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Most dastardly attackon Hamid Mir................................................Agriculture gets someattention................................................Escalating US-Russiacold war

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STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Prime Minis-ter Muhammad Nawaz Sharifhas decided to constitute athree member judicial com-mission to inquire into themurder attempt on journalistHamid Mir.

A formal request will bemade to the Chief Justice,Supreme Court of Pakistan tonominate three members.Government has announceda reward of ten million rupeesfor any information leadingto the arrest of culprits. Theidentity of the person pro-viding the information willnot be disclosed.

Hamid Mir was attacked

Judicial Commission toprobe attack on Hamid Mir

MANSOOR PIRZADA

GHOTKI —At least 42 people were killedand 17 sustained injuries in road accidentafter a coach collided with a trailer at Sangiarea of Pano Aqil near Sukkur on Sundaynight approximately at 3.00 a.m.

Police sources say the fast movingcoach, on its way to Karachi from Dera GhaziKhan carrying at least 60 passengers, hitthe empty trailer when the coach tried toovertake it. The dead included 14 children,13 women and six members of a family whiletwo more family members wounded.

Fida Hussain Shah, SSP Sukkur con-firmed the incident and said the bus driverwas killed on the spot and the driver of trailersustained injuries.

Injured were shifted to CMH hospitalPano Aqil and Taluka hospital Pano Aqil,and the passengers in serious conditionwere shifted to Sukkur hospital for the treat-ment, while the dead bodies were shifted toTaluka hospital Pano Aqil.

Doctors at Taluka hospital Pano Aqilfaced difficulties in the treatment of patientsdue to power outage and non-availabilityof generator at the hospital.

42 killed in bus,trailer crash

Six of a family, driver among dead 17 injuredMotorway police, rescue workers and

nearby residents commenced the rescue op-eration immediately after the accident.

Most of victims belonged to Dera GhaziKhan, Rahimyar Khan and Multan. Someof the deceased were identified as IrshadAli, Muhammad Tahir, Muhammad Khalid,Hafeez Ahmed, Salman Ali, Ahsan,Mahboob, Arbab, Hassan, Sakeena, Fatima,Mariyam Raza, Madeeha, Shakeela, andFozia.

A track of the road where the accidenttook place was closed down due to con-struction work being carried out.

Most of the injured were in critical con-dition and many were transferred to hospi-tal in Karachi after initial treatment inSukkur.

Among the dead were six members of aten-person family travelling in the bus. Twomore family members were injured while twowere unhurt

“We were ten members of one family,six have died and two were injured,” a weep-ing family member said while recounting theaccident.

The family was going to visit other rela-tives in Karachi, she said.

GHOTKI: Rescuers using excavator to separate trailer from a passenger bus after an accident in Pano Aqil on Sunday.

AAMIR MAJEED

KARACHI—A day-long investigation intothe attack on senior journalist anchormanHamid Mir has thus far established thatthe assailants had received support fromsomeone working at the Jinnah Interna-tional Airport (JIA) Karachi.

The probe revealed that one of the as-sailants was present on the spot 30 min-utes before the attack and he was in regu-lar contact with his accomplice via mobilephone.

Moreover, the police have completedtheir paperwork by preparing visuals of theincident and recording the statements ofthe eye-witnesses who would be facing athree-member judicial commission that wasformed by Prime Minister MianMuhammad Nawaz Sharif to probe into the

Attack on Hamid Mir was carefully planned, reveals probe

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Two-weeklong Pak-China Joint militaryexercises “Peace Angel2014” commenced on Sun-day near the garrison city ofRawalpindi.

“Peace Angel 2014”would certainly pave the wayfor further cementing the ex-isting bilateral relations be-tween armies of the twocountries, according to astatement issued by the In-ter Services Public Relations.

Pakistan, China jointmilitary exercises begin

The statement addedthat the joint exercises aimedat sharing mutual experienceand information in medicalfield through a comprehen-

sive training programme innear real time environment.Flags of both countries werehoisted and national an-thems played to mark theopening of the military exer-cises. Pakistan Army’s Ma-jor General Hamayun Aziz,

and senior Colonel Liu Agiouof the People’s LiberationArmy China, representedtheir respective countries inthe opening ceremony.

The exercises were par-ticularly designed within thescope of disaster relief opera-tions caused due to massivefloods and terrorist attacks onrelief camps. It would alsoprovide an opportunity toexchange latest technologicaladvancement in medical fieldto improve medical operationsduring peace and war.

Picture on Back Page

Sindh govtresponsible for

inquiry: PRK A R A C H I —Informat ionMinister Pervaiz Rashid vis-ited senior anchor Hamid Mirat the Aga Khan Hospitalwhere he is recovering afterbeing shot thrice in an at-tack on Saturday. Speakingto reporters, Rashid said theattack on Hamid Mir tookplace in Karachi and it wasthe responsibility of theSindh government to con-duct an investigation. Theinformation minister addedthat the federal governmentwill provide full support dur-ing the probe.

The talk show host wastargeted on Shahrah-e-Faisal when he was on hisway from airport. The attack-ers fired shot on his vehicle,leaving the journalist criti-cally injured. On Sunday,Pervez Rashid arrived inKarachi and visited the pri-vate hospital to enquire af-ter Hamid Mir’s health. Onthis occasion, the Informa-tion Minister said the re-sponsibility of investiga-tions into the attack prelimi-narily lies on Sindh govern-ment.

The provincial authori-ties should tell why FIR of

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Gas balloonsexplosionburns over 40STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Gas balloonsreleased during PunjabChief Minister ShahbazSharif’s inauguration of anoverhead bridge nearWalton Road explodedafter landing in the areanear Kamaha road onSunday, resulting in burninjuries to at least 42people nearby.

Area residents shiftedthe injured to nearbyhospitals on a self-helpbasis where they wereprovided medical treat-ment.

Chief Minister PunjabShahbaz Sharif took noticeof the incident and soughta report from the districtadministration.

Sharif demandedanswers regarding the

Pak defencedelegation duein Lanka todayCOLOMBO—A 21-memberdelegation of the NationalDefence University (NDU)Pakistan, headed by MajorGeneral Noel IsraelKhokhar, will be arriving inSri Lanka on Monday on aweeklong visit, thePakistani embassy saidSunday.

The visit aims to gainoverview of the defence,economic, domestic andforeign policies of SriLanka. It will also help inexploring areas of mutualinterest for enhancingmutual cooperation invarious spheres.

The delegationcomprises of seniorofficers from Pakistan’sArmed Forces, CivilServices and Officers fromTurkey and Bangladesh,who are undergoing

Christianscelebrate Easterwith religious

fervourIS L A M A B A D—Christianscelebrated Easter with greatreligious fervour and enthu-siasm throughout the coun-try on Sunday amid tightsecurity.

Easter is the culminationof the 40-day Lent, which isa time of fasting, giving almsand repenting.

Special midnight ser-vices were offered at allchurches across the coun-try to mark the beginning ofthe Easter celebrations.

Easter main ceremonywas held at the Vatican City,where flames from thou-sands of candles illuminatedthe dark hall insideChristianity’s holiest shrineon Saturday as worshippersparticipated in the holy fireceremony, a spiritual event

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attack.During the course of investigation, it

was also revealed that the closed-circuittelevision (CCTV) cameras were removedfrom their places before the constructionof the airport flyover and were never in-

stalled again.Twenty four hours af-

ter the attack, thewounded journalist re-gained consciousness inthe emergency room of theAga Khan UniversityHospital (AKUH) andtalked to his family mem-

bers for few minutes.On Sunday, a heavy contingent of po-

lice force from operation and investigationbranches arrived at the spot to prepare vi-suals of the attack. They brought the driver

and the guard who were sitting with HamidMir at the time of attack with them to pre-pare the visuals.

The eye-witnesses told the police thata 25-year-old man who had worn shalwarand kameez was standing beneath airportflyover and was busy with someone onhis cell-phone. As his vehicle reached be-neath the flyover to turn towards ShareaFaisal, he fired multiple bullets and startchasing the vehicle of Hamid Mir again,”they maintained.

Additional Inspector General (AIG)Karachi Shahid Hayat visited the spot andgot briefing from the teams engaged in in-vestigation. The AIG Karachi was told thata visual has been prepared with the help ofMir’s driver, guard and eye-witnesses. Hedirected the police officials to finalize thevisuals and hand it over to him before 10:00

am today (Monday).“I have an office in Falak Naz apart-

ments and sitting along with my friendsoutside the office at the time of attack,”Syed Innayat Ali told the investigators.“Fortunately, I was discussing with myfriends that traffic police personnel werenot present today as they hold snap check-ing regularly beneath the flyover,” headded.

“I saw a 25-year-old man who was busyon cell-phone and again got busy with myfriends,” he said, adding that “A few min-utes later, I heard gun shots and when Ilooked at the site again, I saw that the manwho was engaged on cell-phone had a gunin hand and he was going to ride the two-wheeler.” “The bike on which he rodestopped and the man who arrived with a

shortly after arriving inKarachi on Saturdayevening. His car was tar-geted as he left the airport.He was shot six times and isrecovering after surgery.

Prime Minister NawazSharif telephoned senior jour-nalist Amir Mir, brother ofHamid Mir, and assured himof impartial inquiry into theattack on his brother.

According to PM Housespokesman, the prime minis-ter expressed concernedover the attack on the re-nowned journalist and of-fered prayers for early recov-ery of Hamid. A First Infor-mation Report (FIR) is yet tobe registered over the attack

on Geo News senior anchorHamid Mir.

Investigation agencieshave also not been able toobtain the CCTV video of thearea where Hamid Mir wasattacked.

The attack took placewhen a single gunman wear-ing shalwal kameez stoppedHamid Mir’s car right outsidethe airport and opened fire.The driver of the car spedaway but the gunman and hisaccomplices in two motor-cycles and a car followedHamid Mir and continued fir-ing. While being chasedHamid Mir spoke to his col-leagues over the phone andinformed them of the attack.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—A three-mem-ber team of doctors studied

the medicalreports ofthe formerp r e s i d e n tand ad-vised himto undergoa n g i o g r a -phy soon.

Special arrangements,including the setting up ofa separate ward to conductbackbone tests of former

Doctors advise Musharraffor angiography

General (Retd) PervezMusharraf, were made at thePNS Shifa hospital here onSunday.

According to sourcesthe former president may filean application in the SindhHIgh Court seeking the re-moval of Musharraf’s namefrom the Exit Control List(ECL). The port city hasbeen on high alert since thearrival of the former presi-dent in a chartered airplaneon Sunday.

The sources had said

Egypt ex-ArmyChief, Leftistto run forPresidential pollCAIRO—Egypt’s electioncommission said Sundayonly two presidentialhopefuls, one of them thepowerful former militarychief who nine months agoousted the country’s firstdemocratically electedleader, have submittedtheir papers to run in nextmonth’s polls.

Mohammed Morsi, anIslamist from the MuslimBrotherhood, won thatrace, defeating a formergeneral in a runoff tobecome Egypt’s firstdemocratically electedpresident. Just over a yearlater, the military removedMorsi from office follow-ing mass protests callingfor his ouster.

El-Sissi, the man wholed the military’s moveagainst Morsi, is riding awave of popular supportand is the clear front-runner in this year’s vote.Since Morsi’s ouster, el-Sissi has achieved a nearcult-of-personality. Hispicture is plastered inposters around the

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Drone attackskill dozens of

Qaeda suspectsin Yemen

ADEN—Weekend dronestrikes in Yemen killed morethan 40 suspected Al-Qaedamilitants, including 30 onSunday, days after thejihadist network’s ArabianPeninsula offshoot vowedto fight against Western“crusaders”.

The United States is theonly country that operatesdrones in Yemen, and Presi-dent Abdrabuh MansurHadi has defended their use,despite criticism from rightsgroups who deplore civiliancasualties.

On Sunday US dronesfired “several missiles” intoa training camp run by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Pen-insula (AQAP) in the rug-ged Wadi Ghadina region inthe southern province ofAbyan, a tribal chief said.

“More than 30 membersof Al-Qaeda were killed andmany others wounded,”near Al-Mahfad town, hesaid.

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KABUL—New partial results inAfghanistan’s presidential election re-leased Sunday show candidate AbdullahAbdullah is still the front-runner, though arunoff election looks likely.

The winner will replace Hamid Karzai,the only president the country has knownsince the 2001 U.S.-led invasion ousted theTaliban, and will oversee a tumultuous pe-riod during which the U.S. and NATO forcesare expected to withdraw most of theirtroops from the country.

Both Abdullah, and his closest competi-tor, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, have promiseda fresh start with the West and have vowedto sign a security pact with the U.S. thatKarzai refused to sign.

The chairman of Afghanistan’s Inde-pendent Election Commission, AhmadYousuf Nouristani, announced the resultsSunday. They represent about half of theestimated 7 million ballots cast in the April5 poll, though varying levels of votes havebeen counted in the country’s 54 provinces.

Abdullah, Karzai’s top rival in thecountry’s last election, has 44 percent ofthe vote tallied. Ghani, a former finance min-ister and World Bank official, received 33.2percent of the vote.

Abdullah, speaking in an interview with

Abdullah with 44 pc votes stillahead in Afghan election results

The Associated Press shortly after the re-sults were announced, said he still thinksit’s possible for him to avoid a runoff alto-gether but said he was ready for a secondround.

“For us, we will accept the outcome of afair and transparent process. Anythingshort of that will be problematic,” he said.“It’s important that the process is a freeand fair one. That is important. Then if itgoes to the second round in accordance tothe rule of law, we are ready for that as well.At this stage, we believe that another roundmight not be needed.”

The results were a slight improvementfor Abdullah from the first results an-nounced on April 13, but so far still notenough for him to avoid a runoff with Ghani.

Final results are scheduled to be re-leased on May 14, and officials have cau-tioned that results could change beforethen. Karzai was constitutionally barredfrom running for a third term.

Abdullah was the runner-up to Karzaiduring the 2009 vote which was marred bywidespread allegations of fraud. He hasdrawn on his strong following among eth-nic Tajiks in Afghanistan’s north but is per-ceived to be weak among the country’s larg-

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Imran announcesconstructionof 300 smalldams in KP

M I N G O R A — P a k i s t a nTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chair-man Imran Khan Sundayannounced construction of300 small dams in KhyberPakhtunkhwa to providecheap electricity and elimi-nate load shedding.

Addressing a publicmeeting at Khawaza Khelain Swat held in connectionwith by-elections in PK-86constituency, the PTI chiefalso announced the estab-lishment of an independentaccountability commission

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Pakistan People’sParty (PPP) leader and leaderof the opposition in NationalAssembly, Syed KhurshidShah Sunday said that thecountry could not tolerateany further dictator. “Minormistakes of the parliamentshould be overlooked,” headded.

Talking to media at theairport, Khurshid Shah said,

Pakistan cannot acceptdictator any more: Shah

I have tied to convince theprime minister that PakistanProtection Bill was not goodfor the country and told himthat this Bill in future mightalso create difficulty for him.

He was not optimisticabout dialogue with TTP.

The leader of the oppo-sition said that the attack onHamid Mir was highly re-grettable and government,army should hold joint en-

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HYDERABAD: Christians participating in special Easter Service in Saint Xavier Cathedral Church. Chris-tians all over the world commemorate Easter to their belief in the resurrection of Jesus two days after he wascrucified.

ISLAMABAD—The designated onlinebranches of six scheduled banks willstart receiving applications under gov-ernment Hajj scheme on Monday(April 21).

A total of 143,368 Pakistanis willperform the religious obligation, in-cluding 56,684 under the governmentHajj scheme and 86,684 under the pri-vate Hajj scheme (Hajj grouporganisers, HGOs).

According to an official of the Min-istry of Religious Affairs and InterfaithHarmony, the policy of first come firstserve would continue this year also.No application would be accepted af-ter completion of required number ofapplications. The applicants must writeprominently the date and time of de-positing Hajj application.

The aspirants to perform Hajj un-der the government scheme should

Banks start receivingHajj applications

RAFIULLAH MANDOKHAIL

ZHOB—Thousands of people fromMandokhail tribe blocked Zhob-Waziristanand Zhob-Mir Alikhail highways to protestagainst the violation of law, issuance ofnational identity cards and local certificatesto Afghan nationals, provision of develop-ment funds and grabbing of land here onSunday.

They were chanting slogans againstthe provincial government and local ad-ministration against the issuance of iden-tity cards, supply of electricity and illegalland grabbing by Sulemankhail-an Afghantribe.

Chief of Mandokhail tribe Sardar AyubKhan Mandokhail, Molavi Abdul HaiMandokhail, Malik Abdul SattarMandokhail, Malik Niamat Mandokhail,Malik Zaman Mandokhail, Sheikh NaseebKhan Mandokhail, Gulab Khan Advocate,Engineer Aslam Mandokhail and otherssaid that Balochistan High Court, CollectorBalochistan and Revenue Board have de-clared Sulemankhail tribesmen as Afghangypsies and refugees.

write their machine readable passportnumber or receipt number of the newpassport application.

The applications can be depositedat online branches of National Bankof Pakistan, Habib Bank Limited,United Bank Limited, Allied Bank Lim-ited, Muslim Commercial Bank Limitedand Agricultural Development BankLimited. The Hajj package for southregion (Karachi, Quetta and Sukkur)will be Rs 262,231 and for north region(Peshawar, Islamabad, Lahore, Multan,Rahim Yar Khan, Faisalabad andSialkot) Rs 272,231. An additionalamount of Rs 14,500 will be requiredfor the applicants opting to performtheir Qurbani (sacrifice) through Is-lamic Development Bank.

Any person, who has performedHajj during last five years, is not beeligible to perform Hajj 2014, except as

“Mehram” or the one undertaking“Hajj-e-Badal”.

Five percent of total seats underthe government scheme have beenreserved for hardship cases, includ-ing the pilgrims recommended andfunded by charitable institutions,labour/low paid employees of differ-ent public sector organizations/corpo-rate entities under the concept of cor-porate social responsibility, etc.

Each aspirant is required to under-take at the time of submitting Hajj ap-plication that before departure he willarrange minimum personal exchangequota of SR 1500 on his own to meetpersonal and Qurbani expenditures inSaudi Arabia.

Buying food from Saudi companieshas been made essential for the Paki-stani Hujjaj and the amount for the pur-pose will be paid in advance.—APP

Thousands protest onissuance of CNIC to Afghans

Sulemankhail tribe backed by securityforces and provincial government hasgrabbed land of Mandokhail tribe. Theysaid that Mandokhail tribe is patriotic andhas always rendered sacrifices for the de-fense of frontiers, while Sulemankhails haveheavy weapons and they are grabbing Pa-kistani territory by force.

But Mandokhail tribe would not allowtheir illegal occupation. They added.

Tribesmen further said that issuance ofnational identity cards to Afghan refugeesis excess with the country. A NADRA mo-bile van comprising team sent to Gul Kachhfor issuing national identity cards to Af-ghan nomads. They alleged.

They warned the provincial government,local administration and NADRA officialsto refrain from rehabilitation of Afghan refu-gees and issuance of identity cards or theywould adopt tough measures.

Assistant Commissioner Zhob AliAsghar reached the scene and held talkswith Mandokhail tribesmen. AC told theprotesters that issuance of identity cardswas not the policy of the government andthe issue would be investigated.

Girl throwsacid on boy

MULTAN—A girl threwacid on a boy here onSunday. According toreports, a girl namedSadia threw acid onImran after she thoughtthat he was going tomarry another girl.

However, Sadia hasnot yet disclosed her re-lationship with Imran.The youngster wastaken to Nishtar Hospi-tal where he is beingtreated.

Doctors said, “It willbe seen after the opera-tion whether his eyescan be saved or not”.Police have started theinvestigation of the inci-dents.—INP

Exhibition of oldcraft earthenware, wooden

ornaments heldGUL HAMAAD FAROOQI

CHITRAL—Preserving cul-tural craft of indigenouspeople in Chitral an exhibi-tion was held in local hotel.Senior artesian and skilledpeople displayed hand-made earthen and woodenware and very old orna-ments which are disappear-ing gradually.

The exhibition was orga-nized by Research Planning& Development Organiza-tion Chitral. Which was fi-nancially supported by Di-vision of Economics andSocial Development andUnited Nation Fund for in-digenous people.

Chairman RPDOC Pro-fessor Rahmat Karim Baigsaid that our indigenous andold culture is dying most ofwooden and earthen handmad ornaments and homeappliances are disappearing.

UAE Navy’s Ship Al Hesen docks at Karachi port. The ship was welcomed by Pakistan Navy’s officers and men. Two of UAE Navy Ships alongwithMaritime patrol aircraft will take part in Exercise Nasl al Behr1.

CHITRAL: People drinking water from pipe after the first solar lift irrigation projectinaugurated at Khairabad Drosh.

PESHAWAR: Vice Chancellor Sarhad University Dr Salim ur Rehman distributingshields among students for their performance in Spring Festival.

OUR CORRESPONDENT

VEHARI—Six employees of Tehsil Mu-nicipal Administration died while repair-ing motor in a disposal tube well atJalaJem in Mailsi on Sunday.

The motor of disposal tubewell ,working at Jalajem was out of order andthree motor machanics Iqbal, Fiaz andMueen went into the well to repair it butdied due to suffocation of poisonousgas there. Seeing the situation Inchargedisposal works Naseer Ahmad Mansvi,Rao Akram and Tahir Mateen also wentinto the well to save their colleages livesbut they also become victim of poison-ous gas.

People of the area pulled out all thedead bodies from the well and took themto a local hospital but the duty doctordid not check them which angered thepeople and they started demonstrationagainst medical staff of the hospital

The protestors chanted slogansagainst doctor, District administrationand blocked the road.

The protestors also burned thehouse of Dr Atta, Dr Muhammad FazalWaseem Naz and damaged the vehicleof the doctor.

The traders also observed shutterdown strike to protest against the inci-

Six TMA employees die ofpoisonous gas repairing motorThree doctors suspended, deseased relatives to

get compensation, govt jobsdent. The Police fired tear gas shells andbatton charged then to dispurse the pro-testors. District government called theforce of entire distr ict and fromneighbouring cities to control the situa-tion.

Seeing the situation District Coordi-nation Officer Jawad Akram and DPOSadiq Ali Dogar, RPO Multan divisionrushed to the spot and negotiated withthe protestors. The DCO Jawad Akramsuspended Dr Atta Zafar, Dr Fazal andDr Waseem Naz and driver ManzoorAhmad and inspected the disposalworks well also.

The DCo announced that govern-ment would give financial support to therelatives of the deceased and providegovernment jobs to the deceaseds’ fam-ily members.

Regional Police Officer Captain(Retd) Amin Vains ordered the DPO andDCO Vehari to hold open court at Jalajemto know the real facts.

He said strict action would be takenagainst the officers for showing negli-gence.

He also ordered to register casesagainst the people who burned thehouse of the doctors and other miscre-ants. On his assurance the protestorsdispursed.

Isolated thunderstorm,rain predicted

ISLAMABAD—The Meteorological Department here Sun-day predicted mainly dry weather in most parts of countryhowever synoptic situation indicates that a fresh troughof the westerly wave lies over lower and central Iran andadjoining areas of Baluchistan which can cause isolatedthunderstorm/rain in Rawalpindi, Gujranwala, Lahore, DGKhan, Multan, Malakand, Bannu and D.I. Khan Divisiondivisions during next 24 hours.

The weather conditions were associated with conti-nental air is prevailing over most parts of the country. Atrough of westerly wave thatis prevailing adjoining areasof Baluchistan was expectedto approach western andsouthern parts of the countryand likely to persist there tillMonday.

A maximum temp of 25 de-grees Celsius was reported in Peshawar, while Skardu andGilgit remained on 15 and 17 degree Celsius respectively.

The agriculture experts have termed the rainfall benefi-cial for wheat crops in upper parts of Khyber Pakthunkhwa.The Meteorological department has forecast partly cloudyweather with chances of thunderstorm/ rain in the provin-cial capital and its suburbs during the next 24 hours. OnSunday, maximum and minimum temperature of the citywere recorded as 29 degrees celsius and 13.8 degreescelsius, respectively.The relatively humidity was recorded70 percent at 8:00 am and 48 percent at 5:00 pm.

Rainfall during the last 24 hours was recorded in Lahorecity 12 mm, Bahawalnagar 21 mm, Okara 12 mm, Sialkot 7mm, Gujranwala 6 mm, Shorkot 4, TT Singh & Gujrat 3 mm,Jhelum, Khanpur, Faisalabad 2 (each) and Multan trace.The Met Office has forecast partly cloudy with chances oflight rain and thunderstorm weather for the provincial capi-tal for Monday.—APP

76th deathanniversary of

Allama Iqbal todayLAHORE/SIALKOT—The76th death anniversary ofnational poet Dr AllamaMuhammad Iqbal will beobserved in the country to-day, April 21 to acknowledgehis services for floating theidea of a separate homelandfor the Muslims of the In-dian subcontinent. AllamaIqbal was born in Sialkot onNovember 9, 1877 and diedon 21st April 1938.

Special prayers will beoffered after Fajr prayers forthe departed soul of the poetof East Dr. AllamaMuhammad Iqbal.

Religious, social andpolitical organizations areorganizing functions, meet-ings and seminars to payrich tribute to Dr.Muhammad Iqbal, who mo-bilized the Muslims of sub-continent through his po-etry for an independent Is-lamic state.

The people of Sialkotwill also pay rich tributes togreat poet while visiting the150 years old Iqbal Manzil(the birthplace of AllamaIqbal) at Sialkot. QuranKhawani will be held atIqbal Manzil Sialkot underthe auspices of Bazam-i-Iqbal Sialkot, in which alarge number of the peoplefrom all walks of life will par-ticipate.

Dr Iqbal is also recog-nized as Muffakir-e-Paki-stan, Shair-e-Mashriq andHakeemul Ummat. He is alsoconsidered one of the mostimportant figures in litera-ture with literary works inboth Urdu and Persian lan-guages.

Radio Pakistan and TVstations will broadcast specialprogrammes to pay tributes tothe great poet. Newspaperswill publish special editions tomark Allama Iqbal’s death an-niversary.—INP

LAHORE—Secretary General PakistanPeople’s Party, Punjab, Tanvir Ashraf Kairahas called upon the federal government torestore the wheat subsidy to the people ofGilgit/Balitistan and thus dispel the impres-sion that is becoming increasingly popu-lar that this is a government of the capital-ists by the capitalists and for the capital-ists.

He said that the Gilgit/ Baltistan gov-ernment had been facing the tough resis-tance from the people who had resorted tosit-in for the last many days in front of theSecretariat.

He maintained that the wheat subsidyto the people of the region was absolutelycritical for the lease of their life becausethey could not afford to buy expensivestaple food due to the wide spread abjectpoverty.

He added that previous government ofthe PPP never even thought of such anti-poor steps and continued the subsidy

PPP demands restorationof wheat subsidy in GB

throughout its period so that the poor couldmaintain the subsistence level.

He pointed out that the government’sgenerosity towards elite had no limit as ithad awarded more than three hundred bil-lions rupees exemption in duties and taxesthrough various SROs to the crony capital-ists adding as to why the government wasso parsimonious towards marginalized as itwas contemplating to starve the poorest ofthe poor.

He expressed his utter dismay over thefaint ignorance of the Minister for State andfrontier Regions who maintained that wheatsubsidy was not the subject of the federalgovernment.

Mr. Kaira assured the people of Gilgit/Baltistan that the Pakistan People’s Partywas with them in difficult times and fullysupported their legitimate demand andwould keep on pressing the government toalleviate them from the ordeal sooner thanlater.—INP

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Central leader of Pakistan Mus-lim League (N) Hamza Shahbaz Sharif MNAhas said that Murree will be made the mostbeautiful city of the country by makingcleanliness arrangements of internationalstandard.

He said that Prime Minister MuhammadNawaz Sharif takes special interest in de-velopment and restoration of naturalbeauty of Murree. He said that Prime Min-ister has issued special instructions for notonly making Murree an attractive touristplace but also providing all kind of facili-ties to the local citizens.

Hamza Shahbaz said that Punjab gov-ernment has started Murree DevelopmentProject and Lahore Waste ManagementCompany has been directed to providetechnical and administrative assistance forimproving cleanliness.

He expressed these views while address-ing a briefing meeting about the planevolved for improvement of solid wastemanagement in Murree. MD Lahore WasteManagement Waseem Ajmal Ch. gave adetailed briefing to Hamza Shahbaz Sharifabout the plan of the company at Murree.Hamza Shahbaz said that the environmentof Murree is being affected due to touristactivities as a result of which not only itsbeauty is marring but health of local peopleis also affecting badly.

He said that Punjab government has

decided to take immediate steps for copingwith this situation due to which not onlydream of clean Murree will be realized butlocal and foreign tourists will also be at-tracted.

Earlier, MD LWMC, Waseem Ajmal whilegiving briefing about the proposed plan forsolid waste management in Murree told thatLWMC has started cleanliness work inMurree under short, medium and long termplanning.

He said that under GM Operations, aspecial team comprising two managers, fourzonal officers, 15 supervisors and 150 work-ers has started solid waste management inMurree. He told that this special team isremoving garbage from important places ofMurree including Mall Road, KashmirPoint, Tehsil Road. He told that completecleanliness will be carried out in Murree byMay 10 and after that under mid-term plan,special teams will identify the necessaryplaces for cleanliness in Murree within threeto five months.

He said that steps will be taken for dis-posing of medical wastes of hospitalsthrough incinerators. He said that a specialcampaign will also be launched for creatingawareness among tourists regarding clean-liness of Murree in which students, localvolunteers, private institutions, companiesand philanthropists will be included.Waseem Ajmal told that LWMC will pre-pare a special system for removing garbagein Murree on daily basis.

Murree to be made mostbeautiful city of country: Hamza

Slain ANP leader’shouse attacked;three kidnapped

P E S H AWA R — U n k n o w ngunmen attacked a hujra inthe Badbher area on theoutskirts of Peshawar andabducted three people.

The hujra situated in theMashokhel area of Badbherbelongs to the slain AwamiNational Party (ANP) leaderMian Mushtaq.

The three people whowere abducted were re-ported to be Mushtaq’sclose associates and rela-tives.

The Station House Of-ficer (SHO) of Badbher po-lice station Garanullah saidthat the attackers may havethrown a hand grenade or abomb at Mian Mushtaq’shujra, which damaged twovehicles in the premises.Family sources have saidthat three people related toMian Mushtaq were ab-ducted by the gunmen, SHOGaranullah said.

The names of those ab-ducted are Fahad, Shakeeland Shabbir Ahmed. Thepolice said that it was notpossible at present to con-firm whether the attack wascarried out by militants orwas a result of a personalenmity.—INP

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan and United ArabEmirates (UAE) Navies on Sunday com-menced a seven-day joint exercise Naslal Behr to enhance bilateral cooperationbetween the two nations.

The UAE Navy ships including AbuDhabi and Baynunah class warshipsalong with a maritime patrol aircraft havearrived in Karachi to take part in the ex-ercises.

