Investment mootovershadowed by politics................................................Electricity becomes moreunaffordable................................................Democracy takes roots inTunisia

See Page 04

Continued on Page 7

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI —Although KSE-100 started in a high profiletrading by gaining over 100points to the index yet it startedto wane out gradually with theallegations and counter allega-tions by political rivals inSindh, however KSE-100 wasstill operating at30225 level in-dicating that the bullish senti-ments still ruling the trade atKarachi Stock Exchange.

Despite a decline of 13points trading volumes were improved165 million shares traded in today’s ses-sion.

KSE-100 bullish trend staysIt was the day of the cement sector

which emerged at top of the volumes with

Maple Leave Cement, Lafarge Pakistanand Fauji cements respectively.

The strong financial results being an-

nounced by the corporate sector gave astrong support to sustain upper level of

the Index. The latest financial re-sults announced by KAPCO forthe first quarter of the financialyear 2014-15 posted an EPS ofRs2.74 (up 40% YoY), led by16% YoY growth in revenue amidrising utilization (75% vs 57% in1QFY14) due to greater gas allo-cation and higher efficiency.

The stock offers the most su-perior risk/reward profile amongthe listed IPPs in Pakistan asmanifested by strong results and

the government’s resolve to ramp up gas

Today’s issue of PakistanObserver carries a 2-PageSpecial Report on 91st Anni-versary of the Proclamationof the Republic of Turkey onPage 10 & Page 11.

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—The NationalAccountability Bureau(NAB) on Tuesday filed a ref-erence against former primeminister Raja Pervaz Ashraffor appointing his son-in-lawAzeemul Haq in the WorldBank by violating rules andregulations and misusing hisauthority as prime minister.

The decision was takenduring an executive board

NAB graft reference soonagainst ex-PM Raja Ashraf

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—British Prime Minister DavidCameron spoke with his Pakistani counterpartNawaz Sharif on Tuesday over telephone andinvited him to attend the Afghanistan Confer-ence being held in London in the last week ofNovember.

“The conference is being co-chaired byPrime Minister Cameron and Dr Ashraf Ghani,President of Afghanistan. It will serve to reiter-ate the international community’s commitmentto Afghanistan,” a spokesman for PM House,Mohiuddin Wani said.

Speaking with Premier Nawaz Sharif, the

Cameron invites Nawaz toAfghan summit in LondonCites importance of Pak role in war-torn country

British PM cited importance of Pakistan’s rolefor bringing peace and stability in the war-torncountry.

“As one of Afghanistan’s most importantneighbours, Pakistan’s participation at thehighest level would serve to highlight itscommitment to peace and stability in Af-ghanistan,” Cameron was quoted as sayingover the phone.

The spokesman also said that primeminister’s participation in the conference wouldalso enable the two leaders to discuss bilateralrelations between Pakistan and United Kingdombesides providing an opportunity for PM Sharifto meet the Afghan president.

Continued on Page 7

BEIJING—Afghanistan’s newpresident began a visit toBeijing on Tuesday seekingChinese help in rebuilding hiscountry and promoting regionalstability.

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzaireceived pledges of hundreds ofmillions of dollars in aid in ameeting with Chinese Presi-dent Xi Jinping. He also plansto urge potential investors tohelp bankroll Afghanistan’sdevelopment, especially itsmining industry.

A Chinese state companyhas already signed a $3 billiondeal to develop a 5 million-toncopper deposit at Mes Aynak,near Kabul, but pulled its work-ers out last year after they cameunder Taliban fire.

The trip is GhaniAhmadzai’s first state visitabroad since taking office lastmonth, underscoring his desirefor closer ties withAfghanistan’s massive neigh-bor. He is already highly famil-iar with China from his days asa World Bank official working

Ghani, Xi pledgelong-term partnershipChinese President promises hundreds of millions dollars to

Afghanistan Keen to play role in Afghan parties’ reconciliation

Continued on Page 7

Continued on Page 7

meeting (EBM) chaired byNAB Chairman QamarZaman Chaudhry.

The executive board de-cided to file corruption refer-ences in the concerned Ac-countability Courts.

The board also decided tofile a reference against Ex-Chairman Employees OldAge Benefits Institute, ZafarIqbal Gondal and others. In

MIAN ARSHAD

ISLAMABAD—Finance Minis-ter Senator Ishaq Dar Tuesdayexpressed the confidence thatthe government will not onlymeet its medium term eco-

Dar confident of achievingmid-term econo-targets

Inflation at 7.5pc; Revenue collection up by over 13pcnomic targets but also give thecountry’s economy the right

direction and put it on the pathof sustainable and inclusive

growth despite the recent set-backs due to domestic event.

In his key note address atthe Investment Conferencehere Senator Ishaq Dar saidnational interest is supreme and

Continued on Page 7

KARACHI—With winds esti-mated up to 105mph, CycloneNilofar has gained immensestrength in the Arabian Ocean,about 750 miles south- south-west of Karachi.

The strength of the cyclone

Ebad acceptsMQM MinistersresignationsSigns LB Amend bill

KARACHI—Resignations oftwo Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) ministershave been accepted byGovernor Sindh Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan. The Governoraccepted resignations ofSindh Health Minister Dr.Sagheer Ahmed and SindhMinister for Industry andCommerce Rauf Siddiqui.Resignations of two Advisorsand a Special Assistantbelonging to the MQM havealready been accepted byChief Minister Sindh, SyedQaim Ali Shah. On Oct 19,MQM announced to partways with PPP-led Sindhgovernment over

Pakistan Peoples PartyContinued on Page 7

SARWAR AWAN

ISLAMABAD—Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif onTuesday urged political parties to resolve dif-ferences through discussions and debates aftera delegation of MQM apprised the premier oftheir concerns regarding the PPP-led coalitiongovernment in Sindh.

The MQM delegation comprising FarooqSattar, Rasheed Gondal and Nasreen Jalil in-formed the Premier that they had differenceswith the Pakistan People’s Party in Sindh overmega projects of Karachi. “The PPP is not giv-

Continued on Page 7Continued on Page 7

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai ata signing ceremony at Great Hall of the People on Tuesday.

in the country.In opening remarks, Xi as-

sured Ghani Ahmadzai ofChina’s friendship and support,

saying he is willing to worktoward “a new era of coopera-tion in China-Afghanistan re-lations and take development to

a new depth and breadth.”Ghani Ahmadzai told Xi

See also Page 13

Nawaz for dialogue toend MQM-PPP row

MQM asks PML-N to support ‘Mohajir’ provinceing heed to projects of Karachi, leading to senseof deprivation among the citizens,” the MQMdelegation told the PM.

During the meeting, the MQM delegationstressed on Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for thecompletion of development projects in Karachi.The MQM delegation brought incomplete de-velopment projects such as the Lyari Express-way, Government Railway, Water and Sewageto the prime minister’s notice.

The prime minister formed a committeecomprising MQM representatives and federal

Continued on Page 7

Cyclone Nilofar classifiedas ‘very severe’

has intensified and is now saidto be equivalent to that of ahurricane. This is evident fromthe wind speed which, initially90-100 Knots, is gusting up to110 Knots.

The Pakistan Meteorologi-

cal Department has nowchanged the classification ofthe cyclone from ‘severe’ to‘very severe’.

Continuing its journey, thecyclone would move in a north-

Sartaj: Pak toopen new chapter

in ties withAfghanistanASHRAF ANSARI

ISLAMABAD—The US SpecialRepresentative on Afghanistanand Pakistan, Dan Feldman,called on the Adviser to thePrime Minister on NationalSecurity and Foreign AffairsTuesday. The discussions fo-

Grenade attackat Imambargahkills child,injures sevenAAMIR MAJEED

KARACHI—A one-and-a-halfyear old child was killedwhile at least seven peoplewere injured in a handgrenade explosion near anImambargah in Karachi’sAyesha Manzil area onTuesday night.

Reports suggest that aMuharram majlis for womenwas taking place at IslamicResearch Center Imambargahat the time of the blast. Mostof the injured are women andchildren.

Rescue officials haveshifted the injured to AbbasiShaheed Hospital.

Eye witnesses say thatunknown miscreants hurledthe cracker inside theImambargah from over anearby flyover bridge.

HRA for actionagainst illegal

diagnosticcenters

P E S H A W A R — K h y b e rPakhtunkhwa Health Regu-latory Authority Tuesdaytaking notice of the workingof illegal diagnostic centershas warned to lodge FIRagainst their reopening.

The authority haswarned to initiate actionthose health facilities thatwould fail to communicatelegal documents authorizingthem to reopen their diag-nostic centers.

It may be recalled thathealth regulatory Authorityhas recently sealed a num-ber of illegal diagnostic cen-ters in , Hashtnagry,Faqirabad, Dalazak Road,Saeedabad, Afghan Colony,Ittehad Colony and Boardarea.—APP

Malakand tunnelconstruction

work to start byJune 2015

I S L A M A B A D — T h eMalakand Tunnel project isin advanced stage of pro-curement for detailed designand work on the project isexpected to commence inJune 2015.

An official of NationalHighway Authority (NHA)informed APP Tuesday asper the feasibility study theproposed south portal of theMalakand Tunnel is locatednear Jabban Hydropower,whereas the north portal islocated in Pirano Kalay be-fore Batkhela.

He said that the PC-1 ofthe project based on prelimi-nary design was approvedby Executive Committee ofthe National EconomicCouncil (ECNEC) on May 26,2011. However, the projectcould not materialize due tonon-availability of funds. Hesaid that loan agreement hasbeen signed in December,2012 between Economic Af-fairs Division and EXIMBank of Korea for US $ 78Million.

To a question he saidthat increase in cost of theproject will be determinedafter detailed designing ofthe project.

He said that the con-struction of Malakand tun-nel would not only shortendistance for travellers be-longing to Dir, Malakand,Swat and adjacent areasbut also provide Pakistanigoods an easy access toCentral Asian states. The9.7km project includesthree bridges and approachroads on both sides of thetunnel.

The Malakand tunnelproject would also reducepressure of traffic onTorkham Road because itwould link Dir-Chitral withTajikistan and other CentralAsian Republics.—APP

Abid visits medical,eye camps

MULTAN—Corps Com-mander Multan Lt. Gen. AbidPerveze on Tuesday visitedmedical and eye camps, es-pecially set up in Shujaabadfor flood-hit people of dis-trict Multan andMuzaffargarh.

The five-day medical andeye camps were establishedunder the auspices of MultanCorps in Shujabad and Alipur.Doctors of Pakistan army andAl-Shafa Eye Trust impartedservices in the camps.

Corps Commander Lt GenAbid Perveze inspected dif-ferent facilities including pro-vision of medicines free ofcost, being extended to floodvictims of Muzaffargarh,Alipur, and Shujabad, ISPRsources said.

Over 20,000 patients wereprovided medical treatmentwhile another 6000 patientshad undergone eye treat-ment. Similarly, doctors con-ducted 250 eye operations inthe camps. The local peopleexpressed satisfaction andpleasure over the servicesrendered by the army.—APP

Shaji spends Rs.50mon solar pump projects

NASIB SHAH SHINWARI

LANDIKOTAL—Member of National Assembly from NA-45 spent Rs.50 million of his discretionary funds on thesolar pump project of drinking water in Landikotal. MNAAlhaj-Shaji Gul Afridi formally inaugurated the schemesthe other day during his special visit to the area.

Eight solar pump projects on tube wells of drinkingwather in Alam Khano village of Sheikhmal Khel, SaduKhel, Sheikhwal, Niki Khel and Wali Khel aaccomplishedwhich will benefit and provide drinking water to thousandsof population in the area.

Talking media men during the inaugural ceremony AlhajShaji Gul Afridi said that his first priority was to fulfill thedaily requirements of people. He said that drinking waterwas the alarming issue of his constituency people addingthat he would struggle to resolve this issue on emergencybasis.He said focusing on these requirements he haslaunched efforts to provide clean drinking water to the tribes-men of his constituency adding that the present solar pumpprojects show his honesty with his constituency’s people.

During the ceremony Adnan, the personal secretary ofMNA and the officials of Public health department FATAwere also present and briefed the MNA and tribesmen aboutthese mega schemes.

MNA Shaji Gul Afridi also announced that soon theconstruction work on the shrine of popular Pashto poetKhatir Afridi would start at Sado Khel village of Landikotal.

The locals of Landikotal applauded the completion ofthese developmental projects and demanded the MNA totake more serious steps for the development of area.

Property disputeclaims 2 lives

NOWSHERA—Armed men inborder area of Nowsheradistrict shot dead a man andhis son over a property dis-pute on Tuesday,

Police said the incidenttook place in Akbar Purawhere armed men entered thehouse of their relatives MalikMushtaq and his son Ishtiaqand shot both of them dead.

Police said the deceasedhad a property dispute withtheir relatives namedMuhammad Salim and YahyaKhan which led to the killings.

The assailants managedto flee after committing thecrime. The bodies wereshifted to hospital for post-mortem while the policehave started investigation.Swat: Unknown assailantson Tuesday shot dead a vol-unteer of peace committee inMatta area of the Swat dis-trict and escaped.

According to police, un-known armed men shot dead avolunteer of peace committeenamed Sadullah Khan in SherPalam area of Matta tehsil dur-ing early morning hours. Thebody was shifted to hospitalfor postmortem while curfewwas imposed in the area to nabthe assailants.—APP

PESHAWAR—A meeting of ProvincialDevelopment Working Party (PDWP)chaired by Additional Chief Secretary,Khalid Pervez on Tuesday approved32 projects amounting Rs.18.099 bil-lion with instruction to rationalize costof various projects components ac-cording to prevailing policies of gov-ernment.

The forum in its session consid-ered 35 development projects with anoverall estimated cost of Rs. 22.856billion that were received by C&W,LG&RD, Establishment, Health,Higher Education, E&SE, Irrigation,Industries, Transport and AgricultureDepartments. Approval of threeprojects was deferred till next meetingwith directives to concerned depart-ments for attending the meeting withfull representation and preparation.

The approved projects includedestablishment of 100 Trout Fish Pondsunder Public Private Partnership(50:50) in Malakand and Hazara Divi-sion, Provision of solar power Machin-ery for Productivity Enhancement inKPK (Revised), improvement of Emer-gency Services in all the teaching Hos-pitals of Peshawar and DHQ Hospi-tals of the province under special Pro-poor initiatives, establishment of

PDWP approves Rs19b 32 projectsBaacha Khan Medical College,Mardan. (Phase-II) (Revised). Con-struction of Northern section of RingRoad (Missing Link), Peshawar fromPajjagi road to Warsak Road

The other approved projects wereincluded strengthening of Universityof Malakand, strengthening of BachaKhan University Charsadda, establish-ment of seven Govt. Colleges in KPK,strengthening of Swabi University,feasibility Study and detailed design-ing for establishment of Small Indus-trial Estate Abbottabad-II.(PC-II Ap-proved), feasibility Study and detaileddesigning for rehabilitation of Exist-ing SIDB Small Industrial Estates ofD.I.Khan, Bannu, Kohat andMansehra, feasibility Study and de-tailed designing for establishment ofSmall Industrial Estate at DargaiMalakan, construction of Building forGPI Mansehra. (Revised), establish-ment of 100 Family Welfare Centers inKPK, establishment of Regional Train-ing Institute Malakand, establishmentof Transport Complex at Peshawar,construction of Flood Embankment onRight Side of Kabul River (Reach No.1), District Nowshera, Construction ofFlood Embankment on Right Side ofKabul River (Reach No. 2), District

Nowshera, construction of Flood Em-bankment on Right Side of Kabul River(Reach No. 3), District Nowshera, im-provement of Doaba Canal from RD 0-9000 & Michni Shabqader Branches,District Charsadda, construction ofroad on Right Side along Disty No. 6from Charsadda Takht Bai road cross-ing to Motorway Interchange andKiramat Minor, District Charsadda,improvement of Canal Patrol Roadalong Kheshki and Zardad BranchCanals, District Charsadda, construc-tion of flood embankment fromKheshki to Nowshera Kalan on LeftSide of Kabul River, District Nowshera,rehabilitation and improvement ofLeganai Civil Canal and Construction/ Installation of Lift Irrigation Schemesin District Buner, revamping and Pro-viding Flood Protection Works in HillTorrents in Nowshera District, resto-ration and Improvement of Canal Sec-tions, Structures & Road along WarsakLift Canal, Peshawar, cnstruction ofCanal Patrol Road from Cherat CementFactory to Banda Nabi via Shahbara,District Nowshera, Water Harvestingand Conservation Schemes in South-ern Districts, detailed Design and Con-struction of Siran Right Bank Canal,District Mansehra.—APP

Baloch felicitatesAnusha for winning

ITU electionI S L A M A B A D — D e p u t yChairman Senate Sabir AliBaloch Tuesday felicitatedState Minister for Informa-tion Technology MsAnusha Rehman for secur-ing the membership of theadministrative Council ofthe International Telecom-munication Union (ITU) bysecuring 101 (votes) out ofa total of 168 votes.

Speaking in the Senate,he said the winning of theseat of ITU council was theresult of to hardwork of theminister.

Earlier speaking on aPoint of Order in Senate, MsAnusha Rehman informedthat Pakistan has won theseat during the elections heldduring the ITU Plenipoten-tiary Conference in Busan,South Korea last day.

She attributed the vic-tory to the collective effortsof government and thetelecom industry of Pakistanand is a testimony of re-newed confidence of theworld community in thepolicy adopted by the Paki-stani government forgrowth in ICT sectors.

The members of theCouncil are elected for a termof four years by the membersof ITU at the PlenipotentiaryConference. The election vic-tory has secured position forPakistan in administrative,management and policy mak-ing body of telecommunica-tion agency, she said.

The success came dueto a structured and focusedcampaign strategy executedby Pakistani delegation ledby Minister of State for In-formation Technology, MsAnusha Rehman.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KAMRA—A delegation of Nigerian AirForce headed by Air Marshal AdesolaNunayon Amosu, Chief of the Air Staff,Nigerian Air Force visited Pakistan Aero-nautical Complex Kamra. On their arrival, itwas received by Air Vice Marshal NudratHussain Kazmi, Acting Chairman PakistanAeronautical Complex Board, Kamra.

The delegation was briefed about orga-nization and functions of PAC Kamra. Thedelegation visited Aircraft Rebuild Factoryand Aircraft Manufacturing Factory.

They took keen interest in the FinalAssembly Line and Flight Testing facilitiesof JF-17 Thunder and Super Mushshak air-craft. Earlier, the Nigerian Air Force delega-tion visited Joint Services Headquarters,

Chief of Air Staff Nigerian Air Force visits PAC Kamra

Amosu takes keen interestin Pak aeronautics projects

Rawalpindi. Air Marshal Adesola NunayonAmosu, Chief of the Air Staff, Nigerian AirForce called on General Rashad Mahmood,Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee inhis office. Both the dignitaries discussedmatters of bilateral cooperation and profes-sional interest.

The Nigerian Air Force delegation alsovisited Global Industrial and Defence Solu-tion, (GIDS), Rawalpindi, where it was re-ceived by Air Vice Malik (R) Zubair IqbalMalik, Director General ,(GIDS).

The delegation was briefed about orga-nization and functions of different depart-ments of GIDS. The distinguished guestsvisited different departments of the GIDSand took keen interest in various projectsand research work being carried out at theorganization.

KAMRA: Chief of Air Staff Nigerian Air Force Air Marshal Adesola Nunayon Amosu being briefed about the cockpitof JF-17 Thunder at PAC.

BANNU: Residents of Township holding a demonstration against excessive electricityload shedding on Bannu-Kohat Road.

18 peasantsrecovered from

private jailMIRPRKHAS—District andsessions court Sanghar, onTuesday set free 18 peasantsincluding 6 women after theirrecovery from a landowner’sprivate jail, where they hadallegedly been held asbounded labour.

According to details, onthe directive of the courtKhapro police on Tuesdayraided the private jail of LalMuhammad Junejo at his farm-lands at village GulMuhammad Junejo and recov-ered 18 peasants including 6women.The police, after recov-ery, produced, peasants be-longing to Hindu Bheel com-munity, in court on Tuesday.

The court, after record-ing statements of the af-fected family, ordered theirrelease.—APP

HYDERABAD: A policeman trying to cleanse the road after a protest by PPP YouthWing against PTI Chairman Imran Khan at Hyderabad Bypass.

Opposition protestminister’s remark

ISLAMABAD—The opposition parties in Senate Tuesdaystrongly protested the derogatory remarks of Minister forScience and Technology Zahid Hamid in National Assem-bly and Deputy Chairman sought transcript of the proceed-ings of Lower House to ascertain the veracity of the remarksmade against the Senate. Speaking on a Point of Order, Sena-tor Raza Rabbani of Pakistan Peoples Party said Zahid Hamidhas insulted the Upper House in today’s proceedings.

He urged the Chair to give ruling for ouster of theMinister from the House and bar him from taking part inthe proceedings. He lamented that the Speaker had nottaken notice of Zahid Hamid’s remarks.

Zahid Hamid, who was present in the House tried toclarify his position but the entire opposition memberschanted No, No and urged the deputy chairman to orderhis ouster from the house.

Chairman Senate Sabir Ali Baloch gave the ruling thatthe minister could not take part in proceedings but it is uptothe minister whether to remain present in the House orleave.Zahid Khan of Awami National Party (ANP) said Sen-ate was the symbol of federation and no one would be al-lowed to insult it. The minister should leave the House asmembers will not allow him to speak in the House.—APP

KARACHI—Federal government has notyet received any request for support in Thararea by the Sindh government, said Minis-ter for National Food Security and Re-search, Sikander Hayat Khan Bosan.

Talking to journalists during Mango StarPerformance Award ceremony organized byPlant Protection Department, Ministry ofFood Security and Research on late Mon-day night, he in most categorical terms saidno famine or drought situation has beenreported to the federal government, fromany part of the country.

With specific reference to media reportsabout famine in Thar and the capacity ofthe provincial government to address it, thenational food security minister said each ofthe provinces have adequate stock of foodat their disposal.“However, in case any re-quest is forwarded by the provincial gov-ernment the federal government would takeall needed measures to mitigate reportedsituation,” said Sikander Hayat KhanBosan.

The minister in reply to a question dis-pelled the impression that Cholistan inPunjab was exposed to any situation towhat is reported of Thar.

He said it was incumbent upon the fed-eral government to extend immediate sup-port to the province in any sort of emer-

No request received for Thar helpgency situaion.

In another report it is learnt that, 2 outof 30 malnourished children brought to theCivil Hospital Mithi are declared critical andhave been shifted to Hyderabad.

The ones alive, on the other hand, aresuffering through scarcity of water. 114tube wells in Chachhro and Dhali have be-come dysfunctional whereas tools of morethan 75 tube wells are missing.

Rs 20 million grant by the Mithi admin-istration appears to be insufficient to solvewater availability issue for the past 7 years.Locals are forced to buy water whereas wateris not being provided to the caravans ofmigrants.

Army has dispatched 4 contingents to-wards the famine struck areas whereas ra-tion points have also been installed.

Sindh government doesn’t bat an eyeover the situation while people a sufferingand dying of scarcity of food and water.

Addressing the session at Sindh As-sembly on October 27, chief minister SindhQaim Ali Shah claimed that not a single childdied of famine in Thar and the facilities avail-able in hospitals of Tharparkar are no lessthan any of the hospitals in the province.

He urged not to criticize the governmentunreasonably as government is continu-ously helping the people of Thar.—APP

Twin cities toreceive rain

ISLAMABAD—The National Weather Forecasting Centre(NWFC) on Tuesday forecast showers over isolated placesin the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi during next24 hours.

The scattered rain thunderstorm with light snowfallover hills is expected in Rawalpindi, Sargodha, Gujranwalaand Lahore divisions of Punjab, and Malakand, Hazara,Mardan, Peshawar and Kohat divisions of KhyberPakhtunkhwa, Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Mainly hot and dry weather was forecast for mostparts of Sindh and Balochistanprovinces in next 24 hours.

According to synopticsituation, severe tropical cy-clone (Nilofar) in the ArabianSea, which had intensified intoa very severe tropical cyclone,was located at about 1120 kmin southwest of Karachi and 1030 km south of Gawadar. Itwould continue to move in northwest direction with a speedof six km oper hour and was expected to re-curvenortheastwards towards adjoining coastal areas of LowerSindh and Indian Gujrat on Wednesday.

A westerly wave was affecting upper parts of the coun-try and likely to persist during next 48 hours.—APP

QUETTA: Chief Minister Balochistan Dr Abdul Malik Baloch awarding shield to Munir Ahmed former Secretary Sports during a ceremonyregarding Balochi and Brohi Literature organized by Raskoh Adabi Deewan.

DERA GHAZI KHAN: Qari Sheikh Muhammad Yaqoob speaks during Dars-e-Quranorganized by Jamaat-ud-Daawa.

Husbandkills spouse

FAISALABAD—Man killed hiswife in the area of cityTandlianwala police station.The police said here on Tues-day that Sheikh Yaqoob, resi-dent of chak 393-GB, strangu-lated his wife after exchangeof hot words primarily for notbearing any child.

The police rushed to thespot and arrested theaccused.The body wassent to mortuary for post-mortem. The police regis-tered case and started in-vestigation after sendingYaqoob behind the bars.Swabi: Unidentified gun-men killed a man at Toparea in Swabi district hereon Tuesday, police said.

Parwar Shah, resident ofDewal Ghari Gadoon Amazaihas come to Topi for somework when unidentified as-sailants ambushed him withautomatic weapons andkilled him on the spot.—APP

FATA SecretariatIT infrastructure

upgraded thruUSAID helpSTAFF REPORTER

PESHAWAR—The USAIDfunded FATA InstitutionalStrengthening Project(FISP), has enabled theFATA Secretariat to upgradeits IT infrastructure by shift-ing and improving the exist-ing Server Room to a pur-pose built space. The newfacility will benefit the officesto have uninterrupted IT ser-vices and meet the growingIT demands of the FATA andtribal agency offices.

The Additional ChiefSecretary FATA Mr.Muhammad Azam Khan in-augurated the new serverroom and said that this facil-ity will help improve the ITcapacity of the offices andstrengthen the internal andexternal communication sys-tem to connect the FATASecretariat with far flung po-litical agent’s offices as wellas the Federal Government.

He lauded the assistanceof the USAID and addedthat this will transform theFATA Secretariat into one ofthe modern IT infrastructurein the country.

On this occasion theACS FATA underlined theneed for full utilization of thebio metric system installedat the FATA Secretariat andsome of its subordinate de-partments by the USAIDwith the objective to ensuretransparency in the atten-dance of the FATA Secre-tariat employees.

Also present on the oc-casion were Secretary Ad-ministration Infrastructure &Coordination (AI&C) FATAMr. Abid Majeed, Chief ofParty FISP Mr. Temur Aziz,Deputy Chief of Party FISPMr. Muhammad Fahim andProject Coordinator PCNAMr. Muhammad Zahoor

The FISP team extendedtechnical and financial as-sistance to FATA Secretariatand in a short period of timethe existing server room wasshifted to a purpose builtcomputer server friendlyenvironment with properserver racks and servers in-stalled with redundant harddrives for data protectionand firewalls for security.

GB govt finalizesAashura security planMedia appealed to avoid publication of hatred materials

PESHAWAR—The KhyberPakthunkhwa Governmenthere Tuesday requested themedia to avoid publicationof any materials, which maydirectly or indirectly pro-mote hatred and create sec-tarians tension among pub-lic.

A letter ‘subject mainte-nance of harmony during

Moharram 2014’ issued to allEditors and Bureau Chiefsof Newspapers by the KPGovernment’s InformationDepartment stated that inview of Moharram ul Haram,it is essential that every oneplay his role for maintainingpeace and harmony in thecountry and in this contextthe role of press is of piv-otal importance.

