment of the fitnessand propriety of their Directors, Presidents/CEOs and Key Executives and furnish anundertaking to this effect to SBP.

Moreover, the appointment, compensa-tion package, promotion/demotion and re-newal of the employment contracts of KeyExecutives shall invariably be approved bythe Board of Directors or the concernedBoard Committee of the Bank/DFI.

The Board of Directors shall also for-mulate an organization-wide rotation policywithin three (3) months, ensuring that theKey Executives are rotated appropriatelyafter having served on a particular positionfor a reasonable time. Complete details ofthe circular by the Bank in this regard areavailable on its website.—APP

Remove furbefore sowing

cotton forbetter results

MULTAN—Agriculture ex-perts have advised farmers toremove fur from the cottonseed before its sowing to en-sure direct access of agricul-ture implements to seed andget better production. In a re-lease issued by Punjab agri-culture department, expertssaid that removal of fur fromseed was essential beforesowing to ensure that it caneasily be sown by drill orhand, can properly absorbmoisture and other imple-ments, and most importantlythe germs attached to fur eas-ily get killed in the process.

The seed after removal offur does not let heat affectits germination. Explainingtechniques, they said thatten kilogram seed having furon it be put in a plastic tuband commercial gradeSulphuric acid be sprinkledon it uniformly. A woodenstick be utilized to stir seedand acid mixture continu-ously for 10-15 minutes. Thefur would be removed leav-ing shining seed behind. Toclean the acid from this seed,it should be washed withwater time and again till thetime no traces of acid are left.To check the acid, farmerscan utilize a blue litmus pa-per and put it on the seed.

The healthy seed betaken out of the tub andspread on a clean floor at ashady place. The seed isready for sowing once itbecomes dry. Experts saidthat suitable quantity of acidbe utilized to remove furwhile keeping your bodyand clothes safe.—APP

He said both the Apex Regulator (SECP) andthe frontline Regulators (exchanges) have com-mon objective objectives and emphasized for closeinteraction between them. It was imperative tobuild the confidence of investors in the CapitalMarket so that the size and vibrancy of the marketcan be expanded many folds from its narrow baseat present, he added. He asked the Board and man-agement of KSE to move forward with positivistand confidence to take the Capital Market to thenext level.

He said that transparency and systemizationof decision making process at SECP and the ex-changes was his first priority along withstrengthening the capacity of frontline regula-tors. While, expressing his desire for building aconsensus based decision making process, heassured KSE Directors that the SECP’s approachwill be to consult with all stake-holders in policyand regulatory matters. The Chairman SECP ap-plauded the role of senior market participants inbringing KSE to the prominence and advisedthat the valuable experience should now be fo-cused on the future.

“They should look beyond the past andthink of what KSE and Pakistan Capital Marketshould look like ten years from now. Hijazi sug-gested to form a Chairmen’s Committee, con-sists of Chairmen’s of all the three stock ex-changes to deliberate upon and drive the imple-mentation of a broader vision for Pakistan’sCapital Market going forward. The SECP Chair-man said that his vision is to make Pakistan aregional capital market while ensuring the high-est international standards and best practicesin terms of regulatory framework.

He said that the SECP was closely engagedwith the International Organization of SecuritiesCommissions (IOSCO) and Pakistan has movedsignificantly closer in implementing IOSCO prin-ciples. Muneer Kamal, Chairman KSE, welcomedthe SECP Chairman’s remarks, stating that it wasquite encouraging to hear Hijazi’s positive com-ments and his broader vision for the Capital Mar-ket.

Muneer Kamal highlighted the Karachi StockExchange’s dialogue with MSCI with a view tomoving Pakistan from MSCI’s Frontier Market In-

dex to the Emerging Market Index and stated thatSECP’s focus on elevating the regulatory side willbe of great help in this regard.

The Chairman KSE also highlighted the impor-tance of post-demutualization era and current ef-forts by the exchanges to seek strategic investorsof good standing, as major opportunities that ex-ist for Capital Market growth in Pakistan need tobe actualized.

Shabbar Zaidi, Chairman of the RegulatoryAffairs Committee (RAC), speaking on the occa-sion highlighted the work of RAC and suggestedthat a formal monthly meeting between the SECPand RAC should be instituted so that both theApex and frontline regulators are on the same pageand there is a systematic process of dialogue andcommunication between the two. Chairman SECPagreed to the suggestion and asked his team mem-bers to initiate this process. Hijazi stated that sev-eral legacy issues would be resolved soon.Nadeem Naqvi, MD KSE and Shafqat Ali presentedthe workings of the commercial and regulatoryfunctions of KSE, respectively, to the ChairmanSECP and his team.—APP

Commemorativecoin on Islamia

College PeshawarAMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The State Bankof Pakistan is issuing Rs. 20Commemorative Coin in thewake of the Government ofPakistan’s decision on theeve of 100 years of IslamiaCollege, Peshawar. Thesecoins will be issuedthrough the exchangecounters of all the field of-fices of SBP Banking Ser-vices Corporation from 16thMarch 2015.

The coin weighs 12grams with 75 % copper and25% nickel. Its shape isround with a diameter of 30.0mm. The centenary celebra-tion of Islamia CollegePeshawar is inscribed inwording as “100 years ofGlory” on the obverse faceof the coin.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The FinanceMinister Ishaq Dar, Friday,directed formation of a com-mittee headed by Minister forNational Health Services,comprising members from theCabinet Division, Finance,Health Services and FBR tolook into the matter and putup recommendations withina week. This decision wastaken here in a meetingchaired by the Finance Min-ister Ishaq Dar with key stake-holders including the BritishAmerican Tobacco (BAT)/PTC, Minister of State for Na-tional Health Services, Regu-lations and Coordination,

Committee formed toresolve placement of

cigarette packs warningSaira Afzal Tarar and seniorofficials from the PM Office,Ministry of Finance and FBR.

The visiting delegationdiscussed with the FinanceMinister the issue regardingenhancing size of pictorialwarning on cigarette packsfrom 40% to 85% as per SROissued by the Ministry ofNational Health Services.The SRO is to be imple-mented w.e.f 31st of March.

The delegation pointedout that while the tobaccoindustry was paying taxes,sale of smuggled brandswas already hurting theirbusiness which might re-ceive a boost after imple-mentation of the said SRO.

Effective mode ofcomplaints about

POL pricesintroduced

STAFF REPORTER

L A H O R E — C h a i r m a nPunjab Information Tech-nology Board (PITB), Dr.Umar Saif has said that tocrop the real benefits of re-duced prices of petroleumproducts, the PITB hasintroduced an effectivemode of lodging publiccomplaints by contactingthe helpline of PunjabGovernment-“ZimmadarShehri”.

While talking here, hetold that the governmenthad reduced prices of Die-sel and petrol to much ex-tent during last months,but it was not benefittingthe people due to tradi-tional tactics of distribu-tors and filling stationsowners. On receiving largenumber of complaints, theChief Minister Punjab,Muhammad ShahbazSharif wished to resolvethe matter. The issue wastaken up by the PITB andthe citizens were re-quested, through anawareness campaign tocall at the Zimmedar Shehrihelpline i.e. 0800-02345and report the offenderson spot.

He told that thehelpline, working round theclock received a massiveresponse from the public ina short span of time as ap-proximately 6,000 com-plaints were registeredagainst petrol pumps’ own-ers and almost all of themwere resolved by districtgovernments. “The citizenscan also report other dis-crepancies such as if anydistributor refuses to sellthe fuel or its quality orquantity is low. The use ofcell phone has proved muchhelpful to overcome manyother disarrays like hoard-ing, price hike and sellingof substandard food items.The use of modern technol-ogy is promoting culture ofaccountability as well astransparency in the societyby solving the complicatedproblems effectively atgrass root level,” he held.

Oil pricesrebound in AsiaSINGAPORE—Oil pricesclimbed in Asia Friday asnews of a deal to end a strikeat US refineries helped re-verse losses that had beenfuelled by another leap inUS inventories. US bench-mark West Texas Interme-diate (WTI) rose 12 centsto $47.17 and Brent climbed31 cents to $57.39 in late-morning trade. WTI sank$1.12 in New York and Brenttumbled 46 cents in Londonon Thursday after a gov-ernment report showedsurging US stockpiles, add-ing to a global oversupply.