Special operat ing forces of UAENavy would also participate in the exer-cise while Pakistan Navy’s platforms PNSKhaibar, PNS Babur, PNS Quwwat, PNSAzmat and Helicopters will take part inthese exercises. These exercises held byPakistan Navy reiterate the connotationthat Pakistan does not only want peacein the region and in the world and it willkeep on playing its part through takingpart in such exercises, said a press re-lease issued by Navy here.

It may be mentioned here that Paki-

stan Navy organizes exercises of Amanseries with Naval forces of all major coun-tries of the world.

The 4th Exercise of this series Aman2013 was conducted in March 2013. Ex-ercise Nasl Al Behr is being organizedbetween Pakistan and UAE Navy fromApril 20 to 26, 2014. These are the firstexercises of this series for mutual co op-eration between both nations.

The defender of the sea and coast,Pakistan Navy, has always been readyto accomplish its professional responsi-bilities.

Pakistan Navy continues to holdjoint exercises with other regional Naviesto enhance its professional capabilitiesand to play its part in maintaining peaceat regional and international level. Exer-cise Naseem Al Bahr with Saudi Navalforces and Exercise Thamar

Al Tayyab with Oman Navy are testi-mony to it.—APP

Pakistan, UAE Navies jointexercise commences

APNScondemnsattack on

Hamid MirSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—The APNS hasstrongly condemned the in-cident of firing on the re-nowned journalist HamidMir here causing critical in-juries to him.

The APNS in a state-ment termed the cowardlyattempt on the life of MrHamid Mir as an attack onmedia and freedom of pressin the country.

The APNS noted withconcern that the mediahouses and media personshave been continuous bytarget of attacks by stateand non-state elements whointend to curb the freedomof expression.

The federal as well asprovincial governmentshave failed to provide secu-rity and protection to thefourth pillar of the state.

The APNS and othermedia bodies have repeat-edly urged the govern-ment for fool proof secu-ri ty but the recent inci-dents revealed completefailure on the part of thelaw enforcing agencies.

The APNS expresses itssolidarity with Mr Hamid Mirand demands that the cul-prit be brought to book with-out any delay.

Young girlcommitssuicide

KAHIRPUR—A young girlKubra Khaskheli -22 com-mitted suicide in village Kotlalo by drinking pesticide inher house. She was broughtto local hospital where doc-tor confirmed her death. FaizGunj police on receipt of in-formation took body in itscustody and hand over toher relatives after autopsyfrom local hospital.

The cause of suicide isto be stated over domesticaffairs. Meanwhile a localleader of Awami Tehrik of DrTahirul Qadri was kidnappedfrom Kumb on Sunday. Ac-cording to details somearmed persons interceptedthe leader of Awami Tehrik,Shoukat Lund at mainchowk Kumb and kid-napped him at gun point.

In another incident, uni-dentified armed persons at-tacked in Farooqi MohallaGambat City and kidnappeda boy Gada Hussain Narejo-8at gunpoint. On resistancethey killed Mst Zarina Narejo-45 mother of kidnapped boy.The traders and citizens ofKumb shut down their busi-ness on Sunday, against in-creased crime rate in area.

All Bazaars, Shops re-mained closed.—INP

Khattak: EhtesabCommission tobe operationalwithin weeks

PESHAWAR—Chief Minis-ter Pervez Khattak has as-sured the people that ele-ments involved in corrup-tion would be made ac-countable, saying EhtesabCommission would be op-erational within few weeksand all corruption casesalong with proofs will besubmitted to it.

Talking to the peopleafter hearing public griev-ances and explaining ques-tions here in CM Secre-tariat, he said that theEhtesab Commission willdispose these cases of in ashort time period. He saidthat the commission will notonly give exemplary pun-ishment to corrupt, but willalso recovered lootedamounts from them.

The chief minister saidthat the commission will beso independent and power-ful to arrest and punish evensenior officials, provincialministers, advisors and eventhe CM of the province. Hesaid that will bring the plun-derers of the national exche-quer and champions of thepeoples’ rights into justiceand will recover each andevery looted penny. Regard-ing delay in developmentprocess, he said the peoplehad exhibited big patienceand now they will reap itsfruit soon.

He said that they wereunder pressure to carryingdevelopment schemes fortime-being under old sys-tem. However, he said theywill not let billions of rupeespaid by poor people in headof taxes into waste.—APP

Most dastardlyattack on Hamid MirTHE most dastardly attack on Hamid Mir in Karachi on Saturday has

rightly caused serious concern in the length and breadth of Pakistanand media bodies rose to the occasion in unison not only to condemn

the incident but also expressed shock at this broad day light murder at-tempt. The President, the Prime Minister, Information Minister and othersenior most functionaries of the federal and provincial governments havenot only condemned the act but also pledged to undertake an impartial in-quiry to reach to a conclusion as to the circumstances that led to the attackand the people behind it.

After the attack Mr Hamid Mir’s brother said that the seniorAnchorperson and popular columnist had informed him of a plan by ISIChief to assassinate him. However the ISPR after having condemned theincident of firing demanded an independent inquiry immediately to ascer-tain facts. A spokesman for media wing of the Armed Forces said that rais-ing allegations against ISI or head of the institution without any basis arehighly regrettable and misleading. In any case, the incident is very unfortu-nate and unpardonable because Hamid Mir is a distinguished anchorpersonwhose talk shows and columns are watched and read with great interest ashe touches very serious issues confronting the country with lot of insideinformation. Earlier Mr Hamid Mir, narrowly escaped a terrorist attemptin November, 2012 when a bomb was detected attached beneath his car athis residence in Islamabad which fortunately did not explode. Because ofhis unbiased comments and interpretations of the issues, many people couldbe annoyed with him. However there should be a realization that mediahave a right to critically analyse the policies formulated in national intereststo check whether they served the purpose or not. After the attack on HamidMir there is very serious concern among media persons about their security.In the past as well several journalists have been killed and many othershave been receiving life threats. Therefore we demand that an impartialinquiry be held, preferably by a person of the choice of Mr Hamid Mir orhis family, so that no one could raise accusing finger about authenticity ofthe report and the perpetrators be brought to justice to give a message tomedia that the government fully backs freedom of expression.

Agriculture getssome attention

FINANCE Minister Senator Ishaq Dar has stressed the need for following a holistic approach for development of agriculture sector with focus

on small farmers to combat poverty in rural areas. While chairing a meetingto review agriculture products prices in the country and the strategy to en-sure agriculture sector growth Saturday, the Finance Minister emphasisedfor formulating a national agriculture policy for optimum use of naturalresources to make the country self sufficient in food.

The crown of Pakistan economy is agriculture and it is good of the Fi-nance Minister that he is paying special attention to this all important sectorwhich plays a central role in the country’s economy as it accounts for over21% of GDP while employing 45% of labour force. With environmentalchanges world over and the emphasis of ensuring food security, it is of utmostimportance that Pakistan should pay utmost attention to further develop agri-culture. The achievements in agriculture so far have been largely due to theinterest of farmers themselves where as if subsidized inputs are provided toagriculture, the country can produce enough food and with higher yield, theconsumers would ultimately be benefited with affordable prices in additionto more income for the farming community. Allah Allmighty has blessedPakistan with rich and vast natural resource base covering various ecologicaland climating zones hence the country has great potential for producing allkind of food commodities. This vast balancing of agro climate allows produc-ing an array of highly quality and tasteful fruits, vegetables and field cropsduring various parts of the year. Agriculture lands of Pakistan are rich andfertile, the soil has good potential to support good agriculture production andthe vast canal network is there to irrigate vast and virgin lands. The need is tocreate an enabling environment by providing necessary facilities to farmersincluding subsidized inputs, low interest loans and good quality seeds. If thisis done, we are certain that agriculture sector can help the government a lotnot only by creating exportable surpluses but also in increasing GDP growthon which the Finance Minister is laying special emphasis.

EscalatingUS-Russia cold war

THE United States and Poland will announce deployment of US groundforces in Poland next week as part of an expansion of NATO presence

in Central and eastern Europe in response to events in Ukraine. The moveis seen as a reassurance by Washington to European allies amid fears of aRussian aggression.

Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak , following a meeting withhis US counterpart, Chuck Hagel at the Pentagon said that a decision hasbeen made at political level and military planners were working out details.Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine a month ago, NATOhas ramped up its presence in the Baltics and around the Black Sea. USwarships and F-16s have been a key part of that effort. Surveillance aircraftalso have been deployed in Romania and Poland. East Europeans are con-cerned that the Russian military is strong enough to defeat their nationalmilitaries and have been calling on the US to ensure their protection frompossible aggression. Moscow believes that the alliance is seeking justifi-cation for its existence by blowing the tension over Ukraine out of pro-portion. Ukraine is not the only issue but developments in Korean Penin-sula and agreement between the Philippines and the United States for se-curity will expand military cooperation between the two old allies and al-low the United States military to share local bases with the Philippinesarmed forces for maritime and humanitarian operations. The objective seemsto check the Chinese influence. These developments testify that cold war isescalating between US and Russia. This is an unfortunate developmentbecause the world cannot afford either hot or cold war any more. Human-ity has suffered a lot in the past because of territorial wars and this trendmust come to an end otherwise the deadly weapons including the nucleararsenal are more than enough to destroy the entire globe.

Sequel to attack on Hamid Mir

Afghanpresidential

poll

THE first round ofAfghanistan’s election thismonth delivered a resound-

ing, three-part defeat to the Taliban.More than 7 million voters — some60 percent of those registered —turned out in defiance of the Islam-ists’ threats. Afghan security forceseffectively beat back 286 reportedinsurgent attacks, killing 141 attack-ers while losing only 17. And earlyvote counting is showing a decisiveand welcome result: Two front-run-ners have emerged, AbdullahAbdullah and Ashraf Ghani, who aremoderate, pro-Western and commit-ted to the fight against extremism.

Though tabulations of only 10percent of the April 5 vote have sofar been announced, Mr. Abdullah,with 42 percent of the vote, and Mr.Ghani, with 38 percent, were far infront of the other nine candidates— including Zalmay Rassoul, aformer foreign minister who wasthe favoured candidate of incum-bent President Hamid Karzai. Sinceboth front-runners are also wellshort of the threshold of 50 percent,neither will win the election outrightif the current trends hold. That re-sult would be relatively invulner-able to fraud charges; though thou-sands of complaints have been for-warded to a commission, they ap-pear unlikely to undermine theemergence of the two men as topfinishers. Mr. Abdullah finishedsecond to Mr. Karzai in a 2009 elec-tion that was tainted by low turn-out and massive ballot-box stuffingby Mr. Karzai’s allies. This electionnot only produced a 50 percenthigher turnout, but also a muchmore credible vote in the Kandaharregion, the homeland of the Talibanand Mr. Karzai’s Pashtun ethnicgroup. Voting was heavy in theKandahar area, and only 205 of6,423 polling centres across thecountry failed to open.

The Afghan candidates, elec-tion officials and security forcesmust still run a gantlet of challengesto complete a successful election.The vote count is due to be com-pleted by April 24, and the electionscomplaint commission has pledgedto investigate every fraud report. Asecond round would be held by May28; that would provide the Talibanwith another opportunity to attack.The Post’s Joshua Partlow reportsthat US and other Western officialsare hoping that a runoff might beavoided through a deal between thefront-runners. Such a bargain couldspeed the day when a new presi-dent could sign a pending securityagreement with the United States— the key to leaving some USforces in the country after 2014, andthus to preserving the state builtsince 2002. But Mr. Abdullah andMr. Ghani are so far saying theydon’t want such a deal, and theyshouldn’t be pushed. Afghanistanneeds a new president broadly ac-cepted as legitimate. If that takesanother vote, Afghans have demon-strated that they can pull it off.— The Washington Post

*****

Genevaagreement

THE six-week-old crisis inUkraine has been spirallingfrom bad to worse, with the

threat of civil war and widespreadviolence looming ever so large overthe eastern ethnically Russian regionof the polarised nation. And with thedeaths of at least three people thereon Thursday morning, in the areaproclaimed as the independent re-public of Don Bass, those fears ofviolence seemed all the more real.

But now, given an agreementreached in Geneva between Russia,Ukraine, the European Union andthe US, it seems as if cooler headsare prevailing. And hopefully, theagreement reached on the macrodiplomatic level can be translatedinto concrete developments on theground. The easing of the crisisshould set the stage for the presi-dential elections to go ahead onschedule late May. But reaching adeal is one thing, implementing itis another. On the ground, there isdeep distrust in the pro-Russiancommunities of eastern Ukraineabout the Kiev government. Thosewho have occupied buildings andmanned barricades, believe theirlegitimate and democraticallyelected government was over-thrown. This deal needs to over-come those fears. Otherwise, thestalemate will continue.— Gulf News

MEDIA WATCH

HAMID Mir, a renownedjournalist and anchorpersonof the Geo News channel has

survived an attack on him on the af-ternoon of April 19, 2014, nearKarachi airport. After his success-ful surgery, he is rapidly recoveringand we wish him a good health andback to profession. Everyone in Pa-kistan condemned the attack onHamid Mir. Indeed, everyone’s, lifeis precious for him and his familyand so was Mr Mir’s life. Surpris-ingly, following the attack,Pakistan’s private electronic medialiterally waged a war against InterServices Intelligence agency (ISI)and its incumbent head, LieutenantGeneral Zaheer ul Islam. Indeed,this blame game was the startingpoint of incident.

It appeared that, all private TVchannels of Pakistan already knewabout the attack and the attackers inadvance, the way they voiced unani-mously against ISI, Pak Army andthe hierarchy of these institutions. Imonitored all the private TV Chan-nels and views of the analysts, whowere specially called upon to com-ment on the incident. Mostly, thesewere journalists or group of pro-journalists people, all uttering theirhatred against these state institu-tions. I could not find a channel,which presented a neutral viewpoint;all were biased and highly criticalto ISI and military establishment asif these institutions were not the Pa-kistani ones. On its part, the InterServices Public Relations Depart-

ment of the armed forces has con-demned the attack on Mr Hamid Mirand offered its full support during anysuch investigation on the incident.However, ISPR advised the elec-tronic media to refrain from reach-ing over to an early judgment andaccusation against an organization orits head without evidence. As per thepress release, “ISPR condemned theincident of firing on senior anchorHamid Mir, prayed for his well be-ing and quick recovery. An indepen-dent inquiry must immediately becarried out to ascertain facts. How-ever raising allegations against ISI orhead of ISI without any basis is highlyregrettable and misleading.”

The media bashing of the ISI isindeed against the norms and ethics,which a civilized society should have.Any event or incident needs a thor-ough investigation before reachingover to some conclusions. Taking alead from Pakistani media, the Indianand the western media made lot ofoutcry against ISI and Pak Army. Infact, anti-Pakistan forces and medianeeded some justification to defamePakistan and its organized institutionslike armed forces and ISI. Picking upfrom Pakistani private channels, In-dian media together with global me-dia had launched a propaganda cam-paign against these state institutions.In a way, the private media houses ofPakistan mobilized the internationalmedia against its armed forces andISI. The media houses should bequestioned that by doing so, have theyserve the country or its institutionsor tried to damage them.

It is unfair that, Hamid Mir, oth-erwise a controversial journalist,should have recorded a video andwritten statement that, “in case of any

attack on him, ISI and DG ISI wouldbe responsible.” After all, why andwhat evidence he has to support hispre-judgment or pre-emptive strat-egy? Indeed, it is very clever and cun-ning tactic, generally applied by out-rageous people to blame someone oran institution in advance for puttingthem on defensive. What forced himto write this statement or video re-cording it in advance, should even alayman question these media thugs?

Compare to media of developedcountries, Pakistani media is new,over ambitious, non-nationalistic, bi-ased and juvenile. Though mellow-ness comes through ages, yet, cam-paigning against the state and its sen-sitive institutions for petty gains, incompliance of other’s narrative,should be an unacceptable act. Indianmedia (private media channels) havealmost the same age as of Pakistaniprivate media channels, but they arevery much nationalistic and havenever resorted to defame their stateand its institutions. Being immediateneighbours and having joint shares ofsome of media houses, we could havelearnt from India even. In Pakistan,the media ranking is based on as towho take a lead in the military andISI bashing on daily basis. Pakistaniprivate channels have mandated forthemselves to blame armed forces andISI for any happening anywherewithin Pakistan or elsewhere outsideits geographical frontiers.

Rather being the fourth pillar ofstate, today, virtually Pakistani me-dia is a state with in state. All institu-tions and indeed, every respectablecitizen is afraid of media blackmail-ing. May it be the politicians, the gov-ernment, judiciary, academia, busi-ness community, security forces,

30-year war over Siachen

ALARM bells have startedringing as the thirty years ofwar over the Siachen have

caused melting of the world’s big-gest Glacier at an unusual speed, andif it dissolves towards the mid 21stCentury, it would not only ravageIndia, Pakistan and other regionalcountries, but, according to Al-Gore’saward winning documentary on glo-bal environment, it would also causehuge tsunamis to inundate and evendisappear countries of the Gulf re-gion. Al-Gore was the vice presidentin the Clinton administration. Heurged the international community tohelp Pakistan and India resolve theconflict and withdraw their forcesfrom Siachen as early possible.

The presence of thousands oftroops since 1984 has introducedpollution and melting on the glacier.Dumping of non-biodegradablewaste in large quantities and the useof arms and ammunition has af-fected the ecosystem of the region.Findings of a survey, by PakistanMeteorological Department in 2007,reveal that the Siachen glacier hasbeen retreating for the past 30 yearsand is melting at an alarming rate.The study of satellite images showsthat the glacier is retreating at a rateof about 110 meters a year and thatits size has reduced by 35%.

In 2001 India laid oil pipelinesabout 250km long inside the glacierto supply kerosene oil and aviationfuel to the outposts from basecamps. As of 2007, the temperaturerise at the Siachen was estimated at0.2-degree Celsius annually, thatcauses melting, avalanches, and cra-ters in the glacier. About 1,000kg ofwaste is produced and dumped inglacial crevasses daily by the Indianforces. The flora and fauna of the

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Sunday Magazine

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Ph: 2852027-8, Ext: 116Email: magazinesocialdiary@hotmail.com — Proverb

clergy and even police, all are un-der the fear of private media. It isnot because that all are involved inwrong practices but because of un-investigated reporting in the form of‘breaking news’ that make a dent onthe repute of a person or an insti-tute, as made by private media chan-nels after attack on Hamid Mir. Inmost of the cases, theseuninvestigated news later provewrong and fabricated. Nevertheless,the damage is already done and thencarried on with that person or theinstitution. On their part, mediapeople are sacred cows, thus no onecan touch them, as they can accuseanyone in advance under the strat-egy of pre-emption.

Should this practice continue un-abated and unchecked? The Govern-ment, indeed, the Executive needs tofind the permanent solution of this.Have the Government ever botheredto audit the bulky pay packages andperks and privileges given to the se-nior media persons, particularly toanchorpersons, who follow the nar-rative of others to defame their owninstitutions and the state. After all,who funds them and from where?The state of Pakistan and its institu-tions should not be an easy target tobe blackmailed by private channels.Exploitation and fabrication againstarmed forces of Pakistan and ISI (toput them on defensive) is the narra-tive of anti-Pakistan forces, whichmust be stopped before it is too late.Let the Government should defineand practice a code of conduct for theprivate media at least on the issuesof its security, sovereignty, integrityand national interests.— The writer is Islamabad-basedscholar of International Relations.

Borrowedgarments neverfit well.

Siachen region are also affected bythe huge military presence.

The region is home to rare spe-cies like snow leopard, brown bearand ibex, which are at risk becauseof huge military presence. The ideaof declaring the Siachen region as a“Peace Park” was basically presentedby environmentalists and peace ac-tivists only to preserve the ecosystemof the region. One of the worst expe-riences of environmental degradationin the glaciated region has been themammoth avalanche that hit a Paki-stan Army base in Gayari on April 7,2012, wherein 129 military person-nel and 11 civilians lost their lives.

Although the “useless” presenceof armies is impacting the economyof both the countries wherein Paki-stan is annually spending about$60m, almost 2.35% of its army’sbudget, and India is spending$0.99bn, which is 6% of its army’sbudget – yet most of the casualtiesare weather related e.g. India suffered4,000 from 1984 to 2013 and Paki-stan 1,000. More soldiers have diedin Siachen from harsh weather thanfrom combat. Indian deployment(4,000 soldiers) is double thanPakistan’s (2,000 soldiers). Thirtyyears ago, on April 13, 1984, Indiaoccupied Siachen as a move to whatit calls “preempt occupation by Pa-kistan”, an unfounded assertion thatdisregarded the fact that it was India,which initiated patrolling in the areaas far back as 1978 when they sent astrong expedition to scale a series ofpeaks on either side of the glacierunder a colonel nicknamed BullKumar. India occupied two northernpasses on the Saltoro Ridge, thus be-gan the longest undeclared war on thehighest battlefield in the world – lo-cated in the eastern Karakorum rangein the Himalayas north-east of thegrid point NJ-9842, the Siachen Gla-cier is 68km long and 2-3km wide.The conflict triangle is about 1,400sqmiles. Average winter snowfall is

10.5m and temperatures can dip upto -50°C. Pakistan had de facto con-trol up to Line NJ 9842 – KarakorumPass (KKP) since 1947 till 1984 whenIndia violated the Simla Agreementand captured this un-inhabited andunoccupied territory. Article 2 (2) ofSimla Agreement reads: “Pending thefinal settlement of any of the prob-lems between the two countries, nei-ther side shall unilaterally alter thesituation.” Pakistan’s control on theseareas was accepted by the Indian lead-ership in the past. Jawaharlal Nehru’saddress to the Indian Parliament onMay 7, 1962, acknowledgedPakistan’s de facto control up toKKP: “The defence of which is un-der the actual control of Pakistan.”Acceptance of Pakistan’s control byIndia is also evident due to the non-delineation or demarcation demandof the LoC beyond point NJ 9842after the Tashkent (1966) and Simla(1972) agreements. Authorization ofas many as 21 mountaineering expe-ditions in the area by Pakistan from1974 to 1984 is yet another proof ofPakistan’s control over the area.

Pakistan has on a number of oc-casions tried to conduct talks and re-solve the matter with India but Indianstubbornness on achieving an agree-ment on its own terms has producedno results. Pakistan wants both sidesto pull back to the positions they heldmore than 20 years ago before Indiaoccupied most of the ice field. Indiaagrees but says the withdrawal shouldbe preceded by marking the currentposition of the two forces. An under-standing reached between the twocountries during the talks to disen-gage in 1989 and 1992 but peacecould not materialize, thanks to In-dian insistence on authentication ofactual ground position line (AGPL)along Saltoro Ridge before disen-gagement and Pakistan’s refusal togive in on any condition which altersthe status of the area. Why Pakistancannot authenticate these positions

is that it would be tantamount toauthenticating Indian aggression in1984 and elsewhere later. Thus,Indian Army is a stumbling blockto a negotiated settlement. Pakistanis willing to show flexibility andsolve the issue despite the fact thatit has the superior strategic orien-tation because India operates onexterior lines and is at verge of itsculminating point being at the op-timum distance from its logisticbasis with virtually no communi-cation infrastructure; less the aerialroute to support it. Pakistan will bewilling to go to any length to makepeace dream come true, short of le-gitimizing India’s violation of theSimla Agreement.

Indians can draw strengthfrom disengagement precedentsand processes at the Chumik Gla-cier in 1989, Kargil in 1999, andthe ceasefire in force since No-vember 25 2003, rather than suc-cumbing to the apparent trust defi-cit and play in the hands of forces(Indian army and extremist Hindupolitical leadership) bent to disruptthe march towards peace.

It is evident that Indian govern-ment and their army are not on thesame page on the issue. If the suc-cessive governments have been try-ing to resolve the issue, the armyhas always been opposing peaceinitiatives. Scholars and environ-mentalists around the world, in-cluding those from India, suggestthat sanity should prevail, soonerthe better, and Siachen must emergeas a Peace Zone from a War Zone.If both are able to reach an agree-ment to disengage from Siachen,the money saved can be spent onhuman security and development.The same budget can be used forthe uplift of the conflict-hit areasbeyond NJ-9842.—The writer is PhD scholar andauthor of book “Human Securityin Pakistan”.

Dr Muhammad Khan Email: drmk_edu@yahoo.com

Ehsan Mehmood KhanEmail:ehsanmkhan@yahoo.com

Voice of the People

Relocation ofPeshawar AirportSHAHRYAR KHAN BASEER

The Government claims that theyhave scrapped the plan to relocatePeshawar International Airport,because a new International levelairport has opened in Islamabad,2 hours drive away fromPeshawar.

I, like many other Peshawariteswould strongly protest such a move.We, the people of Peshawar, haveplaced very high hopes of a new air-port, especially since we have beeninjured in terrorist attacks on thePeshawar airport. We all despise theextra noise and security details wehave to put up with just because ofthe airport.

The Peshawar International Air-port is the only airport in the worldthat has a main railway line passingacross its runaway. Ironically it isbecause of the airport, that the Rail-way cannot utilize the current trackto install a Peshawar city Inter-linkTrain service. And it is the same rea-son an elevated highway cannot beconstructed on the railway property.

Considering that Peshawar isthe Provincial capital city of KPKand also a major health and businesscentre, the city receives traffic fromthe inside the Province, the countryand also from Afghanistan. And withthe construction of CARs (CentralAsian Regions) programme, theCentral Asian states have been con-nected with Pakistan and China, tohelp increase cross border trade.This means that Peshawar will gaineven more importance as a tradecentre, which will result in more airtraffic and rail traffic, therefore sort-ing out the air and rail transport forPeshawar is crucial.

Peshawar is an ancient city ofrich historical significance. It hasgrown over the years, unplannedaround a centrally located Peshawarairport. Therefore this airport alsoconstrains the city’s development.Tall buildings cannot be built; inter-nal road links cannot be constructed.But if the airport is relocated, theairport property can be used to im-prove the city’s infrastructure, roadnetworks, commercial areas, officeareas, etc. Helping the city grow intoa true metropolitan - first for NorthPakistan.

Therefore, I would like to re-quest that the Government of KPKto construct a new, bigger airportnear Peshawar, while converting thecurrent airport land into parks andcommercial areas. Rememberingthat delaying such a project is onlystopping Peshawar from becominga metropolitan city. Although I haveplaced this suggestion before theKPK Government before and theyhave not acted on it, but the PunjabGovernment has taken the hint andare planning to convert the WaltonAirport in Lahore, into a commer-cial hub for the region.—Peshawar

Be realisticin TTP case

NAUSHABA ABID

Islamabad Blast in Fruit Market hasproved that ceasefire is meaninglessand of no use; and so is the so-calleddialogue process. This time TTP hascondemned and called such killings‘haram’. If they are haram for themthen what is this ceasefire they aretalking about. It is also a fact thatTTP attacked thousands of time oninnocent people of Pakistan.

On one hand Government Min-isters are maligning the Army andreleasing prisoners of Taliban. Onthe other hand they are holding talkswith those who have played foot-ball with the heads of soldiers. Ev-eryday innocent poor pitiable peopleare killed but government seemscoward or senseless. In fact we can-not understand its policies up tillnow and almost a year has passed.

It proves that there is terror inthe country and TTP and govern-ment are joking with the People andArmy in the name of dialogue. Suchcruel acts and silence from forces

Small conflicts lead to big warsABUBAKAR BHEEL

Reading reports of Crimea-venture carried out by Russian Army under the shrewd leadership ofPutin, one is bound to name it a sheer example of century old imperialism. After the emergence of

nation states, the territorial demarcation of every state, however big or small, needs to be respected.Nerinder Modi’s stance over Kasmir has been laid out in the lately issued manifesto of Bharti JantaParty. Every clause of the Manifesto totally confirms the ideology of RSS. They declared, in their elec-tion promises, that the special status of Kashmir shall be withdrawn and it will be treated like any otherterritory of India. Israel and Palestine issue is also a burning question among international affairs.Israel is adamant to expand its territories and get Palestine declared as a Jewish state. Many efforts arebeing made to appease the situation. But all the efforts, especially of John Carry - the American focalperson for Middle East affairs, seem in vain. There are some disputed islands in East China Sea. China,Japan and Taiwan have claims over those islands. Recently I came across news that china has sent hernaval ship to the island. This is a sheer demonstration of power and force. I impel the United NationsOrganization to pay heed to these emerging phenomena. The history proves that small conflicts laterlead to international wars. Instead of moving toward international government, we have left the re-course of negotiation. If the big nations are stuck to the adage’’ might is right”, there is no use ofinternational law and international court of justice. The serpent needs be killed in the bus lest we shouldface the horrible future.—Lahore

DISCLAIMER

Email:editorial@pakobserver.net

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

3G/4G telecom spectrum auction

IN this regard, in order to ensurethe transparency in the telecomauction people of Pakistan need

to know from the concerned in theGOP, the answers to the followingquestions: 1. Why there is no bidderfor the expired license of Instaphone?Who is responsible for this grave fail-ure? Here it must be remembered thatdespite the false of the stiff competi-tion the Pakistani telecom market isworking like dollar manufacturingmachine for the telecom companieswhich are regularly earning and re-mitting billions of USD back to theirparent overseas companies. However,these companies do not want to in-vest a single penny in Pakistan fromtheir overseas wealth that too earnedfrom Pakistan.

2. Why the procedure of auctionwas designed in a manner which fa-cilitated the alleged pooling? Has anyaction been taken against the consult-ants who were hired for very heftyamounts? 3. What reciprocal benefitswere bargained with the telecomcompanies in accepting their huge de-

Is the US losing tech race?

WE’VE all heard the dire pronouncements: US scienceand technology is losing

ground to its global competitors be-cause of a nationwide shortage of sci-entists and engineers, due primarily tothe many failures of K-12 education.But are these gloomy assertions accu-rate? Nearly all of the independentscholars and analysts who have exam-ined the claims of widespread short-ages have found little or no evidenceto support them. Salaries in these oc-cupations are generally flat, and un-employment rates are about the sameor higher than in others requiring ad-vanced education.

Science and engineering occupa-tions are indeed crucial to moderneconomies, but they account for onlya small part — about 5% — of theworkforce. There is some evidence oftoo few professionals in certain fieldsthat currently are hot, such as socialmedia and petroleum engineering, orin localized hot spots such as SiliconValley. But in a wide range of otherscience and engineering fields, and inmost parts of the country, the supplyappears ample and sometimes exces-sive. In the large field of biomedicalresearch, for example, talented young

PhDs are facing daunting career chal-lenges, with only about 1 in 5 likely tofind the tenure-track academic poststo which most of them aspire.

Claims that the United States isfalling behind its competitors abroadare not new. We have seen at least fivefear-initiated cycles of “alarm/boom/bust” going back to World War II.Typically, the alarm is sounded that weare falling behind, policymakers rushto increase financial support for re-search and education, demand boomsand a few years later a large new cropof scientists and engineers bursts onthe scene. But then — as we have seenagain and again — the boom wanesand a generation of scientists and en-gineers is left scrambling.