It is further requestedthat in the interest of law andorder, publishing any mate-rial, which may directly orindirectly promote hatredand create sectarian tensionamongst public by hurtingthe feelings of any segmentof the society, may beavoided. The Governmentappealed for cooperation inthis regard.Sakardu: Gilgit Baltistan(GB) government devised acomprehensive securityplan for the provision of se-curity to the religious gath-

erings including Tazia pro-cessions and Majalis-e-Azzah to be held duringMuharram ul Haram.

This was stated by SPHunza Nagar TanveerHussain while talking tonewsmen here on Tuesday.He said that police have madefoolproof security arrange-ments to maintain peace andorder during sanctifiedMoharam.

He further said that extrapolice force along with otherlaw enforcement agencieshave been deputed at proces-sion routes andImambarghas.

He said walk throughgates and security camerashave also been installed atentry and exit points of thereligious gatherings.

Special medical teamsand ambulances would alsoaccompany the processionsto provide first aid to the par-ticipants.—APP

HYDERABAD—Deputy Commissioner onTuesday declared emergency in the entiredistrict in order to avert any untoward inci-dent, in view of the forecast of heavy rain-fall due to Nilofer Cyclone.

He issued directives to all line depart-ments regarding preparedness with all nec-essary arrangements to meet any emer-gency which could occur due to heavyrainfall.All staff of the line departments havebeen ordered to ensure their presence attheir headquarters.Thatta: Deputy Commissioner Thatta AghaShahnawaz Babar has enforced emergencyin coastal areas in view of expected heavyrains and Nelofer cyclone.

The district administration has directedthe officials of Revenue and other con-cerned departments to remain alert on theirduties round the clock. The fishing boatshave been warned to return from the deepsea and anchor their boats at safer placeson the shore.

Emergency declared in Thatta, Hyderabad

People start shifting fromshore to safer places

As per reports the local coastal popula-tion has started shifting from the shore tosafer places to avoid any eventuality.

Meanwhile, it is reported from Quettathat Provincial Disaster Management Au-thority (PDMA) has declared emergencyin the coastal belt of the province, barringfishermen from venturing in open sea.

Director General PDMA, NoorMohammad Jogezai told APP that due toapproaching tropical cyclone Nilofar, the seaconditions along coastal area of Balochistanwould be rough to very rough from Wednes-day to Friday.

“The fishermen have been directed notto venture in open sea from Wednesday toFriday,” he said adding those already in opensea are advised to return to coastal area be-fore Wednesday.

He noted that necessary arrangementshave been made to tackle any emergencylike situation in Makran division.—APP

PIEAStraining

workshop forvarsities

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Pakistan In-stitute of Engineering andApplied Sciences (PIEAS)organized a five-day train-ing workshop on “Manage-ment Skills for Administra-tors” in collaboration withHigher Education Commis-sion (HEC) for administrativeand non-teaching staff ofuniversities. Dr. Inam-ur-Rehman (Aizaz-e-Kamal, Aizaz-e-Fazilat andSitara-i-Imtiaz), eminent sci-entist and educationist wasthe chief guest of this open-ing ceremony.

Dr. Tariq Yasin, FocalPerson of this workshopwelcomed the guests andthanked the chief guestfor gracing this occa-sion.

He also briefly informedthem about the importanceand objectives of this work-shop .

Thirty five participantsfrom PIEAS, Quaid-i-AzamUniversity, National Uni-versity of Modern Lan-guages and National Insti-tute of Laser and Optics areregistered.

Speaking on this occa-sion, Dr Inam-ur-Rehmansaid that workshops arethe best source for acquir-ing knowledge and exper-t ise.

He hoped that the shar-ing of the resource per-sons will be beneficial forthe capacity building anddevelopment of the humanresource as well as the re-spective institutions.

SHER GONDAL

MANDI BAHAUDDIN—Flood affectedpeople of Mandi Bahauddin district held aprotest demonstration at Helan ChowkPhalia and blocked traffic on Gujrat - PhaliaRoad for several hours.

They said that they were not given anycompensation for the loss they suffered inrecent heavy floods that devastated theirhouses, crops and animals. They com-plained that revenue department officialsprepared false lists to include their favor-ites and obliged them with compensation.

The deserving persons were not in-cluded in the lists. They went further andtold that patwaries and teshsildars selectedsome persons and produced them beforeCM Shahbaz Sharif during his visit who

Flood-hit people demandcompensation

received Rs 25000 each.None of the real flood affected person

was included in them. Similarly relief goodswere distributed among the relatives andfavorites’ of local leaders and revenue offi-cials.

They pointed out that Government andphilanthropists donated lot of funds forhelp of flood beaten people but the rev-enue officials misused them, they also saidthat 6 truck loads of tents was sent for dis-tribution among people who houses weredestroyed but not a single man was given atent.

They demanded compensation of theirloss as per CM Shahbaz Sharif promises.They also demanded inquiry against rev-enue officers for not providing relief goodsto the genuine and deserving persons.

Investment mootovershadowed by politicsAFTER a considerable time, the country was able to host an im

pressive Investment Conference aimed at luring in prospectiveentrepreneurs to make investment in different sectors of national

economy. Inaugurating the moot, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif urged foreigninvestors to make investment in infrastructure, power and natural resourcesand that the country encourages investment not only as a tool of economicdevelopment but also as a means of friendly, long-term cooperation.

There are no two opinions that the present government has a clear cutdevelopmental agenda and its policies had started attracting investors fromdifferent countries. China alone was expected to sign deals worth $35 billionduring postponed visit of its President to Pakistan but prospects were marredby some unscrupulous political elements just for the sake of lust for power.The momentum built by the Government ever since it assumed power wasbroken by developments at the D-Chowk but credit goes to the authoritiesconcerned especially Board of Investment and its energetic Chairman MiftahIsmail for organizing an international conference to apprise prospective in-vestors of huge opportunities in Pakistan. We are sure that the Conferencewould go a long way in realizing the objective of attracting foreign invest-ment for different sectors. But it was unfortunate to note that the focus of thehigh profile moot was diverted considerably when the media successfullydragged Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif into political debate after inaugurationof the conference. It is understood that media talk has become almost un-avoidable these days but it is upto the chief guest to determine the directionthe interaction should proceed to. The Prime Minister rightly highlighted hispolicies and plans and incentives being offered to investors but the mediaprojected his political remarks about sit-ins, Imran Khan and resolve of gov-ernment to work for progress and prosperity of the country. Of course, PrimeMinister has to rebut propaganda and respond to queries as to what his gov-ernment is doing to thwart designs of trouble-makers, but such things shouldbe left to some other occasion. Political remarks at economy-related eventstake limelight away from the main objective and therefore, should be avoided.

Electricity becomesmore unaffordable

HARDLY a day passes when there is no shock for consumers of electricity on this or that account and pretext. The latest is significant in-

crease in the so-called fuel adjustment Head, which would hike the tariff by53 paisa a unit, making electricity more unaffordable for masses.

People of Pakistan are being wronged and fleeced since long on differentexcuses but worst is the case of power sector where fleecing has assumedphenomenal dimensions. The issue of unprecedented over-billing still remainsunresolved and consumers are still crying but instead of getting relief theyhave been burdened more. Wrong or no meter reading and sending of bills onmere assumption is not a new practice but no government in the past took anyconcrete measure to redress this longstanding grievance of consumers. Pricedetermination formula is also non-transparent and unjust and amounts to sheerswindling. On paper, the prices are fixed by NEPRA but neither the Authorityis independent, nor is there any mechanism to safeguard interests of consum-ers, who are not organized and have almost no representative body to pleadtheir case during hearing of cases. The latest increase in the name of fueladjustment is not digestible as it comes in the wake of persistent decrease inthe price of oil in the international market where it has dropped below $80 abarrel. The addition of a number of surcharges and television licence fee isalso unjustified and a cruelty. The slab system is also unreasonable and needsto be abolished altogether as it is grossly misused. There should be a uniformrate for all slabs as those consuming more will have to pay more in any case.The present Government is business and industry friendly but intriguinglyits power policy is no different from those in the past and that is why thelatest increase has been rejected by different chambers. It is unfortunatethat all this is happening in the backdrop of unending load-shedding that isbadly affecting domestic, commercial, industrial and agricultural consum-ers. We hope that the Government would desist the temptation of treadingthe easiest path of hiking power rates every now and then and instead focuson eliminating corruption, theft and losses in the sector.

Democracy takesroots in Tunisia

Elections in Tunisia on Sunday were a great step ahead in the Tunisianhistory, as the people voted in Parliamentary elections that has finally

brought full democracy, four years after their revolution that cast out Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali. Tunisia’s Ennahda party, the first Islamic group to securepower after the 2011 “Arab Spring” revolts, conceded defeat in elections thatare set to make its main secular rival the strongest force in Parliament.

Tunisian secular Nidaa Tounes party has emerged as the main winner inthe 217-seat Parliament. It is rather surprising that elections were fair andorderly and there were no charges of rigging and one is certain that the trans-fer of power will take place smoothly. Nidaa Tounes emerged on the politicalscene in 2013. It is a hotchpotch of independents, secular politicians and formerregime officials who served under deposed President Zine al-Abidine BenAli. The party has strong support among the public administration and theTunisian elites. Tunisia has fared better than its neighbours who ousted theirown long-ruling leaders during the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, largely avoidingthe polarisation between competing desires for Islamist and more secularrule. After overcoming a political crisis that threatened to scuttle its fledglingdemocracy, Tunisia approved a new Constitution at the start of the year andwon praise as a model for a region struggling with chaos and violence. Thenew government will need to foster growth and jobs for the many Tunisianswho feel left out of any economic benefits from the revolution. But theywill also need to take on the tough austerity measures to cut public subsi-dies. Many Tunisians are proud of their history of liberal education andwomen’s rights dating back to Habib Bourguiba, the first President afterindependence from France, and Nidaa Tounes leader, Beji Caid Essebs por-trayed his party as the force of modernity. By holding orderly elections andacceptance of the results by the Islamists, Tunisia has earned respectabilityin the comity of nations in general and in the Arab world in particular andthus left a trail of light for other Arab nations to follow.

Million march on Black Day

After finalwithdrawal

from Helmand

TIME will tell whether Afghanistan will be able toforge any kind of reasonable

future for itself after the violenceand turmoil of recent years. But ifwe cannot yet measure the balancein Afghanistan, we can certainlymeasure some of the damage we didto ourselves, notably to an institu-tion that the British people has tra-ditionally held in high regard. TheBritish army, which for years hadseemed to challenge the generalnarrative of national decline by itsprofessional competence, its elanand its capacity to make do withever diminishing resources, has lostthe high reputation it once enjoyed.The air force and the navy share inthis fall from grace, if to a lesserextent. It is, of course, not only aninstitutional reputation that has suf-fered. The dead, the seriously in-jured and the many thousands ofsoldiers who have returned to Brit-ain in a damaged and traumatisedstate constitute a human cost all theharder to bear because the purposeof recent wars has been so unclear,and success so elusive. Callingthem heroes will not alter that.

Britain’s armed forces, whichhad repeatedly rescued politiciansfrom the consequences of their mis-guided or reckless decisions in thepast by pulling off victories or half-victories or, at least, successful hold-ing actions, were not able to do so inIraq and Afghanistan. Indeed, theevidence suggests that army offic-ers, in particular, were so keen todemonstrate their relevance and use-fulness that they took on tasks theyknew might prove beyond their ca-pacity, casting aside their normalcaution. They chose to do so, it maybe hazarded, for a number of rea-sons. One was vanity, to whicharmies are far from immune. After adramatic success in the Falklands in1982, a less dramatic, less complete,but still impressive record in North-ern Ireland, a competent role in thewar to liberate Kuwait in 1991, auseful part in the campaign to forceSerbia out of Kosovo in 1999, and asmart in-and-out intervention in Si-erra Leone in 2000, the British armythought well of itself. Not entirelywithout reason, but it was a view thatoverlooked the part played by luck.Accurate fuses on a few Argentin-ian bombs could have altered theoutcome in the Falklands, for ex-ample. A second reason was the atti-tude of the armed forces to theAmericans, which mingled an in-tense desire to be useful to them witha not very well concealed rivalry. TheBritish were particularly snootyabout their superiority in counter-in-surgency, a claim that went back toGeneral Sir Gerald Templer’s “heartsand minds” campaign in Malaya inthe early 50s; took in, dubiously,various last-ditch and often brutal co-lonial operations; and rested, in ad-dition, on a rather roseate view ofthe Northern Irish war. It was a claimthat initially impressed the Ameri-cans, later came to deeply irritatethem, and finally bit dust in Basra.

Another factor was aromanticised view of history. TheBritish army saw itself as an armywith a memory. But just becauseBritish soldiers had many timesbefore been in Afghanistan, or hadbattled the Turks at Kut in Iraq, didnot mean that any of the supposedexpertise of those days had magi-cally been transferred down the gen-erations to the officers and men oftoday. Above all, Britain then wasa real, if creaky, superpower. TheBritain of these days is not a super-power. Its politicians know that, yetthey have persisted in committingour armed forces to tasks that strainthem to the limit and sometimesbeyond, while simultaneously cut-ting their manpower and slashingtheir equipment budgets. It is awonder those forces have some-times done as well as they have. Itis no wonder they have sometimesfailed. This is the cautionary tale onwhich soldiers and civilians alikeshould be reflecting as the flagcomes down in Camp Bastion.Across the world there is a tendencyto see military force as an appro-priate solution to problems whereit is not appropriate. What modernarmies are for, how and when theycan be useful, how to fund them,and what can be reasonably askedof citizen soldiers, are truly diffi-cult questions. The British armyneeds to apply its collective intelli-gence to these matters, while Brit-ish politicians should be much moresceptical about rushing down to thewar room than they have been inthe recent past. — The Guardian

MEDIA WATCH

ON Sunday, thousands ofpeople attended a MillionMarch, in London, for

Kashmir’s right of self-determina-tion, and to show solidarity with thepeople of Indian occupied state intheir struggle against Indian occu-pation. Some reports indicate thatIndia had asked the United King-dom not to allow this march, butthe government did not oblige. Theparticipants chanted slogans like‘Kashmir bane ga Pakistan’, ‘Wewant Freedom’ and ‘Go India Go’.This, march was also a protestagainst violations of InternationalHumanitarian Law by the Indianoccupation forces. Towards the endof the March, the protesters submit-ted a memorandum to the Britishgovernment seeking an early reso-lution to the Kashmir dispute.

India only partially imple-mented the UNSC resolutions andas a result India continues to de-fault on demilitarization of Indianoccupied territory and conduct of afree and fair plebiscite under theUN supervision remainsunimplemented. Kashmiris observe27 October as Black Day to appealto the international conscience forexerting its pressure for implemen-tation of UN resolutions—twentyin number. Event also sends a bluntmessage to India that Kashmirisreject its illegal occupation, and thatthey are determined to undo it.

India shops and businesseswere closed in the IHK on lastThursday as a mark of protest toIndian Prime Minister NarendraModi’s visit. Police and paramili-tary soldiers patrolled Srinagar toprevent demonstrations. Steel bar-ricades were erected on main roadsand APHC leaders were held un-

Nationalism under guise of parochialism

THE defeat of the Congress inHaryana and Maharashtra instate elections does not come

as a surprise. This was expected.Those who have followed the po-litical developments since the 2014Lok Sabha election had inferred thatthe party was a story of the past. Ithad been battered by the charges ofcorruption so much and for so longthat it had no public image left. Theother parties, particularly theBhartiya Janata Party (BJP), arefinding favour with the people.Take Haryana. It never returnedmore than 10 BJP candidates in theearlier elections. This time the partyhas constituted its governmentsingle handed. It shows the stridesthe party has made. Maharashtrahas seen the Shiv Sena pullingdown the Congress colossal. But theBJP has never been in the reckon-ing. The two together have an abso-lute majority today.

Whether this astonishing sce-nario is due to the spell which PrimeMinister Narender Modi has cast onthe nation or is not a matter of dis-cussion any more. There is no doubt-ing of the BJP emerging as a nationalparty and Modi as a national leader.True, nationalism is the trump cardModi plays. Parochialism is its maincontent. The secular forces aremeekly surrendering. Surprisingly,both Haryana and Maharashtra, pro-gressive otherwise, have returnedvery few women. The parties are

Practise whatyou preach.

essentially to blame becausethey fielded only a few fe-male candidates. But the ar-chaic thinking of voters isvery much evident. Afternearly seven decades since in-dependence, the women have

not been able to get their due.I do not think that the Congress

can bounce back at least for anotherdecade. And that too would requirenew vigor and new leadership. SinceCongress President Sonia Gandhidoes not see beyond the dynasticpolitics, there is very little hope forthe party to recover. She does notappreciate, even after years of pro-jecting that Rahul Gandhi does notsell nor has he any content. The dis-order in the Congress is palpable.The growing frustration within theparty ranks only confirms this. Someof the old Congress loyalists havefound courage to raise their voiceand have blamed Rahul Gandhi andhis team for the debacle. But suchvoices are stifled in the party. SoniaGandhi and Rahul Gandhi run theparty. Now that both have failed whodo the people turn to? Both had re-portedly once offered to resign. Butthe loyal Congress working commit-tee had refused to accept their resig-nations. Both continue to constitutethe party and its leadership. And bothhave seen to it that the non-dynastyelements do not come up.

Logically, Rahul’s political ca-reer should have been over after thetwo back-to-back reversals, one inthe Lok Sabha elections and the sec-ond in some of the state assemblypolls. Yet in a dynastic politics, thereis no room for such a debate. TheGandhi family has come to be con-sidered central to the survival of the

Congress. Rahul is important for theparty, particularly when Sonia hasan indifferent health. Despite theresentment against Rahul’s style offunctioning, the sycophants in theparty is still hopeful that he wouldone day act like a leader.

That, in a way, sums up the strat-egy of Congress and Sonia’s. It isamusing to see the party leaders shel-tering Rahul from criticism. The A.K.Antony report that followed the LokSabha’s pathetic poll results points tothe organizational weakness ratherthan putting the blame squarely onRahul Gandhi for the defeat of theparty. He had to be pulled out of elec-tion campaign in Haryana andMaharashtra because he was havinga negative effect. One good thing thatSonia once admitted in a letter wasthat the revival of the party was achallenge. Her letter to the leadersoffered encouraging words, infusingfresh confidence to overcome thehostile conditions. “This path is longand requires relentless struggle. ButI am confident you can overcome thehostile conditions with your determi-nation and hard work. I am alwaysthere with you in this struggle. I shallbe in regular contact with all of you,”she had said.

For the demoralized leaders, theletter served as a soothing moralebooster. The leaders admitted thatunlike Rahul’s attitude, Sonia’s let-ter was full of humility with sooth-ing words, providing them with somemuch-needed comfort in these diffi-cult times. Yet they wonder whyRahul was still relying on his advis-ers who failed him in the assemblyelections held in the last two years.The plain truth is that the Congress-men have nowhere to go except the

der house arrest to stop them fromleading any protests. Modi also vis-ited Indian soldiers stationed on theSiachen Glacier, to greet them onDiwali. Syed Ali Shah Geelani saidthat Modi visiting a Muslim-major-ity state on Diwali was “nothing butcultural aggression. His stay inKashmir on Diwali is nothing but anelection stunt. India wants to showthe world that they are with flood-hit Kashmiris. It is ridiculous.” Heaccused Modi of rubbing “salt on ourwounds” by visiting Kashmir onDiwali but not extending Eid greet-ings to Muslims. Jammu and Kash-mir Liberation Front (JKLF) leaderYasin Malik said Modi was “politi-cizing a human tragedy.” Jammu andKashmir is due to go for state pollsby early next year and the BJP ishoping to move from the politicalmargins in the Valley to emerge asan alternative to established parties.The BJP, which did well in Jammuin the Lok Sabha election, is work-ing overtime to gain a foothold inthe Valley.

Angry Kashmir residents say thegovernment’s response to lastmonth’s flooding has been inad-equate. Modi’s visit was aimed atsoothing frayed nerves in the Valleyfollowing the failure of the state ad-ministration to provide immediaterelief to people after the state’s worstfloods in a century. Indianhighhandedness toward the inhabit-ant of IHK continues even duringhumanitarian crisis.. This year’sMonsoon induced flash floods werecatastrophic for the people of Kash-mir, especially the Indian occupiedportion of Jammu and Kashmir. In-dia imposed conditions and restric-tions over the international aid forthe flood hit Kashmir; this was in-deed an inhuman act. Many Muslimcountries, the OIC and prominentpersonalities offered large scale re-lief for the flood affected people ofJammu & Kashmir but India ob-

structed the flow of urgently neededaid; thus prolonging the agony of thesufferers.

APHC Chairman has said thatif this relief would have reached tothe people, the rehabilitation of theflood affected people could havebeen completed in few months butIndia wants to make Kashmiris asdependents on its own aid as pos-sible, so that their self-esteem andself-respect get subdued and theirfreedom sentiment dampens. Heexpressed his satisfaction and hap-piness that many Muslim countriesand international organizations in-cluding Pakistan, Iran, and Turkeyhad taken serious notice of the dev-astation caused by the floods inKashmir and they promptly offeredhelp for that but, he expressed sor-row that India is politicizing thishuman issue and it doesn’t wantthat the sufficient aid should reachJammu & Kashmir people. “It isthe set plan of the policy makersof India that Kashmir should re-main economically instable foryears together and people shouldremain totally dependent even forthe granule on the Indian govern-ment”, he added. Stopping or re-stricting the international aid isequal to enforcing the economicblockade against the oppressedKashmiris which doesn’t have anymoral and constructional justifica-tion and it is the worst kind of hu-man rights violation.

During the first 6 days of floodwaters people were on their own res-cuing, saving and supplying foodmaterials and water to stranded orto those who refused to move outfrom their houses. Most people wereaccusing army of rescuing Indiantourists, VIPs and their officers.Many youth were protesting andrightly demanding that peoplestranded in decrepit houses must befirst rescued. Youth converging frommany parts of Kashmir risked their

lives in saving the stranded peoplein posh areas and other submergedparts. In other Indian states thearmy is at the forefront of saving,rescuing and distributing relief. InKashmir they were doing catwalkin areas that feted them maximumfootage on Indian channels.

To date India continues to playgames with Kashmiri people. Twofrequently used tools are: manipu-lated elections and violations of theLine of Control. Pakistan hasbrought the issue of ongoing LoCviolations by India to the notice ofthe International Community andto the United Nations. Pakistan hasaddressed a letter to the UNSGwhich has been circulated as a UNSecurity Council document. Paki-stani Missions abroad have alsobriefed the host governments aboutIndian aggression and escalation.India has not allowed UNMOGIPto visit LoC and to file its report. Itis one of the subjects being pon-dered weather Pakistan should for-mally request the UN to makeUNMOGIP functional as per itsmandate. Presence of Indian secu-rity forces in Kashmir is estimatedto be seven hundred thousand. Theyare equipped with sophisticatedweapons and support infrastructureto torture and kill innocent non-combatant. Their criminal acts aregiven complete immunity undernearly half a dozen draconian laws,which are frequently and regularlyobjected to by international HumanRights’ bodies.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’sremarks in the UNGA session thisyear, were quite pertinent, hestressed that “we [Pakistan & In-dia] cannot build, much less sus-tain peace, without resolving theunderlined problems and disputes,including the issue of Jammu andKashmir.”—The writer is Consultant Policyand Strategic Response, IPRI.

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Weekly Magazine

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

dynasty which has run the partysince independence. JawaharlalNehru was compared with a banyantree which did not let anything be-neath to grow. The Congress was de-pendent on him. Consequently, nonein the party emerged to be its natu-ral choice when he died. Mrs IndiraGandhi, his daughter, whom he hadgroomed, was not acceptable to theparty in the beginning. Yet, slowlyand surely, she made her way to top.

The end of the Congress maynot be good for the country becauseit has provided an ideological plat-form with pronounced secular cre-dentials. What is still disconcertingis that the vacuum created by thevacation of the Congress is beingfilled by the elements which are in-imical to the integrity of the coun-try. Their efforts to polarize thecountry have already evoked a senseof discrimination in the country. Theattack on the people from Manipurin Delhi is one recent example. Un-fortunately, the Modi phenomenashave the RSS blessing. This is in-terfering in the affairs of gover-nance. The appearance of RSS ChiefMohan Bhagwat on theDoordarshan was unfortunate andtold the story of RSS ideology anintegral part of the government. Atpresent, Modi is trying to be on theside of development, not the RSSphilosophy. But he will have to dis-tant from the organization for thesake of credibility. The Muslims arefeeling insecure and they, as goodIndians as Hindus, have to be givenconfidence. How Modi does it is hisbusiness. But he must do that.—The writer is a veteran Indianjournalist, syndicated columnist,human rights activist and author.

Email:kuldipnayar09@gmail.com

Kuldip Nayar

Iqbal KhanEmail:wonderous101@gmail.com

Voice of the People

Bank holidays& salaried class

ASGHAR MAHMOOD

Banks in Pakistan will remain closedfor four days, November 1 to 4, i.e.,Saturday through Tuesday, as 9 and10 Moharram fall on Monday andTuesday. These prolonged bankholidays will affect government em-ployees and pensioners, who receivetheir payments on first of the month.This means that first month of theIslamic year (1436 Alhijri) will bereally hard for the low paid fixedincome group of population, wholive on salary or pension.

Two options are available for theGovernment to avoid hardship tolikely affectees. 1) The Governmentmay issue instructions to AGPR/Ac-countants General to pay salariesand pension on Friday (31 October),or 2) State Bank of Pakistan mayinstruct all Banks to open on Satur-day for payment of salary and pen-sion to government employees. It ishoped that an early decision is takenin this regard in the public interest.—Via email

The Black DayMALIK MUHAMMAD ASHRAF

Reigniting the exchange of firealong the LoC and the WorkingBoundary by India and the conse-quent bellicose blustering by IndianPrime Minister Narendra Modi, is asad response to the peace overturesmade by Prime Minister NawazSharif and his envisioned approachto build bonhomie with India andcarrying forward the suspended dia-logue between the two countries toresolve mutual disputes, includingthe core issue of Kashmir. Equallyworrying is the fact that the Modigovernment is trying to repeal Ar-ticle 370 of the Indian Constitutionwhich gives special status to Kash-mir; an endorsement of its disputedantecedents. The conduct of the In-dian government with regard to theKashmir dispute and relations withPakistan is terribly out of synch withthe emerging geo-political, strategicand economic realities. For ensur-ing lasting peace in the region andharnessing the economic potentialfor shared economic prosperity, nor-malization of relations between Pa-kistan and India is of pivotal impor-tance. There is no escape from thisinevitable reality and sooner the In-dian leadership realized this better.

The million march held at Lon-don on 27th October (Black Day) andprotest rallies by Kashmiris all overthe world, besides reminding theworld community and UN of its ob-ligation to the People of Kashmir,also convey a strong message to In-dia that despite the presence of80,000 Indian troops in the valleyand the brutalities perpetrated on thepeople of the state they would notrest until they were granted the rightof self-determination as enunciatedin the UN resolutions.