The US Department ofEnergy on Wednesdaysaid inventories hit a freshrecord high of 448.9 millionbarrels last week, whilestockpiles at the Cushingterminal hub in Oklahoma—the price settlementpoint for WTI—also in-creased. Bloomberg Newsreported the United Steel-workers union represent-ing 30,000 US oil workershad reached a tentativedeal on a four-year con-tract with Royal DutchShell that could see a masswalkout brought to aclose.—AFP

Currency Selling Buying

USA 101.50 101.30

UK 150.93 150.63

Euro 107.68 107.47

Canada 79.81 79.65

Switzerland 100.97 100.78

Australia 77.92 77.77

Sweden 11.79 11.77

Japan 0.8356 0.8339

Norway 12.49 12.47

Singapore 73.30 73.16

Denmark 14.44 14.41

Saudi Arabia 27.06 27.01

Hong Kong 13.07 13.05

Kuwait 338.69 338.03

Malaysia 27.46 27.40

Newzealand 74.83 74.68

Qatar 27.87 27.82

UAE 27.63 27.58

Kr Won 0.0900 0.0899

Thailand 3.092 3.086

KARACHI: Indian High Commissioner TCA Raghavan addressing Businessmen atKCCI. S M Munir, Siraj Qasim Teli and others are also seen in the picture.—PO photoby Arif

ISLAMABAD: Dr Iftikhar Ahmad, Chairman PARC inaugurating Spring Tree Planta-tion Campaign 2015 at NARC campus whereas Dr M. Azeem Khan, DG NARC andother senior scientists were also present on the occasion.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The Indian High Commissioner Dr. T C ARaghavan said that substantial decrease in freight chargeswould be observed if Pak-India trade should also be routedthrough land route of Khokhrapar and Monabao in addi-tion to east and west Punjab. Pakistan and India shouldfocus their attention towards the increase in trade insteadof looking at the trade deficit as in spite of trade deficit of$ 3 Billion in trade with China faced by India. India is doingtrade with China.

This was stated by the Indian High Commissioner Dr.T C A Raghavan at luncheon meeting at Korangi Associa-tion of Trade & Industry. At the occasion CEO TDAP &Patron-in-Chief KATI S. M. Muneer, President KATIRashid Ahmed Siddiqui, Senator Abdul Haseeb Khan,Chairman Standing Committee Diplomatic Affairs MasoodNaqi and Former Chairman KATI Gulzar Firoz spoke andVice President KATI Tariq Baghpati, Farukh Mazhar, ZubairChhaya, Johar Ali Qandhari, Ehtesham Uddin, S.M. Yahyaand others were present on the occasion.

The High Commissioner Dr. T. C. A. Raghavan saidthat Pakistan and India can concentrate on fruit and foodprocessing industries which is evident from the attendanceof Indian importers in the recent mango festival in MirpurKhas. He said that both the countries have pledged tomove the economy on fast track and we should promoteand support this pledge.

Trade through Khokhrapar-Monabaoroute to reduce freight substantially

At the occasion Patron-in-Chief KATI S.M. Muneer saidthat all the neighboring countries have some issues butPakistan and India should not spoil their trade relations. Hesaid that the people of Pakistan and India are living belowthe poverty line and to eradicate it both the countries shouldenhance the business and trade. He said that at present thebalance of trade is in favour of India which is around $ 2.5Billion, the deficit should be remove and both the countriesshould balance it. He said in order to improve the infrastruc-ture for trade on land roots working on banking channel,Mobile services, courier services are inevitable.

The President KATI Rashid Ahmed Siddiqui said thataffective role should be played to improve the co-opera-tion and co-ordination between people and traders of boththe countries. He said that we should keep differencesand politics aside for improvement in trade so that citizensof both the countries would be benefited. At the occasionChairman Standing Committee Diplomatic Affairs MasoodNaqi said that long term planning is required to cast posi-tive impression on the business.

He said that Pakistan textile, pharmaceutical, foods andfruit, engineering industries are well known for their qual-ity throughout the world and we can jointly work on thesesectors. At the occasion Former Chairman KATI GulzarFiroz said that Indian High Commission should providenon police reporting two years multiple visa to Pakistanibusinessmen. He further said that Indian governmentshould resolve the non tariff barrier issue.

PARC launchestree plantation

campaignISLAMABAD—Chairman Paki-stan Agricultural ResearchCouncil (PARC), Dr. IftikharAhmad on Friday formallylaunched spring tree planta-tion campaign by plantingsapling at National Agricul-tural Research Centre(NARC) with an aim to pro-mote activities that guaranteepollution free atmosphere.The Chairman was accompa-nied by Director GeneralNARC, Dr. M. Azeem Khan,PARC members Dr.Muhammad Munir Guraya,Dr. Shahid Masood, DirectorFarm Operations and ServicesNARC Shamim-ul-Sabteenother officers and senior staffof PARC and NARC, accord-ing to statement issued.

“If we have to ensureclean and healthy atmo-sphere, we have to ensureproper plantation,” Dr.Iftikhar said while talking tothe participants on the occa-sion. He said that this yearthe focus of the campaign isplantation of fruit trees toencourage citizens growhealthy fruits for themselves.He said that this campaignhas been launched to per-suade people of all walks oflife to take part in suchhealthy activities for cleanenvironment.

He said that trees areactually the factories of oxy-gen production while theyfight carbon dioxide; hencethe vegetation plays a vitalrole in keeping human be-ings healthy. He was of theview that trees must beplanted wherever possibleincluding parks, play-grounds, streets and in thebackyards of houses whichwill not only provide ushealthy environment butwould enhance naturalbeauty. Meanwhile, follow-ing the suit, DG NARC, Dr.M. Azeem Khan alsoplanted sapling to promotethe cause while other highofficials of PARC and NARCalso took part in the cam-paign by planting seedlingsin different areas of the re-search center. It is pertinentto mention PARC every yearlaunches tree plantationcampaign under which plan-tation takes place in all itsnational and provincial re-search centers.—APP

LAHORE: Director UET Dr Waqar Ahmad and Arshad Munir Kazmi signing MoU at UET.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—A regional gathering of theworld’s most influential entrepreneur group,Entrepreneur’s Organization (EO), tookplace in Lahore recently invited by Entre-preneurs Organization Lahore Chapter fora regional event called Majlis “I’m Pos-sible”. The event organized by the Lahorechapter of EO, was attended by 145 leadingregional and international entrepreneursand business leaders, from Pakistan, India,Canada, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, USA& Mexico, Malaysia for workshops, con-ferences and networking opportunities.

Ex-Foreign Minister of Pakistan, HinaRabani Khar shared her dream of a betterand progressive Pakistan. During herspeech at EO Lahore Majlis “I’m Possible”,she focused on facing all the challenges inPakistan bravely, is the only way we canprogress in the future. “Education is themost important pillar to make Pakistan standstronger, Pakistan has a very strategic im-portance and it is never too late to get on

EO Majlis - a regionalentrepreneurship summit

the right path”, Khar said.Mian Muhammad Mansha, CEO, Nishat

Group of Companies said, “it is importantto explore changing trends in business andexplore new avenues of investment.”Mansha while talking to the audience atEO Lahore Majlis “I’m Possible” added thatentrepreneurs should be bold and shouldfollow their passion in new businesses andventures. Syed Babar Ali, AmanadaLindhout, Saba Gul, Dr. Amjad Saqib andMuniba Mazari were some eminent namesas the inspirational and motivational speak-ers at EO Lahore Majlis “I’m Possible”.

S M Imran, President of EO Lahore Chap-ter said that EO Majlis has wide-scale signifi-cance and has generated interest all over Pa-kistan. “Pakistan government is prioritizingthe development of SMEs and support forentrepreneurs as part of its national strategyto diversify the economy and create new jobs.EO Majlis will take these discussions to a glo-bal level for the first time and we are delightedand honored that Pakistan was selected tohost this landmark event”, he explained.

ISLAMABAD—The first Pakistan-AzerbaijanBusiness Forum was held in Baku,Azerbaijan which was attended by 150 busi-nessmen for exploring the trade and busi-ness opportunities existing in both coun-tries. A statement issued by Board of In-vestment here Friday said that the forumwas presided by President of Islamic Re-public of Pakistan, Mamnoon Hussain andPresident of Republic of Azerbaijan, IlhamAliyev.

The Forum was jointly organized byBoard of Investment (BOI) and AzerbaijanExport and Investment Promotion Founda-tion (AZPROMO). The Forum was attendedby around 150 businessmen from both thecountries. Besides Secretary BOI, IftikharHussain Babar, Ms. Rabiya Javeri Agha,Secretary Trade Development Authority ofPakistan and other senior officers from Min-istries of Petroleum and Natural Resourcesand Private Power Infrastructure Board par-ticipated in the forum. The Federation ofPakistan Chamber of Commerce and Indus-try (FPCCI) was represented by MuhammadWaseem Vohra, Vice President, FPCCI.