This is what happened with theaerospace boom in the 1960s, for ex-ample. Spurred in part by Sputnik andPresident Kennedy’s call for catchingup to the Soviet Union in the spacerace, America produced a large newgeneration of scientists and engineers.Initially, they found ready and excit-ing employment, but once the US beatthe Soviets to the moon in 1969, po-litical passion and public fundingdwindled. It may be that we are nowin the middle of another such cycle ofalarm, boom and bust. This time itwould be wise to evaluate the alarmssoberly, proceeding with more cautionthan in the past. None of this shouldbe taken as justification to weaken ef-

Views From Abroad

forts to improve science and math edu-cation at the K-12 and community col-lege levels. Competence in science,technology, engineering and math-ematics — the so-called STEM sub-jects — has become essential to suc-cess in a wide range of careers, as wellas to informed citizenship in the 21stcentury. US schools currently producelarge numbers of high-performing sci-ence and math students (about one-third of the world’s total in science)but also very large numbers of studentswith low test scores that partly explainthe less-than-stellar US rankings ininternational comparisons. This is areflection of educational and economicinequalities that need to be addressedenergetically, but it is not a reason tourge every American student to pur-sue a STEM degree.

Students with talent and enthusi-asm for science and engineeringshould be strongly encouraged to pur-sue their interest in such careers, andinformed that most do offer higherearnings than in many humanities andarts fields. Yet they also need to knowabout large differences in career pros-pects among science and engineeringspecialties, and to understand that con-ditions can and do change dramaticallyover time, sometimes even during theperiod it takes to pursue a degree.Given such uncertainties, students whomajor in science and engineering mustrecognize that employers value not

Michael S Teitelbaum

mand for allowing the paymentsin Pak Rupee (after it was de-cided and notified in the Infor-mation Memorandum (IM) thatthe entire auction payments willbe required in the USD) whicheffectively confirmed that no

foreign investment will be coming toPakistan in this auction? In fact thisacceptance of demand changed thewhole scenario of the auction.

4. Why no serious efforts weremade to invite new foreign telecomcompanies? Does it mean that the fewtelecom operators in Pakistan wouldnot allow any new entrant in theirfield to guard their monopoly? 5.Why no new foreign telecom com-pany came to Pakistan when majorcurrent telecom companies in Paki-stan are doing such a roaring busi-ness (against the wrong myth of stiffcompetition) that they are regularlysending around $2 billion per annumprofit out of Pakistan, which is morethan the combined yearly profits ofthe two world leading US soft drinkscompanies in Pakistan?

6. And despite such a huge earn-ings of the telecom companies in Pa-kistan why the FBR is not pressingfor its many years old claim of morethan PKR 50 billion usurped by thesecompanies on account of payables tothe government collected from the

public on GOP’s behalf? This amountmust be recovered now with accruedinterests for which if required the mat-ter may be got decided from the courtsand till such time the decision is pend-ing from the courts this amount shouldbe taken from the telecom companiesand kept with the courts.

7. When the whole world is cry-ing foul in the 3G/4G bids submittedby the four Telecom companies whythe government is giving statementsthat the auction will fetch a satisfac-tory amount of $1.3 billion when eventhese payments will be received in thePak Rupee? Here why the public isnot being told the fact that even thisamount will not be received in fullbut only PKR 65 billion will be re-ceived as lump sum and the remain-ing 50% amount will be received ineasy instalments spread over 5 years?This virtually means that GOP hasgiven a major concession of “pay asyou earn” to the telecom companieswhich again proves that there will beno inflow of foreign investments inthis auction.

8. If earlier the GOP accepted thedemands of the telecom companiesto withdraw from the notified IM thepayment condition in USD to PKRwhy no bargaining was made to getthe entire auction amount in the firstinstance without any instalments and

why the telecom companies were notforced in the same bargaining of de-positing their outstanding amount ofPKR 50 billion which actually don’tbelong to these companies as it wasthe amount of taxes collected fromthe public on the government’s be-half? 9. Why the government relaxedthe rules to allow the participationin the telecom spectrum auction ofa defaulting telecom company?

10. Why the $850 million duefrom a defaulting telecom companysince 2006 is not being forcefully re-covered for the equal of the morethan 95-97% properties alreadytransferred in that defaulting telecomcompany’s name. 11. Why the de-faulting telecom company is hold-ing $850 million of the GOP just forthe non transfer of less than 3-5%properties? Why the government hasallowed it self to be black mailed inthis case when on an another accounta Turkish power company’s ship wasseized by the GOP for its default?Why UAE’s telecom company isbeing given a preferential treatmentover the Turkish power company?12. Why not immediately scrap the3G, 4G telecom spectrum auction tillsome more companies also join thetelecom business in Pakistan?— The writer is Lahore-basedpolitical analyst.

Yes you can..!

IT’S an old picture on my computer: I open it and see mydaughter, her expressive face,

caught on camera doing her TVshow. She was an anchor for oneof the better known TV channelstill she got married two years agoand moved to New York, whereagain she’s trying to pursue a TVcareer. But it’s not to praise heror boast about her I write thispiece; it’s about another picture,

in the archives of my mind I want topull out for you to see.

Many moons before she got onTV. She’d just recovered from a se-vere bout of jaundice and quite weak.It was the school’s annual sports day:My wife and I had gone to see herrun the 400 metres.

‘She’s still weak!’ my doctorwife had told me, and I’d lookedacross the field at the huddle of girlswho were going to try and win, minelooked pathetically small. ‘Why wasshe trying?’ I wondered, and then aswas in most cases, she felt my glanceand waved, I half waved back, mysad heart not in the gesture.

The whistle blew, the girls wereoff. She was last, I felt a soundless

sob, it was mine. I loved her somuch and couldn’t understand whyshe’d wanted to try. ‘It’s the sick-ness!’ said my wife and I nodded.The girls were on the far side, Icould barely see the turn, and thenI felt the sudden silence. The si-lence of the spectacular: A little girlhad got past the sprinter who wascoming second last, and then as Iwatched, the sob now coming outmore vocally, I saw her run past thenext, and the next runner.

She was now just a few metresbehind the girl who was coming sec-ond, and then with a powerful thrustof her lithe body, her little legs surgedforward and she was past the finish-ing line.My little girl had come sec-

ond. “How did you do it?” I askedas I hugged her. “I saw you watch-ing dad!” she said, “and I remem-bered every word you’d told me,that I can if I think I can!”

Yes, my little child I whisperas I look at the photo of the TVshow, “You remembered thosewords I often repeated to you, thatLife’s battles don’t always go to thestronger or faster man, but sooneror later the one who wins is the onewho thinks he can!”

Somewhere in New York, shenow pits herself against the world’sbest, to get back on TV, and I knowshe whispers to herself, “Yes Ican..!” And she will.—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

only strong specialized skills but alsobroader knowledge and capabilities.They want employees who can com-municate clearly with non-specialists,work effectively in multi-specialtyteams and understand the basics ofbusiness and management. Radicalchanges in K-12 education cannot bejustified on the basis of pervasive butlargely unfounded claims of wide-spread shortages of scientists and en-gineers. That said, there are manyeven stronger reasons to continue toimprove science and math education.At the K-12 level, special attentionshould be paid not only to increasingthe number of high-performingschools and students but also to im-proving performance of students inthe bottom 25%, whose math andscience knowledge is below the ba-sic minimum needed in a modernsociety. At the college level, tal-ented students majoring in scienceand engineering fields should keeptheir horizons broad, in recognitionthat their degrees might lead to un-expected career paths over time.And they should not be misled byexaggerated claims of shortagesthat ensure lucrative careers in allscience and engineering occupa-tions once they have their degrees.The writer is a senior research as-sociate at Harvard Law School’sLabour and Worklife Program.— Courtesy: Los Angeles Times

portrays a bad image of the countryin the whole world and gives a mes-sage that our Army is weak againstthese forces. Army operation againstterrorists is the only solution of ter-ror and act of violence against thecivilians and Army personnel.—Via email

Mismanagementof trafficSARA SHAMIM

Karachi, the metropolitan city is fac-ing the problem of heavy traffic andtraffic jams. Mismanagement of traf-fic discipline, signal free corridors,huge traffic at main arteries are themain cause of traffic hazards. Signalfree corridors which were made forthe convenience of public are caus-ing alternate effects such as increas-ing rate of street crimes, road acci-dents and no diversion route in caseof any emergency. Great traffic rushin peak hours at mornings and eve-nings, causes problems for trafficpolice and citizens too. The rush oftraffic is witnessed on the main ar-teries of Karachi, such as, M.A JinnahRoad, Shahra-e-Faisal, UniversityRoad and Gulshan-e-Iqbal. Removalof u-turns, construction of fly-oversand police and rangers check postson every stop are increasing the traf-fic problems. Due to reckless driv-ing, hundreds of lives are lost everyyear. Traffic rules are openly violated.

Two different laws are made, onefor the common man who are mostlylaw abiding citizens and another onefor the VIPs or any one belongingfrom influential families. The Me-tropolis traffic personnel take bribesfrom the drivers of buses, wagons,trucks and else commercial vehiclesand don’t do their duty as they should.Concerned authorities should lookinto the matter to solve one of thebiggest problems of commuters ofKarachi. Civic sense should also bedeveloped among the people becausewrong parking of vehicles also resultsin increasing rate of traffic hazards.—Karachi

Hepatitis aserious threat

TASSAWAR ALIO

According to WHO, Pakistan has sec-ond highest rate of hepatitis and morethan 15 million people are affectedfrom hepatitis B and C. In Pakistanthe main cause of hepatitis is the re-use of syringes and use of substan-dard syringe. These syringes are pos-ing serious threat to life. Pakistan isamong the top syringe consumingcountries where more than 2.5 billionsyringes are used every year.

As a result, Pakistan has beendeclared a “Cirrhotic State” in inter-national health circles, and good qual-ity and expensive injection can alsopose adverse reaction if it is admin-istered through a substandard syringe.Hepatitis treatment requires almostsix months for recovery; the peopleliving with hepatitis need pre and postpsychological counselling for reduc-ing the risk factors during treatment.The facts about hepatitis lamented byWHO are alarming and Provincialhealth departments and Governmentof Pakistan should take necessarysteps to control the spread of hepati-tis in the country and provide NGOsspace for intervention.—Islamabad

Justice vsrevenge

AIMAN SALAHUDDIN

Cicero the father of jurisprudencesaid in 54 BC that law is based onnature not opinion. For the principlesof law and the accentuation of it, heeven gave his life. He was offeredhigh pedestals but he refused all. Hedid two things; one converted theRoman Empire into a legitimate en-tity through the application of law ofnature and secondly transformed thebrute legal fraternity to a culturedbody. This country is lacking legalreforms at grass roots levels; no gov-ernment has ever tried to implement

any in what so ever form, for reformsone requires should be done withgood intentions, rest of the things aremere excuses to evade the same.

The courts seem very eager totake contempt cases, where as big-gest contempt is the bartering of theself respect of a common person.Laws, legal systems, rules and prin-ciples are all made and practiced toalleviate a man; the objective is tomake a citizen believe that he or sheis honourable. The problem with lawis not the law itself but the interpre-tations, now every one is accruingmeanings of one’s own choice, fromdifferent articles of Constitution ofPakistan. In Pakistan everything ispassing through its formative phase,so be it the judiciary, reforms to ad-dress the woes of common man areto be applied and applied soon.—Via email

Securing IslamabadIFLA ZAFAR

A few weeks ago, Interior Ministryofficials had told the nation that thecapital was not safe. Suicide bomb-ing at the Islamabad Courts complexsuggests that the Capital and its sen-sitive installation are vulnerable. Af-ter the bombing attack at I-11 FruitMarket, it is confirmed that the capi-tal is not safe.

The recent news of governmentdecision to call up rangers for law andorder duties in Islamabad is depress-ing. But decision to call up rangersfor securing Islamabad is not a solu-tion. The Rangers were called up inKarachi about 25 years back and arestill there. They have become perma-nent parallel force alongside the po-lice. Calling up Rangers is no a solu-tion instead it increases unrest andchaos in the people.—Islamabad

Suicides in PakistanFATIMA ISLAM

The word “suicide” comes from twoLatin roots, sui (“of oneself”) andcidium (“killing” or “slaying”). Ac-cording to World Health Organiza-tion, on average, around 3000 peoplecommit suicide daily. Suicide is anact of killing oneself intentionallycausing his or her own death out offeeling hopelessness, helplessnessand worthlessness. Suicide is consid-ered to be the last option to overcomethe pain or frustration. World SuicidePrevention Day is observed on 10th

September every year, which aims topromote worldwide commitment andawareness to prevent suicides. Causesof Suicide in Pakistan are depression,mental illness, emotional outbursts,family factors, social and cultural fac-tors, terrorism, religious cults, drugabuse, financial difficulties, unem-ployment etc.

According to statistics Trend ofsuicide is highest in Karachi while therate of suicide is lowest in Azad Kash-mir and Balochistan. Islam disallowsself-killing as it is mentioned inQuran “And kill (or destroy) not your-selves, Allah is most Merciful toyou”-(Al Nisa 29) and also in “Noneof you should ever long for death inthe face of sufferings andhardship”(Bukhari, Muslim). Suicideis a very grave issue of our society,which is being ignored only becauseit is a taboo. Trend of suicide seemsto be increasing annually. Frequentresearches are needed in this perspec-tive to fully understand this issue. Wemust make people realize the sanc-tity of life. Life is beautiful, live it tothe fullest and get rid of the plaguecalled ‘suicide’.—Via email

S Nayyaruddin Ahmad

Email:nayyar51@hotmail.com

Media’s role & influence

BRITISH philosopher JohnStuart Mill underlined theneed for free speech mainly

for three reasons. He believed thatfreedom to read or write is an im-portant element to expose and revealthe truth, to ensure self-developmentand self-fulfilment of citizens and tohelp ensure participation of the citi-zens in a democracy. The Pakistanimedia is an enthusiastic member ofthe new warrior clan of the 21st cen-tury and despite belonging to war-torn country, is playing active rolein keeping with the demands of themodern times.

By airing divergent views and en-gaging in cross questioning on sig-nificant national and social issues themedia reflects and informs publicopinion and practically shares the taskof the parliament. Investigative re-

porting and live discussions can un-dermine the spell of many a magi-cians. This has facilitated public ac-cess to the hitherto unseen workingsof the political and bureaucratic set-up while simultaneously highlightingthe injustices suffered by the commonman as a result of the shady practicesof the elite. After a significant role ofmedia in restoring the judicial crisis,media has an unprecedented abilityto act as a catalyst in civil society ef-forts to strengthen democratic polity.

The fundamental ingredient mak-ing democracy possible is the flowof information. The media electronic,print, cyber and internet ensures thisflow of information. If restricted, cen-sored or hindered in any way thepeople will remain ignorant, ignorantof events, ignorant of their rights,their duty to the State, their needs andthe role that they can play for the bet-terment of the society they live in andthe country as a whole.

McCauley called the Press asFourth Estate of the government, but

the advent of technology the mediahas gained new dimension, greatstrength and very sharp transformingthe present age into information ex-plosion. The media plays an ex-tremely important role in transmittingthe claims of social, economic andpolitical movements to the decision-makers and the public. A free pressand electronic media is an essentialattribute today of a democratic pol-ity because only these sources of in-formation can keep not only informa-tion flowing freely but also helpmaintain a constant dialogue betweenthe policy makers and the masses.

It can be used as a motivationalforce to bring consensus on vital is-sues like education and health. Thetruth is that the significance of themedia as a medium of interconnec-tion of human affairs cannot be un-dermined in an age of rapidglobalisation.

It is usually claimed that the jobof the media is the dispassionate pre-sentation of facts. The fact is that the

job of the media person is not toserve as a post office but more im-portantly to educate the publicthrough informed reporting so as tofacilitate as objective an opinion for-mation as possible.

A free media that works consci-entiously can serve as the collectiveconscience at the national and inter-national level. This, however, is of-ten easier said than done. The re-porter or journalist is after all humanand endowed with biases and insome cases prejudices and as withall power bases the media too is vul-nerable to the corruption of the ab-solute power. There will always bethose in their ranks who can bebought with cash or perks or prom-ises of paradise. But then there willalways be those who are not purchas-able because they know that theirreporting can make or break indi-viduals, communities and nations —a heavy burden indeed.— The writer is Islamabad-basedfreelance columnist.

Sarah KhanEmail:sarahkazalbaash9211@gmail.com

ROBERT J. SAMUELSON

If you know someone among the long-termunemployed a category that includes workers who have been jobless at least six

months, but in many cases much longer youunderstand what a frustrating and demoraliz-ing experience it is, especially for midcareerprofessionals and managers in their 40s andup. There’s a drill. You polish your resume;you work your network; you apply for open-ings; you wait. All the while, you try to main-tain your enthusiasm and self-esteem.

In a society that worships the work ethicand treats jobs as an indicator of social status,being without one is crushing for people whoview themselves as responsible and produc-tive workers. It must be said that, from the per-spective of potential employers, not hiring theseworkers can make sense. The skills they havedeveloped are often specialized so that the jobsfor which they are a fit the demanding stan-dard now set by many companies are scarce.

Double tragedy of long-term unemployment

A family member of a passenger missing after the South Korean ferry ‘Sewol’ capsized isblocked by police during a protest in Jindo calling for a meeting with President Park Geun-hye and demanding the search and rescue operation be speeded up. South Korean diversretrieved 13 bodies from inside the sunken ferry overnight, officials said on Sunday, thefirst time they have been able to gain entry to the passenger section of the ship.

Some of these workers are expensive; they’reaccustomed to upper-middle-class salaries andbenefits. Companies are understandably reluctantto shoulder the costs in an economy that collapsedin 2008 and hasn’t yet regained its zest. Why takethe chance? Sixty percent of the long-term joblessare 35 or older; 36 percent held professional, tech-nical, managerial and administrative jobs (the restwere scattered in sales, service and blue-collaroccupations). The public policy question is, “Whatcan we do about the long-term unemployed?” Andthe candid answer is, “We don’t know.”

We don’t know because, since World WarII, long-term unemployment has not been a bigproblem in the United States as it has been inEurope. In Germany, France and Italy, the shareof the unemployed who have been jobless formore than six months routinely exceeds 50 per-cent. By contrast, that share in the U.S. hit athen post-World War II peak of 26 percent inJune 1983 and fell one month later. Now that’schanged. In December 2009, this share passed40 percent and peaked at 45 percent in Septem-

ber 2011. It remained above 40 percent untilOctober 2012 and is now 35.8 percent.

The great fear is that many of these workerswill never find new jobs. Their skills will erode.Their employment networks will become obso-lete. They will become so discouraged that theystop looking for work; statistically, the governmentwill no longer count them “in the labour force.”Or they will face discrimination by employers who,scanning the resume of someone jobless for a year,will wonder: What’s wrong with this applicant?

A study by Princeton economists AlanKrueger, Judd Cramer and David Cho is discour-aging. Among the long-term unemployed from2008 to 2012, only 36 percent had jobs 15 monthslater, the study found. As for the rest, 30 percentwere unemployed, and 34 percent were not inthe labour force. Even for workers with jobs, suc-cess was limited. A third had full-time jobs; theothers had part-time or interrupted full-time work.Disturbingly the study also argues that labourmarkets may be tighter than they seem. We couldbe closer to an inflationary wage-price spiral than

the relatively high unemployment rate (6.7 per-cent in March) suggests.

With lots of unemployed workers, com-petition for jobs should prevent an inflation-ary wage surge. But, says the study, the long-term unemployed are so much “on the mar-gins” that they only weakly influence wages.More important is short-term unemploymentof less than six months. If it’s low, wage pres-sures are high; surprisingly, it’s now close toits 20-year average of about 4 percent. Thiscould cause the Federal Reserve to tightencredit to prevent labour bottlenecks.

Business “hire rates” are similarly low,reflecting ingrained cautiousness. Involuntarypart-time work is two-thirds higher than be-fore the Great Recession. None of this de-scribes an economy close to its productivecapacity. We are not on the verge of an infla-tion breakout. At present, the Fed doesn’t planto raise short-term interest rates until 2015;for now, that’s the right policy.

—Courtesy: The Japan Times

BJØRN LOMBORG

When politicians around the world tell the story of globalwarming, they cast it as humanity’s greatest challenge.But they also promise that it is a challenge that they

can meet at low cost, while improving the world in countlessother ways. We now know that is nonsense. Political heavy-weights from US Secretary of State John Kerry to UN SecretaryGeneral Ban Ki-moon call climate change “the greatest chal-lenge of our generation.” If we fail to address it, Kerry says, thecosts will be “catastrophic.” Indeed, this has been the standardassertion of politicians since the so-called Stern Review com-missioned by the British government in 2006.

That report famously valued the damage caused by globalwarming at 5-20 percent of the GDP — a major disruption “on ascale similar to those associated with the great wars and the eco-nomic depression of the first half of the twentieth century.” Tack-ling climate change, we are told, would carry a much lower cost.The president of the European Commission promised that whilethe European Union’s climate policies are “not cost-free,” theywould amount to just 0.5 percent of the GDP. Indeed, politiciansof all stripes have reiterated the Stern Review’s finding that glo-bal warming can be curtailed by policies costing just 1 percentof world GDP. Climate policies, moreover, are said to help inmany other ways. US President Barack Obama promised thatpolicies to combat global warming would create five million newgreen jobs. The EU claimed that green energy would help “im-prove the EU’s security of energy supply.”

With the completion of the latest report by the United Na-tions Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), wecan now see that this narrative is mostly wrong. The first install-ment of the IPCC report showed that there is indeed a climateproblem — emissions of greenhouse gases lead to higher tem-peratures, which will eventually become a net problem for theworld. This result was highly publicized. But the report alsoshowed that global warming has dramatically slowed or entirelystopped in the last decade and a half. Almost all climate modelsare running far too hot, meaning that the real challenge of globalwarming has been exaggerated. Germany and other governmentscalled for the reference to the slowdown to be deleted.

The second IPCC installment showed that the temperaturerise that we are expected to see sometime around 2055-2080would create a net cost of 0.2-2 percent of GDP — the equiva-lent of less than one year of recession. So, while the IPCC clearlyestablishes that global warming is a problem, the cost is obvi-ously much less than that of the twentieth century’s two worldwars and the Great Depression. Again, not surprisingly, politi-cians tried to have this finding deleted. British officials foundthe peer-reviewed estimate “completely meaningless,” and, alongwith Belgium, Norway, Japan, and the US, wanted it rewrittenor stricken.

The media, eager for breathless headlines, share the blamewith politicians for this state of affairs. Following the release ofthe Stern Review, one British newspaper reportedly wrote: “Actnow or the world we know will be lost forever.” We live in a worldwhere one in six deaths are caused by easily curable infectiousdiseases; one in eight deaths stem from air pollution, mostly fromcooking indoors with dung and twigs; and billions of people livein abject poverty, with no electricity and little food. We ought neverto have entertained the notion that the world’s greatest challengecould be to reduce temperature rises in our generation by a frac-tion of a degree. The solution is to stop applauding politicians whowarn of catastrophe and promote poor policies. Instead of subsi-dizing inefficient solar and wind power with little benefit, we needto invest in long-term green innovation. And we need to give moreattention to all of the other problems. This is perhaps less enter-taining, but it will do much more good.

—Courtesy: Arab News

Upside-down narrativeof global warming

SLAVIANSK (UKRAINE)—At least two people werekilled in a gunfight early on Sunday near a Ukrainiancity controlled by pro-Russian separatists, shaking analready fragile international accord that was designedto avert a wider conflict. After the deaths, Russia ques-

tioned whether Ukraine’s Western-backed governmentwas complying with the agreement, brokered lastweek in Geneva, to end a crisis that has made Russia’sties with the West more fraught than at any time sincethe Cold War.

The separatists said gunmen from Ukraine’s RightSector nationalist group had attacked them. The RightSector denied any role, saying Russian special forces

Deadly gun attack in easternUkraine shakes fragile Easter truce

were behind the clash. Failure of the Geneva agree-ment could bring more bloodshed in eastern Ukraine,but may also prompt the United States early next weekto impose tougher sanctions on the Kremlin - withfar-reaching potential consequences for many econo-

mies and for importers of Russian energy.The deal signed in Geneva last week by the Eu-

ropean Union, Russia, Ukraine and the United Statesagreed that illegal armed groups would go home. Sofar, the pro-Russian militants have shown no signs ofbudging, though there was some hope of progress afterKiev said it would not move against the separatistsover Easter, and international mediators headed to

eastern Ukraine to try to persuade them to disarm.But the shootings near Slaviansk - already a

flashpoint for tensions between Ukraine’s rival camps- are likely to make that task even harder, hardeningthe view of pro-Russian sections of society that they

cannot trust Kiev. “The Eastertruce has been violated,” the Rus-sian foreign ministry said in astatement. “This provocation ...testifies to the lack of will on thepart of the Kiev authorities to reinin and disarm nationalists and ex-tremists.”

Right Sector spokesmanArtem Skoropadsky said it wasa “blasphemous provocationfrom Russia: blasphemous be-cause it took place on a holy nightfor Christians, on Easter night.This was clearly carried out byRussian special forces.” Separat-ist militiamen near the easternUkrainian city of Slaviansk toldReuters a convoy of four vehicleshad approached their checkpointat around 2:00 a.m. (2200 GMT)and opened fire.

“We had three dead, fourwounded,” one of the separatistfighters, called Vladimir, toldReuters at the checkpoint, wherethere were two burned-out jeeps.He said the separatists returnedfire and killed two of the attack-ers, who he said were membersof the nationalist movementwhich has its power base in theUkrainian-speaking west of thecountry and is reviled by manyin the Russian-speaking east.

A Reuters cameraman at the scene said he sawthe bodies of two people, one with what appeared tobe gunshot wounds to the head and face, loaded intothe back of a truck. One of the dead was dressed incamouflage fatigues, the other, identified by severalbystanders as a local man, was in civilian clothes. InKiev, the Interior Ministry said one person had beenkilled and three injured in an armed clash. —Reuters

A Pro-Russian militant walks near a checkpoint that was the scene of a gunfight overnight near the city of Slaviansk.

JINDO/MOKPO (SOUTH KOREA)—SouthKorean prosecutors investigating last week’s ferrydisaster said on Sunday they wanted to extendthe detention of the captain and two other crewas they try to determine the cause of an accidentthat likely claimed more than 300 lives. TheSewol ferry was on a routine 400-km (300-mile)voyage from Incheon to the southern holiday is-land of Jeju in calm weather on Wednesday car-rying 476 passengers and crew, among them 339children and teachers on a high school outing.

Divers gained access to the hull of the Sewolfor the first time overnight and the number ofthose confirmed dead rose steadily throughoutSunday by 25 to 58 dead with 244 still listed asmissing. A clearer picture started to emerge ofthe time around the capsize after coastguardsreleased a recording of a conversation betweenvessel controllers and the ship.

Witnesses have said the Sewol turnedsharply before it began listing. It is still not clear

Prosecutors extend Korea ferrycaptain’s detention as death toll mounts

why the vessel turned. It took more than twohours for it to capsize completely but passen-gers were ordered to stay put in their cabins.According to the transcript, at 9.25 a.m. the con-trollers told the 69-year old Captain Lee Joon-seok to “decide how best to evacuate the pas-sengers” and that he should “make the final de-cision on whether or not to evacuate”.

Lee was not on the bridge when the shipturned. Navigation was in the hands of a 26-year old third mate who was in charge for thefirst time in the passage, according to crew mem-bers. The transcript shows crew on the shipworried there were not enough rescue boats atthe scene to take on all the passengers. Witnessessaid the captain and some crew members tookto rescue boats before the passengers.

Lee said earlier he feared that passengerswould be swept away by the ferocious currentsif they leapt into the sea, but he has not explainedwhy he left the vessel.—Agencies

MAALOULA (SYRIA)—Syrian President Bashar al-Assad onSunday visited an ancient Christian town recaptured from rebelslast week, state media said, as he seeks to persuade minoritiesthat the government is their best protection against hardline Is-lamists. Assad’s Easter visit to Maaloula a rare appearance out-side central Damascus also highlighted growing governmentconfidence in recent gains against insurgents around the capitaland along the Lebanese border.

Islamist fighters, including some from the al Qaeda-linkedNusra Front, had taken over part of Maaloula in December andheld several nuns captive until releasing them in March in a pris-oner-exchange deal. On Monday, government forces retook thetown, which is roughly 60 km (40 miles) north of Damascus andhas changed hands multiple times, the latest in a series of ad-vances against rebels in the Qalamoun mountains region.

During his visit, Assad inspected Mar Sarkis a Greek Ortho-dox monastery dating to the fourth century and damage caused“at the hands of terrorists,” state news agency SANA said, usingthe government’s customary term for the rebels. The agency saidhe also visited the Mar Thecla monastery, which also suffereddamage during fighting for the town.—Reuters

Syria’s Assad pays Easter visitto recaptured Christian town

Malaysian planesearch in 44th day,

sea bed scanscould end in days

SYDNEY/PERTH—The searchfor missing Malaysia AirlinesFlight MH370 entered its 44thday on Sunday as Australiansearch officials said a crucialseries of sonar scans of the In-dian Ocean floor could be com-pleted within a week. The air,surface and underwater searchis now focused on footagetaken by a U.S. Navy deep seadrone, which has narrowed itstarget range to a tight 10-km(6.2-mile) circle of sea floor.

The Bluefin-21 autono-mous underwater vehicle(AUV) has spent the past weekscouring the remote and largelyunmapped stretch of oceanfloor some 2,000 km (1,200miles) northwest of the Austra-lian city of Perth for signs ofthe plane, which disappearedon March 8 with 239 people onboard. The remote controlledsubmarine is now in its eighthdeep sea mission with no signof wreckage so far. The dronehas searched about half its tar-geted area, the authorities saidon Sunday.

The Malaysian govern-ment has said the search is ata “very critical juncture” andasked for prayers for its suc-cess. Malaysian Acting Trans-port Minister HishammuddinHussein has also said the gov-ernment may consider usingmore AUVs in the search. Af-ter almost two months with-out a sign of wreckage, thecurrent underwater search iscentered on an area where oneof four acoustic signals be-lieved to be from the plane’sblack box recorders was de-tected on April 8.—Agencies

Gunmen kill twoEgyptian policemen

near Cairo, courtjails Islamists

CAIRO—Gunmen killed anEgyptian intelligence officerand a policeman on a road out-side Cairo in a late-nightfirefight, the Interior Ministrysaid on Sunday. The armed menfled the scene after shootingdead Captain Ashraf Badeer el-Qazaz of the intelligence ser-vice and a police conscript, theministry said in a statement.

The two men were on se-curity patrol late on Saturdayon a desert road linking Cairoto the canal city of Suez whenthey tried to stop a vehicle,which then opened fire onthem. Islamist militants havestepped up attacks on membersof the security forces and killedhundreds of them since thearmy toppled Egypt’s firstfreely elected president,Mohamed Mursi, last July.

The insurgency poses athreat to national security aheadof a presidential election in Mayand also hurts the country’s tour-ist industry, a key source of for-eign income in Egypt. Militantshave recently shown their abil-ity to strike beyond the SinaiPeninsula, the initial base oftheir attacks after Mursi wasremoved from power. The groupAjnad Misr claimed responsibil-ity on Saturday for a blast inCairo that killed one police of-ficer on Friday.