India simply cannot change theground realities and the legal statusof Kashmir by sticking to the denialmode and flaunting its militaryprowess. Under the UN resolutionsand Simla Agreement, it has ac-cepted the disputed status of Kash-mir and ultimately it would have tochange its stance in its own best in-terest. By remaining adamant on itsillegal and unreasonable posture onthe issue, India is trying to scuttleprospects of peace and progress inthe region and consigning its teem-ing millions to a perennial fate ofdeprivation and abject poverty. Pa-kistan has made persistent efforts toresolve this issue through dialogueon the bilateral level as envisagedin the Simla Agreement and has al-

Pakistan: A responsible nuclear stateANAM KAUSAR

Indian aggression and assault on the Line of Control in the context of Kashmir issue is amongst thepresent hot debates in south Asia. These violations from Indian side are becoming a routine. India is

continuously showing stubbornness in its conduct towards peace in the region as continuous shelling bythe Indian forces on civilians had claimed several lives and injuries to many, which were a clear floutingof international law and breach of ratified cease fire arrangement. Recently they rejected Pakistan’sproposal for a third party intervention which shows Indian fear to lose the Kashmir and their festoonedand false reputation in the eyes of world community. Pakistan Army is fully equipped to give a befittingresponse to those who mess with it including India and TTP. However, this is a fact that Indians arefeeling the heat of Zarb-e-Azb military operation in tribal regions. Indians were upset over the success-ful Zarb-e-Azb operation as their proxies are being hit and demolished. India is not only violating theWorking Boundary with Pakistan but also has become threat for the security of other countries of theregion, as India has decided to have spy planes on the border with Pakistan and china; which reflectsirresponsible attitude of India being a nuclear state. Some of the analysts have developed the perspectiveand are coming to the conclusion that continued stress on Pakistan from India can push both the nationsat the verge of nuclear warfare. But the actual question is whether India, being a self-claimed respon-sible nuclear state, can actually deserve this status or not? International media is posing many questionson the nuclear status of Pakistan and India, including disarmament. Can Pakistan afford to disarmitself while its enemy is having latest nuclear capabilities; the simple answer is a big No, as it would beagainst the strategic deterrence policy of Pakistan. Pakistan being a peaceful country has always sup-ported the cause for arms control and disarmament. It is India, not Pakistan, which is generating prob-lems and concerns for both countries. Pakistan being member of international community has alwayscooperated in the realm of non-proliferation. It has also initiated and offered India with several disar-mament and arms control or non-proliferation proposals but every time India rejected those proposals.Still International community has neglecting behaviour towards Pakistan and its membership in vari-ous nuclear regimes. After having all this in mind, a general reader easily concludes as to why Pakistanshould disarm itself. India is a violent foe, Pakistan need these nuclear weapons not for offensive butdefensive and deterrence purpose until the Kashmir issue is fully resolved. However, Pakistan has astrong need to start pro-active diplomacy to convince the world community that Indian was playing onthe wrong side of pitch and hence declare India as an irresponsible nuclear power.—Via email

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View From Abroad

Antidote to poverty, disease & terrorism

DESPITE enormous technological advances, humanitycontinues to grapple with

three enormous burdens: poverty, dis-ease and terrorism — be it individu-ally or state sponsored. Although thepolicies aimed at solving those prob-lems are different, there is one ap-proach that can help lower the nega-tive effect of all three: Education.There is a clear connection betweenpoverty and a lack of education. Al-though overall access to educationhas risen markedly over the past de-cade, poor children are still less likelyto attend school or be enrolled inschool and are more likely to repeatgrades than those who come frommore prosperous families. It is harderfor children from poor families tohave easy access to schools, becauseschools tend to be concentrated inurban areas where only better-offfamilies live.

Gender disparity in access toeducation is also greater among thepoor. To be a girl from a poor fam-ily becomes a double disadvantage.In addition, gender bias againstgirls in approaches to teaching andthe degree of attention they receive

from teachers leaves girls at a fur-ther disadvantage. The gender gapis generally wider at higher levelsof schooling, particularly in devel-oping countries. According to someestimates, women in South Asia, forexample, have only half as manyyears of basic education as men,and female enrolment rates at thehigh-school level are two-thirdsthat of males. Governments tend tospend less on public education —the kind of schooling that tends tobenefit mostly the poor — particu-larly in developing countries dur-ing times of economic crises.

In addition, wars, civil conflictsand epidemics disrupt school servicesand school attendance. The wars inAfghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, toname just a few, are ample evidenceof this, as is the effect that the Ebolaepidemic is having now in severalAfrican countries. Eliminating gen-der bias in education is particularlyimportant when the parents’ level ofeducation is considered with regardto their children’s educational attain-ment. To increase the chances of theirchildren’s success, several studieshave shown that educating mothersis more important than educating fa-thers. Educated girls develop betteressential life skills, including self-confidence, the ability to participate

effectively in society and the capac-ity to better protect themselves fromHIV/AIDS and sexual exploitation.Girls’ education not only empowersthem but also is considered the bestinvestment in a country’s develop-ment. Although many diseases are un-avoidable, others are created or wors-ened by social and living conditions.

The World Health Organizationhas insisted on the importance of the“social determinants of health,”which are the social and economicconditions in which people are born,grow up, live, work and age. Theysignificantly influence people’shealth status, their access to educa-tion and social services and theirquality of life. With regard to ter-rorism, one question notably absentfrom the discussion on this phenom-enon are the reasons behind it. Whyhas it increased so markedly in re-cent years?

Although many countries suf-fer this problem, it seems to beaimed to a large extent against theUS. One cannot avoid thinking howthe foreign policies of the US havebeen a major cause. Among thosepolicies are: the presence of UStroops in Arab countries; US sup-port for dictatorships throughoutthe world; the widespread use oftorture and humiliation in US-run

Cesar Chelala

Why peace not war..?

NEW Year Resolution (writtenon 31 December, 2013 refreshed on 27 October, 2014

and still even more relevant Today dueto LoC violations. From Pakistan WithLove to All the Indians… Ring out thethousand wars of old, Ring in the thou-sand years of peace. Posted atwww.snayyar.com by Syed NayyarUddin on December 31, 2013 refreshedon 27 October, 2014 While wishing allthe Indians a very happy and prosper-ous new year 2104, we would like toinform everyone in India that if at allwe have to be friends, then that friend-ship must be in true sense; and we mustnot act and behave with each other, in ahypocritical manner.

Let India and Pakistan be friendsin true sense or else let the leaders ofboth the countries inform the teem-

ing millions of the sub-continentthat an India vs Pakistan all outnuclear war, is an option. It mustbe clear to all the civilian andmilitary leaders in India that as-suming (just theoretically) with-out any Pakistani retaliations, if

India (God forbid) reduces the entirePakistan to rubbles, with a nuclearattack, India too won’t be able to sur-vive the radiation, which will reducethe vast agricultural lands in IndianPunjab and other areas, totallyuncultivable for hundreds of years,leaving millions of Indians to die, ofhunger and diseases.

And as per the more plausiblescenario, if Pakistan decided to emptyall and entire its nuclear arsenal, ei-ther as a first strike or second strike,almost entire India will be vaporised.And as calculated by the scientists,this all out nuclear exchange betweenIndia and Pakistan, will raise so muchdust that the entire planet Earth, willhave a complete blackout of sun raysfor decades, resulting in a dooms dayday scenario for every living organ-

ism on Earth. Moreover, no foreignerwill even think of staying and visit-ing india, with so much high radia-tion everywhere.

Indian nuclear policy decisionmakers must know in advance thatnuclear wars are absolutely no option,with very close neighbours. In such ageographical and military situation,which exists between India and Paki-stan, nuclear war is a zero sum game,if at all, it is a game. We would alsolike to assure the Indians that even ifwe wanted we can’t conquer India. Atthe same time even if India wanted, itcan’t pull down Pakistan, without In-dia being destroyed, as well. So, whyto waste our time and energies in animaginary hatred policies. Why towaste our precious resources, in be-ing the prisoners of our past. Let usbury our bitter past and be friends intrue sense, like all the European coun-tries. Let us have a genuine peace. LetIndia remove all its strike corps fromthe border without any fear. Let us joinhands to wage a war against poverty,hunger, disease and illiteracy. Let us

turn this subcontinent into a bastionof peace and a heaven on earth. Ringout false pride in place and blood,The civic slander and the spite; Ringin the love of truth and right, Ring inthe common love of good. Ring outold shapes of foul disease, Ring outthe narrowing lust of gold; Ring outthe thousand wars of old, Ring in thethousand years of peace.

India and Pakistan just need aperiod of single decade of genuinepeace to turn around its fortunes toemerge as the most potent economicand cultural powerhouse of thisworld. The only condition is thegenuine and authentic peace like theone which exists in between the EUcountries. Don’t be afraid of prob-lems between the two countries, be-cause they will remain forever, butwe have to give priority to peaceover the problems. Let us make anew start with the slogan – Longlive the friendship of the teemingmillions of India and Pakistan.— The writer is Lahore-basedpolitical and strategic analyst.

prisons, particularly against pris-oners from Arab countries; andthe unconditional US support forIsrael’s policies in the Middle Eastto the detriment of Palestinians’rights and aspirations.

Rather than trying to under-stand those reasons, the US has leda brutal war against those it per-ceives as terrorists, killing thou-sands of innocent people in a stateof unending war of enormous eco-nomic cost. Rather than eliminat-ing terrorists, these policies onlyfuel the creation of new ones. AsMalala Yousafzai, the 17-year-oldNobel Peace Laureate Pakistaniyoung woman told PresidentBarack Obama: “While guns onlykill terrorists, education kills ter-rorism.” It is necessary to improvethe outlook of disenfranchisedyouth who may become involvedin violent activities. Poverty, dis-ease and terrorism can be bettersolved through education, by ad-equately responding to people’sjust grievances and by emphasiz-ing policies that address justice andhuman rights concerns. The writer,M.D and PhD, is an internationalpublic health consultant and a win-ner of the Overseas Press Club ofAmerica award.— Courtesy: The Japan Times

A growing pimple..!

IT was just the other day whiletravelling down south, I was inconversation with a couple who

had raised three kids, when themother chuckled and said, “I re-member the time my daughterwanting to take leave in college,bluffed her principal she had to gofor a wedding!” “And the next daythe principal asked for the weddingcard!” continued the father laugh-ing to himself.

“Then what happened?” Iasked grinning. “We quicklyprinted a fictitious wedding cardand gave it to her,” they bothchortled, and burst out laughing. I

was stunned! What did the childlearn? That it was okay to lie, to coverup when caught!

And the tales go on: A year agowhile serving as a trustee in a reli-gious organization which publishedbooks, I discovered that the chairman,a revered man in the community hadbroken every rule in the book to seehe had continued as chairman for thepast twenty four years, even oversee-ing a clause in the rules that said thechairman had to have a year’s breakevery four years. In the course of con-tinuing in office he had broken otherrules of the trust and I brought this tothe ears of the members at a boardmeeting.

“Don’t make a noise about it!”said another religious leader, a char-tered accountant, “It is only apimple!” This from an organization

which was supposed to spread thetruth! Lately, in the months preced-ing the general elections, I watchedthe whole of India reacting to cor-ruption.

First it was total; blind faith inthe Aam Aadmi party where themovement was an anti-corruption oneand in one sweep the party more orless swept Delhi, only to show laterthey had feet of clay. In dismay thevoters turned to a bearded man whopromised to clean up the system, andenmasse voted for him. Today theywait with baited breath as they hopethat he with giant broom, and withthe soap and water of truth will wipeIndia squeaky clean.

It is sad that we as a nation waitfor such a miracle, sad that we actu-ally think corruption can be got ridoff from the outside. Sad, we think

with stronger laws there will be lessuntruth. Corruption feasts on thatso called pimple that has grown per-manent in all of us. From traffic sig-nals to balance sheets we lie.

Our prime minister may gofrom country to country peddlingour wares, but it will take a hugechange within ourselves for theworld to trust us. We need to changeourselves. Let a ‘yea’ be a yea anda ‘nay’ be a nay and no need foraffidavits, registering, stamp paperand courts to say who is right andwho is wrong.

Our word should reveal thetruth. And till that happens Modican wave his wand as ferociouslyas he tries, but corruption will stay,because that so called pimple is nowa spreading mountain range..!—Email: bobsbanter@gmail.com

Pak-Iran trade potential

RELATIONS between Pakistan and Iran are deeplyrooted in history and are nur-

tured by commonalities of religion,culture and traditions. The geographi-cal proximity of the two countriessharing a common border and theirstrategic location in the region bringsthem further closer to each other. Re-lations between both countries oftenconcern with security issues such assmuggling, drug trafficking and en-croachment of non-state actors alongthe border areas. But bothneighbouring countries are enjoyingtheir relations in economic sector. Pa-kistan and Iran traded US $265 Mil-lion worth of goods.

Trade between Pakistan and Iranpeaked to US$1.32 billion in 2008-2009 but subsequently declined andis presently around US $265 million.The elected governments in bothcountries want to boost trade whichremained low due to internationalsanctions on Tehran. However, sev-

eral other countries like China, Rus-sia and India were able to resist thesesanctions and maintained trade rela-tions with Iran. The trade volumebetween the two countries remainedlow despite signing of a preferentialtrade agreement on March 4, 2004,which became operational in Septem-ber 1, 2006. Nevertheless, it is un-derstood that the two countries havea much higher trade volume throughinformal channels, i.e., smugglingand through the third country trans-actions.

Pakistan has identified fiveplaces for setting up trading centrsalong thePak-Iran border, i.e., Taftan-Minjaveh, Ladgashtjalaq, Parome-Kuhak, Mand-Peshin and Santsar-Nobandan.The purpose of these com-mon border markets is to sell goodsat a concessional rate of customs dutyand other taxes in order to control thegrowing cross border illegal trade. IPgas pipeline will further enhance eco-nomic cooperation between the twocountries. At present, major com-modities exported to Iran by Pakistaninclude rice, meat, paper, paperboard,textiles, fruits (particularly mangoesand oranges), sesame seeds,

chickpeas, beans and surgical goods.Rice enjoys the lion’s share of ap-proximately 35%, followed by Meat20% and Paper and Paper board 19%.The major commodities importedfrom Iran include organic chemicals,plastic,minerals, oil, iron and steel.

The two countries have agreed toopen bank branches and currencyswap but the issues are still incon-clusive. Iran had offered that Iran’sBank Milli and Pakistan’s NationalBank could open branches on recip-rocal basis but this process is takingtime. The mode of business transac-tions is through the Asian ClearingUnion (ACU), which is more timeconsuming than a normal letter ofcredit (LC). Opening a letter of creditthrough Iran’s sister companies inDubai also adds to the cost and ben-efits only Dubai banks.

It would be far more profitableif trade was permitted in local cur-rencies instead of dollars. Thereshould be no embargo on Pakistan-Iran trade as other countries of theworld are also doing trade with Iran.Pakistan has banking channels withvarious countries worldwide andtherefore no reason only Iran be ex-

cluded in this respect. Both Paki-stan and Iran have joint chambersof commerce with a number ofcountries. These forums mainlymanaged by the private sector goa long way in facilitating growthof bilateral commercial relations.Pakistan needs to have a jointChamber of Commerce with Iranas well. It will facilitate greater in-teraction between the private sec-tors of the two countries. Moreover,both countries should try to divertinformal trade to legal channels bychecking smuggling, revision oftrade policies and reduction of tar-iff and non-tariff barriers.

It is difficult to check smug-gling through administrative mea-sures. The best way is throughelimination or reduction of tariffand non-tariff barriers. Iran andPakistan need to increase economicrelation in face of evolving regionalsituation and depressed interna-tional economic growth. Trade isbest way to strengthen and sustainmutual relations in changing inter-national scenario.—The writer is freelancecolumnist.

S Nayyaruddin Ahmad

Email:nayyar51@hotmail.com

Khurram MinhasEmail: khurram.minhas89@yahoo.com

ways received a cold, rather negative,response from New Delhi. Pakistanhas, hence, rightly decided to re-raisethe issue at the international level andin the UN.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifduring his address to the UN Gen-eral Assembly forcefully advocatedthe cause of Kashmiris and urged theUN to play a role in the resolution ofthe dispute through the implementa-tion of its own resolutions. The Ad-visor on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Azizhas also written to the Secretary Gen-eral UN to play a role in ending fir-ing by Indian troops along the LoCand the Working Boundary. At thesame time, a clear message has alsobeen conveyed to India by the PrimeMinister and the military leadership.

Indian stance that after signingSimla Agreement, Pakistan could notinternationalize the Kashmir issue isabsolutely wrong. Article 103 of theUN charter enunciates that the UNresolution on Kashmir will take pre-cedence over all other internationalagreement on the same issue. So Pa-kistan is very much within its rightsto invoke UN resolutions, after hav-ing failed to find a solution throughbilateral arrangement. Therefore,peace overtures by Pakistan shouldnot be misconstrued as a weakness.Avoiding armed conflict and buryingthe hatchet are the only available op-tions for the nuclear neighbours tobring peace in the region and chang-ing the fate of millions of people liv-ing below the poverty line on bothsides of the border.—Islamabad

RememberingField Marshal

RAJA GHAZANFAR ALU KHAN

It is 27th October, 1958, when the poli-ticians had failed to deliver and theoffice of the Prime Minister was re-duced to the level of the game of mu-sical chairs rendering the country as alaughing stock for the world around,a martial law was imposed by FieldMarshal Muhammad Ayub Khan, whothen remained the President of Paki-stan up to 25th March 1969. Most ofthe historians term it a period of dicta-torship of Ayub Khan but it can not bedenied that it was one of the best gov-ernment of Pakistan, except a few un-pleasant acts committed by AyubKhan. It is an undeniable fact and thepeoples of Pakistan, by and large, ac-cept it that it was one of the most dig-nified and glorious period in the his-tory of Pakistan because of the reasonthat Pakistan became one of the mostprosperous and developed country ofthe world with a strong industrial baseand infrastructure.

He introduced the latest methodsin agriculture. He focussed on mean-ingful quality education, introducedbest-ever curriculum for schools andestablished the new university cam-pus slightly out of towns and citiesin open spaces so that students shouldstudy with great concentration in anoiseless area. He improved the edu-cational system. He installed devel-opment infrastructures and completedmany projects of canals, dams, elec-tricity power generation stations,emergency tracks of railway line fromDera Ghazi Khan upto Kashmore. Heintroduced the project of nuclearpower plants. Pakistan Television wasalso a gift of Ayub Khan to the na-tion. The law and order situation re-mained under control during wholeperiod of regime.

No criminal could dare to com-mit any heinous crime because he hadmotivated all the police officers tomake Pakistan as a crime free coun-try. Ayub Khan enforced discipline inthe working of all government officesand no clerk and officer could dareto keep the applications of the com-plainants in pending. All officers had

to take prompt action to redress thecomplaints and others problems ofthe people in the shortest possibletime. Ayub Khan was a true patriotwho served the nation and the coun-try with full devotion and commit-ment. May Allah rest his soul in eter-nal peace.—Rawalpindi

Entry testDR A P SANGDIL

About two-decades old practice ofconducting an entry test to be eligiblefor admission in professional collegeshas suddenly become controversial.The Punjab government wants theentry test abolished perhaps to ac-commodate the sons and daughtersof the grandees in politics. Even theeducation is politicised. I recall mydays in high school in Lalamusa backhome when most of us pedalled ourbicycles or travelled by Tangas to at-tend classes.

Until late, Lalamusa had beenknown a city of Tangas. There wasno concept of cheating in class orduring the exams. Teaching in classresulted in spending the whole periodstanding and few lashes by none otherthan the big man, the headmaster.Things changed. When cheating be-came common and booty mafia ac-tive, the only way out was the entrytest to provide an even playing fieldboth to students belonging to the in-fluential class and ordinary folks. Itdid not suit the elite class hence someway around it, citing different flimsyexcuses, had to be evolved. CMPunjab may realise that children oflower and middle classes deserve hisattention more than children of therich who easily manage to go abroadfor studies.—Oslo, Norway

A pseudoMaulanaWASEEM KHAN

Ever since I heard Maulana Fazal urrehman uttering filthy language aboutthe ladies/girls in PTI’s Dharna atIslamabad, I am so infuriated that hiswords are always haunting me. Al-though I am not a PTI supporter, yetI went there with my family includ-ing my mother, wife, sister and twokids as they wanted to see the excitedparticipants of the dharna with theirown eyes. They sat in the womenenclosure with other ladies and spentabout two hours there.

As I was standing close to theenclosure, I could see the ladies andyoung girls waving and chanting slo-gans but did not see even a singlelady/ girl dancing. I want to tell himthat all my family members are prac-ticing Muslims and my wife has alsooffered Hajj (Alhamd o Lillah). Thewords that he has used I can’t eventhink of using this language for anywoman. I wonder how could he becalled a Maulana by my countrymen.The pseudo religious leaders like himhave done more harm to our religionthan the ones who don’t practice Is-lam in the real sense of the term. MayAllah always save us from such evilcharacters.—Rawalpindi

PETER RUTLAND

THE statement that Vyacheslav Volodin,Putin’s deputy chief of staff, made atthe Valdai Club in Sochi that there is

no Russia without President Vladimir Putinis, on the face of it, absurd. But it does cap-ture the extraordinary dependency of theRussian political system, as it is currentlyconfigured, on the role of a single individual.

While the Valdai Club drew scholars,journalists and Putin apologists to Sochi,some 400 Russia-watchers gathered at theannual conference of the Aleksanteri Insti-tute in Helsinki, probably the world’s largestcenter for the study of Russia, which ran fromOct. 22 to 24.

Putin has unequivocally signaled thatRussia does not see itself as part of Eu-rope.

The mood in Helsinki was somewhatdarker than the mood in Sochi. The an-nexation of Crimea and the destabiliza-tion of Ukraine has unleashed a downwardspiral in the dynamics of Russia’s foreignand domestic policy, with no immediateend in sight.

On the external front, most presentersagreed that Putin has unequivocally sig-naled that Russia does not see itself as partof Europe, nor does it want to play by therules of the international game. Westernsanctions, lecturing or hand-wringing isunlikely to change this state of affairs any-time soon.

The turning point in Russian thinking

How Much Longer Can Putin’s System Last?was not Crimea in March this year, but Geor-gia in August 2008. That was the first timeafter 1991 that Russia deployed troops acrossan international border, followed by diplo-matic recognition of the sovereignty of theself-proclaimed republics of Abkhazia andSouth Ossetia.One can also expect some kind of mobilizationof Russia’s wide and diverse ranks of regionalbosses, who are on the front line in the face ofpopular discontent with austerity measures, ora losing war.

There is plenty of blame to go aroundfor this state of affairs. Russia saw the West’srecognition of the independence of Kosovoin February 2008 as the crucial turning point,breaking with the norm of the inviolabilityof post-socialist state borders that had beenfollowed by all sides since 1991. When thefederations of Czechoslovakia, Yugoslaviaand the Soviet Union broke up, the bordersof their constituent republics were recog-nized as international borders, which can-not be changed without the consent of bothparties to the dispute. The U.S. violated thisnorm by recognizing the independence ofKosovo.

On the domestic front, Putin’s “national-ization of the elite” — bans on foreign bankaccounts and even foreign travel — is nowbeing accompanied by a “nationalization ofthe people.” A groundswell of enthusiasm forCrimea and eastern Ukraine seems to havereached all corners of Russian society.

Searching for historical parallels, some inHelsinki argued that the unity of the people

and the leader is reminiscent of Mussolini’sItaly. Ten years ago, they would have saidBerlusconi’s Italy, but the crackdown on po-litical dissent and the use of force in Georgiaand Ukraine means that it is no longer a jok-ing matter.

There was disagreement over whetherPutin’s Novorossia project in Ukraine is bestseen as an example of imperialist thinking orRussian nationalism, and whether there is a planfor expansion or just ad hoc, pragmatic re-sponses to rapidly changing circumstances.

Russia’s external isolation feeds into thedomestic nationalization. Putin’s political re-gime now needs external pressure in orderto survive. With the imposition of sanctions,and Putin’s self-lacerating counter-sanc-tions, the Kremlin has shifted from “tight-ening the screws” on the opposition to “tight-ening the belts” of the Russian people as awhole.

Most of the observers at the Aleksantericonference were of the opinion that this state ofaffairs cannot last for long, with the Russianeconomy being the key point of vulnerability— especially in an era of sliding oil prices. The“optimists” argued that the system can staggeron for maybe five years, whereas the “pessi-mists” saw the wheels coming off in the nexttwo years.

China could be crucial in buying Putinsome extra time. This is not just a questionof lending money to bail out Russian compa-nies and pay for much-needed capital invest-ments. China is also psychologically impor-tant for Putin. He is driven — as are many

Russians — by a quest for recognition as agreat power. He has not received this fromthe West, so China could be the audiencehe needs to convince himself that Russia isaccepted as a respected leader on the worldstage. It is not clear whether China wantsto fully engage with this role, either eco-nomically or politically.

The most likely scenario for regimechange, presumably, is some variant of a“color revolution” — popular protests thatthe security forces, sensing a change in thepolitical landscape, refuse to suppress. Insuch a crisis, parliament will emerge as arallying point for a replacement elite — ashappened in Russia itself in 1991 and (un-successfully) in 1993.

One can also expect some kind of mobili-zation of Russia’s wide and diverse ranks ofregional bosses, who are on the front line inthe face of popular discontent with austeritymeasures, or a losing war.

It is still possible for Putin to step backfrom the brink. It is probably too late totry rebuilding relations with the U.S. Butmost of the European leaders would bevery happy to try to return to business asusual — that is, Russia and the EU pre-tending that they are partners, despite allthe evidence to the contrary. Whateverhappens, Russia cannot rely on Putin for-ever.

—Courtesy: MT [Peter Rutland is a professor of govern-

ment at Wesleyan University in Middletown,Connecticut]

JENNIFER RUBIN

WE ARE counting down the days not only to the midterm election but to the Nov. 24 deadline in the P5+1Iran talks. The latter seem to be stalled — and that’s

the good news.Iran is publicly repudiating the basis of any deal that would

be acceptable to the West, which would require dismantling ofits nuclear weapons program:

Iran will not accept any “backward steps” on its nuclear pro-gram, specifically on the enrichment of uranium, a top officialsaid Saturday, dismissing US calls for more curbs. “Deputy For-eign Minister Abbas Araqchi, a member of Iran’s nuclear talksteam, was responding to comments by the lead US negotiatorWendy Sherman who called on Iran to “finish the job.”

Sherman’s remarks came in a speech given Thursday at aWashington think-tank where she cited the “size and scope” ofIran’s enrichment as a barrier to a deal. Iran’s leaders would verymuch hope that the world would conclude that the status quo —at least on this pivotal subject — should be acceptable, but obvi-ously it is not,” she said. Araqchi rejected Sherman’s sugges-tion. “We will not back down on our nuclear rights but we areready to take transparency and confidence-building measures,”the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.

It is a measure of how little leverage we have deployed andhow little Iran fears the consequences of refusing to dismantleits program that Iranian officials sound the same as they did morethan a year ago. Although the Obama team insists no deal isbetter than a bad deal, it is seems the team is panic-stricken atthe thought they might reach the deadline with no “final agree-ment.” Iran has so spooked our negotiators that the administra-tion now believes it has more to lose than Iran (who, one wouldthink, would face even more damaging sanctions).

Whatever leverage sanctions afforded us is wasted if the presi-dent is in a mindset that his job is prevent the failure of negotia-tions rather than to prevent Iran from going nuclear.

A new deal is not out of the question. “Iran may not be will-ing to take ‘backward steps’ but one shouldn’t discount the pos-sibility that there are cascade of US concessions before Nov. 24that concede to Iran a higher starting enrichment cap than cur-rently on the table followed by multi-phased and escalating en-richment capacity over a period of time, says Mark Dubowitz ofthe Foundation for Defense of Democracies. “This technicalcompromise may permit the Iranians to argue that they haven’ttaken any steps backward since they have increased their latentenrichment capacity while the administration argues that it willtake Iran some years to get back their actual enrichment levels towhere they are today.”

That of course would never pass muster with Congress butObama might be long gone by the time any deal would require apermanent suspension of sanctions. And that brings us to thebetter news. There is still a good chance the administration can’tmake enough concessions to satisfy the mullahs. If so, Iran willclaim success in defying the Great Satan. But by the same tokenIran will not have the protective cover of agreement as its illicitweapons program continues, nor will it enjoy the suspension ofsanctions the president has promised. That seems to leave eitherno deal or yet another extension, which is becoming the newstatus quo (i.e. Iran dismantles nothing and we dole out mea-sured relief from sanctions). The latter seems increasingly likely,according to news reports:

With talks nearly deadlocked and their deadline one monthaway, six world powers seeking a nuclear deal with Iran havebegun discussing whether to again extend negotiations, accord-ing to Western officials. Officials say they believe a deal is stillpossible by the Nov. 24 deadline, but recognize that the odds arelong and want to avoid a collapse of talks that could heightentension.