Secretary BOI gave a detailed presen-tation focusing on investment climate andopportunities for investment in Pakistan.He highlighted strengths and promisingeconomic outlook of Government of Paki-stan and invited Azeri investors to investin Pakistan. He also highlighted that theGovernment of Pakistan has taken a num-ber of initiatives to attract foreign invest-ment for exploration of new energy re-

Pak-Azerbaijan BusinessForum held in Baku

sources and to make the existing powersystem efficient.

He stated that government has taken thedual challenges of terrorism andenergy cri-sis head on and significant improvementscan be seen on both thefronts. SecretaryTDAP also made a statement that huge po-tential exist between the two countries tofurther expand trade volume. While referringthe potential she stated that Pharmaceuticalproducts, surgical instruments, sportsgoods, defense equipment, readymade gar-ments, rice, fruits and sea food of Pakistancan easily enter in to Azeri market.

Representatives of Ministry of Petro-leum & Natural Resources and PPIB alsospoken about huge investment opportuni-ties in sectors like energy and power andthe incentives packages announced bygovernment for these sectors to attractFDIs. FPCCI also signed an MoU for coop-eration with its counterpart. Waseem Vohra,Vice President FPCCI signed the MoU onbehalf of FPCCI. During the forum B2Bmeetings were also held wherein more than80 businessmen and investors participatedfrom both sides and held fruitful discus-sions with their counterparts.

This forum is expected to pave the wayfor enhancement of trade and investmentsin both the countries. The delegates visitsto each other’s country for exploring pos-sibilities for further expansion of trade willresult in close contacts between the Cham-bers of Commerce and Industry of the twocountries.—APP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Australian investors should come forward andexplore the huge potential exist in Pakistan which is fastbecoming good destination for Foreign Direct Investment(FDI) in South Asia. These views were expressed by theLCCI Vice President and Deputy Head of a trade delegationvisiting Australia, Syed Mahmood Ghaznavi while address-ing at a high profile meeting Australia Pakistan BusinessCouncil. Chairman of the Council Rana Iftikhar, PakistaniConsul General in Australia Abdul Aziz, Member AustralianParliament Toni Issa, Khawaja Khawar Rasheed and othermembers of the delegation also spoke on the occasion.

Syed Mahmood Ghaznavi said that said that Austra-lian technology and experience in Power Generation, Agri-culture, Livestock, Sports goods, Information Technology,Health and Education sectors of Pakistan could play im-portant role for economic uplift of the country. SyedMahmod Ghaznavi said that said that with extensive natu-ral resources, including oil and natural gas reserves, thefourth-largest coal reserves in the world and potential forhydropower, Pakistan offers marvelous opportunities toAustralian businessmen.

He said that there are prospects for growth in trade andinvestment particularly in the field of agribusiness, educa-tion, mining for oil and gas exploration, IT & Communica-

Pakistan fast becoming gooddestination for FDI in South Asia

tions and development of processed foods etc. LCCI VicePresident also stressed the need for an enhanced bilateraltrade between the two countries. He said that both the coun-tries can take the bilateral trade to USD 1 billion with someconcerted efforts at public and private levels.

Syed Mahmood Ghaznavi said that dairy and livestocksector is growing well in Pakistan and there is still a tremen-dous potential of growth which can be explored throughjoint ventures between Pakistani and Australian business-men. Similarly animal fattening projects are also picking upin Pakistan and the animals are being imported from Austra-lia. Other important sectors are fresh fruit juices and bever-ages which promise excellent return on investments.

LCCI Vice President said that Pakistan was an agro-based economy but unfortunately, most of excessive agri-culture produce wasted due lack of post harvest technol-ogy. He said that Pakistan was striving hard to strengthenits agro-based and dairy industry. He said that in this re-gard, the professional expertise of Australian agro-basedindustrial sector could be very helpful. He said that thereis a vast scope of investment in horticulture, cattle andsheep breeding, processing, canning, packing, and pres-ervation of fresh fruits and vegetables. President of Aus-tralia Pakistan Business Council Rana Iftikhar in his ad-dress pledge to work for strengthening the trade and eco-nomic ties between the two countries.

ISLAMABAD—The Federal TaxOmbudsman (FTO) AbdulRauf Chaudhry has dismisseda complaint filed by a com-plainant Qasim Hussain AliProprietor from Sheikhpura,against Secretary RevenueDivision for being devoid ofmerit and the case file con-signed to record. Accordingto an order of the FTO, thecomplaint was filed in terms ofSection 10 (1) of the FederalTax Ombudsman Ordinance,2000 (the Ordinance).

In the complained malad-ministration was alleged onthe part of FBR, Islamabadfor delay in grant of registra-tion status, as manufacturerand Model Customs

Collectorate, Appraisement(MCC (A), Lahore for notreturning post-datedcheques deposited as secu-rity for sales tax in terms ofcondition (i) of Sales TaxNotification No. SRO 727(I)/2011 dated 01.08.2011 despitefiling of the first sales tax re-turn after import of the ma-chinery under reference.

The Complaint was re-ferred for comments to theSecretary, Revenue Divi-sion, in terms of Section10(4) of the Ordinance. Inresponse, MCC (A), Lahore(the Deptt) furnished com-ments vide letter No.2NG/LAPR/1624/2014/121 dated04.02.2015. The Deptt re-

quested dismissal of thecomplaint intimating the fol-lowing facts/grounds:- (i)The Complainant importedthree consignments of oldand used machinery againstGDs No.LAPR-HC-12302,LAPR-HC-12300 bothdated 05.05.2014, and

LAPR-HC-13705 dated29.05.2014, and availed ex-emption of sales tax asmanufacturer under condi-tion (i) of SRO 727(I)/2011dated 01.08.2011, by depos-iting post dated chequeswith MCC (A), Lahore,claiming that his case forregistration as manufacturerwas under process with theFBR.—APP

FTO dismisses complaintbeing devoid of merit

RAWALPINDI: Delegation of Central Traders Association presenting bouquet to Sena-tor Ch Tanvir.

BIPIN DANI

OBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Russell Woolmer’s wait will beover on Sunday. He is the youngest sonof former Pakistan coach late BobWoolmer, who was found dead in thebathroom of his hotel room after Ireland’sstunning victory over Pakistan at SabinaPark, Jamaica in 2007 World Cup.

Pakistan will be facing Ireland againon Sunday at Adelaide Oval.

“Yes, I will be watching the game. Ilove to watch Pakistan play especiallywhen they perform. It is a very talentedteam. Thoughts running through my mindwould of course be my father. We think ofhim every day and miss him dearly”,Russell Woolmer, a graphic designed,said exclusively over telephone fromSouth Africa.

When informed that the team is likely

Bob Woolmer ‘watching’ Pak teamperformance from above, says his son

LAHORE: Team with winning trophy of 118th Annual Inter-Collegiate Athletics meet 2015 with Dean Faculty ofEconomics & Management Sciences Dr Ehsan Malik, Acting Director Sports Shamsa Hashmi and others.

PESHAWAR: Body-builders flexing their muscles during a competition organized by Body Building Association atNishtar Hall.

to dedicate its possible victory this timeto late Woolmer, the son says, “very kindif they do so, but I don’t expect them todo it. Our family is in regular touch withYounis Khan. He (Younis Khan) is a mas-sive inspiration to me and such a positiveman - always smiling!”.

“I will be supporting Pakistan and al-ways hope they do well as a team. Theyare such talented guys”.

“We would like to wish them all thebest. Our advice to them would be to playhard and to the best of their abilities.Don’t think about the past, but focus onthe task at hand”, he further added.“I am sure they all remember and miss myfather as much as I do. They, as I, willalways remember him and what he did forthe team. He will be watching over themfrom above! Simply use it (Woolmer’s re-membrance) as motivation to help beat aever improving Irish side!”, the son con-cluded.

RAWALPINDI: Mohammad Amir bowls during a three-day match at the Pindi CricketStadium on Friday.

Bodybuildingcontest from

March 15: TariqPESHAWAR—Mr and JuniorMr Pakistan BodybuildingContest will be commencingfrom March 15 here at NishtarHall, Organizing SecretaryTariq Pervez, who is also Sec-retary General of PakistanBodybuilding Federation toldAPP here on Friday.

Tariq Pervez, a qualifiedinternational technical judge,disclosed that the weights offour juniors and eight seniorcategories will be held at 10.00a.m at Qayyum Sports Com-plex on Saturday, followed byjudgment at 2.00 p.m.