An Egyptian court sen-tenced 23 people it said weremembers of Mursi’s bannedMuslim Brotherhood move-ment to 3-1/2 years each inprison on Saturday, judicialsources said. The accused werejailed in connection with pro-tests in November against thetrial of Mursi. They were foundguilty of charges including at-tacking security forces and“thuggery”, among othercharges.—Reuters

CINCINNATI—An Ohio teacherhas been fired after a black stu-dent who said he wanted to be-come president claimed theteacher told him the nation didn’tneed another black commander-in-chief. The Fairfield Board ofEducation voted 4-0 on Thurs-day night to fire science teacherGil Voigt from Fairfield Fresh-man School.

“The district felt that theevidence was sufficient to sup-port the termination of Mr.Voigt’s employment,” Superin-tendent Paul Otten said in state-ment. Voigt, who is white, toldschool officials that what heactually told the teen was thathe doesn’t think the nation canafford another president likeBarack Obama, “whether he’sblack or white.”

A state referee investigat-ing Voigt found that explana-tion was not credible. The ref-

Ohio teacher fired overcomment on black president

eree also found Voigt had madeother offensive comments inclass over the years, includingan accusation that in 2008, hetrained his laser pointer at ablack student and said helooked like “an African-Ameri-can Rudolph.”

Voigt told school officialsthat he was only repeating whatanother student had said butlater acknowledged his conducthad been inappropriate. In2012, Voigt was accused ofcalling a student stupid andimplying that he and some ofhis classmates were gay.

In that incident, Voigt de-nied making any insulting com-ments to students and toldschool officials that a group ofstudents in his class werecolluding against him. The statereferee found Voigt’s explana-tion for those two incidents toalso be not credible.—AP

ANATOLE KALETSKY

I raise this question having spent last weekend in Toronto atthe annual conference of the Institute for New EconomicThinking, a foundation created in 2009 in response to the

failure of modern economics in the global financial crisis (whoseboard I currently chair). Unfortunately, the question raised aboveis as troubling today as it was in November 2008, when Britain’sQueen Elizabeth famously stunned the head of the London Schoolof Economics by asking faux naively, “But why did nobody fore-see this [economic collapse]?”

As John Maynard Keynes observed in 1936, when he chal-lenged the economic orthodoxies that were aggravating the GreatDepression: “The ideas of economists, both when they are rightand when they are wrong, are more powerful than is commonlyunderstood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practicalmen, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intel-lectual influences, are usually slaves of some defunct economist.”

This remark is as relevant today as in 1936. Joseph E. Stiglitz,the Nobel laureate, asked rhetorically in Toronto: “Why are cen-tral banks and governments still trying to predict the effects oftheir policies with an economic model that is manifestly absurd?”His answer was that the economic models studied in universitiesand published in leading academic journals are still largely basedon a simplifying concept, known as the Representative Agent,which effectively assumes that “everyone in the economy is thesame.” So these models have nothing to say about lending orborrowing, ignore the existence of banks and treat bankruptciesas unimportant because “when the borrower does not repay, heonly defaults on himself.”

How could economists break this pernicious grip of old ideas?The obvious answer is by developing new ideas and many werepresented at Toronto: Forecasting currencies with a new techniquecalled Imperfect Knowledge Economics developed in New Yorkand Copenhagen; understanding the role of government in tech-nological innovation through work in Cambridge and Massachu-setts; analyzing the role of self-fulfilling “reflexive” expectationsin boom-bust cycles; applying the mathematics of complex sys-tems to economic problems ranging from financial instability tohousing and the competitiveness of developing countries in Ox-ford and Rome; funding work in Paris and Berkeley on incomedistribution that is attracting worldwide attention; researching theeconomics of education and childhood development through a glo-bal network led from Chicago; developing new undergraduatecourses on subjects neglected by the traditional curriculum withan international team of professors run from University CollegeLondon and Bangalore; restoring the study of economic historythrough workshops in Italy and the United States.

As Michael Sandel, the Harvard philosopher, told the con-ference: “Over the past three or four decades, the public life ofour societies has been animated by a faith that market mecha-nisms can answer all questions and solve all problems. This eraof unquestioned faith in markets coincided with the time whenpolitical life lost the sense of morality or public purpose. Marketreasoning seems to offer a non-judgemental way of allocatinggoods and incomes, but in many cases we have to make moraljudgements. The new economic thinking that is now requiredhas many affinities with old economic thinking. Classical econo-mists, going back to Adam Smith, did not view economics as avalue-neutral science or even as an autonomous discipline. Theyall understood economics to be a sub-field of moral and politicalphilosophy.” In other words, economics always operates in aspecific political context. Market mechanisms must be judgedby social outcomes, government and business must work in con-cert, not in opposition. As a new phase of global capitalismemerges from the 2008 crisis, these are the key ideas that econo-mists will have to discover — or rediscover.

—Courtesy: Reuters

Time to stop followingdefunct economic policies

the attack is not far been reg-istered? “We all will have tocounter the elements whowant to silence the voice ofHamid Mir and impose theiragenda through gun, Rashidsaid. The Information Min-ister said the government isworking to strengthen demo-cratic culture in the country,which he said is the name oftolerance and peaceful inter-action with each other.

The Minister said we allwill have to counter the ele-ments, who want to imposetheir agenda through gun.Pervaiz Rashid said it will bepremature to say anythingabout the perpetrators beforeinvestigations into the bid onHamid Mir. He lauded HamidMir’s struggle for strengthen-ing democracy and freedomof expression in the countryand said we will have to sup-port his efforts. —INP

Sindh govtFrom Page 1

National Security and War Course atNDU. The Defence Advisor of Paki-stan in Sri Lanka Colonel SheharyarParvez Butt is conducting the visit.

The delegation will interact with anumber of prominent officials from theSri Lankan Armed Forces and civil in-stitutions including Secretary Defence,Secretary External Affairs Ministry,Chief of Defence Staff, Commandersof Army, Air Force and Navy, hierar-chy at Central Bank and LakshmanKadrigamer Institute of InternationalRelations and Strategic Studies(LKIIRSS). During the course of theirstay in Sri Lanka, the delegation willvisit Jaffna, Trincomalee and Kandy.

The National Defence University(NDU) is a premier institution of Paki-

Pak defence delegation due in LankaFrom Page 1

in Orthodox Easter rites andPope Francis highlighted theteachings of the ProphetChrist.

The Easter in Pakistanwas celebrated with thespecial prayer service in dif-ferent churches and candleslit in the houses and hymnrecited. The Christian com-munity specially prayed forthe welfare of the countryand the nation on this occa-sion.—INP

ChristiansFrom Page 1

est ethnic group — thePashtuns — even thoughhe’s half-Pashtun.

This race is a clear im-provement for Ghani, whoreceived just under 3 per-cent of the vote in 2009.Zalmai Rassoul, a former for-eign minister widely consid-ered as Karzai’s pick, has10.4 percent of the vote.—A P

AbdullahFrom Page 1

stan, catering for the needs of seniorleadership from various segments ofsociety, both domestic and inter-na-tional, in comprehending security is-sues and policy/strategy formulation.The NDU is a centre of excellence inacademic and research pursuits in di-versified disciplines providing wellthought out inputs on national secu-rity at strategic level. The Universityimparts higher education in policy andstrategy formulation at various tierswith emphasis on national securityand defence. It also acts as a nationalthink tank.

‘The National Security and WarCourse’ at NDU covers essentials ofboth National De-fence Course andArmed Forces War Course. The two

courses, now being combined, bringrich experience of participants from di-vergent backgrounds and countries toadd value to the process of learningin addition to creating increased in-teraction and under-standing.Friendly countries nominate officersfrom different services background forthe programme.

The graduates of the course areassigned higher command and staffappointments dealing with nationalsecurity as well as military and opera-tional strategies in a joint-governmen-tal and international environment.Several Senior Sri Lankan Officers fromits Armed Forces have been regularlyattending courses at the National De-fence University since 1993.—NNI

nature and kind of gas filledin the balloons and warnedof firm action against thoseheld responsible.

A police probe into theincident is underway.

Gas balloonsFrom Page 1

country; songs about the military and himring out in weddings and private cafes, andhe has been hailed in state and privatemedia as a national savior.

Election commission spokesmanAbdel-Aziz Salman said el-Sissi garnered188,930 signatures of support. That’s nearlyeight times the required 25, 000 signaturesfrom at least 15 of Egypt’s 27 provincesthat a would-be candidate needs in orderto run.

El-Sissi’s only rival is Sabahi, a leftistpolitician who came in third in the 2012 elec-tions after receiving around 5 million votesand largely appealing to Egypt’s secularyouth and working class.

Salman said Sabahi submitted 31,555signatures.

Sabahi’s staff has complained of intimi-dation tactics during the signature collec-tion period and of bias by state officials in

Egypt ex-Army Chief, LeftistFrom Page 1

favor of el-Sissi. They blamed officials withlinks to former autocrat Hosni Mubarak.

On Sunday, Sabahi’s office said mili-tary troops detained a campaign worker innorth Sinai because of his political activi-ties. It was not clear why he was taken intocustody. The army is waging a campaignagainst militants in the restive region.

Some in Egypt have urged Sabahi towithdraw from the race to avoid providingwhat they say would be a democratic fa-cade to el-Sissi’s likely victory. AymanNour, a liberal politician and 2005 presi-dential candidate who opposed Morsi’souster, said he had appealed to Sabahi towithdraw.

“I hope that my friend Sabahi doesn’tbecome an extra,” Nour told Al-JazeeraMubasher Misr from Lebanon where hehas resided since the summer. “This is far-cical theater.”—AP

the visit of the former mili-tary ruler was on account ofthe security issues as wellas for medical treatment.

It is the first time that theformer president, who isstaying at his residence inZamzama’s left Islamabadafter being indicted in a hightreason case by a specialcourt last month.

Doctors adviseFrom Page 1

quiry.Referring to a recent

survey rating MuslimLeague-N’s performance 59percent he sarcastically saidit seems inflation, load shed-ding and law and order prob-lems all have been resolved.

PakistanFrom Page 1

Abyan lies next to Shabwa province,another region of Yemen where Al-Qaedais entrenched.

Witnesses also said that a US dronecarried out the attack and that the most ofthe wounded were evacuated by membersof the Islamist network.

A statement on the 26sep.net defenceministry website said the attack on Al-Qaeda “training camps” killed “several”militants of various nationalities.

On Saturday a drone strike in the cen-tral province of Baida killed 10 Al-Qaedasuspects and three civilians, according tothe official Saba news agency. It did notsay who carried out the attack.

After that strike, Al-Qaeda militants cor-doned off the area and evacuated dead com-rades, tribal sources said.

They said all those killed on Saturdaywere low-ranking militants from the region.

An official statement on Saba said thedead were “dangerous elements” who hadbeen plotting to carry out “attacks on vitalinstallations and on politicians and militarypersonnel” in Baida.

The statement said the suspects werealso responsible for the murder of Baida’sdeputy governor on April 15.

The weekend attacks came less than aweek after AQAP chief Nasser al-Wuhayshipledged in a rare video appearance to fightWestern “crusaders” everywhere.

“We will continue to raise the banner of

Drone attacks kill dozens ofQaeda suspects in Yemen

From Page 1

Islam in the Arabian Peninsula and our waragainst the crusaders will continue every-where in the world,” he said in the videoposted online.

Al-Qaeda usually uses the term crusad-ers to refer to Western powers, especiallythe ones which have intervened militarilyin Muslim countries, mainly the UnitedStates, Britain and France.

Last month Yemen’s president defendedthe US use of drones against Al-Qaeda inhis country, despite criticism from rightsgroups.

Drone strikes “have greatly helped inlimiting Al-Qaeda activities, despite somemistakes which we are sorry about,” Presi-dent Hadi told the pan-Arab Al-Hayat dailyin an interview.

Hadi insisted the use of traditional war-planes against the militants could cause“much bigger losses”.

His comments had come after parlia-ment — despite its limited powers — votedto ban drone strikes in response to attackin December that hit two separate weddingprocessions.

The United Nations had said 16 civil-ians were killed in those strikes.

The United States says the drone at-tacks are an essential part of its “war onterror” because it allows it to target Al-Qaeda without the use of ground forces inlawless areas, where authorities have nosway.—AFP

and said no one includingministers, MNAs, MPAs,and corrupt officers wouldescape from accountabil-ity.

He said he would notallow corrupt practicesand vowed to make KP amodel province having avast difference from otherprovinces.

He said KP can provideelectricity for the whole ofthe country but regrettedthat former governmentsdid not pay attention to theconstruction of small dams.

He said work is inprogress on a small dam inKalam which would pro-vide cheap electricity tothe locals and they wouldnot face load sheddinganymore. He also referredto the dilapidated condi-tion of roads in Swat andassured the people tospeak with National High-way Authority (NHA)which is responsible fortheir maintenance. He as-sured that if the NHA failedto carry out the repair ofthe roads, the provincialgovt will build road up toKalam.

The PTI chief said thatthe country received mas-sive assistance for theIDPs during war againstmilitants in Swat but themoney did not reach thepeople. He said peoplewould be made account-

Imran announces constructionFrom Page 1

able for this. He said KPpolice have been madenon-political and had itbeen so in Karachi, thesituation in the biggestcity of the country wouldhave been different.

He said they are bring-ing in a uniform system ofeducation in KP and thiswould bring an end to a di-vide between the poor andrich. He described it as aneducational revolution.

Imran Khan also an-nounced to build sportsgrounds first at everytehsil level and them atunion council level to ex-plore the talent of thesports men. He said beinga former fast bowler he was

keen for speedy develop-ment in KP but the speedfor development and pros-perity was not as fast as hewanted. He however madea commitment to changethe map of the province infive years. —INP

two-wheeler to pick him wastrying to start it again.”

“From statements of theeye-witnesses it was estab-lished that the attacker wasgetting information continu-ously on his cell-phone asthe senior journalist arrivedin the city,” a senior investi-gator, who wished not to benamed, told Pakistan Ob-server.

“The level of the infor-mation the attacker hadcould be gauged from thefact that he crossed the roadwhile disconnecting the callas he knew that he was sit-ting on the other side of thecar,” he added. “In light ofexperience I had, I can saythat the attacker had com-plete information from thetime of Mir’s arrival at JIAKarachi,” he maintained.

Moreover, the woundedjournalist regained con-sciousness on Sundayevening. Talking to thisscribe, AKUH spokesmanconfirmed that Hamid Mirregained consciousness.Mir talked to his family mem-bers for a few minutes. Thespokesman said that hewould be kept under obser-vation for some time.

Attack onHamid Mir

From Page 1

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thatWalton Flyover project hasbeen completed within ashort period of two monthswhile a high standard andtransparency have alsobeen maintained. He saidthat construction of WaltonFlyover will result in savingof five billion rupees in fuelannually. He said that thisproject is a part of the planto make Ferozepur Road sig-nal-free. He said that dueattention will be paid to qual-ity, speed and transparencyin the execution of develop-ment projects in future aswell.

He was talking to mediaafter inaugurating WaltonFlyover, here today. Mem-bers Provincial AssemblyRamzan Siddique Bhatti,Mian Naseer, Chief Secre-tary, Vice Chairman LahoreDevelopment AuthorityKhawaja Ahmed Hasaan,Chairman Planning & Devel-opment, ChairmanNASPAK, Pakistan MuslimLeague-N office-bearers andconcerned officers were alsopresent. Director GeneralLDA Ahad Khan Cheemagave a briefing to the ChiefMinister on Walton Flyoverproject. The Chief Minister

Walton Flyover inaugurated

Construction to result in saving offive billion rupees in fuel

inaugurated Walton Flyoverby unveiling the plaque andalso offered Dua. The ChiefMinister said that the firstphase of the public welfare

project of making FerozpurRoad signal-free fromWalton to Ferozepur Roadhas been completed with theconstruction of the flyoverwhile work is in progressround the clock on the sec-ond phase of the project.

He said that this project

is scheduled to be completedin July but the way the workis being carried out expedi-tiously, it is hoped that it willbe completed in June. He said

that the completion of theproject will not only savetime of the people andstreamline the flow of trafficbut resources will also besaved as Ferozepur Road willbecome signal-free. He saidthat the project will also fa-cilitate doctors, nurses, para-

medical staff and patientsgoing to General Hospitaland Children Hospital. Hesaid that completion of 872meter long Walton Flyover

costing Rs.700 million within62 days is the result of thebest coordination betweenpolitical leadership and theagencies working on theproject.

Shahbaz Sharif said thathe has always believed thattime is wealth and should not

be wasted. He said that ev-ery moment of the nation isprecious and the projects ofpublic importance have to becompleted with a nationalspirit. He said that energyprojects will also be executedat the maximum speed. Hesaid that completion ofWalton Flyover project in avery short period is reflec-tive of the same passion anddetermination of the Punjabgovernment. He said that theflyover has been con-structed within only 62 dayswhich is a result of the bless-ings of Allah Almighty. Hesaid that the first phase ofthe project has been com-pleted while its secondphase will be finished by themonth of June. He said thatthe concerned institutionshave worked as a team forthe execution of the project.He said that PML-N govern-ment had completed KalmaChowk project in fourmonths during its previoustenure while a splendidproject like metro bus wasopened for the benefit of thepeople within only elevenmonths. He said that DGLDA Ahad Cheema is like ayounger brother to him andis very honest andhardworking officer and thatis why he has been awardedTamgha-e-Imtiaz by the gov-ernment.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is being briefed on occasion of Walton Flyover’s inau-guration on Sunday.

LAHORE—Lahore police claimed to havearrested 23 culprits, including six target kill-ers, during a crackdown against proclaimedoffenders, drug pushers and dacoits in thelast week.

Police sources said on Sunday that CIAPolice arrested six accused of a banned or-ganization involved in sectarian killing andother heinous crimes. The accused were in-volved in killing of renowned personalities,including Allama Nasir Abbas, Prof ShabiulHassan, Shakar Ali Rizvi Advocate andShamsur Rehman Moavia.

Naseerabad police have arrested five drugpushers and recovered 702 bottles liquor and60 litre liquor from their possession. Cases

23 criminals arrestedduing last week

have been registered against the accused.Ichhra police arrested two criminals and

recovered 29 motorcycles from their posses-sion. Mustafa Town police arrested threedacoits of a gang and recovered a motor-cycle, a cow,a laptop, six mobile phones andthree pistols. Police had traced eight casesagainst them. Sundar police arrested a drugpusher and recovered 1,500 litre liquor dur-ing the crackdown against drug pushers.

A special police team conducted a raidin Mohlanwal area and arrested the accusedwith narcotics. Sanda police arrested threeaccused of a dacoit gang and recovered amotorcycle, four mobile phones and threepistols.—APP

LAHORE—Punjab University’s Centrefor Clinical Psychology (CCP) orga-nized a lecture on “Anxiety Disordersin DSM-5” at Video Conference Hallof Undergraduate Block here on Sun-day. On this occasion, Faculty ofHealth School of Psychology & Coun-selling Queensland University ofTechnology Australia’s Clinical Psy-chologist & Associate Professor DrNigar Gohar threw light on the topic.

PU career planning workshopsDirector CCP Prof Dr Rukhsana

Kausar, faculty members and a largenumber of students attended the lec-ture and gained insights about Intro-duction, their historical perspective,diagnosis and assessment, implica-tions and therapeutic interventions foranxiety disorders.

In the end Prof Dr RukhsanaKausar extended her thanks to DrNigar Gohar Khawaja for her insight-

ful Lecture and desired the continuityof such Lectures in future with foreigndelegates and academicians in the fu-ture. Meanwhile, the university’s Ca-reer Counselling & Placement Centre(CCPC) organized training workshopson “Career Planning” at Departmentof Arabic, “Career in Banking” at HaileyCollege of Commerce and “Career Plan-ning” at Department of Mathemat-ics.—INP

Top IndianFrom Back Page

during the five-day-longconference. Developmentsin neighboring countriesespecially Afghanistan willalso be part of the discus-sion.”

India is one of the majordonors to the reconstruc-tion of Afghanistan after theTaliban regime was toppledfollowing a US-led invasionin 2001.

Indian army is also pro-viding training to Afghani-stan National Army (ANA)and is targeting to trainabout 1100 Afghan troopsby the end of 2014.—NNI

Published by: Zahid Malik from Ali Akbar House Markaz G-8, Islamabad and printed by Gauhar Zahid Malik at Al Umar Printers

Bid foiled to blastpolice check-postPESHAWAR—A bid to blastpolice check post wasfoiled as eight kilogram ex-plosives was recoveredfrom a vehicle here on Sun-day. AIG Bomb DisposalUnit (BDS) Shafqat Maliksaid that unknown miscre-ants had planted explo-sives in a vehicle parkedoutside Saifan policecheck post in Peshawar.The BDU squad reachedthe scene and defused theexplosives weighing 8kg.Police said that the bid wasaimed at blasting the checkpost but t imely actionfoiled the nefarious de-signs of the terrorists. —INP

Troops of Pakistan Army and People’s Liberation Army, China, establishing a medical city in joint military exercise ‘Peace Angel 2014’whichcommenced near Rawalpindi on Sunday.

NEW DELHI—In a boost to defencemuscles, India is all set to test its anti-ballistic missile defence system forlong range (beyond 100 km) for thefirst time next week. This will be fol-lowed by trial of cruise missile Nirbhay(whose maiden test had failed lastyear) and air-to-air missile Astra nextmonth, Avinash Chander, scientificadviser to defence minister, said. Dur-ing an informal chat withmediapersons, Chander, who is alsodirector general (DG), Defence Re-search and Development Organization(DRDO), said the indigenously-builtunnamed missile interceptor will betested from Wheeler Island.

“It is a system to intercept enemymissiles with a range of 2,000 km. Themissiles will get intercepted at range

India set to test missile defence shield next week

NEW DELHI—The top In-dian army officers are due tomeet today to discuss theimpact of coalition forceswithdrawal from Afghanistanby the end of the year.

India’s outgoing ArmyChief General Bikram Singhwill meet his top command-ers during Army Command-

Top Indian armyofficers meet today todiscuss Afghanistan

ers conference to discusspossible measures to counterthreat arising from Afghani-stan.

An Indian army officerquoted by India’s DNAnewspaper said, “Variousoperational and strategic is-sues will be discussed

JERUSALEM—Israeli policearrested 16 Palestinians Sun-day as they clashed withdemonstrators at the Al-Aqsa mosque compound inJerusalem, a sensitive holysite that is frequently thescene of tensions.

“This morning, after thesite was opened for visitorsand tourists, the suspectsthrew rocks at the police,wounding two of them,” po-lice spokesman MickyRosenfeld told AFP.

After police dispersed thecrowd with sound grenadesthe demonstrators took shel-ter in the Al-Aqsa mosque,which police are not allowed

Sixteen arrested after clashes at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa

LONDON—Typically, when awar ends, so does the com-batants’ authority to detainthe other side’s fighters.

But as the conclusion ofthe US war in Afghanistanapproaches, the inmatepopulation of GuantánamoBay is likely to be an excep-tion - and, for the Obamaadministration, the latestcomplication to its attemptto close the infamous war-time detention complex.

In December, whenPresident Barack Obamaand his Nato allies formallyend their combat role in Af-ghanistan, US officials in-dicated there is unlikely tobe a corresponding releaseof detainees at Guantánamowho were captured duringthe country’s longest con-flict.

The question has beenthe subject of recent inter-nal debate in the Obama ad-ministration, which iswrapped up in the broaderquestion of future deten-tion policy.

The vast majority of de-

Detainees’ release upon endof Afghanistan war ‘unlikely’

2 killed as vanplunges into ravineMIANWALI—Two personsincluding a child werekilled while 20 others in-jured as a van carryingwedding participantsplunged into a deep ravinehere on Sunday. Accordingto Rescue officials, the vanfell into gorge onShakardara Road nearMianwali, killing two per-sons on the spot and in-juring 20 others. The bod-ies and injured wereshifted to hospital. —INP

Bilawal’s visit toLahoreLAHORE—The PakistanPeoples Party (PPP) haswritten a letter to thePunjab government, de-manding foolproof secu-rity during PPP ChairmanBilawal Bhutto Zardari’svisit to Lahore. FormerPresident Asif Ali Zardariand PPP Chairman BilawalBhutto Zardari will visitthe provincial capital nextweek. According to PPPsources, their visit aims atreorganization of the party.During their visit, they willalso meet local leaders andoffice-bearers. Earlier,Punjab Law Minister RanaSanaullah said that BilawalBhutto would be wel-comed and provided fool-proof security if he comesto Punjab. —NNI

NATO troopsleaving behind an

explosive messin Afghanistan

KABUL—As most foreigntroops in Afghanistan be-gan preparations to finallyleave, UN officials and oth-ers keeping track of the vic-tims of abandoned explo-sives noticed a new trend:more and more people, andespecially children, werebeing killed, not bylandmines left over by theSoviets or the Taliban butby undetonated explosives,like grenades and mortarshells, left behind by depart-ing foreign troops withNATO’s International Secu-rity Assistance Force(ISAF). “The increase in ac-cidents coincided with ISAFwithdrawal,” AbigailHartley, program manager atUNMAS in Afghanistan,told VICE News.

The problem has spikedas troops have closed downand abandoned dozens offiring ranges, most of whichare still littered with thou-sands of unexploded de-vices. —INP

to enter, he said.A police statement later

said 16 “Arab rioters” hadbeen arrested. The mosquecompound in Jerusalem’s OldCity — built on the holiestsite in Judaism and consid-ered the third holiest in Islam— has over the past weekseen clashes between Mus-lim protesters and Israelipolice.Dozens of Palestinianswere wounded Wednesdayin clashes with police afterJewish visitors were allowedonto the compound, which isknown to Jews as the TempleMount — the site where thebiblical first and secondtemples stood.

Palestinians have longfeared that Israel would takeover the site, which is underJordanian custodianship,amid calls from Jewish extrem-ists for the temple to be re-built. Non-Muslims are al-lowed to visit the site butJews are barred from prayingthere. Hardline Jews fre-quently try to defy the ban,often igniting clashes be-tween rock-throwing Pales-tinians and police.

Sunday’s clashes cameas tens of thousands of pil-grims and tourists flocked toJerusalem for the ChristianEaster holiday and the week-long Jewish Passover.

Fearing unrest, Israeli policetightened restrictions on ac-cess to the Al-Aqsa mosque

compound, limiting entranceto men over the age of 50 andwomen.”—AFP

tention operations in Af-ghanistan are now per-formed by the Afghan se-curity forces which the USmilitary sponsor.

The exception is ap-proximately 50 non-Af-ghans detained in Afghani-stan by the US directly.

Their fate after Decem-ber is unknown. But thereare 154 detainees still atGuantánamo Bay.

Among them are 14 Af-ghans, some of whom aresuspected not of beingmembers of al-Qaida, butbeing members of theTaliban or affiliated groups,with whom the US will nolonger be formally at war af-ter December.

At least five of themhave been discussed aspart of a potential trade withthe Taliban for the US pris-oner of war Sergeant BoweBergdahl. Those 14 Af-ghans are the clearest-cutcases for release once theAfghanistan war ends, law-yers and former US officialssaid. —INP

of more than 100 km away so that dam-age to our cities can be prevented,”the DG said. Official sources said theDRDO will fire a missile, mimickingan enemy weapon, from a naval war-ship, while the interceptor missile willbe launched from launching complex-IV. The interceptor will destroy thewarhead of the ‘enemy’ missile mid-air.

The entire process will be fullyautomated. Chander said DRDO isalso preparing to test Nirbhay, a sub-sonic cruise missile which flunkedmaiden test in March last year, earlynext month off Odisa coast. Nirbhay(which means fearless) is India’sequivalent to America’s Tomahawkand Pakistan’s Babur. DRDO will alsotest-fire Astra, the beyond visual

range air-to-air single stage andsolid-fuelled missile, from an aircraft.

The 3.8-metre Astra is the small-est DRDO-developed missile. “Bothare having unique capabilities. Astrawill be tested for the first time froman Su-30 aircraft.

These two tests will be carriedout between Chandipur and WheelerIsland in next 15 to 20 days”, Chandersaid.

Sources said if Astra is success-fully fired, India will break into elitegroup of nations, including the US,France, Russia and Israel, possess-ing such missiles. The missiles are ca-pable of engaging ultra-modern super-sonic fighter jets.

Astra can carry a 15-kg high-ex-plosive warhead. —INP

Continued on Page 7

WOMEN enrolled in a small study reported a reduction in symptoms ofposttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

after a series of yoga classes. However, womenin a comparison group that didn’t take theclasses also reported a simi-lar decline in symptoms, re-searchers found.

“The yoga group didwell - they improved in theirPTSD symptoms - and ourcontrol group actually didwell, which we didn’t ex-pect,” Karen Mitchell toldReuters Health. Mitchell,from the National Center forPTSD at the VA BostonHealthcare System, led thenew study.

“I do emphasize that theyoga (group) definitelydidn’t do worse,” she said.“Yoga could potentially betriggering for people withtrauma, so while that’s notas exciting a finding, I thinkit is important to say that.” About one in 10U.S. women is affected by PTSD, accordingto the authors. Many say that alternative andcomplementary therapies - such as yoga - helpthem cope with the symptoms, which can in-clude trouble sleeping and having flashbacksrelated to the traumatic event, known as re-experiencing.

“It can be very debilitating and in the gen-eral population it affects women about twiceas often as men,” Mitchell said. Her team’sfindings were published in the Journal of Trau-matic Stress. A total of 26 women with PTSDcompleted the study. The women were an av-erage of 44 years old and included both civil-

ians and military veterans.Fourteen of the women attended weekly

yoga sessions for 12 weeks or twice-weeklysessions for six weeks. Each session was 75minutes long and focused on mind-body

connections, breathing andphysical postures. Women alsofilled out a symptom question-naire each week. Twelvewomen in the comparisongroup met once per week for 12weeks in small groups to com-plete the same questionnaires.

All participants com-pleted a follow-up assessmentone month after the sessionsended. Mitchell and her col-leagues found that women inboth groups had significant im-provements in their symptoms.The yoga participants showeddecreases in re-experiencing andhyperarousal symptoms, whilethe comparison group reportedimprovements in re-experienc-ing symptoms and anxiety.

“Both groups were doing assessments, com-ing in every week, and interacting with us - do-ing these kinds of things that might have beenhelpful for both groups,” Mitchell said. Studiesthat include more women will be needed in thefuture, she added. “There are several proposedmechanisms on how yoga may help reducePTSD symptoms,” Julie Staples told ReutersHealth in an email. Staples led a previous studyon the same topic at the Southeast LouisianaVeterans Health Care System in New Orleans.She was not part of the new research. “Simplystated, yoga may regulate aspects of the endo-crine system and the nervous system that areout of balance in PTSD,” Staples said.

Yoga may help womenease PTSD symptoms

Ambassadors of ASEAN countries including Burhan Muhammad Ambassador of Indonesia, Domingo D. Luce-nario Jr. Ambassador of Philippines,Nguyen Viet Hung Ambassador of Vietnam, Dr Hasrul Sani Mujtabar High Commissioner of Malaysia and others cutting Tumpeng to formally open theASEAN Food Festival 2014, at the Indonesian embassy, on Sunday.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—As a part ofMargallah Festival SpringCelebration - 2014, Sports,Culture and Tourism Direc-torate of Capital Develop-ment Authority (CDA) in col-laboration with Ibex ClubIslamabad organized a twoday family fiesta on April 19and 20, 2014 at Ibex Club.