Notice how the administration thinks: The threat of enhancedsanctions on Iran is subsumed to our fear of heightened tension(i.e. the president might have to do something).

Perpetuating the status quo tells Iran it has nothing to fearfrom remaining in defiance of the West. But, to be honest, thatvery well may be the case under President Obama, who doesn’tmention the military option anymore and has promised to vetonew sanctions. Iran knows this, honest Western observers knowit and Israel and our Sunni allies know it.

—Courtesy: Washington Post

Has a deal withIran stalled?

JAMES J. ZOGBY

WITH mid-term elections only weeks away, I am onceagain being asked by Arab friends to explain my support for the Democratic Party.

They maintain, not unfairly, that neither of the two majorparties — Democratic and Republican — have commendablerecords on issues affecting the Arab world.

As our annual Arab American Institute congressional voteguides establish, majorities in both parties have horrible votingrecords on Arab American concerns. So how does one choosefor which party to vote and on what to base one’s vote? In re-sponse to these questions, I explain the roots of my political think-ing — with lessons I learned both from my mother and from myown life experiences.

One of the clearest examples of my mother’s thinking cameback in 1996 when she was being interviewed on Good MorningAmerica. They were doing a story on that year’s election andwanted to know why she, an 89-year-old Catholic woman, wasvoting for Democrats. In her responses to the reporter, mom re-lated how her life had shaped her politics.

In the matter of fact that was her style, my mother began bytelling how when her Lebanese immigrant family arrived in north-east Pennsylvania at the turn of the 20th century, it was the Demo-cratic Party that welcomed them, helping them find their way inthe New World.

They lived in the heart of coal country and most of theirneighbours were immigrants from Ireland or Eastern or Cen-tral Europe who worked long tough hours in the mines. It wasthe Democrats, she said, who fought for their rights and pro-tected their interests. When the Great Depression hit hard, itwas Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal that put people back towork and created an economic safety net for those most im-pacted by the crisis.

Moving forward, my mother noted the role of the party indefending civil rights, social security, medical care, andprogrammes that addressed the needs of the poor, the disabledand at-risk children.

In short, Mom grew up not only believing that governmenthad a responsibility to lend a helping hand to those who neededit. She had seen, first hand, government fulfilling those respon-sibilities and serving the greater good.

When I was in my rebellious teens, I read the ultra-Conserva-tive Ayn Rand and became enamoured of Barry Goldwater’s “Con-science of a Conservative”. My mother would have none of it.One day, as I was spouting off about individualism and the evils ofgovernment, she pointed a disapproving finger in my face and toldme: “If it weren’t for social security survivor benefits [which I hadbeen receiving since my father’s death when I was 15], you’d beout working right now instead of being in school, and if it weren’tfor the New York State scholarship you’d won, we wouldn’t havebeen able to afford to send you to college.”

She concluded with: “Don’t deny to others what you takefor yourself.” The phase through which I had been going wastypical stuff for teens — a kind of infantile narcissism whereyou think only of yourself. Mom’s injunction was, in short,to grow up, get over my self-absorption, and see the biggerpicture of the benefits we receive from and the responsibili-ties we have towards others. My rebellion was short lived.

—Courtesy: JT

‘My values, my vote’

Peshmerga forces to enterKobani via Turkey

BEIRUT—Peshmerga forces, theKurdish Regional Government’s mili-tia in Iraq, will be airlifted to Turkeyand then cross the border to enter thebesieged Syrian town of Kobani to fightISIL militants, a Kurdish official said.

“Peshmerga forces have two waysto reach Kobani: by air and by land,”Halgurt Hikmet, spokesman for theMinistry for Peshemerga Affairs, toldthe Anadolu Agency on Tuesday.

The spokesman said long negotia-tions were held as to the route for trans-portation of heavy arms via ground, andthat all plans and programs were com-

OBSERVER REPORT

NEW YORK—Pakistan Am-bassador to US Jalil AbbasJilani addressing APPNA’sFall Meeting in New Yorkemphasized the community’srole in deepening and strength-ening the bonds of friendshipbetween Pakistan and theUnited Statesand the highpriority theGovernment ofPakistan at-tached to thewelfare of theP a k i s t a n idiaspora.

A m b a s s a -dor Jilani fe-l ici tated Dr.Asif Rehman,the outgoingPresident ofAPPNA, for successfullysteering APPNA during histerm. He also welcomed Dr.Mubashir Rana, the Presi-dent-elect of APPNA for2015 and renewed his com-mitment to further strength-

Jilani stresses deepeningof Pak-US friendship

ening the Embassy’s partner-ship with APPNA and the Pa-kistani-American commu-nity.

In recognition of his effortsfor outreach to the Pakistani-American community, includ-ing APPNA, Ambassador Jilaniwas presented a shield of appre-ciation by APPNA’s President,

Dr. AsifRehman. Whileappreciatingthe dynamicrole of Ambas-sador Jilani, Dr.Rehman re-marked that theEmbassy wasproactively ad-d r e s s i n gcommunity’sconcerns andits extensiveoutreach to the

community had yielded a greatdeal of positivity.

The speakers highlightedAPPNA’s activities in mobi-lizing the community and itswork in healthcare and socialsectors in Pakistan and the US.

Chinese VP meetsJapanese governors

delegationBE I J I N G —China’s vicepresident met Tuesday witha delegation of governorsfrom Japan amid strained bi-lateral ties, a rare high-levelmeeting that points toJapan’s hopes of a summitbetween the two countries’leaders at a regional confer-ence next month.

Vice President LiYuanchao told the group,which was led by the presi-dent of Japan’s National Gov-ernors’ Association, KeijiYamada, that China hopes foran improvement in relationsthat have been soured over anislands dispute.

A brief account of themeeting from China’s offi-cial Xinhua News Agencyalso said Li referred to “thespirit of drawing lessonsfrom history,” pointing toChina’s displeasure withstatements from Japanesepoliticians seen as minimiz-ing Japanese responsibilityfor its brutal World War IIinvasion and occupation ofmuch of China.

Such meetings havegrown extremely rare follow-ing a major deterioration inties two years ago after Japannationalized a group of unin-habited islands claimed byboth countries.

The sides are also feud-ing over Japanese leaders’visits to a Tokyo shrine to thespirits of the country’s wardead, including executed warcriminals, as well as PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe’s newinterpretation of Japan’spacifist constitution that al-lows the military to defendthe US and other allies un-der what is known as collec-tive self-defense.

The disagreements havecast a shadow over possibili-ties for a first-ever meetingbetween Abe and ChinesePresident Xi Jinping duringan Asia-Pacific EconomicCooperation summit inBeijing next month.—Reuters

India to supplynaval warwares

to VietnamNEW DELHI—India will soonbe supplying naval vessels toVietnam, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi said on Tues-day, the first significant mili-tary transfer to Hanoi at a timewhen it is embroiled in a terri-torial dispute with China.

The announcement cameafter Modi held talks with hisvisiting Vietnamese counterpart,Nguyen Tan Dung, during whichthe two sides agreed to modern-ize the Vietnamese military aswell as raise Indian involvementin Vietnam’s energy sector.

Both India and Vietnamhave territorial disputes withChina - India in the Himalayasand Vietnam in the South ChinaSea. New Delhi and Hanoi arebeefing up defenses even asthey ramp up commercial tieswith China, the world’s sec-ond-largest economy.

Claims by an increasinglyassertive China over most of theSouth China have set it directlyagainst U.S. allies Vietnam andthe Philippines. Brunei, Taiwanand Malaysia also claim partsof the waters.—Reuters

DAMASCUS (Syria)—The middle-aged sales-man sat glumly among an array of shorts, khakileisure suits bedecked with gold belts and dresseswith plunging necklines in the ancient Damascusbazaar - luxuries few can afford in today’s Syria.

He, like many traders, lost most of his cus-tomers when Syria’s uprising erupted in 2011against the rule of President Bashar Assad, andhis new clientele is far poorer: Syrians fleeingthe fighting with barely any possessions.

Now, he fears there’s even worse to come, asthe US-led bombings of the Islamic State group tar-get the country’s modest oil reserves under the mili-tants’ control, sending oil and diesel prices soaring.

The effect is rippling through the economy,and traders fear they won’t be able to absorb theincreased costs, pushing them out of businessand unraveling yet another key sector of Syriansociety, already badly frayed by conflict.

“We are hearing there’s unimaginable pricesfor the winter,” said the 50-year-old clothingvendor, who gave only his first name Amin, re-ferring to the wholesalers he purchases from.“We have been through struggles before, but notlike this.” Like all traders who spoke to The As-sociated Press, he declined to provide his lastname, for fear of being identified as criticizingthe Syrian government.

Earlier this month, the government raisedthe subsidized price of diesel from 36 cents to48 cents a liter just before a major Islamic holi-

Unending war roilsSyrian economy

day. The price of heating oil went from 73 centsa liter to 85 cents.

The increased prices were tied to the U.S.bombing of small oil wells, tankers and pumpingstations under the control of the Islamic State groupin the eastern Syrian provinces of Deir al-Zour andHassakeh, which began in late September.

The militants had been selling the fuel at acut-rate price - including some $1 billion to theSyrian government - and the proceeds amountedto one of the group’s main sources of income,according to a Mideast-based Western diplomatwho spoke on condition of anonymity becausehe was not authorized to speak to the media.

Syria has modest oil reserves. Before theconflict it was pumping 360,000 barrels a day;since the fighting it has only managed 16,000barrels, said Syria economy expert Abdul-QaderAzouz. That has made it reliant on exports.

The knock-on effects of the latest fuel pricehike and continued bombings have already im-pacted the price of bread, yogurt and milk. Theprice of a loaf of unsubsidized bread rose to 97cents from 85 cents - more than four times the21-cent price tag before the crisis. Milk rose to$1.13 from $1. Before the crisis it was 30 cents.

The prices of other goods are likely to risein the next few weeks, said traders at the Dam-ascus bazaar, known as the Hamidiyeh Souk,who are an important measure of theeconomy’s pulse.—Agencies

An Iraqi Peshmerga soldier ready to enter Kobani to fight against ISIL.

pleted for the crossing of the border.“All preparations are complete and

the peshmerga will leave as soon aspossible to help defend Kobani,”Hikmet said.

Several Kurdish sources whospoke to the Anadolu Agency, on con-dition of anonymity, said Peshmergaforces would fly from the capital ofnorthern Iraq, Erbil, to the southeast-ern province of Sanliurfa and then

cross over into Kobani.Kobani, also known as Ayn al-Arab,

has witnessed fierce clashes betweenIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant

militants and armed Kurdish groupssince mid-September as well asairstrikes by a U.S.-led coalition sinceearly August.

The spokesman denied allegationsthat peshmerga forces would just trainKurdish fighters and provide logisti-cal assistance in Kobani, saying hisforces would also fight against ISILmilitants.

Hikmet also praised the Turkish

government for its efforts which he saidwould provide secure and problem-freeaccess to the town. “Turkey helped ustoo much,” he added.

The regional government’s parlia-ment unanimously voted on Wednesdaylast week to send peshmerga forces viaTurkey to the besieged Syrian town ofKobani to fight against ISIL militants.

The town is currently being de-fended by the People’s Protection Units,the armed wing of the DemocraticUnion Party, which is listed by Turkeyas a terrorist group.

The vote at the regional parlia-

ment came two days after Turkeysaid it would help peshmerga forcesaccess Kobani through Turkish ter-ritory.—Agencies

this case, the accused allegedly made illegalappointments during their tenure and caused thenational exchequer a loss of Rs600 million.

The board decided to file a reference againstEx-Acting Secretary, Ministry of Housing andWorks Mola Bux Awan, and Director GeneralPak PWD Gulab Zameer. In this case, the ac-cused allegedly appointed 746 people in viola-tion of rules and regulations which caused a lossof Rs6.32 million to the national exchequer.

The board in a case against NasirMuhammad Ashraf, Director Harith GeneralTrading LLC Dubai, Aamir Saleem Anwar KhanChief Executive Chimera Pvt Ltd, Tahir SaleemAnwar Khan, Director Chimera Pvt Ltd andNasir Saleem Khan Chimera Pvt Ltd decided tofurther investigate the matter as a loss of Rs1.3billion has been caused to banks. It was directedto complete the investigation within four weeks.

The executive board authorised an inquiryagainst Managing Director (MD) and the man-agement of Pakistan Agricultural Storage andServices Corporation Limited. In this case theaccused persons are alleged for illegal recruit-

NAB graft reference soonFrom Page 1

ministers including Khawaja SaadRafique, Ahsan Iqbal and Asif Kirmani.The MQM will be represented by FarooqSattar and other leaders nominated by theparty. Prime Minister Sharif has also calledfor a report on the four developmentprojects.

During the meeting, the MuttahidaQaumi Movement delegation also took thePrime Minister Mian Mohammad NawazSharif into confidence over its relationswith the PPP. It may be mentioned herethat political relations between the MQMand PPP turned sour after PPP leader SyedKhursheed Shah made certain remarksagainst Mohajirs.

The prime minister was assisted dur-ing the meeting by Information Minis-ter Pervaiz Rashid, Minister for Rail-ways Khawaja Saad Rafique and Politi-cal Secretary to Prime Minister Dr AsifKirmani.

Sources have revealed that MQMdemanded Pakistan Muslim League-N tosupport the resolution in National As-sembly for the formation of a newMahajir province but Nawaz Sharif re-sponding to it said that procedure for for-mation of a new province is mentionedin the constitution according to whichthe resolution has to come from the pro-vincial assembly.

He further said that PML-N backs for-mulation of new provinces on administra-tive basis whereas the decision to supportthe stance would be taken after party con-

Nawaz for dialogueFrom Page 1

sultations.According to a report Prime Minister

Nawaz Sharif offered to act as a mediatorbetween the Muttahida Qaumi Movementand the Pakistan People’s Party in orderto narrow the differences that have arosebetween the two parties.

According to the sources, MQM ex-pressed their reservations over Karachioperation saying that MQM supports theoperation but is becoming the target aswell.

They urged the government to takenotice of extra judicial killings and deten-tions of MQM workers. MQM delegationsaid argument is healthy for country’swelfare and discord is the beauty of de-mocracy. Pakistan People’s Party andMQM should therefore resolve mutualdissent through dialogue.

MQM had parted ways with Sindhgovernment after opposition leader Na-tional Assembly Khursheed Shah of PPPtermed the word ‘Muhajir’ as abusive andthen chairman PPP made the ‘provocative’speech against MQM.

During the meeting, the premier alsocalled upon the democratically electedforces to work in unison for the develop-ment and progress of Sindh. Prime Minis-ter Nawaz said that a difference of opin-ion is the beauty of democracy and wasaimed at the country’s development andpeople’s betterment.

“Our constitution provides amplespace for debate to all democratic forces

in the country,” he said. The premier saidthat during the last few months, Pakistanhad witnessed an exemplary display of par-liamentary democracy and rule of law inwhich all political parties had expressedsolidarity with the system for ensuring thesupremacy of democracy and strengthen-ing of democratic institutions in the coun-try.

He asked members of the meeting towork for the unity and prosperity of Paki-stan and resolve mutual differencesthrough dialogue in a cordial manner.

The meeting with Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif was held in the backdrop ofdifferences between the MQM and PPPover Khursheed Shah’s statement over theword Mohajir.

Prime Minister Muhammad NawazSharif said that difference of opinion isthe beauty of democracy and should aimat country’s development and people’s bet-terment. Our constitution provides amplespace for debate to all democratic forcesin the country, he said.

Overall political situation in the coun-try, particularly in the province of Sindh,also came under discussion during themeeting.

The Prime Minister called upon thedemocratically elected forces to work inunison for the development and progressof Sindh. He asked them to work for theunity and prosperity of Pakistan and re-solve mutual differences through dialoguein a cordial manner.

Dar confidentFrom Page 1we shall pursue economic de-

velopment of the country nomatter what the impedimentsare. Recent events have indi-cated that democratic systemhas gained sufficient strengthin the country to overcomesuch self created difficulttimes.

He expressedgovernment’s firm resolve thatno obstacle or hurdle in invest-ment would be tolerated and noone will be allowed to playnegatively with the economyand the bright destiny of ourcountry. He pointed out thatPakistan’s Constitution, lawsand governance structure pro-tects foreign investment andthe Board of Investment willcontinue to facilitate the inves-tors as One Stop Shop. He be-lieved that foreign investmentwould contribute in makingPakistan world’s 18th biggesteconomy much earlier than2050, the year predicted by JimO’Neill. The Finance Minis-ter said due to government’sconcerted efforts, the economyhas already started comingback on track.Inflation hasbeen contained in single digitto 7.5% during the September2014 quarter of current fiscalyear FY15, as compared to8.1% of last year; revenue col-lection has improved by over13% over last year; foreignexchange reserves have im-proved to US$ 13.20 billion ason 24th October 2014; Re-mittances have grown by

19.5% over last year; Currentaccount posted a surplus inSeptember 2014 and KarachiStock Exchange is again per-forming well with the KSE In-dex trading back to around30,000 level and market capi-talization has reached againaround US$ 73.0 billion Hesaid Pakistan successfullytapped international capitalmarkets after a gap of sevenyears by issuing Euro Bondsworth US$ 2 billion; success-fully auctioned 3G-4G li-censes. As against the target ofRs. 50 – 79 billion in the lastfew years, the target of Rs. 120billion in FY14 was achieved.They still have two unsold li-cences worth Rs. 50 billion ap-proximately which will be auc-tioned at appropriate time.

The Minister said resump-tion of program lending byWorld Bank and ADB, has en-abled us to access some US$1.5 billion from these institu-tions; successful revival andresumption of the privatizationprogram enabled them to divestthe shares of United Bank Lim-ited (about US$ 400 million)and PPL (subscription Rs. 30billion, which is the highestever in our stock market his-tory; and realization of Rs. 15.3billion). Dar said the govern-ment is now moving to disin-vest OGDCL shares wortharound US$ 800 million whilework on issuance of Interna-

tional Sukkuk for US$ 1 bil-lion is also underway. He saidthe government has a long termdevelopment plan aimed at cre-ating a globally competitiveand prosperous country, withparticular emphasis on achiev-ing macroeconomic stabilitythrough inclusive growth. Weaim to achieve over 7% growthby FY 2018. It is also workingto improve the energy mix toavoid the need for tariff in-creases and to attract foreigndirect investment. He said in-vestment is a mirror image ofthe economy. It is unfortunatethat our investment has nose-dived to 12.6% on account ofexternal and domestic factors.To achieve and ensure sustain-able growth, increase in invest-ment-to-GDP is imperative.Therefore the government isfocused on improving invest-ment climate in the countrythrough the implementation ofInvestment Strategy 2013-17that hinges upon Public-PrivateSector Dialogue (PPD) forpolicy formulation; FDI Gen-eration and Promotion Cam-paign; Investment Facilitation(one window operation); Devel-opment of Special EconomicZones (SEZs) and coordinationnetworks with stake holders.He said the Board of Investmentis managing overseas and do-mestic investment conferencesand exhibitions to market theinvestment opportunities in Pa-kistan and to explore the pos-sible joint ventures.

west direction today with a speed of 6km/hourand its arrival in the adjoining coastal areas oflower Sindh and Indian Gujrat is expected onWednesday.

The lower Sindh region including Karachiand coastal areas of Balochistan should expectto receive widespread rain and heavy show-ers. Heavy rain and showers will be accom-panied by strong gusty winds, betweenWednesday and Friday. Also, betweenWednesday and Friday, the Pakistan coast willexperience very rough sea conditions.

The coastal belt of Sindh has been closedtill November 2 as Section 144 has been im-posed as a precautionary measure for CycloneNilofar. Section 144 has been imposed onthe coastal belt of Karachi, Thatta, Sajawaland Badin. Commissioner Karachi, ShoaibAhmed Siddiqui has asked the Pakistan Navy,Maritime Security Agency and Coast Guardto arrange the immediate return of fishermenfrom sea. The commissioner has also directedconcerned departments to ensure strict imple-mentation of Section 144, banning bathing andswimming in the sea as well as making beachsafety arrangements more effective. The Me-teorological Department states that Nilofar ismoving at 6 KM/Hr towards the north andnorthwest.

However it appears that few members ofthe Sindh Assembly are concerned about the

Cyclone NilofarFrom Page 1

damage that Cyclone Nilofar may inflict onthe province’s coastal areas. On Tuesdaywhen a lawmaker raised the matter of pre-cautionary measures taken by the governmentahead of the approaching storm, Speaker AghaSiraj Durrani was quick to hush the matteraway. “It looks like Nilofar could be a lady’sname,” Durrani joked. When a lady lawmakerinsisted that the House should know of thesafety measures taken in this regard, theSpeaker assured her that nothing could harmKarachi as long as Abdullah Shah Ghazi’stomb was near the sea. “(Saint) Abdullah ShahGhazi has saved us many times before and hewill save us this time as well,” he said.Durrani went on to say those afraid of‘Nilofar’ could move towards the Sindh’scountryside.

Severe tropical cyclone Nilofar, whichofficials say is intensifying gradually, is ex-pected to hit parts of Pakistan and India incoming days. According to an advisoryplaced by the Met department at its website,the cyclone is located at latitude 15.5°N andlongitude 61.9°E, about 1,140 kilometresouth-southwest of Karachi and 1,060kilometre south of Gwadar. The cyclone,which started developing in the northwestArabian Sea five to seven days ago, is ex-pected to bring heavy rainfall to Sindh’scoastal areas.—Onlin/INP

Ghani, Xi pledge long-termFrom Page 1

allocation to Kapco. Potentialexpansion in coal and possibledecline in exposure to circulardebt will further mitigate busi-ness risk, in our view.

Higher gas allocation willmassively lift profitability asmore gas will increase genera-tion, lower liquidated damagesand raise plant efficiency. Be-sides, it may also slow downthe buildup of circular debt,ease working capital and thusleave more funds for expan-sion in coal.

KSE-100From Page 1

Ebad acceptsFrom Page 1

Chairman, Bilawal BhuttoZardari’s public criticism againstMQM chief Altaf Hussain.

Meanwhile the Sindh Gover-nor on Tuesday signed the SindhLocal Government (Amendment)Bill 2014, transferring powers ofdelimitation to Election Commis-sion of Pakistan.—INP

that Afghanistan’s development goals areclosely aligned with China’s promotion ofregional cross-border economic develop-ment.

“We feel that our vision of Afghani-stan as a hub of regional trade, transitand peace would be an illustration ofyour vision of East Asia and South Asiacooperation,” Ghani Ahmadzai said.

To facilitate closer ties, Afghanistanwould like to a see a transport linkopened along the 76-kilometer (47-mile)border between the Wakhan Corridorand China’s far western Xinjiang region,Ghani Ahmadzai said.

The presidents also presided over thesigning of four agreements, includingones on economic and technical coop-eration.

China pledged to provide 2 billionyuan ($330 million) in grants to Af-ghanistan through 2017 and provide pro-fessional training for 3,000 Afghans overthe next five years, Kong Xuanyou, di-

ment in PASSCO during the interim period,May-June 2013. They are also accused of leak-ing examination papers, recruitment tests.

In a case against Senator Sehar Kamran re-garding alleged corruption, the misuse of au-thority and embezzlement of school funds col-lected from the students in the form of fee at thePakistan International School, Jeddah.

The board decided to probe into the matterin coordination with the Ministry of ForeignAffairs and Ministry of Overseas Pakistanisthrough their Welfare Attaches. A huge em-bezzlement in school fee has been reported inthis case.

In a case against China Harbor EngineeringCompany Ltd (CHCES), the board granted fourmore weeks to NAB Sindh for further inquiryinto the matter.

In this case the suspects are accused of Sus-picious Transaction Report on different dates tothe Financial Monitoring Unit, Government ofPakistan, under AML Act 2010 against their cus-tomers who were maintaining bank accounts atdifferent branches.

cused on bilateral relations, developments in Af-ghanistan and Pakistan Afghanistan relations andPakistan-India ties.

Pakistan’s support for a peaceful, stable,united and prosperous Afghanistan was reaf-firmed. “Pakistan was determined to open anew chapter in its relations with Afghanistan,”Aziz said and added Pakistan would extendsupport for an Afghan-led reconciliation pro-cess. The SRAP was told that Pakistan wasengaging with Afghanistan across a broad rangeof issues – including peace and security, tradeand economic ties, reconstruction and rehabili-tation, and regional cooperation. Pakistanhoped that the upcoming visit by Afghan Presi-dent Ashraf Ghani, would push this processforward.

Regarding relations with India, the Advisersaid, Pakistan wants normalization of relationswith India despite the recent provocations ofhostilities along the Line of Control and theWorking Boundary. The international commu-nity needed to support an early resumption ofthe peace process and a resolution of all out-standing issues including the core issue ofJammu and Kashmir.

Both the SRAP and the Adviser expressedtheir satisfaction on the progress being made inPakistan and US bilateral relations and agreedthat the current round of meetings of the Work-ing Groups on Strategic Dialogue should be com-pleted by the end of the year.

Mr. Dan Feldman acknowledged Pakistan’simportant contribution towards peace andstability and deeper engagement on issues oftrade and economic cooperation withAfghanistan. He said that the United States waswilling to extend its full support in this regard.On India, he agreed that there was a need toresume the dialogue process as expeditiously aspossible.

rector general of the Chinese ForeignMinistry’s Asia department, said afterthe signing ceremony.

Other assistance includes humanitar-ian materials worth 30 million yuan ($5million) and the extension of 500 gov-ernment scholarships to Afghans overthe next five years, Kong said.

China, which maintained contactswith the former Taliban government inthe 1990s, is also willing to play a con-structive role in promoting reconcilia-tion between all parties in Afghanistan,Kong said.

China’s importance to Afghanistanis expected to expand further after U.S.and allied combat troops leave by theend of the year, illustrating Kabul’s de-sire to end its dependency on the West.For its part, China is concerned aboutinstability spilling over into Xinjiang,where radicals among the native Uighurpopulation have launched a series of at-tacks in recent months.

Afghanistan hopes Chinese invest-ment will help make mining a corner-stone of its economy. Although it has anestimated $3 trillion worth of natural re-sources, including copper, iron ore, sil-ver, gold, coal, gems and minor metalssuch as chromite, little has been ex-ploited because of warfare and a lack ofinfrastructure. China is already active inoil production in the north of Afghani-stan.

On Friday, Ghani Ahmadzai is to at-tend this year’s Istanbul Ministerial Pro-cess, a regional dialogue on security,economic and political cooperationhosted by China for the first time.

The forum brings together Afghani-stan, Azerbaijan, China, India, Iran,Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Rus-sia, Saudi Arabia, Tajikistan, Turkey,Turkmenistan, the United Arab Emiratesand Uzbekistan. The U.S., Britain, otherWestern countries and international or-ganizations attend as observers.—AP

Sartaj: Pak to open new chapterFrom Page 1

Meanwhile, Federal Minister for Interiorand Narcotics Control, Chaudhry Nisar AliKhan on Tuesday demanded of the UnitedStates to stop drone attacks in Pakistan’sterritory permanently.

“The six months break in US drone attacksin Pakistan improved the relationship betweenthe two countries and it was appreciated by allsegments of the society,” he said during a meet-ing with a US delegation, headed by DanielFeldman, the Special Representative for Paki-stan and Afghanistan.

“United States should halt drone attacks inPakistan permanently in order to remove a seri-ous irritant in our relationship,” he added.

The minister said that sovereignty and self-respect are the cornerstones of Pakistan’s rela-tionships with other countries including theUnited States. “It is very important that the gov-ernment of United States understands Pakistan’spoint of view to address the differences by con-centrating on positives of our relationships.”

Both the countries have a history of rela-tionship based on shared values, said the inte-rior minister, adding that the history of strongbilateral ties dates back to 1950s.

An increased interaction amongst the peopleof both countries is need of the hour and greaterexchange of parliamentary delegations will con-tribute towards that, he added.