He said all arrangementshave already been completedfor the smooth conduct ofthe event organized underthe rules of Asian Body-building Federation and In-ternational BodybuildingFederation.

He said more than 120musclemen are taking part infour juniors weight categories-65kg, -70kg, -75kg and plus75kg while eight senior weightcategories including -60kg, -65kg, -70kg, -75kg, -80kg, -85kg, -90kg and plus 90kg.

He said besides four prov-inces comprising Punjab,Sindh, Balochistan, Giltgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu andKashmir, Islamabad, FATA,Railways, Police and otheraffiliated departments with thePakistan Bodybuilding Fed-eration are taking part.—APP

Pak team canwin match

against Ireland:Aamir

ISLAMABAD—Pakistani fastbowler Muhammad AamirFriday said Pakistani cricketteam was capable enough towin match against Irelandscheduled (March 15) toqualify for Quarter-Final inthe World Cup.

He prayed Allah Al-mighty that Pakistan will winthe world cup 2015, hestated while talking to a pri-vate news channel.

Fast bowler started play-ing in domestic matches, hesaid: “I had learned a lot dur-ing banned period andwould respond to criticismthrough my performance indomestic cricket. Aamir, 22-year-old, hopeful to be partof national team in Septem-ber.” He said that he wasconcentrating on his owngame to try to impress thenational selectors.—APP

LAHORE—Punjab University’s 118th Inter-collegiate athletic meet concluded here onFriday with PU Teaching Department’s gripon team trophy while Farhan Haider of In-stitute of Business and Information Tech-nology was declared best athlete of the tour-nament.

The concluding ceremony was heldhere at New Campus Ground in which DeanFaculty of Economics & Management Sci-ences Prof Dr Muhammad Ehsan Malik,Acting Director Sports Shamsa Hasmi,Chairman Hall Council Dr MuhammadAkhter, Farhat Hussain Siddiqui, officialsand a large number of affiliated colleges’players were present on the occasion.

In his address, Dr Ehsan said that sports

PUTD win Inter-collegiateAthletic Team Trophy

were important element of life and a healthydiet could improve performance of the play-ers. He congratulated the winners and saidthat they were the future of Pakistan so theymust contribute to the prosperity of thecountry.

Various competitions of race, discusthrow, hammer throw, long jump etc were heldin the event in which PU TeachingDepartment’s team have won Team Trophywith 189 points and a student of Institute ofBusiness & Information Technology FarhanHaider was declared Best Athlete with 41points. Akhwan Science College Burki got2nd and Govt College Jhang clinched 3rdpositions respectively. Later, prizes were dis-tributed among winners.—APP

PESHAWAR—Haripur and Upper setup fi-nal showdown after recording victoriesagainst their respective rivals in the KhyberPakhtunkhwa Inter-District Under-19 BoysBasketball Championship being played atCompany Bagh Courts, Kohat on Friday.

Spirited Haripur, a strong title contender,defeated strong Lakki Marwat in a thrillingbattle fought on rattling pace which waslargely enjoyed by capacity crowd presenton this occasion.

There were tight security measurestaken by the local police in and around Com-pany Bagh where hundreds of spectatorsturned up for the matches.

A total of 23 districts out of total 26 dis-trict teams took part in the Championshipbeing organized by the Directorate of SportsKhyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Before the start of the matches scrutinyand verification of the documents were alsoconducted by a committee headed by AamirZahir Shah to ascertain proper age groupof the players. Haripur faced strong resis-tance against Lakki Marwat in the thrill-packed battle, the score was 53-51. ForHaripur Imran Nazir, Waqas, Asif, AamirUllah, Faizan Hamza, Usama and Rameezplayed outstanding game by contributing

Haripur, Upper Dir to clash in KPInter-District U-19 Boys Basketball

some good valuable points to the team to-tal. Imran Nazir was pick of the pack whoscored 13 individual points with three threepointers and was emerged as beat player ofthe match.

For Lakki Marwat Ihsan Ullah was theleading points contributor with 9 individualpoints including a three pointer. AzharUllah, Arbab Khan, Waqib Khan, ZafarKhan, Junaid abd Bilal played well.

In the second semi-final match UpperDir defeated Lower Dir by 57-53 in anotherthrilling match as both teams gave eachother tough resistance. Surprisingly, LowerDir was leading the first two quarters butlater on failed to click in the third and fourthquarters.

For Upper Dir Naeem Ullah, Shahab,Sohail, Adil, Waqas, Junaid and Hazrat Aliplayed well but Naeem was the leadingpoint’s taker while for Dir Lower Wajid,Asad Ullah, Mustafa, Abid, Bilal andSalman played well. Wajid was the leadingindividual points contributor.

Earlier, in the third quarter-final DirLower upset Abbottabad by 51-48 and DirUpper defeated Malakand by 45-42. The fi-nal of the Championship will be played onSaturday.—APP

UoP, ICUP qualify for InterUniversity Football final round

PESHAWAR—University of Peshawar and Islamia CollegeUniversity Peshawar qualified for the final round of theInter-University Football Championship to be played un-der the aegis of Directorate of Sports Higher EducationCommission at Lahore. In the Zone round University ofPeshawar defeated Islamia College University of Peshawarby 3-1 in a one-sided affair. University of Peshawar teamright from the kick back dominated the proceeding and didnot give much time to Islamia College University to settledown in the 90-minute play.

University of Peshawar took the lead through AbdulRahim Khan, the right winger on the field attempt whileJabbar Ali slammed in a perfect goal from the 25-yard dis-tance. It was forceful kick which gave no time to ICUPgoal-keeper Shakeel to stop and thus UoP got two goalslead at the end of the first session.

ICUP also managed their position but failed to click inthe first session and thus UoP was leading by 2-0. It wasthe second session in which ICUP did some resistanceand succeeded in reducing the margin 2-1.—APP

Pakistan Women innings:Marina c Chetty b Ismail6Javeria c & b Luus ...... 49Bismah run out ............ 99Nain Abidi b Luus ......... 4Sana c Ismail b Luus ..... 7Nida c Chetty b Luus ... 4Asmavia not out ......... 35Extras: (b 3, w 7, nb 2) . 12Total: (6 wickets) ....... 216Fall of wickets: 1-15, 2-103,3-111, 4-123, 5-142, 6-216Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WS Ismail ............... 8-0-30-1M Kapp .............. 7-0-29-0Klaas ................... 3-0-21-0Niekerk ................ 7-0-21-0Y Fourie .............. 5-0-31-0S Luus ............... 10-0-38-4Letsoalo ............ 10-0-43-0S Africa Women innings:Moodley run out ........... 3Chetty b Nida Dar ....... 32

SCOREBOARDKapp c Abidi b Sana ... 15Preez c Sana b Asmavia27Luus b Bismah ............... 8Lee c Sania b Anam .... 25Niekerk b Sana ............. 21Ismail c Sana b Anam ... 2Y Fourie c Marinab Anam ........................... 0Letsoalo not out ............ 7Klaas not out ................. 6Extras: (b 1, lb 2, w 10) 13Total: (9 wickets) ....... 159Fall of wickets: 1-16, 2-59, 3-62, 4-78, 5-101, 6-138, 7-143,8-143, 9-148Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WAsmavia ............. 8-2-26-1Sania ................... 9-0-33-0Sana Mir ............. 9-0-22-2Kainat ................. 2-0-16-0Anam ................ 10-1-24-3Nida Dar ............. 8-2-20-1Bismah ................ 4-1-15-1

SHARJAH—Bismah Maroof missed outon a maiden ODI hundred, but her 99,

Maroof, Amin sink SouthAfrica women in 1st ODI

followed by a three-wicket haul from left-arm spinner Anam Amin sent Pakistan

Women on their way to a 57-run winagainst South Africa Women in Sharjah.

Pakistan, opting to bat,lost their opener Marina Iqbalearly, but Maroof and JaveriaKhan (49) counterattacked,adding 88 runs for the sec-ond wicket. LegpspinnerSune Luus (4 for 38) thensliced through Pakistan’stop order with four wickets,but Maroof led another re-covery, this time combiningwith Asmavia Iqbal for asixth-wicket associationwhich yielded 74 runs.Maroof batted for nearlythree hours, striking threefours, but was run out oneshort of a century, as Paki-stan compiled 216 for 9.Several South Africa bats-men made starts during thechase, but their inability toconvert them into a much-needed fifty hurt the team.Their opener Trisha Chettywas the only player to scoremore than 30, as Sana Mir (2for 22) and Amin (3 for 24)kept pegging them back atregular intervals. Maroof,who was adjudged thePlayer of the Match, cappedoff a fine performance bysnaring the wicket of Luus,while Asmavia and Nida Daralso chipped in with a scalpeach, restricting South Af-rica to 159 for 9.—AFPSHARJAH: Mignon du Preez of South Africa and Sana Mir of Pakistan with the ODI

trophy.