During the two daysfamily fiesta different activi-ties including wall climbingcompetitions, music comple-tions and programs for theamusement of general pub-lic especially children wereorganized. A vigil for peace

(Flying Lanterns) in thehonour of all those people wholost their lives in terrorist at-tacks in Islamabad was alsoarranged which was partici-pated and appreciated by civilsociety and people from allwalks of life.

During this family fiestadifferent activities which in-clude battle of the band - RockMusic competition betweenunderground music bands, WallClimbing competitions, foodstalls, fun, and games were ar-ranged.

Member Engineering andEnvironment CDA, Mr.Sanaullah Aman distributedawards among the winners of

Wall Climbing Competition.While addressing the gather-ing Mr. Sanaullah Aman saidthat on the directions ofChairman CDA, MaroofAfzal different colourful pro-grams are being organized inthe capital city for the recre-ation of residents ofIslamabad and this program iscontinuation of recreationalactivities.

He said that CDA will or-ganize pets and animal show onApril 26, 2014 at the MarghzarZoo to provide recreation to thecitizens, especially the kids. Onthis occasion renowned moun-taineer Hassan Sat Para wasalso present.

CDA’s Family Fiesta enthrals visitors

A participant competing in wall climbing competition during CDA Margalla Festival atLake View park.

Christianscelebrate

EasterSTAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The Christiancommunity celebrated thefestival of Easter on Sundaywith great enthusiasm.

The day started with spe-cial religious prayers, andexchanging greetings withmessages of goodwill andprosperity by the communitymembers.

Easter Sunday is thewell-at tended service atchurches as the Christiancommunity hold prayers andspecial ceremonies to markthe Easter week.

The Friday before EasterSunday, known as Good Fri-day, is also observed as amourning day while EasterSunday is celebrated as“Jesus resurrected on EasterSunday.”

His resurrection is cel-ebrated on Easter Day orEaster Sunday (also Resur-rection Day or ResurrectionSunday).

Easter marks the end ofLent, a 40-day period of fast-ing, and the last week of theLent is called Holy Weekwhich contains Good Friday.

CITY REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The 10-day folk festivalof Pakistan, popularly known as “LokVirsa”, concluded here on Sunday atShakaparian. The cultural event had beenorganised by Lok Virsa in collaborationwith all the provinces, GilgitBaltistan and Azad Jammu& Kashmir.

Secretary InformationBroadcasting and NationalHeritage, Dr Nazir Saeedwas the chief guest on theoccassion. Thousands ofpeople from different walksof life attended the festivalduring the 10 days which fea-tured artisans-at-work exhi-bition, provincial cultural pa-vilions, folkloric song &dance performances, culturalevenings, craft bazaar, NGOstalls, theater performancesand special entertainment forchildren and families.

All the provinces, GilgitBaltistan and Azad Kashmirparticipated in the festivalby presenting their beautifulindigenous culture, arts,crafts, music and cuisine inspecially designed pavilionssymbolising their respectivehistorical monuments, con-tributing art, music and en-tertainment activities. Sec-retary Information Broadcasting and Na-tional Heritage, Dr Nazir Saeed felicitatedLok Virsa management for successfulholding of the national festival thatbrought rural masses from each cornerof the country to the federal capital.

He said that these kind of events arehelpful for promoting inter-provincialharmony. The Secretary said that Paki-stan was a rich cultural country who hashistorical roots of thousands years. Lok

Virsa is doing a great service to the nationby documenting, preserving and dissemi-nating the tangible and intangible culturalheritage of Pakistan, he added.

Dr Nazir said, “The folk genius of thepeople is basis of their identity. It is there-fore duty of a nation to pay homage to the

perpetuators and promoters of its culturalheritage and in this regard, the role of LokVirsa is praiseworthy”. Member NationalAssembly (MNA), Naeema Kishor laudedthe efforts of Lok Virsa for organizing thisrecreational festival for public and providedopportunity to visit culture of all provinces.She said that this platform will help peopleof all parts of the country for promoting theirculture and strengthening unity. Earlier, LokVirsa’s Executive Director, Shaheera

Shahid thanked all provincial govern-ments, sponsoring agencies and other in-stitutions for their unstinted cooperationto Lok Virsa for making this national eventa success.

She said that Lok Virsa organised folkfestivals in order to project traditional cul-

tural heritage and strengthening nationalart industry. Secretary Information Broad-casting and National Heritage, Dr NazirSaeed distributed cash awards to the win-ning artisans and trophies to the festivalparticipants and sponsors. Exotic culturaland musical performances were also pre-sented during the ceremony A large num-ber of art, craft & music lovers, culturalpersonalities, media persons and generalpublic attended the event.

Lok Virsa festivalconcludes after captivating

residents of twin cities

Folk musicians performing to entertain the visitors at Lok Virsa.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Rector International Islamic Uni-versity Islamabad (IIUI) Dr. Masoom Yasinzaihas said nations who realize importance of edu-cation and technology, emphasize on innovationsand as a result have top positions in the list ofdeveloped nations.

He expressed these views as chief guest inthe 11th biennial international conference of thePakistan Chest Society (PCS) on Chest Diseasesand Lung Health here on Sunday.

Leading pulmonologists, general practitionersand other specialists from all over Pakistan attendedthe conference while several foreign participantsand speakers also joined the three-day moot. Prof.Martyn Partridge, professor of respiratory medi-cine at the National Heart and Lung Institute, Im-perial College London, was the guest of honourand Prof. Dr. Naeem Agha, president of PCS, andDr. Shireen Khan, chairperson of the scientificcommittee were among the prominent speakers.

“We should not rely on others and instead of

Rector International Islamic University, Dr. Masoom Yasinzai addressing the 11th BiennialInternational Conference on chest diseases and lung health.

IIUI Rector calls for followingmodern scientific trends

asking help we should ask developed nations toprovide us opportunities to learn from their ex-periences” said Dr. Masoom while saying thatPakistan has medical officials who are worldlyknown for their expertise and talent.

He said over the last decade Pakistan hassignificantly contributed in scientific literaturewhich is a good sign, “but we need to work morein the medical field with more innovations andzeal” the Rector emphasized.

“Science is progressing fast and we are lack-ing modern trends, we would have to utilize ser-vices of our medical officials and provide themopportunities to transform their studies in usefularticles” Said Dr. Masoom. Speaking in the con-ference Dr. Partridge said “Infectious diseases areacute and non-infectious diseases are prolonged,usually claiming lives in Pakistan”. Speakers wereof the view that respiratory illnesses in Pakistanwere increasing rapidly and they called for con-certed efforts to control the problem while appre-ciating the efforts of specialists who organize suchconferences and promote indigenous science.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Assistant In-spector General of Police (Op-erations) Islamabad SultanAzam Temuri has announced toaward cash prizes to well per-forming police officials as anacknowledgement of their ser-vices.

He reviewed performanceof various police stations andannounced cash prizes forSHOs of Ramna, Bhara Kahuand Aabpara police stations forrecovering stolen vehicles,bikes and ensuring arrest ofdrug pushes and other criminalelements.

He also reviewed perfor-mance of SHOs of Tanrol,Margalla, Loi Bher andShehzad Town police stationsand directed to issue them showcause notices.

AIG (Operations) saidencouragement for police-men showing good perfor-mance would be ensured andaccountability system to bemade more effective to moni-tor performance of the policeofficials.

He said that hard work al-ways brings success while ac-countability in any departmentbrings improvement in its per-formance.

Cash prizes for wellperforming police officials

05:00 01:3005:15

08:30

Zohr

Asr

Isha

Fajar

Meghrab at Sunset

Brothers in Islamestablish regularprayers & charity

April 21

ALLAMA Iqbal Open Univer-sity is to start final examinationsof ATTC, PTC, CT and BEdprogrammes for the SemesterAutumn, 2013 from April 21.Controller of Exams, Dr HamidKhan Niazi announced that 762exams centres have been set upacross the country.

****

A seminar on ‘Rule of Law andCounter-Terrorism: Roles ofPublic and Private Sector’ willbe held at a local hotel here. Theevent, organized by Center forResearch and Security Studiesas part of its Rule of Law aware-ness and advocacy campaignwill commence at 02:30 pm.

April 22

NATIONAL Book Foundationhas decided to organize a threeday National Book festival forthe promotion of book readingin Pakistan which will start from22 April in Pak China friendshipcentre. Several programs will bepresented in National Book Fes-tival in which writers, poets andpeople from different school ofthoughts will be invited. In themega Book festival books in sev-eral languages of different writ-ers and poets will be presented.

April 24

“OBESITY Walk” will be heldon Thursday, April 24, 3:00 pm- 6:30 pm at F-8/3 Green Belt,near Centaurus Mall,Islamabad. The walk will beorganised by Vagus Foundationin collaboration with VeriteMedia to create awarenessamong the masses about obe-sity, which kills thousands ofpeople every year worldwide.

April 25

THREE-day 2nd IslamabadLiterature Festival (ILF) byOxford University Press(OUP) to start from April 25.

April 28

A reception will be held by TheHigh Commissioner of the Re-public of South Africa, His Ex-cellency, Mr. Mpendulo Kumalo,on the occasion of National Dayof his country on Monday April28th at 19:00 hrs. The venue ofthe reception will be MarqeeHall, Marriott Hotel.

Children keenly watching rabbits at the bird and flower show at Rawal Lake View Park.

Famous classical singer Ustad Qamar-uz-Zaman performing at Rawalpindi Arts Council.

A view of openly installed electricity meters with their wires dangling at Shahid Plaza, blue area, may cause any mishap.

STAFF REPORTER

RAWALPINDI—Punjab Minister for Labour andHuman Resource, Raja Ashfaq Sarwar Satudaysaid that joint efforts from public and privatesectors should be made to control dengue.

This he stated while presiding over a meet-ing to review anti-dengue measures here at Com-missioner Office.

The meeting was attended by AdditionalCommissioner, Talat Mehmood Gondal, MNA,Dr. Jamal Nasir, Sardar Naseem, Rahat MasoodQadoosi and representatives of government de-partments and organizations.

Raja Ashfaq Sarwar said that negligence ofany official towards anti-dengue activities wouldnot be tolerated and all the government depart-ments and attached organizations should com-

plete their task relating to vector surveillanceaccording to fixed schedule.

The Provincial Minister directed that properfollow-up should be recorded about the locali-ties where dengue larvae were found.

The Minister also directed to keep vigil eyeon place like graveyards, junkyards, tyre shops,restaurants and water reservoirs to prevent lar-vae breeding. He asked Solid Waste Authoritiesto adopt adequate measures to improve sanitaryconditions in the areas.

The Officers of administration were alsodirected to check prices of essential items andensure the sale of these items on fixed prices.Earlier, the representatives of different depart-ments gave presentation about the performanceof their respective departments with regard tocontrol dengue.

Joint efforts needed tocontrol dengue: Minister

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Federal Union of Journalists,Rawalpindi-Islamabad Union of Journalists,National Press Club on Sunday held a pro-test demonstration against assassination at-tack on senior journalist Hamid Mir and de-manded arrest of culprits involved in the at-tack.

Journalists of the twin cities gathered in frontof the Press Club and called for providing safety

to the community.Speaking on the occasion, leaders of the

journalist community said freedom of presscould not be muzzled through such cowardlyattacks.

They demanded that culprits involved in theattack on Hamid Mir should be brought to jus-tice at the earliest.

The journalists prayed for the early recov-ery of Hamid Mir and paid tribute to him for hisprofessionalism and dedication.

Journalists demonstrateagainst attack on Hamid Mir

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Teams of Islamabad Police andRawalpindi Elite Force have started joint pa-trolling in the twin cities and combined policepickets have been also set up at exits as well asentry points.

AIG (Operations) Islamabad Sultan Azamhas said that an effective security plan has beendevised to combat criminal elements in the twincities.

He said that teams of Islamabad Police andPunjab Elite Force have started patrolling in theboth cities and eight vehicles of Elite Force areparticipating in this patrolling activity.

Five personnel from Elite Force and threeATS commandos of Islamabad police, presentin each vehicle, would endeavour for effectivepatrolling as per plan.

Joint police pickets have been set up at vari-ous entry as well exit points of the city. As perpatrolling plan, three beats have been identi-fied for patrolling which include the area fromKoral to Faizabad, Faizabad to Pirwadhai andTarnol Chowk to Margallah hills. Several halt-ing points have been also set up in various ar-eas where checking has been started. In addi-tion to these measures, other police vehiclesand motorbikes would take part in this jointpatrolling plan.

AIG (Operations) said that purpose ofthis plan is to further improve the securitywith coordination. He said crackdown wouldbe ensured against dacoits, car lifting gangs,proclaimed offenders in both cities andcriminals, wanted to police of any district,would be transferred to the respective po-lice station after their arrest.

Islamabad, RawalpindiPolice start joint patrolling

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Chairman Capital Development Au-thority (CDA), Mr. Maroof Af zal visited KashmirHighway to witness the ongoing development andexpansion work there. The Chairman particularly in-spected the progress of ongoing construction workof six bridges on Kashmir Highway. The Chairmanfurther viewed the ongoing carpeting work on Kash-mir Highway.

The Chairman on the occasion directed the

Project Director Kashmir Highway to expedite theconstruction work of the six bridges on this vitalinter-provincial highway. He further directed to com-plete the allied construction works also well in time.

The construction work on Kashmir Highwayshould be completed within stipulated time framewithout compromising on quality and standard ofwork.

The landscaping and beautification work shouldalso be carried out simultaneously to save time.State-of-the-art material and expertise should be used

for the project. Alternate passages should be pro-vided to the commuters with installed signboards tomaintain the smooth and hazard free flow of trafficduring the construction work.

The Chairman on the occasion was briefed bythe Project Director. He informed that keeping inview the significance of Kashmir Highway, the con-struction and expansion work is being carried outexpeditiously.

Two out of six bridges have been completedwhile the construction work for the bridge over the

railway line has also been initiated after getting de-signs from Pakistan Railway.

The Chairman was further told that two bridgesalong south of Kashmir Highway including one op-posite to CDA weekly bazaar and the other oppositeto CDA MPO Directorate have been completed whilethe bridges in the north are at the verge of comple-tion. He was also told that recent spells of rain slowedthe pace of work but enthusiastic efforts are under-way to ensure in time completion of the construc-tion and expansion work on Kashmir Highway.

Kashmir highway

Efforts underway to completeconstruction, expansion in time

Polio drivecompleted

RAWALPINDI—The five-dayanti-polio campaign whichstarted on April 15 in Rawalpindidistrict had been completed suc-cessfully, where around 711,744children of below five years agewere vaccinated. District healthofficer Dr Khalid Randahwa said1,408 polio teams carried out thecampaign, adding that they vac-cinated almost seven lakh chil-dren across the district.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Allama Iqbal Open University(AIOU) will conduct its examinations of ATTC,PTC, CT and B.Ed programmes for the Semes-ter Autumn, 2013 from today (Monday). Con-troller of Exams, Dr. Hamid Khan Niazi an-nounced on Sunday that a total of 762 examina-tion centers have been set up across the country.

He said the roll number slips have been dis-patched to all the eligible/enrolled students attheir given addresses by postal mail service. The

students who have not received their roll num-ber slips so far are advised to contact the near-est Regional Office of the University or Super-intendent Teacher Education Section, Examina-tions Department for issuance of duplicate rollnumber slip.

For duplicate roll number slips, students arerequired to bring two passport size photographsduly attested by the gazetted officer. Roll numberslips along with date sheet are also being placedon AIOU website www.aiou.edu.pk for the con-venience of students.

AIOU’s teachers trainingexams from today

RAWALPINDI—The citizens have ex-pressed their deep resentment overcharging of entry fee and hourly park-ing fee at allied hospitals in garrisoncity.

The citizens said that they have topay Rs10 entry fee at the gate, whileadditional Rs5 per hour parking is alsocharged. They said that they have tospend huge amount of money on medi-cines and treatment, therefore entry andparking fees are unnecessarily adding

to the financial burden.The patients and attendants hailing

from Azad Kashmir, Attock, Jhelum,Chakwal, Gujar Khan, Murree andother areas said that they are chargedRs100 as parking fee for each day thatis unjust.

They demanded to abolish the en-try and parking fee in all hospitals ofthe garrison city to facilitate the atten-dants of the patients who suffer fromextreme mental agony due to the con-

ditions of their near and dear ones.It is worth mentioning that Punjab

Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharifduring his last tenure had stopped thecollection of vehicle parking fee at thehospitals. However it appears that af-ter every few years, the administrationin league with the contractors restart thecollection of vehicle fee.

People have requested the Chief Min-ister to take an immediate notice of theplundering of the people at the hospitals.

Parking fee at alliedhospitals irks citizens

ISLAMABAD—Parents decried over theapathy of mushroom growth of privateschools in the twin cities of Islamabad andRawalpindi, including big names, are be-ing run in substandard buildings withoutthe requisite facilities like playgrounds,science laboratories, libraries and properteaching staff.

These buildings are in dilapidate con-ditions posing great threat to the childrensitting in the classrooms.

Shazia Yasmeen a mother while la-menting this issue said that these schoolscharging heavy fee to the innocent parentsand till the board examinations there is noproficiency check.

Secondly some of the classrooms arebig and some are small with poor seating

arrangements, ventilation and lighting spe-cially in summer season.

In case of a power failure or cloudyweather, such classrooms turn into darkand students and teachers suffer if nogenerator or UPS is available, sheadded.

Moreover, small or no playgrounds inschools discourages physical activities andsports which are essential for school go-ing children. Running these schools in resi-dential areas also disturbs residents in thevicinity, especially during school hours,said a student Ali Waqas.

In such unplanned schools, there islack of facilities of library, music room,computer laboratories. Teachers do noteven have proper staff rooms and wash-

rooms in various cases. Band classes andphysical education activities also disturbstudents studying in a class or library. It isa dilemma that even reputed and bigschools which charge heavy fees from stu-dents are also seen with such problems,said a Government school teacher.

Seher Ali, a mother of a student, saidthat schools without playgrounds shouldnot be allowed to function. She said thatprivate schools, despite charging heavy feefrom parents, have failed to provide qual-ity sports and extra-curricular activities totheir students.

Parents have demanded the concernauthorities to facilitate their kids withproper arrangement of basic facilities inall private schools.—APP

Private schools running withoutrequisite facilities

MUZAFFARABAD: A scene of a main road thoroughly encroached to pose problems for the people.

MUZAFFARABAD: Muslim League leader Raja Muhammad Farooq Haider Khan prays for the departed soul of RajaMuhammad Haider Khan after laying wreath at his grave on his 48th death anniversary.

SRINAGAR—While terming the arrestof over 200 pro-freedom leaders andactivists including Tehreek-e-HurriyatGeneral Secretary Mohammad AshrafSehraie, pro-freedom leader ShabirAhmad Shah, Yasin Malik, NayeemKhan, Dr. Ghulam Mohammad Ganieand Mushtaq-ul-Islam in their housesand different police stations and jails,as an ‘accepted-defeat’ of the state-government, chairman Hurriyat Con-ference (G) Syed Ali Geelani has ap-pealed for complete and statewideshutdown on April 21.

According to a statement, whilethanking the people of Tral, ShahgundHajan and other areas for boycottingand resisting the election rallies of thepro-Indian politicians, Geelani hasstrongly condemned the police actionin Shahgund Hajan in which dozensof youths and journalists have beeninjured and many residential housesransacked.

While terming the use of ‘blacklaws’ like PSA against the pro-freedomleaders and activists, a worst kind ofstate-terrorism, Hurriyat Chairmanquestioned the government that whathappened to the press statement ofPolice Chief Ashok Prasad in whichhe had said that no one would be ar-rested in connection with the electionboycott campaign.

“Those pro-freedom people who

Geelani appeals for shutdown todaywere slapped with PSA have been ar-rested from their homes and this state-ment doesn’t hold any truth that theiractivities have disturbed any law andorder situation anywhere.” While term-ing the state of Jammu and Kashmiras a ‘lawless land’, Geelani said thatIndia is breaking her own laws in Kash-mir and a ‘lawless’ situation has beencreated here.

He said that Indian Supreme Courthas passed a ruling that peaceful cam-paign for election boycott is a basicand democratic right of every citizenand no one should be stopped for ex-ercising this right, but this ruling is notbeing respected in Jammu and Kash-mir and the anti-election campaign hasbeen practically banned here.

He said that the election processis held all over India, but no one isarrested are detained under the PSAlike black laws for boycotting the elec-tion. India claims to be a big demo-cratic country in the world, but thisbig claim gets badly exposed in Jammuand Kashmir and its meaning totallychanges in opposite direction here.

The pro-freedom leader furthersaid that if he and other pro-freedomleaders were not restricted and givena chance to reach public, the parlia-mentary elections will miserably failhere. “But government is caging thepro-freedom leadership and are threat-

ening people by army and police tomake this Indian sponsoredprogramme a success. That is why thisdemocratic process gets convertedinto a military operation, which haslost its importance and credibility.”

Appealing people to boycott theupcoming elections, he said: “We re-serve right to tell people that lack of ba-sic facilities has no importance for anoppressed nation. Where there is noguarantee of life and property the scar-city of water and other facilities for whichthey vote doesn’t hold any importance.So we ask people not vote and boycottthe elections because India uses ourvote by conveying that people of Kash-mir are with her,” he said.

He issued a protest calendaragainst the polling. “On 24 April, therewould be civil cur-few in South Kash-mir. Similarly, there would be civil cur-few in Central Kashmir on 30th Apriland also in North Kashmir on 7thMay,” he said adding: “Besides, weappeal peo-ple to hold protests a daybefore they go for polls from Magribto Isha we ask people to sit at homeon poll days.”

Geelani appealed the world com-munity to take serious notice of thearrests of pro-freedom leadership andraise their voice against the detentionof pro-freedom people under PSA likeblack laws.—NNI

SRINAGAR—Chairman of Hurriyat Confer-ence (M), Mirwaiz Umar Farooq has ac-cused Hurriyat Conference (G) Chairman,Syed Ali Geelani, of maligning the Kashmirmovement, stating that the aged separatistleader was testing their patience by makingallegations.

Without naming anyone, Geelani hadsaid that ‘a pro-freedom organization’ wasin league with BJP’s Prime Ministerial can-didate Narendra Modi. “He (Geelani) ismaligning freedom movement and creatingvicious atmosphere here,” Mirwaiz said ad-dressing a press conference at his Nigeenresidence here. Elaborating, Mirwaiz said,“Geelani can’t advise others on Kashmirwhen he has contested elections 12 times.Who the hell is Geelani?’’ shouted Mirwaiz.

In the wake of Geelani’s statement,Hurriyat (M) convened its Executive Coun-cil meet-ing and unanimously decried thestatement. “The allegations of Geelani re-garding meeting Modi’s emissaries need tobe substantiated by him with proof of when,where and with whom this meeting tookplace. If he fails to do so and has any moralintegrity, he needs to apologize not to usbut to the nation which he is trying to mis-lead and create mistrust,” he said.

The Hurriyat (M) Chairman said that byissuing these statements Geelani was “test-ing our patience.” “Time and again he(Geelani) creates situations so that pro-free-dom leaders have to prove their sincerityto the movement. But his sincerity is above

Kashmir struggle is people’s movement,nobody is its godfather: Mirwaiz

doubt and for him everybody else is guiltytill they prove their innocence. Many timesI, my party and people have been hurt byGeelani’s statements which are aimed at cre-ating suspicion in the minds of people,” hesaid.

“But we have resisted responding tothem only keeping in view the integrity andunity of the movement. However, there is alimit to tolerance. His allegations have gonetoo far this time. Our patience should notbe viewed as our weakness,” he said.Mirwaiz maintained that “the struggle forKashmir’s freedom is a people’s movementand nobody is its godfather.”

“Allegations of Geelani are fabricatedand it is a deliberate attempt to mislead thepeople of J&K. Whenever we have heldtalks, we have held them publicly. Ourstance remains same,” said Mirwaiz. “He(Geelani) has himself participated in elec-tions under Indian Constitution 12 timesand has no copyright over Kashmir,” hesaid.

He said praising BJP’s Atal BihariVajpayee’s policy on Kashmir doesn’t meanthat they have has soft corner for BJP orfor any other political party. “Such state-ments vitiate the atmosphere and create andbecome the cause of physical eliminationof which my family has become a target notonce but twice. One fails to understand whyGeelani is trying to project his image beforepeople as the most sincere leader,” hesaid.—NNI

SRINAGAR—The High Court Bar As-sociation has said that the prisonersof the Jammu and Kashmir lodged indifferent jails in India are not treatedfairly and justice is not being metedout to them, in accordance with law.While declaring a jail report public,Mian Abdul Qayoom, the presidentof Bar Association said that thoughthe right to fair and speedy trial is afundamental right and is avail-ableto all the accused irrespective of his/their involvement in a case, yet in thecase of the Kashmiri prisoners, thisright has been denied to them withimpunity.

“The manner and method inwhich they are shifted and movedfrom one jail to another jail and thenbooked in false and fabricated cases,the trial of which is protracted foryears together, is in itself sufficientto conclude that there is no rule oflaw for a Kashmiri prisoner who maybe lodged in any jail in India andthat he can be treated in any manner

Kashmiris lodged in different jailsoutside state not treated fairly: HCBA

by the jail and other authorities as theylike,” Qayoom has said in his report.

Referring to the five Kashmiri pris-oners Farooq Ahmad Khan residentof Anantnag, Abdul Gani Gooni resi-dent of Bhaderwah/Doda, LateefAhmad Waza resident of Srinagar, AliMohammad Bhat resident of Srinagarand Mirza Nisar Hussain, a resident ofSrinagar lodged in Central Jail Jaipur,Qayoom has said that they have fallenprey to ‘brutal and barbaric tactics’ ofthe police and despite their best ef-forts to persuade the courts to rem-edy the wrongs the courts have notcome to their rescue.

“Though the aforesaid fiveKashmiri prisoners have not com-plained much about food and otheramenities to which they are entitled tounder jail manual, but the Bar teamcould gather from the discussion heldwith them that they are given barelytwo cups of tea in the morning andevening and a few chapattis at 10:00a.m. in the morning and 4:00 p.m. in

the evening, with a small quantityof Dal,” the jail report prepared bythe HCBA reads.

The jail report says that after in-teracting with these prisoners, theHCBA team found that all of themhad been arrested in 1996 at differ-ent places inside the State, but werelater brought to Jaipur and bookedin FIR No. 148/96 u/s 302/307 IPCand 4/5 Explosive Act of Police Sta-tion Mohwa, Rajasthan, registeredon 22.05.1996 in connection withbomb blast which occurred in a busat Samlate, which was on its way fromAgra to Jaipur.

“It was also found that afterkeeping them in Jaipur for about oneyear. Farooq Ahmad Khan andAbdul Gani Gooni, who was earlierarrested in Gujarat, were taken toDelhi and booked in Lajpat Nagarbomb blast case. Latief Ahmad wasalso taken to Gujarat, but MirzaNissar Hussain and Mohammad Aliwere retained at Jaipur.—NNI

SRINAGAR—Chairman of Jammu and Kash-mir Liberation Front (JKLF) MuhammadYasin Malik continued to remain in policecustody, a JKLF handout said. Malik wasarrested by police on April 17 remains inpolice custody while zonal chief organiza-tion JKLF Bashir Ahmad Kashmiri was alsoarrested by police in a nocturnal raid lastnight, a JKLF handout issued here read.

“Police is also in search of many JKLFleaders and activists and nocturnal raids, re-strictions and other oppressive measures arebeing taken by the police. Despite these un-democratic measures JKLF public awarenessprogram asking people to keep away from theelections continued and various JKLF lead-ers and activists visited many villages, townsand other important places in central KashmirBudgam and Ganderbal districts,” JKLFspokesperson said in a statement.

The statement further said the front lead-ers apprised people of the bad effects andconsequences of participating in electionsand said boycotting them is a moral andpolitical right as well as duty of Kashmiris asthese elections are meant to ‘weaken Kash-mir struggle and muzzle’ the voice.

“Leaders and activists addressedpeople in many mosques and other placesand also distributed pamphlets and othermatter regarding the election boycott etc at

JKLF condemns Yasin Malik’s detention;vows to continue poll boycott campaign

many places. The places visited by JKLFleaders and activists included Jamia MasjidNarkurra, Budgam, Jamia Masjid Tul MollaGanderbal, Jamia Masjid Kangan, JamiaMasjid Ra-heemiyah Chadoora Budgam,Jamia Masjid Nasarullah Pora Budgam,Jamia Masjid Rethsona Beerwah Budgam,Jamia Masjid Cheerwan Ganderbal, JamiaMasjid Mamar Ganderbal, Jamia MasjidManigam Ganderbal and Jamai HerdweerBudgam etc.”

“Therefore participation in these elec-tions in any name is showing enmity withKashmir and Kashmiris.” The front leaderssaid participating in elections is like‘legitimising India’s control’ of Jammu Kash-mir and people will have to keep their eyesand hearts open and keep away from this‘sugar coated poison’ that is used to‘weaken Kashmir struggle.’ The leaders aidthat every nation safeguards its own inter-ests and it is the duty of every Kashmiri torecognize and safeguard the interest ofKashmir.

It is the duty of worthy columnists, writ-ers, journalists, intellectuals and ulema torise to the occasion and pen down theseexcesses and human rights violations andaware the international community aboutthe real happenings in Kashmir, assertedthe speakers.—NNI

ML endorsesGeelani’s

protest calendarSRINAGAR—Endorsing theprotest calendar issued bythe Hurriyat Conference (G)chairman Syed Ali ShahGeelani, the Muslim Leagueappealed people to ob-servecomplete strike on April 21,against the detention ofseparatist leaders. Leaguehas also supported theGeelani’s strike call againstelections, appealing peopleto observe shutdown on thedays of election in their re-spective districts.

Meanwhile, the Leagueleaders addressed public meet-ings at different places acrossthe Valley, urging people tostay away from forthcomingpolls. Muhammad Yousuf Miraddressed the public meetingat Lasipora in Pulwama, AbdulAhad Parra at Behrampora,Handwara, Muhammad RafiqGanai and others atBatamaloo here, Malik GhulamNabi at Payachan, Bandipora,Muhamamd Akbar Najar atMazbug, Sopore, MuftiNadeem at Shaopian, MoulviSajjad at Hajin, Abdur RashidDar at Niya Tailno, Sangam,and Muhammad Rafiq Rainaat Bazgoo, Chadoora.

League has also con-demned the invocation ofPSA against its leaders,Assad Ullah Parra and Meraj-ud-Din Nanda, and theirtransfer to Kathua Central Jail,Jammu. The spokesman hascondemned the continueddetention of Nazir AhmadLone, Riyaz Ahmad Shah andMushtaq Ahmad Shah, whoaccording him, have beenlodged in Police Station,Anantnag. He also con-demned the raids on thehouses of League leaders in-cluding Ashiq Ahmad Loneand Showkat Hakim.—NNI

Jama’at-e-Islamicondemns arrestsof pro-freedom

leadersS R I N A G A R —Jama’a t -e -Islami has strongly con-demned the “unethical andundemocratic arrest spree”unleashed by police againstpro-freedom leaders and ac-tivists in valley in the wakeof parliamentary elections.“Many leaders includingMohammad Yasin Malik,Shabir Ahmad Shah, NayeemAhmad Khan, MukhtarAhmad Waza, Mushtaq-ul-Islam, Assadullah Parray andothers have been detained indifferent police stations andtorture centres,” Jama’atspokesman Advocate ZahidAli said in a statement here.