Feldman said that the US recognises andappreciates the sacrifices rendered by Pakistanduring the ongoing war on terror. He also saidthat United States supports democratic institu-tions in the country.

“At present, there is much better understand-ing between the two countries and both the gov-ernments will continue cooperation in varietyof fields,” the US special representative said.

US Ambassador to Pakistan, Richard Olsonwas also part of the delegation.

According to bomb dis-posal squad, however, the blastwas of a Russian-made handgrenade.

Security forces and policehave cordoned off the area.

Additional Inspector Gen-eral Police Ghulam QadirThebo said that unidentifiedmotorcycle riders threw thehand grenade from the flyover.He said that police were de-ployed at the Imambargah at thetime of the blast.

Grenade attackFrom Page 1

No increase intuition fee,maximum

subsidies since7 years: PUSTAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab UniversityRegistrar Prof Dr Liaqat Alihas said that under the leader-ship of Vice Chancellor Prof DrMujahid Kamran, Punjab Uni-versity has not increased tuitionfee in the last 7 years and wascharging lowest fee as com-pared to all other public andprivate sector universities. Hesaid that in terms of utilitycharges, PU was not shiftingburden to the pocket of poorstudents and providing subsi-dies and scholarships worthmillions of rupees.

He was addressing a pressconference at committee roomof Undergraduate Study Cen-tre flanked by Chairman HallCouncil Prof Dr MuhammadAkhter, Controller Examina-tions Prof Dr Shahid Munir,Director Students AffairsShahid Gul, Incharge ICS DrNoshina Saleem, AdditionalRegistrar 1 Dr Kamran Abid,Acting Treasurer RaoMuhammad Sharif, ResidentOfficer I Dr Sajid RashidAhmad and Additional Regis-trar II Malik MuhammadZaheer.

Addressing the press con-ference, Dr Ali said that PU hadthe largest transport systemwith 60 buses in its fleet andwas providing travel facilitiesto the students on the lowestrates. He said that PU busseswere operating far-reachingareas i.e Kamonke, Kasur andstudents were travelling foronly 9 rupees daily. “PU is pro-viding a subsidy of worth mil-lions of rupees on bearing die-sel expenditures,” he added.

He said that the PU admin-istration was purchasing busesevery year and it had recentlypurchased three new buses.“No any other university inPakistan was providing suchtransport facilities to the stu-dents,” he added. Dr Ali saidthat all the morning studentswere being provided with hos-tel accommodation on meritand PU was charging mini-mum fees and providing maxi-mum subsidy as compared toother public and private sec-tor universities.

Ukraineunlikely toreceive IMFloan tranchethis year:finance ministerKIEV—Ukraine is unlikelyto receive a second trancheof a $17-billion loanprogram from the Interna-tional Monetary Fund thisyear as expected, FinanceMinister OleksanderShlapak said on Tuesday,in the latest economic blowto the debt-ridden country.Ukraine, which has beenfighting pro-Russianseparatists in its east andstruggling to resolve amonths-long gas pricingdispute with Moscow,badly needs cash tosupport its budget, pay offdebts and prop up itsfaltering hryvnia cur-rency.—AP

Only SyrianOppositionandPeshmergacan saveKobaniANKARA—Turkey cannotbe expected to send troopsto defend the besiegedSyrian border town ofKobani and only IraqiKurdish peshmerga fightersand Syria’s own moderateopposition can save it,Prime Minister AhmetDavutoglu said. U.S.warplanes have beenbombing Islamic Statepositions near Kobani forweeks, but air strikes alonewill not be enough to repelthe insurgents, Davutoglusaid. “Saving Kobani,retaking Kobani and somearea around Kobani fromISIS, there’s a need for amilitary operation,” he saidin an interview with the BBCbroadcast on Tuesday. Butmade clear neither Turkeynor Western allies wouldcommit troops.—Reuters

JusticeJawwad SKhawajaappointedacting CJPISLAMABAD—PresidentMamnoon Hussain hasaccorded approval toappointment of SupremeCourt (SC) senior mostjudge Justice Jawwad SKhawaja as acting ChiefJustice of Pakistan (CJP)during the period of foreignvisit by CJP Nasir ul Mulk.As per presidentialspokesman, CJP Nasir ulMulk along with a delega-tion is proceeding onofficial visit of SouthKorea from October 31 toNovember 10 and JusticeJawwad S Khawaja, seniormost judge of SC will serveas acting CJP during thisperiod. —Online

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif shaking hands with Syed Khursheed Shah, Leader of the Oppositionin the National Assembly on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON—The Pentagon has re-vised its estimate of the cost of the USair war in Iraq and Syria, saying theprice tag for the campaign against theIslamic State group comes to about $8.3million a day. Since air strikes beganon August 8, the campaign — whichhas involved about 6,600 sorties byUS and allied aircraft — has cost $580million, said Pentagon spokesmanCommander Bill Urban. The DefenseDepartment had previously put theaverage daily cost of the military op-eration at more than $7 million a day.

The higher figure reflected the in-creased pace of air strikes and relatedflights, a defense official, who spokeon condition of anonymity, told AFP.But independent analysts say the De-fense Department is underestimatingthe genuine cost of the war effort,which began in mid-June with the de-

US air war on IS costing$8.3 million a day: Pentagon

ployment of hundreds of US troops tosecure the American embassy inBaghdad and to advise the Iraqi army.Some former budget officials and out-side experts estimate the cost of thewar has already exceeded a billion dol-lars, and that it could rise to severalbillion dollars in a year‘s time.

Todd Harrison of the Center forStrategic and Budgetary Assessmentsprojected the war could cost $2.4 to$3.8 billion a year, in an analysis is-sued on September 29.

If the intensity of the bombing raidsis expanded, the air war could cost asmuch as $4.2 to $6.8 billion per year,according to Harrison‘s report. One ofthe biggest drains on the budget forthe air war are the large number of sur-veillance and reconnaissance flightsthat bombing raids require, analystssay. The campaign, dubbed “Opera-

tion Inherent Resolve,” has seen thou-sands of spy flights and aerial refuel-ing runs. The cost of flying the spyplanes range from about $1,000 an hourfor Predator and Reaper drones to$7,000 an hour for high-altitude GlobalHawk drones, or as much as $22,000per hour for E-8 J-STAR (Joint Surveil-lance Target Radar Attack System) air-craft.

Funds for the air war are comingout of the Pentagon‘s de facto warbudget, the Overseas ContingencyOperations fund. Separate from theregular defense “base” budget, theOCO fund is often portrayed as a“credit card” to cover the costs of wars.Congress increased the OCO budgetto about $85 billion for last fiscal year,ending September 30. The proposedfund for the new fiscal year 2015 is dueto drop to $54 billion.—Online

LONDON—British PrimeMinister David Cameronhas reiterated that theUnited Kingdom wantsdeeper ties with India whilealso making it aptly clear thathis government will neverinterfere in the highly vexedKashmir issue.

The Conservative Partyleader was on Tuesdayquoted as saying to an In-dian TV news channel, “Weare two great democraciesthat face many of the samechallenges. We need moreeconomic growth, we needmore investment in trade.We both have to fight ex-tremism and terrorism.

ISLAMABAD—As the Supreme Court’s twoweeks deadline regarding the appointmentof permanent Chief Election Commissioner(CEC) expired Tuesday, Leader of Opposi-tion in the National Assembly KhursheedAhmad Shah has requested the supremecourt, seeking a three-month extension forthe completion of the process. The SupremeCourt on October 14 gave the federal gov-ernment two weeks to appoint a permanentCEC, or else it will withdraw its judge, Jus-tice Anwar Zaheer Jamali, who is currentlyserving as acting CEC.

Justice Jamali is the third consecutiveinterim chief of the ECP in less than oneyear. Earlier, the incumbent chief justice,Nasirul Mulk, and his predecessorTassaduq Hussain Jillani had served asacting CEC. Under Article 217 of the Con-stitution, the chief justice can appoint anyjudge of the SC as acting CEC. JusticeJawwad S Khawaja was offered the slot inJuly, this year – but he had excused him-self.

During the last hearing, Attorney Gen-eral for Pakistan Salman Aslam Butt had as-sured the court that the appointment of apermanent CEC will be made in 30 to 35 days.

The bench, however, insisted that the gov-ernment fill the constitutional post withintwo weeks. Now the court will take up thematter on October 30. Supreme Court (SC)has sought details from government within24 hours in respect of appointments of headsof institutions made through commissionand vacant posts. A 3-member bench of SCheaded by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP)Nasir ul Mulk took up for hearing GhulamRasool versus federation case Tuesday.

Attorney General (AG) appeared in thecourt. The CJP inquired from AG how manyheads of institutions had been appointed.AG told the court that heads of some of theinstitutions have been appointed and thecourt can be informed after checking.

Time may please be given in this regard.Justice Amir Hani Muslim inquired “ tell ushow the Competition Commission (CC) wasconstituted , who are included as membersof this commission and on whose orders CChas been formed. AG told the court that fed-eral tax ombudsman is a member and ShamsLakha and Dr Ejaz Nabbi are also membersof this commission. This commission hasbeen constituted in the light of SC orders inKhawaja Asif case.—Online

CEC appointment: Khursheedseeks 3 months space

SC wants details of vacant top positions

KARACHI—The Pakistan Army has steppedin for the relief of drought affected peopleof Thar in Sindh. The Army moved in thearea on the direction of Chief of Army StaffGeneral Raheel Sharif who asked the forcefor all out efforts to save lives and bringrelief to the people. According to the ISPR,four companies of Pakistan Army movedfrom Karachi on Monday night for reliefactivities in the drought-hit area.

The Army has established four rationdistribution camps at Chachro, Mithi and

Donai where 60 tons of ration contributedby the Pakistan Army will be provided tothe affected people. The Army has also setup four medical camps and placed two heli-copters in the area for the evacuation ofpeople in emergency. At least 900 droughtaffected families were provided food itemsand clean drinking water on Tuesday. Chiefof Army Staff (COAS), General RaheelSharif has specially directed local forma-tion to employ all required recourses to pro-vide relief to the affected families.—INP

Army moves to Thar for reliefof drought affected people

KARACHI—Commenting on PPP leaderKhursheed Shah’s controversial remarksover the word ‘Mohajir’ , Muttahida QaumiMovement (MQM) leader Rauf SiddiquiTuesday said that the issue is religious andnot political. Shah had dubbed wordMuhajir (migrant) a swearword four timesin his statements.

The MQM leader was addressing apress conference. He said that definition ofword Muhajir is clearly defined in the HolyQuran, adding that denying a single wordof the Quran is equivalent to blasphemy.He said appeals by the PPP to ignore

Khursheed Shah’s statement after his apol-ogy are not acceptable. “We condemnedthe maltreatment to Bilawal in London by agroup in Kashmir million march.”

Siddiqui also criticized PPP leader AitzazAhsan’s remarks about MQM recent pro-test against Khursheed Shah.

Ahsan had said that MQM is using re-ligion for politics. He said Aitzaz tried toconfuse religion with politics. “Yes, MQMis a liberal political party.but we are Mus-lims too,” the MQM leader said. He saidthe MQM chief Altaf Hussain directed theparty workers to show restraint.—Online

MQM hits back again atPPP amid bitterness

First Pakistanireceives Prince of

Asturias AwardOVIEDO, SPAIN—Broadcastjournalist and documentaryfilmmaker Shehzad HameedAhmad from Pakistan haswon the Prince of AsturiasAward - Spain’s equivalentof the Nobel Peace Prize - forhis work during Fulbrightscholarship which also in-cluded a documentary ‘ThePakistan Four’.

Ahmad received theaward from the King of SpainPrince Philipe on behalf of theFulbright Global Program forInternational Cooperation.Nelson Mandela, the reveredicon of the anti-apartheidstruggle in South Africa, hadalso been a recipient of thePrince of Asturias Award in1992. Ahmad’s documentarywas also the recipient of thebest documentary award atthe Indiana Short Film Festi-val 2014.

The film is in the runningat the Seattle South AsianFilm Festival as well. TheSeattle South Film Festivalwould also see other Paki-stani films ‘Anima State’ and‘Without Shepherds’ tyingfor an award. The Prince ofAsturias Foundation hasbeen confering the Prince ofAsturias Awards since 1981.

The awards are pre-sented at an academic cer-emony held each year inOviedo, the capital of thePrincipality of Asturias.

The aim of the founda-tion is to consolidate the ex-isting links between the Prin-cipality and the person whobears the title of Prince orPrincess of Asturias..—INP

Musharraf’smom arrivesin Karachi

IRFAN ALIGI

K A R A C H I — Z a r e e nMusharraf, ailing mother offormer President of PakistanGeneral (Retd) PervezMusharraf arrived at KarachiTuesday from Dubai. Shewas on a wheel chair aftershe was helped to get off thePIA plane. Emergency medi-cal kit and a oxygen cylinderwas with her. Soon after shelanded in the city, she wasshifted to hergranddaughter’s houseZamzama in Clifton whereMusharraf was staying.

All Pakistan MuslimLeague officials in the cityhad in this regard said theydid not have any informationabout the arrival of Mrs.Zareen Musharraf.

These are shared chal-lenges that Britain and In-dia should face together.”

The British Prime Minis-ter, who is seeking re-elec-tion in the 2015 polls, alsosought to woo the vast In-dian population living in UKby calling for greater ties be-tween the two countries.Cameron indicated that Brit-ain did not intend to inter-vene in the Kashmir disputebetween India and Pakistanby saying, “It is the engage-ment between the two na-tions and that is for thesecountries to lead thes debateon this issue and not for oth-ers to interfere.”—Online

Britain won’tinterfere in

Kashmir issue

A 40-year-old paralysed man from Poland can now walk again with theaid of a frame after breakthrough

surgery transplanted cells from his noseinto his spinal cord, which had been sev-ered in a knife attack. After undergoingsurgery to transplant cellsfrom his nose to his spinalcord, a paralysed man fromPoland is able to walkagain. The procedure ef-fectively provided a“bridge” over the injurysite so nerve cells - encour-aged by the special nosecells - could regrow acrossthe scar tissue.

Darek Fidyka was leftparalysed from the chestdown after suffering stabwounds to his back in2010. After 19 months oftreatment at a Polish hos-pital, his doctors say hehas recovered some vol-untary movement andsome sensation in his legs.Mr. Fidyka is continuing toimprove further than predicted - he is ableto drive and live more independently. Thenews brings hope to some of the 3 millionpeople worldwide living with spinal injury.It is thought the success of the proceduremay be partly due to the fact the injury wasa “clean cut.” It may not be suitable forpatients with more complicated spinal inju-ries.

The breakthrough represents decadesof pioneering work for Geoffrey Raisman, aprofessor in the Institute of Neurology atUniversity College London in the UK. In1969, he discovered that damaged nerve

cells can form new connections, and in1985, he identified that a type of nosecell - called an olfactory unsheathing cell(OEC) - allows nerve fibbers to regener-ate into the brain. These and other dis-coveries led Prof. Raisman and his team

to believe it would one daybe possible to regeneratenerve fibers in spinal cordsdamaged by injury.

When the spinal cord isdamaged, scar tissue formsat the injured site and stopsnerve fibbers from regrow-ing. Prof. Raisman had theidea the nerve fibbers mightregrow if they had a bridgeacross the scar. There fol-lowed many painstakingyears of searching for theright materials to producesuch a bridge. He and histeam focused on the nervecells responsible for senseof smell because they arethe only type of nerve cellknown to regenerate. Theybelieved OECs helped to

clear the way for the nerve cells to re-grow.

They undertook and published ani-mal studies where they transplantedOECs from the nose into injured spinalcords to stimulate the regrowth of nervecells in rats with paralysed limbs. Thesestudies attracted worldwide interest, in-cluding that of Pawel Tabakow, assis-tant professor in Neurosurgery atWroclaw Medical University in Poland,who began corresponding with Prof.Raisman and then invited him and histeam to Poland.

Paralysed man walks again afternose cells repair his spinal cord

Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Resources Jam Kamal Khan, Ambassadorof Hungary Istvan Szabo, Dean of Diplomatic Corps Rodolfo Martin Saravia, FormerMinisters Naveed Qamar and Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao cutting the cake during aceremony to celebrate the National Day of Hungary at a local hotel.—PO photo

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—First Lady, Begum MehmoodaMamnoon Hussain, Tuesday expressed her con-cerns at the rapidly changing values and normsin society with fast living style of youth. “Nodoubt, the world is changingfast and we need to cope withit yet once in a while, weshould pause and listen toour elders and pay attentionto their golden words that arecarrying for us rich moral, cul-tural and traditional values,”said she.

Mehmooda MamnoonHussain gave this passionatecall while addressing thelaunching ceremony of Sena-tor Razina Alam Khan’s book(English edition) ‘Suno PiyariBeti’ or ‘Listen, Dear Daugh-ter’ held at the Aiwan-e-SirSyed. FJWU’s professor DrShazra Munawwar has ren-dered the English translation.

Editor-in-Chief, PakistanObserver, Mr Zahid Malik,President Sir Syed MemorialSociety Brig (Rr) Iqbal Shafi,Senator Najma Hamid and au-thoress of the book SenatorRazina AlamKhan spoke onthe occasion and discussedvarious aspects of the book.

The first lady recountedsome eight months back Presi-dent Mamnoon Hussain gaveher the book (Urdu edition) toread. It was a pure delight toread it and I admit I could notresist its overpowering magic.It took me down the memory lane when I used tolisten to my mother narrating the stories and pas-sages from Allama Rashidul Khairi and DeputyNazir Ahmed’s books, said she. “As I started read-ing the book I could not stop myself and put itaside only after reading it thoroughly,” she said.Congratulating the senator for writing such a valu-able book, Begum Mehmooda Mamnoon Hussaintermed it a gift for today’s girls, our daughters.Razina Alam has revived the tradition of DeputyNazir Ahmed who in his magnum opus “Mira-tul-Aroos” indirectly taught the girls of the early 20thcentury how to live, learn and behave. Like DeputyNazir Ahmed, Senator Razina Alam Khan has takenup the huge task of guiding the girls of moderntimes. She, by trying to advise her imaginarydaughter has shown the path to every girl of thesetimes to live a successful life without losing her

Senator Razina Alam’s ‘Suno Piyari Beti’ launched

Mehmooda Mamnoon calls forbridging new, old generation gap

Zahid Malik describes Razina Alam a genuine role model

First Lady Begum Mahmooda Mamnoon Hussain speaks during the launching ceremony of the English Edition of thebook ‘Suno Pyari Beti’ by Razina Alam Khan at Sir Syed Memorial Society. Editor-in-Chief Pakistan Observer ZahidMalik, Senator Najma Hameed, Author Razina Alam Khan and President Sir Syed Memorial Society Brig (Retd)Iqbal Shafi are seen sitting on the stage.—PO photo by Sultan Bashir

eastern values and traditions. Begum MehmoodaHussain said once girls used to sit by their moth-ers, grandmothers and learn from them the eti-quettes, values and behavioral tips but now itseems, everyone is obsessed with doing maxi-mum number of things in minimum duration of

time and no one has time to listen to each other.While addressing the ceremony, Mr. Zahid

Malik, Editor-in-Chief, Pakistan Observer, de-scribed Senator Razina Alam Khan as a genuinerole model with a number of qualities of headand heart. He said he felt honoured to have Sena-tor Razina Alam Khan associated with theNazriya Pakistan Council, Islamabad, as a mem-ber of its Executive Committee and in her capac-ity as Incharge of the Council’s Taleem NetworkProgramme, her contribution is remarkable.

In a lighter vein, Mr. Malik said that the me-dia, instead of promoting Zubaida Apa’s Totkays,should promote Razina Apa’s Totkays, addingthat the difference between the two ladies is thatZubaida Apa’s Totkays mostly relate to thekitchen etc while Razina Apa’s Totkays relate tobuilding the institution of family and the nation.

“The said book should be introduced in el-ementary schools as a MUST book,” he pro-posed. Again in a lighter vein, Mr. Malik saidthat we all know that the President of Pakistanenjoys certain discretionary powers andKhatoon-i-Awwal, of course, would also be en-

joying some such powers, therefore, she mayorder purchase of 1,000 copies of the book fordistribution among various institutions.

Brig (R) Iqbal Shafi also spoke highly of both:the book and the writer of the book. Books playkey role in character-building. Pakistan Movementowes to those writers and thinkers who inculcatedin the youth rich values of discipline and unity,said President of the Sir Syed Memorial Societyand recipient of the Pakistan Movement gold meal.Senator Razina Alam Khan’s book, said Brig IqbalShafi, is such a unique anthology that serves as aguiding star to our youth, especially girls. SenatorNajma Hamid also appreciated Senator RazinaAlam Khan’s qualities of pen and person. “Sena-tor Razina is a true committed Pakistani and keepsthinking of the country and its people’s uplift,”said Senator Najma Hamid.

ZUBAIR QURESHI

ISLAMABAD—After the shocking revelations made pub-lic in the State Bank’s (SBP) recently launched statisticalbulletin report according to which more than 64 billioncigarettes were consumed by Pakistanis during the Fis-cal Year (FY) 2014, civil society and rights groups haveurged the government to adopt a pro-active approach todeal with the situation.

Civil society and rights groups expressing dismay overthe findings of the report called upon the government totake steps aimed at controlling tobacco spread in the coun-try. According to the report Pakistanis smoked away Rs250billion in forms of cigarettes during the period.

Terming the SBP report an eye-opener for the authori-

ties, Executive Coordinator of The Network for ConsumerProtection (TN) Nadeem Iqbal Tuesday called upon thegovernment to wake up and implement tobacco-controllaws in letter and spirit. The report speaks volumes aboutinefficiency of the government in curbing the menace oftobacco, he said.

The situation is much more alarming given the factthe SBP report is based only on official sales/record andrelates with smoking alone and there is no mention ofsmokeless tobacco including gutka, naswar and paan, hesaid.

The government, he said, seemed addicted to tobaccorevenue (annual revenue) regardless of the fact that itwould be translated into huge disease burden. After theSBP report, the government should come clear how much

it earns in terms of tobacco revenue and how much peoplespend on smoking, said Nadeem Iqbal.

Quoting the statistics of the report of the Interna-tional Union Against Tuberculosis & Lung Diseases,Nadeem Iqbal said cigarette consumption during the lasttwo decades has registered a steady upward trend andbetween 1997 and 2008, aggregate cigarette consump-tion rose by nearly 55pc. In 2008 alone, some 76 billioncigarettes were consumed, he shared the Union’s statis-tics. In the same period, the per capita cigarette consump-tion rose by nearly 23pc which is almost on third of thepopulation.

According to the Pakistan Demographic Health Sur-vey (PDHS) 46 percent men and 5.7 percent of womensmoke tobacco, and 15.9 percent adult Pakistanis are daily

smokers. Over 100,000 deaths are attributed to tobaccouse each year in Pakistan, with the majority of these deathsresulting from lung and other cancers, strokes, ischemicheart and other cardiovascular diseases, and respiratorydiseases. At a time, when statistics are revealing suchshocking facts, is it logical on part of the government to lettobacco revenue activity go on without any check, he asked.

He said the government has to pro-actively imple-ment MPOWER (Monitoring, Protect, Offer, Warn, En-force and Raise) by conducting surveys, enforcing banon second hand smoking in indoor public places, estab-lishing cessation clinics in all the public health facilities,increasing size of pictorial warning besides rotating it,enforcing comprehensive ban on TAPS and raising taxes.However, not much has been done in this regard, he said.

Rs250b burnt in form of cigarettes during 2014: SBPIt is wake-up time for govt!

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—In a high profile meetingof the Women’s Parliamentary Caucusheld in the Parliament House today de-cided to take a lead in improving the cur-rent situation of Polio and Immunizationin the country. This is high time for womento play their defining role in protectingour generations from paralysis, said Min-ister of State for National Health Ser-vices Saira Afzal Tarar while chairing themeeting.

As recommended by IndependentMonitoring Board on Polio, we are allset to introduce Injectable Polio Vac-cine next year, expressed Ms. SairaAfzal Tarar while discussing variousinterventions of the Government toimprove the immunization coverage inthe country. “Government ofPakistan’s PC-1 for Polio Emergencyapproved by ECNEC ensuringsustainability through 2015”, saidPrime Minister’s Focal Person.

The meeting was convened bySecretary General, Women’s Parlia-mentary Caucus with the support of

Women Parliamentarians to take lead inpromoting child immunization

Ministry of National Health Servicesand PM Polio Cell. The meeting waschaired by Minister of State, SairaAfzal Tarar and Secretary General,WPC Mrs. ShaistaPervaiz Malik whilePrime Minister’s Focal Person on Po-lio Ayesha RazaFarooq led the discus-sion of the meeting. The session wasattended by more than 40 members ofthe Women’s Parliamentary Caucus.

Ms. ShaistaPervaiz, during her re-marks emphasized on the role women leg-islators can play in mobilizing commu-nity for social change. She stressed onlinking the progress of the Immunizationand Polio Program with the social devel-opment and urged the minister to increasethe incentives of the frontline workers.

Discussing the steps taken and plan-ning for the upcoming low transmissionseason, Ms. Ayesha RazaFarooq saidthat we are using focused media approachincluding use of community mobilizersin High Risk Union Councils and Localinfluencers including Maliks, religiousleaders, local teachers, local healthcareproviders and Health camps involvingthe Army, and providing other services

alongside Polio including Immunizationof other vaccine preventable diseases,Vitamin A and hygiene kits. Ms. AyeshaFarooq said that we are adopting special& flexible approaches in priority areas in-cluding One-day security cordoned cam-paign, collective (hujra) vaccination, self-vaccination, engaging healthcare provid-ers, maximizing EPI centers, permanentvaccination teams. “In light of PrimeMinister’s directive we are also workingon the revised Communication plan witha new branding that converges routineimmunization and polio” revealed Ms.Ayesha RazaFarooq. This was also oneof the key recommendations of the Inde-pendent Monitoring BoardReport.Strengthening routine immuniza-tion is critical to achieving sustained re-duction in polio virus transmission.Deputy Country RepresentativeUNICEF, in her remarks appreciated therole of women Parliamentarians and ex-pressed the commitment to support theGovernment in the new communicationplan and introduction of Complete Im-munization package as a right of everychild.

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—Supreme Court (SC) hasordered for providing full medical facili-ties to the lawyers who were injured anddisabled during attack on F-8 KutcheryIslamabad besides seeking report in thisregard from interior ministry till Novem-ber, 12.

The court also ordered for providingJustice Shaukat Siddiqui report to the pe-titioner. Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP)Nasir ul Mulk remarked it is responsibilityof the government to provide medical fa-cilities to the injured lawyers. A 3-mem-ber bench of SC presided over by the CJP

SC orders

Medical treatment forinjured, disabled lawyersin Kutchery attack case

Lights out of orderISLAMABAD—Citizens haveprotested against out of or-der street lights fromIslamabad to Bhara Kahuand Murree Road. Accord-ing to details, streetlights ofbusiest route from Islamabadto Bhara Kahu and Murreeroad have got out of orderdue to negligence of CDAand other concerned depart-ments.—Online

Nasir ul Mulk took up F-8 Kutchery at-tack case for hearing Tuesday.

Deputy Attorney Genera (DAG) SajidBhatti and lawyers counsel Mohsin Kianiappeared in the court. DAG while present-ing the report told the court compensa-tion amounting to Rs 75000 was paid tothe injured lawyers each. Mohsin Kianisaid it was not enough and handsomeamount is being spent on daily treatment.Roy Azam and Aam Mukhtar advocatehave gone disabled completely being criti-cally injured, he added. CJP inquired formMohsin Kiani if he has contacted Paki-stan Bar Council (PBC) . Kiani said PBChas not sufficient funds.

If it really was ano–brainier to

make it on yourown in business

there’d be millionsof no–brained,

harebrained, andotherwise dubi-

ously brainedindividuals quittingtheir day jobs andhanging out their

own shingles.Nobody would beleft to round out

the workforce andexecute the busi-

ness plan.