RAWALPINDI—Fast bowler Mohammad Amirshowed no signs of rustiness as he madehis return after a five-year spot-fixing banon Friday, bagging three wickets in his firstspell in competitive cricket since 2010.

The 22-year-old bowled with pace andaggression to snare three scalps in an open-ing stint of six overs for the Omar Associ-ates side at the former Test ground inRawalpindi. Amir was cleared to return todomestic cricket early from his ban for bowl-ing no-balls to order against England in 2010,but his first match, planned for earlier thisweek, was rained off.

The three-day match that started Fridayagainst the Capital Development Authorityis part of the grade-two Patron’s Trophy tour-nament, one level down from first-class.

It made for a relatively easy reintroduc-tion to cricket for the left-armer, whose pace,control and ability to swing the ball bothways saw him become the youngest bowler,at 18, to take 50 Test wickets.

Amir bags three wickets ondomestic comeback

He was one of three Pakistani playersbanned from the game for at least five yearsfor arranging no-balls to order in the notori-ous Lord’s Test against England in 2010.

He was also jailed in Britain in 2011, alongwith former captain Salman Butt andMohammad Asif.

Amir’s ban was due to expire on Septem-ber 2 this year, but the International CricketCouncil used discretionary powers to allowhim to return to domestic cricket early, citinghis early admission of guilt and cooperationwith anti-corruption authorities.

When not bowling, Amir was enthusias-tic in the field and encouraged his teammates. His Omar Associates coach NasirShah was pleased to have the former Testman, picked for greatness by legend WasimAkram as far back as 2007.

“I am hopeful that he will return back tointernational cricket very soon as he is moti-vated and willing for a comeback,” Shahsaid.—APP

It’s unfair tocompare mewith Kohli:

Umar AkmalA D E L A I D E — P a k i s t a n ’syoung middle-order bats-man Umar Akmal reckons itis unfair to compare him withIndia’s Virat Kohli, notingboth bat at different posi-tions.

“It is always my effort todeliver 100 per cent for theteam and Pakistan but Iknow people compare me toKohli which is not right be-cause he bats higher up theorder,” Umar told Pakistanireporters in Adelaide.

“I should not be com-pared to Kohli because if hecame in to bat at six or sevenand performed than I wouldunderstand and accept thecomparisons. If I get achance to bat higher up Ibelieve I can perform betterthan what I do and get biginnings,” he said.

The right-handed bats-man pointed out that onemust keep in mind that hemostly comes in to bat atnumber five, six or seven.

Asked if he had dis-cussed his desire to bat atnumber three or four withthe team management, Umarshrugged off the questionsimply saying that he couldtalk to them if they watcheddomestic cricket back home.

“They have not watchedme bat at number three indomestic first-class cricket,that is where I bat most ofthe time. I can only say theywill soon trust me and allowme to bat higher up the or-der where I feel more com-fortable,” he said.

Umar however made itclear that whatever positionhe was sent into bat, he triedhis best and tried to get bigscores.

He said he was not com-plaining because he wasready to deliver 100 per centat any position.—APP

Afghanistan innings:Javed c Root b Broad ... 7Nawroz b Anderson ...... 4Afsar c Buttler b Jordan 6Nasir b Bopara ............. 17Samiullah c Morganb Jordan .......................... 7Shafiqullah b Tredwell 30Nabi b Bopara .............. 16Najibullah not out ....... 12Hamid not out ................ 0Extras: (lb 6, w 6) ......... 12Total: (7 wickets) ....... 111Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-20,3-25, 4-34, 5-65, 6-93, 7-101Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WAnderson ........... 7-0-18-1

Broad .................. 8-1-18-1Jordan .............. 6.2-2-13-2Bopara ................ 8-1-31-2Tredwell .............. 7-0-25-1England innings:Hales b Hamid ............. 37IR Bell not out ............. 52Taylor not out ................ 8Extras: (lb 3, w 1) ........... 4Total: (1 wicket) ......... 101Fall of wickets: 1-83Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WShapoor .............. 4-0-25-0Dawlat ................. 3-0-23-0Hamid .................. 5-0-17-1Nabi .................. 4.1-0-14-0Samiullah ............ 2-0-19-0

HAMILTON: Nasir Hossain had Ross Taylor trapped lbw for 56 during New Zealand vsBangladesh, World Cup 2015, Group A match on Friday.

Beat Australia andWorld Cup is yours,Imran tells Pakistan

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan’s former legendary all-rounderImran Khan said “nobody can stop Pakistan from win-ning the World Cup” if they manage to qualify and beat

Australia in the quarter-finals.

Imran said if therewas one venue wherethe Greenshirts couldbeat Australia, it wasAdelaide. “Adelaide is aslow pitch and Pakistan’sbest chance of beatingAustralia is in Adelaide,”he said, while talking toa private news channel.

Advising Misbah-ul-Haq to drop a fast bowlerand give a chance to YasirShah, Imran said: “Previ-ously Yasir was playingagainst India who are ex-cellent spin players…Yasirshould be playing againstIreland.”

“If there is awicket in Australia that

helps spinners, it is Adelaide,” he added. Pakistan willplay against Ireland in their last group match on March15 (Sunday) at the Adelaide Oval.

The former World Cup winning captain said he wasaware that Australians are experts at playing pacebowlers, adding that had he been in Misbah’s place, hewould have played a spinner.—AFP

“If there was one venuewhere Pakistan can beatAustralia, it is Adelaide,”says Imran Khan.

Bangladesh innings:Tamim b Boult .............. 13Imrul b Boult .................. 2Soumya c Anderson bVettori ........................... 51Mahmudullah not out 128Shakib b Anderson ..... 23Mushfiqur b Anderson15Sabbir c McCullumb Elliott .......................... 40Nasir b Elliott ............... 11Rubel not out ................. 0Extras: (lb 1, w 4) ........... 5Total: (7 wickets) ....... 288Fall of wickets 1-4, 2-27, 3-117, 4-151, 5-182, 6-260, 7-287Bowling: O-M-R-WSouthee ............ 10-1-51-0Boult ............... 10-3-56-02McClenaghan .... 8-0-68-0Vettori ............... 10-0-42-1Anderson ......... 10-0-43-2Elliott ................... 2-0-27-2

New Zealand innings:Guptill b Shakib ......... 105McCullum b Shakib ...... 8Williamson c Tamim bShakib ............................. 1Taylor lbw b Nasir ....... 56Elliott b Rubel .............. 39Anderson b Nasir ....... 39Ronchi c Nasir b Shakib 9Vettori not out ............. 16Southee not out .......... 12Extras: (lb 1, w 4) ........... 5Total: (7 wickets) ....... 290Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-33, 3-164, 4-210, 5-219, 6-247, 7-269Bowling: ......... O-M-R-WShakib .............. 8.5-1-55-4Taijul ................. 10-0-58-0Rubel ................... 8-1-40-1Taskin ................. 8-0-49-0Soumya ............... 4-0-19-0Sabbir .................. 2-0-14-0Mahmudullah .... 3-0-22-0Nasir .................... 5-0-32-2

SYDNEY—England brought an end totheir miserable World Cup campaignwith a nine-wicket victory over Af-ghanistan under the Duckworth-Lewis method in a rain-disrupted fi-nal Pool A match at Sydney CricketGround on Friday.

Set 101 to win from 25 overs afterthe wet weather had curtailed the Af-ghan innings at 111 for seven from36.2 overs, England romped to theirtarget with 41 balls to spare. Open-ers Ian Bell (52 not out) and Alex

England beat Afghanistan inrain-swept Sydney

HAMILTON—Opener Martin Guptill hit afighting century to guide New Zealand to theirsixth consecutive victory in the World Cupwith a three-wicket win over an inspiredBangladesh in Hamilton on Friday.

Guptill scored 105 for his sixth one-dayhundred to help the co-hosts chase down adaunting 289-run target with seven balls tospare on a batting-friendly pitch at Seddon

Ton-up Guptill stars as New Zealand edge BangladeshPark in a match in which the Black Caps weretested for the first time in the tournament.

Guptill’s knock overshadowedMohammad Mahmudullah’s second con-secutive hundred, his 128 not out propellingBangladesh to 288-7 in their 50 overs.

New Zealand had already made sure oftop spot in Pool A and they will face thefourth-placed finishers from Pool B — where

Pakistan, Ireland and WestIndies are still alive — in thefourth quarter-final inWellington on March 21.