Jama’at also condemnedthe house arrest of chairmanHurriyat (G) Syed Ali Geelaniand termed it as a reflectionof ‘autocratic’ regime.“Jama’at considers thatpeaceful election boycottcampaign to make peopleaware about different viewson the polls is a basic right ofevery citizen and deprivingany individual of this rightconstitutes violation of Rightto Freedom of Expression,”the spokesperson added.

Jama’at also condemnedtargeting of Tehreek-i-Hurriyat and Muslim Leagueactivists and described bar-ring of people from carryingout peaceful election boycottcampaign as a violation offundamental right and illegaluse of state power.—NNI

SRINAGAR—Azam Inqilabi, patron JKMahaz-e-Azadi, while paying glowing trib-ute and homage to resistance leader S.Hameed on the 17th anniversary of his mar-tyrdom, has said in his statement: “Thegraceful and elegant leader with enviableetiquette was arrested on April 18, 1998 andassassinated in his home cold bloodedlyby so-called Indian security personnel.

“We pay obeisance to all the Kashmirimartyrs. Also, we condemn the police crack-down against the resistance leaders and ac-tivists. The sham and farcical elections aresimply aimed at selection of some stoogesas the representatives of Indian stratocracyhere in Kashmir. “Even in this age of internetfacility the free world is oblivious of all thatthe victimized Kashmiris are facing day in,day out. Statements and articles of the re-sistance leaders are published only bySrinagar dailies; the free world is not wor-ried about the anguish and miseries of be-leaguered Kashmiris.

“In such a state of affairs, therefore, itis obligatory for and incumbent on UJC chiefSyed Salah-ud-din to constitute a commit-tee of Kashmiri and Pakistani political sci-entists and military strategists. “This com-

Inqilabi pays tributes to S. Hamid,supports Geelani’s election-boycott call

mittee will act as permanent workshop thatwill discuss the issues related to Kashmirresistance movement including the role ofAzad Kashmir government as a revolution-ary government in exile in the base camp(AJK itself).

“It is true that a few thousand Pakforces have engaged about seven or eightlakh Indian forces for adversarial role inKashmir. Probably this arrangement suitsthe supreme de-fence strategy of Pakistan.However, Kashmiris should discuss theresistance strategy in the proposed work-shop to find a way out of the present log-jam and stalemate.

“Kashmir issue is, in fact, Milli issueindispensably invoking and entailing theproactive role of Pakistan and Muslim coun-tries on the diplomatic and political front.Developing of unconditional political andtrade co-ordination with India proves det-rimental for Kashmir cause. Indian rulersfeel elated and intoxicated. It adds to theirarrogance and obduracy. “Now since theUS and NATO forces are evacuating Af-ghanistan the emerging situation necessi-tates the end of the role of India as a proxyally in Afghanistan.—NNI

7 panchayatmembers quitin Pulwama

SRINAGAR—At least sevenPanchayat members haveresigned in Pulwama districtfollowing the killing of a col-league by unknown gunmenon Thursday evening. OnThursday, unknown gun-men shot dead 45-year-oldMohammad Amin Pandith,a PDP Sarpanch, atGulzarpora village inAwantipora.

Sarpanchs Ghulam NabiDar, of Palpora; MohammadAyub Mir, Zahid Bagh,Watchi; Panchs ShahzadaBegum, Farooq Ahmad Mir,of Rakhi Litter Pulwama;Hameeda Bano; andMohammad RamzanReshi—all associated withPDP—announced their res-ignation. The Panchayat membershad also put posters in theirrespective areas announc-ing their resignation. Theposters by the Panchayatmembers also announceddisassociation from pro-In-dia parties.—KMS

SRINAGAR—While appreciating the pro-freedom groups and leaders who are busywith the election boycott rallies in Kash-mir, United Jihad Council (UJC) chief SyedSallahudin has asked the freedom-lovingleadership who are yet to start their pollboycott campaign that their inaction willtantamount to pro-India stance and be-trayal with Kashmir’s “freedom move-ment.”

Quoting UJC chief, Syed SadaqatHussain spokesman of the UJC has said ina statement issued to KNS that the pro free-dom leadership who are yet to start pollboycott movement should launch a mas-sive anti-election campaign otherwise theirtag of treachery will not fade till the Day ofJudgment.

Sallahuddin has said besides safe-guarding their own individual and familyinterests, the mainstream parties are in onevoice ‘fulfilling the Indian agenda in Kash-mir’. The UJC chief has said that no onewill be allowed to betray the sacrifices of-

No poll boycott campaignmeans betrayal: UJC chief

fered by Kashmiri martyrs.The UJC spokesman has said that un-

der military massive occupation electionshave no relevance and importance in Kash-mir. “Through these elections India is try-ing to further strengthen and legitimise itsoccupation in Jammu and Kashmir,” saidSallahudin while addressing a high levelmeeting.

The UJC chief has observed that theIndian leadership is selling elections heldin Kashmir as an endorsement ofKashmiri people to the so-called acces-sion with its dominion. “This negativepropaganda can be countered onlythrough a complete poll boycott inJammu and Kashmir. Despite under-standing this reality, those who will par-ticipate in these elections will be betray-ing lakhs of martyrs who have giventheir precious lives and those innumer-able women whose chastity and modestywas compromised by the occupy-ingforces,” Sallahudin has said.—NNI

“My model for busi-ness is The Beatles.They were four guyswho kept each other

kind of negativetendencies in check.They balanced eachother and the total

was greater than thesum of the parts.That’s how I seebusiness: great

things in business arenever done by one

person, they’re doneby a team of people.”

— Steve Jobs

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Vice Chancellor of University ofVeterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS), ProfTalat Naseer Pasha, has said that work on a buf-falo meat plan is in progress under whichcountry’s Halal meat will be introduced at highlevel to boost to meat farming. Talking to me-dia here on Sunday, he said the growth rate ofHalal meat export last year was 34 percent whichcould be raised to 55 percent which was the high-est growth rate in any field of export.

He said that there was no any proper farm-ing for meat in the country and animals werebeing exported after slaughtering without mak-ing pieces. Under the buffalo meat plan, qualityHalal meat of calves would be presented at anexhibition to be held next month. All diplomatsand businessmen will be invited to the exhibi-tion planned by Punjab Halal DevelopmentAgency and UVAS, he added.

The financial needs of the plan are beingfulfilled by the USAID. Last year, Pakistan ex-ported red meat worth US$ 120 million which

Buffalo meat plan to boostHalal meat industry

might be increased as the Halal export meatindustry is sharply growing in the world, headded. Responding to a question, he said thatestablishment of an authentication lab in thecountry was the need of the hour as worldwidedemand for Halal products was sharply increas-ing.

He said the Halal industry was rapidly grow-ing in the world as its trade volume was $.3 tril-lion and its 80 percent share was with non-Mus-lim states. There is great potential in Pakistanto a take sizeable share in the trade, he added.He said that setting up of Halal Regulatory Au-thority which was under consideration by theministry concerned would give our Halal prod-ucts an important marketing feature. Prof.Pashasaid that Middle East countries and Iran werebig importers of Halal meat and Pakistan beinga Muslim country in the region was in a posi-tion to export Halal meat to them at low costs ascompared to European countries.

He said that UVAS was providing certifica-tion facilities thorough its international standardlab which had been accreditation by WHO.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Khushhalibank’s microfinancescheme is improving economic conditions ofpoor people.

Khushhalibank not only responds positivelyto loan requests of applicants but also providsup-to-date entrepreneurship counsellingthroughout the process of setting up businesses,Ghulam Mustafa, a resident of Qadirpur Rawan,a beneficiary of the microfinance scheme of thebank, told media here on Sunday.

He said that he had earned respect in soci-ety owing to his skillful and creatively wovenwearables. He is skilled at preparing shawls,Khais (blanket) and Chananiyan (double-sizedshawl, especially made for dowry.)

Ghulam Mustafa has availed financial sup-port through Khushhalibank in 4 tranches worthalmost Rs100,000.

He credits the leading microfinance institu-tion and his wife for providing him with strengthhe needed to break the shackles of poverty.

‘Khushhalibank schemealleviating poverty’

He said he was proud to be the torch-bearerof his family business, weaving from the threadsof life fabrics that represent human dignity.

The margins are respectable as a shawl takesRs500 for preparation and sells for Rs800; aKhais costs Rs800 while it sells for Rs1500 andChaniniyan costs Rs1500 and sells for Rs3,000.

He has a wide range of customers, both fromlocal towns and the main city for his handicraft.His entrepreneurial success and the fact that hischildren are now receiving post-high schooleducation makes him a role model for his towns-men.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The government is pursuing In-dustrial Research Programme (IRP) in local en-gineering universities to redress technical prob-lems of industry and strengthen manufacturingsector in the country.

The share of manufacturing in Gross Do-mestic Product (GDP) during last five years re-mained around 13.5 per cent, which showed adecreasing trend with the each passing year.

The share of manufacturing in GDP was 13.8per cent in 2009, 13.6 per cent in 2010, 13.4 percent in 2011 and 13.2 per cent in 2012 and 2013.

According to official sources, no specificstudy in manufacturing sector has been carriedout in recent past.

However, weakness of the manufacturingsector during the last five years may be attrib-uted to domestic constraints and global eco-nomic situation, which may inter-alia include

IRP being pursued in varsities tostrengthen manufacturing sector

factors like heavy floods during last four years,law and order situation and terrorist incidents,power shortage and load shedding, increasednumber of organized crimes, target killings, kid-napping for ransom especially in Karachi andglobal recession.

The sources said to promote manufacturingsector, the authorities took measures includingcombating on-going energy crisis through allo-cating more resources for energy supply and im-parting expertise through volunteer experts fromabroad.

The other steps are tariff rationalization toreduce cost of doing business and to bring innew technology for product diversification andenhancing efficiency in the industrial sector,special incentives to promote local manufactur-ing through establishment of Special EconomicZones and integrating the local manufacturingsector with international players to become partof global supply chain.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—The PC-I for setting up an expocentre at Faisalabad is under preparation, whichwill be submitted to the Ministry of Commercefor approval soon.

Besides, there is also a plan to establish expocentres at Peshawar and Quetta to promote tradeactivities.

Official sources at Trade Development Au-thority of Pakistan (TDAP) on Sunday said theproposal to establish the expo centre atFaisalabad was initiated in year 2010, however,the progress on the proposal was stalled for wantof agreement between provincial governmentand the TDAP.

The sources said to resolve this issue, theindustries, commerce and investment depart-ment of Punjab convened a meeting with TDAPunder the chairmanship of Secretary, Ministryof Commerce.

They said accordingly, the PC-I of theprojects was under preparation and the samewould be submitted to the ministry for approvalsoon.

With regard to expo centre at Quetta, theBalochistan government was approached bythe TDAP for allocation of land. However,the provincial government regretted to pro-vide land due to non-availability of 50 acresstate land within vicinity of airport or com-mercial area.

Later, the issue was discussed with StationHeadquarters, Quetta Cantt for provision of 10to 15 acres land and at present the TDAP is pre-paring a report on economic viability of estab-lishment of expo centre at Quetta.

Similarly, the sources said the proposal toestablish an expo centre at Peshawar has beentaken up with provincial government for provi-sion of land. The matter is under considerationwith the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

PC-I to establish expo centreat Faisalabad being prepared

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Business leadership has ex-pressed deep shock over attack on the lifeof Hamid Mir TV anchor which they saidhas sent an extremely bad perception ofgovernance and state of law and order inthe commercial hub.

Commenting on the situation SindhInformation Minister, Sharjeel Memonhas said that the First Information Re-port (FIR) regarding attack on HamidMir will be lodged once he regains con-sciousness and able to record his state-ment.

Speaking to reporters after visitingHamid Mir at Aga Khan Hospital, Memon

Businessmen express shock overattack on Hamid Mir

said they did not want to lodge a FIR in ahaphazard manner which might ruin thecase.

He added that the provincial govern-ment did not want to register a case againstunknown persons.

The provincial information further saidhe was in contact with Hamid Mir’s fam-ily and would consult them before an FIRwas lodged.

Some significant evidence about theattack had been gathered and he had writ-ten to Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar forassistance.

Meanwhile the Chairman of Busi-nessmen Group and Former PresidentKCCI, Siraj Kassam Teli, Vice Chair-

men BMG, Tahir Khaliq, ZubairMotiwala, Haroon Farooki and AnjumNisar, President KCCI Abdullah Zaki,Senior Vice President KCCI, MuffasarA. Malik, and Vice President KCCI,Muhammad Idrees expressed deep shockover the tragic incident in which HamidMir has received serious wounds andwas rushed to a private hospital formedical assistance.

They, while praying for Hamid Mir’searly recovery, urged the concerned au-thorities to take strict action against cul-prits involved in this heinous act and en-sure enhanced security to media person-nel in order to avoid such incidents in fu-ture.

JEDDAH—Pakistan is “no longer” considering India for most-favored nation (MFN) status, said Pakistani Federal Ministerfor Commerce Khurram Dastagir Khan.

Khan, however, said that Pakistan and India have agreed towork together and boost commercial relations by giving non-discriminatory market access (NDMA) status to each other. Hesaid, “Islamabad will not give MFN status to India,” adding“We don’t talk about MFN anymore.” Khan was speaking toArab News in an exclusive interview in which he gave an over-view of the growing relations between Saudi Arabia and Paki-stan. Referring to the commercial relations with India, the Pa-

kistani minister said that, “The two sides had agreed to workwithin the framework of the NDMA.”

In 2012, Pakistan committed itself to giving the MFNstatus to India after a strong persuasive note by the WorldBank, and having done all the necessary spadework in thisregard, opted to miss its own deadline, owing to domesticopposition and lack of reciprocal response from New Delhi.Asked about the plan to import electricity from India for theenergy-starved Pakistan, he pointed out that the two coun-tries have made “progress” on the issue of purchasing elec-tricity from India.

“But, we need to have two electricity grids connected to-gether for importing electricity,” said Khan. In fact, the longdiscussed Indo-Pak electricity deal has moved closer to realitywith Pakistan handing over the draft of an initial power tradedeal to India.

The move comes in the backdrop of the World Bank hav-ing offered to finance the feasibility study and transmissionline to import 1,200 megawatts (MW) of power from India.Referring to the EU trade concession granted to Islamabadrecently, the Pakistani minister said that, “The EU hasgranted a ‘Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Plus’

status which allows Pakistani products duty free access tothe European market.” The GSP Plus status, he said, willallow almost 20 percent of Pakistani exports to enter theEU market at zero tariff and at 70 percent preferential rates.“The GSP Plus status award shows the confidence of inter-national markets in the excellent quality of Pakistani prod-ucts,” said Khan.

The trade concession granted by the EU will help Pakistaniexports to rise by up to $2 billion he added noting that Pakistan’stextile industry would stand to benefit the most from this con-cession.—INP

MFN status to India ‘no longer’ under consideration: Dastagir

STAFF REPORTER

FAISALABAD—The Chairman FBR hassaid that FBR has disbursed Rs. 3.8billion on account of sales tax re-fund during July to April this finan-cial year while Rs. 1.8 billion wasdisbursed during same period ofprevious year. He assured the ex-porters to accelerate the refund sys-tem and forwarded necessary direc-tions for speedy processing of re-fund claims.

He was talking to a delegation ofPakistan Textile Exporters Associationwhich called on him under the leadershipof PTEA Chairman Sheikh IlyasMahmood here on Sunday. Former Chair-men PTEA Rana Arif Touseef, MianAhmad Kamal, Azhar Majeed Sheikh,Asghar Ali and other prominent textileexporters were present in the meeting.

Apprising the FBR Chairman of theproblems of textile exporters, Sheikh IlyasMahmood said that tax department is is-

FBR disburses Rs3.8b on accountof sales tax refund in 10 months

suing recovery notices to exporters de-manding tax recovery on account of re-funds received against the supplies of black

listed suppli-ers. He ex-plained thatat the time ofsupplies reg-istered per-sons werenot includedin the list ofs u s p e c t e dunits and

were active during the relevant tax periodand goods purchased from these supplierswere duly exported and refund was sanc-tioned after thorough scrutiny of the re-fund claim.

He further informed that most tick-lish issue is severe liquidity crunch as 30to 35 percent working capital of textileexporters has been stuck up in sales tax,customs rebate and federal excise dutyrefund regimes if that amounts are re-

leased, exporters can deploy that capitaltowards expanding their businesses,which in turn will help Pakistan’s exportearnings grow.

In his response, Mr. Tariq Bajwa, prin-cipally agreed that if at the time of sup-plies, registered person is not included inthe list of suspected unit and was active;recovery of refunds received is not justi-fied. He directed the concerned authori-ties to withdraw such recovery notices withimmediate effect. On the issue of stuck upamounts, the Chairman FBR informed thaton account of sales tax refund, FBR hasdisbursed Rs. 3.8 billion during July toApril this financial year as against Rs. 1.8billion was disbursed during same periodof previous year.

He assured to accelerate the refundsystem and issued necessary directionsto Regional Tax Office for speedy issu-ance of notices for sales tax claims. Heasked the exporters to help FBR withproper documentation to expand the taxnet.—INP

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—The Governors and financial ex-erts of the central banks of D8 countries will bemeeting today with a focus to promote finan-cial inclusion, Islamic Banking and BranchlessBanking in Islamabad today.

In fact the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) isthe host of the Developing Eight (D-8) Coun-tries’ Central Banks Experts Meeting on Pro-moting Financial Inclusion and Islamic Bank-ing on 21st April 2014 at National Institute ofBanking and Finance (NIBAF), Islamabad. Themeeting will be inaugurated by Mr. AshrafMahmood Wathra Acting Governor, SBP.

D-8 is an organization for cooperationamong 8 developing countries namely;Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia,

Pakistan hosts D-8 centralbanks meeting today

Nigeria, Pakistan and Turkey. The objectives ofD-8 Organization for Economic Cooperation areto improve all member states’ position in theglobal economy, diversify and create new op-portunities in trade relations, enhance partici-pation in decision-making at international level,and improve standards of living. In this back-drop, this event is continuation of efforts forachieving these goals.

The focus of the Meeting will be Finan-cial Inclusion, Branchless Banking and Is-lamic Finance. Experts from D-8 centralbanks, members of private sector industry andother officials will attend the meeting. Theexperts will share experience of member coun-tries and deliberate on further cooperation inpromoting Financial Inclusion, BranchlessBanking and Islamic Finance in D-8 countries.

JEDDAH—The Kingdom’s Western Re-gion is experiencing an unprecedented realestate boom, with billions of riyals ear-marked for mega projects. Among the mostimportant are the SR15 billion, mixed-usePrince Sultan Cultural Center, north ofJeddah, and Bawabat Makkah, a vision-ary city planned for 86 square kilometersjust west of the Holy City of Makkah.

Both projects will be highlighted onday two of the Jeddah Real Estate Sum-mit workshops alongside the 5th JeddahUrban Development and Real Estate In-vestment Event — Cityscape Jeddah 2014,from May 4-6 with the support of JeddahGov. Prince Mishaal bin Majed.

Ahmed Al-Sanousi, CEO of the Jeddah-

based Prince Sultan Cultural Center (PSCC),will share the remaining developer and in-vestor requirements for the PSCC project.

“PSCC and neighboring projects aretransforming the area into an extension ofthe Kingdom’s commercial capital,” saidSanousi. “Summit attendees and exhibi-tion visitors will learn of promising invest-ment opportunities available for PSCC,including housing, education, tourism andhospitality, and commercial activities.”

PSCC will be developed in phases overthe next five years on an area of two millionsquare meters on Madinah Road, adjacent toKing Abdullah Sports City. The Center willhave a state-of-the-art 920-bed medical com-plex, as well as an open-air theater (Prince

Sultan Cultural Oasis), a conference and ex-hibition center, residences, and a wide varietyof residential support facilities.

Equally high on the agenda for day twois the Bawabat Makkah project, to be de-tailed by Essam Kalthoum, MD of BawabatMakkah Company, who stated that the gov-ernment is allocating new funding and thereare eight subprojects for Bawabat Makkahsoon available for bid. Commenting onbuilding a sustainable, one-million-personcity on deadline, Kalthoum said: “BawabatMakkah will have a significant impact onMakkah’s real estate market, thus it has beenplanned taking into consideration marketdemands combined with our commitmentto social responsibility.—Agencies

Western Region attracts billionsin realty projects

Pharmaceuticalmarket of KSA

estimated atSR13.5b

RIYADH—Western Region at-tracts billions in realty projectsKuwait Finance House net profitrises 13% Questions on bubble astech momentum fades Kingdomimports 80% of food products.The volume of pharmaceuticalmarket in the Kingdom is esti-mated at nearly SR13.5 billion,including government procure-ment deals, local media said quot-ing experts. Share of the privatesector in the market is touchingSR7 billion, the experts said.Meanwhile, head of marketing atNahdi Medical Company HusamAl-Qurashi said the number of in-dividually-owned pharmacies inthe Kingdom reaches 7,000 phar-macies but, however, there is scar-city in young Saudis working inlocal market and that 60 per-cent.—Agencies

Riyadh imports 80pc offood productsRIYADH—Saudi Arabia isimporting 80 percent of itsfood requirements fromforeign countries while theremaining 20 percent of foodsare locally produced, localmedia said quoting a reportreleased by the World Bank.On average, the GCC (GulfCooperation Council)countries are importing 90percent of food products fromother countries. Qatar toppedthe GCC in terms of theirdependence on foreignimports at 97 percent,followed by Bahrain at 92percent, Kuwait (91 percent),and the UAE and Oman at 89percent each, the report said.Meanwhile, experts saidpolitical developments inUkraine have a negativeimpact on the prices of agrocommodities, as it produces16 percent and 9 percent ofglobal maize and wheatexports, respectively, thereport said. Accordingly,prices of maize and wheathave increased by 20 percentand 13.5 percent since thebeginning of the current year,the report said. On the otherhand, the rate of self-sufficiency in the GCCcountries is expected to dropin the next few years. Thecost of supporting wheatproduction in Saudi Arabiaexceeded SR5 billionannually in the period 1984-2000, the report said. Poorsoil condition, water scarcityand bad weather conditionshave raised wheat productioncosts to become four timeshigher than global levelsthough the Kingdomremained the 6th largestwheat exporter in 1992,according to the report.—Agencies

Arab, India Spices openDh40m plant in AjmanDUBAI—UAE-basedfoodstuff manufacturer, Arab& India Spices, opened itsnew food processing plantAjman on Sunday. The hi-tech plant, which has anannual production capacityof 2,000 tonnes of foodstuff,has been set up at anestimated cost of Dh40million, according to Arab &India spices. It was inaugu-rated by Anurag Bhushan,Consul-General of India inDubai. “The Indian foodproducts and spices arehighly popular in the UAEand the region for its highestquality standards. Indo-GCCtrade is vitally important toboth regions for the contin-ued prosperity of the market.The Gulf region is a majortarget market for India’smain export of foodproducts,” Bhushan stated.Arab & India Spices is oneof the first foodstuff mills inthe Middle East region thatprocesses a range offoodstuff including pulsesand ground spices.—Agencies

Dubai’s tradelicencesup 13pc

DUBAI—Business activitiesin Dubai remained in upwarddirection as the Departmentof Economic Development(DED) witnessed a 13 percent increase in licences is-sued in March 2014 com-pared to the same month of2013.

Last month, the depart-ment had issued 1,834 tradelicences compared to 1,623licences in the same monthlast year, showing increasinginvestor confidence in theemirate.

The commercial sectorsaw a 75 per cent increase inthe number of licences, thehighest among all sectors inMarch 2014, while the pro-fessional sector accountedfor a 23 per cent rise, fol-lowed by the tourism and in-dustrials sectors by one percent each.

The total number of li-cences amended in March2014 was 7,104, while thetotal number of renewed li-cences reached 9,244, andthe total number of businessregistration and licensing(BRL) transactions reached48,422.

The number of reservedtrade names in March 2014reached 7,602, up 22 per centfrom March 2013 (6,235),and the number of initial ap-provals increased 20 per centto 3,375 from 2,816.

The total number ofcommercial activities li-censed in March 2014 was4,907, with general tradeleading the list of the top 10licensed activities (231 li-cences) followed by dyesand paints (206), tiling offloors and walls (201), car-pentry and flooring (200),installation of suspendedceilings and light cut-outs(194), sanitary extensionsand wares (188), installationof air conditioning systems,ventilation and air purifica-tion (188), installation andmaintenance of electrome-chanical equipment (158),installation of wallpaper(145) and plaster works(136).

The number of profes-sional activities licensed inMarch 2014 reached 1,171.

Cleaning services forbuildings and residencesactivity led the list of thetop 10 licensed activities inthis category with 88 li-cences, followed by spe-cial-purpose facility (58),restaurants (39), businessservices (37), printing andcopying services (27),electrical repair and exten-sions (26), parties and en-tertainment (26), weddingplanning (24), organisationand management of exhi-bitions (21), and cafes(18).

In the tourism sector, in-bound tourism led the list oftop activities with 12 li-cences, followed by traveland tourism agent (five),leasing of hotel apartments(two), and hotel management(one).

In the industrial activi-ties segment, blacksmithand welding workshop ledthe list with four licenses,followed by turning work-shop, kitchen furniture andfitting, office furniture withthree licences each, roast-ing and packaging coffee,wooden interior design sup-plies, home furniture,schools and hospitals furni-ture, general shops fittingwith two licenses each andpotato chip maker (one) li-cence.—Agencies

Currency Selling Buying

USA 96.20 96.00

UK 161.52 161.18

Euro 132.91 132.63

Canada 87.41 87.23

Switzerland 108.91 108.68

Australia 89.76 89.57

Sweden 14.56 14.53

Japan 0.9394 0.9374

Norway 16.06 16.03

Singapore 76.82 76.66

Denmark 17.80 17.76

Saudi Arabia 25.65 25.60

Hong Kong 12.41 12.38

Kuwait 341.64 340.90

Malaysia 29.70 29.63

Newzealand 82.53 82.36

Qatar 26.42 26.42

UAE 26.19 26.14

KR. WON 0.0927 0.0925

Thailand 2.989 2.983

DUBAI—Zain is being sued for $4.5 billion overits 2007 acquisition of an Iraqi telecom opera-tor, the Kuwaiti firm said in a bourse statementon Sunday.

Zain bought Iraqna for $1.2 billion fromOrascom Telecom in December 2007 after theEgyptian firm dropped out of the running for along-term mobile licence in Iraq.

The Kuwaiti firm then merged its Iraqi unit,Atheer, with Iraqna and renamed the entity ZainIraq, which today is the country’s biggest op-erator by subscribers.

Zain said in statement on Sunday that a com-pany it declined to identify filed a lawsuit lastAugust. This claims Zain’s takeover had stoppedthe firm buying Iraqna, causing it losses of $4.5billion.

“Zain Iraq believes its position in the caseis strong as the claimant company has failed untilnow to produce any evidence to back its claim,”Zain said in the statement, adding it has nowrevealed some details of the court case after

Kuwait’s Zain says sued for$4.5b over Iraq telco buy

seeking legal advice.The anonymous company is also suing

Zain and Iraq’s telecom regulator, the Com-munications and Media Commission (CMC),jointly for a further $1 billion, the statementsaid.

An Iraqi court in January ruled that all ZainIraq’s revenue from its subscriber base trans-ferred to the company as a result of the Iraqnaacquisition should be placed under a legal guard-ian and in an Iraqi bank until the case is resolved,the statement said, adding the Kuwaiti companyunsuccessfully appealed this decision.

Iraqna had about 3 million subscribers at thetime of Zain’s acquisition and the statement didnot explain whether the money to be placed un-der the legal guardian’s jurisdiction would beback-dated to 2007 or how such a sum could becalculated.

Zain Iraq had 15.9 million customers as of2013-end, generating an annual profit of $360.9million.—Agencies

STAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—Samsung Electronics, a globalleader in technology and award-winning inno-vator in consumer electronics, and telecommu-nications has expanded its network of retail out-let the “Samsung Experience Shop” in Peshawarto provide consumers all its quality services andMobile products under one roof.

An inauguration ceremony was held at thenew “Samsung Experience Shop” located atSaddar Road, Javed Plaza, Peshawar Cantt theother day. Farid Ullah Jan, head of Mobile Busi-ness at Samsung Electronics Pakistan attendedthe ceremony as the Chief Guest and addressedthe gathering.

Mr. Farid Ullah Jan said; “The SamsungExperience Shop is a One-Stop solution for con-sumers to explore and purchase all Samsungmobile devices with genuine Samsung warran-ties. The concept is designed to provide quality

Samsung electronicsexpand its business

services, where consumer can experience all ofthe Samsung mobile devices and accessoriesunder one roof.

“We are committed to provide the Pakistaniconsumers with the best ever retail consumerexperience. An outlet in Peshawar will give op-portunity for communities of northern areas toget easy and instant accesses to genuine prod-ucts, where they can choose from complete rangeof items including all the latest editions.” Headded

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is in factopening new possibilities for people every-where. Through relentless innovation and dis-covery, the company is transforming the worldsof TVs, smartphones, tablets, PCs, cameras,home appliances, printers, LTE systems, medi-cal devices, semiconductors and LED solutionsproviding employment to over 286,000 peopleacross 80 countries with annual sales ofUS$216.7.

QUETTA: Workers busy in welding a gas pipe line at Chowk Alamdar.

LARKANA: A labourer busy in his work at Tiles Factory.

Airbnb rental siteraises $450 million

SHANGHAI—Automaker Fiat-Chrysler said onSaturday that it would begin producing the iconicAmerican brand Jeep in China from 2015 tomeet demand in the world’s largest car market.

Fiat-Chrysler — created by Italy’s Fiat ac-quiring Chrysler of the United States — willproduce three Jeep sport utility vehicle (SUV)models in China, including one specifically de-signed for the Chinese market, the company saidin a statement.

The announcement came ahead of theBeijing auto show, which opens to the publicon Monday, as global automakers flock to Chinato show off their latest models.

Jeeps are currently available to Chinese con-sumers as imports, the statement said, addingnearly 60,000 Jeeps were sold in China last year,making the country the largest market for thebrand outside of the United States.

Fiat-Chrysler will produce Jeep vehiclesthrough its existing joint venture withGuangzhou Automobile Group Co. (GAC) butat a new manufacturing branch in the southerncity of Guangzhou, it said.

Fiat-Chrysler to produce iconicJeep in China from 2015

Plans to produce Jeeps in China set off apolitical storm during the 2012 US presidentialelection campaign, after Republican candidateMitt Romney ran an attack ad implying that itwould export American jobs.

But Fiat has previously said plans to buildJeep vehicles in China were an expansion, not atransfer, of operations.