—Bill Rancic

OBSERVER REPORT

KARACHI—The Board ofManagement (BoM) of Pa-kistan State Oil CompanyLimited (PSOCL) convenedon Tuesday at the PSO head-quarters, to review theCompany’s performance forthe first Quarter (Q1) of thefinancial year 2014-15(FY2015). In the period un-der review, PSO’s Profit Af-ter Tax (PAT) has been Rs 5.2billion, which is 59% higherthan the budgeted PAT of Rs3.3 billion for Q1 FY 2015.The budget was based onthe fact that a bulk of inter-est income from IPPs re-ceived in the first quarter oflast year is expected to bereceived in a steady streamon a sustainable basis dur-ing this year.

Therefore, PAT includinginterest income from IPPshad been lower than thatduring Same Period Last Year(SPLY) (Rs 5.2 billion vs. Rs7.8 billion). However, profitfrom operations (excludingIPP interest income) was Rs9.11 billion, 39% higher thanthat if Rs 6.55 billion duringSPLY. PSO retained its mar-ket leadership in Black Oiland White Oil, and success-fully met the demand of fuelacross the country despite

PSO announces Q1 financialresults, operational profit

increases by 39pc

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister, Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar addressing invest-ment conference.

Silkbank declaresRs 458m

operating profitSTAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Silkbank Boardin its meeting held on Tues-day, approved the accountsfor the 3rd quarter endedSeptember 30, 2014. TheBank made a significant turn-around by declaring an Op-

erating Profit of Rs. 458 mil-lion for the first nine monthsof 2014 reflecting an impres-sive increase of 182 % overthe same period last year.Jan-Sep 2014, Profit after Taxwas recorded at Rs. 101.27million. Earnings per Sharereflected a remarkablegrowth of 116% for the ninemonths ended September 30,2014 compared to the sameperiod last year.

The Bank’s balance sheetfooting also highlighted animpressive growth of Rs. 7.65billion over December 31, 2013.Over the nine months of 2014,Deposits showed a significantgrowth of Rs. 6.98 billion,whereas, Gross Advances re-flected a growth of Rs. 3.67billion. NPL reduced by Rs.1.15 billion during the same pe-riod. The management isconfident that with theTier 1 Capital of Rs. 2.2 bil-lion raised by the Bank in2013 and the growth in rev-enues.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—ICI Pakistan announced its finan-cial results for the quarter ended September30, 2014, in its meeting of the Board of Direc-tors, with operating results increasing by 32%,closing at Rs. 679 million compared to the sameperiod last year. With continued growth indiversified businesses, ICI Pakistan hasachieved a 3% increase in net sales income atRs. 9,363 million compared to the same periodlast year. Profit after tax for the quarter at Rs.352 million is higher by 15% than the corre-sponding period last year.

Earnings per share at Rs. 3.81 has

ICI Pakistan announces financialresults, posts 3pc net sales growth

shown an increase of 15% over the sameperiod last year. Earnings per share wereimpaired due to the unexpected adversemovement in exchange rates. To strengthenfuture performance, the Company contin-ues to invest in several major projects in-cluding a coal fired power plant with pro-cess steam extraction at the Soda Ash plantin Khewra and a power and steam projectat the Polyester site in Sheikhupura. Theseresults, and the Company’s continuingplans for its businesses, bear testimonyto ICI Pakistan’s commitment to invest andgrow in Pakistan, while reinforcing itsbrand promise of ‘Cultivating Growth.’

SALIM AHMED

LAHORE—The Small and Medium EnterprisesDevelopment Authority (SMEDA) is going toundertake a capacity building program for tradebodies with the cooperation of a German agency“SES” (Senior Experten Service) and Mr. HansJoachim Hanusch, a senior management expert ofGermany, who has arrived at Pakistan to imple-ment the program, held a meeting today with Mr.Alamgir Chaudhry, Chief Executive Officer ofSMEDA to discuss details of the initiative to beimplemented by him.

While exchanging his ideas with CEOSMEDA, the German Expert told that he had avast experience of management services with

SMEDA starts trade bodies’ capacity building program with German assistancea special expertise in the best practices to beexecuted by Chambers of commerce and indus-try at world level.

He assured to transfer his knowledge andexpertise in Pakistan. He said that he had cometo Pakistan with a plan to improve the skills ofthe staff of Chambers of Commerce by devel-oping modules and implementing trainingprogrammes in several steps.

Earlier, CEO SMEDA Mr. Alamgir Chaudhrywelcomed the German Expert and requested tohim to begin with the local chambers workingcomparatively on the low scale.

This is notable that according to a pat study,SMEDA had identified a need of building ca-pacity of the trade bodies to effectively deliver

products and services to SMEs, for which it wasdeemed essential that the delivery processes ofthe Chambers/ Trade Associations are workedout adequately and the personnel delivering thesame are well-equipped and aware of relevantrules, regulations and best practices in their areaof speciality.

Keeping in view the said objective, SMEDAhas signed a contract with the German basednon- profit corporation ‘SES’ for an assignmenttargeted for gauging of and suggesting im-provements in the organizational capacities ofChambers of Commerce that they are better ableto raise voice for the development needs oftheir members and facilitate SMEs in acquisi-tion of business development services.

Initially, the SES Expert Mr. Hans JoachimHanusch will work for the capacity develop-ment of Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce andIndustry (FCCI) during his stay in Pakistan tillNovember 21, 2014 and SMEDA has attacheda team of his local staff to learn the best prac-tices to be introduced by Mr. Hans so that thesame may be replicated locally in other cham-bers and trade associations.

The assignment shall focus on defining andbuilding capacity measures for the staff ofFaisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industryto facilitate SMEs of Faisalabad region especiallywith reference to building linkages with serviceproviders and SME’s, review of trade policies andregulatory frameworks.

ISLAMABAD: Participants of International Investment conference called on SpeakerNational Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq in Parliament House.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—4th Global Islamic MicrofinanceForum is going to be held on 1-2 Novem-ber in Dubai to apply new standards ininternational Islamic microfinance organi-zations. The purpose of this forum is togenerate new standards, dealing withShariah issues, capacity building and em-powering the manpower into this indus-try. Apart from other topics, role of IT inIslamic microfinance industry, rural devel-opment, Islamic micro insurance, employ-ment opportunities, and micro entrepre-neur will be the topics of discussion. Thisforum is organized by AlHuda Centre ofIslamic Banking and Economics (CIBE)and delegates from 25 countries are par-ticipating in this mega event.

Discussing the purposes of this fo-

Global Islamic MicrofinanceForum ready to set new standards

rum, Mr. Muhammad Zubair Mughal, ChiefExecutive Officer, AlHuda CIBE said thatIslamic microfinance is a dire need of to-day to fight against poverty in Muslimworld. He added that non-Muslims canequally take benefit of Islamicmicrofinance with Muslims as this is nei-ther a system nor a religion. It can be usedas a powerful tool of financial inclusion.People remain restraint from interest inMuslim world so they lose the chance offinancial availability. He said that it isproven in an international research thatIslamic microfinance has more benefitsthan conventional microfinance and it ismore suitable for poverty alleviation.Therefore, a best suitable product is avail-able for the poverty alleviation in theworld. There is only the need to explorenew ways to use it.

ISE-10 index witnessesbullish trendISLAMABAD—TheIslamabad Stock Ex-change (ISE) onTuesdaywitnessed bullish trend asthe ISE-10 index was upby 6.49 points to close at4147.21 points. A total of59,800 shares were traded,which showed a positivegrowth of 48,500 shares,when compared withWednesday’s trading of11,300 shares. Out of 162companies, share pricesof 73 companies recordedincrease while those of 89companies decreased.The share price ofAllawasaya Textileincreased by Rs 17.32while that of Atlas Batterydecreased by Rs 30.86.Bank of Punjab, HubPower, Fauji Cementremained the top tradingcompanies with 35,000,12,000 ,5,000 sharesrespectively.—APP

Conversion ratesKARACHI—The followingrates will be applicable forconversion into rupees ofForeign Currency Depos-its, Dollar Bearer Certifi-cates, Foreign CurrencyBearer Certificates, SpecialU.S. Dollar Bonds andprofits thereon by all banksand for providing ForwardCover on Foreign CurrencyDeposits (excluding F.E- 25deposits) by the StateBank on October 29, 2014.The rates are U.S. Dollar103.3251 Japanese Yen0.9564 Pound Sterling and166.4051 Euro 131.1505.—APP

LSE downs by21.99 pointsLAHORE—Lahore StockExchange here Tuesdaywitnessed bearsh trendby losing 21.99 points, asthe LSE Index-25 openedwith 5309.95 points andclosed at 5287.96 points.The market’s overallsituation, however,corresponded to anupward trend as itremained at 1.454 millionshares to close againstprevious turnover of969,600 shares, showingan upward move of484,600 shares. While, outof the total 101 activescrips 22 moved up, 15shed values and 64remained equal. TheMajor Gainers of the daywere Pakistan State OilCompany Limited, UnitedBank Limited.—APP

Pak-Nigeria to issuepostal stamp jointlyISLAMABAD—A high-level trade delegationheaded by CEO Afro-PakGlobal Ventures OAOmomolesho metMaulana Abdul GhafoorHaidri, Minister of Statefor Postal Services inIslamabad. The two sidesdiscussed issuing a jointcommemorative PostalStamp from Nigeria andPakistan. DG PakistanPost Mishaal Khan andadditional DirectorGeneral (Operations)Fazl-e-Sattar Khan wasalso present on theoccasion who briefedabout the history ofcommemorative Stampsin Pakistan.—PR

STAFF REPORTER

ISLAMABAD—There exists huge potential for investmentand profitable business ventures in telecom sector in Pa-kistan and foreign investors can take advantage of theseopportunities, Minister of State for Information Technol-ogy and Telecommunications, Mrs. Anusha Rehman said.Addressing a two-day investors’ conference here on Tues-day, she said investment can be made in manufacturing of3G/4G compatible mobile handsets in wake of new oppor-tunities created after launch of advanced telecom services.

She highlighted investment opportunities and investorfriendly policies and said Pakistan offered the most liberalinvestment policies and added that the government accordshighest priority to development of IT and Telecom sectorfor the provision of quality services, employment genera-tion and reduction in poverty. The Minister said keeping inview the existing level of broadband penetration in nearly190 million population of the country and its future pros-pects, it was an ideal opportunity for investment and growthfor telecom operators, handset manufacturers and setting-up of Software Technology Parks (STPs) etc.

She said that after spectrum auction, the demand for 3G/4Genabled devices has been increased. The Minister said in factall achievements owe primarily to vision of Prime MinisterNawaz Sharif who views IT as one of the most important chan-

Anusha: Huge potential existsfor investment in ICT sector

the hardships and supplychain disruptions faced be-cause of the power sector’sinability to pay for fuel in atimely manner.

Accordingly, the turnoverof Rs 355 billion during Q1FY15 has been 5% lower thanthat of Rs 364 billion duringSPLY largely due to the effectsof circular debt, floods and civildisturbance in certain areas onthe vast retail network of PSO.The sales portfolio was man-

aged by restraining fuel oilsales in view of liquidity issuesposed by increasing powersector receivables, and no dis-counts on sale of HSD weregiven during the period underreview.

Despite improvement ingross profit as percentageof sales, the bottom line ofthe Company was nega-tively impacted upon by theburden of increased mark-up of Rs 2.3 billion vs. Rs0.5 billion during SPLY onaccount of the circular debt.

nels of empowerment of the nation, particularly the youngergeneration. Later, enumerating the achievements and initia-tives, Secretary, Ministry of IT, Azmat Ali Ranjha said ICTs isimperative for mankinds betterment. He said the vision of thegovernment is to promote universal access and universal ser-vice to telecommunications and information services as anempowerment vehicle for disadvantaged communities.

Now the entire focus has been redirected towards thedisadvantaged communities and mentioned that rural ar-eas would soon be getting around 500 telecenters that ITMinistry and Universal Service Fund (USF) are jointly es-tablishing. He also highlighted vision of accelerated digi-tization, the initiative for accelerated setup of technologyparks, research and innovation centers, and local manu-facturing units. He also briefed about possible areas ofcooperation with other countries.

The Secretary mentioned that Pakistan has won backits seat as Member of the Administrative Council of Inter-national Telecommunication Union (ITU). The electionswere held during ITU Plenipotentiary Conference at Busan,Korea. During the session, Acting CEO of China MobilePakistan (Zong), Gi Jianbao briefed about the investmentand different initiatives of the company and appreciatedplans of the Ministry that are being rolled out to take socio-economic benefits of increased broadband connectivityto Pakistani people.

AMANULLAH KHAN

KARACHI—Pakistan is most importanttrade partner of Afghanistan but the bi-lateral trade between the two countries isnot reflecting its true potentials. The busi-ness community is facing various prob-lems in trade through APTTA. ThesesNTBs and other obstacles should be re-moved to get the clear path for develop-ment of trade and economic relations. Thiswas stated by Zakaria Usman, PresidentFPCCI and ECO CCI in a meeting withAfghan Commercial Attache Mr. ZeeshanIbrahim who visited FPCCI to meet thePresident. He suggested the formation ofCustom Union between Pakistan and Af-ghanistan so that all complications inAPTTA can be avoided and the trade be-comes smooth. The meeting was also at-tend by Shaukat Ahmed, Sr. Vice Presi-dent, Mazhar Ali Nasir, Ismail Suttar,Khurram Sayeed, Vice Presidents ofFPCCI and Haji Jamal and other promi-nent businessmen.

Zakaria Usman further said that if Cus-tom Union is formed between both thecountries, this will facilitate the smoothand frictionless transportation of com-modities across the borders and the sub-sidiary issues related with the collection

Pak-Afghan customs unionsoon for illegal trade check

mechanism, tax and tariff will be automati-cally removed. The President FPCCIstressed on exploration of new joint busi-ness avenues in various sectors and fre-quent exchange of trade delegations bothsides so that people to people contactcan be established and business to busi-ness meetings can be arranged.

He further said that transit trade fromPakistan to Central Asia is allowedthrough Chaman Border but practically itis not allowed which is a great obstaclein promotion of bilateral trade. He empha-sized on establishment of Pak – AfghanTrade Vigilance Committee under the ae-gis of national chambers of both the coun-tries to look into the matters of bilateraltrade.

The Afghan Commercial Attache saidthat Pakistan and Afghanistan are broth-erly countries and various trade barriers onboth side causing damages to the volumeof trade. He invited the President FPCCI tovisit Afghanistan along with a trade del-egation. He also suggested a meeting withthe Hon’able President of AfghanistanAshraf Ghani with FPCCI’s trade delega-tion to discuss various bilateral economicand trade related issues. He gave assur-ance that all issues will be properly ad-dressed and resolved.

Shippingactivities atPort Qasim

KARACHI—Three shipsC.V MSC Itea, C.VSafmarine Ngami and M.TAl-Mahfoza carrying Con-tainers and Furnace oilwere allotted berths atQasim International Con-tainer Terminal and FotcoOil Terminal respectively atPort Qasim (PQ) on Mon-day, 27th October. Mean-while two more ships withcontainer also arrived atouter anchorage of PQ dur-ing last 24 hours.

Berth occupancy wasobserved at the Port at 50%on Monday, where sevenships namely C.V MSC Itea,C.V Safmarine Ngami, M.VZulal, M.V Ince Karadeniz,M.T Octaden, M.T RioDaytona and M.T Al-Mahfoza are currently occu-pying PQA berths to load/offload Containers, Cement,Wheat, Chemicals, Palm oiland Furnace oil respectivelyduring last 24 hours.

Cargo throughput dur-ing last 24 hours stood at104,519 tonnes, comprises91,617 tonnes imports and12,902 tonnes exports inclu-sive containerized cargo car-ried in 2,415 containers(TEUs) (1817 imports and598 exports TEUs) werehandled at the.

Two ships C.V MSC Iteaand M.V Zulal sailed out tosea on Tuesday morningwhile three more ships M.VInce Karadeniz, M.t Octadenand M.T Rio Daytona areexpected to sail on same dayafternoon. Outer Anchor-age: Following ships arecurrently at outer anchor-age.

Five Ships C.V MaerskKingston, C.V Sudair, M.TBunga Angsana, M.VGlory Trader and M.TGSW Forward carryingContainers, Palm oil, sunFlower seeds and Chemi-cals are expected to takeberths at QICT, LCT FAPand EVTI, respectively onTuesday, 28th October,while two more containersships ‘Maersk Columbus’and ‘CMA CGM Baizac’are due to arrive at PortQasim on Wednesday,29thOctober and ‘MarthaSchulte’ and CMA CGMKingston are due to arriveon Thursday , 30th Octo-ber, 2014.—APP

Khushhalibankmicrofinancerevolutionisespoor tailor’s

lifestyleISLAMABAD—Microfinanceprogrammes have providedseveral small scale entrepre-neurial opportunities whichnot only give access to fi-nance but result in upliftingthe lifestyles of many peoplein urban and rural areas. Aspecimen of the above nar-rative is Younas Masih whois a tailor residing in a smallcity in Pasrur of Sialkot dis-trict of Punjab province. Lifewas going well for Younas,as he had established areputable and well- knowntailoring shop in MohallaTibba, Pasrur and his earn-ings were sufficient to lookafter his family.

However, his wife sud-denly fell ill and was diag-nosed with a severe medi-cal condition. The loomingmedical expenditures of hiswife’s treatment forcedYounas to sell his sewingmachine and other machin-ery, resultantly affecting histailoring business. Being afather of 5 children and headof his family, Younas had tolook after his family as wellas his ailing wife; to do sohe had to re-establish his tai-loring business to fulfill hisexpenditures. Younas wasalready well-known inMohalla Tibba for his tailor-ing shop, but to reestablishthe business, the only hin-drance was the lack of ac-cess to finance. Younas ap-proached Khushhalibankfor a loan so he could restarthis business. With a loanfrom Khushhalibank and hisown hardwork & determina-tion, Younas was not onlyable to re-establish his busi-ness but started a new lifewith his wife after she un-derwent treatment.

Now his wife ishealthy and living a happylife, along with his 5 kidswho are also pursuing aneducation. Younas, hasset an example of hardwork, commitment andsuccess within his com-munity. In a small city likePasrur, Younas’s successdid not just only bring apositive change only inhis life but also for the resi-dents of Pasrur. With thegrowth of his tailoringshop, Younas also pro-vided employment oppor-tunities to locals.—APP

CBL launchesNan-Khatai

KARACHI—After boostingmargins and sales growthlast year, Continental Bis-cuits Ltd (CBL) has yetagain taken the Pakistanimarket by storm with thelaunch of Nan Khatai, a tra-ditional and favourite bak-ery item of the Pakistanimasses. Nan Khatai has itsroots in the sub-continentsince the Mughal era; thetrend setting & uniquepackaging of the BakeriNan-Khattai also high-lights this heritage of NanKhatai. To date, peoplefrom all over Pakistan holdsome specific outlets inLahore in great esteem inregards to purchasing NanKhatai. LU and CBL de-cided to expand the reachof this culturally rootedproduct, by providing thesame traditional scrump-tious taste, under the um-brella of CBL’s leading bis-cuit brand, Bakeri.—PR

Currency Selling Buying

USA 102.90 102.70

UK 165.99 165.67

Euro 130.76 130.50

Canada 91.54 91.36

Switzerland 108.42 108.21

Australia 90.76 90.59

Sweden 14.10 14.07

Japan 0.9543 0.9525

Norway 15.62 15.59

Singapore 80.74 80.59

Denmark 17.56 17.53

Saudi Arabia 27.43 27.37

Hong Kong 13.26 13.24

Kuwait 355.75 355.06

Malaysia 31.39 31.33

Newzealand 81.28 81.12

Qatar 28.26 28.20

UAE 28.02 27.96

Kr Won 0.0980 0.0978

Thailand 3.173 3.167

Daily opening& closing ratesPMEX Index 2,856Total Volume (Lots): 8,264Traded Value (Rs): 2,255,957,712

Commodity -------------------- Price Quotation ---------------- Open --------- CloseCRUDE OIL ------------------- $ Per Barrel ---------------------- 81.27 ---------- 80.66SILVER ------------------------- $ Per Ounce --------------------- 17.158 -------- 17.072GOLD --------------------------- $ Per Ounce --------------------- 1,230.0 -------- 1,225.5GOLD --------------------------- Rs Per 10 gms ------------------- 40,830 -------- 40,762MTOLAGOLD --------------- Rs Per Tola ---------------------- 48,783 -------- 48,910GOLD --------------------------- Rs Per Tola ---------------------- 48,783 -------- 48,910RICEIRRI6 --------------------- Rs Per 100 kg -------------------- 3,322 ---------- 3,319PALMOLEIN ----------------- Rs Per Maund ------------------ 3,836 ---------- 3,807SUGAR ------------------------- Rs Per kg ------------------------- 48.50 ---------- 48.46ICOTTON --------------------- US Cents per pound ---------- 63.17 ---------- 63.72WHEAT ------------------------ Rs Per 100 kg -------------------- 3,425 ---------- 3,422

The total value traded was PKR 2.49 billion and number of lots traded was 10,279.PMEX Commodity Index closed at 2,856. Major business was contributed by crudeoil amounting to PKR 2.09 billion followed by gold (PKR 396 million) and silver(PKR 13 million).

ChairmanEPZA chairsBoD meeting

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Aftab AnwarBaloch, Chairman ExportProcessing Zones Authority,presided over the 106th meet-ing of EPZA’s newly consti-tuted Board of Directors heldin Karachi at EPZA head of-fice. The Board memberswho attended the meetingincluded Mr. Zakria Usman,President FPCCI, Mr. AnjumNisar former presidentKCC&I, Mr. Ziad Bashirmember from Gul AhmedTextile Mill, Sr. Joint Secre-tary Ministry of Industriesand Production and Secre-tary Industries and Com-merce, Government of Sindh.

Chairman EPZA briefedthe overall performance ofExport Processing ZonesAuthority and informed thatEPZA has taken certainpolicy initiatives aimed at re-vival of sick units, restruc-turing of EPZA organization,setting up of new FIEDMCEPZ on Faisalabad M3 In-dustrial Estate and efforts forthe restoration of withdrawnincentives and packagethrough better and activecoordination with the Min-istry of Industries, Ministryof Commerce, FBR, and otherrelevant Stake holders.

SamsungGalaxy Note 4

launched insparkling event

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Galaxy Note 4which it introduced in Paki-stan in a colorful eveningwhere famous showbizicons of likes Ali Zafar,Sajjad Ali, Hamza Ali Abbasi,Aysha Umer, QB etc gavetheir breathtaking perfor-mances. After a brief intro-duction about Galaxy Note4 and the fabulous Gear Swhich the Samsung is push-ing as a must have wearablegadget the event carried onpast midnight and very fewdared to miss the dazzlingperformance of Sajjad Aliwhich he gave after dinner.

The iconic Samsung Gal-axy Note 4 will be featuredon Telenor Pakistan’s Sales& Service Centers and fran-chises for its customersacross the country from Oc-tober 29, 2014. All SamsungGalaxy Note 4 buyers will re-ceive 6 months free internetalong with free apps likeFacebook, Whatsapp, Twit-ter and Line. A pre-ordercampaign has also been con-ducted from20th October’14offering free S-View Flip cov-ers to Telenor Pakistan’scustomers.

The device comes withaccidental coverage that in-cludes screen breakage, liq-uid damage and numerousother types of damages.The Samsung Galaxy Note4 is the latest edition in theongoing journey of innova-tion by Samsung. Key fea-tures of the new device in-clude a 16 megapixel camerathat offers a wide selfiemode, Li-Ion 3220 mAh bat-tery, Super AMOLED ca-pacitive touch screen, 16Mcolours as well asPhotoNote. The device runson Android 4.4.4 (KitKat)operating system and is aCategory 6 LTE device.

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Commerce, Khurram Dastgir Khan is addressingrepresentatives of foreign investment and trading companies at Trade and InvestmentConference.

KARACHI: Dr. Mubbarik Ahmad Director General Plant Protection and M/S DurraniAssociate are signing MoU on the occasion of Mango Star Performance Award Cer-emony. Mr. Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, Federal Minister for National Food Security& Research also seen in picture.

ISLAMABAD—Minister for Commerce Khurram DastgirKhan on Tuesday said the government recognizes theimportance of interregional connectivity and to enhanceregional trade with all regional countries for economicgrowth and stability of the country. He said the emergenceof global and regional value chains, which have tended toflourish in regions and countries.

Addressing the International Investment ConferenceSession on ‘Trade and Investment-Prospects and LegalFramework in Pakistan, he said in order to move towards aglobally integrated economy, Pakistan would need to firstlook towards its own region. He said the government at-taches great importance to opening up of trade with itsneighbors with the intention of integrating Pakistan intothe regional value chain. The Minister said the countries,which are integrated in the global supply and investmentchains will be drivers of future global economic growth.

He said that Pakistan was not only a vociferous pro-ponent of the World Trade Organization (WTO) trade fa-cilitation agreement but has also initiated necessary re-forms to create a facilitative environment for trade. He addedthat Pakistan is aspiring to be one of those countries bybuilding its capacity to become a reliable supplier of goodsand services as well as a viable investment destination forthe world.

Khurram Dastgir said that Pakistan’s inclusion in theGSP plus scheme has provided the much required impetus

Regional connectivity vital foreconomic growth: Dastgir

for both local and foreign investors to take advantage ofthis significantly profitable opportunity. Besides this, likeother countries Pakistan has also entered in to multiplebilateral and plurilateral trading arrangements with theobjective integrating its economy with the region,he added.

He said that recent example the South Asia Free TradeAgreement having eight members state, the Pak China freetrade agreement and the Pakistan Malaysia comprehen-sive economic partnership agreement. The Minister said“we already have close trade relations with the Gulf Re-gion and more importantly in the recent past Afghanistanhas also emerged as an important destination for Paki-stan.” He said to achieve stability in the policy regime andraise the level of confidence of the domestic business com-munity as well as trading partners; the Ministry of Com-merce has introduced the practice of formulating a three-year strategic policy framework. Khurram Dastgir said themajor initiatives launched during this policy period are toestablish Export Import bank for which seed money hasalready been provided in the current budget and the cre-ation of Land Port Authority.

“We also recognize the importance of regional con-nectivity and we are partners to multi nodal bilateral trans-port agreements, he added”. He said that in this regard,one significant project is the establishment of rail linkagePakistan, Iran and Turkey, which would minimize the costof transportation from Pakistan to Europe.—APP

ISLAMABAD—Indonesian Counsellor OttoRakhim Gani on Tuesday said Pakistan hadgreat potential to improve bilateral coop-eration in multiple fields and businessmenof both the countries should interact fre-quently to promote two-way trade. Duringhis visit to Islamabad Chamber of Com-merce Industry (ICCI) to congratulate thenew office bearers, Otto Rakhim Gani saidPakistan and Indonesia had signed a freetrade agreement, which should beoperationalized to realize the full potentialof trade relations between the two coun-tries, according to an ICCI press release.

He said Pakistani wheat, basmati riceand kinnows were quite popular in Indone-sia while many other Pakistani products,including quality marble, vegetables, andfruits, including mangoes, had good poten-tial to penetrate Indonesian market. He said

Indonesia wants to improve tradeties with Pakistan: Counsellor

the new leadership of Indonesia was quiteenthusiastic to improve trade and economicrelations with Pakistan and had planned toorganize specialized trade shows. Pakistanibusinessmen, he said, should participatein these trade shows to explore new busi-ness opportunities in Indonesia. He assuredthat Indonesian Embassy would like to workclosely with the ICCI to further strengthenbilateral relations between Indonesia andPakistan.