Bangladesh, who finishedthe group stage with sevenpoints from six matches, willface defending champions In-dia in the second quarter-finalin Melbourne on March 19.

Bangladesh caught NewZealand napping at 33-2 bytaking the key wickets ofBrendon McCullum (eight)and Kane Williamson (one) byopening with spin from bothends — only the second timein World Cup history whenslow bowlers opened the at-tack. New Zealand did the sameagainst South Africa in the 2011quarter-final in Dhaka.

Left-arm spinner Shakib AlHasan took both the early wick-ets before Guptill and RossTaylor (56) revived the inningsthrough their 131-run stand forthe third wicket.

Guptill took a single offpaceman Taskin Ahmed toreach his hundred off 88 ballsbefore holing out to Hasan af-ter suffering leg cramps. He hit11 boundaries and two sixesduring his 100-ball knock.

Taylor, who hit five fours,added another 46 with GrantElliott (39) before Bangladeshtook three wickets in the spaceof 37 runs to get a sniff of anupset victory.

Corey Anderson, who hit

three fours and as many sixes, fell for 39 be-fore Tim Southee hit a six and a four to sealNew Zealand’s first win after seven succes-sive defeats against Bangladesh between2010-2013 — all away from home. Hasan fin-ished with 4-55. Earlier, Mahmudullah rescuedBangladesh from a struggling 27-2 after theywere put into bat.

Mahmudullah, dropped on one by Ander-son off Southee, anchored the innings andadded an invaluable 90 for the third wicketwith Soumya Sarkar (51) and another 78 forthe sixth with Sabbir Rahman who made afiery 23-ball 40.

Mahmudullah steered paceman MitchellMcClenaghan towards third man for a coupleto complete his hundred off 111 balls beforeblowing a kiss to the applauding Bangladeshifans.

He became only the second Bangladeshibatsman to score back-to-back hundreds inall one-day internationals after Shahriar

Nafees who achieved the feat against Zimba-bwe at home in 2006.

In all Mahmudullah hit 12 fours and threesixes as New Zealand’s bowlers were testedfor the first time in the tournament withSouthee going wicketless.

Rahman raised the tempo by hitting twosixes and five fours to help Bangladesh add104 runs in the last ten overs.

Left-arm paceman Trent Boult had joltedBangladesh by dismissing Imrul Kayes (two)and Tamim Iqbal (13) in his first spell to finishwith 2-56.

Anderson removed senior Bangladeshibatsmen Shakib A Hasan for 23 andMushfiqur Rahim for 15 to finish with 2-43.Bangladesh were without their regular skip-per Mashrafe Mortaza after he was ruled outdue to a soar throat and a calf injury whileNew Zealand had to leave out unfit AdamMilne and brought in McClenaghan for theirfirst change in the tournament.—AFP

Hales put on 83 for the first wicketbefore the latter departed for 37 andJames Taylor came in to hit an un-beaten eight to help usher Englandover the line.

The win ensured England wouldat least match their previous worstWorld Cup record with two victories.With both sides already eliminatedfrom contention for the knockoutstage, the match was played out infront of a sparse crowd with only prideat stake.

Hales, bumpedup the batting or-der to open, wasdropped off thethird ball of the in-nings and againwhen he was on12, both timesNajibullah Zadranat point failing togive ShapoorZadran the wicket.Paceman

Hamid Hassanfinally had himcaught behind butby then Englandwere already wellon their way to thetarget. ShafiqullahShafiq (30) top-scored for Af-

ghanistan but a second win in theirmaiden tournament always looked atall order after England skipper EoinMorgan had won the toss and choseto field.

Chris Jordan (2-13) was the pickof the England bowlers—dismissingAfsar Zazai (six) and dangermanSamiullah Shenwari (seven)—and hewould have fancied taking out acouple of tailenders if the weatherhad allowed. Shenwari was only ableto take his tournament tally to 254runs before an attempted drive tooka thick edge and flew to a divingMorgan at point.

That left the Afghans rocking at34-4 in the 16th over and they wereforced to dig in even deeper to easethe innings tally towards treble fig-ures, Nasir Jamal facing 52 balls forhis 17. Skipper Mohammad Nabi triedto up the pace and he hit a six and afour in his 16 off 17 balls before be-coming Ravi Bopara’s second victim,caught by James Tredwell at mid-on.

Shafiq helped usher his countrypast the century mark before holingout with an attempted sweep offTredwell which Bopara took with adiving catch at deep square leg. Only10 more deliveries were possible be-fore another shower forced the play-ers off for the third time and broughtan end to the innings.—APP

India eye six out of six,Taylor happy farewell

AUCKLAND—Two teams at opposite ends of the Full-Member spectrum will finish their group-stage engage-ments tomorrow. As far as the World Cup is concerned,there is next to nothing riding on this match. India willtop their group even if they lose to Zimbabwe, who arealready out of the tournament.

Zimbabwe have not come to India for a bilateral se-ries since 2002, and the big boys oblige them by sendinga second-string side every few years to play a few one-dayers. It is only in ICC tournaments that Zimbabwe getthe opportunity to face a full-strength India outfit.

India (probable) 1 Shikhar Dhawan, 2 Rohit Sharma, 3Virat Kohli, 4 Ajinkya Rahane, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 MSDhoni (capt & wk), 7 Ravindra Jadeja, 8 R Ashwin, 9Mohit Sharma, 10 Mohammed Shami, 11 Umesh Yadav.Zimbabwe (probable) 1 Chamu Chibhabha, 2 SikandarRaza, 3 Hamilton Masakadza, 4 Brendan Taylor (capt &wk), 5 Sean Williams, 6 Craig Ervine, 7 Solomon Mire, 8Regis Chakabva, 9 Tinashe Panyangara, 10 TawandaMupariwa, 11 Tendai ChataraPitch and conditions

Eden Park’s kid-size straight boundaries may berugby’s joke on cricket but a look at the scores will tellyou there is more to the ground than that.—AFP

Australian eyes onquarter-final line-up

HOBART—The penultimate day of the pool stage bringsAustralia and Scotland together in Hobart, with very dif-ferent immediate futures ahead of them. Scotland’s tourna-ment will end with this game and all that remains for them isone last chance to notch up their first victory in World Cupcricket. Australia are guaranteed of a quarter-final appear-ance but against whom remains to be seen. The possibilityof some wet weather late in the day might concern Austra-lia, for whom a wash-out would be the same as a loss.

Australia’s stop-start campaign - big gaps betweengames, one match rained out - has been less than idealas they build towards the knockout phase. Injuries andform have led them to use all 15 members of their squad,which in one sense is a positive, as any player requiredfor the finals will have some game time behind him. Butit also means that a few key men are short of significanttime in the middle, and Michael Clarke will likely shufflethe batting order to ensure adequate preparation for allhis men ahead of their quarter-final in Adelaide.

It is not unusual for Shane Watson to float up anddown the order searching for form, but it is more com-mon in Test cricket that the shorter formats. But havingstarted the World Cup at No. 3, Watson was dropped,and returned at No. 6 against Sri Lanka last weekend.However, Michael Clarke suggested Watson had in factbeen pencilled in at No. 5, until Australia’s progress inthe innings encouraged them to bump Glenn Maxwellup higher. —AFP

MEDICAL experts around the globeare worried that more and moreviruses and bacteria are becoming

resistant to today’s medicine. They are afraidthat in a few generations antibiotics maybecome useless. Scientistshave already discoveredbacteria that do not react iftreated with antibiotics.

As a result medicaltreatment will become moreexpensive as new drugs haveto be developed.

Doctors and other healthexperts criticise the fact thatantibiotics are being used ina wrong way.

They are often pre-scribed in cases in whichthey do not work. In someareas, especially ThirdWorld countries and denselypopulated areas in India, Pa-kistan or Bangladesh doctorshave already run out of anti-biotics.

Prescribing wrong antibiotics or takingthem for too short a time will not kill offbacteria. Some doctors prescribe antibiot-ics for the common flu, making it ineffec-tive for later illnesses. The World HealthOrganization claims that many infectiousdiseases are becoming untreatable and can-not be controlled. Many patients who be-come resistant to drugs even die.

Another problem is that farmers in theUnited States and Europe are adding anti-biotics to feed cattle and other animals, inorder to make them grow faster and producemore meat.

Can there be a worldwithout antibiotics?

Through increased global travel bacte-ria are spreading faster than ever before.

Since Alexander Fleming discoveredpenicillin in the early 20th century antibiot-ics have saved hundreds of millions of

lives.Many operations cannot

be carried out if we are un-able to treat infections.