Fiat-Chrysler and GAC already produceother vehicles, including the Viaggio sedan, at afactory in the central city of Changsha. GACwas China’s sixth largest domestic automakerby sales in 2013, according to an industry group.

China has become critical to foreignautomakers as the world’s biggest auto market,but Fiat was conspicuous by its absence withlocal production until it began selling domesti-cally-produced cars in 2012.

Last year, China’s auto sales surged 13.9percent to 21.98 million vehicles, according toa Chinese industry group, as a recovery in Japa-nese brands previously hurt by a diplomatic rowoffset the impact of slowing economic growth.—Agencies

ABU DHABI—Investor sentiment in theIndian real estate sector is becoming in-creasingly positive with the prospects get-ting brighter for the formation of a stablegovernment in New Delhi in the post-pollscenario.

“A change of government in NewDelhi after 10 years of rule by the UnitedProgressive Alliance led by the Congresslooks almost a certainty and we hope thenext government’s economic policies willbe key drivers to reviving the growth inthe real estate sector,” said D.K. Aggarwal,chairman of SMC Real Estate Advisors, aleading financial services provider in In-dia.

Aggarwal, who was in Dubai to takepart in the Indian Property Show organisedby Magicbricks.com, said the last threeyears have been a period of sluggishgrowth across all sectors in India. The dras-tic slowdown in economic growth ratefrom a high of nine per cent to below fiveper cent, the fall in the value of Indian ru-pee, and above all the policy paralyses ofthe government, have had a negative im-pact in the inflow of foreign institutionalinvestments, or FIIs, and foreign directinvestment, or FDI, which in turn had ad-versely affected all asset classes in the realestate sector.

Aggarwal said there is a new sense ofhope among developers. Leading playersare optimistic of a government under BJPstrongman Narendra Modi in post-pollscenario. All the delayed tax reforms, in-cluding the goods and services tax, India’s

Investor sentiment in Indian realestate sector positive

ambitious indirect tax reform plan, will beenforced, and this would certainly have amajor positive impact.

Correspondingly, the much-awaitedReal Estate Investment Trust, or Reit, re-gime is also now closer to becoming a re-ality, with the banking regulator keen onapproving changes to attract foreign in-vestments. Reit, which is a single companyor group that owns and manages real es-tate properties on behalf of investors, muchlike shareholding in a company, will alsoopen the door to foreign and as well do-mestic retail investors.

“I believe, while 2012 and 2013 werenot the best years for the Indian realtymarket as the slowdown impacted all as-set classes, the coming years would seedramatic revival in the real estate. How-ever, I think things will start looking uponly in the second half of 2014, after thegeneral elections, when a new stable gov-ernment is hopefully in power to revivethe stalled reforms and woo back FIIs andFDIs,” said Aggarwal.

According to most real estate experts,the year 2013 was a drag for the Indianeconomy, with poor macroeconomic con-ditions. Slowing income growth, sustainedweakness in the rupee, sky-rocketing in-flation and high borrowing rates combinedto make consumers vary of spending.

Realty consultant Jones Lang LaSalleIndia (JLL) said consumer confidence isexpected to remain subdued in first twoquarters of 2014 due to uncertainties sur-rounding general elections and macro-con-

ditions. “However, after the elections, fence-

sitting investors are likely to become ac-tive. The increase in absorption of residen-tial units will help reduce the currentlylarge inventory holdings of developers,”said Anuj Puri, chairman and country headof JLL. Residential prices are expected toraise 10-12 per cent during 2014.

Experts are of the view that with a newregime in saddle, a clearer vision on infra-structure would help make the market morebuoyant as any such development initia-tive will certainly drive up the value ofreal estate assets in the immediate vicin-ity.

“The key factors currently at play onthe Indian real estate are unsold inventory,absorption and interest rates. It is unlikelythat these factors will change immediatelypost polls, regardless of which party wins.Over the longer term, what will mattermost to the real estate sector are a hard re-look at FDI in housing, Reit legislationsand the effective implementation of theReal Estate [Regulation and Development]Bill,” wrote a property expert.

Shishir Baijal, chairman and manag-ing director at Knight Frank India, wasquoted as saying: “We expect residentialto experience traction in terms of salesvolume and launches at the start of thesecond half of 2014 and there would be anupward pressure on prices. The office seg-ment is driven more by economic ratio-nale and as a result, the uptick is likely totake place with a quarter lag.”—Agencies

DUBAI—NBAD is expected to start practicingthis activity during the third quarter of this yearafter finalising some technical requirements incollaboration with UAE markets.

The Securities and Commodities Authority,or SCA, has issued the first licence for the prac-ticing of market-making activity to the NationalBank of Abu Dhabi, or NBAD.

NBAD is expected to start practicing thisactivity during the thrid quarter of this year af-ter finalising some technical requirements incollaboration with UAE markets.

The issuance of the first market-making li-cence comes at a time UAE equity markets are

NBAD gets market-making licencewitnessing recovery and growth and weeks be-fore the actual upgrade of UAE markets to Emerg-ing Market status by the Morgan Stanley CapitalInternational Index, a move which will give a sig-nificant boost to corporate investment in UAEequity markets and greater depth and balance tolocal stock markets. The SCA Board Resolutionconcerning market-maker was issued in August2012, following in-depth study of all the variousaspects of the resolution and the outlining of therole of the various parties involved.

The preparing and issuance of the market-maker regulation was done in stages and accord-ing to best international practices.—Agencies

KARACHI—Provincial Minister for FoodJam Mehtab Hussain Dahar, while warn-ing to the wheat hoarders, has said that theyshould sell their hoarded wheat within 24hours at procurement centres of food de-partment, otherwise their hoarded wheatwill be confiscated and strict action willalso be taken against hoarders.

This he said in a statement issued hereon Sunday. He said that hoarding of wheatwas punishable crime by the law and ifthe hoarded wheat was not sold in giventime, the hoarded wheat would be confis-cated.

Provincial minister for food also di-rected deputy directors, district food con-trollers and food inspectors of food depart-ment to keep a vigilant eye on the activi-ties of wheat hoarders and launch a crack

down against them in three days if theydid not sell their hoarded wheat. And ifthe officers failed to do so, departmentalprocedure would be initiated against them.

Beside this food minister Jam MehtabHussain Dahar has categorically rejectedthe allegations of Chaudhary MuhammadYusuf the chairman of Pakistan Flour millsAssociation Sindh chapter and said thatwheat is being supplied regularly toKarachi and Sindh food department hasnot stopped movement of wheat fromSindh producing areas to Karachi.

He added, ‘ From 11 April to 17 April,173658 wheat bags have been provided toKarachi and still flour mills of Karachihave stock of 25 thousand tones wheat. ‘Jam Mehtab Hus-sain told that during thatperiod record of 503 trucks carrying wheat

to Karachi was maintained at KathoreCheck post, while almost same numbertrucks went to Karachi without stoppingat the check post.

He said that food department had nodiscrimination against the people ofKarachi, only those vehicles were stoppedwhich had incomplete papers. He said thatadditional chief secretary food MuhammadNaseer Jamali had a meeting with Paki-stan flour mills association on 19 April toresolve the issues of the association.

He said an inquiry committee had beenconstituted under vigilance officerJamshaid which would submit its reportin three days. ‘There is no shortage ofwheat in five districts of Karachi becausegovernment believes in solving the prob-lems of the people,’ he concluded.—NNI

OBSERVER REPORT

SIALKOT—The local business community willestablish skill training centers at District JailSialkot to impart training to jail inmates of vari-ous skills enabling them to become useful citi-zens of the society. President Sialkot Chamber ofCommerce and Industry (SCCI) Dr.Sarfraz Bashirmade this announcement after a meeting with thevisiting Inspector General of Prisons Punjab MianFarooq Nazir at SCCI here on Saturday.

SCCI President said that training of stitch-ing footballs, gloves, leather goods,manufaturing sports goods and surgical instru-ments would be imparted to inmates in the skilltraining centres.

Talking on the occasion, Inspector Generalof Prisons Punjab Mian Farooq Nazir said the

Businessmen to establish skilltraining centres in distt jail

Punjab government was spending Rs 330 mil-lion for installing jammers in all jails of the prov-ince, adding that the United Nations Organiza-tion (UNO) would soon provide Rs 600 millionspecial funds to the Punjab government for in-stalling the advanced security system in all theprisons in the Punjab, as the IG Prisons and DIGPrisons will have the direct control of this secu-rity system. He said that Rs 300 million werebeing spent on installing advanced scanningmachines in all the jails across Punjab as well.

Mian Farooq Nazir said that the PCO werealso being established in all jails with the coopera-tion of Wateen Telecom Company for providingcall facilities to all inmates, where every prisonerwould be able to make call on his five registerednumbers as well, as there would be a proper recordof all incoming and outgoing calls in all jails

Wheat being supplied regularlyto Karachi: Jam Mehtab

NEW YORK—Online lodginglistings website Airbnb inked a$450 million funding deal withinvestors led by TPG, a sourceclose to the matter said Friday.

The agreement, which alsoincluded Dragoneer InvestmentGroup, mutual fund T. RowePrice Group and Sequoia Capi-tal among its investors, valuedthe startup at $10 billion, ac-cording to The Wall StreetJournal.

That figure would makethe website, that lets individu-als rent out their homes to trav-elers, one of the most valuablewebsites in the world, ahead ofpublicly-traded hotel chainsWyndham Worldwide andHyatt Hotels Corporation.

The California-basedstartup was launched in 2008and quickly became very popu-lar.

Traditional hotel chains seeit as a rival and accuse it of

helping people avoid taxes andhosting illegal hotels on itswebsite.

Authorities in the UnitedStates and France treat it withsome suspicion.

In October, New York At-torney General EricSchneiderman subpoenaedAirbnb to determine whetherits 15,000 hosts in the statewere violating laws barringrenters from subletting theirhomes for more than 30 daysif they are not present there.

The company is contestingthe order in state SupremeCourt, which has scheduled ahearing to begin on April 22.

Airbnb rejects the accusa-tions and commissioned astudy that found it had raised$632 million in revenue inNew York, including 31 mil-lion for city taxes, and indi-rectly supported 4,600jobs.—Agencies

Wi-Fi onflights leads to

battle in skyNEW YORK—Wi-Fi in the skyis taking off, promising muchbetter connections for travellersand a bonanza for the compa-nies that sell the systems.

With satellite-based Wi-Fi,Internet speeds on jetliners aregetting lightning fast. And air-lines are finding that travellersexpect connections in the air torival those on the ground —and at lower cost.

But the fast evolution ofrival systems and standards,such as Ku band and Ka band,pose a big question for airlines:which one to choose? Equip-ping fleets can cost hundredsof millions of dollars, and air-lines don’t want to see theirinvestment quickly becomeoutdated due to newer technol-ogy. That’s made some cau-tious about signing up.

“We don’t want to end upwith a Betamax,” said PeterIngram, chief financial officerof Hawaiian Airlines, referringto the Sony video format thateventually lost out to the VHSstandard, leaving many con-sumers with obsolete systems.

Hawaiian is still consider-ing which system to use. Thedrive for in-flight connectivityalso has intensified after thedisappearance on March 8 ofMalaysia Airlines Flight 370with 239 people aboard. Searchteams are scouring parts of theIndian Ocean for the missingaircraft, and it might have beenbetter tracked if a satellite sys-tem capable of streaming cock-pit data had been on board.While the change hasn’t beenadopted worldwide, the FAA’smove is expected to lead togreater use of devices, andbandwidth, on planes.

About 40 per cent of USjetliners already have some Wi-Fi, but the race is on to wirethe rest of a growing globalfleet, and to make the existingconnections better.

The number of commercialplanes worldwide with Wi-Fi,cell service or both is expectedto more than triple over the next10 years, to 14,000 from about4,000 currently, with much ofthat growth in Asia, accordingto research firm IHS.

Even with a tripling, onlyhalf of the worldwide fleet willbe wired in 2022, suggestingdemand for new systems willlast longer.—Agencies

DP Worldinaugurates

container inspectionfacility at Jebel Ali

DUBAI—DP World has inaugu-rated the largest container in-spection facility at its flagshipJebel Ali Port, spanning over7,000 square metres and provid-ing 59 customs, health and en-vironment inspection bays.

The new facility is one ofthe largest inspection facilitiesin the region, according to DPWorld. A number of high-levelgovernment officials, includingRashid Ahmad Bin Fahad,Minister of Environment andWater, attended the inaugura-tion. “This new facility at JebelAli, the port gateway and thebiggest transit of imports to theUAE, is a great achievementand an important contributionto the promotion and the effi-ciency of procedures for quar-antine and veterinary, and inour efforts to sustain environ-mental security and higher ratesof bio-security and food,”Fahad stated.—Agencies

RAWALPINDI: Winners of 110th MP Bhandara Memorial Polo Cup 2014 getting trophy from Philip Barton, HighCommissioner of Britain, Ambassador of Germany Dr Cyril Nunn, Isphanyar Bhandara at the Race Course Ground.

PESHAWAR—Four more matches were de-cided when Mardan club, Abaseen Mayar,Janbaz club Maran and National club reg-istered victories against their respectivelyrivals in the pre-quarter-finals matches andmoved into the quarter-finals of the MardanDistrict Inter-Club League Football Cham-pionship being played under the aegis ofDistrict Sports Officer at Younis StadiumMardan on Sunday.

In the first match Mardan club defeatedSuper Greens club Takhtbhai by 2-1, Mardanclub having the support of a large numberof spectators, took the lead in the 4th minutethrough Munsif Khan on the field attemptwhile Tajamal doubled the lead in a similarfashion.

When Mardan took the lead of twogoals, they forwards made some fine in-roads by pressing Super Greens clubTakhtbhai to the wall. Super Greens clubtried a little but they were failed and thusthe first-half was ended in favour of Mardanclub.

It was the second session when SuperGreens club Takhtbhai managed their posi-tion and made some fine attacks as resultMuneer succeeded in reducing the marginon the field attempt. Super Greens clubTakhtbhai also got a penalty kick in the 59thminute but the attempt of Farman was nicelyintercepted by Mardan goal-keeper Gufranand thus the threat averted. Thus Mardanwon the match by 2-1 as they did not fur-

Mardan Inter-Club LeagueSoccer enter into Q-finals

ther allowed Super Greens forwards to playwith free hands.

In the second match of the pre-quarter-final Abaseen club Mayar beat New Englishclub Takhtbhai 2-0 in a one-sided affair.Abaseen club Mayar took the lead in the10th minute through Javed Ali on the fieldattempt. Abaseen club after scoring losttheir edge over the match and thus the ballwas mostly confined to mid-field. It was thesecond session in which Abaseen clubMayar scored second goal through RehmatUllah on the field attempt.

Thus Abaseen club Mayar won matchby 2-0. In the third match Janbaz club beatTuro club by 6-0, Haris scored three goalsincluding a hat-trick while Irfan, Ismail andZulfiqar scored one goal each to make thetally 3-0. Turo club failed to click and thuslost the match by 6-0.

In the last match of the day’s proceed-ings, National club beat Young club by 4-0in another one-sided match. National clubopened the account in the 14th minute whenAleem Khan scored a beautiful goal on thefield attempt.

Noor-ul-Amin, Khushal and Saleemscored one goal each to make the tally 4-0in the first session. None of the team couldscore in the second session. The matcheswere supervised by Muhammad Sohail, AliRehman, Khair-ul-Amin, Arsalan whileZahir Muhammad acted as match commis-sioner.—APP

PE S H AWA R —Pakistan’s wicket-keeper batsmanMuhammad Rizwan steered Shama club to final withhis fashion knock of 90 runs including 11 boundariesand three sixes against Sarhad Gymkhana in the sec-ond semi-final of the ongoing Bashir Bilour ShaheedMemorial Cricket Tournament being played atGymkhana ground on Sunday.

Qualifying for the final, Shama club will face ICMSin the final showdown to be played on April 23, 2014 atthe same venue.

In the second semi-fi-nal Sarhad Gymkhana wonthe toss and elected to batfirst by setting up a targetof 189 runs after playing29.4 overs of the allotted35 overs.

Muhammad Younishammered a cracking 65runs including four bound-aries and three sixes,Imran scored 44 runs,laced with five boundaries,and Aqib made 33 runs.For Shama club Ayaz andIftikhar took three wicketseach and Bilal got twowickets.

In reply to 189 runs tar-get, Shama club chased thetarget for the loss f ivewickets with opening pairof Muhammad Rizwan andIft ikhar added a solidopening wicket stand of 80runs. Muhammad Rizwan,who added another part-nership of 40 runs with

PESHAWAR—University of Punjab,Lahore University, IslamiaBahawalpur, University of Karachi,and Sargodha University moved tosecond round after registering victo-ries against their respective rivals onthe opening day of the All-PakistanInter-University Cricket Champion-ship organizing by the Directorate ofSports Abdul Wali Khan Universityat five different venues in Peshawarand Mardan on Sunday.

Vice Chancellor Abdul Wali KhanUniversity Mardan Professor Dr.Ehsan Ullah along with DirectorSports Professor Farooq Hussain, ex-international athlete MuhammadShah, President Peshawar DistrictCricket Association Syed Fayyaz AliShah, Secretary Asghar Ali, officials,players and spectators were alsopresent at Arbab Niaz Cricket Sta-dium.

University of Karachi and HazaraUniversity match played at ArbabNiaz Cricket Stadium wherein HazaraUniversity won the toss and electedto bat first. Hazara University whilebatting first setup a meager runs to-tal of 135 runs only in which Yousifmade 37 runs, Mehran added anothervital 29 runs and Imran scored 22 runs,

UoP, LU, IU, UoK, SU advanceto next round in All-Pakistan

Inter-University Cricketnone of the other batsmen could crossthe double figures in front of excel-lent bowling by Karachi bowlers.

For Karachi right-arm medium fastbowler took good advantage of seam-ing wickets, grabbed five wicketswhile Iftikhar claimed three wickets.

In reply, Karachi chased the tar-get for the loss of three wicketswherein in Mahaz made 36 runs,Fahim scored 34 runs and Iftikharsmashed an unbeaten 47 runs includ-ing five boundaries. For Hazara Imrantook two wickets.

In the second match played atUniversity of Peshawar Campusground, Islamia Bahawalpur defeatedUET Taxila by six wickets. UET Taxilawon the toss and elected to bat firstby setting up 145 runs for the loss ofeight wickets with Yasir made 31 runs,Bilal scored 29 runs, Mehboob made19 runs. For Islamia Bahawalpur Tahirtook three wickets, Shakeel and Ibrartook two wickets each.

In reply, Islamia UniversityBahawalpur chased the target for theloss of six wickets with Furqansmashed 53 runs not out includingseven boundaries. Rizwan made 38runs, Fazal scored 19 runs. Mirwas,Tahir took two wickets each.

In the other matches ShahAbdulLatif University Khairpur de-feated Islamic University Islamabadby three wickets in a match played atcricket ground of Abdul Wali KhanUniversity Mardan. Islamic Univer-sity Islamabad scored 121 runs withAjmal, Sheraz and Inam scored 34, 30and 18 runs respectively. For ShahAbdul Latif University KhairpurQaiser, Ibrhaim and Sajid took twowickets each.

In reply, Shah Abdul Latif Uni-versity Khairpur chased the targetfor the loss of seven wickets. Haroonstruck 41 runs, Kamran scored 23runs and Anil scored 21 runs. ForIslamic University Islamabad Sheredtook three wickets, Qayyum got twowickets and Nasir claimed onewicket. Thus Shah Abdul Latif Uni-versity won the match by three wick-ets .

In the match played at Gen IhsanSports Complex ground Mardan Uni-versity of Punjab defeated Quiad-e-Awan University Nawab Shah by 130runs and in match played at Univer-sity of Peshawar Campus ground No.2 University of Lahore defeatedHaripur University by 48 runs andthus moved to the next round.—APP

Olympians rejectPHF polls,to continue

struggleKARACHI—A group offormer Olympians andinternationals led by ‘flyinghorse’ Samiullah on Sundayrefused to accept the recently-held elections of the PakistanHockey Federation (PHF) anddemanded its immediate dis-solution.

“The elections held underthe PHF appointed committeeare not acceptable to us asthere’s no transparency in it,”a dejected former Olympiangoal-keeper Qamar Zia toldjournalists at a press confer-ence at his residence. Karachi-based Olympians andinternationals including broth-ers Samiullah andKaleemullah, Jahangir Butt, M.Saqlain and Qamar Riaz werealso present on the occasion.

They vowed to continuetheir struggle until the resto-ration of constitution of year2000, dissolution of ExecutiveBoard and complete salva-tion of hockey. “Our struggleis aimed at reorganising thePHF and not to seek posi-tions and perks,” Qamaradded. “We will stick to ourstand and not compromise assome of our colleagues havedone by accepting variousposts in the federation,” heremarked. The former custo-dian rejected the notion thatthe group was still withIslahuddin and ShahnazShaikh. “We ‘re not with themany more and our strengthhas risen to 42 — 22 Olympi-ans and 20 internationalsacross the country,” hestated.—AFP

SYED NAYYAR UDDIN AHMAD

PAKISTAN cricket team always had the potential andtalent to win, any and all of the past cricket ODIworld cup tournaments. As such, there should be

no doubt, about its chances of winning the next cricketODI World Cup, scheduled to commence from February2015, to be played in Australia and New Zealand.

In this regard, PCB must prepare a plan named “Vi-sion 2015?. This plan should be a fool proof strategywith specific focus on winning the 2015 ODI World Cup

tournament, considering all risk factors,like sudden unavailability of any playerdue to various reasons, at least five um-piring decisions going against us (twoin batting & three in bowling innings),dropped catches/missed run outs andfailure of main bowlers and batsmen etc.

We should remember that plansnever fail, we fail to plan. Moreover, thePCB”Vision 2015? must state that “Youwere born to win, but to be a winner,

you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.”The broad outlines of the “Vision 2015? are defined

as below.1. A pool of 50 talented, but mostly youthful players,having world class potential (like Sami Aslam, Awais Zia,Anwer Ali and Usman Shinwari {who has already at-tained 150 KMPH bowling speed} should be immedi-ately called at the NCA, to be throughly trained in all theaspects of the game, for later stage short listing of 30 andfinal selection of 15 players, to represent Pakistan in theWorld Cup 2015.2. 4-5 youngsters from the pool of 50 players should beselected for the future 7-10 years captain’s role. This setof future probable captains should be throughly trainedand groomed for leadership role by the professional lead-ership trainers, from the civil and military field.3. Before deciding the future captain and vice captain ofthe national teams, these short listed players should beassessed by a board of civil and military psychologists,for providing their opinion about the potential leader-ship abilities of these players. This will help the PCB, ineasily deciding to hand over the reins of the team to aplayer, as a future captain and vice captain, for a longerperiod.4. As is practised in football and few other games, PCB

Vision 2015 — A recipe to win the ODI World Cupshould revolutionise the role of the head coach or cricketmanager, by shifting to him almost all the responsibilitiesof the captain including even the selection of the playingeleven and decision of the batting order etc. Captainsrole should be just limited to leading the players duringthe fielding, that too under active supervision of the headcoach or the cricket manager. This change will also elimi-nate the rampant politics and blackmailing of playerpower, which is highly visible in our cricket team players.Plus, it will also minimise the chances of spot or matchfixing by any of the player from our team.5. A visionary cricketer (who must have the reputation ofan unsaleable commodity) of an ultra high calibre, shouldbe appointed the coach or cricket manager of the Paki-stan cricket team. This time the head coach or the othersupport staff must NOT be selected on the likes anddislikes of the coaching staff selection committee mem-bers, as was done in February 2014, when almost 100%recommendations of the committee proved wrong andZaheer Abbas, Moin Khan and Shoaib Muhammad wererecently sacked ignominiously by the PCB. Here, the ar-gument of the committee members that these coachescould not perform in a short period of two months, doesnot hold water, because what happened with the wrongselection on likes and favouritism was, that, for the firsttime in the history of the T20 World Cup, our team failedto reach the semi finals stage. If these coaches were handi-capped by the short time, at least our teams performancemust NOT have gone down. There is no justification forthe surrender, to the extent that our team created a shame-ful world record of scoring 13 runs for 4 wickets, in 6power play overs, when ONLY 2 fielders are allowed out-side the circle.6. We should also set a new trend and hire a full or parttime world class mentor, for which I recommend SirAlexander Chapman “Alex” Ferguson, CBE, who is aformer Scottish football manager and player who man-aged Manchester United from 1986 to 2013. His time atthe club has led to Ferguson being regarded as one ofthe most successful, admired and respected managers inthe history of the game. PCB must ensure that in thehiring of Sir Alex Ferguson, money should not be a bar-rier, notwithstanding any amount demanded by him. PCBshould consider this expense as an investment in 24Kgold. The mentor should be specifically responsible formaking our players of men and ladies team, mentally thestrongest in the world, along with his other defined du-

ties.7. All cricket playing centers of PCB in Pakistan, shouldremodel the boundary distances to 90 meters (matchingthe size of huge Australian grounds to used for the WorldCup 2015) and batsmen should practise taking 5 runs, incase, ball is fielded before it reaches the rope.8. Any player who is not of age and fitness to serve thecountry for next 5 years, should be discarded now, forthe ODI and T20 games.9. A world class fielding coach of the calibre of JontyRhodes, should be appointed for the team. If we have tobe world champions, then there should be no compro-mise on the quality of the coaches, due to any monetaryconstraints. Remember, quality never comes cheap andsecond or third class coaches can never produce worldbeaters.10. We must find more than five bowlers from the tribalbelt or any rugged area of the country, who should beable to bowl at 100 MPH speed. To attract the countrytalent of fast bowling, a handsome prize should beannouced, as an incentive for this ultra high speed bowl-ing.11. National Cricket Academy at PCB HQ Lahore, mustbe headed by a world renowned cricketer like IanChappell, Kirsten, J Rhodes or Tom Moody.12. PCB should take on the challenge of round the yearcricket (in summers, games starting at 5 PM) playing ar-rangements of local and foreign teams in Pakistan. Andin summer 2014, PCB should arrange late start ODI/T20matches in Pakistan. Efforts should be renewed to inviteteams of Afghanistan, Ireland, Nepal, Hong Kong or Neth-erlands for specially providing experience to our young-sters and A team players.13. All PCB grounds in the country (even in the smallercities/towns), should be provided with lights for nightgames.14. In order to prepare fast and bouncy tracks on all PCBgrounds, suitable soil and if possible prefabricatedpitches may be imported from abroad. We should try usethese pre-fabricated pitches during our home series inthe UAE, as well as for the proposed PSL matches in theUAE.15. PCB must decide that Australian made Kookaburraballs should be provided to our men, ladies and juniorplayers in the domestic matches, to have a better feel, forattaining expertise in the use of the balls, which are usedin the international competitions overseas.

Rizwan drives Shama Club to BashirBilour Shaheed Cricket final

RAWALPINDI: PML-N MPA Raja Muhammad Hanif advocate giving trophy to winningteam of 11th National Women Softball Championship.

Ayaz Khan, scored a cracking 90 runs including 11boundaries and three towering sixes, two on the mid-on and one on the leg side boundary.

Itikhar made 44 runs including three boundariesand one six while Ayaz scored 40 runs including fiveboundaries. For Sarhad Gymkhana Bilal claimed threewickets, Younis got one wicket with one run-out. ThusShama club won the match by five wickets and movedto the grand final.—APP

KARACHI—Left arm spin-ner Amir Hamza Hotak cap-tured four wickets as Af-ghanistan beat Liaquatabad

Hotak excels in Afghanistanwin in practice game

Eaglets and Nazeer HussainCombined XI by seven wick-ets in a practice game at theArabia Sea Country ClubCricket Ground on Sunday.

Hotak who had playednine one-day Internationalfor his country- finishedwith excellent figures of fourwickets for 14 runs in his sixovers and CaptainMuhammad Nabi claimedtwo wickets for 26 in his tenovers as batting first,Liaquatabad Eaglets &Nazeer Hussain CombinedXI was restricted to 225-9 intheir 50 overs.

Promising Shah AliZafar held his team’s inningstogether with a solid andsteady 75 off 113 balls withfive boundaries. Tahir Khanhoisted three sixes and onefour in his 36-ball 30.

Afghanistan in replyromped home for the loss ofthree wickets in 46 overs.Noor Ali slammed an enter-

prising 75 off 58 balls spicedwith five fours and one six.Muhammad Nabi hammered49-ball 56 studded withthree fours and brace ofsixes and SamiullahShinwari scored 48 in 51-ball, striking three fours andone sixer.

Neighboring Afghani-stan team is on a short train-ing tour to Karachi in build-up for next month’s 6-na-tion ACC Premier League2014 schedule to be held atdifferent ground in Malay-sia from May 1-7. Summa-rized scores: LiaquatabadEaglets & Nazeer HussainCombined XI 225-9 in 50overs (Shah Ali Zafar 75,Tahir Khan 36, BabarRehman 23, Amir HamzaHotak 4-14, MuhammadNabi 2-26) Afghanistan226-3 in 46 overs (Noor Ali65, Muhammad Nabi 56,Samillah Shinwari 48).—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan snooker team comprising threecueists and an official will fly to Dubai on way to Fujairahon Friday to compete in the 30th Asian snooker champi-onship being held there from April 26 to May 3.

The team has been picked on the basis of performanceof players in the 39th National snooker championship thattook place in the city last month. Mohammad Asif Tobahumbled defending champion Hamza Akbar 8-4 in the bestof 15 frames final to land his maiden national title.

Third player Asjad Iqbal is the losing semi-finalist andpresently ranked third in the national rankings. Meanwhile,a short training camp of UAE bound cueists in prepara-tion for the upcoming event commenced at KarachiGymkhana on Saturday and will continue till Thursday.

Team: Players: Mohammad Asif Toba ,Hamza Akbar,Asjad Iqbal Official: Haji Abdul Rashid Lehra (man-ager).—APP

Pakistan snookersquad to compete in

Asian event

VALKENBURG, Netherlands: World champion Philippe Gilbert inspects his bike for damage during the Amstel Gold Race.

Bipin DaniOBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Sundar Raman, the IndianPremier League (IPL) Chief OperatingOfficer was invited to appear before theMudgal Probe panel twice, it is learnthere.

According to the sources close tothe BCCI, the Supreme Court directedMudgal probe committee, comprisingthree members-Mukul Mudgal (Chair-man), Nilay Dutta and L. NagershwarRao interviewed Sundar Raman firston November 15 and one month lateragain on December 18 last year.

“In his first interaction with theprobe panel, the information relating tothe functioning of Indian PremierLeague was gathered. However, whenhis role was further required to be in-vestigated, he was called again”, thesource added.

Sundar Raman’s two depositions be-fore the probe panel have been recordedin the last Supreme Court order (seen byus) which is signed by two Court Mas-

Sundar Raman was asked to appearbefore Mudgal probe panel twice

ters, (1) Nidhi Ahuja and (2) ShardaKapoor.

“There were few more people whowere asked to appear before the panelmore than once, however the names ofthese people can’t be disclosed”, thegentleman added.

According to the other sources, thepolice party appeared before the panelon different occasions. “Mumbai policeofficials were invited twice”, the sourceadded.