Speaking on the occasion, Senior VicePresident ICCI, Muhammad Shakeel Munirsaid Indonesia was a huge consumer mar-ket and Pakistani businessmen wanted topromote business relations with Indonesia.He said Indonesia should grant at least 3-6month multiple entry business visas to Pa-kistani businessmen to tap all untappedareas of mutual cooperation.—APP

KARACHI—Credit RatingCompany Limited (JCR-VIS)has reaffirmed the entity rat-ings of Security Papers lim-ited (SPL) at ‘AAA/A-1+’(Triple A/A-One Plus). Out-look on the medium to longterm rating is ‘Stable’. Theprevious rating action wasannounced on July 25, 2013,said a statement on Tues-day. The assigned ratingsincorporate SPL’s position-ing as a strategically signifi-cant entity in its role as thesole bank note paper manu-facturer in the country.

The primary buyer ofSPL’s products, Pakistan Se-curity Printing Corporation(Pvt) Ltd (PSPC), is also itssingle largest shareholder,having a 40 percent stake inthe company. According toa memorandum of under-standing between the twocompanies, PSPC will onlypurchase bank note paperfrom SPL, effectively elimi-nating off-take risk for SPL’smajor output. The ratingsalso draw strength from thestable financial risk profile

JCR-VIS reaffirmsSPL entity ratings

of SPL whereby debt lever-age is low and ability to ser-vice debt obligations isstrong.

Moreover, improvementin production process is evi-dent from a declining trendin production and finishinglosses on a timeline basis.Under the directives of theBoard of Directors, SPL isalso pursuing phase wisecapacity expansion forwhich up-gradation of plantand addition of new equip-ment is on-going. Subse-quent to the completion ofplant up gradation, total in-stalled capacity is expectedto be enhanced to 3,000 tonsfrom 2,500 tons currently.

Production of bank notepaper continues to be themajor revenue source of SPL;however, contribution ofother products has increasedover time. Moreover, thecompany’s investment port-folio also provides meaning-ful contribution to the bot-tom line. Investment incomealmost entirely emanates fromstable sources.—APP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Pakistan exported recordmango of 91700 metric tons during currentyear whereas 61000 metric tons mango wasexported during 2012-13. Ministry of Na-tional Food Security and Research as wellas private sector also played a prominentrole to produce export quality mango. Pa-kistan achieved success in mango exportby giving attention on quality of interna-tional standard. This was stated by Mr.Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan, Federal Min-ister for National Food Security and Re-search while addressing august gatheringof scientist on the occasion of Mango StarAward Festival 2014 at here Department ofPlant Protection (DPP) Malir Halt, Karachi.

Sikandar Hayat Khan Bosan said thatPakistan has achieved record success inmango export. Whereas Indian mango wasbanned in the European Union due toquoratine pests and 382 interceptions. Al-though there are many deficiencies in ourexport system but by using availablesources all stakeholders came forward andunited to work out comprehensive actionplan and resultantly 02 interceptions wereoccurred as compared to 236 last year. Nowwe have good results. In this regard allstakeholders have great contribution. Govtresearch organizations also played impor-tant role to control attack of fruit fly andmango diseases. He said first time privatesector has appreciated the performance ofMinistry of National Food Security and

Pakistan achieves record successin mango exports: Bosan

Research, Department of Plant Protection,Pakistan Agricultural Research Council(PARC) and other Govt Organizations.

These departments played importantrole to move all obstacles for mango ex-port. He urged the scientists and expertsto give special attention to produce newmango varieties and pest management.Seerat Asgahr, Federal Secretary Ministryof National Food Security and Researchsaid it is honor for Ministry that in veryshort time we achieved the target of exportof mango at international needs. Pakistanbuilds confidence of international market.Ministry and exporters jointly work to im-prove quality and maintain the internationalstandard of various commodities for export.It is my admire that every agriculture re-gion may become an export zone in the coun-try. Trade Development Authority of Paki-stan facilitate the exporters so as they eas-ily access the international markets, particu-larly for the export of cotton, rice, citrusand mangoes. He urged the Plant Protec-tion to work on protocols for vegetable ex-ports of international standards to catchthe European Union markets.

On this occasion Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad,Chairman Pakistan Agricultural ResearchCouncil (PARC) said PARC will extend alltype of technical and scientific cooperationto improve export quality of mango, veg-etables, fruits and other crops. He saidPARC already associated 72 scientists withPlant Protection to work on important na-ture assignments.

Asia markets mixed,eyes on Fed meeting

HONG KONG—Asian mar-kets were mixed Tuesday be-fore the US Federal Reserve’spolicy meeting, which will beclosely scrutinised for cluesto its plans on interest rates.Wall Street provided little di-rection as investors took abreather after last week’sstrong performance across allthree main indexes. Tokyowas down 0.38 percent, or58.81 points, at 15,329.91,Sydney shed 0.12 percent, or6.35 points, to close at 5,452.6and Seoul fell 0.33 percent, or6.29 points, to close at1,925.68.

But Hong Kong tackedon 1.63 percent, or 377.13points, to 23,520.36. Shang-hai climbed 2.07 percent, or47.43 points, to 2,337.87 af-ter Monday’s sell-offsparked by news of a delayto plans for a cross-tradingplatform between the twomarkets. The Fed, whichstarts its two-day meetinglater Tuesday, is expected tobring an end to its vast as-set-buying programme thathas been credited with help-ing the country avoid reces-sion after the financial cri-sis.—AFP

KARACHI: Chairman Export Processing Zones Authority, Aftab Anwar Baloch presid-ing over 106th meeting of EPZA’s newly constituted Board of Directors. Participantsinclude Zakria Usman, President FPCCI, Anjum Nisar former president KCC&I, ZiadBashir member from Gul Ahmed Textile Mill, Senior Joint Secretary Ministry of Indus-tries and Production and Secretary Industries and Commerce, Government of Sindh.

LAHORE: Samsung Galaxy Note 4 launched in a colourful event with music and food.Picture shows company representatives briefing customers about distinct features ofnewly launched product.

RAWALPINDI: Players in action during a polo match organized by Bill Crust Solution.

LARKANA: Players of Larkana and Hyderabad hockey teams struggling to get hold on the ball during PakistanInter-Board Hockey Championship played at M A Khuhro Sports Complex.

QUETTA: MPA Manzoor Ahmad Kakar giving awayAll Balochistan Football Tourna-ment winning trophy to winning team captain.

KARACHI—The Executive Council of theKarachi City Cricket Association (KCCA)was looking forward to streamline the func-tioning with a chain of events at the zonaland association levels and also focussingon grooming junior talent.

This was decided during the Councilmeeting chaired by the President of Prof.Ejaz Ahmed Faruqi, said a KCCA statementissued on Tuesday.

The Council adopted a plan for at leasttwo official Inter Club knock-out and oneleague tournament in each zone and also tohold the Presidents Cup on all Karachi ba-sis.

The clubs have been advised to ensurethat KCCA players registration forms aresubmitted to KCCA office by November 15.

The Executive Council also decided tosetup Under15 coaching academies in eachzone. An elaborate programme will be de-vised to promote cricket at grassroots levelby setting up mechanism through qualifiedcoaches for the purpose.

The council inducted the messrs in Ex-ecutive Council for the term 2013-16. JameelAhmed, Khalid Nafees, Nadeemuddin,Naveed Mehmood Azmi, Adil Sultan,Naushad Ahmed,

President of the Zone-IV Ghulam Rasoolwalked out of the proceedings on the ob-

KCCA Council planschain of cricket events,

grooming talentjection on the nomination of members.

The house was dissatisfied with thecondition of KCCA grounds of differentzones and decided to remove the groundcaretakers. Fresh appointment will be madewith the consultation of Ground Commit-tee and Officials of respective zones.

The council constituted the followingsub-committees to conduct various func-tions. 1. Tournament Sub-Committee 2. Reg-istration Sub-Committee 3. Marketing Sub-Committee 4. Ground Sub-Committee 5.Umpiring Sub-Committee 6. Financing Sub-Committee 7. Discipline Sub-Committee 8.Cricket Sub-Committee

The house noted with regret that formerPresident Syed Sirajul Islam Bukhari has notreturned the KCCA car despite letters writ-ten to him. It was decided that he should beadvised to return the KCCA car immediately,statement said.

The Executive Council raised salariesfor the staff of KCCA and accorded postfacto approval to appointment of Manag-ers and Captains of the Inter Region U-16,U-19. which concluded recently, and alsoongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.

President KCCA Prof. Ejaz AhmedFaruqi administrated Oath of Office to thesix newly elected member of the ExecutiveCouncil.—APP

KARACHI—Pakistan team got thegolden opportunity to seize the 2-Testmatch series against Australia by main-taining their, focus, momentum andfirepower.

These observations were made onTuesday by former Test left arm spin-ner Iqbal Qasim in an interview herewith APP.

“These kinds of golden opportu-nities doesn’t come your way too of-ten. So Pakistan team seize goldenchance,” he stressed.

“Pakistan team was outstanding inbatting and bowling and theyoutplayed Australians with their bril-liant display,” he said.

However, he said, Pakistan teamneeded to improve their catching ifthey wanted to win the second Test

Pakistan got golden opportunity toseize Test series: Iqbal Qasim

and the series.“Pakistan won the first Test by

wide margin and our team should con-solidate their position by winning thesecond Test,” he said.

“A great deal of effort, tactics andplanning is required to once againdown the team from Down Under, hecommented.

“Personally I feel that Austra-l ian chief coach Darren Lehmanmust be on the drawing board tolook into the causes of his team’sdefeat .” former chief se lec tor ,said.

“Keeping up the scenario, Paki-stan must go into the second Test withrenewed effort to make it 2-0,” he said.It will be big task but could beachieved.

“Aussies are tough customers andthey will be targeting Younis Khan,”he said.

Iqbal Qasim said Younis Khan wasPakistan team’s batting pillar in the firstTest and Australian bowlers will beafter him.

He said centuries by AhmedShahzad and Sarfraz Ahmed were en-couraging. But Hafeez’s batting formis bit worry.

Iqbal Qasim praised great bowlingby Zulfiqar Babar and Yasir Shah.

“Apart from Younis’ batting, spinduo of Zulfiqar and Yasir bowled re-markably well on a turning track,” heconcluded.

The second Test of the seriesstarts at Sheikh Zayed Stadium AbuDhabi on Thursday.—APP

KARACHI—Adeel Irshad captured fivewickets to bowl Fahad Academy in thequarter-finals of the HBL Inter-SchoolCricket Tournament beating ModelSchool by three wickets here at theKCCA Stadium the other day.

In another match, BeaconhouseSchool PECHS trounced Fatimiyah BoysSchool by eight wickets at the SKBZGround to consolidate their position inthe Group B.

Leg-spinner Adeel Irshad, ended withhaul of five wickets for 31 runs, playedthe key role in earning third successivewin for Fahad Academy as they emergedas the Group “D” champions.

Electing to bat, Qadri Model Schoolwas bowled out for 167 in 39.1 overs withUmaid Ahmed (44) being their to-scorer.Badar Qureshi remained undefeated on29. S. M. Shaheer made 20

Set 168 to win in 40 overs, FahadAcademy got off to a f lying start asopeners Babar Huusain (30) andMohammad Saleem (24) put on 61 runsfor the first wicket in rapid time.

Left-arm Badar Qureshi opened upthe game by picking up four wickets inquick succession and it needed fightingknocks from Zahid Madani (33) and

Adeel bowls Fahad Academyin HBL School cricket quarters

Muhammad Nawab (22) to take FahadAcademy to the target with just 13 ballsto spare.

Beaconhouse School PECHS provedtoo good for Fatimiyah Boys School toregister their second victory in as manyoutings during the competition.

Batting first, Fatimiyah Boys Schoolfound themselves reeling at 61 for eight.The 67-run ninth wicket partnership be-tween Mohammad Hasnain (29) andSyed Mustajab (27) al lowed them toreach a total of 128.

Left-arm spinner Humair Ahmed (4-30), who was the pick of the bowlers,was later declared Man of the Match.He was supported by medium-pacer ZainKhan (2-22) and left-arm spinner HuzaifaAhmed (2-24).

Needing 129 in 40 overs,Beaconhouse School PECHS lost awicket early but enterprising half centu-ries from opener Hammad Hasan andnumber three Rohail Ahmed helped themget it in a matter of only 16 overs.

Hammad Hasan perished after scor-ing 50 with seven fours and one six.Rohail Ahmed remained undefeated on53 off 32 balls, smashing three sixes andfive fours.—APP

KA R A C H I—Asad Ali Bhagat and ArifIftikhar stormed into 35 singles final ofPakistan ITF Senior Tennis Tournamentafter coasting to victories at KarachiGymkhana hard courts on Tuesday.

Asad faced tough time in the secondset before overcoming Muhammad Manarin th first semifinals. After routing Manzarin the first set, Asad was fully extendedbefore chalking out 6-1, 7-5 win.

Former Davis Cupper Arif Iftikhareased into the final with 6-3, 6-3 win inthe other semifinal.

Trio of Israr Gul Khan, Inamullah Khanand Zulfuiqar Khan advanced in 45 plussingles semifinals after winning theirquarterfinals.

Inam faces stiff challenge fromMuhammad Abdul Saeed before winninghis match in three sets.

Playing attacking game, he won the

Asad to face Arif in seniorstennis final

set. But Saeed came back with full forceby seizing second. However Inam playedbrilliantly in third set to register 6-4,5-7,6-2 victory.

Zulfiqar Khan and Imran Ahmed wontheir matches in straight sets. India’sPrasad Apte moved into the last eightstage with walkover victory over AkhtarHussain.

Asad Ali Bhagat and Arif Iftikhar stormedinto the final of plus 35 singles event aftereasy victories over their respective rivals. Fol-lowing are results: 45 plus singles 1st rd:Prasad Apte (India) walkover Akhtar HussainQuarter Final: Zulfiqar Khan bt Israr Gul Khan6-4,6-2, Inamullah Khan bt Muhammad AbdulSaeed 6-4,5-7,6-2, Imran Ahmed bt Irfanullah6-3,6-4 35 singles semifFinals: Asad Ali Bhagatbt M ,Manar 6-1,,7-5 Arif Iftikhar bt Ali Bhagat6-3,6-3 55 singles 1st rd: Iltafat Ahmed bt MFarooq 6-2,6-2.—APP

Gujranwala,Islamabad

victorious inBlind CT

ISLAMABAD—Gujranwalaand Islamabad earned vic-tories in the Second PrimeMinister of Pakistan CricketChampion Trophy for theBlind played here at two dif-ferent venues on Tuesday.

In the first match,Gujranwala beat BenazirAbad by 10 wickets here atPAF Ground. Put into bat,Benazir Abad scored a totalof 107 runs losing all wick-ets. Amjad Lagari (24) wasthe pick of the batsman.

For Gujranwala, Akramgrabbed 4 wickets. In re-ply, Gujranwala achievedthe target in the 7th overwithout the loss of anywicket. Amir Ashfaq (52)and Israr ul Hasan (44)batted well.

In the second match,Islamabad beat Peshawarby 22 runs here at F9 Park.Put into bat, Islamabadscored 372 runs in 40 oversfor the loss of 7 wickets.Anees Javed played su-perbly pilling up a total ofunbeaten 190.

For Peshawar, Haroonbagged 2 wickets. In reply,Peshawar’s all team was outin 27 overs scoring 350 runs.Haroon scored 134 whileRahid Ullah made 63 runs forPeshawar. For Islamabad,Tofeeq and Tanvir took onewicket each.

Teams from Peshawar,Azad Kashmir, BenazirAbad, Gujranwala,Bahawalpur and Islamabadare featuring in the five-dayevent.

The teams have beendivided in two groups withGroup A consisting ofPeshawar, Islamabad andBahawalpur, while the restof the teams have beenplaced in Group B.—APP/

PESHAWAR—Top seed Komal and second seed Laiba Ijazqualified for the semi-finals of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa AgeGroup Junior Girls and Boys Championship, which got underway here at PAF Hashim Khan Squash Complex on Tuesday.

Station Manager PIA Ihsan Ullah Khan was the chiefguest on this occasion who formally inaugurated the Cham-pionship. Former World Champion Qamar Zaman, officialsand players were also present.

Speaking on this occasion, Qamar Zaman said that theaim and objective of the Championship is to give competitiveexposures to the upcoming players.

He said the Championship is carrying four different cat-egories comprising Female Junior event, Under-11, Under-13and Under-15. He also thanked management of the PAFSports Control Board and PAF Hashim Khan Squash Com-plex for extending all out support for holding different squashactivities over the years.

In the first quarter-final match Komal defeated Hira Aqilby 3-0 in a one-sided affair, the score was 11-7, 11-6 and 11-9while Laiba Ijaz defeated Bareera by 3-0, the score was 11-3,11-4 and 11-6. Nirma Aqil defeated Fozia Khan by 3-0, thescore was 11-9, 11-7 and 11-5, and Niama Khalid beat FizaJaved by 3-0, the score was 12-10, 11-7 and 11-7.

In the Under-11 category Asad Khan defeatedMuhammad Talha Iqbal by 3-0, the score was 11-9, 11-8 and11-5, top seed Noor Zaman beat Walid by 3-0, the score was11-9, 12-10 and 11-9, Khurshal Riaz beat Majid Khan by 3-0,the score was 12-10, 11-7, 11-6, Afaq beat Muhammad Khalidby 3-0, the score 11-7, 11-9 and 11-8.

In the U-13 Ghulam Muhammad beat Javed Hussain by 3-0, the score was 11-8, 11-6 and 11-7, Rashid Dawlad beatHammad by 3-1, the score was 10-12, 11-9, 11-7 and 11-6,Mavia Hussain defeated Awais Khan by 3-0, the score was11-7, 11-9 and 11-7 and top seed Zeeshan Malik beatMuhammad Saqib Iqbal.—APP

KP Age Group Boys &Girls Junior Squash

Championship begins

Qadir wantsTaufeeq to open

in 2nd TestISLAMABAD—Former leg-spinner Abdul Qadir wantsthe left-handed openerTaufeeq Umar to open forthe green-shirts in the Sec-ond Test sayingMuhammad Hafeez shouldbe rested instead as his per-formance is not up to themark.

Pakistan will play itssecond Test against Austra-lia on October 30. Talking toAPP, Qadir said he cannotunderstand why Hafeez isbeing given a chance by theteam management time andagain when he is unable toimpress with his perfor-mance.

“The team management(Waqar Younis and MoinKhan) should give achance to the talentedopener Taufeeq,” he saidadding its Taufeeq’s come-back series against Austra-lia.

Qadir said Taufeeqplayed the last of his 43Tests in July 2012. “What isthe use to include Taufeeqin the squad when he has tosit there watch the matchinstead of playing,” he ques-tioned the team manage-ment?—APP

Organisersconfident WestIndies will be at

World CupMELBOURNE—Organisersare confident West Indies willtake part at the World Cup inAustralia and New Zealandearly next year despite the cri-sis caused by their with-drawal from the tour of Indiaearlier this month.

West Indies, who wonthe first two World Cuptournaments in 1975 and1979 and reached the quar-ter-finals in India in 2011, arealways among the mostpopular teams at the 50-overshowpiece.

Caribbean cricket wasplunged into turmoil on Oct.17, however, after the seriesin India was aborted over aprotracted payment disputebetween the players and theWest Indies Cricket Board(WICB).—APP

Punjab win goldin women’s U-19

softballLAHORE—Punjab outplayedIslamabad 14-3 to win the goldmedal while Sindh bagged sil-ver by beating Balochistan 14-6 on the final day of the sec-ond Women’s U-19 SoftballChampionship at the CentralPunjab Ground. Punjab, whowon all their four matches inthe event, were led superblyagainst Islamabad by captainFareeha Anwar whotopscored with 4 runs.

Sindh, winning three oftheir four matches, played bril-liantly against Balochistanwhile Islamabad bagged thethird spot.

Pakistan Federation Base-ball secretary Syed KhawarShah was the chief guest onthe occasion and distributedthe prizes and certificatesamong the teams. He laudedthe standard of softball dis-played by the teams duringthe event and expressed con-fidence that the girls softballteam will soon be rankedamongst the best teams inAsia.—APP

ABU DHABI: Pakistan’s cricket captain Misbah-ul-Haq and others taking part in a warm up game during a practicesession ahead of their second Test against Australia.

Bipin DaniOBSERVER CORRESPONDENT

MUMBAI—Askender, the father of 23-year-old Taijul Islam has big regret thathis family could not remain present atMirpur’s Shere Bangla National Stadium,where his son became a national here andmade history in Bangladesh cricket onMonday.

“No, we could not make it. This regretmay haunt us for rest of my life”, he saidover telephone.

In the Test against Zimbabwe, theslow-left arm orthodox bowler Taijul be-came the first Bangladeshi player to cap-ture 8 wickets in an innings which madehim to win the Man of the Match award.He also scored the winning boundary inthe tense situation.

“His performance was witnessed onTV by our all family members includingTaijul’s 80-year-old grand-father. Taijul’smother (Taslima Begam) and grand-fatherwere very happy and excited”.

“My son’s performance can not beunderestimated though he made a na-tional record against relatively a low-gradeteam of Zimbabwe. In September this year,

Dad wants his son Taijur Islam toperform better against leading teams

he grabbed five and three wickets againstWest Indies in two Test matches. His per-formance has been gradually improving”,the father added.

“I would like to witness my son get-ting all ten wickets in a Test inning andequal the World record (held by AnilKumble and Jim Laker). I also want himto do better against more leading teamslike Australia, India and South Africa”.

Taijul’s father has been running a smalltrading garment business in Bangladesh.

“We have come from a poor family andonce had no money to buy bat and ballfor my son. We used to cut supari treeand earn money. Taijur has come hard wayand wish him to achieve more success”,the father added.

Later, speaking exclusively, the bowlersaid, “my parents live far (Natore) fromthis city of Dhaka and could not make itto come here”.

“It was not in my destiny to grab allten wickets but I am satisfied with what Idid in this match”.

“Apart from my team members the fewformer players including chief selectorFaruk Ahmed and my personal coachKhaled Mashud Pilot and my family mem-bers congratulated me”, he concluded.

ABU DHABI—Pakistan coach WaqarYounis on Tuesday warned his teamto be prepared for a backlash fromwounded Australia in the second Test.

Pakistan thrashed Australia in thefirst Test by 221 runs in Dubai on Sun-day.

They now seek their first series winover Australia for 20 years in the sec-ond Test starting in Abu Dhabi fromThursday.

But Waqar, a member of the teamwhich last beat Australia in Pakistanin 1994, warned Australia will hit back.

“We have won the first Test butit’s a long way to go, the second Testwill be tough,” Waqar told reporters.“We all know that Australia are verypositive about their cricket and theyfeel hurt, they will bounce back, I amsure, and we have to be prepared forthat.”

Pakistan have an extra incentiveto win the second Test as besides theelusive series win they would alsojump to number three in Test rankings.

Waqar admitted being numberthree is big but for him consistency ismore important.

“To come into (the) top three is abig thing,” said Waqar, with Pakistanplaced sixth before the series.

“But besides coming into the topthree, consistency is more importantfor me because we have always beenunpredictable, some times up and thendown, so we need to give consistentperformances.

“It’s necessary that if we give agood performance then we must have

Waqar warns hurt Australiawill bounce back

a follow through so that people haveconfidence in us as a side, which wehave proved in the first Test that wehave got the talent and the potential.So if we apply ourselves then resultswill come,” said Waqar.

“The message is simple: don’t giveup, the series is not finished, there is asecond Test and we have to win thesecond Test and have to work hardconsistently every day to win the se-ries.”

Waqar praised left-arm spinnerZulfiqar Babar as a “special talent.

“He is a serious quality, he hasbeen performing well in the domesticseason and never got the chance, butthe guy he has replaced (AbdulRehman) was doing well.

“Now Babar got the opportunityand he is serious quality, somethingwhich the world was missing, I be-lieve.”

Meanwhile, Australian captainMichael Clarke promised a fight back.“Any time we lose a game it breedsfire in your belly. We don´t like losing,Australians in general don´t like los-ing,” he said after Sunday´s defeat.

“We got outplayed and Pakistandeserve a lot of credit for the way theyplayed over the whole five days. Weknow we can play a lot better and lookforward to showing that in the sec-ond Test match.” Australia´s top or-der of David Warner, who hit a hun-dred in the first Test, and Chris Rogerswere steady. But the middle order, es-pecially Clarke and Alex Doolan, failedin both innings.

Clarke was confident runs wouldcome in the second Test. “I do havethat confidence. We do have to find away though,” said the Australian skip-per, who was the highest run-scorerin Tests in 2013 with 1,093. Australiahave the option of bringing in GlennMaxwell, who can also bowl off-spin,for either Mitchell Marsh or Doolan.Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haqwarned his team not to be complacentagainst a tough Australian team. “Wehave to make sure that we remain fo-cused,” said Misbah. “We often getlazy and lose focus but we can´t af-ford this against a tough opponent likeAustralia, so we must keep that focusand achieve an important series win.”If Pakistan win 2-0 they will jump tonumber three in the Test rankings, andMisbah called this a strong incentive.“We have to keep in mind that if wewin we achieve our first series win forso many years and also get into thetop three,” he said.

Teams (from): Pakistan: Misbah-ulHaq (capt), Ahmed Shehzad,Mohammad Hafeez, Taufeeq Umar,Shan Masood, Younis Khan, AsadShafiq, Azhar Ali, Haris Sohail,Mohammad Talha, Rahat Ali, ImranKhan, Ehsan Adil, Sarfraz Ahmed,Zulfiqar Babar, Yasir Shah. Australia:Michael Clarke (capt), David Warner,Chris Rogers, Alex Doolan, StevenSmith, Ben Hilfenhaus, Phillip Hughes,Brad Haddin, Glenn Maxwell, MitchellMarsh, Mitchell Johnson, SteveO´Keefe, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc,James Faulkner, Nathan Lyon.—AFP

KARACHI—Pakistan fast bowler JunaidKhan has been dealt another setback afterbeing diagnosed with a “Grade-3 osteochon-dral” fracture in his knee which will keep himsidelined from cricket for a while. Junaid hadalready been ruled out of theongoing series against Aus-tralia after twisting his kneeduring a practice session inSharjah before the three-match ODI series.

While Pakistan’s otherinjured seamer, Wahab Riaz,has started to recover from acartilage injury, it is uncertainif he will make the squad forthe upcoming series againstNew Zealand in the UAE.Junaid and Wahab have bothbeen undergoing rehabilita-tion at the National CricketAcademy under the supervi-sion of Dr Sohail Saleem, gen-eral manager, sports medi-cine, PCB.

“A recently-performed MRI in a local hos-pital in Lahore revealed a Grade-3 osteochon-dral fracture along the anterior surface of themedial femoral condyle with underlying boneedema,” Dr. Saleem said of Junaid’s injury.“Junaid Khan is undergoing a conservativemanagement plan for his injury. Apart fromconsultation with a local orthopedic surgeonin Pakistan, Junaid’s reports are also beingseen by orthopedic surgeons abroad. His fi-nal course of action will be decided in coupleof days.”Wahab sustained his injury whilebowling in the second ODI against Australia,and was subsequently pulled out of thematch. He was then sent back home for in-

Junaid faces another knee troublestant medical attention, where he was informedthat he had “significant osteochondral de-fects in the lateral tibial condyle”, as well asdamage to the cartilage under the knee cap.There was also suspicion of a tear to the an-

terior horn of the outer kneecartilage.

“After examination and in-vestigation that lasted fourdays from October 15 to 19,with the decision in favour ofconservative management,Wahab’s rehabilitation at theNational Cricket Academycommenced on October 20,”Saleem said. “His daily rou-tine consists of knee-specificexercises, generalised fitnesstraining, pool work-outs,physiotherapy sessions,bowling and batting ses-sions. He did start batting lastweek on Friday and by theend of Monday’s proceed-ings, he must have completed

three batting sessions under supervision ofMohtashim Rasheed.

“On Monday, he did his first shadow-bowling session with Mohammad Akram andbowled 24 pain-free balls. His work on thephysio’s table consists of manual therapytechniques to achieve the desired fitness re-sults before the beginning of the NewZealand series. I am pretty much satisfied withthe progress he is making.”