The transplantation oforgans can become veryrisky if patients do not getmedication to strengthentheir immune system. Rou-tine operations like remov-ing an appendix or replac-ing a bad hip could becomefatal.

Childbirth may onceagain threaten a woman’slife and raise child mortal-ity. Even illnesses like pneu-monia, which today can betreated effectively with an-tibiotics, might once againturn into a mass killer.

Antibiotics have made infections liketuberculosis treatable. Cancer treatmentwould be unthinkable without the propertreatment of the immune system to accom-pany it.

Health experts call for increased actionto fight off diseases. Most common is thecall to improve hospital hygiene, where in-fectious diseases start out.

Especially in Third World countries,bacteria spread through dirty water and thesewage system. Even making people awareof washing their hands more often can stopthe spread of infectious diseases.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—A literary evening “RememberingRumi” was held at Usman Institute of Technologyto pay tributes to one of the greatest Scholar, Poet,Philosopher and Sufi Maulana Jalanuddin Rumi(RA) in Karachi the other day.

A thoroughly engrossing and enlightening pre-sentation was given on this occasion by Dr. AzizAli Najam, Director UIT at the UIT auditorium.The lecture was attended by a large number of fac-ulty members, guests and students.

Dr Aziz said on the occasion that it’s a pity thatthe Muslim world is forgetting its great scholar who

Remembering Maulana Jalaluddin Rumihas given us a lot in the shape of his teachings,poetry. He stressed that the nation must follow theteachings of Maulana Rumi if it were to overcomechallenges it was currently facing. He said that onecould not separate the thinking and philosophy ofMaulana Roomi and Allama Iqbal and both the po-ets always upheld the teachings of Quran andSunnah in their work.

Dr Aziz said that through the teachings of thosepoets the nation can bring a revolution emergingfrom the classrooms. He said Maulana Roomi wasthe symbol of knowledge and enthusiasm. He saidboth the Maulana Rumi would always be remem-bered for his wisdom and dedication for the

Ummah.The audio-visual presentation included

glimpses of the extra-ordinary life events ofMaulana Jalaluddin Rumi, his encounter withShams Tabriz, the theme and philosophy of “Der-vish Raqs” or Sema and the mammoth literary giftthat Rumi left behind in the form of Divan-ShamsTabriz and Masnavi.

The colorful presentation literally transportedaudience in to the world of Divine love and ecstasyof soul. The depiction of the spiritual journey ofRumi and the message of love for fellow humanbeings leading to Divine love were reminders ofour great golden heritage lost!

People gather at the site after roof of a house collapsed in Korangi Area which causeddeath of two persons.

Additional Inspector General Ghulam Qadir Thebo and President Pakistan Eye Bank Society & General Hospital QaziSajjad Ali signing document of MoU for free medical facilities to police and their families at Nagan Chowrangi.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Speakers at ameeting of Shura HamdardKarachi Chapter called uponthe government to promoteeducation of science and tech-nology as it would help to ex-plore and utilise country’s natu-ral resources.

A statement on Friday saidthat the theme of the meetingwas “Natural resources-richcountry and rapid advancementtowards progress and develop-ment”. It was presided over byJustice (Rtd) Haziqul Khairi ata local hall.

Speaking on the occasion,Justice (Rtd) Haziqul Khairisaid, the biggest human re-source in the world is humanbrain and by using this Japa-nese have made tremendousprogress. Though the Japanesedo not have any mentionablenatural resources however theyachieved the status of a devel-oped nation in the world.

“They have manufacturedand sale of motor cars in theworld to such an extent thatAmerican roads are now filledwith Japanese cars and as a re-sult of this development theAmerican car manufacturingindustry has gone down”, headded.

President, Hamdard Foun-dation Pakistan, Sadia Rashid,said that according to a sayingof Hakim Said “Pakistan wasbestowed upon with all thosebounties and natural resources,mentioned in Holy Quran by

Promotion of science & technologystressed to explore natural resources

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Mohammad Siddique Memon as-sumed his responsibility as the new Chief Sec-retary of Sindh on Friday morning.

On the occasion outgoing chief secretarySajjad Saleem Hotiana handed over the chargeto his successor and also introduced him to pro-

Siddique assumes responsibilityas Chief Secretary

vincial secretaries pertaining to different depart-ments besides other staff members of the secre-tariat.

M.Siddique Memon is the 54th Chief Sec-retary of Sindh, since 1936, the year when Sindhwas separated from Bombay presidency and alsothe 38th to assume the charge since abolition ofone unit in the country on July first, 1970.

KARACHI—Sindh High Court (SHC) on Fri-day disposed of a petition filed by convictSaulat Mirza’s sister challenging his deathwarrant and advised her to approach the Su-preme Court.

Petitioner Samira Wajahat through herlawyer, Akram Qureshi had filed a plea in thehigh court to hold in abeyance the black war-rants issued by an Anti-Terrorism Court toexecute Mirza, until a decision is made by the

High Court disposes ofpetition filed by Saulat’s sister

Supreme Court against his execution.The two-judge bench disposing of the pe-

tition advised Samira Wajahat to approach theSupreme Court with her application, as thatis where her earlier appeal was submitted.

The petitioner had also argued that acriminal miscellaneous application was filedby Mirza’s brother, but no order had beenpassed yet by the apex court in regard to it.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Additional In-spector General (AIG)Karachi Ghulam QadirThebo said that the police iscommitted to make the me-tropolis a crime free zone.

This he said while speak-ing to members of businesscommunity at Federation ofPakistan Chambers of Com-merce and Industry (FPCCI)on Friday.

He said that we can bringgrowing crime rate undercontrol by promoting educa-tion, but, we need academic-friendly environment. Hesaid that to improve eco-nomic activity, we must haveto ensure business-friendlyenvironment in the financialhub and the police depart-ment is committed to ensureterror-free environment tothe business community.

He said that criminal jus-tice system revolves aroundpolice, prosecution, courtsand prison and if all thesecomponents of the justicesystem work properly then itwould prove helpful in bring-ing law and order situationunder control.

He said that police is pro-ducing results in the ongoingtargeted operation. He saidthat Karachi police have notraining to face terrorists,but, the police is facing theterrorists by putting theirlives in danger. He said that171 cops embraced martyr-dom in 2013 by fighting ter-rorists, 142 in 2014 and 24policemen have embracedmartyrdom while fightingterrorism in the city in 2015

Police committed to makeKarachi crime free: Thebo

as yet.He said that police acted on the di-

rectives of Supreme Court (SC) andended all no go areas in the city. Heclaimed that per day killing average inKarachi brought down 13percent to 2.3percent per day in the ongoing targetedoperation.

He said that 2700 people were tar-geted and killed in 2013, 1800 in 2014and we are trying our best to bring kill-ing ration under 1000 in the ongoingyear.

He said that police is playing its role

Allah Almighty. But utilisationof all these bounties and natu-ral resources could not beturned to account effectivelywithout applying knowledge ofscience and technology”.

So it was imperative thateducation of science and technol-ogy should be encouraged andintroduced from primary classesand onwards, she asserted.

Former ambassador of Pa-kistan, Mahdi Masud, said thathuman character was more im-portant than brain, becausewithout good character humanbrain could not be positivelyused. National character pluschain of command were re-sponsible for national growthand prosperity.

Prof. Mohammed Rafi wasof the view that the wrong use of

natural resources was also a ne-gation of God’s bounties.

Commodore (Rtd) SadeedAnwar Malik while highlight-ing the natural resources of

Pakistan said our biggest natu-ral resource was our strategicposition, but we have not takenfull advantage out of this yet,he contended.

Dr. Shahid HassanSiddiqui, an economist, saidthat God has given us naturalresources with great generos-ity.

to bring extortion figures to zero and itis evident from the fact that the ratio ofextortion successfully brought down inthe targeted operation. He said that 23bank robberies were reported in 2014and police traced and arrested all thecriminals involved in these incidents.

Speaking on the occasion, TradeDevelopment Authority of Pakistan(TDAP) Chief Executive Officer (CEO)SM Muneer appreciated Prime Minis-ter Mian Muhammad Nawaz Shariff,Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul EbadKhan, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Qaim

Ali Shah and all political parties forlaunching targeted operation in the city.

He claimed that the law and ordersituation of the city is improving byeach passing day. He urged that thoseaccused who were arrested during thetargeted operation should be awardedwith punishment.

Recalling past, Muneer said thatthere was a time when people think thatweather they will go back to theirhouses safely or not, but, now the timehas come when we can say that we willreach at our houses safely.