Mumbai Police is likely to have givento the Mudgal Committee the transcriptsindicating the role of Sundar Raman inpassing inside information which clearlyshowed betting took place in the last sea-son of the IPL.

The application filed by G. SampathKumar, the IPS, who was investigatingthe IPL probe has been accepted by theapex court because his intervention willassist at the time of hearing of the CivilAppeal.

The case is listed as first item to beheard for further hearing on Tuesday, the22nd April,2014.

LONDON—Liverpool took another steptowards a first league title since 1990after winning 3-2 at Norwich City onSunday to pull five points clear in the

Premier League.Quick-fire early goals from Raheem

Sterling and Luis Suarez put the visi-tors in control at Carrow Road, beforeGary Hooper replied for fourth-bottomNorwich in the 54th minute.

Sterling appeared to have made thepoints safe with a deflected shot min-utes later, but a late Robert Snodgrassheader obliged Liverpool to endure anervy last 10 minutes.

It was Liverpool’s 11th consecutiveleague victory and means that they areguaranteed to qualify for next season’sChampions League, but BrendanRodgers’s side now have a bigger prizein their sights.

Suarez reaches historic 30-goal mark

Premier League: Liverpool edgeNorwich to close on title

LONDON: Liverpool striker Luis Suarez celebrates his goal against Norwich City atCarrow Road in Norwich on Sunday.

They need seven points from theirremaining three games to win the leagueand can eliminate Chelsea from the titlerace by winning at home to Jose

Mourinho’s side next weekend.“It was massive,” Rodgers told Sky

Sports.“We said before the game, every

victory at this stage of the season,whether you’re top, middle or bottom,is important, and I thought we showedgreat courage today.

“We will go into the next threegames looking to perform well. We wantto continue to fight and now look toChelsea next week, where it will be anincredible atmosphere at Anfield.”

Chelsea’s shock 2-1 defeat at hometo Sunderland on Saturday, coupledwith Manchester City’s draw againstthe same side in mid-week, had given

Liverpool a huge opportunity to stamptheir authority on the title race.

Rodgers was without the injuredDaniel Sturridge and the suspended

Jordan Henderson, but hisside swiftly set about set-tling their supporters’nerves by taking the lead inthe fourth minute.Sterling collected the ball 30yards from goal, shifted itinside Bradley Johnson, andthen unleashed a 25-yarddrive that flew inside the left-hand post via a slight deflec-tion off Michael Turner.After Norwich goalkeeperJohn Ruddy had saved fromJoe Allen, Suarez made it 2-0in the 11th minute, steeringa delightfully weighted left-foot cross from Sterling intothe bottom-right corner.It was the Uruguayan’s 12thgoal in his last five appear-ances against Norwich andmade him the first Liverpoolstriker to score 30 leaguegoals in a season since IanRush in 1987.Norwich began to assertthemselves, however, andnine minutes into the secondhalf they pulled a goal back.Liverpool goalkeeperSimon Mignolet met StevenWhittaker’s deep cross witha weak punch that bouncedoff Martin Skrtel and into thepath of Hooper, who tappedinto the unguarded goal.Momentarily Liverpoollooked vulnerable, but in the62nd minute Sterling re-stored their two goal-advan-tage.After picking up the ball in-side his own half, the 19-year-old drove into the Nor-wich box and dispatched aleft-foot shot that took acruel deflection off Johnsonand looped over Ruddy.Snodgrass hit back for Nor-wich in the 77th minute,outjumping Jon Flanagan tohead home Martin Olsson’sleft-wing cross, but

Liverpool held on for victory.Later on Sunday, attention will

switch to the battle to secure Champi-ons League qualification, with fourth-place Arsenal visiting Hull City beforefifth-place Everton host ManchesterUnited. Arsenal have a one-point leadover Everton in the fourth and finalqualifying berth ahead of their trip toHull, who they will also meet in the FACup final on May 17.

United’s game at Everton, mean-while, will see David Moyes return toGoodison Park for the first time sinceleaving the club to succeed AlexFerguson as manager at Old Traffordlast year.—AFP

VALKENBURG (Netherlands)—JoaquimRodriguez is a doubt for the rest of theArdennes Classics campaign after crash-ing out of the Amstel Gold Race on Sun-day. The 34-year-old Spaniard could wellmiss the Fleche Wallonne, a race he won in2012, on Wednesday after complaining ofdizziness.

“Purito definitely out.@PuritoRodriguez hit by other rider,” saidhis Katusha team’s press officer PhilippeMaertens on Twitter.

“Too dizzy in head to continue. Too earlyto say something on coming races.”

Although the Amstel course isn’t themost ideal for Rodriguez’s explosive char-acteristics, it is in the three Ardennes Clas-sics that he has had some of his best re-sults.

He finished second in 2011 at Amstelwhile he has had two second place finisheson both the Fleche Wallonne (2010 and

Cycling: Rodriguez crashesout of Amstel Gold

2011) and Liege-Bastogne-Liege (2009 and2013).

He wasn’t the only big name to crashout as former Tour de France winner AndySchleck’s miserable season continuedwhen he was forced to abandon.

He was brought down in the same inci-dent as Rodriguez around 80km into the251.8km race.

Schleck got back on his bike and re-joined the peloton, only to abandon around40km further down the road.

The Luxemburger, who won Liege-Bastogne-Liege in 2009 and was awardedthe 2010 Tour de France victory afterAlberto Contador was stripped of his winfor doping, has not recovered his form sincefracturing his pelvis in a crash at the 2012Criterium du Dauphine.

His best result since then was anunderwhelming 20th at last year’s Tour deFrance.—AFP

SHANGHAI—Lewis Hamilton headed aMercedes ]one-two at the Chinese Grand PrixSunday to claim a third straight victory forthe first time in his career and underline theGerman team’s dominance.

The British former worldchampion got away smoothlyfrom pole position and fin-ished 19 seconds ahead ofhis team-mate Nico Rosberg,with Ferrari’s FernandoAlonso third.

The victory was the 25thof Hamilton’s career, pullinghim level with Niki Lauda andthe late Jim Clark in the all-time list of winners, and thefirst time the 2008 championhad won three races in a row.

Rosberg, the winner ofthe season-opener in Austra-lia, now has 79 points afterfour races, with Hamilton on75 and Alonso third on 41.Mercedes have 154 points toRed Bull’s 57.

Red Bull’s four timesworld champion SebastianVettel, who was asked tomove aside for his faster Aus-tralian team mate for the sec-ond race in a row, was fifth.Germany’s Nico Hulkenbergwas sixth for Force India,with Valtteri Bottas seventhfor Williams despite makingcontact with Rosberg at thestart.

His Brazilian team mateFelipe Massa had a night-mare, however, stuck in thepits for a minute as Williamsstruggled to change a rear left

Formula One: Hamilton winsChinese Grand Prix

tyre. Kimi Raikkonen was eighth for Ferrariwith Mexican Sergio Perez ninth for ForceIndia and Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat 10thfor Toro Rosso.—APP

SHANGHAI: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britaincelebrates with his trophy after winning the Chinese For-mula One Grand Prix at Shanghai International Circuit.

TOKYO—Japanese schoolgirl MinamiKatsu became the youngest winner on thecountry’s women’s golf tour Sunday at theage of 15 years and 293 days.

Going out one stroke off the pace, theamateur player rolled in five birdies againstone bogey for a round of 68 to win the Ja-pan LPGA Vantelin Ladies Open with a to-tal of 11-under-par 205 in the southern cityof Kumamoto.

South Korean Lee Bo-Mee finishedsecond, one shot back.

Katsu broke the record set by SouthKorean Kim Hyo-Joo when she won theSuntory Ladies Open in 2012 at the age of16 years and 332 days.

“My body felt as if it did not belong tome. I think I made the round without think-ing anything,” said the pony-tailed player,157 centimetres (5 feet 2 inches) tall.

“I got so nervous on the final hole butuntil then I wasn’t at all,” said Katsu, whoenrolled in a high school in her home re-gion of Kagoshima this month.

Katsu started playing golf at the urgingof her grandfather when she was six.

She has competed in 11 Japan LPGAtournaments and her previous best finishwas 12th.

Golf: Katsu becomes youngestJapan LPGA winner at 15

Ryo Ishikawa holds the record for theyoungest winner on the Japanese men’stour, taking the 2007 Munsingwear KSBCup at the age of 15 years, 245 days.—AFP

Tennis: Kerberputs Germany into

Fed Cup finalBRISBANE (Australia)—Angelique Kerber put Ger-many into their first Fed Cupfinal in 22 years with a fight-ing victory over Australia’sSamantha Stosur in thesemi-final in Brisbane onSunday.

World number sevenKerber fought back fromdropping the opening set tobeat former US Open cham-pion Stosur 4-6, 6-0, 6-4 intwo hours 14 minutes togive Germany an unassail-able 3-0 lead over Australia.

The Australian pair ofCasey Dellacqua andAshleigh Barty prevented awipe-out when they claimedthe “dead” doubles rubber6-2, 6-7 (5/7), 10-2 over JuliaGoerges and Anna-LenaGroenefeld.

The final result was Ger-many 3, Australia 1. Germanywill play either the CzechRepublic or Italy in the fi-nal. Left-hander Kerbershowed great resilience tobounce back in the pivotalsingles rubber and winseven games straight afterthe opening set to turnaround the momentum,fighting off the 19th-rankedStosur to take victory andput Germany into this year’sfinal.

Germany last won thecompetition in 1992 whenSteffi Graf and Anke Huberstarred in the team whichdefeated Spain.—AFP

Trescothickready to help

TrottLONDON—Former Englandopener Marcus Trescothickhas said he is willing to helpJonathan Trott in his strugglewith a stress-related illnessafter a similar condition endedhis international career.

Trott, who made a briefcomeback after returninghome following England’sopening loss in a 5-0 Ashesreverse in Australia, an-nounced he was bowing outof both Warwickshire and in-ternational duty with immedi-ate effect after suffering a re-lapse in his condition.

South Africa-born Trottcame under fire from the likesof former England captainMichael Vaughan when, dur-ing a television interview lastmonth, he said he’d been suf-fering from “burn out”.

That led Vaughan to sug-gest Trott, twice dismissedcheaply by Australiapaceman Mitchell Johnson inthe first Test in Brisbane, hadtechnical difficulties playingfast bowling rather than moresevere mental health prob-lems. But Somerset batsmanTrescothick was more sym-pathetic, having pulled out ofEngland’s 2006/07 Ashestour when he too sufferedwith a stress-related illness.

“I’ve spoken to him on afew occasions just to try andhelp, as someone who hasbeen through exactly thesame situation, coming backfrom Australia,” Trescothicksaid Saturday.

“I can understand it. Iknow how it all works.Whether we cross paths andtalk a few more times over thecourse of the year and dur-ing games, or wherever it maybe, then great.”—AFP

Wilshere ontrack for WorldCup: Wenger

LONDON—Arsenal man-ager Arsene Wenger has \expressed confidence thatinjured midfielder JackWilshere will recover in timeto make a positive impact forEngland at the World Cupin Brazil.

“I spoke to (Englandmanager) Roy Hodgson andI told him that Wilshere willbe available for England,”Wenger told several BritishSunday newspapers. “Hewill be just polished for En-gland.”

Wilshere has been outof action since sustaining ahairline fracture of the footduring England’s 1-0 winover Denmark in a friendlyat Wembley on March 5.

Arsenal hope that the22-year-old will return intime for the FA Cup finalagainst Hull City on May 17,which would enable him tothen link up with the En-gland squad.

“He is starting to jogthis week. I would think twoto three weeks,” Wengeradded. “Jack can be thepositive surprise (for En-gland).”

England open theirWorld Cup campaign with agame against Italy inManaus on June 14.—AFP

TOKYO: Minami Katsu with her trophyafter winning the Vantelin Ladies Opengolf tournament on Sunday.

WOMEN enrolled in a small studyreported a reduction in symptoms of posttraumatic stress disor-

der (PTSD) after a series of yoga classes.However, women in a comparison group thatdidn’t take the classes alsoreported a similar decline insymptoms, researchersfound.

“The yoga group didwell - they improved in theirPTSD symptoms - and ourcontrol group actually didwell, which we didn’t ex-pect,” Karen Mitchell toldReuters Health. Mitchell,from the National Center forPTSD at the VA BostonHealthcare System, led thenew study.

“I do emphasize thatthe yoga (group) definitelydidn’t do worse,” she said.“Yoga could potentially betriggering for people withtrauma, so while that’s notas exciting a finding, I thinkit is important to say that.” About one in 10U.S. women is affected by PTSD, accordingto the authors. Many say that alternativeand complementary therapies - such as yoga- help them cope with the symptoms, whichcan include trouble sleeping and havingflashbacks related to the traumatic event,known as re-experiencing.

“It can be very debilitating and in thegeneral population it affects women abouttwice as often as men,” Mitchell said. Herteam’s findings were published in the Jour-nal of Traumatic Stress.

A total of 26 women with PTSD com-

pleted the study. The women were anaverage of 44 years old and included bothcivilians and military veterans. Fourteenof the women attended weekly yoga ses-sions for 12 weeks or twice-weekly ses-

sions for six weeks. Eachsession was 75 minutes longand focused on mind-bodyconnections, breathing andphysical postures. Womenalso filled out a symptomquestionnaire each week.

Twelve women in thecomparison group met onceper week for 12 weeks in smallgroups to complete the samequestionnaires. All partici-pants completed a follow-upassessment one month afterthe sessions ended.

Mitchell and her col-leagues found that women inboth groups had significantimprovements in their symp-toms. The yoga participantsshowed decreases in re-ex-periencing and hyperarousal

symptoms, while the comparison groupreported improvements in re-experienc-ing symptoms and anxiety. “Both groupswere doing assessments, coming in ev-ery week, and interacting with us - doingthese kinds of things that might havebeen helpful for both groups,” Mitchellsaid.

Studies that include more women willbe needed in the future, she added.“There are several proposed mechanismson how yoga may help reduce PTSDsymptoms,” Julie Staples told ReutersHealth in an email.

Yoga may help women easePTSD symptoms

Christians participating in special Easter service at UP Church.

Journalists protesting against attack on prominent journalist Hamid Mir outside thepress club.

Strength, Beauty and Passion, an exhibition of paintings by Mehtab Ali, opens at Articiti Gallery.

KARACHI—Sindh Chief MinisterSyed Qaim Ali Shah Sunday ex-pressed deep grief over the loss oflives in fatal traffic accident on Na-tional Highway near Pano Aqil onSunday.

In a statement, he expressed

CM expresses sorrow over deaths in road mishap

condolences and sympathies withthe bereaved families and prayed forearly recovery of the injured.

He directed CommissionerSukkur and provincial health authori-ties to provide best possible treat-ment to the injured.

The CM directed Health officersto provide free treatment to the in-jured passengers and said that allthe expense incurred on treatmentwould be borne by the provincialGovernment. He directed the districtadministration of Sukkur for making

arrangements for shifting of thebodies of victims to their nativeareas. He also sought a compre-hensive inquiry report covering allaspects of the fatal accident fromthe Commissioner and DIG with-out any delay.—APP

KARACHI—The Inspector Generalof Police (IGP) Sindh, IqbalMahmood Sunday issued direc-tives for establishing a well-equipped Trauma Centre and aBlood Bank at Police Hospital asearly as possible. The directiveswere issued by the IGP during hissurprise visit to Police Hospital here.

He also instructed to move asummary for the posting of special-ists/consultants immediately in thehospital. Medical SuperintendentPolice Hospital, Dr. MuhammadYunis Chachar briefed the IGPabout the functioning and problemsbeing faced by the hospital man-agement.

He said that there were 41 doc-tors and 121 para-medics providingtreatment and preventive services.He said that the number of patientsto be checked at O.P.D. daily hasbeen increased from 150 to 350 pa-tients.

The IGP directed that the avail-ability of all the essential medicines

and other facilities should be en-sured. He also sought details abouthepatitis vaccination plan for thepolice personnel and ordered a re-port in this regard.

He also asked DIGP Finance toexpedite the summary for the sanc-tioning of the posts of Medical Spe-cialist in the hospital.—APP

Trauma centre, blood bank to be set up at Police hospital

KARACHI—A representative delega-tion of Defence Residents Society(DRS) led by its President Zafar Iqbalvisited the site of DHA’s upcomingresidential project DHA City Karachi’(DCK) on Super Highway on Sunday.

DRS Delegation visited varioussectors of the project, where ProjectDirector DCK, Brig. Muhammad

DRS delegation visits DHA CityRafique briefed them about the de-tails of the ongoing developmentwork.

Project Consultant, Engineer ArifOsmani informed the delegation thatthe projects under the Short TermDevelopment Plan (STDP) which in-clude construction of major roads,sector development works including

internal roads, water supply, sewer-age, storm water drainage, electricityand gas works would be completedas per the stipulated time line.

He told that two wind masts havealso been installed at DCK for record-ing the wind data to be utilized forgeneration of renewable wind energy.He informed the delegation that Plan-

ning for development of solar energyand independent power generationis also afoot which would make DCKself sufficient in energy requirement.

President DRS thanked ProjectDirector DHA City Karachi and histeam and expressed his opinion thatit will be the biggest residential areaof the region.—APP

KARACHI—A three-day educational andlifestyle exhibition for children and familiestitled ‘Kidz Xpo -Learn with Fun’ concludedat Expo Center here on Sunday.

The event was organized by FAKT Exhi-bitions (Pvt) Ltd, while All Private SchoolsManagement Association (Sindh) was thestrategic partners.

The students of over 80 schools fromKarachi participated in the expo. Through-out the three days, the event received goodresponse from families who were happy tosee such an event offering learning oppor-tunities with quality entertainment for kidsand families. Over 5000 students from 15schools visited the exhibition on the firstday. Science Project and Skit Contest wasalso organized among Primary and Second-ary students from various schools.

The exhibition hosted over 150 exhibi-tors featuring a grand display of kids andconsumer lifestyle products, quality familyentertainment, exhibits, and fun activities allunder one roof.

Kidz Xpo was the largest and most fun-filled kid’s and family event, offering topnotch entertainment, hands-on fun activi-ties. Jumping castles, games, balloon artists,magicians, face painters, clowns, and cos-tumed cartoon characters were a huge at-traction for kids.

In addition to all of the entertainment andhands-on fun, parents appreciated the use-ful information on a wide range of productsand services for families with kids showcas-ing everything from educational productsto apparel, health care, schools, food, giftsand sports etc.—INP

Colourful exhibition for city kids

Christianscelebrate EasterK A R A C H I — C h r i s t i a ncommunity like other partsof the country celebratedEaster with traditional fes-tivity here on Sunday.

The Christians of-fered special services inthe churches on Easterday.—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan Council for Scienceand Technology (PCST), Islamabad hasdeclared Prof Dr Muhammad IqbalChoudhary, Director International Centrefor Chemical and Biological Sciences(ICCBS), Karachi University (KU), the mostproductive scientists of Pakistan.

Dr. Iqbal Choudhary was selected fromaround 1700 productive scientists of Paki-stan. Under the umbrella of ICCBS, Dr. IqbalChoudhary also heads HEJ Research In-stitute of Chemistry, and Dr. Panjwani Cen-ter for Molecular Medicine and Drug Re-search, KU.

An official of the ICCBS said that thescoring system takes into account differ-

ent factors from which the academic statusand output of scientists and engineers isjudged. These include research publicationsat national and international level, bookswritten or edited, supervision of PhD, MPhilor MSc students, international awards, re-search grants won, impact factor of the jour-nals in which the research papers were pub-lished.

As per the said criteria, in the field ofchemistry, Dr Iqbal Choudhary has lead over1700 productive scientists of Pakistan, hesaid. Vice Chancellor Karachi University(KU) Prof Dr Muhammad Qaiser has con-gratulated these scientists on their greatachievements.—APP

KU scientist declared mostproductive scientist of country

WOMEN enrolled in a small studyreported a reduction in symptoms of posttraumatic stress dis-

order (PTSD) after a series of yoga classes.However, women in a comparison group thatdidn’t take the classes also reported a simi-lar decline in symptoms,researchers found.

“The yoga group didwell - they improved intheir PTSD symptoms -and our control group ac-tually did well, which wedidn’t expect,” KarenMitchell told ReutersHealth. Mitchell, from theNational Center for PTSDat the VA BostonHealthcare System, led thenew study.

“I do emphasize thatthe yoga (group) defi-nitely didn’t do worse,”she said. “Yoga could po-tentially be triggering forpeople with trauma, sowhile that’s not as excit-ing a finding, I think it is important to saythat.” About one in 10 U.S. women is af-fected by PTSD, according to the authors.Many say that alternative and complemen-tary therapies - such as yoga - help themcope with the symptoms, which can in-clude trouble sleeping and having flash-backs related to the traumatic event, knownas re-experiencing.

“It can be very debilitating and in thegeneral population it affects women abouttwice as often as men,” Mitchell said. Herteam’s findings were published in the Jour-nal of Traumatic Stress.

A total of 26 women with PTSD com-

pleted the study. The women were anaverage of 44 years old and includedboth civilians and military veterans. Four-teen of the women attended weekly yogasessions for 12 weeks or twice-weeklysessions for six weeks. Each session was

75 minutes long and focusedon mind-body connections,breathing and physical pos-tures. Women also filled outa symptom questionnaireeach week.

Twelve women in thecomparison group met onceper week for 12 weeks in smallgroups to complete the samequestionnaires. All partici-pants completed a follow-upassessment one month afterthe sessions ended.

Mitchell and her col-leagues found that womenin both groups had signifi-cant improvements in theirsymptoms.

The yoga partici-pants showed decreases in

re-experiencing and hyperarousal symp-toms, while the comparison group re-ported improvements in re-experiencingsymptoms and anxiety. “Both groupswere doing assessments, coming in ev-ery week, and interacting with us - do-ing these kinds of things that mighthave been helpful for both groups,”Mitchell said.

Studies that include more women willbe needed in the future, she added.“There are several proposed mechanismson how yoga may help reduce PTSDsymptoms,” Julie Staples told ReutersHealth in an email.

Yoga may help women easePTSD symptoms

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said thatWalton Flyover project hasbeen completed within ashort period of two monthswhile a high standard andtransparency have alsobeen maintained. He saidthat construction of WaltonFlyover will result in savingof five billion rupees in fuelannually. He said that thisproject is a part of the planto make Ferozepur Road sig-nal-free. He said that dueattention will be paid to qual-ity, speed and transparencyin the execution of develop-ment projects in future aswell.

He was talking to mediaafter inaugurating WaltonFlyover, here today. Mem-bers Provincial AssemblyRamzan Siddique Bhatti,Mian Naseer, Chief Secre-tary, Vice Chairman LahoreDevelopment AuthorityKhawaja Ahmed Hasaan,Chairman Planning & Devel-opment, ChairmanNASPAK, Pakistan MuslimLeague-N office-bearers andconcerned officers were alsopresent. Director GeneralLDA Ahad Khan Cheemagave a briefing to the ChiefMinister on Walton Flyoverproject. The Chief Minister

Walton Flyover inaugurated

Construction to result in savingof five billion rupees in fuel

inaugurated Walton Flyoverby unveiling the plaque andalso offered Dua. The ChiefMinister said that the firstphase of the public welfare

project of making FerozpurRoad signal-free fromWalton to Ferozepur Roadhas been completed with theconstruction of the flyoverwhile work is in progressround the clock on the sec-ond phase of the project.

He said that this project

is scheduled to be completedin July but the way the workis being carried out expedi-tiously, it is hoped that it willbe completed in June. He said

that the completion of theproject will not only savetime of the people andstreamline the flow of trafficbut resources will also besaved as Ferozepur Road willbecome signal-free. He saidthat the project will also fa-cilitate doctors, nurses, para-

medical staff and patientsgoing to General Hospitaland Children Hospital. Hesaid that completion of 872meter long Walton Flyover

costing Rs.700 million within62 days is the result of thebest coordination betweenpolitical leadership and theagencies working on theproject.

Shahbaz Sharif said thathe has always believed thattime is wealth and should not

be wasted. He said that ev-ery moment of the nation isprecious and the projects ofpublic importance have to becompleted with a nationalspirit. He said that energyprojects will also be executedat the maximum speed. Hesaid that completion ofWalton Flyover project in avery short period is reflec-tive of the same passion anddetermination of the Punjabgovernment. He said that theflyover has been con-structed within only 62 dayswhich is a result of the bless-ings of Allah Almighty. Hesaid that the first phase ofthe project has been com-pleted while its secondphase will be finished by themonth of June. He said thatthe concerned institutionshave worked as a team forthe execution of the project.He said that PML-N govern-ment had completed KalmaChowk project in fourmonths during its previoustenure while a splendidproject like metro bus wasopened for the benefit of thepeople within only elevenmonths. He said that DGLDA Ahad Cheema is like ayounger brother to him andis very honest andhardworking officer and thatis why he has been awardedTamgha-e-Imtiaz by the gov-ernment.

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif is being briefed on occasion of Walton Flyover’s inau-guration on Sunday.

CM slamsattack on

Hamid MirSALIM AHMED

LAHORE—Punjab ChiefMinister MuhammadShahbaz Sharif has said theattack on a senior journalistHamid Mir is tragic andhighly condemnable.

He prayed for early re-covery of Hamid Mir. He wastalking to media after inaugu-rating Walton Flyover, heretoday. The Chief Ministerprayed that Hamid Mir takeup his journalistic responsi-bilities again.

He said that attack onHamid Mir is an attack on free-dom of press. He said that thefederal government will con-duct inquiry into the incidentand en-sure punishment tothe culprits. He said that theelements involved in this hei-nous act will soon be appre-hended and brought to jus-tice so that no one could dareattack journalists again.

Artists performing on the stage during a cultural show at International Tourism Expo.

Ladies singing hymns on occasion of Easter at Don Basco Church

LAHORE—SP Traffic HeadquartersChaudhry Azhar Gujjar said city traffic po-lice had taken effective measures to en-sure smooth flow of traffic and avoid traf-fic mess during peak hours on variousroads in the city.

Talking to APP here on Sunday, he saidthe police had launched a crackdownagainst encroachments while illegal andwrong parking stands at various placeshad been removed.

He added that they had got registereda number of cases against encroachers foraffecting traffic flow.

The SP said the CTP had evolved a

comprehensive traffic plan with the coop-eration of other departments to take strictaction against traffic rules violators.

He said they had also launched aware-ness campaigns, ,including lectures, semi-nars and walks, to create awareness amongthe masses about traffic rules and laws.

He said traffic wardens performed theirduties with a responsibility and they edu-cate people on minor violations and issuedtickets only on major violations.

The SP said the city police had alsomade comprehensive measures to providefacilities to wardens which would help en-hance their performance.—APP

Effective steps forsmooth traffic flow

Qul of DIGMotorway

LAHORE—Qul of NationalHighways & Motorway Po-lice (NH&MP) DIG MirzaShakil Ahmad was held hereat Wapda Town on Sunday.

NH&MP Inspector Gen-eral Zulfiqar AhmadCheema, IG Punjab KhanBaig, Additional IG Rai AltafHussain, Additional IGMuhammed Amlish, FormerIG Zafar Abbas Lak, Former-IG Punjab Azher HassanNadeem, Ex-IG RanaMaqbool and a large num-ber of people from differentwalks of life participated inQul.—APP

LAHORE—Vice Chancellor of University ofVeterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS),Prof Talat Naseer Pasha, has said that workon a buffalo meat plan is in progress underwhich country’s Halal meat will be intro-duced at high level to boost to meat farm-ing.

Talking to APP here on Sunday, he saidthe growth rate of Halal meat export lastyear was 34 percent which could be raisedto 55 percent which was the highest growthrate in any field of export. He said that therewas no any proper farming for meat in thecountry and animals were being exportedafter slaughtering without making pieces.Under the buffalo meat plan, quality Halalmeat of calves would be presented at anexhibition to be held next month.

All diplomats and businessmen will beinvited to the exhibition planned by PunjabHalal Development Agency and UVAS, he

Buffalo meat plan to boosthalal meat industry

added. The financial needs of the plan arebeing fulfilled by the USAID. Last year,Pakistan exported red meat worth US$ 120million which might be increased as the Halalexport meat industry is sharply growing inthe world, he added. Responding to a ques-tion, he said that establishment of an au-thentication lab in the country was the needof the hour as worldwide demand for Halalproducts was sharply increasing. He saidthe Halal industry was rapidly growing inthe world as its trade volume was $.3 trillionand its 80 percent share was with non-Mus-lim states.

There is great potential in Pakistan to atake sizeable share in the trade, he added.He said that setting up of Halal Regula-tory Authority which was under consider-ation by the ministry concerned would giveour Halal products an important marketingfeature.—APP

LAHORE—Lahore police claimed tohave arrested 23 culprits, including sixtarget killers, during a crackdownagainst proclaimed offenders, drugpushers and dacoits in the last week.

Police sources said on Sunday thatCIA Police arrested six accused of abanned organization involved in sec-tarian killing and other heinous crimes.The accused were involved in killingof renowned personalities, includingAllama Nasir Abbas, Prof Shabiul

23 criminals arrestedduing last week

Hassan, Shakar Ali Rizvi Advocate andShamsur Rehman Moavia.

Naseerabad police have arrestedfive drug pushers and recovered 702bottles liquor and 60 litre liquor fromtheir possession. Cases have been reg-istered against the accused.

Ichhra police arrested two criminalsand recovered 29 motorcycles fromtheir possession. Mustafa Town po-lice arrested three dacoits of a gang andrecovered a motorcycle, a cow,a laptop,

six mobile phones and three pistols.Police had traced eight cases againstthem. Sundar police arrested a drugpusher and recovered 1,500 litre liquorduring the crackdown against drugpushers.

A special police team conducted araid in Mohlanwal area and arrested theaccused with narcotics. Sanda policearrested three accused of a dacoit gangand recovered a motorcycle, four mo-bile phones and three pistols.—APP

LAHORE—Punjab University’s Centrefor Clinical Psychology (CCP) orga-nized a lecture on “Anxiety Disordersin DSM-5” at Video Conference Hall ofUndergraduate Block here on Sunday.On this occasion, Faculty of HealthSchool of Psychology & CounsellingQueensland University of TechnologyAustralia’s Clinical Psychologist &Associate Professor Dr Nigar Goharthrew light on the topic.

Director CCP Prof Dr RukhsanaKausar, faculty members and a large

PU organizes career planning workshopsnumber of students attended the lec-ture and gained insights about Intro-duction, their historical perspective,diagnosis and assessment, implica-tions and therapeutic interventions foranxiety disorders.

In the end Prof Dr Rukhsana Kausarextended her thanks to Dr Nigar GoharKhawaja for her insightful Lecture anddesired the continuity of such Lecturesin future with foreign delegates andacademicians in the future. Meanwhile,the university’s Career Counselling &

Placement Centre (CCPC) organizedtraining workshops on “Career Plan-ning” at Department of Arabic, “Careerin Banking” at Hailey College of Com-merce and “Career Planning” at Depart-ment of Mathematics.

In these workshops Qasim Ali Shah,Senior Vice President of KASB, MalikZahid Bashir and Professional TrainerAtif Mirza delivered special lecturesrespectively. These fruitful workshopswere attended by a large number of stu-dents.—INP