Pakistan have already named their squadfor the second Test against Australia in AbuDhabi, opting for Rahat Ali, Mohammad Talhaand Ehsan Adil in place of their two injuredquicks.—APP

ISLAMABAD—The McGrath Foundationwas Tuesday named as an official charitypartner in Australia for the ICC Cricket WorldCup 2015.

The tournament- one of the biggest in-ternational sporting events in the world-returns to Australia and New Zealand inFebruary and March for the first time in 23years.

According to an ICC release, theMcGrath Foundation joins the ICC’s twoglobal charity partners - THINK WISE, ajoint initiative between ICC, UNAIDS andUNICEF which promotes awareness andunderstanding about HIV; and Room toRead, which promotes literacy - as well asthe local charity partner in New Zealand,the Cancer Society, icc-cricket.com re-ported.

The McGrath Foundation wasstarted 10 years ago out of the muchpublicised experience that Jane McGrath

MOSCOW—World football boss Sepp Blattersaid Tuesday that FIFA categorically backsRussia’s staging of the 2018 World Cup and

praised its preparations.“FIFA unconditionally supports the stag-

ing of the World Cup by Russia,” he told theR-Sport news agency in comments translatedinto Russian.

Diplomatic sources said last month thatEuropean nations were discussing a British-backed plan to boycott President VladimirPutin’s showpiece staging of the World Cupbecause of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.

“A boycott will never give any positiveeffect,” Blatter said, adding: “We trust thecountry, its government.”

Australia name charity partnerfor ICC World Cup

and three-time World Cup winner andAussie pacer Glenn McGrath, had withbreast cancer.

Its mission is to provide every family inAustralia fighting breast cancer with accessto a breast care nurse regardless of wherethey live or their financial circumstances. Italso runs education programmes to makefamilies and young women in particularbreast aware.

McGrath - the highest wicket-taker inWorld Cup history with 71 wickets said“Cricket is much more than what happenson the field.”

It brings people together and is a realforce for good in the community. So I amdelighted that the Foundation has this op-portunity to team up with the ICC CricketWorld Cup next year because it is the big-gest tournament in cricket and it’s happen-ing right here in our backyard, McGrathsaid.—APP

FIFA fully supports 2018 WorldCup in Russia: Blatter

“Russia is the world’s biggest country.You know, Russia is in the eye of the interna-tional media. Football can not only unite Rus-

sia but show the whole worldthat it is stronger that any pro-test movement,” Blatter said.

He compared the situa-tion with Russia’s hosting ofthe Winter Olympic gameshosted by Russia in the BlackSea resort of Sochi this year,when Western leaders stayedaway.

“There was the same situ-ation ahead of Sochi, but nei-ther during nor after thegames, has there been a singleword against these games.”

Blatter said that he washappy with Russia’s progressin its preparations for hostingthe 2018 World Cup.

“I can say that in compari-son with Brazil, Russia is con-

siderably ahead of schedule with four yearsremaining before the event’s start,” Blattersaid. Blatter came to Moscow to participatein a ceremony Tuesday evening to presentthe 2018 World Cup logo. The ceremony start-ing 11:30 pm Moscow time (2030 GMT) willbe televised and the new logo will be pro-jected onto the facade of Moscow’s legend-ary Bolshoi Theatre.

The FIFA boss added that the openingceremony of the 2018 World Cup could takeplace a day ahead of the tournament’s open-ing match kick-off.—AFP

ZURICH—Holder Cristiano Ronaldo facescompetition from six German World Cup win-

ners in the 23 nominees for the Ballon d’Orworld footballer of the year announced Tues-

Germany dominate controversialBallon d’Or list

day.Spain’s La Liga dominated the FIFA list

with 10 players including Ronaldo’s RealMadrid teammates Gareth Bale of Wales andColombia’s James Rodriguez, but there wasno room for new Barcelona signing LuisSuarez.

The Catalans did provide Neymar of Bra-zil, Andres Iniesta of Spain and ArgentinesLionel Messi and Javier Mascherano,though.

Messi has won the award four times, whileRonaldo will be looking for his third title.

Despite a spectacular season at Liverpoolin which he was named Premier League playerof the year, earning his move to Barca, Suarezof Uruguay has seemingly paid dearly for hisfour-month biting ban from the World Cup.

Behind the dominant La Liga—which pro-vided the two Champions League finalists inMay—German Bundesliga accounts for sixof the players while five ply their trade in En-gland—although three of those were playingin Spain until May.—AFP

Balotelli inclear over

‘Ferrari row’LONDON—Liverpool strikerMario Balotelli will not facelegal action over reports hethreatened a woman for tak-ing photographs of hisFerrari sports car, police an-

nounced on Tuesday.Greater Manchester Po-

lice were called to investigatelast Thursday after reportsof “threatening behaviour”involving the 24-year-oldItaly international, who isthought to have been visit-ing his mother at the time.

But after speaking to thewoman who made the call,police found no reason tolaunch an investigation.

“Police were called toPewsey Road, Wythenshawejust after 3pm (1400 GMT) onThursday 23 October 2014,following reports of threaten-ing behaviour,” said aspokesman for GreaterManchester Police. “Officershave since spoken to the com-plainant and no criminal of-fences were disclosed and nocrime recorded. No furtheraction will be taken.”—AFP

South Africa topODI rankings

after NZseries victory

DUBAI—South Africa havemoved to the top of the In-ternational Cricket Council(ICC) one-day rankings forthe first time in five years,the Proteas climbing aboveAustralia following their 2-0 series win in New Zealand.

The last time South Af-rica headed the ODIrankings was in September2009 but they slipped downthe standings after their firstround elimination from theICC Champions Trophy athome later that month.

South Africa trailed Aus-tralia by one point before thethree-match ODI seriesagainst New Zealand andthough the third and finalmatch in Hamilton waswashed out on Monday, the2-0 result was enough to takethem up to the top of the table.

The number one rankingcomes as a welcome boost forthe side ahead of the 50-overWorld Cup being held inAustralia and New Zealandearly next year.—APP

Trott getsEngland Lions

call-upL O N D O N — B a t s m a nJonathan Trott has beencalled up by the second-string England Lions fortheir 2015 tour of South Af-rica, the England and WalesCricket Board (ECB) an-nounced on Tuesday.

South Africa-born Trott,33, has not played interna-tional cricket since he with-drew from England’s Ashestour of Australia last Novem-ber due to a stress-relatedcondition.

He aborted an attemptedplaying comeback in April,but subsequently made asuccessful return to actionwith his English countyWarwickshire, scoring fourcenturies during the 2014season.

“Jonathan Trott’s excep-tional form and run scoringexploits for Warwickshire atthe end of the summer hasresulted in his selection forthe First Class fixtures at thebeginning of the tour,” saidnational selector JamesWhitaker in a statement onthe ECB website.

The England Lions willtour South Africa in Janu-ary and February, playingtwo four-day matches andfive 50-over games againstSouth Africa A. Trott willonly play in the two first-class matches at the start ofthe tour.

Trott has lost his centralcontract with the ECB, buthe said in September that hewas ready to return to inter-national action.

“Whatever comes alongwith regards to selection,maybe. I’m not putting toomuch pressure on myself,”he told the BBC.

“There’s been somechallenging times. Sometough times. But I’ve beenavailable a while—for thelast month or two, I sup-pose—in terms of selection,and I’m enjoying mycricket.”

Trott has played 49Tests, scoring 3,763 runsincluding nine hundreds atan average of 46.75.—AFP

A 40-year-old paralysed man from Poland can now walk again with the aidof a frame after breakthrough surgery

transplanted cells from his nose into his spinalcord, which had been severed in a knife at-tack. After undergoing surgeryto transplant cells from hisnose to his spinal cord, a pa-ralysed man from Poland isable to walk again. The pro-cedure effectively provided a“bridge” over the injury site sonerve cells - encouraged by thespecial nose cells - could re-grow across the scar tissue.

Darek Fidyka was left pa-ralysed from the chest downafter suffering stab wounds tohis back in 2010. After 19months of treatment at a Pol-ish hospital, his doctors say hehas recovered some voluntarymovement and some sensationin his legs. Mr. Fidyka is con-tinuing to improve further thanpredicted - he is able to driveand live more independently. The news bringshope to some of the 3 million people world-wide living with spinal injury. It is thought thesuccess of the procedure may be partly due tothe fact the injury was a “clean cut.” It maynot be suitable for patients with more compli-cated spinal injuries.

The breakthrough represents decades of pio-neering work for Geoffrey Raisman, a profes-sor in the Institute of Neurology at UniversityCollege London in the UK. In 1969, he discov-ered that damaged nerve cells can form newconnections, and in 1985, he identified that atype of nose cell - called an olfactory unsheath-ing cell (OEC) - allows nerve fibbers to regen-

Paralysed man walks again afternose cells repair his spinal cord

Security person warns visitors from going towards sea at Clifton Sea View during ban on visiting the area due to cyclone Nilofar in the Arabian Sea.

erate into the brain. These and other discover-ies led Prof. Raisman and his team to believe itwould one day be possible to regenerate nervefibers in spinal cords damaged by injury.

When the spinal cord is damaged, scar tis-sue forms at the injured siteand stops nerve fibbers fromregrowing. Prof. Raisman hadthe idea the nerve fibbersmight regrow if they had abridge across the scar. Therefollowed many painstakingyears of searching for the rightmaterials to produce such abridge. He and his team fo-cused on the nerve cells re-sponsible for sense of smellbecause they are the only typeof nerve cell known to regen-erate. They believed OECshelped to clear the way for thenerve cells to regrow.

They undertook and pub-lished animal studies wherethey transplanted OECs fromthe nose into injured spinal

cords to stimulate the regrowth of nerve cells inrats with paralysed limbs. These studies attractedworldwide interest, including that of PawelTabakow, assistant professor in Neurosurgeryat Wroclaw Medical University in Poland, whobegan corresponding with Prof. Raisman andthen invited him and his team to Poland.

In 2013, they reported how they safelytransplanted nasal OECs into the spinal cordsof three paraplegic patients who showed “neu-rological improvement.” Mr. Fidyka was a re-cipient of this treatment. In the first of twooperations, the surgeons removed one of hisolfactory bulbs from high up in his nose andgrew the OECs in culture.

A ceremony ‘End Polio Now’ was held at Mohatta Palace Museum. Prominent figures in-cluding Rotarians and representatives of WHO, UNICEF and other partners were present.

Allama Talib Johri addressing Majlis-e-Aza organised by Pak Muharram Association at Nishtar Park.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Ombudsman AsadAshraf Malik has helped an applicant toget his retirement dues from DMC South,Karachi. According to details RehmatMasih a low paid employee of DMCSouth filed a complaint to the Ombuds-man Sindh that he applied for retirementfrom service to the competent authoritybut action on his application was beingdelayed for no valid reason. Thereforehe requested to Ombudsman Sindh Asad

DMC South employeesget retirement benefits

and pension duesAshraf Malik to help him to get his duesRs.732,135/- and pay his pension and otherlegitimate dues.

On receiving complaint the case wasexamined thoroughly at Ombudsman Sec-retariat and the matter was taken up withthe Agency for response. The concernedAgency informed Ombudsman secretariatthat Rehmat Masih stood retired from ser-vice with effect 1-9-2012 but delay in thesettlement of his retirement dues was dueto shortage of funds.

Ombudsman Sindh directed the DMC

South to finalize the pension case posi-tively by 30-9-2014, as holding of pen-sion was against the rules as held by theSuperior Courts and violation would in-vite severe action against the defaultingagency. Following the Ombudsman’s di-rectives the Agency informed the Om-budsman Secretariat that on 29-9-2014the complainant was paid Rs.169226/- onaccount of Provident Fund while chequeof Rs.562909/- on account of pension/commutation was ready for delivery tothe complainant.

IRFAN ALIGI

KARACHI—Jamaat-e Islami (JI) PakistanAmeer Siraj Ul Haque said he had serious pre-monitions about violent agitation from the pub-lic side amid the scenario of political unrest, un-precedented price-hike of common man’s com-modities.

Henceforth, it was the duty of Prime Minis-ter Mian Muhammad Nawaz Sharif and Paki-stan Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) Chairman ImranKhan to find a diligent way to settle their differ-ences without fail before it might be too late tomend.

Pir Sadruddin Shah Rashidi (Pir Pagara)should play his role to resolve the differencesbetween the 2 major political parties of Sindh,Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Muttahida

JI Ameer calls on Pir Pagara

NS-IK must settle disputes beforepeople burst into fury: Sirajul Haque

Qaumi Movement (MQM). The JI Ameer statedthis while talking to the newsmen after a meet-ing with Pir Pagara that had lasted for 90 min-utes at the residence of Pir Pagara in the cityTuesday. He was accompanied by AsadullahBhutto, Dr Mairaj Ul Huda Siddiqui, HafizNaeem ur Rehman and Muhammad HussainMahenti. Shehryar Khan Meher, Jam Madad Ali,Nusrat Sahar Abbasi and Kamran Tessori werealso present.

He said all 4 provincs were hugely af-fected by lawlessness and lack of governancewhile in addition to these menaces, other prob-lems such as poverty and lack of buying powerdue to unprecedented price-hike had instilledfury in people’s heart, which if not addressedmight lead to severe destruction due to poormen’s agitation.

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Sindh Home Department had under Sec-tion 144 of the Criminal procedure Code (CrPC) im-posed complete ban on picnicking, sailing and buyingeatables, toys and riding on horse, camels and motorcycle close to the beach throughout coastal lines ofSindh province including Karachi, Thatta, Sujjawal andBadin with immediate effect upto Nov 2 due to Nilofar,the cyclone expected to hit the coastal areas of Sindh

Nilofar cyclone

Complete ban imposed on allactivities along all coast-lines

as well as severe rainfalls, to minimize the loss of lifeand property in the wake of impending cyclone.

The Home Department had also imposed completeban under Section 144 Cr.P.C. on swimming, fishingand other activities in the sea/coastal areas of SindhProvince including Karachi, Thatta, Sujjawal and Badinfor a period of 30 days with immediate effect.

Sindh Home Secretary Dr Niaz Ali Abbasi hadalso written an urgent letter to Karachi Commissionerand Karachi Metropolitan Corporation Administra-

tor to immediately take necessary action for remov-ing the shaky sign boards and billboards from the cityto avoid any loss of human life and property, keepingin view the expected cyclone, Nilofar.

He had also directed that the people living in hutsestablished in coastal lines area should also be shiftedto safer place in order to save the lives of the people.Home Secretary also instructed to take all possiblemeasures to avert loss of life and property due to ex-pected Nilofar.

KARACHI—Director General Rangers Sindh Ma-jor General Bilal Akbar announced to conduct com-plete monitoring of Karachi within six months. Dur-ing his visit to the Karachi Chambers of Commerceand Industries, the DG Rangers said it was beingendeavoured to restore law and order in Karachi.

Operations being carriedout to wipe out terrorism

Long-term and short operations are also being car-ried out to wipe out terrorism from the provincialcapital, he added.

He said Special Task Force of Rangers would soonvisit Karachi for security purpose to investors so thata sense of security could be restored among traders.

Major Akbar said abduction for ransom and extortioncollection had reduced in the city following Rangers’action against criminals. He told that Rangers hadconducted around 250 targeted operations in Karachiin which several hardened criminals including TTPfighters were arrested.—Online

KA R A C H I—Corps Com-mander Lieutenant General

Corps Commander calls on GovernorNaveed Mukhtar on Tuesdayheld meeting with GovernorSindh Ishratul Ibad inKarachi. Both discuss mat-ters of mutual affairs and on-going operation Zarb-e-Azb

in North Waziristan Agency.The Governor lauded PakArmy’s professional capa-bilities and termed ‘martyr-dom’ of army personnel as agreat sacrifice for the coun-

try.He appreciated strategies

of army, Rangers and otherlaw enforcement agencies tocounter possible militants re-action in Karachi due to on-

going anti-terrorism offen-sive. Lieutenant GeneralNaveed Mukhtar stated thatarmy will meet national as-pirations and will not disap-point the nation.—INP

STAFF REPORTER

KARACHI—Mohajir Rabita Council(MRC) General Secretary (GS) ArshadSiddiqui had strongly condemned Paki-stan People’s Party and Sindhi National-ist groups for subjecting Mohajirs of ru-ral Sindh to extreme level of harassmentand intimidation, after their demand forthe creation of Mohajir Province.

Stern retaliation to anti-Mohajir elementsHe said PPP had in 1971 inflicted co-

lossal loss of property and lives ofMohajirs after presenting the condemnedethnic Bill in Sindh Assembly and wasonce again conspiring to carry the geno-cide of Mohajirs especially those, wholived in rural parts of the province.

The MRC GS Arshad Siddiquiwarned PPP and Sindhi Nationalistgroups to avoid inflicting damages to

property of Mohajirs and their lives orelse the MRC would retaliate to theiratrocities in similar style and manner.The MRC being representative of 25million Mohajirs would warn all thoseelements that were open enemies toMohajirs and were consistently bentupon insulting Mohajirs physicallyshould learn that Mohajirs might alsotake them in reaction to their atrocities.

A 40-year-old paralysed man from Poland can now walk again with the aidof a frame after breakthrough surgery

transplanted cells from his nose into his spinalcord, which had been severed in a knife at-tack. After undergoing surgeryto transplant cells from hisnose to his spinal cord, a pa-ralysed man from Poland isable to walk again. The pro-cedure effectively provided a“bridge” over the injury site sonerve cells - encouraged by thespecial nose cells - could re-grow across the scar tissue.

Darek Fidyka was left pa-ralysed from the chest downafter suffering stab wounds tohis back in 2010. After 19months of treatment at a Pol-ish hospital, his doctors say hehas recovered some voluntarymovement and some sensationin his legs. Mr. Fidyka is con-tinuing to improve further thanpredicted - he is able to driveand live more independently. The news bringshope to some of the 3 million people world-wide living with spinal injury. It is thought thesuccess of the procedure may be partly due tothe fact the injury was a “clean cut.” It maynot be suitable for patients with more compli-cated spinal injuries.

The breakthrough represents decades of pio-neering work for Geoffrey Raisman, a profes-sor in the Institute of Neurology at UniversityCollege London in the UK. In 1969, he discov-ered that damaged nerve cells can form newconnections, and in 1985, he identified that atype of nose cell - called an olfactory unsheath-ing cell (OEC) - allows nerve fibbers to regen-

Paralysed man walks again afternose cells repair his spinal cord

DCO Lahore Capt (Retd) Muhammad Usman is administering Polio drops to a child at Hiran Road, Islampura.

erate into the brain. These and other discover-ies led Prof. Raisman and his team to believe itwould one day be possible to regenerate nervefibers in spinal cords damaged by injury.

When the spinal cord is damaged, scar tis-sue forms at the injured siteand stops nerve fibbers fromregrowing. Prof. Raisman hadthe idea the nerve fibbersmight regrow if they had abridge across the scar. Therefollowed many painstakingyears of searching for the rightmaterials to produce such abridge. He and his team fo-cused on the nerve cells re-sponsible for sense of smellbecause they are the only typeof nerve cell known to regen-erate. They believed OECshelped to clear the way for thenerve cells to regrow.

They undertook and pub-lished animal studies wherethey transplanted OECs fromthe nose into injured spinal

cords to stimulate the regrowth of nerve cells inrats with paralysed limbs. These studies attractedworldwide interest, including that of PawelTabakow, assistant professor in Neurosurgeryat Wroclaw Medical University in Poland, whobegan corresponding with Prof. Raisman andthen invited him and his team to Poland.

In 2013, they reported how they safelytransplanted nasal OECs into the spinal cordsof three paraplegic patients who showed “neu-rological improvement.” Mr. Fidyka was a re-cipient of this treatment. In the first of twooperations, the surgeons removed one of hisolfactory bulbs from high up in his nose andgrew the OECs in culture.

Women washing clothes with water of the canal due to scarcity of water.

Chairperson TEVTA Ifran Qaiser Shaikh visiting TEVTA Staff Training College. Chief Operating Officer Jawad AhmadQureshi is also seen in the picture.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—The sheer volume of patho-logic entities that one can encounter inthe head and neck makes this region oneof the most daunting areas of diagnosticpathology. The challenge includes theneed to integrate clinical, radiographic,immunehisto-chemical, and even mo-lecular testing, to arrive at the appropri-ate diagnosis of head and neck tumoursand tumour-like lesions.

These were the views expressed byDr Richard Allibone, Consultant Pa-thologist at Nottingham University, UK,during a workshop held here at the Uni-versity of Health Sciences (UHS) onTuesday. The workshop was organized

Pathological issues of head, necktumours discussed at UHS workshop

by UHS Pathology Department and morethan 80 pathologists from all over Paki-stan attended it.

Dr Allibone while discussing the scopeand practice of Head and Neck as a spe-cialty in UK, provided a comprehensivereview of head and neck surgical pathol-ogy including the upper respiratory tract,thyroid, salivary gland, skin, inflammatorydiseases, lymphomas, mesenchymal le-sions, and oral cavity lesions.

Inaugurating the workshop, UHS ViceChancellor Maj Gen (R) Prof MuhammadAslam said that rapid developments in newdiagnostic criteria, molecular techniques,genetic analyses, diagnostic aids, radio-graphic imaging, and application of uni-form terminology allowed practitioners to

continue to maintain and expand theirknowledge in the subspecialty of headand neck pathology.

Workshop convener and UHS Pa-thology Department’s assistant profes-sor Dr Nadia Naseem told that 30 clini-cal cases from oral cavity, salivaryglands, thyroid, lymph nodes, skin, na-sopharynx, otolarynx were thoroughlydiscussed with their learning outcomesin the workshop.

UHS Pathology Department’s headProf A.H. Nagi said that the workshopwould serve as an important platformfor scientists to develop their skills andexpressed his hope that UHS would fa-cilitate more workshops on the subjectin near future.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Punjab University Registrar Prof DrLiaqat Ali has said that under the leadership ofVice Chancellor Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran,Punjab University has not increased tuition feein the last 7 years and was charging lowest feeas compared to all other public and private sec-tor universities. He said that in terms of utilitycharges, PU was not shifting burden to thepocket of poor students and providing subsidiesand scholarships worth millions of rupees.

He was addressing a press conference atcommittee room of Undergraduate Study Cen-tre flanked by Chairman Hall Council Prof DrMuhammad Akhter, Controller ExaminationsProf Dr Shahid Munir, Director Students AffairsShahid Gul, Incharge ICS Dr Noshina Saleem,Additional Registrar 1 Dr Kamran Abid, Act-ing Treasurer Rao Muhammad Sharif, ResidentOfficer I Dr Sajid Rashid Ahmad and AdditionalRegistrar II Malik Muhammad Zaheer.

No increase in tuition fee, maximumsubsidies since 7 years: PU

Addressing the press conference, Dr Ali saidthat PU had the largest transport system with 60buses in its fleet and was providing travel fa-cilities to the students on the lowest rates. Hesaid that PU busses were operating far-reachingareas i.e Kamonke, Kasur and students weretravelling for only 9 rupees daily. “PU is pro-viding a subsidy of worth millions of rupees onbearing diesel expenditures,” he added.

He said that the PU administration was pur-chasing buses every year and it had recentlypurchased three new buses. “No any other uni-versity in Pakistan was providing such trans-port facilities to the students,” he added. DrAli said that all the morning students were be-ing provided with hostel accommodation onmerit and PU was charging minimum fees andproviding maximum subsidy as compared toother public and private sector universities. Inorder to provide internet facility to the students,PU was providing a subsidy of 15 million ru-pees, he added.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—“TEVTA will train its 2237in-service male and female teachers dur-ing current financial year and this train-ing will enhance the professional skillsof TEVTA teachers. It is in line with thepolicy of Chief Minister Punjab to up-grade the professional skills of teachersbecause their enhanced teaching talentwould be reflected in the skills of thetrainees,” Chairperson TEVTA IrfanQaiser Shaikh expressed these viewswhile addressing the staff of Govt. Staff

TEVTA to train 2237 teachersto enhance professional skill

Training College Gulberg during his visithere on Tuesday.

Chief Operating Officer TEVTAJawad Ahmed Qureshi and other officersof TEVTA were also present on this oc-casion. Irfan Qaiser Shaikh said thatTEVTA teachers will be trained in 152batches. Training of 85 batches will beconducted at Govt. Staff Training Collegeat Lahore, Faisalabad and Murree while67 in TEVTA Institutes with relevant fa-cilities.

Chairperson TEVTA further said that3047 male and female TEVTA teachers

had been trained during last financial yearthrough its different Teachers TrainingProgram. During 2014-15, he said thatteachers will be trained in new demanddriven courses. They will be given train-ing in I.T, Web designing, Call centertraining, software programming, elec-tronics, mobile repairing, T.V. and A.C.repairing & servicing, Baking and con-fectionery, Rice processing, nursing,house keeping etc. TEVTA, as per re-quirement of new curricula, has arrangedtraining of its teachers in different indus-trial organizations, he concluded.

MUZAFFAR ALI

LAHORE—Rotary Club of Lahore Garrison and PastDistrict Governor (PDG) Shehzad Ahmed organizeda trip at Pakistan-India border Wahga to promote theawareness about the elimination of Polio cases fromPakistan. The participants also watched the ceremonyof Change of Guards and some Rotarian participantsfrom Netherlands, Italy and New Zealand including

‘End Polio Now’ messagepromoted at Wagah border

Albertine Perre-Bulder, Denise Go-Feij, Michael Korsand Rutger Mazel, Michelle Tanner, FrancescoMengucci and Sebastiano Fava were also present onthis occasion.

District Governor Dr. Mansoor Ul Haq, PDGAbdul Qavi Alavi, PDG Anthony Richards, PresidentElect Abdul Haleem, PP Muhammad Iqbal Malik, PPRtn Khaula Shaheen, PP Tazeem Ahmad, PPMoazzam Fareed Khan, Rtn Haji Liaqat Ali and Rtn

Tabasum Waheed also attended the ceremony.Rotarians wore “End Polio Now” t-shirts and

displayed polio banners and cards to promote themessage. They distributed polio story books andpolio awareness badges among the children. Thevisiting Rotarians expressed that they have neverseen such an emotionally charged ceremony at anyborder and termed the visit as the highlight of theirtrip to Lahore.

STAFF REPORTER

LAHORE—Lahore is historicaland cultural city and custodianof glorious traditions. PresidentEcosai and Audit Head of Tur-key Dr. Recai Akyel stated thisduring his visit to Mazar-e-Iqbal, Lahore Fort andBadshahi Mosque Tuesday.Audit Head of Iran MohammadAmin Hossain Rahimi said thatPoet of the East Allama Iqbalhas an equally important placein Pakistan and Iran as well asthe whole world due to hisphilosophic poetry and unique

Ecosai conference participantsvisit historical places

thinking. He said that people ofIran consider Pakistan as theirsecond home.

He said that the participantsof Ecosai conference have re-ceived deep love and hospital-ity at the conference and duringtheir visit to historical places ofthe city. The Audit Heads ofTurkey, Iran and Tajikistan par-ticipating in Ecosai conference

first visited Mazar-e-Iqbal alongwith their delegations and weregiving a warm welcome. Theforeign delegates during theirvisit to Lahore Fort andBadshahi Mosque took keeninterest in various sections of thefort and the sacred relics dis-played at the mosque.

During the second day ses-sion of the 19th International

Ecosai conference, Auditor Gen-eral Pakistan and Secretary Gen-eral Ecosai Muhammad AkhtarBuland Rana highlighted the aimsand objectives of the conferencewhile Director General Interna-tional Relations Ecosai Dr.Naveeda presented audit reports.

The participants of the con-ference described the event asvery important with regard to

learning modern techniquesand methods of audit. The par-ticipants of the conference saidthat important decisions weretaken in the conference for pro-moting cooperation betweenthe countries of the regionwhich will provide opportuni-ties of benefiting from eachother’s experiences in the sec-tor of audit.