MEDICAL experts around the globeare worried that more and moreviruses and bacteria are becoming

resistant to today’s medicine. They are afraidthat in a few generations antibiotics maybecome useless. Scientistshave already discoveredbacteria that do not react iftreated with antibiotics.

As a result medicaltreatment will become moreexpensive as new drugs haveto be developed.

Doctors and other healthexperts criticise the fact thatantibiotics are being used ina wrong way.

They are often pre-scribed in cases in whichthey do not work. In someareas, especially ThirdWorld countries and denselypopulated areas in India, Pa-kistan or Bangladesh doctorshave already run out of anti-biotics.

Prescribing wrong antibiotics or takingthem for too short a time will not kill offbacteria. Some doctors prescribe antibiot-ics for the common flu, making it ineffec-tive for later illnesses. The World HealthOrganization claims that many infectiousdiseases are becoming untreatable and can-not be controlled. Many patients who be-come resistant to drugs even die.

Another problem is that farmers in theUnited States and Europe are adding anti-biotics to feed cattle and other animals, inorder to make them grow faster and producemore meat.

Can there be a worldwithout antibiotics?

Through increased global travel bacte-ria are spreading faster than ever before.

Since Alexander Fleming discoveredpenicillin in the early 20th century antibiot-ics have saved hundreds of millions of

lives.Many operations cannot

be carried out if we are un-able to treat infections.

The transplantation oforgans can become veryrisky if patients do not getmedication to strengthentheir immune system. Rou-tine operations like remov-ing an appendix or replac-ing a bad hip could becomefatal.

Childbirth may onceagain threaten a woman’slife and raise child mortal-ity. Even illnesses like pneu-monia, which today can betreated effectively with an-tibiotics, might once againturn into a mass killer.

Antibiotics have made infections liketuberculosis treatable. Cancer treatmentwould be unthinkable without the propertreatment of the immune system to accom-pany it.

Health experts call for increased actionto fight off diseases. Most common is thecall to improve hospital hygiene, where in-fectious diseases start out.

Especially in Third World countries,bacteria spread through dirty water and thesewage system. Even making people awareof washing their hands more often can stopthe spread of infectious diseases.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—A group of over 100 students andfaculty members belonging to F G Degree Col-lege and University of South Asia Lahore spent aday out with Pakistan Army troops at Lahore Gar-rison. The day long programme, was specificallyorganised for students to sensitize them on secu-rity, self defence and also to enlighten them onoperational preparedness of Pak-Army – Theprogramme ‘Know your Army’, has been spe-cifically initiated for the youth on desire of Chiefof Army Staff. The aim is to further enhance themorale, motivation and confidence of our younggeneration in them and their armed forces.

The day-long programme started withwreath laying ceremony and dua at Yadgar-e-Shuhada. The students went round the Yadgar-e-Shuhada and were fascinated to revisit 68 yearsof history of valour, sacrifice and commitmentof Pak Army for the defence of motherland. Thiswas followed by a demonstration by Quick Re-action Force to combat terrorists. They com-mended the agility and fighting capability of theelements of Light Commando Battalion. Thestudents also witnessed arms and equipment

Students spend a day outwith Pakistan Army troops

display and participated in small arms fire. Theday long programme culminated with flag low-ering ceremony at Pak-India joint check post atGanda Singhwala.

The students were thrilled by smart turnoutand bearing combined with immaculate drillsby troops of Pakistan Rangers. They were happyto be amidst highly charged crowd chanting fullthroated slogans of Pakistan Zindabad that fur-ther added to their feelings of enthusiasm andpatriotism. The students evinced keen interestin the programme and commended the sacrificesand resolve of Pakistan Army officers and troopsin the ongoing war against terrorism. They alsoapplauded the state of morale and professionalcompetence of Pak Army and thanked the ArmyChief for providing them a life time experienceand opportunity.

Earlier, students from F.C College Lahore,Kinnaird College Lahore, Punjab UniversityLahore, Government College University Lahoreand University of Engineering and Technology(UET), Lahore College for Women University,National University of Modern Languages(NUML) and Lahore Garrison University havealso attended this programme.

LAHORE—Provincial Minister for Agriculture DrFarrukh Javed has instructed price control magis-trates to start a crackdown on ghee and oil profi-teers.

Addressing a meeting regarding action againstprofiteers here at his office on Friday, he said due tosubstantial decrease in price of palm oil being usedin vegetable ghee and edible oil in international

Minister orders crackdownon ghee, oil profiteers

market, more than 18 percent production cost hadbeen decreased but economic benefit could notreached to people due to connivance of profiteers.

Dr Farrukh Javed said the Punjab governmenthad issued orders of reducing Rs 15 per kg/liter inprices of ghee and vegetable oil under Section 3 ofPrice Control and Prevention of Profiteering andHoarding Act 1977.

He asked officers of the department to ensureits implementation and also warned profiteers thatimprisonment up to three years and a fine of Rs100,000 could be imposed on violation.

The minister said no one would be allowed toexploit people in the garb of profit. He said the gov-ernment would deal profiteers and hoarders with aniron hand.—APP

Students enjoying a ride on a tank during their visit to Lahore Garrison.

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab Chief MinisterMuhammad Shahbaz Sharif has saidthat sale of essential items at reason-able prices and provision of relief tothe people is the responsibility of con-cerned departments and no negligenceand laxity would be tolerated in thisregard.

He said that protection of interestsof the people would be ensured at ev-

Shahbaz orders action against creatingartificial shortage of essential items

ery cost and no one would be allowedto take any step against public inter-est. He said that public rights wouldbe protected at all costs. The ChiefMinister ordered action against thosecreating artificial shortage of vegetableoil, ghee and other essential items andsaid that no step against public inter-est will be tolerated.

He expressed these views whileaddressing a meeting of ProvincialPrice Control Committee through

video link, at Civil Secretariat hereFriday. The Chief Minister said thatprotection of interests of the people ofthe province is responsibility of thegovernment which will be fulfilled atevery cost. He said that no effortshould be spared for transferring thebenefit of record reduction in pricesof petroleum products directly to thepeople and the implementation on theplan evolved for providing quality es-sential items at cheaper rates should

be continued.Shahbaz Sharif warned that profi-

teering and hoarding are not tolerable.He directed that indiscriminate actionshould be taken against those sellingitems at higher than the fixed rates. Hesaid that all commissioners, DCOs andconcerned officials should take effec-tive steps for providing relief to thepeople. The Chief Minister said that nolaxity or negligence will be tolerated inproviding relief to the common man.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Speakers at a con-ference demanded the govern-ment and election commissionof Punjab to hold free, fair andimpartial elections of localgovernment in Punjab on partybasis in the light and directionsof the Supreme Court tostrengthen the institutions.

They were addressing theone-day conference on thetopic of “Local GovernmentsElections: Issues and Chal-lenges” which was organizedby Aawaz Consortium Partners

Speakers stress to hold Local Govt electionStrengthening ParticipatoryOrganization, Aurat Founda-tion, South Asia PartnershipPakistan, and Sungi Develop-ment Foundation.

Punjab Assembly Opposi-tion Leader, Mian Mehmood urRasheed, Secretary Informa-tion, Jamat-e-Islami (JI) Ameer-ul-Azeem, Chairman StandingCommittee, Abdur RazzaqDhilun,Mehnaz Rafi,NasreenZahraIftakhar Ahmed, SalmanAbid, Muhammad Tehseen,Anwaer Hussain, ZafarZeeshan, and Qazi Mobeen ad-dressed the participants. They

further said that local Govern-ments elections will help to ef-fective governance and the par-ticipation of common people.

“The effective and strength-ened local governments system

along with provincial and fed-eral governments is necessaryfor the democracy,” this wasdemanded by the speakers thatunder the Clause 140 of Con-stitution. “This is necessary for

the provincial government thatthey should not only hold localgovernment elections but alsogive them political, financialand administrative powers,”they added.

Zachary Harkenrider, US Consul General called on Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif, Friday. Matters of mutual interest and promotion ofbilateral relations were discussed.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Bolstering thecommitment to improve nu-tritional status for school go-ing children, Nur Center forResearch and Policy orga-nized a nutrition screeningcamp at Government GirlsHigh School, Ali Raza Abad,Lahore to create awarenessamongst school children andtheir families and teachers forpromoting healthy eatingpractices.

The nutrition screeningcamp, organized in collabora-tion with the FMH School ofNutrition, offered free nutri-tional screening and assess-ment, followed by dietarycounseling; and therapeuticdiet planning services to stu-

Awareness on promotinghealthy eating habits

dents, family members andteachers.